BusinessMirror November 26, 2022

A broader look at today’s business

‘IN TIME OF PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR’

‘DAGIT-PA’: A learning experience on combat readiness for AFP

By Rex Anthony Naval

In a nutshell, this means the more allied land, air and naval units train in peace time, the more efficient and coherent this force can be if called to action to protect the country’s security interests.

The just concluded “DAGITPA” exercises of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is deemed one such way to keep Filipino mili tary personnel sharp and updated in their battlefield tactics and modern weaponry. Such exercises are starting to become a common sight with the ongoing moderniza tion program jumpstarted by the Aquino administration and contin ued with some adjustments by its successor Duterte government.

DAGIT-PA stands for DagatLangit-Lupa, which focuses on enhancing the readiness of the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force in joint and combined operations that mirror a realworld scenario.

Multidimensional

ON its sixth iteration, this year’s DAGIT-PA started from November 7 to 18, gave opportunity to par ticipating units to conduct staff exercise and cyber defense exercise in the Puerto Princesa, Palawanbased Western Command; and field training exercises, namely air defense operations, counter-air operations, maritime security op erations, amphibious operations, combined arms and littoral livefire exercise and unconventional warfare and counter-terrorism op erations in the province, while var ious tabletop exercises were held at the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“ The execution of the joint ex ercises has effectively upskilled the men and women of the AFP and up graded organizational capabilities. Clearly, DAGIT-PA 06-2022 has en

hanced the One AFP Team concept through improved interoperability and readiness for deployment in the joint operational environment at any given time,” AFP chief-ofstaff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro said in a speech during the DAGIT-PA closing ceremonies held on November 18.

Brand-new assets

SOME 1,500 troops participated in these maneuvers and brandnew assets used in the DAGIT-PA included the newly acquired and second missile frigate of the Navy, BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151), the landing dock BRP Tarlac (LD-601), two FA-50PH light jet fighters and two A-29 “Super Tucano” close-air support aircraft, to name a few.

Meanwhile, “DAGIT-PA” exer cise director, and AFP Education Training and Doctrine Command chief Brig. Gen. Marvin Licudine, said the two-week unilateral exer cise was a success and attained its objectives.

From the planning and co ordination to the execution,

the AJEX [AFP Joint Exercises] DAGIT-PA 2022 was a success and has attained its objectives. Our AFP has enhanced the conduct of crisis planning and joint military operations in territorial defense of the different mission areas,” he noted.

During the field training and staff exercises, key units were able to identify needed military hard ware and capabilities that will form part of the military’s mod ernization program.

W hile it would not be pos sible to get detailed after actions of these various exercises, it would be safe to say that the AFP and its major service commands did not do too badly to integrate their op erations together using their newly acquired naval and air assets.

Advanced weaponry

THE most telling of all the exercis es held in the DAGIT-PA is the dem onstration of BRP Antonio Luna’s advanced weapons and sensor ca pabilities during naval shore bom bardment and air defense drills.

Some 10 years ago, such feats would have not been possible as the AFP, especially the Navy as bulk of its assets consists of aging World War II ships, not fit for operations, much more combat, in today’s era of radar-guided missiles and highly accurate and fast-firing automatic cannons.

The BRP Antonio Luna simu lated the firing of its Oto Melara 76mm Super Rapid Multi-Feed ing (SRMF) Gun during a “Naval Surface Fire Support” (NSFS) at Brooke’s Point, Palawan, last week.

Prior to this event, a series of lectures and conferences was con ducted with the Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT-6) to proper ly execute this serial,” a post on the BRP Antonio Luna’s Facebook page said on November 22.

N SFS is defined as bombard ment that aligns with the seizure of the objective by destroying or neutralizing defenses that op

pose the landing and troop ad vancement.

Big naval guns

“IN advantage, the rapid loading abil ity of naval guns such as the 76mm SRMF makes it possible to deliver a large volume of fire in a short period of time and their small dispersion and deflections make them effective and valuable for close support fire of troops,” it added.

Earlier in August, BRP Antonio Luna won third place in the NSFS Ro deo competition in this year’s Rim of the Pacific exercise, besting 14 other vessels from various allied navies. Aside from the NSFS, BRP Antonio Luna also successfully participated in simulating the detection and en gagement of air contacts.

The BRP Antonio Luna and its sister ship, BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), are equipped with MBDA Mistral 3 surface-to-air missiles.

DAGIT-PA exercise thru ADEX [air defense exercise] has provided the ship’s crew a learning experience in the dynamics of air threats and further test their read iness to respond in a real-time sce nario,” the Facebook post added.

A nd with more modern assets coming for the AFP in the coming years, expect future DAGIT-PAs to be more platform- and technologyintensive.

ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES

‘THE more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war,” United States Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the author of the Allied victory in the 1st Gulf War, was reported to have said.

“The

execution of the joint exercises has effectively upskilled the men and women of the AFP and upgraded organizational capabilities. Clearly, DAGIT-PA 06-2022 has enhanced the One AFP Team concept through improved interoperability and readiness for deployment in the joint operational environment at any given time.”—AFP

Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro AP/AARON FAVILA

ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES

Anwar faces many pitfalls after finally becoming Malaysia’s PM

By Anisah Shukry, Anuradha and Philip J. Heijmans Bloomberg News

Th at won’t be easy in a coun try that’s now had four prime ministers in four years. Former finance chief Anwar is likely to control an unstable majority and his administration looks set to include his long-time nemesis, the graft-tainted United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). That may prove an obstacle to policy making and could easily bring his government down.

A nwar, 75, will also have to steer an economy that’s on the most fragile of rebounds at a time of surging inflation and living costs. He will also face pressure from an opposition dominated by an increasingly popular hardline Islamic party.

Th e elections have opened up “multiple religious and racial faultlines” across the political landscape, said Tan Teng Boo, chief executive officer and man aging director of Capital Dynam ics Asset Management Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur. Anwar’s biggest task will be to “ensure that these faultlines don’t erupt.”

Here are some of the challeng es that Anwar and his government

will confront in the months ahead:

Power sharing

THE first test will be who gets what in Anwar’s new government under a power-sharing formula. Anwar will have to appease the majority Malays and UMNO while keeping traditional coalition allies happy. That could see a bloated Cabinet as he seeks to ensure that the differ ent parties each have roles.

Malaysia’s new Cabinet should not be too big like the pre vious Cabinet,” said Awang Azman Awang Pawi, an associate professor with the Academy of Malay Studies at Universiti Malaya. “Anwar needs an efficient and trusted Cabinet.”

Pakatan Harapan, Anwar’s coalition, mentioned two deputy prime ministers in its manifesto, including one from the underde veloped but resource-rich states of Borneo. An UMNO leader such as Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the for mer prime minister, or ex-Defense Minister Hishamuddin Hussein might also be put forward as a dep uty premier to help keep the party within Anwar’s government.

The center-left Democratic Ac

tion Party (DAP), which holds the largest number of lawmakers in Anwar’s bloc and has the support of minorities, may take a back seat on Cabinet deliberations to ensure unity and to counter the polariz ing narrative that it’s anti-Malay.

During its short time in federal government, DAP controlled the finance and transport portfolios.

Uneasy UMNO

UMNO, linchpin of former rul ing bloc Barisan Nasional (BN), is beset by infighting and there’s a push to remove its chief, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who’s also the Bari san boss. The politician pushed for snap polls that saw BN lose signifi cant ground in Malay-dominated regions and was instrumental in pushing for the coalition to be part of Anwar’s government.

UMNO will hold its general assembly on December 21, which may see Zahid lose his job, a devel opment that would create turmoil for Anwar. Zahid’s potential re placements may not be as willing to work with Anwar’s coalition.

Keeping UMNO in govern ment will also depend on the kind of Cabinet posts and policy-mak ing input that Anwar offers its leadership.

Anti-corruption push

WHEN he was previously in gov ernment, Anwar’s multiracial coalition cracked down on insti tutional corruption, going after UMNO leaders. It orchestrated in vestigations into the troubled state fund 1MDB, which led to former premier Najib Razak starting a 12year prison term for his involve ment this year.

With UMNO likely to be in cluded in the new administration, it will probably push for a royal pardon for Najib, which could an ger Anwar voters and allies. Any exoneration of UMNO Chief Za hid, who faces corruption charges associated with his foundation, would pose the same problems.

A nd if Zahid does go to jail, he’s likely to be replaced by a leader

who might not want to work with Anwar.

Compromising on reforms

ANWAR may have to compromise on his coalition’s manifesto and pledges for reform as he seeks to maintain his unity government.

While he won’t face hurdles in car rying out welfare-oriented prom ises—which sound similar to those of his rivals—a pledge to eliminate racial and religious discrimination may not go down so well.

The majority Malays and in digenous communities enjoy a “special position” per the consti tution, which has translated into government policies that give pref erential treatment in areas such as public-sector jobs, housing and higher education.

In 2018, Pakatan Harapan had to backtrack on a decision to ratify a key United Nations antidiscrimination treaty after opposi tion from UMNO and an Islamist party, raising concerns at the time that its momentum was stalling.

Fragile economy

MALAYSIA’S economy is set to ex pand at a slower pace of 4 percent to 5 percent in 2023, compared with more than 7 percent this year, while economists expect the cen tral bank to continue to raise inter est rates in a bid to tame inflation. That could prompt Anwar to take an increasingly populist stance and adopt UMNO’s more generous promises of cash aid to help the country’s poorest.

There’s a recognition that the focal point needs to be on the econ omy and the social fabric,” said Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate with the University of Nottingham Asia Research Insti tute Malaysia. There will be “more attention to the social safety net

and to the vulnerabilities of differ ent communities.”

UMNO pledged to ensure ev ery household earned more than 2,200 ringgit ($490) a month, meaning the government would top up incomes to ensure that they reached that threshold. If Anwar’s government takes such measures, it may delay its fiscal consolidation plan and earn the ire of credit rat ing firms.

The new administration will have to table a 2023 budget soon and that could well be the first test of confidence. It remains unclear if Anwar’s administration will make significant tweaks to the spending plan presented in October.

Countering Islamists

PARTI Islam Se-Malaysia, or PAS, won the most seats in the election, taking Malay support from UMNO while positioning itself as scandalfree and focused on bolstering the Muslim faith.

A s the biggest opposition party, PAS is likely to campaign to limit the open sale of alcohol in Malaysia and to close gambling outlets. This could put pressure on Anwar’s moderate agenda and force his administration to offer more religious policies in education and the civil service, a strategy used by former leader Mahathir Mohamad in the 1990s.

PAS’s long-stated objective has been to turn Malaysia into an Islamic state. For years, it has pres sured the federal government to allow it to implement strict Islamic laws in the eastern states of Kelan tan and Terengganu. With the most number of seats in parliament, PAS could band together with former premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s party and even pressure some UMNO lawmakers to make an attempt to seize power again.

ANWAR IBRAHIM, the almost man of Malaysian politics, finally clinched the country’s premiership after decades of waiting. Now, the reformist leader must make sure that he keeps the job.

ANWAR IBRAHIM , Malaysia’s opposition leader, during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, November 21, 2022. BLOOMBERG

ISMAIL SABRI YAAKOB, Malaysia’s prime minister, waves as he prepares to leave a campaign rally in Bera, Pahang, Malaysia, on Friday, November 11, 2022. BLOOMBERG

drafts

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has announced that its geographical indication rules are now in effect, which signals the “strengthened” protection and promotion of local products.

“After nearly 20 years of research and multi-stakeholder consultations, the Philippines is finally putting in place a sui generis system to protect geographical indications (GIs),” IPOPHL said in a news statement issued on Friday.

IPOPHL said this c omes after the publication of the GI Rules and Regulations, which was approved by IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba and prepared by the Bureau of Trademarks (BOT).

According to the agency, the new rules define GI as “any indication, which identifies a good (or particular product) as originating from a territory, region or locality, where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographical origin and/or human factors.”

Meanwhile, the agency said sui generis regime means local products which meet the criteria for GI protection will now have a separate registration system due to the “unique” ways needed to “effectively” protect them and fulfill the vision of the 1997 Intellectual Property (IP) Code in using IP for development.

A ccording to BOT Director Jesus Antonio Z. Ros, the GI regulations are expected to benefit most the agricultural and handicraft sectors and promote the traditional and indigenous Philippine products.

“S ui generis GI registration in the country will accelerate, among many others, efforts to preserve our cultural heritage and identity,” Ros said.

Some of the world-famous GIs, IPOPHL noted, include Champagne of France, Kampot Pepper of Cambodia and Darjeeling Tea of India.

A ccording to Barba, the GI regulations mark a “breakthrough” for the Philippines as the country, unlike most Asean members, has been missing out on the economic and cultural opportunities that GI can offer.

“The GI regulations are part of our continued commitment to the Filipino people, to protect and promote the hard work, passion and creativity that they put into these local agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, and other valuable IP products that are catalysts for our country’s economic development and global prestige,” Barba said during last week’s event.

“ We are now assured of stronger protection and greater value-add to world-class products that make us proud as Filipinos,” Barba added.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) also underscored the role of the new GI regime in driving inclusive growth and promoting culture.

“ GIs are important means to create jobs, attract investments, draw business and support local communities in rural areas who might otherwise get left behind,” Philipp Dupuis, Head of the Economic and Trade Section of the EU Delegation in the Philippines, said, adding that a “solid legal

system for the protection of GIs [will also put] real value to the cultural heritage and traditional know-how” of the country.

“In this area, the Philippines—with its rich diversity and tradition—excels, and has a lot to offer,” Dupuis said.

Dupuis noted that the GI sector contributes significantly to the EU economy, making up about 50 percent of the total food and drink exports alone.

F or her part, Amparo C. Ampil, Chief of the Department of Agriculture’s Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Policy Division, expressed the agency’s continued support for IPOPHL’s initiative to protect local and traditional products.

T he United States Department of Agriculture, Embassy of Switzerland in the Philippines and Italian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines also assured their support in the implementation of the country’s new GI system.

IPOPHL said its Bur eau of Trademarks would serve as the primary implementing body of the GI regulations, including the search and examination of applications and the issuance of registration certificates.

IPOPHL stressed that unlike trademarks where an application is filed by an individual or a single entity, GIs must be registered under an association of producers that are directly involved in the production, engaged in the trade of goods, and/or are in charge of regulating or protecting GIs.

A ccording to IPOPHL, a government agency or local government unit may also be a GI registrant provided that the origin of the goods is within its area of responsibility.

As for the terms on regulations, IPOPHL said the regulations further indicate that the term of GI protection is indefinite without the need to renew.

T he agency noted, however, that the registration can be revoked based on the following grounds: the conditions for protection have not been fulfilled; there has been a change in the geographical origin of the goods including the natural and human factors; a court or tribunal rules out that the identified producer has no effective control over the use of the GI, standards of production of the goods and other product specifications;

Other grounds that could get the registration revoked would be: the registration of the GI was obtained through false statements and documents during the course of the application; and the registered or protected GI has been proven to be generic for, or a common or customary name of the goods covered in the Philippines.

IPOPHL said the rules also provide special consideration to members of indigenous cultural councils and indigenous peoples. When found qualified, the agency said they may be granted a waiver of fees by the director general.

T he IPOPHL said it is now finalizing a bill to Congress to further strengthen GI protection and enforcement.

“We acknowledge that this is just the beginning of a lifetime of commitment, but we are very proud to be at the forefront of this notable endeavor that elevates our nation’s IP regime,” Barba said.

DOH REPORTS DETECTION

OF COVID BQ.1 IN PHL

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

THE Department of Health (DOH) on Friday confirmed the detection of Omicron BQ.1, a desc endant of BA.5, which has emerged as fast-spreading Covid-19 subvariant in the US, accounting for 27 percent of infections there as of October 29.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention BQ.1 and the BQ.1.1 accounts for half of Covid-19 cases in the US. The BQ.1.1 has yet to be detected in the country so far.

The latest genome sequencing results of UP-Philippine Genome Center, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, and San Lazaro Hospital from October 28 to November 18, showed that there were 14 cases of BQ.1.

O f the number of cases, 13 were local cases from the National Capital Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Regions 1, and 4A and 7.

What we know so far from this BQ.1, it is more transmissible and also highly immune evasive compared to the other subvariants of Omicron,” DOH Officer-in-Charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a news briefing. BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 has also detected around the world for months now.

B oth descendants of BA.5 have also been identified in the UK and several countries in Europe, with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) having classified BQ.1 as a variant of interest.

CA grants SMC power arm’s plea to suspend its PSA with Meralco

By Lenie Lectura

THE Fourteenth Division of the Court of Appeals (CA) issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in favor of South Premiere Power Corporation (SPPC), a subsidiary of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMCGP), suspending the implementation of its power supply agreement (PSA) with Manila Electric Company (Meralco).

“(SMC) and SMCGP received this afternoon…a copy of the resolu tion dated November 23 where the 14th Division of the Court of Appeals issued Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) and Meralco from imple menting the orders issued against SPPC in ERC Case no. 2019—81 fol lowing the posting of a bond by SPPC in the amount of P50 million,” SMC said in a disclosure to the stock ex change Friday afternoon.

It added that the petition for certio rari of San Miguel Energy Corp. (SMEC),

another SMCGP subsidiary, is pending with the 17th Division of the CA.

The ERC, for its part, said it received a copy of the resolution last November 24.

The CA said: “...in view of the circum stances and the interest of the general public, this Court grants the TRO and hereby suspends the implementation of the PSA. The TRO shall be effective for a period of 60 days from service on Respondents.”

In its petition for certiorari, SPPC claimed that it did not file a motion for reconsideration of the ERC’s order dated September 29, 2022, denying its rate increase petition because, among others, SPPC would suffer “grave and ir reparable injury…should it be required to await ERC’s final action…”, the ERC acted with grave abuse of discretion in denying its rate increase petition, and the ERC acted with grave abuse of dis cretion when it interpreted the rights of SPPC and Meralco under the PSA.

The agency said the plea for price in crease was denied since the agreed price

in the PSA is fixed in nature, and the grounds for increase cited by SPPC and Meralco were not among the exceptions that would allow for price adjustment.

Moreover, ERC Chairperson and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta expressed grave concern on the instantaneous effect of the temporary suspension in the implementation of the PSA based on the TRO. “This will consequently expose approximately 7.5 million reg istered Meralco consumers in the Na tional Capital Region and other areas in Region III and IV to higher electric ity prices without preparation usually observed in case of PSA termination,” she said.

“The fixed price PSA of Meralco with SPPC covers 670 MW (megawatts) of supply. This, along with the other fixed price PSAs, have been shield ing Meralco consumers for the past several months from the volatility of prices from WESM (Wholesale Elec tricity Spot Market) and automatic fuel pass-through PSAs.

If these PSAs are immediately sus pended, this brings us precisely to the situation which we at the ERC have sought to avoid with our ruling that required the proper observance of the terms of the PSA, including the contrac tually-agreed process of termination,” added Dimalanta.

The ERC said that the TRO, which re lied solely on the statements of SPPC in its petition, cited the “simulations made by Meralco, which were independently corroborated by the ERC’s Regulatory Operations Service (ROS), (as) reason ably true and valid.”

However, the ERC said this mis interpretation of the simulations of ROS will be clarified when it submits its comments to the CA. “ERC is confi dent that the Fourteenth Division of the Court of Appeals, consistent with existing jurisprudence, will accord great respect, if not finality, to the regulator’s factual findings because of its special expertise over the energy sector,” Dimalanta said.

Govt seeks to recruit more ‘BIDA’ advocates in fight vs illegal drugs

By Glen Jacob Jose

THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday said it is encouraging the public to become BIDA advocates, and help put an end to the country’s illegal drugs problem

The government is set to launch its new anti-illegal drugs advocacy program dubbed as BIDA for “Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan.”

It will be formally launched in Quezon City and in key areas of the country today, Saturday, November 26.

“Samahan n’yo kami at lumahok sa grand launch ng BIDA Program! Lahattayo aydapatkumilosnaatmagingbidalaban sa iligal na droga. Sa ating mga kamay nakasalalay ang isang magandang bukas

para sa ating mga kabataan na malaya sa salot ng droga,” said DILG Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. BIDA program is a nationwide antiillegal drugs advocacy program involving local government units (LGUs), national government agencies (NGAs), and other key sectors of society that will focus more on drug demand reduction and rehabilitation in the communities underscoring the role of drug enforcement agencies including the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and others.

According to the DILG chief, the illegal drugs problem is a deep-seated issue that has continued to destroy relationships, families and the future of the youth, and it is high time for all sectors of society to

take a stand and do their part through the BIDA program.

“Hindi natin puwedeng iasa na lamang sa Philippine National Police atsaPhilippine Drug Enforcement Agency ang kampanya laban sa iligal na droga dahil lahat tayo ay apektado dito. Kailangang lahat tayo ay kumilos na at makiisa para tuldukan ang salotnapatuloynasumisirasakinabukasan ngatingmgakabataan,” he said.

Since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assumed office in July this year, the PNP’s aggressive campaign against illegal drugs resulted in the seizure of some P9.7 billion worth of various illegal drugs confiscated and the arrest of 22,646 drug personalities in 18,505 anti-illegal drug operations nationwide.

Abalos said the anti-drugs campaign

under the administration of President Marcos pioneers a different approach that will work “within the framework of the law and with respect for human rights and with focus on rehabilitation and socio-economic development.”

“Kung gusto nating masugpo ang problema sa iligal na droga, kinakailangan natin itong sugpuin sa puno. Kaya sa pamamagitan ng BIDA program, ang focus natin ay ang drug demand reduction sa tulongngiba’tibangsektorsaatinglipunan,” Abalos said.

The DILG Secretary said no less than the President is expected to lead the Metro Manila launch of the BIDA program at the Quezon City Memorial Circle in Quezon City, while regional launches will be held in Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Davao City.

DOTr urged to ensure safe, hassle-free trip of provincial travellers during the season

By Butch Fernandez

SENATOR Grace Poe pressed the Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Friday to ensure provincial travellers get adequate transportation during the yearend holiday season.

“The government should ensure availability of adequate, reliable and safe transportation amid the expected rush of passengers travelling to various destinations this Christmas season,” said Poe.

The senator, a long-time chairperson of the franchise-screening Committee on Public Services, reminded, “For millions whose only option is to take the public transportation, public utility vehicles (PUVs) should be readily and safely accessible.”

Poe pointed out that “the lack of PUVs could open the way for fly-by-night and other colorum vehicles that could jeopardize the

safety of our riding public.”

She aired the reminder as the nation commemorates the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims, Survivors and Their Families on the third Sunday of November.

Enacted into law as Republic Act No. 11468 in 2020, the measure encourages remembrance of the lives lost or injured in road accidents and promotes road safety that Poe authored as principal sponsor of the law.

With the onset of the holiday season, the senator envisions many families are expected to travel to place around the country.

“Concerned agencies should work closely with transportation groups and private operators to see to it that there are sufficient number of PUVs to transport our people safely to their destination,” she stressed.

At the same time, the senator prodded authorities to be on the lookout for

“unauthorized for-hire vehicles that usually charge passengers exorbitantly.

Worst,” she added, citing reports that “they ply the roads without undergoing the proper safety checks exposing the public to road hazards and increased risk of accidents.”

Moreover, Poe reminded that according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there were 5,455 deaths recorded due to “transportation accidents” from January to July 2022.

S he noted that road crash incidents

ranked 12th among the top causes of deaths in the country during the period.

Still, Poe is hoping the law would be fully implemented not only to remember the road crash victims, but also to “draw attention to the crucial task of embarking on shared actions to prevent further road traffic deaths and injuries and help families of the victims find justice.”

“The road tragedies leave a lesson that they should not be repeated, and remind us that the path to safe travels is a shared responsibility,” said Poe.

IPOPHL

initial rules on GIs in push for protection, promotion of local products

Timely passage of ’23 ‘Agenda for Prosperity’ budget assured

HOUSE and Senate leaders on Friday assured the public “we will have the Agenda for Prosperity national budget before the end of the year.”

Speaker Martin Romualdez assured that the House and the Senate has started reconciling their versions of the proposed P5.268-trillion 2023 spending bill through a bicameral conference committee (bicam).

The House had passed the proposed budget for next year based on the National Expenditure Program, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s version of the spending plan. The Senate approved its version this week.

Romualdez said the two chambers have enough time to come up with the final version of the budget before they start their Christmas recess on December 17.

“We have sufficient time, we will finally approve the budget before yearend. It is the most important tool in accomplishing

the objectives of the President’s Agenda for Prosperity and his eight-point socio-economic development plan,” Romualdez said.

“With this budget, which is the first full-year spending measure proposed by the President, we hope to sustain or even accelerate our economic growth, which should benefit all of our people,” the Speaker said.

For his part, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara expressed confidence that the bicameral committee will reconcile the disagreeing provisions by next week.

“H opefully by next week, we will finish it and ratify it after next week,” said Angara in an interview.

Angara said he hopes that the around P152.67-million lump sum allocations, including confidential funds, that were realigned by the Senate, will be approved by the bicam.

F or her part, House Committee on

Appropriations Senior Vice Chairperson Stella Luz Quimbo said the bicameral committee would reconcile about P215 billion realignments on the 2023 national budget.

Q uimbo said lawmakers would adopt the Medium Term Fiscal Framework, which serve as the roadmap to steer the country back to its high-growth trajectory, in considering these amendments.

The Senate added a total of P932.924 million to the arts and culture agencies with the bulk going to the National Museum, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The Senate also increased the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ budget by P720 million and the Philippine Space Agency budget by P200 million.

The upper chamber has also increased the allocation of Council for the Welfare of Children by P60.132 million; Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council by P100 million; National Authority for Child Care by P300 million; Philippine Commission on Women by P21.295 million.

It also increased the budget of the National Nutrition Council by P37.83 million; Philippine Children’s Medical Center by P673 million; Department of Health by P4.8 billion; Early Childhood Care and Development Council by P232.383 million; State Colleges

and Universities (SUC) in the Bicol Region by P122.562 million; University of the Philippines by P1.127 billion; Department of Education by P911.857 million and Commission on Higher Education by P512.5 million

The Senate hiked the budget of the SUC sector by P3.622 billion.

The Senate gave the University of the Philippines an increase of about P1.127 billion or 31 percent of the P3.622 budget added to the SUC sector.

With the P3.622 billion increase in the Senate-approved budget, the budget total for the SUC sector increased to a new total of P97.447 billion from the P93.825 billion figures in the House version of the budget.

Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co, who heads the House Committee on Appropriations, and Sen. Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, led the bicam panel.

“My fervent hope is that in the coming days, we arrive at a common and collective decision to reconcile our differences and harmonize them with the programs of the present Administration and balance them with the needs of our constituents,” Co said.

For his part, House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto expressed confidence that the budget will be more responsive to both opportunities and challenges next year.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Rep. Garin seeks to clip HTAC powers over vaccine wastage

AFORMER secretary of the Department of Health (DOH) and now Iloilo lawmaker wants to limit the power of the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC), an advisory body, to prevent the wastage of Covid-19 vaccines.

In an interview, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said the power of HTAC should be limited to health technology assessment.

“They (HTAC) should not meddle with program managers or with the implementation [of programs],” said Garin.

Garin blamed the HTAC for the wastage of 31 million Covid-19 shots worth P15.6 billion. It is HTAC that gives recommendations to the national government when to use certain vaccines and medicines.

She said HTAC was given so much power, while its members are “not full time and have no accountability.”

She added the decisions on Covid-19 vaccination should be with the health department, which has “program managers” who are already experts in certain fields.

Despite the urgency, Garin said it took time for HTAC before the body allowed the use of the Covid-19 vaccines as first and second booster shots.

“E verything has to go through HTAC like the vaccines, the private sector was not immediately allowed to use the vaccines that they bought as first and second booster shots,” she added.

“In combating infectious diseases, vaccination is always effective when you see the face of the infection. You take advantage when many people want to get

it. If you miss that window, the adrenalin of the people to get vaccinated is no longer there,” Garin added.

The HTAC is an independent advisory body created under the Republic Act 11223, otherwise known as the Universal Health Care Act, with the overall role of providing guidance to the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation interventions and technologies to be funded by the government.

T he mandate of the council is to undertake technology appraisals by determining their clinical and economic values in the Philippine health-care system, with the aim to improve overall health outcomes and ensure fairness, equity, and sustainability of coverage for all Filipino citizens.

A ccording to Garin, it is the practice of HTAC to wait for the results of clinical trials or the laboratory trials even if there is already “real world data” supporting the booster shots for Covid-19.

“If you are in a pandemic, we have what we call ‘real world data’ because many countries have started with their boosters without laboratory data because millions of people are getting infected and dying,” she pointed out.

“What happened was that it was so by the book but so many things were happening that were not in the book,” Garin explained.

Meanwhile, Garin said she is willing to file amendments to the Universal Health Care Act to address the issues with HTAC.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

DAVAO TO HOLD ‘TOP SECRET’ QUARTERLY SECURITY EXERCISE

By Manuel T. Cayon

DAVAO CITY—A security simulation exercise (Simex) for the last quarter would be conducted in an unspecified location in the city this month that even the security personnel who would participate would not know.

Task Force Davao Commander Lt. Col.

Darren Comia said the security and safety cluster would organize the quarterly activity to propagate the city’s “Culture of Security” campaign.

Comia said the location, time and scenario for this quarter’s Simex would remain undisclosed even to security personnel who will be participating in the exercise. He said the secrecy would further test the capacity of the city’s security and safety cluster to respond to terrorist attacks.

“This simulation exercise is meant to continuously sustain the capabilities and readiness of our units and also strengthen what we call our interoperability in

counter-terrorism operations,” Comia said. He said this month’s exercise would serve as a refresher course for the city’s security forces on Integrated Response on Terrorism Plan dubbed “Usahay II” as mandated by Executive Order No. 62 series of 2021. He said the exercise would apply what was learned from the previous Simexs.

“What we really want here is for our security forces, as if by muscle memory, to know their tasks based on the executive order,” said Comia.

Aside from preparing for unprecedented attacks, this quarter’s Simex would prepare the enforcement of the security template for this year’s Pasko Fiesta.

“Our security forces would have to prepare for the large crowd the Pasko Fiesta will attract,” he said.

Comia has asked residents to remain calm and act as instructed by the authorities during the exercise. He said delays in traffic movement would be kept to a minimum.

STEEL TALK. Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma (top photo, extreme right) on Tuesday, November 22, receives a group of officers and members of the Philippine Metalworkers’ Alliance (PMA) headed by its National President Ruel G. Punzalan (photo below, extreme left). They discussed several labor issues, among which are the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) support on the pending bill pertaining to government procurement of locally manufactured vehicles, DOLE’s plan on workers who will be displaced with the advent of electric vehicles and other matters concerning labor relations. The DOLE chief is accompanied by (top photo, from left) Bureau of Labor Relations Director Maria Consuelo S. Bacay and Undersecretary Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio Jr. PHOTO BY ALEJANDRO ECHAVEZ, DOLE-IPS

San Juan hosts joint birthday party for 442 senior citizens

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

THE local government of San Juan headed by Mayor Francis Zamora celebrated the birthdays of 442 senior citi zens on Tuesday, and paid tribute to the contributions of the city’s elderly population to the coun try’s development.

O n top of their well-deserved recognition, the celebrators also re ceived cash assistance that the city government hopes will help them procure their needs, such as medi cines and groceries.

Z amora said the cash incentive is in accordance with City Ordi nance No. 81, series of 2022, or the Ordinance Further Extend ing Financial Benefits to Senior Citizens Who Have Reached the Ages of 70, 80, and 90 Years of Age and Providing Funds for the Purpose.

“ We are doing this to recognize the efforts of our senior citizens in nation-building,” Zamora said.

H e added that the cash gifts that were distributed represent the local government’s desire to help the city’s elderly with their needs.

This is just the start of this program. So I am encouraging our seniors to register with our Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs [OSCA],” said Zamora.

S ome 333 70-year-old senior citizens received P3,000 in cash; 90 80-year-old citizens got P5,000 each, and 19 90-year-olds received P8,000 each.

T here was also a cake-blowing

ceremony done by the 90-year-olds who represented all the senior citi zens in the city.

Z amora said that senior citi zens living in San Juan who wish to enjoy these benefits may ap ply at the OSCA and bring with them the following documents: senior citizen ID, proof of resi dency from their barangay, birth certificate, and any valid govern ment ID with an address in San Juan City.

Meanwhile, Zamora reiterated that the city government will con tinue to create programs that will benefit its senior citizens.

A senior citizens’ center is currently under way and will be opened for seniors’ recreation purposes.

Senior citizen couples who will celebrate their 50th wedding an niversary and are still married and living together are also entitled to a P50,000 cash gift.

T he Public Assistance Center (PAC), through the Office of the Mayor and the Office of the Con gresswoman, is also open to giving assistance to senior citizens, in cluding free burial assistance and cremation.

T he Sangguniang Panlungsod is also drafting an ordinance that will give incentives to business es tablishments that will hire senior citizens and persons with disabili ties (PWDs).

“It’s a win-win situation for the establishment and the seniors. Tuloytuloy lang po ang mga programa natin para sa mga senior citizen dito sa San Juan,” Zamora said.

Seeing life as comedy

Jinggoy pushes upgrade of 28-year-old disability pension for military veterans

CALLING it a grave injustice to war veterans, Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada has enjoined his fellow senators to upgrade the 28-year-old disability pension of disabled veterans, the value of which under the current cost of living is only worth P287.

T he P1,000 to P1,700 monthly pension for military veterans and their dependents under RA 6948 has remained stagnant for almost three decades, Estrada said in sponsoring Senate Bill No. 1480

Needless to say, the amount is already grossly inadequate to pro vide for their needs, considering the high cost of living today and the state of health they are in. By all metrics, the value of P1,000 in 1994 is undoubtedly much, much lower in 2022, with almost 250percent price increase since. Ang halaga ng isang libo noon ay P287 na lamang ngayon. Hindi na po sa pat ang benepisyong tinatanggap ng ating mga beterano, lalo na sa harap ng pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin at pangunahing pangangailangan,” the senator said.

E strada underscored the neces sity of providing the veterans with a minimum of P4,500 monthly

T he increase in the said benefits

will

and 795 minors.

Data provided by the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) shows that there are 1,484 veterans aged from 90 to 99, most of whom are already bedridden, Estrada said.

T he senator noted that the ex isting law, which incidentally was co-authored and sponsored by his fa ther, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada during the 8th Congress, was last adjusted in 1994.

In their twilight years, the vet erans are still fighting, albeit a dif ferent battle altogether. It is a simple gesture of gratitude and appreciation for the invaluable service, loyalty, and gallantry of our military veter ans, to whom we owe the freedom, democracy, and peace we all enjoy today,” Estrada said.

As PVAO stated during our hear ing, for our veterans, it means addi tional disposable income that they can use for their everyday living expenses. But more so, it is a reassurance to our veterans that we are not forgetting them and a tangible manifestation of the whole government’s continued pledge to ensure the welfare of our country’s veterans by guaranteeing that their pension is responsive to their current needs,” he added.

Our ancestors started using fire to cook food 2 million years ago

By Maddie Burakoff AP Science Writer

NEW YORK—If you’re cook ing a meal for Thanksgiv ing or just showing up to feast, you’re part of a long human history—one that’s older than our own species.

Some scientists estimate our early human cousins may have been us ing fire to cook their food almost 2 million years ago, long before Homo sapiens showed up.

A nd a recent study found what could be the earliest known evidence of this rudimentary cooking: the left overs of a roasted carp dinner from 780,000 years ago.

Cooking food marked more than just a lifestyle change for our ances tors. It helped fuel our evolution, give us bigger brains—and later down the line, would become the centerpiece

sidered hallmarks of wisdom. But life is too complex to be painted solely in shades of doom and gloom. Laughter would have been an effective way to deliver their pithy words of wisdom.

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

THERE’S an old joke that goes:

God must have a terrific sense of humor. Why? He created people. With everything we’ve seen of man kind so far, isn’t humanity laughable?

Consider the endless cycle of manmade wars that annihilate millions, which end in truces that only lead to more wars. While the world’s food sup ply is dwindling, we see farmlands and forests being thoughtlessly bulldozed in the name of progress.

Did you see the local opera buffa where we have a lawmaker whose family’s business is buying farmlands to convert them into subdivisions? In spite of the impropriety of it all, she gets herself to chair a committee that is supposed to oversee and ensure the productivity of farmlands. When a fellow lawmaker raises the alarm on

the rapid conversion of farmlands into residential projects, she asks with an air of nonchalance: “Where will the people live if you don’t build subdivisions?”

Yes, we chuckle at her cluelessness, but it hurts.

A lexandre Kojeve, the author, says: “Human life is a comedy, one must play it seriously.” Maybe his term “play it” means to give some serious thought as to why life is a comedy.

My problem with our revered sages and divine messengers is that they all seem to be too serious, or too gloomy.

Zoroaster, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tse, Jesus, Mohammad. Didn’t any of them have a sense of humor? Didn’t they enjoy a joke or two once in a while when they were in the company of their followers?

Solemnity and pessimism are con

T here is a series of some 90 novels and novellas by Honoré de Balzac, known in the original French as La Comédie humaine or “Human Comedy.” Published in the 1800s, the books depict a gallery of over 2,000 characters from Parisian society of that time, serving as optics on humankind with all its follies in which the indi vidual ego seemed to have become the sole measure of things.

A s you meet Balzac’s characters, you’re bound to say “that’s me!” We end up laughing at ourselves, and the vivid sketch portraits people we know.

It is like watching a “farce,” a type of comic drama that typically involves ludicrously improbable situations. The thing is the char acters don’t know they are acting foolishly like idiots.

A s the years go by, I grow more firmly convinced that comedy is truer to life than tragedy, not just onstage but in all the narrative art forms. In fact, even in tragic dra mas, I find comic elements in the depiction of human folly.

of the feasting rituals that brought communities together.

The story of human evolution has appeared to be the story of what we eat,” said Matt Sponheimer, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder who has studied the diets of early human ancestors.

T he new study, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolu tion, is based on material from Gesh er Benot Ya’aqov in Israel—a watery site on the shores of an ancient lake.

A rtifacts from the area suggest it was home to a community of Homo erectus, an extinct species of early humans that walked upright, ex plained lead author Irit Zohar of Tel Aviv University.

O ver years of “digging in mud” at the site, researchers examined a curious catch of fish remains, es pecially teeth, said Naama GorenInbar, an archaeologist at the He

T he key to a more satisfying life, especially late in life, is de tachment. Buddha nails it when he says that suffering is caused by too much attachment, the ob sessive pursuit of things and im possible ideals that only serve to complicate our lives.

To get that detached perspec tive, we need to zoom out a little further from the scene that’s in front of us. It enables us to cope much better with our own follies and absurdities.

Indeed, emotional disengage ment allows us to see life from a higher perspective than usual, and seeing it objectively rather than from a narrow self-focused perspective, then “comedy is wiser than tragedy,” as some sage noted.

T here are many things in my life which I thought were em barrassing failures, set-backs or humiliations, but looking back at them from a distance or plac ing them in the so-called grand scheme of things, I think of them now as laughable, the actions of a stupid jerk with an inflated sense of self-importance. I had put my self in situations that now look silly and ridiculous.

H .L. Mencken, the satirist, wrote: “Human life is basically a comedy. Even its tragedies often

brew University of Jerusalem who led the excavations.

Many were from a couple of spe cies of big carp, and they were clus tered around certain spots at the site—places where researchers also found signs of fire. Testing revealed the teeth had been exposed to tem peratures that were hot, but not super-hot. This suggests the fish were cooked low and slow, rather than tossed right onto a fire, Zohar explained.

With all of this evidence together, the authors concluded that these human cousins had harnessed fire for cooking more than three quar ters of a million years ago. That’s much earlier than the next oldest evidence for cooking, which showed Stone Age humans ate charred roots in South Africa.

T he researchers—like many of their colleagues—believe cooking

seem comic to the spectator... A man who can laugh, if only at him self, is never really miserable.”

Filipinos have an innate re silience because we know how to laugh in the face of the most tragic circumstances. Maybe, we have in our cultural DNA the reflexive ability to separate ourselves from what is happening, no matter how calamitous it may be. It is our sav ing mechanism that has kept our race afloat for the longest time.

L ook at our elected leaders and our opinion makers. They say things that are often ridiculous. Sometimes we tell ourselves, why is this fellow pretending to be a great leader? He’s just a fool. I can do better.

T his is why we need people who are not afraid to prick our inflated and serious sense of self. Comic artists make us all laugh by saying out loud what we fear in our heart of hearts—that we have been fools, and are now paying the ultimate price for our foolishness. Let us use humor to good use and perform a powerful social function, from breaking prejudices to holding the jokers in power to account.

I have four books on comedy and the central lesson I got is that we are imperfect, “cracked”

started long before this, though physical evidence has been hard to come by.

“I am sure that in the near future an earlier case will be reported,” study author Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University said in an e-mail.

T hat’s in part because harnessing fire for food was a key step for hu man evolution.

Cooking food makes it easier for the body to digest and get nutrients, explained David Braun, an archae ologist at George Washington Uni versity who was not involved with the study. So, when early humans figured out how to cook, they got access to more energy, which they could use to fuel bigger brains.

Based on how human ancestors’ brains and bodies developed, sci entists estimate that cooking skills would have had to emerge nearly 2 million years ago.

and prone to error, but our sense of humor is our saving gift and we can still be happy. With our humor, we possess mental flex ibility. We can view situations from several perspectives and see many possibilities. Comic characters played by Chaplin, Buster Keaton, the Marx broth ers, Peter Sellers and others do not have fixed categories for thinking or acting. They can view situations from several per spectives and see many possibil ities and then adapt creatively.

I don’t know whether having a tremendous sense of humor re ally does increase creativity, but experimental research suggests that when people know how to laugh and are having fun while doing something, they are more creative in their problem solving and more efficient in their think ing, planning, and judgment.

D on’t take life so seriously. Learn from it, yes. But tread on it with bemused footwork, danc ing to the beat of Stephen Sond heim’s song:

Goodness and badness

Man in his madness

Something erratic Something dramatic Open up the curtain— Comedy tonight!

disability pension, and a maxi mum of P10,000 and P1,000 for the spouse and each unmarried minor child.

be afforded to qualified benefi ciaries of 4,386 veteran pensioners, 204 of whom are already centenar ians, the oldest being a 112-year-old World War II veteran; 2,276 spouses

SAN Juan City Mayor Francis M. Zamora led the birthday celebration of the city’s senior citizens on November 22, 2022 at the San Juan City Hall Atrium. A total of 442 senior citizens who turned 70, 80, and 90 years old this year attended the event. On top of their well-deserved recognition, the celebrators also received cash assistance from the city government. NONOY LACZA

SEN. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, sponsored a measure proposing a 350percent to 488-percent increase in the disability pension of disabled veterans. Estrada, chairperson of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation, said it has been 28 years since the law providing for the said benefit has been amended.

OFFICE OF SENATOR JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA/ REY JAVELOSA

BusinessMirror

UP undergrads emerge as 3M Inspire Challenge 2022’s country champions

FOUR

This, as they beat two other shortlisted local teams after a heated round of pitching and series of deliberation among judges. The winning group named “Fighting Maroons” clinched $2,000 and an internship with 3M Phils. They are composed of Joseph Matthew Paraiso, Rachel Vivien Roxas, Sophia Bernadette Lunor and Vivienne Viernes.

Roxas explained why they developed the winning solution “Bamboost:” a responsibly pro duced face mask that uses poly propylene and bamboo fibers which offers the same protection provided by most commercially available face masks, but with enhanced breathability and ma terial sustainability.

“We developed Bamboost for two reasons: First, research sug gests that while some personal protective equipment use the regulatory agencies’ required fabric material, they have poor breathability. This has a huge im pact for people, like health-care workers who need to wear PPE daily for several hours a day,” explained Roxas. “PPE with poor

breathability can cause discom fort, and negatively impact the wearer’s physical health…This is only further amplified in humid countries like the Philippines.”

“Second, the onslaught of the…pandemic has only exacer bated plastic pollution globally. Controlling the spread of [Cov id-19] resulted in the increased demand for PPE—the majority of which use plastic, and often end up in landfill. Manufacturing PPE also emits large amounts of carbon dioxide, since most…use synthetic fibers. [They contrib ute] to two-thirds of the global carbon emissions associated with textile materials,” she went on to say. “If we are to combat climate change and its impacts, we need to rethink current production methods and consider every step in the face masks and respirators’ product life cycle.”

The Fighting Maroons eventu ally emerged as first runners-up in the regional finals, where they vied against eight other teams from Australia and New Zealand, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,

and Vietnam. The Filipino team enjoyed access to 3M mentors who honed and sharpened their ideas.

“The world is facing tougher problems every day, but the in genious ideas presented gives us hope,” said Jim Falteisek, senior vice president of 3M Asia Cor porate Affairs and 3M Korea’s managing director. “Platforms like the 3M Inspire Challenge are important to help us to un lock the power of people, ideas, and science. Together, we can

reimagine what’s possible and create a more positive world for tomorrow.”

Addressing the theme of “Sus tainable Material,” Team “BUM BLR” from India, which eventu ally captured first-place honors in the tilt, developed a brilliant solution to reimagine the tradi tional adhesives used in Post-it Notes, one of 3M’s most iconic products, by replacing them with adhesives formulated from beeswax.

PART of efforts in strength ening the bilateral engage ment on the “blue economy” and maritime sectors between the Philippines and India, a memoran dum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the Indian Mari time University (IMU) of Chennai and the Batangas State University (BatStateU).

The MOU was signed by Dr. Malini V. Shankar, vice chancel lor of the IMU and Dr. Tirso A. Ronquillo, who is the president of BatStateU, in the presence of the ambassador of India to the Philip pines Shambhu S. Kumaran.

In her remarks, Dr. Shankar highlighted that initial focus will be in the field of naval architec ture and ocean engineering, which subsequently could be expanded to marine engineering, nautical sci ence and management. She empha sized that the MOU would usher regional cooperation in maritime education and training which, in turn, would promote South-South engagement.

Welcoming the signing of MOU, Dr. Ronquillo said that a number of programs could be conducted under the collaboration in the field of marine science, marine biodiversity, as well as port and logistics management.

The school official added that the linkage will help boost exist ing programs and future research in marine technology. He empha sized on biodiversity research by undertaking joint developmental programs and plans for enhancing marine biodiversity.

US bestows ₧23M of books for young Bicolano learners

THE United States gov ernment, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), recently provided P23 million ($392,000) worth of early-grade reading ma terials to the Department of Edu cation (DepEd) in Bicol.

The handover was led by visit ing USAID Deputy Assistant Ad ministrator LeAnna Marr as part of her visit to the Philippines in October to strengthen US-Phil ippine partnerships in the educa tion sector.

Marr, who serves as acting senior coordinator of US Interna tional Basic Education Assistance, also met beneficiaries of USAIDsponsored programs focused on youth development, plus out-ofschool youth (OSY) education and employment. In addition to Bicol, she also visited Sorsogon and Manila, where US government programs support enhancing the quality of education for Filipino children.

In Sorsogon, she visited a US AID-supported inclusive educa tion community resource center

and participated in a storytell ing session for visually impaired children that was also translated into Filipino Sign Language for hearing-impaired kids. Support ing inclusive education for chil dren of all abilities, the agency

has trained teachers in inclusive education strategies, developed inclusive education materials, and helped establish a disability screening and referral system that has more than tripled the enroll ment of children with disabilities

in project areas.

In Manila, Marr joined DepEd officials and witnessed a memo randum of understanding signing by USAID Philippines Mission Di rector Ryan Washburn and United Nations Children’s Fund Coun try Representative Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov to formalize a new partnership in education between the two agencies. Both agreed to closely coordinate efforts to im prove the quality of early-grade learning, advance second-chance education for OSY, promote learn ing continuity, and explore oppor tunities to expand existing educa tion initiatives.

“We at USAID recognize that we can only fully and success fully advance inclusive and resil ient growth if we work together with local actors and like-minded partners,” said Washburn. “By collaborating and leveraging [on] each other’s unique resources, assets and skill set, we are able to strengthen our support to the Philippine government as it ad dresses challenges in the educa tion sector.”

Ambassador signs donation pact for Phil. studies program of Thammasat University

Millicent Cruz Paredes and Dr. Passapong Sripicharn, who is the dean of Thailand’s Thammasat University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts, signed the dona tion agreement on October 20 for t he implementation of the “Philip pine Studies” program in the edu cational institution.

T he program is focused on activ ities that enhance people-to-people r elations between the Philippines and Thailand—including academic exchanges, a lecture series, re search grants, enhancement of the Fi lipiniana collection, and other projects related to Filipino history, cultures, and society. Pa redes congratulated

masat

ippine-Thailand ties. She likewise l auded the higher education in stitution for accepting the task of i mplementing the said program, and providing the opportunity for Thai students and faculty to learn, experience and appreciate Philip pine history, language, and culture.

T he ambassador also acknowl edged Senator Loren Legarda, w hose congressional initiative made the conduct of the studies on the Philippines possible.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Vice Consul Susan Phoebe R. Sabado, Cultural Attaché Evonne Avril B. Manayao, as well as university officials.

Speaking on the occasion, Ku maran cited the significance of engagements in the vital sectors for India and the Philippines both bilaterally, as well as in the larger strategic framework of the region, especially India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, as he identi fied capacity building as one of its seven pillars for engagement.

“India and the Philippines are not just leading democracies in the region; we have vital stakes in the maritime sector—a prior ity…for national development,” the envoy added. “This MOU will particularly facilitate the skilling

of specialized human resources, which is a key objective of both governments, and also in line with the [efforts] of both countries to further expand their peoplecentric partnership.”

According to the Embassy of India, the MOU will spur engage ment between the two leading in stitutions by aiding academic ex changes, conduct of collaborative research projects, joint hosting of conferences, and other mutually agreed activities.

Focus areas identified for en gagement will start with Naval Architecture and Marine Engi neering, Port Management and Marine Biodiversity. The MOU will also facilitate exchanges of best practices, as well as visits by scientists and technologists from both countries.

To broaden cooperation in the area of “blue economy,” especially in fisheries, another MOU on re search collaboration between the Indian Council for Agriculture Re search and Apolinario R. Apacible School of Fisheries of BatStateU is also under consideration. Both the Philippines and India have also commenced an active engage ment on Hydrography.

IMU plays a key role in the prog ress of trained human resources for India’s maritime sector. Mean while, BatStateU has evolved to be the Philippines’s “national engi neering university” in April 2022 by virtue of Republic Act 11694. The latter aims to develop capable professionals in various sectors of marine engineering.

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

ANONPROFIT organization (NGO) recently urged the coun try to produce more talents for future international Informatics com petitions, and later prepare them for a bright future in computing technology.

Marte Soliza of the National Olym piad in Informatics Phils. (NOI.PH) told the BusinessMirror that the lack of awareness plays a key factor in the dearth of talents in informatics.

Although some schools have ex pressed their interest to join the con test, he was informed that their stu dents lack preparation and training.

Soliza said the lack of qualified teachers also has exacerbated the problem. As a result, the nation is fac ing a “shortage” of qualified teachers articulate on the topic.

He lamented that the “computer” subject in most high schools ends up being totally different from seeing what actual computer scientists and programmers do, and from what is required to participate and excel in informatics meets.

“It ends up being taught very poorly,” the NOI.PH member revealed. “How ever, there are ways around this prob lem, such as making students aware that there are excellent free resources online, and that there are organizations such as ours who can guide…and open up opportunities for them. The word just hasn’t gone far yet, and the avail able resources are not being leveraged.”

Soliza suggested that students should consider taking a career in soft

ware engineering, as it is one of the most lucrative industries in the world today: “Aside from economic, there’s the opportunity to be at the forefront of tech: to discover or build something that can uplift the lives of millions, or even billions of people.”

Earlier, Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Insti tute (DOST-SEI) director Dr. Josette Biyo remarked at a press briefing that there is an urgent need to popularize programming among Filipino stu dents: “We have to expand the pool to be able to develop a critical mass of skilled programmers to study pro gramming.”

The Philippines was able to join the International Olympiad in Informat ics for the first time in 2015, where it won a bronze medal.

“We have been joining every year since then, with at least one medal bagged per competition,” Soliza shared.

Most of NOI.PH’s first members hailed from University of the Philip pines-Diliman, where they were part of a club called UP Programming Guild. A few years later they formally estab lished NOI.PH’s as an NGO.

Recently it created “Abakoda:” a more beginner-friendly tilt which opened for registration. The competi tion is open to all Filipino students, free-of-charge.

NOI.PH currently has a five-year memorandum of agreement with DOST-SEI from 2020 to 2025, where they provide the financial require ments for organizing the annual na tional contests.

“FOUR for ‘Fighting:’” A UP team took on the region with their “Bamboost”

students from University of the Philippines-Diliman secured the title of “country champions” in the 3M Inspire Challenge 2022 coun try-level semifinals.

DEPARTMENT of Education-Region V Director Gilbert Sadsad (from left) and USAID Deputy Assistant

Administrator LeAnna Marr lead the handover of classroom reading materials at Tabaco North Central Elementary School in Albay. US EMBASSY

BANGKOK—Ambassador

Tham

University for being an in strument in strengthening Phil

AMBASSADOR Millicent Cruz Paredes and Dr. Passapong Sripicharn ink the donation agreement. DFA

Batangas State Univ, Indian Maritime Univ boost ‘blue economy,’ seafaring engagement

Org: Country should level up training courses on informatics, programming

AMBASSADOR Kumaran and BatStateU president Dr. Tirso A. Ronquillo

Tourism&Entertainment

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Shangri-La Mactan: Cebu’s Tropical Paradise

Cebu, known as the queen city of the south, is back with a vengeance after being ravaged by Supertyphoon Odette last year. Planning and rebuilding took a while before the tourism industry got back in the groove of things. Shangri-La Mactan was one of the first destinations to welcome guests with open arms.

I knew that Shangri-l a h ad fully reopened and we took this chance to visit Cebu. We booked a flight, packed our bags, and thought about the long and private beach of Shangri- l a Mactan, the only one of its kind in the area.

Catching a morning flight from Manila, we arrived at the Mactan Cebu International a i rport. The flight from Manila took about an hour and a half.

We were welcomed by the staff of Shangri- l a a t the air port and brought to the resort hotel by their own shuttle van. The ride from the airport took only a few minutes and without delay, we found ourselves being served welcome drinks by the staff as the team ushered us to our Seaview Room at the hotel’s main wing.

The resort  C E B u S S hangri- l a’s Mactan Re sort and Spa, is an award-winning resort property in the Philippines. It has won praise from both do mestic and international travel ers for its luxurious, spacious, and well-appointed 530 guestrooms and suites. The property is indeed enormous as I view it on the room’s balcony. The time has come for me to explore and experience this lush tropical hideaway.

The room offers plenty of space and a gorgeous view of the sea. The accommodation is sophisticated and inspired by tropical elements such as corals and shells and ac cented with luxurious Philippine craftsmanship.

The Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary T HE b each is calling and a quick dip

wouldn’t hurt. The rooms are only a few minute-walk away from the white sand beach and the Shangril a M arine Sanctuary. The hotel’s guests can swim with the schools of tropical fish that make their home in the marine sanctuary. In keeping with the resort’s corporate social responsibility mission, the marine sanctuary was officially established on February 1, 2007.

The Shangri- l a Marine Sanctuary Stewardship group was granted 15 years of stewardship rights and obligations for the management

Taal Vista Hotel hosts national tourism confab

Taal Vista Hotel (TVH), one of the country’s pioneer ho tels and the best along the Tagaytay Ridge, hosted the recent 23rd national convention of the a s sociation of Tourism Officers in the Philippines ( aT OP).

The three-day event, the group’s first physical mass gath ering after the pandemic, was at tended by 1,055 delegates from local governments, local chief executives, and recipients of the a T OP Pearl a w ards from all over the country.

The four-star Department of Tourism-accredited accommoda tion was chosen as the venue of the confab because of its splendid convention facilities and meet ing rooms, 262 well-appointed bedrooms and suites, several food and beverage outlets and boutique shops, and various an

cillary services.

TVH boasts of a 1,292-person grand ballroom, seven 58-per son capacity function rooms, a view deck, and a premiere gar den which can hold 947 and 448 persons, respectively.

One of the top properties of the SM Hotels and Convention Corp., TVH is a leading MICE (meetings, incentives, confer ences, and exhibitions) tourism center south of Metro Manila which has hosted prestigious national and international gov ernment and private events in recent years.

Opened in 1939 as the Taal Vista l o dge, it is considered a heritage hotel because of its be ing part of historic Philippine events, particularly during the Second World War when it be came a quarters of Imperial Japa

nese a r my officers and later on, for a m erican a r my officers from the 11th  a i rborne Division who parachuted along the Tagaytay Ridge to assist in the liberation of Manila in February 1945.

To highlight its checkered past, it offers “a Walk Through Time,” a one-hour guided walk ing tour through the colorful history and heritage of the ho tel, Taal Volcano, and Tagaytay City, as depicted in the photo wall of carefully-curated vintage pictures. The tour is paired with packages of rooms, meals, and afternoon tea for guests.

The a T OP convention, which registered the biggest attendance in the group’s history, was hosted by the Province of Cavite and the City of Tagaytay, and supported by the DOT and the Tourism Pro motions Board.

of the sanctuary. Swimming with the fish so close to the beach is quite an experi ence. It is definitely something that makes guests return to the property. If you feed them with treats provided by the hotel, this comes as a truly a one-of-a-kind encounter with the friendly crea tures of the sea

A hearty breakfast T HE n ext morning, we were at Tides, one of Shangri- l a M actan’s restaurants with a friendly bus

tling market atmosphere. The buf fet breakfast was served here and the choices are extensive. There’s a big chance that you’ll also meet and have a photo with Polly the parrot, the resort’s mascot while having breakfast.

The hotel staff was quick and attentive and I got to know them by their first names. These work ers are a great representation of the tourism industry here in the Philippines. It’s wonderful that they are back at work after the super typhoon hit Cebu.

CHI, the spa

“Mak E a date with your wellbeing”, the spa’s mantra spoke to us and we responded with an em phatic yes. We booked our sched ule with the spa and after arriv ing a few minutes early, we were ushered into our own individual villas for the treatments. We had the Himalayan Salt Stone and Im mune Booster massages, which

were heavenly. The spa’s villas were spacious, quiet, and peaceful. They provide everything you need but if you want to spend more time in the spa’s garden facilities, you can come in your swimsuit.

The treatments and massages here are authentic and based on natural healing methods used in traditional well-being practices shared by many a s ian cultures, which includes the Philippines.

Epicurean journey at Cowrie Cove B E FORE h aving dinner the fol lowing day, we sat down with Shangri- l a Mactan’s Executive Chef, Chef William Tan in the late afternoon and had the chance to explore his influences behind the delectable food being served in the resort.

Chef William hails from Malay sia and it’s wonderful to hear about his culinary journey through the years. He brings a s ian flavors with a western style of cooking to Cow rie Cove and Shangri- l a M actan.  We sat down for dinner by the sea and had their Tuna “ k i nilaw,” Burnt Octopus End, Smoky Salm on, and Sticky Pork Hock. a l l were flavorful, and we savored each bite while enjoying the ocean views. We finished the meal with the Gooey Cake for dessert.

Cebu is definitely back on the map after typhoon Odette. Tour ism in the Philippines is going through a renaissance in this part of the country. I had a great time with the people, the service, and the welcoming atmosphere of the resort.

Story & photos by Ardee P. de los Angeles

H AV E a fancy dinner by the sea at Cowrie Cove. Ex EC u TIVE Chef William Tan

Ex PERIEn C E wellness at CHI

T H E y serve great food with gorgeous views at Cowrie Cove.

In D u LGE in beach-side luxe at Shangri-La Mactan.

The best tech holiday gi�ts, if money is no object

waves with no heat damage, and help maintain hair strength. Combining two attachments in one, the Coanda smoothing dryer hides flyaways in a single pass, with no extreme heat and transforms into a powerful dryer with the flick of a switch.  A widetooth comb attachment, engineered for curly hair, helps to add shape, volume and length as it dries.

Dyson’s comb teeth are designed with soft curved tips to glide through the hair, with no sharp edges to catch, pull or cause damage. The Dyson Airwrap retails for around P32,900. For information, go to www.dyson.ph.

CASETIFY PHONE CASES. If you have the latest smartphone models, it makes sense to protect them with good phone cases. If you’re looking for a cool brand that can offer maximum protection, go for Casetify. They have a variety of cases—from playful to those that are more serious and professional-looking. The Focus On The Good By Mirrors Reflect You case has an electroplate-coated polycarbonate structure which allows it to function as a mirror, minus the glass. Casetify ships directly to the Philippines. Get it here: bit.ly/3GJf6pE

MANILA ATTRACTS INVESTORS IN DATA CENTERS

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

THE Philippines is on the investment radar of data center investors as they are looking for potential sites in developing markets in Asia Pacific, according to Santos Knight Frank.

In its Q3 2022 Data Center Report, authored by Knight Frank in partnership with leading data center research and analytics platform DC Byte, the property management and consulting firm focused on nine rapidly emerging markets in Asia Pacific, namely Osaka, Melbourne, Jakarta, Manila, Hanoi, Taipei, Hyderabad, New Delhi, and Chennai.

The report said total supply in these locations grew to over 3,000 megawatts (MW) today from a paltry 700 MW five years ago, a meteoric increase of over 300 percent. In the first three quarters of 2022 alone, over 600 MW of new IT capacity has been added.

In Southeast Asia, Manila, Taipei and Hanoi data centers have scaled up their activities. Furthermore, Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently announced local zones in both Manila and Hanoi this year and is in the process of rolling them out. It said current key players in these markets mainly comprise the local telcos, with a handful of regional joint ventures such as STT-Globe in the Philippines and NTT-VNPT in Vietnam.

According to the report, Manila has approximately 163.81 MW of IT capacity, including live, early stage, committed, and under construction. Meanwhile, Taipei has an estimated 131.81 MW and Hanoi 54.25 MW.

“During the last two years, Santos Knight Frank has seen an incredible level of inquiries from data center investors and operators in the Philippines equivalent to more than 220 MW. Players are looking for the next area of growth in emerging markets in Southeast Asia, and the Philippines— with its digital-user demographics—is among the preferred locations,” said Monica Gonzalez, Santos Knight Frank’s (SKF) data center lead.

LET’S get the iPhone 14 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 out of the way because anybody would love to get those phones for the holidays. There are a lot of tech gifts you can give people on your holiday list. Most of these gifts are quite expensive though, so let’s imagine for a while that our gifting list does not have a budget and that we can give anyone anything.

SONY WH-1000XM4 NOISE-CANCELING HEADPHONES. This is said to be Sony’s best noise-cancelling headphone yet. An upgrade from 2018’s WH1000XM3 headphone, this has improved voice quality and support for two simultaneous Bluetooth connections. Now that people are traveling again, what makes these headphones a great holiday gift is that they’re collapsible so they can easily fit into your carry-on or even your purse when you commute to work. You can get it here: amzn.to/3gxxWFE DYSON AIRWRAP MULTI-STYLER. There are polarizing reviews about the Dyson Airwrap but if you have the budget, it really is worth trying or giving away as a gift. The new iteration of this hair multistyler brings new and reengineered attachments powered by enhanced Coanda airflow. The nextgeneration styling barrels, which feature a rotating cool tip, make it faster and easier to achieve curls and

GARMIN DESCENT G1. This would make the perfect gift for the person who loves the outdoors but still needs a watch that looks good. Featuring an easy-toread, high-contrast display and 45mm watch case, the G1 Series introduces a new compact design into the dive lineup that is purpose built in both form and function.

Water rated to 10 ATM (100 meters) and tested to engineering standard EN133319 for dive compliance with leakproof inductive buttons and a sapphire lens, the Descent G1 Series is rugged and ready for excursions above and below the water’s surface. Available in multiple color options and compatible with Garmin QuickFit bands, divers can switch between long and short straps for wearing over wet suits when needed, or switch up their style in a snap to take their timepiece from a dive to dinner. The Descent G1 and Descent G1 Solar are available in P31,195 and P36,995, respectively. You can find Garmin on Lazada: bit.ly/3gxRr0M

GOOGLE CHROMECAST. This is way less expensive than Apple TV but it’s easy to set up and works with every streaming service from Netflix to Hulu to HBO Max to Peacock. There’s a cheaper version that’s limited to 1080p streaming and a more expensive one that supports 4K playback. You can get it here: amzn. to/3VrTO45

‘SMCU Express’ merch up for grabs

DAEBAK! The public can get their favorite “SMCU Express” merch this November as Globe’s 0917 Lifestyle and SM Entertainment Ltd., one of South Korea’s largest entertainment companies, continue their partnership to bring K idols closer to their Pinoy fans. Coming from the successful merchandise collaboration for EXO’s “Don’t

Fight The Feeling” and NCT’s “Universe,” 0917 is now offering exclusive items for SMTOWN’s “SMCU Express.”

“As K-pop fans ourselves, we are proud to launch an exclusive collection in the Philippines for SMTOWN. Get closer to your idols by owning any of these official merchandise from your favorite ensembles. We look forward to sharing the excitement with our customers as we continue to ride the Hallyu wave,” said Gladys Rojas, 0917 Lifestyle head.

SMTOWN is the collective name for all artists and groups under SM Entertainment.

Last December, it released the 2021 Winter Town SMTOWN: SMCU Express album with songs from some of the agency’s most popular talents, such as Kangta, TVXQ!, Super Junior, Girls’ Generation-Oh!GG, SHINee, aespa, KAI of EXO, NCT, BoA, and Red Velvet.

With the partnership, fans no longer need to visit Korea or buy from expensive fan stores. They just have to go online to get their preferred SMCU Express collection from 0917Lifestyle.com and official Globe shops in Lazada, Zalora and Shopee. They are also available at the 0917 Lifestyle pop-up store at the Bonifacio High Street in BGC, Taguig.

And as a bonus, all shirts, tote bags and tumbler holders come with an exclusive unreleased photo card of the featured artists. A random member photocard is available for groups. Being SM Entertainment’s official and sole merchandise licensed partner in the country allows 0917 to further strengthen its position in the K-fan market.

APPLE AIRTAG. This Bluetooth tracker can be used on luggage, bags, and iPhones (it doesn’t work on Android devices). To work, AirTags utilize Apple’s extensive Find My Network. The AirTags are easy to set up and small enough to fit into your luggage or purse. I’m not sure though if the AirTag can be used to keep track of your other possessions, such as eyeglasses. I’m putting this out there because I frequently misplace my glasses. You can get them here: apple.co/3VnDC3L

HELIOS 300 PH315-53-53KP GAMING LAPTOP. The Acer Predator Helios 300, which is considered one of the best gaming laptops, is available in a wide range of variations. You can choose from mid-range to the most advanced models—i5, i7, i9 processors, 16 or 32 GB of RAM, GeForce RTX 3050Ti, RTX 3060, RTX 3070, RTX 3080 video cards, with video memory from 4 to 16 GB, SSD—from 512 GB up to 2 TB, there are also versions with an additional HDD.

There are also two screen diagonal options available—15.6 or 17.3 inches. The resolution can be standard 1920×1080 or extended 2560×1440 pixels. You can score a Digital SM Gift Pass of up to P8,000 when you register your new Acer product for warranty during the “Unbox the Holidays with Acer” promo, which runs until December 31, 2022. For more information, go to acer.co/3EYOvDK ■

According to SKF, other emerging markets in Asia Pacific are registering high-growth trajectory. In India, this was partly driven by government policies, including easier access to credit and other incentives to boost data center investment. Across the nine locations studied, Melbourne, Jakarta, and Osaka have stood out, with each now registering more than half a gigawatt of aggregate IT supply.

Fred Fitzalan Howard, data center lead APAC at Knight Frank, said the APAC region has become the favorite sport among investors in data centers. “The insight from our latest report reinforces Asia Pacific’s position as the most exciting market in the global data center industry. More businesses are speeding up their digital transformations, and the demand for cloud services and lower latency has proliferated, resulting in cloud providers sourcing colocation and self-build facilities in previously overlooked cities. As these secondary cities continue to establish themselves as data center locations, opportunities will continue to arise across the M&A and development space.”

“Previously the Asia Pacific region was dominated by a handful of ‘Tier 1’ markets. This is no longer the case as the trend for decentralization has seen both hyperscalers and data center operators move to new markets. The latest report highlights these new markets which we expect to continue to grow in parallel with some of the region’s more established hubs,” added James Murphy, APAC managing director at DC Byte.

Converge bolsters Internet speed for residential customers

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor

CONVERGE ICT Solutions Inc. has upgraded anew its FiberX plans to enable its residential subscribers have a faster and better digital experience.

With its new base plan offer, it has doubled the unlimited bandwidth of its entry-level package of P1,500 a month from 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to 200 Mbps with no data caps.

The public-listed company has, likewise, upgraded the speed of its FiberX Plan 2000, from having 300 Mbps to 400 Mbps; and the FiberX Plan 2500, from 500 Mbps to 600 Mbps.

Its packages at much higher speeds now come with the XCLSV membership and other premium value-added services.

Subscribers of the FiberX Plan 3500 with 800 Mbps can enjoy a free Linksys Velop 2-Pack Dual Band; and those of the FiberX

Plan 7499 with up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) get a free Linksys Velop 2-Pack WiFi-6 Mesh.

As learn- or work-from-home arrangements continue, Converge allows its subscribers to get a boost on the Internet speed they need the most.

Its award-wining Time of Day product doubles their subscribed bandwidth from 7 am to 6:59 pm for the Day Plan, and from 7 pm to 6:59 am for the Night Plan.

According to Converge chief operations officer Jesus C. Romero, they constantly improve their services and broaden their coverage to serve more customers across the country.

“We’ve been rolling out updates to our fiber network, as well as expanding our reach thanks to our Go Deep and Go National strategy,” he said during a recent press launch in Pasig City.

“It’s just natural that we also upgrade our offerings to fit the evolving needs

of subscribers today. Because we’ve strengthened our backbone and our infrastructure, our faster, stronger and better solutions are available for customers nationwide, even those in the underserved and unserved communities in the country,” he added.

Regardless of how long they have been Converge subscribers, all existing customers have enjoyed an automatic speed upgrade since November 11.

Those with subscription below Plan 2000 who opt-in to the speed boost before December 12 will have it for the next 24 months.

At present, the residential subscribers of Converge reach 1.85 million, up 16 percent a year ago.

With their 53 percent household coverage nationwide, Romero told reporters in a sideline interview that they are on track to hit their target of 55 percent for next year with their constant rollout of fiber ports.

Recruitment trends in a more connected and intelligent world

JUST like how much we love having milk tea and boba on summer days and can’t resist Starbucks’ special minty brews during the holidays, there’s always a great time for just about everything and that includes job hunting.

If you’re looking for new opportunities for the coming year, know that timing is crucial in finding that dream job.

Recruiters will advise you to stay clear of companies during the holiday season, and that January and February are usually two of the best months to look for long-term, full-time jobs since these are the months most companies receive updated budgets and sales forecasts.

But like everything else, the Covid-19 pandemic has also caused a dramatic shift to digital when it comes to recruitment. Now that we are returning to some level of “normality,” some major recruitment trends are predicted to take place in the coming years to expedite the hiring process, particularly in highrisk industries like health care.

In our interview with Alejandro Coca, co-head of TrueProfile.io, he says we’ll probably see a higher rate of adoption of existing technologies in the market and increased innovation within the hiring process in terms of automation. He also pointed out that reducing time-to-hire will be a huge focus across the board, and this can only be achieved through increased digitalization of all parties.

As a result, regulators and facilities in many countries will be able to bolster their work force to help compensate for shortages that existed pre-pandemic, as well as in dealing with the overwhelming backlog of non-urgent appointments, treatments and surgeries that decelerated during the pandemic.

TrueProfile.io is a platform that provides Filipino health-care professionals around the world with the tools they need to secure a lucrative career abroad, among these being the continuous innovation and digitalization in the hiring process.

“TrueProfile.io has been approached to help with the hiring process across a multitude of sectors and specialisms in the health-care industry. However, the demand for qualified nurses is at an all-time high and we are seeing this across the board of specialisms,” noted Coca.

Needless to say, Filipino health-care workers who are dreaming of working overseas will find a host of job openings in many countries around the world, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Kingdom, and Ireland. Not only that, but Filipino health-care professionals are also highly in-demand globally because of their excellent work ethic and industry knowledge.

Coca shared, “The major trend that we are seeing

for Filipino health-care workers is that they are globally renowned for their proficiency within the health-care sector. Filipino health-care professionals are synonymous with excellent patient care and the huge number of medical colleges in the Philippines results in a significant number of the global healthcare community being of Filipino descent.”

For ambitious health-care workers who want to secure the most rewarding opportunities, Coca advises, “The world is really your oyster. Many countries are offering incredibly attractive incentives, packages and learning environments to encourage qualified health-care professionals to make the move.” That is why he urges Filipino health-care applicants to use a specialized health-care career platform like TrueProfile.io, which collates all the requirements they need in one place, and works alongside a Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) accredited partner.

“Since day one at TrueProfile.io, technology has been the backbone of what we do. With all of our verifications stored on Matic, a side chain of the Ethereum blockchain, we’ve created a ‘verify once, valid forever’ methodology to provide added value for all stakeholders when it comes to health-care hiring,” said Coca.

TrueProfile.io members are assured that their verifications are completely secure and can easily be shared. Alongside this, employers immediately know they can trust the accuracy of the verified documents they receive, and that they have not been tampered with or edited. Those interested in making the move can find lots of opportunities at TrueProfile. io’s “Jobs” tab just by registering at sso.trueprofile.

io/register to create an account and start building a digital résumé that will connect them with possible employers all over the world. Being connected and increasing digitalization were also the highlights of Huawei’s 2022 Sustainability Forum, Connectivity+: Innovate. Huawei signed a global commitment to join the International Telecommunication Union’s Partner2Connect digital alliance, which will bring connectivity to about 120 million people in remote areas in more than 80 countries by 2025.

Liang Hua, chairman of Huawei, announced the decision as the forum explored how ICT innovation could unleash the business and social value of connectivity, and how to drive sustainability in the digital economy era.

In his keynote address, Dr. Liang pointed out how connectivity plays an important role in every aspect of our lives. It makes lives easier and healthier, economies stronger, and the environment greener.

“We are now moving from the mobile Internet era to the intelligent era. In this new era, where everything will be connected, connectivity will be more than just a tool for convenient communications. Together with digital technologies like cloud and AI, connectivity will help bring everyone into the digital world and drive social progress. It is essential for those benefits to reach all because we believe that connectivity is not just the cornerstone of the digital economy, but a basic right for every human being.”

He stressed that access to a stable network is a basic requirement and right in the digital age. For many who remain unconnected, access to reliable connectivity would mark the first step toward transforming their lives.

Facebook still banning Trump—for now—despite campaign

BY DAVID KLEPPE� The Associated Press

DONALD TRUMP may be running for president, but he still can’t use Facebook.

The social-media platform has no plans to reinstate Trump’s account following the former president’s announcement that he will seek a second term in the White House, the company confirmed Wednesday. Trump was kicked off Facebook following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Trump may not have to wait long to get back on the site, however. His suspension from Facebook is set to be reconsidered in January, two years after

it was first imposed. One change will be immediate: As a candidate, Trump will no longer be subject to Facebook fact checks. That’s because under Facebook rules, comments by elected officials and candidates for office aren’t subject to fact checks on its site. The Associated Press participates in Facebook’s independent fact-checking program.

Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media posed a significant challenge to major socialmedia platforms trying to balance the public’s need to hear from their elected leaders with worries about misinformation, harassment and incitement of violence.

Following the January 6 riot, Trump was also kicked off Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook parent company Meta. Trump’s ability to post videos to his YouTube channel was suspended.

YouTube spokesman Ivy Choi said on Wednesday the company had no plans to lift the suspension. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has said he disagreed with the platform’s decision to bar Trump following the January 6 attack. Musk said no announcement about reinstating banned users will be made until a content moderation council has reviewed the issue Twitter did not respond to questions about

Connectivity is not just a tool for convenient communication but will help bring everyone into the digital world and provide them with access to more information and skills, better services, and wider business opportunities. This will, in turn, drive further social and economic development.

According to a report released by GSMA last July, based on Speedtest Intelligence data, Singapore led Southeast Asia on median 5G upload speeds in Q1 2022, Thailand and the Philippines followed with 207.27 Mbps and 163.51 Mbps median download speed, respectively

As ICT infrastructure continues to evolve, innovative technologies like cloud and AI are allowing those in rural and remote areas to enjoy the convenience of a digital world. Huawei Cloud has proposed the Everything as a Service strategy and made Huawei’s more than 30 years of technical expertise and digital transformation experience available through cloud services.

In the Philippines, Huawei empowers educators and learners in the new normal by providing diverse programs to teachers and students through innovative solutions. Launched in 2015, Huawei Seeds for the Future program has covered over 210 students for the past 8 years in the Philippines.

ICT Academy, cooperating with USeP, MSUIIT, DLSU at the start, has partnered almost 70 universities in the Philippines and covered more than 15,000 students. Huawei Philippines is also working with local organizations to initiate Bohol Cacao Livelihood Recovery and Rehabilitation Program after 20,000 cacao trees were affected by Typhoon Odette last year. ■

whether Trump’s candidacy will impact the decision. Since his suspension, Trump has started his own social-media platform, TruthSocial, and said he has no plans to rejoin Twitter if allowed. (Musk reinstated Trump this week.—Ed.) The platforms would be justified if they extend their restrictions on Trump or make them permanent, said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and a member of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a group that has criticized Meta’s response to extremist content and misinformation.

“The big problem is treating candidates as if they’re in a special

category and deserve special treatment,” Beirich said. “If you have a set of rules, it should apply to everyone. The decision shouldn’t be a struggle.” Facebook initially placed a 24-hour suspension on Trump’s account on January 6 after he praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an indefinite suspension on January 7, adding that “the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”

The company’s quasi-independent oversight board upheld the ban but directed Facebook to set a time limit. The ban is now set to expire January 7, 2023.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Global growth to be as weak next year as ‘09, IIF forecasts

THE world economy will be as weak next year as it was in 2009 after the financial crisis as the conflict in Ukraine risks becoming a “forever war,” the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said.

Global growth is expected to slow to 1.2 percent in 2023, econo mists including Robin Brooks and Jonathan Fortun wrote in a note

Thursday. When adjusted for base effects, that’s as weak as it was in 2009.

“The severity of the coming

hit to global GDP (groos domes tic product) depends principally on the trajectory of the war in Ukraine,” the analysts wrote. “Our base case is that fighting drags on into 2024, given that the conflict is ‘existential’ for Putin.”

The slowdown will be led by Eu rope, which is impacted most by the war, according to the IIF. The Eurozone economy will shrink by 2 percent following sharp declines in consumer and business confidence. In the US, the IIF expects gross do mestic product to rise 1 percent, while Latin America is the “positive

standout,” expanding 1.2 percent, as commodity exporters reap the ben efits of high food and energy prices.

The single biggest driver for the global economy next year will be China, where loosening Covid re strictions are likely, according to the Washington-based IIF.  Brooks, the chief economist at the IIF, was among the first to call for the euro to reach parity with the dollar earlier this year. He also cor rectly predicted a rally in the Brazil ian real before most, which turned him into a sensation in the country’s Twitter circles. Bloomberg News

EU nations fail to close rift on gas prices as cold sets in

BRUSSELS—On winter’s doorstep, European Union nations again failed to bridge bitter disagreements over a natural gas price cap Thursday as they struggle to effectively shield 450 million citizens from massive increases in their utility bills.

An emergency meeting of en ergy ministers only showed how the energy crisis tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine has divided the 27-nation bloc into almost irrec oncilable blocs.

“The discussion was quite heat ed, and you all know that there are very divergent views,” said Czech Industry Minister Jozef Síkela, who chaired the meeting where ministers could not agree on when and how a price cap on gas pur chases should kick in.

A massive August spike in natu ral gas prices stunned all but the wealthiest in Europe, forcing the bloc to look for a cap to contain volatile prices that are fueling inflation.

But the EU is deadlocked be tween nations demanding cheaper gas to ease household bills—in cluding Greece, Spain, Belgium, France and Poland—and those like Germany and the Netherlands in sisting supplies are at risk if a cap stops EU countries from buying gas above a certain price.

A solution was nowhere near the horizon—to the frustration of many.

“It’s already minus 10 (Celsius) in Poland,” said the nation’s en ergy minister, Anna Moskwa. “It’s winter now.”

The inability to find a compro mise on the price cap also held

up plans for joint gas purchases and a solidarity mechanism to help the neediest member states because the measures would be agreed on as a package. Another emergency energy meeting was set for December 13.

“The differences are really still major,” said Dutch Energy Minis ter Rob Jetten. “It means there is an awful amount of work ahead over the next two weeks.”

Natural gas and electricity pric es have soared as Moscow slashed gas supplies to Europe used for heating, electricity and industrial processes. European officials have accused Russia of energy warfare to punish EU countries for sup porting Ukraine.

So finding a deal is not only about providing warmth to citi zens but also about showing a united front to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Talks have dragged on for months, and even if a summit of EU leaders proclaimed some sort of breakthrough last month, noth ing has been visible on the ground. Nations had been waiting for a proposal from the European Com mission, the EU’s executive arm, to set a threshold for a price cap, and when it came Tuesday, there was dismay and accusations it could never work.

The commission set a threshold for a “safety price ceiling” to kick in if prices exceed 275 euros per megawatt hour for two weeks and if they are 58 euros higher than the price for liquefied natural gas on world markets.

In political language, it means that such a system might not even have averted hikes as high as in August.

“Setting a ceiling at 275 euros is not actually a ceiling,” said Greek

Energy Minister Konstantinos Skrekas, who called for a cap that could go as low as 150 euros. “We are losing valuable time without results,” he added.

In comparison, the price stood at 123 euros per megawatt-hour on Europe’s TTF benchmark Thurs day. Because prices have fallen since the summertime peaks, dip lomats have said the urgency has abated somewhat, even though it could pick up quickly again if the weather is colder than normal and supplies get tight.

“We want to be well-prepared for next year, too, and that requires a forceful joint approach; and for tunately, we have a few weeks left to get a deal on this,” Jetten said.

Some 15 nations are united around the view a lower cap should be set, but Germany and the Netherlands lead another group wanting to ensure that gas supply ships would not bypass Europe because they could get better prices elsewhere.

“Security of supply is para mount. Europe still has to be an attractive gas market,” Estonian Economy Minister Riina Sikkut said.

As a result of trade disruptions tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine, EU nations have reduced the overall share of Russian natural gas im ports to the EU from 40 percent before the invasion to around 7 percent. And gas storage is as good as full, far exceeding targets.

The EU has relied on increased imports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, including from the United States, to help address the fall in Russian supplies. AP

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

Beijing hustles on summit sidelines to challenge Washington’s outreach

WHEN Chinese Presi dent Xi Jinping and his Indonesian coun terpart Joko Widodo sat together last week to watch a trial run of a new China-backed high-speed railway, it was a clear sign of their expanding economic involve ment. “Begin,” was the command they gave, as the train pulled out of a Bandung station.

Projects like this are key to Beijing’s strategy to compete with the US for clout in Southeast Asia, as it looks to cement its position in a region that counts China as its biggest trading partner. Twoway trade grew 13.8 percent yearon-year in the first 10 months of 2022, reaching $798.4 billion.

The raft of new infrastructure and trade deals signed at a series of summits over the last two weeks, shows China only seeks to enhance this further.

Here’s what was agreed: Indonesia XI and Jokowi, as the Indone sian president is known, signed agreements on the sidelines of the Group of 20 in Bali, bolster ing digital economy cooperation and increasing bilateral trade. China also pledged to encourage companies to support the devel opment of Indonesia’s $34 billion new capital in Borneo, as well as an industrial park on the island.

Jokowi, who referred to Xi as “big brother” when the two met, has turned to Beijing to fuel his ambitious infrastructure proj ects before his final term in office expires in 2024. China has been Indonesia’s largest trade partner for the past decade, with foreign investment doubling to $3.63 bil lion in the first half of this year, according to Indonesian govern ment data.

Cambodia CHINESE Premier Li Keqiang used his trip to close ally Cam bodia, for the Asean summit, to ink more than 10 cooperation agreements with Prime Minister Hun Sen. The deals ranged from agriculture to infrastructure, education, traditional Chinese medicine and science and tech nology.

The two countries also signed a $1.6 billion deal to build an ex pressway from the Cambodian capital to the Vietnamese bor der. China has invested heavily in the country, including up grades to the Ream Naval Base along Cambodia’s southwestern coast. That’s raised concerns in

the US, including from President Joe Biden, over possible activities by China’s military there.

China is by far Cambodia’s largest trading partner, and ac counted for 43 percent of the nearly $3 billion in investment it approved in the first half of this year, Xinhua reported.

Thailand XI sought greater “synergy” when he met Thai Prime Minister Pra yuth Chan-Ocha on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co operation forum in Bangkok on Nov. 19. The two sides signed a five-year strategic co-operation agreement, and a deal promoting Belt and Road projects.

China said it wanted to strengthen cooperation in trade, tourism and infrastructure, and cultivate new growth areas like the digital economy, new energy vehicles and technological inno vation. It also stressed the need to speed up China-Thailand-Laos railway cooperation.

Singapore CHINA welcomed Singapore’s “in-depth participation” in China’s “new development para digm,” Xi said in his meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Bangkok, according to a read out. Xi also said efforts need to be made to upgrade their bilateral free trade agreement and imple ment the previously agreed New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

In talks between their defense ministers, the two nations also agreed to hold joint military exercises next year, and set up a hotline between ministries.

China has been Singapore’s larg est trading partner since 2013.

Philippines

XI said China views its relations with the Philippines from a “stra tegic height” and they should im prove their cooperation quality, after meeting Philippine Presi dent Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Bangkok on November 17. China also expressed a willingness to import more quality agricultural and other products, and said the two sides must handle differ ences properly when it comes to the South China Sea.

Amid the ongoing territorial dispute, the Philippines has also been strengthening security ties with the US, with an agreement to start building training facilities and warehouses on the nation’s military bases next year.

Bloomberg News

ICBC leads big banks to offer $179 billion to China builders

CHINA’S mega banks, led by Industrial & Com mercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC), pledged financing support of at least 1.28 trillion yuan ($179 billion) to property developers as part of a push to ease turmoil in the nation’s real estate market.

ICBC, the world’s largest bank by assets, on Thursday said it would provide 655 billion yuan in credit lines to 12 developers, including Country Garden Holdings Co. Bank of China Ltd., Bank of Communica tions Co., Postal Savings Bank of China Ltd. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and China Construc tion Bank Corp. also disclosed they would extend financing.

Property stocks and bonds ral lied on the additional funding, as China seeks to contain the fallout from a crackdown that has al ready sparked dozens of defaults and sent property sales and prices tumbling. China’s priority has been to ensure that unfinished

homes get completed, while sup porting the stronger firms that have so far survived the crisis.

“The core of the policy is to build a firewall between develop ers that have already defaulted and those that haven’t,” said Li Kai, founder of Beijing Shengao Fund Management Co.

The barrage of bank financing wasn’t extended to China Ever grande Group, the country’s mostindebted developer that in large part kicked off the current turmoil, as well as Sunac China Holdings Ltd.

Chinese property firms rallied more than 7 percent on Thursday and extended gains on Friday, according to a Bloomberg Intel ligence stock index of developers.

The moves came after regula tors issued a 16-point plan earlier this month to financial firms for boosting the real estate market, with measures that range from addressing developers’ liquidity crisis to loosening downpayment requirements for homebuyers.

The big state-owned banks have since set up special mech anisms to ensure quick imple mentation of the measures, and created whitelists for qualified regional developers to extend maturities of their existing de velopment loans, according to a representative of the China Banking and Insurance Regulato ry Commission, who declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.

The big banks will also expand financing services to support ac quisitions of high-risk projects by “key” developers, the repre sentative said without naming any companies. Some joint-stock banks have allowed mortgage borrowers to delay repayments without reclassifying their loans, the person added.

CCB plan

CHINA Construction Bank has also set up a 30 billion yuan fund to buy properties from develop

ers. The lender has made progress on more than 20 projects, with their combined assets exceeding 10 billion yuan, the CBIRC rep resentative said.

China’s banks have been told to provide at least 1 trillion yuan in funding in the final months of 2022 to the battered property sec tor to avoid a broader fallout on the economy that is also weighed down by Covid lockdowns, Bloom berg reported earlier.

The industry has issued 2.64 trillion yuan worth of loans to developers and 4.84 trillion yuan of mortgages in the first 10 months this year, the CBIRC representative said.

At a meeting with banks on Monday, the People’s Bank of China said it planned to provide 200 billion yuan in interest-free re-lending loans to commercial banks through the end of March to provide matching funds for stalled property projects.

EUROPEAN Energy ministers attend a meeting of EU energy ministers at an extraordinary energy council in Brussels on Thursday, November 24, 2022. AP

Germany nixes Polish surprise call to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine

WARSAW, Poland—Poland’s government says an anti-missile system, which Germany offered to send to Poland should instead go to Ukraine, a proposal that is a likely non-starter for Berlin because it would significantly ratchet up Nato involvement in Ukraine.

Poland’s surprising response to Berlin’s offer was welcomed by Ukraine, which is desperate to protect its airspace as barrage upon barrage of Russian missiles have knocked out power across the country.

But Germany’s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht stressed that use of Nato defense systems outside its territory needs to be agreed by all member states.

“It is important to us that Poland can rely on allies to stand by each other, even in difficult times, and especially Poland in its exposed position,” Lambrecht told reporters in Berlin.

“That’s why we have offered to support air policing and Patriots, but these Patriots are part of an integrated air defense of Nato, that is, they are intended for Nato territory,” the minister said. “If they are used outside the Nato area, then it has to be agreed with Nato and with the allies beforehand.”

In Poland, critics of the populist ruling party accused it of sacrificing the country’s security with a war next door in Ukraine for the sake of a domestic political struggle, which exploits anti-German sentiment for short-term gain.

The Rzeczpospolita daily called the new proposal by Poland’s leaders “shocking,” arguing that it would require sending German soldiers operating the system to Ukraine, and “that, in turn, would involve Nato in a direct clash with Russia, something the alliance has been trying to avoid from the beginning.”

“This proposal affects Poland’s credibility and, worst of all, its security. The Germans get a clear signal that we do not want their help, so the defense potential of the Polish sky will be lower,” deputy editor Michal Szuldrzynski wrote. “In the worst war in Europe since 1945, this is an unforgivable mistake.”

An aide to Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said the president has not been consulted on the decision. The president is the supreme commander of Poland’s armed forces and has a say on matters of national security.

Duda believes that if the missiles are made available by Germany, regardless of where they are placed, they should first of all protect Poland’s territory and the Poles, Duda’s chief of staff Pawel Szrot said.

“If his idea is different” Blaszczak would have to convince Duda to it, but there have been no talks on the subject, Szrot told the WP.pl news portal.

Poland’s populist ruling party, facing elections next fall with its popularity dented by 18 percent inflation, has been ratcheting up its anti-German messaging, long a staple of the party’s campaign rhetoric. Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has also been trying to link his domestic opponents, particularly Donald Tusk, a former European Union leader, to Germany, saying Sunday that if Tusk’s party wins next year, Poland would find itself “under the German boot.”

When Germany recently offered Warsaw Eurofighter planes and Patriot air defense missile batteries, Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak initially said it was an offer he would accept with “satisfaction.”

The offer came after two men were killed when an apparently stray Ukrainian defense projectile fell in Poland near the border with Ukraine on November 15.

But Poland’s tune changed after Kaczynski gave an interview to the state news agency PAP on Wednesday, saying that the offer is “interesting,” but that “it would be best for Poland’s security if Germany handed the equipment to the Ukrainians.”

Since then, both Blaszczak and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have repeated the position of Kaczynski, the country’s most powerful leader.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Nato beefed up its defenses along its eastern flank, including Poland, while Warsaw has worked to strengthen the nation’s own military with massive armaments purchases.

Nato deployed US Patriot batteries to Poland, and German Patriot batteries to Slovakia, as well as a French equivalent system to Romania.

Nato’s policy is to not get directly involved in the war and to deploy the batteries only to protect member countries.

Tapping into anti-German feelings has long been a political strategy to win votes in Poland. Older Poles still carry the trauma of the atrocities inflicted on Poland by Germany during World War II.

With the election campaigning underway, Poland has been demanding $1.3 trillion in wartime reparations from Germany—a bill Berlin says it won’t pay.

Kaczynski also blames Germany for supporting EU efforts to defend the rule of law in Poland and reverse changes to the judiciary, by withholding funding.

Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created new strains.

Poland was long a critic of Germany’s gas deals with Russia and has also been critical of Berlin’s initial hesitancy to arm Ukraine.

In Poland, some critics pointed out that the government was not only refusing higher military protection but also turning its back on critical EU funding, billions of euros that have been held up by the government’s refusal to follow EU guidelines on safeguarding the independence of judges.

Kierwinski of the opposition Civic Platform party said Kaczynski “has gone mad” for “rejecting” the Patriot missiles and EU funding “during war and crisis.” AP

China’s daily Covid-19 tally tops 30K for 1st time as curbs spread

CHINA’S daily Covid infections broke through 30,000 for the first time ever as officials struggle to contain outbreaks that have triggered a growing number of restrictions across the country’s most important cities.

There were 31,987 new in fections reported for Thursday, up from Wednesday’s record of 29,754. The southern city of Guangzhou reported more than 7,500, while cases in the metrop olis of Chongqing topped 6,000. The capital, Beijing, saw daily infections exceed 1,800 with the

record tally and lockdown-like re strictions sparking panic buying in parts of the capital.

The persistently high caseloads have weighed on equity markets. Key Chinese stock gauges in Hong Kong and on the mainland headed for a weekly decline, set to snap a three-week rally.

Rising infections across the country are challenging Chinese authorities who want to shift away from city-wide lockdowns to more targeted measures that are less disruptive to residents and businesses. But after initially eas ing off on testing and movement restrictions—in line with a new 20-point virus playbook issued by Beijing—officials in some places are again imposing mass testing orders and lockdowns as they strive to meet the overriding ob jective of suppressing Covid.

That’s meant instead of issu ing explicit orders, major cities are locking down apartment block by apartment block and imposing other under-the-radar curbs. In Beijing, supermarket delivery apps are being overwhelmed after resi dents across Chaoyang, its biggest

district, were told not to leave their homes unless necessary. Grocery outlets in the district are also no longer taking orders.

Schools in a number of Beijing districts have been shut, with students switching to online learning. And anyone entering the capital is required to provide a negative PCR test result taken in the previous 48 hours before entering public venues or going on buses.

Zhengzhou, home to Apple Inc.’s largest iPhone manufac turing site, will be largely locked down for five days starting Friday. The order came after hundreds of workers at the plant known as ‘iPhone City’ clashed with security personnel as tensions boiled over following almost a month under tough restrictions.  Bloomberg News

Musk says granting ‘amnesty’ to suspended Twitter accounts

SAN FRANCISCO—New Twit

ter owner Elon Musk said Thursday that he is granting “amnesty” for suspended accounts, which online safety experts predict will spur a rise in harassment, hate speech and misinformation.

The billionaire’s announcement came after he asked in a poll posted to his timeline to vote on rein statements for accounts that have not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” The yes vote was 72 percent.

“The people have spoken. Am nesty begins next week. Vox Po puli, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”

Musk used the same Latin phrase after posting a similar poll last weekend before reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump, which Twitter had banned for encouraging the Janu ary 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Trump has said he won’t return to Twitter but has not deleted his account.

Such online polls are anything but scientific and can easily be in fluenced by bots.

In the month since Musk took over Twitter, groups that moni tor the platform for racist, antiSemitic and other toxic speech say it’s been on the rise on the world’s de facto public square. That has included a surge in rac ist abuse of World Cup soccer players that Twitter is allegedly failing to act on.

The uptick in harmful content is in large part due to the disorder following Musk’s decision to lay off half the company’s 7,500-per son workforce, fire top executives, and then institute a series of ul timatum that prompted hundreds more to quit.

Also let go were an untold num ber of contractors responsible for

content moderation. Among those resigning over a lack of faith in Musk’s willingness to keep Twit ter from devolving into a chaos of uncontrolled speech were Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth.

Major advertisers have also abandoned the platform.

On Octember 28, the day after he took control, Musk tweeted that no suspended accounts would be reinstated until Twitter formed a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints that would con sider the cases.

On Tuesday, he said he was re neging on that promise because he’d agreed to at the insistence of “a large coalition of political-social activists groups” who later “broke the deal” by urging that advertis ers at least temporarily stop giving Twitter their business.

A day earlier, Twitter reinstated the personal account of far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene,

which was banned in January for violating the platform’s Covid mis information policies.

Musk, meanwhile, has been getting increasingly chummy on Twitter with right-wing figures. Before this month’s US midterm elections, he urged “indepen dent-minded” people to vote Republican.

A report from the European Union published Thursday said Twitter took longer to review hate ful content and removed less of it this year compared with 2021. The report was based on data col lected over the spring—before Musk acquired Twitter—as part of an annual evaluation of online platforms’ compliance with the bloc’s code of conduct on disin formation. It found that Twitter assessed just over half of the no tifications it received about illegal hate speech within 24 hours, down from 82 percent in 2021. AP

Court hears secret recording of Pope Francis on hostage fees

VATICAN CITY—The Vatican tribunal weigh ing a financial fraud case heard from an unusual witness Thursday, when a se cret recording of Pope Francis was played to the court about the Holy See’s payments to free a nun held hostage by al-Qaedalinked militants.

The broadcast of the pope’s own voice in the courtroom marked a surreal new chapter in a trial that has already seen plenty of twists as Vatican judges try to determine who, if anyone, is criminally respon sible for losing tens of millions of euros in Holy See assets.

Vatican prosecutors in troduced the recording into evidence Thursday, saying it was part of a trove of mate rial recently obtained from Italian financial police who are investigating a Sardinian charity linked to Cardinal An gelo Becciu, a onetime close Francis collaborator who is one of the 10 defendants in the Vatican trial.

Vatican prosecutors re vealed that the Sardinian evi dence has also been added to a new Vatican investigation in which Becciu is under inves tigation for alleged criminal conspiracy.

According to Prosecutor Angelo Diddi, Becciu and a family associate secretly re corded Francis on July 24,

2021, three days before the Vatican trial opened, when Becciu spoke to him by phone from his Vatican apartment. While most of the defendants are facing charges related to the Vatican’s 350-millioneuro investment in a London property, Becciu is on trial for alleged abuse of office and em bezzlement in relation to his dealings with the Sardinian charity and with a self-styled security analyst who is also on trial, Cecilia Marogna.

In the recording, Becciu asks Francis to essentially confirm that the pope had authorized the payments to a British firm that Marogna had identified to negotiate the freedom of a Colombian

nun who was kidnapped in 2017 in Mali. Francis, who had just been released from a 10-day hospital stay, was familiar with the case and es sentially concurred, according to several lawyers who heard the recording. The tribunal president ordered journalists to leave the courtroom during the playback of the recording, on the grounds that it hadn’t yet been formally admitted into evidence.

Sister Gloria Cecilia Nar vaez was kidnapped in Mali in February 2017 by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which had bankrolled its insurgen cy by kidnapping Western ers. During her captivity, the group periodically showed

Narvaez on video asking for the Vatican’s help.

Becciu had told the court on May 5 that he had raised her plight with Francis and that the pon tiff had agreed to spend up to 1 million euros to hire the British firm, Inkerman Group, to find the nun and secure her freedom. She was eventually released last year and met with the pope.

While the recording cast a questionable light on Becciu for having secretly recorded the pope, it substantiated claims by Becciu and other defen dants that Francis was indeed familiar with, and in some cases approved, some of the expenditures that are at issue in the trial.

There is no provision in the Vatican law for the pope to be interrogated during a criminal trial, but defense lawyers have said they want to ask him what he knows about the various financial decisions, and said the audio recording bolstered their argument that the pope’s testimony is criti cal to the trial.

Prosecutors have accused Italian brokers and Vatican officials of a host of financial crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, corruption and abuse of office. In the London case, they accuse the defendants of defrauding the Holy See and of then extorting 15 million euros from the Vatican to acquire control of the property. The 10 defen dants all deny wrongdoing. AP

READY-FOR-COMBAT “Patriot” anti-aircraft missile systems of the German forces Bundeswehr’s anti-aircraft missile squadron 1 stand on the airfield of military airport during a media presentation in Schwesing, Germany, March 17, 2022. Polish leaders say that Patriot defense systems, which Germany offered Poland would be best given to Ukraine to help it protect itself against Russian strikes. Following Russia’s heavy barrage of Ukraine on Wednesday, November 23, 2022, Polish leaders said it would be better if the defense systems were placed in western Ukraine. AP

POPE Francis attends his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, November 16, 2022. The Vatican tribunal weighing a financial fraud case heard from an unusual witness on Thursday, November 24, 2022 when a secret recording of Pope Francis was played to the court about the Holy See’s payments to free a nun held hostage by al-Qaida linked militants. AP

Senator Bato hails, vows support to defense, sporting arms show

provisions of Republic Act. No.11766 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act 203) already in effect.

for educating the Filipino people on responsible gun ownership through its yearly arms show.

“

I’m grateful to AFAD for organizing these one-of-a-kind arms show. AFAD is trustworthy and distinguished organization,” said Dela Rosa during Friday’s opening of the AFAD-organized 28th Defense and Sporting Arms Show at the Mega Trade Hall of the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

“As chairman of the Senate Committee on Peace and Order, I support whatever their plans and program are for the industry,” De la Rosa added.

More than 40 booths showcasing the new line of world-class Filipino made and imported guns, ammunitions and paraphernalia are on displays at the show with AFAD— in collaboration with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and relevant government agencies—conducting educational seminars on responsible gun ownership and help desk for licensing and renewal.

Dela Rosa said he sees the greats increase on numbers of gun-owners and he expect this numbers to double as the implementing rules and regulations on the amended

The new law states that all licenses to possess a firearm, regardless of type or classification, and the registration of the firearm shall be renewed every five or ten years, at the option of the licensee.

The renewal date for both licenses to possess and registration of firearms shall be reckoned from the birthdate of the licensee unless sooner revoked or suspended.

The application for the renewal of the license or registration may be submitted to the Firearms and Explosives Office of the PNP within six months before the expiration date of the license or registration of the firearm.

A FAD president Hagen Topacio expressed his gratitude to Dela Rosa, a long-time supporter of AFAD program.

His presence has always created an impact to audiences, gun-owners and afficionados,” said Topacio, a silver medalist in trap at last May’s Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.

“It’s a blockbuster if Senator Bato Dela Rosa is around. The AFAD membership is always looking for programs and activities that will benefit the industry in general.”

The show will run until Monday.

RONALDO MAKES HISTORY

The Portugal striker became the first male player to score at five World Cups with his 65th-minute penalty in a 3-2 win over Ghana on Thursday.

Days after his contract was terminated at Manchester United following a tell-all interview he let his soccer do the talking at the start of likely his final World Cup.

“ This was a beautiful moment,” Ronaldo said. “The world record, the only player to score in five World Cups, makes me very proud.”

W heeling away after the ball struck the back of the net to give Portugal a 1-0 lead, a smiling Ronaldo performed his usual leap and swivel in the air—the crowd roared his trademark “SI-UUU” as he did the pirouette—before getting mobbed by teammates.

He has now scored in every World Cup since his first in 2006, when a penalty against Iran started his run of goals in the tournament that’s now up to eight in 18 matches. He has a men’s record 118 international goals.

“ I think Cristiano is a phenomenon, a legend,” Portugal coach Fernando Santos said. “In 50 years, we will continue to talk about him.”

Finis Long Course Luzon leg unwraps at New Clark City

MORE than 200 young swim mers from 22 clubs troop to the New Clark City Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac, this weekend for the Finis Philippines’ Long Course Swimming Championships Luzon leg.

Finis Philippines Managing Direc tor Vince Garcia said brand ambassadors and national swimmers Kyla Soguilon, Marcus DeKam and juniors record holder Jamesray Ajido and Jasmine “Water Beast” Mojdeh will give inspirational messages in the opening

ceremony set at 8 a.m. Saturday

“Our Finis brand ambassadors are all products of grassroots programs supported by the company,” said Garcia, an active triathlete and godfather to TODO Para Triathletes team.

“Their presence will boost the morale of the young swimmers who all want to follow their footsteps.”

The best swimmers in the Luzon leg will qualify as National Capital Region representatives to the National Championships set December

H is latest scoring record adds to the luster of a resume that should ensure Ronaldo receives plenty of offers from new clubs after splitting with United on Tuesday. That came after he gave an unauthorized interview to

17 and 18 also at New Clark City.

They will be pitted against champions from the Visayas and Mindanao legs held in Las Paz, Iloilo, and Zamboanga City, respectively.

The Angeles City, Baguio Invictus, Bulacan Water Dragons, Cainta Alpha, Dax Swim, Ilocos Urban, Manta Ray Swim Team, Marikina Poseidon, Viking, Pampanga, Baguio, St. Mary Swim Team and Joey Andaya Swim— with the biggest entry of 24—have confirmed their participation.

India’s Harshavardhan wins Asian chess title

INTERNATIONAL Master (IM)

Harshavardhan G B of India emerged standard champion unbeaten in the Asian Juniors and Girls Chess Championships at the Knights Templar Ridge Hotel in Tagaytay City on Friday.

Harshavardhan went for a routine draw—which was what the 19-year-old from Chennai needed to win the gold medal—with fellow IM Sugar GanErdene of Mongolia to prevail in the championships hosted by Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

He finished the nine-round competition with 7.0 points on five victories and four draws to pocket the gold medal of the event that gathered 52 of the brightest young players from 11 Asian countries.

Woman IM Ngoc Thuy Duong

Bach of Thailand won the girls’ gold medal with 7.5 points with WIM Ravi Rakshitta (7.0) of India clinching silver and WIM Amina Kairbekova (6.0) of Kazakhstan settling for bronze in the competition National Chess Federation of the Philippines Vice President Athena Bryana Tolentino, also Cavite’s vice governor, opened nine days ago ago.

The title-conquest gave Harshavardhan the first of three norms required for a player to earn a grandmaster title. He became an IM only two years ago.

I’m so very happy winning this tough and prestigious chess tournament,” said Harshavardhan, who improved on the bronze medal he clinched in last year’s Sri Lanka Asian championships.

Filipino IM Michael Concio Jr.

defeated International Indian IM Saha Neelash in the battle for the silver medal. Concio, playing out of Dasmariñas City, was also unbeaten with 6.5 points he built around four victories and five draws.

Gan-Erdene amassed 6.0 points along with four others but got the bronze medal after the tie break.

A lso with 6.0 points were Chatterjee Utsab (fourth) of India, Eric Labog Jr. (sixth) of the Philippines, IM Raahul V S (sixth) of India and Iran’s Fide Master Arman Hakemi (seventh).

Despite missing the podium, Labog earned his IM title after breaking the 2200 Elo rating barrier. Rounding out the boys’ top 10 with 5.5 points each were Saha Neelash on India, Fide Master Daniyal Sapenov of Kazakhstan and National Master Mark Jay Bacojo of the Philippines.

PSC convenes fact-finding body investigating ex-Bomber Amores

THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) laid the groundwork for a fact-finding committee on the case of basketball hothead

John Anthony Amores by convening a meeting among representatives from relevant organizations Friday.

PSC officials met with representatives from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Samahang Basket bol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and the league’s competition venue Filoil EcoOil Centre

at the sports agency’s offices at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila

The committee sought date from the representatives on what transpired during the event, what has been done and what measures to undertake to prevent violence in sports events.

A mores went on a punching spree during the Heavy Bombers’ losing game against the College of Saint Benilde Blazers last November 8 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

We are looking towards prevent ing and at the very least, minimizing incidents such as this in the future,” the PSC said in a statement. “We hope that we can be able to determine stronger measures so that we can move forward.”

It really creates an atmosphere of sportsmanship, teamwork and excellence as mandated by the Philippine Constitution,” the statement added.

The Senate prompted the PSC to form the fact-finding committee

H is fraught buildup to the tournament didn’t appear to affect Ronaldo against Ghana, even though he wasted two clear-cut chances in the first half.

It was a week that finished this chapter (with United),” Ronaldo said. “It is closed and now I want to start with the good foot forward. We started, we won, I want to help my team and all the rest does not matter.”

R onaldo ended the match with his head in his hands in pure relief after Ghana almost snatched a draw in the

72nd Fil-Am men’s golfest unfurls

THE seniors tournament begins Saturday with competitions in the Fil and Am A, B and C divisions in the 72nd Fil-Am Men’s Invitational at the Baguio Country Club (BCC) and Camp John Hay (CJH) Golf Club courses in Baguio City.

C amp John Hay Hotels is the favorite in Fil-A while Baguio Blue Bloods is the marked team in Am-A. Posing a strong challenge are Forest Hills and Pradera Verde.

A ction in Fil-B will be as exciting as co-hosts BCC and CJH go headto-head Cargo Freight and Davao Eaglemasters I tasked to pull off a surprise.

The International Container

during a Senate Committee on Finance budget hearing two weeks ago.

“The PSC as principal agency which supervises amateur sports is very concerned not only on the reputation of the sport of basketball, the organiza tion of the NCAA, but we are also very concerned about the example being given to the youth, it is one of the major reasons why we have undertaken this fact-finding process,” the statement said.

The PSC added: “Rest assured that

Terminal Services Inc.-TMI squad, one of the most experienced in the field, is expected go all the way in Fil-C.

Luista Golf Club will defend its Fil-Championship crown it won in 2019 before the Seniors Fil-Am was grounded due to the pandemic. Onetime champ Megafiber heads the list in the Am Championship.

The two-week event is held in partnership with Baguio Country Club, Camp John Hay Golf Club, The Manor, The Forest Lodge and Le Chef with 3K Rock Engineering and Construction Corp., Toyota, Boysen and Columbia Sportswear as presenters.

the PSC, in its capacity and authority granted by law, will continue to be a partner of NCAA and sports organizations. We do not have any intention of interfering with [your] own organization’s rules, operations, and decisions. It is only our intent to ensure that we are able to create an atmosphere where sports is fit to be used by all of those who participate in it as a framework of sportsmanship, teamwork, and excellence.

I n the last action of the game, Ghana striker Inaki Williams hid

Diogo Costa as the Portugal

rolled the ball on the ground and prepared to clear it. Williams dispossessed Costa and, despite slipping, managed to poke the ball toward goal.

Portugal defender Danilo raced back and cleared the ball away from near the line as Ronaldo, who was sitting in the dugout after being substituted, watched in disbelief.

All the goals came in a wild final halfhour, with Andre Ayew equalizing for Ghana eight minutes after Ronaldo converted his penalty after tumbling under a challenge by Mohammed Salisu. Ghana coach Otto Addo called the penalty “a special gift from the referee.”

Joao Felix regained the lead for Portugal in the 78th minute following a through-ball by Bruno Fernandes, who then set up Rafael Leao to add a third. Osman Bukari reduced Ghana’s deficit in the 89th, celebrating in comical fashion by performing Ronaldo’s “SI-UUU” twirl. AP

Alday leads Spicy Oragon past NE Slashers

BICOL star Alwin Alday shone on both ends to lift the Spicy Oragon to a nail-biting 73-72 escape over the Nueva Ecija Slashers Thursday night in the Pilipinas Super League Pro Division Second Conference Dumper Cup at the San Andres Gym in Manila.

Guard Jordan Ingel shoved the Slashers to within 70-71 with a layup with one minute remaining but Alday calmly sank two pressure-packed free throws for a 73-70 Bicol lead with 52 seconds to go.

Nueva Ecija still had a lifeline after forward Jeric Nacpil’s two charities pegged a 72-73 count and Alday missed a floater.

But Alday saved the day for Bicol by blocking Kris Torado’s gamewinning attempt that sealed the Spicy Oragon’s gutsy win in the tilt presented by Dumper party-list and Winzer and supported by Wcube Solutions Inc., MDC, Unisol, Don Benitos, and Finn Cotton, with Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and Gilas Pilipinas great Marc Pingris serving as commissioner.

A lday tallied 13 points, three assists and two rebounds for Bicol, while Lester Reyes backed him up with 13 points and five rebounds.

Mario Bonleon also had 10 points and five rebounds for the Spicy Oragon.

Nacpil scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Slashers, while Edzel Mag-Isa got 16 points.

Rence Alcoriza propelled Manila to a 95-87 victory over Batang KankalooCaloocan in the other game.

A lcoriza notched 27 points he laced with seven rebounds and four assists for the Stars, while Kyle Neypes and Levi Dela Cruz added 12 points each.

Macky Acosta finished with 11 points and five rebounds for Manila. Maurice Shaw got four rebounds and two points in 11 minutes in his Stars debut.

BAGUIO City Mayor Benjamin Magalong (center) pose for posterity after hitting the ceremonial ball with Fil-Am Foundation Board of Trustees members Engineer Eliseo Lagman and Freddie Mendoza, Baguio Country Club general manager Anthony de Leon and Camp John Hay Golf Club general manager Jude Eustaquio.

CRISTIANO ROLANDO is the first male player to score at five World Cups with his 65th-minute penalty in a 3-2 win over Ghana on Thursday. AP

SENATOR Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa checks on one of the firearms on display.

SENATOR Ronald “Bato”

Dela Rosa commended the Association of Firearms and Ammunitions Dealers of the Philippines Inc. (AFAD)

DOHA, Qatar—Cristiano Ronaldo closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and then made World Cup history.

Piers Morgan criticizing the manager, owners and his teammates at the English club.

ninth minute of stoppage time thanks to a piece of ingenuity.

behind

goalkeeper

30.

31.

LUO, ZICHENG Chinese Speaking Data Entry Clerk

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about products and services

YANG, SI Chinese Speaking Data Entry Clerk

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about products and services

- Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience, good in oral communication and written

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Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience, good in oral communication and written

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

32.

FANG, TAIPING Chinese Speaking Graphic Designer

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HUANG, HUANZI Chinese Speaking Program Designer

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about products and services

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience, good in oral communication and written

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/ good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 33.

Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic

30,000

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience, good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese dialect (Mandarin, Folkien, Cantonese)

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Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese dialect (Mandarin, Fukien, Cantonese)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese dialect (Mandarin, Folkien, Cantonese)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese dialect (mandarin, folkien, cantonese).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese dialect (mandarin, folkien, cantonese).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese dialect (Mandarin, Folkien, Cantonese)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese dialect (mandarin, folkien, cantonese).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese dialect (mandarin, folkien, cantonese).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Chinese dialect (Mandarin, Folkien, Cantonese) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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Basic Qualification:

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Brief Job Description: Assist/Help customers, give customers information about product and services

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

Basic Qualification: With Atleast 6 Months Customer Service Experience/ Good in Oral Communication and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: With Atleast 6 Months Customer Service Experience/ Good in Oral Communication and Written

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/ good in oral communication and written

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/ good in oral communication and written.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: With Atleast 6 Months Customer Service Experience/ Good in Oral Communication and Written

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at least