BusinessMirror November 15, 2019

w

n

Friday, November 15, 2019 Vol. 15 No. 36

BSP pursues ‘prudent pause’ in rate tweaking

T

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday decided to leave its monetarypolicy rates unchanged after two consecutive bouts of easing in previous months, but did not indicate an aversion to further cuts next year.

BSP officials described the move as “prudent” and “appropriate,” as the growth of consumer prices in

the country continued to be tame and growth started to pick up again in the third quarter of 2019.

The move effectively kept the overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) facility at 4 percent. Accordingly,

4%

The rate at which the overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) facility was kept. Accordingly, the interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were held unchanged at 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively the interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were held unchanged at 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

See “Rate,” A2

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 46 pages |

PLANTERS LOSE P61.77B DUE TO RICE PRICE DROP

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

P

LANTERS lost at least P61.77 billion due to the continuous drop in the farm-gate price of unhusked rice, which hastened in recent months when imports rose significantly, according to a policy brief prepared by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

The plight of local planters may even worsen as their losses could balloon to nearly P130 billion if prevailing farm-gate prices will continue to fall below production cost, the PhilRice paper added.

Given the losses incurred by rice planters, the paper noted that the P10-billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) created by Republic Act (RA) 11203 may be insufficient to offset farmers’ losses.

“Prices of local palay have declined substantially after the initial implementation of [the law]. The virtually unbridled importation of rice is dampening local palay prices and robbing the income of rice farmers,” the PhilRice paper read.

The surge in rice imports driven by the opening up of the domestic market has been identified by industry stakeholders as the culprit to the double-digit decline in palay prices.

Industry groups like the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) earlier estimated that rice planters have already incurred losses of at least P40 billion.

The group projected that losses could reach as much as P60 billion due to the decline in farm-gate prices.

See “Planters,” A2

Cayetano: Duterte shuns special powers for ‘BBB’

T

HE President’s spokesman and the Speaker of the House of Representatives are saying contradictory things when it comes to the grant of special powers that will allow the Executive branch to fast-track the implementation of infrastructure projects.

House Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano on Thursday said Duterte shot down proposals to grant him special powers to hasten the rollout of projects under the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program.

Cayetano made the statement after Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, filed a bill mandating the grant of special powers to the President to address the major challenges in infrastructure implementation.

Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo on Thursday said Salceda’s proposal will help address major constraints in implementing projects, such as right-of-way issues.

However, Cayetano said the

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n

President told him that the grant of special powers at this time will no longer help and will not have any substantial impact as the Duterte administration is midway through its term.

“The President has already said that he doesn’t want anymore the emergency or special powers. I mean, it was not given during the time it was needed. It will have some advantage but it will not attain its objective anymore,” Cayetano said in an interview.

“The President doesn’t want it anymore. He made it clear to us. Why give it to the Executive [branch] when it said it would rather focus on the projects?” he added.

Cayetano said the grant of emergency powers was crucial during the first few months of the administration when it would have been “most effective.”

“I am a believer in the special powers or in the emergency powers. I filed that bill in the Senate,” he said.

See “BBB,” A5

@jearcalas

PHL vows to carry out population programs

T

MEDIA IN SERVICE OF VALUES Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso holds the plaque of appreciation, as keynote speaker, from the honorary chairman of the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA), Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle (left) and D. Edgard A. Cabangon, acting chairman of the CMMA Foundation board of trustees, at the 41st CMMA presentation at the GSIS Theater in Pasay City on Wednesday (November 13). In his message, Cardinal Tagle noted the irony of modern times—that when technology has made it possible to connect people through various platforms, they have become more alienated. Story on A2. NONOY LACZA

HE Philippines has committed to fully implement reproductive health and population-related policies to reduce poverty and meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia made the commitment at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action in Nairobi.

Pernia said fully implementing the reproductive health and population-related policies will help meet the poverty target of 14 percent by 2022 and the SDGs by 2030.

“We want to ensure that every pregnancy and every birth is wanted and that every Filipino is able to contribute productively to national development,” Pernia said.

See “Population,” A2

US 50.8760 n JAPAN 0.4678 n UK 65.3909 n HK 6.4980 n CHINA 7.2442 n SINGAPORE 37.3374 n AUSTRALIA 34.7839 n EU 56.0145 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5666

Source: BSP (14 November 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, November 15, 2019

Fully wired, but disconnected: Irony of our times, per Tagle

D

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

“Given the unrest in different parts of the world, we see a breakdown or a failure in communication. The means are there but it is another matter to truly communicate.”

—Tagle

ESPITE the advent of instant messaging and social media, many people still remain disconnected from one another.

That irony was made clear by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle during the 41st Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) on Wednesday, held at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) theater in Pasay City, with the theme: “We are members of one and another. From network communities to human communities.”

He said many people still struggle to understand one another due to a breakdown in communications, leading to conflicts.

“Given the unrest in different parts of the world, we see a breakdown or a failure in communication. The means are there but it is another matter to truly communicate,” Tagle said.

“It is not enough that you have the access to communication; we must learn to communicate heart to heart and respect one another,” he added.

Media role

TAGLE said this is where media practitioners come in—by fostering authentic communication, as well as ensuring the message of evil is not glamorized.

“Sometimes unwittingly, unconsciously, our way of presenting evil present in society glamorizes the very evil that we want to denounce,” Tagle said.

“Yes, we become truthful, even reporting evil. But as believers in Jesus who has triumphed over sin and death, we should be more zeal-

ous and animate in proclaiming good news,” he added.

CMMA Acting Chairman D. Edgard A. Cabangon also stressed the importance of media in promoting Christian values.

“We should be the guardian of mass media and utilize its power to promote Christian values through the different mediums: print, radio, television and social media,” said Cabangon, who chairs the ALC Media Group founded by his late father, Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua. The ambassador and businessman had heeded the appeal of then Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to support the CMMA.

Nation-building

THE event’s keynote speaker,

Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso pointed out the importance of media in promoting nation-building.

In his keynote message, he said media has the power to spark nationalism by constantly reminding the people that social change should start from oneself and their role in the country’s development.

“Before we sleep, let us look at ourselves in the mirror and ask what we could contribute to our city and our country as citizens,” Domagoso said.

“Those who are involved in the arts or media may be able to include this [in their works] to remind their viewers. It is through constant reminders that we will be able to succeed on this,” he added.

Over 600 entries from different media practitioners were sent for this year’s CMMA. Of these, 288 became finalists.

Among the special award recipients were the Serviam Award given to the Society the Divine Word and the Saint Paul II Award conferred to Men of Light.

B.I. DEPORTS 312 CHINESE CAUGHT IN TELCO SCAM

T

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deported to China 312 Chinese nationals, including 21 minors reportedly involved in telecommunications fraud.

BI Spokesman Dana Sandoval the 312 are among the 512 persons arrested by the immigration agents last month in a massive raid of a businessprocess outsourcing (BPO) office in Pasay.

The BI’s October 9 raid on an office at the Millennium Building in Pasay City netted 512 aliens allegedly conducting scamming operations.

Those arrested consisted of Chinese, Burmese, Malaysians, Vietnamese,

Taiwanese and Indonesians.

BI Intelligence Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. called the operation a success after the implementation of the mass deportation. Sandoval said the 312 Chinese boarded three separate chartered flights to China aboard China Eastern airlines.

The operation started around 3 a.m. Thursday at the remote parking of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1 followed by another batch of deportees at around 8 and 9 p.m. Thursday night.

“We are very much thankful to the National Capital Region Police Office [NCRPO] for assisting us in this

operation,” said Manahan.

Pending their deportation, those left behind were temporarily taken into custody by the NCRPO and held in a facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, in Taguig, Sandoval said.

Also leaving with the 312 are 21 minor’s who were earlier turned over to the Chinese Embassy upon determination of their age.

Manahan added that the passports of the deportees have already been cancelled by the Chinese government, making them undocumented aliens.

Sandoval said the 312 deported and 21 minors will directly fly to

Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province and Changchun, Jilin Province. They will be escorted by BI Intelligence personnel, as well as Chinese police officers.

The rest of the suspects will be transferred to the BI Warden Facility pending the issuance of their deportation orders and clearances.

Commissioner Jaime Morente commended the BI Intelligence Division for the successful implementation of the operations. “Let this serve as a warning to aliens planning to use the country as a base for their illegal operations,” said Morente. “Expect more arrests in the coming days,” he warned. Recto L. Mercene

www.businessmirror.com.ph

briefs

➜FIRST GEN NET INCOME UP 46% FIRST Gen Corp. of the Lopez group reported a net income of $220 million (P11.5 billion) at end-September this year, 46 percent up from the $151 million posted in the same period a year ago, mainly on account of higher electricity sales, foreign exchange gains, lower interest expense and benefits from deferred income taxes.

Consolidated revenues from the sale of electricity rose 11 percent to $1,616 million (P84.2 billion) from $1,462 million (P76.2 billion) recorded from January to September last year.

The natural gas portfolio accounted for 63 percent of the power firm’s total revenues. Their revenues were 10 percent higher in the first three quarters due to higher average natural gas prices coupled with improved plant dispatch.

First Gen’s unit Energy Development Corp. (EDC) accounted for $547 million, or 34 percent, of total revenue. Of the $547 million, 94 percent came from geothermal and the rest, wind and solar.

First Gen Hydro Power Corp., owner of the 132 MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plants, delivered better revenues at $37 million, 31 percent higher than last year’s $28 million.

Lenie Lectura

➜PXP ENERGY TRIMS LOSSES PANGILINAN-LED PXP Energy Corp. narrowed its losses to P21.8 million from January to September this year from P49.1 million in the same period a year ago.

The company attributed the decline to lower oil production costs, lower depletion rate, and higher other income charges, which was partially offset by lower petroleum revenues.

Petroleum revenues declined by 51.8 percent at P51.1 million from P106.1 million at end-September last year, brought about by lower output and drop in crude oil price in the Service Contract 14C-1 Galoc, and the plug and abandonment (P&A) of SC 14A Nido and SC 14B Matinloc production wells.

The company reduced expenses by 45.7 percent at P94.2 million at end-September this year, from P173.7 million in September 2018. This was mainly on account of lower depletion cost in SC 14C1 Galoc following the decline in output and the cessation of operational costs in SC 14A Nido and SC 14B Matinloc.

Planters. . .

Continued from A1

Rate. . .

Continued from A1

“The Monetary Board believes that prevailing monetary policy settings remain appropriate. This is supported by the benign inflation outlook and a firm outlook for domestic economic growth,” BSP Officer In Charge Francisco Dakila said at the post monetary meeting press briefing.

“At the same time, a prudent pause in monetary adjustments will enable the cumulative 75 basis point reduction in policy rates as well as the cut in reserve requirement ratios to continue working their way through the economy,” he added.

Their expectations also include a high confidence level that the fiscal budget for 2020 will be passed within this year.

Inflation forecasts

DAKILA also said that their latest baseline forecasts continue to indicate that inflation is likely to settle within the lower half of the target band of 2 to 4 percentage points for 2019 up to 2021, with the balance of risks to the inflation outlook leaning toward the upside for 2020 and toward the downside for 2021.

The BSP reduced the forecast for inflation to 2.4 percent for 2019, from the September forecast of 2.5 percent. This means that the BSP expects inflation to average at about 1.3 percent in the last two months of the year. The latest inflation print is at 0.8 percent in October.

For 2020 and 2021, the baseline numbers were retained at 2.9 percent.

“Upside risks to inflation over the near term emanate mainly from the potential impact of the African swine fever [ASF] outbreak on food prices and from potential volatility in oil prices amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. At the same time, weak global economic prospects continue to temper the inflation outlook, as uncertainty over trade policies weigh down on global economic activity and demand,” Dakila said.

When asked about possible cuts down

the line in 2020, Dakila and BSP said among the triggers could be demand side pressures from inflation, further weakening of global growth and volatility in the prices of import commodities.

BSP Monetary Policy Sub-Sector Officer In Charge Dennis Lapid also said they will be closely looking at the economic growth numbers, particularly the rate of consumer spending in the coming months.

BSP officials further said they see growth hitting 6 percent on average for this year.

‘Wait for dust to settle’

ING Bank Manila economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the latest move from the BSP is not an end to the tightening cycle, but a pause to “wait for the dust to settle.”

“After quite a busy 2019, the ‘pro-growth’ Governor decided it was time to weigh the impact of his recent accommodative moves to close out the year,” Mapa said. “Given a possible miss on the growth objective, we expect Governor Diokno to come out swinging in 2020 with up to 50 basis points worth of policy rate cuts to help bolster growth momentum.”

Mapa argued that next year, the government will be chasing a higher growth target of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent, compared to the 6 percent to 7 percent this year. As such, the BSP may likely need to shore up the fiscal stimulus while inflation dynamics allow them to do so.

Mapa also said they expect BSP to resume to carry out its phased and preannounced reductions to the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) in 2020 as Diokno looks to align the Philippines’s RRR with regional peers.

“Although the exact timing may still be in question, we are confident that any form of adjustments, both policy and operational, will be guided by data and will be effectively communicated to the markets,” he said.

The Monetary Board is expected to have its next monetary policy meeting on December 12.

This will be the last policy-setting meeting of the Monetary Board for the year.

Population. . .

Continued from A12

“All our unified efforts to carry out the ICPD agenda are spelled out in our Philippine Development Plan [PDP] 2017-2022,”he added.

Apart from this, the Philippines also commits to accelerate efforts to reach and optimize the demographic dividend.

This will be met by scaling up maternal and infant health programs in the first 1,000 days of life of the child.

Pernia said the population and family program will also accelerate the demographic transition.

“The Philippine economy is closer to achieving upper middle-income country status.

There are fewer Filipinos living in poverty, fewer mothers dying while giving life, and more couples and individuals are able to achieve their desired number of children,” Pernia said.

He added that the Philippines will also increase its investments for the promotion of the ICPD and SDGs. Pernia said the PDP under the Duterte administration is crucial given that it is the first in four medium-term development plans that aim to meet the country’s long-term vision.

The long-term vision or AmBisyon 2040 aims to make Philippine society a “prosperous middle-class society where no one is poor.”

PHL. . .

Continued from A12

Chicken cuts imports reached 17,655.529 MT during the nine-month period while purchases of chicken leg quarters from abroad reached 49,153.208 MT. BAI data also showed that the country’s beef imports expanded by 19.12 percent to 101,961.05 MT, from last year’s 85,592.198 MT. Mita President Jesus C. Cham told the BusinessMirror that the latest data did not yet take into account the impact of local ASF

Replacement rate

EARLIER, the Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) said the Philippine population is on track to reaching replacement rate in five years.

The latest population estimates, based on the 2015 Population Census, from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman is attainable by 2025.

By 2025, the PSA estimates there would be 115.378 million Filipinos. Around 58.19 million are males and 57.186 million are females.

Perez explained that the three conditions in reaping the demographic dividend includes the reduction of the total fertility rate (TFR) of 2.1 which, based on PSA estimates, is already attainable by 2025.

However, when it comes to the two other conditions, Perez said much work still needs to be done. These two conditions are: that majority are working-age population, the dependency ratio is 50 percent.

“The third item is very much a work in progress but should go hand in hand with reduction of TFR. Demographic dividend is not automatic if unemployment remains high among young people and women,” Perez said.

Based on the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) data, youth unemployment increased to 14.4 percent while unemployment rate among women increased to 39.4 percent in July. Cai U. Ordinario outbreaks as the recorded arrivals were booked before July, or prior to the confirmation of the outbreaks.

Because of this, Cham said the figures could go down further and this could be reflected in the data during the fourth quarter or the first quarter of 2020.

Noting the purchases last year, an industry source told the BusinessMirror that the 2.4-percent increase in total meat imports from January to September is quite “anemic” considering the country’s population growth and increasing demand for meat products.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

The PhilRice paper titled “How to make farmers winners under the rice tariffication regime,” which was published recently, was authored by Alice B. Mataia and Aerone Philippe G. Bautista.

The paper is one of the policy advocate materials of PhilRice under its Rice Science for Decision-Makers publication. PhilRice is an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture.

Trends and patterns

PHILRICE said the 1.8 million metric tons (MMT) rice imported from January to June alone had already exceeded the country’s “normal” annual import volumes. “[This] consequently pulled down the price of rice and, quite significantly, palay.”The paper said that, “while [the law] helped lower inflation and eased the public’s access to affordable rice, it also appears that rice farmers’ real income significantly plunged by P12,869 per hectare.”

PhilRice said palay prices, in real terms, have fallen from January to August this year.

This was contrary to the price trend observed in the same period last year and “did not follow production seasonality” wherein prices are low during peak harvest months and are high during lean season, the agency noted.

Budget. . .

Continued from A12

The Retirement and Life Insurance Premium requirements released over the period is inclusive of P3.61 billion referring to the additional requirements for newly created or newly filled positions in various agencies, resulting in a 107.7 percent release for the category, the DBM said.

Moreover, the DBM also disbursed P25.543 billion for continuing appropriations of the 2018 GAA for line departments and releases from Special Purpose Funds as of end-October. Continuing appropriations

PXP recently submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Department of Energy (DOE) for the strategic development and utilization of an Integrated Gas Hub in Malampaya upon the expiry of SC 38 in 2024. Lenie Lectura

➜PAL HOLDINGS LOSSES WIDEN PAL Holdings Inc., the holding company of legacy carrier Philippine Airlines, saw its losses widen twofold in the first nine months of 2019, even as its revenues grew faster than its expenses.

From January to September, PAL Holdings recorded a total comprehensive loss of P7.86 billion, a 139.2-percent increase from the P3.29-billion loss the year prior.

Its total consolidated revenues rose 5.6 percent to P117.92 billion, from P111.62 billion, buoyed by revenues from its passenger and ancillary businesses.

It reported consolidated operating expenses of P117.14 billion, a 2.2-percent increase from P114.67 billion; and recorded a 471-percent increase in “other charges” to P9.86 billion from P1.73 billion, with the adoption of the Philippine Financial Reporting Standard (PFRS) 16, a new accounting standard.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

➜SAN JUAN, ‘SMART CITY’ THE PLDT Group is developing the city of San Juan as a smart city, as it enters a new era marked by the delivery of government services through the digital economy.

Smart Communications Inc. is deploying Google Station in key areas in the city to provide residents with free Wi-fi connection. The free access is now available in certain areas, such as the City Hall of San Juan, Cardinal Santos Medical Center and Greenhills Shopping Center.

PLDT-backed Multisys Technologies Inc. deployed digital kiosks that allow residents to process government transactions and pay for utility bills.

“We are happy to work with the San Juan City government in realizing their smart city vision. We look forward to helping Mayor Francis Zamora further enhance his government’s ability to respond even more efficiently to the needs of his constituents and elevate San Juan to be on a par with other modern cities in Asia and the world,” PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said on Thursday.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

In real terms, PhilRice said the national average price of palay in August was at P14.87 per kilogram, which was P3.24 lower than the P18.11 per kg recorded last year.

“Given the average yield of 3,972 kg per hectare, the P3.24 per kg decline in real price of dry palay from August 2018 to August 2019 translates to a lost income of P12,869 per hectare, thus, national level income loss is at P61.77 billion, rendering RCEF funding seemingly insufficient to offset it,” the paper read.

Prescriptions

THE PhilRice paper painted a bleaker future for rice planters this harvest season as there could be “possible collusion among traders to further lower prices of fresh palay to P10 per kg to P12 per kg.”

This, it said, “will further exacerbate the situation with farmers earning just enough to break even or even lose, earning less than their cost of production.”

At the national level, total income losses of farmers “are estimated at P61.77 billion, escalating to P86.39 billion or P129.548 billion during the peak harvest season if prices further drop to P12 per kg or P10 per kg, respectively,” it added.

Due to this, PhilRice said the national government should supplement the P10billion annual RCEF and carry out “immediate measures to cushion the adverse effects of the law on rice farmers’ income.” refer to appropriations available to support obligations for a specified purpose or project, such as multiyear construction projects which require the incurrence of obligations beyond one fiscal year.

As for unprogrammed appropriations, P50.518 billion have also been released. By definition, unprogrammed appropriations are standby appropriations which authorize additional agency expenditures for priority programs and projects when revenue collections exceed the resource targets or when additional grants or foreign funds are generated.

Meanwhile, allotments for other automatic appropriations, posted at P26.641 billion, have been released. Bernadette D. Nicolas

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, November 15, 2019 A3

Rehash of govt’s anti-illegal drugs drive may be forthcoming, VP Robredo says

L

By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

AW enforcement agencies in the campaign against illegal drugs have vowed to seriously look into the proposal of Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo to rethink and improve the current anti-drugs drive.

This was bared by Robredo on Thursday following her meeting with the law enforcement cluster of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (Icad), which the Vice President cochairs with the Philippine

Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

“I had a pre-meeting with the OIC PNP chief [Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa] and all other officials assigned in this work. I reiterated my suggestion for

them to rethink the campaign, especially ‘Tokhang.’ I also reiterated that it has a negative iteration,” Robredo said.

“They agreed, and they promised to assess and come up with an improved version of what we already have,” she added.

During the meeting, members of the cluster also agreed on the need to have a baseline data on the illegal drugs in the country, as earlier suggested by the Vice President, since the government do not still have an existing “information system” on this area.

Robredo said the baseline information is needed in order to weigh in the campaign’s accomplishment, set the metrics, and even determine the effectivity of the tactics and strategies that were being employed in the anti-illegal drugs drive.

Duterte signs order granting ₧2,000 additional allowance to every Cafgu

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

T

HE national government has allotted a total of P850 million for the financial grant of Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) Active Auxiliary (CAA) Service Units this year.

This, as President Duterte authorized a monthly grant of P2,000 allowance for each member starting July 2019 through an executive order.

According to Executive Order (EO) 94 signed by the President on November 8, only duly-appointed members of the CA A Units appearing in the roster maintained by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and actually rendering services shall be entitled to financial support.

Provided, that those who are in the roster and have been appointed but are still undergoing training as of the aforementioned date, shall be entitled to a prorated portion of said financial support upon the satisfactory completion of the prescribed training.

The funding requirements for this purpose shall be sourced from the current year’s available appropriations.

In a text message to the BusinessMirror, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the total amount is chargeable against the budget of the Philippine Army under the FY 2019 General Appropriations Act. As for the succeeding years, the funding requirements shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, subject to the submission of the actual number of qualified CA A members to the DBM. Further, the DBM and the Department of National Defense shall jointly issue appropriate guidelines to implement this order.

In 2018, Duterte signed EO 69 granting members of CAA units financial support worth P7,000 covering the months of November and December, and directed the DBM to study and proposed measures for the continuous grant of financial support on a monthly basis to recognize the invaluable service of the members of the CAA units.

Cafgu was created through EO 264 (Series 1987) which, through the mobilization of CAA units, shall complement and support the regular forces of the AFP in dealing with external security threats.

The Kaliwa Dam predicament: Whose interest should prevail?

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

A

@jonlmayuga

NETWORK of cause-oriented groups opposed to the construction and activation of Kaliwa Dam on Thursday said President Duterte may have been misled in his decision to push through with the project seen as a solution to Metro Manila’s shrinking water supply.

According to the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network, the multibillion, China-funded 600 million liters per day (MLD) water reservoir project in Rizal and Quezon provinces is not even for the “greatest good for the greatest number.”

Responding to President Duterte’s statement to the Southeast Asian leaders during the 35th Asean Summit to “not sacrifice the environment and the region’s rich biodiversity…in its quest for progress,” the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network urged Duterte to prove his sincerity by scrapping the controversial Kaliwa Dam Project altogether.

In a news statement, the group said the water security concern is not just a “Metro Manila versus indigenous communities” issue.

They insisted that the issue of water security should not be used to put the concern of Metro Manila residents for reliable water supply against the legal rights of the indigenous peoples over their ancestral domain.

According to the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network, there are practical, alternative water solutions available which are less costly and would cause minimal impact to the environment compared to P12.2 billion Kaliwa Dam project.

They said that drawing more water from Laguna Lake, fast-tracking the rehabilitation of the Wawa Dam, tapping idle supply from the National Irrigation Administration’s (NIA) facilities, and curbing wasteful water use are some of the solutions to the perennial water supply shortage in Metro Manila.

“Combined, these can provide the same, or even more water, than the planned Kaliwa Dam. These options are just as viable and will not entail the same negative impacts as the Chinese-funded Kaliwa Dam project that will cost at least P12.2 billion and is anticipated to cause massive damage to Sierra Madre’s biodiversity, as well as displace thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains,” Fr. Pete Montallana, one of the conveners of the broad Stop Kaliwa Dam Network said in the statement.

For Rovik Obanil of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Duterte is either misinformed or he

is deliberately misinforming the public about the project.

“While it is true that the indigenous people of Quezon and Rizal have a major stake in this issue, the impacts of the project go far beyond the concerns of IPs or Metro Manila’s residents. The fact that the funding for the dam project will largely come in the form of a bilateral loan with a sovereign guarantee means that all Filipinos are guaranteeing this loan against default. Unless a mechanism is created whereby only Metro Manila’s residents are made to pay for the dam, in general, a bilateral loan is paid for with taxpayers’ money. This means that ultimately, the cost will be borne even by those who will not see one drop of water from Kaliwa Dam,” Obanil added.

Belinda de la Paz of the Haribon Foundation, for her part, said equally important is the issue of potential biodiversity loss in pursuing the project.

She said there are identified species which are vulnerable, threatened or endangered, and some of them are found nowhere else in the world.

“There are 21 threatened tree species under DAO 2017-11 and 19 globally threatened tree species under the IUCN’s red list of threatened species that will be affected by the proposed development project,” she said.

Other significant species, such the Philippine Eagle, Northern Rufous Hornbill, Philippine Warty Pig and Philippine Brown Deer are found only in the country.

“So indeed the stakes are high, not just for Filipinos but, in fact, for the entire world. We have a duty to do what we can to preserve these species for future generations,” she said.

Lastly, Montallana warned that the recent spate of earthquakes, including the 5.5-magnitude quake in Quezon last November 7, should serve as a wake-up call given that experts have said that the seismicity study for the Kaliwa Dam is inconclusive and that the construction of a 60-meter high dam itself could compromise the ground in the area.

“A dam break would put tens of thousands of people in the towns and villages downstream in serious danger,” Montallana warned.

“If President Duterte is truly thinking about the ‘greater good,’ he should listen to the experts who criticized the failure to employ good science in the Environmental Impact Statement submitted by the project proponent and slammed the EIS of the Kaliwa Dam as a ‘technically deficient, inconclusive and poorly written document used to justify the issuance of the environmental compliance certificate,” Montallana said.

She said the data should reflect the number of drug suspects, or even users, how many of them have been arrested or have surrendered and the current state of their cases. It should also include information on the rehabilitation aspect.

Robredo admitted that the impaired capability of the government makes the battle against illegal drugs an uphill climb, especially that drug syndicates and drug lords have learned to employ technology in their illicit trade.

For one, she noted that drug lords have also been conducting their business by way of mail parcels and online trade.

“Online order has become a trend and those are not being checked,” Robredo said.

N. Cotabato’s 63 barangays to be turned over to BARMM

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—The 63 barangays in North Cotabato that voted to join the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) would be officially turned over to the regional government on Wednesday, November 20, 2019.

L aw yer Nag u ib Si n a r i mbo, minister of the Interior and Local Government, said the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of North Cotabato has adopted a resolution to turn over the 63 barangays to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

Sinarimbo said the 63 barangays would be turned over to the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, which also holds its regular session on that date, adding he had already met with the technical staff of the Provincial Sanggunian on November 5 to discuss the details of the said turn over.

Sixty three out of the 67 barangays in six municipalities in North Cotabato opted to join the expanded Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in a plebiscite held in February this year.

These barangays are located in the municipalities of A leosan, C a r men , K abac a n , M id s ay ap,

Pigcawayan and Pikit.

He assured the 63 barangays that they would continue to receive their Internal Revenue Allocation directly from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM. “Entitlement po nila ’yon and it will not change. They will receive their IR A from the DBM,” he said.

He said the 63 barangays would be constituted into a special geographic area with an assigned administrator. “We will have ministries putting their people in the administrative setup so we can continue to deliver services there,” Sinarimbo said.

A4 Friday, November 15, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Campi maintains 10% vehicle sales growth target for 2019

I

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

T may look like a long shot, but the automotive industry is bullish it will hit its target of growing sales by 10 percent this year boosted by single-digit growths on all segments in October.

In a joint report on Thursday, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and Truck Manufacturers Association disclosed October sales rose nearly 4 percent to 34,397 units, from 33,150 units during the same month last year. Both the passenger car (PC) and the commercial vehicle (CV) brackets posted growths on the single-digit range.

For October, PC sales improved close to 7 percent to 10,083 units, from 9,444 units, while CV sales grew over 2 percent to 24,314 units, from 23,706 units.

As a result, industry sales from January to October went up 2.53 percent to 301,761 units, from 294,311 units during the same period last year. Sales of CVs—accounting for seven in every 10 units

sold by the industry—rose almost 4 percent to 211,361 units, from 203,685 units.

Sales of passenger cars, however, grew flat at 90,400 units, from 90,626 units, on slowdown in demand for the product tracing back to last year when the government imposed excise taxes on automobile under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.

Campi President Rommel R. Gutierrez said the industry is anticipating a positive ending for the year brought about by the recovering market demand for vehicles and sales promotion efforts employed by firms. He added vehicle assemblers look to sustain this growth trend to complete their rebound from a dismal showing last year.

“The current market demand for vehicles along with creative and aggressive sales promotion efforts give us a positive outlook, as we aim to sustain the growth trend for the remaining months of the year,” Gutierrez said in a news statement.

Is the industry keeping its target of a 10-percent sales growth this year? Gutierrez said yes, adding the industry is standing by its objective no matter how long shot it may look like.

“We remain positive that our industry target for the end of the year will be achieved, as all brands remain committed to provide innovative mobility solutions to the Filipino people,” the Campi head added.

Last year vehicle sales dropped over 16 percent to 375,410 units, from 425,673 units in 2017, on tax hikes, record high inflation, unstable fuel prices and rising interest rates. The industry is targeting to recover this year by growing 10 percent in sales.

As of October, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. is leading the industry in terms of sales, holding 43.25 percent of the market.

Trailing the industry leader are Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. and Nissan Philippines Inc. with market shares of

17.07 percent and 12.15 percent, respectively. Completing the industry’s leading five are Suzuki Philippines Inc. and Ford Motor Co. Philippines Inc. with shares of 6.51 percent and 5.97 percent of the market, accordingly.

Meanwhile, the automotive industry has yet to comment on the government’s plan to impose a safeguard measure on vehicle imports that will mostly target units shipped from Thailand and Indonesia, where many carmakers maintain operations.

The Department of Trade and Industry is seriously considering to hike the tariff rates on imported automobile to compel their manufacturers to locate operations and create jobs in the Philippines. The DTI is acting on the petition filed by trade union Philippines Metalworkers’ Alliance (PMA), which decried the declining employment in the automotive industry, particularly in its manufacturing subsector.

PMA alleged carmakers are choosing Thailand and Indonesia as their investment destinations in Southeast Asia, as they can just ship units to the Philippines at zero duty under the region’s trade deal, reducing job opportunities here in the process.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ADB approves $300-million anti-poverty loan to LGUs

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

T

HE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $300million policy-based loan to support local government units (LGUs) boost economic growth and reduce poverty.

The loan will be used for the Local Governance Reform Program (LGRP) subprogram, which aims to equip LGUs with the ability to deliver better government services.

Improved government services can lead to simpler and investorfriendly business processes. This can lead to more jobs and poverty reduction.

“ADB supports the Philippine government’s goal of creating a hightrust society, where citizens have confidence in the capacity of local government institutions to deliver services to communities and provide a simpler business environment for private enterprises,” Director for Public Management, Financial Sector, and Trade at ADB’s Southeast Asia Regional Department Jose Antonio Tan III said.

The program will help ensure deliver services aligned with local preferences, improve their capacity to raise their own revenue, and lower the cost of doing business for the private sector.

ADB said the Philippines is a “relatively decentralized” country compared to its Southeast Asian neigbors.

This is largely due to the autonomy enjoyed by LGUs as stated in the Local Government Code of 1991. Through the law, LGUs are able to get revenue allotments from the national government and the authority to implement devolved services such as health, education, and agriculture extension.

As part of more recent efforts to empower LGUs, the government has embarked on reforms to strengthen the legal framework for local service delivery to clarify roles and responsibilities, distribute shared taxes more fairly, and improve the ability of local governments to partner and coordinate on delivering key services.

“The ADB program under LGRP is helping the government provide LGUs with the tools and skills necessary to deliver high-quality public services in an accountable and costeffective manner,” said ADB Public Management Specialist for Southeast Asia Robert Boothe.

In 2017, the government institutionalized a three-tier competency scheme and certification program under the Standardized Examination and Assessment For Local Treasury program to ensure local treasury officers are equipped with the necessary skills and competencies to manage local resources.

The government also developed and implemented an online LGU client rating system for business permit application and releasing to enhance citizen feedback on LGU performance and service delivery.

DTI allocates ₧300M for start-ups in 2020 agency budget proposal

T

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is allocating P300 million of its budget next year for programs and projects intended at cultivating the country’s start-up community.

In an interview with reporters on Thursday, Trade Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba said the DTI is setting aside P300 million of its 2020 budget for start-up programs.

The DTI is one of the three agencies required under the Innovative Startup Act to bankroll projects that will foster the start-up sector.

“We originally requested P300 million for next year. We have to wait because next month is the [approval of the 2020 national budget]. Next month, we’ll find out,” Aldaba said.

Aldaba clarified the P300 million will only be the DTI’s allocation for start-ups. The Departments of Sci-

ence and Technology (DOST) and of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) are also mandated under the law to put aside funding for up and coming firms.

Under the Innovative Startup Act, the start-up grant fund (SGF) is created to be managed by the DOST, DICT and the DTI, each directed to provide initial and supplemental grants to start-ups and enablers that passed their respective selection and application process.

The grants can then be utilized by the developing firm for research, development, training and expansion projects. They can also be spent on fees and charges required to join domestic and international start-up events or competitions.

Sought how much in total the SGF would be if the DOST and DICT funds are included, Aldaba said she has yet

to learn the programs and projects to be carried out by the two agencies.

“It would depend on the programs that would be crafted by DTI, DOST and DICT. Each one would make a proposal and there’s going to be budget that we would be requesting from the GAA [General Appropriations Act],” the trade official explained.

As for the DTI, Aldaba bared the P300 million, if approved, will be used to fund workshops and trainings for start-ups, as well as finance their payment for business license fees.

President Duterte signed the Innovative Startup Act in April, but the law was only promulgated in July. Under the law, the government will provide incentives and remove constraints intended to encourage the putting up of innovative new businesses, also known as start-ups. Elijah Felice E. Rosales

BCDA confident of completing 38 flagship projects by 2022

By Ashley Manabat Correspondent

C

LARK FREEPORT—The presidential adviser for flagship programs and projects has expressed confidence of completing 38 of the 100 flagship infrastructure projects by the end of President Duterte’s term in 2022.

Vivencio “Vince” Dizon, president and chief executive officer of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and concurrent presidential adviser on flagship projects, said he is confident that in the list of 100 infrastructure projects, 38 out of the 100, or roughly 40 percent, will be completed by 2022.

“This is our estimation, give or take, this is what we believed we can achieve,” Dizon said in a weekly Palace economic briefing.

Dizon also said 22 out of 100 key infrastructure projects are “partially operational or substantially completed,” while the remaining 40 percent would be completed “beyond 2020.”

It was learned that of the 100 big-ticket infrastructure projects, 35 are under way, 32 will commence construction in the next six to eight

months, 21 are in the advance stages of government approval, and the remaining 12 are in the advance stages of feasibility study.

Dizon said roughly P4.3 trillion or half of the P9 trillion that will be earmarked for the infrastructure program will be spent for the implementation of the flagship projects.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon claimed last Tuesday that the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program is a “dismal failure.”

But Dizon debunked the senator’s claim, emphasizing the current administration has so far completed several infrastructure projects.

Among the completed projects are North Luzon Expressway Harbor Link Segment 10; Davao del Norte’s Governor Miranda Bridge; Laguna Lake Highway; Isabela’s Pigalo Bridge; Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway; Bohol-Panglao International Airport; Cagayan de Oro Passenger Terminal; Communications Navigations System/Air Traffic Management, and the New Clark City Phase 1A, Dizon said.

“There is a lot of activity in construction, and in particular, a lot of

activity in public sector construction, meaning, in government construction or government projects,” he added.

“So, I just want to emphasize the point: Is Build, Build, Build a failure? Absolutely not. And the number speaks for themselves. Construction is up. Public spending on infrastructure is up. And this has led to a faster economic growth,” Dizon pointed out. Numbers don’t lie, he added.

Contrary to Drilon’s allegation that only nine of the Build, Build, Build projects have started construction, Dizon said it was the previous Aquino administration which showed “dismal” performance in boosting the infrastructure sector.

Dizon noted that from 2016 to 2018, the Duterte administration has already spent nearly P1 trillion, compared to P380 billion spent by its predecessor.

“The state of infrastructure when the President took over was dismal. I mean, we easily forget,” Dizon said.

“When the President launched Build, Build, Build, through the economic team way back in late 2016, the plan to spend more on infrastructure has been happening,” he added.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

News BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A5

Where’s the forest? Recto presses DENR to account for P39-B tree-planting program

A

N incredulous Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto is pressing for an accounting of the government’s P39-billion tree-planting program.

“Where are the 1.7 billion trees in 2 million hectares of land funded by P39-billion tree program?,” Recto asked.

Recto raised the issue during Thursday’s plenary deliberations on the Palace-proposed P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020.

Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, sponsoring the proposed 2020 budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources agreed with Recto that the DENR should show some results.

Recto revealed that under the proposed 2020 national budget, funding for the tree-planting program will even be doubled, from P2.6 billion to P5.15 billion.

Reviewing the budget bill, the senator noted that the DENR’s National Greening Program (NGP) is “one of the very few pro-

Pasig River. . . continued from a12

“The PRRC is hereby disestablished,” read the EO, a copy of which was released to reporters on Thursday.

Thus, the functions of the PRRC are transferred to different agencies, including the Manila Bay Task Force, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The Manila Bay Task Force under its mandate in Administrative Order 16 shall update and take the lead in overall implementation of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Master Plan, which shall harness the Pasig River’s potential for transportation, recreation and tourism purposes while undertaking the rehabilitation and restoration of its marine life.

Meanwhile, the DENR shall ensure the easements provided for in the Civil Code and other relevant laws are enforced, especially in all the esteros and waterways that drain into the Pasig River, as well as abate the dumping of untreated industrial wastewater and sewerage into the river.

The DHSUD shall expedite the relocation of informal settler and other unauthorized or unlawful occupants along Pasig River.

The MMDA and DPWH, in coordination with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, local government units concerned and the Philippine National Police Maritime Group, shall ensure the dismantling and removal of all structures, constructions and other encroachments established or built along the Pasig River, as well as undertake civil works, such as the dredging and cleaning of the Pasig River and all the inland channels, esteros and waterways that drain into it.

Moreover, the Chief Executive also tasked the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), in consultation with the DENR and the MMDA, to supervise the winding up of operations of the PRRC, as well as the final disposition or transfer of its functions, obligations, assets and liabilities, and the separation or transfer of its personnel, as may be necessary.

In response, the PRRC officials also said in a statement on Thursday that they respect the decision of the Palace. “We shall abide by the order immediately and assist the Department of Budget and Management, the DENR and the MMDA in the winding up of the operations, as well as the transfer of functions, obligations, assists and liabilities pursuant to the order,” PRRC said.

Two months ago, Duterte also signed EO 90 ordering the transfer of chairmanship of the PRRC from the DBM secretary to the secretary of DENR.

BBB. . . continued from a1

“So, at the start of the [Duterte] administration, the first few months, the grant of emergency powers was essential but it was not given.”

Cayetano said he would talk to Salceda and Sen. Grace Poe to dissuade them from pursuing the approval of the measure.

He said the House of Representatives would instead push for the creation of a committee to oversee the government’s infrastructure flagship programs and projects. Cayetano said the proposed committee would also craft measures on how to fast-track the implementation of key infrastructure projects.

“We will let [Tarlac First District] Rep. [Carlos] Cojuangco to head this committee that will not only criticize but also propose strategies to fast-track projects. This will also allow Congress to propose as an institution other flagship [projects],” he said.

“I am confident of the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. The problem is that you cannot build overnight, but this year, next year and in the last year of the Duterte administration in 2022, we will see its results,” Cayetano added.

Infra issues

PANELO told reporters in a press briefing in Malacañang on Thursday that right-of-way issues tend to delay the implementation of infrastructure projects. “[Home] owners are not allowing it and others even go to the extent of filing a temporary restraining order. If there are special powers, work will be much faster,” he said.

In filing House Bill 5456, or the Flagship Emergency Act of 2019, Salceda said his proposal seeks to complete these projects on or before 2022.

According to the lawmaker, the Build, Build, Build program has to be supported with special powers to fast-track the implementation, as this would cut poverty to 14 percent by 2022 and enable the government to achieve inclusive growth.

Although he describes the infrastructure program of the Duterte administration as a work in progress, Salceda said this could be faster by easing procurement, rigidities and empowering right-of-way.

The bill declares the existence of national importance for the immediate implementation of the flagship projects of the President.

It also designates the chairman of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) as flagship manager and authorizes special modes of procurement, while installing safeguards through the implementation of the Executive Order on Freedom of Information and creation of a Congressional Oversight Committee.

The measure indicated that the initial amount necessary to carry out the infrastructure program will be sourced from the budget of the concerned agencies and from national government savings.

The bill calls for the creation of a Congressional Oversight Committee, tasked with monitoring implementation of this act an exercise of the authority granted.

The Duterte administration has decided to revise its initial list of flagship projects and increased the number of projects to 100 from 75.

Of the 100 flagship projects, there are now 26 which will be implemented through various public-private partnership schemes.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas & Bernadette D. Nicolas

grams that will be gifted with almost a 100-percent budget increase.”

He lamented that budgets for health, the Philippine General Hospital and college scholarships are “like trees being cut by chainsaws. But the one for NGP has assumed the status of a protected species.”

In a news statement issued on Thursday, Recto reminded that before the Senate votes to approve the 2020 budget bill, “some throwback is needed.”

“From 2011 to 2019, NGP’s total budget is P38.9 billion.

I think I shall never see a project as large as the one to plant

lovely trees,” the Senate president pro tempore said.

He pointed out that “out of this money, the NGP should have planted 1.807 billion trees in 2.141 million hectares of land over the past nine years, ending this December.”

“Since 2019 is not yet over, let us just look at the planting scoreboard from 2011 to 2018: 1.669 billion of trees planted in 1.998 million hectares of land,” the senator added, noting that the 1.998 million, or 2 million hectares of land reforested represents 1 in 15 hectares of the total land area of the country.

“Two million hectares is 32 times Metro Manila’s land area. Two million hectares is also four times the size of Cebu island. If NGP is to be believed, ganito na kalawak ang tinamnan nila ng puno,” he said. After counting the number of trees planted, Recto recommended that the DENR should now “show the forest” to taxpayers.

“The carpet of green from sea to shining sea. Ilabas na ang NGP map. The proof of the planting is in the photos. Ipakita sa aerial maps, before and after photos, ang resulta ng isang P38.9-billion project,” the senator suggested.” Butch Fernandez

A6 Friday, November 15, 2019

Hong Kong endures more transit disruptions, campus violence

H

ONG KONG—Hong Kong residents endured a fourth day of traffic snarls and mass transit disruptions Thursday as protesters closed some main roads and rail networks, while police skirmished with militant students at major universities.

Police said protesters shot several arrows at them near Hong Kong Polytechnic University. None of the officers were injured, and six arrows were seized at the scene, police said.

Life in this city of 7.5 million has been strained as thousands of commuters have been unable to get to work or endured lengthy commutes.

The government appealed for employers to show flexibility. “For staff who cannot report for duty on time on account of conditions in road traffic or public transport services, employers should give due consideration to the circumstances,” a statement said.

The Education Bureau extended the suspension of classes for kindergarten to high-school students until Monday. It ordered schools to remain open, though, to handle children whose parents need to send them to school.

At Polytechnic University, protesters shot an arrow at officers patrolling nearby, then threw flower pots from a height when other officers arrived. Police responded with tear gas, and protesters fired more arrows.

Protesters have hurled gasoline bombs and

thrown objects off bridges onto roads below during clashes at campuses this week. The Chinese University of Hong Kong suspended classes for the rest of the year, and others asked students to switch to online learning.

Students at Chinese University, site of some of the fiercest clashes where students hurled more than 400 firebombs at police on Tuesday, have barricaded themselves in the suburban campus.

Early Thursday they used chainsaws to drop trees onto streets around the campus and prepared for a possible confrontation with police, which were not intervening.

Anti-government protests have riven Hong Kong, and divided its people, for more than five months.

A major rail line connecting Kowloon to mainland China was closed for a second day and

A PROTESTER tries to remove plastic items from a fire burning amid debris placed to block a road leading to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong on Thursday, November 14, 2019. University students from mainland China and Taiwan are fleeing Hong Kong, while those from three Scandinavian countries have been moved or urged to leave as college campuses become the latest battleground in the city’s five-monthlong anti-government unrest.

AP PHOTO/NG HAN GUAN

five major underground stations were shut along with seven light rail routes, the Transport Department announced.

“Road-based transport services have been seriously affected this morning due to continued road blockages and damage to road facilities. In view of safety concerns and uncer ta in road cond it ions, buses can only provide limited services,” the department said.

Traffic was also disrupted

EU’s eastern members succumb to chills afflicting global economy

T

HE European Union’s eastern members are succumbing to the slowdown gripping the global economy.

The region, in focus on the anniversary of communism’s collapse for its rapid development over the past three decades, has held up well as key export destination. But the nearby weakness is spreading.

Third-quarter growth eased more than analysts predicted in Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, though Hungary’s expansion inched up to 5 percent.

A report this month by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development cited a softer economic outlook globally, USChinese trade tensions and a contraction in world automobile production as reasons eastern European nations will lose pace.

The region’s “most significant trading partners are facing cooling economic trends that might spill over to our economies,” said Fabris Perusko, chief executive officer of Fortenova Grupa d.d., a retail, food production and agriculture conglomerate based in Croatia.

So far, consumers have stepped in to offset waning demand abroad. Preelection spending in Poland, plus tax cuts and minimum-wage hikes in Romania, have helped.

Central banks in the region have been more concerned with handling the resulting inflation than mimicking the dovish turn in the world’s major economies.

But that’s changing. Benchmark interest rates are now on hold across most of the region and Poland is more inclined to cut than raise. Meanwhile, labor shortages have worsened—boosting wages in the short term but threatening to crimp expansion further down the line.

Citing deteriorating economic conditions globally, Germany’s Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH recently shelved the con-

struction of a plant to manufacture washing machines in western Romania.

The company, which invested €120 million ($130 million) in the country in 2018, said by e-mail that it “considers it can satisfy current demand with existing production capacity and doesn’t see the need for new production capacities in Europe.”

In Romania itself, Bosch “expects moderate growth in all sectors of activity” this year.

Optimists point to a potential trade truce between Wash-

ington and Beijing, and the fact Germany avoided a recession. They say eastern Europe’s latest gross domestic product numbers—while slower—are nevertheless solid.

But manufacturing remains in the doldrums in the Czech Republic and Poland, where the monthly index hit its lowest level in at least three years last month. London-based Capital Economics warns that economic “growth will slow more sharply than most expect next year.”

Bloomberg News

because protesters have destroyed at least 240 traffic lights around the city.

The movement began in June over a now-withdrawn extradition bill. Activists saw it as another sign of an erosion in Hong

Kong’s autonomy and freedoms, which China promised would be maintained for 50 years under a “one nation, two systems” principle when the former British colony returned to Chinese control in 1997. AP

The W

Business U.S., TURKEY REMAIN DIVIDED ON AIR DEFENSE

W

ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump says he and Turkish President Recep Tay yip Erdogan are “very good friends,” but their meeting on Wednesday at the White House failed to resolve an issue that has badly strained relations between the two Nato allies.

Trump and Erdogan concluded a visit without achieving an agreement on Turkey’s decision earlier this year to accept delivery of a Russian air defense system. It poses such a threat to Nato security that the US suspended Turkish participation in the multinational F-35 fighter jet program.

Turkey has also come under fire on Capitol Hill for its incursion into Syria last month to attack the Kurdish forces that fought with the US against the Islamic State.

And Turkey has been criticized for repression of political opponents, journalists and others.

Turkey’s president says his country was “hurt deeply’’ by a House resolution that recognized the century-old mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide.

The move was a clear rebuke to Turkey in the wake of its invasion of northern Syria.

Erdogan says at a White House news conference that the Housepassed measure has the potential to cast a “deep shadow over our bilateral relations.”

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed around World War I, and many scholars see it as the 20th century’s first genocide. Turkey disputes the description.

Erdogan says decision-makers about an event 104 years ago should be historians, not politicians.

Trump says Turkey’s purchase of Russian air defense system creates “serious challenges,” but he says he hopes they can be resolved.

Nato-member Turkey angered the US when it bought the S-400 system. The US says the S-400 poses a threat to Nato and US aircraft. The Trump administration responded by kicking Turkey out of the program to help build the F-35 fighter jet.

Trump says he talked about the issue on Wednesday with Erdogan and asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other advisers to work to resolve the problem.

Trump also says he wants to seal a two-way trade agreement with Turkey to increase trade with Turkey to as much as $1 billion. AP

Chinese citizen pleads guilty to theft of trade secrets

T

ULSA, Oklahoma —Federal prosecutors say a Chinese national employed by a US petroleum company has pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing trade secrets from his employer.

Authorities say 35-year-old Hongjin Tan pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Tulsa to theft of a trade secret, unauthorized transmission of a trade secret and unauthorized possession of a trade secret.

A plea agreement calls for Tan to serve up to two years in prison and pay restitution of $150,000.

Tan’s attorney, Ryan Ray, hasn’t returned a telephone message seeking comment.

Court documents indicate Tan worked for Phillips 66 when he stole secrets related to the development of “next generation battery technologies” worth more than $1 billion.

Sentencing is set for February 2020. AP

World

sMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

A7

German economy grows 0.1% in Q3, staving off recession

B

ERLIN—Germany’s gross domestic product returned to modest growth in the third quarter, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Thursday, staving off a widely feared recession in Europe’s largest economy.

The Wiesbaden-based agency said the economy grew 0.1 percent in the July-to-September period over the previous quarter, largely driven by public and private consumption. Exports rose as well, while imports remained roughly at the second quarter level, the agency reported.

It said, however, that the second quarter contraction was greater than preliminary figures had shown, with the economy shrinking in the April-to-June period by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.1 percent originally reported.

Two straight quarters of declining output is considered a technical recession, which many econo-

mists had predicted that Germany had entered in the third quarter.

A week ago, the German government’s independent panel of economic advisers reported that a 0.1-percent third-quarter contraction was likely.

Though they said there were no signs of a “broad, deep recession,” the panel also said there was no sign of a “strong revival” in the fourth quarter. The fivemember panel cut its economic forecast to growth of 0.5 percent this year and 0.9 percent in 2020, compared with its forecast in March of 0.8 percent this year and 1.7 percent next year.

And even though the recession has been averted, the numbers

show Germany is in a de facto stagnation, and its export-driven economy still faces headwinds due to international uncertainty.

Services companies and the jobs market have held up well in Germany, but the industrial sector, led by automobiles and factory machinery, has seen declines amid trade tensions.

Among other things, the dispute between US President Donald J. Trump and the Chinese leadership over China’s trade surplus with the US has dampened trade and industrial output by raising uncertainty about whether and where more tariffs might be imposed. Another negative is uncertainty about the date and terms of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

In their report, the government economists cautioned that a no-deal Brexit could yet chop 0.3 percentage points off next year’s German growth, reducing it to 0.6 percent.

Britain is currently scheduled to leave the European Union by the end of January, but whether, how and when it leaves will depend on the outcome of an election next month. AP

Powell sees steady growth, signals pause in rate cuts

W

ASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the Fed is likely to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate unchanged in the coming months, unless the economy shows signs of worsening.

But for now, in testimony before a congressional panel, Powell expressed optimism about the US economy and said he expects it will grow at a solid pace, though it still faces risks from slower growth overseas and trade tensions.

“Looking ahead, my colleagues and I see a sustained expansion of economic activity, a strong labor market, and inflation near our symmetric 2 percent objective as most likely,” Powell said before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

Fed policy-makers are unlikely to cut rates, Powell said, unless the economy slows enough to cause them to make a “material reassessment” of their outlook.

The Fed cut short-term rates last month for the third time this year, to a range of 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent.

“It now looks increasingly likely that the Fed will move to the sidelines for an extended period,” said Andrew Hunter, an economist at Capital Economics, a forecasting firm.

Still, when asked if he expected rates to remain unchanged over the next year, Powell said, “I wouldn’t say that at all.”

Powell’s testimony comes a day after President Donald J. Trump took credit for an “economic boom” and attacked the Fed for not cutting interest rates further. Powell and other Fed officials, however, argue that their rate cuts, by lowering borrowing costs on mortgages and other loans, have spurred home sales and boosted the economy.

Powell was asked about negative interest rates, which Trump also called for on Tuesday, and responded that they “would certainly not be appropriate in the current environment.”

Negative rates occur “at times when growth is quite low, and inflation is quite low, and you really don’t see that here,” Powell said.

Other Fed officials have also questioned whether cutting rates below zero has actually succeeded in boosting growth in places like Europe and Japan, where central banks have pushed rates into negative territory.

FEDERAL Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell testifies on the economic outlook, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, November 13, 2019. AP PHOTO/JOSE LUIS MAGANA

Despite Trump’s attacks, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers took a largely respectful approach to Powell. Several complimented him for the “Fed Listens” events the central bank has held around the countr y, which have sought input from a range of groups, including unions and nonprofits, on ways the Fed could update its monetary policy framework.

Powell repeatedly demurred when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pressed him on how higher tax rates would affect the economy, including wealth taxes that have been proposed by Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

But Powell did concede, under questioning from Cruz, that a ban on fracking would “not be a good thing for the economy.”

Some Democrats have called for a fracking ban over environmental concerns about the controversial method for drilling for oil and gas.

Recent data suggests that growth remains solid if not spectacular. The economy expanded at a 1.9-percent annual rate in the July to September quarter, down from 3.1 percent in the first three months of the year. The unemployment rate is near a 50-year low of 3.6 percent and hiring is strong enough to potentially push the rate even lower.

Inflation, according to the Fed’s preferred gauge, is just 1.3 percent, though it has been held down in recent months by lower energy costs and most Fed officials expect it to move higher in the coming months.

Yet Powell reiterated that high-

er tariffs from the Trump administration’s trade war with China and uncertainty over potential future duties have caused many businesses to delay or cut back on their spending on large equipment and buildings. That has slowed economic growth.

Powell also urged Congress to lower the federal budget deficit so that lawmakers would have more flexibility to cut taxes or boost spending to counter a future recession.

Other Fed officials have voiced similar concerns. Patrick Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said Tuesday that the large deficit, and the constraints it imposes on Congress in the event of a recession, “is one of the things I do lose sleep over.”

Powell also noted that with the Fed’s benchmark rate at historically low levels, the central bank is considering whether it needs new tools to help boost growth whenever the next downturn arrives.

“Central bank s around the world are going to have less room to cut in this new normal of low rates and low inflation,” he said.

The Fed is exploring an alternative policy framework, Powell said, that it hopes will provide more flexibility. In typical recessions, the Fed cuts short-term rates by roughly 5 percentage points.

Powell reiterated that the Fed believes the unemployment rate could fall further without necessarily pushing inflation higher, a view that suggests the central bank is a long way off from hiking rates.

“The data is not sending any signal that the labor market is so hot or that inflation is moving up,” he said in response to a question from New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat and vice chair manof the Joint Economic Committee. “What we have learned...is that the US economy can operate at a much lower level of unemployment than many thought.”

Historically, super-low unemployment has been seen as likely to push up inflation, as workers push for higher pay and companies offer greater salaries to find and keep workers.

Most analysts forecast that the Fed will hold rates steady when it meets next month. But some economists expect growth will slow in the coming months and the Fed will likely have to cut again next year. AP

Economy in mind, Bolsonaro cozies up to Xi

B

RASILIA, Brazil—What a difference a year makes.

In the months before last year’s presidential election in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro described China as predatory and thumbed his nose at the Chinese government by visiting Taiwan, Beijing’s archrival.

Now, as a more pragmatic president, Bolsonaro welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to an international summit that begins on Wednesday in Brasilia, the capital.

The first item on the agenda for Bolsonaro, a far-right leader who has sometimes tried to hang the communist label on his political rivals in Brazil, is a bilateral meeting with Xi. He received Xi at the foreign relations ministry with smiles and handshakes, and the two signed a handful of memoranda. It’s a sign of how Bolsonaro views China as critical to his ambitions to rejuvenate Brazil’s sluggish economy.

“China is an ever greater part of Brazil’s future,” Bolsonaro said in speech after the two leaders met, adding his government will devote due care, respect and consideration to China.

Gone is last year’s fiery campaign trail rhetoric about China being a rapacious power intent on exploiting Brazilian resources.

China is, after all, Brazil’s biggest trading partner.

As China expanded rapidly in the 2000s, eventually becoming the world’s second-largest economy, it relied on commodities from producers. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, shipped soybeans, iron ore and crude to satisfy China’s expanding appetite. Those three products account for more than 80 percent of Brazil’s exports to China.

Bolsonaro said his government wants to diversify exports to China, and welcomed a signal from China’s government that it wants to help Brazil add value to output.

Xi’s visit for a meeting of leaders of

the BRICS emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—is his first to Brazil since 2014.

But his relationship with Bolsonaro already has been blossoming.

Just last month, Bolsonaro traveled to Beijing for economic and other accords, including the exemption of Chinese nationals from Brazil visa requirements. Xi received him at his car and they walked side-by-side on a long, red carpet.

“Bolsonaro discovered how important China is to Brazil and that he can do business with China. And he’s more or less happy with that,” said Maurício Santoro, professor of international relations at Rio de Janeiro’s state university.

Before he became president, Bolsonaro praised the US and President Donald Trump. He often said China can buy from Brazil, but not buy Brazil itself—rhetoric that continued for a while after he took office January 1.

The hostile remarks didn’t last, though. Brazil is dependent on foreign investment, especially from China.

Confirmed Chinese investments in Brazil between 2007 and 2018 totaled almost $60 billion, more than any other Latin American country, according to the Brazil-China Business Council, a Brazilian research center.

Investments faltered in 2018 ahead of Brazil’s election, part of a broader decline stemming from investor caution.

After Bolsonaro won the presidency, he took his first trip abroad to the US, then in the midst of a growing trade dispute with China. But Brazil didn’t get caught in the middle.

“Brazil has all the reasons to work with both countries and not pick sides,” said Pepe Zhang, associate China director at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. “So far, it’s doing a good job.”

In August, amid Western criticism of Brazil’s handling of fires raging in the Amazon, China defended Brazil’s sovereignty over the region. Bolsonaro on

Wednesday described China’s support as “a grand gesture that strengthened us a lot.”

Xi said China intends to increase trade and investment, and will eye opportunities for cooperation in areas including agriculture, electricity, oil and infrastructure.

“With even greater trust, we are going to work together to guarantee China and Brazil’s friendship advances in the right direction, overcomes all difficulties and arrives with firm steps to a brighter future,” Xi said.

As Brazil-Chinese diplomacy advances, there are delicate issues to navigate.

The US, for example, is pressuring the Brazilian government to exclude Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its auction next year to provide a 5G network.

The US State Department says that Huawei poses cyber-security risks and that it will review the way it shares intelligence about Venezuela with Brazil if Huawei is allowed to provide 5G service.

The US and Brazil consider Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to be illegitimate and want him to resign.

China, eager for repayment of the billions of dollars in oil-backed loans it extended to Maduro’s socialist administration, continues to support his regime.

Bolsonaro knows he won’t find common ground with Xi on Venezuela when they meet, and will likely focus on luring more Chinese investment and trade, said Santoro, the international relations professor.

Bolsonaro, a fringe lawmaker until his campaign, earned the nickname “Trump of the Tropics” for his rejection of politically correct discourse, and many of his supporters came to see him as a crusader willing to impose morality on a political system rife with corruption and a society suffering from violent crime. AP

Agriculture/Commodities

A8 Friday, November 15, 2019 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DA issues tougher rice import guidelines

T

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a memorandum order (MO) requiring traders to ensure that their rice consignments will arrive within a prescribed period of time.

The DA issued MO 28 dated November 11, which provided supplementary provisions for rice imports to ensure that these are safe for consumption and free from pests.

The MO strengthened the current registration procedures for importers of rice and also prescribed

a validity period for sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance (SPS-IC) issued to eligible traders.

It effectively amended pertinent orders and guidelines issued by the DA related to the importation of rice.

“There is a need to strengthen registration procedure for importers

planting materials and plant products, and specify the validity of the sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance, to safeguard from entry, establishment and spread of exotic plant pests and comply with food safety requirements,” the DA said in the MO, which was released to the media on Wednesday.

The MO clarified certain provisions of Republic Act 11203, or the rice trade liberalization law, pertaining to the deadline on the arrival of imported rice in the country.

“The actual product/consignment must be shipped out from the country of origin within the prescribed date in the approved SPS-IC and must arrive not later than 60 days from the ‘must ship out date,’” the order read.

The MO outlined the requirements needed for first time

registration and renewal of rice importers. It also stipulated the requirements to prove that importers can store imported rice.

Importers are required to submit notarized application form with picture of the owner, mayors’ permit or business permit, proof of business establishment, proof of existence and authority to use storage or warehouse, updated and current registration with the Bureau of Customs, annual income-tax return with audited financial statement of the importer for the last three years.

The DA issued the guidelines eight months after RA 11203, which eased the restrictions on importing rice, took effect.

According to government data, some 2.99 million metric tons (MMT) of imported rice have arrived in the Philippines in October. The

DA said imports could exceed this volume as there are still a number of SPS-ICs issued by the government that have not been used.

The United States Department of Agriculture has earlier projected that the Philippines’s rice imports this year will reach 3 MMT. The anticipated volume is bigger than the 2.5 MMT projected for China this year.

Planters have been urging the government to roll out safeguard measures that will cushion the impact of the surge in imports, which

has pulled down the farm-gate price of the staple in recent months.

However, the DA was forced to abandon the plan after the National Economic and Development Authority warned that slapping safeguard duties on rice would increase the price of the staple and accelerate inflation.

T h e c o u n t r y ’s e c o n o m i c managers have attributed the slowdown in inflation in recent months to the rice trade liberalization law, saying this helped cut the retail price of the staple.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, November 15, 2019 A9

Etiqa expands ASEAN footprint in PH through humanizing insurance

INSURANCE commissioner delivering his speech

T

By Edwin P. Sallan

HE company that formerly operated as AsianLife and General Assurance Corporation for over 40 years has changed its logo and identity and rebranded itself as Etiqa Philippines in alignment with its Malaysian parent company and to reflect the vision of “making the world a better place” along with its commitment to “humanize insurance” in the country.

In his speech at the grand launch of Etiqa Philippines that took place last November 5 at the Shangri-La at The Fort in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Etiqa Group Chief Executive Officer Kamaludin Bin Ahmad explained the journey of transformation that AsianLife has undergone is not so much a change of direction, but more an evolution to become an even better company to meet the market’s changing needs. As the new and rebranded Etiqa Philippines, he is confident that the company will be more than capable of meeting whatever challenges the future holds.

Despite the steady and continuous growth of the Philippine insurance market

CSR MISSION

in recent years, insurance penetration within the population remains low at 1.76% as of 2018. Etiqa believes this presents an opportunity to bring new and innovative products to the local market while improving the customer experience for their existing customers. With this clear and inspired purpose in mind, Etiqa hopes to serve as a prime mover to help grow the entire industry, he added.

“Etiqa Philippines adheres to the brand manifesto of humanizing insurance, as it is our commitment to look at the human side of insurance, to go the extra mile for our clients and people, to go over and beyond the usual and excel in what we do,” Rico Bautista,

(FROM Left) Group CEO of Etiqa Insurance and Takaful, Mr. Kamaludin Ahmad, PCEO of Etiqa Philippines, Mr. Rico T. Bautista, Chairman of Etiqa International Holdings, Datuk R. Karunakaran, Senior Advisor of Etiqa Philippines, Mr. Manuel N. Tordesillas, The Ambassador of Malaysia to the Republic of the Philippines, His Excellency Norman Muhamad.

President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Etiqa Life & General Assurance Philippines, Inc., said at the launch.

“We offer a complete range of life and non-life insurance products like group medical insurance, group life insurance, protection insurance, variable insurance, education products, auto insurance, travel insurance, property insurance, and so much more. In all of these, we can provide fast and easy assistance to Filipino families. We want to make sure that our customers and their future generations are able to live a better life because of what we offer,” he added.

Humanizing insurance

AS part of its rebranding and promise to “Humanize Insurance”, Etiqa will be launching policies to cover critical illnesses starting next year. This policy provides protection benefits against any of the covered critical illnesses such as cancer,

heart disease, kidney failure and may also include menta l illnesses like bipolar affective disorder, as well as other major depressive disorders.

As part of its thrust to enhance its digital footprint, Etiqa has recently launched its new website with e-commerce facilities for some of its retail products, and will launch its mobile app, Etiqa Smile PH which will allow their clients to access their coverage details, go cardless when they go to their health providers, request for letter of guarantee (LOG), and monitor their benefits and availments via the mobile app.

“In order to be competitive in the market, we will focus on improving our service to our clients, provide the best advice to customers, drive technology to improve efficiency in customer service turn-around time, and enhance the delivery of our products and services for both external and internal stakeholders,” Etiqa Insurance

and Takaful Malaysia Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Eng Poh Yoon said in an earlier report.

CSR initiatives

JUST a month before its official launch, Etiqa Philippines shared the “Gift of Smile” to the faces of recovering children with cleft lip and palate impairment. In partnership with the Craniofacial Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. (CFFP), Etiqa Philippines sponsored cleft lip and palate corrective surgeries for children last October 17 at the Craniofacial Center in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The project, dubbed as “Sharing the Gift of Smile” is the first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative under the Etiqa brand in the Philippines.

“While we are very mindful that we need to grow our profitability as a company, we believe it is in our DNA to give back to the community. That’s why we have chosen CFFP as our partner in giving back

to the community as it is an organization that will physically uplift the lives of people by providing surgeries to children who have cleft palate and lip,” Bautista pointed out.

A related CSR mission of the company was a Speech Therapy camp that took place last October 19 at the Craniofacial Center in Sta. Mesa. The camp, which brought Etiqa employees, speech therapist volunteers, and the recovering patients and their parents together, aimed to help cleft palate patients to produce speech sounds clearly after they have healed and recovered from surgery.

During the company’s grand launch event dubbed as “Thousand Miles for Million Smiles,” a video documenting the success of Etiqa Philippines’ Sharing the Gift of Smile CSR initiative was witnessed by attendees that included government regulators, market leaders, corporate clients, business stakeholders, and the media.

A10 Friday, November 15, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Is HK’s problem going to be our problem?

T

HE protests and accompanying violence on both sides escalated again this past week in Hong Kong. The protests started in March but gained momentum in June, when an estimated 1 million Hong Kong citizens went to the streets. This, not unlike the “Yellow Vest” protests that have continued in France for nearly a year.

Once the “mob” has been let out, these situations tend to take on a life of their own regardless of the issues involved. Further, it is almost inevitable that violent incidents increase. The endgame is fairly predictable. Either the government capitulates to the protestors, as what happened in France, or the government moves in with force as what happened in Thailand.

In the case of Hong Kong, it is unlikely that the Beijing government will give in to the protestors’ demands. It is also unlikely—at this point—that the national government would use its military force to stop the uprising. The international ramifications would be too great.

It appears that Beijing is intent on letting things play out maybe with the hope that the protestors “burn their own house” and local public opinion turns in Beijing’s favor. Either way, both sides are in a dangerous game. The Hong Kong economy is crashing.

Economic activity contracted by 3.2 percent in the quarter ending in September as exports dropped, consumer spending collapsed, and tourists are staying away.

The latest number for August shows a 40-percent decrease in tourism, and September is probably going to be worse. The number of tour groups from the mainland—which usually account for almost 80 percent of arrivals—plummeted 63-percent year-on-year in August, and fell 90 percent in the first 10 days of September.

While there are those here in the Philippines that are supporting either the national government or the protestors, there may be direct implications for the Philippines that we should start thinking about. No one knows where this is going.

Hong Kong has been a major economic gateway to China for decades and the Philippines’s participation is substantial. In 2018, Philippine exports to Hong Kong reached $9.6 billion, 76 percent of which was electronics and electrical equipment. About 15 percent of our total goods exports go to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a top tourist destination for Filipinos. However, Hong Kong does send some tourists to our shores. Hong Kong is not on the top 10 list of countries to send tourists to the Philippines.

However, in 2018, some 118,000 tourists from Hong Kong did visit. This year that number has fallen to 60,000 as of September.

More critical are the Filipino workers in Hong Kong, numbering about 140,000. There are two concerns. The first is obviously what happens if the Beijing government intervenes militarily, declaring martial law or some other use of force. The second is the impact on these overseas workers if the Hong Kong economy continues to crater. We need to start thinking about a “Plan B” and not simply cheer for one Chinese team, or the other.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez

Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso

Online Editor

Ruben M. Cruz Jr.

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news@businessmirror.com.ph.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Printed by BROWN MADONNA Press, Inc.–Sun Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila MEMBER OF

Sonny M. Angara

BETTER DAYS

A

BRAND is a promise—an emotional and psychological connection that businesses and organizations make to assure a good experience with the products or services under their name and imagery. But while all forms of bells and whistles can be hoisted, what’s essential is that a brand should—no, must— deliver on the promises it makes.

That is one of the major challenges we face as we pursue our “Tatak Pinoy [Made in the Philippines]” initiative, as suggested in the Proposed Senate Resolution 4, which we filed. It is not only about the formulation and sustained implementation of a “highminded” policy. It is also about creating a demand for Filipino products here and abroad, and ensuring that these products have been improved, and on par with global standards.

Tatak Pinoy, then, will uplift not only the Filipinos who are in need, but it is also about following through on a promise to the world that, yes, Filipino products are world-class.

As chair of the Senate Finance Committee, we sponsored this week the Senate’s version of the 2020 national budget. And we’ve ensured that funding is available for various government programs aimed to improve Filipino products and businesses.

One is the Shared Service Facilities program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Aimed primarily at government entities, such as local government units and schools, and private entities, such as nongovernment organizations and cooperatives, the SSF program provides an MSME access to machinery, skill-building, or government resources that may help them produce more and achieve the next level of market distribution.

For example, the San Fabian Pangasinan Council of Women’s Multipurpose Cooperative was provided with new equipment to help with food processing. With these, they were able to properly package and store boneless bangus and bangus sardines, earning them an award for the Best Otop (One Town, One Product) award a few years ago.

In Tubigon, Bohol, the Tubigon Loomweavers Multi-Purpose

Cooperative was given support in the form of a budget for a production center and showroom, and machines that would help in their production of habi, a type of cloth with traditional weave patterns. From 30 members who each earned P200 to P300 every few days, they now have 150 members who earn P8,000 to P15,000 monthly, individually. As of August 31, 2019, some 2,495 SSFs have been established across the country, with Regions 1, 2 and 3 having the most programs. Through the 2020 budget, we hope more of these SSFs will take root and bloom throughout the country.

Innovation is needed, too, to boost the value-added proposition of our Tatak Pinoy efforts. We need to build up our knowhow, not only in research and development, but also in how we can bring new innovations and technologies quickly into the market.

One excellent example of this is another SSF program, the University of the Philippines’s Start-up Innovation and Business Opportunities Linkages Fabrication Laboratory. The UPLB Fab Lab’s vision is to enable MSMEs to increase productivity and competitiveness through technology and equipment.

The Fab Lab is expected to create efficient workflow solutions, and be a magnet for research, development, and training in new technology for MSMEs and local entrepreneurs.

This Fab Lab is in line with the idea of the DTI’s regional inclusive innovation centers, where government,

Affirmation on saving lives

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Senior Editors

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Building a brand of success: The challenge of ‘Tatak Pinoy’

Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

B

ROTHERS and sisters, Vice President Leni Robredo received a newfound duty when she was appointed by President Duterte as cochair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs. In accepting her new responsibility, Leni said the most important consideration for her to accept the post as drug czar is to “stop the killings of innocent people and hold those people responsible accountable.”

The perspective many of our leaders share in regards to the system of eradicating our problem on illegal drugs is different from Leni’s. Her goal is clear—to save lives.

Our Vice President thinks that saving lives can be accomplished in two ways. First, she said “the biggest consideration is simple: if this is the opportunity to stop the killing of innocents and hold those responsible to account, I shall bear with it.”

In over three years since the campaign against drugs started,

many of us became heavily worried and sorrowed from the many cases of killings of those who are said to have “retaliated,” even among the youth, and are not given proper justice. According to the latest record of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA, not less than 5,500 people accused of using or selling illegal drugs have been slain during police operations since July 2016, until the end of June this year. It is a great challenge to hold members of the police accountable for their

abuse of power in these killings.

In claiming justice for the victims of this form of cruelty, the ongoing abuse against civilians will be stopped. In order to fulfill this, the Vice President must also be given the authority and power to investigate these cases, even if the victims have already passed away. The call for justice is strong, and it is the only thing that will save many from becoming victims of killings in the operations against drugs.

Second, Leni also said before that the issue of addiction to illegal drugs must be treated as a health problem.

Therefore, drug dependents should be medically treated and helped to be able to avoid using destructive drugs. If this is the way of the government in fighting against illegal drugs, Leni must be given support by agencies concerned to promote health and develope livelihoods— like the Department of Health, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment, and Department of Trade and Industry.

We know the role of poverty in the issue of illegal drugs, which is why the majority of the thousands killed

industry and the academe can collaborate and innovate.

Another facet that we should fully implement is the Ease of Doing Business law (RA 11032), whose passage was shepherded in the Senate by Majority Floor Leader Sen. Migz Zubiri.

The law calls for streamlined procedures and shorter processing times for government transactions, automatic approval if a request is delayed beyond the prescribed time, and the creation of the Anti-Red Tape Authority, among others. To this end, we have augmented the funds for the Arta in the Senate’s proposed 2020 budget, so that streamlining can proceed apace.

From all of this, it should be obvious that we have many Filipinos who need the support of the government to achieve the goal of being part of the Tatak Pinoy program. This is why we need to open avenues of communication, to talk about what can be done, so that we can move forward. To create worldclass products, we need to take Philippine knowhow to the next step with the right equipment and training. Once we do, then we not only create a successful global brand for ourselves, but we also create a true source of Filipino pride, based on our creativity and hard work.

Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service

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

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

in operations against drugs consist of the poor.

This point of view toward the issue of illegal drugs, wherein the goal is to preserve the lives and dignity of people, is in line with the social teaching of the Church. If Jesus is alive today, surely His heart is filled with the will to heal those who have succumbed to illegal drugs, like what is said in the Book of Matthew 15:30, “Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.” Jesus surely mourns with those who have lost their loved ones, those slain in the war against drugs.

Brothers and sisters, life and healing is what Jesus desires for the sick, including those fallen to vices. Hopefully, following Leni’s decision to accept the duties assigned to her, may the culture of life preservation and true concern for the poor continue.

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

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Will Ukraine turn back to Russia? This billionaire thinks so Leonid Bershidsky

BLOOMBERG

W

HEN Igor Kolomoisky says Ukraine should turn away from the West and back toward Russia, the world should listen, even if the Ukrainian billionaire doesn’t call the shots in Kyiv to the extent that many believe he does. Despite the seemingly irreparable damage Russia caused to its relationship with Ukraine by annexing its territory and sustaining a separatist war in its eastern regions, it’s conceivable that Ukraine eventually could return to its old strategy of having Russia and the West compete for its affections.

Kolomoisky, whose TV channel ran Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s comedy shows before the actor and producer became Ukraine’s president this year, gave a scandalous interview to The New York Times. He said that since the West is in no hurry to accept Ukraine as a member of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Ukraine should make peace with Russia and take Russian money instead of International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans. As things stand, he said, the United States is just using Ukraine to wage “war against Russia to the last Ukrainian.”

But Russia is “stronger anyway” and it’s time to mend fences.

Kolomoisky was one of the engineers of Ukraine’s decisive break with Russia in 2014. He funded the volunteer battalions that fought off the early onslaught of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, helping to contain the spread of secession before the longunderfunded regular army was strong enough to be of any use. In the process, he lost his financial business in Russia and gained the Dnipropetrovsk regional governorship in Ukraine, which former President Petro Poroshenko soon took away, seeking to dismantle what he saw as Kolomoisky’s personal army. So what the oligarch is saying now could be seen as a turnabout, except Kolomoisky doesn’t think in such terms: Whatever he says or does, he’s looking out for his business interests first.

Today, these interests consist in getting compensation for the 2016 nationalization of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s biggest lender, which he co-owned and which the Poroshenko government accused him of plundering. Kolomoisky is tied up in complex litigation with nowstate-owned PrivatBank. He and his partner have just been forced to pay 10 million pounds ($12.8 million) to cover Ukraine’s legal expenses in a London court. The billionaire is widely suspected of trying to exploit his longstanding relationship with Zelenskiy to end the conflict in his favor. The president so far has managed to remain above the fray, but he hasn’t heeded calls from the US, European and IMF officials to distance himself clearly from Kolomoisky.

The oligarch has few friends in Washington or the European capitals, and he used the interview to make an implicit threat: If Western officials continue fighting him and supporting the PrivatBank nationalization, he’ll turn Zelenskiy sharply toward Russia.

Whether he can do that is a different matter.

Zelenskiy was elected on the promise of restoring peace to eastern Ukraine, and he’s taken some steps toward that goal by exchanging prisoners with Russia and accepting a key Russian demand concerning the sequence of events that should lead to the return of separatist territories to Ukrainian control. But even that progress ran into the resistance of Ukrainian intellectuals who see it as capitulation—and of the very volunteers Kolomoisky once funded. These combat veterans, armed with weapons they’d brought back from the war, inserted themselves

in areas where Ukraine and the separatists had agreed to pull back their troops as a prelude to “Normandy format” peace talks mediated by France and Germany. Zelenskiy was forced to travel to the area and attempt to persuade them to leave.

Now, the pullback appears to be complete, the area is being cleared of mines and there are no obstacles to the talks. But Zelenskiy is aware by now that compromises with Russia are fraught with the danger of a revolt at home, possibly even an armed one. If he did what Kolomoisky says, Kyiv and much of central and western Ukraine almost certainly would rise against him. That’s not a reasonable price to pay for Kolomoisky’s early support, and today, the billionaire has no obvious leverage on the president.

Voice, a liberal opposition party, recently proposed that Ukraine exit the 2015 Minsk agreements, which serve as the framework for the current peace process, and put off ending the conflict in the east and concentrate on domestic issues until better times. Zelenskiy is probably tempted to try a version of this plan, only without formally exiting the Minsk agreements, which likely would anger Ukraine’s European allies. Zelenskiy has his hands full with an ambitious reform agenda.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian parliament, in which his party has a majority, took the first step toward allowing a market in land, something all of Ukraine’s previous governments failed to do.

Yet, Kolomoisky’s provocative statements shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

Zelenskiy, indeed, isn’t getting much Western support today, apart from technical and military assistance programs that are, let’s face it, useful but not vitally important. The IMF is withholding its more significant support, in part because it fears Zelenskiy might not try hard enough to recoup Privatbank losses from Kolomoisky. French President Emmanuel Macron lately has been talking about a rapprochement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and neither France nor Germany can be expected actively to side with Ukraine in the peace talks because both are eager to be rid of the problem. In the US, ongoing Ukrainegate and impeachment proceedings have, in effect, made Ukraine the actual country both toxic and irrelevant.

Kolomoisky’s point is that, five years after breaking with Russia, Ukraine isn’t a priority project for the West—but it’s still a priority for Putin. Zelenskiy can’t afford, and doesn’t want, to hand his country to the Russian president. But he can quietly open it to more Russian trade and investment, and he can gradually return to the both-sidesagainst-the-middle policy all Ukrainians leaders except Poroshenko tried to pursue after Ukraine became independent. In a way, that’s also the game Alexander Lukashenko, the president of neighboring Belarus, tries to play, turning to the West every time he has a disagreement with Putin and to Putin when he senses he can get something out of him.

Friday, November 15, 2019 A11

The circumnavigation of the world: Once more with feeling Tito Genova Valiente

ANNOTATIONS

W

HY did Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigate the world?

Who cares really. We were not the beneficiary of this accomplishment. It was Spain and, later Europe, that would rake in the privileges of knowing the way to our islands and the resources. Many books have already been written about this, with the article written by George E. Nunn being one of the most comprehensive. In Nunn’s article, written in 1934 for the American Geographical Society, the footnotes go back to the English translations provided by Lord Stanley of Alderley of the Diario o derroterro, or log book in the voyages made by Magellan. There are also the narratives of Portuguese navigator in the ship, Victoria, made in 1519, and many more.

All these documents point to, objectively, an intrepid sailor and explorer in Magellan. For this he should be honored by Spain and/or Portugal and/or Europe. These were the territories who were the recipient of the boon gathered out of that long, arduous travel. The Philippine historians could participate, why not.

And so, to that question about whether we care about Magellan.

I think our institutions do. The Church does and the educational institutions, with the exception of the few, care.

In truth, we care, in an odd caring way. We care too much. We have placed our ethnicities and politics and future in the golden basket of colonization and the miscreant concept of benign colonization. Colonization can never be good. It destroyed our land, and mocked our own cultures.

Colonization can never be removed from evangelization, the arrival of a new faith that was not introduced harmlessly. To evangelize is to be violent against another belief system.

Go back to the reason for the travel of Magellan and discover a powerful Church, a terrorizing Papacy, dividing, for heaven’s sake, the globe into the east and the west of two imperial powers. If you cannot call that naïve, then brand it narcissistic. From that act and other acts in the past came this command to subjugate the Earth, all for the greater glory of a God that hides in His temple the gold.

But we are going to celebrate Him. So, why all the hysteria and protest against a Spanish animation film called Elcano and Magellan?

The animation has already earned the ire of many, including those who have not even seen its contents. There is a growing, gnawing perception that the animation will celebrate colonization. What is wrong with that? We have been doing that for the last 400 years. In our elementary days, we were told that we should be proud that we are the only Christian country in the Far East. No one told us that there was a subtext to that: we are the only colonized country in the Far East.

We do not even question the geographical notion of the Far East, a label that assumes there is a Near East, and Southeast and Middle East. And, it follows, there is the Center from which all these Southeast and Northeast have been determined.

At the core of the complaint against the animation is the depiction of Lapu-Lapu. Judging by the poster, Lapu-Lapu is imagined as this hostile, aggressive warrior. If we are to use Pigafetta’s account, indeed, he seemed to be a man of strong principles. He did not agree with the other rulers in the area, not with Rajah Humabon who acquiesced and, with his wife, converted to Christianity.

The couple, it was written, assumed Christian names.

Read this story to children and tell them about a king who had himself baptized and took the name of Carlos, after the King of Spain, and a queen who became Juana, after King Charles’s mother, and then go to the saga of Lapu-Lapu whose men killed Magellan and you have a clear narrative of villain versus hero, cowboy versus Indians.

The problem of Lapu-Lapu vis-àvis Magellan is the problem of dossier. Many books have been written about Magellan but there, indeed, are few significant materials about Lapu-Lapu. Magellan wins in terms of documentation; Lapu-Lapu loses by default in a history that is silenced.

The problem with this issue of another culture depicting another culture in a bad light is not because of ethnocentricity but also of academic discipline. History is of Western import. History relies on archives, on records that are corresponding to vanquished lands. We, however, speak of heroes. We thrive on orality, on the act of speaking and transforming the speech, the multivocalic, into truths.

Historicity is just another concept borne out of the written. Memory has more potency. To remember is to keep alive events and people.

Take inspiration from the words of Claude Levi-Strauss and his concept of La Pensée Sauvage, or the Savage Mind. The anthropologist is not romanticizing the “primitive;” rather, he is swaying us into embracing the untamed mind as one that goes on

and on to construct realities. That mind gathers the events of the day, the memories of the recent past and the ideation of the near future into a collection of conjectures, an assemblage of arts and artifice, a bundle of contradictions.

For a civilization that points to civilized elements like ours, we cannot rely on the always completed accounts of historians. Documentary evidences are by-products of perspectives and class. Interpretations of records depend on the language and the reading of that language.

Any country struggling to cope with histories that murder heroes in order to prop up a patriot must subsist on the majesty of the ellipses, the barely whispered stories. Any country that does not have its own archives, in its own languages and worldview, should be aware of the erasures that Western-based historical accounts triumphantly have reached. Dominant civilizations will always insist on the destinies of their Christopher Columbus and Magellan, and now Juan Sebastian Elcano. We, who happen to be at the periphery, can use the power of assertion and when there are, for there will always be, moves for the other civilizations to mount negations and destructions, then we can proceed to subversion, imagination and invention. After all, even art, the monument to truth and beauty, was merely invented by histories.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Giving the VP a responsible position in the Cabinet Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

A

PPOINTING the vice president to a Cabinet post is a common practice observed by almost all administrations since the time of President Manuel A. Roxas. In fact, the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that “[T]he Vice President may be appointed as a member of the Cabinet. Such appointment requires no confirmation.”

Despite the fact that the VP is the second-highest official in our government, the position has not been accorded its due importance that even up to now, the VP does not have a permanent official residence or office building. VP Noli de Castro had his office at the PICC and VP Teofisto Guingona held office at the Philippine National Bank Financial Center. VP Jejomar Binay occupied the Coconut Palace, Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex, in Pasay City. VP Leni Robredo officially resides at the Quezon City Reception House in Quezon City.

Unlike in the United States where the President and the VP are voted as a tandem, Filipinos vote for their President and Vice President separately so that the winning highest two officials of the land can come from different parties. Giving the VP a responsible position in the Cabinet is not just a prudent deployment of talent, but an act of statesmanship in the highest order on the part of the president, particularly when they belong to opposing parties.

President Fidel Ramos essayed this when he appointed then-VP Joseph “Erap” Estrada as head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission to effect a more vigorous campaign against criminality. Without doubt, this position, which he relished with great flair with the able support of then-Gen. Panfilo Lacson, had only solidified his hold on the masses who could hardly distinguished Erap’s real life from his superhero roles in the movies. Estrada did the same favor when he named VP Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the Social Welfare secretary. President GMA entrusted the post of Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council to de Castro, which he completed until the end of his term. Initially, President Duterte also appointed Robredo to serve as Chairman of HUDCC, until the two had a falling out early in their terms. Robredo’s precursor in this position earlier was VP Jejomar Binay, who also occupied the same position under President Benigno Aquino III. The only exception to

this honorable practice was the case of VP Diosdado P. Macapagal, an LP, who was denied any Cabinet position

by President Carlos P. Garcia, an NP. Later on, Macapagal claimed that Garcia’s lack of trust worked greatly in his favor because the absence of any cabinet work had enabled him to travel around the country and campaigned for the presidency, which he won four years later.

Presidents who were the partymates of their VPs never had an issue, including the latter in their official family. President Manuel Roxas took VP Elpidio Quirino as his Foreign Affairs secretary, the same position given by President Ramon Magsaysay to VP Carlos Garcia; President Diosdado Macapagal to VP Emmanuel Pelaez; and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to VP Teofisto Guingona. President Cory Aquino installed VP Salvador Laurel as the prime minister, which he briefly held until he was appointed as Cory Aquino’s Foreign Affairs secretary. When VP Fernando Lopez first served as VP to President Elpidio Quirino, Lopez handled the Agriculture portfolio. He also occupied this cabinet position under President Ferdinand Marcos until he was replaced by Secretary Arturo Tanco. nnn

BOTH sides of the political aisle held interesting views on Duterte’s sudden offer of a cabinet position to Robredo after the latter left her post posthaste in his cabinet earlier after allegedly getting cavalier treatment from the administration. In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said that giving her the post as the cochairman of Inter-Agency Committee Against

Anti-Illegal Drugs would give her the opportunity to carry out her plans to stop the drug menace. “This is a ladder for the presidency.” Some supporters of the VP alleged that it is an assignment that is bound to fail, a political booby trap that would only destroy her. For her part, the VP said that her top priority is to stop the unjust killings in the drug war.

She even stressed that some administration officials asked her: “Are you ready to take charge?” To which she replied: “I am, but are you ready for me?” Now that the President had formally offered the position and the VP had accepted, let’s hope that our top 2 leaders can rise above politics and bury personal interests for the good of our country. Now that our top leaders will be working together, solving the drug issue is a great opportunity brilliantly disguised as an insoluble problem. nnn

SPEAKING of the Office of the Vice President, nothing seems more appropriate than the description given to it by John Nance Garner who served as FDR’s vice president in his first term. Garner regretted accepting the draft for VP and in the process giving up his more powerful role as the Speaker of the HOR. Dejectedly, he said: “The vice-presidency is not worth a pitcher of warm spit.” LBJ quoted it later when it was his turn to be offered the VP position by JFK after the former lost the nomination to the latter, but replaced “spit” with “piss,” making the quote more vulgar, which was LBJ’s signature. It is said that he would normally summon his long-time aide and chief of staff, Marvin Watson, for urgent briefing while he was seated in the toilet bowl.

A12 Friday, November 15, 2019

Duterte scraps Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

WO months after firing the head of the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) over allegations of graft and corruption, President Duterte has now abolished the body tasked to clean and transform the Pasig River.

We shall abide by the order immediately and assist the DBM, the DENR and the MMDA in the winding up of the operations, as well as the transfer of functions, obligations, assists and liabilities pursuant to the order.”—PRRC

Duterte signed Executive Order 93 on November 8, directing the disestablishment of the PRRC, citing the “need to consolidate ongoing rehabilitation efforts in all river systems and tributaries within the Manila Bay region,” as

well as to streamline rehabilitation functions.

In signing the new EO, Duterte also repealed EO 54 (Series 1999) signed by former President Joseph Estrada.

See “Pasig River,” A5

DBM releases ₧3.542 trillion of 2019 budget

T

HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P3.542 trillion out of the total P3.662-trillion obligation program, or equivalent to 96.7 percent of the 2019 budget, as of end-October.

In a statement on Thursday, the DBM said the immediate release of funds will “ensure that national government agencies are able to swiftly

implement their programs and projects, such as the construction of new roads, schools and hospitals, and the protection and promotion of the welfare of the poor and marginalized sectors, among others.”

Broken down, allotment releases to the line departments amounted to P2.027 trillion while Special Purpose Funds reached a total of P337.424 billion.

Allotment releases for automatic appropriations increased to P1.075 trillion. Automatic appropriations are those programmed annually or for some other period prescribed by law.

Automatic appropriations comprise 100 percent of the fiscal year 2019 program for the Internal Revenue Allotment of local government units (P575.521 billion),

Pension of Ex-President/Ex-President Widows (P480,000), Special Account in the General Fund (P20.055 billion) Net Lending (P14.5 billion), Interest Payments (P399.571 billion), Tax Expenditures Fund/ Customs Duties and Taxes (P14.5 billion), and Retirement and Life Insurance Premium requirements (P50.775 billion).

See “Budget,” A2

See “DOT,” A2

PHL BOUGHT MORE IMPORTED POULTRY, BEEF IN JAN-SEPT ‘19 D ESPITE the increase in global pork prices, the country’s meat imports managed to rise by over 2 percent in January to September due largely to the double-digit hike in the purchases of imported poultry, government data showed.

Figures from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) indicated that the Philippines’s meat imports during the nine-month period went up by 2.4 percent to 613,102.546 metric tons, from 598,676.082 MT last year.

The nearly 14-percent hike in chicken imports and 19.12-percent expansion in beef imports were able to offset the 8.36-percent drop in pork imports due to higher global prices, BAI data showed.

Pork imports, which accounted for 41.57 percent of total volume, fell to 254,889.809 MT, from last year’s 278,167.271 MT. The country’s imports of all cuts of pork, except for rind/skin used for making chicharon, declined by as much as 30 percent.

Pork cuts imports declined 30 percent to 39,643.942 MT from 56,680.626 MT, while purchases

of pork bellies, used for making ham, fell 12.43 percent to 27,682.081 MT. The Meat Importers and Traders Association (Mita) and the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) attributed the drop in pork imports to higher world prices caused by China’s scramble to plug the shortfall in its supply. China’s domestic hog farms were nearly decimated by the dreaded African swine fever (ASF).

However, the Philippines continued to buy imported poultry as purchases went up by 14 percent to 229,188.304 MT from 201,113.709 MT on the back of higher mechanically deboned meat (MDM) imports.

Chicken MDM imports, which accounted for 67 percent of total meat purchases, grew 8.25 percent to 154,494.081 MT from 142,718.673 MT last year.

Also, purchases of imported chicken cuts (breast, drumsticks and wings) and chicken leg quarters expanded by an annualized rate of 71.82 percent and 8.62 percent, respectively.

See “PHL,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A13

A14 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A15

A16 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A17

A18 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A19

A20 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A21

A22 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A23

A24 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A25

A26 Friday, November 15, 2019

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019 A27

In the ad material of Notice of filing of Application for Alien Employment Permits published on November 8, 2019, the Nationality of Ms. Chang, Yen-Ting under COAST REDWOOD MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS INC. should have been read as Taiwanese and not as published.

While in the ad material published on July 13, 2019, the Company name of Mr. Jo, Mingoo under LUCKSEA CORPORATION should have been read as SKYLUCK CORPORATION located at Unit 243 Shaw Center Mall, Penthouse Shaw I.T Center, #360 Shaw Blvd., Cor. 9 De Pebrero St., Addition Hills, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila and not as published.

If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR

A28 Friday, November 15, 2019

Resorts World Manila extends wellness aid to weightlifters, PAF beyond Run With Me

K

INDNESS indeed has no finish line. With the success of Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) 2019 fun run for charity Run With Me X which raised over Php4 million in proceeds for the benefit of five charity institutions, the integrated resort continues to extend its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts even further this time to various sports communities and the Philippine Air Force (PAF).Through the help of 2016 RWM Lucky Person of the Year awardee and Olympic Silver Medalist Hidilyn Diaz, RWM was able to donate 1,241 Run With Me singlets and 455 hydration bottles to over 14 donee weightlifting gyms all over the country, and to members of the PAF. The move intends to provide athletes and airmen with proper gym apparel and hydration bottles which can help them curb their personal training and fitness costs.

Among the beneficiaries of the Run With Me donations are Bohol Weightlifting Club, Cebu Weightlifting Gym, Hidilyn Diaz Weightlifting Gym, Midsalip Weightlifting

Gym, Quezon Weightlifting Club, Talontalon Weightlifting, Cebu Weightlifting Association, Guiwan Weightlifting, Madayaw Davao Weightlifting, PEP Project Angono Weightlifting, Tagbilaran Weightlifting, University of the East Weightlifting, Magsaysay Weightlifting, and the Philippine Air Force.

Run with Me is RWM’s annual fun run which started as an employee wellness and charity activity which have grown into a full blown fun run for charity attended by thousands. This year, the event awarded cash donations to its selected beneficiaries namely the HERO Foundation, Right Start Community Development, Inc., Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, ERDA Tech Foundation, and EPCALM Adult Leukemia Foundation.

Through the efforts of the Marriott Group and Mr. Ray Gibson, we were also able to extend donations for Save The Children Philippines and the Guam Homeless Coalition respectively.

RWM Director for Corporate Communications Joee Guilas, RWM Chief

Integrated Marketing Officer Martin Paz, 2016 RWM Lucky Person of the Year awardee and Olympic Silver Medalist Hidilyn Diaz, and RWM Assistant Director for Public Relations and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Archie Nicasio hand over Run With Me X training shirts and hydration bottles for the members of various weightlifting teams and members of Philippine Air Force.

Festival Mall promotes earning through Bookabulary

W

ITH the goal to encourage education, community, and values, Festival Mall partners with the Early Childhood Education Division (ECED) and WS Pacific Publications, Inc. to launch “Bookabulary”, a month-long campaign of activities aimed to develop an interest in reading books and to nurture literacy among the youth.

With the theme, “A Festival of Learning,” the event features different activities meant to ignite and stimulate learning through reading, and teach good manners and right conduct from the subjects of these books.

From October 15 to November 14, 2019, participants can engage in storytelling through tomes or arts and crafts, a book sale, and book donations.

In addition, this campaign seeks to strengthen the bond of the community in the south. Book drives are ongoing in all Filinvest Lifemalls and some BPO companies, urging people to donate new and gently used books for the benefit of the Muntinlupa Public Library. This results in more access to different forms of knowledge for the youth.

Furthermore, Bookabulary is

an avenue for ECED to provide a means of education for the children of its members. This government organization is known for projects that provide altruistic services to Muntinlupeño children, such as education, health, and nutrition.

ECED also has a Day Care Service program where children can approach learning through play, especially with Bookabulary.

Robert Espanola Narisma, events and preparations head for ECED, says, “As we cultivate the love of reading at this early stage, we are also investing for their future as a good listener and as a good leader of the society. If we care for our children, we have to invest into the development of one of their fundamental skills, which is reading.”

Festival Mall and its partners seek to continue building on the foundations of what they have started, with the intent to make Bookabulary an annual event; making sure that every child has access to books.

This year’s Bookabulary runs from October 15 to November 14, 2019 at the 2nd Level, Grand Carousel Area, Expansion Building of Festival Mall, Alabang. For more details, visit Festival Mall’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Tourism Queen gives back to clients and charity, crowns 2019 winners

T

HE three winners of the inaugural BPO Tourism Queen 2019 were crowned during the grand finals held at the Tanghalang Pasigueno in Pasig City on October 25. They were: Pia Nepomuceno (Paolo Sacueza Nepomuceno) from TSA Philippines, BPO Tourism Queen 2019; Pia Recto (Jona Recto), 24-7 Intouch PH, BPO Tourism Queen 1st runner Up; and Camila Huavas (Jayem Lentija Huavas), Infocom PH, 2nd runner-up, besting nine candidates who were introduced during the media presentation on September 21 at Astoria Hotel Ortigas.

Recipients of special awards were: Jhana Reyes (Jhana Lobaton Reyes), Inspiro Philippines, Best in National Costume, sponsored by Costa Cruises; and Social Media Star, sponsored by Dstnqt; Pia Nepomuceno (Paolo Sacueza Nepomuceno), Best In Talent, TSA Philippines, sponsored by I Do Nails Prima; Pia Recto, 24-7 Intouch PH, Best In Filipiniana, sponsored by Peri Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar; and Nikie Arevalo, Sterling Global Call Center, Miss Photogenic, sponsored by Cosmetic Buffet Main.

Katherine Portugal, Managing Director of Traevents and Chairman of BPO Tourism Queen, said that the

pageant aims to promote camaraderie among BPO companies and its employees, promote Philippine best tourist destinations and equality in the BPO community.

“Our pageant – BPO Tourism Queen – is produced and organized by Traevents, a Travel Agency duly accredited by the

Department of Tourism and is celebrating its 7th year anniversary.

"The pageant is our way of giving back to our BPO clients who supported and trusted our company," she added.

Part of the proceeds of the pageant will benefit the organizations LoveYourself Inc and Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Inc.

LEFT TO RIGHT: BPO Tourism Queen 1st Runner Up-Queen Pia Rector (24-7 Intounch), BPO Tourism Queen 2019- Queen Pia Nepumoceno (TSA Group) and BPO Tourism Queen 2nd Runner Up - Queen Camila Huavas (Infocom Technologies Inc.)

Araneta City keeps tradition alive with the lighting of Giant Christmas

I

TS an annual tradition during thr merriest holidays of the year that a giant Christmas tree is lighted at the heart of Araneta City (formerly Araneta Center) in Quezon City.

On Friday night, the tree was lit in ceremonies that gathered spectators at the the Times Square Food Park. Araneta matriarch Stella Araneta, actress Anne Curtis Binibining Pilipinas title holders together with representatives from UNICEF and beneficiaries led the ceromonial lighting amid cheers and fireworks.

The crowd, young and old alike, marveled at the 100-foot Christmas tree adorned with 750 pieces of 9-foot pine garlands; diamond ornaments, 250 cascading lights, sputnik and strobe lights, and over 1,500 Christmas balls in silver, gold and teal.

The event served as a platform for the Araneta Group to renew its commitment to give back and help those in need. In partnership with the J. Amado Araneta Foundation, the company pledged support to UNICEF's Alternative Learning System (ALS) for out-of-school youth.

Suzuki Philippines maintains growth in Q3

C

ONSISTENT with its strong performance for the first two quarters of the year, pioneer compact car distributor Suzuki Philippines (SPH) finishes the third quarter with positive growth yet again, enabling the company to post 19 percent sales growth for the first nine months of the year over the same period in 2018.

The continued sales increase is the result of the brand’s strategic marketing efforts, which emphasize numerous promotions and interactive events and are aimed at boosting product visibility. SPH hopes to ride on this strong market and brand momentum to further strengthen its position in the market through the remaining months of 2019.

“Suzuki’s current standing in the Philippine automotive industry is a significant milestone for the brand. After securing the 4th spot in the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the

Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) ranking – the highest rank in the brand’s history – and climbing to the 5th spot in the local automotive industry roster last quarter, we at Suzuki Philippines can definitely say that 2019 has been a monumental year for the brand,” shared SPH Director and General Manager for Automobile Division Keiichi Suzuki.

“These back-to-back achievements further fuel our drive to deliver on the brand’s promise of quality driving experience with every Suzuki vehicle,” he added.

The Ertiga, Swift and Celerio continue to excite and stimulate the market as Suzuki’s best-selling vehicles. The three awardwinning models combined accounted for 56 percent of total sales from January to September this year.

For more information, visit www.suzuki. com.ph.

2019 MullenLowe NOVA to showcase Pinoy artists

T

HE shortlist for the 2019 MullenLowe NOVA Awards Manila, which celebrates the work of the Philippines' most talented artists, has now been announced.

From a shortlist of 10 artists, 6 prizes will be given out: The Grand Prize, two RunnersUp, two Special Prizes from our partners, and the YourNOVA ‘People’s Choice’ Award. The Grand Prize recipient will receive a short-course scholarship supported by leading art, design and performance college, Central Saint Martins, University of Arts in London.

“Bringing the MullenLowe Nova Awards to Manila is our way of giving back to the bigger design and arts community that in a way, allows industries like advertising to thrive with fresh creative talent that challenge the norms”, says Alan Fontanilla, Managing Director of MullenLoweOpen.

The shortlisted entries are as follows: Maco Custodio for Lalapatos, a shoe collection that is all artful, sustainable and wearable; Dex Fernandez for Particles, an art form through the use of silk-screened prints, balloon and resin.

Mj Suayan for The Deconstructed Garden which hovers between a photograph and a painting; Ak Ocol for Non-space, Paronama (triptych). By using a panoramic glitch to overload and produce a fake image, Ocol generates a “non-place” which was then made to exist as institutional structures in real space.

Wika Nadera for Passion, Place, Privilege which attempts to immortalize the forms, materials, and processes consistent to the

design of the Philippine High School for the Arts’ MakilingCampus as they move to a new one in Bay, Laguna.

Jerome Lorico for The Labyrinth. By employing handmade techniques, basic machines, and spontaneous weaving, Lorico’s piece is symbolical of the quiet and violent clash between the modern and the natural world; humanity - its suspect and victim.

Anna Orlina for Mon’s Drian. Made from optical glass that is cold-worked and laminated, the artpiece demonstrates the eccentricities of both artists as they find their own spacewithin Anna’s handwork.

Harold Delima, Leslie Angbue-Te & Jean Michael Diosma for Within Water: Beyond Water. Impressive and towering, the art installation intends to draw the viewer beyond the ‘simplicity’ of the filtration process, which the creators perceive as a deeper philosophy to life.

Mamuro Oki & Abraham Guardian for Mama! Mama! I Feel Quaint, a collection that talks about emotions that are in limbo, of not feeling neither joy nor sadness,” its creators described.

Fimally, Ken Samudio for Below Sea Level showcasing accessories using upcycled plastic, wood beads and recycled upholstery leather backing.

All shortlisted entries will be exhibited at the final awards program to be held on November 29, 2019 in Poblacion, Makati.

For more information, visit www. mullenlowegroup.com.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph Republic of the Philippines

37

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. THONG MEI CHI / Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

38

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LING KAI SOON/ Malaysian

Malaysian Service Representative

39

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. YANG LUO/ Chinese

40

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LING CHING WEI/ Malaysian

41

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. JUNJIE SHI/ Chinese

42

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. YAN NAW NAW/ Burmese

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

43

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. NG LAY PIN/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

44

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. TAO CHANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

45

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. LIJUN JIANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

46

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LUNJUN SONG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Account ExecutiveMandarin

47

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LONG XIAO/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Chinese Marketing Director

48

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. CHUNFENG MENG/ Chinese

Chinese Marketing Manager

49

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. WEI WANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

50

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. SHIYUN CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

51

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. CHUNGUANG MO/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

52

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. JUNCHAO SUN/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

53

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. MINCHENG LAN/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

54

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. SHIPENG WANG / Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

55

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. HUITING JIANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

56

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. PINGPING XU/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

57

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LIM TZE THIEN/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

58

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. JIANJUN WANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

59

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. FANGJIAN LI/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

60

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. ANDREW LAW KEING CHENG/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

61

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LEE YANG YEOW/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

62

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. PHAM MINH THUAN/ Vietnamese

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

63

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. ZHI GONG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

64

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. ZHIPING CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

65

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. CHING CHIA LIN / Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

66

SNPE HEALTH AND WELNESS INC. E. Aguindaldo Highway, Lucsuhin, Silang, Cavite

MS. EUN JUNG PARK / Korean

General Manager

67

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LOW KAM KANG/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

68

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. QIAN CAO/ Chinese

69

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. LEE PEI YEE/ Malasyian

70

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. BO WANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

71

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. JIALE WU/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

72

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. QI YI/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

73

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. JINJIN HUANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

74

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. JING WANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

75

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. QIANFENG SHI/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

76

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. CHEN JI/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative Myanmari Customer Service Representative

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT Regional Office No. IV-A 4th Flr. Andenson Bldg. II, Brgy. Parian, Calamba City Telefax No.: (049) 545-7362 November 15, 2019

NOTICE OF FILING OF APPLICATION FOR ALIEN EMPLOYMENT PERMIT (AEP) Notice is hereby given that the following employers have filed with this Regional Office application/s for Alien Employment Permit/s.

Name and Address of Company/Employer

Name and Citizenship of Foreign National

Friday, November 15, 2019 A29

Position and Brief Description of Functions

Chinese Customer Service Representative Malaysian Customer Service Representative Chinese Customer Service Representative

1

ALMEXTECH, INC. CEZ, Rosario, Cavite

MR. KIICHI NOZAWA / Japanese

Quality Control Department Manager

2

ALMEXTECH, INC. CEZ, Rosario, Cavite

MR. YUSUKE OZAWA / Japanese

Electrical Section Sub Manager

3

ENOMOTO PHILIPPINE MANUFACTURING, INC. GBP, Brgy. Javalera, General Trias, Cavite

MR. YASUO FUJIWARA / Japanese

General Manager-Sales and Marketing

4

POWER MEGAMIX BATCHING INC. Brgy. Marulas, Kawit, Cavite

MR. GANG LIU / Chinese

5

POWER MEGAMIX BATCHING INC. Brgy. Marulas, Kawit, Cavite

MR. HUANGJIAN DONG / Chinese

6

POWER MEGAMIX BATCHING INC. Brgy. Marulas, Kawit, Cavite

MR. JIAXING ZENG / Chinese

7

ATLANTIC GULF & PACIFIC COMPANY OF MANILA, INCORPORATED AG&P-SEZ, Brgy. San Roque, Bauan, Batangas

MR. SUDHEER KUMAR GURRAM / Indian

ATLANTIC GULF & PACIFIC COMPANY OF MANILA, INCORPORATED AG&P-SEZ, Brgy. San Roque, Bauan, Batangas

MR. NEIL JAMES PAUL HICKEY / Irish

9

QUANTRICS ENTERPRISES INC. Brgy. Dolores, Taytay, Rizal

MR. TIMOTHY JAMES KNOLLA II / Canadian

10

LAGUNA AUTO-PARTS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION Laguna Technopark, Santa Rosa City, Laguna

MR. SHINGO NISHIO / Japanese

11

DENSO TEN PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Laguna Technopark, Santa Rosa City, Laguna

MR. SHINJI KAWABATA / Japanese

Position(s): President and Director Nationality

BOJIE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION FCIE, SEZ, Langkaan, Dasmariñas City, Cavite

MR. LONGSHENG LU / Chinese

Section Chief of Packaging Department

13

BOJIE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION FCIE, SEZ, Langkaan, Dasmariñas City, Cavite

MS. CHUNNUAN LIANG / Chinese

Deputy Section Chief of Packaging Department

14

BOJIE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION FCIE, SEZ, Langkaan, Dasmariñas City, Cavite

MS. AIHONG YANG / Chinese

Deputy Section Chief of Packaging Department

15

SHIMANO (PHILIPPINES) INC. FPIP, Tanauan City, Batangas

MR. RYOTA SAITO / Japanese

Assistant Supervisor for Production Engineer

16

PAOYI MANUFACTURING INCORPORATED LTC-SEZ, Brgy. Santiago, Malvar, Batangas

MR. JIAMING TANG / Chinese

Production Material Controller

17

PAOYI MANUFACTURING INCORPORATED LTC-SEZ, Brgy. Santiago, Malvar, Batangas

MS. YAPING XIE / Chinese

18

PAOYI MANUFACTURING INCORPORATED LTC-SEZ, Brgy. Santiago, Malvar, Batangas

MS. YONGMEI HE/ Chinese

19

PAOYI MANUFACTURING INCORPORATED LTC-SEZ, Brgy. Santiago, Malvar, Batangas

MR. CHI HU/ Chinese

20

PAOYI MANUFACTURING INCORPORATED LTC-SEZ, Brgy. Santiago, Malvar, Batangas

MS. YANFANG DING / Chinese

Office Coordinator

PAOYI MANUFACTURING INCORPORATED LTC-SEZ, Brgy. Santiago, Malvar, Batangas

MS. QINGYAN ZENG / Chinese

Trainer for Stitching Department

22

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. LIM YEE XYAN / Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

23

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. SAI MOON AUNG/ Burmese

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

77

MR. ZIN MYO TUN/ Burmese

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

MS. EI EI SAN/ Burmese

24

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

78

MR. QINGHUA LIANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

MR. HAIJUN YIN/ Chinese

25

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

79

MR. NGUYEN VAN HIEU/ Vietnamese

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

MR. PHAM XUAN CUONG/ Vietnamese

26

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

80

MR. CHENGGANG SUN / Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

MR. CHAO HONG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

27

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

81

MR. WANLONG HAN / Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

MR. BINGSHENG SONG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

28

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

82

MR. XUEBAO LI/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

MR. CHEOW WEI CHIAT/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

29

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

83

MS. YUPING WANG / Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

MR. GUANGDONG XUAN/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

30

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

84

MR. KEHAN ZHOU / Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

MR. CHIN TAI JAN/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

31

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

32

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. SHUAI DU / Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

85

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. BUI VAN ANH/ Vietnamese

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

33

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LANGFEI QUI/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

86

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. GOH TZE HONG/ Malaysian

Malaysian Customer Service Representative

34

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. DONG TANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

87

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. GANG TANG/ Chinese

Chinese Customer Service Representative

35

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. NGUYEN THI KIM ANH / Vietnamese

Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

88

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MS. THI THI MOE/ Burmese

Mayanmari Customer Service Representative

36

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. SAN HTIKE LIN/ Burmese

Myanmari Customer Service Representative

89

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. Brgy. Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite

MR. LIJIA YU/ Chinese

8

12

21

Manager, Project Planning

E&I Superintendent

Vice President- Operations

Adviser

Shipping Coordinator

Production Quality Control Coordinator

Trainer for Assembly Department

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Chinese Customer Service Representative Malaysian Customer Service Representative

Chinese Customer Service Representative Vietnamese Customer Service Representative

Chinese Customer Service Representative

A4 A30 Friday, November 15, 2019

News

BusinessMirror

PRC continues to pour aid to Mindanao quake victims

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

T

O ensure the continuity of education, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) will send Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS), or tents, to areas affected by the series of earthquakes in Mindanao, particularly in two of the hardest-hit provinces, North Cotabato and Davao del Sur. “A lot of school buildings aren’t safe yet after they sustained damages and large cracks due to strong aftershocks since October 16. Aside from food, medicine and water, more children are also in need of education which is their right,” PRC Chairman Richard J. Gordon said.

According to the Department of Education, over 1,000 schools were damaged almost a month after a series of earthquakes hit several parts of Mindanao.

Gordon said that the mission will be headed by Red Cross Youth (RCY) staff to help thousands of displaced students to ensure the continuity of education “after their schools were damaged by temblors, while other

learning facilities are now being utilized as temporary evacuation centers.”

A total of 10 TLS will be initially deployed, or five tents each, for North Cotabato and Davao del Sur. Each tent can accommodate 40 to 50 students.

These tents, Gordon said, are expected to arrive in their designated locations

by Monday, November 18.

Classes at all levels in three regions—Regions 11, 12 and BARMM —remain suspended as of this writing.

Gordon also extended his gratitude to the PRC’s operation partners and donors—the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Embassy of Republic of Korea, SanMiguelFoodCorp.,NickelAsiaCorp., Filminera Resources Corp., Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Thome Ship Management Group and Ramon Tulfo Good Samaritan Foundation Inc. As of November 13, PRC has mobilized 569 volunteers, staff and RCY, providing first aid to 81 individuals in eight first-aid stations in Kidapawan City, Davao del Sur and General Santos City, distributing food items to 1,122 families in

Davao del Sur and North Cotabato.

Likewise, 18 temporary shower facilities were installed in the Municipality of Magsaysay, Davao del Sur, which are now being utilized by the affected families as part of PRC’s commitment to promote hygiene and sanitation whenever a calamity or disaster hits.

A total of 1,004,208 liters of water were distributed along with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion to 5,690 families, or 22,097 individuals, in Davao del Sur and North Cotabato.

The WASH unit also conducted hygiene promotion to 6,163 individuals, installed 40 portable toilets and established 19 water collecting points also in Davao del Sur and North Cotabato.

Gordon also assured that the PRC would install an additional 20 portalets, especially in remote areas, and will set up basic health-care units to address health problems in Kidapawan City and other affected areas.

The PRC also distributed hot meals to 9,482 families in North Cotabato (6,860) and Davao del Sur (2,622), administered psychosocial support to 3,338, individuals, including child-friendly spaces to

1,198 individuals in North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, General Santos and Sultan Kudarat.

The PRC also deployed 20 water bladders from General Santos-Sarangani, Davao City, Leyte, Cebu, Agusan del Sur; five water tankers and three water treatment units to North Cotabato and Davao del Sur; ambulances from National Headquarters, South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Davao del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte chapters; and two additional mobile kitchens from Bacolod and Iloilo.

The PRC will create a community kitchen kiosk per evacuation center so evacuees will not need to cook inside their tents, thereby avoiding a fire hazard.

Since October 16, more than 30,687 families, or 153,435 individuals, in 15 municipalities and cities, in seven provinces have been affected by the series of earthquakes.

More than 10,684 families, or 42,736 individuals, are taking temporary shelter in 64 evacuation centers, 39 in Davao del Sur (5,980 families or 23,920 individuals) and 25 in North Cotabato (4,766 families or 18,816 individuals).

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Piñol relaunches solar water project in Mindanao ahead of next El Niño

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—Mindanao Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol relaunched his pet project on solar irrigation he previously introduced when he was the agriculture secretary, stressing the project would put Mindanao ahead of the next recurring dry spell.

The solar-powered water system also doubles as provider of safe potable water for mostly rural villages still in need of reliable source of drinking water, he said.

The Mindanao Water Supply and Irrigation Systems Project of the Mindanao Development Authority would be launched here on December 6. MinDA has also asked the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) to support and provide funding to local government units as they work on the said project.

“We want our LGUs [local government units] to access funding for the establishment of solar water supply and irrigation systems not only to provide potable water for their remote villages, but also to prepare them for the expected El Niño,” Piñol said.

The project also aims to provide

sources of safe drinking water for the off-grid villages in Mindanao and Palawan, while at the same time, give farmers access to irrigation water for their agricultural crops particularly rice, he said.

“We cannot let the 2,000 barangays in Mindanao to still live without safe sources of drinking water. More so we have to assist LGUs to irrigate their 100,000 hectares of rice farms to counter the searing heat of an El Niño,” he added.

The solar-powered irrigation system is a brainchild of Piñol during his stint as secretary of the Department of Agriculture, “which has been proven to increase farmers productivity, allowing them to plant rice twice a year and increase their yield due to sufficient water supply,” the MinDA said.

“Since we cannot grant the program fully free to the farmers, we can secure the help of DBP by providing loan assistance with significant low interest through their LGUs,” he added.

Piñol had already met with DBP President Emmanuel Barbosa to ensure that LGUs with small Internal Revenue Allotment shares will be given lower interest rates. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año also expressed his interest to MinDA to provide counterpart support for the LGUs.

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Friday, November 15, 2019

B1

GrabFood sets eyes on 10 markets in 2020

G

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

RABFOOD, the online food delivery arm of super app Grab, aims to expand to at least 10 markets in the Philippines by 2020, as it gears up for a path of profitability supported by a “very sustainable” business model.

Edward Joseph de la Vega, who heads GrabFood Philippines, said his group will foray into more cities in the

country to complement its current operations in 35 cities across Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Bacolod.

While he refused to list the 10 new markets, he hinted that it includes Metro Davao, Baguio and Iloilo.

There are certain criteria for the new markets, de la Vega noted, including the availability of restaurants, population and volume of tourists, and Internet connection, among others.

“We want to continue to expand throughout the rest of the Philippines. We will be launching to at least 10 more markets in the Philippines and hopefully more,” he said.

“We want to build through adjacent markets and even in markets that Grab doesn’t have a presence.”

The expansion to new markets would also mean an increase in its

merchant base—currently at over 9,000 restaurant partners ranging from big to micro businesses. GrabFood gets as much as 30-percent commission from food orders, while the delivery fee goes directly to its delivery partners.

“Our business is very sustainable. We have a long-term plan that focuses on our growth even for our partners,” he said. “The important part is when we build businesses, we have a path for profitability. We are sticking to that path.”

GrabFood, de la Vega noted, is not yet profitable.

“We have learned a lot from our transport business. It’s not about the

AllHome income triples in 9 mos to ₧746.2M on store expansions A

LLHOME Corp., the home improvement retail arm of the Villar group, said its net income more than tripled during the nine months of the year to P746.2 million, from P229.7 million last year.

Revenues rose 72 percent to P8.2 billion from P4.8 billion last year.

“AllHome continues to deliver solid performance which brings us closer to our full-year target. As

we have previously mentioned, the home improvement industry in the Philippines is still underpenetrated and we are taking advantage of such by aggressively opening AllHome to more locations across the country,” company Chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said.

Camille A. Villar, the company’s vice chairman, said the company is “very much on track” with its store expansion program through next

Sarangani coal plant drives ACR’s revenue; 9-mo net income up 198%

AGI income up a slim 4%, pulled down by gambling unit profits dip A

A

LCANTARA-LED Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) booked a whopping 198-percent increase in net income from January to September this year, from P197.39 million in the same period a year ago to P587.7 million.

Its coal plant in Sarangani was identified as the key revenue and income driver for ACR. S a r a n g a n i E ne r g y C or p.’s (SEC) first 105-megawatt (MW) coal-fired baseload power plant began operating in April 2016. It currently delivers power to more than 3 million people in the General Santos-Sarangani area, and other parts of Mindanao.

The second 105-MW section of SEC (SEC 2) began commercial operations in October of 2019. SEC 2 currently provides another 105 MW of baseload power to benefit an additional 3 million people in various parts of Mindanao.

ACR has also commenced civil works on the P4.25-billion, 14.5 MW run-of-river hydroelectric power plant at the Siguil River basin in Maasim, Sarangani province. The project is ACR’s initial entry into renewable energy and will provide additional power to the General Santos/Sarangani region when it begins operations in 2022.

President Duterte will be the guest of honor at an event for the ceremonial switch on of SEC 2 and the launch of civil works for the Siguil Hydro Power before the end of this year.

Another project in ACR’s pipeline is the 105-MW San Ramon Power Inc. baseload coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City, slated to begin operations in 2023.

SRPI will soon select the plant’s engineering procurement and construction contractor. Lenie Lectura

LLIANCE Global Group Inc. (AGI), the investment holding company of businessman Andrew Tan, said its income had a slim increase at 4 percent during the nine months of the year, ending at P19.33 billion, from P18.65 billion last year.

Consolidated revenues rose 17 percent to P127 billion, from P108.8 billion last year.

“We continue to work hard to deliver the strong performance across all our business segments,” Kevin Andrew L. Tan, the company’s CEO, said.

“We undertake product innovations, capacity expansions and even pursue digital transformations in order to further strengthen our diversified portfolio amid this fastchanging market. We believe these deliberate strategies will soon bear fruit, allowing our group to show accelerated growth in future earnings,” Tan said.

Net income for the third quarter

year. “We aim to at least double our net selling space by end 2020. Expansion is focused on Mega Manila for now, but the longer-term plan is to bring AllHome to the rest of the Philippines,” she said.

For October alone, the company opened three new stores in Alabang, Bulacan and Cavite.

The company said it is increasing its customer base by introducing a starter store format in areas where

alone climbed by 10 percent to P6.8 billion, from P6.21 billion last year.

Consolidated revenues for the quarter rose 19 percent to P44.2 billion, on strong contributions from most of its key business units from property development to liquor to gambling and hotel operations to fast-food chain.

Consolidated revenues of Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., the owner and operator of Resorts World Manila (RWM) that recently became private, grew by half to P16.4 billion, from last year’s P10.9 billion.

Gross gaming revenues rose 52 percent to P20.9 billion, boosted by the sustained recovery in the VIP segment, healthy growth in the mass business, improved hold rates and increased foot traffic to the RWM complex.

Attributable net profit was still down by more than half to P786 million, from last year’s P1.82 billion.

AGI’s hotel business also in-

house construction is just starting, to provide more dedicated offerings and services to builders and contractors during the construction phase.

As soon as homebuyers start to move in, they will then expand it to a regular AllHome to cater to the homeowners and home makers, the company said.

To date, the company has 30 stores across the country which are mostly in large-mall based format. VG Cabuag

creased, with revenues growing 59 percent to P5.4 billion, from P3.4 billion last year amid increases in hotel room capacities.

The nine-month period saw incremental contributions from its recently-launched Hilton Manila Hotel and Sheraton Manila Hotel under Travellers International, as well as Twin Lakes Hotel, Hotel Lucky Chinatown and Belmont Hotel Boracay under Megaworld Hotels.

The newest addition is the 547room Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu. This brought the group’s total hotel room count to over 6,100 keys.

AGI, meanwhile, also implemented another round of its share repurchase program of up to P2.5 billion, which will run for 12 months starting September.

Since the start of the new buyback program, about 84 million AGI shares have been bought back, amounting to around P950 million, it said. VG Cabuag

FLI income up 7% in Jan-Sept

P

ROPERTY developer Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) said its income grew 7 percent during the nine months of the year to P4.6 billion, from last year’s P4.26 billion.

The property arm of the Gotianun family said gross revenues grew 20 percent to P17.32 billion for the period, from P14.37 billion last year.

This was driven by a 27-percent increase in rental revenues, which reached P5.13 billion, and an 18-percent rise in real-estate sales revenues, which amounted to P12.19 billion, it said.

“We remain positive on the company’s performance, moving forward, with our residential trading business expected to grow further

while our office rental business continues to be propelled by the strong demand for office space. We look forward to the growth coming from both the traditional and BPO offices, co-working spaces, as well as the entry of new locators and the expansion of existing clients,” said FLI President and CEO Josephine Gotianun Yap. Residential revenue growth of 18 percent was attributable to the high sales take-up levels in the past quarters, as well as the completion of high-rise and mid-rise residential buildings, the company said. This was brought about by strong demand for FLI’s range of Futura residential product offerings focused on affordable housing projects and mid-rise building communities.

Meanwhile, rental revenue growth of 27 percent was on the back of the completion of new office buildings that brought FLI’s total to 30 office buildings equivalent to 524,00 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA), with office buildings concentrated in its three major Peza hubs in Filinvest City, Alabang, Mimosa Plus in Clark Special Economic Zone and Cebu.

In Metro Manila, it has office developments along the MRT line from Quezon City to Bay City in Manila.

The company has set a 1.6 million GLA target in the next five years by 2024 for both its office and retail investment property portfolio. VG Cabuag

promos, but working with the partners in a way that is sustainable,” he said. “We want to make sure that when we partner with merchants, it’s a win-win for both.”

Since it was launched a year ago, GrabFood has grown 15 times in terms of monthly orders delivered and incremental revenues. No absolute figure was provided.

“The growth we experienced was far from what we expected initially, it shows the strength of the Grab platform,” de la Vega said.

Aside from its expansion in new markets, GrabFood will also introduce new innovations and food concepts, such as delivery via run-

ners—or people without any vehicles—and bikes. It will also introduce GrabKitchen, a cloud kitchen concept that unifies different merchants in one central location, to keep up with the demand for the service.

First introduced in Metro Manila in November 2018, GrabFood is now the leading online food delivery service in the Philippines, with Kantar hailing it as the most used brand for app-based food delivery from December 2018 to September 2019.

GrabFood is celebrating its first anniversary this month through a massive campaign that will reward users, as well as award three patrons with a GrabFood for a year.

Fruitas cuts offer price to ₧1.68 per share

By VG Cabuag @villygc

F

RUITAS Holdings Inc., a food and beverage kiosk operator, has slashed its offer price to P1.68 per share, cutting its proceeds to just P1 billion.

Fruitas earlier gave a maximum price of P1.99 per share for its offering of up to 533.66 million firm shares with an overallotment option of up to 68.34 million.

“The company agreed to price the issue at P1.68 per share in order to ensure a healthy performance of the stock upon listing,” Eduardo V. Francisco, president of BDO Capital and Investment Corp. said. “Given the attractive pricing, we look forward to more participation from the general investing public investors,” said

Daniel D. Camacho, executive vice president of First Metro Investment Corp.

The offer shares account for up to 28.2 percent of the company’s total issued shares.

BDO Capital and First Metro Investment are acting as joint issue managers, lead underwriters and bookrunners. RCBC Capital is a participating underwriter.

The offer period is scheduled from November 18 to November 22 in time for the listing and the commencement of the trading of the company’s shares on the Main Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FRUIT” on November 29.

The company plans to use its proceeds from the IPO to fund its store network expansion and improvement, acquisitions, new concept introductions and debt repayment.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 14, 2019

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

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE SUN LIFE VANTAGE

54.15 155 94.1 25.15 13.24 68 12.74 43.6 57.2 116 25.7 194.8 60 1.12 18.2 4.42 1.32 840 0.86 1865 1.09

54.5 156 94.2 25.25 13.26 68.05 13.16 43.9 57.9 116.3 25.8 195.9 60.1 1.2 18.6 4.48 1.33 849.5 0.89 1890 1.11

54.2 155.3 94.45 25.5 13.58 68 13.18 44.3 57.9 116.6 25.7 193 60.25 1.24 18.6 4.5 1.32 845 0.86 1878 1.11

54.5 156 95.9 25.5 13.58 68 13.18 44.5 57.9 116.6 25.7 195.9 60.25 1.24 18.6 4.54 1.33 849.5 0.86 1878 1.11

54.15 154 94.2 25.15 13.26 67.35 13.18 43.5 57.9 116.3 25.7 193 60 1.13 18.6 4.45 1.32 845 0.85 1860 1.11

54.5 156 94.2 25.25 13.26 68 13.18 43.9 57.9 116.3 25.7 195.9 60 1.13 18.6 4.48 1.32 849.5 0.86 1860 1.11

1250 744570 742420 7300 382900 2055510 100 74000 710 130 2400 312010 3650 27000 100 78000 99000 20 147000 245 50000

67807.5 115768885 70111347.5 184365 5110768 139679282 1318 3248110 41109 15142 61680 60951709 219302 30800 1860 349780 130920 16945 126320 458180 55500

-2707.5 -3752751 -14149125.5 2530 1078594 48841482.5 -640960 -1850516 -0 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER AGRINURTURE AXELUM CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT GINEBRA JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP MG HLDG PEPSI COLA SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH VICTORIAS CONCRETE A CONCRETE B CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE PHINMA TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CROWN ASIA LMG CHEMICALS PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS PANASONIC SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES SEAFRONT RES WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

2.64 1.24 36.7 0.24 24.35 78.35 335.4 19.04 4.93 4.08 11 32.3 7.88 14.5 3.82 17.4 15.1 5.06 8.85 7.25 90.9 0.62 45.7 202.4 45.15 8.8 12.8 0.183 1.53 11.78 1.85 5.4 1.9 0.13 152 1.28 2.42 65.1 69 2.63 5.38 15.12 10.62 14.28 17.14 9.59 1.08 1.06 2.08 5.1 5.2 30 2.17 8.1 1.45 5.17 1.04 7.9

2.65 1.31 37.15 0.245 24.7 78.4 339 19.12 4.96 4.19 11.08 32.45 7.9 14.66 3.83 18.6 15.14 5.35 8.87 7.26 91.8 0.63 46.7 202.6 48.95 9.14 12.82 0.19 1.54 11.8 1.9 5.46 1.91 0.134 152.8 1.3 2.5 68.5 72 2.64 5.78 15.38 10.66 14.4 17.28 9.6 1.1 1.07 2.1 5.2 5.25 31 2.18 8.2 1.47 5.79 1.05 7.97

2.7 1.29 37.1 0.241 24.35 78.35 342.4 18.92 5.08 4.08 11.1 32.8 7.87 13.6 3.9 18.48 15.14 5.03 8.8 7.25 91 0.65 46.7 213.8 45.15 8.9 12.8 0.19 1.79 11.84 1.9 5.47 1.92 0.136 153 1.28 2.42 65.1 72 2.62 5.5 15.1 10.54 14.22 17.26 9.52 1.08 1.09 2.09 5.1 5.25 29.85 2.18 8 1.44 5.17 0.96 7.97

2.74 1.31 37.3 0.245 24.7 78.4 343 19.44 5.08 4.08 11.1 32.8 7.89 14.66 3.91 18.6 15.16 5.45 8.87 7.28 91.8 0.65 46.85 217.8 45.15 9.19 13 0.19 1.79 11.84 1.9 5.47 1.92 0.161 153.1 1.3 2.42 65.1 72 2.63 5.5 15.38 10.64 14.4 17.32 9.6 1.1 1.09 2.09 5.1 5.25 31 2.19 8.1 1.48 5.17 1.08 8.04

2.65 1.29 36.4 0.24 24.05 78.3 335.4 18.92 4.93 4.08 11.08 32.3 7.83 13.5 3.8 18 15.1 5.03 8.78 7.14 90.05 0.61 45.6 202.6 45.15 8.79 12.72 0.19 1.48 11.8 1.85 5.4 1.91 0.13 150.1 1.28 2.42 65.1 72 2.59 5.38 15.1 10.52 14.22 17 9.4 1.05 1.07 2.09 5.1 5.25 29.85 2.13 8 1.44 5.15 0.96 7.9

2.65 1.31 36.7 0.245 24.7 78.35 335.4 19.12 4.93 4.08 11.08 32.45 7.89 14.66 3.82 18.6 15.1 5.35 8.85 7.25 91.8 0.62 46.8 202.6 45.15 9.19 12.8 0.19 1.53 11.8 1.9 5.4 1.91 0.13 152 1.28 2.42 65.1 72 2.63 5.38 15.38 10.62 14.4 17.28 9.59 1.1 1.07 2.09 5.1 5.25 31 2.18 8.1 1.45 5.15 1.05 7.9

2958000 40000 2141900 120000 1040800 383280 178270 1284600 935000 1000 8800 192500 57600 561400 2144000 16200 2269800 34900 771500 1066200 266070 890000 53500 1497490 300 4100 18700 220000 27188000 833300 707000 22300 62000 161510000 717550 2646000 1000 100 20 1478000 20300 10000 341900 42800 333000 32300 499000 840000 43000 5000 1000 6200 12337000 160100 11000 8400 1281000 280200

0.83 12.3 817.5 52.8 11.58 3.63 6.58 0.72 1.08 1.09 6.92 7.66 13.12 0.202 890 5.55 77.3 5.3 0.495 4.16 12.2 0.54 4.62 0.037 1.33 1.24 1060 163.4 0.85 2.25 0.213 0.24

0.84 12.52 818 53 11.6 3.65 6.8 0.74 1.09 1.1 6.95 7.68 13.38 0.207 898 5.57 78 5.75 0.51 4.18 12.44 0.57 4.67 0.038 1.37 1.28 1070 164 0.86 2.33 0.22 0.242

0.84 12.5 824 54.05 11.6 3.53 6.8 0.72 1.11 1.17 6.9 7.88 13.12 0.202 899.5 5.57 77.5 6.28 0.51 4.2 12.74 0.58 4.7 0.037 1.33 1.25 1059 164 0.84 2.25 0.212 0.23

0.86 12.68 824 54.05 11.64 3.68 6.8 0.74 1.13 1.17 6.95 7.89 13.4 0.202 899.5 5.57 78 6.28 0.51 4.2 12.76 0.58 4.7 0.037 1.37 1.28 1070 164.3 0.85 2.25 0.212 0.265

0.83 12.24 812 52.4 11.5 3.5 6.58 0.71 1.06 1.09 6.81 7.59 13.1 0.202 881.5 5.57 76.05 5.35 0.5 4.15 12.2 0.54 4.62 0.037 1.33 1.24 1042 162 0.84 2.25 0.212 0.23

0.83 12.5 818 52.8 11.6 3.65 6.58 0.74 1.08 1.09 6.95 7.68 13.4 0.202 890 5.57 78 5.75 0.51 4.15 12.2 0.58 4.62 0.037 1.37 1.28 1070 163.4 0.85 2.25 0.212 0.24

4785000 27500 487890 1339490 17835500 4320000 5000 158000 3232000 302000 1217800 25368300 82800 50000 36320 12000 590950 24900 4000 96000 2138100 195000 14588000 2900000 25000 10000 281150 85050 128000 23000 420000 36410000

7919280 -742770 52120 78662570 -31930895 28880 25381200 4597570 30,030,965( 26,959,573.0001) 60576734 -33229624 24534766 20354812 4632930 -3295950 4080 97660 6245385 -2199920 453225 -81848 7881106 2355472 8228950 -7790 296664 34296714 1012728 176814 6811902 -2496977 7699202 -3703469 24369072 -241158 555070 2470570 1121185 312166026 -78830988 13545 36377 239062 -55010 41800 43923830 -181620 9840986 -476384 1312760 37400 121266 118520 23729020 160010 108743734 -54504865 3411020 516080 2420 6510 1440 3864770 -472570 109726 151300 -36292 3618296 828604.0001 613898 1162 5746396 -1583648 306592 -19190 544940 899740 89870 25500 5250 192085 -189100 26668430 533730 1293200 487790 15930 43418 1328170 -43200 2220605 -54054.9998 4008310 339048 399324735 70867817.5 206979696 15639340 33138 114160 3534100 341330 8445760 194972394 1103250 10100 32326975 66840 45899177 134589 2020 398920 26503100 105770 67789560 107300 33730 12640 297783505 13865433 108200 51750 89040 9020870

59480 18750 -60679435 -29514571 -46111800 -120700 37770 2144835 -70876827 -171114 -15890530 -66840 1263211 -58120 1054044 -18431820 24071675 -10686788 -517400

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.91 0.92 0.92 0.93 0.9 0.91 1293000 1178700 AYALA LAND 46.8 47 46.2 47 45.9 47 5224700 243250650 -40979565 ARANETA PROP 1.66 1.72 1.67 1.72 1.65 1.72 52000 86180 BELLE CORP 2.02 2.03 2.01 2.03 2 2.02 288000 582120 385820 A BROWN 0.79 0.8 0.81 0.81 0.79 0.8 920000 733020 800 CITYLAND DEVT 0.84 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.84 0.84 688000 578720 CROWN EQUITIES 0.2 0.202 0.201 0.202 0.2 0.202 10940000 2188700 CEBU HLDG 6.35 6.47 6.35 6.47 6.35 6.47 9500 60349 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.85 4.9 4.84 4.9 4.82 4.9 297000 1447060 CENTURY PROP 0.6 0.61 0.61 0.62 0.6 0.61 16268000 9838940 -940010 CYBER BAY 0.435 0.45 0.455 0.455 0.435 0.435 3940000 1736250 DOUBLEDRAGON 19.94 20 19.82 20 19.72 20 546600 10887990 1859776 DM WENCESLAO 10.2 10.22 10.22 10.24 10.2 10.22 29900 305666 EMPIRE EAST 0.46 0.47 0.455 0.47 0.455 0.47 120000 55700 FILINVEST LAND 1.62 1.63 1.63 1.63 1.61 1.62 5164000 8367080 -2509400 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.26 1.27 1.25 1.26 1.25 1.26 185000 232150 8990 HLDG 14.84 14.88 14.84 14.88 14.84 14.84 14300 212232 -72716 PHIL INFRADEV 1.41 1.42 1.44 1.44 1.41 1.41 1128000 1600070 -709140 CITY AND LAND 0.73 0.77 0.73 0.74 0.7 0.73 368000 263680 49200 MEGAWORLD 4.83 4.85 4.89 4.89 4.82 4.85 13857000 67078070 -24365720 MRC ALLIED 0.27 0.275 0.285 0.285 0.27 0.275 13220000 3646800 27500 PRIMEX CORP 2.01 2.02 2.02 2.05 2.02 2.02 175000 353690 ROBINSONS LAND 26.25 26.45 25.8 26.45 25.25 26.45 1245800 32414380 -9421630 PHIL REALTY 0.375 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.375 0.375 90000 33800 ROCKWELL 2.2 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 22000 48400 SHANG PROP 3.06 3.25 3.27 3.27 3.06 3.06 46000 144610 16400.0001 STA LUCIA LAND 2.49 2.5 2.42 2.55 2.41 2.49 645000 1596560 SM PRIME HLDG 39.25 39.3 39.2 39.5 39.1 39.3 3530500 138709120 18387700 VISTAMALLS 5.35 5.48 5.53 5.53 5.2 5.45 35600 191522 SUNTRUST HOME 1.59 1.6 1.56 1.61 1.53 1.6 16235000 25723350 VISTA LAND 7.65 7.69 7.71 7.71 7.65 7.69 1391400 10683372 -1833837

SERVICES ABS CBN 17.66 17.8 18.12 18.12 17.66 17.66 197500 3527584 GMA NETWORK 5.26 5.29 5.26 5.3 5.25 5.29 71200 376422 MANILA BULLETIN 0.405 0.415 0.415 0.415 0.415 0.415 90000 37350 GLOBE TELECOM 1915 1928 1874 1929 1874 1928 34320 65722740 31927345 PLDT 1100 1101 1100 1106 1090 1100 82475 90449585 -23208715 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.038 0.041 0.041 0.041 0.041 0.041 10000000 410000 IMPERIAL 1.7 1.79 1.71 1.71 1.71 1.71 5000 8550 ISLAND INFO 0.105 0.108 0.106 0.108 0.106 0.106 450000 47740 ISM COMM 4.7 4.71 4.72 4.73 4.68 4.7 1116000 5246560 -155150 JACKSTONES 2.25 2.38 2.3 2.3 2.29 2.29 6000 13760 NOW CORP 3.21 3.22 3.3 3.33 3.22 3.22 1638000 5339300 -6570 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.335 0.34 0.335 0.34 0.325 0.335 9830000 3256650 PHILWEB 2.96 2.98 3 3 2.96 2.97 163000 484290 -65360 2GO GROUP 10.22 10.42 10.22 10.44 10.22 10.4 5500 57172 CHELSEA 6.6 6.63 6.65 6.73 6.6 6.6 426300 2841240 -179363 CEBU AIR 94.3 94.6 95.4 95.4 94.3 94.3 72140 6850632.5 -3355521.5 INTL CONTAINER 122 122.9 122.4 124.5 120.5 122 1502610 183192828 -54337559 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.91 0.93 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.91 456000 414960 MACROASIA 19.04 19.06 19.22 19.4 19.06 19.06 62500 1197560 -211054 METROALLIANCE A 1.05 1.13 1.04 1.15 1.04 1.05 174000 198160 METROALLIANCE B 1.03 1.14 1.14 1.14 1.14 1.14 2000 2280 PAL HLDG 7.9 8.19 7.92 7.92 7.9 7.9 29400 232367 HARBOR STAR 1.51 1.56 1.6 1.6 1.51 1.51 1829000 2821930 ACESITE HOTEL 1.52 1.55 1.52 1.52 1.52 1.52 24000 36480 WATERFRONT 0.66 0.67 0.66 0.67 0.66 0.66 303000 200100 FAR EASTERN U 890.5 917 890.5 890.5 890.5 890.5 10000 8905000 IPEOPLE 8.01 8.3 8 8 8 8 5000 40000 STI HLDG 0.68 0.69 0.67 0.68 0.67 0.68 1269000 856240 BERJAYA 2.58 2.59 2.59 2.59 2.57 2.58 269000 695110 BLOOMBERRY 11.3 11.32 10.9 11.34 10.7 11.3 7356100 82714324 28502382 PACIFIC ONLINE 2.72 2.77 2.62 2.73 2.62 2.72 39000 105990 LEISURE AND RES 3.01 3.06 3.04 3.08 3.01 3.02 272000 824270 148650 MANILA JOCKEY 3.4 3.45 3.44 3.44 3.44 3.44 1000 3440 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.65 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.66 0.66 3686000 2433830 -1871760 ALLHOME 11.34 11.38 11.3 11.38 11.3 11.38 5334100 60647986 -16443874 METRO RETAIL 2.37 2.4 2.4 2.44 2.37 2.37 716000 1710290 PUREGOLD 39 39.15 38.9 39.85 38.7 39.15 689200 26967010 -22196260 ROBINSONS RTL 75.6 75.8 75.6 75.85 75.6 75.8 26840 2,034,041.5( 1,535,607.4997) PHIL SEVEN CORP 150 157 150 150 150 150 240 36000 36000 SSI GROUP 2.79 2.8 2.87 2.9 2.79 2.8 2869000 8137490 1928640 WILCON DEPOT 18.28 18.3 17.82 18.4 17.82 18.3 3733600 68022442 47997018 APC GROUP 0.49 0.5 0.51 0.51 0.485 0.5 2008000 990520 67620 EASYCALL 8.96 9.08 9 9 8.95 9 77500 694891 GOLDEN BRIA 419.2 429.8 419.2 431.8 419.2 429.8 380 162346 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.465 0.47 0.465 0.47 0.46 0.465 3820000 1779700 256750 SBS PHIL CORP 9.01 9.02 8.92 9.02 8.9 9.02 7000 62590

MINING & OIL ATOK 12 12.2 12.3 12.96 12 12.4 9300 115062 APEX MINING 1.11 1.12 1.12 1.12 1.11 1.11 407000 453550 -163520 ABRA MINING 0.0016 0.0017 0.0017 0.0017 0.0016 0.0017 33000000 55700 ATLAS MINING 2.55 2.58 2.55 2.55 2.55 2.55 6000 15300 BENGUET A 1.09 1.19 1.09 1.09 1.09 1.09 15000 16350 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.28 0.295 0.285 0.29 0.285 0.29 580000 165550 CENTURY PEAK 2.53 2.55 2.55 2.55 2.55 2.55 200000 510000 FERRONICKEL 1.83 1.87 1.9 1.9 1.82 1.87 4813000 9009720 35040 GEOGRACE 0.209 0.212 0.209 0.213 0.209 0.209 820000 171800 LEPANTO A 0.104 0.105 0.104 0.104 0.104 0.104 420000 43680 MANILA MINING A 0.0088 0.0091 0.0091 0.0091 0.0088 0.009 18000000 160100 MANILA MINING B 0.0088 0.0097 0.0091 0.0091 0.009 0.009 9000000 81500 MARCVENTURES 1.04 1.06 1.04 1.05 1.04 1.05 257000 268600 NIHAO 1.03 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.03 1.06 14000 14520 NICKEL ASIA 3.55 3.56 3.6 3.6 3.53 3.56 1555000 5537200 827470 OMICO CORP 0.48 0.52 0.47 0.52 0.47 0.52 180000 87400 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.82 0.83 0.81 0.83 0.81 0.83 71000 57530 PX MINING 3.37 3.45 3.41 3.44 3.36 3.44 472000 1611130 SEMIRARA MINING 23.15 23.7 23.65 23.7 23.15 23.7 1094000 25868880 15858090 UNITED PARAGON 0.0058 0.006 0.0058 0.0058 0.0058 0.0058 2000000 11600 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 46400000 536800 ORNTL PETROL B 0.011 0.013 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 1400000 15400 PHILODRILL 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 1800000 19800 PHINMA PETRO 11.8 11.9 12.3 12.3 11.62 11.8 1271600 15053814 56590 PXP ENERGY 12.3 12.32 12.3 12.4 12.08 12.3 309500 3792488 353736

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 97.05 98 98 98 98 98 70 6860 4900 ALCO PREF B 100.1 101.3 101.3 101.3 101.3 101.3 1380 139794 DD PREF 100.5 101 100.9 101 100.9 101 107550 10856450 SMC FB PREF 2 990 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 920 920000 FGEN PREF G 109.1 111 109 109 109 109 1200 130800 FPH PREF C 430.2 500 500 500 500 500 1900 950000 GLO PREF P 506 510 506 506 506 506 200 101200 GTCAP PREF B 961 980 995 995 961 980 2480 2418640 LR PREF 1.01 1.02 1.01 1.01 1.01 1.01 170000 171700 -60600 PNX PREF 4 1029 1030 1032 1032 1030 1030 1145 1179550 PCOR PREF 2B 1026 1034 1035 1035 1034 1034 510 527500 SMC PREF 2C 77.9 78 78.1 78.1 78 78 15890 1239433 SMC PREF 2D 75.05 75.5 75.05 75.05 75.05 75.05 27300 2048865 SMC PREF 2F 76.15 76.2 76.15 76.2 76.15 76.15 3090 235308.5 SMC PREF 2G 75.2 75.25 75.25 75.25 75.25 75.25 13320 1002330 SMC PREF 2H 75.05 75.15 75.15 75.15 75 75.15 101060 7587188 SMC PREF 2I 74.9 75 75.1 75.2 75 75 31240 2345393 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

17.02 5.12

17.1 5.2

17.1 5.13

17.1 5.13

17 5.12

17.06 5.12

36700 74600

626956 382048

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

1.54

-589420 -

1.59

1.54

1.54

1.54

1.54

10000

15400

-

ITALPINAS 7.05 KEPWEALTH 14.1 XURPAS 1.02

7.06 14.12 1.03

7.21 13.4 1.06

7.28 14.26 1.07

6.88 13.3 1.03

7.06 14.1 1.03

2041000 2006700 4653000

14527224 27771394 4851950

-1027466 1138 -

FIRST METRO ETF

118.6

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS 118.5

119

119

118.5

118.6

4580

543412

-

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Ayala spends ₧12B for stake in Myanmar’s Yoma group

C

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

ONGLOMERATE Ayala Corp. on Thursday said it is spending some P12 billion to buy a minority stake in Myanmar’s Yoma Group, led by the Pun family, becoming the biggest ever Philippine conglomerate investment in the Southeast Asian neighbor.

The company in its disclosure said Yoma Group, comprising two holding companies, Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd. (YSH) and Myanmar-listed First Myanmar Investment Public Co. Ltd. (FMI), is selling a maximum 20-percent stake

to Ayala for up to $237.5 million (about P12.11 billion).

This makes Ayala the secondlargest investor in both entities, the company said.

“Our partnership with the Yoma Group gives Ayala a unique oppor-

tunity to participate in Myanmar’s growth story. We could not imagine a better way to do this than with the Pun family, whose solid, decadeslong reputation as a business house has cemented their expertise in multiple sectors, such as real estate, banking, automotive, health care, power, and tourism, among others,” Ayala Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, said.

“We have always believed that Asean has massive potential to reap the benefits of Asia’s rise in the global economy. Ayala can definitely move closer to this aspiration by working with a respected and diversified conglomerate in the region,” he said.

He said Ayala’s partnership with the Yoma Group could help improve the lives of people in Myanmar.

In October, Ayala’s energy unit, AC Energy, together with YSH, announced its plans to help develop

around 200 megawatts of renewable energy in Myanmar, giving power to 70 percent of its population mostly in rural areas.

“Today marks a new milestone for the Yoma Group. I am extremely pleased and honored to have Ayala become one of our most important strategic partners, a partnership that reflects their faith in the future of Myanmar, and validates the Yoma Group’s business model.

We have much to learn, and they have much to teach us. We look forward to leveraging their expertise and experience to strengthen our existing businesses, and to explore potential new opportunities in Myanmar,” Serge Pun, executive chairman of YSH and FMI. To date, Ayala has established its presence in Indonesia, Vietnam and China, as well as Australia, Europe, the United States and Mexico.

Jollibee income falls 25% in Jan-Sept, pulled by Red Ribbon, Smashburger L OCAL fast-food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. said its net income fell 25 percent to P4.53 billion from last year’s P6.08 billion, hurt by the losses from Smashburger in the United States and Red Ribbon in the Philippines.

“Production in the new Red Ribbon commissary had reached normal volume level in September 2019, but productivity level has yet to reach the desired level, which is expected to be achieved by the first quarter of 2020,” the company said.

For the third quarter alone, the company’s losses were narrower at 8 percent to P1.87 billion from last year’s P2.03 billion.

The company said the profit for the third quarter included an extraordinary gain of Pl.3 billion arising from the purchase of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (CBTL) brand, which was completed on September 24.

Jollibee said it transferred CBTL’s trademarks to a new company based in Ireland, immediately after the acquisition.

This company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Super Magnificent Coffee Co., based in Singapore and owned 80 percent by Jollibee through other units, also based in Singapore.

As part of the ownership restructuring, the trademarks of CBTL are required by accounting rules and regulations to be valued by an independent third party. The valuation was performed independently by Isla Lipana and Co., a PwC member-firm. The trademarks and related intellectual property were valued at $354 million.

This yet excludes other assets. mainly fixed assets of the CBTL business, the company said.

“The legal structure of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is being redesigned for fast growth both in the United States and in Asia, to be driven mainly by franchising. This is in line with JFC’s plan to build a truly global business. We expect CBTL to be accretive to JFC’s profit within a short period of time.

The current profit challenges of JFC are short term.

We look forward to profit resurgence in 2020 and in the years ahead, both in the Philippines and abroad,” Ysmael V. Baysa, the company’s CFO, said.

System-wide sales, a measure of sales to consumers both from company-owned and franchised stores, grew by 7 percent for the third quarter to P57.36 billion from last year’s P53.27 billion.

Global same store sales grew by 2.5 percent for the third quarter, while restaurant expansion contributed 6.6 percent, partly offset by the negative impact of changes in currency exchanges rates.

Sales from the Philippine business grew by 10.8 percent. Same store sales grew by 3.3 percent—but 3.7 percent, if excluding Red Ribbon—and new stores contributed 7.5 percent.

Same store sales growth in the Philippines was driven largely by growth in volume of customer visits in the stores compared to a year ago.

Foreign business reported flat sales growth for the third quarter due to the negative impact of foreign exchange translation and Smashburger’s sales. Excluding these factors, system-wide sales of the foreign business grew by 10 percent in the third quarter from last year.

System-wide retail sales grew 11 percent during the nine-month period to P171.06 billion from last year’s P153.17 billion. VG Cabuag

Bloomberry income rises 33% in 9 mos, lifted by strong 3rd quarter

B

LOOMBERRY Resorts Corp., the operator of Solaire Resort and Casino, said its profits for the nine months of the year grew 33 percent to P8.56 billion from last year’s P6.44 billion, helped by the recovery in the third quarter.

Gross gaming revenues grew 21 percent to P45.84 billion from P38.03 billion, mostly contributed

by Solaire.

“I am pleased to report thirdquarter net profit of P3.91 billion, representing a 245-percent year-onyear increase [from P1.13 billion last year] despite incurring higher interest expenses and foreign-exchange losses. We are now in the last stretch of 2019 and we look forward to delivering a strong set of full year results,” Enrique K. Razon Jr., Bloomberry chairman and CEO, said.

Total gaming revenues at Solaire

for the July to September quarter stood at P17.11 billion, a record quarterly high, driven by strength in all gaming segments.

Solaire’s VIP volumes were P198.65 billion, a decline of 5 percent year-on-year.

VIP revenues doubled to P8.645 billion as the hold rate increased to 4.35 percent in the third quarter from 1.91 percent in the same period last year. VIP revenues were higher by 40 percent sequentially.

Third-quarter mass table drop and electronic game machines (EGM) coin-in at Solaire hit record levels of P13.48 billion and P66.91 billion, representing growth of 10 percent and 23 percent, year-on-year, respectively.

Mass table revenues were P4.2 billion, up 2 percent, but the EGM revenues rose 19 percent to P4.25 billion. VG Cabuag

MUTUAL FUNDS

November 14, 2019

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 255.8 9.27% 1.5% -0.53% 1.43% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.5083 12.19% 2.99% 0.11% 4.68% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 3.8772 7.18% -0.51% -2.13% -0.66% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.9251 10.96% N.A. N.A. 2.67% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.8644 13.05% N.A. N.A. 5.32% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.413 12.44% 2.57% -0.13% 2.65% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,6 0.8702 12.55% -1.49% N.A. 4% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 112.13 3.19% N.A. N.A. -3.47% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 52.2038 15.36% 3.92% N.A. 6.05% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 542.35 14.28% 2.51% 0.04% 5.36% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.3137 12.1% 3.3% 1.32% 4.76% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 38.6417 13.21% 4.3% 1.02% 5.49% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,1 1.0348 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 5.3104 16.74% 4.73% 2.03% 7.09% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 886.7 16.75% 4.65% 1.96% 7.03% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.8957 12.45% 2.39% N.A. 4.15% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.2832 12.79% 3.89% 1.08% 5.53% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 1.0182 16.27% 4.47% N.A. 6.7% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.7167 13.95% 5.85% 2.57% 6.17% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C 118.8672 17.07% 5.39% 2.98% 7.33% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B

$0.9894 7.12% 4.6% -0.17% 6.49% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.3237 9.84% 8.68% N.A. 19.77% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.588 0.28% -1.99% -3.69% -3.83% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.2606 6.92% 0.33% -0.51% 2.33% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.65 11.06% 2.55% -0.96% 4.2% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN F.O.C.C.U.S. DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A,5 0.2346 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION -A 1.3479 7.74% N.A. N.A. 3.34% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.9695 11.22% 3.03% 1.2% 6.86% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.8142 14.33% 2.19% 0.46% 8.07% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 17.0669 13.04% 2.11% 0.37% 7.29% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.1535 9.58% 2.25% 1.13% 4.07% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.8948 11.63% 3.11% 0.85% 6.67% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D,2 1.0225 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D,2 1.0105 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D,2 1.0077 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.9871 10.72% 2.66% 0.03% 7.1% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.03783 9.02% 2.33% 1.89% 7.17% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -A $1.0091 7.82% 3.43% 0.28% 10.44% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $3.7975 8.14% 6.63% 3.43% 14.78% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A,7 $1.1065 6.68% 3.87% N.A. 10.1% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 356.01 4.09% 2.68% 2.28% 3.65% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A 1.9247 4.05% 0.34% -0.15% 3.52% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 3.1034 5.08% 5.26% 5.23% 4.28% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.2134 4.28% 1.93% 1.93% 3.95% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.343 6.36% 1.84% 1.47% 6.25% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. -A P 1.6085 2.99% 0.24% -0.07% 2.82% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 4.3336 12.83% 2.08% 1.63% 10.56% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.7547 8.3% 2.58% 1.52% 6.76% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 0.9539 8.26% 0.97% N.A. 7.04% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.0419 10.66% 3.89% 2.44% 9.98% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A 1.68 10.25% 3.2% 1.95% 9.1% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $466.05 4.39% 2.32% 2.81% 3.94% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є219.4 2.91% 1.39% 1.37% 3.16% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.2019 7.16% 2.6% 2.58% 6.77% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0257 3.63% 1.33% 1.21% 3.63% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP. -A $1.7072 1.08% -0.36% 0.25% 1.01% PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -A $1.0899 6.64% 0.44% -0.97% 5.17% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.3802 11.6% 2.97% 3.02% 9.65% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.0601871 5.78% 2.07% 2.01% 5.59% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $3.1354 9.05% 2.4% 2.52% 9.17% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 125.25 4.16% 2.75% 2.13% 3.62% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A,3 1.0265 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.2461 5.97% 2.49% 1.56% 5.43% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.2598 3.82% 2.84% 2.26% 3.33% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.0351 2.12% N.A. N.A. 1.89% A - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY. B - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO. C - LISTED IN THE PSE. D - IN NET ASSET VALUE PER UNIT (NAVPU).

1 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 3, 2019. 2 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 28, 2019. 3 - LAUNCH DATE IS FEBRUARY 1, 2019. 4 - LAUNCH DATE IS AUGUST 1, 2019.

5 - LAUNCH DATE IS SEPTEMBER 28, 2019. 6 - RENAMING WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST OCTOBER 12, 2018 (FORMERLY, ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.).

7 - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST OCTOBER 9, 2019.

"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

Phoenix Petroleum backs Palace bid to plug tax leaks

D

AVAO CITY—Independent oil producer Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. (PPPI) expressed full support to the move of Malacañang to plug tax leakages, including a crackdown on noncompliant players, to improve further a fair corporate practice in the country.

In a statement disclosing its income and revenue position as of November, PPPI Chief Operating Officer Henry Albert R. Fadullon said the company remained on the profit side at more than 10 percent while still reeling from the “headwinds during the quarter as the passed-on impact of TRAIN [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act] I and II taxes.”

The TRAIN Act is one of the components of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Package and being implemented in phases.

Fadullon said the two packages continued to put pressure “on our competitiveness against the informal market.”

“Hence, we support the government’s initiative in closing tax leakages through the fuel marking program that is being piloted,” he added. “We look forward to its full implementation in February 2020 to redress such unfair practices.”

Fadullon said “it was also imperative that we observe a more stringent enforcement of regulations governing bonded warehouses and a rigorous crackdown on noncompliant players to improve industry volume and tax collections.” The company disclosed it posted year-to-date operating income of P2.47 billion in 2019, higher by 10 percent from the same period in 2018.

PPPI said its year-to-date revenues reached P73.17 billion, up 13 percent. “Higher costs from increased fuel premiums weighed on the volume and margins, in particular of Mogas [gasoline used by aircraft] and fuel oil, resulting in a lower net income of P918 million,” it added. PPPI said overall volume was 16 percent higher year-on-year.

“Volume derived from foreign operations, which consist of the Singapore and Vietnam businesses, grew 34 percent and accounted for 30 percent of total sales.”

The company said its retail growth accelerated to 22 percent on the back of new station openings and regular retrofitting programs, which

to date has been implemented in over 80 percent of the network, it said.

This growth projectile was in line with the company’s strategic priorities, it added. PPPI has a total of 650 stations nationwide as of September.

Nonfuel retail revenues were also up on higher total chain sales of its FamilyMart brand, increased revenues from its Posible brand and additional rent income from retail locators. The company said the FamilyMart network contains 76 stores as of September with 18 more in various stages of planning and construction.

Its other banner product, the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), has recorded a 20-percent higher volume compared to last year. According to PPPI, the growth was supported by the sustained growth in the rollout in the country’s three island groups.

“The company continues to optimize its LPG value chain from its trading desk in PNX Petroleum Singapore down to its marketing activities in high growth, underpenetrated markets such as the Philippines and Vietnam.”

Last September, PPPI announced a partnership with Singapore-based Hengyi Industries International Pte. Ltd. (HYII) for an LPG offtake venture in Brunei Darussalam. This partnership is expected to improve the Philippines’s overall supply security “as it shortens delivery time and diversify product source,” PPPI said.

The company added that a cargo has already made its first voyage earlier in November.

PPPI’s aviation volume this year was up by 11 percent. The company said it provides high-value services to airline companies including leasing of storage space, hauling and intoplane services. It is currently present in 18 airports, including fast-growing regional airports, such as Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo and Cebu.

The company’s commercial business, however, “saw a slowdown in the power segment due to lower dispatch of fuel oil-fired power for the most part of the third quarter [dampening] commercial volume growth to 11 percent.”

Fadullon said they would “push into higher-value segments, specifically retail, gas and aviation services and improve consumer experiences by delivering our brand of service, relationship, and technology.”

Manuel T. Cayon

Disrupt and deliver

I

PARTICIPATED in the 2019 Professional Convention Management Association Asia-Pacific Annual Conference from November 6 to 8, 2019, at the Parisian Macao Hotel in Macao, China. As an association leader in the region, I was one of 20 fortunate PCMA scholars granted access to the learning event, which had three plenaries, nine concurrent sessions and 15 speakers, and attended by 120 international participants.

This was my second opportunity to attend a PCMA event. The first was at PCMA’s “Convening Leaders” global conference in Austin, Texas, from January 8 to 11, 2017, that drew over 4,000 delegates. The Chicago-based PCMA has 7,000 members and an audience of 50,000 across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With 17 chapters and activities in 30 countries, PCMA is considered a world leader in business events.

It is also the most recognized network of business events strategists and implementers. PCMA’s educational programs are geared toward making these events creative, inspiring and successful. As an association executive, my motivation in participating in PCMA conferences are the useful takeaways I get to transfer as benefits to our members in terms of planning, leading and organizing meetings, seminars, conferences and exhibitions.

One of PCM A’s innovative

Association World Octavio Peralta approaches in holding business events is to “disrupt and deliver” and this was aptly summarized by PCMA President and CEO Sherrif Karamat: Start with a clean slate when planning an event and think of pioneers and trailblazers from different fields as speakers who will bring multiple ideas and points of views. At the Macao event, the three main stage speakers consisted of a former undersecretary general of the United Nations who talked about disruption in the social and economic development landscape, a social entrepreneur who created a nonprofit advocacy group that mentors at-risk and disadvantaged youth to become tourism and hospitality professionals, and an accomplished author and speaker who focuses on creativity, idea generation, and entrepreneurship.

Try to engage different people into the event and bring others from different industries to infuse more ideas and exchange more knowledge. Aside from business events planners, participants in Macao came from associations covering various industries and professions, as well as corporates that organize

Friday, November 15, 2019 B3

SMFB to sell ₧15 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds

S

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

AN Miguel Food and Beverage Inc. announced plans to sell P15 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds, the proceeds of which SMFB said it will use to redeem its Series 2 perpetual preferred shares.

The bonds will be issued in two series: a five-year Series A bonds due 2025 and a seven-year Series B bonds due 2027.

“The net proceeds from the offer shall be used to fund the redemption of the outstanding 15 million Series 2 perpetual preferred shares of SMFB to be redeemed [on March 12, 2020] at a redemption price of P1,000 per share,” the company said in its prospectus it filed before the Securities and Exchange Commission last Thursday.

The bonds shall be issued in scripless form in minimum denominations of P50,000 each, and in integral

multiples of P10,000 thereafter, and traded in denominations of P10,000 in the secondary market, it said.

The company said it appointed BDO Capital and Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., Philippine Commercial Capital Inc., PNB Capital and Investment Corp., RCBC Capital Corp. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as its lead underwriters and book runners and Bank of Commerce as selling agent.

Shares of SMFB closed higher by P0.10 on November 14 to close at P91.80 per share.

Income of SMFB, the combined

food and beverage companies of the conglomerate, was flat at P22.92 billion during the three quarters of the year ending September; consolidated operating income was also steady at P33.58 billion.

Consolidated revenues grew 10 percent to P226.36 billion from P206.82 billion on steady volume expansion across key products.

SMFB said its consolidated operating income recovered in the third quarter with an 8-percent growth as poultry supply stabilized.

“Despite the challenges, we remain confident about the strength of the consumer sector and the overall Philippine economy. We will continue to develop products that are relevant to our target market and make those available in a fresh and timely manner,” Ramon S. Ang, SMFB president and CEO, said. “We are committed to delivering strong financial returns over the long term through our diversified and sustainable portfolio of businesses.”

For the nine-month period, total food revenues increased by 6 percent to P101.05 billion.

“Strong consumer demand continued to buoy its prepared and

packaged food segment, which posted double-digit growth of 13 percent, particularly its processed meats, dairy and spreads business.

The group has implemented various programs to ease pressure on margins, including growing its value-added business for more stable margins,” it said.

The firm’s beer business continued to drive SMFB’s results with strong revenue and volume growth, particularly from its domestic operations.

Revenues were up 11 percent to P103.88 billion, backed by a 9-percent domestic volume growth. Despite what is typically a seasonally weak third quarter, sales and marketing campaigns enabled domestic volumes to grow.

“For the remainder of the year, the company will continue its marketing programs to capitalize on the holiday season,” it said.

Meanwhile, the company’s spirits and liquor business, mainly contributed by Ginebra San Miguel, continued its growth trajectory, with revenues growing by 20 percent to P21.43 billion, while volumes grew 15 percent.

Hong Kong money markets show investor calm is cracking

C

RACKS are starting to emerge in Hong Kong’s money markets, as traders speculate the local dollar’s resilience to increasingly violent protests won’t last.

Hong Kong stocks were already showing signs of stress, losing 5 percent over the past week. Now, liquidity conditions in the foreignexchange market are the tightest since the late 1990s, or the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis. Interbank rates are climbing—making funding costs more expensive for banks—while a gauge of expected swings in the Hong Kong dollar is near its highest in a month.

The moves come as disruption hits a new level of intensity, with protesters paralyzing the city with

meetings and incentive travels.

Use different educational session formats, speaking styles, and venue setups to induce more interactive discussions and networking.

In Macao, there were as many room settings for as many plenaries and concurrent sessions. In the plenary room, for instance, there was an array of furniture—beanbags, lounging chairs, bar stools, desks and tables of all shapes and sizes —including football tables and a pledge wall surrounded by green plants and décor.

Vary time of starting and ending sessions and allow for white spaces for peer learning and use technology for content dissemination. After each plenary session, instead of the usual Q&A, PCMA organized “after session chats” with speakers for a more in-depth learning experience.

So, next time that you plan and organize an event for your association, consider the nontraditional way and be ready to disrupt and deliver.

The column contributor, Octavio Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific , and CEO and founder of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives.

The PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 7 on November 27 and 28, 2019, at the Philippine International Convention Center, which is expected to draw over 200 association professionals here and abroad. The two-day event is supported by Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap.org for more details on AS7.

blockades and as tear gas swirls through the central business district.

The Hong Kong dollar briefly erased gains Thursday after the Global Times said in a since-deleted tweet that the government is expected to announce a curfew for the weekend.

With cash supply already under pressure due to demand for Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s massive public offering and banks’ seasonal cash requirements, this week’s violence has revived concern that the protests could eventually lead to capital flight.

The city’s economy has crashed into recession, amid plummeting tourism and retail sales.

The evidence of outflows has so far been mostly reassuring. But a sustained flight could push the Hong

Kong dollar weaker, prompting authorities to defend the currency’s peg to the greenback. That would mop up more liquidity and send borrowing costs even higher, affecting everything from mortgage rates to corporate funding.

The Hong Kong dollar’s threemonth forward points, a gauge of liquidity in the foreign-exchange market, soared to the highest level since September 1999 this week.

The moves “signify an increase in risk-aversion to Hong Kong dollar assets,” Chun Him Cheung, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, writes in a note.

Investors are also pricing in further tightness in the longer term. The cost of Hong Kong dollar 12-month

interest-rate swaps, an indicator of traders’ bets on future liquidity in the interbank market, jumped this month to the highest level in nearly a year.

The Hong Kong dollar’s six-month implied volatility surged to the highest level since mid-October, suggesting traders are pricing in bigger swings in the currency.

Despite the cash squeeze, the Hong Kong dollar itself hasn’t touched the weak end of its trading band against the greenback since May. Bolstering that resilience, according to OCBC Wing Hang Bank Ltd., is confidence that the city will remain a financial hub and what’s perceived to be a lack of massive outflows—for now. Bloomberg News

Metrobank Group’s leasing, finance unit to list ₧4.16-B bonds on PDEx platform

O

RIX Metro Leasing and Finance Corp., the leasing and finance arm of the Metrobank Group, will list today P4.16billion worth of fixed-rate bonds on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx). The maiden bond offering of P2 billion was oversubscribed 2.2 times when it was launched on October 24, according to Orix Metro. It added this shows high market demand for the bond offer from a company recognized as one of the leading market players in the country.

“We are grateful for the outcome which shows our clients’ trust and confidence in Orix Metro,” Constancio B. Tan, the company’s president, said.

“The issuance is a milestone in our 42-year track record in the leasing and finance industry—a testament to our company’s strength and innovation that contributed to our sustained growth and profitability over the years,” Tan added.

The company attributed the success of its bond market debut to its status as one of the country’s leading and most profitable leasing and financing companies, its strong shareholders and highly experienced management team. The issuance is the first tranche of the company’s 10-billion peso-denominated debt securities program approved by its board of directors. It has an interest rate of 4.55 percent per year to be paid quarterly over two years.

ING Bank NV Manila Branch acted as sole arranger of the issuance, while First Metro Investment Corp., Metrobank’s investment banking arm, was the company’s financial adviser and acted as selling agent together with its parent firm.

Orix Metro, a joint venture of Metrobank, FMIC and Orix Corp., is considered a pioneer in the leasing industry in Japan. Orix Metro claims to be one of the country’s leading leasing and financing companies with services that include operating lease, financial lease, mortgage loan, receivables discounting and warehouse leasing. It has 112 branches and has 8,046 cars, pickups, vans and light trucks under its full service operating lease and fleet management. VG Cabuag

B4 Friday, November 15, 2019

Load more and earn more with Chenglong Truck

S

TONEBROTHERS Incorporated recently launched a new line of Chenglong Motor Cargo Series at its showroom located at 1174 Edsa Balintawak, Quezon City, where clients, friends and family gathered to celebrate this new milestone.

Richardson Chua, President of Stonebrothers Inc., welcomed the guests by sharing the company’s goal and that is “To provide value adding products that will help build this country in the most effective, efficient and outstanding way possible."

The company has successfully established a name in the trucks distribution business since assuming the role as the main distributor of Chenglong Motor in the Philippines in 2016. Since then, it has been creating a strong relationship with the biggest names in the construction industry as their clienteles, such as DMCI, Equiparco, Montescarlos,

Jargon Construction and Carwill Construction, to name a few. With more than 5 decades of expertise in manufacturing over 2.7 million trucks, and counting, Chenglong Motor lives up to their goal in making every truck, every unit, more reliable and durable as they upgrade and expand their product lines.

Cao Fei, Deputy Director of Chenglong Motor to the Philippines, presented the features of the new Chenglong Light Truck (L3), a highend light truck that can load up-to 15 tons and has a horsepower of 160 to 180ps that can carry a cargo container 14ft. to 22ft. long.

Next up is the Chenglong M3, a high-end medium truck that can load up-to 25 tons, has horsepower of 200 to 220ps and can carry a cargo container from 22ft to 32ft. long. The M3 has a triple layer chassis that gives it an extra super loading power.

Fei highlighted 3 Value Loading key points of the Cargo Light Truck series. First is its design plan that ensures clients that their trucks work efficiently for them to help their business grow; Second is that clients will experience a significant decrease in downtime that helps earn more profit with less cost from the truck; and lastly, the trucks conform to the good reputation of the brand that reflects on its remarkable performance.

A Durability Test was also performed as proof of the truck’s strength and endurance. Mr. Fei initiated the test, followed by some of the employees of StoneBrothers Inc. and chosen guests by hitting the dumb box of the Chenglong Motor Dump Truck. As a bonus, some of the guests got the chance to test drive the Chenglong Motor Cargo Truck outside of the showroom and they gave twothumbs up for a wonderful experience.

Philippine delegation makes good at Enactus 2019 World Cup

E

NACTUS Philippines (EP) Chairman, Jose P. Leviste, Jr., and EP Country Leader, Atty. Leo G. Dominguez, announce exciting results from the 2019 Enactus World Cup held in San Jose, California, USA from September 16-18, 2019. The 2019 Enactus World Cup Champion is Enactus Egypt represented by Cairo University, which empowered women with their Rosie Project.

The Philippine delegation continues to make us proud. Congratulations to Joas Gersava, winner of the Enactus Global Alumni Award - Action Accelerator. He is an Enactus alumni from Sultan Kudarat State University - Isulan, who was recognized for advancing existing initiatives in his own and other organizations into actionable SDG solutions.

Also, our national student team from Holy Trinity College of General Santos City had the

opportunity to present their Go Organic, Live Dynamic (GOLD) project, which has helped over 60 socially challenged individuals become more resilient and environmentally conscious.

Their projects are the Grav A Tea and Wild Castor Ointment, created by the Enactus HTC team with their chosen communities.

Enactus Philippine thanks our sponsors: EEI Corporation, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, OceanaGold Philippines, Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Company of Manila, Unilever, Sindicatum Sustainable Resources, Inc. and our institutional partners: KPMG R.G. Manabat, Quisumbing Torres (Baker McKenzie) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The 2020 Enactus World Cup will be held in the City of Utrecht, the Netherlands from September 8-10, 2020

“Leadership, Readiness and Maturity”- Haidee Enriquez shares new perspectives at Philippine HR Summit

H KNOWING MATTERS:

Early Detection of Pre-eclampsia for a Safe and Healthy Pregnancy

W

OMEN are generally healthconscious during pregnancy. But no matter how cautious a woman can be, adverse situations may still arise and one of these is the development of preeclampsia.

Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy marked by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine (proteinuria). The cause of pre-eclampsia remains unknown but studies have shown that it affects blood flow in the placenta, which can lead to pregnancy-induced hypertension and fetal complications such as intrauterine growth restriction and prematurity. Left untreated, it may progress into more severe conditions like eclampsia, wherein the mother develops seizures, and on one extreme, may unfortunately lead to death. Various reports show that 5-8% of pregnancies are affected by preeclampsia worldwide, with 76,000 maternal and 500,000 fetal deaths yearly. In the Philippines, eclampsia was the leading cause of maternal death (19.6%) based on local statistics (PSA, 2015).

Although the blood pressure of pregnant women tends to decrease in the first trimester, early screening to predict pre-

eclampsia can be performed at this time.

By the second trimester, symptoms of preeclampsia may begin to appear. Undiagnosed and untreated, pre-eclampsia may lead to early delivery during the third trimester.

Thus, when it comes to pre-eclampsia, timing is of the essence. The earlier women at high risk for pre-eclampsia are identified, the better the outcome for both Mommy and baby.

To date, the most sensitive first trimester test for pre-eclampsia is PLGF 1-2-3. It is the 2nd generation PLGF assay, and when it is used in combination with a comprehensive first trimester screening program that includes maternal medical history and mean arterial blood pressure, women at high risk for pre-eclampsia can be identified long before symptoms appear. The PLGF 1-23 assay can also be used in the second and third trimester of pregnancy for effective reassessment, monitoring, or diagnosis.

Hi-Precision Diagnostics, the country’s leading medical diagnostics laboratory, offers PLGF 1-2-3 in conjunction with the following pre-eclampsia screening tests: • Pre-eclampsia screening for 1st trimester – screening test for preeclampsia for patients in their 1st

trimester of pregnancy o PLGF 1-2-3 (placental growth factor) o PAPP-A (pregnancy-associated plasma protein A) o Risk assessment for pre-eclampsia • Pre-eclampsia screening for 2nd and 3rd trimester – screening for risk of pre-eclampsia for patients in their 2nd/3rd trimester of pregnancy o PLGF 1-2-3 o Risk assessment for pre-eclampsia Early detection of pre-eclampsia can save lives! Ask about PLGF 1-2-3, the preeclampsia test. Call Hi-Precision Diagnostics’ hotline: 8741-7777.

AIDEE C. Enriquez, Sitel Group’s Chief People Officer-PHANZ joined the Philippine HR Summit for a panel session entitled “Young Leaders Maturity”.

The interactive panel focused on best practices and perspectives on developing leadership maturity particularly amongst the young generation.

As shared by Enriquez: “One of the top challenges in people management, particularly in hyper-growth industries like the IT-BPM sector is leadership readiness and maturity.

Sitel is a true representation of a modern, borderless and global work environment, with four generations represented in our workforce. So we recognize the importance of developing leaders who are adept at leading across generations and geographies. Hence, we have created an ecosystem where these diverse associates have opportunities to connect, work with and learn from one another.

Enriquez cited examples like Workplace, a social and digital channel for connecting all of Sitel’s 75,000 associates globally, and The Empower Center, where associates are provided self-directed web learning content and the chance to attend virtual classes with participants from all over the world.

She further explained: “The company strives to bring together its large diverse workforce and harness its collective genius through shared experiences. At Sitel, cross-functional, cross-geographical, crossgenerational project teams are quite the norm, and coaching and mentoring programs are

provided to young leaders to fast-track their development. We also have programs like Sitel Fit, where Sitel’s associates in 25 countries challenged each other to promote health and well-being and to support their chosen charity. Through formal and informal means, potential leaders are provided opportunities to develop new skills, learn from the experiences of others, and be part of a community that helps shape the future of Sitel”.

Now on its 12th year, the Philippine HR Summit gathers human resource professionals to highlight the strategic importance of HR to the success of any organization, and has served as a venue to share best practices in various aspects of people management.

Geeks invades the tent at Solaire as ManiPopCon opens

I

T has been said that we are currently living in the golden age of geeks, and once-niche interests and hobbies are now mainstream.

The Manila Pop Culture Convention, or ManiPopCon, will host different geekdoms under one convention. Producers Marco Aventajado and Freddie Tan are hoping that conventioneers can geek-out for two days in the 2,400-square meter Tent at Solaire in Solaire Resort and Casino, Pasay City.

The convention will have tabletop games, collectible card games, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), miniature wargames, geek sundries, toys, Funko Pops, adult collectibles, comic books, science fiction, eSports, VR games, midway games, cosplay, mascots, and celebrities you didn’t know were geeks.

ManiPopCon is divided into sectors.

Laro will be the center of all the games.

Highlighting this 680-seat sector are the Magic: The Gathering (MTG) National Tournament Gold Rush 2019 presented by Ludus Distributors; and the Epic Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) event, the Conclave 2019, presented by the Greasy Snitches. Gold Rush 2019 aims to have more than 500 participants while The Conclave will have 100 and 200-player Epic Adventures. There will also be tournaments and demos of

Warhammer 40,000, Transformers TCG and KeyForge, not to mention dozens of tabletop games including the Filipino classic, Game of the Generals. There will also be side events for MTG and D&D. Concourse de Geek will have ManiPopCon event partners and sponsors’ booths as well purveyors of toys and VR games. Cignal’s booth will be where the eSports geeks will be congregating with tournaments for Mobile Legends, Tekken 7 and DOTA VR for in-game prizes and gear. ABS-CBN will be bringing the Ravelo Komiks Universe heroes so guests can line up for selfies with Darna, Lastikman and Captain Barbell.

On top of all the fun activities during the convention, there will be also an after-party, called “ManiPopCon After Dark”. At 10:30 pm on Saturday, Latin-inspired restaurant Waterside will be featuring premier stand-up comic Mike Unson, disco music by DJ Boyet Sison, and spoken word by the artists of Collaboratory Ph. Tickets for ManiPopCon After Dark is P500 with a drink and will be available at the Waterside.

ManiPopCon is on November 16 and 17.

Doors open at 10 am. Tickets are available at the entrance or through www.ticketworld. com.ph. Kids below 10 years old get in for free. The convention is co-presented by Solaire, Cignal, and Ludus.

A CRICKET ISSUE: MENTAL HEALTH BANGLADESH’S Mushfiqur Rahim (left) and Mahmudullah (second from left) take drinks during the first day of first cricket test match between India and Bangladesh in Indore, India, on Thursday. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

C1

| Friday, November 15, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Tour de France ‘eternal runner-up’ Poulidor dies at 83 B

RUSSELS—Raymond Poulidor, the “eternal runner-up” whose repeated failure to win the Tour de France helped him conquer French hearts and become the country’s all-time favorite cyclist, has died. He was 83.

Decades after his career ended, Poulidor was still adored in a nation where sports fans love to pull for “magnificent losers.” The fact he never wore the yellow jersey—and never quite got the better of his rivals Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx—became his trademark. Outside of cycling’s circles, his status as a nearly man eclipsed the achievements of Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, the two French members of the elite club of five-time Tour winners.

“His feats, his panache, his courage will forever remain engraved in our memories,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “Poupou, forever the yellow jersey in French hearts.”

Over his 17-year-career, Poulidor—who was nicknamed “Poupou”—secured a record eight podium finishes at the Tour de France, cycling’s showpiece event, but could never reach Paris in the famed yellow tunic worn by the race leader after each stage.

“The cycling world loses a monument, an icon. You cannot imagine how much Poupou was loved in France,” Merckx, another five-time Tour winner, said in an interview with the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad. “We have Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as unforgettable cyclists in France, but you can safely put Raymond Poulidor among them.”

Poulidor died early Wednesday in his hometown of Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat, in central France, according to town officials.

He had been hospitalized last month after a bout of fatigue this summer during the Tour, where he worked every year as an ambassador for the yellow jersey’s sponsor. Ironically, considering he never got to wear it during his racing career, he wore a yellow shirt every day for this activity during the grueling race.

The son of sharecroppers, Poulidor took part in 14 Tours from 1962 to 1976. He finished in second place three times and was third five times.

A lovable and down-to-earth competitor, he kept the same warmth and approachability after his career ended, always up for a chat with his admirers and ready to sign autographs or pose for pictures.

Fans loved the genial Poupou across the country. Two years ago, he shared a warm greeting with Macron after a stage of the 104th edition of the race.

“He was a man of the people and never forgot where he came from” Tour Director Christian Prudhomme told The Associated Press. “He spoke to people in the same manner, no matter if they were the French president or fans lining up the roads. He will be remembered as someone generous who rubbed shoulders with the greatest champions, who never complained and came very close to the [Holy] Grail [of cycling]. A giant has passed.”

Poulidor turned professional in 1960 and achieved much success with the French Mercier team before he retired in 1977, a year after he finished third in his final Tour de France behind Lucien Van Impe and Joop Zoetemelk at the age of 40.

His career came during an era of greatness in cycling and wedged him between two superbly strong riders in Anquetil and Merckx.

Despite just falling short at the Tour, Poulidor was more than merely a second fiddle. He was an all-rounder graced by great climbing skills and posted prestigious wins at the Milan-San Remo and Walloon Arrow classics, the Spanish Vuelta—his only Grand Tour win—and the Paris-Nice stage race.

In 1962, he made his Tour debut with a broken finger and put on a great show in the Alps to win a daunting stage featuring five climbs with a commanding three-minute lead.

Two years later, Poulidor started the 1964 Tour as favorite, having won the Vuelta earlier that year. After dropping Anquetil during a Pyrenean stage, he reached the top of the port d’Envalira climb with a three-minute lead over his cycling nemesis.

But Anquetil rode at breakneck speed in the descent to catch up with his rival, before Poulidor hit the tarmac in the fog and eventually lost two minutes.

At the 1968 Tour, he was involved in a serious crash after a motorbike knocked him over and fell on top of him.

“When I was hit by the motorbike, I was almost dead on the side of the road,” Poulidor told the AP in an interview four years ago, recalling the incident.

Despite all the hard luck, Poulidor wasn’t bitter.

“I was unlucky, but the bike brought me more than it cost me,” he once said, summing up his career. AP

IN this July 14, 1964, file picture, French cycling ace Jacques Anquetil (left) wins his fifth Tour de France as he rides an honor round with runner-up Raymond Poulidor at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. AP

B

By John Pye

The Associated Press

RISBANE, Australia—A serious health concern is emerging in Australian cricket.

The first test of the home summer starts in Brisbane next week and Australia has three players out of the selection frame because of mental-health reasons.

Veteran all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and extest batman Nic Maddinson made themselves unavailable for the series against Pakistan before 21-year-old Will Pucovksi informed selectors that he didn’t want to be considered for national duties.

Pucovski was playing in an Australia A tour game against Pakistan in Perth when he made the call, and the decision was announced Thursday, hours before Australia’s chairman of selectors, Trevor Hohns, was due to announce the test squad.

The mental-health issue isn’t isolated or, seemingly, new in cricket.

Senior England batsmen have left tours going back more than a decade because of mental-health issues.

And India Captain Virat Kohli spoke openly this week about his own struggles. Kohli is one of the world’s premier batsmen and respected leaders, and is involved in a home series against Bangladesh.

“I’ve gone through a phase in my career where I felt like it was the end of the world,” he told a news conference in India. “In England 2014, I didn’t know what to do, what to say to anyone, and how to speak and how to communicate. And to be honest, I couldn’t have said ‘I’m not feeling great mentally and I need to get away from the game.’ Because you never know how that’s taken.”

That kind of statement is being taken seriously by the sport’s administrators now.

Cricket Australia National Teams Manager Ben Oliver commended Pucovski “for having the courage to discuss his situation.”

“Will’s decision not to nominate for test selection was the right one in the circumstances,” Oliver said. “By Will bravely taking this position, he will undoubtedly inspire others facing similar challenges to speak up and take positive steps toward improving their mental well-being.

“The most important thing now is for Will to be given the time, space and expert support that he needs to return to full health as soon as possible.”

The 31-year-old Maxwell, who has played seven tests, 110 one-day internationals and 61 Twenty20 internationals, has been in and out of the Australian team throughout his career. He withdrew from selection during a series against Sri Lanka last month.

Maddinson, who was rushed into the Australian team against South Africa in 2016, has played three tests but didn’t appear comfortable at the highest level of the game. He ruled himself out of national selection not long after Maxwell’s announcement last month.

Pucovski played the first of his 18 first-class games in 2017.

He has a high score of 243 and a first-class average of almost 41. He was set for a test debut in January but withdrew, citing mental-health issues. He was back in calculations for this southern summer before making the same call.

Cricket Australia’s Sports Medicine Manager, Alex Kountouris, said player welfare was paramount.

“There is much society still needs to learn in relation to mental health, but we know enough to say with great certainty that silence is not the answer,” Kountouris said. “Will has demonstrated great strength in being open about his situation. While no one wants to see a fine young man like Will confronting mental wellbeing issues, we are heartened by the fact he is surrounded by excellent people who will support him.”

Kohli described the example set by Maxwell as “remarkable.”

“He set the right example for cricketers all over the world— that if you’re not in the best frame of mind, you try and try and try, but as human beings you reach a tipping point and you need time away from the game,” Kolhi said. “These things should be respected and not taken in a negative way.

“This is happening on a human level, it’s got nothing to do with what you do on the field. It’s not having the capacity anymore to deal with [everything], which I think can happen to any person in any walk of life.”

Ex-England Captain Marcus Trescothick quit a tour of India in 2006, initially cited a viral problem, but later said it was related to mental health.

“I didn’t have a clue what was happening. I wasn’t aware of depression but whatever was going on, I didn’t want to have to say anything about it on TV,” Trescothick told Men’s Health magazine in 2016. “I was terrified.

“There was a lot of naivety and ignorance. People would say ‘What do you have to be depressed about? You play cricket for England. You travel the world. You get paid well.’ To try and experience the dark place when you’ve never experienced it is very tough.”

England opener Jonathan Trott left an Ashes series in Australia after one test in 2013, saying later he’d struggled in the previous series and didn’t know how to cope.

So-called mental toughness has long been a part of cricket, where sledging—often nasty banter between players—was a fundamental part of the game. That has been changing over the last decade. Cricket Australia has had a full-time sports psychologist working with national teams and player development squads.

Robert Craddock, a long-time cricket analysist and television host in Australia, said cricket was facing a mental-health crisis. He said while it may not be a contact sport “its mental challenges, with so much waiting time, are much tougher than they look.”

“Even though cricket is only starting to go public with its mental issues, it has always been a supremely demanding mental game,” Craddock wrote in a column for News Corp. “The victory of the current crisis is that at least players are talking.

“If the current issues have taught us anything it is that success and failure can sometimes have little to do with it, and that the causes of the anguish are many and varied.”

C2

Spo

Business

Friday, November 15, 2019

LAKERS STORM PAST HOBBLED WARRIORS L

OS ANGELES—No Anthony Davis for the first time this season, no problem for the Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron James had 23 points and 12 assists in three quarters, Kyle Kuzma and JaVale McGee dominated the middle, and the Lakers rolled past the hobbled Golden State Warriors, 120-94, on Wednesday night in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Kuzma scored 22 points starting for Davis, and McGee had 18 points and 17 rebounds.

“Our bigs were amazing,” James said. “They controlled the interior both offensively and defensively.”

The Lakers improved their NBA-best record to 9-2 without Davis, who was held out because of a sore right shoulder.

“If one of our stars go down, we have to pick up for him,” McGee said.

The Lakers had 31 assists in the second half of a back-to-back. Their 39 at Phoenix a night earlier was the franchise’s most since April 14, 2009. They notched 31 against defending NBA champion Toronto.

“We know we’re very good when we’re moving the ball,” said James, adding that assists totaling in the high 20s to 30s “let’s me know we’re definitely paying attention.”

James and Co. didn’t waste any time breaking out. He won the opening tip and McGee scored off his alley-oop pass. James keyed a 12-0 run with six points in the first quarter when the Lakers shot 70 percent and made five 3-pointers. Their 38 points tied a season high for points in a quarter.

Los Angeles extended its lead to 18 points in the second. The Warriors scored 11 in a row to get

within seven, but the Lakers quickly restored their lead to double digits at halftime. James’s vicious one-handed dunk riled up the crowd. Their 67 points tied a season high for points in a half.

Former Laker D’Angelo Russell scored 21 points for the Warriors, who lost their fifth in a row and fell to 2-10, worst in the West.

“We’re playing hard, but we have defensive lapses and it adds up,” Russell said. “We have to figure it out. We have guys that are capable, but we have to continue to learn.”

Golden State is but a shadow of the franchise that made five straight NBA Finals appearances.

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are injured, and Kevin Durant departed in the off-season.

“We’re getting a great effort but we’re not executing,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “Right now, we’re taking our licks and we must learn from our mistakes. Our young guys are learning by getting thrown into the fire.”

Twice the Lakers led by 23 in the third, the second time on a 3-pointer by Dwight Howard.

He finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Los Angeles extended its lead to 27 in the fourth. McGee’s one-handed reverse dunk highlighted a 14-5 opening run.

“We did a good job locking in on defense and put a lot of pressure on the paint,” Kuzma said.

James sat out the final period, but he still assisted, pulling Davis and DeMarcus Cousins out of their seats to join the team during a timeout.

The Toronto Raptors defense, meanwhile, gave the team another reason to celebrate.

The Raptors held Damian Lillard to just nine points in a 114-106 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Pascal Siakam scored 36 points and Fred VanVleet had 30, but the story for Toronto was a defense that made life difficult for yet another star player on their road trip.

After holding LeBron James to 13 points and Kawhi Leonard to just 12 points in their last two games, taking Lillard out of the equation was another notch on the belt for the defending champions.

“It’s the defense,” VanVleet said. “Offense comes and goes but defense has been pretty consistent for us. The good thing about our game is that most superstars are pretty unselfish so if you throw two or three guys at them they’re passing. We want to make them pass and make somebody else make shots.”

LEBRON JAMES has 23 points and 12 assists in three quarters as the Lakers roll past the hobbled Warriors, 120-94, on Wednesday night. AP

“They’re really trying to guard from the start of the game to the end,” Raptors Coach Nick Nurse said of his team. “I always talk about, can we execute our schemes, where we’re supposed go and they’re doing pretty good job of that.”

Siakam scored 13 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter to help close out the Trail Blazers and help Toronto bounce back from Monday night’s loss to the LA Clippers.

“It felt like college a little bit just posting up every possession. It was fun,” Siakam said.

“That hasn’t happened in a while.”

Rodney Hood led the Blazers with 25 points. AP

Alab eyes bounce back in ABL

RAFAEL NADAL saves match point in the hard-earned victory. AP

T Nadal labors past Medvedev for first victory at ATP Finals

L

ONDON—Facing match point at 5-1 down in the third set, Rafael Nadal gave himself about a one-in-a-thousand chance of turning things around against Daniil Medvedev at the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Finals.

Those odds turned out to be more than good enough for the top-ranked Spaniard.

Nadal saved that match point with a perfect drop shot and then rallied to beat Medvedev 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (4) Wednesday, keeping alive his chances of advancing from the group stage.

“Today is one of those days that one out of 1,000 you win and it happened today,” Nadal said. ”In that moment [facing match point], what you think is probably in five minutes you are in the locker room, because that’s the more normal thing. In that moment, you play with not much pressure because you are almost lost.”

Nadal looked headed for a second straight loss at the season-ending tournament but won five games in a row to go 6-5 up in the deciding set. In the tiebreaker, Medvedev missed a routine forehand to hand Nadal a match point and then sent a backhand just wide. That shot was initially called in but was overturned by Hawk-Eye after Nadal challenged the decision.

The win gives Nadal a 1-1 record after two round-robin matches, while Medvedev fell to 0-2.

In the late match, Stefanos Tsitsipas beat defending champion Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-2 for his second straight win, a result that guarantees him a place in the semifinals. The other three players all still have a chance of advancing.

Tsitsipas, who is making his debut at the tournament for the world’s top 8 players after a breakthrough season, broke Zverev for a 5-3 lead in the first set and then twice more to go 5-1 up in the second.

With dozens of Greek flags being waved around the O2 Arena, Tsitsipas then served out the match with an ace.

“Once again, it was not just me out there, but a whole bunch of excited people that came to support me,” said Tsitsipas, the first Greek player to qualify for the event. “It was a crew situation.”

Zverev could still advance with a win over Medvedev on Friday, and he also lost his second round-robin match last year on his way to the title.

“Things are still in my hands, and I’m looking forward to it, because I can still decide whether I’m here on Saturday or not,” the German said. “There is nothing I can do about today now. He played a fantastic match, I thought. I played really bad.”

Tsitsipas said he was playing with a pain-killing injection in his foot because of an injury but pledged to treat his match with Nadal as a must-win situation even though he’s already through to the semifinals.

“I’m going to try to give my soul, and I think it’s also a very good challenge for me in order to prepare for more difficult matches in the semifinals and the final potentially, so this match is going to give me a lot,” he said. “It’s going to educate me, and I’m going to try to get and absorb as much as I can from that.” AP

HE Asean Basketball League (ABL) is back for its 10th season and the Philippines’s very own San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas is ready to bounce back from an early exit last season when the games open this Sunday.

San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas goes up against Thailand’s Mono Vampire. The games will air on ABS-CBN S+A and iWant at 7 p.m.

Against Thailand’s Mono Vampire, San Miguel-Alab Pilipinas will debut a retooled team led by holdovers Lo Domingo and Brandon Rosser with new additions—former De La Salle Green Archer Andrei Caracut, former ABL Finals MVP Jason Brickman and Jeremiah Gray.

Also in the roster are former Batang Gilas member Jordan Heading, former National University bigman Tzaddy Rangel, veteran

professional and former Letran Knight center Aaron Aban, and former University of Santo Tomas standout Louie Vigil.

Serving as world imports for Coach Jimmy Alapag’s squad are Adrian Forbes, Khalif Wyatt and Nick King.

Aside from Alab and Mono Vampire, eight other teams are seeing action this season. They are the Hong Kong Eastern, Singapore Slingers, Saigon Heat, Macau Black Bears, Formosa Dreamers, Fubon Braves, Westports Malaysia Dragons and the Wolf Warriors.

After winning the ABL crown in Season 8 in dramatic fashion, Alab was booted out during the quarterfinals of Season 9. Can Alab recover its moxie and stamp its class once more on an open field for ABL supremacy?

2k runners join Clark City run

S

OME 2,000 running enthusiasts from nearby communities recently flocked at the Clark City Marathon (CCM) 2019 held inside this Freeport.

With the goal of promoting a healthy lifestyle, the activity featured various distances such as 42 kms, 21 kms, 10 kms and 5 kms categories.

Aside from engaging the public about health awareness and physical fitness, CCM also served as a fund-raising activity to help and give assistance to cancer patients in Pampanga.

Like one of the many regular running activities in this Freeport, the CCM 2019 similarly promotes Clark as one the premier sports destinations not only in the country but also across Southeast Asia.

With a total of 1,100 runners who participated in the same event last year, the CCM organizers envision to motivate more participants in the coming years. To stay updated on CCM’s running activities, follow their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ClarkCityMarathon.

‘SiPons’ tandem gets needed exposure ahead of SEA Games

T

HE Philippines’s biggest medal hopes in the 30th Southeast Asian Games—Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons—hope to make a huge impact in the Rebisco Beach Volleyball International Open which starts Friday at the Sands at SM By The Bay. Twenty teams will compete in doublegender tournament presented by Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. in cooperation with Beach Volleyball Republic.

Games will start at 7:30 a.m. and admission is free.

“It’s for the experience and preparation for the Southeast Asian Games. We are very excited,” said Rondina, a four-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines champion for University of Santo Tomas.

Pons, who paired with Rondina in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 1-Star last May in Boracay, knows that the three-day spikefest will help them to improve their skills in the SEA Games.

“We need this exposure because of the

presence of foreign teams,” Pons said.

The pair has started training last September with Rondina and Pons focusing on their endurance and chemistry.

“Everyone knows how the ‘SiPons’ tandem works so we will do our best,” Rondina said.

The other Philippine women’s pair in the SEA Games set on November 29 at the Subic Tennis Courts is Dzi Gervacio and Dij Rodriguez.

Among the top international women’s teams to watch out in the tournament supported by Rebisco and backed by Liberty Insurance, Glorious Blend Coffee and Globe Telecom are Thailand’s Parawun Chanthawchai and Mukdao Suchamong, and Paweena Wongaksorn and Duanpen Arsa, and New Zealand’s Renei Ursem and Olivia MacDonald.

Other Filipinas competing are rising stars Babylove Barbon and Gen Eslapor of reigning UAAP champion University of Santo Tomas, and sand court veterans DM Demontaño and Jackie Estoquia of Sta. Lucia.

Tanduay Athletics Cebu spikefest up

T

HE Philippine Volleyball Federation-Tanduay Athletics U18 Girls “Series in Ur Cities’ Volleyball Cebu leg gets under way on Sunday at the Cebu City Sports Institute Gym. Eight school teams have confirmed their participation in the tournament held in close coordination with the Cebu City Sports Council.

The teams are Tejero Night High School, Oppa Night High School, Lahug Night High School, Basak Night High School, Inayawan Night High School, Abellana National School, Guba Night High School and Oppa National High School.

The organizers are bringing their own set of PVF duly accredited, licensed and loyal officials in an effort to cleanse their ranks in preparation for the federation’s reinstatement as the country’s national sports association for volleyball.

The PVF ranks have been tainted with turncoats and opportunists who jumped ship or maintained dual personalities to enjoy the benefits of being duly accredited and licensed referees of the PVF which have been a standard requirement for DepEd teachers.

A full complement of officials from the PVF affiliated Davao Volleyball Association of Davao City headed by Daks Yambao will be flying in on Saturday.

Complimentary drinks and lunch will be provided to all participants and officials.

The Cebu City Sports Council is providing the packed lunch while PVF, headed by Edgardo “Tito Boy” Cantada, is sourcing Cebu’s famous and well loved lechon. Fruit drinks will be provided free of charge by Tanduay Athletics.

The tournament is free of charge.

orts

sMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019

PAL INTERCLUB RETURNS TO BACOLOD

Coach Bo: Clueless on future at UP

D

REAMS turned to ashes and University of the Philippines (UP) Head Coach Bo Perasol knew nothing is certain from his standpoint in the aftermath of a painful series setback against University of Santo Tomas (UST).

The Fighting Maroons were strongly favored to return to the Finals with their major additions this Season 92 of the PERASOL University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

They lived up to expectations when they bagged the No. 2 seed and the twice to beat advantage with an 9-5 won-lost performance.

But their path was doomed when the Growling Tigers trapped drowned them in two games.

UP’s hopes were completely dashed when Renzo Subido, the veteran UST guard, buried a long triple over the defense of Bright Akhuetie that gifted the

B

ACOLOD City will host the 73rd Philippine Airlines Interclub and the 34th PAL Seniors golf team championships in February and March next year, according to Tournament Director Henry Arabelo.

The Men’s Regular team event is set March 4 to 7 next year with Cebu Country Club (CC) defending the overall title it won in historic fashion at its home ground last March.

Competing in the second-tier Founders division, Cebu CC amassed 516 points to beat Manila Southwoods by nine points.

It marked only the second time that a team outside the championship division won the Interclub. Veterans Golf Club first did the trick in 1988.

Luisita settled for third, 26 points off the pace.

The Seniors event, on the other hand, will be held from February 26 to 29, 2020, with defending champion Luisita and Canlubang renewing their rivalry.

Last March, Luisita staved off Canlubang’s final round rally to win by three points, collecting 569 points.

It was Luisita’s 17th crown, solidifying its status as the most successful club in the Seniors division.

Arabelo said invitations have been sent to local and foreign clubs.

Venues for both tournaments are the Negros Occidental Golf Country Club, more popularly known as Marapara, and the Bacolod City Golf and Country Club (Binitin).

The PAL Interclub is considered as the country’s premier team tournament that has produced the likes of Ben Arda, Golem Silverio, and Frankie Miñoza, among others.

Through the years, the event has grown in size and stature with the influx of international teams from the United States, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

Organizers have set aside three days for practice rounds for both the Regular and Seniors tournaments.

T

Jhonnel Ababa to actually give North the lead with one match left in another calm day at the well-kept par 72, 6960-yard layout.

But North missed completing a big rout as James Ryan Lam and Joenard Rates blew a threeup lead after nine holes and lost steam at the finish, enabling Tony Lascuña and Nilo Salahog to hack out with a two-up victory, their second straight, and salvage a key point for South.

Jay Bayron and Albin Engino earlier provided the other win for South via a 6&5 roll over Jobim Carlos and Jun Bernis.

With six points apiece in team play, the title chase comes down to individual skills with South out to exploit its edge, although North has the materials to slug it out shot-for-shot and putt-for-putt with its fancied rivals in the singles tipped to go down to the last pairing.

“They played hard to win and did it,” said North Coach Cookie La’O, who steered the team to a three-point win at John Hay last year that cut South’s Duel series’ lead to 2-3. “Now it’s even, I just hope they’ll duplicate their victory.”

As defending champion, North needs just

A TEAM North’s Mike Bibat and Fidel Concepcion get meticulous on the green. ROY DOMINGO

six wins in the singles to keep the crown while South must score 6.5 points to reclaim the championship in the highlight event of the 10th season of the Philippine Golf Tour sponsored

by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. South mentor Charles Hong expressed disappointment over his wards’ showing but remained hopeful they would still pull it off in the end and reclaim the crown worth P80,000 to each member.

“We’re all unhappy, disappointed over their mediocre play,” Hong rued. “There’s no more strategy in singles. It’s a test of individual skills.”

North looks to have the edge in the first face-off at 7:20 a.m. as Alido takes on Villacencio, while Pucay and Lascuña brace for a duel of veterans at 7:28 a.m., to be followed by the Quiban-Rufino Bayron clash, Jahns versus Ababa, Carlos against Engino, Rosales versus Balasabas, Gallardo against Menor, Bernis versus Jay Bayron, Lam against Salvador, Rates versus Jaraula, Concepcion versus Gialon and Bibat against Salahog.

KNIGHTS GO FOR ‘NC’ CROWN IN GAME TWO

FRAN YU will have to keep his momentum going for Letran in Game One.

W

ILL Letran wield the upset ax against back-against-the-wall defending champion San Beda?

Letran continues to come out smoking over its fabled rival San Beda University in Game Two of their best-of-three Finals on Friday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia, Pasay.

The Knights ended the Red Lions’ remarkable 32-game winning streak with a series-opening 65-64 win last Friday.

Letran is determined to regain the crown it last won in 2015, while putting its bitter rivals’ against the ropes.

San Beda is in danger of becoming the second team, after Lyceum of the Philippines University in 2017, to fail to clinch the throne after completing an 18-0 elimination round sweep.

“Before the Finals, I told my players to play for the alma mater. Play for the school,” Coach Bonnie Tan said.

The Knights won five Finals games against the Red Lions this decade. But Tan is bracing for a big San Beda comeback to send the series to a decider on Tuesday.

“They are the defending champions.

They are the three-time champions.

They have the experience,” Tan said.

“As a coach, we must be ready for any eventuality.”

Fran Yu was scintillating since the stepladder semifinals, carrying Letran this far in the season, while Jerrick Balanza and Larry Muyang were also solid in the opener.

Tigers a 68-65 win last Wednesday.

The UP players were in tears, but no other man was as disappointed than Perasol.

“For me, I wanted to rest and just watch from the sidelines,” the fourth-year UP coach said.

Under Perasol, the Fighting Maroons ended a 32-year Finals drought last season. The Cinderella run could have been completed, but Ateneo had other plans.

With the entry of Kobe Paras and Ricci Rivero, the chance of securing the crown was all-time high. But fate was just not on their side.

“We have set a bar. I hope it won’t deteriorate,” said Perasol, who admitted he is still clueless whether he will still sit as UP’s coach after the loss.

“It really depends on the administration,” he said. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Batang Pier’s Caram snares Player of the Week honors

NORTH TIES SOUTH, FORCES SHOOTOUT

EAM North struck back in foursomes, pulling of its own version of a 4-2 romp over South yesterday to force a tie at six and turning today’s 12 singles matches into a shootout for The Duel—North versus South crown at Santa Elena in Santa Rosa, Laguna, on Thursday.

The Northerners proved better in the tougher alternate shot format event with the Keanu Jahns-Gerald Rosales and Justin Quiban-Eric Gallardo pairs, which saved the team from South’s 4-2 charge in the four-ball Wednesday, sustaining their top form to trounce the Elmer Salvador-Reymon Jaraula and Arnold Villacencio-Rene Menor tandems, 3&2, and 4&2, respectively, and remain unbeaten in the country’s Ryder Cup-style format event.

Mars Pucay and Ira Alido, meanwhile, bounced back from a four-ball defeat to Salvador and Jaraula with a two-up escape over Zanieboy Gialon and Jerson Balasabas, while Michael Bibat and Eric Concepcion, likewise, rebounded from their previous losses with different teammates with a 4-3 victory over Rufino Bayron and

C3

The Knights may not have clinched the bulk of the individual awards that the Red Lions ran away with, but they are determined to claim the biggest prize.

“I told the boys that we didn’t get any award. But the most important is the championship,” Tan said.

On the brink of absorbing his first NCAA Finals loss, Coach Boyet Fernandez hopes the Red Lions have shaken off the Game One defeat that shattered the team’s cloak of invincibility.

The pressure of maintaining such a long streak that started in August last year took its toll on the Red Lions.

“The pressure is off our backs right now. Having a clean slate takes its toll on the players and the community, but we did that,” Fernandez said. “No one is to blame but ourselves.”

The league’s best shooting and passing team in the eliminations, San Beda went six-of-40 from beyond the arc and had 10 assists, with top assist man Evan Nelle, could only dish out one, in Game One. “I told the boys to accept the pain and think about what we did not do well.

Eventually, they need to think about what we did well. We held them to down 65 points after averaging 80 plus,” Fernandez said. “If we do that, we have a chance to win on Friday.” Ryniel Berlanga

NJO CARAM’S career game in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) couldn’t have come at a better time for Meralco.

The wily guard came through with a career-high 30 points in the Bolts’ 103-89 win over NorthPort Batang Pier that solidified their bid to finish as the No. 1 seeded team heading to the playoffs of the Governors Cup. Coach Norman Black described Caram’s performance as “awesome” after going 11-of-15 from the field, including four-of-six from three-point range. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter alone to match his previous career-best of 16.

“He really gave us a big lift and pretty much guided us to the victory,” said Black of his prized-guard out of San Beda. “So I gave him a lot of credit for leading the team. He knew going to the game that Baser [Amer] was not 100 percent and Anjo came and really stepped up and made big shots for us.”

Not to be denied, Caram emerged as the PBA Press Corps-Cignal Player of the Week for the period November 4 to 10.

The 28-year-old pride of Iloilo City did the feat by becoming the shortest PBA player at 5-foot-6

to score 30 points in a game as per league chief statistician Fidel Mangonon III. Caram’s offensive explosion helped the Bolts keep their winning streak at five and improved at 8-2 overall for a tie with NLEX on top of the standings with a week to go before the end of the eliminations.

Barangay Ginebra, meanwhile, tries to solidify its chance of getting a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs when it faces Columbian in the Governors’ Cup on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Gin Kings, running fourth with a 6-3 wonlost record, aim to win at least one of their remaining two matches to join Top 2 teams NLEX and Meralco, each toting 8-2 records, in the magic four.

Since the Road Warriors and the Bolts have locked in on the bonus, only two slots are available and Barangay Ginebra hopes to clinch one of the two spots when it meets Columbian (4-6) at 7 p.m.

In the 4:30 p.m. encounter, already ran Phoenix (2-8) and Blackwater (2-8) engage in their last schedule of the season.

Last week, the Gin Kings narrowly escaped third place TNT KaTropa (7-2) with a 96-93 win.

ASTROS EYE HISTORY

If the All-Star slugger is selected the American League’s Most Valuable Player when voting results are announced Thursday, the Astros will become the first team to have an MVP, Cy Young Award winner and Rookie of the Year in the same season ALEX BREGMAN has a strong case after his Houston team finishes with a major league-best 107 wins. AP

By Noah Trister

The Associated Press

A

LEX BREGMAN will try to give the Houston Astros an unprecedented sweep.

If the All-Star slugger is selected the American League’s Most Valuable Player when voting results are announced Thursday, the Astros will become the first team to have a MVP, Cy Young Award winner and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

Justin Verlander took Cy Young honors, and Yordan Álvarez was a unanimous pick as the AL’s top rookie.

Mike Trout is probably Bregman’s

Sports BusinessMirror

C4

top competition, and the National League (NL) MVP figures to come down to Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers or Christian Yelich of the Brewers, with Anthony Rendon of the Nationals also a worthy finalist.

Both MVP races were impacted by injuries. Trout was having another spectacular year for the Los Angeles Angels when right foot problems ended his season early. He did not play after September 7, and was limited to 134 games.

Trout still finished with a career-high 45 home runs, along with a .291 batting average, 104 RBIs, 110 runs and a 1.083 OPS. Trout won MVP awards in 2014 and 2016, and has finished in the top 2 in the voting six of the past seven years.

Bregman, however, has a strong case after his Houston team finished with a major league-best 107 wins. He hit .296 with 41 home runs, 112 RBIs, 122 runs and 119 walks. He also showed versatility by playing third base and shortstop.

Bregman played in 156 games, and that extra availability helped him match Trout in wins above replacement, a stat that always reflects well on the Los Angeles outfielder. Bregman finished at 8.4 WAR and Trout at 8.3, according to BaseballReference.com.

In the NL, Bellinger finished at 9.0 WAR and Yelich at 7.1, although the

| Friday, November 15, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

FanGraphs.com version of WAR has those two neck and neck. Again, availability was an issue. Yelich broke his kneecap late in the season and wasn’t able to play during the Brewers’ run to an NL wild card.

Yelich still might have done enough to win a second straight MVP award. The Milwaukee outfielder hit 44 home runs and won the so-called slash line Triple Crown by leading the NL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Yelich played in only 130 games, though. That’s not a deal breaker—Barry Bonds was the NL MVP in 2003 with 130 games played, and just last year, Mookie Betts of Boston won the AL award despite playing in only 136. But it may be hard for Yelich to beat out Bellinger, who led the NL in total bases and hit .305 with 47 homers in 156 games, while playing excellent defense.

Bellinger would be the first position player for the Dodgers to win MVP honors since Kirk Gibson in 1988, the year of the team’s most recent World Series title.

Rendon is another NL contender. He emerged as the World Series champion Nationals fought their way to the postseason after a poor start. The voting is done before the playoffs, so Rendon’s postseason performance won’t be a factor, but he’d already done plenty before that.

The 29-year-old third baseman hit .319 this year with 34 homers, and led the NL in doubles and RBIs.

ASTROS’ VERLANDER, METS’ DEGROM CAPTURE SECOND CY YOUNG AWARDS N EW YORK—Justin Verlander has a second American League (AL) Cy Young Award—and a clear path paved toward Cooperstown.

Verlander beat out Houston Astros teammate Gerrit Cole in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America revealed Wednesday night. Verlander got 17 first-place votes to 13 for Cole, who became a free agent after the season.

Mets ace Jacob deGrom won the National League (NL) prize for the second straight year. He received 29 of 30 first-place votes, becoming the 11th pitcher to win Cy Youngs in consecutive years.

He and Verlander are the 20th and 21st players to win the award multiple times.

The 36-year-old, Verlander, won his first Cy Young in 2011 with Detroit, when he was also named MVP. Since then, he’d been a runner-up three times.

“The adversity I went through puts a new perspective on everything,” he said. “I mean, still would’ve liked to have won a couple of them.”

Verlander continued a marvelous second act to his career since a 2017 trade from Detroit to Houston. He led the majors with 21 victories and padded his Hall of Fame resume by getting his 3,000th strikeout in his final start of the regular season. He also reached 300 punchouts in a season for the first time.

Verlander no-hit Toronto on September 1, becoming the sixth pitcher with three no-hitters in a career. He joined a group that includes Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Sandy

Koufax, Bob Feller and Cy Young, along with 1880s pitcher Larry Corcoran.

Forget about slowing down—Verlander’s goal this off-season is to add velocity to his top-end fastball. He’s thinking about using weighted balls and other new age throwing techniques.

“I will always try to push the boundaries of what I can do,” Verlander said. “If my body says, ‘Hold on, you can’t do that anymore,’ then I’ll pull back.”

The case between Verlander and Cole was tight. Cole had more strikeouts (326) and a lower ERA (2.50), but Verlander threw 10 2/3 more innings and won more games. They are the first set of teammates to finish 1-2 in AL voting—it’s happened five times in the NL. Verlander and Cole pitched Houston to the World Series, where Cole continued to dominate while Verlander faltered. The righthander lost twice to the champion Washington Nationals—a letdown not factored in voting that concluded before the postseason began.

He’s hoping to take another run at a title—with Cole—next season.

“I know that Gerrit had a great time playing here and I know he would like to return, if possible,”Verlander said. “But that is now on Gerrit and his family and people above me.”

Tampa Bay Rays righty Charlie Morton finished third a year after leaving Houston in free agency.

DeGrom is in special company as a repeat NL winner, joining Koufax, Greg Maddux,

Randy Johnson, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.

“It was a dream to play this game and a dream to win one Cy Young,” deGrom said.

“To win back-to-back was a goal. It’s hard to explain. You set these goals, but it almost doesn’t feel real, yet.”

The 31-year-old led the NL with 255 strikeouts and posted a 2.43 ERA. His resume was bolstered by his durability—deGrom totaled 204 innings, compared to 182 2/3 for runner-up Hyun-Jin Ryu and 172 1/3 for Scherzer, the Nationals ace who finished third.

A year after taking the award despite just 10 victories—fewest ever by a starting pitcher—deGrom earned 11 wins with a Mets team that’s struggled to support him.

After signing a $137.5-million, five-year deal to remain with New York, shortly before opening day, deGrom wasn’t so dominant early in the season. He got hit around in April and May, even allowing seven runs in an outing against the last-place Marlins.

The embarrassment in Miami was a wakeup call for the gritty deGrom. Following that loss, he went 8-3 with a 1.89 ERA over his final 23 starts. DeGrom wrapped up the season with 23 consecutive scoreless innings.

“I feel like I was trying to better what I did in 2018,” he said, adding “I think that was something I struggled with to start this year, was kind of dwelling on what happened last year. Kind of not focusing on the task ahead as much as I probably should have.” AP

JUSTIN VERLANDER (right) gets 17 first-place votes, while Jacob deGrom is in special company as a repeat winner. AP

Saudis, UAE, Bahrain now agree to play Qatar-hosted Gulf Cup

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates— Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will send their teams to Qatar for the Gulf Cup of Nations, reversing a decision to avoid playing in their neighboring country they have collectively boycotted for two-anda-half years.

The Saudi and UAE soccer bodies say they have accepted renewed invitations to play from the Doha-based Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation.

The November 24 to December 6, tournament should now include all eight federation members, including defending champion Oman.

The decision to play in Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host nation, suggests an easing of relations in a political, economic and transport boycott of Qatar since June 2017.

The previous Gulf Cup tournament two years ago was moved from Qatar to Kuwait.

Games will be played in the 40,000seat, air-conditioned Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, which hosted the track and field world championships last month.

In Madrid, the president of the Spanish league is criticizing the decision of the Spanish soccer federation to play the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, citing the country’s backing of a satellite company that is allegedly behind the piracy of European match broadcasts.

The federation on Monday announced a three-year deal with Saudi Arabia for the newly expanded tournament that will be played in January with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Valencia.

“I don’t think it’s the best moment to play in Saudi Arabia,” Javier Tebas said Wednesday. “It’s a country that has been pirating us, pirating European soccer.

“It was the better offer [for the Super Cup] because it will be paid with money

taken from European soccer,” Tebas said in a meeting with international media.

Leading soccer organizations said in September a Saudi Arabia-backed satellite company was “without question” behind pirated match broadcasts that steal content from Qatar’s beIN Sports.

The conclusion was reached in a joint statement by Fifa, UEFA and some of the top European leagues, including the Spanish league, after they commissioned a report into the operations of the beoutQ channels.

The federation’s decision to play in Saudi Arabia also appeared to go against recent advice from UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin for European soccer teams not to play in countries “where the basic rights of women are not respected.”

The federation cited its ambitions to host the 2030 World Cup as a factor in giving Saudi Arabia the three-year deal. AP

D

Good and gracious God

EAR God, You come to us in hidden guise. Hear us as we pray: Open our eyes and ears, oh God. Help us to recognize and serve You in the homeless, the suffering and the needy. Give us patience, perseverance and consolation in times of transition and change. Inspire our society to embrace a greater respect for life and reverence toward one another. May the will of God be accomplished in us, through Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

ANGELS FOR THE NEW GENERATION

Elizabeth Banks (second from left) takes on roles both in front and behind the camera to bring Charlie’s Angels to a new audience, with (from left) Ella Balinska, Naomi Scott and Kristen Stewart.

Life BusinessMirror

The ‘Angels’ again take �light D IRECTOR-ACTRESS Elizabeth Banks takes the helm as a new generation of fearless Charlie’s Angels take flight. In Banks’s bold vision, Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Personal Shopper), Naomi Scott (Aladdin, Power Rangers) and newcomer Ella Balinska are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally. With the world’s smartest, bravest and most highly trained women all over the globe, there are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys taking on the toughest jobs everywhere. And the team at the heart of this movie is led by a Bosley played by...Elizabeth Banks!

When it was suggested to Banks that she might be the right director to create a new Charlie’s Angels for the next generation—one with humor and grit—she was taken by surprise. It was something she had never considered. Yet, the moment it was raised, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Banks realized that, as a powerful female filmmaker committed to telling women’s stories, Charlie’s Angels was exactly the project she wanted to be making.

“I’m always looking for stories about strong women,” says Banks. Following the success of her directing debut, Pitch Perfect 2, Sony approached Banks and asked if she might have any ideas about what a 2019 version of Charlie’s Angels, the classic crimefighting adventure, might look like. “I went home and started dreaming about it...Charlie’s Angels has always stood for sorority to me. I loved the movies and grew up a little bit on the TV shows. I thought I knew exactly how to tell that story and how to embrace the legacy that came before.”

The audience is introduced to the modern world of Charlie’s Angels through the eyes of a new recruit, Elena, played by Scott, fresh off the success of Aladdin. Elena is a young, idealistic, intelligent woman working at a huge tech company. When she discovers that her bosses hold some dark secrets, Elena blows the whistle on them, putting herself in severe danger. “Her goal is to make the world a better place,” says Scott. Spotting her potential, courage and exceptional computer skills, two Angels swoop in to bring her on board. Elena is stunned by a world she never knew existed, but thrilled to take her place

within it, learning what it means to be one of Charlie’s Angels. “She gets swept away with these Angels and sees they are empowered women really doing their thing,” says Scott.

The Angels who recruit Elena are Jane and Sabina.

Jane, played by British newcomer Balinska, is exactly the level-headed problem-solver you want on your team when things go bad. There is no situation she can’t handle. “She’s a very straight-laced, A-type, independent person,” says Balinska. “She has a long history of military training.”

Her great friend and partner in the team, Sabina, could not be more different. Played by the Bafta and Cesar-winning actress Kristen Stewart, Sabina is the group’s rogue element, while playing up the “cool factor.” “As much comfort as Jane takes in rules and structure, Sabina’s the opposite of that,” says Stewart.

“She’s one of those people who seems like she doesn’t have her stuff together at all, but, at the end of the day, she’s really good at her job.... She’s someone who would take a bullet for you.”

All three women say they were excited to become a part of the Charlie’s Angels world because of what it represented for young women. They wanted to be a part of something that showed women working together and doing things on their own terms. These women come together as a team, a sisterhood supporting each other and having fun doing it! “That’s what I signed up for,” says Stewart, “the sisterhood.”

Three other strong women come together in this film—that would be music superstars Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana del Rey! The three A-listers have collaborated on a new single for the film. And Grande, who has a massive following on Instagram, also serves as an executive producer on the soundtrack. Not to break tradition, Destiny’s Child and Pink provided anthems for the previous films.

Charlie’s Angels has been a pop-culture touchstone since 1976, a fun, action-packed story of women taking charge in a world where men are used to calling the shots. Created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, the original TV series saw Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith as private detectives working for

Continued on d4

GAB FAB: HELPING KIDS BATTLE THE BIG C D4

Friday, November 15, 2019

D1

D2

Society BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

z

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Shailene Woodley, 28; Jonny Lee Miller, 47; Beverly D’Angelo, 68; Sam Waterston, 79.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Put more energy into home, family and bringing about positive changes that will make you happy. Don’t wait for someone else to make suggestions. Look at the possibilities and find the best way to move forward. It’s up to you to decide what’s in your best interest. Consider how best to make personal improvements that will build your confidence, strength and courage. Your lucky numbers are 4, 11, 16, 23, 32, 38, 43.

DR. Lucio Tan (fifth from left) and family pose with the Miss Earth 2019 winners, and Century Park Hotel’s Irene Tan (second from right) during the ceremony.

CAROLERS from the Children’s Joy Foundation Inc. entertain the guests during Century Park Hotel’s annual tree-lighting event.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Look over contracts and your financial situations; you’ll discover a hidden opportunity. Rely on your own resources to figure out your best move. A heartto-heart talk with someone you love will be helpful.

Romance is encouraged. HHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Research your options before making a change. Talk to people you have worked with or who can give you expert advice. Knowing what you are up against will make it easier to decide what’s best for you.

HH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Don’t make a big deal out of nothing. Stay calm and let situations play out naturally. Go about your business and make whatever changes suit you without drawing attention to what you are doing. HHHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Do your thing.

What you provide will be unique and draw interest from someone who is in a position to help you excel. Your knowledge and experience will encourage others to listen, as well as pitch in and help.

HHH

e FROM left: Century Park Hotel (CPH) Director for Sales Nel Chua, General Manager Anthony Tan (center) and Director for Marketing and Corporate Communications Myla Cammayo together with Miss Earth 2019 winners.

THE CPH Chorale composed of hotel employees serenade the guests with Christmas carols.

All that holiday sparkle O NE of the finest hotels in Manila, Century Park Hotel (CPH) recently held their Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the hotel’s Atrium Lounge.

Century Park Hotel owners Dr. Lucio Tan and wife Carmen Tan led the lighting ceremony of the 30-feet Christmas tree to the delight of hotel employees, guests and media friends.

This year, the hotel is showcasing Modern Chinoiserie, a fusion of Eastern and Western elegance that perfectly balances symmetry and style, combining modern and traditional artistry. Pink and blue ornaments infused with gold trimmings were accentuated with Chinese designs, lending a unique

Christmas vibe to the hotel. It is also a fitting homage to the hotel’s Chinese roots.

“Our theme this year is about striking a balance between being modern and traditional. This truly reflects the Century Park Hotel spirit since we have been in the industry for more than 40 years yet we keep innovating to embrace the ever-changing times.

It has been a memorable 2019, and all credit is due to our employees, clients, friends and media partners.

We thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for making us your home away from home,” said CPH General Manager Anthony Tan. Carolers from the Children’s Joy Foundation Inc. sang Christmas carols to the guests, making

the event more festive. The event was made more memorable by the presence of newly crowned queens Miss Earth 2019 Nellys Pimentel from Puerto Rico, Miss Earth Fire 2019 Alisa Manyonok from Belarus, and Miss Earth Water 2019 Klára Vavrusková from the Czech Republic.

As the event marks the countdown to Noche Buena, Deli Snack also launched its elegant selection of Christmas Hampers starting at P2,780 net which includes delectable delis, exquisite breads, jams and satisfying wines. To avoid the holiday rush, revelers are advised to place their orders 48 hours prior to preferred pick-up date. More information is available at 8528-5855 to 56 or foodbev@centurypark.com.ph. n

28, he was appointed president of PAL Holdings Inc., the listed firm that owns and operates the flag carrier Philippine Airlines, aside from being vice chairman already of the PAL board. He also sat on the board of the LT Group Inc. and held positions in other Tanowned companies like Asia Brewery Inc., Eton Properties Philippines Inc., Tanduay Distillers Inc.) “I feel pressured of course, and also it’s challenging. It is a challenge to put

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Step up and do your part. Get involved in something that encourages personal growth. Bonding with people who can be beneficial to your future is in your best interest. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take care of your responsibilities first or someone will make a fuss. Once you have taken care of business, you can concentrate on the things and the people you enjoy the most. HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Spend more time dealing with personal matters.

If someone questions your integrity, stay calm and stick to the facts. Anger will not help you or your situation. Be willing to compromise and to work in conjunction with others to make worthwhile changes.

HH

i j

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Think big but stick to what’s reasonable, as well as in your budget. Don’t let anyone entice you into taking on too much or you’ll set yourself up for failure.

Baby steps and thought-out plans are favored. HHHH CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Keep moving forward, but keep your eye on what’s going on around you. An unexpected change at home or with regard to your position could easily broadside you if you don’t pay attention. HHH

On being Lucio Tan Jr. Continued from D3

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Look at the big picture and get involved in the things you feel will make the biggest difference.

Your input, generosity and physical help will result in recognition and an opportunity to make positive changes to your lifestyle. HHH

in practice all that you learned, right?”

Bong remarked. He was supposed to work in a bank after graduating in 1991 from UC Davis with a civil engineering degree, “but my dad told me to come back [to Manila] already.”

His first job at Fortune Tobacco Corp. was as a tobacco leaf inspector, which he described as “hell, as it was so hot in the warehouse. I had to inspect all the tobacco deliveries to check if they were the right grades. I had to change my shirts at least four times a day. And that was free ha! I

had no salary, parang OJT [on-the-job training].” When the tobacco season was over, he was moved around different divisions to learn up close the operations of the cigarette company.

As a manager, Bong described himself as “approachable—everyone can call me up, text me on my cell, they know I will answer unless I have a game or in a meeting.”

(Indeed he was quite accessible even to media. Bong was one of the very few PAL officials who would go on record for interviews, and respond to

my text messages.)

He said anyone could go to him if there were problems in the company. “I’m a guy who has to listen to both sides [of an argument].

I will always ask, ‘OK, who’s the other party?’ but I will not tell him that I will call the other side. I will say I will think about it, then I call the other side. If I can settle it, OK, if not, I consult an expert on the issue.

If it’s just a small matter, I just tell the one who complained to me, ‘Ibigay mo na [Let it go].’” n

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Put some passion into whatever you decide to take on.

Listen carefully to what’s said and promised.

A verbal agreement should be put on paper to avoid any misgivings. A personal change, gift or financial gain is heading your way. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Offer your services, skills and knowledge to a cause and you will make a difference, but don’t let anyone take you for granted. Make it clear what you are willing to do and what it will take. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are innovative, excitable and persistent.

You are entertaining and changeable.

‘outer planets’ BY MARTHA KIMES AND ERIK AGARD The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Tortilla fat 5 Claim on some menus 10 Connecticut Ivy 14 At any time 15 Scent 16 Israel’s flag carrier 17 Listings with jackfruit dishes, often (first 2 letters + last 3) 19 Like your chances of winning the lottery 20 Montoya in The Princess Bride 21 Singer Guthrie 23 Settings of many TV dramas 24 Early riser?

25 Born in the ___ 28 Like shaving cream 30 Fortune 500 goal (first 3 + last 2) 35 Beauty mogul Lauder 36 Trap 37 Curl up with a good book 40 Very muscular, slangily 43 Gosling of Blade Runner 2049 44 Opera solos 46 Relation between numbers

8 General’s instructions (first 3 + last 1) 4 53 Gawk 54 Six, in Sicily 55 ___, drink and be merry 57 Clean the floor 59 Shakira’s don’t lie 61 ___ Dame 63 Parrots 65 Full state (first 5 + last 1; also, a literal outer planet!)

68 Overflow (with) 69 World-class 70 Stops for travelers 71 Stops 72 Begat 73 You can use it for cleansing or for stuffing DOWN 1 Certain jeans 2 North-south road in Manhattan 3 Capital of Saskatchewan 4 RuPaul’s ___ Race 5 Platoon setting, for short 6 Lode load 7 ___ Lisa

8 Characters who are blue in the face?

9 Faux fireplace fixture 10 Thumbs-up vote 11 Stray cat’s hangout 12 Hideout 13 National Mall trees 18 Subjects of most sentences 22 Rowing implements 26 Prepares to play the piano, perhaps 27 From the top 29 Iconic Marilyn 31 Remove sensitive information from 32 Solti or Ohm 33 “La la” lead-in 34 Egg layer 37 Male merino 38 Historic stretch 39 The going rate for planes?

41 Neighbor of Vietnam 42 Raison d’___ 45 Former Iranian ruler 47 Singer Menzel 49 Flowers Van Gogh painted 50 Many a Sherpa 51 Part of the eye

2 Polynesian garment 5 56 Stressed out 57 Chess conclusion, informally 58 Word before “house” or “mind” 60 Mac and cheese recipe verb 62 Redding dubbed “The King of Soul” 64 Texting format: Abbr.

66 Colorado native 67 Sunburned Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Relationships BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019

On being Lucio Tan Jr.

SOMETHING LIKE LIFE

MA. STELLA F. ARNALDO

@akosistellaBM

B

ACK in 2008, I had the distinct privilege of interviewing Lucio “Bong” Tan Jr. for a magazine I used to work for. I must admit, I approached him with some trepidation; after all, his temper on the basketball hard court and on the golf green was almost legendary.

But it was a very subdued and polite Bong who sat down for the interview, surprising me with his amiability. He even displayed the same flashes of wit his father has been known for at certain times and among certain company. He poked fun at himself— jesting that he probably looked like his achi Vivienne, as a makeup artist went on to put some light lipstick on his face for a fashion shoot—and at his powerful taipan of a father (“I don’t wear white socks.”).

Bong was nurtured by his mother Carmen, his amah, and grew up with sisters Vivienne, Karlu, Rowena, Sheila and Jesslyn; Bong being the fifth among the siblings. (He was father to Lucio Tan III called Hun-Hun, now 27, and Kyle, 23, his sons with the former Julie Chen, a Taiwanese-American.)

Bong grew up in the family home along Biak na Bato Street in Quezon City. From the outside, the property looks unremarkable except that it occupies an entire block spanning from Maria Clara Street and Dapitan Street, in Santa Mesa Heights, and has a helipad. I joked that we were practically neighbors as I grew up in the same area, as well.

But it was a good place in the 1960s and 1970s to bring up one’s children especially if one were just starting a family. This was where many Manila-based Chinese-Filipino families flocked to after the Ruby Tower collapsed in 1968.

Bong said his father “trained” him and his siblings “not to splurge.” He remembered receiving a meager allowance when he went to college at the University of California in Davis, so he had to work two jobs, like his American classmates—as a gym manager and a basketball coach—just so he had enough money to spend for his needs.

Although not really fond of luxury brands, Bong told me, “I like fresh-looking clothes,” and readily admitted to reading male fashion magazines like GQ. “I like wearing clothes that nobody has seen, yet. But I’m not brand-conscious.”

But, yes, Bong said it was not easy carrying the name of his namesake father, who by a recent account in Forbes is worth $3.3 billion. As the only male in his father’s first family, he had been bruited to be the one to take over from his father someday. (Just on October

Continued on d2

D3

D4

Show BusinessMirror

Friday, November 15, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

THE ‘ANGELS’ AGAIN TAKE FLIGHT

IYA VILLANIAARELLANO with some of the kids and staff of Child Haus

Continued from d1 the Charles Townsend Agency, going undercover to crack nefarious crimes. The show was an instant success and continued for five seasons. In the 2000s, two hit movies saw Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu bring Charlie’s Angels to the big screen.

Now, 16 years after the last Charlie’s Angels movie, Banks wanted to create something that would bring the comedy and adventure of the original series but also reflect a changed world and women’s changed place within it.

Banks imagined a world in which the Charles Townsend Agency has existed since 1976. What would that agency look like after 43 years of success? She envisioned a powerful international conglomerate, with outposts all over the world, with different teams of Angels fighting crime on all seven continents. No longer just a Los Angeles operation, Charlie’s Angels are now protecting the entire world, in secret.

“We live in the same universe, on the same timeline, as everything that’s gone before,” says Banks. Continuing that timeline meant coming up with an all-new team of Angels.

“I feel very empowered bringing together this many people to tell the story of not one, not two but three female protagonists.”

Banks has long been one of Hollywood’s most respected comic actresses, making her the perfect director to capture the joyful, fun and often humorous camaraderie of the Charlie’s Angels team. A new and thrilling challenge for Banks was tackling the action that goes hand-in-hand with that. Banks threw herself into it with enormous enthusiasm, studying the action greats and letting her imagination run wild with ideas to create the most visually spectacular setpieces possible. “I wrote three of the action sequences myself,” says Banks. “Wrote them, storyboarded them, designed them.”

Stewart says she loved that Banks made the action not about aggression but about protection. Nobody was interested in depicting violence for violence’s sake.

“Everything we do is to survive and to save each others’ lives,” says Stewart. “Every single bullet is accounted for. Everything we do is defensive. We’re the least offensive force.”

Charlie’s Angels will take its audience on an actionpacked adventure around the world, heading for exotic locations from Rio to Istanbul as the Angels fight to make the world a safer place. It promises to be a treat for fans of the original series and movies, as well as an exciting new world for those brand new to the Angels.

Elizabeth Banks knows that her version of Charlie’s Angels will serve as an inspiration to young women just as the earlier versions inspired her. Banks is its current torchbearer but not its last. “All of us women who get to do this are standing on the shoulders of the women who came before,” she says, “And we’ll provide the scaffolding for the next group of women.” n Now in Philippine cinemas, Charlie’s Angels is distributed

by Columbia Pictures.

Helping kids battle the Big C GAB FAB JET VALLE

@jetvalle

C

ANCER, even in this modern day and age, is seen almost like a death sentence. To call it a difficult disease is an understatement because it attacks not only the body but also the spirit. It is conquerable but not without the support and the resources that, unfortunately, not many have. And so it can seem incredibly unfair that little children whose only worry should be what games to play next and how to study best for that upcoming exam would also be targets of cancer, their innocence and laughter seemingly dimmed by this cruel disease.

But within their small bodies, these little faces carry massive amounts of courage that can surmount any obstacle—even the Big C. Helping them in this fight are Moving Up Holdings Inc. and Child Haus Manila, which have made it their mission to help these young warriors.

In a recent charity celebration, the two powerhouses came together to honor the children of Child Haus, and to show them that there is still

a rainbow even in the stormiest of skies. It was an afternoon filled with food, fun and inspiration with celebrity guest and advocate Iya Villania-Arellano.

Sharing words of positivity, Child Haus Manila staff member Dydee Castillo thanked everyone who came and let them know the importance of their continued support, sharing that “even just your presence today motivates our warriors because of the love that stems from coming together and giving them the time and attention they deserve.”

An entirely nonprofit organization, Child Haus supplies a home for indigent children seeking cancer treatment who might otherwise have no connections and no place to go. They not only push the advocacy for better cancer awareness but also go to great lengths to give their children the utmost care both financially and emotionally. But it can only do these through donations, such as those extended by generous patrons like Moving Up Holdings Inc. As Moving Up Holdings Inc. CEO Amit Borsok explained at the event, “Our involvement with Child Haus Manila comes from a shared desire to bridge these children toward a healthier, happier and cancer-free life. Partnerships like this are powered more so by the hope that these children instill, and it is through their smiles and laughter that we are pushed to continue these efforts for their brighter tomorrow.”

Moving Up Holdings Inc., an investment company with a three-year presence in Manila, provides technology solutions developed in-house for various industries in the Philippines. But behind this company, where every investment must be carefully

calculated, is a dedication in perhaps the biggest investment of them all: the future of these children who are fighting the biggest fight.

Behind their beaming auras and sparkling eyes, these children carry a burden that no one should bear. But for every step in the daunting journey they take, champions like their families, friends and supporters like Moving Up Holdings Inc. and Child Haus Manila are there to cheer them on.

After all, it takes a village to raise a child—and this village doesn’t give up. nnn UNREELING in movie theaters this week is The Art of Ligaw, a film produced by Coreminds Inc. and distributed by Cinescreen of Star Cinema.

The Art of Ligaw marks the film debut of KZ Tandingan, who has captured the hearts of Filipinos with her raw and electrifying talent and Bisaya charm. Producers of the movie hope this will translate well to the big screen. Besides acting in it, KZ also wrote two original songs, “Quicksand” and “Walanghiyang Pag-ibig,” exclusively for the film.

Costarring in The Art of Ligaw is Epy Quizon, who recently gained attention in his roles as Apolinario Mabini in Heneral Luna and its accompanying film, Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral. In The Art of Ligaw, Epy plays Jake Esguerra, a happy-go-lucky guy when it comes to his relationships. Will he finally meet his match with KZ’s character Carisse?

Joining KZ and Epy in the movie are Roxanne Barcelo, Long Mejia, Archie Alemania, Mercedes Cabral and Cuckooh Calsado. The Art of Ligaw is written and directed by Jourdan Sebastian. n

ALDEN RICHARDS

GMA stars and Mel Tiangco (center) with the beneficiaries of the GMA Kapuso Foundation

TOM RODRIGUEZ, Carla Abellana and Glaiza de Castro spreading love with the Baseco boys

‘Love Shines’ in GMA Network’s 2019 Christmas Station ID MEDIA giant GMA sets ablaze the light of love this holiday season with its newest Christmas station ID (CSID) “Love Shines” released last Sunday.

Following the network’s grand tradition of heartwarming campaigns, namely, “PasaLove” (2009), “Share the Love” (2014), “MaGMAhalan Tayo Ngayong Pasko” (2015), and “Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan” (2017), the 2019 CSID once again hits close to home with its inspiring message of love.

The brightest GMA stars and the most respected news-and-public affairs personalities came together to meet and honor individuals who embody and deliver His love to the people around them— unforgettable get-togethers that were filled with love, warmth and joy. Among them, a mother who patiently carries her 22-year-old, differently abled son every single day for the past 15 years for him to go to school; the proud son of a father who works hard as a garbage

collector to provide for his and his siblings’ education; an earthquake survivor from Pampanga and her rescuers, and many more.

This uplifting showcase of real-life stories of compassion, resilience and faith brings forth the powerful idea that everyone can be an agent of love to anyone, in any form.

The GMA Christmas campaign #LoveShines instantly became a trending topic worldwide and breached the 1 million views mark after its launch on November 10. Netizens lauded the CSID for highlighting the true essence of the season and encouraging all to share happiness, bring hope and spread love, especially to those who need it most.

Dawud Ben Olivar Oliquiano commented, “It will shine worldwide, not only this season but forever.

Kudos GMA for this brilliant and amazing festive kind of a heartfelt storytelling of real-life survivors

and heroes.”

Honey May Lobedica, on the other hand, shared how the CSID made her miss her family in the Philippines and at the same time feel assured that love definitely shines wherever she may be. “When I watched the CSID of GMA, I cried. I miss my family in the Philippines so much. This is my first Christmas away from home. Saan ka man lupalop ng mundo, don’t forget that #LoveShines in all of us. Thanks, GMA, for this heartwarming message.”

“You can feel GMA’s sincerity in reaching out to the needy. It is not only for publicity or ratings, they truly wanted to make a difference. And their artists reflect the values they hold dearly. Kapuso forever!” Bo Mason wrote.

Catch GMA’s Christmas Station ID on GMA and online on www.gmanetwork.com or the network’s official social-media accounts.

RITA DANIELA and Ken Chan were all smiles during the station ID shoot

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, November 15, 2019 E1

SPORTY, ELEGANT AND AFFORDABLE V

sporty feel. Upfront you’ll see the trademark grille with that famous VW logo in the middle flanked by a pair of powerful Halogen headlights. The grille seemed to extend below the bumper which is also flanked by a pair elegantly designed fog lamps.

At the rear, hatchback styling sports a pair of large elegant looking tail lamps, spoiler on top with the requisite stop lamp, VW logo in the middle and the Santana branding on the lower ride side of door.

VW should be praised for keeping the branding a minimum affair.

Inside is an ergonomic dash like its sedan counterpart with that faux-carbon fiber, lending an elegant yet sporty feel. The Blaupunkt 7-inch infotainment system touchscreen is located just underneath it.

It sounded great but takes a while to get used to.

Story & Photos by Patrick P. Tulfo

OLKSWAGEN (VW), in its continuing quest to be competitive in the market, has overhauled its offerings in the country recently and decided to bring models manufactured in China rather than sourced from Europe.

This brilliant move has helped them lower the price of their vehicles considerably and made it more affordable to buyers, who are looking at the direction of the German company but are turned off by the higher price tags of their offerings when compared to similar models from its Japanese counterparts.

The Santana GTS is the second model from the company’s revamped lineup, I tested its sedan counterpart a few weeks back (the GTS is distinguished from the sedan by its wagon body design).

The exterior design is simple and elegant like its four door brethren, but the hatch styling lends its

THE Santana has an elegant and sporty Euro styling

Continued on E4

Moto

Business

Honda showcases hyb E2 Friday, November 15, 2019

and driver-assist A

Story & photos by Randy S. Peregrino

FTER the 46th Tokyo Motor Show media convention, Honda, once again, provided us a better understanding on how it intends to serve people worldwide with the “joy of expanding their life’s potential.” Committed and determined, the Japanese automaker is, likewise, on the right path in meeting its ultimate goal for 2030—to achieve two-thirds unit sales of electric vehicles globally. For Honda, taking the lead in realizing a sustainable carbon-free society is just the first step.

spacious feel inside. On the track, the car was surprisingly nimble on turns thanks to its low center of gravity. Impressively, it refuses to be left behind by its bigger siblings on long stretches when pushed. At least its small yet turbocharged engine was capable of providing that needed kick.

Next was the sports hybrid CR-V AWD variant equipped with i-MMD. Powered by a combined 2.0-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor, output ratings are at 107 hp, 175 N-m of maximum torque, 135 hp and 315 N-m of maximum torque respectively. During take-off, we immediately felt the smooth delivery of the electric motor. As we progress, we started hearing the combustion engine comes alive when accelerating.

Interestingly, the combined torque from both motors provided linear acceleration despite the car driven by all four wheels. Nevertheless, this made tackling turns, despite the heavy downpour, worry-free as the light and responsive steering made everything else easier.

Last was the Insight sedan sports hybrid variant equipped with iMMD. Powered by a combined 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor, output ratings are at 80 hp, 134 N-m of maximum torque and 96 hp, 267 N-m of maximum torque, respectively. We felt the same dynamics when it comes to the combined motors intelligent operation.

However, this sedan was quicker and more nimble despite the smaller engine displacement. Sharing platform with the Civic, we knew exactly where the Insight inherited its impressive handling. Aiding the linear and smooth accelerations of both the CR-V and Insight sports hybrid variants was its E-CVT drivetrains.

Compared to normal CVT, maintaining rev range in optimum outputs

The CRV during the i-MMD test-drive around the Motegi track.

Inside the Insight sedan while driving the course for Honda Sensing The Insight sedan

We revisited the well-known Twin Ring Motegi circuit as the venue for Honda vehicle test-drive. For this year, we’re not testing fully electric vehicles, but instead, experienced driving around sport hybrid models equipped with i-MMD (intelligent Multi Mode Drive). In addition, part of the activities was to immerse us to the carmaker’s latest tech offering— the Honda Sensing. We initially found out about this advanced during the recent launch of the all-new Accord.

This time, it was time to fully experience this new array of advanced safety and driver-assist features.

Two-motor hybrid system

As part of Honda’s environmental vehicle initiatives, the automaker is also focusing its efforts on further enhancing HEV (hybrid vehicles)

performance. The i-MMD system’s concept is straightforward, which is to achieve overwhelming fuel economy along with the fun factor by providing nimble acceleration and response.

Therefore, even if we’re seeing everything from a conventional hybrid motor standpoint, Honda wanted us to see and feel the intelligent operation involved behind the system.

Commissioned for testing were several units of CR-V, Insight and the group favorite N-Box. Just when we thought that the entire activity was already engaging enough, the heavy downpours that day was nonstop.

First, we tested the N-Box. Although this kei car was not equipped with iMMD, less a liter three-cylinder turbocharged was more than enough, nonetheless. For a small car, it has a tall roofline, which provided that

The N-Box is one engaging kei car to drive

Angkas takes center stage in World Economic Forum Annual Summit

T

HE Makati Business Club (MBC) showcased ride-hailing app Angkas as a model Philippine star t-up and digital leader during the recent World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China, which is WEF’s foremost meeting for the world’s leading innovators and disruptors.

In partnership with the WEF, MBC selected Angkas, the first motorcycle ride-hailing app in the Philippines, through its founder and CEO Angeline Tham, to represent the Philippines and discuss during the forum their view on globalization in the age of digital transformation.

MBC Executive Director Coco Alcuaz said Angkas is the ideal start-up to showcase alongside digital front-runners. Alcuaz said, “Angkas was one of the start-ups MBC invited on behalf of WEF because of its impact on mobility and job creation, two of the

country’s biggest issues, via technology. We fully supported WEF highlighting Angkas by featuring CEO Angeline Tham in the Digital Asean discussion and are excited about the attention she’s brought to the Philippine tech and startup scene. We are proud to have them as a member.”

Tanah Sullivan, communit y lead, Asia Pacific Business Engagement of the World Eco nomic Forum, on her par t, chose Tham to speak at the annual meeting for the following reason: “We invited Angeline Tham, founder and chief executive officer of Angkas, not just because of Angkas’s achievement s thus far, but also for its potential and future impac t at both national and regional levels. She was invited to speak at the ‘Connec ting with Digital ASEAN’ session due to Angkas’s success in engaging the Philippine government to improve mobilit y for

societ y in the Philippines—a true demonstration of public-private collaboration.”

For her part, Tham believes that Asean countries, particularly the Philippines, should make sure that they keep up with the fast-paced of digitalization happening in the

world today.

Speaking at the WEF, Tham talked about the global challenges of digitalization and the role of Angkas in reshaping the systematic structure of the Philippine digital economy. She addressed these issues along with other interna-

tional company leaders during the forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions.

With this year’s theme “Leadership 4.0: Succeeding in a New Era of Globalization,” the forum saw discussions circulating around the fundamental changes in the global economy that reshaped companies, communities and countries.

Discussing the opportunities and challenges the Asean is facing with the digital economy, she believes that there is a lot that the 10 Asean countries can learn from one another—from data-sharing and knowledge-sharing. Crossborder issues are what Tham believes to be the greater challenge for the Asean nations.

“Change is happening so fast.”

Tham noted, “The government can’t keep up on legislation in the Internet. How do you regulate things you can’t see?”

Mentioning Angkas, the appbased motorcycle ride-hailing

ser vice she developed, Tham stated that motorcycle taxi operators, as entrepreneurs, were not considered a part of the formal economy. But with the help of the Angkas platform, motorcycle drivers are now empowered as they get to make a living triple the minimum daily wage.

She also said that Asean countries must also know how to deal with the rising economic powerhouses with digital platforms, as she believes this is a big challenge that the government are going to face.

Tham recommended connecting digital industry players to come up with meaningful discussions and thought processes in coordination with the government.

She said that these things just can’t be left either to the private sector nor the government. What is needed is to establish a close, unified collaboration to move faster through the times.

oring

sMirror

brid system

features The Insight and Civic are just among the vehicles we tested to demonstrate Honda Sensing driver-assist functions. Honda Philippines

were more consistent. Moreover, cleverly placing the battery packs (Intelligent Power Unit) under the rear seats of both cars, cabin space is not affected at all.

Safer driving with Honda Sensing

Honda’s suite of advanced safety and driver-assist features consist of Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low Speed Follow (LSF),

Lane Keeping Assist (LKAS), Road Departure Mitigation (RDM), and Auto High Beam. How Honda Sensing works is that it receives information from two different devices—a millimeter-wave radar at the front bumper and a monocular camera mounted inside the upper windshield. Both devices work simultaneously to monitor and assess various conditions while providing feedback to the driver to prevent collisions.

In order for us to experience the

system, we boarded the Insight sedan equipped with Honda Sensing for a 2.5-kilometer steady drive. First, we enabled the cruise control function (speed set at 100 km/h) then shifted to drive. Then even without stepping on any pedal, the car started accelerating smoothly after simply pressing the “+” button. With a pace car in front, the ACC with LSF functions automatically adjusted the speed and maintained safe distance.

When the vehicle in front stopped, so as our car stopped in a safe distance. Again, we simply pressed the + button to resume driving.

Meanwhile, on cruising speed, the LKAS was indeed active on applying slight steering control in order to maintain the vehicle inside the detected road lane. This function was more evident cruising through long bends. It only took a short while to get use to the slight movement from the steering whenever the system was operating. While the driver-assist functions aim to reduce driving burdens, Honda still strongly suggests not relying on the system alone and best to stay alert and always practice safe driving.

Friday, November 15, 2019

MOTORING ’minder Castrol offers breakthrough technology

for nonstop engine protection

I

N today’s city living where cars are an invaluable mode of transportation, lubricants that offer engine protection play a vital role in safeguarding your vehicle from the adverse effects of traffic and wear and tear from daily use. Designed for this purpose, Castrol offers Castrol Magnatec with Dualock Technology— an industry pioneering formulation that provides your car with maximum engine protection.

“As we discover more about the harmful effects that car engines experience in daily use, Castrol has focused its resources into developing innovative technologies that offer drivers greater engine protection benefits than regular car oils,” said Maria Tañada, Castrol Philippines country manager.

“The endeavor had entailed a massive collaboration between Castrol and scientists from the world’s leading universities, ultimately resulting in Castrol Magnatec’s breakthrough Dualock Technology.”

Stemming from 10 years of intensive research and development, Castrol Magnatec with Dualock Technology is especially formulated for today’s urban driving conditions, increasing traffic congestion, and to protect against stop-start driving induced wear and tear.

Its proprietary Dualock Technology consists of molecules that bind together to form an impenetrable force-field of protection on vital engine components, resulting in an impressive 50-percent reduction in wear and tear from engine warmup and stopstart driving, even for vehicles equipped with the latest stop-start technology.

Castrol

Magnatec with Dualock Technology is engineered to provide nonstop engine protection for a variety of car engines, such as 10W-40 grade for gasoline engines; 15W-40 for diesel engines; and fully synthetic oil 5W-30, for both gasoline and diesel engines.

E3

Motoring BusinessMirror

E4 Friday, November 15, 2019

15M horses replaced by cars in US–Toyoda

W

Morizo “HELLO, everyone!

“Thank you for coming to the Toyota booth press briefing today.

“I’m Akio Toyoda, the VTuber Morizo.

“Well, today, what I want to talk about is not cars, but people.

“I will move around a bit as I talk.

“This time, I think I want to continue on as this character.

“In line with my own expressions, it laughs and shows surprise. What do you think? For example, even if we are a distance away, can’t you kind of

Toyoda “THIS is the e-Racer!

“The cars in everyone’s garages will all be sports cars, like this eRacer.

“Well, that’s a little overstating it, but...wanting to move about as one wishes, ...and wanting to go faster and farther...are, I think, universal human desires.

“The birth of the automobile led to 15 million horses being replaced by cars in the United States.

“But still, we have racehorses.

“The joy of riding a horse can hold its own against or even outdo what cars have to offer. If there is an obstacle, a horse can avoid it. If there is a hole in the ground, a horse can make its own judgement and jump over it.

“Horses can communicate with

Morizo “I’LL get on the broom and give you a quick introduction to our booth.

“First, at the reception counter, you make a residency card. You take it and, if you try out various things in our booth, you can accumulate points.

“For example, this is a future health check that can tell you how your body is doing if you get on it.

“And here, you can experience what it will be like to change clothes in the future. You can choose clothes that suit you even without putting them on.

“There are other various things that you can experience. The more you try what we have, the more points you will accumulate.

“And this is a Toyota convenience store. The points you’ve accumu-

AKIO TOYODA

AS it in the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show that I first heard Akio Toyoda speak about horses being necessary components in the evolution of the automotive industry? With his compelling comparison of horses and cars back then, I became his instant fan.

In his speech during the justended Tokyo Motor Show, Toyoda, the witty president of Toyota Motor Corp., made mention again of horses. As in 2015, I was awestruck anew at his parallelisms, as well as his analogies of events past, present and future.

As I love speeches since my high-school days, here is Toyoda’s piece for your delectation, too:

Morizo “WON’T kinds of mobility like these mean that cars will end up not being owned? I certainly hope not.

Shared mobility will lead to people owning forms of mobility that are more personal.

“OK everyone, the answer is right over there!

people and their hearts. For people who ride them, horses are irreplaceable.

“Through the evolution of ‘artificial intelligence,’ I think that cars, too, can also become able to communicate with people and their hearts.

“That’s right.... I think cars of the future will be like horses.

“If we look at shared forms of mobility, such as the e-Palette, as if they were horse carriages, forms of mobility owned by individuals, like the e-Racer, would be ‘beloved horses.’

“I would say that this means that our future society of mobility will be a society in which horse carriages and beloved horses coexist.

“And what people want of beloved horses is heartfelt communication and the joy of moving together.

“Well, here is another sidekick that offers heartfelt communication. I think maybe I could even call it a ‘magic broom.’

“If you visit the Toyota booth, you can hop on like this and give it a try. But it’s not yet ready to fly...

feel that I’m right beside you?

“People instantly process enormous amounts of information in this way and then reach conclusions.

“That’s exactly why, when various kinds of information are linked, one would expect communities, society and, of course, cars, to become more centered on people.

“That’s why we made our Toyota booth this time one in which visitors can experience a future society of mobility centered on people.

“Well, I think it’s about time for us to have a look.

Toyoda “THIS e-Palette is scheduled to debut in front of everyone at the time of next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“In the future, the e-Palette will be able to be an office, a shop or even a hotel. It will be able to become various kinds of services, and it will go to people.

“Our booth this time does not feature a single car ‘to be launched

next year.’ All that is found here are forms of mobility that link to society and communities, and that provide modes of getting around and services to people.

“Wow, what do you think?

Doesn’t it excite you to see a future filled with such forms of mobility? For example, we will even have something like this, the e-Chargeair.

lated can be exchanged for various items, and we tried hard to make some good things.

Toyoda “THANK you, Morizo!

“Our theme is life in the future centered on people.

“Our first objective is to deliver fun to those who visit us. We feel that it is important to have fun.

That same feeling extends to the importance we place on the concept of ‘Fun To Drive,’ even when it comes to future mobility.

“My aim today was to help you get to know the Toyota booth. We have prepared our new cars for you to see at another place. Please go have a look.

“At any rate, today, the focus is people. Society today is rapidly advancing toward automation, such as in the form of artificial intelligence and ‘robotics.’

“At the same time, concerns such as ‘Might the day not come when robots dominate people?’ are being voiced out.

“Just how should Toyota respond to such changes in the times?

“I think a hint can be found in the history of our predecessors.

“The Toyota Production System contains a hint.

“Toyota’s roots are found in the automatic loom invented by Sakichi Toyoda.

“The greatest trait of that invention was that, if a single thread broke, the loom would automatically stop.

“Of course, that helped to prevent the making of defective products. But it was based on the thinking that we shouldn’t turn people into machine watchers.

“At Toyota, we call this ‘automation with people’ or ‘intelligent automation.’

“To this intelligent automation, Kiichiro Toyoda, who took up the challenge of producing automo-

biles, added the ‘make only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the amount needed’ thinking of ‘justin-time.’

“This means being just a bit ahead of the expectations of our customers.

“This is the ultimate in manufacturing omotenashi [hospitality that sincerely and warmheartedly anticipates and fulfills people’s needs].

“The two pillars of the Toyota Production System Intelligent automation and Just-in-time.

“What both of these have in common is placing of people at the center.

“And that’s exactly why people will continue to be at the center of the future that we envision.

“I believe that the more automation advances, the more the ability of human beings will be put to the test.

“For example, people’s warmth and kindness...and also the hearts that feel such...

“What we want to express through our booth is the concept of ‘people connected.’

People connected refers to a society in which people are linked a society in which the warmth and kindness of people can be felt.

“The key words are people connected.

“Toyota believes in the power of people. The power of people...

“Please look forward to what Toyota will achieve.”

PEE STOP After me, happiest from

the Toyota delegation to the Tokyo Motor Show was Carlo Ablaza.

Why, because it was Carlo who took me to the hospital when I fell ill during the 2017 TMS. Thanks again, Carlo. This time, I heeded his advice to the hilt before we took off for Tokyo: Bawal magkasakit. I constantly drank hot sake instead of cold sake. Best antidote to the flu virus.

SPORTY, ELEGANT AND AFFORDABLE THE dashboard is ergonomically designed and the Blaupunkt entertainment system sounds great

THE 1.5 liter, four-cylinder MPI engine with Bluemotion technology is very frugal and lively when the transmission is on sports mode

Continued from E1

The multifunction display provides all the information about the vehicle. The only gripe I have about it is the lack of temperature gauge, but it warms you though if the temperature gets higher than normal by providing an accurate reading.

The three-spoke steering wheel houses the control for the infotainment system and other functions, and is also height adjustable. The leather and fabric seat materials with red stitching are nice touch. The seat itself is comfortable on the long trips although the driver side seats lower on the floor, a bane for the not-so-tall, but thankfully there is a height adjuster lever on the left side.

The air conditioner is a rotary dial affair and cools the cabin quickly even if the car is left baking under the sun. The sunroof on the other hand, although small, is a welcome feature and not common in this price range.

The GTS is also powered by the same 1.5 liter, four-cylinder gasoline Euro 5 engine, that is found on its sedan counterpart. It is rated at 110 hp and 150 N-m of torque. It is devoid of any fancy enhancements found on its competitors and only features a multipoint fuel injection.

It is mated to a six-speed automatic

HATCHBACKS are sexier than their sedan counterparts

transmission which features a sports mode. It doesn’t have any manual shifting option but its very eager, especially when on the sports mode.

The front McPherson independent suspension and rear composite torsion beam, semi-independent setup on the rear soaked up most of the road imperfections while the electronic power steering provided a good feedback.

On the safety side, the GTS boasts of front, passenger side air bags, Isofix anchorage points for child safety seats, Electronic Stabilization Program (ESP), antislip regulation and Anti-lock braking system (ABS). The front ventilated disc and rear drum brake setup may disappoint some, but rest assured it provided good

stopping power every time.

But what made its mark on me is the vehicle’s fuel consumption. It was very frugal during its entire stay even when driven hard and with the transmission on sports mode for most part. It still was able to return an impressive double-digit fuel average in mixed highway and city commutes.

And for those who are still unconvinced of how good this car is and still has some questions on its country of origin, The GTS just like its sedan brother, felt solid and doesn’t feel any different from previous VW models that I tested in the past that came from Europe. The Santana GTS 180 MPI AT SE with Blaupunkt is priced at P1,029 million with the non-Blaupunkt variant at P929,000.