BusinessMirror May 06, 2023

MUP pension conundrum

PMA ’71 position paper: Military retirement benefit a just due for service ‘paid in blood’

By Rex Anthony Naval

without overtime pay, and being assigned on various missions like national defense, internal security operations, UN peacekeeping missions, and disaster relief operations at great sacrifice to life and limb; and b) as a motivation for capable and promising young men to choose the profession of arms,” the paper’s executive summary read.

It added that the need for sound budget outlay must be balanced with the motivational needs of the MUP.

Neglect?

dential Legal Counsel Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile as well as the appeal for prudence by former Senator Lacson, and wait for the much-needed, completed actuarial study;

That during preliminary discussions and consultations by the proponents with MUP and other stakeholders, an alternative bill on pension reform be duly considered with the following salient provisions:

• Equalize the MUP disability pension as mentioned by the President during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2022;

And For Other Purposes.”

It may be recalled that the President, during his SONA on July 25, 2022, mentioned that among his priority legislative measures would be the grant of monthly disability pensions in lieu of unequal disability benefits under existing laws for the MUP.

But this does not include changes in the MUP pension system as again being proposed by Diokno, which are similar to those contained in various bills, which were not passed into law during the 18th Congress (2019-2022).

funds for the government shall provide the payment of benefits of veterans. Th is is pursuant to Section 7, Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, it emphasized in its position paper. Such benefits include, among others, AFP retirement pension, old age pension and total administrative disability pension, which have all been funded by the government,” the position paper read.

This was the stand of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Matatag” Class of 1971 Inc. in its position paper prepared primarily by retired Vice Admiral Ariston Delos Reyes and Col. Rolando Malinis.

It is based mainly on several studies of Delos Reyes and Malinis’s book titled Brothers, and significant contributions from former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, also from PMA ’71, and other “mistahs,” retired Commander Bienvenido Alano, Retired Col. Marte Chioco and other class members.

The position paper is an offshoot of the pronouncement of Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin Diokno on March 28, 2023, about the Marcos administration’s intent to overhaul the pension system of military and uniformed personnel (MUP).

Salient points of that announcement focused on the noncontributory systems of the MUP retirement pensions and indexation of pension, as well as current payments received by those in the active service; and Diokno’s assertion that the current MUP retirement system is not sustainable

and, if not reformed, could lead to fiscal collapse in the future.

Perk for hardships

“RETIREMENT pensions should be seen as a vital part of an incentive package for: a) retirees who not only served the country well, but also gave more during their active service tour by working beyond the mandatory eight-hour daily shift

THE PMA Class of 1971’s paper also clarified that the MUP pension is not ballooning as claimed in earlier reports.

The data gathered indicated that the main problem is not the growing financial requirements of the MUP pension, but the neglect of the government to sufficiently adjust its budget to cope with the capability development and operational requirements of the military; the fallacy of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) study about the P9.6-trillion liability of the MUP pension and its insufficiency as basis for outright and drastic changes to the MUP pension system.

In 2021, then Senator Lacson emphasized the need for such completed actuarial study; and that the MUP Retirement System will cause fiscal collapse in the future was debunked,” it stressed.

Suggestions and recommendations:

TOWARD this end, the paper presented the following recommendations:

• Th at the proponents of pension reform led by Secretary Diokno heed the advice of Chief Presi-

• Equalize the maximum MUP pension at 90 percent of base pay and longevity pay, thereby adjusting that for the military (85 percent at present); and,

• Ensure that the MUP and all other existing non-contributory pension systems are indexed to account for inflation.

That the Presidential Adviser on Legislative Affairs consider recommending to the President to certify as urgent a Joint Resolution authorizing the increase in MUP base pay for 2024-2027, to be at par with that granted to all civilian government personnel in 2020-2023, pursuant to RA 11466. The pay adjustment should be strictly in accordance with RA 9166 of 2002,” it noted.

Republic Act 11466 is known as “An Act Modifying The Salary Schedule For Civilian Government Personnel And Authorizing The Grant of Additional Benefits, And For Other Purposes.”

R epublic Act 9166 refers to “An Act Promoting The Welfare Of The Armed Forces of the Philippines by Increasing the Base Pay and Other Benefits of its Officers and Enlisted Personnel

Veterans’ benefits shall be provided by the govt ACCORDING to the position paper by the PMA Class of 1971 Inc.,

It also stressed that this provision is consistent with the military’s non-contributory pension system that has been in effect since 1935 pursuant to Commonwealth Act No. 1.

The military career is a noble profession of arms. This calling is

RETIREMENT pensions, especially for those who have served honorably in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other uniformed services, must be treated as a vital part of an incentive package for retirees as well as for those planning to serve the country through the profession of arms.

“We are appealing to our stakeholders to be circumspect and understanding of those who are working on the issue, and support our efforts in seeking solutions that will be beneficial to all, especially for our national fiscal health.”—Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez

IN this May 28, 2017, file photo, Philippine marines walk to the frontline in the continuing assaults to regain control of some areas of Marawi City. Philippine forces launched airstrikes to drive out militants linked to the Islamic State group after days of fighting left corpses in the streets and hundreds of civilians begging for rescue from the besieged southern city. AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

Daughter of ousted Thai prime minister could win his old job

By Jerry Harmer The Associated Press

But some fear that victory for the youngest daughter of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra—the country’s most divisive figure—could plunge Thailand back into a familiar cycle of protest and military intervention.

Having the 36-year-old Paetongtarn on the ballot is expected to pay off handsomely for the popular Pheu Thai opposition party. It’s polling so well that it’s hoping for a landslide victory, with enough seats to overcome the ruling party’s built-in edge and name the prime minister.

W hile Paetongtarn is the clear vote-getter of her party’s three candidates, any of the three could emerge from post-election wheeling and dealing as Thailand’s new leader.

The campaign trail

AT a registration event for candidates in March, Paetongtarn outlined policies, including improving labor conditions, guaranteeing a higher minimum wage, reducing

pollution, and turning Thailand into a financial technology hub.

Paetongtarn’s 73-year-old father was the first Thai politician ever to win an overall majority of seats. A lthough the billionaire businessman’s populist policies built him a powerful political base, they also earned him the enmity of the country’s elite.

Th aksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 and has been in self-imposed exile for over a decade to avoid serving a prison term for abuse of power, a conviction he has decried as politically motivated.

Still, he remains close to the hearts of million of voters, especially the country’s poor and residents of the relatively disadvantaged north.

Not daddy’s proxy

PAETONGTARN insists she is not merely a proxy for her father.

It’s not the shadow of my dad.

I am my dad’s daughter, always and forever, but I have my own deci-

told a reporter at a recent rally.

Thaksin-backed parties thrived at the polls since Thaksin won his first election in 2001, but were unable to stay in office for long due to legal challenges in the courts—firmly aligned with the conservative establishment—and destabilizing street protests engineered by his die-hard foes.

In 2011, Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra—Paetongtarn’s aunt—was swept into office with

an easy election victory, becoming Thailand’s first female prime minister. But her government was ousted by another coup in 2014 carried out by then-army commander Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led a military government for five years and was then named prime minister after the 2019 general election. Like her brother, she went into exile to avoid legal consequences.

Embattled Prayuth

PRAYUTH, 69, is now running for reelection, but he’s struggled to compete with Paetongtarn’s political savvy. He is generally ranked a distant third in opinion polls for the preferred prime minister candidate, while his United Thai Nation Party has a similar but slightly weaker position with about 10 percent support.

Paetongtarn has shown her determination by carrying out

a busy campaign schedule right until she gave birth to a second child this week. From the hospital where she delivered her newborn son Prutthasin, she told the media she was ready to get right back to the hustings.

“She connects with the electorate, the base. She also has, I think, some talent that may have been inherited from her father in terms of going out on stump speeches, connecting with voters, speaking in front of large crowds, and running a campaign, while being pregnant,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

“She is definitely prime minister material.”

Under Thailand’s electoral system, even if Pheu Thai wins a majority of seats, it does not automatically name the prime minister. That’s up to a joint vote of

both houses of parliament, giving the unelected 250 members of the Senate a major voice. The senators, appointed under the 2014-2019 military government, are a linchpin of the conservative ruling class, and cast their votes as a bloc in 2019 for Prayuth, the military’s favored candidate. A strong Pheu Thai Party performance would threaten the military’s almost nine-year hold on power and could reignite animosity towards the family that erupted into months of street protests in 2013 and 2014 against the Yingluck government.

For some people, a Shinawatra as prime minister is a step too far, even if fairly elected.

“A lot of people love them but you have a large number of conservative people who are against Thaksin and his family,” said Prajak Kongkirati, a political scientist from Bangkok’s Thammasat University. “So the fact that he put his daughter for the candidate, you know, might turn off a lot of conservative people and can stir up emotion from conservative side again.”

Done deal?

PAETONGTARN recently downplayed the chances of another coup.

I’m not the one who invented the coup d’état or anything but, actually, I have a very high hope that it’s not going to happen again and I believe it’s going to be a lot harder that the coup will happen again,” she said.

There has been widespread speculation that Paetongtarn may be counting on a deal with Prawit Wongsuwan, a 77-year-old former general who is Prayuth’s deputy prime minister, but is competing against him in this year’s election with the military-aligned Palang Pracharath Party.

Pheu Thai leaders have denied a deal, but there’s persistent speculation that the Thaksin-supported Pheu Thai Party might bring him into a post-election coalition to calm the establishment.

MUP pension conundrum

Continued from A1 unique from all other professions, as it calls for those who pursue it to defend our country even if it means sacrificing their lives.”

In its paper, the PMA Class of 1971 cited the Code of Conduct of the Philippine Military, which states: …I am a Filipino soldier. I will fight and die in the true Filipino tradition of valor, honor, duty and loyalty. To all these I pledge my life, my treasure and my sacred honor.”

Similarly in the United States, Article One of the Code of Conduct for members of the Armed Forces states: “I am an American fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.”

A nd this is why for the US government, the non-contributory pension system is exclusive to the military, it being considered as a gift of the American people to their soldiers for their honorable and dedicated service.

Paid in blood

THE following partial list of actual deaths of soldiers in the battlefield is being presented as proof that the sacred oath of the military to die for the country is real and not a mere statement:

• In November 1972, the casualty count at the Battle of Sibalu Hill listed 15 Marines killed in action (KIA) and 22 wounded;

• At the height of the conflict in Mindanao in 1973 when the government almost lost Central Mindanao to the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the military forces at the Battle at Lebak lost 48 soldiers; there were 148 wounded, and one missing. Subsequent battles in Central Mindanao led to heavier casualties: the Army reported at least

149 deaths and 506 wounded.

During the confrontation between the MNLF and the government in 1974, also known as the burning of Jolo or Siege of Jolo, 29 soldiers died;

Government troops and Muslim rebels clashed on Basilan Island on April 30, 1978, which resulted in the deaths of 11 government soldiers;

• The Patikul Massacre, referring to an event that took place on October 10, 1977, in Patikul, Sulu, led to the death of 35 officers and men of the Philippine Army.

Among the casualties were Brig. Gen. Teodulfo Bautista, Col. Gabriel Pangilinan, and four lieutenant colonels;

• In the infamous Mamasapano clash in 2015 between the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, 44 police commandoes were killed; and;

• More than 165 soldiers died during the Marawi Siege in 2017.

“Our soldiers did not die in vain. Their supreme sacrifices, as well as the sufferings of those who survived, bore fruit. For one, they have fulfilled their mandate of protecting the people, territorial integrity, and sovereignty that goes with securing our democratic way of life and institutions; they have prevented the loss of Central Mindanao in the early 1970s Secessionist War; and they have halted the loss of more lives and further destruction of properties in Mindanao and other hotbeds of insurgency,” the PMA Class of 1971 Inc. position paper read.

DND appeals for understanding

MEANWHILE, the Department of National Defense (DND) said the government is fully aware and rec-

ognizes the concerns of active and retired soldiers about the proposed reforms for the MUP pension system to avoid fiscal collapse. In a statement, DND chief Carlito Galvez Jr. appealed for understanding among members of the ranks, even as options are being carefully evaluated.

“ We would like to give our assurance to our stakeholders that the government will always look after the welfare and livelihood of our men and women in uniform,” he said.

Galvez said they would also conduct consultations with active and retired uniformed personnel regarding the matter.

The DND chief stressed that the government is looking to adopt a more financially sustainable MUP pension system, to be founded on sound financial solutions and application of actuarial science.

The government’s economic team is undertaking financial simulations to determine our optimal option. Just like in the case of Republic Act 11709, we are doing our best to determine and address the unintended consequences that may arise from proposed reforms on the MUP pension system,” Galvez said.

He also shared that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is looking for creative ways to provide benefits for uniformed personnel in grateful appreciation for their service, as the country works towards its post-pandemic economic recovery.

Thus, we are appealing to our stakeholders to be circumspect and understanding of those who are working on the issue, and support our efforts in seeking solutions that will be beneficial to all, especially for our national fiscal health,” Galvez added.

BANGKOK—She has confidence, she has charisma, but most of all she has the family name and a face that reminds many of her famous father. In the race to become Thailand’s next prime minister, opinion polls show Paetongtarn Shinawatra to be the heavy favorite to take the post after the May 14 general election.

PAETONGTARN SHINAWATRA , a leader of Thailand’s opposition Pheu Thai Party, smiles as she talks to reporters at Thammasat University’s indoor gymnasium in Pathum Thani province, north of Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, March 17, 2023. AP sions,” she

• Editor: Vittorio

CEB returns to profitability with ₧1.1-B net profit in Q1

CEBU Air Inc. (CEB: PSE) reported a first-quarter net profit of P1.1 billion, bouncing from a P7.6 billion net loss in the same period last year, driven by its strong passenger and ancillary revenues.

This is CEB’s first profitable quarter since the pandemic, as it generated total revenues of P20.9 billion, 211 percent higher than the first quarter last year. The steep growth was largely driven by recovery of its passenger business, which generated P14.3 billion, 352 percent higher year-on-year. This was followed by ancillary business, which generated P5.46 billion, up 221 percent year-on-year.

CEB flew over 4.8 million passengers in the first quarter, 135 percent higher year-on-year. This drove seat load factor to jump to 83 percent, up 13 percentage points year-on-year.

CEB flew 32,000 flights in the first quarter, up 94 percent year-on-year. Operating expenses, on the other hand, increased only 63 percent, as increased utilization of aircraft and operating systems, coupled with higher productivity of crew and personnel, also contributed to the improvement of the airline’s profit margin. Operating income turned positive to P1.24 billion in the first quarter from an

operating loss of P5.34 billion in the same period last year.

CEB remains to have the largest network in the Philippines, flying to 34 local and 24 international destinations by end of the first quarter. With 60 routes and over 2,100 weekly flights, CEB’s domestic network was already operating above pre-pandemic levels during the first quarter.

International network, on the other hand, continued to gain traction following the easing of travel requirements of north Asian countries. CEB also resumed flights to Melbourne and Macau and restarted flights to Hong Kong from Cebu during the quarter.

CEB expects that in the second quarter, it will exceed its pre-pandemic capacity on a system-wide basis, supported by an optimistic outlook as the tourism industry continues to recover, plus the strengthening of its Clark and Cebu hubs. CEB expects to reach 2019 international capacity levels during second quarter, while domestic operations will continue to grow with additional flight frequencies to various destinations, coupled with flight resumption of routes such as Manila—Laoag, Iloilo—Puerto Princesa, and Iloilo—Cagayan.

Cops rescue 1K alleged human trafficking victims in Pampanga

POLICE operatives rescued over 1,000 alleged victims of human trafficking, including foreigners, who are allegedly being forced to work for a fraudulent cyberenabled industry during an operation in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on Thursday evening.

In a report reaching Camp Crame on Friday, the Philippine National Police-Public Information Office (PNP-PIO) said a total of 1,090 individuals including Filipinos and citizens from Hong Kong, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Myanmar were rescued during a raid conducted at the Colorful and Leap Group Company located at Clark Sun Valley Hub in the city.

“Based on the investigation, the rescued victims were forced into working for a fraudulent cyber-enabled industry, victimizing their fellow citizens,” it added. The rescued foreign nationals were documented for booking and possible deportation.

The operation was conducted jointly

by the elements of the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG), Special Action Force (SAF), and Intelligence Group (IG) together with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Department of Justice, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Bureau of Immigration and Interagency Council on Anti-Trafficking. An investigation to track the perpetrators of this activity is underway.

PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. said they will continue to work closely with other agencies to ensure that those who engage in such heinous crimes are held accountable.

“We must all unite in this fight against human trafficking and help put an end to this inhumane practice,” he said.

“The PNP remains steadfast in its commitment to eliminating human trafficking in the Philippines and pledges to transform the country into a secure place where Filipinos and foreign nationals alike can thrive, explore and conduct business without fear,” he added. PNA

Manila Water NRW now on par with developed

MANILA Water Company, Inc., the private water concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the East Zone, said the company’s level of water losses, or non-revenue water (NRW), is now at par with water utilities in developed countries.

Last year, Manila Water averaged 12.69 percent NRW, one of the lowest in Asia.

Non-revenue water is defined as water that is not billed and is lost through leaks or illegal connections. This means that for every cubic meter of water produced, only around 0.12 cubic meters are lost, a stark difference from the 63 percent NRW inherited by the company in 1997.

The standard set by the World Bank is 25 percent or lower.

Furthermore, in a study conducted by the World Bank, the NRW is pegged at 15 percent for developed countries, such as Japan, Germany, England and Wales, and Singapore.

In a statement, Manila Water said that since 1997, the company has put a premium on reducing its water losses since it takes time to develop long-term water sources, which include the construction of infrastructure such as dams and large watermains.

Manila Water’s approach at reducing NRW includes a multi-pronged approach that puts together a combination of proactive technical solutions, engineering, and social interventions.

Among the technical and engineering solutions adopted by the company are the reconfiguration of the network, accurate measurement of supply volumes, active leakage control and repairs, supply and pressure management, along with meter management programs, all using modern and innovative systems and equipment.

Manila Water has also strengthened its stakeholder relations with the communities to actively report leaks and illegal connections.

The water company remains vigorous

nations

in rehabilitating aging primary lines and maintaining the integrity of its mainlines. Regular maintenance and rehabilitation cut the incidence of breakages in the water system. When breakages do occur, the company ensures work efficiency to fix the leak as fast as possible.

In 2022, Manila Water repaired a total of 529 pipe bursts, all within 24 hours.

Manila Water has remained persistent in cracking down on illegal connections, not merely to further minimize NRW but also to protect the public’s health. Illegal connections are prone to breakages that may lead to water contamination.

With its social flagship program called “Tubig para sa Barangay (TPSB),” Manila Water has partnered with marginalized communities to provide affordable and safe water connections. In 2022 alone, the program completed 29 projects with 826 new water connections, which are now providing clean and potable water to 1,222 low-income households. The TPSB program is now benefiting nearly 2 million residents from low-income communities after completing more than 750 TPSB projects.

Manila Water is also advocating the responsible and wise use of water to its customers year in and year out. The company utilizes information drives on social media and partners with government agencies, notably the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the National Water Resources Board, as well as private organizations, for various campaigns supporting this venture.

Because of the low NRW level, Manila Water was able to facilitate the installation of 33,309 new water service connections in the East Zone of Metro Manila and Rizal in 2022, compared to 21,680 the year prior. The more efficient water network enables more customers to have greater access to water supply through new and regular water service connections. Jonathan L. Mayuga

By Cai U. Ordinario

THE country’s headline inflation slowed to 6.6 percent in April, the slowest in eight months and the third consecutive decline for the year, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed inflation slowed from 7.6 percent in March but was still higher than the 4.3 percent posted in April 2022. The rate in April was the slowest since August 2022 when inflation was at 6.3 percent.

However, core inflation was at 7.9 percent, which National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said, is not statistically significant from the 8 percent posted in March.

“If you’re talking of the monthon-month na value, ito ay from 8 to 7.9 percent, 0.1 percentage point, but that gap is small to say that it is really statistically significant. But we are seeing that it is already at least going down, slowing down,” Mapa said in a briefing on Friday.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier recommended that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) continue tightening monetary policy due to elevated core inflation. Core inflation excludes certain highly volatile food and non-food items. (Full story here: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/05/05/imf-to-bsp-keeptight-policy/)

Despite this, the President’s economic managers welcomed the slowing down of headline inflation. The BSP said the 6.6 percent inflation rate is within their forecast range of 6.3 to 7.1 percent.

BSP also said this is consistent with the overall assessment that inflation will remain elevated over the near term before gradually decelerating back to target range towards end-2023.

However, the BSP said there remain upside risks to the inflation outlook. One of these includes the El Niño, which the Philippine weather bureau said has an 80 percent chance of beginning in June to August and last until 2024. (Full story here: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2023/05/04/bsp-flagsel-ninos-inflation-impact/)

“Despite the recent slowdown in food inflation, the potential effect of ongoing supply shortages continues to pose an upside risk to the outlook,” BSP said.

“Other upside risks emanate from the impact of higher transport fares, increasing electricity rates, as well as above-average wage adjustments in 2023,” it added.

Nonetheless, BSP said inflation could be pulled down by factors such as the impact of a weaker-than-expected global economic recovery continues to be the primary factor that could dampen inflation.

These factors, BSP said, will all be considered as well as the first quarter GDP results that will be released next week as basis for its monetary policy

stance in the next Monetary Board meeting in May 18.

“(We remain) committed to adjusting the monetary policy stance as necessary to prevent the further broadening of price pressures as well as the emergence of additional second order effects,” BSP said “The BSP also continues to support the timely and effective implementation of non-monetary government measures to mitigate the impact of persistent supply-side pressures on inflation,” it added.

For its part, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) recognized the risks to the inflation outlook to remain tilted toward the upside amid potential transport fare increases, wage adjustments, and domestic food supply pressures amidst the threat of El Niño and the resurgence of African swine fever.

Neda Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan also shared that the InterAgency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) continues its monitoring on the ground. It also facilitates regular and systematic data-sharing to provide timely recommendations to the President and relevant agencies on measures to mitigate inflation and ensure sufficient food and energy supply.

“It is important to design policies and interventions to help those that will be affected by El Niño, through the provision of seeds or seedlings of nonwater loving crops or crop varieties. Additionally, the government must remain proactive in curbing animal disease outbreaks through stronger border protection and monitoring,” he added.

Meanwhile, IAC-IMO recommended timely and data-supported importations to fill in supply gaps, strategic prepositioning of rice buffer stocks in time for the El Niño, improvement and expansion of the Kadiwa program, and fast-tracking the distribution of targeted subsidies to fishers and farmers in the short term.

Neda noted that food inflation declined to 8 percent in April 2023 from 9.5 percent in the previous month amid slower inflation of vegetables, fish, eggs and other dairy products, meat, and sugar.

Non-food inflation also decelerated to 5.5 percent in April 2023 from 6.3 percent in March, mainly due to slower electricity inflation and a further deflation in private transport as prices of diesel, gasoline, and LPG continued to decline.

“With these developments, Neda is optimistic that the downward trend will continue and settle further within the government’s outlook,” Balisacan said.

For the medium term, the committee recommended enhancing the productivity and resiliency of the agriculture and fisheries sector, promoting investments in facilities, transport, and logistics systems, expanding water infrastructure, and pushing for the passage of critical reforms such as the Livestock, Poultry and Dairy

Jollibee owners bet on online stock trading in Philippines

THE Philippine billionaires behind Jollibee Foods Corp. and chicken BBQ chain Mang Inasal are betting that their next big thing could be in stock broking.

The duo, Tony Tan Caktiong and Edgar Sia, invested in DragonFi Securities Inc. to develop an online trading system as they sought to tap the explosion of retail investors that went online during the pandemic.

With about 90 percent of their investments spent on technology and software-related manpower, they are hoping the platform can rival some of the biggest local online stock brokers.

Currently, about a third of the 125 brokers in the country offer online trading facilities. However, most of them do not provide customizable layouts. Existing dominant players are also mostly running on outdated technology, according to DragonFi CEO and co-owner Jon Carlo Lim.

“There is demand for a modern platform with advanced features and analytics,” which can handle a spike in transaction volumes, Lim said in an interview. Its cloud-based system can also trade other assets and foreign markets, once allowed by regulators.

Competitiveness and Development Act, which are priorities contained in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

Cooling inflation boosts odds of rate pause

PHILIPPINES’ overall inflation cooled for a third straight month in April from a year ago and was below all analysts estimates, supporting the case for a pause in monetary policy tightening.

Consumer prices rose 6.6 percent year-on-year last month from 7.6 percent in March to the slowest pace since August. The print was lower than all 24 estimates in a Bloomberg survey where the median was for a 7 percent gain. While still way above the central bank’s 2 percent-4 percent full-year inflation target, it’s well within BSP’s expectation for the monthly reading to be between 6.3 percent and 7.1 percent.

Compared to March, the price index last month declined by 0.2 percent, matching the month-on-month contraction in March. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and fuel costs, eased slightly to 7.9 percent from 8 percent in March — still holding near a 24-year high.

The BSP, which has raised borrowing costs by 425 basis points since last year, said Friday that it would consider the inflation reading along with the latest pulse check of the economy next week to decide on its monetary policy settings. Although Governor Felipe Medalla last month hinted at weighing a pause if inflation slows, a halt is not a given, especially with peers in Australia and Malaysia surprising markets this week by resuming hikes.

Philippine inflation is still seen elevated in the near term and the risks to the outlook for this year and next remains “tilted heavily towards the upside,” the BSP said in a statement Friday after the data.

Authorities “remain committed to adjusting the monetary policy stance as necessary to prevent the further broadening of price pressures as well as the emergence of additional second order effects.”

In March, Medalla said he needs to see “enough low month-on-month inflation, to give the public confidence” that the BSP 2024 average forecast of 2.9 percent is likely. Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, a member of the monetary board and an advocate for a pause, said Friday he expects inflation to ease to the 2 percent-4 percent target band by the fourth quarter, if not sooner.

What Bloomberg Economics says... April’s sharp deceleration in Philippine headline inflation and peaking core inflation are further significant steps in the direction of a rate pause. Whether this is enough progress to warrant a hold in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ tightening cycle this month depends how far forward-looking the central bank will be.

—Tamara Mast Henderson, Asean economist

The peso fell as much as 0.1 percent against the dollar after the data, before trading slightly up at 10:33 a.m. local time.

“Any pause on policy-rate hikes could weigh on the peso due to narrower interest-rate differentials,” said Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. in Manila. “We expect BSP to hold rates this month, though any peso volatility would boost the odds for a hike.”

The Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to raise its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point while hinting at pausing its tightening cycle could also weigh on BSP’s next policy action on May 18. With Bloomberg

O nline trading accounts have grown in recent years as traders seek more flexibility and control over their investments during the Covid era. Based on latest exchange data, they made up more than 70 percent of the 1.62 million stock trading accounts in 2021, compared to just 39 percent of the 773,187 accounts in 2016.

Tan Caktiong is the founder of Jollibee, the Philippines’ top restaurant operator which outsells McDonald’s in the Southeast Asian country. Sia, who was born a year before Jollibee began in 1978, started Mang Inasal in 2003, which was acquired by Jollibee seven years later. The duo has since gone on to form another successful venture in DoubleDragon Corp., which built 1.2 million square meters of leasing portfolio in 10 years.

Given Philippines’ low stock value traded to market capitalization ratio of 12 percent compared to the world average of 37 percent, the pair expects plenty of upside for the stock broking firm. DragonFi will launch its platform on Monday and targets to handle P100 billion ($1.8 billion) in cumulative trading transactions in 24 months. Bloomberg News

PSA data: Inflation slows to 6.6 percent in April

US can’t use PHL military bases for China offensive, PBBM says

PHILIPPINES President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the US can’t use military bases in his country for “offensive action” against China in the event of a future war over Taiwan, as the Southeast Asian (SEA) nation continues to balance strengthening American defense ties with increasing pressure from Beijing.

“I think we are in lockstep with the US with that,” Marcos said. “And that they understand the concerns that the Philippines has, and are sensitive to the reasons why we have those concerns.”

Marcos, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Thursday, said the Biden administration had never raised the possibility that the military bases provided under an expanded defense cooperation agreement could become “staging areas for any offensive action against any country.”

The Philippines leader, who was elected last year, said he had even reassured Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang over American use of the sites when the top Chinese diplomat visited in late April.

“I assured him that no, these are not intended to be military bases to attack, to

move against anyone, any country—not China, not any country,” Marcos said in a question-and-answer session following remarks on US-Philippine relations.

The comments come after the US and the Philippines announced an expansion of the so-called Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two nations, bringing the total number of military sites the US can access in the Philippines to nine from five.

Acrimony over Taiwan has worsened already discordant US-Chinese relations, and President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the US would come to Taiwan’s defense if the island were attacked, breaking with Washington’s longtime ambiguity on the issue.

Beijing, which has had disputes with many SEA countries over its expansive claims in the South China Sea, has criticized the US-Philippine defense agreement.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the accord would “escalate tensions and endanger peace and stability in the region,” while warning SEA nations to “remain vigilant and avoid being coerced or

used by the US.”  Marcos—who spent the majority of his remarks pitching the Philippines as an alternative for companies restructuring supply chains in Asia— said his country’s foreign policy was based on peace and that it doesn’t wish to “provoke” China.

He added that the Philippines is still trying to set up a hotline between Manila and Beijing to ensure that maritime disputes don’t escalate, and stressed that the defense agreement with the US wouldn’t allow deployed forces to attack China from Philippine sites. Bloomberg News

LPP mourns passing of Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Carlos Padilla

VETERAN political leader Carlos Padilla, who was elected governor after serving both in the pre- and post-Edsa legislatures, died on Friday, May 5, the League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) announced.

The League expressed its heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of the late governor in a statement.

“The governors have collectively and individually expressed their condolences to the Padilla family through a resolution approved by the LPP, and described his passing as having left a huge dent as an irreplaceable forebearer in their lives,” said the statement.

At the same time, the LPP conveyed its eternal gratitude to Padilla for his dedicated and committed service to the Filipino people.

“Gov. Padilla had been a paragon of public service for his dedicated and exemplary service; and remained tireless and resolute in serving his constituents without fear or favor,” the Resolution stated.

Gov. Padilla is currently serving his third

China rejects PHL-US security partnership in South China Sea

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome

BEIJING has expressed opposition

anew to the new security guidelines between the Philippines and the United States, which included expressed commitments of Washington DC to come to the aid of Manila in case of attack in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the situation in the South China Sea (SCS) remained stable overall “with the concerted efforts” of the regional countries in Asia.

“The US-Philippines defense guidelines are a bilateral arrangement. China firmly opposes any country’s move to meddle in the SCS issue to harm China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests by citing the guidelines,” Mao said in a news briefing.

Wednesday this week.

The guidelines spelled out the priority areas for defense cooperation for conventional and non-conventional security challenges that confront both two countries. This includes expanding maritime security cooperation activities like holding joint patrols. Both defense establishments also committed to prioritize cooperation activities that involve other third-party participation and observation in bilateral Philippines-US joint military exercises.

and last term as provincial chief executive, having been first elected as Governor in 2016 and re-elected in 2019 and 2022.

Previously, he also served as representative of the Lone District of Nueva Vizcaya for several terms and served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives during the 16th Congress.

Prior to his election to the House of Representatives, he first served as mayor of the then undivided municipality of Dupax, Nueva Vizcaya.

In 1978, he was among eight assemblymen elected to represent Region II (Cagayan Valley) in the Interim Batasang Pambansa.

He represented Nueva Vizcaya in the restored Congress in 1987 and continued to serve as such for several terms and authored the landmark law Free High School Act of 1988 (RA 6655) that ensures free high school education for every Filipino, and RA 6728, providing various forms of g overnment assistance to students and teachers in private education, among others.

She stressed that South China is “the shared home for countries in the region and not the hunting ground for forces outside the region.”

“When regional countries are committed to mutual trust, solidarity, cooperation and properly handling differences, they have in their hand the key to peace and stability in the SCS,” she added.

The Philippine and US defense departments finalized the bilateral defense guidelines during the visit of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Washington D.C.

“Recognizing that threats may arise in several domains—including land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace—and take the form of asymmetric, hybrid, and irregular warfare and gray-zone tactics, the guidelines chart a way forward to build interoperability in both conventional and non-conventional domains,” the fact sheet published by the US defense department reads.

When asked by reporters who were travelling with him, President Marcos said he believes the Chinese was only referring to the Americans.

“Well, I do not think as representing as a Filipino and representing the Philippines, I don’t feel alluded to. How can we—how can anyone say that we are not party and interest in all of these issues?” Marcos told reporters. “So I think that kind of statement was directed more towards the United States than it was for the Philippines,” he added.

PMFTC moves

to e-vehicles to reduce carbon footprint

EXPANDING on its vision to deliver a smoke-free future, PMFTC Inc., the country’s leading tobacco company, has begun deploying 10 electric vehicles (EVs) for its service fleet in a pilot program that covers the company’s Pasig, Marikina and Rizal areas of operations.

“Our journey of transformation is naturally linked to our Sustainable Fleet initiative. Just as our ambition is to replace cigarettes with better alternatives as quickly as possible, we have a responsibility to have a net positive impact on society by reducing the environmental impact of our products, operations, and value chain. This is our commitment to become a major part of the Philippines’s shift towards electro-mobility,” said PMFTC President Denis Gorkun.

The EV launch is in line with Mother Company Philip Morris International’s (PMI) low-carbon transition plan that aims to achieve carbon neutrality of direct operations by 2025 and net-zero emissions of its valuechain by 2040.

PMFTC is among the first PMI affiliates to shift towards using EVs, and is also the first

company in the Philippines to deploy fully electric vehicles for its salesmen. PMFTC’s EV fleet will consist of 10 BYD T3 Mini Vans, which are 100 percent electric logistics vehicles with a range of 250 kilometers, with each vehicle having a carrying capacity of up to 700 kilos in load. The vehicles will be supported by BYD’s NCR-based service center.

In minimizing its fleet’s dependence on fossil fuels, the EVs are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 84,954 kilogram per year.

“Reducing consumption to cut greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing fossil fuel use and prioritizing nature-based solutions is us doing our part to make sure our employees, customers, and stakeholders to improve sustainability,” Gorkun added.

PMFTC targets to deploy another 10 EV units before the year ends.

In addition, the company plans to enhance its telematics technologies to promote eco-driving behaviors and improve safety, efficiency and productivity among its fleet drivers.

Lauder family pledges $200-M to Alzheimer’s research work

US approves 1st vaccine for RSV disease after decades of attempts

By Lauran Neergaard AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON—TheUSapproved the first vaccine for RSV on Wednesday, shots to protect older adults against a respiratory virus that’s most notorious for attacking babies but endangers their grandparents, too.

T he Food and Drug Administration decision makes GSK’s shot, called Arexvy, the first of several potential vaccines in the pipeline for RSV to be licensed anywhere.

By Thalia Beaty 2The Associated Press

NEW YORK—The sons of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, along with her four grandchildren, recently pledged $200 million to the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, a nonprofit the family founded to support research into finding a cure for the disease.

L eonard and Ronald Lauder founded the organization in 1998 in honor of their mother, who had Alzheimer’s as did other members of her family, said Mark Roithmayr, the CEO of ADDF.

“ They have collectively made this family gift to see through the work of the next 10 to 15 years to finish off what Estée started,” said Roithmayr.

Starting with a $100 million gift from their mother, the Lauder sons chose to invest in early research of potential treatments using what they called “venture philanthropy,” meaning any returns on their investments were put toward future research. The family also pledges to cover the organization’s expenses so all outside donations go entirely to funding research, Roithmayr said.

T he ADDF will receive the pledged $200 million over the next 10 years and is expected to distribute them in grants over the next 15 years. The commitment will also allow the Lauders to continue to cover ADDF’s expenses, Roithmayr said.

More than 50 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s, which

AP PHOTO/GERALD HERBERT

gradually attacks areas of the brain needed for memory, reasoning, communication and daily tasks. Scientists don’t yet know exactly how Alzheimer’s forms, but one theory is that the buildup of a protein called amyloid plays a key role.

T he FDA has approved two drugs that target the buildup of amyloid, though the 2021 approval of Biogen’s Aduhelm garnered controversy after the agency overruled its own independent scientific advisers. Legembi, a second drug, approved in January, is the first that’s been convincingly shown to slow the decline in memory and thinking that defines Alzheimer’s by targeting the disease’s underlying biology. “

The need to invest in research is paramount,” said Heather Snyder, a vice president of the Alzheimer’s Association. “Investing in research is how we’re going to understand the underlying biology and translate that to treatment and interventions that will benefit all individuals.”

She said there is a sense of momentum in Alzheimer’s research, in part because of the approval of the new drugs—even though they are not currently covered by Medicaid and Medicare, meaning that many will not have access to them.

Her organization currently funds $320 million in research projects that span from studying the biology of aging to diagnostic tools, clinical trials and care for patients with dementia, as well as investing in advocacy around federal funding for Alzheimer’s research.

Hanging and buffering episodes

T he move sets the stage for adults 60 and older to get vaccinated this fall—but first, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide if every senior really needs RSV protection or only those considered at high risk from the respiratory syncytial virus. CDC’s advisers will debate that question in June.

A fter decades of failure in the quest for an RSV vaccine, doctors are anxious to finally have something to offer—especially after a virus surge that strained hospitals last fall.

“ This is a great first step...to protect older persons from serious RSV disease,” said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, who wasn’t involved with its development. Next, “we’re going to be working our way down the age ladder” for what’s expected to be a string of new protections.

T he FDA is considering competitor Pfizer’s similar vaccine for older adults. Pfizer also is seeking approval to vaccinate pregnant women, so their babies are born with some of mom’s protection.

T here isn’t a vaccine for kids yet but high-risk infants often get monthly doses of a protective drug during RSV season—and European regulators recently approved the first one-dose option. The FDA also is considering whether to approve Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s one-shot medicine.

This is a very exciting time with multiple potential RSV solutions coming out after years of really nothing,” said Dr. Phil Dormitzer, chief of vaccine research and development for GSK, formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline.

R SV is a cold-like nuisance for most people but it can be life-threatening for the very young, the elderly

image provided by the National Institutes of Health shows human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) virions, colorized blue, and anti-RSV F protein/gold antibodies, colorized yellow, shedding from the surface of human lung cells. The US approved the first vaccine for RSV on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, shots to protect older adults against a respiratory virus that’s most notorious for attacking babies but endangers their grandparents, too. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NIH VIA AP

and people with certain high-risk health problems. It can impede babies’ breathing by inflaming their tiny airways, or creep deep into seniors’ lungs to cause pneumonia.

In the US, about 58,000 children younger than 5 are hospitalized for RSV each year and several hundred die. Among older adults, as many as 177,000 are hospitalized with RSV and up to 14,000 die annually.

W hy has it taken so long to come up with a vaccine? The field suffered a major setback in the 1960s when an experimental shot worsened infections in children. Scientists finally figured out a better way to develop these vaccines— although modern candidates still

were first tested with adults.

G SK’s new vaccine for older adults trains the immune system to recognize a protein on RSV’s surface, and contains an ingredient called an adjuvant to further rev up that immune reaction.

I n an international study of about 25,000 people 60 and older, one dose of the vaccine was nearly 83 percent effective at preventing RSV lung infections, and reduced the risk of severe infections by 94 percent.

To see how long protection lasts, GSK is tracking study participants for three years, comparing some who get just one vaccination during that time and others given a

yearly booster. Shot reactions were typical of vaccinations, such as muscle pain and fatigue.

T here was a hint of a rare but serious risk—one case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause usually temporary paralysis, and two cases of a type of brain and spinal cord inflammation. The FDA said it was requiring the company to continue studying if there really is a link to the vaccine. I f the CDC ultimately recommends the vaccination for some or even all seniors, it will add another shot for the fall along with their yearly flu vaccine—and maybe another Covid-19 booster.

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

looking at me with vacant eyes. When I asked them if they understood what I was saying, they didn’t know what to say. I realized then I was going above their heads. Their minds simply couldn’t process what I was talking about.

T hese episodes are happening more and more. In digital technology jargon, it’s called “buffering” or “hanging.” “Buffering,” in the most simple terms, is when your device pauses in the middle of a task with an accompanying text on the screen that says “loading...” This means your system is on hold and you need to wait until enough data is downloaded to allow the music or video stream to play without lag.

I find it annoying, but I have to put up with it because my Internet speed is too slow.

We may use the terms “buffering” or “hanging” as a form of teasing, a joke or even a default excuse for our memory lapses or our inability to express ourselves. But we should be more wary.

A mong seniors, hanging or buffering could be a sign of an impending stroke, or a mini-stroke called transient ischemic attack. It could also mean the onset of dementia, or loss of brain function, such as Alzheimer’s disease, infections in the brain or perhaps, a brain tumor.

life in general?

T he other day, a colleague was whining about the long lull in the projects he’s been nurturing. Nothing seems to be moving. None of the breaks out there are going his way. Why are other groups getting all the accounts?

My colleague feels the frustration of being stuck in a rut in which the wheels are spinning but the vehicle isn’t moving.

T his reminds me of a couple of songs that talk about being stuck.

you go right back. Some people never learn from their previous mistakes. Was it Albert Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

DURING my meet-up with friends just a few weeks ago, I found myself talking to them about a trend called social minimalism, what it’s all about and how it can help simplify life during the golden years. After a while, I could see them

R ecently, a comedian was being interviewed live on a popular talk show. When asked a question, he suddenly could not speak and just continuously nodded while looking at the host who promptly went into a commercial break. After the break, the said comedian continued the interview as if nothing happened and explained that a similar instance happened to him during a taping held the day before.

O n the other hand, “hang” or “freeze” happens when your computer does not respond to inputs no matter how much you press and click. It can result from faulty hardware, faulty drivers, or damaged components. The only solution is to reboot your gadget, which means shutting it down entirely and pressing the restart button.

In my circle of senior friends, we are now using the terms “buffering and hanging” in place of the passé “senior moment” to refer to lapses of memory. We want to sound more “tekky” to flex that we’re not lagging behind the times.

For young people, it could be a serious problem called “absence seizure”, which involves brief, sudden lapses of consciousness. The person may stare blankly into space for about 10 to 30 seconds, then he returns quickly to being alert. Afterward, there’s usually no memory of the incident.

W hat happened to the comedian we mentioned at the beginning was most likely a case of “absence seizure”. It can happen even in children. What if someone is driving a car or riding a bike when the seizure happens?

Expanding our perspective a little, what about the buffering and hanging episodes in our career or

“ Stuck On Neutral” is a song about someone who can’t seem to move forward. In other words, he is trapped in his own mind, so full of hesitation and doubt that he is unable to act. Do you feel this way?

A nother song “Stuck on Repeat” by Little Boots fittingly describes a lot of my senior colleagues. Like a broken record, they tell the same story or joke every time we meet no matter how many times they’ve told them. They love to stay in the past. They’re not interested to learn new tricks.

But the song can also refer to relationships that become almost a cyclical pattern where you try to move on, think you have, and then

“ Stuck in the Middle with You” is a song from the movie “Reservoir Dogs.” It’s one of my favorites because it reminds me of a time when I was stuck in a situation I didn’t want to be in. I just played along, faking it. I wasn’t growing, my life was buffering for God knows how long.

T hese songs about the feeling of being entrapped have powerful truths that we may take away and apply to our own lives. They talk of times when we’re at our weakest and might need a compassionate nonjudgmental ear from someone who’s been there and knows what we’re going through.

But even when you’re stuck in limbo, don’t waste it. From a meaningless episode of hang time, turn it into a learning and insightful experience.

U ltimately it’s up to you to decide what needs to be fixed or to change, and then press that “force quit” option and reboot to make that change happen.

THIS electron microscope

LEONARD LAUDER, (left), and Ronald Lauder, sons of the late cosmetics mogul Estée Lauder, stand next to US President George W. Bush, not pictured, as they receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on her behalf, which was awarded posthumously to her during a ceremony at the White House in Washington on June 23, 2004. The sons of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, along with her four grandchildren, pledged $200 million on April 4, 2023 to the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, a nonprofit the family founded to support research into finding a cure for the disease.

Lawmaker encourages students: Seize all prospects for learning

By Butch Fernandez

At the inauguration of a fivestory school building at Don Honorio Ventura State University (DHVSU) in Apalit, Pampanga in April, Lapid—who requested for the project’s funding from Okada Foundation and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation—urged young students not to let their chances to study pass by, while their parents are working hard to support their education.

Reflecting on his own experience, Lapid shared that if the

DHVSU came to existence years ago, he might have been able to finish college. Due to hardships his family faced at that time, the solon revealed he was only able to finish high school.

He also emphasized that students should take advantage of the time their parents are putting into their education.

In Filipino, the senator from Pampanga prodded learners in attendance that they should maximize opportunities presented by their parents being able to

send them to school, and that it’s a must to learn something every day.

Dr. Enrique Baking, who is DHVSU’s president, along with the university’s students and local government officials from Apalit, expressed their apprecia -

tion to Lapid and Okada Foundation Inc.

Meanwhile, the latter’s president James Lorenzana added that the academic building is the first such that they have funded, as the foundation allocated a budget of P50 million for its construction.

LESSONS surrounding the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea (SCS/WPS) will be taught to learners under the “Territorial Issues and Border Conflicts” subject, as stated in the draft curriculum guide released by the Department of Education (DepEd) in Araling Panlipunan or Social Studies for Grade-10 students.

Topics will include the 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which will include “Mga Pagtugon sa mga Hamong Pang Ekonomiya,” or “Responses to Economic Challenges.”

The draft curriculum is part of DepEd’s ongoing review of the K-12 program. The current one, while also focused on contemporary issues, does not clearly include or mention maritime issues on the SCS/WPS, or the arbitral tribunal ruling.

In 2013 the Philippines—under the administration of former president Benigno Aquino III—filed the historic arbitral case in the Hague, Netherlands which challenged China’s claims in the disputed waters. The former won the case after the arbitral tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in its favor on July 12, 2016.

The draft curriculum will also cover lessons on controversial issues of “red-tagging,” extrajudicial kill -

Mike Policarpio

ings, human-rights violations and trolling. Such are listed under “Mga Isyu at Hamon sa Pagkamamayan (Issues and Challenges to the Citizenry).” Red-tagging is the practice of publicly labeling individuals or groups critical of the government as “communists” or “terrorists.”

Likewise, the proposed curriculum also covers a host of gender-related issues such as same-sex unions, same-sex marriages, gender-based discrimination, hate crimes due to gender, as well as local and international legislation to protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual plus community, or LGBT+.

By studying these issues, Grade-10 learners, according to DepEd, will know more about gender roles; issues of gender discrimination at home, in schools and work places; and to accept that individuals, regardless of their gender, are created equal and have equal rights in the community.

The proposed curriculum also includes a lesson on “The Philippine Economy under the Pandemic: From Asian Tiger to Sick Man Again?”

The DepEd said learning about these issues will equip and prepare Grade-10 learners to face “social issues,” while understanding more about the country’s economy and the challenges it faces. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

AYOUTH group called for the current semester’s National Service Training Program (NSTP) to be halted for the protection of students from direct exposure to sunlight.

This, as extreme weather conditions are now prevalent, while the Weather Bureau has recently recorded heat indices of above 40-degrees Celsius in various locations nationwide, posing severe health risks to both students and instructors.

As such, the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) has demanded for a moratorium on NSTP for all classes, in view of such high temperatures. The activist organization likewise appealed for a mass-promo -

tion campaign that was similarly done in 2020 with the abrupt stoppage of classes, when the government ordered a complete lockdown to avert the spread of Covid-19.

“To continue outdoor activities like NSTP is to place students all over the country in direct and imminent danger,” SPARK’s national coordinator John Lazaro said. “We do not need any more hospitalizations, or even deaths, to realize that we need to keep our students safe from extreme weather.”

Hundreds of instances of heat stroke or exhaustion among learners have been already recorded by several government agencies, including the Depart -

ment of Health and Department of Education.

In fact, many have died from direct exposure to the sun, including a student-athlete from Colegio de San Agustin who was in a football tournament in April.

“We cannot look at all the damage done to students’ health and proceed with placing them directly in the heat of the sun to do community service or tedious military drills,” Lazaro explained.

“Instead of pursuing a watereddown indoor-only version of NSTP, it would make the most sense to suspend the program for this semester, and give all students taking it a passing grade.”

The group’s national coordinator further stressed that such

Group demands NSTP stoppage, ‘pass-all’ for classes due to extreme warm weather Samsung sustains

THE local education sector will need all the help it could get to help enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in the country.

So far, responses from the private sector are a welcome development, as it has expressed support to train and produce more quality Filipino students in STEM.

For instance, Samsung Phils., a subsidiary of the Korean-based global technology giant, is scaling its efforts to support young Filipino innovators through the launch of its globally recognized educational program: “Solve for Tomorrow.”

In partnership with the Department of Education, Solve for Tomorrow is an innovative contest that fosters critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and teamwork to spur breakthrough social ideas addressing pressing community issues.

Since its global launch in 2010 Solve for Tomorrow has provided an opportunity for students worldwide to turn their imaginative ideas into practical solutions. It aims to

empower STEM students to share and realize their ideas to address societal challenges, while making an impact in their local communities.

The competition offers a unique learning experience, enabling participants to leverage on their STEM expertise and acquire valuable skills throughout the entire journey. As of 2020 Samsung Phils.’ corporate social responsibility program has benefited more than 2 million people and expanded to over 50 markets, including the Philippines in 2023.

STEM in PHL Philippines needs a herculean effort to lift STEM education from the doldrums. In the 2022 edition of the Global Innovation Index which measures economic progress and competitiveness, the country slipped eight spots to rank 59th in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scales in reading, math, and science.

In the first participation of the Philippines in the PISA in 2018, Filipino students ranked the lowest in reading compre -

hension among 79 countries, and second-lowest in both mathematical and scientific literacy.

Minsu Chu, president of Samsung Phils., said the company is committed to giving back to the community through STEM education: “Every young person deserves to unlock his or her full potential, regardless of circumstances. Samsung believes in developing young minds and equipping them with resources and opportunities that nurture their dreams, so they can generate positivity that also inspires fellow [youth].”

How to join TARGETED toward the youth who are taking on the STEM track from Grades 8 to 12, Solve for Tomorrow aims to enhance students’ technical and 4C skills: cooperation, communication, creativity and critical thinking.

Interested applicants, which should consist of students and a teacher, can submit an application through the official Samsung Phils. web site. Entries are welcome from individuals or teams with a maximum

measures are only short-term solutions to the worsening weather condition.

“We cannot hide from the ever-intensifying climate crisis forever just by suspending outdoor activities, or trying to improve ventilation,” he pointed out. “Superficial targets and conservative climate action by the government is no longer acceptable. We absolutely need to make learning safe, and agency heads must quit dilly-dallying.”

The NSTP program is jointly administered by the Department of National Defense, Commission on Higher Education as well as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Roderick L. Abad

of eight members. Schools may field-in as many numbers as possible.

Applicants are required to submit a written plan with a maximum of 1,000 words about the issue or problem they wish to solve, a poster or diagram of their plan, a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation with no more than 10 slides, or a 5-minute video presentation.

The program will run in three stages from May to December. Qualified entries will go through a preliminary round in June. Shortlisted teams will move to the semifinals that will last until October, where they will be subjected to workshops and mentorship so that teams could build a prototype of their solution.

Only five groups will advance to the final round in December, when the students will present their prototypes to a panel of judges. Three individuals or teams will be announced as winners.

Prizes worth over P1.5 million await the winners, including their respective teachers and schools. Stay tuned for further contest updates to be announced soon. Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

AVLOGGER, blogger, or amateur content creator thinking of leveling up skills in online journalism might want to consider Mapúa’s Digital Journalism curriculum.

The three-year program offered by the School of Media Studies empowers students to become highly competent in delivering truthful and reliable news and information through new media platforms.

E nrollees of Digital Journalism are taught the discipline of print, broadcast and online news writing, but applied using current digital-communication process and technology. The course allows budding digital journalists to produce and disseminate credible, indepth accounts that are highly visual, which is the accepted norm in today’s online space.

“This journalism program has transformed into a more visual medium. It touches the lives of people at homes and work places because of the use of digital means in sending out journalistic content with visual representations or images,” said Dean Benigno Agapito Jr. of the School of Media Studies.

Ensuring students develop the skills to create relevant journalistic content, they are extensively taught research and data-gathering like note-taking, audio and video recording, interviews, documentary study, and observations. The training combines comprehensive lessons on the latest digital-production techniques and technology through laboratory or production experience, reporting, and news-coverage training.

“Our program equips learners with journalistic standards and specialized skills in delivering news and informa -

tion using various formats and platforms, specifically new media and digital technology. It also educates them to practice professional and ethical standards of journalism, which is vital in the democratic delivery of information,” added Agapito.

This high regard for journalistic standards and ethics allows students to hone their abilities in selecting and reporting stories about events, incidents, issues and developments that genuinely concern and affect people.

It then enables them to connect these news stories to their community’s sociocultural and economic contexts using relevant and valid data gathered from reliable sources.

The Digital Journalism program’s rigorous training provides students with valuable knowledge for on-thejob scenarios such as producing digital newspapers; journals, magazines and other similar publications; economic, industrial and business online reporting; photojournalism, graphic journalism and graphic journalism-publication design; as well as electronic and web publishing.

Graduates of the course can establish a career as an online journalist or a newspaper and a magazine journalist such as a writer, columnist, editor or publisher. They can also work into becoming visual journalists, broadcast practitioners, investigative journalists in the government or development sector, a copywriter, corporate communications practitioner, or educator. The program opens numerous doors of opportunities to those who want to excel in the field and make a mark in their communities. To learn more, visit www.mapua.edu.ph.

SENATOR Manuel “Lito” M. Lapid motivated students from his home province to make the most out of their opportunities to study for a brighter future.

LAPID (center) at a recent inauguration of a school facility in Pampanga

SORSOGON REVISITED TalES Of ThE SuN, SaND aND SEa

By Benjamin Locsin Layug

Bounded by the West and East Philippine Seas, its capital Sorsogon City and almost all its municipalities (only Irosin is landlocked) lie along the coast. As such, its proximity to the sea has provided rich marine resources such as fish, crabs, clams, mollusks and seaweed. Being almost waterbound, Sorsogon also has a lot to offer with regards Vitamin Sea.

Last March 28 to April 1, I joined at least 40 national and local media practitioners and tour operators taking part in a familiarization tour of the province. Almost half of our time in this province was to be spent touring the waters off the coast. Our encounter with the sea began almost

as soon as we set foot on land. After our PAL Express landed at the new Bicol International Airport in Daraga, Albay, we were whisked to Pilar Port. This port, as well as Matnog, two of the three gateways (the other is Bulan) of Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao, were to be our jump-off points to some of the sun, sand and sea delights of the province.

Here, a 30-min. boat ride brought us to Casa Almei Beach Resort where a lunch of seafood and barbecued delights awaited us. After this delightful and filling lunch, we returned to our respective boats for the ride to the tamarind–shaped, 5-km. long Panumbagan Sandbar, an emerging tourist

destination in the Bicol Region within the vast cobalt waters of Pilar Bay.

Along the way, we stopped at the Bantigue Point Marine Sanctuary where edible sea urchins (locally called suwaki or uni) and sea grapes (lato) are cultured for food. Here, we watched the harvesting of the latter by our tour guide Mr. Omar Nepomuceno. At Panumbagan, we spent an enjoyable late afternoon out at sea, wading in the waters or lounging on the beach.

Of course, when it comes to the sea, the first thing that comes into mind when you’re in the province is the interaction with the whale shark, locally called the butanding. This activity had its beginnings in 1998 when the then sleepy town of Donsol gained international prominence when over 90 whale sharks congregated at the mouth of the murky, nutrient-rich waters of the long and winding Quipia (or Donsol) River. In 2004, Time Magazine featured it as the Best Animal Encounter in Asia.

The infrastructure for whale shark-watching tours is already in place and now, a quarter of a century later, we were to give it a try. To be near the action, the night before, we stayed at the 15-room, 3-star Elysia

Beach Resort which was near the Butanding Visitors Center where Donsol Mayor Teodoro B. De Guzman welcomed us. After dinner, we were treated to firefly river watching, another popular activity in Donsol.

The next day, we registered ourselves at the center and attended a short orientation before boarding our assigned boats.

Wearing sun block lotion was not allowed as its chemicals could harm the butanding. Plus, feeding them is a no no. The butanding has to show up, on their own, to feed on plankton and krill. Thus sightings are not guaranteed but there is an 85% chance of encountering and seeing whale sharks. After a number of unsuccessful tries, our spotter, on a high vantage point of the boat, spotted one from afar and our assigned Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO) Michael Radores finally told us to don our snorkels and get into the water. My successful encounter with this gentle giant of the sea could only be described as surreal. Luckily, the excitement of my encounter was recorded by Michael using my cellphone camera encased in a waterproof phone pouch.

On our fourth day in the province, we were again back to the sea, this time

traveling to Matnog Port, the jump off point to the southern Philippines and vice-versa. From here, we were to explore three of the town’s outlying islands—Calintaan Island, Murong Burongan Island and Juag Island.

Our first stop was Calintaan Island, home to the pristine Subic Beach (locally called “La Playa Rosa”), one of two places in Sorsogon (the other is Tikling Island) with sand that has a pinkish hue. This is due to a combination of creamy white sand with crushed organ pipe coral (Tubipora musica). There are actually two adjacent Subic beaches—the quieter and less developed Subic Liit (Little Subic) and a longer stretch called Subic Laki or Subic Dako (Big Subic), both separated by a short stretch of land. We landed at the latter, the more popular of the two due to the presence of picnic huts, resorts, potable water and electricity.  Another short boat ride then brought us to the arrowhead-shaped Murong Burongan Island, where another lunch of seafood and grilled delights awaited us. The island has a lighthouse, a large lagoon and white sand beaches while the resort there also features modern, comfortable native-style, beachfront cottages

with wooden accents, airconditioning, lofts, private bathrooms and mini refrigerators.

Our last destination was the 572 sq m, privately owned and maintained (by the Geneblazo family) Juag Lagoon Fish Sanctuary. Similar to our previous whale shark interaction in Donsol, this time we got to interact with 40 fish species at the calm, crystal-clear waters of the sanctuary’s lagoon, bordered by a small stretch of white sand beach and verdant palms. While others let the fishes bite at small bits of bread without exposing their fingers others, including myself, boarded a bamboo raft and, guided by ropes, moved into another fish pen that contained the real giants of Juag, namely large lapu-lapu (groupers) and talakitok (trevally or bigeyed jack). Again donning snorkels, we interacted with them, this time underwater and eye-to-eye. Definitely another surreal experience.

Our love affair with the sea culminated with our stay at the luxurious, Santorini-inspired Recidencia del Hamor Beach Front in Sta. Magdalena where we attended the launch of the provincial government’s new tourism campaign “Beautiful Sorsogon! -Where Beauty is Everywhere.”

‘Best’ hotel experience north of Manila

By Edwin P. Sallan

Ev E n before it formally opened its doors last March, the Angeles City-based Best Western Plus Metro Clark (BWPMC) has already gained a reputation as a must-visit and must-experience hotel north of Manila.

When it first opened in 2019 as Best Western Metro Clark was a quality but affordable hotel catering to business and leisure travelers, with 85 well-appointed rooms with adequate amenities including food and beverage options, an infinity pool and fitness center and function and meeting rooms for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) and other social events.

Even then, the hotel has earned numerous accolades for its superior service and excellent facilities. In 2019, it was given the “Best Standards Award” by the Best Western Hotel Group, and cited for “Excellence in Quality, Standards and Service” by the Best Western Hotels and Resorts. Also in 2019, particularly in Q4, BWPMC was granted the “International Quality Assurance Award.”

Although the pandemic has had an adverse effect on many businesses including and especially the tourism and hotel indus -

try, the owners and operators of Best Western Metro Clark, Savers Group Holdings Inc. saw the resulting lockdowns as an opportunity to embark on a comprehensive expansion program. The said expansion, however, was not without its fair share of challenges.

“It took a lot of hard work, determination, and patience. There was disruption of the supply chain, sudden surge in material costs, shortage of manpower due to the epidemic, and health protocols, but we were able to overcome those hurdles, as we have weathered in the past few decades of our company’s existence,” recalled Jaime “Jack” Uy, Savers Group Holdings Inc. Chairman and CEO.

Since its expansion, the bigger and better and newly-renamed Best Western Plus Metro Clark is a 14-story hotel complex with a 4-star rating and boasts a total of 186 luxurious rooms complemented by more amenities suitable for business and leisure.

n o s urprise that just last year, Best Western Metro Clark was given yet another stamp of approval with its “TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice” award.

The hotel’s “smart rooms” are equipped not only with high-speed Wi-Fi connection

provided by Converge but also comes with advanced automation and intuitive options for lighting, temperature, entertainment, and room service. These options and other aspects of the room are controlled by a tablet-like panel that also provides access to a selection of entertainment options including streaming services like n etflix and Spotify.

In terms of dining, there are four specialty restaurants that guests can choose from. For those who crave for delicious yet reasonably priced Japanese treats, there’s n am ari Japanese Bistro. Cactus Jack Smokehouse is ideal for the more adventurous types looking to savor international favorites ranging from tempting appetizers to hearty entrees. Jack’s Pool Bar is perfect for those who feel like having drinks and treats while marveling at a magnificent view of Angeles City. And for those who prefer authentic and traditional Cantonese gustatory treats, then look no further than The Legend Hong Kong Seafood Restaurant.

Even those who want to chill and unwind over coffee and light treats should find Café Sebastian as the perfect place to simply hangout.

As part of an international brand, BWPMC provides exclusive perks and discounts at all local and international Best Western hotels and resorts with the award-winning loyalty program, Best Western Rewards.

From meetings and conferences to parties and weddings, event venues are sought out every day by hundreds of clients, increasingly looking for distinct venues which Best Western Plus Metro Clark proudly delivers. Everything from fine dining to superior entertainment is covered in this lavish hotel, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience that shines above all else.

Its close proximity to the Philippine Arena and the recently concluded Clark Aurora Music Festival makes it an ideal landing spot for concertgoers looking for accommodation options near these concert venues.

“Here at Best Western Plus Metro Clark, we strive to give you the best experience from the moment you enter our doors, up until you check out of the hotel. We do hope that you will continue to support our vision as the premier business and leisure destination here in Angeles City,” said Justine Uy, Best Western Plus Metro Clark’s v P o f Marketing during his speech at the formal launch.

Tourism Editor: Edwin P. Sallan

SorSo gon, the southernmost province in Luzon, has a close affinity with the sea, being almost completely surrounded by water (except for its overland link with Albay to the north).

Elysia Resort Hotel in Donsol

R E siDEnc ia del Hamor Beach Front in sta. Magdalena

Juag lagoon Marine sanc tuary su B i c Pink sand Beach

Mu R o ng Burongan island Resort PanuMBagan sandbar

Photocopy operator gets the help she needs, thanks to technology

TUniversity.

She calls each of them “ endearment that means “love or affection.”

“I was also of the lifestyle and entertainment web site Random Republika.

Kate graduated from the Ateneo some years back and she said every visit to the campus would not be complete without seeing

“I’m actually so surprised that she still remembers me,” said Kate during the #GCashStories event.

Ate a typhoon, her house became flooded. Most of her family’s appliances and furniture were ruined.

When happened, they organized an online fundraiser powered by GCash. The news was spread through social media and Ateneo students and even those already graduated sent their donations to Ate Alma via GCash’s Send Money feature. The money went straight to her GCash wallet.

In the end, Ate Alma’s community raised enough money to purchase essential goods for her and her family, making the road to recovery after the typhoon that much easier.

“Sobrang nagulat ako, hindi ko akalain na ganoon karami agad ang dumating. Isipin mo naging P100,000 agad ang dumating sa GCash ko. Talagang patuloy silang naghulog sa GCash hanggang nabuo ’yung bahay namin [I was so surprised that so many people helped me and my family. My GCash immediately got P100,00 and my Panggas continued to send money until our house was completed],” said Ate Alma.

Send Money allows GCash users to quickly and seamlessly transfer funds from one account to any of the platform’s other 79 million users. Whether through a unique QR code or the user’s GCash number, money is safely transferred instantly. What’s more, those who receive the transfer can easily make cashless purchases with GCash payments, or even to Buy Load, Pay Online and more. Cashing in to transfer is easy, too, with multiple options available. Users can

US regulators say Facebook misled parents and failed to protect the privacy of children using its Messenger Kids app, including misrepresenting the access it provided to app developers to private user data.

As a result, the Federal Trade Commision on Wednesday proposed sweeping changes to a 2020 privacy order with Facebook—now called Meta—that would prohibit it from profiting from data it collects on users under 18. This would include data collected through its virtual-reality products. The FTC said the company has failed to fully comply with the 2020 order.

Meta would also be subject to other limitations, including with its use of face-recognition technology and be required to provide additional privacy protections for its users.

“Facebook has repeatedly violated its privacy promises,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The company’s recklessness has put young users at risk, and Facebook needs to answer for its failures.”

Meta called the announcement a “political stunt.”

=“Despite three years of continual engagement with the FTC around our agreement, they provided no opportunity to discuss this new, totally unprecedented theory. Let’s be clear about what the FTC is trying to do: usurp the authority

Cash In from over 70 online banks, 650,000 over-thecounter partners or through 4,000 cash in machines nationwide.

The video ( youtu.be/k6idup0Jy9U ), which now has over eight million views on YouTube, was directed by Antoinette Jadaone.

Jadaone is known for her work on love stories and while Ate Alma’s narrative is a different kind of love story, the director is happy that the end result was positive in that it elicited a response from the audience.

“A video like this is just like a movie. Making it is just like making a movie, mas mabilis lang [it’s more fast-paced]. Also, lahat ’yan mga stories nagkataon lang na dito may totoong tao [these are all stories. It just happened that there’s a real person in this],” said Jadaone of the Ate Alma video.

“#GCashStories is everyone’s story,” says Neil Trinidad, chief marketing officer of GCash. “And this campaign aims to turn our moments into movements.”

GCash recently launched #GCashStories, a series

of Congress to set industry-wide standards and instead single out one American company while allowing Chinese companies, like TikTok, to operate without constraint on American soil,” Meta said in a prepared statement.

The Menlo Park, California company added that it will “vigorously fight” the FTC’s action and expects to prevail. Facebook launched Messenger Kids in 2017, pitching it as a way for children to chat with family members and friends approved by their parents. The app doesn’t give kids separate Facebook or Messenger accounts. Rather, it works as an extension of a parent’s account, and parents get controls, such as the ability to decide with whom their kids can chat.

At the time, Facebook said Messenger Kids wouldn’t show ads or collect data for marketing, though it would collect some data it said was necessary to run the service.

But child-development experts raised immediate concerns.

In early 2018, a group of 100 experts, advocates and parenting organizations contested Facebook’s claims that the app was filling a need kids had for a messaging service.

The group included nonprofits, psychiatrists, pediatricians, educators and the children’s music singer Raffi Cavoukian.

“Messenger Kids is not responding to a need—it is

Huawei 1Q revenue edges up, profit margin narrows

that highlights stories of hope and progress and turns them into inspirational conversations. The first short film featured the story of Cocoy Rubio, who became a small business owner with the help of GCash’s different services after losing his job due to the pandemic. Thanks to GLoan, Cocoy was able to start his own business and make the necessary transactions that helped him succeed.

GCash is doing more than highlighting #GCashStories that have changed people’s lives. They’ve taken the campaign further and have tapped several non-government organizations in order to help solve real-world problems. The e-wallet has partnered up with ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation and Caritas Manila, where proceeds will go to families in need of disaster relief, much like Ate Alma’s.

Stay tuned for other upcoming #GCashStories by following GCash’s official social media pages.

Have your own story of hope and progress? Share yours by using the hashtags #GCashStories and #MyGCashStory, and tagging @gcashofficial. ■

creating one,” the letter said. “It appeals primarily to children who otherwise would not have their own social media accounts.” Another passage criticized Facebook for “targeting younger children with a new product.”

Facebook, in response to the letter, said at the time that the app “helps parents and children to chat in a safer way,” and emphasized that parents are “always in control” of their kids’ activity. The FTC now says this has not been the case. The 2020 privacy order, which required Facebook to pay a $5 billion fine, required an independent assessor to evaluate the company’s privacy practices. The FTC said the assessor “identified several gaps and weaknesses in Facebook’s privacy program.” The FTC also said Facebook, from late 2017 until 2019, “misrepresented that parents could control whom their children communicated with through its Messenger Kids product.”

“Despite the company’s promises that children using Messenger Kids would only be able to communicate with contacts approved by their parents, children in certain circumstances were able to communicate with unapproved contacts in group text chats and group video calls,” the FTC said. Meta has 30 days to respond to the FTC’s latest action. AP

BEIJING—Chinese tech giant Huawei reported on Friday that its revenue edged up 0.8 percent from a year earlier in the first three months of 2023 and the company was profitable. Revenue rose to 132.1 billion yuan ($19.1 billion), a company statement said. It said its net profit margin was 2.3 percent, down from 4.3 percent a year earlier.

The company, headquartered in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, has responded to US sanctions that devastated its smartphone brand by expanding into serving hospitals, ports and other industrial customers.

It gave no breakdown of sales by global region or business line. It said spending on research and development increased but gave no details.

Huawei Technologies Ltd., China’s first global tech brand, has struggled since then-President Donald Trump cut off access to US processor chips and other technology in a feud with Beijing over technology and security. American officials say the company is a security risk and might facilitate Chinese spying, which Huawei denies.

The company is the biggest global maker of network equipment for phone and internet companies. It sold its Honor smartphone brand in 2020 and switched its emphasis last year on selling technology to automakers, factories, mines and other industrial customers.

Huawei reported earlier that its 2022 profit fell 70 percent to 35.6 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) while sales rose 0.9 percent to 642.3 billion yuan ($93.5 billion). The company reported an unusually large 2021 profit due to the sale of the Honor smartphone unit.

Half of Huawei’s 207,000 employees work in research and development. The company says it has been able to develop replacement components for US versions. Huawei says it has made breakthroughs in developing its own design tools for processor chips. AP

Facebook misled parents, failed to guard kids’ privacy

4 DANGERS THAT MOST WORRY AI PIONEER GEOFFREY HINTON

SAN FRANCISCO—Geoffrey Hinton, an award-winning computer scientist known as the “godfather of artificial intelligence,” is having some serious second thoughts about the fruits of his labors.

Hinton helped pioneer AI technologies critical to a new generation of highly capable chatbots such as ChatGPT. But in recent interviews, he says that he recently resigned a highprofile job at Google specifically to share his concerns that unchecked AI development could pose danger to humanity.

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us,” he said in an interview with MIT Technology Review. “I think they’re very close to it now and they will be much more intelligent than us in the future.... How do we survive that?”

Hinton is not alone in his concerns. Shortly after the Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI released its latest AI model called GPT-4 in March, more than 1,000 researchers and technologists signed a letter calling for a six-month pause on AI development because, they said, it poses “profound risks to society and humanity.”

Here’s a look at Hinton’s biggest concerns about the future of AI...and humanity.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NEURAL NETWORKS

OUR human brains can solve calculus equations, drive cars and keep track of the characters in Succession thanks to their native talent for organizing and storing information and reasoning out solutions to thorny problems. The roughly 86 billion neurons packed into our skulls—and, more important, the 100 trillion connections those neurons forge among themselves—make that possible.

By contrast, the technology underlying ChatGPT features between 500 billion and a trillion connections, Hinton said in the interview. While that would seem to put it at a major disadvantage relative to us, Hinton notes that GPT-4, the latest AI model from OpenAI, knows “hundreds of times more” than any single human. Maybe, he suggests, it has a “much better learning algorithm” than we do, making it more efficient at cognitive tasks.

AI MAY ALREADY BE SMARTER THAN US

RESEARCHERS have long noted that artificial neural networks take much more time to absorb and apply new knowledge than people do, since training them requires tremendous amounts of both energy and data. That’s no longer the case, Hinton argues, noting that systems like GPT4 can learn new things very quickly once properly trained by researchers. That’s not unlike the way a trained professional physicist can wrap her brain around new experimental findings much more quickly than a typical high school science student could.

That leads Hinton to the conclusion that AI systems might already be outsmarting us. Not only can AI systems learn things faster, he notes, they can also share copies of their knowledge with each other almost instantly.

“It’s a completely different form of intelligence,” he told the publication. “A new and better form of intelligence.”

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

WHAT would smarter-than-human AI systems do? One unnerving possibility is that malicious individuals, groups or nation-states might simply co-opt them to further their own ends. Hinton is particularly concerned that these tools could be trained to sway elections and even to wage wars.

Election misinformation spread via AI chatbots, for instance, could be the future version of election misinformation spread via Facebook and other social media platforms.

And that might just be the beginning. “Don’t think for a moment that Putin wouldn’t make hyper-intelligent robots with the goal of killing Ukrainians,” Hinton said in the article.

“He wouldn’t hesitate.”

A SHORTAGE OF SOLUTIONS

WHAT’S not clear is how anyone would stop a power like Russia from using AI technology to dominate its neighbors or its own citizens. Hinton suggests that a global agreement similar to the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention might be a good first step toward establishing international rules against weaponized AI.

Though it’s also worth noting that the chemical weapons compact did not stop what investigators found were likely Syrian attacks using chlorine gas and the nerve agent sarin against civilians in 2017 and 2018 during the nation’s bloody civil war. AP

Fastest for five

WHEN the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to stay and do everything from our homes, it also accelerated the adoption of digital technologies and transformed the way businesses operate. As more people started working from home and businesses shifted to online channels, there also has been a significant increase in demand for faster Internet speeds and more reliable connectivity, pushing telcos to invest more in upgrading their Internet infrastructure and adopt new technologies to support remote work and online operations.

PLDT has consistently dominated the Ookla Speedtest Awards for five consecutive years as a result of the telco giant’s aggressive network expansion and drive to lift the quality of customer experience. In 2018, PLDT’s speed score was just 18.07, which increased to 23.81 in 2019. In 2021, the company’s speed score jumped to 61.89, and in 2022, it soared to 86.52. These remarkable achievements led to a rare five-time win for PLDT at the Ookla Speedtest Awards 2022.

Ookla, the trusted global benchmarking company, said it is both a first for PLDT, and for the Philippines, affirming the telco’s dominance and consistent performance in delivering the country’s fastest Internet speeds for the fifth consecutive year.

The Philippines’s rank in the Ookla Speedtest Global Index has risen one notch to fourth place, following closely behind Malaysia and besting Vietnam and other peers in Southeast Asia. Singapore remains on top of the rankings with downloads speeds of 234.55Mbps, followed by Thailand with 201.81Mbps, and Malaysia with 92.69Mbps.

A MOST COVETED AWARD

PLDT is the only telco in the Philippines that has ever achieved a five-peat for the highest award from Ookla. According to Ookla, only a handful of Internet service providers have won the prestigious award for five consecutive years worldwide. In Southeast Asia, only PLDT as the leading telco in the Philippines has this honor, alongside Singapore’s ViewQWest.

Ookla chief technology officer Luke Deryckx affirms PLDT’s superior network performance for the past five years. He says, “With over 18 million consumer-initiated tests taken daily and billions of data points gathered, the Ookla data paints a clear picture of the performance, quality and availability of virtually every network in the world. We are especially happy for all Filipinos, who now have access to better and faster Internet connectivity through PLDT.”

With the consistent wins at the Ookla Speedtest Awards, PLDT also clocked the top speeds in major areas in the Philippines and bested all other major telco providers in 2022 including Pasig City, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio City, among others.

All these achievements are powered by PLDT’s

digitalization by bringing the benefits of connectivity and other digital services to more areas in the Philippines. In 2022, PLDT recorded a total of 6.08 million fiber-powered ports, covering around 17,700 barangays across the country.

PLDT president and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio stressed PLDT’s commitment to help build and empower the nation by setting the bar high in providing world-class digital services for Filipinos.

“For the past five years, PLDT has made big strides to elevate our customers’ experience by delivering the best fixed network services. We intend to keep this momentum, and to go above and beyond in ensuring that our customers get the best digital experience wherever they need it—at home, school, or the office.”

APP PICKINGS

WHEN I was a kid, one of my favorite chores was accompanying my mom to the grocery. She would split her shopping list with me to save time and I’d always have “fun” items like chips, chocolates, juice drinks, and I’d make sure to add a few extras for me as a reward. It actually taught me a lot about budgeting and choosing the right products for us. Well, PICK.A.ROO, the homegrown shopping app, lets your kid enjoy a similar fun experience with its first-ever Kiddie Shopper Summer Program.

Making its debut in select Landmark Supermarkets this May, PICK.A.ROO’s Kiddie Shopper Summer Program allows children ages 4 to 8 to become a PICK.A.ROO Shopper for a day, picking out orders from PICK.A.ROO users and checking them out while being guided and assisted by a PICK.A.ROO Shopper on-duty. Kids who sign up for the program will receive a Shopper Kit containing a shirt, apron, cap and bag, all of which they can wear

our Kiddie Shopper Summer Program, we are giving parents an avenue to let their kids undergo a ‘summer on-the-job training’ by being a PICK.A.ROO Shopper. We want kids to have fun while also appreciating the hard work our shoppers put into their jobs, and perhaps even learn the values of hard work, teamwork, discipline, responsibility and friendship,” Eric Bataga, chief executive officer of PICK.A.ROO, says.

Parents interested in enrolling their kids into the Kiddie Shopper Summer Program can get the sign-up links from emails and social media posts from PICK.A.ROO’s official pages. There is no sign-up fee as parents and guardians need only to order via PICK.A.ROO on the day of their respective child’s schedule. Schedules for the Kiddie Shopper Summer Program are on May 6, 13, and 20, 2023 in Landmark Bonifacio Global City, Trinoma, and Alabang. Sessions run for one hour per batch of about five kids, with the first one starting at 9 am.

This summer also marks the official launch of PICK.A.ROO’s Pick-Up feature. Using the app, this feature lets users order from the shops, groceries, and restaurants available on PICK.A.ROO, pay for their orders via credit card, and collect them at their chosen time. The feature offers an easy way for parents who are out with their family during weekends, for example, to order groceries and pick them up on the way home so they can enjoy more time with their loved ones. Last year, PICK.A.ROO rolled out its exclusive Mall-in-One feature, which lets users order from multiple stores in one mall, and then pay and check out everything in a single transaction. It is exactly like how mall shopping is usually done but without traffic jams, unnecessary detours and unplanned spending. ■

DICT pushes for cloud computing toward better governance

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

TO achieve better governance, the Philippines needs to go to the cloud to be able to deliver quality services to Filipinos.

Maria Victoria Castro, director, National ICT Planning Policy and Standards Bureau, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), stressed this during her talk in the recently concluded First Philippine CTO Summit: Cloud 4.0 in Makati City, Being the lead organization in the government’s digitalization drive, Castro said the DICT is pushing the implementation of Government Cloud (GovCloud), a public service cloud infrastructure for use by government agencies.

GovCloud is a hybrid deployment of on-premise resources controlled and provisioned by DICT as well as resources from accredited Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).

“GovCloud will provide cloud infrastructure access to government agencies and will continue to support government agencies efforts to adopt cloud solutions according to their requirements. Moreover, the new version of GovCloud shall be composed of the on-premise resources

from the DICT and the accredited cloud service providers,” Castro said. She said the government will achieve the following benefits from the use of cloud technology such as inter-agency collaboration for greater efficiency and better citizen online services; operational continuity and business recovery; faster deployment of services; greater budget control and decreased spending on legacy structure.

GovCloud will cover all executive departments, bureaus, offices, agencies, instrumentalities of the national government, government-owned and controlled corporations and subsidies, state universities and colleges, and local government units.

Right now, she said the DICT is pursuing a Cloud First Policy by considering cloud computing solutions as a primary part of their infrastructure planning and procurement.

As a robust computing platform, Castro named the five essential characteristics of cloud computing. These are ondemand self service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measured service.

According to Castro, another outstanding feature of cloud computing is that it will reduce the cost (acquisition

and operation) of government ICT systems by eliminating duplication hardware and systems, and fragmentation of data bases. By using cloud computing technology, Castro said the government can strengthen its data sovereignty, data residency and data ownership. Data sovereignty refers to the “data created, collected, organized, modified, retrieved, used, consolidated, sourced from, or owned by the Philippine government.“ Data residency is government data stored in the cloud without residency restrictions. In data ownership, the Philippine government, its agencies and instrumentalities shall retain full control and ownership of their data.

In terms of securing the cloud, Castro said the DICT shall ensure that the risks and vulnerabilities associated with the data stored or processed using their chosen cloud deployment are adequately and effectively addressed through appropriate controls and security protocols.

She said the DICT will monitor the standards in compliance with the current local and international security standards for their industry, and all Philippine relevant laws.

“The DICT will also develop a security framework applying a risk management approach,” she said.

COMPUTER scientist Geoffrey Hinton poses at Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters back in March 2015. AP

US says it will allow more flights by Chinese airlines

between the two countries before the pandemic.

The Transportation Department said in a filing Wednesday that it was acting in response to China’s announcement in late December that it would lift certain restrictions on international passenger flights.

Britain to start free trade with NZ and Australia

close relationship between the nations.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Britain’s free trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia will come into force by the end of this month, the leaders from the three nations said Friday.

The Transportation Department said it will let Chinese airlines increase from eight to

12 US-China round trips per week. That is still a fraction of the flights that were allowed

China’s move allowed American Airlines to add two weekly flights in March between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Shanghai, raising the combined total of round trips between the

countries by US carriers to 12 per week.

China announced in March that after a three-year hiatus it was reopening its borders to revive tourism and boost its economy. China also relaxed visa rules to allow more outbound group tours by Chinese citizens. American, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines operate flights to China.

Airlines for America, a trade group representing the major US carriers, declined to comment. AP

US to control land sales to foreign nationals near 8 military bases

WASHINGTON—For -

eign citizens and companies would need US government approval to buy property within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of eight military bases, under a proposed rule change that follows a Chinese firm’s attempt to build a plant near an Air Force base in North Dakota.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security is set to propose the rule on Friday. It would give expanded powers to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which screens business deals between US firms and foreign investors and can block sales or force the parties to change the terms of an agreement to protect national security.

Controversy arose over plans by the Fufeng Group to build a $700 million wet corn milling plant about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which houses both air and space operations.

As opposition to the project grew, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and US Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, all Republicans, raised questions about the security risks and asked the federal government last July for an expedited review.

CFIUS told Fufeng in September that it was reviewing the proposal and eventually concluded that it did not have jurisdiction to stop the investment.

The plans were eventually

dropped after the Air Force said the plant would pose a significant threat to national security.

The new rule would affect Grand Forks and seven other bases, including three that are tied to the B-21 Raider, the nation’s future stealth bomber. The Pentagon has taken great pains to protect its new, most-advanced bomber from spying by China. The bomber will carry nuclear weapons and be able to fly manned and unmanned missions.

Six bombers are in various stages of production at Air Force Plant 42, located in Palmdale, California, while the two other bases will serve as future homes for the 100-aircraft stealth bomber fleet: Ellsworth Air Force

Base in South Dakota and Dyess Air Force Base in Texas.

The national security concerns regarding the other bases were not immediately clear. Also on the list were Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas, which are both training bases. The others selected for greater protection are the Iowa National Guard Joint Force Headquarters in Des Moines and Luke Air Force Base, located in Glendale, Arizona.

The Air Force was not immediately available for comment on why the eight bases were selected.

CFIUS, a committee whose members come from the State, Justice, Energy and Commerce

departments among others, already had the power to block property sales within 100 miles of other military bases under a 2018 law.

Hoeven said the CFIUS process for reviewing proposed projects needed to be updated.

“Accordingly, China’s investments in the US need to be carefully scrutinized, particularly for facilities like the Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is a key national security asset that serves as the lead for all Air Force Global Hawk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations and has a growing role in US space operations,” he said.

In February, Andrew Hunter, an assistant secretary of the Air Force, said in a letter to North Dakota officials that the military considered the project a security risk but did not elaborate on the kinds of risks Fufeng’s project would pose.

The letter prompted Grand Forks officials, who had initially welcomed the milling plant as an economic boon for the region, to withdraw support by denying building permits and refusing to connect the 370-acre (150-hectare) site to public infrastructure.

Fufeng makes products for animal nutrition, the food and beverage industry, pharmaceuticals, health and wellness, oil and gas, and others industries. It’s a leading producer of xanthan gum. It denied that the plant would be used for espionage. AP

Cigarette smoking in US drops to lowest level since 1965–CDC

CIGARETTE smoking rates sank to their lowest US level in more than half a century, according to the latest government figures, although tobacco use remained high as consumers pivot to alternative products.

Just 11.5 percent of Americans regularly lit up cigarettes last year, better than the 12 percent goal set by the US government’s Healthy People 2020 plan and the lowest level since 1965, according to a report

from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Still, about one in five adults reported using a tobacco product in 2021, nearly unchanged from the previous year, with e-cigarette use rising to 4.5 percent.

Companies including Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. have contributed to the shift in tobacco consumption, expanding into smoke-free nicotine alternatives as cigarette use declines. The number of e-cigarette products, which include Imperial Brands Plc’s Blu vapes and Juul from formerly Altria-backed Juul Labs Inc., more than quadrupled in a year from June 2021 to 2022, according to a Truth Initiative analysis.

The products have become popular among kids and young adults, in part because of a perception that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes. The use of creative flavors has

The announcement came while the prime ministers from the two Southern Hemisphere nations are in London for the coronation of King Charles III.

The deals are part of Britain’s efforts to expand its economic ties after it left the European Union. Both deals were first agreed to in 2021.

New Zealand officials say its deal will help boost sales of products like wine, butter, beef and honey, and will increase the size of its economy by up to 1 billion

New Zealand dollars ($629 million). New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said it was a gold-standard agreement.

“The market access outcomes are among the very best New Zealand has secured in any trade deal,” Hipkins said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal with New Zealand reflected the

“This deal will unlock new opportunities for businesses and investors across New Zealand and the United Kingdom, drive growth, boost jobs, and, most importantly, build a more prosperous future for the next generation,” Sunak said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would mean more market access for its exporters.

“So for beef, for our sheep products, for our seafood, for our other products it will mean much greater access to the British market,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview.

Albanese said it would also mean greater access for younger Australians to work in Britain and vice versa after the terms of a working holiday arrangement were expanded.

A similar scheme between New Zealand and Britain has also been expanded, increasing the length of working visas from two years to three years and the maximum eligible age from 30 to 35. AP

Maker of Tylenol and Band-Aid climbs in debut after biggest US IPO since ‘21

KENVUE Inc., the consumer health business of Johnson & Johnson, climbed from its initial public offering price during Thursday’s debut session— breaking a lull in large US listings that’s lasted for more than a year.

T he maker of brands, including Tylenol, Band-Aid, Listerine and Nicorette rose 22 percent, from the $22 offering price in its first day of trading.

Kenvue’s $3.8 billion IPO was the biggest in New York since Rivian Automotive Inc. in November 2021 due to five quarters of volatility and interest-rate uncertainty that stalled most deals in the pipeline.

T he IPO valued Kenvue at about $42 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Diana Gomes. Kenvue marketed the shares at $20 to $23 through a syndicate led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.

K envue’s products include dozens of J&J household names, such as Neutrogena, Aveeno and Benadryl. On a pro forma basis, the business had net income of about $1.5 billion on sales of almost $15 billion for the year ended January 1, according to company filings.

“We are extremely well positioned, as Kenvue, to start a new chapter as a publicly trade company. We have a great portfolio,” Chief Executive Officer Thibaut Mongon said during an interview. He said the company would consider acquisitions, but is looking to its current products and brands for growth.

“We are laser-focused on organic growth,” Mongon said. “Having said that, we have the proven track record of identifying brands in attractive territories outside” and

buying them, he said.

J&J is retaining the majority share of Skillman, New Jersey-based Kenvue. While the company does business globally, North America accounts for half of its sales. While there’s been concern about consumers pulling back spending in the US, the latest earnings reports from peers including Procter & Gamble Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. show that Americans are still willing to pay higher prices for household essentials. Mongon said the company didn’t see any declines in its volumes last year, and that first-quarter revenue growth came from increases in both prices and volumes.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Johnson & Johnson’s spinoff of its consumer health brand segment, Kenvue, will likely be good for the health-care giant, but it’s unclear if it will be good for the stand-alone Kenvue. The new company will be left indebted and under a tax audit. Also, one of its most valuable assets, goodwill, has fallen 11 percent since 2021.”

—Wendy Soong, senior associate strategy analyst

Regarding innovation, he gave the example of Neutrogena’s sunscreens that don’t leave behind a white residue, noting that Kenvue is expanding the line this year with a serum in addition to the lotion.

“People don’t like having the perception of white residue on their skin,” Mongon said. “It’s a great example of identifying what prevents consumers from getting the care they need for themselves, and addressing it through innovation.” Bloomberg News

Oil set for worst run this year as recession fears rattle market

also led to charges that the manufacturers deliberately court the youth market.    E-cigarettes are also used by those who are looking for a traditional cigarette substitute or are trying to quit, though no e-cigarette has been shown to safely help people quit. About a third of people who reported using multiple tobacco products smoked both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, the study said.

While cigarettes’ popularity has steadily declined since the 1960s, their use remains high in certain populations, including those with low incomes and living in rural areas, according to the study.

Those disparities should be addressed through strategies like increasing product prices, running educational campaigns and regulating products, researchers said. Bloomberg News

OIL headed for a third straight weekly decline, the longest losing run this year, as slowdown concerns and turmoil in the US banking sector prompted investors to flee from risk.

West Texas Intermediate edged higher toward $69 a barrel on Friday, but the US crude benchmark has still retreated by about 10 percent this week after a four-day skid. Trading was marked by a brief-butdramatic plunge early on Thursday, when prices collapsed to touch the lowest intraday level since 2021.

Crude has been battered by mounting concern the US economy is on track to slide into a recession, potentially hurting energy consumption, just as investors track signs of continued instability among regional lenders. In addition, major exporter and OPEC+ leader Saudi Arabia lowered prices to Asia.

Oil has slumped 14 percent this year even after a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to cut production from this month. The retreat has come despite signs of strength in the physical oil market, suggesting the selloff may be excessive. In that vein, Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan said this week the market was actually “pretty tight.”

“While sentiment is negative at the moment, the market is in oversold territory and our balance sheet still shows that the market will be in deficit over the second half of the year, which should drive prices higher,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy for ING Groep NV.

Timespreads have narrowed off in recent sessions, signaling a less tight market. The prompt spread for global benchmark Brent—the gap between the two nearest contracts—was 15 cents a barrel in backwardation. The figure was 37 cents a barrel in backwardation a month ago.

In the Middle East, Iraq said it’s yet to strike a deal with Ankara that would allow for the resumption of almost half a million barrels a day of Iraqi oil exports via Turkey. The standoff between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government has halted shipments from the port of Ceyhan since late March.

“There are some attempts for oil prices to stabilize into today’s session following its heavy selloff,” said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist for IG Asia Pte, although he added that caution remains. “There has been some signs of dip-buying at the $70 level for Brent crude, so that may be a crucial level.”

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration will let Chinese airlines add more flights to the US to match the number of flights that China allows US airlines to fly between the two nations.

The World Taiwan trade chief warns vs ‘unnecessary fear’ of China

John Chen-Chung Deng spoke to The Associated Press on a visit this week to Washington, where he is leading a Taiwanese trade delegation and meeting with US trade officials.

Deng’s visit comes at a time of intensifying efforts to harden the US and Taiwanese militaries and economies against any threat from rival China. As part of this, President Joe Biden and Congress are moving to boost semiconductor production on US soil in the event of any conflict disrupting exports from Asia, especially from Taiwan.

Semiconductors make electronics ranging from phones to electric cars to advanced weapons run, and Taiwan produces more than 90 percent of the world’s more advanced semiconductors.

At the same time, Pentagon leaders have been touring the IndoPacific to rally regional allies in bolstering military defenses and deterrence. A House committee last month war-gamed a hypothetical attack by China on Taiwan and US positions as part of a bipartisan congressional effort to find specific ways to boost deterrence.

Deng said Americans should see these efforts as ensuring that Chinese President Xi Jinping will never feel confident enough to invade Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

“We should avoid any exaggeration or rhetoric which doesn’t reflect the true situation, that creates fear...unnecessary fear,” said Deng. He said the US business community in Taiwan assures him it is still expanding and hiring. He cited the experienced workforce and support industries that Taiwan offers for semiconductor producers and for Google, Amazon and other U.S. businesses on its soil.

Relations between the US and China have hit dramatic peaks in tensions over the past two years as Xi’s government asserts China’s growing strength economically, diplomatically and militarily. That includes China underscoring its broad territorial claims in the region.

China, for its part, accuses the US of meddling in its internal affairs and pursuing a containment strategy against China to prevent its rise.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war and have no official relations. They are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment. The Chinese Communist Party regularly flies fighter planes and bombers near Taiwan to enforce its stance that the island is obliged to unite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The Biden administration and Republicans and Democrats in Congress broadly support strengthening the US and Taiwanese positions

8 fatally shot in Serbia town a day after 9 killed at school

BELGRADE, Serbia—A shooter killed at least eight people and wounded 13 in a drive-by attack near a town close to Belgrade late Thursday, the second such mass killing in Serbia in two days, state television reported.

The attacker shot randomly at people near the town of Mladenovac, some 50 kilometers south of the capital, the RTS report said early Friday. Police were looking for a 21-year-old suspect who fled after the attack, the report said.

The shooting came a day after a 13-year-old boy used his father’s guns in a rampage at a school in Belgrade that killed eight of his fellow students and a school guard.

Serbian village.

Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic called Thursday’s shooting “a terrorist act,” state media reported. Special police and helicopter units have been sent to the region as well as ambulances, it added. No other details were immediately available, and police had not issued any statements.

Earlier Thursday, Serbian students, many wearing black and carrying flowers, filled streets around the school in central Belgrade as they paid silent homage to peers killed a day earlier. Thousands lined up to lay flowers, light candles and leave toys to commemorate the nine people who were killed on Wednesday morning.

in the region to discourage any Chinese invasion of the island.

For Taiwan, that swell in US support overall has also brought renewed focus from Washington on the island’s decades-old appeals to the US to overhaul its tax and trade policies toward the island. Taiwanese leaders say the current US policies make it hard for Taiwanese companies and workers operating in the United States, and could do more to help Taiwan strengthen trade relations with allies.

The US switched its diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Without formal relations and the kind of a tax treaty that the US has signed with friendly nations that it recognizes, Taiwanese workers in the US have to pay taxes in both the US and Taiwan. That makes the already more-expensive US prohibitively expensive for many Taiwanese.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in March called it an issue the US needed to address. On Thursday, four senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee— Democrats Bob Menendez, the chairman, and Chris Van Hollen, and Republicans Jim Risch and Mitt Romney—introd.uced legislation authorizing negotiation of a US-Taiwan tax agreement.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is promising tens of billions of dollars to support construction of US chip foundries and reduce reliance on sup -

pliers in Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia, which Washington sees as a security weakness.

Answering that US call, Taiwanese chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. is building a chip plant in Arizona and plans a second, for a total investment of $40 billion.

Deng said he hopes for resolution of the tax issue before that first Taiwanese plant starts operation in Arizona, given the double-tax burden the operation will face.

“Once they start to produce, this is a real problem,” the trade official said.

Taiwanese officials also hope in coming weeks to close an initial trade agreement with Washington, in a nod toward the free-trade pacts the US has negotiated with South Korea and other allies.

US worries about angering China have helped keep Washington from signing a free-trade pact with Taiwan in the past. Deng argued the hoped-for US trade agreement would boost the confidence of Taiwan and encourage other allies to increase trade with Taiwan as well.

That would help Taiwan lessen its economic dependence on trade with China, now the customer for 35 percent to 40 percent of Taiwan’s products, Deng said.

He said Taiwan also sees the strategic point in Biden administration measures aimed at dis -

couraging other countries from exporting semiconductors to China, to starve China’s security forces of the advanced chips they need.

Integrated circuits alone account for about 25 percent of Taiwan’s GDP. When it comes to China’s share of that, however, Taiwan “realizes there’s no sense in sending chips to them, to build up missiles aiming at us,” Deng said. AP

The bloodshed sent shockwaves through a Balkan nation unused to mass murders.

Though Serbia is awash with weapons left over from the wars of the 1990s, mass shootings are extremely rare.

Wednesday’s school shooting was the first in the country’s modern history. The last mass shooting before this week was in 2013, when a war veteran killed 13 people in a central

The tragedy also sparked a debate about the general state of the nation following decades of crises and conflicts whose aftermath have created a state of permanent insecurity and instability, along with deep political divisions.

Authorities on Thursday moved to boost gun control, as police urged citizens to lock up their guns and keep them away from children. AP

WASHINGTON—Taiwan’s chief trade representative says his country’s semiconductor makers will expand production in the US as much as they can afford to do so, but he insists Taiwan remains an ideal place for that production and other US trade, business and investment, despite tensions with China.

TAIWAN Trade Minister John ChenChung Deng speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at Willard Hotel’s Café du Parc, in Washington, Wednesday, May 3, 2023. AP

Mountain bikers start campaign in crosscountry

PHNOM PENH—Shagne Yaoyao is the best-ranked among Philippine riders in cycling at the 32nd Southeast Games which kick off on Saturday morning with the women’s crosscountry Olympic event of mountain bike in Siem Reap.

Venue is the Kulen Mountain within the vicinity of the world-famous Angkor Wat, the same track which the men will tackle later in the day.

Yaoyao is No. 4 here with her International Cycling Union ranking of 196, a rung higher than Ariana Evangelista (UCI No. 210) and Nicole Quinones (UCI No. 416) seeded 12th among 18 riders entered.

Indonesia’s Sayu Belma Sukya Dewi and Dela Anuar Wulan are the top two seeds in the women’s XCO race which starts at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. in Manila).

M en’s action follows at 10:30 a.m. here with Edhmel John Rivera Flores leading the country’s charge as the sixth-ranked rider in the 20-athlete field.

Mark Loowel Valderama is ranked eighth and Jerico Rivera 11th in the event that Zaenal Fenani of Indonesia and Riyadh Hakim Bin of Singapore are expected to rule as 1-2 seeds.

“Our athletes have gotten a feel of the track and hopefully, we get to do better from last year’s races in Vietnam,” MTB head coach Eboy Quinones said.

C ruz clinched a bronze medal in MTB’s downhill last year—along with Naomi Gardoce in the women’s event—but had to race in XCO this year after Cambodia scrapped the event this edition.

To be contested also in MTB on Sunday XCO mixed relay and on Monday, it will be the XCO eliminator.

Road races of cycling starts with criterium races on May 11, followed by individual time trial on May 12 and road races on May 13. Jun Lomibao

Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 teams open gold campaign

CHASE FOR GOLDS RESUMES FOR PHL

By Jun Lomibao

PHNOM PENH—The chase for gold medals continue for Team Philippines on Saturday with obstacle racers formally adding two more gold medals to the Philippine coffers in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games that formally open Friday night at the Morodok Techo Stadium.

Jiu-jitsu fighters are also hoping to duplicate Kaila Napolis’s victory two nights ago while entries in 15 other disciplines also get going for Team Philippines which bagged two gold, two silver and three bronze medals to run second behind Cambodia’s 5-4-0 haul on Thursday.

The finals of the men’s and women’s individual 100 meters event of obstacle racing at the Chroy Changvar Convention Center Car Park starting at 8 a.m. are all-Filipino for the guaranteed gold medals.

K evin Pascua, winner of the men’s class in the inaugural staging of the event in Philippines 2019, squares off with Mark Julius

Rodelas while Precious Cabuya and Kaizen de la Serna dispute the women’s title.

Filipino athletes in athletics, swimming, 3x3 basketball, boxing, cycling, e-sports, artistic gymnastics, karate, vovinam, pencak silat, pétanque, sepak takraw, soft tennis, tennis, aquathlon and the demonstration sport of teqball are also seeing action Saturday.

A nnie Ramirez, Myron Mangubat and Michael Tiu hope to follow Napolis’s gold-medal showing in women’s ne-waza GI 52kg category.

R amirez is vying in women’s newaza NOGI 57 kg, class Mangubat competes in the men’s ne-waza GI 62kg division and Tiu clashes in the men’s ne-waza GI 69kg event.

Napolis’s golden finish, the country’s first mint in this year’s games, means the jiu jitsu team needs just one more victory to match its two-gold medal haul in the Vietnam Games last year.

R amirez won the gold in the 62kg class of the last games.

C abuya, fresh from her world

Hallasgo wants Indonesian’s title

PHNOM PENH—Christine Hallasgo goes after the hide of the defending champion from Indonesia and Richard Salano and Arlan Arbois eye podium finishes in 32nd Southeast Asian Games marathon starting at 6 a.m. Saturday in Siem Reap City.

Hallasgo, marathon champion in the 2019 but silver medalist last year in Vietnam, try to regain the crown with the help of teammate, newcomer Ruffa Sorongon.

Standing in her way are champion Odekta Elvina Naibaho of Indonesia and bronze medalist Ngoc Hoa Hoang Thi of Vietnam.  “

Overall, the team is ready. We arrived here [Siem Reap] early enough and our athletes are not tensed. They are ready to compete,”

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association secretary general Edward Kho said.

A s the Filipino athletes slowly acclimatized with the conditions because of their early arrival, they still expect fierce competition from the Vietnamese in particular, as they have been in Cambodia a month earlier, familiarizing themselves with the two proposed routes and the scorching conditions.

M eanwhile, with the weather expected to reach a high of 39C, Salano and Arbois will challenge the dominance of defending men’s champion Hoang Nguyen Thanh of Vietnam in a field made weaker

by the absence of Thailand’s Tony Ah-Thit Payne.

Payne, a naturalized New Zealand athlete, who bagged a bronze medal at the 31st SEA Games marathon in Hanoi last year, slipped and was injured while preparing for the games in Bangkok.

H is absence has given Salano and Arbois an opening to fight for a podium finish, or even pull off an upset win against the favorites.

T he rest of the events of athletics will be played in Phnom

Penh from May 8 to 12 at the Morodok Techno National Stadium, including pole vault on Monday with world’s no.

3 Ernest John Obiena shooting for a third straight SEA Games title.

Jun Lomibao

Hockey squads won’t go down without fight

PHNOM PENH—The national indoor hockey teams are coming off humbling defeats but both want to end their 32nd Southeast Asian Games campaign on a respectable when they face host Cambodia Saturday at the Dinosaur Park Hall.

T he men’s squad faces the host nation at 4:45 p.m. (5:45 p.m. in Manila) with the Filipinos out to break their four-game losing slump

in the final day of the elimination round. The women’s national team, running sixth after losing its first four games, is also looking to end its campaign on a high note at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. in Manila) as the Filipinas look to spoil the Cambodians’ bid to enter the bronze medal match. The host nation is tied with the Philippines in the men’s event with similar 0-0-4 win-draw-loss records.

record 33.128 in the heats, and De la Serna, coming off her own best of 34.836, battle it out in an equally explosive finale in the women’s division.

The obstacle racers are hoping to set a trend for Team Philippines whose participation in the Games are backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee. I expect the finals to be an excellent fight because we have the same technics,” Rodelas said.

R odelas is gunning for his first SEA Games championship after taking bronze behind winner Pascua four years ago in Manila while also setting his sights on a 24-second performance.

I’m 100 percent ready and confident,” he said. “This is great, a Filipino will surely come out winner.”

“O ur common goal is the gold medal and at the same time come up with a clean run and no injuries for both of us,” Pascua said.

Woman Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna and Woman International Master Shania Mae Mendoza, on the other hand, will officially clinch silver medal in ouk chaktrang (Cambodian chess) women’s doubles 60-minute also on Saturday.

T he Filipina tandem was already assured of a runner-up finish last Tuesday by virtue of a 4-1 record with 4.0 points, a full point behind would-be champion Vietnam, which handed them their only loss in the tournament.

PHNOM PENH—The road to redemption begins for Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 teams Saturday in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Morodok Techo National Stadium Elephant Hall 2.

The men take on Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia at 10:20 a.m. (11:20 a.m. in Manila) and 1:40 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively, in Pool A action.

The women, on the other hand, face Vietnam, Laos and Thailand at 9:20 a.m., 12 noon and 3:40 p.m. T he top two teams in the two groups advance to the semifinals on Sunday for the right to play for the gold medal on the same day. The Gilas Men and Women are hoping to regain the gold medals in 3x3 play they swept in the 2019 edition in Manila. The men’s team settled for the bronze while the women’s squad came home empty handed from Hanoi last year. Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, Joseph Eriobu, and Joseph Sedurifa make up the men’s team while Jack Animam, Afril Bernardino, Janine Pontejos and Mikka Cacho comprise the women’s squad.

“

The last three days of practice have been excellent,” said men’s 3x3 coach Lester Del Rosario following Friday’s practice at the Elephant Hall 2. “You can see in their faces that they are ready.”

Vosotros and Flores were members of the TNT Tropang Giga team that won the Philippine Basketball 3x3 grand slam during the recently-concluded season. “They are all winners. We have shooters and defense,” said Del Rosario.

Women’s coach Pat Aquino said the road to the gold medal will be difficult with their opponents also beefing up their rosters.

“It’s going to be tough,” said Aquino. “We are going to play our best. I told the girls to just try your best. We don’t have to worry who we are facing. We have to think about what we can do better.”

Josef Ramos

Umandal, nationals want to close out SEA Games sortie with victory

PHNOM PENH—Jau Umandal and the men’s volleyball team seek a decent finish in the

32nd Southeast Asian Games.

The Filipinos are out of the semifinals race after absorbing back-to-back losses to two-time defending champion Indonesia and host Cambodia in Group A.  But the team wants to end the group stage with a victory when it tangles with Singapore in a battle of winless squads Saturday at the Olympic Stadium.

“Our aim to win remains. We want to beat Singapore for a strong finish,” Umandal said. “Even if we’re already out of the top two, we still need to get the win.”

Only the top two teams from the two groups will advance to the semifinals, with the rest of the squads battling it out in the classification stage. A v ictory over the Singaporeans will propel the Filipinos to a

clash with the fourth-placed team in Group B, with the winner advancing to the battle for fifth-place.

Sergio Veloso, the Brazilian head coach of the national team, pleaded for patience from the fans as the squad—backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee—looks to crack the winning column.

I know the fans want (us) to win, but sometimes we win, sometimes the opponent wins, but every time we need to learn,” Veloso said. “Our focus in this tournament is not only to take a good position but try to do our best, try to do our 110 percent, improve every day.”  Umandal refused to offer excuses in their two defeats so far, saying: “We fell short as a team. The heat and crowd are not the issue, we are used to it. But our preparation for this SEA Games is not enough, unlike in 2019 when we had a long preparation.”

He added: “We still want to win against Singapore even if we’re out of the top two. We need to get the win even if it’s only for ranking, like what we did in 2022.” Josef Ramos

Silver from chess comes Saturday

PHNOM PENH—Woman

T he Cambodians are tied with Singapore in fourth with a 1-0-3 card in the women’s event and a win against the hapless Filipinas could bring them closer to a podium finish.

National team coach Christian Galicia said winning against the host teams will be easier said than done as the Cambodians have experience playing outdoor hockey.

“ This Cambodia team is playing

a new lineup. As far as I know, they have experience in playing outdoor hockey,” said Galicia, whose wards are part of the Philippine delegation backed by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee in this year’s Games. This might be their first time playing indoor hockey but it’s a big factor to have experience than none at all. We need to be prepared for them.” Josef Ramos

Grandmaster Janelle Mae Frayna and Woman International Master Shania Mae Mendoza will officially clinch silver medal in ouk chaktrang (Cambodian chess) women’s doubles 60-minute of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games at the Royal University on Saturday.

The Filipina tandem was already assured of a runner-up finish last Tuesday by virtue of a 4-1 record with 4.0 points, a full point behind

would-be champion Vietnam, which handed them their only loss in the tournament.

Th ird-running Myanmar, with 3.0 points behind a 3-2 win-loss slate, can tie the Philippines on Saturday, but the 25-year-old Frayna and the 25-year-old Mendoza, who are backed here by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee, can still clinch the silver by virtue of the winnerover-the-other rule.

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and the all-female Team Philippines and flag bearer Alyssa Valdez are in harness for the parade of nations during Friday night’s opening ceremony.

PHILIPPINE Sports Commisssion Chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann with the country’s first gold medalist Kaila Napolis during the podium ceremony for jiu-jitsu on Thursday. ROY DOMINGO