THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the Board of Investments (BOI) approved P950 billion in investments in the first half of the year, describing the figure as the highest first-semester approvals in its 57-year history.
DTI said the P950-billion investment approvals represents a 36-percent increase from the P698-billion investments approved in the January to June period of 2023.
The parent agency of BOI said 30 percent of the approved investments are foreign investments amounting to P286 billion.
According to the Trade department, renewable energy investments “significantly” dominate
the investment landscape, with electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply sector drawing 96.3 percent of the approved investments pie.
Among these was the P297billion investment by Ahunan Power Inc. in Calabarzon.
In May 2024, the investment promotion agency reported that several large-scale BOI-approved projects further “energized” the investment landscape.
“Solar Solutions Inc. led with a substantial P150-billion initiative in Calabarzon to expand solar energy capacity. Close on its heels was BlueWave Energy, with a P120-billion investment approval for Central Luzon, focusing on offshore wind energy
development,” DTI, the parent agency of BOI said in its statement on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Region IV-A or Calabarzon received the highest regional investment approval, with P592 billion, a 262-percent increase from the previous year.
Other regions, including Western Visayas (Region VI) and Central Luzon (Region III), also saw “vital” investment approvals, said DTI.
In addition, it noted that May 2024 witnessed approvals for “substantial” foreign equity investments.
“Energy Global International from Germany made a notable P85-billion investment in a new manufacturing facility in Calabarzon,” said DTI. Similarly, the French firm Hydropower Ventures got approval for a P75-billion investment in hydroelectric power developments in Northern Mindanao. Meanwhile, DTI noted the investment pattern which also reflects “notable international confidence,” particularly from Switzerland and the Netherlands. DTI said Switzerland is the leading foreign investor, with significant projects such as wind energy developments by Jet Stream Windkraft Corporation and Triconti Southwind Corporation, each investing approximately P115 billion.
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THEBy Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
Philippines is among the “emerging” manufacturing hotspots in Southeast Asia amid the supply chain diversification in the region, according to global commercial real estate and investment management firm JLL.
According to JLL’s analysis, emerging manufacturing hotspots are implementing more policies that aim to boost their local manufacturing industries, placing a premium on land availability and access to capital sources.
For the Philippines, JLL underscored that it is one of the seven countries that the USA partnered with in line with their CHIPS Act, which aims to expand and diversify the US’ semiconductor supply chain.
Key products in this area are integrated circuits, RF/microwave, and assembly and testing services, JLL said.
Moreover, the real estate and investment management firm said Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) reported an “all-time high” of electronics exports of $49.1 billion in 2022. Key products in this area are consumer and industrial electronics, as well as telecommunication equipment.
Tand
(DTI) said it will “thor
oughly” review the Iron and Steel Industry Roadmap to address the supply chain gaps and build a competitive domestic steel industry.
Heeding the call of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to update the iron and steel roadmap, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said in a statement sent to reporters on Thursday, “As the President emphasized,
addressing supply chain gaps is essential to building a resilient and competitive domestic steel industry.” In response, Pascual said the DTI, in close collaboration with other relevant agencies, will “thoroughly review the Iron and Steel Industry Roadmap.”
The country’s trade chief also noted that DTI is committed to working with all stakeholders, including steel
By Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto
AS the Philippines’s debt trajectory declines, the national government is faced with the challenge of sustaining its medium-term fiscal consolidation plan, according to GlobalSource Partners.
In a report, former Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo and Wilhelmina Manalac said the government must sustain its fiscal consolidation plan to minimize the need for borrowings and pay off its debt principal and interest.
“Public debt reflects the ability
of governments to finance their annual budgets. If tax and nontax revenues do not suffice, and reserves are not adequate to be drawn down, governments resort to borrowing from both domestic and external capital markets,” they said in the report.
It suggested that public revenues must be maximized through an appropriate taxation system for fiscal and debt sustainability to be achieved.
Moreover, public expenditures must be rationalized, consistent with the government’s priorities on infrastructure, education and health.
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“If this is not accomplished, the encouraging trend in public debt may be unsustainable over the medium term. The point is to keep this good news from being just a flash in the pan,” the report said.
The national government recorded P15.35 trillion in outstanding debt as of end-May 2024, higher by 8.4 percent from the P14.154 trillion it recorded the same period a year ago, data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed.
External debt amounted to P4.904 trillion while domestic debt reached P10.442 trillion as of end-May 2024. Of the total debt stock, external debt comprised 32.0 percent while 68.0 percent is domestic debt.
The borrowing mix of 68:32 in favor of domestic debt has gradually followed the path towards achieving the government’s target of a 75:25 borrowing mix aimed to reduce the dependence of funding on external borrowings.
“Moving forward, with the attainment of the government’s borrowing mix favoring the larger holdings of domestic debt, vulnerabilities associated with exchange rate risks are expected to be reduced,” the report said.
The report said debt stock rose sharply by 26.7 percent to P9.9 trillion with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 from the P7.731-trillion debt recorded in 2019 as the need for funding increased to assist the most vulnerable class in society.
Despite the upward trend in outstanding debt recording P14.6 trillion as of end-2023, the increase was at a decelerating rate as the health pandemic eased starting 2022.
Meanwhile, debt-to-GDP ratio breached the internationally-accepted debt threshold since 2014, reaching 60.2 percent in 2023, but narrowed to 60.15 percent from January to March 2024.
PBBM: P10B for infra projects to boost growth in Calabarzon
By Samuel P. Medenilla sam_medenilla
TOkeep the momentum of the economic growth in Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (Calabarzon), the government has allocated P10 billion since last year for the infrastructure projects in the region, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said on Thursday.
The projects under the Philippine Rural Development Plan (PRDP) include initiatives to make the agricultural sector in Calabarzon or Region 4-A resilient to the effects of climate change.
“We allocated almost 10 billion pesos for the Philippine Rural Development Plan in Calabarzon, which aims to push for the development of a modern and climate-smart agricultural and fisheries sector in the region,”
Marcos said in his speech during the distribution of Presidential Assistance for El Niño-affected farmers and fisherfolks in Cavite.
The World Bank defines climatesmart agriculture as an integrated approach to managing landscapes that address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.
Among the ongoing infrastructure projects in Calabarzon are the Quipot Irrigation Project and Ma -
calelon Irrigation Project in Quezon and the Cavite Industrial Area Flood Risk Management Project.
The region suffered P408 million worth of damage to agriculture from the droughts caused by El Niño this year.
Government aid
T HE Office of the President allocated P97.1 million to help the El Niño-affected farmers and fisherfolk in the region. Of this amount, most or P28.8 million was given to Quezon.
Batangas received the second highest allocation with P24 million, followed by Laguna (P17.4 million), Rizal (P14.5 million) and Cavite (P12.4 million). Together with the intervention from the other government agencies, the government provided P28 billion worth of aid in Calabarzon.
This includes the P11.23 billion released by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, indigent senior citizens and other marginalized individuals and the P4.01 billion allotted for the construction of 1,192 new classrooms.
Enhanced connectivity
T HE infrastructure projects in Calabarzon also include enhancing the
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Meanwhile, the parent agency of BOI said, “The Netherlands features significantly with investment approvals in the energy and manufacturing sectors, underscoring strong confidence in the Philippine economic environment.”
Apart from Renewable Energy, the DTI reported “substantial” growth in other sectors, such as
DTI…
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manufacturers, miners, and logistics providers, to reduce the country’s reliance on imports.
“Our goal is to develop a comprehensive and sustainable strategy that strengthens the domestic steel industry and enhances our steel trade balance,” Pascual stressed. The Trade chief expressed confidence that the country can “cultive a robust Philippine steel industry and attract substantial investments in this vital sector.”
He noted that the inauguration of SteelAsia’s new, modern rebar manufacturing plant in Compostela, Cebu marks a “significant milestone” in the country’s journey towards achieving these goals.
Last July 9, Marcos urged more cooperation among government agencies and various stakeholders in “addressing the remaining supply chain gaps” in the Philippine steel industry.
The president said much work still needs to be done to achieve a reliable supply chain for a new and integrated manufacturing industry.
He noted that the Philippines is the only member state in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) without its own integrated steel mill, resulting in limited production of certain steel products.
With this, he called on the DTI and the Department of Energy along with other concerned agencies and stakeholders to “resolve the industry’s concerns regarding high power and logistics costs, which make up the bulk of its production inputs.”
“So, I look forward to the formulation and submission of a concrete
connectivity of the region to other parts of the Luzon through new roads and public transportation, which will result in the further development of its economy.
Among the said projects are the Taal Lake Circumferential Road and the Lobo Malabrigo–San Juan Laiya Road as well as the Light Railway Transit (LRT) 1 Cavite Extension project, and the Cavite-Laguna Expressway-Cavite Segment of the South Luzon Expressway Toll Road 4.
“We are continuing to move to strengthen the economy of Calabarzon,” Marcos said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Calabarzon is one of the biggest drivers of the national economy contributing 0.8 percentage points of the country’s 5.5 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2023.
Last year, the region’s economy was valued at P3.10 trillion.
Its sector which registered the highest growth was “other services,” which includes arts, culture, and personal services, with 22.9 percent.
Accommodation and foods services activities came in second place with P19.5 percent followed by construction with 14.8 percent. Agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector grew at 4.5 percent.
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Real Estate, demonstrating the economic diversity and vibrancy across various sectors.
Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual, who cochairs the BOI said the agency’s “strategic focus on enhancing the ease of doing business and providing robust support for high-potential sectors is more crucial than ever.”
“These efforts are pivotal in ensuring the Philippines remains a top-tier investment hub in Asia," Pascual said. Andrea E. San Juan
and feasible plan to improve our steel trade balance over the next years,” the President said.
Marcos also ordered the DTI to update the Iron and Steel Roadmap to guarantee its “continued stability and relevance amid regional and global trends and challenges.”
For his part, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Tereso O. Panga said the DTI and Peza can “can contribute a lot in the country’s attainment of self-sufficiency in our steel requirements by hosting integrated- and mini-steel manufacturing facilities in the ecozones.”
By providing for distributed utilities system, Peza said it can allow for embedded power, water and gas providers to “co-locate” with process subcontractors to lower the country’s production cost and make viable steel manufacturing in the country’s ecozones.
Meanwhile, for Peza, Panga said, the agency can provide for the “best” location and business ecosystem for investors, adding that the agency hopes to host SteelAsia’s next big-ticket and most high-tech steel manufacturing facility in the ecozone.
The Peza chief emphasized that with the Philippines’s status as the 5th mineralized country in the world, the government can induce more investments into localization of processing of basic steel raw materials such as iron ores, coal and limestone towards the establishment of integrated steel mill that will allow the country to manufacture its own steel products. (See: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2024/07/11/phl-must-attract-investments-that-help-it-make-its-own-steelproducts/) . Andrea E. San Juan
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JLL’s report also noted that the Philippines has 58 key manufacturing economic zones spread across Northern and Southern Luzon with these key industries: paper, clothing apparel, food, electronics and metal products.
For his part, Michael Ignatiadis, Head of Manufacturing Strategy, Asia Pacific, JLL, said diversification within supply chains is a “natural step” for companies involved in manufacturing within the wider economic lifecycle of this region.
“We see Southeast Asia and India representing a natural complement to the existing production strength of China but feel that for companies to respond quickly to supply chain shifts, they need to adopt a flexible mindset towards land selection and funding options,” Ignatiadis said.
JLL said the next decade will “accelerate” shifting supply chains whereby manufacturing and production locations will diversify to multiple locations across Southeast Asia and India.
“Southeast Asia and India stand to be net beneficiaries of companies diversifying manufacturing capabilities to complement existing bases in China. For decades, China has dominated global manufacturing,” JLL said. However, it noted that companies are increasingly diversifying their operations elsewhere, adding that manufacturing bases outside of China “hedge” against supply chain disruptions.
“This diversification drive is fuelling a boom in foreign direct investment (FDI) for manufacturing in Southeast Asia and India, with both areas vying to become the next manufacturing powerhouse,” said JLL.
Citing “multiple sources,” JLL explained that rising costs in China over the past decade have served as the “primary accelerator” of this shift towards diversification.
“Higher demand for industrial land, coupled with rising wages and material costs, has also pushed up land prices in China, which can be up to two times higher compared to some SEA countries and India,” JLL noted.
The real estate and investment management firm said factors such as skilled labor, infrastructure, environmental regulations, proximity to suppliers and customers, and political stability contribute “significantly” to a factory’s long-term success and sustainability.
“Each economy in Southeast Asia is at a different level of its manufacturing story, but we can confidently say that policymakers are extremely keen to take advantage of diversification initiatives of supply chains,” said Peter Guevarra, Director, Research Consultancy, Asia Pacific, JLL. Guevarra added that companies need to “carefully evaluate” various factors such as costs, market access, infrastructure, labor, and governmental support before determining their global manufacturing investment strategies.
‘Mangayon’ succumbs to gunshot wound
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
PHILIPPINE eagle Mangayon, rescued in barangay Mangayon, Compostela, Davao de Oro, on July 8 has succumbed to a gunshot wound in the body, the Philippine Eagle Foundation reported.
The veterinarian who tried to save the eagle reported that the male eagle died during the attempt to save it from the fatal wound, possibly due to blood loss.
The medical assessment conducted on the eagle revealed it has severely damaged or shattered bones in the left tarsal joints.
The attending veterinarian, Bayani Vandenbroeck, discovered an entry wound in the left tarsal area of the eagle’s wing, which exited through the opposite side and extended to the left keel area of Mangayon’s wing. During the procedure, Mangayon began discharging foul fluids and solid materials from his mouth, which were identified as an undigested half-cooked chick.
At 9:49 p.m., Mangayon succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead.
The necropsy results revealed that Mangayon was a healthy male eagle with all internal organs in good condition.
In a statement, the Philippine
Eagle Foundation said the primary cause of death was severe blood loss from the wounds in the left wing, with a high probability of sepsis stemming from the injuries.
This is the 20th case of eagle rescue since 2020, or a rate of 5 birds per year, which remains high.
This is the fourth case of rescue in 2024, with Eagle “Lipadas” rescued at Mount Apo in January, and eagles “Kalatungan” of Bukidnon and “Nariha Kabugao” in Apayao in March.
Like Mangayon, these birds were also gunshot victims.
The Philippine Eagle Foundation appealed for increased government intervention to save our critically endangered national bird.
“We really need to level up our interventions, but we need to do it soon,” said Dennis Salvador, PEF Executive Director.
“But we would mostly need local government and national government actions and investment. The civil society sector can only do so much. We need government political will and action. There should also be additional financing to a systematic and nationwide species survival campaign before it’s too late for our national bird,” Salvador added.
7.1-magnitude quake rocks Sultan Kudarat
A7.1- MAGNITUDE earthquake struck the town of Palimbang in Sultan Kudarat Thursday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.
The earthquake was recorded at 10:13 a.m. West of Palimbang. It has a depth of 722 kilometers.
Intensity IV was felt in Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental while an intensity III earthquake was felt in Mati City, Davao Oriental, and the town of Glan, Sarangani Province.
Binay warns vs misuse of mental health claims to dodge probes
CBy Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
ITING the rising misuse of mental health claims to avoid Senate investigations, Sen. Nancy Binay aired concerns over use of mental issues as “convenient excuse to avoid appearing at congressional inquiries.”
Binay, alerting other senators, recalled that similar committees holding their respective investigations “must remain vigilant against the misuse of mental health claims to undermine the Senate.”
Binay noted that “there has been a concerning trend attempting to use mental health as a way to avoid appearing before Senate investigators.”
She stressed that “ang ayaw
po nating mangyari ay magamit ang Senado, at maging precedent [what we are trying to prevent is for the Senate to used and the mental health issue to become a precedent in avoiding attendance during hearings].”
Binay recalled that “this week, the lawyer of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo wrote a Letter of Explanation to the Senate asking Guo to be excused from the ongoing Pogo [Philippine Overseas Gaming Operations] investigation due to health and mental concerns.”
She reminded that “using it [mental issue] as a loophole to evade legal responsibilities not only harms the entire process if the inquiry but also perpetuates a stigma against those truly struggling with mental health problems.”
“Ang sa akin lang , nakakahiya naman po doon sa mga tunay na may mental health condition. I just would like to reiterate na seryosong usapin ang mental health at hindi ito dapat na ginagamit na dahilan para magsinungaling ,” Binay pointed out at Wednesday’s Senate hearing. She noted that Guo’s non-ap -
SC asked to stop Comelec, DSWD from using ’24 budget insertions
AIntensity II was felt in Maragusan, Davao de Oro; City of Tagum in Davao del Norte; Libungan and Tulunan in Cotabato; Kiamba, Maitum and Malapatan in Sarangani; City of Koronadal in South Cotabato and General Santos City.
Meanwhile, Intensity I was recorded in Davao City, Tantangan, South Cotabato, and in Lebak in Sultan Kudarat. Phivolcs said it is expecting aftershocks although it is not expecting damage caused by the the earthquake. Jonathan L. Mayuga
Go rekindles hope in Bulakenya’s fight for life
IN Angat, Bulacan, life for Felina Chiapco, 75, took a precarious turn as unexpected health issues emerged abruptly. Initially experiencing severe headaches and excessive sweating, Felina was unaware these were the forewarnings of a critical health crisis.
“Iyonpongnararamdamanko,unanguna,sumakitanguloko.Pinagpawisanpo akongkatakot-takot,” she recounted the terrifying onset of symptoms that drove her to the emergency room. It was there at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City that the alarming diagnosis of an aneurysm was confirmed.
“Dinalapomunaakosaospital.Hindi ko na maalala kung anong nangyari sa akin.Sabinila,aneurysmpo‘yun,”Felina explained the confusion and fear that enveloped her and her family during those initial moments.
As Felina fought for her life in the hospital, her family faced an overwhelming sense of helplessness, exacerbated by their financial incapacity. Remedios Chiapco, Felina’s daughter-inlaw, vividly painted the grim scenario of a family desperately seeking to save a loved one.
“Talagapongnapakahirapsahospital kasi po, si Nanay po kasi, nu’n wala talaga siya,” she said.
Remedios also described the physical toll on Felina, who found even simple tasks impossible due to her condition.
“Almost po‘yungkamayniya,hindiniya mailapat na gano’n eh. Napakahirap po talaga ‘yung sitwasyon na ‘yun,” she shared.
Amidst their search for hope and help, the Chiapco family discovered the Malasakit Center at the Heart Center, a vital initiative spearheaded by Sen. Christopher Go. This discovery came through
interactions with fellow patients and hospital visitors who guided them on how to navigate the complexities of receiving medical and financial aid.
“Doon po kasi sa Heart Center, nagtanung-tanongpokamikungpaano posistema,kungsinopopwedenglapitan, kung sino po pwedeng tumulong,” Remedios shared, highlighting the community’s role in steering them towards the assistance they desperately needed.
“Nagtuturo-turo po ‘yung mga kapwa nila bantay ng pasyente, ganito po gawin n’yo, ganito po gawin n’y... Nagtulung-tulong din po kasi doon sa ibaba, kaya po‘yun, naturuan po sila,” she added.
The transformative assistance they received not only provided the necessary medical support but also restored hope to Felina and her entire family.
“KaySenator Bong Go po, maraming, maraming salamat po sa tulong po na ibinigay po niya sa pamilya po namin. Napakalakingtulongpona‘yunparapo sa nanay namin,” Remedios expressed her deep gratitude. This sentiment of thankfulness culminated when Felina personally met Go during a relief activity for displaced workers on June 5 in Angat, where she expressed her gratitude for the lifealtering support she received.
Papasalamat po ako kay Senator Bong Go at napakalaking tulong ang ginawa sa akin. Ayaw po ng Diyos... binigyan din po ako ng Panginoon ng pangalawang buhay,” she stated, acknowledging the miraculous turnaround in her health.
Malasakit Centers are one-stop shops that aim to support impoverished patients in reducing their hospital costs to the least possible amount.
pearance before the Senate sends “a dangerous message that mental health can be manipulated as a legal shield, potentially leading to further stigmatization of mental health conditions.”
She suggested: “Perhaps in the forthcoming hearings, the Senate can designate a government psychologist and psychiatrist to validate medical reports or certifications. Unless there is substantial proof of a severe and incapacitating condition, the state-appointed medical professional can make recommendations to the committee whether or not to require the resource person to appear.”
“It is crucial to strike a balance between understanding genuine mental health issues and preventing their exploitation.”
By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
TAXPAYER suit seeking to enjoin the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) from utilizing the amount of P12 billion and P26.7 billion that were inserted in their 2024 budget, respectively, under the 2024 General Appropriations Act is now pending at the Supreme Court (SC).
The petition, filed by taxpayer Berteni Cataluña Causing, a resident of barangay Zone IV, Koronadal City, also sought to declare as null and void for being unconstitutional the said insertions.
Causing named the Office of the President, the Executive Secretary, the Senate, the House of Representatives (HoR), and the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as respondents.
The petitioner noted that for the year 2024, the DBM submitted to the HoR the proposed appropriation of P2.22 billion for the Comelec for the line item denominated as “conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes and plebiscites.”
The appropriation was P341.51 million lower that the proposal of the Comelec for the said item which was P2.57 billion.
Based on documents, Causing said the poll body did not ask for any more appropriation other than what it asked for and there
FBy Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
OLLOWING Malacañang’s approval of the release of the remaining P27 billion in unpaid Covid-19 allowances for healthcare workers (HCWs), a senior lawmaker expressed hope on Thursday that the Department of Health (DOH) has completed the paperwork needed to expedite the disbursement of these long-overdue benefits to medical frontliners.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte in a statement said although the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released the P27 billion in arrears, the DOH can only disburse the funds through its regional offices once it has completed the nationwide mapping of all qualified HCWs and non-HCW frontliners.
He said this mapping includes the health emergency allowance (HEA) claims for each private hospital and local government.
“I am keeping my fingers crossed that the
was also no scheduled plebiscite for the year 2024. He added that the Comelec can neither make a reservation for any plebiscite funds because there has been no law passed to call for a plebiscite of any kind.
“In other words, the Comelec did not ask for a plebiscite budget in the amount of P12 billion,” the petitioner pointed out.
In the end the HoR approved a total appropriation for the Comelec in the amount of P27.13 billion, including the appropriation for the item conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes and plebiscites.”
The amount was P33 million higher than the total recommended 2024 budget for Comelec which was P27.10 billion.
For the same year, Causing said the DBM submitted to the HoR the proposed budget for the DSWD the amount of P78.27 billion for line item “protective social welfare program” without any item for Ayuda sa Kapos Program (Akap).
But, the total appropriation recommended for DSWD was P207.20 billion which included the appropriation for “protective social welfare program.”
He added that the DSWD also did not ask from the DBM that Akap appropriation be included in the proposed 2024 budget.
The DBM also did not include Akap appropriation as part of the item “protective social welfare program,” he added.
On the other hand, the petitioner said the Senate added P500 mil -
DOH has wrapped up by now its nationwide mapping of the HCW and non-HCW beneficiaries in every private hospital and locality, plus the actual amounts due each of them, because the speedy release of the long-due arrears to the Department’s regional offices and then to the private hospitals and LGUs is contingent on the timely completion of this huge paperwork, as had been recommended by the DBM,” Villafuerte said.
“It’s already a year and two months after the WHO [World Health Organization] declared the worldwide health emergency spawned by Covid-19 as officially over, so it’s really time now for our medical frontliners during the three-year pandemic to get the economic benefits due them for their untold sacrifices to save lives back then,” Villafuerte added.
The DBM had claimed earlier that the release to the intended beneficiaries of previous disbursements to cover the HEA claims was delayed because it had taken time for the DOH to complete the required documents pertaining to the number of
lion to the House-approved budget of Comelec, making the total Senate proposal for the poll body to the amount of P27.63 billion or a difference of P500 million.
For the DSWD, the Senate approved the budget in the amount of P244.41 billion or lower by P714.16 million as compared to the House-approved budget.
However, Causing noted that the budget for the Comelec and DSWD was further increased following the Bicameral Conference Committee meeting on November 30, 2023 attended by representatives of the Senate and the HoR.
Causing said the committee allowed the increase in the appropriation for the Comelec by adding P12 billion for the conduct and supervision of elections, referenda, recall votes and plebiscites.
Likewise, the committee inserted P26.7 billion to DSWD’s line item for “protective services program.”
“Common between the appropriation inserted to the Comelec and to the DSWD’s is that both were not proposed nor asked for by the respective offices,” Causing pointed out.
He noted that the power of the Bicameral Conference Committee is limited by the Constitution to only reconcile the disagreements.
“If there was no appropriation from the HoR’s and the Senate’s versions there is no disagreement that can trigger the power of the Bicameral Conference Committee to reconcile,” the petitioner insisted.
beneficiaries, the amounts due them, and what local governments or private hospitals they were stationed in. Hence, prior to the release of the remaining P27 billion in unpaid benefits, the DBM recommended to the DOH earlier this year to undertake a nationwide mapping of the beneficiary-workers and their respective HEA claims to speed up the payouts to these HCWs and non-HCWs.
Villafuerte recalled that at the end of a previous meeting, officials of both the DBM and DOH claimed they had reached an agreement for the DOH to finish the computation of the HEA claims in arrears so it could “determine if additional funding requirements are necessary despite the cumulatively released Public Health Emergency Benefit Allowance [Pheba] allocations for healthcare and nonhealthcare workers.”
In response to President Marcos’s directive to settle all unpaid HEA arrears, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman
“If these appropriations did not exist from the start, it is null and void under the law for the Senate, the HoR, and the Bicameral Conference Committee to get any right to exercise the power to reconcile the disagreements,” he further explained.
He said the questionable appropriations violate Section 29 (1) of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution which states: “No money shall be paid out of the Treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation made by law.”
“In the case of P12 billion as inserted during the Bicameral Conference Committee on November 30, 2023, there was no specific purpose why P12 billion was surreptitiously and stealthily inserted,” the petitioner said. Thus, Causing asked the Court to issue a temporary restraining order to enjoin the respondents from disbursing, releasing, and spending the said appropriations.
“Considering that the challenged acts involve the dissipation of very huge public funds where it is also clear that there is prima facie evidence tht the same funds as appropriation violated the provisions of the Constitution, a temporary restraining order is compelling to be issued to stop the hemorrhage of the people’s or taxpayers’ money…,” Causing stressed.
“These respondents must be stopped from what appears to be acts of madness, arrogance, and greed for power, which acts threaten now the very pedestal of the principles of separation of powers, checks-and-balances, the rule of honesty, high regard for dignity and integrity and other rules of good men that should prevail in this period of turmoil in the history of the country,” he added.
SEN. Nancy Binay
Free shipping, returns plus convenient mobile app draw-in online shoppers
By Andrea San Juan @andreasanjuan
FREE shipping, a convenient mobile app for online shopping and free returns are the top factors that Filipino online shoppers consider when purchasing items online, according to a report by eCommerce Platform Shopify.
The Southeast Asia Retail Report 2024, a survey which was conducted online between March 28 and April 5,2024, gathered insights from respondents who were made up of a nationally representative sample of 2,506 residents of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore aged 18 years and older.
Of the Filipinos who responded to the survey, 80 percent said free shipping is their top “must-have” for online shopping.
It is worth noting that when it comes to online shopping experiences, free shipping also topped the
must-have considerations of online shoppers in Southeast Asia.
“Some 75 percent of shoppers expect free shipping when making an online purchase, and consider it a must-have for an online shopping experience,” the report unveiled.
The study explained that online shoppers’ preference for free shipping can be attributed to the increased inflation and interest rates impacting adults across Southeast Asia.
“They’re adjusting to the increased cost of living—and nearly half [46 percent] are stressed about
the cost of essentials and groceries,” the report said, adding that shoppers are looking for specific cost-savings when shopping online.
Apart from free shipping, Filipino online shoppers also consider the mobile app they use for online shopping. The report divulged that 46 percent of Filipino respondents said mobile app is a “must-have” consideration for online shopping.
Meanwhile, 45 percent Filipino online shoppers who responded to the survey also consider if an online shop offer free returns.
Shopify said that with 83 percent of Southeast Asian consumers saying they would cut back on non-essential expenses as a result of inflation and rising cost of living, price is the top factor for shoppers in Southeast Asia.
“Nearly all consumers surveyed or 96 percent said that they would stay loyal to a brand if it offered them an incentive, with consistently low prices or promotions being a top draw for 70 percent,” the report said.
Although price is a “key factor” in driving loyalty and churn, the eCommerce platform noted that competing solely on price is not
sustainable, leaving retailers to compete on other forms of value such as customer experience.
On the other hand, Shopify divulged the top three priorities of Filipino shoppers when shopping in-store.
A total of 66 percent said they consider having a “knowledgeable” staff when shopping in physical stores, 57 pecent said they prioritize stock availability and 52 percent said having attentive service in-store is a selling point.
Meanwhile, the study revealed that 52 percent of Southeast Asian shoppers prefer shopping online, while 28 percent said they prefer shopping in-store and 19 percent said they “like them equally.”
“Online shopping continues to be a mainstay and the preferred channel among shoppers across Southeast Asia, often viewed as a convenient and trusted way to shop,” the Shopify report noted.
Given the popularity of online shopping, Shopify said it’s “no surprise” social media is the #1 channel for product and brand discovery, followed by online marketplaces such as Shopee and Lazada and word of mouth.
University opens cyber-security laboratory
By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
HE Manila Central Univer -
Tsity (MCU) has inaugurated the country’s first Cybersecurity Posture Assessment Lab (CPAL), a facility that aims to bolster the nation’s cyber defenses. The university partnered with cybersecurity assessment provider Blackfire to develop the facility, which is designed to address and mitigate cybersecurity threats through a framework that includes advanced tools and assessments, customized solutions, training, research, policy support, incident management, continuous monitoring, and public outreach.
“The lab represents a significant advancement in our collective efforts to safeguard critical infrastructure and information,” said MCU Executive Vice President Chynna Roxanne R. Gonzalez.
She noted that the need for “robust security measures” has become “more critical than ever” as the country undergoes constant digital transformation.
“By providing resources and education, we are empowering the next generation of cybersecurity experts and ensuring that our nation’s critical infrastructure is resilient against cyber threats,” Gonzales said.
She explained that CPAL is set
to serve as a resource for both professionals and students.
For professionals, it offers certification programs aligned with industry standards, continuous learning, and development opportunities. For students, it provides an immersive educational experience that bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application.
Officials from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Bangko Sentral, Insurance Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, and National Privacy Commission, were present during the launch of CPAL.
Alongside the lab’s launching,
LDF Board hosting to benefit PHL–legislator
TBy Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
HE Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will be hosted by the Philippines, will help the country fairly access financial resources for financing adaptation and mitigation measures against climate change, the economist of the House of Representatives said on Thursday.
MCU is incorporating a Cybersecurity Program into its Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (IT) curriculum.
This program aims to equip the next generation of cybersecurity professionals with the skills and knowledge to protect the digital landscape. The curriculum covers analytical skills, foundational knowledge in cybersecurity, technical proficiency, hands-on experience, and software and application security.
“MCU’s goal for the program is to produce world-class, industryready professionals by equipping graduates with high technical proficiency across various cybersecurity domains,” Gonzalez said.
accomplishments during the Conference of Parties (COP) 20 in Lima, Peru, in 2014.
‘Enhanced e-Travel System’ now operational at Naia T1
By Nonie Reyes
THE “Enhanced e-Travel System” that was designed to create a more efficient and secure travel experience for all travelers and airline crew members was launched on Wednesday afternoon at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) joined forces to leap towards digital transformation that includes the generation of a single QR code to minimize waiting time, and reducing the need for multiple forms and checkpoints.
Since its inception in December 2022, the e-travel system has been continuously improved. The DICT has collaborated with the BOC and DMW to establish key features, including the Customs Baggage Declaration Form, Currency Declaration Form, and the Overseas Employment Certificate.
The system benefits multiple stakeholders by streamlining the travel process and easing airport congestion. It advances inter-agency coordination by enabling real-time data sharing and
enhancing the monitoring of travel flows. This improved data integration supports national security measures and aids in public health risk management by ensuring timely and accurate information for all relevant authorities as this initiative aims to streamline and modernize the travel process for individuals entering and existing in the Philippines. All passengers entering the Philippines have 72 hours to fill up prior to arrival.
In connection with this process, the BOC put up several QR code scanners located at the Naia customs arrival counters to scan passengers QR codes in their cellular phone and hold passenger for questioning if they failed to declare taxable items and bringing unauthorized amount of foreign currencies without clearance or permit from the Bangko Sentral. The launching was attended by Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John E. Uy, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac, Secretary Ernesto V. Perez of Anti-Red Tape Authority, Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio of BOC, Commissioner Norman Tansingco of Immigration, and Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Eric Ines
July is census month
TO HELP raise awareness of the government’s ongoing data gathering efforts, President Marcos has declared July 2024 as “National Census and Communitybased Monitoring System (CBMS) Month.”
Marcos granted the recommendation of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) for the said declaration through Proclamation 627 signed under his authority by Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin on Tuesday.
Marcos tasked concerned government agencies and instrumentalities to support the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in conducting its nationwide population census (Popcen) and the CBMS from July to September 2024. He also urged local governments, nongovernment organizations, and the private sector to also assist PSA in the said initiatives.
and complete information in response to census questions, subject to existing laws and regulations,” Marcos said. The Popcen is conducted by the government every five years under Executive Order 352. As for the CBMS, it is mandated by Republic 11315 or the CBMS Act of 2019 to enable the government to conduct comprehensive-poverty analysis.
Salceda was elected the first Asian cochairman elected by 180 nation-states to the UN Green Climate Fund, a predecessor of the LDF.
“Hosting the LDF will help the Philippines gain fair access to financial resources for funding climate change adaptation and mitigation measures,” he added.
As a former delegate to the UNFCCC, Salceda, along with other Filipino experts,
This was said by Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente Sarte Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, as he congratulated the Marcos administration for its successful efforts to have the Philippines host the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
has long advocated for the principle of loss and damage and the necessity of compensation.
“Loss and damage are adverse impacts of climate change despite adaptation and mitigation measures. They are, in other words, the unavoidable losses due to the fault primarily of industrialized countries,” he added.
He stressed the importance of holding large industrialized countries accountable for the loss and damage experienced by climate-vulnerable communities.
As the first Asian co-chairman of the UNFCCC Green Climate Fund, Salceda is recognized for leading the board to complete the 8 prerequisites for operationalization during the board meeting in Bali, Indonesia, and for raising US$13 billion for the Green Climate Fund in the Initial Resource Mobilization in Oslo, Norway. Salceda was recognized for these
Salceda urged the Marcos administration to take an aggressive stance on loss and damage during climate talks in 2022, in the aftermath of Typhoon Paeng.
The Philippines won a seat on the LDF Board in addition to hosting the body.
An initial US$700 million was pledged by donor countries to the LDF. Experts warn, however, that this is merely 0.2 percent of the total loss and damage that developing countries suffer from climate change every year.
“The Philippines has moral ascendancy in climate talks. We are the most climatevulnerable country in the world. And we are also a global leader in DRR and climate change adaptation,” Salceda said.
“Hosting the LDF Board gives us a platform to highlight the true scale of the problem and to call for proportionate action from the leading economies of the world—those who benefited from the emissions the most,” Salceda added.
“All citizens and residents of the Philippines are encouraged to cooperate with the PSA and its census enumerators in the conduct of the 2024 Popcen-CBMS providing truthful
“The regular conduct of the PopcenCBMS supports the decentralization of functions to local governments, and equips government executive, policy makers and planners with current and comprehensive population data to develop informed and social economic development plans, policies, and programs,” Marcos said. Under the Popcen-CBMS, the government will collect data on population count, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population, housing statistics, and other relevant data from LGUs. Samuel Medenilla
It was cheaper rice, now it’s cheaper fish
TBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
HE Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) joined the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) large-scale trial of its cheaper rice program by selling affordable fish.
“Aside from affordable rice and other agricultural products, the PFDA’s isDA ON THE GO [iOTG] Program also sold various pocket-friendly fresh-frozen fishery products in various Kadiwa sites,” the agency said in a statement.
It added that the iOTG program’s participation supports the goal of providing more affordable and high-quality products and bringing DA’s programs closer to the people.
The DA recently launched its P29 program in 10 Kadiwa centers in Metro Manila and Bulacan wherein P29 per kilo of rice would be sold to beneficiaries, such as senior citizens, single parents, persons with disabilities (PWDs), and beneficiaries of the government’s 4Ps program every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8 am to 5 pm.
However, Genevieve Velicaria-Guevarra, Assistant Secretary for Consumer and Legislative Affairs, said this could extend to five days a week except Monday and Tuesday since their market survey showed that Filipino
consumers tend to buy near weekends. The DA estimated that full implementation of the P29 program will require approximately 69,000 metric tons (MT) of rice. This will provide 10 kilos of rice per month at P29 per kilo to the targeted 6.9 million vulnerable households.
Citing several bad provisions, Marcos vetoes PNP bill
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
TO prevent possible “unfair disparities” in the salaries among police officers Philippine National Police (PNP) Reform Bill, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. vetoed the said legislation.
“President Marcos, with careful consideration, has decided to veto the proposed PNP reform bill to ensure that any changes in our police force are fair, clear, and truly beneficial to everyone involved,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a statement Thursday evening.
The President also expressed his concern over the possible “unnecessary bureaucracy and inefficiency” from the new offices within the PNP, including liaison offices to be created by the bill.
“Our administration’s goal is to streamline operations, not complicate them. Furthermore, adding more liaison offices could pose security risks. The current structure already provides robust oversight and coordination,” Bersamin said.
Another provision of the bill which prompted the President to issue the veto is the proposed legislation’s changes in the Internal Affairs Service, which is responsible for investigating police misconduct.
Also flagged by the President are the unclear provisions of the bill, which can cause retroactive benefits for PNP officers.
“The bill should avoid any confusion and ensure consistent application of rules,” Bersamin said.
The Executive Secretary said the Marcos administration is open to work with Congress to craft new legislations, which will “strengthen” PNP without causing any negative side effects.
“The President and our administration are steadfast in our commitment to supporting the PNP and ensuring that any reforms are both fair and effective,” Bersamin said.
WITH less than a year before the first ever Parliamentary Elections in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), the Commission on Elections will be conducting a massive voter education campaign in the region to make sure the landmark event is held successfully. Comelec spokesman Atty. John Rex Laudiangco said the information drive aims to make voters well-informed during the BARMM Parliamentary Election (BPE), which will coincide with the next National and Local Elections (NLE) on May 12, 2025.
“The BARMM Parliamentary Elec-
Continued from A22
This highlights the importance of omnichannel, which allows consumers to shop in the most convenient way. The way to succeed in omnichannel is a unified commerce platform that provides a holistic view of customer engagement, inventory, and fulfillment across channels.
PHL corn production seen declining on fall armyworm damage–report
By Ada Pelonia
THE Philippines’s corn production in the marketing year (MY) 2024-2025 may decline due to fall armyworms infesting local farms, according to an international report.
“FAS Manila forecasts lower MY 2024/25 corn production as multiple producers and industry contacts report reduced area planted and ongoing issues with Fall Army Worm,” the United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA-FAS Manila) said in its latest report published recently.
The USDA-FAS Manila projected that local corn production in MY 20242025 would decrease by 2.38 percent to 8.2 million metric tons (MMT) from 8.4 MMT in the previous MY.
The report also said that with lower corn production because of the fall armyworm issues, imports of both corn and wheat are expected to rise to meet growing feed demand. In June, BusinessMirror carried
VP
a special report on the fall armyworm devastation of corn fields in the Caraga region, which a regional crop protection specialist attributed to temperature changes.
Though they have monitored the FAW in the region in 2020, this cropping season’s infestation is unprecedented compared to previous years, said the BusinessMirror report. (https://businessmirror. com.ph/2024/06/09/a-war-onworms-in-warm-weather/)
“In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, we’ve started monitoring the presence of FAW in our corn crops in Caraga, from 2021 until 2023, the number of infected corn plants has been very minimal that it did not even show that much damage in our farmer’s yield. But we’re surprised it spiked beyond our expectation on this year’s cropping,” said Ana Marie Plaza, Officer-in-Charge of the Regional Crop Protection Center of the Department of Agriculture in Caraga.
Plaza pointed out that the sudden rise in the infestation of FAW in Agusan del Sur might have something
to do with the abrupt change in the weather pattern with the onset of warmer temperatures which increased from March to May.
Figures from the USDA-FAS Manila showed that corn imports in MY 2024-2025 would hit 1 MMT, up 50,000 metric tons (MT) from the 950,000 MT in the previous year.
Sara’s ‘designated survivor’
joke on skipping Sona draws reactions
By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie
ALAWMAKER on Thursday expressed concern over Vice President Sara Duterte’s recent comment about being a “designated survivor” during President Marcos’s third State of the Nation Address (Sona).
Duterte, in a light-hearted remark, said, “I am appointing myself as the Designated Survivor,” explaining her decision to skip the joint session of Congress for the Sona.
However, Manila Rep. Joel R. Chua believes the joke was inappropriate given the current political tensions.
“I appreciate Vice President Sara Duterte’s humor,” said Chua. “However, the security of the President of the Philippines is not a joking or laughing matter. Great care is taken to ensure the President’s safety, especially during the Sona,” he added. Chua further clarified that the Vice
tions is the culmination of the Bangsamoro Peoples’ decades-long struggle for recognition and self-determination. Therefore, we deem it important to educate the BARMM voters on the new voting system to ensure the success of this historic electoral exercise,” Laudiangco said in a statement Thursday.
A highlight of the campaign spearheaded by Comelec’s Education and Information Department (EID) is the Voter Education Micro Summits, to be conducted by its voter education teams in September. The summits will feature experts from the Comelec’s EID and Law Department, who will discuss the
President does not possess the authority to appoint a designated survivor.
“Strictly speaking, the 1987 Constitution designates the Vice President as the first in line to succeed the President,” he noted.
“Section 8 of Article VII of the Constitution clearly outlines the succession plan for both the President and the Acting President, with Congress mandated to produce an enabling law for the Acting President situation,” he added.
Chua also revealed that he is working on a nearly finished Designated Survivor Bill.
“The details of this bill will be disclosed when it is filed,” he added.
Former senator Panfilo M. Lacson, who had filed the original Designated Survivor bill in the last Congress, weighed in on the matter. In a tweet, Lacson said: “This is a rhetorical statement but a good soundbite nevertheless. She is the constitutional successor to the President not needing an
composition of the Bangsamoro Parliament, the system of proportional representation, the allocation of parliamentary seats, the manner of their election, among others.
Comelec Chairman George M. Garcia said other matters to be tackled in the information drive are how to use the Automated Counting Machines (ACM) and the two ballots that will be used in the BPE.
There will also be discussions on how to avoid vote-buying, terrorism and violence.
“It is our hope that after the Summit, we will be able to secure the participating organizations
appointment as the designated survivor, which by the way is still a pending legislative measure in Congress.”
Meanwhile, VP Duterte also did not attend the Palarong Pambansa in Cebu City, an annual sports event organized by the DepEd, but was seen instead visiting sick athletes at a hospital in the city.
For his part, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said that every public official has the prerogative to decide on their attendance at significant events.
“However, the State of the Nation Address is a crucial moment for unity and collaboration among our nation’s leaders. It is a time to reflect on our progress, address challenges, and outline our vision for the future,” Romualdez stated.
Romualdez emphasized the importance of demonstrating unity and dedication to the public, stressing that the collective focus should remain on serving the constituents effectively.
commitment to help increase awareness in the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections,” Laudiangco said.
A total of 80 parliamentary seats will be available in the BPE. Most or 40 of the seats will be allocated for the representatives of Regional Political Parties.
Another 32 seats will be for representatives of Parliamentary Districts and the last remaining eight seats are reserved for sectoral representatives namely, the NonMoro Indigenous Peoples (NMIPs), Settler Communities, Women, Youth, Traditional Leaders and Ulama. Samuel P. Medenilla
However, it said this was lower compared to USDA Official projection of 1.1 MMT as industry contacts reported “elevated global prices and tightening supply, despite growth in imports over the past year.”
The USDA-FAS Manila said the Philippines’s total corn consumption
in the current MY would hit 9.3 MMT.
“FAS Manila forecasts slightly higher feed corn consumption in MY 2024/25, but slightly lower compared to USDA Official because of limited supply both from local production and imports, and some shift to feed wheat,” it said.
“FAS Manila forecasts FSI corn consumption in line with USDA Official for MY 2024/25, down from the previous marketing year because of shrinking supply.”
The report also estimates wheat imports for MY 2024-2025 to reach 5.95 MMT, higher than the USDA Official’s 5.9 MMT “as global wheat prices are trending downward.”
“Moreover, feed millers report lower corn production and limited global supply, so FAS Manila anticipates some shift from corn to feed wheat.”
The report said that feed wheat consumption of 2.75 MMT is forecast higher than USDA Official’s 2.7 MMT because “feed millers report ongoing domestic corn production issues and limited global supply, prompting some shift from corn to feed wheat.”
Senate prodded to pass Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention measure
By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
ON World Population Day, the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Philippines, and the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) called on the Senate to pass the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill in the Philippines or Senate Bill No. 1979.
For CPD’s part, Executive Director Lisa Grace S. Bersales underscored that the agency is “deeply concerned” about the increase in adolescent pregnancies.
“Beyond numbers, these pregnancies are manifestations of social injustice, where helpless girls are deprived of opportunities to achieve their aspirations because of their lifelong and irreversible consequences,” Bersales said.
The CPD official said the increase in adolescent pregnancies reflects a “societal failure” to promote and enable young girls to fully exercise their rights as children and human beings.
With this, Bersales said it is significant to have the bill enacted as it will create an “enabling” policy environment to protect young people from unplanned pregnancies and its consequences.
Moreover, Bersales said the measure will be critical in enhancing the “socioeconomic growth potential of the country.”
For her part, UNFPA Philippines Country Representative Leila Joudane unveiled the issues in the Philippines which would require putting in place the said law.
For one, she said, “We know that adolescent pregnancy rates in the Philippines are relatively high, especially compared to similar countries in the region.”
She emphasized that there’s a “considerable unmet need” for family planning among adolescents, indicating
a lack of knowledge and access.
“HIV and AIDS are on the rise among young people. Additionally, issues like gender-based violence and child marriage persist, especially in marginalized communities,” Joudane added.
Hence, the UNFPA official said having a law that addresses adolescent pregnancies can provide a framework for comprehensive action, addressing the root causes of the issue and ensuring that young people have the information and support they need to make healthy choices.
“The passage of this bill is a crucial step towards empowering young people and ensuring their right to sexual and reproductive health,” she said.
The Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at addressing the root causes of adolescent pregnancy. It provides for comprehensive sexuality education, improved access to adolescent-friendly SRHR services, and data collection mechanisms to inform future policies and programs.
For PLCPD’s part, Executive Director Romeo C. Dongeto emphasized that “We can no longer delay this measure,” adding that it is important to recognize that the country wants to protect children and adolescents as they have the right to have access to age- and developmentappropriate information and services, including family planning.
“Let us not allow the effort and discussions started in the previous Congresses and in the early 19th Congress to go to waste. We call upon the Senators to act on this bill with urgency,” Dongeto addd. The agencies called on the Senate to prioritize the passage of this vital bill, emphasizing that it is a critical investment in the future of young Filipinos. They urged all stakeholders to rally behind the bill and champion the rights and well-being of adolescents for a more equitable and prosperous future for all.
will increase tech investment in a unified commerce platform.
Chief Technology Officer: the new powerhouse player for retail AT present, 85 percent of retailers are being challenged in the operations aspect of their business, with efficiency problems stemming from manual processes and complex business systems.
Proof of which is that more than three in five retailers (66 percent) asked answered they
Nearly all of the survey participants (99 percent) believe that technology will address such
struggles and are planning to allot 20 percent of their total revenue to innovations in 2025, including business intelligence (67 percent), social commerce (68 percent), and customer experience (63 percent). Seeing technology reshaping the retail landscape, majority (93 percent) of retailers think Chief Technology Officer will contribute to the transformation and/or business profitability. Expenses to operations, platform servicing, and support are the big
factors considered by businesses as they are focus on technologydriven innovations. Because of these, retailers are becoming more choosy on technology infrastructure, favoring solutions that offer a lower total cost of ownership while guaranteeing performance and stability. Shopify has been proven to help businesses cut costs and boost revenue, based on data and research conducted by a leading consulting company. It delivers 33 percent better total cost of ownership, 23 percent
better platform costs, and 19 percent better operation and maintenance costs compared to competitors.
“In this current economic climate, the imperative for both shoppers and retailers to achieve more with less has never been greater. Retailers are turning to advanced technology solutions to not only meet evolving customer demands but also to fortify their long-term resilience,” said Shaun Broughton, managing director, Asia Pacific and Japan, Shopify.
He noted that a unified commerce is a main growth catalyst, enabling retailers to use comprehensive data and insights across their customers, inventory, and operations to make informed and strategic decisions.
“With technology being the linchpin to the future of retail, Shopify is the partner of choice for retailers across Southeast Asia, from large enterprises to small businesses, with solutions that are purpose-built to cater to their unique needs,” Broughton said.
14. JAZMIN JIMENEZ, CAONABO ENRIQUE Knowledge Base Manager (Multi-lingual)
Brief Job Description: Knowledge base reports extraction, analysis and dissemination to other teams.
Brief Job Description: Handles irate customers, complaints and escalations either through chat, email, sms, inbound calls and call back in a timely manner.
Brief Job Description: Handles irate customers, complaints and escalations either through chat, email, sms, inbound calls and call back in a timely manner.
19. CHENG, LIN Marketing Coordinator (Multi-lingual)
Brief
20. FANG, MINGYU
Marketing Coordinator (Multi-lingual)
Brief Job Description: Provides immediate and accurate response to all customers on social media, mails and live chat. Basic Qualification: Must be Chinese national with at least 1-year
21. HAN, BIN
Marketing Coordinator (Multi-lingual)
Brief Job Description: Provides immediate and accurate response to all customers on social media, mails and live chat. Basic
22. LEI, YUANYI
Marketing Coordinator (Multi-lingual)
Brief Job Description: Provides immediate and accurate response to all customers on social media, mails and live chat.
Brief Job Description: Provides immediate and accurate response to
24.
Brief
Brief
BusinessMirror
57.
Brief
58. GAO, LI Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas.
Salary
59. GUO, JUNHUA
Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas. Basic
60. HUANG, WEI
Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description: Researches and
61. HUANG, ZHIZHONG
Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas.
62. JIN, ZIRU Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas.
63. KANG, ZHISHAN
Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas.
Basic Qualification:
Basic Qualification: Can contributes information, ideas, and research to help develop marketing strategies; can help to detail, design, and implement marketing plans for each product or service being offered.
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification: Can contributes information, ideas, and research to help develop marketing strategies; can help to detail, design, and implement marketing plans for each product or service being offered.
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
64. SHAO, LIANG Marketing and Sales Agent
Brief Job Description:
65.
Brief
BusinessMirror
information and analyzing customer needs.
ONE BORDERLINE CREATIVES INC. 32/f Alphaland Corporate Tower, Ayala Avenue Cor, Malugay St., Bel-air, City Of Makati
106. WILLIAM, ETHAN Mandarin Manager
Brief Job Description: Resolving customer issues.
ORIENTAL COFFEE ALLIANCE, INC.
2203 High Street Corporate South Plaza Tower 1, 9th Ave. Cor. 26th Street, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig
107. TAKAHASHI, RYOSUKE President and Managing Director
Brief Job Description: Responsible for managing and formulation of the overall strategic direction of the corporation.
Basic Qualification: Elected by the Board of the Directors. Confidential Employee.
Range: Php 500,000 and above
POWERCHINA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Unit 2101 21/f Bdo Equitable Tower, 8751 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati
108. YANG, LUNING Multilingual Finance Manager
Brief Job Description: Provide financial reports and interpret financial information to management staff while recommending further courses of action.
Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English languages both in written and verbal with working knowledge in the field of construction.
Salary
CORPORATION
161.
BusinessMirror
162. ZHANG, LINSHENG
Brief
163.
164. ZHONG, GUANGLONG Mandarin Business Development Specialist
Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status.
Brief
BusinessMirror
203. ZHENG, XINGYONG General Automotive Mechanic
Brief
204.
Brief
206.
Israeli military orders all Palestinians to leave Gaza City, an early target of its war with Hamas
By Wafaa Shurafa & Samy Magdy
July 12, 2024
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.
NO. ESTABLISHMENT
1 JT INTERNATIONAL ASIA MANUFACTURING CORP.
Lots 1-10, Block 4, Phase 3, Lima Technology Center, Santiago, Malvar, Batangas
2 MITSUBOSHI PHILIPPINES CORPORATION
Lot 11, Blk 12, First Cavite Industrial Estate, Langkaan I, City of Dasmariñas, Cavite
3 PHILIPPINE MANUFACTURING CO. OF MURATA, INC.
Lot 2A, Phase 1B, First Philippine Industrial Park, Pantay Bata, City of Tanauan, Batangas
NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL, POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION
YAP CHONG HUAT
Packer Mechanic Specialist
Brief Job Description:
Diagnose and rectify machine faults and inefficiencies and maintaining key spare components on cigarette packing machine and its auxiliary equipment.
Covelandia
KOBAYASHI, HITOSHI
General Manager
Brief Job Description:
Supervise day to day operations of administrative department and staff members/ Strong leadership qualities, strong work ethics
TSUKASAKI, HIROKI
Senior Manager - Industrial Engineering Section
Brief Job Description:
Ensures that the management goals are met and adhering to approve budgets
AND SALARY RANGE
Qualification: University degree or equivalent in a relative field. 3-5 years in manufacturing management (preferably with specialization in tobacco/cigarette industry)
YANG, JIE
Marketing Representative - Mandarin Speaking
Brief Job Description:
Help in promoting the company’s products and services through its sales force
TAN, FUDE
Chinese Customer Service Representative
Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries
GONG, JIAHONG
Chinese Customer Service Representative
Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries
College Graduate and/or equivalent work experience in management and technical.
Salary Range:
Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification:
College Graduate; with 10 years’ experience in acquiring the most appropriate equipment to expand or modify production lines, good in written and verbal Japanese & English; Specialize in excel advance format
Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999
Basic Qualification:
Must have a Bachelor’s degree in business or marketing preferably with knowledge and/ or experience in public relations or advertising and fluent in Mandarin
Salary Range:
Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification:
Able to speak, read and write Chinese language
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Basic Qualification:
Able to speak, read and write Chinese language
Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999
Covelandia
Israeli military orders all Palestinians to leave Gaza City, an early target of its war with Hamas
The stepped-up military activity came as US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators met with Israeli officials in the Qatari capital, Doha, for talks seeking a long-elusive cease-fire deal with Gaza’s Hamas militant group in exchange for the release of dozens of Israeli hostages it is holding.
Israel says it is pursuing Hamas fighters that are regrouping in various parts of
Gaza nine months into the war. But heavy strikes in recent days along the length of the territory also could be aimed at putting more pressure on Hamas in the cease-fire talks.
In a visit Wednesday to central Gaza, Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said forces were operating in different ways, in multiple parts of the territory “to carry out a very important mission: pressure. We will continue operating to bring home
the hostages.”
Israel informed people in Gaza of the evacuation order by dropping leaflets urging “all those in Gaza City” to take two “safe routes” south to the area around the central town of Deir al-Balah. Gaza City, it said, will “remain a dangerous combat zone.”
Months ago, Israel ordered residents of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to flee south, and much of the population left earlier in the war. Large parts of Gaza
City and urban areas around it have been flattened or left a shattered landscape by previous Israeli assaults.
The United Nations says about 300,000 Palestinians have remained in the hard-hit north, with the bulk of those said to be in Gaza City.
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza.
Israeli troops have pushed into parts
of Gaza City in recent days, triggering the flight of thousands of Palestinians trying to escape shelling and airstrikes. This past week, the military ordered Palestinians to evacuate from eastern and central parts of the city. There was no immediate mass exodus from the city following Wednesday’s order.
Many Palestinians have concluded that there is no refuge in war-stricken Gaza. The military, meanwhile, said it wrapped up an operation launched late last month in the Gaza City neighborhood of Shijaiyah, where it killed dozens of militants and destroyed eight underground tunnels. Wednesday’s evacuation order came after a series of deadly strikes over the past two days in other parts of the territory. Israeli bombardment early Wednesday hit four houses in Deir al-Balah and the
Continued on A16
NATO accuses China of enabling Russia’s war in Ukraine, raises concerns over nuclear arsenal, space capabilities
By Didi Tang
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON—In their most serious rebuke against Beijing, NATO allies on Wednesday called China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed concerns over Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space.
The sternly worded final communiqué, approved by the 32 NATO members at their summit in Washington, makes clear that China is becoming a focus of the military alliance. The European and North American members and their partners in the Indo-Pacific increasingly see shared security concerns coming from Russia and its Asian supporters, especially China. Beijing insists that it does not provide military aid to Russia but has maintained strong trade ties with its northern neighbor throughout the conflict. It also accuses NATO of overreaching and inciting confrontation in the Indo-Pacific region.
In the communiqué, NATO member countries said China has become a war enabler through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its largescale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.
“This increases the threat Russia poses to its neighbors and to Euro-Atlantic security. We call on the PRC, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with a particular responsibility to uphold the purposes
and principles of the UN Charter, to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” read the communiqué, which referred to China by the abbreviation of its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“The PRC cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation,” the document says.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are “enabling Russia to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine.”
He said it was the first time all NATO allies have stated this so clearly in an agreed document.
The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday said China is neither a creator of nor a party to the Ukraine crisis. “China does not provide weapons to the parties to the conflict and strictly controls the export of dual-use articles, which is widely applauded by the international community,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesman. He said China’s normal trade with Russia is “done aboveboard” and “beyond reproach.”
Danny Russel, a former assistant secretary of state for Asia, called the new wording by NATO “an extraordinary step,” particularly because it was coupled with the warning that Beijing continues to pose “systemic
challenges” to European interests and security.
“It is a mark of how badly Beijing’s attempt to straddle Russia and Western Europe has failed and how hollow its claim of neutrality rings,” said Russel, who is vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “China’s attempts at divide-and-conquer have instead produced remarkable solidarity between key nations of the EuroAtlantic and the Asia-Pacific regions.”
Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the statement is “highly significant” because it signals to China that Europe, just like the US, also condemns support to Russia.
“The US believes that Europe has influence in Beijing, and that while China will not pay any attention to US condemnation, they will pay attention to European condemnation because just because Europe trades with China, China also trades with Europe,” Bergmann said.
In this year’s final declaration, NATO member countries reiterated their concerns that China poses “systemic challenges” to Euro-Atlantic security. It was first raised in 2021.
The alliance said China has been behind sustained, malicious cyber and hybrid activities, including disinformation and expressed concerns over China’s space capabilities and activities. It also raised alarms that China is rapidly expanding and diversifying its
China tells NATO not to create chaos in Asia, rejects label of ‘enabler’ of
By Ken Moritsugu
The Associated Press
BEIJING—China accused NATO on Thursday of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.
The statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson came a day after NATO labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“NATO hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and
has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. He maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue.
China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion, at least partially offsetting the impact of Western sanctions.
NATO, in a communiqué issued at a summit in Washington, said China has become a enabler of the war through its “no-limits
India needs 1 million high-tech engineers as economy expands
By Ruchi Bhatia
INDIA’S technology sector will need more than 1 million engineers with advanced skills in artificial intelligence and other capabilities over the next 2-3 years, an industry body estimates, a demand that won’t be met unless the government significantly beefs up education and training in the country.
The sector will need to reskill more than half of its existing workforce to take up jobs in fields such as AI, big data analytics and cyber-security, said
Israeli
Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at the National Association of Software and Service Companies, based in Bengaluru. New college graduates will only be able to fill a quarter of the advanced tech jobs needed, she said.
“Employability of the workforce is a huge challenge and will require a fair amount of work,” Gupta said in an interview Monday. “The industry can’t do with a onetime up-skilling, it has to be a continuous journey amid a fast changing digital landscape.” Bloomberg News
partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.
Lin said that China’s trade with Russia is legitimate and reasonable and based on World Trade Organization rules.
He said that NATO’s “so-called security” comes at the cost of the security of other countries. China has backed Russia’s contention that NATO expansion posed a threat to Russia.
China has expressed concern about NATO’s budding relationships with countries in the region. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and
nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems.
Liu, the Chinese embassy spokesman, said China handles such issues “in a responsible manner with transparent policies.”
“Hyping up the so-called ‘China threat’ is completely futile,” Liu said, adding Beijing firmly opposes NATO’s use of regional hotspot issues to smear China and incite a new Cold War.
In Washington, where leaders of NATO nations are convening this week to mark the coalition’s 75th anniversary, President Joe Biden said the alliance must not fall behind Russia, which is ramping up weapon production with the help of China, North Korea and Iran.
Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea have sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit in Washington this week. They are partners, not members, of the alliance.
In the final declaration, NATO members affirmed the importance of the Indo-Pacific partners to the alliance and said they were “strengthening dialogue to tackle cross-regional challenges.”
NATO and the Indo-Pacific partners plan to launch four projects to support Ukraine, bolster cooperation on cyber defense, counter disinformation and work on artificial intelligence. The NATO members said these projects would “enhance our ability to work together on shared security interests.”
Russia’s Ukraine war
South Korea sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit this week.
“China urges NATO to ... stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image and not create chaos in the Asia-Pacific after creating turmoil in Europe,” Lin said. Chinese troops are in Belarus this week for joint drills near the border with Poland, a NATO member. The exercises are the first-ever with Belarus, an ally of Russia.
Lin described the joint training as normal military exchange and cooperation that is not directed at any particular country.
Corruption scandal tarnishes Indonesian president’s legacy as ex-minister sentenced to 10 years in prison
By Tatan Syuflana\ & Niniek Karmini The Associated Press
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesia’s anti-graft court sentenced a former agriculture minister to 10 years in prison Thursday after finding him guilty of corruption-related extortion, abuse of power and bribery involving ministry contracts with private vendors.
The case has tarnished President Joko Widodo’s credibility in fighting corruption. Five other members of Widodo’s Cabinet have been sentenced to prison terms in corruption cases, casting a shadow over his efforts to clean up government while his term will end in October.
The court in the capital, Jakarta, ruled that the former Cabinet minister, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, was guilty of abusing his power by enriching himself and other officials. It also ordered him to pay a 300 million rupiah ($18,500) fine, and said he would be subject to another four months’ imprisonment if he fails to pay.
“The defendant has legally and convincingly been proven guilty of corruption,” presiding Judge Rianto Adam Pontoh said.
“He wasn’t a good example as a public official, what he has done is counter the government’s efforts to fight corruption and enriched himself by corruption.”
Limpo had been arrested last October by the Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK. He has denied wrongdoing.
Several ministry officials testified during the trial that secretariats, directorates general and agencies within the ministry was required to give up 20% of their budgets to Limpo, as though they were indebted to him, and he threatened their jobs if they rejected his demands. Vendors and suppliers were also asked to set aside money to fulfill the then-minister’s demands, the trial revealed.
Limpo used the money on luxurious cars, gifts and apartments, charter private jets, family parties and gatherings, and for
Powell stresses message that US job market is cooling,
By Paul Wiseman Ap Economics Writer
ASHINGTON—Federal Reserve
WChair Jerome Powell on Wednesday reinforced a message that the Fed is paying growing attention to a slowing job market and not only to taming inflation, a shift that signals it’s likely to begin cutting interest rates soon.
“We’re not just an inflation-targeting central bank,’’ Powell told the House Financial Services Committee on the second of two days of semi-annual testimony to Congress. “We also have an employment mandate.”
On Tuesday, when Powell addressed the Senate Banking Committee, he suggested that the Fed had made “considerable
progress” toward its goal of defeating the worst inflation spike in four decades and noted that cutting rates “too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment.”
Congress has given the Fed a dual mandate: To keep prices stable and to promote maximum employment.
“For a long time,” Powell said Wednesday, “we’ve had to focus on the inflation mandate.”
As the economy roared out of the pandemic recession, inflation hit a four-decade high in mid-2022. The Fed responded by raising its benchmark rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Inflation has since plummeted from its 9.1 percent peak to 3.3 percent.
The US economy and job market have continued to grow, defying widespread
religious observances and pilgrimages. Limpo also used the bribes to disburse humanitarian aid for disaster victims and to his Nasdem political party.
Prosecutors, who sought 12 years imprisonment for Limpo, said the politician accepted a total of 44.7 billion rupiah ($2.7 million) between January 2020 and October 2023.
In their indictment, prosecutors accused Limpo of ordering his two subordinates, Kasdi Subagyono and Muhammad Hatta, to collect the illicit money. They were each sentenced to four years in prison in separate cases.
During the trial, Limpo said he was the victim of political persecution and felt that he had been slandered by his subordinates in his ministry who fears of being replaced or removed from their position.
“I never received any information about their objection to any of my orders,” Limpo said, “If they think it’s wrong, they should consult and discuss with me first.” Widodo campaigned in part on a pledge to run a clean government in a country that ranked 115th out of 180 nations in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International. Limpo, a former South Sulawesi governor, is the second politician from the Nasdem Party to face recent prosecution. Johnny G. Plate, a former communication minister, was sentenced to 15 years in prison over $533 million in graft of the construction of mobile phone transmission towers in remote parts of the country. Corruption is endemic in Indonesia and the anti-graft commission, one of the few effective institutions in the country of nearly 270 million people, is frequently under attack by lawmakers who want to reduce its powers.
The KPK has arrested around 250 members of the local parliament, as many as 133 regents and mayors as well as 18 governors, 83 members of the national parliament and 12 ministers since the institution was founded in late 2003.
possible signal of coming rate
predictions that much higher borrowing costs resulting from the Fed’s rate hikes would cause a recession. Still, growth has weakened this year. From April through June, US employers added an average 177,000 jobs a month, the lowest three-month hiring pace since January 2021.
Powell told the House panel on Wednesday that to avoid damaging the economy, the Fed likely wouldn’t wait until inflation reached its 2 percent target before it would start cutting rates.
Most economists have said they expect the Fed’s first rate cut to occur in September. Powell this week has declined to say when he envisions the first cut.
cut
Under questioning from several Republican lawmakers, Powell said the Fed and other financial regulators will overhaul a 2023 proposal, known as the “Basel III endgame,’’ that would raise the amount of capital that banks are required to hold against potential losses. Large banks have aggressively fought against the stricter requirements, which emerged in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. They have warned that the tighter rules would force them to cut lending to consumers and businesses, potentially imperiling the economy. Powell said the three main US bank regulators—the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—were near agreement on a new version that would be subject to public comment.
military orders all Palestinians to leave Gaza City, an early target of its war with Hamas
nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 20 Palestinians. Among the dead were six children and three women, according to officials at alAqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies. The house hit in Deir al-Balah was inside the “humanitarian safe zone” where Israel has told Palestinians to flee for refuge. The overnight bombardment came hours after Israeli warplanes struck the entrance of a school sheltering displaced families outside the southern city of Khan Younis. The toll from the strike rose to 31 people killed, including eight children, and more than 50 wounded, officials at the nearby Nasser Hospital said Wednesday.
Footage aired by Al Jazeera television showed kids playing soccer in the school’s yard when a sudden boom shook the area, prompting shouts of “a strike, a strike!”
The Israeli army said the airstrike near the school and reports of civilian casualties were under review. It claimed it was targeting a Hamas militant who took part in the October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, though it provided no immediate evidence. The military blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants fight in dense, urban areas. But the army rarely comments on what it is targeting in individual strikes, which often kill women and children.
In nine months of bombardment and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 38,200 people and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s
Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Nearly the entire population has been driven from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times.
During the October 7 raid, militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The militants took roughly 250 people hostage. About 120 are still in captivity, with about a third said to be dead.
Israel’s new ground assault in Gaza’s largest city has prompted what the UN called a “dangerously chaotic” exodus of people scattering in multiple directions, unsure where to go. Some have fled to other parts of the north. The new Israeli military leaflets encouraged a mass movement south to the purported “humanitarian zone,” promising that people leaving Gaza City on
the defined routes would not be stopped at Israeli checkpoints. Many Palestinians fear arrest or humiliation by troops at the checkpoints.
After Israel on Monday called for an evacuation from eastern and central parts of Gaza City, staff at two hospitals—AlAhli and the Patients Friends Association Hospital—rushed to move patients and shut down, the United Nations said. Hospitals in Gaza have often evacuated preemptively at any sign of possible Israeli military action, fearing raids. In the past nine months, Israeli troops have attacked at least eight hospitals, causing the deaths of patients and medical workers along with massive destruction to facilities and equipment. Israel has claimed Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, though it has provided only limited evidence.
Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning, and those only partially, according to the United Nations’ humanitarian office. Amid the ongoing violence, international mediators were making a new concerted effort to push through a proposed deal for a cease-fire and release of hostages.
Israel and Hamas had appeared to narrow the gaps in recent days, but obstacles remain, even after Hamas agreed to relent on its key demand that Israel commit to ending the war as part of any agreement.
Hamas still wants mediators to guarantee that negotiations conclude with a permanent cease-fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted he will not sign any deal forcing Israel to stop its campaign in Gaza without eliminating
Hamas. Hamas on Monday accused Netanyahu of “putting more obstacles in the way of negotiations,” including the operations in Gaza City. An Egyptian official said the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Abbas Kamel, went to Doha to join discussions over the deal. The official said US and Israeli officials were also attending.
was
authorized to
Wise fund allocation, not just bigger budget, is key to PHL growth
THe Philippine government’s proposed P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025 represents a significant 10.1 percent increase from the current year’s budget. However, as rightly pointed out by former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo, a bigger budget alone does not guarantee economic growth and development. (Read the BusinessMirror story, “Bigger Budget Won’t Guarantee Growth,” July 9, 2024).
The key lies in the government’s ability to utilize the budget wisely and efficiently. Guinigundo emphasizes that the budget should be channeled towards establishing critical infrastructure, addressing issues in health and education, strengthening connectivity and digitalization, promoting the rule of law, and reducing poverty. These strategic investments have the potential to unlock the country’s true economic potential and improve the well-being of all citizens.
The government also needs to secure manageable funding sources to support the fiscal deficit and sustain economic growth. While the Department of Finance (DOF) is firm on not imposing new taxes until 2025, Guinigundo cautions that the “old formula” of relying solely on improved tax collection may not generate sufficient revenues given the persistent governance challenges.
The DOF’s planned revenue reforms, including Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program and the implementation of new taxes, present an opportunity to broaden the government’s funding base. But Guinigundo rightly suggests that it is critical to line up these priority tax bills early, as the legislative process can be prolonged.
It is not just about spending money; it is about investing it wisely in areas that will have a tangible impact on the lives of the people. Allocating resources to projects that enhance productivity, improve public services, and create opportunities for economic growth will yield better results.
To sustain economic growth and reduce high commodity prices, increasing the production of goods and services should be a significant focus. This requires a comprehensive strategy that goes beyond relying solely on tax collection. Exploring innovative solutions, fostering entrepreneurship, and encouraging investment in key sectors will help drive economic expansion and create a favorable business environment.
It is crucial for the government to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility and the need for adequate funding. While borrowing may be necessary, it should be done judiciously, taking into account the longterm implications and the ability to repay the debt without burdening future generations.
The proposed revenue reforms by the Department of Finance, if swiftly approved, have the potential to significantly boost government revenue and bolster the country’s financial stability.
While a larger budget may seem like a solution to economic woes, it’s not a guaranteed path to growth. Effective economic development hinges on the strategic and judicious allocation of resources, not simply the size of the budget.
To secure a prosperous future for the Philippines and improve the lives of over 100 million Filipinos, the government should prioritize strategic investments. This includes focusing on critical sectors, bolstering infrastructure, and implementing sustainable financing strategies. These measures will be instrumental in achieving long-term economic development and fostering a brighter future for all Filipinos.
BusinessMirror
T. Anthony C. Cabangon
Lourdes M. Fernandez
Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug
Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos
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Ruben M. Cruz Jr.
Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes
D. Edgard A. Cabangon
Benjamin V. Ramos
Aldwin Maralit Tolosa
Rolando M. Manangan
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Celebrating 50 years of the National Nutrition Month
2024 marks the 50th year Nutrition Month is being celebrated in the Philippines. It was in 1974, during the administration of then President Ferdinand Marcos that the celebration of Nutrition Month started by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 491, s. 1974, which also paved the way for the creation of the National Nutrition Council (NNC). PD 491 designated July as Nutrition Month for the purpose of creating greater awareness among Filipinos on the importance of nutrition. For the 50th Nutrition Month, the NNC has chosen the theme: “Sa Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) Sama-Sama sa Nutrisyong Sapat Para sa Lahat.”
Indeed, the entire nation must be involved in addressing the serious problem of malnutrition—be it undernutrition, overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiency in order to ensure the proper development of children, enhancing productivity during adulthood and preventing individuals of all ages from developing chronic diseases such as heart ailments and diabetes. Malnutrition remains a serious concern in the country and undernutrition, in particular, is something
that we have been striving to address for over two decades as a legislator. Currently, close to 30 percent of children under the age of five are affected by stunting or impaired growth and development caused primarily by poor nutrition. Simply put, stunting refers to children who are too short for their age. The World Health Organization notes that stunting, particularly in the first 1,000 days from conception until the age of two, greatly impacts the life of a child. They suffer from poor cognition
A lot more has to be done to address malnutrition among children. Very good laws and programs are already in place but we must all recognize the problems and work hand-in-hand towards providing our children with a strong foundation for healthy living and a productive future.
and educational performance, an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life, and lost productivity.
Nutrition International estimates that the Philippines could lose as much as $48 billion or about P2.3 trillion in productivity by 2030 due to child stunting. The National Nutrition Council says the country could avoid around $1 billion in productivity losses by reducing the prevalence of low birth weight among infants by 30 percent, from 14.5 percent in 2017 to 10.2 percent in 2025, and further to 8.6 percent by 2028. Under the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2023-2028 developed by the National Nutrition Council, the goal is to reduce the magnitude of stunted children under five years old by 50 percent to 2,008,260 in 2030 from the 2013 levels of 4,016,520.
One of the laws that we authored, Republic Act 11148 or the Kalusugan ng Mag-Nanay Act (First 1,000 Days Law), directly addresses malnutrition among children by establishing a comprehensive children’s health
Canada plans to buy submarines, inching closer to Nato defense target
By Laura Dhillon Kane
CANADA said it would begin the process of buying a fleet of submarines that will likely bolster its defense spending to meet North American Treaty Organization (Nato) targets, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attempts to defuse criticism from allies.
The government said it’s taking the first step toward procuring as many as 12 conventionally powered submarines capable of operating under ice, according to a news release.
“As the country with the longest coastline in the world, Canada needs a new fleet of submarines,” Defense Minister Bill Blair said in a statement Wednesday. “This new fleet will enable Canada to protect its sovereignty in a changing world, and make valuable, high-end contributions to the security of our partners and Nato allies.” Blair made the announcement in Washington, the site of this week’s Nato summit, where Trudeau has faced attacks from US Republican leaders over Canada’s failure to keep its promise to raise defense spending
to at least 2 percent of gross domestic product.
Later Wednesday, Blair announced he had signed a trilateral agreement with Germany and Norway to establish a maritime security partnership in the North Atlantic and collaborate on defense production. The two European countries build submarines, but Canada has not reached a decision about where it will acquire the equipment.
“As the international security situation becomes more unstable, working with like-minded allies is more important than ever,” he said in a statement.
In a speech Monday, US House Speaker Mike Johnson called Canada’s low level of defense outlays “shameful,” while Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell said it was “time for our northern ally to invest seriously in the hard power required” to preserve security.
Trudeau’s government didn’t provide a timeline or a dollar amount for the submarine acquisition. A senior government official, speaking in a background briefing to reporters, said it would have more to announce on Thursday.
The country also pledged C$500 million ($367 million) in new military assistance to Ukraine before a bilateral meeting between Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Canada, which does not have F-16 jets to contribute to the war effort, will take over the leading role on training fighter pilots in Ukraine.
The announcements of new submarines and military assistance to Ukraine also signal growing concern that climate change is making Canada’s Arctic more vulnerable to aggression from Russia and China.
Rival nations are “exploring Arctic waters and the sea floor, probing our infrastructure and collecting intelli-
and nutrition program. The law institutes the First 1,000 Days program at the local government unit level to cater to the health and nutrition of mothers and their children from conception up to 1,000 days. The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), of which I am a commissioner, has commended the law and other specific interventions done over the years to address malnutrition and stunting. Another law that aims to ensure infants get the proper nutrition and long-term benefits is Republic Act 11210 or the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law, which we coauthored and sponsored in the Senate. The law considers both the health of the child and the mother. Children get the nutrients that they need in the crucial first six months of their lives and they become less prone to diseases even during adulthood. For mothers, the extended maternity leave benefit allows them to focus on caring and bonding with their newborns and to recover properly from their pregnancies. My father, the former Senate President Edgardo Angara, was the principal author of Republic Act 7600 or the RoomingIn and Breastfeeding Act of 1992. In our last year handling the crafting of our country’s national budget as chairman of the Committee on Finance, we also saw to it that the necessary interventions were in place to support the efforts to ensure the proper development of our children,
See “Angara,” A21
gence. In the maritime domain, Russian submarines are probing widely across the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans and China is rapidly expanding its underwater fleet,” the government said in its statement.
The specter of a second term in the White House for Donald Trump —who has previously threatened not to come to the aid of allies who fail to spend enough on defense—has added urgency to Canada’s military spending plans.
Nato allies first agreed to the 2 percent threshold in 2006 and reaffirmed that promise in 2014 and 2023. This year, 23 of 32 members will meet or exceed it, but Canada expects to spend just 1.33 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.
Another senior government official said Canada was still working on a timeline for ramping up military spending that won’t throw its fiscal plans off track. The government has pledged to limit budget deficits and to lower them to 1 percent of GDP by 2026. bloomberg
Antonio L. Cabangon
UK
overhauls listing rules in bid to lure more IPOs to London
By William Shaw and Aisha S. Gani
UK regulators overhauled their rules for companies looking to make their public debut in London, part of a concerted effort to draw more initial public offerings to the City.
The new rules allow companies to carry out more activities without putting them to a shareholder vote, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday. They also make it easier for companies to have two classes of shares, a structure that’s often favored by entrepreneurs or early-stage investors who want to have a significant role in businesses even after they have gone public.
“We do not believe the status quo is an option,” the FCA said in a policy statement. “We have kept in mind that investors already choose to put their money in companies listed outside the UK, where the costly obligations we are removing do not exist. We believe institutional investors have the ability and heft to steer the companies they co-own.”
The FCA proposed rewriting the listings rules in May 2023 in the midst of a highly-charged debate about London’s future that was sparked by Cambridge-based technology company Arm Holdings Plc’s decision to list in the US. It later offered up a draft of the rules in December, following a dramatic drop in the number of new listings in London and a bevy of companies seeking to move their shares to New York.
That all renewed concerns about whether the UK can retain its place as one of the world’s top financial centers while it suffers from less liquid markets after Brexit. There’s also widespread belief that UK investors have less appetite for growth stocks compared to the US and Asia.
“These new rules represent a significant first step towards reinvigorating our capital markets,”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said in the statement, adding that the changes are bringing “the UK in line with international counterparts and ensuring we attract the most innovative compa-
Angara.
particularly those who are among most vulnerable in our society. Under the 2024 General Appropriations Act, we placed P19 million under the Early Childhood Care and Development program for the training of child development workers and teachers. This is based on the recommendation of EDCOM 2 to professionalize the child development workers who are tasked to ensure children aged 0 to 4 get the full range of health, nutrition, and early education in their respective communities. There is also P300 million under the Department of Health (DOH) to cover nutritionally-at-risk mothers currently not covered by the DOHWorld Bank Philippine Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Project. This is again part of the various programs and packages that seek to address the nutritional requirements of mothers and their children and to improve key behaviors and practices known to reduce stunting among children.
A lot more has to be done to address malnutrition among children. Very good laws and programs are already in place but we must all recognize the problems and work hand-inhand towards providing our children with a strong foundation for healthy living and a productive future. Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 20 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 11 as Senator. He has authored, co-authored, and sponsored more than 330 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate. E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara
Notes on heritage and noise
AT a first glance, nothing could be more disparate than noise and heritage: for while the first points to negative forces, the second is about the positive elements in the social life of human communities.
The new rules allow companies to carry out more activities without putting them to a shareholder vote, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said Thursday. They also make it easier for companies to have two classes of shares, a structure that’s often favored by entrepreneurs or early-stage investors who want to have a significant role in businesses even after they have gone public.
nies to list here.”
The new rules, which have been months in the making, amount to regulators’ biggest overhaul of the UK’s listings regime in more than three decades. They will apply from July 29.
When it comes to significant transactions, companies will now have more flexibility on the timing and content of the disclosures they’re required to make, the FCA said. The regulator acknowledged that it was aware some market participants wouldn’t be happy with its decision to not require companies to seek shareholder approval for significant and related-party transactions.
Institutional investors will also be allowed to hold enhanced voting rights, though the FCA did introduce a new 10-year deadline for investors to exercise these rights in order to protect future investors in a company.
“A thriving capital market is vital,” Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets and international at the FCA, said in the statement.
“We are acting to make it more straightforward for those seeking to list in the UK, while retaining vital protections so investors can help steer the businesses they coown.” Bloomberg
Noise is about distraction while heritage calls to mind its adverse reactions to destruction. And yet the quotidian can play a trick on us. One day, I was among a circle of friends and we were once more confronting the idea about how we, as ordinary citizens, are helpless and, oftentimes hopeless, when it comes to heritage, and how to guard and protect them (the same is true with noise around us). Which also goes to show that there are regular people like me and you who are interested in these important things around us —monuments and markers of histories, statues and churches.
For every person conscious of historical structures around him or her, there are also others keen in altering the landscape, painting anything that looks drab or grayish, retouching a pillar there, removing an old door there, tearing walls because they just appear old and unnecessary. Is there a way for us to deal with heritage and their complexity? Let me do a bit about this business called cultural awareness. We begin with a government organization tasked with overseeing cultural heritage, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts or NCCA. Its mandate is “to conserve, promote and protect the nation’s historical and cultural heritage.” From the said office can be sourced a primer that “provides an overview of cultural heritage, the role of cultural agencies, and pertinent laws.” The primer introduces the Cultural Properties Regulation Division (CPRD) of the NCCA.
Under the concept of cultural heritage, the government has promulgated the Republic Act 11961, s. 2023, which is also known as “An Act Strengthening the Conservation and Protection of Philippine Cultural Heritage through Cultural Mapping and Enhanced Cultural Heritage Ed-
ucation Program. This was amended for the Purpose Republic Act No. 10066, which is otherwise known as the “National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009”, one that provides a list of terms and their definitions that are keys in understanding cultural heritage.
Here are those terms:
Cultural heritage shall refer to the totality of cultural property that has been preserved and developed over time and passed onto future generations;
Cultural property shall refer to all products of human creativity by which a people and a nation reveal their identity, including churches, mosques and other places of religious worship, schools, and natural history specimens and sites, whether owned publicly or privately, movable or immovable, or tangible or intangible; Heritage zone shall refer to historical, anthropological, archaeological, and artistic geographical areas and settings that are culturally significant to the nation and declared as such by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies; Important cultural property shall refer to a cultural property that has exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines, and has been officially declared as such by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies; Intangible cultural heritage shall
refer to the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills, and the instruments, objects, and artifacts associated therewith that communities, groups, and individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage, such as: (1) oral traditions, languages, and expressions; (2) performing arts; (3) social practices, rituals, and festive events; (4) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; (5) traditional craftsmanship; and (6) customary systems for justice and child welfare;
Intangible cultural property shall refer to peoples’ learned processes, along with the knowledge, skills, and creativity informed and developed by them, the products created, and the resources, spaces, and other aspects of social and natural context that are necessary for sustainability;
National cultural treasure shall refer to a unique cultural property found locally possessing outstanding historical, cultural, artistic, and/or scientific value, is highly significant and important to the country and nation, and has been officially declared as such by law or the pertinent cultural agency or agencies; National historical shrines shall refer to historic sites or structures hallowed and revered for their history or association, as declared as such by law or the NHCP. There are three more terms and even as they can be rendered contentious, they have been defined already. These are the following:
Nationally significant shall refer to historical, aesthetic, scientific, technical, social, and/or spiritual values that unify the nation by a deep sense of pride in their diverse yet common identities, cultural heritage, and national patrimony; Natural property of cultural significance shall refer to natural heritage property of cultural significance for its tangible or intangible cultural heritage, whether or not covered by the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (ENIPAS) Act of 2018 (Republic Act No. 11038) or by other environmental laws; Tangible cultural property shall refer to a cultural property with historical, archival, anthropological, archaeological, artistic, and architectural value, and with exceptional or traditional production, whether of Philippine origin or not, including antiques and natural history specimens with significant value.
Related to the said concepts are the cultural agencies and their functions related to heritage. First, there is the NCCA. Then there is the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), which “approves the declaration of historic structures and edifices such as national shrines, monuments and landmarks or heritage houses and shall regulate activities pertaining to the preservation, restoration, and conservation of historical property or resources.” Finally, we have The National Museum of the Philippines (NMP), “which shall take the lead in the study and preservation of the nation’s rich artistic cultural heritage, in the reconstruction and rebuilding of our past, and the development of the national cultural wealth.”
A Part 2 follows next week with notes on noise, noise pollution and the pertinent laws addressing them.
E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com
Searing heat triggers fuel-supply worries at oil refineries in Europe and beyond
TEMPERATURES in Europe are getting close to levels at which some oil refineries would have to start making less fuel.
Greece is battling wildfires and the nation’s capital could see temperatures above 40C (104F) in the coming weeks. In Poland, heat may soon exceed the point at which the country’s top fuel supplier can run its refineries normally. Macquarie Group estimates that heat-related disruption at European plants reached about 1 million barrels-aday last year—almost 10 percent of what they normally handle.
Temperatures in Europe have been well above seasonal norms and there’s little sign of that changing anytime soon. Looking further into the future, Sweden’s largest refiner says climate change is making fuel production harder.
“European refineries were designed in the sixties and the seventies,” said Alan Gelder, vice president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd. “The world’s got hotter since then.”
The industry’s challenges are partly of its own making: climate change caused by the consumption of fossil fuels. But refineries are adapting, adding equipment where it makes economic sense to do so, to allow them to keep profiting. Plants in regions that are more used to hot weather like the Middle East are better designed to cope. In Europe, though, refineries tend to have been built to withstand lower temperatures rather than high ones, accord-
ing to Kent Plc, an engineering firm.
A shift in the types of crude that the continent’s facilities use following Russia’s war in Ukraine compounded the issue but that is showing signs of improving. European plants, which turned to bountiful supplies of light American oil, are processing heavier grades—that can help them deal with the issue—according to Kpler data.
“Even if it’s not an all-time record like last year, if it’s just super hot versus normal, you will have very similar challenges to last year,” said Vikas Dwivedi, an analyst at Macquarie who previously worked as an engineer at Shell Plc.
Many variables FORECASTS for how much refiners might have to curb their overall processing rates—a critical detail for understanding supply and demand—are almost unknowable because there are so many variables: the unpredictability of weather, as well as the fact that each plant has its own configuration, ideal crudes, and fuel output.
An extreme-heat scenario could prompt a refinery to cut runs by as much as 15 percent over a 24-hour period, said Steve Sawyer, former director of refining at FGE and previously economics and planning manager at the now-shuttered Coryton plant in the UK.
The impact of the heat was particularly bad in the Mediterranean last year, said Janiv Shah, vice president of oil markets analysis at Rystad Energy.
“This is something that I discuss with clients on a daily basis,” he said, referring to refining when temperatures are high.
US too
EUROPE S refiners aren’t alone in having to deal with hot weather.
In the US, the East Coast and Midwest regions may be hardest hit. Operations there are designed to deal with winter’s cold, not summer’s heat, said Randy Hurburun, the London-based head of refining at Energy Aspects Ltd.
Refineries on the Gulf Coast, home to the nation’s biggest plants, have more and bigger cooling towers and storage for cooling water, allowing them to better withstand summer temperatures.
Nevertheless, high heat does stress production units. Cooling towers, air-cooled heat exchangers and other equipment used to remove process heat from refinery units will be working extra hard. Prolonged summer heat can overload regional power grids, forcing sudden shutdowns of entire plants, Hurburun said.
Individual units may also shut down. Last summer, Valero Energy Corp.’s McKee, Texas, refinery had an unplanned closing of its key gasolinemaking fluid catalytic cracker amid searing temperatures. Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Baytown refinery lost power to an FCC after a boiler tripped amid Texas’ intense heat.
“It’s not so much the loss of electricity,” Hurburun said. “High temperatures can degrade performance so that process units run less effec-
tively and refineries may have to reduce run rates.”
US refiners are already running near full rates, as demand for gasoline peaks during summer driving season. Much of the winter and spring maintenance—some deferred since Covid decimated demand in 2020—was aimed at ensuring fewer breakdowns even when running at full pelt for extended periods in summer’s brutal heat.
Ambient temperatures
I T ’S not expected to be as hot as last summer across the southern United States, according to Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. He also expects southern Europe to be cooler this summer than in the past three.
Still, in Warsaw the maximum temperature could pass 35C this weekend, according to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
If the Polish capital hits that marker, it would be within a degree of the maximum temperature at which refineries run by Orlen SA, the nation’s largest fuel supplier, are designed to operate. Any higher and they’d be forced to scale back.
“In the case of high ambient temperatures, heat transfer in condensing and cooling systems is significantly limited, which in turn force to reduce the load of individual installations,” Orlen said by e-mail.
Sanctions on Russian crude and other feedstocks used in processing units caused significant disruption in European refining in recent years.
Most plants have an ideal grade of oil that they were built to process, and without Russian Urals, upon which many had relied for years, they need to blend together other ones to create a synthetic alternative.
Last year was “the annus horribilis of European sourcing, with slates lightening up,” at the wrong time for refiners, said Viktor Katona, head crude analyst at Kpler.
This year, however, solid inflows of heavy barrels from Latin America have improved the situation, he added.
Even so, the US is sending record volumes to the region of WTI, a grade that has a high yield of naphtha, a product that’s used to make plastics and gasoline.
Inner workings IN a refinery, crude oil is heated to hundreds of degrees Celsius so that much of it turns into vapor. The vapor is then separated out into different petroleum products, such as diesel and jet fuel, in what’s known as a crude distillation unit, or a fractionater.
When it’s hot outside, part of what can become tricky is getting the vapor in the CDU to turn back into a liquid at its normal operating pressure—particularly for those petroleum products that have the lowest condensing/boiling point, according to Gelder, who was previously a senior engineer at Esso Engineering. This can ultimately force refiners to reduce crude processing. he said With assistance from Sherry Su and Eric Roston /Bloomberg
Tito Genova Valiente annoTaTions
A22 Friday, July 12, 2024
PHL TO GAIN FROM INDIA RICE EXPORT BAN LIFTING
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
THE easing of India’s rice export restrictions will benefit the Philippines, possibly allowing it to start cutting interest rates by October, according to financial services group Nomura.
In its report, Nomura said the Philippines, a major importer of rice, will be the “biggest winner in Asia” when India, the world’s top rice exporter, begins to ease its restrictions on rice exports.
“Easing inflation would further support our view that [the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)] will start its easing cycle by October, although the risk of an earlier rate cut in August is rising, given recent comments by Governor Remolona that BSP does not have to wait for the Fed,” Nomura underscored.
BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. said the reduction in rice tariffs to 15 percent from 35 percent due to Executive Order (EO) No. 62 fuels the optimism of monetary officials for a possible rate cut as early as August.
Remolona said the Monetary Board is now “less hawkish” or “more dovish” than before, as inflation is expected to slow to the midpoint of the 2 to 4 percent target range.
“When the price of rice goes down, it can have a significant second-round effects, especially because the price of rice is a salient price—an important price in the
formation of inflation expectations,” Remolona added.
The Monetary Board maintained the BSP’s Target Reverse Repurchase (RRP) rate at 6.5 percent while interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities will remain at 6 percent and 7 percent, respectively, during the last policy meeting on June 27.
Nomura said India’s easing on rice exports is likely to materialize as expectations of good harvest, ample rice buffer stocks and softening of rice price inflation is seen.
This would lower global rice prices as India accounts for the 35 percent of rice exported globally. Asia, where rice is a staple food, will also benefit from the fall in rice prices.
The outlook for Asia’s rice-producing countries Thailand and Vietnam is tempered due to dry weather conditions.
“We expect the process of easing of India’s rice export restrictions to be gradual, with better crop prospects likely to cool local rice prices, in turn leading authorities to further ease restrictions, which should have favorable spillovers on global rice prices over time,” Nomura said. The Indian government is looking into allowing white rice shipments with a fixed duty and may also remove the 20-percent tax on parboiled rice exports and impose a fixed levy instead, according to a Bloomberg story.
Amid economic challenge, Asean retailers investing more in social commerce
EWeak peso boosts tourism; ‘record-breaking’ year seen
By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
THE weaker peso versus the US dollar appears to be encouraging foreign tourists to spend more in the country, as inbound visitor receipts reached US$4.97 billion in the first half of the year.
Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) indicated this was 5.7 percent higher than the $4.7 billion spent in the country in the same period in prepandemic 2019. In peso terms, foreign visitor receipts rose by 14.3 percent to P282.17 billion (P56.88=$1) from P245 billion (P52.21:$1) in the first half of 2019.
In a news statement, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said, “The significant increase in our tourism earnings...not only showcases the growing appeal of the Philippines as a premier travel destination, but also underscores the tangible benefits that tourism brings to our economy and our people. The income generated through tourism directly translates to more opportunities and improved livelihoods for Filipinos, reinforcing the critical role this industry plays in our nation’s progress.”
‘Record-breaking’ 2024
THIS developed as The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) 2024 Economic Impact Research (EIR) forecasts a “record-breaking year” for travel and tourism in the Philippines, with its economic contribution, job numbers, and visitor spending “all set to reach new highs.”
According to WTTC data, the sector’s contribution to the national economy will surpass P5.4 trillion this year, a 25-percent growth yearon-year, and a 7.1-percent rise from the prepandemic 2019 peak.
The WTTC also predicted the sector will grow its annual contribution to the gross domestic product to nearly P9.5 trillion by 2034, or 22 percent of the Philippines’ economic output. Employment in the sector is projected to exceed 11.9 million people, with “one in five
residents” working in the tourism industry. At present, tourism accounts for about 21.3 percent of the economy, “underscoring the sector’s critical role in supporting the nation and its local communities.”
In a separate news statement, WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson, said: “The remarkable progress of the Philippines’ travel and tourism sector highlights the government’s dedication, putting it at the forefront of its national agenda and continuing to improve infrastructure.”
Sluggish arrivals continue
THE WTTC, in particular, cited forthcoming improvements at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s main gateway, as well as improvements in regional airports as examples of goverment’s goal to enhance travel access
It also projected inbound tourism receipts to rise by 5.7 percent to P715.6 billion from 2019, while spending by domestic travelers will increase by 1.8 percent to P3.7 trillion this year, from 2019. The EIR sees tourism jobs exceeding 9.5 million, accounting for 20 percent of total employment in the country this year.
Meanwhile, the higher spending of tourists in the first half of the year comes amid their continued sluggish arrivals, which reached just 3.17 million from January 1 to July 10 this year, or 76.7 percent
of the 4.13 million arrivals in the first half of 2019. The current arrivals accounted for 41 percent of the DOT’s 7.7-million baseline arrivals target this year. In a recent interview with the BusinessMirror , STR Senior Director for Asia Pacific Jesper Palmqvist expressed doubt the government would meet its inbound tourism target this year, due to tepid market demand in major destinations like Cebu, which even hosts an international airport. (See, “Arrivals target imperiled by sluggish demand for Cebu, other domestic destinations,” in the BusinessMirror .) Specifically, the Philippines continues to hurt from the lethargic arrivals from mainland China, with its residents choosing value-for-money destinations, with friendlier visa-entry policies. The Philippines has had to tighten its visa rules for Chinese nationals due to security concerns and several arrests made of those involved in illicit activities.
As of July 10, South Korea kept its spot as the Philippines’s top source of inbound arrivals, with 824,798 tourists. It was followed by the United States with 522,667 tourists; China, 199,939; Japan, 188,805; Australia, 137,391; Taiwan, 18,426; Canada, 118,426; the United Kingdom, 86,092; Singapore, 81,864; and Malaysia, 51,921.
By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28
CONOMIC pressures have led 6 out of10 Filipino retailers and their peers in the region to consider investing further in social commerce over the next 12 months, revealed a study.
Shopify Inc.’s Southeast Asia Retail Report 2024 found that 68 percent of Asean merchandizers plan to do so, as inflation and the rising cost of living have led 83 percent of consumers to slash their non-essential expenses, with more than half seeking the best value when they shop.
Per the research, social media is now the main driver of brand and product discovery in the region, with more than four in five consumers (82 percent) finding new products via social media.
With this trend, social commerce channels are seeing staggering growth in the region, with platforms like TikTok expected to broaden its user base in Asia-Pacific by 11.3 percent this year. Hence, 39 percent of the participants said social media engagement is among the most crucial metrics to determine the return on investment or ROI of commerce infrastructure, ranking just behind profit margin at 44 percent.
“Given the economic climate, customers have become more discerning and selective with how they spend their money,” said Eugene Chua, executive head of global ecommerce and sales at Secretlab, a Shopify client. “Social media continues to play a big role as a platform of discovery and in influencing customer’s decisions.”
Value for money
WHEN shopping online, Southeast Asian customers are mainly concerned with the price tag.
Almost all of those surveyed (96 percent) said that they would stay loyal to a brand if it offered them an incentive, with consistently low prices or promotions being a top draw for 70 percent. In lieu of this,
retailers seek to increase their technology spending, mostly on contextual real-time pricing (71 percent) in order to drive conversions while keeping favorable margins.
Although price is a key factor in driving loyalty and churn, competing solely on price is not sustainable, leaving retailers to compete on other forms of value, such as customer experience. This shows that to attract and retain customers, Knowing how important understanding the market’s demands, they also will bet on customer experience to attract and retain their preference of the brand.
In the case of the Philippines, Filipino online shoppers’ top three considerations when buying are free shipping (80 percent), a convenient mobile app for online shopping (46 percent), and free returns (45 percent). When it comes to purchasing in the brick-and-mortar format, their top priorities are in-store are knowledgeable staff (66 percent), stock availability (57 percent), and attentive service (52 percent). See related story on A4 Economy, “Free shipping, returns plus convenient mobile app draw in online shoppers.”
Retailers’ challenges WHILE 52 percent of Southeast Asians have a penchant for virtual shopping, this can be complicated for retailers to explore due to the popularity of marketplaces such as Shopee and Lazada.
Amid their prominence, fourfifth of shoppers in the region still feel confident in a company with a brand website and which they also deem credible. So, two in five (42 percent) of buyers opt for large purchases on a firm with a portal rather than a marketplace store. The research also discovered the continued significance of physical stores despite the digital era. More than one-fourth (28 percent) said they enjoy them as much as online shopping, and another 19 percent prefer buying in actual stores.
TBy Ada Pelonia
HE Philippines is exporting raw sugar to the United States again three years after it made its last shipment to its major buyer of the sweetener.
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) said the country will export some 25,000 metric tons (MT) of raw sugar to the US in August, a move that is expected to help stabilize local prices.
SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona said in an interview with reporters that local traders are interested in exporting sugar again
because of the premium price offered by the US.
“The US market is a premium market for raw sugar. [Currently], their buying price is high so our exporters want to ship sugar to the US,” Azcona said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“They volunteered to export. What they want [in return] is import replenishment,” he added.
Azcona noted that exporting sugar to the US under the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) scheme keeps prices stable, particularly when there is a supply glut.
“Usually, we export to the US to
stabilize our local prices at a time when there is overproduction. This usually happens in January, February, and March or the peak of milling,” he said.
“Sugar production in those months is a lot more than what we consumer. So to prevent farmgate prices from falling, we export raw sugar,” he added.
The SRA chief said the Philippines would have wanted to ship sugar in the early part of the year but the notification of additional sugar quota from Washington arrived only last April. The United States Trade Repre -
sentative (USTR) announced last July 2023 that it will allow the Philippines to export 145,235 metric tons raw value of sugar to the US under TRQ. The scheme enables the Philippines to export the sweetener to the US at a lower tariff. Azcona said, however, that the Philippines could not fill the initial quota granted by Washington. The last time the Philippines exported raw sugar to the United States was during crop year 2020-2021. The country exported 112,008 metric tons commercial weight (MTCW) of raw sugar out of its total quota of 138,154 MTCW.
TRAGEDY IN TAGAYTAY
man
outside the Lake Hotel in Tagaytay City on Thursday,
11, 2024. Two Australian nationals and a Filipina companion were killed at the Lake Hotel, and police efforts were underway to identify and track down suspects, officials said. The victims, including a man in his 50s from Australia, his Philippine-born partner, and her Filipina relative, were found with their hands and feet tied in a hotel room. Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino expressed shock over the incident, pledging swift resolution and apologizing to the victims’ families and the Australian community. Police are reviewing
Editor: Jennifer A. Ng
Antitrust agency releases rules for merger remedies
By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan
The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) on Thursday issued rules on remedies that detailed the agency’s approach when assessing the merging parties’ proposals to address competition concerns arising from merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions.
The antitrust agency said it approved last May 9 the guidelines on merger remedies which contain “guidance” on the design, selection and implementation of merger remedies.
Based on the guidelines, PCC said in a statement that there are two types of merger remedies that parties may propose—behavioral and structural.
Behavioral remedies, the agency said, involve restrictions on certain business conduct of the merged firm post-transaction.
“This is achieved by imposing requirements or restrictions on certain conducts of the merged firm
post-transaction so that it does not act in an anti-competitive manner or exercise its enhanced market power to foreclose rivals despite having the ability and incentive to do so,” the guidelines read.
PCC said the proposed behavioral remedies must conform to the following: their terms are readily and affordably monitored; there is a straightforward punishment mechanism with strong deterrence effect for breach; and there is more benefit to adopt a behavioral remedy than a structural remedy or a structural remedy is not feasible.
Structural remedies, the agency said, affect the structure of the market usually by creating, restoring or maintaining a firm that will compete “independently.”
“Structural remedies are selfpolicing and do not require active monitoring; their effects on the market have a degree of permanence; and they directly address the source of competitive harm by eliminating its root cause.”
For instance, PCC said divestiture is a type of structural remedy that seeks to “preserve or restore” competition through the sale of an autonomous, on-going business unit or a set of assets of the merged firm to a new market participant or an existing market participant.
In choosing and crafting merger remedies, PCC said the transacting parties must ensure that remedies will address the competition concerns identified during the merger review.
“It should be clearly demonstrated that any proposed remedy is aimed at addressing the competition harm.”
The agency also reminded transacting parties that remedies must be “effective” in addressing the harms to
competition. “The proposed remedies should address both the substantial lessening of competition and its adverse effects.”
PCC also said remedies must be “commensurate to the harm being addressed.”
On top of the merger remedies that the parties may choose and craft, PCC said it may impose additional conditions as needed.
PCC said the guidelines will also address remedies for M&As in digital markets, including firewall and mandatory licensing provisions to address data access concerns.
The agency is mandated by the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) to review M&As and prohibit transactions that will “substantially lessen” competition in the relevant market.
The law also allows the PCC to consider remedies proposed by merging parties to address any harm to competition that may arise from a proposed transaction.
“The PCC’s merger review mandate is aimed at ensuring that competition remains in a market after an M&A is consummated, thereby helping protect consumer welfare,” the agency said.
Megawide lists bonds on PDEx
MBy VG Cabuag @villygc
eg A w I de Construction Corp. on Thursday listed a total of P5
in
including P1-billion over
on the Philippine d ealing and e xchange Corp. (P de x). The
received
tenders of P6.4 billion during the public offer period, which ran from June 28 to July 04, 2024, and was 1.6 times oversubscribed from the base amount. The P5 billion raised, consisted of Series C P3.1 billion maturing in
Goo G le parent Alphabet Inc. has shelved efforts to acquire HubSpot Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter, putting to bed the prospect of a takeover that would have ranked among the biggest of the year.
Shares of HubSpot, a customer relationship management company, fell as much as 19 percent Wednesday in New York trading, the most since 2020. The shares closed down 12 percent to $492.31, giving the company a market value of about $25 billion. Alphabet had communicated its interest in a potential deal with HubSpot earlier this year, but the sides didn’t reach a point of detailed discussions around due diligence, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential matters.
A representative for Alphabet didn’t have an immediate comment. A HubSpot spokesperson declined to comment.
Any deal for HubSpot would have been one of the biggest this year for a tech company, according to data compiled by b loomberg, putting it in the same league as the pending $34 billion acquisition of Ansys Inc. by Synopsys Inc. b uying Cambridge, Massachusetts-based HubSpot, which focuses on small to midsize enterprises, would have helped Alphabet compete with other players in that market such as Microsoft Corp., o racle Corp. and Salesforce Inc. Bloomberg News
3 years from issue date; Series d at P1.1 billion maturing in 5 years; and Series e at P819.2 million maturing in 7 years, carrying a weighted average rate of 7.86 percent across all maturities.
we are very thankful for the unwavering support and confidence of our underwriters and investors, and we will look forward to this same enthusiasm as we embark on more exciting projects towards e ngineering a First-world Philippines. Our thrust to grow in more scalable platforms that offer synergies within our internal value chain paves the way for new
opportunities,” e dgar Saavedra, the company’s chairman and C e O, said.
RCBC Capital Corp., SB Capital Investment Corp. and PNB Capital and Investment Corp. were the deal’s issue managers, lead underwriters and bookrunners, with the RCBCTrust and Investment g roup acting as trustee.
The offering received “a very warm reception” from participating institutions and investors amid the lingering geo-political tension and global economic uncertainties, the company said.
“They (Megawide) are able to
demonstrate their agility to navigate through the challenges and take advantage of opportunities to come out stronger. These themes resonate well with investors, which we believe drove the healthy demand and oversubscription for the offer,” g erry Valenciano, president and C e O of PNB Capital, said.
Megawide said it is expecting to break ground for its transit-centric development in Baguio City and a bus rapid transit system in Cavite within the year to strengthen its land-based transport-related infrastructure portfolio.
Fortune life supports rural banks at RbAP symposium
IN support of the initiatives of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), Fortune Life Insurance Co. Inc. participated as one of the sponsors of the RBAP 67th Charter Anniversary Symposium on June 4-5, 2024 at the SMX Convention Center, Bacolod City. w ith this year’s theme, “Rural Banks: growing Together and Stronger to a d igital and Sustainable Future”, RBAP emphasizes the importance of unity, flexibility, adaptability and strength in facing adversities. The two-day event gathered rural bank delegates, innovators, exhibitors, startups, and fintech enthusiasts, where Fortune Life showcased its market services and group insurance plans. Representing Fortune Life were SVP-OIC Marketing and Sales Virgilio Aquino, AVP group Sales Carlos Frederic Lago and Business d evelopment d irector g eorge Mercado. Adding a cultural flair
GBy Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan
lobe b usiness, the enterprise unit of Globe Telecom Inc., said on Thursday it entered into a strategic partnership with Zscaler, a cloud security provider, to provide managed security services to enterprises of all sizes.
b y integrating Zscaler’s cloud security platform, Globe b usiness said its customers will benefit from improved protection against sophisticated cyber threats, enhanced operational efficiency, and increased competitiveness in the digital marketplace.
Under the partnership, Globe will leverage Zscaler’s Zero Trust e xchange Platform, the Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA) and the Zscaler Private Access (ZPA).
These three solutions offer security capabilities designed to detect, prevent, and respond to cyber threats, while enabling clients to reduce operational costs and complexities associated with traditional security solutions.
As the first Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) for Zscaler in the Philippines, Globe b usiness provides 24/7 monitoring, threat detection, and incident response through its skilled security operations center. These services aim to deliver advanced threat prevention, data protection, and secure access for users across any device, location, or network, while minimizing costs and complexity.
“Joining forces with ZScaler allows us to deliver cutting-edge security capabilities coupled with trusted managed services. This powerful combination enables our customers to embrace innovation confidently, knowing their users, applications, and data are comprehensively protected,” Globe b usiness VP for Product Angie Po said in a statement.
ZScaler VP for Channel & Alliances Asia Pacific & Japan Foad Farrokhnia said the partnership “underscores our shared vision of empowering organizations to securely transform their businesses through the adoption of cloud and mobility, without compromising performance or user experience.”
SIM registration Globe reminded its customers on Thursday to remain compliant with the SIM Registration Act by keeping their data up to date in its online SIM registration platform in case some of their details have changed since they first registered their SIM.
TH e PepsiCo Inc. factory that sparked a massive recall for its Quaker o ats brand came after the company let salmonella fester at the facility for as long as four years, according to US regulators.
Quaker o ats shut down its plant in Danville, Illinois, in April, but the Food and Drug Administration told the company last month in a warning letter posted online Tuesday that the closing might not be enough to stop the contamination from happening at its other facilities.
PepsiCo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The SIM Registration Act, enacted in December 2022, mandates the registration of all SIMs to enhance public safety and security by serving as a deterrent against SIM-aided criminal activity. The law requires SIM users to register using correct and complete details, including the submission of a verifiable photo ID. Customers may easily update their registration details as needed:
n Change in residential address
n Change in last name after getting married or legally changing it.
n Updated valid government ID
“We understand that life circumstances may change, and it’s essential for customers to reflect those changes in their SIM registration information,” Darius Delgado, Globe Vice President and Head of Consumer Mobile b usiness, said in a statement. “ o ur goal is to make the update process as convenient as possible, ensuring that they remain compliant with the law while minimizing any potential disruptions to their mobile services.”
Globe encourages all its customers to take advantage of this easy edit option, launched in June last year, to remain compliant with the law. It also urged customers to submit accurate details and a real photo ID as providing false information or failing to update SIM registration details could result in penalties under the law.
e ach customer may update SIM Registration details for up to two times a year. To update SIM registration details on the portal, customers can follow these simple steps:
n l og in to the Globe SIM registration portal.
n Navigate to the registration section and select the “ e dit” option.
n Make the necessary changes to personal information, such as name, address, email, and profile photo.
n Save the updated information and ensure that the changes are correctly stored.
Globe said it is committed to maintaining a secure and reliable SIM registration system.
Key security measures that the company has initiated for SIM registration include advanced encryption protocols to secure data transmitted during the registration process, live photo capture technology to prevent the use of stock or pre-existing photos, and limited ID submission retries to prevent random or repeated attempts to register with fictitious documents.
to the symposium, RBAP held a Masskara Festival-themed Fellowship Night at the Nature’s Village Resort on June 4, 2024. Prior to the fellowship, Fortune Life representatives together with RBAP members enjoyed a day tour at the iconic landmark known as “the Ruins” in Bacolod City. In a related event, the company also expressed its support to the 4th RBAP g olf Tournament held at Negros
Occidental g olf and Country Club in Bacolod City on June 3, 2024. On behalf of Fortune Life, Business d evelopment d irector g eorge Mercado actively engaged with other golf participants to strengthen our valuable connections with our partners. Fortune Life is part of the ALC group of Companies founded by the late Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon Chua and is currently chaired by d e dgard A. Cabangon.
The recall, which started late last year and included 22 million cases of Quaker Chewy b ars, has continued to weigh on Pepsi’s results. Sales in the first quarter at the Quaker Foods North America division sank 24 percent to $593 million. The company, which generated about 3 percent of its total sales from that unit last quarter, has said the recall’s impact would persist through at least the first half of the year.
The company found a granola bar at the Illinois factory that tested positive for salmonella in November, according to the FDA’s letter. More than two weeks later, a PepsiCo
lab confirmed the finding, and the company began to recall products on Dec. 14. The company said in the recall notice that salmonella “can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.” FDA inspectors arrived at the Illinois facility a few days after the recall started and found salmonella in a crack in the floor where food residue was present. The company then acknowledged it had found that same strain of salmonella in its facility since at least 2020, the letter says. These findings may indicate that the salmonella may have survived since then, the FDA wrote. The company had found the same kind of salmonella while swabbing various parts of the factory 13 times since June 2022, according to the FDA. The swabs are part of routine testing meant to check the quality of products made there. e mployees cleaned and sanitized the area but never identified the source of the contamination. The FDA told the company to identify whether more needed to be done at its other factories to prevent such persistent contamination. Bloomberg News
Recto to BIR, BOC: Ramp up revenue collections
WITH the Department of Finance (DOF) remaining firm in not imposing new taxes, Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto urged the country’s two main tax-collecting agencies to ramp up efforts so government can meet its P4.269-trillion revenue target as the second half of the year nears its end.
According to the DOF, Recto met with Internal Revenue Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. and Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio during the agencies’ second command conference last Wednesday.
The DOF chief reportedly ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to hasten digitization efforts to reach the revenue target for 2024.
The government has so far generated P2.13 trillion from tax and non-tax revenues from January to June this year, collecting about 50 percent of its target.
“It’s more or less half of what we intend to collect for the entire year. So far, we seem to be on track,” Recto said at a forum organized by the Economic Journalists’ Association of the Philippines on July 8. Broken down, preliminary data
showed the BIR collected P1.36 trillion from January to June 2024, up by 11.74 percent from the amount it collected in the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, the BOC revenues rose by 5.16 percent to P455.80 billion in the first six months of the year.
However, overly-reliance on the “old formula” of intensifying tax collection may not generate sufficient revenues for the government, according to former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2024/07/09/ bigger-budget-wont-guaranteegrowth/).
Guinigundo opined it’s critical to already line up the priority tax bills as the legislative process could be prolonged if new tax laws are required.
The DOF is still awaiting congressional approval of tax reforms expected to add an average of P42 billion annually in additional revenues. These proposals include imposing an excise tax on pickup trucks and single-use plastics, a value-added tax on digital service providers, rationalization of the mining fiscal regime and tweaking the motor vehicle user’s tax, among others. Reine Juvierre Alberto
Banks’ total assets expand 12.43% in Jan-May period
By Reine Juvierre Alberto
TOTAL assets of banks in the Philippines grew by 12.43 percent from January to May 2024, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Preliminary data from the BSP showed combined assets of the Philippine banking industry reached P25.622 trillion as of end-May 2024 compared to the P22.789 trillion recorded in the same period in 2023. Universal and commercial banks’ total assets reached P24.063 trillion as of end-May 2024, making up 93.92 percent of the banking industry’s to -
BPhilGuarantee’s revenues double to ₧5.32B in 2023
THE revenues of state-run Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee) doubled to P5.32 billion in 2023 as its financial performance remained robust, according to the Department of Finance (DOF). In a statement issued last Thursday, the DOF said PhilGuarantee’s “historic high” total revenues in 2023 expanded by 103 percent from the P2.62 billion recorded in 2022. Revenues are collected from guarantee fees and premiums, commitment fees, and the sales and/or rental of real estate assets, the DOF said. PhilGuarantee’s total guarantee portfolio also grew by 28.82 percent to P236.98 billion from P183.96 million as of December 2023, benefiting low-cost housing; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); small farmers and fisherfolks; and, managed funds under the firm.
The guarantee support served a cumulative total of 426,378 beneficiaries last year, higher by 27 percent compared to 335,730 beneficiaries in 2022. Partner lending institutions (PLIs) of the principal agency for state guarantee finance of the Philippines also rose to 152 in 2023 from 131 in 2022 to strengthen its capital mobilization through the use of guarantee facilities.
The corporation aims to sustain
a P1 billion net income to ensure positive returns, the DOF added.
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto commended the state-run corporation for its growth in credit guarantee support and the number of beneficiaries in providing marginalized groups with access to finance.
“This robust performance is a testament to our country’s strong credit guarantee system,” Recto was quoted in the statement as saying.
Moreover, PhilGuarantee’s dividend remittances to the national government reached P2.42 billion in 2023, higher by 224 percent from the P746 million it remitted in 2022. The corporation’s total dividend remittances have reached P4.03 billion to date since the merger and consolidation in 2019 of five Philippine guarantee programs and agencies (PGPAs).
To further strengthen its mandate, the DOF said PhilGuarantee is finalizing its proposed changes to its charter to harmonize the laws, rules, decrees, and administrative orders covering these PGPAs. These are the Home Guaranty Corp., Agricultural Guarantee Fund Pool, Industrial Guarantee Loan Fund, the guarantee operations of the Small Business Corp. and the surviving entity, which is the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency. Reine Juvierre Alberto
tal assets. Big banks’ assets are higher by 12.43 percent from the P21.403 trillion posted a year ago.
Total assets of thrift banks grew by 9.69 percent to P1.034 trillion in the first five months of 2024 from P942.670 billion in 2023, accounting for 4.03 percent of the whole banking industry’s total assets.
Rural and cooperative banks’ assets reached P425.427 billion
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
DO Unibank Non-Executive
Director Walter C. Wassmer will be joining the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary Board (MB) as its new member.
On Thursday, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary
THE first time I was asked
“What’s your superpower?” was during a podcast where I was invited to speak about associations. The host said the question is often associated with superheroes in comic books and movies.
One is essentially asking about the special qualities or talents that set an individual apart or make them exceptional in some way. It’s a lighthearted way to explore and celebrate the unique qualities that make each person special or extraordinary.
“What’s your superpower?” takes on a practical and impactful significance in the context of associations, influencing the way they succeed as organizations. Here’s how this concept manifests in the success of associations:
1. Identification of unique strengths. Associations thrive on their unique strengths, which often include a passionate membership, industry expertise, influential partnerships, and innovative programs.
Asking “what’s your superpower?” prompts associations to identify and acknowledge these distinctive qualities that set them apart from others in their field.
2. Focused mission and vision Understanding their superpower enables associations to define a more focused and purposeful mission and vision. With a clear understanding of their strengths, associations can align their goals and strategies to maximize the impact of their unique capabilities.
3. Strategic planning. Associations can leverage the concept of a superpower in their strategic planning processes. By aligning initiatives with their identified superpower, associations can allocate resources more effectively and pursue initiatives that resonate with their strengths and mission.
4. Member engagement and unity. The concept fosters a sense of pride and unity among association members. When members recognize and embrace the association’s superpower, they enhance their engagement and commitment to shared goals, creating a more cohesive and effective community.
5. Innovative programs and initiatives. Associations can use their superpower to drive innovative
Cheloy V. Garafil announced President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has already appointed the 66-year old banker to his new position. Wassmer, who holds Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce from De La Salle University, has a long history of working in the banking industry. Aside from BDO, Wassmer also became Senior Vice President of Far
programs and initiatives. Whether it’s pioneering research, launching educational campaigns, or advocating for industry standards, associations can leverage their unique strengths to lead and shape the future of their field.
6. Effective communication Communicating the association’s superpower is crucial to success. Clearly articulating these strengths to members, stakeholders, and the broader community helps in building a strong identity, attracting likeminded individuals, and establishing the association as a key player in its industry.
7. Resource allocation. Associations can optimize resource allocation by investing in areas that align with their superpower. Whether it’s technology, partnerships, or specific initiatives, strategic resource allocation enhances the association’s ability to leverage its strengths for maximum impact.
8. Adaptability and evolution Embracing the concept of a superpower encourages associations to stay adaptable and evolve over time. As industries and communities change, associations can continuously reassess and refine their superpower, ensuring relevance and effectiveness in an ever-changing landscape.
“What’s your superpower?” prompts associations to identify, embrace, and leverage their unique strengths strategically. This selfawareness and focused approach contribute significantly to their success by fostering member engagement, guiding strategic planning, and enhancing the overall impact on its industry or community.
So what’s your superpower?
Octavio Peralta is the founder and volunteer-CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE), the “association of associations.” The PCAAE will hold its 12th Associations Summit at the PICC on November 27, 2024. The views he expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror. E-mail: bobby@pcaae.org.
East Bank and Trust Co. from 1986 to 1997; Assistant Vice President of the Union Bank of the Philippines from 1983 to 1986; and Corporate Account Officer of the Bancom Finance Corporation from 1980 to 1982.
He also served as Corporate Account Officer of the IFC Leasing and Acceptance Corp. from 1979 to 1980. Wassmer will occupy one of the two vacant seats in the MB. This after former MB members V. Bruce J. Tolentino and Anita Linda R. Aquino resigned from their position last month after being linked to the “ghost employee” controversy in the BSP. The scandal involved four “ghost” employees, who received benefits and pay from BSP, without going to work.
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
THE Philippines’s hosting of the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF) Board is expected by the head of the Fund’s precursor to help the country fairly access financing for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
“The Philippines has moral ascendancy in climate talks. We are the most climate-vulnerable country in the world. And we are also a global leader in DRR and climate change adaptation,” said Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda (2st District, Albay) last Thursday.
Salceda, to note, was the first Asian co-chairman of the United Nations (UN) Green Climate Fund (GCF) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Asia, a predecessor to the LDF.
“Salceda’s role is to ensure that the seat serves the needs of developing countries; enhances national and international action on mitigation of climate change, and to support the Fund to en-
sure it fulfills its objectives of shared vision for long-term cooperative action, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions,” reads an article by the Asian Development Bank. Salceda, a former delegate to the UNFCCC, said he has long advocated for the principle of loss and damage and the necessity of compensation.
“Loss and damage are adverse impacts of climate change despite adaptation and mitigation measures. They are, in other words, the unavoidable losses due to the fault primarily of industrialized countries,” he said last Thursday. Salceda also stressed the importance of holding large industrialized countries accountable for the loss and damage experienced by climate-vulnerable communities.
“Hosting the LDF Board gives us a platform to highlight the true scale of the problem and to call for proportionate action from the leading economies of the world—those who benefited from the emissions the most,” added the lawmaker.
By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
THE policy proposals by the Department of Finance (DOF) and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to impose a total ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country were welcomed by Senator Joel Villanueva.
“It’s about time!” Villanueva was quoted in a statement the Senator’s office issued last Thursday. “We thank our former colleague in the Senate and now Finance Chief Secretary Ralph G. Recto and NEDA Chief Arsenio Balisacan for joining our cause in calling for the permanent ban of POGOs.” The Senator’s statement comes a day after of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Chairman Alejandro H. Tengco warned the Senate that a total shutdown would only drive illegal Pogos–renamed
Internet Gaming Licensees (IGL) by the Pagcor–underground. While not solving the problem of serious crime, the ban deprives government of a revenue stream of a minimum P5 billion and maximum of P20 billion, according to Villanueva’s statement possibly quoting Tengco. However, Villanueva noted that according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, only P10.321 billion was collected from POGOs in 2023. This, the Senator said, is only less than half of the P24-billion revenue projection of the Pagcor.
Villanueva added that the stance publicly-made by Recto and Balisacan should be discussed in the next Cabinet meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Villanueva is calling on his colleagues in the Senate to prioritize Senate Bill 1281, which seeks to ban all forms of online gambling in the country.
Octavio Peralta
Association World
AWARD FOR EASTWEST This July 4, 2024, photo courtesy of the East West Banking Corp. (PSE: EW) shows (left to right) First Vice-President Efren O. Dela Cruz Jr., Executive Vice-President Lawrence L. Lee and Senior Manager Anton Gumiran at the Asian Banking and Finance Awards 2024 in Singapore. EW was recently recognized and awarded the Mobile
of
Relationships
‘Trump of the Philipines’ on The Donald
I’M surprised by how many Filipinos are very much invested in the goings-on leading up to the US Presidential elections in November. I realized this when, after watching the recent debate between US President Joe Biden and Republican presumptive nominee, former president Donald Trump, I groused about the devastatingly poor performance of Lolo Joe.
My post on Facebook received a lot of comments from my friends, who, like me, were quite disappointed as well. Biden seemed befuddled, often lost his train of thought, and just generally weak.
A number of these friends, similarly wanted Biden to step aside and give way to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been quite forceful in addressing the pressing issues of the day, especially on reproductive rights, which affects many American women.
(Longtime Democratic Party adviser James Carville’s essay in the New York Times is a must-read as he describes a way forward for the party in choosing its best candidate for November. tinyurl.com/3v68f8p3)
Even former President Bill Clinton’s one-time White House Communications adviser George Stephanopoulus, after having interviewed Biden, was post-debate caught on video by TMZ responding to a question from a passerby in New York about the President’s fitness for office. He said: I don’t think he can serve four more years.” Ouch.
But, yes, we must all be worried about another Trump presidency. He is anti-immigration, with his declarations sounding more and more like Nazi rhetoric. He is pro-Russia, which has been disrupting the world’s economies as it tries to impose President Vladimir Putin’s will. Trump has dithering policies on reproductive rights and same-sex marriage, and also has no firm prescription on how to bring inflation down, which is the main issue that impacts Americans the most.
So naturally, at the recent Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines-San Miguel Corp. Economic Forum, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto was asked how a Trump presidency will impact US investments in the Philippines. His response: “On a positive note, I think former President Donald Trump is a real estate guy, and the Philippines is a very important real estate I suppose in this part of the world...so hopefully there will be more US investments in the Philippines.”
I snickered at the question, and at Recto’s response, because back in 2020 the Action for Economic Reforms (AER) actually dubbed him “The Donald Trump of the Philippines.” AER accused Recto, then Senate Pro Tempore, of supposedly trying to force his will on the Senate in shaping the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises or CREATE Law. In response, Recto told our very own BUSINESSMIRRO� reporter Butch Fernandez: They [AER] got it wrong.... we are creating, not disrupting, [to] make the Philippines great again.... Our job is to create wealth. Please explain to all idiots. (See“Rectogetsflak fromAERforCREATEtweaks,butforeignbusiness groupsbackhim,”BUSINESSMIRROR,November14,
2020.)
Following that, AER’s Filomeno Sta. Ana and Arjay Mercado wrote in the BusinessWorld: “Isn’t Recto’s statement very Trump? His ‘make the Philippines great again’ echoes Trump’s ‘make America great again.’ That phrasing is also similar to Ferdinand Marcos’s campaign slogan before he became dictator: “This nation can be great again.” Recto’s use of coarse language—‘explain to all idiots’—is, again, very Trump.” (Hilarous. But of course, Recto was safe in his response. After all, “The Trump of the Philippines” can’t be sh**ting all over the real Trump. Eh paano kung manalo?)
I later asked National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, who was also at the forum, how Trump’s presidency will impact the Philippines in general. During Trump’s first term, every government in the world was busy attending to its own responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. We only noticed the similarity in demeanor between The Donald and our own Chief Executive then, Rodrigo Duterte.
An Ilocano and agriculture graduate of the Mariano Marcos State University before he eventually made Dean of the UP School Economics, Balisacan had this to say: “Like Secretary Recto, I would take the positive and see what we can do best. We need to look at all our different drivers of growth so that we can’t be just too dependent on one driver so, you know, if trade is bad, then at least you have some other drivers, we look at other partners.”
He acknowledged that whatever the US does will impact the world. “A big country like the US, if it disturbs the market, everybody is [affected] of course. As we have learned from economic policy over the years and experiences over the years, some countries will do better than others, so we just have to find our own strengths, our own weakness, all our abilities, and make sure all our actions are well-informed.”
In other words, we better get cracking...or else we’re f**ked. ■■■
TAGAYTAY CITY has always been a great destination to chill, explore nature, and eat. While most of us have been going to Tagaytay to savor the crispy-fried tawilis, inihaw na maliputo, heartwarming bulalo, and also bring home half-kilo packs of its popular barako coffee, a number of posh dining restaurants helmed by some of the country’s celebrated chefs have also located there over the years.
So for two weekends, July 12, 13, 20 and 21, these
chefs are convening at the Tagaytay Food and Wine Festival 2024, a series of events that will shine a spotlight on the city’s finest gastronomic offerings. If you’re still trying to find something to do this Friday night, drop in at the Grand Tasting at 6 pm at Anya Resort (Buenavista Hills Road, Barangay Mag-Asawang Ilat). For P3,950 per person, embark on a feast of flavors by the newest “kid” on the block, Asador by Dos Mestizos, of our good friend Binggoy Remedios; plus Chefs Chris Leaning (Anya Resort), Jayme Natividad (Taal Vista Hotel), Rhea SyCip (Flour Pot Bistro & Bakery), Robby Goco (Elaia by Cyma), Happy Ongpauco (Pamana/Tsokolateria), Tristan Bayani (Ribchon), Dan Puga (Lula Cafe), Kalel Chan (Farmers Table), Reynaldo’s Smokehouse; and Siglo Restaurant (View Park Hotel). Also on hand to ply diners with unique brews are Papa Bolo Microbrewery for a truly unforgettable evening. The Slow Food Community Cavite, representing local farmers, will showcase their efforts to preserve and promote biodiversity, food heritage, and gastronomy. (For tonight’s reservations, call 09175318949.)
Capping off the festival is the inaugural Creative Bulalo Challenge, a collaboration between the Tagaytay City Tourism Council and the city’s restaurants. It will be an exciting culinary showdown, where the most innovative interpretation of the city’s beloved dish wins. The contest will culminate in September at the iconic Tagaytay Picnic Grove.
Tara, let’s eat!
For the complete schedule of chefs and their exclusive dinners, check the Tagaytay Food and Wine Festival page on Facebook and Instagram. ■
Horizon...
CONTINUED FROM B5
going to be on TV.
“They’re going to break this up into a hundred pieces, you know what I mean?” said Costner. “After four of these, they’re going to have 13, 14 hours of film and they’re going to turn into 25 hours of TV, and they’re going to do whatever they’re going to do. That’s just the way we live in our life but they’ll also exist in this form. And that was important for me, to make sure that happened. And I was the one who paid for it.” AP
TODAY’S HOROSCOPE
By Eugenia Last
HAPPY
are 3, 12, 20, 26, 32, 38, 49.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Mix and mingle, explore your community and make peace your mantra. How you get along with others will determine how much impact you will have. If you use your ingenuity to cut corners, a change will bring financial gain. ★★★
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Observe rather than interfere. Being stubborn won’t help you win a debate. Pay attention to your spending habits, and create a budget to help you avoid debt and stressful situations. A positive change will parlay into support and the ability to get things done. ★★★
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Take it upon yourself to update your look or improve your surroundings. Dealing with children, parents and close friends with love and support will encourage them to confide in you. The knowledge you acquire will help you do what’s right and gain respect.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take a deep breath and prepare to move forward. Factcheck, then question your motives to ensure you are on the right path and not on an emotional joyride. Success requires discipline, fair play and an understanding of what to do and how to gain support.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Share stories. If you offer an exciting adaptation of something you encounter, your popularity will soar. Look for opportunities to network and mix business with pleasure. You can apply pressure if you do so in an amicable manner. ★★★★
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Lower anxiety; don’t overload your plate or indulge in something unnecessary or costly. Focus on the adjustments that will ease stress and make your life simpler and more affordable. Learn from mistakes and set boundaries if someone pressures you or takes advantage of you. ★★★
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Express your desires, speak from the heart and make travel, participation and helping others your mission. A positive personal or physical change will encourage a better response from those you encounter and promote additional opportunities. ★★★
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take care of business, live up to your promises and let your actions speak for you. Deep discussions will lead to unnecessary repercussions. Take the road less traveled and put some muscle behind your intentions.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Don’t share personal information. Someone will twist your words or use them against you. Focus on money, health and contracts. Read the fine print, and stick to your plans and budget. A financial gain is apparent.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Participate and experience what life has to offer in your community. Distance yourself from anyone using hype and pressure tactics to take advantage of you. Invest in yourself, not someone else. ★★
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Concentrate on home, family and efficiency. Declutter and make room for something you want to pursue. Speak up and ask questions, and you’ll receive input that helps you implement a plan. A physical change will result in better health and confidence. Romance is in the stars. ★★★★★
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Change can be advantageous if you stick to a budget. Discipline and originality will play roles in your success. Look at the big picture and change only what’s necessary. ★★★
BIRTHDAY BABY: You are original, persistent and opportunity-driven. You are outspoken and unpredictable.
Dingdong Dantes, Alden Richards, Marian Rivera named as Box Office Heroes
GMA stars were once again recognized for their outstanding performances in the media industry at the 7th Entertainment Editors’ Choice Awards, popularly known as The EDDYS.
The prestigious awards night was held July 7 at the Newport World Resorts in Pasay City. Some of the biggest names in Philippine showbiz graced the event, which was hosted by Sparkle artist Gabbi Garcia, together with Janine Gutierrez and Jake Ejercito. It was definitely a night to remember for top GMA stars Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera, who received the Box Office Heroes award for their exceptional performances in the hit movie Rewind Alden Richards and his co-star Julia Montes were also named Box Office Heroes for their film Five Breakups and a Romance
The EDDYS also honored industry pillars with the Movie Icon award, including Gina Alajar of Asawa ng Asawa Ko and Nova Villa of Pepito Manaloto, together with Leo Martinez, Eva Darren, and Lito Lapid.
Moreover, Abot-Kamay na Pangarap star Gladys Reyes received the Best Supporting Actress award for the movie Apag
The EDDYS is organized by the Society of Philippine Entertainment Editors (SPEEd), a nonprofit organization composed of past and current entertainment editors from national newspapers, top tabloids, and leading online portals.
ASPIRING FILIPINO DANCERS TO SPOTLIGHT FEMINISM, GENDER OPPRESSION
CYCLES From Conversations to Choreography, a series of performances that focuses on feminism and misogynistic issues, will be staged beginning July 19, 2024.
The 75-minute production will unveil the original and innovative dance styles inspired by the strong narratives of systemic oppression experienced by female adolescents in the Philippines.
The mixed bill repertoire is set to tackle the effects of gender stereotypes, sociocultural norms, and patriarchal perspectives in the movement and thematic exploration of the program.
The showcase aims to integrate inspiring audio, video and graphics to enhance the routine pieces and highlight the creative visions of the budding talents. The initiative will feature the inventive contemporary and open-style choreographies of the Dance Program students from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) School of Arts, Culture, and Performance (SACP).
The young artists are guided and mentored by Benilde Dance Program Chairperson Nina Anonas, JJZA Media Production Services Production Associate Madonna Tinoy, and De La Salle University Manila Dance Company Artistic Director Mycs Villoso.
Cycles: From Conversations to Choreography will be on view on July 19, 2024 at 6 pm and July 20, 2024, with stagings at 1 pm and 6 pm at the 5th Floor, Theater of the Design + Arts Campus, 950 Pablo Ocampo Street, Malate, Manila.
Tickets are available at P500. For reservations, visit rb.gy/0q7wzw.
Show BusinessMirror
‘Shōgun’: Portraying monumentalism
IN this historical drama TV series from the re-imagination of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks called Shōgun comes forth this so-called monumentalism. The scenes, which are all happening in the 16th century, are all history writ large: the movements are stately, the gestures measured, the horizon looming more magical. Even the waves of the sea are gigantic, with the monster black ship looking puny when placed in the sea.
The combatants in this period piece are all majestically suited in the armors of the period and their language lofty and noble. The clouds and the sky inspire tremendous awe and fear, and the fact that the heroes—those who inspire us to believe in them— inspire more heroism even as they portray persons who, by the nature of their status, are condemned to die a heroic death or sail into the sunset to become legends in their own histories.
Based on the 1975 novel written by James Clavell, this Shōgun is a reincarnation and a reinvention.
In 1980, there was a miniseries composed of five episodes and starred Richard Chamberlain, then a favorite to play grand characters from big books (Remember Thornbirds and grand films like Ken Russel’s The Music Lovers, a film bio of Tchaikovsky).
Mifune Toshiro no less played Torinaga, a figure that is loosely based on Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In the 2024 Shōgun, there are more big Japanese actors and with the world more keenly aware of nonHollywood Japanese actors, there is better familiarity with the performers that flesh out the 17th century characters of this drama.
The series chronicles with such compelling
suspense and moving drama the tale of two brave men from two different continents and cultures: Lord Toranaga, a powerful daimyo, and a foreigner, an English sailor named Blackburne who is shipwrecked in Japan. Toranaga is also inspired by a historical shogun who closed Japan to the world and, ironically, the same person who would unite this shima-guni or island-nation.
Apparently, even the English seafarer is patterned after William Adams, a navigator who would, by twist of fate, become a samurai. In the series, after showing bravery and even risking his life to save the daimyo Toranaga [Tokugawa], he is appointed as a hatamoto, a vassal of the regent. Between them is Lady Mariko, again loosely based on a real character, Hosokawa Gracia, a noble lady who converted to Catholicism. In the series, she is caught between her loyalty to the daimyo and to her new religion.
Inscrutable, the Japanese regents are all difficult to comprehend. Everyone seems to hide tricks up their sleeves and, always, there is an easy way out of their rigidity and mysticism (to those standing outside Japanese culture.
Shōgun, in so many ways, brings back all the cliches and stereotypes in Japanese culture and, with the American perspective in full force, makes them even more convincing than any lived and therefore subdued interpretation of Japanese culture.
There are more Japanese actors, speaking in the Japanese language also in this Shōgun, giving the whole film an air of authenticity. Note the new 47 Ronins starring Keanu Reeves and be disturbed by Japanese actors speaking in English in a setting that is decidedly Japanese.
It should interest us though that film is artifice: while the 1980 miniseries was shot in its entirety in Japan, the 2024 edition is said to have been shot in British Columbia, Canada. Still, even with that knowledge, those who are familiar with the Japanese landscape and seascape will remain convinced that those castles and fields and poverty-stricken villages are all found in Japan.
I recall Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai, which had many scenes shot in New Zealand.
Be that as it may, it should interest the Christians/
KEVIN COSTNER’S SECOND ‘HORIZON’ FILM PULLED FROM THEATRICAL RELEASE
NEW YORK—The August theatrical release for the second chapter of Kevin Costner’s ambitious Western epic Horizon: An American Saga has been canceled after the first film fizzled in theaters. New Line Cinema announced on Wednesday that Horizon: Chapter 2 will not hit theaters on August 16 as scheduled. The studio had planned an unusually fast back-to-back release for the two Horizon films. But after the first chapter collected a modest $23 million in its first two weeks in theaters, the distributor pivoted.
“Territory Pictures and New Line Cinema have decided not to release Horizon: Chapter 2 on August 16 in order to give audiences a greater opportunity to discover the first installment of Horizon over the coming weeks,” a spokesperson for New Line said in a statement. For now, the release of Chapter 2 will be marked TBD on the theatrical calendar. The first Horizon, which opened in theaters on June 28, will land on premium on-demand July 16. No streaming date on Max has yet been announced. The Hollywood Reporter first reported the shift in plans. The move is a humbling acknowledgement that
Costner’s big theatrical gamble for his decadeslong passion project has failed to catch on with audiences. The first chapter of Horizon, which debuted in May at the Cannes Film Festival, cost some $100 million to make, making its path to profitability extremely challenging if not impossible. Costner put some of his own money into it, and has already begun shooting a third installment of what he envisions will ultimately be four movies. When asked in May about the movies hitting theaters in quick succession, Costner said, “The studio wanted to try that. I knew this was going to come out fairly quickly, like every four or five months. That may have been easier. But this is something they feel like people can remember the first one and it can tie into the second one.”
Costner, who directed, co-wrote and co-stars in the films, had been trying to make Horizon for more than 30 years. While releasing the film, Costner confirmed his exit from the hit series Yellowstone. The ultimate destination of Horizon, he acknowledged, was always
Catholic in this country how religion had been used to manipulate diplomacy and vanquish certain lands in the name of faith during the 15th and 16th century in Japan.
One of the most magical scenes in Shōgun is, in fact, when Blackthorne explains how the world is divided between Spain and Portugal by drawing on the dry Japanese garden the map of imperialism. It pains to realize how, during those years, only two countries had the franchise to subjugate and erase cultures and boundaries. And how navigation rode on the crest of ignorance.
The actors of this series are luminaries of Japanese cinema, headed by Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano. Sanada, who plays the feudal lord who has to contend with Christian lords, was dubbed as an engi-ha, an actor who can really act, or, more uniquely, an action star who can wield a sword and act convincingly. Sanada’s scenes with other actors are the most memorable in the series.
Anna Sawai as Lady Mariko is a presence; moving between two languages, she again shows the potency of Orientalism on screen—a piquant accent and an allure one cannot fully place in terms of ethnic origin.
Tadanobu Asano is another major actor: he graced American films like Scorsese’s Silence and as Hogun in the Thor films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aside from appearing in many big Japanese films that have earned him acting nominations and awards.
As our hero, the foreigner lost in translation and combat, Cosmo Jarvis has been described as no less than compelling always, and he is. With a voice that recalls a young Richard Burton, he manages to rise above the action scenes where he figures numerous times. He is our handle in a tale that does not seem to hold hope for any non-Japanese in Japan during those violent feudal times.
With the Jesuits getting a drubbing and a bad historical coverage, this Shōgun series also is a reminder how Manila in the 17th century had always appeared—a place where the mendicant Orders, like the Franciscans would send their emissaries and “spies.”
Shōgun is produced by Gate 34 and Michael de Luca Productions. It streams over Disney+. n
KEVIN COSTNER
DINGDONG DANTES and Marian Rivera
TIME TO GO SOLAR: SOLAR ENERGY NOW AFFORDABLE, VIABLE FOR FILIPINO HOMES
FILIPINOS can say goodbye to skyrocketing electricity bills and unreliable power thanks to a brighter, more affordable future powered by solar energy, according to renewable energy expert Ping Mendoza. Mendoza’s endorsement of solar energy follows YouTuber Oliver Austria’s video, “Is Solar Worth It in 2024?” which explores the numerous benefits of harnessing the sun’s energy.
Austria’s video “Is Solar Worth It in 2024?” breaks down the process of solar energy, highlighting its simplicity and effectiveness. He emphasizes that solar is the most cost-effective and reliable electricity source in the Philippines, perfectly suited for the country’s geographical location with abundant sunshine year-round.
Mendoza concurs, stating that solar energy is a clean and abundant renewable resource. Sunlight activates silicon within solar panels, generating electricity for household use. He assures Filipinos that solar installations are built to withstand harsh weather conditions, making them ideal for homes nationwide.
“Thanks to our country’s proximity to the equator, we have consistent sunlight throughout the year and
across most areas in the country”, the expert added.
Despite its suitability for solar, the Philippines still heavily relies on coal, a source of concern for Mendoza and Austria due to its environmental and health drawbacks.
“Coal and other fossil fuels are very unstable sources of energy because we could run out of coal [anytime],” shared Austria. “As you can see, there is a war that is far from us and because of that, the price of oil and coal increased. And because of that, even our electricity cost has gone up. So that’s why I love renewable energy, specifically solar energy because no one can control its cost.”
Embracing solar energy means harnessing a resource that is always present and beyond the control of market forces or geopolitical tensions. As Austria aptly put it, “The sun is always here for you,” highlighting the dependable nature of solar power and its potential to transform the country’s energy landscape.
Coal-fired power generation also releases harmful carbon dioxide, a major contributor to climate change. Additionally, coal storage and combustion produce fine ash that pollutes the air, posing health risks.
The negative impact of coal makes switching to solar an attractive option. But is it affordable, and how can Filipinos get started?
Austria’s video delivers positive news: solar energy is more accessible than ever. He showcases practical solar-powered products like power banks and lights for those starting small. For those considering installing solar panels, a return on investment can be achieved within just five to six years.
Mendoza reinforces this point, explaining that solar solutions can be tailored to fit different budgets and energy needs. Selecting the right system size for your home is crucial, with the potential to slash electricity bills by 30-50%. While the initial cost can range from P150,000 to P250,000 (depending on the battery), the investment often pays for itself within three to six years in many parts of the Philippines.
Mendoza advises homeowners and communities to assess their daytime energy consumption before making the switch. Solar power is most efficient when tailored to daytime usage, eliminating the need for batteries in areas with a stable power grid.
This approach also ensures the quickest return on investment. He emphasizes the importance of choosing a reputable installer with a proven track record, as solar systems are designed to last 25 to 30 years. Strong after-sales support is crucial for longterm satisfaction and system performance.
For finding the right supplier, Mendoza suggests checking out Yuda.com.ph, a valuable resource for comparing installers and their offerings. The website provides detailed information on pricing, products, and services, allowing you to make an informed decision that best suits your requirements and budget.
Mendoza encourages those considering solar to explore grid-tied systems with net metering, a program under the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Act of 2008. Net metering allows homeowners to sell excess solar power back to the grid, offsetting the cost of electricity purchased from the local utility when solar energy falls short. This setup offers the most cost-effective solution for solar adoption, providing the quickest return on investment and significant savings on electricity bills.
Tala’s 13th financial education workshop all set on July 13
ASPIRING entrepreneurs, MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) owners, and anyone who has a knack for business are in for an educational day on July 13, 2024 as Tala Philippines holds TALAkayan with Salve Duplito at the Trinoma Activity Center, Quezon City. In this financial education workshop to be held at 2 pm, participants will learn money management skills and other tools to help them take control of their finances and achieve their financial goals. They can also join fun games to test what they learned and win prizes.
For the 13th edition of TALAkayan, Tala will mount an exhibit alongside the learning session in cooperation with Iskaparate, a platform that helps put micro-entrepreneurs in the digital space. This will feature 16 homegrown entrepreneurs who will showcase their products ranging from crocheted items and clay creations to baked boneless bangus
and bagoong. The exhibit is open from 10 am to 10 pm to all who are looking to support local brands and enterprises.
To date, a total of 1,105 participants have joined TALAkayan workshops in various parts of the metro.
Many of these people are entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who were able to be equipped with useful financial techniques like creating a net income statement from Duplito.
“Access to financial education is very important for all Filipinos, and I’m glad that Tala is able to extend this opportunity to entrepreneurial mothers, housewives, and individuals through the TALAkayan workshop. We hope that through this, we can help them in improving their business and financial lives, in general,” she said.
In every step of an aspiring entrepreneur’s journey, Tala is there to provide support through its accessible financial services. With just a few clicks on their
The Marketplace Opens at OPUS in Bridgetowne
Come and explore the brand shop, showcasing beloved global brands such as Casino, Waitrose, El Corte Inglés, No Brand, and Meadows, offering both well-known favorites and unique finds. Additionally, shoppers can experience our specialty offerings, including customized charcuterie with globally sourced cheeses and deli selections, along with S&W®
smartphones, they can apply for a loan from Tala to use as capital and start a food distributor business, a sari-sari store, or even as small as selling ready-toeat meals online. By observing on-time repayments, borrowers can also grow their loan limits, which they can use to further expand their business.
“Tala has always been a reliable and trusted partner of MSME owners. Aside from providing easy access to flexible, convenient online credit to support their businesses, we aim to guide them in their financial journey through our TALAkayan workshops,” said Missy Santos, senior marketing manager of Tala. “The success stories of our customers inspire us to further strengthen our commitment to bridge the financial gap for the Global Majority.”
Walk-in attendees must register onsite before the workshop begins. For more updates, visit TALA’s official Facebook page and website.
Sweet 16 pineapples from Bukidnon plantation known for their consistent sweetness and exceptional quality. Customers can indulge in Froya Back Loin Salmon, airflown chilled, ultrafresh sashimi grade, individually vacuum-packed within two hours of catch.
What to look forward to at The Marketplace Opus? The first-ever Cibo Rapido will be launched, offering a new menu and concept designed to delight our customers. Enjoy the renowned Cinco Jotas ham, cured from specially raised Iberian pigs using traditional techniques that have a perfect balance of flavor, texture and aroma. Additional attractions include Margaret River Premium Wagyu, Clayton’s Organic “Chilled” Beef flown via air, and Dorper Premium Lamb from Australia.
Dylan Patisserie, known for its fine desserts, comes to The Marketplace to surprise you with their delectable bakery offerings. And to expand the diverse selection of imported brands at The Marketplace, we are also excited to introduce Morrisons, a beloved brand from the United Kingdom joined by other favorite American brands.
The Marketplace is also proud to introduce its very own bar, a collaboration with Philippine Wine Merchants. The bar is inside The Marketplace Opus, which will offer a sophisticated and world-class bar experience. This intimate space specializes in modern-style cocktails where you can sip on unique concoctions and explore our exclusive selection of spirits, top-notch sake, beers, wines, and liquors to elevate your drinking experience.
DoubleDragon’s Retail Bond Offering ends five days before Offer Period
DUE to the very high-volume demand of orders that came in after the Offer Period started, DoubleDragon Corporation as the Issuer, together with RCBC Capital Corporation, Unicapital Inc and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) as its joint lead underwriters, joint issue managers and bookrunners announced that the retail bond offering of DoubleDragon Corporation has been more than fully subscribed as of July 5, 2024. Accordingly, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the retail bond, the Issuer and the joint lead underwriters, joint issue managers and bookrunners have agreed to shorten the offer period, which has ended on July 5, 2024, instead of July 10, 2024.
DoubleDragon sought the understanding of the investing public for cutting short the DD retail bond offer period due to oversubscription way ahead. However, DoubleDragon also announced that another tranche of DD retail bond offering will be facilitated very soon. DoubleDragon has not issued any peso retail bond for over five years and
Project: Ligaya Brings Happiness from Taiwan to Bulacan’s Children
PROJECT: Ligaya has successfully brought smiles to 200 children from five different orphanages in Bulacan. This charitable event, held in Bustos, Bulacan on July 6, 2024, aimed not only to spread love and charity but also to promote Taiwanese culture and provide children with a unique experience. The event was spearheaded by Shirleen Hsieh, a delegate for the 2024 International Youth Goodwill Ambassador of the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC). It was co-organized by several esteemed organizations within the Taiwanese community in the Philippines, including Taiwan Association Philippines (TAP), Taiwanese Compatriot Association in the Philippines (TCAP), Taiwan Manufacturers Association of the Northern Philippines, Taiwan–Philippines Educational Development Foundation, and Taiwan Association Philippines Youth Chapter (TAPYC). Additionally, the Valenzuela Host Lions Club and Thick and Thin Agri-Product Inc. (Atlas Feeds) also played key roles as co-organizers.
Children from Willing Hearts Orphanage, Inc., Bethany House Sto. Nino Orphanage, Philippine Children’s Mission, Bahay at Yaman ni San Martin De Porres Inc., and Nazareth Home for Children were treated to a day filled with traditional Taiwanese activities. They learned how to make Taiwanese lanterns and enjoyed playing typical Taiwanese night market games. Taiwanese snacks were also served, allowing the children to taste the famous treats that many look forward to when visiting Taiwan. Additionally, traditional Taiwanese toys were introduced, sparking curiosity and excitement among the children.
The event’s goal was to promote Taiwanese culture,
creating a lasting impression on the children and encouraging them to consider educational and work opportunities in Taiwan. The initiative aims to help Filipino children build a brighter future through these cross-cultural exchanges.
The children were welcomed to the event by Minister Dustin Yang of the Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (TECO). Minister Yang emphasized the importance of strengthening the relationship between Taiwan and the Philippines and expressed hope that the children might have the opportunity to study or work in Taiwan when they grow up.
Bulacan Governor Daniel Ramirez Fernando sent his words of appreciation and support for the event. Also present to celebrate with the children were Manila Economic Cultural Office (MECO) Director Tomas M. Guno and Hermosa Bataan Mayor Antonio Joseph Inton.
The success of Project: Ligaya was made possible by the generous contributions of nearly 80 Taiwanese donors from around the world and the dedicated efforts of 100 volunteers from both the local community and the Taiwanese community living in the Philippines. This event not only provided joy and cultural enrichment to the children but also highlighted the spirit of cooperation and goodwill between the Taiwanese and Filipino communities.
As the event concluded, organizers and participants reflected on the
success and the positive impact it had on
PROJECT: Ligaya volunteer group photo
Editor: Jun Lomibao
Consistency,
IT seems Carlos Yulo’s camp has decided on a routine that will challenge for gold, 15 days before the Paris Olympics opening.
There’s no talk of adjustment or experiment, and the words “consistency” and “repetition” echoed around the training camp in Metz, France as the Filipino Olympian’s team trains its sights at the titles in floor exercise medal, vault and parallel bars.
“Thankful to God, I’m healthy, there are no injuries, so I’m just adding up on my endurance and intensity of my work to boost my consistency,” the 24-yearold two-time World Champion told BusinessMirror on Thursday.
“It’s more on repetition to hone my skills.”
Yulo, national coach Aldrin Casteñeda and therapist Hazel
Calawod arrived on June 29 at the Metz pre-Olympic training camp where he he was welcomed by Philippine Olympic Committee
President Abraham Tolentino.
The Paris Games begin on July 27, with the men’s gymnastics qualification starting on the same day. The gymnastics competition is set for nine days.
After a heartbreaking performance in the World Championships in Antwerp last October, Yulo bounced back in the Asian Championships in Tashkent last May, where he collected the gold medals in the men’s all-around individual event, floor, parallel bars and vault events.
“That’s the same goal—win the floor gold, the vault and parallel bars gold medals,” he said. “I want to qualify for the final in the men’s individual allaround event also.” Josef T. Ramos
Nonoy plays big in Draft Combine
ONE of the smallest guys on the floor stood tall on Day 1 of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Draft Combine. Spitfire guard Mark Nonoy emerged as among the top performers in the two-day pre-draft proceedings at the Ynare Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Iloilo native, officially measured at 5-foot-9, was a standout in the skills test categories of 3/4 sprint test and running vertical jump.
Nonoy, a former University of Santo Tomas stalwart who went on and win a University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball championship with De La Salle during his senior year last season, topped the sprint test in 2.862 seconds. He topped the running vertical jump at 53 inches.
Two wingmen and a hulking center also did well for a share of the spotlight with Nonoy during the event co-presented by Arena Plus and Daily Fantasy.
Brandon Ramirez, a 6-foot-4 former PBA 3x3 player, was the fastest in the reaction test with 358 milliseconds, while 6-foot-2 MJ Malonzo of National University and DJ Mitchell of De La Salle stood out in the standing vertical jump and lane agility test, respectively.
Malonzo clocked 11.49 seconds and Mitchell jumped 43 inches.
Of the 62 applicants who showed up for the first of the two-day event, prospective top pick Justin Baltazar was the tallest at 6-foot-6 7/5 inches followed by Kai Ballungay at 6-foot-6 2/5 inches, while the player with the longest wing span of 81.5 was Ronan Mendoza Santos.
La hospital bed with broken ribs and a collapsed lung. On Wednesday, he beat his rival Tadej Pogacar in a twoman sprint after a brutal day in the mountains.
Pogacar, the Tour leader, kept the yellow jersey but it was the two-time defending champion who earned a psychological victory at the end of an epic battle in the Massif Central.
The pair left all their rivals in their wake and Vingegaard, after closing a big gap to Pogacar in a brutal climb, outsprinted his rival to finish half a wheel ahead for the stage win.
“It is of course very emotional for me. Coming back from the crash,” Vingegaard said, trying to hold back tears. “It means a lot. All the things I went through in the last three months, it makes you think of that.”
Vingegaard was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in April following a high-speed crash in the Tour of the Basque Country.
He only resumed competitive racing at the Tour and there were many question marks about his form. His tremendous ride Wednesday showed he is more than ready to defend his title.
“I’m just happy to be here and it means so much to win a stage, especially to win it for my family. They were there supporting me the whole time,” Vingegaard said.
True to his habit of attacking every time he gets the chance, Pogacar tried to move away alone about 32 kilometers from the finish with a strong attack.
After getting dropped, Vingegaard kept his head cool and proved to be the fastest in the next ascent to catch his rival.
Vingegaard said he thought he would not be able to bridge the gap opened by Pogacar, and was also surprised he could beat him in the sprint.
“I would never have thought this three months ago. I was only thinking about doing my own pace and then the sprint.”
The pair then stayed together to gain time on Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic, who crashed near the finish. Evenepoel reached the finish 25 seconds behind, with Roglic 55 seconds off the pace.
Evenepoel trails 1:06 behind Pogacar overall, with Vingegaard in third place, 1:14 back. Roglic is fourth, 2:45 behind the race leader.
The rollercoaster 211-kilometer
Stage 11 featured four brutal ascents in its second half and included more than 4,000 meters of climbing.
The race started at a high pace and the peloton stayed together for some 40 kilometers before riders could break away in humid conditions. A group of 10 men rode
at the front but split at the foot of the first major climb, the steep Col de Neronne. Pogacar’s Team Emirates set a fast tempo but they were caught one by one one as they rode up to the Puy Mary, the hardest climb of the day.
Pogacar, a two-time Tour champion, attacked 600 meters from that summit to drop everyone else then went all in on the downhill, showcasing his great skills in the technical descent to increase his lead and start the next climb with a lead of 35 seconds.
But Vingegaard still had the final word.
“He is in top shape,” Pogacar said about his rival. “He beat me really good on the line, and I did a pretty good sprint after that kind of stage. He was really strong.”
Thursday’s Stage 12 from Aurillac to Villeneuve-sur-Lot is mainly flat. The battle between Pogacar and Vingegaard is expected to resume this weekend when the peloton will reach bigger mountains in the Pyrenees. AP
Lapu-Lapu City lass wins first Palaro gold in Cebu
Tajarros by 12 seconds and Davao
“Confidence with myself and with my team…faith in God,” said Paraase,
said the 12th-grader from Pajo National High School in Lapu-Lapu City. “She influenced me a lot in running.” Central Luzon’s Jyane Kurt Cantor, meanwhile, flew to 6.14 meters to break the Palaro’s 22-yearold elementary boys’ long jump record of 6.04 meters set by Davao Region’s Jeremie Tamles in Naga City. Western Visayas’s Khrispher Ngirngir and Central Visayas’ Ace
Talion grabs first victory in JPGT Riviera; Taruc rules age category in boys’ action
LEVONNE TALION secured her first victory after three lost bids in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Junior Philippine Golf Tour (lCTSI JPGT) Luzon Series via a commanding 25-stroke win over Maria Montserrat Lapuz in the girls’ 13-15 division at the Riviera Golf and Country Club on Thursday.
Talion effectively clinched the title in the fourth leg of the sevenstage regional series with rounds of 85, 80 and 76—she achieved her goal of scoring in the 70s on the softened but challenging Couples course she calls home. Despite a double bogey on the on the 12th, 13th and 15th holes. Talion finished with a four-over 54hole total of 241. The victory followed Talion’s fourthplace finish in the series’ kickoff leg at Splendido Taal and two third-place efforts at Pradera Verde and Pinewoods to boosti her bid for a spot in the Philippine Match Play Championship at The Country Club in October. Montserrat posted an 88 for a 266 while Kendra Garingalao rallied with a 79 to edge Visayas Series’ Iloilo leg winner Alexie Gabi, who made an 85, for third after both scored 268s.
“I worked hard to earn this win, so I’m very proud,” said Talion, 14, who plays out of Letran Calamba. “I struggled in my past tournaments, so I dedicated more time to practicing my range and focusing on my short game. I knew these improvements would significantly enhance my performance.”
Romero: Rookies align with our thrust, goals
CAPITAL1 head coach Roger Gorayeb and co-owner Mandy Romero drafted three promising players—a strategic move to reinforce the squad for the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference.
“I’m thrilled because we got the players we wanted and they will significantly help the team, especially in positions where we have been slightly weak,” said Gorayeb, referring to hitter Leila Cruz, libero Roma Mae Doromal and Jenya Torres to strengthen specific positions. The trio will debut in Solar Spikers uniform against the Akari Chargers on July 18.
“We are very happy because we got our wish list,” Romero said. “Before the draft, we targeted these three players
because we believe their talent and grit align with the team’s thrust, goals and the future we’re building.”
Picking second overall in the inaugural draft, the Solar Spikers selected the 5-foot-10 Cruz, whose ceiling, power and skills make her a threat in defense as she reinforces the team’s frontline alongside Rovie Instrella and Sydney Niegos.
Gorayeb revealed that he liked what he saw in setter Julia Coronel but chose Cruz because the team already secured solid playmaker Iris Tolenada during the off season.
In the second round, Capital1 addressed the hole in the libero spot by tapping Doromal and rounded out its selections with Torres, also an outside hitter from De La Salle like Cruz.
“I was really looking for height because they are opposite spikers. Now we have blockers for the opposing outside hitters,” said Gorayeb, known for his strategic acumen. He has been particularly enthusiastic about the height advantage their new recruits bring.
Gorayeb has also focused on enhancing the team’s defense.
“We planned to get them, including the libero, because we only have two liberos,” he said. “I think Doromal will help our defense and fill the gap in that spot.”
Doromal, the former defensive specialist from Ateneo, is expected to significantly bolster the team’s defensive lineup, filling critical gaps and adding depth to their roster.
Jose Carlos Taruc also shared the spotlight with Talion, dominating the boys’ 13-15 field by 17 strokes with a three-day total of 231, highlighted by a closing two-over 74. Andres Fabie posted a podium finish for the first time at second with a 248 after an 83, while John Paul Agustin, Jr. also carded an 83 for third at 249.
“My goal was to hit fairways and greens, and it became easier today [Thursday],” said Taruc, who intensified his training after finishing sixth in the JPGT kickoff leg at Splendido Taal.
“I focused primarily on my short game and putting for this tournament. I also worked on my tee shots because, at Splendido, they were inconsistent, and my course management needed improvement,” said the 14-year-old talent from Marikina, whose home course is at Camp Aguinaldo. In the premier 16-18 category of the series organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc., Patrick Tambalque positioned himself for a second leg victory while competing in multiple series in the 72-hole tournament. The Cavite native, who snared the title in the Visayas Series 2 in Murcia, Binitin,
DEFENDING two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard edges Tadej Pogacar by half a wheel length in a in a two-man sprint after a brutal day in the mountains. AP
YULO
Motoring
The2024IsuzuD-MAXhAsArrIveD
Story & photos by Randy S. Peregrino
POISED to set new standards in the pickup segment, Isuzu Philippine Corporation (IPC) recently unveiled the new 2024 D-MAX. IPC claims that the latest iteration of their best-selling pickup truck is designed to revolutionize the market with its unparalleled combination of power, durability, and cutting-edge features.
Debuted in 2003, the 2024 model continues the nameplate’s tradition while incorporating technological and safety advancements. “Over the years, we have continuously introduced numerous advancements to the D-MAX, all the while ensuring that it remains true to its core values, whilst evolving to meet the needs and desires of our customers. This latest evolution is the product of listening to the feedback of our customers and dealers, integrating their insights into the design and functionality of this new model,” said IPC President Tetsuya Fujita. enhanced look, digitalized interior T HE main highlight is the new three-dimensional front Grille with gun-metal and black chrome finish, complementing the new LED headlamps with redesigned Daytime Running Lights. The fog lamps were redesigned with an air curtain, reducing air drag and improving aerodynamics. Other elements are the new Cargo Sail bed accessory, 18-inch All-Terrain Alloy Wheels with a Matte Dark Gray Metallic finish, and the new Triple-wing LED rear combination lamps.
The 2024 model features a new
Sdigital pattern, “Miura” design, exuding a clean and solid structure, generating emotional harmony. The new Isuzu D-MAX also has a lot of comfort and convenience features, like its new Wireless Charger, 2nd Row Aircon Vents, a new 7-inch Digital MID with a more dynamic design providing more information about the vehicle, and a new infotainment system available in 10.1-inch and 9-inch variations, equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Connectivity for the more tech-savvy buyers.
Tested performance with new off-roading essential THE 2024 D-MAX now has a new Differential Lock system and Rough Terrain Mode to recapture the hardcore 4x4 enthusiasts. Under the hood, the reliable 4JJ3-TCX Blue Power engine delivering 187 hp and 450N-m of maximum torque is retained along with the A/T and M/T drivetrain options.
New safety features
A SIDE from Isuzu’s Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS), the 2024 D-MAX now features a new Gen4 SMART DUO Cam with enhanced field of view both horizontally and vertically, improving its ADAS acci-
New look Vios Cup
EEMS like only yesterday when the Vios Cup was launched at Eastwood on Libis, Quezon City, with then president Michinobu “The Rocker” Sugata of Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) as the brains behind the motorsports’ inception.
“It’s time we put up a car race with a distinctive Toyota car at the forefront of the competition,” I remember Sugata-san telling me as we were sipping red wine over dinner. “And there’s no other car other than the Vios for this project.”
Thus was born the Vios Cup one rainy night in 2014 at Eastwoods’ revolving restaurant atop the prime
dent-avoidance capabilities. The new D-MAX now comes with a 360-degree Around View Monitor, a new Rear Cross Traffic Brake (RCTB), and a first-in-class built-in Digital Video Recorder for all-around safety and peace of mind.
New Variants, pricing, and colors
A LONG with introducing the 2024 D-MAX, IPC also introduced a new variant, the D-MAX 4x2 LS-E AT, a new entry into the 4x2 segment. As for the D-MAX LS-A, IPC introduced two variants: the regular LS-A variant, which carry a nine-inch infotainment system, while the DMAX LS-A Plus variant will support the 10-inch infotainment system, with 360-degree Around View Monito and Digital Video Recorder, offering a variety of choices to its customers nationwide.
put it (if I know the guy that well):
“We will continue to explore the unknown if only to pursue our mission to excel in every angle of the platform that we continue to dive into.”
city’s tallest edifice.
Rousing inaugurals
FROM its rousing inaugurals at Clark, Pampaga, the event has come a long way, holding memorable editions in Cebu 2015, McKinley/BGC 2016 and Alabang 2018, in its momentous journeys toward authenticity. But its first decade on July 12-13 at Clark speaks of more than just parading its usual bevy of participants from social influencers, the media, celebrity planks and the celluloid world.
As TMP executive vice president Jing Atienza would have probably
To know more of what’s in the plate in this 10th offering of the now-iconic circuit race, let’s listen in to Allana Faith Rufo, Mixie Flavier’s feisty chronicler:
New name
“THIS year, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Vios Cup (TGR Vios Cup), the premier one-make-race (OMR) series, will be known as the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Philippine Cup (TGR Philippine Cup).
“The TGR Philippine Cup will be held free to the public—on July 13, September 28 and November 9—all at the Clark International Speedway in Mabalacat, Pampanga.
“New and returning racers from various racing teams will compete in the TGR Philippine Cup Sprint Race
Available colors are Namibu Orange (LS-E), Biarritz Blue (LS-E), Onyx Black, Islay Gray, Satin Pearl White, and Splash White. As for pricing per variant, the top-spec 3.0 4x4 LS-E AT retails at P1.945 million, the 3.0 4x2 LS-E AT at P1.695 million, the 3.0 4x4 LS-A MT Plus at P1.750 million, and the 3.0 4x4 LS-A MT at P1.710 million. For 4x2 variants, the 3.0 4x2 LS-A AT Plus retails at P1.510 million, the 3.0 4x2 LS-A AT at P1.470 million, the 3.0 4x2 LS-A MT Plus at P1.440 million, the 3.0 4x2 LS-A MT at P1.400 million, and the 3.0 4x4 LT MT at P1.299 million. Other available variants are the Rz4E 4x2 LT MT priced at P1.048 million, the 3.0 4x4 Single Cab MT at P1.178 million, and the RZ4E 4x2 Single Cab MT at P938,000.
isuzu 4x4 l and M EANWHILE , months before the
under the Promotional Class, Sporting Class and Super Sporting Class.
“Participating celebrities include actor/TV host Ryan Agoncillo and actor Troy Montero. Rookies include Reph Bangsil and Lexi Mendiola. Joining them are Russel Reyes, and media racers Pablo Salapantan, Jose Altoveros, Jamil Lacuna and John Rey San Diego.
endurance race
“THE Grand Prix will now be known as the Endurance Race consisting of a 1.5-hour circuit race.
“The Sprint Race, replacing the Circuit Championship, is a 12-lap or 30-minute race, while the Autocross Challenge, a time-attack format slalom race, will soon be opened.
“For the fans, Toyota will hold a track day for TGR car club members, with participants getting exclusive access to the Clark International Speedway and a chance to drive their GR vehicle on the racetrack.
“E-racing enthusiasts may race
Philippine launch, IPC flew us to Thailand to test the 2024 model in the Isuzu-established off-road test facility. The brand experts demonstrated the advantages of the new Differential Lock system, Rough Terrain Mode, and other complementary features there. The test course contained seven challenging stations for the 2024 D-MAX.
First was the V-Curve, with numerous slopes and unlevelled paths where the pickup demonstrated structural integrity, and despite the alternating wheel elevations, wheels on the path maintained good traction. The Rugged Route followed it to mimic a rough path with similar slopes and unlevelled paths. Perhaps the most exhilarating was the 50-foot climb to the high hill 45-degree ramp. While crawling, the pickup managed to
on virtual tracks for a chance to win a prize.
GR 86 ride
“THE TGR Philippine Cup will also feature a driving exhibition by professional drifters using the GR 86. Spectators can win a shotgun ride via raffle, and experience riding in a GR 86 around a slalom course on the track.
“There will be freebies and prizes, official GR merchandise for sale, GR road cars on display and even a special live stage by a musical guest.
“The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Philippine Cup is sponsored by Petron and GT Radial, in cooperation with Seiko. The event is supported by Toyota Financial Services Philippines, myTOYOTA Wallet, Denso, AVT, 3M, ROTA, Tuason Racing, OMP and Kinto One.”
climb steadily and slowly. Then, descent by only relying on engine braking plus other functions to control the speed without applying any brakes. Then came the Rock Canal, mimicking a shallow, rocky river bed to cross. The vehicle effortlessly crawled without any trouble. Next was the Waterfall Cliff, mimicking a rocky climb with an equally descended angle. Set on 4L, the pickup climbed slowly without losing traction from the wet tires until it descended in control on the other side without braking. The following Zigzag U-shape course is tricky, mimicking a tight space while dealing with uneven paths. Last was the Side Slope, which put the pickup on a 40-degree slant while moving until it reached an even path. All these, the 2024 D-MAX tackled like a walk in the park.
pee sTop Colene Jalalon says a P500,000 discount awaits buyers of the MY2023 Wrangler Rubicon and Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon from July 7-31. Go to Jeep dealerships at Greenhills, Alabang, Cebu, Clark and Pampanga for details… Honda’s Den Pabalan reports that buyers can avail of P120,000 discounts on Civic V Turbo with Honda SENSING and CR-V V Turbo CVT…Jade Sison-Mendoza, the dy-
Editor: Tet Andolong
The new 2024 Isuzu D-MAX 3.0 4x4 LS-e AT variant in exclusive Namibu Orange color
The new digital pattern, “Miura” interior design, exuding a clean and solid structure, generating emotional harmony
