BusinessMirror May 17, 2021

Q1 NG DEBT PAYMENTS

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n Monday, May 17, 2021 Vol. 16 No. 215

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 18 pages |

UP 53.4% TO P521.5B D

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

Palace issues 2 orders on tariffs for rice, pork

@BNicolasBM

EBT payments by the national government for the first quarter of the year jumped by 53.4 percent to P521.5 billion compared to the same period a year ago, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.

Due to higher interest and amortization payments, total debt service bill from January to March this year was higher than last year’s P339.98 billion.

Bulk of the total debt service bill in the first quarter of 2021 went to amortization payments amounting to P395.65 billion, a 79.76-percent increase from last year’s P220.1 billion.

On the other hand, interest payments in the same period this year reached P125.86 billion, up by nearly 5 percent from P119.88 billion last year.

For March alone, total debt payments rose to P268.4 billion this year, growing more than five-fold from only P49.29 billion in the same month last year.

ROQUE: “The tariff reduction took into consideration the increase in global rice prices, and the uncertainties surrounding the steady supply of rice in the country.”

Continued on A4

‘DEFENSE SECTOR SHOULD BE STRATEGIC INVESTMENT AREA’

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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@Tyronepiad

HE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) is proposing to include the defense industry in the new investment priority list under the recently enacted corporate tax reform measure.

Pe z a D i r e c t o r G e n e r a l Charito B. Plaza, in an interview with the BusinessMirror, said the investment promotion agency wants different industries, including the defense sector, to be part of the Strategic Investment Priorities Plan (SIPP).

SIPP is the list of investment sectors that may apply for fiscal

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

& Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

incentives under Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law, which took effect last month. “We hope to invite the defense industry, like the manufacturers of military aircraft, sea craft, uniform, the weapons, the vehicles,” Plaza said.

Plaza said Peza is awaiting the application from the Philippine Army identifying the military’s reservation areas that can be transformed into defense industrial complexes.

“Once we approve it in the board, we will now forward this to the Office of the President for the presidential compilation.

P

RESIDENT Duterte has issued two new orders adjusting the tariff of rice and pork to address the rising food inflation and at same time protect local farmers.

In his Executive Order (EO) No. 135 (s. 2021), Duterte reduced the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff rates for rice, to 35 percent from 40 percent (in-quota) and 50 percent (out-quota) for a period of one year.

He said the measure aims to “diversify the country’s market sources” of the food staple for Filipinos and stabilize its local price.

“The tariff reduction took into consideration the increase in global rice prices, and the uncertainties surrounding the steady supply of rice in the country,” Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

However, a major farmers’ alliance said the reduction in rice tariffs spell around P100 million in revenue losses for the government, without ensuring that the savings importers make would benefit the public by way of lower rice prices.

Continued on A4

Palace-certified PSA, RTL, FIA top Senate agenda

By Butch Fernandez

S

@butchfBM

ENATE President Vicente Sotto III is calling an all-senators’ caucus Monday to firm up their agenda of urgent bills to be tackled in their remaining threeweek session calendar before Congress adjourns anew.

High on the priorities are amendatory bills that were earlier certified by the Palace: revising the Public Service Act, retail trade liberalization law, and the Foreign Investments Act. “First of all, we only have three weeks left, so I will propose to the senators that we finalize the agenda

in our 1 p.m. caucus [on] what we will do in the four-days session left in our calendar,” Sotto told DWIZ in an interview at the weekend.

Sotto added, partly in Filipino: “For example, we have what we call measures that are critical, as well as urgent bills emanating from Ledac, or the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.

The Senate President cited, for instance, the Palace-endorsed GUIDE bill, or the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives, intended to boost distressed enterprises in line with the Duterte administration’s economic recovery agenda in the pandemic.

Continued on A2

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 47.8340

@jearcalas

Pork tariffs

FAIR GAME? The 12-story al-Jalaa tower housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets in Gaza City is hit by a missile Saturday, May 15, 2021. AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night. Story in World, A6. AP/HATEM MOUSSA

MEANWHILE, Duterte also issued EO 134 to slightly raise the tariff of pork after he adjusted it last April through EO 128.

EO 128 temporarily reduced the tariff rates for pork meat for a period of one year at a graduated basis, from 30 percent (in-quota) and 40 percent (out-quota) to 5 percent (inquota) and 15 percent (out-quota) for the first three months; and 10 percent (in-quota) and 20 percent (out-quota) from the 4th to the 12th month.

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

Continued on A2

Source: BSP (May 14, 2021)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, May 17, 2021

Patients moved as 5-hour fire hits PGH

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

& Rene Acosta

F

@reneacostaBM

IRE broke out at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) at dawn Sunday, prompting hospital officials to transfer some patients to other medical facilities also in Manila.

The fire, which was tapped in at past 12:58 a.m., broke out at the third floor of the country’s biggest hospital and raged for about five hours, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in Manila.

No one was reported hurt or injured during the blaze, which was put under control by firefighters at past 2 a.m. before it was completely extinguished at 5:41 a.m.

Chief Inspector Hector Agadulin, operations officer of the BFP, Manila, said the fire started at the operating room’s supply area in the building’s third floor.

The fire also affected the operating room, prompting hospital officials to evacuate patients.

In a radio interview, Dr. Jonas del Rosario, PGH spokesperson, said the fire started in the Operating Room-Sterilization Area (ORSA), where the linens are located.

Del Rosario said ORSA is located at the third floor of the Central Block Building.

Continued on A4

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Bayanihan 3 and economic Cha-cha top House agenda

Palace issues 2 orders on tariffs for rice, pork

HE House of Representatives will resume sessions on Monday with Bayanihan 3, economic Charter change and impeachment as its top priorities.

However, Duterte issued EO 134 after lawmakers opposed such rates —which they noted is too low and will flood the market with imported pork and deepen the misery of local hog raisers already reeling from the impact of African Swine Fever.

Once it takes effect, EO 134 will increase the tariff for pork to 10 percent (in-quota) and 20 percent (outquota) for the first three months, and 15 percent (in-quota) and 25 percent (out-quota) from the 4th to the 12th month.

“Given the continuing spread of African Swine Fever [ASF] and its adverse effects, the adjusted tariff rates aim to strike a balance between the objective of making pork products available and affordable, and the concerns of all stakeholders especially the recovery of the local hog industry,” Roque said.

ASF killed or led to the culling of 3 million hogs, which severely affected the available supply of pork, driving its prices up and causing inflation.

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By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

House Committee on People’s Participation Chairperson and San Jose Del Monte City Rep. Florida Robes pushed for the prioritization of passage of the P405.6-billion Bayanihan 3 when lawmakers get back to work.

According to Robes, so much more must be done to help displaced workers and companies that shut down as a result of the pandemic, especially with the continuous contraction of the economy.

“We have yet to recover. In the meantime, unemployment is up, the economy is down. We are in recession. The Bayanihan 3 filed by our Speaker Lord Allan Velasco will provide much needed assistance to our fellow Filipinos still in need of help at this time,” Robes said.

@joveemarie

With this, Robes filed House Resolution 1718 to express the full solidarity of the House of Representatives for passage of said bill.

Congress will resume sessions starting Monday, May 17, and is expected to adjourn sine die on June 5 to July 25. It will resume session on July 26 for the last State of the Nation Address of President Duterte.

“There is a need to respond to the continuing challenges brought on by the pandemic especially since there are pervading difficulties in the procurement of vaccines for Covid-19 that prevent the country from carrying a full vaccination program for at least 75 percent of the population to achieve herd immunity,” Robes said.

For his part, Majority Leader

Martin Romualdez said, “we need Bayanihan 3 to help ensure that the economy recovers quickly from the coronavirus disease-19-induced crisis in a strong, sustainable, and resilient manner.”

“We only have three weeks to pass this vital measure that will help our fellow Filipinos who are all affected by the pandemic, and we are confident that before we adjourn, we will be able to pass the measure,” added Romualdez.

The House Committees on Social Services, Economic Affairs, and Ways and Means have already approved the Bayanihan to Arise As One Act or Bayanihan 3, but it still has to go through the Committee on Appropriations.

Charter change

SPEAKER Lord Allan Velasco, meanwhile, said the lower chamber will resume its plenary discussion on his Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 (RBH 2) or the economic Charter change.

“Hopefully, we will be able to pass Cha-cha in 18th Congress.

The 30-year-old Constitution is outdated and I think it’s high time that we change it,” he said.

“We’re hoping to finish the [Chacha] in three weeks and pass it in the plenary and forward it to the Senate” he said.

Velasco said he hopes to get the support of the Senate for the smooth passage of Cha-cha but “to be honest, I don’t think that can be considered rushed.”

Earlier, Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman and Ako Bicol Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr. said the House will approve on third and final reading the economic Cha-cha before its sine die adjournment in June.

Garbin said the target date of approval of the RBH 2 is possible as there are only seven remaining interpellators.

According to Garbin, the measure provides Congress the flexibility to enact legislation to appropriately respond to the needs of current economic and technological conditions.

Garbin also noted that the proposed Charter change would only be adopted once the Filipino people vote in favor of it in a plebiscite.

Waste of effort, time

HOWEVER, Camarines Sur Rep.

Luis Raymund Villafuerte said law makers’ energ y should be better spent on assisting the national government in defeating Covid-19 and revitalizing the economy amid a global infection surge than prioritizing Charter change.

Instead of focusing on Chacha, Villafuerte said the House should work on, among others, making sure that Filipino families get P10,000 each in one installment under the proposed third Bayanihan law, to let vulnerable families cope with the economic shock of Covid-19 and, in turn, boost household spending nationwide.

“We should now start our stimulus program from the ground up. The Congress has already passed several stimulus measures through the Republic Act (RA) No. 11465 or Bayanihan 2 and other laws for both small and big businesses. We should pour financial resources this time with helping Filipino families rebuild their pandemic-hit lives instead of wasting our time with reviving this unproductive Cha-cha exercise,” Villafuerte said.

Impeachment

HOUSE Majority Leader Romualdez on Sunday vowed to include in the order of business for referral to the House Committee on Justice the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Mario Victor F. Leonen within three session days.

Romualdez, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, said the referral of the impeachment complaint against Leonen will be discussed by his committee.

“Last March 25, Speaker Lord Allan Jay Velasco transmitted the impeachment complaint filed by Mr. Edwin M. Cordevilla and endorsed by Ilocos Sur 2nd District Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba to our committee. We will act on it and include it in the order of business,” Romualdez said.

Velasco, meanwhile, assured the public of a fair resolution of the impeachment complaint.

“Definitely with House Committee on Justice Chairman Vicente Veloso III at the helm, we’re certain that there will be a fair trial regarding that impeachment complaint,” he added.

Palace-certified PSA, RTL, FIA top Senate agenda

Continued from A1

“It [GUIDE] is still at the committee level but the technical working group [TWG] is expected to report it out this week so we can tackle it in plenary,” Sotto said, noting it was certified by Malacañang as an urgent bill.

President Duterte had also certified the amendatory bills for the over 80-year-old Public Service Act and the retail trade liberalization law; as well as the foreign investments bill.

According to Sotto, senators also expect the working committees concerned to report out this week other Palace-certified urgent bills so these can deliberated on in the remaining plenary sessions for final approval.

“Now, those bills with certificate of urgency by the President [will be tackled first]; for instance, the Amendments to the Public Service Act [PSA], also known as Franchise Law, is now in line for second reading,” Sotto said, adding: “Hopefully, this will not take long, as there are only two or three senators left with questions, so it is likely to be fast-

tracked.”

The Senate leader pointed out the need to frontload the enabling legislation, noting that the existing Public Service Act was passed way back in “the 1930s.”

Sotto noted there is even an existing provision in the 1932 PSA that “requires Philippine authority to seek permission from the US President or the Governor General,” which means the revisions are long overdue. “So, we should have done it long ago, and we can do it now,” he stressed.

As for the proposed amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, the Senate President said these are intended to facilitate entry of foreign and local investments.

Sotto noted that another Palacecertified bill updating the Foreign Investments Act is also up for approval on Second Reading.

“That also has a certification from the President, in order to liberalize [the retail trade regime]; the only thing to be settled is how big the amount or threshold should be [for coverage]. Discussions there could be a bit longer, but hopefully in the next two or three weeks it can be done.”

Continued from A1

Rice tariff cut assailed

THE lowering of rice tariffs by President Duterte to 35 percent could result in a tariff revenue loss of around P100 million, while pulling down domestic palay prices by as much as P1.5 per kilogram, a farmers’ group said.

Based on the estimates by the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), importers of rice from India, for example, would save an additional P3 per kilogram due to the tariff cut. However, FFF cautioned that these savings may not be passed on to consumers as importers and traders could easily pocket them.

“In turn, palay prices for farmers could go down by as much as P1.50 per kilo. Government could also lose around P100 million in customs duties, or more, if import volumes from non-Asean countries increase due to the tariff reduction,” FFF said.

FFF argued that the grounds cited by President Duterte in his Executive Order 135 reducing rice tariffs to 35 percent from 40 percent (in-quota) and 50 percent (out-quota) were “baseless and deceptive.”

The group said: “There is no need to diversify the foreign sources of our rice because, under the Rice Tariffication Law, importers are already free to bring in rice from any country for as long as they pass our quarantine regulations. Aside from Vietnam and other Asean countries, we have been consistently importing from nine other countries, including India and Pakistan, and more recently China.”

FFF maintained that there is “no urgent need to augment” the country’s rice supply since the recent dry harvest just ended.

“The Department of Agriculture (DA) in turn has repeatedly claimed that we have ample rice supply and has even announced plans to increase our output by one million tons in 2021,” it said.

The group noted that there has been no significant decline in rice imports while domestic rice prices have remained stable.

FFF said the reduction in rice tariffs is “another slap in the face of the legislature” since Duterte issued the EO a few days before the Congress resumes its session.

“The power of the President to adjust tariffs is an authority delegated by Congress to allow the executive primarily to address urgent problems when Congress is not in session. In the case of rice, there is no emergency that needs to be addressed. The Executive has in fact deliberately played around with the rules to preempt and subvert congressional action,” the group added.

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DENR, PCSD begin case buildup vs ‘traders’ of Palawan giant clams

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) is now building a case against unscrupulous individuals behind the illegal trade of giant clams in Johnson Island and Green Island in Roxas, Palawan.

The DENR said the illegal activity involving the harvest of some 300 pieces of giant clam shells in Johnson Island and 150 tons of giant clams in Green Island in March and April, respectively, constitute the crime of illegal wildlife trade. These are a violation of Republic Act (RA) 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001.

The DENR has appealed to the public to be cautious in dealing with individuals who pose as science researchers to harvest giant clams, listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of excessive collection for food, agriculture and the aquarium trade.

The PCSD, an attached agency of the DENR by virtue of Executive Order 734 series of 2008, together with other concerned government agencies seized the giant clam shells from Johnson Island and tons of giant clams in Green Island in March and April, as part of the intensified campaign against illegal wildlife trade.

“Our vast wildlife resources, especially in Palawan, considered as the country’s ‘last ecological frontier,’ should be protected with utmost responsibility from frauds,” Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy A. Cimatu was quoted in a statement as saying. “This is the reason behind the DENR’s stringent laws and policies on wildlife and its scrutiny of individuals who want to gain

access or control over these species.

PCSD Executive Director Teodoro Jose S. Matta said he met with a “Dr. Rosalee Tequillo,” who identified herself as the national facilitator of the National Redemption Program for Fossilized Giant Clams and “buyer” of the giant clams for scientific purposes.

“There was an admission on the part of Tequillo that they were engaged in the collection and possession of giant clamshells or ‘taklobo’ (Tridacna gigas),” Matta said adding that Tequillo wasn’t able to prove these were for scientific purposes.

“Her mention of the ‘buyer’ has inclined us to believe that it was not truly for scientific or breeding or propagation purpose,” Matta said.

He added that Tequillo failed to provide valid documentary evidence to prove that their activities are legal.

Matta said Tequillo was also unable to present any document from the Office of the President (OP) about the National Redemption Program. He further explained that the only evidence she presented is a document purportedly from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) National Director Commodore Eduardo B. Gongona.

“But upon examination of said document, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development staff found that it did not and does not, in any way, give Tequillo and her group or any private individual any authority to collect, extract, or possess fossilized giant clam species,” Matta said.

The PCSD warned the group that “the conduct of such undertaking under the guise of possessing legal authority from the OP and the BFAR and misinforming the public, carry the imposition of corresponding sanctions under the law.”

Matta said the PCSD will “remain firm in its commitment to clamp down on illegal wildlife trade in Palawan and ensure a sustainable environment for Palaweños.”

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, May 17, 2021 A3

Boracay biz group eyes island-wide measures to protect locals, tourists

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

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BUSINESS group on Boracay Island has called on government authorities to vaccinate its 40,000-population as a step towards to ensure the protection of tourists and locals from Covid-19.

In a letter to Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, Aklan Gov. Florencio T. Miraflores and Malay Mayor Frolibar S. Bautista dated May 5, 2021, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Boracay President Wesley van der Voort said, “With a population of roughly 40,000, we should aim to vaccinate the rest of the population so that eventually, the entire island community (100 percent) would be vaccinated, to ensure a safe future, especially since we all interact with tourists in one way or the other on the island; and the Department of Tourism can promote the ‘Crown Jewel of Philippine Tourism’ as #VaccinatedBoracay confidently, loud and proud.”

The group also urged the establishment of a “much-needed Covid-19 testing facility in Caticlan, for all locals, and land traveling tourists,” so they can be tested before entering the island. “The ‘No test, no entry����������������������������� ’ policy must be strictly enforced, making it mandatory for all workers, all residents, and all land travelers, with no exceptions (not even government officials)…”

The group also suggested establishments adopt “a rotation of work schedule shifting of workers every 15-days (due to the 14-day incubation period) for workers who have to go to the mainland with a mandatory rapid antigen swab test before entry to the island.”

PCCI also urged that domestic and international tourists from “safe” bubbles “as long as they are tested with RT-PCR test (nasal swab or saliva) and with negative results.” They emphasized that even vaccinated tourists should be tested before arriving on the island, “as they could still be a carrier.”

The group underscored that it was crucial for test results to be “veri-

fied first before any issuance of QR Codes and travel passes, to safeguard against counterfeit test results, as has happened in the past.”

With the test-before-travel policy still in place, PCCI asked that airlines resume regular flights “regardless of quarantine status or point of origin and destination.”

The group said, with all these safeguards already in place, government authorities can then allow all water sports, open air activities such as dining and entertainment, and other Boracay attractions, so these can be fully enjoyed again by tourists and locals alike. The group underscored, “The island has more open air than enclosed indoor establishments. The predominantly outdoor tropical lifestyle has kept Covid-19 cases low during the entire year of 2020, until only very recently, and presumably due to contact in a closed environment.”

The Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases recently eased travel restrictions in the National Capital Region, along with Bulacan, Rizal,

Cavite and Laguna (NCR-plus), as they put the area under general community quarantine (GCQ) “with heightened restrictions,” from May 15 to May 30.

Following this, point-to-point air travel via chartered flights from NCR-plus to a resort in an area under GCQ or Modified GCQ are now allowed. Also allowed are “staycation” for individuals 18 to 65 years old in hotels/resorts in NCR-plus that have been granted a CAO for Staycation.

Outdoor tourist attractions may now operate at 30-percent capacity, while indoor dining in restaurants is permitted at 20 percent of seating capacity, and outdoor dining at 50 percent of seating capacity. Intramuros will be opening Fort Santiago and Baluarte de San Diego to the public on May 17. “�������������������������������� We are taking every little opening possible under the current quarantine condition. Every step, big or small, will support our tourism workforce and sustain our industry,” said Romulo Puyat.

DENR chief cites role of science for healthy marine environment

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NVIRONMENT and Natural Resources Secretary Roy A. Cimatu highlighted the role of ocean science as a key to spurring relevant behavior change towards the marine environment.

“Through science, we learn about the biodiversity that thrives in our oceans, its functions, potentials, risks, and opportunities. The present state of the ocean, the threats to it, and its proper management are all governed by science,” Cimatu said in a statement highlighting the country’s celebration of the “Month of the Ocean” 2021 in May. The Philippines’s Month of the Ocean is celebrated annually in May by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 57 signed by then-President Joseph Estrada in 1998. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic

Resources spearhead its observance.

With this year’s theme “The Science We Need for the Ocean We Want,” the DENR said it takes inspiration from the banner message of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). The message aims to “strengthen the international cooperation needed to develop the scientific research and innovative technologies that can connect ocean science with the needs of society.”

Cimatu acknowledged the significance of a science-based approach to change people’s mindsets for the ocean’s protection and conservation.

“For many years now prior to this global health crisis, our oceans were already under threat. Human action that has resulted in climate change, marine pollution and loss of marine species forces us to make behavior shifts to reverse the ocean’s declin-

ing health,” he explained.

The DENR chief noted that scientific knowledge will help understand all these consequences and establish policies to address their impacts.

“The ocean contributes to the air we breathe and the food we eat. It regulates the climate and weather, stores carbon, houses marine biodiversity and provides recreation.

As our oceans are under threat now more than ever, it is crucial that we engage on the science of the ocean for us to rethink our ways and save our vibrant seas,” he added.

Spearheading this year’s celebration, the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau’s (DENR-BMB) Coastal and Marine Division (CMD) has lined up month-long activities and information campaigns to expand awareness on the critical role of scientific information for the protection and conservation of the ocean.

The DENR-BMB kicked off the

Month of the Ocean “Online Ocean Jam” in partnership with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) Philippines and Communities Organized for Resource Allocation (CORA).

The activity seeks to raise conservation awareness through music with talks from speakers on the science and academe sector via Facebook live.

Every Friday until May 28, CORA in partnership with DENR-BMB, will host the CORA Ocean School. This aims to impart a deeper understanding on the relationship between the ocean and humans and inspire aspiring ‘planeteers’ to move towards protecting our seas.

The DENR-BMB will also host an online storytelling that day to teach the youth on the current scientific research on the ocean climate, ocean acidification and marine biodiversity. Jonathan Mayuga

Groups weigh in on bill addressing plastic waste DPWH completes widening

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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LIMATE and environmental advocates have pushed for different ways to address the country’s plastic pollution problem.

Following the approval of the House Bill 9147 or the Single-Use Plastics Regulation Bill at the Committee on Ecology, Gloria E. Ramos, vice president of Oceana (Philippines) Inc. described the new bill as a “surplusage.”

Ramos explained that the regulation and phase-out of single-use plastics are already covered by Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

“What is lacking here is the implementation. We don’t need this [new] bill for the agencies to do their job because it’s already in RA 9003,” she said.

Rampos pointed out that the law mandates the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) to prepare, within one year from the effectivity of the law, the list of non-environmentally acceptable products (NEAPs) to be banned following a phase-out plan that will be developed in consultation with stakeholders.

However, she said 20 years since the law has passed, NSWMC has yet to develop a phase-out plan for NEAPs, which should include single-use plastics.

Ramos also expressed concern about the new bill repealing RA 9003, which includes a provision for citizen suits.

“There is recognition for the rights of citizens to hold accountable public officials, government agencies, private sector, or individuals who are not complying with the provisions of RA 9003,” she said.

The bill phases out, within a year, the production, importation, sale, distribution, provision and use of single-use plastic drinking straw, stirrers, candy stick, ballon stick, cotton bud sticks, buntings, confetti, and packaging/bags less than 10 microns thick.

It also phases out within four years tableware, film wrap, packaging or bags less than 50 microns thick, sachets and pouches, oxo-degradable plastic and Styropor food and beverage containers.

The measure penalizes violators with fines ranging from P50,000 up to P500,000 for micro enterprises and 250,000 up to P1 million for larger businesses.

House Bill 9147 was approved at the committee level after the conduct of several technical working group meetings and consultations with stakeholders and experts. It officially consolidated 38 bills and four resolutions seeking to phase out or regulate single-use plastics.

Great start

MEANWHILE, for Climate Reality

Leader Janssen Calvelo, Network Organizer for Southeast Asia of the Break Free From Plastic Movement, the bill is a “great start” towards solving the plastic pollution crisis.

“Recycling alone cannot solve this problem. We cannot recycle out of this problem,” he said.

Calvelo, however, pointed out the need to improve the definition of single-use plastics in the current version of the bill.

“There should be a more encompassing definition of single-use plastics because we have seen in different situations where other companies or the plastic industry in other countries have leveraged on using this other definition of plastics,” Calvelo said, referring to compostable plastics that are made out of biodegradable materials but are coated with plastics or even mixed with chemicals that make them difficult to decompose in a normal environment.

The Climate Reality Project Leader Carlo Delantar, co-chairman of the Global Shapers Climate Action Steering Committee at the World Economic Forum and Circular Economy Pioneer at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, cited the need to ensure a just transition for all sectors that will be affected by the bill.

“I believe we should look into incentivizing micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to be on par with extended pro-

ducer responsibility schemes,” Delantar said.

“How do we not affect all these taho vendors or sari-sari stores that rely on single-use plastics? We need to create that long-term antidisruption, especially when we’re looking at the post-pandemic situation,” he added.

Rio Catbagan, chief of the legal services division of the Climate Change Commission, a member agency of the House Technical Working Group on Single-Use Plastics, said that the economic implications of the phase-out have been discussed in Congress.

Catbagan said that it is important to give affected MSMEs and laborers time to innovate and find ways on how they can shift and implement the transition.

The lawyer added that the government could support these segments through financial packages, workforce restructuring and capacity building services.

These comments of climate and environmental advocates were made during the 8th episode of t he K l imatotoha na n webcast series of “The Climate Reality Project Philippines” titled “What’s SUP? Exploring our Plastics Problem and the Climate Crisis,” which delved into the urgency of solving the plastics problem and the need for policies that will phase out single-use plastics in the country.

of bridge in Tuguegarao City

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HE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) announced it has completed the widening works on the 70.6-meter Labato Bridge in Barangay Namabbalan, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Province, providing transportation and economic developments in the area.

Secretary Mark A. Villar said that the bridge expansion, which doubled its previous two lanes to four lanes, allows for a wider road network capacity for the traveling public to utilize.

“The new-found ease in traffic congestion brought upon by the completion of the bridge widening project leads to the facilita-

tion of improvement in economic activities in the city proper by solving traffic congestion along the Cagayan Valley Road,” the DPWH said.

“Upgrading the Labato Bridge does not only service commuters coming in and out of Tuguegarao City.

It also enables for a more convenient city access to hasten delivery of goods and services,” Villar was quoted in a statement as saying.

The DPWH Chief also commended the efforts of DPWH Cagayan 3rd District Engineering Office (DEO) for successfully implementing a widening project fitting the needs of an ever progressing area in Cagayan Valley Region.

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A4 Monday, May 17, 2021

PHL’s largest workers’ group slams House ‘Cha-cha’ move

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE country’s largest labor group slammed the House of Representatives (HOR) in its renewed attempts for a Charter Change (Cha-cha) amid the ongoing economic recession and coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Instead of Cha-cha, Nagkaisa said the Lower House should focus on legislation, which will address the needs of people affected by the pandemic such as the Bayanihan 3 bill.

“Nagkaisa holds that Speaker Lord Allan [Jay Q.] Velasco needs to prioritize the passage of the Bayanihan 3 and other measures to help displaced workers and to ease the burden of the Covid 19 pandemic,” the group said.

The group added that the Lower Chamber should focus on the passage of Bayanihan 3 since it contains funding for programs to pandemic-affected workers and micro-scale, small-scale and medium-scale enterprises.

Nagkaisa maintained Cha-cha

not only lack the support of Senate, but it also does “not reflect the utmost welfare of the Filipino people nor considered the health and safety of our citizens in this time of pandemic.”

Last week, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said they will resume the proposed economic amendments to the Constitution last Monday to implement to liberalize foreign direct investment in the country to allow the country to attract more investors.

Nagkaisa belied Salceda’s pro-

nouncements stating the country’s to attract investors is limited not by its land and corporation restrictions for foreigners but its “prohibitive cost of doing business, red tape, corruption, lack of infrastructure and the high cost of electricity.”

“Nagkaisa believes that ‘trabaho (jobs), ayuda (aid), bakuna (vaccine), karapatan (rights) at kasarinlan (independence)” [are] the key for the recovery of our economy [from the effects of the pandemic], which should be prioritized by Congress and not Cha-cha,” Nagkaisa said.

BI bars entry of Pinoy citizens' foreign parents

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday clarified that foreign parents of Filipino citizens are among those who are still barred from entering the country without a visa and entry exemption document during this pandemic.

BI Commissioner Jaime H. Morente noted that foreign parents of Filipino citizens are not covered by the Balikbayan privilege and, thus, they have to apply for an entry visa from Philippine posts abroad.

Morente made the reminder following queries from families of Fili-

pinos who expressed the desire to travel to the country.

“Those who do fail to present a visa and an exemption document upon their arrival at the airport will be denied entry by immigration officers and they will be booked on the first available flight back to their port of origin,” Morente warned.

He added that Filipinos’ foreign parents should secure entry exemption document, which may be issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs or the National Task Force Against Covid-19 .

The requirement would still apply, according to Morente, even if the foreign parents are traveling with their Filipino children.

He pointed out that only Filipinos and former Filipinos, as well as their foreign spouse and children, who are traveling with them can avail of the Balikbayan privilege.

Travelers eligible for the Balikbayan privilege are allowed to enter the Philippines visa-free with an authorized stay of one-year.

This developed as the BI issued an advisory asking relatives, associates or any person in charge of a deceased foreign national’s burial to immediately report it to the BI for cancellation of registration and/ or proper documentation.

The advisory covers owners operators of funeral parlors, cryo-

regeneration facilities, cemeteries, crypts, and crematoria, embassies, local government units, hospitals and barangay officials.

The BI said the report should contain the full name of the deceased alien, date of birth, place of birth, date of death, place of birth, gender, nationality, copy passport bio page and visas and proof of death.

“Funeral parlors have an obligation to report to [the] BI if [the] alien dies, for cancellation of their ACR I [Alien Certificate Card]. There are not much reports that’s why it’s challenging to keep track of those who died, hence the advisory,” BI Spokesman Dana Krizia M. Sandoval said.

Defense sector should be strategic investment area’

With that, we can already attract defense industries to locate in our defense industrial complexes,” she said.

Last year, the regulator of economic zones pitched the idea of building economic zones out of military reservation areas, which Peza said would require a memorandum of agreement with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Plaza earlier said the creation of a defense industrial economic zone will help in modernizing the country and defense forces, in addition to generating job opportunities and making profits

from idle lands.

In March, Peza disclosed that it has continued its discussion with AFP regarding the utilization of military reserve lands as economic zones.

Plaza had previously said the Philippine Army is “managing almost 20,000 hectares of military reservation areas and we are now planning to make this the first defense industrial complex in the country.”

Currently, the Fiscal Incentives Review Board—co-chaired by the Department of Finance and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)—is finalizing SIPP, along

with CREATE’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

3 industry tiers

SIPP breaks down the investment plan into three industry tiers. DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez earlier identified the following as critical industries under the new investment plan: electrical and electronics; chemical and pharmaceuticals; machinery and transport; agriculture and agribusiness; information technology-business process management; research and development; and artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and digital technologies.

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Under CREATE, the corporate income tax rate is reduced to 20 percent from 30 percent for domestic corporations with net taxable income of P5 million and below and have total assets of P100 million and below, effective July 1, 2020.

All other local firms and resident foreign companies are imposed a 25-percent income tax.

Plaza recommended some provisions as well for the CREATE IRR, highlighting tax incentives and economic zone development.

“Once our proposals [are] considered, we really expect we will get more foreign direct investments,” she said.

Q1 NG debt payments up 53.4% to ₧521.5B continued from a1 The increase was mainly caused by amortization payments growing by more than 35-fold to P220.75 billion from just P6.17 billion in March 2020.

Meanwhile, interest payments in March went up by 10.6 percent to P47.67 billion from P43.115 billion a year ago.

This year, the government sees its

debt service expenditures reaching P1.79 trillion.

Loans for Covid response

LAST year, government’s debt payments reached a new record high of P962.47 billion as it needed to keep up with more financial obligations to fund its war chest against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Locsin: PHL just starting to buy gear to ‘swarm’ areas of SCS continued from a10 Locsin said the war with the US would be waged, starting in Guam all the way to the South China Sea. “So now the best thing they can do is to try to weaponize a few reefs,” although he said he told the Chinese, “that’s useless, its like you just added a third of a second to the projection of your power by putting it up, in that weaponized reef, which they [US] can destroy in 30 minutes.”

The basis for saying that, Locsin recalled, is what he learned when attending a US military briefing. When he pointed to the presence of Chinese reclaimed militarized islands in the WPS, he was told, “You now that reef, in the first 30 minutes of conflict, we can send a heat missile there and I can turn that into a Coca Cola bottle,” meaning, the sands would fuse into

glass from the inferno.

“So it’s not even strategically or tactically important,” the Secretary said, adding that today’s military tactics value “mobility, or the ability to go from place to place and launch whatever missile they have at hand at the enemy.”

As for the Philippines, Locsin recalled what Douglas MacArthur said of the country: “We are the biggest aircraft carrier in the world. That cannot be sunk because it is an archipelago, each of our islands can be a turret, facing this way or facing that way.”

He continued: “Perhaps one day, the world will change, the issues will change, and territorial possessions… not territory will not be as important.

Maybe we’ll find a way around it.”

The national government’s outstanding debt has reached a new record high of P10.77 trillion as of end-March this year, up by 27.1 percent from P8.48 trillion a year ago.

The country aims to borrow a total of P3.03 trillion this year, roughly the same amount it borrowed in 2020.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III earlier said they expect the national government’s debt this year to reach 57 percent of GDP. As of end-2020, the country’s debt to GDP ratio surged to 54.5 percent—a 14-year-high—coming from a record-low 39.6 percent in the previous year.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Addressing HIV more difficult with pandemic

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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HE Department of Health (DOH) admitted last Sunday that the pandemic has made it more difficult to address cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The DOH December 2020 data showed that HIV testing decreased by 61 percent and treatment initiation was reduced by 28 percent in 2020.

Moreover, only 70 percent of the estimated 111,400 Filipinos who are living with HIV in 2020 are aware of their status, while only 61 percent are on life-saving antiretroviral therapy.

A total of 4,574 deaths due to HIV have been reported from 1984 up to 2020.

With the pandemic being a major deterrent to accessibility, the DOH said it and partners from local government units through social hygiene clinics, public and private HIV-treatment facilities, community-based organizations (CBOs) and advocacy groups are working together to ensure continuous provision of HIV prevention, testing, treatment, care and support services for key populations with primary focus on ensuring continued support for people living with HIV. The DOH said it is also joining the world in the observance of the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day, which commemorates the lives of those who have died due to HIVrelated complications.

The DOH said it also reaffirmed its commitment to address the HIV epidemic and break the stigma surrounding HIV. “Today (May 16) we join the rest of the world in honoring the lives of people who have succumbed to HIVAIDS [acquired immunodeficiency syndrome] and in celebrating those who have dedicated their lives to help

increase HIV awareness and address HIV-related stigma and discrimination,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.

Duque added that as the AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day is being commemorated, the DOH “reaffirms” its “commitment to ensure continuous access to HIV services and strengthen our efforts to control and eventually reverse the HIV epidemic.”

HIV services

IN line with ensuring continuous provision of HIV services, the DOH said it is encouraging key populations and all interested individuals to get tested and know their status, emphasizing that HIV testing is free in social hygiene clinics or reproductive health and wellness centers and CBO-run community centers.

The DOH also called on people living with HIV to access free HIV treatment and other services and adhere to the treatment regimen.

“HIV is not a death sentence. With access to the right information and life-saving treatment, HIV can be managed and those afflicted with the disease can lead happy, healthy, and normal lives. To our people living with HIV, help is always available,” Duque said.

He also urges people living with HIV to access the free services that they offer and that the DOH will “continue to support” them amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“You do not have to go through this alone; do not hesitate to contact your health care providers for any concern, especially in these trying times,” Duque assured.

As part of the priority group A3, the DOH said it is also encouraging people living with HIV to seek medical clearance prior to vaccination and get vaccinated once cleared by their attending physician.

PHL manufacturers told: Tap ‘Cobots’ in pandemic continued from a10 It added that they can work around the clock and can produce consistent output under any given condition.

Cobots available in the market today, like what the company offers, enable employees to move from repetitive, low-value tasks to higher-value activities that increase work productivity and quality.

“Ever since the term ‘Collaborative Robotics’ was coined, we have been the frontrunners in the robotics industry. We have also marked an entire decade since the very first cobot from Universal Robots was deployed in South Asia. Safety is imperative and has become the cost of entry into the cobot market now.

UR believes in developing affordable, lightweight, and flexible cobots that could deliver a rapid ROI [return of investment] for the manufacturing industry,” said James McKew, regional director of Asia-Pacific at UR. With an average payback period as short as 12 months due to increased productivity, quality, and consistency, manufacturers may foresee a ROI before year-end or early 2022.

“By lowering automation barrier within the reach of manufacturers who never thought that they could deploy robots due to cost and complexity, we hope to help the Philippine industries realize higher productivity and maintain effective utilization of their plants,” he stressed.

Patients moved as 5-hour fire hits PGH As a result of the fire, the Emergency Room (ER) will be closed and they will not accept admissions starting Sunday, as they had moved some patients to the ER.

Covid ward unaffected

DEL ROSARIO said that the Covid charity ward was not affected. However, the Covid patients who are pay-

ing were transferred to the Intensive Care Units of the charity ward. “’Yung iba naman po nilipat sa emergency room ng OB ang tawag po namin doon [Some were transferred to the emergency room of the OB, we call that ] OB admitting section. We made sure they don’t mix with the non-Covid patients,” said del Rosario. PGH is attending to 156 Covid-19 patients.

BFP’s Agadulin said probers are still investigatingthecauseofthefireaswell as the extent and amount of damage.

Around 80 to 90 percent of the patients, including infants from the neonatalintensivecareunit,wereevacuated when the fire started. No one was hurt.

Transfer of patients

MEANWHILE, Health Undersec-

retary Maria Rosario Vergeire told BusinessMirror they facilitated the transfer of some patients to other Department of Health-supervised hospitals, but as to the final number of transferees, “We are still coordinating.”

Dr. Grace Padilla, director of Sta. Ana Hospital, reported that 12 patients from PGH-NICU were accommodated by their hospital.

‘Laguna Lake key to NCR water woes’ The lawmaker said Laguna Lake, as the country’s largest inland waterhole, can be tapped to ensure the capital’s water security amid rapid consumption growth and recurring dry spells due to harsh climate change.

“This is why Congress has to

move fast in declaring Laguna Lake as a primary source of water supply for Metro Manila, alongside Angat,” Campos said.

“It makes no sense for us to continue to rely on Angat to supply 90 percent of Metro Manila’s water demand, when we have a natural

water hoard in Laguna Lake that is three times bigger than Angat,” he said.

“Laguna Lake is the key to providing round-the-clock running water to every home in Metro Manila, even if we have another severe drought due to harsh climate

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continued from a10

change,” Campos said.

Campos is co-author of House Bill 737, which seeks to proclaim and harness Laguna Lake as the other main source of sustainable water supply for Metro Manila. Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon originally authored the bill. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, May 17, 2021 A5

PHL rice imports inch up in January-April–BPI

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HE country’s rice imports in January to April reached 780,068.53 metric tons (MT) , slightly higher than the 778,969.397 MT recorded a year ago, latest Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) data showed.

BPI data obtained and analyzed by the BusinessMirror showed that 84 percent or about 656,132.55 MT of the total volume were imported from Vietnam.

Total sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPS-IC) issued by the BPI for rice imports during the period reached 1,416, corresponding to an applied volume of 1.629 million MT (MMT).

The number of rice SPS-ICs issued by the BPI during the four-month period was 56 percent lower than last year’s 3,236, corresponding to an import volume of 2.678 MMT. Data from the attached agency of the Department of Agriculture showed that 1.464 MMT of the 1.629 MMT applied volume of rice to be imported by eligible im-

porters and traders would come from Vietnam.

BPI data indicated that rice importers applied the most number of SPS-ICs in April at 731, with a corresponding import volume of 725,304.3 MT. Earlier Monetary Board member V. Bruce J. Tolentino told the BusinessMirror that higher domestic rice harvests, as well as higher international rice prices may be behind the decline in imports.

Tolentino also said international rice prices have moved up “due to deliberate efforts by both Thailand and especially Vietnam to dominate the market for high quality and high priced aromatic rice.”

“Myanmar is having problems meeting its supply contracts due to domestic unrest. But the increases have been moderated by the growing role of India in the global rice market.”

Federation of Free Farmers Inc. National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor said traders may have reduced their rice purchases as their margins have been cut due to the

hike in world market prices.

Montemayor also said rice wholesale prices are now being influenced by domestic production, thus making importers think twice about buying rice from broad.

“They are really looking at the prices. If they will not earn much from the landed cost then they will reduce [import] volume,” he told the BusinessMirror.

United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data showed that the average quotation for Vietnam rice (5 percent broken) in the first quarter reached $507.4 per MT and $484.6 per MT for its 25 percent broken variety. The figures were 36.9 percent and 38.3 percent higher than their respective quotations in the previous year, based on FAO data.

Also, Thai rice quotations have gone up by 17 percent to $529.6 per MT (25 percent broken) and 16.6 percent to $561.2 per MT for its 100 percent broken variety, FAO data showed.

However, Tolentino noted that the country doesn’t have “enough experi-

BUSINESSMIRROR FILE PHOTO

‘Amend agri-agra law to expand farmers, fishers access to credit’

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

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HE Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) has thrown its support behind the speedy passage of the amendments to the Agri-Agra Law, saying reforms to the mandated credit legislation will help boost agricultural financing.

“The Land Bank of the Philippines fully supports the ongoing Senate initiative to amend the provisions of Republic Act 10000, otherwise known as the Agri-Agra Reform Credit of 2009 (Agri-Agra Law), which will provide farmers and fishers nationwide an expanded and easier access to responsive agricultural financing,” the bank said in a statement.

The state-owned lender has been

one of the few big banks to actually comply with the mandated credit to the agriculture sector.

In end-2020, the bank reported that its agriculture loans reached 76.95 percent of its total loan portfolio, significantly above the minimum requirement of 15 percent. Its agrarian reform lending, meanwhile, hit 11.52 percent during the year, also above the 10 percent required under the agri-agra law.

LandBank’s figures are also better than industry average.

In 2020, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that universal and commercial banks allotted only 9 percent of their total loan portfolio to agriculture, about 1 percentage point short of the mandated credit ratio. Their allotment for agrarian reform lending, is 0.88 percent of its total loan portfolio,

barely touching the 10-percent requirement for all banks in the country.

LandBank also said it welcomes recommendations from legislators to revisit its loan application requirements, specifically for small farmers and fishers, to make it easier for them to access financing.

The BSP has also been actively lobbying for the passage of the amendments.

“The Agri-Agra Bill will strengthen rural development by providing a holistic approach in addressing the financing needs of the broader agricultural financing ecosystem,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.

One of the salient amendments is the enhanced access for rural communities to private sector financing through the expansion of modes of credit compliance for banks.

The proposed amendments also include the creation of an Agribusiness Management Capacity and Institution-Building Fund or the “Special Fund” that will be used to finance organizational-, capacityand institution-building programs and activities of rural agricultural and fisheries households.

An Agricultural and Fisheries Finance and Capacity-Building Council will be established. This council will be responsible for the management and operations of the Special Fund.

DA chief forms panel to craft rules for allocating pork MAV

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GRICULTURE Secretary William D. Dar has formed an interagency committee that would craft the implementing guidelines of Executive Order (EO) 133, which mandated the increase in the minimum access volume (MAV) for pork.

Dar recently issued Special Order 333, which created the inter-agency committee to be led by Agriculture Assistant Secretary Noel Padre, who heads the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Policy Research Service.

The DA chief said the committee was created to ensure that the allocation of the increased pork MAV would be “fair and open to all qualified importers of pork meat.”

The members of the inter-agency committee include Bureau of Animal Industry Director Reildrin Morales, National Meat Inspection Service Executive Director and MAV Secre-

tariat head Jocelyn Salvador. Ruth Miclat Sonaco, who heads the DA’s National Livestock Program, is also part of the committee.

Dar instructed the committee to submit its recommendation to him not later than May 21.

Last week, President Duterte issued EO 133 which authorized the increase of the pork MAV for this year to 254,210 metric tons (MT) from 54,210 MT. The increase in MAV, also known as MAV plus, is part of the Executive’s twin proposal together with the reduction of pork tariffs to boost domestic supply and temper rising pork prices.

“The MAV of pork meat for the MAV Year 2021 of 54,210 MT is hereby increased to 254,210 MT, provided that any unavailable balance at the end of 2021 shall not be carried over to 2022,” EO 133 read.

EO 133 took effect immediately last week after its publication in the Official Gazette.

The BusinessMirror broke the story last March that talks on the implementing guidelines for the increase in pork MAV have been halted due to disagreement among members of the MAV Advisory Council (MAVAC). (Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/03/31/ talks-on-draft-guidelines-onmav-allocations-halted/) The draft guidelines, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, would authorize the DA, current chairman of the MAVMC, to “allocate specific MAV volume for Visayas, Mindanao and Luzon” if necessary upon consultation with the MAV-AC, and if pork supply situation in the various regions would warrant it. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

ence and data to be able to estimate elasticities,” or how the Philippines’s demand for international rice responds to price changes.

“But we can at least now expect

the domestic market to be more responsive to market trends with the shift from quotas to tariffs.”

The country’s rice imports this year are projected to decline by

18.36 percent to a 4-year low of 2 MMT, due to expectations of a record domestic harvest, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

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Monday, May 17, 2021

The World BusinessMirror

‘Shocking and horrifying’: Israel destroys AP office in Gaza Strip

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ERUSALEM—An Israeli airstrike on Saturday destroyed a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip, despite repeated urgent calls from the news agency to the military to halt the impending attack. AP called the strike “shocking and horrifying.”

Twelve AP staffers and freelancers were working and resting in the bureau on Saturday afternoon when the Israeli military telephoned a warning, giving occupants of the building one hour to evacuate. Everyone was able to get out, grabbing a few belongings, before three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it into a giant cloud of dust.

Although no one was hurt, the airstrike demolished an office that was like a second home for AP journalists and marked a new chapter in the already rocky relationship between the Israeli military and the international media. Pressfreedom groups condemned the attack. They accused the military, which claimed the building housed Hamas military intelligence, of trying to censor coverage of Israel's relentless offensive against Hamas militants.

Ahead of the demolition, the AP placed urgent calls to the Israeli military, foreign minister and prime minister's office but were either ignored or told that there was nothing to be done.

For 15 years, the AP's top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israel's conflicts with Gaza's Hamas rulers, including wars in 2009, 2012 and 2014. The news agency's camera offered 24hour live shots as militants' rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surrounding area this week. " We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building," AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement.

"This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk."

Pruitt described the news agency as "shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza." He warned: "The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today."

"This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided

a terrible loss of life," he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was in touch with the US State Department.

The building housed a number of offices, including those of the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera. Dozens of residents who lived in apartments on the upper floors were displaced.

A video broadcast by Al-Jazeera showed the building's owner, Jawwad Mahdi, pleading over the phone with an Israeli intelligence officer to wait 10 minutes to allow journalists to go inside the building to retrieve valuable equipment before it is bombed.

"All I'm asking is to let four people... to go inside and get their cameras," he said. "We respect your wishes, we will not do it if you don't allow it, but give us 10 minutes." When the officer rejected the request, Mahdi said, "You have destroyed our life's work, memories, life. I will hang up, do what you want. There is a God." Late Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the building was used by Hamas military intelligence. "It was not an innocent building," he said.

Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting buildings. It also accused the group of using journalists as human shields.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, refused to provide evidence backing up the army's claims, saying it would compromise intelligence efforts. "I think it's a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it," he said.

Conricus said the army is "committed both to journalists, their safety and to their free work."

For AP journalists, it was a difficult moment. Most of the AP staff has been sleeping in the bureau, which includes four bedrooms in an upstairs apartment, throughout the current round of fighting, believing that the offices of an international news agency were one of the few safe places in Gaza. In a territory crippled by an IsraeliEgyptian blockade, it was equipped with a generator that offered the

The building housing the offices of The Associated Press and other media in Gaza City collapses after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, May 15, 2021. The attack came roughly an hour after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera and a number of offices and apartments. There was no immediate explanation for why the building was targeted. AP Photo/Hatem Moussa

rare comforts of electricity, air conditioning and running water.

AP correspondent Fares Akram said he was resting in an upstairs room when he heard panicked screams from colleagues about the evacuation order. Staffers hastily gathered basic equipment, including laptops and cameras before fleeing downstairs.

"I am heartbroken," Akram said.

"You feel like you are at home. Above all, you have your memories, your friends. You spend most of your time there."

Al-Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatar's government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.

"This channel will not be silenced.

Al-Jazeera will not be silenced," Halla Mohieddeen, on-air anchorperson for Al-Jazeera English said, her voice thick with emotion. "We can guarantee you that right now."

Early Sunday, Hamas fired a heavy barrage of rockets at the metropolis of Tel Aviv, saying it was revenge for flattening the high-rise building.

President Joe Biden spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the spiraling violence.

"He raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection," the White House said.

Later Saturday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Pruitt, AP's president, to express concern about the incident. The State Department said Blinken offered his support for independent journalists and noted the "indispensability" of their reporting in conflict zones.

He also expressed relief that the AP team in Gaza was safe.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents some 400 journalists working for international me-

dia organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, expressed its "grave concern and dismay" over the attack.

"Knowingly causing the destruction of the offices of some of the world's largest and most influential news organizations raises deeply worrying questions about Israel's willingness to interfere with the freedom of the press," it said. "The safety of other news bureaus in Gaza is now in question."

Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the attack raises concerns that Israel is targeting the media "to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza." He demanded "detailed and documented justification" for the attack.

The International Press Institute, a global network of journalists and media executives, condemned the attack as a "gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms."

The Israeli military has long had rocky relations with the foreign media, accusing international journalists of being biased against it.

The attack came a day after the Israeli military had fed vague—and in some cases erroneous—information to the media about a possible ground incursion into Gaza.

It turned out that there was no ground invasion, and the statement was part of an elaborate ruse aimed at tricking Hamas militants into defensive underground positions that were then destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.

International journalists have accused the army of duping them and turning them into accessories for a military operation. The army said the error was an honest mistake. AP

Protesters in major US cities decry airstrikes over Gaza

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OS ANGELES—Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and other US cities on Saturday to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people shut down traffic on a major thoroughfare in west Los Angeles as they marched two miles from outside the federal building to the Israeli consulate.

The protesters waved signs that said "free Palestine" and shouted "long live intifada," or uprising.

A protest that started in a neighborhood in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, which has a large Arabic-speaking community, continued through the streets for several hours on Saturday afternoon. Footage on social media showed people had climbed up the poles of streetlights to wave

flags while others set off fireworks.

As the sun set, some protesters walked onto the Interstate 278 shutting down traffic in at least on direction, according to video posted online.

Bella Hadid, a well-known Palestinian-American model, participated in the Brooklyn protest.

The marches coincided with Nakba Day, which commemorate the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel's declaration of independence.

In Atlanta, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including grandparents, teenagers and mothers and fathers with youngsters in tow, assembled downtown to wave signs and chant slogans, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

One sign read, "We can't breathe since 1948"—a nod to the racial injustice and police brutality protests

in the US during the past year in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody after he couldn't breathe, the newspaper reported.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled "Palestine will be free" as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park.

A similar scene played out in Boston as protesters walked a short distance from Copley Square to the Israeli Consulate for New England, blocking traffic.

Footage on social media shows protesters unfurl a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag with the words "Free Palestine" while standing on top of the awning of the building where the consulate is located.

In Washington, thousands of protesters streamed from the Washington Monument and to the National Archives. In Philadelphia, demon-

strators filled Rittenhouse Square to decry US support for Israel.

At a protest in Pittsburgh, one speaker called on lawmakers to put restrictions on how Israel can spend aid from the United States.

The protests were stoked by five days of mayhem that left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza and eight dead on the Israeli side. The violence, set off by Hamas firing a rocket into Israel on Monday, came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in contested Jerusalem.

Israel stepped up its assault and slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp and destroying a building that house the offices of The Associated Press and other media. AP

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Media demand Israel explain destruction of news offices

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EW YORK — News organizations demanded an explanation Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike.

Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between' Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.

"The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today," AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the US State Department to learn more.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a "war crime" and a "clear act" to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict.

Kuwait state television also had office space in the nowcollapsed Gaza City building. " T he target ing of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human r ights and inter nationally agreed norms," Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.

In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields.

But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged "a highly advanced technological tool" that the militant group used in the fighting was "within or on the building."

But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without "compromising" intelligence efforts. He added, however: "I think it's a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it."

Pruitt, the AP's CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and "we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building."

"We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence," he said.

"This is something we actively check to the best of our ability.

We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk."

Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New Yorkbased Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel "provide a detailed and documented justification" for the strike. " This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in

Gaza," the group's executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

The Washington-based National Press Club called the strike "part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations" and also questioned whether the assaults seek to "impair independent and accurate coverage of the conflict."

"We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press," the National Press Club said.

"Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job."

The bombing followed media consternation over an Israeli military statement that prompted some news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, to erroneously report early Friday that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli military commentators said the media had been used in a ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap.

Conricus denied that the military engaged in a deliberate deception when it tweeted falsely Friday that ground forces were engaging in Gaza, calling it "an honest mistake."

The AP, based on its analysis of the army's statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.

The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.

"Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks," Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday. "It's really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that you've had."

AP's top floor offices and roof terrace on the now-destroyed building had provided a prime location for covering fighting in Gaza. The news agency's camera offered 24hour live shots this week as Hamas rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city.

Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt "somewhat safe."

"The Israeli military has the coordinates of the highrise, so it's less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down," Akram wrote.

The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.

The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.

"The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone." the newspaper's vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said. "A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict." AP

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Myanmar military junta attacks western town that resisted coup

B

ANGKOK—The US and British embassies in Myanmar expressed concern about reports of fierce government attacks on a town in a western Chin state, where the ruling junta declared martial law because of armed resistance to military rule.

The fighting began around 6 a.m.

Saturday when government troops reinforced by helicopters began shelling the western part of the town of Mindat, destroying several homes, said a spokesman of the Chinland Defence Force. It is a locally formed militia group opposed to the February coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Helicopters also took part in the attack, according to the spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"Mindat town is now under siege and is bracing for an all-out assault by the junta troops from air and by land," said a statement by the Chin Human Rights Organization.

The shadow National Unity Government, set up by lawmakers who were blocked by the army from taking

their seats in Parliament, warned that "within the next 48 hours, Mindat can potentially become a battleground and thousands of people are facing the danger of being displaced." Many have already left the town of about 50,000 people, said a resident contacted by phone who was also fleeing.

The Mindat Township People's Administration, another opposition grouping, claimed that 15 young men had been seized by government troops and used as human shields. It said at least five defenders of the town had been killed in clashes and at least 10 others wounded.

None of these details could be independently verified, but a Myanmar state television broadcast Saturday night reported that fighting was going on, and acknowledged the town's defenders have been putting up stiff

resistance against the army.

"The military's use of weapons of war against civilians, including this week in Mindat, is a further demonstration of the depths the regime will sink to hold onto power," the British Embassy said on Twitter. "We call on the military to cease violence against civilians."

The US Embassy said it was "aware of increasing violence in Mindat, including reports of the military shooting civilians," and urged that evidence of atrocities be sent to U.N. investigators.

Detailed tallies compiled by several different watchdog groups say government security forces have killed upwards of 750 protesters and bystanders as they have tried to suppress opposition to the military's seizure of power. In April, security forces were accused of killing more than 80 people in one day to destroy street barricades that militants had set up as strongholds in the city of Bago.

In many or most cases, police and soldiers were trying to break up peaceful protests, though as they increased the use of lethal force, some protesters fought back in self-defense. In recent weeks there has been an upsurge in small bombings in many cities, mostly causing little damage and few casualties.

The junta says the death toll is less than 300, and the use of force was

justified to quash what it calls riots.

Mindat's resisters are only lightly armed, mostly with a traditional type of single-shot hunting rifle, but the territory around the town is mountainous and wooded, favoring defenders over attackers.

The report on state television MRTV listed past attacks on government forces and installations, most recently on Thursday, when it claimed a force of about 100 blocked security forces from entering the town, destroying one vehicle and leaving an unspecified number of security forces dead and missing.

In a later attack, it said, an even bigger force was said to have launched an attack from the city on security forces patrolling nearby, destroying six vehicles and causing an unspecified number of government casualties.

The opposition government earlier this month announced a plan to unify groups such as the Chinland Defense Force into a national "People's Defense Force," which would serve as a precursor to a "Federal Union Army" of democratic forces including ethnic minorities.

Khin Ma Ma Myo, deputy defense minister of the shadow government, said one of the duties of the People's Defense Force is to protect the resistance movement from military attacks and violence instigated by the junta. AP

US climate envoy Kerry meets with pope on climate crisis

V

ATICAN CITY — John Kerry, President Joe Biden's climate envoy, met privately with Pope Francis on Saturday, afterward calling the pope a "compelling moral authority on the subject of the climate crisis" who has been "ahead of the curve."

The former US Secretary of State told Vatican News that the pope's embrace of climate issues "hopefully can push people to greater ambition to get the job done."

Kerry is visiting European capitals to strengthen cooperation on climate change ahead of the next round of U.N. climate talks in Glasgow this November.

Kerry said United States, the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, must take a lead in cutting emissions and be joined by other big emitting countries.

"Everybody shares an obligation here. No one country can get this job done. If the United States was at zero emissions tomorrow, we'd still have crisis," Kerry said.

The United States, which is responsible for 11% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, has set a target under Biden of reducing emis-

Pope Francis and John Kerry talk during their meeting at the Vatican on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, currently President Biden’s envoy on the climate, met in private audience with Pope Francis on Saturday, afterward calling the pope “a compelling moral authority on the subject of the climate crisis” who has been “ahead of the curve.” Kerry told Vatican News in an interview that the pope speaks with “unique authority, compelling moral authority, that hopefully can push people to greater ambition to get the job done. Vatican Media via AP

sions over the next decade by 50% to 52%, Kerry said.

Another 20 developed countries are responsible for 73.75% of emis-

sions, he added.

"We need other big emitting countries to step up and also offer some reductions. You can't just keep going

along with a coal-fired power plant or with more coal coming online and really be the part of the solution that we need,'' Kerry said. AP

Indian police recover corpses on riverbank amid virus surge

P

RAYAGRAJ, India—Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of Covid-19 victims.

In jeeps and boats, the police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of the bodies in rivers. "We are here to help you perform the last rites," police said.

On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state.

Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of Covid-19 victims had

been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. "I bet these bodies have nothing to do with Covid-19," he said.

He said some villagers did not cremate their dead, as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance and disposed of them in rivers or digging graves on riverbanks.

K.P. Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground for those who died of Covid-19 on the Prayagraj riverbank and the police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront.

Sehgal state authorities have found "a small number" of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but didn't give a figure.

Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organization that helps cremate bod-

ies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas, and poor people have been disposing of the bodies in the river because of the exorbitant cost of performing the last rites and shortage of woods. The cremation cost has tripled up to 15,000 rupees ($210).

Healthauthoritieslastweek retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on the Ganges River bank in neighboring Bihar state.

Authorities performed post mortems but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to decomposition.

A dozen corpses were also found last week buried in sand at two locations on the riverbank in Unnao district, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said an investigation is underway to identify the cause of deaths.

India's two big states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with nearly 358 million people in total, are among the worst hit in the surge sweeping through the country with devastating death tolls. Hapless villagers have been rushing the sick to nearby towns and cities for treatment, many of them dying on the way, victims of India's crumbling health care.

After hitting record highs for weeks, the number of new cases was stabilizing, said Dr. V.K. Paul, a government health expert.

The Health Ministr y on Sunday reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down f r o m 3 2 6 , 0 9 8 o n S a t u r d a y.

It also reported 4,077 additional deaths, taking the total fatalities to 270,284. Both figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say. AP

Monday, May 17, 2021 A7

Pandemic triggers new crisis in Peru: No cemetery space

Retired merchant Victor Coba takes measurements of the tombs he's building for his family at San Lazaro cemetery on the outskirts of Lima, Peru in Wednesday, May 12, 2021. The 72-year-old retired merchant is building graves for himself, his wife and four other relatives in a narrow space in the cemetery after learning that two-dozen of his neighbors died of coronavirus. AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

L

IMA, Peru — After Joel Bautista died of a heart attack last month in Peru, his family tried unsuccessfully to find an available grave at four different cemeteries. After four days, they resorted to digging a hole in his garden.

The excavation in a poor neighborhood in the capital city of Lima was broadcast live on television, attracting the attention of authorities and prompting them to offer the family a space on the rocky slopes of a cemetery.

"If there is no solution, then there will be a space here," Yeni Bautista told The Associated Press, explaining the family's decision to dig at the foot of a tropical hibiscus tree after her brother's body began to decompose.

The same plight is shared by other families across Peru.

After struggling to control the coronavirus pandemic for more than a year, the country now faces a parallel crisis: a lack of cemetery space. The problem affects everyone, not just relatives of Covid-19 victims, and some families have acted on their own, digging clandestine graves in areas surrounding some of Lima's 65 cemeteries.

The desperate lack of options comes as the country endures its deadliest period of the pandemic yet. More than 64,300 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in Peru, according to the Health Ministry, but that figure is almost certainly an undercount.

A vital records agency estimates that the true figure is more than 174,900, counting those whose possible infection was not confirmed by a test.

As recently as April, an infected person died every four minutes at home or in a hospital, and hospital space has been so scarce that Peruvians have read on social media about families offering kidneys, cars or land in exchange for one of the country's 2,785 intensive care beds.

Even when cemeter y space can be found, burials pose a huge financial burden, especially for families who have fallen into poverty because of Covid-19. The cost of a burial in a cemetery on the edge of Lima is nearly $1,200, almost five times the monthly minimum wage of $244.

Retired merchant Victor Coba took matters into his own hands, building graves for himself, his wife and four other relatives in a narrow space in a cemetery at the foot of a treeless hill in the north of Lima.

Coba, 72, carried bricks, sand and cement to the site, where with help from a

friend he began constructing his "eternal home." He and his wife decided to act after watching the news and learning that two-dozen neighbors died of Covid-19.

"You feel quite worried when there is nowhere to take them, and there are no pennies with which to bury them," Coba said.

Many of Peru's sprawling cemeteries have grown with no development plans or government approval.

They lack walls or fences and are adjacent to irregular settlements, making it nearly impossible at times to determine where they end and where the impoverished communities begin. Graves are now encroaching on the settlements.

Of Lima's 65 cemeteries, only 20 have a health license.

One on a hidden hill has been operating for 24 years and does not require any paperwork for burials, which cost $361.

"Many cemeteries are in a state of collapse," said Martín Anampa, an official from Carabayllo, the oldest municipality in Lima. "We are living the outcome of a bad planning process that they have had throughout history."

Juan Bañez, 51, the father of two children, died of Covid-19 after waiting for an ICU bed. His cousin, Felix Albornoz, and other friends recently carried his coffin through a graveyard on a dusty hill to bury him in a recently expanded area of the cemetery.

"In the outskirts of Lima, in the poor areas, people come to bury themselves in the hills," Albornoz said.

"There is no support. The government has abandoned us."

Back in the Virgen de Fátima neighborhood, in the far east end of Lima, Joel Bautista died May 1 at the age of 45. He lost his eyesight by the time he finished middle school because of a congenital condition. He was unemployed but helped his sister and nieces around the house, which they all shared.

He was a fan of Mexican rock band Maná. Their song "Corazón Espinado" was played constantly during the wake, which lasted longer than expected because of the struggle to find a place to bury him.

"Everything is at critical point because of this pandemic that we are going through," said Yeni Bautista, 52. "Cemeteries are collapsing due to deaths from Covid, but it does not mean that they are going to deny us a space. I am not asking for a huge area, but a tiny space to bury him." AP

A8

Monday, May 17, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

Not as bad as you think

G

lobal surveys during the past few months have shown a consistent trend. People think the Covid-19 pandemic situation in their own country is worse than in other places. Of course, some of that depends on what factors people are considering for “better” or “worse.”

France has 32 percent more total cases than the United Kingdom.

But the UK has 18 percent more total deaths than France. Which country is in better shape? The Netherlands has more than twice as many per capita cases than Germany. But the per capita deaths are almost the same near 1,000 per million population. Both countries have over 200,000 active cases, but Germany counts 4,000 of those as critical/serious while in the Netherlands, that number is only 700.

In the 21st century, we are inclined to think that for the other person, the grass is greener on the other side of their hill. From our own perspective, on our side of the hill, the grass is brown and dead.

The late Swedish academic Hans Rosling—famous for his TED Talks—said that not only do many people have no idea that the world is becoming a much better place, but they actually think the opposite.

In 2016, 58 percent of people in 17 countries that were surveyed thought the world was either getting worse or staying the same, rather than getting better.

There is no question that a major part of the pessimism is because of ignorance. A 2017 survey of 28 countries across the range of economic development showed that most citizens in “rich” countries believe that living conditions in the developing world are worsening.

Furthermore, only a few people in donor countries expect the quality of economic opportunities, health, or education in the world’s poorest countries to improve over the next 15 years. However, among respondents who are better informed, optimism increases.

For example, child mortality rates around the world continue to decline. Those in “poor” countries are much more likely to say it is decreasing than those in developed economies. Globally, only 39 percent knew that child mortality was getting better. But 70 percent in Senegal and Kenya were aware of the positive trend, while only 23 percent in Japan and the US knew the facts.

While extreme poverty has been declining, half of those asked around the world believe that extreme poverty has been increasing.

There has been a huge decline in the share of the world population living on less than $1.90 a day, from nearly 35 percent in 1987 to fewer than 11 percent in 2013. It is also interesting that now there is a discussion on what the definition should be for “extreme poverty.” Some development experts argue we should be using a global poverty line of $10 to $15 a day instead. That debate itself is a sign of the tremendous progress made in recent decades.

Global tuberculosis cases per 100,000 population have declined from 170 in 2001 to 134 in 2018. The global undernourishment rate is still too high, but it has dwindled to 10 percent in 2016 from 38 percent in 1965. For the first time, more than 300,000 people have access to electricity and clean water every day.

These stories of people in low-income countries simply do not make for exciting news coverage. But, as Rosling pointed out in his book Factfulness, it is important to put all the bad news in perspective.

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BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Mental health and the post-Covid workplace Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

W

orkers are learning quite a number of lessons because of the pandemic, and one of them has to do with making mental health a priority. For a long time, the work sector has been focused on productivity and targets, which is great, but it needed a pandemic for more people to see that we can’t really separate well-being and mental wellness from career success.

There is a recent McKinsey & Co. report showing that more employees prefer to work from home three days a week post-pandemic. They want more flexibility in terms of work arrangements, further stating that if their current company will revert back to full on-site work, more than a quarter of those surveyed will find another job that offers greater flexibility.

And yet there are leaders like JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon who wants his employees to gradually start reporting back to work so that

Making deliveries better Thomas M. Orbos

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STREET TALK

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez

by September or October this year, “it will look just like it did before.”

He argues that an exclusive WFH arrangement “doesn’t work for young people...doesn’t work for those who want to hustle...doesn’t work for spontaneous idea generation...and doesn’t work for culture.”

On the contrary, there are companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter who have decided to give their workers a choice. Those who want to continue working remotely may do so, but those who feel that they can be more effective working

T

he long line of trucks coming from Sourth Luzon expressway all the way to the endpoint of North Luzon expressway has become a regular scene along C-5 road. This line represents the active commerce we have despite these difficult times, for which we should all be thankful. These trucks carry supplies, raw materials, agri-products, or just about any item that needs to be delivered. But the long line of trucks, moving slowly, also gives us an insight of the difficult state of the cargo and logistics sector in our country.

Running a delivery and cargo business, or depending on one in the course of doing your business, is a complicated and expensive enterprise in the Philippines. Based on a 2017 World Bank study, logistics costs took up 27.16 percent of the total sales of Philippine companies as compared to Indonesia (21.4 percent), Vietnam (16.3 percent) and Thailand (11.11 percent). There are many regulatory as well as institutional barriers that our truckers face. Just ask any truck operator the hurdles they need to face from point A to point B. For instance, just to secure the franchise to operate is a long and tedious regulatory process.

Then there are the permit and fees,

some redundant requirements that need to be secured from both national and local governments. And on the road, truckers need to contend with the many “checkpoints”—legal or illegal. Then you have the traffic congestion plus the restrictive truck bans on select roads that put a heavy stress on their operational expenses.

All of these contribute to extra costs, not all of which can be passed on to the end-users; the end result being a local logistics industry that is not just expensive but years behind compared with our Asean neighbors.

Early on in this administration there were moves to modernize the sector, similar to the jeepney modernization program of the gov-

In the final analysis, having a solid mental health policy is not just good for the employees, it is also beneficial for the organization because it all eventually leads to greater productivity and efficiency. The loss of productivity due to the poor mental health of workers costs companies globally around a trillion dollars per year—a compelling reason to put mental health on the list of company priorities, now and after the pandemic.

on-site would be welcome to report back to their offices. These organizations are also open to hybrid virtual-working models, something that the McKinsey survey respondents prefer. They believe that this would promote work-life balance.

The challenge for companies today lies in the provision of resources and tools that are related to mental wellness. More employees are going to look for this benefit now since we have all learned (and continue to do so) quite a few things during

There are many regulatory as well as institutional barriers that our truckers face. Just ask any truck operator the hurdles they need to face from point A to point B. For instance, just to secure the franchise to operate is a long and tedious regulatory process. ernment. But again, just like the jeepneys, modernization was focused on the vehicle type rather than the ecosystem where the local logistics industry is operating, which should be the case. My take: 1. Streamline local government pass-throughs: Ask any trucker and he will tell you about the permits, tolls, levies that they need to secure and pay for from each and every city or town they need to pass through.

This practice needs to be stopped, at the very least streamlined. Just this year, a joint DILG-DOF-ARTA circular was signed to specifically address this during this pandemic.

2. Streamline the harborside—A similar situation meets the truckers at the piers. Coordination with the various government and private entities to include PPA, BOC, the wharf concessionaires, among others, needs to be strengthened.

Redundancy of fees and permits, impractical scheduling processes, as well as abolition of arbitrary policies need to be reviewed and acted on.

this pandemic. Organizations need to find ways to focus on the mental health of their employees in the way they design policies and create their mission and vision.

According to the aforementioned report, workers also prefer companies with a clear vision. This simply means that uncertain policies and a vague communication style are red flags. For example, there have to be strong and clear policies on the number of working hours, reimbursement for remote work, collaboration tools, expectations from work collaborations, and so on.

Things like this need to be clearly communicated to employees or prospective workers.

In the final analysis, having a solid mental health policy is not just good for the employees, it is also beneficial for the organization because it all eventually leads to greater productivity and efficiency.

The loss of productivity due to the poor mental health of workers costs companies globally around a trillion dollars per year—a compelling reason to put mental health on the list of company priorities, now and after the pandemic.

3. Review the truck ban and/or provide number coding exemptions —For truckers, the truck ban and the number coding put such a heavy toll on their operations, especially as lanes and schedules open to trucks are all subject to various local government units and national government regulations. There is a need to review traffic policies of all LGUs and make them cohesive. I have another suggestion: why not allow all national roads, to include Edsa, for trucks at night when there are less vehicles on the road?

4. For the long-term solution, we really need to face the situation that Metro Manila cannot continue to host the main ports in this country.

We will need to use the Batangas and Subic Ports. It will also make more sense as a majority of the endpoints of deliveries—all the factories and warehouses, are already in Laguna, Cavite or Bulacan.

Logistics is one key driver in our economy, more heartfelt in these pandemic times. The government needs to attend to this, the sooner the better, especially with recession on our heels. The logistics industry can be made more efficient by a simple review and tweaking of policies. All it takes is the political will of an administration willing to do it.

The author may be reached via e-mail: thomas_ orbos@sloan.mit.edu

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Opinion

My bomb shelter

Musings on the CPA examinations

BusinessMirror

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

Joel L. Tan-Torres

THE PATRIOT

A

merican inspirational writer and best-selling author Dennis Wholey once said, “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you’re a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you’re a vegetarian.” While the world doesn’t really have any personality, purpose or plan, this adage anthropomorphizes it as if it has personal characteristics. The “bull”— or the world—does not distinguish between a vegetarian and a steak eater. The bull will attack any person, in the same way that the world will bring challenges to a good or bad person. What this analogy attempts to teach us is that life’s troubles do not discriminate between good or bad people.

Good and bad people, in both Israel and in the Gaza Strip, have recently been in open attack by the “bull.” Missiles and rockets have crossed paths and destroyed homes and communities. After several days of cross-border fighting, no signs of abatement are in sight, with several countries supporting one or the other. This civil unrest saw Jewish and Arab groups attacking each other with much hatred, quite similar to, but not as violent, the way Christians and Muslims were ruthlessly battling each other during the medieval times.

The latest Israel-Palestine conflict seems to find its proximate cause in the Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The bigger picture, however, involves the Palestinians’ frustration in their territorial aspiration for an independent state in recent years, including United States’ recognition of disputed Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Collateral damage is inevitable.

Man has yet to invent missiles and rockets that can distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. As pandemonium breaks loose in the Middle East, the “bull” in this part of the world is also wreaking havoc, on the good and the bad. Some Filipinos have to contend with hungry stomachs, with barely anything to eat the next day. Some are taking care of ailing children. Hospitalization for some seems to be an expensive and far-fetched idea. The labor force is beset with unemployment concerns, while business owners face bankruptcy issues and forced closures. Collectively and figuratively, this coronavirus has swarmed all over the country for more than a year now like “air raids” of missiles and rockets—hitting good and bad people indiscriminately. Hence, all kinds of quarantine measures have been adopted, all of which practically tell us to “run and hide” in our respective bomb shelters—our homes! In our homes, we should feel safer and more secure. Whatever structure we have, though not as formidable as Israel’s iron curtain that can neutralize Hamas’ rockets from the sky, minimizes the unwanted entry of the virus in our bodies. This “stay-at-home” policy provides an atmosphere of protection similar to how bomb shelters protect people, now and then.

The people of Israel are used to bomb shelters, reflecting the nation’s collective siege mentality. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently reminded his countrymen that, 70 years ago, around 6 million Jews were taken to slaughter; 60 years ago, the Jews had no country and no army; 35 years ago, the Jews fought and won against the three most powerful armies in the Middle East. His fighting words were—“We built our little ‘Empire’ from nothing.

Who’s Hamas to scare me...and look at us, The slaves of Egypt, The People of Moses, The Nation of the Bible, We are still here.”

While Israel’s true bomb shelter is the Heavenly Creator, Hamas will likely have its counterpart as well.

Incidentally, there is convergence in these “bomb shelters,” biblically speaking, as Jews, Muslims, and even Christians recognize that Ishmael (ancestor of Muhammad) and Isaac (ancestor of Jesus Christ) both came from Abraham—“For I have

made you the father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5). I am in no position and have little knowledge to intelligently discuss the eventual divergence in these faiths. All I know is that as both sides will exchange missiles and rockets, they have their respective beliefs to make them feel protected in this battle. As this recent upsurge in faith-based violence is also deeply rooted in territorial claims from the very distant past, these rival forces can literally build fallout shelters in any safe and enclosed space, whether in Gaza or in Israel. Unless there will be a ground war, the victor in this missiles and rockets exchange can be determined by the extent of how their “bomb shelters” are fortified, literally and figuratively.

In my own personal front, I am fortunately relieved and convinced that I have only one bomb shelter that I consider as a super-fortress.

My God, as seen in the life of Jesus Christ, is my solid rock of protection, impenetrable, unlike Israel’s missile defense system (iron curtain) that has allowed 10 percent of Hamas rockets to hit their targets. Beset with numerous trials at work in my 34 years of working for government and in the private sector, I was bombarded into desperation and found refuge only when I discovered and cultivated a personal relationship with Him. Like the nation of Israel, we go through a series of challenges that somehow eventually lead us to victory. It is a matter of mental orientation, taking to heart where our rest and strength against life’s challenges are really anchored. In the Bible, Psalms 18:2 is truly inspiring: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God is my rock whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Let’s be reminded where our real peace should be fastened. Amid these “air raids” in our lives, we can always count on our Almighty God as our “bomb shelter.” With Him, we should stay put and be at peace. No amount of missiles and rockets can harm us. As my good friend Pastor Hiram Pangilinan succinctly stated in his book Discovering Jesus, “…you can only find that life as you remain in Jesus. He is Life Himself and the source of it too.”

Many avenues of safety or comfort or remedy have been tried and tested in many wars. Yet, oftentimes, inner peace within each person appears blurry. For those stuck in the middle of the crossfire in Israel and for those battling the virus and the accompanying trials that go with it, there just seems to be no rest. No matter the duration of the missiles and rockets exchange or the extended quarantine in this country, only one bomb shelter can truly bring us protection. In the Bible, Psalms 23:4 tells us, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Perhaps this is where Prime Minister Netanyahu takes his confidence from when he boldly said: “Who is Hamas to scare me?”

Let the bull rage upon us—both good and bad people, believers or non-believers. Anytime and anywhere, at least in my case, I am never in harm’s way as I have my ever-reliable and impenetrable bomb shelter. In your case, where is your bomb shelter?

DEBIT CREDIT First part of a series

J

ust this week, I was casually browsing the various social network sites when I came across a Facebook posting that almost made me fall off from my seat. I was astounded when I saw an FB post on May 6, 2021 of the Professional Regulation Commission announcing that the new passers of the Licensure Examination for Certified Public Accountants (CPA) that the “conduct of online oathtaking will be on May 17, 2021, Monday, 10:00 a.m., which will be spearheaded by PRC Tuguegarao through Zoom.”

A question immediately came to mind. Has the PRC resumed the holding of the CPA examinations?

There have not been any examinations for CPAs since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the examinations scheduled for May 2020, October 2020, and the most recent, May 2021, being postponed

to October 2021. I have not heard of any CPA examinations being held in a “bubble” environment, similar to what has been done for the recently concluded Philippine Basketball Association games. So, I am quite sure that this posting is a “fake” or erroneous news or posting. I am awaiting the response of a PRC Commis-

Monday, May 17, 2021

sioner whom I’ve e-mailed to clarify this posting.

This incident puts into focus a number of human interest concerns.

I can just imagine the anxiety of tens of thousands of graduates of their accountancy programs the last two years who are in a state of limbo as their immediate future is somewhat uncertain. These thoughts are surely fleeting in their minds. When will I be able to take the examinations? How long still do I need to prepare for the examinations and proceed or continue my review online classes?

Do I attempt to apply for work even though I am not yet a CPA? With Covid-19 and the long lapse of time since I graduated from college, am I mentally ready to take the examinations? If and when I take my examinations, will I pass these?

Annually, about 25,000 examinees take the three CPA examinations that PRC and the Board of Accountancy administer (including the examination that is held in the Middle East). Since there has not been any examinations for practically the past two years, it is highly possible

A9

that about 50,000 examinees may take the licensure tests when these are held in October 2021. That is about 3.5 times the regular number of testers who take the CPA exams.

Will the BOA be able to handle this chore considering the magnitude of the people involved (both the examinees and proctors), the logistical requirements that include hundreds of testing centers, and the strict requirements for mass gathering of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Covid?

Definitely, a lot of things to think about. And to come up with much needed action.

Joel L. Tan-Torres is the Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business. Previously, he was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy and partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant who garnered No. 1 in the CPA Board Examination of May 1979.

This column accepts articles for publication from the business and academic community.

Articles not exceeding 600 words can be e-mailed to jltantorres@up.edu.ph.

Fire insurance and the Bureau of Fire Protection

By Reynaldo A. De Dios

A

fter a business establishment has been partially or totally razed by fire, this is the first question usually asked: “Is it insured?” If it is, the normal impression is that the owner will eventually be able to resume his business from the proceeds of his fire insurance policy. However, this is not often true in many cases.

The problem of under-insurance crops up if the sum insured is less than the market value. As a consequence, the owner winds up with a claims settlement less than expected. This has caused a lot of misunderstanding as the owner may not have been informed of the AVERAGE CLAUSE of the policy, which reads as follows: “If the property hereby insured shall at the breaking out of any fire, be collectively of greater value than the sum insured thereon, then the insured shall be considered as being his own insurer for the difference, and shall bear a ratable proportion of the loss accordingly.

Every item, if more than one, of the Policy shall be separately subject to this condition.”

To illustrate, if a property is valued at P1 million based on an appraisal report but the owner in-

sured it for P500,000 pesos, in the event of a loss, his claim would be settled at a sum of P250,000 by virtue of the AVERAGE CLAUSE (Condition No. 20 of a standard Fire Insurance Policy). Thus the owner-insured would be greatly disappointed as he was unaware of this Clause if his Agent or Broker failed to inform him. It is therefore recommendable for the owners to have their properties appraised as to their market values.

In the observance of the Fire Prevention Month last March, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), which is the country’s primary agency responsible for fire safety, prevention and suppression, is the most undermanned and underequipped agency in the country. To remedy this sad situation, Senator Ronald dela Rosa sponsored Senate Bill 1832 co-sponsored by Sen. Christopher Lawrence Go, which was unanimously passed by the Senate. This Bill mandates the BFP to implement a modernization program that will be geared towards the capability enhancement of its personnel, as well as the acquisition of the necessary fire prevention and suppression, fire investigation, emergency medical and rescue service facilities and equipment.

The BSP reported 8,897 fire incidents in 2019 causing 260 fire-related deaths and 892 fire-related injuries in the country, with the National Capital Region (NCR) accounting for

2021: Another ‘annus horribilis’?

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS Part two

5

. Poverty shall continue to swell and hunger shall affect the millions who cannot find jobs or well-paying jobs or receive incomes/assistance sufficient to support their families.

Already, there are reports of “harvest snatching” even in the rice areas. Those in dire situation happen to be living in congested communities that are most vulnerable to the Covid spread and have very limited access to basic services. The country’s experience in 2020 shows that many living in urban, peri-urban, coastal, rural and upland communities are unable to avail themselves of any government assistance, partly because they are not officially registered as residents. These include the ambulant vendors, migrant construction workers, street dwellers, informal settlers and low-income lodgers such as the “endos.”

6. The government spending on the people’s survival shall remain niggardly. Under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws, passed in 2020, around 18 million families were supposed to be given social assistance. Studies show that less than 14 million got assistance and the amount involved is niggardly and given only once (at the most twice). There is a provision for wage subsidy for companies in distress, and yet, reports by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) indicate that only a few companies had taken advantage of the assistance. With falling government revenues due to an eroded tax base and with the government commitment to keep paying the debt service de-

spite the crisis (over a trillion pesos a year), government budgeting for the poor can only reach a paltry amount.

7. The government shall try to rev up the economy through limited stimulus spending. Such spending did not make any major dent on the market, or create substantial positive impact on businesses and jobs in 2020. This is so because the amount involved is not much and the focus is narrow: on big-ticket infrastructure projects enjoying official development assistance and loans from China and other investors. In the meantime, the government has been cancelling the gains from the limited stimulus spending by pursuing an

all-out trade liberalization program, which penalizes domestic farmers and domestic industrial producers.

8. A full-blown human capital crisis is happening. The government pushed hard for the continuation of schooling at all levels in 2020 and in 2021. The problem is that the Department of Education and the teachers and parents are not prepared for the online and even blended system of teaching and learning. The children of the elite and those enrolled in elite schools are somehow doing well.

But the millions of poor children, with no laptops and Internet connections are not getting the right education. Eventually, this will affect the country’s productivity in the coming years. This will also deepen further social and economic inequality in the country.

9. The global economic environment has serious downsides for the Philippines. It is a VUCA world—volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. If there is social distancing at home, there is global distancing among countries due not only to fears of virus spread but also of the rise of economic protectionism among big countries, hence, the continuing US-China trade war. Yes, the Philippines can import with ease, but can it export with extra vigor in return? Meantime, regions hosting overseas Filipino workers en masse have become extremely volatile. In particular, the Middle East, which has millions of OFWs, can be a major Israel-Arab battleground 10. Overall, the country is

the highest number of incidents, deaths and injured persons.

For the five-year period (20132017), assets lost to fire amounted to P22.9 billion or an average of P4.6 million per year. Again, the NCR registered the biggest amount of lost assets.

As of June 2020, all 146 cities nationwide already have fire stations while of the 1,488 total municipalities, only 1,193 or 80.2 percent do not have fire stations yet. Also, the BFP reported that a total of 229 municipalities do not have fire trucks.

With the approval of Senate Bill 1832, the BFP can now proceed to implement the modernization program. It is also noted that aside from their duties as firefighters, they perform key roles in rescue and retrieval operations in times of calamities and unforeseen disasters.

The author is a risk management consultant and Editor of Insurance Philippines magazine.

facing several pandemics—Covid pandemic, debt pandemic, inequality pandemic and climate pandemic. All these pandemics are intertwining, as articulated

by UN General Secretary António Guterres. They need to be addressed in a holistic and coherent manner because they tend to reinforce one another in a vicious circle. For example, the spread of Covid is fanned by poverty obtaining in poor communities, which, in turn is due to the social and economic inequalities obtaining in the country, aggravated further by bad debt and fiscal management. What is likely to happen? Like in 2020, the climate and inequality issues shall be at the bottom of government priorities, while the Covid and debt issues shall be handled in a haphazard manner.

Conclusion: A People’s Stimulus versus Trickle-Down Economics

IN sum, 2021 is likely to be another annus horribilis for the people, especially the ordinary working people and their families.

As it is, many poor people have been surviving with extreme difficulty because the government’s capacity to help is extremely limited. The displaced, the elderly and other vulnerables have to fend for themselves, scrounge for whatever assistance they can, as what happened in 2020.

To be continued tomorrow Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo is a Professor Emeritus of University of the Philippines.

For comments, please write to reneofreneo@ gmail.com.

A10 Monday, May 17, 2021

Arta continues crackdown on violators of EODB law

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By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @Tyronepiad

HE Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) is set to take action against more government agencies found to be violating the provisions of Ease of Doing Business (EODB) law this week after recently sounding the alarm on over 600 pending drug applications.

Arta Director General Jeremiah B. Belgica, in a recent briefing, said the anti-red tape watchdog will be issuing more show-cause orders as it further investigates government agencies.

“Actually, we will file cases against other government agencies next week,” Belgica said in an interview on Friday.

However, he did not disclose which agencies are being investigated. Belg ica e x pl a ined t he agencies t hat w i l l undergo invest igat ion for a l leged v io l at ion of EODB l aw; of f icia ls w i l l a lso be subject to l ifest yle c hec k.

“If there is red tape, it is not far-fetched to think that they

are engaged in anomalies and corruption,” he added, partly in Filipino.

The Arta chief noted that lifestyle checking is under the mandate of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission. Last month, Arta and PACC signed a pact to boost coordination and cooperation in addressing complaints and reports of violations relating to red tape and corruption.

Last week, Arta ordered the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Regulation and Research (CDRR) to immediately address over 600 drug applications that have remained pending despite complete submission of requirements.

This stemmed from 23 affidavits of several pharmaceutical companies alleging the delays in their applications, which were filed as far back as 2014 or so, Arta noted.

Belgica said a show-cause order was issued against FDA-CDRR Director IV Jesusa Cirunay, giving her seven working days from receipt of the order to do an inventory of all pending permits, license, clearance or application.

Automation is key

IN eliminating corruption in the government, Belgica said automation of process is key.

“So, there are two main contributors [of] corruption. Number one is the opportunity of corruption, number two is the desire to commit corruption,” he said.

Streamlining and automating government transactions reduce opportunity for corruption, Belgica explained.

With this, Arta has been pushing for the local government units (LGUs) to automate their business permit and licensing system (BPLS).

Arta, along with several agencies including the Department of Trade and Industry, signed a joint memorandum circular in April directing LGUs to launch their own electronic business one stop shop (eBoss) by June 17.

The eBoss should be able to facilitate online submission of business permit applications; digital payment options; and issuance of electronic versions of permits, licenses or clearances.

According to the BPLS compliance report as of April 14, only 39 percent or 593 LGUs out of the total 1,516 have set up an eBoss.

PHL MANUFACTURERS TOLD: TAP ‘COBOTS’ IN PANDEMIC

By Roderick L. Abad

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Contributor

ANISH company Universal Robots (UR) has advised leaders from the Philippine manufacturing industry to implement collaborative robots (cobots) as an effective tool to address the limited use of skills and labor while helping improve productivity amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the continuous implementation of strict health protocols like physical distancing, cobots are widely used as solutions to help perform tasks that people in groups could not safely perform. Also, they are immensely capable of handling increased workload arising from backlogs.

In fact, they are increasingly being adopted by various industries because of their advantages such as increased productivity and effective employee utilization, based on the “Collaborative Robot Market by Payload, Component, Application, Industr y, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2026” report by Markets and Markets.

The study shows that the market is expected to reach

$7,972 million by 2026 at a compound annual growth rate of 41.8 percent.

Cobots’ reach in Asia Pacific is also projected to surpass that in Europe by 2021 due to wider use in large-scale manufacturing industries, especially automotive, electronics, and metals sectors.

This is a welcome development for the Philippines considering the bullish outlook on the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)—that it will continue to grow this year.

Local manufacturers are among the hardest hit by the ensuing health crisis. Per the Philippine Statistics Authority, manufacturing production here posted an annual rate of -46.5 percent in February 2021, which is lower than its previous months’ annual rate of -16.7 percent.

The downtrend has continued since February of last year when the pandemic started to disrupt the economy.

For technology giant UR, the local manufacturing industry may leverage on the use of robotics in processes that involve repetitive work in confined, structured spaces, and environments.

Continued on A4

PAG-IBIG PARTNERS The Pag-IBIG Fund on Friday bestowed Plaques of Appreciation to BusinessMirror and its sister publication Pilipino Mirror as it held a virtual Kapihan to honor media partners and report the Fund’s robust first quarter performance and ever-improving services for its members. The two newspapers, owned by the family of the late Amb. Antonio Cabangon-Chua, were recognized for “leading Pag-IBIG Fund’s print media partners among broadsheets (in the case of Pilipino Mirror, among tabloids) in acknowledging the significance of its news and accomplishments through the publication of the Pag-IBIG Fund news materials in the most prominent pages” of the newspapers. The newspapers’ editors in chief (Lourdes Fernandez for BusinessMirror and Rey Briones for Pilipino Mirror) received the awards on behalf of the ALC Media Group chairman D. Edgard A. Cabangon and BM publisher T. Anthony C. Cabangon.

Locsin: PHL just starting to buy gear to ‘swarm’ areas of SCS

By Recto Mercene

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@rectomercene

OREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., on Saturday said the Philippines is now just beginning to arm itself, procuring missiles, submarines and boats “to swarm" those areas that China insists on occupying.

“What we want is to swarm; the Chinese are swarming, if we have the capability, we swarm,” Locsin said during a wide-ranging interview by India News senior consulting editor Ramesh Ramachandran late Saturday night in the Philippines.

The country’s top diplomat

envoy is referring to the Chinese tactics of deploying many of their ships so as to outnumber or “swarm” their opponents in the various features being contested in the South China Sea. Locsin said he only learned lately that during a tense standoff with the Chinese in the Scarborough Shoal in 2012, there were 30 Chinese maritime militia vessels that were ranged against the country’s lone Philippine Navy flagship, the BRP Gregorio Del Pilar. The latter withdrew from the shoal as per agreement, leaving behind the Chinese, who eventually, never left.

However, Locsin said, “sooner or later there will be a misencounter that will trigger something bigger than anyone on both sides of the Pacific wants.”

When asked whether China wants to pick a fight in wanting to dominate the SCS, Locsin said, “the only justification I can think of is that China wants to push their ‘ramparts’ if you want to call it, as far into the Pacific as they can.”

However, he said it will never happen that any war with the United States would be fought in the western seaboard of San Francisco or San Diego.

Continued on A4

‘LAGUNA LAKE KEY TO NCR WATER WOES’

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S hundreds of thousands of billed customers in Metro Manila reel from recur r ing water shor tages, a lawmaker on Sunday said Laguna Lake is key to 24-hour water supply for all Metro Manila homes.

In a statement, Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr., a member of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, said the water supply problem still has to do with the insufficient raw water coming from

Angat Dam in Bulacan.

At present, the solon said Manila Water Co. Inc. and Maynilad Water Services Inc. are drawing only a combined 361 million liters of water per day from Laguna Lake.

In contrast, the MWSS’s two private water concessionaires are getting a combined 3.9 billion liters daily from Angat.

“A large number of billed consumers in Metro Manila still have limited water supply. They enjoy

running water only for nine to 16 hours daily, while others have it less than eight hours,” Campos said.

“In one service area for instance, some 187,000 connections or 1.24 million residents have running water supply anywhere from less than eight hours to no more than 19 hours per day,” Campos said, citing figures from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

Continued on A4

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, May 17, 2021

B1

JG Summit to hike capital spending by 28% this year

By VG Cabuag

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@villygc

G Summit Holdings Inc., the holding firm of the Gokongwei Group, said it is increasing its capital expenditures (capex) this year to P47.8 billion, most of which will be spent for its petrochemical business, property development and the loss-making budget airline Cebu Pacific.

This year’s capex is 28 percent higher than the previous year’s P37.3 billion, the company said.

Lance Y. Gokongwei, the company’s president and CEO, said some P20 billion will be earmarked for its property unit, almost double from last year’s actual spending of P11 billion; P13 billion for its petrochemical business, lower than last year’s P15 billion; P3 billion for Cebu Pacific, slightly lower than last year’s P4 billion; and the remaining P10 billion will be for its other businesses.

JG Summit’s income in the first quarter plunged 93 percent to just P122.18 million from the previous year’s P1.9 billion mainly due to the huge losses of Cebu Pacific.

Revenues fell to P67.63 billion from last year’s P67.88 billion.

“For the balance of this year, we will continue to focus on the execution of our recovery game plan. We believe that the group is well positioned to answer the shift in consumers’ needs and behaviors as well as the lasting shift to digital channels

in a post Covid world. Our digital and agile transformation continues to accelerate with the ultimate goal of driving innovation faster, improving the customer experience and enabling us to gain productivity in operations,” Gokongwei said.

Food group Universal Robina Corp. reported P3 billion in net income in the first quarter, up by more than half from last year’s P1.98 billion. Revenues, however, were flat at P34.61 billion from last year’s P33.45 billion.

Cebu Air Inc. incurred a P7.29billion net loss for the period, much deeper than last year’s net loss of P1.18 billion.

Total revenues posted an 83-percent decline to P2.7 billion from last year’s P15.19 billion.

“Our objective is to come out 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient versus where we were before the pandemic,” Gokongwei said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting.

The company only flew 7,236 flights and 550,000 passengers for the first quarter, down by 76 percent and 88 percent respectively, from last year.

JG Summit Petrochemicals Group

posted an income of P48 million from last year’s loss, the company said.

Revenues tripled to P9 billion on the back of higher volumes, with strong demand from both local and export markets. Utilization rates continued to improve coming from the planned shutdowns last year. Its cracker utilization is currently over 100 percent and polymer utilization rate is now at 88 percent.

Robinsons Bank Corp.’s net income for the first quarter fell 33 percent year-on-year to P234 million mainly due to lower trading gains and additional provisions, reflecting the bank’s prudence in dealing with the potential negative impact of the pandemic on asset quality.

Revenues were flat at P2.3 billion.

Equity in net earnings of associates and joint ventures amounted to P1.4 billion, up 68 percent last year, mainly driven by its investments in the power sector. Manila Electric Co.’s first quarter numbers already incorporates its full ownership of Global Business Power Corp. Dividend income also increased as PLDT Inc. declared higher dividends this year given its strong performance in 2020, the company said.

Shell unit sources RE from Citicore

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

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iticore Power Inc. (Citicore) will supply 20 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) to a unit of the Shell Group.

Citicore’s solar unit, Citicore Solar Bataan Inc. (CSBI), will source power from its solar plant in Mariveles, Bataan and deliver this to Shell Energy Philippines Inc. (Shell), the retail electricity supplier under the Shell Group.

“Citicore and Shell share a mission to provide clean and sustainable energy to meet consumers’ require-

PayMaya unveils new service for gamers

ments and carbon-free aspirations.

Starting with this collaboration, we are looking forward to accelerate and expand the country’s shift to and utilization of renewable energy,” said Oliver Tan, Citicore’s President.

Citicore continues to develop new RE sources and plans to increase its RE portfolio five-fold over the next five years, in order to support more customers in their net-zero emissions journeys.

Since it started its solar plant operations, Citicore has already generated a total of 1.077 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy, equivalent to 763,200 metric tons of

reduced carbon emission. Through its retail supply arm, Citicore Energy Solutions, Inc. (CESI), the output generated has been distributed to multinational and domestic companies across diverse industries, which includes real estate establishments, transport hubs, and steel manufacturing industries, among others.

CESI recently secured Department of Energy (DOE) approval and was included in the eligible list of Renewable Energy Suppliers under the agency’s Green Energy Option Program (GEOP). This will enable Citicore to offer renewable energy products and solutions to a wider

customer base. In February, the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) announced that it has tapped Citicore Power Inc. to develop a solar rooftop project with a total capacity of 6.64 megawatts (MW) for its locators in Mariveles, Bataan.

Tan said the project involves the construction of solar rooftop systems that have 14,756 pieces of mono-crystalline photovoltaic panels with 450 watts power class and string inverter with 60KW capacity and can generate electricity up to 6,554 gigawatt hours annually. This will power up 14 buildings of AFAB locators in Bataan.

Cebu Pacific cancels flights to Dubai until May 31

Photo from www.nlex.com.ph

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

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OTORISTS should expect to pay more when using the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) starting Tuesday, as the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) has already authorized the nominal fare increase.

The regulatory body approved the petition of Nlex Corp. for the collection of “2 percent to 3 percent” additional toll, which is part of the approved periodic adjustments due in 2012 and 2014.

To recall, the two groups agreed to implement the increase on a staggered basis to minimize the impact of the adjustments to motorists.

With the approval, Class 1 vehicles in the open system will pay an additional P2, while those traveling the entirety of expressway will shell out an additional P6.

Class 2 vehicles such as buses and small commercial trucks will pay an additional P3 in the open system, while Class 3 vehicles like large trucks, P4. For the closed system, Class 2 vehicles will pay an additional of P14, while Class 3, P16.

Photo shows Cebu Pacific's A330-300 aircraft. Photo from www.cebupacificaircorporate.com

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ebu Pacific said it is canceling flights to and from Dubai until May 31 after the Philippine government temporarily restricted passenger entry from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Manila barred the entry of passengers from the UAE to manage the spread of Covid-19 and its variants.

“Affected passengers are being informed via contact details provided in the booking,” the airline said in a statement.

Guests may select their preferred option through the Manage Booking portal on the Cebu Pacific website (http://bit.ly/CEBmanageflight) up to 2 hours before their flights: n Rebook—Unlimited rebooking

with no change fee. Cebu Pacific said it permanently removed change fees.

A minimal fare difference may apply. n Travel Fund—Store the amount in a virtual wallet valid for 2 years and use this to either book a new flight or pay for add-ons (e.g. baggage allowance, seat selection, etc.); and n Refund—Due to the high volume of requests, the process may take up to 7 months from date of request.

The airline said it will continue to operate its other domestic and international flights as scheduled.

Before going to the airport, Cebu Pacific urged passengers to check the real-time status of flights on our website: bit.ly/CEBFlightStatusCheck, along with travel requirements,

safety protocols, and frequently asked questions via bit.ly/CEBFlightReminders “Passengers are strongly advised not to proceed to the airport without a confirmed flight. To conveniently receive updates on flights, guests should update contact details via http://bit.ly/CEBUpdateInfo,” the airline said.

“We continue to work closely with the various authorities and will provide updates as necessary. For other questions or concerns, passengers may send a message via https://bit.ly/ CEBGuestFeedbackForm, Charlie the chatbot on the Cebu Pacific website, or through CEB’s official Facebook and Twitter accounts.”

Nlex Corp. said it has “continued to improve and maintain” its expressway network to provide motorists with greater safety and convenience.

Included in its list of milestones are the upgrading of the roadway lights on a 33-kilometer stretch from Bulacan to Pampanga, the deployment of a cashless toll collection system, and the safety repairs of some of its bridges.

Nlex Corp. is also extending the expressway through the 8-kilometer Nlex Connector, which will link the northern provinces to España, Manila via the Harbor Link. It is also upgrading the 5-kilometer Candaba Viaduct.

Last year, the company has expanded the NLEX network in the CAMANAVA with the completion of the 2.6-kilometer NLEX Harbor Link-R10 elevated section that features the new Caloocan Interchange with on and off ramps along Grace Park, the new Malabon Exit with an off ramp on Dagat-Dagatan Avenue, and the new Navotas Interchange.

NLEX is a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp.

Phoenix to sell lubricants in Indonesia via new unit

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F

inancial technology player PayMaya is targeting the growing online gaming market in the Philippines to further grow its business, introducing a new in-app service that allows gamers to purchase digital gaming products.

Called PlayMaya, the new in-app tile gives PayMaya users an “embedded e-commerce experience” by providing them access to deals, rewards for in-game purchases, free mini games, access to tournaments, and curated content from gaming personalities.

“As we continue building our unmatched enterprises and consumer payment solutions and offer new adjacent financial services, we are strengthening consumer affinity with relevant and enjoyable features anchored on cashless payments,” Shailesh Baidwan, President of PayMaya Philippines, said. The online gaming market in the Philippines is considered a high-growth area, with British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm YouGov reporting that 4 out of 5 Filipinos were engaged in mobile or video games in 2020. Lorenz S. Marasigan

TRB allows Nlex to hike toll fees

hoenix Petroleum Philippines said it is bringing its product line of lubricants to Indonesia.

The PNX Lubricants brand will be the company’s market-entry product under its newly established overseas subsidiary Phoenix Petroleum Indonesia. Based in Jakarta, the full PNX Lubricants portfolio will be available for consumer and commercial vehicle segments, including motorcycles and cars through selected distribution partners in the country.

“Indonesia currently has the highest motorcycle and car population in the region. We are excited that a homegrown Filipino brand has grown so tremendously and has finally arrived.

Phoenix Petroleum has proven itself to Filipinos by offering excellentquality products, and now, we have the opportunity to bring value and the best experience to Indonesian motorists,” said Phoenix Petroluem Vice President for Integrated Marketing and Strategy Ma. Celina Matias.

According to Matias, the product lines under PNX Lubricants are specifically designed to address the traffic and weather conditions in Indonesia.

“Our motorcycle engine oil, PNX CYCLOMAX, is formulated with HEAT GUARD additive to prevent the

engine from overheating, ultimately, helping our customers accomplish their daily goals or tasks without facing a lot of drama on the road,” said Matias.

Phoenix Petroleum Indonesia is another addition to the Phoenix Petroleum’s portfolio of overseas ventures, which also includes an oil and LPG trading desk through PNX Petroleum Singapore, and its LPG marketing and trading venture holding office in Ho Chi Minh under Phoenix Gas Vietnam.

“Indonesia is one of the biggest and prominent downstream markets in Asia, so we saw it as a great opportunity for the company to participate in and expand its portfolio.

With PNX Lubricants, we are expanding our reach to a new territory, becoming a reliable partner to even more motorists in Southeast Asia,” said Phoenix Petroleum President Henry Albert Fadullon. Since 2002, the company has grown not only as one of the biggest oil companies in the country, but has also evolved as a multi-industry institution. From petroleum, it has expanded its businesses to convenience store retailing, LPG, asphalt, digital payments, and e-commerce. Lenie Lectura

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, May 17, 2021

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

May 14, 2021

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

BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

105 81 25.05 7.49 9.37 44.05 9.46 21 21.55 55.2 17.5 115.1 74.9 1.35 3.91 0.62 3.01 1.32 0.38 980 153.1 2,450 0.76

106 82.15 25.15 8.47 9.4 44.5 9.52 21.45 21.6 56 17.96 115.3 74.95 1.38 3.93 0.64 3.14 1.52 0.41 994.5 155.9 2,490 1.03

105.9 82.5 25.2 7.69 9.52 44.1 9.55 21.05 21.95 56.7 17.7 116 74.95 1.38 3.92 0.59 3.01 1.42 0.38 970 155 2,450 0.93

106 82.5 25.2 8.47 9.52 44.5 9.55 21.05 22.45 58.9 17.7 116 74.95 1.38 3.95 0.59 3.01 1.42 0.415 980 156.6 2,450 0.93

102.5 80.3 25 7.62 9.33 43.5 9.46 21.05 20.5 55 17.1 114 74.7 1.35 3.89 0.59 3.01 1.3 0.38 970 153.1 2,450 0.9

106 82.15 25.05 8.47 9.37 44.5 9.46 21.05 21.55 55 17.5 115.3 74.9 1.35 3.93 0.59 3.01 1.32 0.415 980 155.9 2,450 0.9

3,029,690 1,050,600 228,600 2,600 239,600 3,761,800 1,500 500 8,551,900 2,890 16,000 579,750 34,740 138,000 249,000 169,000 36,000 73,000 160,000 50 2,930 160 112,000

316,030,906 85,476,879.50 5,728,590 20,125 2,256,054 165,757,130 14,259 10,525 184,699,000 161,836 281,760 66,697,936 2,601,774.50 189,840 977,300 99,710 108,360 98,790 61,950 48,900 455,752 392,000 102,520

-28,568,401 -63,298,176 -343,210 107,229 1,017,620 -34,596,270 5,610 -7,489,204 786,588.50 -98,750 -33,110 9,700 343,000 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 6.9 6.92 6.73 6.99 6.7 6.9 150,314,500 1,029,038,336 ALSONS CONS 1.31 1.33 1.31 1.34 1.3 1.34 949,000 1,235,770 22.05 22.35 23 23 22.05 22.05 6,492,100 144,901,945 ABOITIZ POWER 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.8 0.74 0.79 41,337,000 31,855,670 BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN 31 31.05 31.05 31.05 30 31 2,160,800 66,009,305 FIRST PHIL HLDG 67.15 67.2 67.3 67.4 67.15 67.15 92,670 6,230,964.50 272 274 274 274.2 271.2 274 200,480 54,671,790 MERALCO 14.34 14.36 14.38 14.38 14.24 14.34 691,100 9,878,650 MANILA WATER PETRON 3.12 3.14 3.3 3.3 3.12 3.12 1,538,000 4,846,720 3.88 3.89 3.91 3.99 3.87 3.89 149,000 581,030 PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM 12.9 13.2 13.34 13.34 13.02 13.2 445,100 5,874,936 PILIPINAS SHELL 20.45 20.5 21.7 21.7 20.25 20.45 631,800 13,083,000 SPC POWER 10.34 10.4 10.42 10.42 10.34 10.34 150,800 1,564,164 14.2 15.06 14.2 14.2 14.1 14.2 6,100 86,422 VIVANT AGRINURTURE 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.7 6.5 6.64 1,352,200 9,006,666 AXELUM 2.85 2.86 2.89 2.89 2.8 2.85 988,000 2,790,270 CNTRL AZUCARERA 12.92 13 12.92 13 12.92 13 5,000 64,840 22 22.2 22.5 22.5 21.5 22.2 3,771,700 83,510,815 CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE 12.1 12.12 12.44 12.44 11.9 12.1 422,400 5,087,296 DNL INDUS 7.38 7.4 7.6 7.6 7.3 7.38 3,040,000 22,469,223 9.34 9.35 9.45 9.45 9.34 9.35 569,800 5,336,254 EMPERADOR 67.5 67.85 67.9 68.05 67 67.85 266,000 18,048,301.50 SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT 0.61 0.63 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.62 117,000 72,540 FRUITAS HLDG 1.37 1.41 1.4 1.42 1.37 1.41 8,513,000 11,851,900 59.65 59.9 60.1 61 55.1 59.65 140,860 8,343,631 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 167 168 170.4 170.4 163.3 168 920,640 153,747,987 LIBERTY FLOUR 28.4 29.15 29 29.1 28.8 28.8 4,000 116,120 7.21 7.72 7.21 7.73 7.21 7.73 5,100 36,862 MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP 5.8 5.83 5.85 5.98 5.76 5.8 287,400 1,669,566 MG HLDG 0.255 0.26 0.265 0.265 0.24 0.26 7,260,000 1,865,500 SHAKEYS PIZZA 7.94 7.95 7.93 8.05 7.9 7.95 1,105,100 8,790,962 1 1.01 1.02 1.03 1 1 2,917,000 2,948,490 ROXAS AND CO 4.54 4.7 4.6 4.65 4.6 4.65 2,939,000 13,661,900 RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG 1.46 1.53 1.53 1.54 1.46 1.46 59,000 90,310 0.13 0.132 0.132 0.132 0.129 0.132 8,690,000 1,131,020 SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA 135.4 136 135.3 136 128.6 136 816,990 108,868,363 VITARICH 0.78 0.8 0.79 0.8 0.78 0.8 2,231,000 1,753,890 CONCRETE A 54.6 55.4 55.4 55.4 54.6 54.6 1,270 70,046 1.17 1.18 1.17 1.18 1.14 1.17 1,533,000 1,767,980 CEMEX HLDG 2.53 2.54 2.65 2.71 2.51 2.54 1,194,000 3,038,850 DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT 11.86 11.88 11.88 11.88 11.82 11.86 32,700 387,918 EEI CORP 6.81 6.82 6.9 6.9 6.8 6.82 210,100 1,434,973 5.46 5.47 5.43 5.5 5.35 5.47 229,500 1,250,134 HOLCIM MEGAWIDE 6.52 6.6 6.6 6.6 6.45 6.6 860,500 5,596,759 PHINMA 11.96 12.3 12.34 12.38 12 12.3 334,600 4,113,832 1.04 1.05 1.07 1.07 1.03 1.04 868,000 911,470 TKC METALS 2.23 2.24 2.15 2.25 2.13 2.23 7,332,000 16,031,850 VULCAN INDL CROWN ASIA 1.79 1.83 1.85 1.85 1.81 1.81 308,000 562,120 EUROMED 1.86 1.94 1.9 1.96 1.85 1.86 223,000 420,760 4.56 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57 4.57 2,000 9,140 LMG CORP 4.61 4.69 4.68 4.69 4.68 4.69 11,000 51,570 MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP 5.5 5.6 5.49 5.5 5.45 5.5 42,000 230,317 21.7 22.15 22.25 22.25 21.6 21.7 18,200 395,675 CONCEPCION 4.09 4.1 4.25 4.29 4.07 4.1 29,597,000 123,282,640 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 9.07 9.08 9.26 9.26 9.01 9.07 259,500 2,360,548 IONICS 1.05 1.09 1.09 1.09 1.05 1.09 56,000 59,560 5.52 5.85 5.51 5.51 5.51 5.51 3,500 19,285 PANASONIC SFA SEMICON 1.28 1.29 1.34 1.34 1.26 1.28 406,000 518,550 CIRTEK HLDG 5.6 5.61 5.6 5.7 5.52 5.6 1,893,100 10,593,439

-56,411,975 -61,806,235 -530,560 -1,986,380 -1,849,879 -26,128,652 -3,404,282 -2,153,230 -409,860 1,300 842,000 -2,800,225 244,216 -9,421,728 -1,441,919.00 -3,075,661.50 41,100 4,456,458.50 -91,707,644 -13,886.00 2,968,623 584,830 0 18,396,665 -459,300 95,090 74,010 106,790 -73,578 853,407 -682,352 -3,702,000 105,000 30,830 9,140 197,470 -4,402,990 -583,250 6,400 141,940

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 1.01 1.02 1.01 1.02 0.97 1.01 8,471,000 8,396,710 ASIABEST GROUP 7.01 7.38 7.38 7.38 7 7.38 1,300 9,176 720 725 728 729 690.5 725 510,610 362,611,485 AYALA CORP 34.9 35.8 35.25 35.8 34 35.8 1,506,400 52,306,030 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 10.12 10.2 10 10.12 9.93 10.12 2,625,100 26,382,290 AYALA LAND LOG 2.9 2.91 2.98 3.01 2.9 2.9 1,668,000 4,912,100 6.66 6.82 6.68 6.82 6.68 6.82 1,200 8,156 ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.77 0.71 0.75 4,278,000 3,145,410 ATN HLDG A 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.68 0.69 571,000 390,710 0.68 0.7 0.69 0.69 0.68 0.68 187,000 127,660 ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL 4.8 4.82 4.92 4.95 4.8 4.8 1,623,000 7,903,260 DMCI HLDG 5.36 5.4 5.48 5.49 5.32 5.4 4,942,500 26,556,394 FILINVEST DEV 8 8.1 8.19 8.19 8 8 2,600 20,840 0.28 0.29 0.27 0.29 0.27 0.29 320,000 89,050 FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL 510 528 527 528 501 528 182,980 94,290,195 JG SUMMIT 49.45 49.5 51 51 47.9 49.5 3,195,250 156,686,614 LODESTAR 0.85 0.86 0.86 0.88 0.84 0.85 1,438,000 1,224,400 3.05 3.1 3.2 3.2 3.02 3.05 241,000 752,320 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 13.02 13.06 13.02 13.08 12.8 13.02 1,166,900 15,163,932 MJC INVESTMENTS 1.69 1.75 1.74 1.75 1.7 1.75 401,000 700,930 3.65 3.66 3.68 3.68 3.56 3.66 26,306,000 94,730,700 METRO PAC INV 2.66 2.72 2.7 2.72 2.64 2.66 836,000 2,227,600 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1.16 1.23 1.15 1.25 1.15 1.23 34,000 41,740 SYNERGY GRID 370 389 375 390 375 389 710 274,720 901 963.5 925 963.5 880 963.5 299,450 274,941,520 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 113.1 117.7 117.2 117.7 111.1 117.7 271,510 31,275,416 SOC RESOURCES 0.65 0.67 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.65 545,000 354,660 129.2 129.5 129.6 129.6 129.5 129.6 760 98,486 TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS 0.241 0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 520,000 124,800 ZEUS HLDG 0.211 0.212 0.217 0.224 0.204 0.212 9,780,000 2,065,780

206,490 7,700 -184,030,510 -20,071,045 7,758,894 432,860 37,000 -3,499,660 587,461 -24,258,105 -21,527,761.50 -2,044,456 -54,093,270 4,810 -120,926,520 -5,709,332 -

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.63 54,000 34,020 ANCHOR LAND 7.61 7.94 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 700 5,320 31.2 31.5 32.1 32.15 31 31.2 10,993,000 347,247,950 AYALA LAND 1.17 1.26 1.17 1.18 1.17 1.18 19,000 22,250 ARANETA PROP AREIT RT 34.7 34.75 34.55 34.75 34 34.75 878,200 30,262,040 BELLE CORP 1.35 1.36 1.39 1.39 1.34 1.36 2,528,000 3,419,340 0.93 0.94 0.94 0.94 0.9 0.93 2,193,000 2,014,160 A BROWN 0.86 0.87 0.92 0.92 0.85 0.87 782,000 682,360 CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES 0.122 0.125 0.12 0.127 0.12 0.125 530,000 64,840 5.96 6.39 6.39 6.4 6.39 6.4 10,000 63,982 CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS 5.51 5.6 5.73 5.74 5.46 5.6 1,848,800 10,302,356 CENTURY PROP 0.39 0.405 0.4 0.405 0.385 0.405 14,510,000 5,699,050 DOUBLEDRAGON 12.24 12.3 12.48 12.48 12.04 12.3 1,218,500 14,924,612 1.95 1.96 1.95 1.97 1.95 1.95 9,668,000 18,877,210 DDMP RT 6.8 6.9 6.9 6.97 6.62 6.89 136,900 921,432 DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST 0.26 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.26 0.27 710,000 188,700 EVER GOTESCO 0.165 0.166 0.18 0.18 0.162 0.165 9,880,000 1,637,260 1.07 1.08 1.1 1.11 1.07 1.08 14,132,000 15,339,190 FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE 0.82 0.84 0.82 0.85 0.82 0.84 971,000 813,330 8990 HLDG 7.12 7.45 7.12 7.12 7.12 7.12 200 1,424 1.37 1.38 1.33 1.4 1.32 1.37 2,299,000 3,142,200 PHIL INFRADEV 2.79 4.08 2.79 2.79 2.79 2.79 2,000 5,580 KEPPEL PROP CITY AND LAND 1.5 1.52 1.63 1.68 1.44 1.52 4,196,000 6,330,360 MEGAWORLD 2.6 2.62 2.8 2.81 2.6 2.6 145,759,000 389,785,740 0.365 0.37 0.395 0.395 0.365 0.365 32,060,000 12,046,250 MRC ALLIED 0.495 0.5 0.52 0.53 0.495 0.5 7,282,000 3,664,710 PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP 3.19 3.2 3.48 3.48 3.2 3.2 4,381,000 14,328,040 16 16.08 16.84 16.84 16 16 3,737,600 60,582,798 ROBINSONS LAND 0.247 0.25 0.248 0.249 0.247 0.247 420,000 103,870 PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL 1.49 1.51 1.49 1.49 1.49 1.49 19,000 28,310 SHANG PROP 2.56 2.67 2.59 2.67 2.57 2.67 178,000 461,290 2.31 2.35 2.32 2.36 2.32 2.35 35,000 82,530 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 32.8 33 33.3 33.3 31.8 33 26,328,400 862,480,380 VISTAMALLS 3.65 3.8 3.7 3.83 3.65 3.82 16,000 59,350 1.46 1.47 1.45 1.47 1.41 1.46 781,000 1,112,990 SUNTRUST HOME 3.44 3.45 3.57 3.59 3.43 3.44 2,053,000 7,106,070 VISTA LAND

SERVICES ABS CBN 10.86 11 11.08 11.08 10.82 11 93,100 1,015,664 GMA NETWORK 8.62 8.65 8.7 8.71 8.51 8.64 1,662,400 14,302,393 0.42 0.445 0.45 0.45 0.42 0.42 700,000 309,000 MANILA BULLETIN GLOBE TELECOM 1,811 1,818 1,825 1,826 1,801 1,811 84,970 153,623,090 PLDT 1,256 1,270 1,240 1,270 1,235 1,270 150,810 187,924,220 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.182 0.183 0.189 0.189 0.177 0.182 395,510,000 71,893,220 18.46 18.5 18.8 18.82 18.08 18.5 5,867,500 108,020,590 CONVERGE 4.08 4.16 4.16 4.31 4.02 4.16 1,913,000 7,911,050 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 8.99 9 9.17 9.5 8.81 8.99 17,392,500 157,062,149 1.52 1.74 1.58 1.58 1.52 1.52 14,000 21,490 IMPERIAL JACKSTONES 2.2 2.26 2.28 2.28 2.19 2.26 64,000 141,480 NOW CORP 2.4 2.43 2.5 2.55 2.4 2.43 1,521,000 3,718,950 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.38 0.39 0.395 0.395 0.375 0.38 9,560,000 3,631,950 2.51 2.53 2.51 2.51 2.48 2.51 216,000 541,300 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 8.3 8.35 8.18 8.3 8.02 8.3 57,000 464,018 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.2 15.58 15.5 15.58 15.2 15.58 27,200 414,626 CHELSEA 2.8 2.81 2.9 2.94 2.8 2.81 1,173,000 3,322,430 47.9 48 48.2 48.4 47.8 47.9 291,300 13,965,030 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 138 138.4 137 139 135 138 3,771,100 515,184,851 LBC EXPRESS 16.6 17 17.08 17.08 16.8 17.02 1,300 22,170 0.96 1.03 0.96 1.03 0.96 1.03 2,000 1,990 LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA 4.35 4.39 4.6 4.7 4.31 4.39 2,193,000 9,818,640 METROALLIANCE A 2.07 2.12 2.13 2.24 2.04 2.12 227,000 473,000 PAL HLDG 5.5 5.69 5.75 5.75 5.3 5.5 84,300 462,750 1.25 1.26 1.31 1.31 1.25 1.26 365,000 462,620 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.51 1.62 1.5 1.63 1.5 1.63 50,000 76,320 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.079 0.08 0.082 0.082 0.076 0.08 183,830,000 14,447,310 2.72 2.9 2.9 3.15 2.9 2.9 20,000 58,250 DISCOVERY WORLD WATERFRONT 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.53 0.5 0.51 2,402,000 1,218,200 CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.53 6.79 7.25 7.25 6.6 6.79 1,300 8,870 FAR EASTERN U 580 590 581 581 580 580 80 46,430 7.49 7.5 6.83 7.5 6.82 7.49 5,000 35,034 IPEOPLE STI HLDG 0.35 0.36 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.35 600,000 209,650 BLOOMBERRY 5.99 6 6.1 6.1 6 6 25,852,400 156,812,267 1.46 1.56 1.5 1.58 1.45 1.56 415,000 620,250 LEISURE AND RES MANILA JOCKEY 2.05 2.1 2.04 2.04 2.04 2.04 5,000 10,200 PH RESORTS GRP 1.85 1.88 1.93 1.98 1.85 1.88 2,450,000 4,589,150 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.39 0.395 0.4 0.4 0.39 0.39 3,410,000 1,342,600 5.9 6 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.9 14,200 83,780 PHIL RACING ALLHOME 6.9 6.92 7.02 7.02 6.85 6.9 1,546,300 10,792,790 METRO RETAIL 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.3 1.22 1.26 2,843,000 3,564,070 PUREGOLD 31.65 31.9 33 33.3 31.2 31.65 7,533,700 239,623,125 49.95 50.4 49.9 50.4 49.7 49.95 1,271,400 63,526,285 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 110 110.4 110.5 110.5 110 110.2 25,780 2,840,404 SSI GROUP 1.16 1.17 1.17 1.19 1.15 1.16 1,569,000 1,816,380 17.3 17.38 17.7 17.7 17.1 17.3 2,683,900 46,650,252 WILCON DEPOT 0.36 0.37 0.37 0.37 0.36 0.37 2,200,000 794,700 APC GROUP EASYCALL 6.13 6.2 6.49 6.49 6.2 6.2 7,700 49,903 GOLDEN MV 380 412.8 392 412.8 392 412.8 370 151,688 1.64 1.65 1.78 1.83 1.55 1.64 53,238,000 87,850,220 PRMIERE HORIZON

-91,989,400 -14,111,390.00 -1,409,050 -93,000 78,100 -135,158 -5,043,618 310,560 -8,850 49,900 -5,313,370 -99,700 336,500 -236,797,250 -125,150 86,190 4,161,040 -7,956,552 549,330,955.00 -39,050 -2,182,630 -94,991,655 -58,467,525 1,789,620 27,951,550 799,240 -9,127,409 24,540 26,600 50,226 132,180 91,560 13,723,632 -1,459,980 -958 -20,260 -133,470 -122,390 52,677,475 102,520 742,600 -6,017,284 12,600 -128,328,215 -22,289,185 706,034 -386,600.00 -3,091,026 29,300 2,718,590

MINING & OIL ATOK 8.08 8.38 8.35 8.46 7.9 8.38 1,010,300 8,138,628 -18,421 1.55 1.56 1.59 1.59 1.52 1.56 3,641,000 5,620,450 12,080 APEX MINING 7.72 7.77 7.96 8.14 7.52 7.72 2,340,200 17,984,296 3,355 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 2.85 3.11 2.96 3.11 2.9 3.11 292,000 852,680 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.315 0.335 0.315 0.335 0.315 0.335 600,000 194,800 2.8 2.85 2.8 2.87 2.79 2.85 18,000 50,830 39,670 CENTURY PEAK 6.85 7.11 7.12 7.12 6.84 7.11 25,400 176,801 83,271 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 2.44 2.45 2.48 2.54 2.41 2.44 1,985,000 4,825,280 768,140 0.325 0.33 0.345 0.355 0.325 0.325 4,190,000 1,400,600 670,000 GEOGRACE 0.164 0.165 0.17 0.17 0.159 0.164 83,570,000 13,559,990 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.163 0.167 0.173 0.173 0.163 0.163 3,280,000 550,970 8,350 MANILA MINING A 0.013 0.014 0.014 0.014 0.013 0.014 300,500,000 4,007,600 0.014 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.014 0.015 17,900,000 253,800 -35,000 MANILA MINING B 1.25 1.28 1.33 1.33 1.22 1.28 1,323,000 1,663,070 45,740 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 1.44 1.46 1.51 1.51 1.44 1.44 425,000 616,730 -43,500 NICKEL ASIA 5.27 5.3 5.29 5.31 5.13 5.3 8,321,900 43,532,804 10,242,853 0.375 0.395 0.385 0.385 0.375 0.38 320,000 121,600 OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA 0.92 0.93 0.95 0.95 0.88 0.92 703,000 627,760 PX MINING 6.52 6.57 6.72 6.72 6.4 6.52 3,658,100 23,825,798 -2,136,204 12.32 12.5 12.26 12.5 12.2 12.5 1,522,500 18,712,402 1,813,106 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0099 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.0098 0.01 339,000,000 3,388,850 -27,000 UNITED PARAGON ACE ENEXOR 16.92 17.18 17 17.2 16.92 17 118,100 2,009,404 154,630 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 67,100,000 803,200 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.013 1,432,100,000 17,211,500 ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 32,000,000 381,900 PXP ENERGY 6.9 6.95 7.19 7.2 6.9 6.9 1,066,500 7,450,668 355,445

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 99.8 101 101 101 101 101 160 16,160 HOUSE PREF A 100 101.5 101.5 101.5 100 101.5 170 17,135 515 531.5 515 517 515 515 2,000 1,030,350 AC PREF B1 ALCO PREF C 103 109.9 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 1,000 103,500 CEB PREF 44.05 44.2 44.5 44.55 44 44.05 58,300 2,580,315 -296,025 CPG PREF A 103.5 104 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 1,000 103,500 100.5 101.4 101.4 101.4 100.5 100.5 23,820 2,393,919 DD PREF MWIDE PREF 100 101 101.7 101.7 99.9 101 2,120 215,358 MWIDE PREF 2B 100 101.8 101 101 100 100 5,500 552,440 104 104.5 104 104.5 102 104.5 5,020 519,080 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 1,010 1,012 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,010 1,030 1,040,300 -101,000 PCOR PREF 2B 1,023 1,038 1,039 1,039 1,039 1,039 10 10,390 PCOR PREF 3A 1,090 1,095 1,080 1,080 1,080 1,080 2,010 2,170,800 1,141 1,158 1,155 1,155 1,141 1,141 550 632,030 PCOR PREF 3B SFI PREF 1.67 1.85 1.66 1.67 1.66 1.67 9,000 15,010 SMC PREF 2C 79.5 79.9 79.5 79.9 78 79.5 12,040 952,018 SMC PREF 2H 77.5 78 78.25 78.3 77.5 77.5 10,510 819,067 78 78.5 78 78.2 78 78 14,000 1,092,200 SMC PREF 2I SMC PREF 2J 77 78 77 77 77 77 2,000 154,000 SMC PREF 2K 76 76.5 75.9 76 75.9 76 3,700 280,880 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 10 10.8 10.54 10.54 10.52 10.52 15,100 159,052 GMA HLDG PDR 8 8.05 8.13 8.14 8 8.05 165,100 1,323,609 -1,673

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 1.55 1.56 1.65 1.67 1.5 1.55 725,000 1,115,670 7,650

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 17.6 17.8 17.4 17.8 17.1 17.8 65,700 1,133,654 80,278 ITALPINAS 2.35 2.39 2.39 2.39 2.3 2.39 273,000 635,590 -18,480 5.12 5.15 5.12 5.12 5.12 5.12 1,600 8,192 KEPWEALTH MAKATI FINANCE 2.53 2.67 2.53 2.53 2.53 2.53 5,000 12,650 MERRYMART 4.38 4.39 4.66 4.67 4.2 4.38 13,205,000 58,573,410 -59,430

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 93.95 95 95.5 96 93.5 95 71,740 6,764,138.50 1,193,996

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Meralco resumes disconnection activities in areas under GCQ

T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has resumed service disconnection activities following the government’s announcement that areas in the so-called National Capital Region Plus will be under general community quarantine (GCQ) with “heightened restrictions” until end-May. The utility firm assured customers that it will be “very considerate” in the conduct of activities related to the management of the unpaid overdue bills.

“Given the heightened restrictions still being implemented during the GCQ, we continue to take into consideration the challenges our customers are facing amid these difficult times,” Ferdinand Geluz, Meralco First Vice Presidnet and Chief Commercial Officer, said.

For those who are challenged to pay their overdue bills in full, customers are advised to get in touch with Meralco so that a lighter schedule may be arranged, or else standard disconnection procedures will apply.

“We hope our continued consideration will ease the burden of our customers, providing additional time for them to settle their bills,” Geluz said.

Customers may get in touch with

the company safely and easily by sending a private or direct message thru Facebook or Twitter, or call its 16211 hotline. If they still need to go to the Meralco Business Centers (BCs), they may opt to book an online appointment through the Meralco website for a safe and hassle-free transaction.

Meralco reiterated that it continues all vital operations, such as meter reading, following the order of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and will also continue to work round the clock to serve its customers.

“Meralco business operations, including meter reading and bill delivery activities, will of course still continue throughout the GCQ. Our continued operations will ensure that actual consumption for the month will be billed accordingly.

But rest assured there will be strict

mutual funds

May 14, 2021

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year

per share

Share prices gained last week, but trading has been volatile as the main index remained at the 6,200-point level.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 10.65 points to close at 6,269.36 points.

It was a 4-day trading week as the country celebrated Eid al-Fitr on Thursday. Before this, the market was down on Wednesday after the country’s GDP contracted 4.2 percent for the first quarter, but the figure was within market expectations.

Volatility ensued when trading resumed on Friday as the PSEi was down all morning, but it reversed its 178-point decline after the government announced that Metro Manila and nearby provinces will be downgraded to the less strict general community quarantine lockdown classification for the rest of the month.

All other subindices went down with the exception of the Financials index which gained a mere 8.95 points to close at 1,399.30 points and the Holding Firms index which rose 118.34 to 6,344.87. The broader All Shares index fell 26.45 to 3,850.98, the Industrial index declined 69.94 to 8,558.71, the Property index lost 95.85 to 2,948.41, the Services index was down 9.93 to 1,434.47 and the Mining and Oil index plunged 517.34 to 9,071.02.

For the week, losers edged gainers 171 to 57 and 21 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers for the week were iPeople Inc., Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities Corp. B shares, LBC Express Holdings Inc., Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc., Concrete Aggregates Corp. B and AREIT Inc. Top losers were Philippine Savings Bank, Philippine National Bank, Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp., Mabuhay Holdings Corp., Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. B and Manila Mining Corp. B.

This week

Trading is expected to still go sideways as the market is still on the lookout for some positive news on the economy.

Online broker 2TradeAsia said as the first half of the year is nearing its close, it is also one year before the 2022 general elections.

“With Covid-19 casting a shadow over macro fundamentals, the election windfall may not as be pronounced but monitoring this space over the next few quarters may be beneficial, especially for position holders and long-term players who are willing to bet on today’s depressed valuations,” it said.

Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financials Inc., said investors may continue to worry about the country’s second quarter economic and corporate results which are seen to bear the brunt of the stringent quarantine measures previously imposed in the National Capital Region Plus.

“Chartwise, support is still seen at the 6,100 level. This was seen to be confirmed by the market in its intra-day drop last Friday. Resistance, on the other hand, remains at the market’s 10-day exponential moving average which ended last week at 6,312.72,” he said.

Stock picks

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. recommended to position on the stock of Lucio Co’s Puregold Price Club Inc. as it is a good candidate for a bounce play with support sitting at P32.30 while resistance is at P34.05 per share.

It said its share price is further down the oversold region and is extending its stay there.

Puregold shares closed Friday at P31.65 apiece.

Meanwhile, the broker gave the same advice on the stock of Megaworld Corp. following its entry into the oversold region, after breaking down from its P2.90 support.

The broker saw “increased bearishness across indicators” but it is susceptible to a bounce play until early this week as bargain hunters might start taking positions.

“The stock’s new support now lays around P2.70, while resistance sits at P3,” it said.

Megaworld shares closed last week at P2.60 apiece. VG Cabuag

Y-T-D Return

Stock Funds 201.85

8.47%

-8.04%

-4.64%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

1.2425

29.36%

-6.98%

0.44%

-5.37%

10.48%

-12.51%

-7.04%

-11.78%

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7125 9.63%

-8% n.a.

-11.37%

First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6716 -0.44%

-7.24% n.a.

First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.4551

10.02%

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6331

Last week

Return*

ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.7638

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK

implementation of health protocols in order to safeguard the health and safety of both customers and our personnel,” Geluz said.

The ERC, in an advisory last year, encouraged customers who have the ability to pay to settle their bills within the original due date “to help manage the cash flow in the energy supply chain and ensure the continuous supply of electricity.”

In April, Meralco reported that it posted a 66-percent increase in reported income in the first quarter, while core profit fell 11 percent to P5.1 billion compared to year-ago figures.

Meralco Chief Finance Officer Betty Siy-Yap said the company’s net income was largely attributed to foreign exchange gain, re-evaluation of Meralco’s investment in Global Business Power Corp. and non-core expense adjustment.

-11.17%

-9.44%

-5.9%

-3.5%

-9.84%

0.94%

-9.93%

-8.35%

93.89

24.46%

-6.43% n.a.

-7.9%

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a

41.1106

10.74%

-6.42%

-3.58%

-12.25%

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

434.16

8.36%

-6.33%

-3.9%

-11.21%

Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d, 5

0.9976

17.64% n.a. n.a.

-9.09%

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a

1.0676

11.72%

-5.43%

-2.7%

-8.61%

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

31.0408

10.81%

-5.73%

-2.47%

-10.72%

8.69% n.a. n.a.

-12.37%

MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.8001

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a

4.2138

11.44%

-5.8%

-2.81%

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

704.54

11.46%

-5.72%

-2.95%

-12.11%

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

0.6424

10.28%

-9.89%

-6.16%

-10.64%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.2155

8.05%

-12.05%

-7.78%

-4.24%

-11.27%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8045 10.92%

-6.08%

-3.1%

-12.34%

United Fund, Inc. -a

-5.73%

-1.75%

-10.36%

-5.54%

-2.31%

2.9752

9.45%

-16.68%

Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c

94.522

11.52%

-12.12%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities $1.2418

38.83%

4.37%

8.75%

3.23%

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.7169

ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

35.34%

10.07%

11.53%

2.64%

-3.67%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a

1.6074

7.57%

-1.82%

-1.74%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a

2.1105

7.51%

-2.77%

-1.29%

-7.65%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.461

5.65%

-1.71%

-1.7%

-6.32%

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1843

0.55% n.a. n.a.

NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

4.34%

0.17%

1.8644

0.13%

-5.07% -8.03%

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.4838

4.8%

-1.38%

-1.19%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

15.6127

5.17%

-1.26%

-1.18%

-7.82%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

1.9524

6.02%

-2.16%

-1.03%

-6.77%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3067 5.67%

-3.49%

-2.32%

-7.46%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9449

5.25% n.a. n.a.

-7.6%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8408

6.32% n.a. n.a.

-11.42%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8222

7.27% n.a. n.a.

-11.89%

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a

4.87%

0.8102

-4.76%

-3.05%

-7.2%

-8.73%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a

$0.03801

0.16%

3.05%

1.3%

PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b

$1.1352

22.01%

2.72%

5.34%

-2.84% -1.3%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.5924 26.26%

7.87%

8.22%

1.76%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1965 14.21%

4.42%

4.67%

-0.47%

0.02%

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

371.16

2.23%

3.14%

2.54%

1.913

-0.95%

0.91%

0.22%

0.67%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.2239

1.58%

3.91%

4.42%

0.29%

Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a

2.2608

-1.53%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

-0.69%

2.31%

1.58%

First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4335 0.47%

3.17%

1.77%

-0.8%

Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a

4.482

4.01%

1.77%

-3.29%

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a, 6

1.3229

3.14%

4.31%

2.77%

0.13%

Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.971

2.33%

4.44%

2.56%

-0.75%

Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a

-0.71%

1.0282

0.75%

4.11%

1.8%

-1.32%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1922

2.09%

5.19%

2.78%

-0.43%

Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

0.79%

4.48%

2.12%

-0.77%

1.7414

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$483.97

3.19%

3.12%

2.31%

0.02%

ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a

Є219.82

2.57%

1.09%

1.19%

0.29%

ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1752

-1.77%

1.85%

1.08%

-8.22%

First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0259 0.78%

1.59%

0.87%

-2.63%

PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b

$1.0516

-0.23%

0.68%

-0.68%

-3.76%

Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.4863

3.7%

5.04%

2.12%

-1.94%

Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0627581 5.27%

3.55%

2.21%

0.71%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1377 -0.43%

2.76%

0.91%

-2.66%

2.52%

0.18%

Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a

130.05

2.01%

3.12%

First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0512 1.27% n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.3032

1.9%

2.89%

2.57%

0.3% 0.51%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0567

1.41%

1.72% n.a.

0.41%

Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.2149 n.a. n.a. n.a.

7.55%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2

$1

11.11% n.a. n.a.

2.04%

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

1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

‘Duterte govt must give ayuda to save economy’

I

F the national government wants to fast track the Philippine economy’s recovery, Ibon Foundation Inc. said the Duterte administration needs to extend ayuda or cash transfers to vulnerable Filipinos.

The nongovernment group said providing P10,000-worth of cash transfers for each of the 23 million vulnerable Filipino families for at least one month to two months would help boost aggregate demand needed for higher economic growth.

In the first quarter, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the economy contracted 4.2 percent, the worst first quarter economic performance since 1985 when first quarter performance declined 10.5 percent.

“The amount merely approximates the government’s low official poverty threshold of P10,756 and certainly does not come close to compensating the past year of collapsed incomes, anxiety and difficulty for tens of millions of Filipinos. This will give them immediate relief as well as, by spurring aggregate demand, make it easier to revive the economy,” the group said in a statement.

Ibon said the P239.3-billion allocation for COVID-related ayuda under Bayanihan 1 was reduced to P22.8 billion under Bayanihan 2, and even further to just P18.4 billion in the 2021 budget.

“The public clamor for emergency cash assistance forced the government to give aid in the ECQ/MECQ-stricken Greater Manila area. However, the economic managers are still refusing to fully support even the small additional assistance proposed in the Bayanihan 3 bill,” Ibon said.

The group noted that cash transfers are needed given incomes are falling; household savings are being depleted and hunger is growing.

The organization said the real value of the minimum wage at the National Capital Region is 7.2 percent less today than at the start of this administration.

Using 2012 constant prices, Ibon said the minimum wage fell to P434.47 in April 2021 from P468.06 in June 2016.

Further, Ibon said the savings of some 3.2 million families were wiped out last year.

By the fourth quarter of 2020, Ibon said around 75.3 percent of Filipino households did not have any more savings.

The group said this is equivalent to some 18.6 million families completely dependent on their daily incomes or debt.

“Around 15 million or 62.1 percent of families went hungry last year,” Ibon said. “This was mainly from not having enough money or not being able to borrow enough to buy food.”

Apart from these, small businesses continue closing leading to the increase in unemployment.

Ibon noted around 206,000 small businesses and entrepreneurs have closed shop due to the pandemic.

This, the group said, was approximated by the decline in employers in own-family operated farms or businesses reported by the latest labor force survey between January 2020 and March 2021.

In terms of unemployment, Ibon said the 3.4 million reported unemployed in March 2021 is 1.1 million more than before the pandemic in January 2020.

“The real number of unemployed could be as high as 5.4 million if discouraged and unavailable workers not considered unemployed by the government’s methodology are also counted,” it added.

If there are jobs, Ibon lamented that these are composed of low quality jobs that do not provide ample employee benefits and offer job security.

By hours worked, the group said over 3.2 million of the additional employment was just in part-time work or less than 40 hours.

Ibon noted that full-time employment or 40 hours or over actually fell by 550,000. This caused the share of part-time work to increase to 36.7 percent from 31.6 percent over that period.

By class of worker, over 2.6 million of the additional employment was in the informal sector or self-employed without paid employee and unpaid family workers with wage and salary workers increasing by just 333,000. This caused the share of wage and salary workers to fall to 62 percent from 65.2 percent over that period. Cai U. Ordinario

T

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

HE Duterte administration was prodded over the weekend to tap the unused P19.445-billion 20202021 calamity fund to promptly repair the fire-damaged Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

Senator Joel J. Villanueva suggested last Sunday that concerned authorities can avail of the still intact “calamity funds” to finance the immediate repair of the PGH facilities gutted by fire on Sunday. Villanueva noted that “even if [the] PGH is covered by insurance, [he’s] sure that it won’t be enough to replace the damage.”

“Kaya kailangan pong gamitin ang calamity fund,” he added.

The Senator emphasized “the PGH should be repaired in the same way that it treats patients—urgently—and the available balance of the Calamity Fund for the two fiscal years can make this possible.”

In a statement, Villanueva depicted as a “double calamity” the early morning fire that sent PGH patients, including infants in incubators and intubated adults, being hurriedly wheeled out of

their hospital rooms.

“That [double calamity] is the only way to describe the plight of Covid-19 patients ending up as fire victims,” the Senator said. “Kaya po mahalagang masimulan ang pag-repair sa PGH dahil libu-libong kababayan natin ang umaasa sa kanilang kalinga at aruga,” he added. [That is why it is important to start repairing PGH because thousands of our compatriots depend on their care and nurturing.]

Villanueva, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, also noted that “it is not only the PGH and its patients who suffer but the public too.”

He aired serious concerns that “a PGH with a reduced operational capacity would aggravate the chronic bed shortage for patients with severe Covid-19 and others, like those with cancer, who seek treatment from one of the nation’s best public hospitals.”

In suggesting that unused calamity funds could be tapped to jumpstart efforts to “build back a better and bigger PGH,” the Senator confirmed that under

Regulatory clarity paves the way for mainstream adoption

the 2021 national budget passed by Congress, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund (NDRRMF), also known as Calamity Fund, was appropriated P20 billion. About P5 billion of the fund is for the Marawi rehabilitation.

Moreover, Villanueva said that “added to this is the unspent P5.14 billion from the 2020 NDRRMF, carried over for 2021 spending, bringing to P25.14 billion the starting year balance of the fund,” noting that as of April 30, “only P2.909 billion has been released, while P2.779 is up for release, leaving P19.445 billion [about US$407.272 million at current exchange rates] remaining in the calamity fund.”

“Although the NDRRMF is better known as the “salvation fund” for communities hit by typhoons, floods, drought, earthquakes and other natural calamities,” the senator noted that “the provisions of the national budget actually allow its disbursement for manmade calamities such as a town razed down by fire.”

Last chance for admin’s tax, financial reforms–solon

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE House Committee on Ways and Means will focus on three key areas once session resumes on Monday: the effective implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (Create) Act; a fiscally-sustainable framework for military pensions; and, a bevy of tax administration and enforcement measures, its chairman said.

“We will continue to be busy until the last day of our term,” House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay) said. “In fact, this final year is important, because it’s the last chance under [the] Duterte’s administration to smoothen out the implementation of already enacted reforms, and to pursue the remaining packages.”

Salceda said the main priority “is ensuring Create is implemented well.” According to the lawmaker, the Department of Finance (DOF) committed to an implementing rules and regulations date of May 17.

“I hope we get it by then, because [the] Create [law] is only really as good as implementation,” Salceda said. “We are trying to avoid new taxes, unless they are for sectors that won’t get hurt by taxes, like POGOs [Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators] or e-sabong.”

The lawmaker said their focus “now is really to secure the legacy of President Duterte’s tax reforms and to work on what we still can with the final year.”

Salceda added that his House Bill 9271, or the Fiscal Framework for Military and Uniformed Personnel (MUP) Pension, has the support of the President’s economic team and of the House leadership. The MUP pension reform was a priority the President raised in his State of the Nation Address in 2019 and in 2020. “[The] MUP pension reform will be painful but crucial. It’s some pain now or very big pain in the future. The unfunded pension liabilities, according to the GSIS, amount to some P9.6 trillion based on 2019 data,” he said. “It’s a serious threat to our economic prospects in the long-term.”

Salceda also said that his committee will defend in the plenary four crucial tax bills.

These include fiscal regime for mining, the Value Added

Banking blueprint for the crypto world

C

B3

Govt urged to use unspent ₧19-B calamity fund for PGH

Tax (VAT) administration reform for the digital economy, the Ease of Paying Taxes Act and the general tax amnesty with automatic exchange of information (AEOI), subject to DOF revisions.

“Everything is ready, except the language on general tax amnesty with [the] AEOI. We’re waiting on the DOF for that one,” Salceda said.

Other tax administration and enforcement measures Salceda’s committee is working on include those against illicit tobacco trade, including of RR 9-2015 on exemptions from tax stamps for cigarettes meant for exports, stronger mechanisms to prevent leakages. Other measures include: one to counter sweetened beverage tax violations and another rationalizing import process for agricultural imports, preventing industry capture of import clearance processes and stronger enforcement against agricultural smuggling, Salceda said the measures also include one to improve internal revenue administration by accelerating e-invoicing, harmonizing transfer pricing regulations, and expediting the digitalization program of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and promoting voluntary compliance with easier taxpayer experience.

Another measure is to improve fiscal sustainability of government exposures to Official Development Assistance and Public-Private Partnerships (by enacting remaining provisions of my 1998 Subsidy Council Act on government guarantees and other national government exposures). Included, too, are measures preventing the use of ecozones and customs bonded warehouses to curb smuggling.

Rebound

ON Sunday, Salceda said he expects a rebound in job creation beginning the second quarter of 2021 as the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Create Act are issued this week. Salceda, who was the principal sponsor of the measure in the House, said DOF made a commitment to issue the IRR by May 17.

“We will be able to fully market the country as an attractive investment destination with Create taking full effect. We should see strong numbers on FDI [foreign direct investment] pledges starting Q2 [second quarter],” the lawmaker said. He added that with the issuance of the Create IRR, the

Perspectives RYPTOASSETS adoption is moving from the fringes of finance to the largest and most venerable trade centers in the world.

Banks cannot afford to miss the moment. While the cryptoasset market remains small relative to traditional asset classes, the time is ripe to tap into the crypto phenomenon. The institutionalization of cryptoassets that KPMG has explored in prior reports has continues to accelerate, even in today’s turbulent economic environment. Mainstream adoption of these technologies is largely driven by: (1) increased regulatory clarity; (2) growing interest among investors; (3) increasing acceptance of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs); and, (4) a robust ecosystem of commerce centered around cryptoassets.

Monday, May 17, 2021

WITH increasing clarity from US regulatory authorities, more and more large banks are breaking into the crypto space, launching products, services, solutions and operations designed to engage cryptoasset customers. Simultaneously, crypto-native companies are reimagining digital banking services and emulating traditional bank activities through their own prime-services offerings, while pursuing state and federal banking charters. These two trends reflect a convergence between two previously distinct market segments.

The Unites States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently provided greater regulatory certainty for national banks and federal savings associations, which impacts hundreds of millions of Americans transacting billions of dollars of digital currencies a day. In July 2020, the OCC issued an interpretive letter

stating that banks in the national system have authority to provide cryptocurrency custody services to customers. In September 2020, the OCC announced that banks may hold reserves for customers who issue stablecoins, i.e., cryptocurrencies backed by a flat currency, such as the US dollar. Finally, the OCC continued its progress with a January 4, 2021, interpretive letter clarifying that national banks and federal savings institutions can participate within independent-node verification networks (INVN) and use stablecoins to conduct payment activities.

The OCC’s progress paved the way for many crypto-native companies—Acnhorage, BitPay, Paxos and BitGo—to file applications for national bank charters under the OCC’s regulatory structure, with Anchorage becoming the first approved national crypto bank on January 13, 2021. The

momentum oof these applications in late 2020 and early 2021 is likely a leading indicator that crypto companies will continue to offer a broader array of products and services to their national customer bases.

On the state level, Wyoming made history in the fall of 2020 by granting its first state Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charters to digital asset companies Kraken Financial and Avanti Bank & Trust.

The excerpt was taken from KPMG International ISG Audit Quality Leader-Financial Services Andrea Schriber’s blog post entitled “Climate risk is financial risk – For banks it’s a board-level issue.” © 2021 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved.

For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may visit www.kpmg.com.ph.

government will be able to “hunt for elephant-sized investments like Texas Instruments, the likes of which we have not had for a while.”

In addition to the standard fiscal incentives menu under the reform, Create also provides that the President “may, in the interest of national economic development and upon the recommendation of the FIRB, modify the mix, period, or manner of availment of tax incentives, or craft the appropriate financial support package for a highly desirable project or a specific industrial activity based on defined development strategies for creating high-value jobs, building new industries to diversify economic activities, and attracting significant foreign and domestic capital or investment, and the fiscal requirements of the activity or project, subject to maximum incentive levels recommended by the FIRB.” The proposed IRR states that the government’s financial support can include land use, water appropriation, power provision, as well as budgetary support through the yearly national budget.

Incentives

THE President can also grant qualified firms a maximum of 40-years of fiscal incentives, with a maximum of eightyear income tax holiday (ITH). Qualified firms must have investment capital of a minimum P50 billion, or its equivalent in US dollars, or a minimum direct local employment generation of at least 10,000 jobs within three years from the issuance of the certificate of registration.

“So, we can tailor-fit our incentives depending on the benefit of the investment to national development. We were unable to do this in the past. We can now compete for the best investment deals now,” Salceda said.

“The old incentives regime was wasteful because it allowed nearly everyone, around 70 percent of the economy, to access tax incentives even if they do not need them,” he added. “Create gives incentives towards desirable economic goals such as countryside development, relocation away from NCR, research and development, and exceptionally-sized investments.”

HarvardManagementUpdate BusinessMirror BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph Monday, May 17, 2021 b4

Monday, July 13, 2020 B www.businessmirror.com.ph

How to hire someone

you’ve never met in person

F

By David Burkus

inding the right person to do a job is tough, and likely to be the single biggest decision most managers have to make. Add to this the complexities of hiring remotely, without the opportunity of meeting in person, and you’ve got yourself a unique challenge.

Interview on multiple platforms

It’s tempting to assume that switching to video interviewing is sufficient when you are hiring remotely. But in a virtual environment, very little of your communication style with teammates is retained. So, if the goal is to use the interview process to evaluate accurately how someone’s communication style matches the team’s,

you’ll likely need to vary platforms or communication mediums. This might mean that one round of interviews is held on video, another via email and a third on the phone.

Think about the channels your team normally use to communicate, and make sure to integrate them into the interview process.

You might even consider giving candidates a few questions ahead of time and asking them to record answers in a short video, which can allow you to evaluate how concisely an individual can provide information and follow instructions. www.freepik.com

As a manager, you’ll likely agree that most of us prefer to make a hiring decision only after interacting for a sufficient period of time with a potential hire. We don’t just want to know if the candidates have the needed knowledge, skills and experience; we want to understand if we can work well with them. And we assume that means getting to know them in person.

But the coronavirus pandemic has changed all of that. The good news is that hiring has largely become location-agnostic, so you have a wider talent pool to dip in to. But there are many new variables that you need to keep in mind as you look for the next great addition to your team.

To improve your chances of finding the right person, there are a few adjustments you should consider:

Bring the whole team in

Collaboration and team dynamics have a significant impact on individual performance, so it’s worth involving as many people from a potential hire's future team as you can reasonably fit—even if you are interviewing that person in a remote context. This might mean letting certain teammates conduct a one-on-one interview with the potential hire. Or you might want to put together a panel with a few members of your team and conduct an informational interview.

Add a trial project

The ultimate way to involve the

team in the hiring decision and evaluate how well candidates work with colleagues is to have them work with you. Many companies use trials, auditions, work samples or something similar to get a feel for the work styles and fit of candidates. Ideally, this isn’t a large and pivotal task; it’s not about getting free work out of applicants. But it is a significant enough project to provide a chance to observe and collaborate with each candidate.

You could even design the trial project as a means to gauge adaptability or creative thinking by intentionally leaving out a resource or instruction step and observing how the challenge is handled.

Some companies have gone so far as to offer paid, long-term trials to candidates, but for most, a simpler project that only takes a few hours is likely sufficient to judge how candidates work and if the team can work well with them.

Communicate expectations early and often

The mere fact that one might need to interview and hire remotely has come as a surprise to many leaders, but as companies navigate a gradual (and probably hybrid) return to the office, there are bound to be a lot more challenges in store. When it comes to just how remote new hires will actually be, make sure to communicate that to candidates early and often in the process. If

your organization has documentation around remote work, share as much of it as you can in the job listing and initial interviews.

If not, then at least do what you can to communicate what’s known about the company’s remote plans or what’s being discussed in terms of future policies. You don’t want to hire a stellar remote teammate only to have her leave six months later when she’s told she can only be remote two days per week. In the same way, be upfront with expectations for communication and other team norms. If your team has a social contract or working agreement that helps establish norms for collaboration, share as much of it as you can.

When you do make the offer, and it’s accepted, make sure to prioritize connection with the team and the whole organization. Yes, you’ve got to get the paperwork done. But that doesn’t mean that it takes priority over building a connection between the new hire and the rest of the team. You could schedule a welcome video chat for the whole team to meet and greet their new colleague. Or, ask each teammate to write a welcome email or record a video. If you followed the suggestions above, then many teammates already met the new hire during the interview process. So, ask the team to share what stood out to them and why they’re looking forward to working together.

If it sounds like the common thread through each of these ideas is “team fit,” that’s because it is. Despite what it may seem, remote work makes teamwork even more important—which makes considering team fit even more important. Remote workers don’t work alone; they work alone together.

David Burkus is an organizational psychologist.

How to create a successful virtual internship program T

By Sandra Rivera

he pandemic has required companies across the globe to become nimble seemingly overnight to safeguard the well-being of employees and keep business moving forward. At Intel, this included maintaining our strong track record of partnering with colleges and universities to offer students a highly valued internship program.

Inter nsh ip prog ra ms have played a critical role at our company; they are a vital component of our talent pipeline. With the pandemic preventing us from running our traditional internships in person, we decided to create a virtual program for undergraduate and graduate students across our engineering, design, marketing, finance and other business units instead. To our surprise, it rivaled, and even exceeded, what traditional internships had to offer, giving students the flexibility to work wherever was most convenient to them while enabling connections with peers, mentors and executives across the globe.

Intel worked quickly to design a virtual internship program for over 5,700 participants in 32 countries. Upon the end of the summer program, 98% of partici-

pants responded that they would recommend working at Intel to a friend or family member, and nearly half of eligible interns made a commitment to join us for a full-time position after graduation. The positive response has encouraged us to continue the online-only program through September 2021.

While internship programs obviously vary enormously, the steps we took at Intel to maximize the value of our virtual initiative can serve as a guide for others looking to do the same:

Listen, listen, listen

Before beginning to recruit your new class of interns and plan out what the program will look like, it’s important to learn as much as you can about what students seeking internships are feeling and thinking. Treat potential interns like customers and proactively seek to understand their wants and needs.

Invest in third-party research and services to gather additional information and use the insights to shape your program.

Before beginning to design the structure of our new program, we regularly solicited the input of existing interns transitioning to the virtual program. Unsurprisingly, we found that students were ac-

cepting of the virtual experience but still had a strong desire for the networking opportunities that typically only come from traditional internship programs.

We also looked to online MBA programs where digital had been the norm before the pandemic and worked to incorporate the things they did most successfully. And we continued to refine the program while it was going on. We conducted surveys following activities and events, as well as at the end of the program, and personally conferred with stakeholders on a regular basis to understand their sentiments.

As a result of these conversations, we learned that the interns particularly enjoyed networking activities and working alongside other interns and employees on challenging projects. However, they tended to dislike large group meetings that didn’t leave room for collaboration. In response, we reconsidered our approach to holding group meetings for all the interns and prioritized smaller virtual gatherings.

Create substitutes for natural in-person engagement

Beyond planning to ensure your stakeholders receive the utmost value from your program,

you must also structure your virtual internship so that it makes possible experiences or interactions that would occur naturally in office settings. For example, college-aged students are often new to working in a professional environment. Removing the inperson experience makes it difficult for them to adapt and understand the basics by observing others. Consequently, it’s critical for virtual internships to conduct an extensive training session in the beginning of the program to make introductions among interns and their managers, provide an overview of the program, share best practices for remote work and set expectations. You can also ensure that interns have designated full-time employees to guide them through the program and discuss the intern’s workload as well as their professional development and goals.

At Intel, we also divided cohorts of interns into small peer groups, creating a greater sense of camaraderie and support. As a substitute for in-office “water cooler” conversations, we created a monthly speed networking activity, which allowed interns to reserve 15-minute sessions to meet with other interns and employees. And we gave interns

opportunities to spend an hour with full-time employees for coffee and coaching on a more formal basis. To expose interns to the extracurricular side of our office culture, we encouraged interns to start their own clubs and provided funding to help facilitate this. Intel also offered interns opportunities to volunteer virtually with nonprofit organizations. Through one initiative with the Red Cross, interns were enlisted to help map remote areas in several countries to improve responses to disasters.

Exploit the advantages of virtual

There are some opportunities that only the digital setting makes possible. To promote interactions among interns and boost their productivity, companies can turn tasks into games and activities with incentives for participation, leveraging tools like social media.

For instance, Intel developed the Intel Passport Program, which allowed participants to earn badges and rewards, including a coveted virtual lunch with our CEO, for completing specific activ ities such as writing a blog for Intel or sharing a social post about Intel technology.

The virtual setting also offers ways to bolster diversity and inclusivity by removing the geographic

or accessibility limitations of the physical world. While Intel’s vast program has historically included a broad and diverse set of interns, the virtual experience allowed us to group together participants from different walks of life to enrich their collective experience. And given that the pandemic greatly reduced the amount of executive travel, our leaders were more available to interact with interns, resulting in one of the more positive elements of our virtual program. We invited executives from across the company to speak with interns in a virtual setting, providing interns with more access to high-level leaders than in previous years while giving them valuable insights into the company’s strategy and priorities.

By t houghtf u l ly desig ning and executing a program that addressed the needs of all stakeholders, we were able to create a highly successful internship program. With adequate preparation, a continuous improvement-focused approach and an enterprisewide commitment to the success of the program, other companies can too.

Sandra Rivera is the chief people officer and an executive vice president at Intel.

Style

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Monday, May 17, 2021

B5

Miss Universe 2020 most likely I

t’s a truth universally acknowledged: Filipinos expect more from their beauty queens than their politicians. Rabiya Occeña Mateo, the lovely Ilongga lass representing the Philippines at the 69th Miss Universe pageant, is doing her best to bring home the country’s fifth crown. But some fans are insatiable, toxic and cruel. Still, the cum laude physical therapy graduate and educator is firmly holding on to her front-runner status.

Throughout the pageant, which culminates in the morning of May 17 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, Rabiya, 24, assuredly carried a massive flag-inspired national costume created by the late Rocky Gathercole, sashaying like a Victoria’s Secret Angel. She delivered a sultry performance in a yellow Ema Savahl bikini in the swimsuit round, and was radiant in a Furne One for Amato Couture lemon yellow confection.

THE GOLD BAR Sometime in May 2020, amid the pandemic, reigning Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa held a virtual talk with Miss Universe 2000 Lara Dutta of India.

“Do you think pageants still look the same? Is there any change in what they stand for?” Zozi asked Lara, who holds the record of having the highest score in interview of all time at Miss Universe, with 9.95.

“Oh for sure. Over the last seven years, within the Miss India Organization itself, I’ve had the opportunity of mentoring the girls we’ve sent to represent India at the Miss Universe so I know the parameters itself are tremendously different from what they stood out 20 years ago when we won.

“The Miss Universe pageant has always had a profile where the women who have won have always been far beyond just what they look like and what you know ‘beauty’ sort of epitomizes in the conventional sense. As you know, Zozi, we’ve always been used as advocates and very aggressively so in the various causes we’ve had the chance to sort of propagate and be part of.”

Incidentally, Rabiya’s absentee father is Indian.

Miss Australia Maria Thattil, 28, is the shortest candidate in her batch at 5’4 but is certainly the most articulate on issues such as inclusivity, equality and empowerment. Lara’s protegee, Miss India Adline Castelino, 22, is a top model who collaborates with SNEHA, an organization that provides affordable health care to women.

BLOODBATH: UPSTARTS VS POWERHOUSES Though with only 74 contestants, the lowest since 2003’s 71, so many candidates did not come to play.

They’re killing it in the styling department. Slaying in their Instgaram stories. But who will scream bloody murder after all this is over? Perhaps the powerhouses Brazil, Colombia, the USA and Venezuela when an upstart snatches the crown.

The (deserving) pretenders to the throne seeking to win their country’s first title: Czech Republic’s Klára Vavrušková, 21, a dental hygiene student, who was Miss Earth Water 2019. Her beautiful face, and her Michael Cinco evening gow, could propel her to the finals. Iceland’s Elísabet Hulda Snorradóttir, 22, ice-cool like a Hitchcock blond, has a bachelor’s degree in Chinese studies.

Ayu Maulida Putri, 23, “believes that everyone should have access to proper education and health care and cofounded Senyum Desa/Smiling Village, an association that helps rural areas in Indonesia.”

An ebony enchantress, Miqueal-Symone Williams, 24, created “The Bloom Initiative,” which provides Internet access to Jamaican children who cannot attend their online classes.

The elegant Nepalese Anshika Sharma, 24, has a foundation that supports 24 students who were on the verge of dropping out. She holds a bachelor’s degree in information technology from Central Queensland University, Australia.

Another Michael Cinco muse is the ravishing Romanian, Bianca Lorena Tirsin, a 22-year-old business administration student who was a Miss Supranational 2017 second runner-up and a Miss International 2018 third runner-up. She was trained

by Pinoy veteran pageant coach Makoy Manlapaz.

(Watch out also for Curacao’s Chantal Wiertz, Laos’ Christina Lasasimma, Nicaragua’s Ana Marcelo, and Russia’s Alina Sanko.)

Holding the fort, along with Dominican Republic’s Kímberly Jiménez and Mexico’s Andrea Meza (Bessie Badilla vibes): Gladys Zender won Peru’s first crown in 1957.

The gorgeous Janick Maceta del Castillo, 27, is hoping to win another one in time for their country’s bicentennial celebrations in July. An audio engineer at New York’s iconic The Manhattan Center, she also advocates for sexually abused children.

I thought she looked like glamorous Madeleine Stowe but the kids only know Emily Blunt. Estefanía Natalia Soto Torres, 29, might just win Puerto Rico’s sixth crown. She has a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages and a master’s degree in intercultural mediation with a sociological, anthropological and gender perspective. A serious threat.

Thailand’s excellent placements continue with Amanda Obdam, who graduated with honors from the University of Toronto with a degree in business administration. This year’s fashion plate is a cofounder of Batika Studio, a product line honoring traditional batik art through sustainable everyday clothing and tote bags.

South Africa’s fairy tale might have a happy ending with Natasha Joubert, 23, a social activist and a Play Your Part ambassador for Brand South Africa. “I pledge to play my part to contribute to a positive future and champion leadership and entrepreneurship.”

The ethereal Amandine Petit, 23 is studying for her master’s degree in social, sanitary and gerontological management. The IMG/Miss Universe Era began with

THE Philippines’s Rabiya Mateo @MISSUNIVERSEPREDICTIONS; Peru’s Janick Maceta del Castillo @SIGURAANDVILELA; Puerto Rico’s Estefanía Natalia Soto Torres @RICKOFFICIAL. PR; Nepal’s Anshika Sharma @MEILANVISUALARTS; Romania’s Bianca Tirsin @IDANIPHOTOGRAPHY; South Africa’s Natasha Joubert @KEVIMARKPASS; Thailand’s Amanda Obdam @TAN_TANUKI; Canada’s Nova Stevens @FADILBERISHAPHOTOGRAPHY; Myanmar’s Thuzar Wint Lwin @AKT24; Jamaica’s Miqueal-Symone Williams @RYANMATTIS; the Czech Republic’s Klára Vavrušková @KLARA_VAVRUSKOVA; France’s Amandine Petit @AMANDINEPETITOFF; Iceland’s Elísabet Hulda Snorradóttir @FRANZORBAN; India’s Adline Castelino @MAKEPARMAR; Indonesia’s Ayu Maulida Putri @WONGSIM

the reign of the Philippines’s Pia Wurtzbach in 2015, followed by Iris Mittenaere of France, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters of South Africa, the Philippines again with Catriona Gray, and South Africa again with Zozibini Tunzi. Would it be too far-fetched if France again wins?

THE BEAUTY OF ACTIVISM THE delegates are deeply involved in women’s rights, domestic-abuse survivors and Covid-relief volunteerism. Lola de los Santos, Miss Uruguay, is proudly LGBT and flaunted a rainbow flag in the national costume show. Miss Singapore Bernadette Belle Ong, of Filipino descent, wore a cape emblazoned with “Stop Asian Hate.”

The superlative Nova Stevens of Canada, 26, is

a cofounder and spokesman for “Freedom March Vancouver” and “Black Freedom Society” whose mission is to eradicate hate and racism experienced daily by black and indigenous people of color. A refugee from South Sudan, Nova follows in the supermodel footsteps of Alek Wek, Ajak Deng, Duckie Thot, Adut Akech and Grace Bol. Her luggage was lost in transit but this didn’t faze the awesome Thuzar Wint Lwin, 22. Her fighting form never wavered at the Miss Universe, just as she valiantly fought breast cancer and the injustices happening in her country as she bravely foisted a “Pray for Myanmar” placard at the national costume show. In early February, she posted on her Instagram: “They blind us. They tie us. But our cries are louder than their violence....” n

Filipino beauty brands step up Complexion Sponge. They also get a free clear orange pouch.

Filipino beauty brands are making beauty consumers reevaluate their purchasing choices.

They’re also the cool brands right now if you’re talking about the Gen Z demographic, who would rather spend their money on a tube of lip tint from a homegrown brand than a lipstick from a foreign luxury label.

Being in quarantine has given beauty enthusiasts the opportunity to look at local brands and see how formulations, textures and shades, especially in the case of makeup, have improved. Filipino brands having access to manufacturers in Korea and Taiwan has been a win-win situation for consumers. Yes, it’s not ideal that the most of the manufacturing facilities aren’t in the Philippines but these brands still provide employment to Filipinos. In the case of direct-selling companies, the brands are a source of livelihood for sellers and distributors.

COLOURETTE, BOSS BABES AND COLOURTINTS If you’re a beauty enthusiast living in the Philippines, you have most probably heard of Colourette Cosmetics and Nina Dizon Cabrera, the company’s CEO. Cabrera is an entrepreneur, wife and mom of

two whose beauty company makes one of the most sought-after products on Lazada and Shopee and that’s the Colourtint.

The Colourtint is not styled after Korean lip tints.

It’s more of a lipstick-tint hybrid. These Colourtints, of which 1.7 are sold every minute, comes in many colors.

“Boss Babes” is what Colourette calls its loyal consumers. Boss Babes are mostly in their late teens to early 20s who find good value in Colourtints, which can be worn as a lip color, eyeshadow and blush. They’re not drying on the lips, as most lip tints are. Colourtint shades are mostly in brown/brick/ terracotta shades and the two bestsellers are Zola and Emma.

Colourette has just released its Boss Babe x Clique collection of four Colourtint shades. “Clique” is composed of Colourette’s ambassadors and creators.

The four shades were culled from wishlists and suggestions of members of the Boss Babe (over 46,000 members) and Clique communities on Facebook.

“Colourette has always been consumer-centric. We let our Boss Babes decide our new Colourtint shades,” said Cabrera on her YouTube channel.

The collection and shade names—Isla, Rosa, Mara and Morena—are very Filipino. Isla is the perfect nude. Mara is a rosey taupe. Rosa is a muted wine.

Because Manila is known for its beautiful sunset, the Manila shade is a sunset peach.

Just in time for this launch, Colourette also announced a collaboration with Real Techniques, an international beauty brand that makes makeup tools like brushes and sponges. For every purchase of the Boss Babe x Clique collection (P999) on Lazada, the Boss Babe gets a free Real Techniques Miracle

ISSY & CO. LAUNCHES HYDRAGLOSS Issy & Co. has made a name for itself with its affordable price range, beautiful shade range for color cosmetics, and minimalist white packaging. Its latest launch was a skin tint with SPF and loose powders.

Issy & Co.’s new product is called Hydragloss. Is it a lip oil or is it a lip gloss? It’s both!

“Hydragloss is a product that’s good for you, but can also go glam. While it is a lip treatment and it’s main purpose is to nourish the lips, we want Hydragloss to also function as a beauty product that makes you look good and feel great,” said Issy & Co. co-founder and creative director Joel Andrade.

Hydragloss has humectants and occlusives. It contains hyaluronic acid and aloe juice to hydrate the lips; while the jojoba seed oil, coco nucifera oil and shea butter lock moisture in. The formula glides on smoothly for a soft and comfy feel, and a slick vinyl look. Andrade spent a lot of time in conceptualizing Hydragloss’ custom applicator so that it perfectly suits the curve of the the lips. The applicator is shaped like a spoon and its curve feels like a hug on the lower lip upon application, while the other side is used for a precise application on the upper lip. One dip gets you just the right amount of product to apply on your lips, said Andrade.

Issy & Co.’s Hydragloss is priced at P299. It comes in a clear color called Surf. Bikini is a nude, Loveboat is a rosy shade, while Baywatch is a sheer red.

Hydragloss is meant to be a multifunctional product. It can be used as a lip mask, a lip primer, a lip balm, a lipstick topper and, of course, a lip gloss.

Issy & Co. is available on Shopee and Lazada.

Colourette Cosmetics has released the Boss Babe x Clique collection (left) while Issy & Co.’s new product is called the Hydragloss.

B6 Monday, May 17, 2021

SSS extends deadline for shift to PESOnet

Kaspersky and Endtab.org share ways to protect self from doxing

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ITH our lives essentially transferred to the digital world since last year, keeping our digital space safe and secure has become more important than ever. Recognizing the importance of online privacy led to the growth of privacy-focused products, yet many people remain confused about what dangers the exposure of personal data may lead to.

Knowing the threats that are out there makes it easier to take measures to avoid them, and one such threat is doxing - the act of gathering and revealing identifying information about someone online against their will. To help users protect themselves and their close ones against doxing, Kaspersky, together with Endtab.org, has launched a free online course.

It is often thought that doxing is something that happens to vulnerable groups or people of specific professions, such as journalists, activists, or sex workers. Many people assume that their lives are not interesting enough for them to become victims of targeted online attacks. Yet, practice shows that this is not the case and people from all backgrounds can become victims of doxing.

There are numerous reasons behind doxers’ actions – including having fun online and not appreciating the harm they inflict, exacting justice (often mistakenly), revenge, jealousy, harassment and even profit.

Doxing is something that can happen once and disrupt a person’s life entirely, without them ever foreseeing it. Users are exposed online in numerous ways that are not limited to just social media presence.

Exposure can also come from data leaks, fitness trackers sharing

information to the public, official records, and private messages.

We leave a vast trace of our personal data, and this data can be picked up and used to doxers’ advantage. With that in mind, taking back control of users’ data and “owning their digital lives” becomes essential in ensuring people’s wellbeing.

Split into seven short lessons, the course lays out the basics for understanding the origins of doxing, the goals doxers pursue, ethical aspects of this practice, how to defend against it, and, most importantly, what to do if you or someone you know has been doxed. The first half of the course is already available online with the remaining lessons to be released in the following weeks.

“It’s no news that we live in a digital world, and just as in the real world, we need to develop good habits and follow rules that will help us navigate the space safely. We are bringing our expertise in cybersecurity and technology usage to provide users with

the right knowledge and tools to help in this aim,” comments Anna Larkina, Kaspersky’s privacy expert.

“Of course, doxing is not something that happens to people massively, however, we are never 100% secure from it. It is also important to know how to not become a doxer yourself - by accident or on purpose. We need to understand why this practice is a dangerous one, and something that goes against ethical standards that we as society strive to follow,” adds Larkina.

"While doxing may not be on everyone's radar, it should be. This is particularly true for parents. While anyone can be a target, this is a form of harm that shows up in cyberbullying and teen dating abuse situations. By being informed about the dangers of doxing, we can help keep ourselves and our children safer online,” adds Adam Dodge, CEO of Endtab.org The course is available on education. kaspersky.com for free.

DSWD offers mental, psychosocial support to public via online platforms

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HE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) launched on April 30 the WiSUPPORT or the “Wireless Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for Individuals and Families Affected by COVID-19 and other Crisis Situations”.

The project will be pilot-tested in the National Capital Region, Central Visayas, and CARAGA. As a social technology innovation, WiSUPPORT will use online platforms such as electronic mail, web portal, DSWD WiServ, telephone, and mobile application to provide the public with easy access to various communication tools to talk with the DSWD WiSUPPORT service providers.

Learning and Development activities

for service providers will also be conducted to ensure proper management of cases. For emergency cases needing immediate attention, clients will be assisted to be referred to psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health institutions who are members of the referral network such as the Department of Health (DOH) and National Center for Mental Health (NCMH).

Through the help of the Mental Health AWhereness PH mapping, integrated in the WiSUPPORT platforms, clients and service providers may also find agencies providing mental health services nearby.

DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista emphasized that the WiSUPPORT is one of the Department’s measures to ensure that the general state

of mental well-being of the public is prioritized amid the pandemic.

“The constant worry and fear of being infected by the virus and economic concerns of providing for their families, coupled with family conflicts and disasters amid the pandemic have brought anxiety, mental, and emotional distress to a lot of people. Hence, as the lead agency in social protection, and as part of the DSWD’s COVID-19 response and recovery plan, the Department sought more accessible ways for the provision of psychosocial support to Filipinos affected by the pandemic,” Sec. Bautista explained.

Among the target clientele of WiSUPPORT are Overseas Filipinos (OFs) in Distress, children in need of special protection (CNSP), senior citizens, women in especially difficult circumstances (WEDC), persons with disability (PWDs), family heads and other needy adults (FHONA), and other individuals and families in distress.

Clients in the pilot areas from NCR, Central Visayas, and CARAGA Region may access the services of WiSUPPORT through the following: Call Hotlines 0947-482-2864 (Smart) and 0916-247-1194 (Globe); Text Hotline: 0918-912-2813; Email: wisupport@dswd.gov.ph; Website: ekwentomo.dswd.gov.ph; and Google Play Store application: https://play. google.com/store/apps/details?id=com. cudavasol.wisupport.

The DSWD pledged to continue to coordinate with appropriate mental health providers and organizations to become more responsive to the needs of the population, especially during the ongoing health crisis.

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HE Social Security System (SSS) has extended to September 30, 2021 its deadline for pensioners to shift their disbursement accounts to participating banks or e-wallets under the Philippine Electronic Fund Transfer System and Operations Network (PESONet) or Remittance Transfer Companies/Cash Payout Outlets (RTCs/CPOs).

SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio said that as of April 2021, about 104,955 pensioners are not yet compliant with this requirement. Of this number, 91,476 are receiving their pensions through non-PESONet participating banks, while the remaining 13,479 get their monthly retirement income through checks.

The six-month extension from the previously announced deadline of March 31, 2021 came after the approval of the Social Security Commission Resolution No. 141s.2021 dated March 24, 2021.

The SSS started the shift to using PESONet participating banks, e-wallets, and RTCs/CPOs as disbursement channels in October 2020 to provide a faster and more secure manner of releasing monthly pensions and eliminate disbursement through checks.

Ignacio said the extended deadline aims to give SSS pensioners more time to comply with this requirement while community quarantine protocols are still being implemented. This will also give accredited rural banks enough time to complete their applications to be included in PESONet. Pensioners who have yet to comply with the new requirement will continue to receive their monthly pension following the old

disbursement procedures and schedule.

Pensioners whose disbursement accounts are already with PESONet participating banks, e-wallets, or M Lhuillier (as accredited RTC/CPO of the Development Bank of the Philippines) will receive their monthly pensions based on the revised schedule provided under SSS Circular No. 2020-024.

The said circular provides for two batches of pension releases every month. The first batch is scheduled every first day of the pension month covering pensioners whose date of contingency is from the first to the 15th day of the month, while the second batch will be released on the 16th day of the pension month for those whose date of contingency is from the 16th to the last day of the month.

If the credit date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the pension will be credited on the last working day before it.

SSS pensioners who are confined in an institution such as penitentiary or correctional and those whose pensions are handled through the Special Pension System and Special Voucher are exempted from shifting to the new disbursement method.

To change their disbursements accounts, pensioners may view the complete instructions on the SSS Facebook page at https://bit.ly/2HHaVi2. The list of PESONet participating banks can be accessed through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas website at https://bit.ly/3faxkAw. For more information, follow the SSS on Facebook and YouTube at “Philippine Social Security System,” Instagram at “mysssph,” and Twitter at “PHLSSS,” or join its Viber Community at “MYSSSPH Updates.”

Lung Hin features ‘Treasures of the Sea’

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O celebrate the bounty of the sea, award-winning restaurant Lung Hin showcases a range of crab signature dishes from 22 May to 31 June 2021.

The restaurant’s expert culinary masters combine their expertise in showcasing authentic Cantonese cuisine with freshlysourced high-quality crab.

Four time-treasured recipes as inspired by generations of Guangdongtrained chefs are available during this limited time. Guests can look forward to enjoying: Pan-Fried Crab Claw with Foie Gras in Barbecue Sauce, Braised Crab with Vermicelli and XO Sauce in Hot Pot, Steamed Crab over Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaves, and Steamed Crab Claw on Egg White Bed, one piece. These delicious specialties are available for dine-in guests or for takeaway with advanced notice.

Located on Level 44, Lung Hin accepts dine-in guests in compliance with the regulations issued by the Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 and the Pasig City government. For reservations, call (632) 77207777 or direct message via the Hotel’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts.

From spa to coffee venture: How a TV host-turned entrepreneur grows her business amid the pandemic

SIBLINGS Melissa and RR Enriquez partner for online coffee business

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RYOLIPO Coffee, now a byword among health enthusiasts and body conscious individuals, celebrated its first quarantine anniversary this March.

Yes, you read it right. The business flourished during the pandemic. It was established in March 14, 2020, at the start of lockdown in Metro Manila due to COVID-19 pandemic. Cryolipo is owned, managed, and personally developed by RR Enriquez, a model-television personality, who is also a fitness and wellness enthusiast. RR has appeared as a host in television shows Banana Split and Wowowee, and also made it as a cover model for FHM, a popular men’s magazine. Aside from Cryolipo Coffee, she also co-owned Rejuva Aesthetic and Laser Center.

“I was not an avid coffee drinker because every time I try to drink coffee, I experience palpitations and acidic episodes. So, when I formulated Cryolipo Coffee, I really made sure that these side effects will not be present in the product,” RR said.

Since the spa was closed for the longest time last year, I thought of a fast-moving business that could be sold online. And thus,

Cryolipo, a herbal slimming coffee which has detoxifying properties, non-acidic, and appetite suppressant, was born.

The beauty of online selling according to RR is you don’t need a physical store to sell your product. That means less expenses for office rental, utility bills, and store staff.

Moreover, the buyers of her products become their own endorsers by promoting Cryolipo in their various social media sites.

After one year in the market with nearly 500 resellers nationwide and even globally, there’s no need to dread dieting and getting in shape—with Cryolipo as fitness partner.

Moreover, the same goodness and benefits are now also available through Cryolipo Milktea! Both products are also available via Shoppee and Lazada.

Remember, the business woman who bought P6-M milk tea for her business last year? That was RR. She thought she could readily sell the 50,000 boxes she bought. But it wasn’t as salable as its coffee counterpart she said. “I’ve already sold 20,000 boxes and the tea is still good to sell in the next two years. I did not lose my money but you see, I could have used the it wisely than having the money stuck on the products. But I’ve learned my lesson now,” she said.

RR said she’s happy to have crossed from showbiz to business career because it gives more premium to her capabilities as a person.

She’s also helping others help themselves too by selling her products. And now she has involved her sibling Melissa as business partner and product endorser at the same time. Melissa is a transgender woman who is making a name for herself as a vlogger.

“So I advise her to invest in the business and use her influence. She’d got a good follower after all,” RR said.

For Melissa and all who want to venture into business, this is RR’s tips: “You should be a risk-taker because you don’t know what’s good or effective if you don’t do it. Know your business, have the best products, use and love them. Love your own.”

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, May 17, 2021 B7

The coronavirus chronicles:

How can I spot fake news?

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By Millie F. Dizon

Insight: Salesforce & the future of marketing, forging business trailblazers by building better connections MANILA, PHILIPPINES—On March 18, adobo Magazine presented an exclusive adoboTalks session with Salesforce, to address the growing need for brands to cater to their customers’ specific needs, through data-and AI-powered cloud solutions. Adobo founder, president, and editor-in-chief Angel Guerrero hosted the Zoom event, and was joined on the virtual stage by Salesforce’s Director of Market Strategy, Mathew Sweezey, Salesforce Digital360 Regional Vice President, Mr. Juancho Jerusalem.

They were also joined by a Salesforce Customer Trailblazer, UnionBank’s Customer Experience Group Head, Ms. Tracy Lim. The trail to growth can have lots of twists and turns. Marketers and business leaders like you need to play the best game.

That means matching busi-

ness challenges with solutions and matching customers to the right product—yours.To learn more, register here to watch the whole on-demand of the webinar “The Future of Marketing: How to plan your business forward.”

To prime the audience, Guerrero did a quick survey to gauge the state of data usage among the gathered attendees, with 31 percent grading themselves an 8/10, with 53 percent grading themselves in the 5-7/10 range, while only 15 percent gave themselves a perfect 10/10. Noting the jump from 8-10, Jerusalem reiterated data’s importance in helping modern business reach out to their customers.

Transcending the future of marketing mindset

Following the poll, Sweezey took centerstage to speak on the importance of embracing new concepts in order to market more effectively. The acclaimed author of The Context Marketing Revolution, Sweezey shared that, in an age of infinite media battling for customer attention, it falls to brands to find new ways to break through. Rather than just renovating old ideas and applying them to new contexts, brands need to accept that it’s time to evolve, and transcend every-

Twitter, so you’ll probably want to do a social analytics tool like Meltwater to do the heavy thing.”

Down the line. Burke adds that in spreading fake news, “the study found that people down the line who share the article play a much larger role in propagating the news than the original poster.”

Truth tip: “If an article has gone viral, but the masses of people sharing the article are several steps removed from the original poster, it may also be a sign that you need to dig it a bit before presenting the content to an executive, or basing a decision on it.”

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

PR Matters

HE most important thing we have to remember about FAKE NEWS is that it IS REAL. After all, disinformation, spin, and twisting of facts have been around forever. In the past, local journalists would call it kuryente or false leads that would take them nowhere to their great embarrassment.

What makes fake news so different today? In an article in BBC Trending, Mike Wendling recounts that in the mid-2016’s “Buzzfeed’s media editor, Craig Silverman, noticed a funny stream of made-up stories that seemed to originate from one small Eastern European town.”

That town was Veles in Macedonia, where Silverman and a colleague “identified at least 140 fake news web sites which were pulling in huge numbers on Facebook. The young people in Veles may or not have much interest in American politics, but because of the money to be made via Facebook advertising, they wanted their fiction to travel widely on social media.

And thus, began the modern version of fake news, which because of the Internet make “the speed at which it is spread and the magnitude of its influence... in a different category.”

It can, says Michael Burke in a PR News online article, “reshape public opinion, influence elections, and even lead to societal instability.”

But will it be possible to spot the difference between facts, opinion, speculation, and outright fiction?

Yes, it is, says Burke in his article “How a Story Spreads Can Help PR Pros Spot Fake News.”

He believes “it is possible to spot fake news early because of patterns in the way it spreads, according to researchers. Just as cancer cells spread in specific ways, fake news propagates differently

on social networks than real news.

The longer fake news propagates, the more damage it can do.”

How to do it? By understanding “how fake news goes viral we can better determine why it goes viral and how it can be spotted early.”

Romeo Quintana, principal consultant of Arkintan Consulting agrees. “Finding systematic and reliable approaches to identifying makers of fake news should prove invaluable in enhancing media literacy among PR professionals and the broader media consuming public,” he says.

Burke, who is director of science and technology at MSR Communications and an adjunct instructor of digital marketing a UC Davis,

thing that’s come before in order to stand out.

The remit of marketing has expanded beyond branding to encompass business growth.

Customer experience is the new battleground between brands. Therefore, marketers and businesses have to adapt to new metrics and decision-making frameworks. Data integration and analytics to measure impact are the new essentials.

Providing a great customer experience can make or break a brand. So, how do you create meaningful experiences that improve loyalty and drive conversions? The answer begins and ends with data.

With Google doing away with third-party cookies in the coming year, Sweezey stressed the importance of first-party data to brands in addressing their customers’ needs, tying it back to the notion of evolution, by treating it as dynamic, rather than something to be siloed, acted upon, and forgotten.

Furthermore, businesses now have multiple ways of gaining such data, ranging from their platforms to the content they create.By understanding and utilising these data integration insights, marketers like you can lead data-driven decision making to deliver better performance and return on investment. In this changing busi-

takes on a new media route in spotting fake news, which is just as well as these are the methods used to spread it.

He cites the authors of “Fake News Propagates Differently Even at Early Stages of Spreading” who, through their research, advocate graph analytics to “identify layers or degrees of separation between the creator of news and its reposter.” What can be considered a third layer, for example, would be someone “who shared an article a previous user shared, who in turn, shared the article based on an original post.”

The study, Burke says, found significant differences in the propagation of fake news within hours

ness environment, that knowledge is essential to business success and growth marketing.

How personalized data can help businesses to drive marketing performance

Now more than ever, it’s important to speak to customers with the right message, in the right tone, at the right time.

Personalization is a need now to uncover new opportunities for customer growth and acquisition. Despite social media and the Internet giving brands unprecedented means of reaching their targets, the means by which they conveyed the message had more weight than the messaging itself. When all was said and done, people tend to trust human-to-human interactions and recommendations rather than any number of online executions. Thus, the importance of proper engagement, placements, and the encouragement of user-generated content.

“You need to ask yourself, before you do any marketing program, ‘Am I working with my marketplace at this moment, or am I working on my marketplace?’—we live in a new world, customers now have the ability to interact, and they expect to be able to do that.”

Jerusalem assumed the stage next, by reiterating that

of its initial posting. But apart from the news story’s content, author, and publication, here are some things he says PR pros should look out for in spotting fake news:

Layers. “The number of layers in fake news is typically larger than that of real news, and the chain of the people sharing the news is longer,” Burke says.

Truth tip: “If you come across news on a social channel that has been passed on to you by a series of people, as opposed to maybe the just one trusted person who found the article, you may want to scrutinize it for authenticity.”

“This may not be easy to do on

the world has changed and, while there’s no going back, we shouldn’t be afraid to embrace new ways of living, working, and playing. He pointed out that Salesforce was primed to help companies humanize their customer service experience across products and platforms.

“One of the highlights for me has been working with companies big and small, understanding their challenges, and providing the right technology, the right solutions to really drive them forward and deliver better experiences for their customers.”

Through end-to-end support, Salesforce aids its customers in crafting data-powered marketing strategies to create beneficial digital relationships with their customers across touchpoints. From apps to learning resources, marketing solutions that helps to personalize customer communications across every digital touchpoints, expert services, and an active Trailblazer community, Salesforce provides an entire ecosystem that has made it the world’s #1 CRM provider.

Unionbank of the Philippines empowers their business through a data-driven decision To show how a properly managed customer experience can elevate a business, Jerusalem

Repostings. With fake news, “the number of repostings based on the first post is much smaller than the number of repostings by individuals down the chain,” says Burke. “By contrast, with real with real news, repostings stem directly from the original source.”

Truth tip: Tap into your intuition and experience in spotting fake news. But even the most seasoned PR pros may fall into this trap.

When in doubt, consider these tips and do some good old fact-checking yourself.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations.

Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.

welcomed Lim onstage for a fireside chat on how working with Salesforce led to UnionBank of the Philippines being honored as the Philippines’s top Digital Bank for three years in a row. The challenge, according to Lim, was learning to approach the customer experience as an ongoing challenge.

“There are new customer behaviors, new interests, and so on—in marketing, each moment, each fleeting feeling matters, and if you lose it, it’s gone, so it’s important to be able to pivot and offer the right products and services at the right time, at scale, and for us, that’s Salesforce’s Market Cloud.”

“We use data to really understand our clients’ perspective,” said Lim, “Before designing and delivering experiences, and in that way, we build trust and confidence. Data helps us understand our customers in ways that they may not understand themselves!

Jerusalem rounded off the session by emphasizing the importance of trust, not just on the business level, but on the customer level. With the so-called new normal bringing with it no shortage of uncertainty, it’s good to know that Salesforce exists to help companies foster, develop, and grow this most crucial of equities.

THE late Kobe Bryant is honored, as are others who have died, as Ne-Yo sings “Incredible” during the 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony on Saturday in Uncasville, Connecticut. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

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RICK OLIVARES bleachersbrew@gmail.com

| Monday, May 17, 2021

BLEACHERS’ BREW

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Déjà vu in opener

‘IT’S AN HONOR’

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NCASVILLE, Connecticut— Vanessa Bryant took Michael Jordan’s hand and walked down from the stage, a familiar chant breaking out throughout the arena as she made her way back to her seat.

“Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!” the crowd shouted.

With that, he was—officially, finally—a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Kobe Bryant is in the Hall now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

“Right now, I’m sure he’s laughing in heaven, because I’m about to praise him in public,” Vanessa Bryant said.

And she did, her purple dress matching the traditional Los Angeles Lakers color, capping

the night by giving the speech that her husband was not here to deliver.

“There will never be anyone like Kobe,” Vanessa Bryant said.

“Kobe was one of a kind. He was special. He was humble—off the court—but bigger than life.”

Bryant, Duncan and Garnett were joined in the class by three-time NCAA champion coach Kim Mulkey, two-time National Basketball Association (NBA) champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich, four-time Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings, three-time Final Four coach Eddie Sutton, 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens and longtime Fiba Secretary-General Patrick Baumann.

“I appreciate you,” Garnett said to Duncan from the stage.

“It’s an

honor to go into the hall with you, bro. You and Kob.” Duncan stayed true to who he is: modest and humble, on a day where his Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich, missed a game to see his enshrinement.

“This is the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,” Duncan said as he began his speech. “Been through finals, Game 7’s, this is officially the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve been pacing in my room all day, so let’s see what we get.”

As usual, he delivered in the clutch.

And the other speeches didn’t disappoint.

The Hall of Fame has a 10-minute countdown clock on the prompter that speakers used to assist with their remarks. Catchings blew past that with ease, going several minutes past in an emotional address that covered her many challenges.

“Basketball chose me, an awkward, lanky, introverted tomboy, born with a hearing disability, a speech impediment,

and a will to overcome obstacles, dream big and to change the world,” Catchings said.

Mulkey talked about her roots, coming from a small town in Louisiana and getting to the Hall of Fame—marveling that she was presented for induction

by Jordan, who held the same role for Bryant.

“Michael, I’m incredibly honored,” Mulkey said. “I guess the last time we stood this close we were walking out of the ’84 Olympics and we were a hell of a lot younger lookin’ and probably a lot skinnier. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The totality of the accomplishments of the Hall class are staggering.

Bryant, Garnett, Duncan and Catchings combined for 58 All-Star appearances. Mulkey, Tomjanovich, Sutton and Stevens combined for more than 3,000 coaching wins. Baumann is widely lauded for his efforts in getting 3x3 basketball added to the Olympic program.

“My life turned out better

Dasmariñas underdog against champ Inoue

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ICHAEL “HOT AND SPICY” DASMARIÑAS has nothing to lose but everything to gain when he challenges undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue next month.

“It’s more than winning the Super Lotto Grand Prize,” said Dasmariñas, who squares off with the Japanese Inoue on June 19 at the Virgins Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I need to give Inoue a good fight and I pray for a little luck.”

Inoue, 28, is unbeaten in 20 fights with 17 knockouts. He decimated Australian challenger Jason Moloney in his last fight last October via a seventh technical knockout win at the MGM Grand bubble in Las Vegas to defend his belts.

That makes Dasmariñas, also 28, the underdog with his 30-2-1 win-loss-draw record (20 knockouts).

“I love being the underdog,” Dasmariñas, who hails from Pili in Camarines Sur but has been training in La Union.

BoxRec.com gave Dasmariñas only a minimum 4 percent chance of winning over the Japanese, who got 94 percent to successfully defend his title.

But Dasmariñas, who will travel to the US later this month with Coach Tacy Macalos, said he would do everything to prove everybody wrong.

“I need to improve everything—from my stamina, footwork and fighting style. I will do my best,” he said. “I just have to rely more on my footwork and head movements. He is a strong fighter. So I really need to outbox him to have a chance of winning.”

Dasmariñas beat Thailand’s Artid Bamrungauea via a fifthround technical knockout last October in Valenzuela City.

ALORA

BARBOSA

LOPEZ

ALCANTARA

Filipino jins bracing for tough Olympic qualifier in Amman

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FLAVIEN PRAT steers Rombauer to a three-and-a-half-length victory. AP

By Josef Ramos

IO 2016 veteran Kirstie Elaine Alora leads a fourmember Philippine team vying for Tokyo Olympics berths in the Asian Taekwondo Olympic Qualification Tournament slated this Friday and Saturday in Amman, Jordan.

Joining Alora in the qualifiers are 2019 Philippines Southeast Asian Games gold winners Pauline Lopez and Kurt Bryan Barbosa and silver medalist Arven Alcantara.

First up on Friday is Alcantara, whom will be seeking a slot in the men’s -68 kgs class. Alora takes her turn on Saturday in the women’s +67 kgs and also Barbosa

in the men’s -58 kgs.

A fired up Lopez, 24, will be up on the mat in the women’s -57 kgs on Saturday, hoping to bounce back from her frustration of losing to a Thai opponent in her first Olympic qualifying bid five years ago at the Resorts World Manila.

Paralympian Allain Keanu Ganapin (-75 kg) will vie in the Paralympics Qualifying Tournament on Sunday.

National team coach Carlos Padilla expects his jins to perform well and earn their tickets to Tokyo Olympics set from July 23 to August 8.

“We’ve been in bubble training at the Inspire Sports Academy for almost five months since January,”

Rombauer pulls off upset, Baffert’s Medina Spirit 3rd

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ALTIMORE—Rombauer left Medina Spirit behind—and put horse racing’s latest controversy on the back burner.

Little-known Rombauer sprung an 11-1 upset to win the Preakness on Saturday, passing Bob Baffert’s Kentucky Derby

winner to end a potential Triple Crown bid that would have carried a giant asterisk.

Medina Spirit finished third and will not go on to the Belmont with a Triple Crown on the line and a potential Derby disqualification hanging over the sport.

“A little disappointed, but we’ll go on from here,” said assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes, who saddled the horses in Baffert’s absence.

Baffert was not present at Pimlico Race Course, opting to stay away

Lafay claims first pro victory, Valter retains Giro lead

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ANFRAMONDI, Italy— French cyclist Victor Lafay won the eighth stage of the Giro d’Italia for the first victory of his professional career and Attila Valter kept the pink jersey on Saturday.

Lafay, who rides for Cofidis,

attacked on the steep uphill finish of the 170-kilometer leg from Foggia to Sanframondi and soloed to victory.

Lafay raised his arms and beamed in delight as he crossed the line 36 seconds ahead of Francesco Gavazzi. Nikias Arndt

was third, a second further back.

“I attacked in the last few kilometers and saw that no one was following me,” Lafay said. “I cannot believe it, I have just won a stage at the Giro!” AP

than my wildest dreams,” Tomjanovich said, his voice cracking.

NBA championships, WNBA championships, national championships, Olympic gold medals, MVP awards, the class had some of everything.

“We’re Hall of Famers, guys,” Mulkey shouted. “WE’RE HALL OF FAMERS.” And while it was a celebration, it was also a remembrance for Hall of Famers lost since the last enshrinement in 2019. Three-time Grammy Award winner Ne-Yo performed “Incredible” in their memories, the video clips playing behind him including a message from former NBA Commissioner David Stern, who died January 1, 2020, and Bryant—who died January 26 of that year in a helicopter crash that also killed his daughter Gianna and seven others.

“I’ve always said that I wanted to be remembered as a player that didn’t waste a moment, didn’t waste a day, and lived every day as if he was the 12th guy on the bench,” Bryant said in the video. AP Padilla, a three-year national coach, said. “They focused on their training—three times a day, six times a week—so I am really confident they will perform their very best.”

The team arrived in Amman on Friday and everyone, Padilla said, has adjusted to the five-hour time zone difference.

“This is the best preparation we ever have had, everything is right on track and no distractions,” said Padilla, who is joined in the coaching staff by Christian Al de la Cruz. “And the jins are staying away from media interviews to keep their concentration.”

Alora, the most veteran on the team at 31, lost to Mexico’s Maria Espinoza, 1-4, in her opening match in Rio and was relegated to the repechage, where she bowed to Morocco’s Wiam Dislam, 5-7.

Only the finalists—gold and silver medalists—will advance to the Tokyo Olympics. The team managers’ meeting and draw are set on Thursday.

Philippine Taekwondo Association Secretary-General Rocky Samson is expected to join the team on Tuesday.

The Amman qualifiers will be staged in a bubble facility. because of the controversy surrounding Medina Spirit, who tested positive for the steroid betamethasone in post-Derby testing.

He said in a spotlightstealing statement hours before the race: “Today is not about Bob Baffert. Instead it is about Medina Spirit and all of the other equine athletes in our tremendous sport.” AP

LAFAY

IT must have been close to déjà vu for the Iloilo Kisela Knights.

Up against the Palawan Queen’s Gambit in the opening matches of the Wesley So Cup, Iloilo, the third-placer of the All-Filipino Conference, was stunned in the first two boards of blitz play when Grandmasters (GMs) Hovhannes Gabuzyan and Joey Antonio were defeated by Woman International Master (WIM) Shania Mendoza and IM Padmini Rout.

During the All-Filipino Conference, Antonio was beaten by Shania Mendoza in rapid play.

Armenian Gabuzyan and Antonio both bounced back in rapid chess where the two points are significantly bigger against their respective blitz tormentors. The Kisela Knights also got a huge lift from the rest of the team up and down the line when Cherry Ann Meija, Cesar Mariano, Fritz Bryan Porras, Dennis Bernas and National Master (NM) John Michael Silvederio all got wins or a draw.

As a result, it was a more emphatic win for the Iloilo Kisela Knights, 183, as opposed to their 15-6 triumph during their All-Filipino Cup opening assignment.

Iloilo team manager and owner Leo Sotaridona expressed some concern after dropping the first two boards of blitz chess.

“A loss by our top two boards in blitz play was quite a surprise,” said the Iloilo native who is now based in the United States. “I was confident though that we could bounce back in the rapid round which is exactly what happened. All in all, it was a great start for the Kisela Knights.”

Also on opening night, the AllFilipino champions Laguna Heroes saw their luck in Armageddon play finally run out when they were tripped in extra board play by the Manila Indios Bravos, 2-1.

Both teams were even at 10.5 after both sides settled for a 3.5-3.5 score in blitz and a 7-7 score line in rapid play to send the match into Armageddon.

The still import-less Laguna team fielded Vince Angelo Media, GM Banjo Barcenilla and Fide Master (FM) Austin Jacob Literatus, the literal Hero of the All-Filipino Cup Finals against a Manila squad without GM Ino Sadorra that fielded FM Deniel Causo, IM Marvin Miciano and their Indonesian import, IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher.

Playing black, Causo defeated Medina. Barcenilla drew level once more with a win over Miciano leaving the outcome to Literatus whose ability to pull a rabbit out of any hat is well known.

Unfortunately for Laguna, Taher tricked Literatus when with 0.3 seconds left in the game clock, he gave away his rook. Literatus was unable to react to the unexpected sacrifice paving the way for the Indios Bravos to fashion out a thrilling 2-1 win.

For Laguna, which won all its Armageddons during the elimination round and play-offs of the All-Filipino Cup, the law of averages caught up to them Said Manila team owner J. Paulo Elauria, “The game was unpredictable.

I didn’t think it would happen.

We have two new players, three including the import. Two players are used to playing over the board tournaments. During the game itself, they experienced mis-clicks, but with a stroke of luck, we went into Armageddon.”

Elauria credited the win to some of his locals as well as his import.

“This is a team effort by all the boards. Our lady player Mira Mirano, and senior board, Cris Ramayrat, had perfect scores and did not lose. As for our Indonesian import, Mr. Taher, I believe that it was his plan to use guile to beat Mr. Literatus.”

“Taher captured pawn on G7 leaving 0.3 seconds left. With that little time left, Literatus could not move his king to capture the rook. As a result, Mr. Taher won by time out.”

Two contrasting wins by two of the seeded teams in this importspiced Wesley So Cup. But I dare say that given that six of the 12 matches on opening day were won by four points or less, it’s going to be a closely fought tourney.

As the great New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra once said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”