BusinessMirror January 09, 2024

Tax reforms, wider LGU role to fuel growth–DOF

T WORLD | A6

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HE passage of key tax reforms and harnessing local government units (LGUs) as engines of growth are among the factors that will sustain the country’s recent economic gains, according to the country’s Finance Secretary.

Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said growth in 2023 is projected to be near the low end of the 6-7 percent target while 2024 growth is expected to be within 6.5 to 7.5 percent.

Diokno said while there are headwinds in the country’s growth path this year, the government’s sound policies and strong mac-

roeconomic fundamentals will enable the Philippines to achieve “economic prosperity.”

“With the improvement in the country’s poverty incidence in the first semester of 2023 amid numerous economic challenges, one can be assured that the government will put all its efforts into working with various sectors to help ensure a continuous improvement in the lives of every Filipino,” Diokno said.

Diokno said the DOF will continue working with Congress in pushing for Package 3 or the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform (RPVAR).

The DOF, he said will also push for the value-added tax (VAT) on non-resident digital service providers (DSPs), excise tax on single-use plastics, and motor vehicle road user’s tax, among others.

“These reforms will help finance next year’s national budget and attain the 5.1 percent deficit-to-GDP target for 2024,” Diokno said.

Meanwhile, he said the LGUs’ role as engines of economic growth will be possible through a “smoother and more effective transition.”

Diokno said the Committee on Devolution is evaluating the

functions and services that can be retained with the National Government and those that should be devolved to LGUs based on their capacity.

The Marcos Jr. administration, Diokno said, has also accomplished the passage of the Automatic Income Classification of LGUs Act this year.

The devolution process and other efforts to boost economic growth, he said, will require contributions from the LGUs, the national government, and government-owned-and-controlled corporations (GOCCs).

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Tuesday, January 9, 2024 Vol. 19 No. 86

See “Tax,” A2

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GOCC DIVIDENDS TO N.G. UP 46% TO P99.98B IN ‘23 n

By Cai U. Ordinario

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P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 18 pages |

RICE PRICES SOAR A laborer in Tondo, Manila, bears sacks of rice as the Department of Agriculture (DA) explores the possibility of implementing a suggested retail price (SRP) for rice due to the alarming 19.6-percent increase reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority in December, the highest surge in over 14 years. NONIE REYES

@caiordinario

ASH dividends remitted by governmentowned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) reached almost P100 billion in 2023, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

The DOF cited data from the Privatization and Corporate Affairs Group (PCAG) showing dividend collections reached P99.98 billion in 2023, a 46-percent increase from the P68.34 billion in 2022.

More than half or P55.61 billion of the dividends was remitted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the top contributor as of December 2023.

“The increased dividend collection is a result of fiscal discipline that the DOF continues to instill in GOCCs. These dividends will help manage our deficit and will be used to support the country’s development needs,” Finance Secretary and Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) member Benjamin E. Diokno said.

“Rest assured, the DOF will remain steadfast in its commitment to strictly monitor the performance of our GOCCs, ensuring that they are well-run and are operating within the bounds of national development policies and programs,” he added.

See “GOCC,” A2

PHL, INDONESIA MEET TUES. AS WIDODO ARRIVES IN MLA

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig

I

NDONESIAN President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is expected to arrive for an official visit to Manila Tuesday, as foreign ministries of the Philippines and Indonesia will meet hours ahead to hammer out more ways to improve bilateral relations.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi will lead the Ministerial Meeting of the 7th Philippines-Indonesia Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC).

“The JCBC is the primary dialogue mechanism between the Philippines

and Indonesia to review accomplishments on mutual collaboration initiatives, exchange views on issues of mutual interest, and consider plans for enhancing cooperation,” the DFA said in a statement.

Manila considers Jakarta one of its closest and most important allies in the region. Both are founding members of Asean, Apec, and Asem.

Indonesia also brokered the peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro rebels. Indonesia is also the Philippines’s fifth biggest trading partner, 15th export market and second import supplier with total trade of US$13.9 billion in 2022.

See “PHL,” A2

‘Off to a good start’ with EOPT signing–DOF chief

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ORE Filipinos would be encouraged to pay their taxes with the recent signing of the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In a statement on Monday, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the EOPT Act was signed into law as Republic Act (RA) 11976

by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last week to modernize the Philippine tax administration and strengthen taxpayer rights.

Through the EOPT Act, the processes of the country’s tax system will be streamlined, thereby minimizing the burden on taxpayers.

“We are off to a good start this 2024. By making the tax system

more taxpayer-friendly through simplified tax filings and protecting taxpayers’ rights, we will achieve our goal of encouraging and improving tax compliance,” Diokno said.

The DOF said the new law will classify taxpayers into micro, small, medium, and large according to their gross sales in order to form a tax system that is responsive and specific to each segment’s needs.

Filing of returns and payment of internal revenue taxes will also be made easier through electronic or manual means such as authorized agent banks or authorized software providers.

See “Off,” A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.6130 n JAPAN 0.3845 n UK 70.7397 n HK 7.1192 n CHINA 7.7824 n SINGAPORE 41.8394 n AUSTRALIA 37.3441 n EU 60.8573 n KOREA 0.0423 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.8302 Source: BSP (January 8, 2024)

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A2 Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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Miru Systems lone bidder in Comelec’s 2nd AES bidding

F

By Patrick V. Miguel

OR the second round of bidding on Monday for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) automated system, Miru Systems Co. Ltd. remained the lone bidder for the 2025 midterm polls.

According to the poll body, six companies bought bidding documents from the Comelec Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) but four later withdrew from the bidding.

The four firms were identified as AMA Group Holdings Corporation, Dominion Voting Systems, Electiotech Consultant and Management Inc., and Indra Philippines Inc. Among the six firms was Smart-

matic Philippines, which was disqualified in November last year.

The SBAC said there is no temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Supreme Court, allowing the firm to participate in the procurement process.

The joint venture of Miru Systems was the lone bidder on the first round of bidding, but was declared “ineligible” by the poll body for the lack of English translation and “incomplete undertaking to enter into

Cha-cha...

edgment within the LCP that constitutional revisions, particularly in areas such as governance, economic policies, and social structures, are imperative for the country’s progress.

“The decision to support Charter change reflects the organization’s recognition of the inherent dynamism of democracies,” he added.

By expressing support for any mode of charter change, Benitez said the LCP acknowledges the importance of flexibility in the process, recognizing that different approaches may be required to address diverse

Continued from A10

According to Benitez, this move underscores the organization’s commitment to addressing critical issues and adapting to the evolving needs of the nation through constitutional amendments.

Benitez, a former representative of Negros Occidental, said the resolution signals a collective acknowl-

a joint venture.” The South Korean firm is joined by Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies Inc. The lone bidder has tendered a bid amounting to P17.988 billion, and was declared by SBAC as “eligible” following the review of its legal documents.

Watchdog’s warning

MEANWHILE, poll watchdog Democracy Philippines has warned Comelec of Miru Systems track record, citing its alleged “catastrophic failures” and projects in Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We urge the Comelec to give Miru’s track record a thorough once-over as part of its due diligence, as it should with all suppliers. It might want to investigate the company’s alleged links to controconcerns and perspectives within the organization.

But Benitez highlighted the potential success of the people’s initiative as a mode for charter change, emphasizing its democratic essence as the voice of the people.

The supermajority coalition in Congress has initiated a campaign for Charter change through a people’s initiative.

Earlier, Albay municipal mayors confirmed their endorsement of the proposal to amend the 1987 Constitution through a people’s initiative, opt-

versies in Congo and Argentina,” said Democracy Watch in a statement in December 2023.

The watchdog added: “Such concerns over hacking vulnerabilities and vote manipulation are so grave as to have prompted watchdog groups and independent experts to flag many fatal weaknesses in Miru’s technology publicly.”

Convenor of the watchdog Lloyd Zaragoza, in a radio interview on Monday, flagged the recent alleged failures of Miru Systems in Congo and Iraq.

“Sana pag-aralan at masusing imbestigahan ng Comelec ito [Miru Systems] dahil nakakabahala kung sila ang mapiling provider sa ating 2025 elections [Comelec must study and thoroughly investigate Miru Systems because it is alarming should they be chosen to be the provider in our 2025 elections],” said Zaragoza. ing for this method among the three available options for charter change.

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.”

The House intends to launch a people’s initiative to decide how Congress will vote on proposals to change the 1987 Constitution, according to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

The Constitution does not specifically say whether the House and the Senate should vote together or separately when modifying the Charter, as Romualdez acknowledged.

Constituent assembly, constitutional convention, and people’s initiative are the three methods for altering the 1987 Constitution; however, it is unclear how votes will be cast in any of these cases.

With Butch Fernandez

PHL...

Continued from A1

Indonesia is also the 15th largest contributor of investment inflows to the Philippines with a recorded net foreign direct investments inflow of US$7.18 in 2022.

There are 6,087 Filipinos in Indonesia, most of them professionals.

Both countries have a wide range of bilateral cooperation on defense and security, logistics, maritime, technical cooperation, border crossing patrol, trade and economic cooperation, immigration anti-narcotics and antitransnational crime, anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering.

Ministers Manalo and Marsudi are also expected to exchange views on key regional and international issues of common concern for the Philippines and Indonesia, including the South China Sea. Widodo, whose term ends in October 2024, will meet President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday.

His visit reciprocates the trip of President Marcos to Indonesia in September 2022.

The JCBC and Jokowi’s visit to Manila coincides with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations this year.

GOCC...

Tax...

Continued from A1

Inflation

DIOKNO said recent government efforts have tamed inf lation.

Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inf lation averaged 3.9 percent in December 2023 and 6 percent in 2023.

The inflation in December 2023 is the lowest since February 2022 when the increase in commodity prices averaged 3 percent.

However, the full-year inflation average of 6 percent is the highest since 2008 when the rise in commodity prices averaged 8.2 percent.

“This proves the effectiveness of aligned monetary and fiscal policies as well as the efficacy of direct measures to augment domestic supply, address logistical bottlenecks, and arrest uncompetitive practices in key commodity markets,” Diokno said.

Disinf lation is expected to continue this year through the strategies crafted by the InterAgency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) and the monetary policy of the Ba ngko Sent ra l ng P i l ipi na s (BSP).

In its last meeting for 2023, the BSP’s Monetary Board left the Target Reverse Repurchase (RRP) Rate unchanged at 6.5 percent.

T he i nterest rates on t he overnight deposit and lending facilities have also been maintained at 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

For 2024, BSP earlier said the risk-adjusted forecast declined to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in the previous meeting in November, while the risk-adjusted inflation forecast is unchanged at 3.4 percent for 2025.

“Keeping the inflation rate within manageable levels to protect the Filipino people’s purchasing power

Off...

Investments

APART from these, Diokno said the enactment of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code and the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) will contribute to the economy’s growth this year.

The PPP Code and MIF could lead to more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows that will generate jobs and boost the economy.

Investments will also benefit from recent reforms such as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act and amendments to the Public Service Act. He also noted that the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Foreign Investments Act, and the revised implementing rules and regulations of the Renewable Energy Act are also included in these “gamechanging structural reforms.”

Further, both Standard & Poors Global and Fitch Ratings affirmed the Philippines’ BBB+ and tripleB ratings with Stable outlook, respectively.

In August 2023, Rating and Investment Information Inc. (R&I), a Japanese credit rating agency, affirmed the country’s triple-B plus rating and revised its outlook from stable to positive.

“The country’s investor-grade credit ratings are a vote of confidence in the economy,” Diokno said. “Credit rating agencies and market analysts remain confident in the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals due to the sustained economic recovery, strong external position, improving fiscal position with declining debt, sound banking system, and stable political environment.”

Cai U. Ordinario

Continued from A1

The option to pay internal revenue taxes to the city or municipal treasurer with jurisdiction over the taxpayer was removed in order to encourage the shift to electronic payment channels.

Furthermore, it ensures the availability of registration facilities to taxpayers not residing in the country.

The law also harmonizes the rules on the value-added tax (VAT) treatment of sales of goods and services, thereby requiring sales invoice for both.

The mandatory issuance of receipts for each sale and transfer of goods and services will be increased to P500 from P100.

The VAT refunds will be classified into low-, medium-, and highrisk claims which are based on the amount of VAT refund claim, tax compliance history, and frequency of filing of VAT refund claims, among others.

Moreover, an invoice system will be implemented to accelerate VAT refunds. The Act also provides a 180-day period for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to process general refund claims on erroneous or illegally collected taxes.

On top of this, the Ease of Paying Taxes and Digitalization Roadmap will be developed by the BIR to promote and assist taxpayers by streamlining tax processes,

Continued from A1

The other top dividend contributors were the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) with P14.05 billion; the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) with P6.96 billion; and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) with P4.44 billion.

The list also includes the Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) with P3.15 billion; the Philippine

and maintaining macroeconomic stability shall remain the government’s top priority,” Diokno said.

Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) with P2.67 billion; and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) with P1.68 billion.

The DOF said other top contributors are the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) with P1.52 billion; the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) with P1.48 billion; the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) with P1.35 billion; and the Clark Development Corpo-

reducing documentary requirements, and digitalizing its services.

In line with this effort, the number of income tax return (ITR) pages will be reduced from four to two pages only.

However, the President vetoed Section 8 of the Act which exempts micro taxpayers from withholding creditable income tax, citing possible understatement of tax obligations that would impact on the government’s cash flows.

Creditable withholding taxes serve as advance payment of tax obligations and an audit trail for compliance.

“We have to strike a balance between providing relief to taxpayers, on the one hand, and maintaining administrative efficiency through the integrity of our tax collection and monitoring mechanisms, on the other,” the President explained.

The law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) shall be promulgated 90 days from the effectivity of the Act, after consultations between the DOF, the BIR, and the private sector.

RA No. 11976 takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or a newspaper of general circulation.

The EOPT Act was tagged as a priority legislation in his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Cai U. Ordinario

ration (CDC) with P1.21 billion.

Republic Act No. 7656 or the Dividends Law of 1994 mandates all GOCCs to declare and remit at least 50 percent of their annual net earnings to the national government.

A total of 51 GOCCs remitted dividends to the National Treasury as of December 31, 2023.

The dividends have been a major source of non-tax revenues to fund the accelerated implementation of programs on infrastructure and various social and economic programs of the government.

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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

Probers urged to get ‘good grasp’ on cause of Panay power outage

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

A

MID calls for a full inquiry into the January 2 power outages on Panay island, a veteran legislator has urged all concerned, including lawmakers, to consider the “whole picture” before simply pinning the blame on the main transmission company, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

Senator Francisco “Chiz” Escudero said NGCP was right in citing the unscheduled maintenance shutdowns of generating companies in Western Visayas for the massive, prolonged brownouts, but acknowledged that part of NGCP’s mandate was also to make sure there is standby source of power as contingency.

However, Escudero pointed out that NGCP sourcing of ancillary power reserve could also substantially push up electricity rates, since this is on a “take-or-pay” setup, and noted a case a few years ago when sudden spikes in electricity rates were traced to the transmission operator’s being forced to source power elsewhere.

“Yes, that’s what they say, that NGCP should have an ancillary source of energy, but the problem there is, one, it’s take or pay, meaning, even if there is no plant that went on unscheduled shutdown and the ancillary reserve is there, we all still have to pay for it,” Escudero explained, partly in Filipino, in a radio interview over the weekend.

He also corrected misimpressions that users are already paying for the cost of ancillary power in the current billing system.

“No, what we’re paying for now is for systems loss. We pay transmission charge to NGCP, we pay systems loss to the distribution utility, distribution charge to the distribution utility. And then there’s FIT [feed in tariff] for those that the government is encouraging [to go] solar and renewables, and you have a generation charge.”

He pointed out that the bill, for example, paid to Meralco for those in Metro Manila, shows that the biggest cost or “more or less 30 percent, is the generation charge,” followed by about 22 percent for distribution, systems loss, and the FIT. “The transmission cost we pay to NGCP is at 5 percent. So, if you just review the costs we’re paying for, the entity that plays the biggest role in providing electricity is the generating company, followed by the distribution company and then the transmission or main transmission company that is NGCP.” Given all these, Escudero said congressional probers and other agencies should study well the whole picture in considering calls to review, or even cancel NGCP’s franchise.

The House of Representatives earlier served notice that it would start its inquiry in aid of legislation soon, and would summon officials of the Department of Energy, the NGCP and generating companies: Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) and MORE Power, the two major power plants providing electricity to Panay Island.

Earlier, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the DOE, and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), as well as the Western Visayas local governments pinned blame on NGCP, which insisted that it’s the gencos’ unscheduled shutdowns that caused the outage.

Officials noted that a similar event happened in April 2023 and the NGCP should have been ready for contingencies for such occurrence.

Escudero, however, said there had been a “big improvement” in the way the transmission system has run since it was privatized and awarded to NGCP, majority-owned by a local consortium with minority stake from a Chinese state firm.

“But as I said, let’s look at the whole picture. Remember when electricity prices spiked in Metro Manila, which was a December? We were told that there were unscheduled plant shutdowns—the reason for NGCP to turn to the wholesale electricity stock market or WESM...but the price there was high that time. Metro Manila residents complained, because it was passed on to them.”

The hearings that ensued afterwards called on NGCP to have standby power, meaning, in case of an unscheduled shutdown like that in Panay Island, NGCP has standby power to provide to the grid going to consumers. “But the problem there is, if there is no unscheduled shutdown, whether or not that is used, it must be paid for. Do we want that?” the senator asked. He noted that the DOE has not yet provided full guidance on that issue.

Senate probe

SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Monday filed a Senate resolution calling for an “extensive” inquiry into the recent power outage, which affected households throughout Panay and Guimaras, amid reports of inaction and lack of real-time information from grid operator NGCP during the incident.

In proposed Senate Resolution No. 890, Hontiveros said that a “deeper and more extensive” investigation is needed to address all factors behind the Panay blackout last January 2, which disrupted the daily lives of people in five provinces, caused substantial financial losses for businesses, and impeded the operation of government offices, schools, and hospitals.

“Considering that past investigations and probes have not yielded palpable results, an even more comprehensive, thorough, and extensive examination needs to be conducted, including a review of the concession agreement between the National Transmission Corporation and the NGCP, as well as NGCP’s 25-year legislative franchise itself,” her resolution stated.

“We must urgently review and strengthen the effectiveness of all protocols, such as DOE’s mechanisms during incidents like simultaneous and unplanned power plant shutdowns. NGCP claims that its decision to take no action like manual load dropping during the blackout was according to ‘standard protocols.’ Standard procedure ba talaga na magsawalang kibo kapag may krisis gaya ng blackout?,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros, who hails from Panay, noted that Department of Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla has blamed NGCP for the power outage, since the “company failed to prevent the system-wide power shutdown by proactively calling on the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in Panay to reduce their load and avoid a sub-system-wide collapse.”

She also questioned the slow and inadequate real-time updates to energy stakeholders and the public amid the power outage. Real time monitoring of the Visayas grid using the NGCP’s own Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system, Hontiveros said, should have allowed it to provide information and act immediately during the critical 2-hour period between the disruption of PEDC Unit 1, and the subsequent shutdown by other power plants.

House reso

HOUSE Senior Deputy Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” A. Marcos has formally filed House Resolution (HR) 1534, which calls for a review on the franchise of NGCP while looking into the sudden and widespread power outage that struck Western Visayas on January 2.

“There is a compelling need for Congress to conduct an investigation with the end in view of revisiting and reviewing the franchise of the NGCP,” Marcos said in his two-page resolution filed on January 5, 2024.

In clarifying the purpose behind the probe, Marcos suggested a comprehensive review that explores the potential separation and transfer of the systems operation function from the NGCP to an entity better equipped to execute such responsibilities with greater efficiency.

The House leader explained that the inquiry is aimed at ensuring the “timely expansion of the transmission system in line with the development needs of our people and for its effective and efficient operation.”

“The review should include the possible separation and transfer of the systems operation function from the NGCP to another entity that could carry out such a function more efficiently,” said Marcos. With Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

PNP chief slams vloggers in ‘destabilization’ drive

By Rex Anthony Naval

W

ITH disinformation still rearing its ugly head this 2024, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. called on all police officers to unite to combat this threat.

“In the face of disinformation circulating in different platforms, let us unite as law enforcers, upholding the rule of law, respecting the Constitution and defending our government. As your chief PNP, I am counting on you,” he said during Monday’s flag-raising ceremonies in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

Acorda made this appeal after some

vloggers continue to use his picture and that of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. to create videos and contents claiming that they are withdrawing support from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and asking for the Chief Executive’s resignation.

“No less than my face, the face of the CSAFP [Chief of Staff, AFP] posted on viral and saying the AFP and the PNP withdrawing support or asking the resignation of the President, it’s unforgivable,” he added.

And while the Philippine government respects freedom of expression and speech, Acorda said that as law enforcers, the PNP is mandated to protect the community and enforce the law.

“It hurts me that there are people na gusto lang maging sikat yung kanilang vlog ay gagawa ng mga disinformation [who in their desire to make their vlog famous would go about posting content spreading disinformation],” he added.

Also, such actions are very detrimental to the interest and image of the country even as the PNP, along with other security forces, are doing their best to ensure that the Philippines maintains a stable investment climate.

Acorda also appealed to these vloggers not to post disinformation just to “create a viral vlog.”

PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo earlier urged the public not to give credence

MIAA tightens airport security after discovery of shabu stash in premises

By Nonie Reyes

T

HE newly-appointed general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Eric Jose C. Ines, ordered a full K-9 sweep of a former restaurant and spa at the fourth level of the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1, including its adjacent spaces, following the discovery of illegal drugs in the area by construction workers.

Ines also ordered the cordoning off of the area to ensure a thorough search where a significant amount of illegal drugs were found last December 15, 2023, and last Sunday, January 7, 2024, at a closed restaurant and spa during the height of the Covid pandemic.

To further strengthen security, Ines met with the MIAA Security Block and shall meet with key law enforcement agencies at Naia, including the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the National Bureau of

MIAA’s New Leadership: MIAA General Manager Eric Castro Ines joins his first flag-raising ceremony at the MIAA Admin Building, connecting with airport employees. After the ceremony, GM Ines personally received the permanent Aerodrome Certificate from Noel Butingan, OIC Safety Management Office, bestowed by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines. NONIE REYES

Investigation (NBI). These collaborative efforts aim to enhance coordination and intelligence sharing to prevent similar

incidents in the future.

MIAA has reported a significant seizure of suspected illegal drugs on January 7,

NCRPO units now ready for today’s ‘Traslacion’

T

HE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Sunday announced that its units are now ready to secure this year’s “Traslacion” or the religious procession that is the highlight of the Feast of the Black Nazarene every January 9.

NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez, issued the statement during the send-off ceremonies for police personnel deployed in this year’s Traslacion held at the Quirino Grandstand, Rizal Park, Manila last January 6.

“We are committed to give our best, and I assure you that with the Philippine National Police leadership, other agencies and [the Manila] local government in partnership with the PNP [Philippine National Police] will be supporting this undertaking,” he added.

Also present during the ceremonies were City of Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan and Manila Police District commander Col. Arnold Thomas Ibay.

With some 2.3 million devotees expected to attend this year’s procession, the PNP said that it would be deploying a total of 15,276 personnel for the festivities.

Other units to augment the deployment of troops will be coming from the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Police Regional Office 3 (PRO-3), Police Regional Office 4A (PRO-4A), Special Action Force (SAF), Maritime Unit, Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB-NCRPO), Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high yield Explosive (CBRNE), Regional Explosive and Canine Unit (RECU), Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and other forces that will be in charge of emergency responses.

Among the restrictions during

the Traslacion include no vendors are allowed within the vicinity of Quiapo Church; devotees are not allowed to wear hoodie jackets, caps, use of backpacks, water bottles, umbrella and raincoats.

Also, firecrackers or pyrotechnics, deadly or bladed weapons are prohibited in the Traslacion along with intoxicated people.

These measures are being implemented to preempt any untoward incident that would wreck the celebration of the festivity.

Meanwhile a “no-fly zone” and “no drone zone” will be implemented from January 7 to 10 at the vicinity of Quirino Grandstand and Quiapo Church as well as on the routes of the procession.

Also a “no-sail zone” will be implemented at the waters of South Harbor, Manila (near Quirino Grandstand) and Pasig River from 12 a.m. of January 6 to 12 a.m. of January 10.

Suspension of permit to carry firearms outside residence (PTCFOR) within the City of Manila will be imposed effective 12:01 a.m. of January 8 to 12:01 a.m. of January 10.

Likewise, a gun ban within the entire City of Manila will also be implemented from 7 a.m. of January 8 to 7 a.m. of January 10.

The Traslacion, one of the country’s popular religious events involving the procession of the Black Nazarene statue from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church, was canceled for the past three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

PBBM: Discover our inner strength

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said he is hopeful the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene on Tuesday will help bring a brighter future for the country.

In his brief message on the eve of

the event, the Chief Executive called on the Filipino faithful to use the occasion to rekindle their sense of hope and purpose by reflecting on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

“By working through our struggles and difficulties, we discover our inner strength and resolve, emerging from the pits of darkness and despair with a renewed sense of hope and purpose,” Marcos said.

“With our faith guiding our every word and deed, I am certain that we will build a brighter future for our nation and create a world where love, kindness, and harmony reign supreme,” he added.

Gatchalian: Ensure safety of devotees

SENATOR Win Gatchalian urged the PNP to ensure the safety and security of devotees participating in the Black Nazarene procession.

“Police authorities should heighten their vigilance, coordinate closely with relevant authorities, and deploy necessary resources to maintain order all throughout the procession,” Gatchalian said.

“It’s important that our people are able to exercise their religious beliefs peacefully and without concerns about their security. Our religious freedom helps all of us to remain true to our core values and be good citizens of our country,” he added.

Gatchalian also urged the public, especially devotees and Traslacion attendees, to follow established rules and guidelines set by the authorities.

“Be vigilant and report any suspicious activity promptly to the authorities. It is through shared responsibility and collaborative efforts that we can make Traslacion 2024 a safe and meaningful experience for all,” Gatchalian emphasized. Rex Anthony Naval, Samuel P. Medenilla and Butch Fernandez

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to these vlogs and social media posts, as these are only fake news.

She also warned the public against posting and sharing these on social media, as they can be made liable if these materials violated the law.

Brawner earlier said the military is determined to defeat all threats to the country’s security with the strong support of President Marcos.

“With the strong leadership of our Commander-in-Chief, the AFP will move as one in defeating all threats to our peace and national security,” he added.

Brawner also said all members of the AFP stand firm in its unwavering loyalty to the Constitution and its solemn commitment to fulfill its mandate.

“The men and women of the AFP remain steadfast in their role as the guardians of our nation’s sovereignty and defender of democratic principles,” he added.

Brawner also assured the Filipino people that members of the AFP continue to exemplify the highest standards of professionalism.

2024, at an out-of-service kitchen area at the former lounge at Naia Terminal 1. Found in this long-closed and secure location were approximately 1.6 kilos of shabu with an estimated street value of P10 million wrapped in deteriorated plastic pouches and black tape.

The area, which was closed during the pandemic but reopened recently opened for potential renovation, suggests that the drugs had been concealed there for a considerable time, including the first one last December 15, 2023.

“This incident, while concerning, highlights the vigilance and effectiveness of our security measures. We will remain on full alert, with the ultimate goal of ensuring a drug-free workplace,” Ines added.

“These discoveries…are part of an ongoing investigation that reflects our unwavering dedication to the safety and security of all individuals within the airport premises,” he added.

The MIAA reassured the public and stakeholders of its commitment to maintaining stringent screening procedures and operational integrity, adding the agency continues to enhance its security protocols in response to these incidents, aiming for a secure, safe, and drug-free airport environment.

Go calls for prudent spending after DOH budget hike in GAA

S

ENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, commended the collaborative efforts that led to a significant increase in the 2024 budget for the Department of Health (DOH).

The 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) has earmarked approximately P241.1 billion for the DOH, significantly rising from the initially proposed P199.1 billion in the National Expenditure Program (NEP), highlighting an increase of P42 billion.

As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography and vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, Go played a key role in ensuring a sufficient budget for health this year after concerns were raised last year due to a proposed decrease in the health budget.

He expressed his elation over the budget augmentation. “This budget represents hope and improved health opportunities for millions of Filipinos. I am immensely proud that we have managed to secure this for our ‘kababayans,’” he stated.

The budget notably includes increased funding for the operations of DOH Regional Hospitals, which has been raised to approximately P50.9 billion in the GAA, up from around P49.8 billion in the NEP. Furthermore, the Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients (MAIP) program has received a substantial boost, with the GAA allocating nearly P58.1 billion, significantly higher than the NEP’s proposal of about P22.3 billion.

The Cancer Assistance Fund also experienced an increase, with approximately P1.25 billion allocated in the GAA, up from the NEP’s P1 billion and 2023’s budget of P500 million.

The health budget also includes around P20 billion for Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances. About P28.6 billion was allocated for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program to improve health facilities nationwide, including the establishment of 132 more Super Health Centers that Go has advocated for in the past.

With the significant increase in the health budget, Go further emphasized the importance of effective budget utilization and proper implementation of these funded programs.

“With great budget comes great responsibility. Every peso must be spent wisely, with transparency and accountability, to serve the Filipino people especially the less fortunate,” he remarked.

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

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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FFCCCII lauds Go’s designation as OSAPIEA Cybersecurity threats in 2024 chief, but keeps ‘cautious optimism’ for ’24

it. A reserve budget that can be activated for that purpose without having to go through lengthy budgetary exception approvals should be in place.

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

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HE Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) on Monday said it supports President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s appointment of Frederick Go to the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, (OSAPIEA), stressing the designation is a pivotal step towards fostering increased domestic and foreign investments for the Philippine economy.

Cecilio K. Pedro, president of FFCCCII, voiced his support for Go, stating, “We at FFCCCII support President Marcos’ appointment due to his proven competence, leadership, and commendable track record as a dynamic businessman who played a key role in building a robust business. His application of a

private sector viewpoint can expedite Philippine development, particularly in attracting manufacturing investments. It is noteworthy that Go’s late uncle, the revered industrial icon and philanthropist John L. Gokongwei Jr., held the esteemed position of FFCCCII Honorary Executive Adviser.”

Dr. Pedro further articulated the business sector’s optimism to the Marcos administration in pursuing warm relations with other countries to ensure a solid economic diplomacy.

“We hope to reiterate the urgent request of the business sector for the government to pursue peaceful relations with our neighbors, ensuring a conducive environment for investments to continue flowing into our country.”

In elucidating FFCCCII’s perspective, Pedro underscored the government’s acknowledgment of the pivotal

role played by the private business sector, especially in the face of current global economic uncertainties.

Pedro noted the selection of Go is perceived by FFCCCII as a testament to the government’s commitment to prioritizing private enterprise in navigating the intricate challenges of the economic environment.

FFCCCII has responded positively to the establishment of a dedicated advisory office under Mr. Go’s stewardship, “considering it an additional avenue for effective communication between the national government and the private sector, facilitating the resolution of pertinent issues.”

Looking ahead to the new year, Dr. Pedro conveyed, “FFCCCII welcomes 2024 with cautious optimism, coinciding with the auspicious ‘Year of the Dragon’ commencing on February 10, the Chinese Lunar New Year. Let

PBBM: 51% of FMR projects completed

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ITH the completion of more than half of t he t a rgeted fa r mto-market roads (FMR) of his administration last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said more farmers and communities were given better access to urban centers.

In a brief video message, the Chief Executive disclosed 51 percent of the 131,410 kilometers of the Farm-to-Market Road Network Program were already built since last year.

“We have built 67,328.92 kilometers, which is equivalent to 32 times the [distance] between Aparri to Jolo,” Marcos said partly in Filipino.

He noted that the network is a priority of his administration since it will benefit not just the agriculture sector. “It is a testament to the magnitude of accomplishment of the government,” Marcos said.

“It is not an initiative [that is exclusive to the] agriculture sector. It is a connection between all

the different communities but of course its main purpose is to connect the markets and the producers—to our agriculture sectors especially,” he added.

The President said the remaining kilometers of the road network would be completed in the coming years as part of his administration’s Build Better More initiatives.

I n a not he r de ve lo pme nt , Malacañang reported the Kalinga at Inisyatiba Para Sa Malinis na Bayan (Kalinisan) program during the weekend resulted in the collection

us focus on unity, stability, continuous reforms, working for peace with all our neighboring countries in order to attract more foreign direct investments and tourists.”

Pedro added: “March 2024 also marks the 70th anniversary of FFCCCII, and this dynamic nationwide business umbrella, encompassing 170 Filipino Chinese chambers of commerce and diverse business associations, reaffirms our dedication to progressive economic advocacies and philanthropic endeavors.”

He also emphasized “we at FFCCCII view the appointment of Frederick Go as a proactive approach towards fortifying the symbiotic relationship and partnership between the private sector and the government, working collaboratively for robust, inclusive, and sustainable Philippine economic growth.”

of 2.6 million kilograms of trash.

Citing a report from the Department of the Interior and L o c a l G o v e r n m e nt ( D I L G), the 2,646,948 kilograms of waste came from 9,189 participating barangays nationwide.

Most or 103,249 of the participants came from Cagayan Valley followed by Central Luzon (103,044) and Calabarzon (117,161).

The agency noted 580,000 volunteers and 109,939 local officials participated in the clean up drive as part of the celebration of the National Community Development Day last Saturday. Samuel P. Medenilla

Businesses told to shift to ‘circular economy’ track

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N official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) called on business leaders to increase the adaption of the “circular economy” concept and move away from the traditional linear models.

The call was made by DENR-Environmental Management Bureau Assistant Director Esperanza Sajul at the recently held International Conference on Connecting the Dots on Circular Economy for Sustainable Development held in Muntinlupa City, where the DENR showcased research and solutions from experts spanning across countries, such as the Philippines, India, South Korea, Thailand, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Ethiopia.

The shift from linear to circular economy extends beyond env ironmenta l sustainabi lit y and brings economic benefits,

such as cost reduction, brand enhancement, and the creation of new opportunities, the official stressed.

“It’s essential to grasp that traditional linear and extractive economic systems, while once generating prosperity, have proven to be unsustainable. They pose significant threats to biodiversity, fuel resource scarcity, and exacerbate economic inequalities. In response, a circular economy emerges as the answer,” she said.

Strategic waste management can lead to stable livelihoods, economic growth, and increased disaster resilience, Sajul added.

“The circular economy isn’t a mere concept; it is a profound solution where waste is transformed into a valuable resource, and sustainability serves as the bedrock of progress,” she pointed out.

The DENR underscored the potential of the circular economy paradigm, aiming to replace the traditional take-make-dispose model with a focus on resource efficiency, sustainability, and waste minimization. By extending the life cycle of products and strategically managing waste, this approach offers not only environmental benefits but also economic gains.

The circular economy transition may involve strategies like product-as-a-service models, take-back programs, and innovative product design approaches, necessitating investments in technology and infrastructure.

The DENR believes that even micro, small and medium-sized enterprises play a significant role in driving social and environmental progress, considering these enterprises dominate the business land-

scape in the country.

According to 2019 data from the World Bank, around 70 percent of the material value of plastics is lost to the Philippine economy each year.

This is equivalent to roughly a value loss of around $790 million to $890 million per year.

Republic Act 11898, known as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022, holds producers accountable for products throughout their life cycle, encouraging eco-friendly design and recycling efforts.

While not mandatory for MSMEs, the DENR encourages them to register their EPR programs. This collective effort aims to reduce waste, conserve resources, and minimize environmental impact, fostering sustainability and economic opportunities for businesses in the Philippines. Jonathan L. Mayuga

DA chief pushes for more farm infra projects in medium term

By Cai U. Ordinario

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@caiordinario

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) is pushing for more infrastructure projects for the farm sector in the medium term.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said this is part of the 10-point agenda for the DA in the medium-term.

These infrastructure projects include warehouses, seaports, food terminals, and roads, which are all considered crucial in bringing down the cost of food.

“The DA is also working towards digitalization and a thorough review of the minimum access volume to rationalize food importation,” Tiu Laurel said.

Based on the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), food inflation eased to 5.5 percent in December 2023 from 5.8 percent in November 2023 and

10.6 percent in December 2022.

In the full year of 2023, food inflation averaged 8 percent, which was still higher than the 6.1 percent posted in 2022.

The price of rice, the country’s food staple, increased 19.6 percent in December 2023 compared to the 15.8 percent posted in December 2022.

Rice has a weight of 8.87 percent in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Income Households and as much as 17.87 percent in the basket of goods for the Bottom 30 percent of households.

“If we can work together well, then I think we can move forward faster,” Tiu Laurel said in a recent meeting with regional agricultural and fisheries councils.

During the meeting, the councils presented their recommendations which, included issues affecting the production of rice, fish and other aquatic resources, poultry and livestock, corn and

feed crops, high value crops, including rubber and fiber crops, coconut, as well as domestic trade and mechanization.

The list of recommendations include the establishment of cold storage facilities for vegetables, including onions, as well as laboratories for biosecurity concerns; conversion of rice competitive enhancement funds to rice price subsidy; and mechanization of farm processes, including those for high value crops and fiber.

The councils also pushed for the establishment of local nurseries and seed banks to ensure high quality planting materials and seeds; widening and intensifying soil testing to optimize land use and productivity; and t he est abl ish ment of i n l a nd fisheries and hatcheries in upland areas.

They also called for the revival of the direct farmer linkage to market via Kadiwa centers; the timely

release of hybrid seed and fertilizer interventions; and implementation of the higher biofuel blend to help the coconut industry.

The councils also pushed for the creation of a Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the establishment of data center for timely agricultural statistics.

Tiu Laurel said the dialogue with regional councils gave him with a clearer perspective on how to pursue agricultural modernization.

This is crucial, the DA said, since agriculture accounts for four in every 10 jobs in the Philippines but the sector’s contribution to the domestic economy is less than 10 percent.

A dramatic improvement in the farm sector could generate more jobs and led to faster growth of the economy, not to mention tame inflation and lessen dependence on imported agricultural products.

Make security awareness a cultural trait in your organization

By Henry J. Schumacher

T

HIS year, cybercriminals will be as busy as ever. Are your departments ready to fight them?

Make your organization future-ready build your organization’s security awareness and skills:

Invest in your existing staff

THE best sources for raw talent are in your pre-existing networking and system groups.

Individuals in these groups already have a sound grasp of IT infrastructure, where most security attacks are likely to manifest.

They can build upon this infrastructure foundation by adding cybersecurity skills, and they will also buy into the organization long-term when they see you are willing to invest in their education, certifications and career opportunities.

Assign someone in your staff to be a security analyst

IT security analysts research trends and security incidents around the world so you can anticipate what the security threats of the future will be and be ready for them. Most companies don’t have this position, which is why they get caught flat-footed when a new security threat emerges. Cybercriminals work 24/7 to develop the “next best attack.” Your company should be forward-thinking and proactive about security as well.

Create a budget reserve for security

IT departments budget for security threats they’re already aware of, but nothing is allocated for the threats IT doesn’t know about yet. If an unforeseen threat emerges, you have to have the budgetary wherewithal to purchase the tools to fight

EMPLOYEES are a major source of security breaches. Unfortunately, many companies relegate employee security training to the fundamentals.

Employee security training, policies and practices should be fully and clearly documented, reviewed annually with employees and continuously emphasized by the CEO, the CIO, HR and other C-levels executives so they are deeply ingrained in your workforce.

Secure the edge of your enterprise

GLOBALLY, there will be over 25 billion IoT devices in use by 2030, and enterprises will be major users. With the growth of remote employee workforces and the distribution of more IT to the edges of enterprises, it will be imperative for IT to provide the same robust security at the edge as it does in the data center.

To patrol the edge, IT will need to do these six things: Implement zero-trust networks that can monitor and administer employee access and permission levels.

Administer timely security updates for all edge IT assets.

Set security on all new incoming IoT devices so they conform to company standards.

Provide secure physical cages for IT equipment at the edge when it is not in use.

Ensure that edge employees and managers are thoroughly trained in IT security policies and procedures.

Include IoT edge and cloud in your DR plan and test them.

In conclusion: How much security is enough? If you’ve firewalled your network, installed security monitoring and interception software, secured your servers, issued multifactor identification sign-ons to employees and implemented data encryption, but you forgot to lock physical facilities containing servers or to install the latest security updates on smartphones, are you covered?

Your comments will be welcome; if you need any assistance, let me know. You can reach me under hjschumacher59@ gmail.com

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Tesda offers scholarship for PUVMP ‘casualties’

By Roderick L. Abad

Contributor

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HE last day of this month may be the end of the road for franchises of unconsolidated public utility vehicles (PUV), but they can still see the light at the end of the tunnel with the government’s aid for them to learn new skills that will empower them to start a new career or enter into entrepreneurial endeavors.

Through the state’s arm for technical vocational [tech-voc] education and training, those who will be affected by the modernization of public transportation can avail of the scholarship it has been offering since 2019.

“The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority [Tesda] fully supports the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) of the Department of Transportation [DOTr],” Tesda said in a statement Monday.

Per the recent declaration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the December 31, 2023 deadline for the consolidation of PUV operators was not extended. Hence, the PUVMP has become fully effective at the start of this year to help ease the situation of millions of commuters with better, cleaner and safer transport modes.

Those who did not sign up are allowed to ply their routes until January 31. The franchises of PUV operators who failed to consolidate

will then be canceled or revoked by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

“At Tesda, we believe that the PUVMP will be able to address the country’s prevailing transport issues and future demands, and ultimately, the whole nation will be able to benefit from an improved and strengthened transportation system,” the agency said.

Aware that there are people whose livelihood means have been or will be impacted by this program in one way or another, the agency underscored that its Tsuper Iskolar Scholarship Program, which was funded with P300 million for 2023 alone, is open for them to acquire new knowledge and skills to get employment from other sectors or put up their own business.

Under this initiative, drivers, operators and their family members who have been displaced or otherwise affected by PUVMP are entitled to free tech-voc skills training, and assessment and certification. Likewise, they will receive a training allowance of P350 a day for up to 35 days.

“We encourage our kababayans to approach any Tesda office to check where they can avail of the Tsuper Iskolar program and take this opportunity to learn new skills that will empower them to start a new career or engage in entrepreneurial activities,” Tesda said.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

ACCENTURE, INC. 7f Robinsons Cybergate Tower 1, Pioneer St., Barangka Ilaya, City Of Mandaluyong LHAMU, NIMA Business Transformation Manager 1.

Brief Job Description: Maintain operational quality across programs by monitoring budget, scheduling, risk and scope.

Drive reduction in variability and defects in business processes.

NAGATANI, REO Client Financial MGMT Senior Analyst 2.

Brief Job Description: Prepare and interpret financial plans and reports, ensuring accuracy and compliance with applicable financial rules and regulations, including internal financial controls, to mitigate risk for the company.

Basic Qualification: College graduate. With high level of expertise and experience in Capacity and Performance Monitoring.

Basic Qualification: College level. With at least 2 years of workrelated experience in a similar field. With good communication skills.

3.

Brief Job Description: Works with client or require information about services from the company.

10.

11.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

12.

Basic Qualification: Strong communication skills, patient and possess a positive attitude.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 13.

CHINA INTERNATIONAL WATER AND ELECTRIC CORP. (BRANCH OFFICE) 5/f, Two E-com Mall Of Asia Complex Bldg., Harbor Drive St., District 1, Barangay 76, Pasay City

4.

NAN, CHANGJIANG TBM Specialist Brief Job Description: Operates Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM).

Basic Qualification: Construction work experience & TBM Specialist.

LIU, PU-HUNG Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative 5.

6.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming and outgoing calls, chats and emails.

HA MANH HOANG Vietnamese Speaking Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Manage incoming and outgoing calls, chats, and emails.

7.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the logistics operations across the region.

15.

LU, CHENG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database service.

YAO, YANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

MILENIA Indonesian Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

CHONG KAR KAR Malaysian Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

LIEW TZE HOU Malaysian Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

THANT NANDAR Myanmari Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in Mandarin language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

16.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading, and writing in Vietnamese language.

17.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Logistics Operations Manager or in a similar managerial role within the logistics or supply chain industry.

18.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BANG, THI PHUONG OANH Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

GIANG, THI PHANG Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

HOANG, XUAN HAI Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

JTB ASIA PACIFIC PHIL. CORP. U2 18/f Rcbc Savings Bank Corp. Ctr., 26th & 25th St. Bonifacio South Bgc, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

KONAKA, SHINTARO Corporate Sales & Operations- Japanese Desk

8.

Brief Job Description: Organize travels from beginning to end, through coordination with other department in booking tickets, contact to suppliers for accommodation, securing rental transportation, make accurate, rapid cost calculations and providing customers with quotations.

Basic Qualification: Thorough, extensive fluency in Japanese language both written and reading in business level, and efficiency in producing, creating strategic approach on travel plans for Inbound and Corporate Business clients.

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

19.

LE YEN NHI Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

LEE, MINSUN Customer Service Consultant 9.

Brief Job Description: Assist customer with all travel related services & customer enquiries.

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications with good verbal and written communication skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications with good verbal and written communication skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

No.

22.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

23.

24.

25.

20.

LE, THANH LOI Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

21.

LUC, VAN SINH Vietnamese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese Mandarin language both written and spoken. 5 years of work experience in construction industry.

Brief Job Description: Develop methods, techniques, and procedures for the implementation and troubleshooting of special construction discipline work processes.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

HUANG, MIN-YING Chinese Language Support Service

26.

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

YANG, PENG Chinese Language Support Service 27.

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

LUONG NHUAN THU Vietnamese Language Support Service Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

LY BOI SAN Vietnamese Language Support Service 29.

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

LY, HONG PAN Vietnamese Language Support Service 30.

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

PHU, LY LAM Vietnamese Language Support Service 31.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

Brief Job Description: Supervise financial and accounting processes and ensure adherence to company/federal laws.

Prepare and distribute budget reports and financial statements. Manage accounts payables and receivables activities.

CAO, MINGLIANG Chinese Language Support Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications with good verbal and written communication skills.

Basic Qualification: IT course graduate. With previous work experience in a similar role and with good communication skills.

WISHLAND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY INC. 28/f Techzone Condo Corp., 213 Buendia Ave., San Antonio, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

PEI, WENBING Project Manager

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Customer service.

WEI YUAN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT INC. 2/f Amara Building, 1661 Evangelista St,, Bangkal, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English language.

ROBY WIJAYA Call Center Agent

CHEN, JINRAN Compliance Officer

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer applications with good verbal and written communication skills.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

PRIMA FINTECH (PHILIPPINES) LENDING CORPORATION Unit E-2301 A/b & E-2302 A/b East Tower, Psec Exchange Road Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

NOCMAKATI, INC. 8,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,17,18 & 19 Floors, Century Diamond Center, Poblacion, City Of Makati

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

THONG A PHU Vietnamese Language Support Service 32.

LUFTHANSA SERVICES PHILIPPINES, INC. 8th Floor Aeon Center, Northgate Cyberzone, Alabang, City Of Muntinlupa

Basic Qualification: Excellent in verbal and written communication skills especially in Korean language.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

28.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

INTELUCK CORPORATION 9/f 107 Aguirre Bldg., Aguirre St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

WANG, GANMING Logistics Operations Manager

14.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

DIGICHROM INC. 25/f Yuchengco Tower, Rcbc Plaza, 6819 Ayala Ave. Cor. Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati Unit 2001-a, 2602 & 2603 20/f & 26/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION 1331 Pearl Plaza Bldg., 133 Quirino Ave., Tambo, City Of Parañaque Sky Garage Bldg., Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

CHEONGDAM CORPORATION (CHEONGDAM SPA) Unit 101 G/f Rosemont Tower, No. 75 Panay Ave., Paligsahan, Quezon City

OH, KYOKWANG Korean Customer Service

No.

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Brief Job Description: Provide support services across technology programs and projects.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Mandarin language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Mandarin language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in Chinese language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Vietnamese language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Vietnamese language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Vietnamese language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Vietnamese language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking Vietnamese language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

*Date Generated: Jan 8, 2024 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 National Capital Region located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this publication.

Please inform DOLE National Capital Region if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

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TheWorld BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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

Israel says Hezbollah hit sensitive air traffic base in the north and warns of ‘another war’

By Julia Frankel, Samy Magdy & Najib Jobain The Associated Press

J

ERUSALEM—Hezbollah has struck an air traffic control base in northern Israel, the Israeli military said Sunday, and warned of “another war” with the Iran-backed militant group.

The increase in fighting across the border with Lebanon as Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza gave new urgency to US diplomatic efforts as Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to visit Israel on his latest Mideast tour.

“This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told reporters after talks in Qatar, a key mediator. The escalation of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has complicated a US push to prevent a regional conflict.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah fire hit the sensitive air traffic control base on Mount Meron on Saturday but air defenses were not affected because backup systems were in place. It said that no soldiers were hurt and all damage will be repaired.

Nonetheless, it was one of the most serious attacks by Hezbollah in the months of fighting that has accompanied Israel’s war in Gaza and forced tens of thousands of Israelis to evacuate communities near the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah described its rocket barrage as an “initial response” to

the targeted killing of a top Hamas leader in a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut last week, which is presumed to have been carried out

by Israel.

The Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi, said military pressure on Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, was rising and it would either be effective “or we will get to another war.” Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari asserted that Israel’s focus on Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force was pushing it away from the border.

Israel has mostly sought to limit the fighting in its north. Hezbollah’s military capabilities are far superior to those of Hamas. But Israeli leaders have said their patience is wearing thin, and that if the tensions cannot be resolved through diplomacy, they are prepared to use force. “ I sug gest t h at Hezbol l a h learn what Hamas has already learned in recent months: No terrorist is immune,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet. “We are determined to defend our citizens and to return the residents of the north safely to their homes.”

Palestinians look at a car targeted by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip on Sunday, January 7, 2024. Two journalists were killed in the strike, Hanza Dahdouh, who worked for Al Jazeera, and a freelance journalist, Mustafa Thuria. AP/HATEM ALI

Lower-intensity fighting along Israel’s northern border broke out when Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking some 250 people hostage. Hezbollah has said its attacks aim to ease pressure on Gaza.

In a joint news briefing with Blinken, Qatar’s government acknowledged that the killing of the senior Hamas leader in Lebanon could affect the complicated negotiations for the potential release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza but “we are continuing our discussions with the parties and trying to achieve as soon as possible an agreement.”

Ten people died in violence in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, including a Palestinian man killed by attackers while driving a car with Israeli plates, and a young girl shot as Israeli police fired at a car that rammed a checkpoint.

Congress leaders reach agreement on spending caps to avert shutdown

By Kevin Freking The Associated Press

W

A SHI NGTON — Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on overall spending levels for the current fiscal year that could help avoid a partial government shutdown later this month.

The agreement largely hews to spending caps for defense and domestic programs that Congress set as part of a bill to suspend the debt limit until 2025. But it does provide some concessions to House Republicans who viewed the spending restrictions in that agreement as insufficient.

In a letter to colleagues, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday the agreement would secure $16 billion in additional spending cuts from the previous agreement brokered by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden and is about $30 billion less than what the Senate was considering.

“This represents the most favorable budget agreement Republicans have achieved in over a decade,” Johnson writes.

Biden sa id t he ag reement “moves us one step closer to preventing a needless government shutdown and protecting important national priorities.”

“It reflects the funding levels that I negotiated with both parties and signed into law last spring,” Biden said in a statement. “It rejects deep cuts to programs hardworking families count on, and

HOUSE Speaker-elect Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., addresses members of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on October 25, 2023. Congressional leaders have reached an agreement on topline spending levels for the current fiscal year 2024 that could help avoid a partial government shutdown later this month. Funding is set to lapse January 19 for some agencies and February 2 for others. AP/J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

provides a path to passing fullyear funding bills that deliver for the American people and are free of any extreme policies.”

The agreement speeds up the roughly $20 billion in cuts already agreed to for the Internal Revenue Service and rescinds about $6 billion in Covid relief money that had been approved but not yet spent, according to Johnson’s letter.

“It’s a good deal for Democrats and the country,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told colleagues in a briefing call.

Essentially, Democrats see the trade-offs they made as mild. In a description provided to reporters, they said the Covid savings would have “no significant impact on any current projects or activities in motion.” And they said that moving all of the $20.2 billion in IRS cuts to this year instead of over two

years would still leave the agency able to maintain “critical investments” that Congress provided in 2022. At the time, Congress provided the IRS with an additional $80 billion that could be spent over 10 years.

Overall, the agreement calls for $886 billion in defense funding.

It would provide $772 billion in domestic, non-defense spending, when including $69 billion called for in a side deal to the debt ceiling bill that McCarthy had reached with the White House, Democrats said.

The most conservative House Republicans opposed the earlier debt ceiling agreement and even brought House proceedings to a halt for a few days to show their displeasure. Many were surely wanting additional concessions, but Democrats have been insis-

Inside Gaza, the war against the militant group entered its fourth month Sunday.

The Israeli military has signaled that it has wrapped up major combat in northern Gaza, saying it has completed dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure there. Now it presses its offensive in the south, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are squeezed into smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster while being pounded by Israeli airstrikes.

Netanyahu insists the war will not end until the objectives of eliminating Hamas, getting Israel’s hostages returned and ensuring that Gaza won’t host a threat to Israel are met.

Biden administration officials have urged Israel to wind down its blistering air and ground offensive and shift to more targeted attacks against Hamas leaders.

More than 22,800 Palestinians have been killed and more than 58,000 wounded since the war tent on abiding by the debt ceiling agreement’s spending caps, leaving Johnson in a difficult spot. “ It ’s e ven worse t h a n we thought,” the House Freedom Caucus said of the agreement in a tweet posted on X. “This is total failure.”

Lawmakers needed an agreement on overall spending levels so that appropriators could write the bills that set line-by-line funding for agencies. Money is set to lapse January 19 for some agencies and February 2 for others.

The agreement is separate from the negotiations that are taking place to secure additional funding for Israel and Ukraine while also curbing restrictions on asylum claims at the US border.

In a joint statement, Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries voiced their support for the agreement.

“It will also allow us to keep the investments for hardworking American families secured by the legislative achievements of President Biden and Congressional Democrats,” Schumer and Jeffries said.

But they also warned House Republicans about trying to add conservative policy riders to the bills in the coming days, saying Democrats would not support “poison pill policy changes in any of the twelve appropriations bills put before the Congress.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry, who helped lead the debt ceiling negotiations when McCarthy was speaker, noted that two-thirds of both parties in the House supported that agreement.

“This deal, which adheres to that framework, deserves equally as robust support,” McHenry said.

began, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The death toll does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Health officials say about twothirds of those killed have been women and minors.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates in heavily populated residential areas.

An airstrike near the southern city of Rafah killed two journalists on Sunday, including Hamza Dahdouh, the oldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent in Gaza, according to the Qatari-owned Arabic-language channel and local medical officials. Al Jazeera broadcast footage of Dahdouh weeping and holding his son’s hand. Israel’s military had no immediate comment.

Al Jazeera strongly condemned the killings and other “brutal attacks against journalists and their families” by Israeli forces. Dahdouh also lost his wife, two children and a grandchild in an October 26 airstrike, and was wounded in an Israeli strike last month that killed a co-worker.

“The world is blind to what’s happening in the Gaza Strip,” he said, blinking back tears.

Another airstrike hit a house between Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, killing at least seven people whose bodies were taken to the nearby European Gaza Hospital, according to an Associated Press journalist at the facility. One man hurried in carrying a baby, and later walked the blanket-wrapped child to the morgue.

“Everything happening here is outside the realms of law, outside the realms of reason. Our brains

can’t fully comprehend all this that is happening to us,” said a grieving relative, Inas Abu al-Najja, her quavering voice rising. Men worked the rubble with picks and bare hands.

On Sunday, officials at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies of 18 people, including 12 children, killed in an Israeli strike late Saturday on a home in the Khan Younis camp set up decades ago to house refugees from the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

Israeli forces pushed deeper into the central city of Deir alBalah, where residents in several neighborhoods were warned that they must evacuate.

T he inter nat iona l med ica l charity Doctors Without Borders, known by the French acronym MSF, said it was evacuating its medical staff from Deir al-Balah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital.

A bullet penetrated a wall of the hospital’s intensive care unit on Friday, and “drone attacks and sniper fire were just a few hundred meters from the hospital” over the past couple of days, said Carolina Lopez, the group’s emergency coordinator there. She said the hospital received between 150 and 200 wounded people daily in recent weeks.

The International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians said they also were forced to withdraw from the hospital.

“The amount of injuries being brought in over the last few days has been horrific,” surgeon Nick Maynard with the IRC medical team said.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Jobain from Rafah, Gaza Strip.

Blinken meets Jordanian, Qatari leaders on new Mideast push to keep Gaza war from spreading

By Matthew Lee

AP Diplomatic Writer

D

OHA, Qatar—On another urgent diplomatic mission to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Sunday with Arab partners to press for their help in tamping down resurgent fears that Israel’s three-month war against Hamas in Gaza could spread.

In discussions with Qatar’s emir and Jordan’s king, Blinken spoke of the need for Israel to adjust its military operations to reduce civilian casualties and significantly boost the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, while stressing the importance of preparing detailed plans for the post-conflict future of the Palestinian territory, which has been decimated by Israeli bombardments.

The mission—that will also take him to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt before he returns to Washington—is Blinken’s fourth to the region since the war began.

After a day of talks with Turkish and Greek leaders in Istanbul and Crete, Blinken met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman before traveling to Doha for talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to seek buy-in for US efforts to tamp down resurgent fears that the war could engulf the region, ramp up aid to Gaza and prepare for an eventual end of hostilities.

“This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told reporters during a joint news conference with Sheikh Mohammed. “So from day one, among other priorities, we have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading.”

Blinken said it has been a major focus of his discussion with all of the leaders he

has met with in recent days. “We share a commitment to ensure that the conflict does not expand,” he said.

He said they also have discussed what each country can do once the conflict is over “to provide the assurances and the incentives required to build a more secure and more stable, more peaceful future for the region.”

“And my takeaway from the discussion so far, including here with our friends in Qatar, is that our partners are willing to have these difficult conversations and to make hard decisions. All of us feel a stake in forging the way forward.”

Jordan and other Arab states have been highly critical of Israel’s actions and have eschewed public support for long-term planning, arguing that the fighting must end before such discussions can begin.

They have been demanding a cease-fire since mid-October as civilian casualties began to skyrocket.

After his talks with Blinken, Sheikh Mohammed called for an immediate ceasefire, saying the constant images of death and destruction in Gaza are de-sensitizing people to the horrors of what is happening.

“This is a big test for our humanity,” he said. “We are looking for a sustainable future, however the focus is now on stopping the fighting.”

King Abdullah “warned of the catastrophic repercussions” of the war in Gaza while calling on the US to press for an immediate cease-fire, a statement from the Royal Court said.

Israel has refused to agree to a cease-fire and the US has instead called for specified temporary “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to get in and people to get to safety.

In Amman, Blinken also toured the World Food Program’s regional coordination warehouse, where trucks are being packed with aid to be delivered to Gaza through both the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

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

News BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

DA seeking for a bigger share of Japan’s food, fishery market

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday revealed it is actively pursuing increased market share for Filipino farmers and fisherfolk in Japan.

The DA said Japan imported a total of $87 billion worth of agricultural products in 2022, the fifth largest in the world that year.

During the Asean-Japan Summit, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said discussions were held with Japanese officials and businessmen to explore additional export opportunities for Philippine fish and tropical fruits.

He said the aim is to expand exports of products, such as pineapple, bananas, avocado,

mangoes, durian, mangosteen, and okra to the Japanese market.

As a follow-up to the meetings in Japan, Tiu Laurel said the DA has scheduled the first meeting of the Philippines-Japan Joint Committee on Agriculture in 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,” he said.

Laurel said the joint agriculture meeting in the second quarter would also be an opportunity to discuss technical and project collaborations under the memorandum of cooperation signed in February last year and the Midori Cooperation Plan.

In October, together with other members of Asean, the Philippines signed the Midori plan, which aims to promote cooperation projects using Japanese technology and sharing experiences to build resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems for future food security.

The DA is also coordinating with the Department of Trade and Industry to secure a preferential tariff rate for Philippine bananas, whose leading share of the Japanese market is under threat from Cambodia, Laos, Mexico, and Vietnam. Banana exports from these countries to Japan enjoy a zero or preferential tariff.

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-priced bananas and other tropical fruits compliant with Japanese food standards.

Tariff review

LAUREL said Manila looks at the review of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement as a good initial opportunity “to discuss the Philippines’s appeal for a lower tariff on bananas.”

Under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), the tariff on Philippine bananas 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.

In addition to banana exports, efforts are underway to revive the Japanese market for Philippine mangoes, which faced challenges due to stringent sanitary standards adopted by Japan in 2011.

PBBM reports significant gains in campaign vs illegal drugs

Renew GACC registration, DTI tells Philippine food exporters to China

RESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday reported that the government has made significant gains in its anti-drug campaign with more than 60 percent of the country’s barangays already being declared “free” from the illegal substance.

“We can say 27,968 of the barangays were declared drug-cleared,” the Chief Executive said in a video message.

Based on the latest government data, the country has over 42,000 barangays last year.

Marcos noted the declaration was based on the assessment by local government units (LGU) at the grassroots level.

The declarations, he said, will also allow the government to easily monitor any new illegal drug activities in the said barangays.

Marcos attributed the achievement to the successful coordination of the national government with 50 provinces, 1,160 municipalities, and 30 cities in implementing the Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADACs).

This was complemented by the efforts of the Philippine National Police, which resulted in the confiscation of P10.4 billion worth of illegal drugs and the arrest of 56,495 suspects in 2023.

The President said the government is also concerned in the rehabilitation and recovery of drug-users with the construction of 74 in-patient treatment and rehabilitation facilities nationwide.

He made the pronouncement after the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) announced last week that Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is eyeing to reduce by 10 percent the number of target-listed drug personalities by 2028.

P

P

Samuel P. Medenilla

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

HILIPPINE food exporters to China should have their reg istration renewed, according to the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC).

Based on the advisory posted on the website of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Friday, the import and export food safety arm of GACC is requiring overseas food production enter prises exporting to China to have their registration renewed, with the application for renewal to be filed within three to six months before the expiry of registration.

Failure to apply for renewal of registration or failure to provide

timely explanation, in writing, the reason for late renewal, may result in deregistration, the GACC said.

The DTI advisory revealed that GACC “specifically noticed” that some Philippine aquaculture production enter prises have exceeded or are approaching their registration expiry date.

“A q u a c u l t u r e p r o d u c t i o n enterprises wishing to renew their GACC registration should coordinate with the Fisheries Inspection Section (FIS) of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) at bfar_inspection@bfar.da.gov.ph or FIQD hotline numbers: 0998 558 7859/0919 001 4318 or at 8539 5651,” the DTI advisory read.

On the other hand, Philippine exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables should coordinate with the Bureau of Plant Industry’s (BPI)

National Plant Quarantine Services Division at pqsbpi@gmail.com, said the DTI. Meanwhile, DTI said exporters of processed foods for meat products, sausage casings, aquatic products, dairy products, bird nest products, bee products, egg products, edible oils and fats, oilseeds, stuffed wheaten products, edible grains, milled grain industry products and malt, dried beans, condiments, processed nuts and seeds, dried fruits, foods for special dietary purposes, health foods and frozen fruit should file their application through the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Regulation and Research with e-mail address: cffr@ fda.gov.ph.

For food products that are not listed above, manufacturers

DILG to award cleanest barangays under Kalinisan project–Abalos

T

O motivate local government units (LGU) to undertake cleanliness programs at the local level, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will soon give quarterly awards to the cleanest barangays.

DIL G Sec ret a r y B enja m i n “Benhur” Abalos said this is in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to incentivize LGUs maintaining cleanliness in their areas.

Abalos made the announcement at the launch of the “Kalinga at Inisyatiba para sa

Malinis na Bayan” (K alinisan) Project at Baseco Compound in Manila over the weekend.

He said the DILG is now formulating a recognition system covering the over 42,000 barangays in the country on a monthly basis.

“Imo-monitornatinangperformance ng bawat barangay on a monthly basis.

And quarterly, magkakaron tayo ng awarding. Tututukan talaga natin ito (We will monitor the performance of each barangay on a monthly basis.

We will have an awarding every quarter),” he said.

The DILG noted barangays

conduct their respective clean up drives from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., focusing on streets, canals, other waterways, public markets, schools, and public parks.

A b a lo s a l s o u r ge d lo c a l governments to invest in programs, projects, and activities on solid waste management and ecological practices.

“Sana hindi lang ngayong araw ito. Sana gawin natin ito araw-araw sa ating mga barangay, sa ating mga kabahayan. Gawin natin itong way of life. Dapat kahit saan tayo magpunta malinis [This should go beyond today.

We should do this every day in our

Ombudsman indicts Guanzon for revealing info on BBM’s DQ case Continued from A10 Ferolino also asked the poll body to investigate Guanzon for possible violation of the “Sub Judice Rule.”

She also lamented that disclosing her as the ponente of the Marcos case exposed her to possible pressure from different groups and pose a threat to her safety and security.

Aside from two counts of violation of Section 3 ( k ) of Republic Act 3019, the complainants also asked the Ombudsman to indict Guanzon for two counts of violation of Section 7 (c of RA 6713 and two counts of violation of Article 229

of the Revised Penal Code.

In ordering her indictment, the Ombudsman did not give merit to Guanzon’s claim that the information she disclosed cannot be considered confidential information.

The Ombudsman said based on Comelec Resolution No. 10685 entitled, “In the Matter of People’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Manual,” “all information acquired by respondent in the exercise of her quasi-judicial powers are considered confidential information.”

It also cited Rule 9, Section 4 of the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court (IRSC) which recognizes privilege information and prohibits

the disclosure of the identity of the ponente and the deliberations of the members in court sessions on cases and matters pending before it.

“Respondent argues that, unlike Comelec, the Supreme Court has a clear and definite policy that declares judicial decision and deliberations as confidential. However, in an en banc resolution dated February 14, 2012, the Supreme Court is clear in holding that the privilege against disclosure of internal deliberations is not exclusive to the Judiciary but is applicable to the other branches of the government,” the Ombudsman pointed out.

“Therefore, until the decision or resolution embodying the action is released to the public,

the individual positions or votes or opinions of the Comelec commissioners are considered confidential,” it added.

However, the Ombudsman dismissed the charge for violation of Section 7 ( c ) of RA 6713 ( Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials) against the respondents.

That provision states: “Disclosure and/or misuse of confidential information—Public Officials and employees shall not use or divulge, confidential or classified information officially known to them by reason of their office and not made available to the public either (1) to further their private interest, or give undue advantage

T he recent re-entr y of Philippine mangoes into the Japanese market was celebrated during the Asean-Japan Summit, with Laurel highlighting the importance of this achievement and directing improvements in testing laboratories to align with international food codes.

A g r iculture Attaché A leli 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 in our exporters to continue supplying to Japan.”

Japan stands as the secondlargest market for Philippine agrifood exports, boasting a trade surplus of $824 million in 2022. The strategic initiatives discussed and planned between the Philippines and Japan underscore the importance of collaborative efforts to strengthen agricultural trade relations and promote the export of high-quality Philippine agricultural products. and/or exporters are required to directly register with the GACC through its website: https://cifer. singlewindow.cn.

Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), which was processed by the Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB), showed that Philippine food exports to China amounted to $643.35 million, up 5.12 percent from the $611.99 million recorded in the same period in 2022.

Philippine food exports to China include fresh food, such as bananas, pineapples, avocados, mangoes, coconut, vegetables, cocoa bean, pepper and seeds.

Another food category that the country exports to China is processed food, which includes sweeteners, condiments, cereals, coffee, and soups and broths.

The Philippines also exports aquaculture products to China.

Based on the data processed by the DTI’s export marketing arm, this food category includes sardines, fish fillet, milkfish, tuna, mollusks, and crustaceans, among others. barangays. Cleanliness should be a way of life],” he said.

He also called on local officials to pass ordinances in their areas imposing communit y ser v ice punishment to those who will be caught littering or throwing garbage in public places.

Aside from the DILG, among the agencies involved in the nationwide clean up activity include the Presidential Communications Office, the Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Environment and Natural Resources; Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Department of Tourism, De pa r t ment of A g r ic u lt u re, Commission on Higher Education, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Rex Anthony Naval

to anyone, or (2) to prejudice the public interest.

“Complainant failed to present proof that respondent was motivated by any private interest or that she gave any private party unwarranted benefits, which prompted the disclosure of the information. There is also no proof that respondent intended to prejudice the public interest with such disclosure,” the Ombudsman ruled.

The Ombudsman also did not give merit to the claim of the complainants that Guanzon violated Article229oftheRevisedPenalCodewhichpunishes public officers for revealing any secret known to him by reason of his official capacity.

“In the present case, the informations revealed by respondent are not secret and there is no evidence that said premature disclosure of the information caused damage to public interest,” the Ombudsman said.

A7

DTI clarifies mandate on grant of discounts for senior citizens

T

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) clarified its primary mandate in granting discounts to senior citizens (SC) after the agency was flagged for “not being at the frontline” to ensure that establishments are adhering to the law.

At a briefing last week, DTIConsumer Protection Group (CPG) Amanda Nograles told reporters that the primary mandate of the agency is on the selling of basic necessities and prime commodities (BNPC). “’Yung 20-percent senior citizen discount tsaka ’yung VAT exemption nila, that’s actually within the mandate of OSCA [Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs] and NCSC [National Commission of Senior Citizens],” DTI-Consumer Protection Group [CPG] Amanda Nograles said.

“Ang role ng DTI with respect to SC discounts will be on the 5-percent special discount for b a s ic ne ce s s it ie s a nd pr i me com mo d it ie s p ag bumi bili s i sen ior sa mga g rocer ies a nd supermarkets,” she pointed out.

However, Nograles said that since the Trade department has a “no wrong-door policy” when it comes to accepting complaints, she said that if the complaint of the senior citizen is “ultimately a consumer issue,” the agency accepts the complaints and then refers it to OSCA, which is with the local government unit (LGU) for proper disposition.

This issue was brought up at a recent briefing after a former Cabinet secretary aired his grievance in a social media post that the 20-percent SC discount is not being “universally implemented” among establishments across the country.

He said that the DTI should be at the “frontline” because this is a consumer issue.

According to Section 4 of the Republic Act (RA) No. 9994 or An Act Granting Additional Benefits and Privileges to Senior Citizens, SCs are entitled to the grant of 20-percent discount and exemption from the value-added tax (VAT) if applicable based on the sale of certain goods and services from all establishments.

Under this provision, the goods and services include the purchase of medicines, including the purchase of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, and such other essential medical supplies, accessories and equipment to be determined by the Department of Health (DOH).

The provision under the said law with respect to granting the 20-percent discount to SCs also covers the professional fees of attending physician/s in all private hospitals, medical facilities, outpatient clinics and home health-care services and professional fees of licensed professionals providing home healthcare services as endorsed by private hospitals or employed through home health-care employment agencies; Medical and dental services, diagnostic and laboratory fees in all private hospitals, medical facilities, outpatient clinics, and home health care services in accordance with the rules and regulations to be issued by the DOH, in coordination with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, are also included in the list of the discounted items.

Further, services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers; admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses and concert halls, circuses, leisure and amusement, are also among the eligible activities, which can be applied with the 20- percent discount for senior citizens, based on the said law. Andrea E. San Juan

A8 Tuesday, January 9, 2024 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

editorial

When towns and cities are right to be selfish

S

elfishness has long been regarded as a negative trait, condemned by ethical systems and societal norms. However, there exists an alternative perspective that challenges this general belief: Selfishness as a virtue. While it may seem counterintuitive, a paradigm shift in ethical perspectives among local leaders may be the needed spark to revolutionize the country’s rural economic landscape.

It is important to note that this argument does not advocate for extreme selfishness or total disregard for others. Rather, we are encouraging a healthy dose of self-interest that ultimately benefits both towns and cities and their citizenry as a whole. By reevaluating the concept of selfishness, local executives may uncover new paths to economic growth, and a more prosperous community.

Municipal and city mayors know that attracting investments is a crucial factor for the growth and economic progress of their respective constituencies. A town or city that succeeds in attracting investments can experience increased job opportunities, infrastructure development, and overall economic prosperity. The goal is to gain a competitive edge that can lure investors, which is why they need to take proactive measures that can give them the edge in attracting investments… ahead of a neighboring town or city.

But first, they have to do a thorough analysis of their unique strengths, resources, and existing industries to determine the sectors where they have a competitive advantage. Consulting local economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, or industry experts can give them valuable insights to attain their goal.

A town or city, for example, can create policies and regulations that are favorable to businesses, such as streamlined permit processes, tax incentives, and land-use planning that caters to specific investors. A municipal or city council may decide to pass attractive incentives to big-ticket investors, such as tax breaks, to lure them to locate in their locality.

There are municipalities in the country that have achieved economic progress through trail-blazing strategies. Here are a few successful examples: Santa Rosa, Laguna successfully transformed from an agricultural town into a thriving industrial and residential hub. It attracted numerous multinational companies to establish industrial parks, creating job opportunities for the local population. The municipality focused on infrastructure development, investment promotion, and collaboration with the private sector.

Davao City experienced significant economic growth under the leadership of former mayor Rodrigo Duterte. The city implemented various strategies, including investment promotion, infrastructure development, and strict enforcement of peace and order. It attracted investments in agriculture, manufacturing, and services sectors, leading to job creation and improved livelihoods.

San Fernando City in Pampanga successfully revitalized its economy through the promotion of heritage and cultural tourism. It developed and preserved its historical sites and implemented festivals and events to attract tourists. It also invested in infrastructure, improved access to transportation, and provided support to local businesses and artisans.

General Santos City, also known as the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines,” achieved economic progress by leveraging its strategic location and natural resources. It developed a thriving tuna industry, attracting investors and establishing processing plants. The local government provided support to the fishing industry, facilitated exports, and promoted tourism activities.

Cebu City has a diverse economy that includes manufacturing, services, tourism, and information technology. The city invested in infrastructure, attracted foreign investments, and developed industrial zones. Cebu City also became a popular destination for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, contributing to its economic growth.

These examples highlight the importance of tailored strategies that leverage local resources and strengths, as well as the involvement of local governments, private sector partnerships, and a focus on infrastructure development, investment promotion, and tourism. However, it’s important to note that success in one municipality or city may not directly translate to success in another, as each town or city has unique characteristics and challenges that require specific approaches.

While it is important for towns and cities to collaborate and cooperate with other jurisdictions for broader regional or national goals, it is equally important for them to be self-focused to ensure economic growth. By prioritizing their own interests, towns and cities can create a strong foundation for sustainable growth and prosperity within their communities.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

‘Basura’ market strategy John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

N times of uncertainty, the worst thing that you can do is to lose focus. When you do not have clear thoughts on what the scenarios are that might unfold, we all tend to wait-and-see.

“Businessmen are currently on a wait-and-see stance due to uncertainties that could impact the country’s economic growth this year, tycoon Ramon Ang said. For 2024, we don’t know what’s going to happen to the economy because of the two fronts of war. One is the RussiaUkraine war and the second one is the Israel-Hamas war. So, nobody really knows what’s going to happen.”

However, I do not believe that Ramon Ang would not have clear options already on paper and in the works for whatever may transpire in the next months. He is not the kind of business operator that leaves decisions that need to be made to “wait-and-see.”

Nonetheless, you have to be careful. Back in the Cory Aquino administration and 12-hour brownouts,

Atty. Jomel N. Manaig

Tax Law for Business

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you can be ready in the sense that you have some clearly thought-out ideas of what you want to do and what you cannot do.

I know that Ramon Ang has developed strategies for a good, neutral, and bad economy and the only “wait-and-see” is which scenario is going to come to pass and which of the strategy options for that scenario will seem most effective.

I could easily write, “Stock Market investors are currently on a wait-andsee stance due to uncertainties that could impact the country’s economic growth this year.” But like Mr. Ang’s businesses, I cannot wait for the good times to roll. Further, I am not smart or “expert” enough to accurately predict the future.

My worst-case scenario strategy is simple. Sell all my stock positions for cash. However, trading the stock market is different than operating a

The new withholding tax obligation

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Publisher

one “entrepreneur” firmly believed that the brownouts were going to be eternal and invested multi-millions stockpiling big and small, generators for resale. He went broke.

Yet many very successful pre-Covid businesses closed down because they were not interested in waiting out the lockdowns, with the uncertainty of when the end would come and how long it would take to make up lost revenues and profits. Being cautious is also critical even when having Plans A, B, and C. Audentes Fortuna Iuvat—“Fortune favors the bold/brave” but not the foolish.

Dealing with uncertainty, for me, requires being ready for the worstcase scenario. Notice, I said “ready,” not “prepared.” You can never be prepared for the big earthquake, but

At the bottom of the price movement pyramid are the “Basura Stocks.” It has been a long time since we used that phrase because, honestly, the PSE has been a total “basura” market since late 2020 without a longerterm upside trend. I think that is changing for the positive.

I

F you are a FinTech entity (i.e. e-marketplace operator and/or digital financial services provider) in 2023, you may have been looking forward to a worry-free end of year. However, following Murphy’s Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. That “anything” came in the form of Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 16-2023.

Transactions made using electronic platforms, either conducting the actual sale or facilitating its payment, have been largely kept untouched by tax rules and regulations. It was a new frontier and the BIR rules and regulations had not yet caught up with it. Well, that was until the BIR updated its withholding tax regulations to cover remittances by e-marketplace operators and/or digital financial services providers.

Essentially, subject to certain exceptions, one-half of the gross remittances by e-marketplace operators and/or digital financial services providers to merchants are now subject to withholding tax at the rate of one percent.

While it is certainly within the competence of the BIR to impose rules and regulations for the effective administration and collection

of taxes, it seems that the rules and regulations governing the basic understanding and rudimentary tenets of withholding taxes are now changing and evolving. RR No. 16-2023 is proof of that.

Withholding taxes, as traditionally understood, is imposed on income payments. Certain buyers are expected to withhold a certain amount of their income payments to sellers and remit the same to the BIR. However, the recent regulation requires the e-marketplace operator and/or digital financial services provider to act as a withholding agent even though they are just facilitating the remittance or payment to the seller. To be clear, the e-marketplace operator and/or digital financial services provider is not the buyer of the goods/services, so whatever it remits to the merchant is not technically an

While it is certainly within the competence of the BIR to impose rules and regulations for the effective administration and collection of taxes, it seems that the rules and regulations governing the basic understanding and rudimentary tenets of withholding taxes are now changing and evolving. RR No. 16-2023 is proof of that. income payment.

On the flip side, the merchant is not selling anything to the e-marketplace operators and/or digital financial services providers, so whatever amount the former receives from the latter is also not technically an income payment.

Nonetheless, the BIR imposed the burden on the e-marketplace operator and/or digital financial services provider to withhold the tax. This imposition now changes the dynamic of the basic concept of withholding taxes to include not only the actual income payment but also the remittance of the fund representing the payment of the buyer.

Following this new requirement, e-marketplace operators and/or digital financial services providers are now expected to track the aggregate amount of remittances to each merchant. In addition, since it is now considered a withholding

traditional business. The key to the stock market is determining a winning strategy when prices are going higher, which often, if not usually, happens during “bad times.”

The local market has a reasonable—not “good” yet—potential for moving towards the 2021 high at the 7,500 area. There is a possibility of 8,000, but we cross that bridge when we get to it. A normal business thrives and prospers to its greatest extent when business is booming, not necessarily before. But for the stock market, you make money as the market goes higher—improves —not at the top.

Department stores will make the most money when their cashier counters have long lines because inflation is low, economic growth is high, and everyone has more money. Then it will be more products, more advertising, and more cashiers.

I cannot wait to buy the shares of the retailers when they are reporting record revenues, profits, and margins. Theoretically, at that point the stock prices will be reflecting—at a high price—all those good things.

I have to implement a strategy as prices are going higher, and that means yesterday, today, and tomorrow and not at some unknown future day. Here is part of that strategy.

See “Mangun,” A9

agent, it would have to issue Certificates of Credible Tax Withheld at Source to all merchants affected by the withholding tax. Significant adjustments would have to be made by the e-marketplace operators and/ or digital financial services providers in their systems and processes to accommodate this obligation.

Further, a peculiar scenario was provided in RR No. 16-2023 involving an online booking platform with payment made using a credit card.

In such scenario, the BIR said that there are two instances of withholding: (i) the credit card company shall withhold from the payment to the online booking platform; and (ii) the online booking platform shall withhold from the remittance to the concerned income payor (which was a hotel in the example in RR No. 16-2023).

Unlike previous withholding tax obligations wherein the supposed income payment was subjected to withholding tax only once, the new regulations now allow double withholding on the same income payment stream. Although the example in the regulations involved an online booking platform and a credit card company, the idea of double withholding appears to be applicable to other emarketplace operators as long as the payment is made using a credit card.

This is because credit card payments are subject to a separate withholding See “Tax Law,” A9

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Opinion BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 9, 2024 A9

Blinken calls Gaza situation dire as risks of wider war grow

An appeal to PBBM to suspend the implementation of the EPR Law

U

G

Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza

MAKE SENSE

By Iain Marlow

S Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Sunday with senior officials in Jordan and toured a food-aid warehouse as he continues the Biden administration’s effort to prevent the IsraelHamas war from widening.

The top US diplomat is also focused on accelerating humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza and garnering support for post-conflict Gaza’s governance.

Blinken met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and King Abdullah II on Sunday morning, a day after stops in Turkey and Greece.

Blinken landed in Doha Sunday afternoon for talks with top Qatari officials, and will next fly to the United Arab Emirates, followed by stops over the coming days in Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Egypt. It’s Blinken’s fourth extended visit to the region since war broke out following the October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 Israelis.

The latest trip comes as tensions simmer between Israel and Iranbacked Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. Hamas, designated a terrorist group by the US and the European Union, blames Israel for a drone strike on Beirut that killed a senior leader, while Hezbollah retaliated with a volley of rockets into northern Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously threatened devastation in Beirut and southern Lebanon if Hezbollah opens a second front in Israel’s war with Hamas.

Meanwhile, a US-led coalition has also warned Houthi militants in Yemen, also backed by Tehran, of “consequences” if they don’t halt attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea—which the group has vowed to continue.

Before departing Jordan, Blinken toured a World Food Program warehouse in Amman with vast stockpiles of humanitarian aid—including canned beans and hummus—ready to be transported into Gaza. While touring the facility, Blinken noted that the supplies were ready to eat, since many Palestinians displaced within Gaza weren’t in a position to prepare meals.

“The United States has worked, from day one, to open access routes into Gaza, to get assistance to people who need it. We continue to work on that every single day,” Blinken said at the facility. “Not only to keep the routes open, but to multiply them,

Mangun. . .

Continued from A8

A sustainable uptrend in the stock market starts with the prices of the “Blue-Chips” going up, providing momentum and leadership to attract more money into stocks. If the market is sustainably moving higher, there will be rotation. The “Royal Blues” go first, followed by the “Baby Blues.”

We are seeing some of that currently.

Then the “Royal Second-Liners” will follow, doing a B&H—“Break and Hold”—of resistance levels. The key to a sustained general price increase is the rotation through different categories of issues and their B&H.

to maximize them, to try to get, as I said, more food, more assistance, to more people, more effectively.”

WFP Palestine acting country director Laura Turner told reporters that trucks en route to northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have partially withdrawn, were getting mobbed by desperate Palestinians before they could reach their destinations.

Blinken said that the US was trying to ensure that civilians were protected as Israel continued its bombardment and invasion of the coastal enclave, as well as maximize the amount of food aid that makes it in.

“The situation for men, women and children in Gaza remains dire,” Blinken told reporters Saturday evening in Crete, where he touched down briefly for a meeting with Greece’s prime minister before traveling on to Jordan.

“Far too many Palestinians have been killed—especially children,” he continued. “Far too many remain incredibly challenged in terms of their access to food, to water, to medicine, to the essentials of life. 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.”

In his meetings in Jordan, Blinken stressed “the critical need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from extremist settler violence,” according to a readout from his spokesman.

In a new flare-up overnight, Iranian state-owned Press TV reported that Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in a drone strike on the West Bank. Separately, an Israeli border policewoman was killed in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Sunday, and an Arab-Israeli citizen was killed in a shooting attack on his car.

In Turkey, Blinken said he spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the role Ankara could play in Gaza once the conflict is over, noting that it’s clear Turkey is “prepared to play a positive, productive role” amid the immense challenges posing the US, Israel and Arab nations in rebuilding, governing and maintaining security there. Bloomberg Next, we will see buying of the “Good Company; Bad Stock” issues. Many of these will be selling at multi-year low prices. Don’t be afraid of “All Time Low” if revenues and profits are growing.

At the bottom of the price movement pyramid are the “Basura Stocks.” It has been a long time since we used that phrase because, honestly, the PSE has been a total “basura” market since late 2020 without a longer-term upside trend. I think that is changing for the positive.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.

Tax Law. . .

Continued from A8

other than passing on the obligation to taxpayers, such avenues must be explored first.

tax obligation.

While the intention to improve tax collection is admirable and even crucial for national development, a balance must be struck between effective tax administration and the uninvited burden it imposes on the unwitting withholding agents. If there are improvements that can be implemented in the current tax collection measures or if there is a more effective way of collecting taxes

The author is a junior partner of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at jomel.manaig@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-2001 local 380.

arbage collection is an essential function of government, as it directly impacts public health, environmental sustainability, and overall quality of life. In fact, the government is mandated by law to collect garbage, reflecting its commitment to maintaining a clean and healthy environment for all Filipinos.

The cornerstone of the Philippine government’s legal mandate to collect garbage is Republic Act 9003, also known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.” Enacted in 2000, this law aims to promote environmental awareness and encourage the adoption of sustainable waste management practices nationwide.

It requires local government units (LGUs) to establish waste management systems, including the collection, segregation, and disposal of solid waste.

Under the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, LGUs are primarily responsible for garbage collection within their respective jurisdictions.

They are tasked with organizing, implementing, and monitoring waste management programs that cover collection, transport, and disposal.

This includes establishing collection schedules, ensuring proper segregation of waste, and maintaining garbage trucks and facilities.

The collection of garbage plays a vital role in maintaining public health and preserving the environment. Proper waste management prevents the spread of diseases by eliminating breeding grounds for pests and harmful bacteria. By collecting garbage, the government helps prevent water and soil contamination, reducing the risk of pollution-related health issues.

Despite the legal mandate, the government has been facing challenges in ensuring efficient garbage collection throughout the country.

Some areas experience inadequate

infrastructure, limited financial resources, and a lack of public awareness about proper waste disposal.

However, instead of acknowledging and rectifying its shortcomings, the government created a law to delegate to the private sector its legal mandate to collect garbage under Republic Act 9003, as cited earlier.

Under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Law of 2022 and its implementing rules issued in January 2023, companies categorized under obliged enterprises now have to account for their plastic footprint and show proof of a minimum 20-percent recovery rate for the year 2023 or face stiff penalties. They can comply in three ways: recover on their own the plastic packaging that they used, join other OEs to form a “Collective,” or engage the services of a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO).

Reporting of the programs initiated by these OEs to recover their plastics—called the EPR Compliance Audit Report—for 2023 will be made in July 2024, vetted by a third party.

These OEs will also be made to reduce their plastic footprint gradually through R&D so they can tweak their product designs and choice of materials.

Is this new law even legal? Is this not a violation of the limitations of government agencies in re-delegating delegated functions?

Delegated functions refer to the specific tasks, responsibilities, and authorities granted to government agencies by legislation or higher au-

This law will kill the competitiveness of Philippine industries. How about the billions worth of imported products being sold in the country that also generate a lot of plastic waste? Who will collect their garbage now that government has re-delegated this function to private companies? thorities. These functions are typically designed to address societal needs, enforce regulations, provide public services, or maintain law and order. For example, Republic Act 9003 specifically delegated to LGUs the primary responsibility to collect garbage within their respective jurisdictions. After decades of failure, are we now re-delegating this delegated functions of the LGUs to private companies because government can’t even think of concrete actions to rectify its shortcomings?

I think the best way forward is for the concerned government agencies to review and study why they failed to solve solid waste management in the past 20 years. That’s because I find it ironic for government to pass to private companies an important function like garbage collection, which is not part of their main competencies.

The government has the machinery and facilities, training and knowhow down to the municipalities and barangays, and they are best suited to do the job. Just imagine the impact of this new law, for example, on a candy manufacturer in Laguna that is now required to go to Tawi-Tawi to collect its candy wrappers.

This law will kill the competitiveness of Philippine industries. How about the billions worth of imported products being sold in the country that also generate a lot of plastic waste? Who will collect their garbage now that government has redelegated this function to private companies?

This is also why we in the private sector are paying taxes, including garbage collection fees, so the government can relieve us of that burden and allow us to concentrate growing

our business to create jobs for our countrymen.

The fees and taxes associated with the EPR Law are already a form of double taxation.

The law of unintended consequences refers to the phenomenon where the decisions taken with a specific goal in mind can have unanticipated and often unintended effects.

This concept is applicable to various fields, including lawmaking. When lawmakers create new legislation, they typically aim to address a particular problem or achieve specific objectives. However, despite their best intentions, the implementation of these laws can lead to unforeseen outcomes, like the adverse effects of the EPR Law on Philippine businesses.

We just emerged from the pandemic that impacted all sectors of the economy, leading to significant revenue losses, layoffs, and closures of businesses. Business owners have been struggling to keep their enterprises afloat, facing immense challenges to regain stability and rebuild their operations. Implementing the EPR Law at this time would only exacerbate their financial woes and impede their ability to recover and contribute to our economy.

On behalf of all the members of the Federation of Philippine Industries, it is our fervent prayer for President Marcos to heed our call for the suspension of the EPR Law’s implementation. The EPR Law puts the private sector at a great disadvantage by creating a private garbage collector on top of the mandated government garbage collector. This is the most expensive way of handling waste, which will adversely affect consumers. That’s because the money that these private companies spend on garbage collection will be passed on to consumers in the form of more expensive products.

Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.

Trump ballot removals reflect efforts of liberal-funded groups

By Emily Birnbaum

D

onald Trump’s removal from primary ballots in Colorado and Maine marked a win for two activist groups funded largely by liberal donors that have worked methodically to transform a scholarly thought experiment about the 14th Amendment into a real-world legal strategy.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, and another group, Free Speech for People, have been catalysts for the years-long campaign to boot Trump from the presidential ballot using a provision that bans those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.

They raised millions of dollars from individual donors and liberal philanthropists, including George Soros and Craig Newmark, helping power an effort that will decisively shape how the 2024 election unfolds and potentially prompt a constitutional crisis.

While now pushing to bar Trump from ballots elsewhere in the country, including Illinois and Massachusetts, the groups are gearing up for a fight over the Colorado case at the US Supreme Court, which agreed on Friday to review it on an expedited basis with arguments on February 8.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court this week, Trump argued he didn’t take part in an insurrection by trying to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, saying the clause doesn’t apply to the US president.

“The game plan is to vindicate our clients’ rights in the Supreme Court and to win,” said Donald Sherman, a lawyer with CREW, the ethics group based in Washington that brought the Colorado lawsuit.

Separate campaigns

CREW, which recruited the lawyers and plaintiffs in the Colorado case, has brought several legal challenges arguing the Capitol siege on January 6, 2021 was an “insurrection” as defined by the US constitution’s 14th Amendment. Their challenges have gotten further than any others brought under that legal theory.

The organization kicked off its work in this area in 2022 when it brought a lawsuit to remove a local official that participated in the Jan. 6 riots. When the judge disqualified the person from office, CREW began working on similar litigation against Trump, Sherman said.

CREW, which was founded in 2003 as a liberal counterweight to conservative watchdog groups, reported revenue of nearly $6.4 million in 2022. Free Speech for People, a group based in Massachusetts that was founded to fight the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, launched a separate campaign in 2021 to bar Trump from office.

The organization, which reported its largest-ever annual revenue of over $3.7 million in 2022, has brought legal challenges in states including Oregon, Minnesota and Michigan to remove Trump from the ballot based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which includes the insurrection clause. Though the cases in Minnesota and Michigan were thrown out on procedural grounds, the group is continuing to file legal challenges as recently as this week in Illinois and Massachusetts.

“We have to ensure that we are a country of laws, governed by laws, not by raw power,” said John Bonifaz, co-founder of Free Speech for People.

CREW and Free Speech for People say they support one another’s efforts, but they have not coordinated their strategy and there’s some ten-

Materials that CREW compiled for the Colorado case played a central role in the decision by Maine’s secretary of state last week to remove Trump from the state’s primary ballot. Both CREW and Free Speech for People consulted with the team of lawyers and voters in Maine about their efforts.

sion between them over the best approach to the litigation. While Free Speech for People pursues its own legal challenges, CREW said it is focused on the impending Supreme Court fight over its Colorado case.

Sherman of CREW noted that his group submitted amicus briefs on specific constitutional legal questions in Free Speech for People’s cases, saying, “We have done our level best to help everyone that has brought a credible case to enforce Section 3 against the former president.”

Colorado case

CREW’s Colorado challenge was carefully orchestrated. The group tapped Mario Nicolais, one of Colorado’s leading Republican election lawyers, and Martha Tierney, a leading Democratic election lawyer in the state, to represent the plaintiffs. They also brought in lawyers from Olson Rimsley, a firm that includes the former solicitor general of Colorado.

Together, the team of lawyers identified who they thought would be the strongest plaintiffs possible: Republicans and unaffiliated voters.

Nicholas asked his friend, Krista Kafer, a Denver columnist and lifelong Republican, to join.

“I know some Republicans are really critical that I was willing to work with a group that is left-leaning, but this is the way I think people should

work together on things that matter to them,” Kafer said.

Materials that CREW compiled for the Colorado case played a central role in the decision by Maine’s secretary of state last week to remove Trump from the state’s primary ballot. Both CREW and Free Speech for People consulted with the team of lawyers and voters in Maine about their efforts.

There are many other legal challenges pending across the country seeking to remove Trump from the ballot, including dozens from GOP presidential hopeful John Anthony Castro. Most of those are unlikely to succeed.

Chaos concerns

Even though both groups have received funding from liberal donors, they say they’re nonpartisan and don’t advocate for either political party. That positioning is important given that both groups are tax-exempt nonprofits, which are not allowed to engage in political campaigning.

Free Speech for People last year received funding from Newmark, the billionaire businessman and Craigslist founder who often gives to left-of-center causes; Tides Foundation, a left-leaning donor-advised fund; and Arkay Foundation, which gives to environmentalist and democratic causes.

CREW has received millions from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, which is funded by Soros, the liberal philanthropist; the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, a major funder of left-leaning causes; and the Marisla Foundation, which is run by the granddaughter of Getty Oil Company founder Jean Paul Getty.

Sherman acknowledges that critics see potential for his group’s efforts —and the court fights they have set off—to create turmoil. Bloomberg

A10 Tuesday, January 9, 2024

PAG-IBIG GAINS FFW SUPPORT AS LABOR BENEFITS TO GROW UNDER NEW MONTHLY RATES

P

AG-IBIG Fund has secured the support of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), one of the country’s top labor organizations, in its plan to increase the nearly four-decade old mandatory monthly savings rate for both members and their employers starting January 2024, officials said Monday.

The FFW, in its letter to PagIBIG Fund, cited the agency’s responsible management of the funds entrusted by Filipino workers and its efforts to provide social protection for its members in accordance with its charter.

“We wish to express our support and raise no objections to your plan to increase Pag-IBIG Monthly Contributions by January 2024. With this increase, we recognize that our fellow workers will be entitled to greater savings when their memberships (with Pag-IBIG Fund) mature or upon retirement. We particularly note the equal increase in employers’ counterpart contributions, which will result in more substantial savings for our fellow workers,” said Atty.

Sonny G. Matula, FFW National President.

Matula said the FFW’s support to Pag-IBIG Fund’s planned rate increase is contingent on the agency’s commitment to further improve the benefits of its members, and ensure that its growth is directed towards the betterment of workers.

Under Pag-IBIG Fund’s new savings rates, the maximum monthly compensation to be

used in computing the required 2 percent employee savings and 2 percent employer share of Pag-IBIG Fund members shall be increased to P10,000 from the current P5,000. As a result, the monthly savings of PagIBIG Fund members, for both the employee’s share and the employer’s counterpart, shall increase to P200 each from the current P100.

Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Marilene C. Acosta, meanwhile, expressed her appreciation OFFW’s support and gave assurance that Pag-IBIG Fund members shall be entitled to better benefits under the agency’s the new rates.

“We thank the Federation of Free Workers for supporting our plan and sharing our efforts in advancing the welfare of Filipino workers. We assure the FFW, our members and our stakeholders that the increase in our monthly savings rates shall redound to the benefit our members. The increase in our monthly savings rates mean that our members shall have higher Pag-IBIG Savings that earn annual dividends, which they shall receive upon membership maturity or retirement. And, because of their higher savings, they shall also be entitled to higher multi-purpose and calamity loan amounts to help them with their financial needs. On an equally important note, our new rates shall allow us to continue providing affordable home loans to our members in the coming years,” Acosta said.

Early Cha-cha pressed to avoid term-limit suspicion T

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

HE real, pressing need for revisions to the Constitution, particularly on the economic front, and not an attempt to prolong the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is behind current efforts to revive Charter-change initiatives, the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means said on Monday.

To allay public fears of a term extension plot, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said Congress should now start the process of changing the Constitution well in advance of the 2028 presidential elections.

“Allow me to emphasize this: It is better to initiate charter change long before the 2028 presidential elections, so that the public can rest assured that this is no attempt to extend President Marcos’s term. The time to do it is now, when there is also enough time to do it before the 2025 midterm elections,” he said.

“The leadership of the President’s coalition, including the President’s own party, has also

been devoted to the idea of charter change. As such, the political mass necessary for constitutional change is there,” he added.

Salceda emphasized that such changes are a natural and normal evolution in democracies, adjusting to the evolving needs of the times and accounting for unforeseen conditions.

Highlighting past attempts by the House to initiate Charter change, Salceda acknowledged the challenges faced in the Senate.

“The House has tried several times in the past to initiate Charter change. Such attempts have languished in the Senate. Being nationally elected representa-

tives of the people, it should be more encouraging for senators to heed the electorate’s call via the people’s initiative. As such, I support ongoing efforts to initiate Charter change through the direct involvement of the voters,” he said.

He was referring to a campaign, which began in his hometown in Bicol, to resort to a people’s initiative to support a process of amendments via a constituent assembly.

“There are constitutionallyprovided processes for initiating Charter Change, and there is a process for opposing Charter Change. Let us go through the process, proponents and opponents alike,” he added.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Senate Defense committee slammed reported moves to pay voters P100 each for their signatures on a petition of Charter change.

“It is unethical and illegal to solicit signatures of constituents to petition for Charter change moves in exchange for P100, in the guise of supposed people’s initiative. This practice clearly violates our laws and undermines the democratic

process,” said Sen. Jinggoy Estrada on Monday.

“The people’s initiative is a constitutional right that should be exercised freely and without coercion. Whoever is behind this sinister move to tinker with the 1987 Constitution should be investigated and prosecuted for engaging in such unlawful activity. The people’s trust in the democratic process must be protected and preserved,” Estrada said.

The allegation of signatures being paid for in Albay was first raised

by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, but Salceda has dismissed the claim as false and “ridiculous.”

League of Cities

RELATEDLY, the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), composed of 149 cities, strongly backed the move to amend the 1987 Constitution, its official said on Monday.

LCP National Chairperson and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez said in a text message to BusinessMirror, the “National Executive Board of LCP has already passed a resolution in March in support of charter change.”

See “Cha-cha,” A2

Ombudsman indicts Guanzon for revealing info on BBM’s DQ case

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

T

HE Office of the Ombudsman has ordered the indictment of former Commission on Elections Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the AntiGraft and Corrupt Practices Act. In a 12-page resolution, Graft Investigation and Prosecution Officer III Fatima Kristine FrancoIlao found probable cause to charge Guanzon for two counts of violation of Section 3 (k) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for divulging valuable information on the disqualification cases filed against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during the 2022 presidential election.

The resolution was approved by Ombudsman Samuel Martires.

Section 3 ( k ) of R.A. 3019 prohibits: “Divulging valuable information of a confidential character, acquired by his office or by him on account of his official position to unauthorized persons, or releasing such information in advance of its authorized release.”

“Records disclose that by virtue of respondent’s position, she acquired valuable information relating to the disqualification cases of Marcos, Jr., and prematurely divulged such confidential information prior to the official release of the Comelec’s decision,” the Ombudsman declared.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio and Diego Magpantay of the Citizen’s Crime Watch.

The complainants were referring to Guanzon’s exclusive interview aired in GMA News on January 27,

2022, wherein she disclosed that she had voted to grant the petition seeking Marcos, Jr.’s disqualification on the ground of previous conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude.

The disqualification case was assigned to the Comelec’s First Division where Guanzon was the presiding commissioner with Commissioners Aimee Ferolino and Marlon Casquejo as members.

She also claimed that the resolution of disqualification cases was being intentionally delayed so as to negate her vote for disqualification since she was set to retire on February 2, 2022.

In addition, Guanzon claimed that powerful people were meddling with the said cases, thus, causing a delay in their resolution.

On January 28, Guanzon was interviewed anew in the “Rappler Talk,” wherein she justified her vote to disqualify Marcos Jr. She explained that the respondent did not pay taxes four times while he was a governor and that the receipt presented by the latter in the disqualification cases was payment for lease rentals and he did not pay the deficiency taxes and penalty imposed by the court.

She also claimed that based on their internal agreement, Ferolino as the ponente was supposed to release the resolution by January 17, 2022.

However, Guanzon claimed that Ferolino was being unduly influenced to deliberately delay the release of the resolution on the disqualification cases.

Ferolino denied Guanzon’s claim that the commissioners internally agreed to promulgate the resolution of the disqualification cases

by January 17, 2022.

Continued on A7

INCLUSIVE DEVOTION As the Traslacion, set for January 9, 2024, looms, the peace and order situation receives a boost as a formidable contingent of 400 policemen stands ready to ensure a secure event. The devotees gather, forming lines at the grandstand for the sacred Pahalik. Among them, a mother cradling her child; a devotee clad in a handkerchief-crafted hat adorned with symbols of prayer; senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women taking a moment's respite before engaging in the Pahalik ritual. In acknowledgment of their unique needs, a designated lane is set aside for their convenience, embodying a thoughtful approach to inclusivity and reverence. ROY DOMINGO

PhilHealth: Claims by medical facilities settled

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CIT Y—T he Philippine Health Insurance Corp. said the public rift between the agency and the medical facilities with PhilHealth claims at the end of the pandemic were settled toward the end of 2023.

Filbert Bryan Sollesta, chief of the Field Investigation Division of the regional PhilHealth office here, also disclosed that PhilHealth has indeed put up an investigation into allegations that some diseases and ailments treated at hospitals were declared as Covid-19 cases.

Sollesta told BusinessMIrror that the complaint by medical facilities on unpaid PhilHealth claims that erupted into a national contro-

versy last year was “actually a case of miscommunication.”

“There was a misunderstanding on our policies as taken by our partner hospitals. There was a miscommunication,” he said.

This surfaced “as the most common point when we talked with the hospitals one by one.”

In the Davao Region, PhilHealth went around each hospital to talk “individually” with them, and Sollesta said “there was really a misunderstanding among them about our policies.”

The most common among the misunderstood points in the PhilHealth policies was the lack of compliance with the agency’s policies, including basic things like personal information of clients. “We told that there were indeed claims that are unpaid because they do not

comply with our policies.”

“Some claims have errors in personal information of the clients.

Names, for example, do not match with those in our database, or other vital information are new or have changed,” he said.

“Hospital owners or managers eventually understood our position and have rectified their data collection,” he said. Ultimately, Sollesta said, “the issue was resolved towards the end of the year.”

He said the PhilHealth also acknowledged allegations that both public and private hospitals have tampered with the classification of certain ailments or diseases they treated as being Covid-19 cases, purportedly to qualify for the special rate for Covid-19 cases.

He said he was not privy to the result of the investigation, but con-

firmed there was an investigation into the allegations last year. “It was being handled and conducted by a separate unit of the PhilHealth, the legal unit, and PhilHealth has hired or tapped more additional investigators.”

Meanwhile, the regional PhilHealth office here said it has paid P8,887,433,075 to 573,299 claims last year.

It has accredited 3,130 professionals across the Davao Region, and granted full accreditation to 493 medical facilities and 122 “Konsulta” facilities.

For the Konsulta program, which was adapted and applied during the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid face-toface consultation, the PhilHealth paid professionals and facilities a total of P10,287,540 for the 81,643 patients around the region.

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

B1

SEC revokes Exec: AirAsia plans to offer registration of flights from Manila to US Infinity8Networks

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

he AirAsia Group plans to make Manila its “hub to the United States” as it adopts a “multi-hub strategy” with the planned consolidation of its airline businesses across Southeast Asia.

In a press conference on Monday, Capital A Bhd. CEO Tony Fernandes said the group will transform other key cities, such as Bangkok and Manila as “hubs,” similar to Kuala Lumpur, where it operates its largest route network.

Manila will become AirAsia Group’s “hub to the US” and flights to America are expected to be launched by “2025.”

Fernandes cited Los Angeles as one of the destinations that AirAsia will be launching for its US expansion via Manila.

He added that the company will consolidate its airline businesses, creating a single entity owner for its regional operations. Fernandes called this initiative a “strategic disposal.”

Capital A has entered into a nonbinding letter of offer with AirAsia X Berhad (AAX) for the proposed disposal of its aviation business, namely AirAsia Bhd. (AirAsia Malaysia) and AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd. AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd. is the parent company of AirAsia brands in the Philippines, Thai-

land, Indonesia, and Cambodia.

Fernandes said that the strategic move is aimed at streamlining the group and facilitating a businesscentric valuation of the separate entities, potentially unlocking greater value to shareholders.

“All businesses across Capital A have been thriving and we are ready to grow. We need to raise funds for business expansion, but gaining access to capital has been challenging due to Capital A’s Practice Note 17 [PN17] status. We have been engaging committed investors who have expressed a strong preference for a pure aviation play,” he said.

Issued by Bursa Malaysia, PN17 is a status given to companies that have some financial distress. It requires companies to submit restructuring proposals to maintain their listing status to the bourse.

“To address this and to ensure a robust financial injection, we are strategically pursuing the sale of the aviation business to AAX to create an aviation pure play, consolidating both long and short-haul airlines

under the AirAsia brand, subject to the negotiation of a definitive share sale and purchase agreement and its completion.

Following the disposal, the aviation business is poised to benefit from focused management and a well-defined strategic direction, which will boost the aviation business’s capacity to seize growth opportunities, expand market share, and ultimately achieve enhanced profitability,” Fernandes said.

He noted that Capital A is confident that by separating the aviation business, the non-aviation businesses within the group, “will also be recognized for their intrinsic value and potential.” These include logistics company Teleport.

“Following the sale of the aviation business, Capital A shareholders will become shareholders of the two strong listed companies.

We believe this move will bring greater clarity to investments, create a more focused shareholder base, and ultimately unlock value for our shareholders.”

DMCI unit energy sales up 7% O

ff-grid electricity provider DMCI Power Corp.

(DPC) said on Monday it posted a 7-percent increase in energy sales in 2023, climbing from 426 gigawatt hours (GWh) to 454GWh. This growth marks the 11th consecutive quarter of rising sales for DPC, a subsidiary of conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc., which has a strategic focus on expanding access to electricity in underserved and non-serviced areas.

“Our sales have grown steadily for 11 consecutive quarters because of solid demand and our targeted investments in underserved and unserved areas, reflecting our dedication to missionary electrifica-

tion,” said DPC President Antonino E. Gatdula, Jr. Palawan emerged as DPC’s largest market in 2023, accounting for 44 percent of total sales volume.

This is a notable change from previous years when Masbate held this position.

Palawan’s energy sales rose by 12

percent from 179GWh to 200GWh, fueled by both an increase in capacity and a spike in demand, linked to the rise in tourism. This growth coincided with the inauguration of DPC’s P1.5-billion thermal power plant in Palawan in August.

Masbate, still a significant market for DPC at 34 percent, saw a

5-percent increase in energy dispatch, from 148 GWh to 156 GWh, due to enhanced demand and plant availability.

However, in Oriental Mindoro, sales fell by 2 percent to 97GWh from 99GWh. This reduction is attributed to the growing presence of renewable energy sources in the area. Oriental Mindoro accounts for 22 percent of the company’s energy sales.

By the end of 2023, DPC said it solidified its position as the largest off-grid energy generator in the Philippines in terms of installed capacity, boasting an installed capacity of 160 MW, an increase of 17 percent from the previous year. Lorenz S. Marasigan

MRC sets HI to foray into financial services sector sights on Y telco sector

T

he board of MRC Allied Inc. has approved the company’s subscription to the shares of stocks of Bitstar Prime Holdings Inc., an entity that will facilitate the company’s foray into the country’s information and communication technology sector.

MRC’s subscription will enable it to have controlling ownership and interest in Bitstar Prime and utilize the company to purchase and house telecommunication and broadband assets.

The board approved MRC’s subscription up to 75 million common shares with par value of P1per share.

Upon completion of the transaction, MRC will assign to Bitstar Prime its rights and obligations in several deals for its entry into the sector.

These include MRC’s memorandum of agreement for the company’s acquisition of 5G Security Inc. on December 9, 2020. 5G Security was the former name of Bitstar Prime.

MRC also signed a deal with Menlo Capital Corp. last February 2023 for the acquisition of 500 million common shares shares owned

by Menlo in PT&T Corp. VG Cabuag

uchengco-led House of Investments (HI) said it will diversify into the financial services and property sectors.

The diversification includes the P15.7 billion share swap agreement and acquisition of a 184-hectare property in Tarlac through a newly incorporated and wholly owned subsidiary, Tarlac Terra Ventures Inc. However, the company is moving out of the construction business as it has reduced its exposure in EEl Corp.

This strategy is aimed at bolstering the conglomerate’s portfolio and optimizing its organizational structure, HI said.

“Aiming to be an extensive conglomerate, we are putting in the groundwork necessary to make HI a bigger and better company.

This initiative is centered on the reorganization of the group to amplify its overall value proposition, demonstrating HI’s continuous business development and its pursuit of growth opportunities across multiple sectors,” Lorenzo V. Tan, the company’s director, president and CEO, said.

Pending the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval for the increase in its authorized capital, HI will

hold 77.32 percent of MICO Equities Inc. which owns non-life insurer Malayan Insurance Co.; 51 percent of life insurer Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc.; and 49 percent of Grepa Realty Holdings Inc. (GRHI).

This year, HI will undergo a transformation with financial services as a core investment replacing construction. The reorganization will create a new financial services unit under HI comprised of Malayan Insurance, Sun Life Grepa Financial, and its existing 40-percent stake in RCBC Trust Corp.

“This foray into financial services underscores HI’s commitment to diversification and its ambition to play a more substantial role in the Philippine financial industry,” the company said.

At the same time, HI will continue to grow its property portfolio with the acquisition of the 184-hectare property located at Central Techno Park in Luisita Industrial Park, along with the

upcoming ownership of GRHI and its multiple properties to be added to its property portfolio in 2024.

In 2022, HI acquired full ownership of A.T. Yuchengco Centre in BGC, Taguig. Currently, HI is developing a 28-storey office building along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue through its 60-percent stake in San Lorenzo Ruiz Investment Holdings and Services.

These activities align with its vision to tap into the growth potential of the Philippine real estate market, it said.

HI said the recent sale of additional EEl shares to a foreign investor is consistent with the portfolio realignment that the company is undergoing with a bias for recurring income and growth from construction to financial services, property and renewable energy.

“As HI embarks on this new phase of expansion, it reinforces its position as a versatile and dynamic player in the Philippine business landscape.” VG Cabuag

BusinessMirror file photo

By VG Cabuag @villygc

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revoked the corporate registration of Infinity8Networks Digital Services OPC and imposed an administrative fine of P1 million against the entity for illegally soliciting investments from the public.

In an order, the SEC’s Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) found that Infinity8Networks violated the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines.

It states that “no corporation shall possess or exercise corporate powers other than those conferred by law or by its articles of incorporation.”

While Infinity8Networks is registered as a one-person corporation with the SEC, it has not secured prior registration and license from the agency for the conduct of a public offering. Its articles of incorporation also prohibits the company to conduct investment-taking activities.

As such, the EIPD directed Infinity8Networks, its incorporator and nominees to pay a fine of P1 million, in accordance with the administrative penalties provided under the SRC. The Securities Regulation Code provides that securities should be registered with the SEC before they can be offered to the public. Entities offering such securities must likewise secure the necessary license from the commission.

Under PD 902-A, the SEC may suspend or revoke the certificate of registration of a corporation for serious misrepresentation as to what

the corporation can do or is doing to the great prejudice of or damage to the public.

Meanwhile, the SEC has warned the public not to invest in Terramush Inc. as it does not have the secondary license for its investment products.

The company claims that it serves as a platform to educate Filipinos about the financial and health benefits associated with mushrooms. Terramush said it acts as a means to distribute a variety of mushroom fruiting bags, allowing their members to simultaneously profit through their purchase of these bags.

Their president and CEO is Raphael G. Tablizo, the SEC said.

As posted online, one may invest with the company for as low as P300 in a 64-day lock-in period. The company promises a 2.5-percent daily income as a return on investment.

The SEC said Terramush was registered last July 5, 2023, but its certificate of registration only grants juridical personality to the said partnership. It does not authorize the company to issue, sell or offer for sale to the public, securities such as shares of stock, investment contracts, debt instruments and virtual currencies without prior registration statement approved by the commission.

“Furthermore, there is no official memorandum of agreement coming from any SEC attorney as claimed by the Terramush Co. The said claim may have been used by Terramush Co. to deceive the public that they are authorized to solicit investments from the public, when in fact they are not,” the SEC said.

Ninja Van names new country chief for PHL

N

inja Van Group has announced the promotion of Vin Perez as country head of the Philippines.

The company said Perez has been instrumental in scaling and optimizing operations to achieve 100 percent full parcel pick-up and delivery network coverage in the country.

During his tenure as chief operating officer in the Philippines, the company said Perez has enabled hassle-free deliveries—serving 18 million parcel recipients in the last 12 months—across the archipelago.

The Cabuyao hub, its largest automation hub standing at 220,000 square feet, is one of Vin’s “crown jewels.”

“This appointment aligns with Ninja Van Group’s commitment to providing operational excellence for its shippers and shoppers,” the company said. Aside from Perez, Ninja Van also announced the appoint-

Vin Perez

ment of Lin Zheng as country head of Malaysia.

“Over the past 8 years, Vin and Lin Zheng have been instrumental in building our operational capabilities from scratch. Their appointments from COOs to Country Heads not only recognize their contributions but also reflect Ninja Van Group’s dedication to operational excellence and talent development within the organization,” said Lai Chang Wen, CEO and co-founder of Ninja Van Group.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

CA affirms decision voiding ERC ruling on rate hike plea

T

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

he Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed with finality its June 2023 decision annulling the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) ruling which denied the application for a rate hike jointly filed by the power units of San Miguel Corp. and the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

In a decision dated December 28, 2023, the CA’s Thirteenth Division did not give merit to the motion filed

by ERC and National Association of Electricity Consumers For Reforms Inc. (Nasecor) seeking the reversal of the said decision penned by Associate Justice Charlene Hernandez-Azura.

The CA held that respondents ERC and Nasecor failed to present new arguments that would warrant the reversal of its decision.

“A scrutiny of the Motions for Reconsideration [MR] reveals that the grounds relied upon by respondent-intervenor Nasecor and public respondent ERC were already thoroughly considered and passed upon in the decision being sought to be reconsidered; and that contrary to the claims of public respondent, the

Court has clearly provided its basis in making its rulings,” the CA said.

“Accordingly, our decision dated June 27, 2023 stands.”

On June 27, 2023, the CA granted the petition for certiorari filed by San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC) and South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) seeking to nullify the order of the ERC denying their bid for electricity rate hike.

It held that the ERC gravely abused its discretion when it rejected the joint motion for price adjustment filed by SMC’s power units and Meralco on September 29, 2022 despite the substantial evidence justifying the same.

SPPC manages the natural gasfired power plant in Ilijan, Batangas, while SMEC is responsible for the

coal power plant in Sual, Pangasinan.

Both units are subsidiaries of San Miguel Global Power, the power arm of San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

SPPC and SMEC and Meralco sought the price adjustments to serve as temporary relief covering a combined P5.2 billion in losses incurred from January to May 2022 due to the unprecedented spike in fuel prices.

They also prayed for ERC’s approval of the power supply agreement (PSA) between Meralco and SMC power units.

preserve the PSAs effectively denied SPPC and SMECs right to due process.

Furthermore, the CA said that the determination of the validity of the notices of termination is not within the scope of jurisdiction of the ERC as this should be addressed to the proper tribunal in accordance with the arbitration clause in the PSAs. The CA also ruled that notices of termination against Meralco did not render moot the joint application for price adjustment.

Contrary to the claim of ERC, the CA ruled that the PSAs are not financial contracts with fixed rates.

It noted that the PSAs contain provisions that allow price adjustments for specific periods.

In its MR filed before the CA, ERC maintained lack of grave abuse of discretion in issuing its order denying the petitioners’ motion for price adjustment and Meralco. It also argued that the CA failed to comply with the constitutional requirement under Section 14, Article VIII of the Constitution to give a clear and distinct expression of facts and laws forming the basis of a court decision.

In denying ERC and Nasecor’s appeal, the CA declared: “Thus, the Court finds no merit in the arguments set forth in their respective motions for reconsideration. Accordingly, there is no cogent reason to reverse the Court’s Decision dated June 27, 2023.”

Terms of PSAs

In their respective PSAs, SPPC is required to supply power to Meralco with 670MW net baseload capacity, from the output of the 1,200 MW of Ilijan Power Plant, the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), or any other source, while SMEC is required to supply power to Meralco with 330MW net baseload capacity, from the output of the 1200 MW of Sual Power Plant, the WESM, or any other source.

Both PSAs cover a supply period of ten years from December 26, 2019 to December 25, 2029.

On August 5, 2022, Meralco informed ERC that it has received a notice of termination from SPCC and SMEC of the PSAs. However, the CA also ruled that ERC’s order invalidating the notice of termination and directing Meralco to

Pandora beats quarterly revenue estimates

P

andora A/S reported quarterly revenue that beat estimates, helped by soaring Christmas and Black Friday sales of its charm bracelets and other jewelry in the United States.

Revenue in the final three months of 2023 jumped 12 percent on an organic basis to 10.8 billion kroner ($1.58 billion), according to preliminary figures released by the Copenhagen-based company late on Sunday. That exceeded the

average estimate of 10.58 billion kroner in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.

The company’s “performance across most countries and categories was solid” and should support the performance of the bonds, Mads Lindegaard Rosendal, a credit analyst at Danske Bank A/S, said in a note.

“Although we would have liked to see the strong revenue growth also hitting operating profit to a greater extent.” Bloomberg News

MUTUAL FUNDS

January 8, 2024

NAV

One Year Three Year

Five Year

Y-T-D

per share Return*

Return

Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

216

1.46%

-1.59%

1.496

7.06%

4.15%

0%

2.05%

2.35%

3.018

1.26%

-1.2%

-5.81%

-1.96%

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7036

0.72%

-4.18%

First Metro Consumer Fund, Inc. -a

-4.79%

-5.74% n.a

2.36%

-1.47%

-3.07%

1.26%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.641

-5.92%

First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.7213-1.16%

-3.73%

-0.19%

1.51%

-5.3% n.a -0.1%

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7105-1.52% -2.06% n.a n.a MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

85.41

12.66%

-5.36%

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 44.1182

-0.83%

-1.88%

-2.97% n.a

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

459.01 1.2256

1.57%

1.66%

-1.21% n.a

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

0.79%

-0.19%

-1.99%

1.66%

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.88891.31%

-0.86%

-2.7% n.a

Philequity PSE Index Fund, Inc. -a

4.6339

0.11%

-2%

-0.11%

1.55% 1.6%

1.5% 1.48%

-2.18%

1.54%

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

771.18

0%

-1.19%

-2.25%

1.55%

1.67%

0.6987

1.25%

-0.97%

-4.75% n.a

1.11% -0.15%

-0.74%

-1.67%

-4.01%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8745 -0.3%

-1.49%

-2.55% n.a

0.77%

1.57%

-0.37%

3.442

1.65%

United Fund, Inc. -a

3.1616

-1.54%

-2.89%

1.98%

0.65%

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a

-1.01%

-3%

0.93%

1.7%

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 34.4624

1.1%

-6.38% n.a

1.35%

1.64% 1.66%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) COL Equity Index Unitized Mutual Fund, Inc. -a 1.0842-0.24% n.a n.a n.a

1.64%

COL Strategic Growth Equity Unitized Mutual Fund, Inc. -a,2 1.0202 n.a n.a n.a n.a 1.04% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a

1.033

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

936.13

-4.79%

-2.22% n.a n.a

-0.03% n.a n.a n.a

1.6% 1.67%

Exchange Traded Fund (shares) First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c104.76480.61% -0.78%

-1.93%

2.24%

1.69%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.8046

-9.07%

-13.8%

-2.83%

-1.64%

-0.69%

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a

$1.6322

13.73%

-0.93%

7.73% n.a

-1.65%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5203

2.7%

-3.31%

-2.08%

-1.31%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.2388

5.63%

-0.63%

-0.22%

0.67%

0.16%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.5242

-0.99%

-1.28%

-0.8%

-0.62%

0.1931

-1.53%

-0.9% n.a n.a

-0.13%

0.85%

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a

-0.6% 0.65%

1.42% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

1.96

-0.65%

1.72%

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.5972

3.2%

-1.64%

0.32%

0.9%

0.51%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

15.7459

2.82%

-2.34%

-0.43%

0.55%

0.55%

2.056

2.03%

-0.58%

-0.57%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

1.3%

0.8%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.4422

1.62%

-1.21%

-1.68%

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.9122

0.96%

-0.79% n.a

2.33%

0.83%

0.21%

0.61%

0.5%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a 0.9467 3.1%

-2.53% n.a n.a

0.34%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a 0.86191.02%

-3.07% n.a n.a

0.95%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a 0.8420.11%

-3.27% n.a n.a

1.14%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b$0.8962

$0.0329

2.11%

-5.58%

-2.19%

-8.77%

-0.72%

-1.46%

0.17%

-0.92%

-0.83%

-1.05%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.2218

8.99%

-2.31%

4.73%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a $1.026

4.83%

-4.22%

1.22% n.a

2.83%

-1.56% -1.48%

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 390.61

3.41%

1.74%

2.59%

2.26%

0.02%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9097

1.61%

0.15%

0.53%

0.08%

0.05%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.3238

3.22%

1.12%

2.24%

3.74%

-0.09%

4.74%

-0.26%

1.32%

1.44%

-0.42%

First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 2.4506 Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a

Ekklesia Mutual Fund, Inc. -a 2.2768

2.58%

-0.01%

2.07%

2.59%

-2.6%

2.45%

0.96%

-0.65%

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a

1.3746

4.05%

1.36%

3.14%

1.78%

Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

4.0347

0.4%

Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a

2.99%

4.2768

2.66%

1.72%

3.23% n.a

-0.03%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.3021

4.86%

1.07%

3.54%

2.25%

Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

4.08%

0.29%

2.69%

1.62%

-0.37%

1.0495

1.7643

4.45%

1.16%

0.3%

-0.34%

0.04% -0.07% -0.39%

Corporate Debt Vehicle (units) ATRAM Unitized Corporate Debt Vehicle, Inc. -a,3

1.0087 n.a n.a n.a n.a

0.16%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $495.04

3.08%

0.77%

ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.9

2.02%

-0.84%

ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b$1.03732.65%

1.98% 0.12%

2.55% 0.84%

-0.04% -0.06%

-6.72%

-1.68%

First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0248 4.64%

-2.06%

-0.08% n.a

PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc. -b$0.8535

-0.83%

-7.92%

-3.86%

-3.04%

-0.33%

Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.2853

5.41%

-3.38%

0.91%

1.91%

-1.48%

Philequity Dollar Income Fund, Inc. -a $0.060939

1.69%

-0.74%

1.34%

1.61%

0.03%

1.79%

-4.89%

-0.78%

0.48%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.7656

0.17%

-0.38% 0%

-2.52%

Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 136.93

2.75%

1.79%

2.51%

First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.1089 3.26% Sun Life Prosperity Peso Starter Fund, Inc. -a 1.3763 2.8%

2%

2.05%

0.06%

1.9% n.a n.a 2.44%

2.03%

0.05%

0.07%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 104.7

4.16% n.a n.a n.a

0.13%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0982

2.61%

1.42%

1.56% n.a

0.1%

Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund, Inc. -a 42.8269-0.81% n.a n.a n.a Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a

1.4526

16.44%

8.23% n.a n.a

-1.1% Sun Life Prosperity World Income Fund, Inc. -a,1

0.9948 n.a n.a n.a n.a

-0.51%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (Units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund, Inc. -a $0.7945-0.41%

-7.07% n.a n.a

-1.68%

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day.

1 - Launch date is August 22, 2023.

b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago.

2 - Launch date is October 6, 2023.

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.”

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

January 8, 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 PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND MEDCO HLDG PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

80,520 366,777,719 113,997 157,780,998 575,565 1,973,267 112,124,763.50 490,664 251,846.50 41,145 8,488,277.50 20,606,845 132,620 26,500 11,000 3,600 1,740 234,460 54,600 22,360

-16,750 65,177,872 -6,381 -71,763,965 1,224,850 -6,561,040.50 292,332 -23,415 -22,850 -5,570,300 -5,277,750 28,532 -

INDUSTRIAL ACEN CORP 4.55 4.56 4.47 4.64 4.46 4.56 18,815,000 86,216,350 ALSONS CONS 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.6 0.55 0.56 531,000 298,470 0.78 0.8 0.81 0.81 0.78 0.78 1,485,000 1,176,420 ALTERNERGY HLDG ABOITIZ POWER 38.2 38.3 38.25 38.5 37.9 38.2 1,444,400 55,195,810 1.21 1.24 1.22 1.25 1.2 1.24 596,000 717,790 RASLAG BASIC ENERGY 0.195 0.196 0.185 0.2 0.185 0.196 2,840,000 549,840 17.9 17.94 17.94 18 17.82 17.94 235,200 4,218,670 FIRST GEN 64.5 64.75 62.8 65 62.75 64.5 68,030 4,346,486 FIRST PHIL HLDG JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.6 5.99 5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 100 560 395 396 398 399 395 395 123,020 48,826,114 MERALCO MANILA WATER 18.96 19 18.86 19.14 18.86 18.96 1,516,500 28,810,446 3.39 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.36 3.39 677,000 2,306,430 PETRON PETROENERGY 4.5 4.68 4.66 4.66 4.5 4.5 22,000 100,030 4.56 4.9 4.73 4.73 4.73 4.73 1,000 4,730 PHX PETROLEUM REPOWER ENERGY 7.1 7.35 7.35 7.35 7.07 7.35 267,600 1,954,476 SEMIRARA MINING 31.7 31.8 31.5 31.9 31.45 31.7 1,823,000 57,797,790 7.9 7.94 6.81 8.05 6.81 7.94 10,027,500 76,823,017 SYNERGY GRID SHELL PILIPINAS 11 11.06 10.9 11.18 10.9 11.06 337,100 3,711,504 7.2 7.24 7.15 7.25 6.98 7.2 33,900 240,179 SPC POWER SP NEW ENERGY 1.28 1.29 1.29 1.34 1.26 1.29 44,544,000 57,452,910 0.7 0.71 0.75 0.75 0.69 0.71 16,189,000 11,355,110 AGRINURTURE 2.25 2.29 2.27 2.3 2.2 2.3 80,000 179,480 AXELUM CENTURY FOOD 31.7 32 32 32.2 31.55 32 1,872,000 59,571,275 6.2 6.29 6.18 6.28 6.18 6.25 3,900 24,341 DEL MONTE DNL INDUS 6.59 6.6 6.56 6.67 6.55 6.6 971,000 6,422,694 20.85 21 20.85 21 20.75 20.85 1,080,800 22,598,700 EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV 50 51 51.5 51.5 50 50 16,190 816,752.50 0.63 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.63 0.64 1,955,000 1,251,670 FIGARO COFFEE 0.46 0.5 0.46 0.46 0.46 0.46 10,000 4,600 ALLIANCE SELECT FRUITAS HLDG 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.92 1,038,000 948,670 166 166.5 168.8 168.9 165 166 20,280 3,364,257 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 257 257.6 257 258.8 256.2 257 384,880 99,224,360 1.42 1.43 1.43 1.44 1.42 1.43 754,000 1,078,950 KEEPERS HLDG MAXS GROUP 3.33 3.4 3.4 3.41 3.31 3.4 86,000 290,270 0.107 0.11 0.101 0.11 0.1 0.11 2,120,000 218,710 MG HLDG 8.68 8.69 8.55 8.76 8.55 8.69 4,285,000 37,275,377 MONDE NISSIN SHAKEYS PIZZA 9.81 9.9 9.9 9.95 9.8 9.81 67,000 660,003 0.43 0.435 0.435 0.435 0.43 0.43 290,000 124,850 ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP 2.99 3 3 3 2.99 3 284,000 851,680 0.56 0.67 0.65 0.65 0.65 0.65 60,000 39,000 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.057 0.062 0.054 0.062 0.054 0.062 400,000 23,080 121.4 121.7 123.4 124.4 121.4 121.4 838,140 102,306,297 UNIV ROBINA 0.53 0.54 0.51 0.56 0.51 0.55 37,000 19,840 VITARICH VICTORIAS 3.1 3.29 3.28 3.28 3.28 3.28 1,000 3,280 0.98 0.99 0.93 1 0.93 0.99 897,000 885,480 CEMEX HLDG EC VULCAN CORP 0.7 0.72 0.64 0.73 0.64 0.72 1,699,000 1,198,430 6.27 6.28 6.26 6.35 6.18 6.28 748,700 4,664,211 EEI CORP MEGAWIDE 3.17 3.19 3.2 3.22 3.16 3.19 847,000 2,706,500 0.395 0.51 0.395 0.435 0.395 0.435 30,000 12,250 TKC METALS CROWN ASIA 1.52 1.56 1.56 1.57 1.51 1.51 56,000 86,640 EUROMED 0.72 0.75 0.72 0.75 0.72 0.75 20,000 14,820 5.2 5.25 5.25 5.35 5.25 5.25 23,700 124,918 PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION 14.08 14.46 14.46 14.46 14.46 14.46 600 8,676 0.234 0.235 0.227 0.237 0.227 0.235 17,690,000 4,133,280 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 3.1 3.12 3.11 3.17 3.1 3.1 990,000 3,098,150 1.09 1.1 1.1 1.14 1.07 1.11 4,740,000 5,231,500 IONICS 4.98 5.65 5.65 5.98 5.65 5.98 1,000 5,749 PANASONIC SFA SEMICON 2.36 2.43 2.41 2.44 2.35 2.43 462,000 1,114,410 1.85 1.88 1.88 1.94 1.83 1.88 820,000 1,557,010 CIRTEK HLDG

1,188,930 14,370.00 -23,533,885 -2,480 -28,150 -1,505,056 512,000 11,820,050 6,664,848 -244,540 3,872,690 -16,134,434 -765,570 12,564 13,764,090 -921,160 15,993,020 -1,823,779 -12,561,090 -372,801.50 -29,740 4,600 35,420 50,339,560 -43,840 112,310 -18,060,647 335,339 -717,030 -51,070,925 -28,704 -57,680 39,010 33,975 697,500 -1,008,890 -650,850 62,130

ABACORE CAPITAL AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

156,820 14,223,410 16,743,880 -649,820 5,810 -100,660 -5,912,964 71,077,200 -14,262,085 -4,250 -836,380 51,546,105 -2,313,755 830

HOLDING & FRIMS

33.5 132.3 6.91 103.9 31.25 8.5 54.2 18.72 55.35 21.25 72.9 46.9 1.38 2.6 2.75 3.6 0.087 178.6 2,720 0.77

1.08 701 50 11.58 11.5 0.42 0.385 4.77 9.99 5.5 1.66 609.5 3.26 43.05 4.28 8.91 0.12 2.7 0.92 890 109.5 97.05 0.25 0.075

33.9 133 7.09 104 31.3 8.56 54.3 18.76 55.75 23 73 46.95 1.41 2.65 2.79 0.105 179.9 2,730 0.8

1.09 701.5 50.1 11.6 11.92 0.43 0.39 4.83 10.08 5.59 2.27 610 3.48 43.1 4.35 9.04 0.129 2.76 0.97 895 109.6 102 0.26 0.083

33.5 134 7 104.3 31.3 8.6 54.7 18.68 55.75 22.85 73.1 46.85 1.39 2.65 2.75 3.6 0.087 177.8 2,730 0.8

1.1 710 49.9 11.48 11.7 0.42 0.39 4.75 10.14 5.45 2.34 606 3.47 42.9 4.25 9.15 0.12 2.72 0.92 890 109.6 96.1 0.25 0.083

33.9 136.4 7.09 105.4 31.4 8.62 54.8 18.76 55.75 22.9 73.3 47.45 1.41 2.65 2.75 3.6 0.087 180 2,730 0.8

1.14 714.5 50.1 11.7 11.94 0.43 0.39 4.82 10.14 5.59 2.34 612.5 3.48 43.25 4.26 9.15 0.129 2.72 0.97 904.5 109.8 102 0.25 0.083

33.5 132.3 6.97 103 31.15 8.5 54 18.68 55.4 22.85 73 46.8 1.38 2.65 2.75 3.6 0.087 177.8 2,730 0.77

1.08 696.5 49.55 11.48 11.3 0.42 0.39 4.75 9.98 5.4 2.27 600.5 3.47 42.7 4.25 8.91 0.12 2.7 0.92 889.5 109.1 96.1 0.25 0.083

33.9 132.3 6.97 104 31.3 8.52 54.2 18.72 55.75 22.9 73 46.95 1.41 2.65 2.75 3.6 0.087 179.9 2,730 0.77

1.09 701.5 50 11.58 11.94 0.43 0.39 4.77 9.99 5.59 2.27 610 3.48 43.1 4.25 8.91 0.129 2.7 0.97 890 109.5 102 0.25 0.083

2,400 2,727,200 16,300 1,512,190 18,400 231,900 2,071,520 26,200 4,530 1,800 116,230 437,500 96,000 10,000 4,000 1,000 20,000 1,310 20 29,000

4,202,000 281,080 556,700 1,275,200 75,600 130,000 10,000 174,000 2,475,600 28,700 6,000 235,780 7,000 2,123,100 8,000 3,780,000 70,000 254,000 3,000 177,950 63,380 370 190,000 10,000

4,640,770 197,045,905 27,825,195 14,783,066 867,314 55,400 3,900 833,570 24,948,474 155,999 13,970 143,739,185 24,340 91,546,275 34,020 33,964,486 8,580 687,000 2,810 159,390,800 6,940,340 36,206 47,500 830

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.43 0.45 0.42 0.45 0.42 0.45 150,000 63,800 AYALA LAND 34 34.2 34.3 34.3 33.7 34 9,827,900 333,854,070 1.87 1.88 1.84 1.9 1.84 1.88 978,000 1,842,580 AYALA LAND LOG ALTUS PROP 8.99 9.28 8.95 9.28 8.95 9.28 2,000 18,405 0.96 0.99 0.98 0.99 0.94 0.99 912,000 882,600 ARANETA PROP AREIT RT 33 33.6 34 34 33 33 944,800 31,710,575 0.7 0.71 0.71 0.71 0.7 0.7 11,000 7,740 CITYLAND DEVT 0.062 0.064 0.065 0.065 0.065 0.065 90,000 5,850 CROWN EQUITIES CEB LANDMASTERS 2.58 2.59 2.56 2.59 2.56 2.58 220,000 567,610 0.275 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.275 0.275 710,000 197,400 CENTURY PROP CITICORE RT 2.58 2.59 2.59 2.59 2.58 2.59 6,127,000 15,868,010 8.12 8.13 8.1 8.15 8.01 8.12 72,600 588,700 DOUBLEDRAGON DDMP RT 1.21 1.23 1.22 1.23 1.19 1.23 3,402,000 4,125,440 5.3 5.38 5.28 5.29 5.28 5.29 5,000 26,420 DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST 0.123 0.125 0.122 0.126 0.121 0.123 2,720,000 332,740 EVER GOTESCO 0.275 0.29 0.285 0.29 0.285 0.29 640,000 182,600 2.9 2.91 2.85 2.97 2.85 2.91 1,048,000 3,058,240 FILINVEST RT FILINVEST LAND 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.65 0.63 0.65 4,482,000 2,849,730 0.84 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 623,000 529,550 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 8.62 8.92 8.62 8.92 8.62 8.92 15,900 141,586 839.5 880 839 880 839 880 80 69,580 GOLDEN MV 0.53 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.52 0.54 59,000 31,200 PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.75 121,000 90,750 2.01 2.02 2.02 2.03 2 2.02 7,115,000 14,300,520 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED 1.43 1.45 1.34 1.46 1.33 1.45 513,000 732,880 12.66 12.68 12.72 12.76 12.64 12.68 246,300 3,129,850 MREIT RT PHIL ESTATES 0.325 0.345 0.345 0.35 0.345 0.35 200,000 69,300 1.55 1.56 1.56 1.56 1.55 1.56 364,000 567,830 PREMIERE RT RL COMM RT 5.01 5.02 5.02 5.06 4.99 5.02 1,396,500 7,012,562 ROBINSONS LAND 15.84 15.86 15.96 16.1 15.86 15.86 4,327,600 69,187,518 1.38 1.41 1.38 1.38 1.38 1.38 1,000 1,380 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 3.71 3.75 3.77 3.77 3.67 3.72 178,000 660,410 3.21 3.4 3.48 3.48 3.48 3.48 4,000 13,920 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 33.4 33.5 33.4 33.85 33.25 33.5 6,747,500 226,352,190 2.38 2.39 2.39 2.39 2.39 2.39 11,000 26,290 VISTAMALLS VISTA LAND 1.77 1.79 1.77 1.85 1.76 1.79 1,500,000 2,683,680 VISTAREIT RT 1.7 1.71 1.73 1.73 1.7 1.71 116,000 198,740

SERVICES ABS CBN 4.8 4.83 4.6 4.84 4.58 4.83 1,146,000 5,377,590 GMA NETWORK 8.89 8.9 8.92 8.92 8.83 8.9 540,900 4,813,128 1,719 1,720 1,730 1,739 1,720 1,720 36,525 62,938,110 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1,280 1,290 1,280 1,297 1,280 1,280 41,430 53,275,210 0.013 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.013 0.014 35,800,000 475,300 APOLLO GLOBAL CONVERGE 9.69 9.7 9.42 9.82 9.16 9.7 12,556,500 120,332,024 3.15 3.25 3.12 3.25 3.12 3.25 150,000 484,820 DFNN INC 2.44 2.45 2.49 2.51 2.42 2.45 1,659,000 4,087,700 DITO CME HLDG IMPERIAL 0.53 0.78 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.52 1,000 520 1.17 1.18 1.22 1.24 1.18 1.18 1,141,000 1,356,240 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.135 0.137 0.133 0.139 0.133 0.134 80,000 10,760 15.5 15.96 15.96 15.96 15.9 15.96 9,700 154,758 ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA 1.43 1.48 1.4 1.48 1.4 1.48 292,000 417,470 33 33.15 33.2 33.4 33 33.15 166,900 5,538,075 CEBU AIR 248.8 249 252 253 249 249 457,070 114,468,018 INTL CONTAINER LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.55 0.65 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 16,000 8,800 3.98 3.99 3.98 4.04 3.98 3.99 501,000 2,006,680 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 0.51 0.52 0.51 0.51 0.51 0.51 50,000 25,500 5.22 5.5 5.2 5.56 5.15 5.55 19,200 105,099 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 0.73 0.75 0.77 0.77 0.77 0.77 1,000 770 1.72 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 10,000 18,000 ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG 0.062 0.064 0.06 0.064 0.06 0.062 4,130,000 257,500 DISCOVERY WORLD 1.17 1.29 1.2 1.29 1.2 1.29 34,000 40,890 0.4 0.42 0.4 0.41 0.4 0.41 40,000 16,300 WATERFRONT CENTRO ESCOLAR 8.13 8.49 8.02 8.02 8.02 8.02 800 6,416 561.5 597 597.5 597.5 597.5 597.5 20 11,950 FAR EASTERN U IPEOPLE 7.01 7.3 7.32 7.32 7.32 7.32 1,000 7,320 0.48 0.485 0.49 0.49 0.48 0.485 3,260,000 1,582,500 STI HLDG 1.19 1.2 1.19 1.2 1.18 1.2 310,000 368,400 BELLE CORP BLOOMBERRY 10.14 10.16 10.2 10.26 10.02 10.16 4,406,000 44,789,800 4.25 4.28 4.6 4.6 4.22 4.28 1,860,000 8,025,080 PACIFIC ONLINE PH RESORTS GRP 0.86 0.88 0.89 0.9 0.86 0.86 851,000 742,990 0.66 0.68 0.68 0.69 0.66 0.67 5,605,000 3,774,990 PREMIUM LEISURE DIGIPLUS 8.1 8.15 8.29 8.47 8.15 8.15 1,556,200 12,949,466 1.72 1.78 1.74 1.79 1.73 1.78 309,000 542,390 PHILWEB ALLDAY 0.162 0.163 0.162 0.164 0.162 0.162 2,120,000 346,100 ALLHOME 1.23 1.24 1.27 1.28 1.23 1.24 4,139,000 5,219,490 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.28 1.26 1.27 26,000 32,990 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 27.95 28 28 28.35 27.75 28 1,848,700 51,784,900 40.25 40.5 40.25 40.6 40.25 40.25 733,000 29,551,605 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 75 76 76 76 75 76 3,850 292,530 2.76 2.77 2.64 2.8 2.64 2.77 2,609,000 7,085,890 SSI GROUP 1.54 1.69 1.69 1.69 1.69 1.69 3,000 5,070 UPSON INTL CORP WILCON DEPOT 23.5 23.6 23.5 24 23.5 23.5 630,900 14,912,315 0.219 0.227 0.219 0.229 0.219 0.229 350,000 76,850 APC GROUP EASYCALL 2.16 2.97 2.25 2.25 2.15 2.15 100,000 222,220 0.325 0.33 0.335 0.335 0.335 0.335 90,000 30,150 MEDILINES PRMIERE HORIZON 0.174 0.177 0.17 0.178 0.17 0.177 1,680,000 291,800 4.2 4.45 4.4 4.5 4.2 4.45 27,000 117,550 SBS PHIL CORP

MINING & OIL ATOK 5.07 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.07 5.07 5,800 29,565 2.95 2.96 3 3.03 2.96 2.96 5,177,000 15,511,350 APEX MINING ATLAS MINING 3.5 3.52 3.54 3.54 3.5 3.5 140,000 490,620 4.78 4.81 4.79 4.81 4.71 4.81 151,000 722,570 BENGUET A BENGUET B 4.82 4.85 4.74 4.85 4.74 4.82 45,000 216,370 3.13 3.29 3.13 3.3 3.13 3.29 11,000 36,080 CENTURY PEAK FERRONICKEL 2.15 2.17 2.15 2.18 2.14 2.17 309,000 669,850 GEOGRACE 0.028 0.031 0.029 0.03 0.029 0.03 400,000 11,900 0.076 0.077 0.078 0.078 0.076 0.076 5,310,000 406,390 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.077 0.078 0.076 0.078 0.076 0.078 6,920,000 527,020 0.0047 0.0049 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 24,000,000 115,200 MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B 0.0047 0.0049 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 8,000,000 38,400 1.04 1.05 1.09 1.09 1.04 1.04 2,289,000 2,438,000 MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA 5.12 5.15 5.2 5.24 5.06 5.12 2,224,300 11,387,370 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.66 0.64 0.65 43,000 27,710 3.24 3.28 3.26 3.35 3.22 3.24 2,990,000 9,812,370 PX MINING ENEX ENERGY 5.35 5.4 5.4 5.4 5.2 5.4 44,900 237,971 0.0079 0.008 0.0083 0.0083 0.008 0.008 2,000,000 16,300 ORNTL PETROL A PHILODRILL 0.0076 0.0081 0.008 0.008 0.0076 0.0076 16,000,000 127,600 3.78 3.84 3.85 3.89 3.84 3.84 177,000 684,360 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED ACEN PREF A 1,042 1,100 1,042 1,042 1,042 1,042 3,270 3,407,340 ACEN PREF B 1,070 1,079 1,079 1,079 1,079 1,079 125 134,875 2,484 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 100 250,000 AC PREF AR ALCO PREF C 95.05 98 95 95 95 95 100 9,500 96.9 98 97 97 97 97 2,000 194,000 BRN PREF A DD PREF 94.25 94.9 95 95 94.1 94.9 10,030 945,574 96.1 96.9 96.9 96.9 96.9 96.9 9,220 893,418 EEI PREF B GTCAP PREF B 950 988 950 950 950 950 30 28,500 JFC PREF A 950.5 960 950 950 950 950 60 57,000 90.15 93.15 93.2 93.2 93.2 93.2 20 1,864 MWIDE PREF 4 MWIDE PREF 5 101 101.4 101.4 101.4 101.4 101.4 300 30,420 23.15 25.6 24.85 25.6 24.85 25.6 1,200 30,140 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 210.4 216.8 210.2 225 210.2 215 580 124,526 980 991 991 991 991 991 20 19,820 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 4B 990 1,005 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 30 30,000 PCOR PREF 4C 974 1,005 990 990 973 973 210 205,120 72.3 72.95 73 73 72.3 72.3 39,140 2,844,801 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2I 70.5 72.75 72.75 72.75 72.75 72.75 30 2,182.50 67.8 67.95 67.95 67.95 67.95 67.95 1,010 68,629.50 SMC PREF 2J SMC PREF 2K 66.25 68.75 68.75 68.75 68.75 68.75 110 7,562.50 77.7 77.95 77.6 77.6 77.6 77.6 110 8,536 SMC PREF 2O TECH PREF B2D 48.25 48.5 48.5 48.5 48.5 48.5 2,600 126,100

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS

-1.52%

www.businessmirror.com.ph

TECH WARRANT

4.41 4.6 4.34 4.42 4.28 4.42 1,065,000 8.36 9 8.84 9 8.35 9 4,800

0.305

0.33

0.32

0.335

0.32

0.33

130,000

25,657,820.00 -65,500 23,530 -809,340 -2,130 -301,860 13,750 41,440 30,590 -290,250 -154,100.00 410,100 -915,130 -6,034.00 -52,800 -90,000 -637,600 27,116 5,000 -47,055,712 1,380 44,720 56,750,390 -165,300 -35,620,845 11,020,855 24,299,762 -162,500 42,220 -1,964,100 -6,544,890 -449,130 1,290 18,850 -42,330 -5,780,516 200,190 -37,360 410,954.00 80,550 -304,700 8,009,835 -26,856,965 -275,880 2,771,630 -3,380 6,595,955 10,390 -344,200 41,460 38,000 -3,205,460 -11,520 -6,580 -97,000 4,850

4,652,930 41,498

-4,571,020 -20,089

42,350

16,000

SMALL, MEDIUM & EMERGING

0.435 0.435 0.41 0.43 220,000 93,350 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 7,000 5,180 0.96 0.96 0.94 0.96 465,000 440,510 0.65 0.69 0.65 0.68 33,000 21,520 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 3,000 4,590 0.062 0.062 0.062 0.062 70,000 4,340 1.07 1.09 1.06 1.07 868,000 930,390 -10,700 0.24 0.24 0.23 0.24 110,000 26,300 -

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

104.2 105 104.2 104.9 32,590 3,413,481 -51,401

BALAI FRUITAS CTS GLOBAL HAUS TALK ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH LFM PROP MERRYMART XURPAS

FIRST METRO ETF

0.415 0.74 0.94 0.65 1.53 0.059 1.06 0.204 104.7

0.43 0.76 0.96 0.68 1.59 0.062 1.07 0.245 104.9

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Tuesday, January 9, 2024 B3

T-bill yields continue to correct a bit higher

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE national government raised more than its initial program during the auction of Treasury Bills (T-bills) on Monday, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

The BTr said the Auction Committee raised $19 billion from the T-bill auction compared to the P15 billion initial program.

The BTr said the committee decided to double the accepted volume of

non-competitive bids for the 91-day and 182-day T-bills after the auction was 3.1 times oversubscribed and attracted P46.9 billion in total tenders.

“Treasury bill …yields most continued to correct slightly higher for

The art of giving

low of 5.29 percent.

The total tenders received for the tenor reached P16.91 billion of which P7 billion was accepted and P9.91 billion was rejected. The original program for the 182-day notes was P5 billion. The data also showed the 364-day T-bills fetched an average interest rate of 5.973 percent. The interest rate reached a high of 6.025 percent and a low of 5.83 percent.

Total tenders received for the notes reached P11.605 billion of which P5 billion was accepted and P6.605 billion was rejected.

“Treasury bill auction yields mostly continued to slightly go up, after Tbill and short-term PHP BVAL yields are still below the BSP overnight (1-

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

Edmund Lao

personal finance He seemed stressed. I know for a fact that his salary is more than what he needs so I gave him this answer, ”The reason you are blessed is because you will be a blessing to your siblings. You will receive more because you have to bless them more.”

3. The need is valid. Whenever someone asks for financial help, it pays to validate if the request is valid. There were some stories where a person asked money from a friend allegedly due to a problem, only to be discovered that he squandered the money on partying as seen from his post in the social media. Before giving in to the emotion or pity, make it a point to check the validity of the story/reason given so that there will be no abuse committed.

4. Cheerful giving. If one will begrudgingly give, it is better not to give at all. When a person views money as an end, then it will be very difficult for him to give. But if money is viewed as a tool, it is much easier to give or lend it out. When one truly gives cheerfully, the return is an inner happiness that helps lessen stress and increases positive mood. A lot of people say that when we give, we will get more. We are given more so that we can give more. The less greedy we are, the more blessings we will have.

But make sure don’t give beyond our capacity.

Moving forward, we have to be smart in giving. No need to spend too much. Give the gift of love, time, and memories. It is worth more than any amount of money one can have and is less stressful financially. Have a blessed new year ahead!

Edmund Lao is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about financial planning, attend the 105th RFP program this December 2023. Please email info@rfp.ph or visit rfp.ph for details.

A

S promised, lawmakers are pursuing the initiative to redress the inconsistency between the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (Create) law and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR); and similar gaps in the value-added tax (VAT), in a bid to encourage better compliance, avoid stunting business growth and shore up the State coffers.

On Monday, Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, led a consultative meeting with the Board of Investments (BOI) and

domestic enterprises to discuss the inconsistency between the Create law and its IRR; the VAT on importations and local purchases of goods and services and the congressional oversight committee on the Create Law. Director Elyjean DC. Portoza of the BOI-Legal and Compliance Service explained to Gatchalian how the confusion on the implementation of the zero VAT came about. The law, Republic Act (RA) 11534, did not specify that zero VAT would only be applicable to exporters while the IRR specified that it would only be applicable to exporters, Portoza, a lawyer, pointed out.

The Ways and Means-led consul-

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in the same month of last year.

The state’s domestic gross borrowings in October tripled to P174.632 billion from P56.733 billion last year on the back of a P71.78-billion retail onshore dollar bonds offering, based on Treasury data.

The state borrowed P90 billion through the sale of fixed-rate Treasury bonds, about 16.75 percent lower than the P108.114 billion amount it generated in October last year, Treasury data showed.

The national government’s net Treasury bills reached P12.852 billion versus the P51.381 billion net redemption last year as the amount of gross borrowings outpaced payments during the reference period.

easing monetary policy as soon as March.

“Anything between 4 percent and 4.2 percent is a buy” for the 10-year, said Priya Misra, portfolio manager at JPMorgan Asset Management, noting that the yield was at the upper end of that range ahead of the last Fed meeting. “For 4.2 percent to break, we have to bring hikes back in or take out overall cuts.”

The rally that gripped the bond market during the last two months of 2023 put an end to what had been the worst losses in decades, driving Treasuries to a gain for the year and bolstering conviction that yields won’t retest the previous peaks. While investors are mindful that yields may drift higher if incoming data alters expectations about the Fed’s likely path, some big investment firms have been looking at recent drops as good times to buy.

Australian and New Zealand yields moved higher on Monday,

tative meeting with the Executive branch arose from two Senate resolutions filed by the Minority to iron out the inconsistencies.

On Monday, Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, who filed Senate Resolution 219, attended the consultative meeting conducted by the Committee on Ways and Means to discuss the controversial issues.

Like Hontiveros’s initiative, Senate Resolution 244 filed by Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. called for the Senate to convene the Congressional Oversight Committee on the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program for the purpose of rectifying the inconsistency between the

Create Law and its IRR and the VAT on importations and local purchases of goods and services.

In Monday’s meeting, Hontiveros asked the BOI officials if they presented a position paper on the VAT during the deliberation of the Create bill in the Senate. Portoza replied they had not.

She said the IRR that was issued after the Create law was enacted in 2021 and specified that the zeroVAT on local purchases applies only to registered business enterprises that are exporters.

“By definition of the law, an exporter is one that would export at least 70 percent of its products and services,” Portoza said.

NTC exceeds collection BSP inks deal with group, goal thru enforcement sees strong financial mart

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HE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has surpassed its 2023 revenue collection target by more than 50 percent, as it strengthened the enforcement of compliance among various stakeholders within the telecom sector.

According to NTC Commissioner Ella Blanca B. Lopez, the regulator collected P9.43 billion last year, exceeding its target of P5.91 billion set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) by 62 percent, amounting to over P3.5 billion.

Lopez added that key to this success has been the NTC ’s focus on ensuring that spectrum users’ fees, supervision and regulation fees and penalties are duly collected.

The NTC is responsible for

regulating a broad spectrum of entities, including cable and commercial television operators, broadcast radio stations, telecommunications companies and both commercial and portable radio operators.

The NTC’s systematic collection effort is the agency’s modest way of contributing to the public service programs of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.; “priorities of which are on food security, free and universal primary education and public health,” Lopez said.

The NTC’s collection targets are mandated in the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing, a document required by the Constitution and consolidated by the Department of Budget Management.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

Traders seize on 4% yields, confident rate cuts coming RADERS betting on a 2024 bond rally are unfazed by the recent pullback, seeing it as a chance to seize on elevated yields before the Federal Reserve starts driving down interest rates.

The dynamic was on display Friday, when bond prices dipped after the Labor Department reported that job growth unexpectedly accelerated last month.

But the selloff was curtailed because buyers swooped in as 10year Treasury yields neared 4.1 percent, the highest since midDecember.

The rebound—even in the face of data showing continued strength in the economy—highlighted the stark shift in sentiment over the past two months, with investors increasingly confident that the bond market is firmly recovering from its worst downturn in decades. Despite the recent backup, yields are still well below October’s peaks as traders wager that the Fed may start

day) auction yield at 6.39 percent,” Ricafort said.

“BSP key policy rate at 6.5 percent; BSP 7-day and 14-day Term Deposit Facility (TDF) auction yields at 6.6 percent and 28-day and 56-day BSP securities auction yields at 6.7 percent levels,” he added.

Earlier, BTr said the state’s gross borrowings in October rose by almost a quarter year-on-year to over P225 billion as the national government’s domestic borrowings tripled during the reference month.

Latest Treasury data showed the national government borrowed a total of P225.202 billion in gross terms in October, about 23.45 percent higher than the P182.429 billion recorded

BOI pressed on gaps between Create law and its IRR

C

HRISTMAS, the season of giving is already over. Everyone is back to reality. People from all walks of life have spent so much money for gifts to their loved ones and friends. There were also those who also have spent for exchanging gifts. After the revelry is over, they have no more money.

Realistically, giving does not require a season. One can give anytime he wants and needs to and for whatever the reason is. Giving does not always equate with money. One can give his time, his help, his advice etc., to anyone. But unknown to many, time, more than money, is the best gift one can give because he is giving a part of himself to another person.

Giving is not easy. In fact, it takes a lot of will to do it. As the saying goes, it is better to give than to receive.

Although true, it is easier said than done. It is our nature as humans to always want to be on the GET side than on the GIVE side. receive rather than give. In short, it is our nature to be selfish. But all is not lost. There is always selflessness in all of us when the circumstance arises.

In order for one to be able to give, the following factors should be present: 1. He has excess resources. The principle behind this is that we cannot give what we do not have. Doing so will cause us to be the next person asking for blessing from others. In the past, I have seen people who helped others even if they do not have the means. Worse they resort to borrowing money from loan sharks, drastically affecting their family finance. It is always best to help others as long as he does not go beyond his capacity so as not to be financially stressed.

Notice that a lot of tycoons are philanthropist. They are able to be a blessing to others because they have wealth beyond their needs.

2. Giving is wanting to be a blessing to others. Remember that we are blessed for a reason, to bless others. Once, a friend (who is a family man) told me that he is the one taking care of the expenses of his two siblings who are out of work. The 2 effectively has become his dependents.

the third straight auction—the second for 2024—after the sharp decline on November 28, 2023,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort told BusinessMirror.

The BTr said the 91-day T-bills fetched an average rate of 5.102 percent. Interest rates reached as high as 5.25 percent and a low of 4.98 percent.

The total tenders received for the tenor reached P18.36 billion of which P7 billion was accepted and P11.36 billion was rejected. The original program for the 91-day notes was P5 billion. For the 182-day T-bills, the BTr said it fetched an average interest rate of 5.582 percent. Interest rates reached a high of 5.7 percent and a

though the moves were in line with those seen for Treasuries on Friday. The yield on Australian 10-year notes added four basis points to 4.17 percent, after similar-dated US rates climbed five basis points to 4.05 percent at the end of last week.

New Zealand 10-year yields rose six basis points to 4.61 percent.

Cash Treasuries are shut in Asian hours Monday because Japan is on holiday.

Strategists at TD Securities told clients Friday that while bonds could still slide further in the near-term they remained convinced the labor market is cooling and the 10-year Treasury yield will end 2024 at 3 percent.

“The bond market is not ready to give up on their optimistic assessment for Fed rate cuts this year,” said Kevin Flanagan, head of fixed-income strategy at WisdomTree. “A narrative of buying on the dips will remain, and it will take more than one jobs report to

change that.”

Not all segments of the bond market are seen as sheltered from losses, with policy-sensitive two-year bonds potentially at risk to repricing if traders dial back rate-cut bets further due to the strength of the economy.

And the market is facing further tests this week, with the release of the December consumer-price index reading and a $37 billion 10-year Treasury auction that will provide a key gauge of demand. There’s also focus on a public appearance by New York Fed President John Williams, who has been among officials recently pushing back on market expectations for steep rate reductions early this year.

But the Fed has held policy steady since July, and the December meeting minutes released Wednesday showed that policymakers anticipated that they would likely begin easing this year.

Bloomberg News

T

he Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Bankers Institute of the Philippines (Baiphil) are set to conduct a series of joint activities such as building capacity and promoting their advocacies.

In a statement, the BSP said it and Baiphil formalized a “longstanding partnership” with the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The central bank and the Baiphil also agreed to undertake joint research, studies and publications on banking, monetary and economic issues and topics as well as exchange information on learning and training opportunities.

“The collaboration of [the] BSP and [the] Baiphil will go a long way in reaching out to our common stakeholders by providing support to banks toward productivity enhancement through research, information exchange and education,” BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. was quoted in the statement as saying.

The MOU covers joint activities including: capacity building sessions for bank employees, officers and directors; and, the sharing of subject matter experts and nonconfidential research materials.

The BSP said the collaboration will include advocacies, such as digital finance, financial literacy, financial inclusion, sustainable finance, legislative initiatives and reforms. The central bank also said they also intend to hold regular consultations and meetings on the design and conduct of seminars, conferences, training and capacity building, research and joint advocacies.

“This MOU commits us to work together more closely toward our common goal of professional development for banking professionals, financial literacy and financial inclusion for the underserved and unbanked,” Baiphil President Racquel B. Mañago was quoted in the statement as saying.

Bonds

IN a recent meeting of the Financial Stability Coordination Council (FSCC), the BSP said the council aims to strengthen the corporate bond market in 2024.

The BSP said the Council believes the Philippine financial market remains strong despite fresh rounds of global geopolitical risks.

Assessing various measures, the FSCC said current market behavior is aligned with a “risk on” stance, which will nurture

more economic activity.

“In the Risk on-Risk Off (RORO) investment paradigm, the risk perception of financial market traders gets reflected in financial prices. A ‘risk on’ phase reflects market optimism and a perception of low risks ahead,” read a statement issued by the BSP. Remolona, also the FSCC chairman, said there could be an increase in the funding requirements of corporations during the “risk on” phase.

“The banking system has enough space to support the increased demand for funding. But this is also a great time for us to continue broadening the funding opportunities by having in place a viable and competitive corporate bond market,” Remolona said.

“An active corporate bond market will benefit financial market stakeholders by widening access to funding for all credit categories of borrowers, expand opportunities for investors of different risk appetite and better manage risks for all,” he stressed. The FSCC acknowledged the need to deepen the bond market which has often been discussed on occasion.

However, in FSCC’s work program for 2024, this effort will be more targeted, engaging the different constituents in the market. The Council’s long-term objective is for a much more diverse set of corporate borrowers to issue bonds and for the risks to be actively priced while the bond remains outstanding.

This intends to support the economy to move forward and better positions the country among investors.

“We also need to communicate continuously with stakeholders, so that they can make informed decisions. All these are collective responsibilities, but the FSCC is more than happy to be at the forefront of all these in pursuit of its responsibility of managing systemic risks,” Remolona said.

The FSCC meets quarterly but more frequent meetings have been convened when market conditions warrant.

This council of financial market authorities is composed of the BSP, the Department of Finance, the Insurance Commission, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under Executive Order 144, the FSSC is tasked with mitigating systemic risks that threaten the stability of the overall financial system. Cai U. Ordinario

B4

Tuesday, January 9, 2024 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Art

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL art fairs announce 2024 dates

TODAY’S HOROSCOPE

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Nina Dobrev, 34; Kate Middlerton, 41; J.K. Simmons, 68; Omari Hardwick, 49.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Stick to the truth and get the facts. Go through ups and downs using your high energy, creativity, strength and courage to ensure you get things done and reap the rewards. It’s up to you to keep tabs on every aspect of your life if you plan to reach your destination and feel good about how things unfold. Showing gratitude will enrich your life.

Your numbers are 6, 13, 22, 28, 39, 45, 47.

A SCENE from ALT Philippines 2021 at Finale Art File in La Fuerza Compound, Makati City. ALT Philippines returns for its third edition on February 21 at SMX Mall of Asia. PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK.COM/ ALTPHILIPPINES

ARIES (March 21-April 19): An open mind will help you decide what’s feasible and how best to use your energy to reach your goal.

Discuss your plans with anyone who will be affected by your decisions. Positive relationships will give you the strength to manifest your dreams. ★★★★★

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don’t let anyone talk you into donating something you can’t afford to lose. Showing generosity can be uplifting, but not if you end up suffering. Think issues through instead of letting temptation and spontaneity lead to disappointment and loss. ★★★

I

T’S shaping up to be another vibrant year for the Philippine visual arts scene with two major art fairs revealing the dates of their 2024 editions.

Art Fair Philippines and the returning ALT Philippines run in February, or National Arts Month, as promulgated by then President Corazon Aquino in 1991 under Presidential Proclamation No. 683.

First, Art Fair Philippines 2024 takes place from February 16 to 18 at its de facto home of The Link in Makati City. Founded in 2013, the event has grown to become one of the most highly anticipated events in the Philippine art calendar, wherein local and global art aficionados flock the Makati City multi-levelparking-turned-art space.

Over the years, Art Fair Philippines has expanded its offerings beyond gallery exhibitions at its main location. Pocket events around Makati City engage a larger audience leading to the fair dates, while talks, tours and workshops bolster Art Fair Philippines’ education component. More of the same can be expected in this year’s edition with a few more surprises to be announced in the coming weeks

by Philippine Art Events Inc. which oversees the management of Art Fair Philippines.

Following Art Fair Philippines’ act is the third edition of ALT Philippines, running from February 21 to 25 at SMX Hall A in SM Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City. The event is a collaborative project of “nine progressive galleries which seek to reframe the art show.” Representing a diverse range of contemporary art practice, these galleries are Artinformal, Blanc, The Drawing Room, Galleria Duemila, Finale Art File,

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Carry on, but don’t be fooled by what others do or say. Someone will mislead you if it benefits them. Stick to what works best for you, and don’t stop until you are happy with what you achieve. You’ll do your best if you work alone. ★★★

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Speak up and ask questions, then change what’s necessary based on what you discover.

A partnership will require you to set boundaries or rules to stop infringements that can lead to difficulties.

Understanding and trust are mandatory to avoid a communication breakdown. ★★★

MO_Space, Underground, Vinyl On Vinyl, and West Gallery. This year, ALT Philippines aims to deliver an expansive and experiential new show, while fostering an environment that furthers its primary goals of “developing art education, patronage, and community engagement.”

For its 2024 edition, ALT Philippines will present the works of discerningly selected local artists and several diasporic and international artists. There will be a special feature as well on installations by veteran artists Juan Alcazaren, Geraldine Javier, Pete Jimenez, and Oca Villamiel, alongside a mural by Isabel Santos

using Boysen Paints.

Meanwhile, to be held twice a day, ALT Conversations is a series of meaningful dialogues covering unheralded topics in Philippine contemporary art. The idea is to rouse audience participation and stir an in-depth discussion within an intimate setting.

ALT operates from the non-profit organization Contemporary Art Collective. This year’s social responsibility project is a collaboration with Univers, wherein revenues of a silent auction will benefit scholars of The Philippine High School for the Arts. ■

S.E.A. Focus 2024, works by seven Filipino contemporary artists RECLAMATION, 2020, dimensions variable, Taloi Havini

FOR S.E.A. Focus 2024, Silverlens will be presenting works by seven contemporary artists from the Filipino diaspora and the Asia-Pacific region.

Challenging the myth surrounding the sociopolitical legacy of the Marcoses, Pio Abad’s Thoughtful Gifts (2021) explores a transnational narrative involving characters impacted by the United States’ quest for empire.

In a continuation of his series anonymity (2006-2011), Poklong Anading captures the interplay of subject, object and light, while Nicole Coson imprints transport crates onto canvases, forming circuitry in a way that intersects the history of Philippine trade with the technology of the present.

A collaborative work with her Hakö clan members, Taloi Havini’s work Reclamation delves into questions of temporal spaces and border definitions. Bernardo Pacquing

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Participate in something that requires energy, skills or connections that can help you get ahead. A challenge will prompt you to redefine what you want to do next. Don’t let the changes others make mislead or cause stress or tension. ★★★★★

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Learn from an experience you have, and change what is no longer working for you. Set high standards and put your plan in place. Use your insight and discipline to gain alliances that have something to contribute to your cause or concern. ★★

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Observe who is doing what, and align yourself with those you feel you have the most in common with. You’ll achieve more if you avoid arguing over trivial matters that don’t concern you. Know where you fit in, and you’ll reach your expectations. ★★★★

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make suggestions, spin things in your favor and get on with your day. Opportunities come to those willing to go with the flow and turn negatives into positives. Think outside the box and see what happens. Do more prep work and spend less money. ★★★

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Listen carefully and define your response to protect your space and plans. Look into any information you think could be misleading before you move forward. ★★★ CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Broaden your outlook, check investments or implement updates that lower your overhead. A positive change at home will give rise to new beginnings. A commitment seems promising, and love and romance are favored. ★★★

continues his Blossom series (2016-), experimenting with gestural execution and a focus on cadence in three new oil paintings. Stephanie Syjuco’s Block Out the Sun (2021) intervenes with historical archives, responding to the faux Filipino village at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

Ryan Villamael depicts an indigenous oasis in a vitrine in Pulo (2023), while his larger installation,

Locus Amoenus (2017-2023), occupies Esplanade Singapore. Yee I-Lann explores the woven mat’s significance across Southeast Asia, considering it an architectural and democratic portal to storytelling.

The fair program includes a panel discussion and book launch, titled Collaboration and Community: Yee I-Lann, June Yap and Beverly Yong, on January 20, 2024, celebrating Yee

I-Lann’s monograph the sun will rise in the east, which traces Yee I-Lann’s artistic journey from 2011 to 2023 through essays, conversations, and photographic documentation.

S.E.A. Focus 2024, Pio Abad, Poklong Anading, Nicole Coson, Taloi Havini, Bernardo Pacquing, Stephanie Syjuco, Ryan Villamael, Yee I-Lann are on view on January 19 to 28, at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, Singapore.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): If you put in the time, you’ll gain access to a work-related opportunity. Get what you want in writing.

Do what you can to ease stress and avoid temptation.

Attending a festive networking event will require restraint and test your moral compass. ★★★★

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): No one is perfect. Don’t believe everything you hear or get swept up by the hype someone has to offer. Look inward, pay attention to how you look and feel, and take care of your physical, mental and financial future. Discipline will pay off. ★★ BIRTHDAY BABY: You are sensitive, helpful and enthusiastic.

You are imaginative and accepting.

‘cha-ching!’ BY SARAH BUTKOVIC

The Universal Crossword • Edited by David Steinberg/Anna Gundlach/Adrian Johnson/Jared Goudsmit ACROSS 1 Barely perceptible 6 Like fake furs 10 Neighbor of Syria 14 Sedated 15 Farmland measure 16 Machu Picchu’s locale 17 Harriet Beecher ___ 18 Machine bits 19 Cookie you can twist 20 With letters in three blocks and 22-Across, passive-aggressive quietness 22 See 20-Across 23 Offshoot 24 Sport with chops 27 One more 30 “Darn right it happened” 31 With letters in four blocks and 32-Across, “That’s too nice!

32 See 31-Across 33 Makes an oopsie 35 Charmin competitor 37 Still drying 41 With letters in four blocks and 43-Across, Hershey’s treat

43 See 41-Across 44 They may be casual or for business 47 Warmly welcome 51 “I need to know in advance!”

52 Fauna’s counterpart 53 Hardware store chain 54 Unexpected charge...or a theme hint 58 Go higher 60 Mary ___ (weed) 61 What waiting for overdue results can be 62 Queen Latifah’s given first name 63 Word of woe 64 ___ a purpose 65 Schedule opening 66 Cheesy sandwich 67 Cards that beat deuces DOWN 1 Commotion 2 Not pro3 Word after “teen” or “American” 4 Most fresh 5 You can dig it!

6 One, two, three or six, for six 7 Squirrel’s snack 8 Impulse

9 Poison indicators, on bottles 10 NYSE debut 11 Like classic books, through time 12 Defensive comeback 13 Cited in a thesis, say 21 Fasten with string 24 Author Vonnegut 25 Limb missing from many a sculpture 26 Mouthpiece attachment 27 Yes vote 28 Neither’s partner 29 Couple’s word 30 Tennis unit 32 What “2” can mean, in texts 34 Security procedure 35 Like bad losers 36 Loops in via email 38 Atty.’s org.

39 ___ Tonight (1980s McDonald’s character) 40 Season opener?

42 That dude 44 Hugo and Tony, for two 45 Spa treatment that might involve a mask 46 Central California city

47 In position to inherit the throne, say 48 Fashionable, in the 1960s 49 Chicken piece 50 National park figure 52 Last 54 ___ and hearty 55 Fairway warning 56 A deadly sin 57 Snake ___ (lowest dice roll) 59 Fill up on 60 Traffic problem Solution to today’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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Glowing with glee and gratitude GMA PUBLIC AFFAIRS KICKS OFF 2024 WITH REVENGE SERIES ‘MAKILING’ THIS 2024, GMA Public Affairs takes viewers on a journey of mystery and revenge as it presents the first salvo of GMA’s afternoon block, Makiling, airing weekdays beginning January 8.

Headlined by Elle Villanueva and Derrick Monasterio, Makiling tells the story of Amira, a provincial lass struggling to pay off her family’s debts by working in Manila where she will find herself the unfortunate target of a group of rich, powerful and sadistic bullies. She endures unspeakable suffering and adversities, including a near-death experience, but returns completely transformed and hell-bent on claiming the justice and revenge she believes she rightfully deserves.

“I am grateful to GMA Network na binibigyan nila ako ng project at hindi lang siya basta-basta project.

Napakaganda ng istorya na ito, at lalong lalo na revenge drama siya. Nung marinig ko pa lang ang title na Makiling, very interesting na siya para sa akin. Gusto kong bigyan ng justice ang karakter ni Amira,” says Elle, who was recently part of the live-action television adaptation of Voltes V: Legacy.

In Makiling, Derrick portrays Amira’s childhood sweetheart and boyfriend Alex, a loving habalhabal driver who will vehemently protect the love of his life.

Says Derrick of Alex: “It’s very different from my previous character. Mas iba na ang atake since mas nagmature na ako. Mas iba na ang tingin ko sa mundo kaya mas mabibigyan ng depth ’yung karakter ko as Alex who is a protector na [may] maraming layers [sa pagkatao].”

The cast also features Thea Tolentino, Kristoffer Martin, Myrtle Sarrosa, Royce Cabrera, Teejay Marquez, and Claire Castro. Some of the country’s most-sought after character actors in both TV and film complete the Makiling cast: Mon Confiado, Bernadette Allyson-Estrada, Richard Quan, Cris Villanueva, Lui Manansala, Andrea Del Rosario, and Lotlot de Leon.

Makiling is produced by the award-winning team of GMA Public Affairs, which brought to life the hit TV series Lolong, The Write One, and Owe My Love.

This revenge drama is from the original concept of Aeious Asin and the late Reign Loleng. Written

by Carlos Palanca Memorial Awardee Clar EstuarNavarro, the series is directed by Conrado Peru.

Beginning January 8, Makiling airs weekdays at 4 pm after Stolen Life on GMA. Global Pinoys can catch it via GMA Pinoy TV.

CLOCKWISE: Eric Quizon, Vilma Santos, Zig Dulay and Nora Aunor

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T’S the day after New Year’s and the holiday rush is starting to taper off, but the showbiz universe is still all joyful and in high spirits.

We spoke to some friends who had a beautiful year and whose hearts are glowing with glee and gratitude, and we reckon that it’s a good time to share their happiness to our readers.

More than winning the best festival actress plum, Star for All Seasons Vilma Santos is happy that she has a festival entry, When I Met You in Tokyo, which she was so excited to promote in every available platform.

But her tireless efforts took a toll on her health and she was down with fever and flu, causing her to cancel many promotional commitments.

But Santos’s meds worked and she was able to accept her award in person, something that she wasn’t expecting.

The film’s supervising producer Redgie Magno is so proud of Santos. “We are all happy that she won, despite the very tough competition. Vi had to skip the Parade of Stars and the [media conference] because she was sick. But I admire her because she even sent a recorded video even if her voice was so coarse and her nasal congestion was so evident. Our new producers Weng Jamaji and Rajan Gidwani are just thankful for stars like Vilma.”

Superstar Nora Aunor is thankful that she is slowly bouncing back to good health after being sickly for some time. She was able to finish some projects and was quietly hoping that Pieta, where she shares stellar billing with actor producer Alfred Vargas and A-list actress Gina Alajar, would make it to the festival entries.

“S’yempre na disappoint ako nung hindi kami napili pero wala naman tayong magagawa, hindi ba? Ang dami kong dapat ipagpasalamat. I turned 70 at big deal ’yun para sa akin, pagkatapos ng pinagdaanan nating mga medical emergencies. Thankful talaga ako dahil nandito pa rin tayo at nagbibigay saya pa rin kahit paano sa mga tao [Of course, I was disappointed but what can we do? I have a lot to be thankful for. I turned 70 and it’s a big deal for me especially after the many medical emergencies I went through. I am happy that I am still around and I am still able to act in front of the cameras, and still able to give joy to many].”

Actor-director Eric Quizon is happy that he has assumed a new life-changing role as the head of Star Center, the talent management arm of the NET25 channel, owned by the leaders of the Iglesia ni Cristo religious group.

“Life is full of surprises. All my life, I have been an actor and now I’m suddenly thrown into a different

arena, one that is topped up of responsibility since I will be in charge of talent development for showbiz hopefuls,” he shared.

Quizon oversees the training of more than 30 wannabes in the newly setup group, called StarKada.

“It took us months and months of auditions before we picked the first batch of talents that we will train and develop into fine performance artists. It feels like I suddenly have more than 30 children. I am not complaining. In fact, I am thankful to be given this honor and such a huge responsibility.”

One director who is making waves these days is Zig Dulay, whose film Firefly won the best festival picture at the MMFF awards night.

‘Wonka’ is No. 1 at the box office again as 2024 gets off to a slower start

By Lindsey Bahr The Associated Press LOS ANGELES—Timothée Chalamet and Wonka topped the box office charts for the third time in its four weekends in theaters. Warner Bros.’ familyoriented musical added $14.4 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates on Sunday, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million.

“Wonka is following in the tradition of a film like The Greatest Showman,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for comScore. That Hugh Jackman musical opened under $9 million in December 2017 and went on to gross $435 million globally.

“Wonka is a perfect crowd-pleaser released at the perfect time and it’s going to ride that wave into January,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s an opportune time for it to be in the marketplace.”

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET in Wonka, which again topped the North American box office.

After finishing 2023 on a high note, 2024 is getting off to a slower start than last year, down around 16 percent, with the Universal/Blumhouse horror Night Swim as the only major new offering in theaters. The movie stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon as a couple with a sinister, supernatural swimming pool.

Night Swim drew in an estimated $12 million in its first weekend in 3,250 theaters in North America against a reported $15 million production budget.

Including international showings in 36 markets, Night Swim is heading towards a $17.7 million global debut.

“Not only did it perform really well at the box office, but it’s going to make us look at every swimming pool with a little more trepidation,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s head of domestic distribution.

Horror movies are largely critic-proof, but with

fairly negative reviews and a “C” CinemaScore rating, it’s unlikely to repeat the viral success of last year’s demon doll movie M3GAN. “We don’t have Avatar: The Way of Water, which totally dominated the box office a year ago, or M3GAN, which made that a bigger weekend,” said Dergarabedian.

“But it’s a bit early to call it in terms of how the year is going to turn out.”

Warner Bros. and Universal placed third and fourth on the charts as well. Warner Bros.’ DC superhero movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom earned $10.6 million in its third weekend, bumping its domestic tally just over the $100 million mark.

Universal’s animated Migration added $10.3 million, bringing its running domestic total to $77.8 million.

We’ve known Dulay for many years now and he has remained very grounded and sincerely humble despite the many successes he has achieved. His direction was a vital factor why GMA’s Maria Clara at Ibarra became the successful TV series that it was last year. “Each project is a new opportunity for me to share what’s in my heart and a chance to collaborate with other artists and creatives who are outstanding in their respective fields. For that alone, I remain grateful because I do not only improve as a director or writer but I also grow by leaps and bounds as a person.”

Here’s hoping that we all have an amazing year filled with gratitude. n

JUDITH LIGHT AND ‘LAST OF US’ ACTORS ARE FIRST-TIME WINNERS AT CREATIVE ARTS EMMY AWARDS

LOS ANGELES—Judith Light from Poker Face and Nick Offerman and Storm Reid from The Last of Us were winners at Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards on a night when the theme was first-time Emmys for actors of all ages.

Light, 74, took her first Emmy in a nearly 50-year television career for playing a 1960s radical hiding out in a retirement home on an episode of Poker Face, the Peacock comedy-mystery series starring Natasha Lyonne. The star of the 1980s and 1990s sitcom Who’s The Boss?, Light had been nominated four times previously, including twice for her acting on Transparent. “I’ve been in the business a long time, and this is quite a gift,” Light said backstage.

Offerman, 53, won his first Emmy in four nominations, taking best guest actor in a drama series for his role as an angry survivalist who ends up in a tender gay relationship on The Last of Us, the HBO video game adaptation about a fungal apocalypse that won a leading eight Emmys on Saturday.

Offerman’s 20-year-old castmate Reid, currently a college student at nearby USC, won best guest actress in a drama in her first nomination for a similar episode, a flashback in the form of a tragic teen love story between her and best lead actress nominee Bella Ramsey. Offerman praised The Last of Us for its “decency and inclusivity” and Reid said she was grateful for its “representation of young, queer Black women.”

Sam Richardson, 39, won his own first Emmy for playing a billionaire soccer enthusiast from Ghana on Ted Lasso, the Apple TV+ series that is the year’s most nominated comedy with 21 nods. He had been nominated once previously for the same role.

The two-part ceremony, where nearly 100 awards are handed out, mostly to less famous crew members and crafts people, began Saturday night and continues Sunday night.

It’s a precursor to the main Emmy ceremony that will air at 8 pm on January 15, with black-ish star Anthony Anderson as host. AP

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Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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MERALCO TURNS OVER ELECTRICAL SYSTEM EQUIPMENT TO MINDANAO STATE U MAIN CAMPUS

IN the photo are, from left, Meralco Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer and OMF President Jeffrey O. Tarayao, MSU President Atty. Basari D. Mapupuno, and Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie L. Aperocho, who is also a distinguished MSU alumnus.

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HE Mani la Electr ic Company (Meralco), through its corporate soc ia l development a r m One Meralco Foundation (OMF), turned over various electrical system equipment to the Mindanao State University (MSU) Main Campus in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, in a bid to elevate the learning experience of electrical engineering students.

Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie L. Aperocho, a distinguished alumnus of MSU, expressed support for the university in the wake of the recent campus bombing incident.

“Meralco is one with MSU in enhancing its educational offerings as it moves forward from recent challenges faced by

the university. This donation signals the start of a fruitful and productive partnership between Meralco and MSU,” Aperocho said.

The donation, which consists of equipment for the simulation of a mini substation, will be used for the laboratory training of electrical engineering students.

These include a protection and control panel, a vacuum circuit breaker, a control switch, miniature circuit breakers, multimeters, battery chargers, voltmeters, and test leads.

MSU President Atty. Basari D. Mapupuno welcomed Meralco’s donation, noting that the distribution utility’s generosity has contributed to the university’s healing from the recent blast.

In the photo, starting third from left: Marie Segismundo, Corporate Communications Manager, Herbalife Philippines; Dr. Dana Ryan, Director of Sports Performance, Nutrition, and Education, Herbalife; Erica Capellino, Sports Performance Dietician, LA Galaxy; Fr. Rocky Evangelista SDB, Founder, Tuloy Foundation; and Catherine Go, Tuloy Foundation Co-Founder and Finance Director; and Allan Domingo, General Manager of Herbalife Philippines. Also in photo: LA Galaxy team: Daniel Aguirre, Carson Klein, Jalen Neal, Mauricio Cuevas, and Mark Delgado and executives from Herbalife Philippines.

Herbalife Philippines, LA Galaxy highlight role of nutrition in sports performance

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ERBALIFE Philippines ended the year on a high note as it welcomed five-time Major League Soccer champions LA Galaxy.

The event was held at the grounds of Tuloy Foundation in Alabang and featured a panel discussion on the importance of nutrition in sports performance and a friendly game between LA Galaxy and the Tuloy Foundation

Football Club.

Tuloy Foundation has been a partner of Herbalife Nutrition Foundation’s flagship Ca s a He r b a l i f e Pro g ra m s i n ce 2 0 1 6 . A s a global non-profit, Herbalife Nutrition Foundation (HNF) partners with charities and organizations (including Herbalife) around the world to help provide the proper nutrition

“In the shadow of grief, Meralco’s remarkable generosity shines like a beacon, reminding us that the community can heal.

While we requested basic instrumentation, Meralco gifted us with a revolutionary learning experience,” Mapupuno said.

“Rest assured that this gift will be used wisely and responsibly to enhance our educational opportunities and advancements. This gift will equip our electrical engineering students with the tools not just to become engineers but agents of change,” he added.

Meralco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan also expressed support to the entire MSU community during the turnover.

For his part, Meralco Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer and OMF President Jeffrey O. Tarayao assured MSU of the distribution utility’s commitment to investing in the education of the youth.

“It is Meralco’s hope that this equipment will be used for real-life applications of classroom learnings and contribute to further upskilling of MSU electrical engineering students. We look forward to more innovative collaborations to further enhance the learning experience of the next generation of electrical engineers,” Tarayao said.

T hrough OMF, Mera lco has been actively supporting students pursuing a career in the energy industry with scholarship grants. Under the MpowHER scholarship program, Meralco recently awarded 18 female college students with financial support to help them pursue their dreams of becoming professional electrical engineers.

and education necessary for the wellness of children and communities. In the Philippines, Tuloy Foundation seeks to help homeless and abandoned youth and children by providing them with a safe home and education. The foundation’s holistic curriculum includes sports development for youth.

“By working together, we can ensure that children in need have access to proper nutrition and the opportunity to thrive in their chosen endeavors,” said Alan Domingo, General Manager of Herbalife Philippines.

Speaking at the panel discussion, Dr. Dana Ryan, Director of Sports Performance, Nutrition, and Education at Herbalife, emphasized the essential role of nutrition in athletic achievement.

She underlined that “structuring the day is crucial for optimizing performance.”

For breakfast, a balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats is essential to kick start the day.

Meanwhile, pre-workout nutrition should include easily digestible carbs and some protein. During workouts, hydration is key, along with easily digestible snacks. Post-workout, a combination of protein and carbs aid recovery.

“These principles apply to athletes of all levels, promoting sustained energy and efficient recovery.”

Dr. Ryan was joined by Erica Capellino, Sport Performance Dietitian of LA Galaxy; and Carlos Gomez, Performance Coach of LA Galaxy. Also joining them were LA Galaxy players Edwin Cerillo, Daniel Aguirre, Jalen Neal, Mauricio Cuevas, Carson Klein, and Mark Delgado.

Bosch Mobility Aftermarket: the next chapter of aftermarket endeavor

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FFECTIVE January 1, 2024, the business unit Bosch Automotive Aftermarket will be realigned into “Bosch Mobility Aftermarket” as a vital part of the Bosch Mobility sector. With this step, Bosch is reacting to the changes in the market and is actively shaping the future of mobility in view of changing customer requirements.

At the same time, “Mobility Aftermarket” reflects the idea of understanding mobility as a whole and using the opportunities resulting from the changes together with partners and customers. Core of the business is being preferred and leading partner for the maintenance and repair of vehicles over lifetime, and to offer the attractive and sustainable solutions, thus leading the industry in the new era of “Mobility Aftermarket.”

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier

of technology and services. It employs roughly 421,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2022). The company generated sales of 88.2 billion euros in 2022. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology.

As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility. Bosch is pursuing a vision of mobility that is sustainable, safe, and exciting. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, crossdomain solutions from a single source.

The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to facilitate connected living with products and solutions that either contain artificial intelligence (AI) or have been developed or manufactured with

its help. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.”

The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 470 subsidiary and regional companies in over 60 countries.

Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world.

The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 136 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 85,500 associates in research and development, of which nearly 44,000 are software engineers.

The company was set up in Stuttgart in 1886

by Robert Bosch (1861–1942) as “Workshop f o r P re c i s i o n M e c h a n i c s a n d El e c t r i c a l Engineering.”

IN the photo are, from left, Lt. Col. Darwin R. Farnacio, Commanding Officer of Air Force City Hospital, BGen Pablo E Rustria Jr, PAF and SM Foundation Executive Director for Health and Medical Programs Connie Angeles sign the MOA during the turnover ceremony.

Air Force City Hospital gets help from SM Foundation anew

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OLLOWING the renovation of the outpatient department of the Air Force City Hospital in Clark City for Phase 1 in 2022, SM Foundation Inc. (SMFI) returned to the City Hospital to renovate the lounge/ receiving area, hospital administrative area, emergency room and the radiology area (xray, utltrasound).

On December 20, 2023 SMFI Executive Director for Health & Wellness Progam, Connie Angeles turned over to Lt. Col. Darwin R. Farnacio, Commanding Officer of Air Force City Hospital (AFCH) the completed facility in a simple ceremony.

According to 1st Lt. Princess Carag, of the Medical Admin Corps, the area is a “challenge

to the Medical Corps to render exceptional service to those who avail of the medical services of the hospital which include not only the military but also their dependents, civilians and indigent Aetas. The atmosphere is conducive to early detection and recovery.

While previously, there was no waiting area, now we even have a reading room where patients can wait for their turn either for consultation or for x-ray or ultrasound.”

The renovated Heath Center is the 202nd health facility completed so far by SMFI. In the past, SMFI has renovated health facilities in the major service branches of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and of the Philippine National Police.

MICC celebrates Mang Inasal’s 20th anniversary

Mang Inasal Rewrites Brand Love Story with Local Content Creators

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OR the past two years, Mang Inasal, the Philippines’ Grill Expert, has been heavily present on digital. In fact, it’s official hashtag, #ILoveMangInasal, has over 128,000 posts related to it on Facebook and 315 million views on TikTok, and counting!

You might ask, was it Mang Inasal that made it happen? No, not entirely.

In March 2022, Mang Inasal Creators’ Circle (MICC) was launched.

With 30 members composed of mommy nanoinfluencers and foodies who love Mang Inasal, MICC was created to bring together real brand ambassadors and support their influencer journey by making them part of campaigns that allowed them to enjoy the Ihaw-Sarap food and Unli-Saya experience of Mang Inasal.

“MICC started as an experiment because we wanted to try out better ways to promote Mang Inasal on social media,” shared Mang Inasal Digital and Public Relations Head, RJ Jabeguero-Rodillo. “Then during the first campaign, we saw that there’s promise in it as the MICCs’ posts looked and sounded so natural that netizens found them authentic and relatable.

And the selection was perfect because MICC members are real loyal Mang Inasal patrons.”

Everything starts with a simple brief: for the content creator to post about the campaign however they prefer it. Apart from key messages, reminders on what to highlight in their photos and videos and coordination with the stores for the products that are taken care of by Mang Inasal, it’s the influencers who work on the magic of their materials in a way that achieves the goals yet aligned with their personalities and lifestyles.

From the initial 30-member group, the MICC exponentially grew to over 160 members by 2023.

This growth gave birth to a new category of content creators within the community: the Gen Zs and TikTokerists. Now, with over 30 campaigns in 2023, the youth, moms, and foodies all seamlessly tell their unique love for Mang Inasal across their 29-million overall follower base.

As MICC continues to expand, the community has not only tapped a diverse mix of content creators but also partnered with some of the biggest content creators in the regions including Simon Javier of Metro Manila; Mommy Hieds and Georgeous George of North Luzon; Mommy Diaries PH of South Luzon; Mortejo Twins and Zamboanga Guide of Visayas and Mindanao.

“We really appreciate how MICC has added a new spark to how we tell our brand story,” said Ed Timbungco, Mang Inasal Public Relations Manager. “It is a mutually beneficial partnership that has allowed Mang Inasal to help expand the followers of its partner content creators, while the MICCs enrich the Brand’s ways to share its campaigns to more people across the country. We are all kindred spirits exchanging stories about Mang Inasal, a brand we all love.”

All efforts since its creation have proven to be worth it when the MICC was recently awarded the Black Dragon recognition under the Best Brand Building/ Awareness Campaign category at the prestigious 2023 Dragons of Asia.

“MICC is definitely one of our biggest wins this 2023 because we have connected with different communities of customers through our content partners nationwide,” said Rodillo. “We are thankful to all MICC members for their contribution in bringing all the great Mang Inasal updates to their followers.

And the Dragons of Asia win confirms the power of their efforts.”

As a celebration of this recognition, MICC Meet Ups were done nationwide, including Mega Manila, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

This allowed the brand to get to know the creators in person and share each other’s MICC journey. Also, a virtual party wrapped up the year as all members united via Zoom and celebrated the first-ever MICC IHAWtastic Awards.

While Mang Inasal is ending 2023 with the loudest bang with MICC, the new year promises bigger and more IHAWtastic campaigns that will surely give digital content creators more Ihaw-Sarap food and Unli-Saya experience wherever and however they want to enjoy it!

World Features BusinessMirror

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

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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Boeing CEO’s comeback plan for 2024 takes a hit 5 days in

W

By Julie Johnsson

RONGLY drilled holes, loose rudder bolts, and now a fuselage section that ejected during flight on a brand-new aircraft, leaving terrified passengers exposed to a gaping hole in the cabin at 16,000 feet (4,900 meters).

In just months, Boeing Co. has suffered a series of quality lapses that threaten to erode trust in the manufacturing prowess of the biggest US exporter—notably its 737 Max aircraft, a crucial cash cow.

The latest, most serious, mishap occurred on the evening of January 5, when a door-shaped panel ripped out as an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 climbed out of Portland, Oregon. Regulators reacted swiftly, grounding 171 of the variant less than 24 hours after the incident, including the entire fleet of 737 Max 9s in the US. And while nobody was seriously injured, authorities said luck played a big part in the event not turning tragic.

For Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun, the Alaska Air episode is another blow to his efforts to stabilize the company after half a decade of upheaval, coming just a few days into a new year he had heralded as crucial to a turnaround. Boeing is still feeling the reverberations of two deadly 737 Max crashes almost five years ago that shook confidence in the company. Now Boeing’s fraught relationship with its biggest supplier—Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc.—stands to face fresh scrutiny.

As the crisis in confidence deepened over t he weekend, Calhoun canceled Boeing’s annual senior leadership retreat,

which was to have begun Monday outside of San Diego. And he summoned employees to an all-hands meeting to be webcast from Boeing’s 737 factory on Tuesday, where he and other senior executives will address the near-tragedy and reinforce Boeing’s commitment to safety, quality, integrity and transparency.

While Boeing has made progress in recent years, “situations like this are a reminder that we must remain focused on continuing to improve every day,” Calhoun told employees in a company-wide message on Sunday.

The moves come as investigators work to piece together what went wrong with the Alaska Max 9, which had been in service for less than two months. The planemaker is also preparing a multioperator message, outlining the inspections required before much of the Max 9 fleet will be allowed to resume flying.

“I would hope that they will quickly get to the bottom of this and see if it was truly a one-off,” said Richard Healing, a former National Transportation Safety Board board member, who now heads consulting firm Air Safety Engineering. “If it was just that airplane, there may have been poor workmanship done when they locked off that door. I would be looking at everything you can imagine.”

DAVID CALHOUN VALERIE PLESCH/BLOOMBERG

Cabin layout

THE NTSB, which arrived on the scene in Portland within hours, will examine Boeing’s manufacturing process for the 737 Max 9 as it investigates what may have led to the panel’s blowout. Of particular interest are components around the door opening, including hinges and stop fittings, as well as the pressurization, Jennifer Homendy, the safety agency’s chair, said at a press conference Saturday.

Boeing’s former Wichita, Kansas-based subsidiary builds about 70 percent of the 737’s frameset, according to Spirit’s website. The green aluminum fuselages are shipped by railcar to Boeing’s Renton, Washington, factor y, where wings, tails and interiors are installed. These include different cabin configurations depending on the seating density.

In the stretched Max 9, customers can opt for additional emergency exits so that cabins can squeeze in more seats. Alaska Air and United Airlines Holdings Inc. opted to cover the door-shaped opening with a plug that’s indiscernible from the inside of the plane.

Investigators will likely look into how the doors are plugged and even question why they exist if

they can come open, Healing said.

The hinged section is secured by four bolts and opens outward from the top, according to Chris Brady, a former head of the UK Flight Safety Committee.

“Something must have been amiss with at least one of those bolts,” he said on a video posted to YouTube.

Spirit has struggled with quality issues, high worker turnover, labor strife and financial stress since the Covid pandemic and 2019 Max grounding. New CEO Pat Shanahan is shaking up operations and has struck a new pact with Boeing to put its top supplier on better footing.

Troubled history

THE Alaska Air scare prompted US regulators to order emergency inspections for about 171 of Boeing’s Max 9 models worldwide.

While the disruption to air travel is likely to be short-lived—the inspections only take four to eight hours per jet—the repercussions will likely still be lingering when Calhoun outlines his road map for the year to investors during a January 31 earnings call.

“It’s not good for anybody, especially given this aircraft’s history,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing

director at aviation consultant AeroDynamic Advisory. “In the background of this, there is bad need for cultural changes that put senior corporate management more closely in touch with the design and manufacture of aircraft.”

Boeing said it supports the grounding and that it was in close touch with the regulator and with customers. A technical team from the US planemaker is supporting the probe. For his part, Calhoun, who has led Boeing since early 2020, had previously cautioned that the road to a brighter future would be bumpy.

“When we set our recovery plans, we knew issues would come up along the way,” the CEO said in a memo to workers in late October. “This is a complex long-cycle business and enduring change takes time.”

It’s too soon to know what caused the door plug to fail during the Alaska Air flight, and whether Boeing or Spirit made critical missteps. Boeing has ultimate responsibility for ensuring an aircraft is airworthy. Every jet in final assembly undergoes pressure tests to find leaks and ensure doors are sealed. And in the aftermath of the Max tragedies, Federal Aviation Administration inspectors must sign off before the workhorse jets are handed off to customers.

Zero defects

ONE of the consequences of the Alaska Air incident may be a slower increase to the 737 manufacturing pace than Boeing had planned for the year. The planemaker faces immense pressure to return its factories to 2019 rates at a time when customers are clamoring for the latest aircraft, and investors are expecting cash generation to surge.

Prior to the incident, analysts had predicted that Boeing would deliver about 580 of their 737-series jetliners this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

That’s a considerable jump from

the 375 to 400 deliveries that the company targeted for 2023. A delivery surge would also propel Boeing to its first annual profit since Calhoun took over as CEO. “There is a risk of having to slow down the ramp,” said Aboulafia. “The aftermath could well be time-consuming and a diversion of resources.”

As the latest Max crisis unfolded, Boeing’s commercial airplanes chief Stan Deal and Brad McMullen, senior vice president of sales, led teams of people reaching out to keep customers ahead of fast-moving developments. Hours before the FAA acted, United Airlines, the biggest operator of the Max 9 variant, had already begun pulling planes out of service at Boeing’s direction, starting with five Max 9 built in a similar time frame to the Alaska Air jet.

That’s in keeping with Calhoun’s philosophy of hands-off management, and pushing responsibility and resources to the company’s main business units. The Boeing CEO doesn’t stalk factory floors like his predecessor, Dennis Muilenburg, a Boeing lifer and engineer by training who was forced out over his handling of the Max grounding in the wake of the two accidents.

Calhoun described 2024 as an “important transitional year” to employees when he introduced Stephanie Pope as the company’s chief operating officer last month.

Guiding the embattled planemaker through it just became a lot tougher for Calhoun and Pope, the frontrunner to succeed him. A key question is how many more bruising headlines Boeing can endure before customers start to waver.

“If Boeing doesn’t get its factories stabilized, it’s going to be a problem selling airplanes—if it isn’t already,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson. “You’ve got to have zero defects all the time. That’s the business.” With assistance from Mary Schlangenstein and Danny Lee/Bloomberg

$200 billion video game industry can help boost climate messaging

By Coco Liu

I

T begins with a disturbing scene: a city almost entirely underwater. The city’s developers must reclaim land from the sea in order to build new infrastructure, but too much digging will trigger earthquakes and raw materials are scarce. Survival is contingent on finding workarounds, and on installing tidal turbines and other technologies that can harness renewable energy.

Squaring such big circles might not sound like a fun way to spend a Saturday. But when Terra Nil—a city-building strategy game from Cape Town-based Free Lives— hit the market last year, players from all over the globe signed up to give it a go.

Within a week of the game’s debut, more than 300,000 people played it.

That success is music to the ears of gamers, policymakers and researchers who say that video games have the potential to boost climate messaging. In 2019, the United Nations even formed an alliance with dozens of gaming companies across the $200 billion industry. One of its initiatives, an annual campaign known as the Green Game Jam, challenges studios to incorporate environmental themes into their most popular titles. Last year, for example, nature conservation was thematically implemented into 41 games, including Angry Birds, Asphalt and Pac-man.

There’s some research to back up the idea that these efforts will bear fruit. In 2022, researchers at Yale University surveyed more than 2,000 gamers in the US on their opinions about climate change. Roughly one in five said they watched or heard about climate change via game play or streaming, and one in eight said they took action in real life based on what they’d learned.

“Games have the power to help us

imagine a different and better future at a massive scale, and to reinforce a mindset of empathy and perseverance to help us create it,” says Deborah Mensah-Bonsu.

Mensah-Bonsu is founder of Games for Good, a London-based consultancy that advises companies — including Netflix and Supercell — on environmental themes in games. She started the company after a career spent at studios like Microsoft’s Xbox and Space Ape Games, and was inspired in part by a 2019 campaign to raise money through in-game purchases for wildfire relief efforts in Australia. (It yielded $120,000 in just four days.)

Bloomberg Green spoke with MensahBonsu about how to create good games that incorporate climate education and how to minimize the carbon footprint of gaming itself. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

You’ve spent years on content curation and community building for global gaming studios. What made you combine gaming with climate education?

With my first job in gaming at Xbox, I understood the power of community that the games industry has in spades. It’s unique because people connect over games. There’s also this longevity that comes with it. At some point, I started to think about what else we can do with games. Could games be used for social impact or for raising awareness?

In 2019, when I was working at Space Ape Games, a London-based studio, there were wildfires in Australia that everyone was aware of. It was our players who asked us, “Hey, is there anything that we can do?”

We got together with our game design teams and created an in-game purchase in our titles. All the proceeds of that went towards fire relief efforts in Australia. That

and then they thought about how to make this relevant for climate change. That’s really smart. Especially for games, it has to be fun. Then you get people’s attention and can reach them and tell them about things that maybe they haven’t thought about.

Have you learned anything new about climate change from gaming?

GAMES have the power to help us imagine a different and better future at a massive scale. BLOOMBERG

was one of the early campaigns that we did.

Since then, there have been loads of others.

It’s really nice when studios and the player communities can work together.

Players can enjoy the game that they love, and also feel good about playing that game because the studio behind it is doing something bigger. It enhances a gaming experience they would have had anyway by adding a component for good, rather than simply putting the onus on them to make a donation on their own. Partnering in this way is more engaging.

Why aren’t more studios developing climate-themed games?

ON some level, it might just be a lack of awareness on the studio side that they can do it. Maybe they just don’t know, or they think it’s way too much of a commitment. We’re trying to do a little bit of myth busting through campaigns such as the Green Game Jam. You can find ways to incorporate [climate change] into your game that will delight your players, rather

than making it harder for you to hit your development goals.

How easy is it to create a video game that is both fun to play and educational enough to raise environmental awareness?

What’s the formula for success?

It’s a really big challenge to make a hit game that millions of people will enjoy, and when you add the other piece on top of it, that’s even harder. This is what I love about the Game Jam. It’s not a regular game jam, where you’re coming up with prototypes of new games that may or may not be released.

Instead, we’re asking developers who have already managed to crack that first piece and made a hit game to try to incorporate a new element into it that will help teach players about things like climate change.

It’s much more effective than trying to make a hit game about the subject.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make games about the subject. We need all kinds of games. One good example is Terra Nil

by Free Lives, a gaming studio in South Africa. It’s a city-building strategy game.

The studio first tried to make a fun game,

I LEARN so much every year by helping to put together the Game Jam because I always need to deep-dive on the theme.

So I’ve learned a ton about restoration, biodiversity, wildlife conservation, waste, oceans, citizen action, you name it.

On the whole, it made me realize that the way we talk about these subjects needs to change, too. When we’re talking to our players about things like climate change, net zero or 1.5 degrees, that doesn’t necessarily mean so much to the average person. It’s such a good challenge to take some of that academic jargon and put it in a way that regular people can understand and do something with.

Games are also really good at [fostering] this idea of progression. You don’t have to solve the whole thing in one go. There’s steps. If you take the first step, that will then fuel action for the next step. As long as those things feel doable, you’re going to be much more likely to reach that larger behavior change or that larger change as a society. I feel games can really help people to get on that ladder of “Let’s do something together” and “Let’s do more.”

How do you feel about turning the climate crisis into a subject of entertainment?

WHEN we think about the impacts [of climate change] and the way that our world is changing, it can be really scary. Climate

anxiety is real. We have to make people feel less afraid and more empowered. I don’t think the right way forward is fear.

I don’t know if by keeping things really serious, we’re gonna get more done. One of the things that keeps me going is like “Gosh, it’s a lot of fun.” If it wasn’t fun for me, I don’t know if I would keep doing it. It’s so fun to be amongst this group of people who care about things and we try to find new, creative, innovative ways to get other people to care, too.

Gaming has its own emissions toll. What is your advice for players to minimize their climate impact?

CHECK your system settings, especially if you’re playing on console. They will have energy-saving modes that you can put on. Make sure that your devices are in power-saving mode or on sleep rather than just staying in idle.

Look into the energy efficiency of your gear. When it comes to the console, you’ll need a monitor to be able to play. You can use a more energy-efficient monitor to play your game rather than playing it on your giant 4K [resolution] TV. That makes a big difference.

It’s good to hang on to things for as long as possible rather than always circulating out old devices and bringing in the new ones.

Where possible, definitely switch your own energy consumption to renewable energy.

As a player, you can play games with a green message to support their developers. Players can also tell gaming studios that they want to see more of that content. Because studios listen to what their players want, that helps create more demand. Bloomberg News

Three Filipinos seeing action in Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games

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HREE Filipino youngsters— Peter Joseph Groseclose, Avery Uriel Balbanida and Laetaz Amihan Rabe—are competing in the 2024 Winter Youth Olympic South Korea is hosting in Gangwon starting on January 19.

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino was delighted with the qualification of the three athletes as he stressed the consistent participation of Filipinos in the Winter Games.

“I’m proud to announce the participation of our three teenagers to the Winter Youth Olympics,” Tolentino said. “We Filipinos have defied limitations and embraced the challenges of competing in winter sports through the years.”

He added: “We’re living in a tropical country, but our spirit simply knows no boundaries. Our athletes are united in pursuing Olympic excellence and that’s also a testament to their Olympic spirit.”

Groseclose, 16, will be competing in short track of speed skating; Balbanida, 14, will be vying in crosscountry of skiing; and Rabe, also 14, will be seeing action in of free ski slope style and big air.

The Winter Youth Olympic Games features athletes aged 15 to 18. The Games will run until February 1.

Ada Lacia Milby is the chef de mission and she’ll be accompanied to the Games by Philippine Skating Union president Nikki Cheng and Philippine Ski and Snowboard Federation, headed by Secretary General Jezreel Apelar.

Groseclose, according to Cheng, qualified for Gangwon with his No. 32 ranking in the boys’ 500 meters during the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships February last year in Dresden, Germany. He will race in the 500m, 1000m and 1,500m.

Balbanida, a Filipino-Canadian, earned his International Ski and Snowboard Federation, known by the acronym FİŞ, license and qualification by gaining points in FİŞ-sanctioned tournaments last year.

Rabe, on the other hand, was an alternate in freestyle slope style and big air but gained qualification to Gangwon after two alternates ahead of her withdrew This is the third time that the Filipino athletes are competing in the Winter Youth Olympics since the 2012 inaugurals in Innsbruck, Austria, where alpine skier Abel Tesfamariam finished No. 37 in giant slalom and figure skater Michael Martinez ranked No. 7 in men’s singles.

The Philippines did not qualify an athlete at Lillehammer (Norway) 2016, but returned in 2020 in Lausanne.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 | T

uesday, January 9, 2024 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Rafa out for now at Australian Open M ELBOURNE, Australia—Rafael Nadal’s comeback from hip surgery is on hold after he withdrew from the Australian Open with an injury a week before the start of the season’s first Grand Slam tournament.

The 22-time major champion said Sunday on social media that medical tests he took in Melbourne revealed a small tear in a hip muscle and he would fly home to Spain for treatment.

The 37-year-old Nadal has won the Australian Open twice—in 2009 and 2022—and his absence will leave this year’s event without what had been expected to be one of its main story lines.

It was a year ago at Melbourne Park that Nadal hurt his hip flexor during a second-round loss to Mackie McDonald, then missed the rest of the season.

Nadal had an operation in June and his return to the tour after nearly 12 months away came last week in Brisbane. After winning two matches, the left-hander took a medical timeout during the third set of a quarterfinal loss to Jordan Thompson on Friday.

“Hi all, during my last match in Brisbane I had a small problem on a muscle that as you know made me worried,” Nadal wrote Sunday. “Once I got to Melbourne I have had the chance to make an MRI and I have micro tear on a muscle, not in the same part where I had the injury and that’s good news. Right now I am not ready to compete at the maximum level.”

The former No. 1-ranked player’s career has been marked by a series of injuries, including to his knees, left foot and left wrist, perhaps connected to his punishing style of play.

“A lot of things can be happening in a body like my body after a year without playing tennis,” he said.

The loss to Thompson was Nadal’s third match in four nights and lasted nearly three-and-

a-half hours, following straightset victories over Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler.

Since arriving in Australia to begin the season, Nadal sounded like someone lowering expectations for what he might achieve during the tour’s swing through the country. He made clear that his focus was to be fit for the clay-court season and the French Open, which begins in May and where he has won a record 14 championships.

“I have worked very hard during the year for this comeback and as I always mentioned my goal is to be at my best level in 3 months,” he wrote Sunday.

“I really wanted to play here in Australia and I have had the chance to play a few matches that made me very happy and positive,” Nadal said.

The Australian Open begins on January 14—the first time it is starting on a Sunday, instead of a Monday—and, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, top-ranked Novak Djokovic is favored to add to his record totals of 24 Grand Slam trophies and 10 titles at Melbourne Park.

Djokovic dealt with his own health issue recently, bothered by a sore right wrist during the United Cup in Australia last week.

In Adelaide, former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova and Beatriz Haddad Maia lost their first-round matches Monday at the Adelaide International.

Qualifier Anna Kalinskaya beat 2021 Roland Garros winner and No. 4-seeded Krejcikova, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

Kalinskaya had three match points on Krejcikova’s serve when leading 6-5 in the deciding set and converted the third for the win.

Former French Open finalist Pavlyuchenkova breezed through qualifying and beat fifth-seeded Haddad Maia, 6-3, 6-4.

The joint Women’s Tennis Association-Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournament is the biggest tune-up event this week for the Australian Open, which begins on Sunday at Melbourne Park.

In another first-round Adelaide result, Ana Bogdan beat Katie Boulter, who represented Britain at last week ’s United Cup tournament, 6-3, 6-4.

Elena Rybakina, who won Sunday’s Brisbane International, and Jessica Pegula are the top women’s seeds.

Neither played Monday.

Tommy Paul is the top-seeded player in the ATP portion of the tournament.

In a first-round result Monday, Jack Draper beat fifthseeded Sebastian Baez 6-1, 6-3. AP

THE former No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal’s career has been marked by a series of injuries, including to his knees, left foot and left wrist, perhaps connected to his punishing style of play. AP

LeBron James, Lakers suck no more following close victory vs Clippers

THE Lakers are back winning a day after LeBron James say they suck. AP

L

OS ANGELES—LeBron James had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Taurean Prince hit a tiebreaking three-pointer with 1:17 to play and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 106103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night.

Anthony Davis had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who beat the surging Clippers for the second straight time after losing 11 in a row to their hallway rivals.

While James and Davis carried them, Prince and D’Angelo Russell also made key plays down the stretch as the Lakers hung on for just their fourth victory in 14 games since winning the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Inaugural InSeason Tournament.

“We played like we needed to win, like it was a must-win,” Davis said.

“We competed on both sides of the basketball. We’ve just got to build off of it. We know what we have in the locker room. We know what it takes to win, and we displayed that tonight.”

James set the tone shortly after halftime with a ferocious dunk on Paul George, and the Lakers never trailed in the fourth quarter despite blowing a 10-point lead. They still couldn’t exhale until Norman Powell’s 3-point attempt rattled in and out at the buzzer.

“Overtime,” James said when asked what he was thinking while he watched Powell’s shot. “It looked like it was good for sure. Right on

Green back on practice floor with Warriors FOR now, Draymond Green will begin his regular shooting routine again. AP

Bolts in rousing start in PBA 3x3

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ERALCO got off to a rousing start in Leg 2 of the Philippine Basketball Association 3x3 Third Conference following a two-game sweep of its group at the start of pool play at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay on Monday.

Joseph Sedurifa exploded for 13 points on 3-of-6 shooting from twopoint range as the Bolts dealt multititled TNT a 21-14 beating to kick off their campaign in Pool A. Then Sedurifa teamed up with Jeff Manday in a 21-13 ousting of

Barangay Ginebra that booked the Leg 1 champions an outright berth in the knockout stage set on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old Sedurifa was a perfect 3-of-3 from the two-point area to finish with nine points, while Manday top scored for 10 as the duo accounted for all but two of Meralco’s total output against the Kings.

TNT booked the other quarterfinals berth in Pool A by routing Barangay Ginebra, 21-7.

Cavitex and San Miguel Beer also made strong cases of advancing to the

next stage by topping their respective pools also Monday.

The Beermen currently lead Pool B with a 2-0 mark after back-to-back wins over guest team MCFASolver, 21-19, and Pioneer Elastoseal, 21-12.

The Braves for their part, did the same in Pool C by dispatching Terrafirma, 22-15, and Northport, 21-9.

Only Barangay Ginebra has been eliminated for contention in the quarterfinals as the remaining six berths are still up for grabs.

The leg champion will receive P100,000, while the runner up and third placer get P50,000 and P30,000, respectively.

S

AN FRANCISCO—Draymond Green returned to the practice floor Sunday with the Golden State Warriors, one day after being reinstated by the National Basketball Association (NBA) following a 12game suspension.

He was also on the bench as the Warriors hosted the Toronto Raptors, involved in the huddles during timeouts.

Coach Steve Kerr wasn’t sure when Green might be ready to play in a game again after the prolonged time away working on himself in the wake of hitting Phoenix center Jusuf Nurkic in the face on December 12.

“He’s here, he looks good, he’s excited to be here,” Kerr said before the game. “We just had our walkthrough, so he took part in the walkthrough. Good to have him back.”

For now, Green will begin his regular shooting routine again and work daily with vice president of player health and performance Rick Celebrini to determine his fitness and readiness for game action.

That will include a ramp up of scrimmaging in a similar way the Warriors do with a player coming back from injury.

“We’ll just see,” said Kerr, who doesn’t know how much Green might have played basketball during the absence. “I have no idea when that will be.”

The emotional Warriors forward also had previously served a fivegame suspension in November for putting a choke hold on Minnesota big man Rudy Gobert.

The league announced Saturday the end of Green’s indefinite suspension, saying he “demonstrated

line.... We’ve got to continue to get better. Try to use this to catapult [us to play] a little bit better. Better play from us, but it still don’t take away from the fact of how we’ve been playing like the last 11, 12 games.”

Paul George scored 22 points and Ivica Zubac had 22 points and 19 rebounds for the Clippers, whose five-game winning streak ended.

Kawhi Leonard scored 15 points, and James Harden had 15 points and nine assists in the childhood Lakers fan’s first game against them since getting traded home to the Clippers, who have still won 14 of their last 17.

“We just didn’t play a good offensive game,” Lue said. “There was a bad flow to the game offensively. I thought our defense was pretty good, but offensively we couldn’t get in a flow or a rhythm.”

Neither team took a double-digit lead until Russell’s third 3-pointer put the Lakers up 92-82 early in the fourth. The Clippers rallied with nine consecutive points down the stretch, and they tied it on Powell’s three free throws with 2:19 to play while the Lakers went into a 2-for-7 slump with six turnovers.

But Russell found Prince for his big 3-pointer from the perimeter, one of his biggest shots since joining the Lakers.

Harden kept it close with a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left, and Austin Reaves missed one of two free throws with 4.2 seconds left. Powell had a decent look, but couldn’t tie it.

“You’re going to have games like this [where] you’re not going to play great,” Leonard said. “You’ve just got to give the Lakers credit. They came out aggressive with energy. Bron had a great game, and AD, and they led them to victory.”

Russell scored 13 points with three 3-pointers in his return from a three-game absence with a bruised tailbone for the Lakers, who had been on a three-season skid against the Clippers until they broke through with an overtime victory early this season.

“They’re a championship ballclub, as far as I’m seeing,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of the Clippers.

“Playing very high-level basketball, multiple threats all over the place.

That’s a huge, huge win. A great win to get off the slide.”

The game was a franchise milestone for the Clippers, who played their final game as the “visiting” team in their own arena, barring a playoff series between these clubs. The two Los Angeles teams’ final two meetings of this regular season will be “home” games for the Clippers.

The Clippers and Lakers have shared the building long known at Staples Center since it opened in 1999, with the Clippers finally becoming worthy rivals over the past decade after years of struggle.

Billionaire Clippers owner Steve Ballmer’s Intuit Dome will open in Inglewood next season, finally creating an exclusive home for the franchise that has labored in the shadow of the Lakers’ championship banners for a quarter-century of cohabitation. AP his commitment to conforming his conduct to standards expected of NBA players” during the penalty that began December 14.

Green has met with a counselor as well as had multiple joint meetings with representatives of the league, the Warriors and the National Basketball Players Association.

The 33-year-old Green, a key member of four Warriors championships, was ejected for the 18th time in his career—most among active NBA players—during that 119116 loss at Phoenix.

Kerr and the Warriors are hoping Green can come back and still be the fiery player that makes him so good but do so without crossing the line and going too far. He brought an energy and lift of the spirits just being back at Chase Center.

“For sure,” Kerr said. “Everybody’s excited to see him, it’s great to have him back. He’s one of our leaders and he’s happy to be back, so it’s a good vibe in there.” AP