BusinessMirror May 03, 2023

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) slowed for the third consecutive month in April, also marking an eight-month low, according to the latest report from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global.

Based on the latest PMI report, the Philippines’s PMI slowed to 51.4 in April. This is lower than the PMI of 52.5 in March and 52.7 in February 2023.

Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, traced the slowdown to a softening in new orders and output.

“Additionally, price pressures cooled further during the latest

slows for 3rd month in April

survey period. While operating expenses grew at a solid rate, the pace of inflation was the weakest in two-and-half-years. Reflecting softer hikes in cost burdens, manufacturers raised their selling prices at the slowest pace in 28 months,” Baluch said.

S&P Global also noted a softer uptick in new business, leading firms to expand their output but at the weakest pace in the past six months.

“Looking ahead, manufacturers across the Philippines remained largely optimistic, as the degree of confidence in the year-ahead outlook for output reached a threemonth high. That said, the degree of confidence was weaker than the series average. Furthermore, our

latest forecast expects growth in industrial production to moderate to 5 percent in 2023,” Baluch said.

S&P Global also reported “widespread reports of resignations” that led to a third consecutive month of contraction in payroll numbers across Filipino firms.

The think tank said that while “the rate of job shedding” was low, firms still linked this to challenges in retaining their staff.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that the manufacturing sector shed over 300,000 jobs in February due to significant declines in employment in several subsectors, including tea production. (Full story here: https://businessmirror.

com.ph/2023/04/12/local-factories-shed-over-300k-jobsin-february/)

Apart from staff shortages, firms also experienced material shortages and expensive materials from some suppliers also affected the sector’s performance.

S&P Global also said the manufacturing industry experienced delivery delays as well as the strengthening of the US dollar, which pushed up manufacturers’ costs during the period.

Last month, PSA data also showed the country’s factory output growth slowed in February due to the lackluster performance of food manufacturing.

See “PMI,” A2

US-PHL ties redefined, boosted

By Samuel P. Medenilla  @sam_medenilla

AFTER stagnating in the previous administration, security and economic partnerships between the Philippines and the United States were “strengthened and redefined” following the bilateral meeting between President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and US President Joseph “Joe” Biden on Monday.  The meeting comes at a crucial time as the US is trying to counter the growing influence of China in Asia.

Bilateral defense guidelines

MARCOS welcomed Biden’s ironclad commitment to help in defending the country amid the “complicated geopolitical situation” in the Pacific.

“It is only natural that—for the Philippines to look to its sole treaty partner in the world, to strengthen and to redefine the relationship that we have and the roles that we play in the face

See “US-PHL,” A2

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) said it is hoping to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) in areas of advanced manufacturing and electric vehicles, among others, as it pins its hopes on the United States to make the country an alternative location for US firms wishing to offshore their manufacturing activities.

“The Philippines could be a viable site for US-based companies from North America or those American offshore companies shifting out production from their existing locations to take advantage of the country’s growing domestic market, huge pool of world-class and work quality-oriented workers, and as a production and distribution hub in the region,” Peza Director General Tereso O. Panga told reporters in a Viber message on Tuesday.

See “Peza,” A2

(UPPER photo) US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden welcome President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his wife Louise Araneta Marcos as they arrive at the White House in Washington, Monday, May 1, 2023. Biden reiterated US commitment to the Philippines’ security and noted the “deep friendship” of the two nations as concerns grow about the Chinese navy’s harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea. (Above) Marcos meets with the Filipino community at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC. AP/SUSAN WALSH & BM/TROI SANTOS

March budget deficit rises 12% to ₧210.3B–Treasury

By Raadee S. Sausa

THE national government’s (NG) budget deficit for March

2023 widened to P210.3 billion, 12.04 percent or P22.6 billion higher than last year’s shortfall of P187.7 billion, data showed on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) traced the higher fiscal gap to an 11.99-percent decrease in government receipts even as spending was lower by 2.62 percent.

“Meanwhile, the cumulative budget gap for the first quarter of 2023 amounting to P270.9 billion dropped by 14.51 percent [P46.0 billion] on a year-to-date [YTD] basis as revenue collections improved by 4.38 percent or P34.3 billion during the period,” the treasury said.

The BTr also said that the total revenue collections for March has reached P258.7 billion, 11.99 percent or P35.2 billion lower than the previous year’s outcome of P293.9 billion.

Nevertheless, the YTD revenue for the three-month period still surpassed the P784.4 billion collected last year for the same period by 4.38 percent or P34.3 billion.

Tax collection accounted for 87.89

percent or P719.5 billion of the total with non-tax revenue contributing P99.2 billion or 12.11 percent, data from treasury showed.

“Collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue [BIR] for March slipped by 17.27 percent or P29.4 billion year-over-year [YoY] to P141.0 billion,” the BTr said.

The slower outturn for the period was due in part to the impact of the transitory provisions of the Bureau’s Revenue Memorandum Circular 5-2023 in line with Section 37 of the TRAIN Law. “On a YTD basis, however, BIR’s P505.2-billion collection still topped the previous year’s achievement for the same period by 0.48 percent or P2.4 billion,” the BTr added.

Moreover, the Treasury said that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has raised P80.3 billion in March, rising by 13.51 percent or P9.6 billion on a YoY basis.

BOC’s overall collections of P213.8 billion as of end-March also represented a 13.40-percent improvement (or P25.3 billion) from the first quarter of 2022.

Furthermore, data also shows that income from the BTr for March slowed to P14.9 billion, down by

55.47 percent or P18.5 billion because of the high base effect of dividend remittances in 2022.

As of end-March 2023, total BTr revenue reached P39.0 billion, also declining by 19.94 percent (P9.7 billion) from last year’s P48.7 billion owing to the same reason.

“Non-tax collections from other offices including privatization proceeds and fees and charges increased to P22.0 billion in March 2023 from P16.7 billion last year, mainly because of the remittance of the unutilized balance from the Unconditional Cash Transfer program,” data shows.

The positive outturn for the period led to a higher cumulative revenue of P60.1 billion, rising by 58.59 percent or P22.2 billion YoY.

Meanwhile, the government’s expenditures for March 2023 went down by 2.62 percent or P12.6 billion YoY to P468.9 billion, and BTr explained this:

“Largely because of the lower National Tax Allotment shares of LGUs, as well as the timing of significant releases for some programs, such as the Department of Transportation’s [DOTr] Public Utility Vehicle [PUV] Service Contracting Program and Fuel Subsidy Program.”

US-PHL. . .

Also, the resulting overall expenditure of P1.1 trillion for the first quarter of 2023 slightly dropped by 1.06 percent (P11.6 billion) on a YTD basis caused by lower Interest Payments (IP) for January.

The March primary expenditures (net of interest payments) reached P408.0 billion, 4.22 percent (P18.0 billion) below the previous year’s figure.

For the first quarter of 2023, primary expenditures amounted to P947.6 billion, indicating a minimal decrease of 0.45 percent from the P951.9 billion recorded in the same period a year ago, Treasury data shows. For March, IP stood at P60.9 billion, or 9.63 percent (P5.4 billion) higher compared to the level posted in the same month in 2022.

Total IP of P142.0 billion as of endMarch, on the other hand, went down by 4.92 percent or P7.4 billion YoY.

Total IP accounted for 13.03 percent of expenditures for the first quarter of 2023, down from 13.56 percent a year ago.

Similarly, IP as a percentage of revenues went down to 17.34 percent from 19.04 percent last year, data shows.

Peza. . .

Continued from A1

“While President Biden’s policy is to reshore all manufacturing activities for American companies, we hope that the much improved bilateral relations with US will allow the Philippines to benefit from that policy, making the country an alternative location for US companies to offshore manufacturing activities,” Panga added. The Peza chief made these remarks as President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is currently on an “investment mission” in the US.

P anga emphasized that investment promotion agencies (IPAs) such as the Board of Investments (BOI) and Peza have benefited from the president’s previous foreign travels.

With this, Peza hopes to attract FDI in “advanced manufacturing, EV industry, Renewable Energy [RE] development, mineral processing, regenerative agriculture, and frontier technologies particularly in digital health, fintech, blockchain, artificial intelligence [AI] and big data—to boost our mix of industries and value adding in the ecozones.”

Apar t from attracting investments, Panga said the agency hopes the visit will “reopen talks” on the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program and the implementation of the US Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

H e said these programs “should benefit the Philippine economy in general and put us apace with other allied and forward-thinking economies joining the multilateral economic cooperation.”

At a recent roundtable with Filipino journalists, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the US is not currently negotiating any such agreements with trading partners in particular, because “we do not see that traditional program being appropriate for the types of challenges and opportunities that we are facing right now.”

Instead, Tai zeroed in on the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), noting that the IPEF is “one of our highest priorities right now and it is really important to us that the Philippines is at the table and participating.”

B esides IPEF, the US GSP is another avenue viewed to deepen trade relations with the US. The GSP for the Philippines expired in 2020. But, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said, “we want to be renewed.”

The GSP deal is a unilateral preferential trade arrangement by the US to some 120 beneficiary developing countries and least developed beneficiary countries, including the Philippines.

Continued from A1

of those rising tensions that we see now around the South China Sea and Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions,” Marcos said in his speech at the Oval Office.

In a joint declaration, both leaders agreed to institutionalize their defense priorities on land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace with the creation of new bilateral defense guidelines.

The guidelines include US support in the local military modernization initiatives with its pending plan to transfer two Island-class patrol vessels, two Protector-class patrol vessels, and three C-130H aircraft to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

It also covers the US government’s plans to provide sustainable development and investment in local communities in sites to be covered by the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

The two leaders also reiterated their position that peace and stability should be maintained in the Taiwan Strait and Ukraine.

Business deals

THEY also agreed on business deals, which are expected to boost the Philippines-US economies.

Biden disclosed he will be deploying the first ever Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines to encourage more US firms to invest in the country’s innovation economy, clean energy transition, critical minerals sector, and food security.

He also said the US plans to co-host with the Philippines the 6th annual Indo-Pacific Business Forum (IPBF) in Manila next year.

The event, Biden said, will help “establish the Philippines as a key hub for regional supply chains and high-quality investment.”

They also committed to prioritize the completion of the Philippines-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and support the creation of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

As part of the ongoing efforts to craft the TIFA, a bilateral Labor Working Group will be established to ensure the provisions of the accord will “accelerate the implementation of internationally recognized labor rights.”

Also announced were the creation of an Open Radio Access Network Interoperability Network Lab in Manila to help in 5G rollout in the country and a US$ 3-billion private and public sector financing for construction of infrastructure in critical sectors, expanded air connectivity.

Both chief executives also agreed on expanding collaboration on renewable energy production and environmental protection, increased “knowledge sharing” through a Science and Technology Agreement, as well as joint outer space activities through a bilateral Civil Space Dialogue later this year.

Improved relations

THE meeting between Marcos and Biden on Monday was the first time another Philippine president visited the White House since former President Benigno C. Aquino III in 2012.

Aquino’s successor, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, did not travel to the US during his term.

Duterte was known for his tirades against the US government as well as his attempts to scrap its Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a move which he eventually decided to drop.

Biden said he decided to push for a stronger PhilippineUS alliance during his meeting with Marcos in New York in September.

“When we met in New York last year, you told me that— that a strong alliance has to continue, quote—I’m using your phrase—‘to evolve as we face the challenges of this new century...’ I couldn’t agree more that we have to. This relationship has to continue to evolve,” Biden said.

Marcos and Biden said they are looking forward to having another meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Week in San Francisco this November.

Geopolitical agenda

WHILE labor groups lauded the creation of the TIFA bilateral labor group, it cautioned the government against being “embroiled in the geopolitical agenda” of the US.

“We strongly urge it to establish a truly independent foreign policy by strengthening alliances outside of the ambit of the US empire,” the Nagkaisa labor coalition said in a statement.

A s for the initiative of the US to mainstream better working conditions, the coalition urged Biden to cite the urgency of investigating and putting an end to systemic violations of freedom of association.

“We do note that the joint declaration opens a door for trade unions that would allow us to press for labor and other needed reforms,” Nagkaisa said.

PMI. . .

Continued from A1

The data from PSA showed that the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) for manufacturing recorded a year-onyear increase of 7.2 percent in February, slower than the annual growth rate of 11.2 percent in the previous month. In February 2022, VoPI recorded a faster annual increment of 69.8 percent.

PSA said the VoPI performance in February was mainly due to the slower annual rate in the index of manufacture of food products, which reached 6.4 percent. It was at 14 percent in January.

Romualdez cites PHL gains in PBBM’s US visit

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz  @joveemarie

EVs and SMR deals

EARLIER on Monday, Marcos witnessed the historic signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. of the Ayala Group and California-based Zero Motorcycles on a partnership to manufacture electric motorcycles in the Philippines.

L ikewise, top nuclear energy firm NuScale Power Corporation expressed interest to invest in the Philippines after a meeting with Marcos in Washington D.C., and bared plans for a study to locate an appropriate site in the country for its Small Modular Reactor, a compact yet proven safe nuclear power plant.

standing security alliance between the two countries.

According to the joint statement of the two leaders, Biden reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad alliance commitments to the Philippines, underscoring that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, would invoke the US mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

summit in the White House between Biden and Marcos, in which the American Chief Executive reaffirmed Washington’s ‘ironclad alliance commitments’ with Manila, would “lead soon enough to a final agreement on the Philippines’ joint patrols not only with the US but with our other allies as well such as Japan and Australia” in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) amid the increasingly aggressive intrusions of Chinese vessels into our territorial waters.

commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty ]MDT].”

Villafuerte noted that the ongoing talks on joint maritime patrols are in sync with the two President’s unwavering commitment, as they declared jointly after their White House meeting, to “freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and the importance of respecting the sovereign rights of states within their EEZ consistent with international law.”

On the second day of his five-day official visit to Washington, D.C., Romualdez said President Marcos met with President Biden at the White House, where they resolved to draw on the strength of the enduring partnership between the two countries to promote economic growth and prosperity in the US, the Philippines, and the broader Indo-Pacific region.

A mong others, President Biden said he would dispatch a Presidential Trade and Investment Mission to the Philippines on his behalf as he also committed to step up America’s support in a wide range of issues, including climate change mitigation and the economy.

This high-level trade and investment mission from the US will add more momentum to sustain our

country’s economic growth and help establish the Philippines as a hub for investments and as a regional supply chain hub,” Romualdez said.

Such bilateral economic engagement with the US will not only generate more jobs and business opportunities for our people but, more importantly, it would focus on sectors critical to ensuring a resilient supply chain to avert the recurrence of serious disruptions that wreaked havoc in the economies of many countries in the past few years,” he added.  Romualdez noted that prior to the meeting between the two leaders at the Oval Office, President Marcos led the Philippine delegation in sealing new trade and investment deals with private firms, as well as cooperation agreements with the US government.

In addition, the Philippines and the United States have agreed to set up a ministerial team on agricultural cooperation during a meeting between President Marcos and US Department of Agriculture officials led by Secretary Thomas Vilsack. US agriculture technology will be of immense value in helping us not only enhance the productivity of our agricultural sectors but also in combating the ill effects of climate change, particularly now that we are facing the threat of the El Niño phenomenon,” said Romualdez, who accompanied President Marcos and other members of the Philippine delegation during the meetings with US business and government leaders.

A part from the country’s gains in the area of economy, Romualdez said the Marcos-Biden meeting also served to bolster the long-

T hey also noted that the identification of new sites pursuant to the US-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) would strengthen Philippine security and support the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization goals, drive US investment to local communities across the Philippines and improve their shared ability to rapidly deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

M arcos and Biden underscored their “unwavering commitment to freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and the importance of respecting the sovereign rights of states within their exclusive economic zones consistent with international law.”

T hey also expressed support for the right and ability of Filipino fisherfolk to pursue their traditional livelihoods.

‘Ironclad commitment’ CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte is hoping the just-concluded

Villafuerte said the quick start of such joint maritime patrols in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) being contested by China, has taken on greater urgency with what Filipino authorities have lately blasted as the  “aggressive tactics” and “dangerous maneuvers” of Chinese vessels in the WPS.

For Villafuerte, Manila needs to double down on plans for joint maritime patrols with the US and other allies in the hope of finally putting a stop to the relentless intrusions by China into Philippine territory and its EEZ.

H e said Marcos’ summit with Biden augurs well for the firming up of such a joint border security patrol agreement among allies, as both Presidents affirmed that their two countries will remain “the closest of allies,” and Mr. Biden underscored that “an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense

Both leaders had also pointed in their summit, he said, to the 2016 ruling by the   Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in the Netherlands that the WPS is part of Philippine territory and its EEZ, in accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“

With Beijing ignoring time and again the hundreds of diplomatic protests that have been filed by Manila over the nonstop intrusions of Chinese vessels into the WPS, I believe the best approach we can take at this point to put an end to such bullying tactics is for us to double down on plans for joint patrols in the disputed waterway with the US and other allies like Japan and Australia that seem open to such a border security arrangement,” Villafuerte said.

More than 200 diplomatic protests have reportedly been lodged by Manila against Beijing in recent years, about a third of which on the Marcos watch.

THE Philippines has already gained considerable windfall even during the initial stage of the official visit of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to the US highlighted by his bilateral meeting on Monday with United States President Joe Biden, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said.

Civil society to ADB: Come clean in financing energy tech projects

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

INCHEON, South Korea—Civil society organizations (CSO) called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to be more transparent in its efforts to finance energy technologies that may not all be clean and green. In a session on Tuesday, regional civil society alliances said that while ADB is no longer financing new coal projects, it must reconsider its efforts to finance projects such as waste-toenergy (WtE) incinerators, hydroelectric dams and fuel switching schemes involving reliance on fossil gas.

G erry Arances of Philippinebased Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) said ADB should focus its financial resources on renewable energy solutions instead of new gas projects.

There is no justice in a power sector that ties consumers to decades more of high electricity prices, communities to continued pollution, or

countries like the Philippines that have been battered far too much already by catastrophic climate disasters to greater climate vulnerability fueled by fossil-based energy,” Arances said.

The greatest service that ADB can render is to ensure a 1.5 degrees Celsius aligned transition to 100 percent renewable energy at the soonest time possible for its member countries. No detours, no false solutions,” he stressed.

Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development also stressed that fossil gas expansion is toxic and unsustainable for Asia. This is not an energy solution as it will only worsen climate change.

She stressed that new gas projects can also lock greenhouse gas emissions for years and delay the clean energy transition. This, she said, will undermine energy security and sustainable development.

Mayang Azurin of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives-Asia

Pacific (GAIA-AP) also reiterated the position of GAIA-AP member organization, the Alliance of Indian Wastepickers—that a just transition for wastepickers would include the end of support for incineration plants.

The continued burning of recyclable wastes for Waste-to-Energy incineration destroys millions of wastepickers’ livelihoods and undermines the potential for inclusive circularity of natural resources and climate resiliency. Therefore, beyond ending support for building out WtE, equally important is that waste pickers need to be recognized and integrated in decentralized waste management,” Azurin said.

Meanwhile, in a news conference on Tuesday, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa assured the public that Manila-based multilateral development bank has no plans of financing new coal projects as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement.

ADB is taking bold climate action. We aim to deliver $100 billion

in climate finance to our developing member countries between 2019 and 2030. We will fully align all our operations with the Paris Agreement by no later than 2025. We will expand our investments in renewable energy options, and we will not invest in coal,” Asakawa said.

T he regional alliances raised critical perspectives on the ADB’s support for resource intensive infrastructure projects in the name of the energy transition, including WtE incinerators, hydroelectric dams and fuel switching schemes involving reliance on fossil gas.

T hey highlighted the concerns of local communities and workers who have been—and continue to be— negatively affected as a result of ADB’s direct project-based loans, equity investments and technical assistance. D uring the panel session, ADB Vice President of East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia, Ahmed Saeed was also present to provide remarks and responses.

Modular nuclear reactor for PHL power generation, supply pushed

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO

CITY—The

country may experiment on the suitability of small modular nuclear reactors for a stable energy supply and to enable it to transition into a low to zero carbon emitting economy, the Philippine office of the business advisory council of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) has disclosed.

T his was presented by Abac Philippines during the second Abac meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei Darussalam from April 27 to 30. The use of the modular nuclear reactors was one of two “key initiatives” presented to the main Abac body which endorsed them.

G inggay Hontiveros, Aboitiz’s chief reputation and sustainability officer and Sabin Aboitiz, president and chief executive officer of the Aboitiz Group presented the two work plans, “focused on developing a free and accessible climate risk data and analysis platform, and exploring the viability of nuclear energy through small modular reactors [SMR] and emerging technology as a zero-carbon energy source.”

A statement on Tuesday from Abac Philippines and Aboitiz Equity Ventures said the two work plans were aimed at “boosting sustainable development efforts in the region and beyond.”

These plans reflect our commitment to enabling the transition to low-carbon economies and combating the damaging effects of climate change. Through these initiatives, we aim to develop sustainable and equitable energy solutions within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond,” Aboitiz said.

A boitiz is a member of Abac Philippines and the vice-chairman of the Abac Sustainable Growth Working Group (SGWG).

He said the work plans “focused on promoting effective climate change response, advancing the low-carbon energy transition, and addressing sustainable processes in the food value chain.”

A boitiz said the working group “recognizes the potential of nuclear energy as a driver of the energy transition based on its high return on investment and weather independence.”

It would also serve its purpose in the country’s decarbonization.

H e said the modular reactors are advanced compact nuclear reactors that have a fraction of the generating power capacity of traditional nuclear reactors. “They can be scaled up or down to help meet energy demands

and address energy security.”

Aboitiz said Abac Philippines and Abac Canada would convene an experts roundtable in June “to scope the prospects for nuclear, including other use cases such as medical technology and life sciences.”

“ It will require all available technologies as we embark on this energy transition pathway in the Philippines. Promising technologies such as SMRs can be a viable power source for an equitable and sustainable energy system,” Aboitiz said.

A long with accessing the modular reactors, the working group would also seeks to develop a climate risk information database and platform to help economies assess the gaps, enhance climate risk assessment capabilities and strengthen climate resilience.

T he Abac Philippines said this would improve availability and accessibility of climate information to enable small and medium enterprises “to be more integrated into the environmental, social and governance [ESG] framework.”

T he group recommended establishing a multi-year work program on nuclear energy and integrating climate risk information into the planning process of Apec economies. The plans of Apec Philippines already garnered support from seven Asean members in Apec during the Abac-Asean Caucus held on April 28 at the sidelines of Abac II.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ABAC PHILIPPINES

Offshore miners optimistic on PBBM’s rare minerals talk with US President

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

AGROUP of offshore miners on Monday expressed high hopes and lauded the statement of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. about his plan to discuss, among other issues, the prospects of critical minerals with US President Joseph Biden during his five-day working visit to the United States.

T hese minerals can impact positively the country’s economy as well as the worldwide battle against climate emergency, the group said in a statement.

T he Philippines is ranked fourth on the global list of the most vulnerable countries to the deadly effects of climate change.

T he President, during his departure speech in Pasay City, was quoted as saying, “My visit to the United States more especially my meeting with President Joe Biden is essential to advancing our national interest... during this visit...I intend to convey to President Biden and his senior Cabinet officials ...that the President is determined to forge an even stronger relationship with the United States.... in a wide range of areas...one of my priorities for this visit is to push for greater economic engagement, particularly through trade and investments....between the United States and the Philippines...I intend to speak and find opportunities in the semiconductor industry, critical minerals, renewable and clean energy...and facilitate sustainability efforts to address Climate Change.”

D r. Michael Raymond A. Aragon, chairman of Offshore Mining Chamber of the Philippines Inc. (OMCPI) applauded the speech as “a timely and welcome development.”

“ President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will be the first Chief Executive of the Philippines to ever initiate talks that will potentially open the full exploration and utilization of these novel critical minerals of our generation’s digital and electronic era. These mineral resources are found and never been touched just under the deep waters of Philippines,” he said.

A ragon underscored the demand for rare minerals if we all intend to stop using dirty fuels soon in order to defeat climate change.

“ The Philippines is so blessed with abundant deposits of these critical minerals that will help in our country’s full economic recovery and at the same time also support the clean and green energy transition of the world from dirty fossil

fuel-based energy sources. Surely this will allow mankind to effectively address the global issue of Climate Change that threatens humanity with extinction,” Aragon said.

Critical minerals such as manganese, nickel, copper, palladium, iron, silver, gold platinum, and other rare earth minerals to name a few are abundant deep in our country’s territorial waters. Mining these critical mineral resources offshore is a lot cleaner than mining them on land. The only problem with why we cannot immediately tap and benefit from all these potentially new blue economy mineral resources is that we don’t have the expensive technology and the big money to cleanly mine all of it. This is where our country needs foreign partners like the United States and Japan,” the OMCPI chairman added.

“ Take the case of palladium. This critical mineral found abundant in the Philippine seas is being used worldwide in pollution control devices [as catalytic converters] of all petroleum-based motor vehicles in the planet. A kilogram of highgrade Palladium would cost more than P2. 5 million in the world market today.

No less than the United States Geological Survey [USGS] and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] positively confirmed the vast abundance of palladium deposits in the Visayan and Sibuyan seas, specifically off the coasts of Negros, Panay, Romblon, and Mindoro, in the Philippines.”

T hese untouched palladium deposits in our deep seas have been estimated to be two percent higher in total volume compared to the palladium deposits in Russia, said Aragon. He noted that it is in Russia where the biggest palladium deposit in the world is currently being mined.

T he USGS and NASA estimated the palladium deposit in our country’s deep water to be in a total volume of 3.8 million metric tons with an approximate peso value of not less than P400 trillion conservatively based on the current world market price.

“ The Philippine national debt as of the end of 2022 is only P13.7 trillion pesos. This is just the palladium that I am talking about now. I am not even mentioning other rare earth elements that also fall under the category of critical minerals that our beloved President mentioned in his departure speech the other day,” Aragon said.

CAAP issues flight schedule advisory on two-day radar maintenance work

By Nonie Reyes @Nonielonlon

LOCAL and foreign carriers operating at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) will adjust their flight schedules to give way to the scheduled maintenance work of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) radar system.

Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific (CEB) and AirAsia Philippines and other local carriers, including some international carriers operating at Naia terminals will adjust their international and domestic flight departure and arrival schedules starting Tuesday to give way to the maintenance work on their radar system that will start today, Wednesday, May 3 and on May 17, 2023.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna, CEB Corporate Communication head Carmina Romero and Steve Dailisan, head of AirAsia Corporate said they will provide updates, as necessary, through their website and Facebook pages. There will be some expected adjustment on flight schedules, some will be earlier and some will be delayed for about 30 minutes to two hours to give way for the government’s scheduled works on radar systems,” they said.

“ We seek your kind understanding as the airline works with the authorities to minimize the impact on our customers.

The government is undertaking this preventive maintenance work as part of a permanent upgrading and improvement of the country’s air navigational radar systems,” they added.

C AAP spokesman Eric Apolonio said CAAP issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and will inform the public that a corrective maintenance activity will be conducted at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) on May 3 and 17, 2023 as the corrective maintenance activity is necessary to repair the Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR), the replacement of the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), and the upgrading of the Air Traffic Management System (ATMS) A/B power supply.

Apolonio said the facility houses the Communications, Navigations, Surveillance /Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system which manages and supervises the air traffic activities within the Philippine Flight Information Region (FIR).

T he ATMS power supply upgrade will involve the installation of a bypass panel to provide seamless ATMS operation and the reconfiguration of the existing distribution panel to segregate ATM system A (voice) and ATM system B (data), resulting with the UPS and AVR serving as each other’s backup in case the other power supply encounters a problem.

26.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Motorman Officer will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission, and long term goals.

LIANG, XIAOMIAO

Mandarin Staff Captain

Brief Job Description: The mandarin staff captain will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Motorman Officer, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin staff captain , familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company. Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

CHINA RAILWAY 20 BUREAU GROUP CORPORATION PHILIPPINE BRANCH

3/f Salcedo One Center, 170 Salcedo St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

27.

ZHAO, YIXIN Mandarin Interpreter Brief Job Description: The

Reviewing and maintaining applications and social media costume.

Basic Qualification: Fresh graduate with or without experience. Average communication skills in the following languages (Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, Korean, and Thai.)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 EVERSTONE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSTRUCTION INC. Unit A 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

DING, CHENYANG Mandarin Finance Manager

46.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a mandarin finance manager, familiarity, knowledge, and awareness of machinery and heavy equipment used by the company. Demonstrable experience in developing a strategic business plan.

48.

WANG,

JUN Mandarin Quality Inspector

Brief

Description:

JI, WEI Mandarin Site Coordinator Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Site Coordinator will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company in the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission, and long-term goals.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a mandarin quality inspector, familiarity, knowledge, and awareness of machinery and heavy equipment used by the company. Demonstrable experience in developing a strategic business plan.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

goals.

Salary

Range: Php 30,000

70.

to Chinese/ Vietnamese clients. Create detailed reports with research findings and analysis with sales strategies.

Job Description: Research industries, markets, demographics, trends, sales results, and other data related to the Chinese/Vietnamese client’s services. Works as an independent consultant or as part of a consultancy firm to provide sales expertise to Chinese/ Vietnamese clients. Create detailed reports with research findings and analysis with sales strategies.

SU, CHUNQIANG Mandarin Sales Consultant

Brief Job Description: Research industries, markets, demographics, trends, sales results, and other data related to the Chinese/Vietnamese client’s services. Works as an independent consultant or as part of a consultancy firm to provide sales expertise to Chinese/ Vietnamese clients. Create detailed reports with research findings and analysis with sales strategies.

WANG, ZHENGWEI Mandarin Sales Consultant

71.

Brief Job Description: Research industries, markets, demographics, trends, sales results, and other data related to the Chinese/Vietnamese client’s services. Works as an independent consultant or as part of a consultancy firm to provide sales expertise to Chinese/ Vietnamese clients. Create

cdd knowledge.

communication skills both (verbal and written) and demonstrated competency to interact with people of all levels of the organization and with appropriate external stakeholders. Support and mentor new hired employees.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree holder in any field of study. At least 3 years’ experience in delegating task to customer due diligence team and acing as a point of escalations for edd reviews and sof investigations and making key decisions on action required. Knowledge and understanding of aml, customer due diligence and regulatory requirements. Effective English communication skills both (verbal and written) and demonstrated competency to interact with people of all levels of the organization and with appropriate external stakeholders.

Salary Range:

Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

*Date Generated: May 2, 2023

Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE National Capital Region located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this publication.

Please inform DOLE National Capital Region if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Bakhmut battle

RUSSIA has suffered more than 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed in action, since December in the stalemated fight over Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

arms and aid to Kyiv.

McCaul sees counteroffensive as ‘game changer’ HOUSE Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said a widely expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, if successful, would be “a game-changer for continued support.”

McCaul, a Texas Republican, told Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power” on Monday that “you’re going to see a counteroffensive very soon now that’s going to take place. And I think there’s going to be a lot riding on the line with this counteroffensive.”

Referring to strong support for Ukraine by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier in the day, McCaul said, “I think that does impact the rest of our conference and the House and the Senate.” He added that he was “not familiar” with a remark by former President Donald Trump that Russia would eventually “take over all of Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s businesses optimistic UKRAINE’S businesses expect expansion for the first time since Russia’s invasion began in February of last year, a sign of increasing optimism even though an end to the war isn’t in sight.

Treasury Secretary Yellen: US could default as soon as June 1

By Fatima Hussein The Associated Press

WASHINGTON—Trea -

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and “discussed the importance of consolidating the countries of the Pacific region to support” Ukraine.

Russia says missiles targeted Ukraine’s defense production

THE attacks with long-range airand sea-based missiles were aimed at Ukrainian factories producing ammunition, weapons and military equipment, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

“All the designated targets were hit,” according to the statement. Ukraine reports ‘significant damage’ to power grid

RUSSIAN missile attacks disrupted the power grid in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions, though there was no damage to electricity generation facilities, according to the Energy Ministry.

More than 18,000 residents of the southern city of Kherson and the surrounding region faced temporary power cuts, as well as an unspecified number of people in Dnipro city, the ministry said.

Ukraine calls for humanitarian corridors out of occupied areas

sury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress on Monday that the US could default on its debt as early as June 1, if legislators do not raise or suspend the nation’s borrowing authority before then and avert what could potentially become a global financial crisis.

In a letter to House and Senate leaders, Yellen urged congressional leaders “to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible” to address the $31.4 trillion limit on its legal borrowing authority. She added that it is impossible to predict with certainty the exact date of when the US will run out of cash.

“We have learned from past debt limit impasses that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can cause serious harm to business and consumer confidence, raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers, and negatively impact the credit rating of the United States,” Yellen said in the letter.

Also Monday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that it saw a greater risk of the US running out of funds in early June.

the US financial position.

Eric Van Nostrand, acting assistant secretary for economy policy, said in a statemenzt that “even if Congress ultimately raises the debt limit before a default occurs, the ensuing uncertainty could raise borrowing costs and induce other financial stress that would weaken our labor market and our standing in the world.”

He said half of those killed belonged to the Wagner mercenary force, “the majority of whom were Russian convicts that were thrown into combat in Bakhmut without sufficient combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organizational command and control.”

Kirby attributed the estimate to “information and intelligence that we were able to corroborate over a period of some time,” while continuing the US policy of refusing to estimate Ukraine’s casualties in the war.

Meanwhile, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said they have pushed back Russian troops from some positions in Bakhmut.

Russia targeted Ukrainian cities with cruise missiles in the early hours of Monday, but Ukraine’s army chief said most were intercepted. At least 34 people were reported hurt by a missile strike in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region. The barrage of attacks comes as Ukraine prepares for another ground offensive against

Russian forces.

Key developments:

McCarthy makes strong case for Ukraine aid

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave his most full-throated support for aiding Ukraine in a heated exchange with a Russian news agency reporter during a visit to Jerusalem.

“I vote for aid for Ukraine, I support aid for Ukraine,” McCarthy told the reporter, who asked if the US will curtail aid. “I do not support what your country has done to Ukraine. I do not support your killing of the children either.”

“You should pull out, and I don’t think it’s right,” the speaker said.

“We will continue to support. And I think the rest of the world sees it just as it is.” In the past, McCarthy has said there will be no “blank check” for Ukraine funding responding in part to hard-right members of the GOP who have been critical of the US providing

In April an Index of BusinessActivity Expectations surpassed a neutral level of 50 percent, meaning that surveyed companies anticipate their output will rise for the first time in a year and a half, Ukraine’s central bank said.

“An improvement of the situation with electricity supplies, growing supplies of food and fuel, enhancement of inflation and exchange-rate forecasts and a rise in consumer demand have had a positive impact on the expectations of the companies of most industries,” Ukraine’s central bank, which calculates the index, said in a statement on its website.

Zelenskyy holds talks with Trudeau

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed “long-term defense cooperation” with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a phone conversation.

Earlier, Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with New Zealand

UKRAINE is urging Russia and the International Red Cross to open humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians to leave areas under Russian occupation, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.  Russia is violating international law by keeping Ukrainian citizens who refuse to take Russian passports under the occupation from evacuating to areas under Ukrainian control, she said.

Blast derails Russian freight train in border region: Tass

A BLAST caused by an explosive device derailed a freight train, which caught fire, in the Bryansk region near the border with Ukraine, state-run Tass news service reported.

No injuries were reported and most of the train’s cars were pulled back from the accident site, Tass said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Bloomberg News

CBO Director Phillip L. Swagel said because of less-than-expected tax receipts this filing season and a faster IRS having processed already received returns, “Treasury’s extraordinary measures will be exhausted sooner than we previously projected.”

In January, Yellen sent a letter to congressional leaders, stating that her department had begun resorting to “extraordinary measures” to avoid a federal government default.

The Treasury said Monday it plans to increase its borrowing during the April to June quarter of this year, even as the federal government is close to breaching the debt limit.

The US plans to borrow $726 billion during the quarter. That’s $449 billion more than projected in January, due to a lower beginning-of-quarter cash balance and projections of lower-thanexpected income tax receipts and higher spending.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remains a burden on US economic growth, Treasury officials say the debate over the debt ceiling poses the greatest risk to

“There is no time to waste,” said Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, which forecasts the so-called X-date when the government exhausts its extraordinary measures. His organization will also provide an updated X-date projection in the coming days, he says.

“The US government is again within mere months or even weeks of failing to make good on all its obligations. That is not a position befitting of a country considered the bedrock of the financial system, and only adds uncertainty to an already shaky economy.”

Democrats and the White House are pushing for Congress to increase the federal debt limit. President Joe Biden wants the cap raised without negotiation. The House Republican majority has most recently passed a bill to secure spending cuts in exchange for a debt limit increase. Biden on Monday invited the four Congressional leaders to the White House on May 9 to discuss the matter.

Yellen said last week at the Cap-to-Cap policy conference in Washington: “Congress must vote to raise or suspend the debt limit, and it should do so without conditions and it should not wait until the last minute. I believe that is a basic responsibility of our nation’s leaders to get this done.”

Taiwan’s president hopes to deepen US military and security exchanges

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan’s president told visiting ex-US national security adviser John Bolton on Monday that her country is willing to deepen cooperation with the US and “other like-minded partners” to safeguard peace, as the self-governed island faces increasing military threats from China. President Tsai Ing-wen also expressed

hopes to Bolton, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2024, for more military and security exchanges and economic cooperation between the two sides, her office said in a statement.

Bolton began his weeklong visit to Taiwan last Wednesday and has called for deeper interaction between the two sides’

national security teams. His visit reflects the importance of the democratic island as an issue in the US presidential election amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Later Monday, Tsai said at a separate event that China’s military exercises have affected the stability and peace of the Indo-Pacific region.

“But we will stay calm and firmly safeguard peace across the Taiwan Strait,” she said. Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The island has never been part of the People’s Republic of China, but Beijing says it must unite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The US remains Taiwan’s closest military and political ally despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between them. US law requires Washington to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” though it remains ambiguous over whether American forces would be dispatched to help defend it.

Last Friday, the Taiwanese Defense

Ministry said China’s military flew 38 fighter jets and other warplanes near Taiwan. That was the most since a large military exercise in which it simulated sealing off Taiwan in response to an April 5 meeting between Tsai and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China opposes any meetings between officials of Taiwan and other governments. AP

UKRAINIAN servicemen ride atop an APC towards frontline positions near Vuhledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine on Monday, May 1, 2023. AP/LIBKOS

TREASURY Secretary Janet Yellen speaks on the US-China economic relationship at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies on April 20, 2023, in Washington. AP/MANUEL BALCE CENETA

NOTICE OF FILING OF APPLICATION/S FOR ALIEN EMPLOYMENT PERMIT/S (AEP/S)

Notice is hereby given that the following companies/employers have filed with this Regional Office application/s for

14

FOCKE, TOBIAS

Lots 13 & 14, Block 1, Southwoods Industrial Park, Mabuhay, Carmona, Cavite

15 MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Island Cove II, Covelandia Road, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

YUE, WANGXIANGMIAN Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

16 MYBRUSH TECHNOLOGY (PHIL.) INC. Building V, Lot 33-B, Phase 1B, First Philippine Industrial ParkSpecial Economic Zone, Ulango, City of Tanauan, Batangas

17 PLO SCHOOL OF GLOBAL, INC.

2nd Floor, Linsan Bldg., Aguinaldo Highway, San Vicente II, Silang, Cavite

18 SAKAMOTO PHILIPPINES CORPORATION

Lot 1, Block 1, Phase 7-B, Standard Factory Building 2, Laguna Technopark, Mamplasan, City of Biñan, Laguna

LEE HUI MENG Finance Assistant Manager

Brief Job Description:

Oversee and manage the financial operations of the company

LEE, SUJI Trainer

Brief Job Description: Support and help the administration in the performance of its duties and obligations for the welfare of the school

SHIMADA, ATSUSHI Branch Manager

Brief Job Description:

Responsible for the administration and efficient daily operation of the branch office, including operations, marketing, product sales, customer service and security

Basic Qualification: Management course graduate

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

Basic Qualification: Can speak Korean and English fluently and can communicate well

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE Regional Office IV-A located at 3rd and 4th Floors, Andenson Building II, Parian, Calamba City, Laguna, within 30 days after this publication.

Please inform DOLE Regional Office IV-A if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

By authority of the Regional Director:

Averting a pork shortage in PHL

AfricAn swine fever is a viral disease affecting pigs with up to 100 percent case fatality rate. nearly four years after ASf first struck a hog farm in rizal province in 2019, the Philippines continues to grapple with the fatal pig disease. in March, the government said the disease was detected in 137 barangays in 21 provinces, including major hog producers (See, “Pork shortage in June possible, may last 39 days, says DA exec,” in the BusinessMirror, April 27, 2023). The disease even struck cebu province, one of the country’s top pork-producing provinces.

While it does not affect humans, the disease affects millions of Filipinos via higher pork prices (See, “Pork prices remain elevated due to ASF—Chua,” in theBusinessMirror, August 26, 2021). When ASF spread in other parts of Luzon after it was first detected, the disease significantly reduced pork output, causing dramatic spikes in the prices of pork. Going by the recent projection of a pork shortage made by the Department of Agriculture, it would appear that consumers would have to pay more for meat products in the coming months.

Countries affected by the disease are racing to find the most viable means to control its spread, including the development of vaccines. While the world awaits a vaccine for pigs to protect them from the incurable disease, authorities in pork-loving countries like the Philippines and China have no other recourse but to cull infected hogs and restrict the movement of animals. Areas affected by the disease would have to wait for a few months before they can start raising hogs again to ensure that their farms are already free from ASF.

Officials concerned with biosecurity are strict because ASF has the potential to cripple hog industries in areas where it is present. In 2018 and 2019, when ASF spread in China, its pig output fell dramatically, prompting the country to import massive quantities of pork to meet domestic requirement. China’s pork purchases caused spikes in global pork prices.

According to a Reuters report last March, Chinese farms have significantly improved hygiene and procedures to reduce the impact of the virus, but ASF still circulates constantly, often spiking in winter. The Philippines also continues to experience sporadic outbreaks, prompting authorities in affected areas to put in place biosecurity measures to prevent ASF from spreading in other farms. While the measures may mean lost income for hog raisers in areas struck by the disease, national officials are required to implement them simply because ASF spreads rapidly and can kill quickly.

In the Philippines, only the National Capital Region remains free from ASF as of April 2023. As the impact and devastation of the disease are becoming more destructive in affected provinces, it would do well for local government units to continue working with the national government in implementing the necessary biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of ASF.

To encourage hog raisers to follow the protocols and avert a pork crisis, the national government can help farmers by immediately releasing the funds for indemnification. The protocols were crafted because of the adverse impact of ASF not only on the domestic hog industry but also on the country’s food security.

Attacks on delivery drivers add fears among gig workers

By Alexandra Olson & Wyatte Grantham-Philips | AP Business Writers

nEW YOrK—A homeowner fired shots at a couple’s car when they mistakenly turned onto his property while making an instacart delivery. A florida man was charged with killing and dismembering an Uber Eats delivery driver who brought food to his home. A woman was kidnapped and sexually assaulted while making a DoorDash delivery to a hotel.

Ride-hailing and food delivery companies say such violent episodes are exceedingly rare among the millions of trips completed each week, and point to numerous safety measures they have taken over the years.

But the three attacks, which occurred within days of each other in Florida last month, sent new ripples of fear among some app-based drivers, who say company safety policies are still better geared toward customers than workers.

Winifred Kinanda, who sometimes drives for Instacart in the San Francisco Bay Area, said she had never felt unsafe making deliveries for the grocery app until she heard about the Florida couple. That day, she got an Instacart order and constantly checked to make sure she had the right address, saying she felt particularly vulnerable as a person of color.

“It got me scared,” said Kinanda,

an immigrant from Kenya who also drives for Uber and Lyft to supplement her income as an elder caregiver. “At the end of the day, being Black is really hard. People see us and think we are doing something wrong.”

A Pew Research Center poll in 2021 found that 16% of people in the US had earned money from an online gig platform. That poll found that 35% of them have felt unsafe while doing those jobs, including 19% who said they had experienced unwanted sexual advances.

Ride-hailing and delivery driving are among the deadliest occupations in the country, according to occupational fatalities and injury data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which includes delivery workers for companies like Instacart and DoorDash in its “driver/sales” category and Uber and Lyft drivers in its “taxi” category. While most deaths and injuries are

By Chris Megerian | The Associated Press

WASHinGTOn no president wants to give up the power and prestige that comes with the office after only one term, and Joe Biden is no exception. He’s pushing forward even though polls show a majority of Americans don’t want to see him run again.

We went back to look at when modern presidents announced their decisions to seek a second term, what their Gallup approval ratings were at the time and how things turned out for them.

One theme: Primary battles are a sign of whether a president will win reelection. That’s good news for Biden, who appears to have avoided any significant challengers.

Harry Truman

He was vice president when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in 1945, near the end of World War II. Truman decided to run for a full term of his own, and he announced his candidacy on March 8, 1948. He had an approval rating of 53 percent in a poll conducted two months earlier. Truman was expected to lose the general election to Thomas Dewey, a Republican, but he pulled off a narrow victory. Truman announced on March 29, 1952 that he would not seek a second full term after losing in the New Hampshire primary to Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. His

approval rating had sunk to 22 percent amid economic trouble and the Korean War.

Dwight Eisenhower

Eisenhower, a Republican, had an approval rating of 75 percent shortly before he announced his reelection campaign on February 29, 1956. He had suffered a heart attack months earlier at age 64, leading to questions over whether he would run.

As the former supreme allied commander during World War II, Eisenhower convinced Americans that he was the right leader on the world stage. He defeated Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson.

John F. Kennedy Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, before he had a chance to run for a second term.

Lyndon B. Johnson Johnson was vice president at the time of Kennedy’s death, and he swiftly ran for his first full term in 1964, winning a landslide victory over Republican Barry Goldwater.

from traffic accidents, the data also shows drivers are more at risk of assaults than other occupations.

The activist group Gig Workers Rising said on-the-job deaths and injuries among gig workers are almost certainly undercounted because the companies are not obligated to report such incidents to government agencies for workers who are not direct employees. The group also said that other sources, such as police reports, may not note that a gig driver was working when they were killed.

In a report released Monday, Gig Workers Rising said its own research found that 80 app-based workers have been victims of homicides while on job between 2017 and 2022. The majority were ride-hailing drivers, but at least 20 delivery workers were also killed, according to the report, which relied on press accounts, court records and police reports.

More difficult to quantify are threats that gig drivers encounter frequently but rarely make headlines, including traffic accidents, robberies, carjackings and harassment. While Uber and Lyft have released safety reports that includes some of that data, the major food delivery apps do not, and Uber does not do so for Uber Eats trips.

However, the Democrat’s popularity slipped badly over the Vietnam War and domestic turmoil.

It became clear that Johnson was at risk of losing his party’s nomination in 1968 after Eugene McCarthy’s strong showing in the New Hampshire primary. Soon after, Johnson shocked the country by announcing on March 31, 1968, that he would not seek a second term. His approval rating was only 36% that month.

Richard Nixon Nixon had an approval rating of 50 percent when he announced his reelection campaign on January 7, 1972. The Watergate break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters occurred that summer, but the scandal didn’t gain enough momentum to drag him down. Nixon, a Republican, defeated George McGovern, a Democrat, in a landslide. However, he would not finish his second term, resigning in 1974 after revelations about Watergate caught up with him.

Gerald Ford Ford, a Republican, became president when Nixon stepped down, and he announced that he would run for a full term of his own on July 8, 1975. He had a 52 percent approval rating the month before.

He faced discontent over inflation and controversy from his decision to pardon Nixon, and he lost the elec-

Roberto Moreno, 48, stopped working as both a ride-hailing and food delivery driver in San Diego County at the beginning of this year because of safety concerns.

Moreno said he joined a WhatsApp group with other Latino gig drivers to support each other while they were on the job, from helping each other with flat tires to activating geolocation during shifts for safety.

“We have to look out for ourselves because the companies don’t do it,” said Moreno, who worked for Grubhub and Postmates, which was bought out by Uber Eats in 2020, as well as Lyft and Uber.

Drivers also complain they can’t be sure who is getting into their cars because it’s too easy for riders to use fake names, nicknames or order rides for other people.

The companies have drivers take “a selfie, do background checks on us (and) collect all of our personal information” said Moreno, who belongs to a driver-led union called Rideshare Drivers United. “But we don’t know anything about the passengers or the people who we’re delivering to.”

In response to those concerns, Uber said it started an audit last fall of rider accounts and began freezing

See “Attacks,” A15

tion to Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. Jimmy Carter Carter announced his reelection campaign on December 4, 1979. His approval rating had just hit 51 percent. However, the American people had grown weary of inflation, an energy crisis and a hostage crisis in Iran. Carter was wounded by a primary challenge from Sen. Ted Kennedy, and he was ultimately defeated by Ronald Reagan, a Republican.

Ronald Reagan Reagan announced his reelection bid on January 29, 1984. His approval rating was 52 percent that month. Despite concerns about his age—he was 73 and the oldest president in history at the time—Reagan handily defeated Walter Mondale, a Democrat.

George H.W. Bush Bush’s popularity skyrocketed after the Gulf War, when US forces pushed Iraq out of Kuwait. However, his approval rating had subsided to 65% by the time he announced his reelection campaign on October 11, 1991.

Pat Buchanan challenged Bush in the Republican primary. Although Bush won the nomination, his shot at a second term dimmed amid an economic downturn. He ultimately lost to Bill Clinton, a Democrat. See “Biden,” A15

Ambassador

Russia nears economic milestone of buying yuan soon as sanctions, oil-cap hit eases

Russia is likely to resume buying foreign currency for its reserves as soon as this month as rising oil earnings stabilize public finances despite us and European efforts to squeeze Kremlin income.

With energy revenues now close to exceeding their target level, purchases are possible already in May, according to Bloomberg Economics, which estimates initial volumes could amount to the equivalent of around $200 million in yuan per month. The Chinese currency is the main asset Russia can still use to conduct transactions for its $154 billion wealth fund because of sanctions.

An announcement from the Finance Ministry is due later this week. It’s already been reducing yuan sales, used for covering the budget deficit, during the last two months and cut April’s total to near half the figure for February.

“It will be important for the market that the state is starting to accumulate reserves again instead of spending them,” said Natalia Milchakova, an analyst at Freedom Holding Corp. “This may even positively affect the ruble.”

Since purchases were halted in late January 2022, followed by the program’s suspension after the invasion of Ukraine the following month, the Finance Ministry has only sold foreign currency this year under a revamped budgetary mechanism designed to insulate the economy from the volatility of commodity markets. Russia gets around a third of its budget revenues from the oil and gas industry.

“The volumes of FX purchases will be small initially, but highly symbolic as they will show that the country instead of eating through reserves is building them,” said Bloomberg Russia economist Alexander Isakov.  A turnaround now would underscore Russia’s ability to keep up the flow of petrodollars in the face of sanctions and the price cap imposed for buyers by Group of Seven industrialized nations and their partners in the European Union. Though strained by military spending and still running an unprecedented deficit, the budget is on the mend thanks in part to changes in the way the government calculates some oil taxes.

The base price used in the oil-output and profit-based tax calculations for crude producers is calculated at a discount of the nation’s flagship Urals crude to international benchmark Brent—set at $34 a barrel for

continued from A14

those with obviously fake names.

The company also has an extra layer of verification for users who use anonymous forms of payment such as prepaid cards.

“We have heard loud and clear from drivers that they want more information about who they are picking up,” Uber said in a statement.

Critics also say gig workers are more vulnerable because as contract workers, they often don’t have the right to benefits such as worker compensation or health insurance.

DoorDash and Instacart both provide free automatic insurance for on-the job injuries or deaths, while Uber and Lyft offer drivers insurance policies for accidents.

DoorDash, Grubhub, Instacart, Uber and Lyft have added safety features to their apps over the years, including emergency buttons that allow people to silently connect with emergency services or private security, and GPS-sharing features that allow friends or family to track rides.

DoorDash last fall introduced new technology to automatically check in on a worker if a delivery is taking longer than expected, while Grubhub is rolling out a new feature this year that will send ID and location data to emergency responders if workers

April before gradually narrowing to $25 from July.

Although the price cap reduced the price of the nation’s oil, Russia has managed to cope by implementing the Urals discount to Brent and forcing producers to pay more taxes. A weaker ruble this year has also benefited a government that collects much of its revenue from energy taxes denominated in foreign currency but spends in rubles.

The eventual timing of restarting the purchases is in dispute among economists since the decision also depends on factors ranging from a volatile ruble and possible changes to the discount in the tax formula to any deviation in actual energy revenues relative to the amount expected in April.

Rosbank economist Evgeny Koshelev sees a range of scenarios that include currency purchases brought forward to May or alternatively delayed to June or even July.

In the first quarter, contributions from oil and gas to the Russian budget were down by 45 percent from a year earlier to 1.64 trillion rubles. The fiscal shortfall as of late April already far exceeds the Finance Ministry’s full-year target for 2023.

“Purchases will start from June, but will be very small” under current conditions, said Dmitry Polevoy, economist at Locko-Invest in Moscow.

The outlook is shifting as a result of the rising export prices of Russia’s crude and changes in the tax formula that the Finance Ministry expects will deliver some 600 billion rubles of additional budget income.

Though Bloomberg Economics is certain Russia will start currency purchases within the next three months, it puts the probability of their resumption at 65% in May and 80% in June since a decline in oil output adds some uncertainty.

Projections for Urals prices by BCS Financial Group, however, show Russia may only start buying in the third quarter at the earliest.

“In May and subsequent months, as the oil price recovers, the volume of resources drawn from the wealth fund will gradually decrease,” said Natalia Lavrova, chief economist at BCS. Bloomberg

call 911 via the app.

Gig worker advocates say they want deeper changes, arguing erratic pay and fear of being deactivated from the platform pressures workers into accepting risky jobs or continue driving with belligerent riders.

The Chicago Gig Alliance, for instance, is campaigning for a local ordinance that would require companies to conduct passenger verification, give notice before suspending drivers, and allow them to appeal such decisions.

Kinanda said she feels safer making deliveries than giving rides. She said she appreciates an Uber policy that allows her to cancel trips for safety reasons with no penalty, but erratic pay sometimes forces to her working into the night, which she tries to avoid because of drunken passengers.

But other gig workers say they prefer ride-hailing because delivery comes with more daily nuisances and danger.

Sedeq Alshujaa, 29, said he stopped doing food delivery three years ago and sticks to ride-hailing.

He said delivery workers are often sent to neighborhoods they don’t know and get suspicious looks while trying to find the right door.

“People don’t know why you’re there,” said Alshujaa, who spoke in Arabic through a translator from the Service Employees International Union.

Hollywood writers, slamming ‘gig economy,’ to go on strike

By Jake Coyle | AP Film Writer

NEW YORK—Television and movie writers declared late

at stake,” the guild has said.

Monday

that

they will launch a strike for the first time in 15 years, as Hollywood

girded

for a

walkout with

potentially widespread

ramifications in a fight over fair pay in the streaming era.

The Writers Guild of America said that its 11,500 unionized screenwriters will head to the picket lines on Tuesday. Negotiations between studios and the writers, which began in March, failed to reach a new contract before the writers’ current deal expired just after midnight, at 12:01 a.m. PDT Tuesday. All script writing is to immediately cease, the guild informed its members.

The board of directors for the WGA, which includes both a West and an East branch, voted unanimously to call for a strike, effective at the stroke of midnight. Writers, they said, are facing an “existential crisis.”

“The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the WGA said in a statement. “From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a ‘day rate’ in comedy variety, to their stonewalling on free work for screenwriters and on AI for all writers, they have closed the door on their labor force and opened the door to writing as an entirely freelance profession. No such deal could ever be contemplated by this membership.”

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that bargains on behalf of studios and production companies, signaled late Monday that negotiations fell short of an agreement before the current contract expired.

The AMPTP said it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.”

In a statement, the AMPTP said that it was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.”

The labor dispute could have a cascading effect on TV and film productions depending on how long the strike persists. But a shutdown has been widely forecast for months due to the scope of the discord. The writers last month voted overwhelming to authorize a strike, with 98% of membership in support.

At issue is how writers are compensated in an industry where streaming has changed the rules of Hollywood economics. Writers say they aren’t being paid enough, TV writer rooms have shrunk too much and the old calculus for how residuals are paid out needs to be redrawn.

“The survival of our profession is

Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But WGA members say they’re making much less money and working under more strained conditions. Showrunners on streaming series receive just 46% of the pay that showrunners on broadcast series receive, the WGA claims. Content is booming, but pay is down.

The guild is seeking more compensation on the front-end of deals. Many of the back-end payments writers have historically profited by—like syndication and international licensing—have been largely phased out by the onset of streaming. More writers—roughly half—are being paid minimum rates, an increase of 16% over the last decade. The use of socalled mini-writers rooms has soared.

The AMPTP said Monday that the primary sticking points to a deal revolved around those mini-rooms —the guild is seeking a minimum number of scribes per writer room — and duration of employment restrictions. The guild has said more flexibility for writers is needed when they’re contracted for series that have tended to be more limited and shortlived than the once-standard 20-plus episode broadcast season.

At the same time, studios are under increased pressure from Wall Street to turn a profit with their streaming services. Many studios and production companies are slashing spending. The Walt Disney Co. is eliminating 7,000 jobs. Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting costs to lessen its

debt. Netflix has pumped the breaks on spending growth. When Hollywood writers have gone on strike, it’s often been lengthy. In 1988, a WGA strike lasted 153 days. The last WGA strike went for 100 days, beginning in 2007 and ending in 2008.

The most immediate effect of the strike viewers are likely to notice will be on late-night shows and “Saturday Night Live.” All are expected to immediately go dark. During the 2007 strike, late-night hosts eventually returned to the air and improvised material. Jay Leno wrote his own monologues, a move that angered union leadership.

On Friday’s episode of “Late Night,” Seth Meyers, a WGA member who said he supported the union’s demands, prepared viewers for re-runs while lamenting the hardship a strike entails. “It doesn’t just affect the writers, it affects all the incredible non-writing staff on these shows,” Meyers said. “And it would really be a miserable thing for people to have to go through, especially considering we’re on the heels of that awful pandemic that affected, not just show business, but all of us.”

Scripted series and films will take longer to be affected. But if a strike persisted through the summer, fall schedules could be upended. And in the meantime, not having writers available for rewrites can have a dramatic effect on quality. The James Bond film “Quantum of Solace” was one of many films rushed into production during the 2007-2008 strike with what Daniel Craig called “the bare bones of a script.”

Xi’s food security drive could end up backfiring for Chinese farmers

By Hallie Gu |

President Xi Jinping’s government has just one answer: sow more soy.

In the latest drive to bolster food security in a nation that accounts for about one-fifth of humanity but only one-tenth of its arable land, China is pressing farmers to increase soybean production, using a combination of subsidies, government stockpiling and public pressure. Like generations of Chinese leaders before him, Xi sees the country’s reliance on food imports as a national security issue and soy is one of the weakest links.

“Food security’s gotten more important,” said Darin Friedrichs, cofounder and market research director of Sitonia Consulting, a China-based agricultural information service provider. “It was always important when it came to basic grains like corn, wheat and rice. But now the concerns are extending more into soybeans.”

Yet the risks of those policies, even when they serve Beijing’s goals, fall heavily on millions of farmers like Zhang: last year, following the advice of her local agricultural bureau, she grew soy alongside her regular corn crop, but the herbicide she used on the soybeans killed off the corn.

“Basically the soybeans were planted for nothing,” Zhang said.

Those kinds of tradeoffs won’t stop the government’s drive. A trade war with the US, as well as disruptions to food supply chains from the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war

Biden . . .

continued from A14

Bill Clinton Clinton’s approval rating was 47 percent when he announced that he would run for reelection on April 14, 1995. Democrats had suffered a wipeout midterm election in 1994, leading some to question whether Clinton would be a one-term president. But he rebounded with the help of a growing economy, and he defeated Bob Dole, a Republican. George W. Bush

in Ukraine, mean China is doubling down on efforts to bolster domestic food production.

China’s government for decades has struggled to balance competing demands when it comes to food production, with sometimes devastating consequences. The Great Famine of the late 1950s and early 1960s killed tens of millions after Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong sought to mandate collective farming and food distribution.

It’s a period many in China’s older generation—including Xi—still have memories of. The “people’s rice bowl” must be firmly held at all times, Xi said in 2013. At the same event, he discussed how he could only drink soup for dinner during three years of “natural disasters,” because there was not enough food.

“We can’t forget about the pain after the scar heals,” Xi said.

Today China relies on imports for over 80% of its soybean consumption, with those purchases concentrated in a few key countries led by Brazil and the US. The nation’s low self-sufficiency for a crop used in everything from animal feed to cooking oil is seen as a critical vulnerability, according to the government. In staples like wheat and rice, China is generally able to feed itself, though imports of wheat have been surging.

Cheaper imports

THE economics of Beijing’s approach

The September 11 attacks of 2001 led Bush, a Republican, to invade Afghanistan, followed by another war in Iraq. One month after US forces entered Baghdad, Bush announced he would run for reelection on May 16, 2003. His approval rating was 69% that month. He defeated John Kerry, a Democrat.

Barack Obama Obama, a Democrat, had a 48 percent approval rating when he announced his reelection campaign on April 4, 2011. He struggled to convince Americans that the economy was improving after the financial col-

‘Grain security risk’

aren’t favorable. For the plan to work, the government needs soybeans to be expensive enough to induce planting, but cheap enough to lure soybean crushers into buying from local farmers. Yet as of April, imported beans were more than 20 percent cheaper than domestic beans. And soybean crushers have been struggling to make a profit processing even the imported beans, due to weak domestic demand from pork producers.

That means the extra beans China managed to churn out last year struggled to find a market. With output in 2022 surging more than 20 percent, domestic soybean prices fell 15 percent since harvest time and have remained low. The government blamed the drop on a larger domestic crop than expected and weak demand.

Domestic soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell to the lowest since October 2020 in trading Friday ahead of a long holiday weekend. Government stockpiling efforts were expected to come to an end in April, likely reducing future demand even further.

With the government pressing forward on its plans, every hectare of soybeans could mean less planting of more productive corn crops, requiring more imports.

China’s soybean yield averages 130 kilograms per mu (0.07 hectare), a unit of measurement common in China. That’s far below the productivity found in the US or Brazil, and compares with 430 kilograms for a similar-sized plot of corn. The government is working with different regions on soybean varieties it hopes will boost productivity, but the goals are still a long ways away from being competitive.

lapse and subsequent recession, but

he ultimately defeated Mitt Romney, a Republican.

Donald Trump Trump, a Republican, announced that he would run for reelection on June 18, 2019. The previous month, his approval rating was 41 percent. He was impeached for the first time at the end of the year, and then the coronavirus pandemic stalled the economy. Joe Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump, who tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

Joe Biden

F OR now, “with lower yields, it means that these soybean seeds are reducing productivity” compared to other food crops, said Ma Wenfeng, a senior analyst at Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultants. “If you expand planting of these seeds, you are creating bigger food security issues.”

The data show that shift may already be under way. China’s corn imports more than doubled to a record in 2020, and then nearly quadrupled in 2021, according to US Department of Agriculture data. That move came as more farmers switched to growing soybeans from corn in the top growing regions.  “Planting more soybeans, and less higher-yielding corn, doesn’t that imply a higher grain security risk,” asked Ma.

With the new planting season about to kick off, soybeans still don’t look commercially attractive, farmers, analysts and traders said.

In the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, farmer Wang Lei has decided to double his corn planting this year to about 400 mu, which converts to about 27 hectares.

“I am not considering soybeans as output is low and profits not as good as corn,” Wang said.

He’s not alone.

“Planting intention is not looking great for soybeans, as the profits are still thin,” said Bian Tingting, an analyst with Mysteel Group, a commodities-focused data service. “Demand is very flat and there is no sign of that improving immediately—if the stockpiling stops, prices are expected to drop further.” With assistance from James Poole and Sanjit Das / Bloomberg

Biden announced his reelection campaign on April 25. His approval rating was 40 percent the previous month. Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term, leading to fears that he’s too old to keep such a demanding job.

However, Biden has not drawn any significant primary challengers. The only Democrats running are Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Meanwhile, Trump is leading in Republican primary polls as he seeks the party’s nomination, raising the potential for a rematch with Biden. Associated Press writer Emily Swanson contributed to this report.

Bloomberg Opinion

afTER more than 30 years growing crops on the plains of northern China, a farmer who asked to be identified as Zhang is struggling over what to plant in the coming months.

SPECL COURT FOR AGRI SMUGGLING

SENATORS on Tuesday pressed for the creation of courts especially handling agricultural smuggling, expressing alarm over the impunity with which such crime is being committed and seeking more teeth to a 2016 law designating such type of smuggling as economic sabotage.

I n pushing for such distinct courts all over the country, Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, said the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law will be implemented effectively if there is a court dedicated to smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products.

A ddressing Tuesday’s public hearing of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights on proposed Senate Bill No. 1963 seeking to establish such courts, Villar lamented that even with a law against agricultural smuggling, no smugglers have been charged with economic sabotage.

T he Senate hearing was held jointly with the Committees on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform, and Finance.

“ We intend to create an anti-agricultural smuggling court to ensure that the proper implementation of the law will be made,” Villar said, adding: “We hope that those involved in the courts and the justice department will help us draft a law to implement the AntiAgriculture Smuggling Act.”

R ecalling that Congress in 2016 passed Republic Act 10817, now known as the AgriSmuggling Act, Villar noted that the cut-off amount involved for an offense to be declared as economic sabotage, and deemed non-bailable, is P10 million for rice and P1 million for other agricultural commodities.

A t the same time, she confirmed that lawmakers were also amending the Anti-Smug -

PUSHED

gling Act to give it more teeth and to include hoarding, price manipulation and cartel as economic sabotage and non-bailable.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, who chairs the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, presided at the hearing, and explained at the outset that Villar filed Senate Bill No. 1963 to address the seemingly uncontrollable spike of prices brought about by the “smuggling” of agricultural products.

D espite Republic Act No. 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, Tolentino lamented that smuggling of agricultural products continues unabated.

T he main purpose of the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Court, he said, is to try cases involving smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and cartel of agricultural products and to ensure that individuals and organizations involved in these activities are held accountable for their actions.

A lso at the hearing, Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III asked the Justice committee to review the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10845.     He wanted the committee to determine “how a simple law was made difficult to enforce because of a faulty IRR.”

Maybe we can add a specific crime to the law like ‘refusal to prosecute large-scale agricultural smuggling which will make liable the legal department (of the Bureau of Customs) and even the Department of Justice prosecutors, depending on the evidence,” Pimentel said. “This is similar to obstruction of justice but very specific. In my opinion, this will be additional teeth to the law,” he added.

P imentel also wanted to amend section 3 of RA 10845 by rewriting the phrase “as valued by the Bureau of Customs” and involve the Department of Agriculture in the valuation of smuggled agricultural products in order to put flexibility to the law. Butch Fernandez

With new facility, ADB keen on $100-B climate financing

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

I n a briefing on the first day of the Manila-based multilateral development bank’s 56th Annual Meeting on Tuesday, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (Ifcap) is a first in the world.

A sakawa said Ifcap aims to use financial guarantees from ADB’s partners to provide financing for climate action across Asia and the Pacific region.

By guaranteeing a portfolio of ADB’s sovereign loans, they will help to shoulder some of the loss in case of a credit event in one of our borrowers,” Asakawa said.

This is a groundbreaking arrangement because it will reduce the capital ADB needs to hold for credit risk, freeing up capital for a substantial increase in lending to

climate projects. Every dollar of guarantee into Ifcap will result in the capacity to make new loans,” he explained.

A sakawa said Ifcap is an innovation because of a multiplier effect that aims to bring $3 billion for Ifcap to unlock up to $15 billion worth of new ADB climate projects.

T his will also accelerate the region’s efforts to fight the ill effects of climate change. Asakawa said disasters in the region in 2020 alone led to losses worth $67 billion.

T hese disasters have affected over 3.5 billion people and claimed the lives of nearly a million people. Asakawa said it will only get worse under a business-asusual scenario as 1 billion people living in urban areas in 2050 will suffer from air

pollution and heat stress.

“ Ifcap will change the way we do business. The region needs trillions in investment to combat climate change. To help reach that level, we need to maximize our capital in new ways,” Asakawa said.

“(It) will multiply ADB’s lending capacity through leverage. This will allow us to crowd in substantially more resources from the private sector, and other investors who share our commitment to climate action,” he added.

I fcap’s initial partners—Denmark, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States—are in discussions with ADB about providing a range of grants for project preparation along with guarantees for parts of ADB’s sovereign loan portfolios.

T he reduced risk exposure created by the guarantees will allow ADB to free up capital to accelerate new loans for climate projects. With a model of ‘$1 in, $5 out,’ the initial ambition of $3 billion in guarantees could create up to $15 billion in new loans for much-needed climate projects across Asia and the Pacific.

A DB is in discussions with potential partners—such as bilateral and multilateral sources, the private sector and philanthropies, including the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet—to catalyze climate investments.

AsPac still far from recovering pre-Covid air connections–Iata Customs collection exceeds April goal

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

AIR CARRIERS are mounting more international flights in a bid to recover lost revenues during the two-year Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. I n a report dated April 28, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said, “Global air connectivity has continued to recover in 2023. As of March, overall air connectivity stood at 79 percent of its prepandemic level, demonstrating a steady improvement despite slowdown in economic activity through 2022 and into the start of this year.”

I ATA noted that while the recovery was seen in all regions, Africa performed the strongest. “International air connectivity in Africa has exceeded its 2019 level and was at 104 percent in March 2023,” said the global private-sector led aviation body. Iata has over 300 airlines in 120 countries as members, which carry 83 percent of the world’s air traffic.

I n contrast, the Asia-Pacific region continues to lag in air connections, with just 62 percent of its 2019 level in March. “Having said that, there has been a strong increase—of 40 percentage points —in Asia-Pacific international connectivity over the past year. With China and other important regional markets only relatively recently reopening boarders and lifting travel restrictions, we anticipate a sizeable improvement again this year, which will further close the gap to the performance of other regions.”

I ata underscored the importance of air connectivity in facilitating the movement of people, goods, and services, thus enhancing global trade, investment, and travel. “Air connectivity plays an important role in increasing economic growth, generating employment opportunities, and improving living standards,” said the organization.

Earlier, Forward Keys predicted more travel within and into the Asia Pacific region by the second half of

2023. A company official said, “Airlines and airports cannot resume operations with the appropriate level of services overnight, especially given that many are facing staffing issues. The speed at which the region will get back to pre-Covid levels will highly depend upon its ability to reestablish air connectivity, especially within the region itself. Airlines need a stable environment to operate, and as we are moving toward this stabilization, we expect travel to and within Asia Pacific to pick-up more strongly in the second half of 2023, unless a new Covid variant or geopolitical tensions lead governments in the region to revert to travel restrictions.” Forward Keys gathers global data on aviation movements based on actual ticketing sales. (See, “Travel to PHL, Asia Pacific seen picking up in July-December,” in the BusinessMirror , March 21, 2023.)

M eanwhile, after Africa, the strongest recoveries in air connectivity were Latin America and the Caribbean, now at 97 percent of their prepandemic levels; the Middle East at 98 percent; while Europe and North America are both currently at 87 percent of their pre-Covid levels, according to the IATA report.

T he organization added, “Overall, international air connectivity has recovered more rapidly than domestic over the past year, growing by 27 percentage points [compared to] 10 percentage points for the latter. The increase primarily reflects the relatively low level of international connectivity in early 2022, and the surge of international travel demand driven by the reopening of international travel markets, which gained momentum through the year.”

E arlier, Iata projected the recovery of air travel by 2024, with overall air passenger numbered slightly exceeding its pre-Covid levels, at 103 percent of  2019 numbers. It also predicted full recovery of the Asia-Pacific region, in terms of domestic and international air travel, at the tailend of 2025.

By Raadee S. Sausa

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) has exceeded its revenue collection target for the month of April, generating P68.274 billion, compared to its target of P68.199 billion, a high official said on Tuesday.

“ This is a 3.97-percent increase from last year’s collection of P65.669 billion for the same period,” BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said. M oreover, the agency’s total revenue collection for the first four months of 2023 reached P281.902 billion, surpassing the target collection of P265.220 billion by 6.29 percent or P16.682 billion, he added.

This year’s collection is also 10.89 percent higher than the previous year’s collection of P254.226 billion for the same period,” Rubio said.

T he BOC attributes its collection performance to its higher rate of assessment, which is mainly because of improved valuation of non-oil importation, the Revenue Collection Monitoring Group-Financial Service said.

T he BOC sees its consistent increase in revenue collection as a positive development for the government, as it strives to generate revenue to fund various programs and projects.

I n addition, the BOC recorded its highest daily collection for the year on April 30, amounting to over P7.51 billion—something viewed as an encouraging indication of the agency’s continued efforts to improve collection performance.

We will continue to uphold our commitment to transparency, accountability, and service excellence as we strive to meet our revenue targets and contribute to the growth and development of our country,” Rubio said.

With these promising results, the BOC remains optimistic on achieving its revenue target for the rest of 2023,” the commissioner added.

INCHEON, South Korea—A new financing mechanism has been developed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to keep it on track to meet its commitment of increasing climate change financing to $100 billion until 2030.

Companies

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

NuScale may invest $7.5B in small modular reactor

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla & Jove Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

e x ecutives of NuScale Power Corp. met with President Ferdinand r Marcos Jr. in Washington d C. on Monday to discuss the study that the company will conduct to identify a suitable site for the said small modular reactor (SMr).

Marcos welcomed the proposal of NuScale, saying the project will help address the shortfall in the country’s power supply.

“We need everything. We just have to have everything and this

new technology is something,” the President said during the business meeting.

The SMr is expected to become operational by 2031 and generate 430 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

NuScale is partnering with r azon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. for the said project.

Company officials were accompanied by enrique r a zor during the meeting which was also attended by government officials including

House Speaker Martin romualdez, Trade Secretary a l fredo Pascual, energy Secretary r aphael l otilla, Special a ssistant to the President Secretary a ntonio l a gdameo Jr., Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil, and Philippine a mbassador to the US Jose Manuel romualdez.

“a dequate and cheaper energy source of power is crucial to sustaining our robust economic growth. But the President is very much aware that building additional energy generation capacity takes years to accomplish and it is prudent that we should continuously explore alternatives—including the use of nuclear power—to achieve this goal,” romualdez said.

last March the House Committee on Nuclear energy voted to approve a consolidated substitute bill for a comprehensive atomic regulatory framework, creating for the purpose the Philippine atomic reg ulatory Commission.

“On our end at the House of representatives, we are working hard to

pass measures that would provide the necessary legal framework and policies to encourage the development of alternative power sources in support of the President’s vision for our nation’s energy security,” he said. a mong others, romualdez cited the approval of the Waste-to-energy Bill, which is among the 23 priority measures the House has approved from the 31 bills identified by the l e gislative- e x ecutive a d visory Council (ledaC) as priority measures of the Marcos administration.

There are also several measures in the House currently undergoing committee deliberation that seek, among others, to promote the uses of clean and renewable energy such as solar or wind power.

The Speaker said the meeting with NuScale is “very promising” as SMr is the first and only one of its kind to receive design approval from the US Nuclear regulatory Commission. The company has existing projects in Utah, romania, Indonesia, and Poland.

IMI trims net loss in Jan-March

By VG Cabuag @villygc

Ayala-led Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI) said its net loss for the first quarter narrowed to $749,000 (P41.19 million) from $2 million (P110 million) last year.

The company said revenues rose 4 percent to $346.82 million from last year’s $333.95 million.

IMI’s wholly-owned subsidiaries continued to lead the company’s financial rebound with a 7-percent year-on-year revenue growth and $2.6 million of net income in the first

ACEN bags long-term service deals

ACeN australia, the platform representing aCeN Corp.’s renewable energy (r e) assets in au stralia, has secured two long-term energy service agreements for its solar projects in New South Wales (NSW) government’s first r e and storage auction.

On Monday, aCeN said in a disclosure to the stock exchange that the 20-year long Term energy Service agreements (lTeSas) were awarded to its 720 megawatts (MW) New england Solar project and 400 MW Stubbo Solar project. These were secured through the NSW Consumer Trustee’s inaugural tender for renewable generation and long duration storage.

New england Solar and Stubbo Solar will supply r e to 435,000 homes, helping to meet the NSW government’s emissions reduction target of 50 percent by 2030.

aCeN australia CeO a nton rohner said the lTeSas help encourage investment in the renewables and storage capacity necessary to accelerate the transition to clean, affordable power for australians. “The lTeSas offer the rights to access a minimum price for generation projects over a 20-year timeframe, which protects investors like us from the risk of unexpectedly low wholesale electricity prices,” he said. Lenie Lectura

quarter, the company said.

The manufacturing industry, it said, is still feeling the effects of the component shortage, but with some modest improvements in lead times and purchase price variance.

“By adjusting our selling prices in collaboration with our customer partners, as well as continued cost reduction initiatives, we are gradually improving the financial performance of the company. Our management teams implemented programs that significantly reduced labor and overhead costs in our operating sites while further driving manufacturing efficiency,” IMI President Jerome

Tan said.

He said the company continues to address the issues related to elevated raw material costs and competitive labor markets, as it remains vigilant of other uncertainties in the industry.

IMI said its gross margins improved by 76 basis points, as selling prices are now better aligned with the realities of operating costs in the manufacturing environment.

Overhead cost metrics are further helped by topline growth as the company saw better utilization of IMI manufacturing facilities.

Meanwhile, VI a Optronics and

STI l i mited continue to face significant headwinds in their market segments. The two companies were able to reduce their net loss to $3.4 million from $5.3 million in 2022.

“We will be launching the production of multiple electric vehiclerelated projects over the next two years and we continue to look for opportunities to secure market share in the eV space through our robust sales pipeline. We believe that our partnership with Zero Motorcycles, a market leader in electric motorcycles based in California, will solidify our position as a partner of choice in this emerging technology,” Tan said.

US firm to build EV plant in PHL

AU N IT e d States-based firm is set to put up the first ever electric motorcycle manufacturing plant in the country, which is expected to “jumpstart the domestic electric vehicle ( e V ) ecosystem.”

This after Integrated Microe l ectronics Inc. (IMI) of the aya la Group and California-based Zero Motorcycles (Zero) signed a $65-million memorandum of agreement (MO a ) last Monday for the construction of the said facility in l a guna.

Under the accord, Zero will be responsible for building the facility, while IMI will handle the assembly of its electronic motorcycle models as well as other assemblies in its facility in l a guna in conjunction with the manufacturing facilities for Zero in California.

IMI is also able to provide the charging infrastructures for the said e Vs.

Zero said the deal is part of its efforts to expand globally its manufacturing business.

The IMI-Zero facility is expected to employ 200 workers and produce 18,000 e Vs per year.

It will supply the assembled electric motorcycles to Zero in e u rope, a s ia, and other markets, while supporting US demands for sub-assemblies.

cual said the partnership between IMI and Zero Motorcycles to manufacture electric motorcycles will “better position” the Philippines as an export manufacturing hub for electric batteries and vehicles in the region.

“We thank Zero Motorcycles for their trust. This is considered a historic agreement because it is a pioneering activity involving high-end electric batteries, motors and motorcycle assembly,” Pascual said in a statement on Tuesday.

“With this investment, we will be better positioned as an export manufacturing hub for electric batteries and vehicles in the region.”

a c cording to Pascual, this partnership is a “testament to the expertise and capabilities” of the country’s local manufacturing sector. With the enactment of the e l ectric Vehicle Industry d e velopment a c t ( e V I d a ), the government, through the Board of Investments (BOI), an Investment Promotion a g ency (IPa ) under the d T I, aims to “narrow the cost gap”

between traditional vehicles and e Vs to increase market demand, according to the d T I.

Further, the law provides for the creation of the e l ectric Vehicle Incentive Strategy that will provide more incentives for e Vrelated investments to help establish an enabling environment for the said sector.

The signing of the landmark deal in Washington d C. was witnessed by President Ferdinand r Marcos Jr., Speaker Martin r o mualdez, Trade Secretary a lf redo Pascual, e n ergy Secretary r a phael l o tilla, Special a s sistant to the President Secretary a n tonio l a gdameo Jr., Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil, and Philippine a m bassador to the US Jose Manuel r o mualdez. ay ala Corp. Chairman Jaime a u gusto Zobel d e ay ala and a ut omotive and Industrial regional manager d a ve Corry represented IMI.

Meanwhile, Zero Motorcycles were represented by its C e O Sam Paschel and a l ex a c ket, chief operating officer. Samuel P. Medenilla and Andrea E. San Juan

B1

climb

STOCk BrOk er BdO Securities

Corp. said the benchmark Philippine Stock exchange index (PSei) may close the year at 7,500 points as sentiments may improve despite the lingering fears caused by global headwinds.

a bigail Chiw, head of research of the broker, said the outlook takes into consideration an earnings growth of 13 percent and investors giving the PSei a valuation multiple of 15 times price-to-earnings from the current 13 times.

Chiw said a “nagging concern” over inflation, interest rate and global growth, stymied the stock market’s rise in the early part of the year with the main index dropping to the current levels of 6,600 points from a high of 7,100 points in January.

The PSei gained 47.61 points on Tuesday to close at 6,672.69 points.

“This is really because of the shock we had during January and February when our inflation came out to be higher than 8 percent. So that affected the market because they think that interest rates will continue to be higher for a longer period of time. So this will affect of course, consumer demand and maybe also business sentiment,” Chiw said.

Chiw said investors’ risk aversion has led to daily market turnover dropping to around P3 billion to P5 billion on an average daily basis compared to P7 billion when investors

were optimistic about the market. “a nd also because of higher interest rates, investors right now are putting more of their money in fixed income or bonds securities because this type of security is already giving them very good returns at 6 percent or 7 percent, whereas the earnings yield for the PSei is just about 7-6 percent. Not much difference but the perception is equities is riskier. So, they go with the safer bonds or bond instruments or government securities,” Chiw said.

Chiw, however, said that earnings yield will soon start to trend higher and the benchmark rates trending lower.

“We think we are already trading at very attractive valuations for stocks. We are now 13 times forward P/ e [price to earnings ratio] versus the 17 times historical average. So we think for long term investors that this is already a good time to buy if you if you are believing the potential of the Philippine market,” Chiw said.

“I think the potential catalysts for the Philippine market is when inflation continues to come down, and interest rates start to stabilize, hopefully by the second half of this year. a nd we think these trends would improve consumer and business sentiment, and again, will revive interest in equities,” she added. VG

Cabuag

A top American nuclear energy firm based in oregon is planning to invest between $6.5 billion and $7.5 billion in the construction of a small nuclear power reactor in the philippines.

‘PSEi may

to 7,500 points by end of 2023’

Consunji-led Semirara sees opportunities in LNG sector

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

a mong the company’s plans 10 years from now include an expansion of its power projects and “maybe even shift to lng if and when situation arises that makes this shift a good business opportunity,” said SMPC Chairman isidro Consunji during the company’s stockholders’ meeting held tuesday.

He said the Calaca coal plant in batangas could be an “ideal” location for the planned lng investment.

t he Calaca location is ideal for lng as well as coal. t he question is really just an issue of business viability but physically and technically, there is no reason why SMPC cannot go to lng,” Consunji said. SMPC is the country’s largest domestic coal producer. it supplies affordable fuel to power plants, cement factories and other industrial facilities across the Philippines. Under its power business, SeM-

Malabon celebrates cityhood anniversary

Calaca Power Corp. owns the 2x300MW Calaca coal-fired power plant in batangas which it acquired from the government in 2009 with its bid of $362 million. Southwest lu zon Power generation Corp. runs the 2x150-MW coal power facility also in the same area.

t he shift to lng is among the four goals that SMPC intends to pursue in the next decade. SMPC said it would continue to explore alternative revenue streams, such as expanding its power generation capacity and pursuing new mining opportunities beyond Semirara island.

“First of all, we hope the DOe (Department of energy) will favorably consider our legal position on the adjustment of the terms of our coal operating contract. Secondly, we believe that there are opportunities in mining outside of Semirara island and we can probably participate in these mining opportunities.

l astly, we expect that we’d be able

to look at other businesses, assuming our financial state enable us to diversify to other businesses,” said Consunji. to manage market risks, SMPC is enhancing its power generation capabilities while maintaining low fuel costs. “Our adaptability in the face of these ongoing challenges will prove crucial to the next phase of our company’s journey.”

SMPC is not abandoning its coal business despite it being the least desirable of the major fossil fuels when it comes to the environmental aspects of energy consumption. “given that coal is the primary product of SMPC, it is difficult for us to exit coal. However, our approach is a carbon mitigating plan, which is to offset the carbon emission of our coal and power plants with carbon credits and other mining activities and reforestation that will mitigate a lot of these carbon being emitted by our existing business.”

Celebrating 22 years since Malabon became a highly urbanized city, Mayor Jeannie Sandoval thoughtfully commenced the month long celebration with a robust program of activities for its City Hall employees which culminated with the a raw ng Pasasalamat held in april 25, a special day honoring the men and women who have been serving the city for over 10 to 40 years.

Malabon’s City officials also organized the gabi ng Parangal in april 28, a special night to show the depth of their appreciation to the business sector who have been helping Malabon emerge stronger from the COV iD -19 pandemic.

t h e occasion brought to the forefront the importance of clean sanitation and washing facilities as a major pillar to promote healthy communities as well as sustain tourism. list of awardees include brew Cave, Jacks, Mary Jay restaurant, ba lsa, benny’s l ounge, burger King, Jollibee Potrero and Concepcion, and McDonald’s Flores.

r e cognizing the connection between tourism and health, Major Jeannie launched the “ b e st Seat in the City” award in recognition of the establishments who have met the sanitary, health, and safety requirements of Malabon. “ it is only through the unified effort of the local government and the private sector that we can achieve true progress for Malabon” said Mayor Jeannie.

t he gabi ng Parangal also recognized the top business and real estate taxpayers whose exemplary compliance supports the delivery of inclusive economic growth under the administration of Mayor Jeannie.

t he top corporate taxpayers include Malabon Soap and Oil, Maynilad Water Services, First PgMC enterprises, Coca Cola FeMSa Philippines, MSO Premium Oil Corporation, Manly Plastics inc, good 555 Deal tr ading Corporation, b a sic Packaging Corporation, MC Master Siomai Hut, Starbright Office Depot. Under the Single Proprietorship category, the top taxpayers include Chyrus Marketing, Formingtech Marketing, Zinc Marketing, nCl a enterprises, reatOn Mart, tibrl enterprises, Wisezon Soap tr ading, P& e Meat Dealer and St. r ita Pharmacy.

t h e evening was made more special with the presence of Senator Cynthia Villar who joined the celebration.

Malabon’s cityhood anniversary will be followed by the month-long ta mbobong Festival in May. Visitors to Malabon may take part in a various activities designed to provide a range of experiences from empowering seminars to arts and fashion.

Malabon’s series of special events will culminate with its ginoo and binibining Malabon pageant whose winners will not only receive exciting prizes but will also serve as the city’s “ambassadors” promoting Malabon’s rich culture and heritage.

sandoval (right). Contributed photo

CONSUNJI-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) is joining the liquefied natural gas (LNG) bandwagon, saying this would be a “good business opportunity” for the listed integrated energy company.

‘PHL needs new financing models for infra’

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

Removing EV-import duties gets EVAP nod

By Andrea San Juan

INDUSTRY group Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines

(EVAP) announced backing the removal of import duties for twowheeled vehicles, saying the move would make electric vehicles (EVs) more affordable and help the country achieve its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

EVAP President Edmund Araga said the association has been working “tirelessly” to promote and advance the adoption of EVs in the country.

EVAP’s statement issued last Tuesday read that its advocacy has always been zero-tariff for all EVs, especially 2-wheeled vehicles. The group excludes e-Jeeps and e-Trikes as EVAP said these have local manufacturing and assembly.

“EVap has been working closely with the government and other stakeholders to create a more favorable environment for EVs in the country,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

In particular, EVAP said it has been advocating for the implementation of supportive policies, such as tax incentives and charging infrastructure development, to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.

The group also noted that it supports the position of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) to scrap import tariffs for e-Motorcycles.

The alteration of the tariff for 2-wheeled EVs was ushered by Executive Order 12 (series of 2023) issued in January by Malacañang.

However, under the motorcycles classification, only kick scooters, selfbalancing cycles, pocket motorcycles and bicycles with auxiliary motors not exceeding 250 watts and with a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour have zero import duties while electric motorcycles are still subject to a 30-percent tariff rate.

However, Consumer Advocate

Louie C. Montemar said the EO 12 is discriminatory and should be amended so that tax breaks given to owners of EVs could be enjoyed by Filipinos from the working class. (See https:// businessmirror.com.ph/2023/02/16/ palace-urged-to-widen-scope-of-eoon-ev-tax-incentives/ )

“The current EO is discriminatory because it covers only four-wheeled vehicles. It does not cover the majority of the working class, many of whom use 2-wheeled and 3-wheeled vehicles, or even public utility jeepneys,” Montemar, co-convenor of Bantay Konsyumer, Kalsada, Kuryente, has said.

On the sidelines of the ADB Annual Meeting last Tuesday, Finance Undersecretary Mark Dennis Y.C. Joven told the BusinessMirror that the “era of cheap money is over” and countries like the Philippines should tap innovative financing mechanisms to continue undertaking key infrastructure projects.

Joven said while it will take some time to go into asset recycling, efforts to work toward it will benefit not just the country’s financing needs for key infrastructure projects but also improve its balance sheet.

“’Asset recycling’ means you take public assets, you basically privatize them or ‘PPP’ [public-private partnership] them, get money, use the

money to pare down the debt so you decrease the government balance sheet,” Joven explained. “So, basically it’s just like a PPP; except that you also off-load the asset from your balance sheet. So it improves also [the] debt metrics.”

The Department of Finance (DOF) official said countries like the Philippines who are faced with projects worth $3 billion each would have to obtain financing through other means. He noted that projects like the Bataan-Cavite bridge and Laguna Lakeshore (Expressway Dike) are just examples of the magnitude of financing needed for infrastructure.

“We realize that, moving forward, the era of cheap money is over. So you

need to figure out a new way of raising money in not only a sustainable way but in a cheaper and less expensive manner [or] fashion,” Joven added.

Meanwhile, the debt-to-nature swap—employed by Manila over three decades ago—is also making a comeback as one of the innovative financing models being eyed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to address infrastructure backlogs in the region.

Debt-for-nature swap

THE debt-for-nature swap (DFNS) was implemented in the Philippines in 1988 when the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Inc. purchased the $390,000 debt of the country.

The ADB said DFNS is one of 12 innovative financing models that include: blended finance; asset recycling; green bonds; public private partnerships; crowd financing; and, carbon credit markets.

An ADB report noted that developing Asia will need to invest $13.8 trillion ($1.7 trillion annually from 2023 to 2030) to sustain economic growth, reduce poverty, and respond to climate change (climate-adjusted estimate).

The report added that the total infrastructure investment needed for the Association of Southeast Asian

Nations (Asean) region is estimated at $2.8 trillion (baseline estimate) and $3.1 trillion (climate-adjusted estimate), placing the annual-investment needs at $184 billion and $210 billion, respectively.

Documents from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that DFNS involves the purchase of foreign debt and converting tbe debt into local currency. The funds raised can be used for conservation activities. The ADB said the DFNS could provide some relief to countries while ensuring that environmental objectives and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are achieved.

The Manila-based multilateral development bank said the Philippines employed the DFNS in 1988 after selling at a discounted cost or 51 percent of the value of the foreign debt pegged at $200,000 to the WWF that year.

Critical for economies

THE ADB report explained that the Central Bank of the Philippines (the predecessor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) redeemed the debt at the full-face value of the original debt in local currency.

“The arrangement enabled the central bank to retain the money in the country and utilize it for conser-

DOF encourages companies flagged by SEC to avail of regulator’s amnesty program

By Raadee S. Sausa

THE Department of Finance (DOF) encouraged corporations that have incurred fines or whose certificates of registration have been suspended to avail the amnesty program offered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“The amnesty offered by the SEC is a great opportunity for eligible corporations to start anew, maintain their good standing, and ensure that they will continue enjoying the benefits and advantages of being a corporation,” Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said through a statement issued last Tuesday.

Issued on March 15, SEC Memorandum Circular (MC) 2 (Series of 2023) provides for the grant of amnesty for the non-filing and the late filing of the General Information Sheet (GIS) and Annual Financial Statement (AFS) and Non-Compliance with MC 28 (series of 2020).

Diokno said that the SEC subsequently extended the deadline for applications for amnesty to June 30 and gives applicants a longer period of 90 days within which to submit certain requirements.

After the extended deadline of June 30, an updated scale of fines and penal-

Tax perks for lawyers eyed

if he/she cannot afford one.

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

GIVE pro bono lawyers a break; a tax break, that is.

T his is the spirit behind House Bill (HB) 7867, which seeks to amend Republic Act 8371 (The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997), in order to institutionalize the provision of pro bono legal services to the indigent indigenous cultural communities/ indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs).

“In recognition of the selfless and committed efforts of these legal counsels who tirelessly give pro bono services to the underprivileged and marginalized, particularly indigent ICCs/IPs, the said legal counsels must then be entitled to tax credits which shall be deducted from their gross income,” explained co-authors Davao City Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte and Benguet Rep. Eric G. Yap.

Duterte added that the Bill of Rights guarantees the right to an independent and competent legal counsel of any person undergoing an investigation for a commission of an offense. The same provision also enunciates the mandate of the state to provide a legal counsel for the said person

ties for the covered reportorial requirements shall be implemented.

Under the guidelines, the SEC will provide amnesty on the un-assessed and/or already-assessed unpaid fines and penalties imposed by the SEC for the non-filing and late filing of the GIS for the latest and prior years, the finance chief said.

“The amnesty program reduces the penalty for the non-filing and late filing of GIS and AFS for Non-Compliant Corporations to P5,000,” Diokno said.

He added that the rates will apply provided that the corporation or entity will submit the latest reportorial requirement due at the time of the application, and comply with MC 28.

Meanwhile, revoked or suspended corporations will only need to settle 50 percent of the total assessed fines, encompassing all violations on the nonfiling and late filing of GIS and AFS.

Furthermore, the P10,000 fine for the noncompliance with MC 28 for both non-compliant and revoked or suspended corporations will be waived.

Pursuant to the “Guidelines on the Imposition of Fines or Penalties for Non-Compliance with Reportorial Requirements,” a corporation that fails to submit their GIS or AFS is fined for P1,000 to P10,000 per report per year,

Yap, on the other hand, said that a significant number of the country’s ICCs/IPs are living below the poverty line. Thus, once investigated or held as accused, these ICCs/ IPs rights to counsel becomes prejudicial, given that no legal counsels are immediately available on their behalf.

Yap added that under the proposed measure, the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) would be empowered to appoint counsel de oficio for indigent ICCs/IPs with pending cases before it. The appointed pro bono counsel shall be entitled to tax free honoraria or per diem as the NICP provides under its rules.

The proposal also highlights that any member of the Philippine Bar, who has rendered free legal services to the indigent ICCs of at least 100 hours within one year shall be entitled to direct deduction from his income tax due in the amount of P100,000.

To make sure that HB 7867 would be implemented in accordance with its desired objectives, the NICP would be working closely with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

THE Bureau of Customs Port o f Zamboanga (BOC-POZ) announced it has destroyed a total of 19,419 cases and 667 reams of smuggled cigarettes in a warehouse in Zamboanga City over the weekend, marking the biggest haul of illicit cigarettes ever in the history.

A report this week by POZ Acting District Collector Arthur G. Sevilla Jr., the bulk of the goods were found in a warehouse in Indanan, Sulu back in March. Sevilla said the BOC condemned the cigarettes worth P1.43 billion, which were seized after anti-smuggling operations in the Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu and TawiTawi in the first quarter of this year. The CIIS at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) was responsible for the anti-smuggling operations in Indanan, Sulu, that resulted to the major apprehension of a warehouse of 19,000 master cases.

depending on the retained earnings reflected in the corporation’s latest AFS.

On the other hand, a nonstock corporation is fined P500 to P5,000 for non-filing of their GIS and AFS.

The late filing of reportorial requirements, for both stock and nonstock corporations, is subject to a fine equivalent to 50 percent of the fines imposable for non-filing of reports.

For the covered entities, Diokno said the amnesty will be extended to corporations, including branch offices, representative offices, regional headquarters, and regional operating headquarters of foreign corporations and foundations.

“It shall also cover associations, partnerships, and persons under the jurisdiction and supervision of the Commission that failed to comply with MC 28,” he said.

However, the amnesty program does not cover corporations whose securities are listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE); those whose securities are registered but not listed on the PSE; those considered as public companies; those with intra-corporate dispute; those with disputed GIS; and, other corporations covered under Section 17.2 of Republic Act 8799 (Securities Regulation Code), according to Diokno.

vation projects,” the ADB said. Narrowing the infrastructure financing gap will be critical for economies to meet their economic and social goals. Private sector participation is key. Currently, more than $200 trillion of private capital is invested in global capital markets. Innovative finance mechanisms are needed to catalyze private and institutional finance for infrastructure, and to scale them up to meet the growing needs of the region as Asean-plus-3 economies bounce back from the pandemic.

An example is the blending of different financing instruments to de-risk investments and lower the cost of capital. The report provides a user-friendly policy toolkit on the approaches for public–private partnerships, including how governments can collaborate with companies, investors, and financing agencies through these financing platforms. With the wider adoption of these financing solutions, governments can strategically employ public funds to attract private investment, accomplish key development goals, meet shareholder expectations for investment returns and make the Asean-plus-3 region a more attractive destination for infrastructure investment.

Attitude and opportunities

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger—but recognize the opportunity.”

—John F. Kennedy

“A nation is a totality of men united through community of fate into a community of character.”

—Otto Bauer

IN Europe, there is the Russian adventurism in Ukraine running for more than a year. In Africa, there is the Sudan “domestic war” between two leaders driving foreigners and locals to evacuate. In Myanmar, the continuing displacement of the populace due to militarism that has been featured intermittently in international news seems to be far from ending.

In the South China/West Philippine Sea, tension seems to be escalating in affected countries and/or jurisdictions due to sovereign claims by the second biggest economy and second biggest populated country in the world. And the Philippines is very much in the midst of the tension at the South China/West Philippine Sea.

Chaos, tensions and crises seem to be the order of the day.

and seemingly insurmountable challenges to become an economic superpower in a span of one generation.

Another country that faced similar challenges and overcame them was Germany. Now the question is: if Japan, Germany and a host of other nations could do it, can we also do it? Can we overcome our current challenges and rise together as a nation. Do we have the right attitude and can we foster it across our social strata. I believe we can.

First things first. We have to rid ourselves of our “critical” attitude and start believing that if we don’t help ourselves, no one else will.

The condemned master cases of cigarettes were seized for violating Section 117 of Republic Act 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act of 2016) in relation to Executive Order 245 (“Amended Rules and Regulations Governing the Exportation and Importation of Leaf Tobacco and Tobacco Products”).

The BOC explained that during the condemnation, the cigarettes were drenched in water and repeatedly crushed by a payloader as members of BOC’s partner agencies watch. “The big bulk of the smuggled cigarettes was seized in Indanan, Sulu, and it’s now destroyed and will be disposed in a sanitary landfill,” BOC Intelligence Officer 3 Alvin Enciso was quoted in the statement as saying.

The transporting process will carry on for about three days to five days because of the considerable volume of the destroyed cigarettes. Raadee S. Sausa

A lot of the country’s politicians and opinion writers are not shy in criticizing whatever may be the apparent direction being taken by the government. All these happenings are firsts and there may be no template or model available to be adopted. What could be the optimal approach to the predicament we are in?

The key is ‘attitude’ ALTHOUGH there is no proven best way forward, let me focus on the one thing that would form the core of any solution. I believe the key is “attitude.”

When I think of how the attitude of citizens can impact a nation’s progress, the first country that comes to mind is Japan. Japan’s story of progress as a nation from the ruins of World War II to becoming one of the largest economies in the world is an inspiring one. World War II left the Japanese economy in shambles and virtually destroyed the morale of its citizens. However, with a “can-do” and positive attitude Japan overcame adversity

We have to start believing that what happens to the Philippines is not your neighbor’s problem or the government’s problem: it is your problem and my problem as well. We have to start taking responsibility for our collective decisions. We have to reduce our tolerance for mediocrity at the personal as well at national level.

Indeed, the only way we can get out of the growing tensions is by believing in ourselves and, at the same time, executing this belief through smart thinking, determination and sacrifice. We owe it to ourselves and our future generations to make our country ride the turbulence and emerge as a better people with conviction and love of country.

Let us use the “crisis” as a prequel to opportunities. Let us work together as a people to address the situation and seize the opportunities that come with the “crisis.” As they say, if you play your cards well, you will win!

Conchita L. Manabat is the President of the Development Center for Finance. A past President of FINEX and past Chair of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes, she serves as the Chair of the IAFEI Advisory Council. She is a member of the Consultative Advisory Groups of the International Auditing & Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

INCHEON, South Korea—The Philippines is eyeing to tap “asset recycling,” one of a dozen innovative financing models identified by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that Manila can use to address infrastructure constraints.

BOC destroys ₧1.43-B smuggled cigarettes

Reducing workplace con�lict

YOU cannot avoid conflict. When a team is newly formed, or when placed under stressful conditions, it is inevitable that one or two people will not get along with other team members. But just because there is conflict does not mean that your team cannot work together. Sometimes, conflict is necessary to bring to the surface underlying issues that the team needs to address to come to terms with disagreements, and to appreciate each other’s differences. But this can only happen if you, as the team leader, take advantage of the situation by facilitating dialogue and working toward a solution that works to the advantage of the whole team.

Conflict in the workplace is disruptive and derails people from doing what they need to do. Knowing how to reduce conflict helps your team focus on their work, be more productive, and it helps you create an environment where they are fully engaged. Sustained conflict and unaddressed issues can cause physical distress and even make your team members sick. To ensure that your team consistently collaborates toward a common goal, you need to clear roadblocks to your team’s success which includes the way they work with each other.

The most detrimental approach to handling conflict is ignoring it. There are managers who already sense the tension among their team members and yet do nothing about it. Ignoring conflict within your team will gradually escalate the situation into a significant problem. When you see the first signs of agitation, you need to uncover why they are disturbed, what is causing it, and what you can do to prevent them from fighting with each other. Whatever you do, do not ignore the conflict.

Another way to reduce conflict in your team is to communicate openly. Your team needs to understand that whatever feedback they will tell you, it will not be taken against them. It would be helpful to have regular individual meetings with each of your team members to understand their motivations, interests and professional goals so that you can properly support their growth. This also provides them with an avenue where they can air out their frustrations and disappointments with other team members. This way, you can help them rather than wait for their issues to blow up.

Aside from increasing transparency, you also need to communicate clearly. Expectations need to be defined, and assigned tasks need to be aligned to the tasks and responsibilities of each team member. Vague and ambiguous instructions can easily frustrate the receiver, much more when they need to work with other team members on the same project. When you give instructions, ensure that the deliverable is understood, and it is obvious to them what they can and cannot do. Empower your team to make decisions on their own but ensure the boundaries of their authority are clearly delineated.

One of the common causes of conflict in a team is workload management. I remember when I was still a new leader and supervising a group of teachers, I had to ensure that each of them had sufficient teaching hours, but in the middle of the school year one of my teachers had to let go of her advisory class and I had to assign it to one of my teachers. The advisory class became an issue because all the other teachers were

TODAY’S HOROSCOPE

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS

DAY: Christina Hendricks, 48; Kristin Lehman, 51; Amy Ryan, 55; Frankie Valli, 89.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Be direct this year if you want to get things done. Action rather than conversation will make more sense when trying to get others on board. Let what you do be what attracts attention and support. People from your past will be eager to reconnect. Be careful not to forgive and forget too quickly. Make your thoughts and feelings clear to avoid disappointment. Your numbers are 6, 14, 20, 25, 34, 43, 48.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Stop before you say something you regret. Bide your time and pay attention to taking care of your responsibilities instead of commenting on what others contribute. Problems at home will surface if you overreact or let anger get the better of you. ★★★

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Make home and family your priorities. Implement changes that are cost-efficient and inventive. Refuse to let your emotions override common sense. Pay attention to what others do and say in order to avoid being represented negatively. Concentrate on what you want to achieve. ★★★

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Stop worrying about what others do and take care of your responsibilities. Taking on too much or expecting too much from others will cause anxiety and a falling out with one of your peers. Avoid controversy, and don’t reveal secrets or personal information. ★★★★★

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Do what you can to help, but don’t take on debt for someone else’s benefit. Be clear what you are willing to contribute before you begin. Don’t let your personal life interfere with your professional responsibilities. ★★

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Keep your thoughts to yourself, and don’t reveal your financial situation. Someone will be eager to take advantage of you if you are too open about connections, skills or money. Be a good listener instead of bragging about your success. ★★★★

coordinate with other teachers and eventually came up with a solution amenable to everyone. Your team needs to understand what additional workloads mean and how such would impact their performance and evaluation.

Sometimes, conflicts arise because people take it too personally. Work is work and they should not take it against people who are just doing their job.

Your team needs to understand that positions and functions have inherent responsibilities and tasks that might conflict with their own way of working. When I was still in a call center, one of the things I would do was to listen to calls with the quality assurance team so that I could have a clearer picture

group. Some agents took it personally when they were given feedback, and even talked back unnecessarily to their coach. One of the quality assurance supervisors reminded the agent that they were there to help him become better and went on to coach him on how to improve. The tone and demeanor of the agent changed because he realized that quality assurance was just doing their job. Sometimes, you just have to remind your team that people are just doing their jobs and to not take everything personally.

Another way you can reduce conflict in your team is to teach them anger management skills that they can use to reduce conflict. One is to not speak when angry to avoid saying things that they might regret

CLIMATE CHANGE READING GROUP OPENS DOORS TO THE PUBLIC

STRANGE Weather Reading Group, a hybrid event that discusses a curated list of source materials on climate change, is now open for registration.

The series of communal readings focuses on the idea of the vernacular of the climate crisis as a strange phenomenon that forces abnormal changes, ecological imbalance and mutations. Topics will be extracted from biomes focusing on interconnected readings, which span from scientific journals and anthropological studies, to professional opinions and artistic literature.

It will be facilitated by Filipino trans-disciplinary artist Derek Tumala, whose expertise delves in the intersections of art, science and technology.

Strange Weather Reading Group is part of Tumala’s research-based project Tropical Climate Forensics, which centers on the Philippine climate and ecological thought.

It is the ongoing online exhibition of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-

College of Saint Benilde.

It is a virtual world that provides an in-depth look at the anchors of the crisis in the tropics across the past, present and speculative future. It features a single crosshatch plane that holds biomes that float as seemingly independent entities.

A planet in its own right, each diorama encapsulates a timeline of climate decisions that led to the current catastrophe.

The collection includes Komunidad (Community), Tubig (Water), Gubat (Forest), Init (Heat), Bulkan (Volcanoes), Bagyo (Typhoon) and Obserbatoryo (Observatory).

Tumala’s work is supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions for Climate Action, a global program exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology.

Strange Weather Reading Group has sessions at 3 pm on May 27, June 10 and July 15.

More information is available at www.mcadmanila.org.ph.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t take on someone else’s debt or share information that is revealing. Focus on learning, traveling and meetings that offer insight into the changes going on in your field and how best to update your skills and knowledge. Advancement depends on you. ★★★

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Pay attention to your needs. Pick up information that encourages emotional growth. A change you want to make at home will cost more than you expect. Revisit your plans and pursue only what you can afford. Avoid intimate relationships at work. ★★★

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Overspending on luxury items or loved ones will lead to stress. Consider sharing expenses with someone who shares your values and respects your privacy. Lowering your overhead will give you peace of mind and a chance to put more toward your goals. ★★

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Work alongside someone who shares your goals, but do not promise more than you can deliver. Honesty will protect you from sending the wrong message and being left paying a price you can’t afford. Stay on track and under budget. ★★★★

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Take the initiative and get organized. Deal with the changes you want to make at home with a budget in mind and the desire to do the work yourself. Have patience with partners, but don’t compromise your life or circumstances. ★★

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

Conversations will run amok if you or another person is stubborn or pushy. Sort out in your mind what you want and figure out how to reach your goal without disturbing others. Take care of personal finances, legalities and medical issues yourself. ★★★★

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Keep your plans a secret until you have everything in place. A problem that surfaces at home will be the result of a misunderstanding. When in doubt, go directly to the source and get your facts straight. ★★★

BIRTHDAY BABY:

You are disciplined, intense and clever. You are persistent and protective.

‘cheap trick’ BY DAVID KARP

The

• Edited by David Steinberg/Anna Gundlach

SHE WANTS TO BE ON HER OWN

THE actress has always been acknowledged as someone who is talented. However, no thanks to lackluster projects, she fell behind her colleagues and became somewhat of an internet meme. Thanks to a recent project with a new leading man, the industry is looking at the actress in a different light. She has landed magazine covers and new endorsements. Her fans have very kindly asked the actress to not flaunt her longtime boyfriend on social media for the sake of her onscreen partnership with the new leading man. But the actress said she doesn’t need him and could stand on her own. What happened is that the leading man now has more projects and endorsements than her. The good news for their fans is that despite the actress’ protests, she is working with the same leading man again.

RED FLAGS

THE controversial social-media personality and the famous makeup artist are friends but we wonder if the latter knows that his “friend” is saying bad things behind his back? The social-media personality is known to have an arrogant attitude when dealing with other people. In fact, he is embroiled in a petty fight that many people are talking about right now. The makeup artist thinks he and the social-media personality are really good friends and they seem to be. But they’re not because the social-media personality is trash-talking the makeup artist about, among other things, his weight and looks.

NOT THE MAN FOR HER

SO everyone is wondering why the actor and his rumored girlfriend, who’s famous online, seem to have gone their separate ways. The girl reportedly saw a lot of red flags in the actor’s behavior, including his tendency to be over-friendly with other girls. She also didn’t like it when he denied being involved with her when, in fact, she defied her parents’ wishes by dating him. Even the girl’s friends told her that she and the actor were not well-suited to each other but she didn’t listen to them until she saw for herself that he wasn’t the guy for her after all.

Show BusinessMirror

Movie theaters and streamers may end up friends, after all

By Jake Coyle The Associated Press

NEW YORK—After Ben Affleck and Matt Damon test-screened their Nike drama Air, the film executives at Amazon Studios threw them a curveball.

“They said, ‘What do you guys think about a theatrical release?’” Damon says. “It wasn’t what we expected when we first made the deal.”

Air, about Nike’s pursuit of a shoe deal with Michael Jordan, went over so well with early audiences that Amazon, despite acquiring the film for its Prime Video streaming service, wanted to launch it in theaters. And in its first two weeks in theaters, Air has been a hit.

After a strong five-day debut of $20.2 million— especially good for an adult-skewing drama—Air dipped only 47 percent in its second weekend. Reviews have been stellar. When Air does arrive on Prime Video, the studio and its filmmakers expect an even better showing than if they hadn’t launched in theaters.

“It should function as free advertising to create this halo effect which in turn creates more viewers on the service,” says Affleck, who directed and costars in Air. “If that’s the case, I think the business will really expand and go back to a broader theatrical model.”

Not long ago, some were predicting more and more films would be diverted from theaters and sent straight into homes. Moviegoing was destined to die, they said. Not only has that forecast fallen flat, the opposite is happening in some cases. Companies like Amazon and Apple are sprinting into multiplexes, taking a distinctly different approach to the staunchly streaming-focused Netflix. Launched on 3,507 screens, Air was the biggest release ever by a streamer—and it’s just the start. Amazon Studios, led by Jennifer Salke, is planning to release 12-15 movies theatrically every year. Apple is set to spend $1 billion a year on movies that will land in cinemas before streaming.

Movie theaters and (most) streaming services are turning out to be fast friends, after all.

“We truly think that by putting it into theaters, you just can’t otherwise get that kind of word-of-mouth and press around it,” says Kevin Wilson, Amazon Studios and MGM theatrical distribution executive. “No matter how much you spend, that’s a hard thing to replace.”

ATTITUDE PROBLEM

WHEN she was younger, the actress was a headache for directors and coordinators. She had an attitude and she’d always be late for tapings and shoots. She’d sass people when she was called out for this. Decades later and nothing has changed—the actress still has an attitude and she’d still be late for her appointments. To make matters worse, the actress’ acting hasn’t improved and while she used to get many projects when she made a comeback after years of being abroad, no one wants to hire her anymore as there are more talented and well-mannered senior actresses out there.

Workplace...

Continued from B4

later. This allows people to calm down and provides enough time to get a hold of their emotions. Other people use grounding techniques to take control of their rage. They do this by focusing on objects around them one at a time, or by consciously focusing on their breathing. To reduce escalating the conflict to unmanageable proportions, teach your team to walk away when it becomes too heated. If needed, you can call on human resources to be involved especially when the conflict results in verbal abuse or bodily harm.

As a people manager, you are responsible for creating an atmosphere where your team can work safely and productively. You need to develop the skill of discerning your team’s working relations and identify potential causes of conflict so that you can address and resolve them when they happen. A workplace can never be conflict-free, but you can create a workspace where your team knows how to address conflict, discuss solutions to resolve it, and put in place mechanisms to minimize its detrimental effects. n

That “halo effect” isn’t quite free. It takes a robust marketing blitz to raise awareness for a film. But whether a movie is headed to a streaming platform or video-on-demand, the splash of a theatrical run can cascade through through every subsequent window. A film dropped straight into a vast digital expanse might go viral or quickly fade into one of a million things you can click on.

Moviegoing still hasn’t yet reached pre-pandemic levels, but it’s getting close. Movie after movie has overperformed at the box office lately, including Creed III (released by MGM, which Amazon owns) and Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4. With more than $600 million in two weeks, Universal Pictures’s Super Mario Bros. is breaking records for animated films.

“It’s springtime in the theatrical business,”

A RICH collection of critically acclaimed and award-winning dystopian and psychological horror thrillers on the personal anxieties and conflicts brought by social divisions will be screened for free on the last four Wednesdays of the month.

They showcase symbolisms of the current struggles and diverse experiences of the various sectors of the society. The postapocalyptic films provide in-depth reviews of the inequalities on opportunities.

The selected works invite the viewers to reflect on the realities of hierarchical classes and the role of greed and corruption in this structure, and thus its impact on the wellbeing of the marginalized.

n Snowpiercer (2013) by South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho depicts how a failed climate change experiment wiped all life and only saved those who boarded the train that travels around the globe.

Based on the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette, this sci-fi action studies the foundations of society and utilizes the railroad cars as a metaphor for hierarchy.

exclaims John Fithian, the soon-departing president and chief executive of the National Association of Theater Owners.

Last year, Hollywood’s theatrical pipeline fell well short of the prepandemic rate of releases. With 63 percent of 2019’s wide releases, the box office reached 64 percent of 2019’s box office. The problem, exhibitors argued, was not enough supply. This year, around three dozen more wide releases are on the schedule.

“Both Amazon and Apple have signaled that they have $1 billion-plus in forward budgeting for the production and marketing of movies to be released theatrically,” Fithian says. “We’re going to get to a point in a year or so where we have more movies distributed theatrically than we did pre-pandemic.” Movie theaters aren’t totally out of the woods. During the pandemic, the number of screens operating in the US and Canada dropped from 44,283 in 2019 to 40,263, according to NATO. Though those losses are far less than many anticipated, the balance sheets for some theater chains remain strained. Regal’s parent company, Cineworld, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year.

Streaming, though, may be departing the role of archrival. During the pandemic, studios took different roads in trying out new methods of release. But while large numbers of films, like Apple’s starry action-adventure Ghosted this Friday, are still going straight to streaming, some of the biggest movie

suppliers have turned away from those pandemic-era experiments.

“Direct-to-streaming movies were providing really no value to us,” David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, said earlier this year.

But Netflix, the streaming pioneer, has remained resistant to embracing theaters. Increasingly, Netflix looks like the lone holdout.

“Driving folks to a theater is just not our business,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief executive, said in an earnings call Tuesday. Netflix’s scale and reach, he said, makes them different than other steaming services. A recent popular release, like Murder Mystery 2, with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, has been watched for 82 million hours in three weeks, according to Netflix.

Later this year, Apple will release wide in theaters two anticipated epics: Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. They’ll have help. Paramount is distributing Killers of the Flower Moon while Sony is handling Napoleon

“The Apples of the world and maybe even the Netflixes of the world are seeing: It doesn’t have to be every movie and it doesn’t have to completely flip our business model upside down,” says Amazon’s Wilson.

The movie business always looks better when the hits are rolling in; a few big bombs and all the doubts will start over again. Strategies can shift. But right now, theaters and (most) streamers are finding plenty of common ground. And business is booming again. n

filmmaker Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia is a sci-fi horror that introduces a vertical level prison with a single food platform. In this hellish penitentiary, only those in the upper cells are fed while those below starve. It argues the availability of resources, the consequences of overconsumption and the wealthy’s lack of willingness to share. It will be showcased on May 24.

It is slated on May 10.

n Elysium (2013) by South AfricanCanadian filmmaker Neill Blomkamp transports the audience into the year 2154, wherein the ultrarich live aboard the paradisiacal man-made space station, while

the poor struggle amid the Earth’s ruins.

A critique on the issues of immigration, healthcare and poverty, this action drama explores the chances of bringing equality to polarized worlds. It is scheduled on May 17.

n The Platform (2019) by Spanish

Get Out (2017) by American actor and comedian Jordan Peele is psychological thriller that stars a young African-American out on a weekend visit to his white girlfriend’s parents. In his directorial debut, Peele maximizes the genre to shed light on the terrors of newfound “negrophilia” or the black culture craze. It tackles how the white perspective dictates the perception of the black identity. It will be on view on May 31. The selection is curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. The free and public online screenings will be conducted via Zoom every 12 noon on the scheduled dates.

More information is available at www. facebook.com/MCADManila.

STARRING Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, the hit actionadventure Ghosted is among the titles that have not been hurt by being released on a streaming service.

CREBA VisMin confab musters support for gov’t housing goals

THE Chamber of Real Estate & Builders’ Associations, Inc. (CREBA) has mustered the support of government and private sector stakeholders to attain its vision of “a home for every Filipino” through the staging of its first Visayas-Mindanao Regional Housing and Real Estate Conference and Expo from April 26 to 28, 2023 at the SM Trade Hall in General Santos City.

The event drew the attendance of real estate and housing players from various regions eager for updates and insights on major growth drivers that will help propel the property sector to a strong rebound and recovery while pursuing dialogues with local government units as well as planning and urban development authorities to achieve the needed reforms in support of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s shelter plans for the country.

The three-day confab is one of the major activities in the lead-up to the CREBA golden jubilee which will culminate with a national convention, housing expo and gala awards night from September 26 to 28, 2023 at the SMX Convention Center and Conrad

Hotel in Pasay City.

Founded in 1973 by Atty. Manuel M. Serrano and leading stalwarts of the property industry, CREBA is the Philippine umbrella organization of the real estate and housing industry composed of property developers, builders, contractors, suppliers and manufacturers of construction materials and other professionals and entities engaged in about 70 allied fields. It has recently strengthened its foothold in the VISMIN region by establishing new chapters in various parts of the Davao, Surigao, Misamis and Agusan regions.

At the heart of the conference discussion themes were CREBA’s aspirations for the homeless sector embodied in its five-point agenda for housing covering shelter finance, land access and governance.

According to national president Noel Toti M. Cariño, these agenda have been drafted into various bills and policy proposals to either amend, rationalize, streamline or beef up existing laws and policies to help achieve a housing production rate of at least 500,000 units

Mondelez Philippines packs 770 meals with Rise Against Hunger for Baclaran elementary students

per year to address homelessness within two decades.

Two of these proposals have been enacted into law, namely the Balanced Housing Program Amendment Act of 2016 (R.A. 10884) and the creation of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) in 2019 (R.A. 11201), whose resulting regulations and programs continue to be closely monitored by the Chamber.

Guest speakers included Sen. JV Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committee on Housing; Secretary Leo Tereso Magno, Presidential Assistant for Eastern Mindanao, Climate Change Commissioner Albert Dela Cruz; Worldbank-International Finance Corporation (IFC) technical specialist for building resiliency Pearl Mars; and heads of the regional offices of the DHSUD and the rest of the key shelter agencies PagIBIG Fund, National Housing Authority and National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation. Conference host was CREBA SOCCSKSARGEN Chapter led by Isidro Protacio, chapter president.

Hort Innovation kickstarts PHL summer with ‘One Grape Day’ through Grown in Good Nature campaign

THIS summer, let the flavor of Australia come to your table with a fresh new harvest of Australian table grapes. Hort Innovation, through the “Grown in Good Nature” campaign, which once again brings farm fresh quality Aussie grapes to the Philippines.

The unmatched combination of lush Australian soil, and a perfect environment and system for growing makes Australian table grapes juicy and sweet as well as vitamin and mineral-rich.

“Australia has built a reputation of supplying safe, fresh, high quality fruit that is sought after by all countries. The perfect growing conditions of cold nights, warm days, clean irrigation, no humidity

with dry air all contribute to growing the best quality grapes. Close proximity to the Philippines means grapes can be in the market within 48 hours if air freighted or 16 days by sea. Australia now grows all the new varieties which gives importers a great choice to suit their consumers.” says Jeff Scott of the ATGA (Australian Table Grapes Association).

“Grown In Good Nature” ensures that the grapes remain in top condition from farm to table through a series of proper cold storages. All Australian farmers have their own cold chain management with cool rooms on farms. Once the fruit is harvested it is placed in the cool rooms within an hour and from there, all the way through

the cold chain process, the grapes do not exceed three degrees Celsius. This helps maintain freshness, crispness and quality of the grapes Vietnam receives. The grapes are temperature tracked in the sea containers right through their 16-day journey to ensure they arrive in the same condition as they left the farm.

“With The Philippines ranking high (5th) in the market consumption of table grapes, it is our mission here in Australia to ensure that the good nature of our land and people comes through in the exports we share with the world. This is why our table grapes are superior in color, taste, and overall quality. Hort Innovation supports the table grape industry with their R&D and Marketing objectives to ensure Australia is a world leader in horticulture products.” says Scott attesting to the collective goal of both “Grown In Good Nature” and Austrade.

Consumers can take advantage of the harvest season by purchasing “Grown in Good Nature’s” table grapes from their local groceries such as The Marketplace, Shopwise, S&R, The Landmark and Robinsons supermarkets. Australian table grapes will be available this season from February to the end of June. Shoppers may also learn more about the Australian Table Grape industry by scanning the QR code included with each product. For more information, check out Hort’s LinkedIn page to know more about the upcoming campaigns: https:// au.linkedin.com/company/hort-innovation.

MONDELEZ Philippines employees came together for the first time since the pandemic – since 2019 to be exact – to volunteer for a worthy cause for the community. A total of 55 volunteers donned gloves and hairnets to pack nutritious meals for 770 students of Baclaran Elementary School in Parañaque City, where the snack company’s manufacturing plant is also located. The activity was held together with food bank Rise Against Hunger, a partner of the Company since 2018. Together, the two organizations work to help avoid food waste and support communities in danger of facing hunger. Employees were also supported by volunteer mobilization group Hands on Manila, who helped kick-off a series of volunteer activities for the Company in celebration of its 60th anniversary in the Philippines this 2023.

About Mondelēz International MONDELĒZ International, Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) empowers people to snack right in over 150 countries around the world. With 2021 net revenues of approximately

$29 billion, MDLZ is leading the future of snacking with iconic global and local brands such as OREO, belVita and LU biscuits; Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka and Toblerone chocolate; Sour Patch Kids candy and Trident gum. Mondelēz International is a proud member of the Standard and Poor’s 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Visit www.mondelezinternational.com or follow the company on Twitter at www. twitter.com/MDLZ.

About Mondelez Philippines

MONDELEZ Philippines, Inc. has been providing consumers with delicious snack products for the past 60 years - since 1963. Its product portfolio includes Tang powdered beverages, Eden cheese, mayonnaise and sandwich spread, Cheez Whiz spread, Oreo cookies, Tiger energy biscuits, belVita breakfast biscuits, as well as Toblerone and Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolates. The company employs about 450 people in the Philippines, with a manufacturing facility in Parañaque City. Visit https://ph.mondelezinternational. com/home.

PCCI announces return of their run for a cause this year with 'PCCI Cares Fur You' at CCP complex

THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm recently announced the return of the PCCI Cares Run for a Cause 2023 aptly titled “PCCI Cares Fur You.”

The fifth run for a cause event will happen on May 28, 2023, at the Liwasang Ulalim, CCP Complex in Pasay City. This running event’s comeback will welcome not only running professionals and enthusiasts but also fur parents and their cuddly fur babies.

PCCI’s event partner, Aldenver Events, represented by Veronica Ramos revealed the background behind this year’s theme. “The inclusion of our pet friends in our fun run festivity will make our running event comeback more entertaining,” Ramos explained. “This is worth mentioning, especially during the lockdown when our fur babies have been our source of joy and sanity,” she adds.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, Jr., PCCI’s Honorary Chairman and Treasurer and a Director for CSR, shared his gratitude for the support of the sponsors, running groups, and the media for this event. “This is the fifth fun run and with your support, it will be a success again. You know very well that PCCI, whenever there are calamities or whenever there is a need, we would like to do our part,” Ortiz-Luis, Jr. said.

PCCI will gather all its member companies as well as non-member companies in this notable activity to keep espousing a healthy lifestyle in the workplace and the business community. More than the fun and camaraderie, this run for a cause will extend assistance to the needs of our underprivileged citizens in the country.

PCCI Cares Fur You Run for a Cause 2023 will feature short- and long-distance running categories – 1 km with pets, 1 km with kids, and 1 km with seniors, 3 km, 5 km, and 10 km runs. A Zumba activity will help warm up the participants before the run.

Meanwhile, PCCI’s generous sponsors will give away special prizes during the awarding ceremony. In addition, PCCI will give a plaque and a cash prize of P20,000.00 to the largest number of registered participants coming from any PCCI member companies or running organizations who will join the said activity.

To register, visit www. myruntime.com. The joining fees are as follows: 1 km with Pets

(P600.00), 1 km with Kids (P500.00), and 1 km with Seniors (P800.00- senior discount to be applied), 3 km (P650.00), 5 km (P750.00), and 10 km (P850.00). Participants will receive a singlet, race bib, and finisher’s medal. They will also get loot bags from the sponsors of this activity.

The sponsors of PCCI Cares Fur You Run for a Cause 2023 are SM Prime, Philexport, San Miguel Corporation, Zesto Corporation, Hotel 101, Merrymart, Samgyeopmasarap, Fixifoot, Megafiber, Real Steel, EMS Corporation, Salonpas, Sip Water and The Westin Manila. For more information regarding this upcoming fun run, please contact Fadi Murad or Arlou Lovendino at (02) 846-8621/8468196 local 128 or 0991-4383880/09175410586. Please send your inquiries via e-mail to fadi.murad@philippinechamber.com or arlou. lovendino@philippinechamber.com.

You may also contact PCCI’s event partner, Aldenver Events and look for Nikka Ramos at 0918-8133333. Follow the Facebook pages of PCCI Cares Run for a Cause and Aldenver Events for updates and other information.

Table Grapes

FROM left are CREBA national president Noel Toti M. Cariño, conference chair Isidro Protacio, VP-chapter Jocelyn V. Yumul and VP-academics Techie P. Bautista

Tet Andolong

Revenge spending, entry of more foreign players

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

Joey Roi Bondoc, research manager of Colliers Philippines said the rebound is because people enjoy greater mobility these days as they are more free to go to the malls restaurants and other establisments.

“Revenge growth is getting a huge lift because of the opening of more flagship stores, revival of interest in experiential retail, more foreign retailers occupying mall space, consumption-led gross domestic product growth and income tax cuts to result in greater disposable income,” said Colliers

Philippines research head Joey Roi Bondoc in the company’s recently held Philippine Property market briefing for the first quarter of 2023 in Makati City.

Bondoc noted that there was vast improvement in terms of human traffic from 50-60 percent of pre-Covid levels up to 90 to 100 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Furthermore, he observed a proliferation of flagship stores

in Glorietta 3 (Foot Locker), Powerplant Mall (New Balance), SM North EDSA (SM Watsons’ 1000th branch).

According to Colliers, there will be a 2.5-percent growth in rents this year after a 11-percent growth in 2022. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the hotels and restaurants segment posted a growth of 28 percent in 2022 from a measly 4.6 % in 2021 in the growth per consumption segment. “The rebound is due to greater mobility,” Bondoc said.

Rising in the east I N t he eastern part of the National Capital Region (NCR), the latest brands that will establish their presence in the Pasig-San Juan area include Fridays, Dean and De Luca, Hush Puppies, Harlan+Holden, Crocs, MN+LA and Vitos barbeque.

To maximize the boom brought by revenge spending and at the same time achieve a stronger

branding position, the Bistro Group recently opened six new restaurants at the East Wing of the Estancia Mall to satisfy diverse palates: Italianni’s, Texas Roadhouse, Randy’s, Denny’s, TGIFridays and Modern Shanghai. Plus, there’s also Buffalo Wild Wings

ALDC to codevelop low-cost housing in Pampanga

By Roderick L. Abad

AMALAYSIAN conglomer -

ate, with its real estate unit, has joined in the effort to address the perennial housing backlog in the Philippines, by entering a joint venture (JV) with a local developer.

The Synergy International Group of Companies from Malaysia, through its property development division Synergy International Realtors Sdn Bhd, has tied up with Aquira Land Development Corp. (ALDC) to codevelop the ongoing 57-hectare, low-cost housing project in Mexico, Pampanga.

Located along Barangay Pandacaqui, this residential development will have 6,150 affordable residential units in line with the government’s target to build 1 million new low-cost and/or socialized houses by the end of the year.

“Its for open market but we are primarily offering it to military and police personnel,” ALDC Chief Executive o f ficer (CE o) E rick Armigos told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview. “We have the option to offer it to o F WS [overseas Filipino workers] in Malaysia and Singapore.”

This is why Synergy decided to have this JV as its first foray in the country. The company’s mission is to cater to the millions of oF Ws who often come back to the country and can afford decent homes yet not mostly catered to by developers, as shown with only a few available options to own houses with what they have saved up abroad.

“It has always been our goal to enter property development in the Philippines. It is only fitting

AT the formal signing of the Memorandum of Agreement for the codevelopment of the 57-hectare

Pampanga, low-cost

to start off with a project that has a social aspect and that aims to offer decent but affordable housing to a long underserved market,” Synergy CE o Vijay Kumar noted.

“Malaysia has a large contingent of overseas Filipino workers, a big reason we chose this particular project is to give these workers more housing options when they come home to retire, or even just to buy for their families here,” he added.

o n its part, the local developer welcomes its collaboration with an international partner like Synergy, which has both the expertise to create an impact not only in the nation’s real estate industry, but also to homeowners who have long been deprived of sensibly priced yet decent dwellings.

“The participation of Synergy will allow us to deliver livable units in the shortest amount of time,” said Armigos. “o u r objective

has always been to be involved in as many low-cost and socialized housing projects as we can and to build and deliver as many livable units as quickly as we can.”

This residential project will offer single detached (100 sq m to 150 sq m at P3.45 million), single attached (80 sq m at P2.95 million), duplex (60 sq m at P2.45 million) and 2-storey townhouse (44 sq m at P1.95 million).

ALDC’s low-cost residential development in Pampanga is its second affordable housing project, following a deal it closed early last year to develop a 16-hectare community in Tanay, Rizal.

“Currently, we are building the main gate and clubhouse. Then, we will build the model units. After that, we will start with the land development first. Then, construction of housing units will start by o c tober 2023,” Armigos said, adding that completion for phase one is by December 2025.

which has been operating in the mall since 2015.

Italianni’s will surely be a hit among Filipinos who love to eat Italian food such as the classics like the Spinach Artichoke Formaggio, Spaghetti Meatballs, Quattro Stagioni and Chicken Italianni’s.

For steak lovers, Texas Roadhouse is the place as it serves handcut steaks, fall-off-the-bone ribs, made-from-scratch sides and their famous freshly-baked bread. Expect also an occasional line dance from the staff to keep the dining energy up.

The ever reliable Denny’s is ready to satisfy the hunger pangs from breakfast to lunch, snacks, dinner and late-night All-American Slam, Mom’s Spaghetti, South Carolina Fried Chicken and Denny’s Share Four All.

Located at the Royalton, Capitol Commons, TGIFridays is a lovely place to unwind for folks who are looking for Americanthemed food, legendary drinks, and genuine personalized service, bartenders who possess a highlycharged vibe.

LA’s iconic donuts, Randy’s, provide that delightful sweetness from fluffier, airier and ginormous donuts for the sweet tooth.

For Chinese cuisine lovers, Modern Shanghai hits the spot

when on the lookout for dishes that are delicious, comforting and familiar such as Braised Pork Knuckle and Braised Pork Belly; Xiao Long Bao, Steamed Hakaw Shrimp Dumpling, Roasted Crispy Pork, among others.

Capturing the retail opportunities

Co L LIERS urged retailers and landlords to capture the low-hanging retail opportunities. For the retailers, Bondoc urged them to lock-in spaces in prime locations, capture rising consumer interest for experiential retail, take advantage of the increase in disposable incomes and tourist arrivals and spending and ramp up omnichannel strategies. Meanwhile, landlords should expand transit-oriented retail in key areas outside Metro Manila, establish flexible workspaces in malls, explore the viability of retail REITs and seize the demand from foreign realtors entering the Philippine market.

RLC Residences sees high demand from millennial investors, launches 4th building of Sierra Valley Gardens

IN a s tudy conducted by online property portal Lamudi, a growing number of millennials have been searching for condominiums online. This age group is now entering their prime years for home buying and has an increased desire to manage their finances through investments that can generate income. Similarly, RLC Residences is also observing the same trend especially with the recent sales performance of its residential development Sierra Valley Gardens, a smart investment with multiple unique features located in Cainta, Rizal.

Located within the Sierra Valley destination estate along o r tigas Avenue Extension, Sierra Valley Gardens is an investment-worthy condo development due to its accessibility to retail shops and soon-to-rise mall and office buildings within the estate. To date, the condo’s first three buildings are now 96 percent sold, with majority of the buyers are within 25-35 age range. Building on this success, RLC Residences officially introduced the development’s fourth building, empowering more young professionals to make their smart move through real estate investment.

“Condominium units are a great choice for millennial investors, one reason being is it appreciates in value quickly than other investment options. Plus, there’s that convenience of having options to rent it out for passive income source or you can use it as your home when ready. It’s a stable investment choice, especially if the project you choose is from a reputable developer, who understands the value that comes from land development and urbanization,” says RLC Residences Marketing Head and Chief Integration o f ficer Karen Cesario.

The smart move for millennials

W I TH m ost millennials gravitating towards city views, easy access to amenities and proximity to life’s essentials, Sierra Valley Gardens officially opened its fourth building—with all these preferences present—to help millennials make their smart move in real estate investment.

Sierra Valley Gardens is home to well-spaced studio, one-, and twobedroom units with balcony options. Ranging from 22 to 66 sq m, these flats offer options to the growing need of millennials based on their needs and space requirements. Additionally, these units are equipped with smart home features including Smart Lock, Audio-Video Intercom, Smart Switch, and Infrared Emitter—all offering a high level of convenience, energy efficiency, security, cost savings, increased home value, and sustainability. In fact, the Sierra Valley Gardens won the Best Sustainable Residential Development at the D o T P roperty Southeast Asia Awards 2022 held in Bangkok, Thailand.

The property is also designed to incorporate fiber optic technology in all of its buildings to ensure fast and reliable connection.

o n t op of these, Sierra Valley Gardens also has a plethora of indoor and outdoor amenities that are designed to help them move free on their career, fitness, and wellness goals. These include a three-level Clubhouse, Function Rooms, Game Room, Fitness Center and Dance Studio, Work/Study Area, Lap Pool, Jog Trail, and Landscaped Areas to name a few.

“In designing Sierra Valley Gardens, we envisioned a property that millennials will be proud to call their smart investment. That’s why we incorporated all these features, because these are helpful in ensuring that this asset will exponentially grow with them in the coming years, until such time that Sierra Valley Gardens is fully built and ready to live in,” shares Cesario.

With Sierra Valley Gardens’ newest building, millennials can choose to invest in one of its units starting at P4 million. Making this an even appealing investment option, RLC Residences also offers flexible payment terms and even special promos that interested investors may take advantage of. Simply connect to a Property Specialist via rlcresidences.com or follow RLC Residences on Facebook and Instagram for more updates.

After a lackadaisical performance during the pandemic, the country’s retail sector is currently experiencing a phenomenal rebound mainly because of the continuation of revenge spending in the post holiday, entry of more retail brands and flagship brands.

Mexico,

housing project are (from left) Synergy Philippines Managing Director Esa Huovila, Aquira Land Development Corp. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Erick Armigos, and Synergy International CEO Vijay Kumar.

Off ICIALS from The Bistro Group and Ortigas Malls are shown in photo during the ribbon-cutting to officially open Bistro Group restaurants at Estancia Mall (Denny’s, Randy’s, Italianni’s, TGIfridays and Texas Roadhouse).

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Editor: Jun Lomibao

Lakers’ James,

Warriors’

Curry meet again in playoffs

SAN FRANCISCO—It’s LeBron vs.

Steph on the big stage, Take V.

W ith a slightly different look in the playoffs these days for two of the game’s greatest players.

Just two of the most competitive players that have ever played this game,” James said Monday. “We want to etch our name in the history books as much as we can, and we’re playing our own way. I’ve got nothing but the greatest admiration and respect for Steph.”

Curry and Draymond Green reflect back on Golden State’s many memorable National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals battles with James and marvel how they’re all still playing such high-level basketball so many years later.

Yet this Western Conference semifinal matchup starting Tuesday is new for everybody: Curry, Green, Klay Thompson and these Warriors have never faced LeBron’s Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs—even if they’re plenty familiar with James himself.

“ It is special to know the first

series we played him in Cleveland in the ’14-15 to now, we’re blessed to be playing at this level,” Curry said.

“Excited about a new chapter, two teams trying to keep their season alive and chase a championship.

That’s what it’s all about.”

The Warriors and James’ Cavaliers faced off in four straight NBA Finals from 2015-18.

Game 1 in this best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series is on the Warriors’ home floor— Golden State is the sixth seed and the Lakers No. 7. It’s the first time a No.

6 seed has home court in the second round since the sixth-seeded Houston Rockets against the No. 7 Seattle SuperSonics in 1987.

It’s weird, a six-seven seed series, we get home-court advantage, so we’ve got to take advantage of that,” Curry said.

Curry is 15-7 against James in the playoffs, with Curry averaging 25.4 points to James 33. They’re still dazzling.

Swim bodies COPA, SLP forge partnership

THE Congress of Philippine Aquatics Inc. (COPA) and the Swimming League Philippines (SLP) linked arms to unite the swimming community and consolidate their programs and activities.

COPA president, Batangas First District Rep. Eric Buhain and SLP head Fred Ancheta meet over the weekend and discussed pressing issues particularly on the advancement and upliftment of Filipino swimmers.

This is good for Philippine swimming as both leaders acknowledge the importance of inclusivity and collaboration for the betterment of all stakeholders, athletes in particular and Philippine sports in general,” said Buhain, a two-time Olympian and

Yoga clears my mind, helps me focus more —Hidilyn

By Josef Ramos

ALYSSA BEARS PHL COLORS IN CAMBODIA

ALYSSA VALDEZ will again carry the country’s colors during the parade of athletes of the Cambodia 32nd Southeast Asian Games opening ceremony on Friday at the 60,000seat Morodok Techo Stadium in Phnom Penh.

E xcellent choice for a Team Philippines that will do an unprecedented in SEA Games history—field a female-dominated representation in the parade of nations that serves as one of the highlights of the opening ceremony for Cambodia’s first-time hosting of the biennial Games.

“Alyssa best fits our goal of an almost all-female delegation in the opening ceremony,” Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Tuesday. “She’s not only the face of Philippine volleyball, but Philippine sports as well.”

Valdez will fly to Phnom Penh on Friday instead of the Saturday flight schedule of the women’s national volleyball team.

It’s such an honor to be the flag bearer for this year’s SEA games. It’s a big responsibility but I’m grateful for the trust given to me once again,” said Valdez, who was also the country’s flag bearer in the Singapore 2015 Games. “I first had the opportunity to carry our Philippine flag in 2015 in Singapore and it was an unforgettable experience.”

I share this with all the women in sports who brought honor and glory to the country,” added Valdez, one of

Philippine Sports Hall of Famer.

the most recognizable faces in Philippine sports whose following in social media is bursting at the seams.

Tolentino and chef de mission Chito Loyzaga are the only men who will join the parade.

“ This is a first in SEA Games history,” said Tolentino referring to the female-dominated contingent.

The parade participants will be wearing Francis Libiran-designed white barongs over black pants.

Fashion icon Libiran named his barong creation for the 32nd SEA Games “Araw.”

T he Francis Libiran Araw Barong Tagalog is made out of Philippine jusi fabric and materials and features an intricate embroidery of the Philippine flag.

T he hues of blue overlap a small bed of red as the sun and its rays encompass the entirety of the sash to truly represent every Filipino, showing off their liberty, peace and valor.

L ibiran also designed the barong worn by Filipino athletes in the 2019 Philippine SEA Games as well as last year in Hanoi where he named his masterpiece “Agila” that had intricate embroidery with an art deco of the Philippine eagle.

T he Cambodia SEA Games Organizing Committee limited to 50 the number of athletes for each nation for the traditional parade of athletes.

IT’S second time around for volleyball icon Alyssa Valdez as Team Philippines’s flag bearer.

It’s in the interest of the swimming community and not for personal gain,” Buhain said. “In the end, it’s the Filipino swimmers and the sport that will be benefitted.”

A ncheta described the unity as long overdue.

We’re very happy and proud to be part of the new dawn in Philippine swimming,” Ancheta said. “The SLP, from the time of the late swimming icon Susan Papa to the leadership of my predecessor Joan Mojdeh, has always been after the swimmers’ welfare.”

B oth COPA and SLP have an extensive program and have hundreds of members or affiliates nationwide.

Buhain and Ancheta agreed to break barriers and allow their respective member clubs and swimmers to compete in both their tournaments.

“The ‘exclusive policy’ is one that we don’t want,” Buhain said. “COPA is always after the welfare of all athletes. At COPA, public school swimmers can compete for free, and this year, we added BiFin in our program.”

A ncheta said that he sought Buhain’s help in the House on the “Drown-Free Philippines and Coaches Development and Enhancement Program,” SLP’s centerpiece programs for their members in the provinces.

TNT Tropang Giga downs Gin Kings, tops inaugural PBA Esports Bakbakan

TALK ‘N TEXT kept its mastery of Barangay Ginebra this time in a virtual arena after completing a 3-0 sweep in the grand finals of the inaugural Philippine Basketball Association Esports Bakbakan Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) tournament before a sizeable crowd at the Circuit Makati Event Hall Monday night.

O nly 10 days after unseating the reigning champion Gin Kings on the hardcourt to win the Governors’ Cup, the Tropang Giga grabbed another throne in the “Land of Dawn” by essaying a comeback after another in the bestof-five championship series to rule the prominent online mobile game.

A aren “TNT.Sindel” Palermo shone brightest for

I HAVE always been a Los Angeles Lakers fan.  From Jerry West to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, from Magic Johnson to Kobe Bryant—they are Laker greats close to my heart like they are my own childhood chums.  They’ve all become legends of the game, icons to be venerated like demigods, holders of legacies that generations look up to till the end of time.

A nd now LeBron James.

He is 38 already but look at him play. His swagger hides his age. He still zooms like a 28-year-old stud. He can still bulldoze his way to the hoop anytime he wants to—even as he has already become, just very recently, No. 1 in most

the Tropang Giga, claiming the Finals MVP award after anchoring their three straight victories behind the lethal carry heroes of Karrie and Beatrix.

Shoutout to my Dad. Shoutout to my Family. And shoutout to my teammates, if not for them, we couldn’t have pulled this off and I won’t be MVP,” said Sindel, one of the revelations in the historic PBA Esports tournament that also featured PBA players, fans, students, influencers and ex-pro gamers. Sindel unleashed a 7/1/4 KDA (kill-death-assist) while earning 12K gold as the Tropang Giga clawed back from a 9-16 (kills), 3-6 (towers) and 6K-gold deficit in Game 1 to draw first blood.

High drama in Laker-Warrior playoff series

total points scored in National Basketball Association (NBA) history.  In so doing, James has erased Jabbar’s record of 38,387 points of nearly 39 years. James scored his record-shattering 38,388th point on a fadeaway against Oklahoma with 10.9 seconds left in the third quarter on February 7, 2023.

A part from being the Lakers’ undisputed leader, James has remained the team’s leading light, the squad’s unmistakable heart and soul.  Where James goes, the Lakers go.  And, almost always, they all soar high every time James elects to be in his element.

Th at’s what James will bring to the table again when he and the Lakers play the Golden State Warriors in today’s

(Wednesday) Game One of the NBA Western Conference best-of-seven semifinals.

James’s seventh-seeded crew advanced after they upset second-ranked Memphis in six games, another testament to the Lakers’ resilience that should remind the Warriors of a tough grind ahead of them.

But Steph Curry must be unfazed as he enters Game One

waving a 50-point effort in the Warriors’ 120-110 Game Seven victory to eliminate the exciting Sacramento Kings.

At 35, Curry is old by any yardstick of imagination.  But like James, he has remained as tough-as-nails, his tripleriddled 50 points on Monday being the highest scored in a Game Seven in NBA playoff history.

The match-up between two of the greatest NBA players ever rekindles their four straight Finals playoffs duel in 2015-1018 when James wasn’t a Laker yet.

It will also mark the first time that a sixth-seeded and a seventh-seeded will battle it out since the Houston-Seattle affair in the 1987 playoffs.

Today’s Game One and Friday’s Game Two will both be played at Chase Center in San Francisco, with the fight-forfour winner facing the victor of the Denver-Phoenix clash (Denver is up, 1-0) for the Western Conference crown.

James or Curry?

A sk me not.

THAT’S IT Happy birthday to Alfonso “Mayo” R. Mendoza III!

TRANSITIONING from 55 kgs to 59 kgs was not at all easy for world and Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo as she only had barely two years to make herself as strong, competitive and focused in her new division.

So she put more emphasis on one facet of her already tried and tested regimen—yoga.

Yoga is very important for me because it’s mental,” Diaz-Naranjo told BusinesMirror on Tuesday.

“It’s very hard to focus that’s why I need to be with myself and I need to believe in myself.”

Yoga makes me connect with myself during lifts … know how to breathe because the pressure is severe,” she added.

Team HD includes yoga instructor Ayn Latonio as Diaz-Naranjo wants to get rid of stress and negativity especially during competition.

The Cebu-based Latonio is considered the Philippine Olympic Committee’s in-house instructor who’s been practising yoga for seven years and teaching traditional yoga for five years.

“I’m really happy that I didn’t give up during the process [weight transition] so I will do my very best to represent our country as I compete for the first time in 59 kgs,” DiazNaranjo said. “There are so many adjustments—from my food intake, training physical and mental and recovery—which I did.”

Team HD, meanwhile, flew to Jinju in South Korea on Tuesday for the Asian Weightlifting Championships that starts Wednesday.

Up-and-coming Rosegie Ramos was with Team HD to pursue her own journey toward getting qualified for the Paris Olympics next year. She will compete in women’s 49 kgs.  I believe in her [Ramos] because she’s very determined to succeed,” Diaz-Naranjo said.

A lso in Team HD are head trainer and strength and conditioning coach Julius Naranjo, assistant trainer Rowell Garcia and nutritionist Jeaneth Aro.

Defiant boxing body IBA aims for progress in IOC dispute

GENEVA—Seeking to resolve a years-long dispute with Olympic officials, the International Boxing Association (IBA) said on Monday it will update the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week and no longer has Russian energy giant Gazprom as a sponsor. B oxing’s financial dependence on Gazprom is among governance and integrity concerns for the International Olympic Committee, which cut ties with the sport’s governing body in 2019 and is planning for a second straight Summer Games without the IBA’s involvement. The schism led USA Boxing to terminate its IBA membership last week ahead of the men’s world championships in Uzbekistan, which is also being boycotted by teams including Britain, Canada and Ireland.

T he IBA and its Russian president Umar Kremlev used the first day of competition on Monday in Tashkent to stage a 90-minute press briefing that was both conciliatory and defiant.

“

My mission is not to attract the International Olympic Committee or to make them like me,” Kremlev said in translated comments that included a vulgar expression to suggest he had not shown deference to the Olympic body.

Sorry for saying it in such a straightforward way,” Kremlev said.

He noted that medals of “pure gold” will be awarded to champions over the next two weeks rather than goldplated ones. Olympic champions in Tokyo two years ago got medals plated with at least six grams of gold over pure silver. The IOC also does not award prize money.

Maybe they don’t like us giving prize money which is even greater than the Olympics,” said Kremlev, who has promised $200,000 to champions this month. The IBA has pledged that will rise to $1 million prizes in the coming years.

K remlev was flanked by former world champion Roy Jones Jr as both stressed the IBA was committed to boxers and helping them support their families, who often came from poor backgrounds.

“ We don’t want to pay for five-star hotels or for travel of sports officials,” the IBA president said in what seemed another jibe at the Olympics.

The Kremlev-led IBA has also let boxers from Russia and Belarus compete with their own flag and anthem contrary to IOC guidance that athletes should compete only as neutrals under certain conditions.

T he IOC has stressed it has “no problem” with boxing and boxers, just with its governing body. Relations deteriorated after 2017 when national boxing federations helped to oust CK Wu, a long-time IOC member, as their president.

IT will be another classic showdown between two of the best teams—and best players Lebron James and Stephen Curry—in the National Basketball Association. AP

REP. Eric Buhain (right) with Fred Ancheta.

THE Tropang Giga strike a championship pose with a giant replica of their check showing their cash prize.

HIDILYIN DIAZ-NARANJO on yoga: I need to be with myself and I need to believe in myself.