BusinessMirror January 16, 2023

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE national government’s debt service from January to November of last year declined by 12.61 percent to P991.052 billion from P1.134 trillion recorded payments in the same period of 2021, latest Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data showed.

L atest Treasury data showed that the national government paid less during the 11-month period due to lower amortization payments, which fell by 27.34 percent year-on-year.

Treasury data showed that bulk of the national government’s debt

service payments were accounted for by amortizations which reached P531.799 billion during the 11-month period.

T he amount was P200.176 billion lower than the P731.975 billion recorded amortization payments during the January-to-November period of 2021.

Treasury data showed that domestic amortization payments reached P409.041 billion while external amortization payments were estimated at P122.758 billion.

I n terms of interest payments, the national government paid P459.253 billion during the 11-month period, 14.21 percent lower than the P402.105 billion

recorded in 2021.

Treasury data showed that the national government’s domestic and foreign interest payments both posted double-digit growth rates during the reference period.

T he national government paid P347.201 billion in domestic interest payments, 12.31 percent higher than it did in 2021 at P309.152 billion. Meanwhile, foreign interest payments rose by a fifth on an annual basis to P112.052 billion from P92.953 billion.

D omestic interest payments were composed mainly of interest payments for Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds amounting to P224.525 billion, followed by Retail Treasury

Bonds at P107.734 billion.

I n November alone, the national government’s debt service declined by almost 25 percent to P61.389 billion from P81.239 billion.

T he amortizations for the month of November 2022 fell by 29.431 percent to P35.297 billion, from P50.018 billion a year ago. In the same month, interest payments also declined by 16.43 percent to P26.092 billion from P31.221 billion.

For November, domestic interest payments reached P18.584 billion while foreign interest payments amounted to P7.508 billion during the period.

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla & Andrea E. San Juan

BUSINESS leaders and a lawmaker are endorsing a proposal—refloated after the January 1 aviation fiasco that paralyzed the premier airport—to privatize operations of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), but a large labor coalition warned it would throw out of jobs thousands of state workers, and hike costs of travelers.

P rivatizing NAIA’s operations “anticipates” the potential growth of the Philippine tourism sector, which is a major driver of the country’s economy, according to Go Negosyo founder Jose Maria A. Concepcion III.

T he head of a major business group in the country had a similar view.

“ I don’t have a problem with the privatization of NAIA.  If the private sector can do it better than the government, then let’s allow the private sector to manage it,” said Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc (FFCCCII) president Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong in an interview on the sidelines of the Pandesal forum in Quezon City on Saturday.

DECLINE IN EARNINGS SIGNALS SYSTEMIC RISK–BSP

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE recent increase in employment may not be enough to ensure higher incomes for Filipinos and guarantee the country’s recovery, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

I f the incomes of Filipinos

in 2021 were adjusted for inflation, the BSP estimated that this would lead to a 10 percent drop compared to the 2018 level. If the income is not adjusted for inflation, incomes would only show a drop of 2 percent in 2021 from 2018. Based on the 2021 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES), the average annual family income reached

P307,190 in 2021, lower than the P313,350 in 2018. If this income level is adjusted for inflation, the average annual family income in 2021 would only be P282,080.

“ What these highlight is the need to sustain income growth, more so among families which were hardest hit by the pandemic. The improvements in 2021 are

much welcomed, but the economy in 2022 is again facing a new round of systemic risk,” BSP said.

Oil and commodity market disruptions are already eroding purchasing power and can undermine the country’s efforts towards full recovery,” it added in its 2022 Financial Stability Report (FSR).

assets to investors at ’23 WEF

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. will be promoting the country as a top investment destination backed with a skilled workforce and pandemicresilient supply chains during the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland this week.

A t his predeparture ceremony at the Villamor Airbase on Sunday, Marcos said he hopes his inaugural participation at the WEF will persuade more firms to invest in the country.

“ The World Economic Forum is hosting a Country Strategy Dialogue for us where we are given the opportunity to promote the Philippines as leader and driver of growth and a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region—one that is open for business—ever ready to complement regional and global expansion plans of both foreign and Philippine-based enterprises anchored on the competent and well-educated Filipino workers, managers, and professionals,” Marcos said.

He will also highlight the country’s infrastructure projects, initiatives to achieve food and energy security and pandemic-resilient supply chain to demonstrate the country’s readiness to host the operations of multinational firms.

I will share our experience as a model for managing—with our global partners—the disruptive and transformative impact of Covid (novel coronavirus disease),” Marcos said.

FIL-AM IS MS UNIVERSE R'Bonney Gabriel, the first Filipino American to win Miss USA, holds hands with Miss Venezuela Amanda Dudamel prior to being crowned Miss Universe during the final round of the 71st Miss Universe Beauty Pageant, in New Orleans on Saturday, January 14, 2023. Story on page A10. TROI SANTOS

CADPI milling ops closure has sugar planters worried

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Central Azucarera Don Pedro Inc. (CADPI), a subsidiary of Roxas Holdings Inc. (RHI), has permanently shut down its milling operations, raising concerns from sugar planters on where to mill their cane, documents showed.

D ocuments posted on the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) website showed that CADPI President and CEO Celso T. Dimarucut informed the agency of its plan to “permanently close” milling operations beginning Crop Year 20222023.

D imarucut said CADPI has been “experiencing operational and financial challenges within the current conditions affecting the sugar industry in the Batangas area.”

I n particular, Dimarucut cited the dwindling sugarcane supply being brought to CADPI’s mill, which was caused by a “host of external factors.” The CADPI executive also

noted the mill’s “aging” and “oversized” mill equipment.

“ Thus, after careful deliberation, the shareholders and management of CADPI have decided to permanently close its milling operations starting this crop year 2022-2023 and shall be immediately informing all of its stakeholders of this decision,” Dimarucut said in his letter to Alba dated December 15.

D imarucut said CADPI would now focus on its sugar refining operations “where it is more optimistic” and “foresees opportunities to sustainably grow” its business.

T he documents posted on SRA’s website showed that Alba replied

to Dimarucut through a letter on December 16. Alba’s letter was received by RHI Vice President and Head for Legal and Human Resources Ma. Hazel L. Rabara-Retardo last December 23 at 12:01 p.m.

I n his letter, Alba told Dimarucut that sugarcane planters, who have been regularly milling with CADPI, are concerned about the mill’s shutdown.

In connection with your decision to close your mill, and nothing that it is already mid-milling season, the sugarcane planters regularly milling with you have raised their concern on how they will be able to have their canes milled considering the closure of your mill,” Alba said in his letter, which was also copy furnished to CADPI’s Senior Vice President Commercial Operations George Cheung.

In their behalf, may we therefore know if your company has any plans on helping your regular sugarcane planters regarding their plight,” Alba asked.

A lba told Dimarucut the SRA is willing to assist CADPI “in facilitating the milling of canes” of its

sugarcane planters.

T he BusinessMirror sought comment from high-ranking officials of RHI and CADPI but they did not respond to requests at press time. An industry insider told the BusinessMirror that the closure of CADPI’s milling operations would be a “bane” to sugarcane planters in Batangas.

W ith it, the only operating sugar mill in Batangas would be the one operated in Balayan by the Sugar and Renewables Group of Universal Robina Corp. (URC-SURE Balayan).

Public SRA documents showed that URC-SURE Balayan started milling operations last November 5, with a cumulative raw sugar output already of about 13,829 metric tons (MT) as of January 1. The same documents indicated that CADPI has not operated in the current crop year, which started last September 1.

I n the previous crop year 20212022, CADPI operated for 13 weeks producing 41,682 MT of raw sugar, based on SRA data. CADPI’s raw sugar output in the previous crop year was 31.31 percent lower than the 60,679 MT it produced in crop year 2020-2021.

Biz groups...

I n a statement on Sunday, Go Negosyo said Concepcion aired his view following  confirmation that the government is moving to privatize the operations of the country’s main international airport.

I am glad that [Department of Transportation] Sec. [Jaime] Bautista supports the privatization of NAIA,” said Concepcion.

T he Go Negosyo founder underscored the airport’s crucial role in creating the first impression of the Philippines. Concepcion added that since tourism has “one of the biggest potentials” for growing the country’s economy, any improvement made on NAIA will “redound to so many benefits.”

Meanwhile, Concepcion said efforts must now shift to helping the tourism sector as it also includes micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which bore the brunt of pandemic lockdowns.

T he “biggest assist” for the tourism sector can come from ensuring the ease of travel for tourists passing through NAIA.

The airport experience must be improved, not just for the tourists but also for the [overseas Filipino workers] OFWs who have only a few days to spend with their families here,” Concepcion said.

I n the first week of 2023, following the glitch that halted all air travel within Philippine airspace, Concepcion suggested reviving a 2018 proposal forming a consortium to modernize NAIA.

Ayala, MVP Manny Pangilinan group the mega consortiums” that she noted have the financial heft and expertise for such.

W hile acknowledging concerns that a privatized enterprise means higher fees for users, Poe said such will not likely happen because government will still have a say in the pricing. “But what is good there is that they have the funds to improve the airport.

A nd they have the professionals who can run it better.” Poe noted that “these conglomerates have investors of shareholders,” a deterrent against failure because, “the value of their companies rests on their success in running the airport.”

She said “a good example for me is the Mactan-Cebu airport. That is private, a MegawideGMR partnership. If you see the design of the Mactan-Cebu airport, NAIA is an embarrassment compared to it.”

Poe vowed to personally vet proposals for a takeover by private firms of the premier airport.

It is important, she said, that solicited biddings or unsolicited proposals “are transparent and their provisions are in order.”

Labor objects

HOWEVER , a coalition of the country’s biggest labor groups on Sunday rejected the proposed privatization of NAIA.

T he decline in earnings, BSP noted, was more pronounced in the National Capital Region

(NCR) where average incomes fell 9.2 percent.

T he BSP said, however, that the

average income of the first five deciles at the national level slightly increased. This could be due to the financial assistance extended by the National Government.

“ Unlike the national results,

all deciles, except the first, experienced income losses. This is not unexpected, as the region (NCR) accounts for a significant portion of the total Covid-19 cases and is therefore likely to feel the worst impact from the pandemic restrictions,” the FSR stated.

Meanwhile, in terms of expenditure, BSP noted that it “consistently fell across all income deciles.” On average nationwide, household spending saw a decrease of 4.1 percent, BSP said.

T he lower-income households, it added, saw a smaller decline in average spending. This still presents a concern given that basic necessities account for the bulk of these household expenses.

T here was also a decline in food expenses among these households. It accounted for 58.2 percent of the total expenditure of families in the bottom 20 percent versus 31.9 percent in the upper 20 percent income group in the first semester of 2021.

T his could explain the increase in the number of families whose incomes are not even enough to purchase their basic food needs during the pandemic.

All things considered, the welfare loss from Covid-19 could be summarized by one detail: the pandemic has pushed more Filipino families below the per capita food threshold,” the BSP said.

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

T he PSA reported the country’s headline inflation rate reached 8.1 percent in December and averaged 5.8 percent in 2022, the highest since 2008. (See story here: https:// businessmirror com.ph/2023/01/05/ph-inflation-up-8-1-in-december/)

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

T his means every Filipino shelled out an additional P13.26 to buy goods worth P100 in 2022. Products worth P100 in 2018, which is the base year used to compute the Consumer Price Index (CPI), cost P113.26 last year (Full story: https:// businessmirror .com.ph/2023/01/06/ purchasing-power-of-peso-weakens-further/).

T he Go Negosyo founder said the “inefficiencies” in the country’s main international airport translate to big losses in business and are felt throughout the country.

M eanwhile, FFCCCII’s Lim commended San Miguel Corp. president Ramon S. Ang for his initiative to build a world-class airport. “Just take a look at the New Manila International Airport (also known as the Bulacan International Airport) being undertaken by Mr. Ramon Ang and San Miguel Corp. When completed, the new airport will vastly improve air travel in the country. I think the airport would be bigger than Beijing’s airport as it will have four parallel runways. This will definitely be a game changer in our tourism industry,” Lim added.

E arlier, the DOTr disclosed it is currently conducting talks with the Asian Development Bank and the Public-Private Partnership Center in drawing up the terms of reference for interested parties.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista told senators in an inquiry that the privatization of NAIA will be pursued this year as part of improving airport services. The government is open to a solicited or unsolicited proposal, he said, but given a choice, the DoTr wants a solicited proposal.

Poe vows rigid scrutiny

THE head of the Senate’s Public Services committee, Sen. Grace Poe, on Sunday affirmed support for the privatization, and vowed that lawmakers will thoroughly examine all proposals for such.

I n a radio interview, Poe said, speaking mostly in Filipino, “I’ve long been pushing to privatize the management and operations of NAIA. The private sector could include the Gokongwei, Aboitiz,

I n a press statement, Nagkaisa expressed concern on how privatization could lead to labor displacement, particularly of those who have non-regular status.

In every privatization program, it is labor that is first to go or outsourced to third party service providers,” the coalition said

N agkaisa member and Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (SENTRO) Secretary General Josua Mata added that a private sector-managed NAIA could mean additional cost to passengers.

“ I worry that if NAIA is privatized, passengers would once again be burdened with higher terminal fees with not much change in quality of service,” Mata told BusinessMirror in an SMS.

Labor representation

NAGKAISA warned that privatizing the country’s main airport is “not a panacea or an all-out solution” to the issues, which is plaguing the facility.

I nstead of allowing the private sector to take over NAIA, Nagkaisa chair and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) president Sonny Matula pushed for reforms in the management of the facility with the inclusion of workers representation.

“ This would allow employees to have a direct say in the management and operations of the airport, and can lead to improved employee morale, productivity, and overall airport performance,” Matula said.

M atula said they are calling on President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to stop the privatization of NAIA.

“ We are pursuing a dialogue with the president himself to know his plan and to inform him of our stand on privatization,” Matula said. With Rizal Raoul Reyes

I intend to share our efforts in saving both lives and livelihoods, as well as the people-centered next steps that we are taking to ensure that we are ready to meet the lingering effects of the pandemic and address the occurrence of the next one,” he added.

M arcos will participate at the 2023 WEF, to be held from Jan. 16 to 20 with the theme “Cooperation in a Fragmented World.”

D uring the event, the President

said he will  discuss the government’s efforts to foster international cooperation to address global challenges on rising food prices and climate change.

“ We will highlight the steps the Philippines is taking to mend the fissures of such fragmentation, especially in our country but certainly in partnership with our friends, allies, and partners around the world,” Marcos said.

The Nation

BusinessMirror

New PopCom chief to focus on improving quality of life

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE newly sworn-in Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) Executive Director intends to focus on the commission’s development aims.

National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan has recently sworn into office former National Statistician Lisa Grace S. Bersales as undersecretary for population and development (Popdev).

“The three key strategies of Popcom under the Philippine Population and Devt Program to attain the goal and anchored on the new PDP are: responsible parenthood and family planning; adolescent health and development; and, population and development integration. The latter is what [the Neda] Secretary wants Popcom to work on,” Bersales told the BusinessMirror

Bersales said that while Balisacan has yet to detail his marching orders, her task of leading Popcom will focus on the goal of the commission, which is to improve the quality of human life.

“Recognizing that achievement of this goal requires recognition of close interrelationships among population, resources, (and) environmental factors. Development includes attaining the demographic

dividend,” she added.

Reaping the demographic dividend has three known conditions. The first is bringing down the country’s fertility rate to replacement rate.

Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) National Health Demographic Survey (NDHS) 2022, the total fertility rate (TFR) of Filipino women 15to 49-years old now stands at 1.9 children, below the 2.1 percent replacement rate needed to sustain population growth.

The second condition is to have a large working age population. As of November 2022, PSA data showed Filipinos aged 15 to 64 years old reached 76.914 million.

The last condition is for the working age population to be gainfully employed. The PSA data, however, showed 7.161 million underemployed and 2.177 million unemployed Filipinos.

Opportunities

EARLIER, Balisacan said the slower fertility rate presents opportunities to grow the economy and reduce the number of poor Filipinos whereas a population boom would complicate poverty reduction efforts.

He explained that with lower fertility rates, Filipino families will have more opportunity to move up the

income ladder with less family members to support. The Neda Chief said if there are more younger members of households, there are less adults to support children.

If there are more adults compared to children in households, Balisacan said, families can focus on the quality of the care and attention they can provide to young members. This includes investments in health and education.

Neda said Bersales brings into Popcom her deep expertise from almost four decades of academic practice as a researcher and professor at the University of the Philippines, where she was dean and director of its Graduate Studies for the School of Statistics.

As the first national statistician, Neda said Bersales led the implementation of the Philippine Statistics Act of 2013 by setting up the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2014.

Bersales worked on the PublicPrivate Partnership for the Civil Registration System Information Technology Project-Phase 2 of the Philippines in 2016, and chaired Philippine Identification System working group that provided inputs to the Philippine Identification System Act enacted in 2018, where she formalized its Implementing Rules and Regulation in the same year.

Climate Change agency eyes boost from funding

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

THE Climate Change Commission (CCC) said its ongoing technical aid from the German Development Corporation (GIZ) will allow it to come out with more evidence-based climate action.

Last Friday, Vice Chair and Executive Robert E.A. Borje met with the representatives of the GIZ to discuss “the next steps in the implementation” of the South-South Collaboration on Climate Information Services (SSCIS) Project.

“The implementation of the SSCIS Project presents an opportunity for CCC and the Philippine government

to further enhance knowledge and capacities in data management, including collecting, generating, and analyzing climate data as a basis of climate action,” Borje said.

Borje said among the practical applications of the SSCIS will be in reviewing the Local Climate Change Action Plan submitted by local government units (LGU).

He said they can also use it to help in enhancing climate resilience of communities.

For his part, SSCIS Project Team head Bjoern Surborg committed to continue extending technical aid to the CCC.

“The GIZ Philippines, through the South-South Project, remains

committed to work with the Philippine government in promoting datadriven climate action to enhance local knowledge on climate change,” Surborg said.

The SSCIS is a 5-million Euro project that aims to provide climate information services to national and local government, and the academe.

The Germanwatch Institute placed the Philippines in the fourth most affected country by climate change under its 2021 Global Climate Risk Index.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. earlier said that one of the priorities of his administration will be to address the causes and effects of climate change.

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

EXPECT

said the agency has put in place last year groundbreaking policies geared toward efficient and effective land administration and management.

LMB Director Emelyne V. Talabis said with the newly implemented policies and other accomplishments on its priority programs, they expect improved delivery of land-related services to Filipinos this year.

L and Management Circular (LMC) 2022-001, titled “Guidelines on the Use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in the Conduct of Control and Land Surveys,” which the LMB issued on February 7, 2022, provides geodetic engineers with the proper procedures on the use of GNSS as complementary and alternative instrument in the conduct of land surveys.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

a more efficient and effective land administration and management services from the government this year. A n official of the Land Management Bureau (LMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Land Management Bureau official vows delivery of land-related services to Filipinos to improve

on oil imports

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expressed concern that with the country’s energy sector’s dependence on imported refined oil, the Philippines is more vulnerable to refining margins in China, South Korea and Singapore than rising crude prices.

B ased on the 2022 Financial Stability Report, the BSP said 79.8 percent of the country’s energy requirements is composed of refined oil and the balance of 20.2 percent is made up of crude oil.

T he central bank noted that China, South Korea and Singapore collectively provided 60.3 percent of the country’s refined oil imports.

The Philippines only had one refinery and would not be enough to serve the needs of the country.

We can see the relevance of refining margins by looking at Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) prices, which has increased more than the benchmark WTI (West Texas Intermediate) prices,” the BSP said.

Based on the FSR, China accounts for 30 percent of the country’s refined oil imports followed by Singapore at 17.3 percent; South Korea, 13 percent; Malaysia, 11.4 percent; and Other countries, 28.3 percent.

Implications on prices

THE BSP said this set-up will also have implications on prices especially with the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The central bank is con -

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

THE Department of Energy (DOE) has formed a committee to oversee and speed up the country’s electrification program.

“ To effectively implement the various issuances, the DOE recognizes the need to organize a new steering committee dedicated to supervise and provide directions in the implementation of various plans and program for the provision of electricity access to communities that are identified as unserved and underserved by DUs (distribution utilities) and other responsible entities,” Department Order 2022-12-16 read.

The Total Electrification Steering

Committee (TESC) will serve as an oversight body in formulating and consolidating various programs and activities that will allow full access to electricity of communities that are identified as unserved and underserved by DUs (distribution utilities) and other responsible entities.

The members of the committee, which will be headed by a DOE undersecretary, include representatives from the National Electrification Administration, National Power Corp. (NPC) and the National Transmission Corp.

Among others, the committee will: supervise and provide direction in the formulation of the National Total Electrification Roadmap (NTER), a consolidated Local Total Electrifica-

cerned with Russia’s sale of crude oil to China.

“China’s economic situation is thus not simply a question of how the world responds to the second largest economy. For us, this has a bearing on our ability to source refined petroleum from China,” said the central bank.

The BSP added that 94 percent of the monetary investments in the industry are driven by 1.5 percent of the total market players. This means, only 337 players invested out of 21,786.

The report stated that those who made monetary investments were market players who import, operate terminals and distribute oil in bulk.

“The volatility in the oil market is not only an inconvenience

for consumers at the gasoline station. Instead, it has major effects on production and logistics. Oil, gasoline and diesel not only drive cars, but also drive economies,” the BSP said.

A recent Bloomberg report stated that oil prices could see a 6 percent increase on the back of China’s recovery and cooling inflation in the United States.

The report stated that China increased its crude oil purchase “after Beijing issued new import quota and consumption is poised to surge to a record this year following the nation’s exit from Covid Zero” (full story: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2023/01/13/oil-set-forweekly-gain-on-china-optimismbrighter-us-outlook/).

By Andrea San Juan

TRADE Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the e-commerce platform that was supposed to be launched by end of 2022 will have to wait for “at least a quarter” as the approach will be “reformulated.”

P ascual told reporters last Wednesday that had the government stuck to the “original design,” the e-commerce platform would have been implemented earlier. He said the delay in the launch can be pointed to the “evolution” of players.

Pascual said the trade department “might have to go a different way of proposing it” with their original partner from the private sector. The trade chief said on the sidelines of the launch of a program by the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) that initially, the government had two partners from the private sector.

With this, Pascual said, “now, we need at least a quarter to really reformulate the approach… because I also want this [platform] to be the basis for e-catalog purchases for government. But that will come in later.”

for a definite launch before year-end.

The said platform aims to help create a national market for microsized, small-scale and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs).

Despite the delay, Pascual said the e-commerce platform is still an “active project” because it has more purposes than just the commercial use, which he said is to provide an ecommerce platform to Philippine consumers.

‘Initiation phase’

PASCUAL emphasized that the said platform will serve as an “initiation phase” of getting the small merchants to eventually compete in the global arena.

tion Roadmap (LTER) of DUs nationwide; monitor the implementation of NTER; provide timely resolution of policy gaps; and, perform other function as may be directed by the DOE Secretary.

The NTER is targeted to be released within the first half of this year and will serve as the basis for the updated household electrification targets, which will be incorporated in the Philippine Energy Plan.

The TESC will be supported by a technical by a technical working group (TWG), which will be chaired by the director of the DOE Electric Power Industry Management Bureau and co-chaired by the NPC Corporate Affairs group. The members of

Now with three leaders— President Marcos Jr., Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Speaker Martin Romualdez— all vowing to create more opportunities and jobs, Tuason believes the future looks very bright for the country and its national defense.

“So now, we have the opportunity to be a defense player, that’s why I really want to bring back the SRDP,” Tuason said,

adding that he really wants the country to be more self-reliant when it comes to producing weaponry instead of importing.

“ Why [are] our tax pesos going to Israel? Why are our tax pesos going to Brazil? Why are our tax pesos going to the United States? Why are our tax pesos going anywhere, but not to a Filipino pocket? That’s the question here to ask,” Tuason added.

F or the SRDP program, the

Armed Forces of the Philippines can directly negotiate with the private industry like ARMSCOR Global Defense and deliver more even on short notice, especially during times of national security threats like the Marawi Siege in 2017.

Private industry through a bidding process was the only one who delivered during the time of actual five months of fighting in Marawi [Siege] because I was local

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) announced last Sunday it will start pursuing an “enhanced digital cooperation” with China to “improve and accelerate digitalization” in the Philippines.

According to ICT Public Affairs

and Foreign Relations Undersecretary Anna Mae Y. Lamentillo, the agency will work together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China in line with the two nations’ memorandum of understanding (MOU) on digital cooperation.

“ We will be able to exchange

knowledge, technical expertise, and best practices with China in many areas of digitalization and ICT, including on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, cloud computing, Internet of Things, industrial Internet, big data, analytics and robotics,” she said.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

the TWG will be composed of various representatives from the DOE, NEA and NPC.

The TWG will formulate the NTER in consultation with concerned agencies. The TESC will submit to the DOE Secretary the NTER for approval within 30 days.

Funding will be sourced from the electrification program of the approved budgets of the DOE and its attached agencies.

As of June last year, electrification at the household level in the country stood at 95.8 percent. Luzon recorded the highest electrification at 98.8 percent followed by Visayas at 97.2 percent. Mindanao’s household electrification registered at 87.1 percent.

The Trade chief added “it might require a law to mandate government offices to buy, mandatorily, not just giving margin of preference.”

“If a product is available locally from local producers, mandatory dapat na doon kukunin. [It should be sourced locally if local producers make it available.] We don’t want a situation where Filipino companies are subjected to competition in an uneven playing field,” Pascual said.

Last December, Pascual said the e-commerce platform, which the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is creating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), was set

But additionally, aside from that purpose, I’m also looking at it as a system by which we can make known nationally what’s really available in the Philippines. Because the moment that we initiate or we put into the global platforms directly the Philippine MSMEs, then their products will get eclipsed, drowned by the many more products that are coming in from the different countries in the world,” said Pascual.

T he DTI chief also cited the current influx of products from foreign countries through the existing e-commerce platforms,which majority of Filipinos are using. He said patronizing these products outnumber the products being offered by local businesses.

Pascual said there are many products coming from foreign countries and more than what are available from Philippine companies.

So I’m thinking that the platform we will set up as a way by which Filipinos can really see and focus on what’s available from Philippine enterprises across different regions.”

and I offered to deliver more, but they said I couldn’t because of current laws and how things work,” Tuason explained.

I f the Philippines Defense Industry Development Act is passed as a law, it will allow, he said, the AFP to negotiate with the local industries to start producing; forgse long-term contracts; make investment necessary; and provide more for the national security and base of

Unkindest cuts

NORWAY’S Ida Hauan called in sick on pageant night, so the field was left for 83 women to compete for the crown. They were drastically whittled down to 10 then brutally cut to the Final Five.

employment in the Philippines.

Tuason’s ARMSCOR Global Defense is located in Marikina and considered as the largest manufacturer of firearms and ammunition in the Philippines; it never stopped even at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It even hired people during those crazy times, he said.

People are coming for us to be the leader to produce that [guns and ammos]. But what we

really need is to stop exporting our tax pesos and keeping them at home. I want our country to be more self-reliant, and I will create jobs for the Filipino people,” he said.

A RMSCOR Global Defense is the mothership of the Armscor Cartridge Inc. in Montana, ARMSCOR/Rock Island Armory in Pahrump, Nevada and the Armscor gun manufacturing facility in Cedar, Utah.

For her part, Sen. Grace Poe told CNN Philippines the Senate may convene an executive session with the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center to explore the cyberattack angle in the air traffic management system’s shutdown. At Thursday’s hearing, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said because no vulnerabilities tests were made on the CNS/ ATM system “that leaves us very open to the possibility of cyberattack.”

‘Int’l embarrassment’

IN her opening statement at the

opening of the Senate hearing, Senator Nancy Binay, chair of the Committee on Tourism, said, “[The] incident has left a bad impression on us in our effort to sell the Philippines abroad. This anomaly is an embarrassment that will not go away soon.”

S he enjoined her peers to get to the bottom of the airspace shutdown’s issues and find solutions immediately. “We need to act decisively so that we can convince not only foreign tourists, but our own people, that they will not suffer through hell to get to experience the Philippines. We don’t want a repeat of the incident and be em -

barrassed. Our tourism industry is targeting 4.8 million international visitors for this year. We are slated to host international events this year, such as the FIBA World Cup, along with major trade shows and conferences.”

Tamayo told lawmakers that procurement for the CNS/ATM project commenced in 2009, but the project was completed and turned over to the CAAP only on October 16, 2017. The Commission on Audit disallowed the P59-million advance payment under phase 1 of the project in May 2011, and only cleared it two years later.

Construction of the project resumed in August 2013.

Puerto Rico’s Ashley Cariño and Curacao’s Gabriëla dos Santos completed the Final Five. Those who advanced to the mind-boggling, shocking Top 16 are Haiti’s Mideline Phelizor, Australia’s Monique Riley, Laos’s Payengxa Lor (first time in herstory), South Africa’s Ndavi Nokeri, Portugal’s Telma Madeira, Canada’s Amelia Tu, Peru’s Alessia Rovegno, Trinidad and Tobago’s Tya Jané Ramey, India’s Divita Rai, Spain’s Alicia Faubel, and Colombia’s María Fernanda Aristizábal.

Eleganza extravaganza

THE Top 16 competed in both swimwear (with capes provided by Liva Fluid Fashion where candidates turned them into works of art incorporating their advocacies) and evening gown of their own choosing.

R ’Bonney flaunts her Filipino heritage and is proud of her father, Remigio Bonzon. Her national costume (cumbersome to a fault) was designed by Patrick Isorena. Her preliminary gown was designed by

another Filipino, Rian Fernandez. For her coronation, Fernandez created “a velvety fully handcrafted figure-hugging deep neckline shoulder studded gown. The black color of the gown represents competence and sophistication. The gunmetal accents epitomize the strength and remarkable resilience of R’Bonney Gabriel and power of the United States of America. The black onyx and the glass mirror drops are symbols of reflection and self-growth. The fringe skirt depicts the movement of life with blue sapphire Swarovski stones that stand for the new era of emerging women. Truly, this piece is a vivid portrayal of a Phenomenal Queen!”

Pinoy representation

IT was heartbreaking to see Celeste no longer in the competition but Filipino Excellence was still showcased throughout the show. Our own Catriona Gray, Miss Universe 2018, served as behind-the-scenes correspondent. Co-host Jeannie Mai Jenkins wore a Resty LaGare crystallized corset dress. Fil-Am beauty empress Olivia Quido is a judge. Alicia Faubel of Spain, an honorary Pinay, wore Leo Almodal. And the ladies wore Jose Bragais shoes.

Diversity and inclusion

R’BONNEY is the oldest winner

since fellow mixed-race Brook Lee of 1997. Her reply to a question was quite apt: Miss Universe recently made an inclusive change, allowing mothers and married women to compete this year. What’s another change you’d like to see and why?

She answered: “For me, I would like to see an age increase. Because I am 28 years old, and that is the oldest age to compete. I think it’s a beautiful thing. My favorite quote is, “If not now, then when?” As a woman, I believe age does not define us. It’s not tomorrow, it’s not yesterday, but it’s now. The time is now that you can go after what you want.”

It was also  refreshing to see Big Freedia, the gender nonconforming, fluid, nonbinary American rapper and performer of the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music, as one of the selection committee members.

Unsurprising since Miss Universe Organization chief executive officer Anne Jakrajutatip is a straight-talking trans billionaire businesswoman. In an impassioned speech onstage, she said: “[On] this stage called the Miss Universe competition, we can elevate all women to feel strong enough, good enough, qualified enough, and never be objectified AGAIN.”

Agriculture/Commodities

BusinessMirror

‘PHL to import 600,000 MT of pork this year’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Philippines’s pork imports could reach 600,000 metric tons (MT) this year mainly due to the extension of the validity of reduced tariff rates, an international agency said.

T he United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA-FAS Manila) said in a report that importers would take advantage of the extended lower pork tariffs.

T he USDA-FAS Manila said the additional foreign supply would continue to help the Philippines in ensuring its food security and in stabilizing retail prices.

“Pork imports, meanwhile, are forecast at 600,000 MT in response to lower tariffs that have been extended through December 31, 2023,” it said in a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report published recently.

T he USDA-FAS Manila estimated that the Philippines imported 575,500 MT of pork products last year.

“ Local pork belly prices have been under P395 per kilogram (kg)

since January 2021. Interestingly, imported pork belly has remained significantly below the price of local

pork belly. This contributed to lower prices (e.g., remaining under P395 per kg) for local pork belly, although

DA agency pins hopes on mill to boost corn grit production

THE Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) said over the weekend that it plans to commercialize a corn mill that seeks to improve local corn grit production and food security.

PhilMech, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, said it will push for “wider adoption” of the corn mill, which it developed in collaboration with the Korea Agricultural Machinery Industry Cooperative (KAMICO).

T he agency said the development of the corn mill was part of its Covid-19 pandemic response initiatives that aim to have a “long-term impact on communities that depend on milled white corn or corn grits for their staple.”

“ This project supports the attainment of food security for communities that have lands and resources more suitable for growing white corn as their staple,” it said in a statement.

“ Some parts in the Visayas and Mindanao also prefer milled white corn or white corn mixed with rice, called ‘bugas’ instead of rice, and this project will help ensure their food security.”

PhilMech said it is currently pilot testing the corn mill in four sites: two in Bukidnon; and one site each in Sarangani and Negros Occidental. The pilot tests are expected to be completed by June.

After that, PhilMech will push for its wider adoption and study its commercialization. So far, the project is proceeding as scheduled.”

T he corn mill can mill 200 kilograms of corn with an estimated output of 110 kg of corn grits per hour, according to PhilMech. The machine can also separate the grits from the powder, and is powered by electricity.

Uniform shapes of grits are mostly produced by the PhilMech-KAMICO Corn Mill, which results in improved eating qualities of the milled corn, according to the agency.

“It can be easily operated like a washing machine, hence women can also operate the PhilMech-KAMICO Corn Mill.”

PhilMech entered into an agreement with KAMICO in November 2016 “to level up the capabilities of the Filipino agency to design and produce farm machines.” Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

the local product remained far above imported belly prices.”

T he USDA-FAS Manila said

the entry of “cheaper” imported pork will boost nationwide consumption of the commodity this year.

FAS Manila forecasts 2023 consumption at 1.599 million [metric tons] because of the expected entry of more imported pork due to the extension of lower tariffs through December 31, 2023,” it said while noting that total pork consumption last year reached 1.499 million metric tons (MMT).

In terms of local pork production, the country’s output this year would reach 1 MMT from 925,000 MT last year as commercial producers opt to produce “bigger pigs,” according to the report.

T he USDA-FAS Manila also noted that African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks remain a threat to the country’s overall pork supply, citing the recent cases in Iloilo province.

The industry sees a glimmer of hope because of the special permit application for an ASF vaccine by a local company (in partnership with a Vietnamese company) before the Food and Drug Administration. Post’s forecast assumes the current situation of no vaccine will

persist,” it said.

T he Philippines has extended its 15 percent and 25 percent tariff rate for pork imports within the minimum access volume (MAV) and outside MAV, respectively, to aid the government in addressing the spike in consumer prices.

According to data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the country imported a record volume of 1.356 billion kilograms of meat products last year as the government resorted to foreign supplies to temper prices.

B AI data indicated that total meat imports in 2022 reached 191 million kilograms higher than the 1.165 billion kilograms recorded in 2021.

T he Philippines may finally recover from ASF in two years’ time with pork output expected to return to 1.6 MMT, according to joint forecasts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (OECD-FAO).

OECD-FAO had projected that additional pork output from the Philippines is expected in the next two to three years.

UNITED Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to protect the most vulnerable children in the 15 countries hardest hit by an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis.

Conflict, climate shocks, the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, and rising costs of living are leaving increasing numbers of children acutely malnourished while key health, nutrition and other life-saving services are becoming less accessible.

Currently, more than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries suffer from wasting—or acute malnutrition—and 8 million of these children are severely wasted, the deadliest form of undernutrition. This is a major threat to children’s lives and to their long-term health and development, the impacts of which are felt by individuals, their communities and their countries.

Wasting or acute malnutrition is a form of undernutrition caused by a decrease in food consumption and illness that result in sudden weight loss or edema. Children with acute malnutrition have low weight for height. They may also have nutritional edema and other related pathological clinical signs.

C hildren with acute malnutrition have weakened immune systems and are at higher risk of dying from common childhood diseases. Those that survive could face lifelong growth and development challenges. They risk facing a future marked by illness, poor school results, and poverty with ripple effects across generations.

C hild wasting—defined as low weight for height—is the most dangerous form of undernutrition. Severe wasting is the deadliest form, as severely wasted children are 12 times more likely to die than a wellnourished child.

In response, five UN agencies—the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO)—are calling for accelerated progress on the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting. It aims to prevent, detect and treat acute malnutrition among children in the worst-affected countries, which are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, the Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, the Sudan and Yemen.

T he Global Action Plan addresses the need for a multi-sectoral approach and highlights priority actions across maternal and child nutrition through the food, health, water and sanitation, and social protection systems.

CAGE-FREE mandates are adding another kink to egg supply chains tangled by successive outbreaks of avian flu, making it difficult for grocers to restock shelves.

T he most recent outbreak of bird flu tore through cage-free chicken facilities, ravaging the supply of so-called specialty eggs. That’s bad news for states that now require eggs in stores to come from cage-free chickens and constricting supply to a market that’s still struggling to emerge from the worst global flu outbreak on record.

“ You have now multiple states— California, Massachusetts, Colorado—that can’t use caged eggs,” said John Brunnquell, chief executive officer of Egg Innovations, a major free-range egg producer in the United States. Those eggs are still “very, very tight on supply. And that will not be fixed until those specific cage-free farms get their barns refilled.”

Retail egg prices soared last year as millions of birds were culled to slow the flu’s spread. NielsenIQ data shows that the amount of eggs on store shelves collapsed beginning in November and still hasn’t recovered. With prices at historic highs, supply and demand fundamentals have kicked in and will likely restore some balance—wholesale prices for conventional eggs are starting to fall as sticker shock scares off consumers. However, the lower prices will take time to trickle down to retailers and will take even longer to reach the pockets of consumers who are willing

to pay more for eggs from humanely raised chickens.

A s the price for conventionally farmed eggs skyrocketed last year, consumers bought up cage-free and organic eggs that were suddenly relatively cheap. Retailers buy those eggs at a fixed price, so they could keep prices steady for customers even as the cost of a regular dozen soared. But here’s the rub, says Karyn Rispoli, an egg market reporter at Urner Barry, specialty eggs are more difficult to replace.

Production levels for these types of eggs are far less than conventional and once those pipelines run dry, they can’t be easily refilled.”

Corn shipments

UNION Pacific Corp. and poultry producer Foster Farms said enough corn shipments have been made to replenish feed stocks after delayed trains in recent months caused inventories to drop to critical levels. Millions of chickens at Foster Farms facilities were at risk of going unfed because of the rail delays.

T he US Surface Transportation Board, which regulates railroads, had ordered Union Pacific to provide trains loaded with corn on December 30 after the poultry farm warned about running out of feed for its chickens and its customers’ dairy cattle. The farm said it needed to divert supplies away from its customers to feeding its chickens, which kill each other when they go hungry. Six trains loaded with corn have

been delivered since the board’s action, Livingston, California-based Foster Farms said in a statement on Friday.

Foster Farms’ grain inventories are currently at levels that enable us to meet the nutritional requirements of all flocks in our

care, and bird health is not at risk,” the poultry producer said in the statement. “All Foster Farms facilities are operating.”

Foster Farms said in its December request to the regulator that Union Pacific’s delays had been ongoing since February. The Sur -

face Transportation Board had previously issued a service order to Union Pacific in June after Foster Farms complained of a critical shortage of animal feed.

Inclement weather this winter, including snow storms that swept across the Midwest, flood damage in

California and rockslides in Nevada, had contributed to the recent disruptions in its service, Union Pacific previously told Bloomberg News.

Union Pacific said in a separate statement that it has worked closely with Foster Farms and the Surface Transportation Board to implement a service plan while voluntarily providing service updates and information “regarding weather challenges severely impacting our network and future deliveries.”

“ While we have made incremental progress reducing network congestion and increasing velocity, we are still seeing longer than anticipated recovery due to residual weather impacts,” Union Pacific said in the emailed statement sent on January 14. “We continue to work closely with all of our customers to reduce congestion and improve service.”

Union Pacific, the second-largest railroad in North America, is the only one with direct access to provide service to Foster Farms. The poultry producer has said in federal filings that it’s not viable to truck in corn because of capacity and cost constraints. For every train with 100 cars of corn, it requires 400 trucks to carry the same volume.

“ We have a long working relationship with Union Pacific, and it is our hope that more reliable service standards can be maintained, and further disruptions minimized,” Foster Farms said in its statement.

‘Urgent action needed as acute malnutrition threatens lives of vulnerable children’

China reports 60,000 Covid deaths, says ‘emergency peak’ has passed

By Joe Mcdonald The Associated Press

BEIJING—China on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had Covid-19 since early December, offering hard numbers for an unprecedented surge that was apparent in overcrowded hospitals and packed crematoriums, even as the government released little data about the status of the pandemic for weeks.

Those numbers may still underestimate the toll, though the government said the “emergency peak” of its latest surge appears to have passed.

The toll included 5,503 deaths due to respiratory failure caused by Covid-19 and 54,435 fatalities from other ailments combined with Covid-19 since Dec. 8, the National Health Commission announced. It said those “deaths related to Covid” occurred in hospitals, which means anyone who died at home would not be included in the numbers.

The report would more than double China’s official Covid-19 death toll to 10,775 since the disease was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019. China has counted only deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official Covid-19 death toll, a narrow definition that excludes many deaths that would be attributed to Covid-19 in much of the world.

China stopped reporting data on Covid-19 deaths and infections after abruptly lifting anti-virus controls in early December despite a surge in infections that began in October and has filled hospitals with feverish, wheezing patients. Hospitals in Beijing across the country have been overwhelmed with patients, and funeral homes and crematoriums have struggled to handle the dead.

The World Health Organization

and other governments appealed for information after reports by city and provincial governments suggested as many as hundreds of millions of people in China might have contracted the virus.

Infection numbers now appear to be falling based on a decline in the number of patients visiting fever clinics, said a National Health Commission official, Jiao Yahui.

The daily number of people going to those clinics peaked at 2.9 million on Dec. 23 and had fallen by 83% to 477,000 on Thursday, according to Jiao.

“These data show the national emergency peak has passed,” Jiao said at a news conference.

Whether China truly has passed a Covid-19 peak is hard to assess, said Dr. Dale Bratzler, chief Covid officer at the University of Oklahoma and head of quality control at the university’s hospital.

“That’s difficult to know,” Bratzler said. “China quarantined people indoors, there are many people unvaccinated, the people are vulnerable.”

Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease physician and professor of public health at the Yale School of Public Health, said the number of Covid-19 deaths China is reporting may be a “significant underestimation” because of how they define them.

“They’re using a very narrow

case definition for (Covid) deaths,” Ko said. “They have to have respiratory failure ... in order to be counted as a case you have to be at a place where they can say you fulfilled all the requirements, and that’s at a hospital.”

Hospitals in China, Ko said, are located mostly in large cities where Covid outbreaks have been reported, not in isolated rural areas.

“This is the Lunar New Year, people are traveling, going to the countryside where the population is vulnerable,” Ko said. “We’re really worried about what’s going to happen in China as this outbreak moves to the countryside.”

For nearly three years, China had kept its infection rate and deaths far lower than those of the United States and some other countries at the height of the pandemic with a “zero-Covid” strategy that aimed to isolate every case. That shut down access to some cities, kept millions of people at home and sparked angry protests.

Those rules were suddenly eased in early December after some of the largest shows of public dissent against the ruling Communist Party in more than 30 years. That set off new problems in a country that relies on domestically developed vaccines that are less reliable than

others used globally, and where older people—those more susceptible to dying from the virus—are less likely to be vaccinated than the general population.

The Health Commission said the average age of people who died since Dec. 8 is 80.3 years, and 90.1% are aged 65 and above. It said more than 90% of people who died had cancer, heart or lung diseases or kidney problems.

“The number of elderly patients dying from illness is relatively large, which suggests that we should pay more attention to elderly patients and try our best to save their lives,” said Jiao.

The United States, South Korea, Japan and several other countries have imposed virus testing and other controls on people arriving from China. Beijing retaliated on Wednesday by suspending issuance of new visas to travelers from South Korea and Japan.

This month, WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said agency officials met with Chinese officials to underline the importance of sharing more details about Covid-19 issues, including hospitalization rates and genetic sequences. Associated Press writer Ken Miller contributed to this report from Oklahoma City.

IRAn exeCUteS IRAnIAn-BRItISh ex-DeFenSe oFFICIAl FoR Spy ClAIm

By Jon Gambrell The Associated Press

DUB a i , United a r ab e mirates— r an said s at urday it executed a former high-ranking defense ministry official and dual i ranian-British national, despite international warnings not to carry out the death sentence. t he execution further escalated tensions with the West amid the nationwide anti-government protests shaking the i s lamic r e public.

t h e hanging of a l r e za a k bari, a close ally of top security official a l i s ham khani, suggests an ongoing power struggle within i ran’s theocracy as it tries to contain the demonstrations over the s ep tember death of m ah sa a m ini. t a lso harkened back to the mass purges of the military that immediately followed i ran’s 1979 i s lamic r e volution.

a k bari’s hanging drew immediate anger from l o ndon, which along with the Us and others has sanctioned i ran over the protests and its supplying r u ssia with the bombcarrying drones now targeting Ukraine.

“ t h is was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people,” British p r ime m i nister r i shi s u nak said.

Foreign s e cretary James Cleverly summoned i ran’s chargé d’affaires in the United Kingdom and temporarily withdrew Britain’s ambassador from te hran as Britain also sanctioned the i s lamic r e public’s prosecutor-general.

“ o u r response to ran is not limited to today,” he warned.

ran similarly summoned the British ambassador after the execution.

ran’s m i zan news agency, associated with the country’s judiciary, announced

a k bari’s hanging without saying when it happened. h owever, there were rumors he had been executed days earlier.

i ran has alleged, without providing evidence, that a k bari served as a source for Britain’s s e cret i ntelligence s e rvice, known popularly as mi 6. a lengthy statement issued by i ran’s judiciary claimed a k bari received large sums of money, his British citizenship and other help in l o ndon for providing information to the intelligence service.

h o wever, i ran long has accused those who travel abroad or have Western ties of spying, often using them as bargaining chips in negotiations.

ak bari, who ran a private think tank, is believed to have been arrested in 2019, but details of his case only emerged in recent weeks. t h ose accused of espionage and other crimes related to national security are usually tried behind closed doors, where rights groups say they do not choose their own lawyers and are not allowed to see evidence against them.

i ranian state television aired a highly edited video of a k bari discussing the allegations, footage that resembled other claimed confessions that activists have described as coerced confessions.

t h e BBC Farsi-language service aired an audio message from a k bari on Wednesday, in which he described being tortured.

“By using physiological and psychological methods, they broke my will, drove me to madness and forced me to do whatever they wanted,” a k bari said in the audio. “By the force of gun and death threats they made me confess to false and corrupt claims.”

i ran has not commented on the torture claims. h o wever, the United n at ions human rights chief has warned i ran against the “weaponization” of the death penalty as a

means to put down the protests.

U s s e cretary of st ate a n tony Blinken condemned a k bari’s execution.

“We mourn with his loved ones and will continue to hold i ran accountable for its sham trials and politicized executions,” Blinken said.

r o bert m a lley, the Us special envoy for i ran, said he was “horrified” by a k bari’s execution.

“ t h e i s lamic r e public’s unjust detentions, forced confessions, sham trials and politically motivated executions must end,” he wrote online.

French p re sident e m manuel m a cron also decried what he called “a heinous and barbaric act.” g e rman Foreign m i nister a nnalena Baerbock called the execution “a further inhuman act by the i ranian regime.”

i ran is one of the world’s top executioners. h o wever, it wasn’t immediately clear when the last time a former or current high-ranking defense official had been executed. i n 1984, i ran executed its navy chief a d m. Baharam a f zali along with nine other military people on a charge of spying for the s o viet Union.

i ran’s government for months has been trying to allege—without offering evidence—that foreign countries have fomented the unrest gripping the i s lamic r e public since the death of 22-year-old a m ini in s ep tember after her detention by the morality police. p r otesters say they are angry over the collapse of the economy, heavy-handed policing and the entrenched power of the country’s i s lamic clergy.

For several years, iran has been locked in a shadow war with the United st ates and isr ael, marked by covert attacks on its disputed nuclear program. t h e killing of iran’s top nu -

clear scientist in 2020, which iran blamed on israel, indicated foreign intelligence services had made major inroads. iran mentioned that scientist in discussing ak bari’s case, though it’s unclear what current information, if any, he would have had on him.

a k bari had previously led the implementation of a 1988 cease-fire between i ran and i r aq following their devastating eight-year war, working closely with U. n . observers. h e served as a deputy defense minister under s ham khani during reformist p r esident m oham mad Khatami’s administration, likely further making his credentials suspicious to hard-liners within i ran’s theocracy.

to day, s ham khani is the secretary of the s u preme n at ional s e curity Council of i ran, the country’s top security body, which s u preme l ea der ay atollah a li Khamenei oversees. a k bari’s audio message aired by the BBC pe rsian included him saying he was accused of obtaining top-secret information from s ham khani “in exchange for a bottle of perfume and a shirt.” h o wever, it appears s ham khani remains in his role.

t h e anti-government protests now shaking i ran are one of the biggest challenges to the i s lamic r e public since the 1979 revolution.

at least 522 protesters have been killed and 19,400 people have been arrested, according to h u man r i ghts a c tivists in i ran, a group that has been monitoring the unrest. i ranian authorities have not provided official figures on deaths or arrests.

i ran has executed four people after convicting them of charges linked to the protests in similarly criticized trials, including attacks on security forces. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report

UK to supply tanks; Russian missiles hit across Ukraine

By Sylvia Hui & Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press

LONDON—UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday promised to provide tanks and artillery systems to Ukraine, amid renewed missile attacks by Moscow targeting multiple Ukrainian cities for the first time in nearly two weeks.

Nine people were killed and 64 others wounded in the southeastern city of Dnipro, where a Russian missile strike destroyed a section of an apartment building, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office.

Infrastructure facilities were also hit in the western Lviv region and IvanoFrankivsk regions, in the Odesa region on the Black Sea and in northeastern Kharkiv. Kyiv, the capital, was also targeted.

Sunak made the pledge to provide Challenger 2 tanks and other artillery systems after speaking to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday, the British leader’s Downing Street office said in a statement.

It didn’t say when the tanks would be delivered or how many. British media have reported that four British Army Challenger 2 main battle tanks will be sent to Eastern Europe immediately, with eight more to follow shortly after, without citing sources.

Zelenskyy tweeted his thanks to Sunak on Saturday “for the decisions that will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners.”

Ukraine has for months sought to be supplied with heavier tanks, including the US Abrams and the German Leopard 2 tanks, but Western leaders have been treading carefully.

The Czech Republic and Poland have provided Soviet-era T-72 tanks to Ukrainian forces. Poland has also expressed readiness to provide a company of Leopard tanks, but President Andrzej Duda stressed during his recent visit to the Ukrainian city of Lviv that the move would be possible only as an element in a larger international coalition of tank aid to Kyiv.

Earlier this month, France said it would send AMX-10 RC armored combat vehicles to Ukraine, designated “light tanks” in French. The US and Germany announced the same week that they would send Bradley fighting vehicles and Marder armored personnel carriers, respectively, for the first time.

Sunak’s announcement came as Russian forces fired missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine on Saturday in the first major barrage in days.

In Dnipro, rescuers were using a crane to try to evacuate people trapped in the apartment building’s upper stories, some of whom were signaling with the flashlights on their mobile phones, Tymoshenko said on Telegram. He also said there were likely people under the rubble.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said two Russian missiles hit an infrastructure object again on Saturday afternoon, following a similar attack in the morning. In the city of Kharkiv, the subway suspended operations amid the attacks, according to its Telegram channel.

Another infrastructure facility was hit in the western Lviv region, according to Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi.

Air defense systems were activated in

other regions of Ukraine, as well, and as another round of air raid sirens sounded across the country in the afternoon, regional officials urged local residents to seek shelter.

Vitali Kim, governor of the southern Mykolaiv region, hinted in a Telegram post that some missiles have been intercepted over his province.

Military top commander Valeri Zaluzhny said that Russia fired 33 cruise missiles overall on Saturday, of which 21 were shot down.

Earlier in the day, explosions also rocked the capital, Kyiv. The blasts occurred before air sirens sounded, which is unusual. It’s likely the explosions came ahead of the warning sirens because the attack was by ballistic missiles, which are faster than cruise missiles or drones.

According to Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, Russia attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles flying from the north.

“The ballistics are not easy for us to detect and shoot down,” he told local media. The warning about the missile threat was late because of the lack of radar data and information from other sources.

An infrastructure target was hit in the morning missile attack, according to Ukrainian officials.

Explosions were heard in the Dniprovskyi district, a residential area on the left bank of the Dnieper River, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Klitschko also said that fragments of a missile fell on a nonresidential area in the Holosiivskyi district on the right bank, and a fire briefly broke out in a building there. No casualties have been reported so far. This was the first attack on the Ukrainian capital since Jan. 1.

On Saturday morning, two Russian missiles hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s secondlargest city. The strikes with S-300 missiles targeted “energy and industrial objects of Kharkiv and the (outlying) region,” governor Syniehubov said. No casualties have been reported, but emergency power cuts in the city and other settlements of the region were possible, the official said.

In the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine where fighting is most intense, three people were killed in Russian artillery attacks on Saturday, mayor Vitalii Barabash said. One person died in a rocket attack in Kryvyi Rih, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Reznichenko said.

The attacks follow conflicting reports on the fate of the fiercely contested salt mining town of Soledar, in Ukraine’s embattled east. Russia claims that its forces have captured the town, a development that would mark a rare victory for the Kremlin after a series of humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Malyar said Saturday that the “fierce battles for Soledar are continuing.”

Moscow has painted the battle for the town and the nearby city of Bakhmut as key to capturing the eastern region of the Donbas, which comprises of partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and as a way to grind down the best Ukrainian forces and prevent them from launching counterattacks elsewhere.

But that cuts both ways, as Ukraine says its fierce defense of the eastern strongholds has helped tie up Russian forces. Western officials and analysts say the two towns’ importance is more symbolic than strategic. Hanna Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

In this photo released by the Dnipro Regional Administration, smoke rises after a Russian rocket hit a multistory building leaving many people under debris in Dnipro, Ukraine on Saturday, January 14, 2023. Dnipro r egional aD m inistration via ap

FA m Ily members of the deceased wait for the cremation procedures at a funeral home in Shanghai, China on January 4, 2023. China on Saturday, Jan. 14, reported nearly 60,000 deaths in people who had Covid-19 since early December following complaints the government was failing to release data about the status of the pandemic. Chinatopix v a ap

editorial

Technology: Servant and master

UndoU bT edly, the greatest technology achievement in recorded history occurred sometime around 6,489 years ago in l ower Mesopotamia when a Sumerian engineer inserted a rotating axle into solid discs of wood and created “The Wheel.” History does not record the date when the first wheel fell off its axle.

Without the wheel, the automobile would have never been invented. Likewise, Mr. Walter Johnson of Middletown, Connecticut would never have been hit, stepping off the curb, by Edith Wilmore driving her father’s car while traveling with five of her girlfriends in 1913.

Humanity has been the beneficiary, and at the mercy, of “technology” forever as we have continued to build on the achievements of thousands of years and through our never-ending journey of success, failure, and more success.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”— Thomas Edison.

However, advances in technology have always brought unexpected consequences. Humans have been sailing the Seven Seas since we first figured out how to build a vessel that was reasonably seaworthy. But most seafaring was limited to staying in sight of land so you knew where you were so that you could figure out where you were going. But we always find a way. Polynesians as far back as 3,000 BC were able to navigate a huge portion of the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii in the north to Easter Island in the east to New Zealand and parts of South East Asia. They followed the movement of the ocean swells well as bird flight, clouds, and the sun and stars. But in the open ocean you could never know exactly where you were. Explorer sailors like Magellan just went in one direction until they ran into something.

John Bird produced the first sextant in 1759, building on previous technology. With a clock set to the time at the originating port and sextant readings once or twice a day, a ship could plot its latitude and longitude position to about one mile accuracy. Now we have a Global Positioning System. Even your Smartphone GPS can achieve a fivemeter accuracy under an open sky...as long as your battery is charged.

Ships carry a sextant and have a “ship’s clock” for the same reason. Technology, no matter how sophisticated, is at the mercy of malfeasance, incompetence, and force majeure.

Hundreds of airline flights to and from Manila affecting some 65,000 passengers were canceled on New Year’s Day. We will not speculate on the cause until all the politicians and pundits share their wisdom. However, it is safe to say that either some human\s screwed up or some technology failed.

Less than two weeks later, some 10,578 flights to and from the United States were delayed and 1,353 were canceled. Again, we will not speculate on the cause until all the politicians and pundits share their wisdom. However, it is safe to say that either some human\s screwed up or some technology failed.

Clearly, it is important and absolutely critical to find out what caused the problem in order to make necessary changes to reduce the probability of anything like this happening again. But when it comes to human-created and maintained technology “zero probability” is simply not possible.

Norwegian historian Christian Lous Lange wrote: “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” But as author Alice Kahn wrote, there is a number we can call and get: “For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three.”

Increase income, decrease spending in 2023

RISING SUN

IT is still January and we’re still talking about the things we want to do this year and how to plan for a better year, in the face of bigger economic challenges. These challenges are summed up in two words: inflation and recession, both of which have been coming up in financial conversations here and abroad.

They are easy to recognize by way of symptoms, much like how the physical body shows the signs of illness when it is unwell. Some of the recognizable symptoms of an “economic malady” would be the following: lower consumer spending, higher unemployment (and fewer jobs), fast-rising prices of basic commodities, reduction in income (or when income can’t keep up with spending), and a lower standard of living.

As ordinary citizens, there are

many ways to tackle such a complicated problem, but it all boils down to two basic things. First, we must increase our income, and second, we must decrease our spending. For the first one, one can try and look for additional work, in case he or she is already gainfully employed. These days it is more doable because it is easier to be in two places at one time because of technology.

If one cannot find a job, let alone a second job, then there is no other

As ordinary citizens, there are many ways to tackle such a complicated problem, but it all boils down to two basic things. First, we must increase our income, and second, we must decrease our spending. For the first one, one can try and look for additional work, in case he or she is already gainfully employed. These days it is more doable because it is easier to be in two places at one time because of technology.

way but to create one’s own job. What does it mean? It means going into business or venturing into a selfinitiated venture. Find a need and try to fill it. Capitalize on a passion. Study the market and make a wise investment.

I am sure you’ve heard almost every other tip on how to reduce spending, but applicable at this specific time would be ideas such as substitution (onions come to mind, first of all), avoiding dining out or

food delivery services and making our own meals instead, planning all errands so we can save on gas, and even small things like foregoing unnecessary bank transfers to avoid the bank charges that add up over a period of time.

There are five big ones that we all need to think about. Before anything else, wipe out all debt and create an emergency fund. After that, we can begin to save and invest. As far as investments are concerned, the key is to be consistent. Do not expect quick returns and high returns immediately. Like caring for a plant, it will take time before it blooms, which means be wary if the promise of return seems too good to be true. Next, move your money into highinterest savings accounts (compare and study), and finally, in keeping with the start-of-year theme, declutter and organize your stuff at home. I’m sure you’ll come up with a few things to sell after looking through your possessions. Turn these into cash and use it to start a fund or investment project.

Top Brazil court greenlights probe of Bolsonaro for riot

By David Biller & Carla Bridi | The Associated Press

RIo de JAneIRo—A brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday authorized adding former President Jair bolsonaro in its investigation into who incited the Jan. 8 riot in the nation’s capital, as part of a broader crackdown to hold responsible parties to account.

According to the text of his ruling, Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted the request from the prosecutor-general’s office, which cited a video that Bolsonaro posted on Facebook two days after the riot. The video claimed President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wasn’t voted into office, but rather was chosen by the Supreme Court and Brazil’s electoral authority.

Prosecutors in the recently formed group to combat anti-democratic acts argued earlier Friday that although Bolsonaro posted the video after the riot, its content was sufficient to justify investigating his conduct beforehand. Bolsonaro deleted it the morning after he first posted it.

Legal analysts consulted by The Associated Press said investigating Bolsonaro was overdue and justified.

“Bolsonaro’s positioning, in general, is being investigated as an incitement method. The fact that the

video was published after the attacks doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved previously in inciting the acts,” said Georges Abboud, a constitutional law professor at Sao Paulo’s Pontifical Catholic University.

Otherwise, Bolsonaro has refrained from commenting on the election since his Oct. 30 defeat. He repeatedly stoked doubt about the reliability of the electronic voting system in the run-up to the vote, filed a request afterward to annul millions of ballots cast using the machines and never conceded.

He has taken up residence in an Orlando suburb since leaving Brazil in late December and skipping the Jan. 1 swearing-in of his leftist successor, and some Democratic lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to cancel his visa.

Following the justice’s decision late Friday, Bolsonaro’s lawyer Fred-

Brazilian authorities are investigating who enabled Bolsonaro’s radical supporters to storm the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in an attempt to overturn results of the October election. Targets include those who summoned rioters to the capital or paid to transport them, and local security personnel who may have stood aside to let the mayhem occur.

erick Wassef said in a statement that the former president “vehemently repudiates the acts of vandalism and destruction” from Jan. 8, but blamed supposed “infiltrators” of the protest —something his far-right backers have also claimed.

The statement also said Bolsonaro “never had any relationship or participation with these spontaneous social movements.”

Brazilian authorities are investigating who enabled Bolsonaro’s radical supporters to storm the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in an attempt to overturn results of the October election. Targets

include those who summoned rioters to the capital or paid to transport them, and local security personnel who may have stood aside to let the mayhem occur.

Much of the attention thus far has focused on Anderson Torres, Bolsonaro’s former justice minister, who became the federal district’s security chief on January 2, and was in the US on the day of the riot.

De Moraes has opened an investigation into Torres’ actions, which he characterized as “neglect and collusion.” In his decision, which was made public Friday, de Moraes said Torres fired subordinates and left the country before the riot, an indication that he was deliberately laying the groundwork for the unrest.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for the former security chief, who returned to Brazil early Saturday and was taken into custody, the Federal Police said in a statement. Torres has denied wrongdoing.

Justice Minister Flávio Dino pointed to a document that Brazilian federal police found upon searching Torres’ home: a draft decree that would have seized control of Brazil’s electoral authority and potentially See “Top,” A9

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

To catch a (tax) thief

Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT

IT is extremely important that the thief or even thieves are caught and convicted the soonest time possible. The crimes that these persons have committed are of the highest level, resulting in billions of pesos of government funds stolen, loss of trust in the effectiveness of the regulatory and enforcement systems of the authorities, and abuses committed by presumably a syndicate of criminals.

These thieves that I am referring to are the persons who are involved in this fraudulent practice of printing fake business receipts and invoices and selling these to all-knowing and conniving taxpayers for use in padding their tax deductions and credits. In the process, these groups are able to effectively steal significant amount of tax money from the government when billions of pesos of income and value-added tax (VAT) liabilities are fraudulently understated resulting in massive tax evasion. Recent social media and newspaper accounts disclose the discovery by government authorities of this nefarious sale of fake official receipts by scheming entities. In December 2022, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) agents raided an establishment in Eastwood City and confiscated several items used in the crime, including computers containing data on the operations, printed fake official receipts, invoices, and other documents.

With this breakthrough, the NBI and BIR should closely coordinate to investigate and convict the involved criminals. Though the need for collaboration between the two agencies is obvious, sometimes this is not forthcoming. Several reasons may come in the way to delay or prevent this cooperative effort. These include such factors as strict policies on sharing of confidential records, the need for stringent operational procedures to effect coordination, the culture of the “lone wolf” behavior in organizations and persons, the desire to claim sole ownership of work accomplishments, differences in the investigation practices of the two agencies, distrust between the operatives of different government offices, and other sometimes hard to explain reasons. Thus, the heads of the BIR and NBI should immediately agree to have close coordination on the investigation of this crime, and instructions to this effect should be communicated to their personnel.

The investigation should not only be focused on the crime at hand. An all-encompassing approach should be conducted to ferret out similar practices that anecdotally are occurring in various parts of the country. In fact, my Internet search shows that as early as 2007 a taxpayer has been engaging in this practice of

Since this is a major tax crime that has wide repercussions aside from the tax evasion that has arisen, the BIR must concentrate its resources on completing the investigation, conviction, and remedial action as soon as possible. It may be good for the BIR to form a special task force for this purpose comprised of seasoned tax investigators. They should concentrate full-time on this case and other similar ones, and be rewarded or penalized based on the outcomes.

padding expenses and VAT credits to evade tax obligations. The BIR filed a tax evasion case against this taxpayer, Gammon Metal Products Inc. in 2011. I am interested to know the status or the outcome of this case. There are also other related Court of Tax Appeals cases filed by the government pertaining to fake receipts. The BIR should be able to inventory these cases and assess the circumstances on these in order to ascertain the modus-operandi and how to counter these.

Since this is a major tax crime that has wide repercussions aside from the tax evasion that has arisen, the BIR must concentrate its resources on completing the investigation, conviction, and remedial action as soon as possible. It may be good for the BIR to form a special task force for this purpose comprised of seasoned tax investigators. They should concentrate full-time on this case and other similar ones, and be rewarded or penalized based on the outcomes.

There are many factors at stake here. These include the loss of tax revenues and the integrity of the tax system and its institutions. I wait, with bated breath, how this case will proceed.

Joel L. Tan-Torres was the former Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business. Previously, he was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, and partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant who garnered No. 1 in the CPA Board Examination of May 1979. He is now back to his tax practice with his firm JL2T Consulting. He can be contacted at joeltantorress@yahoo.com

of context to feed false narratives aimed at discrediting him.

Fog in our wars

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

AS defined, fog is a weather condition wherein small drops of water accumulate to form a thick cloud that limits visibility, whereas war is any conflict, usually between armed adversaries. When taken together, “fog of war” is a situational awareness that causes difficulty in making decisions. In the military context, fog of war means that there are instances, especially in the middle of a battle, when commanders simply lack the necessary information concerning their own troops and the opposition’s troops to arrive at a decision.

W hen I was in the Army, we tried to reduce the fog of war using intelligence and counterintelligence techniques to provide our decision makers greater visibility of the battlefield. The term is attributed to Prussian strategist Clausewitz, who said: “War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. Such is the reality that there will always be uncertainty regarding the capabilities and intentions of the combatants involved in any engagement, operation, or campaign.” During my first firefight in the Army way back in October 1987, the youth in me momentarily clouded my decision. Yet, when I managed to listen to others who were far more experienced in combat and familiar with the terrain, our patrol came out unscathed after a half hour firefight with NPA rebels. Lesson? Better analysis of information wins wars!

In business, “fog of war,” now more associated with the term VUCA, can be just as impactful when companies fight it out to increase market share and then hold it against all competitors. Having the edge against all others requires business intelligence against the “enemy” within and without, offensive and defensive strategies, such that quite a few military terms have sprouted into the business vernacular. In one article, leadership expert Laura Stack suggests ways to overcome the “fog of war” at work; one of such ways was to strive for transpar-

ency. When decisions are made, with a better understanding of the business climate, it is ideal to make the process transparent to all, allowing a free flow of information and greater participation from the entire team. Productivity and trust are products of a transparent leadership. Since the business environment these days is remarkably like the military battlefield, there is increasing focus on analysis of information, which has evolved into a crucial weapon. The same holds true in most government appointments as recently revealed in the Marcos administration.

For instance, President Bongbong Marcos removed then later reappointed General Andres Centino, making the latter as the 57th and 59th Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In between his stints at the helm of the AFP was Centino’s PMA classmate, Lt. Gen Bartolome Bacarro, a Medal of Valor awardee, who served for only 151 days. As a side note, General Rodolfo Biazon had the shortest stint as CSAFP (78 days) while General Romeo Espino had the longest (close to 10 years) during the martial law years. Some people asked me to speculate the reasons why the sudden change in the selection of a CSAFP, which is an absolute prerogative given to the Commander-in-Chief. As media reports have their own versions, only PBBM knows the true story. What complicated the appointment of the 59th CSASP was the resignation of erstwhile head of the defense department, Jose “Boy” Faustino, who also

During my first firefight in the Army way back in October 1987, the youth in me momentarily clouded my decision. Yet, when I managed to listen to others who were far more experienced in combat and familiar with the terrain, our patrol came out unscathed after a half hour firefight with NPA rebels. Lesson? Better analysis of information wins wars!

happened to be a classmate of both Centino and Bacarro in PMA. Like varying media reports, members of the PMA Maringal Class of 1988 would have different versions of the true reasons behind their classmates’ actions that likely led to the change of mind by PBBM. One thing is certain though—that “fog” in the middle of the selection process for the sensitive post of CSAFP impacted how the decisions were made in August 2022 (replacement of Centino with Bacarro) and January 2023 (replacement of Bacarro with Centino).

Fog illustrates obscurity. In the Bible, Jesus talks about this in Luke 14:31-32, when he said, “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.” There is a need to sit down and plan before one decides to pursue anything, which includes choosing which side to wage battle with in the context of our spiritual journey. The dark side will always produce fog that appears to confuse us or create doubts. I am reminded of the “military gears” described in the Bible (Ephesians 6:10-18) —belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit/word of God. All these weapons are enhanced whenever I hear God’s wisdom through prayers and studying the Bible. We, particularly our leaders, should yield to and imbibe what Charles Spurgeon said—“His foolishness is greater than our highest knowledge.” Lead-

ers, whether CSAFP or CEO, are said to be worth more than a regiment of men. During the US Civil War, when General Stonewall Jackson was killed, historians believed that both Union and Confederate forces alike felt that Jackson’s death was more than the loss of ten thousand men. May our leaders use their conscience wisely in making decisions knowing that every decision they make can impact the lives of many.

In his 1865 preaching entitled, “Consider Before You Fight,” Spurgeon said, “Conscience is meant to be man’s armor-bearer, beneath whose shield he may fight the battles of the right, but if you make it your enemy, then conscience often places a sword in such a way as to cut and wound you severely.” He continued, “and if you do for the present manage to put Mr. Conscience down, yet since he is still in you, the time will come when you will find his voice grow louder, and there will be a terror in that voice which will make it a terror for you to sleep, and hard for you to go about your daily business with your accustomed regularity.” Of all wars we will face in life, the most crucial is within ourselves. In all wars, we all seek peace in keeping with the words contained in the Alma Mater song at West Point—and when our work is done, our course on earth is run, may it be said “well done, be thou at peace.”

Leaders, whether in the military, in business, or in government should first reduce the “fog of war” in every conflict situation. As Filipinos, whose Constitution recognizes the truth of “imploring the aid of Almighty God,” we then expect our leaders to seek the infinite extent of God’s wisdom in all their actions. For only His wisdom can clear any fog in life’s so-called wars.

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

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

US nears new cooperation deals with Pacific Island nations

By Matthew Lee | AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is nearing deals with two Pacific Island nations to extend ties that are considered critical to maintaining balance in the USChina rivalry for influence in a region where the Chinese are rapidly expanding their economic, diplomatic and military clout.

overturned the election. The origin and authenticity of the unsigned document are unclear, and it remains unknown if Bolsonaro or his subordinates took any steps to implement the measure that would have been unconstitutional, according to analysts and the Brazilian academy of electoral and political law.

But the document “will figure in the police investigation, because it even more fully reveals the existence of a chain of people responsible for the criminal events,” Dino said, adding that Torres will need to inform police who drafted it.

By failing to initiate a probe against the document’s author or report its existence, Torres at the very least could be charged with dereliction of duty, said Mario Sérgio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors.

Torres said on Twitter that the document was probably found in a pile along with others intended for shredding, and that it was leaked out

Dino told reporters Friday morning that no connection has yet been established between the capital riot and Bolsonaro.

The federal district’s former governor and former military police chief are also targets of the Supreme Court investigation made public Friday. Both were removed from their positions after the riot.

Also on Friday night, the popular social media accounts of several prominent right-wing figures were suspended in Brazil in response to a court order, which journalist Glenn Greenwald obtained and detailed on a live social media broadcast.

The order, also issued by Justice de Moraes, was directed at six social media platforms and established a two-hour deadline to block the accounts or face fines. The accounts belong to a digital influencer, a YouTuber recently elected federal lawmaker, a podcast host in the mold of Joe Rogan, and an evangelical pastor and senator-elect, among others. Bridi reported from Brasilia.

This week, the US signed memorandums of understanding with the Marshall Islands and Palau that administration officials hope will pave the way for the quick completion of broader agreements that will govern the islands’ relations with Washington for the next two decades. Those ties grant the US unique military and other security rights on the islands in return for substantial aid.

The administration believes that extending those so-called “Compacts of Free Association” agreements will be key to efforts to retain American power and blunt Chinese assertiveness throughout the Indo-Pacific.

The memorandums signed this week lay out the amounts of money that the federal government will provide to the Marshall Islands and Palau if their compacts are successfully renegotiated. Negotiations on a similar memorandum with a third compact country, Micronesia, are ongoing.

The current 20-year compacts with the Marshall Islands and Micronesia expire this year; the current compact with Palau expires in 2024 but administration officials said they believe all three can be renewed and signed by mid- to late-spring.

Officials would not discuss specifics of the amounts of money involved because the deals aren’t yet legally binding and must still be reviewed

and approved by Congress as part of the budget process.

A Micronesian news outlet, Marianas Variety, reported Thursday that the Marshall Islands will receive $700 million over four years under the memorandum that it signed. But that amount would cover only onefifth of a 20-year compact extension and does not include the amount Palau would receive.

Joe Yun, Biden’s special presidential envoy for compact negotiations, said the amounts will be far greater than what the US had provided in the past.

Islanders have long complained that the previous compacts they signed did not adequately address their needs or long-term environmental and health issues caused by US nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s. Lawmakers had expressed concern dating back to 2021 that the administration was not giving enough attention to the matter.

Yun, who signed the memorandums with representatives of the Marshalls and Palau on Tuesday and Wednesday in Los Angeles, said the Marshall Islands, in particular, would be compensated for such damage and would be given control over how that money is spent.

Yun said it would pay “nuclearaffected communities’ health, welfare and development” and also

A Micronesian news outlet, Marianas Variety, reported Thursday that the Marshall Islands will receive $700 million over four years under the memorandum that it signed. But that amount would cover only one-fifth of a 20-year compact extension and does not include the amount Palau would receive.

noted that the US had committed to building a new hospital as well as a museum in the Marshalls to preserve the memory and legacy of their role, notably in the Pacific theater during WWII.

This week’s signings clear the way for individual federal agencies—including the Postal Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Weather Service—to negotiate their own agreements with the Marshalls and Palau, which will then become part of the broader compacts.

Along with the federal money, those agencies provide their services to the islands. In return, the US is given unique military and national security basing rights and privileges in an area where China is increasingly flexing its muscles.

Yun said China did not come up specifically in the negotiations but it was a major element in all sides’ discussions.

“The threat from China is unstated but there is no question that China is a factor,” Yun said. Not only does China have a large and growing economic presence in the region, but also the Marshall Islands and Palau

both recognize Taiwan diplomatically. “They are coming under Chinese pressure,” he said.

China has steadily poached allies from Taiwan in the Pacific, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands in 2019. The US announced plans last year to reopen an embassy in the Solomon Islands, which has signed a security agreement with China.

Since World War II, the US has treated the Marshall Islands, along with Micronesia and Palau, much like territories. On the Marshall Islands, the US has developed military, intelligence and aerospace facilities in a region where China is particularly active.

In turn, US money and jobs have benefited the islands’ economy. And many islanders have taken advantage of their ability to live and work in the US, moving in the thousands to Arkansas, Guam, Hawaii, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Many on the Marshall Islands believe a US settlement of $150 million agreed to in the 1980s fell well short of addressing the nuclear legacy.

But the US position has remained static for more than 20 years, the last time the compact came up for renegotiation.

Various estimates put the true cost of the damage at about $3 billion, including for repairs to a massive nuclear waste facility known as the Cactus Dome that environmentalists say is leaking toxic waste into the ocean.

The US Department of Energy says the dome contains over 100,000 cubic yards (76,000 cubic meters) of radioactively contaminated soil and debris but the structure isn’t in any immediate danger of failing.

FOREIGN CONTRACTOR OWES DOTR P702M FOR ATM PROJECT

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

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) is claiming some P702 million in damages from the contractor of the government’s air traffic management system.

A ccording to a DOTr source, this amount represents “delay damages,” and covers the two packages of the P10.8-billion Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management System (CNS/ATM) project of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), funded by the Japan International Cooperation Authority (Jica). According to Jica’s web site, it made available a ¥22,049 million (P9,469 million) loan to the Philippine government for the project on March 28, 2002.

I n the January 12 joint hearing by the Senate Committees on Public Services; Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation; and Finance into the New Year’s Day glitch that caused the shutdown of the Philippine airspace for seven hours, former Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade revealed the agency also had claims versus contractor Sumitomo Corp.-Thales Corp. for delays in the implementation of the project. The airspace shutdown affected close to 300

flights and 65,000 passengers. C AAP Director General Manuel Tamayo said negotiations are still ongoing to settle the contractor’s claims, which amount to P987 million. But latest computations by the DOTr show that those claims should only be P662 million, according to BusinessMirror’s source. The CAAP has been  trying to secure a service contract with Thales, but the latter isn’t inclined to do so until their claims are settled, according to their representative in the Philippines. (See, “Thales not keen on new deal with CAAP till ‘existing claims’ settled,” in the BusinessMirror , January 12, 2023.)

CCTV cameras installed THE day after the Senate hearing, the CAAP installed five closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the main room, which houses the equipment of the air traffic management center. Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri acknowledged the CAAP’s action, and thanked them in Filipino, for “acting on our order [on Thursday] to install CCTV cameras in sensitive and critical areas.” He earlier raised the possibility of an “internal sabotage” as there were no CCTV cameras in the equipment room, which houses circuit breakers, one of which tripped and caused the system’s shutdown.

Continued from A4

Divisoria, Greenhills flagged by EU for fake goods sale

By Andrea E. San Juan

POPULAR shopping malls in the Philippines including Divisoria and the Greenhills Shopping Center have been flagged by the European Commission for offering counterfeit goods, according to the Commission’s latest Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List.

Baclaran and Divisoria markets in Manila are reported for offering a wide range of counterfeit goods on retail and wholesale basis, in particular shoes, with some stalls allegedly also running online shops offering counterfeit goods,” the working document noted.

“According to stakeholders, no police actions are taken,” the report stated.

M eanwhile, the report also noted that shops in Greenhills and Cartimar shopping malls and in particular the stalls located in their vicinity are reported to sell “higher quality” counterfeit goods.

T he report also stressed that in April 2022, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was able

to seize more than EUR 1 million or P59.5 million worth of possible counterfeit goods in the Greenhills shopping center coupled with the public pledge to take additional steps to curb down the sale of counterfeits.

A ccording to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL),  this is the first time that Philippine markets have been cited in the biennial list since its launch in 2018.

I POPHL also noted that in a watch list named the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy List, Greenhills is the only counterfeiting and piracy “hotspot” identified in the Philippines.

W ith this, IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba called on the concerned local government units (LGUs) to “fully enforce” the Intellectual Property (IP) Code of 1997 and the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) IP-related issuances.

T he agency noted in a statement it issued on Saturday that among the DILG issuances is Memorandum Circular 2020-124 which it said “mandates local offices to issue an ordinance that will allow, among others, the cancellation of business permits and other LGUissued operational licenses of IPviolating shops.”

A nother issuance, IPOPHL said, is Memorandum Circular 2022-055 which DILG has released. The circular directs local offices to adopt their own AntiCounterfeit and Anti-Piracy policies which will promote “IP respect” in the workplace.

T he IPOPHL chief said the agency will soon engage concerned LGUs and shopping mall administrators to enjoin them to help crack down on counterfeiting and piracy. Barba underscored the importance of protecting intellectual property, adding that this conveys

good governance.

“Clamping down on IP-violating activities will be proof of good governance and a strong will to implement the laws of the land,” Barba said.

In engaging LGUs, there is a need to harp on the importance of how much their localities value one’s hard work and ingenuity in creating innovative brands and products as this can also help attract businesses, Barba explained.

“As competitiveness today is in part characterized by how well a business manages and protects its IP assets, businesses tend to set up shop and bring their employmentgenerating capital to places that give them the confidence that their IP rights will be robustly protected and defended,” he added.

Moving forward, IPOPHL hopes to hold learning sessions to give sellers a better understanding of the socioeconomic harm of engaging in IP-infringing activities.

“At the end of the day, it is their communities that could reap the long-run economic and social benefits of supporting the effective protection of IP rights, whether in e-commerce or physical markets,” the IPOPHL chief stressed.

By C. Mendez Legaspi @misscharlize Special to the BusinessMirror

AFILIPINO-AMERICAN

who wants to use fashion as a force for good is the 71st Miss Universe. R’Bonney Nola Gabriel, 28, who represented Texas at Miss USA, was crowned on January 14, 2023, 9 am Manila time, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

A long with other prizes, R’Bonney gets to wear “The Crown Number 12: Force for Good,” crafted by luxury jeweler Mouawad, which has  pearshaped blue sapphires surrounded by diamonds and valued at approximately USD 5.75 million.

T he Philippines’ Silvia Celeste Rabimbi Cortesi failed to make the semifinal round, ending the Filipina queens’ exceptional performances since 2010’s Maria Venus Raj ushered the pageant-crazy country from the “Dark Ages” of non-placements.

M iss Ukraine Viktoria Apanasenko won the Spirit of Carnival award while Miss Thailand Anna Sueangam-iam was given the Impact Leadership Award.

A t Miss Universe, it’s not enough to be captivating. You have to be articulate. The organization picked a transformational leader in one of the most competitive batches in hertory. Forecasts, unfortunately but gleefully, were discarded immediately.

American Conquest

R’BONNEY is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in fashion design. Though she exceeded the allotted 30 seconds, her answer to the final question—If you win Miss Universe, how would you work to demonstrate this as an empowering and progressive organization?— clinched the ninth Miss Universe crown for the USA.

It goes: “Well, I would use it to be a transformational leader. As a very passionate designer, I’ve been sewing for 13 years, I use fashion as

a force for good. In my industry, I’m cutting down on pollution through recycling materials when I make my clothing. I teach sewing classes to women that have survived from human trafficking and domestic violence. And I say that because it is so important to invest in others, invest in our community and use your unique talent to make a difference. We all gave something special, and when we plant those seeds to other people in our life, we transform them and we use that as a vehicle for change.”

R ’Bonney beat perennial pageant rival Venezuela, represented by the amazing Amanda Dudamel, who placed second: “I’m a fashion designer by profession. But I’m a designer of dreams as a woman.” It’s the fourth time that two pageant powerhouses met at the Top 2 since 1967, 1986, 1997.

T he Dominican Republic’s (and Nicole Scherzinger lookalike) Andreína Martínez, finished third: “I have been working for women’s rights for as long as I can remember, it’s been my action to every single day. I’m here to demonstrate this, that it doesn’t matter where you come from, your background does not define you. Your courage and determination do.”

T he Dominican Republic’s last placer was Kimberly Jiménez, fourth runner-up in 2020 to Mexico’s Meza. Their only winner was Amelia Vega in 2003. The USA’s last placer was Olivia Jordan, a selection committee member at prelims, who was the 2015 second runner-up to Pia Wurtzbach. Their last winner was co-host Olivia Culpo in 2012. Venezuela’s Sthefany Gutiérrez, was second runner-up in 2018 to Catriona Gray. Their last winner was Gabriela Isler in 2013.

R ’Bonney was crowned by Harnaaz Sandhu of India. Incidentally, another Indian, Sushmita Sen, crowned another American from Texas in 1995, the late Chelsi Smith.

Armscor’s Tuason pushes defense industry devt

By Josef T. Ramos

LAS VEGAS, Nevada—Martin Tuason has expressed his allout support for the revival of the passing of the Self-Reliant Defense Program (SRDP), or now the Philippine Defense Industry Development Act within the year to empower the country’s national defense and create more jobs for the Filipinos.

Tuason, the chairman/president and chief executive officer of ARMSCOR Global Defense Inc. (AGDI), told the BusinessMir -

ror he hopes the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. would continue his father’s promising programs on national defense.

I’m taking what the President [Marcos Jr.] had said seriously to bring national defense back home to the Philippines,” the 48-year-old third-generation Tuason arms manufacturer said over breakfast Filipino journalists over the weekend.

He explained that the proposed law, which is already being tackled in the bicameral now, would

not only stabilize the country’s national defense but would also help create jobs.

T he son of Bolo Tuason also hopes the pending SRDP bill will be signed by President Marcos before his next State of the Nation Address.

T he measure was first initiated in 1974 during the time of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

However, SRDP was no longer pursued after the Edsa Revolution in 1986.

VISITORS try out a rock climbing wall installed at the famous Hinulugang Taktak waterfalls in Antipolo City. Tourists can enjoy the free entrance from Tuesday to Sunday, 7 am to 4 pm with other amenities such as picnic area, swimming pool, Canopy Walk and Spider Web, among others. The city government of Antipolo took over the maintenance and operations of the waterfalls park from the DENR and opened it to the public last year. BERNARD TESTA

Upson’s maiden share sale secures approval of SEC

By VG Cabuag @villygc

On January 12, the S e C gave its go-ahead to the company’s plan to sell up to 789.47 million primary common shares and up to 98.68 million secondary common shares, with an over-allotment option of up to 98.68 million common shares, priced at up to P5.50 each.

Based on the offer price, Upson expects to raise gross proceeds of approximately P4.34 billion from the primary offer. It can raise up to P5.43 billion, assuming the overallotment option is fully exercised.

Proceeds of its IPO will be used to expand its store network and for other general corporate purposes.

Upson has earlier shelved its plans for an IPO, supposedly scheduled in October last year,

and has rescheduled it to the first quarter of 2023.

The company targets to open 250 stores or an additional retail space of 25,000 square meters for the next 5 years, from 2023 to 2027, with aggressive rollout targeted for the next 3 years, or until 2025.

The rollout plan covers new stores in Metro Manila as well as strategic areas in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

As a complement to its store expansion, Upson will develop 9 new warehouses and renovate its six existing warehouses. The new warehouses, coupled with increased delivery vehicles and favorable supplier arrangements, will enable Upson to maintain adequate stocks of inventory at uniform prices in all its stores

nationwide.

“During the two-year pandemic period of 2020 to 2021, the loss of significant foot traffic was a real challenge for retailers like us,” Upson President and C e O A rlene Sy said.

“The long-term physical immobility due to lockdowns and precautionary measures resulted in our market’s adaptation via online education as well as work-from-home arrangements. Said adaptations were favorable to us and resulted in our revenue growths of 7.7 percent and 5.1 percent in 2020 and 2021 respectively.”

As of September 30, Upson’s 200 retail network included its own retail brand outlets under Octagon Computer Superstore, Micro Valley, Gadget King and Octagon Mobile, as well as other concept stores and specialty stores, such as Acer, h P, Brother and Silvertec in selected locations.

Upson’s net income rose by

68 percent to P400.23 million in January to September 2022 from the previous year’s P237.38 million. Sales for the period reached P7.03 billion, 10 percent higher than the previous year’s P6.38 billion net sales.

“The slow return of foot traffic by the second and third quarters of 2022 brings encouraging opportunities that support our growth plans even more. Our 10 percent revenue growth in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 is close to our pre-pandemic performance that came with healthier foot traffic,” Sy said.

“Our management recognizes that there are many underserved markets nationwide. We remain committed to make our PCs and IT products within reach of every Filipino up to the farthest borders of this country. This shall be our legacy contribution as the Philippines progresses steadily towards digitalization.”

JMC on container registry pushed

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

The Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) is now pushing for the creation of the inter-agency mechanism for the implementation of the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry Monitoring System (TOP-CRMS) of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).

In a meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last Friday, PSAC said this mechanism will address the concerns of businesses regarding port congestion and smuggling.

“PSAC suggested the President issue a JMC [joint memorandum circular] with multipartite agencies to establish an inter-agency mechanism for the implemen-

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK

Last week

Share prices managed to post gains last week, with the main index reaching 6,900 points, after Wall Street’s advance on the back of easing inflation in the United States.

The benchmark Philippine Stock exchange index (PSei) gained 283.57 points to close at 6,951.54 points.

The main index started the week strong with a 127.27-point increase on Monday but fell for two successive sessions. It gained close to 3.6 percent on Thursday and Friday due to improved sentiment.

average daily trading volume increased and was valued at P6.38 billion, while foreign investors, who just cornered 31 percent of the trades, were net sellers at P45.39 million.

all other sub-indices managed to close in the green, led by the broader all Shares index that gained 124.55 points to close at 3,637.62 points, the Financials index rose 105.18 to 1,791.34, the Industrial index surged 412.66 to 9,973.56, the holding Firms index added 225.52 to 6,707.49,

tation and deployment of the Trusted Operator Program-Container Registry Monitoring System, complementing government anti-smuggling operations and capabilities,” the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said in a statement last Saturday.

Importers have complained about the implementation of the TOP-CRMS since it supposedly increases their costs. They also said it replicated the function of the BOC in monitoring the movement of containers.

Implemented by PPA in 2021 through its Administrative Order 04-2021, the measure “to monitor the movement of containers from the time of entry, discharge, return and storage, and re-export.”

PSAC also urged Marcos to institutionalize an executive order,

which streamlined guidelines on permit processing for telco towers and Internet infrastructure, which will lapse this June.

The issuance resulted in the construction of 7,000 new telco towers.

The other requests made by PSAC will be made public during the Pilipinas GoDigital on January 30. The event aims to promote digital upskilling and education and for the faster implementation of Digital Philippine Identification (PhilID) cards.

Among those participating in the meeting are PSAC Digital Infrastructure lead and Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) Chief Technology and Operations Officer h e nry Aguda.

Also present in the event are the other members of the PSAC Digital Infrastructure group:

the Property index climbed 84.84 to 3,052.78, the Services index soared 62.77 to 1,727.05 and the Mining and Oil index increased 249.87 to 11,537.81.

For the week, gainers edged losers 177 to 57, and 19 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Lorenzo Shipping Corp., Victorias Milling Co. Inc., Medco holdings Inc., axelum resources Corp., Manila Jockey Club Inc., Cemex holdings Philippines Inc. and atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp.

Top losers, meanwhile, were Keppel Philippines holdings Inc. B shares, Philippine racing Club Inc., Jolliville holdings Corp., easycall Communications Philippines Inc., apollo Global Capital Inc., PXP energy Corp. and I-remit Inc. this week

Share prices may fall this week as many investors may pocket their gains during the previous week’s upward trajectory of the benchmark index.

Broker 2Tradeasia said the market’s climb is mostly broad-based and is in line with its baseline expectations for 2023, as

there were fewer downside risks heading into the first quarter of 2023 with “no black swan events” in supply chains and oil markets.

“Improving macro backdrop cascading into earnings is another matter altogether, and figuring which sectors will receive the greatest windfall will help optimize returns. Our back of the envelope review supports opportunities in rate-sensitive assets in banks and real estate,” it said.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financials Inc., said the market may sustain its ground at the 6,800-point support level supported by optimism towards the local economy’s outlook coupled with tempered expectations on the Federal reserve and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ monetary tightening following the slowdown in US inflation.

“Investors may also take cues from our upcoming OFW cash remittances and balance of payment position data,” he said.

The market has a new support level at 6,800 points, while resistance is seen at

PLDT President and C e O Al Panlilio, Globe President and C e O e r nest Cu, and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Chief Operating Officer Ramon Jocson.

For the government, the participants include National e c onomic and Development Authority (N eDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, N eDA Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Melbourne Ziro D. Pana, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary David L. Almirol, Jr., DICT Assistant Secretary for Upskilling Jeffrey Ian C. Dy, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) National Statistician and Civil Registrar General Claire Dennis S. Mapa, and Department of Transportation (DOT) Undersecretary for Maritime e l mer Francisco U. Sarmiento.

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) said it has conducted compliance check on-site visits to the head offices of telecommunication companies to ensure that they are implementing “appropriate” security measures to protect the personal data of Filipinos registering their SIM cards.

The privacy body said in a statement on Saturday that Privacy Commissioner John henry D. Naga along with the chief of NPC’s Compliance and Monitoring Division, Rainier Anthony Milanes, personally went to each on-site visit to oversee the activities and discuss the importance of the compliance check with the data protection team of each telco firm.

The telecommunication companies include Smart Communications, Globe Telecom, and Dito Telecommunity.

The NPC chief said telcos should look at these compliance check onsite visits as an opportunity for them to demonstrate that they have “sufficient” organizational and program controls, and security measures in place to guarantee that the personal data being processed in relation to the SIM registration are safe and secured.

“Telcos must take their responsibility of protecting the privacy rights of their subscribers seriously by ensuring that personal data related to SIM registration are properly collected and stored, access to the data is restricted by role-based

access controls, and data servers are protected by encryption and layers of firewall,”

For his part, Milanes, said the NPC as a regulator ensuring compliance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012, must see firsthand how these personal information controllers conduct their day-to-day operations which should “incorporate items stated in their privacy manuals.”

“With the leadership of our Privacy Commissioner, the NPC’s Compliance and Monitoring Division shall continue to conduct various mechanisms that would ensure telcos’ compliance with the DPA,” Milanes added.

Upon the on-site visit, the privacy body said the three telcos were “appraised” of some gaps in their personal data privacy implementation and were required to submit proof of compliance within 15 days.

The NPC chief noted that, in general, Smart, Globe and Dito have demonstrated capabilities in protecting the personal data of their clients.

Naga said telcos should ensure that their security measures are further “improved and strengthened” as information and communications technology advances.

The SIM Registration Act was implemented on December 27, 2022.

The NPC said it earlier gathered the telcos to urgently address the privacy concerns regarding the implementation of the SIM registration which it said led to “immediate changes” to the telcos’ SIM registration process on their website and mobile applications.

the 7,000 to 7,100-point range. stock picks

CrISTIna ULanG research head at First Metro Investments Corp., advised to go heavy on holding companies as these will capture the gains of the economy.

These companies include SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), ayala Corp., GT Capital holdings Inc. (GTCaP), aboitiz equity Ventures Inc. (aeV), DMCI holdings Inc. and JG Summit holdings Inc,.

“Of course there are challenges and we’re hoping for a greater resiliency. The telcos will give you the yield the dividend yields, the stable recurring yields and a play on the digitization of the Philippine economy,” Ulang said.

“This is the play on the Philippine macro economy, which is very resilient, with 6 percent growth and that will be manifest in our earnings forecast of 15 percent for the PSei.”

Shares of SMIC closed at P908, ayala at P739, GTCaP at P464, aeV at P59.70, DMCI at P12.22 and JG Summit at P56.50 last Friday. VG Cabuag

IN celebration of its sixth anniversary of reliable same-day delivery service in the Philippines, Lalamove recognized its hardworking partner drivers in its three key locations—Manila, Pampanga, and Cebu during the recently concluded caravan entitled “6sik Saya Ka Dito, Bossing!”

A total of seven partner drivers were rewarded with brand-new motorcycles from Alpine Motors Corp., Tata Motors, and GCash, while others also won appliances, smartphones, cash prizes, vouchers, and more.

They were also treated with an exclusive movie screening for them to enjoy with their families.

Lalamove Philippines’ Pampanga City Manager Marc De Dios expressed his gratitude to all Lalamove Bossings, “As part of Lalamove’s tradition and in recognizing its partner drivers’s valuable contributions to the brand, we make it a point to show our appreciation to them and continue to uplift the lives of each

and every partner driver we have.”

In a span of six years in the country, Lalamove said it has built a strong community of partner drivers, recognizing outstanding ones as Star Drivers

and Top Drivers. They are partner drivers who have shown remarkable service to customers and have maintained good customer ratings.

Manila Star Driver Ariel Alulod has been with Lalamove for two years. his unemployment due to the pandemic drove him to be a partner driver.

he has been awarded as Star Driver consistently since then. “We really love going on rides and road trips, so we looked for a way to make income off of our enjoyment for rides,” he shared.

Launched in the Philippines in late 2016, Lalamove is an on-demand logistics company that matches drivers with customers and small and medium enterprises to fulfill sameday deliveries.

Upson International Corp., a retailer of personal computers and information technology products, said the securities and Exchange Commission (sEC) has approved its initial public offering (Ipo)

BusinessMirror file photo

Banking&Finance

Govt ‘correlating’ data in battle vs smuggling

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

THE government is now considering “correlating” the database of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to stop “rampant” smuggling of food commodities.

In a statement issued last Saturday, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) disclosed the proposal was made during the meeting of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) last Friday.

The tie-up between the two agencies are expected to help enforcers in going after smugglers by allowing them to keep track of documentary requirements of imported goods.

During his dialogue with PSAC, Marcos expressed concern about ongoing smuggling in the country, which he attributed to defects in the country’s bureaucracy.

“To be brutally frank about it, we have a system but they are not working. The smuggling here in this coun-

try is absolutely rampant. So it does not matter to me how many systems we have in place, they do not work,” Marcos said.

Last Friday, personnel of the DA and the Manila International Container Port (MICP) seized P19million worth of alleged smuggled sugar.

Prior to the incident, the DA also announced the confiscation of P78.9 million worth of illegally imported agricultural products last Tuesday and P30 million worth of “smuggled” yellow onions last month.

Marcos ordered for “major reforms” to the bureaucracy to address the said incidents and also to lower logistics costs in the country.

“So we really have to find something else. We cannot continue to depend on these systems, which have already proven themselves to be quite ineffective,” the president said.

Marcos said this can be done through government innovations and delineation of functions or creation of new agencies, if necessary.

Bitcoin surges above $21k amid optimism around inflation

Issuance of Islamic financing instruments cleared by DOJ

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has declared that there is no legal impediment on the plan of the Department of Finance (DOF) to issue other Islamic financing instruments to broaden investors’ participation in the market.

In a 7-page legal opinion, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla held that it is within the powers of the DOF to issue Islamic instruments provided that their issuance is subject to existing laws and procedures.

“In sum, we believe that the Republic, through the DOF, may issue Sukuk Ijarah and Wakalah structures under existing laws, rules and regulations. The issuance of Sukuk Ijarah and Wakalah structures is legally feasible and within the express powers of the Secretary of Finance,” the DOJ legal opinion read.

“The Secretary and the DOF are given broad powers to find creative ways to tap other markets, and broaden the country’s investor base, and the issuance of Sukuk is a valid exercise of such power,” it added.

The justice department issued the legal opinion upon the request of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno seeking confirmation of its position that the government, in addition to commodity Murabarah via a Tawarruz arrangement Suku structure, may issue Sukuk in Ijarah and Wakalah structures.

Significant step

THE DOF noted that while Murabarah is a significant first step in attracting Malaysian investors, other investors such as those in the Middle East and other centers of Islamic finance such as the United Kingdom, with untapped liquidity for Shari’ah-compliant investments, continue to express demand for other widely accepted forms of Sukuk.

The finance department, according to Diokno, has identified the widely-accepted Sukuk Ijarah and Wakalah as the two Islamic financial instruments that can generate wider participation from investors, whether institutional or retail, in the domestic and external debt capital markets.

Ijarah is commonly known as sale and leaseback financing structure, which involves the sale of a tangible and unencumbered asset owned by the Republic (as obligor) that is then leased back to the Republic (as lessee) for its use.

Alternately, an Ijarah can also be structured as a head-lease and sublease agreements.

The revenue stream that will come from rental payments to be paid by

Perspectives

BITCOIN surged over $21,000 on Saturday amid optimism that it may have bottomed and inflation has peaked.

The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 7.5 percent to $21,299, before paring gains as the day progressed. It hadn’t been above $20,000 since Nov. 8, and Saturday was the 11th straight day of advances. Second-largest token Ether surged as much as 9.7 percent, and others such as Cardano and Dogecoin also notched gains. Solana soared as much as 35 percent.

The overall market cap of the crypto universe rose above $1 trillion for the first time since early November, according to data from CoinGecko.

“There has been a steady grind higher since the start of the year,” said Cici Lu, chief executive officer of Venn Link Partners Pte. “It feels like we hit a supply ‘air pocket’ and breaking through $20,000 resistance took out some stops. Optically, $20,000 for many is a key level.”

US short-term inflation expectations fell in early January to the lowest in nearly two years, providing a bigger-than-expected boost to consumer sentiment, according to the University of Michigan’s preliminary survey reading. A separate report showed consumer prices rising 6.5 percent in the 12 months through December, marking the slowest inflation rate in more than a year.

Certainly encouraging

THE Federal Reserve is on track to downshift to smaller interest-rate increases following the further cooling in prices, though it’s likely to keep hiking until pressures show more definitive signs of slowing. That’s helped boost risk assets like the Nasdaq 100 stock index, which has gained for six straight days.

“Cryptoassets performed well fol-

lowing the soft CPI print, suggesting that crypto’s correlation to macro is not going away anytime soon,” said Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat. “This week’s follow-through in price action is certainly encouraging,” and barring any forced liquidations from troubled crypto company DCG, “there is a high probability that the absolute bottom is in for crypto prices.”

The price of Bitcoin was stuck in a narrow range around $16,000 to $17,000 for weeks before the latest breakout. The upward moves have caught shorts by surprise—crypto short liquidations have topped $100 million in five of the past six days, according to data from Coinglass. Saturday’s total was the highest, topping $449 million.

Still bearish K ATIE STOCKTON, co-founder of Fairlead Strategies, offered a caution about the rally, which has taken Bitcoin above its 200-day moving average for the first time in a year.

“Deeply overbought short-term readings challenge positive momentum, so we would not chase the rally at these levels,” she said in a note Friday. She sees resistance near $21,500, where there’s a 61-percent Fibonacci retracement level.

Still, the upward trajectory could inject even further optimism into a market that’s been struggling to find good news in recent months.

“Declining CPI coupled with the announcement that the FTX liquidators have recovered $5 billion in liquid assets have given crypto markets plenty of factors to forget the macro picture, which is still bearish,” said Hayden Hughes, chief executive officer of social-trading platform Alpha Impact. “Markets have plenty of positive momentum heading into the next FOMC meeting later this month.” Bloomberg News

the lessee will represent the “interest” or earnings of the financing transaction.

Ijarah, according to the DOF, is the most commonly applied and accepted Sukun structure , with frequent issuers such as Indonesia and Turkey using it in their regular funding exercises.

Steady growth MEANWHILE, Wakalah originates from the concept of agency whereby investors purchase a revenue generating asset (Wakalah asset) owned by the Republic (as obligor), and appoints the Republic (as agent or wakeel) to manage and invest into Wakalah assets to generate returns.

In this case, Wakalah assets can include Ijarah assets that are leased out to third-party lessees, or other revenue-generating assets such as Shari’ah-compliant equities and rights to receive revenues from government operations, among others.

The Wakalak structure, according to the DOF, has seen a steady growth in use due to its flexibility in asset type, often being used by sovereign issuers such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

The DOF cited several the benefits for the Philippines in using Wakalah and Ijarah such as: broader investor diversification as these structures are widely accepted by market participants as tradable securities; larger issuance volumes because of its availability to both Islamic and conventional investors; and, pricing closer to ROP dollar bonds.

It explained that in using Ijarah or Wakalah, the government can tap its existing shelf registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission similar to its US dollardenominated bonds and Indonesia’s

external Sukuk issuances, which are offered to global fixed-income investors.

“As such, from a pricing perspective, outstanding ROPs are expected to be used as benchmark and possibly achieve pricing parity between ROPs and Sukuk,” the DOF said.

Public assets

IN upholding the legality of the DOF’s position, the DOJ noted that Republic Act 11439 (An Act Providing for the Regulation and Organization of Islamic Banks) does not prohibit the use of Sukuk structures by the government or private entities as long as they are Shari’ah compliant.

“There is nothing in the law that exclusively grants unto Islamic banks the authority to engage in financing and joint investment under the Sukuk structures. Thus, the DOF may perform such financial transaction and contract subject to the limits and preconditions under Shari’ah law,” the DOJ said.

The DOF assured that the national government will not relinquish its title over the public property used for the Sukuk issuance; thus, public assets would retain public use.

It added that any transaction will follow all usual procedures for the issuance of securities, domestic or foreign, including but not limited to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s Monetary Board approval-in-principle and final approval, and the Special Authority of the President.

However, the DOJ suggested to the DOF that other relevant issues on the matter should be clarified with concerned government agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue regarding tax implications, if any, of the sale and lease purchase, or servicing agency agreements.

The Cloud–More than outsourced infrastructure

SOMETIMES a company operates IT infrastructure with its own equipment and resources, often called “on-premises hosting.” However, this model is often inefficient: Expensive technologies are usually used with less than full capacity and assets are mainly managed manually instead of automatically.

Cloud use: Less investment, more IT security IT is, therefore, particularly attractive for businesses to use cloud services. The cloud makes infrastructure instantly available, in exactly the amount the business needs. Tying up valuable capital through high investments in hardware and software is thus avoided.

In addition, with the right providers, IT security is generally higher than in an on-premises model. Often this is because the large cloud service providers invest considerably more in IT security than a Small to Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) can afford.

KPMG in the Philippines Technology Consulting Head Jallain Marcel S. Manrique shared that, “cloud implementation must be part of a company’s digital transformation roadmap and its overall business strategy as information sharing in the cloud opens up a variety of possibilities to provide added business value.” He also added that “value chains and business models can be improved and reinvented by this convenient and digital way of information transfer. Customers, partners in the supply chain and the entire business organization will all gain from this technology.”

Use resources more wisely

REGULAR maintenance, care and ongoing assurance of effective security architecture are necessary for smooth and secure on-premises operations. Cloud solutions also offer advantages in terms of operational costs. Transforming to a cloud operating model can free up resources in the company that can be reallocated to innovation, new products and growth.

Operational infrastructure in the cloud can be used to control plants or machines in the manufacturing industry (cloud-based backends). Cloud can also be critical in the operation of smart stores.

However, the possible added value of cloud computing goes far beyond IT. Small to Medium-sized Enterprises that only use the cloud as an outsourced IT infrastructure are not making full use of its potential. The cloud can transform and accelerate the way products are designed, manufactured, improved and distributed.

Use migration to the cloud for standardization and optimization

CLOUD transformation should be used to optimize applications and related processes. Instead of migrating existing applications, processes and data to the cloud in their original form (“lift and shift migration”), they should be standardized and simplified as part of the migration.

Data protection and compliance are essential

A GREAT potential of the cloud lies in sharing or collaborating around data with business partners or cus-

tomers in the cloud. A cloud transformation must be carefully planned and implemented so regulatory requirements are met which can help minimize the risk of reputational damage—to avoid things like the misuse of company and customer data by third parties.

Therefore, data protection and compliance should aim to be ensured at an early stage. In addition, robust data governance structures should be used to help ensure that sensitive data is not transferred to data-sharing ecosystems. Only in a later step should the potential for data exchange be developed.

Cloud as a data pool

BY sharing data, value chains and business models can be optimized and redesigned. Your own company and customers, along with supply chain partners, can potentially benefit from this.

For example, companies could use shared data pools to optimize the maintenance and repair of their machines (“smart maintenance”). Or a retailer’s suppliers could gain insight into their realtime data and thus see when the retailer’s stock of their products is running low and help ensure the timely delivery of new goods. The scenario would also apply to preproduct research and development and many other cases.

Such information has commonly been shared along value chains in the past, but cloud solutions can simplify and automate this in a shared ecosystem.

Cooperate instead of dominate

FOR data sharing in these ecosys-

tems to be mutually beneficial, these networks must be based on equal partnership and reciprocity. There should be no dominant actor in the ecosystem who can gain an advantage from the data to a particular degree and/or to the detriment of other members.

The cloud provider itself should not be a dominant player either – for example, in addition to its function as a cloud service provider, it also acts as a competitor to those who make their data available and share in the cloud.

With the points described, smallto medium-sized enterprises, in particular, can make greater use of the diverse potential of the cloud. However, it is important that any attempt at cloud transformation fits in with the strategic goals of the enterprise, is embedded in the overall digital transformation strategy and that a suitable cloud architecture with the right cloud provider is selected accordingly.

The excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: https://home.kpmg/xx/en/ home/insights/2022/06/the-cloud-more-thanoutsourced-infrastructure.html.

© 2023 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved.

For more information, you may reach out to ph-kpmgmla@kpmg.com social media, or visit www.home.kpmg/ph.

This article is for general information purposes only and should not be considered professional advice to a specific issue or entity. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the BusinessMirror KPMG International or KPMG in the Philippines.

Explainer

EuropE has avoidEd EnErgy collapsE. But is thE crisis ovEr?

By David McHugh The Associated Press

EuropE has dodged an energy apocalypse this winter, economists and officials say, thanks to unusually warm weather and efforts to find other sources of natural gas after russia cut off most of its supply to the continent.

Natural gas suppliers in recent days have increased their stocks at a time when they’re usually being drawn down—an unexpected boost that has relieved fears of gas used to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories running out by winter's end.

As a result, short-term gas prices have fallen from record highs, dropping from 18 times what they were before Russia massed troops on Ukraine’s border in early 2021 to four times higher. That's still painfully high, eating away at company earnings and consumer spending power through costly utility bills and inflation.

But analysts say the worst case of shortages and rationing has been avoided.

Here are key facts about Europe’s energy struggles:

Warm weather has allowed Europe’s storage facilities to remain 83% full since January 1, with levels even rising on some days. That’s extraordinary. Gas reserves are usually drawn down starting in October and refilled the next spring.

Record-high temperatures— which have hurt businesses dependent on snow sports—come

on top of a scramble to find new suppliers to replace most Russian gas, which Europe depended on before the war. Moscow has shut off most of its supply to Europe as governments imposed sanctions and supported Ukraine.

Countries have lined up expensive supplies of liquefied natural gas—which comes by ship, instead of pipeline—from the US and Qatar. Germany leased five floating import terminals for LNG for almost 10 billion euros, the first of which arrived in November.

Industry has reduced use, sometimes simply by halting energy intensive production such as fertilizer or steel that was no longer profitable at high prices.

“We have prevented the worst that we were threatened with in summer...a complete economic meltdown for German and European industry,” German Energy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters last week.

Simone Tagliapietra, energy policy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, put it this way: “The energy crisis per se is not over, but the peak of the emergency has been avoided.”

What does this mean for utility bills?

Consumers may avoid further extreme price spikes, but bills will

stay higher than usual because gas prices are still far above where they were in early 2021.

Some relief has come from government support. In Germany, Europe's largest economy, the government passed gas and electric price caps allowing small businesses and consumers to buy 80% of their energy at last year's price.

That has been key for small businesses that use a lot of energy, such as Andreas Schmitt's chain of 25 Cafe Ernst bakeries in the region around Frankfurt.

The price caps “have helped calm down the worst expectations” from this summer, said Schmitt, also vice chairman of the baker's guild in the Hesse region of southwestern Germany.

At the peak of energy prices in August, he faced an 800,000euro ($858,120) increase in gas and electric costs to run his ovens and light his stores for 2023. Now, he's looking at a jump of 300,000 euros.

"That is not nice but it's survivable,” Schmitt said.

Even with the energy caps, 8.8 million households in Germany are facing an average price increase of 38%, or 586 euros for a

family of four, this year, according to price comparison website Check24.

Without the price relief, it would have been a 58% increase, or 911 euros more out of pocket.

Such support raises budget deficits, and not all 27 European Union countries are as strong financially as Germany, which could afford a 200 billion-euro rescue package.

“My worry is that it's not sustainable,” said Agata LoskotStrachota, senior fellow at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw. “And the other thing is differences between member states regarding the level of state financing that can be granted in longer terms. And these differences may fuel political differences in Europe.”

What happened to Putin’s energy war against Europe?

Europe's success in filling storage means Putin has lost much of his energy leverage over Europe, analysts and politicians say.

Surprisingly, some Russian gas is still flowing to Europe through pipelines crossing Ukraine to Slovakia and under the Black Sea to

Turkey and on to Bulgaria.

“I think this supply is a sign of weakness,” Tagliapietra said. With global oil prices low and Russia being a major exporter, “they need the cash."

Oil prices have been slack due to fears of slowdowns in major economies such as the US and Europe as inflation and higher interest rates hold back growth.

A European ban on most Russian oil starting December 5 did not create a sudden surge in global oil prices and neither did a price cap from the Group of Seven leading democracies on Russian crude to other countries.

The $60-per-barrel price cap is enforced by banning insurers— mostly based in Europe or the UK—from handling Russian oil sold above the cap.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will cut off oil to countries obeying the cap. But because it was set above the current price of Russian oil, it hasn't led to Moscow slashing production. Much of the Russian oil shunned by Western buyers has been shipped to India and China at a steep discount.

While oil prices have fallen from highs of $120 a barrel this

summer, things could change. Oil products such as diesel could get more expensive in Europe once a ban on those supplies from Russia takes effect February 5.

What could still go wrong?

Europe is vulnerable to unexpected events, such as an accident or technical problem at a major pipeline or LNG export terminal, extreme weather, or low levels of wind or hydroelectric power.

Energy analysts are watching energy demand from China, where fuel use plummeted during its “zero COVID” policy that sharply restricted movement to prevent the spread of the virus. Since China has loosened restrictions, demand for shiploads of liquefied gas could rise later this year once a Covid-19 wave subsides.

In that case, Europe would face higher costs to acquire gas, and the losers would be poorer countries in Asia and Africa that don't have the money to compete.

The International Energy Agency has warned Europe not to get overconfident, saying a scenario where Russia cuts off its remaining supply and Chinese demand rebounds could leave Europe short of gas for next winter. The IEA called for a strong push on renewable energy and efficiency measures such as energy-saving heat pumps to replace furnaces, calling such steps "vital to head off the risk of shortages and further vicious price spikes next year.”

While Putin’s response to the oil price cap was muted, he may still have energy cards to play given Russia is a major oil supplier and is still sending some gas to Europe, said Loskot-Strachota from the Center for Eastern Studies.

“In general, the response has been rather weak, but will that be it?” she said. “The energy crisis is not gone. We are not experiencing the worst-case scenario, but the factors of uncertainty are not gone."

Why is Europe facing less risk of gas shutoffs?

Th E tanker Maria Energy, right, loaded with liquefied natural gas, lies at the floating terminal, the special ship hoegh Esperanza, in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, Tuesday, January 3, 2023. For the first time since the terminal opened in Wilhelmshaven, a tanker has arrived there with a full cargo of LNG. s na s c hu L dt/d Pa v ia a P

Golden Globes fashion: Stars return for soggy carpet

By Leanne Italie The Associated Press

NEW YORK—The stars were back Tuesday for the Golden Globes’ return to television, walking a soggy grayish carpet in relatively predictable looks—with a few notable exceptions.

A look at fashion from the 80th Golden Globes: n WORM NO MORE. Heidi Klum, not long after her Halloween worm appearance, showed up in a sky-high silver sparkler with a feathery embellishment over one shoulder as the crowd was treated to a reprieve from rain that has plagued Southern California. Her showgirl look was by Kevin Germanier.

Also in silver? Angela Bassett in Pamella Roland, along with Jessica Chastain in a sparkly body hugger from Oscar de la Renta done in a spiderweb design. n THE MEN. There were lots of black suits and tuxedoes. Eddie Redmayne showed up in black and brown trim with a huge silk rosette on one lapel, courtesy of Valentino. Another standout: Colman Domingo in a custom black-on-black combo with sparkly embellishment from Dolce & Gabbana. Elvis, also known as Austin Butler, entered the

building in a traditional black tux, while Andrew Garfield went for orange with an open collar on a black shirt underneath.

Jeremy Pope looked sharp in a black three-piece leather ensemble from Dolce & Gabbana with matching silver-studded boots.

Donald Glover was practically in PJs. His comfy robe shirt and relaxed trousers were white. His tux jacket was black. The look was Saint Laurent.

“I just want to be comfortable,” he said.

n METALLICS. Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary in jewel-tone blue with chunky embellishment led the train parade in her high-neck look. It was by Aliétte. Viola Davis also opted for a royal, body-skimming blue from Jason Wu.

Chloe Flower, who will perform a song during the show, went for a longer train in a white, lightly embellished number.

Niecy Nash-Betts wore a lovely deep purple gown with chunky sparkle, paired with a large-shouldered coat and long matching opera gloves. Both were done by Dolce & Gabbana. There was a healthy showing of golds, too, including an adorable 19-year-old Bailey Bass from Avatar: The Way of Water in a long look with a delicate pattern.

Michelle Williams wore an ethereal, ivory one-

shoulder look trimmed in gold. Her ruffly Gucci look included a high-side slit.

The women kept their jewels to a minimum.

n THE COLOR. A pregnant Abby Elliott went for burnt orange with all-around sequins from Pamella Roland. Her sparkler had long blouson sleeves and a high neck.

Jenny Slate was in emerald green from Rodarte. She told E! of her slip dress with a large flower at the neck that she was aiming for “a woman who’s about to turn into a magical plant.” Among the standout looks was E! host Laverne Cox in a sexy goddess gown in blue and silver, her hair in a curly Old Hollywood bob. Her look was vintage John Galliano.

Billy Porter walked in a fuchsia tuxedo gown by Christian Siriano and high chunky heeled blinged-out silver boots. It was akin to his groundbreaking black tuxedo gown, also by Siriano, that stirred up the 2019 Academy Awards.

Anya Taylor-Joy went for a sunny yellow two-piece Dior look with a tiny bandeau top. Margot Robbie was dressed in pale pink Chanel adorned with beads and feathers, while Lily James went old-school Hollywood in 50 meters of red fabric. Her look was custom Versace, a column dress with exaggerated hips and a strapless top that crossed at the waist.

Lucky makeup and skin care for the Year of the Rabbit

lipsticks are always unique and beautiful. What comes to mind is The Queen, a vibrant deep pink which was released in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. So, yes, Blossom  Red is a must-have.

“Rabbits are a symbol of beauty, elegance and luck—they are known for being the luckiest sign in the zodiac. To celebrate this New Year, I have adorned my world-famous beauty secrets in lucky, limited-edition plum blossom print packaging. Plum blossoms are the first to bloom in the New Year and they traditionally represent perseverance and hope. Darlings, I am wishing you all a LUCKY NEW YEAR!” said Charlotte Tilbury in the brand’s web site.

red and blue shades. In Hong Kong, the brand has prepared matching red lai see packets covered in White Rabbit graphics for every purchase of the essence.

Meanwhile, Fenty Beauty has unveiled a new limited-edition set of Rihanna’s must-haves like the Diamond Bomb All-Over Diamond Veil and the Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer.

Jenna Ortega also went for the crisscross look in a breezy, pleated copper color. It was Gucci paired with necklaces by Tiffany & Co.

Letitia Wright wore Prada in orange and white.

n SPECIAL COLLAB. Sepideh Moafi, an Iranian American actress, wore a black sequined look with a high slit and huge red rosette at the hip. She worked on the look with Iranian designer Amir Taghi and the Haus of Milad. “The dress has many stories,” she told The Associated Press, “but the most important of which is this flower, which represents a blooming new Iran during this revolution.”

She was referring to a monthslong wave of protests in Iran challenging the country’s ruling theocracy.

n THOSE IN BLACK. Jennifer Coolidge (Dolce & Gabbana), Quinta Brunson (Christian Siriano), Jamie Lee Curtis (Valentino), Natasha Lyonne (Givenchy). There was an abundance of black looks.

Emma D’Arcy also wore black, an oversized trouser and skirt tuxedo combo—and another large lapel rosette—finished with indigo gloves. The look was done by Acne Studios. They wore heavy dark makeup with a single blue tear streak under one eye.

“It wasn’t sustainable,” D’Arcy, who is nonbinary, told E! of being forced to present as a woman in the industry. n

IT is not really difficult to believe that I used to be one of those people who bought makeup that was created for the Pantone Color of the Year, or the Lunar New Year.

That’s no longer the person that I am. I try to avoid the physical stores and just respectfully browse online. So why have I not been buying any of these limited-edition releases? Because I only have one face and the pandemic has taught me that you only should buy what you can use. I am by no means a minimalist. I am just more careful with spending these days. So here’s what’s going on right now in the beauty scene. Charlotte Tillbury has released some of the brand’s most popular products—the Magic Cream, Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray, and Airbrush Flawless Finish pressed powder in limited-edition Year of the Rabbit packaging with a plum blossom design printed in a vibrant shade of red.

I expected Charlotte Tilbury to repackage the brand’s iconic Pillow Talk lipstick for this collection but, no, she released a limited-edition Matte Revolution Lipstick in Blossom Red, a warm, tawny, orange-red lip color. Charlotte’s limited-edition

Estée Lauder is launching Radiance in Bloom for the 2023 Lunar New Year and the collection features the brand’s popular skin care and makeup products in a limited-edition red floral design. There’s an eyeshadow palette, Estée Lauder’s iconic Advanced Night Repair Serum, Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Gel-Creme, and a limited-edition natural red lipstick called Radiance in Bloom.

M.A.C. Cosmetics’ Lunar New Year collection is imprinted with the Chinese loop, which pays homage to the signs of immortality and stability. There are two limited-edition matte lipstick shades, Taupe of the List and Lookin’ Like Wealth. Of course, my eyes are on Taupe of the List, which is more pink than brown based on pictures I have seen.

Certainly one of the most eye-catching Lunar New Year releases is the SK-II PITERA Facial Treatment

Essence, which has been given a new, time-limited look featuring the iconic White Rabbit candy. Tapping into the childhood nostalgia of those born in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the facial essence has an allwhite exterior, replicating the coat of a white rabbit, and is patterned with the candy brand’s recognizable

No one does shine and glitter like Fenty Beauty and the diamond-dusted highlighter in Royal Icing delivers a champagne gold-toned sparkle that complements all skin tones. The Gloss Bomb is in Cheeky, a bright red-orange shade. On a side note, if they weren’t so expensive, I would collect Fenty Beauty Gloss Bombs. They all look and feel so good on the lips, and there is something quite comforting about swiping the applicator.

Back to the topic at hand. Shiseido has reimagined its popular Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate range with colorful Lunar New Year-inspired limitededition packaging. The design was inspired by the softness, flexibility and power of the rabbit. The limited-edition Ultimune Power Infusing Concentrate is available as a single and double set. I love Ultimune and I’ve said this over and over that it’s something that’s always in my skin-care regimen and this limited-edition packaging is everything.

Sephora Favorites has released a Year of the Water Rabbit Makeup Luxe Gift Set that includes Armani Beauty Lip Power in 405, Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray, Hourglass Voyeur Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Obsidian, Lancôme Lash Idôle Mascara, Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Rose Gold, NARS Mini Orgasm Blush, Velour Lashes Effortless Lash-Mini Me, and Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté Shine in 45. The set retails for $60.

FROM clockwise: Laverne Cox in John Galliano, Heide Klum in Kevin Germanier, Jenny Slate in Rodarte, Colman Domingo in Dolce & Gabbana, Eddie Redmayne in Valentino, Andrew Garfield in Zegna, Angela Bassett in Pamela Roland, Jessica Chastain in Oscar de la Renta, Billy Porter in Christian Siriano and Sepideh Moafi in Amir Taghi and the Haus of Milad

Canon celebrates 25th year in the PHL by giving back to local community

CANON Marketing (Philippines), Inc. capped off its 25th anniversary in the country by giving back to those in need. The effort is symbolic of Canon’s heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for the Filipino community that has openly embraced and continuously supported them throughout the years.

Always a champion for social programs, Canon has remained a staunch advocate for the Department of Education’s annual Brigada Eskwela campaign that helps prepare public schools for the opening of classes. This time around, the company wrapped up its latest partnership with their first organized face-to-face school visit since the pandemic. Now, as Canon Philippines progresses back to full face-toface class, company employees traveled to Nasugbu, Batangas where they assisted in refurbishing Maugat Elementary Schoolpainting classroom walls and roofs. Canon also donated printers for both teachers and students to use. With this, Canon hopes that the additional upgrade will contribute to their learning experience as freshly printed modules and workbook sheets can help lead to a better understanding of the material and lessons taught.

“We appreciate Canon coming back to be a part of the Brigada Eskwela

BRIGADA Eskwela Plus Canon Volunteers with Maugat Elementary School Educators program. More than helping us beautify our school for a day, we are especially thankful for their printer donations that will go a long way towards elevating the experiences of our teachers and students,” said Dr. Myra Bruno, school principal of Maugat Elementary School.

“2022 has been a milestone year for us at Canon Philippines, and one we’re certainly proud of. As a token of gratitude, we give back and celebrate our customers and partners by bringing people together to advocate more meaningful relationships. Brigada Eswela Plus is a step among many we wish to take

in improving the welfare of communities towards stronger and more resilient years ahead,” said Anuj Aggarwal, President and CEO of Canon Marketing (Philippines), Inc.

Delighting through advocacy is integral to Canon’s way of doing business and the company is committed to extending help and support to communities in need, whether it be through product donations or creative programs.

Visit the official Canon Philippines website (ph.canon) or follow @CanonPhils on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news and announcements.

Young entrepreners partner with master barista to open coffee shop in Tagaytay for unique coffee experience

How Puregold’s Tindahan ni Aling Puring Program Helped a Distressed OFW During the Pandemic

FOR the over 400,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who lost their jobs due to Covid-19, the challenges brought by the pandemic made even basic survival a daily struggle. Anxiety over catching the virus and impaired mobility due to community quarantines were part of the immediate problems.

However, the harsh economic repercussions dealt the biggest blow. Returning OFWs came home to a dismal local job market that was still reeling from layoffs, downsizing, and even shutdowns.

It was in this scenario that the indomitable Filipino spirit surfaced. Soon enough, many distressed returning OFWs obtained part-time work or established their own small businesses. For some, the crisis led to opportunities for better and more sustainable ventures.

Among these is the story of Teodorico M. Ranili Jr., an aging OFW who, like many others, was “trapped” in the Philippines during the initial implementation of the Enchanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). The unexpected loss of income quickly made the threat of hunger and homelessness very real for him and his family. “For a time, we had no place to stay and no income to sustain even our basic needs.”

With the prescribed cash allowances doing little to pay the bills, Teodorico knew he needed to act quickly.

Starting small from what little capital he could scrounge, Teodorico and his family started an online business for only the most basic necessities. “We started selling oddsand-ends like bleach and peanut butter online just to make ends meet,” he recalls. “Since we had next to nothing at the time, I remember that we made most of our first deliveries on-foot.”

Eventually, Teodorico’s side-gig would turn into a quaint sari-sari store that he dreamt of transforming into a full-fledged minimart one day.

turned out to be the biggest blessing for us,” Teodorico says. “They have an accommodating and reliable agent that comes to our area weekly to assist with ordering. Through the TNAP system, purchasing sale items became extremely convenient. As a bonus, these items are delivered free-of-charge for any TNAP member.”

Today, Teodorico Ranili Jr. is the proud owner of Ranili’s One Stop Shop, a convenience store serving his community in Meycauayan, Bulacan. In achieving this, he credits his membership in the TNAP as something that helped make his dream a reality.

COFFEE shops and cafe restaurants are booming and are opening hand over fist everywhere. And every time a store opens, someone would always ask, “How is it different from other coffee shops?”

This team of highly passionate and well-versed entrepreneurs realized that customers needed to have a unique coffee experience. “We are coffee enthusiasts and work for different industries. So, having a place where we can enjoy a ‘good’ cup of coffee, while enjoying each other’s company has always been a dream of ours,” said one of the owners, Aaron Paul Charvet, a 30year old Associate VP Human Resources and Chief People Officer for one of the biggest conglomerates in the country.

They believe that every city has its own personality — a character that makes it special. In addition, Tagaytay has been everyone's fastest escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, so if someone is longing for a good cup of coffee with great cold weather, there's no place you'd rather be.

However, with great desire to serve a great cup of coffee requires someone knowledgeable to help them curate drinks; drinks that are staple like Caramel Macchiato or Spanish Latte, but with a taste that is distinctively and exclusively for Hello Cafe. “When we were conceptualizing Hello Cafe, we wanted to keep our favorite drinks, but at the same time, elevate the taste by using specialty coffee beans,” explains couple Irish Kleine, 28 years old, Head of HR - International Recruitment and Headhunting Firm and Jerome Ortiz, 32 years old Head of Cybersecurity and IT of an International IT Solutions and Security Provider.

The team then decided to partner with Arvy Uy, who has been around the coffee scene for a long time crafting unique coffee recipes.

As an entrepreneur and a master barista of most known coffee shop brands

in the Philippines, Arvy is also visionary. He envisioned that his Zone Out Coffee is a place for creatives fueled by dreams, aspirations, and a great cup of coffee.

He said that every time he curates drinks for his clients, his number one consideration is their passion for coffee and their personalities. “Apart from the essential coffee specials, I crafted drinks that are based on their personalities and agile attitude,” Arvy enthusiastically explains when asked about his journey crafting Hello Cafe’s drinks.

One of Tagaytay’s most significant characteristics is the spirit of entrepreneurship and community that pervades Tagaytay's coffee shops. This is why these young entrepreneurs decided to create their own called “Hello Cafe.” It's a grand investment to see if these young owners can make their chosen area proud by serving the best coffee the city has to offer.

One of the biggest conundrums of every restaurant owner is having a decent parking space. Hello Cafe has a generous parking spot, ideal for events and other special occasions.

When asked about the reason behind opening a third-wave coffee shop, the entrepreneurs answered that they built it on the grounds of passion and love for coffee. Their goal to build a homegrown Filipino brand in the international market looks more promising than ever.

“It’s cliche’ cos I don’t drink coffee, but I appreciate camaraderie. I think it’s already innate in me to be extending help by educating people about anything since I belong to the education industry. This is why when Aaron approached me about building a coffee shop, I immediately said YES!” says Dexter Soguillon, 34 years old and Head of Academic Affairs and Quality Assurance of a huge-scale university.

Hello Café offers an ambiance similar to

the euphoric feeling of having the sun's rays grace your skin in the morning. This feeling can be attributed to its Muji-inspired minimalist interior, which embraces the concept of simplicity and sophistication. On a more impressive note, the cafe’s design showcases Filipino craftsmanship by filling the space with furniture proudly created by Caviteños. According to Krichelle Marie Soguilon, a mompreneur focusing on import and export business, one of their main goals is to contribute to the dynamic growth of Tagaytay. “That’s why apart from proximity, we wanted all members of Hello Cafe to be from the province of Cavite, be it Dasmarinas, Amadeo, or Tagaytay. In fact, one of the construction workers is now our head of security and mans the parking area,” she continues.

The cafe’s interior is to die for, but their signature drink will refill your will to live. Its concoctions continue to drive his passion for innovating Artisan beverages from coffee, tea, flavored drinks, sodas, and beers. Notwithstanding our desire to uplift our farmers by supporting their handcrafted beans. Hello Cafe continues to elevate the coffee scene as its baristas are homegrown talents of Tagaytay. Furthermore, the coffee shop takes pride in its everyday calibration of coffee to ensure quality.

“We ensure our coffee beans are fresh and machines are calibrated accordingly. As someone who worked in the banking industry, I’ve always believed that quality remains best over quantity,” says Lesley Ann Padilla. She is the wife of Aaron and a Financial Management expert.

Lesley added that Hello Cafe aims to be a versatile sanctuary— catering to workshops, special occasions, and even a place for engagement. “It could be anything, really! It could be a co-working space to some, while others use it as a place to unwind.”

It's funny to imagine that a cafe can change someone's life – but it can. It's not just the great coffee and food that make the experience at a cafe special; it's the people you meet there.

It is evident that Hello Cafe intends to be your home when in Tagaytay. Hello Cafe is one strong espresso shot that enthuses its diverse consumers.

What started with a casual hello between eight people blossomed into one of the finest cafes in Tagaytay and is undoubtedly bound to make its way to everyone.

Succinctly, Hello Cafe is a unique coffee experience that can tell stories behind the extraction of the bean.

The crossroads for Teodorico’s store soon came through the Tindahan ni Aling Puring (TNAP) program, Puregold’s loyalty and membership program for resellers and other wholesalers.

“Puregold’s Aling Puring program

“We were able to thrive and overcome the uncertainties of the pandemic through our store,” a grateful Teodorico relates. “This could not have been possible without Puregold and their Tindahan ni Aling Puring program. The convenience and the perks of being a TNAP member just make the life of a store owner so much easier.”

Covidone TS gives an extra layer of protection against throat ailments caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi

general populace must remain vigilant about spikes in local Covid infections, he avers that people—especially the vulnerable ones—still need to bolster their immune system to help ward off the germs and viruses that may lead to serious throat ailments.

“With the attention of the whole world—and global health authorities—on Covid-19, we tend to dial down our anxiety about the deadly contagion,” Dr. Adriano concedes. “But then we must continue to be watchful for there are other culprits behind potentially serious health issues. Let us learn our lessons from how Covid-19 hit us with a devastating suddenness.”

Towards this end, Dr. Adriano believes that appropriate and effective oral care needs to be part of our daily wellness regimen. Because prevention rather than cure is still the best option, he advises people to seek remedies that may thwart viruses, bacteria, and fungi right from the start. One solution that he attests to is a new brand of antiseptic throat spray— Covidone TS.

WE hunkered down. We wore masks. We washed hands. And we stopped hugging and holding hands. After expending much of our time and effort keeping Covid-19 at bay, we must also remember that SARS-CoV-2 is not the only enemy out there. Other microbes lurk in our environment, waiting for a chance to pounce, causing symptoms that mimic those of Covid-19.

For instance, one could suffer from sore throat due to pharyngitis, a viral infection that may develop from the common cold or flu. A sore throat caused by a virus is known to resolve on its own. However, a strep throat or streptococcal infection is caused by bacteria and requires treatment with antibiotics to prevent complications.

Still another throat infection is oral thrush, which occurs when Candida, a fungus that is found in your mouth and digestive tract, multiplies. Oral thrush is most common in babies, toddlers, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems.

All throat infections, whether viral, bacterial, or fungal, warrant the best preventive measures—or so affirms Dr. Joel Adriano, a prominent Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) specialist. While he agrees that the

Covidone TS provides that last layer of protection between you and common throat ailments. This, Dr. Joel Adriano affirms, is due to Covidone’s active ingredient of povidone-iodine. While most people associate povidone iodine with topical medication for wounds, it is likewise an active ingredient used in throat sprays.

With povidone-iodine, Covidone TS kills 99.9% of the viruses and bacteria that cause common ailments like sore throat. This means that non-Covid oral diseases have found an effective and convenient solution in Covidone. When properly applied, Covidone TS can prevent Covid-19, giving you an additional layer of protection.

Using Covidone TS is simple. Spray two to three times directly into your throat for a maximum of four to six times a day. To avoid inhaling the substance, users are advised to make an “aah” sound while spraying. They must let the liquid remain in their throat for 15 seconds before spitting it out any excess to avoid ingestion.

Covidone TS is readily available at Lazada or Shopee, as well as select drug stores, grocery stores, and supermarkets nationwide. Visit covidone.ph to learn more!

FROM left, Jerome Ortiz, Irish Kleine Ortiz, Lesley Ann Padilla, Aaron Paul Charvet, Krichelle Marie Soguilon, and Dexter Soguilon

ARVY Uy, Owner and Master Barista of Zone Out Coffee. It is strategically placed inside a co-working space in Rockwell and Ortigas.

STORE owner Teodorico Ranili was able to recover from his losses during the pandemic with Puregold’s Tindahan ni Aling Puring Program.

COVIDONE TS provides an extra layer of protection between you and common throat ailments.

Luxury, nostalgia, and the power of sound

THE internet can be both cruel and kind. Because people can post things with relative anonymity, they seem emboldened to comment on everyone and everything, never mind their level of knowledge or expertise on a particular topic. During election season, everyone turns into political pundits. By the time the major pageants roll around, everyone becomes pageant experts. When there are big sporting events, particularly in basketball, we suddenly get a deluge of basketball analysts. The list goes on and on.

PR Matters

By Abigail L. Ho-Torres

Just last week, social media users yet again showed us both how ignorant and classy they can be when they commented on Singapore-based Filipina TikToker Zoe Gabriel’s post about her “first luxury bag.” Back story: Zoe posted a video of herself unboxing a Charles & Keith black tote that her dad gifted her, which she referred to as her first luxury bag. Bashers then started pouring in, saying the bag was not even close to being luxury.

The 17-year-old Zoe had a very classy response, which she delivered through another TikTok post: “Your comment spoke volumes on how ignorant you seem because of your wealth. To you, an $80 bag may not be a luxury, but for me and my family, it is a lot. And I’m so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money. I can’t believe I got hate over a bag that I was so excited to have.”

The more empathetic social media users cheered Zoe on, even commenting on how well her parents have raised her. The management of Charles & Keith did not let this go unnoticed as well.

The brand invited Zoe and her dad to lunch and a tour of their headquarters almost immediately after her posts became viral. She also posted about getting meal vouchers from Takagi Ramen and a hair makeover from Kimistry Hair Boutique.

This incident is a case study on how to handle internet trolls and detractors, as well as how brands can quickly respond with empathy and humanity. Zoe, only in her teens, showed enough maturity

not to engage with her bashers in a combative manner. She showed grace and authenticity even after getting so much hate from people she did not even know. The way she framed and delivered her message put her bashers in their place without making her look like she’s retaliating in any way.

Charles & Keith management, on the other hand, showed how closely they followed events surrounding their brand, immediately getting wind of the posts and acting swiftly and positively. They were quick to reach out to Zoe to invite her and her dad to have lunch with owners Charles and Keith Wong, with a headquarters tour thrown in. They have not only made a loyal follower out of Zoe, but have most likely succeeded in driving sales and getting more loyal consumers— even without intending to do so.

This just shows how positive communication and behavior can be rewarded, and how crude comments and lack of empathy can be shot down by well-thoughtout and authentic messaging and delivery.

The power of nostalgia

ANOTHER driver of buzz and sales is nostalgia. Three days before Christmas, I had the chance to relive my youth through the muchawaited Eraserheads reunion concert Huling El Bimbo 2022. My husband and I were among the 75,000 people who trooped to the SMDC Festival Grounds to see my all-time favorite Filipino band reunite in a full-length concert in Manila for the first time since 2009.

In the six or so hours we spent on the concert grounds, I felt wave after wave of nostalgia hit me. Many of the songs evoked specific memories. The crowd looked almost exactly like the one in the first Eheads reunion concert in 2008, but now with more lines on our faces and knees that could no longer jump as much or as high as in our 20s. There was almost the same number of people from the 2009 concert, the sequel to the one in 2008 that was cut short after frontman Ely Buendia was rushed to the hospital.

My nostalgia trip brought me all the way back to my freshman year in high school when I first

came across the iconic band, at the long-ago-defunct Entertainment Center of SM City North Edsa. Having an after-school meal with my dad on the adjacent Food Court, the band piqued my interest when they played Toyang and Pare Ko. I was a naïve teenager studying in a conservative Chinese school, yet the songs resonated with me. I was hooked.

Four years later, in the notso-conservative University of the Philippines Diliman (also the band’s alma mater), I encountered them again in the flesh at the freshman welcome concert. I had a chance to serve as their production assistant/personal alalay a couple of years later in a multiband concert sponsored by my organization, the UP Mass Communicators Organization. They disbanded shortly after I graduated from college.

When I started working, I bought CDs that I could not afford when I was still in school (they were still cassette tapes back then), driven by nostalgia about days long past. I was among the thousands who spent hard-

earned cash for concert tickets to all three Manila reunion concerts—because this was a band I loved and a band that brought me back to simpler days in my life. I started playing Eheads Spotify playlists on overdrive (pun here, yes?) days leading to and after the concert—because I wanted to feel those emotions again, the ones I felt when I heard particular songs and when I was crying, jumping, and singing my heart out in 2008, 2009, and just last month.

The Eraserheads have proven their staying power, even two decades after the members went their separate ways. They also have the power of nostalgia, which can drive people to line up for concert tickets, let go of thousands of pesos in hard-earned cash, brave rushhour traffic, and brush bodies with other concert-goers, Covid-19 be damned. Their music evokes emotions that fans want to go back to over and over again, and which a new generation of followers want to experience for themselves.

Sonic branding

SPEAKING of the power of sound, IPRA Philippines will be staging its first CommuniTalks event this year titled “Sonic branding: the power of sound in communication” on February 22. It will feature Mike Constantino, Founder and CEO of sonic branding and audio marketing agency Homonym. He will talk about the power of music and sound in building a brand, communicating an advocacy, and eliciting emotions to drive PR and marketing strategies. Watch out for more details on this space.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and Head of Customer Experience of Maynilad Water Services Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journalist before making the leap to the corporate world.

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

ringer Ingelheim GBS Center Network Head, said. “Key criteria were the availability of talents, the customer-centric mindset, and flexibility of the Philippine work force, and strong communication skills in multiple languages,” she added.

The GBS center in the Philippines initially started with fifty employees in 2017.

and New Zealand. It’s also a service center for Southeast Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—

Multinational pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim Global Business Services (GBS) Manila recently marked its 5th year in the Philippines with a townhall meet last November 29 at the Grand Ballroom of Crimson Hotel in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Originally established as a regional center to provide transactional services in HR, Finance, and Master Data Management for the APAC region in 2017, the Center grew by leaps and bounds in its Alabang location.

“The success of the Manila operations over the past years validates our decision to establish our GBS center here,” Andrea Jakob, Boeh -

“Since then, we have grown the Center tremendously, adding services that went beyond what was originally planned. Because of its successes over the last years, we decided to also launch and deliver IT Services from this Center,” said Jose Jamil Zaide, Managing Director and Head of GBS Center Manila. “By the end of November, the Center marked its fifth year, which also happened to be the day we onboarded our 500th employee,” he continued.

The GBS Center Manila works towards standardizing and centralizing target processes, providing back-office services to Boehringer Ingelheim entities in North America, Japan, China, Australia,

“Apart from creating attractive jobs, our employees especially appreciate our culture of empowerment and our focus on people development,” Andreas Hilf, GBS Corporate Division Head, explained. “Our drive to develop our employees is important to ensure our people’s employability and to enable them to pursue fulfilling careers within our organization. At the same time, this also enables us to locate highervalue and more complex activities at the GBS Center Manila,” he said.

Members of the Global GBS Leadership Team marked the company milestone by honoring the Center Manila employees at the event. Numerous members were acknowledged for their innovative ideas, commitment, and loyalty. Jakob and Hilf also thanked Zaide along with his leadership team for their untiring drive for excellence.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA—“A Clean Start,” banking company RHB Bank’s latest Chinese New Year film, which was conceived and created by creative agency FCB SHOUT, tells the true story of Lex Low, a hairstylist who founded Othrs Barbers.

Aside from being successful in his trade, Lex Low also dedicates his life to giving free haircuts to the homeless. What makes this social entrepreneur a cut above the rest is his willingness to do even more for the marginalized communities in Malaysia. He devotes much of his time to imparting his hairdressing skills to ex-convicts, exaddicts, and even the Orang Asli, so that they can have the opportunity to build a career for themselves and succeed against the odds.

The film offers the audience a glimpse of the motivations that drive Lex to do what he does while spotlighting the incredible impact that he has made on the needy via a heartfelt story between Lex and a

“customer” who struggled to get himself out of the bottom barrel of life.

Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, Chief Marketing Officer of RHB Group, said, “The cost of a mistake, no matter big or small, can always bring detrimental consequences. That’s the harsh reality of life. But as a Bank that believes in making progress happen for everyone, we, just like Lex Low, believe that the cost of a second chance is free, and it’s something that everyone deserves. When we open our hearts and show a little kindness by going the extra mile for the people around us, we can help steer them in the right direction once more and help them progress in their own life journey. This New Year, we hope that this film will inspire Malaysians to step up and help one another find their clean start.”

Meanwhile, Tjer, FCB SHOUT’s Head of Creative, added, “We were very conscious about not turning this film into a documentary of Lex’s life, but more of a homage to the tremendous, positive impact that his endeav -

ors have made on the people who needed help the most. To achieve that, we had to craft a story that features not only Lex but also a character who serves as a singular, symbolic representation of all the people whose lives have been touched and changed by Lex in a multitude of ways before. We also took a risk by telling the story in a non-linear format to make it resonate better with the audience emotionally, and thanks to our amazing production partners at D Moving Pictures and GT Records, the risk truly paid off.”

“We knew right away that this story needed to be told because Lex’s work perfectly encapsulates RHB’s brand purpose of ‘Making Progress Happen For Everyone.’ In a world where everyone is constantly trying to get ahead of one another, it’s important to remind ourselves that the world can only be better when we actually leave no one behind. Giving someone a second chance at life costs nothing, so what’s stopping us from doing so?”

Ong Shi Ping, FCB SHOUT’s Co-Owner and Chief Creative Officer, concluded.

n rh B B ank and F c B Sh ou T are all a B o u T Fr e S h STa r T S T hiS c h ine S e n ew y e ar

They are their sport’s two most prominent active figures; no one else is even close. Both are in their mid-30s—no one knows how much longer they’ll be at the top of the game.

For all that the long-time rivals have in common, Nadal and Djokovic could hardly be entering this Australian Open, which begins Monday, under more contrasting circumstances.

Nadal, of course, is the defending champion at Melbourne Park—thanks to a comeback from two sets down in last year’s final, which he called “one of the most emotional victories of my tennis career” — but he also is mired in about as bad a stretch as he’s ever experienced: 0-2 so far in 2023 and having won just one of his past seven matches dating to the end of last season.

Djokovic, of course, is making his return to Australia after being banished a year ago because he wasn’t vaccinated against COVID-19, but he also began this trip with a tuneup title in Adelaide and has won 30 of his

First of all, congratulations on an exciting and eventful 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup. I would venture to say that it is arguably the best World Cup ever.

I stayed up to watch every single game. I have never done that before in my life my next day be damned.

Having said that, and now that it is over, I do hope that FIFA or the world will not forget the plight of the migrant workers who suffered during the long period of construction of the facilities. We all know this happened despite the denials made.

Fifa is morally bound to ensure that they are paid what was agreed on and those who perished received just compensation.

You cannot turn a blind eye to this. You are morally bound to do so.The organization cannot be tone deaf to this.

If not, how better is FIFA after everything that happened with the previous leadership?

You cannot just mandate Qatar, you have to force them or there should be repercussions. This will send a message that you care for more than the game.

If you are unable to do so, the next time FIFA awards an event to a country that is repressive and does not value human rights, these violations will continue?

After all, you did take Russia out of this equation after their illegal invasion of Ukraine.

You want to clean up FIFA’s image—why don’t you open a help desk for the workers? This will help secure their testimonies and evidence of what happened. You have to protect them from reprisals. You have to be accountable.

Yours, Rick O.

B8 Monday, January 16, 2023 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jun Lomibao

DJOKO ON ROLL, RAFA IN RUT

past 31 tournament contests dating to the end of last season.

“He’s still got it,” said Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runner-up to Djokovic at the 2021 French Open and seeded No. 3 in Melbourne. “He can still play.”

Asked at a pre-tournament news conference Saturday whether he feels vulnerable, Nadal did not try to hide a thing. “Yeah. Without a doubt,” replied the 36-year-old from Spain, whose 2022 was littered with health concerns that included chronic pain in his left foot, damaged rib cartilage and a torn abdominal muscle. “I have been losing more than usual. ... I need to live with it and just fight for the victories.”

Looking ahead to his upcoming encounter in Rod Laver Arena against Jack Draper, a fellow left-hander who is a 21-year-old from England ranked 40th, Nadal said: “I think I’m prepared to play well. We’ll see Monday if I’m prepared to win.”

As for his assessment of Djokovic’s form, Nadal offered this: “He ended last year well, and he started this year well.”

Sure did. None of which matters to Djokovic as much as another Grand Slam title would. Win what

would be a 10th Australian Open championship in two weeks’ time, and the 35-year-old from Serbia would increase his haul to 22 majors and pull even with Nadal (both surpassed the 20 for the now-retired Roger Federer).

“I mean, that’s why I keep on playing professional tennis, (competitive) tennis, because I want to be the best. I want to win the biggest tournaments in the world. There is no secret about it,” Djokovic said three days before he’ll open with a matchup in Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday night against the 75thranked Roberto Carballes Baena, whose resume contains exactly one match win in Melbourne.

“It doesn’t get bigger than this. You have four Slams that historically have been the biggest events in our sport,” Djokovic said. “It’s also one of the biggest reasons why I was really looking forward to come back to Australia: because of my record here.”

He’s been pleased by the greetings he’s received from spectators in Adelaide and Melbourne, where he played an exhibition match at Rod Laver Arena on Friday with Nick Kyrgios—the man Djokovic beat in the Wimbledon final last July.

American

Sara Im, Alice Zhao, Thanana Kotchasanmanee and 2021 champion Avery Zweig.

Malixi, who won two AJGA crowns last year, including a playoff win in the Thunderbird All-Star, expects to measure up with the best in the fold in driving and iron game and hopes her putting will click in all three days of the championship.

“I just have to keep on knocking on doors and wait for the putts to drop,” said Malixi, whose campaign is backed by the International Container Terminal Services Inc.

In her last seven overseas tournaments in 2022, Malixi posted four runner-up finishes, going into the final round of each event in strong contention. But shaky putting stymied her title cracks, including in the Thailand Amateur Open and the Malaysian Amateur Open, although she nailed one championship in the Thai Junior World Championship. She also finished second in the Citrus Golf Trail, which she led in the third round before yielding the crown to Kotchasanmanee three weeks ago.

Malixi is coming off a 12th place finish in the Orlando International but the world No. 151 is confident of putting up a strong showing, including a start she hopes would fuel another title drive.

FORMER University of the Philippines (UP) student-athlete and Ateneo High School head coach Xavier“Xavy”Nunag was appointed as the commissioner for the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 high school boys’ basketball tournament.

Nunag replaced Richard Bachmann, who was appointed chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission last December 28.

The appointment came as a surprise for Nunag, who accepted the job saying “it’s his full-circle moment.”

“I had to mull it over not too long because of the time constraints. Since played and coached here in the UAAP, I just tried to give back and serve the league,” said Nunag, who also currently chairs a logistics company and a vice president of a resort.

“It’s a blessing. It’s something that I’m not taking

for granted. I played for UP from 1998 to 2002, coached in Ateneo during UAAP seasons 72 and 73, and then I played analyst and now commissioner, it’s such a blessing,” said Nunag, who was appointed by the UAAP to the post last Wednesday.

UAAP executive director Rebo Saguisag said Nunag’s managerial skills was a factor in his hiring.

“What he brings to the table is his managerial skills crucial to his position,” Saguisag said. “In fact, he immediately buckled down to work and met key people several times in the short time given to him.” Nunag was at work on Sunday during Day 1 of the boys’ basketball tournament.

Fiel also topped the 10-under unisex category via a 4-1, 2-4, 10-6 decision over Francisco de Juan III.

Brodeth,

6-2, 6-1 victories in the 16- and 18-under finals of the Group I event held in conjunction with the Dinagyang Festival celebrations.

The 15-year-old student at Saint Paul’s Ormoc Foundation Inc. credited her surge to her coach Dong Velez.

“Since he handled and trained us (with younger brother Kenzo) way back in 2020, we were able to produce good results, not only in tournaments but also in academics,” Brodeth said.

But Baisa stole the spotlight in the week-long tournament sponsored by Mayor Jerry Trenas and executive assistant for Youth and Sports Rudiver Jungco,

Sr., shocking top seed Ariel Cabaral with a 6-0, 6-0 rout in the quarterfinals, trampling France Dilao, 6-3, 6-1, in the semifinals then beating No. 3 Reign Maravilla, 6-4, 6-2, to snare the 16-under trophy.

The Puerto Princesa City find then shut out Cabaral for the second straight time in the 18-under second round, repeated over Dilao, 6-2, 6-1, then clipped top seed Vince Serna, 6-2, 6-1, to share MVP honors with Brodeth in the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop president and CEO Bobby Castro.

The other winners in the event presented by

The top-seeded Ansay from Sta. Rosa (Laguna) toppled No. 2 Maristella Torrecampo, 6-1, 6-2, while the top-ranked Licayan from General Trias (Cavite) overpowered Rafael Santiago, 6-1, 6-1; No. 2 Fiel, also from Ormoc, wore down top-ranked Torrecampo, 7-6(3), 0-6, 10-7, in the 12-under finals, while the unseeded Castigador likewise pulled off a shock three-setter over No. 1 Gabrio Serillo, 6-7(5), 6-1, 10-4.

Danilo Sajonia and Joseph Olivar routed Roden Borres and Ramon Chavez, 8-2, to bag the men’s doubles 40s title with Sajonia later teaming up with Ricardo Sunio to edge Borres and Moises Olavides, 8-7(3), for the 50s crown in the Legends category.

The junior field heads to Roxas City, Capiz for the Gov. Fredenil Castro tournament starting January 19. For details, contact Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

Keith Agovida added nine points, six rebounds and two assists.

The victory was a fitting follow-up to the Tigers’ 81-79 escape over Quezon City last week for a 7-0 won-lost record in the cage wars presented by Winzir and co-presented by SCD Cosmetics and Dumper party-list, and supported by NET 25, Adcon, Wcube Solutions Inc., MDC, Unisol, Don Benitos, and Finn Cotton, with PBA and Gilas Pilipinas great Marc Pingris serving as commissioner.

The Koolers saw their five-game

winning streak—including a 107-80 drubbing of Bagong Cabuyao-Homelab Nation last Monda—come to a screeching halt and fell to 5-2, still good for fifth place. Will Gozum had a successful Pampanga Royce Hotel debut as he helped waylay the Beacons, 72-65, to rise to 6-0 for second spot.

The reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association Most Valuable Player played 12 minutes for seven points and two rebounds.

Former Ateneo Blue Eagle BJ Andrade led the balanced attack for the Sandro Soriano-coached squad with nine points, two steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Nueva Ecija also snapped a three-game losing skid with a thrilling 72-71 escape over erstwhile unscathed Pampanga G Lanterns.

Gabby Espinas paced Caloocan with 22 points, three rebounds and three assists, while Paul Sanga got 12 points and seven rebounds.

MELBOURNE, Australia—Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic own the two largest collections of Grand Slam trophies in the history of men’s tennis.

KIMI BRODETH booked an expected two-title romp but unranked Vince Baisa stirred up play with his own “double” in the boys’ division in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) Iloilo City national juniors tennis championships at the LaPaz Plaza courts over the weekend.

coming off a win in the season’s lead-off Masters Top 8 tournament in Negros Occidental last week, lived up to her top billing by mastering No. 2 Jana Diaz with a pair of

Dunlop were Joy Ansay and Tristan Licayan (14U), and Ma. Caroliean Fiel and local bet Anthony Castigador (12U).

DEAR Gianni Infantino,

RIANNE MALIXI hopes to get going early as she slugs it out with world amateur No. 10 Anna Davis of the US and Japanese Nika Ito at the start of the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Annika Invitational Sunday at the Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Florida.

Yana Wilson, winner of the 2022 US Girls’ Junior title who nipped Davis in sudden death to reign here last year, banners the elite cast, a mix of 12-to-19 years old rising stars and leading players in the ranks, including Rolex AJGA No. 1 player Gianna Clemente, Katie Li,

Coyote, the San Antonio Spurs’ mascot, helps announce the attendance during the Spurs-Golden State Warriors game in San Antonio, Friday. The Warriors beat the Spurs, 144-113, before a National Basketball Association-record crowd of 68,323 at the Alamodome. The attendance shattered the previous regularseason record of 62,046 who watched Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls play the Atlanta Hawks at the Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998. AP

Malixi starts campaign vs world’s best in AJGA Annika Invitational

BLEachErs’ BrEw

rick OLivarEs bleachersbrew@ gmail.com

FOR all that the long-time rivals have in common, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could hardly be entering this Australian Open, which begins Monday, under more contrasting circumstances.

ORMOC City’s Kimi Brodeth (left) celebrates her second straight leg win but Vince Baisa steals the show in the junior circuit.

RIANNE MALIXI expects to measure up with the best in the fold.

NUNAG