BusinessMirror May 08, 2020

BSP still sees ‘vigorous rebound’ T HE Philippines is expected to see a “vigorous rebound” of economic activity once the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted and could even bounce to as high as 7.8 percent next year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

This breath of optimism came after the government announced Thursday that the local economy shrank 0.2 percent in the first quarter of the year—the lowest recorded growth since 1998—due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

“The BSP expects a U-shaped growth trajectory with economic activity rebounding vigorously once the ECQ is lifted. A contraction ranging from 1.0 percent to 0.0 percent is

FOR documentation purposes, Barangay Councilor Josephine Bartolata takes a photo of Paquito Mendoza, a senior citizen who received financial help from the local government in Balut, Tondo, Manila, as part of the city’s campaign to help those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. NONIE REYES

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forecasted for 2020. Thereafter, the economy is expected to bounce back to 7.8 percent growth in 2021,” the Central Bank said.

For the prices of goods and commodities, the BSP said these are expected to remain stable and within the expected range for this year and next year. The BSP reiterated its forecast of a 2-percent inflation rate on average for 2020 and 2.5 percent for 2021.

The 2-percent forecast for 2020 is lower than earlier projected due to the lower-than-expected print in April at 2.2 percent. The 2021 forecast, however, is higher than earlier seen due to the projected recovery in domestic economic activity and higher liquidity growth.

The BSP said its expectation of a “vigorous” economic comeback is hinged on proper health and fiscal measures in place. The BSP said these measures, along with monetary policy responses, will have to maintain a “dominant role” in the country’s response.

“Monetary policy and financial sector regulations will continue to offer support as needed to mitigate the economic impact on people and firms,” the BSP said.

Cascading impact–Diokno

FOR its part, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said they remain ready to deploy more measures if warranted by the economic situation.

See “BSP,” A2

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

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SEEN WORSE IN 2ND QTR T

‘FUNDAMENTALS’ TO QUICKEN RECOVERY, QUESTION IS WHEN

By Cai U. Ordinario

HE worst is not over for the Philippine economy. No less than the country’s chief economist, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua, admitted GDP growth could be worse in the second quarter, as it posted the steepest decline in two decades for first-quarter growth.

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

F

INANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said on Thursday the 0.2-percent contraction in the country’s economy in the first quarter was an inevitable outcome given the challenges faced by the country during the period.

Dominguez also said he expects the country’s economy in the second quarter to head deeper in the negative territory due to the extended lockdown before it bounces back in the second half of the year.

However, the country’s finance chief said the hoped-for economic expansion will still hinge on the whether or not a cure or vaccine has been released commercially by then.

“The outbreak of this lethal virus, which subsequently froze economies and shuttered businesses in the four corners of the world, started to take its toll on the domestic economy in February as the lockdown in China caused supply-chain disruptions and stopped arrivals of Chinese tourists, hence adversely affecting Philippine trade and tourism,” he said in a statement.

The Bureau of Customs reported a year-on-year decline in the country’s trade volume with China in the first half of February, with the number of incoming twenty-footer equivalent units (TEUs) or cargo containers falling by a sizeable 62 percent from the year-ago level.

Tourism in the country also took a big hit from China’s lockdown, initially covering its bustling manufacturing hub Wuhan, ground zero of the outbreak. China’s lockdown stopped arrivals of Chinese tourists.

The travel restrictions imposed by South Korea due to the contagion also affected the country’s tourism. South Korea and China are the country’s top two sources of tourist arrivals.

SOCIOECONOMIC Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua: “The reality and the emerging number is that we are going to see flat growth or slightly negative. And that is where we are today.” NEDA

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III separately weighed in, saying he expects the economy in the second quarter to head deeper into negative territory due to the extended Covid-19-induced lockdown before starting to crawl back to recovery in the second semester. See separate story at right.

The Philippine economy contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter, its steepest decline in 22 years, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday, an announcement that surprised no one, given the combined impact of the lockdown that paralyzed business and before that, Taal Volcano’s eruption.

“Well, second quarter, as I mentioned, will be difficult, because we saw the extension, the full-month extension of the ECQ [enhanced community quarantine] in April. The good news is, as of May 1, many areas of the country have moved to GCQ [general community quarantine],” Chua said in a briefing.

“What this means is that there is a chance that we minimize the contraction. The expected contraction in the second quarter,” he added.

Chua, who is also the National

Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Director General, explained that under the ECQ only 25 percent of the economy can run while under the GCQ, about 75 percent of the economy is permitted to operate.

With this, Chua said, economic growth may still be within expectations this year. The government initially estimated that the economy may contract by 0.8 percent to as much as zero or flat growth this year due to Covid-19.

Taal eruption

ASIDE from these, Dominguez said the January 12 Taal Volcano eruption also did not bode well for the country’s economic performance for the first quarter of the year.

“It did not help first-quarter growth,” said Dominguez, “that the local economies, particularly in the subregion of Calabarzon [Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon], were adversely affected in January by the eruption of Taal Volcano.”

See “Recovery,” A2

Target-setting

THE growth estimates of the government are a far cry from the targets set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent.

“A target is a target. If you move the target all the time, then that’s not a target, so the target stays. But the reality and the emerging number is that we are going to see flat growth or slightly negative. And that is where we are today,” Chua explained.

The Neda chief said the current estimates of zero to -0.8 percent will also be kept despite the 0.2-percent contraction in first-quarter GDP. Continued on A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.5560

A PHILIPPINE Air Force officer uses a quadcopter drone to monitor the activities of residents of Barangay Addition Hills in Mandaluyong City, which was placed under a weeklong lockdown due to the high incidence of coronavirus infections in the area. NONOY LACZA

SEGUNDO PASCUAL PECO, 67, of Barangay Kalentong, Mandaluyong City, uses as a Covid-19 shield the improvised mask he made on New Year’s Eve in 2017 to protect himself from fireworks fumes.

He said he has yet to receive his pension, or any assistance from the DSWD, for which he said he coined: “Daming Sinasabi, Walang Dumarating.” BERNARD TESTA

n JAPAN 0.4767 n UK 62.4316 n HK 6.5221 n CHINA 7.1171 n SINGAPORE 35.5628 n AUSTRALIA 32.3356 n EU 54.5954 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4637

Source: BSP (May 7, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, May 8, 2020

Economic contraction spurs House bid to rush stimulus bill T

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

HE House of Representatives will fast-track the approval of the economic stimulus plan which seeks to bring back the Philippines on its previous growth path, a leader of the chamber said on Thursday.

Noting that the first-quarter gross domestic product figures mark the first decline in more than two decades, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said, “it validates what we already know: that this crisis is unprecedented, and will require similarly unprecedented action.”

He added: “Let us pass an economic recovery plan that will put us back on our previous growth path.

Let us also take this opportunity to see where our economic weaknesses lie and strengthen them with necessary structural reforms.”

With Congress and the Executive working closely, Salceda said the passage of an economic recovery plan could come “hopefully in a matter of weeks. Consumer and business confidence will be key, so government action must inspire confidence in the people.”

According to Salceda, the economic cluster of the Defeat Cov-

SALCEDA: “Human behavior in our institutions and in the public has begun to be more prepared for the ups and downs of an epidemic.” PCOO

id-19 Committee is now finalizing the consolidated version of the proposed P485-billion Philippine Economic Stimulus Act (PESA).

“We just have to finalize the version. But that would require prior coordination with economic managers [for faster approval of the President],” he said.

Monday target

A SOURCE said the House Defeat Covid-19 Committee is eyeing to approve the stimulus proposal on Monday. It will be immediately transmitted to the plenary for another round of deliberations.

House Committee on Economic Affairs Chairperson and AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin said the coronavirus disease pandemic could result in the possible unemployment of at least 30 million Filipinos without the necessary economic stimulus interventions.

Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quim­bo, who cochairs the House Defeat Covid-19 Committee economic cluster, said the country loses around P18 billion for each day of lockdown, especially amid coronavirus fears that would hinder an effective reopening of the economy.

With this, lawmakers said the lower chamber will push for the immediate passage of the P485billion PESA to help the economy.

Moreover, Salceda said the “Q1 GDP figures also confirm what energy consumption data and mobility data all pointed to before the economic figures were released: the public, including the economy, largely complied with the beginning of community quarantine. Given these numbers, Q2 figures are likely to have been much worse, but by the time the data is released, the worst should have been all behind us.”

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced on Thursday that the country’s GDP contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter. This reflects the adverse impact of Taal eruption in the second-largest regional economy of the country, the Calabarzon, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before the Covid-19, the target economic growth of the government for 2020 was 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno has said the BSP’s economic growth assumptions for this year could settle at a low end of -1 percent to zero growth amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The BSP forecast follows Fitch Solutions’s 4.0 percent, ING Bank Manila’s 3.5 percent, World Bank’s 3 percent, Moody’s Investors Services’ 2.5 percent, Asian Development Bank’s 2 percent, Nomura’s 1.6 percent, ANZ Research’s 1.2 percent, International Monetary Fund’s 0.6 percent; Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.’s -1 to 1 percent, and S&P Global Ratings’ -0.2 percent.

Prepared

SALCEDA, an economist, said as the country soon moves gradually from quarantine to a cautious path toward recovery, “we must make the remarkable sacrifice worth it by taking the necessary precautions to avoid large waves of infection that may necessitate more lockdowns.”

Citing his discussion with data scientists, chaos theorists and economists, Salceda said “at this time, we are more ready for the consequences of a reopening even as we await a vaccine possibly in 2021 than for the impacts of another hard lockdown as we know it.”

“Human behavior in our institutions and in the public has begun to be more prepared for the ups and downs of an epidemic,” he said.

But he said measures should still be implemented for another possible wave of infection.

“First, I hope government strategists would steel our nerves during episodic spikes in cases and not fall for the easy default of an unplanned lockdown which we can only do at the expense of resources for our recovery. Localized, maybe, but LGU-managed, not barangaydirected,” he said.

“Second, we must all do our part—the low-cost nonpharmaceutical interventions: wash your hands, wear facemasks, avoid crowds, and maintain physical distancing even at home. Third, the NTF should continue to increase testing, tracing and treatment—achieve 8,000 per day

by May 15 and 30,000 per day by May 30,” he added.

Also, Salceda said all hospitals must remain prepared for surges, acquire ventilators for areas where infection waves remain likely, and stockpile enough PPEs to protect healthcare workers.

DOH hopes to keep down number of infected HCWs

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

N

OTING that they belong to the vulnerable group as they fight the pandemic, the Department of Health (DOH) announced that no death was reported among healthcare workers (HCWs) on May 6, 2020. To date, the number of infected HCWs reached 1,886 as the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country rose to 10,343.

Of the total number of infected HCWs, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire counted 709 nurses, 608 doctors, 119 nursing aides, 71 medical technologists, 36 radiologic technologists, 23 midwives, 22 respiratory therapists and 15 pharmacists.

For nonmedical personnel, 52 are administrative staff, 41 are utility workers, 25 drivers, 12 dietary staff, 9 barangay health

workers, 8 caregivers and 7 security guards.

“These past few days, the number of infected healthcare workers [has been] slowing down.

I am also happy to tell you that no death was recorded yesterday [May 6],” Vergeire said at a briefing on Thursday.

She cited the slowdown in the number of confirmed cases among HCWs started since April 11, 2020.

As of May 6, 2020, a total of 403 HCWs have recovered while 34 have died.

Vergeire said that as of 4 p.m. of May 7, 2020, there were 339 new cases (PH10005-PH10343) of Covid-19.

DOH also announced that there were 112 new recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,618.

Meanwhile, 27 new deaths

were recorded. A total of 685 patients have succumbed to Covid-19.

PPEs from China

MEANWHILE, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III announced that the Philippine Navy frontliners sailed to Xiamen, China, to pick up a shipment of 23,385 boxes of personal protective equipment (PPEs) ordered by the Philippine government.

“We are committed to providing all Filipino doctors, nurses and other healthcare heroes with adequate supplies of PPEs despite the global shortage brought about by the global pandemic,” Duque said.

Duque also thanked the Philippine Navy for undertaking the mission to China.

“Commander Rogelio Lachica and the brave sailors of the BRP Bacolod City, Philippine Navy

deserve praise and gratitude for undertaking this mission during difficult times. Those PPEs are essential to protecting our heroic health frontliners from C-19,” Duque said.

He reiterated that the occupational health and safety of frontliners is a top priority of the DOH and the Duterte administration in the fight against Covid-19.

Last month, the DOH announced a partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (Conwep) to locally produce an additional 300,000 PPE coveralls per month.

Duque praised the efforts of private individuals and charitable organizations, whom he said have done “noble work in helping us deal with the realities of the

global PPE shortage.”

Meanwhile, Duque, together with National Plan Against Covid-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., formally received a total of seven metric tons of PPEs and other medical supplies from the government of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

Ambassador Hamad Al-Zaabi and Senior Political Officer Dr. Zakaira Hassan from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Manila handed over the donation of four metric tons of PPEs such as surgical gloves, face shields and shoe covers, and three metric tons of assorted medical supplies.

“We are very thankful for the support we received from the government of the United Arab Emirates—an assurance that we are not alone in this fight,” said Duque.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Recovery…

Continued from A1

Despite the economic and financial pain caused by the Covid-19 health crisis, Dominguez is confident the country will recover owing to its strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

He asserted that investor confidence in the country deepened because of the record gross international reserves (GIR), a well-balanced debt management strategy, a higher sovereign credit and much improved revenue flows resulting from a comprehensive tax reform program, among others.

The finance chief assured the public that government is crafting an economic recovery plan that responds to the needs of both consumers and businesses in order to boost consumption, create jobs and sustain growth in the long haul.

But with the primacy of saving lives and protecting communities in President Duterte’s overall strategy to defeat the deadly virus, Dominguez said, “government plans to restart the domestic economy soon enough would have to be balanced with relaxing mobility restrictions in such a way as not to trigger an infection resurge that could lead us back to square one.”

BSP…

Continued from A1

The BSP has already been aggressively pushing stimulus to the economy in response to Covid-19. In a span of a little over two months, Diok­ no let out several monetary policy rate cuts, reductions to the banks’ reserve requirement ratio, billions in government securities purchase and early remittance of dividends.

“We expect these monetary policy measures to have a cascading impact on market interest rates, which would eventually translate to lower borrowing costs for the government, as well as for firms and people,” Diokno said in a statement on Thursday.

“The BSP is ready to use its entire arsenal of instruments in a timely manner to address the macroeconomic impact of Covid-19. In line with this, the BSP will continue to monitor market conditions for any emerging risks to our outlook for both inflation and economic activity, in order to ensure our readiness to deploy policy responses and measures, as warranted,” he added.

Diokno also gave the assurance that the local banking system is sound and adequately capitalized to withstand the crisis brought about by the ongoing pandemic.

“The Philippine banking system will be able to withstand the adverse effects and uncertainties brought about by the Covid-19 global pandemic because it is sound and resilient,” Diokno said.

“Prudential reforms have been put in place to maintain sufficient buffers in times of crisis and ensure business continuity to serve financial consumers while keeping the economy going,” he added.

22-yr low in growth seen worse in 2nd qtr Continued from A1

He said the DBCC would likely wait before changing its estimates.

However, Chua said he is confident that the progress in the Covid-19 situation in the country indicates a “very strong chance” that the economy will recover faster.

Grim forecasts

MEANWHILE, economists are not as optimistic about a recovery.

Many of them have trimmed their forecasts anew in light of the firstquarter numbers.

Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) Director Alvin P. Ang is, however, one of the few economists who projected a contraction in the first-quarter GDP growth. ACERD initially estimated that first-quarter GDP would contract by 0.8 percent.

Nonetheless, Ang is also trim-

ming his forecasts further in light of the first-quarter numbers. He said second-quarter GDP will likely contract by 5 percent.

This, Ang said, will be significantly affected by a 10- to 20-percent drop in household consumption due to the lockdown and the loss of jobs of millions of Filipinos.

He added that with these estimates, full-year GDP would likely contract 2 to 4 percent. If this happens, 2020 will record the worst economic growth rate in the country since the 1980s.

Based on PSA data, this estimate will be the lowest since 1985 when the economy posted a fullyear contraction of 6.86 percent. “[The] range [of contraction] may be 2 to 4 percent, depending on the response of Filipinos and firms on the lifting of the quarantine and how government imple-

ments it. Weak global trade is also a factor,” Ang said.

“There could be some growth in the fourth quarter, but it will not be enough to pull the whole year into positive territory,” he added.

The initial worst-case scenario estimated by Unionbank Chief Economist Ruben Carl O. Asuncion also falls within the contraction of 2 to 4 percent, albeit on the downside at 3.4 percent.

Asuncion said this forecast may still change given the circumstances. However, he said a contraction or sluggish growth can already be expected, given that a vaccine may only be discovered after 12 to 18 months.

He added that consumer confidence will also play a crucial role in the country’s economic recovery. If consumers will let their “fear factor” set in, consumption may not increase enough to pull

up GDP growth.

“Even if an effective treatment and/or an antiviral drug would be available, unless consumer confidence is unhampered by the fear factor, it would be difficult to anticipate positive growth,” Asuncion said.

For his part, ING Bank Manila Senior Economist Nicholas T. Mapa said their revised estimates now point to a 2.9-percent contraction for this year.

For the second quarter, Mapa now sees a contraction of 5.8 percent. He agreed with Ang in saying any growth in the fourth quarter may not be sufficient to pull up economic growth.

“I am not optimistic of growth hitting 0 percent given the apparent impact of lockdowns on growth. [The] fiscal rescue plan must super-size to plug the gaps in the economy,” Mapa said.

‘Worst since 1998’

IN a virtual press briefing on Thursday, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said the first-quarter performance was the worst since 1998 when GDP in the fourth quarter contracted 0.3 percent.

In that year, when the economy struggled with the worst El Niño phenomenon to date and the Asian Financial Crisis, full-year GDP contracted 0.5 percent.

Chua said household consumption significantly slowed by 0.2 percent on the back of weak growth in all consumption items.

However, Chua said health spending increased 11.5 percent in the first quarter, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2019 when it increased 6.9 percent.

Government spending, he said, grew 7.1 percent on the back of efforts to respond to Covid-19.

Still, this is significantly lower

than the 17-percent growth in government consumption posted in the last quarter of 2019.

Chua said the growth in government consumption in the last quarter of 2019 was largely due to the catch-up spending implemented on account of the budget impasse at the start of the year.

In terms of the supply side of GDP, Chua said services sector growth at 1.4 percent was the major driver of the economy. Industry contracted 3 percent and agriculture contracted 0.4 percent.

In addition, Net Primary Income (NPI) from the rest of the world dropped by 4.4. percent, resulting in the 0.6-percent contraction in the Gross National Income.

Estimates on the first-quarter 2020 National Accounts of the Philippines (NAP) are based on the 2018 base year following the recent revision and rebasing of the NAP series.

The Nation BusinessMirror

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US extends ₧298M in new Covid-19 aid to Philippines

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

T

HE US Embassy in Manila has announced an additional P298 million ($5.9 million) to help support the Philippines in the fight against Covid-19, bringing the total amount of US pandemic assistance to the Philippines to more than P768 million ($15.2 million).

As part of this new assistance, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will partner with 18 local governments with some of the Philippines’s hardesthit areas to promote effective crisis management and implement response plans.

The funding will support local governments to rapidly disburse emergency funding and suppl ies a nd st reng t hen t he capacity of local crisis response centers to disseminate accurate and timely crisis response information, manage quarantine measures, set up public hand washing facilities, ensure food supply, and support local business recover y.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim welcomed the new tranche of support to the Philippines, saying “This latest assistance builds on our long-standing relationships with local government units across the Philippines,

and represents our continued commitment to our Filipino friends, partners, and allies in this time of crisis.”

Other activities funded through this fresh infusion of cash assistance will provide supply chain analytics and promote a regulatory environment that facilitates logistics and transportation for food, medical products, and other essential goods.

To assist with small and micro-enterprise recovery, USAID will facilitate access to credit and provide grants and skills training to heavily affected sectors and communities.

The new assistance also includes P44 million ($875,000) from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration for the International Committee of the Red Cross to support Covid-19 response in the Philippines, including increasing stocks of essential medical supplies and expanding hospital capacity, preventing the spread of disease in quarantine centers, and supporting resilience for vulnerable people and communities.

The United States has provided more than P228 billion ($4.5 billion) in development assistance to the Philippines over the past 20 years, including over P29 billion ($582 million) in health assistance.

‘Blindsided’ senators urge NTC to take back order vs ABS-CBN

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

A

T least 13 senators crossed party lines on Thursday and sponsored Senate Resolution 395 urging the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to reconsider its cease and desist order (CDO) shutting down broadcast media giant ABS-CBN. They are: Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Minority Leader Frank Drilon, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto and Sens. Juan Edgardo Angara, Ma. Lourdes Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Sherwin T. Gatchalian, Lito Lapid, Emmanuel Pacquiao, Francis Pangilinan, Joel Villanueva and detained Sen. Leila M. de Lima.

The signatories recalled that the Senate had adopted on March 4, 2020, Resolution 344 “expressing the sense of the Senate to authorize the NTC to issue a provisional authority in favor of ABS-CBN, its subsidiaries and affiliates, considering that the legislative franchise of the same, granted by virtue of Republic Act 7966 has an expiration date of May 4, 2020.”

Also on Thursday, ABS-CBN filed an urgent petition to the Supreme Court, asking it to stop the regulator from enforcing its order.

(Story on page A8.)

In a television interview, Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Public Services Committee tasked to review and grant franchises, admitted the senators were “blindsided” by the NTC’s order, “because it was against their pronouncements when they were in the Senate and I think that at that time it was quite clear that based on precedents and based also on what the Department of Justice had said their opinion will be—meaning that there should be equity in the gap of the law, that the NTC can really go ahead and give a provisionalized authority to operate.”

The issuance of a CDO was contrary to what NTC did in previous similar cases, Poe added. “This is more an exception than the rule because in the past...they were either silent or they just allowed the operation of other franchises that have expired but have their renewal lodged in either Congress or the Senate.”

She continued: “Again, I have said this so many times before, this has been done, this provisional authority was given to Smart, it was given to GMA 7, it was given to TV 5, it was given Globe-Innove and PT&T, CBCP.” The senator did not mince words, saying: “I don’t know... clearly, it confuses us why the NTC now is having this position; and either they were really duplicitous and deceitful in the

First ‘Balik Probinsya’ resettlement area eyed in Zamboanga del Norte

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) said the provincial government of Zamboanga del Norte has agreed to establish the first rural resettlement model, as the national government renews its bid to decongest population in key cities and urban centers.

The concept was part of the design of the “Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa” Program (BPBPP) being pushed by Malacañang.

The concept was presented by Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go to President Duterte.

Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, chief of the MinDA, said Gov. Roberto Uy volunteered his province on Wednesday to host the model BPBPP Rural Resettlement Community after MinDA presented the concept during a meeting a day earlier at the Provincial Capitol in Dipolog City.

The MinDa chief said Uy was adapting the program as a poverty alleviation measure, while helping the national government decongest cities like Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao of informal settlers. Zamboanga del Norte is one of the poorest provinces in the country, the MinDA said.

The model community for returning informal settlers would be turned into a community of workers for an identified industry of the host hometown. In the case of Zamboanga del Norte, the returning settlers may be tapped to work on a specific agriculture, or fisheries-based industry.

Piñol said the provincial government may provide an area of not less than 50 hectares for the BPBPP Rural Resettlement Model good for 200 returning Zamboanga del Norte families, who are now among the informal urban dwellers in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.

“We will follow the recommendation of the MinDA that the community should be involved in a common activity with a complete value chain to ensure that the Balik Probinsya families would earn and stay home for good and contribute to our

province’s goal of reducing poverty,” Piñol quoted Uy as saying.

Piñol posted this information on his Facebook account.

The land, along with support funds to start a livelihood project, would be the provincial government’s initial counterpart in the establishment of the Balik Probinsya Rural Resettlement, he added.

After the first model is established, Uy said, the provincial government would replicate it in other areas of the province.

Piñol said he would proceed to Lanao del Norte to present the program to Gov. Imelda Q. Dimaporo and Kauswagan town Mayor Rommel Arnado. “On Thursday [May 7], I will meet with Bukidnon Gov. Jose Zubiri to propose the establishment of a vegetable and strawberry production-based Balik Probinsya Rural Resettlement Community in his province,” he said.

Piñol said he would present the Zamboanga del Norte Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa Model Rural Resettlement Community concept during the next ZOOM Conference of the BPBPP Inter-Agency Task Force presided by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

Under the Balik Probinsya concept, the “returnees” would be given initial financial support, housing and training to prepare them for income earning opportunities, including support services such as roads leading to the resettlement areas, irrigation and market linkage.

MinDA has designed several models of the Rural Resettlement Communities under the BPBPP to include communal activities such as poultry raising, hog raising, goat raising and dairy production, vegetable production, tree farming and fruit production, cattle fattening, fish cage farming and even commercial fishing operations.

Another model designed by MinDA involves the establishment of processing facilities by private partners, which would utilize provincial workers and local raw materials produced by both local farmers and Balik Probinsya, Balik Pag-asa participants.

S

malnutrition in the Philippines is one of the highest in the world with one in three children below five years old suffering from stunted growth based on the 2018 Expanded National Nutrition Survey.

The survey also reported that at least 48.2 percent of infants age six to 11 months have iron deficiency anemia due to poor feeding practices and inadequate food intake.

Dr. Amado Parawan, health and nutrition advisor of Save the Children Philippines, said adequate nutrition to prevent stunting and micronutrient deficiency will contribute to strong immunity to illnesses especially during disease outbreaks such as Covid-19.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and the enhanced community quarantine did not only create a situation that posed challenges to the nutrition programs for severely

malnourished children as operations of health centers have been disrupted. Worse, it has resulted to the inability of families to meet their basic food requirements due to income losses,” said Parawan.

The highest Covid-19 cases are among those 15-19 years old at 154, and 112 cases for children below four years old, according to the Department of Health Covid-19 tracker. Nine deaths of children on those age groups have been recorded as of May 6, 2020.

Meanwhile, in Mabalacat, Pampanga, Mayor Crisostomo “Cris” Garbo has launched the “Mother and Child Gabay sa Tamang Nutrition Pack” aimed to provide proper nutrition to both the mother and child in the first 1,000 days in time for Mother’s Day. During the launch, Garbo and

hearings, or they were pressured by the letter of Solicitor General Jose Calida, which for me is also quite confusing. I mean, I myself can’t understand why the Solicitor General who’s supposed to be defending a government agency, is in fact the one pressuring a government agency and threatening a case against it.”

In the same interview, Poe debunked Calida’s claim that what the NTC did was “a triumph of the rule of law,” in justifying that NTC only followed the law and pinned the blame on Congress for the delayed franchise renewal.

“Of course not,” said Poe, “because Congress already made it clear in a letter enjoining the NTC to provide the provisional authority to operate; that was from Congress, the chairman of the committee as well as the pronouncement of Speaker [Alan] Cayetano. And in the Senate, we actually passed Resolution 344 directing the NTC to issue a provisional authority for ABS-CBN.” Poe added: “Now, if they want to be very strict about it, if they want to adhere to strict letter of the law, it’s still quite arguable because there are precedents already that allowed other companies to operate.

The spirit of the law clearly allows that because when you think of who may grant the permit to operate,

it’s clearly Congress. And Congress already said, “We are tackling this, therefore, allow them to continue to operate.”

In fact, Poe pointed out, the NTC issued a memo, saying that during “the enhanced community quarantine, all permits and licenses, renewals can actually be extended, I think 30 or 60 days even after the ECQ.” Even granting, she added, that “they did not specify franchises... that’s clearly the point, at this time when we’re experiencing this pandemic and the focus should be on mass testing, fighting the coronavirus, the timing of this is really suspect.”

While franchises “are given by Congressional grace, the basis of this is still public service. And what public service is being provided? Number one, information. Members of media are frontliners, they are the ones who cover what’s happening in society, in our country right now. They’re helping the government explain regulations of this ECQ,” said Poe. She said ABS-CBN provides jobs to “thousands of people, particularly those also in the downstream industries that are relying on ABSCBN.” When government can’t even provide enough social amelioration packages to those that need it, Poe said the shutdown order “is really off and very suspect.”

DENR probes circumstances surrounding importation of rare cats in Antipolo City

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

Y

OU might as well keep domestic cats as pets, be it an alley cat, or the more pricey imported breeds. But never keep a wild cat as pet at home, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) warned on Thursday.

In an interview, Assistant Secretary Ricardo Calderon said they are now digging into old records to check whether the DENR, or any of its Regional Offices, has approved the importation of North American serval cats.

“Right now, the burden of proof is on the alleged owner. If he fail to show proper documentation for these wild animals, he is into trouble,” said Calderon, referring to businessman Don Michael Perez at Filinvest East Homes in Antipolo City.

This came after the surprise discovery of two of these rare breed kept as pets at a gated subdivision in Antipolo City last week. The serval cats, according to sources at the DENR, were being used as attraction at Perez’s coffee shop in Quezon City.

“Allegedly, the coffee shop was closed down and the cats were brought to Antipolo,” Calderon said. The official said he himself was surprised of the discovery of not just one, but two serval cats, in Philippine soil.

“If these have no import permit coming from the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau, or Regional Offices, then it must have been smuggled into the country,” Calderon said.

“We are conducting further investigation into this because serval cats are threatened species and

‘Undernourished children more prone to virus infection and possible death’ AVE the Children Philippines is calling on local health centers to resume maternal and child health services as the number of babies and young children contracting the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has already reached 424 with nine deaths.

“No child should die from preventable causes,” said Atty. Alberto Muyot, chief executive officer of Save the Children Philippines.

“Children who die from Covid-19 may have been suffering from acute malnutrition, or wasting, caused by hunger with complications such as pneumonia and dehydration due to diarrhea,” said Muyot.

He said child deaths due to severe malnutrition caused by hunger and undernutrition is highest in the Philippines at 48 percent, surpassing global rates of 45 percent.

Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, child

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, May 8, 2020 A3

City Nutrition Officer Joronny Gladys Lingat distributed to nutritionally at-risk pregnant and breastfeeding women (with infants 0-6 months old) nutrition packs.

The packs include Go, Glow and Grow foods like fresh vegetables and root crops from local farmers of the city, fruits, bread, eggs and iodized salt.

Garbo, a medical course graduate, said the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, which begins from conception until a child reaches his or her 2nd birthday, is the most crucial stage of a child’s overall health and development.

It is very important, the mayor added, to support a child’s nutrition at this stage, through providing proper nutrition to pregnant women, promotion of exclusive breastfeeding and proper infant and young child feeding practices.

they are not supposed to be kept as pets,” Calderon, the concurrent director of the DENR-BMB, said.

On Wednesday, a joint operation conducted by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office (Penro) of Rizal and the DENR-BMB, seized four exotic pets, including the two serval cats.

Acting on a tip-off, a team led by the DENR-BMB’s Task Force Philippine Operations Group on Ivory and Illegal Wildlife Trade, or Task Force POGI, Rizal Penro Isidro Mercado and the local governments of Antipolo and Cainta, inspected Perez’s house and found the exotic pets—two serval cats (Leptailurus serval), one Ducorp’s cockatoo (Cacatua ducorpsii), and one Blue-and-gold macaw (Ara ararauna).

Perez failed to show the necessary permits to justify his possession of the wild animals.

DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns and spokesman Benny D. Antiporda, who personally received the seized animals during a simple turnover rites, commended the members of Task Force POGI and Rizal Penro led by Mercado for carrying out the operation despite the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila and nearby provinces to contain the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“This just goes to show how serious and determined the DENR is in fighting illegal wildlife trafficking and trade that even during the ECQ, where there’s mobility restrictions, we continue and are always ready to respond to wildlife crimes and any other crimes against the environment,” Antiporda said in a news release.

Workers unearth two vintage bombs at Naia

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IRPORT construction workers Wednesday unearthed on Wednesday two unexploded vintage bombs believed to have been dropped by Japanese warplanes during World War II. One of the bombs was found near Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (Naia) runway 13/31 while the workers were preparing to install a device called a “runway stop bar,” said Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) Operation chief Engr. Ric Medalla.

A runway stop bar is a series of unidirectional red lights embedded in the pavement at right angle to the taxiway centerline for a pilot’s visual guidance, Medalla said.

He said the workers have found

the first but smaller bomb in the same area in the last week of the previous month.

Medalla said the area was formerly occupied by the Philippine Air Force.

The unexploded ordinance were turned over to the Special Operations Unit (SOU) of the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group for proper disposal.

Airport Manager Ed Monreal ordered security men to possibly locate more vintage bombs using metal detectors just “to make sure the premier airport is bomb-free area.”

“We might as well make sure the airport environment is safe than regret later,” Monreal said in Filipino.

Recto Mercene

A4 Friday, May 8, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

DBM sets ₧50-B to ₧70-B savings target to fund fight vs Covid-19

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is aiming to generate less than a hundred billion pesos in savings from its adoption of “economy measures” to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.

and capital outlays (CO).

Several activities, such as the hiring of job orders, except those considered as frontliners, have also been stopped in order to partially generate funds for Covid-19.

MOOE refers to expenditures to support the operations of government agencies such as expenses for supplies and materials; transportation and travel; utilities (water, power, etc.) and equipment repairs, etc.

On the other hand, CO refers to appropriations for the purchase of goods and services, the benefits of which extend beyond the fiscal year and which add to the assets of the government, including investments in the capital stock of governmentowned and -controlled corporations and their subsidiaries.

The DBM earlier set an April 30 deadline for agencies to identify unreleased funds for programs, activities and projects under fiscal year ( FY) 2019 continuing appropriations and the FY 2020 General Appropriations Act, which may already be discontinued, or may no longer be completed within the current fiscal year.

But Canda said “only a handful have submitted so we cannot, as yet, assess how much savings we have generated.”

“We will give them until May 15 since it’s not an easy thing to do, assessing what to discontinue,” she added.

Pressed whether there is a need for the DBM to issue a new circular on the deadline extension, she said: “No more. The implication is that their requests will not be acted upon.”

The DBM warned agencies in the national budget circular issued last month that failure to submit the required certification “shall be a ground for non-release of subsequent allotment requests until such certification is submitted, without prejudice to the sanctions provided under other provisions of existing laws.”

The budget department said it will use the documents submitted by the agencies as basis of their report to the President on the programs, projects, activities with unobligated allotments to be discontinued to fund government’s efforts against Covid-19.

In a message to the BusinessMirror, Budget Undersecretary Tina Rose Marie L. Canda said the maximum savings projection of the agency as a result of the belt-tightening measures would be between P50 billion and P70 billion.

While Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado confirmed that this is their initial projection on the amount of money that the move could save, the budget chief said he is not that optimistic that this figure would be met.

“Marami ang nanghihingi ng reconsideration at exemption at meron ding hindi pa nag-cocomply

so kahit ’yung projection magiging suntok lang sa hangin ’yun,” he told the BusinessMirror.

Asked what we would be the reasonable amount that the DBM is expecting, Avisado said they would still need to consolidate all the reports of the agencies to determine the figure.

The budget department last month issued National Budget Circular 580 halting the release of 35 percent of programmed appropriations and, likewise, at least 10 percent of the total released allotments to covered entities for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE)

Labor dept report: 2 million workers unable to work since lockdown

Palay Q1 yield lowest in four years, PSA data show

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ROUND 2 million workers were unable to work since the government started declaring large-scale quarantine measure to contain the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak last March, according to a new Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) report.

In a document obtained by BusinessMirror, DOLE said of these affected employees, 1.77 million were employed by 74,645 companies, which implemented temporary closure (TC) because of the Covid-19 crisis.

The remaining 244,925 of the said employees employed by 6,307 firms were required to go on forced leave.

The same report, which covered data from March 16, 2020 up to May 6, 2020, also showed that 423,134 employees, who were still able to work, but under a limited scale.

These include those who were engaged under reduced workdays (270,702); rotation of workers (69,395); and other flexible work arrangement (FWA) such as telecommuting (83,037).

DOLE has yet to register any permanent labor displacement, which could be attributed to the Covid-19 crisis.

Regional distribution

ABOUT 35 percent, or 895,593, of these workers under TC and FWA were from the National Capital Region (NCR).

Region 3 has the second most number of these employees with 292,816. It was followed by Region 11 (205,081); Region 10 (166,325); and Calabarzon (164,378); and Region 9 (122,794).

Areas which registered TC and FWA affected workers due to Covid-19 include Region 7 (93,093); Region 2 (90,983); Mimaropa (88,474); Region 5 (78,136); Region 6 (72,313); Cordillera Administrative Region (68,146); Region 8 (54,619); Caraga (46,779); Region 1 (32,018); and Region 12 (27,680).

Due to policy limitations, DOLE is no longer able to determine how many of these workers were able to return to work after the government started relaxing quarantine restrictions in areas which were placed under general community quarantine this month.

Samuel P. Medenilla

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HE country’s palay (unhusked rice) production in the first quarter fell between 3.6 and 4.26 million metric tons (MMT), the lowest January-to-March period output in the last four years, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed.

Latest quarterly PSA data showed that palay output during the first quarter declined by about 160,000 metric tons (MT) from 4.42 MMT recorded in the first quarter of last year.

Historical PSA data showed that palay output in the first quarter was 5 percent lower than the 4.49 MMT three-year production average between 2017 and 2019.

Furthermore, PSA data showed that this is the lowest first quarter palay harvest since the 3.93 MMT recorded in the January-to-March period of 2016 when El Niño devastated the country’s farm sector.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said harvest was low during the quarter since it was still “planting season” for rice.

But industry leaders and experts said the decline was caused by reduced planting by farmers due to low prevailing farm-gate prices, which plunged by as much as 20 percent during the quarter.

The average farm-gate

price of dry palay in the first quarter was P16.10 per kg, which was 17.4 percent lower than the P19.5 per kg recorded in the same period of last year, PSA data analyzed by BusinessMirror showed.

“This is the result of the ill effects of [rice trade liberalization] law,” economist Pablito M. Villegas, a former United Nations’s food security and value chain consultant, told the BusinessMirror.

“This is not a lean season and yet production was lower than its preceding three-year average.

The tendency when prices are not right, farmers hold on producing,” Villegas said.

Villegas added that the assistance under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) could have not reached the farmers on time, hence, denying them of possible improvements in their production.

“Assistance delayed is assistance denied,” he said.

Federation of Free Farmers National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said they received reports that some farmers opted not to plant in time for the first quarter harvest since prevailing prices were unprofitable. In particular, these are farmers planting in areas that are serviced by irrigation pumps.

“These farmers spend about P20,000 per hectare for fuel

alone. So, they opted not to plant anymore considering the low farm-gate prices as against the huge costs they have to incur,” Montemayor told the BusinessMirror.

Debunking DA’s argument that first quarter is still a “planting season” for palay, Montemayor pointed out that palay production in the first three months of the year have been always higher than the second quarter output.

Indeed, historical PSA data showed that, palay harvest in first quarter is bigger than the production in second quarter since 1987.

“Normally the second quarter output reflects the first quarter production performance. So, I think palay production in second quarter would somehow decline as well,” he said.

Prior to the release of the farm sector’s first quarter performance, the PSA had already projected that palay harvest would fall by 4 percent due to area contraction and yield reduction.

“Harvest area may decrease by 4.8 percent, from 1.153 [million] hectares in 2019. Yield per hectare may rise slightly to 3.87 metric tons, from 3.83 metric tons in the previous year,” the PSA said in its report, titled Updates on JanuaryMarch 2020 Palay and Corn Estimates, last month.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Over P1.58-B sales: LGUs buy produce directly from farmers and fishermen since lockdown

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said local government units (LGUs) have bought over P1.58 billion worth of agricultural goods directly from farmers and fishermen since the imposition of Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

“We are indeed happy to report that since the start of the enforcement of the ECQ, around 245 LGUs heeded our call to patronize the products of our farmers and fishers and make these part of food packs distributed to their constituents. This number is certainly growing as we speak,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said in a news statement.

The DA said the farm produce procured by LGUs include palay, milled rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, pork, chicken, fish and spices.

“The LGUs are our primary partners in cascading our sectoral interventions on production to consumption, marketing included. We would like to involve them in the entire value chain to make sure that our support mechanisms reach targeted beneficiaries,” Dar said.

The DA said it constantly monitors the farm good sales to LGUs through the agency’s respective Agribusiness Marketing and Assistance Division (AMAD) of its regional field offices (RFOs).

The DA added that it formed food value chain clusters to facilitate easier

linkage between food producers and the LGUs. These clusters are Luzon A (CAR and Regions 1 to 3), Luzon B (Regions 4A, 4B and 5), Visayas (Regions 6 to 8, and Mindanao (Regions 9 to 13).

“Through the clusters, we plan the availability, prepositioning, and movement of products from the municipal to provincial level, then regional, and finally among clusters,” Dar said.

“The mobility plan looks into the movement of agri-fishery commodities from producers, to traders, processors, and wholesalers/retailers, down to the household consumers,” he added.

The DA said the clusters, in coordination with the LGUs, “identify prime agri-fishery commodities and potential markets, monitor the markets, and coordinate relevant concerns to develop location-specific resiliency plans aimed at attaining higher levels of food sufficiency.”

This is on top the constant coordination between the DA and LGUs to ensure unhampered movement of farmworkers and stakeholders to sustain continuous production and delivery of food items.

“It is the DA’s job to ensure enough supply of food in the country. Our LGUs can count on us to link them to our food producers, while they help us market farmers’ produce and provide every household adequate and affordable food,” Dar said.

DOLE spent P5.5B to aid 1M displaced workers but fund lack remains a hindrance to help more

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ROUND P5.5 billion has already been disbursed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to help over a million workers through the department’s novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) programs.

The budget, however, remains insufficient to provide assistance to the over 2 million applicants of the said assistance programs.

In a news statement, DOLE said the bulk, or P3.093 billion of the amount, was used to give a one-time P5,000 cash aid to 618,722 formal sector workers from 31,972 micro, small and medium enterprises under its Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).

“An additional 35,723 workers are expected to benefit from the cash aid as the CAMP program wraps up its operations this week,” DOLE said in a statement.

Over 1.6 million workers applied for CAMP. For its Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) program, DOLE said it was already able to release P1.05 billion of its P1.5 billion budget for the said initiative.

The fund was used to provide a one-time P10,000 cash aid to 103,467 OFWs, who are qualified beneficiaries of AKAP. “The department would need additional P2 billion in emergency funds to be able to service a significant portion of the 368,703 OFWs who had sought the cash aid as of May 5 [via AKAP],” DOLE said.

The remaining P1.348 billion of the spent fund of DOLE for its Covid measure was used for its Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers, Barangay Ko Bahay Ko (TUPAD #BKBK), which provided emergency employment to 337,198 workers in the informal sector workers.

Too few

LABOR coalition Nagkaisa lauded DOLE for helping a million workers, but it noted it was just a fraction of those who were affected by business interruptions caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

Citing data from the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD), Nagkaisa said there were 25 million workers, who were affected by Covid-19.

“We still assert that all affected workers should be provided income guarantees equivalent to the prevailing minimum wage, or P10,000, whichever is higher. This would help ensure that millions of workers will be able to somehow cope with the financial burdens that they incurred during the lockdown,” Nagkaisa Chairman and Federation of Free Workers President Sonny Matula said in a news statement.

Nagkaisa also appealed to lawmakers to subsidize, if not condone, all rent and utility costs of all workers affected by the enhanced community quarantine.

Samuel P. Medenilla

Palace insists: Blaming Duterte for ABS-CBN debacle ‘unfair’. . .

During this hastily called hearing in March, House leaders got a commitment from the NTC it will issue the network a provisional authority. On May 3, however, Solicitor General Jose Calida warned the NTC it could be liable for graft if it issues a PA to ABS-CBN, calling this an illegal act.

Some lawmakers, notably Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, blamed Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano— Duterte’s 2016 vice presidential running mate—for the debacle. Atienza said while the NTC issued the order, it should not be made a scapegoat for

Congress’s failure, in the first place.

Manila Archdiocese Apostolic Administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo called the event a brazen attempt to trample on press freedom.

“We are not defending ABS-CBN. We are defending press freedom.

We are defending freedom because the grip of power is getting tighter around us. We are already getting choked! The specter of Martial Law is coming up,” Pabillo said.

Up to Congress

ANDANAR stressed that the responsibility of the renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN lies with Congress

and not with the President.

“It is, therefore, totally unfair and objectionable for some parties and some international media to insist that what happened to the network is due to ‘having incurred the ire’ of the President. This assertion is remarkably erroneous, lacks objectivity and scant in factual basis.

Simply, a false narrative,” Andanar said.

Andanar did not mention the name of the international media company he was referring to. But on Wednesday the New York Times published an article, entitled “Leading Philippine Broadcaster, Target

of Duterte’s Ire, Forced Off the Air,” reporting the ABS-CBN closure.

Aside from New York Times, other international media reported on the incident including The Washington Posts, The Guardian, Time and CBS News.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque reiterated Duterte has turned “neutral” on the issue of ABS-CBN and that he will not intervene in the decision of Congress on the pending bills for the franchise renewal of the media company.

Finex prods Congress

WITH this in mind, the Financial

continued from a8

Executives Institute of the Philippine (Finex) urged lawmakers to finally act on the bill as soon as possible.

“We strongly urge Congress to conduct a swift, but fair, balanced, and reasonable, consideration of the various bills filed dealing with the proposed renewal of the franchise of ABS-CBN,” Finex said in a statement.

“All relevant issues, including any allegation of violations by ABS-CBN of its franchise, should be seriously and thoroughly taken into account.

A final determination what action to take on such bills should be made quickly,” it added.

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World BusinessMirror

Friday, May 8, 2020

A5

Search for virus origin heats up as WHO seeks mission to China

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Nathan Golub (left), Operations Manager of Surgical Services and Angela Wilson, coordinator of Transplant Programs at Baylor Scott & White Hospital, watch as the US Navy Blue Angels fly over their hospital in Dallas on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. AP/Tony Gutierrez

‘IF THIS THING BOOMERANGS’: SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19 DEATHS, INFECTIONS FEARED

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ASHINGTON—As Europe and the US loosen their lockdowns against the coronavirus, health experts are expressing growing dread over what they say is an all-but-certain second wave of deaths and infections that could force governments to clamp back down.

“We’re risking a backslide that will be intolerable,” said Dr. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity.

Elsewhere around the world, German authorities began drawing up plans in case of a resurgence of the virus. Experts in Italy urged intensified efforts to identify new victims and trace their contacts. And France, which hasn’t yet eased its lockdown, has already worked up a “reconfinement plan” in the event of a new wave.

“There will be a second wave, but the problem is to which extent. Is it a small wave or a big wave? It’s too early to say,” said Olivier Schwartz, head of the virus unit at France’s Pasteur Institute.

In the US, with about half of the states easing their shutdowns to get their economies restarted and cellphone data showing that people are becoming restless and increasingly leaving home, public health authorities are worried.

Many states have not put in place the robust testing that experts believe is necessary to detect and contain new outbreaks. And many governors have pressed ahead before their states met one of the key benchmarks in the Trump administration’s guidelines for reopening—a 14-day downward trajectory in new illnesses and infections.

“If we relax these measures without having the proper public health safeguards in place, we can expect many more cases and, unfortunately, more deaths,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy with the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington.

Cases have continued to rise steadily in places such as Iowa and Missouri since the governors began reopening, while new infections have yo-yoed in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas.

Lipkin said he is most worried about two things: the reopening of bars, where people crowd together and lose their inhibitions, and large gatherings such as sporting events, concerts and plays. Preventing outbreaks will require aggressive contact tracing powered by armies of public health workers hundreds of thousands of people strong, which the US doesn’t yet have, Lipkin said.

Worldwide the virus has infected more than 3.6 million people and killed over a quartermillion, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that experts agree understates the dimensions of the disaster because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and concealment by some governments.

The US has recorded over 70,000 deaths and 1.2 million confirmed infections, while Europe has reported over 140,000 dead.

This week, the researchers behind a widely cited model from the University of Washington nearly doubled their projection of deaths in the US to about 134,000 through early August, in large part because of the easing of state stay-at-home restrictions. Newly confirmed infections per day in the US exceed 20,000, and deaths per day are running well over 1,000.

In hard-hit New York City, which has managed to bring down deaths dramatically even as confirmed infections continue to rise around the rest of the country, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that some states may be reopening too quickly.

“My message to the rest of the country is learn from how much effort, how much discipline it took to finally bring these numbers down and follow the same path until you’re sure that it’s being beaten back,” he said on CNN, “or else if

this thing boomerangs, you’re putting off any kind of restart or recovery a hell of a lot longer.”

A century ago, the Spanish flu epidemic’s second wave was far deadlier than its first, in part because authorities allowed mass gatherings from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

“It’s clear to me that we are in a critical moment of this fight. We risk complacency and accepting the preventable deaths of 2,000 Americans each day,” epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers, a professor at Johns Hopkins, told a House subcommittee in Washington.

President Donald Trump, who has pressed hard to ease the restrictions that have throttled the economy and thrown more than 30 million Americans out of work, pulled back on Wednesday on White House plans revealed a day earlier to wind down the coronavirus task force.

He tweeted that the task force will continue meeting indefinitely with a “focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN.” Underscoring those economic concerns, the European Union predicted the worst recession in its quarter-century history. And the US unemployment rate for April, which comes out on Friday, is expected to hit a staggering 16 percent, a level last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Governors continue to face demands, even lawsuits, to reopen. In Michigan, where armed demonstrators entered the Capitol last week, the Republican-led Legislature sued Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, asking a judge to declare invalid her stay-at-home order, which runs at least through May 15.

In hard-hit Italy, which has begun easing restrictions, Dr. Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Superior Institute of Health, urged “a huge investment” of resources to train medical personnel to monitor possible new cases of the virus, which has killed about 30,000 people nationwide.

He said that contact-tracing apps—which are being built by dozens of countries and companies—aren’t enough to manage future waves of infection.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after meeting with the country’s 16 governors that restaurants and other businesses will be allowed to reopen in coming weeks but that regional authorities will have to draw up a “restriction concept” for any county that reports 50 new cases for every 100,000 inhabitants within a week.

Britain, with over 30,000 dead, the secondhighest death toll in the world behind the US, plans to extend its lockdown but has begun recruiting 18,000 people to trace contacts of those infected.

On Thursday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern outlined a plan for a further relaxation of its lockdown rules, under which the country would reopen bars, retail stores and hair salons beginning next week and once again allow domestic travel.

In other developments, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said nearly 5,000 coronavirus illnesses and at least 88 deaths have been reported among inmates in American jails and prisons. An additional 2,800 cases and 15 deaths were reported among guards and other staffer members.

A 57-year-old immigration detainee at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego died on Wednesday from complications related to the coronavirus, authorities said, marking the first reported death from the virus among about 30,000 people in US immigration custody. Otay Mesa has been a hotbed for the spread of the coronavirus. AP

he World Health Organization is considering a new mission to seek the source of the coronavirus in China, amid growing controversy over the origin of a pandemic that has killed more than a quarter of a million people.

“Without knowing where the animal origin is, it’s hard to prevent it from happening again,” Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

“There is discussion with our counterparts in China for a further mission, which would be more academic in focus, and really focus on looking at what happened at the beginning in terms of exposures with different animals,” she added.

Van Kerkhove in February participated in a previous mission to China, which concluded that the virus was zoonotic in origin. Bats appeared to be the “reservoir” for the virus, but an intermediate host could not be determined, the report said.

Talk of a new mission comes as debate grows over the source of the outbreak, which was first identified

in Wuhan, China, more than four months ago. US President Donald Trump‘s administration has said the virus likely escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which runs a laboratory that studies dangerous pathogens. Some intelligence agencies are casting doubt on that theory, and China has repeatedly denied the claim.

The WHO has come under fire from Trump, who has moved to cut off funding to the Genevabased United Nations agency, saying it was overly deferential to China as the virus spread in that country and beyond. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Wednesday asserted that China covered up the origins of the virus even as he eased off earlier claims of “enormous evidence”

that the virus escaped from a Wuhan laboratory.

Pompeo repeated the US allegation that China is still refusing to share virus samples or details about the start of the pandemic and on “patient zero,” the first victim. And he said other countries are starting to see it the US way.

“Our truth-telling and calls for transparency aren’t about politics, it’s not about bullying, it’s not about blame,” Pompeo said. “It’s about the ongoing need to save American lives.

This is an ongoing threat.”

China’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately reply to questions about the WHO’s proposed mission. On Wednesday, in response to calls from the likes of Australia and the European Union for investigations into how the previously unknown pathogen made the jump from animals to humans, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China would support a review about the origins of the virus at an “appropriate time.”

“We will continue supporting the WHO and support looking back and summarizing the experience at an appropriate time to support global health cooperation and so we can better deal with pandemics like this in the future,” Hua said at a briefing in Beijing. “What we oppose is the presumption of guilt under the

pretext of an investigation, or using the epidemic for political purposes.”

Hua also dismissed Pompeo’s claims the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.

Xi seeks reform

“Mr. Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he does not have any,” Hua said. “This matter should be handled by scientists and professionals instead of politicians out of their domestic political needs.”

China has come under fire over its early handling of the virus, which has pushed the global economy toward recession as it spreads around the world. Authorities had reprimanded doctors including Li Wenliang, who later passed away, for sharing warnings about the coronavirus infection risk in WeChat groups in late December.

President Xi Jinping called for reform of China’s disease control system at a meeting of the Politburo on Wednesday, an apparent acknowledgment of lapses in the nation’s response. The country’s top leaders agreed to boost epidemic monitoring and early-warning capabilities, revamp public health emergency laws and regulations and enhance the response to major epidemics, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Bloomberg News

NYT says it can ‘ride out’ virus as subscriber numbers boom T

Testosterone-reducing therapy may aid against Covid-19, study shows

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he New York Times Co. added new digital subscribers at a record rate as the coronavirus spread in the first quarter, helping offset shrinking ad revenues.

The newspaper publisher said it is “well positioned to ride out this storm and thrive in a post-pandemic world” because of its shift to relying more on subscriptions from readers than on advertising.

While the Times and a few other national publishers like the Wall Street Journal have successfully built up digital subscription models, local news publishers are largely struggling to do so. Many news organizations are cutting pay, jobs or even shutting down as advertising craters.

On a conference ca l l on We d ne s d ay mor n i n g , T i me s CEO Mark Thompson said the Times will also have to cut costs a nd a “c omp a r at i v e l y s m a l l number” of jobs in the coming months, although he said the company would not cut newsroom positions.

The Times’ advertising sales fell 15.2 percent in the first quarter to $106.1 million, despite a surge in traffic to its website that led to record online audience numbers. The company said that in March, more than half of US

In this October 21, 2009 file photo, The New York Times building is shown in New York. The New York Times Co. added new digital subscribers at a record rate in the first quarter of 2020, as the coronavirus spread, helping offset shrinking ad revenues. The newspaper publisher says it can ride out the effects of the pandemic because of its shift to relying more on digital reader revenue. AP/Mark Lennihan

adults visited its site. Readers viewed 2.5 billion pages, nearly double the normal statistics.

More traffic would usually lead to more ad revenue, but advertisers are pulling or halting campaigns. T he company expects a decline of 50 percent to 55 percent in ad revenues in the current quarter.

T he Times sa id it added 587,000 new digital subscriptions in the first quarter, and said that as of the end of April it

had more than 5 million digital subscriptions and more than 6 million total across digital and pri nt . Su b s c r ipt ion re v e nue r o s e 5 .4 p e r c e nt t o $2 8 5 .4 m i l l ion a nd t he comp a ny e xp e c t s g ro w t h t o cont i nue i n t he c u r re nt q u a r t e r.

First-quarter profit rose 8.9 percent to $32.9 million, or 20 cents per share. Revenue rose 1 percent to $4 43.6 million.

Shares rose 4.4 percent to $34.81 Wednesday. AP

ADP: More than 20 million US jobs vanished in April

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A LT I M O R E — U S b u s i n e s s e s c u t a n unprecedented 20.2 million jobs in April, an epic collapse with coronavirus o u t b re a k c l o s i n g t h e o f f i ce s, f a c to ri e s, schools, construction sites and stores that propel the US economy.

Th e We d n e s d ay re p o r t f ro m p ay ro l l company ADP showed the tragic depth and scale of job losses that left no part of the world’s largest economy unscathed. The losses will likely continue through May, with a recovery in hiring likely to begin in the months that follow, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“This is one for the record books,” Zandi

said. “The good news is that we’re at the apex of the job loss.”

Even though Zandi expec ts hiring to resume in June as states ease lockdowns, he cautioned that it will be a “slog” over several years to recover all the jobs lost in April.

The private industry report comes two days ahead of the official monthly job figures from the US Labor Department. Economists b e l i e v e t h e F r i d a y re p o r t w i l l re v e a l unemployment in the US stands at a shocking 16 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March.

According to ADP, the leisure and hospitality sector shed 8.6 million workers last month.

Trade, transpor tation and utilities let 3.4

million people go. Construction firms cut nearly 2.5 million jobs, while manufacturers let go of roughly 1.7 million people. The healthcare sector cut 1 million jobs, but education services eked out a gain of 28,000 as colleges and universities do not appear to have forced significant layoffs that could come later this year.

More than half of April’s job losses came from smaller companies with 500 workers or fewer. But larger employers cut 8.9 million jobs. Polling by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that nearly eight in 10 households that suffered job losses expect to return to their previous employer. AP

herapy to reduce testosterone and other hormones in men with prostate cancer may have a protective effect against the new coronavirus, a study of thousands of Italian patients showed.

Men with the disease who got hormone therapy had a fourfold lower risk of virus infection than patients who didn’t get such treatment, the study showed. The difference was even more pronounced when the research team compared prostate cancer patients on hormone therapy with people who had any other type of cancer.

The results don’t mean that virus patients should start taking hormone therapy, cautioned Fabrice Andre, director of research at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris and editor-in-chief of Annals of Oncology, where the results were published. But the data show that it would be worth studying the therapy in infected people, Andre said.

“This is really a new piece in the puzzle,” said Andrea Alimonti, a professor of oncology at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana and ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Researchers are preparing a follow-up study in which high-risk virus patients would be randomly assigned to take the hormone treatment, and plan to be ready to start if there’s a second wave of infections later this year, Alimonti said.

Reducing testosterone might help because a receptor for male hormones also regulates a protein called TMPRSS2, shown in other research to help Covid-19 infect healthy cells. Therapies that suppress male hormones can also decrease TMPRSS2—not just in the prostate, but in other tissues in the body, Alimonti said.

The study looked at 4,532 men infected with Covid-19 in Italy’s Veneto region, finding that about 10 percent had cancer, while 2.6 percent had prostate cancer. Cancer patients had nearly twice the risk of getting the virus compared with the male population as a whole, and got sicker once they were infected. However, among the 5,273 men on hormone therapy for prostate cancer in Veneto, just four got the coronavirus, and none died. Bloomberg News

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Friday, May 8, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Philippine GDP moving forward

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he first quarter economic growth numbers came out and were higher than expected, just right, or lower than expected, depending on which economist’s “guesstimate” you were looking at. The predictions are all based on economic models like, “If A is bigger than B, then C…”.

The differences in the output depend on which numbers the economist uses for “A” and “B” and that is where the guesswork comes in.

But none of it really matters anyway, and here is our prediction. The economic growth numbers are going to look worse for the second quarter and hopefully will show some signs of stabilization by the end of September. But don’t count on it. Talk to us again in early 2021 for any bright light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel.

Looking at the details of the economic performance, we must remember first that the Metro Manila lockdown—about 40 percent of the Philippine economy—did not start until March 18. The data says that business and consumer spending in the first quarter was almost nonexistent. That shows the two weeks of lockdown was not necessarily the prime driver of the shrinking economy. The Taal eruption and initial fears about the pandemic hit spending first, and therefore production.

The quick response to the GDP numbers would be that the second quarter is going to be worse, and that is probably accurate. Then again, there may be some distortion based on the question of how much lower could business and consumer spending go down?

Large businesses are doing everything they can to keep their employee payrolls going as high as possible. Granted that is what the Press Releases say, and what the truth actually may be is hard to know. So if we assume that businesses large and small are going to be spending even less with rent moratoriums and the like, Gross Capital Formation (down 18.3 percent) and other business spending are going to drop further. OK, no bright spot on the commercial front.

Consumer spending in the first quarter was up by 0.2 percent. That number will go negative for the second quarter. Again, no positive news for consumer spending.

However, subcategories may be in a place where lower is not really possible. For example, “Accommodation and Food Services Activities” was down over 15 percent. Maybe that is a bottom. Maybe not. ‘Transportation’ was down 10 percent in the first quarter and now with the NCR under lockdown that category could drop maybe another 25 percent or more.

Perhaps the most pessimistic future estimates and worst-case scenarios for the economy might prove to be correct.

The critical question though is how fast can the economy recover?

The Christmas season spending is the key for economic performance in 2020. The Philippine economy could recover very rapidly once people are able to go back to work. This is a “cash-based” economy, meaning consumers spend their income on goods and services and not to pay off debt. This is the opposite of what consumer spending is like in the West.

Assuming the lockdown ends completely by the beginning of the third quarter at the latest, then we could see a quick economic rebound. Let’s hope so.

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Better Days

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orporal Winston Ragos was our soldier. He served with the Army’s 31st Infantry Battalion, under the 9th Infantry “Spear” Division, based in Camarines Sur. There, he experienced the horrors of war, suffering schizophrenia and trauma.

He was confined for months at a medical center, before returning to the service. And though he was discharged from the military months before the Marawi siege, his comrades in his former unit eventually fought and died in that conflict.

When the enhanced community quarantine was declared, he was staying in Barangay Pasong Putik, Novaliches, Quezon City. Sometimes, he would sing alone, helping with chores when he was aided by his maintenance medicine. But with the quarantine came issues about purchasing his medication at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC).

It may well be that his mental health issues played a significant part in the unfortunate event that ended with his death on Tuesday, April 21st of this year.

The Mental Health Act, or Republic Act 11036, requires that PhilHealth have insurance packages available to patients affected by mental health conditions, and that access to medicines needed must be ensured. People with mental health conditions should have access to affordable essential health services,

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at all levels of the national healthcare system.

However, while we do have the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), VMMC and the Mental Health Act in play to help veterans who need support, the unfortunate incident involving Corporal Ragos emphasizes a need to revisit, reexamine, and realign mental health services.

The Mental Health Act had provisions and implementing rules and regulations for formulating national strategies and policies toward the development of a national healthcare system that includes the mental well-being of Filipinos in mind; the strengthening of the rights of patients, their loved ones, and involved mental health medical professionals; and finally, the dissemination of information about mental health services, and how to promote mental health in various communities.

In the name of the ECQ? Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

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Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes

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The mental health of Corporal Ragos

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rothers and sisters, in the name of the enhanced community quarantine being implemented, members of the Oplan Task Force Disiplina of the local government of Quezon City beat up a fish vendor this past week. This is also the excuse given by other authorities in charge of the ECQ in their cruel ways to address the issue of violations among the hungry residents of Sitio San Roque, including the shooting of retired soldier Winston Ragos.

These are their harsh way of implementing the ECQ—to stop the spread of Covid-19, to ensure the common good amid the sacrifices of the citizens.

We can see in a video—the new addition to the list of abuses in the name of the ECQ—the dragging, disrespecting, and beating perpetrated by members of the task force while some barangay tanods watch

while these events occurred. The vendor didn’t have a face mask and had no quarantine pass when the patrolling authorities apprehended him. The vendor refused to go with the barangay officials when he was

Corporal Winston Ragos was our soldier. He held the line, and he paid a heavy price. It is only proper that we whom he defended should find a way to support others who have paid a similar price in defense of our country.

We should, in the future, have services and strategies in place to make sure that what happened to Corporal Ragos will never happen again.

However, as the case of Corporal Ragos has shown us, some of the existing policies and guidelines need updates to better serve our men in uniform. This is why I have filed a bill that will amend the Mental Health Act, specifically by including another right in Section 5, which describes the rights of the service user. This new right allows a qualified recipient to immediately receive compensation benefits and other applicable financial assistance under existing laws, should he or she sustain temporary or permanent mental health issues while in the performance of duties or because of the occupied office or position.

I am also looking to consult with various groups and stakeholders to explore the possibility of amending laws on special benefits for uniformed personnel. We have to find ways to properly supply much-needed maintenance medicines to PVAOaccredited health centers nearer to where outpatient veterans live.

being taken by said authorities, which led to a cruel beating. We can hear in the video the cries of several women asking the officials to stop the beating. The women who witnessed the beating said the authorities should not abuse their power, as they do not have any right to hurt anyone. A guard also reminded them that they were apprehending a human being, not a dog.

From these pleas, the only response of one of the people responsible for the beating of the vendor is the fact that he violated the ECQ. After much criticism, the leader of the task force issued a statement suspending the officials involved in the event. They will also withdraw the case against the vendor, provided he will undergo rehabilitation after being found to be positive after a drug test. Even before this incident, the Human Rights Watch called for the police and other authorities to respect the human rights of everyone, and make those who violate these rights responsible. Let us observe if

Understandably, there are medical and legal guidelines that may have to be reviewed and addressed for this to happen.

It’s also important to tackle the PhilHealth case rate. The case rate for mental health conditions is P7,800. PWD discounts can also be applied, such as the 20-percent discount and VAT exemption. The rate can be broken down to P2,340 for professional fees, with the remaining for healthcare institutions.

That’s a rather tight budget, considering the costs of some maintenance medicines. Perhaps it is possible to find a solution to this that can work with existing laws.

Hence, two things are worth considering: a higher case rate overall for those with mental health issues, and, if a veteran is an outpatient, more support for medicine prescriptions and outpatient mental health services.

Corporal Winston Ragos was our soldier. He held the line, and he paid a heavy price. It is only proper that we whom he defended should find a way to support others who have paid a similar price in defense of our country. We should, in the future, have services and strategies in place to make sure that what happened to Corporal Ragos will never happen again.

Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 15 years—nine years as representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and six as senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He recently won another term in the Senate.

E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com|Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @sonnyangara.

the government and the authorities would listen to this call.

The most important duty of leaders in government is to recognize, respect, care and propagate the rights and responsibilities of the people.

Saint John XXIII expounded on this in the Catholic social teaching Pacem in Terris. Human rights are rooted in the dignity of man. We have human rights not because we want to have them nor the government dictates us to have them, but because, above all, we are God’s creations in His image.

Accompanying these rights are our duties, especially of the government, to ensure that the human rights of everyone are respected.

It is our right to be protected against the threats of Covid-19, but how about the people’s need to eat when so many of the people are going hungry? It is our duty to follow the ECQ, but how about the duties of the authorities to respect our dignity? We are not saying that we must See “Pascual,” A7

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The president who won the war and triumphed in peace Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

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oday is the 136th birthday anniversary of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd US president who used to be the most underrated chief executive of the US. American students of politics and government now rank him as among the top presidents of that country, mainly for his plain honesty, integrity and uncanny ability to make great decisions. In his nearly eight years’ reign, he was credited for major achievements like the implementation of the Marshall Plan, the establishment of Nato and the promulgation of the Truman Doctrine.

His biggest and most controversial decision was the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima to end the Second World War, and in the process saved more lives by not invading Japan. Then he dropped another bomb during the Korean War when he relieved General Douglas MacArthur as the Supreme Commander of the US-led UN. Allied Forces for insubordination. In his biography, “Plain Speaking,” he admitted that he fired General MacArthur who was lionized all over the world for his military feats “because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the president. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals….” He also recognized the state of Israel despite the strong lobby of the Arab world, which helped stabilize the fledgling state.

One secret of Truman’s success was his unselfishness—a rare commodity of those in power. He once said that “it is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” When asked why the greatest achievement of his administration was called Marshall Plan and not Truman Plan, he replied: “It was called that because I realized that it was going down in history as a very great thing, very important thing, and I wanted General Marshall to get credit for it, which he did. I said to him, “General, I want the plan to go down in history with your name on it. And don’t give me any argument. I’ve made up my mind, and, remember, I’m your Commander-InChief.” And that’s how the ambitious “Marshall Plan” that saved Western Europe from economic devastation and the claws of Soviet Russia became known in history. It eventually led to another milestone of his administration, the formation of Nato, the military alliance between North America and its European allies. By 1952, barely four years after it was signed on April 3, 1948 and implemented, Western European economies surpassed their prewar levels.

Without doubt, the Marshall Plan provided the much needed boost and impetus for their economic recovery.

The fund provided was in the form of a grant so that the beneficiary countries did not have to pay the US back.

Winston Churchill called it “the most unsordid act in history.”

He is not given to big words and pompous oratory. You cannot expect him to make a monumental quip and big words for the ages. He described Congress as a “do-nothing-

Pascual. . .

continued from A6

either choose to have Covid-19 or let our fellowmen go hungry. This is also not about whose responsibility carries more weight. It must be clear that we have humane ways to address the threat of Covid-19 without neglecting our fellowmen’s need to eat and live. If the authorities implementing the ECQ could exercise “maximum tolerance,” and show examples of discipline, a humane ECQ is possible in the time of the pandemic.

Congress.” He once lamented the social life in the country’s capital by saying that “if you need a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Doublespeak is anathema to him. He detested a public official who cheats and lies. He talked of Richard Nixon as “one of the few in the history of this country to run for high office talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time and lying out on both sides.” No question he was feisty and minced no words in attacking his political opponent. His irreverent words were piercing, but he did not use gutter language. On the campaign trail, the audience would egg him, “give ‘em hell, Harry,” and the audience loved what he would dish out. It was plain speaking, plain and blunt, but it was always a joy to hear him.

He was self-educated. He studied in a local school, the Spalding’s Commercial College, and enrolled in a law course but dropped out since his family could not afford to send him to college. He originally wanted to attend West Point but he was not admitted due to poor eyesight. But it did not stop him from becoming one of the most well read presidents of the US. He worked as a bank clerk but left it to help his father manage the family farm while serving in the Missouri National Guard. When World War 1 broke out, he was sent to France where he saw action and was promoted captain of his artillery unit.

A product of the politically powerful Pendergast machine, he was elected as a county judge, senator and vice president in the fourth term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When President Roosevelt suddenly died less than three months after being sworn into office, Truman succeeded him and told the reporters later, “I don’t know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets had fallen on me.” And he fell into the arms of his people. When his term ended, he and Mrs. Bess Truman were happy to leave the White House, which he referred to as “the finest jail in the world.” They returned to their old house in Independence, Missouri, where they happily stayed for the next 20 years until his death in 1972.

It was not even his house. It belonged to his mother-in-law.

Truman had earned a secured place in history. People remember him as the president who won the war and triumphed in peace.

Brothers and sisters, we are reminded in the book of Proverbs 14:31, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy Honors God.” Trampling the dignity of man in the name of the ECQ is like disrespecting God. In the end, the ECQ is meant to save lives, and not to violate the dignity of the people.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 Ang Radyo ng Simbahan in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph, and follow its Twitter and Instagram accounts @veritasph, and YouTube at veritas846.ph. For your comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Readings from the Book of Repression Tito Genova Valiente

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E are all prophets and naysayers today. Not the prophet that urges its followers to sell jams and candies in exchange for salvation from the impending Rupture, but the prophet that asks and rages.

A pandemic has covered the world.

People are dying. Those who are expected to cure them die first. Then comes this: a closure of a huge media conglomerate, a dominant player in a field that demanded dominance not grace if one was to win the game. It is its own expert in the game of public relations, never mind if it bandies the embrace of the Family—the Kapamilya Network, as we love the hug of that label.

As if a disease that does not discriminate was not enough, that mass media communications network was closed on May 5, 2020. In a few minutes, ABS-CBN was gone and with it were the radio stations spread all over the archipelago.

The closure of a media facility reminded everyone of martial law years. The closure of ABS-CBN brought back memories of greater clampdown on media in 1972. It was never predicted by many when Marcos declared martial law. But it happened and we were in darkness for many years.

We know what happened in those dark years—bright boys and some bright girls were developed by the Dictator to set up their own media firms. Some of them are still around us, fighting under the banner of free speech when their career had a sterling start in the years when freedom was taken from the very machinery that fed on free, unbound action.

There is a small picture and a big picture in the closure of ABS-CBN

The small picture is true and real.

The issues raised are disturbing: The TV network is not exactly praiseworthy when it comes to political correctness in its show. People have

memories of the arrogance of its personnel and celebrities. Foremost among these comments is the observation that there are prominent newscasters in the network who have remained silent about the ineptness and corruption of the administration whose action is what they are confronting now. The opposite of this is in the fans, sad that they are not able to watch anymore their favorite dramas and root for their own idols.

I have no love lost with this network but it is precisely this point of aversion or neutrality that our protest makes sense. We are not getting any financial profit if ABS-CBN gets back on its feet or resumes its operation. For all their ideological claim, they will never make us part of their family. And yet we care that they be made to open again, to operate. We understand what this closure is all about: it is not about a network losing its corporate presence but the absence of choice presented. We are protesting the rights of a group whose opinion and artistry may even be opposed diametrically to us. We are protecting them whose thoughts about the arts and entertainment we may never be comfortable with.

This is the big picture. This is the essence of some groups gathering a million signatures—the essence of free speech.

The name that first comes to

mind is, of course, ABS-CBN, because it is a fabulous entity. But outside the luster of entertainment, there are other oppressions happening. They are of the same kind, which is the trampling upon that very right of any individual or group to express their thoughts and ideas. Think of the workers out in the farms and think of the laborers not getting their wages. They are not able to speak because their position in the labor force has removed those facilities. They are outside us.

Peripheralized, they are only seen with our peripheral vision. We cannot speak for them forever but we can protest and create a space for them to listen to their own thoughts, talk back, and act out those desires that have been there only in their imagination.

The free TV, however flawed and manipulative, is one dramatic indicator of the democratic space slowly being coveted for manipulation by

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the present dispensation. It is thus wise to ask: are we on the same page in this protest? The ordinary fans lament about the loss of their own favorite telenovela. The political activist is raging at the thought that someone is out there experimenting with control. The media practitioner may have one question: am I safe?

In a hall, or an office tucked somewhere in the Palace, or perhaps in a hidden room, some individuals plotted an attack. The threat, according to network insiders, had been there for days. Then one night it came: the order to cease and desist.

Language is important. Lawyers salivate at the sight of complex combinations of verbs that mean the same thing. Cease and Desist.

Stop and Stop.

Oppressive gestures never look good. Oppression and control have to be managed by repeated assault of commands.

The Book of Repression has many chapters. It can begin with stopping a person from asking a question. It can grow with complexity by commanding that the question not be written. Repression can then rise to writing and writers being banished. Then when stopping and controlling are not enough, repression kills the words that give sound to the ideas, murders the source of freedom, which is the language of a man free to confront himself and the world.

To close this Book of Repression, let me say how the death of free speech did not begin with the closure of a network. It is the terminus of an experiment with a media empire and the commencement of a regime out to dictate what it wants.

The prophecy has been given. Let the divination begin.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Recommendations on health improvements, economic rescue and stimulus program for the rest of 2020 Joseph Anthony Lim

EAGLE WATCH First of two parts

Responding to the urgent health aspects

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he Covid-19 pandemic, its health and economic impact, and strong social distancing policies, will continue at the very earliest up to the end of the year. Most likely, the health and economic crisis will last up to 2021 or beyond, until a vaccine and cure are discovered. We must therefore immediately and carefully prepare a bigger and longer-period social protection as well as economic rescue and stimulus program and budget. It is likely that after May 15 most of the country will be under some kind of a general community quarantine. Under GCQ, most businesses will be allowed full or partial operations except schools, leisure activities, amusement, gaming, fitness, “kid” industry, and tourism.

Under GCQ, all gatherings, including religious and conferences, are also disallowed, but small religious groupings practicing social distancing may be allowed.

Comparing the Philippines with 14 other East and South Asian countries in relation to Covid-19 responses, its number of tests per million population at 1,211 (as of May 6, 2020) is still low compared to more successful countries. Also, it has the highest deaths per million population at 6 as compared to 1 for India and 3 for Indonesia. It shows the limitations and under-capacity of our hospitals, health workers and health-care system. Likewise, the World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm that the Philip-

pines has a high rate of infection of health workers, with 16 percent of health workers infected. Hence, significant improvements in health responses must be continuously undertaken.

In this regard, more and more tests in designated laboratories and approved rapid test kits must be accelerated. This has been done rather satisfactorily starting April.

But the results of the 17 or 18 designated laboratories and rapid testing kits (where data are with the LGUs) still have to be integrated and their

results stored in a central repository in DOH. Cases reported are only those from the laboratories.

The Department of Health announced in early April that, with the help of the Department of Trade and Industry, it has tapped the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines, a group of Philippinebased firms exporting garments for top global brands, to start the local production of 10,000 personal protective equipment coveralls daily. However, the project seems to have not been producing enough. The shortage of PPEs, face masks and protective devices still haunt our hospital workers.

The Chinese experts sent by China to help the Philippines found that health workers’ face masks and PPEs are worn repeatedly, due to shortages.

Hence, it is strongly recommended that DOH and DTI ensure the fasttracking of this project, and if needed, search for other quick sources of PPEs including imports or donations from our neighbors China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam— countries that have successfully flattened the curve, and reduced their Covid-19 infections.

Another worrisome problem in DOH is the slow process in achieving the full operation of out-of-hospital quarantine facilities to house Covid-19 patients exhibiting mild or no symptoms. These facilities should have been operational in early April, and fully operational by mid-April.

Although the quarantine facilities are slowly being filled up, limited equipment, personnel and supplies, as well as a slow contact tracing process, continues to slow down the full

operations of these facilities. This again was brought up by the Chinese experts who said it is urgent that positive Covid patients with mild symptoms, or asymptomatic, should be isolated and quarantined in these quarantine centers so that their illnesses will not worsen, and so that Covid-19 patients will not infect family members, who in turn will not infect neighbors and other people. This, they said, was a crucial component of Wuhan’s success in defeating Covid-19.

Contact tracing to identify people who have been exposed to positive patients should be intensified simultaneous with rapid testing and expansion of quarantine facilities.

It seems the success of contact tracing varies from one local government units to another. DOH has had problems in contact tracing cases from China early on in the first month of the pandemic because of poor coordination between DOH and the airlines. Now that domestic transmission is the main way of infection, efficient coordination among DOH, LGUs and the police must be achieved in contact tracing activities in all LGUs, neighborhoods, workplaces and prisons critically affected by the pandemic.

Since these are urgent tasks, government should pour resources on these and if it needs more, it is suggested that funds be requested from the multilateral agencies such as World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in the form of longterm loans given at concessionary rates, on top of what they already approved for the country.

A8 Friday, May 8, 2020

ABS-CBN asks SC to stop NTC from enforcing shutdown order E

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

MBATTLED broadcasting company ABS-CBN Corp. on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) from implementing its May 5 cease and desist order (CDO) stopping the network’s operation following the expiration of its legislative franchise.

Also on Thursday, at least 13 senators crossed party lines to air the sense of the Senate urging the NTC to reconsider its order against ABS-CBN Corp. and allow the network and its subsidiaries and affiliates—ABS CBN Convergence Inc., Sky Cable Corp. and Amcara Broadcasting Network Inc.—to continue operation pending Congress’ disposition of its franchise renewal.

Related story on page A3.

In its 50-page petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent application for the issuance of a TRO and/or a writ of preliminary injunction, the network said the CDO should be set aside as it

violates the right of the public to information.

The NTC order also curtails freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution, it said.

ABS-CBN argued that the NTC should have allowed the company to continue its operation pending Congress’ final action on the franchise application.

It noted that the CDO deviated from past NTC practices, allowing other companies to continue to operate pending renewal of franchise—in violation, ABS-CBN said, of its right to equal protection of the law.

It cited the cases of Vanguard

RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE AREA (HPA) AFFECTING EXTENDING OVER NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE REST OF THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 am - May 7, 2020

Radio Network, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (Catholic Media Network), Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), Innove Communications (previously Isla Communications Co. Inc.), and Sm a r t Com mu n ic at ions Inc. (for merly Smart Infor mation Technologies Inc.).

“There is no reason why the same practice should not be applied to ABS-CBN,” the petition read.

Due process

LIKEWISE, ABS-CBN accused NTC of violating its right to due process when it issued the CDO without notice and hearing.

It noted that in GMA Network Inc. v. NTC, the SC prescribed requisites for the issuance of a CDO and declared that if the CDO “amounts to more than the reservation of the status quo, and directs the doing and undoing of acts, it is treated as a writ of preliminary injunction.”

Thus, the SC said, the requirements for injunctive relief must be met.

“The CDO issued by the NTC against ABS-CBN is in the nature of preliminary injunction because it directs an act to be done—‘to immediately cease and desist from operating the [enumerated ] radio

and television stations. It is not a status quo order because stopping operations would not be equivalent to maintaining the last, actual, peaceable and uncontested state of things prior to the controversy,” ABS-CBN explained.

“Therefore, the CDO should have been issued upon notice and after hearing, and the requisites of a preliminary injunction must have been met,” it added.

The petitioner also justified its decision to set aside the policy on hierarchy of courts and directly bring the petition before the SC, saying that the issues raised are of transcendental importance which requires urgent action from the SC.

DOJ opinion

ABS-CBN said the NTC is bound to heed the legal opinion issued by the DOJ, that it is entitled to a PA pending Congress’ action on its application for franchise renewal.

It said the DOJ view bears the approval of the President under the alter ego doctrine.

Justice Secretar y Menardo Guevarra had noted that in several similar situations in the past, Congress allowed the status quo, without urging the NTC to issue a temporary or provisional permit, “in consideration of the equities of the situation.”

Guevarra said “there is sufficient equitable basis to allow broadcast entities to continue operating while the bills for the renewal of their franchise remain pending with Congress.”

“In this case, the President has not disapproved or revoked the DOJ’s guidance. Thus, it is binding on the NTC as an executive agency that falls under the control of the President,” the petition stated.

Commitment to House

THE NTC also issued the CDO despite t he a ssu ra nce m ade

Lockdowns’ impact on labor may spark unrest

by NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba at the House Committee on Legislative Franchises hearing on March 10, 2020, that the agency will issue a PA to ABS-CBN so it can operate pending its application.

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez, chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, also asked the NTC to issue PAs to ABS-CBN and its affiliates, effective on May 4 until such time as Congress has made a decision on its franchise application.

ABS-CBN stressed there is no urgent or paramount necessity for issuing the CDO. On the contrary, the network said its closure will deprive the government of a huge source of tax revenues. From 2016 to 2019, it said it remitted to the government P14.3 billion in income tax payments, excluding withholding taxes remitted by its employees and talents.

It noted that the network is one of the largest in terms of market coverage and audience, with an estimated market share between 31 percent and 44 percent.

Thus, its closure would deprive the public of one of the leading sources of news and entertainment, and “would impair the people’s constitutional right to information on matters of public concern.

“The public needs the services of ABS-CBN now more than ever, as the country grapples with the effects of Covid-19. In this time of public health emergency, ABS-CBN plays a significant role in providing continued employment to thousands of employees and delivering valuable information and entertainment to millions of Filipinos locked down in their homes,” it pointed out.

The network also filed an urgent motion for a special raffle of the petition so that the Court can take immediate action on the issue.

T

HE International Labour Organization (ILO) on Thursday warned the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic may spark social unrest if governments will not provide enough support for its workers, especially those in the informal sector during the crisis.

The labor arm of the United Nations issued the statement after reporting that as many as 1.6 billion of the world’s 2 billion informal economy workers are affected by containment measures implemented by Covid-affected countries.

These affected workers are mostly in the accommodation and food services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, agriculture sector. It also includes household service workers.

“With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus,” ILO said in a statement.

“This is endangering governments’efforts to protect the population and fight the pandemic. It may become a source of social tension in countries with large informal economies,” the report added.

As for informal sector workers who are still able to scrape a living during lockdowns, they face higher chances of being infected with Covid-19 since they usually don’t have any personal protective equipment (PPE), it noted.

ILO is pushing for measures to ensure the welfare and health care of informal sector workers during the Covid-19 crisis, especially since they comprise a considerable portion of the world’s work force.

These measures include reducing the exposure of informal workers to the virus by providing them PPEs and access to health care. It also includes providing them and their families with income and food support; and prevent damage to the economic fabric of countries.

Last, ILO said providing them with financial support such as subsidized loans and grace period on outstanding loans can help informal sector workers to prosper and even transition to the formal sector.

“Stimulating the economy and employment is essential to ensure that the social and economic consequences of the crisis are overcome,” ILO said.

Samuel P. Medenilla

27 stranded UPLB students finally on way home to Bicol

A

T least 27 Bicolano students of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) finally arrived in Tagkawayan, Quezon, for the last part of their long journey home after being stranded on campus by the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that began March 17.

In Tagkawayan, they were to board a Misibis Bay resort bus that would take them home to Albay.

Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, who helped the stranded students, ensured that they followed strict Department of Health and Albay provincial government guidelines and medical checkups for the students before they were allowed to proceed through provincial checkpoints. The stranded students will also undergo mandatory quarantine before they are allowed to return to their respective homes.

Palace insists: Blaming Duterte for ABS-CBN debacle ‘unfair’

By Samuel P. Medenilla

M

@sam_medenilla

ALACAÑANG on Thursday defended President Duterte from what it called “unfair” reports of some international media blaming him for the closure of ABS-CBN Corp.

In a statement, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar maintained Duterte had no hand in the decision of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to issue a cease and desist order against ABS-CBN on Tuesday after its broadcasting

franchise expired on May 4.

“Let us be reminded that President Duterte has accepted the apology of ABS-CBN Corporation and this thereby undermines any assumption that the President was behind NTC’s decision,” Andanar asserted.

To recall, Duterte had lashed out against ABS-CBN for failing to air his 2016 campaign ad. On one occasion, he threatened he will not allow its franchise to be renewed.

In a Senate hearing in February, top network officials apologized and explained that they were unable to air some of Duterte’s TV ads

because of regulatory caps on the total airtime for political ads of a particular candidate. Subsequently, Duterte accepted the apology.

Labor groups, Church officials, and even lawmakers have condemned the government, particularly Duterte, for creating the circumstances which led to the closure of ABS-CBN Corp. This was because the House of Representatives, from which franchise approvals must first be approved, had sat on the renewal application, tabling the matter only days before Congress was to go on recess earlier this year.

Continued on A4

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PLDT to trim capex for 2020

L

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

imited mobility caused by the lockdown in many parts of the country and the world prompted PLDT Inc. to revise its capital expenditures (capex) forecast for 2020, with executives saying that it may spend 25 percent less than the original outlay.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, who chairs the telco, said capex for the year may settle at around P63 billion, a P20-billion reduction from the programmed P83billion capital for 2020.

This decision came as the company’s sources of materials for its infrastructure build have limited shipments. This is exacerbated by the fact that lockdowns on different levels have been imposed in various areas in the Philippines.

“It’s not a choice. It’s because during this period, we are quite a bit of frontlines on the network and IT side, and it doesn’t mean that the work stopped completely,” he said. “Of course, we would like to build as much as we can.”

Dig ita l ser v ices are r ising steadily during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. To-

day, Filipinos are now more glued on their mobile devices and are availing of various services such as e-commerce, online food delivery, and digital health checkups, among others.

On its own, the telco titan saw a 25-percent increase in demand, measured in data usage, during this period. The existing network, Smart Communications Inc. President Alfredo S. Panlilio said, is able to accommodate the growing traffic despite the limited works brought about by restrictions in people’s movements. “ We s aw a 20 - p e rce nt to 25-percent increase in traffic, but our network has held really well.

The decision in the past two years to invest in a resilient network paid off. We are able to manage the rise in demand,” he said.

Joachim Horn, the chief technology and information adviser at the company, affirmed this, noting that despite the limitations in infrastructure build, his group will continue with its efforts to further beef up its networks.

“Priority No. 1 is to keep the network at a very good experience. Demand has shifted to home, and we are increasing capacities there. We will also build more capacity towards the fiber to home. Capacity and experience will remain No. 1,” he said.

Given this shift in demand from wireless consumer to home broadband, the company will spend bulk of the capital outlays to build more capacities for its fixed wireless and fixed broadband services.

Horn noted that given the opportunity, his group may still spend the original capital expenditures program for 2020.

The company also sees varying degrees of opportunities in three key areas, namely, home broadband, wireless consumer, and enterprise.

On the enterprise side, PLDT is looking at servicing companies that have been and will implement work-from-home arrangements. For wireless, the company is banking on the need for mobile data. And for home broadband, capitalize on the demand for

home connectivity.

Despite this, Pangilinan declined to give his outlook for 2020.

“We’re finding out that it’s becoming a very complex environment for us to work in,” he said, noting that there maybe spillovers from the revenue growth momentum that the group experienced in the last few quarters.

PLDT saw its profits declining by 12 percent to P5.9 billion in the first quarter of 2020, from P6.7 billion the year prior due to the losses it incurred both from its shares in German tech company Rocket Internet and in financial technology company Voyager Innovations Inc. Its telco core income was also lower by 5 percent to P6.9 billion from P7.2 billion, as it ramped up spending on its network development programs during the said quarter, coupled with an “exceptionally high” telco core income the year prior, when it incurred lower operating costs.

The company’s top line was at an all-time high of P41.5 billion during the first three months of 2020, a 9-percent increase from P37.9 billion the year prior, as data and broadband ser vices, particularly its wireless network, persisted on a growth path. Data now accounts for 71 percent of the company’s total revenues.

Friday, May 8, 2020

B1

PAL rolls out more safety measures

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

F

lag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) has unveiled additional safety measures that will be in place covering various phases of the passenger journey once flights resume.

Due to the government’s extension of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period, all PAL international and domestic flights remain canceled up to May 15.

The carrier said the health and safety of passengers remain the cornerstone of PAL Group's operations.

In its ticketing offices, PAL said it will require thermal scans, the wearing of face masks for all visitors, implement social distancing and the installation of transparent barriers at the counter.

PAL staff will also wear face masks.

During check-in, there will be thermal scans at airport entrances, social distancing will also be observed at check-in counters and airport staff will wear protective gear. PAL will make available sanitizers and ensure that passengers are observing social distancing. PAL also said it will undertake rigorous cabin cleaning and disinfection of planes.

The crew will wear personal protective equipment and there will be social distancing cabin seating options. PAL will install filters to purify cabin air.

The airline said it is carrying out measures to ensure that the fleet is in tip-top shape when the time comes for the airline to resume normal operations.

These are: n Protection and preservation of aircraft while on ground in line with maintenance protocols and; and

n Thorough inspections on aircraft in line with the guidelines of Aircraft Engineering, Quality and Safety teams.

PAL said it continues to carry out intensified disinfection procedures on its aircraft, seeing that after every flight, trained personnel utilize hi-grade eco-friendly disinfectants on all surfaces of the aircraft, in compliance with industry-recognized safety standards.

The PAL Group continues to operate all-cargo flights to carry essential medical supplies into the country from the Asia and Pacific region, for shipment to various domestic points within the Philippines or to specific international points.

The resumption of operations will be contingent on the duration of ECQ in specific areas, status of travel restrictions imposed by various governments, passenger travel demand, and public health and safety situation in each of the countries that PAL serves.

AirAsia recovery flights

AirAsia will be mounting special recovery flights to airlift those affected by the ECQ situation in Luzon, as well as in different parts of the country.

The company said these special recovery flights are in response to requests from various organizations, including local and international government agencies.

AirAsia said more special recovery flights are being arranged as required. Guests may visit its Facebook page for updated announcements.

Given the nature of the ever-changing situation at this time, AirAsia said flight schedules may change at short notice depending on, among others, regulations that have to be met in managing the public health situation.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, May 8, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

May 7, 2020

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

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

48.1 97.4 58.8 19.7 6.4 7.65 37.1 15.94 22.6 42.35 16.6 101 54.3 0.87 15.5 2.59 0.305 620 0.6 166

48.25 97.5 58.85 19.74 8.44 7.67 37.25 17.96 22.65 42.65 16.74 101.7 54.45 0.88 15.9 2.66 0.33 650 0.62 168.7

48.25 96.7 58.95 19.8 6.27 7.74 37.4 17.9 23.15 42.65 17.1 104 54.65 0.87 15.88 2.6 0.33 650 0.59 168.8

48.25 97.75 59 19.8 8.43 7.74 37.4 17.98 23.15 42.65 17.1 104.1 54.65 0.88 15.9 2.6 0.33 650 0.6 168.8

48.25 96.2 58.75 19.7 6.27 7.65 36.6 17.9 22.6 42.65 16.6 101 54.3 0.87 15.4 2.6 0.33 650 0.59 168.7

48.25 97.4 58.8 19.7 8.43 7.65 37.1 17.98 22.6 42.65 16.6 101 54.5 0.88 15.4 2.6 0.33 650 0.6 168.7

1000 2840960 1092790 181900 200 200500 2437700 1100 78300 600 55200 387560 2280 5000 6300 3000 40000 10 24000 130

48250 275902871 64284971 3585688 1470 1535038 90120050 19738 1777170 25590 938192 39329727 124132.5 4370 99868 7800 13200 6500 14360 21937

48250 -28900198 -9561391 -2437506 843 -19935 -24852080 -1419710 -92146 -17031553 -59408 -9260 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.3 2.22 2.27 2452000 5522500 ABOITIZ POWER 26.3 26.35 25.5 26.35 25.5 26.3 1432100 37284245 BASIC ENERGY 0.161 0.171 0.161 0.171 0.161 0.171 770000 124070 18.52 18.6 18.8 18.94 18.5 18.58 568300 10558632 FIRST GEN 57.4 57.5 57.55 57.6 57.2 57.4 20090 1155303 FIRST PHIL HLDG 255.4 256 256.4 256.8 252.2 256 161130 40990244 MERALCO MANILA WATER 11.68 11.7 12 12.18 11.6 11.7 10088500 118556498 PETRON 3.1 3.11 3.15 3.16 3.1 3.1 1496000 4665150 PETROENERGY 2.47 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 5000 12400 10.78 10.8 11.38 11.38 10.8 10.8 306400 3371964 PHX PETROLEUM 18.62 18.66 18.5 18.68 18.5 18.66 271300 5040666 PILIPINAS SHELL 7.78 7.8 7.82 7.82 7.75 7.8 91800 715008 SPC POWER AGRINURTURE 7.84 7.87 8.35 8.36 7.73 7.87 1135500 9026590 AXELUM 2.82 2.85 2.95 3 2.82 2.82 1937000 5573630 BOGO MEDELLIN 78 83 78 78 78 78 190 14820 14.28 14.3 14.3 14.38 14.26 14.3 1780100 25460324 CENTURY FOOD 4 4.16 4 4 4 4 4000 16000 DEL MONTE DNL INDUS 4.93 4.95 5.08 5.08 4.88 4.95 4441400 21989536 EMPERADOR 7.8 7.83 7.8 7.85 7.69 7.83 2683800 20888656 SMC FOODANDBEV 58.55 58.75 58.9 58.9 58.2 58.55 125690 7378866.5 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.54 0.55 0.54 0.54 0.54 0.54 236000 127440 1.37 1.38 1.41 1.42 1.34 1.38 20154000 27710940 FRUITAS HLDG 30 30.95 31 31 30 30.95 47200 1429530 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 136.5 137.1 138.9 140.9 136 136.5 928450 127306921 MAXS GROUP 6.27 6.28 6.4 6.4 6.25 6.27 346300 2175798 PEPSI COLA 1.9 1.91 1.9 1.91 1.9 1.91 3188000 6057610 SHAKEYS PIZZA 6.47 6.48 6.6 6.6 6.41 6.47 438900 2837446 1.67 1.69 1.63 1.69 1.63 1.69 2207000 3696950 ROXAS AND CO 4.31 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4000 18000 RFM CORP 1.36 1.49 1.41 1.41 1.4 1.4 18000 25280 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.107 0.116 0.116 0.116 0.115 0.116 100000 11590 UNIV ROBINA 123 123.8 127 127.4 122.1 123 718660 88897474 0.83 0.84 0.82 0.84 0.81 0.83 2731000 2254110 VITARICH 1.07 1.08 1.07 1.07 1.06 1.07 2513000 2673370 CEMEX HLDG 8.52 8.54 8.7 8.7 8.5 8.53 118800 1015435 EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP 5.24 5.29 5.38 5.38 5.23 5.24 3530700 18524380 HOLCIM 11.16 11.3 11.48 11.6 11.2 11.3 1598200 18063366 MEGAWIDE 5.97 6 6.15 6.15 5.85 6 1842300 11008047 8.31 8.48 8.48 8.48 8.48 8.48 200 1696 PHINMA VULCAN INDL 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.67 0.69 199000 133830 EUROMED 2.63 2.64 2.58 2.64 2.51 2.63 843000 2173300 MABUHAY VINYL 3.42 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 5000 17500 PRYCE CORP 4.21 4.47 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.2 107000 449400 CONCEPCION 23.4 23.6 23.6 23.7 23.6 23.6 13000 306820 1.27 1.28 1.32 1.32 1.28 1.28 1199000 1554530 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 5.3 5.31 5.59 5.59 5.25 5.3 612400 3298658 1.12 1.16 1.12 1.18 1.12 1.16 60000 67990 IONICS SFA SEMICON 1.18 1.19 1.2 1.22 1.16 1.19 1381000 1635110 CIRTEK HLDG 8.28 8.29 8.47 8.78 8.24 8.28 8130600 67607360

136789.9999 -3174080 313022 -1012381 -11414492 -3288696 -1157120 -304348 739004 -22484 1209320 -6769512 -11828391 -8998460 -65119 5400 -484560 -64663932 -453234 -5430140 504999 252170 -18000 -34850261 41530 -160610 17100 -493820.9999 -2853552 -3545406 -72320 -415800 -306820 -230296 -76810 79176

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.56 0.54 0.55 3320000 1807990 ASIABEST GROUP 7.51 7.76 6.89 7.79 6.89 7.75 39000 295011 AYALA CORP 661 662 639 664 627.5 662 465750 299561470 38.6 39.15 38.9 39.15 38.2 38.6 754500 29126145 ABOITIZ EQUITY 6.16 6.23 6.1 6.23 6.08 6.23 1762100 10855540 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 1.83 1.85 1.87 1.88 1.82 1.83 1769000 3246080 AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR 5.97 6.08 6 6 5.97 6 6300 37794 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.5 0.54 0.51 0.51 0.5 0.5 213000 107400 ATN HLDG A 0.51 0.53 0.53 0.54 0.51 0.51 660000 343040 0.54 0.56 0.55 0.55 0.53 0.54 502000 270080 ATN HLDG B 4.91 4.94 4.9 4.97 4.83 4.94 561000 2757490 COSCO CAPITAL 4.09 4.1 4.25 4.29 4.08 4.1 11223000 46129560 DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV 8.2 8.5 8.16 8.6 8.16 8.5 192400 1654194 GT CAPITAL 416 421.2 430 435 416 416 188170 79105650 HOUSE OF INV 3.6 3.69 3.69 3.69 3.69 3.69 2000 7380 49.25 49.45 48.7 49.95 48.7 49.25 2170400 106681410 JG SUMMIT 5.03 5.99 7.28 7.28 6.99 6.99 2000 14270 JOLLIVILLE HLDG KEPPEL HLDG A 5.08 5.14 5.12 5.12 5.12 5.12 50000 256000 LODESTAR 0.51 0.53 0.53 0.55 0.51 0.52 72000 37760 LOPEZ HLDG 2.68 2.69 2.5 2.68 2.45 2.68 12102000 30673280 LT GROUP 7.56 7.6 7.8 7.8 7.56 7.6 414400 3150123 0.445 0.48 0.52 0.52 0.43 0.48 6000 2905 MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV 2.73 2.75 2.78 2.79 2.66 2.75 94834000 256680570 0.82 0.84 0.88 0.88 0.82 0.84 289000 241200 PRIME MEDIA SYNERGY GRID 161 168 161 161 161 161 110 17710 SM INVESTMENTS 826.5 833 839 839 822 826.5 161030 133108380 SAN MIGUEL CORP 96.2 96.4 96.6 96.8 96 96.2 133940 12906242.5 0.68 0.7 0.67 0.7 0.67 0.68 76000 52280 SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER 137 138 139 139 138 138 1990 274720 ZEUS HLDG 0.145 0.15 0.144 0.15 0.144 0.15 90000 13290

-595720 74000 -22125075 -16189075 -838454 18500 36600 -213460 1220640 -7378370 -23766 -36907422 -3690 -88140775 611390 23443 -48843420 -27116365 -1652169 -

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP ANCHOR LAND AYALA LAND ARANETA PROP BELLE CORP A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

0.56 8.99 33.65 1.05 1.34 0.56 0.72 5.55 4.08 0.345 16 6.98 0.29 0.95 0.8 10.5 0.8 0.72 2.6 0.16 1.45 14.88 0.234 1.51 2.7 1.9 30.85 3.83 1.26 3.94

0.57 9 33.75 1.08 1.35 0.57 0.77 5.9 4.15 0.35 16.02 7 0.295 0.96 0.84 10.52 0.81 0.75 2.63 0.162 1.49 14.92 0.245 1.54 2.79 1.93 30.9 3.88 1.27 3.99

0.57 8.99 33.5 1.09 1.33 0.56 0.77 5.9 4.14 0.35 15.94 6.9 0.295 0.96 0.8 10.6 0.8 0.72 2.68 0.157 1.5 14.6 0.246 1.53 2.85 1.92 30.2 3.93 1.23 4.01

0.57 8.99 33.75 1.11 1.35 0.57 0.77 5.9 4.15 0.35 16.08 6.98 0.295 0.96 0.84 10.6 0.83 0.72 2.68 0.16 1.5 14.96 0.246 1.53 2.85 1.93 31.3 3.94 1.27 4.03

0.56 8.99 32.95 1.05 1.33 0.56 0.77 5.9 4.05 0.345 15.92 6.9 0.295 0.94 0.8 10.5 0.8 0.72 2.55 0.157 1.4 14.2 0.246 1.53 2.7 1.92 30.05 3.8 1.22 3.89

0.56 8.99 33.75 1.05 1.34 0.57 0.77 5.9 4.15 0.345 16.02 6.98 0.295 0.96 0.84 10.52 0.8 0.72 2.63 0.16 1.49 14.92 0.246 1.53 2.79 1.93 30.9 3.82 1.27 3.94

325000 700 7477800 162000 146000 289000 1000 3100 318000 830000 46000 8400 650000 2148000 353000 18000 539000 62000 13710000 2650000 95000 1217100 10000 40000 339000 52000 10831000 185000 960000 2307000

183310 6293 249727885 173190 196290 162630 770 18290 1316580 289950 737464 58216 191750 2048900 282520 189850 431990 44640 35707840 420230 137410 17899332 2460 61200 916640 100310 332665950 714230 1202310 9087730

45398250 -42000 -1340 13109.9999 -18290 -828999.9998 -17387 922770 -12980 7189180 416258 69184005 -4124520

SERVICES GMA NETWORK 5.46 5.48 5.99 5.99 5.29 5.46 9647800 53245751 MANILA BULLETIN 0.375 0.385 0.4 0.4 0.375 0.385 520000 200350 MLA BRDCASTING 18.54 19 14.5 18.7 14.5 18.7 53000 946454 2202 2216 2242 2258 2202 2202 89210 197285760 GLOBE TELECOM 1227 1235 1268 1291 1227 1227 283355 357170830 PLDT 0.04 0.041 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 1700000 68000 APOLLO GLOBAL DITO CME HLDG 2.17 2.18 2.17 2.22 2.16 2.17 12573000 27424290 ISLAND INFO 0.082 0.084 0.084 0.084 0.082 0.082 540000 44700 NOW CORP 1.88 1.9 1.94 1.94 1.82 1.9 2275000 4239700 0.186 0.188 0.195 0.195 0.185 0.188 390000 73210 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2.47 2.5 2.59 2.59 2.46 2.47 2831000 7046210 10.22 10.26 10.8 10.8 10.1 10.22 108900 1121762 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS 14.02 16.98 17 17 17 17 3300 56100 CHELSEA 3.21 3.24 3.27 3.27 3.21 3.24 307000 995020 CEBU AIR 46.05 46.8 47 47.85 45.95 46.8 266800 12434865 82.55 82.85 83.2 84.5 80.05 82.55 1559340 127786512.5 INTL CONTAINER 13.7 13.98 13.98 13.98 13.98 13.98 4500 62910 LBC EXPRESS MACROASIA 4.28 4.3 4.49 4.49 4.23 4.3 4828000 20789340 METROALLIANCE A 2.53 2.54 2.56 2.65 2.45 2.53 1718000 4348660 METROALLIANCE B 2.55 2.85 2.55 2.56 2.55 2.56 3000 7670 PAL HLDG 6.95 7 7.05 7.1 6.88 7 46400 324953 0.88 0.9 0.86 0.89 0.85 0.88 213000 184920 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.16 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.19 1000 1190 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.026 0.027 0.026 0.027 0.026 0.027 10400000 271300 DISCOVERY WORLD 1.75 1.79 1.75 1.79 1.75 1.79 7000 12330 WATERFRONT 0.4 0.405 0.4 0.405 0.4 0.4 610000 244050 STI HLDG 0.34 0.35 0.34 0.35 0.34 0.35 2430000 842950 2.16 2.2 2.21 2.21 2.12 2.16 225000 487070 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 5.18 5.2 5.37 5.39 5.16 5.18 9196700 47579606 1.96 2.02 1.95 2 1.95 2 28000 55860 PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES 1.5 1.52 1.52 1.52 1.47 1.52 42000 63580 PH RESORTS GRP 2.95 2.98 3 3.08 2.9 2.98 171000 505740 0.31 0.315 0.31 0.31 0.305 0.31 2180000 675300 PREMIUM LEISURE ALLHOME 5.91 6 6.1 6.2 5.95 5.95 2753200 16463562 1.79 1.8 1.81 1.84 1.78 1.8 1273000 2295150 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 46 46.35 46.35 46.5 45.9 46 3226900 148896800 ROBINSONS RTL 66.5 66.55 67 67 66 66.5 774900 51502015 PHIL SEVEN CORP 125.5 126 126 126.1 125.5 126 93970 11840206 1.21 1.24 1.24 1.26 1.2 1.21 3915000 4747750 SSI GROUP 15.4 15.42 15.6 16 15 15.4 4222800 65629740 WILCON DEPOT 0.305 0.315 0.315 0.315 0.305 0.305 170000 52250 APC GROUP EASYCALL 7.7 7.87 7.4 8.48 7.4 7.7 651900 5266581 GOLDEN BRIA 312 319.8 306.2 325 306.2 312 160 50612 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.233 0.235 0.239 0.24 0.233 0.233 3680000 872110 5.8 5.98 5.9 5.98 5.9 5.98 700 4138 SBS PHIL CORP

-74847560 108149930 -609650 -61720 -19710 -10400 -3241980 -32209129.5 -1082230 -1400 52000 -9891356 3960 1520 6573951.9997 17900 3264610 18285210.5 52935 -701870 35609450 27129.9997 -28402 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.82 10 10.7 10.7 9.7 10.7 22900 226678 APEX MINING 0.87 0.88 0.89 0.89 0.85 0.88 2965000 2563940 -34400 0.001 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.001 0.001 21000000 21400 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 1.81 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89 2000 3780 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.193 0.198 0.195 0.195 0.195 0.195 380000 74100 DIZON MINES 6.93 7.11 7 7.21 7 7.1 1700 12101 FERRONICKEL 0.85 0.86 0.89 0.89 0.84 0.85 1760000 1515510 GEOGRACE 0.202 0.205 0.206 0.21 0.204 0.205 210000 43320 -26920 0.079 0.081 0.083 0.083 0.08 0.08 4230000 338460 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.083 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.083 0.083 1980000 164410 MANILA MINING A 0.0064 0.0065 0.0065 0.0065 0.0065 0.0065 11000000 71500 MARCVENTURES 0.55 0.57 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.56 55000 30810 NIHAO 0.98 1.01 1.05 1.05 0.98 0.98 48000 47380 NICKEL ASIA 1.54 1.56 1.58 1.6 1.51 1.54 9414000 14495420 -3358590 0.5 0.52 0.54 0.54 0.52 0.52 20000 10550 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 2.29 2.33 2.3 2.31 2.28 2.29 510000 1169700 -443270 11.8 11.98 12 12 11.8 11.8 827500 9798322 -1246342 SEMIRARA MINING ACE ENEXOR 6.4 6.54 6.7 6.7 6.38 6.54 110600 709997 2582 ORNTL PETROL A 0.0084 0.0086 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 2000000 16800 ORNTL PETROL B 0.0086 0.0095 0.0086 0.0095 0.0086 0.0095 10000000 90500 4.21 4.24 4.29 4.3 4.19 4.21 592000 2497280 -155080 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 99 99.9 99.9 100 99.9 100 9090 908522 AC PREF B1 498 498.4 498.4 498.4 498.4 498.4 2380 1186192 99.7 100 100 101 100 100 7660 766160 66160 ALCO PREF B 490 503 500 504 500 504 190 95400 AC PREF B2R DD PREF 99 99.5 101 101 101 101 10 1010 GTCAP PREF A 990 996 990 990 990 990 600 594000 MWIDE PREF 99.7 100.1 100 100 99.8 99.8 103470 10346508 49900 PNX PREF 3B 103 104 104 104 104 104 1450 150800 998 1000 997.5 997.5 997 997 100 99705 PNX PREF 4 PCOR PREF 3A 1015 1016 1015 1016 1015 1016 810 822260 SMC PREF 2C 76.5 77 76.7 77 76.5 76.5 10640 815809 SMC PREF 2D 74.6 75.1 74.5 74.7 74.5 74.6 15930 1189792 SMC PREF 2E 74.85 75.1 75 75 75 75 3000 225000 210000 SMC PREF 2F 75.75 75.9 75.85 75.85 75.75 75.85 6280 475960 74.85 75.15 74.55 74.8 74.55 74.8 3000 224200 SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I 74.5 75 75 75 75 75 12030 902250 150000

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS GMA HLDG PDR 5.05 5.13 5.4 5.4 5.01 5.13 170500 879493

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.73 0.79 0.81 0.82 0.73 0.79 52000 40820

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 2.05 2.09 2.12 2.15 2.01 2.05 3377000 6979390 77200 KEPWEALTH 7.3 7.44 7.3 7.46 7.25 7.44 19100 139966 0.62 0.63 0.61 0.63 0.61 0.63 741000 456430 XURPAS

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 85.9 86 86.5 86.75 85.9 86 12840 1106325.5 49020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Merry Mart listing to push through despite pandemic

M

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

erry Mart Consumer Corp., the start-up grocery chain led by businessman Edgar “Injap” J. Sia II, will push through with its initial public offering (IPO) at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) despite the jitters in the market caused by the pandemic.

In a listing notice, Merry Mart will start its offer period on May 27 through June 5. It will be listed at the small, medium and emerging board of the PSE on June 15.

The PSE has approved its listing on April 29, while the Securities and Exchange Commission approved its registration papers in early March, before the government implemen-

tation of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

Merry Mart will have 7.59 billion in outstanding common shares, out of which some 1.59 billion common shares will be sold to the public at a maximum price of P1 per share.

After its IPO, its public float will be at 21 percent.

PNB Capital and Investment Corp. has been picked as the sole issue manager, lead underwriter and sole bookrunner.

Merry Mart expects to raise P1.47 billion in net proceeds, which it said will be used for capital expenditures and initial working capital for store network expansion at P1.03 billion, investments in distribution centers at P220.9 million and general corporate purposes at P220.1 million.

Merry Mart, formerly Injap

Supermart Inc., is an emerging company that operates supermarket and household essentials categories.

It operates three grocery retail formats Merry Mart Grocery, a full-size supermarket; Merry Mart Market, a medium-sized specialized grocery; and Merry Mart Store, a small-sized household essentials store.

As part of its store network expansion, Merry Mart intends to open 12 additional stores by the second quarter of 2020. The company further aims to open its 100 branches by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Of the 100 stores, about 25 stores will be funded from the net proceeds of the Merry Mart’s initial public offering. These will include 10 full sized grocery stores, one mid-sized and 14 small ones.

ICTSI to slash capital spending this year mutual funds I nternational Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) has reduced its capital expenditures for 2020 by almost 63 percent as the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic severely affected the global supply chain and trade has been restricted to the bare minimum.

From $270 million in programmed capital expenditures, the global port operator has trimmed its outlays to $100 million “amid the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on global trade.”

The amount will be used to complete the company’s ongoing port expansion projects in various territories in the world.

“We have taken significant measures, which include reducing our cost base and capital expenditure while seeking ways to increase our market share in certain markets. We continue to monitor the situation carefully so we can adapt our responses. ICTSI is an agile business and able to act swiftly to ensure the business remains robust during these uncertain times,” Enrique K. Razon Jr., the company’s chairman, said on Thursday.

The port operator saw its profits declining by almost a fifth in the first quarter of 2020 as it posted lower revenues due to the Covid-19 pandemic and because of the increases in its expenses related to concession rights.

During the period, the global port operator

recorded a net income attributable to equity holders of $59.6 million, an 18-percent reduction from the $72.4 million it netted the year prior, as revenues from port operations declined by 2 percent to $375.8 million, from $383.8 million while its cash expenses rose by 6 percent to $119 million from $112 million. Likewise, consolidated financing charges and other expenses for the quarter increased by 17 percent to $33.2 million, from $28.3 million in 2019.

Traffic volume, measured in twenty-foot equivalent units, was nearly flat at 2.51 million TEUs in March.

“The effect of the virus was felt in the latter part of the first quarter, and our volumes compared to the previous year were largely flat. Regions are at different stages of the viral outbreak, which is reflected in our portfolio performance: Asia delivered lower volumes compared to the previous year while the Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Americas segments both still registered positive volume growth for the quarter.

However, the latter two regions showed signs of weakness in March,” said Razon.

He noted that aside from the business, the company is taking measures to protect its people from the virus and its adjacent effects. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Senators eye ‘liability shield’ for PHL firms

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

enators are monitoring the progress of a bill set to be filed in the United States Congress granting a “liability shield" which many American businessmen are seeking as they reluctantly reopen for business.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III left the door open for Senators’ consideration of a counterpart measure, indicating interest to file an enabling bill himself “so it can be discussed.”

“Pwede. Pag-aralan’ [We can study that]," Sotto told the BusinessMirror.

Senator Joel Villanueva, chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, indicated the panel may mount hearings to get inputs from major players in the labor sector as well as employers should a counterpart bill be filed proposing remedial legislation mandating a similar “liability shield“ provision.

“We can study and see if there is still a need for a similar policy in the country,” Villanueva told the BusinessMirror. “Presently, our Occupational Safety and Health [OSH] law has provisions designed to preserve and protect the welfare of workers in the workplace.”

He said that under the OSH law, if there is already a determination that the employer’s violation poses a threat to life, the company may be penalized up to P100,000 per day until corrective measures are put in place.

In addition, Villanueva confirmed they are also proposing that “when businesses reopen, companies should be responsible to regularly test and monitor their workers and ensure proper sanitation of the work force to make sure that the spread of Covid-19 [coronavirus disease] infections is controlled.”

“Disease surveillance and monitoring may entail an additional operating cost, but it will always be smaller compared to the cost of treating a patient and shutting down the entire operation indefinitely,” he added.

However, Sen. Imee Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, aired her misgivings about adopting a liability shield law.

“I am uncertain that a liability shield in the Philippine legal context will have similar effectivity,” said Marcos. “Firstly, tort law is underdeveloped here compared to the United States; further, whether because we are a less litigious people, or the miserable success rates in the Philippines of cases filed against powerful corporations, are not filed here as often as they are in the US.” Moreover, Marcos noted: “the notion of customers or employees suing large businesses and their corporate employers remains largely alien to us.”

She assured that when more information and analyses becomes available, “I will hopefully file a comprehensive and precise New Normal Bill, defining the responsibilities of employers and the corresponding penalties for violation.”

Finally, Marcos added, a “liability shield bill will also have its pros and cons. It protects businesses from any liability during the pandemic.

These have to be weighed cautiously especially in a situation where the economy is reopening, At first glance, it can be confusing and may put business, labor and consumers into opposing positions, which is not what we need during the critical and delicate phase of reopening the economy.”

For his part, Sen. Koko Pimentel observed that “in the United States, they are forced to open their businesses. Here in the Philippines, even if we lift all restrictions, no one is being forced to open his business.”

May 7, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 186.15 -28.96% -11.65% -8.11% -26.1% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.97 -39.61% -14.05% -8.97% -29.81% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.5111 -38.49% -16.18% -10.82% -31.73% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6461 -30.77% n.a. n.a. -27.98% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6639 -23.52% n.a. n.a. -21.83% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.0607 -25.82% -8.78% -7.32% -23.79% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.629 -28.02% -12.75% n.a.

-26.31% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 75.25 -40.3% n.a. n.a. -27.18% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 37.2128 -28.35% -10.29% n.a.

-27.43% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 400.75 -25.9% -9.55% -7.09% -24.78% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.8616 n.a. n.a. n.a. -16.36% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 0.9594 -26.86% -9.41% -6.36% -25.45% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 28.0567 -27.35% -8.9% -6.27% -25.97% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7388 -28.74% n.a. n.a. -27.43% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.7897 -27.98% -9.72% -6.15% -27.45% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 633.56 -27.86% -9.71% -6.35% -27.35% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.5847 -37.08% -13.34% -10.12% -31.32% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 2.9841 -30.74% -10.42% -7.25% -29.1% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7272 -27.99% -9.85% -6.28% -27.34% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.7197 -26.72% -7.5% -5.08% -25.55% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 84.9569 -27.71% -9.23% -5.53% -27.36% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $0.8793 -15.69% -2.57% -3.97% -14.5% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.2399 -4.59% 3.11% n.a. -10.07% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4981 -12.73% -5.37% -5.07% -4.14% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 1.9634 -14.72% -5.74% -3.73% -9.98% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.3321 -11.62% -3.18% -4.64% -11.38% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1848 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-19.12% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.7867 -6.88% -1.82% -1.77% -8.99% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.3215 -9.46% -3.57% -3.24% -12.34% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 14.8376 -10.49% -3.8% -3.36% -12.52% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.8377 -13.75% -4.88% -3.07% -13.55% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.1305 -18.56% -5.7% -4.37% -18.98% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.8992 -10.04% n.a. n.a. -11.47% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.7925 -20.64% n.a. n.a. -20.46% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.7682 -22.9% n.a. n.a. -22.65% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7762 -20.99% -6.59% -5.87% -20.37% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03802 4.94% 2.3% 1.4% -0.55% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $0.9195 -7.41% -1.09% -2.28% -11.41% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.5818 -4.09% 2.2% 1.59% -8.41% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.059 -2.82% 0.86% n.a.

-6.18% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 362.7 4.21% 3.04% 2.45% 1.37% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9307 2.32% 1.14% -0.15% 1.51% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1708 4.77% 5.18% 5.12% 1.75% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2756 5.2% 2.88% 2.23% 2.27% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4209 6.73% 2.99% 1.81% 2.62% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.5104 11.27% 3.75% 2.19% 3.14% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.2812 6.84% 3.74% 2.02% 1.95% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.8787 7.4% 3.75% 1.93% 2.39% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0198 10.73% 3.41% 1.51% 5.76% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1202 7.76% 4.54% 2.89% 1.44% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7264 7.49% 4.09% 2.59% 1.49% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $468.34 2.94% 2.27% 2.42% 0.03% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є214.05 -0.98% 0.5% 0.62% -2.58% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1967 2.41% 2.3% 2.02% -0.87% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0258 1.98% 1.19% 1.04% 0% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0539 -0.98% -0.48% -0.62% -3.77% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.3985 5.67% 2.81% 2.41% -0.22% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0595708 2.17% 1.48% 1.4% -1.23% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1554 5.85% 2.11% 2.2% -0.63% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 127.41 3.8% 3.11% 2.33% 1.3% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0375 2.71% n.a. n.a.

1.09% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2782 3.36% 3.01% 2.53% 1.08% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0416 1.65% n.a. n.a.

0.42% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.9 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-9.09% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Launch date is January 3, 2019. 2 - Launch date is January 28, 2019. 3 - Launch date is February 1, 2019. 4 - Launch date is November 15, 2019.

5 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 6 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.).

7 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019. 8 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance

China Banking’s Q1 profits zoom by 19%

C

ore businesses propelled the first quarter earnings of China Banking Corp., tempering the adverse impact of higher loanloss provisions to its bottom-line.

The listed bank saw its threemonth net profits surge by 19 percent to P2.2 billion, registering return on equity of 9.15 percent and return on assets of 0.92 percent for the period.

Net operating income increased by 26 percent to P9.1 billion yearon-year.

Higher revenues from earning assets and a 23-percent decline in interest expense prompted net interest income to rise by 34 percent to P7.9 billion. Net interest margin, meanwhile, climbed to 3.82 percent from 3.32 percent.

Fee income from trading activities was lower at P1.2 billion due to weaker market conditions.

Operating expenses jumped 22 percent to P5.8 billion for the period as it continued to expand operations and incur pandemic-related expenses.

Total assets grew by 10 percent to 984 billion in the first quarter despite scaled-down branch operations.

Gross loans expanded by 15 percent to P592 billion on the back of robust demands from all customer segments. Deposits, meanwhile, improved 9 percent to 785 billion.

Nonperforming loan ratio was stable at 1.7 percent while NPL coverage stood at 109 percent. Provision for potential loan loss was increased by 51 percent due to anticipated credit risk amid the pandemic.

As of end-March, total capital registered at P97 billion.

“The impact of the Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic on our customers, employees, and society as a whole is a great concern for China Bank,” China Bank President William C. Whang was quoted as saying.

Whang said during the government-imposed lockdown, China Bank ensures that its digital banking channels are available, debt moratorium is imposed and certain fees are waived to ease the burden of its customers.

China Bank shares declined by 2 centavos, or 0.10 percent, to settle at P19.70 apiece amid the 0.25-percent growth for the benchmark index on Thursday. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

38-year-old CEO of Korean fintech leader seeks $200M

Lee Seung-gun in Seoul BLOOMBERG

V

iva Republica Ltd., operator of South Korea’s largest fintech startup Toss, is planning to raise about $200 million from investors to bankroll its expansion in online banking and security trading services.

The company just embarked on its funding round and hopes to complete it in coming months, founder Lee Seung-gun said in an interview, declining to disclose the expected valuation. Lee is also aiming to go public in two to three years, with a listing in South Korea, Hong Kong, the US or two of the destinations, he said.

Toss, founded in 2011 and incorporated in 2013, is South Korea’s largest fintech startup with some 10 million monthly active users. It reached its first breakeven month in April and is now processing 4.5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) of transactions a month after handling about 9.2 percent of the country’s online transfers in 2019. The company is planning to start a securities brokerage service in the second half of this year and build an internet bank in July next year, helping it win a bigger slice of the $43 billion financial market in South Korea.

“At a time like this, a company that grows fast and makes profit will get more money,” Lee, the 38-yearold dentist turned startup founder, said in an interview. “Our goal is to become a finance super app, making people open Toss for any financial activities without question.”

Super app

The Seoul-based company was able to cut spending thanks to a new open banking system adopted by the government late last year. That helped shrink commission payments to banks to a third of the original cost. Revenue grew six times in the last two years, and Lee aims to generate tens of billions of won in profit this year and more than one hundred billion won next year.

Lee’s goal is make Toss the world’s first super app that aggregates all the

services provided by fintech giants such as Paypal Holdings Inc., Robinhood Markets Inc. and Credit Karma.

Out of a total of 40 services, Toss’s five major units—money transfer, loans and credit rating management, insurance, investment and credit cards—evenly generate most of the revenue and profit.

Toss wants to offer securities brokerage services and loans to small businesses and consumers with interest rates between 5 percent and 15 percent. By eliminating complicated interfaces and terminology, Lee’s betting that the two services could lure half the country’s population, or about 25 million people, to actively use its app in two years.

Lee will hire around 200 workers for the online bank unit and as many as 90 employees for the brokerage service.

In a country dominated by familyrun conglomerates, Toss stands out for advocating policy change. Lee said the government is now encouraging more “destructive players” to innovate in the finance industry.

Dreams big

“The founder dreams big, but he’s also great with execution and quick to deliver on his promises,” said He Tiantian, vice president of Sequoia Capital China, which invested in 2018 and followed up in every ensuing round. “Korea’s financial market is very well developed and the market potential for fintech is huge.”

Toss has raised a total of more than $350 million and was valued at $2.4 billion in its previous fundraising round. It’s also backed by PayPal Holdings Inc., Goodwater Capital, GIC Pte, Altos Ventures.

Lee is looking for expansion outside of South Korea. The company started a reward service in Vietnam, giving people monetary incentive for completing tasks such as walking thousands of steps a day. It’s lured 300,000 monthly active users. It’s exploring opportunities in Southeast Asia and Japan as well. Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Friday, May 8, 2020 B3

PCSO to miss ₧11-B target for Q1, current sales ‘zero’

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will miss its P11-billion revenue target for the first quarter of the year after gaming operations were suspended mid-March.

PCSO Assistant General Manager for Gaming Arnel Casas said revenues as of end-March only reached P8.97 billion, falling 18.45 percent short of its revenue target.

PCSO’s first-quarter revenue collection was also less 27.07

percent compared to the P12.30 billion it collected in the same period last year.

Casas told the BusinessMirror that the government-owned and controlled corporation failed to meet its target for the first quarter because of

the “sudden suspension” of gaming operations in March 17.

He said the PCSO is currently looking at other potential sources of revenue.

“Right now, we have zero sales.

Yet we continuously provide assistance for health, medical assistance and support to Malasakit Centers [hospitals managed by the health department] and UHC [Universal Health Care] for the remaining funds that we have,” Casas explained. “There is a need for PCSO to have a continuous source of revenues to support its charity programs and projects.”

The PCSO earlier said it is set to lose more than P4 billion a month from the suspension of all of its games, including lotto games and Small Town Lottery—the agency’s

two largest sources of revenues.

The PCSO was aiming to collect P52 billion in revenues for this year.

Of this target, Casas said P22 billion should have been collected in the first half and P30 billion in the second half of 2020.

He told the BusinessMirror the PCSO has yet to revise these targets.

Still, Casas said the agency will “most likely” recalibrate the targets for the remaining period once they resume operations.

Under the amended PCSO Charter, the net receipts generated from the sale of sweepstakes tickets, whether for sweepstakes races, lotteries, or other similar activities, shall be divided into: Prize Fund (55 percent); Charity Fund (30 percent); and, Operating Fund (15 percent).

PSBank chalks up lower Q1 profits to credit provisioning

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hilippine Savings Bank’s (PSBank) net earnings in the January-to-March period took a hit after it expanding its buffer for potential increase in loan loss amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The consumer banking arm of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. booked net income of P646.2 million in the first three months, lower by 5.1 percent compared to what it registered in the same period a year ago.

“Cognizant of the potential impact of the pandemic to the economy, we decided to exercise prudence by increasing provisions to 150 percent versus previous year,” PSBank President Jose Vicente L. Alde said in a disclosure on Thursday.

For the period, net interest income improved to 21.8 percent to P3.2 billion year-on-year while net services fees reached P458.1 million.

Total loan portfolio—driven by robust demand prior the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)— climbed by 3.6 percent to P165 billion in the first three months, bringing 1.8-percent growth for total assets at P240.3 billion.

Low-cost deposits hiked 10.2 percent to P60.6 billion.

Gross nonperforming loans were stable at 3.7 percent while capital stood at P34.8 billion. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 17.2 percent as of end-March, which is above regulatory minimum of 10 percent.

“PSBank has a strong balance sheet and capital position coming into this unprecedented situation,” Alde said.

Amid the ECQ, which was extended until May 15 in some areas, the PSBank chief said that 80 percent of its branches are still operating, implementing precautionary measures for employees and customers.

“Both customer and IT [information technology] support were further strengthened to keep our online banking services available 24/7, this being the alternative banking channel during these times,” Alde added.

Cash remittances can be withdrawn from over 1,000 combined

PSBank and Metrobank automated teller machines and bills can be settled through mobile applications or online banking, the bank said.

PSBank approved in April the declaration of a 7.5-percent regular cash dividend amounting to P320.14 million for the first quarter. The dividends, which are sourced from the listed bank’s surplus, will be paid no later than May 21.

The bank raised P6.3 billion via two-year maiden fixed-rate bond issuance and completed P8-billion stock rights offer in 2019.

Shares in PSBank ended flat at P42.65 each as the main index registered 0.25-percent uptick on Thursday. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Exec bares new framework for ISOs Innovation framework as bank iterates vigilance vs phishing for associations

A

S the Covid-19 situation forces businesses and companies to take most of their operations to their employees’ homes, there is a growing need to adapt information security and the way these organizations approach it, a bank executive said.

The proposed new framework by East West Banking Corp. Chief Information Security & Data Protection Officer Manuel Joey A. Regala coincides with a call from BDO Unibank Inc. for more vigilance against phishing.

Regala, who also serves as the president of the Information Security Officers Group, established a new“C-I-A paradigm” for information security officers (ISOs) to follow in the current era of working from home: “Culture, Integrity and Ability,” replacing the old framework of “Confidentiality, Integrity and Ability.”

According to Regala, this new mindset is needed to tackle the challenges of remote security, which fall on both extremes. He explained that too much security from officers can become inconvenient to employees and clients while too little can leave them open and vulnerable. ISOs must then be agile and dynamic enough to meet these challenges sufficiently, according to Regala.

He emphasizes that a culture of security must be the priority for organizations, which will matter more in protecting information than the actual policies themselves.

“Sell the idea of security like an insurance salesman,” he said during a webinar hosted by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center last April 29. “Focus on the why and not the how.”

This culture must then be reinforced by the ISOs’ personal integrity, meaning their ability to practice what they preach and maintain their image at all times, he added.

“No matter the circumstance, your integrity should not falter,” Regala said.

“Are you really who you say you are on every platform? Stay true to your real self.”

Lastly, both culture and integrity are nothing without the ISOs’ own ability.

Regala also underscored the need for experience, certifications, and alliances for ISOs to succeed in leading their companies’ information security efforts. He

also highlights the importance of working with regulatory bodies.

With the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) currently extended by the government to May 15 and physical distancing measures still recommended until the threat of the virus is completely eliminated, many businesses are seen to continue work-from-home setups for the foreseeable future, necessitating constant vigilance in information security, Regala said.

In a separate statement on Thursday, BDO Unibank advised the public to remain vigilant as fraudsters become more creative in tricking customers into giving sensitive information during the ECQ as scammers are coming up with different ways to phish information.

For example, they are sending threat of account deactivation prompting clients to give personal information and card details, launching fake donation drives and spreading false warnings regarding unauthorized transactions.

“Sounding like what a bank might actually say and do, the email or text would go as far as telling cardholders what items were purchased, where, and when they were bought,” the Sy-led bank warned.

BDO said the public should not engage with such scheme, warning of possible information phishing via fake links provided by the scammers.

“Truth is, opportunistic scammers are learning how to commit crime by adjusting their schemes to how banks do their advisories. Phishing emails and texts have recently become so professionally written that clients really need to spot fake links and websites than grammatical errors,” it added.

The public should keep in mind that public will never send deactivation threats and ask clients to verify account via email, text or call, BDO said.

Banks, it added, will never provide link that leads to fake website where clients’ personal information can be stolen.

The Sy-led bank pointed out that bank will also never request for login details.

“BDO believes that scammers will run out of opportunities if all people are armed with these three basic but very important reminders,” the bank said.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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ne of the webinars I attended recently was on “How to Increase Innovation & Engagement,” which is part of the Leaders in Lockdown series organized by Team Building Asia.

The main speaker was Natalie Turner, innovator speaker and author of Yes, You Can Innovate. Driven by innovation and entrepreneurship, Natalie invented the “6 ‘I’s®,” an innovative methodology applied by multinationals across the globe. While her presentation was meant for business organizations, I thought this could also apply to associations.

Here are the six ‘I’s of Natalie’s innovation framework, which she complemented with a corresponding mind-set (in parenthesis), and where I added how associations can relate to: Identify opportunities by understanding trends, patterns and future areas of growth (curiosity). Due to the pandemic, associations everywhere are currently exploring opportunities to compensate for loss of revenue due to event cancellation, and slow or reduced membership dues collection, among others. Most are looking at doing more virtual meetings and events and modifying membership and revenue models to be able to cope and survive during these difficult times.

Ignite ideas by creating novel solutions (creativity). Identification of an idea is merely the first step. It is important that ideas are stimulated to germinate them into something useful, relevant, and impactful. Associations should consider providing members with tools and tips on how to respond, recover and rebuild during and after Covid-19.

Investigate by prototy ping, testing and researching ideas (critical). Analytical thinking would be indispensable at the investigation stage. This is where many ideas will be trimmed down to one project that will be worth pursuing. It is critical for associations to study all aspects of the idea and develop a selection criteria that best represents the interest of all stakeholders of the association.

Association World Octavio Peralta Invest by having the determination to create business models and persuade others (courage). This is the phase where pragmatic decision making and financial acumen are necessary to set the project in motion. With limited resources, associations must be prudent in undertaking programs that should ultimately bring ROI to both the organization and its members.

Implement by making an idea happen and creating value from it (committed). Equally essential after the investment has been made is to implement the project so the association can reap the fruit as it desired and envisioned at the onset.

Improve by optimizing ideas and learning from success and failure (clever). Continuous monitoring and recalibration are part of this improvement stage. It is a must for associations to do this lest the time, effort, and money spent reaching this part will be foregone and wasted.

The above framework allows the six ‘I’s’ to iterate back to step 1 through 6. It will be helpful to build a team around it and assign one staff to be the identifier, the igniter, the investigator, the investor, the implementer and the improver, or something along these areas. Perhaps you can give this framework a try?

The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific and the Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives. Pcaae is holding the Associations Summit 8 (AS8) on November 25 and 26, 2020 at the Philippine International Convention Center which is expected to draw over 200 association professionals here and abroad. The two-day event is supported by Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap. org for more details on AS8.

B4

Show BusinessMirror

Friday, May 8, 2020

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Thoughts on the ABS-CBN closure T

HANKS to the nonrenewal of the ABSCBN franchise, I learned there are a lot of “lawyers” and “media experts” in the Philippines. The lot of them are all over social media, with their profiles bearing no photo or an innocuous bible quote.

They now think like they’re prosecutors as they keep citing that no one is above the law and because of that, ABS-CBN should be forever shut down. I agree that no one should be above the law, whether you’re a senator who recklessly endangered lives by accompanying your pregnant wife in the hospital despite being positive for the coronavirus, or a blogger slash government executive gathering a huge crowd. But speaking of the law, let me quote lawmaker Franz Alvarez: “If the NTC chooses to succumb to the pressure of the Solicitor General, and disregard the commitments they gave under oath, we reserve the right to call them before Congress and explain why they should not be held in contempt.”

Rep. Alvarez, in case you didn’t know, chairs the House Committee on Legislative Franchises. A lot of congressmen and even senators expressed their shock or even dismay with these turn of events. Even Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that it “stands by

its position that there is sufficient equitable basis to allow broadcast entities to continue operating while the bills for the renewal of their franchise remain pending with Congress. Existing laws provide that a person who wishes to operate a radio/TV station must first obtain a legislative franchise and thereafter a license to operate from the NTC.” Anyway, if they do not cite the “law,” these nonsupporters of ABS-CBN share the interview of Estelita Tamano, president of the Federation of International Cable TV Association of the Philippines (FICTAP).

Among her arguments for the nonrenewal is that ABS-CBN killed the cable TV industry of which she is obviously so passionate about.

She also noted that the pending application of ABS-CBN is for multiple channels. “Channels—may ‘s’ po!” she emphatically declared in a TV interview, citing that the original franchise granted 25 years ago was supposedly for just one channel.

Now, I am no media expert but, first of all, what I know of is one franchise, one frequency. Frequencies can carry multiple channels. My friend who is the real media expert says that ABS-CBN has six to eight standard-definition channels. Even the government station PTV 4 has three high-definition channels.

Even the previous franchise didn’t mention the word “channel.” Frequencies, yes, but channels? So far from what I’ve read, nada. For a president of an organization that is supposed to be in tune with the industry, one must be aware of advancements in digital technology.

And on her issue regarding ABS-CBN killing the cable industry, the fact of the matter is that the Internet and evolving viewing habits of the audience are in combination the one killing it. This is not unique to the Philippines; it’s a worldwide phenomenon actually. Well, that is until recently, as studies now show cable TV enjoying a considerable

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Stephen Amell, 39; Enrique Iglesias, 45; Melissa Gilbert, 56; David Keith, 66.

boost in viewership due to Covid-19 lockdown. Not surprisingly, people are looking for more than free-to-air TV, and cable TV players have released original/exclusive content. That’s what HBO, AMC, Disney and other players in the landcsape stateside have been doing. That’s what even some local channels like Metro, ANC and Cinema One have been doing too. This industry will be stabilized in the near future. Remember when everyone was declaring that radio is dead thanks to music streaming services?

It now has regained traction among listeners and continues to thrive. Maybe that cable TV organization can take a cue from this and encourage their members to do the same thing.

Anyway, despite this huge hurdle, ABS-CBN cable channels are still on air as well as its digital properties. Most importantly, the Kapamilya mission to be in service to the Filipino people, especially during this pandemic, is still ongoing.

The company’s “Pantawid ng Pag-ibig” is still in full tilt, and one of their worthwhile projects is the free online streaming of Ang Huling El Bimbo starting today until May 9.

Ang Huling El Bimbo is an enthralling musical featuring the songs of the Eraserheads. I’ve seen this staged live before and it was such an experience.

Anyway, the streaming will be available on the Facebook and YouTube pages of ABS-CBN. While the show is free, everyone is encouraged to donate and proceeds will go to the Pantawid ng Pag-ibig program which so far has raised over P300 million and helped thousands and thousands of families during the pandemic.

Please check out Ang Huling El Bimbo. It boasts of great performances, thrilling rearrangements of our well-loved Eheads songs, and a fantastic production design (that car! that car!). Indeed, it’s nakaka-indak, nakaka-aliw, at nakaka-tindig balahibo! n

Kapuso Foundation continues much-needed aid to frontliners, Filipinos GMA Kapuso Foundation (GMAKF)’s “Labanan Natin ang COVID-19” campaign, GMA Network’s response efforts to help the nation battle the pandemic, has so far extended help to medical frontliners in 35 public hospitals and 26,349 individuals in various povertystricken areas.

Through the funds raised from the public and partners from the private sector, GMAKF distributed 107,000 pairs of gloves, 23,996 pieces of surgical masks, 1,500 N95 masks, 4,600 face shields, 4,580 500ml bottles of rubbing alcohol, 4,400 pieces of germicidal soap, and 5,600 sets of personal protective equipment for public hospital workers.

In addition, 26,532 bottles of purified/ mineral water, 15,062 packs of bread/ snacks and 130 blankets and folding beds were provided as GMAKF expresses its gratitude for those who tirelessly take care of Covid-19 patients.

The basic medical supplies were given to 35 public hospitals within Metro Manila, as well as in Cagayan, Benguet, Pampanga, Bulacan, Marinduque, Laguna, Quezon, Rizal, Samar, Leyte, Lanao del Sur, and up to Sulu.

z

Happy Birthday: Keep an open mind, but don’t let anyone meddle in your personal or professional business. Stick to the truth, and focus on what you want and what you are willing to give in return. Honesty will make a difference in the outcome this year. Before making a change, be sure it’s what you want. Put more merit on rules, regulations and accuracy. Your lucky numbers are 7, 18, 22, 27, 35, 42, 44.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Expect the unexpected, and you will be ready for whatever comes your way. Be willing and prepared to jump at an opportunity and to make whatever adjustments are necessary to reach your goal.

Romance is in the stars. HHHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Reach out to someone you love. A shopping spree will be satisfying as long as you stick to your budget.

Walk away from unsavory situations. Now is not the time to argue over something you cannot change. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A positive attitude regarding skills, knowledge and what’s trending in your area will help you head in a direction that shows economic promise. Instead of worrying about the future, be proactive and adjust to social requirements.

Self-improvement is encouraged. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Put time and effort into what you can do to improve your situation. Use your imagination, and pull your resources together. Don’t let negativity set in when you should be open to positive change. Use your talents to subsidize your income. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Keep your opinions to yourself, and you’ll avoid unwanted repercussions. Look at what you can do that will make your life easier, finances healthier and relationships with others better. Diplomacy will help you get your way. Romance is favored. HHHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Online art exhibits and tours, educational pursuits and social-media events will enhance your life.

Collaborate with someone who complements what you have to offer, and you’ll come up with a plan that will encourage a positive lifestyle change. Let go of what’s no longer working for you. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Help a cause or someone you love. It’s up to you to determine what’s important to you and how best to funnel your energy. Refuse to let someone’s selfish or demanding attitude ruin your day. HHHH

Also under the campaign is the “Operation Bayanihan: Covid-19” to help Filipinos and their families who have lost their sources of income due to the enhanced community quarantine.

As of April 28, fully loaded grocery packs were given to 26,349 individuals from communities with a large concentration of daily wage earners. The donations were successfully packed and delivered to the beneficiaries with the help of the Philippine Army and members of the foundation.

Aside from areas in Metro Manila, GMAKF was also able to reach some barangays in Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna and Cavite.

GMAKF continues to accept monetary donations as distributions are still on-going until May 26 for both efforts.

Visit GMAKF’s official web site at www. gmanetwork.com/kapusofoundation/donate.

Donations may be sent to all Cebuana Lhuillier branches nationwide, and online by purchasing GMA Kapuso Foundation vouchers on Shopee and Zalora. Metrobank credit-card rewards points may also be converted to GMAKF donations.

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Arguing won’t help you get your way. Pay attention to detail, the people who share your beliefs and interests, and the changes you want to make to the way you live or do things. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Handle gossip carefully. Don’t let confusion set in because one person tells you one thing and another just the opposite. When in doubt, go directly to the source, and make up your mind based on facts.

Romance is favored. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Discuss your feelings and intentions. The higher the transparency, the easier it will be to get others on board. A partnership will need an adjustment if it’s going to maintain equilibrium. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Put in the effort and reap the rewards. Finish what you start, and honor your promises. Don’t bend to someone’s whims. Spend time doing the things that bring you the most joy. Self-improvement, romance and entertainment should be priorities. HHHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Don’t let jealousy or someone from your past cause problems between you and someone close to you. If change is what you want, be the one to instigate plans to ensure you get the results you want. HH Birthday Baby: You are engaging, adaptable and opportunistic.

You are curious and personable.

‘c red’ by mark mcclain The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Tuesday, in Paris 6 Big lake south of Reno 11 Wood cutter?

14 Once more 15 Country shaped like a boot 16 ___ Maria (coffee liqueur) 17 Southeastern Conference powerhouse 19 Wind down 20 Formerly possessed 21 TV award 22 A la ___ 24 Eric of The Finest Hours 25 Kind of angle 27 Director Sofia’s Oscar-winning grandfather 32 Yeltsin who was Russia’s first president 33 Little demons 34 “___ the season...”

35 Ire 36 “Trick” joints 38 Pet that may say “I love you” back 39 Restricted hosp. area 40 Haleakala’s island

1 Absorb with a bit of bread 4 42 Round salad ingredients 46 Guatemalan “Goodbye” 47 Musk of Tesla 48 Predatory swimmers 50 Dutch cheese 51 Channel that aired Mad Men 54 Itinerary preposition 55 Any of a biblical septet 59 What many free apps have 60 Lofty area of a house 61 Michael of Going in Style 62 Big name in jeans 63 Homes in trees 64 Luxury hotel chain DOWN 1 Supersonic speed measure 2 Taj Mahal city 3 Ant bait brand 4 Low, like lights 5 Tailor’s lines 6 Scarecrow’s pal 7 Court fig.

8 Japanese for “yes” 9 Out of date 10 Vessels for ocular solutions

1 Oversimplified conception 1 12 “___ I a Woman?” (Sojourner Truth speech) 13 Walk in water 18 Luxury hotel chain 23 Sports org. hidden in “great play” 24 Soft cheese 25 Highest point 26 Squad car drivers 27 One giving a pep talk 28 Appear before the Supreme Court, say 29 “Old MacDonald” refrain 30 Lucy van Pelt’s brother 31 Acronym of urgency 32 ___-a-brac 36 Deck, in a ring 37 Crunch sources in some brownies 38 Project Apollo destination 40 High-tech diagnostic tool 41 Food processor?

43 Nutrition spec 44 Military doctors 45 Actor Rickman 48 Racecourse shape 49 Go on horseback

0 Fix an error in, e.g.

5 51 Where Jordan is 52 Coin producer 53 Tech news site 56 Downed, in a sense 57 Shares on Twitter, informally 58 ___ it on the line

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Relationships BusinessMirror

Friday, May 8, 2020

How cafés, bars, gyms, barbershops and other ‘third places’ create our social fabric

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By Setha Low Cuny Graduate Center

OCIAL distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic implies many painful losses.

Among them are so-called third places—the restaurants, bars, gyms, houses of worship, barbershops and other places we frequent that are neither work nor home.

The third place is a concept in sociology and urban planning that recognizes the role these semi-public, semi-private places play in fostering social association, community identity and civic engagement. In giving people a familiar setting for social interaction among regulars, they encourage “place attachment”—that is, the bond between a person and a place.

Now, experiencing the coronavirus from the fortress of our living spaces, we may enjoy the feeling of being in a haven that protects against this invisible new enemy. But we’ve lost the social and psychological intimacy of third places.

It is a significant loss. My three decades of research on urban spaces finds that both public spaces and third places contribute to a healthy and flourishing society.

PLACES TO ‘FEEL AT HOME’ THIRD spaces have probably always existed. From attending social clubs and religious gatherings to neighborhood festivals and burial societies, people have long formed associations that bring groups together. Most of these associations reflected genealogical, religious, gender, cultural or class homogeneity. Often, they were formed to fulfill a social function like raising funds or completing a group task. They were not necessarily geographically located in a particular place.

Contemporary third places, in contrast, are always space-based. When urbanists use the term, they’re referring to a physical setting with a boundary or entrance designed to allow, even encourage, access to a variety of people—like a coffee shop with a bright sign and an open door. Staff and regulars are part of the scene here. But so are strangers. While not as diverse or accessible as public spaces, third places rely on a certain amount of heterogeneity to convey social importance and bring vitality.

In this way, third places complement public spaces like parks, plazas, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks—free and open places that offer contact, cooperation and even conflict with a range of mostly unknown people.

If public spaces expand our social relationships and liberalize our world view, third places anchor us to a community where we are recognized and our needs accommodated. Third places are predictable and comfortable—a setting where we feel “at home.”

‘IT IS NOT THE SAME’ THOSE sheltering in place are now missing their third places acutely. Recently, I spoke with some young men who are still gathering in a local state park near my home. They were sharing a pizza, hidden from view.

They told me how hard it is not to be able to hang out at the pizza shop itself. It was their third place.

Grace, an older friend of mine from Manhattan, told me she feels “cut off” because she can’t go to the neighborhood restaurant where she knows the chef by name and enjoys sitting at the bar after work.

I still get coffee every morning at the Golden Pear

on the east end of Long Island, where I live, wearing a mask and gloves. Normally, I’d eat breakfast there while exchanging greetings and conversing in English and Spanish with friends and staff.

Now I take my coffee to an empty beach to drink.

It is not the same. As my colleague Judy Ling Wong observes, from London, where she lives alone, this lockdown is a time of “severe disorientation.”

Phoning friends has almost a “ritualistic feel to it,” she writes. It is “done to maintain our hold on social connections.”

GATED AGAINST CORONAVIRUS OUR collective loneliness during the pandemic exposes how dependent we are on one another for happiness—and how interconnected we really are.

Healthy societies depend on continuing interaction among people who are different in a multiplicity of ways. Third places are prime venues for such interactions because our shared enjoyment of its services—a love of coffee, music, or for working out—assures that even strangers have at least one thing in common. I have studied people who live in

gated communities—places bereft of such diverse interactions. I found that even in a supposedly secured space, they worry about crime and feel anxiety when they walk outside the gates of their neighborhood. Children who grow up in such places learn, implicitly or intentionally, to fear those who are outside the walls, including their own families’ workers, nannies or delivery people.

Because of the potential of contagious strangers, the coronavirus creates a similar us-versus-them mentality. Without third places and public spaces where people come into regular contact with others outside their circle, such thinking can become ingrained. It can metastasize from prudent public health advice to paranoia and prejudice.

The coronavirus, in other words, challenges not only our physical, mental and economic health but also our social health. Third places provide the daily glue that binds us to a particular location and to the people who frequent it. With them, we construct a chosen community, a broader public realm. Without them, I worry, the associations that weave a complex society together will fray. THE CONVERSATION

There are dark days before us

Shang celebrates Mother’s Day safely with #SlayAtHomeMom SPENDING more time with mom at home has nurtured our appreciation for her and everything she does. Those who are bravely serving at the front lines are no doubt especially missing her warm and comforting presence to get through the daily grind.

Whether mom is close by or not, she should feel all the love she deserves on a day just for her.

Shangri-La Plaza is helping everyone celebrate Mother’s Day online with Slay at Home Mom, a special promotion to honor the most important women in our lives.

Ongoing until May 9, the Shang invites everyone to come up with appreciation posts about their moms.

Just post two photos side-by-side, one showing your mom and her usual self at home and another with her all dressed and made up. Write about how much you love your mom, expressing your gratitude for everything she’s done for you.

Tag @shangrilaplazaofficial, keep your post public, and add the hashtags #SlayAtHomeMom and #CelebrateMomAtShang. The three best posts are set to win exciting prizes from Beauty Buffet.

Winners will be announced on May 10, and prizes are to be claimed at the Beauty Buffet store once the Shang reopens.

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

PRIOR to 1987, when I graduated from the university, I didn’t think I would end up in journalism.

Sure, I had joined the official student publication (first as a cub reporter, then moving up to become one of its editors), but I was also in the Student Council, flirting briefly with becoming a student politician.

By my sophomore year, I had already enrolled in the Communications Arts program, still unsure of pursuing journalism. My only qualification I thought then was that I knew how to speak and write in grammatically correct English, hahaha.

But as a child, I already picked up the habit of reading the newspaper, probably because this was what the grown-ups in the family did in the morning.

I remember flipping open the inky newsprint pages of Daily Express and Manila Bulletin, and perusing their contents and photos still in the grainy black-andwhite of the day.

My father was the consummate news nut, reading the papers from cover to cover while smoking away, as he sat on our despicable green sofa upholstered in a fabric that would stick to our sweaty under-thighs when the weather turned hot and steamy.

Growing up under Marcos’s martial rule, what little news we could get from newspapers or the TV were basically propaganda from the Palace. (On TV, only news anchor’s Tony Zorrilla’s eyes briefly rolling back into his head would betray the bullshit he was forced to read.)

Of course, at eight years old, I wouldn’t have known better that the newspapers in the 1970s only printed news that would please the Palace resident and his cronies. The only exceptions were WE Forum, a fortnightly publication critical of the Marcos administration; and BusinessDay, considered fair to the administration but not a pushover in chronicling the goings-on in the growing business sector. (Suffice to say, both publications didn’t ever appear in my parents’ home. In fact, I would not pick up a copy of WE Forum and BusinessDay until I got to the university

in 1983.)

So to a large extent, majority of Philippine newspapers were part of the government propaganda machinery until 1986, when the Marcoses escaped Malacañang and People Power installed Corazon C. Aquino as president after the snap elections were marred by cheating allegations. I was fortunate that in my first job as a journalist, the country had returned to its real democratic roots and media companies were given a free hand in pursuing the news stories they wanted, not dictated by any of Marcos’s cronies or his Information Minister. By 1989, there were some 27 daily newspapers, compared to only four under the Marcos regime.

Today, there are only eight dailies, each one struggling for advertisers, amid a reduction in print circulation as more readers opt to get their news from the Internet.

Despite the business risks in our profession, I still believe the news media will continue to thrive. People have a constant need for information and chronicles of current events, and they demand these be delivered to them in whatever form or medium. We don’t live in a vacuum (although I know many who try to live this way, avoiding to read/hear the news and delve into politics), and we will always have a thirst or desire to know what’s happening in our communities, our country, or the world.

But the dark days have returned, and aside from financial risks, Philippine media now faces challenges to its right to freely express its ideas and to report the news. The government’s shutdown of ABS-CBN’s broadcasting facilities due to the lapse in its congressional franchise is an example of those challenges. Suddenly, it feels like life under the Marcoses all over again.

Let me just say that ABS-CBN’s publishing arm adopted me when I had nowhere to go. I had just arrived from a one-year stint on Saipan (where I was business editor of what essentially was as a community paper), and I was still trying to regain my footing in local media. Although I was nowhere near the media company’s newsroom (nor its entertainment division), introducing one’s self as writing for ABS-CBN to officials and chief executives I was assigned to interview still felt like a badge of honor.

It spoke of the hard work, discipline and passion that went into writing of features and investigative pieces. (One of those important stories I was assigned was a lengthy look into the Chiong sisters’ murder case.) But even in its lifestyle and entertainment

magazines (ably overseen then by the ingenious yet soft-spoken Thelma Sioson San Juan), ABS-CBN strove to be different, clever and truthful.

I don’t know how many journalists in ABS-CBN were like me in their youth, not planning a career in the profession but slowly seduced by its charms.

Through journalism, I have met a great number of important people, writing about their lives, their thoughts, and their impact on the worlds of politics or business. It has also brought me to many parts of the globe, giving me insights on how others live and shape their society. Looking back now on my entire career in the industry, I have never regretted my decision to have joined it.

And despite the sword of Damocles that had hung over its company these past months, along with the challenging Covid-19 conditions, its 11,000 employees continued to work, its journalists and broadcasters still delivering the news and information we craved for daily.

So while the lights in the ABS-CBN newsroom have temporarily dimmed, the rest of us who remain free to publish or air the news must keep holding up the torch for truth as we tread that path to be able to return to real democracy and freedom.

Make Mother’s Day special with Araneta City’s #HERoesInTheCity

THE Covid-19 crisis doesn’t stop Araneta City in paying tribute to all moms this Mother’s Day. Join the center as it hosts a series of online activities dedicated to all #HERoesInTheCity through a special Mother’s Day offering on its official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ AranetaCity).

Catch for free the four-part #HERoesInTheCity workshops on Facebook and take part in interesting discussions with invited experts. On May 9, Araneta City teams up with esteemed physicians as they provide useful advice on nutrition and health (2 pm) and skin maintenance (5 pm). And on May 10, improve skills through an online cooking show in partnership with Clara Ole (3 pm), and get some practical insights from “mompreneur” celebrity LJ Moreno (5 pm).

Lucky viewers will also get a chance to win free grocery packs via an online raffle. Simply watch the Facebook video workshops, and tag three friends who are moms in the comments section to be part of the raffle.

Download the Araneta City app to stay updated about these exciting virtual events and other live online happenings for the entire ECQ period.

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B6 Friday, May 8, 2020

Cardinal Santos Medical Center frontliners find home in LSGH’s Project Safe Shelter

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IFTY medical professionals and health workers from the Cardinal Santos Medical Center (CSMC) in San Juan found refuge at the La Salle Green Hills (LSGH) as part of its Project Safe Shelter, an initiative that provides accommodations to the frontliners in need of rest and recuperation amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The temporary CSMC guests joined the frontliners from The Medical City (TMC), who have been staying in the institution for over four weeks.

Since the beginning of the quarantine period, the De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) has partnered with hospitals in the metro. The De La Salle University (DLSU) has supported the staff of Ospital ng Maynila, while the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) has assisted the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) by opening their campus doors as provisional shelters.

The institutions follow safety and

hygiene protocols by the Department of Health, from social distancing and regular checking of temperature to the usage of decontamination mist tents, hand sanitizers, and hospital-grade disinfectants.

In addition to shelter, daily breakfast and snacks, psychological support service via phone or online, and spiritual support through prayers and reflections through online activities are provided.

The Sandejas Gym of DLS-CSB and DLSU Enrique M. Razon Sports Center have served as havens for the homeless.

AC Energy Inc., the energy platform of the Ayala Corporation, has partnered with DLSP to cover the electricity cost of the designated facilities in LSGH and DLSCSB. The Ayala firm donated additional supplies such as mattresses and pillows for the benefit of the frontliners.

DLSP likewise feeds the homeless residing in the Manila North Cemetery and other areas in Metro Manila and

in nearby provinces through the Isang Libo, Kada Uno donation drive. Together with Lasallian East Asia District Brother Visitor Br. Armin Luistro FSC, they encourage Lasallians and non-Lasallians alike to donate PHP 1,000 each to provide food packs for a family of five for a week. Isang Libo, Kada Uno supports the vulnerable sectors immensely affected by the enhanced community quarantine and who are not qualified for the social amelioration program and the cash assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

For inquiries, contact LSGH-Safe Shelter Project Heads Br. Alex Diaz FSC (Internals) at +63917 7033184 and Keane Palatino (Externals) at +63 908 8178734.

To support the Project Safe Shelter in LSGH, concerned cash donors may deposit or online transfer to the following bank accounts: Union Bank Philippines Greenhills Branch (Account number: 107030004653); BDO Ortigas Avenue, Wilson Branch (Account Number: 001558030814; Swift Code: NORPHMM; Contact Person: Mike Marcos at +63 905 270 6297); and Bank of the Philippine Islands (Account Number: 3101100277; Contact Person: Cat Garza at +63 917 859 1003). Kindly send a copy of the deposit slip or transfer confirmation with your name through Viber at +63 915 390 8222.

The institution accepts in-kind donations. Drop-off point is at the Gate 2 of La Salle Green Hills along Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong City.

For DLSU grad students, learning goes on

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HE Enhanced Community Quarantine has brought to the surface a range of learning issues for university students, from accessing reliable internet connection to absorbing the online delivery of lessons. Add these to anxieties about one’s health and resources during the pandemic and new work rhythms, students are finding themselves unable to focus on schoolwork and their priorities shifting in major ways. Some have been overwhelmed and frustrated to a point of giving up on further work for the remainder of the term.

However, for a small population of learners in DLSU, one accustomed to independent study, tight deadlines, and evening classes piled on top of job and personal responsibilities, learning goes on.

They are the graduate students of DLSU, a resilient group that appears to be adapting well, in various ways, to this difficult time.

Kat Luzon, a PhD student of Biology and DOST scholar who is working on her dissertation, narrates the effects of the pandemic and quarantine on her work. "DLSU has been very generous in easing deadlines and guidelines on grading this term, but as a government scholar, I still have to be faithful to my time table and fulfill deliverables to my funding agency. One of the challenges that most graduate students like me have is figuring out the logistics of fieldwork. We have to visit sites on a regular basis, in provinces which are inaccessible now. Another challenge is the recent budget cuts on our project funding."

She admits that the current setup works for students like her who are writing their dissertation.

However, feelings of anxiety and uncertainty due to the pandemic have made it harder to focus on writing lately, an experience she shares with others in her class.

On top of schoolwork, she has to look after her family by doing outdoor errands and most of the household chores. Yet she pushes on with a singular goal, to defend her dissertation proposal in the next available opportunity. “Despite delays brought on by the pandemic, we still have to face our responsibilities as graduate students,” she concludes.

Still, not everyone experiences difficulty to focus. Some students are finding their center through school work. Thomas Miranda, a first year student of Master in Information Technology, finds himself taking on class requirements with renewed vigor. “I suddenly have a lot of energy to tackle my research paper. I cling to it as the only semblance of normal left in this situation,” he explains.

Grad students are provided access to all the research resources that the University can provide.

The University Library offers free access to a number of online journals, media, webinars, and other resources that Lasallians can tap anywhere using

BPI-Philam makes it easier to get insured amid COVID-19 crisis

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ANCASSURANCE leader BPIPhilam Life adapts to digital insurance selling to continue protecting lives even amid the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), thus allowing BPI account holders to purchase insurance plans from the safety of their homes. This move was endorsed by the Insurance Commission when it recently issued guidelines on remote selling to enable companies to continue service despite the impracticability of sales while on lockdown.

In its race against risk and to encourage customers and employees to comply with social distancing protocols, BPI-Philam, with the help of its parent company AIA Philam Life, has begun utilizing its iPoS (Interactive Point-of-Sale) end-toend selling platform in a purely digital fashion. BPI-Philam’s Bancassurance Sales Executives (BSEs) used to work with this iPad-based technology onsite in helping customers assess their personal needs and risk profile to ultimately guide them in finding the most suitable insurance product considering these factors. With the digital selling directive, BSEs touch base with customers via the communication and collaboration platform Microsoft Teams. They then pull out product information from the iPoS and from there, the application process is fully digitalized, with submission of identification documents and required signatures, as well as verification of the same, covered through BPI-Philam’s electronic KnowYour-Customer capabilities.

In addition to iPoS, after sales services are also assured through iCare, a customer service platform that allows BSEs to interact with their clients for any queries and concerns. For customers who wish to access their accounts to personally manage and monitor transactions, they can do so anytime with the online platform ePlan that houses all their digitized documents available 24/7. All these digital platforms were designed to empower both consumers and BSEs to achieve hassle-free transactions during the quarantine.

“Due to the pandemic, we’ve seen an increased sense of need for life and health insurance among the public in the past few months, and BPI-Philam understands that the implementation of the ECQ makes it inaccessible to them. As an insurance company, we are also delivering basic

services to the public and we are fully committed in helping people achieve healthier, longer, and better lives even as we are in extraordinary circumstances,” said BPI-Philam Chief Executive Officer Surendra Menon.

The digitalization of its products maintains BPI-Philam’s mission to close the insurance gap in the country by offering accessible and affordable life insurance to Filipino families to protect them from financial difficulties due to unforeseen events. This is another step towards BPI-Philam’s digital transformation journey, which is mainly focused on providing convenience and seamless interaction to its customers.

“With the BPI-Philam workforce and operations adapting to the necessary measures called on by this challenging time, we establish that the safety of our clients, employees, and partners remains to be our top priority. Despite this, we make sure that business continuity and normalcy are delivered and that our commitment to our mission is never compromised. As we move forward, BPIPhilam will always be innovating and adapting accordingly,” added Menon.

Philam Group amid the pandemic As the entire Philam Group collectively reassures its clients and employees by meeting their needs during this difficult time, the corporation takes part in efforts to address the needs of medical frontliners who put their lives at risk every day just to fulfill their sworn oaths. The Philam Group includes AIA Philam Life and its affiliate companies BPI-Philam, Philam Asset Management Inc. (PAMI), and the Philam Foundation.

In line with this, the Philam Group will be providing 30,000 medical frontliners with free compassionate benefit coverage amounting to a combined worth of Php1.5 billion. The beneficiary hospitals are the designated COVID-19 treatment hospitals, both government and private, as well as partner hospitals nationwide. The program, called the Frontliners Inclusive Risk Safety neT (FIRST) Initiative, will course the grant through Philam Group’s corporate social responsibility affiliate, Philam Foundation.

Customers interested to know more or avail of BPI-Philam’s wide range of insurance products may get in touch through the website <https://www.bpiphilam.com/en/index.html>.

Six considerations for business continuity in the Age of Telecommuting

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their student email accounts. This takes care of the need to be physically present in school premises to do research, analyze data, discuss with peers, or prepare presentations.

Similarly, DLSU educators are equipped to work remotely with their students. Even before the pandemic, Philosophy Department Associate Professor Dr. Noelle Leslie Dela Cruz has been using Canvas, a digital platform that the University has long encouraged its professors to use, to mentor her students in writing their master’s thesis proposals.

“Canvas lets them submit their drafts to me, which I can then easily comment on digitally, and send back to them. The system is really efficient. Even though I don’t see them face to face, it’s as though they were submitting their papers to me and I was literally writing on these for my comments. Canvas also helps me set up a nest system of deadlines,” she shares.

Aby Maraño, a Philippine Media Studies graduate student working on her thesis finds the inherent design of grad school, which is paced for part-time students, helpful in this time. The typical graduate student in DLSU enrolls in only six units or two courses per term. These units are taken up in classes that are held twice to three times a week, in the evening, or the whole Saturday. The set up is especially relevant to Aby, a full-time professional athlete and member of the national women’s volleyball team. Her job frequently takes her to various cities around the world for training and competition.

“Grad school is not designed to run your life. You are expected to keep a job and continue whatever you do in your personal life. You are expected to balance all of these,” she says.

Graduate students also enjoy small classes that allow for better interaction with professors, whether online or in person.

One of the definitive qualities of DLSU grad school that may also be helping students adjust to the pandemic is that activities are designed to complement one’s work, job, or business and not compete with it.

Bank Business and Operations Support Manager Myra De Leon, who is taking up a PhD in Business as a scholar, talks about merging work and class experiences.

She says, “With concepts and theories learned in school and read from various journals, we are able to evaluate theories, analyze behavior, and discover patterns in real scenarios. If you do it right, you hit two birds with one stone by solving problems in the office and contributing to a body of knowledge as a researcher.”

DLSU Graduate Studies goes by “Beyond higher learning”, a slogan that grad students are able to apply well during this pandemic. They do that by using their academic training to improve their personal and career situations as well as others’. Their discipline to honor commitments and capacity to adjust to challenges are indicators of their ability to endure and are perhaps the best example of learning beyond the four walls of the classroom.

CROSS industries, organizations are now relying on telecommuting more than ever. While it has its short-term benefits, business leaders must also leverage the technology in a way that will lead to new opportunities and advancements down the line. In the world of cybersecurity, telecommuting is not considered to be a catalyst for revolutionary change in how organizations architect the security of their networks. Instead, it is seen as a catalyst for evolutionary change that could lead organizations and security leaders to an advanced position. In other words, the security decisions intended to support telecommuting could also help to build resiliency to defend against future cyberattacks.

Below are six considerations for business leaders as they work to execute workforce-enabling goals, allowing their organizations to flourish securely when outside of traditional headquarters while avoiding substantial capital costs for new buildings.

1. Enable Snoop-Resistant Connectivity.

Teleworkers can connect to their organizations remotely with virtual private network (VPN) software. This software, which is likely already included on the employee’s endpoint computer, will enable snoop-resistant connectivity to remote company applications and data, ensuring maximum protection of assets.

2. Employ Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Considering the lack of security controls in place when employees are working remotely, multi-factor authentication (MFA) is critical to protecting data. MFA could come in the form of combining something the remote user possesses – like a “token” on a cell phone – with something this person knows – like a password. This strategy will provide an extra level of security that ensures the user is the authorized employee he or she claims to be.

3. Leverage Wireless Access Points

and Firewalls. Business leaders looking to enhance their telecommuting strategies further should consider leveraging easy-todeploy wireless access points and firewalls to remote worksites. Pre-configured before they are shipped, these solutions can be automatically set up on-site via zerotouch deployment functionality, ensuring business continuity and support for those remote workers who need additional performance and functionality.

4. Increase Agility of Communication Paths. Centralized offices typically feature always-on, dedicated communication links at their headquarters to accommodate the large number of users seated there.

With SD-WAN, companies can agilely and securely choose the best communication path for their users at any given time.

This strategy supports the changing communications patterns of remote workers, especially as telecommuting becomes more commonplace.

5. Get the Most Out of the Cloud.

Teams that no longer have access to their headquarters’ desktop computers can deploy software applications in the cloud that look and perform like those on their computers in the office. The addition of cybersecurity solutions, such as the ability to support secure SSL connections from any browser to the cloud, enable users to securely access these applications and related data stored in the cloud without increasing complexity for the users or the security operations team.

6. Focus on Self-Improvement. One benefit of telecommuting is the extra time that comes from not having to drive into the office every day. Business leaders and their employees should take the time to learn something new or simply refresh their knowledge – one example is taking an online cybersecurity training course to get ahead of the game. By taking the time typically spent commuting to expand their knowledge, individuals can build skills that could be extremely useful down the line.

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao

Sports BusinessMirror

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The Associated Press

HE National Basketball Association (NBA) says some players can voluntarily return to their team practice facilities starting Friday, with some very specific conditions and only in places where local and state governments have signed off on such openings.

It’s unclear how many players will be back on the floor Friday when the league ban gets lifted. Miami is allowed to open its doors for the first time in six weeks but won’t until at least Monday while it works out certain logistical details. Orlando isn’t going to welcome players back immediately either. Same goes for Utah, the first NBA team to deal with the coronavirus after Rudy Gobert tested positive March 11 and the league shut down almost immediately. And most teams aren’t allowed to open yet to because of local rules.

Basketball hasn’t been played in two months and the league, the teams and the players still seem to have a universal desire to get back to work, finish this season and crown a champion. But, perhaps mindful of challenges other leagues have faced in their efforts to resume play amid a coronavirus pandemic that has shut down the sports world,

the NBA seems to be moving with extreme caution.

“The biggest goal is to have the confidence of the players and the staff that they can enter the facility safely,” Utah General Manager Dennis Lindsey said.

Simultaneously, everybody wants to play, and everybody wonders if it’s safe to play. It’s like all parties involved know that a major misstep now could doom any realistic chance of playing anytime in the next few months.

“Our task force at the league is studying how do we get back to playing basketball again, following the data, looking at every possible model,” Magic CEO Alex Martins said this week while addressing an Orlando-area economic forum.

And opening the practice courts is only Phase One. Phase Two, who knows when that will come. It’s not imminent.

Games are not close. Getting players back into facilities is not a precursor to games being played, it’s more about keeping them out of public gyms and playgrounds that are starting to reopen. Positive tests during individual training or practices could delay or destroy plans for games.

There are some reasons for hope. The NBA is still working toward a plan to test players if the season resumes. It has exchanged data with leagues across the world, and there have been some success stories.

Baseball is being played again in South Korea. Major

League Soccer (MLS) teams returned to fields Wednesday for workouts with restrictions. Germany’s top soccer league has allowed players to return to training facilities, even though some staff and players have tested positive.

It’s the NBA’s turn to start seeing where it stands.

“There’s been this unprecedented collaboration and communication among scientists across the world right now,” said Dr. John DiFiori, the NBA’s Director of Sports Medicine. “What’s going on sports medicine sort of parallels that at a much different level of course. But there is an awful lot of that going on across the world right now. It’s at least daily communication in one way, shape or another with colleagues across the world in all these different leagues, because we’re all learning from each other.”

The rules that NBA teams will have to adhere to when they resume even the voluntary workouts are like none previously put in place. A 12-feet buffer between everyone, one player per basket, one ball per basket, no more than four players in the facility at once. Everyone must wear masks and gloves, the lone exception being players while they work out. Every player must undergo cardiac screening before resuming voluntary workouts.

Spalding, which makes NBA basketballs, has even developed a plan that has been sent to teams for how to clean the balls after workouts: wipe them down with a

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solution made from a quarter-teaspoon of dish soap like Dawn mixed with a gallon of water, then further wipe them down with just water, allow them to air dry, then spray the balls with a disinfectant.

“We’re all analyzing information and talking through what-ifs and trying to learn little details that could make a difference,” DiFiori said. “It’s literally a constant, daily process.”

Cleveland is among the teams planning to open its doors to players Friday, along with Portland and Denver. By next week, a few teams will have players back at work and getting shots up again.

“We will be opening up in a soft opening...at some point, soon,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in a chat on the NBA’s Twitter channel Wednesday night. “There’s a flickering of a light that we’re all feeling right now, but I think it’s also important that we all stay extremely aware and vigilant as we take these incremental steps forward.”

If all goes right, most teams may be back within two or three weeks. Maybe in June, they can practice. Maybe in July, the season can resume. There are countless hurdles to clear by then, the testing issue foremost among them. It is far from certain that the season gets saved.

But getting back onto the court is a good first step, even if the NBA is taking baby steps on the way there.

Taiwan baseball league set to allow fans back in ballparks Giro, Vuelta to overlap in new T UCI ’20 calendar

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RUSSELS—The three biggest races in cycling will take place in a 72-day span, starting with the Tour de France at the end of August and finishing with the Spanish Vuelta in November.

The Spanish race and the Giro d’Italia will even overlap, assuming competition resumes this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced its revised calendar on Tuesday, nearly two months after the virus brought bike racing to a halt.

According to the latest plans, which can be amended if the health crisis continues, the Tour de France’s start remains slated for August 29 in the Riviera city of Nice. The season is now expected to end after the Spanish Vuelta on November 8.

“If we manage to have all these races as planned, we will be very happy,” UCI President David Lappartient said in conference call. “This is the ambition we have.”

The major races on the women’s circuit have also been maintained, and the UCI announced the debut of a female Paris-Roubaix on October 25—the same day as the men’s event.

Lappartient said it is crucial for team sponsors in need of visibility that the three Grands Tours—the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Spanish Vuelta—and the most prestigious one-day classics take place this year. Unlike many other sports which rely on TV rights, cycling’s business model depends on the sponsors channeling money into professional teams.

“If it does not happen, it could plunge our sport in a rather catastrophic situation,” Lappartient said. “As it stands, we have three months of racing with cycling’s most beautiful events.”

The new WorldTour calendar includes 25 events after only five races were held at the beginning of the season. The Giro d’Italia will run from October 3 to 25 and overlap with the Spanish Vuelta and prestigious one-day races LiegeBastogne-Liege, the Amstel Gold Race, Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders. The Spanish Vuelta has already been cut short to 18 stages and will start on October 20, five days before Paris-Roubaix.

The organizers of the Giro said it made different proposals for scheduling races but they were not adopted.

“In order to save and safeguard the important heritage of cycling races, some sacrifices had to be made considering the short time span within which we could include all the season’s races,” RCS Sport said in a statement. “We made a number of alternative proposals which, in our opinion, would have resulted in reduced overlaps among races in the calendar.

“However, we believe this result is important for the restart, especially at this time, given the dramatic health situation that is affecting all areas of our lives.”

Lappartient said the overlap of the Giro and the Vuelta was inevitable because the Spanish race could not start too late into the season for safety reasons.

“The Vuelta takes place in the Pyrenees mountains, by mid-November the climatic risks—with snow, and daylight ending earlier—are too big,” he said. “We had no other choice than an overlap.”

Racing is now expected to resume on August 1 with the Strade Bianche in Italy, followed by the postponed Milan San Remo classic on August 8.

The world championships are planned for September 20 to 27 in Switzerland but organizers have said a final decision will be taken in late June, depending on whether public gatherings of more than 1,000 people are still prohibited in the country. AP

AIPEI, Taiwan—Fans will be allowed to enter baseball stadiums for games in Taiwan for the first time this season as part of a gradual easing of restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The China Professional Baseball League (CPBL) said up to 1,000 people would be permitted to enter ballparks from Friday after an agreement between the league and Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center.

Other baseball leagues around the world were still suspended last month when games began in Taiwan in empty stadiums. South Korea’s league commenced this week, also without fans in the stands.

“One month has elapsed since the start of play on April 11. With the unity and cooperation of the government and the people, the epidemic in Taiwan has eased,” the CPBL said on its official web site. “Welcome back fans!”

The CPBL said it would continue to maintain high levels of epidemic prevention policies in order to “let baseball gradually return to Chinese life.”

Taiwan’s five-team Chinese Professional Baseball League

has been barring spectators over concerns of spreading the coronavirus in a crowded space. But Taiwan has relatively few cases of Covid-19, so the league decided last month it was safe to let in players, coaches, cheerleaders, costumed mascots, face mask-wearing batboys and the media.

To keep fans watching on their phones, PCs and TVs, the league encouraged teams to give their stadiums a realistic, lively feel. That’s where the placards on the seats and

cheerleaders come in. Online game commentary has been broadcast in English as well as Chinese this year in case fans overseas want to watch a live season.

In Taiwan’s Taoyuan city, the Rakuten Monkeys charmed fans by placing 40 mannequins in the stands—to be sent to local clothing stores once their duties are done.

The Monkeys, last season’s champions, deploy six robots to bang drums along with the cheerleaders. AP

SK WYVERN’S cheerleaders cheer for their team during a game between Hanwha Eagles and SK Wyverns in Incheon, South Korea, on Tuesday. With umpires fitted with masks and cheerleaders dancing beneath vast rows of empty seats, a new baseball season goes underway in South Korea following a weeks-long delay because of the coronavirus pandemic. AP

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Fighter Kyle Daukaus (right) exercises with his brother and training partner, Chris Daukaus, at Pleasant Hill Park in Philadelphia. AP

ORLD champion Nesthy Petecio couldn’t wait for the government to lift the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

And she could hardly wait any longer to hug her mom Prescilla when she gets home to Davao when the “new normal” with less restrictions on travel is enforced.

“The first thing I’ll do is book a [plane] ticket home,” Petecio, the women’s boxing world featherweight champion, told BusinessMirror on Thursday. “And once I get home, I’ll hug my mom and ask her to cook pork adobo and gorge on my favorite food.”

Petecio has all the reasons to miss home. She and a dozen or so of her teammates, including Tokyo Olympicsbound Irish Magno, were stranded in Baguio City since the ECQ was enforced last March 14.

The team that saw action in the Olympic qualifiers in Amman, Jordan, and were forced to undergo quarantine during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Petecio said she and her teammates settled for sardines at certain times in Baguio City, one of the cities which imposed extreme ECQ during the pandemic.

“I will go home because I miss my family so much. I will also check the house that I’m building,” she said.

Besides her family and adobo, Petecio said she wants to pamper herself after the quarantine.

“I’m also excited to get my haircut, and have an appointment with my dentist. Maybe some facial [care], too,” the 28-year-old boxer, who won gold in the worlds in Ulan Ude, Russia, last year but missed a ticket to Tokyo in the Amman qualifiers said.

Petecio has since owed to go all out in upcoming qualifiers for Tokyo but said she has to double her effort in getting in shape because of quarantine protocols that forced her to train alone.

Like Petecio, Magno also plans to travel to her hometown in Iloilo and spend time with his father.

Kurt Barbosa, a finweight gold medalist in taekwondo in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, wants to hit the gym when protocols are relaxed.

“After ECQ, I want to go to the gym with my teammates. I need to get back to training and maybe pull a sparring,” he said.

“But besides the gym, maybe a trip to the buffet or some korean barbeque will be tops on my list,” he added.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

WORLD champion Nesthy Petecio is seen hugging her mom Prescilla in one of her social-media photos.

Regional MMA fighters face hazy pro future inside cage HILADELPHIA—Kyle Daukaus could use a job. The Philadelphia native seeks manual labor work to earn money while on a break from the kind of profession not often noted on LinkedIn: the undefeated middleweight champion of regional MMA promotion Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC).

“As far as fighting,” Daukaus said, “I can’t do anything.”

Outside of UFC, the mixed martial arts world has largely shut down, leaving thousands of prospects like the 27-yearold Daukaus out of work and with little idea when the cage door will open again.

There’s nowhere to fight—the regional scene has

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NESTHY MISSES MOM’S ADOBO

NBA TAKING ‘BABY STEPS’

By Tim Reynolds

Friday, May 8, 2020

vanished during the coronavirus pandemic—and their gyms are shuttered. So Daukaus does what he can, taking to a nearby park for sprints on empty parking lots and pounding pads with his brother in the garage of his Philly home. Far from the millions top MMA fighters earn with each massive pay-per-view fight, Daukaus is paid by CFFC almost on commission—the more tickets he sells to friends and family for one of his fight nights, the more cash he can earn.

And in this climate, there’s nothing to sell.

Cage Fury has postponed its scheduled cards, as have most of the larger MMA promotions such as Bellator, One Championship and the Professional Fighters League.

The promotional drought has left fighters scurrying for a nibble of whatever open preliminary bouts might be available on a UFC card.

Hector Castro, a fight manager with Empire Sports Management, said UFC has tightened the ship on which outliers are offered deals. But his phone is buzzing from the pleas of his stable of roughly 20 fighters who crave a fight with any promotion.

“Everybody wants to get in there,” he said. “But the major issue is, they want to be smart about it. They understand this is how they make a living. But a lot of them also see the opportunity.”

Daukaus is among the fighters looking to seize the moment. He fought on the UFC “Contender Series” and nearly scored a contract with the company. There’s a chance he could earn another crack at UFC if he lands a spot on the next “Contender” if it goes through with a summer taping.

“He texts me almost every other day, ‘Hey, tell [UFC] I’m ready,’” Castro said. “Tell the Bellator guys, ‘Hey, I want this guy.’ I’m like, listen, bro. It’s quiet right now. There’s nothing going on. Let’s hope we can get back to work and these guys can make a living. The longer we go, the longer the line goes. You’re only allowed 12 fights, 15 fights a card. You’re at the bottom of the totem pole.”

With no money stream, fighters are more willing than ever to gamble with their health and fight during the outbreak.

“Will they risk getting sick? I’m sure 90 percent would,” Castro said. “The mentally strong are going to survive this.”

Daukaus normally trained twice daily with jiu-jitsu sessions in the morning and practicing other mixed martial arts skills at night. He taught kickboxing classes at a Philly gym and worked out with a strength and conditioning coach in New Jersey. He now relies on weights in his basement and shadow boxing to stay fit, mixing in the occasional sparring sessions with his older brother, a fellow MMA fighter and Philadelphia police officer.

Daukaus was trained by former Bellator fighter Will

Martinez, who opened his Brazilian jiu-jitsu school nearly 10 years ago in Philadelphia. He shut the doors in mid-March and his empty gym has become another casualty of the pandemic.

“Ten years may be going down the drain,” Martinez said. “How many schools and places like us are in the same predicament? I can’t really dwell on it. I’ve got to sit back and wait.”

Martinez suspended the accounts of nearly 200 members and wonders how his 3,700-square-foot gym could survive even if it opens under a new era of social distancing.

“Mentally, physically, financially, emotionally, it’s terrible,” he said. “Jiu-jitsu is in a real terrible predicament because we’re not like other gyms where people can keep social distancing and keep 6 feet apart because they have a 30,000-square-foot facility. We can’t do that. So what do we do? There’s no timeframe to our return.”

Daukaus is 9-0 since he turned pro in 2017 and last fought in early February at a casino. He’s generally paid when he weighs in and earns more if he wins his fight, dollar figures nudged higher if ticket sale incentives are met, and a drop in the spit bucket compared to the millions raked in by PPV stars Khabib Nurmagomedov or Conor McGregor.

“It’s a big deal when I have fights here locally, which is good because I have a lot of people coming so I get that extra money,” Daukaus said.

Daukaus is an independent contractor. Unlike pros in the NBA or NHL, two leagues interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic whose players are getting most or all of their regular-season paycheck, Daukaus doesn’t receive a salary and lives at home with his mother, a nurse practitioner with Temple University Hospital.

“I hear about how bad it is at her work,” Daukaus said.

“But for me, it’s very tough not having any income. I know that fighting as a profession is a struggle in the beginning, and I’m fine with struggling like that. But I’m not even guaranteed monthly payments from the gym right now. I’m doing as best as I can to spend as minimal an amount as possible.”

Daukaus had hoped to fight again this month. Instead, he trains at home for a fight that might not happen this year.

“I don’t have a Plan B,” Daukaus said. “If the opportunity comes and I get a call, I’m going to take it.” AP

Motoring BusinessMirror

B8 Friday, May 8, 2020

Toyota making 40,000 units a month–but not cars this time

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NCE again, not only is Toyota proving itself as the world’s No. 1 carmaker. It is now also the leader in spearheading efforts not so much related to vehicle manufacturing: Helping vigorously to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Presently, the company has trained all its guns from engines and chassis to things aimed at fighting head-on the vicious virus wreaking havoc on mankind— surely a most noble gesture unlikely coming, it seems, from a sector not widely known to tinker with medical-laden zones.

Are Toyota’s fellow players, big time or not, watching?

In an item sent to me by Nadinne

Capistrano of Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), she said that Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC) of Japan and the Toyota Group of Cos. are presently engaged in a dynamic endeavor geared toward containing the spread of the deadly virus.

Nadinne said the world-leading carmaker is now in full-scale production of medical face shields in Japan, expanding its production capacity from 500 to 600 units per

Company

Plant

Production capacity

Production start

Toyota Industries Corporation

Kyowa Plant

Approx. 500/day

April 29

Toyota Motor Corporation

Teiho Plant, Motomachi Plant

Approx. 2,000/day

April 13

Toyota Motor East Japan, Inc.

Miyagi Ohira Plant

Approx. 600/day

April 20

week by approximately 20 times to start production of 40,000 units per month.

That is approximately 2,000 units per day, with operations going full blast since April 27.

As of this writing, Toyota also plans to further expand in-house production to approx imately 70,000 pieces per month (approximately 3,600 units per day).

With the frenetic pace of production, done the Toyota way as usual, don’t be surprised if, sooner or later said Nadinne, the antivirus shields will find their way into other countries severely hit by the pandemic.

Among the subsidiaries affiliated with the Toyota Group of Cos. now producing medical face shields include Toyota Motor East Japan Inc., which provided 3,000 units it produced to Miyagi Prefecture on April 20, and Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. (Daihatsu)*1, and Hino Motors Ltd. (Hino), which have all started trial produc-

tion. Daihatsu and Hino now provide medical face shields to medical facilities in their immediate areas.

Additionally, Toyota Industries Corp. plans to produce 10,000 units per month (approximately 500 units per day) from April 29, and Toyota Auto Body Co. Ltd. is furthering considerations toward starting production of medical face shields starting mid-May. Nadinne’s reports said: “The Toyota Group has positioned this initiative for supporting the around-theclock efforts of the frontlines of the medical sector, which are working hard to diagnose and treat patients for Covid-19, as part of Toyota’s Kokoro Hakobu Project.”*2 Going for ward, the Toyota Group intends to prioritize the provision of the medical face shields it produces to medical facilities and local governments in the localities of the various companies of the group.

The main medical face shield

Goodyear presents Zero Contact Policy in its Autocare network

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OODYEAR Philippines’s retail and service center, Goodyear Autocare chain of stores, will be implementing a Zero Contact Policy to ensure the safety and well-being of its associates and customers under the general community quarantine (GCQ).

Following Goodyear Autocare’s recent win in the Reader’s Digest Quality Service Awards, Goodyear Philippines will be adopting a new retail environment that will continue to safely serve the motoring public. Goodyear Philippines has evolved its service model to promote safer retail interactions and sustainable tire sales without compromising safety and service quality.

The Zero Contact Policy will minimize direct contact between store associates and customers to help eliminate the spread of Covid-19. Here’s how it works: n Goodyear customers can contact any Goodyear Autocare stores either through Goodyear Philippines’s Facebook account (https:// facebook.com/goodyearphilippines) or via their local Goodyear Autocare store’s mobile number to book an appointment. At the confirmed appointment, customers should visit their selected Goodyear Au-

tocare store and drop off their vehicle at the designated Zero Contact area. n Goodyear Autocare associates are required to wear personal protective equipment while servicing the customer’s vehicle. They are also required to clean and disinfect all contact points in the vehicle prior to customer turnover.

After servicing and disinfections, the customer will pick-up the vehicle at the Zero Contact area.

At Goodyear Autocare, the health of our associates and customers are our first priority. That is why strict adherence to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are strictly reinforced in all Goodyear Autocare stores nationwide since

the beginning of the pandemic.

These precautionary measures include physical distancing, no physical contact between associates and customers, disinfection of all vehicle touchpoints prior to delivery to customers, and promotion of personal hygiene with hand sanitizers for associates and customers.

Suzuki introduces new online auto loan feature

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UZUKI Philippines Inc. (SPH), the pioneer compact car distributor in the country, brings good news to its avid customers and to those looking into purchasing their own automobile with the new Auto Loan feature found on their official web site. With this new addition to one of its many available services, getting a new car is now a few clicks away!

SPH just launched a new feature on their web site allowing customers to be able to apply for auto loans online. In partnership with banks including Bank of Commerce, Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Bank Savings, EastWest Bank, Maybank, PSBank, RCBC, Robinsons Bank, UCPB, and Yulon Finance, the Auto Loan feature directs customers to their preferred bank’s web site page dedicated for auto loans. Once accomplished by interested patrons, their bank of choice will be able to review and grant them the loans if eligible as they are in operation.

This new online service presented by Suzuki Philippines is an effort to provide ways to serve its customers by being reachable amid the current situation in the country brought upon by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision to launch the online Auto

The Auto Loan feature tab is located along the ribbon of options on its web site’s landing page.

Loan service with the help of dependable financial institutions is rooted from the realization that during this time of uncertainty, consumers are longing for a sense of security and reliability, more than just

the product itself. SPH believes that their vehicles across different segments may provide this longing by staying committed in championing the Suzuki Way of Life! to the Filipino people and relentlessly finding

solutions especially when people are now, more than ever, highly concerned about where to tunnel their investments that will prove to be beneficiary to them even after these challenging times.

production capacities of Toyota Group of Cos. as of April 28 are described in the table below.

Based on the policy to be “mindful of the feelings of those in the midst of this pandemic, reach conclusions more swiftly, make prompt decisions, and take immediate action faster than ever focusing on safety and security as the highest priorities,” Toyota and Toyota Group of Cos. will do what they can to help efforts on the frontlines of treatment and in limiting the further spread of Covid-19, which has become society’s biggest priority.” *1 Including companies of the Daihatsu Group *2 The Kokoro Hakobu Project (with “Kokoro Hakobu” meaning “to carry or deliver one’s heart” in Japanese) has been the collective name of nationwide initiatives

by Toyota, Toyota sales outlets in Japan, and their employees to provide continuous and long-term support to disaster-affected areas

in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The name has the connotation of “carrying you in our hearts.” Based on Toyota’s desire to contribute in some way to people who have contracted and are suffering from Covid-19, as well as to the medical professionals, Japan’s central government, and local governments in Japan fighting the disease night and day, Toyota has decided to apply “The Kokoro Hakobu Project” as its overall moniker for related support activities conducted by companies of the Toyota Group working together.

I pray we will also have more local manufacturing companies doing Toyota’s thing other than San Miguel Corp.?

PEE STOP As of last count, there are reportedly 70 vaccines against the virus being tested in major laboratories around the world. Some say the pandemic-stopping vaccine maybe discovered, at the earliest, in September this year. Others say in January 2021. Still many others say it will take from 1-1/2 years to two years before the vaccine can be finally be in full use. Science, indeed, is being put to the test once more. But in the end, only Dear God can do it. His will be done.

Volkswagen PHL moves dealership operations to ‘new normal’

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S the National Capital Region (NCR) and the rest of the country come closer to the day when the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) gets lifted and replaced by the general community quarantine (GCQ) that would ensure Filipinos follow general guidelines to protect everyone from being exposed to coronavirus (Covid-19) in the “new normal,” Volkswagen Philippines has readied policies and specific practices in its dealership network to keep customers, its employees, and business partners protected.

When Volkswagen dealerships reopen their doors once ECQ is lifted, customers can expect to be greeted with and treated to not only a roster of German marque vehicles and a level of service that embody the motoring lifestyle experience only Volkswagen can offer, but also to that level of customer protection to help ease their minds throughout their stay in the dealerships.

In his message to dealer owners and executives, Volkswagen Philippines’s President Felipe Estrella urged dealerships that all steps be taken to comply with the safety protocols, guidelines and regulations issued by the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

“The current situation has transformed and altered the condition and behavior of the global population, businesses, the market, and the consumers in general. The sense and assurance of safety in gatherings, social contact, crowds and visits to establishments may never be the same in the near future as a result of the pandemic. The same will apply to our businesses, including our most valued dealerships,” Estrella explained.

“It will be very vital that we collectively create an environment wherein our customers’ safety, health and well-being are our utmost priority by the time we are allowed to operate and our customers are allowed to visit our dealerships once again. With this, we recommend certain guidelines, procedures and system in order to ensure our readiness and guarantee the safety of everyone,” Estrella stressed.

In this light, every customer who visits any Volkswagen dealership during the GCQ will have to practice the following in order to comply with the guide that is

aimed to eliminate, if not minimize, exposure to the life-threatening virus: 1. Wear a face mask throughout the visit.

2. Before entry, body temperature will be checked, then alcohol will be sprayed onto hands.

Customers who register body temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius will be informed that entry is not allowed and recommend to seek medical consultation.

3. Shaking hands will be avoided, and physical distancing (at least 1 meter apart) will be strictly followed.

4. At transaction tables, customers and sales and service personnel will not sit beside one another, but across the table. Thus, only two persons are allowed per table.

5. At the showroom and vehicle service bays, customers and attendants shall maintain physical distance, even when inside the vehicle.

6. All facilities where customers may be in—or use—shall be regularly disinfected. Every transaction table will have alcohol or hand sanitizer.

7. Touchless and cashless. Use of credit cards or online payments is highly recommended.

8. For those who would like to test drive, all vehicles will be fully sanitized and are guaranteed to be safe.

For after-sales operations, customers must set service appointments, observe physical distancing, service advisors and personnel are required to wear personal protective gears, and all tools used and vehicles before and after being serviced must likewise be disinfected.

All Volkswagen dealership personnel are also advised to follow and practice health and safety protocols for business operations as stipulated in the guidelines of the government’s GCQ and Volkswagen Philippines’s Dealership Sales and Aftersales Operations Guide and Recommendations, to make every customer’s visit to any Volkswagen dealership a safe move to the “new normal.”

As of May 4, 2020, Volkswagen Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao region, which is placed under GCQ, is already open from Mondays to Saturdays (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

For more information, log on to www.volkswagen.com.ph.