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Saturday, May 15, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 213

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By Manuel T. Cayon

AVAO CITY—The confluence of livestock and plant diseases that pulled down a number of critical food industries has lent urgency to the call for the creation of a scientific body to “monitor and prepare” for emerging risks to human, plant and animal health, according to the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA).

This was actually proposed last month in a Senate hearing on food security issues, with focus on how the African Swine Fever compounded the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the hearing, MinDA chief, Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, argued for the expediency of a new body, as separate infections on fowls, swine and the banana export variety in different years took a collective toll, at a time when the country could ill afford having its food supply compromised. “At the resumption [last month] of the Senate Committee of the Whole Hearing on the Food Security Risks due to the African Swine Fever (ASF), [I argued that] the proposed National Commission on Emerging Risks to the human population of the country, including the plant and animal industry, is a must, given our experiences with the recent pandemic and animal and plant diseases,” he said. Piñol told the Senate hearing that the absence of a scientific body “has caused gargantuan problems and hardships experienced by the country, especially the handling and management of the Covid-19 pandemic and ASF.”

‘Unprepared’ bureaucracy

PIÑOL emphasized the scientific nature and composition of the

body to reckon with what he described as critical and crucial disease outbreak events. “In the case of ASF, for example, I had proposed, as early as 2018, the formation of a National Inter-Agency Task Force to help the Department of Agriculture (DA) address the threats of the hog viral disease,” Piñol recalled. Several memoranda, including additional proposals for the installation of X-ray machines for inbound passengers’ accompanying and hand-carry luggage, were, however, not acted upon, he added. Piñol warned of the “functional deficiency” of a bureaucracy in handling crisis situations, “since most of those in the critical agencies and bureaus of government are political appointees, and where problems on emerging threats and diseases are not fully appreciated.” Besides, he added, the bureaucracy “by its very nature moves so slow and it could not possibly catch up with fast-mutating and spreading viruses like the Covid-19 or the ASF.” This, he added, “was what exactly happened with our handling of Covid-19, where the initial data and information provided failed to emphasize the gravity of the threat.” Just this week, local government executives, including a consultant in the Covid-19 task force,

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came out with strong interjection on the slow rollout of the vaccines, and issued stern warnings that some of the still-unused vaccines are already nearing expiration, the soonest by the end of the month. The inability of authorities to arrest and respond to the various animal and plant infections “resulted in the collapse of the economy to negative 9.5 percent, wherein the hog industry lost 38 percent of its stocks, [the] banana industry lost a big share of the foreign market because of the Panama Disease; and the poultry industry [was] threatened by the recurrence of the bird flu.”

Science-based

PIÑOL said the setting up, through legislation, of a National Commission on Emerging Risks would greatly help the country’s leaders, especially the President, in decision-making and in crafting measures to protect the citizens of the country, including its agriculture and fisheries sector. “Instead of leaving the decision-making to bureaucrats and government functionaries, scientists and experts will be relied upon to come up with science-based assessments and recommendations,” he emphasized. Piñol said the commission should also focus on researches and studies to address problems like the development of vaccines using local viral strains and remedies for diseases. “This is a very serious matter which we should really work on, or else, with the countless emerging threats faced by the world now, our country would never be able to get out of the rut,” he warned. Late last year, the Mindanao campus of the University of the Philippines established the Center for Applied Modeling, Data Analytics and Bioinformatics for Decision-Support Systems in Health, or AMDABiDSS-Health. This was renamed to the short-

er Nicer Center, taken from the program of the Department of Science and Technology’s Niche Centers in the Regions, or Nicer program. As its name implies, the center would deal with data analytics and prediction of infectious disease. At its initial launch in November last year, it undertook projects with research cooperation from the Mapua-ran Malayan Colleges Mindanao and the UP Mindanaoattached unit, the Philippine Genome Center-Mindanao. UP Mindanao said the proposed center would provide the necessary support to public health decisions in the Southern Philippines by gathering information on infectious diseases and using advanced scientific approaches to better understand public health risks. “Data analytics, mathematical modeling, genomics research, and quantitative risk analysis would be used to analyze and gather evidence to support proposed policies. The focus would be on more accurate disease prediction, improving the recovery prospects of infected individuals, and evaluating risk in communities through animal and water studies,” the UP Mindanao said. It said local practices and attitudes would also be considered in making recommendations. Maps and data products would be made available to the public and other sectors to help create policies and decisions related to disease prevention and public health. Aside from working with other academic institutions, the center would link up with the public sector and civil society organizations. UP Mindanao said the Nicer center will fill the gap in “decisionsupport center for public health in the Southern Philippines.” “With Mindanao’s cultural and biological diversity, it is more pressing to answer the challenges of disease investigation and disease-related policy implementation. The center would focus on the current Covid-19 pandemic and study other infectious

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Creation of scientific body to track, prepare for emerging risks on human, plant and animal health pushed diseases, such as dengue, in the future,” it added. The center will “complement the ongoing local and national disease surveillance approaches and risk management,” while practitioners in the interdisciplinary study of infectious diseases in the Mindanao regions may also enhance their critical and analytic skills through the center’s online webinars or hands-on workshops.

Davao City to run own hospital soon

MEANWHILE, the City Council here passed the “Davao City Hospital Ordinance” on May 4 to pave the way for a city-owned and -funded hospital. Its future operation would complement and help ease congestion in the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), the largest government hospital operating in the city. “The creation of the hospital also serves as the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as future outbreaks, and will provide

the city with the needed manpower, facility and experience to counter such threats in the future,” said Councilor Mary Joselle Villafuerte, author of the ordinance. The future city-owned hospital would have a 100-bed capacity and will be constructed at the UP-Mindanao campus in Bago Oshiro. The city hospital would be a Level III training and Covid-19 response hospital to provide services for all kinds of illnesses, diseases, injuries and deformities. The city government will allocate P300 million for the project. The SPMC is currently the sole admitting hospital for Covid-19 patients following the directive last year of Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to place only in reserve status all the private hospitals in terms of accepting Covid-19 cases. This was intended to shield the private hospital workers from getting infected and thus provide the city with a reserve health force when there is a swarming of cases.

n JAPAN 0.4371 n UK 67.2307 n HK 6.1578 n CHINA 7.4111 n SINGAPORE 35.8764 n AUSTRALIA 36.9565 n EU 57.8026 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.7561

Source: BSP (May 14, 2021)

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The world finally accepts a much-maligned Covid shot I

By Bloomberg News

NDONESIA, one of the first nations to bet its Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Sinovac Biotech Ltd., was about to announce a stunning development, one that would help vindicate a shot that’s been shrouded in controversy for months. Over in Beijing, though, the company’s chief executive officer was unaware.

A study of some 128,000 Jakarta health workers released Wednesday found Sinovac’s vaccine—known as CoronaVac—was far more protective than clinical trials had indicated. A day earlier, it wasn’t mentioned by CEO Yin Weidong in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg reporters, and representatives later confirmed the company didn’t know the announcement was coming. It’s a disconnect that echoes the events of Christmas Eve 2020, when the Chinese developer that will be key to vaccinating much of the developing world had little explanation for why Brazil and Turkey released wildly divergent data on its shot within hours of each other. By January, Sinovac’s vaccine had seen four different efficacy rates— ranging from as high as 91 percent to as low as 50 percent—triggering concern among scientists and putting a question mark over its ability to protect against the virus still paralyzing the globe. Sinovac has already shipped some 380 million doses, more than AstraZeneca Plc and second only to Pfizer Inc. worldwide. But unlike those companies—and even Russia’s Sputnik shot—it still hasn’t published any data in an academic journal, the gold standard experts use to assess a vaccine. For China’s emerging biotechnology industry, the pandemic was supposed to be an unparalleled opportunity to showcase the advances they’ve made over the past decade—and in many ways it has, with dozens of nations reliant on shots from Sinovac and its counterpart Sinopharm to emerge from Covid-19. Yet while Chinese-developed pharmaceutical products have never had such reach, the rollout exposed their limitations and the difficulties Chinese companies face when trying to compete on the world stage, where greater levels of accountability and information sharing are demanded than at home. Sitting in his office at Sinovac’s sprawling factory on Beijing’s southern outskirts Tuesday, CEO Yin was non-plussed by the criticism of the communication around his vaccine, and unperturbed that it may have affected public perceptions toward it. “I respect all the doubts around CoronaVac, that speaks to the attention we are getting, but more important is seeking approval to use the vaccine in a country—that doesn’t depend on public opinion but the stringent review by authorities,” Yin said in the interview. “What do you think is more important than this?” The divergent efficacy rates

were simply a function of the different virus strains that were present in the countries where Sinovac’s Phase III trials were taking place, Yin said, adding that Sinovac relied on those nations and their partners on the ground to disseminate and interpret the results. But the confusing numbers—and other negative publicity around the shot that the company did little to deflect—had an impact, fueling criticism in Brazil of the vaccine by President Jair Bolsonaro and undermining faith in Hong Kong, where Pfizer and BioNTech SE’s shot is instead favored. Despite its roster of global orders, CoronaVac is yet to be endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has asked for more detailed information, as have regulators in Singapore. Hong Kong approved the shot, but only after waiving a requirement for data to be published and peer reviewed in a journal. Once the sole purview of scientists, the pandemic has seen technical details like vaccine efficacy dissected by everyone from investors to ordinary citizens. Western pharmaceutical companies were quick to realize the power of that information and the need to constantly communicate, with most using a unified protocol to collate data into single statements themselves rather than allowing local partners to relay information. Given the intense attention, public perception of the safety and strength of vaccines has not only affected whether people will take them, but the actions of governments. AstraZeneca’s vaccine was suspended in a number of European Union countries in March amid anxiety over blood clots, despite the bloc’s medicines regulator saying its benefits outweighed the risk of very rare side effects. In contrast, China’s vaccine developers have communicated much less. Like Sinovac, state-run Sinopharm, whose shot is being administered from the Maldives to Hungary, is yet to publish its clinical trial data in a peer-reviewed journal, though a study did appear in a domestic one. The company typically doesn’t respond to inquiries from foreign media. Used to operating within China, where public opinion is censored, the Chinese vaccine makers have had a tough time showing their “growth in front of the world, in a very compressed time, in a period of heightened scrutiny,” said Helen Chen, Greater China managing partner for L.E.K. Consulting, which has advised global pharmaceutical companies on their strategy in the country. AstraZeneca also faced criticism for testing snafus and adverse effects, but acted to neutralize it, Chen said. “AstraZeneca was being bashed over the head for giving poor data but you see them trying to explain it.” she said. For Chinese developers, “we just

SINOVAC CEO Yin Weidong

‘I

GETTY IMAGES

respect all the doubts around CoronaVac, that speaks to the attention we are getting, but more important is seeking approval to use the vaccine in a country—that doesn’t depend on public opinion but the stringent review by authorities. What do you think is more important than this?’ —Sinovac CEO Yin Weidong

IN this September 24, 2020, file photo, an employee of Sinovac works in a lab at a factory producing its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for Covid-19 named CoronaVac in Beijing. AP/NG HAN GUAN

haven’t seen that level of polish and communication around that, which leads everyone to think they must be hiding something.” Yin built Sinovac from the ground up over the last 20 years, but until now the company has gotten most of its $510 million in annual revenue from within China, and hasn’t had to grapple with the sort of scrutiny seen in the West. Sinovac is more concerned about ensuring safety and rolling out vaccines to the most people possible, as that is key to determining whether countries can emerge from the pandemic, Yin said.

The best way for the Sinovac vaccine to be judged is for its data to be published in peer-reviewed articles, which “provide evidence that these studies and clinical trials have been done in the right way and shown solid efficacy results,” said David Heymann, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. So far Sinovac has only provided an unpublished draft of a study by researchers at the company and its Brazilian trial partner that has been submitted for publication to the Lancet. That lack of peer-reviewed scientific data has allowed

speculation about Sinovac—and in turn, Chinese vaccines more generally, for which it is seen as a standard bearer—to flourish. A WHO expert panel that reviewed Sinovac’s existing data at the end of April said they had a high level of confidence in CoronaVac’s efficacy but there wasn’t enough information to assess the potential for serious side effects in people age 60 or above and those with existing medical conditions. The irony is that while the divergent efficacy rates have contributed to suspicions around Sinovac’s shot, evidence emerging in the real

world is increasingly positive. Officials in Chile—which has vaccinated 41.5 percent of its population, mostly older people—credit CoronaVac with having brought down rates of death and hospitalization from Covid. While cases have been spiking again there, which Yin says is because younger people haven’t been as broadly vaccinated, Chile’s real-world data shows CoronaVac prevented 80 percent of deaths in those vaccinated and protected 67 percent from developing symptomatic Covid. The Indonesian data that Sinovac was unaware of was even more positive than the results out of Chile, finding the vaccine protected 98 percent of the health workers studied from death and 96 percent from being hospitalized as soon as seven days after being jabbed. In addition, the shot protected 94 percent of the workers against symptomatic infection, far above the deviating rates thrown up in Sinovac’s clinical trials. That Chinese vaccines are now being administered outside of the country and around the world is a significant achievement, one that would have been “virtually unthinkable” before the pandemic, said Brad Loncar, chief executive officer of Loncar Investments, which owns shares in Chinese vaccine maker CanSino Biologics Inc. and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co, licensee for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the greater China region. “Without a doubt the transparency the Chinese companies and regulators have exhibited is nowhere near the highest levels and needs improvement,” he said. “That’s what is required to gain the public’s highest confidence in medicine, and it is why the United States has achieved this gold standard.” “If China wants to be a global leader in medicine on that level in the future, at some point it will have to get there from a transparency and regulatory standpoint.”

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GIR level hits $107.25 billion in April–BSP

By Bianca Cuaresma

he country’s dollar defenses grew further in end-April this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday. BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno told reporters that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) hit $107.25 billion in April this year, up $2.77 billion from the previous month’s level. The country’s GIR is the level of foreign-exchange holdings that is being managed by the Central Bank during a given period. The GIR is a crucial component of the economy as it is often used to manage the country’s foreign-exchange rate against excess volatility. The Philippines GIR has been

rising steadily for the whole of 2020 amid the pandemic, as the local currency remained strong against the US dollar. At this level, the BSP said, the buffer is equivalent to 12.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is also about 7.5 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.2 times based on residual maturity. Diokno attributed the GIR expansion to the inf lows that

Pag-Ibig savers’ program achieves record-high ₧6.7B collection in Q1 By Bernadette D. Nicolas

he Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig Fund) achieved a record-high firstquarter collection from its members under its Modified Pag-Ibig 2 (MP2) Savings Program despite the pandemic. Pag-Ibig Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti told reporters on Friday that members collectively saved P6.7 billion in the first quarter of this year, the highest-ever amount saved by members under their voluntary savings program during the first quarter of any year since 2011. This is also 43 percent higher compared to P4.67 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Given this, Moti said, they are projecting that MP2 savings for the entire year this 2021 will soar to a new record high by year-end, perhaps even exceeding last year’s record P13.3 billion. “Last year, it was P13.3 billion. So this year, first quarter alone is P6.7 [billion]. So if we multiply that by three or four, we can easily see that we will definitely overtake last year’s record of P13.3 billion,” he said. MP2 Savings Program is a

voluntary savings platform for Pag-Ibig Fund members who wish to save more and earn high dividends, in addition to their Pag-Ibig Fund Regular Savings. In the first quarter of the year, Moti said, regular savings reached P9.1 billion, up by 13 percent from P8.04 billion in the same period in 2020. However, this is still a bit lower compared to the record-high P9.22 billion it posted in the first quarter of 2019. “The reason for this, of course… is that due to the unemployment because of the 2 million members who used to be active and you know were no longer active members,” he said. As of end-2020, there are currently 12.77 million active Pag-Ibig Fund members. Despite the pandemic, Pag-Ibig Fund also saw its first-quarter net income increasing to P8.3 billion, up by 3.7 percent from last year’s P8.03 billion on the back of fewer expenses due to the pandemic. Last year, Pag-Ibig Fund’s suffered a 9-percent drop in its net income as it fell to P31.18 billion from a record-high of P34.37 billion in 2019 due to the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Pinoy vaccine confidence jumps 10% in April, DOH survey shows By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

he willingness of Filipinos to receive Covid-19 vaccine has increased from 65 percent in January to 75 percent in March, the Department of Health (DOH) bared on Friday. Responding to the question of the BusinessMirror in an online media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, however, clarified that the improved vaccine confidence among Filipinos has nothing to do with the arrival of Pfizer vaccines. Vergeire said that the DOH conducted a survey from March 19 to March 30 and the question was: If Covid-19 vaccine is available, are you willing to have yourself vaccinated? “And 75 percent answered yes,” Vergeire said but she did not mention the number of respondents. Meanwhile, 85.8 percent responded favorably to the second question: If you know that the Covid-19 vaccine is safe and efficacious are you willing to be vaccinated? “ Eve n w it hout t he P f i z e r

vacc ine du r ing t h is t ime, t he conf idence in Cov id vacc ines of ou r cou nt r y men is a l ready h igh,” Vergeire sa id. She added that other factors contributing to the increased confidence are the orderly rollout of the vaccines and the number of people communities who have received their Covid-19 jabs.

Cases

On Friday, the DOH logged 6,784 additional Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 1,131,467. There were also 2,972 recoveries and 137 deaths. Of the total number of cases, 5.2 percent (58,986) are active cases, 93.1 percent (1,053,523) have recovered, and 1.68 percent (18,958) has died. Moreover, 71 cases that were previously tagged as recoveries were reclassified as deaths after final validation. All laboratories were operational on May 12, 2021, while five labs were not able to submit their data to the Covid-19 Document Repository System.

were mainly from the proceeds of the national government’s (NG) ROP Global and Samurai Bond issuances, which were deposited with the BSP. T he gover nor a lso said an

upward adjustment in the value of the BSP’s gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market contributed to the higher GIR level. The country’s GIR could have

been higher, however, if not partly offset by the outf lows from the NG’s payments of its foreigncurrency debt obligations. The Philippines’s ability to shore up its dollar defenses amid

the pandemic has been lauded by local and international economists. In January, Fitch Ratings said the BSP’s ability to maintain a high level of GIR remains credit strength for the economy.

Saturday, May 15, 2021

The World BusinessMirror

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

CEOs hit Japan’s slow vaccine push, saying growth is at risk B usiness executives in Japan are starting to voice concerns over what they see as an unacceptably slow vaccine rollout in one

of the world’s richest countries, a rare chorus of warnings over increasing risks to any economic recovery. “Among developed nations, Japan

is the biggest problem,” Takehiko Kakiuchi, chief executive officer of Mitsubishi Corp., said during a recent earnings briefing. As one of the

country’s largest trading companies, Mitsubishi has broad visibility across all sectors of the economy, from heavy machinery and petrochemicals, to

property and retail. While Japan has fared better during the pandemic compared with its Western peers—deaths and infection numbers at only a fraction of many developed nations—its vaccine rollout has been shockingly slow. Just 2 percent of the island nation’s population has been inoculated, the lowest among the 37 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. That compares with about 41 percent in both the US and the UK. The sluggish rollout is also fueling public concerns over the delayed Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for July 23. A weekend opinion poll by the Yomiuri newspaper showed 59 percent of respondents saying the games should be canceled. At the same time, the metropolis and other big cities are struggling to bring under control a recent wave of new cases caused by the spread of virus variants. “I really hope that we will see a vaccination acceleration, it’s very important; otherwise you are exposed to new spike in variants,” Christophe Weber, CEO of Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., said this week. He added that he thought Japan’s vaccination rollout was at the same level as where Europe was a few months ago and expected it to pick up speed soon. The chorus of complaints over the slow vaccination rollout increased in volume during the earnings season, as many Japanese businesses reported weaker profit and sales for the fiscal year covering the 12 months through March—a period when consumption, production and travel were curtailed as economies went into lockdown to prevent the spread of infections. “If vaccinations don’t speed up, then tourists won’t return and that impacts how our company recovers,” said Takayuki Yokota, chief financial officer of beauty giant Shiseido Co., which before the pandemic was buoyed by an influx of tourists—many from China—shopping for cosmetics in Japan. It’s unclear when the Japan market recovery would pick up again, he said. “I was on a call with five members of our US team the other day, and all had finished their second shots.” Frustration is mounting with the slow rollout especially because Japan

has access to tens of millions of doses of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot, and isn’t facing supply shortages like some developing countries. Currently, that vaccine is the only one approved for local use and the rollout is limited to health-care workers and the elderly over the age of 65. Facing mounting pressure, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said last Friday that the company will aim to administer a million shots a day, though he didn’t give a target on when that will happen. The daily average of doses administered in the past 7 days is around 200,000, up from an average of about 155,000 shots per day in the last week of April, based on the tracker data. Last month, Japan’s Association of New Economy released a petition calling for speedier and more efficient vaccinations measures. More than 50 executives added their signatures, including Masanori Mochida, the head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Japan, and Akio Nitori, CEO of furniture giant Nitori Holdings Co. Most of the signatures are in industries that have been hit hard by pandemic restrictions, such as hotels, dining and alcoholic beverages. “The Japanese economy needs to bounce back, or things will get difficult,” said Rakuten Group Inc. CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, who created the business group behind the petition. The founder of the e-commerce company said on Thursday he would keep pushing the Suga administration to find better ways to rollout the vaccine and was standing by to help. “The operation is complicated, very complicated, and it’s frustrating.” Adding to the pain are the current emergency measures to mitigate the current wave of new infections that is once again straining the medical system. Eateries have been asked to stop serving alcohol and many shopping areas are closing early or entirely through the end of May. It’s no surprise, then, that department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. announced its second straight year of losses. Any recovery will depend on the rollout, the retailer’s president Toshiyuki Hosoya said: “If vaccinations proceed like the government has announced, then our earnings should quickly grow.”

Bloomberg News

Israel threatens Gaza ground invasion despite truce efforts

ERUSALEM—Israel on Thursday said it was massing troops along the Gaza frontier and calling up 9,000 reservists ahead of a possible ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory, as the two bitter enemies plunged closer to all-out war. Egyptian mediators rushed to Israel for cease-fire efforts but showed no signs of progress. The stepped-up fighting came as communal violence in Israel erupted for a fourth night, with Jewish and Arab mobs clashing in the flashpoint town of Lod. The fighting took place despite a bolstered police presence ordered by the nation’s leaders. The four-day burst of violence has pushed Israel into uncharted territory—dealing with the most intense fighting it has ever had with Hamas while simultaneously coping with the worst Jewish-Arab violence inside Israel in decades. A late-night barrage of rocket fire from Lebanon that landed in the sea threatened to open a new front along Israel ’s northern border. Sa leh A r ur i, an exiled senior Hamas leader, told London-based satellite channel Al Araby early Friday that his group has turned down a proposal for a three-hour lull to allow for more negotiations toward a full cease-fire. He said Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations were leading the truce efforts. Also early Friday, the Israeli military said air and ground troops struck Gaza in what appeared to be the heaviest attacks yet. Masses of red flames

illuminated the skies as the deafening blasts from the outskirts of Gaza City jolted people awake. The strikes were so strong that screams of fear could be heard from people inside the city, several kilometers away. “I said we would extract a very heav y price from Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement. “We are doing that, and we will continue to do that with heavy force.” The fighting broke out late Monday when Hamas, claiming to be the defender of Jerusalem, fired a barrage of long-range rockets toward the city in response to what it said were Israeli provocations. Israel quickly responded with a series of air strikes. Since then, Israel has attacked hundreds of targets in Gaza. The strikes set off scores of earth-shaking explosions across the densely populated territory. Gaza militants have fired nearly 2,000 rockets into Israel, bringing life in the southern part of the country to a standstill. Several barrages targeted the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv, some 70 kilometers away. Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll has climbed to 109 Palestinians, including 28 children and 15 women, with 621 people wounded. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, though Israel says that number is much higher. Seven people have been killed in Israel, including a 6-year-old boy. AP

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Philippines eases virus curbs as economy stays in recession

he Philippines will ease movement restrictions in the capital region and nearby areas as the economy struggles to crawl out of recession and as coronavirus infections ease from a peak in April. Metro Manila and adjacent provinces, the nation’s economic engine, will shift to the second-lowest level of curbs called general community quarantine (GCQ) until end-May, the government said on Thursday. The Southeast Asian nation said it’s expecting 202 million vaccine doses to arrive this year. Heightened restrictions will still be in place despite the shift to GCQ, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said. Only essential travel into and out of the capital and surrounds will be allowed. Public transportation will remain operational at limited capacities and indoor dine-in services will be capped at 20 percent of venue or seating capacity, while outdoor dining will be at 50 percent. Me a nw h i le, a l l t r ave le r s com i ng f rom O m a n a nd Un ite d A r a b E m i r at e s o r t h o s e w it h t r a v e l h i stor y to t he s e cou nt r ie s w i l l b e proh ibite d f rom e nte r i n g t he

Ph i l ip pi ne s e f fe c t ive M ay 15 to May 31, Roque sa id. Ex isting t r ave l rest r ic t ion s of pa s se nge rs from India, Pa k istan, Nepa l, B a n g l a d e s h a nd S r i L a n k a a r e e x te nde d to e nd - M ay. “I will not allow violations of the guidelines given by the task force,” President Duterte said in a televised briefing Thursday evening, adding that he will hold local governments responsible for any breaches. Religious festivals, which usually draw crowds in summer will not be allowed, President Duterte said. With the vaccines expected this year from supply deals and the Covax facility, the nation expects to achieve herd immunity, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said at the same briefing. The Philippines posted a worsethan-expected economic contraction last quarter, with recent virus curbs dimming growth outlook for the year. Economic managers have pushed for further easing of restrictions to boost growth and restore jobs. Covid-19 cases were at 6,385 on Thursday, taking the total to about 1.12 million. Bloomberg News

Subic Q1 container throughput up 10 percent despite fewer ship calls

By Henry Empeño

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Cargo container throughput from export and import transactions in the Subic Bay Freeport unexpectedly increased in the first quarter of this year, although fewer ships called here due to trade slowdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), only 313 foreign ships visited Subic from January to March this year, compared to 355 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020, or a drop of 12 percent, while 157 domestic ships arrived in the same period, a 33-percent decrease from 233 in Q1 2020. The pandemic has also reduced cruise ship visits to zero this year, compared to three in the first quarter last year. SBMA Seaport department manager Jerome Martinez said, however, that a 10-percent increase in containerized cargo volume, which included import, export, transshipment, local empty in/out, and load-unload transactions, had unexpectedly accompanied the decline in ship calls. He said his department recorded total container throughput of 60,759 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in Q1 2021, compared to 55,065 TEUs in Q1 2020. Of these, 26,441 TEUs accounted for importations, which was 5 percent higher than the 25,296 TEUs in Q1 2020, while 11,775 TEUs comprised exportations, which was 25 percent more than the 9,408 TEUs last year. Martinez said the importation of raw materials from foreign countries, and the exportation of finished products like tires and veneer lumber to Japan largely helped increase Subic’s

container cargo volume. On the other hand, non-containerized or bulk cargo suffered a 23-percent decrease in volume this year. Martinez said that there were only 1.63 million metric tons of goods that entered Subic in Q1 2021, compared to 2.11 million MTs last year. In terms of port revenue, Subic’s collections from vessel charges suffered a 12-percent decrease, with only P39,395,141 in Q1 2021, compared to P44,653,054 last year. Likew ise, revenue from cargo charges also dropped to P83,625,374 this year from P84,651,801 in Q1 2020. The decrease, Martinez explained, was due to a decline in foreign bulk cargoes, motor tankers and container ships call. Still, Martinez said the SBMA Seaport Department was able to generate revenue of P324.93 million in the first quarter, which was 25 percent higher than that collected in the same period last year. The growth was attributed to the upturn in cargo handling services and variable fees, such as warehousing, processing, leases and rentals, and SBMA shares. Martinez said that while the current health crisis adversely affects the shipping industry, the SBMA took the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to discover and implement better systems and more efficient processes in transacting business. He added that the SBMA Seaport Department is now streamlining operational, organizational and business processes to ensure port efficiency, quality and profitability as the pandemic opened up new business opportunities like crew-change and vessel lay-up.

IATF reso allows in-person assessment of foreign-bound HSWs under MECQ

ousehold service workers (HSW ) bound for abroad cou ld now ava i l of in-person assessments from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) in areas under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ ). This after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) issued Resolution 115, Series of 2021. Under the new resolution, in-person assessments shall be held only in Tesda Training Institutions and inperson assessments remain prohibited in private assessment centers. “In-persons assessments shall

only be limited for HSWs ready for deployment, meaning, they must have contracts and visas,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement. “Applicants must further abide by Tesda guidelines relative to the conduct of in-person assessments,” he added. Meanwhile, IATF resolution 115 also allowed the resumption of Career Executive Service Written Examinations and Assessment Centers by the Career Executive Service Board subject to health and safety protocols and the strict observance of the minimum public health standards.

Samuel P. Medenilla

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Govt signs procurement deal for 40M doses of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

ealth Secretary Francisco T. Duque III and National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. signed a deal on Friday, May 14, 2021, for the procurement of 40 million doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. In a message to the BusinessMirror, Duque confirmed that he and Galvez have finalized the latest vaccine acquisition deal with Pfizer officials. “Yes, [that is] correct,” Duque said when sought for confirmation.

Ga lvez, i n a n ea rl ier pre -re corded message at a vaccination campaig n event, said Duque is the other sig nator y representing the Phi lippine gover nment. He added that the national government is exerting all its efforts and is

in talks with several manufacturers to ensure enough doses to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos before the end of 2021 to achieve herd immunity. For his part, former DOH secretary Manuel Dayrit explained that “mass vaccination is expected to protect more Filipinos from severe and critical cases of Covid-19 and the goal of the government is to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos so the country can achieve herd immunity.” “The commitment of the private hospitals and malls will help augment the vaccination administration of the local government units [LGUs] for their constituents,” he said.

Private sector vaccine procurement In tripartite agreements with the national government, private businesses have procured vaccines for their employees, including their frontline and essential work force to

resume operations safely. The procurement is intended to augment the supply purchased by the national government and the vaccines secured from the Covax facility. The private sector has also donated a significant portion of their procured vaccines to the government and has been fully supportive of the vaccination rollout for priority sectors led by medical frontliners, senior citizens, and persons with comorbidities. “The private sector coalition that launched Taskforce T3 [Test, Trace, Treat] vowed to strengthen its ongoing collaboration with the national government to accelerate the pace of the national vaccination program. We thank the various private companies for their all out support and we look forward to the participation of more companies in the coming days and months,” said Guillermo “Bill” Luz, Chief Resilience Officer of Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, a member of T3.

DepEd to allot data load to teachers beginning June

tarting next month, teachers administering blended learning may start receiving connectivity load allowance sufficient for three months, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Friday. “With or without the pandemic, the department has actively advocated for policies and programs that will further support our teachers. Through this connectivity allowance, we hope to continuously assist our teachers in their duties to deliver quality education to our learners amid the situation,” Education Chief Leonor Magtolis Briones said. During the EduAKSYON news conference in Region 11, Undersecretary for Administration Alain del Pascua said the department has started the procurement process of the connectivity load that will provide public-school teachers with 30 to 35 GB data allocation per month. “We will begin to roll out siguro [perhaps] next month. We will be asking our teachers to register in DepEd Commons para mabigyan sila ng load sa kani-kanilang [so we could send the load through their] cell phones,” he added. Pascua noted 35 GB per month is adequate for the teachers’ online teaching activities as the 1 GB bandwidth a day can be used for eight hours of online webinars, downloading, video streaming, among others. In addition, the unused data allocation will be rolled over to the following months up to one year until the user fully consumes the 100 GB allocation. However, when asked by education reporters, DepEd officials did not answer if how much is the equivalent of the connectivity load per month or this will be the replacement of the previous proposal to provide teachers with P450 per month and senior high-school students with P250. The DepEd also received a proposal to give teachers SIM cards that could utilize the data connection for school works. Furthermore, Pascua also updated everyone on the ongoing programs of DepEd that would help establish President Duterte’s envisioned Public Education Network (PEN), which aims to connect all schools and DepEd offices nationwide and enable school officials and teachers to push content without Internet. “We are also procuring laptops with DBM-PS [Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Ser vice] to give to our teachers, including walkie talkies, for areas with no cell-phone signal,” the DepEd official added. Through its partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and Converge

ICT Solutions Inc., DepEd has also started acquiring satellite connectivity for the Last Mile schools or those in far-flung places. These efforts are spearheaded by

the Information and Communications Technology Service headed by Director Abram Y.C. Abanil, under the Administration Strand led by Undersecretary Pascua and Assistant

Secretary Salvador Malana III. It is part of the Public Schools of the Future Framework of the Administration Strand under the leadership of Briones. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

A6 Saturday, May 15, 2021

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

Filipino fruits arrive in Hong Kong SAR

ONG KONG SAR, China— On May 5, 2021, fresh mangoes, avocados (Cardinal), pineapples and papayas from the Philippines were sent to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). The small Filipino business exporter, Genco Fields Fruits and Vegetables was assisted by the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Hong Kong SAR with the help of the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong SAR and the Office of the Agriculture Counselor of the Philippines in Beijing to look for a Hong Kong importer to bring in its products from the Philippines. The Hass avocados, which come from Mexico, are the most popular avocados in Hong Kong SAR, while Cardinal avocados are more common in the Philippines. Thus, it is the best time for the Hong Kong populace to taste the more flavorful and tastier avocado from the Philippines due to its geographic location.

FRESH fruits grown and harvested in the Philippines are delivered in Hong Kong SAR.

The Philippine papayas, pineapples and mangoes are also being brought in the Hong Kong market by big players from the Philippines, which is something that the Philippines is very grateful for. There-

fore, there is now a need to help assist micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to penetrate the Hong Kong market too. With there’s -10.4 decrease in the agricultural export of the Philip-

pines in the fourth quarter of 2020 as shared by the Philippine Statistics Authority, there is a need to support the agricultural products of the farmers in the Philippines. The Commercial Attaché for the

Philippines in Hong Kong SAR stated that, “The Philippines needs to take advantage of the proximity of Hong Kong SAR and its free-market economy. In addition, Hong Kong SAR is an important gateway for

all Filipino products to mainland China and the world.” For more information, please visit our microsite at https://www.dti.gov. ph/overseas/hongkong/ or send an email to HongKong@dti.gov.ph.

Sugar crunch may worsen Taiwan posts robust ‘green’ manufacturing machine exports as Brazilians drive again By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

HE global sugar supply crunch is about to get worse amid a food-versus-fuel debate playing out in top exporter Brazil. The South American nation is seeing record prices for ethanol as consumers there take advantage of easing Covid-19 restrictions and travel again, increasing consumption of the biofuel. That means mills could start processing more sugar cane into ethanol, rather than into sweetener. The biofuel is “potentially more profitable, especially for those mills that are tight financially,” said Michael McDougall, managing director at Paragon Global Markets. Prices for ethanol at mills in Sao Paulo jumped 10 percent last week to the highest in data going back to 2000. Cane supplies are already tight due to a severe drought that’s been ravaging yields in Brazil. Canecrushing dropped 31 percent in the first half of April compared to a year ago, according to industry group Unica. All of this is helping sugar to extend its scorching rally. Futures prices in New York are up 73 percent in the past 12 months. The staple’s rise means increasing costs for food makers at a time when food inflation and hunger are an increasing concern around the globe. Brazil can’t simply import

ethanol to ease supplies, because prices are up in other exporting nations like the US, which is also seeing increased driving and travel as vaccinations progress. In fact, prices are so high for US corn-based ethanol that Brazilian biofuel may start to look attractive. US ethanol prices nearly doubled in the past 12 months. For now, sugar is still more profitable than ethanol in Brazil when it comes to exports. Producer BP-Bunge Bionergia said the sweetener will see a premium of as much as 3 cents per pound through October before narrowing to 1 cent, said Ricardo Carvalho, commercial director at the joint venture. Ethanol is also getting relatively more expensive than gasoline in Brazil, which means demand may taper. Brazilian drivers use both fuels, and usually pick whichever is cheaper. Another factor that could dampen the looming sugar shortage: most of Brazil’s current crop is already sold in advance in export markets. Before converting more cane into ethanol, mills would have to pay an expensive fee to cancel those contracts, said Bruno Lima, head of sugar at StoneX Group Inc. in Brazil. The cost could be more than 4 cents a pound, requiring Brazilian ethanol prices to rise to 21.8 cents a pound versus current levels of around 17 cents, Lima said. Bloomberg News

ITH the combined efforts of the Taiwanese government and the machinery industry, plastic and rubber machines made in Taiwan have managed to perform well amid the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the international trade. Bush Hsieh, vice chairman of the Plastic and Rubber Machinery Committee of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), said that the country has maintained its position as one of the top 6 exporting countries of such equipment recognized for their advanced technologies and top-quality after-sales services. He cited recent statistics that showed Taiwan’s machinery industry export value reached $2.9 billion in March 2021, up 30.7 percent compared to the same period of last year. “Even though the Covid-19 outbreak has a great impact on all industries, Taiwanese machinery-makers still work hard together to provide smart manufacturing solutions to our global partners,” he said during their recent webinar dubbed “Shaping Tomorrow, Discovering Taiwan Plastic & Rubber Machinery.” According to him, “green” concepts in innovation and manufacturing have become an industry trend since environmental issues top the concerns of global manufacturers at present. “Taiwan’s rubber and plastic ma-

FROM left: David Lo, chief manufacturing officer, Polystar Machinery Co. Ltd.; Tony Wu, sales support engineer, ChumPower Machinery Corp.; David Wu, general manager, Multiplas Enginery Co. Ltd.; Bush Hsieh, vice chairman of Plastic and Rubber Machinery Committee, Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry; Mark Wu, executive director of Strategic Marketing Department, Taiwan External Trade Development Council; Celina Lin, sales representative, Allen Plastic Industries Co. Ltd.; and Hank Wu, sales manager, Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co. Ltd. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIWAN EXTERNAL TAITRA

chinery industry can provide solutions for this demand such as using recycled plastics and reducing plastics used in the manufacturing process,” noted Hsieh. Committed to achieve a sustainable kind of environment, he said that they would continue to develop such eco-friendly materials to provide customers with highly efficient, energy-saving and low-polluting products. Showcasing Taiwan’s leadership in the smart machinery field, three Taiwan Excellence award-winning companies and two leading Taiwan-

ese plastic and rubber machinery enterprises showcased their solutions during the online event. Allen Plastic Industries Co. Ltd., through sales representative Celina Lin, introduced to participants the Horizontal Shrink Sleeving Machine (AHL-1000), which is suitable for shrink containers, with a diameter of 8 millimeters (mm) up to 30 mm, used for products such as lipsticks, eyeliners, and eyebrow pencils. On the other hand, ChumPower Machinery Corp. presented its HighSpeed Stretch Blow Molding Machine

capable of producing 24,000 bottles per hour. Sales Support Engineer Tony Wu discussed its three special features—the lightweight preform, 38 mm pitch heating oven, and air recovery system. Meanwhile, Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co. Ltd., led by sales manager Hank Wu, demonstrated its FA series and iMF 4.0 (Intelligent ManuFactory) used in injection molding machines. Multiplas Enginery Co. Ltd. showed the Fully Automatic Production Cell-Unman Screwdriver Production Line. General Manager David Wu also bared the other molding solutions they offer, including the Vertical Injection Molding, Micro Injection Molding, and Multi-Color Injection Molding machines, among others. Finally, Polystar Machinery Co. Ltd. displayed its recycling machines to help manufacturers perform the so-called Circular Economy. Chief Manufacturing Officer David Lo emphasized that their Repro-Flex machine is where clean post-industrial/ factory films wastes can be fed into to get superior-quality recycled pellets; the Repro-ONE processes solid structures (woven sacks/raffia/tape) and hard-to-regrind material; and the Repro-PLUS is fit for post-consumer wastes, such as paper labels, dirty grease, dust, and more. This event was organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan; and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, in conjunction with TAMI.

OurTime BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, May 15, 2021 A7

Oldest Covid patient discharged from Chinese General Hospital L

IFE begins at…99? This could perhaps be another modern medical marvel that recently occurred at the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC) when a 99-year-old woman successfully recovered from the agony of Covid-19. Lola Rosa Chua, reportedly the oldest Covid-19 survivor in Manila, was discharged recently after about a week of confinement at the hospital. She was admitted on April 29. “I am very happy to be going home! Thank you to everyone at CGHMC who has given me the utmost medical care,” Chua said in her native Ilonggo, referring in particular to her attending physician, Dr. Stephany Tan. Dr. Tan said that when Chua first arrived at the hospital after testing positive for the virus, she had pneumonia and was quite weak and couldn’t eat. She was then given a daily dose of anti-viral medications

and steroids and was fitted with an oxygen mask. “Before her confinement, Lola Rosa often had a sunny disposition and is rather independent. She’s also full of colorful stories and has a zest for life,” Dr. Tan said. “I think, along with the medicines, her positive outlook was a major boost in her recovery.” For the most part, Dr. Tan added that Lola Rosa did not even think she was sick at all, and was a bit puzzled as to why she needed to be confined at the hospital in the first place. “We tried to explain to her about her condition, and Lola Rosa would always say she felt “just fine.” Nevertheless, we made sure that she took her vitamins everyday and exposed her to early morning sunshine.” It definitely worked as Lola Rosa Chua recovered fast enough to spend Mother’s Day last Sunday with her family at home.

29,000 indigent senior citizens receive social pension in Antique By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay

S LOLA Rosa Chua, the oldest Covid-19 survivor in Manila, was discharged recently after a weeklong confinement at the hospital.

Book on World War II veterans launched By Roderick L. Abad

several experts, including Dr. Ricardo Jose of the UP History Department, and Brig. Gen. Resty Aguilar (ret), who is now the executive director of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Sen. Richard J. Gordon congratulated the people behind this project for promoting Philippine history, as it recounts the Filipino version of the resistance of war veterans to Japanese military invaders. The lawmaker shared that his own late father James Leonard Tagle Gordon fought the Japanese forces, while his great-grandfather Col. Jose Tagle had fought the American troops during the Philippine-American War. Dr. Jose was hopeful that the book will encourage the Filipino youth to be more interested in the country’s his-

Contributor

N line with the recent celebration of the 79th Fall of Corregidor anniversary, the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) launched a coffee-table book, titled Mandirigma-Uniforms and Equipment of The Filipino Warrior, 19351945, which tells the heroism of freedom-fighting Filipinos during World War II (WWII).Penned by Albert Labrador, Tony Feredo, Donn Fernandez and Dondi Limgenco, and edited by Dr. Ricardo T. Jose of the University of the Philippines (UP), Mandirigma is packed with high-resolution, large format photographs, featuring both reenacted scenes shot from 2009 to 2021 and actual vintage WWII pictures. The photographs were vetted by

Lingering presence By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

NGELITO, Eman and Hammy. Why can’t I seem to forget them? I never had a deep connection with them. They came and then quietly vanished from my life but somehow they still linger in my mind even now like ectoplasmic presences. They never greatly influenced my life. Or did they? Angelito Ladores was a classmate in elementary school. We simply called him Ladores. He was the oddball in our class, who always received the cane from my teacher, Mr. Tuano. He often did something in class that got the teacher’s ire. He did not have a head nor an inclination for academics. He might have been unruly and wily but he was not a bully. Tough and brave, he did not shirk from a fight. One time our teacher got so exasperated with him and another classmate that she allowed them to have a boxing bout right inside the classroom. As I remember it, the fight was stopped after a few exchange of blows and declared a draw by the teacher when the rest of us got too noisy. I didn’t know why but he gravitated towards me. He somehow found out where I lived. He would drop by and we would play jolens and other games, or go downtown to visit the homes of other classmates. He never mentioned any-

thing about his parents, and come to think of it now, he did not seem to be eager to go home. One afternoon after class, out in an open field, I joined a boisterous group of classmates in a game that consisted of throwing dry mud against another group. In the melee, a clump of mud as hard as stone hit me on the forehead. Blood gushed from my head and Ladores came rushing, picked me up and accompanied me to the school clinic where the doctor staunched the flow of blood and treated me. That wound has left an embossed scar just above my left eye and I remember Ladores whenever I look at it. There were other adventures and escapades. One time he and two other classmates came to hour house to fetch me. He led us to the vast sugarcane field at the edge of the town and we had a jolly time uprooting sugarcane and relishing the sweet juice. But then from afar, the plantation supervisor saw us and chased us. We could hear him threatening to tie us up and whip us. We got scared and ran away and hid among the tall cane stalks but we could hear his frightful voice from afar. Good thing he did not catch us. But the chase traumatized me and my other classmates for days. We never talked about that incident after. I told myself I’ve had

toric past. He also wanted the young

people in Japan to know the accurate version of the Second World War, which some of their elders and rightwing politicians still do not teach to them. Agreeing with him, Gen. Ernesto Carolina noted that the Philippines should chronicle the events of WWII from the Filipino soldiers’ point of view, not just highlighting the Americans’ role or from the Japanese version. The book depicts the lives of hundreds of thousands of men and women who served and died for the country during the devastating war. Unknown to many, there were numerous military units during the time, such as the United States Army Forces in the Far East, the Philippine Army, the Philippine Constabulary, the Philippine Scouts, as well as hundreds of guerrilla groups nationwide from the Commonwealth

enough of Angelito’s adventures. But one morning, our neighbor came to our house and told me to come to their house just nearby. When I got there, I was surprised to see Angelito, sipping a cup of coffee. It was the house of a childless old couple, Imang Mereng and Apung Duque who took pity on him and gave him shelter for the night. Sheepishly, he told me he ran away from home the night before and he was too shy to knock at the door of our home. He instead went to our neighbor’s home. Was he bullied at home? I never got to find out. As I was just an immature adolescent then, it never occurred to me to ask such questions. That same day, Angelito left our neighbor’s house and never showed up again in class. I don’t think he even attended our elementary grade graduation. His name is not even brought up during the few class reunions I have attended. Where have you gone, Angelito Ladores? Later in college, I got to meet Eman. It was in one of the elective classes of the Communication Arts course at the Ateneo in 1970 or 1971. I remember him as someone with a quiet demeanor, always with a half-smile, sporting a long hair and wearing an olive fatigue jacket. Sometimes he would be present and many times he would be absent. He spoke rarely in class but when he did, he spoke with an orotund voice, betraying a little provinciano lilt in his accent. I used to see some of his poems in the college literary folio, where I also contributed a few atrocious poems of my own. I never encountered him again after that semester. It was only later that I found out that Eman was an honor student from grade school to high school and won a full scholarship at Ateneo. Considered a budding literary genius, he was an award-winning poet, a UP

lecturer, a fictionist, an essayist, a playwright and a magazine illustrator, among his many talents. He died a most cruel inhumane death, as told in the book, Six Young Filipino Martyrs. His killer, as ordered by a sergeant of the Philippine Constabulary (now the Philippine National Police), “put a gun in Eman’s mouth and pulled the trigger, sending the bullet crashing through the back of his skull. As he fell, a second bullet was fired into his chest.” The killer and other soldiers then tied a rope around Eman’s body and dragged it like a cow along a craggy road in Balaag, Tucaan, in the Davao area and buried it in a shallow mass grave. Reading this, all I could think of was a line from the gospel: no greater love than a man giveth his life for others. To me, Eman did not really belong to that small class of ours, for he belonged to a special class of bright socially motivated young Filipino leaders who were all cut down in the prime of their lives fighting to make a change. In that same class was Agustin S. whom we informally knew as “Hammy.” He came from an old rich family from Iloilo. We were worlds apart because he lived in Forbes Park while I was just staying in an old decrepit boarding house. He drove a car to school, a Renault, if my memory serves me right. What my classmates and I liked about him was he never had that air of superiority or elitism that is typical of people from his privileged class. Hammy was the favorite of our teachers not because of his family background (but maybe it was also a factor) but because he could carry an intelligent discourse with them, much to my delight because I got to be enlightened by those lively repartees and exchanges. In our film subjects, Hammy spoke about films and directors we never heard about. He was

THE book tells the heroism of freedom-fighting Filipinos during World War II.

period to the Japanese Occupation and the Liberation time. “As a son of a World War II veteran, the publication of this unique World War II book fills me with such pride as this is another means to show how we as Filipinos continue to honor the legacy and sacrifice of our Filipino WWII veterans,” said PVB Chairman Roberto F. de Ocampo. PVB is owned by WWII veterans and their heirs. The bank has been supporting various projects over the years to preserve and promote their heroic stories and legacy. As a contribution to the 2021 Philippine Veterans Week, the bank tied up with the creators of Mandirigma to publish the book. The kick off event was held recently during the Pandesal Forum at the Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City.

eclectic in his taste. He would even watch local movies which most of us looked down on. One day he would give us his personal take on Antonioni and Fellini and the next day he would expound on the classic films of Gerry de Leon and Gregorio Fernandez, as well as the soft-core movies of Ruben Abalos. He opened my eyes to the splendor of the production design of Chinese films, which were then being ignored by local film buffs. I lost touched with Hammy after college but one day we bumped into each other in a video editing outfit. He seemed relieved to see me and immediately asked for my help to translate the script for a TV documentary he was doing about Filipino movies. Being an Ilonggo, Tagalog was his Achilles heel. But I was glad to do it. But after that, I never ran into him again. He was always somewhere in Europe, promoting local films. He appeared to be well connected with film circles in Cannes, Venice and other film festival capitals. Then one day, I learned about his passing, due to complications from chronic diabetes. I have forgotten the faces of many former classmates but in the case of Angelito, Eman, and Hammy, I can still conjure up their faces as clearly and vividly now as when I was with them years ago. As a tributary memorial to them, let me leave this excerpt from one of my old poems kept in the drawer: Thanks for the meries of friends made, With whom I once shared a space in time. I sense what the poet said There is always a hidden significance In any encounter with a being, thing or place. Indeed, I must have packed along something of value When I met a few special souls from long ago.

AN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique—The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) recently released the social pension of 29,360 indigent senior citizens in Antique. DSWD Antique focal person Lovelyn Ocbian, in an interview on Wednesday, said the recipients from 14 towns out of the 18 municipalities in the province received their pension for the first semester of this year. They each received P3,000 as support from the national government for their sustenance. “We are targeting to finish the release in the four remaining towns before the end of this month,” she said, adding that they are still waiting for the schedule of the remaining towns of Anini-y, Patnongon, Laua-an, and in Culasi with 11,080 senior beneficiaries. Antique has 40,440 senior citizen-beneficiaries of the social pension. DSWD started to release the pension on February 2 for 2,236 beneficiaries from the town of Tobias Fornier. “The seniors need not have to go to the sites where we are releasing the social pension but that they could authorize someone on their behalf,” Ocbian said. PNA

98-year-old hosts virtual class for women’s group

OCA RATON, Fla.—When the coronavirus pandemic shut down the Levis Jewish Community Center last year, 98-year-old Trudy Berlin sprang into action to keep her weekly women’s group active. For Berlin, who began hosting “The Ladies Room” at the JCC’s Sandler Center in 2000, the show needed to go on. So with a little help from Stephanie Owitz, the Boca Raton, Florida, center’s director of arts, culture and learning, the show went virtual. “When the pandemic hit, of course, she was very disappointed we were shutting down the JCC,” Owitz said. Then, the center decided to make some classes, including Berlin’s, available on Zoom. “At first she was very intimidated by that idea. She’s 98 years old and not that comfortable with the technology, but I assured her I would help her get started,” Owitz said. Since March, Berlin has grown a steady Tuesday morning audience of about 50 women, mostly age 70 and up, from the United States and Canada. They discuss everything from grief to politics. “I’m happiest when I can be talking to a group, and I believe in groups very very much,” Berlin said. At first, Berlin did the show from her Boca Raton apartment. Now that the center has reopened, she does her virtual class from the JCC, sitting at a table with newspapers and notes spread out in front of her. The participants find Berlin inspiring, even dubbing her the “Jewish Oprah.” “She challenges us, she makes us think,” said Marilyn Snider, 79, of Toronto. “Her energy is absolutely unbelievable. She brings out thoughts that you never thought you would ever express.” AP

Education BusinessMirror

A8 Saturday, May 15, 2021

Editor: Mike Policarpio

Abra HS in podium finish at World Robot Games ’21

HE Department of Education commended Abra High School’s Robotics Team after it took home bronze medals in the Senior Innovation Category of the recently concluded World Robot Games 2021. T he te a m , comp o s e d of Venice Balbin, Marc Dei Niel Bides, Keneth Seruno, Shefally Daime Valencia, David James Rayver Viado and Ma. Teresa Viste developed an automatic and contactless disinfection channel, as well as a portable and dual-powered renewableenergy source sanitation station which bested around 27

entries from around the world. According to Grade-10 student Ma. Teresa Viste, they made the disinfection channel automatic and contactless. Upon entering an establishment, one has to pass through a “tunnel ” with an open-air spray shower and a head-to-toe disinfectant. Her team considers it a preventive mechanism

against the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019. Meanwhile, the portable and dual-powered renewable-energy source is a hands-free sanitation station which uses three automatic dispensing systems containing water, soap and alcohol. The team’s teacher and coach Jephunneh Gasmen said that it makes use of t wo energ y sources: solar and microbial fuel cells. The latter maximizes wastewater, such as those used after handwashing. It was pilot-tested in a public market, and vendors liked the concept as they are able to wash their hands when selling, while avoiding contamination, especially in a public place such as their area of work. Education Secretary Leonor

Magtolis Briones lauded the young students’ triumph, as she pointed out that the department must strive to support learners who excel in the fields of science and technology. “The feat of the Abra High School Robotics team is yet another evidence of the world-class talents of our learners,” she commented. “We commend them and their coaches who really worked hard to give our country another source of pride.” Meanwhile, the team members said they wish to establish a formal robotics group through a collaboration with the Schools Division Office which will be a basis for future competitions. “With additional support, we are very optimistic that in upcoming competitions, we will be able to produce better and improved products and at the same time, motivate and inspire other students to join our team,” ended Viste.

DepEd-ICO gets children’s books courtesy of KOICA Ed-tech platform Stock Knowledge

HE Department of Education-International Cooperation Office (DepEdICO) received 10 boxes of children’s books from the Korean International Coordinating Agency (KOICA) on May 4. The KOICA team completed the donation of 1,000 pieces of books for identified “last-mile” schools in Calabarzon region. DepEd-ICO Director Margarita Consolacion C. Ballesteros formally received the items in a ceremonial turnover. L a s t - m i l e s c ho ol s , u nd e r DepEd Memo No. 059, S. 2019, are those located in geographi-

cally isolated and disadvantaged areas, or GIDA. They have less than four classrooms considered as non-standard, no electricity and funds for repairs within the last four years, travel distance of more than an hour from the town center, hold multigrade classes with less than five teachers, and less than 100 learners, with more than 75 percent of them from indigenous peoples. Before their delivery, samples of the books will be reviewed by the Bureau of Curriculum Development and Bureau of Learning Resources of the Office of the Undersecretary for Curriculum and

Instruction to ensure the books are consistent with DepEd-issued learning materials. DepEd, through ICO, is currently exploring areas of possible collaboration with KOICA, which may eventually lead to the drafting of a memorandum of understanding to maximize the benefits of the partnership for basic education stakeholders. By its creation under DepEd Order No. 19, S. 2010, ICO was mandated as the specific office within the department to oversee its international concerns, and serves as a clearinghouse for all its international transactions.

EU promotes friendship, ties with Pinoy kids’ cultural fest

REAT adventures await Fi l ipino c hi ld ren t his summer, as the European Union Delegation mounts the virtual edition of the annual cultural festival “Lakbayin Natin ang EU” on May 16 at 10 a.m. via the EU in the Philippines Facebook page. Lakbayin Natin...is part of the ongoing “Viva Europa” celebrations and focuses on the theme “Children for Friendship,” which will feature a visual tapestry of European culture and arts from the Embassies of Czech Republic, Germany, France, Austria, Poland, and the Philippine-Italian Association (PIA). “Since 2008 the EU Delegation has been providing an opportunity for Filipino children to learn European songs, games, stories, music and arts and crafts,” said EU Ambassador Luc Véron. “Together with the EU member-states’ embassies and cultural institutes, the delegation has ensured to create a unique and enjoyable cultural experience for Pinoy kids.” Considering the pandemic, “Lakbayin Natin...” has resorted to using digital platforms this year to ensure children and their families are safe and sound. Among the highlights of the festival are:

Poetry reading by Czechia. The Czech Embassy will present its poetry reading entitled Štěstí or “Fortune” by Adolf Heyduk. It will be performed both in Czech and in English by Dora Šedivá—daughter of Ambassador Jana Šedivá, as well as Marika Štěpková—daughter of Deputy Ambassador Jana Peterková. Country comparisons by Germany.

German grade schoolers will appear in a video comparing their country with the Philippines in

terms of weather, clothing, animals and landmarks, to be headed by teacher Florian Simmelbauer.

Song by France. Fourteen-yearold soprano Yumi will perform “L‘amour and Ode to Joy.” She is the champion of the World for OperaJunior Division of the 2019 World Championship of Performing Arts, and hosts Musikwela Kids TV—an online educational show for kids, parents and educators promoting Pinoy culture and values. Storytelling, song, and nursery rhyme by Italy. To celebrate the

140th anniversary of the first appearance of Pinocchio on the weekly children magazine Il Giornale Dei Ragazzi, the PIA will feature two activities especially dedicated to the wooden puppet hero. (The Adventures of Pinocchio was originally written in serial form by Italian author Carlo Collodi in 1881.) There will be a storytelling of Ang Pangako ni Pinocchio based on the book Pinocchio: The Tale of a Puppet by Collodi and illustrated by Alice Carsey, to be narrated by Ate Melai, Kuya Tom, and Kuya James—“kwuentistas” from the National Library of the Philippines. PIA will also share a fun “filastrocca sull'amicizia,” or nursery rhyme, on friendship by Italian writer Gianni Rodari—considered one of the most prominent children’s literature writers in Italy. This will be interpreted by three Italian students from an Italian Language for Children course.

Country tour by Austria. Kids will be taken around Austria to learn more about its rich culture, famous personalities, and captivating landmarks. They will also be taught the translation and pro-

nunciation of common Filipino words and phrases in German— the official language of Austria. Madeleine Mitchelle Diolanda and Darline Spielhofer of the Austrian Embassy will coach the children.

Rhymes by Poland. Representatives from the Polish Embassy headed by Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) Jarosław Szczepankiewicz will recite the Lokomotywa or Locomotive by Polish poet Julian Tuwim. The CDA and his team specially shot this activity in Dagupan City where they had an old train displayed in front of the city museum as background. (In 1939, the poem, along with two others namely “The Turnip” and “The Bird’s Broadcast,” were published in a single book, with commissioned illustrations from Jan Le Witt and George Him.) Friendship bracelets. The art of creating these items will be taught by Teens for Unity PH’s Samantha Belwa. This craft-making activity will help kids be more creative, resourceful, and be filled with hope, as they look forward to the day when they can personally handover their customized bracelets to friends and playmates. The festival will also display winning artworks created from either crayons, coloring pencils, paints, oil pastels, and watercolor in the EU Delegation’s Art Contest. Embodying the general theme “Children for Friendship,” Filipino preschool to middleschool students were asked to express the meaning of friendship through art and the way they can promote it between Filipinos and Europeans. The children’s festival is supported by the Department of Education.

boosts blended learning capabilities

INCE the pandemic upended the lives of countless people globally, many sectors have shifted toward using online platforms and digital tools as means to simulate a “business as usual” approach in terms of work, social, or school. While blended learning has indeed accelerated education technology (ed-tech) in the country, there are still a few hurdles that need to be addressed in establishing such types of digital learning as a more accessible and affordable way to teach children various subjects without jeopardizing their interests. Stock Knowledge—a promising new start-up in the ed-tech niche which recently entered into an agreement with the Department of Education (DepEd)—is a platform featuring free content in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for participating schools in the City of Manila. It involves both hardware and software elements that will enable students to utilize emerging technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, webXR, and artificial intelligence for gamified, immersive and adaptive DepEd curriculum

subjects. The pilot usage of Stock Knowledge’s open-source gamified and immersive ad apt ive lea r ning tools, as well as its research activities, are developed with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund’s Innovation Fund. “Stock Knowledge is proud to introduce a platform which educators can customize according to their students’ needs,” said the platform’s CEO Anna Marie Benzon. “It integrates gamification with essential tailored learnings on STEM subjects that we expect to be more engaging and appealing to students, and integrates webXR, which is also unique to the Philippine school system and is not yet available elsewhere in the world.” A testing phase w ill be in place for the initial year of Stock Knowledge’s collaboration with the DepEd to gather student and faculty feedback to determine if tweaks are in order for usage and technology improvements. On the part of the DepEd, platforms such as Stock Knowledge are huge steps in institutionalizing digital learning alternatives to the country’s 21.7 million students. Such technologies

have come at the most opportune time when various curricula for senior high-school students have just recently been restructured according to the government’s K-12 program. “Stock Knowledge is definitely a notable addition to the Division of City Schools [DCS]-Manila partners in the digital industry,” according to Dr. Maria Magdalena M. Lim, DepEd Manila-Schools Division superintendent. “DCS Manila is currently reviewing alternatives that can pro v ide i m me r s ive le a r n i n g to our students not only as we weather this pandemic, but also in the future as we pursue more learning options that are truly accessible, affordable and delivers high effectivity rates,” she further stated. Moving forward, Stock Knowledge is working to make more advances to its platform capabilities based on student feedback by introducing their breakthrough platform to more potential investors as education technology continues to be a most promising niche-investment option in startup ecosystems around the world. Learn more about it by visiting stockknowledge.org.

Alcatel-Lucent enhances distance learning with cloud-based solution By Roderick L. Abad

S the country’s education system continues to embrace distance learning, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE) has responded to the need for uninterrupted conduct of online classes with the launch of the Rainbow Classroom. “Home learning is…here to stay,” said Moussa Zaghdoud, executive vice president of ALE Cloud Communication Business Division. “However, this change requires flexibility among learning establishments, and we created Rainbow Classroom to meet that exact need. [It can be tailored by schools or universities to optimize their] remote learning experience, while ensuring data security and ease of use for teachers and students alike.” Like elsewhere in the world, the Philippines is now in the middle of a blended learning framework of the Department of Education for School Year 2020-2021, yet it is still being faced by challenges

of the remote online learning arrangement. “Our education system abruptly shifted from physical venues to virtual classrooms; so educators, students, and even parents alike are still in the phase of growing accustomed to the new setup,” noted ALE Country Manager for the Philippines Kit Andal. “We made the Rainbow Classroom with digital learning in mind, to ensure that users can experience a truly flexible and intuitive platform that supports their learning.” T he one - of -a-k i nd , c loudbased virtual classroom engine enables educators to empower their teaching styles to meet their students’ needs through real-time collaboration and communication equipment—including monitored study groups, whiteboarding, audio, video, instant messaging functionality, as well as file and screen sharing. Rainbow Classroom, likewise, allows the curation of all classroom activity as it is capable of

retaining all documents, conversations and posts until the term is complete. It flawlessly integrates with existing learning management systems to enable a familiar virtual learning environment and toolset. Security-wise, Rainbow Classroom is fully adherent to the General Data Protection Regulation and approved by The Open Web Application Secur it y Project. Hosted on ALE’s infrastructure, subscribers can expect a robust level of security which is also applied to other Rainbow products, where communications are encrypted in transit and at rest. “Rainbow Classroom’s inherent versatility enables it to be leveraged in any learning environment. By using the platform, a business, school, or university can turn a simple web browser into a sophisticated and powerful learning tool.” Zaghdoud stressed. “Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is here to support you in the evolution to a hybrid digital learning environment.”

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Saturday, May 15, 2021 A9

The unknown side of Corregidor W Story & photos by Benjamin Layug

hen one mentions Corregidor, what comes to mind is the heroic defense of the 11,000 Fil-American troops on the island against the Japanese invaders after the Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942. After a month, on May 6, the island itself capitulated. Now, on the 79th anniversary of the fall of the island, let’s find out about some relatively unknown facts about the island fortress of Corregidor and its adjoining islands.

For one, the exact derivation of the island’s name is unknown. Some say it was derived from the Spanish name for “corrector” (one who checks and corrects papers of incoming ships) while others say it was from the Spanish word corregidor (the man who heads the corregimiento or unpacified military zone). Two facts are full of irony. First, the cement for concrete used to line the 30 to 40 ft thick walls of Malinta Tunnel (an 836-ft long, fishbone-shaped system of bombproof tunnels) was, ironically, Asada cement bought from the Japanese. Second, though Corregidor and the adjoining islands bristled with 56 coastal guns and mortars in 23 seacoast batteries, most were useless during the siege as they used armor-piercing ammunition (for use against naval targets) instead of the more effective anti-personnel type and, although capable of all around traverse, were ineffective for use against targets on Bataan. Only the eight 12-inch mortars of Battery Geary and the four 12inch mortars of Way proved to be the best and most effective for the defense of Corregidor during the Japanese siege. Speaking of batteries, Corregidor armament included “disappearing” gun batteries (Battery Crockett and Cheney, two 12” seacoast guns each; Battery Grubbs, two 10” guns). These disappearing guns, mounted on a “disappearing carriage,” enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. Did you know that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seis-

mology (PHIVOLCS) still classifies Corregidor and Caballo islands as a potentially active volcano? According to the PHIVOLCS, the two islands are believed to be the exposed rim of a volcano that form part of a potentially active volcanic caldera (called the Corregidor Caldera), though it has no known eruptions in the Holocene Period (around 10,000 years ago) and its last eruption was about 1 million years, based on the age of deposits. Not many know that the Malinta Tunnel, the headquarters of Gen. Douglas MacArthur and temporary home of the Philippine Commonwealth government, was bored out of Malinta Hill using “forced labor” in the form of 1,000 convicts from the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila, most of which were serving life sentences. The Philippine Commonwealth offered them as equity in the construction of the Malinta Tunnel Project. You think Corregidor is part of Bataan? Think again. Though much nearer geographically (it is 3 nautical miles away with 30 minutes travel time from Brgy. Cabcaben) and historically to Mariveles (Bataan), it belongs to Cavite, being under the territorial jurisdiction and administrative management of Cavite City. When you are on the island you can see more of Bataan than Cavite City. Here’s one for Ripley’s. The 880-m (1,520-ft.) long, threestory high and hurricane-proof “Mile Long” Barracks, though less than a third of a mile long, is reputedly the world’s longest military barracks. It housed 8,000

Hospital Ruins—lodging place of Jabidah Massacre victims.

Battery way—one of only two gun batteries effective against the Japanese.

Mile Long Barracks—the longest in the world.

The disappearing gun of Battery Crockett.

Malinta Tunnelbuilt with convict labor and Japanese Asada cement.

men and the headquarters of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. And did you know that the flagpole where the American flag was lowered during the 1942 surrender to the Japanese and raised during the March 2, 1945 liberation is actually a mast of a Spanish warship? It came from the Reina Cristina which was captured by Admiral George Dewey after the May 1, 1898 Battle of Manila Bay and put up in Corregidor. The American flag was lowered for the last time on October 12, 1947 and the Philip-

pine flag hoisted in its stead. Fort Drum, the “Concrete Battleship,” located on the former small, rocky El Fraile Island, 7 miles southeast of Corregidor, must be unprecedented in the history of military fortifications. This heavily fortified 240-ft long, 160-ft. wide and 40-ft high citadel, bristling with 11 guns (including two batteries with rotating turrets with two 14” guns), was built from 1909 to 1919 by the US Army Corps of Engineers who flattened the island and reconstructed it to

The flagpole from the Spanish warship Reina Cristina.

Corregidor—part of a rim of a volcano.

resemble the forepart of a battleship, with one end flat and the other shaped like a prow. Last, an infamous incident on the island spurred a rebellion in the Muslim south, one that lingers to this day. In 1968, a ragtag group of Muslim soldiers was training in Corregidor for a planned invasion of Sabah in Malaysia. When the soldiers found out what they were there for, they refused to do their duty, as many of them had relatives in Sabah, and the rest were understandably reluctant to slaughter

fellow Muslims. A decision was made, from the top brass, to exterminate them. Under the pretense of taking them home, groups of 12 soldiers were led to Kindley air strip where they were machinegunned. All were killed except one Jibin Arula, who jumped off a cliff into the sea and, several hours later, was picked up by fishermen. He later told the story of the infamous Jabidah Massacre. The soldiers’ graffiti could still be seen in the island’s hospital ruins where they stayed in.

Rise of New Clark International Airport comes with delightful Pampanga offerings

CRK New Terminal Building Security Check

CRK New Terminal Building Departure Hall

irport send-offs and arrival welcome styles among close family and good friends are customary to many Filipinos. Many have already set their own peculiar rites for these. But there”s something quite not run-of-the-mill, and yes, exciting, when the new, sprawling facility of Clark International Airport in Pampanga is unveiled to the public this June. Such is so with the many options, all for the taking on leisure by the travelers and their companions in Pampanga. Consider these: Approaching Clark, travelers coming from Manila, or from the north, will see the airport beckon with its stunning facade that mimics majestic slopes of the fabled Mount Arayat and the Zambales mountain range which hosts Mount Pinatubo. Inside the new structure, travelers departing or arriving will find ease in the streamlined conduct of necessary airport procedures. At this time of great

health concerns, contactless systems of self check-in and bag drop are available. Bi Yong Chungunco, CEO of the airport’s operator, the Luzon International Premier Airport Development Corp. (LIPAD), shares that Clark airport stands as the first Philippine airport to be awarded the Airport Health Accreditation Certificate by the Airports Council International. Guests are sure to benefit from the merits of this citation in the new airport. This airport terminal is huge as it sits on a 110,000-squaremeter floor area with four building levels and will service flights with 18 aero-bridges when completed. Yet, at the terminal, travelers will easily find where they need to go with its distinctive color-coded gates for arrival and departure. As travelers get acquainted with the delights of the place, the Clark airport experience prompts travelers and visitors to begin to think of how to take ad-

vantage of being in the historic province of Pampanga. With the rise of this airport as a premier gateway to Asia, what can Pampanga do but tout its exemplary offerings. Food-loving Filipinos duly recognize Pampanga as its Culinary Capital. The airport itself will feature a select array of Pampango delights, further raising interest in the area’s must-taste and must-bring home treats. Travelers can plan to go on their own or take tour packages to find the birthplace of sisig, the pork dish that caught the attention of Anthony Bourdaine, or this biscuit that goes by the name of saniculas, or bringhe (paella style), or pindang (tocino) in its traditional serving. The visit to Pampanga may also turn out to be the perfect time to get that coveted intricately carved, rosette-bedecked wooden bedframe or those wooden foot-high images of saints whose lives have a profound meaning on our cur-

rent challenges. Ever since the Augustinian friars in Hispanic times taught townspeople of Betis, Pampanga the art of carving religious images, woodworking in these vast plains of Central Luzon have gain repute. Other reasons to explore and linger more in the province can be as festive as watching Christmas lantern (parul sampernandu) competitions or as meditative and healing as booking ecotours to learn more about mangroves and bird sanctuaries. All these travel experiences are seen to lead Filipinos and visitors to further appreciate the noteworthy pride of the place that goes with being Pampangueno. In the nation’s flag, one of the eight stars represents Pampanga, whose people were among the first to fight for independence. With the new Clark airport, Pampanga beams with pride with many stories of adventures and soulful encounters, all for the taking of travelers and visitors.

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, May 15, 2021 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHOTO BY ALESIA KAZANTCEVA ON UNSPLASH

SHAREIT SEES GROWTH IN PHL MARKET BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

Business-related trends for 2021

HE phrase “thinking out of the box” is a cliché but for the past year, that is exactly what advertising and marketing people have been forced to do, what with most people confined to their homes and glued to their computer or smartphone screens. Itamar Gero, chief executive officer of Axadra Ventures, the parent company of SEO provider and digital marketing firm Truelogic Inc., has outlined the trends related to businesses in 2021. First, Google has prioritized desktop search for decades but now the search engine crawls, indexes and ranks web pages via smartphone user agents. “This makes sense. Statcounter Global Stats’ report on Desktop vs. Mobile vs. Tablet Market Share worldwide in March 2021 shows a 54.22 percent market share for Mobile vs. Desktop’s 42.93 percent,” said Gero. His recommendation is for businesses to consider their mobile ad campaigns that appear on Google Search, Google Discover, as well as social media platforms. “Attend to your link building strategies around your mobile web site silo, but you should still have inbound links to your web site’s desktop version.” Based on Statista, global ad spending in the digital advertising market is expected to grow 12.2 from 2020-2021 to $398,762 million (or $398.7 trillion). “It’s not a surprise that search advertising will earn a 43 percent share of $171,641 million,” said Gero. About 6.95 billion people around the world were mobile phone users in 2020 and this is expected to reach 7.1 billion this year. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing (SEM) will be more important than ever, as consumers look to bank, shop, send money and find the most current information on businesses they want to transact with.

A big SEM trend in 2021 is video advertising. “Big brands used to traditional TV advertising, Out of Home [OOH] or Digital Out of Home [DOOH] had to take a long, hard look at their budget allocations in 2020. In the Philippines, one week after the May 2020 shutdown of ABS-CBN’s free-to-air operations, average TV viewership levels dipped 24 percent to 30 percent. Restricted mass movement and the ban on large gatherings also reduced widespread exposure to outdoor advertising,” said Gero. Fast-moving consumer goods went to YouTube with uninterrupted 15-second ads or launching short, highly memorable campaigns in YouTube’s six-second bumper ad format. To support businesses, Google and YouTube welcome DIY videos and have even offered their own tool: the YouTube Video Builder. If you are a PPC (pay-per-click) advertiser, it means you are a click away from a soft or hard conversion, whether it’s a sign-up, inquiry, or link to a product that can be purchased online. “Call-to-Action overlays can lead clicks to products, services, or other landing pages of your choice,” said Gero. Another big trend is PPC advertising. “This has gone social in a big way. Paid media specialists and ad buyers are spending on Facebook and Instagram advertising—and have many new platform options for display ads and remarketing. Advertisers can stop worrying [at least for now] about ad-blockers; it’s paid social’s biggest advantage over display ads,” said Gero. This means businesses can easily advertise online without too much supervision. E-commerce businesses can use this development to promote ads on hundreds or thousands of products. This also means opening the door to “programmatic PPC advertising optimization.” Other developments, said Gero, include reduced access to search term information and the move toward event-focused analytics.

RESTORING TELCO SERVICES AFTER A TYPHOON

WHEN Capt. Joel Alviar and Capt. Noelo Albano were called upon by Pacific Global One Aviation (PG1) to prepare for a critical mission on November 3, 2020, they didn’t know what to expect. A few days before that, Super Typhoon Rolly had unleashed its full fury

on Bicol, flattening the province of Catanduanes. Rolly cut off the province from the rest of the country after it downed communication facilities. “All pilots were alerted, and all air assets were prepared for the flight mission. We were put on standby and told to be ready to go once cleared,” said PG1 director of operations, Capt. Joel Alviar. He was the company’s chief pilot then. PLDT and Smart mobilized all available resources to restore services in the area. While there were available equipment and personnel who were willing to go to Catanduanes, the question was how? In the midst of a raging pandemic and travel restrictions, PLDT tapped its aviation unit, PG1, to carry out the mission. That fateful flight on November 3, 2020 almost didn’t happen because of logistical challenges, health concerns and limited availability of aviation fuel in the Bicol region. “We were scheduled to depart around 12nn to 1pm. But there was a big problem: there was no aviation fuel available for us in Legazpi City, Albay. All supply had been reserved for the Philippine Air Force,” said Alviar. The two pilots didn’t give up. By contacting friends and former colleagues in the Air Force, they were able to strike a fuel supply deal with the PAF. “The Philippine Air Force lent us three drums of aviation fuel which we were able to replenish in three days. Because of the PAF’s generosity, we were able to take off for Catanduanes,” explained said Alviar. Just before sunset, the Bell 429 carrying Smart senior engineer Orlando Cubacub and equipment landed in Virac, Catanduanes. The two pilots spent the night in Legazpi City, Albay before ferrying other personnel and more equipment back to Virac the following morning. Because of the critical missions flown by Alviar and Albano, Smart became the first carrier to restore mobile services in Catanduanes, less than a week after Rolly battered the province. “We established a signal at 8:42 am of November 4. We were the first to restore mobile services after Super Typhoon Rolly,” said Smart senior engineer Orlando Cubacub. Other than the special mission to Catanduanes, PG1 air assets were also tapped to fly healthcare personnel and medical supplies across the hospital network of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. all over the country to augment the workforce and replenish stocks in critical locations. ■

Vivo launches gaming-oriented phone WINNING does not have to be expensive. Victory could come from a mobile device packed with the essential top-notch gaming features with an affordable price tag. New generation smartphones are giving gamers a more competitive advantage by improving the features they actually need. To help users reach their full gaming potential, vivo (www.vivo.com/ ph), a leading global smartphone brand, launched the vivo Y20s [G]. The new device is packed only with the important stuff: a smooth performance even in heavy-loading game engines, a bigger

phone capacity, and a long-lasting battery. The vivo Y20s [G] runs on a MediaTek Helio G80 octa-core gaming processor that ensures lag-free and accurate performance. Avoiding delays prove the processor’s capability for prompt response between smartphone and cell tower while including advanced mechanisms in AI-supported games, and a highly accurate positioning engine. It is also important for a smartphone to anticipate incoming issues before it affects gaming performance. The MultiTurbo 3.0, another key feature of the vivo

Y20s [G], does this. It predicts system abnormalities caused by third-party apps and solving problems even before they occur. The HyperEngine Game Technology, meanwhile, speeds up game load times and takes care of latency issues by managing multiple networks. Completing the important gaming features in the latest vivo handset is its big smartphone capacity that has a 6GB and 128GB RAM + ROM support. This seals the realization that in a time when people think that a lot is lost, the vivo Y20s [G] refuels passions by providing gamers only with what’s necessary.

GLOBAL Internet technology company SHAREit sees bright opportunities in 2021, stressing it as the right time to expand and officially set up a local team in the country. SHAREit Philippines country director Lisa Dominguez said the flourishing local mobile app ecosystem and the growth of its users are good indicators for expansion. “SHAREit is just the right platform to answer the country’s growing tech and digital marketing needs,” Dominguez said. “Mobile is the future of everything. As one of the most widely used apps in the Philippines, we’re excited to work with even more local brands to accelerate their growth in the digital space. With SHAREit, Philippine businesses and marketers get to connect to our 40 million active users. Our unique solutions enable them to build deep and wide brand awareness and drive growth and retention at scale,” Dominguez added. Dominguez noted Filipinos have always been known to be insatiable consumers of digital media and the disruption caused by the current pandemic has even pushed this reality even further. Between 2020 and 2021, Dominguez said the number of Filipino Internet users increased by a reported 4.2 million (+6.1 percent). By January 2021, Internet penetration in the country stood at approximately 67 percent. In their study, Dominguez observed that one of the most noticeable trends among Filipinos was the continued proliferation of mobile. In their research, it showed the number of mobile connections in the Philippines in January 2021 was equivalent to 138.2 percent of the total population, owing to the fact that many Filipinos have more than one mobile connection. Moreover, Dominguez said the one-stop content platform SHAREit is among the leading brands that continue to thrive with the increasing digitalization and mobile use. She said the onestop content platform has become increasingly popular to users as it enables transfer of video, music, files and apps from one device to another over 200 times faster than Bluetooth. The nearly 2.4 billion users worldwide of the SHAREit app found on Google Play gives the platform a huge clout for users sharing data on the Internet. The SHAREit app sits in the top 10 of the world’s most downloaded apps of all time on Google Play. SHAREit provides a quick and efficient way for users to share files—from music and videos, to heavier files and apps. The platform also offers gaming and content discovery, making SHAREit a one-stop shop for all entertainment needs. It has been so well-received by Filipinos that the app is already on eight out of 10 Android phones in the Philippines, and is the 8th most used app in the country. “Our 40 million active users in the Philippines are some of the most engaged among SHAREit’s billion-strong user base worldwide,” said Dominguez. “Pinoys are on the forefront of many global trends in terms of mobile usage, entertainment and gaming. We’re very excited about SHAREit’s growth as our local team helps to empower and enable Philippine businesses to effectively reach more customers and unlock growth.”

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Saturday, May 15, 2021 A11

Making 8 great? Amazon wins EU court fight over $300 million tax ruling BRUSSELS—In the latest setback to European Union efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance, a court on Wednesday annulled a ruling by the European Commission that a tax deal between Amazon and Luxembourg’s government amounted to illegal state support. The EU’s executive branch ordered the US online retailer in 2017 to pay around €250 million ($300 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg. But judges at the EU’s General Court said the European Commission didn’t prove “to the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction of the tax burden of a European subsidiary of the Amazon group.” Amazon said it welcomed the court’s decision, which is “in line with our long-standing position that we followed all applicable laws and that Amazon received no special treatment,” the company said in a statement. “We’re pleased that the Court has made this clear, and we can continue to focus on delivering for our customers across Europe.” The European Commission’s decision related to Luxembourg’s tax treatment of two companies in the Amazon group: Amazon EU and Amazon Europe Holding Technologies. Margrethe Vestager, the EU official in charge of antitrust issues, argued at the time that Amazon had unfairly profited from special low tax conditions since 2003 in tiny Luxembourg, where its European headquarters are based. As a result, almost three quarters of Amazon’s profits in the EU were not taxed, she said. “We will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps,” Vestager said in a statement. Both Luxembourg and Amazon challenged the decision with the EU’s General Court. The EU has taken aim at deals concluded between individual countries and companies used to lure foreign multinationals in search of a place to establish their EU headquarters. The practice led to EU states competing with each other and multinationals playing them off one another. Judges at the General Court have backed the European Commission in several cases, but the EU’s efforts to crack down on favorable tax deals suffered recent setbacks in cases involving Starbucks and Apple. Wednesday’s ruling can be appealed to the 27-nation bloc’s highest court, the European Court of Justice. AP

OGOMANIA, the famous shouty logo trend from the 1990s, is back with a vengeance. From high-end brands, like Fendi, Gucci, Burberry, Christian Dior and Vetements, to Supreme, Nike, Adidas and many others, prominent logos have once again reemerged in the fashion scene. Printed slogan and logo elements on clothes, shoes and handbags are massively popular with big celebrities, street culture lovers and fashionistas. And for a generation who thrives on social media, these big, bold brand logos emblazoned on apparel have become the perfect way to show that “if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” Will the tech world be the next to follow? Smartphone brand realme seems to be counting on it. The two-year old brand just reclaimed the top spot as the Philippines’ No.1 smartphone brand in for the first quarter of 2021, and it may just be the momentum it needs to push this design trend. As it launched the latest in its number series, the first thing you’ll notice with the realme 8 series is its tagline “DARE TO LEAP” boldly emblazoned at the back of the phone. realme calls this the Infinite Bold Design, combining hip, street elements and showcasing their unique comprehension of trendsetting design that captures the brand spirit. The text has a glossy finish which makes it pop against the sandblasted textured finish on the rest of the back. Its one of the best finishes I’ve seen in a smartphone and it definitely gives it more grip. Two colors are available at launch: the dreamlike Infinite Blue and the mysterious Infinite Black. Both look equally good, but they are relatively tame compared to the Illuminating Yellow that’s been released in other countries. realme, if you are daring people to make the bold choice, you better give them an adventurous color option as well. Exploring the phone, you’ll find the power and the volume buttons on the right which are wellpositioned and easy to reach during one-handed use. The SIM tray is on the left side and can accommodate two SIM cards and one micro SD card (up to 256GB). The type-C charging port, mic, 3.5 mm headphone jack and single loudspeaker are all located at the bottom. On the front, the realme 8 Pro looks a lot like its predecessor, the Realme 7 Pro. You still have get a nice 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a holepunch housing the 16MP front camera on the top left

corner. What is noticeably different is just how slim and light the realme 8 Pro is, weighing only 176g and just 8.1mm thick. If you are using those generic ring lights, you know that having a light phone makes it a lot easier to shoot topdown or flatlay shots as most of those packaged phone clip holders are quite flimsy and could barely support heavier phones. The realme 8 Pro’s main selling point is its 108-megapixel main rear camera, the first in its number series—and for most of the time, the camera does live up to its top billing. The primary camera adopts the third generation ISOCELL HM2 of the Samsung sensor with 108MP ultra high pixel, with an extra large sensor of 1/1.52 inch and the maximum resolution of 12000×9000. Also advertised is its 3x lossless zoom. The rest of the lens are your usual midrange snappers. The 8MP ultra wide-angle lens meanwhile has a 119° field of view and a f/2.25 aperture. Rounding up the quad camera setup is a 2MP macro lens with a 4cm shooting distance and a 2MP B&W portrait lens that assists the main lens to capture light better, enhance image contrast, create retro-style images, and add texture to portraits. As you might expect, the leap to 108MP makes the realme 8 Pro the best shooter in the series. The 108MP sensor uses pixel binning to produce better 12-megapixel images which result in reduced noise and better overall quality. Shots do take a bit longer to process, so don’t move your hand right away after hitting the shutter to prevent blur, but the results especially outdoors and in daylight are fantastic— clear, vibrant, with lots of details even if you zoom in close on the photo. The ultra-wide angle camera, on the other hand, also does a capable job, but you need to have adequate lighting to get the best results, otherwise photos appear grainy with some noise. The two other cameras are merely there to complete the quad camera module. Worth mentioning are the several new camera modes on the realme 8 Pro. First is the Starry Time-Lapse video mode where the realme 8 Pro takes 16 individual photos every 15s for 4mins, and then the algorithm combines them into a final picture. Tilt-Shift Mode turns the real world into a miniature world, using some kind of optical illusion of the human eye. Now you can also shoot Tilt-Shift Time-Lapse Video with 10x playback, presenting the real world in a more artistic way. This is fun to use when shooting from a high building and capturing cityscapes. The last is Trendy Portrait that gives you a neon effect to create a more “dreamy” shot; Dynamic

Bokeh that highlights your subject against a busily moving background, creating an eye-catching sense of motion; and AI Color Portrait where people are in color while the background is in black and white. For the rest of the specifications, the realme 8 Pro actually shares several similarities to its predecessor such as the Super AMOLED panel with a full-HD+ resolution, the in-display fingerprint scanner, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor. But this doesn’t affect the performance of the phone. Instead, realme says they’ve found the Snapdragon 720G as the most optimized to partner with its new camera. You also get 8GB RAM + 128 GB, which again is at par with other mid range smartphones. The 4500mAh battery can be charged to 100 percent in 47 minutes using the 50W SuperDart Charge and nearly 50 percent in 17 minutes. This makes it really convenient when you need a quick charge before leaving the house. While the realme 8 Pro does make a brave bold leap in terms of its design and its 108MP main shooter, internally its just more of an iterative update over the realme 7 Pro with most refinements happening in the camera department. Still, it does a pretty good job overall and won’t disappoint aspiring photographers and content creators. ■

Globe underlines importance of customer-centricity

GLOBE Vice President for Consumer Mobile Business KD Dizon

FOR students entering the work force, Globe (www.globe.com.ph) reminds the youth that putting customers’ best interests and needs are of utmost importance. Globe Vice President for Consumer Mobile Business KD Dizon discussed the virtues of being customer-centric as she underscored Globe’s commitment to help empower the youth so they can thrive in the new normal. She underscored this in her keynote speech at the recent PANAF (Philippine Association of National Advertisers Foundation) Youth Creativity Festival 2021.

“Every single part of what we bring to the market must have the customer in mind,” she said. “What we must be excited about is the customer, about solving their problems, enhancing their lives, empowering them to create the lives that they want. That is not just in what we communicate to them, but it’s the whole ecosystem behind what we are bringing to our customers.” Dizon noted that the mindset shift to put the customer first was pivotal in Globe’s journey at a time when the battle of the brands was very fierce. “We started to purposely build products and services to address customer pain points and

look into motivations and the insights behind the customer,” she added. “Customers are all ever-evolving, so much more now, driven by the unfortunate pandemic that we’re in. What worked in the recent past would no longer work now, but apart from being a huge challenge, it is an even bigger opportunity,” Dizon shared. The PANAF Youth Creative Festival 2021 was a gathering of industry experts and leading practitioners to help the youth, fresh graduates and those new in the work force, with insights on how they can future proof themselves.

China says Xiaomi removal from US blacklist ‘beneficial’ HONG KONG—China’s commerce ministry on Thursday welcomed the removal of Xiaomi Corp. from a US government blacklist, a day after the US reversed a ban on US investments in the smartphone maker that was imposed under former President Donald J. Trump. “China has always believed that removing sanctions and restrictions and stopping suppression of Chinese companies will benefit China, the United States, and the world,” Gao Feng, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, said at a news

briefing Thursday. Xiaomi, a Beijing-based company known for its value-for-money smartphones and smart devices, was added to a Defense Department blacklist in January this year in the last few days of the Trump administration, which accused it of links to China’s military. US investors were ordered to divest their stakes held in Xiaomi by November. In response, Xiaomi sued the US government over the ban, demanding to be removed from the list. It denies having any links with China’s People’s

Liberation Army. On Wednesday, a US court filing said that the US Department of Defense will remove Xiaomi from the blacklist after the two parties reached an agreement, media reports said. A Xiaomi spokesperson said that the company was paying close attention to the issue. The company’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell nearly 2.9 percent Thursday, a day after gaining 6 percent on news of it was being removed from the US blacklist. Under the Trump administration, Chinese technology companies such as drone maker

DJI and telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei were put on a trade blacklist out of concerns such companies might be security risks. US companies and individuals are banned from dealing with companies on such lists or in some cases must seek special permission in advance. Companies like Huawei and DJI have both denied that they send any data to China, although China hawks say that such companies may be obliged to assist espionage efforts as stipulated in China’s national intelligence law. AP

THE Realme 7 Pro

Sports BusinessMirror

SCOLI PICENO, Italy— Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder won the sixth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Thursday for his first victory in a Grand Tour. Attila Valter, meanwhile, took the leader’s pink jersey. Mäder, who rides for Team Bahrain Victorious, was part of a quartet leading the race up the summit finish and the 24-yearold attacked with 3 kilometers remaining to cross the line 12 seconds ahead of his fellow escapees. Egan Bernal was second, just ahead of Daniel Martin and Remco Evenepoel at the end of the sternest test yet of this year’s Giro. There were three classified climbs along the 160-kilometer route from Grotte di Frasassi to Ascoli Piceno and the stage was made even trickier by the weather conditions, which were wet and cold. Valter took over the lead from Alessandro De Marchi. The Hungarian cyclist has an 11-second lead over Evenepoel and 16 seconds ahead of Bernal—two of the favorites for the overall win. The Giro finishes on May 30 in Milan with an individual time trial. Dutch cyclist Tom Dumoulin, meanwhile, is returning to racing in June, six months after taking a break from the sport to consider his future. The 30-year-old former timetrial world champion will begin his comeback at the Tour de Suisse on June 6, the Jumbo-Visma team said Thursday. AP

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| Saturday, May 15, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

SWISS ENDURES FOR FIRST GRAND TOUR STAGE WIN

MARCIAL

By Josef Ramos

HE easing to general community quarantine (GCQ) of the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus was like a shot in the arm that the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) needed to open its 46th season next month. “This is a big development for us,” PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial told BusinessMirror on Friday, the morning after President

THE peloton rides the flat start of the sixth stage. AP

PBA ON GCQ: SHOT IN THE ARM Duterte announced that from MECQ, NCR Plus will now be under GCQ but with more restrictions. Under GCQ, the 12 PBA squads can hold non-scrimmage practices anywhere in NCR Plus. “This is beneficial to every team and we are hoping the [Covid-19] cases in Metro Manila go down,” Marcial said. “I hope it pushes for the better. We’re not going to stop praying to stop Covid-19.” The PBA’s intention to open in

No Dubai competition, no problem

June, Marcial said, got a major boost following the Games and Amusement Board’s (GAB) approval of the PBA’s proposed health protocols and guidelines that included two RT-PCR tests each time the teams hold their practice. Despite the easing of quarantines, several PBA teams are going on with their plan to practice in local government units under modified GCQ. There, the teams could hold scrimmages or face-to-face training. Rain or Shine Coach Chris Gavina said they will proceed to Batangas City Coliseum on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to for their training camp while awaiting an approval by Mandaluyong City for the use of the Reyes Gym. Phoenix Super LPG team manager Paolo Bugia said they need to begin practicing by next week and are also waiting for the green light from Pasig City Hall. Blackwater and Magnolia are also waiting for a similar response from the Quezon City and San Juan City governments. But the three teams will still proceed to Batangas City for a closed-circuit training system.

“If we don’t get an approval from the LGU, we will practice in Batangas, we are not going to stay there and we’ll be traveling back and forth,” Bugia said. The closed-circuit system obliges the teams to follow a strict home-gym-home routine. TNT KaTropa will still travel to Laoag City to set up camp at the Centennial Arena starting on Saturday until May 25, while Meralco will also hold a 10-day practice program in the Ilocos Norte capital. NLEX, on the other hand, intends to hold a team building activity in Subic also later this month. The entire Ilocos Norte and Zambales, including Subic, are under MGCQ. Terrafirma assistant manager Ireneo “Iby” Bautista said they have no immediate plans of training in the provinces and are awaiting an approval from Parañaque City. Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, Alaska, Northport and San Miguel Beer are still finalizing their plans for their respective camps. Marcial said protocol violators will be meted a P75,000 fine and a 10-day suspension.

Support grows for Ayuda sa Atleta

YUDA Sa Atleta, a campaign to help supplement the domestic needs of national athletes during the Covid-19 pandemic, has gained momentum after more individuals and companies pledged to help in cash and in-kind. A total of P350,000 in cash was raised so far, P250,000 of which was the seed fund from sports patron and softball association president Jean Henri Lhuillier. Primovit vitamins from Britton Pharmaceuticals and Biocare Lifesciences Inc. and Alaska’s Philippine Basketball Association team pledged powdered milk and chocolate

milk drinks. What was encouraging for the private sector group headed by former Philippine Olympic Committee Chairman Tom Carrasco and project initiator Lito Cinco was national para athlete Adeline Dumapong pledging to help the cause. “We are very happy that this campaign is inclusive of para athletes like us , that is why I volunteered to help raise funds too,” Dumapong, a bemedaled powerlifter, said.

By Josef Ramos

UMIR FELIX MARCIAL gets to test his battlereadiness for the Tokyo Olympics when he flies to Dubai later this month with seven national teammates for the Asian Elite Men and Women Boxing Championships. But none of those joining Marcial are bound for the Olympics. “We cannot gamble the safety of our athletes headed for the Tokyo Olympics and we don’t want to waste time in quarantine,” national team coach Nolito “Boy” Velasco told Business Mirror on Friday. Joining Marcial in the May 21 to June 1 tournament are five-time Southeast Asian Games champion light flyweight Josie Gabuco, lightweight Maricel de la Torre and Jere Samuel dela Cruz, flyweight Marvin Tabamo and Mark Lester Durens, bantamweight Junmilardo Ogayre and light welterweight John Panuayan. All seven are training at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) facility in Baguio City while Marcial is currently in his native Zamboanga City. “If the boxers get infected by the virus, 14 days would be wasted in quarantine because they would not be allowed to train,” Velasco added. “If they go to Dubai, they’ll be quarantined one week here in Thailand, and that’s also a waste of time.” The Tokyo-bound boxers— light flyweight Carlo Paalam, flyweight Irish Magno and featherweight Nesthy Petecio— have been in their training camp in Muak Lek Saraburi, Thailand, since March 10. Marcial already got two doses of anti-Covid-19 vaccine when he was still training in the US. Velasco said that even without the Dubai warmup, the boxers are on track in their preparations for the Olympics set from July 23 to August 8. “The training of our boxers is doing great because they have many sparring partners here,” Velaso said. “Since March 10, our boxers have shown vast improvement, especially Irish [Magno]. She’s finally back in her groove just like the rest.” The Philippine Sports Commission is bankrolling the boxers’ Dubai stint through a P2 million financial assistance to the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines. New Delhi was supposed to host the event but was moved to Dubai because of the scary increase in Covid-19 cases in India.

EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL gets to play with his dog Prince while savoring the comforts of home in Zamboanga City.

Malaysian IM loads up with Caloocan PCAP side

By Rick Olivares

HE Caloocan LoadManna Knights loaded up for the upcoming Wesley So Cup of the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) that begins this May 15. Malaysian International Master Jimmy Chee-Meng Liew, a veteran of multiple Olympiads, is reinforcing the LoadManna Knights who were one of the top teams in the previous All-Filipino Conference but were eliminated in the semifinals of the Northern Division by San Juan. When Liew earned his NM title in 1984, it paved the way for chess to make headway into his football-mad

country. He represented Malaysia in eight Chess Olympiads and is a certified Fide trainer and Fide Arbiter. Liew is the first Malaysian to author two chess books. “I will be glad to join the team and do my best,” the 62-year-old Liew said in an e-mail to Caloocan team manager Arnel Batungbakal. “I am hoping for a different result this time when we meet the power house teams of Laguna and San Juan,” Batungbakal said. “We will, of course, monitor the other teams are most of them beefed up their squads during the off-season.”

INTERNATIONAL Master Jimmy Chee-Meng Liew vows to do his best for the LoadManna Knights.