4M to get crop insurance cover in ’23

By Raadee S. Sausa

“This year I’m pretty confident it will reach four million farmers; that’s a good penetration rate for a crop insurance company and at least cover around 40 percent of our farmers,” Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC) President Jovy C. Bernabe said last Tuesday during a webinar organized by the BusinessMirror’s sister publication the Philippines Graphic magazine.

Bernabe said the insurance coverage last year reached 3.8 million farmers.

“Just for one year; it’s the larg- est coverage in the history of PCIC,” he added.

Bernabe believes because the insurance is being given for free, the number of farmers covered has been increasing.

“Our coverage is free; crop insurance is free as long as they—they are small-scale farmers—are registered in the registry system of the Department of Agriculture,” the PCIC chief explained.

Likewise, the increase in the number of covered farmers is relative to the budget given to the PCIC, Bernabe added.

“So, if the budget is bigger, the coverage is bigger too,” the official said. “So it’s really the function of budget that is given to us.

Bernabe reiterated the invitation

Filipinos struggled with finances in Q2

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE income of Filipino households struggled to keep up with their financial needs in the second quarter, a consumer pulse study by TransUnion Information Solutions Inc. revealed.

The study revealed that the percentage of respondents reporting worse than planned household financial situations increased to 27 percent in the second quarter compared to 25 percent in the first quarter.

The results also showed that respondents who were earning higher income in the past three months also decreased to 41 percent in the second quarter of the year from 45 percent in the first quarter of 2023.

According to TransUnion, the finances of Filipino households failed to keep pace despite the economic recovery observed last year and a continued expansion of the gross domestic product to 6.4 percent in the first quarter of this year.

However, “slightly-worse household finances” did not deter Filipino consumers from being optimistic about their finances next year.

Data showed those who are optimistic their finances will improve increased to 84 percent in the second quarter from 81 percent in the first quarter.

Further, more than half or 59 percent said they expect to be able to pay at least one of their current bills or loans in full, a four-percentage point improvement over the last quarter.

“The improvement in the economy as well as consumer confidence also showed in the number who expected to be better able to meet their debt obligations,” TransUnion said.

Improved consumer sentiment influenced spending as well. TransUnion said on the topic of how consumers expected their household spending to change over the next three months, 31 percent indicated they plan to increase it – up two percentage points compared to the first quarter results.

There was also a notable increase seen in the percentage of consumers who reported same or increased instore and online purchases, tallying 61 percent in the second quarter, a two percentage point increase from the first quarter.

“Survey results showed that Gen Z consumers were seen to have the highest increases in both purchases made and plans to increase discretionary spending,” TransUnion Philippines President and CEO Pia Arellano was quoted in a statement as saying.

“With the momentum of the economy and relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, there are now more avenues for younger Filipinos to allot their finances beyond paying for necessities. These changing spending habits could also give insight into their attitudes towards credit as well,” Arellano added.

Credit cards

HIGHER interest rates was one of the reasons given as impacting consumers’ decisions to apply for credit in the next year, with 84 percent of the PCIC extended in June to farmers to avail of the free insurance that is made available by the government to six agricultural product lines.

PCIC 6 Regional Manager Eva consumers saying rises were moderately or highly likely to impact their decision to apply for credit, up two percentage points from the previous quarter.

Ulie D. Laud said that Western Visayas has an allocation of P480.69 million targeting 209,056 farmers and fishermen for six product lines. The latter are: rice; corn; high-value crops; non-crop agricultural assets; livestock; and, fisheries.

Iloilo has the biggest allocation of P189.87 million followed by Negros Occidental with P84.12 million and Capiz with P84.12 million.

The province of Aklan has been allocated P45.67 million, Antique with P55.28 million and Guimaras with P21.63 million.

However, TransUnion said there is a growing percentage of Gen Z consumers who see credit as an important financial tool. Gen Z consumers were born between 1995 and 2004.

Among Gen Z consumers, 68 percent said that access to credit and lending products is extremely or very important to be able to achieve their financial goals, jumping three-percentage points from the first quarter findings.

Gen Z consumers also demonstrated a strong desire to apply for new credit as well. Compared to the first quarter, there was a 10-percentage point increase in Gen Z consumers planning to apply for a new credit card.

There was also a four-percentage point increase among these consumers who planned to get new personal loans and a three-percentage point increase among those who wanted to avail of a new “buy now pay later” product.

“These figures show a contrast to the reduced desire of some other generations to apply for new credit products,” TransUnion said.

The firm’s consumer pulse study surveyed 907 consumers in the Philippines from May 4 to May 19, 2023. This quarterly survey examines shifting consumer attitudes and behaviors based on the dynamics of income, debt and identity theft.

Laud said they are campaigning for rice and corn farmers to avail of the insurance, “which is very timely since it’s already the start of the planting season for first cropping.”

She added that within 15 days before or after farmers plant, they can already apply for crop insurance for rice and corn. Ulad emphasized the importance of the farmer’s inclusion in the PCIC master list or with the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture.

They are advised to visit their municipal agriculture office and fill up the required form, Ulad added. She said that as of June 15, they have already insured 77,087 farmers for all product lines with fund utilization reaching P135.418 million.

BTr meets ₧15-B goal in Treasuries’ auction

THE national government on Tuesday seized the moment to borrow its full P15 billion target amount through the tender of shortterm government securities as investors’ asking rates fell below benchmark levels and previous week’s rates.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) made a full award of its Treasury bills (T-bills) auction, raising P5 billion each from the sale of 91-day, 182-day and 364day tenors of the debt paper. The auction saw asking rates averaging lower than last week’s rates and below the prevailing secondary market benchmark levels for the government securities.

The 91-day T-bills registered an average rate of 5.611 percent, below the 5.808 percent secondary market benchmark level. The average rate was also lower than the 5.884 percent average yield recorded for the same debt paper in the previous auction of the Treasury.

The 91-day T-bills fetched rates from as low as 5.608 percent to as high as 5.618 percent.

The 182-day T-bills saw an average yield of 5.823 percent versus the 5.957 percent benchmark rate. The asking rates for the debt paper were between

5.818 percent and 5.838 percent.

Meanwhile, the average rate for the 364-day T-bills settled at 6.184 percent, slightly higher than the 6.145 percent secondary market benchmark rate for government security. Investors sought yield from as low as 6.1 percent to as high as 6.275 percent from the 364day T-bills.

Nonetheless, the average yield for the 364-day T-bills was lower than the 6.266 percent average rate it recorded in the Treasury’s auction last week.

“The auction was 4.4 times oversubscribed with total bids reaching P66.7 billion,” read the Treasury’s statement issued after the auction.

The 91-day T-bills generated P29.775 billion in total offer while the 182-day and 364day T-bills had a total tender of P22.815 billion and P14.105 billion, respectively.

With the recent auction, the Treasury has raised P137.222 billion so far for this month. The Treasury plans to borrow a total of P180 billion from the domestic market for July.

The Treasury is set to hold its final auction for the month on July 26 with a P30-billion tender of Treasury bonds. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Twitter ‘Met-a’ match in threads SC affirms COA vs PDIC aid to 2 banks

SOME people may not yet be familiar with Threads but the recent news about Threads having 100 million users in just five days and 10 million users in less than 24 hours had me wondering what has Meta got in Threads that millions signed up in just five days compared to Twitter’s first few days.

I have a Twitter account. I opened it years before since I want to follow then US President Barack Obama. But I am not so excited with it as I am with Threads right now.

I am like Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram and Threads, who has indicated he wants to stay away from breaking news and politics. Like him, I have enough stress for the day to add more news and politics to my feed. So Twitter is not just for me.

But what is in Threads that attracted more users and who is bent on winning in this battle of the giants in social media?

First: is easier to open an account in Threads. You just have to go to your Instagram account and you will be able to use the same profile since Meta owns both Instagram and Facebook. The second reason is Threads was introduced at the right time when Elon Musk is facing criticisms from Twitter users and followers. Recently, Elon Musk started limiting how many tweets users can view. Twitter also has a management tool called TweetDeck—used for scheduling tweets—only limited to paid accounts.

Why should one go to Twitter when you are required to pay while in Threads you are free to scroll and text up to 500 characters (compared to Twitter that has only a maximum of 280 characters).

There are downsides to Threads, too.

For instance, you cannot delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram account. And you cannot interact with your friends in the European Union because Meta decided to not launch Threads in the EU due to regulatory concerns.

I am not really into Instagram because I do not want my profile to be public. I have posts that I only want my friends and not the public to see. I am not fond of Twitter, too. Threads gave me an opportunity to post contents for the public to see without them looking at my personal pictures and events. In Threads I plan that my posts will only be quotes, which are related to my Threads name account (also my Instagram account), which is @wilmaworkingwomanworld@threads.net.

I am scared to go public in Instagram because I can see friend requests from people who may even be fictitious. I also have posts that include pictures showing personal activities.

I find it funny—my curiosity can sometimes lead me to adventurous acts. I opened an account just yesterday to see how this Threads thing goes and how it can be so easy to open one. True to what people say –I opened an account with such ease in a just a few minutes.

There were just a few friends in Instagram that I saw in Threads; maybe because I have only a small circle of friends in my Instagram account compared to my Facebook account. And most people are not yet familiar with Threads.

The battle is still ongoing and only in the future will we be able to see which of the two applications will really win. Will it be Twitter of Elon Musk or Threads by Mark Zuckerberg?

Or will we be caught by surprise when a new application will suddenly appear and bag the prize over Twitter and Threads?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Wilma Miranda is the 2023 chairman of the ethics committee of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines. She is also a managing partner of Inventor, Miranda & Associates, CPAs and a member of the Board of Directors of KPS Outsourcing Inc. The views expressed herein do not necessar- the opinion of these institutions and the

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) that denied the condonation and write-off portions of the financial assistance given by the state insurer to Westmont Bank and Keppel Monte Savings Bank (KMSB) amounting to P1.65 billion and P325 million, respectively.

In an 18-page decision penned by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez, the Court en banc unanimously denied the petition filed by the state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) seeking to set aside the August 2, 2012, decision of the COA. That decision rejected the condonation granted by the PDIC to Westmont Bank on the ground that it includes the principal loan.

The COA also denied the request to write off the account of KMSB since the said account does not appear to be uncollectible.

In a resolution dated March 9, 2015, the COA denied PDIC’s motion for reconsideration for lack of new and substantial arguments to warrant the reversal of its decision and subsequently issued a notice of disallowance.

On July 10, 2015, pending the resolution of the PDIC’s petition, the

COA issued notices of disallowance for the said amounts.

The COA also held liable the members of the PDIC Board of Directors who approved the condonation and write-off. The COA also held liable with the officers of Westmont Bank and KMSB liable to settle the disallowed amounts.

In its petition, the PDIC argued that the COA committed grave abuse of discretion in issuing the notices of disallowance, noting the unreasonable delay on the latter’s part in resolving the issues on the grants of financial assistance.

The PDIC said such delay was tantamount to “an evasion of a positive duty” amounting to grave abuse of discretion on the part of COA.

It maintained that it is empowered under its Charter to condone or release any claim or liability regardless of the amount, and that its actions were approved by the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

However, in ruling in favor of COA, the SC pointed out that in authorizing the condonation and writeoff, the PDIC Board of Directors acted with gross negligence, amounting to bad faith, thus, justifying their liability for the disallowance.

The Court noted that the disallowed condonation and write-off were implemented without Congressional approval and recommenda- tions from COA and the Office of the President as mandated under Section 20 of the Administrative Code.

“The patent illegality of the condonation and write-off indubitably countermands PDIC’s invocation of good faith. There is no justification to legitimize the palpable lapse of the PDIC Board of Directors in simply ignoring the mandatory provisions of the Administrative Code, which had long been in effect before the condonation and write-off were implemented,” the SC said.

“The COA, therefore, committed no grave abuse of discretion in holding the PDIC Board of Directors liable for the disallowed amounts,” the SC added.

Furthermore, the SC said the petitioner failed to show proof of inordinate delay on the part of COA to warrant the dismissal of the case.

While the COA admitted that it took a length of time in issuing the notices of disallowance, the Court noted the complexities it had to deal with in auditing the questioned loans, which required looking into numerous transactions dating back to the 1990s.

“Finally, there is no showing that PDIC was prejudiced by the alleged delay committed by the COA. In sum, we find no inordinate delay on the part of the COA to warrant the dismissal of the case,” the SC ruled.

Seating Problem

WHO is the big star who organizers of a big event had difficulty seating? It wasn’t because she was picky. It was because her being seated at certain tables would cause awkwardness. She’s a big star, so she needed to be seated in the table with other stars of her caliber. Unfortunately, she has a long running a feud with another big star so that was not possible. She couldn’t be seated with more junior stars because it would be too awkward. The big star has been beset by controversies lately, including the alleged departure or dismissal of her regular glam team but those who have worked with her insist that she is the kindest and nicest person. It’s just that her presence could rub people the wrong way.

Double Booking

WHAT kind of hotel accepts a paid reservation and cancels at the last minute? And for such a big event? The actress made a reservation for the hotel’s most expensive suite where the big event was to be held, only to be told days before that it was canceled? The actress had booked the most expensive suite and paid for it already. Days before the event, the hotel told the actress that there had been a mixup and her reservation was canceled. Instead, they offered her a deluxe room. Of course, that didn’t sit well with the actress. Her manager made calls for her to still get the suite to no avail.

Her Decision

SO there has been so much speculation about the actress’ dilemma on who should escort her during a very important event? Should it be her real-life boyfriend or should it be her leading man? The truth is the actress chose to walk alone as she entered the event. No one pressured her to do anything. Everything she does in her life and career is her own decision. After she entered the venue, she sat with her boyfriend. There is no love triangle. The actress is very clear that she loves her boyfriend and she’s working with her leading man.

Throwing A Tantrum

WHICH celebrity threw a fit after an event because one of the guests, also a beauty queen, was wearing a gown that was very similar to hers? Celebrity has always had an attitude problem. None of her coworkers, past or present, have anything good to say about her. During the said event, another beauty queen was wearing a gown similar to the celebrity’s and she was very displeased. She blamed everyone, from her manager to her makeup artist, as to why it happened. She almost made a scene at the event venue until she was stopped by someone.