BusinessMirror July 01, 2024

Panel eyes faster farm imports unloading

By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

O manage high commodity prices in the country, the government is looking to expedite the unloading of imported agricultural products, fast-tracking the release of subsidies to various sectors and addressing exporting delays.

The Department of Finance (DOF) said on Sunday the Economic Development Group (EDG) and the InterAgency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) convened on June 28 to discuss updates on proposed measures to combat inflation.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) was urged by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to ensure accurate valuation and imposition of tariffs on rice imports. Tariff revenue loss due to rice undervaluation, or failure to disclose in full the price actually paid or payable, amounted to P7.2 billion in 2023, according to the Federation of Free Farmers. The Neda Board, led by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., approved the rice tariff reduction to 15 percent from 35 percent until 2028 to lower rice prices to P29.00 per kilo at least for the poor.

The BOC was also instructed by Neda to accelerate and prioritize unloading of imported agricultural products in accordance with Administrative Order No. 20. This directive aims to simplify administrative processes and eliminate non-tariff barriers to facilitate better processing.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will also import 200,000 metric tons of refined sugar, which will arrive no later than October 2024, to address production shortfall and replenish stocks for the second half of the year, according to the DOF.

To address non-food inflation, the

DOF called on the DA, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to speed up the implementation and disbursement of targeted subsidies to vulnerable sectors. Moreover, the government is looking into using the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) as a registration and validation system to distribute subsidies efficiently.

See “Panel,”

5-MO GOVT BORROWINGS

TBy Reine Juvierre S. Alberto

HE national government’s borrowings reached P1.422 trillion in the first five months of the year as it continued to tap more into the debt market to bankroll its projects and programs.

L atest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed the state’s gross borrowings from January to May rose by 16.18 percent to P1.422 trillion from the P1.224 trillion recorded in the same period in 2023.

The bulk, or 82.28 percent, of the total gross borrowings of the five-month period went to domestic borrowings, reaching P1.170 trillion.

The five-month domestic gross borrowings are higher by 24.71 percent or P289.095 billion than the P880.905 billion posted in the same period a year ago.

The lion’s share of the government’s gross domestic borrowings came from the Retail Treasury

Bonds at P584.861 billion, followed by the Fixed Rate Treasury Bonds (T-bonds) at P498.979 billion, and Treasury Bills (T-bills) at P86.822 billion so far. Foreign borrowings, meanwhile, went down by 26.80 percent to P251.712 billion in January to May from the P343.874 billion recorded in 2023. P roject loans amounted to P41.030 billion while program loans stood at P95.435 billion as of end-May.

For the month of May, domestic financing amounted to P131.721 billion, which is almost the same as its P131.792-billion debt in the same month in 2023.

SM GROUP TO HELP FILL UP NCR SHORTFALL FOR MICE VENUES

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special

THE Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector in the country has rebounded, necessitating more convention space, which the SM Group is willing to help fill up especially in Metro Manila.

MICE organizer and PEPTarsus Corp. President Joel Pascual said, “It took our company just one year to reach 2019 revenue levels. The [Covid-19] pandemic proved a point that virtual meetings can never replace face-toface as the most effective way of doing business. We were really overbooked.” He cited  SMX Convention Center Manila and the World Trade Center in Pasay, as having even unable to accept his events because they were booked solid. “So as the paranoia of Covid eased, we’re now back in business with a vengeance,” he said during the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association’s 2nd Sales and Mar-

keting Summit on Friday. A s this developed, SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. (SMHCC) Vice President-Commercial Agnes Caparas Pacis announced the expansion of the SMX Manila at the same summit. “In the last quarter of next year, or early 2026, we’re adding 18,000 square meters of convention space—it’s going to be called SMX-MOA Extension.” In comparison, the ground floor trade halls of SMX Manila spans 9,000 sqm, but the total leasable space in the building is 17,000 sqm for two floors, and can accommodate up to 18,000 participants. The clearance of SMX Manila is 7.5 meters, and for the extension building, it will  be 12 meters

“ It really hurts us to be turning down [events], and that’s the absolute truth; we’ve been turning down a lot of business. For MICE events, whether it’s small, medium, or large, [organizers] want to be in a convention center,” she explaining, citing the reason for the SMX expansion.

BCDA P200Beyes in investment pledges

STATE-RUN Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said it is targeting to secure P200 billion in investment pledges, particularly in the areas of pharmaceutical industrial development, logistics, tourism and data centers, among others.

B CDA President and CEO Joshua M. Bingcang said P90 billion worth of investments generated by the state-run firm are already being poured into BCDA’s projects.

“ Since I’ve assumed office for a year now, the investment that we already have gained from our partnerships is close to P90 billion as the committed investment that is already being poured right now,” Bingcang said in a televised interview over the weekend.

“And of course these new ones will further add that investment into the economy and also create more jobs, so we target at least P200 billion—because the partnership that we had with Maharlika will entail around $2 to $3 billion of partnership,” Bingcang also noted.

Bingcang unveiled BCDA’s investment pledge target as he illustrated how the second half of the year will unfold in relation to the state-run firm’s investment missions. For one, Bingcang said the BCDA group will fly to India and Taiwan, among others, to bag more investments.

“ So we will be having a roadshow abroad that BCDA will be participating in. We will be targeting not just pharmaceutical industrial development, but also logistics and also data centers,” said Bingcang.

I n terms of the Clark airport development, which BCDA is the lessor together with Changi Airport-led Consortium, Bingcang said the state-run firm will be joining the national government’s “air talks” in India.

“ So in August, we will be joining that delegation to attract investments, tourism and more flights too that will not just consider the entire country but also for Clark,” the BCDA president said.

Comelec filing poll offense vs Guo for misrepresentation

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

AFTER  the Senate revealed that Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is a Chinese national, the Commission on Elections said it may finally file an election offense against the embattled local official.

Comelec Chairman George M. Garcia said they are now just waiting for the official evidence from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and the Senate before they

Unfazed by FL’s events center SMHCC is also unfazed by the construction of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos’s P18-billion Philippine International Exhibition Center (PIEC) at the Cultural Center of the Philipines complex. “Nope [we’re not afraid] because that will introduce us to the world and hopefully, there’s enough [business] for everyone,” said Pacis. According to a report

decide to run after the mayor, cited last Friday in a damning NBI report as having the same fingerprints as the dependent of an investor visa recipient.

by Bilyonaryo, the proposed PIEC will add 108,000 sqm of convention space to Metro Manila alone. It will be recalled that First Lady Imelda R. Marcos also spearheaded the construction of the Philippine International Convention Center for the country’s hosting of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings in 1976.

M eanwhile, Pacis also shared the recovery of the SMHCC’s conventions business.   “In terms of revenue, SMX as a group  already surpassed 2019 levels de -

“ It will be the [Comelec] Law Department which will recommend to the [Comelec] En banc, where the case will be filed,” Garcia said in a phone interview on Sunday.

He said Comelec is now studying the filing of a motu proprio misrepresentation case against Guo after she stated in the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) she filed for the 2022 polls that she is a Filipino citizen and not a permanent resident or immigrant from another country.

S he also claimed she has been living in the country for 35 years, Of which, 18 years was her residence in Bamban, Tarlac.

However, it was revealed during a Senate probe, and later con-

spite the downsizing [and even cancellation/postponement] of certain trade shows and exhibits due to the continued lackluster participation of exhibitors from China. This is largely due to the upsizing of certain local events and expansion of a few overseas events. Needless to say, the positive trend would’ve been stronger if China’s presence in the consumer shows continued to grow.” In 2019, there were only six branches of SMX in other parts of the country. Since then, SMX Clark and SMX Olongapo

firmed by the National Bureau of Investigation, that Guo has the same fingerprint as Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national, who entered the country on January 12, 2003.

L ast month, Comelec said it can still pursue the possible misrepresentation case against Guo in relation to the 2022 polls since the prescriptive period for the filing of an election offense case is five years.

A side from the misrepresentation case, Guo is also facing human trafficking charges in the Department of Justice (DOJ) due to her alleged involvement in an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in Bamban, Tarlac.

S he is suspected to have ties with a Chinese criminal syndicate.

have been built, both having opened in 2022.

SMHCC’s parent unit SM Prime Holdings Inc. reported its hotel and conventions unit earning P6.3 billion in revenues last year, 45 percent more than the P4.34 billion recorded in 2022. There was no separate revenue report for SMHCC in 2019. Pacis told the BusinessMirror that the conventions unit accounts for some 20 percent of the SMHCC’s gross operating revenue in 2023.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is trying to reclaim the Philippines’s position as preferred destination for MICE in Asia. But Pascual, who also chairs the Philippine Association of Convention/ Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers Inc. (Paceos), believes the country shouldn’t be pushed as a MICE venue just yet. “[The DOT/TPB] can promote that we exist but not a hard line because of the space constraints. I don’t want to frustrate the market in pushing the Philippines too hard, when our infrastructure is not yet ready. I’m just happy there’s so much happening, which means we’ll get there. Once we’re there, push it hard and hopefully regain our stature as a MICE destination.”

Sen. Go helps fire-stricken households in Navotas

SEN. Christopher “Bong” Go recently extended additional support to recovering fire victims in Navotas City to help them rebuild by dispatching assistance through his Malasakit Team at Tanza Annex Covered Court.

To you fire victims, don’t worry. As I told you before, things can be bought, money can be earned, but that money cannot buy a life. A lost life is a lost life forever. Let’s take good care of our life and our health,” said Go in a message in Filipino.

The government borrowed P121.721 billion from fixed-rate T-bonds and P10 billion from short-term T-bills in terms of domestic financing in May.

I n the same month last year, the state borrowed more T-bills amounting to P31.792 billion and only P100 billion in T-bonds, data from the Treasury showed.

The government secured P127.613 billion from foreign sources in May, higher by 88.25 percent compared to the P14.991 billion it borrowed in May 2023.

The Treasury raised $2 billion or P115.247 billion from its issuance of dual-tranche US dollar bonds, which accounted for the bulk of foreign borrowings in May.

The government also received

The Department of Energy (DOE), meanwhile, has requested the DOF to review fiscal policies for a “more liberal approach” towards the power sector as it faces constraints and challenges on power generation and transmission.

A dditionally, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has been enhancing its research and development initiatives for safe and affordable medicine, along with locally developed medical technologies.

By region, 26.3 percent of the total number of RRELs granted were from the NCR.

B SP said the other regions, which contributed significantly to the number of RRELs granted, were: Calabarzon (34 percent), Central Luzon (13.3 percent), Western Visayas (6.6 percent), Central Visayas (6.1 percent), Davao Region (4.8 percent), and Northern Mindanao (2 percent).

These regions, including the NCR, comprised 93.1 percent of the total housing loans granted by banks.

The BSP noted that the RREPI is a measure of the average change in the prices of various types of housing units, i.e., single-detached/attached houses, duplex housing units, townhouses, and condominium units, based on banks’ data on actual mortgage loans granted to acquire new housing units (excluding preowned or foreclosed properties).

It is a chain-linked index computed using the average appraised value per square meter, weighted by the share of floor area of each type of housing unit to the total floor area of all housing units.

The RREPI is used as an indicator for assessing the real estate and credit market conditions in the country. The BSP has been releasing the report since June 2016.

I n coordination with  Mayor John Rey Tiangco, Vice Mayor Tito Sanchez, Councilors Abu Gino-gino, Cesar Justine “CJ” Santos, and Miguel “Migi” Naval, the senator brought affected families essential aid such as snacks, shirts, masks, vitamins, basketballs, and volleyballs. Select recipients got shoes and a mobile phone.    Go’s initiative also facilitated the National Housing Authority’s provision of Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) benefits to 56 eligible households affected by the fire.

P12.366 billion in project loans from multilateral lenders in May. To meet its spending requirements and to finance its budget deficit, the government will borrow P2.57 trillion. It will follow a 75:25 mix, wherein 75 percent of the amount would be borrowed domestically while the remaining quarter would come from the foreign debt market.

The government’s budget gap widened by 24.06 percent to P404.8 billion as of end-May 2024, according to the Treasury.

“ The higher deficit resulted from an acceleration in government spending, pushing disbursement growth for the month to 22.24 percent, as against revenue expansion of 14.59 percent,” the Treasury said.

To mitigate delays and added costs affecting exporters, the DTI will collaborate with the DOF and the BOC in assessing the possible exemption of Philippine exporters from the Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo (E-TRACC) system.

O ffice of Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs (OSAPIEA) Secretary Frederick Go chaired the meeting. The next EDG Meeting is scheduled on August 30, 2024.

Moreover, Bingcang said the group will be joining a delegation in Taiwan which will be led by Filinvest, its private sector partner. “Because their industrial park is ready,their site development is complete. The utilities are there so they’re ready to welcome more locators into their area,” he noted.

Wrapping up the accomplishments of the state-run firm in the first half of the year, Bingcang said the group “got tremendous interest from the private sector” and “strong national government support.”

The BCDA’s most recent investment trip was in Tokyo, Japan as the state-run firm, being the “non-cabinet participant” joined Philippine government officials at the Philippine economic briefing.

“ Because of the experiences of BCDA in [public-private partnership] PPP projects and the readiness of our properties, they strongly push for Japanese investments to come to our properties and so we signed two contracts,” said Bingcang.

O ne of the two contracts signed was the “possible” mass transport system in Baguio City through cable car system which he said is meant to be the “pioneer” for the Philippines.

“As you see Baguio is no longer just a summer capital. Year-round, it continues to attract hundreds of thousands of local tourists so we really need to address the mass

transport to make it convenient for people to go to Baguio especially in Camp John Hay which is our property, always at an all time high,” said Bingcang.

Bingcang said BCDA also joined President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his visit to Australia last March where the state-run firm was able to ink four contracts, including a deal which will enable the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles in the Philippines. We signed four contracts there one which is the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles. They will operate in August as a commitment of our agreement that we had in Australia this year,” Bingcang said. So they will be the hub for Southeast Asia they will be manufacturing around batteries to cater 300,000 vehicles for electric vehicles. So that’s for sustainability and development,” the BCDA president added.

Bingcang said the BCDA has already generated close to P2 billion in revenues but he noted that the state-run firm is targeting to collect P7 billion in revenues.

“Those are the revenues which we will later on contribute to the national dividends.”

Moving forward, Bingcang expressed optimism that “All the ingredients to make Clark the next investment destination are already present.”

FMJr’s Partido Federal, National Unity Party join forces in preparation for 2025 elections

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

PRESIDENT Marcos’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) and the National Unity Party (NUP) have formalized an alliance, marking the culmination of a twoyear partnership aimed at achieving the administration’s vision of a prosperous and inclusive Bagong Pilipinas.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, NUP president, said this formal alliance is the “logical conclusion” of the NUP’s two-year close working partnership with the Chief Executive and his administration.

Villafuerte said the PFP-NUP alliance, which was formally sealed on Saturday at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City, serves as a “splendid opportunity” for both parties, along with other like-minded groups, “to work together on advancing a Bagong Pilipinas that promises a robust and inclusive growth and development for all Filipinos.”

This alliance “marks another watershed in the history of Philippine electoral politics” and “best illustrates that true-blue members of different mainstream political parties, given the right motivation or inspiration, can transcend partisan politics or personal interests in pursuit of the long-aspired genuine transformation of our public governance, our economy, and our society,” said Villafuerte during the event that was attended by President Marcos.

Villafuerte pointed out that the NUP “shares the President’s vision for a prosperous and peaceful Bagong Pilipinas where no Filipino is left behind. We are thus proud to seal a formal alliance with the PFP as a splendid opportunity for both parties, along with other like-minded groups, to work together on advancing a new Philippines that promises robust and inclusive growth and development for all Filipinos.”

As the second-biggest political group in Congress, “the NUP has played a significant role in

helping our President and his administration pursue and attain deep and fundamental transformations over the past two years, leading to post-pandemic recovery,” he said. Villafuerte said that the NUP has backed its rhetoric of support for the President with concrete actions by fully supporting his major programs and policies in and out of the Legislature. The formal alliance with the President’s PFP is thus a logical conclusion of their close working partnership.

President Marcos witnessed the signing of the alliance pact by Villafuerte; chairman and former interior and local government secretary Ronaldo Puno; secretarygeneral Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia for the NUP; and president and South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr.; executive vice president and Special Assistant to the President Secretary Antonio Lagdameo Jr.; and vice chairman and Ilocos Norte Rep. Alexander Ferdinand Marcos III for the PFP.

The other party executives present at the event included NUP vice chairmen Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, and Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas; and PFP secretarygeneral Thompson Lantion, a retired police general.

In his speech, President Marcos said “we are making a very important change in the thinking, in the politics of the Philippines,” because the alliance is based “not on political expediency but on ideology...And that is what we plan to do, and we have come to the understanding and to the agreement that that can only be achieved if we have unity, if we all work together.”

Puno said in his speech, meanwhile, that with the NUP’s formal alliance with the PFP, “We reaffirm our commitment to putting the interests of the people above all else. This alliance is a testament to our collective dedication to serving the needs of every Filipino citizen. Together, we are stronger, more resilient, and better equipped to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.”

Govt social programs benefit thousands in Leyte

EIGHT thousand beneficiaries have received P5,000 worth of financial assistance and 20 kilos of rice each from the Cash and Rice Distribution (CARD) Program and the Integrated Scholarship and Incentives for the Youth (ISIP for the Youth) Program in separate events in Leyte.

For the CARD program, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said a total of 5,000 qualified beneficiaries received financial aid of P5,000 each through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS) Program. They also received 20 kilos of rice each in a simple ceremony held at the Tacloban Astrodome in Tacloban City.

CARD is a revolutionary program initiated by Romualdez to help vulnerable sectors such as poor senior citizens, persons with disability (PWD), single parents, tribesmen, and others.

Romualdez said a total of 3,000 qualified beneficiaries in Leyte received P5,000 cash aid each from the DSWD’s

IBP backs Pinoy fishermen’s right to operate on RP’s EEZ

TAICS and five kilos of rice at the event held at Alba Hall of Leyte Normal University. The ISIP for the Youth Program provides assistance to deserving college, technical, and vocational level students with their study expenses.

Selected students will also be admitted to the Tulong Dunong Program (TDP) of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). These students will each receive P15,000 in aid per semester. They will also be given priority in the Government Internship Program (GIP) to help them enter the workforce immediately after their studies. If their parents or guardians are unemployed, they will be admitted to the Department of Labor and Employment-Tulong Panghanapbuhat para sa Disadvantaged-Displaced Workers (Tupad) program.

“These two programs are important to us in Congress because they provide direct assistance to sectors such as qualified students, senior citizens, PWDs, indigenous peoples, single parents, and many others,” Romualdez explained.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

DTI task force seizes ₧3-M uncertified auto parts

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) has backed the stance of the government that Filipino fishermen have the right to go fishing within the 200-mile Philippine exclusive economic zone.

In a statement, IBP national president Antonio Pido, reminded the government that it is “dutybound to provide protection” to Filipino fishermen who ply their trade within the country’s EEZ amid threats from the Chinese government to detain “foreign trespassers” in the South China Sea.

The IBP cited Article 13, section 7 of the 1987 Constitution requiring the State to uphold the right of subsistence fishermen to have preferential treatment in the use of communal fishing grounds, both inland and offshore. This right is extended to protection

against “foreign intrusion.”

“The Integrated Bar of the Philippines stands with the Filipino fishermen who are only exercising their right to a livelihood inside our own Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ],” the IBP said.

“The Integrated Bar of the Philippines also supports the legitimate stand of the Philippine government in asserting our country’s lawful and sovereign rights over the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ] in the West Philippine Sea,” it added.

This position of the IBP, the official and mandatory organization of all lawyers in the Philippines,

was unanimously adopted by its governing board.

The lawyers’ group, however, did not say whether it would play a specific role in ensuring the rights of the fishermen are protected.

The IBP also cites the Treaty of Paris signed in 1898 when Spain ceded the Philippine archipelago to the United States of America.

This was reinforced and clarified in the Treaty of Washington of 1900 where the parties listed the additional islands that Spain turned over to the US.

“When the Philippines gained independence, all these islands covered by the Treaty of Paris and Treaty of Washington that form part of the Philippine archipelago became part of our country’s territory,” the IBP said.

It can be recalled that in 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a decision upholding the country’s sovereign rights over its EEZ in the West Philippine Sea.

The IBP said the decision stressed that “the Philippines shall enjoy all economic rights within its EEZ, including fishing, resource exploration, and marine conservation.”

Divorce violates Constitution–Atienza

AFORMER Manila mayor and deputy speaker of the House of Representratives has cautioned Senators against joining the rush caused by the passage of the divorce bill at the Lower House.

The bill is now with the Senate.

“Do not join the stampede created by the divorce bill because that is artificial, it is not what Filipinos see as the solution to their marital problems. Approving it would violate the basic law of the land—the Constitution. We, as lawmakers, should follow the Constitution and not violate it. There are already laws that address some of the reasons the proponents use as the basis for the divorce law, such as violence against women and children. Abusive husbands and fathers can be jailed for violating existing laws,” former Rep. Joselito Atienza, who was the nominee of the party-list group Buhay for three terms or nine years, said.

Atienza highlighted the constitutional provisions, specifically Article II, Section 12, where the State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family. Likewise, the Constitution, under Article XV, Sections 1 and 2, recognizes

the Filipino family as the foundation of the nation and that marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State.

“They should consult the framers of the present Constitution. If they insist on passing this law, we will take it all the way to the Supreme Court. We will also question the legality of the manner in which the bill was approved. In our nine years as a lawmaker, this is the first time we have seen a measure approved on the floor, with the number of votes being changed after the session had been adjourned—all just to satisfy the required number of majority votes. If this had happened during my time as a Congressman, I would have questioned it right there and then,” he added.

Atienza has consistently spoken out against anti-life measures, including the divorce bill. In his nine years in Congress, he has successfully blocked these bills at the committee level.

“We admonish the congressmen who approved this bill not to celebrate prematurely. Because they are not only destroying their own family but also the Filipino family. They are not only violating God’s law, but our Constitution as well.

Atienza, who has been married for 58 years, acknowledges that there is no perfect marriage, especially in the union of two people with different personalities. But love and respect for each other allow couples to work out their differences within the home to preserve their marriage and protect the welfare of their children.

“Divorce violates the law of God and our country; let’s disregard it. We should be proud of the fact that, aside from the Vatican, we are the only country in the world that prohibits divorce. We should take pride in this because we stand by what is right, unlike what the pro-divorce advocates say that we are being left behind by the world,” Atienza added.

Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Go helps disadvantaged youths in

ON FRIDAY, June 28, Sen. Christopher Go personally extended his assistance to 1,000 disadvantaged youths at Dadiangas East Elementary School Gymnasium in General Santos City, following his earlier aid to displaced workers in Alabel, Sarangani.

In his speech, Go emphasized the government’s vital role in supporting Filipinos facing hardships, especially those who were adversely affected by the pandemic or other economic challenges. Go distributed grocery packs, snacks, shirts, vitamins, and masks. There were also select recipients of bicycles, mobile phones, shoes, watches, volleyballs, and basketballs.

The youths in General Santos

City will benefit from the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged-Displaced Workers (Tupad) program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through the support of Go. Tupad is a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced, underemployed, and seasonal workers, offering shortterm livelihood opportunities.

Go expressed his gratitude to the local officials, including Rep. Loreto Acharon, Gov. Rogelio Dapidran Pacquiao, Vice Gov. Elmer de Peralta, and Mayor Lorelie Pacquiao, and Dole officials, among others, for their collaboration in providing opportunities for their constituents.

He assured continued support for initiatives that create more

GenSan

opportunities for disadvantaged Filipinos. He also encouraged the beneficiaries to keep working hard, noting the fulfillment that comes from earning money through hard work. He advised them to use their earnings wisely and leverage the skills acquired during the livelihood program for other opportunities.

In his efforts to further support Filipino workers affected by crises and those in rural areas with limited employment options, Go introduced Senate Bill 420. This proposed legislation aims to establish the Rural Employment Assistance Program (REAP), providing temporary jobs to qualified individuals from low-income rural families willing to engage in unskilled manual labor for a certain period.

By Andrea San Juan @andreasanjuan

THE Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Task Force Kalasag seized over P3 million worth of uncertified automotive products in North Cotabato.

The Trade department said the task force confiscated uncertified lead-acid storage batteries and motor vehicle brake fluid worth P3.1 million.

In a heightened enforcement operation conducted from June 17 to 20, DTI said its task force seized 992 units of uncertified products across the region.

The largest crackdown involved 754 uncertified units amounting to P2.8 million, discovered in an automotive shop located in Poblacion, Kidapawan City.

The agency noted that the seized products did not bear the required Philippine Standard (PS) markings and Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) stickers, violating Republic Act 4109 or the Product Standards Law.

Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual underscored the importance of going after “unsafe” products in the Philippine market, saying by removing these goods from the market, “we ensure a safer environment for Filipino consumers and promote fair competition among responsible businesses that prioritize consumer safety.”

“Task Force Kalasag’s recent seizure of uncertified lead-acid batteries and brake fluids is a critical step towards protecting consumers from potential safety hazards. These uncertified automotive products risk fires, explosions, and road accidents,” added Pascual.

With this, DTI is encouraging the consuming public to be vigilant and choose certified automotive products from “reputable” sources.

The agency said the establishment involved in the sale of uncertified products was issued a Preliminary Preventive Order.

“This restricts the unauthorized removal, tampering, and transfer of the seized products without a written order from a duly authorized officer from the DTI’s Fair Trade Group-Fair Trade and Enforcement Bureau [FTGFTEB],” DTI said in a statement it issued over the weekend.

In addition, it noted that the shop faces a Notice of Violation requiring a written explanation within 48 hours, adding that failure to comply will result in the filing of a formal charge with a corresponding penalty.

DTI established Task Force Kalasag in April 2024 to “strengthen” consumer welfare and ensure a fair trade environment.

With action teams manned by the FTG-FTEB enforcement unit, the task force conducts nationwide monitoring, surveillance, enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication. Further, DTI said the team provides “quick” response actions during periods of calamities, disasters, and public emergencies.

Since its launch, Task Force Kalasag has already confiscated 1,282 units of uncertified lead-acid batteries and 226 motor vehicle brake fluids worth almost P4 million. According to DTI,these enforcement efforts have spanned across Region 4A (Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Rizal), Metro Manila (Parañaque City), Region 3 (Pampanga), Region 8 (Tacloban and Eastern Samar), and Region 9 (General Santos, Koronadal, Kidapawan and Tacurong City).

FORMER Rep. Joselito Atienza

Think tank to govt: Spend more for broadband infra

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

INTERNATIONAL think tank

Stratbase ADR on Sunday urged the government to allocate more resources for broadband infrastructure to catch up with global internet speed standards and become competitive in the global digital economy.

Stratbase ADR Institute President Victor Andres Manhit pointed out that the Philippines remains a laggard in terms of broadband speed and coverage.

Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, as of May 2024, indicate that the Philippines ranked 83rd in mobile internet speed at 32.12 Mbps compared to Vietnam’s 52.15 Mbps, Singapore’s 99.29 Mbps, and Malaysia at 95.66 Mbps. For fixed broadband, the Philippines ranks 56th at 94.50 Mbps while Vietnam is at 129.01 Mbps, Malaysia at 134.44 Mbps, Thailand at 235.86 Mbps, and Singapore at 289.98 Mbps.

“Broadband connectivity of the country has been lagging

behind international rankings because our digital infrastructure needs extensive expansion and upgrading to a level that empowers our people and industries to compete in this highly digitized world,” Manhit said in a statement.

“These rankings show how much we still have to catch up in terms of connectivity. This is a clear hindrance to our competitiveness at a time when we are angling to be a middle-income economy,” added Manhit.

President Marcos on many occasions had acknowledged and stressed the importance of a sound and stable digital infrastructure for the Philippines.

‘EXPLORATION, STABLE ENERGY SUPPLY SHOULD BE PRIORITY’

Continued from A12

That business can continues, as will the day to day living of people, because we have a steady source of power]. This issue affects our day-to-day lives. And we have to find long-term solutions,” she added.

Cayetano laid out her agenda as panel chief of the Senate Committee on Energy after she visited the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform (SWP) on Friday to gain firsthand insight into the operations of the country’s energy asset. The SWP platform is situated 50 kilometers off the coast of Palawan.

She w as joined by executives of Prime Energy Resources Development B.V. (Prime Energy), a subsidiary of Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc.—Guillaume Lucci, Prime Infra President and CEO, and Donnabel Kuizon Cruz, Prime Energy General Manager and Managing Director. T he facility currently supplies 20 percent of Luzon’s electricity requirements,

thus playing a crucial role in meeting the region’s increasing energy demands. The senator met the facility’s all-Filipino frontline workers—including engineers, technicians, and even chefs—and learned about their daily life aboard the platform, as well as their crucial roles in ensuring the smooth operation of the facility.

“It ’s an amazing experience for me to see how things operate, and to meet the people who do the actual work. I’m not an energy expert. But I like learning from the experts and talking to the people on the ground. As a legislator, these are important for me to understand—the depth of our problem on energy—so I can help by way of policymaking,” said Cayetano, who replaced Sen. Raffy Tulfo during the committee revamps that followed the ascension of Sen. Chiz Escudero to the Senate presidency. “B ecause our supply now is based on the planning that was done 20 to 30 years ago... It’s about planning long-term. That’s what I hope I can bring to the discussion and help by way of policymaking,” the senator said.

“ When you experience this [visit] and you see the kind of investments that goes into ensuring energy security and energy reliability. Reliability is you will have power 24/7, security is when you have access, and that is where indigenous [gas] comes in,” Cayetano said.

T he Malampaya Deepwater Gas-toPower project is the country’s first and only indigenous gas resource off the province of Palawan, significantly boosting the nation’s energy independence since 2001.

P rime Infra President Lucci said having

Manhit said broadband connectivity is the backbone of economic growth, education, and social development. It is the main engine of communications among Filipinos and those who have little to no access to it are being deprived of opportunities for economic advancement

“A fast, robust, and accessible broadband network for our people will be critical in developing the potential of our digital savvy population into a powerhouse of innovators of new digital technologies, and not just as users and consumers.”

“Other countries have allotted significant amounts for internet spending, but the Philippines lags behind even in this basic benchmark,” said Manhit.

According to 2023 data from the National Telecommunication Commission, Asian countries are investing aggressively in digital infrastructure. Compared to the P1.9 billion 2023 budget of the National Broadband Plan implemented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), translated to the current exchange rate it is a measly $0.032 Billion compared to Indonesia’s $2.06 billion, Malaysia’s $5.1 billion, Singapore’s $2.8 billion, South Korea’s $22

a senator witness the efforts of the team to “keep the lights on” underscores the critical importance of the company’s work.

T he visit coincides with Malampaya’s continuous preparation for its Phase 4 drilling program, which aims to drill and tie-in two new deepwater wells starting 2025 and produce new gas by 2026.

The pressure of the gas in the existing reservoir is going down and the only way to increase the production again is to drill new wells in the same reservoir.... We’re more than ready to do it.

“ The plan is to drill in 2025 for the new gas to come in 2026. We’re not just increasing gas production but extending the life of the platform as well through maintenance activities,” said Prime Energy Managing Director and General Manager Donnabel Kuizon Cruz.

As former chairperson of the S enate Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation, and Futures Thinking, Cayetano said she plans to integrate the principles of strategic foresight and futures thinking into her new role as head of the Energy committee. Focusing on energy security, reliability, and sustainability, she underscored the importance of long-term planning to ensure a stable energy supply for future generations.

From Malampaya, Cayetano also went to El Nido to conduct grassroots Padel clinics in partnership with Padel Pilipinas, the country’s official padel federation recognized by the Philippine Olympics Committee. Local youth and students from Palawan State University were invited to participate in the said clinics held at the Palawan Padel Club.

Later that day, Cayetano met with members of the women’s sector of El Nido, where she praised the mothers for their tireless dedication to their families as both caregivers and providers and encouraged them to embrace education opportunities.

Butch Fernandez and Lenie Lectura

billion, Hong Kong’s $18 billion, and China’s US$1.4 trillion.

“Even Vietnam has surpassed us with its $0.82 billion. That’s saying a lot,” Manhit said.

Over the past six years, however, the government’s connectivity investments in terms of the DICT’s allocation has paled in comparison to the investments of the private sector. From 2018 to 2023, the DICT only had P43.3 billion. Compared to aggregated disclosures submitted to the PSE and SEC, investments by the country’s top three telcos were approximately P1.079 trillion.

Manhit emphasized the importance of the government and private sector aligning their resources and strategies to close the broadband infrastructure gap as this directly impacts the economic performance of the whole economic spectrum of the country.

“This is a clear demonstration of the extent the private telcos are willing to invest to prop up the country’s digital capability,” said Manhit. “The government must complement this with counterpart investments as broadband connectivity is an empowering critical infrastructure that should at least be at par with global standards.”

‘New

China’s curb in fertilizer exports worries farmers

CBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia

HINA’s further restriction of fertilizer exports will cause an increase in the prices of farm inputs, the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) said.

“China’s fertilizer export restriction will tighten supply and raise prices of these inputs, leading to their reduced usage and the lower production of our crops,” FFF Chairman Leonardo Montemayor told the BusinessMirror

Bloomberg recently reported that China, the world’s second biggest fertilizer exporter, has decided to impose curbs on the export of “urea, a nitrogen-based fertilizer, and phosphates.”

China’s further restriction of fertilizer exports was spurred by the need to “contain domestic prices, cut farming costs and bolster grain security,” the report also said.

However, Roehlano Briones, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said the farm input price increase would only be a “small” amount.

“Fertilizer prices will go up but only by a small amount, there are other big players worldwide,” Briones told the BusinessMirror via SMS.

“We experienced a tripling of urea price in 2020 to 2022, and still managed to expand palay output and yield,” he added.

Senen Reyes, executive director of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s Center for Food and Agribusiness (CFA), was unsure of the extent of the impact of China’s latest restrictions would have on the farmers and the economy given the “very extreme” global fertilizer situation experienced in the past few years.

“Given [China’s extension of fertilizer export restrictions] and the experience of tightness and high prices during the pandemic coupled with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, I think local importers [or] manufacturers have already adjusted with alternative fertilizer sources [or] suppliers,” Reyes told the BusinessMirror

Citing data from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), a report by the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Development (CPBRD) showed that fertilizer imports last year reached 2.54 million metric tons (MMT).

“[This] shows that there was a cumulative total of 7.10MMT of fertilizer imports from 2021 to 2023, 63 percent of which were nitrogenous types like urea.”

intl airport to make Bulacan ecozone thrive’

LBy Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

AWMAKERS who backed the passage of the enabling law that created the Bulacan ecozone expect the speedy development of the New Manila International Airport in Bulakan town will perk development of the freeport.

Republic Act 11999 or the Bulacan Special Economic Freeport Act gave the soon to rise free port perks and benefits designed to invite investors to the area.

“Central to the establishment of the Bulacan EcoZone is the building of the quintessential airport that the country badly needs,” Sen. Grace Poe said.

“The new airport will unlock potentials for jobs, businesses, better travel experience, and regional economic growth,” added Poe, the principal sponsor of the law in the Senate.

The international airport in Bulakan town is expected to be operational by 2027.

Republic Act 11999 created the Bulacan Special Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (Beza)

which will manage the ecozone.

In consultation with the National Economic and Development Authority, the Beza will establish the general framework for land use, planning and development for the area covered by ecozone.

Under the law, the body will have an authorized capital stock of P2 billion, the majority shares of which shall be subscribed and paid for by the national and the local governments.

“The private domestic investor will build an airport worth P735 billion. The government should be ready to pitch in as a partner by developing the ecozone,” she said. Poe said the ecozone will be the perfect venue for an efficient and sustainable integrated airport network.

“We owe it to our people to give them a better airport, it has been long in coming,” Poe said.

As the Senate finance committee chairman, Poe pointed out that the chamber will exercise its functions to see to it that government funds for the Bulacan EcoZone will be spent judiciously.

THE proposed design of the New Manila International Airport. SAN MIGUEL CORP.

Manila clears gene-edited banana varieties

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, granted certificates of noncoverage from Joint Department Circular (JDC) 1, series of 2021, to Tropic Biosciences.

Tropic Biosciences developed the reduced browning bananas (TRB011011 and TRB11002) using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system.

“These bananas have the potential to reduce food waste and carbon dioxide emissions equiva-

lent to removing 2 million cars from the road per year,” the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said in the June issue of its online weekly publication, Biotech Update. The product developer submit-

ted scientific evidence to BPI to obtain the non-coverage certificate. According to BPI, the decision is based on the Technical Consultation for Evaluation and Determination procedure described in

DA Memorandum Circular No. 08 s. 2022 Rules and Regulation to Evaluate and Determine when Products of Plant Breeding Innovations (PBls) are covered under JDC 1.

‘DA to embrace innovative farming methods’

TBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia

h E Department of Agriculture (DA) will increasingly adopt “technology-based” planting methods to make farming more attractive to young Filipinos.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said there is “an urgent need” to modernize farming methods to cater to aging farmers and stimulate the country’s growth.

he noted that the local farming sector is facing serious challenges due to an aging farming population, with the average age of Filipino farmers pegged at 56 years old.

“The big challenge we face is making farming profitable [...] The solution lies in embracing technology-based farming methods,” Laurel said in a statement.

h e pointed to successful local innovations in h e rmosa and

Dinalupihan, Bataan, where advancements like small water impounding systems, fertigation techniques, and drip irrigation have “revolutionized” crop production.

According to the DA, these technologies have shown the potential to significantly reduce fertilizer use by up to 70 percent and cut water consumption by 30 percent, thereby optimizing resource efficiency and lowering costs for farmers.

Laurel also expressed interest in scaling up agricultural practices through large-scale greenhouse facilities, inspired by South Korea’s extensive use of such technology across 52,000 hectares (ha). In contrast, only 500 ha in the Philippines are currently dedicated to greenhouse farming.

“I am committed to personally investing in testing these greenhouse technologies before endorsing widespread adoption.”

Drawing inspiration from Vietnam’s successful agricultural policies, which include subsidies and guaranteed earnings for farmers through credit and crop insurance, the agri chief stressed the need for similar supportive measures in the Philippines.

Laurel also noted a need for a paradigm shift in agricultural education. he said the focus must be on comprehensive training in modern farming techniques instead of traditional methods he referred to as “Bahay Kubo technology.”

he called for increased access to government-backed loans facilitated by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, which has so far disbursed only P100 million out of P600 million available funds.

Laurel underscored the significance of “robust” crop insurance coverage to mitigate risks for farmers, thereby fostering confidence in adopting new technologies and sustainable practices.

he expressed optimism about the “transformative impact” of these initiatives on Philippine agriculture, envisioning a future where technology and innovation propel the sector towards enhanced productivity, profitability, and global competitiveness.

Laurel said the four-year plan crafted by his team aims to increase agri-fishery production by increased mechanization, improvement of post-harvest systems and infrastructures, development of efficient logistics systems for input and production output, expansion of market access, digitalization, and strengthening partnership with farmers, fisherfolk, and the private sector.

“The strategies outlined mark a strategic shift towards modernization and sustainability, positioning Philippine agriculture as a cornerstone of economic growth and food security in the years to come.”

Solon: Govt must boost rice buffer stock, pass cheaper rice bill

IT

Wh La Niña expected to arrive in the country in the third quarter, the government must shore up its rice buffer stock to last for 15 to 30 days, according to a partylist representative.

Agri Partylist Rep. Wilbert T. Lee said the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) indicated an optimal level of rice buffer stock.

“Our inventory must be sufficient to cover 15 to 30 days of national consumption or equivalent to at least 350,000 metric tons (MT) in case of emergencies or disasters. This is the optimal level of rice buffer stock stated in the IRR of RTL,” he said.

“The Philippines government has implemented a science-based, transparent, and efficient process for assessing the safety of geneedited plants. This is exactly the type of system that encourages companies like Tropic to invest in innovative technologies to develop sustainable solutions for Filipino farmers,” said Dr. Ofir Meir, Tropic’s chief technology officer.

BPI has granted the same certification to another reduced browning banana by Tropic in 2023.

Banana is one of the Philippines’s top exports. Last year, data from the PSA showed that the country’s earnings from shipments of the fruit to other countries reached $1.22 billion, 17 percent higher than the $1.097 billion recorded in 2022.

ISAAA also said Sanatech Seed’s Sicilian Rouge tomato with high

levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid was also cleared this year. The certificate allows the said gene-edited crops to be imported and cultivated in the country. Last May, ISAAA said high GABA tomato was first released by Sanatech in Japan in 2021. It was developed using CRISPRCas9 technology to contain high levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid that helps lower blood pressure. The gene-edited tomato has four to five times more GABA than conventional tomato varieties.

Based on the scientific evidence provided by the developer, BPI determined the gene-edited tomato as a non-GMO. This means that it will not go through the regulatory pathway in evaluating the biosafety of GMOs in the country, guided by JDC 1.

robots are stepping into one of Asia’s dirtiest farm jobs

Adrone buzzes between trees on a humid Malaysian morning, monitoring the oil palm fruits as they ripen. Self-driving trucks rumble over the vast plantation’s uneven ground, laying fertilizer and picking up the densely packed harvested bunches.

These are just some of the robots the Southeast Asian nation’s top palm growers hope will take over the sector’s most difficult and dirty jobs, plugging chronic worker shortages that have disrupted supplies of the world’s most-consumed edible oil. With global stockpiles set for the first back-to-back decline in more than 40 years, Malaysia has every reason to push for automation to boost production. Increased awareness of the industry’s problematic reliance on migrant workers—clouded by restrictions and labor abuses—has also encouraged companies to find alternative solutions, said Mohamad Helmy o t hman Basha, group managing director of S d Guthrie Bhd., a government-linked company previously known as Sime d a rby Plantation.

“To depend on foreign workers for all these key tasks is actually putting this industry at a very high risk,” Helmy said. “This is why we have to take this plunge. We really have to place these bets.”

it “will spend whatever is required to find a solution,” according to Helmy. n e arly 30 percent of its annual r & d budget will be spent on this initiative in the next three to four years.

The robots aren’t fully autonomous yet, meaning there is still a need for skilled workers to control and maneuver them. Plus, trickier tasks remain in the hands of humans—like safely cutting down ripe fruit bunches from trees that can be as tall as six-story buildings.

But the technological advances have already opened up an avenue for women to join a traditionally male-dominated workforce. Sri n o rhidayu Kussain, a 41-yearold woman, says the robots help with backbreaking tasks like lifting 30-kilogram (66-pound) fruit bunches and loading them into trucks.

“The work is now easier because these machines have successfully reduced the need for physical labor. It’s no longer like before when only men could do these type of jobs,” said n o rhidayu, who operates a pesticidespraying vehicle that can do the job of six workers at S d Guthrie’s Sungai Linau estate in Malaysia’s central state of Selangor.

Women make up 3 percent of the company’s roughly 700 machine operators and Helmy says the company is trying to attract more.

According to the NFA, its palay procurement reached nearly 3.37 million 50-kilo bags as of June 13, equivalent to 168,262 metric tons (MT).

While the solon recognized the efforts of NFA to boost the rice inventory by buying local palay for higher price, he maintained that this mechanism should be institutionalized.

Lee then called for the urgent passage of his proposed house Bill 9020 or the “Cheaper Rice Act” which will mandate the government to implement a “price subsidy” program to buy palay from local farmers at a higher farmgate price to ensure their profit and entice them to boost their production.

“Under this bill, the govern-

“But the NFA said recently that the national rice inventory would only last for four days during emergencies or disasters. This is not enough.”

ment will be mandated to buy rice from farmers at P5 to P10 higher than the prevailing farmgate price. With a higher buying price, farmers would be encouraged to increase their output,” he said.

“Our farmers deserve better prices for their products, so it is only fair that we demand better for them.”

The solon from Bicol further stressed that the best defense against inflation is supporting farmers whom he considers as “food security soldiers.”

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s unmilled rice production in January to March slid by 1.96 percent to 4.69 million metric tons (MMT) from the 4.78 MMT recorded in the same period in 2023.

The production of irrigated farms fell by 2.34 percent to 3.6 MMT from last year’s 3.69 MMT. Rainfed farms, which depend solely on rainfall, produced 1.086 MMT, slightly lower than the 1.094 MMT recorded in 2023.

Meanwhile, the palay output of Central Luzon, the country’s rice granary, declined by 10.55 percent to 775,644 MT from last year’s 867,084 MT. Central Luzon remained as the country’s top riceproducing region during the period.

Cagayan Valley, another top rice producer, had 754,833 MT or nearly 15 percent higher than last year’s 657,636 MT.

Based on the PSA’s data, palay or unmilled rice production in 2023 reached a record 20.06 MMT. The figure is 1.56 percent higher than the 19.76 MMT recorded in 2022.

Perfecting the robots and deploying them at a commercially viable scale will take years, even as firms pour millions into developing such technology and retraining their staff to use it. But producers are pressing ahead.

The plantation workforce in Malaysia— the world’s n o. 2 palm oil producer—was hollowed out during the pandemic, when border restrictions meant companies couldn’t bring in the foreign workers they so heavily rely on. It was the country’s worst-ever worker shortage and palm oil production plummeted, pushing prices to record highs. The industry lost billions.

S d Guthrie learned its lesson. Where possible, the firm has started using machines to take over non-harvesting jobs like spraying pesticide or monitoring fruit and yields.

Where the industry average is currently for one worker to maintain 8-10 hectares of land, the company wants to boost that to about 17 hectares per worker with the aid of automation.

The company’s investment into robots is set to reach 100 million ringgit ($21.2 million)—or about half its research and development budget—by year-end and

Labor shortfalls have long been a headache for Malaysian businesses, partially because of strict immigration rules targeting low-skilled workers that in turn have encouraged trafficking and left thousands of undocumented workers without legal protection. International scrutiny of labor abuses has pushed the country to reduce its reliance across several industries including manufacturing, construction and plantations.

S d Guthrie itself faced allegations of forced labor that resulted in a two-year US ban on imports of its products in 2020— something that Helmy said urged the firm to explore automation.

“Automation, if rolled out strategically will not hurt workers’ livelihoods,” said Adrian Pereira, executive director at the n o rth South Initiative, a Malaysia-based non-governmental organization focused on social justice. “We really hope governmentlinked companies will take the lead and demonstrate that this sector can be free of forced labor soon.” Bloomberg News

FAO chief urges innovation, focus on production and smallholders

AC h I EVING a food-secure requires not just economic policy measures but strong political and social commitments, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

FAO Director General Qu Dongyu made the pronouncement during a high-level seesion during the Global Review of Aid for Trade hosted by the World Trade Organization in Geneva last week.

“We have to look after our own planet before it’s too late,” he said.

Qu spoke on a panel with Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Mathieu Guibolo Fanaa, Chad’s Minister of Trade and Industry, and other experts. The discussion focused on how to make trade policy an enhancing variable in achieving global food security goals.

Feeding the world is not just a technical issue but a security

challenge with humanity’s future at stake, said Atangana, who said that clear and binding rules are critical for developing nations and emphasized that Aid for Trade initiatives must be in the service of helping the supply side and developing production, without which infrastructure has less value.

Food security should be a priority for the WTO, said Fanaa, adding that this will require increasing agricultural production

in Africa, which in turn will require equitable conditions in international markets.

Qu offered five suggestions for how to improve global food insecurity, noting that FAO’s modeling forecasts there will still be nearly 600 million chronically undernourished people in 2030.

“First is to support growth by investing in rural infrastructure, including broadband and financial services, roads, and storage facilities

to improve access to markets by smallholders who produce most of the world’s food and, while major private investors, cannot do everything on their own.”

Qu also pushed for investments in research, development and innovation—all of which he described as part of the “bottom line for any trade policy”—to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of agrifood systems while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions and

fostering integrated and sustainable water management and use.

“This is the only way to produce more with less.”

Reducing food loss and waste is a third cardinal point, Qu said. h i s fourth point was that the best way to achieve the previous goals is to focus on smallholders and vulnerable populations.

“Lastly, stronger global collaboration and governance will be required to achieve a food-secure and sustainable world.”

BLooMBerG neWS

July 1, 2024

June 03, 2024

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

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

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

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

NO.ESTABLISHMENT

1

1 BANDAI NAMCO PHILIPPINES INC.

8

2

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL, POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Centennial Road, 1st District, Marulas, Kawit, Cavite WANG, XIAOTAO

Phase 2A, Block 1, Lot 2, JP Rizal Ave., Lima Technology Center, San Lucas, City of Lipa, Batangas

2 DONG-AH GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CO., LTD.

Unit 1, The Junction Strip Mall, Carmelray Industrial Park 1, Canlubang, City of Calamba, Laguna

TANAKA, HIROTAKA

Mandarin Marketing Specialist

Manager

Brief

Brief Job Description:

Ensure continuous operation of parts production department

CHOI, SANG GIL

Construction Manager

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite WEI, CHENGTONG

3 DONG-AH GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING CO., LTD.

3 GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Unit 1, The Junction Strip Mall, Carmelray Industrial Park 1, Canlubang, City of Calamba, Laguna

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

4 HONGTAI TECHNOLOGY INC.

4 GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Bldg. B, CCMC Compound, Carmelray Industrial Park II, Punta, City of Calamba, Laguna

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Basic Qualification:

Must have a bachelor’s degree in any course and must be fluent in Nihongo

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

Salary

Basic Qualification:

Basic Qualification:

With a minimum of (10) years of experience in railway constructions

Brief Job Description:

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Monitor of Compliance for Construction and Safety regulations

JEONG, GYEYOUNG

Construction Manager

KHONG VOON KENT

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Monitor Compliance for Construction and Safety regulations

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LIANG, YONG

Injection Molding Engineer

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite FONG SEAN

Brief Job Description:

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

Responsible to validate the production process and hand over to production department.

QIN, RUIQING

5 KIM JOY FISH AND AQUA FARM CORPORATION

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Farm Technical Officer

No. 88, Purok 1, Tulay Buhangin, Padre Burgos, Quezon

5 GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite HONY NG WAH FULL

Brief Job Description:

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

Support the farm supervisor in coordinating the development and implementation to support agriculture

6 LITTLE V MOBILE TECH INC.

6 GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Unit-lower Basement, Andenson Building 3, National Road, Parian, City of Calamba, Laguna CHENG, HAOQI

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

7 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

7 GLARION TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Chinese Business Consultant

HUANG PI SAI

Brief Job Description:

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

Help business to improve their performance, solve problems and achieve their goals.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LI, ERJUN

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite BI YAO

8 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Brief Job Description:

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite WANG, SENYANG

9 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Salary Range:

Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Basic Qualification:

Basic Qualification:

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Malaysian language

With a minimum of (10) years of experience in railway constructions

Salary Range:

Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

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

Basic Qualification:

Graduate of any technical course

Basic Qualification:

Salary Range:

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Malaysian language

Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification:

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

Basic Qualification:

Can be able to speak and write in Chinese and proven working experience in a farm, ranch or similar agricultural operation

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Malaysian language

Salary Range:

Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range:

Basic Qualification:

Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Can speak mandarin, able to work independently and as part of a team.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Myanmari language

Salary Range:

Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification:

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

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Salary Range:

Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Covelandia

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista,

16 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

NGUYEN, THI NHIEN

Vietnamese

Job Description:

NGUYEN, VAN LUONG

Vietnamese

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

18 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

19 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

20 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

NONG, VAN THAN

PHAM, THI THU HIEN

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LING HOU SHYANG

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification:

Salary

Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Myanmari language

Salary Range:

Basic

Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification:

Able to speak, read and write Chinese

19 LITTLE V MOBILE TECH INC.

Covelandia Road,

TRAN VAN

Unit-lower Basement, Andenson Building 3, National Road, Parian, City of Calamba, Laguna LIANG, SONG

Sales Supervisor Brief Job Description:

Unit-lower Basement, Andenson Building 3, National Road, Parian, City of Calamba, Laguna ZHANG, JUNYAN

20 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

21 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Sales Supervisor

Brief Job Description:

HUANG, YI Chinese Customer Service Representative

LIU, BO

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

22 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite ZUO, RENHANG

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

23 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite AGUSNO DJAP

Indonesian Customer Service Representative

Basic Qualification:

Salary Range:

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

HTOI RING PAN

24 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

25 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

Brief

Myanmari Customer Service Representative Brief

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Indonesian language

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

Able

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

27 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

Representative

and write Chinese and Myanmari language

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

HOANG THI THU HIEN

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Brief

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

29 MERIT LEGEND SOLUTIONS INC.

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

LE THI NHUNG

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification:

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

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

Basic Qualification:

Able to speak, read and write Chinese and Vietnamese language

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

LU, ZEFENG Foreign Marketing

Brief Job Description: Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

NGUYEN, XUAN HANH Foreign Marketing

Brief Job Description:

Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

QIU, RENWU Foreign Marketing

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

Brief Job Description: Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

35 NEW WAVE INFOTECH LIMITED PHILIPPINES, INC.

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

SUN, ZHONGQI Foreign Marketing

Brief Job Description: Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

36 NEW WAVE INFOTECH LIMITED PHILIPPINES, INC.

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

VAN, TRIEU HUY Foreign Marketing

Brief Job Description:

Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

Qualification:

37 NEW WAVE INFOTECH LIMITED PHILIPPINES, INC.

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

WU, HAO Foreign Marketing

Brief Job Description: Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

Qualification:

Covelandia Road, Binakayan, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

College Grad/Under Grad and must be able to speak, write and read Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Indonesian or Indian language

Salary

38 NEW WAVE INFOTECH LIMITED PHILIPPINES, INC.

6th, 7th, 9th-12th Floor, Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, City of Biñan, Laguna

ZHAO, SHA Foreign Marketing

Brief Job Description: Plan sales and advertising campaigns, collect and analyze market research data.

Qualification:

US and Europe warn Lebanon’s Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel, back off from wider Mideast war

By Ellen Knickmeyer & Aamer Madhani Associated Press

WASHINGTON—US, European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon’s Iranbacked Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months.

Iran and Israel traded threats Saturday of what Iran said would be an “obliterating” war over Hezbollah.

Hopes are lagging for a ceasefire in Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza that would calm attacks by Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias. With the stalled talks in mind, American and European diplomats and other officials are delivering warnings to Hezbollah—which is far stronger than Hamas but seen as overconfident—about taking on the military might of Israel, current and former diplomats say.

The Americans and Europeans are warning the group it should not count on the United States or anyone else being able to hold off Israeli leaders if they decide to execute battle-ready plans for an offensive into Lebanon. And Hezbollah should not count on its fighters’ ability to handle whatever would come next.

On both sides of the Lebanese border, escalating strikes between Israel and Hezbollah, one of the region’s best-armed fighting forces, appeared at least to level off this week. While daily strikes still pound the border area, the slight shift offered hope of easing immediate fears, which had prompted the US to send an amphibious assault ship with a Marine expeditionary force to join other warships in the area in hopes of deterring a wider conflict.

Despite this past week’s plateauing of hostilities, said Gerald Feierstein, a former senior US diplomat in the Middle East, “it certainly seems the Israelis are still ... arranging themselves in the expectation that there will be some kind of conflict ... an entirely different magnitude of conflict.”

The message being delivered to Hezbollah is “don’t think that you’re as capable as you think you are,” he said.

Beginning the day after Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel trig-

gered the war in Gaza, Hezbollah has launched rockets into northern Israel and vowed to continue until a cease-fire takes hold. Israel has hit back, with the violence forcing tens of thousands of civilians from the border in both countries. Attacks intensified this month after Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and Hezbollah responded with some of its biggest missile barrages.

U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths used the word “apocalyptic” to describe a war that could result. Both Israel and Hezbollah, the dominant force in politically fractured Lebanon, have the power to cause heavy casualties.

“Such a war would be a catastrophe for Lebanon,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said as he met recently with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon. “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East.”

Gallant, in response, said, “We are working closely together to achieve an agreement, but we must also discuss readiness on every possible scenario.”

Analysts expect other Iran-allied militias in the region would respond far more forcefully than they have for Hamas, and some experts warn of ideologically motivated militants streaming into the region to join in. Europeans fear destabilizing refugee flows.

And if it looks like any Israeli offensive in Lebanon is “going seriously south for the Israelis, the US will intervene,” Feierstein said. “I don’t think that they would see any alternative to that.”

While Iran, which is preoccupied with a political transition at home, shows no sign of wanting a war now, it sees Hezbollah as its strategically vital partner in the region—much more so than Hamas—and could

be drawn in.

Upping tensions, Iran’s U.N. mission said in a posting Saturday on X that an “obliterating” war would ensue if Israel launches a full-scale attack in Lebanon. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded by pledging his country would move against Hezbollah with “full force” unless it stopped attacks.

While the US helped Israel knock down a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones in April, the US likely would not do as well assisting Israel’s defense against any broader Hezbollah attacks, said Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is harder to fend off the shorterrange rockets that Hezbollah fires routinely across the border, he said.

The Israeli army is stretched after a nearly 9-month war in Gaza, and Hezbollah holds an estimated arsenal of some 150,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel. Israeli leaders, meanwhile, have pledged to unleash Gaza-like scenes of devastation on Lebanon if a full-blown war erupts.

White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein, President Joe Biden’s point person on Israel-Hezbollah tensions, has not been successful so far in getting the two sides to dial back the attacks.

The French, who have ties as Lebanon’s former colonial power, and other Europeans also are mediating, along with the Qataris and Egyptians.

White House officials have blamed Hezbollah for escalating tensions and said it backs Israel’s right to defend itself. The Biden administration also has told the Israelis that opening a second front is not in their interest. That was a point

UN starts to move tons of aid from US-built pier to Gaza warehouses amid famine risk

By Julia Frankel & Wafaa Shurafa Associated Press

ERUSALEM—Humanitarian

Jworkers have started moving tons of aid that piled up at a US-built pier off the Gaza coast to warehouses in the besieged Palestinian territory, the United Nations said Saturday, an important step as Washington considers whether to resume pier operations after yet another pause because of heavy seas. It wasn’t known when the aid might reach Palestinians in Gaza, where experts have warned of the high risk of famine as the IsraelHamas war is in its ninth month.

This is the first time trucks have moved aid from the pier since the World Food Program, a U.N. agency, suspended operations there

because of security concerns on June 9. In just the last week, more than 10 million pounds were moved ashore, according to the US military.

WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa told The Associated Press this is a one-time operation until the beach is cleared of the aid and is being done to avoid spoilage. Further U.N. operations at the pier depend on security assessments, Etefa said. The U.N. is investigating whether the pier was used in an Israeli military operation last month to rescue three hostages in a raid that killed more than 270 Palestinians.

If WFP trucks successfully bring the aid to warehouses inside Gaza, that could affect the US military’s decision on whether to reinstall the pier, which was removed because of adverse weather on Friday. US of-

ficials said they were considering not reinstalling it because of the possibility that the aid would not be picked up.

Lawlessness around humanitarian convoys is another challenge to aid distribution. The convoys have come under attack in Gaza. While most aid deliveries come by land, restrictions around border crossings and on what items can enter Gaza have further hurt a population that was already dependent on humanitarian aid before the war. An attempt to revive stalled talks Meanwhile Saturday, a senior Biden administration official said the US has presented new language to intermediaries Egypt and Qatar aimed at trying to jump-start stalled Israel-Hamas negotiations.

hammered home to Gallant during his latest talks in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Austin, CIA Director William Burns, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Hochstein and others.

“We’re going to continue to help Israel defend itself; that’s not going to change,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. “But as for a hypothetical—specifically with respect to the northern border line...—again, we want to see no second front opened, and we want to see if we can’t resolve the tensions out there through diplomatic processes.”

White House officials, however, are not discounting the real possibility that a second front in the Mideast conflict could open.

In conversations with Israeli and Lebanese officials and other regional stakeholders, there is agreement that “a major escalation is not in anybody’s interest,” a senior Biden administration official said.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about White House deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity, bristled at the “purported logic” of Hezbollah

leader Hassan Nasrallah arguing that Israel would see an end to Hezbollah attacks by reaching a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza. But the official also acknowledged that an elusive cease-fire deal in Gaza would go a long way in quieting tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Biden introduced a three-phase deal four weeks ago that would lead to an extended truce and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to have stalled. A senior Biden administration official said Saturday that the US has presented new language to Egypt and Qatar intermediaries aimed at trying to jumpstart the negotiations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an effort that the White House has yet to publicly unveil.

Even without a cease-fire, there’s hope that if Israel wraps up its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and doesn’t launch any new major offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah might ease up on firing rockets into Israel, said Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

But without a cease-fire in Gaza, any temporary calm on the LebanonIsraeli border “is not enough,” Slim said. (Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Beirut, Josef Federman in Jerusalem, and Matthew Lee, Tara Copp, Lolita C. Baldor and Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.)

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin, right, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, second from left, sit down for a meeting at the Pentagon in Washington on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The two, who have been in weekly contact since the Hamas attack on Israel in October, are expected to discuss Israeli operations in Gaza, humanitarian efforts in the region, and tension with Hezbollah in Lebanon. AP Photo/SuSAn WAlSh

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

US, Japan, and South Korea conclude multidomain military exercise amid security threats in East Asia

By David Rising | Associated Press

GIMHAE AIR BASE, South Korea—The United States wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea on Saturday, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to strengthen and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China.

The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities.

The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings— increasingly important as North Korea tests ever-more sophisticated systems.

Outside of Australia, Japan and South Korea are the only US partners in the region with militaries sophisticated enough to integrate operations with the US so that if, for example, South Korea were to detect a target, it could quickly relay details so Japanese or American counterparts could respond, said Ridzwan Rahmat, a Singapore-based analyst with the defense intelligence company Janes.

“That’s the kind of interoperability that is involved in a typical war scenario,” Rahmat said. “For trilateral exercises like this the intention is to develop the interoperability between the three armed forces so that they can fight better as a cohesive fighting force.”

Such exercises also carry the risk of increasing tensions, with China regularly denouncing drills in what it considers its sphere of influence, and North Korea already slamming the arrival of the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier group in the port of Busan—home to South Korea’s navy headquarters and its Gimhae Air Base—in preparation for Freedom Edge as “provocative” and “dangerous.”

On Wednesday, the day after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the Roosevelt in Busan, becoming the first sitting South Korean president to board a US aircraft carrier since 1994, North Korea tested what it said was a multiwarhead

missile, the first known launch of the developmental weapon, if confirmed.

South Korea’s military said a joint analysis by South Korean and US authorities assessed that the North Korean missile launch failed.

The defense cooperation involving both Japan and South Korea is also politically complex for both Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, due to the lingering resentment over Imperial Japan’s brutal occupation of Korea before and during World War II.

The two countries have the largest militaries among American allies in East Asia—and together host some 80,000 American troops on their territories—but the US has tended to work with them individually rather than together due to their history.

Kishida’s increase of defense spending and cooperation with South Korea have generally been well received by the Japanese public but has caused friction with the right wing of his own party, while Yoon’s domestic appeal has weakened, but

he has stayed the course.

“South Korea’s shift under the Yoon administration toward improving its relations with Japan has been extremely significant,” said Heigo Sato, international politics professor and security expert at Takushoku University in Tokyo.

Both leaders are seen to be trying to fortify their defense relationships with Washington ahead of the inauguration of a new president, with South Korean officials saying recently that they hope to sign a formal security framework agreement with the US and Japan this year that would lock in a joint approach to responding to a possible attack from North Korea.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has also long been working to increase cooperation between South Korea and Japan — something that many didn’t think was possible at the start of his presidency, said Euan Graham, a defense analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“Credit where it’s due—the fact that it’s happening is a significant

Russia presses offensive in Ukraine and issues new threats as the West tries to blunt the push

By The Associated Press

Sl O W l Y but steadily this summer, Russian troops are forging through Ukraine’s outgunned and undermanned defenses in a relentless onslaught, prompting the West to push for new weapons and strategies to shore up Kyiv.

That, in turn, has brought new threats by President Vladimir Putin to retaliate against the West — either directly or indirectly. The moves by the West to blunt the offensive and the potential Kremlin response could lead to a dangerous escalation as the war drags through its third year—one that further raises the peril of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

Russia’s probing offensive RU SSIA took advantage of its edge in firepower amid delays in US aid to scale up attacks in several areas along the 1,000-kilometer (600mile) front. Relatively small units are probing Ukrainian defenses for weak spots, potentially setting the stage for a more ambitious push.

Russia’s offensive near Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, that began in May and worried Kyiv’s Western allies has apparently lost momentum after the Ukrainian army bolstered its forces in the area by redeploying troops from other sectors.

Meanwhile, Russia has made incremental but steady advances in the Donetsk region, including around the strategic hilltop town of Chasiv Yar, a gateway to parts

of Donetsk still under Ukrainian control. Analysts say the fall of Chasiv Yar would threaten the key military hubs of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Putin declared that Moscow wasn’t seeking quick gains and would stick to the current strategy of advancing slowly.

Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute said that by stretching Ukrainian forces along a wide front, Russia is overcoming the limitations of its military that lacks the size and training for a major offensive.

The breadth of the strikes has forced Ukraine to spread out its artillery, “expending munitions to break up successive Russian attacks,” he said in an analysis. “Russia’s aim is not to achieve a grand breakthrough but rather to convince Ukraine that it can keep up an inexorable advance, kilometer by kilometer, along the front.”

Michael Kofman of the Carnegie Endowment said Russia’s apparent goal is to maintain pressure and try to stretch out Ukraine’s forces. He noted that even though Ukraine managed to stabilize the front line, it had to use reserves intended to be deployed elsewhere.

“It will take more and more time to actually regenerate Ukraine’s combat strength because of that,” he said in a recent podcast.

Moscow also has stepped up airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities and other vital infrastructure with waves of missiles and drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country had lost about 80% of its thermal power and one-third of its hydroelectric power in the strikes.

“This will be a growing problem when we talk about the future Ukraine’s economic viability,” Kofman said.

Watling said the shortage of

air defenses is giving Ukraine a difficult choice between concentrating them to safeguard critical infrastructure, or protecting troops on the front.

“The persistence of Russia’s long-range strike campaign means that not only is the front being stretched laterally, but it is also being extended in its depth,” he said.

The West responds, the Kremlin counters

WA SHINGTON and some NATO allies have responded to the offensive by allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons for limited strikes inside Russia. The US has allowed Ukraine to use American weapons against military targets in Russia near Kharkiv and elsewhere near the border, but, to Kyiv’s dismay, Washington so far hasn’t given permission for strikes deeper in Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron and some other Western officials argue that Kyiv has the right to use their equipment to attack military assets anywhere in Russia. There also has been talk by Macron and the leaders of NATO’s Baltic members—but not the US—of deploying troops to Ukraine.

Putin warns that this would be a major escalation, and he threatened to retaliate by providing weapons to Western adversaries elsewhere in the world.

He reinforced that argument by signing a mutual defense pact with North Korea in June and holding the door open for arms supplies to Pyongyang.

achievement from the administration’s regional policy,” he said.

Former US President Donald Trump caused friction with both allies during his time in office by demanding greater payment for their hosting of US troops while holding one-on-one meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Under Biden, Washington is seeking to solidify its system of alliances, both with increasingly sophisticated exercises and diplomatic agreements, Graham said.

“It’s obviously a US attempt to try and mesh their alliances as positively as possible, not just given the challenge of their adversaries, but also the uncertainty around a second Trump administration,” he said. “They’re trying to institutionalize as many of these habits of cooperation while they can.”

Tensions with North Korea are at their highest point in years, with the pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs intensifying, despite heavy international sanctions.

China, meantime, has been undertaking a massive military buildup of both nuclear and conventional weapons, and now has the world’s largest navy. It claims both the self-governing island of Taiwan and virtually the entirety of the South China Sea as its own territory, and has increasingly turned to its military to press those claims.

China and North Korea have also been among Russia’s closest allies in its war against Ukraine, while Russia and China are also both key allies for North Korea, as well as the military leaders of Myanmar who seized power in 2021 and are facing ever-stiffer resistance in that country’s civil war.

In Pyongyang this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim concluded a mutual defense pact, agreeing to come to the other’s aid in the event of an attack, rattling others in the region.

Despite a greater number of ships overall, China still only has three aircraft carriers compared to the US fleet’s 11 — probably the most effective tool a country has to bring vast amounts of power to bear at a great distance from home.

China’s advantage, however, is that its primary concern is the nearby waters of the Indo-Pacific, while Washington’s global focus means that its naval assets are spread widely. Following the exercises in the East China Sea with Japan and South Korea, the Roosevelt is due to sail to the Middle East to help protect ships against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

That has made strong security partnerships all the more important, not only with Japan and South Korea but with Australia, the Philippines, Taiwan and others in the region, and building those up has been a priority for the Biden administration.

“One of the weaknesses of the Chinese navy, despite the number of hulls that they have compared to the Americans, is the fact that they don’t have a network of friendly ports from which they can operate in the event they need to launch a campaign,” Rahmat said.

“One of the strengths of the US Navy is not just its ships and its technology, but its ability to call on a vast network of friendly ports and, aware of this strength, they are doubling down by increasing partnerships across the region.” (AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this story from Tokyo.)

Hungary’s populist Orbán to take over EU presidency as issues hang in the balance

By Justin Spike Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary—When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on July 1, many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler.

Orbán in recent years has seemed to relish opportunities to block, water down or delay key EU decisions, routinely going against the grain of most other leaders on issues like the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and China, and efforts to defend democracy and the rule of law.

His public opposition to EU policies and stances has long frustrated his partners in the bloc and pushed him to the margins of the continent’s mainstream. Hungary’s motto for its presidency—Make Europe Great Again—raised eyebrows for its resemblance to the famous tagline of former US President Donald Trump.

The EU presidency rotates among its member countries, and while the post holds little real power, it does allow countries to put their priorities high on Europe’s agenda.

Now, as Hungary resides over the 27-nation bloc for the coming six months, it will likely keep up its anti-EU rhetoric, said Dorka Takácsy, a research fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy.

But the timeline of its presidency—beginning with a lengthy summer break and a transitional

period of forming a new European Parliament and executive commission — will give Budapest few opportunities to derail the bloc’s priorities significantly, she said.

“These six months are altogether not that long, which means that ... Hungary cannot do potentially much harm, even according to the critics,” Takácsy said.

As Hungary’s takeover approached, leaders in Brussels rushed to push through important policy decisions while Belgium was still at the helm. On Tuesday, for example, the EU launched membership talks with candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova.

Orbán has vocally opposed and threatened to block Ukraine’s candidacy. His government has also held up EU efforts to supply Ukraine with badly needed funding.

Yet with Ukraine’s accession process already initiated, Takácsy said, the most Hungary can do now under its presidency is delay further steps toward its EU membership, a process that in any scenario is likely to take many years.

“All the meaningful steps from the European side regarding Ukraine were already done,” she said. “(A Hungarian) delay, according to most European leaders, is already calculated and being taken into consideration as if it’s something which is most likely going to happen.”

Orbán has long been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and violating the EU’s standards on the rule of law, leading the bloc’s legislature in May to call for the presidency to be taken out of Hungary’s hands entirely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on June 14, 2024. Putin says that Moscow isn’t seeking quick gains in ukraine and will stick to the current strategy of slow advances as it presses a grinding summer offensive. (AP Photo/AlexAnder ZemliAnichenko)

Enhancing PHL’s appeal: Addressing impediments to the entry of more FDI

For EIgn direct investment holds great promise for the economic development of nations, and the Philippines is no exception. However, the realization of FDI pledges, including those secured by President Marcos during his state visits abroad, demands a concerted effort. In a recent brief by global Source Partners Country Analysts Diwa guinigundo and Wilhelmina Manalac, it was emphasized that the Philippines needs to address crucial areas such as human capital development, infrastructure, and power before it can truly boost FDI inflows. (Read the BusinessMirror report: “PHL must strive to fulfill FDI pledges,” June 27, 2024).

The analysts highlight the pressing challenge faced by the Marcos administration, emphasizing the need to overcome impediments to economic growth. Governance and institutional strength, human capital development encompassing basic education and retooling, infrastructure development, and reliable power supply are among the key areas that require immediate attention. By effectively addressing these issues, the Philippines can expect to attract more FDI, paving the way for sustained economic progress. Regrettably, the Philippines currently faces several constraints that impede its potential for growth. The country’s rank of 67th out of 113 countries in East and Southeast Asia in the 2024 Chandler Good Government Index is indicative of the challenges it faces in terms of governance. Furthermore, a low ranking of 115th out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index and poor performance in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) underscore the urgent need to address these deficiencies.

The United Nations Development Program Human Development Index also paints a concerning picture, with the Philippines ranking 113th out of 193 countries. These rankings serve as a wake-up call, highlighting the need for comprehensive reforms to enhance the country’s economic standing and attractiveness to foreign investors.

A study conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed that foreign investors prioritize factors such as good credit ratings, improved ease of doing business, quality human capital, and good public governance. Lower taxes and reduced restrictions are secondary considerations. This finding aligns with existing literature, which emphasizes stability, transparency, and consistent implementation of regulations as key drivers for foreign investment. It is imperative for the government to prioritize effective policy management and implementation, linking them to infrastructure development, industrial competitiveness, and technological innovation.

The recent decline in investment pledges made to the country’s Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) further emphasizes the need for urgent action. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), foreign investment pledges in the first quarter of 2024 contracted by 63.6 percent compared to the same period in 2023. While Singapore, the Netherlands, and South Korea remain the top investors, the overall decline is cause for concern.

To reverse this trend and unlock the country’s full potential, the Philippines must embark on a transformative journey. Prioritizing human capital development through targeted investments in education and skills training will foster a highly skilled workforce that can meet the demands of modern industries. In addition, infrastructure development and reliable power supply will enhance the country’s competitiveness and facilitate the smooth operation of businesses.

Most importantly, the government must take decisive steps to improve governance and combat corruption. Implementing transparent and consistent regulations, enhancing the ease of doing business, and providing a level playing field for all investors will instill confidence and attract foreign capital. By actively addressing these challenges, the Philippines can position itself as an attractive destination for global investors seeking stability, transparency, and long-term growth opportunities.

Realizing FDI pledges requires a comprehensive and coordinated effort from all sectors of society. The government, private sector, and civil society must work hand in hand to address the impediments to economic growth. Collaboration and innovation are essential to foster an environment that encourages investment, rewards integrity, and nurtures human capital.

The path forward is clear. Realizing FDI pledges requires more than just state visits and promotion efforts. It requires a comprehensive and sustained effort to address the various constraints to economic growth. By prioritizing good governance, human capital development, infrastructure, and energy reliability, the Philippine government can create a more favorable investment environment that can attract more FDI and contribute to the country’s long-term economic growth.

BusinessMirror

Empowering gig workers, FWGP’s

inaugural book fair, and a series of talks for freelancers

TRISING SUN

HE freelancing community continues to grow in the Philippines and elsewhere. Huge online platforms offer jobs every day to millions of gig workers worldwide, including virtual assistants, content creators, visual artists, and other contract workers. Many families rely on freelance work and this relatively unregulated industry to meet their household needs.

The industry is rife with challenges, from tax and registration issues to problems with timely and fair payments, the use of Gen AI and intellectual property issues, to questions about pricing and publishing. Our local laws severely lack provisions to secure the rights and welfare of our gig workers. Efforts from the community itself are few and far between, but they do happen.

One organization consistently working towards the welfare of freelance writers is the Freelance Writers’

Guild of the Philippines (FWGP). This coming July 13, they are presenting a back-to-back event at the Quezon City Public Library (QCPL) located within the Quezon City Hall compound. “Inks and Insights: The 1st FWGP Book Fair” is not only a book fair but also features a series of talks on the hottest topics relevant to freelance workers. The event will run from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Jing Lejano, a communication expert, seasoned writer, and editor, will share ways freelancers can cal-

Let us support the efforts of independent organizations and communities as they try to fill in the gaps that the government may not be able to address. Groups like the FWGP operate purely on a volunteer basis, without funding, and are implementing projects to help each other and serve their community.

culate a fair price for their clients.

Volunteers from the University of the Philippines Paralegal Volunteers will facilitate a segment called “Beyond the Byline: Legal Basics for Freelancers.”

Published author and multiawarded writer Raissa Claire U. Rivera will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing vis-a-vis traditional publishing. Doc Ligot, an advocate for the ethical use of artificial intelligence, will speak about generative AI for freelancers (Human + Machine).

The presses participating in the book fair include Lit Art Publishing, San Anselmo Press, Gantala Press,

8Letters, Balangay Books, and several self-published authors. Entrance to the book fair is free, while a ticket to the four talks is available for only P1,500. The fee includes seminar access, a certificate of attendance, and some light refreshments. The public can reserve their seats or clarify details by sending an e-mail to fwgp2011@gmail.com. Speaking of the QCPL, the library brings back “Tara na sa Ating Aklatan,” an initiative that aims to strengthen the link between the communities and public libraries. The program includes storytelling sessions with Filipino Sign Language and Braille interpretations for select books. Library-goers with Quezon City ID cards are entitled to borrow books from the library’s extensive collection of resource materials. Let us support the efforts of independent organizations and communities as they try to fill in the gaps that the government may not be able to address. Groups like the FWGP operate purely on a volunteer basis, without funding, and are implementing projects to help each other and serve their community.

Crematory for pets open in Sta. Rosa, Laguna

SLITO GAGNI

TA rosa City, Laguna, a place where business establishments fall in love with for its hand-holding connections, has welcomed a first in Calabarzon with the inauguration last week of Eternal Paws, a crematory dedicated to furparents who want a decent endof-life transition for their pets.

Eternal Paws, located within the Eternal Gardens Memorial Park, is a crematory that will address the needs of furparents who would want to have the ashes of their beloved pets brought to their homes to serve as a fitting reminder of their togetherness. This is a first for the city and for the Calabarzon area.

Ms. Dannica Nicole Cabangon, Eternal Gardens Operations Officer, said aha! Insight for the crematory arose when she and her sister Giannina Eunice lost their pet Kitty who brought them joy for 12 years. It was then that they decided to have a crematory for pets for furparents desirous to have an urn to reminisce upon for their pets.

A pet lover herself, City Mayor Arlene B. Arcillas attended the in-

auguration on June 27 where she warmly welcomed the new business establishment in Sta. Rosa, adding that “no one leaves the city after being there,” a tribute to how she has zealously invited businesses to locate in the place that now boasts of an income just a thousand shy of P5 billion two years ago.               Ever so solicitous, the beauteous mayor dwelt at length on the city’s playbook that the national government can learn from to be able to ensnare foreign investors, nudge the economy to growth, create more employment and achieve the country’s long-sought aspiration to be a middle-income country.                   When a car dealership left the city due to circumstances beyond its control, Ms Arcillas wasted no time

in having another dealership in the city once again. And true enough, she got a Mitsubishi dealership to locate in the city.

Perhaps the national government can learn a thing or two from her vision for the city’s development so that the country can have more foreign investors to come in, in much the same way that Sta. Rosa has been able to woo investors to be in the place, which is just 30 minutes away from Makati. Arcillas’ welcoming arms, coupled with a stick-to-itiveness for development momentum can be replicated by the national government so that economic growth can be achieved.

Sta. Rosa is home to business parks and industrial zones that are accredited with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority. There are actually four industrial zones with businesses spanning telecommunications to information technology, and from automotive interiors to wine distillery.

Dubbed “Makati of the South” because of the huge development that transformed the once-sleepy place to a roaring tiger economy, Mayor Arcillas continues to redefine the city to scale it further and improve its income for her constituents. Arcillas’ hand in the development of the city is one reason why her brother Arnold is the vice mayor.             The mayor personally sees to it

that the city operations is spic and span, and there are times when she brings in tow the chief of police to ensure that peace and order is in place. There is proper waste management to answer for the needs of business locators in four industrial zones in the city.             There is also the Technopark Hotel that caters to expatriates as well as a Greenfield Auto Park that boasts of verdant spaces and a wide road network. It is a welcome sight for individuals eager to rest their tired legs and otherwise have a place from which to dream on for their next big projects.             Government bureaucrats in charge of the country’s economic development should try to emulate the example of Mayor Arcillas who was able to more than double the revenues of the city from just P2.3 billion to almost P5 billion in 2022. That speaks volumes about the way business establishments are enticed to be in the place.             Imagine if our foreign investment inflows, with help from the Sta. Rosa City playbook, grows vigorously, then the country’s poverty index will be halved, peace will be at hand, and economic development will see a minimum wage of P1,000 a day. That is achievable should Mayor Arcillas be given a hand to guide our bureaucrats in getting the thumbsup from foreign investors.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

Principles-based tax planning

TJoel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT

Part three

he Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy (BoA) and the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) have started this groundbreaking move of providing guidelines to promote “principles-based tax planning” among professional accountants. While the BoA Resolution for this is forthcoming, I suggest the accountancy community start engaging in discussions and holding of fora and training seminars to disseminate these Guidelines. Individual CPAs should take time to read the 29-page Guidelines. (https://ifacweb. blob.core.windows.net/publicfiles/2024-04/Final%20Pronouncement%20-%20Tax%20Planning%20and%20Related%20Se) and the 36-page Basis for conclusions (https://ifacweb.blob.core.windows.net/publicfiles/2024-04/Basis%20for%20Conclusions%20 -%20Tax%20Planning%20and%20Related%).

The discussion should also involve the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) since it is concerned with and affected by this initiative of the profession. BOA and PICPA should initiate talks with the BIR on what they are doing in this ethical tax planning area and invite the BIR to participate in their initiatives.

It is in the best interest of the accounting and tax communities if this laudable initiative of the accounting profession is supported, if not replicated, by the BIR. It will be good if the BIR conjunctly or separately develops its guidelines that are customized to the BIR’s requirements. It may be more appropriate for the BIR to draft and issue Revenue Regulations that will apply to ALL tax professionals and practitioners within a framework customized to the BIR practices and concerns.

The entire Philippine tax community, consisting of professional accountants, law-abiding taxpayers, and tax practitioners should welcome this development pursued by the International Federation of Accountants and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

Prescribing rules to govern ethical tax planning practices is a global practice. It is to be noted that the rules in some countries also provide for the disclosure to the regulators of such tax planning practices. The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the European Council, and the HM Revenue and Customs of the United Kingdom are just some of those that promulgated ethical tax practice and disclosure rules.

In the United States, the Deficit Reduction Act was passed in 1984 and made it mandatory for taxpayers to register tax shelters or tax planning schemes with the IRS. Since then, the IRS has formulated a system for reporting and disclosure of the tax planning arrangements. This has resulted in the development of such doctrines as “substance over form,” “sham transaction,” or “economic substance” to govern what constitutes as a reasonable tax planning practice contrasted to an abusive scheme.

The European Union(EU) Council adopted Directive 2018/822 (DAC6) on May 25, 2018, which provided reporting obligations for

The entire Philippine tax community, consisting of professional accountants, law-abiding taxpayers, and tax practitioners should welcome this development pursued by the International Federation of Accountants and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

tax advisors within the EU. This directive mandates EU Member States to implement rules in their domestic law requiring qualifying intermediaries (e.g., tax advisors) and, in certain circumstances, taxpayers to disclose information about reportable cross-border arrangements to the competent authorities of one or more EU Member States.

In February 2022, the United Kingdom HM Revenue & Customs prescribed an updated and comprehensive guideline for the reporting and disclosure of tax avoidance schemes. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoters-oftax-avoidance-schemes-guidance/ promoters-of-tax-avoidance-schemesguidance). The Revenue & Customs office is now consulting with the tax advisors and taxpayers on how to improve the compliance of these guidelines.

The BIR is in a good position to follow the thrust for ethical tax planning practices and disclosure.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui has included Integrity in the Revenue Service as one of the four pillars governing his tax administration. I believe that integrity among taxpayers and practitioners should also be part of the holistic approach towards making tax a fuel for nationbuilding.

To be continued

Joel L. Tan-Torres was a former Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. He has also held the various positions of Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business, Chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, Tax partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co., and director of various corporate boards. 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 and consultancy practice and can be contacted at joeltantorress@yahoo.com and his firm JL2T Consultancy.

Alice’s adventures in not-so-wonderland

TSiegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

First of two parts

he name “Alice” seems to have grown in popularity these days. For those who are regularly attuned to the news, Alice (Leal Guo) is the beleaguered Mayor of Bamban, Tarlac with a sword of Damocles hanging above her head. An impending quo warranto case could oust her from her public position, and charges leading to either her deportation or jail time are, by now, brewing. And this scenario is real, unlike in the classic children’s novel whose protagonist carries the same name.

Speaking of the 1865 tale close to kids and adults alike, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is considered an ingenious work of Victorian literature, transporting the readers to the appealing escapades of a girl named Alice in a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. The entire story appears (and sounds) melodious, with talking animals and birds, engrossed in lively conversations over a tea party, to name a few. Too good to be true, surreal.

Strange as it may seem, the plot of this children’s classic finds ostensible duplication, incidentally, in the real-life story of Mayor Alice Leal Guo who is discovered, of late, to be Guo Hua Ping. All of a sudden, ‘Mayor Alice’ is thrust into OUR world. Fingerprinting tests conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation recently revealed that Alice Leal Guo’s fingerprints match those of another person named Guo Hua Ping. Since dactyloscopy is an infallible science as per NBI Director Santiago, these findings indicate that ‘Mayor Alice’ and Guo Hua Ping are very likely one-and-the sameperson. Documents presented by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian indicated that Guo entered the Philippines as a teenager via a passport identifying her nationality as Chinese. This runs counter to ‘Mayor Alice’s’ representations that she was born in Tarlac on July 12, 1986. According to Guo Hua Ping’s Chinese passport, she was born in Fujian on

August 31, 1990. This discovery led Senator Risa Hontiveros to confirm her suspicions that “Mayor Alice” is a fake Filipino, using this citizenship to “facilitate crimes being committed by POGO.”

Perhaps ‘Mayor Alice’ suffers from the same identity crisis as ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ And quaint as it may appear, ‘Mayor Alice’ could not remember much about her childhood in the same manner as “Alice in Wonderland” could not remember a poem. As investigations on the besieged Mayor unfold, Filipinos are swiftly propelled into a whole new world (a scarier one) of Alice Leal Guo/Guo Hua Ping, with human (not anthropomorphic) characters. Petrifying, so to speak because these human characters were utilized to play various roles in the shadowy life of ‘Mayor Alice.’ Take the case of the incorporators of Hongsheng Gaming Technology, attributed to the lady mayor, whose identities were actually “stolen” from the vendors at the public market in Tarlac, as unearthed by a Senate probe. “Incorporator” Merly Joy Castro appeared before the Senate Committee and openly denied having knowledge of the act of incorporation and of the company in the first place. Her actual TIN from the BIR does NOT match the one written on the SEC papers, and yet her name appears therein as an incorporator. ‘Mayor Alice’ or Guo Hua Ping is facing a complaint for human trafficking

before the Department of Justice, and parenthetically, the incorporators of ‘Mayor Alice’s’ company could be impleaded.

Due to incredible story of the lady mayor, the name ‘Alice’ now represents a character of fake identities, forgery, falsification, amnesia, human trafficking, POGO, scams, missing persons, and the like. It likewise takes us to an apparent breach into the domains of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), BIR, SEC, DFA (passport issuance) and probably Comelec (Certificate of Candidacy). Indeed, this particular (and human) ‘Alice’ has apparently been tippy-toeing in a not-so-wonderland. Nonetheless, while many may be quick to judge ‘Mayor Alice,’ it is much too important to emphasize that our views should not be limited to what is tangible or visual. In the radio show, “Everything For Good” aired over Radio Veritas (RV 846 MHz) every Saturday morning at 9 a.m., some listeners were quick to castigate the radio hosts who were merely explaining the ageless principle of the presumption of regularity in official documents. Alice remains a Filipino based on official documents until those documents are revoked or cancelled with legal bases. Hence, the PSA has endorsed the cancellation of ‘Mayor Alice’s’ birth certificate, there being no supporting documents at the Tarlac local civil registrar’s office, and in light of irregularities as to the fact of marriage of her purported parents. Beyond what ‘Mayor Alice’ may have been SEEN to be doing, certain powers or forces not of the mortal or worldly level are the ones playing the cards here. In much the same way as it is not China, in particular, that we should “hate” on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) dispute but the forces-that-be hovering above it. This finds validation in the biblical verse that teaches us that: “For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” ( Ephesians 6:12) Often, we wrestle with our relatives, or colleagues at work, or strang-

ers on social media hurling nasty comments against us. These are actually works of the devil messing with our minds, hoping to disturb our enduring character, pushing us to fight and be intolerant. That is why we are encouraged, more importantly, in the same biblical foundation to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you (we) may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11). The armor consists of the belt of  truth the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit/Word of God

Undoubtedly, this “Alice” antic is a spiritual warfare, meant to cause hatred against a person, and a nation. Hate is not a Jesus-character, for “Jesus demonstrates compassion in every interaction, advocating for a world where love and forgiveness prevail.” While believers are called to mirror these characteristics, we are sometimes tempted by evil forces to deviate from this path. That’s why it’s essential for us to wear the armor that God has given to us to protect us from spiritual warfare, the attacks we cannot visibly see with our own eyes.

Mayor Alice treads on a not-sowonderland (the “underground,” even as the author of the famous children’s book originally entitled it as Alice’s Adventures Under Ground) and we are summoned to pray about the situation, be keen and alert, not judgmental, to respond with concrete measures and not simply react, and to seek divine wisdom. All these spiritual weapons can take all of us, Mayor Alice included, to a wonderland where Jesus’ truth prevails all the time.

To be continued

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

High-speed traders, short sellers face growing Asia crackdown

By Winnie Hsu, John Cheng & Youkyung Lee

ReGuLAToRs in Asia have tightened the screws on trades popular among hedge funds as stocks slumped, an attempt to stabilize markets that some worry may end up stifling key strategies.

Thailand’s plan to increase scrutiny on high-frequency trades—in effect from Monday—follows steps from China, where programmed trading will soon be subject to real-time monitoring. While authorities expect the moves to enhance transparency, the growing control over certain trades has raised concern that liquidity may tighten and make those markets overall less attractive.

“The current trend of regulators tightening the regulation of high frequency trading is somewhat understandable but also worrying,” said Gary Dugan, chief executive officer of the Global CIO Office. “The activity of the HFT funds also brings liquidity to the markets—better liquidity should lead to the improvement in the efficient pricing of assets.”

The controversial nature of such restrictions is on full display in South Korea, where a short-selling ban hurt

its attempts to win an upgrade from MSCI Inc. These developments show the difficulties policymakers have in keeping up with increasingly sophisticated trading strategies and their impact on financial markets, a challenge that’s only set to grow with the adoption of artificial intelligence.

The restrictions, typically introduced when stock markets were under pressure, have managed to stop the bleeding but their longer-term impact is under debate given the growth of computeraided trading. Quantitative strategies are based off data science and systematic techniques, with some using big data to time markets, follow trends or execute arbitrage trades.

China’s clampdown on quant trading came in February when the stock market was at multi-year lows. With the added support from purchases by state funds,

shares staged a rebound but have started to fall again since late May.

Thailand’s SET Index has fallen about 8 percent this year, turning it into one of the region’s worst country benchmarks.

The stock exchange said it will require high-frequency traders to register before they can place orders. The measures are part of a package of rules to restore calm amid concern over the impact of illegal short selling, program trading and corporate scandals.

“Policymakers in these markets might view volatility as the primary culprit for underperformance,” said Hebe Chen, an analyst at IG Markets Ltd. “In smaller markets like Malaysia, where the combination of performance and volatility is more similar to China and Korea, the odds of creating their own safety net can’t be ruled out.”

Chen added that countries that are more closely connected to global investors, such as Japan and Singapore, are unlikely to apply such restrictions as they seek to align with the “universal rules of the game.”

As restrictions look set to stay for now, market watchers warn of a chilling impact on trading activities and a poten-

Thai PM Srettha’s popularity slides as opposition keeps climbing

By Suttinee Yuvejwattana

THE popularity of Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and his Pheu Thai Party continued to decline in the latest opinion poll amid mounting legal and economic challenges, while the opposition gained ground.

Srettha’s approval rating hit a fresh low of 12.85 percent in a quarterly survey by the

Institute of Development Administration published Sunday. His rating fell from 17.75 percent in the first quarter and 22.35 percent late last year. The poll was conducted June 14 to June 18 among some 2,000 Thai adults and had a so-called confidence level of 97 percent. The former property mogul, who took power in September after a messy general election, heads an 11-party coalition led by Pheu Thai and military-aligned conservative groups. A poll earlier this

Srettha’s approval rating hit a fresh low of 12.85 percent in a quarterly survey by the National Institute of Development Administration published Sunday.

month showed most Thais are unhappy with the government’s performance, and it has struggled to address issues such as a rising cost of living, highest household debt in Southeast Asia and sluggish eco-

nomic growth. Srettha’s tenure is also threatened by a legal challenge, with the Constitutional Court scrutinizing a petition to disqualify him. A group of senators alleges that Srettha’s decision to appoint former lawyer Pichit Chuenban as a minister in April violated ethical standards. Pichit was once convicted and sentenced to jail for an attempt to bribe court officials while representing former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra

during a corruption trial. Pita Limjaroenrat of the opposition Move Forward Party extended his lead as the top choice for prime minister in the new poll with a 45.5 percent rating. The option of a yetto-be-identified appropriate person reached a 20.55 percent score, Nida said.

Pita’s upstart party won last year’s election but he was blocked from taking the top office. Lawmakers from the pro-military royalist establish-

tial blow to the governments’ reputation. China’s quantitative hedge funds saw their assets drop in the first quarter for the first time since late 2022, according to estimates by Citic Securities Co.  In South Korea, quant funds are eyeing elsewhere as the government extended the short-sale ban through the end of March 2025.

“As it became impossible to employ various strategies in South Korea, they are saying good-bye to the South Korean market and doing arbitrage trades instead in Japan and Hong Kong,” said Jung In Yun, chief executive officer at Fibonacci Asset Management Global Pte.  To be sure, some have welcomed the restrictions as they can reduce shortterm speculative trades. George Molina, head of trading for Templeton Global Investments, said the rules are “needed to adjust for what were arguably loopholes in the system.”

It’s a view echoed by Wei Li, multiasset quant solutions portfolio manager for BNP Paribas Asset Management, who said such measures can contribute to a more stable and transparent market environment and ultimately benefit all participants. Bloomberg

ment who opposed his progressive agenda—including proposals to reform the military and crack down on business monopolies—instead joined the runner-up Pheu Thai to form a government and endorsed Srettha’s premiership. In the latest survey, Pheu Thai’s approval dropped to 16.85 percent from 22.1 percent in the previous poll. Move Forward ranked first with 49.2 percent, up from 48.45 percent. Bloomberg

‘EXPLORATION, STABLE ENERGY SUPPLY SHOULD BE PRIORITY’

SAYING energy security is the most important and urgent challenge of the country as it seeks to grow its economy and ensure human progress, the incoming chief of the Senate Energy committee vowed to give priority to “exploration and ensuring energy supply.”

It’s about planning longterm. In this field, you need to have that outlook for the future, and our next big challenge is exploration and ensuring energy supply for the

BSP: Real estate prices grow 6.1% in H1, lowest in 7 qtrs

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE country’s real estate prices slowed to 6.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, the slowest in seven quarters, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

B ased on the Residential Real Estate Price Index (RREPI), the growth of real estate prices was the lowest since the 2.6-percent growth recorded in the second quarter of 2022.

next 15-20 years,” said Sen. Pia Cayetano.

“Kung ako ang tatanungin, ang priority ko ay energy security; na ang bansa natin ay hindi mapipilayan dahil wala tayong kuryente. Pwedeng magpatuloy ang negosyo, ang pang-arawaraw na kabuhayan ng tao, dahil may pagkukunan tayo ng kuryente.   [If you ask me, my priority is energy security; that our country won’t get crippled because of a lack of electricity.

Continued on A4

Senate probers to seek Pagcor report on exec who coddled POGOs

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

SENATE probers are keen to invite gaming regulators for further details on the weekend revelation by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor)  Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco that a former Cabinet official tried to facilitate the grant of gaming licenses to some of the illegal Pogos recently raided and found engaged in illegal activities.

W hile saying “I have no idea” on who Tengco could be referring to, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said “we will ask Pagcor for a copy of their investigation report” since the Senate tricommittee probing the links between some Pogos and organized crime is still ongoing. Pogos, for Philippine Online Gaming Operators, have since been renamed “Internet Gaming Licensees” or IGLs when the new Pagcor administration took over and weeded out hundreds of dubious Pogos even while increasing government revenue from the fewer number of entities.

Guesting at the weekend at DWIZ’s “Usapang Senado,” Gatchalian said besides asking for a copy of a report, the Senate panels will call Pagcor officials if the “Pagcor investigation has a good paper trail.”

The senator, one of those actively pursuing the investigation by the Senate, was sought for reaction to a revelation on Saturday by Tengco on the former Cabinet official’s role.

Tengco said those investigating the suspicious activities of former Pogo licensees must likewise look into the role of former officials and their conduits in the grant of licenses to Pogo applicants with dubious backgrounds.

The Pagcor chief said he will reveal at the proper forum the identity of the former Cabinet

member who had been lobbying for the illegal Pogos, as well as the circumstances that led to the proliferation of illegal and criminal offshore gaming operations.

“As a regulator, it is our mandate to ensure that only those with valid licenses are allowed to operate all forms of gambling and gaming activities, whether these are land-based casinos or online platforms,” Tengco said.

“It is in the interest of the government to crack the whip against illegal operators, including the socalled offshore gaming operators or Pogos and their backers, because the criminal activities associated with their illegal operations pose serious threats to our people,” he said.

Tengco stressed that the current administration has been doing its part to weed out illegal operators, resulting in the significant decrease in the number of licensees from 298 during the previous administration to only 43 licensees now.

What we need to question, in the first place, was how those 298 Pogo licensees were able to secure their licensees in the past because clearly, during our cleansing process, we found most of them to be ineligible and outright suspicious,” Tengco said.

“ We are also ready to reveal the roles of other controversial individuals behind these criminal Pogo enterprises,” Tengco added.

Earlier, the Marcos-era Pagcor chief had caused the filing of charges against a company that his predecessor had engaged to be a third-party auditor to help government better track the gross gaming revenues of entities overseen by Pagcor. Former officials of the gaming regulator were also charged for allowing the P6-billion contract to proceed even though the third-party auditor was patently disqualified and was found to have forged a bank certification

The growth of the real estate prices was at 10.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2023 and 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023.

“On a quarter-on-quarter [QoQ] basis, housing prices rebounded by 1.1 percent from the 3.6 percent decline in the fourth quarter of 2023,” BSP, however, said.

The growth was driven mainly by double-digit increases in the

price of duplex units, which posted a year-on-year growth of 36.2 percent and a quarter on quarter growth of 71.2 percent.

Condominium units also posted a year on year growth of 10.2 percent, but a growth of only 0.5 percent compared to the last quarter of 2023.

BSP noted that while duplex housing units registered the highest YoY and QoQ growth rates among housing types in Q1 2024, the number of transactions for duplex housing units were relatively low.

These transactions only accounted for 0.28 percent of the 7,566 total number of new hous -

ing units sold in the first quarter of 2024.

B SP also said about 81 percent of the number of duplex loans granted had appraised values above the 3-year average of P39,201 per square meter (sq m).

“ Majority of the duplex transactions were high-valued properties, which pulled the average upwards,” BSP said.

Loans

ACCORDING to the BSP, the number of residential real estate loans (RRELs) granted for all types of new housing units in the Philippines in the first quarter of 2024 grew by 8.9 percent year on year.

Loans extended to Filipinos from the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila and Areas Outside NCR (AONCR) rose by 3.2 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

I n contrast, nationwide housing loan availments fell by 24.2 percent quarter on quarter due to the 35.3-percent and 18.2-percent decline in the number of RRELs in the NCR and AONCR, respectively.

B SP said the total number of RRELs granted in the Philippines rose by 5 percent as the 8.5-percent growth in AONCR offset the 3.6-percent decline in the NCR. Meanwhile, the total number of transactions decreased by 23.2 percent quarter on quarter, brought about by the 34.1 percent and 18.4 percent drop in the number of RRELs in the NCR and AONCR, respectively.

The data also showed majority or 83.5 percent of these loan transactions were used to purchase new housing units. By type of housing unit, the data showed most of the residential property loans were used for the acquisition of single-detached/attached houses at 43 percent, followed by condominium units (34.7 percent), and townhouses (22 percent).

“ Most of the RRELs granted in the NCR were for the purchase of condominium units, while RRELs granted in AONCR were for the purchase of single-detached/attached houses,” BSP said.

TBy Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

HE total number of deaths recorded in the full year of 2023 declined 7.5 percent, according to the latest data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The data showed the total of 628,554 deaths in 2023 was 51,212 less than the 679,766 deaths recorded in 2022.

PSA noted that this only included deaths registered within the cut-off date for processing the death certificates. The cut-off date was on April 30, 2024.

A mong regions, PSA said Calabarzon recorded the highest number of registered deaths at 101,333 or 16.1 percent of the total deaths in the country between January and December 2023.

The National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila registered 81,320 deaths from January to December 2023, or a 3-percent increase from the 78,917 deaths registered in the same period in 2022.

“Quezon City recorded the highest number of registered deaths in the NCR from January to December 2023 at 17,786 or 21.9 percent of the total deaths in the region,” PSA said.

The province of Cavite recorded the highest number of registered deaths among provinces, reaching 25,595 or 4.1 percent of the total deaths in the country.

Th is was followed by Bulacan with 24,274 deaths or 3.9 percent of the total; and Rizal with 20,577 or 3.3 percent of all deaths. Meanwhile, ischaemic heart diseases were responsible for

causing the most number of deaths with 118,936 cases or 18.9 percent of the total deaths in the country. The top three causes of death in the country from January to December of 2023 were ischaemic heart diseases, neoplasms, and cerebrovascular diseases. These were also the leading causes of death in the same period in 2022,” PSA said.

Th is was followed by neoplasms with 67,386 deaths or 10.7 percent of the total and cerebrovascular diseases with a total of 63,401 recorded cases or 10.1 percent of all causes of death from January to December 2023.

O ther top causes of death were diabetes mellitus which killed 39,783 Filipinos or 6.3 percent of all causes of death followed by pneumonia which recorded

38,637 cases or 6.1 percent of the total.

T he causes of death were obtained from the deaths registered, either timely or belatedly, at the appropriate Office of the City/Municipal Civil Registrar throughout the country and subsequently submitted for encoding to the Office of the Civil Registrar General through the PSA’s Provincial Statistical Offices (PSOs).

The data were still provisional and may differ from the final count. Deaths of Filipinos abroad are not yet included in this release. However, PSA said Filipinos whose usual residence is abroad and foreign nationals with deaths occurring in the country during the reference period were included in this report.

A12 Monday, July 1, 2024

to attest to its financial capacity for such a big contract.

CSR AT EAST AVENUE Dr. Ronnel Ybañez, CEO/President of Asia’s Golden Icons and Events Inc. (AGIA Inc.), leads the distribution of medical supplies to East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City on Saturday, July 29, 2024, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. NONOY LACZA

SENATOR Pia Cayetano, the new head of the Senate Committee on Energy, visits the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform (SWP) located 50 kilometers offshore Northwest Palawan. She is joined by Prime Infra President and CEO Guillaume Lucci, and Prime Energy General Manager and Managing Director Donnabel Kuizon Cruz. PHOTO FROM OFFICE OF SEN. PIA. CAYETANO

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

HBy VG Cabuag @villygc

ard discount Philippines Inc. (HdPI), the operator of discount store dali Everyday, posted a P1.88-billion loss last year, more than double the previous year’s P894.68 million.

on top of a $15-million investment the ADB made last year, also for store and distribution network expansion and for cold chain infrastructure.

Other shareholders in HDPI are private equity firm Creador, Navegar and Venturi Partners.

Hard Discount said it’s direct parent Singapore-incorporated HDPM Sin Pte. Ltd. has committed to provide the necessary finances, when necessary, to enable business continuity and to pay its liabilities when it falls due.

net profit margin, the company will be able to generate sufficient cash flows from its operations to meet its obligations as and when they fall due,” it said.

Dali Everyday Grocery opened its first store in February 2020 in Sta. Rosa, Laguna and aims to grow its store network to 950 by year-end.

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

GLOBE Telecom Inc. said on Sunday it is on course to achieve positive cash flow by 2025, bolstered by its “strategic” reduction in capital expenditures (capex) and robust financial performance.

ance of 50 percent. Eala noted that the strategic capex reduction has been “a key component” of Globe’s financial strategy. These cost-cutting measures are expected to continue into 2025, with the company targeting a capex below $1 billion.

The Ayala-led telco recorded a net income of P6.8 billion during the first three months of the year, a 7-percent decline from the P7.3 billion reported the year prior.

According to regulatory filing by the company, whose ultimate mother company is the Switzerland-based Dali Discount AG, the company grew its revenues by 125 percent to P22.31 billion in 2023 from P9.91 billion the previous year. Since opening its first store in February 2020, Hard Discount has accumulated a capital deficit of P1.29 billion, attributed to successive losses, prompting capital infusion from various investors worth P4.67 billion, as of last year.

HDPI also said it expects profit margins to improve in the next five years as it works on cost-efficiency measures.

Multilateral lender Asian Development Bank (ADB) last month also announced that it is infusing $10 million into the company to finance the expansion of its stores and distribution centers. This is

“Management believes that with the planned increase in equity, the commitment of and continued financial support from the parent company and the projected improvement in

Stores carry most of the regular food and beverage items found in their competitors except for fruits and vegetables. However, they sell chilled items that are kept in boxes that can keep them frozen for 12 to 15 hours.

Dali stores carry their own labels which are made for them by local manufacturers, including its own soda dubbed Pinoy Cola.

However, Dali also sells local brands as well as imported items from Europe and Malaysia and South Korea.

InDrive ties up with advocacy group

RIDE-H AILING service provider inDrive will provide commission-free services to drivers for up to six months as it resumes operations in the Philippines.

InDrive Business Development Manager for Southeast Asia Macroregion Afanasii Petrov said it partnered with advocacy group Laban TNVS to offer its services free of charge to Laban TNVS members during its first two to six months of operations. After this period, a service charge of 10 percent will be implemented.

Last week

Share prices recovered last week after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced that it kept its benchmark rates steady and affirmed its view of a 50-basis point reduction before 2025. The benchmark Philippine Stock exchange index gained 253.43 points to close at 6,411.91 points. af ter weeks of decline, the main index was up all week long, mainly due to bargain hunting. Volume of trade, however, remained anemic, with value averaging only P4.81 billion. Foreign investors, which cornered 48 percent of the trades, were net buyers at a mere P7.52 million. Most sub-indices ended in the green as the broader all Shares index gained 111.46 points to close at 3,486.66 points, the Financials index rose 59.76 to 1,924.59, the Industrial index climbed 211 to 8,986.35, the holding Firms index was up 41.07 to 5,552.71, the Property index surged 159.86 to 2,517.42, the Services index added 124.31 to 1,996.29 and the Mining and Oil index fell 62.81 to 8,481.55. For the week, losers managed to edge gainers 122 to 109, while 22 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Philippine racing Club Inc., Vivant Corp., Jackstones Inc., Global- estate resorts Inc., Century Properties Group Inc., National reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines and Macay holdings Inc. Top, losers, meanwhile, were Grand Plaza hotel Corp., MrC allied Inc., Philippine Bank of Communications, Bright Kindle resources and Investments Inc., I-remit Inc., aBS-CBN Corp. and F and J Prince holdings Corp. a shares.

“We wanted to break barriers and get to the bottom line of our drivers’ concerns. This way, we can address them immediately and provide better services to our passengers,” Afanasii said.

InDrive has officially resumed its operations, following its compliance with Memorandum Circular (MC) 2019-036 or the Fare Rates For Transportation Network Vehicle Services (TNVS). The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) previously issued a cease and desist order (CDO) against inDrive for operating with a different fare matrix.

this week

Share prices may continue climbing due to the dovish signals that the BSP made during its latest policy meeting.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financials Inc., said the local market may test the validity of its breach of the 6,400-resistance level.

“If the market is able to hold its ground above the said line, then 6,400 will be seen again as the market’s support while next resistance is seen at 6,700,” he said.

“BSP Governor eli remolona has signaled the possibility of a rate cut in their august meeting. Prospects of monetary easing are expected to boost confidence towards the market given its positive impact on the general economy as well as on the corporate sector. Next week, investors are also expected to watch out for the Philippines’s June inflation data as this would also provide clues on our country’s monetary policy outlook.”

Broker 2Tradeasia said the BSP is much more optimistic on its baseline inflation forecast, coming down to just 3.3 percent, from 3.5 percent in 2024, and 3.1 percent from 3.3 percent in 2025.

“In an ideal world, nowcomfortable CPI [consumer price index] projections especially extending towards the next 12 to 24 months would have prompted downward adjustments to rates; external factors are understandably affecting the visibility of risks-these factors include choreography with the US Fed and geopolitical tensions in the region, among others,” the broker said.

“The first semester of the year officially comes to a close, and while

Before its compliance with the memo, inDrive operated under the bid-place fare matrix, which in a nutshell allows passengers to “haggle” fares with drivers nearby through its platform.

Afanasii noted that inDrive “avoids using algorithms to determine riding fares and implementing surge charges,” claiming that it will result in “lower and stabler rates, even during rush hour.”

“We are excited to resume operations here in the Philippines. Filipinos need more options for ridehailing services as much as drivers need more sources of income. We

downward revisions in earnings have been more common this part quarter, corporate stories under our monitoring remain interestingly intact, albeit riddled with medium-term margin pressure and much weaker capital deployment.”

stock picks

LaST month, President Marcos Jr. signed into law the real Property Valuation and assessment reform act (rPVara), which seeks to standardize the country’s valuation of real property, including an increase in the valuation of properties closer to market prices. This will result in higher real property taxes on all real property assets.

Maybank Securities said its impact analysis of the two property developers implied that SM Prime holdings Inc. (SMPh) is likely to be more affected in terms of 2027 earnings at -2.3 percent while ayala Land Inc., will be less affected at -0.2 percent.

“Based on our analysis, we expect that the impact of rPVara will mostly be felt by real property owners whose assets are classified as commercial, where assessment levels are typically higher. hence, we see a bigger impact on SMPh’s commercial properties. additionally, those who own large land banks in areas where discrepancies in zonal values and market values should also feel a greater effect,” it said.

The broker said its top pick for the country’s property sector remains ayala Land “as we think its residential division’s efforts to target the premium market will continue to result in healthy pre-sales going forward.”

The broker also gave a buy rating on SM Prime as it continues to see strong earnings growth to be led by

believe that our app and this partnership will significantly bridge the gaps in the industry,” he said. InDrive secured last December its accreditation as a transport network company from the LTFRB, initially operating in five cities namely: Baguio, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan and Bacolod.

The company is operating in more than 700 cities across over 46 countries and is the secondmost downloaded mobility app. In Southeast Asia, inDrive’s services are already being offered in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Lorenz S. Marasigan

According to Globe CFO Rizza Maniego-Eala, Globe is “upbeat” on achieving its financial targets, even as it maintains its projection of “mid-single-digit revenue growth” for 2024. Furthermore, Globe anticipates an Ebitda margin of 50 percent and has set its cash capex for the year at $1 billion, a 23-percent decrease from last year.

“Despite economic challenges impacting consumer spending, we are maintaining our guidance for Full Year 2024. This approach aligns with our goal to optimize spending and remain on track to achieve positive free cash flow by 2025,” Eala said.

In the first quarter, Globe reported a 3-percent growth in consolidated gross service revenue, amounting to P41.1 billion. This increase was largely fueled by strong performance in the mobile and corporate data segments.

Concurrently, the company’s consolidated Ebitda rose by 4 percent to P21.4 billion, improving the Ebtida margin to 52 percent from 51 percent, surpassing the full-year guid-

However, excluding one-time gains from the tower sale in the previous year, the company’s net income stood at P5.8 billion or 13 precent higher than 2023.

Globe is looking at other investment opportunities like healthcare to capitalize on its thriving fintech arm as its core business matures, its CEO Ernest Cu said last May.

“There’s this paranoia that we have that one day this will plateau,” Cu said of the company’s telco revenue in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s David Ingles and Stephen Engle. “Growth all over the world as far as telco revenues have been challenged. I think it’s no secret,” he added. The company, which counts Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp. as major shareholders, is looking at different sectors like healthcare and “others that we can sort of effect through digital means,” he said, citing the success of its popular e-wallet service GCash.

its continued mall expansion.

“We nonetheless remain cautious in the near-term given higherfor-longer policy rates dampening prospects.”

SM Prime shares closed last week at P28.30 apiece, while ayala Land shares closed at P28.50. VG Cabuag

Tax policies only favor elite, firms–activists

By Reine Juvierre Alberto

AS countries grapple with insufficient revenues to finance public services, tax policies continue to favor corporations, multinational corporations and the wealthy few, according to a tax-justice advocate.

Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) Development Finance Senior Program Manager Jeannie N. Manipon said the governments must support and participate in the United Nations (UN) Tax Convention to address “massive tax abuses” by corporations and the elite, which costs governments $1 billion a day.

“Let us call on our governments to support and participate in the negotiations to ensure a positive outcome, a convention that is anchored on fundamental principles of tax justice,” Manipon was quoted in a statement as saying.

Tax-justice advocates gathered at a multi-stakeholders forum on June 20 to urge that global tax rules that have worked against the interest of developing countries and marginalized sectors and communities have to be “rewritten” through a “strong UN Tax Convention.”

The UN Tax Convention aims to reformulate the global tax rules to make them work for the needs and rights of people worldwide.

“The adoption of this resolution, despite opposition from the world’s most powerful economies, underscores the strong demand from the Global South for a meaningful role in shaping international tax policies— a role they have historically been excluded from,” the statement said.

APMDD Coordinator Lidy Nacpil said governments all over the world have tax rules that favor multinational corporations due to profit repatriations and trade deficits as a product of colonialism.

“We are looking at this year as a very important year, because we will be negotiating the content of the UN Tax Convention. Ten years of work for tax justice has led to this important win,” Nacpil said.

Global Alliance for Tax Justice

Banking&Finance PHL secures $1.25B worth of loans from World Bank

Executive Coordinator Dereje Alemayehu said a broad-based alliance is crucial since tax is interconnected with many social movements.

“All rights-based movements should be part of the alliance for tax justice because our struggle is part of a broader struggle. We can only achieve success when we unit our movements,” Alemayehu added.

A new UN Tax Convention AdHoc Committee was established in February 2024 while initial negotiations occurred from April 26 to May 8, 2024, to draft the Convention’s Terms of Reference (ToR) by the end of August this year.

The next months will be crucial in the fight for tax rules on financing for human rights, quality public services, gender equality and climate action that countries urgently need, it said.

The ongoing negotiations are an opportunity for civil society and grassroots movements across the world to influence the process, according to Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia Co-Coordinator Dr. Arjun Karki.

“The tax rules favor those who are rich. Rich countries. Rich companies. Rich people. We need tax rules that support, protect, and promote the interest of people and the planet,” Karki underscored.

In the Philippine context, Oriang Women’s Movement Flora AssidaoSantos said a just, transparent and equitable taxation system is the solution to alleviate the women in the country suffering from various crises.

Public interest lawyer Jose Aaron M. Pedrosa Jr. also expressed support in the treaty under the UN to stop the collusion of Global North countries working against the interest of the Global South.

Tax justice advocates emphasized that the upcoming UN process is a “historic opportunity” to modify the outdated international tax framework, which features structural inequalities and is rooted in colonialism and imperialism.

“A one-country-one-vote process at the UN allows member states a more open opportunity to address these issues,” they said.

THE proportion of Bitcoin traded over weekends has declined to an all-time low of 16 percent this year, according to cryptocurrency research firm Kaiko.

The drop comes in the wake of the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-tradedfunds, which appears to have shifted the periods when Bitcoin is traded to be more in line with the schedule of traditional equity exchanges and has lowered its price volatility.

One of crypto’s noteworthy traits is that, unlike stocks, it trades during all hours of the day and even on Saturdays and Sundays. In the past, Bitcoin trading gained notoriety for its “Wild Weekends,” where the digital currency would experience wide price fluctuations.

But that phenomenon seems to be cooling since Bitcoin’s weekend trading volume has continued to dwindle from its high of 28 percent in 2019. The launch of Bitcoin ETFs is likely a big reason why.

The decline of weekend trading is a “trend that has been going on for years, but has been exacerbated by ETFs,” according to Kaiko Senior Analyst Dessislava Aubert.

Bitcoin ETFs launched with approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission at the beginning of 2024 and have been a hit with investors ever since, leading the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket to a record high in March. While a portion of those gains have been pared, the largest cryptocurrency is still up about 45 percent this year to around $61,000.

Unlike most crypto tokens that can be traded anytime on exchanges such as Binance, the Bitcoin ETFs follow the schedule of the traditional stock exchange that they are traded on—which means no weekend trading.

TBy Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

HE Philippines has secured over-a-billion dollars’ worth of loans from the World Bank (WB) for the sustainable development efforts and school resiliency.

Over the weekend, the WB Board of Executive Directors approved a total of $1.250 billion worth of loans.

The bulk of the financing or $750 million will be for the Philippines’s “Second Sustainable Recovery Development Policy Loan” and the $500 million for the “Infrastructure for Safer and Resilient Schools” project.

“The Philippine economy remains resilient in the face of ongoing global and domestic challenges. The reforms supported by this lending program, if implemented, will encourage private investment, innovation, and sustained growth,” WB Senior Economist Ralph Van Doorn said.

“Through these reforms, the Philippines can transition faster to

MAYNILAD Water Services Inc. (MWSI) announced it has received the permit to sell (PTS) from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first-ever offering of Peso-Denominated SEC-Registered Blue Bonds in the Philippines.

According to the MWSI, its Blue Bonds have been granted on March 15, 2024, a “PRS Aaa” with a Stable Outlook by the Philippine Rating Services (PhilRatings) Corp. The “PRS Aaa” is the

lows

The proportion of Bitcoin traded on weekdays between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. increased to 6.7 percent from 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, Kaiko said. That’s the period known as the benchmark fixing window, when the owners of the ETFs determine the price of Bitcoin and then use it to calculate the ETF’s net asset value.

The collapse of the crypto-friendly banks Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March 2023 is also contributing to lower trading volume on weekends, according to Kaiko.

That’s because market makers can no longer use the banks’ 24/7 payment networks to buy and sell crypto in real time.

“The weekend/weekday gap is likely to persist as market makers, who derive their revenues from large amounts of trades earning the bid-ask spread, are less incentivized to provide liquidity in a low volume environment,” Kaiko’s report states.

The institutional adoption of crypto through Bitcoin ETFs has also led to drastically lower price volatility, according to another report from Kaiko.

When Bitcoin last reached record highs in November 2021, volatility surged to almost 106 percent. After Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $73,798 in March amid optimism about the ETFs, volatility was just 40 percent.

The trend of lower volatility, and the fact that it has remained under 50 percent since the beginning of 2023, indicates that Bitcoin is becoming a more mature asset, according to Kaiko.

“While it’s too early to suggest that this is the new normal, changes to Bitcoin’s market structure over the past year may help explain why price action has been relatively ‘boring,’” the report states. Bloomberg News

Ta greener economy and achieve its environmental and climate objectives,” Van Doorn added.

According to the WB, the $750 million worth loan will support reforms that increase investment in public service sectors, attract private investment in public infrastructure.

In particular, these public infrastructure includes domestic shipping, promote renewable energy, protect the environment, and improve climate resilience.

The WB said given the Philippines’s archipelagic nature, marine transport is critical for trade and connecting its numerous islands and destinations, enabling efficient movement of goods and products.

Van Doorn said attracting more

highest possible credit rating on the PhilRatings scale and given to debt obligations with the smallest degree of investment risk. The PTS covers the proposed public offer and sale of fixed-rate Blue Bonds with an aggregate base principal of up to P12 billion. It also has an oversubscription option of up to P3 billion to be issued at par in two series: 6.7092 percent 5-year fixed rate bonds due 2029 (Series A Blue Bonds) and 7.0931 percent 10-year fixed rate bonds due 2034

HE shareholders of electronic banking consortium BancNet Inc. announced the election of new directors to the company’s Board of directors during their annual stockholders’ meeting on June 18.

They were Wilfredo E. Rodriguez, representing Asia United Bank (AUB); Paul Raymond A. Favila, representing Citibank; Henry Bremridge, representing HSBC; Hermogenes Esperon Jr., representing Philtrust Bank; and, Cecilio Paul D. San Pedro, representing Sterling Bank.

Re-elected to the 15-man Board were: Nestor V. Tan, representing BDO; Alexander G. Seminiano, representing BPI; Manuel C. Tagaza, representing Chinabank; Salvador R. Serrano, representing East West Bank; Leila C. Martin, representing Land Bank; Fabian S. Dee, representing Metrobank; Florido P. Casuela, representing PNB; Reginaldo B. Cariaso, representing RCBC; John Cary L. Ong, representing Security Bank; and, Edwin R. Bautista, representing Union Bank.

At the Board’s organizational meeting that followed, Tan and Dee were given a fresh mandate to lead the company as chairman of the Board and president, respectively, for the term 2024-2025. Bautista was also reelected Treasurer for another term.

Dee told the stockholders that 2023 was another banner year for BancNet as it rode on the wave of market acceptance of electronic payments and prepared itself for the increasing demands and expectations. He underscored that the consortium “made significant strides to keep pace with market requirements, handling the growing volume with steadfast security and quality.”

He reported that net income rose to P110.93 million, 11.9 percent higher than 2022, while return-on-equity was at 9.9 percent, in keeping with BancNet’s industry utility mandate.

Dee also stressed that cybersecurity remained a top priority in 2023, because being an open system, “BancNet’s strength lies in the collective security of all its partners, from large financial institutions to smaller providers. We have diligently fortified our defenses to safeguard against potential threats, ensuring robust protection across our network,” Dee was quoted in the statement as saying.

“Our primary achievement this year has been our resilience, reliability, and credibility,” Tan said in his message to the stockholders. “For us, success in payments is not about accolades but about maintaining impeccable operational hygiene.”

Tan also maintained that “our progress, however, must be synchronized with our diverse membership, ensuring that technological enhancements are accessible and beneficial to all.”

The Board also appointed other company officers, namely, Elmarie S. Reyes, CEO; Agnes H. Maranan, Corporate Secretary; Arnel G. Lim, Chief Audit Executive; Jennie F. Lansang, Chief Information Officer; Jonalyn V. Villasin, Financial Controller; Mabelyn

local and foreign investments in domestic shipping can boost the country’s competitiveness.

The lending program also supports reforms that aim to: enhance plastic waste reduction, recovery, and recycling; promote green transportation; and, encourage the production and consumption of environment- friendly goods and services through public procurement.

Meanwhile, the $500 million worth project is designed to support the resilient recovery of disasteraffected schools in selected regions of the country. It intends to improve the ability of schools to function after natural disasters.

“Education is a key component of human capital. By improving the learning environment and making schools safer, children are more likely to attend classes, perform better academically, and complete their education,” said Ndiamé Diop, WB Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

This project will finance the repair, rehabilitation, retrofitting, reconstruction and site improvements of schools that were severely affected by earthquakes and tropical cyclones in recent years.

(Series B Blue Bonds) (collectively the “Offer” or the “Blue Bonds”).

According to the MWSI, the proceeds from the offer shall be used primarily to finance eligible blue projects and/or blue activities under SEC Memorandum Circular 15 (series of 2023) or the “Guidelines on Eligible Blue Projects and Activities for the Issuance of Blue Bonds in the Philippines.” The offer period will run from July 1 to July 5, 2024. The MWSI intends to issue and list the Blue Bonds on the Philippine Deal-

These interventions will enhance physical learning environments for over 700,000 students, with girls making up half of the beneficiaries.

The project will prioritize areas where school infrastructure damage and risk are greatest, including the Cordillera Administrative Region, Caraga, Central Luzon, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Davao Region and the Soccsksargen region.

“By strengthening the resilience of educational facilities, disruptions to learning caused by natural disasters can be minimized, ensuring that children can continue their education with fewer interruptions,” said WB Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist Fernando Ramirez Cortes.

The project will also support the improvement of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) operations and maintenance manual and tools. This will ensure that both central and local level education authorities have up-to-date protocols and information for operating and maintaining restored school infrastructure. This will enable effective management and maintenance of the infrastructure following disasters.

ing and Exchange on July 12, 2024, according to the firm. The company has designated BPI Capital Corp. as the sole issue manager and together with BDO Capital & Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp. (First Metro) and East West Banking Corp. are the joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners of the offer. A copy of the final prospectus for the Blue Bonds may be obtained from the joint lead underwriters and joint bookrunners.

M. Tagasa, Head of Information Technology; Maricelle P. Austria, head of Human Resources and Administration; Myra A. Privado, Head of Program and Quality Management; Roel Dennis S. Tan, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer; and Roseanne T. Tan, Head of Business and Relationship Management.

of December 31,

The Saipan surprise: How delicate talks led to the unlikely end of Julian Assange’s 12-year saga

By Eric Tucker The Associated Press

WASHINGTON—

About a year and a half ago, a lawyer for Julian Assange presented federal prosecutors in Virginia with a longshot request: Dismiss the case against the WikiLeaks founder.

It was a bold ask given that Assange had published hundreds of thousands of secret documents and was arguably the highest-profile detainee in the world facing a US government extradition request. By that point, the Justice Department had been engaged in a protracted fight in British courts to send him to the United States for trial.

Yet from that request, recounted by a person familiar with the matter, were the seeds that led to Wednesday’s unthinkable moment: Assange stepping out of a US courthouse on a remote Western Pacific island, beginning his journey home after being holed up in self-exile and prison for a dozen years.

“How does it feel to be a free man, Mr. Assange?” someone shouted.

He smiled and nodded and kept walking. There was another flight to catch to take him home to Australia.

The plea deal unfolded against the backdrop of a plodding extradition process that produced no guarantee the self-styled free speech advocate would ever be transferred for prosecution and a recognition by US officials of the more than five years he’d already served in a British prison. By the end, a series of proposals and counterproposals were made to resolve points of division: the Justice Department's desire for a felony guilty plea and Assange’s refusal to step foot in the continental US, where he envisioned any number of potential cataclysmic scenarios for himself.

The agreement also included safety valves that would ensure Assange's liberty in Australia in the unlikely event a judge rejected it at the last minute.

This report is based on interviews with people familiar with the negotiations and overall case who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the process, as well as a review of court records.

Assange's release in the unlikely location of Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, concluded a polarizing legal saga that spanned three presidential administrations and multiple continents.

It would have been unthinkable five years ago.

That’s when the Justice Department unsealed charges as British authorities hauled a bearded and shouting Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he'd been holed up for the prior seven years. Assange took refuge in 2012 after being released on bail while facing extradition to Sweden in a sexual assault investigation that was later dropped.

He remained there, fearing arrest and extradition to the US in connection with the receipt and publication by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of war logs and diplomatic cables that American prosecutors say he conspired with Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to illegally obtain.

At the time of his indictment, Assange was perhaps better known for WikiLeaks' involvement in the 2016 US presidential contest when the secret-spilling website released tranches of damaging emails

about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton that were stolen by Russian military intelligence officers in what officials said was brazen election interference by Moscow.

The releases prompted Trump to memorably proclaim during the campaign: “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.”

The view was different inside the Justice Department that Trump would soon lead. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017 called the arrest of Assange a priority amid a crackdown on leaks of classified information.

The crime at issue wasn’t the hackand-dump election interference but the diplomatic cables from years earlier. The Obama administration had had extensive debate about charging Assange but did not pursue an indictment under the Espionage Act—which criminalizes the mishandling of national defense information—in part over concerns it could be viewed as an attack on journalism.

But the Justice Department in the Trump administration took a different tack. The existence of a criminal case was inadvertently revealed by a filing error in 2018. The first narrowly tailored charge to be unsealed months later was a computer intrusion count that accused him of conspiring with Manning to crack a password that gave her higher-level access to classified computer networks.

Within weeks, the department disclosed 17 other counts that accused him of violating the Espionage Act by obtaining and disseminating the secret records.

Prosecutors say he crossed the line by soliciting the hacking of computer networks for classified information and by indiscriminately publishing secrets, including the unredacted names of sources who provided information to US military forces. Assange’s supporters have for years maintained that he provided an invaluable public service by exposing military misconduct in America’s foreign wars, much the same way journalists are tasked with doing.

The case wasn't easy legally. It also had logistical complications.

With Assange jailed in London’s Belmarsh prison, the Justice Department tried, fitfully, to secure his extradition—a multi-step process involving judges who, along with Assange, sought assurances

that he could attempt to defend himself by invoking the First Amendment protections enjoyed in America.

With the prospects for Assange's transfer in the balance, his team saw the presence of a more press-friendly attorney general, Merrick Garland, as a potential opening to try for a resolution in the case.

About a year and a half ago, in the first substantive communications between the two sides, an Assange lawyer made a presentation to Justice Department prosecutors in Virginia seeking the indictment’s dismissal. The prosecutors listened, and though the idea was unworkable, returned months later with a counteroffer: Would Assange consider a guilty plea?

The Assange team responded that it was open to exploring that possibility but had two lines in the sand about what a resolution would need to entail. He would not accept any additional prison time, nor set foot on US soil given the anxieties shared by him and his supporters about what the American government might do to him.

Assange's lawyers broached the idea of a misdemeanor plea, which under federal court rules could be entered remotely without Assange having to travel to America.

When that idea couldn’t cross the finish line, the two sides discussed the possibility of WikiLeaks as an organization pleading guilty to a felony and Assange to a misdemeanor, said one of the people, describing an overall effort by both sides "to get to yes.”

The negotiations were largely held with prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia, where the case was charged, but then in the final months with Justice Department national security officials.

Department officials who wanted an Assange felony plea ultimately signaled respect for his core demands by floating a concept in which he could enter the deal outside the 50 states, avoid additional prison and be released from custody in Britain, the person said.

That “concept then led to several weeks of serious back-and-forth,” said the person. There were a limited number of locations that fit that criteria—Guam is one—but Saipan was selected.

“The Justice Department reaches a resolution in plea matters when the Justice Department believes it can reach a

resolution that serves the best interests of the United States. That’s what we’ve done here,” Garland said at an unrelated news conference Thursday when asked why the department resolved the case.

From the Justice Department's perspective, the more than five years he spent in a high-security British prison was in line, or potentially even greater, than a sentence he might have received in the US.

All the while, the extradition process was strained and slow-moving.

In March, a British court ruled that Assange could not be extradited unless US authorities guaranteed he wouldn't get the death penalty and could use the same free-speech defense as a US citizen would.

The US provided those assurances. But Assange’s lawyers accepted only that he wouldn't face capital punishment and said the assurance that Assange could “raise and seek to rely upon” the First Amendment fell short of the protections he deserved. Last month, a court held that he could appeal his extradition order after judges said the US had given “blatantly inadequate” assurances.

Importantly, built into the plea deal was a set of contingencies in the event the judge did not approve it. That included a condition permitting Assange to withdraw from the deal and return home to Australia as the two sides had a limited window to try to negotiate a new result to achieve the same outcome. And if the judge insisted on detaining him, the Justice Department agreed to dismiss the Saipan charge.

Behind the scenes, Australian officials were agitating for his release, with the government asking the Justice Department in an April letter to consider a plea deal to end the case, one person familiar with the matter said. President Joe Biden told reporters that month that his administration was “considering” dropping the case.

A White House official this week said the White House had nothing to do with the plea agreement.

The deal with the US was reached on June 19, according to London’s High Court, one of many behind-the-scenes actions that led to Assange’s freedom.

That same day, his wife, Stella Assange, stood in front of a camera outside Belmarsh prison and recorded a video in which said she expected her husband to

soon be at the end of his ordeal.

“This period of our lives, I’m confident now, has come to an end,” she said. The video was not released until almost a week later when Assange was in the air on his way to Saipan and after word of the plea deal had gotten out.

“If you’re seeing this, it means he is out,” WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said in the same video.

On Wednesday morning, Saipan—a rural Pacific island, the theater of a World War II battle between the US and Japan and, more recently, a scuba diving destination with lush golf courses—became the unlikely site of a history-making coda to a sensational case.

After a marathon flight from London to Bangkok to the final destination, Assange arrived Wednesday morning at the island's grand federal courthouse. Opened four years ago, it boasts towering pillars and impressive seaside views.

The white-haired Assange strode into the courthouse wearing a dark suit with a gold-colored tie loosened at the neck. Inside the courtroom, he appeared relaxed, donning glasses as he perused documents and cracking an occasional joke. When the judge asked if he was satisfied with the plea conditions, he replied, “It might depend on the outcome,” sparking laughter in the courtroom.

After the plea, the judge pronounced him a “free man" and Assange headed home to Australia where he was reunited with his wife and father, John Shipton, who earlier in the week told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that "doing cartwheels is a good expression of the joy that one feels.”

He said his son would now be able "to walk up and down the beach and feel the sand through his toes in winter, that lovely chill, and be able to learn how to be patient and play with your children for a couple of hours. All of the great beauty of ordinary life.”

Assange's future in Australia remains uncertain. He avoided the media at a news conference Thursday where his wife suggested he was looking forward to smaller pleasures.

“Julian plans to swim in the ocean every day,” she said. “He plans to sleep in a real bed. He plans to taste real food, and he plans to enjoy his freedom.”

This screen grab from the X account of Wikileaks shows Julian Assange on board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, following his release from prison on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The abrupt guilty plea by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was the culmination of negotiations that began a year and a half ago and accelerated in recent months. @WikiLeaks, via a P

SOCIAL ENGINEERING’S INS AND OUTS:

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH YOUR EMOTIONS TO AVOID GETTING SCAMMED

THE ins and outs of cybercrimes trigger one thing: Emotions. This is because scammers are experts in luring people into their traps. And as the movie

“Inside Out 2” has become a hit among audience of almost all ages, we can learn a thing or two about keeping our emotions in check to avoid falling prey to cyber frauds.

“Social engineering has long been a favored tool by scammers in luring victims to fraud. This is especially true in cybersecurity – almost all attacks begin with social engineering. Scammers, hackers especially, know very well how emotions can be manipulated to their advantage, to successfully get targets to do their bidding such as disclosing confidential information”, said Jonathan

John Paz, BPI Enterprise Information Security Officer and Data Protection Officer. With the use of various digital platforms, which often enable them to be anonymous or use fake identities, it becomes easier for cybercriminals to pull off their schemes while triggering these emotions from their potential victims:

FEAR. A specific type of emotional manipulation is trying to convince you that you must act fast otherwise you will lose something important. The urgency factor plays a big role in social engineering as there’s a high chance that the victim would then no longer resort to rational thinking due to haste. We’ve heard countless stories of how social engineers pretend to be calling

Team Kramer Joins MR.DIY Philippines in New Campaign

M R.DIY Philippines launched its 2024 campaign at the MR.DIY store located on the 4th level of One Ayala Mall in Makati. The event marked the beginning of a new chapter for the brand, emphasizing its core value propositions: “Always Low Prices,” extensive product assortment, and convenient shopping across numerous store locations.

The newest brand tagline, “For BIG and small FAMILYhan needs, MERON DIYan!” encapsulates the brand’s mission to cater to all family needs, both big and small, reinforcing MR.DIY as the go-to destination for home improvement.

The event began with a Media Thanksgiving session, which kicked off with a message of gratitude to the media from MR.DIY Philippines’ Deputy Head of Marketing Charles Salecina.

This was followed by fun games and prizes for the media, which included “BIG and small, Hakot, Dakot, Panalo!” Challenge, where participants were blindfolded and given 15 seconds to scoop as many prizes as they could into a basket, taking home whatever they managed to gather. Trivia questions about MR.DIY also engaged attendees, with correct answers earning exciting prizes.

The main program commenced with opening remarks from Salecina, and halfway through his speech, he invited everyone to watch the 2023 highlights of MR.DIY, showcasing the brand’s

achievements and milestones over the past year.

This was followed by a short message from MR.DIY Philippines’ CEO Roselle B. Andaya where she shared her excitement for renewing the brand’s partnership with Team Kramer, and how MR.DIY remains steadfast in its commitment to offer a delightful and convenient shopping experience.

“This year’s campaign reaffirms MR.DIY’s dedication to being your trusted partner for all home improvement needs,” said Andaya.

A significant moment in the event was the ceremonial “BIG and small” contract signing with MR.DIY’s Brand Ambassador, Team Kramer.

“We are renewing our contract with MR.DIY because our collaboration has been fulfilling and successful. MR.DIY’s commitment to quality and affordability aligns with our family values. We’ve seen how their products have enhanced our home and everyday life. The positive feedback from our followers has been overwhelming and we’re excited to continue this journey with our MR.DIY family, “ said Doug Kramer.

The unveiling of the 2024 campaign video and new jingle was accompanied by a dynamic dance mob, setting an energetic tone for the day, with Team Kramer joining in on the fun. Doug and Cheska Kramer spoke about how the new MR.DIY branding came to life. The couple highlighted the collaborative effort and shared behind-the-scenes of the branding

from your bank and say that you must give them some information to not lose access to your bank account.

JOY. One of the most overused warnings of all time is: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” However, too many of us can’t resist being persuaded by unbelievable offers or promos. These include low risk investments with alleged high returns, waiving of annual fees for credit card users, earning additional rewards and points in exchange for some “bank details”, etc.

SADNESS. Loneliness and isolation are two pervasive feelings when it comes to romance scams. It is important to remember that at this day and age, anyone can create fake identities easily and put them in dating apps or websites. Scammers can be very convincing to get potential victims looking for love or feeling lonely to give them their trust, personal details and ultimately their money, even when they haven’t met each other in person.

“The movie ‘Inside Out’ once again highlights the importance of acknowledging our emotions as humans. For cybercriminals, playing with our feelings of fear, joy, or sadness allows them to get victims to reveal personal and sensitive information. They are very adept at finding our weak spots!” said Paz.

BPI is reminding the public that the Bank will never ask for confidential info via email, text messages, or phone calls, and will never ask its clients to share their password or One-Time PIN.

“We should always watch out for those tactics. As we always say, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. All of us have a role to play in ensuring the safety of our bank accounts,” Paz added.

campaign shoot and jingle creation, giving attendees a glimpse into the creative process.

The “For BIG and small FAMILYhan needs, MERON DIYan!” campaign represents MR.DIY’s mission to serve the diverse needs of Filipino families, offering products that cater to both major home improvements and everyday essentials. The term “FAMILYhan” blends the words “Family” and “Pamilihan” (marketplace), positioning MR.DIY as the go-to market for Filipino families’ big and small needs. The campaign is designed to emphasize the brand’s dedication to affordability, quality, and variety, ensuring that every family, regardless of size, can find what they need at MR.DIY. This campaign ties seamlessly with the renewed brand story, showcasing MR.DIY as a reliable partner for all home-related needs.

“Our relationship with MR.DIY has grown stronger and more collaborative. We’ve deepened our understanding of their commitment to quality and affordability and created content that resonates with our audience. This partnership feels like a true alignment of values and goals,” Kramer added.

Team Kramer’s continued partnership with MR.DIY highlights the brand’s family-oriented approach and commitment to enhancing the lives of its customers.

During the media Q&A, Andaya discussed the brand’s strategies for rapid expansion and success in the competitive retail market.

She emphasized the importance of a customercentric approach, among other factors that contribute to MR.DIY’s success. “Our key strategies include having a customer-centric approach by ensuring we have the right variety of products at affordable prices in carefully selected locations to maximize reach. Additionally, we keep major processes as simple as possible to achieve faster scalability. The more we are able to scale up successfully, the more we benefit from economies of scale, where costs are spread out more, resulting in higher savings which are passed on to our customers as products they can buy at always low prices. The more our customers patronize MR.DIY, the more we are able to expand, thus the virtuous cycle continues,” Andaya added.

The event concluded on a high note, leaving attendees excited about MR.DIY’s future initiatives and continued commitment to providing variety, good quality and value for money for Filipino families. With its new campaign and renewed brand identity as the “familyhan” for big and small needs. MR.DIY is poised to strengthen its presence in the Philippine retail market.

Aphrozone PHL launches Natural Ageless Beauty with 365 Ruby-Cell

APHROZONE Philippines recently introduced its natural approach to ageless beauty through its partnership with Aphrozone Co. Ltd. Korea, a global company leading in stem cell dermatology, at its Grand Launch held on May 22, 2024 at The Fifth at Rockwell Makati City, Philippines. At this event, Aphrozone Philippines announced that it is the sole and exclusive distributor in the Philippines of “365 RubyCell,” the plant-based stem cell dermatology product range made by Aphrozone Co. Ltd. Korea. The “365 Ruby Cell” system includes the 365 Ruby-Cell Airbrush System, 365 Ruby-Cell Handy Airbrush System, 365 Ruby-Cell Intensive 4U Silky Cleanser, 365 Ruby-Cell Intensive 4U Mist, 365 Ruby-Cell Intensive 4U Ampoule, and 365 Ruby-Cell Intensive 4U Cushion. This alliance between Aphrozone Korea and Aphrozone Philippines opens the door for access to the unique skin care beauty products from Korea.

Sealing this beautiful bond by the signing of the Exclusivity Agreement were Aphrozone Philippines president and CEO Linda S. Moya and chairman of Aphrozone Korea, Kim Bong Joon.

Aphrozone Korea chairman, Kim Bong Joon, congratulated Aphrozone Philippines and said, “We have made a significant step

towards a global Aphrozone. And standing before me are the executives, staff members, and business partners of the Philippine branch who will move forward with me. With the launch of the Philippine market, I have no doubt that it is time for Aphrozone to mark a new chapter in its history. We look forward to Aphrozone Philippines playing a pivotal role as the leading hub in the Southeast Asia region.”

In her speech at the event, Aphrozone Philippines president and CEO, Linda S. Moya, remarked: “As we take this bold step into the Philippine market, we do so with a sense of purpose – a purpose rooted into our desire to touch hearts, uplift spirits, and inspire confidence in every individual who chooses Aphrozone’s ‘365 Ruby-Cell.’ Our commitment to promote ‘365 Ruby Cell’ is not merely about skin care, but to usher into the consciousness of every consumer the noticeable effect of reverse-aging. It is a profound belief in the inherent beauty of every individual, a celebration of uniqueness, and a testament to the power of selfcare and self-love. Let us seize this moment to create a legacy of beauty, excellence, and empowerment in the Philippines and beyond. Remember, growing old is inevitable, but looking young is a choice!”

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TEAM Kramer, executives of MR.DIY Philippines and representatives of One Ayala and Ayala Malls came together for MR.DIY’s 2024 Thematic Branding Campaign Launch.

Strengthening the patient’s voice thru the Philippine Patients Congress

THE Philippine Patient Congress aims to bring together 300 patient advocates, caregivers, the government, academe, health care professionals and the private sector from across the country to share insights, experiences, and best practices in a spirit of collaboration and a united call to action.

The Theme is “Hand in Hand for Universal Health Care” (UHC) which highlights the need for all stakeholders to work together to advance Health for All. Organized by the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) and co-presented by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation(PhilHealth) and the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), the 2-day meeting aims to strengthen patient advocacy in the country and allow patient groups to participate meaningfully in co-owning and co- creating the solutions to achieving Health for All.

Joining the 2-day meeting to be held on July 25-26, 2024 at the Asian Development Bank are other stakeholders such as the government, academe, healthcare groups and the business community who are envisioned to add value on several fronts. The Congress is expected to open avenues for further partnership and capacity building based on the learnings from the event.

For other stakeholders, the Congress is an opportunity to understand the patient advocacy movement and its impact to the health system. The patient of the future is an empowered patient and expects a collaborative approach to care.

Insul A r lI fe’s ‘In lI fers’

wAv e the r A I n bow fl Ag w I th the l Aun ch of the sA fe s pAc e n e twork MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Insular Life (InLife) marked a colorful milestone on its journey towards inclusivity as members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community and allies launched Safe Space (Employee Pride Network).

At the backdrop of Pride Month, which represents a movement for change, love, and equality, InLifers expressed their appreciation of the company’s inclusive culture. They pointed out that for the LGBTQ+ community, equity, acceptance, respect, and

Organizations that want to

confidence to present their true identities matter. They added that understanding their community and supporting their advocacies also count.

conf idence W H EN J ose Eduardo “Joe” Ang was eyeing a C-level position in InLife last year, he was uncertain about the heritage company’s attitude towards members of the LGBTQ+ community. Joe shared that he volunteered his gay identity during his interview with executives.

“It was heart-warming to discover how supportive they are. It sealed the deal for me to learn that our InLife leaders are not only inclusive and staunch allies of all Filipinos but are also progressive leaders who continue to drive growth and innovation,” he said.

As Chief Product and Innovation Officer, Joe is in charge of the product strategy to ensure

stay relevant in an increasingly competitive marketplace need to engage with patients on a more human level. They need to move from the prescriptive model to the collaborative one. How? By anticipating people’s needs and building solutions rooted in empathy. People-centric approaches to healthcare transformation are here to stay and each organization needs to tailor its approached to meet the needs of its unique stakeholders.

About the organizer

T HE P hilippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) is the umbrella organization of 50 disease-specific patient groups in the Philippines and is a member of the International Alliance of Patient Organizations (IAPO), a unique global alliance representing patients, which has a NonState Actor status with the World Health Organization (WHO). Regionally, PAPO is a member of the Duke-NUS Center for Regulatory Excellence (CORE), the Coalition to Accelerate Patient Engagement (CAPE) and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). Nationally, PAPO sits in various TWGs, Councils and Coalitions that help shape health policy. Our mission is to help build patientcentred healthcare in the Philippines so that the healthcare system is designed and delivered to answer the needs of patients.

Important health laws

I N 2019, two landmark health laws were passed—the Universal Health Care Act (UHC) and the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA). The UHC Act or Republic Act 112233 seeks to ensure that all Filipinos have equitable access to quality and affordable health care and protection

that InLife provides solutions that empower Filipinos with lifelong security and peace of mind. “We are also on the lookout for industry innovations. We are excited about the product solutions that we are working on for the coming months and years,” he said.

Joe also noted that Safe Space strengthens the sense of belonging and support for LGBTQ+ community members and allies. “The network’s visibility and activities break down any remaining barriers and stereotypes through fun and welcoming engagements. When every employee feels confident to bring their full selves to the table, that is when we unlock the most potential in our team to serve best every Filipino,” he said.

equit y F R EDERIC k D IO SO, a n InLifer for 23 years now, shared that he has seen how InLife progressed from tolerance to acceptance of the LG -

against financial risk. Major reforms seek to consolidate financing, increase fiscal space for benefit delivery, improve governance and performance of devolved local systems and institutionalize support mechanisms such as health technology and health promotion. NICCA or Republic Act 11215, on the other hand, aims to close the gaps and address the inequities along the cancer control continuum. The Department of Health and the Cancer Control Council developed the Strategic Plan 2021-2030 which will be carried out in four phases. In order to attain the vision of a CancerFree Philippines, five vital cancer control services were identified namely: 1) primary prevention, 2) right information, 3) early detection, 4) complete diagnosis, and 5) optimal treatment and care via multidisciplinary team approach. The goal is to reduce by 10 percent the overall mortality from cancer by 2030.

At the global health level

I N A ugust 2023, the WHO introduced the Civil Society Commission whose mandate is to strengthen dialogue and foster collaboration with WHO and among one another. It will also provide recommendations to support WHO in this engagement at all levels (global, regional and national) towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (health for all) as the Sustainable Development Goals. This global movement to advance social participation demonstrates the need to engage pa -

BTQ+ community.

“We have senior leaders who are not only allies but are also champions for gender equality and inclusivity. With their support, our Safe Space Network will be able to raise awareness about sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression; initiate programs and activities for InLifers; and align company policies and practices to ensure a safe space at InLife,” said Fred who is Head of the Rewards, Services, and Technology Department under the Human Resources Division.

Fred also pointed out that the InLifers’ participation in the annual Pride March and Festival in Quezon City for the first time attests to the company’s commitment to fostering an inclusive community.

But beyond Pride Month and all year long, Fred said InLife ensures that employees are paid equitably, rewards programs are inclusive, and benefits are relevant and at -

tients, carers and the community so that it can mobilize resources, initiate and take responsibility, share in decision-making and help implement programs to improve the overall health status of its community.

In the 77th World Health Assembly held in May 2024, a Resolution was filed urging Member States to implement, strengthen and sustain regular and meaningful social participation in healthrelated decisions across the system as appropriate, taking into consideration national context and priorities.

Attendees included Patient advocates, leaders and carers, government and policy makers, healthcare professionals, academe and researchers, Industry representatives, Civil Society Organizations and the media. Discussions will center around Financing and Access, Understanding the Access Flow, Meaningful Engagement, Patient Safety and Innovation, Starting and Sustaining Patient Advocacy Groups, Communications and Advocacy Strategies among others. Delivering the Patient Advocate’s Message is Durhane Wong-Rieger, President of the Canadian Rare Disease Organization, a seasoned speaker who will fly into Manila to grace the momentous gathering.

Media’s role is crucial M E DIA p artners will be playing a critical role in amplifying the message and insight of patients and demanding accountability from policymakers. As global health

tuned to the employees’ needs.

Acceptance and respect

M A . A L LISON M E NDO z A , an InLifer for seven years now, said the company accepts and respects members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“I believe in inclusivity as we value individuals treating them fairly and equally and accommodate people who have been excluded because of race, gender, sexuality, or ability. As a community, we are respected in the way we act and mingle with others,” said Allison, Business Analyst from the Information Technology Division (ITD).

understanding M A RIAN R O SELLE L E GASPINA a n InLifer for almost 11 years and Helpdesk Analyst from ITD, leads the Employee Networks Pillar of The Good Squad.

Marian said Safe Space is committed to fostering a more inclusive

moves towards greater social participation, once again, this is a reminder of the importance of empowering people and communities as part of the primary health care approach, which includes the engagement of individuals, families, communities and civil society through their participation in the development and implementation of policies and plans that have an impact on health.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Karen Alparce-Villanueva is currently President of the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) and Founder, Myeloma Support for Patient Empowerment, Access and Knowledge. She is also Board Member of other non-profit organizations namely the Patients For Patient Safety of the International Alliance of Patient Organizations (IAPO) as well as the Patient Safety Advisory Board (Asia-Pacific). She also sits as Council Member of the International Patient Advisory of the British Medical Journal and Member of the Advisory Board of the Health Equity Program of the College of Public Health University of the Philippines, Manila and Board Member of the Philippine Tuberculosis Society.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.

workplace where LGBTQ+ InLifers can feel that they truly belong and express their authentic selves without fear of discrimination or judgment. “The network also aims to educate all InLifers about the issues faced by the community, helping to debunk myths, reduce biases, promote gender sensitivity, and cultivate a culture of understanding and respect,” she said.

support AT T y Joyce Gascon, ally of the LGBTQ+ community, believes in amplifying LGBTQ+ voices. “I joined the Safe Space Network because I believe that an inclusive workplace is also important in improving people’s lives,” she said. As a corporate lawyer from the Legal and Governance Division, Atty. Joyce advocates for insurance solutions that protect policyholders and their loved ones, thus contributing to InLife’s mission of improving people’s lives.

Watching sports on television no longer what it used to be

SAMSUNG Electronics Philippines Corporation (SEPCO) partnered with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) as the official mobile partner of Filipino athletes competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics. The partnership is in line with Samsung’s Open always wins” global campaign, which celebrates the brand’s shared values of openness with the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. Open always wins” articulates the brand’s belief that openness enables new perspectives and infinite possibilities and will serve as the heart of its Paris 2024 programming.

LOS ANGELES—Professional sports leagues have 4.8 billion reasons to review how they distribute out-of-market broadcasts after Thursday’s judgement against the National Football League (NFL) in the “Sunday Ticket” case in US District Court.

It’s going to require other leagues to take a close look at their model and make sure that the means by which they’re providing consumer choice really does ensure true choice,” said Christine Bartholomew, vice dean and professor in the University of Buffalo’s School of Law.

“What happened here, at least according to the jury, was that the NFL had really suppressed consumer choice. Not only did they steer the consumers towards using satellite TV, it meant that they had to buy the whole package.”

The jury of five men and three women determined the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing Sunday afternoon games not aired locally on Fox or CBS on a premium subscription service that only had one distributor.

Th at kept the cost of the package high and limited those who could subscribe so that it would not impact local ratings.

The class-action lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-ofmarket games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV.

The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.

The Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) also offer out-of-market packages, but they are structured in a different manner compared to the NFL—all three are offered on cable and satellite providers as well as streaming.

W ith their digital packages, MLB and the NBA offer multiple options,

including a team-by-team package. The NBA also offers a pay-by-game option.

The NHL’s digital package in the US is included in the subscription to the ESPN+ streaming service.

The MLB, NHL and NBA packages also come in at a lower subscriber fee than “NFL Sunday Ticket” despite having longer seasons.

A ri Lightman, a professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, said the NFL will need to be more in line with consumer demands going forward.

They need to understand different audiences in terms of where they exist, how fans interact and what they’re looking for,” he said. “They want things that fit and are personalized to their needs because anything in excess that they’re paying for is unwanted stuff, which is the whole idea around bundling.... The price point that they were offering on the ‘Sunday Ticket’ package was just a little bit extreme.”

Some also remained surprised that the NFL allowed the case to go to court

without settling. The league hasn’t fared well in antitrust cases and has settled most before they got to court.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in American Needle’s case against the NFL that the league was a collection of 32 teams and not a single entity. The cap maker sued the NFL in 2004 for violating antitrust laws for reaching an exclusive deal with Reebok, that began in 2001.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion that “Although NFL teams have common interests such as promoting the NFL brand, they are still separate, profit-maximizing entities.”

The NFL and American Needle eventually settled the case in 2015.

Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.

The NFL has said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.

Golf and Country Club in Bacolod City with berths to the national finals hanging on the balance. W hile some players already made the Philippine Match Play Championship through the Iloilo and Bacolod legs, a fierce battle looms in the girls’ 13-15 division with Tiffany Bernardino, Alexie Gabi and Rane Chiu locked in a tight race for the two slots in the national finals in October at The Country Club in Laguna.  Gabi topped the Iloilo leg, followed by Bernardino and Chiu. B ernardino then shone in the first Bacolod tournament at the Bacolod Golf and Country Club in Murcia, edging Chiu and Gabi by one stroke, and the competition further tightened as Chiu nipped Gabi in the countback for runner-up honors. I n the boys’ 13-15 division, Nyito Tiongko tries to replicate his domination in Bacolod last week but

faces strong competition from the likes of Dannuo Zhu, Inno Flores, Begie Salahog, Gabriel Handog and Xian Travina. Points are awarded based on players’ performance in each leg of the five-month, 14-stage nationwide series organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. with the winner earning 15 points, second and third placers gaining 12 and 10 points, respectively. The other age group categories are the 8-9, 10-12 and 16-18 for both boys and girls.

The Luzon series, meanwhile, continues with four more tournaments in August and September following a three-leg swing last May, while Mindanao will host four tournaments in four championship courses. Players are allowed to compete in multiple series, with their best three results considered and the top four players from Luzon and top two from Visayas and Mindanao will advance to the match play finals—top player from each age category will also advance to the finals.

Capital1 aims to add excitement to volleyball

CAPITAL1 Solar Energy hopes to add more excitement to the Premiere Volleyball League by acquiring a young and explosive outside hitter from Russia and four battle-tested locals for the coming Reinforced Conference.

Russian Marina Tushova was warmly welcomed by team owners Mandy and Milka Romero, who are both convinced her Filipino-like fighting spirit will benefit not only the team but also the sport which is now enjoying tremendous popularity.

“ We hope to bring more excitement to the fans that’s why we took her and the four other local players,” said Mandy Romero, who is slowly but surely transforming the Solar Spikers

Gilas U18: Mission accomplished in Shenzhen

By Josef Ramos

HE Philippines made mincemeat

Tbasketball and, perhaps more importantly, we have the system to find this talent, put a team together, and maximize their potential,” SBP Executive Director Erika Dy said. This is a big step forward for our women’s program because we’re looking at these young athletes as the future of Gilas Pilipinas Women,” she added.

Alyssa Kae

into a championship squad.

The four recruits are Ayumi Furukawa, Iris Tolenada, Julia Ipac and Maria Shola Alvarez and the Romero sisters said that they are also excited on the inaugural 2024 Draft on July 8 with their No. 2 pick.

The two lovely sisters politely declined to reveal their prospect but head coach Roger Gorayeb said he’ll

and

The 26-year-old Tushova, who arrived last June 10, last saw action for Sparta Nizhny Novgorod in Russaia and also had stints in France and Switzerland.

to Tour rookie teammate:

THE Paris Olympics-bound athletes—from left Vanessa Sarno (weightlifting), Elreen Ando (weightlifting), Joanie Delgaco (rowing), Samantha “Sam” Catantan (fencing), Carlos Yulo (gymnastics), Aira Villegas (boxing), Nesthy Petecio (boxing), Hergie Bacyadan (boxing) and

John Ceniza (weightlifting)—with their Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5

CAPITAL1’S new members with team owners Milka and Mandy Romero (third and fourth from left). They are (from left) Ayumi Furukawa, Marina Tushova, Iris Tolenada, Julia Ipac and Maria Shola Alvarez.

ROMAIN BARDET crosses the finish line with teammate NeFrank van den Broek. AP