BusinessMirror March 07, 2022

FIA to boost jobs creation ‘Closesigning borders,seen cut Omicron exposure risk’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

By Cai U. Ordinario

T C THE University of the East recently hosted a testimonial dinner for one of its alumni, newly appointed Supreme Court Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao. Dimaampao, who came from the Court of Appeals, will occupy the post left open in the SC with the appointment as Chief Justice of then associate justice Alexander Gesmundo. Photo shows from left: Atty. Ulysses Sevilla, UE Law Alumni Association president; Atty. Viviana Paguirigan, UE Law School Dean; Mrs. Maria Gina Dimaampao; Justice Dimaampao; Dr. Ester Garcia, UE President; and Atty. Alicia Risos-Vidal. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

w w

@jearcalas @caiordinario

HE enactment of the amended LOSING the country’s borders Foreign Act (FIA) is one ofInvestments the most immediate will help attract job-generating courses of action the governinvestments, fueling the country’s ment must take to prevent the lateconomic recovery amid the Covid-19 est Covid-19 variant, Omicron, from pandemic, business leaders reaching Philippine shores,said. accordConfederation of the ingEmployers to local economists.

Philippines (Ecop) President Sergio T he new var iant is a threat, Ortiz-Luis e s p e c i a l l yJr.wsaid it h the t heentry holof id foray s eign investors in the country is seen coming up and more foreigners to makea up for the of being llowed todisplacement travel to the work caused by business shutdowns Philippines, De La Sa lle Univerin pandemic. Mar ia Ella Oplas sitthe y economist Many foreign investors, including told BusinessMirror. smaller ones, are usually already planning The holidays bring in to venture in the country following Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) the of Republic Act 11647 or whosigning are eager to spend Christmas

with their loved ones, while foreigners living in temperate regions usually want to relax in tropical countries like the Philippines. This year’s influx of OFWs is expected to be heavier since many of them were unable to come home for the holidays in December 2020.

“My recommendation is to protect the borders. Do not allow people with a history of travel to countries with “And definitely, [the amended FIA] will boost positive cases to enter,” Oplas said. employment in the country as the new “We should be more investors could replace therestrictive. businesses that[We have to be] more protective in terms closed [during the Covid-19 pandemic].”—Ecop of our measures.”

President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. Oplas said that while this will be a setback to some industries, this the FIA, Ortiz-Luis toldthat the is aamended fair measure considering BusinessMirror. this could help prevent placing the “By the signing, are alcountry inmere another strictthere lockdown,

n Monday, March 29, 7, 2022 150 Monday, November 2021Vol.Vol.1717No.No.52

ready whothe areeconomy planningcan entry which,those she said, no here in the country, even the small longer afford. ones. wethat do not the actual “It While is better we see do protective impact now,measures these investors preventive than are get now explanning to enter country,” said. posed again.

Wethe have a lot tohelose,” “And definitely, [the Oplas said.

“We should do amended it now so FIA] will boost employment in the that we can open just before Christcountry as the new investors mas. If it gets contained, we cancould open replace it again.”the businesses that closed [during theCenter Covid-19 Ateneo forpandemic].

Economic The Rebusinesses that are still closed, persearch and Development (ACERD) haps, are still contemplating their Associate Director Ser Percival next decision. In the meantime K. Peña-Reyes said closingnewthe er investors are already in, country’s borders wouldcoming be effecwith some maybe partnering with tive but should still adhere to the other local set businesses,” he added. standards by the World Health Ortiz-Luis noted that the inOrganization (WHO). crease in is foreign investments not What needed, Peña-Reyesistold solely attributed to the amended this newspaper, is for travel restricFIA, to its related measures tionsbut to also be put in place swiftly and

suchgovernment as the Republic 11595 or for to beAct proactive in the amended Retail Trade Liberimposing them. alization Actinstances signed bywhen Duterte Previous the in January, the proposed country had and the opportunity tonew imPublic Service Act. pose travel restrictions did not prePhilippine Chamber Comvent the spread of Covid-19.of That was merce and Industry President (PCCI) mainly because the decision was not Georgeimmediately, T. Barcelonhe told the Busimade said. nessMirror that there are “Kung papatay patay [Ifalready we’re foreign telecommunication compaslow] and we get caught flat-footnies[that’s “studying” to invest in the couned, risky] We were too retry following enactmentbefore. of the active insteadthe of proactive amended We shouldFIA. learn from that,” Peña“[R A 11647] will help attract Reyes said.

“It’s a delicate balancing more FDI to our country.

This act act. We need to push testing and and PSA (Public Service Act) have tracing to be properly informed made climbed up the ease of doof ourus decisions.

Blanket/shotgun ing business a couple notches,” approaches could haveof dire conseBarcelon said. quences on the economy.”

See “FIA,” A2 A2 See “Omicron,”

P25.00 P25.00 nationwide nationwide || 22 sections sections 18 20 pages pages ||

NATL GOVTFALLOUT BORROWINGS UKRAINE HITS FOR 10 MOS DIPMOST—IMF TO P2.75T WORLD’S POOR n

Cai U. Ordinario

By By Bernadette D. Nicolas

T T

Omicron risk PIPPA lists spursto revival ways cut of quarantine impact rules inof PHL oil price hike

@caiordinario @BNicolasBM

HE in HEcrisis national Ukraine will government’s likely hit the gross poor the hardest borrowings as they spend as a of end-October shrank larger share of their income on food and by almost 6 percent fuel, according to to year-on-year the International P2.75 trillion.

Monetary Fund (IMF).

Latest data from the Bureau of the The IMF said the Ukraine crisis Treasury showed that the governis bound to cause price shocks ment’s gross borrowings duringthat the will be feltperiod worldwide.

Thepercent Wash10-month fell by 5.99 ington-based lender said should from P2.92 trillion a year ago. theWith hostilities escalate, the world’s only two months left for poor will the be latest the ones to isbear the this year, figure already economic costs. equivalent to 89.6 percent of its “Countries borrowing that have very close P3.07-trillion program. economic linksgross withdomestic Ukraine borand Broken down, Russia arefrom at particular of scarrowings January risk to October city andat supply disruptions and are settled P2.23 trillion, down by most affected by the increasing in5.08 percent from P2.35 trillion flows of refugees,” IMF said. in 2020.

Prices of oilof andthe oil products The bulk amount have was soared globally, including wheat sourced from Fixed Rate Treasury and other grains.

Ukraine Bonds (P1.19 trillion), followedand by Russia are among the top sources short-term borrowings from Bangof causing the ko these Sentralcommodities ng Pilipinas or BSP (P540 surge in prices. billion), Retail Treasury Bonds/PreUkraine remains one of the myo Bonds (P463.3 billion), Retail Philippines’s top sources of wheat Onshore Dollar Bonds (P80.84 bilwhile Russia is the world’s leading lion). In the same period, there was exporter of fertilizer materials, also a net redemption of Treasury prices of which in Bills amounting to recent P43.94months billion. have already soaring. means Net debt been redemption “Price will havecoman there were shocks more debts repaid impact worldwide, especially on pared to the amount borrowed durpoor households for whom food ing the period. andMeanwhile, fuel are a higher proportion gross foreign borof expenses.

Should the conflict rowings in the same period also escalate, economic contractedthe by 9.7 percent todamage P518.7 would be all more devastatbillion from lastthe year’s P574.4 billion. ing,” IMF said.

This was raised through global “The(P146.17 sanctions on Russia will bonds billion), program also have a substantial impact on loans (P139.98 billion), euro-dethe global economy and financial nominated bonds (P121.97 billion), markets, spillovers a project with loan significant (P86.41 billion), and to other countries,” it added. yen-denominated samurai bonds See “Ukraine,” A2 (P24.19 billion).

See “Borrowings,” A2

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

IT

PEOPLE walk past the mural of Gat Andres Bonifacio at Manila City Hall Underpass.

The country will celebrate the 158th birth anniversary of Filipino revolutionary hero Gat Andres Bonifacio on Tuesday, November 30. ROY DOMINGO BEYOND REACH Gasoline nozzles dangling from a petrol station in Makati City seem out of reach to an attendant, like the steadily rising oil prices that kept all sectors anxious at the weekend. Oil companies are expected to impose a heftier price increase on fuel products this week, and, from all indications, the spikes, further driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will continue. NONIE REYES

OVER 3-M FARMERS LISTED FOR P75-B COCO LEVY FUND HOUSE AD HOC PANEL TACKLES FUEL CRISIS IMPACT

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

M T

@joveemarie ORE than 3 million

& Butch Fernandez coconut farmers and

@butchfBM workers are now registered with the government’s regHouse of Representaistry, HE which serves as the basis tives has created the to Fuel for the number of people be Crisis Ad Hoc Commitcovered by the utilization of the tee that will discuss economic P75-billion coconutthe levy fund. impact of the fuel crisisAuthority in a spePhilippine Coconut cial meeting Monday.

(PCA) Deputyon Administrator Roel House Committee onmillion Ways M. Rosales said about 3.11 and Means Chairman Joey Sarte coconut farmers and farm workSalceda said Speaker Lord Allan ers have been registered with the government since it started up-

dating its registry following the enactment of the Coconut FarmVelasco ad hoc panel ers and created Industrythe Trust Fund law. amid growing concernthat overabout how Rosales explained the steadily rising prices of fuel, 500,000 coconut farmers and driven further by the Ukraine criworkers were added to the PCA’s sis, could derail a fragile recovery 2018 list that had about 2.5 million from the pandemic. coconut farmers and farm workers.

Several government agencies The PCA’s next step is to conand stakeholders have been invited duct an exclusion-inclusion proto the hearing, including the Nacedure by making the updated tional Economic andpublic, Development farmers’ registry providAuthority, Department of Trade ing everyone the opportunity to and Industry, Department of Agcheck the veracity of the list, Roriculture, Department of Energy, sales added.

Department of be Transportation, “The list will posted in public spaces where people can easily see

them. This allows everyone to see who are listed in the registry and if Land Transportation Office, LTfarmer doesn’t see his name then he FRB, of Finance, shallDepartment coordinate with the PCADeimpartment ofhe Budget and Managemediately,” explained at a recent ment, Bangko Sentral ngfarmers.

Pilipinas, dialogue with coconut Philippines of Petroleum, “On theInstitute other hand, if people Independent Philippine Petroleum would see names on the list and Companies they thinkAssociation, they are notPilipinas coconut Shell and or Petron farmers theirCorporation. details are incorThethey House has also rect, can report it to invited the PCA stakeholders from land,he sea and for immediate action,” added. air industries.

The PCA official noted that Upon instructions Velasco, the completion of theofinitial list the House Committees on Economof coconut farmers registry would icbe Affairs, Energy, just inontime for on theTransporexpected rollout of coconut levy-funded

programs as President Duterte is expected to sign the industry tation, and Salceda’s on development planCommittee in early 2022.

Ways and Means Fuel Rosales saidwill theform PCAthe will not Crisis Ad Hoc Cttee andofwill hold stop updating its list coconut afarmers special hearing on Monday, 9:30 and enjoined them to regam to discuss steps to control the ister in order to reap the benefits rise in oil prices or limit its impact. of the decades-long idled coconut Salceda said the meeting will levy fund. “We will not stop at 3.1 discuss, among others, the ecomillion. We hope that more indinomic of theinfuel crisis, vidualsimpact will register our coconut with focusregistry,” on the effects farmers he said.on the economy and inflation, trade The updating of theoncoconut and commodity prices, and farmers registry is mandatedon by agriculture.

Republic Act (RA) 11524 or the “House,” A2 Fund Act. Coconut See Industry Trust See “3-M farmers,” A2

By Lenie Lectura

@llecturaL concerns NTER NATIONA over the possible spread of the HE infectious Philippine Omicron Independent more CoPower Producers Association vid-19 variant prompted the gov(PIPPA) has recommended to ernment to reimpose mandatory the Department of Energy for (DOE) facility-based quarantine all solutions to help curb thecountry. impact arriving passengers in the of spiraling oil prices.

Acting Presidential spokesperinitialannounced estimates sonPIPPA Karlosaid B. their Nograles indicate that the effect on the price on Sunday that the Inter-Agency of fuel alone may reach P9.00 per Task Force for the Management kilowatt hour, given the March 3, of Emerging Infectious Diseases 2022 price of coal, which stood at (IATF) suspended the implemen$446 tationper of ton. its Resolution No. 150The groupeffectively recommended that: A (s.2021), imposing DOE explore the suspension of stricter protocols for all inbound the secondary price cap in the travelers.

Wholesale Spot MarTo note, Electricity IATF Resolution 150ket (WESM); DOE endorse to the A had allowed fully vaccinated ERC the possible of List the non-visa travelersrecovery from Green impact of fuel price increases, areas to enter the country witheven on aneed staggered basis; govout the for facility-based ernment explore possibility quarantine as longthe as they secure of providing subsidies for elecnegative Reverse Transcriptiontricity end-users through (RTthe Polymerase Chain Reaction Malampaya fund; government PCR) test within 72 hours prior consider Value Added Tax (VAT) to their departure. exemption and the suspension “Except for countries classified of excise taxes on oilquarantine and coal, as ‘Red,’ the testing and as well asfor onallother electricityprotocols inbound internarelated products; and explore the tional travelers in all ports of entry possibility of relaxing the 30-day shall comply with the testing and coal inventory requirement for quarantine protocols for ‘Yellow’ generation companies to better list countries,” Nograles said, citing manage the scheduling of their the provision of IATF Resolution coal delivery schedules.

No. 151-A. DOE Secretary Cusi said He noted HongAlfonso Kong, which has the agency will evaluate proconfirmed a case of thethese Omicron posals. to submit a variant,He willtold alsoPIPPA fall under the Yelformal paper on the price simulalow list countries. tions, theirofrecommendaTheincluding suspension the rules for tions in addressing the anticipated “Green List” countries will be in electricity increases. effect fromprice November 28, 2021 to Continued December 15, 2021.on A4

Continued on A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.4700 n JAPAN 0.4458 n UK 68.7330 n HK 6.5854 n CHINA 8.1430 n SINGAPORE 37.9516 n AUSTRALIA 37.7224 n EU 56.9670 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.7188 Source: BSP (March 4, 2021) PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.4600 n JAPAN 0.4374 n UK 67.2329 n HK 6.4722 n CHINA 7.9013 n SINGAPORE 36.8968 n AUSTRALIA 36.2807 n EU 56.5758 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4531 Source: BSP (November 26, 2021)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, March 7, 2022

DOLE poll: Many of 2.4-M jobless in 2021 had resigned

R

ESIGNATION was the top reason for unemployment last year, according to a survey conducted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

In its Mission: Rebooting Economic Activities through Community Engagement (RACE) program survey, DOLE said 85,045 of the over 2.39 million unemployed workers last year resigned from their work.

Meanwhile, the other most com-

House...

mon causes for unemployment were finished contracts (75,604), and being a fresh graduate (64,004).

Most of those who are looking for work, when RACE was conducted, were students (382,568), housewives (321,396), and senior citizens (87,093).

Continued from A1

The meeting will also discuss the impact on supply and demand, the transport sector, and ways forward with the fuel excise tax and other taxes.

“We have to be swift but also deliberative in these steps. That is why our committees have called for this meeting, and have invited the economic managers and other government agencies to see what we can do quickly and effectively,” Salceda said.

‘Assess local fuel resources’

IN a separate but related development, Senator Panfilo Lacson prodded the Duterte government to conduct a quick inventory of

available locally sourced fuel supply to cushion the impact of the latest round of oil price hikes.

“When push comes to shove” amid the unrelenting surge of crude oil prices further driven by the Ukraine-Russia conflict, “we may have no other recourse but to rely on our own resources to stave off the costs of war on our economic stability,” Lacson said at the weekend in a press briefing in Cavite.

The Partido Reporma’s standard bearer aired concerns over reports that oil is expected to be sold at $120 per barrel at the world market, projecting that this would push local prices of diesel and gasoline by

DOLE together with 286 local government units (LGU) conducted the pilot of its RACE program from July to October 2021 as part of its preparation for the implementation of the government’s National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS).

Over 4.67 million individuals were profiled under RACE. Of which, the majority or around 1.42 million are junior high graduates, while only 799,673 were college graduates and 745,700 only completed elementary education.

Among the profiled worker respondents, DOLE noted most or 2,098,951 sought livelihood programs from the Bureau of Workers

with Special Concerns (BWSC).

Another 1.33 million applied for skills training under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), while 769,586 sought employment facilitation from the Public Employment Service Office (PESO RACE also profiled 106,413 establishments in August 2021. Of these, only 2,936 had vacancies for the said period.

The available employment opportunities were from the wholesale and retail of motor vehicles and motorcycles as well as accommodation and food services activities. Samuel P. Medenilla

P4.20 and P3.00 per liter.

Lacson said this prospect would “most likely affect not only the transport sector, but the power sector as well, since there are oilbased power plants operating in the country, not to mention the impact they have on the costs of basic goods and services.”

He continued: “So, where do we go (when that happens)? That’s why we need to come up with short-term, medium-term and long-term (solutions). To me, the long-term (solution) that we need is we should take a serious look at our own resources, the homegrown resources,” he added, referring to the alternative sources of energy “that we are not maximizing despite their availability.”

For instance, the Philippines as a

tropical country could take advantage of solar energy, he said.

He noted that Department of Energy (DOE) 2020 figures showed that net imported oil covered 28.4 percent of the country’s total primary energy supply mix; 18.6 percent was derived from net imported coal; 0.3 percent came from net imported ethanol; and 52.6 percent or majority were made up of indigenous resources.

Earlier Lacson issued a statement recalling the DOE assurance that oil supply remains sufficient, but domestic price spikes are certainly inevitable due to upward global market movements driven

by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Lacson likewise recalled Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi announcing short-term plans to address the impact of fuel price hikes like extending discounts to the public transport sector and implementing the P2.5-billion ‘Pantawid Pasada Program’ courtesy of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The senator noted that “there is also a P500-million fuel discount program intended for farmers and fisherfolk through the Department of Agriculture, recalling that the DOE likewise promised to strictly monitor activities to ensure sufficient supply of petroleum products and to protect the welfare of consumers.

At the same time, Lacson noted that part of the long-term measures outlined by the DOE are the suspension of the excise tax on fuel, the establishment of a necessary strategic petroleum reserve infrastructure, provision of intervention powers to the government during periods of oil price hikes, and a strong campaign towards energy efficiency and conservation.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Ukraine...

Continued from A1

Whammy at the pumps

IN the Philippines, a CNN report quoted Unioil Petroleum Philippines as saying diesel prices may go up by P5.40 to P5.50 per liter and gasoline price may increase

by P3.40 to P3.50 per liter from March 8 to 14.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oil Industry Management Bureau Director Rino Abad said Dubai crude oil prices have increased to $116.19 as of March 3.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) earlier said due to these developments, they will discuss the impact of the Ukraine crisis with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and with the Department of Finance on Monday.

“Magkakaroon nga po ng paguusap ang economic managers.

Nito pong nakaraang linggo, iyon po ‘yung masusi naming monitoring and then analysis and then estimation at saka iyong pagbubuobuo nga po ng mga programa na puwede nating isaalang at Lunes po, mag-uusap-usap po iyong economic managers,” Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said.

[The economic managers will discuss these. Our close monitoring of the past week, and analysis and estimation, as well as the

FIA...

programs that can be crafted in response, those will be tackled by the economic managers].

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said food and nonalcoholic beverages account for 37.75 of the basket of goods in the 2018-based Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels had a weight of 21.38 while transport had a weight of 9.03 in the 2018-based CPI. The assignment of weights is based on the expenditure data obtained from the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES).

The weight, PSA said, is the proportion of the expenditure of a commodity or group of commodities to the total expenditure.

The weight of food in the basket of goods used for the computation of the inflation experienced by the poorest 30 percent, as previously explained by National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa, is 70 percent against 39 percent for all the households.

“The weight is a value attached to a commodity or group of commodities to indicate the relative importance of the commodities or groups of commodities in the market basket,” the PSA explained.

Continued from A1

“FIA allows lower entry into training, trade etc. with $100,000 only.

There are telcos studying possible investment,” he added.

Long-term investments

DUTERTE signed RA 11647 last week as part of the government’s efforts to attract more foreign investments to boost the country’s economy.

Ortiz-Luis, who is also president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., said the anticipated influx of foreign investments in the country is seen to represent both export-and domestic-oriented businesses.

“The difference here with portfolio investments that come and go, [foreign investors] can now come in and make permanent investments. Even in the services sector, we will notice [foreign] investments there,” he said.

“Investments in the tourism industry are also expected. Businesses in that industry that closed could be replaced by the new entrants,” he added.

Ortiz-Luis added that foreign investments across the agriculture sector are also expected to increase in the future.

“There are already a lot of foreign investors who are keen on investing in the agriculture sector, such as in high-value crops. Quietly, they are now scouting for agricultural lands and partners in the sector,” he said.

“These prospective investments are in the areas of service facilities, production, post-harvest facilities, value-

adding, among others,” he added.

In a recent statement, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) President Alfredo E. Pascual said enactment of RA 11647 made the Philippines more “investment-friendly like other developing countries” in the Southeast Asian region.

Pascual said the amended FIA would benefit local consumers with “better products and services.”

“It should make the country more attractive to foreign direct investments (FDIs) that will help strengthen and diversify the Philippine economy as we recover from the pandemic,” the group said.

“Specifically, the amendment will raise national competitiveness, create more jobs, broaden the manufacturing base, provide higher value-added products from agriculture and natural resources, and benefit local consumers with better products and services,” it added.

Pascual pointed out that the FIA amendment “signals” the government’s “commitment to pursue and welcome more foreign participation in the Philippine economy.”

“The Philippines has been lagging behind its ASEAN neighbors in accumulated FDIs. Catching up is a must through more policies that ease entry and encourage jobcreating FDIs,” he said.

Lopez: Eased requirements

IN a statement, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the amended FIA would be able to attract more foreign investors due to “less stringent requirements for potential foreign investors to enter the Philippine market.” Lopez said the new law will encourage more investments in more sectors of the Philippine economy.

“We in the economic team have always been in favor of reasonably opening up the economy and liberalizing as many restrictions that hinder the continuous and fast growth of the economy,” he said.

“Indeed, we cannot overemphasize the importance of a major shift in mindset and economic policy direction. For the country to lead a path to recovery amid Covid-19, we have been a consistent advocate for the amendment of this passage which aims to lessen barriers for foreign entry and is expected to hasten the country’s economic growth through foreign investment,” he added.

The amended FIA reduced the minimum direct local hire requirement for small and medium local firms established by foreign firms with at least $100,000 in paid-in capital to 15 from 50.

Export enterprises with products and services not included within the List A and B of the Foreign Investment Negative List would also be allowed to be completely owned by non-Filipinos. (Related stor y: https:// businessmirror. com.ph/2022/03/04/duterte-approves-law-amending-fia/)

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Don’t let health guards down vs Covid, Davao exec advises

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—Do not let your guard down, health authorities warned residents here

anew.

The Davao City Covid-19 Task Force said that with Alert Level 1, “Dabawenyos must still strictly adhere to the minimum public health standards (MPHS) to protect themselves and prevent Covid-19 transmission.”

Davao City Covid-19 Task Force Spokesman Michelle Schlosser said the recent guidelines of the Covid-19 Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) have allowed establishments on full capacity and full operation under Alert Level 1. However, this is provided that MPHS remained followed, particularly the wearing of face masks and observing physical distancing.

“We are very particular with the MPHS. The Alert Level 1 emphasizes that even if there are no more restrictions, the MPHS must still be followed,” Schlosser said.

The purpose of putting a local government unit under Alert Level 1 is economic recovery, she said.

Schlosser also said that the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force was looking at the balance between health and economic recovery.

“One thing is livelihood while the other one is life itself. What if another massive transmission hits, it will still affect the economy,” she added.

Schlosser said Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio was particular about that in her directive.

“We are heading toward economic recovery but we have to make sure that health will not suffer.”

Schlosser said the city government has repeatedly reminded Dabawenyos about the MPHS, “which have been proven effective in protecting people from Covid-19 transmission for the past two years, as well as vaccination that also protects people from contracting severe or critical symptoms of the disease that may lead to death.”

She said an executive order from the city government would soon be released to inform Dabawenyos if the city had fully adopted the IATF guidelines on Alert Level 1 or had modified them.

DENR reviewing ‘Masungi’ deal vis-a-vis E-Nipas law

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is scrutinizing the details of a 2017 memorandum of agreement (MOA) it signed with the Masungi Georeserve operators to ensure its consistency with the country’s law for protected areas.

This was revealed by DENR-Region 4A Executive Director Nilo B. Tamoria during a news conference held last week with DENR OIC Secretary Jim O. Sampulna.

The agreement is being evaluated to ascertain its consistency with the provisions of Republic Act 11038, or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Area Systems (E-Nipas), which adopts strong amendatory measures to the 24year old Nipas law.

The MOA covers the operation of an ecotourism park in Baras, Rizal, popularly known as “Masungi Georeserve,” which sits inside the 26,124-hectare Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape (UMRBPL)—one of the 94 protected areas declared under the E-NIPAS law.Tamoria said that the UPMRBPL Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), which he chairs, is holding special meetings to make a review of the MOA and “make recommendations on the way forward.”

The MOA covers an area of 300 hectares, which the Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc. (MGFI) started operating in 2015 as an ecotourism park for public use.

In 2017, MGFI executives signed the MOA with then-DENR Secretary Regina Paz “Gina” L. Lopez for conservation efforts within the UPMRBPL covering 2,700 hectares, DENR documents showed.

The area covered under the 2017 MOA includes a portion of land, which is the subject of an ancestral domain claim.

The Dumagat-Remontados of Antipolo have a pending application for Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title or CADT covering some 13,000 hectares, or half of the 26,126-hectare total land area of the UMRBPL.

Several MOAs

THE area covered under the MOA is an offshoot of an earlier joint venture agreement entered into by former DENR Secretary Victor O. Ramos and Blue Star Development Corp.

(BSDC) in 1997 for a housing project for government workers.

This was followed by a supplemental MOA in 2001 between BSDC and then DENR Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez.

The DENR took out its share from the joint venture agreement with BSDC in 2008.

Among the issues that need to be threshed out in the review of the MOA is whether the Masungi Georeserve “exempted” DENR Administrative Order 2018-05 signed by then-Secretary Roy A. Cimatu on March 15, 2018.

DENR Administrative Order 2018-05 (“Addendum to DENR Administrative Order 2017-17 on the Rules and Regulations Governing Special Uses within Protected Areas”) provides the guidelines and principles in determining development fees for access to, and sustainable use, of resources in PAs. Under the new guideline, the DENR shall impose development fees based on the fixed percentage of the zonal value of the land and the improvement in the area.

The fees shall be equivalent to 5 percent of the most recent zonal value of the commercial zone in the nearest barangay or municipality where the project area is located, multiplied by the size of the area for development and 1 percent of the value of improvement as a premium to the protected area.

Values, fees

THE most recent zonal values prescribed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the commercial zone within the nearest barangay or municipality will be used as the basis for the computation of Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas (Sapa) development fees.

Under the same guideline, the fees are subject to evaluation every five years. The annual Sapa fee shall be paid upon issuance of the Sapa and annually thereafter within 30 days from the date of issuance.

The delinquent locators may be charged with surcharges for a late payment equivalent to 8.33 percent monthly, or 100 percent for one year of delay.

Also, the new guideline imposes an administrative fee of P5,000 for every Sapa application filed to cover the cost of examining, assessing, and processing the requirements submitted by development or project proponents relative to the application for a special-use agreement in a specific protected area.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, March 7, 2022 A3

SC sticks to ruling allowing foreign contractors in PHL

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Supreme Court (SC) has denied the appeal of the government to abandon its decision issued in March 2020 allowing foreign construction firms to obtain licenses and engage in private or government projects in the country.

In a 17-page resolution made public last March 3, the Court en banc did not give weight to the claim of the Philippine Constructors Accreditation Board (PCAB) through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) that the decision would deprive employment opportunities to many Filipinos who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no question that, as everywhere else in the world today, the Philippines must face the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic and adopt transitory measures to protect local businesses and jobs,” the Court noted.

“However, those measures are for the executive and the legislative departments to formulate and adopt rather than for this Court to conjecture out of thin air. The Court cannot engage in policy making,” the High Tribunal added.

While the High Tribunal acknowledged that putting restrictions on foreign participation might help revive the construction industry, such restrictions should be put into law and implemented through regulations.

Issuing licenses

AT present, the SC pointed out the Constitution and Republic Act (RA) 4566 (Contractors’ License Law) do not authorize restrictions in issuing licenses based on nationality.

“Apart from raising the specter of the collapse of the construction industry in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCAB has not cited any new argument that has legal authority to issue the questioned regulations,” the SC said.

Furthermore, the Court did not give credence to PCAB’s claim of the emergence of supervening events that should warrant the reversal of its decision.

PCAB was referring to Construction Industry Authority of the Philippines (CIAP) Board Resolution 08 dated May 29, 2015 endorsing PCAB’s proposed amendments to the implementing rules and regulations of RA 4566 to the Office of the President for approval.

Under the amendment to Section 3.1 (a), Rule 3, PCAB argued that regular licensing is now available to foreign contractors, including those that are 100 percent foreign-owned.

It added that foreign contractors would no longer be prohibited from participating in the construction industry although their participation will be regulated.

Similar capabilities

THE PCAB said they can compete against Filipino contractors having similar technical and financial capa-

bilities and logistical resources, for projects that are capital and technological intensive.

However, foreign contractors would not be allowed to compete against micro, small and mediumscale Filipino contractors or bid on small ticket-government projects through a regular license.

However, the SC pointed out that the amendments to the IRR are not in force based on PCAB’s failure to prove that these were published in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation, which is a prerequisite to the effectivity of administrative rules and regulations.

Even assuming that the amendments are now in force, the SC said it remains doubtful that the defects in Rule 3 of the IRR of RA 4566 have been addressed.

“It is evident that nationalitybased licensing classifications are still present in the PCAB rules currently in place,” the SC noted.

In its March 10 decision, the Court declared as unconstitutional Section 3.1 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 4566, the law creating the Philippine Licensing Board for Contractors.

The said provision classifies the licenses that may be issued by PCAB to contractors into regular and special licenses.

Foreign players

UNDER Section 3.1 of the contractors’ license law’s IRR, companies

with at least 60 percent Filipino equity participation can be granted a regular license, which gives them continuing authority to engage in many contracting activities throughout a one-year period.

Foreign firms can only be granted special licenses, and they need to have a separate license for each contract activity.

But, the SC declared that such provision was “a deterrent to the foreign players in the construction industry.”

It also agreed with the opinion of the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) that nullifying the nationality requirement in the licensing scheme would level the playing field for local and foreign firms to undertake construction activities in the Philippines.

The OSG earlier argued that decision is untimely considering the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the unemployment rate.

Solicitor General Jose C. Calida said the decision would open the sectors’ doors for the entry of more players to the local construction market, which accounts for 10 percent of the country’s total employment.

He noted that foreign contractors usually bring their own nationals to work on their projects, thus, denying Filipino workers of employment opportunities.

Calida cited the projects being undertaken by Chinese contractors where they employed their own nationals.

Marcos: Workers to get wage hike in a recovered economy

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COOL CHAIN

A chain of houses line a river in Rizal, Nueva Ecija, that locals and tourists can use for recreation and to cool down as warmer weather starts to be felt in the country and as travel picks up after mobility restrictions were eased beginning March 1. NONIE REYES

Govt told: Avert job losses due to 45-day election ban

By Butch Fernandez

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@butchfBM

EN. Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva voiced mounting concerns last Monday over the looming job losses ensuing from the effectivity of the public works ban for the duration of the upcoming national Election campaign.

Asserting that the election ban should“notleadtojoblosses,”Villanueva stressedthe45-daybanthattakeseffect onMarch25shouldbeimplementedina way that it “will not affect jobs nor delay thecompletionofinfrastructureprojects in calamity areas.”

The senator affirmed in a statement that “employment should not be a casualty of election,” adding that pandemic recovery should likewise “not take a back seat to polls.”

“We have 10.1 million unemployed and underemployed,” Villan-

ueva stressed,” quickly reminding that “let us not worsen this already bleak jobs picture.” He added that the number of workers in construction also dropped to 4 million after pandemic lockdowns shut down work on public and private projects.

As share to gross domestic product, government expenditures account for about 16 percent, “so any slowdown in public construction will drag down growth,” the senator said.

Villanueva noted that halting construction of schools and hospitals during summer when it is the best time to build before the rains come will set back their completion.

Instead, the Senator suggested that “we should also take advantage of the ‘good weather window’ to fix farm infrastructure like roads and irrigation.”

Reminding that funding for P1.183-trillion worth of gov-

er nment inf rastr ucture have been authorized in the 2022 national budget, he recalls that the Duterte administration is still in a catch-up mode as “a large chunk of 2020 and 2021 funds for infrastructure was shifted” to boost health facilities and as aid to economically-hit households.

He, however, cautioned that “if we press the ‘pause’ button, lalong atrasado na tayo.” [We would be further behind.]

In turn, the senator suggested that election laws and the Comelec resolutions, however, “grant a wide leeway in the handing out of exemptions to the public works ban,” Villanueva added: “Ito ang assurance na konti lang ang maapektuhan ng tigil trabaho.” [This is the assurance that very few will be affected by stopping work.]

HERE’S an urgent need to fast-track economic recovery so businesses can absorb the workers’ pressing demand for wage hikes after both sectors were pummeled by the pandemic, according to presidential candidate Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. Acknowledging that the labor sector badly needs a “shot in the arm” in these trying times, Marcos Jr. vowed, if elected in the May 2022 elections, to push for measures that will immediately improve economic conditions.

He, however, explained that any wage hikes at this time might meet some opposition from business owners, considering the current state of the economy still trying to get back on its feet after being crippled by the pandemic.

“We are aware of the labor sector’s need for salary increases, but because we have not fully recovered from the pandemic, we must focus on growing commerce and industry,” he said, mostly in Filipino.

“Tiyakin muna natin ang pagbubukas ng mga kumpanya at ang pagbabalik sa trabaho ng ating mga kababayan. Mula sa ganung konsepto ay titiyakin natin ang kaluwagan at pagbibigay ng maaaring mga benepisyo sa ating mga manggagawa,” Marcos added.

[Let’s first ensure the smooth reopening of companies and the restoration of jobs. From that context, we can ensure there’s enough room to give workers substantial benefits].

He stressed that economic growth is driven by consumer spending and business investment and “it is, therefore, necessary for people to have jobs to be able to spend and pump up the economy.”

“Alam ng management (ng mga kumpanya), ng pamahalaan, at mga manggagawa ang kalagayan ng ekonomiya kaya lahat ay nagtitiis. Kahit nakikita na natin ang unti-unting pagbangon ay kailangan pa ding patatagin muna ang kalakalan at iyan ang ating pagsisikapang gawin,” Marcos said.

A4 Monday, March 7, 2022 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Apply ‘low-tech,’ ‘no-tech’ solutions in learning–ADB

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

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PPLYING “low-tech and notech solutions,” could help address learning losses due to school lockdowns, according to experts from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In an Asian Development Blog, ADB Human and Social Development Division Senior Social Sector Specialist Li Zhigang and Education economist Uttam Sharma said these solutions could be short message service and phone-based tutoring, solar powered radio, workbooks and other distance-learning packages.

The experts also recommended that the country include efforts to provide remedial and bridging programs to students. This will help mitigate the learning losses.

“Learning using mobile phones is the most well-received approach for e-learning according to our survey and it covers the majority of the population. Hence, enabling teaching through mobile phones and providing free data packages will be effective in helping students for self-paced learning, augmented by regular monitoring and mentoring,” Zhigang and Sharma said.

In a survey in Bangladesh, the authors found that learning losses is a

serious concern along with waning motivation and high dropouts among some students.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) last year said online classes could result in production losses of P11-trillion over a 40-year period.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua earlier told the BusinessMirror that their estimates on production losses take into account the low quality of education in the Philippines.

This means that only 37 percent of the learning is absorbed via online classes. In the United States, 52 percent is retained by students through

virtual classes.

The Asian Development Outlook (ADO) estimated that school closures will lead to $1.25 trillion in future earnings losses in Asia and the Pacific. This assumes that every student loses $180 every year from their expected future annual earnings.

In the same study, the ADB estimated that the loss in lifetime earnings of Filipino children could be as high as $36.138 billion under the “pessimistic” scenario. The loss in lifetime earnings could reach $26.904 billion under the optimistic scenario and $30.696 billion in the intermediate scenario.

Rail common station seen completed by end-March

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FTER more than 15 years since its approval by the Neda Investment Coordination Committee in December 2006, construction of the North Avenue Common Station structure in Quezon City is slated to be completed by end of March this year, according to Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.

Tugade made the statement during his site inspection of the Common Station last March 3. Once operational, the common station can accommodate almost 500,000 passengers daily.

The inspection consisted of a walkthrough of the common station, which saw significant and fast-paced improvements since Tugade’s last inspection in December 2021. To date, the Station Building of Area A is now connected to Area B or the Atrium, which is now 100-percent complete.

The 13,700 square meter concourse area will interconnect four major railway lines: LRT 1, MRT 3, MRT 7 and, soon, the Metro Manila Subway Project.

Targeted to start operations by July this year, Tugade ordered commencement of operations at an earlier date, “without sacrificing quality of work and reasonability of cost”.

“I will henceforth, until my term ends, inspect and make sure that the electromechanical system will also be in place so that this Common Station will come into reality,” Tugade said.

Tugade was accompanied by Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa, JICA Chief Representative Eigo Azukizawa, BF Corp. CEO Marides C. Fernando, other transport officials and private

INVOKING human lives above all, Sen. Koko Pimentel III reiterated in a separate radio interview Sunday that the senators’ main concern in mounting the inquiry is to surface the missing, as he chided those who rue the possible loss of billions in revenue from e-sabong.

Before any other consideration, it is important to consider the lives disrupted, said Pimentel III. He noted that several of those missing —including a 14-year-old boy

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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MOTORCYCLE driver’s group is demanding for more transparency from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) regarding the distribution of the government’s fuel subsidies.

In a statement issued last Sunday, the Kapatiran sa Dalawang Gulong (K agulong ) called on transportation officials to conduct stakeholder consultations for the crafting of the guidelines for the said program to ensure it will cover its intended beneficiaries.

“We are asking the [DOTr] to meet with riders in order to clarify its plan to distribute fuel subsidies. Riders shoulder the weekly gasoline price increases and thus deserve ayuda (aid),” Kagulong Women’s Collective Spokesman Yang Umali said.

Umali noted the consultation is crucial especially for the fulltime ride-hailing and delivery services, which will be covered by the fuel subsidies.

“The DOTr does not know if the registered motorcycle owner is using his or her vehicle for platform work.

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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THIS March 3, 2022, photo courtesy of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) shows the façade of the North Avenue Common Station in Quezon City, slated to be fully operational by July this year. COURTESY OF DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

sector partners, to check on the progress of the project.

Fernando assured the company would meet the timeline set by Tugade with non-stop construction works to complete the project. At present, Fernando said, the concreting of the platform level where the MRT-3 and LRT-1 lines are set to merge is ongoing.

“You can see that the status of the

[station] building is well on its way and we are rushing; 24/7 work is going on here at the station to complete it as per the Secretary’s schedule,” Fernando said.

For his part, Kazuhiko, who earlier rode the MRT-3 from Ayala Station to the inspection site at North Avenue, lauded the relentless efforts of the DOTr to improve mobility and connectivity in the country.

“So, in the near future, I can change from the MRT 3 to the LRT 1 and MRT 7 or Metro Manila Subway via this common station. And I can go anywhere in a short time period.

Needless to say that railway connectivity is indispensable for efficient transport. That’s why the opening of this common station will offer a significant level of comfort to use these railways,” Kazuhiko said.

who tagged along with a brother who works in e-sabong, a woman who accompanied her boyfriend, a man asked to drive a van – are innocent parties caught in a grim operation apparently meant to punish suspected fraudsters in the P3-billion-grossing daily business.

Even assuming, the senator said, that “may game fixing, or may nagpakawala lang diyan ng manok na patalo [there’s game fixing, or someone used a gamefowl meant to lose],” it cannot justify such

grave reprisals as abduction or, possibly, even murder.

Pimentel said the “mastermind” of the abductions is “feeling [like] God” and appealed to the “conscience of the mastermind, and those tasked to execute the orders” to seize people.”

The administration senator also chided Pagcor for not having proactively ordered its licensees to act on the total of “10 abductions” since April 2021.

Likewise, Pimentel said Pagcor

should not insist that only the Office of the President, where the agency is lodged under, can suspend the e-sabong licensees’ operations.

Pagcor, he said partly in Filipino, is tossing to the Office of the President the issue of suspending licenses, “and yet, they proudly admitted that when they issued the seven licenses, the governing board [of Pagcor] acted on its own, did not ask the President’s permission.”

PIPPA lists ways to cut impact of oil price hike continued from a1 The suggestions on VAT exemption and excise tax suspension will be raised in the National Economic and Development Authority-Economic Development Committee (NedaEDC) meeting on March 7.

Cusi met last Friday with power generation stakeholders to discuss the impact of increasing international coal prices, and seek measures that could be

Group to DOTr: Be transparent in distribution of fuel subsidies Not even the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is aware of this due to the informal nature of the freelancer or independent contractor relationship,” Umali said.

“Only the apps know who their riders are. A social dialogue should involve all stakeholders so riders would have voice and participation,” she added.

Last week, President Rodrigo R. Duterte finally approved the distribution of the P2.5-billion fuel subsidy program for public utility vehicle drivers, who are affected by the recent spike in fuel prices.

As of last Thursday the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board said there is still no exact date when the fuel subsidy will be distributed to qualified PUV drivers.

Aside from the fuel subsidy, Kagulong also joined a growing public call for the government to suspend the excise tax on oil products to reduce pump prices.

“This will benefit jeepney drivers and operators, app riders, farmers and fishers principally and the rest of the people too as oil prices impact the whole economy,” Umali said.

Solons: Excise tax halt still an option besides fuel aid

Senate e-sabong probe focus is on legal gaps, 34 missing continued from a10 Human lives, above all—Koko

www.businessmirror.com.ph

collectively implemented to address the resulting anticipated substantial increase in electric power prices.

“Similar to our earlier meeting with the downstream oil industry players, we want to work with our electric power industry stakeholders in securing the sufficiency of our power supply, as well as in creating solutions to help arrest rising electricity

costs,” Cusi said.

PIPPA also raised their concern over the actual completion date of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP).

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines is reportedly targeting to partially energize the lines with a limited transfer capability this month.

However, PIPPA stressed the

urgency of fast-tracking the completion of the MVIP, which will be beneficial in augmenting the power requirements of other regions in the country.

Present during the meeting were officials from the DOE, SMC Global Power; Aboitiz Power; Semirara Power; First Gen; Quezon Power; AC Energy; Team Energy; FDC; and Meralco Power Gen/ Global Business Power.

AWMAKERS are keen to know for sure from the Executive the timeline for fuel subsidies for the transport and the agriculture and fisheries sectors, given the rapid rise in oil prices now putting at risk hopes of quick recovery from the pandemic, a leader of the House of Representatives said on Sunday.

Salceda said three committees tasked by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco to tackle the impact of the oil price spikes across sectors also hopes to bring up “the timeline for when fuel subsidies will begin to be distributed to farmers and PUV operators and drivers.”

“I also expect some PUV drivers who were near-poverty to fall into poverty once oil prices continue upward. To ease the pressure off, I will also be asking the economic managers to see if we can expand existing social amelioration programs to cover PUVs,” he said, referring to a scheduled meeting on Monday of a newly created House ad hoc panel that will tackle impacts with economic managers.

“I will formally ask the DSWD [Department of Social Welfare and Development] and DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment] to modify guidelines for defining displaced workers and individuals in crisis situations so we can extend relief to affected PUV drivers and operators,” he said.

On the transport sector, Salceda said they wil follow up on the proposal to lift all public transport restrictions to save on private fuel consumption.

‘Still on the table’

MEANWHILE, Salceda said the temporary suspension of the fuel excise tax is still on the table, and will be considered during the hearings as the government cannot implement immediate relief.

“If they can immediately distribute aid and subsidies, that’s good. But if government agencies will take as much time as they took during the first PUV Pantawid Pasada program, we need relief as immediate as a tax suspension,” Salceda added.

Salceda said the House also wants to see how much the VAT can offset potential losses in revenues due to the suspension of the fuel excise taxes.

“I want to see if there is some offsetting factor. I’m sure we will see higher VAT collection on fuel products due to higher fuel prices.

I want to see if it’s enough to offset losses from fuel excise. If it is, we should pursue the suspension of the excise tax immediately,” Salceda added.

“The government should not try to make money off of consumer pains,” he added.

Reserve facility now, not later

FOR his part, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte has said the global oil price spiral triggered by the Ukraine-Russia conflict should rouse the Department of Energy (DOE) to “put its money where its mouth is” and finally set the national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) plan in motion instead of just talking about it.

“With oil prices now breaching the level of $110 a barrel in the world market—and possibly hitting the $120-threshold in the days ahead—“all that our energy officials have managed to say at this critical point is that the PNOC (Philippine National Oil Company) has been tapped to conduct a feasibility study on this petroleum reserve structure,” said Villafuerte in a statement.

“For nearly two years now, our energy officials have been talking the talk about a national strategic reserve for petroleum products, but they have yet to walk the walk,” Villafuerte said. “In fact, the best that DOE Secretary (Alfonso) Cusi can assure a worried public is to tell them that the PNOC has been tapped to do a feasibility study on it.”

He said Cusi himself has said at the media forum that a state-run storage facility would enable the government to bring in additional inventory that could “help arrest the price,” and that the already rising pump prices of petroleum products would take a greater hit in the event that the Russia-Ukraine war escalates.

The per-barrel price of crude oil surpassed the $110 level last March 2, with Brent Crude Futures climbing to as high as $111.78 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reaching a peak of $110.1—the highest levels since the 2013-2014 period.

According to the DOE, the yearto-date fuel prices as of this week posted a net cumulative increase of P11.65 per liter of diesel, P9.65 per liter of gasoline and P10.30 per liter of kerosene.

The average pump prices of petroleum products in Metro Manila as of last week stood at P66.35 for a liter of gasoline, P59.27 for diesel and P60.69 for kerosene.

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, March 7, 2022 A5

PHL to US investors: Place bet on agri sector

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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GRICULTURE Secretary William D. Dar urged members of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) to invest in the local agriculture sector, saying that Manila’s “friendly policy environment” rewards agri-entrepreneurship.

Spea k i ng before A mC h a m members, Dar said the agriculture sector, which accounts for about 10 percent of the country’s

GDP, is “ready for big leagues entrepreneurship.”

“Our creativity led us to the transformations of Philippine agriculture we are quite proud of now, and we hope to kindle vibrant entrepreneurship through it. We want you there with us at this new turn,” he said during his meeting with the business group recently.

He said the country’s “young, dynamic and tech-savvy skilled” human resources, “abundant” natural resources, and a growing middle class are the reasons why it is “best

to invest in Philippine agriculture.”

“The national government has finally recognized that the country must play to its strengths by supporting its agriculture sector,” Dar said, adding that key economic policies and reforms have been implemented by the Duterte administration, including the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act. “There is a suite of deductions and other incentives, such as duty exemptions and VAT exemptions on importation, to ease the load off the

costs of entrepreneurship.”

Dar said agricultural activities are also eligible for investment incentives under the Department of Trade and Industry’s Strategic Investment Priority Plan or SIPP. “Our investors, then, can expect a friendly policy environment incentivizing agri-entrepreneurship.”

Dar presented to AmCham members several areas for investment, particularly the commodity industries with huge export potential including coconuts, mangoes, seaweed, and shrimps. He also

encouraged AmCham members to invest in sustainable water technologies, drone technologies and smart farms, greenhouse technologies, biosecurity measures, and aquaculture and fish farming technologies.

“To complement our Reform Agenda and transformative goals, we need financing heft in technology, research, and science-backed farming methods.”

T he ag r icu lture chief a lso presented to the business group its project—the agro-industrial

business corridors (ABCs) that “prominently feature in the Department of Agriculture’s blueprints for industrialization.”

“The ABCs will link up even the remote production or farm areas with postharvest and processing centers where new agribusinesses could be incubated,” Dar said.

“Such infrastructure will be the emblems of true agricultural industrialization. Succeeding that will erase doubts about the Philippines’s status as an agro-industrialized economy.”

‘DA, Israel agency to help farmers hike dairy output’ CARP beneficiaries to get computerized land titles T opment of the dairy sector, according to the DA. “They will also strengthen capacity-building programs to effectively reinforce the two countries’ collaborative efforts for the Philippine dairy sector,” the DA said.

The declaration was formally adopted during the Philippine-Israel Dairy Business Forum organized and conducted virtually by the National Dairy Authority in partnership with the Embassy of Israel.

This is now the third partnership or cooperation forged by the DA with foreign entities this year to develop and modernize the country’s dairy sector.

Last month, the DA disclosed that it will pursue a $500-million integrated dairy facility in partnership with Baladna Qatar Public Sharing Company (QPSC).

The DA and the Department of Trade and Industry were able to sign a memorandum of understanding with Baladna QPSC during a business engagement held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in mid-February.

“In 2020, the Philippine dairy industry was characterized by increasing local milk production and decreasing imports and exports of milk and dairy products. The local milk production reached 26.71 million liters, an increase of 9.5 percent from 24.38

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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BUSINESSMIRROR FILE PHOTO

HE Philippines, which imports virtually all of its milk requirements, and Israel will collaborate on a project that aims to boost the dairy production of local farmers.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) signed a joint declaration with Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) for collaboration on improving the country’s dairy sector.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar noted that Israel is one of the countries in the world with advanced dairy production methods and technologies, which include computerized milking and feeding systems, cow-cooling and processing technologies, herd management, breeding, and nutrition, and special husbandry and feeding methods.

“The Philippine government is eager to learn from Israel’s best dairy practices. We have watched with great interest the progress of the joint dairy project between Israel and Vietnam, and we wish to learn as much from you here in the Philippines and join this elite font of knowledge,” Dar said.

Under the signed declaration, the two countries would cooperate with public and private stakeholders and local communities in developing a pilot project for the integrated devel-

million liters in 2019,” Dar said.

The DA said the project with Baladna QPSC will increase local milk production by 120 million liters from the current milk production of 26.71 million liters. “This will bring the Philippines’s total milk production to 146.71 million liters, thus contributing to addressing the local demand of 2,927.04 million liters, of which bulk is imported,” he said.

“The investments will be able to generate 2,000 new jobs during the initial phase of its first full year of operations, providing signifi-

cant opportunities for domestic employment.”

In January, the Philippines also signed a joint declaration with France for agricultural cooperation in the dairy industry.

Under the joint declaration, the Philippines and France committed to “facilitate the linking of dairy producers and associations; agricultural and agri-food companies; and importers and distributors of the two countries and encourage them to find opportunities for partnerships and commercial collaborations.” Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Domagoso vows to go after smugglers of farm goods

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KSYON Demokratiko standard bearer Isko Moreno Domagoso wrapped up Team Isko’s three-day sortie of the Cagayan Valley region and Kalinga province by making a commitment to protect the welfare and livelihood of farmers if he is elected president.

Speaking before Tabuk City residents who are mostly farmers, the 47-year-old presidential candidate also vowed to go hard against smugglers of rice, garlic, onion and vegetables as this is the primary reason why farmers cannot sell their produce on good prices.

“On top of that madadamay na rin ’yan doon sa ating anti-smuggling campaign para sa iba pang mga produktong pang-agrikultura nang mapangalagaan naman at mabigyan, at least mapanatag yung mga nagtatanim o nag-aalaga ng hayop na ’yung kanilang

pinaghihirapan eh mapakinabangan ng kani-kanilang pamilya,” Moreno assured Kalinga farmers.

His commitment to farmers also include bringing down the prices of fertilizers which have recently gone up as some unscrupulous businessmen are reportedly cornering the supply from small traders who are willing to sell them at a slightly higher price.

“Nagtataka ako bakit naman sumobra ang taas ng presyo ng fertilizer?

Itong fertilizer about a year ago almost 900-P1,000 lang. Ngayon, P2,500P2,600 na,” Moreno pointed out.

Protecting the welfare and livelihood of farmers, Moreno said, also calls for a review of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) which allowed an influx of cheap rice from abroad resulting to lower domestic prices and hurting farmers’ income.

Moreno made the commitment in a town hall meeting Saturday attended by his vice presidential bet Dr. Willie Ong and Aksyon Demokratiko senatorial bets Dr. Carl Balita, Samira Gutoc and Jopet Sison along with guest candidate Bro. John Castriciones.

President Duterte signed the RTL (Republic Act 11203) on February 14, 2019, which ended the National Food Authority’s power to issue import permits, removed quantitative restrictions on rice imports and replaced them with a 35 percent import tariff. This, he said, allowed an influx of cheap rice from abroad to the detriment of Filipino farmers’ livelihood.

Agriculture is one of the main pillars of Team Isko’s 10-point Bilis Kilos Economic Agenda which is his

administration’s blueprint to accelerate human and economic growth.

Besides giving agrarian reform beneficiaries the rightful ownership of the lands awarded to them, Moreno said among the first economic policies that his government will introduce is to cut the excise tax of petroleum products by 50 percent to bring down the prices basic commodities and raise the income of farmers and fisherfolks.

Morenohadsaidhisadministration will buy the rice and vegetables of local farmers at the right price to assure them of their income and help them become competitive. The Manila city mayor will also issue clear guidelines about the strict importation of agricultural products to make sure that local producers can sell their products first before importation is made.

HE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) would soon issue C-Titles or Computerized Titles to beneficiaries of the government’s agrarian reform program.

The distribution of C-Titles in Sorsogon City would be a first since the implementation of Project SPLIT, a P24-billion project funded by the World Bank.

DAR is implementing the project in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Land Registration Authority (LRA), Registry of Deeds, Land Bank of the Philippines, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

Nida A. Santiago, Sorsogon Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II, said they have already generated 76 C-Titles that will be awarded individually to 72 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the province next month.

The land titles covering a combined area of 110.2848 hectares of agricultural land were taken from 12 Collective Certificates of Landownership Award (CCLOAs) that were subdivided recently by DAR under Project SPLIT. “Our initial output is a portion of the 354.6172 hectares that have been prepared for parcelization and individual titling,” Santiago said.

“We targeted 8,461.1331 hectares in Sorsogon for the SPLIT project, and we have already verified at least 798.6433 hectares involving 84 CCLOAs spread across 13 municipalities.”

Santiago reported that around 6,255 ARBs in the province are expected to get their own land titles as a result of this project until 2024.

“The Field Validation Team’s (FVT) passion and commitment, together with collaborative working with the Registry of Deeds (ROD) here, resulted in a successful outcome,” she added.

The FVT is composed of a legal officer, geodetic engineer, proces-

sors, environmental social safeguard (ESS) support staff, and documenter.

DAR is implementing the SPLIT project in 78 provinces or 15 regions across the country that aims to subdivide collective certificates of land ownership awards into individual land titles, allowing each farmerbeneficiary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to have full ownership and possession of the land, as well as complete control over cultivating it as he or she sees fit.

Free legal aid

MEANWHILE, 100 members from the agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organization (ARBOs) of Agpudlos, Marinorte Farmers Association, and JMP Farmers Association in San Andres, Romblon, became the first beneficiaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-MIMAROPA’s “Lawyers to the Benepisyaryo” program in the province.

“Lawyers to the Benepisyaryo,” is a DAR project that gives free legal assistance and consultations to the ARBs. Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz witnessed the program’s launching in Romblon which includes the conduct of information dissemination, free legal consultation, and counseling to the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the area.

The launching of “Lawyers to the Benepisyaryo” coincided with the DAR CLOA distribution and turnover of farm machinery and fertilizer to ARBOs in the said town.

Mimaropa Regional Director Marvin Bernal said the DAR offices in the province noticed that it was difficult for ARBs to go directly to the DAR offices to seek legal advice on their lands so they developed the “Lawyers to the Benepisyaryo” program. Under this program, the agency’s lawyers will personally visit the ARBs to hear their grievances and problems.

“We gathered lawyers from all over Mimaropa to give legal advice to the members of the ARBOs,” Bernal said.

Food prices climb to record as Ukraine war roils trade G

LOBAL food prices jumped to a record last month, just as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started causing chaos in global crop trading that will likely push costs up even more.

A United Nations’ index of costs was already near a peak set in 2011 before the war disrupted exports out of the Black Sea region that’s known as the world’s breadbasket.

Since then, grain and vegetableoil prices have rocketed to fresh records or multiyear highs, piling more inflationary pressure on consumers and governments and threatening to worsen a global hunger crisis.

Global crop trading has been thrown into disarray as the war shuts Ukraine’s ports, and sanctions on Russia leave traders, banks and shipowners wary of do-

ing business there. Before Russia attacked its neighbor, food prices were already on a tear on the back of unfavorable crop weather as well as an energy crunch and expensive fertilizers.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday warned about the consequences that the war in Ukraine will have beyond the country’s borders.

“It’s just tragic to see hunger raising its head in what has long been the breadbasket of Europe,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement. “The bullets and bombs in Ukraine could take the global hunger crisis to levels beyond anything we’ve seen before.”

The UN’s food price index rose almost 4 percent in February. Costs have surged more than 50 percent since mid-2020, feeding through to

prices at grocery stores. Much of the rally has been underpinned by gains in vegetable oils such as palm, which is used in about half of all supermarket goods.

The UN’s February reading only partly incorporated the impacts of the invasion of Ukraine. Since then, prices of key staples have spiked to records or multiyear highs.

Russia and Ukraine play a crucial role in supplying food. Together, they account for about a quarter of all wheat and barley shipments, a fifth of corn and the bulk of sunflower oil. With big volumes of the region’s supply shut off, buyers are having to hunt elsewhere, though some importers are struggling to secure supplies in the face of high prices and few cargo offers.

“Concerns over crop conditions and adequate export availabilities

explain only a part of the current global food price increases,” Upali Galketi Aratchilage, an economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said in a report. “A much bigger push for food price inflation comes from outside food production, particularly the energy, fertilizer and feed sectors.”

Grain stockpiles remain at a “comfortable” level, although those high input prices risk curbing harvests in the future, he added by phone. The food-price gains are impacting average citizens worldwide and will be hardest felt across low-income countries where groceries make up a large chunk of consumer budgets.

The FAO is making a separate assessment of how the crisis in the Black Sea region will affect products like grain and aims to release a re-

port mid-month, Galketi Aratchilage said.

Separately, the UN boosted its estimate for global grains trade by 2.7 million tons, highlighting that demand was already running hot before the Ukraine war curtailed supplies. The outlook doesn’t yet

factor in the impact of the war, but the agency predicted Ukraine and Russia still had about 32.5 million tons of wheat and corn left to ship this season.

It’s unclear how much of that will now make it to the market.

Bloomberg News

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The World BusinessMirror

Monday, March 7, 2022

Putin says Ukrainian statehood in peril as cease-fires collapse

By Yuras Karmanau

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The Associated Press

VIV, Ukraine—Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Saturday that Ukrainian statehood is in jeopardy and likened the West’s sanctions on Russia to “declaring war,” while a promised cease-fire in the besieged port city of Mariupol collapsed amid scenes of terror.

With the Kremlin’s rhetoric growing fiercer and a reprieve from fighting dissolving, Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians forced from their country grew to 1.4 million. By Saturday night Russian forces had intensified their shelling of Mariupol, while dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

Bereft mothers mourned slain children, wounded soldiers were fitted with tourniquets and doctors worked by the light of their cellphones as bleakness and desperation pervaded. Putin continued to pin the blame for all of it squarely on the Ukrainian leadership and slammed their resistance to the invasion.

“If they continue to do what they are doing, they are calling into question the future of Ukrainian statehood,” he said. “And if this happens, it will be entirely on their conscience.”

He also hit out at Western sanctions that have crippled Russia’s economy and sent the value of its currency tumbling.

“These sanctions that are being imposed, they are akin to declaring war,” he said during a televised meeting with flight attendants from Russian airline Aeroflot. “But thank God, we haven’t got there yet.”

Russia’s financial system suffered yet another blow as Mastercard and Visa announced they were suspending operations in the country.

Ten days after Russian forces invaded, the struggle to enforce the temporary cease-fires in Mariupol and the eastern city of Volnovakha showed the fragility of efforts to stop the fighting across Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials said Russian artillery fire and airstrikes had prevented residents from leaving before the agreed-to evacuations got underway. Putin accused Ukraine of sabotaging the effort.

A third round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place Monday, according to Davyd Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation. He gave no additional details, including where they would take place.

Previous meetings were held in Belarus and led to the failed ceasefire agreement to create humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of children, women and older people

from besieged cities, where pharmacies have run bare, hundreds of thousands face food and water shortages, and the injured have been succumbing to their wounds.

In comments carried on Ukrainian television, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said thousands of residents had gathered for safe passage out of the city of 430,000 when shelling began and the evacuation was stopped. Later in the day, he said the attack had escalated further.

“The city is in a very, very difficult state of siege,” Boychenko told Ukrainian TV. “Relentless shelling of residential blocks is ongoing, airplanes have been dropping bombs on residential areas. The Russian occupants are using heavy artillery, including Grad multiple rocket launchers.”

Russia has made significant advances in the south, seeking to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea. Capturing Mariupol could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

Meanwhile the head of the Chernihiv region said Russia has dropped powerful bombs on residential areas of the city of the same name, which has a population of 290,000. Vyacheslav Chaus posted a photo online of what he said was an undetonated FAB-500, a 1,100-pound (500-kilogram) bomb.

“Usually this weapon is used against military-industrial facilities and fortified structures,” Chaus said. “But in Chernihiv, against residential areas.”

In a speech to Ukrainians on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed to “the 500-kilogram bombs that were dropped on the houses of Ukrainians. Look at Borodyanka, at the destroyed schools, at the blown-up kindergartens. At the damaged Kharkiv Assumption Cathedral. Look what Russia has done.”

The West has broadly backed Ukraine, offering aid and weapons and slapping Russia with vast sanctions. But the fight itself has been left to Ukrainians, who have expressed a mixture of courageous resolve and despondency.

“Ukraine is bleeding,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a video released Saturday, “ but Ukraine has not fallen.”

Russian troops advanced on a third nuclear power plant, having already taken control of one of the

People cross on an improvised path under a bridge that was destroyed by a Russian airstrike, while fleeing the town of Irpin, Ukraine, on Saturday, March 5, 2022. What looked like a breakthrough cease-fire to evacuate residents from two cities in Ukraine quickly fell apart Saturday as Ukrainian officials said shelling had halted the work to remove civilians hours after Russia announced the deal. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

four operating in the country and the closed plant in Chernobyl, Zelenskyy told US lawmakers.

Zelenskyy pleaded with the lawmakers for additional help, specifically fighter planes to help secure the skies over Ukraine, even as he insisted Russia was being defeated.

“We’re inflicting losses on the occupants they could not see in their worst nightmare,” Zelenskyy said.

Russian troops took control of the southern port city of Kherson this week. Although they have encircled Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Sumy, Ukrainian forces have managed to keep control of key cities in central and southeastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

US President Joe Biden called Zelenskyy early Sunday, Kyiv time, to discuss Russia sanctions and speeding US assistance to Ukraine.

The White House said the conversation also covered talks between Russia and Ukraine but did not give details.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Poland to meet with the prime minister and foreign minister, a day after attending a NATO meeting in Brussels in which the alliance pledged to step up support for eastern flank members.

Blinken also spoke by phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said Beijing opposes any moves that “add fuel to the flames” in Ukraine, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Blinken said the world is watching to see which nations stand up for freedom and sovereignty, the State Department said.

In Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Putin at the Kremlin. Israel maintains good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, and Bennett has offered to act as an intermediary in the conflict, but no details of the meeting emerged immediately. Bennett’s office said he spoke twice with Zelenskyy afterward, however.

In the wake of Western sanctions, Aeroflot, Russia’s flagship state-owned airline, announced that it plans to halt all international flights except to Belarus, starting Tuesday.

The death toll of the conflict was difficult to measure. The UN human rights office said at least 351

civilians have been confirmed killed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, but the true number is probably much higher. The Russian military, which doesn’t offer regular updates on casualties, said Wednesday that 498 of its troops had been killed.

Ukraine’s military is vastly outmatched by Russia’s, but its professional and volunteer forces have fought back with fierce tenacity.

Even in cities that have fallen, there were signs of resistance.

Onlookers in Chernihiv cheered as they watched a Russian military plane fall from the sky and crash, according to video released by the Ukrainian government. In Kherson, hundreds of protesters waved blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and shouted, “Go home.”

A vast Russian armored column threatening Ukraine’s capital remained stalled outside Kyiv. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said Saturday afternoon that the military situation was quieter overall and that Russian forces hadn’t “taken active actions since the morning.”

Zelenskyy has pleaded for a nofly zone over his country and lashed out at NATO for refusing to impose one, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you.”

Putin warned that a no-fly zone would be considered a hostile act, and NATO has said it has no plans to implement one. Western officials have said a main reason is a desire to not widen the war beyond Ukraine.

The US Congress is considering a request for $10 billion in emergency funding for humanitarian aid and security needs. The UN said it would increase its humanitarian operations both inside and outside Ukraine, and the Security Council scheduled a meeting for Monday on the worsening situation.

The UN World Food Program has warned of an impending hunger crisis in Ukraine, a major global wheat supplier, saying millions will need food aid “immediately.”

Kyiv’s central train station remained crowded with people desperate to flee. “People just want to live,” one woman, Ksenia, said.

Blinken hears harrowing tales from refugees fleeing Ukraine

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ORCZOWA, Poland—US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday visited a welcome center set up by Polish authorities in what once was a shopping mall in Korczowa, close to the border with Ukraine, where roughly 3,000 refugees are taking shelter after the Russian invasion of their homeland.

While at the border later, Blinken stepped briefly onto Ukrainian soil to meet Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba, who predicted Russia would be defeated but appealed for more military assistance to lower the cost in lives that he said victory will require.

At the refugee center, America’s top diplomat heard harrowing tales from mothers and their children who de-

scribed long and perilous journeys— and the shock of the sudden disruption and the fear for their lives—after fleeing the devastation of the war.

“Near our home we heard bombs,” said Venera Ahmadi, 12, who said she came with her brother and sister, six dogs and seven cats from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, more than 600 kilometers (372 miles) away. “We walked to the border, I don’t know how many hours. We crossed the border on foot.”

Her 16-year-old sister, Jasmine, said: “I was scared I would die.”

Natalia Kadygrob, 48, reached the center with her four adopted children from Kropyvnytskyi, almost 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) by bus on their way to her brother’s home in

Germany. Her husband stayed behind.

“There they bombed planes at the airport,” she said. “Of course we were afraid.” Tatyana, 58, who wouldn’t give her last name, came with her daughter, Anna, 37, and her 6- and 1-yearold daughters, Katya and Kira, from Kharkiv, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away. “They were shooting on the street,” Tatyana said. Anna said her home had been destroyed by a shell or a rocket.

She was in the basement with her daughters when the explosion happened. “They should be in school,” Anna said. “They are children, they don’t understand.”

Blinken then met with Kuleba on a visit to the Korczowa border cross-

ing where Polish authorities escorted small groups of refugees—about 20 at a time—across the frontier from the Ukrainian town of Krakovets as sporadic snow flakes fell from a gray sky.

Groups mainly of women, children and elderly men—grimly rolling their possessions in luggage and carrying infants and the occasional family pet—made their way into makeshift processing centers set up in tents on Polish territory.

The foreign minister said he wanted to convey a simple message: “Ukraine will win this war because this is the people’s war for their land and we defend the right course.” He added, “The question is the price, the price of our victory.” AP

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Mastercard, Visa stop operations in Russia

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EW YORK—Mastercard and Visa are suspending their operations in Russia, the companies said Saturday, in the latest blow to the country’s financial system after its invasion of Ukraine.

Mastercard said cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any Mastercard issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs. “We don’t take this decision lightly,” Mastercard said in a statement, adding that it made the move after discussions with customers, partners and governments.

Visa said it’s working with clients and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days.

“We are compelled to act following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the unacceptable events that we have witnessed,” Visa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Al Kelly said in a statement.

The twin suspensions were announced within 16 minutes of each other, and they followed a private video call earlier in the day between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and US lawmakers. During that conversation, Zelenskyy “asked us to turn off MasterCard and Visa for Russia,” Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, tweeted.

“I agree,” he added, before Mastercard and Visa made their announcements.

Earlier in the week, Visa and Mastercard had announced more limited moves to block financial institutions from the networks that serve as arter-

ies for the payments system. Russian people have already been hit hard by heavy sanctions and financial penalties imposed by the US government and others.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, the value of the Russian currency, the ruble, has plunged by more than a third to a record low. That’s pushing up inflation for Russian households, and all the fear has helped cause long lines at ATMs. Many other companies around the world have also made moves to increase the financial pressure on Russia and its people because of its attack on Ukraine. Some are selling their stakes in Russian companies, such as energy giant BP, while others like Harley-Davidson halted product shipments to the country.

“This war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand we respond in line with our values,” Visa’s Kelly said.

The moves by Mastercard and Visa could make real differences to their bottom lines. Russia accounted for 4 percent of all of Visa’s net revenue in its last fiscal year, including money made from domestic and cross-border activities. Ukraine accounted for about 1 percent, Visa said in a filing with US securities regulators this week.

Mastercard said in its own filing that about 4 percent of its net revenues during 2021 came from business conducted within, into and out of Russia. Another roughly 2 percent was related to Ukraine. AP

Zelenskyy’s ‘desperate’ request to Congress: Send more planes

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A SHINGTON—Fighting for his country’s survival, Ukraine’s leader made a “desperate” plea Saturday to American lawmakers for the United States to help get more warplanes to his military and cut off Russian oil imports as Kyiv tries to stave off the Russian invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened the private video call with US lawmakers by telling them this may be the last time they see him alive. He has remained in Kyiv, the capital, which has a vast Russian armored column threatening from the north.

Appearing in what is now his trademark army-green shirt in front of a white wall with the Ukrainian flag, he told them Ukraine needs to secure its skies, either through a no-fly zone enforced by NATO or through the provision of more warplanes so Ukraine could better defend itself. Zelenskyy has been pleading for a no-fly zone for days, but NATO has refused, saying it could provoke a widespread war with Russia.

The hour-long exchange with some 300 members of Congress and their staffs came as Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians who have fled the country grew to 1.4 million.

“President Zelenskyy made a desperate plea,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

He said Zelenskyy wants the US to facilitate the transfer of planes from Eastern European allies. “I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer,” Schumer said.

The US is considering sending American-made F-16s as backfill to former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe that are now members of NATO. They, in turn, would send Ukraine their own Soviet-era MiGs, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly.

There appears to be a logistical problem, however, in sending the F16s to Poland or other East European allies because of a production backlog.

These countries would essentially have to give their MiGs to the Ukrainians and accept an IOU from the US for the F-16s. The situation is further complicated because the next shipment of F-16s is set for Taiwan, and Congress would be reluctant to delay those deliveries as it eyes China.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

indicated the fighter jets are under consideration after meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba at the Poland-Ukraine border outside the town of Korczowa.

“We are talking about and working on everything,” Blinken told reporters.

Blinken reiterated that the US support for Ukraine “not only has been unprecedented, not only is it going to continue, it’s going to increase.”

The US Congress is working on a $10 billion package of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Schumer told Zelenskyy lawmakers hope to send it quickly to Ukraine, according to a person on the call and granted anonymity to discuss it.

When Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell asked about the types of military support his country needs, Zelenskyy said drones as well as planes would be the most helpful.

During the call, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia asked Zelenskyy about the idea of banning the import of Russian oil to the US, according to two other people granted anonymity to discuss the private call.

They said Zelenskyy indicated such a ban would be effective in putting pressure on Russia.

Republicans and a growing number of Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, back the idea of a Russian oil import ban. The Biden administration has so far resisted that step, worried about rising prices at the pump.

Zelenskyy urged US lawmakers to sanction Russia’s oil and gas sector, which has so far escaped the mounting sanctions imposed by the Biden administration and other countries.

The Ukrainian leader also urged lawmakers to suspend Visa and Mastercard credit card access in Russia— and the two announced later Saturday that they were doing just that. Mastercard said cards issued by Russian banks will no longer be supported by its network and any card issued outside the country will not work at Russian stores or ATMs. Visa said it’s working with clients and partners in Russia to cease all Visa transactions over the coming days.

In a video posted to Twitter after the call, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said: “Anything that could hurt the Russian economy will help the Ukrainian people and may make this war more difficult for Putin.” AP

The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

China reports highest daily Covid infections in more than 2 months

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hina reported the highest number of new daily Covid cases in more than two months as the eastern coastal city of Qingdao detected surging infections.

A total of 175 locally transmitted symptomatic cases were found on Saturday, 88 of them in Qingdao, according to the National Health Commission. Outbreaks in northeastern Jilin and southern Guangdong continue to spread, with both provinces reporting dozens of new cases.

China has persisted with its Covid Zero strategy after more than two years of fighting the virus. This policy has increasingly isolated the world’s most populous country from the rest of the world as western nations pivoted to living with the virus and gradually opening up.

The origins of the flareup in Qingdao was traced to people who became infected after receiving mail from other virus-hit provinces and transmitted the virus further at a small family gathering, the city’s local health commission said in a statement on Sunday. The strain of the virus has yet to be identified but it has been established that it is not the Omicron variant, according to the statement.

Qingdao has placed more than 2,500 close contacts of the patients under quarantine and has embarked on mass testing among people in its sub-tier city Laixi, where most of the cases have been found. Schools in the city ramped up control measures after finding some of the earliest clusters of the outbreak. The city has closed cinemas, bars and other entertainment venues in order to reduce transmission.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong can reverse the trend of rising coronavirus cases and achieve Covid Zero as it increases isolation

facilities and testing, Chief Secretary for Administration John Lee said.

Nine projects constructed with the help of China will provide about 50,000 beds and will sig nif icant ly enhance Hong Kong’s isolation capabilities, Lee said in a blog post on Sunday. Some of the facilities are expected to be completed this month, and the others in April or later, he said.

“With the increase of isolation facilities, coupled with effective large-scale testing, Hong Kong will have the strength to reverse the upward trend of the epidemic to a downward one, so as to control the epidemic development and reach zero cases,” Lee said.

Hong Kong’s resources are under pressure from a wave of Covid infections that’s pushed its death rate from the pandemic to one of the highest in the world. Fatalities have been concentrated in the under-vaccinated elderly and the virus has spread to more than 750 care facilities—including those that house disabled residents—sparking concern of worse to come.

The authorities are working on a citywide compulsory testing scheme of its entire population of 7.4 million. The government will devise a plan based on the situation in Hong Kong and will communicate details to the public so they can understand and prepare, Lee said. The government will ensure a stable and sufficient supply of food and necessities throughout the testing process, he said.

Hong Kong’s financial markets will remain open in the event of restrictions being imposed on residents, including stocks, derivatives, bonds, currencies and foreign exchange, the city’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan said in a separate blog post on Sunday. Bloomberg News

North Korea holds ‘satellite’ test as South’s election nears

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orth Korea said it conducted another reconnaissance satellite test, launching its second rocket with ballistic missile capability in less than a week as global attention focuses on the Ukraine crisis and South Korea prepares for elections.

North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration and the Academy of Defense Science conducted an “important test on Saturday under the plan of developing a reconnaissance satellite,” its official Korean Central News Agency said Sunday.

The launch was involved in the testing of data transmission and reception, control command and other ground-based control systems, the state news agency said.

North Korea has long said it’s entitled under international law to have a civilian space program but the US and others have accused Pyongyang of using a satellite program as a cover to bolster its ballistic missiles for the military.

South Korea said its neighbor

to the north fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile from an area near Pyongyang’s international airport at 8:48 a.m. Saturday toward the sea off the country’s eastern coast. The projectile flew about 270 kilometers (168 miles) and reached an altitude of around 560 km.

The US-Indo Pacific Command and the South’s presidential office condemned the latest launch, urging Pyongyang to refrain from making additional provocations.

North Korea last fired off a rocket Feb. 27, which Pyongyang claimed a day later was a reconnaissance satellite test.

North Korea often uses its provocations for political purposes. The latest launch comes days before South Koreans go to the polls on March 9 to elect a new leader to replace President Moon Jae-in and as the Biden administration grapples with one of its greatest international challenges —the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Bloomberg News

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IMF warns of ‘severe impact’ on global economy from war

he International Monetary Fund warned Russia’s war with Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed upon President Vladimir Putin’s country will have a “severe impact” on the global economy.

Workers at a mortuary move the body of a deceased person in Hong Kong on March 4. Bloomberg photo

Monday, March 7, 2022

“W hile the situation remains highly fluid and the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty, the economic consequences are already very serious,” the Washingtonbased lender said in a statement on Saturday.

Food and energ y prices have surged in recent days and supply chains have frayed, adding to the inflationary pressures that policy makers were already struggling to tackle.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. economists cut their outlook for global growth this year by about a percentage point, and raised their inflation estimate

by a similar amount.

“Price shocks will have an impact worldwide, especially on poor households for whom food and fuel are a higher proportion of expenses,” the IMF said. “Should the conflict escalate, the economic damage would be all the more devastating. The sanctions on Russia will also have a substantial impact on the global economy and financial markets, with significant spillovers to other countries.”

The Fund said central banks will need to “carefully monitor the passthrough of rising international prices to domestic inflation, to calibrate ap-

propriate responses.” Governments will need to find ways to support the most vulnerable households and help offset rising living costs.

“This crisis will create complex policy tradeoffs, further complicating the policy landscape as the world economy recovers from the pandemic crisis,” the Fund said.

Ukraine will face “significant recovery and reconstruction costs,” the IMF said, noting that “substantial” economic damage had already been wrought by the war.

The country has sought aid of $1.4 billion and IMF officials will consider the request as early as next week, according to the statement.

Meanwhile, the average price of gasoline in the US jumped above $4 a gallon for the first time since 2008 in a clear sign of the energy inflation that’s hurt consumers since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Pump prices jumped 41 cents in the past week and are 10 cents away from the record of $4.103 a gallon, said Patrick DeHaan, head of petro-

leum analysis at GasBuddy LLC. Motor fuel has followed skyrocketing oil prices, which notched the biggest weekly gain in history as buyers avoid supplies from Russia, the world’s second-biggest exporter.

With prices emblazoned on fuel station signs throughout the country, the meteoric rise of gasoline won’t be lost on US consumers already worried about inflation. The increase in fuel costs could add 1.3 to 1.5 percentage points to full-year inflation figures, according to Inflation Insights LLC. “As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues to evolve and we head into a season where gas prices typically increase, Americans should prepare to pay more for gas than they ever have before,” DeHaan said in a statement. “Shopping and paying smart at the pump will be critical well into summer.”

Pump prices will likely set a new record in the next few days and could rise higher than $4.25 a gallon by Memorial Day, DeHaan said.

Bloomberg News

Rising prices threaten Modi’s hold on India’s crucial state

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ive years ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party won big in India’s most-populous state thanks in part to low-status voters who endorsed his economic vision. Now they’re showing signs of looking elsewhere.

Soaring prices, joblessness and health complications from a vicious wave of Delta-fueled Covid-19 infections last summer are high on the minds of voters in Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial of five states that will reveal election results this week. Moreover, Modi’s Hindu-dominant Bharatiya Janata Party is pushing away some Muslims and voters from disadvantaged castes that once embraced him.

“Wages are coming down while inflation is rising—it’s becoming difficult to run the family and pay school fees,” Imtiyaz Ahmad, a 42-year-old Muslim who previously voted for Modi’s BJP, said in the swing district of Tanda while working long hours in the city’s textile factories to make extra cash. “We will vote for a change.”

While polls in the run-up to the election show Modi holding onto power in Uttar Pradesh, they predict the margin of victory to be much tighter than when the BJP won nearly 80 percent of seats in 2017. A particularly close race would raise questions about whether Modi is finally losing his touch after eight years in power, giving a disparate opposition hope to oust him at the next national election in 2024.

India’s inflation breached the upper limit of the central bank’s 2 percent to 6 percent target range in January, driven by rising costs of food and fuel. Sanctions on Russia after it attacked Ukraine are further driving up oil prices, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. saying global benchmark Brent crude could end the

year at $185 a barrel if Russian supply continues to be disrupted.

Much of Modi’s success has been due to an ability to unite Hindus who comprise 80 percent of India’s population and divide opposition parties that largely appeal to a particular caste or region.

In Uttar Pradesh—a state with more people than Russia and Ukraine combined, almost a fifth of them Muslims— the main opposition party is looking to turn the tables on Modi by forming a united front with smaller groups.

If they’re successful when votes are counted on March 10, it will be due to gains in places like Tanda, a textileproducing town on the banks of the Ghaghara River, a tributary of the Ganges.

The constituency has voted for the winning party’s candidate in the last three state elections dating back to 2007, including a BJP lawmaker five years ago.

This year the balance in Tanda appears to be tilting toward the Samajwadi Party, which is the closest challenger to the BJP in the polls. Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who is a former state chief minister, is copying a page out of Modi’s playbook in a bid for an upset win: It has formed an alliance with nine smaller groups that have clout among the so-called backward castes.

This strategy could draw away support from the BJP when it’s already been weakened because of a yearlong farmers’ protest against new agricultural laws that Modi was forced to reverse.

It’s not just Muslim voters like Ahmad who are switching their votes to the Samajwadi Party. Hindus, especially those belonging to groups that fall lower on the religion’s complex caste structure, are also looking away from the BJP. “Youths in my village are roaming

around—hardly anyone got jobs in the last five years,” said Abhay Raj, a 68-year-old Hindu farmer from a lower caste. “I have faith in the Samajwadi Party as they are talking about creating employment and giving benefits to farmers.”

Modi’s party is still confident of victory. On the campaign trail, BJP leaders have touted a mix of pro-poor policies—like low-cost housing and toilets—along with appeals to the Hindu majority spearheaded by firebrand Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.“Earlier they would build a Hajj House,” he said in a speech in January referring to facilities the previous government had made for Muslims going on the Hajj pilgrimage. “Our government made a building for those who go to Kailash Manasarovar,” he added, referring to a Hindu religious site.

The Samajwadi Party’s alliances “in the past two elections didn’t work,” said Hero Bajpai, a BJP spokesman. “Similarly this time, the alliance based on caste and religion won’t work.”

At one BJP campaign stop in Tanda, a group of actors performed a street play about how crime had fallen under the party’s rule. A campaign manager then hailed the bravery of Indian soldiers fighting neighboring Pakistan and Modi’s “bold” move to revoke seven decades of autonomy in the Muslimmajority region of Kashmir.

The local candidate, Kapil Deo Verma, said the BJP made women homeowners, providing low-cost housing while providing toilets and cooking gas cylinders to the poor. But the appeals to Hindus resonated most with voters on the ground.

In Uttar Pradesh, Modi’s party has enacted laws against so-called “love

jihad”—a reference to an alleged conspiracy of Muslim men luring Hindu women into marriage for conversion— and also cracked down on Muslims who protested India’s religion-based citizenship law.

“When the BJP talks about temples and Hindus that thrilled me,” said Arvind Kumar Verma, 38, adding that he would vote for the party even though he’s been hurt by rising prices and his mother died last year from Covid-19 after struggling to access medical care.

“I have sympathy for BJP.” At a separate stop in Tanda, Samajwadi’s candidate Ram Murti Verma kept the focus on rising prices and the lack of jobs. He drew cheers from supporters when talking about his party’s pledge of creating employment opportunities for the youth and providing 33 percent reservation for women in government jobs.

Still, he said his party’s alliance with small caste groups will have the biggest impact. “About 80 percent to 90 percent of the supporters of these groups who voted for BJP in the last assembly election will vote for the Samajwadi Party this time,” he said.

The opposition also aims to attract voters of all religions tired of some of the BJP’s religion-based policies. A ban on slaughtering cows—considered sacred by devout Hindus—has resulted in stray and often starving cattle roaming through villages, while so-called cow vigilantes roam the state attacking anyone they suspect of trading cattle for meat or leather.

“We work all day and then spend sleepless nights guarding our fields,” said Nirmala Devi, a 63-year-old Hindu farmer. “This is a big problem. I’m angry with the BJP.” Bloomberg News

New U.S. ambassador arrives in Beijing amid tense relations

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EIJING—New US Ambassador Nicholas Burns has arrived to take up his post in Beijing amid heightened tensions between China and the United States over Taiwan, trade, human rights and the war in Ukraine.

Burns arrived Friday with his wife Libby and a group of other US diplomats and their families and will undergo three weeks of quarantine at his official residence as China requires, according to a US Embassy spokesperson.

During his quarantine, the ambassador will virtually meet with US Mission staff, the spokesperson said.

The post had been empty since Terry Branstad departed in October 2020.

Burns is a career diplomat, former State Department spokesperson, ambassador to NATO and leading academic, teaching most recently at the Harvard Kennedy School and serving as a foreign policy adviser to Joe Biden’s presiden-

tial campaign.

He has framed the US relationship with China as manageable, saying Americans should “have confidence in our strength” when dealing with the rise of China.

The US and China are considered leading geopolitical rivals, particularly for influence in the Indo-Pacific region where China’s growing military and economic clout is challenging US dominance.

While the Biden administration professes a desire for a more stable and predictable relationship, it has maintained higher tariffs on Chinese imports imposed by former President Donald Trump and continued a trend of closer relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as a breakaway province.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a phone conversation Saturday with

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressed “grave concern over recent words and deeds of the US side,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Wang called on the US to stop encouraging Taiwan independence and interfering in China’s internal affairs.

Most recently, China was irked by a US-led diplomatic boycott of last month’s Beijing Winter Olympics in protest over human rights violations, particularly the mass incarceration and mistreatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

China has also refused to condemn Russia over its brutal invasion of Ukraine, blaming the US for instigating the conflict by encouraging NATO expansion and refusing to consider Moscow’s security concerns.

In their phone call, Blinken told Wang that the world is responding in unison

US Ambassador to China nominee Nicholas Burns attends a hearing to examine his nomination before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on October 20, 2021.

New US Ambassador Nicholas Burns has arrived to take up his post in Beijing amid heightened tensions between the sides over Taiwan, trade, human rights and the war in Ukraine.

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

to the invasion and watching to see which nations stand up for the principles of freedom and sovereignty, a US State Department statement said.

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Monday, March 7, 2022 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Dancing with the devil

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vents are moving so rapidly, and fake news and propaganda so rampant, that what was written yesterday may no longer be valid today. Nonetheless, analysis can be made only on the data you have and some things that occur have results that can accurately be projected into the future.

It might even be comforting to think that the tribulations of the 21st century are unique, but they aren’t. Global Spanish flu pandemic, World War I, global Great Depression, and World War II and all that only get up to 1945. Then again, our calendar says “2022” so maybe there is time left to be more disastrously “unique.”

It is unlikely that the Nato countries or even the European Union will have any inclination in the near or far future to have Ukraine join their exclusive clubs. Ukraine has an “Association Agreement” though with the “Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area” EU signed in 2017. Then again, Egypt got theirs in 2004 and Lebanon in 2006, both through the “Euro-Mediterranean Agreement.”

While Ukraine’s relationship with the world may now be “More Complicated,” Ukraine may prove to be more high-maintenance and carrying more baggage than anyone wants to handle. Nato just decided to turn down Ukraine’s request to establish a “no-fly” zone over the country as not worth any benefits from having its fighter planes shot down by a Russian MiG-35 and vice versa.

Economic sanctions have always been a part of warfare. But the most effective have been when the King is trapped in his castle and the attackers poison the water supply and launch rotting cow carcasses over the walls. The Siege of the Venetian-ruled city Candia by the Ottomans lasted 21 years before being successful.

In the age of globalization and much “shared” financial power, not to mention cryptos and other “dark-money” methods, sanctions are only “rules to be broken.” The West grabs a few super-yachts from super-rich Russians. Russia announces it will halt export of fertilizer. Currently, Belarus and Russia account for about 15 percent of all world fertilizer.

And US wheat prices are up 42 percent in the past 10 days. The Philippines buys 95 percent of its wheat from the US. Then you get on successive days: “Russian halts gas flows via Yamal pipeline,” “Gazprom resumes gas flows via Yamal pipeline to Germany,” and “Russia’s Yamal-Europe gas pipeline flows stopped.”

Vladimir Putin may be Satan’s Spawn in the eyes of many, yet he has been in power for nearly 22 years and Europe was more than happy to depend on outsiders, especially Russia in some cases, for its energy needs. In Tim Burton’s Batman movie, when the “Joker” is about to kill someone, he asks, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

Unfortunately, with increasing globalization—like cancer metastasizing in the body—we are all now “dancing” to Putin’s tune.

The Philippines is looking at the potential of a P3 to P5 increase in liquid fuel price this week. The Department of Energy urged consumers to report “unreasonable oil prices,” whatever that means. Further, we are told that the price of Dubai crude oil—not Brent crude—is the local pricing benchmark. That means absolutely nothing. Since February 4, Brent is up 15.7 percent and Dubai crude has increased by 16 percent.

Government fuel subsidies are nothing more than a short-term painkiller. No matter what color face mask you wear, there are no substantial solutions from the candidates because there are no substantial quick-fix solutions.

We need a genuine comprehensive energy plan, which may come along with the signing of Executive Order 164 on nuclear power generation. We need more—not less—modernization of public transportation to be more fuel-efficient. We need more thoughtful action and less predictable rhetoric.

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A country of empowered women

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Governments, industries, and organizations are implementing measures to reduce the gender gap and promote economic empowerment for women. And the women themselves are empowering one another and working to secure equal rights in various areas. To support this movement, there are things we can do to help, too.

It is important to focus on economic empowerment because studies have shown that when a woman’s income is adequate, the state of her family’s health and education is better, which of course affects the nation’s economy. In other words, gender inclusion is crucial in achieving economic sustainability.

Nations become more progressive if critical issues like gender equality and women empowerment are addressed. Not only that, it is necessary to challenge gender narratives so we can build a better future for

equality, we owe in huge part to the women who spoke out and shared their struggles. We admire them and we are grateful to these brave women fighting misogyny.

We can also advocate for women colleagues and support women leaders. Better yet, we can place them in positions of power and give them decision-making roles. We must recognize that the contributions of women in the areas of education, health, business, politics, etc. are enormous. But then a lot of women, especially those from less developed countries, don’t have access to equal opportunities, particularly in the world of work. Women deserve to

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

ven in many developed countries, gender equality has not been completely realized. While there have been great changes in legislation, societal expectations, and even in the way women see themselves, there is still more work to be done. Economic equality is one of the areas where more effort would certainly be helpful. our daughters.

Governments, industries, and organizations are implementing measures to reduce the gender gap and promote economic empowerment for women. And the women themselves are empowering one another and working to secure equal rights in various areas. To support this movement, there are things we can do to help, too.

For example, we can encourage women to speak up, use their voices, and express their opinions. What we have gained in the fight for gender

have decent jobs and to have public policy in place to support growth and development in this area.

We can also sponsor women’s education so more women can finish their studies; or contribute to an organization that keeps girls in school.

When we invest in the education of women and, say, provide them with entrepreneurial opportunities, we can get rid or at least diminish the pay gap.

Aside from those mentioned above, here are more ideas: 1. Respect women when they are expressing themselves or being their authentic selves.

2. Support their interests, endeavors, and pursuits. Support women-run businesses by investing, donating, or buying from them.

3. Take a stance against negativity, discrimination, and other forms of exploitation of women—whether offline or online.

4. Listen to those women who are sharing their voices, their struggles, and experiences. Take inspiration from their stories.

5. Support organizations that empower women—volunteer, donate or share their campaigns.

Fleeing sanctions, oligarchs seek safe ports for superyachts

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By Michael Biesecker | The Associated Press

ASHINGTON—The superyacht Dilbar stretches oneand-a-half football fields in length. It has two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-meter swimming pool that itself can accommodate another superyacht.

Dilbar was launched in 2016 at a reported cost of more than $648 million. Five years later, its purported owner, the Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, was already dissatisfied. He sent the vessel to a German shipyard last fall for a retrofit reportedly costing several hundred million dollars.

Dilbar was in drydock on Thursday when the United States and European Union announced economic sanctions against Usmanov—a metals magnate and early investor in Facebook—over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in retaliation for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets,” President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, addressing Russian oligarchs. “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

Seizing the behemoth boats could prove challenging. Russian billionaires have had decades to shield their money and assets in the West from governments that might try to tax or seize them.

Several media outlets reported

last week that German authorities had impounded the Dilbar. But a spokeswoman for Hamburg state’s economy ministry told The Associated Press no such action had yet been taken because it had been unable to establish ownership of the yacht.

Dilbar is flagged in the Cayman Islands and registered to a holding company in Malta, banking havens where the global ultra-rich often park their wealth.

Working with the UK-based yacht valuation firm VesselsValue, the AP compiled a list of 56 superyachts— generally defined as luxury vessels exceeding 24 meters (79 feet) in length—believed to be owned by a few dozen Kremlin-aligned oligarchs.

The yachts have a combined market value estimated at more than $5.4 billion. The AP then used two online services—VesselFinder and MarineTraffic—to plot the last known locations of the yachts as relayed by their onboard tracking beacons.

Many are anchored in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. But more than a dozen were underway or had already arrived in remote ports in small nations such as the Maldives and Montenegro, potentially beyond the reach of Western sanctions.

Three had gone dark, their transponders last pinging just outside the Bosporus in Turkey — gateway to the Black Sea and the southern Russian ports of Sochi and Novorossiysk.

Graceful, a German-built Russian-flagged superyacht believed to belong to Putin, left a repair yard in Hamburg, Germany, on February 7, two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is now moored in the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad, beyond the reach of Western sanctions imposed against him this past week.

French authorities seized the superyacht Amore Vero on Thursday in the Mediterranean resort town of La Ciotat. The boat is believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the US sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

The French Finance Ministry said in a statement that customs authorities boarded the 289-foot Amore Vero and discovered its crew was preparing for an urgent departure, even though planned repair work wasn’t finished.

The 213-foot Lady M was seized

by Italian authorities Friday while moored in the Riveria port town of Imperia. In a tweet announcing the seizure, a spokesman for Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the yacht was the property of sanctioned steel baron Alexei Mordashov, listed as Russia’s wealthiest man with a fortune of about $30 billion.

But Mordashov’s the 464-foot Nord

was safely at anchor on Friday in the Seychelles, a tropical island chain in the Indian Ocean not under the jurisdiction of US or EU sanctions.

Among the world’s biggest superyachts, Nord has a market value of $500 million.

“No self-respecting Russian oligarch would be without a superyacht,” said William Browder, a USborn and now London-based financier who worked in Moscow for years before becoming one of the Putin regime’s most vocal foreign critics.

Russian metals and petroleum magnate Roman Abramovich is believed to have bought or built at least seven of the world’s largest yachts, some of which he has since sold off to other oligarchs.

Dennis Cauiser, a superyacht analyst with VesselsFinder, said the escalating US and EU sanctions on Putin-aligned oligarchs and Russian banks have sent a chill through the industry, with boatbuilders and staff worried they won’t be paid. It can cost upwards of $50 million a year to crew, fuel and maintain a superyacht.

Most of the Russians on the annual Forbes list of billionaires have not yet been sanctioned by the United States and its allies, and their superyachts are still crushing the world’s oceans. The 237-foot long Stella Maris, which was seen by an AP journalist docked this past week in Nice, France, is believed to be owned by Rashid Sardarov, a See “Fleeing,” A9

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Russian invasion reorders West’s calculations on cost of war

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The bully and the brave

By Aamer Madhani | The Associated Press

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

ASHINGTON—Not long after winding down 20 years of war, President Joe Biden now finds the United States entrenched in a conflict in Ukraine, even without sending in US troops, that could have a more far-reaching effect on a larger cross section of Americans than Afghanistan or Iraq ever did.

Fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq cost the lives of more than 6,900 US troops and more than 7,500 US contractors, and American spending topped $2.3 trillion. But those wars had little impact on how the vast majority of Americans lived their daily lives. It was a 20-year period where people experienced both the Great Recession and the longest US economic expansion, touchstones that were little influenced by the two grinding conflicts.

Now, five months after the end of the war in Afghanistan, the longest in US history, Americans are entering complicated terrain with the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

While Biden promises there will be no American forces on the ground there, he acknowledged the war waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin could have real impact on Americans’ pocketbooks.

“A Russian dictator, invading a foreign country, has costs around the world,” Biden told Americans in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

The financial tumult of the most significant military campaign in Europe since World War II is already being felt.

This past week saw US crude oil prices surge about 13 percent to roughly $113 per barrel and the cost of natural gas reached a record in Europe as the war stoked market fears about a supply shock.

Key stock market indices, volatile for weeks, saw further losses as French President Emmanuel Macron warned “the worst is yet to come” after a lengthy phone call on Thursday with Putin.

Yet, in Washington—as well as in European capitals—there are signs of growing resolve to confront Putin and of a willingness to take on some economic pain in the process.

It’s a markedly different tone than in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that spurred the Afghanistan War. Then-President George W. Bush implored Americans then to “stand against terror by going back to work” and suggested Americans “get down to Disney World” as his administration tried to restore faith in the US airline industry. Over the next 20 years, US servicemembers, including more than 52,000 wounded in action, and their families would largely carry the burden.

In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, got ahead of the White House in recent days in pushing for sanctions directly targeting Russia’s energy sector, the lifeblood of Putin’s economy. The administration has been hesitant to target Russian oil out of concern such a move would also imperil the economies of the US and Western allies.

“Ban it,” Pelosi said of Russian oil imports.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced a bipartisan bill to do just that.

The legislation would halt Russian oil imports to the US by declaring a national emergency, something Biden could also do on his own.

“If there was a poll being taken and they say, ‘Joe, would you support 10 cents more a gallon for the people of Ukraine?’...I would gladly,” Manchin said.

Whether that view is widely held in the United States could go a long way to determine if Biden’s popularity will rebound after sinking to dismal levels.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said the sanctions on Russia could raise interest rates, slow the economy and drive up inflation and gas prices. He suggested Americans were prepared to sacrifice.

“This comes at cost,” Romney said.

“Nowhere near the cost of blood that would be involved if we let [Putin] run

amok but it is not without sacrifice.”

Public polling suggests Americans increasingly believe that the US may have to do more to help Ukraine.

Forty-five percent of Americans said in the days after Russia invaded that the US was doing too little to help Ukraine. Another 37 percent said the US was doing the right amount; just 7 percent said efforts were too much, according to a Quinnipiac poll this past week.

American politicians have shown greater resolve about what lies ahead as Ukrainians have demonstrated, in Biden’s words, “pure courage” in intense fighting against Russian forces. There’s also been a substantial change in European attitudes, as the Russian military has pummeled Ukraine’s biggest cities.

In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was quick to put Nord Stream 2, a recently completed $11 billion Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline, on indefinite hold once Russia invaded, a reversal of Germany’s previous position.

The German government also reversed its long-held policy of not sending weaponry to a conflict zone and announced it would send antitank and stinger weapons to Ukraine.

The German government—one of several European nations that have been laggard in meeting Nato countries’ pledge to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense by 2024—said it would about triple its defense budget in 2022.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck even called on his country to take on Putin in another way.

“If you want to hurt Putin a bit, then save energy,” he said.

Even Hungary, whose pro-Russian strongman President Viktor Orban resisted speaking out against Russia in the leadup to the war, has condemned Russian military action, expressed support for sanctions, and agreed to give temporary protection to Ukrainian refugees entering Hungary.

At the White House, officials say the stiffening of European allies’ resolve came after many had showed some wariness about confronting the Russians. US national security officials released a steady drip of intelligence for more than two months before the war that suggested Putin was intent on a full-scale invasion.

But even so, in talks with Biden’s national security team, some European allies seemed convinced—until right before Putin acted—that he would do something less than a full invasion.

Talk of reacting with half measures quickly melted away—even among some of the most reluctant European allies—once it became clear Putin had put his sights far beyond disputed territories in eastern Ukraine.

Now, as the costs to Western economies mount, Biden and allied leaders’ pain threshold will be tested further. Asked about the administration’s confidence in unity as the costs of the war rise, White House press secretary sought to turn the focus back on Putin.

“We are taking steps to stand up for democracy, stand up for democracy versus autocracy stand up to the actions of a brutal dictator,” Psaki said. “It is because of his actions that we are in this circumstance.”

Edward Frantz, a historian at the University of Indianapolis, said Biden appeared to be headed toward a foreign policy “sweet spot” after the chaotic ending of the US war in Afghanistan. In the final days of that war, 13 US service members were killed in a suicide bomb attack as they assisted evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City, and Lisa Mascaro, Hannah Fingerhut and Colleen Long contributed to this report

THE PATRIOT

First of two parts

I

once thought that in bullfighting, the animal is the bully and the bullfighter or the matador waving the red cape is the victim.

Lest I give away my discovery far too early, it may be best if we first run through the most disheartening event recently in the international arena.

Of late, our aesthetics have been swarmed with images symbolizing the letter “V”: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ousted Pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. Pronouncing their names correctly can be as challenging as the devastating attack by Russia on Ukraine. With the ongoing mass exodus of refugees and the unrelenting bombing of city centers, we might suddenly develop dyslexia and re-name this carnage as “Vloodshed”—with a resounding letter “V.” Accounts all over the world tell us that Putin’s invasion is supposedly premised on saving Ukraine from being ruled by extremists and NeoNazis. Since the Russian-supported ex-President Yanukovych was ousted in 2014, Putin has targeted Ukraine, seizing Crimea years ago. Putin has supported local insurgents in the eastern part of Ukraine as his way of preventing Ukraine from joining the West’s defensive military alliance, North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

After an initial military deployment close to the Ukraine border in late 2021, Russia has commenced its invasion, or “special military operations” as Putin calls it while accusing Nato of threatening “our historic future as a nation.” Now, Russia and Ukraine are in a bullfight!

The Russian blitz can be seen as plain bullying that led to (and continues to lead to) the loss of innocent lives and destruction of property. Reports have it that this is not a war Russia’s populace is prepared for (“Putin’s war,” per German Chancellor Olaf Scholz). Several anti-war protesters have been detained and Russian local media have been threatened with sanctions under a new law against “fake news.”

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says “Russia

aims to erase us.” In a typical bullfight, such is the aim of the bull. The bull is Putin, not Russia, whose desire is to obliterate Ukraine, whose only fault appears to be not siding with Russia. Putin the bully likely did not expect such reaction from “the brave.” Another bully, Xi Jinping of China who has snubbed the arbitral ruling as to the dispute in the West Philippine Sea, has directed the Chinese Coast Guard to use water cannons to prevent two Philippine vessels from delivering food supplies to the Philippine marine contingent at Second Thomas Shoal. Refusing to be strong-armed, our government filed (and fired) a canon of diplomatic protests.

Ukraine chose a similar path by firing pleas to European countries to intervene. While economic sanctions have been imposed, Ukraine begs for a “no-fly zone” to prevent Russian missiles from hitting civilian centers. Due to sheer might, both Russia and China have evolved into a global bully. While leaders in Ukraine fearlessly stood up to defend their people and nationhood, I cannot say the same thing for leaders in the Philippines.

Researchers have looked into this bullying behavior, as it is now more prevalent. Victims are normally the “object of constant vexation and attack,” as manifestly demonstrated not just by countries or governments but even by individuals. Fresh from our memories is President Duterte’s bullying of Senator Leila de Lima, trumping up charges of alleged drug trading when the senator was still the Justice secretary. Detained for more than five years now, the lady lawmaker refuses to bend or break.

The bullying process extends to her re-election bid, as she is not allowed to appear in campaign sorties,

Monday, March 7, 2022

In our lives, we should not fear bullies or anyone or anything that triggers a reaction, good or otherwise. We were given the power of choice and we control our reactions to adverse conditions. Unlike the bull that is wired to fight, we are wired to love. even online! Such act of gallantry is likewise exemplified, although in a smaller scale, by senatoriable-lawyer and labor leader Luke Espiritu who dressed down fellow candidates Harry Roque and Larry Gadon. In one televised debate, Gadon, obviously in defense of presidentiable Bongbong Marcos, triggered the verbal pyrotechnics when he “bullied” the Catholic Church for politicking and issuing anti-Marcos and procommunist propaganda. Espiritu reacted with bravery and paved the way for the “When Harry met Larry and Luke” political sizzler as Roque joined the fray by defending a supposed clean record of BBM when it comes to corruption.

BBM, on a smaller scale, jumped on the bullying bandwagon when he condescendingly stated that he is willing to join the Comelec-organized debates, provided he sees the format first! Such behavior can be likened to a job applicant imposing conditions prior to showing up for a job interview. I consider such demand as bullying since BBM intentionally caused Comelec and other people such discomfort, as if he’s entitled to such accommodation. After all, bulls and bullies always feel entitled and always in the limelight.

Researchers have identified this bullying behavior by laying out three characteristics: (1) it is intentional and tries to cause harm or distress to another, (2) it involves persons (or nations) with different degrees of power, and (3) it can happen repeatedly, as in habitual. Thus too, bullying can be physical, verbal or social. However which way bullying appears, it is not acceptable conduct for believers. The Bible commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and to treat others the way we would like to be treated (Luke 6:31). There is no room in the Christian faith to belittle or abuse another.

We are likewise called to seek justice and defend the oppressed (Psalms 82:3-4, Isaiah 1:17).

Whether we are the ones being

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bullied or are mere observers, we need to take action and make the situation right. It is unlikely that Russia’s President Putin will simply step back and stop bullying Ukraine into submission. Although a bull or a bully cannot be easily tamed, we cannot afford to be mere bystanders. Seeking justice for Ukraine and praying for its people should be second nature. Our leaders should join other countries, through the United Nations General Assembly, and call on its “Avenger”—nations to “assemble” and fight the bully, in whatever way possible. Should this happen, China might reduce or abandon its bullying mode against a bullied Philippines.

So, in an actual bullfighting event, most would say the actual bully is the bull. Hence, the term bully! But the matador or the bullfighter can actually be the bully.

Once the matador aggressively whips the muleta (red cape), the bull reacts almost impulsively as its brain associates such movement with danger. Research says that “this will trigger the Fight or Flight response, causing the bull to charge at and attack the matador in order to get rid of the threat and survive.”

Ultimately, the matador bullied the bull, not the other way around, as we were accustomed to believe. The bullfighter practically coerced and abused the bull to do something it would not normally do.

In our lives, we should not fear bullies or anyone or anything that triggers a reaction, good or otherwise. We were given the power of choice and we control our reactions to adverse conditions. Unlike the bull that is wired to fight, we are wired to love. Unlike the bull that gets angered when it sees the color red, we should promote love (for country and its people) whenever war comes in our doorsteps. In a Fight or Flight situation, we don’t have to fight every time. But when we do, we must always fight with love.

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

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

James Jimenez: Ripe to be Comelec commissioner hose affected by Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez’s various statements and announcements pertaining to the enforcement by Comelec of election laws, rules and regulations should not take them personally but should consider the fact that Jimenez is merely performing his task—to speak what the Comelec says it is.

I am sure that Jimenez is a very good and competent public official who should be with the Comelec as one of its Commissioners, bringing with him his wide knowledge and experience on how the Comelec functions.

Unless rebuffed by the Comelec, whatever Jimenez says is Comelec’s position or policy on a particular issue.

But observing from a distance how Jimenez performed such job, I can’t help but admire him for the consistency of his statement and how he defends and articulates with conviction the position of the Comelec, however hard or controversial they may be. In a word, he knows what he is talking about and he could only do it because, for sure, he studies the applicable election

laws, rules and regulations.

I may not know him personally, but records show that he is a law graduate in 2000 from the University of Sto. Tomas. He has been the spokesperson of the Comelec since 2006 to the present that he is known as the “longest continuously serving spokesperson of any Philippine government institution [who] spearheaded the Comelec’s continued engagement with various social media, very early on establishing the Comelec as one of the first national government entities

with a significant and dynamic social media presence. He also serves as the Chair of the Comelec’s Local Source Code Review Committee, which ensures that the Source Code for Automated Election is reviewed by political parties, academic, and election watchdogs.”

Given all these qualifications, I am sure that Jimenez is a very good and competent public official who should be with the Comelec as one of its Commissioners, bringing with him his wide knowledge and experience on how the Comelec functions.

Fleeing . . .

Department issued a new round of sanctions that included news release citing Usmanov’s close ties to Putin and photos of Dilbar and the oligarch’s private jet, a custom-built 209-foot Airbus A340-300 passenger liner.

“I believe that such a decision is unfair and the reasons employed to justify the sanctions are a set of false and defamatory allegations damaging my honor, dignity and business reputation,” Usmanov said in a statement issued through the

website of the International Fencing Federation, of which he has served as president since 2008.

Abramovich has not yet been sanctioned. Members of the British Parliament have criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not going after Abramovich’s UK-based assets, which include the professional soccer club Chelsea. Under mounting pressure, the oligarch announced this past week he would sell the $2.5 billion team and give the net proceeds “for the benefit of

By Atty. Romulo B. Macalintal

T

continued from A8

Russian billionaire oil and gas magnate.

The crash of the ruble and the tanking of Moscow stock market have depleted the fortunes of Russia’s elite. Cauiser said he expects some oligarch superyachts will soon quietly be listed by brokers at firesale prices.

On Thursday, the US Treasury

He may not be a lawyer, but Section 1, Article IX-C of the Constitution merely requires that “a majority” of the Comelec Commissioners, including the Chairman, shall be lawyers with at least 10 years law practice and the rest could be “holders of a college degree.” This makes Jimenez highly qualified to be a Commissioner of the Comelec considering that he is even a holder of a law degree.

If President Duterte is still scouting around for replacements of Comelec Commissioners Rowena Guanzon and Anthonio Kho, who was recently appointed as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the President has a very good and excellent choice in the person of James Jimenez. And if Jimenez becomes a Comelec Commissioner he will have more authority to speak for the Comelec.

The author is a veteran election lawyer

all victims of the war in Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, location transponders showed the 533-foot Solaris— launched by Abramovich in 2010 with an undersea bay that reportedly holds a mini-sub — was moored in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday.

Abramovich’s $600 Eclipse, eight stories tall and on the water since last year, set sail from St. Maarten late Thursday and is underway in the Caribbean Sea, destination undisclosed. Associated Press writer Aritz Parra in Madrid contributed to this report

A10 Monday, March 7, 2022

Senate e-sabong probe focus is on legal gaps, 34 missing

T

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

HE Senate inquiry into the disappearance of 34 sabungeros will resolve three key issues in aid of legislation on the status of e-sabong, a lucrative online betting reaping billions of pesos from cockfights.

Such regulatory gaps, along with surfacing the missing persons as soon as possible, are what concern the Senate, not the “conspiracy” that gaming giant Charlie “Atong” Ang claims was hatched by rivals to pin the abductions on him, a senator said at the weekend.

The three issues were laid down on Sunday by Sen. Francis Tolentino, one of those who actively participated in the two hearings thus far called by the Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaired by Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.

According to Tolentino, the Senate inquiry is intended to focus on three issues in aid of legislation: ■ First, is there a law granting enough legal basis for e-sabong?

■ Second, is there a regulatory agency that under current law has legal authority to supervise e-sabong? If

so, which should this be—the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Games and Amusement Board, or the Department of Trade and Industry?

■ Third and last, has Congress issued any franchise for e-sabong?

Tolentino, a lawyer, said in a radio interview his answer to all three is “in the negative,” and that the law on gaming, Republic Act 9487, should be amended to include e-sabong.

“Has Congress allowed the delegation of franchising to another body?”

Tolentino asked aloud, and answered in the negative, thus affirming the point he raised in the first Public Order committee hearing on February 24 that Pagcor is on shaky ground in issuing licenses to seven e-sabong operators in the absence of legislative franchises.

The licensees are Belvedere Vista Corporation, Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc.,

Visayas Cockers Club Inc., Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies, Inc., Newin Cockers Alliance Gaming Corporation, Philippine Cockfighting International Inc., and Golden Buzzer Inc. Of the seven, only Ang’s Lucky 8 Star Quest Inc. has had its application for a legislative franchise advance to plenary in the Senate after gaining endorsement in the House, but Sen. Grace Poe, head of the franchise-granting panel, said on Friday that senators will not rush to grant Ang’s outfit a franchise until the apparent abductions of 34 persons—in six separate cases—are satisfactorily resolved.

Suspend operations

I N t h e m e a nt i m e , To l e nt i n o stressed that Pagcor should at the very least suspend operations of all licensees, since the regulatory framework gaps are so glaring and legalities are in question. This is why, he stressed, 23 senators signed on the resolution and promptly sent to Pagcor and the Office of the President, expressing the sense of the Senate that operations of esabong should be halted.

“I think the right course of action is to suspend [operations] meantime,” said Tolentino, partly in Filipino.

LAYLO POLL: BONGBONG MOST TRUSTED PRESIDENTIAL BET IN ‘22

P

He asserted that Pagcor’s claimed legal basis—legal opinions of the Department of Justice and the Office of Solicitor General—for unilaterally issuing licenses despite the e-sabong operators’ lack of a legislative franchise is shaky.

Tolentino believes it’s time to allow the return of all “physical sabong”—or the traditional weekend cockfights that are a hallmark in many major cities and towns, as the face-to-face cockfight and betting undercuts the need for online, or e-sabong, betting.

At the second hear ing last Ma rc h 4, Atong A ng h ad told senators some of his r iva ls in the business appear involved in a “conspiracy” to bring him down by pinning on him the abductions, but, he claimed, he had dutifully reported to authorities suspected game-fi xing and hacking of licensed e-sabong web sites by hackers and cloners—his way of saying, he follows due process.

Tolentino indicated, though, that senators are not inclined to tackle Ang’s so-called “conspiracy” theory because their main concern is to help surface the 34 missing persons and to find answers, in aid of legislation, to the three key issues he listed.

ARTIDO Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is the most trusted presidential candidate in the fastapproaching 2022 national elections, his campaign team said at the weekend, citing the results of a survey released recently.

In the latest iteration of Laylo Research’s presidential voter preference survey, Marcos obtained a net trust rating of +59, indicating a deep motivation among Filipino voters to elect him potentially as the country’s first majority president in the forthcoming polls.

Marcos’s trust rating is 47 points ahead of the nearest contender, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, who got a +12 rating.

Following Moreno are Sen. Ping Lacson with -8, Leni Robredo with -15, and Sen. Manny Pacquiao with -19.

The UniTeam presidential bet’s trust rating across the major voting areas is in a different class altogether, with +59 in the National Capital Region (NCR), +78 in North / Central Luzon, +40 in South Luzon, +46 in the Visayas, and +70 in Mindanao.

When people were asked who could best continue

the good things started by President Duterte, Marcos emerged as the top choice of the respondents, with 64 percent saying he is the man for the job.

Marcos and his runningmate Inday Sara Duterte have pledged to continue the flagship projects started by the Duterte administration, notably the Build, Build, Build program to spur the country’s economic recovery.

Survey respondents also see Marcos as the candidate who can probably do more than Duterte, with 59 percent of the respondents affirming this.

Even Marcos’s number of “hard voters,” or those who will not change their mind in voting for him, has remained steady at 56 percent.

It only shows, said his campaign team, that a large chunk of the voting public has decided and will no longer be swayed to shift to another candidate.

Also, in this survey, Marcos garnered a 63-percent voter preference, which is 46 percent higher than his nearest rival.

Laylo Research did the fieldwork for the survey from February 14 to 21, 2022, and utilized 3,000 respondents.

Continued on A4

21 PHL seafarers stuck in ship off Ukraine due Tuesday, says DFA

T

HE 21 Filipino crew members of M/V S-Breeze from U k r a i ne w i l l be a r r iving home on Tuesday morning (March 8) via Philippine Airlines PR659, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced at the weekend. Their repatriation made possible through the efforts of the Philippine Embassy in Budapest and the Philippine Honorary Con-

sulate in Moldova.

The seafarers were able to enter Moldova from Ukraine. From Chisinau, the Filipinos were transported to Romania where they arrived early on March 4, the DFA said.

The group was evacuated from the M/V S-Breeze, a bulk carrier that has been on drydock for repairs at the Ilyichevsk Ship Yard in Port of Odessa, Ukraine since

January 27, 2022.

The DFA also confirmed that another group of seafarers—13 out of the 31 crew members of St a r Helena— crossed t he Moldova border on March 3 and were successfully evacuated from Chornomorsk through the Honorary Consul in Moldova. They are currently awaiting their eventual repatriation.

THE 21 crew members of the MV S-Breeze are seen with Philippine Embassy personnel in Budapest, Romania. Other photo shows the 13 evacuated crew members of MV Star Helena at the border crossing to Moldova on March 3. They will also be repatriated.

DFA-OUMWA PHOTOS

Companies

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Monday, March 7, 2022

B1

ICTSI: New berth will allow MICT to serve larger ships

I

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

nternational Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) said on Sunday it is expanding the capacity of its flagship terminal in Manila with the addition of a new P15-billion berth, which will enable the Razon-led company to serve new larger ships while increasing its capacity.

ICTSI EVP Christian R. Gonzalez said Manila International Container Terminal’s (MICT) Berth 8 will add a total of 400 meters quay and up to 12 hectares of yard area in phases.

It will be able to serve new generation container ships that carry up to 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

“The added capacity will allow us to stay ahead of demand and

address the steadily increasing volume, a sure sign of economic recovery for our country. Berth 8 will be a game-changer for the city; it will take Manila’s port capabilities to a whole new level with the ability to handle the larger capacity ships and the additional volume that comes with them,” he said.

Water alongside will be initially

dredged to a depth of 13.5 meters with potential further deepening to 15 meters draft.

“ICTSI is not specifically obligated under its contract with the Philippine Ports Authority to build Berth 8.

We’re doing it to become more competitive in the face of rising global trade. Our commitment has always been to provide the highest levels of service and infrastructure and building another berth to increase our terminal’s capability is one way of honoring that commitment,” Gonzalez said.

Berth 8 will be equipped with at least four quay cranes – two of which will be delivered in 2025 – which will be the largest in the terminal and in the country.

Once completed, MICT will have a total berth length of 2,300 meters, increasing its berthing and total capacities by 21 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Aside from the construction of Berth 8, ICTSI has started the modernization of Berths 1 to 5 and their backup and yard areas. The project

includes the installation of additional reefer racks by April to accommodate approximately 300 TEUs of reefer cargo.

In March, eight new hybrid RTGs are scheduled to be deployed that will increase the terminal’s hybrid fleet to 40 units. MICT has been deploying hybrids into its operations since 2018 to reduce carbon emissions and as part of its continued efforts towards being the most sustainable facility in the Philippines.

ICTSI is increasing its capital expenditures (capex) for 2022 to $330 million from $165 million last year to fund expansion projects for its ports in the Philippines, including Berth 8, as well as in other territories.

The Razon-led port operator saw profits ballooning by 321 percent to $428.57 million in 2021 from $101.76 million the year prior. Its revenues rose by 24 percent to $1.87 billion from $1.51 billion on the back of a 10-percent increase in consolidated volume to 11.16 million TEUs from 10.19 million TEUs the previous year.

D&L Batangas plant to open in 2023

By VG Cabuag @villygc

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices gained last week, with the main index remaining at the 7,300-point level, as investors took the opportunity to pick up cheap stocks.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 129.78 points to close at 7,342.01 points.

The main index made significant gains for two straight days but gave up half of those on Wednesday, as uncertainties created by the ongoing war in Ukraine prevented them from accumulating shares.

Average value of trade reached P7.53 billion, while foreign investors, which made up 45 percent of the trade, were net buyers at P149.11 million.

All other sub-indices managed to post gains, with the exception of the Industrial index that fell 19.49 points to 10,076.44 points. The broader All Share index gained 52.67 to close at 3,895.52, the Financials index added 0.68 to 1,688.71, the Holding Firms index rose 213.88 to 7,060.32, the Property index soared 96.06 to 3,498.54, the Services index was up 42.97 to 1,958.73 and the Mining and Oil index surged 1,423.83 to 13,327.07.

For the week, gainers led losers 142 to 87 and 21 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Semirara Mining and Power Corp., Citystate Savings Bank Inc., Coal Asia Holdings Inc., PH Resorts Group Holdings Inc., Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. and Philodrill Corp.

Top losers, meanwhile, were Manila Jockey Club Inc., Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp., Liberty Flour Mills Inc., DITO CME Holdings Corp., Philippine Seven Corp. and Emperador Inc.

This week

Trading may remain volatile this week as oil prices continue to soar, which will have a direct effect on the country’s inflation rate.

Broker 2TradeAsia said crude prices in the world markets hit levels never before seen since 2010, which are putting pressure on Philippine economic managers to roll out interventions that will cushion the impact of high oil prices.

“It would be interesting what and how strong recourse the government can do with a quarter left until the next administration change and with Congress closed amid election season, but there might be some tax reprieve sooner that can help lift overall momentum,” the broker said.

It also noted that the 2021 earnings of large listed firms are on the way, and that more than half have already reported, but much of the increase were caused by the low-base effects of 2020.

“We have yet to account for the margin impact of higher oil prices, nor the trickier dollar and interest rate effect to the balance sheets,” it said. “There are no real winners to war, and this applies to even equity holders, as value chains get disrupted and macro-fundamentals are upheaved.”

Immediate support for the main index is seen at 7,200 points and resistance at 7,500 points.

Stock picks

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. advised to sell on rallies on the stock of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) as its share price rallied last week to close at a record high of P228 apiece.

“The action-filled trading day was backed by an above-average trading volume. All indicators deployed are now unanimously bullish towards the stock.

However, the aggressive spike in ICTSI’s price might lure in some sellers,” even if its technical readings have yet to crossover the overbought region,” the broker said.

ICTSI’s shares closed at P226.20 apiece during Friday’s close.

Meanwhile, the broker advised to trade the range on the stock of PLDT Inc. (TEL).

If volume gets sustained, it’s possible to see TEL breaking above its current resistance at P1,850, at least, until (this) week. Expect some top-slicing given the huge jump in TEL’s price,” it said.

PLDT’s shares closed last week at P1,850 apiece. VG Cabuag

C

hemical manufacturer D&L Industries Inc. has pushed back the start of the commercial operations of its unit, Natura Aeropack Corp., in its new Batangas facility to January 2023, following an extension granted by the government.

Alvin Lao, D&L president and CEO, said the company’s existing capacity is still “sufficient” to serve the requirements of its customers in the near term, and deferring the opening of the plant should have no material impact on its current operations.

Natura Aeropack, a manufacturer of coconut oleochemicals for various consumer care products, was slated for commercial operations in May. “In consideration of the recent turn of events such as the Omicronrelated surge in Covid-19 cases early this year, global port congestion and supply chain disruptions, as well as longer-than-expected processing of registration and licenses, the board of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority has approved the start of its commercial operation next year,” the company said.

Natura Aeropack and sister firm D&L Premium Foods Corp., a manufacturer of food ingredients catering to the company’s growing export business, will simultaneously start commercial operations early next year.

“While the pandemic has posed challenges to the completion of our Batangas plant, this expansion is coming at an opportune time given the strong demand for high value coconut-based products in the

export market,” Lao said. “This is evidenced by the resilient and robust growth in our export sales which grew 55 percent year on year in the first nine months of 2021. As the world moves beyond this pandemic, this plant will help us cater to emerging, relevant industries where we see opportunities for new growth.”

D&L’s new Batangas plant sits on a 26-hectare property in First Industrial Township-Special Economic Zone in Batangas.

The ongoing expansion, also referred to as phase one, will occupy about half of the property. The company has so far spent about P6.2 billion for the project. Remaining capital expenditure (capex) to be spent this year stands at about P1.8 billion.

In September 2021, the company executed its maiden bond offering, raising P5 billion to help fund the remaining capex for this expansion.

The bonds carry a coupon rate of 2.7885 percent per year and 3.5962 per year for the 3-year and 5-year bond, respectively, which are among the lowest rates in Philippine corporate bond history.

Once completed, the new plant will be instrumental to the company’s future growth, in line with plans to develop more high value-added coconut-based products and penetrate new international markets.

It will mainly cater to D&L’s growing export business in the food and oleochemicals segment, adding the capability to manufacture downstream packaging to capture a bigger part of the production chain.

This will enable D&L to simplify its supply chain, which is of high importance given ongoing global logistical challenges, it said.

LRTA: Vaxx site open 6 days a week

T

he City Government of Antipolo and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) have stepped up their vaccination drive at the Line 2 Antipolo station from its initial 2-day schedule of Wednesdays and Fridays to six days a week from Mondays to Saturdays, starting March 7.

The vaccination drive of the LRTA is in line with the efforts of the Department of Transportation in partnership with local government units, to promote a safe public transport system and contribute to

the Covid-19 vaccination campaign of the government.

To encourage more vaccinees, LRTA provides free-one day unlimited pass to individuals who get vaccinated or boosted at any Line 2 vaccination site.

The Antipolo station, Line 2’s eastern most terminal and the first station outside Metro Manila, is strategically located as the point of convergence and the means of conveyance for passengers coming from various neighboring towns of the province of Rizal.

Ukraine-Russia conflict may give PAL reason to drop London route

A Philippine Airlines Inc. airplane sits on the tarmac at Terminal 2 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila. Photographer: Edwin Tuyay/Bloomberg

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

P

IONEERING flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) appears to be getting ready to shut down its direct flights to London, as part of its flight restructuring, as it tries to climb back to profitability.

This, even as arrivals from the United Kingdom are among the strongest since the Philippines reopened its doors to fully vaccinated leisure tourists from visa-free countries since February 10.

However, the route has never been profitable as projected, and the current tension between Ukraine and Russia gives the carrier further reason for exit. A flight to London was cancelled on March 1 due to the ongoing skirmish. PAL’s flights to London pass over Russian airspace.

Asked whether PAL would continue its London route in the wake of the ongoing conflict in Europe, its spokesperson Cielo Villaluna told the BusinessMirror, “The cancellation of a PAL flight to London last March 1 was a precautionary move in view of the ongoing situation [beween Ukraine and Russia]. While all other flights to Heathrow up to March 29 are proceeding as published, we are closely monitoring the situation.

Operational safety remains a top priority.” On PAL’s reservations web site, there are no longer flights available from Manila to London starting April 5, with the screen showing “fare not available.”

Japan carriers cut flights to Europe

Returning to London in November 2013 after an absence of 15 years, the nonstop flights were offered until global restrictions were put in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, thus forcing PAL to cut many of its international routes or trim their frequencies. The direct flights to Heathrow, considered among the busiest airports in the world, were resumed last August 10 on a limited basis.

On March 3, Japan Airlines and ANA Air began canceling all its flights to Europe in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. Both carriers operate about 60 flights to Europe per week, passing over Russian airspace.

From a peak of daily flights, Villaluna said at present, “The service to/from London Heathrow is once weekly, every Tuesday. Its current average passenger load factor to/from London is 70 percent, with Filipinos comprising majority of passengers.”

Even prior to the pandemic, the London-Manila route has been unprofitable despite changes in frequency, aircraft, and route connections. Flying daily using B777-300, it cut the frequency to four times weekly using the A340-300.

Then it synchronized the schedules of its departures from London to departures of its flights to Australian destinations from Manila, hoping to entice more British citizens to take the service and visit relatives and friends in the continent, and the reverse for Australian citizens, as the carrier increased flight frequencies from Sydney to Manila to once, daily in 2015. By September 2018, PAL began using the A350-900 for the route.

Israel a developing market

There are about 200,000 Filipinos currently working and living in the United Kingdom. Data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) showed, from February 10 to 28, 2022, there were 1,786 British citizens who arrived in the Philippines, making them the third highest arrivals after Americans and Canadians.

In 2019, prior to the pandemic, arrivals from the UK grew by 4 percent to 209,206, landing among the top markets for tourism for the Philippines. PAL successfully emerged from bankruptcy in December 2021, getting rid of some $2 billion in debt, and securing $505 million in capital infusion from its majority shareholder Lucio K. Tan. Under its financial recovery plan, the carrier may also tap up to $150 million in additional financing from investors.

In a news statement last January, the carrier also said it would resume flights to China, regularize flights to Australia, and launch new services to Israel. In 2019, the DOT reported a 12.33-percent in tourist arrivals from Israel to 22,851, marking it as a developing market. The route will mainly benefit Filipinos who often take “Holy Trips” to trace the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Plans for European destinations were not mentioned.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, March 7, 2022

PNOC to tap private sector for energy projects–exec

T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he newly-elected president of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) vowed to tap the private sector and other public entities as its corporate development partners in pursuing various projects in the energy sector.

Jesus Cristino Puruganan Posadas was elected last February 23 as the new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PNOC. President Duterte approved the nomination of Posadas last February 15. He replaced former PNOC President and CEO Admiral Reuben S. Lista who passed away in August last year.

Posadas, in his speech posted

on the website of PNOC, said the state firm will tap, among others, National Development Corp. and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority as its corporate development partners in filling-in strategic industry gaps. These gaps range from strategic fuel reserve, ancillary power reserve, to efficiency in government buildings.

Also, their expertise could be useful in new and emerging areas such as hydrogen, small modular reactors, and small-scale natural gas distribution for island electrification.

Posadas, a former undersecretary of the Department of Energy (DOE) prior to his appointment as PNOC head, also vowed c lose col l aborat ion w it h t he DOE, Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., National Power Corp., National Electrification Administration, and National Transmission Corp. in areas related to PNOC and its subsidiaries, Exploration Corp. and Renewables Corp.

“It’s my time to seek your support to make things happen within the next 127 days and until our replacements have properly taken their seats. So briefly in the interest of time – the following are the urgent tasks at hand:

How PNOC can help consumers mitigate their fuel expenses; how PNOC can ensure continuity of fuel supply to vulnerable sectors; how PNOC can ensure value preservation, if not value addition to its assets: like its banked gas, its real properties, Malampaya deep water gas-to-power infrastructure that will be taken-over by the government after February 23, 2024,” Posadas said.

PNOC, in a statement, said Posadas’ expertise “brings valuable insights and experiences to the pursuit of PNOC’s mandate under the Philippine Energy Plan such as the establishment of the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in addition to the creation of business alliances for the developments in the LNG industry and other energy and energy-allied projects, and the continuous development of the company’s various assets.”

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 4, 2022

NAV

One Year Three Year Five Year

per share Return*

Y-T-D Return

Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

236.02

6.66%

-2.72%

-1.31%

1.26%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

1.5948

21.64%

0.68%

2.68%

-4.17%

7.68%

-6.39%

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.2751

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7624 -1.46% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.736 First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a

5.2862

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

92.65

6.3%

-3.98%

1.15%

-5.88% n.a.

0.78%

-3.99% n.a.

-4.53%

10.35%

-0.39%

0.56%

2%

0.7895

11.67%

-2.3%

-2.95%

-7.5%

-9.03% n.a.

-1.88% 0.46%

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a

48.3467

6.11%

-1.28%

0.18%

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

506.71

6.44%

-1.33%

-0.26%

1.2%

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a

1.3927

22.61%

3.06%

2.64%

2.68%

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

-0.38%

37.0623

9.42%

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.9611

8.67%

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a

5.0041

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

832.97 0.76

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.8127 Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a United Fund, Inc. -a

3.4783

1.23%

1.28%

-1.2% n.a.

2.09%

7.32%

-0.5%

0.89%

0.87%

6.76%

-0.58%

0.8%

0.54%

7.95%

-5.03%

-2.18%

0.98%

8.16%

-2.93%

-0.51%

0.99%

0.9488

6.28%

-0.92%

0.52%

7.2%

-0.89%

1.47%

1.19%

0.79%

0.46%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a

1.2087

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

14.71% n.a. n.a.

3.96%

1018.95 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Exchange Traded Fund (shares) First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c

112.2514

7.2%

-0.32%

1.29%

0.7%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) $1.0655

-17.89%

2.09%

3.2%

-5.42%

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.6557

ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

-4.76%

9.87%

8.58%

-10.33%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a

1.6736

0.93%

-0.32%

-0.46%

-1.09%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a

2.2907

2.59%

0.48%

0.18%

0.4%

6.23%

1.82%

1.77%

1.29%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.7258

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.2142

11.1% n.a. n.a.

NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

3.6%

2.38%

2.03%

0.16% 0.06%

2.0199

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.7672

2.01%

1.81%

0.87%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

16.8957

1.99%

1.5%

0.85%

0.3%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

2.1345

3.51%

0.52%

0.77%

0.62%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.6583 4.03%

-0.8%

0.32%

0.31%

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a

0.53%

0.84%

1.04%

0.9641

10.54%

2.49%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a

0.9736

-1.39%

0.22% n.a.

-1.64%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a

0.9387

2.8%

-0.65% n.a.

-0.61%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a

0.9303

3.33%

-0.9% n.a.

-0.39%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03591

-6.17%

0.18%

0.35%

-5.35%

-10.28%

1.84%

2.43%

-2.81%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.4179 -4.91%

6.89%

6.25%

-8%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,2 $1.1262 -5.11%

3.03%

2.79%

-6.04%

PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b

$1.0371

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

374.1

0.91%

2.66%

2.45%

-0.05%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.8862

-1%

0.4%

0.02%

0.08%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.2442

0.81%

2.7%

3.73%

0.01%

Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a

2.2274

-1.21%

1.21%

1.23%

-1.07%

First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.421 -0.43%

-0.21%

2.81%

1.8%

Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a

4.3412

-3.7%

3.4%

1.25%

-1.24%

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a

1.3146

-0.51%

3.43%

2.75%

-0.34%

Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.9501

-0.42%

3.32%

2.58%

-0.4%

Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.0235

0.06%

4%

1.98%

-0.46%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1709

-0.56%

3.81%

3.1%

-0.52%

Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

-1.31%

2.98%

2.41%

-0.69%

1.7186

FINANCIALs

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE

554,710 237,902,215 159,784,297.50 2,843,925 590,902 155,350,344 28,574 7,653,472 415,670 26,761,127 3,096,398.50 356,950 181,020 168,590 13,000 133,700 680 370,754 25,980

-13,200 -59,644,133 12,950,200 1,561,750 -95,888 -7,609,620 -7,128 -3,363,140 -42,370 -9,492,994 -227,030.50 -92,060 85,950 21,390 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 8.13 8.14 8.32 8.32 8.11 8.13 9,234,400 75,342,596 1.04 1.05 1.03 1.06 1.03 1.05 634,000 660,740 ALSONS CONS 34.25 34.5 34.6 34.85 34.25 34.25 928,800 31,950,520 ABOITIZ POWER 0.53 0.54 0.53 0.56 0.52 0.53 44,104,000 23,853,740 BASIC ENERGY 27.4 27.45 27.35 27.45 27.25 27.4 97,500 2,666,555 FIRST GEN 70.6 70.7 70.5 70.75 70.4 70.6 115,680 8,151,266 FIRST PHIL HLDG 361.2 364.6 358.2 364.6 358.2 364.6 126,100 45,698,182 MERALCO 20.75 21 21.65 21.65 20.5 20.75 420,400 8,892,710 MANILA WATER PETRON 3.64 3.66 3.67 3.71 3.64 3.66 6,111,000 22,470,920 PETROENERGY 4.76 4.8 4.75 4.81 4.75 4.76 186,000 890,050 PHX PETROLEUM 10.6 10.68 10.68 10.68 10.68 10.68 1,500 16,020 12.18 12.2 12.12 12.2 12.12 12.2 1,745,400 21,265,548 SYNERGY GRID PILIPINAS SHELL 19.8 19.9 19.56 20.25 19.4 19.9 691,700 13,832,280 SPC POWER 14.38 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.34 14.4 43,500 625,650 SOLAR PH 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.08 2.12 61,272,000 129,350,190 AGRINURTURE 5.58 5.59 5.6 5.64 5.5 5.59 525,900 2,937,796 2.65 2.7 2.61 2.7 2.61 2.7 349,000 934,820 AXELUM 13.02 13.58 13.58 13.58 13.58 13.58 1,200 16,296 CNTRL AZUCARERA 24.45 24.5 25.3 25.3 24.5 24.5 1,465,100 36,328,520 CENTURY FOOD 16 16.1 15.96 16.3 15.96 16 127,600 2,055,700 DEL MONTE 7.97 8 8.04 8.04 7.96 8 1,431,300 11,455,161 DNL INDUS 18.26 18.3 19.2 19.2 18.22 18.3 3,597,700 66,649,838 EMPERADOR 65.15 65.75 65.5 66 65.2 65.2 44,840 2,934,386.50 SMC FOODANDBEV FIGARO COFFEE 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.65 0.67 38,052,000 25,165,750 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.58 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.63 6,000 3,780 1.2 1.22 1.2 1.22 1.18 1.22 7,886,000 9,500,210 FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA 110 111 110 111 108 111 4,430 486,230 JOLLIBEE 240.6 241 243 243.6 239.2 241 602,070 145,494,792 KEEPERS HLDG 1.26 1.27 1.3 1.32 1.26 1.27 2,945,000 3,777,840 MAXS GROUP 6.32 6.5 6.6 6.6 6.3 6.5 135,600 870,225 0.15 0.158 0.149 0.15 0.149 0.15 120,000 17,940 MG HLDG 14.76 14.8 14.92 15 14.7 14.76 17,246,300 254,731,190 MONDE NISSIN 8.4 8.45 8.52 8.52 8.4 8.4 257,600 2,171,884 SHAKEYS PIZZA 0.69 0.7 0.68 0.71 0.66 0.69 1,045,000 716,220 ROXAS AND CO 4.5 4.6 4.48 4.5 4.45 4.5 9,000 40,310 RFM CORP 0.105 0.106 0.102 0.11 0.102 0.106 22,110,000 2,315,390 SWIFT FOODS 119.7 120 120.8 120.8 119.7 119.7 496,400 59,576,491 UNIV ROBINA 0.65 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.66 1,267,000 827,740 VITARICH CONCRETE A 45.05 48.95 47 47 47 47 1,800 84,600 1.04 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.03 1.04 572,000 594,840 CEMEX HLDG EAGLE CEMENT 13.46 13.68 13.6 13.6 13.42 13.46 29,600 398,728 5.95 6 5.95 6 5.93 6 96,700 576,590 EEI CORP 5.92 5.93 5.87 6.2 5.86 5.93 2,224,200 13,572,810 HOLCIM MEGAWIDE 5.35 5.37 5.45 5.45 5.35 5.37 132,100 710,212 PHINMA 20.25 20.5 20 20.75 20 20.5 17,100 345,385 TKC METALS 0.79 0.81 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 60,000 47,400 1.1 1.11 1.14 1.17 1.1 1.1 10,222,000 11,529,740 VULCAN INDL 1.29 1.34 1.27 1.39 1.27 1.29 137,000 176,410 EUROMED 4.3 4.43 4.42 4.43 4.42 4.42 4,000 17,690 MABUHAY VINYL 5.7 5.76 5.76 5.76 5.7 5.76 103,000 587,260 PRYCE CORP 1.83 1.85 1.88 1.89 1.83 1.85 4,220,000 7,859,340 GREENERGY 8.53 8.54 8.89 8.89 8.51 8.53 172,000 1,492,754 INTEGRATED MICR 0.71 0.74 0.75 0.76 0.71 0.74 83,000 59,900 IONICS 6.11 6.17 6.18 6.18 6.18 6.18 1,200 7,416 PANASONIC SFA SEMICON 1.16 1.18 1.17 1.18 1.17 1.18 61,000 71,810 3.63 3.64 3.6 3.65 3.6 3.63 432,000 1,561,010 CIRTEK HLDG

-20,168,046 -9,450 -107,420 -31,740 947,705 37,355.50 28,553,808 -1,977,015 -98,350 -9,520 -1,233,038 -4,571,192 1,440 -5,092,810 -1,083,761 -215,950 -2,166,717.00 -12,885,006.00 -54,544.50 275,880 8,260 221,847 45,392,338 819,540 -81,985,288 -1,052,330 8,960 -37,234,956 8,450 312,000 -359,553 59,060 -4,000 -3,920.00 -5,760 -5,805,830 73,358.00 108,350

$486.5

0.7%

2.5%

2.24%

ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a

Є216.82

-1.19%

0.3%

0.62%

-1.45%

ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1394

-5.74%

-0.41%

0.49%

-5.36%

-0.63%

First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0252 -3.08%

0.27%

0.24%

-3.08%

PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b

$0.9714

-8.74%

-2.57%

-1.78%

-5.03%

Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.3769

-4.28%

2.24%

1.64%

-5.14%

$0.0612976

-2.03%

2.1%

1.52%

-1.6%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.9905 -4.84%

0.74%

0.41%

-6.44%

Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a

Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a

131.47

1.17%

2.56%

2.55%

First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a

1.0597

1.01%

1.84% n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Peso Starter Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.3191

1.51%

2.44%

2.52%

0.21% 0.19%

0.27%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0617

0.68%

1.34% n.a.

0.1%

Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a

45.6567 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a 1.2983

9.82% n.a. n.a.

-6.12%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a

$0.9173

-6.4% n.a. n.a.

ABACORE CAPITAL AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

44.25 129.8 98.4 27.4 9.12 58 17.86 19.9 21.05 113 97 2.06 3.99 2.3 0.3 950 0.64 214 2,502

0.83 846 61.05 12.94 8.9 1 0.68 0.68 5.12 9.19 7.1 0.265 582.5 60.5 2.95 9.61 3.79 1.21 0.99 932 106.3 2.41 119.2 0.3 0.171

44.45 130 98.5 27.45 9.17 58.15 18.9 19.92 22 113.2 97.6 2.13 4.05 2.37 0.335 995 0.71 214.8 2,598

0.84 848 61.5 13 9.01 1.02 0.69 0.7 5.13 9.2 7.5 0.27 584 61 2.97 9.64 3.8 1.22 1.01 934 107.5 2.77 120 0.31 0.178

44.05 130.4 98.4 27.3 9.13 57.9 17.82 19.94 22.5 113.8 99.9 2.21 4.05 2.39 0.295 955 0.68 212 2,598

0.86 848.5 61.9 13.12 8.79 1.04 0.69 0.7 5.1 9.33 7.5 0.241 590 60.8 2.95 9.5 3.8 1.23 0.98 950 107.6 2.7 120 0.295 0.17

44.1 131.5 98.9 27.5 9.18 58.6 18.22 19.94 22.5 113.8 99.9 2.21 4.05 2.39 0.335 955 0.68 217 2,598

0.87 848.5 61.95 13.12 9.01 1.07 0.71 0.74 5.13 9.51 7.5 0.241 590 61 2.95 9.7 3.81 1.23 1.01 951 107.9 2.7 120 0.3 0.178

44 129.5 98 27.25 9.1 57.45 17.8 19.82 22 112.6 96.95 2.08 4 2.37 0.295 955 0.68 212 2,598

0.83 830.5 61.1 12.84 8.79 1.02 0.67 0.68 5.09 9.08 7.5 0.241 578 59.5 2.95 9.45 3.78 1.21 0.98 930 106 2.7 120 0.295 0.17

44 130 98.45 27.4 9.12 58.15 18.22 19.9 22 113 97 2.13 4.05 2.37 0.335 955 0.68 213 2,598

0.83 848 61.5 12.94 9.01 1.02 0.69 0.69 5.12 9.2 7.5 0.241 582.5 61 2.95 9.64 3.8 1.21 1.01 932 107.5 2.7 120 0.3 0.178

12,600 1,828,670 1,622,730 103,700 64,700 2,676,910 1,600 384,600 18,700 236,770 31,660 168,000 45,000 71,000 40,000 140 1,000 1,730 10

8,865,000 170,950 270,910 1,786,600 228,700 4,461,000 6,708,000 441,000 82,200 20,391,700 2,400 40,000 63,440 425,690 41,000 1,300,800 11,902,000 54,000 16,000 228,960 54,630 45,000 200 4,800,000 40,000

7,495,940 143,424,190 16,650,646.50 23,103,534 2,031,910 4,662,960 4,610,650 309,250 419,689 189,760,461 18,000 9,640 36,895,230 25,894,167 120,950 12,507,885 45,173,310 66,230 15,810 214,133,495 5,850,457 121,500 24,000 1,438,450 6,880

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.59 0.6 0.58 0.59 0.58 0.59 409,000 241,040 38 38.2 38 38.2 37.6 38.2 1,853,000 70,339,240 AYALA LAND 4.87 4.9 4.82 5 4.82 4.88 1,576,000 7,748,640 AYALA LAND LOG 1.08 1.09 0.98 1.3 0.98 1.09 65,900,000 64,632,320 ARANETA PROP 51 51.65 50.5 51.7 50 51 525,130 26,874,310.50 AREIT RT 0.92 0.94 0.94 0.94 0.93 0.94 1,702,000 1,588,710 A BROWN 0.71 0.74 0.71 0.74 0.71 0.71 57,000 41,630 CITYLAND DEVT 0.096 0.099 0.099 0.099 0.099 0.099 100,000 9,900 CROWN EQUITIES CEB LANDMASTERS 2.92 2.93 2.94 2.95 2.91 2.92 220,000 644,430 CENTURY PROP 0.415 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.415 0.415 690,000 286,650 2.71 2.72 2.75 2.75 2.71 2.72 11,956,000 32,552,190 CITICORE RT DOUBLEDRAGON 11.34 11.44 11.34 11.46 11.1 11.44 1,493,700 17,021,498 DDMP RT 1.77 1.78 1.77 1.78 1.77 1.78 1,742,000 3,086,350 DM WENCESLAO 6.98 6.99 6.98 6.99 6.98 6.98 36,800 256,874 0.246 0.25 0.255 0.255 0.249 0.25 260,000 65,130 EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO 0.29 0.295 0.285 0.3 0.285 0.295 6,200,000 1,821,550 7.37 7.4 7.42 7.42 7.36 7.4 2,568,200 18,955,182 FILINVEST RT 1.08 1.09 1.09 1.1 1.08 1.09 3,464,000 3,774,090 FILINVEST LAND 0.88 0.93 0.91 0.92 0.88 0.88 2,778,000 2,486,370 GLOBAL ESTATE 13.42 13.82 13.72 13.82 13.5 13.82 156,300 2,138,228 8990 HLDG 630 645 625.5 645 625.5 645 140 89,520 GOLDEN MV 1.01 1.02 1.02 1.02 1.01 1.01 59,000 59,980 PHIL INFRADEV 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.85 36,000 30,340 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 3.16 3.19 3.18 3.2 3.15 3.16 17,754,000 56,254,460 MRC ALLIED 0.265 0.27 0.28 0.28 0.27 0.27 9,820,000 2,661,950 MREIT RT 19.62 19.64 19.92 19.92 19.6 19.64 1,545,400 30,433,664 OMICO CORP 0.34 0.345 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.34 30,000 10,200 0.45 0.46 0.45 0.46 0.45 0.455 1,690,000 763,400 PHIL ESTATES 2.09 2.1 2.07 2.1 2.05 2.1 1,639,000 3,403,930 PRIMEX CORP RL COMM RT 7.89 7.9 7.98 7.98 7.87 7.9 5,074,500 40,080,919 ROBINSONS LAND 19.86 19.9 19.9 20 19.8 19.9 2,341,300 46,631,258 0.235 0.249 0.25 0.25 0.235 0.249 890,000 217,180 PHIL REALTY 1.45 1.48 1.43 1.43 1.43 1.43 5,000 7,150 ROCKWELL 2.76 2.84 2.88 2.88 2.88 2.88 5,000 14,400 STA LUCIA LAND 38.8 39.2 39.3 39.3 38.5 39.2 3,772,600 146,849,285 SM PRIME HLDG 0.59 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.59 0.59 642,000 390,080 SOC RESOURCES 3.43 3.48 3.42 3.45 3.42 3.45 17,000 58,470 VISTAMALLS 1.03 1.08 1.05 1.1 1.04 1.08 165,000 173,300 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 3.08 3.12 3.12 3.15 3.07 3.09 662,000 2,053,400

SERVICES ABS CBN 12.56 12.58 12.6 12.8 12.5 12.56 131,800 1,660,132 15.4 15.46 15.38 15.5 15.18 15.46 1,826,100 28,098,198 GMA NETWORK 0.405 0.42 0.425 0.425 0.405 0.425 70,000 29,450 MANILA BULLETIN 2,568 2,570 2,566 2,586 2,560 2,570 32,850 84,492,610 GLOBE TELECOM 1,850 1,867 1,820 1,881 1,820 1,850 224,690 419,364,870 PLDT 0.074 0.075 0.074 0.075 0.072 0.075 433,380,000 32,100,760 APOLLO GLOBAL 26.05 26.2 26.5 26.5 26 26.05 2,582,500 67,444,775 CONVERGE 2.4 2.44 2.35 2.5 2.33 2.44 626,000 1,531,840 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 5.53 5.54 5.66 5.72 5.49 5.54 9,394,000 52,283,501 IMPERIAL 1.42 1.46 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 3,000 4,200 1.25 1.27 1.25 1.27 1.24 1.27 287,000 360,120 NOW CORP 0.36 0.37 0.36 0.37 0.36 0.36 3,670,000 1,332,700 TRANSPACIFIC BR 7.31 7.4 7.3 7.5 7.3 7.5 1,400 10,260 2GO GROUP 14.1 14.2 14.1 14.2 14.1 14.2 10,100 142,580 ASIAN TERMINALS 1.69 1.73 1.68 1.73 1.68 1.69 106,000 179,530 CHELSEA 47.45 47.5 47.75 48 47.4 47.45 91,900 4,378,930 CEBU AIR 226 226.2 225.2 236.6 225.2 226.2 1,726,190 399,605,826 INTL CONTAINER 0.86 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.92 1,000 920 LORENZO SHIPPNG 5.97 5.98 6.03 6.15 5.92 5.98 1,495,300 9,085,637 MACROASIA 1.02 1.07 1.02 1.02 1.02 1.02 3,000 3,060 METROALLIANCE A 0.79 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.79 0.79 115,000 92,410 HARBOR STAR 1.4 1.45 1.4 1.4 1.39 1.39 10,000 13,970 ACESITE HOTEL 1.7 1.75 1.71 1.75 1.7 1.75 251,000 426,820 DISCOVERY WORLD WATERFRONT 0.46 0.49 0.46 0.49 0.46 0.49 80,000 38,400 CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.56 6.84 6.56 6.57 6.56 6.56 6,300 41,340 536 537 537 537 535.5 537 660 354,330 FAR EASTERN U 0.365 0.37 0.365 0.37 0.365 0.365 600,000 219,850 STI HLDG BELLE CORP 1.32 1.34 1.35 1.35 1.32 1.35 193,000 257,540 BLOOMBERRY 7.5 7.54 7.75 7.79 7.49 7.5 4,921,800 37,517,286 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.75 1.84 1.84 1.85 1.84 1.84 14,000 25,830 1.31 1.34 1.33 1.33 1.31 1.31 537,000 709,090 LEISURE AND RES 1.13 1.18 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.12 8,000 8,960 MJC INVESTMENTS 1.34 1.35 1.22 1.37 1.18 1.35 13,835,000 18,049,690 PH RESORTS GRP 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.46 0.45 0.45 3,440,000 1,558,200 PREMIUM LEISURE 2.35 2.36 2.32 2.36 2.32 2.35 369,000 866,360 PHILWEB 0.495 0.5 0.5 0.51 0.495 0.5 9,480,000 4,754,500 ALLDAY 8.74 8.83 8.89 8.89 8.74 8.83 243,600 2,133,539 ALLHOME 1.42 1.43 1.42 1.43 1.42 1.43 490,000 696,580 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 35 35.2 35.15 36 34.75 35 1,765,500 61,829,980 ROBINSONS RTL 58 58.7 60 60 58 58 345,440 20,352,018 PHIL SEVEN CORP 71 72 74.95 74.95 72 72 6,550 475,130 SSI GROUP 1.09 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.08 1.1 1,908,000 2,089,810 WILCON DEPOT 27.65 27.7 27.7 28 27.65 27.7 388,400 10,766,320 APC GROUP 0.25 0.255 0.25 0.255 0.25 0.255 130,000 32,650 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.04 1.02 1.03 1,569,000 1,608,750 MEDILINES PRMIERE HORIZON 0.64 0.65 0.7 0.71 0.6 0.64 76,537,000 49,641,740 3.8 3.88 3.87 3.87 3.87 3.87 3,000 11,610 SBS PHIL CORP

MINING & OIL

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

March 4, 2022

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell)

HOLDING & FRIMS

mutual funds

www.businessmirror.com.ph

-5.43%

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last July 8, 2021 (formerly, Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc.).

2 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last November 25, 2021.

"While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www. pifa.com.ph to see the latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

ATOK 5.92 6.2 6.37 6.37 6 6.2 43,900 273,200 1.74 1.75 1.76 1.81 1.74 1.75 4,283,000 7,563,310 APEX MINING 7.75 7.77 7.5 7.95 7.5 7.75 6,517,400 50,670,527 ATLAS MINING 5.58 5.6 5.59 5.62 5.58 5.58 235,000 1,313,917 BENGUET A 5.23 5.57 5.57 5.57 5.57 5.57 60,000 334,200 BENGUET B 0.29 0.305 0.32 0.325 0.29 0.305 4,120,000 1,246,550 COAL ASIA HLDG 2.6 2.65 2.6 2.66 2.6 2.66 55,000 143,300 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 4.68 5 5 5 4.68 4.68 7,100 35,468 FERRONICKEL 2.72 2.74 2.75 2.82 2.69 2.74 9,604,000 26,398,170 GEOGRACE 0.2 0.213 0.215 0.215 0.213 0.213 260,000 55,630 0.181 0.182 0.178 0.182 0.177 0.181 77,270,000 13,866,940 LEPANTO A 0.181 0.182 0.178 0.182 0.178 0.182 4,020,000 720,450 LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.011 50,600,000 511,300 1.94 1.95 2.04 2.08 1.92 1.95 6,756,000 13,552,790 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 1.06 1.09 1.05 1.09 1.02 1.09 63,000 65,890 8.28 8.3 8.26 8.53 8.13 8.3 24,927,900 209,438,262 NICKEL ASIA 1.05 1.06 1.08 1.11 1.05 1.06 6,057,000 6,558,930 ORNTL PENINSULA 6.25 6.34 6.22 6.35 6.18 6.34 5,201,600 32,635,458 PX MINING 31.7 31.9 32.65 32.65 31.25 31.9 6,941,000 220,926,180 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0077 0.0079 0.0078 0.008 0.0077 0.0079 22,000,000 171,800 UNITED PARAGON 27.2 27.85 28 28.95 27 27.85 691,100 19,469,215 ACE ENEXOR 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 24,400,000 296,400 ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.013 200,000 2,600 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 24,400,000 253,200 PHILODRILL 6.2 6.23 6.5 6.64 6.05 6.2 1,686,500 10,451,282 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED AC PREF B2R 510 515 515 515 515 515 10 5,150 46.9 47.1 47.05 47.1 46.9 47.1 9,100 427,745 CEB PREF 101 102 102 102 102 102 1,000 102,000 CPG PREF A 1,020 1,040 1,020 1,020 1,020 1,020 2,100 2,142,000 GTCAP PREF B 990 1,000 990 990 990 990 30 29,700 JFC PREF A 100 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 300 30,450 MWIDE PREF 2B 100 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 2,570 258,285 MWIDE PREF 4 102 103.1 103.1 103.1 103.1 103.1 10 1,031 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 980 989 989 989 980 989 1,770 1,743,240 SMC PREF 2F 77 78.8 78.8 78.8 78.8 78.8 100 7,880 76.5 76.75 76.8 76.8 76.1 76.75 2,840 216,217 SMC PREF 2H 76.55 78 78.5 78.8 78 78 120,100 9,420,750 SMC PREF 2I 76.5 76.95 76.5 76.5 76.5 76.5 500 38,250 SMC PREF 2K 50.35 52.5 51.9 51.9 51.9 51.9 100 5,190 TECH PREF B2C 53 55 55 55 55 55 7,780 427,900 TECH PREF B2D

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS GMA HLDG PDR 14.36 14.38 14.2 14.5 14.2 14.38 191,200 2,760,238

WARRANTS TECH WARRANT 0.78 0.79 0.78 0.82 0.78 0.79 622,000 497,030

26,350 -44,478,835 4,847,929.50 4,797,288 784,018 14,320 -16,357 -12,282,095 18,000 -4,171,995 10,798,701.50 2,060,761 -11,679,640 6,010 -69,417,305 83,680 -24,000 -8,401,240 -601,660 -64,235,080 12,992,468 37,930 -307,330 -1,256,810 -218,920 7,650 153,700 -5,281,923 -2,767,670 -920 592,870 -2,154,740 -37,800 -19,238,074 -2,792,480.00 -7,124,405 -1,761,518.00 57,781,835 25,600 -646,170 -17,073,310 86,092,420 25,850 -23,950,790 -4,920 -4,481,517 -289,800 78,157,808 -356,753 1,750 33,750 3,750 8,100 10,457,497 -1,943,100 40,350 69,600 20,500 -152,186 -11,440 -26,727,815.00 1,593,015.50 -303,106.50 -697,170 -337,025 81,500 -578,230.00 -11,050 893,456 334,200 51,350 13,300 -500 -4,673,400 54,000 100,800 9,827,410 465,757 -12,035,990.00 -208,540 -58,711 -89,010 -1,364,450 -16,300

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP HAUS TALK ITALPINAS MERRYMART XURPAS

16.5 0.98 1.03 2.25 0.4

16.98 0.99 1.04 2.26 0.405

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF

111.6

111.9

16.52 1 1.07 2.29 0.4

16.98 1 1.08 2.33 0.41

16.5 0.97 1.03 2.25 0.4

16.98 0.98 1.04 2.26 0.405

19,000 872,000 481,000 2,392,000 180,000

314,680 857,680 505,550 5,465,720 72,750

-99,690.00 -

112 112.5 111.5 111.6 5,950 665,466 -107,338

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance

SSS cites gains in slashing opex as share of payment

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

S

TATE-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) reduced its operating expenses (opex) to P4 for every P100 of benefits paid last year, down by 50 percent from P7.9 it spent in 2015 after it pursued digitalization.

SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio said that if loan disbursements are included in the computation, the pension fund spent only P3.50 for every P100 of benefits paid plus loans released in 2021.

Ignacio said in a report that the agency’s opex as a share of its revenues also went down to 3.5 percent in 2021 from 5.5 percent in 2015.

It was in 2019 when the pension fund was ordered to cut its opex as a share of benefit payments, which was at 5.1 percent at that time, to around 3 percent to ensure that member contributions to the pension fund are efficiently spent and maximized for their benefit.

“Our digitalization initiatives, which we pursued way before the pandemic, played a big part in pursuing our goal of reducing our [opex] as a share of benefit payments,” Ignacio said.

For 2022, the SSS is targeting to further cut its opex to P3.90 for every P100 of benefits paid.

From 2019 to 2021, SSS invested P807 million for capital outlay to improve its information technology (IT) capabilities and prepare for the digital transformation of the pension fund, Ignacio said.

According to the official, they also entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) last year with several government agencies to procure a “shared cyberdefense solution.”

Ignacio didn’t disclose the cost of this purchase.

Last year, the SSS fully transitioned to processing online the various benefits claimed by its members, which include maternity, sickness, unemployment insurance, funeral and retirement benefits, Ignacio’s report read.

Salary and calamity loan applications are now filed, processed and

released 100-percent online, the official added.

Ignacio said the SSS also continues to provide its members with safe and convenient online access to their SSS records and transactions via a mobile application and web-based platforms.

From 7.4 million in 2020, downloads of the SSS mobile app grew to 12.02 million in 2021, according to the official.

Total downloads of the app since its launching in 2018 have already breached the 22-million mark, Ignacio said.

Payments collected via this app using digital wallets, credit and debit cards and through a bank amounted to P1.03 billion from 373,153 transactions last year.

Moreover, Ignacio said that majority of the SSS pensioners have already shifted to electronic payments and only less than one percent or around 13,000 of the 3 million SSS pensioners were still receiving their pensions via cheques as of third quarter last year.

Its collections from delinquent accounts have also reached P23.71 billion, representing a 138-percent increase from the P9.98 billion collected in 2020.

In addition, the SSS also launched last year its mandatory provident fund, which now has 3.6 million members with total contributions amounting to P13.8 billion. The membership in the fund is automatic for those with salary credit of more than P20,000 a month.

From P444.4 billion in 2015, the SSS grew its total assets to P 705.54 billion in 2021, while reducing its liabilities from P8.87 billion in 2015 to P7.91 billion in 2021, based on preliminary reports and excluding Insurance Contract Liabilities.

Its reserves stood at P435.52 billion in 2015, which went up to P697.63 billion in 2021.

Ignacio said the SSS has been adopting the Philippine Financing Reporting Standards (PFRS) 4 for insurance entities, starting from its 2020 Audited Financial Statement and has submitted this in August last year to the Commission on Audit.

Bond traders primed for wild market swings

A

FTER a tumultuous week of big yield swings and heightened volatility in the US Treasury market, investors are bracing for another hot inflation report, while the war in Ukraine increasingly casts a pall over Europe and the global economy.

Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine began to rewrite the script for US bond yields, some of which earlier in the month had climbed to the highest levels in more than a year in anticipation of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes to curb inflation beginning this month.

The international campaign to cut Russia off from its resources stoked oil and agricultural commodity price increases that worsen the inflation outlook, but it also poses risks to the global financial system—where stresses began to appear—and growth that make investors want to buy Treasuries. The two-year note’s yield, which peaked last month at 1.64 percent, this week ranged from 1.26 percent to 1.56 percent and ended lower by more than nine basis points. The 10-year yield, less sensitive to changes in the Fed’s policy rate, dropped by 23 basis points, the most in a week since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.

The war in Ukraine “dominates the news cycle and no one knows how long it lasts,” said Molly Schwartz, portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Co. “There is also the Fed and its inflation problem,” which rising commodity prices threaten to prolong. “Their job is one of being reliable, predictable and not scaring the market.”

The market is already expecting further upheaval in yields. A measure of implied Treasury volatility stands at levels last seen during the tumult of March 2020.

The crisis also unleashed a fresh wave of demand for Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS), whose performance had stalled amid the signs that Fed policy makers were prepared to crack down on the trend in consumer prices. The yield on 5-year TIPS fell to a 2022 low on March 1, and the average expected inflation rate it implies closed above 3.3 percent for the first time.

For now, the war in Ukraine and the exclusion of Russia’s economy from Western capital and markets via sanctions has spurred huge demand for the dollar and Treasuries despite the inflation threat and strong US job-creation data for February released last Friday. The prospect of US currency scarcity in money markets fueled a gain of 1.3 percent in the past week, while the euro plunged more than 3 percent ahead of next week’s European Central Bank policy meeting.

Meanwhile, US central bankers are in a communications blackout until their mid-month policy meeting. The latest word, from Jerome Powell, awaiting confirmation to a second term as Fed chair, was that a quarter-point rate increase is effectively a done deal, and that half-point increases are possible in the future if inflation doesn’t moderate. Interestrate futures continue to price in at least five quarter-point hikes this year. Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Monday, March 7, 2022

B3

Financial aid for families of OFWs in Russia sought

S

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

@joveemarie

EEING ripple effects of sanctions against Russia, Anakalusugan Rep. Michael T. Defensor is asking the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to extend financial aid to families of Filipino workers in the former Soviet Republic.

According to Defensor, “the global sanctions are bound to hit Russia’s banking system very hard, possibly obstructing the money transfers of the more than 10,000 Filipino workers there.”

Citing statistics from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Defensor said Filipino workers in Russia sent home via the banking system a total of P115.8 million ($2.3 million) in 2021.

The Philippine embassy in Russia estimates that 95 percent of the Filipinos in Russia are employed as household service workers, cleaners, cooks, drivers and nannies, mostly in Moscow.

“We are counting on the OWWA

to reach out to the families here at home of our workers in Russia and to provide them temporary financial relief,” Defensor said.

Repatriation

SEVER AL economies imposed economic and financial sanctions against Russia as punishment for invading Ukraine.

“The financial sanctions, in particular, would effectively block Russian banks from corresponding with virtually all major banks around the world,” Defensor said.

In an advisory to the Filipino community last March 1, the Philippine Embassy in Moscow said major banks in Russia have been heavily impacted

by the sanctions.

We may experience a few issues with sending our money out of Russia, specifically to support our families, the advisory read.

Defensor said the Philippine government should be prepared to bring home Filipino workers in Russia who may wish to be repatriated.

“The prospect that some of our workers there might lose their jobs is very real, considering the projections that the Russian economy might plunge into a depression due to the global sanctions,” Defensor said.

“We are not that worried about the less than 400 Filipinos in Ukraine because they are already undergoing repatriation,” Defensor said.

Filipinos in Ukraine sent home a total of P6.2 million ($121,000) in cash remittances via the banking system in 2021.

Coordination

LAST week, BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno confirmed to the BusinessMirror that he has instructed central bank officials to coordinate with the foreign affairs officials or the embassy to help Filipinos gain better access to financial services as Russia’s banking system was sanctioned and excluded from world transfer channels.

Diokno said last week monetary authorities are closely monitoring the situation.

“We can engage the DFA if temporary measures can be put in place to facilitate OF remittances through the embassy,” the BSP governor told the BusinessMirror.

Diokno added that OFWs can send remittances through channels that do not use financial institutions based or headquartered in countries that impose sanctions against Russia, like Chinese financial institutions.

“If the remittance channels used by our OFWs are coursed through financial institutions headquartered in US, EU, UK or other jurisdictions that impose economic and financial sanctions on Russia, their remittances will be covered by the sanctions,” he said.

He earlier said they are also still monitoring the effect of the conflict on local price movements.

“We cannot devise a forecast at this point, based on the changes in the oil prices now. That is very fluid.

So it is not wise for us to speculate on that at this time,” Diokno earlier said.

Several economists have also earlier flagged the potential effect of the unrest to the Philippines, particularly on inflation and the peso.

With Bianca Cuaresma

SSS assures full response to influx of transactions

S

TATE-run Social Security System (SSS) assured the public it has already addressed the influx of transacting members in certain SSS branches in the National Capital Region (NCR), especially in the agency’s Diliman branch.

The agency issued the statement after it was reported that some 100 claimants camped outside a branch along East Avenue in Quezon City.

“We have accommodated all the transacting members who flocked in several of our SSS branches. [With the reduction in Covid-19 alert levels, we are now] in 100-percent operation capacity since all our employees are reporting in the office,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio said last Sunday.

The agency also debunked the belief that processing of claim and loan applications is faster in the Diliman branch than in other SSS branches.

Ignacio, however, pointed out that

processing of SSS transactions is based on the documents submitted by transacting members.

“I urge the members to make sure to present all required documents to speed up the processing time,” the official said adding that the full list of requirements for SSS transactions may be found in the agency’s web site.

The “File Anywhere” policy is still in effect so they can transact at the nearest branch of their choice, the SSS said. Currently, the SSS has 58 branches in NCR, about 135 branches in Luzon, 44 branches in Visayas and 44 branches in Mindanao.

Emmanuel Geslani, a former recruitment industry leader now engaged in senior citizen advocacies, said in a statement that thousands of senior pensioners are flocking to all SSS branch offices and the main office in Quezon city to comply with the Annual Confirmation of Pensioners (ACOP) before the March

31 deadline. Pensioners failing to comply with the Acop would be unable to receive their monthly pension beginning April.

Geslani reiterated his call for the SSS to allow senior pensioners to comply with the ACOP through personal appearance. According to the advocate, many pensioners were unable to use the email or drop-box methods that the SSS insisted in their guidelines when ACOP was resumed on October 1, 2021.

“Many of the SSS senior pensioners are not computer ‘techie’ [literate] and many of them, especially in the provincial areas, do not possess computers to file online; and completing the ACOP form—assuming they are able to get one—is cumbersome for the seniors,” Geslani said.

“Another burden is to bring the completed ACOP form to the nearest SSS branch office for drop box, mail or courier [service; this is an] additional expense. So why not just

appear with [sic] SSS staff to confirm their ACOP,” he added.

Meanwhile, the SSS urged its members, claimants and the transacting public to take advantage of its online platforms and mobile application.

Several transactions may be submitted online through My.SSS, an online service portal which can be found on the SSS website (www.sss. gov.ph).

Ignacio said that there is an existing online branch appointment system wherein they can indicate the preferred date and time that they want to be accommodated in their chosen SSS branch.

“We urge them to fully maximize [the] online facilities, especially the My.SSS portal. There are more than 30 member services available on My.SSS. They can even access some of these services on the SSS mobile app,” the executive added.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

Perspectives Influences on luxury consumer trends

R

APID digital acceleration has challenged many industries to balance tradition with innovation. However, this tension is particularly acute for the luxury sector. A striking paradox exists between traditional luxury, which centers on exclusivity and scarcity, versus modern luxury, which enables accessibility to all.

Can the two exist in harmony?

Being able to positively blend both approaches requires brands to transform strategic and operational business models and revise value propositions to meet changing consumer preferences across channels. A careful balance between brand heritage and future-forward strategies needs to be achieved. This challenges companies to move quickly, seizing new digital opportunities while safeguarding the key foundational elements that built their brands.

Historically, luxury stocks have bounced back after a crisis; but as we continue to see in 2022, the 2020 pandemic-related recovery is uneven. For example, luxury cars are already exceeding 2019 levels,

but we don’t expect personal luxury to recover fully by 2024. Examining personal luxury in more detail, we see a slightly slower recovery in the largest segments of designer apparel and leather goods and a slow recovery in work-wear. This aligns with gradual increase in social interaction and the spotty return to physical corporate office environments.

The luxury market continues to both consolidate and expand. A few big names will keep getting bigger, bolstered by acquisitions. LVMH is a prime example. During the second quarter of 2021, LVMH accounted for 15 percent of the global luxury goods market, helped partly by the acquisition of Tiffany and Co. At the same time, new brands and importantly, new categories are emerging as consumers look for “luxury” in more areas of their life, such as pet care, fitness apparel and wellness products, resulting in an expansion of the overall market. We believe this will continue to play out with the luxury ecosystem growing and the middle of the traditional market hollowing out as

many brands struggling from the pandemic are acquired by conglomerates and private equity.

Some things will remain constant. Luxury buyers continue to care about the authentic origins of a brand and its products or services.

The brand story remains critical to consumers as each luxury purchase is an emotional investment and not just a monetary one. Also, luxury shoppers expect more than a transaction—they expect a premium, exclusive experience.

Millennials and Generation Z are instrumental to this future growth.

Gen Z is already estimated to account for 40 percent of the world’s consumers; they have a global buying power of $150 billion and influence $600 billion of consumer spend. Their preferences are important to consider as they also impact older and younger generations—a phenomenon we call an “echo effect.”

Key factors involved in Gen Z’s decision-making include being socially conscious, tech savvy, active on social media and online and are more wary of traditional credit.

More so than any other generation, Gen Z views identity as fluid and less representative of characteristics such as gender, race, physical size and sexual orientation. These consumers want to see their identity acknowledged and reflected by brands.

Fashion and beauty brands have an opportunity to help consumers affirm their identity and build confidence. Traditional categories around gender and sizing may be limiting and even alienating, to growing groups of people and should be carefully considered in segmentation, product offerings and marketing.

The excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication “The luxury brand paradox.” © 2022 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Ltd., a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved.

For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may send a message via social media or visit www.home.kpmg/ph.

Explainer BusinessMirror

B4 Monday, March 7, 2022

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The power of grassroots innovation:

How a nondescript box has been saving lives during the pandemic

By Douglas Hannah | Boston University

O

The Conversation

ne afternoon, a dozen Arizona State University students gathered to spend the morning cutting cardboard, taping fans and assembling filters in an effort to build 125 portable air purifiers for local schools. That same morning, staff members at a homeless shelter in Los Angeles were setting up 20 homemade purifiers of their own, while in Brookline, Massachusetts, another DIY air purifier was whirring quietly in the back of a day care classroom as children played.

The technology in all three c a ses — a n u n a ssu m i ng duc t tape-and-cardboard construction known as a Corsi-Rosenthal box— is playing an important part in the fight against Covid-19. The story of how it came to be also reveals a lot about communities as sources of innovation and resilience in the face of disasters.

A simple technology with a big effect

As it became clear that Covid-19 was spread through airborne transmission, people started wearing masks and building managers rushed to upgrade their ventilation systems. This typically meant installing high-efficiency HEPA filters. These filters work by capturing virus-laden particles: Air is forced into a porous mat, contaminants are filtered out, and clean air passes through.

The efficacy of a building’s ventilation system is governed by two factors, though, not just the quality of the filters. The amount of air moved through the ventilation systems matters as well. Experts typically recommend five to six air changes per hour in shared spaces, meaning the entire volume of air in a room is replaced every 45 minutes. Systems in many older buildings can’t manage this volume, however.

Portable air filters are an option for augmenting ventilation systems, but they typically cost hundreds of dollars, which puts them out of range for schools and other public spaces that face budget constraints.

This is where the Corsi-Rosenthal box comes in. It’s a cube consisting of four to five off-the-shelf furnace filters topped by a standard box fan blowing outward.

Once sealed together with tape, it can sit on a floor, shelf or table.

The fan draws air through the sides of the cube and out the top.

The units are simple, durable and easy to make, and are more effective than simply placing a single filter in front of a box fan. It usually takes 40 minutes, minimal technical expertise and $60 to $90 in materials that are available from any home supply store.

Despite this simplicity, though, these homemade units are extremely effective. When used in a shared space like a classroom or hospital ward, they can supplement existing ventilation and remove airborne contaminants, including smoke and virus-laden particles. A raft of recent peerreviewed research has found portable air purifiers can dramatically reduce aerosol transmission.

Illustration courtesy OF Edge Collective (edgecollective.io/airbox/)

novation tremendous promise— especially in a world where largescale disruptions like a pandemic are increasingly common.

Other preprint and under-review studies have found Corsi-Rosenthal boxes perform as well as professional units at a fraction of the cost.

Pitfalls of grassroots innovation

Despite this promise, there are areas in which grassroots innovation communities falter. One challenge is a lack of technological sophistication and resources.

While some of the communities in our study produced remarkably complex devices, the greatest contribution was in far simpler products like face shields and surgical gowns.

Then there are rules and regulations. Even when grassroots communities can produce safe and effective innovations, existing rules may not be ready to receive them. Some hospitals were unable to accept personal protective equipment provided by the community during the pandemic because of inflexible procurement policies, and today some schools continue to prohibit Corsi-Rosenthal boxes.

A final issue is sustaining effort. While grassroots communities were vital to allowing hospitals and medical facilities to remain functioning during the early days of the pandemic, many of the efforts that depended on volunteer labor eventually ran out of steam.

Origins of the Corsi-Rosenthal box

The formal story of the CorsiRosenthal box began in August 2020, when Richard Corsi, an air quality expert and now dean at the University of California, Davis, pitched the idea of building cheap box-fan air filters on Twitter. Jim Rosenthal, the CEO of a Texas-based filter company, had been playing around with a similar idea and quickly built the first prototype.

Within days, tinkerers and air quality engineers alike were constructing their own CorsiRosenthal boxes and sharing the results on social media. A vibrant conversation emerged on Twitter, blending sophisticated technical analysis from engineers with the insight and efforts of nonspecialists.

By December, hundreds of people were making Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, and thousands more had read press coverage in outlets like Wired. In different corners of the world, people tweaked designs based on the availability of supplies and different needs. Their collective improvements and adaptations were documented by dedicated web sites and blogs, as well as news reports.

In some cases, design tweaks proved to be influential. In November 2020, for example, a homeowner in North Carolina discovered an issue with air being drawn back in through the corners of the most commonly used square fans.

Subsequent testing by air quality experts showed that adding a shroud to the fan increased efficiency by as much as 50 percent.

Analyzing social media and news coverage gives a sense of the scale of the Corsi-Rosenthal box phenomenon. As of January 2022, more than 1,000 units were in use in schools, with thousands more in homes and offices. More than 3,500 people had used the hashtag #corsirosenthalbox on Twitter, and tens of thousands more contributed to the online conversation. News articles and explainer videos on YouTube had collectively accumulated more than 1.9 million views.

Communities as sources of innovation

The story of the Corsi-Rosenthal box is part of a broader story of the grassroots response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The early days

What this means for the future

A Corsi-Rosenthal Box air filter, an inexpensive unit designed during the Covid-19 pandemic to improve ventilation in indoor spaces. Festucarubra | CC BY-SA 4.0

of the pandemic did more than just take a terrible toll on people.

They also galvanized a massive entrepreneurial effort, with tens of thousands of everyday citizens lending their hands to design and produce the critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment that was suddenly needed.

My research team has been tracking these efforts. Through dozens of interviews and months of archival research, we’ve built a database of more than 200 start-ups—formal and informal, nonprofit and for-profit—whose activities ranged from designing oxygen concentrators to 3D printing face shields to building UV disinfection rooms. The picture of innovation that emerges is a far cry from the traditional lab coats and middle managers image that is commonly associated with new technologies.

First, few of the innovations we’ve tracked were actually invented by a single person, or even a single team. Rather, they were the joint project of broad networks of individual contributors from different backgrounds and organizations. This breadth is important because it brings more knowledge and more diverse perspectives. It can also be helpful for tapping existing knowledge. For example, as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes gained traction, the community was able to draw on earlier iterations that had been developed to help with wildfire smoke.

Second, the innovation process lacked hierarchical control. There was no single person directing where or how the technology was used. This lack of control made it easier to experiment and adapt to local conditions. One example is the development of oxygen concentrators for use in hospitals

in India. Realizing that existing Western technologies failed frequently in the more humid operating environment typical of India, teams of innovators rallied to develop and share improved opensource designs.

T h i rd , t hese com mu n it ies shared knowledge online. This allowed individual contributors to communicate directly and share ideas, which helped knowledge spread rapidly through the network. It also meant that knowledge was more readily accessible. The detailed designs and test results from air quality engineers working on Corsi-Rosenthal boxes were readily available to anyone in the community.

Also, most of the organizations we tracked used Facebook, Twitter and Slack as tools to manage collaboration within and between organizations. As I and others have argued, this gives grassroots in-

As the second anniversary of the US declaration of emergency approaches, a key lesson the world has learned is the importance of investing in indoor air quality, for example through monitoring and improved ventilation and filtration. And the value of ventilation as a noninvasive public health tool is even greater as mask mandates wane.

Another, broader lesson is the power of grassroots innovation and citizen engineering to develop these technologies. The story of the Corsi-Rosenthal box, like the thousands of other grassroots innovations developed during the pandemic, is fundamentally about people taking the welfare of their communities into their own hands. The most popular tweet shared about Corsi-Rosenthal boxes was from a 14-year-old aspiring engineer in Ontario offering to build and donate boxes to anyone in need.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversat ion.com / how-a-nondescr iptbox-has-been-saving-lives-during-the-pandemic-and-revealingthe-power-of-grassroots-innovation-176779.

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Style

BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Monday, March 7, 2022

B5

THE Shiro Jyun line also offers the Premium Whitening Face Wash and the Premium Whitening Water Cream.

A guide to J-beauty cult fave

BALMAIN’S Olivier Rousteing showed collection informed by the idea of honesty and transparency in a metaphorical way: through color. PHOTOS: AP

Balmain calls for peace and truth in Paris Fashion Week show

By Thomas Adamson The Associated Press

ARIS—Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing capped the second day of Paris Fashion Week Wednesday with provocation— and a thought for Ukraine. VIPs such as Serena Williams looked on as a battalion of dancers resembling soldiers in helmet-style hats put on a strange performance in the Le Marais venue to start the show. They seemed to fight one another depicting a battle—until the two lead soldiers dramatically kissed.

Here are some highlights of fall-winter 2022 shows:

but he felt that the collection theme unfortunately dovetailed with the events in eastern europe.

Shimmering gold armored breastplates, shields and stiff gilets featured in the exhaustive co-ed collection that used light colors such as whites, creams and pastels as a contrast to represent honesty or truth. Lace was used alongside metal and neoprene to further this point of contrast—on signature Rousteing silhouettes that emphasized the shoulder and thick pants that clung to the legs with criss-cross or ribbed detailing.

There was nothing groundbreaking here, though some of the 74 looks cut fine styles, including a white paneled apron that seemed part-Japanese Warrior, part-Cricket whites.

BALMAIN HOPES FOR PEACE RousTeing linked the display, which featured warlike drum music, to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, even penning a note in which he said collection was a “push-back against lies, hate and aggression”—referencing the “anxiety-inducing headlines of the past week.”

Yet, the collection itself dealt with the idea of honesty and transparency in a metaphorical way: Through color.

The show was conceived as a response to Rousteing’s own personal battle with secrecy, after he was burnt and left ashamed at being permanently scarred by an October 2020 explosion in his home

COURREGES GOES SEXY nicolas Di Felice was in a sexy mood for the Space Age 1960s house of Courreges on Wednesday.

In a season where the 1960s seem to be in, the generation-defining brand founded in 1961 by andré Courrèges and his wife Coqueline may well be having its comeback moment.

Sexy thigh-high space boots evoking an intergalactic stripper came in loose styles with an ‘80s feel. Alongside the decor of a sea of squashed silver soda cans, they pointed to a hot yet trashy dystopian future. Infusing the 40-look collection with a sporty look, caps and minimalist tight white tops filed by.

The fall sexiness continued in black leather straps

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across the bust and V-neck detailing adding a sense of space-age geometry. Mini-skirts, the house’s signature garment, were uber short, and at times, triangular. Despite all the precise design execution, one question remains: Is the house that’s known for its minimalism becoming too pared down for its own good?

SAINT LAURENT’S ART DECO AnThony VaccaRello explored the geometric universe of art Deco for a rare runway show that diverged from channeling house founder’s designs— in favor of his interior decor.

Yves Saint Laurent, who died in 2008, was said to be devoted to the famed 1920s artistic movement that combined modern geometrics with rich materials.

Yet the designer never much used the styles to inspire his fashion shows—seen instead in his choices for furnishing his Parisian residence. here, Vaccarello fixed this.

The 40-year-old Belgian designer put on a Saint Laurent show doused in this shape-rich movement— seen on the runway in front of the glimmering eiffel Tower in stacks of gold, silver and bronze bracelets, sharp V-necks or thick angular shoulders that sloped down. contrasts, such as a sheer panel on a fluid black dress that exposed the nipple, created a sensual tension, as did sharp yet fluid tuxedo jacket (the house signature) against a bare chest. n

DuBBeD as Japan’s no. 1 face lotion brand, hada labo has been selling out a bottle every five seconds, amassing a cult following across the globe. And if you ask beauty editors, influencers and asian superstars, it’s also a staple in their beauty stash, often hailed as a holy grail for transforming their skin. So, what’s all the fuss about? Here’s everything you need to know about this J-beauty cult brand, which is available at selected Watsons branches nationwide and online (www.watsons.com.ph), and on Lazada and Shopee. n IT PROMISES TO HYDRATE THE SKIN. Hada Labo products’ main goal is to provide intense hydration and moisture to the skin, giving it a youthful, radiant mochi-like finish. yes, just like the popular Japanese treat that’s known for its smooth and bouncy texture.

It does so by making hyaluronic acid—which is known for retaining water in the skin—its main active ingredient, a result of more than 100 years of product development and continuous research.

There are two Hada Labo product ranges in the country. Currently, there are two types of face lotions in the market: goku Jyun hydrating lotion and shiro Jyun Premium Whitening lotion. The goku Jyun hydrating lotion, Japan’s no. 1 face lotion and Hada Labo’s star product, is infused with four types of hyaluronic acid to fully hydrate skin from the surface to inner skin layers, locking moisture in. It is also formulated with Japan’s High Performance Penetrating and Deep Moisturizing Technology to get that significantly soft, smooth and supple skin and to prepare it for enhanced absorption of other skincare products.

The Shiro Jyun Premium Whitening Lotion contains Tranexamic acid that effectively helps fight dark spots, rebalance skin tone, and restore skin radiance. it also contains vitamins c and e to soothe and relieve discomfort after sun exposure. The lotion also has hyaluronic acid that prevents moisture loss and nano hyaluronic acid that provides moisture deep down into the inner skin layers. n FOR BEST RESULTS, PAT PRODUCT ONTO SKIN. Unlike other beauty products that you massage into the skin, Hada Labo face lotions are applied by gently patting the product onto it. Doing so increases its absorption and moisturizing power. And to be clear, the face lotions are usually applied right after cleansing the face and before putting on other moisturizing products, both day and night. given its not-quitea-toner-not-quite-a-moisturizer consistency, these lightweight face lotions can also be used as a hydrating mist. Others also swear by soaking cotton pads with Hada Labo face lotion for hydrating the eye area.

The brand also offers face washes and creams for a sensible three-step routine in both its goku Jyun and shiro Jyun lines, plus the Deep clean & Pore Refining Face Wash that contains Bentonite Clay to absorb impurities from pores, and skin-refining plus oilcontrolling green Tea extract. More information can be found at www.hadalabo.com.ph.

A different kind of light with 10 ‘hybrid’ products

IT’S not a secret that I’m a big fan of MAC Cosmetics and while i do get press samples as part of my job, I have also been a customer of the brand since the 1990s. My favorites are the lipsticks and the face powders, especially the Mineralize skinfinish natural. i also love their lightful c line, which is called a hybrid.

In this context, hybrid means a product that combines makeup with skincare. Let me tell you that one of the reasons why I love MAC is because they were ahead of their time. One of my favorite MAC products is Strobe Cream, a highlighter-moisturizer.

The brand has been “using” the word strobe to refer to highlighters a full decade before it became fashionable to do so.

Anyway, back to the Lightful C line. I’ve only owned two products from the line. One is the Lightful C Tinted Cream with Radiance Booster Broad Spectrum SPF 30. The other is the MAC Lightful C Marine-Bright Formula softening lotion.

Lightful C Tinted Cream with Radiance Booster Broad Spectrum SPF 30 was one of my go-to base before the pandemic. it’s offered enough coverage for several hours. Meanwhile, the soothing lotion helped calm redness.

The Lightful C line has had a big revamp and it’s now known as Lightful C3. First, they’re no longer in the white and silver packaging but in pretty like pink.

The 10 products in the Asia-exclusive line include a cleanser, micellar water, lotion, emulsion, tone-up cream and eye cream.

On the makeup side, the line includes a primer, powder foundation, liquid foundation and cushion.

I attended the online launch of Lightful C3 over the weekend and had the privilege of listening to the line’s introduction by yumiko nishikawa, senior director for product development in asia Pacific for The estée Lauder Companies Inc. nishikawa said lightful c3 offers tangible elements, meaning you see results every time you use the products, sensorial experiences with superior textures and beautiful radiant skin as a result.

“Vitamin C will give you an even skin tone. Coral grass is a humectant that will hydrate your skin.

Cherry blossom is an antioxidant while pink pearls provide radiance,” said nishikawa. nishikawa said that if there is one item in the line that she cannot live without, it would be the Radiant Hydration Skin Renewal lotion, which is used after cleansing. senior artist Rumiko ikeda harris said the lotion hydrates the skin after cleansing. another star product from the line, Radiant Hydration Skin Renewal emulsion, is to be used after the lotion.

Rumiko ikeda harris taught us how to use it—in soft patting motions from the center of the face outwards.Another popular product from the Lightful c3 line is the lightful c+ coral grass Tinted Primer SPF44/PA++++. nishikawa urged us to get a bottle or two of this as it is a best seller in Japan and Korea.

Regan Rabanal, MAC’s education director for Asia Pacific, said the coral grass Tinted Primer should be applied on the cheeks and then blended “to protect, perfect and prime in an instant.”

“I’m a fan of the original Lightful C franchise. I was able to try the new Lightful C3 earlier before the launch and I’ve been amazed by the beautiful rosy glow it helped me achieve,” said MAC Cosmetics global ambassador Lisa Manobal.

PRODUCTS from the new MAC Lightful C3 line alongside the Tinted Cream from the old Lightful C line. PHOTO BY JULIANA MAXINE VASQUEZ

The prices of the products in the Lightful C3 line start from P1,500. The most expensive product is the coral grass Tinted Primer for P2,700. The line is available at all MAC locations in the Philippines.

B6 Monday, March 7, 2022

Spice up your life with simple, doable efforts

The first Swissôtel property debuts in the Philippines

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HE art of Swiss hospitality is arriving into the Philippines with the softopening of the first Swissôtel property in Pampanga. Situated in Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone, Swissôtel Clark is set to become a vibrant destination within the evolving city, a two-hour drive from Manila. As of March 1, 270 Premium and Swiss Advantage Rooms will be available for booking during the soft opening period, with the broader hotel complex launching in the last quarter of 2022.

Situated in a contemporary 22-storey building, the 372 room Swissôtel Clark is the tallest hotel in the Northern Metro Manila region. The hotel incorporates a modern take on Swiss design elements and architectural touches, resulting in a space where guests feel at ease while they recharge.

A statement wall reflecting the pattern of the Swiss Alps is one of the design highlights in each room. Overlooking the city and its surrounding rolling hills, all rooms feature plenty of natural light, with dramatic sunrise or sunset views.

Internationally renowned Swiss hospitality

“THE Swissôtel brand is internationally renowned for its high standard of Swiss hospitality that is infused with the freshness and vibrancy of alpine energy. In every detail of the Swissôtel experience, vitality is the key philosophy that focuses on well-being and enjoying a high quality of life. We are delighted to introduce our first Swissôtel property in the Philippines, which will keep

the brand’s promise of promoting quality in life. Swissôtel Clark will offer an inspiring atmosphere, complimented by authentic Filipino charm,” said Garth Simmons, Chief Executive Officer of Accor, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea Swissôtel Clark aims to deliver a range of culinary concepts. Inspired by the roots of Swissôtel, the specialty restaurant, Markt, serves European cuisine and grilled dishes in a colourful market setting. The Atrium will serve afternoon tea, snacks, drinks and cocktails amidst a relaxing atmosphere.

The dessert bar, Oma's, will satisfy the sweet tooth with freshly baked pastries and signature ice cream in a playful and dynamic setting. Swiss Tropic is a playful poolside bar where loungers can enjoy refreshing drinks, comfort food and small bites.

From Q2 2022, diners will be able to experience the modern twist of classic Italian cuisine at Ristorante Di Verona in an Italian inspired indoor space or alfresco.

Homemade pasta and wood-fired oven pizza can be enjoyed with a fine selection of wines from around the world.

Well-being is an integral part of the Swissôtel Clark experience. Pürovel Spa and Sport is an approach to wellness inspired by the Alpine seasons and the four stages of natural vitality. Pürovel Sport features high-quality gym equipment. Set to open in Q3 2022, the Pürovel Spa will provide a range of revitalizing treatments.

In addition, guests can choose to relax by the infinity pool overlooking the lush mountains. Other facilities include a kid’s

pool, the Swiss Executive Lounge and five meeting rooms.

Largest hotel in Northern Metro Manila

“WE are thrilled to welcome guests to experience Swissôtel Clark, the largest hotel in Northern Metro Manila. As the first Swissôtel property in the Philippines, we are proud to deliver Swiss vitality, complemented with local Filipino hospitality. Perfect for families, leisure and business travellers, our intelligently designed guest rooms, variety of culinary offerings, and exciting facilities make the hotel a destination in and of itself.

The hotel will offer a relaxing base for all travellers to explore the very best that Clark has to offer,” said Tarek Auoini, General Manager of Swissôtel Clark.

Swissôtel Clark is located inside the Clark Freeport Zone, three kilometres away from Clark International Airport and 113 kilometres away from Manila International Airport. The hotel is near many golf courses and tourist attractions such as the Clark Museum, Aqua Planet Water Park, Dinosaur Island, Puning Hot Spring, Mount Arayat National Park, and Walking Street.

To celebrate its soft opening, travellers can enjoy a Premium Room with breakfast for two adults and two children from PHP 7,500 net. The special rates are available for bookings from now until April 30, 2022 for stays until June 30, 2022.

For more information, visit Swissotel. com/clark. For reservations, email HB6N4@ swissotel.com or call +63 45 306 2000

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HETHER you are a social butterfly or a homebody, we can all agree that we all felt restricted at one point as basic social interactions were replaced by endless days spent in isolation in our homes.

The good thing is, if you enjoy your own company you will never really feel lonely. Take the time to enjoy your meals. Home cooking is a good idea if you want to save money, but it won’t hurt if you get delivery now and then to treat yourself. Buy your favorite meal from a restaurant you loved to frequent before and throw yourself a special meal on a Friday night to reward yourself at the end of a long week.

To add flair to the experience, set up your table to make things extra special.

Have you ever heard of the “coffee shop effect?” Most of us find ourselves more productive when hustling in these places because of the change of environment and the new stimuli that we experience–in this case, the smell of freshly brewed coffee, hushed conversations, and some easy-going music.

You can easily replicate this experience by making your coffee at home and, of course, curating your playlist.

Dress up! Sure, it is so much easier to just lounge around in your pajamas all day since nobody is going to see you anyway, but going through a routine can give you the rush of endorphins you need. Put on some work clothes even if you’re just working remotely.

You'll definitely feel better when you feel confident about how you look!

Change your environment. Seeing the same things in the same environment can

be dragging so come up with ways to add variations to your everyday life. Whether that means adding some color into your home or doing some renovations is up to you. You can even try doing some DIY if you’re looking for something you can be extra hands-on.

Bond with friends virtually. Open yourself a bottle of good wine, sit back, and relax. Why wine? Because this type of drink is meant to be enjoyed longer with careful sips, which gives us the chance to slow down and really enjoy the moment. One good choice is Doña Elena’s Sangria which is perfect for those who just want to ‘unwined.’ With its light fruity flavors that deliver just the right amount of refreshment and fun.

Doña Elena Sangria is available in all leading supermarkets nationwide.

Sun Life donates $200k to Canadian Red Cross to support humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine

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UN Life is joining the global efforts in the call for peace in Ukraine,” said Kevin Strain, President and CEO of Sun Life. “Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and to everyone affected. We’re deeply concerned by the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold in Ukraine and the surrounding regions.”

This contribution will enable the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to respond to humanitarian needs in Ukraine. The support could include relief efforts, longterm recovery, and other critical activities as needs arise, both in Ukraine and surrounding countries, including supporting those that have been displaced.

In addition, BentallGreenOak has donated $50,000 to UNICEF to support children and

families in Ukraine. Sun Life is also providing employees with an opportunity to support the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal through its employee giving program. Employees based in Canada and the United States who make a personal donation will have their contribution matched by Sun Life, up to a specified amount.

Canadians wishing to help are encouraged to donate to the Canadian Red Cross’ Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal at www. redcross.ca or by calling 1-800-418-1111.

The Government of Canada will match 100 per cent of donations made by individual Canadians to the Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal, to a maximum of $10 million.

Those wishing to donate in the United States are encouraged to contribute directly to the American Red Cross at www.redcross.org.

Go Negosyo online entrep mentoring kicks off

SBF completes its 3rd school building in Tuguegarao

PRESENT DURING THE TURNOVER OF THE SCHOOL BUILDING DONATION WERE, FROM LEFT: Kara Monica Duque (Security Bank Tuguegarao-Buntun Branch Business Manager), Bernadette Roy Cornejo (Security Bank Tuguegarao Branch Business Manager), Tuguegarao City Mayor Atty. Jefferson T. Soriano, Dr. Reynante Z. Caliguiran, CESO VI (Department of Education Tuguegarao City Schools Division Superintendent), and Vilma Darisan (Tuguegarao West Central School Principal).

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ECURITY Bank Corporation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm Security Bank Foundation, Inc. (SBFI) turned over its third school building in Tuguegarao City on December 22, 2021.

The two-story, ten-classroom school building was received by the Tuguegarao West Central School (TWCS). As of December 2021, SBFI has already donated 24 classrooms in Tuguegarao City,

Cagayan. In 2019, SBFI turned over twostory, eight-classroom school building in Annafunan Elementary School and twostory, six-classroom school building in Pallua Elementary School.

Since 2011, SBFI has been implementing its Build a School, Build a Nation Program to provide additional classrooms for public schools in areas where Security Bank operates, complementing it with major repair

support, teachers training, and other learner support interventions.

Despite the pandemic, the SBFI sustained the program in preparation for the eventual resumption of faceto-face learning delivery, which has already resumed in various parts of the country.

Department of Education Tuguegarao City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Reynante Z. Caliguiran, CESO VI affirmed the importance of classrooms despite the pandemic. “Safe, resilient and future-ready classrooms are still key to delivering quality education that is relevant, inclusive and sustainable.”

“The Build a School, Build a Nation Program shows that BetterBanking is not just about providing business excellence but also enhancing the quality of people’s lives,” expressed Ferdinand T. Uy, Security Bank Corporation Branch Banking Group North Luzon Area Head.

Thus far, SBFI has built 701 classrooms in 123 schools in 69 cities and municipalities, a fitting celebration of Security Bank’s 70th anniversary.

To know more about Security Bank Foundation and its CSR initiatives, you may visit www.securitybank. com/sustainability or Security Bank’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ SecurityBank.

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HE Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship’s entrepreneurship mentoring programs are well underway as they continue their shift online.

These mentoring programs are the Kapatid Mentor Micro Enterprises–Money and Market Encounter (KMME-MME) and the Kapatid Agri Mentor Me Program (KAMMP).

“Along with the government, we are helping mentor entrepreneurs; we have connected with the entire chain. That’s the good thing about this public-private partnership in getting mentors to help the entrepreneurs,” said Go Negosyo founder and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion.

As a program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship (PCE), the KMME-MME aims to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to learn and be inspired from the experience of other entrepreneurs. Using modules and lectures, the program hopes to help micro and small entrepreneurs adapt smart business strategies that will help them adapt to the new economy.

As project proponent, the PCE implements the KMME-MME alongside the DTI and the MSME Development Council as part of its Go Negosyo advocacy to promote the entrepreneurial mindset among Filipinos. The mentees come from different sectors of industry. The program was established in 2017.

The KAMMP, meanwhile, complements the Department of Agriculture’s mandate to promote agricultural development. It was

started in 2017, and has since mentored farmers, fisherfolk, agricultural cooperatives and associations, youths, and agri-enterprises, giving them the right entrepreneurial mindset, practical knowledge and strategies to help them expand their businesses. KAMMP also enlists the help of highly experienced industry practitioners as mentors.

The blended KMME-MME Online Program and KAMMP Online were developed to respond to restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic, using the same mentorship modules (including access to money and market) to guide and assist micro and small entrepreneurs. These online mentoring programs are conducted via the online conferencing platform Zoom, combining video clips, Facebook and conference calls to mentor entrepreneurs and agripreneurs.

In 2021, the KMME-MME program saw an increase in the numbers of both mentors and mentees across the regions. As of October 2021, a total of 1,634 mentees have taken part in the KMME Online Program activities for the year; this pegs the total number of KMME Online mentees to 3,084. In all, the KMME Program in its original form and the innovated online form has benefited 11,871 mentees since inception.

KAMMP, meanwhile, has produced 3,032 mentees since 2017, and coming from the different regions of the country. Its shift to online mentoring saw 755 mentees undergo training even during the restrictions in 2020 and 2021. To date, it has a total of 139,798 members across cooperatives and associations.

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, March 7, 2022 B7

IPRA’s Communitalks and Today’s Millennials M

PR Matters

By Richard P. Burgos

S. Etsuko Tsugihara, the new IPRA global president, shared her vision on PR in the new endemic during the Ipra Communitalks webinar on January 28 this year. In her talk, she emphasized how Covid-19 made us reevaluate what is more important to us and society. She highlighted key social shifts that raised greater consciousness of the importance of human life, environmental issues, inclusive growth, alternative work arrangements and commercial transactions, and sustainable development goals. She attributes these shifts to the increasing influence of Gen Z, those digital natives born between 1996 and 2010, who now make up 13.6 percent of the Japanese population, 19.4 percent of the USA, and 28.6 percent of the Philippines.

Of the many interesting items Ms. Etsuko raised, I would like to react to three points: 1.Gen Z has it.

2.PR is personal. It is also increasingly technological.

3.VUCA times call for VUCA leaders and PR teams.

1.Gen Z has it. From the presen-

tation it was clear that the millennials constitute a significant portion of Philippine demographics.

Compared to Japan you can say we have a really fat bottom! We need to know that Gen Z preferences today have the power to boost product sales, close down restaurants or clothing brands, even determine the next president of the country.

We all need to understand them and how they think, to speak to them using their language, to engage them on the platforms and styles they favor. Ignore them and you become cliched, vintage or irrelevant.

Our DOST Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña on August 22, 2016, at his very first Mancom meeting, asked what is hugot. He could not understand it nor relate to it. As the new director of DOST STII myself at the time, that was a clear indicator for where I should start to architect our science communication plan. It was a gargantuan

Travel: AirAsia PHL launches Vaccinated Travel Lane for Manila-Singapore flights

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Guests traveling between the Philippines and Singapore will now have a much more seamless, convenient, and safer travel experience as

AirAsia Philippines launches the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) for its Manila-Singapore flights.

Through VTL, tourists may visit the Lion City sans the need to undergo quarantine, making a more seamless travel experience possible. The first AirAsia VTL flight will depart Manila on 5th March 2022.

AirAsia Philippines is expecting to fly business and leisure travelers through the MNL-SIN VTL until end-March. The world’s best low-cost airline currently flies 1x weekly to Singapore with flights scheduled every Saturday. It is ex-

task. We did not even have an indicator of the national level of awareness on science and technology. Today we know that we have moved from 6 percent in 2017 to 24.5 percent in 2021, more than a four-fold increase in 5 years. We still have a lot more work to do but all our officials now have active social media pages, up from just 50 percent in 2016. We launched the tagline #ScienceForThePeople and more than 12,000 FB users have used it to promote science communication in the country.

Engaging millennials is key to increasing awareness and fomenting a culture of science in the country. It is a good strategy to also employ millennials to focus on and address this communication gap.

Hugot has to be part of our arsenal of communication!

2.PR is personal. It is also increasingly technological.

I really like the name of the PR company that Etsuko-san founded in Japan: Sunny Side Up. Any client would want to work with those who are bubbly, positive, articulate, have a wide network and can get things done. Today, effective PR cannot rest on the strength of personality or sociality alone. It has to be techno-savvy as well. Philip Borremans, past IPRA president, showed us that it is entirely possible to run a series of global webinars, from marketing to assessment, by his lonesome and on his laptop anywhere in the world. And who has not heard about the digital capabilities of Cambridge Analytica to influence elections in America and even in the Philippines? Even in the use of technology, we need to let the younger ones, the digital natives, show us the way.

3. VUCA times call for VUCA leaders and PR teams.

First used in 1987 and based on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. At no better time was this leadership paradigm tested than during the year 2020, also known as the year

pected to increase the frequency in the near future, subject to approval from the regulating bodies.

Guests can book their flights to Singapore through the “Flights” icon on the airasia Super App. Guests can also enjoy great value flights+hotel deals through the “SNAP” icon on the Super App with savings up to 30-percent off. Those who prefer to book their hotels separately may check the “Hotels” icon in the app and get an extra 10-percent off with promo code AAHOTEL10.

Only fully vaccinated travelers are eligible to travel via the Vac-

of the great reset. It is so unique, so radically impactful and it is the only year you have to pronounce two times: 2020. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity became day-to-day realities.

In the toughest of times, we need leaders and PR professionals who can lead us from Volatility to Vision, who can paint a picture of the future we want and forge internal and external identity and effectiveness. We need people who will transition us from Uncertainty to Understanding, who can harmonize skills and convert anxiety and resistance into productive energy. We need leaders and PR teams who can bring us from Complexity to Clarity, who can simplify things and help us to focus on what counts and what really matters. They build trust, transparent connections and processes and apply energy and force exactly where they will be most effective. Lastly, we need leaders and PR teams who will transform Ambiguity to Agility, who have the flexibility and the ability to facilitate innovation and build up resilience.

Tough times never last. Tough people do. We can survive and thrive through VUCA times. We just have to do things right and get things done to protect our assets and reputation. The bright future we want is achievable if we choose the right leaders and PR teams to assist us with the right stance, story and speed.

What I truly appreciated about the Communitalks event was that two young communications students were part of the panel and also articulated their perspectives and experiences.

Because technology allows us to instantaneously capture participants’ feedback, here are some comments (names withheld) in the chat box that we can also consider as part of the lively conversation among the 371 in the audience and the 6 panelists, or maybe become the springboard for determining the next Communitalks topics: n T hank you to ever yone!

Learned so much this afternoon!

cinated Travel Lane to Singapore and would need to meet the entry requirements set by the Singapore Government. Through this, quarantine-free travel to and from Singapore and the Philippines is made possible.

AirAsia Head of Communications and Public Affairs Steve Dailisan shares: “Our optimism for relaxed borders and a better Covid-19 situation in some of our key routes is now being realized.

We have been preparing for this new reality in travel since the end of 2021, as reflected by our current growth in flight routes, capacity,

n Thank you everyone from IPR A Philippines! LOVE from TOKYO :) n Good afternoon can we request for copies of the presentations pls? Very helpful for us.

Thank you from the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines. n Refreshing to hear students’ POV in a professional association webinar. Great panel. Thank you, Ipra. (From a representative of Jollibee) n Good afternoon. Echoing the request for access to the presentations for our reference.

Kudos to the organizers for this produc t ive lea r n i ng session.

Thank you to all the reactors.

Your inputs are much appreciated. (from a representative of Mang Inasal) n Hi Tats! What a nice surprise to hear you speak in this forum.

Regards from FEU Manila! Excellent presentation IPRA! Well done! n Wow, what a star-studded event. Richard Burgos, Kane Choa, Ritzi Ronquillo, boundary na! n Jonathan is right, we must pursue facts-based information dissemination that can be understood by common people in adherence to ethics and industry standards. Like our national hero says, “Kabataan ang Pag-asa ng bayan,” so it is important for the youth and other people to have representation, even in the PR industry n Great job pointing out, Jonathan, the limitation of Tiktok, from our end as PR practitioners and marketers. n The media platforms today are indeed a double-edged sword.

Like the given example—Tiktok; yes it can be used for immediate and efficient information yet misinformation and falsification of facts are also highly prevalent in such platform

and bookings; and programs such as VTL. Singapore has always been among the top goal destinations of Filipinos, and we are glad to make the travel to the Lion City easier and more convenient for our kababayans.”

The reopening of the Vaccinated Travel Lane to Singapore was announced by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) last February 17. This is expected to propel the tourism recovery of the country as it relaxes its borders to international travelers and as it reclaims its position as a global air hub.

n Great remark by Margarita; read as much as possible information you can get. Agree Jonathan, be inclusive; involve GenZ by default like you. Also involve other groups. n Thank you for this Webinar.

Congratulations to the organizers, and to all speakers and panelists.

Keep safe everyone. n Amazing and eye opening webinar! Thank you so much. n Thank you for this informative webinar IPRA! 💕 n Thank you so much, IPRA Philippines! Kudos to the team, well-rounded topics and insights as well! Sending love from USTCASA! n In the research study, Architects of Networked Disinformation (in the Philippines), the chief architects of networked disinformation come from the advertising and PR industry. What can professional organizations like IPRA do to address this finding that casts a bad light to the practice and profession of PR? Read here: https:// newtontechfordev.com/wp-content/ uploads/2018/02/ARCHITECTSOF-NETWORKED-DISINFORMATION-FULL-REPORT.pdf

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior communications professionals around the world. Richard P. Burgos is the director of the Science and Technology Information Institute of the Department of Science and Technology. A seasoned communicator, he has helped build some of the biggest brands in the information technology industry such as IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems.

PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@ gmail.com.

The Singapore Ministr y of Health also announced that they will start to ease protocols but reminded the public of the strict wearing of masks in public places.

AirAsia flights from Manila to Singapore and vice versa may be booked via the airasia Super App and web site. Visit Singapore VTL safe travel page for more information about entry requirements into Singapore.

All AirAsia international flights will continue to operate at Naia Terminal 3 while domestic flights will be transferred to Naia Terminal 4 beginning 28 March 2022.

Pogačar shows amazing endurance, speed in ruling Strade-Bianche race

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA sympathizes with the Ukranian people.

OBIENA LEAPS FOR UKRAINE

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By Josef Ramos

RNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA wore a yellow-over-blue tape around his left wrist as he jumped to a silver medal he dedicated to war-torn Ukraine on Sunday at the Perche Elite Tour at the Complexe Kindarena in Rouen, France.

Although he missed the gold medal, Obiena’s leap of 5.91 meters was the Tokyo Olympian’s personal and season best in indoor pole vault competitions.

“I feel good and happy about it,” Obiena told BusinessMirror via an exclusive video call on Sunday.

The tape around his wrist was Obiena’s way of showing deep sympathy for Ukraine, a feeling that’s deeply personal to him— his coach, the legendary Vitaly Petrov, is Ukrainian.

“I am not knowledgeable of what’s happening there [Ukraine], but being silent and not speaking up never really help the abused,” Obiena said.

“If we keep our silence, we don’t stand up for the one who is being abused and maltreated.”

“It was very touching. I received a lot of messages from my Ukrainian friends after my performance,” the 26-year-old Obiena said.

Besides Petrov, Obiena counts Ukrainian high jumpers Yuliya Levchenko, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Andriy Protsenko as among his close friends in the athletics world.

Russia’s invasion of Ukranian has been ongoing for more than a week and the global sporting community have reacted negatively against the war, with several world-class Ukrainian athletes taking up arms.

Chris Nilsen of the United States cleared 6:05-meter to win gold in Rouen. Thiago da Silva, the Rio 2016 Olympic gold medalist, also made 5.91 meters but ended up third after the countback.

Obiena’s outdoor personal best of 5.93 meters he set in the 17th International Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck last September stands as the Asian men’s record.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Monday, March 7, 2022 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

TADEJ POGAČAR attacks in the final 50 kilometers for the solo finish. AP

OLYMPIANS SHARE PSA CENTERSTAGE

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ILIPINO athletes who represented the country in the Tokyo Olympics will be recognized during the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Annual Awards Night on March 14 at the Diamond Hotel.

Citations will be given to 19 athletes who carried the country’s colors in both the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics by the country’s oldest media organization when it holds its traditional awards ceremony presented by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Philippine Olympic

Committee (POC) and Cignal TV. The Olympians include skateboarder Margielyn Didal, boxer Irish Magno, golfers Bianca Pagdanganan and Juvic Pagunsan, weightlifter Elreen Ando, runner Kristina Knott, swimmers Remedy Rule and Luke Gebbie, judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, rower Cris Nievarez, taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa and shooter Jayson Valdez.

The Paralympians, meanwhile, are swimmers Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino, wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan, taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin, athletics’ Jeanette Aceveda

and powerlifter Achelle Guion.

A future Olympian, weightlifter Vanessa Sarno, will receive the same award for winning two gold and one silver medals in the women’s 71 kgs division at the Asian Women’s Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The other Olympians will also be honored with weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz receiving the Athlete of the Year award, Yuka Saso and Carlos Yulo lifting President’s Award trophies and Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, Eumir Felix Marcial and EJ Obiena getting Major Awards.

Also part of the Major Awards

Yulo’s not for golds alone, he dreams for degree, too

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ARLOS YULO returned to Japan on Sunday morning leaving behind a promise to reap more success in at least three major international competitions this year.

He also vowed to take care of his future.

“I’d like to take up a course related to sports, sports science or sports medicine,” Yulo told BusinessMirror. “My dream’s not only to be a

successful athlete, but to finish my studies as well.”

Yulo only had five days to spend with his family and friends because he needed to return to Tokyo to attend the graduation ceremonies at Teikyo University where just completed YULO an Associate Degree course in Literature. He did that as he trained intensively for the Tokyo Olympics.

“I’m not dreaming of being an honor student, but being able to graduate is a great accomplishment for me,” said the 22-year-old world

champion in floor exercise (Stuttgart 2018 and vault (Kitakyushu 2021) who was home last in 2019 for the 30th Southeast Asian Games where he won gold medals in floor exercise and vault.

Yulo’s 2022 calendar is topped by the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam in May, 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in September and world championships in Florida in October, setting his goal high by targeting the all-around gold medal. Josef Ramos

list is US Open billiards champion Carlo Biado.

All awardees, athletes, officials, guests and PSA members are required to present their vaccination cards on awards night.

A compact list of 39 athletes, officials and entities make up the 2021 batch of awardees to be feted by the Philippine sportswriting fraternity in the affair backed by Milo (official chocolate milk), 1Pacman, Philippine Basketball Association , Philippine Racing Commission, Rain or Shine, ICTSI, Chooks To Go, MVP Sports Foundation and Smart.

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AN MIGUEL Beer extended its championship lineage in the Philippine Basketball Association 3x3 Lakas Ng Tatlo as it bagged the Leg 2 title Sunday at the expense of Barangay Ginebra.

Spunky guard Jeff Manday sparked an early run by the Beermen of coach Boyzie Zamar, before holding their ground against a late rally by the Kings to notch their first championship in the three-a-side tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Manday finished with a game-high 13 points, Bacon Austria and Ken Bono with three, while Mon Rogado added two for the newly-crowned champions who bagged the P100,000 prize money.

The 3x3 title run was the latest feat for the proud San Miguel Corp.

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IENA, Italy—Two-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogačar displayed his dominance with an unprecedented long-distance solo attack to win the Strade Bianche race on Saturday.

It was a different story in the women’s race, with Belgian champion Lotte Kopecky holding off two-time champion Annemiek van Vleuten in a two-woman sprint.

Pogačar attacked with 50 kilometers to go in the 184-kilometer race through Tuscany on the eighth of 11 sections of white, gravel roads. The Slovenian with UAE Team Emirates quickly opened up an advantage of more than a minute and finished 37 seconds ahead of 41-year-old Alejandro Valverde and 46 seconds ahead of Kasper Asgreen of Denmark.

“I didn’t really plan my attack but Monte Sante Maria is always the most important point of the race,” Pogačar said. “I expected riders to come along but nobody did so I had no choice other than to commit 100% to reaching the finishing line solo.”

In the 16-year history of the race, nobody had come close to pulling off an attack so far from the finish. The next longest successful attack was made by 2007 champion Alexandr Kolobnev, who made his move 19 kilometers from the finish in 2007—the first year the race was held.

Making matters more impressive was that Pogačar was involved in a mass crash early in the race. He came away with some scrapes and a mangled handlebar, forcing him to change bikes.

“I suffered a lot in the last 40 to 50 kilometers,” Pogačar said. “There were moments in which I was thinking that my legs would explode and I’d walk to the finish. I had no time for sightseeing for sure. I won because I had no pressure from my team for this race and I don’t really care about the pressure from the outside world.”

Valverde also came back from a crash.

“Second behind Pogacar, it’s like a victory,” said the Spanish veteran, the world champion in 2018.

Two-time reigning world champion Julian Alaphilippe was dropped toward the end after also getting banged up in a fall—which opened the way for Quick-Step teammate Asgreen to aim for the podium. AP

San Miguel Beer repeats asPBA 3x3 leg champion franchise, the most accomplished team in the PBA with 27 championships.

“We waited for this for a long time,” said Austria, one of the original mainstays of the team since the standalone meet began in November last year.

“We stayed the course. We got new players in Ken [Bono] and Mon (Rogado) and they helped us a lot,” added the big man out Ateneo.

Manday typified the Beermen’s serious bid for the championship by averaging 11.7 points per game starting from the playoffs. He finished the pool play with only a 4.8-point average.

Behind Manday’s outside shooting, the Beermen led by as many as 14-4 to set the pace of the title match that came about after a thrilling finish to the pair of semifinal matches held earlier.

Santisima loses to American

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FOLAYANG SPEAKS

Team Lakay’s Eduard Folayang (left) answers questions as coach Mark Sangiao and Lito Adiwang look on during a media event for ONE X, the promotion’s biggest event so far in 2022 to mark its 10-year anniversary, in a hotel in Cubao, Quezon City, on Saturday. ONE X is set on March 26 in Singapore. NONOY LACZA

Grudge matches I LOVE me a good old fashioned grudge match. Where the dislike is so intense that it takes a life of its own.

What a grudge match between Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal in UFC 272. The much-hyped match between the two former best friends turned bitter enemies didn’t disappoint. Unless you were expecting a titanic

EO SANTISIMA lost to Joet Gonzalez on Saturday to hand the American the World Boxing Organization (WBO) international featherweight belt.

Santisima lost via technical knockout in the ninth round of the 12-round fight at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California.

Referee Edward Collantes halted the fight in the 2:05-mark of the ninth round after the 25-year-old Filipino absorbed

knockout or if you were expecting slam bam punching action then this isn’t the way Covington has fought since his first loss to Kumaru Usman.

In the second Covington-Usman fight, the former was more tactical and fought a better match. He certainly gave Usman trouble and for some quarters, should have even won.

In this match with Masvidal, Covington dominated four of the five rounds. Smart game plan to wear him out, get him on the canvass then sneak in those punches and elbows. He showed his superiority in wrestling and ground game.

As Joe Rogan said, “He [Covington] was just beating him [Masvidal] up.”

It’s one thing to beat an opponent by bloodying him up and it’s altogether another to thoroughly dominate him, outwrestle him. That gets you thinking you had nothing.

Covington won of course, by unanimous decision.

No sportsmanship by tapping gloves or ending the rivalry after the fight ended. I was a bit disappointed when he buried the hatchet with Usman by saying he was trying to earn a paycheck. No such thing in this bout against Masvidal. The hate was palpable in both words and in strikes.

a lot of damages from Gonzalez’s tough combinations to the head.

Santisima, who dropped to 21-4 win-loss record with 18 knockouts, backpedaled most of the way and found himself reeling in the ropes.

Gonzalez, 28, bounced back from a unanimous decision loss to WBO featherweight champion Emmanuel Navarrete last October 2021 with the win. He improved to 25-2 with 15 knockouts. Josef Ramos

MEMBERS of the San Miguel Beer team led by coach Boycie Zamar celebrate their victory.

And after the match, there was still more trash talking with Covington calling out Dustin Poirier.

Ah…what adopting a heel stance will do for you. And to think, he has been using professional wrestler Kurt Angle’s music!

The UFC must be thrilled. People like Colby rally and rile the fanbase. It’s good show and ultimately, ticket and payper-view sales.

I have always loved grudge matches. They make for great theater and water cooler talk.

As a kid, I thrilled to those Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier fights. And several years ago, there were those battles in the National Football League between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots where the former took two super Bowl match-ups despite the latter being the favorite. And of course, there was Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.

I must point out that in these four grudge matches I mentioned, the trash talking side won. The one side that didn’t win was Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Actually, what Brady said ahead of their meeting in the 2012 Super Bowl was tame by any standard but still.

In today’s Philippine Basketball Association… it just isn’t there. You can say there is this corporate rivalry, but that just happened to be there rather than one that developed organically.

Remember those days when Ginebra and Tanduay just hated each other? Even some sports columnists waded in and took shots at the Big J. Me? I had a laugh.

It will be a while before Covington fights. Is there anyone out there? Yes, there’s the UAAP. But it hasn’t started and we don’t know how all the teams will fare due to the long lay-off.

So now I am continuing to train my eye on the brutal war in Ukraine. Now that is one heck of a grudge match as these two countries well, have had something going on since 1722. I am not suggesting I enjoy this war.

Far from it. It is just a tragedy. However this ends, it isn’t going to be like Usman and Covington burying the hatchet. Blood has been shed with wanton destruction inflicted on Ukraine.

This is one grudge match, where for the sake of the entire world, one can only pray for a settlement and some peace