BusinessMirror May 05, 2023

On the sidelines of the IMF press briefing here, IMF Asia and Pacific Department Director Krishna Srinivasan said given that inflation remains elevated across the region, central banks, including the BSP “should stay the course” and keep monetary policy tight.

On Thursday, the United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) again raised interest rates to 5.25 percent or by 25 basis points (bps). This, Srinivasan said, demonstrates the determination of the United States Federal Reserve to attain its 2-percent target.

“The Philippines is one country where they’ve tightened interest rates quite a bit by about 400 bps so they have [been] tightening and they have been trying to get inflation under control and the last few readings have come out well,” Srinivasan told the BusinessMirror on Thursday.

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

TO b oost the international competitiveness of Philippine-made products, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is seeking for the reauthorization of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program of the United States.

The GSP, which expired in 2020, grants Filipino exporters zero duty for 3,500 tariff lines in the US.

During his speech at the forum organized by the US-Association of Southeast Asian n at ion (AS e A n ) B usiness Council

Investment destination

and US Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. last Wednesday, Marcos sought the support of the private sector for the authorization, which he said will benefit both Filipino and US firms.

“We would like very much for the authorization to come about as this boosts trade, and to make US products that are made in the Philippines more competitive in the global market,” Marcos said. Last April, US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai announced when she visited the country that she will support the renewal of the country’s US GSP.

The President promoted the country as a secure investment destination citing the country’s 7.6 percent GDP growth last year.

h e a lso assured US firms his administration will continue to “create an atmosphere that is attractive to potential investors and we continue that process.”

“We will continue to listen to you and to all our other partners as to what else we can do to help the—to help transform our economy and in that way to be able to play a viable part in the security and defense issues that are the challenges of the day and of the

region,” Marcos said. Present in the forum were top American businessmen and Filipino tycoons including Jaime Zobel de Ayala, e n rique Razon, Tessie Sy Coson and Kevin Tan. Anticipating the transition of more countries towards decarbonization, Marcos said the Philippines is targeting to develop its manufacturing sector particularly those engaged in producing components for green technology such as electric vehicles as well as solar and photovoltaic-related products.

The pandemic and increasing awareness on climate change have led to the emergence of new niches in the labor market, where there are a growing number of vacancies, but still few qualified applicants, for now, according to a new report from the Department of Labor and employment (DOL e).

I n its preliminary Jobs and Labor Market Forecast 20232025, DOL e ’s Bureau of Local e m ployment (BL e ) identified information technology and platform industry as among the industries with “emerg -

ing jobs.”

These jobs include virtual assistant, cybersecurity specialist, social media marketer, application development analysts, delivery riders, fiber optic technician, and online tutor.

BL e said the demand for such positions rose during the pandemic as more people used digital platforms, and both employers as well as workers grew accustomed to flexible work arrangements.

“The crisis has upended the traditional 9-5 working world and caused many blue-

and white-collar employees to pursue digital and gig work for additional—or even primary— income during these unprecedented times,” BL e said.

Another emerging sector is the so-called green jobs industry, which covers occupations “that contribute to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment.”

Such vacancies are becoming more in-demand amid the increasing number of companies adopting more environmentally sustainable practices.

In C h e O n , South Korea—

The Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved the bank’s 2022 financial statements and a $1.1-billion net income allocation from its ordinary capital resources (OCR).

The bulk of the allocable net income will be for ADB’s ordinary reserve to support the bank’s capital growth and provide an earnings base to generate income worth $716.5 million.

This was followed by the Asian Development Fund worth $292.4 million and the Technical Assistance Special Fund (TASF) worth $90 million.

Incheon, South Korea–The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) should not reduce interest rates or pause rate increases until core inflation slows.

rEVIEWIng trOOPS. President Ferdinand romualdez Marcos jr., escorted by commander of troops, army col. David rowland, reviews the troops during a welcoming ceremony at the Pentagon, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, in Washington. AP/AN drew H A r N ik

Phl FIrSt gOlD In caMbODIa SEa gaMES jenna Kaila napolis wins the Philippines’ first gold medal at the 32nd Southeast asian games following her 2-0 shutout of hometown bet jessa chan in the final of women’s ne-waza gI 52 kgs before a shocked local crowd at the chroy changvar convention center in Phnom Penh on thur sday. Story in B7 Sports. rOY dOM NGO

Some of the green jobs include agricultural engineers and scientists, agriculturists, biochemists, drone engineer, e-jeepney driver, and environment engineer.

The creative industry was also seen as a source for emerging jobs such as audio-visual design, digital interactive media, and content creation.

“The creative industry increases activities driven by the generation and exploitation of knowledge and information,” BLE said.

The regional consultations of BLE served as basis for the results of the new DOLE report. The bureau said the government is currently focused on providing an enabling environment so the said emerging skills and industries could continue to expand and offer more employment opportunities.

This includes the “development of technical and vocational educational training (TVET) and apprenticeship aligned with emerging trends and demands.”

Samuel P. Medenilla

ADB: Govt can attract more private capital for projects

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

Incheon, South Korea—The Asian Development Bank (ADB) believes there is room to attract more Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Philippines amid an increase in demand for private sector financing.

In a briefing on Thursday, ADB Principal Public-Private Partnership Specialist Ichiro Aoki said what is important right now is to ensure that projects in the country—or any country for that matter—remain bankable.

Aoki said this is where ADB’s work comes in. By providing advisory services for a number of PPP projects in the Philippines and other developing member countries, ADB is communicating to investors that it is committed to seeing these projects through and are

worth their investment.

“[On the] thinning of private capital, I think it’s not going to be the case because investors are everywhere. There are stronger private sector investors in the Philippines, there are a lot more that are interested in this market from international markets,” Aoki said.

“What’s important is to develop investor’s confidence in each PPP market. We have to showcase successful PPP models so that everyone is confident to invest in projects,” he added.

During the briefing, ADB Head of the Office of PPPs Cleo Kawawaki said their PPP pipeline in the Philippines is one of the “most hectic” as the biggest project they are currently undertaking is in the Philippines—the operation and maintenance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“In the Philippines we have one of the most hectic pipelines and we are very, very honored to be entrusted with these big projects,” Kawawaki said.

“Even if you spend billions and billions of dollars on rails or light rails or even for airports, if its not operated correctly, you’d lose all your investment,” she also said on why operation and maintenance (O&M) is important for projects.

Kawawaki said ADB also has in its PPP lineup in the country the operation and maintenance of MalolosClark railway project which will ensure a seamless link from Clark International Airport to Calamba, Laguna. She also said the list in -

cludes the O&M of the NorthSouth Commuter Railway connecting Metro Manila and Calamba, located in Laguna Province around 50 kilometers south of Manila. The ADB is also taking a look at a number of the MRT rail projects in the country as well.

Earlier, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board granted approval of the revised Joint Venture (JV) guidelines which aims to contribute to the government’s push for more PPPs.

The provisions in the revised guidelines are aligned with the amended Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Build-OperateTransfer (BOT) Law and the proposed amendments to the BOT Law or PPP Act.

The amendments include safeguard provisions aimed at promoting the pooling of resources and expertise between government and private entities through JVs as a viable, efficient, and practical alternative for achieving the development goals of the government.

its new country partnership, foremost of which is climate action. He said this is needed by the country because the Philippines will no longer build new power plants.

“But the important point, as in most of Asia, is that getting inflation under control is very important. So central banks have to stay the course to ensure that inflation comes back (down) not (only for) one or two months but comes back durably,” he added.

Asia and Pacific Department Regional Studies Division Chief Jay Peiris added that core inflation has also been elevated in the Philippines. In April, core inflation increased further to 8 percent bringing year-to-date inflation to 7.7 percent.

“Commodity prices are coming down, food and fuel [prices] are coming down so [that is] something to consider but I think what we are saying is we [should] focus on core inflation now. Core inflation remains high across the world, including in the Philippines so the key is, until we see core inflation coming down durably, we should [keep monetary policy] tight,” Peiris told this newspaper.

In an interview with BusinessMirror here on Wednesday, BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said he has made his position clear regarding the rate hikes. Should the inflation data be positive on a month-on-month basis, the BSP may pause increases in interest rates in its next meeting slated for May 18.

Medalla said inflation has been slowing as a result of the arrival of the country’s food imports. The timing of the imports were identified as one of, if not, the biggest causes of the uptick in commodity prices.

“ADB is actively evolving our mission, increasing our resources, and undertaking organizational reforms. We are especially committed to investing in global and regional public goods, to help mitigate the increasing global threats,” ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said in his statement on Thursday.

The Manila-based multilateral development bank (MDB) extends two kinds of lending, the OCR for middle-income countries at market rates and the ADF for poor countries at concessional rates.

The TASF, meanwhile, provides technical assistance grants to borrowing members to help prepare projects and undertake technical or policy studies.

“Multilateral cooperation and concessional funding assistance given to developing membercountries will remain to be the most effective tools in ensuring a sustainable and inclusive recovery. And we commend the ADBs effort and exploring initiatives that will increase its lending capacity,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla said in his statement during the business session of the ADB Board of Governor’s. Medalla is the Philippines’ head of delegation this year.

“Climate action and navigating policy issues surrounding it requires a whole of society approach. The ADB needs to find ways to seamlessly restructure financing in such a way that will be a greater enabler for greener and more resilient growth for its member countries,” he added.

On the part of the Philippines, Medalla said the strategy of the Philippine government is to focus on modernizing agriculture, expanding agribusiness, encouraging private sector participation in infrastructure development, promoting digital transformation, and enhancing the competitiveness of local industries, among others.

Medalla said the ADB and the national government presented the bank’s proposed themes for

“We acknowledge that the ADB has been relentless in its efforts to alleviate poverty and social inequality, tackle climate change, and has resilience and sustainability and foster growth across the Asia Pacific region. For that we thank the ADB for his continued support to the Philippines,” Medalla said.

Earlier, ADB Philippines Country Director Kelly Bird said the CPS for 2024 to 2029 may be approved by the ADB Board early next year. The CPS, which is aligned with the administration’s eight-point agenda and the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, will be crafted using three pillars.

The first pillar is on intensified climate action; climate smart transportation and digital transformation; and investing in Filipinos.

Under climate action, ADB aims to help the country undertake policy reforms and finance, resource mobilization; capacity building for climate change related agencies and the PPP Center; and finance investments.

These investments will be focused on mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity protection as well as food security/agriculture; flood protection; irrigation; disaster management and resilience; and protecting biodiversity.

Under climate smart transportation and digital transportation, the ADB intends to help the government undertake reforms such as the use of electronic vehicles in mass transport, specifically electronic buses; institutional capacity building; and other investments such as pedestrian walkways, bridges, expressways, and road networks.

Projects and programs to invest in Filipinos include those that address the learning losses in education; developing technological and vocational skills; business and employment recovery; social protection; helping vulnerable mothers and child nutrition; and universal healthcare and health sector investments.

Cai U. Ordinario

“I have already made my view very clear, which is that if we have one more good month-on-month inflation, it’s time to pause because we already have two very good months,” Medalla said. “In other words, the imports are beginning to work.”

The BSP, in its month-ahead forecast, expects April inflation to be slower due to the decline in electricity prices and select food items.

BSP said April inflation may have averaged 6.3 to 7.1 percent, lower than the 7.6-percent inflation recorded in March 2023.

If the low end of the target is achieved, this will be the same rate in August 2022 and the lowest since June 2022 when inflation was at 6.1 percent.

If the high end of the forecast is attained, this will mark the sixth consecutive month that inflation is above 7 percent.

However, the BSP said, upward pressures still remain. These include higher domestic petroleum prices, higher rice and meat prices, and the peso depreciation.

Areas of cooperation

PRIOR to the forum, Marcos also visited the Pentagon, where he was received by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin. Austin assured the President of the US government’s commitment to help modernize the country’s defense capabilities.

Marcos also met with members of the US Senate in Capitol Hill to discuss defense and security engagement and other possible areas of cooperation such as supply chain, health and health security, environment, energy security, and interconnectivity.

Earlier this week, he also had high-level dialogues with US President Joseph Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris.

The president will be ending his four-day working visit in the US on May 4.

The Nation

Law on auto refund for ISP, telco for service hitch pushed

SEN. Jinggoy Estrada is asking Congress to pass a law requiring telecommunication companies (telcos) and Internet service providers (ISPs) to automatically refund subscribers when they experience at least 24 hours of accumulated service interruptions within a month.

T his is the gist of Senate Bill No. 2074, which Estrada filed last April 17.

A refund should be in order if the service outages would accumulate to 24 hours in a month,” the senator stressed.

“Serbisyo ang binabayaran natin. Kapag hindi ka nakabayad ng iyong bill sa itinakda nilang due date ng pagbabayad, mabilis pa sa alas kwatro ang pagputol nila ng linya. Kung hindi rin naman nila matutumbasan ang serbisyong binabayaran natin, dapat ikaltas ito sa ating mga bayarin,” Estrada suggested, asking why telco customers should be made to pay for undelivered services “ Bakit tayo magbabayad sa serbisyong hindi naman natin napakinabangan?” the senator asked, “At sa panahon na halos nakadepende ang bawat galaw natin sa mga gadgets at digital devices, mahalaga ang pagkakaroon ng mabilis, accessible at reliable connection.”

T he senator noted that the remedial legislation embodied in Senate Bill 2074, or the proposed Refund for Internet and Telecommunications Service Outages and Disruptions Act, once enacted into law will require public telecommunication entities (PTEs) and ISPs to institute a mechanism that will enable them to automatically refund or adjust the bills of their postpaid and prepaid subscribers whenever there are service disruptions.

T he remedial legislation, once enacted into law, will amend Section 20 of Republic Act 7925, otherwise known as the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, to include a provision mandating refund credit to a customer who experienced a service outage and disruption for an aggregate period of 24 hours or more within a month.

M oreover, the refund credit shall also be granted to customers subscribing to a service on a prepaid basis.

“Genuine accessibility can only be achieved,” Estrada emphasized, if the connection services are regular, reliable, consistent, uninterrupted, and fast to allow continuity of activities and interconnection among different users.

He added that this measure intends to implement fair charging of services of telcos and ISPs to the consumers, stressing “it is important that they receive the service that is worth every cent that they pay, and they will not be charged for the service that they were not able to avail of.” Butch Fernandez

Sen. Tulfo condemns sky-high generation charge of gencos, even as coal prices drop

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

SEN. Raffy Tulfo on Thursday deplored the sky-high and soaring generation charge of energy generation companies (gencos) despite the drop in prices of coal in the global price index.

It can be noted that compared to other countries in Asia, the Philippines has one of the highest electricity costs even though the price of coal imports is all based on the Indonesian Coal Index and the New Castle Index.

To address the issue and discuss why the abusive practice by gencos

was allowed to persist for decades, Tulfo, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, immediately held a virtual consultative meeting with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) last Monday, May 1.

“Kaya sobrang mahal ng kuryente sa Pilipinas ay dahil matagal na pala tay-

ong piniprito sa sarili nating mantika ng mga gahamang energy generation company,” the lawmaker lamented.

Moreover, he groaned that “kahit mura ang pagkabili ng suplay nila ng coal, sky is the limit sila kung tumaga para sa kita. Imoral na ang kanilang pagpatong ng tubo sa binibili nilang coal.”

A sserting that it is time for State regulators to step in, he stressed , “Panahon na para pang-himasukan ng gobyerno ang iskandalosong sistema pagnenegosyo ng mga kompanyang ito.”

He added: “Notably, coal prices in the global market have been plummeting but the charges of generation companies remain high in the Philippines, allowing big gencos supplying electricity in the country to earn hundreds of millions, to even billions, daily.”

In fact, the senator noted that one of the reasons why many foreign

investors are hesitant to set up their business in the Philippines was “because of expensive electricity cost.”

Moreover, he also noted that these foreign investors prefer to go to other countries with cheaper electricity charges, such as Malaysia and Vietnam.

T he lawmaker likewise recalled that during the said consultative meeting, ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta admitted, “the high charge of gencos has been a longstanding and persistent problem.”

Dimalanta, likewise, shared that ERC has already written a letter to gencos asking them to explain the basis for their sky-high charge, recalling that one of these companies claimed that they couldn’t divulge such information due to confidentiality, which angered Tulfo.

A sked to further share ERC’s

response to said genco’s refusal to cooperate, Dimalanta said they already issued a “show cause” order obligating the generation companies to comply but to no avail, recalling that “until now, not even a single genco complied with ERC’s order.”

T he senator also asked Dimalanta if there is a need for legislation to set a limitation on the rate of returns of gencos, and got a reply that “not as of the moment because ERC will be the one to solve the issue.”

At the same time, Tulfo recalled that DOE promised they are ready to impose necessary sanctions to noncompliant gencos, which includes obliging the latter to give their customers a refund. Tulfo added he would get back to ERC and DOE through a public hearing come opening of the session in Senate to finally put a stop to the abuse of gencos to Filipino consumers.

Palace order

By Samuel P. Medenilla  @sam_medenilla

THE government’s anti-criminality drive will go beyond the law enforcement initiatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) under the new issuance of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

O n Tuesday, the President issued Memorandum Circular No. 19, through Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, directing all government agencies to support the National Police Commission (Napolcom) in the implementation of its 2023 National Crime Prevention Program (NCPP).   Napolcom is an attached agency of the Department of the Interior and

mandates govt

agencies and LGUs to support Napolcom’s anti-crime blueprint

Local Government (DILG), which also controls the PNP.

“

To ensure the success of the 2023 NCPP and in line with the adoption of a whole-of-government approach in addressing criminality, and ensuring peace and security in the country, it is necessary for all government agencies and instrumentalities, and local government units [LGU] to support and cooperate in the implementation of the 2023 NCPP,” Marcos said.

Napolcom developed the NCPP through stakeholder consultations pursuant to Republic Act No. 8551 or the Philippine National Police Reform and Reorganization Act.

PNP Chief Benjamin C. Acorda Jr., who concurrently serves as an

ex-officio member of the Napolcom, vowed to launch a “relentless anti-criminality campaign” during his watch.

A s of last March, PNP has reported index crimes nationwide during the first quarter of the year went down to 7,865 from 9,375 year-on-year.

125th Independence Day

THE President also signed Administrative Order (AO) No. 8 forming the inter-agency committee for the commemoration of the 125th anniversary of Philippine independence and nationhood.

T he panel will be chaired by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) with the

DILG as vice chairman.

Its members will include the Department of Tourism, Department of Education, Department of National Defense, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Transportation, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

T he President instructed other government offices to also support the initiatives of the committee for the commemoration of the 125th Independence Day from 2023 to 2026 with the theme “Kalayaan, Kinabukasan, Kasaysayan (Freedom, Future, History).”

PCG and UNODC-GMCP host Coast Guard expert group meet in Cebu

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and CrimeGlobal Maritime Crime Programme (UNODC-GMCP) co-hosted the two-day Asean Coast Guard Forum Technical Expert Group Meeting in Cebu City.

F our Asean member countries, including the Coast Guard and Maritime Law Enforcement Agencies of Indonesia (Indonesian Coast Guard), Singapore (Singapore Police Coast Guard), and PCG, attended the meeting, with Thailand joining virtually.

T he Asean Coast Guard Forum

Technical Expert Group Meeting facilitated the finalization of the Draft

Concept Paper and Term of Reference as agreed upon during the Asean Coast Guard Commanders Meeting in Bali, Indonesia in November 2022.

PCG Deputy Commandant for Administration, Vice Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan graced the meeting.

In his keynote address, Gavan urged everyone to develop platforms dedicated to Asean.

“

When we conceptualized together the formation of this forum a decade back, we had in mind that despite the presence of so many platforms developed to address the broad maritime security issues affecting our regions, we lacked a platform where Asean’s centrality is at its core,” Gavan said.

“

This is what we have been hoping to put forward in the Asean Coast Guard Forum. We took note of

the issues initially raised last time, but I would like to enjoin everyone to focus on finding the solutions to these issues. After all, our success as Asean lies in the ability to be united in dealing with the common issues affecting us together,” he added.

Gavan encouraged everyone to exert efforts in coming up with something more tangible than before in the lead up to the conduct of the Heads of Asean Coast Guard in Jakarta in June 2023.

“ With the facilitation done, I hope there can be no limit on the things that we can discuss. We cannot solve issues without being transparent in how we deal with others,” the PCG deputy commandant for administration expressed.

D uring the closing ceremony, UNODC-GMCP Southeast Asia and

Brains behind Lanao del Sur gov’s ambush slain in police op

CAMP SK PENDATUN, Maguindanao del Norte—Government forces killed during an operation Wednesday the alleged mastermind in the February 17 ambush of Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr.

C ol. Robert Daculan, Lanao del Sur police provincial director, said private armed group leader Oscar Tacmar Capal Gandawali was killed after he resisted arrest and briefly traded shots with a team of police and military personnel at about 3 p.m. Wednesday.

I njured were Army 5th Infantry Battalion (IB) personnel Staff Sgt. Michael Angelo Y. Virecio and village chairman Gamon Manonggiring of Barangay Pilimoknan in Maguing town where the operation was conducted.

the Pacific Programme Coordinator Shanaka Jayasekara congratulated the PCG for successfully convening the Expert Group Meeting of the Asean Coast Guard Forum.

“ We, at UNODC-GMCP, are privileged to be part of this important initiative that is helping shape the landscape of maritime security and cooperation in the Asean region,” Jayasekara said.

The multifaceted nature of maritime issues and the ever-growing importance of our ocean space necessitates greater collaboration and increased capacity of concerned stakeholders,” he said.

B efore the meeting, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand had already signed the Concept Paper and Term of Reference.

Immigration officer in hot water over links to human trafficking

AMALE immigration officer will face an administrative case for allegedly facilitating the departure of a couple who are reportedly victims of trafficking to Myanmar, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Thursday.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, in a statement, said the officer has been removed from his post for his involvement in the case of the couple who worked as love scammers and arrived home on April 25 after escaping their employers.

Tansingco warned immigration personnel not to be involved in illegal cross-border activities.

If you are innocent, I will defend you. But if I find out that

you are involved, you will know the consequence of your action. I don’t care who your backer is,” he said.

According to the victims, they experienced physical abuse, threats, and starvation as consequences for not reaching their quota.

Both claimed that they were recruited via social media by a certain Maxesa and left the country in October 2022 purportedly for a four-day vacation in Singapore.

The two noted that from Singapore, they flew to Bangkok and were transported by armed men to Mae Sot City to eventually take a boat ride to Myanmar. After their successful escape, they sought assistance from the

Philippine Embassy in Thailand.

Meanwhile, the BI also reported the rescue of two trafficking victims at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1.

The women were intercepted on separate occasions on April 28 and 29 as they were about to board their flights to Dubai.

Tansingco said the two were stopped from leaving after immigration officers at the airport found that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) employment visa that they presented was counterfeit.

The victims claimed that they obtained their travel documents only at the airport, a few hours before their scheduled flights and

they did not know that the papers given to them were spurious.

“These syndicates have no sympathy or concern at all for the well-being of their victims. They prey on our poor countrymen who are lured to their evil ways because of their ardent desire to earn a living abroad in order to support their families here,” he said.

The BI’s travel control and enforcement unit reported that the passengers were both referred for secondary inspection after BI officers noticed that the overseas employment certificates they presented could not be validated in the database of the Department of Migrant Workers. Upon verification, it was determined that their UAE employment visas

were also fraudulent.

The women were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for investigation and assistance in filing cases against their recruiters.

Last month, the bureau also relieved another officer from his post for allegedly helping clear passengers who attempted to board a flight to Lebanon to work as household service workers.

The women were allegedly being trafficked to work in the Middle East.

The passengers, initially disguised as tourists, said they would go on a tour but later confessed that their final destination is Lebanon, where they were recruited to work. PNA

Daculan said the team was about to serve eight warrants of arrest for murder and frustrated murder charges against Gandawali when the shootout broke out.

“Gandawali sensed the approaching lawmen and immediately opened fire, hitting Sgt. Virecio in the process and triggered a brief firefight,” Daculan said in a statement.

G andawali’s companions scampered in different directions while the firefight was raging, he added.

R ecovered from Gandawali’s safehouse were firearms, ammunition, illegal drugs, and shabu paraphernalia.

D aculan said Gandawali was tagged as the mastermind in the ambush of Governor Adiong Jr. in Maguing town on February 17, which claimed the lives of the governor’s three police escorts and a driver.

Adiong was wounded in the ambush but has fully recovered.

D aculan said the suspect also masterminded the ambush slaying of five Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents in Kapai, Lanao del Sur in October 2018.

L ikewise, Gandawali’s group was linked to gun-for-hire operations, gunrunning, robbery, and the proliferation of illegal drugs in Lanao del Sur.

“ He [Gandawali] was also tagged as a financier and supporter of the Daesh-inspired local terrorist group,” Daculan said. Gandawali is listed by the police as the most wanted person in Lanao del Sur and the fourth most-wanted man in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). PNA

Editor:

Vittorio V. Vitug

Local, foreign employers keen on hiring displaced OFWs from Sudan

By Samuel P. Medenilla   @sam_medenilla

(OFW) displaced by the raging war in Sudan, according to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

D MW Secretary Susan V. Ople said they are now coordinating with MedPro International

and Carnival Corporation and Princess Cruises, which have expressed interest in employing the affected OFWs.

S he said they are also in talks with the Saudi recruitment industry association, PeaceMe, and the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Development to provide employment opportunities to those who fled Sudan.

A local manning company, Magsaysay People Resources/Magsaysay Maritime Corporation also said it can

provide job offers to the displaced.

O ple said DMW would be submitting the profiles of the displaced seafarers for the consideration of the said employers.

They’re willing to look at the profiles of those who came from Sudan because I told them these are skilled workers...they said they are willing to look at the profiles,” Ople said in a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

T he DMW chief said the government was already able to evac -

DENR chief pitches shift to ‘regenerative’ tourism

By  Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has called for a shift to “regenerative” tourism to boost the country’s ecotourism.

In a statement, DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga defined regenerative tourism as simply “leaving a place better than it was before.”

Pitching the call for regenerative tourism in a speech delivered by DENR Undersecretary for Legal and Administration Ernesto D. Adobo Jr. during the International Ecotourism Forum held in Manila from March 29 to April 2, Loyzaga said regenerative tourism goes beyond the environment and looks at the social and economic development of communities, preservation of local cultures, and protection of biodiversity.

It is the understanding that everything is connected and the interactions between every stakeholder throughout the tourism value chain have impacts on each other and our ecosystems,” she explained.

T he DENR chief emphasized the importance of transitioning towards tourism that regenerates the environment and provides economic, social and environmental benefits, and taking into account climate change.

She noted the country’s tourism sector faces challenges brought about by climate change, extreme weather events as well as slow and rapid onset of hazard that impede potential to be a driver of environmental and cultural protection, economic progress, and social development.

The DENR has been at the forefront of ecotourism development through sustainable management of protected areas (PAs) under the National Integrated Protected Areas System or NIPAS program, Yulo-Loyzaga said.

T he program promotes sustainable tourism and responsible travel to natural areas through national and localized guidelines and standards, educational conservation, and economic and social development of local communities.

Equity is central to ecotourism. Development assistance for communities to help them leverage

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) announced on Thursday the turnover of a P1.9 million worth rice harvesting machine to rice farmers based in Bagumba, Midsayap, North Cotabato.

The 88-horsepower rice combine harvester with trailer provided to Bagumba Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (BARBO) is expected to boost rice production in the area.

Livelyn Guillermo, BARBO President, said the rice harvester addresses the recurring problem of scarcity of labor or a limited number of available mechanized rice harvesters during harvest time.

“We were spending P8,000 per hectare on labor in manual harvesting, while 10 percent of the total number of sacks were deducted from renting rice harvesters to private individuals in the area,” she said.

Due to the large areas served by

uate 600 of 777 Filipinos from Sudan, who requested aid from the Philippine embassy.

She said all the rescued, who arrived in Egypt each received a $200 cash aid as well as livelihood package.

DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will provide the families of the workers P100,000 worth of livelihood packages and financial aid.

C lashes between Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Sudanese

capital of Khartoum, which erupted last month, prompted many countries, including the Philippines, to evacuate their nationals from Sudan.

O ple is currently in Washington D.C. as part of the delegation, who accompanied President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his working visit in the United States.

D uring the trip, she said she met with several anti-human trafficking organizations and the US State Department.

the economic value of their natural assets should be strengthened,” Loyzaga stressed. Powerful tool ACCORDING to the DENR chief, ecotourism “can be a powerful tool for conservation, community development, and education, but it requires careful planning and management to ensure that it benefits both the environment and local communities.”

Ecotourism development is also supported by the National Ecotourism Strategy and Action Plan (NESAP) jointly developed by the DENR and the Department of Tourism.

NESAP is currently being updated to incorporate strategies on disaster risk reduction and management, address the impacts of the pandemic, expand its scope from PAs to ecotourism areas, and participate in monitoring and conservation initiatives.

L oyzaga further emphasized that ecotourism serves as an avenue for the participation of local communities in biodiversity conservation in PAs, which is critical to climate change mitigation and disaster risk reduction.

To sustainably manage PAs and biodiversity resources, Loyzaga said the proper valuation of these assets is critical to recognize biodiversity’s actual and realized contribution to the economy and true cost of natural capital loss.

Under Loyzaga’s administration, the DENR has established a national natural resource geospatial database and a natural capital accounting system, which will significantly aid in the prioritization of investments and actions for the country’s environment and natural resources.

T he DENR likewise instituted a climate change tagging system in its national budget and crafted legislation on the protection of millions of hectares of forests, wetlands, caves, mangroves, and reefs.

T he International Ecotourism Forum is the highlight of the first-ever 2023 International Ecotourism Travel Mart organized by the Asian Ecotourism Network, a regional initiative of the Global Ecotourism Network that showcased practical insights and effective steps on sustainable tourism.

DOE and Meralco prod public to practice energy efficiency

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Department of Energy (DOE) strongly urged the public to practice energy efficiency to better manage electricity consumption.

D uring a webinar organized by Meralco, DOE Energy Utilization Management Bureau Director Patrick Aquino said energy efficiency is the “best energysaving device” and customers have the power to control their consumption.

“ Energy efficiency is our first fuel. It is our first line of defense,” he said as he highlighted the importance of changing consumption behaviors and investing in energy efficient technologies.

Aquino added that demandside management could also contribute in ensuring sufficient and continuous supply for other electricity consumers.

When we are able to effectively manage our demand, we are able to reduce our requirements for generation,” he said.

T he call to continuously observe energy efficiency practices came just as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) issued an El Niño alert, noting that there’s an 80 percent probability that the phenomenon will start as early as June and persist until the first quarter of 2024.

M eralco said its business unit, MServ, offers energy audit services and solutions such as data visualization, and energy efficiency reports for the seamless adoption of the practice.

“At any given level, we can support our customers,

whether it is a small consulting job or a complete rehabilitation of their cooling system, we are flexible that way. They can reach out to us, and we can offer support to their energy efficiency journey,” MServ Vice President for Commercial Services Group Cecile Marvilla said in the same webinar, which was conducted in support of Republic Act No. 11285 or the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act.

B oth Meralco and the DOE assured the public of their continuous efforts to ensure reliable electricity service and sufficient power supply throughout the dry season. They are also urging more companies to join the government’s Interruptible Load Program (ILP) to spare households from power interruptions during instances of red alert or even when supply is insufficient to meet the demand.

T he power distributor recently secured the commitment for 56 megawatts (MW) of additional de-loading capacity, and once enrolled, this will expand the distribution utility’s ILP capacity to 616 MW from 560 MW currently. As of today, there are 117 companies enrolled in the ILP within the Meralco franchise area. The DOE, for its part, has discouraged generation plants from scheduling outages and testing units during the dry season.

Meralco is one with the government in pushing for energy efficiency and conservation not just during the critical dry season but as a way of living that Filipino consumers can embrace,” Meralco Vice President for Corporate Communications Joe Zaldarriaga said.

rectly benefit from the project serving more or less 380 hectares of rice areas in our barangay, while a combined area of more than 1,000 hectares in the adjacent barangays will also benefit from the machine,” she added.

The provision of a rice harvester was made possible by the DAR’s Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support Program, which aims to enhance and sustain the agricultural productivity of agrarian reform communities as an adaptation measure towards climate change resiliency.

the

ditional income for the family.

in losses and a reduction to ad-

“Now that we are going to mechanize our harvesting activity, the 161 members of our organization will di-

Evangeline Bueno, North Cotabato Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II, said farmers in the area would no longer worry about harvest losses due to the delays in harvesting their crop and it would also make them become more resilient and adaptive to the effects of climate change as far as rice farming is concerned.

privately owned rice harvesters in the area, farmers have to patiently wait for their turn, which oftentimes result

SEVERAL overseas and local firms are willing to hire skilled overseas Filipino workers

Govt, industry group to promote IP in textile and fashion industry

By Andrea E. San Juan @andreasanjuan

GOVERNMENT agencies and an industry group are banking on intellectual property to revitalize the Philippine textile and fashion industry toward global competitiveness, according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL).

IP can incentivize the creation of innovative processes and products that can revolutionize fashion across the value chain, from fabric production to design, development and distribution. We hope the technologies we integrate will also attract the tech-savvy youth to create a stronger force for this movement,”

IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said at the Gawad Yamang Isip Awards and Fashion Night organized by IPOPHL last April 26.

T he IPOPHL added that through intellectual property, the Philippines could promote the circular economy and make a way for fast fashion and sustainable wear to “operate in harmony.”

T hrough the industry’s lens, Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) Officer-in-Charge Julius Leaño Jr. shared how the agency recently “shifted gears” to a more aggressive patenting strategy during the pandemic to “break new grounds” in textile innovation.

“ When we diversified our textile research and development portfolio at the height of the pandemic, we needed to be brought up to speed with patent search and documentation skills,” Leaño said.

He added that IPOPHL responded to PTRI’s goal to build “internal capacity” at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

T he PTRI official said that the research institute’s revamped innovation strategy involves a “more robust” use of the patent system, starting with a patent search to identify white spaces in the textile innovation space to applying patent grants for its technologies at the earliest possible phase in research and development.

Leaño attributed PTRI’s “improved maturity” in optimizing the IP system to “numerous training interactions and guidance” IPOPHL has been extending to PTRI in recent years.

For the fashion industry, Philippine Fashion Coalition (PFC)

President Carissa Cruz-Evangelista lauded IPOPHL for its work in “solidifying capacities” of universities and colleges to utilize and promote the use of the IP system, which it said is a core mission of IPOPHL’s Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) program.

She also highlighted the role of IPOPHL for making IP more accessible in the regions through its IP satellite offices (IPSOs) stationed at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional offices but determined the need to widen the reach of IP services and assistance.

We would like to partner more with IP to bring these satellite offices not just in the regional offices of DTI, but to other places nationwide,” Cruz-Evangelista said at the GYI-cum-Fashion Night.

Further, she called on the government and the private sector to “sustain the momentum” and collaboration to propel the Philippine fashion, wearables and textile industries towards global competitiveness, underscoring the economic gains to be enjoyed by those part of their value chains.

From soil to skin, [these industries] will provide many jobs—jobs for farmers, weavers, the mills, designers, the sewers and more,” CruzEvangelista added.

For her part, the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) Officer-in-Charge Executive Director Annray V. Rivera committed the agency to be a partner in implementing the geographical indications (GI) regulations for the fiber craft industries.

R ivera said this commitment expresses PhilFida’s goals “to protect and promote the hard work and passion” that Filipinos put into local fiber crafts and other valuable fiberbased IP products which are sources of both economic strengthening and creative cultural expressions.

Out of over 30 Philippine products vetted as potential GIs, IPOPHL said over 30 percent are textile and wearables.

T he current GI map counts in Lake Sebu T’nalak, Buhi Weave (Camarines Sur), Liliw Footwear, Lumban Embroidered Barong, Sabutan Weave of Aurora, Aklan Piña Cloth, Bagtason Loom of Antique, Basey Banig of Samar, Tibiao Piña Fiber of Antique and Yakan Cloth of Zamboanga and Basilan, IPOPHL noted.

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

FILIPINOS continue to be cautious about traveling, even domestically, and consider the safety of a destination as the highest priority in making vacation plans this summer.

I n the latest survey on summer 2023 domestic travel in Southeast Asia of Milieu Insight, a leading consumer research firm in the region, while 76 percent of the 2,500 respondents were eager to travel in their own countries, “3 in 10 respondents from the Philippines still have high levels of concerns about Covid-19 safety, the highest across the region.”

T he firm said this was likely due to the reported rise in Covid cases in the country, which now stand at 7,037, according to recent data from the Department of Health. Although there have been no reported deaths so far, Covid wards in government hospitals have been reopened. A side from Covid-19 safety (69 percent of 500 respondents), other

top factors Filipinos consider in their summer travel plans are the cost of the whole vacation (58 percent), travel spots and sceneries (47 percent), weather of the destination (46 percent), and variety of places to eat at (40 percent).

2-3 domestic trips this year

THE survey also showed Filipinos will take anywhere from three to four days (45 percent) or five to seven days (27 percent) on their next vacation, which will likely be at a beach destination (5 in 10 respondents), reflecting a popular choice across the region. In the Philippines, Boracay is where most Filipinos are headed (54 percent), followed by Baguio (46 percent), and Palawan, another beach destination (41 percent). Most Filipinos plan to take two to three domestic trips this year, reflecting the regional average. In their summer vacation, Filipinos ranked foodtripping as the highest, at 58 percent, among their activities. This was followed by swimming (51 percent); relaxing at a cafe, tourist spot, etc. (44 percent); touring (43 percent), and relaxing at a hotel,

airBnB, etc. (25 percent).

L egacy carrier Philippine Airlines leads Filipinos’ choice for airline bookings this summer at 76 percent, followed by Cebu Pacific (67 percent), and Philippines AirAsia (49 percent).

M ilieu Insights conducts its surveys via its mobile app, choosing 500 respondents aged 20-65 per country, across income segments. Aside from the Philippines, other countries surveyed were Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. The summer domestic travel survey was conducted in April 2023.

Naga was most popular destination in 2022

AS this developed, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported there were close to 40 million overnight travelers in the country’s destinations last year. Of the total, the data showed, some 37.17 million were domestic travelers, about 2.7 million were foreign tourists, and 126,218 were overseas Filipinos, or Philippine passports holders permanently residing abroad.

Of all the destinations, Naga City was the most popular with 2 million

overnight visitors last year, majority of whom (1.95 million) were domestic travelers. It was followed by Boracay Island at 1.8 million, of which 1.6 million were domestic travelers; Pasay City at 1.25 million, some 72 percent of whom were domestic travelers; Cebu City at 1.06 million, with 80 percent domestic travelers; and Baguio City at 1.04 million with almost 100 percent domestic travelers.

O ther popular destinations last year were the Clark special economic zone with 926,372 visitors; Iloilo City with 752,301; and Bacolod with 618,682.

O n a regional basis, Calabarzon and the Bicol Region received the most number of overnight visitors last year with some 6.09 million and 4.82 million, respectively, likely due their accessibility via open roads. The National Capital Region received 4.7 million overnight visitors, followed by Western Visayas at 4.28 million visitors, boosted by travelers to Boracay. Other favored regional destinations were Central Visayas with 3.6 million visitors and the Davao Region with 2.15 million visitors.

BuCor imposes facemask policy in prison facilities

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has implemented a “no face mask, no entry” policy at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) and Correctional Institution for Women starting Thursday following a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases among inmates.

T he latest policy came after BuCor announced the cancellation of visitation privileges starting Wednesday to prevent the virus from further spreading inside its facilities.

A side from the mandatory wearing of face masks, BuCor Dir. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang also required the presentation of the latest rapid antigen test result for visitors and individuals transacting in all BuCor offices and NBP national headquarters.

C atapang through Officer-inCharge (OIC) Dir. Gen. for Operations Angelina L. Bautista issued the order.

NWRB chief assures sufficient water supply for farm irrigation, fishery despite draught

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

THE National Water Resources

Board (NWRB) assured on Thursday that Angat Dam would have sufficient water supply to provide irrigation for farmers in Central Luzon for the start of the planting season next month.

N WRB Executive Director Sevillo

D. David Jr. made the assurance after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced last Tuesday that El Niño might hit the country as early as June.  D uring El Niño, the country is expected to experience belownormal rainfall.

“ We assured them there will be sufficient water from Angat Dam, which will be released to ensure you will be able to harvest [their current crops] and prepare for the next planting season this June,” David said in Filipino in a television interview with PTV last Thursday.

Currently, the NWRB said water level in Angat Dam is at 194.4 meters, which is still over the 180- meter critical level.

Harvest season

HE said they are reducing the release

of water from Angat Dam for irrigation since almost all of the farmers in the 27,000 hectares farmland in Bulacan and Pampanga have completed their harvest.

Now, we only have to provide irrigation to 2,000 hectares [of farmland],” David said.

When they are about to harvest, they don’t need much water. That is why for this month, we adjusted their allocation from 30 cubic meters per second last April to 10 cubic meters this month,” he added.

N WRB noted they conduct similar reduction in water released from Angat Dam each year.

David, however, said that for this year, he wanted to be more efficient in the use of the water from the Angat Dam due to the anticipated El Niño.

“ Because of the concerns on El Niño, we need to prepare and monitor the developments in Angat Dam since we need to see how much water is received during El Niño,” David said.

Enough fish to fry IN a related development, the Department of Agriculture (DA) has assured the public that it will implement measures to prepare for El Niño, and ensure sufficient food supply.

In a statement, DA’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DABFAR) National Director Demosthenes Escoto said that the weather phenomenon, forecasted to emerge starting in June, has positive and negative impacts on the local supply.

He said El Niño might be favorable to archipelagic species such as tuna and sardines because these organisms prefer warmer water temperatures.

On the other hand, the weather phenomenon may be challenging to land-based aquaculture species like bangus and tilapia since lower water levels may also mean scarcity of dissolved oxygen in their habitats, Escoto added.

T he good news, he said, is that local fisherfolk could cushion the impact of El Niño on their catch by following good aquaculture practices.

T he DA-BFAR is encouraging fisherfolk to practice good aquaculture practices like having the appropriate stock or number of fingerlings in their cages so they won’t lack oxygen, thus lessening the probability of fish kill occurrence, Escoto said.

Moreover, the national director has assured the public that the agency’s mitigating measures are in place to boost aquaculture production ahead of El Niño.

Pinoys still wary of Covid, but are heading to the beach in droves this summer–poll

NOTICE OF FILING OF APPLICATION/S FOR

Notice is hereby given that the following companies/employers have filed with this

Office application/s for

13 BOJIE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION

Lots 1-8, Block 4, Golden Gate Business Park, Buenavista II, City of General Trias, Cavite

14 BRICKHARTZ TECHNOLOGY INC.

Lot 4044, Molino Boulevard, Niog III, City of Bacoor, Cavite

LIN, CHAO-YANG Machine Manager

Brief Job Description:

Ensure responsibility for all machinery equipment

LIANG, WEIWEI

Mandarin Customer Relations Officer

Brief Job Description:

Ensure outstanding customer satisfaction by maintaining strong working relationships

LU, PENGPENG

15 BRICKHARTZ TECHNOLOGY INC.

Lot 4044, Molino Boulevard, Niog III, City of Bacoor, Cavite

Mandarin Customer Relations Officer

Brief Job Description:

Ensure outstanding customer satisfaction by maintaining strong working relationships

LYU, YUHANG

16 BRICKHARTZ TECHNOLOGY INC.

Lot 4044, Molino Boulevard, Niog III, City of Bacoor, Cavite

Mandarin Customer Relations Officer

Brief Job Description:

Ensure outstanding customer satisfaction by maintaining strong working relationships

WANG, WEN

17 BRICKHARTZ TECHNOLOGY INC.

Lot 4044, Molino Boulevard, Niog III, City of Bacoor, Cavite

Basic Qualification: Excellent problemsolving skills and mechanical ability

Salary Range: Php60,000Php89,999

Basic Qualification:

Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in Mandarin, with related BPO experience

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in Mandarin, with related BPO experience

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in Mandarin, with related BPO experience

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

18 EPSON PRECISION (PHILIPPINES), INC. Special Export Processing Zone, Lima Technology Center, Bugtong Na Pulo, City of Lipa, Batangas

Mandarin Customer Relations Officer

Brief Job Description:

Ensure outstanding customer satisfaction by maintaining strong working relationships

KOBINATA, TOMOKA

Printer Production Control Support

Brief Job Description:

Support the control of production planning activities of products, after service parts sales and parts sales operations

SHIODA, TAKUYA

19 F.TECH PHILIPPINES MFG., INC.

118 North Science Avenue, Laguna Technopark, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Adviser-General Admin and Corporate Planning

Brief Job Description:

Provide information and advice to Top Management about strategic planning measures in order to improve company performance

YOSHIDA, KOJI

20 FIRST SUMIDEN CIRCUITS, INC.

Ampere Street Corner Main Avenue, Light Industry & Science Park 1, Diezmo, City of Cabuyao, Laguna

Assistant Vice President

Brief Job Description: Provide technical advice to Quality Department

Has excellent problemsolving and communication skills in Mandarin, with related BPO experience

Salary Range: Php30,000Php59,999

Basic Qualification: Must be fluent in Japanese language with knowledge in printer production

Salary Range:

Php90,000Php149,999

Basic Qualification: With vast experience in market research and data analysis

Salary Range: Php60,000Php89,999

Basic Qualification:

5-year work of experience in a Japanese manufacturing company related to the position

Salary Range: Php60,000Php89,999

21 FURUKAWA AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS DESIGN PHILIPPINES INC.

124 North Science Avenue, Laguna Technopark, Poblacion, City of Biñan, Laguna

22 HOTEL SPECIALIST (TAGAYTAY), INC.

Taal Vista Hotel, National Road, Kaybagal South (Pob.), City of Tagaytay, Cavite

23 IBIDEN PHILIPPINES, INC.

Road 1, First Philippine Industrial Park, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

NAKAO, TOSHIAKI Director/Vice President/Treasurer/ Design Support Manager and Component Design Manager

Brief Job Description:

Responsible in supervising all departments

BUSFIELD, ANNE General Manager

Brief Job Description:

Responsible in achieving overall operational and financial objectives of the property

TSUJI, TAKASHI

Customer Support Engineering (CSE) Manager

Brief Job Description:

Lead a team that maintains customer satisfaction through the provision of problem-solving resources and maximize customer retention, thereby improving the profitability of the company

ORIKOSHI, NORIYOSHI

24 IBIDEN PHILIPPINES, INC.

Road 1, First Philippine Industrial Park, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

Facility Assistant Manager

Brief Job Description:

Provides assistance in maintaining the good condition of the production line to minimize machine downtime and to maximize productivity and enhance efficiency

YAMAMURA, SHINICHIRO

25 IBIDEN PHILIPPINES, INC.

Road 1, First Philippine Industrial Park, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

Basic Qualification: Graduate of Engineering course

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

Basic Qualification: Must be a seasoned hotel and resort leader

Salary Range: Php500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Japanese language; strong leadership and decision-making skills; familiarity with latest technologies and methodologies

Salary Range: Php150,000Php499,999

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Japanese language; strong leadership and decision-making skills; familiarity with latest technologies and methodologies

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

30 MITSUBA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION

Lot 1, Block 14, Phase II, First Cavite Industrial Estate, Langkaan I, City of Dasmariñas, Cavite

31 MITSUBA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION

Lot 1, Block 14, Phase II, First Cavite Industrial Estate, Langkaan I, City of Dasmariñas, Cavite

32 MITSUBA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION

Lot 1, Block 14, Phase II, First Cavite Industrial Estate, Langkaan I, City of Dasmariñas, Cavite

33 MITSUBA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION

Lot 1, Block 14, Phase II, First Cavite Industrial Estate, Langkaan I, City of Dasmariñas, Cavite

34 MOA CLOUDZONE CORP.

Island Cove II, Covelandia Road, Pulvorista, Kawit, Cavite

KUROSAWA, MASARU

Engineering Deputy Manager

Brief Job Description:

Manage & guide the Engineering Department overall activity to ensure that jobs are completed properly on time

NARIZUKA, SHIGEO

Engineering Manager

Brief Job Description:

Manage and guide the Engineering Department

MANAGO, KAZUHIRO Plant Manager

Brief Job Description: Ensure that preventive and corrective actions are done

KAMIOKA, HIROYUKI Quality Control and Quality Assurance Manager

Brief Job Description: Take charge of the management of the products

CHENG, XIAOLUAN

Chinese Customer Service Representa-

Basic Qualification:

With 5-10 yrs. relevant work experience in a Japanese Automotive manufacturing set-up; Able to understand and communicate using Japanese language fluently

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

Basic Qualification:

With 7-10 years of relevant experience

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

Basic Qualification: With 7-10 years of relevant experience

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

Basic Qualification: With 7-10 years of relevant experience Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

26 IBIDEN PHILIPPINES, INC.

Road 1, First Philippine Industrial Park, Santa Anastacia, City of Sto. Tomas, Batangas

27 JAE PHILIPPINES, INC.

JPI Bldg., Linares Extension, Gateway Business Park, Javalera, City of General Trias, Cavite

28 MHI POWER (PHILIPPINES) PLANT SERVICES CORPORATION

AG&P, Special Economic Zone, San Roque, Bauan, Batangas

Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/ QC) Division Manager

Brief Job Description: Develop strategies and establish procedures to ensure that products meet quality and efficiency standards and overall integrity

YAGURA, AKINOBU

Quality Assurance / Quality Control Senior Manager

Brief Job Description: Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure adherence to product quality standards

KOBAYASHI, NORIHIDE

Senior Manager for Parts Production

Brief Job Description:

Oversee technical & production aspects of product manufacturing processes/ procedures for Molding. Ensures that the declared production schedules will be met through effective utilization of manpower, method, machine and materials.

KADOTA, YOICHI

Deputy Department Manager - Service Engineering

Brief Job Description: Monitor implementation of corrective and preventive actions taken by each section and make strategy for expan-

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Japanese language; strong leadership and decision-making skills; familiarity with latest technologies and methodologies

Salary Range: Php150,000Php499,999

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

Salary Range: Php90,000Php149,999

Basic Qualification: Possess strong and wide technical & engineering knowledge of products & processes used in the manufacture of electronic connectors & harness

Salary Range: Php500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: College Engineering Graduate, at least 12 years of experience in boiler design or related field of engineering or manufacturing Salary Range:

The World

China takes yuan global in bid to repel US dollar

By George Lei, Tania Chen0 & Jacob Gu

CHINA is putting the yuan front and center in its fight back against the US’s unique influence over global money.

President Xi Jinping’s government has been busy striking deals over the past year to expand the ways in which the currency is used, with new agreements linked to the renminbi stretching from Russia and Saudi Arabia to Brazil and even France.

While the US remains the world’s clear financial hegemon, these moves are helping China to carve out a bigger place for itself in the international financial system. They come at a time when geopolitical strains are growing and global commerce is becoming an ever-more-active battleground.

Antagonism has flared between the two economic titans over issues ranging from trade and Taiwan to TikTok and technological know-how. Hard-hitting sanctions on Russia have revealed a new willingness by the US to weaponize the dollar. Together, that’s done more to promote China’s yuan over the past year than Xi’s government achieved in the preceding decade.

The ramp-up is also a response to China’s shifting position within the global economy as it emerges from the era of Covid lockdowns with growth running more slowly than it once did and the global push for freer trade in retreat. That’s spurred leaders in Beijing to up the ante in building the country—and in particular its currency—into an alternative pole for international finance, trade and lending.

The nation is working to demonstrate “tha t there’s a world outside of

the US and the Western world,” said Adrian Zuercher, head of global asset allocation and co-head of global investment management for the Asia-Pacific region at UBS Global Wealth Management’s office in Hong Kong. You’re sending a very strong signal to the US by basically saying we don’t need you and we don’t need your US dollar.”

That message is resonating in some parts of the world. Unease with the dominance of the US and the greenback is pushing some countries and companies to diversify away from America and Europe.

The use of the renminbi in contracts for everything from oil to nickel is gathering speed, with the currency’s share of global trade finance tripling since the end of 2019. That’s still a tiny portion of global transactions, and the currency remains tightly controlled by Chinese authorities. But sanctions that ensnared Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine have added to that pace. The yuan’s u sage in Russian export payments surged 32-fold last year alone.

Going global XI , who is embarking on his second decade in charge of the People’s Republic, has taken steps to promote the country’s reputation abroad, even as he focuses on implementing reforms and bolstering growth at home. His first foreign excursions after lifting lock downs were to key energy suppliers Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Trips to Beijing by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and France’s Emmanuel Macron were accompanied by a host of new commercial agreements. And China was central to brokering an Iran-Saudi detente. With the US, though, flashpoints have multiplied—from feuds over spy balloons to semiconductor technology.

The ostracism of Russia in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has provided China with an important opening to demonstrate just how the yuan can be used. It also stoked concern among some nations about being beholden to the dollar and the euro, the two biggest currencies.

Locked out of the central international payments system known as SWIFT, Russia embraced the yuan for trade, private savings and foreign-exchange transactions. China has developed its own internationalpayments platform—CIPS—that’s entirely separate from SWIFT, which has been embraced not only by institutions in Russia, but also by banks that operate in places like Brazil.

“China’s willingness to maintain growth while paving new paths lends itself for other nations to have greater confidence to use the yuan,’’ said V ictor Gao, a professor at Soochow University and vice president of think tank Center for China and Globalization. “If the US wants to rock the boat, then China will need to make necessary amendments to meet the challenges.’’

Neither the People’s Bank of China nor the country’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange immediately responded to faxes seeking comment.

Russian experiment

THE seeds of Russia’s move toward the yuan were planted back in 2014, when the annexation of Crimea prompted the US and its allies to threaten Moscow’s access to the mainstream financial system. But it was the full-blown invasion of Ukraine last year that fast-tracked China’s acceptance.

Yuan savings accounted for 11 percent of Russia’s total deposits as of January, compared with practically none before the war, and the yuan has replaced the dollar and euro as the most traded currency from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. Russia and others have also begun to use the yuan in transactions that don’t even involve China. Bangladesh, for example, agreed with Russia last month to settle a $300 million payment related to the building of a nuclear plant near Dhaka in renminbi, according to officials familiar with the matter.

As oil income helps Russia’s public finances to stabilize, the nation may even be looking to buy yuan in an effort to rebuild foreign reserves.

But there are limits to the experiment. The Kremlin has been left with very few choices, and China’s financial offerings still struggle to compete. Without deep capital markets or open capital accounts, it can be difficult to move money in and out of the country—a complaint longtime investor Mark Mobius voiced earlier this year.

Yuan’s hurdles

THE lack of deep, free markets is a hindrance if China really wanted to take on the dollar or euro as the global currency of choice.

A fully international yuan “can’t happen unless China allows greater freedom of the currency and inward as well as outward investment,” said Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief economist who coined the term BRICs more than two decades ago to describe what were then the four big emerging-market powerhouses with potential to challenge the existing economic order.

Even with the drumbeat of international deals, the currency is not fully convertible. There are restrictions on its use in areas

such as cross-border loans and portfolio investments.

Limitations on the variety of renminbi-based investment products— and the simple inertia that stems from sticking with the prevailing reserve currency—are also major impediments to the yuan becoming broadly accepted as an alternative to the dollar.

“There’s still a long way to go for China to build up its global clout,” said Chen Xingdong, head of global markets research in China at BNP Paribas SA.

In the first few decades of this century, China has taken steps to open up stock and bond markets to encourage inbound investment and loosened some of the strictures around its managed currency. But Xi’s government has resisted broader measures that would encourage international yuan usage—such as allowing capital to flow freely—to avoid the possibility of sudden outflows that stand to potentially destabilize the economy and threaten the Communist Party’s grip on power.

“There’s so much money queuing up from China to go outside, and there’s probably a limit on how much outside money is queuing to go back in,” said UBS’s Zuercher. “Controlling capital flows is still extremely important.”

The renminbi is only the fifthmost popular currency for cross-border payments. Excluding payments between countries that share the euro, China’s currency accounted for 1.7 percent of cross-border payments at the end of March, compared to around 50 percent for the dollar and 22 percent for Europe’s common currency, according to data from SWIFT. That, of course, doesn’t include transactions made via China’s CIPS alternative, but that

system as a whole is still dwarfed by the mainstream SWIFT platform.

Diversification demand

STILL , for those in China itself, the usage of the yuan in international transactions has just recently surpassed the dollar, according to research from Bloomberg Intelligence and based on S tate Administration of Foreign Exchange data.

The local currency’s share of cross-border payments and receipts hit a record high of 48 percent at the end of March, compared with almost zero back in 2010, while the dollar’s share dropped to 47 percent.

Even with the dollar’s dominance relatively entrenched for years to come, some observers speculate that the greenback is headed for a longer-term decline. The events giving life to yuan usage right now may ultimately be a key contributor.

Repercussions from Russia’s war have made other nations anxious about the risk of US-led sanctions, said Esther Law, a senior money manager at Amundi SA. She expects the yuan to continue rising in popularity amid the fear of US-led sanctions and as a “practical” part of China’s growing role as a lender.

The perk of diversification also applies to China. There’s safety in having standing arrangements with a plethora of trading partners in case simmering tensions with the US turn to a boil.

“ Geopolitical tensions just make it that much more important for China to promote the international use of its own currency,” said Stephen Jen, co-founder of Eurizon SLJ Capital. “ There is a war of attrition now between the US and China, in investment and finance.” With assistance from Ye Xie, Zijia Song, Wenjin Lv and Jenny Paris/Bloomberg

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seizes oil

tanker in Strait of Hormuz

By Jon Gambrell The Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized a Panamanian-flagged oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, the second such capture by Tehran in under a week amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The taking of the oil tanker Niovi renewed concerns about Iran threatening maritime traffic in the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all crude passes. It also comes amid the disappearance of a crude oil tanker in Southeast Asia believed to be carrying Iranian crude oil amid reports it may have been seized by the United States.

The US Navy published surveillance footage shot by an aerial drone of about dozen Guard vessels swarming the tanker on Wednesday morning. The drone had been on a routine patrol in the area and saw the seizure, though the Navy did not receive a distress call from the Niovi itself, 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins said.

Those Guard ships “forced the oil tanker to reverse course and head toward Iranian territorial waters off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran,” the Navy said.

“Iran’s actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability,” the 5th Fleet said in a statement. “Iran’s continued harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional waters are unwarranted, irresponsible and a present threat to maritime security and the global economy.”

Iran acknowledged the seizure, with the judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoting the Tehran prosecutor’s office as saying that a judge ordered it impounded over an unspecified complaint.

Shipping registries show the Niovi is managed by Smart Tankers of Piraeus, Greece. A woman who answered the phone at the firm declined to immediately comment on the seizure. The Niovi had been coming from dry-dock repairs in Dubai, bound for Fujairah on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates without carrying any cargo, according to the data firm Refinitiv.

Last week, Iran seized an oil tanker carrying crude for Chevron Corp. of San Ramon, California, amid wider tensions between Tehran and the US over its nuclear program. The Advantage Sweet had 23 Indians and one Russian on board.

Iran has accused the Advantage Sweet of colliding with another vessel, while offering no evidence to support its claim. Iran has offered a variety of unsupported claims in the past when seizing foreign-flagged ships amid tensions with the West.

The taking of the two tankers in under a week comes amid the disappearance of the Marshall Island-flagged Suez Rajan, which had been in the South China Sea off Singapore for over a year after a report alleged it to smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil. Tracking data for the Suez Rajan last showed it off East Africa, moving in a direction that could take it to the Americas.

The Financial Times, as well as the maritime intelligence firm Ambrey, both have reported the Suez Rajan was seized on order of American authorities. The ship’s manager has not responded to queries from The Associated Press about the status of the ship. US officials also have not commented.

However, the Greek Ministry of Maritime Affairs acknowledged Wednesday recently sending a warning to Greek ships in the Mideast to be on alert when going through the Persian Gulf. The ministry did not say what prompted the warning.

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel criticized Iran for seizing the ships.

“Candidly, Iran’s harassment of vessels and interference with navigational rights in regional and international waters are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional stability and security,” he said.

The seizure by Iran of two ships in the last week was the latest in a string of ship seizures and explosions to roil the region.

The incidents began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. They’ve continued under President Joe Biden and as diplomatic efforts at finding a way back to the accord remain stalemated.

Also, the US Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021.

Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the region’s volatile waters. Iranian tanker seizures have been a part of it since 2019. The last major seizure before recent days came when Iran took two Greek tankers in May 2022 and held them until November.

In the wider Mideast, Iranian-backed militias in Syria have carried out attacks on U.S. forces, including one that killed an American contractor in March. The US responded with airstrikes. It also has deployed A-10 Thunderbolt IIs into the region, as well as announced the presence of a guided-missile submarine in recent weeks.

Since the collapse of the nuclear deal, Iran now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Tehran now has enough of a uranium stockpile to build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses. Iran long has insisted its program is for peaceful purposes, though the IAEA and Western intelligence agencies believe Tehran had a secret military nuclear program through 2003.

Iran also has restricted the ability of IAEA inspectors to monitor its program. However, the IAEA on Wednesday acknowledged that “work is ongoing” to reinstall monitoring equipment at Iranian nuclear sites following a March visit by its director-general to Tehran. The agency did not elaborate and Tehran did not acknowledge the work.

World

Floods from heavy rainfall kill at least 129 in Rwanda

By Ignatius Ssuuna The Associated Press

The death toll “continues to rise,” the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency said Wednesday.

“This could be the highest disaster-induced death toll to be recorded in the country in the shortest period, according to available records from recent years,” the government-backed New Times newspaper reported.

Francois Habitegeko, governor of Rwanda’s Western province, told reporters that a search for more victims was underway

following heavy rain Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Strong rainstorms started last week, causing flooding and mudslides that swept away several houses across the country and left some roads inaccessible.

The Rwanda Meteorology Agency has warned that more rain is coming.

The government has in the past asked residents living in wetlands and other dangerous areas to relocate.

The western and northern provinces and Kigali, the capital, are particularly hilly, making them vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season.

The Ministry of Emergency Management reported last month that from January to April 20, weather-related disasters killed 60 people, destroyed more than

1,205 houses and damaged 2,000 hectares (around 5,000 acres) of land across Rwanda.

Parts of East Africa, including Uganda’s southwest, also are seeing heavy rainfall.

At least three people drowned in floods last week after a river burst its banks in the remote Ugandan district of Rukungiri.

Ukraine denies Russian claim Kyiv sent drones to hit Kremlin

By David Rising

The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin early Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Vladimir Putin and promising retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act. The Ukrainian president denied it, saying: “We don’t attack Putin or Moscow.” Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

There was no independent verification of the purported attack, which Russia authorities said occurred overnight but presented no evidence to support it. Questions also arose as to why it took the Kremlin hours to report the incident and why videos of it also surfaced later in the day.

A video posted overnight on a local Moscow news Telegram channel, shot from across the river from the Kremlin, appeared to show smoke rising over the buildings. It wasn’t possible to ascertain its veracity. According to text accompanying the footage, residents of a nearby apartment building reported hearing bangs and seeing smoke around 2:30 a.m.

Another video on social media, which looks to be taken from across Red Square, appears to show the moment a drone explodes in a flash of fire above the roof of the Senate Palace in the Kremlin, near a flagpole flying the Russian tricolor, with debris falling on the roof. It also was not possible to independently verify this footage.

The Kremlin said Russian military and security forces had stopped the drones before they could strike. Nobody was hurt, it added. Its official website said debris from the drones fell on the Kremlin grounds without damage.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on an unannounced visit to Helsinki for talks with the leaders of five Nordic countries, denied any role.

“We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We’re defending our villages and cities,” he said at a news conference.

Ukraine presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the claims could provide a pretext for Russia “to justify massive strikes on Ukrainian cities, on the civilian population, on infrastructure facilities.”

White House press secretary Karine JeanPierre said the US was “unable to confirm the authenticity” of Russia’s claim.

Asked whether the US believed Putin was a lawful target of any potential Ukrainian strike, Jean-Pierre said that since the start of the conflict, the US was “not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its border.”

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that the United Nations “is not in a position to confirm these reports. We strongly reiterate our call on all concerned to refrain from any

rhetoric or action that could further escalate the conflict,” Haq said.

The purported drone attack would be a significant escalation in the 14-month conflict, with Ukraine taking the war to the heart of Russian power.

Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, said, “It certainly wasn’t an attempt to assassinate Putin, because he doesn’t sleep in the roof and he probably never sleeps in the Kremlin.”

He added it was too soon to prove or disprove whether it was a Russian attempt “either to make Ukraine look reckless or to buck up Russian public opinion” or if it was a Ukrainian operation to embarrass Russia.

James Nixey, director of the, Russia and Eurasia program at the Chatham House think-tank, said “the two most likely possibilities are a ‘warning shot across the bows’ by Kyiv or a false flag operation by Moscow designed to justify more intense attacks in Ukraine or more conscription.”

If it was a warning shot by Kyiv, then it was “yet another shocking security lapse by the Russian state,” he said.

“If it’s a false flag operation by Moscow, then it reeks of desperation,” Nixey added. “And it’s a high-risk strategy likely to be exposed, considering how poor their tradecraft seems to be.”

The alleged attack prompted calls in Russia from pro-Kremlin figures for assassinations of senior leaders in Ukraine.

The Kremlin claimed the attack was planned to disrupt Victory Day, which Russia celebrates in Red Square on May 9 to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Peskov said the parade would go on as scheduled.

Before the news about the alleged attack broke, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a ban on using drones in the Russian capital, with an exception for those launched by authorities. He gave no reason for the ban, saying only it

would prevent the “illegal use of drones that can hinder the work of law enforcement.”

Zelenskyy was in Finland seeking greater firepower for his armed forces as they figure out how to dislodge Russian troops from occupied areas of Ukraine.

Both Ukraine and Russia reportedly have experienced ammunition shortages after a winter of long-range shelling and missile strikes. Kyiv has been pressing its allies for more as officials consider when to start driving Russian forces out of Ukrainian territory they occupy.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s counteroffensive is coming “very soon.”

This year “will be decisive...for victory,” he said.

The Nordic countries—Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland—have been among Kyiv’s strongest backers since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Before meeting Zelenskyy, Nordic officials appeared ready to provide more aid.

“Here in the north, we have a more unpredictable and aggressive Russian neighbor, and it is important that we discuss together how to face this new situation,”

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.

In fighting Wednesday, 16 civilians were killed in a “massive attack” by Russian forces on southern Kherson province, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.

Russian fire hit the train station and the only open supermarket in the regional capital, also called Kherson, killing 12 people and wounding 22, officials said. Three energy workers died when they came under fire while making repairs north of the city.

The talks came a day after US officials said Washington plans to send Ukraine about $300 million in additional military aid, including an enormous number of artillery rounds, howitzers, air-to-ground rockets and ammunition.

The weapons will all be pulled from Pentagon stocks, so they can go quickly to the front, according to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been formally announced.

Elsewhere, Russia used Iranian-made drones during its third attack on Kyiv in six days. Explosions were heard in the capital and elsewhere during the night as Ukrainian air defenses shot down 21 of the drones, Ukraine’s air force said. No damage or casualties were reported.

Meanwhile, a massive blaze broke out at a Russian oil depot in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, east of the Russian-held Crimean Peninsula, according to Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev.

He didn’t say what caused it, but some Russian media outlets said it was likely from a Ukrainian drone attack. There was no official comment on that possibility.

Residents heard an explosion shortly before the fire erupted, Russian news site Baza said. Military analysts think Ukraine is targeting Russian supply lines while gearing up for a possible counteroffensive amid improving weather and as it receives more weapons and ammunition from the West.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group whose fighters are a key force in the grinding months-long battle for the eastern town of Bakhmut, was quoted by Russian media as saying Wednesday that he believes the counteroffensive is underway.

“I believe that the offensive of the Ukrainian army has, in fact, already begun. We see the highest activity of enemy aviation, we see the highest activity along the perimeter and inside our front,” he said, according to the reports.

Explosions also derailed a Russian freight train and hit a Russian airfield in recent days. Last weekend, a massive fire erupted at an oil depot in Crimea after it was hit by two Ukrainian drones, a Russia-appointed official said.

In anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian forces are focused on destroying logistical routes and centers of Ukraine’s armed forces with long-range strikes, Kyiv military officials say.

At the same time, Russia plans to continue talks with the UN and other parties to an wartime agreement on facilitating Black Sea agricultural shipments, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said ahead of talks on Friday.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed new consultations between Russia and the UN on access of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to the world market would be held in Moscow.

Signed in July and renewed twice, the deal freed Ukrainian grain shipments that were held up in the country’s blockaded ports last year.

The deal expires May 18 unless Russia agrees to its renewal. Jari Tanner in Helsinki, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed.

KIGALI, Rwanda—Torrential rains caused flooding in western and northern Rwanda, killing at least 129 people, a public broadcaster said Wednesday.

PEOPLE gather after flooding in western Rwanda on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Torrential rains caused flooding in western and northern Rwanda, killing more than 100 people, a public broadcaster said Wednesday. RWANDATV VIA AP

The Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

A VIEW of the Moscow Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of attempting to attack the Kremlin with two drones overnight. The Kremlin on Wednesday decried the alleged attack attempt as a “terrorist act” and said Russian military and security forces disabled the drones before they could strike. AP

El Niño may worsen hunger crisis in PHL

THE number of people facing life-threatening hunger around the world is growing at an alarming rate, according to the latest United Nations report. The Global Report on Food Crises 2023 estimates that over a quarter of a billion people were acutely food-insecure and required urgent food assistance in 2022. This is the highest number in the seven-year history of the GRFC.

The report said about 258 million people in 58 countries suffered hunger acute enough to threaten their lives in 2022, a huge jump from 193 million people in 53 countries in the prior year. The cost-of-living crisis and a jump in the population analyzed contributed to the worrying increase.

“More than a quarter of a billion people are now facing acute levels of hunger, and some are on the brink of starvation. That’s unconscionable. This is a stinging indictment of humanity’s failure to make progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 2 to end hunger, and achieve food security and improved nutrition for all,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Rein Paulsen, director of emergencies and resilience for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, cited various causes driving global hunger. They include conflicts, climate shocks, the impact of the pandemic and consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine that has had an impact on the global trade in fertilizers, wheat, maize and sunflower oil.

“The challenge that we have is the disequilibrium, the mismatch that exists between the amount of funding money that’s given, what that funding is spent on, and the types of interventions that are required to make a change,” Paulsen said. He called for a “paradigm shift” so that more funding is spent on agricultural interventions that anticipate food crises and work to prevent them.

In the Philippines, around three million Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger at least once from October to December 2022, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey. The SWS defines involuntary hunger as “being hungry and not having food to eat” during the quarter.

The survey showed 11.8 percent of Filipino families went hungry due to lack of food to eat, which is higher than the 11.3 percent posted from July to September 2022.

The SWS said 9.5 percent or 2.4 million families experienced moderate hunger or being hungry “only once” or “a few times,” while 599,000 families, or 2.3 percent of all households, suffered from severe hunger or hunger experienced “often” or “always” during the last quarter of 2022.

Hunger was experienced most in Mindanao, affecting around 738,000 families. The figure is lower than the 893,000 families recorded in the third quarter of 2022.

Here’s something that can potentially supercharge the crisis: The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) issued an El Niño alert on Tuesday, saying the weather phenomenon might emerge between June and July at 80 percent probability and might persist until the first quarter of 2024. El Niño increases the likelihood of belownormal rainfall conditions, which could have negative impacts, such as dry spells and droughts, in some areas of the country.

El Niño is the warming of sea surface temperature, which occurs roughly every two to seven years, lasting from six to 24 months. While the main threat to food production is reduced rainfall and drought in some regions, El Niño can also cause heavy rains and flooding in other regions. Climate change can make its impact more severe.

The Philippines suffered severe El Niño conditions in 2015 to 2016, which lasted for 18 months and affected about a third of the country. Six cities, 16 provinces, and 65 municipalities affected by the dry weather declared a state of calamity. By May 2016, over 400,000 farmers and 550,000 hectares of farmlands were adversely affected by El Niño-induced drought.

President Marcos recently ordered the creation of an “El Niño Team” that will handle the government’s response to the effects of the impending weather phenomenon. We have experienced the impacts of El Niño before, and concerned government agencies now have the data that can guide them to deploy a whole-of-nation strategy to cushion the effects of the dry spell, including stronger food systems to ensure that every Filipino has access to the most basic of human needs—food and nutrition—even during extreme weather events.

Strengthening

government’s response to individuals in crisis situations

Filipinos who would be caught monetarily unprepared in the event of a sudden death, medical emergency, or calamity.

sonny M. angara

Better Days

BEFoR E Congress adjourned its sessions last March, we filed a counterpart measure to the bill of Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo institutionalizing the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This measure seeks to provide the much-needed additional support to Filipinos who are caught in very unfortunate circumstances.

This program, which was initially implemented in 2014, provides various forms of assistance—medical, educational, funeral, food and nonfood, transportation, and even psychosocial help—to disadvantaged and vulnerable Filipinos. These forms of support are crucial not only as we navigate through the long-term effects of the Covid-19 pandemic but also in response to the rising number of Filipino families that have gone through many hardships over the past years. In fact, data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that, in 2021, 18.1 percent or close to 20 million Filipinos lived below the poverty threshold or whose income cannot be sufficient for their basic food and non-food needs.

It is important to note that this figure is significantly higher than

the 16.7 percent in 2018. In fact, the World Bank in its Poverty and Equity Brief on the Philippines noted: “The Covid-19 crisis has interrupted more than 30 years of continuous poverty reduction in the Philippines.”

Moreover, even with the support of PhilHealth, the growing costs of healthcare services has also pushed many Filipinos, particularly those diagnosed with critical illnesses, into poverty especially since household out-of-pocket payment remains a considerable chunk of the 2021 health expenditure at 41.5 percent, according to the PSA.

There are even stories of Filipinos who no longer have enough funds to go back to their provinces after availing themselves of medical services in urban areas; hence, one can only speculate the lack of aftercare they will experience amid the financial burden. Simply put, there are many

There is an urgent need for the government to not only think of longterm solutions but also interventions that would serve as immediate safety nets for families that are in dire situations. In our efforts to reduce poverty in the Philippines, it is crucial for us to provide mechanisms that will serve as a stopgap to prevent vulnerable families from sinking deeper. It is our belief that the AICS Program is among the government’s most effective support systems. For instance, during the recent oil spill in Oriental Mindoro, the program was instrumental in providing emergency aid, not only to the residents of the province, but also to those residing in Palawan and Antique.

As to the performance of the program, according to the annual accomplishment report of the DSWD, the AICS Program has served over 5.3 million beneficiaries in 2022, which is considerably higher than their physical target of around 1.2 million. Of the 5.3 million the program has helped, the majority of the beneficiaries or around 658,000 were in Region 6, followed by the National Capital Region at around 654,000 and Region VII with over 595,000 individuals. Cognizant of the importance of the AICS Program as well as its notable performance, Congress has steadily increased its budget under the General Appropriations Act—from a mere P4.09 billion in

Informality and the economy

In some industries, the informal sector reigns supreme, yet

t sescon

WHy are there formal and informal ways of getting things done, and how do we know which is which? Think about how communities settle disputes through either customary laws or formally established courts of justice. Consider attending public or private schools or being homeschooled. Consider buying and selling in grocery stores, the public market, and talipapa by the roadside, or buying and selling on the Internet.

Consider corporations that manufacture cars and the motor shops that assemble local jeepneys; middle-class subdivisions and slum settlements; restaurants, fast-food chains, bazaars, variety stores, sari-sari stores, street vendors, and carinderias; the government and corporate employees, the mall contractual employees, and the “on-call” service employees. Think if there are

ers, the formal sector dominates. The mainstream conception in existing literature of the informal economy defines it as any form of economic activity that operates beyond the legal framework of the state. However, the gray area in between is vast, as there are no clear-cut boundaries defining what is formal and informal.

and rule-based societies are founded.

2014, funding for AICS has increased to over P36.5 billion in 2023. This measure, which has the full support of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian, is vital as it will institutionalize this lifesaver program of the Department, thereby ensuring not only its permanence but also its continued funding in the years to come. In addition, in order to ensure its effectiveness, the proposed bill will also mandate the Department to conduct their own monitoring and evaluation to assess the responsiveness of the said program, which will include a client/stakeholder’s feedback mechanism. And to further strengthen its implementation, a joint congressional oversight committee will also be created to determine the areas of the program that need improvement and recommend the appropriate legislative interventions.

It is our hope that through this measure, the DSWD, being the government’s arm in social protection, will be further strengthened and empowered to have a wider reach in its delivery of assistance. More importantly, we hope that this would assure more Filipinos, especially those in the midst of huge financial burdens, that the government is committed to come to their aid.

Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 9 as Senator. He has authored, co-authored, and sponsored more than 330 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.

land titling system (formalizing land ownership) and the jeepney modernization program (formalization of our public transport). A gridlock of laws that define formal from the informal characterizes our society where informal practices dominate, and a large informal sector of the economy prevails.

no state institutions that govern the rules of doing all these things, or if the governing authority is weak, challenged, and contested.

Formal ways of doing things are society’s norms and practices codified into laws with state institutions to regulate and monitor the rules of practice. Societies will continue to establish norms of practice in getting things done, for this is how civilized

State institutions are formed as representations of the collective authority to regulate practices according to codified laws supposedly agreed by consensus for everyone’s benefit.

Formalizing an activity into law that is either socially unacceptable, unfair, unaffordable, and beneficial only to a few, will be met with resistance through widespread informal ways of doing the same. Examples of these abound in our history, as well as in current times, such as the

In some industries, the informal sector reigns supreme, yet in others, the formal sector dominates. The mainstream conception in existing literature of the informal economy defines it as any form of economic activity that operates beyond the legal framework of the state. However, the gray area in between is vast, as there are no clear-cut boundaries defining what is formal and informal. The informal economy is thought to comprise from 30 to 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), where an estimated 70 percent of the country’s workforce is employed.

If you work in a registered office with a regular wage, less government taxes and mandatory contributions See “Eagle

Joselito

The sinking of Bohol during the fiesta month of May

Dennis Gorecho

KuwenTonG peyups

IT is a known fact that Filipinos take their festivals and fiestas seriously as part and parcel of our culture.  Fiesta to honor patron saints day or other religious occasions is a telltale sign of the influence of Spaniards in the Philippines as a Catholic country.

Fiesta means “feast” from the Latin word “festus” meaning “festive, joyful, or merry.”

The roots of Philippine fiestas go back even further than Spanish colonial rule.

Pre-Hispanic Filipinos had their own set of cultures and traditions, including worshipping many gods or anitos. They made regular ritual offerings to placate the gods.

When Spanish missionaries came to the Philippines in the 1500s, they discovered that the fiesta was a helpful tool to help teach Filipinos the Roman Catholic faith and its saints, as indigenous Filipinos already had a sense of patronage of a deity for their mostly pagan practices and rituals.

The fiesta or feast commemorates a particular saint, and towns and cities have historically adopted one saint as their patron for one reason or another in place of the pagan gods they were used to honoring.

Others commemorate certain important events in the history of the country like the passage of the seasons.

The fiesta is celebrated as a thanksgiving for blessings bestowed upon the people, the livelihood and life of the town.

In some areas, the feast day of a saint is not only celebrated as an event, but the saint’s name is adopted as the name of the town itself.

In Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere. Chapter 26 to 30 depicted the town’s festival in honor of its patron saint, San Diego de Alcala, whose feast day is the 11th of November.

On the eve of the fiesta, hundreds of visitors arrived from nearby towns, and there were laughter, music, exploding bombs, feasting, and moro-moro. The music was furnished by five brass bands (including the famous Pagsanjan Band owned by the escribano Miguel Guevara) and three orchestras.

The narrator points out the many ways in which the townspeople, including Father Dámaso, use the celebration as an excuse for vice (i.e., gambling and cockfighting).

“It is the eve of the fiesta, and the town is filled with music, gaiety and bright ornaments. Dining rooms spill over with rich and fancy dishes,” as narrated in Chapter 26.

Every town and city in the Philippines has a fiesta of its own; an excuse for locals to share their best food and their most potent potables with adventurous outsiders.

Each festival has a unique theme, which defines the flavor of the festival through a set of activities, such as religious processions, live brass bands, street dancing or parade of dancers in colorful costumes and props, high masses, sports fest, beauty pageants, cultural shows and performances.

It is jokingly said Bohol is “sinking” in May because the population of the island during this month is

When Spanish missionaries came to the Philippines in the 1500s, they discovered that the fiesta was a helpful tool to help teach Filipinos the Roman Catholic faith and its saints, as indigenous Filipinos already had a sense of patronage of a deity for their mostly pagan practices and rituals.

multiplied twice, thrice, or even four times.

Known as a reverse exodus or “balikbarrios,” once the first of May strikes, people from abroad, from Manila, and even nearby provinces begin flocking back to their small barrios of Bohol.

It was fiesta time May 1996 when I first visited my family’s hometown in Matabao, Tubigon in Bohol.

Date of fiestas in Bohol vary from town to town, yet most of the feast days fall on the month of May, earning it the name the “Fiesta Month.”

Characterized by an abundance of food and merriment, not a single day will pass without a fiesta somewhere on the island.

Visitors can enjoy the month-long revelry by hopping from town to town and to the barangays, participate in events and watch fireworks.

It is the time of the year when old folks seem to have mastered the art of putting out most of their earnings for the year.

“Nagpapasalamat kami sa Ginoo kay sa panahon sa pista nagkakita ang tanan mga kaigsoonan ug kaparentehan

(We are grateful to God because at the time of the fiesta, all our brothers and relatives will be here),” elders will say in the Visayan language, meaning that they are thankful to God that close family ties remain in the island of Bohol as each town still has its way of attracting people to go home to celebrate the fiesta season.

Joining the procession in honor of the barrio’s patron saint means to fulfill their promise of thanking him for bringing them back to where they really came from.

For three consecutive nights, the plaza is usually converted into an entertainment area primarily aimed to raise funds for development projects.

Fiesta proper is a whole day of house-hopping for eating, drinking, and dancing in every residence as rice cakes, kinilaw na pusit and fish, ube and many local delicacies are laid on the table.

Every home becomes an “open house” for everyone, as there is no need for an invitation. One can just grab his plate and join the guests.

A day after the celebration, the balikbarrios normally proceed to explore the more exciting side of Bohol.

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

Agua de Mayo

Tito Genova Valiente annoTaTions

The rains came last night but I was already back on the island of Ticao. The rains were much stronger. Or so I imagined. After so many decades I was listening to the sound of the strongest rains while I thought of the sea just a few meters from the place where I was staying.

The first time my nieces and nephews came to the island, they asked me this question: Are the people aware that they are living on a land surrounded completely by the sea?

I do not remember anymore how I responded to that question but now that I am back on the island, I am almost seeking the answer to that question. How much of the land can exist with the sea? Who will prevail in the end, the land or this body of water more massive than the lowlying hills behind the house?

The rains began as the ferry was about to dock in San Jacinto. I am back in the said town upon the request of the Mayor, Francisco P. Altarejos, to address the gathering that will honor, among other people, the outstanding citizens of San Jacinto. It is a charming quixotic task, one that I rarely get (not because I seek it). Holed in this lovely, little hotel by the sea, I am pondering not to be ponderous, meaning that I will not be reading from a written piece but will follow the instinct of an interlocutor. I will speak with my heart and from raw memory.

San Jacinto is one town that, based on its written history, is conscious of it being the first pueblo in the island of Ticao. History has granted the place with the graces of a collective memory that has connected it with the galleon trades, the long stay of some Spanish colonizers in the place and the mythical intermar-

riages that resulted therefrom, and an artifact of religion in the form of a Crucified Christ known as Santo Cristo de Burgos.

The Santo Cristo de Burgos possesses an iconography similar to the

a shipwreck because he held on to a bust (sic) of Santo Cristo de Burgos. There is a bit of confusion in this account because the icon referred to is not a bust but a full figure of Christ on the Cross, surrounded by rayos, the radiating golden rays signifying the divine nature of the Redeemer. In the story, Jacinto could not leave the island when he was asked to go home because a gale would always drive back the ship he was on. It was until he left the image in Ticao that he was able to make the trip. This tale apparently is the source of the name of the town—San Jacinto. Whether that friar indeed became the saint is a matter of conjecture.

There is a separate account also of a galleon named Santo Cristo de Burgos, the same ship built in the astillero (dockyard or shipyard)

tering an inhabitant of the island, the stranger (for he is a stranger) asks the same question, “Que es este lugar?” What is this place? What is the name of this land? The man responds by pointing to whatever it is he is doing or whatever he is working on or eating. In the case of Ticao, the inhabitant of the island thinks the stranger is asking him what plant he is holding and processing. So, he answers, in this case, “tigao… tigao,” pointing to the poisonous plant. But the Spanish soldiers think the man is telling him the name of the land. The good thing with this kind of naming is how the multivocalic aspect of symbols somewhat makes the correction. In the case of this narrative a friar sees the island and notices the curves of its irregular coastline and declares promptly the place as “tiko,” a name that somehow is closer to Ticao. It is not yet a justifiable act but it is less detestable than having a name produced out of misunderstanding.

one enshrined in the Cathedral of Burgos in Spain. Whether the icon in the church of San Jacinto is a replica has yet to be finalized. The story around the icon is significant as it tells the story of how the town derived its name.

In the story revolving around the image of the Crucified Christ is also the friar, Fr. Jacinto, who survived

Bagatao, and was shipwrecked near the coast of the present-day Oregon coast. This lapse is, however, minor considering how the entire island of Ticao was named.

Like all myths of origin of names in the country, the scenario has always been the same. A Spanish soldier or a group comes to the island and searches for a “native”. Upon encoun-

It is almost five in the afternoon now and I am getting ready to go to the covered plaza to give my short talk. I am making sure it will be not more than 20 minutes. This will be a departure from my grandparents’ generation known for treasuring short messages that ran for two or three hours. Mine will be about distances and memories and how the mind, loving origins, shortens the gap between long absences. My humble speech will then seek forgiveness from this island as I look across the sea. I now know what it feels for a place to be a distant, fading blueness. Early this morning, I was informed some 10 older cousins and kin are motoring from the town of San Fernando, my birthplace and the birthplace of my siblings. Are they curious how I will remember the land they never left? Shall I tell them how the rains upon the island terrified me last night?

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Pushback against Powell’s prognosis comes almost immediately

By Paul Dobson | Bloomberg Opinion

W

IThIn hours of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision, traders and commentators alike had started to challenge Chair Jerome Powell’s assessment of the economy.

The bond market waved off the prospect that Powell might have one more hike up his sleeve, instead adding to bets the US central bank’s next move will be to cut its benchmark interest rate. A slide in crude oil prices indicated mounting concern over a recession that the Fed chair said could be avoided. And financial stocks tumbled anew even after Powell had seen a line being drawn under US bank turmoil.Income. “If Powell just laid out the framework they are operating under is one of modest growth, not recession, it would suggest they need to change their course if they see a recession. That is why we believe they will have to cut.”

While the Fed chief said there was strong support for raising rates by 25 basis points this week, he suggested officials may pause their tightening campaign in June.

year, despite Powell’s insistence that the central bank’s inflation outlook doesn’t support easier policy. By the end of the day even swap contracts for June were pointing to the effective fed funds rate being lower.

in the data would reinforce the view that the tightening cycle is over.”

Powell said Wednesday it’s possible the US could experience what he hopes would be a mild recession, but “the case of avoiding a recession is in my view more likely than that of having a recession.” Wage increases have been moving down, and job openings have declined but have not been accompanied by rising unemployment, he said.

DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach told CNBC there’s an increased likelihood of a recession and the Fed likely won’t lift interest rates again following its latest increase. Meanwhile, over at the Milken Institute Global Conference, talk among the panelists suggested a consensus view that a contraction is inevitable.

WTI crude sank 4.3 percent Wednesday, reflecting concerns about weakening economic growth in major economies. It tumbled as much as 7.2 percent in a chaotic market open Thursday before recovering.

“Our view is for a technical recession, when is the question mark,” said Lindsay Rosner, multi-sector portfolio manager at PGIM Fixed

To be fair to Powell, he did hint Wednesday’s interest-rate increase, which took the benchmark rate above 5 percent, could be the last one in a cycle that’s lifted borrowing costs from near-zero levels last year. While the Fed chief said there was strong support for raising rates by 25 basis points this week, he suggested officials may pause their tightening campaign in June.

Powell also acknowledged that the pace of bank lending has slowed. And US economic data, while pointing to a slowdown in the labor market, don’t yet signal a recession is on hand.

Rapid response

BU T news moves fast and traders are wont to anticipate rather than wait to see how things pan out.

Treasuries surged Wednesday as investors reinforced bets that Fed rates will be lower by the end of this

Meantime, a Bloomberg News report that PacWest Bancorp was considering its strategic options redoubled concern that turmoil among smaller US banks would claim more victims and tighten credit conditions.

Four US banks have collapsed since early March, including First Republic Bank, which federal regulators seized this week. Powell called the resolution of First Republic an “important step toward drawing a line” under bank turmoil.

Yet the PacWest report triggered a fresh selloff in financial stocks in after-market trading.

“The market will be looking for signs that credit tightening is starting to impact activity and labor market data,” said Vassili Serebriakov, FX and macro strategist at UBS Securities in New York. “Since the Fed hinted at a pause today, any weakness

But at the Milken conference attendees expressed concerns. Guggenheim Capital Chairman Alan Schwartz told Bloomberg Television he’s worried about the effects of credit tightening and how far banks will have to pull back. Jenny Johnson, chief executive officer at Franklin Templeton, also pointed to the stress in the banking system caused by the pace of Fed hikes and the possibility of further retrenchment as a result.

Gundlach, DoubleLine Capital’s co-founder, cited the cumulative rate increases by the Fed since March 2022 and credit contraction for reasons he’s “turning more bearish at this point in time.” The Fed likely won’t lift interest rates again following its latest increase, he said. “Recessionary odds are pretty darn high right now.” With assistance from Matthew Boesler, Rob Verdonck, Michael Mackenzie, Brandon Sapienza, Stacey Shick and Matthew Burgess / Bloomberg

to GSIS, SSS, and Pag-IBIG, then you belong to the formal sector of the economy. If an establishment is registered, generally following processes and reporting rules regulated by a mandated government agency, then that belongs to the formal sector as well. Unregistered establishments whose operations are unregulated by

any government agency belong to the informal sector. Receiving compensation for work with no binding legal contracts, even with a registered firm, is somewhat in the gray zone. Many sort of sit in between the formal and informal divide.

Formalization of social and economic activities is ideal, assuming it is widely acceptable, affordable, and beneficial to the individual participants and to society at large. In this respect, formalization of informal

economic activities has development objectives in mind. Think about putting up a formal town public market structure and register business operators with taxes levied for upkeep and maintenance while promoting public security and health. The larger the operations, the better to formalize to effect industry standards for the benefit of everyone. The ideal process of formalization is to engage informal firms and workers in policy dialogues and

decision-making processes to ensure that their needs and concerns are addressed. Their politics are far from the liberal democratic ideals in getting things done because of the precarity of their economic conditions and their struggle to conform to formal rules, given their meager resources and capabilities. The elderly generation have mostly given up, and they are ever ready to strike a bargain to bend the rules in their favor. But they struggle to put their

children in school so they can join the formal sectors of society in the future.

pled, and the politics of an exasperated self-made middle class yearn for the rule of law. Thus, populist authoritarian leaders thrive because they bend the rules in favor to those informal sectors striking a political bargain, but at the same time appeal to the self-made middle-class for a strict and rule-based environment. Eagle Watch . . . continued from A12

The informal sector establishments, practices, and workers are not to be glorified nor they should be frowned upon as illegal. They normally occur as natural as human existence to cope, survive, conform, and resist the norms, laws, and practices of society.

Govt must refund franchise tax slapped on POGOs–SC

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed with finality its decision issued last year which declared that the government’s imposition of a 5-percent franchise tax on gross bets from gaming operations of the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) is unconstitutional.

I n an 8-page resolution, the Court denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) seeking the reversal of the said ruling.

I t also directed the government to refund POGO licensees of the 5-percent franchise tax it collected from them under the Bayanihan 2 Law.

It is evident that not to order a refund will result in injustice and inequity on the part of the POGO licensees. Thus, any amount that was collected from the POGO licensees based on the implementation of the Bayanihan 2 Law, and prior to the passage of Republic Act 11590 (An Act Taxing Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations) should be returned,” the SC said.

All things considered, the Court finds no compelling reason to reverse and set aside the assailed decision. Thus, the motion for reconsideration must be denied with finality,” the Court added.

T he SC also ordered that an entry of judgment be issued immediately in the case.

I n its motion for reconsideration, the government through respondents DOF and the BIR, argued that the assailed tax issuances are valid as these were issued on the account of the expanded licensing and regulatory authority of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

T he said respondents maintained that offshore-based POGOS are subject to franchise tax and income taxes. Furthermore, the DOF

and BIR insisted that Sections 11 (f) and (g) of the Bayanihan 2 Law are not riders.

After a judicious review of the allegations raised in the motion for reconsideration, the Court finds the same bereft of merit,” the SC ruled.

It can be recalled that on September 29, 2022, the Court declared Section 11 (f) and (g) of the Bayanihan 2 Law (An Act Providing for Covid-19 Response and Recovery Intervention and Providing Mechanism to Accelerate the Recover and Bolster the Resiliency of the Philippine Economy, Providing Funds Therefor, and For Other Purposes) as unconstitutional for being “riders.”

T he decision stemmed from the petition for prohibition filed by offshore-based gaming operators Saint Wealth Ltd., Marco Polo Enterprises Ltd., MG Universal Link Ltd., OG Global Access Ltd., Pride Fortune Ltd., VIP Global Solutions Ltd., AG Interpacific Resources Ltd., Wanfang Technology Management Ltd., Imperial Choice Ltd., Bestbetinnet Ltd., Riesling Capital Ltd., Golden Dragon Empire Ltd., Oriental Game Ltd., Most Success International Group Ltd., and High Zone Capital Investment Group

‘DOTR EXPLORING WAYS TO SOLVE LICENSE MESS’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

Ltd., assailing the constitutionality of the said provisions of Bayanihan 2 Law and related revenue issuances of respondents DOF and the BIR.

S ection 11 (f) and (g) of the Bayanihan 2 Law provides a list of sources of fund to address the Covid-19 pandemic which include the amounts derived from the 5 percent franchise tax on the gross bets from POGOs and income tax, value-added tax and other applicable taxes on income from nongaming operations earned by POGO operators, agents, service providers and support providers.

In deciding the case, the Court pointed out that the said provisions violate Section 26, Article VI of the Constitution which mandates that “every bill passed by the Congress shall embrace only one subject which shall be expressed in the title thereof.”

T he SC noted that the prohibition against riders “is to prevent hodge-podge or log-rolling legislation, and to ensure that all provisions of a statute have some reasonable relation to the subject matter as expressed in the title thereof.”

T he SC noted that respondents—former BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay and Former Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III— ven admitted that Bayanihan 2 Law is not a tax measure.

T hus, the Court held that the imposition of new taxes, “camouflaged as part of a long list of existing taxes, cannot be contemplated as an integral part of a temporary Covid-19 relief measure.”

Consequently, the SC said BIR Revenue Regulation No. 30-2020, Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 64-2020, Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 102-2017 and Revenue Memorandum Circular 78-2018, in so far as they impose franchise tax, income tax and other applicable taxes on off-shore based POGOs, are “null and void for being contrary to the Constitution and other relevant laws.”

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr) is studying ways to quickly resolve the supply issue on license cards, including a government-to-government approach.

A ccording to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, parallel to the ongoing P250-million competitive bidding for the procurement of driver’s license cards for the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the agency “is exploring the possibility of engaging the services of other government agencies to supply the said plastic cards.”

B autista is now in talks with the National Printing Office (NPO) on its technical capability to supply 5 million cards in 60 days.

He noted that the meeting was “exploratory at this time to determine possible scenarios in the event that their services will be engaged.”

T he agency is also looking into discussions with the APO Production Unit for the same purpose.

T he DOTr Central Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) will require further details before an agency-to-agency arrangement can be finalized through a Memorandum of Agreement, as required under existing laws, rules and regulations.

T he DOTr Central BAC has an ongoing competitive bidding for the license cards. Deadline for submission and opening of bids is on May 24.

Meanwhile, the Central BAC is currently addressing the issues and comments received from prospective bidders on the Terms of Reference (TOR) submitted by the LTO to the BAC last March 21.

L ast month, LTO Chief Jay Art Tugade admitted that there is a “shortage” of license cards in the country.

A s such, Tugade said the agency is allowing drivers to use their official receipts as “temporary driver’s license” in lieu of the physical cards.

T he LTO on Thursday said it will “wait” for the procurement process of the DOTr.

“As earlier stated, we will await the arrival of the supplies of plastic cards that the DOTr is procuring to ensure the continuous printing of driver’s license cards,” the LTO said.

Meanwhile, to eliminate the reliance on fixers, the LTO is now reviewing the examination for driver’s license applicants.

Tugade has acknowledged that the lengthy procedure is one of the reasons why many driver applicants resort to patronizing fixers.

Upon learning that the current exam takes an hour to complete, Tugade formed a committee to analyze the exam questions and instructed them to condense the content without sacrificing the purpose which aims to license competent drivers with emphasis on knowledge, skills and attitude.

The instruction I gave to our committee was to compress the exam. This exam reportedly takes about an hour.

The agency is now studying how to shorten the exam. I believe that by reducing the exam duration, our applicants will not seek out fixers and will opt to take the exam themselves,” Tugade said.

A mong the exams being studied are for those obtaining a new non-professional license, new conductor’s license, changing classification from nonprofessional to professional, and adding driver’s license code.

I n addition to shortening the examination duration, the committee is also studying to make the questions “customized,” depending on the license classification or driver’s license code the applicant is applying for.

Global trade slows in blow to Maersk as further hit expected

A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, a bellwether for global trade, signaled weaker results for the rest of 2023 after reporting first-quarter operating profit that tumbled by more than half with transport volumes slowing and freight rates plunging.

M aersk, which transports close to one-fifth of the world’s containers, warned that the first three months of 2023 “will be best quarter of the financial year,” the Copenhagen-based company said in a statement on Thursday. It expects global economic growth to remain “weak” at around 2 percent this year.

T here’s “still a lot of clouds that we need to handle,” Chief Executive Officer Vincent Clerc said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

A s business activity slows, companies are seeking to reduce inventories at warehouses rather than moving new goods from Asia to Europe and the US. That’s a sharp turnaround from 2021 and 2022, when a spike in demand for consumer goods during the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with supply-chain issues limiting vessel supply, lead to record profits in the freight industry.

I n the first quarter, Maersk reported a 56-percent drop in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization to $3.97 billion. That compares with

a median estimate of $3.55 billion in a survey of analysts. Volumes declined 9.4 percent in the quarter, and freight rates fell 37 percent and are close to the break-even level, according to the CEO.

T he shares fell as much as 3.2 percent and were down 1 percent now at 11,915 kroner at 9:30 a.m. in Copenhagen trading. The decline pushed Maersk’s stock to its lowest level in a month.

T he shipping company repeated its forecast that the world’s container transport volumes may shrink as much as 2.5 percent this year. It also stuck to its own fullyear financial forecast of underlying Ebitda of $8 billion to $11

billion, which is roughly a quarter of the 2022 figure.

To avoid a more severe downturn, Clerc indicated that the shipping industry needs to be disciplined on capacity and may have to idle more vessels later this year. We’ve already seen a lot of capacity being blanked to match the lower volume demand,” he told Anna Edwards in the Bloomberg TV interview. There’s also some supply side risks in the form of new ships coming into service in the second part of the year and in the next. This will create a new challenge for the industry.” Bloomberg News

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Companies

B1

Friday, May 5, 2023

SM Prime Holdings prices yield on ₧35B fixed bonds

By VG Cabuag @villygc

The company said its “Series S” paper will have a yield of 6.2069 percent due on 2025, or at 2.5 years; its “Series T” at 6.2151 percent due on 2027, or 4 years; and, its “Series U” at 6.3275 percent due on 2029, or 6 years.

The company issued an aggregate

principal amount of P250 billion and an oversubscription option of an additional P10 billion.

“The fifth tranche of SM Prime’s P100 billion debt securities program will be used in pursuance of our expansion plans that will provide the company a

stronger foothold in the key areas of the country. SM Prime remains committed in delivering sustainable developments across the Philippine that aims to provide improvement in the lives of many Filipinos,” SM Prime CFO John Nai Peng C. Ong said.

The proposed issuance is under the company’s P100 billion shelf registration of fixed rates bonds approved by Securities and Exchange Commission on February 12, 2020.

The offer period of the bonds will take place from May 8 to 12.

SM Prime’s Series S, T, and U bonds will be made available to investors through joint issue managers bDO Capital and Investment Corp. and China bank Capital Corp., which

PLDT, Smart tap First Gen unit for RE need

are also joint bookrunners and joint lead underwriters together with bPI Capital Corp., EastWest b a nking Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., RCbC Capital Corp. and Sb Capital Investment Corp.

These retail bonds are set to be issued on May 23.

Similar to its previous bond issues, the series “S,” “T” and “U” have been rated “PRS Aaa” by the Philippine Rating Services Corp.

A “PRS Aaa” rating is the highest rating assigned by PhilRatings, denoting that such obligations are of the highest quality with minimal credit risk and the issuing company ‘s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligations is extremely strong.

PLDT paid nearly half of capex overrun

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

PLDT Inc. has so far paid as much as P14 billion of its reported P33-billion capital expenditures (capex) overrun, which, officials claim, is an issue that has been “largely resolved.”

Danny Y. Yu, the company’s group controller, said as of the first quarter of 2023, PLDT has paid somewhere between P11 billion and P14 billion of the capex overspend.

“Once these are delivered and accepted by us, then we have to book their assets. The payment is recorded in another asset account; but once these are delivered and accepted, then it be-

comes part of the fixed asset,” he said.

In December, PLDT initially reported incurring a P48-billion budget overrun, which was uncovered through forensic investigations on its network investments.

The amount was reduced to P33 billion after PLDT executed a settlement and mutual release program that cuts its outstanding purchase orders from vendors.

“We’ve learned a lot from the audit…a lot of programs and processes and really systems have to be in place and we’re putting the controls in strict procurement process and monitoring of approvals,” PLDT President Alfredo Panlilo said.

PLDT Chairman Manuel Pan-

gilinan noted that the capex overrun issue has “largely been resolved.”

“It is time in 2023 for PLDT to face forward, and move on. We should now channel our energies towards keeping the PLDT Group well-positioned for growth amidst this challenging macroeconomic environment,” he said.

Earlier, Pangilinan said he expects that the capex overspend will continue to have an effect on the 2023 full-year results of PLDT.

In the first quarter of 2023, PLDT’s net income was flattish at P9.01 billion, while its total revenues grew by 5 percent to P52.36 billion from P49.83 billion.

The company was able to reduce its expenses by 5 percent to

P39.70 billion from P41.69 billion the year prior.

Telco core income—which strips off the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations— reached P8.6 billion, up 5 percent from the same period last year, mainly due to higher earnings and lower depreciation.

Nonetheless, PLDT’s “internal” target telco core income guidance stands at P33.8 billion, almost the similar amount that it booked in 2022.

“The budget that we have approved was P33.8 billion, it’s really a clean-up year because a lot of things have been happening… It’s a work in progress. Internally, we’re looking at P33.8 billion,” Panlilio said.

AEV launches N. Vizcaya cold storage site

Ab O ITIZ Equity Ventures

Inc. on Thursday said Fresh Depot Inc. has launched its second pilot cold storage site in Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal, one of the country’s biggest trading centers located in the Cagayan Valley region.

Fresh Depot, which launched its first pilot cold storage unit in b e nguet, seeks to contribute to the country’s food sustainability by providing a physical and digital platform for farmers, with cold storage as its springboard.

With Fresh Depot’s pilot unit, farmers and traders can now store their surplus produce and preserve its freshness until it reaches the market. This groundbreaking solution aims to significantly reduce food wastage and enhance the food supply chain in the Philippines.

“Filipino farmers face so many challenges, it can be hard to know where to start. When we saw that cold storage technology could prevent around half of their crops from spoiling between harvest and consumption, this was an obvious answer. Getting paid for most, not half, of their production means that farmers will soon be able to invest in other products that can create a virtuous cycle in their prosperity. Digitally tracking the cold storage usage means we can also help the government understand how they can better support farmers,” Emilie SydneySmith, AEV’s chief transformation officer, said.

The Nueva Vizcaya terminal serves as a major vegetable trading hub for farmers, traders and buyers from different parts of Luzon. It was established and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2001.

The provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya was the majority stockholder from 2005 to 2013. b y 2015, the private sector had gained the majority shares of the corporation.

At present, 85.29 percent of shares are owned by the private sector and the remaining 14.71 percent of shares are owned by the government.

“We are happy to be collaborating with Aboitiz on Fresh Depot’s pilot program. As part of NVAT and a farmer myself, I see a lot of potential in providing this facility to farmers and traders, enabling them to preserve their fresh produce’s quality before they are brought to the consumption mar-

ket. This will also open doors to digitize farm data. We are equally committed to make this project a success to help prepare

the country’s agricultural sector for the future,” Gilbert Cumila, general manager of the terminal, said. VG Cabuag

LOPEZ-LED Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the renewable energy (RE) arm of First Gen Corp., will supply geothermal power to seven facilities of PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. (Smart).

Through a supply partnership, PLDT and Smart will use geothermal energy to power up seven facilities located in various areas in Cebu, Samar, Capiz and Iloilo.

Under the deal, EDC will supply 3.7-megawatts (MW) to these facilities starting June 26 this year. EDC will source power from its Southern Negros geothermal facility.

PLDT and Smart Chief Sustainability Officer, First Vice President and Head of Investor Relations Melissa V. Vergel de Dios said the switch to RE will allow the firms to save annually around P27 million in electricity costs for the seven facilities in the Visayas.

“This will also support our broader de-carbonization roadmap and will enable us to reduce our emissions by about 16 thousand tons this year, which amounts to 26 percent of our total target emissions reduction for 2023,” de Dios added.

In 2022, PLDT and Smart disclosed their decarbonization roadmap, which targets to reduce “Scope 1” and “Scope 2” greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40 percent by 2030. This covers the transition to RE and green technology solutions to power up their network facilities, data cen-

ters and operational sites across the country.

These initiatives underscore PLDT and Smart’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 for “Affordable and Clean Energy” and Goal 13 for “Climate Action.”

Moreover, PLDT and Smart are exploring further with First Gen the expansion of geothermal energy use for more of their sites across the Philippines, including data centers.

“We have committed to make Sustainability part of the way we operate and shall remain steadfast in delivering on our decarbonization targets. As we turn to renewables and clean energy, we are also supporting the Philippine government’s plan for green energy transition.” said PLDT and Smart President and Chief Executive Officer Alfredo S. Panlilio.

For First Gen’s part, company president Giles Puno said the company cited its 2016 plan to close its doors to coal-fired power plants as one of the most significant business decisions it made to keep its energy portfolio clean and green.

Puno said this decision showed how the company was serious in pursuing its decarbonization mission.

“It gives us motivation to continue doing what we do with partners like PLDT. We know that it is only by working together that we can power through to a greener and more progressive future,” added Puno. Lenie Lectura

SHOPPING mall operator SM

Prime Holdings Inc. on Thursday said it has set the interest rates on its P35 billion in peso-denominated fixed rate bonds.

The ‘Secret Sauce’ of member engagement

Banking&Finance

‘PHL must reckon with nuclear issue’

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

governor added.

In a separate briefing last Thursday, ADB Climate Envoy Warren Evans explained that the Manila-based multilateral development bank will continue financing projects such as those for poverty alleviation and infrastructure.

Part Two

IN my last post here, I wrote about a formula on member engagement: “Engagement equals Value plus Experience.” It came from Amanda Lea Kaiser, author of the new book, “Elevating Engagement: Uncommon Strategies for Creating Thriving Member Communities.”

Here are additional thoughts which I adapted from Amanda’s recent webinar and the articles on her website: Most associations equate engagement only with value such as content, benefits, and events. This emanates from the usual question an association asks its members: “What do you need?” However, this is only one part of the engagement equation. Whenever you ask, “what do our members need?” you should also now ask a new question, “How do you want your members to feel?”

Asking this additional question brings you to the mindset of experiences. This could mean making new members feel welcomed, appreciated, and celebrated. You can help them feel these emotions in the words you choose and the tone you adopt, for example, when you craft a welcome letter, create a product, plan an event, pick up the phone, do a webpage, write an article, email, or post. Take a second to ask yourself, “When members connect with us, how do we want them to feel?”

Amanda suggests a few more tips: start virtual meetings with some royalty-free or licensed tunes, take a few extra seconds to warmly welcome new members when you call them, start a meeting with a good icebreaker, and when you hand attendees their badge, program, and lanyard, give them a genuine smile, too. Positive experiences are unique, can help you stand out, and will make your organization memorable and remarkable.

Also, ask yourself these questions: Are you creating an environment where members want to participate? Do first-timer members wish to become involved? Is the sense of belonging increasing? Are members making friends? Is the association community energy high?

First impressions are also memory makers. Members may not remember their third, fourth, or fifth conference when asked about them years later, but they’ll likely remember their first. One of the best ways to onboard new members is to optimize first impressions.

There are many opportunities to enhance member engagement by sprucing up first impressions. Here are some steps: (1) brainstorm when first impressions are likely to happen, (2) decide whether each experience is as good as it could be, and (3) re-engineer each first impression to make it great.

So, these bring me to a new designation that an association can create: that of a CEO—not chief executive officer but chief experience officer. Every association leader can become a CEO. You may be on the IT team, accounting, research, editorial team, or be a volunteer and still be a CEO. Assuming the CEO role is not just for the membership department or committee; becoming a CEO is for everybody. No matter your current title, you can take on the CEO role.

Associations are experience-creating centers. Experiences will happen organically, or these can be planned. Every great experience drives the emotions that grow member engagement.

So, remember the formula: “Engagement equals Value plus Experience.”

Octavio Peralta is currently the executive director of the Global Compact Network Philippines and founder and volunteer CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives, the “association of associations.” E-mail: bobby@ pcaae.org.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, BSP Governor Felipe M. Medalla said the Philippines is committed to transition to renewables and would still need support in this regard.

During the annual meeting of the ADB Board of Governors here, President Masatsugu Asakawa has stressed the need to transition to net zero and announced the creation of the “Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific,” or “Ifcap,” which is a first in the world in terms of climate finance. (Full story here: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/05/03/with-new-facility-adb-keen-on-100-b-climatefinancing/)

“Some people are afraid that

focus on climate change will lose lending for other things like poverty alleviating projects that do not have direct impact on climate change, infrastructure projects that do not have direct impact on climate change; but we will largely benefit because we have already decided not to build new coal plants,” Medalla told the BusinessMirror.

“So clearly we need financing to make this transition to renewables; to find good financing for the transition to renewables. In the past, I guess we were reluctant to make the shift because renewables were quite expensive but I think the technological changes made renewables competitive,” the central bank

work praised

HOUSE Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Albay 2nd district Rep. Jose Ma.

Clemente “Joey” S. Salceda has hailed the country’s tax collection agencies, particularly the Bureau of Customs (BOC), for doing what he described as a “very good” performance.

“Before we start our committee hearing for today, please allow me to congratulate the tax collection agencies for very good revenue-collection performance. Hindi lang good ha : very good,” Salceda told his panel last Wednesday.

Salceda congratulated the BOC, led by its commissioner, Bienvenido Y. Rubio, for its strong performance for the month of April when the agency raked in P68.274 billion.

He congratulated the agency “for once again exceeding its revenue collection targets for the month of April,” which according to the House tax panel chief, exceeded the BOC’s target of P68.199 billion.

“This suggests that despite uncertain global conditions, our tax collec-

tion agencies are exceeding expectations and are working hard to earn the lifeblood of Philippine government,” noted Salceda.

It turned out that April 28 was also the day that the BOC broke its record for biggest single-day collection. On that day, the customs bureau collected P7.510 billion.

This was P1.436 billion or 23.64 percent higher than the previous singleday record of P6.074 billion, which was achieved on October 14, 2022.

Rubio said that for the first four months of 2023, the BOC has already collected P281.902 billion, which is 6.29 percent or P16.682 billion higher than its target of P265.220 billion.

The figure is also 10.89 percent higher than last year’s first four-month collection of P254.226 billion.

Meanwhile, Salceda also gave “props” to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which according to him expects to collect a record P301 billion in April alone or 25 percent higher than the P239.6 billion the BIR collected last year.

Zero tariffs on 2-wheeled EVs seen after EO review

By Andrea San Juan

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is hoping the Tariff Commission will decide to impose zero tariffs on imported emotorcycles on February 2024, a year after the implementation of Executive Order (EO) 12.

Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said he is in favor of modifying the tariff rates for imported electric motorcycles (e-motorcycles) to zero. However, he noted that the Tariff Commission shall determine the course of the proceedings regarding the adjustment of duties of items included in EO 12 (series of 2023).

“It is there in the EO; [our] decision to apply it to 4-wheeled vehicles, both cars and transport vehicles. It is good for five years,” Pascual said. The Trade chief, nonetheless, noted there’s a provision in the said measure regarding 2-wheeled vehicles such as e-motorcycles that was excluded by the EO. Hence, these are still subject to 30-percent tariff rate.

The Trade chief stressed that the review of items to be subjected to zerotariffs is set to transpire sometime in February 2024, a year after the EO 12 was implemented.

However, Evans said, these projects will be viewed using a “climate lens.” This will lead to an increase in financing for certain traditional sectors such as education and health by way of the creation of green jobs, for example.

He emphasized that all traditional projects that ADB used to finance will not see a reduction in financing except for projects that deal with fossil fuels. It can be noted that Asakawa stressed on the first day of the Annual meeting that the ADB will no longer finance any new coal projects.

“First off, we are not going to be the climate bank of the region: we are the climate bank of the region. We see in most sectors that there is not a trade-off: it’s not an ‘either-or’ in terms of an investment,” Evans said.

“Except for fossil fuels, I don’t anticipate a change at all; and we’re certainly not looking at an either or situation where climate financing will crowd out something else,” he added.

Nuclear debate

MEDALLA said given that the Philippines has committed to the reduction in fossil fuels, the country would have to, sooner or later, get into a discourse on the use of nuclear energy.

“If you really want to eliminate fossil fuels completely, you [cannot] do it without relying on nuclear power. I think sooner or later, we would have to enter that debate,” Medalla told the BusinessMirror.

This is because, Medalla said, scientists have pointed out that the best non-fossil fuel complement to renewable energy is nuclear power. He said renewables, despite the benefits, have “particular problems.”

These problems include not having enough—or having too much— wind, for example, in areas that could decrease the potential use of wind power while solar energy is not present 24/7 as there is no solar power at night and cloudy days would produce less sunlight.

Medalla said another issue with renewables is storage. He said this is still “quite expensive” and, thus, the country does not have enough of it to be able to transition faster and more efficiently.

“But I think the Department of Energy has a good plan that allows increased use of renewable energy

without sacrificing cost and stability,” Medalla, nonetheless, said. Based on the latest Philippine Development Plan (PDP), the national government aims to explore the inclusion of nuclear energy into the country’s energy mix in the medium term.

The 2023-2028 PDP stated this was based on Executive Order 164 released by the Duterte administration in adopting a national position toward a nuclear energy program.

However, the Marcos administration first intends to conduct “rigorous scientific studies” before it allows investments in nuclear power plants.

The PDP also stated that these efforts will include the drafting of the Comprehensive Atomic Energy Regulatory Framework. This will help create a nuclear regulatory body.

In her recently published research, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Adoracion M. Navarro said nuclear energy remained a “promising option” for the country.

However, Navarro noted that a government’s decision to tap this energy resource is a long-term commitment and must be put in consideration from the time frame of a hundred years.

Pascual said there’s a provision in the EO that may change the tariff rates.

“[We have a] provision [there]. ’ Yung mga hindi sinama ngayon like ’ yung two-wheeled vehicles like motorcycles, we will review the EO after one year to see whether there is a stronger justification to include these,” the DTI chief said. “They [advocates for inclusion of 2-wheeled EVs] can build their case. Doon na lang natin sundan kapag dumating na ’yung one-year review.”

Pascual added that some local manufacturers of electric bicycles oppose the modification of tariffs of 2-wheeled vehicles to zero rate.

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

INCHEON, South Korea—The Philippines believes it will still be able to benefit from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) transformation as the region’s climate bank, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

BOC’s

as ‘very good’ by Salceda

Octavio Peralta

Association World

‘Manufactured’ chaos at the terminal

OVER the years, the thought of riding a plane and traveling out of town or going abroad has become increasingly less palatable for me.

Let’s face it. While it’s a joy to explore other places and indulge in exciting adventures, just having to pack one’s luggage with a sizeable number of clothes that you may never need, then hauling yourself to the airport for the check-in, boarding and eventual departure are stressful enough.

In one of my recent trips out of town, however, I was surprised that there were no more unusually long inspections by the guardia civil of vehicles entering the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3. Also, there were no hellish queues outside the terminal, I was able to quickly make my way from the entrance to the airline checkin counter where I dropped off my luggage. Removing those darned X-ray machines at the entrances have kept the flow of people into the terminal moving.

(In the past, despite having two X-ray machines in most of the entrances, only one of them would actually be working, which contributed to the snaking queues outside terminal, and already irate passengers. And then there were the guards who would take a ridiculously protracted amount of time checking passenger IDs, then comparing them with the names on the tickets or boarding passes.)

I also noticed there were additional billboards with flight information showing which airlines already had already opened their check-in counters, which were already boarding passengers, which flights had already left, and so on. In the past, these info would have been loudly announced over the annoying crackling pop of the terminal’s public address system. These were among the initial improvements made by Transportation Secretary Jimmy Bautista and his man at Naia, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Cesar Chiong, to ease the burden of travelers leaving Manila. What a relief.

Of course, not everything has been smooth sailing at Naia. In the early hours of Labor Day, Monday, Naia-3 suffered a power outage for about 7.5 hours which affected 9,000 passengers and 247 flights, of

which 48 flights of Cebu Pacific had to be cancelled. This is the second time a power outage occurred at Naia-3; last September 17, over 30 domestic and international flights were affected due to a problem with the terminal’s power substation. The outage lasted for seven hours.

Then on New Year’s Day, government’s communications, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management system (CNS/ATM), operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, went offline due to an unexplained glitch. The problem affected over 65,000 passengers and over 300 flights in and out Manila.

When you have been a journalist as long as I have, one can’t help but think that all these seemingly separate events at the airport, and a few other incidents below the public’s radar, have formed a very specific pattern. In times like these, a particular quote of novelist Ian Fleming comes to mind: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” (Goldfinger)

And I believe the aim of the “enemy action” is to embarrass President Marcos Jr. s administration with all these faux pas at the airport, leaving him with no choice but to fire Bautista and Chiong. Thing is, the detractors of the two can’t attack their characters; both have earned unsullied reputations in the private sector. Being well-respected in the industry, Bautista’s and Chiong’s appointments were

welcomed by investors and business leaders as among the best and more credible made by the president. So these operators, whoever they are, have no choice but to make Bautista and Chiong look incompetent, bungling managers.

Separately, Bautista is facing a problem with the looming shortages of plastic license cards and license plates. It is the Land Transportation Office (LTO), headed by Jose Arturo Tugade, which should have anticipated the shortages and done something about them. But several news outlets have quoted Tugade laying the blame squarely at the foot of his boss, the transportation chief. The issue revolves around the bidding process, how much is involved, and what are the terms of reference for the bidding. For the sake of motorists, let’s hope these bureaucratic differences are resolved quickly and the shortages are addressed immediately.

(By the way, if the LTO chief’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he is the son of the Duterte-era DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade. And not too long ago, the younger Tugade was supposed to have been appointed as MIAA chief, replacing Chiong. Bautista stood his ground, however, and convinced President Marcos Jr. to keep Chiong at his post, and assign Tugade at the LTO instead.)

Meanwhile, on the heels of the recent power outage

Young Deaf Summit inspires next-gen Deaf leaders, advocates

AFTER two years of virtual conferences, the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) recently opened its doors to Deaf senior high school students from all over the Philippines for the muchawaited in-person Young Deaf Summit (YDS) 2023.

Themed “Trailblaze,” this year’s installment paid tribute to globallyrecognized Deaf Filipinos who have broken barriers as the first and the best in their chosen career paths.

TODAY’S HOROSCOPE

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS

DAY: Adele, 35; Henry Cavill, 40; Danielle Fishel, 42; Tina Yothers, 50.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Consider the changes going on around you a blessing and a chance to incorporate the things you enjoy doing most into your routine this year. Speak up, share your feelings and work toward better relationships. Put your energy into your home and family, and let your inspiration come from your heart. Use your energy constructively and make this a year to remember. Your numbers are 9, 14, 18, 21, 25, 34, 42, 44.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Go out of your way to get things done. Clear your roster and refuse to take on too much. Have an airtight strategy and desire to improve your workspace, or turn your home into a place of comfort and convenience. Don’t reveal secrets. ★★★

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Deter people trying to pry into your personal life. Stick close to home and focus on what you can accomplish. A chance to do something constructive for someone who needs help will inspire you to take better care of yourself. ★★★

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Uncertainty regarding what you should do and what you want to do will develop. Rethink the consequences before deciding to take a risk with your health or wealth. Research a minimalist lifestyle and you’ll discover remnants of wisdom that will improve your life. ★★★

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Your ability to comfort people will put you in demand and in a position to mold the way things unfold. Speak with confidence and compassion, and you’ll set standards for others to follow. Your contributions will open a door to a better future. ★★★★★

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Be careful not to reveal sensitive information. You’ll face scrutiny if you aren’t transparent regarding your motives. Your hard work and dedication will result in new opportunities that promise greater cash flow. Having a workspace at home will lead to additional income. Romance is favored. ★★

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Visit someone you enjoy being around and share your ideas. A partnership will inspire creativity and the discipline to follow your plan through to the end. An offer that encourages you to veer off in a new direction will change your lifestyle. ★★★★

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Added discipline will help you train for a physical challenge. Pay attention to what your body is telling you and nourish it with a healthy diet. The better you look and feel, the easier it will be to combat what defies you. ★★

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): An open mind and creative plan will encourage you to take on something unusual. Traveling for the purpose of discovery will feed your soul and help you gain insight into possibilities. A change of plans will work in your favor. ★★★

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Listen to the information provided, but verify what you hear before passing it along. Staying on the right path will necessitate getting your facts straight and displaying how they apply to what you are trying to achieve. ★★★

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): A financial plan or home investment will help you attain personal freedom. Control your destiny by structuring where, how, what and who you work alongside. Don’t let anyone pressure you into overextending yourself.

Deaf Association in Quezon Province

The concept was inspired by Iñigo Asilo, the first Deaf franchisee and operator of convenience chain 7-Eleven, and Dx. Raphael Vergel de Dios Domingo, the first doctorate degree recipient of the NipponGallaudet World Deaf Leadership (WDL) Program.

YDS 2023 held a series of in-depth discussions that equipped the participants with ideas to nurture their respective talents, reach for their dreams and become professionals, leaders and advocates.

Maria Isabel Cabbab, a Special Education

(SpEd) teacher at the Philippine School for the Deaf (PSD), imparted her vision and mission as a Deaf community member.

Kimstore, Technopop and Tech Kart Multimedia Artist Morly Canta and Accenture Philippines Supply Chain Operations Associate Mark Despabiladeras, rendered inspirations that being Deaf does not hinder one from moving forward and achieving life goals.

The event likewise served as a platform to shed light on the Deaf youth as future leaders and advocates.

President Trivor Latayan, Love Yourself Inc. Volunteer and Philippine Sport Federation of the Deaf Treasurer Disney Aguila, and Philippine Federation of the Deaf Youth Section President Louis Christian Decara walked the attendees into their journeys and advocacies. YDS 2023 was likewise conducted in Cebu, Bacolod, Bicol and Davao in its strong pursuit to empower and celebrate the Filipino Deaf youth. More information can be found at sdeas. benilde.edu.ph

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be aware of what everyone in your circle is doing and where they place their loyalty before you share your plans. A change at home or work won’t sit well with you. Offering alternatives will override poor suggestions better than rage. ★★

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Use your insight and imagination to help increase your financial intake. Don’t trust someone who can’t give you a straight answer with information that may jeopardize your plans. ★★★★★

BIRTHDAY BABY:

You are helpful, sensitive and persistent. You are proactive and wise.

The Universal Crossword • Edited by David Steinberg/Anna Gundlach

PHOTO BY VOO QQQ ON UNSPLASH

Media execs inspire youth in Bacolod, Iloilo at ‘GMA Masterclass’ series

THru GMA Regional TV and Synergy, GMA Network brought the latest leg of the award-winning GMA Masterclass: The Icons Series to Western Visayas on May 3 and 5, featuring GMA senior vice president for corporate strategic planning and business development, and concurrent chief risk officer and head of program support Regie C. Bautista, and senior vice president for entertainment group Lilybeth G. Rasonable.

Bautista and Rasonable were at the uSLS Coliseum, University of St. La Salle-Bacolod, Bacolod City, on May 3, and then at USA Auditorium, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, on May 5. The GMA executives shared their personal experiences and professional expertise to the students and other attendees as trusted practitioners in the entertainment and media industry.

The two events marked the 28th and 29th legs of the GMA Masterclass Series after it was launched in 2018. This year’s first two legs of GMA Masterclass: The Icons Series were held in Saint John Paul II College of Davao, Davao City on March 3 and in Notre Dame of Dadiangas university, General Santos City on March 4 and featured GMA Network chief marketing officer Lizelle G. Maralag.

“With our aim to provide another venue for discourse, GMA Masterclass: The Icons Series will continue to inspire more Filipinos to uphold our campaign for truth and education. We are very honored to have our very own executives Lilybeth

G. Rasonable and Regie C. Bautista, who are equally respected in the entertainment and media industry, to share their expertise and bring inspiration to the students and other key members of the academic communities in Bacolod and Iloilo,” said first vice president and head of GMA Regional TV and Synergy, and acting head of GMA Integrated News Oliver Victor B. Amoroso.

On April 29, a special GMA Masterclass was mounted in GMA Network’s Studio 5 featuring Chino Gaston from GMA Integrated News, Agatha Guidaben from GMA Integrated News Research, Audrey Domasian from Social Media, and Jeslie Del AyreLuza from Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino. The event was participated physically by members of GMA Integrated News and virtually from the 12 GMA regional stations in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The GMA Masterclass: The Icon Series is an initiative by GMA Regional TV and GMA Synergy. It aims to bring some of the respected icons in various fields to various places across the country to inspire and initiate discourse on various local and national issues. It has been recognized as “The Most Development Oriented TV Plug” at the Gandingan 2020: The 14th uPLB Isko’t Iska Multi-media Awards, and it took home the second Excellence Award under Communication Training and Education Category at

‘Let’s bolt in’: The return of Voltes V

our only planet by restructuring themselves into one battleship of a robot, was this always your obsession?” I was talking to Mark Reyes, in whose hands now fall this extraterrestrial responsibility to revive a nearly mythical TV show. The voice at the other end could not deny that even if obsession was a tad exaggerated to define his enterprise, he was indeed into Voltes V.

call to Mark Reyes—we both were so giddy and excited about Voltes V that we ended up exchanging confessionals about the series.

YOU read it right: Let us link ourselves by way of the bolts in our machines. Shouldn’t it be “volt in” as in the original phrase?

Who cares? I am, like the rest of the fans of this animated TV series of yore, nitpicking. I, too, am trying to find my authorship of the story, the ownership of the show. But unlike the others, I am celebrating Voltes V, the live-action series to be aired by GMA.

The fact is Voltes V, the anime, had always affected generations of the late 1970s and well those of the 1990s. I was a young exchange student (note the self-consciousness in my tone) when Voltes V was released in 1977 in Japan. Then, anime did not yet have the global imprint it has now. But it was beginning to have its following with the early sign that the product would be so taken seriously it would become an academic subject matter, a form that would make its appearance by the 1990s in journals and serious books.

Voltes V is about a robot, the Super Electromagnetic Robot called Voltes V. And yet when one reckons with the animation and the live-action series, one does not so much focus on the machine than it does with the go-nin or five individuals who bolt in—okay, volt in—to fully control the mecha (the machine) and make it work. The aim is to fight the aliens from another planet. While the alien planet has been scheming to attack Earth, a Japanese scientist already has his own counter-attack strategies.

“This notion of persons coming together to defend

“Ten years...seven really, unless you add the three years in the pandemic.” I repeated: “Ten years?” Mark Reyes was confiding to me how he has started to mount this dream project—for it is a dream project indeed—called Voltes V from way, way back. Reyes spoke of how the talk with Toei all began years ago. There was a series of talks and negotiations between him and GMA before things could be finalized. And just as things were coming strong between the two partners, the pandemic came upon us. There was a palpable frustration in Mark Reyes’s voice. And there was also a voice of relief, which later turned into a sigh. Mark Reyes was happily impatient even as he confessed how they had to create a significant number of episodes before feeling confident that they had indeed a presentation.

Toei? I had to repeat that name. I was incredulous that we have a Filipino name involved with this company that owned the series on super robot and other iconic titles, like Dragon Ball, One Piece and many more.

The images from Toei animation when compiled are a universe of shapes, forms and gestures that spell animé or animation.

“What can we expect from you and your team regarding the production of this show belonging to the mecha—a genre that features technological innovation and robots, androids and other creatures?” Mark Reyes did not respond to this question directly but remained candid about how he is looking to do more along this form. He confessed his mixed emotions when he saw his name on the screen with Toei.

I am not sure now how we ended the quick interview but I guess it was to find more time to speak about Voltes V. Something odd about my online

Cheering on local athletes

AT the height of the lockdown, one of the things that kept me sane was the Olympics.

Continued from B4

comes the news that Chiong had been placed on “preventive suspension” without pay by Ombudsman

Samuel R. Martires for “grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service for the reassignment of about 285 MIAA employees in a matter of less than a year...” The order was issued on April 28, 2023, in response to the complaint of “Anonymous MIAA Officials.”

In a statement, Chiong expressed confidence that the Ombudsman will side with him when he shows that the reassignments were made with the best of intentions toward improving the efficiency of airport. “The country’s main airport faces extremely difficult challenges, and we have started to implement plans and programs that aim to enhance passenger experience at our country’s main gateway. The finances of MIAA have vastly improved without any government subsidy in the short stint that I have been at its helm,” he stressed.

I am hoping the operators against Bautista and Chiong fail, and President Marcos Jr. keeps these two men for the sake of honest and good government. n

I am not sports-minded and I have not forgotten how big-time sports events are always riddled with talk of corruption, but for me the Olympic Games are usually a testament of how athletes struggle against their bodies and each other to excel. It usually is a glimpse of portraits of human hope.

It is this hope that powered me through watching how our Filipino athletes struggled to gain glory for themselves and their country. That is why I was thoroughly glued to my TV set during the Olympics, no matter that sometimes the coverage was at an ungodly hour. I loyally cheered our representatives.

Now I plan to do the same for the upcoming SEA Games to be held in Cambodia. I will fervently pray for our representatives that they bag more than gold medals, bringing glory for themselves and the country. And I am keeping a particular interest on athletes EJ Obiena, Vanessa Sarno and The Filipinas.

EJ Obiena is our top pole vaulter. Competing in Tokyo, he managed to make it to the finals but failed to do a podium finish.

However, in the upcoming SEA Games, EJ plans to defend his gold medal. The flag bearer of Team Philippines in last year’s event, EJ conquered the men’s pole vault competition by setting a new SEA Games record of 5.64m. The third-ranked pole vaulter in the world carried the momentum onto other

contests worldwide. This includes setting a new Asian Record at 5.94m at the prestigious World Athletics Championships 2022 last July. In this year’s SEA Games, EJ aims to reach new heights once again.

Meanwhile, The Filipinas is our women’s football national team and they have their eyes set on improving their bronze finish in last year’s SEA Games.

After bagging the 2022 AFF Women’s Championship with a 3-0 drubbing of Thailand, alongside other milestone victories last year, the Philippine Women’s Football Team climbed to an alltime high of No. 49 in the most recent FIFA rankings.

It marked the first time that the Philippine Women’s Football Team cracked the top 50. Summit Water supports the Filipinas in their bid at this year’s SEA Games, as they also look to make the country proud at

Mark Reyes’s Voltes V has more to say about the capabilities and skills of Filipino filmmakers and animators even in the face of detractors. What is Philippine show business without experts in anime and Japanese language?

Would there be more Japanese revivals or adaptations?

Before we could even begin to talk about the future of animation in the country, we had to confront another development, which is the birth of a fantastic singer.

In a separate news, the present Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines, Koshikawa Kazuhiko, has become a fan of Julie Anne San Jose, if we are to believe in what he says regarding the brightness and musical acumen of the young woman.

San Jose sang the theme of Voltes V—“Voltes V no uta” (literally, the song of Voltes V )—and the version posted online has gone viral. While Horie Mitsuko’s original version remains the definitive energetic anime theme song, the style demonstrated by Julie Anne San Jose is excellent verve from start to finish. San Jose’s Voltes V has more energy and sweetness, a companion piece to a series where the charm of the Filipino actors add pizzazz and panache as well as vulnerability to the characters. They all look good, mangaesque Outside of this anime-turned-romantic revival/ cautionary tale are the ideas of how a show is remembered for being so trenchant, it merited two cancellations in the country—during the martial law years and during the late 1990s. It is not clear now why the dictator Marcos opted to have it removed from Philippine television. But as with the second cancellation in 1999, the reason considered obvious as regards the reception accorded to Voltes V was its purported violence seen as ruinous for children growing up in our already violent society.

Oh well, compared to an anime, can there be anything more destitutely destructive than poverty? n

the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

And then there’s Vanessa Sarno. Hailed as the future of the sport of weightlifting, the 19-year-old phenom barged into the scene at last year’s SEA Games with a dominant showing in the women’s 71-kilogram competition to take home the gold medal.

Vanessa cleared a total of 239kg, an outstanding 16kg difference over the silver medalist. She is looking for more of the same by cruising her way to another gold in this year’s contest.

Vanessa, EJ and The Filipinas were gloriously sent off via a media event organized by Summit Drinking Water. Gracing the event was Olympic Gold medalist and Summit endorser Hidilyn Diaz. While Hidilyn isn’t participating in this year’s SEA Games due to a scheduling conflict with an upcoming weightlifting event which serves as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics, she was there to give her support.

Hidilyn gave them her words of encouragement egging them to just do their best, and to always remember they are also doing this not for themselves but also for their family and their country. She also zeroed in our weightlifting team and when asked how many medals will they be able to bag, she said, “I can’t predict how many medals, but one thing I know: all Filipino lifters did their best in training and I know they can deliver and all can win a medal in the SEA Games.”

Good luck to our athletes!

‘Manufactured’...

Motorists can now settle violations in San Juan City through Starpay

cars, AUVs and jeepneys, and P2,000 for cargo trucks, delivery vans, and passenger buses. Motorists caught attempting to remove the wheel clamp will be fined P5,000. Public emergency vehicles like fire trucks, police mobiles, and ambulances are exempted.

Motorists can pay the fine via online transaction by scanning Starpay’s QRPH code, allowing all major banks and e-wallets to also settle through the said QR code. When they show their proof of payment to the traffic enforcers, the clamps on their vehicles will be removed. This allows for more convenience since vehicle owners need not go to the city hall to settle their fines.

Radenta Technologies sponsors workshop on Zimbra, Fortinet to increase modern workday efficiency

EFFICIENCY and security are integral components of the present work environment. Radenta Technologies recently sponsored a workshop to highlight the synergy between Zimbra, an email and collaboration platform and productivity suite, and Fortinet high performance security network solutions.

The speakers were Zimbra Senior Sales Engineer for APAC (Asia Pacific) Piyush Mathur; Fortinet System Engineer Hans Dominic Javier and Philippine Army Head of Network Enterprise Technology Center Lt. Col. Agustin Matib, Jr. Radenta Business Development Officer Mhar Ben Aranda served as moderator.

help. Zimbra is the email domain of choice for several military branches. It has become, in a way, the organizational email of the armed forces.

IN line with San Juan City’s clamping ordinance, Mayor Francis Zamora signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Starpay allowing motorists to settle their clamping violations through Starpay and QRPH.

The Mayor recently led the clamping operation from Club Filipino Avenue in Greenhills which includes Annapolis St., Missouri St. and other roads leading to the Mabuhay Lanes.

The operation follows the amendment of the San Juan City Wheel Clamping Ordnance (C.O. No. 70, Series of 2022)

and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Resolution No. 10, Series of 2010, which emphasized that illegally parked vehicles along Mabuhay Lanes and city roads will be clamped by the authorities.

The Mayor explained “San Juan is in the middle of Metro Manila and most of the motorists are just passing through. This leads to a high rate of transient vehicles.

It is important that our motorists practice discipline.”

Illegally parked vehicles will pay a fine of P500 for motorcycles, P1,500 for

Ryan Uy, Starpay Product Head explains “each traffic enforcer will have their own dedicated QR code. When the QR code is scanned by the motorist, they can input the fine, convenience fee and the payment purpose. Vehicle owners can use Starpay or other e-wallet systems. The convenience fee for Starpay is P25.00, while for other e-wallets it’s P50. The convenience fee saves you from the costs incurred when going to city hall.

The Mayor also warned that clamped vehicles with unpaid fines after the fivehour grace period will be towed.

URC Indonesia receives the Top Quality Award for 2023 for its commitment to rolling out the best products

UNIVERSAL Robina Corp’s (URC) subsidiary in Indonesia has been handed the Top Quality Award for 2023 for its commitment to rolling out only the best, high-value products for one of its biggest markets in the region.

“This award is proof of the trust that URC enjoys across Southeast Asia’s largest economy,” said URC Indonesia Country General Manager Taufiq Basthami.  “It shows that our company continues to satisfy its customers, meet the market’s expectations and build good relationships with all our stakeholders.”

The Top Quality Award was given by the Indonesia Award Magazine, a trusted and prestigious corporate guide in Indonesia.

Wiliana Rahayu, Integrated Supply Chain Director said URC Indonesia is always committed to putting quality as a top metric for each of its products.

Indonesia Award Magazine said it also recognized URC Indonesia for improving and maintaining important aspects of the production process and distribution chain to assure quality

and safe products.  URC Indonesia has demonstrated outstanding performance by maintaining the food safety system as a way of taking responsibility for its customers, the public, the government, and other

stakeholders, it said.

“This honor is also a result of the efforts of our employees who understand our business goal.  Therefore, the company is also focusing on developing the individual potential of employees.” Basthami said.

Jack Daniel’s® and Coca Cola launch Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola alcoholic ready-to-drink in the Philippines

pre-mixed cocktail is inspired by one of the world’s most popular branded “bar calls” – a cocktail ordered with specific brand names – in a convenient, ready-to-drink format. The premium cocktail from these two iconic brands is now hitting shelves nationwide in the Philippines.

The packaging boldly integrates iconic qualities of both brands – the red Coca-Cola logo written in its classic Spencerian script coupled with the bold, black Jack Daniel’s Old No.7 design – emphasizing that the Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola aRTD is born ready to be the best because of its quality ingredients.

Mathur presented Daffodil Version 10. It is the latest Zimbra offering that has a low total cost of ownership (TCO); scales from 10 to 10 million users; comes secure, private and with data sovereignty; accessible anytime, anywhere on any device; is open-source core; and can be deployed on premise, on cloud or hybrid.  Daffodil Version 10 has several end user features. Email and Calendar allow the user to connect, stay organized and manage time with business-class email, calendaring, and connected all in one place. It provides seamless end-user experience with its Responsive Modern UI (user interface) with rich and powerful search tools to organize the mailbox and work with extremely large quotas.

File sharing and Document Collaboration allows file access from any device at any time. The user can engage with intelligent video and create visually striking content in minutes.   Chat and video collaboration deliver elevated meeting experiences with sophisticated call functionality and a central hub for meetings, chat, content and calling. There is Mobile and Outlook Support for EAS/ MAPI/EWS that keeps corporate information secure wherever the user is. Also available is Mailbox/Calendar Delegation, Persona Management and Dumpster.   Daffodil Version 10 user–centric features encourage real-time collaboration and sharing. For chat and video. Enjoy all-in-one centralized platform for real time communication; cloudbased robust infrastructure; supported across all UI platforms; and all standard end user/ admin features.

Soon to come are mobile and desktop apps with notifications, free 1:1 chat and onpremises chat and migration from other chat solutions.

For Briefcase and Office, expect single point management of all document needs; collaborative real time editing; internal and external sharing, file previews and file versioning.

As an end user of Zimbra, Matib gave his views on the application. “Zimbra is designed to address the needs of an enterprise as massive as the Philippine Army.” The army’s sizeable community requires a scalable solution to accommodate its numbers. This, in turn, allows users to communicate with everyone on the platform. If a user has a question or problem, he can use Zimbra to reach everyone who can

Zimbra provides control over administration that is suited to an organization with numerous domains and logos. The data also remains with the user. This is a key security concern. Zimbra allows the user to deploy on premise that other applications cannot do. The ease of use and management of Zimbra is another plus. The user does not need a high level of IT expertise. “My qualification is that of a soldier, not an IT expert, but I am able to manage and deploy Zimbra.”

“Zero Trust is a cybersecurity paradigm focused on resource, protection and the premise that trust is never granted implicitly but must be continually evaluated,” said the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

“This is the challenge that Fortinet has boldly taken on,” says Fortinet’s Javier.

Zero Trust Network Access ensures a secure border by only granting access after a device or user is verified. Zero Trust is a continuous assessment when supporting Work From Anywhere (WFA).

Javier enumerated the five steps Fortinet has identified to reduce Attack Surface:

Device Trust. Identify and authenticate the device. Is it authorized or is it a bring-yourown-device (BYOD) scenario? Is the device finally approved for access or revoked?

User Identity. Verify the User Identity. Is a strong multi factor authentication (MFA) in place? Are the access controls role-based?   Poster Check. This involves adaptive and conditional access, security compliance and device vulnerabilities.

Application Access. Verify application access, application specific access. The last is Encrypted Communication. Is there end-toend encryption? What about data protection? Is all communication logged?

So why use Fortinet Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)? It is FOS based. Factor of Safety or FOS is the extent to which a system’s structural capacity is viable beyond its expected loads. It leverages existing investments in FortiGate thus a lower TCO; it offers complete Work From Anywhere (WFA) coverage; has traffic traversing FortiGate technology; and leverages SD-WAN, SD-Branch capabilities.   Fortinet’s ZTNA client is also a VPN client. The transition to ZTNA is simplified and the shift to ZTNA is at the client’s pace. There are no licenses required if EMS and FGT are already deployed.  Make the most of the latest in communication and security. Ask Radenta how Zimbra and Fortinet can make an enormous difference to your enterprise. Email  info@ radenta.com or call 0999-227-0946.

JACK Daniel’s® and Coca-Cola are launching Jack Daniel’s and CocaCola alcoholic ready-to-drink (aRTD) in the Philippines.

Made with Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and Coca-Cola, Jack Daniel’s & Coca-Cola aRTD premium cocktail is inspired by one of the most popular bar cocktails around the world.

Last year, Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola announced that they would be teaming up to provide adults in markets around the world with this new drink option to enjoy. The Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola

“We are excited that Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola ready-to-drink cocktail is expanding to new markets, including the Philippines, allowing more fans of the classic cocktail to enjoy the taste that set the standard for bar calls around the world,” said Sally Goh, General Manager, Emerging Asia, Brown-Forman. “It’s incredibly special to share the product of this joint effort with Filipinos.”

“While Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola have long been mixed at home and in bars around the world, today we're officially introducing to the Philippines a premium drink that unites two iconic brands in a ready-to-drink cocktail blend with so many perks, including its can,” said Cesar Gangoso, Frontline Marketing Director, Coca-Cola ASEAN and South Pacific East Region. “Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola aRTD is truly the beginning of something big.”

The can and packaging, which feature two of the world’s most recognizable and valuable trademarks in “Coca-Cola” and “Jack Daniel’s”, will include clear responsibility symbols stating that the beverage is to be enjoyed responsibly and only by consumers of legal drinking age. All marketing of the Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola aRTD product will adhere to alcohol-responsible marketing policies and practices held by Brown-Forman and The Coca-Cola Company.

Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola, available in 320 mL slim cans with an alcohol level of 7 percent, is now hitting shelves nationwide in the Philippines. The premium cocktail drink may also be ordered online soon via Boozy. ph, CokeBeverages.ph, Shopee, and Lazada as long as you are 18 years old and above.

Jack Daniel’s was established in 1866 in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The Coca-Cola brand was established in 1886 in Atlanta.

AFTER being shelved for three years, the much-awaited sporting event in the country will finally happen next month. This event will bring sports closer to the public while linking it to other stakeholders, athletes and brands to strengthen the nation’s competitiveness in the global stage.

“The Philippine Sports Expo is really a concept we came up with back in 2017 to 2018. We were supposed to do it in October 2020. Unfortunately, there came the pandemic,” Philippine Sports Expo 2023 Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Michael Herrera told reporters in an interview during the event’s recent official launch in Okada Manila. According to him, they initiated this event for everybody in the sports industry to call it their own. Another goal is to promote both the conventional and less popular sports to the Filipinos.

“We have the Olympics, the Asian Games, the Asean Games, and other events outside of the country where we participate in, but we don’t have an annual event where we can really gather everybody. So this event was created for that purpose. We want everybody to come in, collaborate and participate,” he said.

“We’re doing this to somehow showcase or at least—if we can’t bring in the 80 plus sports federations or associations—try to accommodate 30 from the mainstream to

not-so-mainstream, so they can have an opportunity to promote their sports to brands and sponsors, donors and patrons, and even international brands that want to enter the Philippines,” he added.

Herrera cited their study, showing that only around 30 percent of foreign or multinational brands are now present in the country, and the other 70 percent could potentially penetrate the domestic market to help support Filipino athletes and sports groups that need assistance for their preparations in competitions abroad.

“So that is one of our objectives,” the expo’s founder and CEO said. “Actually, in our experience, there are brands who are looking for these athletes they have no links with. They don’t know how to approach them. So if we have good athletes that they can sponsor, why not?”

The Philippine Sports Expo 2023 will be held at the Okada Manila in Parañaque City, from June 30 to July 2. The organizers are allocating 109 booths for sports brands, while 30 each for sports associations and other event-related sports companies.

Open for free to the public, Herrera expects the expo to gain about 100,000 foot traffic in during the three days. The proceeds of the expo will go to sports federations and associations, facilities, teams and the athletes.

STARPAY Partner Specialist Head Warren Encarnacion, Starpay Product Head Ryan Uy, San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora, City Administrator Atty. Dennis Pamintuan

URC INDONESIA’S team led by (from left) Singgih Budi Hendrawan, factory manager; Wiliana Rahayu, integrated supply chain director; Sunaryo, quality-HSE manager; and, Reni Rosmalawati, R&D manager, receiving the Top Quality Award for 2023 given by the Indonesia Award Magazine.

After a three-year delay, Philippines to host the first ever and much awaited sports expo in Okada Manila in June

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Editor: Jun Lomibao

NAPOLIS, DERLA BREAK ICE IN SEAG

By Jun Lomibao

PHNOM PENH—Jenna

Kaila Napolis

won the country’s first gold medal in jiu-jitsu and Angel Gwen Derla followed suit with the same conquest in Khun Bokator as Team Philippines ranked second behind host Cambodia in the medals race of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Thursday.

Beaten in the final of the 19th SEA Games, the 25-yearold Napolis got her revenge via a 2-0 victory—lapel choke— over Cambodian-Mexican

Jessa Khan in women’s newaza GI 52 kgs that shocked the local crowd at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center.

Derla, on the other hand, scored 8.50 points to also frustrate a Cambodian, Chanchhhorvy Puth, in the ancient Khmer martial art played in the same convention center and again before a disappointed local crowd.

It was surreal. I still couldn’t believe I won,” said Napolis, a graduate of Culinary Arts (HRM) at the College of Saint Benilde.

I was below her most of the time,

FEMALE athletes—Jenna

Kaila Napolis in jiu-jitsu and Angel Gwen Derla in Khun Bokator—break ice for Team Philippines in Phnom Penh on Thursday.

ROY DOMINGO

but I got her just in time,” she added. Entering the official opening ceremony Friday, the Philippines ranked second in the medal tally with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals behind first-time host Cambodia with four gold and two silver medals. ailand was third with one gold, one silver and one bronze.

One big congratulations for one of our female athletes breaking the ice for Team Philippines in these SEA Games,” said Philippine Olympic Committee President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who advocated for a female-dominated contingent in the parade of athletes during the Games’ opening ceremony on Friday. hilippine Sports Commission chief Richard Bachmann had the wonderful privilege of awarding the country its first gold medalist in his first official

Valdez flies in ahead of fellow spikers for flag-bearing chores

major international function as chairman of the government sports agency.

I had the privilege of being in the medal ceremony for our first gold medal winner, Kaila. Congratulations once again,” Bachmann said. “I also want to congratulate Harvey and Karl for bringing in the first medal of Team Philippines. It is such a thrill to start counting medals and see how the hard work of our athletes are translating into these victories. Job well done!”

The Philippines also won two medals in jiu-jitsu—a silver in forms by the men’s duo of Karl and Harvey Navarro and bronze from the women’s squad of Dianne Ruado Bargo and Isabela Dominique Montaña.

Obstacle racers stayed on course for their four-gold target as the team’s aces advanced to the men’s and women’s team relay finals at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center Car Park a day before the games formally opens at the Morodok Techo Stadium, a 60,000-seat structure built in the shape of a “sailing boat” with two sharp structures reaching almost 100 meters into the sky and surrounded by a moat in the ancient Angkor style.

The hockey teams, however, continued to grope for form with the men losing to Singapore, 0-11, and the women yielding to the same country’s team, 1-3.

Volleyball icon Alyssa Valdez, meanwhile, flew in from Manila before midnight on Thursday just in time for Friday’s opening ceremony where the country pays tribute to women in sports with a female athlete-dominated Team Philippines marching in the parade of nations.

her this time,” she said.

Napolis gets back at Cambodian on jiu-jitsu mat

By Josef Ramos

PHNOM PENH—Jenna Kaila

Napolis got back at Cambodian-Mexican Jessa Khan— her tormentor four years ago in Manila—to win the country’s first gold medal in the Cambodia 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Thursday afternoon.

B eaten in the final of the 19th SEA Games, the 25-year-old Napolis

made sure she got her revenge—a 2-0 victory via lapel choke in women’s ne-waza GI 52 kgs that shocked the local crowd at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center.

It was surreal. I still couldn’t believe I won,” said Napolis, a graduate of Culinary Arts (HRM) at the College of Saint Benilde.

I was below her most of the time, but I got her just in time,” she added. Napolis swept all her four assign-

ments heading to the final of the sport where the hosts won the first gold medal of the Games they are hosting for the first time through Kongmona Mithura and Tough Pikada in men’s duo that was played earlier Thursday.

It was sweet revenge for Napolis, who lost the gold medal to Khan when they fought in the 49 kgs final in 2019 via advantage points. “ I really wanted to win against

OBSTACLE RACERS CONTINUE TO SHOW STRENGTH

PHNOM PENH—The Philippines remained on track toward its target of four gold medals in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games obstacle race after the men’s and women’s teams advanced to the relay finals Thursday at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center Car Park.

A day after setting up all-Filipino championships in the individual men’s and women’s categories, the quartet of Jayr De Castro, Mervin Guarte, Elias Tabac and Ahgie Radan and female counterparts Mhick Tejares, Sandi Abahan, Tess Nocyao and Mecca Cortizano took care of business to earn their spots in Sunday’s finale.

The men’s team qualified as No.

2 in the heats with a time of 25.866 seconds. The Pinoy OCR athletes will dispute the mint with Malaysia’s Ghalib Mohamad Azimi, Mohd Redha Rozlan, Nuur Hafis Said Alwi and Yoong Wei Theng, who submitted the fastest qualifying clocking of 25.6236.

The ladies clocked 40.1780 in the preliminaries and arranged a

title duel with Indonesia’s Anggun Yolanda, Ayu Pupita, Mudji Mulyani and Rahmayuna Fadillah, who had the best time of 35.0435.

Chef Bruce: I’m at your service

PHNOM PENH—Filipino

athletes staying at the Sports Village of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games are the beneficiaries of the nutritional delights that celebrity chef Bruce Lim has been dishing out.

So how about those staying outside the village?

No worries,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who announced that food and other nutritional needs of the athletes

who don’t have access to the games’ Mess Hall will be delivered to their hotels or competition venues.

Nutrition is one issue that has become less of a concern for the Filipino athletes doing battle here.

Th at’s because chef Bruce has been given more influence in the preparation and serving of the food at the games’ dining hall. L im said he stays at “the background” with his seven-man

“ Kung run ang pag-ususapan, definitely maganda naman ang performance today,” said coach Kristian Guerrero. Josef Ramos

team of Filipino chefs working 24/7 with their local counterparts “to make sure we serve the best food for all the athletes.”

The round-the-clock work, according to Lim, includes drafting the daily menus, preparing the ingredients and special requests from a particular group of athletes, plus the actual cooking.

L im said jiu-jitsu and other combat sports athletes from Team Philippines have requested lowsodium meals for their athletes, who are maintaining a desired weight in their divisions. Jun Lomibao

PHNOM PENH—Volleyball icon Alyssa Valdez flew in from Manila before midnight on Thursday just in time for Friday’s opening ceremony for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games where the country pays tribute to women in sports with a female athletedominated Team Philippines marching in the parade of nations.

Valdez, one of the most recognizable female athletes back home, arrived here at dawn from a three-hour red-eye flight. She’s be the flag-bearer for the second time after the 2015 Singapore Games.

“It’s a privilege and I am overwhelmed by this historic opportunity,” said Valdez, who flew in ahead of the women’s volleyball team that’s due here Saturday.

The opening ceremony starts at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. in Manila) and will be staged at the Morodok Techo Stadium, 60,000-seat structure built in the shape of a “sailing boat” with two sharp structures that reach almost 100 meters in height and surrounded by a moat in the ancient Angkor style.

Located in the outskirts of the Cambodian capital, the stadium was built in August 2017 and completed in August 2021 at a cost of $160 million.

Philippine Olympic Committee

President Rep. Abraham “Bambol”

Tolentino anticipates a warm appreciation for a Team Philippines pulling off a first in SEA Games opening ceremony history with the female-dominated contingent.

This is a first time—a tribute to women athletes and to

the gender equality program of the International Olympic Committee,” said Tolentino, who will be one of only two men who will join the parade besides Chef de Mission Chito Loyzaga.

Deputy Chef de Mission Leonora Escollante will also be in the parade. They will all be wearing elegant Francis Libiran-designed white barongs—which the Philippine fashion icon called “Araw”— over black pants.

Joining the parade are swimming and diving’s Ariana Hanah Drake, Chloe Isleta and Miranda Cristina Renner; athletics’ Aira Teodosio, Jamela de Asis, Jelly Diane Paragile, Ginnah Malapit, Abegail Manzano, Melissa Escoton, Sarah Dequinan, Kristine Knott, Evelyn Palarbica and Natalie Uy; B adminton’s Aira Mae Albo and Mikaela de Guzman; basketball’s Clare Castro, Janine Pontejos, Afril Bernardino, Ana Alicia Castillo and Angelica Surada; billiards’ Chezka Centino and Rubelyn Amit; chess’s (ouk chatrang) Janelle Frayna and Shania Mae Mendoza; C ricket’s Lolita Olaguier and April Rose Saquilon; women’s football’s Satina Bolden, Jessika Cowart, Quinley Campomanes and Inna Palacios; golf’s Rianne Malixi and Lois Kaye Go; jiu-jitsu’s Andrea Divina, Isabela Montana and Louann Gutierrez; Kun Bokator’s Mariane Mariano and Alyssa Kylie Mallari; obstacle race’s Sandi Menchi Abahan and Marites Nocyao; pencak silat’s AngelAnn Singh, Shara Julia Jizmundo and Angeline Virina; and table tennis’s Rose Jean Fadol and Sendrina Andrea Balatbat. Jun Lomibao

FILIPINAS IN ACTION

Napolis opened up her campaign with a 50-0 win over Singapore’s May Yong The, then went on to thump Thailand’s Nuchanat Singchalad, 3-0; and Vietnam’s Thi Huyen Dang, 50-0. M eanwhile, the men’s duo of Karl and Harvey Navarro lost their matches to Thailand’s Nawin Kokaew and Panuawat Deeyatam, 68-63.5; Cambodia’s Kongmona Mithora and Touch Pikada, 66-59; and Vietnam’s Dinh Khai Ma and Ke Duong Trinh, 64-59.

Vosotros leads men’s 3x3 team in SEAG hoops

PHNOM PENH—The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) bared on Thursday on its social media page the members of the Gilas Pilipinas Men 3x3 team for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.

The team picked Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, Joseph Eriobu and Joseph Sedurifa for its redemption campaign in this year’s Games.

The Philippines settled for the bronze medal in the men’s 3x3 last year after ruling the inaugural event in Manila in 2019.

A gold medalist in regular basketball in 2015 and 2017, Vosotros

will vie for his third SEA Games gold, this time in the 3x3 where he has found a home.

Vosotros and Flores form the core of the TNT squad that bagged the grand slam in the recent PBA 3x3 season.

Vosotros is no stranger to international competition, seeing action for Gilas in the Fiba 3x3 Asia Cup in the last two years.

In 2021, Vosotros also joined forces with Flores and Eriobu in the Gilas 3x3 team that placed fourth after a 21-20 upset of Mongolia in the quarterfinal round where Vosotros hit the gamewinning two pointer. Josef Ramos

Hockey teams grope vs Singaporeans

PHNOM PENH—The national men’s hockey team took a 0-11 beating from Singapore in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Dinosaur Park Hall on Thursday.

Muhammad Mat Harim had three goals for the Singaporeans, who defended so well that the Philippines couldn’t get a single shot and dropped its fourth straight setback. Head team coach Chris Garcia said the players just couldn’t get their rhythm going.

It doesn’t matter how many times we train if they get nervous in the actual game,” Garcia said. “Given that this is their first time in the SEA Games,

this will be a learning experience.”

The women’s team also lost to Singapore, 1-3, for its fourth straight setback with Jaylene Lumbo emerging as the lone scorer for the Philippines in the 39th minute.

The Singaporeans drew goals from captain Nadia Ibrahim (22nd), Siti Hajar Binte Asri (29th) and Wannelenah Alvarez (35th) for their first win in four matches.

Garcia said the women’s team misfired.

We had a lot of chances, but we couldn’t convert them. They were aggressive but we couldn’t find the target,” Garcia. Josef Ramos

The Philippines’ Anica Castaneda defends against Myanmar’s Moe Ma Ma Soe during their women’s football match on Wednesday night at the RCAF Old Stadium in Phnom Penh. The World Cup-bound Filipinas lost on an 89th minute goal by their opponents. ROY DOMINGO

Floorball bets eye bounceback performance

PHNOM PENH—The floorball teams shoot for breakthrough medals in the Southeast Asian Games after going empty-handed the last time the sport was played in the competition.

Philippine Floorball Association vice president Marco Ortiz expressed confidence in the country’s medal chances as the men’s and women’s squads wrap up their preparations for the floorball competitions set to start on May 11.

Our expectation for this year is for us to grab that first SEA Games medal for both the men’s and women’s team,” said Ortiz in a mix of Filipino and English. “Any medal would be a success. Of course, we want the gold.”

In the 2019 SEA Games hosted by the Philippines, the men’s and women’s squads both finished fourth at home as Singapore and Thailand triumphed.

Th ailand ruled the men’s division as Singapore and Malaysia settled for second and third, while Singapore reigned supreme in the women’s class where Thailand and Malaysia ended up as runners-up.

O rtiz hopes the addition of key players will get the teams—backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee— over the hump.

The men’s side will be reinforced by Kim Varga and Melvin Mendoza who are seeing action in the highest floorball league in Sweden, the country where the sport originated.

Jade Rivera, Filipina-Finnish Heidi Hyrylainen, and FilipinaSwedish Angelica Bengtsson will lead the  women’s crew.

“Thailand and Singapore are our toughest foes. We’ll see. Our chances are good this year,” Ortiz said. Josef Ramos

THE Philippines’ Jay-R De Castro beats his foe from Malaysia. ROY DOMINGO

AISINexpANdSItSfoothold IN the phIlIppINeS

S. Peregrino

AISIN is a Japan-based Fortune Global 500 company with over 70 years of history in automotive-related technology, mainly as an aftermarket car part manufacturer. Recently, it announced its goal to expand its foothold in the Philippines by showcasing its comprehensive list of automotive product lines during its Annual Dealers Convention.

AISIN has always been at the forefront of producing revolutionary breakthroughs in transmission technology and remains the top global manufacturer of transmissions. Its impressive industry-leading record in top-of-the-line transmissions has been strengthened with the inclusion of its 1-motor hybrid transmission in multiple battery electric vehicles (BEV) and hybrid Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) models. The company is a major supplier to many of the world’s leading automakers, including Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagen.

“We have always invested heavily in research and development to be able to provide a wide range of automotive components that are not only high-quality but also affordable and accessible to all. Ultimately, we aim to meet the growing demand for reliable and efficient auto parts while also contributing to the development of the automotive industry in the Philippines,” said AISIN Asia Managing Director Yasuhiro Nakamura.

Dubbed “Drive to the New Horizon,” the leading global manufacturer of high-quality automotive parts celebrated its long history of pioneering innovation in automotive technology. During the event, AISIN’s most iconic

products were showcased since its establishment in the 1940s. More so, the current and future technologies, in partnership with its exclusive distributor in the Philippines, Riken Motor Sales, Inc.

Also highlighted at the convention were drivetrain parts such as clutches, steering, and suspension; brake parts including brake pads; engine parts like water pump, ignition coil, and fan motor, to name a few. Moreover, exhibited were various top-tier automotive fluids such as lubricants like engine oil, automatic transmission fluids, and Super Long Life Coolant (SLLC), as well as hydraulics for both clutches and brakes. In addition, the display included a selection of miscellaneous parts, including a 4-variation wiper blade range and a filter range featuring oil, air, and cabin air filters.

AISIN’s Aftermarket components have unique strengths showcased at the convention. ADVICS, one of the brands in the AISIN group, produces complete braking systems—something that only a few brake manufacturers have achieved. The recently launched fan motor outperformed many OEMs in cooling temperature tests, keeping engine radiator temperatures regulated extremely efficiently. For water pumps, AISIN has remained the leading supplier to Japa-

nese car makers for many decades.

The convention also teased upcoming product introductions to the Philippines market, including automotive batteries, spark plugs, ignition coils, shock absorbers, tires, starters, and alternators. While details remain undisclosed, it is highly anticipated that these new releases will follow in their predecessors’ footsteps and significantly im-

RSA-Coseteng tie-up; new Lexus Showroom

IN spite of his busy schedule as one of the nation’s top entrepreneurs, Ramon S. Ang (RSA) has taken time to rekindle his love affair with motorsports by adopting a fastrising star in karter Eduardo Coseteng.

Through his RSA Motors, the sole distributor of BMWs in the Philippines, Ang has inked a partnership with Coseteng to further amplify BMW’s presence in the world of car racing. Despite being only 19, Coseteng is set to take part in the 2023 Team Motopark GT racing season under the banner of Schubert Motorsport.

Here is the exclusive report of Ma. Luisa “Louie” Curitana-Pedralvez on the historic RSA-Coseteng tieup.

“Coseteng ventured into competitive kartracing at a young age. His natural talent and enthusiasm for the sport soon brought him all over Europe and other parts of the world to set several notable achievements, including an unbeaten record in the Macau Karting Grand Prix in 2019 and a Vice Championship at the IAME SEA Series 2017.

“He secured his inaugural race win in October 2022 at the ROKiT F4 British Championship. Prior to this accomplishment, he had already competed in the motorsport series for two seasons. During his earlier stints, he achieved one pole position, one podium finish, and three fastest laps. In his latest triumph, he not only displayed

his racing skills, but also demonstrated his unique ability to elevate the status of the Philippines on the world stage.

“In May 2023, the pre-season testing for the 2023 racing season will kick off in anticipation of the first race, which is set on June 9-11, 2023, at the Hockenheimring in Germany, where Coseteng will use a BMW M4 GT3 for all legs of the competition.

“The GT3 variant is rooted in the most recent iteration of BMW M4, illustrating how BMW M GmbH synchronizes road car and race car advancements. The GT3 race car inherits recognizable features and design from the M4 production model, which are optimized to enhance performance and efficiency. The M4 GT3's combination of reliability, cost efficiency, and ease of maintenance, along with its exceptional attributes, can aid Coseteng in winning races during the upcoming season.

“‘The timing of Eduardo Coseteng's collaboration with RSA Motors couldn't have been more perfect, as more Filipinos are developing a strong interest in motorsports.

BMW is delighted to foster the passion for this thrilling sport and help grow its fan base,’” said RSA Motors General Manager Simeon Policarpio.

“BMW race cars, teams, and drivers have made an enduring mark on the world of motorsport since 1972, logging wins on

pact the local automotive industry. AISIN Thailand Co. Ltd. Senior General Manager Keisuke Fukuda, for his part, shared that Filipinos could expect great additions in the future as AISIN transforms into “AISIN Affordable Auto Parts Mall”—becoming a one-stop-shop for all automotive needs. The company aims to be the go-to marketplace for all automotive retailers and workshops.

the professional circuit and inspiring new generations to take the wheel with BMW M Motorsport vehicles.”

Bigger Lexus Showroom

A BIGGER and more luxurious Lexus Showroom will rise soon in Taguig’s Bonifacio Global City.

“Anticipating the needs of guests is a hallmark of Lexus,” said Lexus spokesperson Jade B. Sison. “This unique form of Japanese hospitality is known as ‘omotenashi’—and it was first embodied in the current Lexus Manila Showroom located at 34th street at BGC.”

When it opened in 2009, the establishment was meant to deliver the finest luxury experience in the Philippines. That will be further amplified when the massively upgraded Lexus Manila showroom is erected at 8th Avenue, Grand Central Park, BGC Taguig,

The showroom’s design follows the Lexus L-Finesse concept infused at Mitsukoshi BGC that opened early this year. The design is distinctly Japanese: formal and minimalist with horizontal and clean lines. This straightforward approach evokes beauty and simplicity.

Present during the ground-breaking ceremony were Alvin Ty, vice president of Federal Land; Kazuhiro Nomura, Mitsui PHL general manager and country chairman; Atsuhiro Okamato, Lexus PHL president; Vince Socco, Lexus Manila vice chairman; Raymond Rodriguez, Lexus Manila president; Dr. David Go, Lexus PHL vice chairman; Theresa Esquivel, ASEC president; and, Stephen Comia, Federal Land senior vice president.

Visit the Lexus Remote page at https://fal. cn/3eSWW for more details.

PEE STOP Honda invites everyone to the Auto Focus Summer Test Drive Festival, Ray Butch “Elvis” Gamboa’s enduring brainchild, happening on May 4-7 at the MOA Grounds in Pasay City from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Story & photos by Randy

AISIN Asia Managing Director Yasuhiro Nakamura

AISIN’s well-known and proven reliable manual transmission parts

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