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Our independence was not the end but merely the principal means be prepared to evacuate to emergency shelters.

What we are seeing now is an effusive eruption,” Bacolcol told The Associated Press. “We are looking at this on a day-to-day basis.”

F rom a distance, Associated Press journalists watched lava flow down the volcano’s southeastern gullies for hours Sunday night.

People hurriedly stepped out of restaurants and bars in a seaside promenade of Legazpi, the capital of northeastern Albay province about 14 kilometers (8.5 miles) from Mayon, many of them snapping pictures of the volcano that’s a popular tourist draw known for its picturesque conical shape.

M ayon’s renewed restiveness has also struck fear and brought to achieve full development of the Philippines,” he added.

Vibrant republic

THE President also recognized the Filipinos, who fought for the coun - new suffering.

Marilyn Miranda said she, her daughter and 75-year-old mother, who recently suffered a stroke, fled their home in a village within the danger zone in Guinobatan town on Thursday and sought shelter at a sweltering high school turned into an evacuation center. Her nephew returns to their home each day, as do other men in their impoverished rural neighborhood to guard their houses and farm animals, she said.

From the overcrowded evacuation center, they were terrified to see the bright red-orange lava streaks gushing down Mayon’s slope on Sunday night. “We had this feeling that our end is near,” Miranda told the AP, breaking into tears. Mayon’s new eruption was one of back-to-back tragedies that struck Amelia Morales and her family in recent days. Her husband died of an aneurism and other illnesses on Friday and she had to hold his funeral wake in a crowded emergency shelter in Guinobatan because she and her neighbors had been ordered to stay away from their community near Mayon.

I need help to bury my husband try’s independence, particularly the first President of the Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo, to bring it to its current state.

T he Philippine Independence Day commemorates Aguinaldo’s because we don’t have any money left,” Morales, 63, said as she sat near her husband’s white wooden coffin under a flimsy open tent in a corner of the evacuation center.

“I cannot do anything but cry.” proclamation of the country’s independence from Spanish rule in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898.

With its peak often shrouded by the wisps of passing clouds, the 2,462-meter (8,077-foot) volcano appeared calm on Monday.

B acolcol said red-hot lava was continuing to flow down its slopes but could not easily be seen by people under the bright sun.

T he volcano had been raised to alert level three on a five-step warning system Thursday, meaning the volcano was in a state of high unrest and a hazardous eruption is possible in weeks or days. With lava flowing down from the volcano gently, Bacolcol said the alert level would stay at 3, but it could be moved up higher if the eruption suddenly turns perilous.

T he highest alert, level 5, would mean a violent and life-threatening eruption is underway with ash plumes shooting into the sky and superheated pyroclastic streams endangering more communities at Mayon’s lush foothills.

The heroes of our liberation would be proud to know that we have thrown off the ominous yoke of domination,” Marcos said. “ We have evolved into a healthy and vibrant republic. With a stable government supported by growing institutions and mechanisms, all of whose mandate and authority ultimately emanate from and are owed to the Filipino people,” he added.

M arcos led the country’s commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the Philippine Independence and Nationhood with the theme: “Kalayaan, Kinabukasan, Kasaysayan (Freedom, Future. History).”

A fter participating in a wreathlaying ceremony at the Rizal Park Monument, he went to the Quirino Grandstand to watch the civic and military parade.

A mong the highlights of the event was the unveiling of the special commemorative stamp, which was presented by Philippine Postal Corporation Postmaster General and Chief Executive Office Luis D. Carlos to Marcos. Pinoy

M illennials and Gen Zs have also identified specific areas that organizations could focus on to improve work/life balance: more than 40 percent of Filipino millennials and Gen Zs would like to see their organizations create more job-sharing options, while about 40 percent would like businesses to ensure that part-time employees have comparable career advancement.

W hen it comes to where they get their work done, millennials and Gen Zs seem determined to resist a return to full-time onsite work: 76 percent of Filipino millennials and 81 percent of Gen Zs say they would consider looking for a new job if their employer asks them to return to the office full-time. About half of the Filipino survey respondents would prefer to either work fully remote or have full choice over whether they work remotely or on-site. Less than 10 percent of Filipino millennials (9 percent) and Gen Zs (7 percent) prefer to work completely on-site.

F lorCruz said he recently met the chief executive officer of Dajin Heavy Industry, the world’s largest maker of wind turbine towers and structural products for offshore wind power projects.

He said Dajin is interested in looking into setting up manufacturing plants in the Philippines.

“ They are looking for a place. They need a big area. They wish to set it up close to a port so that they can export, they can ship the products, the base of wind power equipment, overseas,” FlorCruz said in a virtual forum organized by a group of Filipino-Chinese business people.

Dajin’s chairman of the board, Jin Xin, had participated in the SinoPhilippine Renewable Energy Roundtable Business Meeting during the state visit of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Beijing in January.

I n 2022, Dajin delivered wind energy products and services to the Philippines worth 150 million RMB (P 1.1 billion).

F lorCruz said he also met with executives from China Power International Development and BYD, China’s equivalent of Tesla which makes electric vehicles, who are “looking for opportunities” in the Philippines.

T he country has allowed 100-percent foreign investments in renewable energy in its bid to attain a 35-percent share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

D TI’s Pascual said the country also welcomes investors in the related sectors of battery energy storage systems and off-grid power supply systems. With this,

“Provided further that, all stockholders of the start-up enterprise shall not have held shares of any previous or existing corporation with at least 5 percent share therein, nor registered any former or existing sole proprietorship or partnership,” the provision also noted.

Tax confab crucial MEANWHILE , in a statement on Friday, Asian Consulting Group (ACG), a tax consultancy services firm, said the upcoming Interna -

“ They said they called us for a meeting so we could suggest ways how to go about the project. What an excuse! Now they consult us because the issue already exploded,” the sources intimated. (See, “Tourism players hit choice of Grab ‘guide,’” in the BusinessMirror , June 7, 2023.)

W hile they did air their concerns about the project, the participants noted that Regional Director Batin was not even present at the meeting, “nor any official from the central office who could speak about accreditation rules.”

DOT was mainly represented by Supervising Tourism Officer Ivan Agote from the NCR office, while Grab was represented by its Public Affairs Manager Kurt Cendaña.

S aid one officer of a tour guide association, who requested anonymity, “The bottom line is, there is still no clarity regarding the project, because they are just consulting us now. The tour guides were very emotional during the meeting, because they asked how can Grab drivers’ training be as exhaustive as our 30-day training?” DOT-accredited tour guides also have to pass the Professional Tour Guide Qualification Exam the agency administers, which consists of a panel interview, written exam, and a mock tour, the same source said.

Mtg with stakeholders today

IN a post on its Facebook page on

Pascual pitched to the Chinese officials the incentives available for RE projects.

Pascual said proponents of RE projects may opt to be qualified under Tier I or Tier II of the SIPP, adding that the choice will depend on the “attractiveness” of applicable incentives and the endorsement to be made by the Department of Energy (DOE).

T his was among the proposals that Pascual laid out to the Chinese officials as “the demand for energy, especially for green energy, is expected to outpace our current supply level.”

T he Trade chief also noted that by 2030, the Philippines aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the country’s power generation mix to 35 percent; and to 50 percent by 2040.

F rom January to May 2023, investments approved by the BOI reached P532.27 billion, a 158.72-percent increase from the P205.73-billion investment approvals recorded in the same period in 2022. The investment promotion agency said the surge was mainly driven by foreign investments in the renewable energy sector.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter, Pascual said the BOI approved three offshore wind projects with a total capacity of 1,300 megawatts and an estimated investment cost of more than P390 billion.

I n April 2023, Pascual, who is also the BOI chairman, said “we aim to attract more RE players globally as full foreign ownership is now allowed under the amended implementing rules and regulations of the Renewable Energy Act.” tional Tax Conference “aims to address crucial topics, including global tax issues, sustainability, and digitalization.”

“As our economy undergoes swift transformations and growth, grasping the complexity of tax regulations has become a fundamental necessity. The International Tax Conference has been meticulously designed to empower Filipino professionals with the critical knowledge and acumen required to proficiently navigate this dynamic landscape effectively,” Abrea said. Andrea E. San Juan

May 12 titled, “On-demand tours in Manila launching soon,” the DOT said, “The [Grab] drivers, who will also undergo briefing on the tourist sites, will double as tour guides during the trip and will ferry the passengers using vehicles wrapped with the distinct Grab and DOT branding.” It was learned that the DOT also invited Angkas, the motorcycle-hailing app, for a similar project. (See, “DOT invited Angkas for tour guide tieup,” in the BusinessMirror , June 9, 2023.)

DOT officials and Grab representatives will meet today (Tuesday) with officers of the major tourism stakeholders groups, along with tourist transport associations in NCR, to further discuss the project. Other sectoral meetings with affected tourism stakeholders are also expected to take place before the project is rolled out.

A t their meeting on Friday, the tour guides also took issue with the use of Grab as a booking platform, “because they don’t have the capability to do so. It will come out that Grab is a tourist transport,” which also needs accreditation from the DOT.

T he online meeting between DOT-NCR, Grab, and the tour guides on June 9 was attended by about 50 professional tour guides. “More wanted to attend but the meeting platform seemed buggy and didn’t allow more participants,” said a source.

Environment

Secretary Antonia Yulo-

Loyzaga is pushing for the integration of the informal waste sector into the expanded producer responsibility (EPR) system for plastic packaging waste to ensure that no one is left behind as the country transitions toward circular economy.

“A more holistic overall integration of the informal sector to the EPR system needs to be targeted. Economic incentives and social incentives may be established,” the chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said in her remarks at the roundtable discussion entitled “Rethinking Plastics: EPR Paving the Way Towards Circularity” held in Quezon City last May 10.

The informal waste sector in the Philippines includes waste pickers in dumpsites and communal waste collection points.

Yulo-Loyzaga underscored the significant role of the sector in waste collection and management, and the potential contribution they could bring being the “backbone of the currently limited collection services and partly of recycling” in the country.

“Collection and sorting facilities from the informal sector may be transformed into formal activities and establishments. These can be duly registered and supported by the EPR system,” she pointed out.

Yulo-Loyzaga added: “The informal sector can also be integrated as business partners, such as NGOsupported microenterprises, franchises of formal waste management companies, operating local collection centers, and forming cooperatives and collectives. This social inclusion can be improved to develop alternative livelihoods and diversified livelihoods for our informal community.”

Yulo-Loyzaga said the DENR has put focus on upcycling, envisioning that this will enable public and private investments in waste recovery, reuse, recycling as well as manufacturing and production using secondary raw materials.

Supporting the informal sector and establishing the right infrastructure were among the critical factors identified in order to accelerate the country’s transition to circular economy and implement a successful EPR policy.

During the roundtable discussion, DENR officials and private sector representatives discussed key challenges, solutions, and opportunities for government-industry collaboration for the effective enforcement of Republic Act 11898 or the EPR Act of 2022.

The EPR law serves as the environmental policy approach and practice that requires producers to be environmentally responsible throughout the life cycle of a product, especially its post-consumer or end-of-life stage. It aims to address the mismanagement of plastic waste and uphold circularity through maximizing the material value of plastics, thereby, unlocking their full potential to help boost parts of the Philippine economy.

During the panel discussion, DENR Undersecretary for Finance, Information Systems and Climate Change Analiza Rebuelta-Teh—together with National Solid Waste Management Commission

Vice Chair Crispian Lao, Nestlé Philippines Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Affairs Jose Uy III, and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia Senior Advisor to the President on Environmental Issues, Regional Knowledge Centre for Marine Plastic Debris Michikazu Kojima— discussed the urgent need for the establishment of the right recovery and recycling infrastructure to implement EPR and accelerate transition to circularity.

DENR Undersecretary for Planning, Policy and International Affairs

Jonas Leones, and DENR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations-Luzon and Visayas, and Concurrent Environmental Management Bureau Director Gilbert Gonzales facilitated the discussions.

In order to achieve circularity through EPR in the long-term, Teh said the government should establish metrics to verify accomplishments versus targets in accordance with the law provisions, give financial support to the informal waste sector, and put in place resources to establish the infrastructure for circularity.

She said that capacity development, as well as incentives for complying enterprises, and impose fines and penalties are also needed to sustain the EPR system.

In addition, Teh reiterated the significance of continuing to implement RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which establishes segregation, collection, sorting, and recycling in local government units as well as transparency and accountability in waste management.

With over 150 participants from the fast-moving consumer goods sector, development partners, policy leaders, members of the academe, non-government organizations, and key players in waste management, the roundtable dialogue is an event copresented by the DENR and Nestlé Philippines and organized by Eco-Business.

“It is important to have the voices of all sectors be well-represented because the sustained collaboration among stakeholders and those impacted by these activities and the cooperation and compliance of companies from the private sector, are key to the successful implementation of the EPR Act,” YuloLoyzaga stressed.