BusinessMirror June 08, 2023

“ e month-on-month decrease in the GIR level reflected mainly the National Government’s [NG] net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, and downward adjustments in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the decrease in the price of gold in the international market,” the BSP said in a statement on Wednesday. Likewise, the country’s latest GIR record was 2.22 percent lower than the $103.6 billion level registered in end-May last year, BSP data showed.

e BSP’s reserve assets consist

B A E. S J

WHILE the World Bank revised upwards its growth outlook for the Philippines for 2023 from 5.4 percent to 6 percent on the back of strong domestic demand, among others, it warned the country of certain risks to the economic outlook such as the threat of El Niño which it said could further constrain food production.

e report “Global Economic Prospects: June 2023,” released by the WB on Wednesday, said, “Following a sharp slowdown in 2022, growth in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region is recovering, supported by strong activity

in China following the reopening of its economy and a rapid decline in Covid-19 infections.”

In fact, WB said, compared with January projections, growth in EAP is expected to be 1.2 percentage points higher in 2023 and 0.3 percentage points lower in 2024.

For the Philippines, WB revised upward its growth outlook by 0.6 percentage points from the 5.4 percent in January 2023 to 6 percent, as shown in the Global Economic Prospects report.

Meanwhile, the multilateral fi nancial institution expects the Philippine economy to post

B A E. S J

TRADE Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual welcomed the launch of the United Kingdom Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), saying it will enable more Philippine exporters to compete in the UK market “successfully.”

Describing the trading scheme as “one of the most generous trade preference schemes in the world,” Pascual said the Philippines will have continued access to enhanced preferences.

“We look forward to our country having access to duty-free, quota-free trade on 92 percent of our eligible goods—or 99 percent of our exports to the UK. These concessions will enable more Philippine exporters to compete in the UK market successfully,” Pascual said in his speech at the launch of UK DCTS on Wednesday.

The DCTS lowers or removes tari s on more

than 150 products. Its coverage extends to the country’s agricultural products such as tomatoes, milk and cream, cheese, grains, tropical fruits, and animal and vegetable oils, Pascual noted.

Moreover, he said electronic products and optical instruments—“all of which we can supply well”—are in great demand in the UK and, under the DCTS, will enjoy preferential tari s.

Pascual said Philippine products that will bene t from this trade scheme are tuna, shirts, and t-shirts. For instance, he noted, “our annual export of tuna worth 40 million Pounds so far will enjoy a 20-percentage-point reduction in import duty.”

But, beyond reducing tari s, the Trade chief said the scheme’s “important” bene ts for the Philippines rest on its provision for “simpler”

Privatization of Naia seen to start by Q1 of 2024

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Wednesday it is looking at implementing the P141-billion privatization project for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in the fi rst quarter of 2024. Transportation Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports Roberto Lim said the private concessionaire will have to shell out P141 billion for the deal, which includes upfront payment of P30 billion, annuity payments of P2 billion, and share from the total revenues to the government.

He noted that the target of implementing the project in the fi rst quarter of 2024 is “very tough,” it is still doable. “ at is a very tough and tight schedule. We can say that it is doable in the fi rst quarter of next year. It is doable that there will be a conclusion that could possibly be proclaimed by the government,” he said in a statement.

Last Friday, the DOTr and Manila International Airport Authori-

Thursday, June 8, 2023 A2

Naia...

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ty (Miaa) submitted their joint proposal for the Naia Solicited Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project for approval by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board.

Under the deal, the private concessionaire will have 15 years to operate the airport and recover its investment. “That takes time. If there is more than one participant, we will have to talk to all of them.

It will take time,” Lim said.

He added that the deal will have “upsides” in terms of efficiency in passenger and flight movement, and generate income for the government.

“There is a lot of upside when you upgrade Naia. You introduce efficiencies. That means you can process more passengers, you can take in more flights, and more revenues—means larger share for the government,” he said.

Lim clarified that once Naia has been privatized, Miaa will become a regulatory body. This, he said, will result in “no loss of employment, [as] airport employees will be offered the opportunity to work when the airport facilities are privatized.”

“The relationship between Miaa and the concessionaire will be regulator-operator. The Miaa will continue to operate as a body that will regulate, oversee,” he explained.

Pascual urges Japan’s trading houses to step up in tech, jobs

By Andrea E. San Juan

TRADE

“Consistent with the Asean-Japan Co-Creation Vision which promotes the idea of Asean and Japan working together through complementary strengths, let us also work towards a sustainable partnership and reinforce each others’ business capabilities. Let us make this business happen in the Philippines,” Pascual said.

The meeting was attended by Itochu Corpo-

ration President and CEO Hiroyuki Kaizuka, Marubeni Corporation Chief Strategy Officer and Regional CEO for East Asia Kenichiro Oikawa, Sojitz Corporation COO Takefumi Nishikawa, Sumitomo Corporation General Manager Yukihito Honda, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation Deputy Chief Strategy Officer Kohei Okada.

With their “long and established presence”

in the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said sogo shoshas, or trading companies, have played a large role in the development of the country’s economy.

“Their diversified interests span almost the entire spectrum of economic activities from energy, infrastructure, trade, utilities, logistics, trading, real estate, industry and services,” DTI said in a statement on Wednesday.

Japan’s sogo shoshas are beginning to expand their presence in the Philippines from the traditional space of trade and investment to integrated financing, logistics and commercial distribution, digitalization, green energy, environment, food security and all around pioneering technologies (electronic commerce, bioprojects and aerospace), DTI said.

Meanwhile, Pascual also met with Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. on Monday.

The Trade chief highlighted the Philippine government’s focus on “increased productivity, quality improvements, value adding and reduction of foreign investors’ operational costs.”

According to DTI, the meeting, organized

by the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC)-Tokyo, is a follow up to the Roundtable Meeting with Semiconductor, Electronics, and Wiring Harness companies in February, at the sidelines of the President’s Visit to Japan.

Murata operates in the Philippines through the Philippine Manufacturing Co. of Murata, Inc. (PMM), which has expanded their product line of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC).

MLCC is one of the primary businesses of Murata, aimed at responding to the future strong demand of the automotive industry.

With a workforce of 3,300 employees, PMM has invested a total of P33 billion for its manufacturing facility in the Philippines. Since 2012, PMM it has contributed to the country’s exports with its accumulated export sales of US$1.267 billion.

Last Tuesday, on the sidelines of the AseanJapan Business Week, Pascual highlighted the Philippine government’s efforts to support manufacturing companies, especially through game-changing reforms implemented by the Marcos administration during the bilateral

WB raises growth outlook for PHL, but warns of risks

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meeting with Nidec Drive Technology Corporation (NIDEC) President and CEO Mr. Tatsuya Nishimoto.

The company said it will expand production capacity to close to 300,000 pieces at peak operations, which will translate to P5.1 billion in export receipts for the country.

DTI said in a statement on Tuesday that the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) recently approved incentives for Nidec’s newest investment for the manufacture and assembly of medium to large sized gear boxes for industrial robotic gears. The new product line called Kinematex is a high accuracy gearbox used as a base, arm and shoulder for industrial robots, auto tool changers and loader machines.

NIDEC is a Japanese company engaged in the manufacturing and assembly of precision electronic, measuring instrument, power transmission, ceramic art equipment, motors for computer peripherals, VCR, reducer gears for robotic application and home appliances and other high value added specialized digital core parts for multimedia.

Continued from A1

5.9-percent growth in 2024, with such growth resting on “strong domestic demand,” among others.

“Strong domestic demand is underpinned by consumer spending drawing strength from the continuing jobs recovery and the steady flow of remittances. Fixed

capital investment will also contribute to growth, anchored on upbeat domestic activity, and improved business confidence,” the multilateral agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

Moreover, it said the services sector will continue to support growth, buoyed by “spillovers” from China’s reopening.

The recovery of international tourism, it added, will help boost growth of transportation services, accommodation, and food services, as well as wholesale and retail trade services.

WB also recognized the country’s Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry, saying this will “also continue to bolster the services sector as foreign companies outsource their business operations to the Philippines to reduce costs.”

In contrast, WB noted “persistent” global and domestic risks that can “hinder” recovery and poverty reduction.

“It is essential to sustain improvements in social protection to help families, especially the poor and vulnerable, cope with economic difficulties as the country navigates the global slowdown, budget constraints, high prices of basic commodities, and climate-related risks,” Ndiamé Diop, World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand said.

Meanwhile, WB said global risks to the country’s economic outlook include the possibility of rising global inflation, higher global interest rates, and an escalation of geopolitical tensions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which could further cause a sharper-than-expected global slowdown, thus hampering Philippine exports.

Within the Philippines, the WB said, high inflation remains a risk to the economic outlook due to several factors including natural

Lim emphasized that all airport assets at the Naia still belong to the government with the private concessionaire limited to an operations and management role. Pascual details

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rules and procedures, including the rules of origin. He said the simplified trade conditions and regional cumulation measures will benefit Philippine exports.

“Exporters of electronic products, which is our top commodity group in 2022, can source components from other Southeast Asian countries within its Group, follow processing rules, and still claim products as originating from the Philippines,” Pascual said.

In turn, Pascual said the UK can also look forward to the Philippines’s continued development. “UK businesses will find immense poten-

disasters affecting food supply, the threat of El Niño that could further constrain food production, logistics and supply chain challenges, and pressure from domestic demand.

The Bank explained further that high inflation “erodes” the purchasing power of poor families, making it more difficult for them to afford necessities.

To help address inflation, Ralph Van Doorn, World Bank Senior Economist, said doing so would require implementing measures such as reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, enhancing domestic supplies, and bolstering agriculture with extension services, seeds, and fertilizers.

“In the face of escalating prices, a comprehensive strategy is needed to guarantee sufficient food for everyone. This entails a more productive agriculture and food system that is resilient to climate risks, serves all consumers, and competes effectively in both the local and global markets,” Van Doorn added.

On Tuesday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the country’s headline inflation slowed to 6.1 percent in May 2023, the fourth consecutive decline for the year.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said, “As the risks to the inflation outlook lean towards the upside due to potential increases in transport fares, wage adjustments, higher electricity rates, and domestic prices of key food items resulting from the impact of El Niño, the government is working to implement the necessary interventions as we aim to keep prices low and stable for Filipino consumers.”

Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement on Tuesday that it “stands ready” to adjust its monetary policy stance to prevent further “broadening of price pressures.”

of foreign investments, gold, foreign exchange, reserve position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and special drawing rights.

The BSP said the latest GIR level represents a more-thanadequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

The BSP explained that the “GIR is viewed to be adequate if it can finance at least three months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.”

Moreover, the country’s GIR is also about 5.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity, according to the BSP.

BSP said short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.

“The level of GIR, as of a particular period, is considered adequate, if it provides at least 100 percent cover for the payment of the country’s foreign liabilities, public and private, falling due within the immediate 12-month period,” the BSP said.

Meanwhile, the net international reserves, which refers to the difference between the BSP’s reserve assets (GIR) and reserve liabilities or short-term foreign debt and credit and loans from the IMF, decreased by $0.4 billion to $101.3 billion as of end-May from the end-April 2023 level of $101.7 billion.

tial in the Philippines as a destination for their investments. Our country has been on a remarkable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Our GDP growth rate soared to 7.6 percent in 2022, up from 5.7 percent in 2021. This year, 2023, the Philippines is forecast to grow at 6 percent,” the Trade chief stressed.

Moreover, Pascual underscored that the country remains “on track” to become an upper-middle income nation in the next few years, despite the global economic slowdowns and inflationary pressures.

The Trade chief also pitched to UK businesses the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s Philippine Export Development Plan

(PEDP) 2023-2028, which President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved onTuesday.

“The PEDP aims to address the challenges we face in growing our exports and capitalize on export opportunities brought about by the ongoing reconfiguration of global value chains. Our goal is for the Philippines to become an agile export powerhouse,” Pascual said. The Philippines was the UK’s 64th largest trading partner in 2022, data from the UK’s Department for Business and Trade showed.

It added that total UK exports to the Philippines amounted to £1.2 billion in 2022. On the other hand, total UK imports from the Philippines amounted to £1.2 billion in 2022.

Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual urged top Japanese trading houses to participate in efforts to enhance bilateral economic and trade relations between the Philippines and Japan, particularly in the areas of technology and employment.

MMDA reports 58.79% jump in motorcycles traversing EDSA

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Wednesday reported that motorcycles traversing EDSA continue to rise with a whopping 58.79 percent jump in May compared to the pre-pandemic period.

MMDA acting Chairman Romando Artes made the disclosure during the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the temporary utilization of the Motorcycle Riding Academy site in Pasig City.

According to the latest data from the MMDA Traffic Engineering Center, as of May 22, there are 174,934 motorcycles traversing EDSA from the 110,167 motorcycles plying the highway during pre-pandemic period.

Meanwhile, the MMDA thanked the GSIS for letting them use the property.

“We are very grateful to the GSIS management for giving us the chance to fully realize the Motorcycle Riding Academy together with our other partners such as Honda Motorcycle Philippines and Watanabe Riding Development headed by coach Dashi Watanabe. Both gave technical assistance for the Academy,” Artes said during the signing of the MOA with GSIS President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo Velos.

The MOA will allow the MMDA to use the 5,977-square-meter vacant lot property of GSIS located at Doña Julia Vargas corner Meralco Ave., Barangay Ugong for a oneyear period.

Under the accord, the MMDA

shall clear the property of all impounded vehicles and will construct, renovate, and improve the site for the establishment of the Motorcycle Riding Academy, including the cost of maintenance and security services, which will generate P1 million worth of savings for the GSIS.

Veloso, for his part, said that the GSIS wholeheartedly supports the MMDA in this initiative, which will provide riders basic training on handling motorcycles and following road and traffic rules.

“We are optimistic that the Motorcycle Riding Academy will encourage responsible driving and road safety, among riders,” he said.

Veloso added that the GSIS is likewise ready to assist the MMDA in other areas of cooperation, such as providing comprehensive insurance for its field personnel.

The MMDA is also in talks with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) so certificates to be issued by the Academy can be used in obtaining a driver’s license.

The agency is also in coordination with motorcycle ridehailing services such as Grab and Angkas for priority employment of participants who will finish the course.

The Motorcycle Riding Academy, set to open within the third quarter of this year, will provide riders formal training on both theoretical and practical aspects of motorcycle riding as well as basic emergency response training.

It will be open to all interested participants for free and they will be given certificates upon completion of lectures, practical application, and Basic Emergency Response Course.

bike lane network to 2.4K kilometers by 2028

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) is strengthening the bike lane network in the Philippines with a target of expanding it to as long as 2,400 kilometers by 2028.

According to Transportation Active Transport Program Management Office (PMO) Policy

Lead Patrick Santos, the active transport development program of the government will include initiatives, such as the upgrade and expansion of existing bike lane and pedestrian walkway networks, as well as the provision of “better” Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) stops and Endof-Trip (EoT) cycling facilities.

“For the past three years, we have established a total of 564 kilometers of bike lanes in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao, and we aim to increase our established bike lanes to 2,400 kilometers by the year 2028,” he said.  For 2023, the agency plans to expand the active transport infrastructure in nine regions,

‘Gibo’ assumes post, sets priorities for DND and AFP

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

DEFENSE Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. for -

mally assumed his post on Wednesday, vowing to further improve and modernize the Department of National Defense (DND) and pursue the ongoing capability upgrade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Teodoro, who was appointed on Monday, succeeded DND Officerin-Charge Carlito Galvez Jr., who has held the post for months following the resignation of Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr., a retired chief of staff of the AFP.

The DND and the military accorded Teodoro with arrival honors before he held a news briefing with military reporters, where he unveiled some of his programs for the DND and its line agencies, including the military.

“One goal is to build up the capabilities of the Department of National Defense proper. As a manager, my first job is to manage the whole institution itself, I want to help to lay the foundation for a Department of National Defense for our future, to develop expertise in program management, analytics, prediction, other capabilities, contracting, international relations and

to build up the career track of our own employees,” he said.

“We must remember that this is a civilian department. We are here to support, of course, the largest agency is the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the four other agencies under our watch,” he added.

Teodoro said he will support and pursue the modernization program of the military, principally by working for its funding.

“There are already set Horizons for that that they have set for the incoming year, we will continue to lobby Congress for that and for more funds,” he said.

Teodoro said he would ensure

Akbayan presses Villanueva to put SOGIE measure on Senate agenda

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

THE Akbayan party of Dep -

uty Minority Leader Risa

Hontiveros has prodded the Senate leadership to frontload the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) bill that she has long championed, even as Majority Leader Joel Villanueva has indicated that it is not considered a priority measure.

On Wednesday, Akbayan issued a statement reviving—on the occasion of Pride Month in June— a call to have the Senate plenary tackle Hontiveros’ SOGIE Equality bill, which initially sought to end discrimination against LGBTQ sectors, but has gotten entangled in debates over same-sex unions, among others.

“I expect that the bill will be allowed to go through the proper legislative process, according to the rules of the Senate. If the Maharlika Bill which was filed only once in the Senate, and is not needed today, got approved, why is the SOGIE bill that has long been pending [two decades] repeatedly blocked?” Hontiveros said.

Akbayan stressed that the measure seeks to prohibit discrimination based on SOGIE.

The proposed law is pending in both Houses of Congress. The House of Representatives just passed the bill at the committee level, while the Senate version authored by Hontiveros is still waiting to be heard in the plenary deliberations after being remanded to the Committee on Rules chaired by Villanueva.

urgent ang pagtatanggol ng karapatan ng bawat Pilipino? May mas importante pa ba dito? Nakakalungkot na uunahin pa ng gobyernong ito ang pagpopondo sa isang investment fund, kaysa sa pagbibigay ng karapat-dapat na proteksyon sa ating mga kababayan mula sa LGBTQIA+ community. A sad case of money over people,” she lamented.

Both the House and Senate approved the Maharlika Investment Fund bill, which was derided by Akbayan Party as “the country’s largest investment scam,” after being certified as urgent by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

that the military will get the best assets and equipment “at the most affordable cost with the most sustainability as possible.”

The defense chief will also work for the military’s transitioning into territorial defense posture from internal, given the decline of internal threats and the existence of territorial challenges, while attending to the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.

“The first marching order of the President to me is to work with our legislative partners and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to continue…to find a sustainable MUP [military, uniformed personnel pension] scheme,” Teodoro said.

Anti-tobacco advocates pin hopes on ‘Ted’ in curbing nicotine habit

TOBACCO control advocates are pinning their high hopes that newly appointed Health Secretary Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa will help strengthen programs in curbing smoking and e-cigarette use to reduce cases of diseases blamed on the use of these products.

the Intramuros Active Transport Infrastructure Expansion, Quezon City Active Transport Infrastructure Improvement, and the Active Transport Project Dry Run along Edsa.

“Those who have less in wheels must have more in the road. We will always stand by this principle as we continue to rally for active transport until we are confident that our children will be safe on the road through whatever means, including cycling and walking,” he said.

The government started putting a premium on active transport facilities during the height of the pandemic when mobility was limited.

Several groups, including Move as One Coalition, have pitched in their support for the development of more bike lanes and pedestrian walkways in the country, noting the health benefits and their effect in reducing traffic congestion.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

In a separate statement, Hontiveros herself called out Villanueva for his remark that the bill is not deemed urgent, saying, “It is sheer numbness to say that the SOGIE Equality Bill is not urgent.”

She appealed for “justice for our countrymen who cannot live freely simply because of their gender orientation.” She noted many reports about LGBTQ people being bullied, denied access to medical services, and the right to benefits at work, because of discrimination.

“I expect that the bill will be allowed to go through the proper legislative process, according to the rules of the Senate. If the Maharlika Bill, which was filed only once in the Senate, and is not needed today, got approved, why is the SOGIE bill that has long been pending [two decades] repeatedly blocked?”

Hontiveros appealed for “justice for our countrymen who cannot live freely simply because of their gender orientation.” She noted many reports about LGBT people being bullied, denied access to medical services, and the right benefits at work, because of discrimination.

Akbayan recalled that 23 years ago, then Akbayan Party-list Rep. Etta Rosales filed the first SOGIE Equality Bill. Back then, it was known as the Anti-Discrimination Bill. The farthest that the measure had gone in recent history was its unanimous approval on third and final reading in the House of Representatives. Its principal author at the time was former Rep. Kaka Bagao of the Lone District of Dinagat Islands, who is also a member of Akbayan Party.

“The debate has long been finished. Actually, human rights should not even be debated on. Our elected officials should remember that they represent the people and not their conservative religious affiliations,” said Akbayan, partly in Filipino.

“The SOGIE Equality Bill is about acceptance and love. Kung may pagmamahal ang mga nakaupo sa pwesto sa mga mamamayang pinaglilingkuran nila, matagal na sanang naipasa ang batas na ito ,” said Akbayan Party President Rafaela David.

“Senator Joel Villanueva has said the SOGIE Equality Bill is not ur gent. Paanong hindi naging

Earlier, before Congress adjourned sine die for a six-week break, Villanueva said the Senate will continue making headway in passing measures that are thoroughly studied, well deliberated and relevant to the welfare of the Filipino people.

“We thank our fellow senators for working tirelessly from crafting the bills and resolutions, to participating in committee hearings and debating in plenary to see through the passage of these important measures,” Villanueva had said.

“We owe it to the people to see to it that the laws we pass here in the Senate have hurdled the most rigid scrutiny to ensure that they will truly impact the people,” he added.

Villanueva also pointed out that aside from the expected benefits to the people, the Senate ensures that every law it passes has proper safeguards against possible abuses or breaches to existing systems.

Before adjourning, the Senate passed on third and final reading landmark measures, such as Villanueva’s Senate Bill No. 2035 or Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act, which establishes a National Employment Master Plan.

Villanueva’s bill aims to synergize all policies, programs and initiatives of the government in addressing labor-related challenges under one coherent direction and strategy.

JICA and INFIC tie up with Pasig City for Japanese-style elderly care project

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and INFIC, Inc., an enterprise piloting a Japanese-style comprehensive care system for the elderly, have tied up with the City Government of Pasig to provide “high-quality” care system to elderly residents of Pasig City.

According to JICA, the City Government of Pasig will be providing a facility where the pilot elderly care system will be implemented.

Through this unique and high-quality care system to be introduced by INFIC, Inc., the elderly will be “supported and encouraged to become less dependent on other people with

their needs,” JICA noted in a statement issued on Wednesday. Moreover, JICA said the cooperation will include caregiving trainings and pilot activities for services that will combine day care, short-term stay, and home visits for Pasig City elderly residents. It will also introduce an “internet-based” device that can help monitor the elderly closely.

JIC A Philippines Chief Representative Sakamoto Takema underscored that JICA is backing President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call to the Asean community to start discussing issues about an aging population. “ We fully agree with President Marcos. Our goals and work plans should include safe, dignified, and productive lives for our elderly

people,” said Sakamoto. Sakamoto said as part of JICA’s efforts to involve the private sector in answering social problems, INFIC is co-implementing the project under the JICA’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Business Supporting Survey.

“Said Public-Private Partnership Promotion program has already adopted 88 projects and is implementing multiple projects throughout the Philippines spanning areas such as disaster management, agriculture, environment and energy, and social development since 2009,” JICA said.

For its part, INFIC said it is working to support the “independence” of the world’s elderly with the power of nursing care and technology.

The project to introduce a Japanese-style nursing care system in the Philippines is part of this mission. We hope to enable the elderly in the Philippines to live their lives to the fullest and with smiles on their faces, while promoting the spread of nursing care facilities in the Philippines,” INFIC President Masuda Masatoshi said.

INFIC is a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) based in Shizuoka City, Japan that specializes in nursing-care, human resources, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and financial services. INFIC pioneered the expansion of a nursing-care service for self-support in the Philippines and hopes to further introduce the Japanese-style nursing-care system throughout Asean.

According to JICA, said cooperation is expected to run until 2025.

Meanwhile, apart from the partnership with the Japanese private sector, JICA said the City Government of Pasig is closely working with JICA in the Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project, research in climate change adaptation, traffic management, and people-to-people exchange.

Sakamoto said, “The river channel improvement project achieved significant impacts on DRRM [disaster risk and management] with huge reduction of affected people and damaged assets from natural disasters, and is consequently deemed as one of the most successful projects of our collaboration.”

HealthJustice Philippines, Parents Against Vape, Action for Economic Reforms, and Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development also believe that Herbosa will support strong tobacco control efforts, including increased funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs and stronger regulation of what they described as a looming e-cigarette epidemic.

“We have great confidence in Secretary Ted Herbosa’s leadership to address pressing issues of DOH [Department of Health], and the health sector, including the tobacco epidemic in the Philippines, to achieve a healthy country,” the anti-smoking advocates said.

Meanwhile, militant youth group Anakbayan questions the appointment of Herbosa, citing his past controversies and his interactions with the group.

“It is highly questionable that someone like Ted Herbosa, who has shown a little to no regard for human rights, engaged in red-tagging and corruption, is appointed as the DOH Secretary by Marcos Jr. The DOH should be an institution dedicated to the well-being and protection of the people, and Herbosa’s appointment undermines this principle,” Anakbayan said.

Kate Almenzo, Anakbayan spokesperson alleged that Herbosa has a history of graft, which amounted to P392 million, that may disqualify him and other officials from holding public office.

Sin tax proponent ON the other hand, anti-smoking advocates remembered Herbosa then as sin tax bill supporter.

They recalled that Herbosa, during his stint as a former undersecretary of the DOH, was very active as a proponent of the sin tax measure on tobacco, believing the tax bill would eventually push the price of tobacco products high, enough to reduce consumption and discourage the youth from smoking. Sin Tax Law or Republic Act 10351 was implemented in 2013.

At a media forum held last May 26, meant to commemorate the World No Tobacco Day, Herbosa underscored the need for “smoke-free future” for a “healthier, happier Philippines.”

Herbosa said tobacco consumption remains to be a pressing public health problem.

“Everyone, let us join hands in fighting this epidemic,” Herbosa said as he then called on the government to strengthen tobacco control measures, protect public health, and raise awareness on the dangers of smoking, among others. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

DOTr aims to extend PHL

NGCP energizes new substation in Davao City to boost Mindanao grid’s reliability

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

The energization of a 100-megavolt ampere (MVA) power transformer at NGCP’s Toril substation marks the first

milestone in the second phase of NGCP’s efforts to upgrade substations in Mindanao.

The 100MVA power transformer is the first energization under NGCP’s Mindanao Substation Upgrading Project 2 (MSUP2). Under the project, 10 substations in Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte, Davao del Sur, North Cotabato, and South Cotabato will be equipped with new power transformers to ensure continuous operations in case of outages.

The project will also address the N-1 compliance for the Mindanao grid. A requirement of the Philippine Grid Code, an N-1 contingency is the ability of the grid to withstand a major system disturbance with minimal or no impact to the system.

The Toril substation serves the franchise area of Davao Light and Power Company, which provides the electricity needs of Davao City.

The second phase of the MSUP was filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) at a cost of

P5.56 billion. “The MSUP2 is again testament to our commitment to expand and improve the country’s transmission grid, and to provide better services at a lower cost to the consumer,” NGCP said.

For the first stage of the Mindanao Substation Upgrading Project, power transformers with a 100MVA rating were energized in NGCP’s Agus 6, Pitogo, Placer, NagaMin, and General Santos Substations. Power transformers with a 75MVA rating were also energized in Polanco, Opol, and Maramag Substations, and

50MVA power transformers in San Francisco, Bislig, and Kidapawan Substations.

Capacitor banks were also installed at NGCP’s Butuan, Tacurong, Pitogo, General Santos, San Francisco, and Placer Substations.

The first phase of MSUP has an ERC-approved project cost of P5 billion.

“These upgrading efforts are ultimately geared towards readying the grid for the influx of businesses, industries, and investments in the region,” said NGCP.

DTI and DMW accord extends assistance to OFWs in building own business in PHL

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has inked an agreement with the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to assist overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in building their businesses in the Philippines.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the DTI said the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between “aims to create a partnership where their respective programs and activities will be integrated with each other for the purpose of implementation and accomplishment of an integral part of the Full-Cycle

Reintegration Program.”

Among the efforts cited by DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual to help OFWs in starting their business in the country are: business registration assistance; entrepreneurial trainings, seminars and workshops; and market access to ensure their “efficient integration” into the Philippine economy.

Moreover, aligned with DTI’s goal of upgrading, upskilling, and upsizing the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the DTI said it will also equip potential and starting OFW entrepreneurs with the “necessary”

skills, knowledge, and resources for their businesses to thrive.

“Under the signed MOA, the Department will also conduct assessment to identify the needs of the OFW beneficiaries and match them with appropriate DTI programs best suited to their needs,” the DTI statement read.

Aside from this, the DTI and DMW committed to create a technical working group (TWG) with at least two representatives from each department to implement and monitor the guidelines of the said agreement.

“The TWG is tasked to promote and strengthen the expansion of

this program to local government units [LGUs] and other stakeholders,” the DTI said.

In his speech, Pascual cited the huge contribution of overseas workers to the economy.

“Salamat sa ating mga makabagong bayani. Your remittances have been a great source of stability for our country’s economy through the years. Last year, personal cash remittances grew 3.6 percent to $36.14 billion. This accounted for 8.9 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product [GDP],” Pascual said.

Citing figures from Statista, the DTI said 95 percent of OFW

remittances are spent on household expenses, about 30 percent are saved, and 6.5 percent are invested.

“This shows OFWs’ interest in building a future in the Philippines,” Pascual said.

The trade chief also noted, “We are here to ensure that you have the support and resources you need to succeed, especially as you plan to invest your hard-earned money in the Philippines.”

Among DTI’s existing programs for OFWs is its attached agency Small Business Corporation’s (SBCorp) Helping the Economy Recover thru OFW Enterprise Start-ups (HEROES) program.

According to SBCorp’s website, the HEROES Program provides displaced OFWs the opportunity to start their own businesses

amid the uncertain economic situation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As part of the government’s reintegration program for OFWs, repatriated Filipino borrowers that accessed this innovative financing program have been able to pivot to entrepreneurship to sustain themselves and their families during and beyond the height of the pandemic,” SBCorp said.

As of year-end 2022, SBCorp noted it has been able to release P60.91 million in loans to 1,115 OFWs who were displaced due to the pandemic and national health emergency starting in March 2020. Loan beneficiaries included start-up micro businesses mostly in the services (42 percent) and trading (31 percent) industries. Andrea E. San Juan

THE National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has energized a new substation in Davao City meant to boost Mindanao grid’s overall reliability.

‘Moral high road’: Barzaga, Villafuerte defend Romualdez in tiff with VP Sara

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

R omualdez became close to the Vice President because he was among those who convinced her to run for the post under the UniTeam ticket, which was headed by his cousin, who is now the President.

“ The Speaker worked hard for then Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s vice presidential bid because he genuinely believed that she would make a difference. Their rift is sad news and I hope that it will be mended soon,” Barzaga said.

as “a mythical creature with a large mouth and penis found in Visayan, Bicolano and Mindanao folklore.”

Meanwhile, Villafuerte has called for greater unity in Congress and the Executive department, warning that political discord would only put at risk the superb level of cooperation and hard work by the supermajority alliance in the Legislature that has helped President Marcos get ahead in his first year in office on his vision for a prosperous and peaceful Philippines.

Marines receive donated 25-hectare Calayan property for coastal defense

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

C avite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. and National Unity Party (NUP) president and CamSur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said improving lives of Filipinos, not divisive politics, is the priority in lower chamber.

Barzaga defended the Speaker, saying Romualdez never said a bad thing about the Vice President despite being the obvious subject of her vicious insinuations following the alleged attempt to oust him.

The Speaker held his horses and remained focused on his job as the leader of the House of Representatives amid this political rift. He never fired back with insults of his own. That shows strength of character,” said the lawmaker, who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources.

B arzaga said the support

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig

CANADA has extended visa-free privileges to eligible Filipino travelers who have been issued visas previously by Canada or the United States.

C anadian Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser announced that the Philippines is one of the 13 countries that have been given visa-free travel to Canada in Winnipeg Airport Tuesday (Wednesday Philippine time).

“ It takes only CAN $7 dollars (P300) and a few minutes to be approved,” Fraser said in his Twitter account.

Philippine passport holders who hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, or have had a valid Canadian visa over the past 10 years will be eligible for visa-free travel to Canada.

W ith the inclusion of the Philippines under the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) program of Canada, eligible Filipino travelers can stay in Canada for up to 6 months, the Canadian Embassy in Manila said in a separate statement. Filipino tourists who travel by air can enjoy visa-free privileges under the eTA program.

Philippine passport holders who travel by land from the US border or by sea like cruise ships are still required to apply for visas at the Canadian Embassy. Over the last 10 years, Canada issued 466,936 temporary resident visas to Filipinos. The US Embassy has also issued more than a million non-immigrant visas to Filipinos in the past years.

A side from the Philippines, other countries, which were added to the eTA program are Thailand, Morocco, Panama, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Seychelles.

Fraser said by extending the eTA program to these 13 countries, they hoped that tourism in Canada would be further boosted.

This exciting development means that more individuals from the Philippines can now embark on unforgettable adventures, explore our diverse landscapes, reunite with family and

of various political parties for Romualdez’ leadership enabled the House to approve the priority bills of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), including the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF).

He said political bickering is the last thing the country needs, especially since Marcos Jr. ran and won on a platform of unity with Duterte, who has already resigned from the ruling Lakas-CMD, of which Romualdez is the President.

The senior lawmaker, a former president of the National Unity Party (NUP), pointed out that Romualdez tremendously helped in pushing for the vice presidential candidacy of Duterte, who was eventually recruited to join Lakas.

L ast Monday, the Vice President refused to mention the President’s middle name, Romualdez, in her speech for the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) thanksgiving event for its partners dubbed Pasidungog (Tribute) at a hotel in Manila.

The President’s mother, former first lady Imelda RomualdezMarcos, is the aunt of the Speaker.

Hindi ko na banggitin ang middle initial niya Mahal ko si apo BBM (I will not mention his middle initial…I love apo BBM),” said the Vice President, who conveyed her love and respect for the President.

At the height of the rumors of the alleged coup against Romualdez last month, Duterte posted a cryptic message on her social media accounts.

“ In your ambition, do not be tambaloslos,” Duterte said, without naming the person she was referring to.

W iktionary defines tambaloslos

friends, and immerse themselves in our vibrant culture without the hurdle of visa requirements. This expansion not only enhances convenience for travelers; it will also increase travel, tourism, and economic benefits, as well as strengthen our bond with the Philippines,” he said as quoted by the Canadian Embassy.

T he eTA is a digital travel document that most visa-exempt travelers need to travel to or transit through Canada by air.

To apply for an eTA, travelers need only a valid passport, a credit card, an email address and access to the Internet.

E arlier, the Philippines has been included in Canada’s Transit Without Visa program, which allows eligible Filipino nationals to fly through Canada on their way to or from the US without a Canadian visa, as well as the Student Direct Stream, which offers expedited study permit processing to those who are applying to study in Canada.

This initiative will also support Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which aims to strengthen relations and invest in people-to-people ties between Canada and the Indo-Pacific region, including the Philippines,” the Canadian Embassy said.

To know if you are eligible for visa-free entry to Canada, Filipinos may visit Canada.ca/etA

M anila welcomed the decision of the Canadian government.

“ The Philippines’ inclusion, coming soon after the official visit of Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, is an important milestone and a striking indication of Canada’s growing friendship and trust in the Philippines as well as the great value it attributes to the Filipino community that has contributed to its diversity and dynamism. The new policy is expected to spur travel, stimulate more business opportunities, and foster greater interest for family reunification efforts,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

C lose to a million Filipinos lived in Canada, the fourth largest minority group in the North American country. Almost 73 percent of these Filipinos have migrated to Canada over the past 20 years.

“ Improving the lives of all Filipinos, as committed by President Marcos, is the priority in the House on the watch of Speaker Martin (Romualdez), in lieu of divisive politics, hence the need for greater unity,” he said.

Greaterunityiscrucialtosustaining the close working relationship of Malacañang Palace with the Congress, most especially with the House of Representatives, which, under the leadership of the Speaker, had passed in a year’s time, a majority of the priority bills of President Marcos meant to put flesh into his “Agenda for Peace and Prosperity.” “ Lest we forget, 31 million Filipinos gave President Marcos the biggest ever electoral mandate in our history in 2022 after capturing their collective imagination with his call for national unity behind his Bangon Bayan Muli (BBM) pledge to lift all boats,” Villafuerte said. Our nation’s leaders would

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO CITY—The Department of Health (DOH) deployed a total of 248 medical professionals to the mineral-rich to Davao de Oro (DDO) reinforce province’s human resource requirement.

P rovincial DOH Office head Dr. Annie P. Larosa acknowledged and presented the 248 medical professionals deployed by the regional DOH as its commitment “to augment human resources for health for the province-wide health system in Davao de Oro.”

O f this batch, 9 are Doctors to the Barios (DTTB) under the post-residency deployment program. Of those in their post-residency program, three would be assigned with the DDO Provincial Hospital (DDOPH) in the municipality of Laak, one with the DDOPH in Maragusan, three with DDOPH in Pantukan and two with the DDOPH in Montevista.

The others in the batch were 154 nurses, 44 midwives, 11 medical technologists, 11 pharmacists, two physical therapists, two nutritionists, three dentists, and three

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos

Jr. vowed to continue pursuing better working conditions for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in recognition of their valuable contributions worldwide.

I n a short video message on the

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday advised farmers and fisherfolk to harvest matured crops and secure fishing vessels to higher ground.

The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (DOST-PAGASA) advised that a low-pressure area east of Eastern Visayas has developed into Tropical Depression (TD) “Chedeng.”

break faith with this broad and deep public support for national unity were we to waste our time with vacuous political discord that could only break apart the supermajority coalition in both the House and the Senate—and wreak havoc on the Agenda for Peace and Prosperity of President Marcos to improve the lives of all Filipinos,” he said.

V illafuerte said Romualdez was spot on in citing what he had described as the “impressive performance” of the House, considering that on his watch as Speaker, the bigger chamber had processed 9,600 measures in the first regular session—comprising 8,490 bills; 1,109 resolutions; and one petition—and passed 577 of these measures.

T his means that under the Speaker’s leadership, he said, the House had managed to process an average of 30 legislative measures per session day in the first regular session, or a tenth higher than the chamber’s output in the 18th Congress.

Villafuerte said, “The House needs to stay the course on the President’s agenda of high and inclusive growth for the benefit of all our people, as most Filipinos are obviously aware of, and appreciate, the headway made by Mr. Marcos in his BBM campaign pledge in his first year in office, as shown by his excellent satisfaction ratings in tracking polls.”

THE Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) has acquired a property in Calayan, Cagayan amid the corps continuing effort to help the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) build the country’s coastal defense.

T he PMC, which has already formed its Coastal Defense Regiment being the first recipient of the soon to be delivered Brahmos missile, acquired a 25-hectare land out of a donation by the Calayan municipality. Capt. Jarald Rea, PMC spokesman, said the property will be used to further boost the coastal defense of the country in the northern territory.

The property was turned over by Calayan Mayor Joseph Llopis to Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command commander Lt. Gen. Fernyl Buca, Marine commandant Major Gen. Arturo Rojas and retired Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban, president of the Philippine Marine Corps Foundation, Inc. Calayan, as a strategic location, will help the AFP and the Philippine Marine Corps fulfill our mandate of protecting the people and securing the state,” said Buca during the turnover ceremony.

“As we perform our duty, it is awe-inspiring to have partners who share the same aspirations and offer simple gestures of generosity for the welfare of our people,” he added.

C agayan, where Calayan is located, will host American troops and their equipment under the expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States.

Two areas in Cagayan will serve as EDCA locations.

molecular laboratory technologists.

D r. Larosa said the midwives are DOH scholars on return service.

T he presentation of the deployed medical professionals was witnessed by Assistant Provincial Health Officers Dr. Mary Cyril G. Pasaol and Dr. Abigail Amores and Acting Provincial Administrator Fatima Montejo.

Davao de Oro, mining province known to be rich in gold and copper minerals, is formerly known as Compostela Valley province.

Meanwhile, the Association of Municipal Health Officers of the Philippines (AMHOP)— Davao de Oro Chapter elected its new set of officers with Governor Dorothy MontejoGonzaga administering the oath-taking ceremony at the Provincial Capitol Lobby.

D r. Cynthia M. Amoguis, municipal health officer (MHO) of Mawab, was elected president.

“

I am humbled and honored to serve as the president of this association. Our vision is to provide the highest quality healthcare to our constituents,” Dr. Amoguis said.

She thanked Governor Gonzaga and the Provincial Health Office for supporting the Department of Health programs.

Together we make real and lasting

commemoration of Migrant Workers Day posted in his Facebook page, the President said his administration will strengthen its ties with the host countries of OFWs to ensure their safety, welfare and well-being.

“In every corner of the globe you have left an indelible mark that uplifted both your host countries and our nation in the process,” Marcos said.

The DA also said that “farmers should utilize post-harvest facilities; secure seed reserves, planting materials and other farm inputs, as well as feed and water for livestock; relocate animals, farm machineries, and equipment to higher ground; and clear drainage in irrigation and rice paddies from obstructions to prevent flooding.”

Moreover, the fisherfolk are advised to: perform early harvest and mobilize

differences. I am confident that we can accomplish these things together as we strive to create healthier and more resilient communities”, Dr. Amoguis added.

T he election of officers was held last month at General Luna town on the island of Siargao, Surigao del Norte.

Also elected were MHO Compostela Dr. Kay L. Rodriguez as vice-president, MHO Monkayo Dr. Aldin S. Piamonte as Secretary, MHO Maco Dr. Lycel Kaye L. Alaba as Treasurer, MHO Pantukan Dr. Nina Kristine T. Arancon as Auditor, and MHO Mabini Dr. Bernalisa B. Gesim as Public Information Officer.

Elected to the board were MHO Nabunturan Dr. Danielo O. Rubillos, MHO Laak Dr. Julius Jaekel L. Remollo, MHO Maragusan Dr. Efren O. Pates, MHO Montevista Dr. Robert S. Solilap, and MHO New Bataan Dr. Aurea S. Solilap.

G overnor Gonzaga reminded the new officers to act in the best interest of the association and the people as a whole.

“ I know that they have this high responsibility in life. Imagine they are doctors and we could not deny how honorable for them to chose to remain in public service despite the opportunities for private practice. Congratulations doctors,” Gonzaga said.

The entire nation stands with you every step of the way and all of us are united in pride and in admiration for the work that gives you meaning and purpose,” he added.

Based on its latest data, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) said there were an estimated 1.83 million OFWs in 2021. Of these, 1.76 million have existing work contracts, while

post-harvest equipment and facilities; secure fishing vessels to higher ground; and avoid sea travel as potentially rough conditions prevail over affected seaboards, the DA said.

Based on the latest bulletin of Pagasa, the center of Chedeng was estimated based on all available data at 1,170 kilometers east of Southeastern Luzon with maximum sustained winds of 45 km/h near the center and gustiness up to 55

R ojas thanked Calayan for the donation, which he said will go a long way in the military’s effort to secure the country’s territory and sovereignty.

“ With this deed of donation, the Philippine Marine Corps becomes that much closer to our goal of achieving a strong coastal defense of our country. Thank you for making a difference through your generosity. I assure you that we will make the best use of this property, which will be for the betterment of your community and the country,” he said.

R ea said the presence of the military in Calayan Island will support maritime governance, border security, environmental protection, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and local economic development.

C alayan is also a venue for military exercises such as Balikatan and KAMANDAG that involve amphibious expeditionary operations in a littoral environment.

T roops from the Marine Battalion Landing Team-10 are currently stationed on the island.

the other 70,000 OFWs have no working visa or work permits.

The top destinations for OFWs were the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Singapore, and Qatar.

P SA noted the estimated total remittances sent by OFWs from April to September 2021 reached P151.33 billion.

km/h. Moreover, Pagasa said that it is moving at an almost stationary speed. The depression is forecast to remain far from any land mass and is unlikely to bring heavy rainfall over any portion of the country in the next three to five days, the agency said.

H owever, the current forecast scenario for Chedeng might result in the enhancement of the southwest monsoon. Raadee S. Sausa

SENIOR lawmakers on Wednesday strongly backed Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez against Vice President Sara Duterte’s attacks, saying the House leader has taken the “moral high road.”

Canada grants visa-free perk to eligible Filipino travelers

DOH deploys medical professionals to mineral-rich Davao de Oro province

Nato prepares biggest air deployment drill in history in show of force to Russia

States alone is sending 2,000 US Air National Guard personnel and about 100 aircraft to take part in the training maneuvers.

“This is an exercise that would be absolutely impressive to anybody who’s watching, and we don’t make anybody watch it,” US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann said.

ing note of what this shows in terms of the spirit of this alliance, which means the strength of this alliance,” Gutmann said.

The Air Defender 23 exercise starting next week will see 10,000 participants and 250 air -

craft from 25 nations respond to a simulated attack on a Nato member country. The United

World economy set for weak inflation-plagued recovery

By William Horobin

THE global economy is set for a weak recovery from the shocks of Covid and Russia’s war in Ukraine, dogged by persistent inflation and the restrictive policies of major central banks seeking to contain price pressures, the OECD said.

The Paris-based organization’s latest Economic Outlook forecasts a 2.7 percent expansion of world output this year and only a modest pickup to 2.9 percent in 2024, both below the 3.4 percent average in the seven years before the pandemic. The US, the euro area and China will see the same relative sluggishness in their recoveries, while inflation will be stronger than in the period through 2019.

T he situation creates a particular headache for central banks as they must continue to react to core price pressures that are proving stronger than expected, while not overly hurting growth, the OECD said.

“Of course central banks need to remain vigilant and weigh both sides of the risk,” Clare Lombardelli, the organization’s chief economist, told a news conference.

“Obviously they shouldn’t tighten too much to the point that that would have a greater impact on growth than is necessary. So this is a delicate balance for central banks, but we are today saying they will need to maintain restrictive monetary policy until there is evidence that inflation is durably returned to target, and that means core inflation as well as headline inflation.”

The caution comes a day after the World Bank warned the global economy is in a precarious state and heading for a substantial growth slowdown later this year as interestrate increases start to bite.

Major monetary authorities face imminent decisions on whether to pause or

pursue the fastest cycle of rate hikes since the 1980s, with both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank scheduled to meet next week.

T he OECD said past hikes are increasingly feeding through—particularly in property and financial markets—but that their full effect will only appear later this year and in 2024. Clouding the picture even further, it said there is uncertainty about the strength of that impact, while inflation could yet continue to be more persistent than expected.

“Significant uncertainty about economic prospects remains, and the major risks to the projections are on the downside,” the OECD said.

Still, it urged central banks to remain restrictive and even raise rates further if needed until there are clear signs that underlying inflationary pressure is durably reduced. The OECD said authorities should make full use of liquidity instruments if tighter policies create market stress and that emerging-market governments could temporarily conduct foreign exchange interventions or capital controls to avoid severe risks to stability.

To help central banks limit how much demand pressures stoke inflation, governments should make fiscal support for households more targeted to only the most vulnerable, the OECD said. Its data show aid to mitigate energy costs is still sizable in Europe and mainly untargeted, which also puts pressure on public finances already bearing larger debt burdens after the Covid pandemic.

“The choices for fiscal policymakers are clearer but no easier to implement given the inherent political sensitivity of policy choices with direct redistributive effects,” Lombardelli said. Bloomberg News

2 dead in shooting after high school graduation ceremony in Richmond

By Sarah Rankin & Denise Lavoie

The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va.—Seven people were shot, two fatally, when gunfire rang out Tuesday outside a downtown theater in Richmond, Virginia, where a high school graduation ceremony had just ended, causing hundreds of attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children, authorities and witnesses said.

A 19-year-old suspect tried to escape on foot but was arrested and will be charged with two counts of second-degree murder, Interim Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said during a nighttime news conference at which he confirmed the two fatalities.

Five others were wounded by the gunfire outside the state capital’s city-owned Altria Theater, which is across the street from a large, grassy park and in the middle of the Virginia Commonwealth University campus. At least 12 others were injured or treated

for anxiety due to the mayhem, according to police.

“As they heard the gunfire, it was obviously chaos,” Edwards said. “We had hundreds of people in Monroe Park, so people scattered. It was very chaotic at the scene.” Edwards said one of the people who was killed was an 18-year-old male student who had just graduated, while the other was a 36-yearold man who was there for the graduation. Their names were not released, but police believe the suspect, who was not immediately identified, knew at least one of the victims.

“This should have been a safe space. People should have felt safe at a graduation,” Edwards said.

“It’s just incredibly tragic that someone decided to bring a gun to this incident and rain terror on our community.”

T he Associated Press journalists Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report.

“It will demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt the agility and the swiftness of our allied force in Nato as a first responder,” she said.

“I would be pretty surprised if any world leader was not tak -

“And that includes Mr. Putin,” she added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. While the drill, which is being led by Germany, has been planned since 2018, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year has jolted Nato into preparing in earnest for the possibility of an attack on its territory. Sweden, which is hoping to join the alliance, and Japan are also taking part in the exercise. AP

Ukrainians make desperate escape from floods after dam

collapse as shelling echoes overhead

By Mstyslav Chernov The Associated Press

KHERSON, Ukraine—As shelling from Russia’s war on Ukraine echoed overhead, dozens of evacuees on an island in the Dnieper River scurried onto the tops of military trucks or into rafts to flee rising floodwaters caused by a dam breach upstream.

The unnerving bark of dogs left behind further soured the mood of those ferried to safety. A woman in one raft clutched the head of her despondent daughter. A stalled military truck stuck in swelling waters raised the panic level as Red Cross teams tried to manage an orderly evacuation.

Nobody knew just how high the waters rushing through a gaping hole in the Kakhovka dam would rise, or whether people or pets would escape alive.

The scrambled evacuation by boat and military truck from an island neighborhood off the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson downstream on Tuesday testified to the latest human chaos caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities accused Russian forces of purposely destroying the dam. Russian authorities blamed recent Ukrainian military strikes.

“The Russians have hit the dam, and didn’t think of consequences,” said Oleksandr Sokeryn, who fled his house with his family after it was completely flooded. “They should not be forgiven.”

Officials on both sides said the

massive dam breach had caused no civilian casualties; the hurried escape aimed to keep it that way.

The island neighborhood was one residential area in the direct slipstream of Tuesday’s catastrophe, which experts said was expected to play out over days as pent-up waters from the Kakhovka reservoir wash their way unhindered toward the Black Sea.

It could take days to know the real toll and damage.

In the early morning, before the floodwaters arrived, many residents tried to stick it out. But as the water level climbed in the streets, rising nearly to the tops of bus stops or the second floor of buildings, national guard teams and emergency crews fanned out to retrieve people who got stranded. Some found themselves floating

under the rafters of their homes as the waters rose. Space was limited on the trucks, and an effort to tow two rafts behind one went awry when the ropes snapped. One man chucked his German shepherd from the roof of the stalled truck onto another. Some residents clung to each other to keep from falling into the rising tide.

Officials said about 22,000 people live in areas at risk of flooding in Russian-controlled areas on the eastern side of the river, while 16,000 live in the most critical zone in Ukrainian-held territory on the western side—areas like those evacuated on Tuesday.

The United Nations said at least 16,000 people have already lost their homes, and efforts were underway to provide clean water, money, and legal and emotional

support to those affected. Evacuations on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the river were ferrying people to cities including Mykolaiv and Odesa to the west.

“While towns and villages in downstream Dnieper River are going under water, the human and environmental cost of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam is a huge humanitarian disaster—and the international community must unite to bring those responsible to justice,” said Amnesty International’s regional director for Eastern Europe Marie Struthers.

“The rules of international humanitarian law specifically protect dams, due to the dangers their destruction poses to civilians,” she said.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the flood caused by the dam breach was projected “to have severe and longer-term consequences on the humanitarian situation in the area” such as by moving mines and explosive ordnance to new areas.

Kherson, which was liberated by Ukrainian forces last fall, has already seen some of the worst from Russia’s blitzkrieg campaign against Ukraine—alleged rape, arbitrary killings, and enforced disappearances during months of Russian occupation.

Today, shelling regularly continues from across the nearby front line demarcated by the river.

A P writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Jamey Keaten in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Pope Francis to undergo intestinal surgery and will be hospitalized for several days

By Nicole Winfield The Associated Press

ROME—Pope Francis is going to the hospital Wednesday for intestinal surgery, two years after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed because of an inflammation and narrowing of the large intestine.

The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anesthesia and would be hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days.

The pope was undergoing what the Vatican said was a “laparotomy and abdominal wall plastic surgery with prosthesis” to treat a “recurrent, painful and worsening” constriction of the intestine.

A laparotomy is open abdominal surgery. It can help a surgeon both diagnose and treat issues.

“The stay at the health facility will last several days to allow for the normal post-operative course and full functional

recovery,” the statement said.

In July 2021, Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his large intestine. He had suffered what the Vatican said was a severe inflammation and narrowing of the colon. In an interview with The Associated Press in January, Francis said the diverticulosis, or

bulges in his intestinal wall, that prompted the 2021 surgery, had returned.

Francis went to the Gemelli on Tuesday for what the Vatican said were medical tests. It revealed no details at the time.

Francis, 86, had appeared in good form Wednesday morning at his audience in St. Peter’s Square, zipping around the square

in his popemobile greeting the faithful. He also had two meetings Wednesday morning beforehand, the Vatican said. The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He also suffers from sciatica nerve pain and has been using a wheelchair and walker for more than a year because of strained ligaments in his knee.

Francis has had a packed schedule of late, with multiple audiences each day. The Vatican has recently confirmed a travel-filled August, when the Holy See and Italy are usually on vacation, with a four-day visit to Portugal the first week of August and a similarly long trip to Mongolia starting August 31.

In a sign that the trips were very much on, the Vatican on Tuesday released the planned itinerary for Francis’ visit to Portugal for World Youth Day events from Aug. 2-6. The itinerary confirms a typically busy schedule that includes all the protocol meetings of an official state visit plus multiple events with young people and a day trip to the Marian shrine at Fatima.

BERLIN—Germany is preparing to host the biggest air deployment exercise in Nato’s history, a show of force intended to impress allies and potential adversaries such as Russia, German and American officials said Wednesday.

UNITED States Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, center, German air force chief Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, left, and US Air National Guard Director Lieutenant General Michael A. Loh, right, arrive for a news conference on the Air Defender military exercise in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. AP/MARKUS SCHREIBER

POPE Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. AP/ANDREW MEDICHINI

Jennifer A. Ng

Kadiwa stores will soon sell smuggled sugar

By Raadee S. Sausa @raadeeboy

“The confiscated sugar will be sold by Kadiwa; they are already signing the deed of donation, after that discussions will center on logistics,” Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) Acting Administrator and CEO Pablo Luis Azcona said. “So once that is done, we will store it, we will repack it and then sell the sugar.”

Azcona said the sale of confiscated sugar in Kadiwa stores could help pull down prices given its price tag of P70 per kilo.

“Hopefully the coverage will

be nationwide. That’s what we are doing now at the SRA. We are helping the DA to identify channels outside of Manila where the sugar can be sold.”

The SRA said it has amended several rules to authorize the donation of confiscated smuggled sugar to Kadiwa stores and allow its sale to the general public.

He said that following the amendments of rules to allow the retailing of the confiscated contraband sugar at Kadiwa stores, the government is addressing issues

on logistics and warehousing for the sale of the commodity.

“What we are fixing now

DAR: Project allows farmers in Masbate to sell

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Agrarian Reform

(DAR) said its Agraryo Merkado project in Masbate has earned for farmers a gross income of some P627,000 in 10 days by selling their agricultural products and byproducts at a local bazaar.

Through the continuous operation of the project, farmers from Masbate will be earning additional income every week by selling their products and byproducts through the DAR’s project.

As part of the scheme, every week, 8 of the 20 invited agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) will be selling their products at the local bazaar at the DAR Masbate provincial office compound.

Due to limited space at the DAR compound, the groups alternate each week, ensuring that there are always readily available products on display in front of the

office for customers to buy, Herald Tambal, Masbate’s provincial agrarian reform chief, said in a statement.

“The farmers sell their locally processed food items and harvested farm produce directly to consumers at fair-trade prices, ensuring that the food is fresh, safe, and nutritious.”

Tambal said that the DAR continues to provide guidance and assistance to these farmers so that they can effectively connect to direct buyers and eventually convert their crops or products into profitable sales.

“Each week, our personnel assist farmers in setting up bazaars and selling their goods, even for those unable to come as they are in remote locations.”

As of the end of May, sales of processed foods reached P145,922, with the bestselling items being beef tapa, dried pusit, dried fish, pork tocino, and pork longanisa, which racked up sales of more than P90,432.

is logistics—where it will be stored and how to release it to the market,” Azcona added.

agri goods, processed food

Other processed foods made and sold by the farmers include fish paste, chili garlic, bagoong alamang, papaya pickles, chayote mixed pickles, bamboo shoots pickles, salabat, turmeric, coco vinegar, and pure honey.

Scrumptious Filipino sweets and desserts like carmelado, squash molido, peanut molido, peanut butter, sampaloc candy, peanut piñato, buko conserva, banana chips, rice kropek, and chocolate moron are also among the popular commodities.

Well-milled rice sales recorded P185,115 in total income, with white rice being the most purchased, generating P105,974, followed by red, brown, black, and glutinous rice varieties with combined sales of P49,841. Poultry and meat products, such as eggs, dressed chicken, and hog meat, gained a total of P176,125, while fruits, root crops, and vegetables brought in P140,753 during the 10-day selling period.

The Agraryo Merkado initiative has also expanded to include fertilizers and hand-made products such as baskets made from “nito” grass.

Jessie M. Dadula, chairman of the Baclay Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Consumers Cooperative (BARBCC) in Milagros, Masbate, expressed joy at how the Agraryo Merkado project became a “game-changer” for farmers like him.

Dadula, a vegetable and rice farmer, regularly brings fresh vegetables such as okra, water gourd, eggplant, chili, and papaya to the local bazaar every Thursday. In the past, Dadula said, they had to travel long distances to sell their vegetables, and often not all of them were sold.

“But with Agraryo Merkado, we just need to display our products, and they are sold out immediately. The same goes for our rice harvest, which used to take a long time to be paid by creditors, but now they are always sold out in the tiangge.”

Global carbon markets face upheaval as nations remake the rules

THE $2-billion market for carbon offsets is heading for a massive reset, as a growing number of sovereign governments announce their intention to tax, regulate or restrict trade in credits generated within their borders.

The details vary, but from Indonesia to Kenya to Honduras, the goals are the same: Governments want to retain more of the benefits of emissions-reduction projects, whether as revenue or as credit toward their own national climate goals.

“If you are a developing country and you have the right kinds of project opportunities, you’ve got a golden goose,” said Mark Lewis, head of climate research at Andurand Capital Management.

For countries with dense rainforests, mangrove swamps or other natural carbon sinks, carbon credits are increasingly considered alongside valuable minerals and metals like gold, lithium or copper.

“Commodities markets have created the precedent,” said Samuel Gill, president and co-founder of Sylvera, a carbon research and ratings firm. “It is almost inevitable that nations come to see and treat carbon as any other national resource.”

That wake-up call has been prompted in part by a growing awareness that, as of now, governments and local stakeholders might receive just a tiny slice of the revenues made by foreign project developers, said Pablo Fernandez, chief executive of Ecosecurities, a project developer and investor.

For example, most of the €100 million in proceeds from one of the biggest offset projects, a forest-protection site called Kariba in Zimbabwe, were accrued by the Swiss developer South Pole and its Guernsey partner Carbon Green Investments. In Mexico, BP paid rural villagers a small fraction of the market value of the credits generated on their forest land, according to a 2022 Bloomberg Green investigation.

“I’m not saying it’s the pattern of the market, but we do have some projects that are badly designed and badly executed,” Fernandez said. “That leads to these situations.”

At the same time, carbon credits have new value for emerging markets. Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, wealthy countries had emissions targets and could buy credits from projects in developing countries to meet them. The 2015 Paris Agreement introduced targets for all, developing countries included, effective from 2020.

This means governments now view the units not just of a source of revenue, but as a tool to meet their international obligations.

“The Paris Agreement acknowledges emissions as sovereign liabilities,” said Finn O’Muircheartaigh, director of policy and markets at BeZero Carbon, a research and ratings firm. “Countries are now recognizing they also have sovereign assets, which are their ability to reduce carbon or sequester carbon.”

The new sovereign trading market is being set up by the United Nations, with an accounting framework that prevents the same credit from being applied to more than one country’s climate goal. That means countries will have to decide if and when credits produced within their borders will be made available for use by others and when

they’ll be used for national goals.

Though the details are still being finetuned, some countries have already begun to strike deals to ensure supply. More than three quarters of countries say they plan to or are considering using the UN carbon market to meet their targets, known as “nationally determined contributions (NDCs).”

“Adjusting the amount of supply going to NDCs, rather than offset markets, has big implications,” according to BNEF , which predicts the voluntary offset market could reach $1 trillion by 2037.

One of those implications will be regulatory change and, at least at the beginning, inconsistency from one country to the next. Last month Zimbabwe announced its intention to retain 50 percent of carbon revenues generated there, effective almost immediately. Kenya is debating legislation that would provide local communities a 25 percent cut. In October, Tanzania introduced new rules governing the revenue split, but developers say they are still waiting for specifics.

Elsewhere, Papua New Guinea suspended new deals while it worked on regulation. Honduras put a moratorium on the sale of forest-based carbon credits, and Indonesia imposed conditions on the

export of carbon credits.

Meanwhile, Malaysia has said it won’t limit sales of offsets abroad. Ghana, often lauded for its regulatory clarity, recently struck a deal to sell credits to Switzerland. Possibly one of the biggest impacts on the market, however, will be China—the largest supplier of offsets— which is readying a revamp of its domestic voluntary market.

The Paris Agreement was “revolutionary” in the way it empowered every country to set its own targets and manage its own market, Fernandez said. But that is a bumpy and inconsistent process, he added: “Today we are living with the problem of this.”

Investors say they welcome moves to create clarity, stability and predictability in the carbon market. “Improved regulation— and the greater certainty that comes with it—represents progress,” said Ana Haurie, chief executive of Respira International, a carbon finance firm. “By creating certainty around the cost, the market can determine whether it’s a price worth paying.”

The emissions trading industry welcomed the new regulatory frameworks that would bring more certainty for investors but warned policy makers not to be overzealous.

“The new frameworks and the degree of government interventions will determine how attractive individual countries are for investors,” said Andrea Bonzanni, the director of international policy at the International Emissions Trading Association. “If we make things too difficult, there will be no international carbon markets.”

Investors will pick projects in countries which offer the best risk-to-reward ratio, according to Benedikt von Butler, portfolio manager at Evolution Environmental Asset Management LP. It’s “in a host country’s selfinterest to minimize political risk to attract more investments which will also generate revenues for governments,” he said.

for sale at Kadiwa stores at P70 per kilo.

When asked about the pricing scheme, Azcona said: “It’s difficult to go below P70 [per kilo] because it’s only 4,000 [MT]. Our production locally is 1.8 million [MT]. If the price is lower it will be detrimental to farmers and their dependents.”

“That is the rule of the SRA to try and maintain a careful balance between the income of farmers and the interest of consumers.”

The BOC filed in March three criminal complaints before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against alleged sugar importers.

The first criminal complaint is against an importer and a customs broker for illegally importing 13 containers of refined sugar at the Manila International Container Port.

He said a total of 4,000 metric tons (MT) of seized smuggled refined sugar are ready to be released

The other two criminal complaints were filed against another importer and their customs broker because of the alleged illegal importation of 58 containers of refined sugar at the Port of Subic.

DMCI Mining aims to ship 1.5M tons of nickel ore this year

By VG Cabuag @Villygc

DMCI Mining Corp., a unit of publicly-listed DMCI Holdings Inc., on Wednesday said it is targeting to ship 1.5 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore this year.

The company said this will happen after its subsidiary Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. (ZDMC) was granted an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) in January to produce 2 million WMT of nickel ore.

Prior to the ECC issuance, ZDMC was only allowed to extract 1 million WMT.

“We have the necessary facilities and mitigating measures to minimize the impact of our operations on the environment. With these in place, we’re targeting to produce anywhere between 1.7 million to 2 million tons of nickel ore this year,” DMCI Mining President Tulsi Das C. Reyes said.

From January to March, ZDMC nickel ore production soared by 88 percent to 599,000 WMT from the previous 318,000 WMT, its highest-ever quarterly output.

This led to a 16-percent improvement in total inventory, from 154,000 WMT to 178,000 WMT.

Total shipment, however, declined

by 21 percent from 620,000 WMT to 487,000 WMT owing to the depletion of the Berong Nickel Corp.’s mine and stockpile, cushioned by the double-digit growth of ZDMC shipment.

Average selling price rose by 11 percent from to $49 from $44 owing to higher Zambales shipments of higher-grade nickel ore.

Despite the mine and stockpile depletion of Berong, DMCI Mining standalone revenues declined by 8 percent to P1.3 billion from P1.4 billion during to the first quarter of the year due to better selling prices while reported net income contracted by 15 percent to P463 million from P543 million.

DMCI Holdings Inc. reported in March that its net income surged to an all-time high of P31.1 billion in 2022, a 69-percent increase from the previous year’s P18.4 billion, mainly on the spike in commodity prices.

Consolidated revenues climbed 32 percent to P142.6 billion from P108.3 billion as a result of higher coal and electricity prices.

Consolidated core net income rose 80 percent to P31.2 billion from P17.4 billion.

DMCI Mining’s contribution improved by 7 percent to P1.3 billion last year from the P1.2 billion recorded in 2021.

Occidental Mindoro farmers receive small irrigation system

SMALL farmers from Occidental Mindoro will now have access to sustainable water sources that will boost agricultural production in the area, according to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The DAR has recently turned over a small irrigation system (SIP) worth P22.2 million to the Mambog-Barahan Irrigators Association Inc., in Barangay Barahan in Sta. Cruz.

DAR Undersecretary for field operations office Kazel Celeste and Assistant Secretary for support services Ubaldo Sadiarin Jr. led the simple turnover ceremony to the leaders of the group.

“The facility will irrigate the farm lots to help increase the rice, corn, and vegetable harvest of farmers. This is part of the department’s goal to improve the lives of the agrarian reform beneficiaries,” Celeste said.

The irrigation facility will supply water to 109 hectares of land cultivated by more than 150 farmers of the Barahan-Pinagturilan

agrarian reform community.

“With this irrigation facility, they don’t have to depend on the weather to plant rice because these would supply them enough water to keep the fields irrigated all year round,” Sadiarin said.

Sadiarin added that the beneficiaries of the project will be provided with training and seminar on how to increase production.

The SIP is funded and monitored by the DAR under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) fund.

Officers and members of the MambogBarahan Irrigators Association Inc. expressed their gratitude to the DAR for implementing the project stating that the irrigation system would be of great help to the farmers since they will now be able to increase their rice production, especially this planting season.

The project will be managed by the Mambog-Barahan Irrigators Association Inc. from now on. Jonathan L. Mayuga

SMUGGLED sugar will soon be sold in Kadiwa stores after the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) signed the deed of donation for the confiscated item.

A WORKER takes a break from cutting trees at a forest in Veracruz state, Mexico. ALEJANDRO CEGARRA/BLOOMBERG

editorial

How to promote zero emission commuting

One in every seven passenger cars bought globally in 2022 was an electric vehicle (eV), according to a recent report by the International energy Agency. The World economic Forum said the markets for eVs that stand out last year are in China, where one in every four cars bought was an eV; the european Union with one in five; and the United States, where nearly one in 10 cars purchased was an eV

Although EVs have been on the road since the 1800s, historians cannot pinpoint the invention of the electric car to one inventor or country. In the US, William Morrison, a chemist from Iowa, introduced his six-passenger electric vehicle with a top speed of 14 miles per hour in 1890. Then electric cars from different automakers began popping up across the US. New York City even had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis. By 1900, electric cars were at their heyday, accounting for around a third of all vehicles on US roads.

From the US Department of Energy’s “The History of the Electric Car:” “To understand the popularity of electric vehicles circa 1900, it is also important to understand the development of the personal vehicle. At the turn of the 20th century, the horse was still the primary mode of transportation. But as Americans became more prosperous, they turned to the newly invented motor vehicle—available in steam, gasoline or electric versions—to get around.”

“As electric vehicles came to the market, so did a new type of vehicle—the gasoline-powered car. While gasoline cars had promise, they required a lot of manual effort to drive—changing gears was no easy task and they needed to be started with a hand crank, making them difficult to operate. They were also noisy, and their exhaust was unpleasant. Electric cars didn’t have any of the issues associated with steam or gasoline. They were quiet, easy to drive and didn’t emit a smelly pollutant like the other cars of the time. Electric cars quickly became popular with urban residents—especially women.”

“It was Henry Ford’s mass-produced Model T that dealt a blow to the electric car. Introduced in 1908, the Model T made gasoline-powered cars widely available and affordable. By 1912, the gasoline car cost only $650, while an electric roadster sold for $1,750. That same year, Charles Kettering introduced the electric starter, eliminating the need for the hand crank and giving rise to more gasoline-powered vehicle sales. Other developments also contributed to the decline of the EV. By the 1920s, the US had a better system of roads connecting cities. With the discovery of Texas crude oil, gas became cheap and readily available for rural Americans, and filling stations began popping up across the country. In comparison, very few Americans outside of cities had electricity at that time. In the end, electric vehicles all but disappeared by 1935.” Fast forward to the 21st century: “The major event that helped reshape electric vehicles was the announcement in 2006 that a small Silicon Valley startup, Tesla Motors, would start producing a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 200 miles on a single charge. In 2010, Tesla got a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office to establish a manufacturing facility in California. In the short time since then, Tesla has won wide acclaim for its cars.”

In the Philippines, the Department of Energy is pushing for a faster rollout of EVs. “The shift to EVs is expected to reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuel and to promote cleaner and energy-efficient transport technologies,” DOE said. The agency aims to roll out around 2,454,200 EVs comprised of cars, tricycles, and motorcycles to help save the environment and generate investments for a new industry by 2028. (Read, “DOE pushes for faster EV rollout in PHL,” in the BusinessMirror, June 5, 2023).

To promote the electrification of transport in the country, several types of EVs have been given tax breaks under Executive Order 12 to mainstream their use among Filipinos. The EO, however, excluded e-motorcycles, which drew the ire of industry stakeholders, as motorcycles comprise the majority of motorists in the country. They said the EO should be revised to include e-motorcycles so Filipinos can afford to shift to green technology amid the soaring prices of gasoline.

Executive Order No. 12 will be up for mandatory review next year. Consumer advocacy groups are hoping that Malacañang will also give import perks to electric motorcycles, which will benefit millions of working Filipinos. Making e-motorcycles more affordable will help promote zero emission commuting for the masses.

The new Heartland

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

THe headline news story of 1904 was the Battle of Port Arthur, a surprise Japanese naval attack on Port Arthur (Lüshun) in Manchuria that started the Russo-Japanese War. Both nations had ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean empire. Russia wanted a warm-water port on the Pacific Ocean both for its navy and for maritime trade. Japan wanted Russia to recognize the Korean empire as being within the Japanese sphere of influence.

There were many other notable events in 1904. The US had pushed for the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903 and once Panama was recognized as a separate sovereign state, for $10 million, the US gained control of the Panama Canal Zone. On May 6, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed the chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project.

Polytechnic University of the Philippines was founded as Manila Business School, under the superintendence of American C. A. O’Reilley.

The first underground line of the New York City Subway was opened.

Is there any chance that the US government thinks about the Asean region as the new Heartland that needs controlling?

1983) to be false.

Electric refrigerators and washing machines first became available.

The Great Western Railway of England started a new age in rail travel with the first railway locomotive to exceed 100 miles per hour.

But the world was still years away from Henry Ford debuting the first production Model T Ford in 1908 and the first scheduled commercial radio broadcast in 1920. The talking motion picture did not come until 1910, the ladies bra in 1913, and David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company of Los Angeles, claimed that he invented the cookie in 1918, since legally determined (in

As now, social issues were important. In 1904, New Zealand was the only “developed” country that gave females the right to vote. The US would follow in 1920 after the UK in 1918. The social engineering concept of “eugenics”—the purpose of which is to improve the quality of the human race by encouraging the reproduction of humans with desirable traits and discouraging those with weaker traits—was being seriously discussed.

Theodore Roosevelt announced his “Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the US would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable. That should sound contemporary.

Halford Mackinder presented a paper in 1904 on “The Geographical Pivot of History” in which he formulated the Heartland Theory and the study of geopolitics. That theory was later simplistically summarized as Who rules Eastern Europe (the Heartland) commands the Pivot Area

(Russia); who rules the Pivot Area commands the World-Island (Europe, Asia, and Africa); who rules the World-Island commands the world. Mackinder’s premise was that once the World-Island was under one power, then the Americas and every place else would quickly fall under that one power. In 1904, American wealth and military was not acknowledged. Yet unlike not allowing women to vote and the supremacy hierarchy of the races has vanished into the dust of history, the Heartland Theory has dominated geopolitics to this day.

The Soviet Union controlled the “Heartland” until the fall of the USSR in 1991. But even late 20th century Russia understood that in an age of ICBMs that can reach any point on the planet, the 1,600-kilometer distance between Moscow and Berlin, or 7,800-km to Washington D.C. did not require marching troops through the Heartland countries. But then again, no nation wants a potentially hostile military at its border.

However, even as Nato was created “to guard their [member states] freedom—all of this in the context of countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union,” which disappeared in 1991, controlSee “Mangun” A9

Guimaras mangoes: First geographical indication registration in the Philippines

Dennis Gorecho

Kuwentong Peyups

THIS year’s 30th Manggahan Festival of Guimaras coincided with the release of the country’s first registration for geographical indication (GI) for Guimaras mangoes.

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) noted in its website that it approved on May 13, 2023 the application of the Guimaras mangoes for GI registration.

Filed in November 2022, the application by Guimaras Mango Growers and Producers Development Cooperative (GMGPDC) was approved by IPOPHL after passing the Bureau of Trademarks’ thorough examination process.

During the month-long publication period that followed to allow for third-party protests, the association also did not face any concerns of possible damage to an existing trademark.

A GI seal certifies a link between the quality, characteristics and reputation of a product and its geographical source. It helps consumers differentiate between products by leveraging the reputation of the geographic location as a production site for goods that have particular desirable qualities such as a particular taste, smell, texture, and longevity.

A GI right enables those who have the right to use the indication to prevent its use by a third party whose product does not conform to the applicable standards. However, a protected GI does not enable the holder to prevent someone from making a product using the same techniques

Under the 2015 Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, GIs also enjoy an indefinite duration of protection as long as the main geographically attributed qualities are preserved. Hence, unlike with the collective and certification mark systems, which require renewal after 10 years, GIs registered under the Geneva Act won’t need renewal, saving on both time and costs. To date, about 1,130 GIs are registered under the Geneva Act.

as those set out in the standards for that indication.

GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine and spirit drinks, handicrafts, and industrial products. The GMGPDC describes their fruit as a typical “Carabao” mango variety in its Manual of Specifications (MOP) for Guimaras Mangoes.

It is shaped like an ellipsoid with a rounded crown and an oblong end that features a distinct broad shoulder and full cheek weighing an aver-

age of 160 grams or more. Its flesh is meaty, smooth, firm, juicy and nonfibrous. It is also thin-seeded, making over 80 percent of the fruit edible.

Under the 2015 Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, GIs also enjoy an indefinite duration of protection as long as the main geographically attributed qualities are preserved. Hence, unlike with the collective and certification mark systems, which require renewal after 10 years, GIs registered under the Geneva Act won’t need renewal, saving on both time and costs. To date, about 1,130 GIs are registered under the Geneva Act. IPOPHIL has identified over 30 potential GIs, which are being assisted for domestic registration, and later international protection once the Philippines accedes to the Act. There are proposed legislations that will make violation of GI a crime against the economic and cultural interests of the State, which means it can be enforced by the latter without private stakeholders initiating the process.

Guimaras’ mango production comprises 21 percent of Western Visayas’ total production.

See “Gorecho,” A9

Ambassador

China’s missing Politburo statements fan fears of data gaps Water or dirty politics?

By Bloomberg News

AS investor concern grows over an information crackdown in China, another key data source has become mysteriously rarer: readouts from meetings of the nation’s 24 most-powerful men.

Since President Xi Jinping secured a precedent defying third term in October, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body has skipped publishing a statement for three separate months. During the Chinese leader’s second term, it took the party nearly five years to miss the same number of statements.

While there is no public mandate for the Politburo to meet monthly, it has done so for 90 percent of Xi’s decade-plus tenure, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of government statements.

It’s unclear whether the Politburo failed to convene in November, January and May, or if the elite group discussed sensitive matters it didn’t want to reveal. It’s still possible for state media to release statements on the body’s activities. Sometimes the party releases transcripts of Xi’s remarks months, or even years, later.

The omissions come as Beijing builds a black box around sensitive information, in the wake of growing US scrutiny of its tech industry and economic engagement with Russia.

China has in recent months limited access to corporate data, court documents, academic journals and raided expert networks serving businesses, hampering investors’ ability to assess the economy.

“The unintended consequence of this kind of silence, whether it’s data or policy decisions or official announcements, is that people don’t know how to distinguish rumor from official policy,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis SA.

“The result is less certainty on policy direction and thus investors potentially holding back or needing to take on more risk,” she added.

While Politburo readouts tend to be formulaic, they provide a rare glimpse into the operations of the secretive body that gathers behind closed doors and publishes no schedules or agendas.

Changes in tone and broad pledges can be enough to send stocks rallying or plunging. Investors dialed back expectations for major stimulus after leaders said that China’s recovery was “better than expected” at the Politburo meeting in April.

Perhaps most-watched are the

Gorecho . . .

continued from A8

About 60 percent is contributed by backyard growers while 40 percent by orchard. About 70 percent of the production is sold fresh while 30 percent is sold to local processors.

Mango is the Philippine national fruit, locally known as “mangga” and scientifically named Mangifera indica L.

It is the third most important fruit crop in the Philippines, next to banana and pineapple.

There are three well-known variety of mango in the Philippines: Carabao mango, Pico and Katchamita (Indian mango).

The Philippines ranks 10th among the top producers of mango in the world, with a 2.5 percent share in production. Asia accounts for approximately 77 percent of global mango production.

The Philippines exports fresh mango fruits to China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, while processed mango products are exported to Canada, France, and Germany.

Guimaras, formerly known as Himal-os, was a sub-province of Iloilo until it was made an independent province on May 22, 1992.

Since 1993, the month-long

“The unintended consequence of this kind of silence, whether it’s data or policy decisions or official announcements, is that people don’t know how to distinguish rumor from official policy,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis SA.

three Politburo meetings focused on economic policy in April, July, and December. The body has never missed a readout from these sessions throughout Xi’s tenure.

It’s also rare for the Politburo to skip readouts from months when the group discusses regular agenda items —for example, in February, when it reviews the draft annual government work report.

While it’s possible the recent missing readouts are a sign the Politburo is meeting less than usual, official statements show the body held study sessions in January and May. Typically, those events take place on the same day as the broader meeting.

The Politburo has kept the world in the dark before. Last year, it issued its shortest readout of Xi’s rule, and the first to not disclose specific discussion topics, as the Chinese leader headed into the politically sensitive leadership congress. During Xi’s first five years in office, there were seven months without readouts. But while August 2015 had no statement, for example, the month before had two, suggesting the huddle happened slightly earlier.

For now, investors are left guessing what Xi and the powerful group he’s packed with loyalists might have discussed last month.

“At a minimum, there seems to be change in how Politburo meetings are reported, though we need more data points to verify this,” said Adam Ni, publisher of the China Neican newsletter on Chinese politics, who has written previously on missing Politburo readouts.

“At a maximum, it reflects a whole new way of exercising power,” he added, cautioning that more evidence was required to say with confidence what the absence showed.  With assistance from Yihui Xie and Davy Zhu / Bloomberg

Manggahan Festival is a yearly cultural, agricultural, and food festivity held in May as a celebration of the mango fruit and agriculture.

A prevailing legend has it that two of its inhabitants called Guima and Aras, who were lovers, went swimming and never returned. Thus, in their honor, Himal-us was changed to Guimaras by the pre-Spanish Ilonggos.

In the 1960s, Dr. Ramon Barba, a Filipino horticulturalist from the University of the Philippines, developed a simple method for inducing early flowering in mango plants. His invention, widely used today, revolutionized the Philippine mango industry, making the crop one of the country’s top export earners.

I was in Guimaras during this year’s Manggahan festival, highlighted by a cultural dance contest among the five towns—Buenavista, Jordan, Nueva Valencia, San Lorenzo, and Sibunag—depicting the abundance of mangoes and the rich fishing community in the islandprovince.

Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.

WATER, I mean clean, potable, sufficient and steady supply of water to all Filipinos, 24 hours a day, is a matter of life and death. It is as basic as having oxygen for everyone to survive on earth.

It is in this light that President Bongbong Marcos is taking concrete effort to confront and resolve this major issue, early in his six-year term, with environment-friendly surface water, as the major water source, in focus.

He recently issued EO 22 creating the Water Resources Management Office (WRMO) to integrate and harmonize government efforts that will manage the country’s water resources and ensure water supply for us, amid the threat of El Niño phenomenon, expected towards the year-end until mid-next year.

The new water body and all existing government agencies such as the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), MWSS, LWUA, LLDA and all the Water Districts in the country will be under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Per the EO, an undersecretary that the President will appoint soon will

To avert water crisis in Bohol, approval or extension of the current permit is needed. This will help alleviate the impending water problem and lessen the anxiety of the Boholanos. Will they get water, or will rotten politics prevail?

are LGU officials or local politicians who think and act in a diametrically opposite direction, against the objective of PBBM. In Bohol, it appears to the people that their choice is between water and rotten politics.

To improve and expand their water source and cover more areas, the private corporation is seeking additional water permit so it can proceed with the infra construction. But every obstacle was placed before them. Very disappointing, indeed, since documents will show that then governor now Congressman Chatto refused to issue an excavation permit to applicant Richli Corp. even if the Provincial Engineer’s Office already gave its nod and despite having paid the required fees.

lead the WRMO. That is how PBBM looks and addresses the water supply situation nationwide as a major item of the nation’s interests, and supports the creation of a Department of Water Management.

Well, it’s very encouraging to see what seems to be the mindset of President Marcos and most of our senators and representatives in Congress. The administration is determined to create an agency or institution devoted to ensuring clean, potable and steady water supply, for all households and the various industries’ needs. Hence, the bill is now up for legislative deliberation and pretty soon, its approval.

Despite the viable efforts of the President and of our national officials to make sure Filipinos do not endure water scarceness, the exact opposite, however, is the norm in the countryside—in Bohol province, in particular. It makes me sad that there

The matter of steady water supply in Bohol is the responsibility of its local officials, but former Governor Edgar Chatto didn’t do anything. Among other concerns relative to water, the tourist arrivals have doubled from about 80,000 to 120,000 in six months in 2022. There would be a major problem if resorts and hotels there will have no water supply.

A private entity, Richli Corp., saw the need to do it, and is responding to the call of Boholanos for a steady supply of clean and potable water to each and every household. But instead of getting support, they are being opposed and oppressed or given a hard time.

Richli started distributing water in Bohol in 2018 with its 7-stage, state of the art water treatment plant. It sources its supply from surface water from Malingin Falls of Cortes town, and it serves Tagbilaran City, Panglao, Dauis, Cortes and Baclayon. My inquiry reveals that concessionaires are satisfied with their service, including Panglao International Airport and the famous resorts in the area.

The wife of Chatto who is the mayor of Balilihan, Bohol, also opposed the application of Richli for water permit, while Vice Governor Relampagos questioned the operation of Richli with the NWRB. In another case, to clear any legal obstacle to an existing permitee, Richli went to NWRB to secure a water permit to extract water at Ohan Spring located in Lourdes, Cortes, Bohol.

The petition was granted in September 2021 by NWRB. However, Bohol Water Utilities Inc. filed a motion for reconsideration. Up to now, it remains undecided by its Executive Director Sevillo David Jr. In the meantime, Boholanos are seen facing water supply problems with the projected El Niño phenomenon in the coming months. To avert water crisis in Bohol, approval or extension of the current permit is needed. This will help alleviate the impending water problem and lessen the anxiety of the Boholanos. Will they get water, or will rotten politics prevail?

To be continued.

For comments, e-mail me @andalbilly@yahoo. com

Pence to launch presidential campaign against Trump in Iowa, staking hopes on leadoff voting state

By Jill Colvin & Thomas Beaumont | The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa—Mike

Pence’s campaign will also test the party’s appetite for a socially conservative, mild-mannered and deeply religious candidate who has denounced the populist tide that has swept through his party under former President Donald Trump. And it will show whether Pence still has a political future after January 6, 2021, with a large portion of GOP voters still believing Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen and that Pence had the power to reject the results.

Pence and his advisers see Iowa —the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP nominating calendar—as key to his potential pathway to the nomination. Its caucus-goers include a large portion of evangelical Christian voters, whom they see as a natural constituency for Pence. They also think Pence, who represented Indiana in Congress and as governor, is a good personality fit with the Midwestern state.

“We believe the path to victory runs through Iowa and all of its 99 counties,” said Scott Reed, co-chair of a super PAC that launched last month to support Pence’s candidacy.

Iowa has typically been seen as a launching pad for presidential candidates, delivering momentum, money and attention to hopefuls who win or defy expectations. But recent past winners including Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee have failed to ultimately win the nomination.

And Pence faces steep challenges. He enters the race as among the best-

Mangun . . . continued from A8 ling the “Heartland” became a core Western purpose. Every Heartland

known Republican candidates in a crowded GOP field that now includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

But Pence—seen by Trump critics as complicit with his most indefensible actions and maligned by Trump loyalists as a traitor — is also saddled with high unfavorable ratings.

A CNN poll conducted last month found 45 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they would not support Pence under any circumstance. Only 16 percent said the same about Trump.

Pence’s favorability has also slipped in Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

Shortly after leaving office, in June 2021, 86 percent of Iowa Republicans said they had a favorable view of Pence. But the Register’s March Iowa Poll showed that figure had dropped to 66 percent. The poll also found Pence with higher unfavorable ratings than all of the other candidates it asked about, including Trump and DeSantis, with 26 percent of Republicans polled saying they have a “somewhat” or “very” unfavorable view of him.

And just 58 percent of Iowa evangelicals said they had favorable feelings toward Pence—a particularly disappointing number, given his campaign’s strategy.

But Pence, who has already vis-

state except for Ukraine—Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland (all in 1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia (all in 2004), Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North

Pence and his advisers see Iowa —the state that will cast the first votes of the GOP nominating calendar—as key to his potential pathway to the nomination. Its caucus-goers include a large portion of evangelical Christian voters, whom they see as a natural constituency for Pence. They also think Pence, who represented Indiana in Congress and as governor, is a good personality fit with the Midwestern state.

ited Iowa more than a dozen times since leaving office, has also received a warm welcome from voters during his trips. During a “Roast and Ride” event over the weekend that drew a long list of 2024 candidates, Pence stood out as the only candidate to actually mount a Harley and participate in the event’s annual motorcycle ride. When he arrived at a barbecue at the state fairgrounds, he moved easily from table to table, warmly greeting and chatting with attendees.

But there remains lingering skepticism of Pence among many Republican voters who adhere to the baseless but persistent conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen. Many who cling to the falsehood believe Pence was complicit in the plot to deny Trump a second term because he refused Trump’s pressure campaign to reject the Electoral College vote when he presided over a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the building.

Pence advisers say they recognize the challenge and intend to explain to voters directly that Pence was adhering to his constitutional duty and never had the power to impact the vote in his ceremonial role.

Macedonia—is now a part of (controlled?) by the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Is there any chance that the US government thinks about the Asean region as the new Heartland that

“I think it’s something you have to walk straight through,” said his longtime adviser Marc Short.

Beyond January 6, his team sees their primary goal as reintroducing Pence to a country that largely knows him as Trump’s second-in-command. They want to remind voters of his time in congressional leadership and as governor and are planning a campaign heavy with town halls, house parties and visits to local diners and Pizza Ranch restaurants—more intimate settings that will help voters get to know him personally.

“People have seen Mike Pence the vice president. I think what people are going to see is Mike Pence the person,” said Todd Hudson, the speaker of the House in Indiana and a longtime Pence friend who has signed on to help with outreach to state legislators. “I’m super excited for people to get to know the Mike Pence that I know, who’s funny, who’s just a wonderful person...the more relaxed Mike Pence.”

Reed believes there is a strong desire in the party for a candidate like Pence who espouses Reagan-style conservatism, including traditional social values, hawkish foreign policy and small government economics.

“We think this nomination fight is going to be an epic battle for the heart and soul of the conservative, traditional wing of the Republican Party. And Pence is going to campaign as a classic conservative. His credentials are unmatched,” he said.

Unlike Trump and DeSantis, Pence has argued that cuts to Social Security and Medicare must be on the table and has blasted those who have questioned why the US should continue to send aid to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression.

“We are not going to try to outTrump Pence. Everybody else is,” Reed said. “Pence is the only candidate running not to be Trump’s VP.”

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Pence is staking his presidential hopes on Iowa as he launches a campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Des Moines on Wednesday that will make him the first vice president in modern history to take on his former running mate.

‘TVJ’ FINDS NEW HOME AT MEDIAQUEST’S TV5

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

TITO Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon—collectively known as the iconic TVJ—have found a new home in TV5 to continue airing the show Eat Bulaga, after leaving their home network of 28 years due to differences with the management of Television and Production Exponents Inc. (TAPE).

T he trio, who brought with them the other hosts, talents, and crew of Eat Bulaga, signed a contract with Mediaquest Holdings Inc. for the production of content for TV5 and other Mediaquest platforms.

I’m honored that these pillars of the Philippine entertainment industry have agreed to work with us. Our partnership strengthens our ability to continue to deliver the best for Filipino viewers here at home and all over the world,” said Mediaquest President and CEO Jane Basas.

C alled by many as pillars of Philippine noontime television, TVJ resigned from producer Jalosjos-run TAPE on May 31. The following day other hosts and staff, including Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola and Paolo Ballesteros, also resigned.

Basas said the transfer of the Eat Bulaga’s talents, called Dabarkads, “opens yet another chapter in the long-running, celebrated entertainment careers of Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon.”

I’m happy that Tito, Vic, and Joey will now call TV5 their home,” she added.

W ith the transfer of the Dabarkads to TV5, Mediaquest expects its ratings and operations to improve.

TVJ has built a large, loyal audience over the past four decades. And I under -

stand that they are adding new segments to the program that will strengthen its appeal to the broad Filipino audience here and abroad. It’s hard to quantify at this point, but TVJ will definitely boost our ratings,” Mediaquest Communications Head Charles Lejano told the BusinessMirror.

He believes the new talents will provide great value to TV5, which has long been trying to compete against giant GMA, and previously, ABS-CBN.  We are talking about the longest-running program on Philippine television. It is an institution. The show has survived and thrived because they have constantly innovated to keep themselves strongly connected to Filipinos, adding color, laughter and fun to their lives. Now, they are planning to reboot the show and further strengthen its appeal to its large audience,” he said.

T he agreement, Lejano noted, is “long term.”  “This is a long-term engagement. We are still working out the details. The new show will feature some familiar elements, but TVJ are working to bring in new segments that will make the show even more fun,” he said.

L ejano added: “We also hope to collaborate to create all sorts of content. Yes, TV5 and the other Mediaquest platforms will definitely benefit from having the Dabarkads become Kapatids.”

T ito Sotto said the Dabarkads is turning a new leaf, after being a Kapuso—the term typically associated with GMA Network, where Eat Bulaga  “ We are thankful to our friends at Mediaquest for this fresh start,” said Sotto. “Dahil sa ating mga Dabarkads na naging Kapatid, tuloy pa rin ang tuwa’t saya na aming dala [Because for us Dabarkads now turned Kapatids, we will continue to bring happiness].”

Policy tracks, goals of MIF are solid, says House leader Salceda

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE chairman of the House Ways and Means committee on Wednesday defended the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill, which Congress approved before adjourning sine die, from criticism by 21 faculty members of the UP School of Economics (UPSE) who described it as “beyond repair.”

A lbay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda cited the bill’s solid policy directions, goals and mechanisms.

He pointed out that there was “no implication” in the MIF bill that the intended developmental outcomes would replace the financial returns.  Furthermore, the MIF having a “dual bottomeline” goal is not something to be avoided, Salceda added.

“ I also specifically explained during House discussions that at certain points, you will need a portfolio mix of long-gestating development projects and shortto-medium-term financial investments, so you can make immediate absolute returns while the longer-term investments mature,” he said.

“

It would be bad if social and economic returns were presented as a substitute for absolute financial returns. That is clearly not the case here—and it’s never a bad idea to hit two birds with one stone,” he added.

S alceda claimed that “clearly” stating in the bill the policy objective of the MIF, whether it is a developmental fund or an investment fund, is a “false dichotomy.”

Citing Section 13 of the MIF bill, Salceda said the fund at its “core” is for development. He added that even President Marcos Jr. emphasized that it was the main direction of the MIF.“In unequivocal terms, it states that ‘The objective of MIF is to promote socioeconomic development.’ End of story there. What follows that provision are ways to do it, not objectives,” he said.

“ So, it’s mainly a development fund, and if it takes on the characteristics of an investment fund in some respects, it does so only because it necessarily has to be involved in the financial markets,” he added.

Furthermore, Salceda argued that there is no need to explicitly state that the MIF is aligned with the Philippine Development Plan since a provision of the bill already implies so. He stressed that the MIF has “very dif-

DOJ’s opinion: Cocochem, CIIF-OMG are both GOCCs

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a legal opinion declaring both the United Coconut Chemicals Inc. (Cocochem) and the Coconut Industry Investment Fund-Oil Mills Group (CIIF-OMG) as government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) that are required to remit at least 50 percent of their net earnings to the national government.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla issued the opinion upon the request of the Bureau of Treasury (BTr), which believes that Cocochem and CIIF-OMG are both GOCCs, required by Republic Act No 7656 to remit at least 50 percent of their earnings to the national treasury.

I n her letter-request to the DOJ, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said it was discovered during the 11th Trust Fund Management Committee (TFMC) meeting of March 13, 2023, that the two companies do not remit their dividends to the national government.  Cocochem argued at the meeting that it is not a GOCC, since it is not vested with functions relating to public needs, as ruled by the Supreme Court in Leyson vs. Ombudsman case.

T he company also cited the DOJ legal opinion of 2016 which cited the same  SC ruling in holding that it is not a GOCC.

W hile CIFF-OMG did not contest that it is a GOCC, it insisted that it was covered by the exemption provided in Section 4 of the Dividends Law.

However, the DOJ explained that in Leyson vs. Ombudsman, the SC ruled that the CIFF companies named in the case are not GOCCs because it was not proven that they are vested with functions relating to

public needs.

T he DOJ also noted that the SC cited three important attributes to consider an entity a GOCC: any agency organized as a stock or non-stock corporation; vested with functions relating to public needs whether government or proprietary in nature; and owned by the government directly or through its instrumentalities, either wholly or where applicable as in the case of stock corporations to the extent of at least 51 percent of its capital stock.

I n the case of Cocochem, the DOJ said it is a stock corporation organized under the Corporation Code and it is owned by the government to the extent of at least 51-percent capital stock.

L ikewise, the DOJ said Cocochem is vested with functions relating to public needs, noting that it is considered as the country’s leading manufacturer of oleochemicals.

“Cocochem uses local coconut oil as its only feedstock. With the production of local coconut oil, Cocochem helps the Philippine coconut industry thrive and the coconut farmers sustain their livelihood. This is in itself upholding public interest for the benefit of the coconut farmers and their community,” the DOJ said.

F urthermore, DOJ noted that Coco -

chem aims to lead the national effort in increasing the downstream utilization of coconut oil and contribute to the worldwide efforts to increase the use of natural oils in the production of higher value-added products.

“Hence, Cocochem performs governmental roles in the interest of health, safety and for the advancement of public good and welfare, affecting the public in general,” the legal opinion stated.

I n the case of CIFF-OMG, the DOJ noted that Section 4 of the Dividends Law lists some of the GOCCs which are exempt from the coverage of the law on the ground that they were created to administer real or personal properties or funds held in trust for the use and the benefit of its members.

A mong those covered by the exemptions are the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Home Development Mutual Fund, the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Medical Care Commission (PMCC).

However, the DOJ said coco levy funds are not the same as the funds being held in trust by the said agencies.

“ The coco levy funds are in the nature of taxes and can only be used for public purposes. Consequently, they cannot be used to purchase shares of stocks to be given for free to private individuals,” the DOJ said.

Clearly, to hold therefore, even by law, that the revenues received from the imposition of the coconut levies be used purely for private purposes to be owned by private individuals in their private capacity and for their benefit, would contravene the rationale behind the imposition of taxes or levies,” it added.

ferent” objectives compared to government financial institutions despite them possibly achieving the same “socioeconomic” outcomes.

But this is no argument against pursuing the MIF,” he said.

Salceda, who chaired the House Technical Working Group on MIF, said the proposed measure “does not encroach upon” the budget process and Congress’s power of the purse since budgetary aspects of the MIF will still require congressional approval.

“ The MIF is a creation of Congress, so we do not perceive this to be an attempt to supplant the congressional power of the purse. The payment for subscription of shares by the National Government will be appropriated by Congress,” he said.

The increase in capitalization has to be approved by Congress. There is a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the MIF. Even the corporate life can be sooner revoked by Congress. So, as far as the powers and existence of the MIF is concerned, Congress giveth, and Congress taketh away,” he added.

S alceda said putting a private sectorlead board to oversee the MIF is no different from a board composed of government officials in terms of accountability.

“ I do not see how installing a private sector-led board will make the MIF more accountable than installing a board of government officials who are liable to more laws, rules, and regulations than private sector individuals—who may have vested interests—are,” he said.

“ I also do not see why a focus on domestic investments [a tendency, the UPSE paper suggests, when political leaders are on the Board] constitutes a problem. As earlier discussed, the MIF is above all else a development fund,” he added.

I n terms of the issue of “crowding in,” Salceda suggested that the MIF be listed in local and global stock changes, the easiest way, he said, for the fund to crowd in.

That will also give additionality to the fund, instead of depending on government funds, as the discussion paper appears to warn against. That will also reduce the cost of capital for development projects pursued by the MIF, and catalyze FDIs,” he said.

“Countless experts, institutions, and opinion leaders have already argued for this approach. I reiterate my point that the language of the bill we ratified allows for this approach,” he added.

PBBM cites FFCCCII role during pandemic

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the government has already made significant gains in removing the business roadblocks which were cited by the private sector.

M arcos made the comment at the oathtaking of the new set of officers of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) in Malacañang on Wednesday.

A mong the concerns of FFCCCII and other business groups which were addressed by the government were the improvement of tax administration and fiscal incentives system as well as stream -

lining existing regulatory mechanisms

“through expedited and integrated processes and digitalization of key government services,” he said.

“ We have initiated many steps and adjustments to address those challenges,” Marcos said.

T he feedback from the private sector has been crucial for the government to “improve business climate and foster ease and efficiency of doing business,” according to the President.

H e specifically thanked the FFCCCII not only for contributing to the country’s economic growth, but also for its humanitarian efforts, especially in the pandemic.

“ I remember it was the Filipino-Chinese

communities that were first able to source some of the vaccines that were coming out of China,” Marcos said.

L ikewise, he pointed out the business group also helped improve the country’s diplomatic relations with China.   “ It’s worth noting that even before the formalization of our diplomatic ties with China, the Federation has already been a positive influence in our friendly relations,” Marcos said.

F FCCCII President Cecilio K. Pedro led the federation’s new set of officers for 20232025, who were inducted during their audience with the President.

F FCCCII is the country’s largest organization of Filipino-Chinese businesses with more than 170 member organizations.

PRESIDENT Marcos inducts into office the new officers of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce of the Phils. Inc. at Malacañang on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Companies

B1

Thursday, June 8, 2023

Empire East earmarks ₧25B for capital expenditure plan

By VG Cabuag @villygc

Empire East President and CEO

a nthony Charlemagne C. Yu said the company was able to secure prime properties spanning 426 hectares, boosting its land bank for future development.

“Our portfolio is continuously expanding due to the progressing

demands of Filipinos aspiring to own a home,” Yu said.

Empire East spent P3 billion for construction and development activities last year.

The company, which will celebrate its 29th year in the real estate industry on July 15, is regarded as

one of the property developers with a track record of delivering residential projects.

a s we tread our path to our 30th year in the real estate industry, we shall strive not only to bring innovative city living to raised standards but also to redefine authenticity in home buying and lifestyles. Thus, ensuring that Empire East remains at the forefront of the industry,” Yu said.

last year, the company had P17.03 billion in reservation sales. It also sold some 23,446 units, and achieved 169 percent of its target sales.

It was able to turnover of 1,300 units to new Empire East homeowners.

“Our strong and strategic orientation toward customer value has always been the driving force

ICTSI Pakistan unit, SeaLead seal deal

behind Empire East,” Yu said. “We understand that our success lies in delivering on our commitments and exceeding the expectations of our valued clientele.”

Following the brisk sales of Empire East Highland City, the developer’s upcoming township in Pasig-Cainta, the company recently launched the second installment of its residential phase, Highland Residences named Bellara Towers 1 and 2. The said development features a mix of studio, one-bedroom and twobedroom units.

The income of Megaworld Corp.’s subsidiary rose 15 percent to P205.76 million in the first quarter from the previous year’s P178.72 million.

Revenues grew 6 percent to P1.21 billion from the previous year’s P1.14 billion.

SMFB expects better results in H2

San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. (SMFB), a unit of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., said it expects its performance to improve in the second semester as raw material prices continue to drop.

Francisco a lejo III, the company’s COO for food, said as markets continue to reopen, consumer spending and sales will rise.

“Things are actually looking up for the food group. a nd we would like to assure the stockholders have a better second half, and a good year for 2023,” a lejo said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting on Wednesday.

Holcim unveils cement product

CEMEnT firm Holcim Philippines Inc. has launched “a better alternative” to ordinary Portland cement that ensures concrete strength and durability while lowering impact on the climate.

The company said it has developed Holcim Optimo, a cement product that it blended with limestone additives to reduce its carbon emissions by up to 10 percent while delivering similar concrete performance as ordinary Portland cement.

The company said Holcim Optimo is designed as “a seamless substitute” to Portland cement, the conventional material used for massive infrastructures and building projects but has a significant environmental footprint.

The company said its new product “delivers the same strength, workability and durability as OPC and remains compatible with other cement additives such as slag and fly ash. The new product is best used in large building projects and available in bulk”. “Holcim Optimo is part of our commitment to expand our line of innovative and sustainable products for building essential structures for progress without compromising the environment. It is a timely product for the Philippines as infrastructure building accelerates and green demand grows,” Holcim President and CEO Horia adrian said. VG Cabuag

“For the balance of the year, we expect and we’re seeing prices of raw materials, especially commodities to start going down.”

a lejo said several of the raw materials used by the company are already cheaper in June compared to prices seen in previous months.

“a nd we expect these better prices to continue for the balance of the year, resulting in a significantly better profitability for our balance of the year as compared to the first half.”

a lejo also said the company’s newly built plants for animal feeds, poultry processing plants and processed meats are delivering efficiencies that

result in better yield and margins.

“This is on top of the several cost saving initiatives that the food group has been implementing.”

In the first quarter, SMFB was able to maintain its growth momentum despite facing headwinds from inflationary pressures, excise tax increases and continuing geopolitical uncertainties, among others.

“In the first quarter of 2023, SMFB maintained its growth momentum even as it faced multiple headwinds from inflationary pressures, excise tax increases and continuing geopolitical uncertainties, among others,” SMFB President and

CEO Ramon S. a ng said.

“In the first quarter of 2023, the Philippine economy grew by 6.4 percent year-over-year, above market consensus of 6.1 percent, supported by still robust household consumption.”

a nd said, however, that analysts advise caution given the threat of high inflation, elevated borrowing costs and rising debt levels that could weigh on the economy’s momentum. There are also potential challenges mounting across sectors with the agricultural sector facing an El niño episode, which can affect the manufacturing sector, a ng said. VG Cabuag

Aliw Broadcasting, Globe discuss partnership

In T ER n a T IO n al Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said on Wednesday its Pakistani subsidiary has forged a partnership agreement with a Singaporean shipping line to establish a direct service between Pakistan and a u stralia.

ICTSI said Pakistan International Container Terminal ltd. (PICT) and Seal ead will launch the Pakistanaustralia services that will also call on regional ports across Malaysia and australia.

according to PICT CEO Khurram a ziz Khan, the service “enables easy and efficient connection between markets in South a sia and australia,” noting that this will help strengthen “strengthen trade patronage with global customers and cater to growing trade demands.”

“We look to provide unmatched supply chain solutions to local and global trade stakeholders. Through our partnership with Sea l e ad, customers in both Pakistani and a u stralian markets will benefit through direct port linkages that

enable economies to grow,” he said in a statement.

Khan noted that the service will “substantially benefit importers and exporters” through the faster and more cost-efficient route. He added that this will “eventually allow new businesses and growth areas to emerge within the associated economies.”

The service, which handles both shipper-owned and carrier-owned containers, is also expected to provide PICT’s trade allies with a competitive edge within the industry. With Pakistan as a commercial hub connecting several geographical regions, the partnership is expected to boost Pakistan’s foreign trade through the enhanced and efficient access to and from australian markets.

“PICT will remain resilient in its efforts to make this collaboration a successful venture for all stakeholders,” Khan said.

PICT operates Berths 6 to 9 at the East Wharf of the Karachi Port. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Al I W Broadcasting Corporation and Globe Telecom recently held a productive meeting at the Summer Palace, EDS a Shangrila Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City on May 24, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to solidify collaborations and to strengthen their existing alliance in the ever-evolving media and telecommunications landscape.

Present at the meeting were officers from Globe Telecom, including Yoly Crisanto, Executive Vice Presi-

dent of Corporate Communications Team; Carlo Santos, Senior Director for Data a nalytics & Corporate Communications; Monday Gonzalez, Senior Director for Content Management and Creative Services; li za Reyes, Director for Public Relations & Communications Strategy; Jomel Gonzaga, Public Relations Manager; Cloyd Masaudling, Stratex Senior Manager; and Kristel Or, Data a nalytics Manager.

The executives from a l iw Broadcasting Corporation were also in

attendance, led by Chairman D. Edgard Cabangon, President Randy C. Cabangon, Executive Vice President and General Manager atty. Mc neil Rante, Vice President for Business Development Denis a ntenor Jr, Vice President for Sales and Marketing Marvin Estigoy, and Senior account Manager Cez Cabiles.

During the meeting, both parties engaged in meaningful discussions, exploring various areas of collaboration that will leverage their respective expertise and resources.

Empir E East Land Holdings inc., a property developer that builds mostly high-rise affordable housing, said it would spend p25 billion for capital expenditures in the next 5 years.

BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR)

Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. warned the passers of the May 2023 Licensure for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) of the pitfalls if they use fake and/ or “ghost receipts” in the exercise of their profession. This comes after Lumagui filed a criminal case for tax evasion with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a revocation of license with the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) against a CPA the BIR accused of being involved in a fake/ghost receipts syndicate, the bureau’s statement read.

The BIR statement issued last Tuesday said the same CPA—which the bureau didn’t name—also lost her accreditation with the BIR after the agency revoked the same because of her involvement in the said syndicate.

“As the Filipino community welcomes you into the practice of your profession, remember the values and ethical standards befitting your stature in our society,” Lumagui was quoted in the statement as saying.

“The CPA involved in the fake/ghost receipts syndicate is now facing a criminal case with the DOJ and a revocation of her license with the PRC. The BIR also removed her accreditation.”

The BIR added that Lumagui created the National Task Force-Run After Fake Transactions for the purpose of stopping the decades long practice of taxpayers buying receipts in order for them to evade taxes. He has filed criminal and administrative cases against sellers and CPAs involved.

Buyers are currently being made to explain their transactions with these sellers, the BIR said. Failure to do so would result into payment of deficiency taxes and a criminal case for tax evasion.

“Buyers of fake/ghost receipts have to explain their transactions with the sellers who are part of this syndicate. All concerns should be raised to the BIR. Failure to explain these transactions will result into the filing of criminal cases for tax evasion against all corporate officers,” the BIR statement read.

Diokno defends Maharlika fund vs UPSE colleagues

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

FINANCE Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno on Wednesday defended the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), recently approved by the 19th Congress, from criticism by University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) faculty members who urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to reconsider signing it into law.

Diokno said the enactment of the MIF and the proposed Public Private Partnership (PPP) Act would easily double the country’s annual infrastructure spending to as much as 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

AUDITORS ASSEMBLE This Tuesday, May 23, 2023, photo shows BKR International Worldwide Chairman and Alas Oplas & Co. CEO Marycris Oplas (seated, 2nd from left) speaking during the nonprofit organization’s “2023 Americas Regional Meeting” at the InterContinental Presidente Hotel in Mexico City from May 20 to May 23, 2023. The meeting likely fostered collaboration and strengthened professional relationships within the BKR International community, the association of independent accounting and business advisory firms said through a statement issued last Wednesday.

Lumagui: New CPAs should shun ties to ‘ghost receipts’ CIC, CCAP seminar to discuss responsible credit-card use

THE Credit Information Corp. (CIC), the country’s sole public credit registry and repository of credit information, announced that it and the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP) will host a webinar series focusing on how to combat credit card fraud and build good credit standing on June 16.

A statement issued by the CIC last Tuesday said speakers will tackle how borrowers can use their CIC credit report to detect fraud or identity theft, as well as share practical tips to improve one’s credit standing through responsible credit card use and proper debt management.

“In today’s ever-evolving digital landscape, we have to act proactively and always be vigilant so that we avoid being a victim of scams and fraudsters,” CIC President and CEO Ben Joshua A. Baltazar was quoted in the statement as saying. “Generally, if some-

briefs

Diokno made the defense of the MIF despite the position paper from his colleagues at the UPSE. He said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will not retreat from enactment of the MIF, while stressing that the appeal of his UPSE colleagues was “too late.”

Doubling infra spending ACCORDING to Diokno, doubling the country’s infrastructure spending hinges on the success of the proposed PPP Act and the implementation of the MIF.

The Finance Secretary esti-

mated that as early as next year the country could see its annual infrastructure spending program hitting 10 percent to 12 percent of GDP from the current 5-percent to 6-percent share. The Marcos administration wants to sustain its infrastructure expenditure program of 5 percent to 6 percent of GDP annually until 2028.

This year, the government’s infrastructure programmed is pegged at almost P1.3 trillion, which is equivalent to 5.3 percent of the country’s GDP.

“If the PPP and the MIF push through, we can reach 10 percent to 10 percent per year [in terms of infrastructure spending]. The 5 percent to 6 percent [infrastructure spending] comes from the budget, therefore, more or less it is assured,” Diokno told report-

ers in a chance interview last Wednesday in Pasay City.

“Most of the priority projects already have feasibility studies and some are in detailed engineering [stage]. [Attaining the 10 percent to 12 percent infrastructure spending of GDP] could be as early as next year,” he added.

Diokno was referring to the P8.167 trillion worth of 194 infrastructure flagship projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) board. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/05/22/after-dataset-cleanup-infra-cost-cut-to%E2%82%A78-2t/)

“When you go to the [Neda] list, you will see that the projects we approved are impressive. These are not white elephants —these went through a very robust review by the Neda [board],” he said. “And my colleagues at UPSE should respect the Neda.

Many of them are from Neda,” Diokno, a Professor Emeritus of UPSE, added. Diokno earlier expressed optimism that the PPP bill, which seeks to provide a “unified” legal framework for all PPPs at the national and local levels and covering all types of PPP arrangements, would be enacted into law this year.

‘Good’ reading material

REACTING to the discussion paper published by 21 UPSE faculty members, Diokno advised his colleagues to “read” the Senate version of the MIF bill, as lawmakers have included sufficient

safeguards to ensure that the MIF is properly and prudently used.

“This Maharlika fund is really going to be very useful for us [It will be] another source of funding for our desire to boost infrastructure,” he said.

Diokno said he did not know the UPSE faculty members would come up with a discussion paper on the MIF. Nonetheless, he said the paper came too late since Congress has completed deliberations on the MIF bill, which is expected to be transmitted to Marcos in two weeks.

Medyo late na nga ’yung [discussion paper]. Tapos na iyong ano. Ano pa? Para que pa? Tapos na eh, kumbaga sa ano, tapos na iyong boxing. Nililinis na lang iyong bill [The paper is quite late. And for what? As they say, the boxing bout is finished. The bill is just being cleaned up], and it will reach the President’s desk in two weeks,” he said.

“It is a good reading material,” Diokno added.

The UPSE discussion paper described the measure as “still beyond repair.” The faculty members expressed “grave concerns” regarding the proposed MIF and urged Marcos to “seriously reconsider” enacting the measure into law.

The paper had six arguments on why the MIF “violates” fundamental principles of economics and finance and how it poses “serious” risks to the economy and the public sector. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/06/07/upse-facultymembers-air-grave-concernswith-mif/)

FWD Life Insurance appoints new Independent Directors

thing seems too good to be true, it likely is. Be on your guard and be wary of individuals or entities asking for your personal or sensitive information.”

Last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) urged banks and other BSP-supervised financial institutions to remove clickable links in their emails and text messages to retail customers following the proliferation of scams through these channels.

“Your identity is your creditworthiness. In addition to protecting your credit card information, borrowers must also ensure that they are only sending or uploading their valid ID’s to trustworthy websites or mobile applications and only for legitimate and clear purposes,” Baltazar added.

The CIC said the webinar will feature CIC Attorney III Phillip Gerald S. Fulgueras and CCAP Executive Director Alex G. Ilagan as resource speakers.

➜ Group launches enterprise-support program

BPI Foundation Inc., the social development arm of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, announced having recently launched a program that aims “to nurture and promote social entrepreneurship in the Philippines.” “Our mission is to create a financial wellness culture for underserved communities as we aspire for a better and financially inclusive Philippines,” BPI Foundation Executive Director Owen L. Cammayo was quoted in a statement as saying. “We believe that the social enterprise community plays a vital role in achieving that goal because the SE business model is organically inclusive and sustainable. If all the enterprises in the Philippines would apply that type of model, then nobody will be left behind.”

➜ Standard Chartered Bank touts awards

Stan Da r D Chartered Bank announced last May 30 it has been recognized for its achievements in transaction banking, capturing a total of 116 awards across its markets by the Hong Kong-based a s set Publishing and r e search Ltd. t h e lender said the awards included “Best Service Provider as E-Solutions Partner” for Philippines for the second consecutive year and “Best Payments and Collections Solution” for its digital solution provided to Holcim Philippines Inc. t h e lender noted that the awards (“a s set tr iple a tr easurise”) “are industry excellence recognitions awarded annually to companies and financial institutions that have launched or helped implement initiatives in corporate treasury management, trade finance, supply chain and/or risk management.”

➜ Lender’s exec awarded tHE Bank of the Philippine Islands announced its Enterprise Information Security Officer and Data Protection Officer Jonathan John B. Paz was recognized as the Data Protection Officer of the Year by the national Privacy Commission (nPC) during the nPC’s “Privacy awareness Week” (PaW ) awards held last May 25. BPI said Paz was previously selected as one of the finalists for the award by nPC last april from dozens of nominations received by the governing body. Paz credits the success of the lender in fulfilling the requirements of data privacy to the bank’s “ingrained sense of fiduciary duty to the banking public, in general, and our clients, in particular.”

FWD Life Insurance Corp. (FWD Philippines) announced last May 29 the appointments of Manolito T. Tayag and Henry Joseph M. Herrera as the newest independent members on its Board of Directors.

The insurer said the two were officially appointed on May 23, 2023. Their addition follows the recent appointment of Manuel G. De Rosas as president and CEO.

As independent directors, Tayag and Herrera will oversee FWD Philippines “toward its growth strategies for local business operations,” the insurer’s statement read. “They will be instrumental in advancing corporate credibility and raising governance standards with their objective and balanced perspectives.”

A graduate of Management Engineering from the Ateneo De Manila University, Tayag served as the Philippines country managing director for Accenture Plc. for more than 12

years. He was also a trustee of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) from 2011 to 2021 and served as its chairman from 2017 to 2021.

Herrera graduated from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with Master of Business Administration in 1986 and B.S. Statistics cum laude in 1980. Herrera’s career in the life insurance industry started in 1980 with the Insular Life Assurance Corp. up to 2021 as Chairman of the Board for Pru Life UK (Philippines). He was a past president of the Philippine Life Insurance Association, the umbrella organization of life insurance companies in the country. Herrera was also a past president of the Actuarial Society of the Philippines.

TAYAG HERRERA

Health& Fitness

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Thriving wiTh anxieTy: Dealing

wiTh

By Candy P. Dalizon Contributor

life’s ups anD Downs

tion to feeling threatened.

When is anxiety a problem

c a baGU I o c ited situations when anxiety becomes a problem. o n e is when these anxious feelings become overwhelming and are affecting your work or academic performance negatively. a n xiety that is not short lived but persists for a long time, impacting many aspects of your lives, is also a cause for concern.

decisions,” she explained. a person with anxiety also fears the worst and feels tense or nervous, restless or agitated, scared, and panicky.

b e sides, some other indications are struggling to sleep, loss of appetite or overindulging, avoiding friends and activities, losing interest or pleasure, and experiencing academic decline (for students).

food

mind is awake and aware and living in the present; rather than dwelling in the past or anticipating the future.

“Staying in touch with the present in this way, from one moment to the next, may lead you to experience yourself differently, perhaps feeling less stuck or recognizing more strength, balance and confidence in yourself,” explained c a baguio.

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Tobacco growing harms the health of the people, the health of farmers and the planet’s health, according to the World Health o r ganization (WH o) o n M ay 31, WHo and public health champions around the world celebrated World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). This year’s theme is “Grow food, not tobacco.”

It can alert you to dangers and help you prepare and be equipped to handle the situation. b u t for some people, anxiety can be an ongoing problem and can interfere in their everyday lives.

In a recent webinar dubbed “Thriving with anxiety: Dealing with life’s ups and downs,” certified wellness and life coach Jenica

c a baguio said understanding the nature of anxiety and how it works is the first step in learning to manage it. The webinar was presented by Mindscapes which offers customizable and scalable programs to companies who wish to support their employees through their mental wellness journey; Phil c a re, a

health maintenance organization (HM o) ; Philippine Life Financial a s surance c o rporation (PhilLife); and Stitch Tech Solutions. a n xiety is a word we use to describe feelings of unease, worry and fear. It incorporates both the emotions and the physical sensations we might experience when we are worried or nervous about something,” said c a baguio.

Feelings of anxiety are a normal response to life challenges such as before going on stage, a job interview, an exam, or presentation. c a baguio added that although anxiety can be unpleasant, it is related to the “fight or flight” response which is the normal biological reac -

“It becomes a problem when anxiety stops us from doing the things we need to do. o r w hen we find that we are worrying all the time, perhaps about things that are just normal parts of everyday life or about things that may not happen,” added c a baguio. a n xiety that is so strong can also lead to panic attacks.

Anxiety symptoms

c a baGUI o s aid there are several symptoms of anxiety manifested in the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves.

“Your mind may be whirring with repetitive thought patterns, prone to dwell on negative experiences. You have difficulty concentrating, remembering things, or making

c a baguio said it is time to seek professional help if anxiety has been bothering you for quite a while, is affecting your everyday life and getting in the way of your daily productivity over an extended period.

Learning about the symptoms and treatment goes a long way in helping to understand anxiety, but there are also some things that you can do when feeling anxious.

Live in the moment

c a baGUI o c ited these four strategies in managing anxiety.

“Learn mindfulness skills. Learn to think realistically. Learn to confront the situations you avoid in small steps. a n d adopt an antianxiety lifestyle,” shared c a baguio. Mindfulness suggests that the

Mindfulness is taught through meditation which involves deep breathing and awareness of body and mind.

o n the other hand, realistic thinking involves slowing down and considering all aspects of a situation—positive, negative, and neutral—before reaching a conclusion or decision about a course of action.

To stay healthy and to avoid stress and anxiety, adhering to the “a ntianxiety” lifestyle helps.

This means eating well, developing good sleeping habits, engaging in regular physical activities or exercise, finding hobbies and having fun with friends, learning mindfulness and relaxation skills, limiting caffeine, alcohol, and smoking, and working towards a balanced life.

Asian Hospital launches ‘Alagang Deserve, Alagang Sulit’ campaign

aSI a N H ospital and Medical c e nter ( a H M c ) e nded the month of May with a bang as it hosted three events to launch their “a l agang Deserve, a l agang Sulit” campaign.

The first event that took place on May 31, 2023 was the Media Meet at The b e llevue Manila. The event was also the hospital’s way of thanking members of the press for their support over the years.

In his welcome remarks, a H M c P resident and c E o Dr. b e aver R. Tamesis pointed out that one of the most important lessons that the pandemic taught was that all Filipinos deserve the best health care.

“So that is why we are here today. We want to let everyone know that we are here to serve. We are not only here for a l abang, but for all communities that need good health care and that means everyone around us,” Dr. Tamesis said.

The hospital also introduced content creator Justine Luzares as the campaign ambassador for its digital platforms and gave sneak peek of the a H M c Wellness c a rd.

Best of the world’s services H E a dded that the “a l agang Deserve, a l agang Sulit” campaign was a H M c s way of informing the world that the hospital will do “the best to bring the best of the world’s ser -

vices, the best level of standards to our fellow Filipinos.”

“Filipinos deserve the best health care. a l agang a s ian is really top class and very global. o u r standards exceed global standards and that is what Filipinos deserve. So, we want to make sure that we can reach everybody who needs the kind of services that we offer,” Dr. Tamesis said.

For his part, a H M c c h ief Medical o f ficer Dr. Jose M. a c uin said a s ian Hospital’s more than 1,000 doctors are committed to make this campaign work. He added that a H M c already had a track record of extending exemplary health care to ordinary families.

“We performed a brain surgery on

an engineer who had recently lost his job. We were able to help the patient pool the funds he needed the bayanihan way,” Dr. a c uin explained.

Sneak peek of the Wellness Card

To support the “a l agang Deserve, a l agang Sulit” campaign, a s ian Hospital revealed its Wellness c a rd.

Hennesy Lou E. Miranda, a H M c D irector of Marketing and Patient Experience, explained that the hospital saw the need to come up with a tangible product that would offer value for money.

“This is why we are launching the Wellness c a rd. We call this the Wellness c a rd because this promotes Wellness and this comes in two vari -

ants—the b a sic and the Premium c a rd,” she explained. c a rd holders are entitled to avail of the b a sic Five Package at the c e nter for Executive Wellness. The b a sic Five includes cbc , u rinalysis, fecalysis, chest X-ray, physical exam and free body composition analysis. o t her benefits of card holders include up to 10 percent discount on certain outpatient services, free room upgrade for those who need to be confined, among others.

“The b a sic Package costs P2,800 so this is a perfect gift of wellness for your family and friends,” Miranda said.

The campaign’s aV P was also launched during the media meet with content creator Justine Luzares featuring the hospital’s various services. The event was hosted by radio and TV host Mon Gualvez. o n h and to provide entertainment were the Elite Pioneer Dancers and Emergency Room Nurse a n gela a b rio.

Hospital grand launch aFTER t he media meet at The b e llevue Manila, a H M c officials and employees gathered at the hospital lobby for the campaign’s grand launch. The program was similar to that of the media meet with Drs. Tamesis and a c uin and Miranda giving their remarks on the campaign and on the Wellness c a rd.

Performing at the hospital launch were the St. Michael c o llege of Laguna and the a H M c Doctors c h orale.

There was also the unveiling of the new internal murals as well as the premier of the employee, doctors, and patients’ videos.

The day ended with a H M c officials returning to The b e llevue Manila for the a m bassadors Night.

Present during the event were the leadership team of Metro Pacific Health (MPH) headed by MPH c E o D r. Harish Pillai and MPH President a u gusto Palisoc.

Testimonials from patients, employees and doctors sharing their best experiences at a H M c were the highlight of the night.

“Thinking about this whole experience at a s ian Hospital—we parents were also cared for, attended to and treated like family. a n d for that, we thank you a s ian Hospital and Medical c e nter. God bless each and every one of you a thousandfold,” said Joyce c hua, the parent of one of the patient ambassadors.

The performers at the a m bassadors Night were the Elite Pioneer Dancers, Marielle Tuason, Dr. Mike Santos.

“With a l agang Deserve, a l agang Sulit, what I can promise you is that we will do everything we can for you, for your health,” Dr. Tamesis said.

Oky Period Tracker App launched to help educate adolescents on menstrual health

Go VERNMENT agencies and development organizations called for better measures to provide young Filipinos with accurate and trustworthy information about menstrual health during the nationwide launch of the o k y Philippines Period Tracker a p p, an app made for and by Filipino girls.

The app was launched in time for the global Menstrual Hygiene Day, observed every 28th of May, through the partnership of the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (D o H ), c o mmission on Population and Development (P o Pc o M ), and National Youth c o mmission (NYc ), with support from the United Nations c h ildren’s Fund

(UNI c E F), a u stralian Government, and Plan International. The event, “ o k y for you, o k y for Me: Say hello to the period tracker app for Filipino girls, by Filipino girls,” tackled issues about menstrual health and hygiene management and featured demonstrations of the easy-to-use app. a c cording to DepEd, 8 out of 10 schools provided access to sanitary pads to girls during School Year 2020 to 2021, a marked increase from 2017 to 2018, when only 60 percent of schools provided menstrual-hygiene products. While the improved access of these items in schools is remarkable, menstruation and sexual reproductive health rights remain sensitive topics for

discussion. More concerning is that myths and misconceptions about menstrual health proliferate on social media, hindering girls’ access to important information critical to understanding their right to reproductive health.

The o k y Philippines app was developed based on o k y, the world’s first menstruation education and period tracker app co-created by UNI c E F with girls, for girls. The app, supported by the a u stralian Government, is a joint product of DepEd, D o H , P o P c o M, NY c , a nd

UNI c E F Philippines, in partnership with Plan International. In localizing the app, the team consulted with girls living in different contexts in the Philippines,

including indigenous peoples, out-of-school children, and children with disabilities. The results from the talks underwent vetting by adolescent health experts from government agencies and development organizations. o k y Philippines also includes content relevant to the Islamic culture, cocreated with adolescents from the b a ngsamoro Region.

The o k y Philippines is a new platform for adolescents, which will be deployed through existing government programs such as DepEd’s c o mprehensive Sexual Education, the “Wa S H in Schools” programs, and the joint campaign “I c H o o S E #Malaya a k ongMaging” led by D o H and P o P c o M.

In the Philippines, smoke-free advocates encouraged smokers to break the bad habit of smoking and spend more money instead on healthy food.

HealthJustice Philippines and Philippine Legislators’ c o mmittee on Population and Development (PL c P D) stressed that vices, like smoking and vaping, have a massive impact on a person’s overall financial health.

They also cited that one of the results of the 2021 G aT S (General a g reement on Trade in Services) showed that among daily cigarette smokers, the average monthly expenditure was P1,273.90. The amount could have been spent to buy more nutritious food or on other necessities.

Photo exhibit

To convey the bad impact of smoking, smoke-free advocates and the city government of Manila recently launched a photo exhibit at the Manila c ity Hall, in time for the commemoration of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday, May 31.

With the theme “We need food, not tobacco,” the exhibit sought to convey the powerful message that tobacco does not have any redeeming value, whereas food does.

The photo exhibit was organized through the collaborative efforts of Manila c i ty Vice Mayor John Marvin “Yul Servo” Nieto, alongside HealthJustice, PL c P D, c h ild Rights Network, Social Watch Philippines, Philippine Smoke-Free Movement, c a mpaign for Tobacco-free Kids, a k tib, Parents a g ainst Vape, and a c tion for Economic Reforms.

Nieto said that the exhibit aims to make people aware of the bad effects of smoking not just on the smokers’ body but also on the people around them. Second- and third-hand smoke also pose harm to even non-smokers.

“Instead of spending on cigarettes that will only do harm on our health and our source of living, we should prioritize food,” Nieto said during the launch of the photo exhibit.

Nieto also underscored the role of the local government, like the city of Manila, in spreading awareness to help the smokers in the city quit for the sake of their health.

Strengthen smoke-free policy

T H E Vice Mayor also stressed the need to strengthen the smoke-free policy of the nation’s capital.

“We are coordinating with different civil society groups to create smoke-free solutions in Manila. o u r target is for the city’s public spaces to be 100 percent smoke-free,” Nieto said.

For his part, c h ild Rights Network c o nvenor and Executive Director of the PL c P D Rom Dongeto thanked the city of Manila for “leading the way towards pursuing local policies for the protection of children’s health.”

Moreover, sexual reproductive health is one of the seven priority areas of the D o H c ampaign: “Health is Life,” which focuses on health promotion to improve health outcomes. The o k y app is also consistent with NYc s Philippine Youth Development Plan for Health.

The a u stralian Government supports the localization of the app in the Philippines as part of its aU D 48-million Indo-Pacific Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights c oVI D-19 Surge Response. The program supports the Philippines, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.

o k y Philippines is free to download from Google Play Store. The app will be available in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

“c h ild rights and health advocates across the country fully support this exhibit’s message of prioritizing healthy food over ‘no good’ tobacco and doing everything possible to ensure that all Pinoy kids have healthy lungs and are able to eat healthy food,” Dongeto explained, as he expressed hope that other LGUs will follow suit.

The photo exhibit captured the issue’s “raw and unfiltered truth.”

Key parts of the exhibit featured candid moments in workplaces across the city, including tourist areas, malls, transport areas and government offices, to highlight not only the struggle of the common people but also the added burden tobacco use puts on these people’s lives.

Likewise, the Department of Health threw its support behind the health groups as they encouraged the public to quit smoking.

“Sa b i syo Wala kang panalo, Quit now!,” the D o H s aid.

For those who want to stop smoking, the D o H s aid that they may reach D o H Quitline 1558.

Ev EryonE feels anxious at some point in their life. The American Psychiatric Association defines anxiety as “a normal reaction to stress and can be beneficial in some situations.”

Smokers told to break habit and indulge in healthy

President and CEO Dr. Beaver R, Tamesis (second from right) stresses

Director of Marketing and Patient Experience Hennesy Lou E. Miranda (left) and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jose M. Acuin look on. At right is radio and TV host Mon Gualvez.

How new parents find meaning a�ter childbirth hints at how they will adjust

BY DARBY SAXBE USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

GATHER a group of new parents and the conversation will likely turn to their childbirth stories—ranging from the joyful to the gnarly to the positively traumatic. Birth story podcasts and websites feature a curated range of birth experiences, and you can buy embossed leather “birth story” journals as a baby shower gift. People are fascinated by this pivotal, emotionally complex and literally life-and-death experience.

Birth narratives might also contain clues about how the adjustment to parenthood will go. People have long used stories to understand difficult experiences. Stories may be particularly valuable as a source of “meaning-making,” the process of finding order in chaos by making sense of unexpected events, identifying silver linings and discovering the patterns and connections that thread seemingly random events together into a coherent narrative.

In a new study led by Geoffrey Corner, a former graduate student in my lab, we found that the levels of meaning-making in the stories new parents told about their baby’s birth predicted their relationship quality and parenting stress in the child’s first months.

CONSTRUCTING MEANING IN YOUR OWN LIFE

FINDING meaningful themes and patterns in life’s seeming randomness is a fundamentally human activity. As writer Joan Didion put it, “we tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

“Meaning-making” can buffer despair in the wake of tragedy. Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl’s memoir, Man’s Search for Meaning, argued that meaning and purpose can prevent the bitterness and disillusionment that can otherwise fester after great loss. Research on what psychologists call post-traumatic growth has found that the level of “meaning-making” in people’s narratives about a difficult event predicts their mental health over time. For example, studies have found links between meaning-making and resilience in cancer patients, bereaved parents and caregivers. Cancer survivors might discover that their chemo ordeal brought them closer to friends and family, or helped them step back from the hustle of everyday life and embrace a slower pace.

Although childbirth is typically experienced as a joyful rather than a tragic event, it can still be unpredictable, frightening and even life-threatening. Indeed, psychologists have begun to recognize that particularly difficult labors can trigger post-traumatic stress symptoms, not just in mothers but in their partners as well. Even normal, non-traumatic births require parents to cope with hours, sometimes days, of pain and discomfort. Therefore, we hypothesized that meaning-making might be an important part of couples’ birth narratives, potentially promoting resilience in new parents.

To test these hypotheses, we collected birth stories from 77 couples who were participating in our lab’s longitudinal study of the transition to parenthood. We visited couples at the hospital within a day or two of their infant’s birth, and audio-recorded them sharing their stories together. We told couples, “We’d like to hear you tell the story of your birth experience. Start from the beginning and tell us as much as you remember.”

IN BIRTH STORIES

A TEAM of coders listened to each story and recorded examples of meaning-making, using three categories established in the research literature:

■ Sense-making: Identifying reasons that an event might have unfolded the way it did or making connections that show why an event was meaningful.

For example, one mother in our sample found meaning in her long labor, describing her baby as “very brave and tough” because she survived hours of pushing.

■ Benefit-finding: Pointing out silver linings or unexpected positive effects of a difficult experience. For example, after a difficult birth, one parent in our sample stated, “It was scary, but the nurses and the doctors were so nice to us.”

■ Change in identity: Describing how an event has transformed one’s sense of self. As a parent in our sample said, “I feel like my life has changed completely with the baby now here.”

Although couples told their story together, we tracked meaning-making separately for each partner. We also rated how much each partner participated in telling their story so we could adjust for their levels of engagement in sharing their birth narrative.

The couples in our sample were avid “meaning makers”: Almost all the participants made at least some meaning-making statements in their birth stories. Of the three categories of meaning-making, “change in identity” language surfaced least often, appearing in about 37 percent of the birth stories. Mothers tended to use more “sense-making” and “benefit-finding” language than fathers. And both members of a couple tended to use similar amounts of meaning-making language.

BECOMING MOM OR DAD

AFTER we had coded all of the narratives, we next looked to see whether “meaning-making” predicted

‘Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat...’

THERE’S no need to dive under the sea as the Princess of Atlantica takes her funtastic adventure at the land of Miniso.

This summer, Japanese fashion brand Miniso teams up with Disney with its The Little Mermaid collection for every Little Mermaid fan.

First shown in theaters in 1989, The Little Mermaid is an American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. This year, Walt Disney Pictures remakes the 1989 Disney animated feature film into a live-action musical film version.

The Little Mermaid is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters, and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea. While visiting the surface, she falls for the dashing Prince Eric.

While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life—and her father’s crown—in jeopardy. The Little Mermaid live action musical is in cinemas beginning May 24.

Miniso’s The Little Mermaid collection includes stationery like washi tapes, sticky notes, notebooks, coloring books and art sets. Girls will love stylish accessories like necklace and bracelet kit, cosmetic organizers, pouches and more. There are also unique finds like for the home like placemats, bento boxes, tumbler, water bottle, floor mat and gel air freshener.

Available starting this June, Disney’s The Little Mermaid collection is at Miniso stores nationwide and shop. minisoph.com.

couples. The transition to parenthood can be a “crisis event” for the couple relationship and is often linked with declines in relationship quality. But when mothers used more “sense-making” and “benefit-finding” language, they showed a smaller drop in their relationship satisfaction than moms who used less. Fathers who used more “sense-making” and “benefit-finding” language reported lower parenting stress at six months postpartum than dads who used less. And partners of fathers who used more “change in identity” language also reported lower parenting stress later on, suggesting that dads who experience the transition to parenthood as transformative may be able to help mothers cope better with new parenthood. On the flip side, though, when mothers showed more meaning-making, their partners actually reported more parenting stress at six months postpartum. It may be that when mothers find the birth experience to be more personally meaningful, partners feel left out or pressured to step up their own parenting.

Overall, these results supported our initial hunch that meaning-making might be detectable in birth narratives and forecast parents’ psychological adjustment after birth. Greater meaning-making language seemed to benefit the couple relationship and largely buffer parenting stress.

This study was limited by a fairly small sample of cohabiting heterosexual parents. Nevertheless, it highlights the value of stories in shaping family transitions.

For therapists working with new parents in the wake of a difficult birth, encouraging couples to seek meaning in their birth story may help ease their transition to parenthood. Journaling and storytelling exercises may help couples process their feelings about their childbirth experiences. After all, the birth of a baby is also the birth of a story—and that story is well worth telling. THE CONVERSATION

stones have been known to cause such excruciating pain on either side of your back or abdomen, having you rush to a hospital ER, or in some cases undergoing surgery.

How can a “stone” put you through so much agony—and how do they get in your kidneys in the first place? “Also known as renal calculi, kidney stones are irregularly shaped solid masses of minerals and salts that form around your urinary tract, which is made up of your two kidneys, bladder, urethra, and ureters,” says Eladio Miguel M. Peñaranda Jr., MD, Department Chair of Nephrology of the country’s top medical institution Makati Medical Center (MakatiMed, www. makatimed.net.ph).

Medical conditions, certain prescription drugs, and what you eat cause kidney stones to form. “Calcium stones develop from consuming too much potato chips, peanuts, chocolates, and spinach. Stones formed from uric acid are due to a diet rich in purine, a substance found in seafood and meat. People prone to urinary tract infections tend to get kidney stones made of the phosphate mineral struvite. And a rare genetic disorder called cystinuria produces kidney stones made of the amino acid cystine,” continues Peñaranda.

If your kidney stones are tiny enough, you won’t even know they’re there and they can pass through your urinary tract without you feeling a thing. But at a certain size, they can get lodged in your ureter, that narrow passageway that drains urine from your kidney to your bladder. “It takes about a day or two for a kidney stone smaller than 4 millimeters to exit your ureter, and at least two weeks before you can pee stones larger than 4 millimeters,” explains Peñaranda.

Aside from unbearable pain on your lower back or side of your body, other symptoms of trapped kidney stones include nausea or vomiting, fever or chills, and issues with urinating: from blood, a foul odor, or cloudiness in your pee to the need to urinate frequently or not being able to urinate at all.

X-rays, CT scans, and ultrasounds can detect if your symptoms are indeed caused by kidney stones. Medications can help you manage pain and nausea, and also allow your ureter to relax so you can pass the stone. “Should you need surgery, doctors perform a minimally invasive procedure involving small incisions and shockwaves to break up the stones,” shares Peñaranda.

Do you have high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, gout, or a family history of kidney stones? These increase your risk of developing them. Lower your chances by following these simple suggestions from MakatiMed:

■ DRINK, DRINK, DRINK. Water isn’t the only liquid that doctors recommend. Lemon juice contains citrate, which helps prevent kidney stones from forming. The point is to keep yourself constantly hydrated so you pee more often, flushing out the substances that cause kidney stones to form.

■ CUT DOWN ON SALT. Too much salt in your diet increases the amount of calcium in your urine, making you prone to forming kidney stones.

■ MANAGE WEIGHT. Studies show that obesity and a high body mass index raise the chances of developing kidney stones. When you’re overweight, you’re most likely eating junk food, fast foods, and processed foods that can lead to kidney stone development. Being overweight also means you’re prone to hypertension and diabetes, which increase your risk for kidney stones. Regular exercise coupled with eating a balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, and high-quality protein in moderation will keep your weight down and prevent kidney stones.

PHOTO BY JACEK DYLAG ON UNSPLASH

Power Mac Center reopens its Greenbelt 3 flagship store

Psst! Having A Down Day? These Daily Reminders Will Pick Up Your Spirits

IN an ideal world, things will always go your way. The MRT will never be late or packed, you can always buy whatever you want, and you will never gain a pound or two despite indulging your sweet tooth. Alas, an ideal world doesn’t truly exist and our daily reality can sometimes be tougher to navigate than how we hope it to be.

The thing is, experiencing these little bumps doesn’t exactly make life bad. Instead, you can think of them as little bursts of flavor that make your adventure a little bit more interesting!

The way that we take pitfalls in stride is what makes the world of difference in how we manage them and so is giving in sometimes to situations instead of fighting them off.

If you need a little refresher that feeling BAD is not really all that BAD, then here are a few daily reminders that will surely turn that frown into a smile.

1. The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude. – Dennis S. Brown. Couldn’t this be more true? It may sound cliche or even too idealistic, but it is how we take and give in to things that change the way we view and feel them.

2. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. – Robert Louis Stevenson. This is the perfect reminder to all of us who can be a little tough on ourselves when we fall short of our expectations. Sometimes you win. Other times you just get to be a step closer to your goal. Both are okay.

3. Sometimes you need those bad days, to help you appreciate the good ones. – Unknown. Read that again. If every day is perfect, then what makes a good day… good? Appreciating your wins is so much sweeter when you’ve experienced losses, too.

4. I am learning to trust the journey even when I do not understand it. –Mila Bron. Not ultimately knowing

where you are going or what’s coming next may be one of the most terrifying things in life. But it’s the element of surprise and the way that we enjoy the ride that makes life all the more special.

5. If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.

– Eleanor Roosevelt. Yes, flavor. All the limitations we put on ourselves to make sure everything goes our way are the roadblocks that can make life black and white. Live truly and honestly by going through flavors. Bitter, sweet, or both, all are important in the great recipe of life.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to just “give in?” When you feel like the day is tougher than usual, tap on your inner child and remember how you used to handle your big emotions. For a lot of us, it is simply allowing ourselves to FEEL. That, or a bite or two of simply good ice cream.

The next time you are feeling down, get yourself your favorite Nestlé Ice Cream cold treat. The leading ice cream brand has never failed to make anyone smile with its quality flavors, one bite of which can turn a bad day into a good one.

Being the true champ that it is, Nestlé Ice Cream is making everyone’s summer extra special with its Great Ice Cream Sale. The promo, which will run until June 30 gives big discounts to cult favorites like Nestlé Temptations (Strawberries & Cream, Almond Brownie Fudge, Double Dutch, Cookies & Cream, Rocky Road, Mocha & Cashew), Nestlé Drumstick (Double Choco Vanilla and Ube Cheesecake), and Nobrelli (Choco-KesoUbe, Choco-Manga-Ube, Choco-PandanUbe). This special treat is available when you buy in all leading supermarkets and Nestlé Ice Cream’s official Lazada store: Ice Cream Party PH. If that is not a good sign that it is time for you to give yourself a break, then we don’t know what is. After all, ice cream makes everything so much better—though should you really wait for a bad day to have some? Go ahead. Indulge.

To stay updated on other promos, follow Nestlé Ice Cream Philippines and Nestlé Temptations on Facebook. You can also follow Nestlé Temptations on Instagram to add a little sweetness to your feed.

SMX Convention Center Clark celebrates 1st anniversary, is now a premier MICE destination in Central Luzon

SMX Convention Center Clark proudly announced the first anniversary of its grand opening, marking a successful year of hosting events in the heart of Clark in Pampanga. Since it opened, SMX Clark has emerged as a premier destination in Central Luzon for meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions contributing to the growth of the local economy and establishing itself as a hub for business, innovation, and collaboration.

Over the past year, SMX Clark has hosted a multitude of events, attracting a diverse range of industries in the country. With its modern facilities and a team of dedicated professionals, SMX Clark has accommodated large-scale conferences, trade shows, concerts, and corporate events such as PhilConstruct, National PESO Congress, Philippine Dental

Association LuCon, 1st North Luzon Travel Fair, Philippine Councilors League, Regional Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, SB19 Concert, Pampanga Year 14 Grand Bridal Fair and Ms. Mabalacat Pageant, to name a few.

SMX Clark’s achievements can be attributed to its strategic location, situated within the SM City Clark Complex, a thriving business, and shopping destination. Its proximity to Clark International Airport and major highways makes it easily accessible for both local and international attendees, providing convenience and facilitating seamless event eXperiences.

“We are delighted to commemorate the first anniversary of SMX Convention Center Clark, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our clients, partners,

stakeholders, and the local community who have been instrumental in our success,” Mike Albana, Vice PresidentGeneral Manager of SMX Convention Centers, said. “We are proud to have established ourselves as a premier events destination, and we look forward to continuing our journey of eXcellence in the years to come.”

As SMX Clark enters its second year of operation, it remains committed to raising the bar in the events industry and providing a venue that exceeds the expectations of clients and attendees alike. With its continued commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction, SMX Clark looks forward to many more successful years of hosting exceptional events and making memorable milestones.

BUILDING on the success of the country’s first-ever “Apple Premium Partner” store, premier Apple reseller Power Mac Center (PMC) reopened its Greenbelt 3 flagship store on June 2, 2023, with a total area of 462 square meters to bring a bigger and better experience to its loyal customers and Apple fans in the metro.

“Apple Premium Partner” is Apple’s newest and highest distinction of reseller retail stores globally. PMC was one of the first in Southeast Asia to open an APP store as it unveiled the Power Mac Center Apple Premium Partner in Power Plant Mall in December last year.

Apart from the comprehensive line of Apple products, the Power Mac Center Apple Premium Partner store in Greenbelt 3 also now offers repair services through an inhouse Mobile Care Service Center, as well as free in-store workshops daily to further empower new and existing customers with all the information they need to maximize Apple technology.

From the opening day onwards, Power Mac Center will host workshops about creating a more personalized experience with the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro, portrait photography with iPhone, productivity with iPad, switching to Mac, multitasking and project management with Mac, and getting to know Apple Watch as the perfect iPhone companion. Two sessions will be available during weekdays (Monday to Thursday) at 5 pm and 7 pm while weekend (Friday to Sunday) classes will be held at 12 pm, 3 pm, 5 pm and 7 pm

“It was a great delight for us to open the first Apple Premium Partner store in the country. As we welcome customers to another store of this kind, we feel more committed to serve our purpose of bridging more Filipinos to Apple technology. Whether you’re a student, a professional, a creative, or a business owner, the Power Mac Center Apple Premium Partner store in Greenbelt 3 is your one-stop premium destination. All things Apple, all in one place,” said Joey Alvarez, PMC Director of Product Management and Marketing

“This Power Mac Center Apple Premium Partner store in Greenbelt 3 brings a worldclass retail experience for Filipino Apple fans. We h9ave curated the country’s most-loved accessory brands to pair well with our widest selection of Apple devices to be able to cater to

every need and personality. And then, we have brought in workshop masters in-house who will teach and inspire our customers to make the most out of their tech arsenal, thereby creating a truly unique and holistic shopping experience in our biggest location yet,” added Anna Cabanos, PMC Director for Sales.

“Mobile Care Service Center has always served as the technical support provider of loyal PMC customers and Apple fans all over the country. We are excited to finally be able to bring our repair and maintenance services to the flagship store in Greenbelt 3—now an Apple Premium Partner store. We aim to continue marching forward in our mission, and from here onwards, we get to do it in a one-stop-shop capacity with our APP stores,” said Jim Laguio, PMC Director for Service, Warehouse and Logistics Power Mac Center is a recognized Apple Premium Reseller, Apple Authorized Education Reseller, Apple Authorized Training Provider, and Apple Authorized Service Provider in the Philippines. It has become a reliable retail shop and service provider of Apple products to the Filipino consumer. The company has grown to 100 locations, including retail branches, service centers, and training centers nationwide.

Lumina Homes launches eco-friendly, innovative eco-bins in select projects in fight vs climate change

WITH this country being flagged as one of the most vulnerable to environmental degradation, Filipinos should take every opportunity to help mitigate its adverse effects. Their homes are a good place to start. Most households produce vast amounts of waste resulting from leftover food, discarded food packaging, or even kitchen appliances that are no longer in use. Families can manage this by reducing household consumption through recycling, buying secondhand goods, or simply planning their trips to the groceries.

On a larger scale, property developers can do their part by greening their environs and installing carbon-footprint-reducing features. Lumina Homes, a leading brand in the affordable housing sector, is one such model of an environmentally conscious developer. Its communities boast of verdant gardens, walkable neighborhoods, and wide road networks that spur residents to enjoy the outdoors.

Lumina has also installed solar-powered streetlights that make it safe for residents to go biking, jogging, and strolling even at night. Tree-planting and clean-up activities are likewise regularly held.

To complement these worthwhile initiatives, Lumina Homes recently launched an eco-friendly innovation called “eco-bins” in select projects, one of which is Lumina Homes in Pandi, Bulacan. Eco-bins function as an efficient waste management system that is built right into the property’s wall. With such a convenient access to waste

containers, homeowners will generally find it easier and simpler to keep their dwellings cleaner, neater, and healthier.

Lumina Homes’ eco-bin system was launched on April 28, 2023 at Lumina Pandi in Bulacan. The event was led by Ubie Cristobal, the Area Head for Lumina Bulacan, who explained how sustainable living creates healthier communities.

Lumina Pandi’s residents, marketing officers, and Lumina North Luzon’s top performing sellers were also in attendance, witnessing the unveiling of the eco-bin during a unit tour.

Prospective homeowners may likewise experience the eco-bin system by visiting Lumina’s model home in Barangay Pinagkuartelan, Pandi, Bulacan.

Lumina Pandi is a 22-hectare house and lot development equipped with wellthought-out amenities that include a 24/7 guarded entrance with CCTV, covered basketball court, mini gardens and a playground. It is one of Lumina Homes’ centerpiece projects in the outskirts of the metro, to be followed soon by Lumina in Plaridel, Calumpit, Baliwag, and San Miguel—all municipalities in the historic province of Bulacan.

For more information about Lumina Homes, “The Home You Deserve,” prospective homebuyers may visit its official website at www.lumina.com.ph. Meanwhile, those looking to apply as digital sales associates or other positions may visit the careers website at https://www.lumina.com. ph/careers/apply-for-digital-sales-associate.

LUMINA Pandi’s residents, marketing officers, and Lumina North Luzon’s top performing sellers were in attendance, witnessing the unveiling of the eco-bin during a unit tour.

Envoys&Expats

Lithuania sends 390K+ bivalent vaccine doses

Said vaccines arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Terminal 3 on the evening of June 3.

Negotiation for the vaccines started as early as August 2022 and was finally offered by the Lithuanian government in January 2023. Until then, the Philippine government, with the support of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., expedited the processes and issuance of permits for the arrival of the vaccines.

“It is with great pleasure that we have received such generous donations from the Lithuanian govern-

ment, and our sincerest gratitude to our partner agencies for being one with the DOH in seeing that within our reach is a bountiful future—one that is most achievable starting with ensuring that we have sufficient protection against the Covid-19 virus,” the Health Department’s officer in charge Dr. Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire said.

“To every eligible Juan and Juana, we urge everyone to get the opportunity to gain longer and stronger protection by getting vaccinated against [the coronavirus]. Together, let us move toward a

healthier Pilipinas,” Singh-Vergeire added.

Present during the turn-over of the vaccines were Honorary Consul Julia Netta Vildzius Peña of the Republic of Lithuania and Deputy Head of Mission Dr. Ana-Isabel Sanchez-Ruiz from the Delegation of the European Union to the

Japan joins Phil., US coast guards’ maritime training

THE Japan Coast Guard (JCG) joined the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG) from June 1 to 7 in conducting a trilateral maritime exercise in Mariveles, Bataan.

The exercise was the first of its kind among the three countries’ coast guards.

The PCG held an arrival ceremony at Pier 15 in South Harbor, Manila on June 1 as it welcomed contingents from Japanese and American counterparts. Charges d’Affaires a.i. (CDA) Kenichi Matsuda of the Embassy of Japan, Deputy Chief of Mission Heather Variava of the US Embassy, PCG Vice Admiral Rolando Punzalan Jr., Transportation Undersecretary (Maritime Sector) Elmer Francisco Sarmiento and Foreign Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary Raphael Hermoso were in attendance.

The BRP Melchora Aquino and the 44-meter MRRV were acquired through the “Maritime Safety Improvement” project of the Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA and the Department of Transportation.

The maritime exercise aimed to strengthen interoperability among the JCG, PCG and USCG via communication exercises, maneuvering drills, photo exercises, maritime lawenforcement training, search-andrescue, as well as passing exercises.

Matsuda affirmed Japan’s support for the trilateral maritime exercise, as he said, “the shared [histories among Japan, the Philippines and the US realize] a free and open international order in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Philippines, while among the DOH officials were Assistant Secretary Dr. Leonita Gorgolon of the Management Services Team. Also in attendance from the national government included representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Bureau of Customs.

Coalition on media freedom ‘gravely concerned’ on broadcaster’s killing

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

ACOALITION of 52 countries have expressed “grave concern” over the killing of Filipino radio journalist Cresenciano Bunduquin in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro last May 31.

The Dutch and Canadian embassies in Manila issued their joint statement via Twitter. The Netherlands and Canada are joint chairs of the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) in the Philippines.

The 50-year old Bunduquin hosted a radio program over 101.7 DWXR “Kalahi FM” as well as on Facebook. His station manager

described him as a “hard-hitting” commentator, as he voiced opinions on issues that include the recent oil spill in Mindoro, illegal gambling and politics.

Around 4:20 a.m. two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot the broadcaster in front of his store. The victim’s son was able to board a car and chased the assailants. He bumped their motorcycle which killed one of the suspects, identified as Narciso Ignacio Guntan. The other suspect was able to escape.

“We express our grave concern about the killing of radio broadcaster Mr. Bunduquin... We extend our deepest sympathies

to his family and loved ones he left behind,” the Canadian and Dutch embassies said in their joint statement.

The MFC is a global diplomatic network of 52 countries that pledges to defend media freedom where and when it is under threat. Aside from Canada and the Netherlands, other MFC member-countries include the United States, Japan, United Kingdom and South Korea. The coalition was created to “proactively” advocate for media freedom at home and abroad.

The Philippines, considered as “one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists,” is not a mem-

The JCG deployed Akitsushima (PLH-32) for the exercise; the PCG sent BRP Melchora Aquino (MRRV9702), BRP Gabriela Silang (OPV8301), BRP Boracay (FPB-2401) and a 44-meter multirole response vessel (MRRV), while the USCG fielded USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752).

He added that Japan has taken another step forward toward reinforcing maritime-domain awareness and maritime-law enforcement, as affirmed in the Japan-Philippines Joint Statement.

“We will concretely advance cooperation with the Philippines to bolster maritime-security capabilities and freedom of navigation,” said the Japanese CDA.

‘EuroVillage’ samples modern sports from Hungary, Finland

ber of the MFC.

“As co-chairs of the MFC, we welcome swift action by law-enforcement agencies to investigate Mr. Bunduquin’s death, and urge Philippine authorities to take concrete steps to ensure…the perpetrators are brought to justice,” the coalition’s declaration said.

It went further: “Media freedom is an integral element of democracy. To safeguard [such], it is essential that journalists can execute their work without fearing for their lives and safety. Attacks on media workers must be urgently investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable.”

I. Cervantes launches Hispanic storytellers anthology in Filipino

ON June 13 at 2 p.m. Instituto Cervantes de Manila and Milflores Publishing will present the book “Mga Papel ni Benengeli: An anthology of short stories by contemporary Spanish-speaking writers translated in Filipino.” The book launch is part of the “Benengeli 2023: Semana de las Letras en Español” festival from June 12 to 16 that will gather more than 60 writers from five continents. Eight Instituto Cervantes global centers

(Manila, Sydney, Tokyo, Brussels, Toulouse, Manchester, Tangiers and Los Angeles) will program activities both online and in-person within the framework of the literary event to promote dialogues among Spanishspeaking writers and their colleagues in other countries.

The book is precisely one of the fruits of a previous edition of Benengeli. It presents a selection of stories by six writers from the Spanishspeaking world who participated in

a meeting two years ago: Venezuelan José Balza, Puerto Rican Ana Lydia Vega, Cuban Karla Suárez, Panamanian Carlos Wynter Melo, Chilean Antonio Díaz Oliva and Spanish Almudena Sánchez.

The works were translated into Filipino by Daisy López, Wystan de la Peña and Marlon James Sales. The result shows “a fine picture of the narrative richness of contemporary literature in Spanish,” according to the institute.

This event is being staged by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in collaboration with Milflores Publishing, the Embassy of Spain and Intramuros Administration. Admission is open on a “first come, first served” basis. For more information, attendance confirmation and other events of Instituto Cervantes de Manila, visit http://manila.cervantes.es or Instituto Cervantes-Manila on Facebook.

TABLE tennis played with a twist—by using one’s feet?

The Embassy of Hungary introduced its own version of table tennis called “teqball” during the EuroVillage last weekend in Capitol Commons Park, Pasig City. It is a football-based sport played on a specially-built curved table, and is currently attracting a new generation of athletes and enthusiasts called “teqers.”

Created in Hungary in 2012, teqball is a gender-equitable game, as it can be played between two (singles) or four players (doubles), irrespective of gender.

The sport follows a points-based scoring format and can be played on various surfaces such as sand, acrylic or indoors. It allows players a maximum of three touches before returning the ball to the opponent; so if one can juggle a football three times, he or she will excel at it.

On the other hand, mölkky —a Finnish throwing game with characteristics similar to bowling, kubb and pétanque —was also demonstrated. It was created by the company Lahden Paikka in 1996 and

was probably inspired by the Finnish word pölkky, which means “block of wood.”

Mölkky requires both skill and precision, but also a strategic mindset. Today tournaments are played the world over. There is also a Mölkky World Championship organized yearly, with around 200 teams of four to six players competing.

Apart from these exciting sports demonstrations, delectable food and drinks from the European Union were put up on sale: from bread and rye, waffles, sausages, to dairy products and beer. Special concerts were also staged.

The EuroVillage offered an exciting and dynamic sample of the EU’s culture, arts, music, food and gastronomy, products, crafts, languages, sports—all in two days and in one hub. The best novelties from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Romania and Finland were showcased during the “miniature EU.” Aligned with the bloc’s solidarity, it also featured products and crafts from Ukraine.

LATEST F.M. VISIT Ambassador Ilan Fluss of Israel (left) welcomed Foreign Minister Eliyahu Cohen on Sunday evening, June 4. The latter is in the country for a two-day official trip. Cohen also met with Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo, where he committed to assist and share his country’s knowledge in the areas of agriculture, water treatment as well as innovation and technology. The last Israeli minister of foreign affairs who visited Manila was Abba Eban, back in 1967—or 56 years ago.

NEW VISA CENTER The BLS International Poland Visa Application Center was inaugurated on June 1 at the 19th Floor of the Philippine AXA Life Building along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City. Charge d’Affaires Jaroslaw Szczepankiewicz (right) was joined by Republic of Poland’s honorary consuls

ment infrastructure, circular economy start-ups as well as micro, small and medium enterprises.

THE Philippines, through the Department of Health (DOH), has received more than 390,000 doses of bivalent vaccines courtesy of the government of Lithuania.

HONORARY Consul Julia Netta Vildzius Peña and Deputy Head of Mission Dr. Ana Isabel SanchezRuiz (second and third from left) flanked by Philippine government officials DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

‘TEQBALL’ demonstration

EJ bags bronze in Poland meet

B8 Thursday, June 8, 2023

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Editor: Jun Lomibao

OTOM POWERS PHL ONSLAUGHT

PGA, LIV MERGE...WHAT? Sports

THE Philippines—behind Angel Otom’s splurge in swimming—had its biggest gold medal haul in one day with nine victories in the 12th ASEAN Para Games in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

Otom, 19, claimed her third and fourth gold medal at the Morodok Aquatics Center with stunning victories in the women’s 50 meters butterfly and freestyle of S5 to become the country’s first quadruple gold medalist.

The pride of Olongapo City made it more meaningful by setting a new games record of 47.33 seconds in the 50 butterfly, shattering her own 48.07 mark she set last year in Surakarta, Indonesia.

Darry Bernardo outclassed the men’s field in standard B2B3 of chess by copping the individual and team crowns along with Menandro Redor and Arman Subaste.

B ernardo’s earlier triumphs came in rapid individual and team Sunday.

H e could emerge as the most successful Filipino athlete, if not the entire games, if he could add the individual and team blitz gold medals on Thursday.

A lso striking gold were Evaristo Carbonel (discus throw F11) and Jerold Mangliwan (200m T52) at the Morodok Techo National Stadium and swimmer Ernie Gawilan in men’s 200 individual medley SM7.

The Philippines was fifth in the medals race with 27 golds, one shy of replicating the 28-gold haul last year.

Gawilan also pocketed the silver medal in the 50m buttterfly (34.72), finishing second to Singapore’s Wei Soong Toh (30.78) and ahead of

Vietnam’s Nguyen Hoang Nha (34.84).

Double-gold medalist Gary Bejino placed second in the men’s 50m butterfly S6 event won by Thailand’s Aekkarin Noithat (34.48). Boonyarit Payungsakul, also from Thailand, was third (39.02).

Jesebel Tordecilla got silver in

women’s javelin throw F55 with 13.62 meters. Vietnam’s Ngo Thi Lan won the gold medal (14.27m) while Myanmar’s Htet Htet Aye secured the bronze medal (11.68m).

A ndrei Kuizon registered 19.03 meters in the men’s javelin throw F3454 to finished second behind Vietnam’s Vovan Tung (21.33m). Malaysia’s Taufik Nasirdin (13.19m) was third.

Athletics also delivered three bronze medals from Cendy Asusano, Jerome Fernandez and Arman Dino.

A susano, another double-gold winner, finished third in the women’s discus throw F54 with an effort of 13.46m.

THE Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour abruptly dropped its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf venture on Tuesday and instead announced a stunning merger that creates a global operation featuring the world’s top players backed by the Saudis’ massive wealth.

A s part of the deal merging the PGA Tour and European tour with Saudi Arabia’s golf interests, the sides immediately are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf.

From the golf side, still to be determined is how players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson can rejoin the PGA Tour after defecting last year for signing bonuses reported to be in the $150 million range.

From the commercial side, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund joins the PGA Tour board of directors and leads the new business venture as chairman, though the PGA Tour will have a majority stake.

News of the deal came as a surprise to many watchers of the lawsuits and Saudi Arabia’s inroads into US politics, sports and culture.

This is a huge development

and obviously upends a world of golf, which has been perhaps more tradition-bound in the past,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Houston’s Baker Institute.

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has made a point of seeking out investments, like LIV, where it could shake up existing industries, Ulrichsen said.

“ That’s sort of one of their mantras, is to try to be disruptive and to take on the status quo,” he said. “And in this case, they seem to have succeeded.”

The announcement comes a year after LIV Golf began. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was at the Canadian Open that week and said pointedly about any player who joined LIV or was thinking about it: “Have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”

Now they are partners, giving Saudi Arabia a commercial voice in golf’s premier organization.

I recognize everything I’ve said in the past. I recognize people will call me a hypocrite,” Monahan said in a conference call Tuesday evening. “Any time I’ve said anything, I’ve said it with the information I had, and I said it with someone trying to compete

Singson leapfrogs to top with 69; Jaraula leads after nailing 2 eagles

with our tour and our players.”

Most PGA Tour players were bewildered by the shocking turnaround. It didn’t help that a news outlet broke the embargoed announcement before Monahan could send a memo to the players. Most learned of the development on social media.

I love finding out about morning news on Twitter,” two-time major champion Collin Morikawa tweeted.

M any were not happy. Wesley Bryan tweeted, “I feel betrayed, and will not...be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA Tour for a very long time.”

B yeong Hun An added on Twitter: “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.”

They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realize all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

“ We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.”

AMATEUR Mafy Singson made a huge 10-stroke turnaround to jump from the middle of the pack to the top of the heap with a superb three-under 69 on Wednesday in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Valley Golf Challenge in Antipolo City.

R eymon Jaraula, on the other hand, shouldered himself past erstwhile joint leaders Ira Alido and Angelo Que with a rare two-eagle feat for a brilliant 66 but had to endure a two hour-long wait before formally claiming a two-stroke lead over Alido midway through the men’s tournament.

L ightning forced the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. to suspend play at noon, minutes after Jaraula turned in a near-flawless 32-34 card marked by eagles on Nos. 7 and 17, and moments after Alido and Que took different routes following a spirited battle of shotmaking, putting and poise to stay at the helm for the second straight day. S ingson drove past Chihiro Ikeda and Korean amateur Min Yeong Kim to find herself 18 holes closer to her second pro crown.

Digging for gold

THE Golden State Warriors have dominated the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals over the last five years with consecutive Finals appearances that have made them as memorable in the modern era as Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics was in the 60s.

But this NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat seems to be most intriguing and interesting because of its unique storyline. This is the Miami Heat’s seventh Finals appearance. This is the Nuggets’ first ever NBA Finals appearance in their 47 years of existence.

M iami has converted three of their seven finals trips into actual championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013. The closest Denver ever got to dream with basis about the Larry O’Brien trophy was in April 2022 when they faced Golden State in the first round of the playoffs.

Denver played solid and consistent all throughout the regular season. They were focused and resolute. They ruled the playoffs like kings and eliminated their usual nemesis, the Los Angeles Lakers, in a second round sweep.

M iami had to catch the last bus as chance passenger to get to where they’re at. They had to claw their way out of the play-in and bravely compete in the next stages. Look at the calibre of the teams they disposed of one after the other in the various rounds of the playoffs. Remarkable for an eighth-seed that has come to shock the NBA world!

To be truthful, both teams have been very impressive so far. Denver glittered like gold in Game 1, with twotime league MVP Nikola Jokic breaking an NBA Finals record set by Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell in Game 2 of the 1969 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA kicked off his European outdoor campaign with a bronze medal at the Memorial Ireny Szewinska pole vault competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The Asian record holder and world No. 3 Obiena cleared 5.72 meters to finish behind world No. 2 Chris Nilsen (5.92) of the US and Piotr Lisek (5.82) of Poland.

Jim Lafferty, Obiena’s confidante, was satisfied with the result which saw the three-time Southeast Asian Games champion finishing high in the star-studded 10-man field that included two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the US. He’s [Obiena] preparing to go 6 meters. As Einstein said ‘insanity is repeating the same things over and over again and expecting a different result,’” Lafferty said. “EJ aims to do things he has never done.” K endricks placed fourth also at 5.72 meters but missed the podium after the countback.  Obiena will fly to Norway for the Bergen Jump Challenge on Saturday and the Oslo Bislett Games on June 15. Josef Ramos

Curling needs to go through process–POC

By Josef Ramos

THE US-based curling organization needs to prove it has athletes capable of representing the country in international competitions before being accepted as a member or recognized by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

Do they have athletes? What important are athletes?” POC president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Wednesday. “But we are willing to welcome them as long as they go through the membership process.”

The newly-formed Curling Winter Sports Association of the Philippines Inc. (CWSAP) headed by Benjo Delarmente and based in Vallejo, California, announced its intention to become a member of the POC. Tolentino said it’s his wish as POC president to have more representation in several sports in the Winter Olympics, which will be held in 2026 in Milano Cortina, Italy.

“ I watched curling at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games last year,” he said. “I’m hoping by 2026 that we are represented in different disciplines.” There are two winter sports associations that are recognized or are members of the POC—the Philippine Skating Union headed by Nikki Cheng and the Philippine Ski and Snowboard Federation led by Jim Apelar. Delarmente said the group has 15 athletes who are actively competing in the men’s world junior championships and US women’s and US junior championships.

Jokic dished out 14 dimes that night, one better than Number 6. It’s the highest single-game assist total made by a center in the NBA Finals. In Game 1, all the nuggets of Denver—Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Michael Porter Jr.—were golden. That night, one pundit said, Miami really played like an eighth seed. But came Game 2. And there, Miami showed its character and what it’s truly made of. Not just Jimmy Butler, not just Bam Adebayo, but all the glorious undrafted cast of the Heat made the temperature unbearable for Denver right there in Mile-High City.

Some said it was superb coaching, which it is. Erik Spoelstra is the modern-day Phil Jackson and the generational coaching talent who is in the spotlight these days. How he has chosen, motivated and gotten the most out of his bunch of undrafted pieces like Max Strus, Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent, Haywood Highsmith—is pure King Leonidas to his 300 Spartans.

B eyond Spoelstra, however, some say the undrafted few who have become the Heat’s secret weapon are divinely inspired to play their best out of revenge for the snub they got on draft night.

O ne thing’s sure. People will never look at undrafted players the same way again if the Heat do get to win their fourth title.

Just what did the Heat do right to make it wrong for the Nuggets in Game 2? If GSW head coach Steve Kerr is to be believed, he said the Heat decided to focus on Jamal Murray instead of Nikola Jokic. To them, Murray, not Jokic, was “the head of the snake.” Stop Murray and the whole Nuggets game plan crumbles. And it’s true. Denver looked disoriented in the last minutes, as the Heat rained three point shots upon three point shots on them.

Murray himself could not really be stopped—as he still got away with 18 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds and only one turnover. But the Heat really did turn on the heat in the fourth quarter. And that’s what melted the Nuggets’ gold.

A t this point we still have a long way to go. The 2023 NBA Finals is tied at 1-1 and there are potentially five more games to be played. Game 3 will be in Miami, so it will be interesting what Denver will do as visiting conquistador.

The Nuggets are still favored to win it all over the Heat, by the way. But what the Heat love most is making predictions fall flat on their face.

MAFY SINGSON is 18 holes away from her second professional crown as Reymon Jaraula pulls off a surprise in the men’s contest. NONIE REYES