BusinessMirror November 18, 2020 by BusinessMirror

Recession imperils PHL banks’ stability–S&P By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

ECESSION in the loca l economy is posing a bigger risk to the banking sector’s stability in the coming months, an international credit watcher said. In its most recent global assessment of the banking sector, S&P Global Ratings listed four major risks to banks’ recovery across the globe. These are: worse or longer economic disruption from Covid-19, longer-term overhangs from short-term support to banks and borrowers, surge in leverage and anticipated higher corporate insolvencies and problems in the property market. Among these four, the first one

is the largest threat to the Philippine financial sector, S&P said. “As Covid-19 pushes the economy into deep recession, the economic risk trend for Philippine banks is negative, in our view. We expect the Philippine economy to shrink by 9.5 percent in 2020 owing to strict lockdown measures and subdued consumer spending,” S&P Primary Credit Analyst Nikita Anand said. Anand said economic contraction and tough employment conditions are expected to weaken banks’ asset quality, earnings, and capitalization. S&P’s expectations for the local banking sector include elevated credit costs at 1 to 2 percent of its gross loans over this year up until

the next. This is a jump from the Philippine banking sector’s 0.4 percent credit costs in the last five years. “The consumer, micro, and SME portfolios will contribute to higher nonperforming loans [NPLs] in the coming quarters. Large conglomerates, with their strong business profiles by domestic standards and good access to liquidity, are better placed to weather the storm,” Anand said. “We expect high credit costs and downward pressure on margins to weigh on the sector’s profitability in 2020 and 2021,” she added.

Further economic depression bad for banks

While S&P noted that Philippine banks entered the pandemic from

a position of strength, Anand said a longer or deeper recession than S&P’s forecast could result in substantially higher credit losses. The S&P analyst also said further cuts in banks’ regulatory reserve requirement could partly mitigate the downward pressure on the banks’ margins. “If the recession is longer or deeper than our forecast, this could set off sharper asset quality deterioration for banks, due to potential stress in large corporate books,” she said. The Philippine economy has been contracting by the double digits for two quarters now—it shrank by 16.9 percent in the second quarter, and by 11.5 percent in the third quarter of this year. See “Recession,” A2

CUSTOMS EYES P15.4-B RICE TARIFFS THIS YEAR

Wednesday, November 18, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 41

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages |

Amla tweaks will boost PHL credit score–experts

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now aiming to collect at least P15.4 billion in rice tariffs by the end of this year, boosting hopes that over P5 billion could be allocated by government as assistance to farmers under the rice trade liberalization law.

During the Senate hearing on the 2021 budget of the Department of Finance, it was revealed that the BOC has so far collected P13.6 billion in rice tariffs this year, which has not yet included the P630 million it collected in October alone. Responding to the interpellation of Senator Francis Pangilinan, Finance Committee Chairman Juan Edgardo Angara said the BOC expects to collect also about P630 million each for the months of November and December. Should this be realized, at least P1.8 billion in rice tariffs will be collected for the last quarter of the year. Sought by this paper to confirm that they are expecting to collect P15.4 billion this year, Customs Assistant Commissioner and spokesman Vincent Philip Maronilla said: “We aim to achieve that figure or even more.”

Excess tariff yield

During the hearing, Pangilinan pointed out that this scenario would yield a possible excess of P5.4 billion in annual tariff revenues.

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Bureau of Fire Protection personnel conduct a clean-up drive at Marikina City Hall premises after the city was devastated by Typhoon Ulysses last week. NONOY LACZA

‘HIKE COVID, CALAMITY RESPONSE FUNDS’ By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

ITH the economy projected to lose P3.4 trillion this year due to the impact of Covid-19 and recent calamities, Congress was urged to adjust accordingly the proposed response in the 2021 national budget, which was deemed insufficient for the economy to recover from these adverse events. House Economic Cluster cochairman and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz

Quimbo, said the 2021 General Appropriations Bill which authorizes a total spending of P4.506 trillion is based on the assumption that the economy will contract at only 5.5 percent. “The 2021 national budget—being a Covid budget, includes Covidrelated spending that is presumed to sufficiently address an expected 5.5-percent contraction of the economy. Per my computation, in order to attain just a 5.5-percent contraction in 2020, our GDP must grow in the fourth quarter by 6.5 percent. This

is impossible because of the recent typhoons Rolly, Quinta, Siony, and Ulysses, which have an estimated damage of P100 billion,” she said in a privilege speech on Monday. “A more realistic forecast is what various international groups have projected: an 8 to 10-percent decline in the 2020 GDP.... And since the contraction is likely to be deeper than expected, the proposed Covid response in its current shape in the 2021 GAB, is simply insufficient,” she explained.

According to Quimbo, moving from 5.5-percent contraction of GDP to a 10-percent contraction means losing an additional P900 billion, adding:“So, from an expected P2.4-trillion loss, we now stand to lose P3.3 trillion. But if we include the damage from typhoons it could read P3.4 trillion,” she said. Quimbo also said the total amount of Covid-19 response in the 2021 GAB is only P248 billion and not P838.4 billion, as claimed by the Department of Budget and Management.

Continued on A2

S the Philippines seeks to secure more “A” credit ratings, experts see passage of the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) immediately as crucial to this campaign. UnionBank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said the changes to Republic Act 9160 can bode well for the financial system of the country as these can strengthen the safeguard against dirty money transactions. “In a country seeking the illusive A credit rating, passing the significant amendments to the Amla would be a great compliment,” he said. Economic managers earlier prepared a road map aimed at achieving an “A” rating from one of the major credit watchers, including Moody’s Investors Services, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings, by 2022. The Philippines received its first “A” rating in June from the Japan Credit Rating Agency. “If the Philippine government financial house is in order and its sovereign debt can be very trusted, an enhanced credibility of the domestic financial system would further provide benefits and advantages,” Asuncion said. “Otherwise, it will be lost opportunity to strengthen our institutions and the infrastructures that support them.” RCBC Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said that amending Amla can put the Philippines’s regulations on a par with its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

See “Customs,” A2

PESO exchange rates n US 48.1690

@Tyronepiad

See “Amla,” A2

n japan 0.4607 n UK 63.5831 n HK 6.2126 n CHINA 7.3175 n singapore 35.8027 n australia 35.2501 n EU 57.1043 n SAUDI arabia 12.8437

Source: BSP (November 17, 2020)

News A2 Wednesday, November 18, 2020

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOH sitting on DOT request for piloting saliva Covid test? By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HILE would-be tourists wait for lower-priced Covid-tests to hit the market, the Department of Health (DOH) has yet to act on the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) proposal to carry out the pilot-test of the saliva test to detect the novel coronavirus. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat told the BusinessMirror, “I’ve been offering DOH to pilot the saliva Covid test. We are always looking for affordable ways to travel.” She said the matter has not even been discussed at the Technical Working Group level of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). “I’ve already asked them [DOH] many times about it. They tell me it’s being validated by the RITM [Research Institute for Tropical Medicine].” This was confirmed by Foreign

Affairs Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Brigido D. Dulay, who chairs the IATF-TWG. “The DOH technical expert panel has yet to bring it up for discussion at the TWG,” he said in Filipino. The saliva test, pioneered by Japanese scientists, is a less invasive way of testing for Covid, providing quicker results than the current standard of RT-PCR tests. In a test of 2,000 individuals, according to the Hokkaido University, “The number of positive and negative results in all samples was very similar, with the nasopharyngeal

Customs…

Under the Rice Trade Liberalization Law, the annual tariff revenues in excess of P10 billion shall be earmarked by Congress—and included in the national budget of the following year—for financial assistance to palay farmers, titling of agricultural lands, an expanded crop insurance program on rice, and crop diversification. Given this, Pangilinan said they would have to enact a law. “And I if I’m not mistaken, a committee report is now being routed by the chairman of the [Senate] Committee on Agriculture to allocate cash assistance, direct cash assistance for rice farmers, for this P5.4 billion projected in excess of the P10

Continued from A1

billion,” he said. In the same hearing, Angara also revealed that the BOC’s revenues for rice importation was P21.599 billion in 2019, which represented P11 billion in excess of the P10 billion. The senator said the estimated revenue loss for technical smuggling of rice amounted to P1.393 billion last year and P1.19 billion this year. In September, 47 rice importers were told to pay a combined total of P1.417 billion after the Bureau of Customs found them liable for undervaluing their rice shipments from March to June last year. However, the BusinessMirror

‘HIKE COVID, CALAMITY RESPONSE FUNDS’ Continued from A1

“The total amount of Covid response in the 2021 GAB, according to the DBM, Mr. Speaker, is P838.4 billion. But what can be misleading, Mr. Speaker, is that a huge chunk of this amount—P590 billion—is for infrastructure as part of Build, Build, Build, which we’ve been planning even before the pandemic. So I have reservations tagging this amount as a Covid response,” she said. The solon also said the P413billion response—under the two Bayanihan laws—to a P3.4-trillion economic loss is clearly not enough, saying “this is akin to using a fire extinguisher to kill a forest fire.”

Bayanihan 3

With this, Quimbo urged Congress and the executive department to come together anew and enact a P340-billion Bayanihan 3. Earlier, Senator Panfilo Lacson sought to realign funds allotted

to “rehashed,” unfinished projects under the 2021 national budget, in order to fund other projects and programs. Lacson also lambasted the “disparity” or the unfair split of allocation toward the infrastructure budget of the lawmakers. He said billions of pesos are being allotted in few selected districts, noting, “that’s the horror roll.” During the recent House speakership row, allies of Marinduque Rep. and now Speaker Lord Allan Velasco cited the issue of unequal distribution of infrastructure funds among lawmakers against former House Speaker Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano. The House approved on October 16 on final reading the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, under the leadership of Velasco. Lacson said that it is clear there is a huge difference between the size of budgets in certain districts while other districts have to fend for themselves with less. He admitted that he is skeptical if the billions of pesos worth of infrastructure projects will actually push through. Velasco has been asked for a statement regarding the cited “horror roll” appropriations of Lacson, but the House leadership remains silent on the issue.

swabs and saliva samples able to detect those with the infection in 77-93 percent and 83-97 percent of subjects, respectively,” many of them, asymptomatic. The saliva test is currently being used in Japan’s international airports. Except for Baguio City, where the antigen test is accepted, other reopened tourist destinations such as El Nido in Palawan, and Boracay Island required RT-PCR tests conducted at least 72 hours before the guest’s departure from their home provinces/regions. The DOT recently funded the pilottest of the SD Biosensor antigen test in Baguio, but the DOH has yet to release any statement on its completion and results. Stakeholders in Boracay have called for the scrapping of the RTPCR test, which costs anywhere from P4,000-P6,500 per person, and use of the cheaper, but less accurate antigen test, for its would-be tourists. Antigen tests cost about P1,500-P3,500 per person. Boyet Sacdalan of the Compliance Association of Boracay, said the high price of the RT-PCR tests is “discouraging the arrival of more tourists to the island. Only those

who can afford it, are arriving and only the high-end resorts are receiving guests.” From November 1-15, tourist arrivals in Boracay reached 1,575, of which, 1,134 came from the National Capital Region, according to data from the municipal tourism office. The stakeholders’ proposal was approved in a meeting with Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores and Mayor Froilan Bautista on October 31, but Romulo Puyat said, “I’ve yet to receive the resolution or any letter from the governor.” As this developed, Philippine Airlines said it was offering RTPCR tests at its PAL Learning Center in Ermita, Manila, with its DOH-accredited laboratory partner Detoxicare Molecular Diagnostics. Spokesman Cielo Villaluna said for now, the testing is available for PAL passengers, “but eventually, this will be made available to passengers of other carriers.” The testing service is available via walk-in or drive-thru from 8 am to 5 pm daily at P4,500, with results released within 24 hours. Registration for the service is available on PAL’s web site.

reported last month that the BOC has so far collected only P30.908 million out of the P1.4 billion total charges, equivalent to 2.2 percent. Asked by Pangilinan why there seems to be a delay in the collection of charges from these rice importers, Angara said the BOC informed him that there is a process that has to be observed. “There are certain rights available to someone charged of smuggling or undervaluation and misdeclaration. They can appeal within 20 days; they can also appeal the decision of the commissioner, which has been affirmed by the Secretary of Finance; [this] can be appealed to the Court of Tax Appeals within 30 calendar days, your honor. These are some of the remedies which may cause the case to drag on,” Angara explained.

For the rice importations for January to June this year, the BOC last month said 60 rice importers have already been selected for the post-clearance audit. Nonetheless, Pangilinan urged BOC to fast-track its processes in resolving these cases involving undervaluation. “If these amounts are collected, these are already in excess of the P10 billion and therefore should be able to directly benefit our farmers. If the law is passed precisely to provide for direct cash assistance, this could actually be included; which is to say therefore that the speed within which the BOC would be able to resolve this” would mean the farmers can “benefit from the resolution of these cases to the amounts of hundreds of millions of pesos,” Pangilinan said.

Amla…

Continued from A1

He added that the proposed changes can help “increase the financial flows and investments into the Philippines as part of improved governance standards, to complement the country’s improved economic and credit fundamentals.” International money-laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed the country under a 12-month observation period in October 2019 after concluding that the Philippines is not meeting globally practiced standards. Following the pandemic, however, the observation period was extended until February 2021. The House of Representatives recently said that it was eyeing to pass the Amla amendments or House Bill 6174 before Christmas. It was certified as urgent by President Duterte earlier. The Philippines is tasked to address the recommended actions by the FATF during the observation period, or risk being included in the organization’s so-called grey list. In its web site, FATF said the countries in the grey list have “committed to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes and is subject to increased monitoring.” By addressing them, the organization said the country can counter money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. “Being part of the grey list does not bode well for the country’s financial integrity as a whole,” Asuncion said. Ricafort, meanwhile, pointed

out that being in the said list can restrict flows of foreign investments and overseas money remittances into the country. Currently, there are 18 countries on FATF’s grey list. These are Albania, the Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Iceland, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Investigative powers

Asuncion said enhancing the investigative powers of the AntiMoney Laundering Council (AMLC) is among the important amendments to Amla. “Currently, the AMLC lacks the necessary teeth to protect and preserve the integrity of the country’s financial system from the illegal flow of money,” he noted. “These significant investigative powers, I believe, can help further build and strengthen political and economic institutions and keep these current institutions intact from weakening due to movement of dirty money that are highly connected to graft and corruption in institutions,” he added. Stronger investigative powers can also deter unscrupulous entities in participating in the public office as they can be caught during investigations, he added. The UnionBank economist said the amendments can also support the implementation of Amla in full extent and provisions, helping the country fight terrorist financing and other shady activities.

LTFRB opens 7 new NCR-Visayas routes

HE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) has opened seven new routes between Western Visayas and Manila to allow 221 provincial buses to operate starting today, Wednesday. All seven routes will originate from the Sta. Rosa Integrated Terminal in Laguna. From there, passengers may travel to Kalibo and Malay in Aklan, San Jose in Antique, Roxas City, Estancia, Miag-ao, and Iloilo City in Iloilo, and vice-versa. “We remind everyone that we have not approved any price increase for the aforesaid provincial buses, unless otherwise stated by the LTFRB,” an advisory read. The opening of the new routes will

complement the existing ones first introduced in July, when some parts of the country were placed under the more lenient general community quarantine. Currently, there are 387 traditional public utility jeepney routes that are being operated by 35,022 authorized units; 48 modern jeepney routes with 865 units; 118 UV Express routes with 6,755 units, 27 public utility bus routes with 680 units; two modern UV Express routes with 40 units, and 34 point-to-point bus routes with 390 units. Likewise, 21,436 taxis, 4,499 public buses, and 25,068 transport network vehicles are allowed to operate during the quarantine period.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

SC denies Marcos, Calida bid to keep out Leonen By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), on Tuesday denied the motions separately filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. seeking the inhibition of Associate Justice Marvic Leonen from handling the latter’s election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. According to a media briefer issued by the SC-Public Information Office (PIO), the PET also directed the OSG and Manila Times reporter Jomar Canlas to show cause why they should not be cited in contempt. Both motions for inhibitions filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida and Marcos mentioned Canlas’s articles in seeking Leonen’s removal from the case. Leonen has been assigned as the officer-in-charge of the election protest filed by Marcos against Robredo. Earlier, PET warned it would impose severe sanctions on the camps of Robredo and Marcos for

continuously violating its gag order. Marcos’s camp has accused Leonen of being biased and hostile to him and his family, based on his previous pronouncements in landmark cases involving the Marcos family. Marcos also insinuated that Leonen was delaying the resolution of his election protest until it becomes moot and academic with the filing of candidacies for the 2022 elections in October 2021. Calida also said Justice Leonen should inhibit himself from the case filed by Marcos for showing bias and for deliberate delay in handling the matter. Calida said he filed the motion pursuant to the OSG’s mandate as Tribune of the People. On the other hand, Calida cited as clear prejudice against the Marcoses, Justice Leonen’s dissenting opinion in the Marcos burial cases. Calida added that Leonen even grouped the Marcos family and everyone associated with them into a single entity of human rights violators, regardless of the age, status and obvious absence of involvement of the family members.

‘GREEN FINANCING’ FACILITY SEEN AS BOON TO CLIMATE REFORMS Continued from A12

“The direct access modality is designed to help developing countries exercise ownership of finance, align these with national climate action plans, and not the least, build the needed capacity within our national institutions for climate projects,” Herrera added. “We articulate these points to push for concrete ways to address persistent challenges, so that more DAEs go through a shorter accreditation period and will encourage more applicants to find more clarity and efficiency in the process.” According to the CCC, the GCF is the world’s largest climate fund that aims to foster a paradigm shift toward low emission, climate resilient development pathways in developing countries. The GCF serves the Paris Agreement and is governed by a board that has equal representation from developing and developed countries.

The CCC also noted that the 27th GCF Board Meeting raises the GCF’s total portfolio to $7.2 billion and that the value of the approved projects for 2020 alone is over $2 billion—a record year for GCF programming. GCF Executive Director Yannick Glemarec said that project agreements for four projects were immediately signed upon their approval at the Board Meeting, showing how quickly they are moving to approve and implement vital projects and programs in developing countries. “GCF has stepped up its operations this year in spite of the global pandemic, and is providing more support to developing countries than ever as we help them to build a low-emission, climateresilient recovery,” Glemarec said. “The ambitious work program the Board has approvedfor2021willgivefurthermomentum to making our operations more efficient and more effective.”JonathanL.Mayuga

Recession… “This year’s recession is likely to impair the debt-servicing ability of consumers, small businesses, and leveraged companies. The extent of the impact on banks depends on the economic recovery and stabilization of credit conditions in 2021,” Anand said.

Continued from A1

“We expect operating conditions for banks and borrowers in the Philippines to improve only gradually, on the back of 9.6-percent growth in the economy in 2021. These projections assume an eventual flattening of the Covid-19 curve,” she added.

Sultanate Marks 50th National Day A BusinessMirror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

CELEBRATING RENEWED RENAISSANCE, SETTING FURTHER MILESTONES

The government takes keen interest in analyzing impacts of projects on the environment. This applies to all sorts of industrial, service and infrastructure projects. Regular programmes for monitoring, detection and inspection have been conducted right after the operation of projects, so that field feedback on the environmental situation around the site could be received and negative impacts addressed immediately. The Environment Authority executes laws, regulations, decision and national strategy programmes and drafts environment protection plans in keeping with the Sultanate’s commitment to international environment agreements within the context of basic goals for sustainable development. National strategies in this field are updated regularly for the management of chemicals and pollutants. The authority issues licenses and environmental clearances. It sets up national networks for the analysis of air quality, among other tasks. The Environment Authority follows up laws and national plans for the management of coastal areas and control of desertification. It drafts proposals for the establishment of nature reserves, including temporary protected sites and important sites in cooperation with global organisations.

USCAT, Nov 5 (ONA) – On the 18th of November, the Sultanate marks its 50th National Day anniversary. With firm resolve, Omani citizens continue to make more achievements under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik, who vowed to upgrade the march of nation building and enhance the pace of progress, striking a high note in Omani people’s enthusiasm for an ambitious renaissance that covers all spheres of life. Yet, this year’s celebration is impinged by sentiments of sour sorrow for the loss of Father of Omani renaissance, the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimour, who sculpted this Arabian edifice from scratch, his vigilant eye not missing a flaw in any side of the monument.

Smooth Transition of Power

HM Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik Assumes Leadership Despite the immense calamity that befell Oman, the Arab world and the Islamic nation upon the death of the late Sultan, the 11th of January 2020 was a virtually unforgettable day in the Omani history. On this day, Omanis depicted a unique national saga of loyalty and devotion when the Sultanate surprised the whole world with a smooth transition of power. In gratitude and tribute to the late Sultan, the Royal Family endorsed, with unwavering certitude, the successor chosen by the late monarch to take the helm, given his proven wisdom and farsightedness. To answer this wish, the Defence Council opened the letter of the late Sultan who “recommended installing Haitham Bin Tarik as the Sultan of Oman due to (what the late Sultan perceived as) traits that qualify him to shoulder the responsibility.” Omanis bade farewell to “the dearest and finest of men” (to quote HM Sultan Haitham), pleaded mercy on his soul and recalled his everlasting good deeds and the legacy of nation building that he left behind in 49 years during which Omani citizen were the means and mainstay of development.

Achievements of His Majesty the Sultan

Within a short span of ten months, His Majesty Sultan Haitham was able to make many achievements. With insight and strong will, he restructured the State’s Administrative Apparatus to keep pace with Oman Vision 2040 whose salient features were drawn out by all segments of society in a manner that responds to His Majesty the Sultan’s aspirations. Under his patronage, the participants determined the future goals and economic, social and cultural approaches for a more verdant phase of development.

Regulating Administrative Action

Royal Decree No. 75/2020 on the State’s Administrative Apparatus constituted a turning point in practicing and regulating administrative action in the Sultanate. Its pursuits will shake up the structure by introducing new mechanisms that contribute to streamlining of procedures, maximizing benefits from services and finalizing them in the shortest possible time in a manner that conforms to Oman Vision 2040. A strategic approach of Oman Vision 2040 is to accord priority to the development of sustainable governorates and cities by espousing decentralization as a style of governance mentioned in Article (2) of the above-mentioned decree, which states that “the State’s Administrative Apparatus consists of central units like ministries and councils and non-central units like authorities and public establishments.” Royal Decree No. 101/2020 on regulating governorates and municipal affairs will contribute to the establishment of sustainable development, utilization of resources in the most ideal manner, generating benefits from tourism resources and heritage landmarks of every governorate and managing municipal utilities. The Governorates Affairs Council will facilitate coordination among governorates as they practise their respective specialisations and it will follow up the implementation of developmental projects. It will also assess their performance, evaluate their budgets and monitor investment of their resources.

Leader Meets People

His Majesty Sultan Haitham met a number of tribal chiefs (shaikhs) in Dhofar Governorate in the Wilayat of Salalah last September. An aura of dialogue prevailed in the meeting in a style reminiscent of the late Sultan’s meet-the-people tradition. His Majesty Sultan Haitham expressed his keenness to

meet citizens, study their needs and listen to their proposals for the development of their respective wilayats and their views on how to enhance the role of government departments and their services within the country’s comprehensive development plans. Apart from the role undertaken by Oman Council, through its bicameral chambers (State Council and Majlis A’Shura), coupled with the role of municipal councils in promoting development, such face-to-face meetings represent a practical application of Omani Shura (consultation) method—which is a value derived from the habits and traditions of Omani society.

His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik

Royal directives to tackle coronavirus pandemic

His Majesty the Sultan’s attention to the people crystalized in the way he tackled coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic since its outbreak in late 2019 in most countries of the world. His Majesty gave orders to form a Supreme Committee to find scopes to deal with the virus: monitor its spread, follow up regional and international efforts to limit its impacts and to devise solutions in accordance with assessment of general health results. The Supreme Committee, headed by Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al-Busaidi, Minister of Interior, has been on ongoing session and it has embarked on implementing the Royal directives of His Majesty the Sultan, who presided over one of its meeting last March. In the meeting, His Majesty pledged the government’s full support to the Committee. He said that the government “in its mandate to protect the health of citizens and residents, will spare no effort in combating the pandemic and curbing its spread.” n“Waqf (Endowment) Fund” to support health services and “Anti-Covid-19 Support Fund” to enhance the Ministry’s efforts: Meanwhile, an Endowment Fund and an “Anti-Covid-19 Support Fund” were established as prime movers of public support to the Ministry of Health in the battle against coronavirus. His Majesty the Sultan himself donated RO10 million as a personal contribution to the funds. The Royal gesture reaffirms full collaboration between the leader, the government and members of the public, both citizens and residents, to help eliminate the threat of the virus. The Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic took many decisions and espoused precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus. It imposed partial lockdown in some governorates and total lockdown in other governorates. It also set up Command and Control Points, banned nighttime movement, closed mosques, suspended study in schools and other educational establishments, downsized workforce at public and private workplaces, activated online work, suspended some commercial activities and imposed laws and regulations to ensure abidance by preventive procedures and stem the spread of the virus. nSpecial committee formed to tackle economic impacts of Covid-19: In view of the heavy toll on the global economy from coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and its repercussions that reflected in the situation in the Sultanate, His Majesty Sultan Haitham gave orders to form an economic committee, an offshoot of the Supreme Covid-19 Control Committee, to deal with the economic impacts of Covid-19 in the domestic front. Accordingly, a number of decisions were taken and resulted in the Government’s offering packages and incentives to private sector establishments and firms. The steps included the establishment of an Emergency Loans Programme which offers assistance to segments of entrepreneurs whose businesses were most severely stricken by the pandemic.

Foreign Policy

As soon as he assumed power, in his first nation address, His Majesty Sultan Haitham reaffirmed the permanent stands of the Sultanate’s foreign policy, saying that the Sultanate advocates peaceful co-existence among nations, good neighborliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. His Majesty the Sultan also stressed that he would follow the footsteps of the late Sultan Qaboos Bin Said bin Taimour. In his speech, His Majesty the Sultan said, “We shall trace the course of the late Sultan, re-

Freedom of expression

affirming the fundamentals of our country’s foreign policy based on peaceful co-existence with nations, good neighborliness, non-interference in the internal affairs of others, respect for countries’ sovereignty and international cooperation in various spheres.” This stance was reaffirmed by the Sultanate’s Government last September in a speech delivered by Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi before the 75th general assembly of the United Nations. Sayyid Badr said, “His Majesty the Sultan has reaffirmed beyond any doubt that the Sultanate will continue the prudent policy set by the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimour, Founder of Oman’s Modern Renaissance and architect of its foreign policy and its international relations over the past 50 years.” In addition, the principles of Omani foreign policy as established in its blessed renaissance espouse dialogue as a means for solving disputes. They also support values of tolerance, justice equality and the settlement of conflicts in accordance with the UN charter and rules of the International Law. This enhanced the Sultanate’s regional and international status and made it a lighthouse of peace and security. It is worth noting that Omani foreign policy principles are derived from basics of Oman’s centuries-old civilisation and original values of Omani society that indicate a sincere desire to promote humanity and moderation. As a result, the Sultanate is widely accepted as mediator in the international arena.

Economy…Oman Vision 2040

The much-awaited Oman Economic Vision, scheduled to be implemented upon the start of the 10th Five Year Plan in January 2021, meets with serious challenges, including the slump in international oil prices and the global spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. These challenges prompted the government to undertake stringent measures, including a Medium-Term Fiscal Balance Plan (2020-2024) which features many initiatives and programs aimed at establishing solid foundations for financial sustainability, reducing general debt, upgrading the efficiency of government spending, enhancing the State’s financial reserves, improving revenues from investment of government (to help the country deal with any challenges) and, thus, setting economic growth upright. The government of the Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Finance, also cut down budgets of government units by 5%, downsizing operational budgets and financial plans of government firms by at least 10% and slashing remunerations of boards of public authorities and establishment and affiliate committees by 50% applying a 5% Value Added Tax by next April (2021). All these measures are expected to supply the budget with a sum of RO 400 million. The aggregate revenues of the 2020 Budget stood at RO 10.7 billion calculated at a rate of $58 per barrel, while general expenditure was estimated at RO 13.2 billion, which entails estimated deficit of about RO 2.5 billion or 8% of the Gross Domestic Product. In his speech last February, His Majesty

Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik outlined the features of the next stage of development. He pointed out that the tasks of government firms will be fully revised with a view to developing them and augmenting their contribution to the economic system. His Majesty said, “We will study government decision-making with the aim of realizing the supreme national interests of the country. We will accord this aspect our full attention and our support.” Accordingly, Oman Investment Authority restructured the boards of directors of 15 government firms coming under its supervision. Also, ICT sector firms were restructured and a project for the foundation of an all-round agricultural products marketing company was announced. The vegetable and fruit marketing company will report to Oman Food Investment Company. Due to the vital role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in economic growth, the government of the Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Labour, worked to establish a suitable environment for SMEs. The steps included the exemption of SMEs from Omanisation percentages and the allocation of some professions to expatriate manpower. Also, the portal InvestEase has introduced many electronic services to the business community. In this respect, His Majesty the Sultan said, “We understand the significance of the Small and Medium Enterprise Sector and the Entrepreneurship Sector, notably projects based on innovation, artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. Attention will be accorded to training and empowering youth to help them benefit from opportunities offered by these vital sectors so that they could establish the core component of a smart national economy. Our government will follow up the progress made in these domains step by step.” The schema of laws and incentives related to investment helped furnish an attractive climate for investments from home and abroad. These include the Foreign Capital Investment Law. The government capitalizes on investment in Omani ports, particularly the Port of Sohar and the Port of Salalah, in addition to special economic zones (like the Special Economic Zone in Duqm and the Port of Duqm). The tourism sector also forms one of the basic pillars of economic diversification. The government has devised clear-cut strategies to maximize benefits from investment in the tourism sector.

Electronic Census

His Majesty Sultan Haitham attaches great importance to Electronic Census of Population, Residences and Establishments due to be held in December 2020. His Majesty the Sultan urged all to cooperate and interact positively with the census procedures so that it could achieve its desired objectives. The outcome of the e-census will cover all aspects of developmental planning.

Job Security System Law

To provide means of decent living for Omani citizens amid adverse global economic conditions, a Job Security System Law has been promulgated by Royal decree. His Majesty the Sultan donated RO 10 million as a personal contribution towards the foundation of the fund. He also issued directives to speed up the

establishment of a comprehensive national Social Security Scheme that provides protection to low-income groups and Social Security Fund beneficiary families against expected impacts of the medium-term Fiscal Balance Plan.

The renewed renaissance led by His Majesty the Sultan accords importance to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Basic Law of the State’s Article (29). The article provides that the law secures to the individuals of society the freedom of expression either through speaking, writing or other means within the boundaries of the law. This has been reaffirmed by His Majesty the Sultan, who said that the State is founded on grounds of freedom of speech, justice and equality of opportunities where people’s dignity, rights and liberties are preserved.

Education and Research Sector

Omani Women

His Majesty Sultan Haitham accorded top priority to the sector of education. He gave directives to provide a supportive environment that enhances learning, research and innovation. The aim is to enable Omani citizens to contribute to the forthcoming stage of development. The National Strategy for Research and Development has been modernized to keep pace with Oman Vision 2040, notably the development of a cognitive community that is capable of competing and converting knowledge into economic revenue. The setting up of University of Technology and Applied Sciences last August is testimony to this approach of encouraging research and innovation and benefit from advances of artificial intelligence and the 4th industrial revolution (4IR). For the same purpose the name of Ministry of Higher Education has been changed to Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. The Sultanate’s modern renaissance is influenced by the memorable quote of the late Sultan who said, “We will educate our sons and daughters even under the shade of a tree” (way back in the 1970s). since then, the march of education has gone a long way and, today, educational establishments are set up on each mountain and plain in Oman. The recent Royal directives to set up six priority schools in the forthcoming stage to the tune of RO 8.85 million reflect the attention accorded by His Majesty the Sultan to the needs of citizens. It is a gesture that denotes his Royal support to education, being the basic requirement for nation building.

Environment

Since the outset of its blessed renaissance, the Sultanate has been implementing a policy of environment protection and pollution prevention. This policy comes within the framework of a comprehensive strategy for sustainable development, conservation of wildlife and preservation of renewable resources. The government supported this approach by encouraging environment research, exchanging expertise, gathering information, spreading public awareness and instilling basic values and principles that support the goals of sustainable development. The Environment Authority undertakes the mission of issuing laws deemed necessary for the protection of natural reserves, marine ecosystems and biological diversity. It also introduces the principle of environmental management as a means of raising the capacity of development projects. This is in addition to environment inspection tasks that seek to monitor the situation, assess any negative impacts to the environment and undertake necessary action. The Environment Authority also seeks to reaffirm the principle of setting balance between development requirements and maintaining environment safety.

One of the bright aspects of renewed Omani renaissance under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik is the Royal attention accorded to Omani women. The vital role of women in the nation building march has been highly recognized. His Majesty the Sultan said, “We all have to ensure that women get their full rights guaranteed by law, including their right to work side by side with men across all sectors to serve their country and society.” Last month, His Majesty the Sultan conferred the Order of Royal Commendation on a number of Omani women. The Order was presented by Honorable Lady, the Spouse of His Majesty the Sultan, at a ceremony at Al Baraka Palace on 17 October 2020.

Youth Sector

His Majesty the Sultan described youth as “the inexhaustible wealth of nations…its hands that build.” He voiced his sincere desire to listen to youth, explore their interests, address their concerns and achieve their aspirations.” The celebration of Omani Youth Day on 26 October came as reaffirmation of the Sultanate government’s commitment towards this segment of society and its determination to provide them with all means that facilitate their march forward as they contribute to their country’s progress. HH Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham alSaid, Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, gave a speech at the event, saying, “Omani youth have shown that they are highly capable of shouldering their national responsibility. This confidence stems from their full awareness about their cause and how to serve by it espousing means of advancement, coupled with clear vision and firm resolve to participate in the rejuvenating renaissance of Oman. They are open to the culture of coexistence, love and peace.” His Majesty Sultan Haitham pledged, as he leads the promising reign of the renewed renaissance, that he will elevate Oman, in the coming stage, to the level of aspirations of its people in all spheres. Citizens participation will be the main pillar of national action, he said, asserting his absolute confidence in the abilities of loyal Omani people to cope with the requirements of the age and the next stage of development, with clear vision, extreme wisdom, steadfastness and self-denial. His Majesty Sultan Haitham said, in a Royal address that: “Nation building is a public responsibility binding upon all. No one is exempted. All should contribute within their capacities. Oman has been founded and its civilization consolidated with the sacrifices of its people, who relinquished everything dear for the sake of their country’s dignity and supremacy. They exhibited exemplary fidelity in performing their national duties.”

The Nation

A4 Wednesday, November 18, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

Quimbo pushes Bayanihan 3 to fight Covid, boost PHL’s disaster resilience By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

HE co-chairman of the House Economic Cluster on Tuesday filed a bill providing for a P400-billion Bayanihan to Arise as One Act, while mandating the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) to craft a plan to improve the country’s long-term economic and disaster resilience. In House Bill 8031, Marikina Rep. Stella Luz A. Quimbo said she filed the Bayanihan 3 Act to give additional funding and strengthen government efforts and response to the ongoing public health crisis complicated by three successive typhoons that battered most parts of Luzon. According to Quimbo, the P400 billion in spending package seeks to ensure help is available under the state’s social amelioration program, rehabilitate areas damaged by natural calamities, sustain delivery

of basic goods and services, implement high-impact infrastructure projects, assist businesses to keep them afloat, and bring the economy on the right track. The bill proposes to allocate P100 billion to subsidize business’ payments of wages, or other workerrelated expenses, P100 billion for capacity building to impacted sectors, P90 billion for additional social amelioration to impacted households (of which P20 billion is targeted to households in typhoon-devastated areas), P30 billion for assistance to displaced workers (including cashfor-clean up and cash-for-home building in typhoon-devastated areas), P50 billion for the rehabilitation of typhoon-affected areas, P25 billion for Covid-19 treatment and vaccines, and P5 billion for the provision of Internet allowances to teachers and students. Quimbo said the proposal will also put to task the Neda to craft a long-

term plan, which shall be resilient from future shocks such as pandemics and typhoons. It also mandates the agency to review the Flood Management Master Plan for Metro Manila and surrounding areas to improve disaster risk reduction and resilience. She said the money allotted to fight Covid-19 under the 2021 spending plan is minuscule, representing only P248 billion out of the total P838.4 billion earmarked for the pandemic response that also included some P590 billion for infrastructure under the government’s centerpiece program, the Build, Build, Build program. But for the country to fully rise from the Covid crisis, Quimbo said the Bayanihan 3 ensures adequate funding for vaccine procurement and steady stream of aid, or ayuda to low-income families. Quimbo’s proposal also aims to provide calamity intervention measures such as cash-for-work, emer-

gency subsidies, adequate infrastructure funds for typhoon-stricken areas, among others. The lawmaker also recognizes that assistance to businesses are crucial to job preservation, thus worker subsidies are provided in the bill, which shall cover pay for testing and sick leaves, among others, capacitybuilding programs for critically impacted businesses to assist them in adapting to the new normal. The proposed Bayanihan 3 seeks to extend the effectivity of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan II) as its provisions remain to be critical for recovery beyond December 2020. “Government must also anticipate the need for additional response measures, given that Bayanihan II shall cease to be in force and effect by December 19 of the current year while the effects of the pandemic, and the virus itself, are expected to prevail well into 2021,” she added.

House urged to include mining firms in N. Luzon flood probe

EVERAL groups on Tuesday dared the House of Representatives to include in its investigation the accountability of mining companies that led to the worsening condition of typhoon-hit areas. Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas President Danilo Ramos made the call as House prepares to investigate, in aid of legislation, the cause of massive flooding that submerged the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela during the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses (international code name Vamco). “We should not do an investigation just to provide a band-aid solution, the House of Representatives should probe what is the root of the problem, the continued release of water from dams [during Typhoon Ulysses], the legal and illegal logging, and large and small-scale mining operation triggered massive flooding in several areas [in Luzon],” said Ramos. According to Ramos, the suspension of mining operations and the filing of cases against them should also be resolved and investigated by the House. Last Monday, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, together with Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano, filed House Resolution 1348 to immediately conduct the probe. Velasco wants to probe the circumstances surrounding the rapid inflow of water into the reservoir, as well as any non-compliance with laws, rules or regulations that may have had a contributory effect to the swelling of Cagayan River. The Speaker also just wanted the chamber to look into the decision of the National Irrigation Administration to open the spillway gates of Magat Dam, and if such action was done in accordance with duly established guidelines and protocols. Meanwhile, Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro slammed the national government’s lack of disaster response and demanded accountability for failures in preparations in times of calamities. “Make up for your absence, ensure that you file charges against the masterminds of mining and quarrying operations that led to the worsening condition of typhoon-hit areas, and affected many lives,” she said. “In just a span of three weeks, the wrath of five tropical cyclones, including a super typhoon, brought damages and landslides, wrecked crops, homes, businesses, but more than this, it took the lives of many Filipinos. However, the Duterte government did nothing but abused and exploited the term ‘Filipino resiliency’ as it forced the people to do the necessary actions in cognizance to the ‘bayanihan spirit,’” Castro said.

TYPHOON affected residents of Barangka, Marikina, jostle to get their relief food packs from a worker of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. NONIE REYES

Castro added President Duterte and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources allegedlyjust let the mining and quarrying activities persist. Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat also called to put to stop the construction of Kaliwa Dam and all large-scale destructive mining operations as she urged the government to prioritize people’s welfare amid the pandemic and disaster.

NOLCOM shift

THE military’s Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) has shifted its disaster response operations in Region 2 to relief efforts as residents have been moved out of their flooded homes. The relief operations were pushed on Monday as the government continued to send assistance to victims of Supertyphoon Rolly (international code name Goni) in Bicol region, with the Navy vessel BRP Tarlac leaving South Harbor on Tuesday for Catanduanes bearing relief items. The shift to relief operations in Cagayan Valley came less than two days after the military dedicated a number ofaircraft,manpowerandrescueequipment in response to the worst flooding that hit the region in four decades. Maj. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr., commander of NOLCOM said that their “aerial reconnaissance over the weekend has showed that no more civilians remain stranded in roofs and other danger zones as a result of the concerted efforts between and among the LGUs [local government units], line agencies and security forces in evacuating and rescuing the residents. “The delivery of goods is now your soldiers’ top priority,” Bur-

gos said, clarifying that they are “ready to respond and perform rescue missions should the situation deem it necessary.” Burgos said that several NGOs and partner-stakeholders reached out to NOLCOM, expressing their desire to donate basic necessities such as food, water and clothing for the victims of Ulysses in Northern and Central Luzon, while confirming that “more than 10 truckloads of relief packs for thousands of families have already reached Cagayan and Isabela provinces.” The Navy’s BRP Davao del Sur will be sailing from Manila to Cagayan’s Sta. Ana Port to ferry more relief packages for the victims, while air assets are still currently deployed to monitor and deliver essential items to isolated areas, as well as perform medical evacuation in times of emergencies. Burgos said that “soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will continue our close coordination with the Incident Management Teams, chaired by the provincial governors, to ensure that appropriate actions depending on the situation will be undertaken in the soonest possible time.” AsidefromRegion2,theNOLCOM is also currently performing humanitarian missions in Cordillera Autonomous Region and Central Luzon.

‘Bayanihan’ at DepEd

SECRETARY Leonor Magtolis Briones has directed all field offices of the Department of Education, through their respective regional directors, to submit a list of teachers and personnel severely affected by recent typhoons Rolly and Ulysses to enable DepEd to fully assist them during these times. “The entire DepEd family is one

with the nation in the bayanihan efforts for our dear fellow Filipinos, who have been battered by recent calamities. In a span of days, areas in Bicol, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Cagayan Valley experienced tragic loss of peoples’ lives and their livelihood,” Briones lamented. The DepEd noted that within the department, voluntary contributions from officials and staff from the Central Office, regional and division offices have been pouring in to help fellow Filipinos recover from these calamities and subsequently sent directly to the most affected schools. “We are also committed to expedite the process of benefits for our staff and will facilitate smoother coordination with corresponding agencies. Recently, we are making headway in helping our personnel in getting the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and other private lending institutions’ calamity loan. The department will also provide provident fund emergency loans to the teaching and non-teaching personnel who were affected by the recent typhoons. We are also about to release the year-end bonus equivalent to one-month salary and P5,000 cash gift for our personnel,” she added. On the learning materials side, the DepEd chief assured that they will release additional funding for the reproduction, or replacement of damaged self-learning modules. “In addition, funds have been downloaded to provide hygiene kits and conduct cleanup drive and psychosocial first aid to affected schools. We also engaged our external partners to deliver donations directly to schools,” she said. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz, Rene Acosta and Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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SC affirms ruling to junk bail plea filed by JPE’s aide By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court has affirmed the ruling by the Sandiganbayan which denied the motion for bail filed by lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, the former chief of staff of former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile. In a 24-page decision released to the public last November 10, the SC’s First Division affirmed the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s June 28, 2018 and December 7, 2018 resolution which found no reasonable ground to grant her plea for bail. The SC said that there was no grave abuse of discretion on the party of the Sandiganbayan when it held that there is a strong evidence of guilt on the part of Reyes in denying her bail application. “The foregoing arguments of petitioner fail to establish that the Sandiganbayan acted with grave abuse of discretion in concluding that there is strong evidence against petitioner,” the SC declared. It noted that Reyes has not denied signing letters or disputed Enrile’s statement that she signed the letter allowing at least P172.8-million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDA) intended for Enrile’s office to be released to the scheme formulated by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. “While at this point the testimonies of [Ruby] Tuason, [ Benhur] Luy, [Marina] Sula and Merlina Suñas do not directly establish that petitioner received the proceeds from the said funds, this gap is not enough to overcome a heightened presumption that petitioner partook of P172,834,500 PDAF funds which, but for her letters, would not have been funneled into bogus projects. Tuason, Luy, Sula and Suñas are the prosecution’s witnesses

in the case. Reyes is currently detained pending the resolution of her trial for plunder with Enrile for allegedly keeping P172.8 million in kickbacks in the pork-barrel scam. The Court did not give credence to Reyes’s argument that she should be allowed to post bail on the ground that the Sandiganbayan acted with grave abuse of discretion in taking more than five months to issue the June 28 resolution, thus violating the three-month period prescribed under Section 6 of the Presidential Decree 1606. She also pointed out that the anti-graft court took more than five months to resolve her motion for reconsideration and supplemental motion for reconsideration, thus violating the 10-day non-extendible period under the Revised Guidelines for Continuous Trial of Criminal Cases. But, the SC held that the delay in one segment of the court proceedings which does not stall the main proceedings in the entire case is not tantamount to a violation of the right of a party to speedy trial or disposition the case. “In the present petition, there is no doubt that the Sandiganbayan incurred delay in one segment for it failed to resolve an interlocutory matter within the period prescribed by law and the Rules of Court. However, there is no allegation much less evidence by petitioner that this segment delay stalled the entire proceedings in a way that is vexatious, capricious and oppressive,” the SC explained. “On the contrary, petitioner and her co-accused saddled the Sandiganbayan with numerous and simultaneous incidents that, in the long-run, had the effect of slowing it down as it attends to these various incidents and, at the same time, resolve the main case,” it added.

Gunmen slay young lawyer on his way to Palawan court By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

NOTHER lawyer was shot dead in Palawan by still unidentified assailants on Tuesday morning. The victim, lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit was traversing Sitio Caraniogan National Highway, Barangay Malinao, Narra, Palawan going to Quezon province on board his vehicle when he was flagged down by two unidentified persons and ordered him to step down. When the victim came out of his vehicle he was then fired at by the suspects. The lawyer sustained two gunshot wounds in his right cheek and in his leg that resulted in his instant death. The suspects immediately left the scene after seeing Magcamit fell on the ground. Just last week, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 45 Judge Ma. Theresa Abadilla was shot dead by her own clerk inside her chamber and shot himself dead later. In 2017, Palawan lawyer Hermie Aban was also killed by a gunman in Barangay Bancao-Bancao. Aban served as one of the legal counsels of detained former governor Joel Reyes, who was accused of masterminding the 2011 killing of Dr. Gerry Ortega, an environmentalist and radio broadcaster, who exposed the alleged misuse of funds from the

Malampaya natural gas project. Aban also served as lawyers for several suspects in drug-related cases in Palawan. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)-Palawan Chapter immediately condemned Magcamit’s killing, noting that it happened “in these most trying times we are facing.” “It is our consistent stand that violence has no place in this civilized society, especially against those in the legal profession who are courageously helping in the administration of justice. This tragic incident is not only an attack to a member of the IBP but also an attack to the legal order and justice system by means of fear and violence. The perpetrators must be swiftly brought into the hands of the law by those in authority,” the IBP chapter said. “His senseless death is a great loss to the community he had perseveringly served since his admission to the bar, and most especially to us, his brethren in the legal profession. His dedication and commitment to uphold the ends of justice has illumined until his last breath. We deeply mourn for the loss of a brother,” IBP added. Magcamit became one of the more than 50 members of the Bar who were killed under the Duterte administration.

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, November 18, 2020 A5

Education trust fund for poor families eyed

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Capital Market Development Council (CMDC) is eyeing the creation of the country’s first-ever Child Trust Fund (CTF) which will help ease lowincome families’ financial woes that hinder them from supporting their children’s tertiary education. The Department of Finance (DOF) on Tuesday said the CTF would provide long-term savings or investment accounts to qualified low-income families so that they can have the money to fund their children’s college education. Both the national and local governments will contribute to the proposed CTF, which will be man-

aged by financial institutions. In a news statement, the DOF said the CTF plan was presented by National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon during a recent meeting of CMDC, which is co-chaired by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, lawyer Benedicta Du-Baladad of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX)

and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Emilio Aquino. “The fund can also either be managed by the government and a part of it can also be cut out to be managed by the private sector. We are still on an exploratory stage and we would like to further do a more detailed or granular study on the CTF and to sell it to the council in the coming meetings,” said de Leon, who also acts as treasurer of the CMDC. CTFs and other similar investment accounts benefiting children are already in place in other Asian economies such as South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, de Leon said. But de Leon said the concept of the planned CTF was adopted from those implemented in the UK and Singapore’s Education Endowment, or Edusave Scheme. In UK, more than 6 million CTF tax-free accounts were set up to prepare for future educational expenses, or for any other purpose that would benefit children born between Sep-

tember 1, 2002 and January 2, 2011. The government provided initial seed money of 250, or 500 British pounds per child, with the latter amount for children in poor households. The funds can be drawn in UK once the children reaches 18 years old. In the case of Singapore’s Edusave Scheme that automatically covers all seven-year-old Singaporeans, the government contributes a total of S$4,000 over 10 schooling years of primary and secondary education of each child-beneficiary. Moreover, the beneficiaries in Singapore can take out money from their accounts even before their maturity, provided that they use the proceeds for educational purposes. The government closes each account and transfers the unused fund balance once the child-beneficiary reaches 16 years of age. For the Philippines, de Leon said the proceeds from the CTF can be used to augment funding support for students who would still need daily allowances, trans-

portation expenses, board and lodging, and other miscellaneous expenses. This is because education is free from kindergarten to college in all public schools and state tertiary institutions. Citing a 2017 survey done by the Philippine Statistics Authority, de Leon said around 18 percent of outof-school youths have cited financial woes as their main hindrance to getting an education, despite a conditional cash transfer program being implemented by the government. Should CTF in the country be in place, de Leon said this will remove one of the barriers to the country’s commitments to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Quality Education. On top of providing an educational fund for kids from low-income families, the CTF’s other goal is to revive the “savings culture” in the country, according to Consuelo Garcia, Liaison Director for Capital Markets of FINEX.

Garcia pointed out that the Philippines ranked second in an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study on the savings of Asian countries in relation to their gross domestic product (GDP) over 50 years ago. But she said the Philippines’s savings-to-GDP ratio today is only at 15 percent, lower than Vietnam’s 25 percent and Indonesia’s 35 percent. “It is actually to be the missing link to what we have right now. The Personal Equity and Retirement Account [PERA] is for the working class. This one is for the young people. The baby boomers already got left behind so I think we could have this as a starting point,” she said, adding that “because you pool the funds and it is professionally managed, you create a pool of funds that are managed professionally by institutional investors and it creates money that can be used to support the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program of the government so it really is a winwin for everyone.”

Australia opens ₧43-million fund for women-owned MSMEs, SMEs By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

HE Australian government on Tuesday launched a P43-million funding program geared to assist the financial recovery of women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Investing in Women, an initiative of Australia, launched the RISE Fund that injects P43 million to women-led MSMEs in the Southeast Asian region. The program aims to mitigate the business impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on womenowned firms and provide them with the liquidity they need to make it

past the health crisis. In initiating the RISE Fund, the Australian government obtained the support of the Macquarie Group Foundation, who will invest the money for the program. In a news statement, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Steven J. Robinson AO said women should be given all the support they need, especially in these trying times. He argued allocating a fund for women-owned MSMEs will help in reducing the gap in financial access for the two genders. “Women will play a central role in the recovery from Covid-19 and should have an equal part in a more

resilient, inclusive and broad-based Philippine economy,” Robinson said. “The Macquarie-Investing in Women RISE Fund will support and give a boost to women SMEs [small and medium enterprises] and help to build back better in the Philippines. Closing the gap between women and men’s access to capital will provide a significant boost to economic growth at a time when it is much needed,” he added. Aside from the Australian government and Macquarie, the initiative will host the Foundation for a Sustainable Society Inc. (FSSI) and InBestCap Ventures. The two investment partners

have been tapped to provide investments to women MSMEs to ripple a multiplier effect in local communities, particularly to create and sustain more than 200 full time jobs. FSSI and InBestCap are also tasked to strengthen the gender lens investing ecosystem in the Philippines. The firms are instructed to encourage investors to make available to women entrepreneurs the funds they need to grow their businesses.

Meralco sets June ’21 target for 100% electrification of entire franchise area

MERALCO crewmen work continuously to clear debris and restore electric service in areas badly hit by two successive typhoons that recently hit the country: Typhoon Quinta, a Category 3 typhoon that brought strong winds and rains from October 23 to October 27, followed by super typhoon Rolly, which was reported to be a Category 5 typhoon, and considered the world’s strongest typhoon so far this year. As of Wednesday, November 4, 2020, Meralco announced that it has fully restored the electric service of all its customers affected by the said typhoons. Meralco is committed 24/7 to respond to power outages caused by natural calamities such as these even with the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic. By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is targeting to achieve 100 percent electrification in its franchise area by June next year. “Our target is to achieve 100 percent energization of our franchise area by the first half of 2021 through our Meralco Electrification Program [MEP],” said Meralco Chief Sustainability Officer Raymond Ravelo when he gave an update on the company’s sustainability agenda during The Future Energy Show Philippines event. MEP is designed to leverage both traditional as well as innovative and sustainable means to bring electricity to remote communities. Out of the total 559 sites for energization by June 2021, a total of 233 have been electrified, 143 sites with ongoing construction and 183 with ongoing right-of-way (ROW) acquisitions.   Meralco serves Metro Manila, where it is the sole electricity distributor, as well as some nearby provinces, like Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. It has 7 million customers. Last year, it energized two far-flung communities in Isla Verde

Batangas and Cagbalete Island, Quezon province with micro-grid solutions combining solar PV and batteries. In Isla Verde, Meralco installed a 32 kilowatt (KW) solar PV with a 192 kilowatt hour (kWh) battery energy storage system (BESS). This system now powers 29 households. For Cagbalete Island, Meralco energized two barangays representing 154 households through a 60 kW solar PV and a 150 kWh BESS. “Our immediate goal going forward is to energize the remaining households as well as all small businesses and resorts on both islands. Thus, we are working towards building larger-scale microgrids, about 25 times the size of the first phase implementations in both islands,” added Ravelo. The company’s social development arm, One Meralco Foundation (OMF), also complements MEP with its efforts in household and school electrification. Last year, over 8,000 homes of low-income families were energized and are now enjoying the benefits of electricity. Among those energized were two communities in Pasig City, which did not have access to electricity for more than 15 years due to tenure and ROW issues. Under school electrification, OMF typically installs 3 kW solar PV systems to power lights, fans, and learning tools in off-grid schools. Last year, 2019, we energized 20 public schools benefiting more than 4,000 students. Aside from “Power,” Meralco’s sustainability agenda also focuses on “Planet,” “People” and “Prosperity.” “Our drive to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and minimize our carbon footprint is supported by two major initiatives, namely: the transition to clean energy and vehicle electrification,” said Ravelo. The company’s platform for investments in renewable energy, MGREEN, gears up to build up to 1,000 MW of renewable energy (RE) projects in the next five to seven years. Its maiden project, an 80 MW solar farm in San Miguel, Bulacan, broke ground in December last year and is expected to come online in the first quarter of 2021. Meralco also launched its electric vehicle and charging infrastructure solutions company, eSakay. From a “People” standpoint, women represented close to a third of Meralco’s work force versus the global energy sector average of 9 percent. In addition, it recorded a 17-percent increase in women holding managerial positions. Meralco’s overall wellness program called Orange Fit, meanwhile, ensures the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of its workers. “In addition, last April 15, we rolled out our Code Light Chatbot, which was a brainchild of and initiated by our President and CEO himself. This is a tool which helps us monitor our employees’ daily work arrangements as well as their health and wellness status,” he said. Meralco also strives to empower its customers by launching programs, such as Bright Ideas and Orange Tag, meant to better understand consumers’ consumption patterns. Bright Ideas provides consumers practical tips to save on electricity, such as the use of inverter appliances and air-con rightsizing.

Macquarie Global Head Lisa George vowed the program will respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic on women-led MSMEs. She added the firm is committed to helping MSMEs to recover from the

ill effects of the global crisis. “Working through impact investors, our support will help businesses to restart economic activity in hard-hit areas of the Philippines,” George said.

BusinessMirror

A6 Wednesday, November 18, 2020

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS NO.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

3D ANALYZER INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES INC. 7-8/f Double Dragon Plaza 255 Edsa Cor. Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City

NO.

POSITION

NO.

34.

DUONG HOANG LOAN NGOC Vietnamese

VIETNAMESE LANGUAGEOFFICER CUSTOMER SERVICE

63.

GIAP THI MINH TRANG Vietnamese

VIETNAMESE LANGUAGEOFFICER CUSTOMER SERVICE

CAO, YICHAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

35.

CHEN, CHEN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINES, INC. 5th And 6th Floors, 8/10 Upper Mckinley Building Mckinley Hill Cyberpark Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

FENG, QIHANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

FU, FEIFEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

DA SUCCESS BUSINESS TRADING INCORPORATED Unit 25d 2/f Zeta Ii Bldg. 191 Salcedo St. San Lorenzo Makati City 37.

NGUYEN THI XUYEN Vietnamese

CHINESE SPEAKING BUSINESS ANALYST

JIANG, RONG Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING DATA ENTRY CLERK

36.

FU, XIANGFENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

HU, ZHENGWEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

38.

HUANG, HESONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

DENSO TECHNO PHILIPPINES INC. 2/f Sm Jazz Residences N. Garcia Cor. Jupiter Sts. Bel-air Makati City

JIANG, XIAOYAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

LI, DAYONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

LIU, TIANSHENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

QIN, RONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

SHI, KUN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

SUN, DAIPENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

44.

ZHANG, ZHIHAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CHEN, ZHANGTAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

19.

LIANG, JIARU Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

MA, JIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

21.

MA, XIAOZHEN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

22.

SI SHWIN CIIN Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

23.

WANG, DAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

BIG EMPEROR TECHNOLOGY CORP. Eastfield Center Cbp1, Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City LI, WEIHUA Chinese

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

25.

CHEN, QINGLI Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

26.

HE, ZILONG Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

27. 28. 29.

LI, XIN Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

YU, YUANFENG Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

ZHAO, HAISHENG Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

BIGCAT SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. 18/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Avenue Cor. Rufino Street Salcedo Vill. Bel-air Makati City

30.

31.

42.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

ZHANG, WENJIE Chinese

CITRA ANGELINA TAMO Indonesian

BAHASA INDONESIAN LANGUAGE-MARKETING OFFICER

JULIANA Indonesian

BAHASA INDONESIAN LANGUAGE-OFFICER FUND MANAGEMENT

SENIOR MANAGER

CHEN, MENGQIANG Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

FINEST GW CONSULTANCY SERVICE INC. Unit-a Paseo View 16/f Ba Lepanto Bldg. 8747 Paseo De Roxas Bel-air Makati City

WANG, CHUANCONG Chinese

18.

24.

41.

LIU, DAIYU Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

HWANG, PIN-HSUN Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

KUO CHI HENG Malaysian

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

45.

NGO THAI BINH Vietnamese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

46.

CHEN, JUNSHENG Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

47.

DO LE PHUONG Vietnamese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

48.

HUNG, CHEN-HSUN Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

YAN, LILEI Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

49.

JUNG, MOON HO South Korean

POSITION

NO.

PROJECT SUPERVISOR

MARKETROLE ASIA PACIFIC SERVICES, INC. 26/f, 27/f, 28/f The Enterprise Center Tower 1 6766 Ayala Ave. Cor. Paseo De Roxas San Lorenzo Makati City

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES PHILS. INC. U-5302, 53/f Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Ave., Cor., V.a. Rufino St. Bel-air Makati City

64.

65.

DU, GANG Chinese

REGIONAL ACCOUNT DIRECTOR FOR CARRIER BUSINESS GROUP DELIVERY PROJECT AND ENTERPRISE BUSINESS GROUP SALES PROJECT

WU, JIANING Chinese

SENIOR NETWORK ANALYST FOR GLOBE TRANSPORT AND FIXED NETWORK PROJECT

HYDROCORE CORP. Unit 1207 12th Flr. The Trade & Financial Tower 32nd St. Cor. 7th Ave. Bonifacio Global City Fort Bonifacio Taguig City 66.

GAN, GUOFU Chinese

PROJECT MANAGER

INFOVINE INC. 9/f Y Tower, Moa Complex Coral Way Drive Cor. Macapagal Brgy. 076 Pasay City 67.

FAN, HAO Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

68.

FEI, YUDONG Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

69.

HSIEH, MIN-YUN Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

70.

HU, JIA Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

71.

HU, CHANGYU Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

72.

LI, XIAOLING Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

73.

LYU, SHUAI Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

74.

YAN, TIEXIONG Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

75.

YIN, XUEYAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

76.

LIEN, I-CHEN Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING GRAPHIC DESIGNER

77.

LIN, HONG-SHENG Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING GRAPHIC DESIGNER

78.

LIU, SHANG-JIE Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING GRAPHIC DESIGNER

79.

TSAI, HSIN-LUNG Taiwanese

CHINESE SPEAKING PROGRAM DESIGNER

SENIOR MANAGER

DYNA BINARY HOLDINGS INC. 18/f Tower 2 The Enterprise Center, 6766 Ayala Ave., Cor. Paseo De Roxas San Lorenzo Makati City

43.

ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D. Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street Tambo Parañaque City

20.

40.

YAMAGUCHI, HIROSHI Japanese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

WANG, XING Chinese

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5/f To 10/f, Tower 4 Pitx #01 Kennedy Road Tambo Parañaque City 17.

39.

KATO, TAKESHI Japanese

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

SR. PROCESS EXECUTIVE

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

MOLINA RODRIGUEZ, MAYRA ALEJANDRA Colombian

www.businessmirror.com.ph

INTEGRITY GLOBAL GROUP, INC. 2/f-3/f Ayala Malls Circuit A.p. Reyes Ave. Carmona Makati City 80.

HE, JILIN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

81.

JIANG, JINBO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

82.

WANG, LIYOU Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

83.

ZHAO, WEIPING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

99.

CLEMENT LIEW KAH MUN Malaysian

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF

100.

LONG, JIAJIAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF

101.

NGUYEN THI MINH CHAU Vietnamese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower C4 Rd. Edsa Ext. Brgy. 076 Pasay City 102.

CAO, KAI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

103.

CHANG, HONGHUA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

104.

CHEN, TIANBAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

105.

CHEN, HANSHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

106.

DARWIN R CHAYADI Indonesian

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

107.

DENG, JUNWEN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

108.

FENG, GUANGLI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

109.

FENG, YUANLIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

110.

HAN, QIANQIAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

111.

HAY MAN OO Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

112.

HE, MINGJUN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

113.

HE, JIANWEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

114.

HUANG, JUNFENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

115.

HUANG, XIUHONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

116.

HUANG, ZHIPENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

117.

HUANG, DECHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

118.

HUANG, NANHUO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

119.

HUANG, SIYUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

120.

JIANG, CHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

121.

LI, XINAI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

122.

LI, HAIHONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

123.

LI, HUANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

124.

LI, QIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

125.

LI, SHAOJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

126.

LI, SHUNQIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

50.

NGUYEN THI HUE Vietnamese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

51.

WU, HAIHUA Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

INVECH TREASURE PROCESSING CORPORATION Ground, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Floor Six West Campus Mckinley West Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

52.

XIANG, DAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

84.

CHEN, YUANPEI Chinese

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT

127.

LI, WUWEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

SU, BINGGUANG Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

85.

CONG, HONGRONG Chinese

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT

128.

LI, YONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

86.

FAN, GAOLIN Chinese

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT

129.

LIANG, LI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

87.

XU, FANGJIN Chinese

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT

130.

LIN, HAIJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

88.

YE, XUJIAN Chinese

I.T TECHNICAL MANDARIN

131.

LIN, XIAOLONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

89.

ZHAN, NI Chinese

I.T TECHNICAL MANDARIN

132.

LIU, GUIWAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

90.

CHEN, QIUSHENG Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

133.

LIU, SHUAI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

91.

GONG, YURUN Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

134.

LIU, DAKANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

135.

LIU, YAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

136.

LIU, ZHEN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

53.

54.

55.

WANG, HUI Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

ZHOU, BEILEI Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

FLUOR DANIEL, INC. - PHILIPPINES 2nd, 7th-17th/f Polaris Corporate Center Lt 6&7 Blk 1, Spectrum Midway Fcc, Alabang Muntinlupa City 56.

PIOQUINTO, MARIA JESUSA Canadian

SENIOR DESIGN SPECIALIST

GLOBAL B2B CONSULTANCY, INC. 50/f Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Avenue Bel-air Makati City 57.

INJAENG, CHUTHARAT Thai

CUSTOMER SERVICE THAI SPEAKING

92.

HUANG, JINLONG Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

58.

KHIEWSAI, DARUNEE Thai

CUSTOMER SERVICE THAI SPEAKING

93.

LI, TENG Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

59.

KULPANICH, THAMON Thai

CUSTOMER SERVICE THAI SPEAKING

94.

LIU, QIAOLONG Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

137.

LOU, WENJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

60.

LE THI UT UYEN Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE VIETNAMESE SPEAKING

95.

SU, RONGHUI Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

138.

LU, JIANBO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

96.

WANG, FUYONG Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

139.

LU, JUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

97.

WANG, JIANZONG Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

140.

LUONG THI Y NGOC Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

141.

LY CAM HONG Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

142.

PAN, FENGQIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

GRANDTECH SUPPORT SERVICES INC. 4/f U-2c One E-com Ctr. Bldg. Ocean Drive Brgy. 076 Pasay City 61.

TANG, JUNJIE Chinese

SITE TECHNICAL SUPPORTMANDARIN

32.

WAFER, ALAN Irish

IRISH LANGUAGE-HEAD OF DEPARTMENT-BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE & ANALYTICS

HANJIN HEAVY INDUSTRIES & CONSTRUCTION CO., LTD. 1128 University Parkway North Bonifacio Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

33.

KAMONROT, PIYALUK Thai

THAI LANGUAGEMARKETING OFFICER

62.

KWAK, YOUNG JUN South Korean

PROJECT MANAGER

M AND J SOLUTIONS PROVIDER INC. Ub 111 Paseo De Roxas Bldg. Paseo De Roxas San Lorenzo Makati City 98.

MISHAN, TAL Israeli

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS NO.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

NO.

143.

PANG, QIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

144.

PEI, ZHENG Chinese

145.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

NO.

184.

GAO, WENJUN Chinese

CREATIVE DESIGN (CHINESE SPEAKING)

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

185.

CHEN, CHAOFAN Chinese

QIU, WEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

186.

146.

SUN, BIAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

147.

WANG, WEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

148.

WU, NIAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

149.

WU, SHUYUN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

150.

XIA, XUANBO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

151.

YANG, XIAOLI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

152.

YE, DONGMING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

153.

ZHOU, XIANZHAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

154.

ZHOU, YING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

155.

ZHU, YI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th/f Pearl Marina Building Pacific Drive Don Galo Parañaque City 156.

CAI, CAIMING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

157.

CHEN, MAODUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

DENG, MINGJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

DUAN, XIEGUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

158. 159.

HAN, DELIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

161.

HUANG, ZIWEN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

162.

JIAO, YONGLIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

163.

LI, HEMING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

160.

164.

LU, YAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

165.

LUO, LING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

166.

LUO, CHANGBIAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

167.

MO, JINLIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

168.

TAN, CHAOJUN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

169.

WANG, PEILIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

170.

WU, XIANFENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

171.

XI, HANGYU Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

172.

ZHANG, YUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

173.

ZHOU, LONGFENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

174. 175. 176.

ZHOU, SHIQIANG Chinese SIM WEI LUEN Malaysian WANG MONG LOONG Malaysian

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE MALAYSIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE MALAYSIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE

NOCMAKATI, INC. 8,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,17,18 & 19 Floors Century Diamond Center Kalayaan Ave. Cor. Salamanca St. Poblacion Makati City

177.

WANG, ZHENGFU Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

OUTWIT, INC. 2/f Marvin Plaza 2153 Chino Roces Ave. Pio Del Pilar Makati City 178.

SONG, YANG Chinese

MANDARIN TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

179.

YUE, WANLI Chinese

MANDARIN TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

SHAN CHIN Myanmari

MYANMAR OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

180.

PHILIPPINES QIAN JIA SERVICES INCORPORATED 10/f Fort Legend Tower 3rd Ave. Cor. 31st St. Fort Bonifacio Taguig City 181.

CHI, DAHENG Chinese

182.

KOIKE, CHISATO Japanese

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER (JAPANESE SPEAKING)

RAINBOW PROMISE SOLUTIONS INC. Unit A 14/f B.a Lepanto Bldg. 8749 Paseo De Roxas Bel-air Makati City 183.

CHEN, MING Chinese

POSITION

NO.

228.

CAI, XIAOHUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CREATIVE DESIGN (MANDARIN CHINESE)

229.

CHEN, MEILING Chinese

CHEN, CHAO Chinese

CREATIVE DESIGN (MANDARIN CHINESE)

230.

187.

CHEN, WEIQI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST (CHINESE SPEAKING)

188.

DENG, CHENLI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST (CHINESE SPEAKING)

RAPOO PRO TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION Unit 8 Robinsons Cybergate Plaza Pioneer Brgy. Barangka Mandaluyong City

CREATIVE DESIGN . (CHINESE SPEAKING)

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

276.

WANG, BIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

277.

WANG, YUE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CHEN, PING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

278.

WANG, LEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

231.

CHEN, WEIYE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

279.

WANG, HAITAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

232.

CHEN, YONGKANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

280.

WEN, YONGMING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

233.

CHENG, HUANCHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

281.

WU, QINGLONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

234.

CHENG, BOLUN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

282.

XIE, MENGHUA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

235.

CI, PENGHUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

283.

XIE, MINGHONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

236.

DONG, YU Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

284.

XU, CHUNFANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

237.

FAN, LIUYANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

285.

XU, TIANSHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

238.

FAN, JINFENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

286.

YAN, JINHUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

239.

FAN, HANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

287.

YANG, SONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

240.

FANG, WENHONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

288.

YAO, HUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

241.

FANG, XIAOWEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

289.

YE, JIANJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

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ASST. VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES

SHEVRONE INC. Unit No. 2c Floor No. 4/f, Zone 10 Barangay 76, District 1 Pasay City 209.

210.

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JEFFERY, VICTOR British

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TOYO CONSTRUCTION CO. LTD. 3/f Planters Products Bldg. 109 Esteban St. San Lorenzo Makati City 211.

NOMURA, YASUYUKI Japanese

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*Date Generated: Nov 17, 2020

270.

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Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE-NCR Regional Office located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this publication.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

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News

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A4 Wednesday, November 18, 2020 A8

Jobs facilitated by PESO units reach 1M in 9 months–DOLE

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

ESPITE companies still reeling from the disruptions caused by novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to their operations, over a million people were still employed this year, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay said this was the number of jobs that were facilitated by the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) from January to September. Of the 1,191,905 PESO-placed workers, most were from the Western Visayas (12,409); Calabarzon (10,663); Central Luzon (9,150); Nor t her n Mind a nao (9,125); Davao Region (9,038); and Ilocos Region (9,012). Tutay, however, said the latest

number of placements from PESO was only half of the average placements by PESO in the last two years. The PESO assisted 2,099,613 jobseekers in 2018 and 2,151,034 in 2019. PESOs are the labor facilitation arm of local government units (LGU), which coordinate with DOLE. A similar trend was also observed by online job portal, JobStreet Philippines, which said the number of its vacancies earlier this year sig-

nificantly dropped due to effects of Covid-19. Prior to the pandemic, Jobstreet Philippines country manager Philip Gioca said they had about 100,000 jobs in site everyday. Now, he said they are now curating an average of 44,000 jobs per month.

Relaxed restrictions

HOWEVER, starting the second half the year, Tutay said more jobs became available as the government started relaxing quarantine restrictions. “We saw it was down [number of job vacancies] from April; May and June was really down. But it is now starting to pick up already,” Tutay said in an online press briefing on Monday. From April to June, the PESO units facilitated the placement of 220,009 jobseekers. It doubled to 410,621 from July to September. Gioca said they also observed a similar trend from the growing number of vacancies in the last three months. Furthermore, in a survey they

conducted with their clients, he said most foresee employment opportunities will pick up in the next six months. But, he noted there are new trends such as those work-from-home or open for even fresh graduates, which were not seen prior to the pandemic. In anticipation for the expected surge of job demands by next year, Jobstreet recently launched its mobile application,which aims to improve the experience of it clients. He said their platform is expected to attract more employers and jobseekers. “We are hopeful that by the end of the year, the new mobile app features will be completely rolled out for the benefit of our candidates and hirers,” Gioca said. He said the mobile app makes it more convenient for jobseekers by allowing them to upload their resumes with their phones. It’s also convenient for employers, since it enables them to remotely keep track of the applications that they are drawing in from their postings.

Drilon: Funds for Marawi, typhoon-hit sites too puny

ADB allots $20M in vaccine aid for developing countries By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

HEAsian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated $20 million worth of technical assistance to provide its developing members the resources to purchase vaccines against Covid-19. The ADB on Tuesday announced it allotted $20.3 million in technical assistance to bankroll the purchase of coronavirus vaccines for its developing members. Further, the fund can be used to put up systems that will the distribution of vaccines equitable and efficient. According to the ADB, the funds will be assigned to ADB developing members in strengthening their capacity to access, introduce, deploy, deliver and monitor vaccines safely and effectively. They can also tap the technical assistance to improve their vaccine cold chain and logistics, as well as infection control, supply and skills of health workers, risk communications and real time data capture and monitor. Likewise, they can utilize the funding to develop their own cold chain and vaccine tracking technologies. Woochong Um, director general at

the ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, said AsiaPacific economies have been responding to the Covid-19 pandemic well enough to contain the spread of the virus. �� With the ADB funding, Woochong argued that the countries in the region can further improve their response measures to combat Covid-19, including the procurement of vaccines. Optimism in the development of vaccine soared when pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and BioNTech announced they have been gaining headway in developing one. “With these additional grant resources, ADB can immediately support our developing members to undertake urgent actions, including vaccine system assessments and vaccine deployment strategies, to ensure vaccines are delivered efficiently and fairly,” Woochong said. Broken down, ADB’s Technical Assistance Special Fund contributed $20 million, while the $300,000 was chipped in by the Japanese government. ADB expects to roll out the technical assistance program with its partners Unicef, World Health Organization, Covax, Gavi, the World Bank and bilateral agencies, among others.

RE groups want DOE to include existing coal plants in new ban

ITING inadequate funding in the annual budget for strifetorn Marawi rehabilitation, Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon aired concerns on Tuesday over government's capability to rebuild Marawi, and sustain calamity response and rehabilitation of other typhoon- ravaged areas under the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021. Given the full extent of damage from typhoons Rolly, Quinta and Ulysses that hit the country in a span of two months, Drilon doubts as “grossly insufficient” the P21billion allocation for the National Disaster and Risk Management Council (NDRRMC). The Minority Leader raised the issue during Senate deliberations on the 2021 budget of the NDRRMC on Monday, airing apprehension over the continously declining allocation for the disaster management fund over the past three years. For 2021, when it is being given a modest increase. “From P38 billion in 2016, it was slashed by more than half—to P15.7 billion in 2017, then P19.6 billion in 2018, P20 billion in 2019 and P16 billion in 2020,” said Drilon, lamenting, “This, despite the fact that the country is disaster-prone.” During the plenary deliberation, Drilon seconded Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri’s proposal to use a portion of the P19-billion anti-insurgency fund for relief operations, noting that “a number of municipalities which suffered the most from the recent typhoons would have barangays included in the 822 barangays identified by National Task Force to

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REHAB BY THE BAY Workers rehabilitate the Manila Bay “white sand” beach made of dolomite after Typhoon Ulysses flooded parts of Metro Manila and Northern and Central Luzon last week. BERNARD TESTA

End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).” Drilon then sought Finance Committee chairman Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara's assurance he is open to the statement of Sen. Zubiri that part of the anti-communist fund can be used for calamity response. In response, Angara said: “There is openness and willingness on the part of this representation to hear out ideas laid out by both the minority leader and majority leader." Drilon, however, remained doubtful over the Duterte government's ability to complete the rehabilitation of strife-torn Marawi City in Southern Mindanao by the end of next year due to “budgetary woes.” He added that, "from our own research, the damage is about P70

billion. We have only allocated P3.5 billion this year and P5 billion next year. We have only been relying on donations and ODAs (official development assistance) to fund the rehabilitation.” This, even as Drilon noted Housing Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario’s earlier assurance that the government intends to finish the rehabilitation of Marawi by December 2021. The senator recalled estimates that at least P60 billion is needed for the rehabilitation but only over P11 billion has been released. Noting that only P5 billion was allotted for Marawi rehabilitation in the 2021 budget, Drilon pointed out: “Our countrymen there have been

suffering for the last two years... From the reports that we received, they are really complaining about the very slow rehabilitation that is being undertaken. Indeed, that is confirmed now by the meager budget for next year.” Drilon added that “we are still talking about a P48- billion balance out of a budget of P60 billion to rehabilitate Marawi. Would the current and the budget next year be enough to complete the rehabilitation by December 2021 as publicly committed by officials in charge of Marawi?” Addressing Angara, Drilon said, “We hope that in the period of amendments, the sponsor can consider an addition to the Marawi rehabilitation.” Butch Fernandez

ENEWABLE-ENERGY advocacy groups on Tuesday strongly urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to include existing coal power plants in the recently announced moratorium on greenfield coal power projects. The Power for People Coalition (P4P), Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) and the Ministry of Ecology in the Diocese of Lucena called on the DOE to use its declared coal moratorium to ban all coal-fired power plants in the country. This can be its contribution to avoiding even worse catastrophes than what the Philippines experienced from a string of typhoons in the last five weeks. In an online press conference, the groups called for accountability on the part of DOE and the national government for the role of their policies in worsening the climate emergency. “Coal fuels disasters. It’s plain and simple. So long as we burn coal, its greenhouse gas emissions will continue to heat the Earth and produce typhoons like Rolly and Ulysses, only much stronger and more frequently. It’s already too late to reverse the current trend of typhoons, but it’s not too late to stop the trend from becoming worse,” said Gerry Arances, P4P Convenor. P4P plans to hold another National Day of Action Against Coal (NDA) to demand that DOE use the coal moratorium to permanently prohibit the issuance of any new Certificates of Endorsements for coal projects in the pipeline, eventually revoke existing ones, and begin the decommissioning process for operating plants.

tainable power system in the country. “Because of these coal plants in our midst, natural resources that sustain life have been degraded, people are getting sick, and now, they bring disasters. DOE, please stop coal. We are one with NDA in making this declaration this Friday,” said Fr. Warren Puno, community advocate and Director of the Ministry of Ecology in the Diocese of Lucena. The groups see an increase of 140 percent in installed capacity of coal plants from the existing 9.88gigawatt if all coal projects in the pipeline would push through. “No amount of economic growth can compensate for the damage that the climate emergency can bring. And what’s sad is that even if the promised economic growth happens, it does nothing to benefit the poor who are the ones who bear the brunt of the consequences of the economic and policy decisions of those who look only at numbers and graphs on paper, and not the flooded towns and destroyed lives in real life,” said Arances. Ian Rivera, National Coordinator of PMCJ, commented that the DOE’s coal moratorium is the agency’s way of “covering its tracks of failures, bad planning, and its role in causing the reprehensible electricity rate of the country.” “DOE finally succumbs to the truth of market signals, the global trends of waning financial viability of coal, the strong drive of renewables, and the stranding of coal plants in Mindanao with an excess in baseload in the island which DOE already needs to transport to Visayas and Luzon,” he said.

DOE declaration

Total ban problematic—Cusi

RECENTLY, DOE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said his office would no longer endorse new applications for greenfield coal power plants, citing the need to shift to a “more flexible power supply mix” that would help build a more sus-

SOUGHT for comment, Cusi said he understands the concerns raised by the groups. Unfortunately, he said, banning all coal power projects, including existing ones, would only create more problems for the country.

After 4 typhoons, ACB chief says time to turn to nature for climate action

HE Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) said on Monday it is high time to push for the restoration of degraded ecosystems and conservation of existing ones as part of the disaster risk reduction strategies. In a statement, ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said four consecutive typhoons pummeled the Philippines in just a couple of weeks and the Mekong Region has also gone through five typhoons since October this year.

The recent emergencies show that Southeast Asia remains one of the vulnerable regions taking the brunt of climate change, she said. “While effective and decisive immediate response is crucial in these times, we invite everyone to look at the bigger picture,” she said, citing the most recent figures of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations that show Asean losing 376,181 square kilometers of forest area in a span of three decades,

from 1990 to 2020. Natural ecosystems like the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in the Philippines, which runs from Cagayan province in the north to Quezon province in the south and is strategically located in the Philippines’ eastern seaboard, require protection, said Lim, a former director of the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). A heterogeneous mountain

range with a diversity of ecosystems—from wetlands like mangroves and freshwater lakes, such as the Dunoy lakes, to unique pygmy forests and large dipterocarp forest areas—Sierra Madre can weaken strong weather disturbances and absorb large amounts of rainfall, Lim noted. Facing climate risks, the Asean region has high stakes in the global climate action, which, among others, includes the landmark post2020 global biodiversity frame-

work, the ACB chief said. “Inasmuch as there is recognition of climate change as a driver of biodiversity loss, it must also be realized that conserving and sustainably managing biodiversity is right at the core of climate action. As we continue to face the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change, business as usual should no longer be acceptable,” she said. Lim explained that the courage and resilience of Asean citizens in the face of crises must be matched

with “science-based policies and programs that embed biodiversity and nature-based solutions to short- and long-term climate action at all levels.” The ACB, along with its dialogue partners, such as Swedebio, supports the Asean member states in promoting the ecosystems-based adaptation approach and implementing programs that boost the resilience and services of protected areas and other vital ecosystems, with their communities. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Image BusinessMirror

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Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Building your personal brand I

OVERHEARD two people talking and one of them quipped, “But bulldozer will not like that.” “Huh? Who is bulldozer?” the other person intriguingly asked. And when the first one said the name, they exchanged a knowing grin and laughed. I am not fond of these talks but they are surprisingly incisive of what goes on in the office. Unluckily for the one called bulldozer, that is exactly how people feel about him. It turns out, he earned that nickname because he pushes through with his own agenda even in the face of better and carefully deliberated alternatives. In leadership positions, or even in dealing with people outside your team, your personal brand is how people perceive you. Personal brand is who you are, the values you believe in, and how you demonstrate those values in the way you do work and relate to others. In gist, if people were to ask you to describe yourself in one word or to describe how you do your work, that would be your personal branding. Just like organizations have a vision, mission and core values, your personal brand is what people think of you in the organization. This is especially important if your work involves dealing with different departments or dealing with external stakeholders. To know your personal brand, ask yourself who you really are without your designation or the team you are handling. To help you understand yourself better, list down the values you strongly believe in and then choose the ones that are non-negotiable about yourself. Next, create a list of compliments your colleagues or other people in your organization say about you. Those would be your strengths and observed asset to your team. It might also help if you can discover what sets you apart from others in your team and the value you add to the group. It does not just make you stand out, it also helps create your relevance and importance to the team. You can also look at the projects which energizes you and gives you a sense of accomplishment as these point toward areas in your organization where you can contribute the most. Conversely, negative feedback would indicate a need to work on those areas and might also signify it is an expected or desired behavior for working with others in your organization. You can work on those so you can work smoothly with the rest of the

team and set expectations to minimize friction in the workplace. Sometimes, negative feedback is a good sign of your decision to pursue a personal brand which may not be popular to most people. I know of leaders who maintain a strict air about them in the workplace but are pushovers in their homes. This may not be an ideal personal brand, but it is a carefully calculated decision for the objectives they have in mind. Your personal brand does not have to appeal to everyone. But it should emanate from the values and principles you hold as absolute. If you are satisfied with what you have listed down, well and good. You are on your way to fine-tuning your personal brand. But if you do not like the ones on your list, you need to ask yourself: How do you want to be known? Focus on an end goal in mind and how you want to be perceived. Make sure that what you have in mind does not stray too far from who you really are. Focus on your strengths as your baseline and work yourself from there. In everything you do, be authentic. Your personal brand should not be trying too hard because people would know if you are being genuine. True, people

change. But they seldom change overnight. People see right through dishonesty and it might even be taken against you later. Your authenticity will be tested by your consistency. If you focus on who you really are, it will not be too hard to maintain a personal brand. Being consistent will be easy when you are genuine because you do not need to work for it. Next would be to think of your audience. Why? Because you cannot please everybody. You need to know the people you work with and how they will affect your work and your personal brand because if others do not contribute to your development, they should not be a hindrance to the work that you do. This goes without saying that foremost on your list is the person who evaluates you, next is the people who have a say in your evaluation, and then the people you work with closely. Does this mean you act differently to people who do not belong to those categories? Absolutely not. You need to remain consistent to your personal brand. That is why it is important to join an organization whose core values reflect your own because it will be easier to remain consistent to yourself and to others in your team.

More than just skin-deep: How makeup can boost your mental well-being WHEN one talks about makeup, some people get the notion that it can be superficial. However, to some, makeup is actually a good way to take care of their mental health, allowing them to discover another version of themselves through a fun and creative outlet. As people spend most of their time indoors, they often find themselves with ample time to learn new habits and skills. This includes picking up one new makeup trick or two, as they do their meditative makeup sessions. By experimenting on different looks, blending and mixing, they can immerse themselves on a personal creative journey which can help them cope better in overwhelming situations. With this in mind, popular makeup brand Bobbie Cosmetics has rounded up five best ways how makeup can be good for your mental health. n YOU’RE IN CONTROL OF HOW YOU LOOK. When dealing with challenges in life, sometimes we feel like we’ve lost dominance on the factors surrounding us. But when engaging in a creative activity as simple as putting makeup on, we regain this sense of control knowing that it is our hands and our brain that get to decide what we want best for ourselves. n IT’S A GOOD EXPRESSION OF SELF-LOVE. Makeup is a great tool to enhance one’s natural beauty. Instead of having it as something to cover your flaws, it can be a good friend that complements the beauty that you already have. n IT’S A GOOD BREAK. Even if people are mostly stuck indoors, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have errands to think about. Some may be working from home, and some may be busy pursuing their studies

online. That is why doing meditative makeup sessions can help. By dedicating a “makeup me time,” you can pamper yourself to be artistic and playful with different looks. It can be a good time-out from your usual daily routine and is also a great creative exercise for the brain. n IT’S A LIBERATING EXPERIENCE. Wearing makeup is more than just a physical experience for many women and other beauty enthusiasts. And, with all the things we need to think about every day, sometimes all you need is to face a mirror, do a little beauty ritual, and immediately, gain an internal sense of accomplishment.

n IT ALLOWS YOU TO THANK YOUR SKIN FOR WHAT IT CAN DO FOR YOU. Again, makeup only enhances the beauty that exists in you. And you cannot apply makeup were it not for the skin that allows you to take on this process. Beyond every emotion, makeup, after all, is about feeling comfortable living in your own skin. So, on your next “me time,” don’t be afraid to do a quick makeup session and discover new ways to look even more beautiful. Bobbie Cosmetics has a wide range of chic and affordable makeup products that one can use as they explore this personal creative journey.

To guide you further, look to the experts in your field because they would know what is needed to go further in your discipline. You can start by looking at the respected leaders in your organization and observe why people view them with such regard. If you can talk to them, ask them personally. If not, read about them or ask around what makes them influential leaders. This will give you an idea what it takes and what you need to work on to be esteemed by your peers and your leaders. And as you grow in the organization, you also need to grow your professional circle. You know your personal brand is established when people recommend you. And that is the best compliment you can receive—when people tell others about you and when your reputation precedes you. You may have the best education and the best designation in your company, but when you do not have the respect of the people you work with, you can only do so much because people would not be willing to exert the discretionary effort to help you succeed. But leaders whose personal brand resonates with the people they work with can do more than the sum of their team’s productivity. n

How to get back in shape under new normal AFTER getting yourself go in the pandemic, it’s time to get back in shape. Experience the transformative power of pilates with the newest branch of Options Studio Pilates Rehab and More at Shangri-La Plaza (www.facebook.com/ shangrilaplazaofficial). Equipped with the complete range of classical pilates apparatus, the studio offers a range of exercises for everyone including pilates for sports, leisure, lifestyle, and postural correction and rehabilitation. As the first and only international chain of Pilates and Movement Studios worldwide, it has a lineup of specific programs such as Core Reform, Core Suspend, Core Barre, Rebound, Core Chair, Pre-Natal and Post-Natal, Traditional Mat, and Traditional Reformer. Apart from the traditional pilates classes, the particular branch at Shang also offers more. It’s also capable of handling a range of rehab classes as it has a fully equipped rehab facility that will be handled by certified PT Pilates Instructors. “We’re proud to say we will now be able to better serve our loyal patrons and new clients who live within or near the Shang estate community with our new branch. To ensure we provide them with top-notch service, we made sure our Shang-based studio is the top pilates venue in

the Metro with the full range of Gratz Classical Pilates Equipment. That means most of the equipment found here are the industry standard for authentic pilates equipment, and also the first of its kind in the country,” says studio owner Marivic del Pilar. This branch is also headed by Senior Movement Specialist and Managing Partner Alain Buenaventura, who is also one of the well-loved pilates instructors at studio. “At Options Studio, we make sure your safety comes first. To give our clients peace of mind while at Options Studio, we’ve made sure that all our branches, including the newest one at Shang adhere to stringent Covid-19 safety guidelines, such as frequent disinfection, wearing of face masks, physical distancing, and health declarations,” she adds. Some of Option Studio’s most loyal clients include Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray and TV host Daphne Oseña-Paez who have been vocal about how training with Options Studio and pilates have transformed not only their bodies but also their lives in general. Pilates, after all, is known to improve flexibility and posture, strength and mobility, restoring balance to the body, and make one feel more energetic.

A10 Wednesday, November 18, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

There is no time to lose

he onslaught of successive typhoons and the destruction they caused are but some of the reasons why the farm sector is on its knees begging to be rescued. The triple whammy of Typhoon Quinta, Supertyphoon Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses wreaked havoc on farms and fishing grounds in Luzon and Visayas. The destruction caused by Ulysses alone reached more than P2 billion, with the rice sector suffering its brunt, according to estimates by the Department of Agriculture (See, “Ulysses hikes losses incurred by farmers, fishers,” in the BusinessMirror, November 16, 2020). Destruction of crops by these powerful typhoons will push farmers deeper into poverty. Sadly, it is common knowledge that the Philippines is visited by some 20 cyclones each year. The extent of the damage, however, would depend on the intensity of the typhoons that will strike the country. Unfortunately, strong typhoons are becoming the norm and this does not bode well for the Philippine agriculture sector, which is also highly dependent on good weather to increase output. Aside from storms, the country has been increasingly experiencing dry spells in recent years. In the last 10 years, the Philippines has witnessed three El Niño episodes—in 2009-2010, 2015-2016, and in 2018-2019. The 2015-2016 El Niño episode was the most destructive as it lasted for 18 months and resulted in the loss of crops including rice, corn, cassava and high value produce such as banana and rubber, valued at $325 million, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization. After the El Niño stopped affecting the Philippines, another climate cycle is upon us. The country is currently grappling with La Niña, which tends to bring more rainfall and cause flooding. La Niña, according to the state weather bureau, may affect tropical cyclone activity from end-2020 up to the early part of 2021. As the northeast monsoon has started, the state weather bureau warned that La Niña could enhance the northeast monsoon (amihan) that brings cold air to our shores, which can trigger floods, flashfloods and rain-induced landslides over susceptible areas. The recent typhoons and the ill effects of climate change would necessitate the release of additional funds to assist farmers and help the sector recover (See, “2021 budget must fund rehab of Luzon agri power houses,” in the BusinessMirror, November 17, 2021). The money can be used to distribute seeds and other inputs to affected farmers and repair farm infrastructure damaged by storms and other natural disasters. The scramble for funds happens almost every year, given the increasing number of strong typhoons that have been visiting the country in recent years. While there is nothing that the Philippines can do about the greenhouse gas emissions of rich countries, the state can prepare the local farm sector by implementing policies that would secure the country’s food supply. Congress can start doing this by passing the National Land Use Act, which would ensure the rational and sustainable use of the country’s land and physical resources and harmonize sector-specific land use policies and institutionalize land use planning. Government may also consider investing in four climate adaptation measures put forward by the World Resources Institute—integrate crop-livestock-forestry systems, rehabilitate degraded pastures, plant agroforestry systems, and pursue sustainable forestry. There is pressing need to improve agricultural productivity for food security. There is no time to lose. We need to act now to mitigate the effects of climate change on our farm sector. Since 2005

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All About Social Security

or an ordinary senior citizen who is already retired from private or government service, receiving the monthly pension is what one always looks forward to, regardless of how much the amount because, finally, it is tax-free and with no other deductions. I am not an exemption as I am a senior citizen as well. However, I am still gainfully employed in government service. Getting old is really not bad, simply because we have more time for other interests, hobbies and passion. Though our biological clock may have put a toll on other physical activities like our favorite sports, we can still do other less strenuous activities, which can contribute to our health and general well-being. A month ago, a friend called me up for a very personal reason. I knew the call was quite urgent and important since I knew her well. She asked me why she did not receive her October pension on the usual schedule. Of course, I have a ready answer.

The Social Security System (SSS), since October 2020, has implemented a new schedule for the disbursement of monthly pensions using the Philippine Electronic Fund Transfer System and Operations Network (PESONet) and other checkless disbursement channels. The new schedule covers pensioners receiving their pensions through PESONet participating banks, ewallets, and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) accredited Remittance Transfer Company/Cash Payout Outlet—MLhuillier. Under the new schedule, pensioners with dates of contingency from the first to the 15th day of the month will receive their pensions on the first day of the pension month

Under the new schedule, the said pensioners with dates of contingency from the first to the 15th day of the month will receive their pensions on the first day of the pension month (first batch), while those with dates of contingency from the 16th to the last day of the month will receive their pensions on the 16th day of the pension month (second batch). (first batch), while those with dates of contingency from the 16th to the last day of the month will receive their pensions on the 16th day of the pension month (second batch). If the credit date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a holiday, the pension will be credited to their accounts on the last working day before the Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. The SSS has already released all pensions for October 2020 through PESONet and other checkless disbursement channels as well as through the old disbursement method for non-PESONet participating banks. For releases through the new disbursement method, the SSS through DBP credited the funds to PESONet

participating banks and other checkless disbursement channels last October 1 for the first batch and October 16 for the second batch, as scheduled. When I asked what her contingency date is, my friend told me that it’s usually on the 17th. Well, she belongs to the second batch. Just like what we have been advising our pensioners who encountered the same problems, it is best that they contact their respective depository banks should there be any delay in crediting their pension as the SSS has already disbursed the funds. Better yet, get bank statements or inquire through online banking services of the bank to check on the details of their account crediting. True enough, just a few days ago, I received another call from her to say thank you. She said I was right after all. However, when she asked me another question as to when will the December and 13th month pension be released, I told her, just read my column in forthcoming issues. God bless everyone! Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer. We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss. gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.

Waiting to cheer ‘UP Fight!’ again amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso

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

Aurora C. Ignacio

Lourdes M. Fernandez

Senior Editors

Creative Director Chief Photographer

New SSS pension schedule

Dennis Gorecho

Kuwentong kule

hotographs of past basketball games of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) have been appearing on my Facebook memory feeds in recent weeks.

Sadly this year, fans have to content themselves with past photos as the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted several sporting events, including the UAAP games. UAAP Season 82 was officially dropped last April as government continued to ban mass gatherings as part of the community quarantine measures imposed in Metro Manila. University of Santo Tomas was officially awarded as overall champion for Season 82 in a “virtual” closing ceremony held last June. No Athlete of the Year was named. No opening ceremony for Season 83 was likewise held last September

as traditionally done in the previous years as the start of the annual intercollegiate sports event. Varsity teams from the member universities compete annually in the league’s 28 events from 15 sports to vie for the overall championship title, namely, badminton, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, chess, fencing, football, judo, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. The eight UAAP member schools are Adamson University, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, Far Eastern University, National University, University of the

In 1986 when Edsa Revolution happened, UP won over UE Red Warriors under the guidance of legendary coach Joe Lipa with star players Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano. East, University of the Philippines Diliman, and University of Santo Tomas. One of the options being eyed for Season 83 is shortening the schedule through the alteration of the tournament formats akin to the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). The 2019 SEA Games held in the Philippines only took 20 days to complete the 56 sports tournaments. Another idea that was floated was a “bubble” scenario. All the players, coaches, and staff will have to stay inside the “bubble” for the duration of the season with stringent quarantine measures, a robust testing program and strict mask protocol. However, legal, logistical and financial constraints were raised, including the issue on the capacity of the UAAP and its member schools to shoulder the expenses of a “bubble

city,” including food and accommodation in hotels near the playing facility. The UAAP games galvanized an extraordinary sense of solidarity for the denizens of the University of the Philippines, often described as the microcosm of a highly diverse nation. An academic community all too easily fractured by politics and personal interest, the cheer “UP FIGHT!” reverberated during the past UAAP games as the UP Fighting Maroons fought UP style—“may giting at tapang.” The Fighting Maroons Men’s Basketball team had been branded as “Cramming Maroons” by fans due to their nail-biting, cardiac victories the entire Season 82 as three out of the nine wins have been one-point advantages. Cramming is life for the UP community—even basketball games are no exception in that habit. UP’s bid for the championship trophy unfortunately ended when it lost to UST during the Final Four stepladder game on November 13, 2019 at the Mall of Asia Arena with the score of 68-65. See “Gorecho,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020 A11

Germany’s Covid-heroes Is the agreement between PQCCI and Parañaque LGU binding and legal? video campaign hits the right note By Andreas Kluth | Bloomberg Opinion

ermans, and especially their government bureaucrats, are rarely accused of excessive recourse to humor. That makes Berlin’s official communication campaign against the coronavirus, launched over the weekend, all the more refreshing—and effective.

With good reason, the campaign targets young adults. After all, the best policy against the spread of Covid-19 is to get people to stay at home and away from others. And that applies most urgently to twentysomethings, who in Germany as elsewhere play a disproportionate role in contagion. Being younger, they’re less likely to show severe symptoms but more likely to bend the rules by socializing. Millennials and Generation Z, however, communicate differently. Aesthetically and tonally, they’re more open to sardonic irony and selfreferential “meta” memes and less tolerant of anything cloying or corny. This explains the German government’s approach, as unveiled on Twitter by Steffen Seibert, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s speaker. Conceived by a company that specializes in edgy content for young Germans, the campaign consists of an ongoing series of video clips, each between one and two minutes in length. It’s called #besonderehelden, or “special heroes.” In the first clip we meet an elderly gentleman named Anton Lehmann. To dramatic background music that we’d normally expect in a history documentary with eyewitness accounts, he begins recalling that time long ago in the winter of 2020. Lehmann had just turned 22. He was studying engineering and loved partying and meeting friends. But then “the second wave came.” Suddenly, an “invisible danger threatened everything we believed in,” Lehmann recalls solemnly, and “the fate of our country was in our hands.” So he and his generation did the right thing. Which was: Nothing. We flash back and see the young Lehmann vegetating on his couch, in various contortions of boredom and under the evident influence of junk food. “Our sofa was the front line,” Lehmann’s voiceover elaborates, and “our patience was our weapon.” So “we kept our asses at home” to fight the virus. And became heroes. In a second video Lehmann is joined by his elderly wife, who also reminisces about that historic winter of 2020. Her flashbacks bring us to the young couple on their bed, unmade and full of crumbs, but also— as the violin soundtrack makes abundantly clear—humming with romantic tension. “Special times require special heroes,” she says with a smirk. Is this satire? Parody? A moving appeal? Offensively flippant? The first job of any public information

Gorecho. . .

continued from A10

However, the Maroons had their best record yet with a 9-4 win-loss last season, with the support of groups such as Nowhere To Go But UP. A campus anecdote was that the varsity team was once known as the UP Parrots. It was replaced with a new moniker that revived the old (circa 1920s) name Maroons along with the adjective “fighting” to describe the sportsmanship attitude that the UP varsity teams must possess during the games. In 1986 when Edsa Revolution happened, UP won over UE Red Warriors under the guidance of legendary coach Joe Lipa with star players Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano. A year later, I entered UP Diliman as a freshman in 1987 but I still felt the championship euphoria as I often see Benjie Paras around the campus.

As these campaigns go, this new German one certainly seems superior to the various clumsy attempts by the UK, a nation Germans usually defer to in the deployment of humor. “Special heroes” doesn’t confuse, harangue or judge. Instead it gives us a philosophical wink: Sometimes the best thing, and the moral thing, really is spending a few months doing...nothing. campaign is to be noticed rather than ignored. In that sense, this one was an immediate success. The controversy was instantaneous. Many people didn’t get it. The videos, some objected, obviously address only those Millennials sufficiently well off to be able to vegetate on their couches. The government should instead celebrate the real heroes, those who have no choice but to keep toiling even at risk of infection, like that pizza delivery woman who salutes the couch hero at the end of the first clip. Others were more offended by the stylistic allusions to war documentaries and the use of terms like “front.” Given what the people normally interviewed in that genre suffered— or perpetrated—isn’t it unethical to make a coronavirus joke out of it? To which one can only respond: Oh, please. There’s no contradiction between being humorous and moving at the same time, which these videos are. They’re not too heavyhanded and yet get the point across: We really are living at a historic moment, when we have a duty to do our part, when our private behavior may doom or save the lives of others. Implicitly, the series acknowledges that there are generational tensions in this pandemic. The elderly are at greatest risk of dying from Covid-19, but Generation Y is suffering the biggest economic shock and Generation Z the worst epidemic of lockdown-induced depression and anxiety. And yet #besonderehelden transcends these divisions, both embracing the young and exhorting them to do the right thing for others. As these campaigns go, this new German one certainly seems superior to the various clumsy attempts by the U.K., a nation Germans usually defer to in the deployment of humor. “Special heroes” doesn’t confuse, harangue or judge. Instead it gives us a philosophical wink: Sometimes the best thing, and the moral thing, really is spending a few months doing…nothing. As chief photographer of Philippine Collegian from 1989 to 1991, I remember my coverages of the games with very few, if none, UP denizens inside the playing venues. Almost 30 years later, securing tickets became a challenging feat in every game due to the increasing number of enthusiastic fans eager to shout “UP Fight” as the maroons battle it out to earn the spot for the final games. Each game became mini-reunions of Titos and Titas with endless photo-ops and reminiscing of college days memories over coffee, lunch, merienda or dinner. UP lost last year but we will continue to shout “UP Fight!” once the games resume for Season 83. Kule is the monicker of Philippine Collegian, the official student publication of UP Diliman. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.

Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza

MAKE SENSE

S a Parañaque City resident for decades, the demands of my professional and business career, including my advocacy for the local industry and consumers must have buried me deep, that I lost track of the goings on at the Parañaque City Hall. As Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund–Oil Mills Group, turning around the negative P1.5 billion financial statements of the CIIF-OMG, which I did, and my directorships in other agencies almost overwhelmed me, that in the few instances that I dropped by the Parañaque City Hall for official business, all I do were quick deal-and-go transactions. Until my recent discovery of Parañaque City Ordinance 04-20 entitled “An Ordinance Creating the Parañaque City Business Registry Databank, Providing Incentives and Benefits, Therefore and for other Purposes,” I thought that, even with the city’s expensive traffic violation penalties under its no-contact apprehension program, everything was fine at the City Hall. Although I have reservations about the legality of the traffic arrangement between the Parañaque City government and the private entity implementing its no-contact policy apprehension program, I have yet to find out whether it’s legal to authorize a private entity

to implement traffic rules. However, my curiosity with the City Ordinance that was passed by the Sangguniang Panglungsod on October 9, 2004 and signed into a decree by then Parañaque City Mayor Florencio Mayuga Bernabe Jr., led to my confirmation that under the Ordinance, the Parañaque City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PQCCI), was given the authority to collect a yearly fee of P100 from business establishments with assets above P200,000. When I paid for the renewal of my business permit recently, no one told me about the P200,000 threshold. Why is this provision of the Ordinance not dis-

played conspicuously in the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) premises? And, that being so, how many could have already paid the P100, even if their assets were below the P200,000 threshold? A condition set by the City’s BPLO, before it issues a renewal or a new business permit, applicants are made to pay a registration fee of P100 to PQCCI. The fee was supposedly to cover the expenses for the procurement of hardware and software system, system design and management, administrative and operational expenses of the registry office, promotion and consultancy program of the PQCCI. All these things raised some questions in my mind, which I hope the Parañaque City government can clarify. What particular service is PQCCI providing the residents of Parañaque City? And should it not be the function of the BPLO to collect the fee? Granting that PQCCI shall provide a specific service for the City, how was the contract awarded to PQCCI, did it undergo the process prescribed under the Philippine Procurement Law? Is the PQCCI contract with Parañaque City not violative of the Local Government Code, which expressly states that collection of taxes and fees shall only be done by the government and not the private sector? And lastly, why is the fee accruing to PQCCI and not to the City of Parañaque?

What the Covid-19 heroes are made of Dr. Carl E. Balita

Entrepreneurs’ Footprints

hirty-five health professionals and 43 health teams from 35 medical institutions were nominated to the Gawad Bayaning Kalusugan, a national search for the best benchmarks of medical care amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Gawad Bayaning Kalusugan is presented by the PCCI and was initiated by the Association of Allied Health Organization of the Nation (AAHON), the Health Educationalist, Advocates and Leaders Philippines (HEAL PH) under this writer’s leadership. The two judging nights that spanned a grueling seven hours each night were some of the most enlightening moments for the business leaders who served as judges along with health organizations leaders. Being up close and personal with the frontline health workers gave the business leaders a joyride through the roller-coaster of emotions that concluded to their greater appreciation of the sacrifices of and greater respect for the roles that frontliners of the health-care battle against the unseen enemy. To Ambassador Benedicto Yujuico, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the judging nights are historical moments citing the honor to be in the presence of today’s most important heroes. He acknowledged that there are no words that can alleviate the pain and suffering of these frontliners. He promised that the business sector will tell their stories and honor their lives and legacies. He noted that those with bruises on their faces and tragic images in their hearts and minds are reasons for the highest tribute that health workers deserve. The Gawad Bayaning Kalusugan raised P1,400,000 in prizes divided among the 24 winners who will be awarded during the National Convention of the Philippine Hospital Association.

Four areas of excellence

These heroes are screened and nominated by their respective institutions from all over the country. The commitment to respond beyond the call of duty were documented from the story of the first team that managed the first case

of Covid-19 in the Philippines to educators and resource persons who continually engage in various endeavors to educate health-care workers and the public. The value of personal sacrifices became the central theme of stories from the Covid-19 survivors and the vulnerable high-risk professionals to a seminarian-nurse who went on-leave to be able to volunteer. The nominees share influence and power by standing for what needs to be done from the leaders who brought about institutional changes in spite of the scarce resources, to managers who stood to assert against violations of protocols by prominent personalities. The nominees exhibited professional qualities embracing lifelong learning from the specialists who also found themselves in the quandary of the pandemic, to the researchers who diligently were looking into scientific evidence to understand the novel virus better. There were four distinguishable areas of excellence established in the life stories of the nominees. First is that they distinguished themselves conspicuously by courage and fearlessness at the risk of their lives above and beyond the call of duty to care for patients with Covid-19. Some turned out to be survivors of Covid-19, while others were vulnerable persons by their old age yet chose to still be in the frontline to serve. They demonstrated exemplary and outstanding performance of duty as competent and compassionate health-care providers to Covid-19 patients. Second is their display of extraordinary leadership to effect sustainable team-dynamics and

processes for effective measurable results. They have leadership qualities that engaged collaborative teams in the direct care management of Covid-19 patients or in an advocacy that led to effective performance of the institution. Third is that they initiated or pioneered and successfully contributed to the adoption or implementation of policies and strategies that enhance the positive practice environment benefitting self, their teams and many others. They were resourceful in change management that contributed to the safe and productive environment in the direct care management of Covid-19 patients. Some of them operated with very scarce resources but with creativity and innovativeness. Lastly, they engaged in self-directed or self-initiated high-impact lifelong learning activities like conducting research, engaging in publication, facilitation of workshops and conferences during the crisis.

Leaders humbled to judge

From the business sector, the esteemed members of the Board of Judges include: Ambassador Benedicto Yujuico; Dr. Alegria Limjoco of the PCCI and the Philippine Franchise Association; Mr. George Barcelon of the Asean Business Advisory Council; Dr. Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. of Philexport; Dr. Francis Chua of the Philippine Silkroad International Chamber of Commerce; Dr. Alberto Fenix of the PCCI Human Resource Development Foundation; Engineer Eunina Mangio; Atty. Jess Varela of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines; Ms. Rosemarie Ong and Atty. Paul Santos of the Philippine Retailers Association; Mr. Jeffrey Ng of the Federation of the Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry; Atty. Alex Cabrera of the PwC Philippines; and Mr. Mon Abrea of the Asian Consulting Group. These organizations are awards co-presentors. From the health sector, the judges include former Health Secretary Dr. Paulyn Jean Ubial; Dr. Jose Rene De Grano of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines; Dr. Mario Panaligan of the Philippine College of Physicians; Dr. Benito Atienza of the Philippine Medical Association; Dr. Linda Buhat of the Association of the Nursing Service Administrators of the Philippines; Dr. Florminda

I am confused, if not amused, by the fact that the PQCCI continues to collect such fees from Parañaque City’s business permit applicants when several years back, during a formal Senate investigation of a similar situation during the time of Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry was allowed to do the encoding and to collect fees for its service from importers/consignees for accreditation purposes. The BOC-PCCI arrangement was, however, recalled when some senators, specifically then Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, admonished the Bureau of Customs that government function cannot be delegated to the private sector, especially if the private entity is also engaged in trading and importation business. Only Congress can authorize the collection of fees for services supposedly to be undertaken by the government, Enrile said. I could have chosen to remain silent about the legal issues or questions on the PQCCI and Parañaque local government units arrangement. But my conscience tells me that I have to do something, if only to help the residents of Parañaque City. Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.

Tejano of the Philippine League of Government and Private Midwives; Dr. Ed Salud of the Philippine Hospital Association; nurse-priest Fr. Ronilo Ordenes, SVD, and nurseSister Agnetia Naval. These organziations are regarded as partners in the award.

Take-aways from the heroes

The judges became humble admirers of the nominees. PCCI Chairperson Alegria Limjoco experienced difficulty in judging the best from among the best. Atty. Alex Cabrera observed that the appreciation derived by these frontliners from society will keep the spirit up and will give them more reasons to sustain their sacrifices. As Mon Abrea puts it, these professionals deserve all the respect and appreciation. Rose Ong said the heartfelt stories from desperation and exasperation in saving lives are truly heroic and inspiring. “Awakening and rewarding experience,” is how Engr. Nina Mangio described the encounter, which, to Dr. Bert Fenix, is a privilege and an honor. Ambassador Francis Chua and Mr. Jess Varela in unison said that all of the nominees are heroes and winners. Ambassador Benedicto said there should be more investments to strengthen the medical sector and for the welfare of the healthcare workers, from doctors, nurses, and all other medical support staff. He added that proper pandemic preparedness should be instilled in order for the country to respond accordingly to the next disease. The business leaders recognized the leadership of medical leaders both in the public and private sector as they continue to assist the government in crafting policies to address this pandemic. They echo that the business community is in solidarity with the health and medical sector from now and even after we Filipinos defeat this Covid-19 pandemic. Time and again, humanity has shown that our drive, our perseverance, and our willpower to endure is stronger than any virus. Acting with compassion and love, we will heal the sick, care for those in need, reopen our economy, help our fellow citizens and emerge from this pandemic stronger and more unified than ever before. And we will leave the footprint of victory to become better human beings.

A12 Wednesday, November 18, 2020

‘GREEN FINANCING’ FACILITY SEEN AS BOON TO CLIMATE REFORMS

OLLOW ING t he 27t h Meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board held virtually from November 9 to 13, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) welcomed the approval of the Philippines as a participating country in Climate Investor One, an innovative blended financing facility managed by climate fund managers. The facility also provides an integrated, full project life cycle financing solution to support the development, construction and commissioning of renewable-energy projects more expeditiously and at reduced cost, the CCC said in a news release last November 16. The CCC said the project is set to deploy $100-million capital in a total of 18 countries for “historic and new renewable-energy projects.” The CCC said the GCF Board also approved 16 new projects by developing countries all over the world, amounting to over $1 billion, intended to finance climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives. The CCC said it also welcomed the accreditation of four new Ac-

credited Entities (AEs) or partner organizations, ranging from country organizations called Direct Access Entities (DAEs), to regional and multinational bodies. These AEs submit funding proposals and act as a conduit of GCF funds as they implement climate projects approved and funded by the GCF. While expressing appreciation of the accreditation of the new AEs, CCC Commissioner Rachel Anne S. Herrera noted the number “is still too low in enabling stronger country ownership for developing countries.” In the case of the Philippines, only the Land Bank of the Philippines has completed the process of approval as DAE for GCF, the CCC said. Herrera sits as alternate member in the GCF Board representing the Asia-Pacific constituency. “We continue to express our concern that AEs spend an average of 21.1 months from application towards approval—with one DAE taking up to 30 months, which are 30 months’ worth of time and resources lost,” she was quoted in a statement as saying.

Continued on A2

Govt struggling to restore consumer appetite–DOF T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE government is still having a hard time bringing back consumer demand in the country while it continues to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, thus making the attainment of economic growth goals a real challenge, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said on Tuesday.

He lamented that people are still not spending because they are still wary about getting infected with Covid-19. “We are having difficulty, of course, due to the contagion with restimulating people’s demand. People are still very cautious about getting sick. And therefore, you know, are holding back on spending,” Dominguez said in an interview with Bloomberg. Dominguez’s remarks came a week after the Philippine Statistics Authority announced that the Philippine economy contracted by 11.5 percent in the third quarter this year. With this, GDP in the last three quarters contracted an average of 10 percent. Still, Dominguez remains unfazed, saying the country is on the

right track to post a better performance in the last quarter of the year. “We are seeing a lot of green shoots coming up. We are very happy that our remittances from abroad are holding up. They have not declined as much as we have expected. They’re only down about two and a half percent from last year. We were expecting something in excess of 5 percent. Our housing market for residential homes is holding up well. Our foreign exchange reserves are the highest ever at $104 billion. And our peso has increased in value by 4.9 percent since the beginning of the year,” he said. He also expressed confidence that the country’s economy is headed towards a “big bounce-back” next year as an effective vaccine is expected to be available within the

first half of next year. “And that should inject a lot of confidence back into our country, and as a result of that, we do expect a big bounce-back in our GDP growth next year,” he said. The government expects the economy to rebound and post a 6.5 to 7.5 percent GDP growth next year from a contraction of 4.5 to 6.6 percent this year. Meanwhile, Dominguez said they also don’t see the need yet at this point to borrow from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. “We have borrowed P540 billion and at this point in time, we don’t see any need to do so. But again, you know, we still have some reserve amounts in the Central Bank and with our other creditors. And we are just waiting to see if we will need them, depending on how long this contagion is going to last, but as I said, with the development of safe and effective vaccines by next year and their availability, we see no need to get out of the normal loan programs that we have planned,” he said.

RCEP a boon

In the same interview, Dominguez

also welcomed the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which the Department of Trade and Industry expects to bring local exporters opportunities to double their shipments while protecting sensitive products such as agricultural goods. “First of all, it’s about time we signed it. It is eight years in the making. And we were really pushing for this program because we believe that Southeast Asia and the members of RCEP are complementary to each other and will certainly benefit from this big trade program. We are, of course, opening our markets, as well as taking advantage of, or looking at exports to our different RCEP partners, particularly China,” he said. On the sidelines of the annual summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations last Sunday, China and 14 other countries agreed to set up the world’s largest trading bloc, encompassing nearly a third of all economic activity, in a deal many in Asia are pinning on their hopes for quick recovery from the shocks of the pandemic.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

‘DMCI Homes to bounce back in H2 via 10 projects’

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

he property development arm of DMCI Holdings Inc. said it plans to complete 10 of its buildings before the end of the year as part of its efforts to bounce back in the second half. DMCI Homes Inc., a company that targets mainly the middle-income segment, said it will complete 4,088 residential units that form part of the 10 projects. These projects have a total sales value of P13.9 billion. Over 3,500 of the units have been sold out, the company said. The 10 buildings are part of Mulberry Place, Lumiere Residences, Calathea Place, Sheridan Towers, Alea

Residences and Oak Harbor Residences, the company’s first premium development. “The pandemic really battered our productivity. Our projects got delayed by one to three months because of the 76-day work stoppage in the first semester,” DMCI Homes President Alfredo R. Austria said. “Since we follow the percentageof-completion method for revenue

recognition, our booked revenues contracted on lower construction accomplishments.” To make up for the lost productivity, DMCI Homes said it has been instituting several operational changes, such as the modularization of building components, bathroom systems and sanitary lines. It has also set up batching plants in key areas to fast-track its concrete pouring activities. To reduce tardiness and absenteeism among its workers, DMCI Homes said it expanded its onsite barracks capacity by 59 percent to accommodate 4,941 workers. It also offers bike loans to qualified workers to enhance their personal mobility. On a standalone basis, DMCI Homes booked P5.7 billion in revenues during the third quarter, flat compared to last year. Net income during the same period surged 68 percent to P1 billion from P626 mil-

FLI: Residential revenues up in Q3 G

otianun-led Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) reported an income of P2.63 billion in January to September, some 39 percent lower than last year’s P4.63 billion, but the company claimed it saw a “V” shaped recovery in the third quarter. The company said its gross total revenues for the period reached P12.54 billion, down by 32 percent from last year’s P18.43 billion. Residential revenues rose by 45 percent to P2.12 billion in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, brought about by the easing of lockdowns as well as robust consumer demand for this segment. “We have seen a V-shaped recovery and a very healthy rebound in residential reservation sales when we transitioned to the general community quarantine period in June and July, and beginning September,” FLI President and CEO L. Josephine Gotianun-Yap said.

She noted that FLI’s real-estate revenues recovered in the third quarter, as buyer amortization payments started to normalize and construction capacities increased. “We continue to see improvements in option sales as our various sales channels adjust to the new normal in digital property selling. Our sales operations have benefited from our digital marketing and online selling processes as well as the continuous communication with our buyers and homeowners through the online service desk.” Office leasing revenues for the 9-month period grew 17 percent as its shopping mall rentals rose by 20 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter as Metro Manila and other cities transitioned to a more relaxed general community quarantine beginning in September. FLI’s mall operational tenants have gradually increased to 81 percent as more establishments have

been allowed to open. The company said it continues to grant rental concessions to its retail tenants to help them sustain their businesses. Overall, the recurring income business resulted in a slight drop in aggregate rental revenues by 5 percent to P4.91 billion in nine months. For the July to September quarter alone, the company's attributable net income was at P332.83 million, still a 74-percent decline from last year's P1.32 billion. Revenues, meanwhile, were down by 34 percent to P3.6 billion from last year's P5.52 billion. For the rest of the year and early 2021, FLI said it is focusing on the completion of its key office building projects, such as the first phase of the Filinvest Innovation Park in New Clark City, and the continued rollout of its Aspire and Futura mid-rise buildings and housing residential developments across the country. VG Cabuag

Cignal TV, Radius Telecoms launch newest fiber broadband provider

Cignal TV and Radius Telecoms signed a memorandum of agreement last February. Shown in photo (from left): Radius Telecoms COO Jenevi L. Dela Paz, Meralco President and CEO Ray C. Espinosa, Radius Telecoms President and CEO Exequiel C. Delgado, Cignal TV President and CEO Robert P. Galang, and Cignal TV CFO John L. Andal. Contributed Photo

ED Broadband, a new partnership to bring to every Filipino home the latest unlimited fiber broadband and payTV service, was formalized between Cignal TV and Radius Telecoms. Radius Telecoms COO Jenevi L. Dela Paz, Meralco President and CEO Ray C. Espinosa, Radius Telecoms President and CEO Exequiel C. Delgado, Cignal TV President and CEO Robert P. Galang, and Cignal TV CFO John L. Andal were present to ink the partnership. “Spending more of our lives

online due to the pandemic, there is a crying need for faster and more reliable Internet access for online education and work from home needs,” they said in a statement. Radius Telecoms, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the only telecommunications carrier in the Philippines that delivers services on an end-to-end fiber optic platform, is responding to this nationwide clamor with RED Broadband, the country’s newest

and most reliable broadband internet player. Cignal TV Inc., the country’s premier Direct-to-Home satellite provider transmitting 120 channels, including free-to-air, SD, and HD channels to households nationwide is partnering with Radius Telecoms to bring to every Filipino home the best fiber broadband and payTV service designed for every household budget. RED Broadband is offering to consumers unlimited fiber Internet + Pay TV plan for as low as P1,299 per month.

lion mainly due to lower construction costs. From January to September, the company’s earnings fell 73 percent to P505 million from P1.9 billion due to the combined effect of lower construction accomplishments and one-time losses from sales cancellations for a project. It registered a 23-percent drop in consolidated revenues to P11.3 billion from P14.7 billion.

Magat Dam is NIA’s responsibility–SNAP

N Aboitiz Power-Magat Inc. (SNAP-Magat) on Tuesday said it is not involved in the operation of the Magat dam and spillway. SNAP Group is a joint venture between SN Power of Norway and Aboitiz Power. It supplies clean, renewable and dependable energy through the operation of the Ambuklao hydro, and the Binga hydro in the province of Benguet. SNAP also operates the 8.5-megawatt Maris hydro in Isabela, as well as the newly uprated Magat hydro on the border of Isabela and Ifugao. The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) is the owner of the Magat dam, reservoir, and spillway. NIA operates the Magat dam for irrigation services and controls the spillway during spilling events, such as during typhoons and large inflows of water. The dam, reservoir, and spillway are mandated to be continually owned by the government under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. SNAP said that during typhoons, the Philip-

pine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and NIA coordinate, direct and implement the needed spilling operations of the Magat dam. The spilling operations, it added, are conducted by NIA following an established dam discharge protocol and in coordination with PAGASA. “The company has never been involved in operation of the Magat dam considering that this is the sole responsibility and mandate of the government through NIA. SNAP-Magat and SNAP Group do not own any dams in the country at the moment,” the company said. The Magat dam, with its reservoir and spillway, is a multi-purpose dam facility primarily for flood control, irrigation, and lastly only for power generation. SNAP won the privatization bid for the 360MW Magat Hydroelectric Power Plant component only. The Magat hydropower plant uses the irrigation water stored at the Magat dam and reservoir to generate electricity. Lenie Lectura

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 17, 2020

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

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

44.5 95 82.6 24.35 10.98 44.5 9.54 17.36 29.05 52.7 96 17.7 106 61.85 0.94 28.2 3.41 1.2 0.315 801 0.63 160.5 2010 1.05

45 95.3 82.65 24.5 11 44.6 9.79 19.9 29.2 53.05 100 17.72 106.3 62 0.95 28.3 3.55 1.24 0.32 850 0.64 162 2200 1.06

45.35 93.2 83 24.2 10.74 44.5 9.57 19.5 29 53 96 17.82 105 62 0.9 28 3.38 1.28 0.315 800 0.65 162 2080 1.04

45.35 95.45 83 24.85 11 44.6 9.57 19.88 29.3 53.05 96 17.9 106.6 62 0.95 28.4 3.5 1.28 0.32 800 0.68 162 2080 1.05

44.5 92.75 80.3 24.2 10.74 44.2 9.53 19.5 29 52.65 96 17.5 104.3 61.7 0.9 28 3.38 1.2 0.315 800 0.61 160.5 2080 1.04

44.5 95.3 82.6 24.35 10.98 44.6 9.56 19.88 29.2 53.05 96 17.7 106.3 62 0.95 28.2 3.5 1.21 0.315 800 0.63 160.5 2080 1.05

2500 16,518,440 1 5805780 315100 916800 5568500 12600 11700 552000 16240 10 71800 1154740 38620 218000 66200 22000 249000 230000 10 1081000 280 1020 201000

112785 ,552,968,959.5 479590608.5 7710670 10015558 247643500 120349 232216 16089470 859170 960 1267666 122429203 2388443 205690 1861830 76440 304040 72650 8000 693730 45010 2121600 209050

40450 -117660326 -42483132 1130595 -39258 -106062110 220516 -11632735 -582264.5 -824038 -23672662 -1186850.5 25620 80770 2038400 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 4.54 4.55 4.29 4.58 4.29 4.55 31037000 139024440 ALSONS CONS 1.36 1.37 1.47 1.47 1.34 1.37 12276000 17042830 ABOITIZ POWER 27.1 27.2 27.15 27.5 27.1 27.1 1414400 38526625 BASIC ENERGY 0.212 0.214 0.22 0.22 0.212 0.212 3590000 770000 FIRST GEN 28.8 28.85 29.05 29.1 28.5 28.8 2841800 81815060 FIRST PHIL HLDG 64.4 64.6 65.55 65.55 64.2 64.4 79900 5149575.5 MERALCO 310 311 314 314 305.2 311 156050 48333402 MANILA WATER 15.12 15.2 15.22 15.22 15 15.12 2009000 30394448 PETRON 3.19 3.2 3.2 3.24 3.18 3.19 3315000 10606070 PETROENERGY 3.46 3.48 3.36 3.48 3.31 3.48 34000 114860 PHX PETROLEUM 12.88 12.94 12.92 12.94 12.84 12.94 77000 989940 PILIPINAS SHELL 17.4 17.44 16.84 17.5 16.84 17.4 1334600 23035414 SPC POWER 10.4 10.42 10.4 10.7 10.3 10.42 391200 4088866 AGRINURTURE 8.25 8.31 8.35 8.35 8.2 8.3 333600 2755724 AXELUM 2.93 2.94 2.94 2.94 2.91 2.93 1071000 3132930 CNTRL AZUCARERA 19.88 19.9 20.95 20.95 18.5 19.88 118300 2293977 CENTURY FOOD 17.8 17.86 17.8 17.88 17.78 17.8 1134600 20215296 DEL MONTE 5.21 5.25 5.2 5.28 5.2 5.21 103900 544782 DNL INDUS 7 7.11 6.95 7.15 6.89 7 7506900 52645325 EMPERADOR 10.02 10.04 10.06 10.06 9.96 10.02 1491300 14923729 SMC FOODANDBEV 64.45 64.5 63.45 64.95 63.45 64.5 267050 17220505.5 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.66 0.67 0.66 0.67 0.66 0.67 228000 151730 FRUITAS HLDG 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.48 1.38 1.42 28016000 39804090 GINEBRA 53.3 53.4 51.5 59 51.15 53.4 289030 15389765 JOLLIBEE 196 196.5 190.3 196.5 190.3 196.5 1005340 195124140 LIBERTY FLOUR 52 62 50 67 50 62 4580 275755 MACAY HLDG 7.68 7.99 7.65 7.99 7.65 7.99 11300 86574 MAXS GROUP 7.18 7.19 6.71 7.2 6.65 7.18 2947000 20419653 MG HLDG 0.144 0.15 0.145 0.145 0.144 0.144 270000 39010 SHAKEYS PIZZA 8.23 8.24 8.1 8.24 8.1 8.23 513100 4195493 ROXAS AND CO 1.24 1.25 1.24 1.25 1.22 1.25 4983000 6155910 RFM CORP 4.76 4.83 4.76 4.76 4.75 4.76 6000 28550 ROXAS HLDG 1.77 1.78 1.82 1.87 1.77 1.78 65000 115940 SWIFT FOODS 0.111 0.116 0.111 0.116 0.111 0.116 620000 70680 UNIV ROBINA 148 149.1 148.1 149.9 148 148 1128170 167593670 VITARICH 0.89 0.9 0.86 0.9 0.84 0.89 11041000 9643510 CONCRETE B 52.5 55 52.5 56.05 51.9 55.5 480 25342.5 CEMEX HLDG 1.71 1.72 1.78 1.83 1.67 1.71 62543000 109103960 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.16 5.26 4.67 5.27 4.55 5.24 496000 2505660 EAGLE CEMENT 15.72 16 15.94 16 15.7 16 237900 3779708 EEI CORP 7.64 7.65 7.5 7.77 7.44 7.64 524800 3946694 HOLCIM 6.52 6.54 6.91 7.04 6.48 6.52 8668000 58183888 MEGAWIDE 9.29 9.3 9.71 9.85 8.9 9.3 11047200 102565494 PHINMA 8.44 8.78 8.43 8.8 8.43 8.79 9100 77634 TKC METALS 0.8 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.79 0.8 97000 77960 VULCAN INDL 0.99 1 0.89 1 0.88 0.99 8453000 7995690 CHEMPHIL 122.2 159.5 122.2 122.2 122.2 122.2 80 9776 CROWN ASIA 1.91 1.94 1.89 1.94 1.89 1.91 78000 149090 EUROMED 2.15 2.17 2.2 2.22 2.15 2.16 1369000 2983170 MABUHAY VINYL 4.34 4.5 4.4 4.5 4.4 4.5 10000 44480 PRYCE CORP 4.3 4.41 4.37 4.41 4.3 4.41 29000 126570 CONCEPCION 21.6 21.75 21.75 21.75 21.45 21.7 108200 2341850 GREENERGY 2.66 2.69 2.68 2.7 2.61 2.69 6119000 16302390 INTEGRATED MICR 7.35 7.38 7.2 7.41 7.16 7.38 559500 4088224 IONICS 1.08 1.09 1.12 1.12 1.07 1.08 1010000 1093620 PANASONIC 5.13 5.48 5.48 5.48 5.48 5.48 900 4932 SFA SEMICON 1.54 1.55 1.63 1.63 1.52 1.55 5772000 9023230 CIRTEK HLDG 6.47 6.48 6.55 6.64 6.45 6.48 6800800 44301024

7295620 125400 -9314765 6540 -8208960 -1174756.5 -2659158 3120828 321270 2716182 -71936 -100321 29200 76460 2023738 -172306 -4515020 4250056 -1347032 -229110 -478894.5 -40445373 -5868104 -10080 -2180246 -1131460 -25560 -4743474 52920 -3205920 -946010 138543 2901903 -3883421 843 -27040 2160 9000 -77870 2222620 1952 5908842

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.55 0.56 0.56 0.6 0.55 0.56 63900000 36556110 ASIABEST GROUP 8.52 8.81 8.85 8.85 8.51 8.55 22900 196886 AYALA CORP 844 848 840 849.5 832 848 480380 405642890 ABOITIZ EQUITY 47.95 48 48.05 48.05 47.4 48 1419700 67969815 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 9.45 9.5 9.2 9.5 9.06 9.5 10930600 101561247 AYALA LAND LOG 3.08 3.09 2.8 3.09 2.79 3.09 27332000 81333050 ANSCOR 6.22 6.49 6.3 6.5 6.2 6.45 85000 531517 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.66 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.68 0.68 40000 27230 ATN HLDG A 0.87 0.88 0.9 0.9 0.87 0.88 5644000 4976910 ATN HLDG B 0.87 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.89 0.89 156000 139050 COSCO CAPITAL 5.35 5.37 5.35 5.38 5.34 5.35 3581100 19167401 DMCI HLDG 5.41 5.42 5.46 5.48 5.32 5.41 8260500 44483587 FILINVEST DEV 9.3 9.52 9.7 9.7 9.22 9.28 48400 449152 FORUM PACIFIC 0.215 0.235 0.215 0.215 0.215 0.215 50000 10750 GT CAPITAL 545 552 530 557 530 545 357240 195693825 HOUSE OF INV 3.43 3.45 3.5 3.5 3.45 3.45 84000 289950 JG SUMMIT 71.4 72.4 72 72.4 70.5 72.4 1252840 89993178.5 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.39 5.49 3.24 5.4 3.24 5.39 9675000 41793930 LODESTAR 0.82 0.83 0.81 0.84 0.81 0.83 487000 397180 LOPEZ HLDG 2.69 2.7 2.69 2.71 2.68 2.7 3580000 9664640 LT GROUP 12.8 12.82 12.5 12.9 12.5 12.82 7550500 96333798 MABUHAY HLDG 0.52 0.53 0.55 0.55 0.51 0.53 356000 188540 METRO PAC INV 4.18 4.19 4.2 4.23 4.17 4.19 15703000 65881520 PACIFICA HLDG 4.08 4.35 4.44 4.44 4.18 4.35 11000 47520 PRIME MEDIA 0.82 0.83 0.86 0.86 0.83 0.83 336000 283110 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.52 2.98 2.52 2.52 2.52 2.52 2000 5040 SOLID GROUP 1.12 1.15 1.1 1.18 1.1 1.12 305000 344560 SYNERGY GRID 240 245 220 250 220 240 2630 627320 SM INVESTMENTS 1002 1014 1030 1030 1002 1002 344620 348882440 SAN MIGUEL CORP 113.3 113.5 108.2 115 108.2 113.5 1127950 127965237 SOC RESOURCES 0.72 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.71 0.73 235000 170430 SEAFRONT RES 1.95 2.3 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 142000 276900 TOP FRONTIER 136 144.6 133 144 133 136 36560 5006096 WELLEX INDUS 0.231 0.234 0.235 0.24 0.227 0.234 3550000 831410 ZEUS HLDG 0.145 0.152 0.144 0.152 0.144 0.152 220000 32080

-2169630 19088745 3173940 4708588 15193200 6200 1380 -2958511 4812205 -354600 7833815 -134700 17184112.5 -5422390 -28875816 7280 -9495250 36120 9870 -203674630 -33551812 -2219186 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.63 0.64 0.64 0.64 0.61 0.64 2371000 1480810 ANCHOR LAND 7.81 8.28 8.2 8.28 8.2 8.28 8200 67256 AYALA LAND 38.85 38.95 38.8 39.2 38.4 38.85 12700700 493215145 ARANETA PROP 1.06 1.07 1.05 1.06 1.05 1.06 88000 92800 AREIT RT 26.1 26.3 26.2 26.5 26.1 26.1 2114600 55827940 BELLE CORP 1.62 1.63 1.61 1.62 1.61 1.62 489000 791760 A BROWN 0.84 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.83 0.85 3485000 2956060 CITYLAND DEVT 0.79 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.79 0.8 77000 61130 CROWN EQUITIES 0.151 0.153 0.152 0.155 0.15 0.151 2690000 405940 CEBU HLDG 5.8 5.98 5.98 5.98 5.98 5.98 200 1196 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.72 4.73 4.73 4.77 4.7 4.73 767000 3618370 CENTURY PROP 0.405 0.41 0.39 0.41 0.385 0.41 38700000 15448350 CYBER BAY 0.385 0.39 0.41 0.41 0.39 0.39 680000 268500 DOUBLEDRAGON 14.46 14.5 14.7 14.78 14.32 14.5 3644700 53147970 DM WENCESLAO 5.62 5.65 5.7 5.78 5.6 5.6 1164600 6578747 EMPIRE EAST 0.305 0.31 0.3 0.31 0.295 0.31 4380000 1326750 EVER GOTESCO 0.088 0.09 0.086 0.092 0.086 0.092 130000 11840 FILINVEST LAND 1.03 1.04 1.03 1.04 1.02 1.04 33431000 34459060 GLOBAL ESTATE 0.88 0.89 0.87 0.89 0.87 0.88 796000 698650 8990 HLDG 8.23 8.24 8.24 8.3 8.2 8.23 49300 405871 PHIL INFRADEV 1.57 1.58 1.59 1.6 1.56 1.57 4625000 7284120 KEPPEL PROP 2.92 3.25 2.92 2.92 2.92 2.92 3000 8760 CITY AND LAND 0.7 0.72 0.71 0.71 0.7 0.7 99000 69310 MEGAWORLD 3.77 3.79 3.63 3.79 3.61 3.79 41612000 154230170 MRC ALLIED 0.46 0.465 0.475 0.485 0.46 0.465 148540000 69872100 PHIL ESTATES 0.41 0.42 0.405 0.42 0.405 0.42 850000 346350 PRIMEX CORP 1.29 1.3 1.37 1.39 1.3 1.3 3764000 4959940 ROBINSONS LAND 15.78 15.8 15.56 15.94 15.32 15.78 5838400 91848384 PHIL REALTY 0.25 0.26 0.265 0.265 0.25 0.25 560000 142000 ROCKWELL 1.55 1.56 1.55 1.56 1.55 1.56 68000 106010 SHANG PROP 2.69 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.69 2.7 92000 248240 STA LUCIA LAND 1.87 1.92 1.9 1.92 1.9 1.92 13000 24790 SM PRIME HLDG 38 38.4 38.15 38.4 37.6 38.4 5286000 201089780 VISTAMALLS 4.25 4.26 4.35 4.35 4.23 4.25 189000 807870 SUNTRUST HOME 1.4 1.42 1.4 1.47 1.39 1.4 5798000 8274430 VISTA LAND 4.04 4.05 3.87 4.1 3.87 4.05 6887000 27659820

9420 1655.9999 -70128400 -27799945 408250 -52520 75000 492800 -1487250 -31827962 -4132972 -629750 4083940 266430 51087260 2104250 -150 -21379594 -178200 36582920 8400 6175420

SERVICES ABS CBN 11.52 11.54 11.62 11.62 11.34 11.52 478400 5485768 GMA NETWORK 5.45 5.47 5.48 5.67 5.33 5.45 4963800 27209319 MANILA BULLETIN 0.41 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.41 0.41 30000 12500 MLA BRDCASTING 10.9 11.4 10.82 11.2 10.3 11.2 21200 229662 GLOBE TELECOM 2026 2028 2006 2030 2006 2028 68965 139498780 PLDT 1388 1395 1393 1439 1385 1388 204805 288047960 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.051 0.052 0.05 0.052 0.05 0.052 50300000 2549200 CONVERGE 15.62 15.66 15.3 15.82 15.28 15.66 18128200 282516464 DFNN INC 4.3 4.38 4.32 4.43 4.3 4.3 785000 3414240 IMPERIAL 1.35 1.41 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 5000 7000 ISLAND INFO 0.115 0.117 0.111 0.117 0.111 0.117 12390000 1418660 JACKSTONES 1.64 1.65 1.62 1.67 1.62 1.64 37000 61240 NOW CORP 4.37 4.38 4.11 4.37 4.08 4.37 9645000 41185290 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.27 0.275 0.265 0.275 0.255 0.27 14690000 3915800 PHILWEB 3.01 3.02 2.9 3.01 2.9 3.01 2001000 5881740 2GO GROUP 9 9.11 9.2 9.2 8.95 9 347100 3125701 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.68 15.98 15.9 15.98 15.9 15.98 1303400 20828316 CHELSEA 5.9 5.91 5.41 5.9 5.32 5.9 17795300 101440738 CEBU AIR 45.1 45.2 44.3 45.25 43.9 45.2 1635800 72875920 INTL CONTAINER 127.3 127.5 126.8 127.3 125.1 127.3 1654990 210480749 LBC EXPRESS 16.2 16.3 16.2 16.3 16.2 16.3 5800 94370 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.99 1.04 1.05 1.05 0.99 1.05 166000 172050 MACROASIA 7.22 7.23 7.35 7.53 7 7.23 11708700 85833904 METROALLIANCE A 2.09 2.1 2.12 2.16 2.05 2.1 1628000 3399940 PAL HLDG 7.15 7.2 7.11 7.25 7.11 7.2 56900 407815 HARBOR STAR 1.52 1.53 1.49 1.55 1.48 1.52 11680000 17647280 ACESITE HOTEL 1.45 1.54 1.4 1.54 1.4 1.45 57000 84370 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.028 0.029 0.029 0.029 0.028 0.028 8900000 255700 DISCOVERY WORLD 1.7 1.71 1.75 1.75 1.7 1.7 26000 44460 GRAND PLAZA 11.14 11.88 11.14 11.14 11.14 11.14 1000 11140 WATERFRONT 0.71 0.72 0.69 0.78 0.67 0.72 50629000 37274820 CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.88 7 7 7 7 7 200 1400 FAR EASTERN U 560 575 560 560 560 560 10 5600 STI HLDG 0.355 0.36 0.365 0.365 0.355 0.36 3430000 1230250 BERJAYA 4.06 4.07 4.04 4.07 3.97 4.07 373000 1499220 BLOOMBERRY 8.31 8.35 8.16 8.46 8.16 8.35 16575700 137853626 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.95 1.97 1.96 1.98 1.94 1.97 174000 340520 LEISURE AND RES 1.61 1.63 1.61 1.64 1.61 1.61 538000 870590 MANILA JOCKEY 2.28 2.41 2.32 2.32 2.32 2.32 5000 11600 PH RESORTS GRP 2.85 2.86 3.16 3.18 2.81 2.85 79216000 233415610 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.42 0.425 0.42 0.425 0.405 0.42 26350000 10873700 PHIL RACING 6.77 7 6.77 6.77 6.77 6.77 2200 14894 ALLHOME 7.95 8 8.09 8.09 7.9 8 5576500 44583360 METRO RETAIL 1.54 1.55 1.56 1.56 1.52 1.55 1234000 1899030 PUREGOLD 43.1 43.4 44 44.15 43.1 43.1 3212500 139228495 ROBINSONS RTL 67.05 67.3 66.2 67.3 66.2 67.05 367780 24572141.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 108.3 109 111 112.6 107 108 26890 2963425 SSI GROUP 1.66 1.68 1.68 1.7 1.65 1.66 7840000 13081540 WILCON DEPOT 15.98 16 16 16 15.9 15.98 3446700 55071992 APC GROUP 0.37 0.38 0.375 0.38 0.37 0.37 1560000 581200 EASYCALL 7.2 7.35 7.2 7.4 7.14 7.35 63100 456937 GOLDEN BRIA 381 395 395 395 380 395 370 143800 IPM HLDG 3.61 3.76 3.25 3.77 3.25 3.61 6000 20990 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.51 0.52 0.53 0.62 0.485 0.51 352250000 189894020 SBS PHIL CORP 4.33 4.36 4.32 4.4 4.31 4.36 41000 177990

11095210 60335665 28356816 254580 -21800 616000 237700 -91650 44770 51136 -1229783 -21605935 -34215136 -7258255 536470 4128750 36000 -109815914 -98400 -1922480 214850 3253892 50580 -1474815 -11792457.5 613548 -1101540 8253684 37000 -3850 -646190 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.74 9.75 9.89 9.89 9.4 9.75 441800 4191615 APEX MINING 1.95 1.97 2.01 2.01 1.94 1.95 9576000 18912280 -51680 ABRA MINING 0.0011 0.0012 0.0012 0.0012 0.0011 0.0012 691000000 769500 ATLAS MINING 5.16 5.2 5.2 5.28 5.14 5.16 2158000 11164174 -7744377 BENGUET A 3.16 3.27 3.38 3.38 3.16 3.16 215000 694300 BENGUET B 3.12 3.3 3.12 3.12 3.12 3.12 62000 193440 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.255 0.265 0.26 0.265 0.255 0.265 320000 82600 CENTURY PEAK 2.51 2.55 2.5 2.51 2.5 2.51 189000 474210 429210 DIZON MINES 8.06 8.31 8.33 8.33 8.06 8.06 18500 149214 FERRONICKEL 1.7 1.71 1.65 1.7 1.65 1.7 7923000 13353150 693610 GEOGRACE 0.245 0.246 0.246 0.246 0.243 0.245 3250000 795660 345450 LEPANTO A 0.158 0.159 0.16 0.161 0.157 0.158 18770000 2978770 LEPANTO B 0.159 0.16 0.158 0.16 0.157 0.159 1120000 176800 MANILA MINING A 0.0098 0.0099 0.0097 0.01 0.0097 0.0098 48000000 469000 MANILA MINING B 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 31000000 327800 MARCVENTURES 1.12 1.13 1.17 1.18 1.1 1.12 9760000 10888300 -48990 NIHAO 2.63 2.64 2.62 2.69 2.61 2.63 672000 1764440 NICKEL ASIA 4.34 4.35 4.35 4.38 4.25 4.35 8124000 35241550 2724630 OMICO CORP 0.33 0.335 0.34 0.34 0.33 0.335 320000 107550 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.68 0.7 0.68 0.7 0.68 0.7 621000 428360 PX MINING 5.3 5.36 5.35 5.45 5.22 5.3 3651900 19475007 3472530 SEMIRARA MINING 11.3 11.34 11.6 11.6 11.2 11.3 5077200 57416894 -16349692 UNITED PARAGON 0.0052 0.0055 0.0053 0.0053 0.0052 0.0052 20000000 104200 ACE ENEXOR 6.48 6.49 6.47 6.7 6.44 6.49 274000 1785275 ORNTL PETROL A 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 10100000 103900 ORNTL PETROL B 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 700000 7000 PHILODRILL 0.0084 0.0087 0.0086 0.0086 0.0084 0.0085 9000000 76600 PXP ENERGY 12.2 12.26 11.52 12.34 11.52 12.26 3531100 42579178 -220454 PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 100.2 101.3 100.1 100.1 100.1 100.1 100 10010 AC PREF B2R 506 510 510 510 510 510 460 234600 CPG PREF A 101.2 101.5 101.2 101.2 101.2 101.2 480 48576 DD PREF 100.6 102.1 102.1 102.1 102.1 102.1 39370 4019677 FGEN PREF G 110 110.5 110.5 110.5 110.5 110.5 2630 290615 55250 GLO PREF P 502 517.5 517.5 517.5 517.5 517.5 140 72450 GTCAP PREF A 1000 1007 1007 1007 1007 1007 15 15105 MWIDE PREF 100.7 101 101 101 101 101 37500 3787500 PNX PREF 3B 100.5 103 103 103 103 103 90 9270 PNX PREF 4 985.5 990 989.5 990 989 990 950 940095 PCOR PREF 2B 1025 1043 1040 1040 1040 1040 10 10400 PCOR PREF 3A 1055 1067 1067 1067 1067 1067 300 320100 PCOR PREF 3B 1095 1097 1097 1097 1097 1097 20 21940 SMC PREF 2C 78.1 78.2 78.1 78.1 78.1 78.1 5000 390500 -381128 SMC PREF 2E 76.1 76.2 76.2 76.2 76.1 76.2 29300 2232511 SMC PREF 2F 77.5 78.2 77.4 77.4 77.4 77.4 25000 1935000 SMC PREF 2H 76.2 76.85 76.25 76.3 76.2 76.3 13750 1048372.5 SMC PREF 2I 76.15 76.9 76.95 76.95 76.05 76.05 32980 2519426.5 SMC PREF 2J 76.1 76.45 76.05 76.45 76 76.1 58420 4441153 -38025 PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 11.2 11.36 11.2 11.2 11.2 11.2 1500 16800 GMA HLDG PDR 5.29 5.31 5.12 5.43 5.12 5.29 380100 2030575 65010 WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.86 0.87 0.83 0.86 0.82 0.86 122000 102870 SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 12.86 12.88 13.3 13.3 12.86 12.86 1241000 16117304 1234700 ITALPINAS 3.2 3.21 3.31 3.32 3.16 3.21 2987000 9688460 -197270 KEPWEALTH 6.46 6.47 5.88 6.48 5.88 6.46 418200 2603498 MAKATI FINANCE 2.17 2.65 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 12000 26400 MERRYMART 4.7 4.71 4.95 5.2 4.67 4.7 86022000 422781600 -14788520 EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF 105.3 105.4 105.4 105.6 105 105.3 25430 2676941 202403

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ACR net income in Jan-Sept gets boost from power plants By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

lsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR), the publicly listed company of the Alcantara Group, posted a net income of P1.67 billion from January to September this year, up from last year’s P587.7 million, mainly due to the strong performance of its power generation facilities. Net earnings attributable to the parent during the period also surged to P360.59 million from P54.94 million in 2019. Revenues increased to P7.31 billion from P4.67 billion the previous year. The company’s 210 megawatt (MW) Sarangani Energy Corp. (SEC) baseload coal-fired power plant in Maasim, Sarangani Province continued to be the key revenue and income driver for the company.

The SEC plant began operating at full capacity in October 2019 and currently provides power to key areas in Mindanao including Sarangani Province, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Dipolog, Dapitan, Pagadian, Samal, Tagum, Kidapawan, and Butuan. The $570-million SEC plant is the single largest power investment in Sarangani Province and the entire Region 1. “For the rest of the year, we remain

cautiously optimistic on the financial performance of the company. We expect higher revenues and profit margins from the full commercial operations of the Sarangani Energy plant. We will also reap the benefits of lower operating costs as we continue to maintain cost efficiency measures,” said ACR Deputy Chief Financial Officer Philip Edward B. Sagun. ACR is Mindanao’s first privatesector power generator. The company has a portfolio of 4 power facilities with an aggregate capacity of 468 MW serving over 8 million people in 14 cities and 11 provinces in the country’s second largest island. “ACR’s continuing pursuit of new power projects in Sarangani Province, Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Norte and Negros Occidental is our contribution to the economic recovery of our country by helping create new jobs and stimulate the local economies in these areas,” said ACR Executive Vice President Tirso G. Santillan, Jr. The company’s projects in the immediate pipeline include the P4.5-

billion 14.5 MW Siguil Hydro run of river hydroelectric power plant in Maasim, Sarangani Province and the P16-billion 105 MW San Ramon Power Inc. (SRPI) baseload coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City. Construction for the Siguil Hydro plant—ACR’s first foray into renewable energy, is currently ongoing and targeting completion in 2022 making the Siguil Hydro plant available to supply power to the Provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato, General Santos City, and other areas in the Mindanao grid. The SRPI plant will begin construction in 2021 and will commence operating in early 2024 to deliver baseload power to Zamboanga City and nearby areas. For the long-term the company is slated to focus on renewables with at least 7 more run-of-river hydroelectric plants in various stages of development. The next two hydro facilities in the pipeline are the 22 MW Siayan (Sindangan) Hydro plant in Zamboanga del Norte and the 42 MW Bago Hydro plant in Negros Occidental—the company’s first power venture outside of Mindanao.

D.M. Wenceslao posts higher income By VG Cabuag @villygc

.M. Wenceslao and Associates Inc. said its income grew 10 percent in January to September to P1.82 billion from last year’s P1.66 billion after its profits in the third quarter doubled mainly on revenue recognition of its previously sold project. Gross revenues grew 16 percent to P2.3 billion from last year’s P1.98 billion, the company said. The company’s residential segment posted a 67-percent increase in condominium sales in nine months, yielding P707.30 million, up from 67 percent from P422.74 million last year. Pixel Residences, which was fully pre-sold since June 2017, has allowed the company to recognize 83 percent or P1.25 billion in revenues due to the turnover of 42 percent of its inventory to its buyers

for the third quarter. As a result, its income for the July to September quarter doubled to P1.11 billion from last year’s P536.41 million. Revenues, meanwhile, fell 3 percent to P663.04 million from last year’s P684.3 million. Recurring income comprised of rentals from land, buildings and other income such as common usage service area fees totaled to P1.47 billion or 67 percent of the total revenues. Leasing of land, rentals of buildings and other revenue amounted to P733.24 million, P610.96 million and P124.06 million, respectively, the company said. “Despite the unprecedented challenges posed by the current pandemic, we are confident in our short and long-term strategies as we continue to take strategic actions to fuel our momentum and position us for stronger growth in the future,” Heherson Asiddao, the company’s CFO, said.

Jollibee opens 48th store in Middle East

Contributed Photo

ollibee Foods Corp. said it recently opened a new store in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), bringing the total number of its stores in the Middle East to 48. The restaurant is located in Hamdan Street, known for being one of the busiest streets in Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. Over 2,000 pieces of its Chickenjoy were sold on opening day, and its first three days outperformed sales targets by over 40 percent, the company said. “We are truly grateful for the constant support of our customers in the Middle East,” Dennis Flores, president of Jollibee for Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia, said.

“While we continue to have the support of Filipinos in the Middle East, we are also increasingly seeing more locals and migrants of other nationalities coming to our stores, and this shows that we are gaining traction amongst the mainstream market thus further increasing our customer base. We are excited to serve more of our fellow kababayans and local customers as we sustain our growth and expansion in the Middle East.” At present, Jollibee is present in all 6 of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries in the Middle East—the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. VG Cabuag

mutual funds

November 17, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 223.64 -12.58% -7.49% -1.65% -11.2% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.1862 -21.5% -9.44% -0.15% -14.17% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.0704 -20.6% -11.36% -3.54% -16.52% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7694 -16.25% -8.71% n.a. -14.32% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.7303 -15.39% n.a. n.a. -14.01% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.8165 -10.88% -6.13% -1.73% -9.61% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.7513 -13.5% -8.07% n.a. -11.98% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 91.24 -18.98% n.a. n.a. -11.61% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 45.4689 -12.75% -5.73% -0.11% -11.33% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 481.21 -11.17% -5.42% -0.69% -9.68% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 1.0426 n.a. n.a. n.a. 1.21% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.1305 -13.89% -6.09% -0.43% -12.15% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 33.5696 -13% -5.5% 0.26% -11.42% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8971 -13.06% n.a. n.a. -11.88% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.6474 -12.33% -5.15% 0.64% -11.03% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 777.34 -12.17% -5.04% 0.56% -10.85% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.7051 -21.09% -9.06% -3.57% -17.18% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.5211 -17.75% -7.24% -1.17% -16.35% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8902 -12.42% -5.35% 0.43% -11.05% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.2323 -12.91% -4.56% 0.81% -11.52% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 104.5072 -11.92% -4.72% 1.37% -10.64% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.1441 16.59% 1.63% 5.08% 11.25% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.5852 19.97% 9% n.a. 14.98% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.621 2.23% -3.63% -1.01% 3.72% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.2101 -2.17% -2.72% 0.66% 1.33% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5824 -2.47% -1.72% -0.77% -1.87% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1957 -16.55% n.a. n.a. -14.35% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9396 -1.5% 0.07% 1.9% -1.12% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.7383 -1.96% -0.81% 1.2% -1.34% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.7238 -1.97% -0.91% 1.13% -1.4% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.0706 -3.76% -1.95% 0.86% -2.43% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.5074 -9.91% -3.45% -0.2% -9.22% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 1.0033 -1.94% n.a. n.a. -1.22% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.9275 -8% n.a. n.a. -6.91% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.9104 -9.46% n.a. n.a. -8.34% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8675 -12.09% -4.33% -1.07% -11.01% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03918 3.6% 2.75% 2.03% 2.57% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1026 10.14% 2.01% 4.34% 8.95% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.2988 13.34% 6.47% 6.69% 9.92% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1876 7.32% 3.53% n.a. 5.22% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 369.41 3.76% 3.21% 2.75% 3.2% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.8957 -1.54% -0.09% -0.03% -0.33% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2079 3.36% 4.63% 4.9% 2.89% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2887 3.45% 2.8% 2.38% 2.94% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.445 4.32% 3.37% 2.07% 3.64% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6156 6.46% 4.38% 3.03% 5.55% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3141 5.34% 4.37% 2.51% 4.57% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9622 5.54% 4.28% 2.78% 4.59% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0351 8.49% 3.92% 2.47% 7.34% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1821 4.55% 4.64% 3.42% 3.46% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7399 3.53% 3.93% 2.82% 2.28% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $481.31 3.25% 2.67% 2.88% 2.76% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є218.28 -0.56% 0.79% 1.15% -0.69% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2602 4.82% 3.55% 2.84% 4.39% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0265 3.11% 1.96% 1.66% 2.71% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0901 -0.07% 0.3% 0.82% -0.32% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.5194 5.72% 4.03% 3.55% 4.82% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0619781 2.93% 2.54% 2.25% 2.78% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2175 2.4% 2.25% 2.62% 1.33% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.46 3.36% 3.35% 2.54% 2.88% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0465 1.82% n.a. n.a. 1.97% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2937 2.68% 3% 2.61% 2.27% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0513 1.57% 1.76% n.a. 1.25% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0668 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.97 n.a. n.a. n.a. -2.02% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU). 1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019. 4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019. 6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020. "While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www. pifa.com.ph to see the

latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Treasury fully awards reissued 10-yr T-bonds

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he Bureau of the Treasury fully awarded on Tuesday P30 billion in reissued 10-year Treasury Bonds despite an 11.8-basis point rise in the average rate compared to the previous auction. The tenor fetched an average rate of 2.9 percent, higher than the previous rate of 2.782 percent. But National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon told the BusinessMirror the higher yield was still “within secondary levels as positive vaccine update uplifts market sentiment.” There was also a strong demand for the tenor as the auction was oversubscribed by more than twice the P30-billion offer. This as total tenders reached P65.997 billion. With a remaining life of four years and nine months, the reissued Tbonds is set to mature on November 9, 2025 and carries a coupon rate of

3.625 percent. The Treasury has programmed to borrow P140 billion from the local debt market this month. Last week, the Treasury also launched its second tranche of 1-year Premyo Bonds offering, which carries an interest rate of 1.25 percent per annum. De Leon said they hope to raise as much as P6 billion from this offering. She added of this amount they are expecting to generate P3 billion in new money and another P3 billion from the switch tender offer. Proceeds from the second tranche of Premyo Bonds will be used to fund the country’s response to Covid-19

Lights illuminate the Bureau of the Treasury building in Intramuros, Manila. Tuesday’s auction saw the BTr fully awarding P30 billion in reissued 10-year Treasury Bonds despite an increase in average rates.

pandemic as well as help the Philippine economy clamber up from recession. For a minimum investment of P500 in Premyo Bonds, investors have a chance to win special cash rewards to be drawn every quarter. The reward is on top of the main cash prizes via raffle draw of P1 million, P100,000 and P20,000 every quarter. Grand prize winners will also get an additional P3 million, P6 million or 2 brand-new compact multi-purpose vehicles courtesy of the Bureau’s private sector partners. Investors may purchase the

Premyo Bonds offering through over-the-counter transactions with any of the selling agents, online through the BTr’s online ordering facility and mobile applications via Bonds.PH and the overseas Filipino bank mobile banking application. The public offer period runs for one month from November 11 to December 11 this year with an issue date on December 16. De Leon earlier

Taxes on off-site betting, ‘sabong’ near approval By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

HE imposition of new taxes on offsite betting on locally-licensed games, including electronic betting on cockfighting or “sabong,” nears fruition as lawmakers approved the measure for such on November 17. Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said the House Committee on Ways and Means has approved in principle House Bill 7919, which aims to provide the government an initial P1 billion in revenues. “The operations of online betting on ‘sabong’ are authorized by local ordinances. Because of the digital shift, there are now electronic betting operations on such games. But the electronic aspect of it is a gray area, even though the airwaves is national property,” Salceda said. “Because of this ambiguity, we are unable to levy national taxes on these activities. By clarifying this gray area in my proposal, we hope to raise multiples more in revenues than the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] collection from cockpits of P13.7 million in 2019,” the lawmaker added. According to Games and Amusement Board (GAB) Chair Abraham K. Mitra, the industry is worth about P50 billion annually. However, local government units (LGUs) are yet unable to collect revenues effectively from the industry, Mitra said. “Once a national internal revenue tax

is imposed on the industry, on top of local taxes, LGUs will also have a share in the collections, consistent with the Mandanas ruling. So, everyone wins,” Salceda said. Under the bill, the tax shall be 5 percent of gross revenues derived from off-site betting activities on locally licensed games, and shall not be in lieu of taxes required by the LGUs and regulatory fees and charges imposed by government agencies. LGUs will still have full regulatory and revenue collecting powers over in-premise games and betting. Salceda also wants more transparency and regulation in the sector by empowering the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to accredit and inspect totalizators and other gambling devices used to verify tax assessments, while allowing the LGUs to maintain full authority to license the games under their jurisdiction, imposing whatever local taxes they want to. A totalizator is “a device showing the number and amount of bets staked on a race, to facilitate the division of the total among those backing the winner.” To establish transparency and accountability in these activities, the bill also empowers the BIR to verify tax assessments. It also requires relevant gaming operators to specify “off-site betting activities on locally licensed games” in disclosures and documentations required by the BIR and other regulatory government agencies and instrumentalities. This requirement will help ensure that the government can monitor the activities of such operators.

8th Philippine EV Summit

he 8th Philippine Electric Vehicle (EV) Summit was held virtually, due to Covid-19, on September 24 to 26. With 7.2 million EVs on the roads today, we have come a long way from eight years ago, and there is still so much more upside. While the global auto industry took a dive with Covid-19, sales of EVs were up 40 percent year-on-year (YOY)! It was interesting to note that one of the opening speakers, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said “EVs will only become popular in the country if the price won’t be too prohibitive, if they can charge fast and if they run far enough per charge.” Secretary Lopez certainly hit the nail on the head with that succinct analysis. While our government may be willing to provide both financial and non-financial incentives for the development of the Philippine EV industry, it would never get off the ground unless those three conditions are met. The three EV manufacturers in the Philippines that were specifically mentioned by Secretary Lopez were Tojo Motors, Bemac and Star 8. Among these three companies, only Tojo Motors is truly Filipino and has focused on what Secretary Lopez has said. Given the limited resources, support and subsidies Philippine companies get from our government, the only way you can be commercially viable is by largely relying

on your own resources and knowing how to adapt to a highly competitive environment. Certainly, Tojo Motors, founded by my friend and business associate Ralph Legaspi deserves praise and recognition for George S. Chua going against the odds and supplying hundreds of his locally made EVs in the Philippine market. In order to have a commercially viable operation, Tojo Motors addressed the three main issues holding back the popularity of EVs in the Philippines by focusing on the transport sector with a fixed franchise route and the planned jeepney modernization. The first issue is the cost. EVs tend to be 50 percent to 100 percent more expensive than the traditional vehicles powered by an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) due to the high cost of the battery. In order to address this issue, the lithium ion batteries were not sold with the vehicle but simply “leased out” on a per use basis, equalizing the initial investment. This makes sense because no one really buys a car with a lifetime supply of gasoline or diesel. The second issue was the amount of time needed to charge the battery. Since, the EVs were used in the public transport system, they operated on a closed loop with a fixed route. This allowed for the battery

“While the government seeks new revenue streams to fund its Covid-19 priorities, this bill responds to this government need by imposing new national government taxes on activities that already exist and will undoubtedly continue to exist as digital technologies grow more sophisticated, but are not being imposed such taxes. Unlike other tax proposals which may have adverse socioeconomic impacts and may dampen economic growth and recovery, this proposed regime will not impose taxes on any goods and services essential to the Filipino people,” Salceda said. “The regulatory checks that this bill establishes will also provide the government with more tools to regulate and monitor these activities and verify tax assessments,” Salceda added. The lawmaker said his committee is set to identify a regulating authority with regard to offsite or online betting activities, to be added in the proposal in order to properly implement the measure, which will be further discussed in the committee’s hearings. He added that taxes on winnings are also being contemplated. “The principle is simple. The industry used to be in a gray area. Now, we can shed light on it. The industry used to be untaxed. Now, we will tax it. And, as a non-essential economic activity, this proposal will be one of the few rare opportunities to create a painless revenue stream for our economic recovery,” Salceda said.

to be simply “swapped” rather than charged with the “swapping” station located along the franchise This allowed the Finex free route. waiting time to be reduced enterprise from hours to simply the same amount of time it would take for an ICE to be loaded up with diesel in a regular gas station. Finally, the third issue of the range became a non-issue with public utility vehicles with a fixed franchise route. The EV supplier, like Tojo Motors, would simply provide batteries with enough capacity to complete the route with a little allowance. Not much different from the conventional PUV drivers having the habit of frequently loading small amounts of diesel in their Jeepneys. This makes sense since the cost of the batteries for the supplier can be minimized plus it makes the battery swapping of fewer or smaller batteries much faster. Now if only our government had more people like Secretary Lopez, I think the EV industry can take root in the Philippines much faster. That only leaves us with one major problem, end user financing. Paging the government banks to come to the rescue, but I guess that is for another column. Comments may be sent to georgechuaph@yahoo.com.

said they are hoping to raise as much as P6 billion from this offering. De Leon said they are expecting to generate P3 billion in new money and another P3 billion from the switch tender offer. The Treasurer said the proceeds

from the second tranche of Premyo Bonds would be used to fund the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as help the country clamber up from an economic recession. Under the switch tender offer, the Treasury said eligible bondholders of the previous tranche of Premyo Bonds maturing on December 18, 2020, may exchange their bondholdings to the second tranche of Premyo Bonds sans the need to go through the entire application process. The joint issue managers and/ or their parent banks will act as the selling agents from whom interested investors may order their Premyo Bonds 2. The public offer period runs for one month beginning last November 11 up to December 11 this year with an issue date on December 16.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The World BusinessMirror

‘More people may die’: Biden urges Trump to aid transition

ILMINGTON, Del.— President-elect Joe Biden on Monday warned of dire consequences if President Donald Trump and his administration continue to refuse to coordinate with his transition team on the coronavirus pandemic and block briefings on national security, policy issues and vaccine plans.

Biden has vowed to spend trillions of dollars to reinvigorate US manufacturing, expand health care coverage and combat climate change, among other priorities. But his chief priority remains controlling the pandemic, which is surging to record levels and forcing state and local leaders to implement new rounds of restrictions on local businesses. The president-elect has so far tried to sidestep difficult questions about whether he might support a shortterm national lockdown to arrest the surge of coronavirus cases. Since defeating Trump, Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear masks and embrace social distancing measures. But members of his coronavirus advisory board have been more specific. One member, Michael Osterholm, recently suggested a four- to six-week national lockdown with financial aid for Americans whose livelihoods would be affected. He later walked back the remarks and was rebutted by two other members of the panel who said a widespread lockdown shouldn’t be under consideration. Speaking Monday on “CBS This Morning,” Osterholm was not asked about a potential lockdown, but he said the nation needs “a standard set of principles.” “Right now, we don’t have a standardized set so you’re hearing all these governors and mayors are scrambling to try to find what is the right answer for us, and it would surely help all of them, and that’s what I’m hearing from them, that we have a standardized set of recommendations and protocols,” he said. Biden was asked Monday whether he would encourage leaders to look at potentially reinstating stay-at-home orders now that the pandemic is surging nationwide. He avoided answering directly and instead called on officials to embrace mask-wearing and criticized those who haven’t. Before his Monday address, Biden and Vice President-elect K amala Harris held virtual meetings with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,

General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, among others. The US economy has recovered from the pandemic-induced shutdowns this spring more quickly than most economists expected. The unemployment rate dropped a full percentage point last month to 6.9 percent and those who still have jobs—many of them working from home—have stepped up their spending on cars, electronics and home renovations. But much of the rebound was fueled by $2 trillion in stimulus money that has largely run its course. And there are signs that the ongoing increases in confirmed virus cases are making Americans more cautious about traveling and shopping. Consumers cut back on spending in early November, according to JPMorgan Chase, which tracks spending on 30 million of its debit and credit cards. Spending declines have been larger in some states with severe outbreaks, such as Iowa and North Dakota. Most economists support another round of stimulus funding, including loans to small businesses, extended unemployment benefits and support for states and cities. Congressional Democrats have previously backed another $2 trillion in aid. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, has pointed to the falling unemployment rate as evidence that much less stimulus is needed. But on whether Biden should receive coronavirus briefings, many of Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill remained dug in. “We’ve been working for the past year to make sure the vaccine will be delivered and it will be starting to be delivered probably in December, so he won’t even be president of the United States when the vaccine starts,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in pushing back against Biden’s comments. “He can be privy, but he won’t have anything to do with it,” Cornyn said. “I mean, I hope by the time he’s inaugurated that we’re going to be well underway.” AP

The remarks marked Biden’s toughest comments to date on Trump’s failure to acknowledge his election loss and cooperate with the incoming administration for a peaceful transfer of power. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden told reporters during a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden and his aides—and a small but growing group of Republicans— have emphasized the importance of being briefed on White House efforts to control the pandemic and distribute prospective vaccines. The Trump administration is working on its own distribution plan, while Biden’s chief of staff indicated his transition team will proceed with their own planning separately because of the obstruction. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said it’s “absolutely crucial that the apparent president-elect and his team have full access to the planning that has gone on” for vaccine distribution. “It is no easy matter” to distribute a vaccine, Collins said, so “it’s absolutely imperative for public health, that all of the planning that’s gone on for which the current administration deserves credit, be shared with the new administration.” Collins’ remarks were echoed Monday by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Last week, a larger group of Republicans in Congress called on

the Trump administration to allow Biden to begin receiving national security briefings. The outgoing president has refused so far to bend to pressure from Democrats or Republicans as he continues to dispute his loss to Biden, who has surpassed the 270 electoral vote threshold to become president and is leading Trump by more than 5.5 million votes nationally. Cooperation between the outgoing and incoming administrations, traditionally a key component to the peaceful transfer of power in the United States, takes on heightened significance this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which is escalating dramatically heading into the holiday season. Biden called the vaccine distribution a “huge, huge undertaking,” and said that if his team has to wait until he takes office to dig into the government’s distribution plan, they’ll be “behind, over a month, month and a half.” Before taking questions, Biden outlined his plans to alleviate inequality and boost the US economy but said that any structural reforms depended first on reining in the pandemic and delivering more immediate relief. “Once we shut down the virus and deliver economic relief to workers and businesses, then we can start to build back better than before,” he said.

E.U. and U.K. enter tension-filled week seeking post-Brexit deal

Peru taps third president in less than week to fill power vacuum

RUSSELS—European Union and British negotiators on Monday entered yet another tension-filled week as they sought a belated post-Brexit trade deal that needs to be vetted and get legislative approval before a January 1 cutoff date. With both sides refusing to blink on any of the three key outstanding issues, time is increasingly in short supply, especially since the EU approval process would need to take around four weeks. The UK already left the EU on January 31, but a transition period when EU rules apply to trade and other issues runs until the end of next month. Both sides had hoped to get a trade deal by then to save hundreds of thousands of jobs that could be at stake if Brexit amounts to a brutal cliff edge divorce. As top negotiators resumed meetings in Brussels on Monday, neither side was ready to cede any ground just yet. “We are working very hard to get a deal, but there is quite a lot to do,” said UK chief negotiator David Frost as he entered EU headquarters for more talks. Prime M inister B oris Johnson’s office, meanwhile, again set out the strict conditions. “If we are to make progress in the coming days, we need to see more realism from the EU on what it means for the UK to be an independent state,” said Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack. “There will be no change in our approach.” If there is no change, however, the 27-nation EU insisted it wasn’t up to the bloc to do all the compromising. And the EU insisted that it wouldn’t be forced into any deal because of time pressure. “Conditions will have to be right,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said, adding that the EU had long-standing red lines where it wouldn’t budge. AP

aced with violent protests and political chaos, Peru’s besieged Congress chose a US-trained engineer and systems analyst to be the nation’s president—the third in less than a week—in a bid to restore some measure of calm. Lawmakers on Monday voted in Francisco Sagasti, an elder-statesman legislator with extensive consulting experience at home and abroad to lead a new government by electing him head of Congress. Sagasti, 76, who has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, is a former head of strategic planning at the World Bank and a one-time adviser to the United Nations on science and technology. Although he’s been a lawmaker only eight months, he’s seen as a conciliatory figure and corruption-free in a fractured and volatile Congress, half of whose members have been accused of a crime. After being sworn in, Sagasti said he’d seek to heal an anguished nation through fairness and justice.

‘Wake-up call’

“The protests were a powerful wake-up call,” he said. “The pandemic, the economic crisis, the problems with security weren’t enough. We had to wait for the death of two young men to realize the ignominy of the situation we’re living in.” “For a long time he’s dreamed of becoming president,” said Miguel Jaramillo, a researcher at the Lima-based Grade think tank, which Sagasti co-founded. “He’s better qualified for the post than anyone else in Congress and better placed to convince competent technocrats to take over public administration until next July.” Sagasti’s predecessor, Manuel Merino, assumed the presidency last week following the surprise impeachment of Martin Vizcarra, just five months before the country’s next general election. After demonstrators flooded the streets of Lima, where two people were shot dead, Merino quit on Sunday. Merino, his cabinet chief and interior minister

are now under investigation by the office of the attorney general for the two deaths and abuse of authority. As head of Congress, Merino led the impeachment of Vizcarra, one of the most popular politicians in the country, in what many saw as a naked power grab. Vizcarra had the backing of much of the nation but butted heads with the legislature—his party has no members in it—in a dynamic that has paralyzed Peruvian politics. Sagasti’s Purple Party is the only one in Congress to have voted squarely against Vizcarra’s ouster. Sagasti has opposed congressional economic proposals considered dangerous by the government, such as a large cash payout from the state retirement fund. He was on the ticket with a leftist lawmaker, Mirtha Vasquez, who’ll become acting head of Congress.

Paradox of Peru

Peru has long been a paradox—wild politics and endless corruption allegations but solid economic and market opportunities. The coming and going of numerous presidents has rarely affected investment basics. But on Monday, its currency, the sol, declined to a record low. It and other assets will respond positively to Sagasti’s appointment, according to David Tuesta, who served as the nation’s finance minister in 2018. “He was the best choice from this very precarious Congress,” Tuesta said. Still, “market volatility will remain until the cabinet is known.” Others said the selection would strengthen institutions shaken not only by this infighting but also by Covid-19 and the deep economic challenges it has brought to Peru. “Francisco won’t do anything to jeopardize a democratic transition,” said Carlos Penny, a veteran banker who taught at Universidad del Pacifico at the same time as Sagasti. “I think he’ll be cautious in making sure the process is smooth. He’s a thoughtful

person, who’s not impulsive.” Jo-Marie Burt, a Latin America specialist at George Mason University, said what happened in the past week reflected the raw nature of Peru’s politics. Vizcarra had sought reforms, including term limits and an end to parliamentary immunity, that many in Congress found threatening.

‘Private interest’

“There is a coalition in Congress that act on their very personal, private interest to maintain their seats in parliament, their parliamentary immunity, to be able to run in the next government and keep access to government funds,” she said. She added, “Peruvians understood what was going on and protested massively. They want to put an end to this conspiracy of ‘to the victor goes the spoils’.” The speed with which Congress installed a new president was an indication that its members understood the public was feeling betrayed and furious. Demonstrations continued on Monday throughout the voting. Nicolas Urrutia, a senior analyst at Control Risks, put it this way: “When you boil it down to its simplest elements, you have a very unpopular Congress led by a second or third degree politician that ousted the most popular head of state in 20 years.” In his statement after being sworn in, Sagasti made clear that the divide between Congress and the people had to be bridged. He said the “country wants to be recognized and to be able to say ‘that Congress represents me’.” After the ceremony, Sagasti went outside to the street in front of Congress to wave, and hold up a clenched fist to demonstrators. He’ll be sworn in as interim president on Tuesday afternoon. Speaking to journalists, he added, “It’s not a time for celebration. We have too many problems and difficulties. It’s a moment of reflection to ask ourselves where we lost our way, to correct and advance decidedly.” Bloomberg News

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

What Covid vaccine effectiveness means

hat does coronavirus vaccine effectiveness mean? It refers to the likelihood that a coronavirus shot will work in people. Two vaccine makers have said that preliminary results from their late-stage studies suggest their experimental vaccines are strongly protective. Moderna this week said its vaccine appears nearly 95 percent effective. This comes on the heels of Pfizer’s announcement that its shot appeared similarly effective. Those numbers raised hopes around the world that vaccines could help put an end to the pandemic sometime next year if they continue to show that

they prevent disease and are safe. Effectiveness numbers will change as the vaccine studies continue since the early calculations were based on fewer than 100 Covid-19 cases in each study. But early results provide strong signals that the vaccine could prevent a majority of disease when large groups of people are vaccinated. US health officials said a coronavirus vaccine would need to be at least 50 percent effective before they would consider approving it for use. There was concern that coronavirus vaccines might be only as effective as flu vaccines, which have ranged from 20 percent to 60 percent effective in recent years. AP

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The World BusinessMirror

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

2nd Covid-19 vaccine shows striking success in US tests

second experimental Covid-19 vaccine—this one from Moderna Inc.—yielded extraordinarily strong early results on Monday, another badly needed dose of hope as the pandemic enters a terrible new phase. Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5 percent effective, according to preliminary data from an ongoing study. A week ago, competitor Pfizer Inc. announced its own vaccine looked 90 percent effective—news that puts both companies on track to seek permission within weeks for emergency use in the US. The results are “truly striking,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious-diseases expert. “The vaccines that we’re talking about, and vaccines to come, are really the light at the end of the tunnel.” A vaccine can’t come fast enough, as virus cases topped 11 million in the US over the weekend—1 million of them recorded in just the past week—and governors and mayors are ratcheting up restrictions ahead of Thanksgiving. The outbreak has killed more than 1.3 million people worldwide, over 246,000 of them in the US. Stocks rallied on Wall Street and

around the world on rising hopes that the global economy could start returning to normal in the coming months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 470 points, or 1.6 percent, to close at a record high of over 29,950. Moderna stock was up almost 10 percent. Both vaccines require two shots, given several weeks apart. US officials said they hope to have about 20 million Moderna doses and another 20 million of the vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to use in late December. Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moder na’s president, welcomed the “really important milestone” but said having similar results from two different companies is what’s most reassuring. “That should give us all hope that actually a vaccine is going to be able to stop this pandemic and hopefully get us back to our lives,” Hoge told The Associated Press. He added: “It won’t

be Moderna alone that solves this problem. It’s going to require many vaccines” to meet the global demand. If the Food and Drug Administration allows emergency use of Moderna’s or Pfizer’s candidate, there will be limited, rationed supplies before the end of the year. Exactly who is first in line has yet to be decided. But Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the hope is that enough doses are available by the end of January to vaccinate adults over 65, who are at the highest risk from the coronavirus, and health care workers. Fauci said it may take until spring or summer before anyone who is not high risk and wants a shot can get one. Neal Browning of Bothell, Washington, who rolled up his sleeve back in March for the first testing of Moderna’s vaccine in humans, said he is excited about Monday’s “excellent news” but is still carefully wearing a mask and taking other precautions. “I’m super happy to be a part of this and to try and help bring some kind of peace back to the world,” Browning said. “I have a lot of hope.” The National Institutes of Health helped create the vaccine Moderna is manufacturing, and NIH’s director, Dr. Francis Collins, said the two companies’ parallel results give scientists “a lot of confidence that we’re on the path towards having effective vaccines.” But “we’re also at this really dark time,” he warned, saying people can’t

let down their guard during the months it will take for doses of any vaccines cleared by the FDA to start reaching a large share of the population. Moderna’s vaccine is being studied in 30,000 volunteers who received either the real thing or a dummy shot. On Sunday, an independent monitoring board examined 95 infections that were recorded after volunteers’ second shot. Only five of the illnesses were in people given the vaccine. Earlier this year, Fauci said he would be happy with a Covid-19 vaccine that was 60 percent effective. The study is continuing, and Moderna acknowledged the protection rate might change as more Covid-19 infections are detected. Also, it’s too soon to know how long protection lasts. Both cautions apply to Pfizer’s vaccine as well. But Moderna’s independent monitors reported some additional, promising tidbits: All 11 severe Covid-19 cases were among placebo recipients, and there were no significant safety concerns. The main side effects were fatigue, muscle aches and injectionsite pain after the second dose. Scientists not involved with the testing were encouraged but cautioned that the FDA still must scrutinize In this March 16, file photo, Neal Browning receives a shot in the firststage safety study of a potential vaccine for Covid-19 at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Moderna Inc. said on November 16, its Covid-19 vaccine is proving to be highly effective in a major trial. AP/Ted S. Warren

the safety data and decide whether to allow vaccinations outside of a research study. “We’re not to the finish line yet,” said Dr. James Cutrell, an infectiousdisease expert at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “If there’s an impression or perception that there’s just a rubber stamp, or due diligence wasn’t done to look at the data, that could weaken public confidence.” States already are gearing up for what is expected to be the biggest vaccination campaign in US history. First the shots have to arrive where they’re needed, and Pfizer’s must be kept at ultra-cold temperatures—around minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. Moderna’s vaccine also starts off frozen, but the company said Monday it can be thawed and kept in a regular refrigerator for 30 days, easing that concern. Beyond the US, other governments and the World Health Organization, which aims to buy doses for poor countries, will have to separately decide if and when vaccines should be rolled out broadly. “There are many, many questions still remaining,” including how long protection lasts and if the first vaccines to emerge work as well in older

people as in the young, said WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan. “We also hope the clinical trials will continue to collect data, because it’s really going to be important for us to know in the long term.” The vaccine from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna is among 11 candidates in late-stage testing around the world, four of them in huge studies in the United States. Collins stressed that more US volunteers are needed for those studies. Elsewhere around the world, China and Russia have been offering different experimental vaccines to people before completing final-stage testing. Both Moderna’s shots and the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate are so-called mRNA vaccines, a brand-new technology. They aren’t made with the coronavirus itself, meaning there’s no chance anyone could catch it from the shots. Instead, the vaccine contains a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tweeted that he was thrilled at Moderna’s news, saying, “Our companies share a common goal—defeating this dreaded disease.” AP

B6 Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Tulong Kapatid reaches out to Mabini, Batangas, provides relief support to victims of typhoons DOH strengthens campaign against COVID-19 in Mindanao with P&G, NCCC Supermarket

HE Department of Health’s trusted partners Procter & Gamble (P&G) Philippines, leading consumer goods manufacturer of health and hygiene products, and NCCC Supermarket, a homegrown retail company in Mindanao, has teamed up to make the BIDA Solusyon sa COVID-19 campaign bigger in Davao as it continues to activate its regional on-ground initiatives. BIDA, which stands for Bawal Walang Mask, Isanitize ang Kamay at Bahay, Dumistansya, and Alamin ang Totoo, is an easy to remember acronym of healthy practices each Filipino can do to be part of the solution to fighting COVID-19. On top of these mandatory preventive protocols, the BIDA Campaign with P&G promotes expert-recommended everyday home sanitation such as handwashing with soap for 20 seconds, bathing after coming home, laundering clothes worn outside, and cleaning the kitchen areas and meal utensils. “We are helping our health sector and its system recuperate from a hard-fought battle. We are building back our country stronger and more resilient, simply by exercising minimum health precautions hence protecting ourselves from getting sick,” said Dr. Abdullah Dumama, Jr., DOH Undersecretary of Health, Field Implementation Cluster Team for Visayas and Mindanao, in an online

partnership launch forum. He also thanked all the responders and P&G and NCCC for advocating for the BIDA Solusyon campaign. P&G is using its trusted health and hygiene brands, expertise in media, marketing and sales, and its network and reach to be a Force for Good. It has sponsored the production and airing of the “BIDA sa Bahay” mass education song and video to educate Filipinos about the home sanitation practices. DOH also plans to turn-over the P&G BIDA sa Bahay Song and Video to the Department of Education to help schools integrate on blended learning activities. “As the government continues to maximize our limited resources, we are grateful that P&G found a way to use its trusted hygiene brands to amplify the DOH's campaign. We were also able to respond positively to the needs of 70,000 low income households who have been badly hit by the pandemic, and for whom the P&G BIDA home hygiene kits have been most useful. Today, the partnership with P&G is now the gold standard for all our private partners,” said Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, DOH Health Promotions Bureau Director. P&G also donated to the DOH and USAID 70,000 BIDA home kits for Filipino families in 36 provinces across the country to help them practice the prescribed behaviors for

COVID-19 prevention. Each kit contains a two-week supply of P&G products such as Safeguard bath soap, Head and Shoulders shampoo, Joy dishwashing liquid, and Ariel laundry detergent. “We have always committed to promoting health and hygiene in the country to be a force for good and we have been in partner with DOH since the 1990s. We are also equally grateful to NCCC Supermarket for helping us carry out our primary mission of serving our consumers with essential health, hygiene and sanitation products, which are critically needed by Filipinos as we all fight the transmission of the virus,” said Kristine Tang, P&G Marketing Vice President for Fabric and Home Care. Meanwhile, NCCC provided more than 3.3 million pesos worth of BIDA tarpaulins and standees in Tagalog and Bisaya versions for the communities in Davao and Palawan. This has been particularly helpful for DOH as they aim to intensify their efforts to bring the communication messages closer to the local communities through below-theline executions. Through NCCC Cares Inc., the nonstock, non-profit organization of NCCC that advocates for different programs for family and community social development, the partnership will also help over 500 families in nearby high risk NCCC communities in Davao and Tagum with P&G donation of hygiene kits. The hygiene kits are 2-weeks worth of supply and are essential to enable more people to protect themselves from the virus. “As we face the New Normal, we wish to extend help to some of the affected communities in Mindanao at the same time, provide support to our local government in strengthening the BIDA Solusyon sa COVID-19 campaign through partnering with DOH and to the leading consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble Philippines,” said Lafayette Lim, NCCC Supermarket Chief Operating Officer.

Villar SIPAG turns coconut wastes into a viable source of income

HE coconut tree has long been considered as the "Tree of Life" and for good reasons. All the parts of the tree can sustain a human life—the coconut fruit as food, the coconut juice is better than water as it is very nutritious, the palms and trunks can be used to make shelter among many more. In short, it can supply man’s basic needs for survival. In fact, even the wastes from coconuts, such as its husks, are important in many people’s lives. Senator Cynthia Villar, through the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar SIPAG), has been turnning coconut wastes into a viable source of livelihood and income for many communities. “There are two-fold benefits in turning waste coconut husks into something useful, we got rid of garbage that used to litter our streets and clog our rivers and waterways. Secondly, we helped residents by providing them with livelihood and additional source of income. It’s a winwin for people and the environment,” said Villar who is chairperson of both the Senate Committees on Agriculture and the Environment. Villar SIPAG’s coconet weaving enterprises convert waste coconut husks into coconets, which are used as riprap materials in construction projects to prevent soil erosion. Vista Land buys the coconets for its housing subdivisions. The workers extract fiber and coco peat from the waste coconut husks using a decorticating machine, which can extract fiber from up to 8,000 husks of coconuts daily. The fibers are then made into twines by women workers. Each twine is eight meters long. Another group of workers weave the loom of twines and within two hours they can weave one roll measuring one meter by 50 meters that can earn for them 200 pesos. The coconets cost 2,000 pesos per roll. The coco peat or dusts extracted by the same machine

are mixed with household wastes to make organic fertilizers. All the fertilizers produced are distributed all over the country and given free to farmers and urban gardeners. These have become in demand during the pandemic when the popularity of growing one’s food and vegetable gardening dramatically increased. “One of my learnings as a social entrepreneur is that we really have to put a income component in our projects for them to be successful or sustainable. Otherwise, people will be hesitant or half-hearted to participate,” cited Villar. According to Villar, their coco wastes project at also demonstrates how technological innovation can improve people’s lives. In coconet-weaving, it’s the decorticating machine invented by Dr. Justino Arboleda that paved the way for the production of the coconets from waste coconut husks. “Dr. Arboleda’s invention has won awards. It is a good example of how a simple invention is now the source of livelihood of many families and has helped many cities get rid of wastes cause floods and pollute rivers and waterways,” said Villar. It was in fact the persistent flooding in her home city of Las Piñas that brought attention to the notorious role of coco wastes in the problem. Villar said when they took a closer look and studied what’s causing the floods, they discovered the culprit—waste coco husks, thrown away by itinerant buko (coconut) vendors. “ So we thought of controlling the wastes with the people’s cooperation. We designated areas where coconut vendors can bring or deposit waste coconut husks. Then we turned those as raw materials for coconet weaving enterprise that we put up,” the senator said. Besides the coconets, even the coco dust became a raw material mixed with household wastes to make organic fertilizer.

Indirectly, the coconet enterprise is also supporting farmers all over the country because they don’t have to buy fertilizer. It also boosts organic agriculture in the country. Incidentally, November is ‘Organic Agriculture Month’ by virtue of Proclamation No. 1030, which cites organic farming as an effective tool for development, environmental conservation, and protection of the health of farmers, consumers and the general public. Villar is an active proponent of organic agriculture. In fact, Villar-authored Organic Agriculture Bill has been passed in the Senate on June 1. Senate Bill No. 1318 will introduce the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), a more affordable and accessible certification system for organic products. It amends Republic Act No. 10068 (The Organic Agriculture Act of 2010) will provide the much-needed impetus to support the growth of organic agriculture in the country. Besides waste coconut husks, the raw materials used in Villar’s other livelihood projects are all from wastes. These are water hyacinths for the waterlily handicraft-weaving enterprise and the handmade paper factory; kitchen and garden wastes for the organic fertilizer composting facility; and plastic wastes for the waste plastic recycling factory that produces school chairs. The senator has set up over 3,000 livelihood projects nationwide. Villar believes that there should be greater private sector and public participation in the development waste management programs. Her projects are implemented by Villar SIPAG in partnerships with numerous government departments/agencies, private sector groups and companies. It has established barangay-based livelihood enterprises that are models of proper waste management and good examples of how garbage can be turned into useful end-products.

ULONG Kapatid, the corporate social responsibility alliance of foundations and companies under the MVP Group of Companies, reached out to over a hundred families affected by the typhoons in Mabini, Batangas. Spearheaded by Metro Pacific Investments Foundation (MPIF), members of the CSR alliance from One Meralco Foundation (OMF), Alagang Kapatid Foundation Inc (AKFI), and Maynilad, donated food and other necessities to boatmen, boatcrew, and their families who fell victim to both Typhoon Quinta and Typhoon Rolly. With the coordination of the Resort Owners Association of Mabini (ROAM) and its president Mr. Jake Calangi, MPIF donated 100 pails, each filled with over 5kgs of fresh vegetables, Maynilad provided 500 bottles of water, and OMF distributed 200 grocery packs. With the onslaught of both typhoons, several of their dive boats have either been severely damaged or completely wrecked, jeopardizing their means of providing for their families. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, where their livelihoods have

already been detrimentally affected, these boatmen have depended on aid and assistance from outside sectors. “Mabini is one of the first homes of our environmental flagship program, Shore It Up!. The work that these boatmen and their crew do continuously help further our cause to rescue, restore, and revive the marine biodiversity in the Philippines,” says MPIF President Melody del Rosario. “Now that they are faced with these challenges, Tulong Kapatid extends a helping hand and ensures them that we will provide as much support as we can to help them recover.” “The pandemic has not been easy for all of us, particularly those whose livelihoods have been affected by the quarantine,” says Mabini Boat Crew Association President Jun Ilagan. “With the help provided by Tulong Kapatid, we are hopeful that we will get through these difficult times together.” Tulong Kapatid is constantly spurring up its relief efforts to reach out to Filipinos affected by natural calamities during the lockdown. The group enjoins all that are capable to embody the value of bayanihan and encourage the Filipino spirit of resilience.

PH energy players gather for The Future Energy Show

HE Future Energy Show Philippines organized by global events company Terrapinn in partnership with host utility Meralco, launched live online, bringing together thousands of virtual participants to chart the future of energy in one of Southeast Asia’s most exciting markets. With the Philippines’ growing population and continued industrialization, the Department of Energy (DoE) has forecast the country’s demand for electricity in 2040 to reach over 40,000 megawatts (MW), which far exceeds existing dependable capacity of 22,736 MW. The Philippine Energy plan targets to increase installed renewable capacity to 20,000 MW by 2040, to help achieve the goal of reliable energy for all in the Philippines. This landscape, together with the government’s initiatives, present the rise of new opportunities in the Philippines’ energy sector. To showcase possibilities in the industry, the Future Energy Show Philippines gathered the energy sector ecosystem in the region to discuss industry strategies, trends, and key innovations to help local energy stakeholders in their work to achieve the growth of renewable energy. On the morning of November 16, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, Chairman -‐ Committee on Energy, shared his Guest-‐of-‐Honor Address on “Energy Policy & Development in the Philippines” and outline his vision for the future of energy policy in the Philippines. A keynote from Energy Regulatory Commission’s Sharon Montaner will

then follow, covering “Renewable Energy Regulatory Developments,” to share how policymakers are working to empower growth in renewable energy. That afternoon brought more keynote insights – with Meralco’s Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Raymond Ravelo outlining how Meralco and partners are working to drive sustainability across the energy industry. Other speakers include Upgrade Energy, Cleantech Global Renewables, Enervinci Philippines, MRC Allied Inc., and the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) discussing how The Philippines can achieve energy autonomy by driving renewable energy adoption across the country. Day 2 on November 17 featured more keynotes, including Renante Sevilla, Director III, Department of Energy sharing more about the Philippines’ energy labelling program and insights from Philippines Energy Efficiency Alliance (PE2), Energy Utilization and Management Bureau (EUMB), DOE, J.E. Access Ltd and more. The only virtual event dedicated to the future of energy in the country encompassed insights from over 80 expert speakers across five content channels: Solar Power, Energy Storage, Rural Electrification, Energy Efficiency and Grid Technology & T&D. The virtual exhibition hall and product directory allowed attendees to access world-‐ class energy technology and innovations – including solar modules, trackers, energy management systems, solar and energy efficient devices and more. Leading solar players including Trina Solar, Jinko Solar, Huawei, Risen Energy, Hyundai Energy, AE Solar and many more showcased their products and services. The Future Energy Show Philippines 2020 took place back-‐to-‐back with The Future Energy Show Vietnam on November 18-19. To learn more, visit the official website at www. terrapinn.com/futureenergyvirtual

Mondelēz International commits to support working flexibly in the new normal and beyond

HE coronavirus pandemic has caught everyone off guard. Millions of lives changed, and businesses were disrupted. This brought about the so-called “new normal” or learning to live with uncertainty. The most prominent challenge was learning to work from home. The response for Mondelēz International was to not only adapt to the “new normal,” but to commit to a way of working which would support its people’s productivity today, and in the future. For the snack company, flexible working means giving its people the choice to work from home, work at another remote location and or at their offices. In practice it means finding balance between professional and personal needs; like taking time for a personal commitment or errand during the day and logging in later to complete your tasks. The Company trusts its people to stay engaged and productive, no matter where they are physically working. The Flexible Working Pledge states that 1) Mondelēz International Trusts its people to work flexibly and productively, 2) The Company shows Empathy, encouraging belonging and connection and, 3) They are mindful of making space and taking time. “This pledge empowers our colleagues to work in a way that suits their overall life, not only their work life,” shares Glenn Caton, Mondelēz International Business Unit President for South East Asia. This Business Unit covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as the Company’s Exports

Business in the region. In the Philippines, the local team has similarly initiated efforts to support flexible working, as well as encourage its people to find the “Right You.” Since 2017 – and well before the pandemic, the Company had instituted a work-from-home policy for its people. “The Right You for us means encouraging our people to develop their right mind, right body and right purpose at work and in their lives,” shares Shiela Pangilinan, Mondelez Philippines’ People Lead. “Before the pandemic this meant having face-to-face workout sessions and seminars on wellbeing at the office. These days this means having virtual yoga classes, online recycling workshops and even video ergonomics seminars to support working at home. In tune with the times, we’re also providing free professional consultations for colleagues who may have challenges or want to better their mental health.”

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Wednesday, November 18, 2020 B7

Menarco Tower awarded as cleanest building in Southeast Asia By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

@brownindio

HE Jimenez family-controlled Menarco Tower recently achieved a milestone when it recently bagged the Well Health Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). Moreover, it became more significant as Menarco Tower was cited as the first building in Southeast Asia to be given such distinction. R achel Gutter, IWBI president, commended the Jimenez family led by Menardo Jimenez Sr. for its achievement and being committed to support people’s health, safety and well-being. “The latest achievement by Menarco gives the sense of reassurance to the project team, employees and stakeholders that the measures they took have been mapped to scientific evidence and verified through an internationally trusted third-party review process,” Gutter said. The 32-story Menarco Tower achieved the rating by implementing features across five categories, including cleaning and sanitization procedures; emergency preparedness programs that include

plans for both staff and visitors, as well as plans for re-entry after an emergency event; health service resources such as providing access to sick leave and mental health recovery; air and water quality management; and stakeholder engagement and communications resources to promote health and wellness. Menarco was one of the more than 100 global early adopters in July to enroll in the documentation-based WELL Health-Safety Rating and implement its sciencebacked guidance. The evaluation is an evidence-based, third-party verified assessment for all new and existing building and space types focused on operational policies, maintenance protocols, emergency plans and stakeholder engagement

Menarco Tower’s communal area features natural wood and light palette, to create a sense of serenity.

strategies to help organizations get back to business. “Together with IWBI, Menarco continues to be a leader in the healthy building initiative in Southeast Asia,” said Carmen Jimenez-Ong, founder and CEO of Menarco Development Corp. She added, Menarco confidently handled the Covid-19 pandemic despite rising cases in the Philippines. “We know that with our WELL Health-Safety Rating, we are locally executing international best practices, and it makes me happy to share that during this crucial season, Menarco Tower helps keep people safe and well.” IWBI recently launched the activity to assist the moves of large

Why city-living in Metro Cavite is the right investment rently developing the first phase of its resortinspired and master-planned development. Given this, the development thoughtfully offers ready-for-occupancy units for investors who are eager to experience city-living in Cavite. They also have the opportunity to purchase it at its introductory value that is very easy on the pocket. The Meridian is comprised of mid-rise buildings featuring spacious studio and bedroom units that can fit any home-dweller requirements. Modern urban dwellers and early and full nesters are given the right amount of choices that they could choose from as their next home in this city.

Why The Meridian is a cut above the rest The Meridian

HE mere thought of taking a long drive to work and braving the traffic congestion going back home is already exhausting. Then realizing that you still have deadlines to beat, peers to meet, and errands to perform make it all the more terrifying. All of these could get easier if you choose to live closer to your workplace and welcome each day with a breeze by choosing city-living in Cavite.

Expansion of new infrastructure developments

According to a study by online property portal Lamudi.com.ph, the continuous emergence and expansion of new infrastructure developments have led 80 percent of property seekers to consider leaving Metro Manila and to nearby cities. Among these next-wave hubs for real-estate developments is Metro Cavite that is well-connected to the prime southern edge of Metro Manila where the progressive Entertainment City at the Bay Area is located.

Connected city-living in Bacoor

Today, Bacoor City acts as the gateway in Cavite where improved accessibility to southern Metro Manila makes it a top choice as your bedroom community. The city is easily con-

nected to prime central business districts and commercial hubs through key infrastructure developments such as the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) and the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX). Apart from these, another infrastructure that will further enhance accessibility and catalyze urbanization is the upcoming LRT Line 1 Extension—Niog Station. It is projected to partially operate by the first half of 2021.

Modern and exclusive living with The Meridian COHO

Destined to be a prime location, residents and discerning investors are now offered improved city-living in Cavite. Surrounded by the city’s major road networks—Aguinaldo Highway, Daang Hari Extension, Bacoor Boulevard, and Molino Road, this prime and exclusive condominium development sits at the heart of the booming City of Transformation. The Meridian is COHO’s posh development in Cavite that welcomes young professionals, early nesters, and full nesters who are eager to find condos for sale in the fringes of Metro Manila. The Meridian is located along Palico Diversion Road, a few meters away from the highly commercialized Aguinaldo Highway. It is cur-

What makes a competitive premium condo investment stand out is how a development is being projected and positioned in the realestate industry. The Meridian has an impressive track record in terms of capital value appreciation. Launched in 2018 at P2.3 million (P76,000 per sq m) per one-bedroom unit, The Meridian has since appreciated by a whopping 113 percent to its current market value of P4.9 million (P163,000 per sq m). That’s a gain of P2.6 million in capital value in just a span of two years. Envisioned to be the biggest development among all COHO projects nationwide, The Meridian’s dynamic ambiance and strategic locations of neighboring prestigious developments can essentially foster a holistic lifestyle balance that is gift-wrapped for young professionals, starting families and discerning, investors looking to constantly thrive in urban transition. Most especially today, The Meridian readily adapts to become the future of recession-proof developments in the new normal. So if you are weighing your options for realestate investments, The Meridian might just be your best choice. With city-living in Cavite made convenient, accessible, and enjoyable, many more investors will be attracted to get a piece of a premium condo investment in Metro Cavite. Visit www.coho.com.ph.

Menarco Tower is equipped with MERV 13 filters that ensure the air circulation inside is free of contaminants.

and small businesses alike in introducing measures to prioritize the health and safety of their staff, visitors and stakeholders. Gutter pointed out IWBI designed a road map for WELL-registered and WELL Certified projects to pursue the WELL Health-Safety Rating by effectively leveraging the synergies between the two programs. Created by IWBI, the WELL Health-Safety Rating is using standards developed by the World Hea lth Organization ( W HO), United States-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), global disease control and prevention centers and emergency management agencies, recognized

standard-making bodies, such as ASTM International and ASHRAE, and leading academic and research institutions. Furthermore, the IWBI has leveraged insights from its Task Force on Covid-19, tackled early on the challenges posed by the pandemic to help business and building leaders integrate actionable insights and proven strategies in the fight against the pandemic and other respiratory infections. Owners, operators and tenants can pursue the WELL Health-Safety Rating for projects independently, seamlessly using the rating as a stepping stone to achievement of WELL Certification, or integrate the rating as a milestone within

their WELL Certification or WELL Portfolio journey. The IWBI is leading the global movement to transform buildings, communities and organizations in ways that help people thrive. Established in 2014 by the Jimenez family led by Menardo Jimenez Sr., and founded by Carmen Jimenez-Ong, Menarco Development Corp. (Menarco) established the Menarco Tower, a multiawarded, 32-story, corporate office landmark, which was completed in 2017. It is considered the healthiest building in Southeast Asia, and also for being the first and only WELL Certified Gold building in the region.

community

ove Plus Charity Foundation L community outreach program

OVE Plus Charity Foundation held its most recent community outreach program, gives back by helping Filipinos in need during the pandemic on October 28 at Brgy. Punta, Parañaque City with Cofounder William Chen and Miss Philippines Earth 2019 Janelle Tee to provide aid to the families who were greatly affected by the pandemic. Love Plus Charity Foundation, an organization founded by Chinese national, Hu Sun, started to provide aid in their own little ways by means of food delivery for frontliners on different checkpoints, across several cities back in March when the government imposed city lockdowns in the country. W hen the Chinese Medical Team first arrived in the country

Love Plus Charity Foundation Team

to provide their expertise in combatting the deadly virus, Love Plus Charity Foundation spearheaded the translation between them and local health-care officials to make sure no message is lost during translation. With over 50 individuals going hand in hand to donate food, medical equipment, and other necessary items to combat the coronavirus, Love Plus Charity Foundation doubled their efforts especially on the months of April and May when they visited major hospitals in NCR, including Lung Center of the Philippines, RITM, Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, Bulacan Medical Center and so much more. Love Plus Charity Foundation was also one of the first organizations to provide aid in terms of basic necessities such as

food and water when the Pandacan Church caught fire back in July. As of August 1, 2020, a combination of 487 Chinese organizations and individuals have donated to Love Plus Charity Foundation, garnering a total of P6,000,000 in cash; 3,144 boxes of surgical masks; 1,340 sets of PPE; 2,000 sets of rapid test kits; baby essentials like formula milk and diaper; in addition to food donations such as rice, bread, instant noodles, canned goods, fruits and vegetables, enough to feed an entire community. Love Plus Charity Foundation will continue its mission to provide aid for Filipinos across the country. The organization hopes that despite the effects of the pandemic, humanity will still find the strength to recover. Reni Salvador

Sports

Expect fireworks at TNT-Phoenix Semifinals duel

BusinessMirror

IMINUTIVE Joenard Rates emerged the surprise package in the Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) restart in the new normal, firing a three-under 69 to hold off a late-charging Ira Alido in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Riviera Invitational Challenge at the Couples course in Silang, Cavite, on Tuesday. Rates brandished a near-impeccable short game to buck the heat and the wind—and the changes that marked the return of pro golf after an eight-month hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic—including playing without a caddie and wearing face mask when not launching a shot or stroke. “It’s tough. But we have to get used to it since it’s the new normal,” said Rates, who bucked an early bogey mishap off an errant drive on No. 4 with four birdies, including three (Nos. 4, 7 and 16) from close range set up by superb wedge shots. “I’ve been practicing and honing my short game during the long break. Physically, I’m also prepared playing without a caddie although I did opt for a conservative game since it would only add to my concerns if I hit wayward shots if I go on an attack mode,” said Rates. Alido, who has had close stabs at a breakthrough win last season, broke a run of pars and overcame a bogey on No. 12 with three birdies in the last six holes as he carded a 70 to get past the fancied tandem of Miguel Tabuena and Tony Lascuña and obscure Rico

| Wednesday, November 18, 2020 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

By Josef Ramos

RATES, SUPERAL SET PACE JOENARD RATES shoots a threeunder 69 to set the pace in the Philippine Golf Tour’s return.

Depilo, who all turned in 71s. While Rates’s early surge surprised many, Princess Superal dominated the Ladies PGT resumption as expected as the reigning Order of Merit winner unleashed a strong start and a stronger finish to open a huge six-shot lead with a five-under 67. The multi-titled Superal eagled the par-5 No. 2, added two birdies on Nos. 6 and 8 then checked a two-bogey, one-birdie game at the back with back-to-back closing birdies for a 3235 round. Rookie pro Abby Arevalo also put up a fiery start of three birdies in the first six holes but the runaway winner of the 2020 Philippine Ladies Open lost her momentum and touch and made four bogeys in the next 10 holes and ended up with a 73 in a tie with former Junior World champ Daniella Uy. Pauline del Rosario, who reigned supreme in the LPGT in her rookie season in 2018, hardly recovered

from a double-bogey start, hitting three birdies but fumbling with the same number of bogeys to lay seven strokes behind at 74. Chanelle Avaricio, another rookie pro, eagled the 16th but had four bogeys and a double bogey to tie Chihiro Ikeda at 76 while Marvi Monsalve and four-time LPGT OOM winner Cyna Rodriguez submitted 78 and 79, respectively, and were too far off Superal in the 54-hole championship. On a course suited for the long hitters, the 5-foot-3 Rates’s 280-yard norm off the tee proved just enough to measure him up with majority of the rest and put him in the early lead of the P2 million event, one of the two “bubble” tournaments put up by ICTSI to mark the resumption of the pro circuit late in the season under strict health and safety protocols. “It’s still too early to say [about my chances] but

BAMBOL TO FOES: LET’S BE PRUDENT R EP. ABRAHAM “BAMBOL” TOLENTINO has taken a prudent path over unsportsmanlike and malicious methods as he seeks reelection for a full four-year team as Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president “I, being a longtime legislator and public servant, my accomplishments in public service has been my best form of political campaign,”Tolentino said in a letter addressed to his fellow POC members on Tuesday. “I will not do falsehood in order to win and will remain the same even in the POC elections.”

NT Tropang Giga and Phoenix Super LPG begin their Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup semifinals duel on Wednesday with the teams’ coaches hoping the Bobby Ray Parks Jr.-Calvin Abueva rivalry be limited to what they want it to be—a mere backdrop. Parks and Abueva aren’t exactly friends, not even close to that. Last season, Abueva engaged Parks’s girlfriend— when he was still with Blackwater—in an exchange of foul words, one of the two reasons why the former San Sebastian College star was banned indefinitely by the league. That spat continue to create friction between the two players that TNT Head Coach Ferdinand “Bong” Ravena and Phoenix tactician Michael Christopher “Topex” Robinson asked them to focus on the game at hand. “We’ve been telling Ray to focus on his game and he knows what to do,” Ravena told

“It came as a surprise to me that Atty. Clint Aranas and his cohorts are now resorting to ungentlemanly tactics just to win the POC elections,” Tolentino, also the cycling head, said. “I consider these actions as unsportsmanlike, foul, malicious and below-the-belt.” TOLENTINO Aranas and his group sought for the disqualification of Tolentino and his candidate for chairman Tom Carrasco (triathlon), treasurer

Cynthia Carrion (gymnastics) and board members Dr. Raul Canlas (surfing) and Dave Carter (judo). Aranas’s protest filed with the POC’s elections committee alleged that Tolentino, Carrasco and Carrion received allowances from the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee last year, Canlas has been the president of his association for only two years and not the prescribed four years

I’m in a good position. I just have to stay focused and have a good rest,” said Rates, who actually nailed a big win, his second, in 2018, battling back from six down in regulation and edging Finland’s Janne Kaske in the second playoff hole to snare the PGT Asia Summit Point crown in Lipa City, Batangas. Dutch Guido Van der Valk, who bested the local aces to clinch The Country Club Invitational title before the pandemic outbreak last March, parred his way to joint sixth at 72 with Jay Bayron, Albin Engino, Raymund Gonzales and Rupert Zaragosa while Angelo Que blew a hot start with a faltering finish, dropping to joint 11th at 73 with Jhonnel Ababa, Michael Bibat, Justin Quiban and American Lexus Keoninh. and Carter’s federation having issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tolentino stressed national sports associations (NSAs) supportive of Aranas, his lone opponent for the presidency, are potentially ineligible to vote in the November 27 elections but opted to give everyone the chance to exercise his right in the POC “I have gone over the different NSA’s and found some of them to have questionable qualifications to run in any position for this election. I was [suggested] to file a protest and even to have those NSA’s declared non-qualified,” he said. “However, I decided not to do that because I would like all the NSAs to be heard and be duly represented to cast their votes.” “I have been in all stages of political preparations for elections and I have never smeared any name or suggest any damaging remarks against my opponents. In that aspect, I also win my opponents’ respect,” he added. Tolentino stressed in the letter that sorting to character assassination and black propaganda “is not on my list of political arsenal.” “I am therefore pleading for my opponents to be prudent to preserve the spirit of Olympism and sportsmanship. Let us all deal with qualifications only,” he added. Lawyers, please act like lawyers and stick to the issues. You need not draft your papers that will induce your client to magnify matters that are out of the issue at hand.” Tolentino said he believes the members of our Election committee are lawyers of high repute. “I put all my trust on them, they know the rules more than I do,” he said. The election committee is chaired by Atty. Teodoro Kalaw IV with former International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative to the Philippines Frank Elizalde and University of the Philippines President Danilo Concepcion as members. There are 54 voters in the POC elections—51 NSAs, Athletes Commission representatives Hidilyn Diaz and Jhessie Lacuna and IOC representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski.

PARKS

BusinessMirror on Tuesday. “It’s the team that matters. We are focusing on the game and the series, and not anyone else’s rivalry. The game is absolutely more than that.” Parks averaged 20.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists for TNT in the eliminations. Ravena acknowledged Phoenix was rejuvenated with Abueva’s return. “Their [Phoenix] energy is really unbelievable now after Abueva’s return. We have to match Phoenix’s intensity and energy—that’s the key. But we have to look also with their other players like Matthew Wright and not only on Abueva,” Ravena said. Robinson, who is in his first-ever PBA semifinals appearance as head coach, said there’s no such thing as “personal rivalry” heading into the series opener set at 3:45 p.m. at the Angeles University Foundation Gym. “It’s never been Calvin [Abueva] and Ray Parks. Our focus is how to improve and there’s no personal vendetta here,” Robinson said. “If it’s personal, it will never work for us coming to this series so we are not going to war with TNT. Our goal is to improve each game.” Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Coach Tim Cone, meanwhile, expressed wariness of his fourth encounter with Meralco when they kick off their own best-of-five semifinals also on Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. “What is this, Round 4 against Meralco? And it is getting harder and harder because they continue to grow and get better,” Cone said in a texted message. “This will be their toughest version yet with [Raymond] Almazan and the maturity of their young core—plus the wily veteran Hugnatan.”

PVL laying groundwork for return as pro league

HE Philippine Volleyball League (PVL) is preparing the blueprint for its inaugural tournament as a professional league. PVL President Ricky Palou told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum that they are looking at staging the AllFilipino Conference in February or March next year. Palou said they are considering a bubble tournament for the eight or nine teams in the roster either at the Inspire Sports Academy Calamba or Trace College in Los Baños both in Laguna. Palou, who graced the weekly forum with superstar Alyssa Valdez, said they would pattern the bubble after the Philippine Basketball Association, which is staging the Philippine Cup in Clark, Pampanga. “The cost will be high but not as much as the PBA,” said Palou, adding while the country’s No. 1 basketball league is working on a budget of P65 million while the PVL is looking at P20 million. “We are waiting for the quotations. Nothing is final yet,” Palou told the forum powered by Smart and presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. with Upstream

Media as the official webcast partner. Valdez welcomed the PVL’s decision to turn professional and viewed it as a challenge. “There’s added pressure. But at the end of the day there will be the extra push that we are now called professionals,” she said while expressing her excitement over the return of the sport under the new normal. “We the players are excited to resume practice and eventually playing soon. It’s been a while since we played volleyball,” said Valdez. Aside from Creamline, the other teams in the fold are Choco Mucho, Motolite, Petro Gazz, BanKoPerlas, Chef’s Classic, Bali Pure, Air Force and Army. Palou said the PVL will work on a six-week schedule and could play games on a daily basis to cut on cost. He said what’s good about the venues they have in mind is the presence of a standard court. “Everything is there. No need to travel in and out just to get to the playing venue unlike what the PBA is doing. I think that is safer,” Palou said. The PVL is the first professional volleyball league in the country following the approval of its application with the Games and Amusements Board headed by Abraham Mitra.

PHILIPPINE Volleyball League President Ricky Palou and superstar Alyssa Valdez are looking forward to the league’s return.

Johnson choker no more THAT’S ALL AL MENDOZA | alsol47@yahoo.com

DUSTIN JOHNSON won the Masters on Monday because he stopped being a choker. Four times he was that, bungling 54-hole leads with weird last-round collapses. All majors. It happened through an assortment of bizarre reasons. He led by three with 18 holes left in the 2010 US Open and lost. He was on his way to winning the 2010 PGA when he ran afoul with rules, grounding his club on a bunker. He three-putted the 18th to miss a playoff in the 2015 US Open. Just three months ago, he held his fourth 54hole lead but lost it again—in the 2020 PGA. With his Masters victory this week, Johnson would have had six majors now, adding his US Open win in 2016. He would have been nine off the haul of Tiger Woods, whose fifth Masters victory last year was his 15th overall—three shy behind Jack Nicklaus’ all-time best of 18. You know who placed second behind Woods in the Masters last year? Dustin Johnson. Three years before in 2017, Johnson won three tournaments in a row heading to the Masters. But one day before the Masters teed off, Johnson fell down on the stairs of his rented

ABUEVA

home, hurting his back. There was nobody to blame but Johnson: He was wearing socks. Three years later, Johnson, 36, was a changed man. One big change was he got his brother, Austin, to carry his bag. But the Masters still seemed to cajole Johnson. Last month, he was Covid-19 positive. He recovered in the nick of time. Holding a four-shot lead going to the last round of this year’s Masters, Johnson’s demons started showing up again early in the day. Playing without a bogey in his first 57 holes, Johnson found the bunkers on 4 and 5 for bogeys to see his lead down to a precarious one over South Korean Sungjae Im. If there’s one game that tells us nothing but the truth, that’s golf. It makes ourselves our own enemy or friend. Like, when danger lurks, the game tells us either to sink or swim. Johnson chose to swim. And how he swam. Facing his next hole—the par-3 6th, a 180yard downhill, Johnson pulled out an 8-iron and planted it 6 feet right of the pin. With his first birdie of the day—and Im bogeying the hole—Johnson’s blowout win took shape as he would next go on a demondemolishing mode, birdieing the 8th and the remaining three par-5s. Plus the 14th, too.

Unmindful of his opponents’ scores—or even his—Johnson, when he landed safely on the 18th and final fairway, asked Austin: “Where do I stand?” “I told him he had a five-shot lead,” Austin said. “I think I can handle this one,” Johnson said. He did, proceeding to win by a record 20 under par 268 on 65-70-65-68, breaking Woods’s mark of 18 under in Tiger’s first Masters triumph in 1997. After completing his routine par on 18, Johnson was embraced and kissed by the tearyeyed Pauline Gretzky, his partner and the mother of their two kids. Pauline is the daughter of hockey legend Wayne “The Great One.” Suddenly, the bearded Johnson, he with the languid, cat-like walk, finds himself as among the golf giants. His 5-shot victory over Cameron Smith and Im was the most since Woods’s 12-stroke win in 1997. Likewise, Johnson’s four bogeys in 72 holes was better by one in the Masters 84-year history. And, in victory, Johnson did not only win $2 million but also end 14 seasons of being tagged a choker. In golf, indeed, winners, mostly, are products of failures. THAT’S IT After playing 23,789 holes as a pro, Tiger Woods made his first septuple bogey 10 on the par-3 12th in the last round of the just-ended Masters. The 12th of Augusta National is the shortest but most treacherous, with the sloping green guarded in front by a pond and bunkers at the back. But despite that tragedy—him going thrice to Rae’s Creek and once to the sandtrap— Woods fought back with a birdie-par-birdiebirdie-birdie-birdie finish in his last six holes for 76 and 1 under 277 for 38th place. Such a fightback is a typical Tiger trademark. Idol pa rin.