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[FILE] A Filipino military personnel in uniform on patrol during a general quarantine amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in San Pablo City, Laguna, on February 28, 2021. RENATO BORLAZA | DREAMSTIME.COM

ALL SEEMS QUIET NOW ON THE MUP FRONT

House, DND, other govt agencies resolve military pension dilemma. Next will be the Senate’s show

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By Rex Anthony Naval

OR now, all seems quiet at the ranks of the Military and Uniformed Personnel (MUP), especially those affiliated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as some of the proposed amendments recommended by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” C. Teodoro Jr. has been incorporated into House Bill 8969.

House Bill 8969 is also known as the “Military and Uniformed Personnel Pension System Act.” Its principal author is House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez. The bill hurdled its third and final reading on September 26.

House Bill 8969, approved with a vote of 272-4 with one abstention, also provides for a guaranteed 3-percent annual salary increase for MUP for the first 10 years from the time the proposed law takes effect.

The proposed law rationalizes the system of granting monthly pension and other benefits to personnel of the uniformed services in a way that is fair to them and the national government.

“This landmark legislation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to the men and women in uniform, who risk their lives daily to maintain peace and order.

It provides a robust, sustainable, and fair pension system that recognizes their invaluable service to our nation,” Romualdez added.

The proposed reform, the House Speaker said, highlights efforts to ensure not only the wellbeing of the MUPs but also the country’s economic stability.

He added that House Bill 8969 is also the House of Representatives’ commitment to national security and fiscal responsibility.

“This landmark legislation demonstrates our unwavering commitment to the men and women in uniform, who risk their lives daily to maintain peace and order. It provides a robust, sustainable, and fair pension system that recognizes their invaluable service to our nation.”—House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez

“I congratulate the Ad Hoc Committee and my colleagues for their hard work and dedication towards this pressing issue,” Romualdez stressed.

Ball now in Senate’s court

AS this developed, Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, who also chairs the House Ad Hoc Committee on the MUP Pension System, said the fate of this proposed law is now at the hands of the Senate.

“As such, the work of the Ad Hoc Committee ends here. The ball is now in the Senate’s court, and

my counterpart, Senator Jinggoy [Estrada], has also insisted on the need for reform. That is a welcome shift in direction compared to the past Congress,” he said during the approval of House Bill 8969 on its second reading on September 20.

Salceda also stressed that there is no longer any debate between the MUP agencies and the economic managers that this proposed law is urgently needed.

“There is also no debate that the military and uniformed personnel deserve some degree of retirement protection from the state they protect. This consensus bill hurdled the House because it is fiscally, politically and morally acceptable,” he pointed out.

indigent military retirees 6. A mandatory contribution of 9 percent of salaries for new entrants, with a larger government counterpart of 12 percent, and retirement of new entrants at rank last held.

“For active and retired personnel, the structure of the pension system was preserved in full. But the great success of this reform is that we managed the risk of sudden increases in salary, as is typically the case for new Presidents,” Salceda noted.

He added that this proposed law will help reduce the unfunded liabilities of the MUP pension system from estimates of as high as P14 trillion to just P3.4 trillion.

DND request heeded

What went before

ALSO, Salceda said, the House of Representatives has accommodated the request of the DND chief as much as possible.

“We have also accommodated the request of the Secretary of National Defense [Teodoro] and he is now more or less satisfied. I trust that the AFP will be true to its word in contributing assets to the AFP Pension Trust Fund. I especially look forward to having the assets of the RSBS (Retirement and Separation Benefits System) infused right away,” he added.

Salceda said the key provisions of House Bill 8969, including the amendments accepted on the floor, are: 1. Full indexation, with a provision for adjustment, during adverse fiscal conditions 2. A guaranteed salary increase of 3 percent per annum over 10 years, which is already a sacrifice willingly made by the MUPs given the historical salary rate increase of 12 percent 3. The creation of two trust funds, one for the AFP, which will infuse at least P44 billion in assets to the Fund, and another for uniformed services 4. Uniform retirement benefits for total permanent disability 5. Provisions for assistance to

TEODORO earlier expressed his concerns on proposals calling for a blanket mandatory contribution for military personnel, especially long-serving ones.

“First, I do not subscribe to the proposed blanket mandatory contributions for military personnel, especially for those who have already completed at least 20 years of active service,” the defense chief noted.

Teodoro added that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. envisioned a carefully transitioned introduction of any pension reform plan so that those in active service will be impacted in the least possible way.

“It has been my position that their pensions and entitlements, including 100-percent automatic indexation, shall remain unchanged. Ensuring the non-diminution of their retirement benefits is the least we can do in recognition of their sacrifices to the country,” he pointed out.

Manuel Jose M. Dalipe, Ad Hoc Committee on Military and Uniformed Personnel Pension System chairperson, Congressman Joey Salceda for showing their care for our soldiers and taking steps in ensuring their welfare after they leave the military service,” it said in a statement.

It said this development would allow military personnel to focus on their mission of securing the country’s territorial integrity and sovereign rights, while ensuring the gains against terrorism and internal security are preserved.

“This is not an easy task. Our soldiers, who continue to be mentored by retirees and veterans, need to exert extra efforts to accomplish an evolving mission. We are once again grateful to the House of Representatives for listening to the concerns of the defense sector,” it added.

House Bill 8969 coverage

THE proposed law covers “all employees of the government who wear uniforms, with ranks, may

be armed or unarmed, primarily involved in national defense, enforcement of laws, and in the maintenance of peace, order, and security and who belong to any of the following services: AFP, Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Corrections, and commissioned officers of the hydrography branch of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority who were transferred from the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey.”

Mandatory retirement age under the bill is 57 years, or upon accumulation of 30 years of active service, whichever comes later.

MUP may voluntarily retire after 20 years of service.

For key officers, retirement is upon completion of a tour of duty or upon relief by the President.

MUP killed in action or wounded in action resulting in total disability, as certified by their respective services, shall be considContinued on A2

DND thankful

WITH this development, the DND expressed its thanks to the House of Representatives for hearing its concerns.

“The DND would like to thank House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Majority Leader

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 56.7430 n JAPAN 0.3789 n UK 69.1130 n HK 7.2527 n CHINA 7.7668 n SINGAPORE 41.4424 n AUSTRALIA 35.8332 n EU 59.7674 n KOREA 0.0421 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.1384 Source: BSP (October 13, 2023)

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What was Hamas thinking? For over three decades, it has had the same brutal idea of victory

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By Joseph Krauss | The Associated Press

ERUSALEM—In the three and a half decades since it began as an underground militant group, Hamas has pursued a consistently violent strategy aimed at rolling back Israeli rule—and it has made steady progress despite bringing enormous suffering to both sides of the conflict.

But its stunning incursion into Israel over the weekend marks its deadliest gambit yet, and the already unprecedented response from Israel threatens to bring an end to its 16year rule over the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s retaliation for the Hamas assault, in which over 1,200 people were killed in Israel and dozens dragged into Gaza as hostages, will likely bring a far greater magnitude of death and destruction to Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians have nowhere to flee and where 1,100 have already been killed.

Hamas officials say they are prepared for any scenario, including a drawn-out war, and that allies like Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah will join the battle if Israel goes too far.

“I don’t think anyone really knows what the endgame is at the moment,” said Tahani Mustafa, a Palestinian analyst at the Crisis Group, an

international think tank. But given the amount of planning involved in the assault, “it’s difficult to imagine they haven’t tried to strategize every possible scenario.”

Shaul Shay, an Israeli researcher and retired colonel who served in military intelligence, said Hamas “miscalculated” Israel’s response and now faces a far worse conflict than it had anticipated.

“I hope and I believe that Israel will not stop until Hamas has been defeated in the Gaza Strip, and I don’t think that this was their expectation before the operation,” Shay said of Hamas.

From upstart insurgence to proto-state

FROM its establishment in the late 1980s, on the eve of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Hamas has been committed to armed struggle and the destruction of Israel. At the

height of the peace process in the 1990s, it launched scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians.

The violence only intensified with the breakdown in peace talks and the far deadlier second Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Hamas attacks were met with massive Israeli military incursions into the occupied West Bank and Gaza that exacted a far heavier death toll on Palestinians. But as the violence wound down in 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and some 8,000 Jewish settlers from Gaza, while maintaining tight control over access to the enclave by land, air and sea.

Hamas claimed the withdrawal as vindication for its approach, and the following year it won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections. In 2007, after bitter infighting, it violently seized Gaza from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Over the next 16 years, through four wars and countless smaller battles with Israel that rained devastation upon Gaza, Hamas only grew more powerful. Each time it had more rockets that traveled farther. Each time its top leaders survived, securing a cease-fire and the gradual easing of a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt. In the meantime, it built a government—including a police force, ministries and border terminals with metal detectors and passport control.

And what of the thousands of Palestinians killed, the flattened apartment blocks, the crumbling in-

PALESTINIAN militants from Hamas ride on a truck with their weapons during the funeral of militant Emad Abu Kados who was killed during clashes with Fatah gunmen in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, June 13, 2007. AP

frastructure, the suffocating travel restrictions, the countless dreams deferred in Gaza, a 40-kilometer (25mile) coastal strip sandwiched between Israel and Egypt?

Hamas blamed Israel, as did many Palestinians. The Hamas government has seen only sporadic protests over the years and has quickly and violently suppressed them.

Negotiations and their discontents

IF Hamas’s armed struggle against Israel looks like a failure—or much worse—consider the alternative.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank recognized Israel and renounced armed struggle over three decades ago, hoping it would lead to a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

But the talks repeatedly broke down, partly because of Hamas’s violence but also because of Israel’s relentless expansion of settlements, now home to more than a half million Israelis. There have been no serious peace talks in well over a decade, and the Palestinian Authority has become little more than an administrative body in the 40 percent of the occupied West Bank where it is allowed to operate.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an 87-year-old moderate, has been powerless to stop settlement expansion, settler violence, home demoli-

tions or the unraveling of long-standing arrangements around a sensitive Jerusalem holy site. He has been sidelined during every Gaza war—including this one—and the Palestinian Authority is widely seen as a corrupt accomplice to the occupation.

“Palestinians have tried everything from elections to boycotts to the [International Criminal Court] to engaging in a supposed peace process,” said Mustafa, of the Crisis Group. “You’ve had one of the most conciliatory leaderships in the entire history of the Palestinian national movement, and that still hasn’t been enough.”

Still, the scale of last weekend’s attack takes Hamas’s approach into uncharted territory.

“It is unclear what Hamas’s endgame is beyond either fighting to the death or liberating Palestine,” said Hugh Lovatt, a Mideast expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The latest attack marks a “complete strategic rupture,” he said.

“Despite conducting attacks against civilians in the past and fighting previous wars against Israel, [Hamas] did also simultaneously engage in political tracks,” including negotiations with Abbas’s Fatah movement and even tacit coordination with Israel, Lovatt said.

“Now it appears to have fully embraced open-ended violence as its long-term strategic choice.”

For Israel, victory could again prove elusive

ISRAEL appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive in Gaza. It could reoccupy the territory and try to uproot Hamas, in what would surely be a long and bloody counterinsurgency. But even that might just drive the group—which is also present in Lebanon and the West Bank—back underground.

And Hamas has a horrifying trump card that could give Israel pause.

Hamas and the more radical Islamic Jihad militant group are holding some 150 men, women and children who were captured and dragged into Gaza. Hamas’s armed wing claims some have already been killed in Israeli strikes and has threatened to kill captives if Israel attacks Palestinian civilians without warning.

Hamas may succeed—as it has in the past—at trading them for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in a lopsided deal that Palestinians would see as a triumph and Israelis as agony.

Israel has faced virtually no calls for restraint in the wake of the Hamas attack, but that could change if the war drags on.

In the end, the two sides could find themselves returning to the status quo: An internationally mediated truce, with Hamas ruling over a devastated and aid-dependent Gaza, and Israel redoubling security along its frontier.

That too, for Hamas at least, would look like a victory.

All seems quiet now on the MUP front Continued from A1

ered compulsorily retired for purposes of computing their benefits.

The proposed MUP pension law further provides that for those already in active service before the enactment of the measure, their monthly retirement pay shall be 50 percent of the base pay and longevity pay of the grade next higher to the salary grade they last held in case of 20 years of service, increasing by 2.5 percent for every year of service beyond 20 years to a maximum of 90 percent for 36 years of service and over.

The retiree may opt to receive in advance in one lump sum his retirement benefits for 36 months and get his monthly pension after three years, or receive his pension as it accrues after his retirement.

In the case of MUPs killed or wounded in action resulting in total permanent disability, retirement pay is computed at 90 percent of their base pay plus longevity pay, regardless of years of service.

For new entrants, or those who entered or re-entered the service after the enactment of the proposed MUP pension law, retirement pay will be 50 percent of

their base pay plus longevity pay in case of 20 years of service, increasing by 2.5 percent for every year of service beyond 20 years to a maximum of 90 percent for 36 years of service and over.

The pension of retired MUP and survivorship pension of qualified survivors shall be automatically indexed at a rate not exceeding 100 percent of the increase in the base pay of active MUP holding the same rank during the same year.

The proposed law also creates two MUP trust funds, one for the AFP and another for uniformed personnel services, and an MUP trust fund committee chaired by the Secretary of Finance to administer the funds.

It designates the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) as manager of the trust funds.

Financing sources for the trust funds shall include mandatory monthly contributions from new MUP entrants at a rate of 9 percent of their salary, with the national government contributing 12 percent, augmentations from unprogrammed appropriations in the annual national budget, proceeds from lease, joint development and disposition of government proper-

ties, and government savings.

MUP trust funds will be exempt from all taxes, assessments, fees, charges, or duties of all kinds.

The trust fund committee is mandated to provide assistance to indigent pensioners.

The MUP pension bill punishes the commission of fraud, falsification, misrepresentation of facts, collusion or any similar anomaly in the issuance of any certificate or document for any purpose connected with the proposed law with a fine of not less than the amount defrauded but not more than three times such amount, or imprisonment of six months and one day to six years and perpetual disqualification from holding public office and practicing any profession licensed by the government.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Department of Finance in consultation with the Secretaries of National Defense, Interior and Local Government, Justice, Transportation, Environment and Natural Resources, Budget and Management, and the GSIS president and general manager, are mandated to issue implementing rules and regulations.

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

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Neda Board approves ₧270B worth of infra projects and new programs

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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HE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board led by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved on Friday around P270 billion worth of programs and infrastructure projects to facilitate the country’s “economic and social transformation.”

Among those given the go signal by the Board was the unsolicited P4.5-billion publicprivate partnership (PPP) project to upgrade and expand the Bohol-Panglao International Airport Project.

Once completed, the project will increase the current passenger capacity of the airport from 2 million to 3.9 million to boost tourism and generate more jobs in Bohol.

Also approved is the P392-million PPP project for the construction of a dialysis center for the renal center facility of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center to allow it to increase its 30 hemodialysis machines to 108 once it is completed by 2029.

Green economy initiatives

T H E Board also approved a second additional financing worth P13.08 billion to help fast track the completion of Green Economy Initiatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

Of the said amount P11.38 billion will be financed through official development a s s i s t a n c e (O DA ) f r o m t h e A s i a n Development Bank.

DTI launches online complaints resolution system for consumers

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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Friday launched the Consumer Complaints Assistance and Resolution (CARe) system, an online dispute resolution system, which is expected to fast track the processing of consumer complaints in the country.

Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual told reporters on the sidelines of the launch on Friday that digitalized system would help expedite the processing of consumer complaints.

“First, the filing will be fast. Second, communication will also be fast because it’s done online,” the Pascual said.

Pascual compared this to the process of filing complaints before when complaints would require consumers to make phone calls or require complainants to visit the DTI office.

“And then the mediation will be faster because it’s online. Before, you would still set a meeting,” the Trade chief pointed out.

To provide a “more efficient and seamless” complaint filing process, the DTI and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the University of the Philippines Public Administration

Another project approved by Board was the P3.62-billion solid waste management initiative funded by the European Union to promote circular economy, reduce waste and plastic, and increase energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment.

Neda also approved changes in the following projects: the new engineering design of the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge Project, which will increase its cost from P175.6 billion to P219.3 billion. The updated project plans for the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit (BTR), which will raise its cost from P16.3 billion to P28.78 billion and reset its completion date to December 2027.

“With these approved projects, the Marcos administration reaffirms its commitment to aggressively advance infrastructure

Research and Extension Services Foundation, Inc. (UPPAF), introduced the DTI CARe System in Makati City.

According to Pascual, “the PODRS [Philippine Online Dispute Resolution System] and CARe Systems are not just tools but symbols of our commitment to justice, fairness, and progress.”

“They signify our government’s dedication to fostering a more inclusive and equitable society where access to justice and consumer protection is within everyone’s reach. With such systems, consumers will have a strong ally in their corner to safeguard their interests,” Pascual said.

Having an Asean Commitment under the Strategic Action Plan on Consumer Protection (ASAPCP) 2016-2025, which seeks to establish an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) system, DTI said this commitment aims to enhance consumer confidence in the Asean Economic Community (AEC) and cross-border commercial transactions by creating an ODR (online dispute resolution) system in each Asean member state, DTI noted.

“The DTI CARe System offers a user-friendly interface and robust security features, enabling consumers to file complaints and find resolutions easily,” DTI said in a statement issued on Friday.

Andrea E. San Juan

development to attain our medium-term development goals of more high-quality jobs and better lives for all Filipinos,” Neda Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said at a news briefing in Malacañang.

Legal scrubbing

NEDA said its hopes to accelerate the completion of the said projects with the issuance of proposed executive orders (EO) that would enable the “expeditious processing of licenses, clearances, permits, certifications and authorizations for the government’s infrastructure flagship projects [IFPs].”

“I think they’re still doing some legal scrubbing but it should come out soon,” Balisacan assured.

He said they are also getting more

feedback with the concerned agencies for the said EOs. The NEDA head said they want to address the existing delays in the said projects, which can lead to additional costs for the government such as in the case of the Cebu BTR project.

Sustainable debts

THE Neda head assured that the ongoing infrastructure projects and programs of the Marcos administration will not burden the country with “unsustainable level of debt.”

“After the Covid [pandemic] when the debt was increased substantially, we are on a downward track. We want to get those debts and those deficits at a lower level by

the time that we leave, this administration ends,” Balisacan said.

In its August data, the Bureau of Treasury reported the country’s outstanding debt rose by 0.7 percent to P14.35 trillion from the previous month.

Balisacan noted the administration was able to minimize its expenses for the said infrastructure projects by using PPP. “So if they can take over the financing of these infrastructure projects, particularly the operation and maintenance of these projects, the better. Because then, we can use the very limited resources that we have for social services like health, education, social protection, ayuda [cash assistance]...which you know, would not be too attractive for the private sector,” Balisacan said.

PHL and UK reaffirm ‘strong’ defense ties

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HE Philippines and the UK reaffirmed their “strong” defense relationship following a visit of one of its ministers to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Thursday, October 12.

This was after UK Minister of State for IndoPacific Defence Engagement, Baroness Annabel Goldie, met with AFP Inspector General Lt. Gen. William Gonzales and discussed the two countries’ defense relationship.

“In their meeting, the two discussed increasing Philippine-UK military engagements supported by the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation that is rooted in a long history of friendship and defense cooperation engagements,” AFP public affairs office chief Lt. Col. Enrico Gil Ileto said in a statement released on Friday.

“The two officials also upheld their

common position on the respect for maritime law and in calling out illegal activities in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone,” he added.

Ileto also said Gonzales extended the AFP’s gratitude to the UK for its support to the military’s peace and development projects in the Bangsamoro Region.

Aside from this, the AFP Inspector General lauded the UK for “continuing their intelligence exchange and training engagements in CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear), peacekeeping, and counter-violent extremism” with their Filipino counterparts.

“Baroness Goldie likewise emphasized the importance of continuing to find other ways to work together and share exper tise and knowledge for mutual benefit,” Ileto said.

As this developed, Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Toribio Adaci Jr. expressed his thanks to Goldie for the Royal Navy’s assistance in training PN pilots He made this comment shortly after the UK Minister’s visit to PN headquarters Thursday.

“Baroness Goldie’s courtesy call on the Navy chief yielded fruitful discussions highlighting both countries’ intent to further strengthen defense and maritime cooperation, the challenges to the rulesbased international systems, and the inaugural Philippine-UK Maritime Dialogue held last February,” Navy spokesperson Captain Benjo Negranza said.

Both leaders were both looking forward to more “engagements and collaborations” as the two countries further their ties and commitment in the areas of defense, security, and maritime, he added. Rex Anthony Naval

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DND awaiting TWG recommendation for LRPA procurement for PAF–Teodoro

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News

HE Department of National Defense (DND) will defer action on the contract to acquire two long-range patrol aircraft (LRPA) and other military technologies from Israel’s Elbit Systems amid the escalation of Israel-Hamas conflict.

Interviewed at the sidelines of launch of the 2024 Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APRMCDRR) at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on Friday, Defense Secretary Teodoro “Gibo” said he would wait for the recommendation of a technical working group (TWG) on the purchase on the new air assets.

In June, news reports revealed that Elbit Systems won a $114 million contract from the Philippines for the supply of two LRPA. News reports said the Philippine requirements were for two maritime LRPA to equip the 300th A ir Intelligence and Security Wing. Moreover, the report said work under the contract would run through 2029. The company said that the two planes will be based on the turboprop ATR 72-600, and that each will be integrated with its own Israeli-made sensors and subsystems. “ T h at w i l l depend on t he technical working groups’ recommendation. I don’t want to pre-empt our technical working group,” he said.

According to Teodoro, the Israel-Hamas conflict is a wake up call for the Philippines.

Teodoro also said he is awaiting a report from DND officials regarding the need, if any, to repatriate Filipinos in the conflictaffected areas in Israel, to ensure their safety.

“We are willing, ready and able to repatriate our fellow Filipinos,” says Teodoro.

However, he said it would depend on the assessment of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and those who want to be repatriated.

Meanwhile, Teodoro said a battalion from the Philippines would be deployed in South Sudan as part of a peacekeeping force in the country. Jonathan L. Mayuga

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NSA to push for Hamas’ listing as a terror group A

Grundfos’ ₧1.4-million donation for MTFI to boost ‘greening’ of critical watersheds

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By Rex Anthony Naval

VEN as the Philippines expressed its condolences to the families of the victims killed and injured in the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel, National Security Adviser (NSA) Eduardo Año on Friday announced that they will push for the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization under the country’s anti-terrorism law.

“In solidarity with the people of Israel, we will push for the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization under RA [Republic Act]

11479 as a priority agenda of the Anti-Terrorism Council,” he said.

RA 11479 is also known as the “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.”

Sen. Bong Go extends support to Makilala, Cotabato soldiers

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ENATOR Christopher “Bong” Go, vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on National Defense, personally provided support and assistance to soldiers at the 39th Army Infantry Battalion, 10th Infantry Division (10ID) in Barangay Poblacion, Makilala, Cotabato on Monday, October 9.

The senator and his team distributed grocery packs to 485 military personnel and balls for basketball and volleyball to select recipients.

In his speech, Go recognized the tremendous sacrifices soldiers make to ensure the safety of their fellow Filipinos.

It can be recalled that prior to him being elected in the Senate, Go served as a Special Assistant to the President during the Duterte administration, during which, he helped former president Rodrigo Duterte fulfill the salary hike of the government’s military and

uniformed personnel.

Go likewise expressed his support for the proposed Salary Standardization Law 6, saying, “as cosponsor and author of Salary Standardization Law 5 during the 18th Congress, sana po ay magkaroon pa ng bagong Salary Standardization Law 6. I’m one with the government in seeking to provide another increase in salaries for those working in the public sector.”

“Sa totoo lang parati naming naririnig salamat Pangulong Duterte, salamat senador sa mga programa. Huwag po kayong magpasalamat sa amin. Kami po ang dapat magpasalamat sa inyo dahil binigyan n’yo po kami ng pagkakataon na makapagserbisyo po sa inyo.

Maraming, maraming salamat po sa inyo,” cited Go. “Ang dapat pong pasalamatan ang ating mga sundalo. Kaya noong panahon ng giyera sa

Likewise, the NSA strongly condemns the “terrorist assault” by Hamas against Israel and its people.

“This was a deadly and barbaric terrorist assault on Israel targeting its civilian population and Israel has every right, as much as any nation, to defend and protect itself from this attack, which has already claimed more than 1,200 lives, including that of two Filipinos, and wounded some 3,000 others,” Año said.

As of this writing, three Filipinos working in Israel are still unaccounted for.

“Together with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr, we hope for a swift resolution to this conflict, we pray for the safety of innocent civilians, and we offer our thanks to the Government of Israel for its efforts to protect our citizens,” the NSA stressed.

Marawi mahigit sampung beses kaming pumunta sa Marawi ni [dating] pangulong Duterte.

Umabot kami doon mahigit sampung beses para bisitahin po ang mga sundalo to give a moral boost sa kanila. Nandirito po ang inyong senador at nandiyan rin lang po si former president [Duterte] na laging handang sumuporta at handang magpakamatay rin po para sa inyo, handang magpakamatay para sa bayan,” he added.

In the Senate, Go has filed Senate Bill No. 422, with the goal of offering complimentary legal aid to members of the Armed Forces and law enforcement officers who confront charges while fulfilling their official duties and responsibilities.

Acknowledging the substantial burdens carried by these uniformed individuals, the senator underscored the significance of guaranteeing that they obtain adequate legal support for as long as they are fulfilling their mandate in accordance with the law.

NONGOVERNMENT organization-led reforestation initiative got a muchneeded boost through a grant from Grundfos Foundation of Denmark.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed on Friday at the SMC Multi-Purpose Center inside the Million Trees Nursery and Eco Learning Center in Quezon City between the Million Trees Foundation Inc. (MTFI) and Grundfos.

MTFI President and Executive Director Melandrew T. Velasco and Grundfos Country Director Thomas Mikkelsen signed the MOA witnessed by the Grundfos IS Support & Operation Team Manager Josephine De La Cerna and staff Kassandra Anne Carmesis, Justine Mislang, Adreian Villanueva and Jerome Dominic Atendido who made the grant approval possible.

The MTFI, together with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and its private-sector partners, is targeting to plant 1 million trees every year to rehabilitate the country’s open, degraded, and denuded forest, with a particular focus on the critical watersheds.

As the world’s leading pump company, Grundfos founder Poul Due Jensen created the foundation on May 19, 1975. Poul Due Jensen wanted to ensure that his company would continue to serve the best interest of society for many generations to come.

As such, he transferred ownership of the company to the Grundfos Foundation (Poul Due Jensen Foundation).

According to Mikkelsen, the main purpose of the Grundfos Foundation is to ensure and support healthy economic growth and development, but it also donates funds to important philanthropic purposes.

“This project grant for Million Trees Foundation has been approved over projects from other places in the world. This means that our foundation committee thinks that

this is a worthwhile cause and that it goes well together with our company values,” Mikkelsen said.

“I like very much that it is not just, as Mr. Mel Velasco emphasized earlier, we are not just planting the trees and then that’s it. No, it goes further than that. It’s thinking about how we can integrate this. We talked about the walking trail but also about integrating education. What we need to do is not just fix the immediate problem; we need to change the mindset for the future. And the only way we can do that is by educating people.”

He commended the overall efforts of the Million Trees Foundation for serving as the lead NGO of the Annual Million Trees Challenge of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) that started the noble project in 2017 with partner stakeholders which has so far planted 6.8 million trees until 2022 to protect seven critical watersheds.

“We have a purpose, that is to help the water with the world’s climate and water challenges. With water, we can do a lot with our products and our technology to bring water to people. That’s what we can really deliver. But in order to protect water, no amount of technology can do that. That’s where Mother Nature comes in. And this is where it’s so important, in something like this project with Million Trees Foundation where we plant trees to protect our watersheds,” Mikkelsen said.

Called the 9150 CARES GOES GREEN PROJECT, the MOA calls for a) the procurement and planting of 5,000 seedlings/saplings involving fruit bearing and indigenous trees; b) monitoring the actual process of reforestation or rehabilitation needed for one year and replacement of dead saplings if the need arises; c) re-bagging of 1,500 seedlings; and, d) maintenance, operational and information campaign support for the MTFI and the project. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Magnitude 5 quake jolts Batangas, parts of NCR

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MAGNITUDE 5 earthquake struck Lemery, Batangas, and nearby towns in Cavite, including Metro Manila Friday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.

The earthquake occurred at exactly 8:24 a.m. with its epicenter in Calaca. Phivolcs said it is expecting damage, but there was no report of casualties as of this writing.

Incidentally, the earthquake took place a few minutes before the official launch of the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction 2024 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, which the Philippines will be hosting next year.

According to Phivolcs, Intensity 5 was felt in the towns of Lemery and Intensify 4 in Cuenca, Bauan, Sta. Teresita and San Luis. The same level of intensity was felt

in Tagaytay City, and Muntinlupa City in Metro Manila.

Intensity 3 was also felt in Laurel, Batangas, and Dolores, Quezon, while Talisay and Rosario experienced magnitude 2 earthquake, along with Magallanes in Cavite, Boac in Marinduque and the City of Las Piñas, Pasay in Metro Manila; Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Mauban, Polilo and Gumaca, in Quezon; Taytay and Antipolo in the Province of Rizal.

Intensity 1 was felt in Dinalupihan, Bataan; Malvar, Batangas; Malolos City, and Guiguinto, in Bulacan; Ternate, Cavite; San Pablo, Laguna; Malabon City, Pateros, City of San Juan, City of Parañaque, in Metro Manila; Abra De Ilog, and Mamburao, in Occidental Mindoro; Lucban, Lucena City, and Alabat, Quezon; and Tanay, Rizal. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Malacañang releases list of 2024 special holidays

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HE EDSA People Power Revolution, which ended the presidency of the late strongman and former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., will no longer be a special holiday next year since it falls on a weekend.

This after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. issued on Wednesday Proclamation No. 368, which excluded the bloodless regime change from the list of holidays for 2024.

However, the updated list of special holidays for 2024 includes Christmas Eve and Chinese New Year.

In a statement, the Office of the President (OP) explained that the EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary, which is held every February 25, would not be considered a special holiday next year since it will be celebrated on a Sunday.

“There is a minimal socioeconomic impact in declaring such day as a special non-working holiday since it coincides with the rest day for most workers/laborers,” OP said.

But it added that it maintains its respect for the commemoration of the event.

As for the Chinese New Year, Marcos said he included the event on the list of special holidays in 2024 since it is a “most revered and festive event celebrated not only in China, but also in the Philippines.”

In his Proclamation No. 42 issued last year, Marcos declared only seven special non-working holidays for 2023, including the EDSA People Power Revolution Anniversary.

The number of special non-working holidays increased to eight under Proclamation

368, covering the following dates: August21 (Ninoy Aquino Day); (November 1) All Saints’ Day; December 8 (Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary); December 31 (Last Day of the Year).

Also included on the list are February 10 (Chinese New Year); March 30 (Black Saturday); November 2 (All Souls’ Day); and December 24 (Christmas Eve).

To note, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary also falls on a Sunday next year, but Republic Act No. 10966 mandates it to be always celebrated as a special non-working holiday, unlike the EDSA People Revolution Anniversary, which has no such supporting law.

Meanwhile, proclamation 368 also contained the list of regular holidays next year.

These are Januar y 1 (New Year ’s Day); March 28 (Maundy Thursday); March 29 (Good Friday); April 9 (Araw ng Kagitingan); May 1 (Labor Day); June 12 (Independence Day); August 26 (National Heroes Day); November 30 (Bonifacio Day); December 25 (Christmas Day); and December 30 (Rizal Day).

Marcos said he would come out with separate proclamations declaring national holidays for the observance of Eid’l Fitr and Eid’l Adha based on the date recommended by the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos.

He also ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to issue the necessary pay rules for the said holidays.

Samuel P. Medenilla

www.businessmirror.com.ph

OurTime BusinessMirror

One in 10 Japanese now aged over 80, says population report

By Isabel Reynolds

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he over-80s for the first time accounted for more than 10 percent of Japan’s population, according to a government report issued to mark the annual Respect for the Aged Day. Japan’s persistently low birthrate and long lifespans have made it the oldest country in the world in terms of the proportion of people aged over 65, which this year hit a record of 29.1 percent.

Ballooning social security spending has added to Japan’s massive debt and the shortage of young people has left many industries short of labor—not least carers for the elderly. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the country risks losing its ability to function if it does not take radical measures.

Japan’s steps to bolster the birthrate haven’t been successful, while authorities have been hesitant to accept large numbers of migrant workers to make up the shortfall. Last year, the number of babies born fell to less than 800,000 for the first time since records began in the 19th century.

Similar problems with aging and shrinking populations are spreading across other parts of Asia, with South Korea expected to take over as the world’s grayest nation in the coming decades.

China’s population began to shrink in 2022 for the first time in 60 years.

Japan’s overall population fell by about half a million to 124.4 million, according to the report. It’s expected to tumble to less than 109 million by 2045.

11 million-worker shortfall

Japan may face a shortage of more than 11 million workers by 2040, a study has found, underscoring the economic challenges the nation faces as its population ages rapidly.

The working age population is expected to rapidly decline from 2027, according to the study by independent think-tank Recruit Works Institute. The worker supply is expected to shrink by

about 12 percent in 2040 from 2022, even as labor demand remains steady, the report said.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made reversing Japan’s declining birthrate a priority for his government, as he warns of societal collapse as the number of babies born hits a new low. He has also pledged about ¥1 trillion ($7.6 billion) to training workers for more high-skilled jobs in the next five years.

Still, the nation of 126 million is already starting to feel the strain, with the working-age population expected to shrink by 20 percent from 2020 to 59.8 million by 2040, according to the report.

Kishida is already seeking ways to address a serious shortage of truck drivers expected by next year. The study also warns shortfalls are likely to become acute in labor-intensive sectors like transportation and construction, as well as health care due to growing demands from an aging population.

Japan’s relative decline in global economic standing and a similar aging crisis around the world means that boosting immigration is not the most viable solution over the long-term, the study led by chief researcher Shoto Furuya said.

An earlier research by the Value Management Institute said Japan needs 6.74 million foreign workers by 2040, or nearly four times the number it had in 2020, to achieve an average annual growth of about 1.24 percent.

Japan’s rural-urban divide is likely to get worse over time as well, the study finds, with all of the nation’s prefectures except Tokyo facing a labor shortfall by 2040. Kyoto prefecture would lack about 39 percent of the workers it needs, while the northern island of Hokkaido will see an insufficiency rate of nearly 32 percent.

The report also cautions that their estimates are relatively conservative, as the model assumes almost no economic growth. This means any significant increase in economic activity will make the shortage even more severe. With assistance from Marika Katanuma / Bloomberg

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son for Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities Welfare Program of MSSD. Bai Fatty Accoy, Social Welfare Officer of the Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) of MSSD, presented about the B-CARES Program’s Medical Assistance. April Karenicka Kusin, a personnel of PhilHealth Cotabato, discussed the Konsulta Package for Elderlies.

In her message, Atty. Raissa Jajurie, MSSD Minister, emphasized the Bangsamoro Organic Law’s mandate for ministries to support the primary roles of provincial and municipal social welfare offices. She also assured that MSSD is committed to intensifying social service delivery to reach the most vulnerable sectors.

“The government is obliged to provide an integrated and comprehensive approach to the health development of the underprivileged, sickly, women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly,” Minister Jajurie stated.

“I’m glad that we have this activity where MSSD, CRMC, and other partners join forces in addressing and responding to the vulnerabilities of the elderly,” she added.

Minister Jajurie also pledged MSSD’s support for CRMC’s work and the fulfillment of its own mandate.

Present also during the culmination event were Dr. Maylilene Fuentes and Dr. John Maliga of CRMC and partners from Unilab, Kalbe, United American Pharmaceutical, and Yakult. Jidday Luc-

man, Information Officer III of MSSD

Elderly participants line up to receive free medical consultations from CRMC, including bone screening, hemoglobin screening, glucose screening, vital signs testing, and other medical check-ups.

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189 senior citizens in Ilocos Norte receive cash incentives

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AOAG CITY—A total of 189 senior citizens aged 80 years to 99 years from this city received cash incentives from the local government on October 9 as part of the celebration of the Elderly Filipino Week.

Laoag City Mayor Michael M. Keon led the distribution of the cash incentives at the Laoag City Central Terminal, according to City Social Welfare and Development Office head Perlita Cabello.

Under the milestone award, senior citizens who reached 80 to 84 years are given P2,000; 85-89 years, P3,000; 90-94 years, P5,000; and 9599 years, P10,000.

The cash incentive is on top of the centenarian gift of P100,000 as provided under Republic Act 10868 or the Centenarians Act of 2016.

The celebration of the Elderly Filipino Week is mandated under Proclamation 470, issued by former President Fidel V. Ramos.

In this province, however, the celebration is month-long.

The town of Bangui will be host-

ing the grand coronation of the Guwapong Lolo and Gandang Lola on Oct. 18, to be attended by more than 1,500 delegates from the different local government units.

Carolyn Domingo, focal person for senior citizens of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, said in an interview on Wednesday that former Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who hails from Bangui, will be the guest of honor and speaker.

“To further enliven the affair, there will also be a folk dance competition among the delegates,” she said.

Throughout Ilocos Norte, less fortunate senior citizens who struggle with their personal care already get cash incentives under Provincial Ordinance 2018-10-063, which was approved five years ago.

Teodora Valencia, a senior citizen from Ilocos Norte receives a P3,000 cash aid from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office in this undated photo. Local government units in the province prepared some activities for the month-long celebration of Elderly Filipino Week this October.

PNA photo by Leilanie Adriano

Aside from receiving cash incentives, seniors in the province also get financial assistance for their medical, burial, and food subsidies under the government’s assistance to individuals in crisis situations (AICS).

Meanwhile, senior citizens in the town of Piddig also get a free trip with free movie passes every month at the Robinsons Cinema.

Republic Act 9994, or the “Expanded Senior Citizen’s Act of

The unsung bearer of our culture

Free services for indigent senior citizens in celebration of Filipino Elderly Week total of 100 indigent senior citizens in Cotabato City benefited from a range of free services during the culmination event of the Filipino Elderly Week on October 10, 2023 at the grand auditorium of the Cotabato City Regional Medical Center (CRMC).

This culmination activity was made possible through a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD) and CRMC, with facilitation from the city government of Cotabato.

During the event, elderly participants received free medical consultations from CRMC, including bone screening, hemoglobin screening, glucose screening, vital signs testing, and other medical checkups. Doctors also provided prescriptions to the elderly clients.

MSSD set up a booth to assist walkin elderly clients and conducted assessments for medical assistance through its Bangsamoro Critical Assistance for Indigents in Response for Emergency Situations (B-CARES) Program.

In addition to medical services, elderly participants were given free meals courtesy of MSSD. Several informative lectures were also conducted, covering topics such as Healthy Lifestyle for Seniors by Dr. Cheridine Oro-Josef, Chairperson of the Department of Family and Community Medicine of CRMC, Orientation on Senior Citizens’ Benefits and Privileges, and MSSD’s Programs and Services by Sandra Macacua, Focal Per-

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, October 14, 2023

By Nick Tayag

my sixty-zen’S WORTH

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n the Philippine history subject we took up in high school, we learned about our Malay ancestors coming to these islands on board sailing vessels called “balangays,” the original term of today’s “barangay.”

In our present time, I believe that the Filipino domestic helper or DH is the modern “balangay”—a vessel of “kapwa,” “pagmamalasakit” and “sampalataya” and other Filipino values in foreign lands.

Indulge me for a moment. Together, let’s imagine a 40-year-old Filipina mother employed as a domestic helper or housekeeper in Singapore, Italy, Hong Kong, England or Spain for that matter. Let’s call her Caridad.

Caridad lives with the family of her foreign employer. She has been devotedly working there for sometime now. Every day, at 5 a.m. she wakes up to prepare breakfast for the household. Then she cleans the house, feeds the household pets, and takes the child of her foreign employer, a boy or girl, to pre-school.

Caridad is more than a “yaya” or nanny to the child. Being a college graduate or even a former public school teacher, she also teaches the child English, hygiene, safety, manners, and she also supervises her homework. Every night, before sending the child to sleep, Caridad reads English books to the girl or tells bed-

time stories. Perhaps she even prays with her. I won’t be surprised if she secretly teaches her “anak” Tagalog or Visayan words from time to time or tells stories about her hard life in the Philippines. Maybe like a typical Filipino mother, she tells her ward not to waste food and to finish what’s on the plate because many don’t even have food to eat.

What is happening is a kind of emotional substitution. As one DH says: “I took my love for my own children and I put it on these girls.

I treated them as if they were my daughters.” She adds: “They are family. I love them.” No wonder children of foreign employers who grow up under the care of Filipino DHs are said to be much attached to them.

If you can envision the hundreds of thousands of Filipino women employed as domestic workers and house helpers, that’s a huge army of Filipino mothers parenting other mothers’ children around the globe.

The numbers keep rising, especially in more affluent countries.

Thanks to these domestic helpers, foreign employers enjoy more time to themselves, as they are freed from burdensome parenting chores that they no longer want to do or have time to do. In the words of María Ibarra, a professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego

State University, domestic helpers “produce authentic emotion in exchange for a wage.”

This is not meant to romanticize the hard and risky life of a DH abroad. I do not also gloss over the many cases of inhumane and unjust treatment of Filipino DHs by their foreign employers. But then, as always, there is a yang to every yin. For every maltreated Filipino DH, there are hundreds who are appreciated and loved in their adopted homes in foreign lands.

Maybe I am exaggerating but given the great number of hours that these DHs spend day after day with the family of their foreign employers, this surely must have an impact on them. That kind of intimacy is bound to rub Filipino traits, habits and beliefs off the entire family of her foreign employer.

But as surrogate mothers, they are inadvertently influencing their “alagas” during the early critical years of their childhood. A former domestic helper now working with an NGO lobbying for improved rights of domestic helpers astutely observes: “They inform the values of the child and set the conditions for their personhood.”

That’s not something to ignore.

I do not know much about cultural sociology but maybe our experts can probably look into my concept of the Filipino migrant DH as a culture bearer and influencer. Seriously.

While it may be true that Filipino culture is being influenced by other cultures through returning OFWs, people from other cultures who have close and lasting encounters with Filipino DHs are unknowingly absorbing Filipino traits, values, practices, customs, and beliefs through subconscious cultural osmosis.

One Filipina in Uganda calls her mix children “anak” and she is slowly introducing native dishes like sinigang and adobo to the daily menus of the family of the Ugandan father of her children. She gradually absorbs Ugandan ways and in turn they too imbibe her Filipino ways and consciousness.

In effect, the Filipino DH serves as a “sleeper agent” of our native values, habits and sensibilities. All along, we have a soft power creeping under the outer cultural layers

2010,” gives those aged 60 years and above additional recreational benefits, such as free movie passes in cinemas.

Piddig Mayor Georgina S. Guillen regularly accompanies senior citizens to the cinema every month and treats them to a fast-food restaurant as her way of expressing gratitude.

As of the 2020 census of the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country has about 9.22 million senior citizens. PNA

of foreign hirers. Who knows, sometime in the future the world might wake up to a new generation of foreigners reared on Filipino values.

I call it “acculturation in reverse.”

Finding herself all alone, away from her family and her community, the Filipino DH is stripped down to her original personhood, without the foreign traits and culture-alien values externally imposed on her by a Western-oriented society she grew up in. Like fish out of water or should I say fish out of its own lake, she can only stand on her own inner self, her “kalooban.”

All that is best of the Filipino’s primordial personhood comes to fore, most especially her unique sensitivity towards other people which we call “kapwa.” To Virgilio Enriquez, father of Filipino psychology, the concept of “kapwa” is at the core of Filipino social psychology and at the heart of the structure of Filipino values.

“Kapwa” extends the “I” to include anyone outside herself, even total strangers. This is shown in the form of authentic caring and “pagmamalasakit” towards her foreign family.

Then there is the other aspect of her personhood—her deep sense of spirituality, something that is in the Filipino DNA. She may not be necessarily religious but her spirituality is something deeper and greater than religion.

In the Filipino context, spirituality is better expressed as “sampalataya” which is related to taking risks and trusting God wholeheartedly, which is what “bahala na” really means. She has her rosary, a scapular, or a mini Santo Nino statue, or a blessed medal, a handkerchief she rubbed on a Nazareno statue and other objects sacred to her that provide her a connection to the Divine. Maybe, these objects could be fascinating to the children under her care, which leads her to open up about her belief in higher spirits.

Drawing from the wellsprings of her ancestral cultural DNA, the Filipino DH is quietly enveloping her adopted foreign family with an invisible membrane of “kapwa”— her extended “I.” In this way, we are Filipinizing the world...one DH at a time.

A6 Saturday, October 14, 2023

Education BusinessMirror

Calabarzon inaugurates science-learning facility

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Editor: Mike Policarpio

FEU edifices declared as ‘Natl Cultural Treasures’

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

HE Calabarzon Region now has its first Mini Science Centrum, which features 19 interactive exhibit displays of various science themes.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Region 4A, in a tie-up with the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST), Department of Education (DepEd)-Region 4A and Division of Quezon, Provincial Science and Technology Office-Quezon, provincial government of Quezon and the local government of Polillo recently launched the centrum at Polillo Central Elementary School.

“The Mini Science Centrum is not only about touching the lives of our young learners, but also reaffirming its significance in the realm of science education,” Undersecretary Sancho Maborrang of DOST said at the facility’s opening. “This launch…highlights the need for more recognized science museums in our country.”

Maborrang added that, while remarkable institutions are dedicated to science and technology, “there is room for growth and expansion, and the journey toward

that goal begins here.”

T he u ndersec ret a r y a l so shared that the building of more science-centric facilities, such as science centrums, will make science education more accessible, especially to the youth who belong to the marginalized sector.

Furthermore, he said the opening of the facility is an example of the commitment by the DOST and its partners in planting the seeds of curiosity, the tools of discovery, and the keys to unlocking the mysteries of science and math.

For the DOST official, the interactive exhibits not only transcend mere theory; they are “[firsthand] experiences that hopefully, will spark a lifelong passion for learning.”

He urged Filipinos to value education, because “it is a beacon of hope, a powerful tool for change, a catalyst for progress, and a bridge to a brighter future. We can create a more in-

NATIONAL Museum’s Jorell Legaspi (left) and FEU’s Juan Miguel Montinola unveil the FEU National Cultural Treasure Marker along with the memorial plaque for Ar. Pablo Antonio Jr. DOST-Region 4A and PFST officials at the opening of the Mini Science Centrum. HENRY DE LEON/DOST-STII

clusive and enlightened society through initiatives like this and the dedication of all partnerorganizations.”

The establishment of the centrum, under the “Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST)” program, aims to reach the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas or GIDAs in Calabarzon’s islandcommunities, with Polillo and Alabat in Quezon Province as the first beneficiaries. Moreover, it is considered as part of the DepEd’s “Learning Recovery Program” after the 30-month pandemic break.

Cesar Tan Memorial National High School in Quezon, Quezon will be the venue in Alabat Island, and is set to be launched before the end of the year.

Special guests included DOST-

4A’s Regional Director Emelita Bagsit, Assistant Regional Director for Technical Operations Francisco Barquilla III and vice presidents Lenard Berba (internal) and Nicanor Villasenor III (external); PFST’s Board Chair and former DOST chief Prof. Fortunato T. de la Peña and Executive Director May Pagsinohin; Provincial Director (Quezon) Maria Esperanza Jawili of DOST- PSTO; Curriculum Instructions Division Chief Lorena Walangsumbat of DepEd- Region 4A; Assistant Schools Superintendent Dr. Edward D. Garcia of DepEd-Quezon; Principal Gilbert Rogado of Polillo Central Elementary School; local government officials, municipal councilors, barangay officials, plus members of the national and local media.

US donates P500,000 worth of learning tools for Cagayan

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N October 4, the United States government, through the joint efforts of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Civil Affairs Team, turned over 7,000 educational kits worth P500,000 ($9,000) to support the continuity of learning in typhoon-affected schools in Santa Ana, Cagayan.

The educational kits, which include Kindergarten- to Grade 3-level books and teaching materials, will help 3,000 learners and about a hundred teachers in 19 schools in the municipality that were devastated by typhoons “Egay” and “Falcon” (international names: Doksuri and Khanun, respectively) earlier this year.

Deputy Director-Office of Education Yvette Malcioln and Contracting Officer Howard Weston of USAID Phils. joined

CONTRACTING Officer Howard Weston (from left), Civil Affairs Team Leader CPT Dereck Wisniewski, Deputy Director Yvette Malcioln and Chief of Party Ina Aquino (extreme right) present US governmentdonated educational kits to principals Mary Grace Gammad and Herminigildo Molina (fourth and fifth from left). US EMBASSY

members of the US Civil Affairs Team to hand-over the donation to Councilor Victoriano Fabro and Dr. Benjamin Paragas, who is the director of the Department of Education (DepEd)-Region 2.

“More than just paper bound together, these learning materials represent keys to a world of imagination, knowledge, and

endless possibilities,” Malcioln said. “As…enduring friend, partner, and ally in development, the US stands committed to working with the Philippines to equip Filipino learners with the tools they need to succeed. We are investing in the future of the Philippines, one page at a time.”

“Our partnership with the lo-

cal government of Santa Ana has accomplished much in the areas of humanitarian aid, disaster preparedness, medical response and now, education,” said CPT Dereck Wisniewski, who is US Civil Affairs team leader. “We must continue to adapt and be diligent in ensuring that the USPhilippine partnership remains steadfast and unwavering in the face of global uncertainty.”

“We are happy that USAID has chosen our municipality for this,” Fabro said. “The books will surely be used by our teachers to ensure the future of our learners.”

Through its “Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines (ABC+)” project, USAID has supplied more than 26.7 million early-grade reading materials jointly developed and quality assured by DepEd to help address gaps in the reading practices of young learners in the Philippines.

Female leaders give opposing views on issues faced by women in Web3

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HE world of Web3 has opened avenues for everyone to take part in a more transparent Internet and create wealth. However, women still face hurdles within the industry, including lack of representation, policies, and unfavorable settings.

These and more were discussed in last month’s “Bull or Bear: On-Chain Inclusivity: A Debate on Women Empowerment in Web3” event during the Philippine Blockchain Week.

(Web 3.0, or “Web3,” according to Wikipedia, is “an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics.”)

Organized by educational-technology platform “Bitskwela,” the event featured six female representatives in the Web3 space who shared contradicting views on significant obstacles that can make it difficult

for women to thrive in the decentralized web.

Dr. Nataliya Ilyushina, who is an economist and a research fellow at the Blockchain Innovation Hub at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, believes the lack of regulations in Web3 exposes women to higher risks in the space, leaving them vulnerable to frauds and work place injustices without clear protective measures such as socialwelfare benefits.

On the contrary, Belinda Lim, who is the co-founder of Embolden Ventures, contended that regulations offer protection in traditional industries which highlight Web3’s inclusivity where women can experience less discrimination compared to mainstream sectors.

The post-debate poll revealed that the audience was divided, as 50 percent agreed that regulations supply essential protection and struc-

ture, while the rest appreciates the potential for reduced discrimination in the more open and decentralized nature of Web3.

Meanwhile, Ida Mok, who is the president of Women in Blockchain Asia, argued that women-led initiatives are harder to foster in Web3 because they inherit the male-dominated nature of Web2 industries like finance and agriculture. She cited recent studies that show women only make up 7 percent of the blockchain labor force, and that only 13 percent of Web3 projects had a female position at the founding table.

“Web 3 doesn’t exist in isolation…Social barriers [are there]; that is why all these initiatives are extremely difficult to foster,” Mok said. “The statistics are there, and numbers don’t lie.”

However, for Ivy Gutierrez of the Lady Traders of Global Miranda Miner Group, Web3 is a newfound

niche for women to achieve financial independence. In a later round, she explained why the industry is already conducive to women’s involvement: “Web3 is young, but a lot of women have already made waves in the industry…this drives more [of them] to get involved and feel included.”

With a narrow margin, 56 percent of the audience perceives the male-dominated legacy from Web2 as a hindrance to women-led initiatives in Web3, while the remaining believe Web3 presents a promising avenue for women to reach financial independence.

Entrepreneur and Web3 advocate Juliane Indiongco highlighted the importance of prioritizing women’s empowerment in Web3. In contrast, Irene Umar, who is the CEO of We Guild Games insisted on the broader concept of human empowerment within the realm of Web3.

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IX buildings of the Far Eastern University (FEU) have been named as “National Cultural Treasures,” by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through “Museum Declaration-1-2018.”

Along with the announcement, FEU unveiled in simple rites a special marker awarded to the university as a symbol of its historic and cultural significance.

The marker, bestowed by the National Museum of the Philippines, serves as recognition of heritage buildings in the campus, namely: Nicanor Reyes Sr. Hall, Administration Building, Admissions Building—formerly the Engineering Building or the East Asia Building, Architecture and Fine Arts Building—then known as the Law Building, Science Building, and the FEU Chapel.

Present in the ceremony were FEU president Juan Miguel Montinola; FEU chair emeritus Dr. Lourdes Reyes Montinola; National Museum’s deputy director-general Jorell Legaspi; as well as chief administrative officer of the Research, Collection, and Conservation Management Division Anne Rosette Crelencia.

“The FEU community is privileged to know that our university is the home of many national cultural treasures through its facilities and artworks,” said FEU’s president. “Moreover, these treasures are not in confined spaces—they are enjoyed daily by our students, who will carry…the memory of our rich cultural heritage.”

“FEU, from its inception, has stood as a symbol of dedication to the harmonious blend of history and modernity,” Legaspi said. “The National Cultural Treasure marker serves as a reminder of our collective duty to safeguard this heritage,

which is not only a relic of the past but a bridge to a bright future.”

Aside from the heritage marker, FEU also unveiled a memorial plaque for the late architect Pablo Antonio Jr.—son of National Artist for Architecture Pablo Antonio Sr. who designed most of the university’s esteemed art deco structures.

Safeguarding cultural heritage IN 2005, FEU’s efforts in cultural heritage conser vation were recog nized through the “Asia-Pacific Honorable Mention Heritage Award” of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or Unesco, which considered five of its buildings as “heritage structures.”

Aside from its diverse collection of remarkable architectural structures, the university also boasts of several paintings and sculptures that depict important aspects of Philippine history and culture.

The FEU Chapel—the newest addition to the university’s list of heritage buildings—features two life-size mural paintings: “The Stations of Cross” and “The Crucified Christ” by National Artist for Visual Arts Carlos “Botong” Francisco.

S i m i l a r l y, t h e A d m i n i s t r a t i o n Building—where the new marker was installed—houses Italian artist Francesco Ricardo Monti’s sculptures of the different historical eras of the Philippines. The works of art, among others, are testaments to FEU’s dedication to the preservation of culture and the arts, as well as the safeguarding of Filipino memory.

One of FEU’s flagship programs is architecture, in support of global goals for sustainable cities and communities.

Lalamove drivers’ kin to enjoy educational aid

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AMILIES of 100 Lalamove partner-drivers with members who are still studying will receive financial aid to continue with their education.

With the launch of its “BiyahEdukasyon” program, the leading on-demand delivery platform will provide monetary aid worth P20,000 to the children and/or siblings of qualified riders from Luzon, Metro Manila, and Cebu. The grant is intended to cover their expenses for the upcoming second semester of Academic Year 2023 to 2024.

This initiative, under the company’s corporate social responsibility brand Deliver Care, shows its commitment to not only provide livelihood for partner-drivers, but also to support their families in pursuing their dreams, particularly their academic goals.

“At the heart of BiyahEdukasyon is our desire to uplift the lives of our partner-drivers and their loved ones. [We see your dedication every day to help move things that matter through deliveries for thousands of people; this time, allow us to show our thanks through our program],” said Djon Nacario, managing director of Lalamove Phils.

“In every student, we see boundless potential [and] dreams that can transform lives. We want Lalamove

to play a part in turning those dreams into reality,” Nacario added.

BiyahEdukasyon is open to Lalamove’s riders from its serviceable and covered areas in Luzon, Greater Metro Manila, and Cebu for their kids and/or siblings currently enrolled in senior-high school or college, and pursuing any field of study who exemplify a fervent desire to continue higher education.

Applicants can choose one beneficiary, whether their child or a sibling. They then need to fill out an application form, send required documents, and share their inspiring story. Grades are not a prerequisite to qualify for this program. For more details, visit www.lalamove.com/enph/biyahedukasyon.

With this initiative, the Lalamove official shared the firm’s belief that partner-drivers deserve to give their loved ones the chance to fulfill their dreams without being held back by financial constraints.

“BiyahEdukasyon is only the beginning of our major steps toward the fulfillment of our…[pledge] to empowering our partner-drivers and their families. It aims to underscore Lalamove’s steadfast, long-term commitment to enable the economic well-being of our partner-drivers,” he stressed. Roderick L. Abad

Tourism&Entertainment BEYOND THE VOLCANO BusinessMirror

Tourism Editor: Edwin P. Sallan

Saturday, October 14, 2023 A7

Diverse array of offerings expand the ‘Bicol Experience’

Bicol locals showcase artistry with banig weaving and handicrafts, highlighting rich resources.

Bicol’s tourism sets a fresh benchmark, introducing unique experiences, flavors, and cultural heritage.

Elevate your Bicol adventure with the thrilling Mayon ATV trail in Legazpi City, Albay.

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Immerse in the festive Spirit of Bicol with Sarung Banggi's infectious music and vibrant celebrations.

Story & photos by John Eiron R. Francisco

ICOL REGION—The Department of Tourism (DOT) Region V Director Herbie B. Aguas recently hailed Bicol as a significant component of the “Philippines Experience,” categorizing it “as a big break” for the region.

Regional government officials, like Aguas, expressed optimism to BusinessMirror, “that this Philippine Experience is a gateway to where Bicol should belong.”

The “Bicol Experience” caravan showcased the cultural treasures: cuisine experience, natural landscapes, heritage experience, vibrant cultural performances, arts, and homegrown music that fills both the locals and the regional government with immense pride.

This follows the earlier exploration of the Davao and Calabarzon regions as part of the initial and subsequent phases of the cultural, heritage, and

arts caravan.

Aguas told BusinessMirror that the “Bicol Experience” saw an unexpected turnout, with more than a hundred delegates participating from various institutions like tourism firms, municipalities, neighboring provinces and other government representatives.

He was surprised as the initial planning had anticipated only 50 delegates, “it’s really a huge delegation.”

According to Aguas, many people primarily associated the Bicol Region with the Mayon Volcano.

However, through the three-day regional experience, “I think the

people are aware that it’s not only Mayon Volcano that we’re showcasing here,” Aguas said, adding that there are diverse attractions the region has to offer, extending beyond just the Mayon Volcano.

It is acknowledged by the DOT Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco that Bicol boasts a diverse array of offerings, “Not only does the region have these absolutely beautiful and stunning natural landscapes,” but also preserves the rich history and heritage sites, like places of pilgrimage.

“We have also found that there is much to learn from Bicol and we greatly appreciate these new discoveries that we have had,” Frasco told BusinessMirror.

Gastronomy Tourism DOT Secretary also emphasized the excellence of Bicol in gastronomy tourism.

Data presented by RD Aguas, there are a total of 632 Accredited Tourism Enterprises (TEs) in the region as of 2023. These are categorized into primary enterprises such as hotels, resorts, and tour agencies, numbering 541, and secondary enterprises like

Delegates from the Philippines Experience program immerse themselves in the rich culture, arts, and heritage of the Bicol Region, guided by Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco, DOT Region V Director Herbie Aguas, along with tourism firms, municipal mayors, and government officials.

agri-tourism farms, restaurants, and tourism recreational facilities, which total 91.

According to the figures by DOTRegion V, tourist revenue during the first eight months of 2023 amounted to one billion, yet it marks a decrease compared to the previous year in 2022 when the region generated 3.6 billion, primarily due to some local government units having delayed reporting their current tourism income generated.

Despite a temporary dip in tourist revenue, the region continues to attract visitors, with 1.4 million domestic tourists visited the six provinces in the Bicol region, including Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, as well as the island-provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate.

And approximately nine thousand foreign tourists arrived in the region.

However, the recent Bicol Experience only covers two of its six provinces - Sorsogon and Albay.

“We are planning to have it next year and to feature the rest of the provinces of the Bicol region,” Sec. Frasco remarked, due to the vastness of the coverage.

Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco explores the Province of Sorsogon and Albay, savoring local delights and heritage.

“But we consider this to be only a mere introduction to the beauty of the Bicol region,” she added.

The locals Sec. Frasco emphasized that what truly “makes the Bicol experience as unforgettable as it can be, is the people.”

She praised the welcoming, warm, kind-hearted, and affectionate nature of the locals, who extend their hospitality to visitors and tourists.

“I have no doubt that our tourists, when they have a chance to visit Bicol, will come back again and again,” Frasco said.

And she expressed the belief that collaborations could foster the growth of the tourism value chain ecosystem and spread the benefits of tourism to a wider range of locations.

Broadening Tourism Experience The DOT ’s caravan shutters the traditional tourism promotion, offering a broader and more enriching experience.

“It’s not just promotions that people can expect but rather, more importantly, product development,”

Sec. Frasco told BusinessMirror.

While DOT sustains the promotion, they are also developing the product, said Frasco.

“The only way that you can truly capitalize on your product is to build on infrastructure,” Frasco remarked.

DOT is currently collaborating with several branches of the Philippine government.

They are partnering with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to expand road networks, working with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to increase flight options, and teaming up with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to enhance digitization efforts.

“It is absolutely essential and necessary to have a shared tourism governance between the national government, the local government, as well as the private sector,” Frasco highlighted.

As she mentioned that DOT will soon launch Travel Philippines mobile application, “as it expands the tourism circuits by way of the Philippine Experience” and to increase the tourist convenience.

DEEP DIVE Capturing Misamis Oriental’s lush marine life Story by Arabelle Jimenez

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he third edition of the MisOr Dive Festival recently concluded its week-long underwater photography competition, which was participated by 40 local and foreign divers capturing the stunning beauty of Misamis Oriental’s lush marine life. The event was also an opportunity to re-visit the pristine waters of Northern Mindanao.

Colorful and lush soft corals abound in Medina, Misamis Oriental as captured by award-winning underwater photographer, Yvette Lee on September 8, 2023.

The staging of the event, which was held last September 6 to 10, 2023, was organized by the Department of Tourism-Northern Mindanao headed by its Regional Director Marie Elaine Salvana-Unchuan, in partnership with the Misamis Oriental Provincial Tourism Office.

DOT 10 Regional Director Marie Elaine Salvana-Unchuan gives her welcome remarks at the 3rd MisOr Dive Festival Opening Ceremony held last September 6, 2023 in SM CDO Downtown Premier, Cagayan De Oro City.

“I would like to commend our Dive Tourism Stakeholders who have shown immense passion, appreciation, and concern for our dive sites here in Region 10. Your love for diving equates to its sustainability and the preservation of our treasured dive sites will

Paradise dive site in Medina, Misamis Oriental. Diver: Julia Nilsson. Ram Yoro

Winners of the 3rd MisOr Underwater Photo Competition. Arabelle Jimenez

forever be a source of honor and pride for all of us,” said Director Unchuan during the opening ceremonies held in Cagayan De Oro City.

Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco was the guest of honor during the Mayor’s Night held last September 8, 2023 in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental.

Department of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco was also present during the Mayor’s Night held in Gingoog City, solidifying her support of the various efforts in promoting dive tourism in Northern Mindanao. This event in Region 10 come in the heels of the recent award our country received as Asia’s Leading Dive Destination at the 2023 World Travel Awards (WTA) Asia and Oceania Gala Ceremony, which was held last September 7, 2023 in Vietnam.

Secretary Frasco reveals, “We have dive

enthusiasts from all over the world and many jurisdictions, including North Asia, as well as Europe who recognize diving as a very strong product for the Philippines. ” The 3rd MisOr Dive Festival was graced by a distinguished panel of judges who are luminaries in the Philippine scuba diving industry. These diving celebrities are also multi-awarded international underwater photographers composed of Yvette Lee, Ram Yoro, Bo Mancao, Fra-and Quimpo, and Magnus Nielsen.

Underwater Photo Competition

The underwater photo contest showcased the rich marine life of the province of Misamis Oriental. It featured different categories such as OPEN CLASS and COMPACT CLASS (Wide Angle, Macro/Super Macro, Nudibranch, Marine

Life Categories), which was participated by 40 underwater photographers coming from different parts of the country.

Cash prizes and sponsors’ packages were given to the winners of each category, with the following amounts; First Place Php 15,000.00, Second Place Php 10,000.00, Third Place Php 5,000.00.

Here are some of the amazing photographs skillfully captured by exceptional divers and participants during the 3rd MisOr Dive Festival. Both the esteemed panel of judges and the audience were thoroughly entranced by the remarkable talent, creativity, and beauty of Misamis Oriental waters that have been meticulously expressed in each and every frame.

Congratulations to the following winners of the 3rd MisOr Dive Festival:

OPEN CLASS

Wide Angle Category

n Gerrit Pang (1st Prize Winner) n Neil Anthony Torres (2nd Prize) n Gerrit Pang (3rd Prize)

Macro/ Super Macro Category

Paradise dive site in Medina, Misamis Oriental. Diver: Magnus Nielsen. Ram Yoro

n Nico Calo (1st Prize) n Nico Calo (2nd Prize) n Neil Anthony Torres (3rd Prize)

Nudibranch

n Rossana Baladad (3rd Prize)

Marine Life Behavior

n Andrew Gritzka (1st Prize)

n East Padillo (1st Prize)

n Charlene Magdurulang (2nd Prize)

n Bebot Esteban (2nd Prize)

n Jose Antonio Caluag (3rd Prize)

n Pj Aristorenas (3rd Prize)

Marine Life Behavior

n East Pardillo (1st Prize) n East Pardillo (2nd Prize) n PJ Aristorenas (3rd Prize)

COMPACT CLASS

Wide Angle Category

n Jose Antonio Caluag (1st Prize) n Penn De Los Santos (2nd Prize) n Nicole Madrid (3rd Prize)

Macro/ Super Macro Category

n Norman William Macababayao (1st Prize) n Jose Antonio Caluag (2nd Prize) n Casty Pambid (3rd Prize)

Nudibranch

n Norman William Macababayao (1st Prize) n Jose Antonio Caluag (2nd Prize)

One of the highlights of the 3rd MisOr Dive Festival was a special award from the City of Gingoog granted to Mr. Gerrit Pang with his stunning shot of Gingoog Pier that was also awarded 3rd place in the OPEN CLASS (Wide Angle Category).

The MisOr Dive Festival is sponsored and supported by trusted partners—Province of Misamis Oriental, Gingoog City, Municipalities of Balingoan, Medina, and Talisayan, Duka Bay Resort, Mantangale Alibuag Dive Resort, Scuba de Oro, and NorthMind Freediving. As well as the following sponsor—Ajis Marine, Primer Group of Companies (REEF, Billabong, Quicksilver, R.O.X, Sea to Summit, Roxy), 2GO Travel, Pacifica Dive, Scuba Studio, and the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD).

For more information, follow the Department of Tourism-Northern Mindanao Office Facebook page.

A8

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 14, 2023 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Two actors, two adaptations JERALD NAPOLES (left) plays the lead role in Instant Daddy, which was adapted from the Mexican blockbuster Instructions Not Included. Zanjoe Marudo receives good reviews for Keys to the Heart.

PHOTOS OF JERALD NAPOLES FROM VIVA FILMS, AND ZANJOE MARUDO FROM NETFLIX

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HE Filipino movie industry, just like the music and recording industry, is making up for the time lost during the pandemic with new releases.

Showing in cinemas right now is Instant Daddy from Viva Films, which stars Jerald Napoles, child star Althea Ruedas, and Ryza Cenon. The movie is an adaptation of the Mexican movie Instructions Not Included.

The movie is about a taxi driver named Val, played

by Jerald, who likes hooking up with women and is afraid of commitment because of a childhood trauma.

But he gets a girl named Julie pregnant and one day, she leaves the child with him. Mira changes Val’s life for the better and the little girl fills the empty void in his heart. The struggle begins when Julie comes back to claim Mira.

“I am thankful na medyo malapit ’yung story nito sa akin because I was brought up by my mother and I grew up without my father,” said Jerald, who rose to mainstream fame in the live musical Rak of Aegis.

As a child, Jerald saw how his mother took on the role and responsibility of being a sole parent. This was his inspiration for playing Val’s role in Instant Daddy.

As soon as he could read and write, Jerald’s mother told him the truth about her and his father.

“I was around four years old. She told me that she and my father weren’t together and that it had nothing to do with me and I shouldn’t be angry at him,” said Jerald.

Thus, he grew up with a realistic view of family. It was him and his mother and his grandparents who they lived with.

Jerald also learned how to appreciate his mother, who didn’t have a permanent job but who worked very hard.

“I know she couldn’t afford to give me luxuries, so I tried to be a good son and a good student. That was my way of helping her. Whatever she could give me in terms of finances, time and love were enough for me.”

On the set of Instant Daddy, he tried to gain the trust

of Althea, who plays the role of his daughter.

“I watched her projects and I already knew that she’s one of the best child actresses in the industry.

The moment she stepped on the set, I tried to build rapport with her kahit sa set lang. Althea is an adorable child. She has good work ethics,” said Jerald.

Also starring Danita Paner, Ryza Cenon, MC Muah, and Nikko Natividad, Instant Daddy is directed

by Crisanto Aquino.

ZANJOE SHINES

ZANJOE MARUDO stars in the Philippine adaptation of Keys to the Heart, which is streaming on Netflix.

The actor has received a lot of praise for the maturity and depth of his acting. In Keys to the Heart, Zanjoe plays the role of a washed-up boxer named Joma and shares top billing with Dolly de Leon, who is fresh from her Hollywood Best Supporting Actress victory in Triangle of Sadness, and up and coming serious actor Elijah Canlas.

Locally produced by Reality MM Studios, Creative Leaders Group 8, and Viva Films, Keys to the Heart

KOREAN TECHNOLOGY CAN BOOST BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPMENT IN PHL

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES DR. Young Hyun Cho, chairman of Comet Global

A KOREAN business executive recently said the Philippines has a huge potential to become a global blockchain player because it has the stable manpower and an efficient ecosystem to provide the technology needs of the world market.

Dr. Young Hyun Cho, chairman of Comet Global, told journalists that he will be inviting Korean companies and form partnerships with Filipino companies to develop blockchain-based technologies to the global market. “I know we can bring something here, and together with Philippine companies we can focus on developing global businesses that will need our services,” Young, a longtime resident in the Philippines, said in an interview on the sidelines of the recently concluded week-long Philippine Blockchain Week conference held in Pasay City.

Young said the application of blockchain technology does not also only cover cryptocurrency but also covers smart education, smart city development and goverance.

According to tinyurl.com/5n84x98s, blockchain technology, even though a new technology development and is composed of several underlying technologies and protocols, can be a major driver and asset in development of smart cities. “The concept of Smart Cities represents a utopian urban development that integrates both information and communication technologies to enable citizens, governments and organizations to generate and exchange real-time data. With the growing possibilities of its many applications across a vast number of fields, blockchain technology can create a new level of ease and security for communication and transactions to occur between

all the many stakeholders of a Smart City,” the company said.

As far as smart education is concerned, www. elearningindustry.com pointed out that blockchain technology “has the potential to revolutionize the education sector by providing a secure, transparent and tamperproof platform for storing and sharing

SEE “KOREAN,” A9

was the second most watched movie on Netflix Philippines a day after it began streaming on October 4.

In the Korean movie, which was released in 2018, the role Zanjoe is playing in the Korean adaptation was essayed by Lee Byung-hun.

Reality MM Studios producers Dondon Monteverde and Erik Matti worked hard to give Keys to the Heart a Filipino sensibility while still staying true to the original from CJ Entertainment. They brought in Kerwin Go (Mina-Anud) to direct the film and the Philippine adaptation’s ending is different from the Korean version because of this.

In the movie, Dolly de Leon plays the role of Joma’s long-lost mother while the role of the autistic pianist brother Jayjay is portrayed by Elijah Canlas.

Zanjoe has gained positive feedback for the subtlety of his nuances and impeccable comedic timing.

To prepare for his role, Elijah Canlas learned to play the piano to give life to a genius pianist with savant syndrome. Elijah had a piano teacher

who helped him with the technical aspect. He also immersed himself around people with autism as part of his preparations.

The producers behind Keys to the Heart—Reality MM Studios, Creative Leaders Group 8, and Viva Films—are also coming out with Ultimate Oppa, a romantic comedy shot in South Korea starring Bela Padilla, Kim Gun-woo (The Glory) and Cho Tae-gwan (Descendants of the Sun, My Secret Terrius).

More collaborations will emerge from the partnership between Reality MM Studios and Creative Leaders Group 8 led by BJ Soong. Among these collaborations are the local adaptations of Korean horror top-grosser Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum and the successful vigilante series Taxi Driver.

Reality MM Studios produced Day Zero featuring Brandon Vera and MJ Lastimosa. This was streamed in Asia and was acquired by WellGo for a wide digital release in the US. The studio has a lot in its pipeline, with three major series to be directed by Matti that will start streaming within the next two years. ■

Maya introduces Maya Funds for seamless, simplified and safe micro-investment TOUTED as the No. 1 Digital Banking App in the Philippines, Maya (www.maya.ph, www.mayabank. ph) now offers micro-investments via Maya Funds, expanding the uniquely integrated financial products users can quickly and safely access.

With the new feature, Filipinos can start investing in professionally curated local and global funds, including industry giants like Apple, Microsoft, PLDT, and SM, starting from as low as P50. Maya’s mission to provide accessible and affordable financial solutions is reinforced by this integration, offering customers the ability to invest, save, borrow and spend, all within a single app.

“We’re thrilled to roll out Maya Funds, an integral part of our Maya all-in-one digital banking experience. Now, for less than the price of a cup of coffee, anyone can be an investor in both local and global markets,” said Shailesh Baidwan, group president at Maya and cofounder of Maya Bank.

“This new feature perfectly aligns with our mission to empower Filipinos by offering convenient and accessible financial opportunities.”

Maya, serving as a platform to facilitate access to investment opportunities within its all-inone digital banking ecosystem, developed the feature in collaboration with Seedbox Philippines, a pioneering digital marketplace for financial products.

Unit Investment Trust Funds (UITFs) offered through Maya Funds are managed by ATRAM Trust Corp., the first standalone trust corporation in the Philippines, and Mutual Funds (MFs) on the other hand are managed by BIMI, a wholly owned

subsidiary of the Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI).

Maya Funds is the newest addition to Maya’s suite of wealth products, designed to make growing and managing funds easier to access and simpler for every Filipino. With this new feature, Maya upgraded users can seamlessly invest in UITFs and MFs, enabling a smooth and fully online fundinvesting experience.

An initial array of 13 professionally curated local and global funds, including offerings from ATRAM and BIMI, both regulated by their respective authorities—the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—is at the fingertips of Maya users.

Underpinning the new service is Maya’s all-inone digital banking ecosystem, eliminating the need to juggle multiple apps or providers for financial services. Earnings garnered through Maya Funds can seamlessly flow into Maya Savings or be used for payments. Furthermore, all transactions contribute towards cultivating a robust credit profile, enabling Maya to extend personalized credit options to its users.

The potential for growth in non-Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA) funds is substantial, evident in the 18.2 percent year-on-year rise in UITF participants, reaching 2.3 million in the third quarter of 2022, up from 1.9 million during the same period in 2021.

The BSP aspires to elevate total investment ownership, including for other investment types, to 50 percent of the adult population by 2028.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • Saturday, October 14, 2023

A9

Oppo A98 5G review: Should you go for the glow?

THE Oppo A98 5G

GLOBE’S KmmunityPH online K-culture community, in partnership with various K-pop girl group fandoms, has raised over P200,000 worth of donations for the World Vision #GirlsCan campaign, giving them access to safe drinking water, hygiene needs, and a handwashing facility.

Globe’s KmmunityPH, K-Pop fandoms unite to raise funds for #GirlsCan campaign GLOBE, through its KmmunityPH online K-culture community, in partnership with various K-pop girl group fandoms, has successfully raised over P200,000 worth of donations for the World Vision #GirlsCan campaign.

This initiative marks a significant stride in the company’s commitment to women empowerment and support for subculture.

Through collaboration with Filo-BLINKs (BLACKPINK), MIDZYs (ITZY), Once (TWICE), RevLuvs (RED VELVET), and MY (aespa), Globe was able to contribute to World Vision’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) under the Bawat Batang Pinoy Malusog Campaign.

Eight-hundred sixty-four women and girls in Antique will benefit from the WaSH program, and will have an access to clean and safe drinking water and handwashing facility. Children and other members of the assisted community no longer have to walk and spend hours to collect and fetch water.

This also aims to empower and help create a safe environment for women and girls, especially those living in remote areas, to go to school confidently with their menstrual hygiene and puberty needs met.

In addition to the fundraising efforts, Globe’s KmmunityPH actively participated in the distribution of learner kits to 250 students in the Baseco compound, Manila. Members of BLACKPINK Philippines and BTS PH fan groups joined the activity.

“At Globe, we believe in the power of unity. Our partnership with KmmunityPH and the K-pop fandoms is a shining example of how we can come together to make a real difference. The #GirlsCan campaign is not just about raising funds, but it’s also about empowering girls to break free from limitations, to dream big, and to shape their own futures. We are proud to be part of this movement, and we invite everyone to join us in creating a world where every girl can realize her potential by fueling their passions with Globe,” said Anne Calma, head of Subcultures at Globe.

The #GirlsCan campaign is a transformative initiative that seeks to empower girls and young women, rooted in the belief that every girl has the right to education, health and economic opportunity.

It’s a local take on a global campaign that was originally introduced by World Vision Australia in 2018.

The campaign also actively works to create a world where girls are free from fear, discrimination and violence. In a country like the Philippines where issues like online sexual exploitation and adolescent pregnancies are prevalent, #GirlsCan serves as a beacon of hope and a call to action.

The collaboration between Globe and the fandoms on #GirlsCan align with the company’s sustainability strategy of creating positive societal impact.

More information about Globe is available at www. globe.com.ph.

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EFORE our review, here’s a quick update for those of you planning to get an eSIM. While I anticipated a surge in demand for eSIMs, I was surprised by how quickly they sold-out. Fortunately, for those on the hunt, eSIMs are now available for online order and digital delivery.

Mobile users can simply visit store1.smart.com.ph sims to purchase their Smart Prepaid or Postpaid eSIMs, which will be promptly sent to their email.

Upon receiving the eSIM, users can scan the provided unique QR code, register it post-activation, and begin enjoying Smart’s award-winning mobile network services. Accessing the Smart Online Store is a breeze via any mobile or web browser, eliminating the need for a separate app. The store accepts various payment methods, including Maya, GCash, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, JCB, SPay, and DragonPay. For those who prefer printed cards for their Prepaid eSIM, Smart will distribute them in key locations like international and domestic airports, Smart Stores, flagship Smart stores on Lazada and Shopee, and other accredited retailers. Postpaid clients can acquire their eSIMs in person at Smart Stores across the country. The Prepaid eSIM is priced at P99, offering up to 21GB of free data, 30 minutes of All-Net Calls, and 100 All-Net Texts. The Postpaid eSIM starts with the SIM-Only Plan 999, featuring unlimited 5G for 12 months, unlimited All-Net mobile calls and texts, unlimited landline calls, and a 12-month Netflix Mobile Plan subscription.

The advantage of an eSIM is its ability to support multiple lines even if the handset, such as Apple devices, has only one physical SIM slot. With an eSIM, users can seamlessly switch between two or more SIM profiles on their iPhones.

Now on to our review.

THAT OPPO GLOW: The Oppo A series is one of the brand’s more interesting offerings as it represents a line of budget-friendly to mid-range smartphones that are known for delivering a commendable blend of features and performance. The Oppo A98 5G is the flagship of this year’s series and I was quite eager to try it out as the previous A57 left me with some mixed feelings.

Let’s start with that “glow.” An iconic feature of Oppo’s design philosophy, the Oppo Glow is an exclusive design technology where millions of microscopic crystals are etched into the back cover material of the phone. The process gives the back cover its unique matte and sparkling appearance that enables it to shine without attracting fingerprints and brings an ultra-fine, smooth touch to the surface.

The A98 5G is available in two colors—Dreamy Blue, which is like a rainbow dissolving into a clear sky after rain; and Cool Black for a more lowkey and understated feel.

But the highlight has to be its Camera Decorative Ring, as all the A-series phone share this same camera module design. It’s said to be inspired by the fluted bezel of luxury watches to create a premium new look for the camera area alongside the dark black lens. Extending from the camera module is an ovalshaped runway decorative area with streams of pearls flowing down the cover like a meteor shower breaking through the sky. While I do find this Oppo Glow design undeniably attractive, it’s something that’s already been featured on older Oppo models like the A78 5G and Reno8 T 5G. I also believe that using a uniform design across the series detracts from the perceived value, especially when your P18,999 phone looks exactly like the model priced under P10,000. So, if you do plan on getting the A98 5G I suggest you go for the exclusive Dreamy Blue color variant.

BATTERY LIFE AND SUPER FAST CHARGING: The A series is known for spotlighting one flagship feature, and for the A98 5G it’s undoubtedly the robust battery life.

With its substantial 5,000mAh battery bolstered by 67W SUPERVOOC charging, the A98 5G stands out in endurance. A 30-minute charge can already fuel a

whole day’s usage. Even after I left it on standby for a week, it still had enough battery to last an entire day. Furthermore, its 5-Layer Charging Protection guarantees safety throughout the charging process.

Oppo claims that on a full charge, users can enjoy 39 hours of phone calls, 16 hours of YouTube videos, or 8.4 hours of gaming. The rapid charging feature is equally impressive: reaching 50 percent in merely 18 minutes and a full charge in roughly 44 minutes.

120HZ DISPLAY: The Oppo A98 5G has a large 6.72inch FHD+ IPS screen with a 2400 x 1080 resolution, a high 120Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. Display quality is fine for an IPS screen. I kept the screen color mode to Vivid for that extra splash of color, which is great for consuming content. For the Netflix binger, the social media fan, or the e-book lover, the A98’s display is a visual treat and you will not be disappointed. Colors pop, ensuring that every frame, every post, every page is a treat for the eyes.

Screen brightness for outdoor visibility is also OK. Its 120Hz refresh rate promises fluidity, whether you’re scrolling through photos or catching up on the latest series. But I did notice that compared with other devices, it just isn’t quite a smooth. It also lacks adaptive refresh rate, so you have to manually dial it down to 60Hz if you want to save some battery. It does have a stereo speaker setup and offers decent audio with audible bass, and you can further max it out with Ultra Volume mode.

CAMERA: The A98 5G’s cameras uphold the signature Oppo photography quality and surpass its predecessor in performance. It has a 64MP main camera, accompanied by its 2MP depth camera and a 2MP microlens that could go up to 40X of microscope zoom. On the front lies a 32MP selfie camera.

Throughout my review, I used the A98 mostly for event coverages and I can say that it can deliver good images. Good for an A-series but not the best among its price range. In optimal lighting, this camera captures detailed shots with an emphasis on vibrant colors. Like most midrangers though, it also struggles with low-light photography with some inconsistent results. The built-in Night Mode does offer a respite, brightening up images and adding more color depth but you’ll need a very steady hand as even slight movements can result in blurry outputs.

Moving to the front, the 32MP selfie shooter does a decent job at capturing selfies with good skin tones and adequate exposure. The high pixel count suggests sharper details, but it sometimes falls slightly short of the mark. Still, the Portrait Mode works efficiently here, blurring out backgrounds and putting the

subject in sharp focus.

PERFORMANCE: At the heart of the A98 5G is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G processor built on advanced 6nm process technology. It’s a highly efficient chip that delivers solid performance and accelerated 5G connectivity with improved power efficiency. On the memory and storage side, the phone is equipped with a large 8GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, plus support for up to 1TB of additional storage through the SD card expansion slot. By enabling Oppo’s RAM Expansion mode, the A98 5G can also convert up to 8GB of unused ROM storage into temporary RAM to boost the phone’s performance.

For general use, such as browsing, social media and streaming, the A98 5G operates smoothly and I was able to play some popular games like Call of Duty and Mobile Legends with appreciable smoothness.

FINAL WORD: For Oppo fans, the Oppo A98 5G is

a solid mid-range choice, offering a blend of style, functionality and decent performance. It provides good value for the average user, striking a balance between price and features, but if you are already an A-series user that’s looking for a real upgrade, you might want to save up a little more and make that jump to the Reno series. ■

Korean...

CONTINUED FROM A8 academic records.” As blockchain adoption continues to grow, it sees blockchain technology introducing innovations in the education sector.

Young said his company is also planning to talk with Korean companies that are interested in hiring Filipinos to work in the technology, agriculture and construction sectors in Korea. “Korea has a graying population and we need more people in the workforce in our industries,” he said.

“I think highly skilled Filipinos can provide a big contribution to the Korean economy with their talent and proficiency in English,” Young added.

Amazon Web Services defines blockchain technology as an advanced database mechanism that permits transparent information sharing within a business network. Furthermore, it is a database that stockpiles data in blocks that are connected together in a chain.

Sports BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, October 14, 2023

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | Editor: Jun Lomibao

White, Mojdeh make mark in swim tryouts

Coaches expect grinding battle in PVL All-Filipino starting Sunday

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HILE coaches have fixed their sights on the ultimate prize, they all agree it will be a grinding battle in the Premier Volleyball League which kicks off its season-ending AllFilipino Conference Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Half of the record 12 teams seeing action are eager to make a mark in what promises to be the biggestever tournament in the country’s premier women’s league in terms of participation and quality of play.

Anticipation runs high among players and fans alike with the coaches having no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead, recognizing that the journey will be grueling, one that will demand determination, skill and teamwork.

For these teams, the All-Filipino isn’t just a series of matches but a testament to the hard work and dedication they have put in during the break and players have sharpened their skills, reinforced their team work and prepared mentally and physically to reach their desired competitive abilities.

“We always focus on every game, not just on the finals. We prepare hard for every game so hopefully, the outcome will be good for us,” said Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses, whose wards will open their titleretention drive against the Choco Mucho Flying Titans in the 7 p.m. nightcap of an explosive triple-bill Sunday.

“We are ready to play any team,” he added.

The Cool Smashers turned back the Petro Gazz Angels in sudden death last March to keep the crown in the league’s centerpiece tournament organized by Sports Vision.

While ace setter Jia de Guzman won’t be around after linking up with the Japan league, the Cool Smashers remain the marked team with a loaded roster headed by Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza and Ced Domingo with Kyle Negrito taking over the playmaking chores.

But the rest are all fired-up to stop the crowd favorites, including the Angels, who will be bannered

by Grethcel Soltones, Jonah Sabete, Nicole Tiamzon, Remy Palma and Aiza Pontillas.

“We’ll do our best to reach the finals,” said Petro Gazz assistant mentor Vince Mangulabnan.

PLDT, meanwhile, expects to figure prominently with a roster beefed up by Fil-Canadian hitter Savannah Davison and anchored by the likes of Mika Reyes, Mean Mendrez, Jules Samonte, Michelle Morente, Rhea Dimaculangan and Dell Palomata.

Gerflor and Nxled will usher in hostilities at 3 p.m. followed by the 5 p.m. duel between Cignal and PLDT. Except for the Sunday opening, matches will be played Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

MEMBERS of Israel’s Maccabi Ra’anana team wear shirts in support of their country during a warmup before their game against the Brooklyn Nets Thursday in New York. AP

NATIONAL juniors record holder Micaela Jasmine “The Water Beast” Mojdeh in action.

Gold remains with us –Tolentino

By Josef Ramos

P

HILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino allayed fears that the country will lose the men’s basketball gold medal it won in the Hangzhou 19th Asian Games just a week ago because of Justin Brownlee failing a doping test.

“The gold remains with us,” Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said on Friday.

Tolentino said that if two other Gilas Pilipinas players tested positive, that’s the only time when the Philippines’ gold medal will be forfeited.

He cited Article 11.2 of the AntiDoping Rule of the International Olympic Committee that states under “Consequences for Team Sports” that “If more than two members of a team in a Team Sport is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation…the CAS [Court of Arbitration for Sport] Anti-Doping Division may impose an appropriate sanction on the team [e.g., loss of points, Disqualification from a Competition, Event or the Olympic

Games Rio 2016, or other sanction] as provided in the applicable rules of the relevant International Federation, in addition to any consequences imposed upon the individual Athletes committing the antidoping rule violation.”

Brownlee is the second athlete on Team Philippines who tested positive for doping on their A Sample taken during the Hangzhou Games.

Mountain bike cycling athlete Ariana Evangelista earlier returned an “Adverse Analytical Finding” after she was randomly tested ahead of her competition early in the games.

Both Brownlee and Evangelista are provisionally suspended until after the result of their B sample—are analyzed in their defense.

Brownlee has until October 19 to contest the result of his A Sample through appropriate procedures set by the IOC, ITA and the World AntiDoping Agency.

Tolentino said Brownlee’s positive result could have been caused by medications which he took after undergoing surgery in his foot for bone spurs that cost him a possible spot on the national team that played in the International Basketball Federation World Cup last August.

“Brownlee had a medical issue so tha there’s a possibility to lessen or probably lift the suspension,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino said that Brownlee’s teammates have also been tested as well

as their final opponent Jordan, which also had one player failing the test.

“All Brownlee needs is to prove his innocence in contesting the result if he allows testing his B Sample,” Tolentino said.

A two-year suspension will be imposed if the B Sample also yields a positive result.

Brownlee has until October 19 to appeal.

Sami Bzai also tested positive for the Jordan team which the Philippines beat, 70-60, in the gold medal match.

Senator Bong Go, meanwhile, encouraged Brownlee to make himself available.

“This matter raises concerns. I encourage Justin Brownlee to make himself readily available in order to have his samples reanalyzed, as provided by anti-doping protocols, before the issue will be adjudicated by the appropriate world sports body,” Go said.

“And whatever the final findings would be, we will cross the bridge when we get there, so to speak,” Go added.

F

AMILIAR faces dominated at the start of the Philippine Aquatics’ National Capital Region (NCR) tryouts Friday at the Teofilo Yldefonso pool inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.

Vietnam-based Filipino-British Heather White and Micaela Jasmine “The Water Beast” Mojdeh led the top tier field with both flashing the form polished by their stints in the world junior championships to earn slots on the 44-member team that will compete in the 11th Asian Age Group Championships set December 3 to 6 at the New Clark Aquatics Center in Capas, Tarlac.

The 16-year-old White of the Behrouz Elite Team topped the girls 15-17 400 meters freestyle in four minutes and 35.57 seconds 4, some four seconds ahead of second placer Fei Dolliente (4:48.92) of San Beda.

Mojdeh, 17 and a national junior record holder, ruled the 200m individual medley in 2:25.37, with the promising Kacie Tiongco, 14, from Mindanao, placing second in 2:32.00.

“I’m very happy with my performance. I just arrived the other day so don’t have a chance to practice more,” White said. “Just lucky got the chance to train abroad before our stint in the world juniors last month in Israel.”

Also make their presence felt were Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Chloe Isleta in the girls 18-over 200 freetsyle (2:04.57) and the 200 IM (2:17.62), Jamesray Ajido in the boys 12-14 200 freestyle (2:01.21), Miguel Barreto in the boys 18-over 200 freestyle (1:53.11) and 200m IM (2:13.24), Arabella Taguinota in the girls 15-17 100 breastroke (1:13.40) ad Chantelle Coleman in the girls 1214 100 breaststroke (1:19.82).

JUSTIN BROWNLEE is provisionally suspended from seeing action.

Israeli dribblers believe games provide hope amid war at home

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EW YORK—Yehu Orland wore a shirt honoring a close friend who was killed two days earlier defending Israel, and cried a little Thursday night when his country’s national anthem played before a game in Brooklyn.

But the coach of Maccabi Ra’anana believes continuing his team’s tour against NBA clubs while his country is at war was the right decision.

“We are the first team that is playing since the war started and nobody will break Israel, because we are a strong nation,” Orland said before the game.

The team from the Israeli National

League was playing the first of three games during its tour. There was a police presence outside Barclays Center, with barricades set up in the plaza in front of the entrance.

The Nets won 135-103. Ra’anana’s players lingered to greet and pose for pictures with their fans after a game that forward Jonathan Mor said was the first time he’s seen some teammates smile in days.

“Obviously the last five days have been some of the toughest days anybody can face,” the 28-year-old said.

Some fans held up Israel’s flag and others had signs reading “New York stands with Israel” while Noa Kirel, an Israeli singer and actress, performed the country’s national anthem. Before that, the Nets asked for a moment of silence for those impacted, saying the organization condemned the attacks and mourned the loss of life.

Ra’anana arrived in the U.S. in the middle of last week, just days before Hamas militants killed more than 1,300 people, including 247 soldiers, in an assault on Israel on Saturday.

The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides.

Among the dead was Eli Ginsberg, Orland’s close friend who finished his service to the army after 23 years just last month. Their families were planning a vacation together, Orland said, before Ginsberg rushed to aid soldiers in Israel’s defense.

Orland said the funeral was

earlier Thursday and he wore a shirt that read “R.I.P. Eli. Forever in my Heart.”

“I guess when you are losing a friend, you keep asking yourself why it’s happened,” Orland said.

“So I guess the answer that I gave to myself: That’s what he chose to do.

He chose to be a soldier, he chose to protect Israel. He chose this for so many years.”

Mor said he was having dinner with two teammates when they began getting word about the attacks. Soon after, they found video showing the horror.

He said the players have been able to check in with family back home and that so far all of them have remained safe.

“Both of my brothers are down there. Some of my best friends are fighting,” Mor said. “We’ve been checking in, so far so good, at least for me and the guys here. But it’s our people and the things that are coming out of there is things that no human being is supposed to even look at.”

Six players on the roster are from Israel. Orland and team sponsor Jeffrey Rosen said one player had chosen to return home, though didn’t specify a reason.

Ra’anana will continue on to play the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves during the second straight year the team has visited the U.S. for exhibition games.

“I think depression and sadness, that’s the feeling in Israel right now,” Orland said, adding that he hoped his team could provide some happiness to people back home.

“So I’m sitting here, trying not to cry, because my heart is broken,” he added, “but we have to create for those young people, children, hope that Israel is strong, and that is the reason I think everybody is here.” AP

THOMAS BACH can ultimately decide to impose a blanket ban on all Russian athletes from Paris. AP

IOC suspends Russian Olympic Committee for incorporating Ukrainian sports regions

G

ENEVA—After nearly 20 months of waging war in Ukraine, Russia was suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday for a land grab in sports administration.

The IOC’s executive board imposed the suspension on the Russian Olympic Committee for a breach of the Olympic Charter—a book of rules and principles for international sports bodies—by incorporating sports councils in four regions in eastern Ukraine.

The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to compete in international sports as neutral athletes, including in some qualifying events for next year’s Paris Olympics.

Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute last week by accepting the councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members. “[This] unilateral decision,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement from Mumbai, India, “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee [IOC] in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”

The IOC didn’t suspend the Russian Olympic body for a similar move in 2016, more than two years after the annexation of the Crimean

peninsula. Russian media reported in December 2016 that the sports councils of Crimea and Sevastopol were included as ROC members.

International law still recognizes the region as part of Ukraine.

Still, the decision Thursday to suspend the ROC appears to highlight rising frustration from the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, who can ultimately decide to impose a blanket ban on all Russian athletes from Paris. “[The IOC] reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time,” the IOC said.

The Russian Olympic Committee criticized the IOC for “another counterproductive decision with obvious political motivations.”

However, the IOC under Bach has often been seen as too sympathetic to Russia during a decade-long doping scandal by never excluding all the country’s athletes and teams from any Olympics despite proven allegations of state-backed cheating and tampering with evidence.

The latest decision by the IOC board comes seven months after it publicly supported Russian athletes by advising governing bodies of Olympic sports to find ways of including them in qualifying events for the Paris Games. AP

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

The World

China’s export slump eases in Sept as Beijing works to bolster outlook

T

HE drop in China’s exports moderated further in September, adding to cautious optimism that some parts of the world’s second-biggest economy are stabilizing.

Overseas shipments fell 6.2 percent from a year ago, a slower rate than the 8 percent decline forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. Imports decreased 6.2 percent, down for seven months in a row. The resulting trade surplus was $77.7 billion.

The numbers reflect improved global demand for Chinese-made goods, even as geopolitical tensions are building. The economy still faces a myriad of challenges including a property crisis and weak consumer spending. Consumer prices also returned to the bring of deflation in September, underscoring how fragile the economy remains.

While support rolled out by policymakers in the last couple of months has aided

growth somewhat, concerns remain about whether more may be needed to bolster the outlook. Authorities are considering unleashing new stimulus to help the economy meet the official growth target of around 5 percent, Bloomberg reported this month.

The IMF recently cut its growth forecast for China for this year to 5 percent from 5.2 percent, and for next year to 4.2 percent from 4.5 percent. The economy is losing momentum because of declines in real estate investment and housing prices that endanger government revenues from land sales, as well as weak consumer sentiment, according to the Fund.

Additional data next week will also provide more clues on the state of the economy in the third quarter, including gross domestic produc t figures and indicators on retail sales, industrial output and unemployment. Bloomberg News

US govt sanctions two shipping firms for violating the Russian oil price cap

W

ASHINGTON—The Treasury Department said Thursday that it has imposed its first set of sanctions on two companies that shipped Russian oil in violation of a multinational price cap.

The United States, along with the European Union, countries in the Group of Seven and Australia, imposed a $60 a barrel limit last year on what Russia could charge for its oil. The cap was designed to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to fund its war in Ukraine, forcing the Russian government either to sell its oil at a discount or divert money for a costly alternative shipping network.

The companies being penalized are based in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, the department said in a statement.

A ship owned by the Emirates-based company Lumber Marine carried oil priced above $75 a barrel from a Russian port.

Separately, a vessel owned by Turkey-based Ice Pearl Navigation ferried oil from Russia priced at $80 a barrel.

Both companies relied on US service providers. As a result of the sanctions, the Biden administration is blocking the companies’ ability to conduct business or access any property or financial interests

in the US. A senior treasury official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity per department rules, said that the government has usually contacted a ship’s flagging nation and insurer if there is even a suspicion of a violation, leading to the ship losing access to insurance or a country’s registration.

The official said that Russia has tried to build an alternative shipping network to avoid the cap, but that has proved to be expensive, with private analyses indicating that it has cost $35 per barrel of oil.

The administration has argued that the cap has been successful, leading to a 45 percent drop in Russian oil tax revenue over the past year. The official said the focus of enforcing the cap would be on further increasing costs for Russia’s oil industry so Moscow has less money available to support its military in Ukraine.

The coalition enforcing the price cap also released a set of recommendations to improve compliance within the maritime oil industry.

The guidance was aimed at countries as well as private companies.

It recommends that all ships have legitimate insurance and rely on industry standard classifications, among other policies focused on stepped-up monitoring of the sector. AP

Japan asks court to dissolve church cited in Abe shooting

J

APAN’S government asked a court to order the dissolution of a fringe religious group whose activities were cited as motivation in the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year.

Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Friday the motion had been filed. If approved, it would remove the legal status of the group formerly known as the Unification Church, ending its tax advantages but not preventing it from continuing operations in the country that has been a base of its support for decades.

The church has said in a statement on its website the government’s decision to seek its dissolution was based on “biased information” and vowed to contest the case in court. Closed-door hearings are expected to be held at the Tokyo District Court and

either side can appeal the result, meaning the process could take months or even years.

Abe’s accused killer told police he was motivated by the former premier’s links to the church, which he blamed for bankrupting his family by taking excessive donations from his mother.

The incident drew fresh attention to the group, which has a list of court judgments against it for its fund-raising methods. It also led to revelations about the extent of its links to the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been trying to distance himself from the church in a bid to shore up his ailing public support less than a year ahead of an LDP leadership election. He told reporters Thursday the decision to seek the court order had been “based on the law and objective facts.”

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 14, 2023 A11

Talk of war dominates annual gathering of global finance chiefs W

AR in the Middle East has swollen the list of geopolitical risks for global finance chiefs already confronting fallout from conflict in Ukraine and bracing for a year of pivotal elections.

The Hamas attack on Israel and potential for further economic disruption have taken center stage among the fiscal and central banking elite gathered at the International Monetary Fund’s annual meetings being held in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.

“Geopolitical risks are the most significant risk for the world economy now,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters before discussing the matter with Group of Seven counterparts. “Geopolitical risk has become the most significant risk for growth, for development— and for common prosperity.”

Meanwhile, Thursday’s US data showing a brisk pace of consumerprice increases serves as a reminder that financial risks remain elevated too—with persistently higher borrowing costs set to further squeeze public finances.

Beyond shock at the human impact—the G-7 condemned Hamas for its attack and pledged solidarity with Israel in a joint statement—officials attending the meetings are struggling to assess the scope of economic fallout from that conflict and the consequences for oil supply.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters: “In terms of economic impact, we are very closely monitoring how the situation evolves, how it is affecting especially oil markets.”

On Wednesday, veteran crisis fighter Janet Yellen downplayed concer ns over t he con f l ic t ’s potential to upend the world ’s economic outlook.

“We’re monitoring potential economic impacts from the crisis, but I’m not really thinking of that as a major likely driver of the global economic outlook,” the Treasury secretary said in a news briefing.

War fallout

V ETER A N economist Nouriel Roubini—a harbinger of doom during the 2008 financial crisis—told Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television Thursday that markets are assuming the war will be contained. He sees a “two-third probability” of that, while a worse scenario would see Iran and Lebanon involved in a bigger conflict.

“If that were to be the case, of course the supply of oil from the Gulf gets disrupted and you get a spike in oil prices,” he said. “The economic impact would be huge.”

Such an outcome would compound the challenges already faced by finance ministries and central banks around the world.

They were counting on slowing inflation to allow stabilization in the global monetary environment, albeit with elevated borrowing costs that may strain public finances.

At least the “higher-for-longer” prospects for interest rates espoused by the US Federal Reserve—now reinforced by data showing a 0.3 percent increase in the so-called core consumer price index in September—could be taken as a fair assumption by governments making tough budget choices.

Political risks

BUT the effects of another protracted conflict, beyond the one raging in Ukraine, is far less quantifiable and adds to a long list of political touch points on their horizon next year.

The US election is perhaps the most significant of those, with the possibility that Donald Trump might return to office with a renewed assault on the prevailing global economic order.

Votes in the European Union and in the UK are further items on a packed calendar. Elections in Taiwan—closely watched by China—will be a focus, while Algeria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea also hold polls.

Fallout from the war in Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to weigh

IMF sees ME economic growth in ’24 but Israel-Hamas conflict poses risks

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—Middle East (ME) economies are gradually recovering as external shocks from the war in Ukraine and global inflation fade, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday, but the escalating war between Israel and the Hamas militant group could dampen the outlook.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the organization was closely monitoring the economic impact of the war, especially on oil markets, where prices have fluctuated.

“Very clearly this is a new cloud on not the sunniest horizon for the world economy—a new cloud darkening this horizon that is not needed,” she said at a news conference during the IMF and World Bank’s annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.

The IMF expects economic growth to slow to 2 percent this year in the ME and

North Africa, from 5.6 percent last year, as countries keep interest rates higher and contend with rising oil prices and local challenges. Growth is expected to improve to 3.4 percent in 2024.

That’s below the IMF’s forecast for global economic growth of 3 percent this year but above next year’s expected 2.9 percent.

Wealthy countries in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere will benefit from higher oil prices, while Egypt and Lebanon are still contending with soaring inflation, the IMF said.

Climate change poses a challenge across the region, as seen in last month’s devastating floods in war-torn Libya.

Average inflation is expected to peak at 17.5 percent this year before easing to 15 percent in 2024. Both figures drop by about a third with the exclusion of Egypt, where inflation soared to nearly 40 percent last

month, and Sudan, where rival generals have been battling since April.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country and the world’s largest wheat importer, has seen prices soar since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted its vital wheat shipments.

Food prices rose by 70 percent in August compared with the same month last year.

Egypt secured a $3 billion IMF bailout last year that requires a raft of economic reforms, including a shift to a flexible exchange rate and higher borrowing costs.

The IMF also has called on Egypt to level the playing field between the public and private sector after decades of subsidizing basic goods and granting the military an outsized role in the economy.

Jihad Azour, director of the ME and Central Asia Department at the IMF, said Egypt has made “progress in certain areas more than others.”

heavily, even on relatively far-flung economies.

In South Africa for example, the currency suffered a significant blow from US allegations that the country supplied weapons to Russia—an outcome addressed on Wednesday

by Rashad Cassim, a deputy governor of its central bank.

The nation “bore the brunt of geopolitical risk in a very serious way,” he said. “The relationship between geopolitical risks and the exchange rate for an emerging market became extremely complex.

All I can say is that the challenges of monetary policy are going to be much harder.”

Where the fallout from wars in Ukraine and the Middle East converge is in the possible impact on oil, a market that is already subject to the whims of producer governments that have cut supply to reap the benefits to their coffers.

“We had seen some of that already—even before the events of this weekend,” IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told an event on Thursday afternoon.

His boss, Georgieva, warned that governments and policymakers need to get used to the prevailing truth that geopolitical risk isn’t going away.

“We are in a shock-prone world,” she told reporters. “I do not know when the next shock is going to be. I just know it will come.” Bloomberg News “Egypt has a promising economy, large in size, with big potential,” he said. “It’s very important to provide the space to the private sector to be in the lead. And this is why redesigning the role of the state to be more an enabler than a competitor is so important.”

In Lebanon, which has been in a severe economic meltdown since 2019, the IMF is still waiting on the country’s leaders to enact financial and economic reforms that might pave the way to a bailout following a preliminary agreement last year.

“They were supposed to happen very quickly, and the team is still waiting to see progress on those,” Azour said.

He pointed to some successes elsewhere.

Morocco has enacted changes that have “paid off in terms of growth, in terms of economic stability,” Azour said, adding that the North African country is now eligible for “gold standard” IMF programs reserved for well-advanced emerging economies.

He also cited Jordan, a close Western ally facing severe water scarcity, saying it had maintained economic stability despite the successive shocks of Covid-19, inflation and regional instability. AP

A12 Saturday, October 14, 2023

The World BusinessMirror

Israel orders evacuation of 1.1-M people from northern part of Gaza C

www.businessmirror.com.ph

China defends position on Hamas attack in talk with Israel’s envoy

J

ERUSALEM—Israel’s military on Friday directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 people, within 24 hours, a UN spokesman said.

The order, delivered to the UN, comes as Israel presses an offensive against Hamas militants.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called the order “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

This could signal an impending g round of fensive, t hough the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such an appeal. On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, a decision has not yet been made.

The Israeli military pulverized the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, prepared for a possible ground i n v a s i o n a n d s a i d T hu r s d a y its complete siege of the territor y—which has left Palestini a ns desperate for food , f uel and medicine—would remain in place until Hamas militants free some 150 hostages taken during a grisly weekend incursion.

A visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with shipments of US weapons, offered a powerful green light to Israel to drive ahead with its retaliation in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly attack

on civilians and soldiers, even as international aid groups warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Israel has halted deliveries of basic necessit ies and electr icit y to Ga za’s 2. 3 mi l l ion people and prevented entr y of supplies f rom Eg y pt.

“Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that forces “are preparing for a ground maneuver” should political leaders order one.

A ground offensive in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas and where the population is densely packed into a sliver of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-tohouse fighting.

Hamas’ assault Saturday and smaller attacks since have killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, including 247 soldiers—a toll unseen in Israel for decades—and the ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza, according to authorities

on both sides. Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead in Gaza are Hamas members. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

As Israel pounds Gaza from the air, Hamas militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel.

Amid concerns that the fighting could spread in the region, Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes on Thursday put two Syrian international airports out of service.

T he re le nt le s s b a r r a ge on Gaza—which the military said has so far involved 6,000 munitions— left Palestinians running through streets, carrying their belongings and looking for safety.

A strike Thursday afternoon in the Jabaliya refugee camp took down a residential building on families sheltering inside, killing at least 45 people, Gaza’s Interior Ministry said. At least 23 of the dead were under the age of 18, including a month-old child, according to a list of the casualties.

The home belonging to the alShihab family was packed with relatives who had fled bombing in other areas. Neighbors said a second house was hit at the same time, but the toll was not immedi-

ately known. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We can’t flee because anywhere you go, you are bombed,” one neighbor, Khalil Abu Yahia, said. “You need a miracle to survive here.”

The number of people forced f rom their homes by the airstrikes soared 25 percent in a day, reaching 423,000 out of a population of 2.3 million, the UN said Thursday. Most crowded into UN-run schools.

Families were cutting down to one meal a day, said Rami Swailem, a 34-year-old lecturer at al-Azhar University, who had 32 relatives sheltering in his home. Water stopped coming to the building two days ago, and they have rationed what’s left in a tank on the roof.

Alaa Younis Abuel-Omrain has been staying in a UN school after a strike on her home killed eight members of her family—her mother, aunt, a sister, a brother and his wife and their three children. Most bakeries stopped producing bread for lack of electricity.

“Even if there is food in some areas, we can’t get to it because of strikes,” she said.

On Wednesday, Gaza’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down, leaving only lights powered by scattered private generators.

Hospitals, overwhelmed by a constant stream of wounded and running out of supplies, have only a few days worth of fuel before their power cuts off, aid officials say.

“Without electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues,” said Fabrizio Carboni, regional director of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Newborn incubators, kidney dialysis machines, X-ray equipment and more, are all dependent on power, he said. AP

HINA made its first public contact with Israel since last weekend’s attack

by Hamas, hours after the Israeli ambassador called on Beijing to engage in talks around the conflict.

Zhai Jun, China’s special envoy on Middle East issues, said the country condemns actions that lead to the death of civilians, according a Foreign Ministry statement on his call with an Israeli foreign ministry official. China is also willing to work with the international community toward peace talks, it said.

“China has no selfish interests on the Palestinian issue and has always stood on the side of peace, fairness and justice,” the statement read.

The statement also cited the Israeli foreign affairs official as saying that Israel will step up efforts to protect Chinese citizens in Israel. Three Chinese nationals had been killed and two went missing in the attacks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing on Thursday. Several other Chinese nationals were injured.

Israel’s ambassador to China called on Beijing earlier Thursday to leverage its close relationship with Iran to rein in Hamas, saying the government needed to be engaged in talks around the conflict.

“We really hope China can be much more involved in talking to its close partners in the Middle East and particularly Iran,” Irit Ben-Abba told Bloomberg TV in an interview Thursday. “Iran is definitely very much involved in what has happened.”

Ben-Abba’s remarks come as China’s willingness to entangle itself in some of the region’s most intractable conflicts has come under scrutiny. A US senator confronted President Xi Jinping this week about his government’s failure to condemn the surprise October 7 strike

by Hamas on Israel that killed hundreds of civilians.

While China’s Foreign Ministry later said it was “saddened” by the casualties, Beijing hasn’t criticized Hamas in its statements, only saying that the Asian country is a “friend to both” sides of the conflict.

China until recently didn’t have a record of negotiating peace deals. That changed when in March it helped broker a tentative detente between Iran and

All eyes are now on Hezbollah as Israel battles Hamas in Gaza Strip

B

EIRUT—Will Lebanon’s heavily armed Hezbollah militia join the IsraelHamas war? The answer could well determine the direction of a battle that is bound to reshape the Middle East.

Hezbollah, which like Hamas is supported by Iran, has so far been on the fence about joining the fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Islamic militant rulers. For the past six days, Israel has besieged Gaza and hammered the enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians with hundreds of airstrikes in response to a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Israel, which has vowed to crush Hamas, is now preparing for a possible ground offensive. While the country’s political and military leaders weigh the next move, they are nervously watching Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border and have sent troop reinforcements to the area. Hezbollah, with an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles capable of hitting virtually anywhere in Israel, is viewed as a far more formidable foe than Hamas.

Israel is anxious that opening a new front in the country’s north could change the tide of the war, with Hezbollah’s military caliber far superior to that of Hamas. But the fighting could be equally devastating for Hezbollah and Lebanon.

The possibility of a new front in Lebanon also brings back bitter memories of a vicious monthlong war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 that ended in a stalemate and a tense detente between the two sides.

Lebanon is in the fourth year of a crippling economic crisis and is bitterly divided between Hezbollah and its allies and opponents, paralyzing the political system.

Israel is especially worried about Hezbollah’s precision-guided missiles, which are believed to be aimed at strategic targets like natural gas rigs and power

stations. Hezbollah is also battle-hardened from years of fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s troops in neighboring Syria.

At the same time, Hamas and Hezbollah have grown closer as Hamas leaders have moved to Beirut in recent years. While Hezbollah has largely remained on the sidelines, people close to the group say an Israeli ground offensive could be a possible trigger for it to fully enter the conflict with devastating consequences.

Qassim Qassir, a Lebanese analyst close to the group, said Hezbollah “will not allow Hamas’ destruction and won’t leave Gaza alone to face a ground incursion.”

“When the situation requires further escalation, then Hezbollah will do so,” he told The Associated Press.

An official with a Lebanese group familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Hezbollah fighters have been placed on full alert.

Hezbollah and Israel have targeted military outposts and positions in brief rocket and shelling exchanges on the border since the outbreak of the Gaza war. Three Hezbollah fighters were killed Monday, while Israeli officials said one Israeli soldier was killed in an anti-tank missile attack two days later.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed and five were wounded in a skirmish with Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants who crossed the southern Lebanese border into Israel. Hamas also claimed responsibility for firing several rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon.

Anthony Elghossain, a senior analyst with the Washington-based New Lines Institute, said that while neither Israel nor Hezbollah appears to want to enter “significant and sustained armed conflict,” there is a risk of escalation—even without

Saudi Arabia, after years of diplomatic deadlock between the historic rivals. The deal marked a departure from Beijing’s long-stated reluctance to involve itself in foreign disputes.

The Chinese official on Wednesday pushed for a cease-fire in a phone call with a foreign affairs official from the Palestinian Authority, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

That meeting followed a call between Zhai and an Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday, during which he called for humanitarian support for the Palestinian people.

China’s complex history with the IsraelPalestine conflict dates back decades.

During Communist Party founder Mao Zedong’s rule, China recognized the Israeli state, but was more sympathetic toward the Palestinians as Mao saw them as victims of imperialism.

Beiing’s relations with Israel remained tense through the Cold War, as the latter emerged as a key US ally. That began to change, though, as China opened up and showed economic interests in Israel’s developments in technology and defense.

Now bilateral trade with Israel totals some $22.1 billion, according to 2022 statistics from the International Monetary Fund.

More than half of Israel’s exports to China are electric components, including microchips, according to a June paper by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.

That trade with Israel is crucial as the US urges its partners to implement curbs on Beijing’s access to cutting-edge technology. Intel Corp. abandoned a $5.4 billion deal in August to acquire Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd. after failing to win Chinese regulatory approval in time as rising geopolitical tensions slow down that process.

Ben-Abba said Israel and China have a “good” relationship, adding that they enjoy a “special partnership” on innovation. The diplomat said she didn’t see any direct impact on bilateral trade from the unfolding situation.

“Of course, we have to see what is going to happen in the Middle East as a whole,” she said. “We are in a state of war at the moment.” Bloomberg News a ground invasion of Gaza—if either side makes a miscalculation and oversteps the usual rules of engagement.

With an eye toward Hezbollah, US President Joe Biden has warned other players in the Middle East not to join the conflict, sending American warships to the region and vowing full support for Israel.

“He’s backed up that warning with the deployment of our largest carrier group, the Gerald R. Ford, as well as again making sure that Israel has what it needs and that we also have appropriate assets in place,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday during a stop in Israel.

While Hezbollah officials and legislators have threatened escalation, their leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has remained silent since Hamas’ surprise weekend attack. The group in its public statements has said that they are continuing to monitor the situation. A spokesperson for Hezbollah did not respond to requests for comment.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said in a video briefing posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the situation is “relatively stable on the northern front.”

“We are monitoring the situation so that it doesn’t change,” he said. “We are deployed in significant numbers, strength and capabilities...and we are very vigilant to any attempt by Hezbollah to escalate the situation.”

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said international governments have urged Lebanese authorities to keep the crisis-hit country away from a new war.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called Thursday on all Lebanese groups to exercise self restraint and not to be pulled into “Israel’s plans,” an apparent message to Hezbollah. He said Lebanon condemns “criminal ac ts committed

by Israel,” saying that it is “wiping out children and civilians” and called on the international community to work on ending hostilities. AP

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

ACCENTURE, INC. 7f, Robinsons Cybergate Tower 1, Pioneer St, City Of Mandaluyong KISUNA, KAEDE Infra Tech Support Senior Analyst 1.

Brief Job Description: Provide ongoing technical support and maintenance of production and development systems and software products (both remote and onsite) and for configured services running on various platforms (operating within a defined operating model and processes).

ONO, SATORU SW/App/Cloud Tech Support Sr Analyst

2.

Brief Job Description: Ensure production systems are available and operating as defined in Service Level Agreements.

No.

3.

Brief Job Description: Participates in the preparation of food items according to guest orders of consistent quality following recipe cards, production, portion, and presentation standards and accountable for the overall food cost kitchen supplies.

WANG, JINYIN Chef

4.

Brief Job Description: Participates in the preparation of food items according to guest orders of consistent quality following recipe cards, production, portion, and presentation standards and accountable for the overall food cost kitchen supplies.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite. Effective communication skills in Japanese and English languages.

LEE, GYEONGJUN Administrative Manager 12.

Basic Qualification: Graduate of any 4 yrs. course, and preferably IT or Engineering related.

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

5.

Brief Job Description: Provides support and intermediation in the sale of airline tickets to the Thai clients.

13.

6.

Brief Job Description: Provides support and intermediation in the sale of airline tickets to the Thai clients.

7.

Brief Job Description: Provides support and intermediation in the sale of airline tickets to the Thai clients.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English languages both in written and verbal.

14.

8.

Brief Job Description: Provides support and intermediation in the sale of airline tickets to the Thai clients.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English languages both in written and verbal.

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

Basic Qualification: Must have at least 1 year of experience working in a travel industry company, either from a BPO which is travel related, or from an actual travel agency as a consultant. Fluent in written and spoken Thai language. Good English communication skills.

Basic Qualification: Must have at least 1 year of experience working in a travel industry company, either from a BPO which is travel related, or from an actual travel agency as a consultant. Fluent in written and spoken Thai language. Good English communication skills.

Basic Qualification: Must have at least 1 year of experience working in a travel industry company, either from a BPO which is travel related, or from an actual travel agency as a consultant. Fluent in written and spoken Thai language. Good English communication skills.

Basic Qualification: Must have at least 1 year of experience working in a travel industry company, either from a BPO which is travel related, or from an actual travel agency as a consultant. Fluent in written and spoken Thai language. Good English communication skills.

CHEC CONSTRUCTION (PHILS.) CORP. 9th Floor Ore Central Tower, 31st St. Cor. 9th Ave. Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

9.

Brief Job Description: The mandarin financial manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

PANDIAN, ELANGO Associate Project Manager 15.

10.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for monitoring and controlling maintenance costs and dealing with emergency unplanned problems and repairs of machine breakdowns.

Basic Qualification: Expertise in variety of advance technical designs for reclamation and maintaining the natural resources in reclamation site.

Brief Job Description: Assist lead project managers in running large projects and interactions with client and stakeholders.

LI, XUEBO Mandarin Marketing Supervisor 16.

Brief Job Description: Develop and oversee marketing campaigns to promote products or services.

TAN, MINGLIANG Mandarin Marketing Supervisor

17.

Brief Job Description: Develop and oversee marketing campaigns to promote products or services.

XU, ZHIZHEN Call Center Agent Mandarin Speaking 18.

11.

Brief Job Description: The role involves 24/7 monitoring and escalation including incident handling and service requests from customers/end-users by following the standard methods and procedures of the unit.

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

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Basic Qualification: Can contribute information, ideas, and research to help develop marketing strategies and can help to detail, design, and implement marketing plans for each product or service being offered.

Basic Qualification: 1 or more years of experience in project management support.

Should have prior expertise in managing a team or more than one team.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Marketing Supervisor.

26.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for answering calls and inquiries of all customers.

WANG, GONGNENG Mandarin Cost Control Officer 19.

Brief Job Description: The mandarin cost control officer will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

FANG, JINGHAI Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 20.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

HUANG, CHANGTIE Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 21.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

LI, JINGWEN Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 22.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

LI, ZHICHUN Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 23.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

LUO, WEIHUAN Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 24.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

SHU, QINGHAI Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 27.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

WEN, YONG Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist 28.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

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

INSPIRINGPG INC. Unit 1708-t 17th Floor Sm Aura Office Tower, 26th Street Corner Mckinley Parkway, Bgc, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig XIAO, JUNQI Mandarin Project Manager 29.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Marketing Supervisor.

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

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

QIN, CHONG Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Project Manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

QI, HONG Mandarin Warehouse And Logistics Manager

30.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Warehouse and Logistics Manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as Mandarin Project Manager, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin warehouse and logistics manager, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

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

Basic Qualification: High School Graduate. Can speak and write fluently in Chinese Mandarin.

Can operate Mandarin characters.

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

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

31.

GUANGXI HYDRO ELECTRIC CONSTRUCTION BUREAU (GHCB PHILIPPINES CORPORATION) #58, Road 1, Project 6, Quezon City

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

Basic Qualification: Must be fluent in English and can speak Indian language.

Basic Qualification: Excellent managerial experience.

GOLDENSKY INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC. 2702, Midas Hotel Bldg., Roxas Blvd., Barangay 76, Pasay City

COLLABERA TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED, INC. U-40 A-d, 40/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati GOTTIPATI, MOUNISHA Technical And Business Operations Analyst

25.

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

FH ZONE SERVICE INC. Unit A 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. Va Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin financial manager, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

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

Basic Qualification: Excellent managerial experience.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION MENG, ZEYANG Mandarin Electrical Foreman Specialist

EASTVANTAGE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS INC. Unit 2400 24/f Fort Legend Tower, 3rd Ave. Cor. 31st St., Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

CHINA FIRST HIGHWAY ENGINEERING CO., LTD. (CFHEC PHILIPPINE BRANCH COMPANY) 500-508 Ermita Center, Roxas Boulevard, Barangay 668, Ermita, City Of Manila LIN, JIANZHI Mandarin Reclamation Mechanical Equipment Specialist

No.

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

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

SHI, RAN Mandarin Financial Manager

Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services. Implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas.

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

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

BUMPEN, KRIDSANA Thai Travel Consultant- Thai Bilingual

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

EASTERN GOLD CORPORATION 503, Nueva St., Barangay 289, Binondo, City Of Manila

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

TACHASUWANCHAI, ATIBET Thai Travel Consultant - Thai Bilingual

Brief Job Description: Develop project plans that identify resource and budgetary needs.

XIONG, MEICHAO Marketing And Sales Agent

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

MOONPANUN, KORNPAT Thai Travel Consultant - Thai Bilingual

Brief Job Description: Plan, coordinate, and manage all administrative procedures and systems.

SEO, MYUNGSIK Senior Project Manager

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

BEAUTIFUL PHILIPPINE TRAVEL AND CONSULTANCY SERVICES, INC. Unit Ug-50 Cityland Dela Rosa Condo., Dela Rosa St., Pio Del Pilar, City Of Makati

KHUMJING, NAHATHAI Thai Travel Consultant - Thai Bilingual

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

DAEA TI TRANSPORTATION PHILIPPINES INC. Unit 4h 4th Floor A & M Building,, Commonwealth Ave.,, Batasan Hills, Quezon City

ARNZ FOOD INC. F & B L3 L/l Greenhills Promenade, Gsc, Greenhills, City Of San Juan BAI, XUEZHAO Chef

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin cost control officer, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

32.

DO TIEN KHANH Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Provide outstanding and exceptional customer service.

NGUYEN XUAN SANG Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Provide outstanding and exceptional customer service.

REN, JUNHAO Customer Service Representative

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

33.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

MICKY NAILSPA CORPORATION Gfc-4 Classica Tower, 114 H.v. Dela Costa St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

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

Brief Job Description: Provide outstanding and exceptional customer service.

PHUNG THI KIM PHUONG Manager 34.

Brief Job Description: Maintain budget and optimize expenses. Design strategy and set a goal for growth.

Basic Qualification: Can speak Chinese/ Mandarin fluently.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak Chinese/ Mandarin fluently.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak Chinese/ Mandarin fluently.

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

Basic Qualification: Ability to work under pressure.

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

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower, C4 Rd. Edsa Ext., Barangay 76, Pasay City

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

35.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

36.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin electrical foreman specialist, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

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

37.

38.

39.

BUI DUC HUNG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

DUONG HONG NHUNG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

LE NGUYEN LAN ANH Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

LE VAN BANG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

LE VAN NUI Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

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

A13

BusinessMirror

A14 A6 Saturday, October 14, 2023

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION LE VO THAO NHI Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

LO VAN HOANG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

LUU VAN DINH Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

MAC THI HUYEN Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

NGUYEN THE THANG Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

NGUYEN THI LINH Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

PHAM MINH TUAN Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

TO DINH QUY Call Center Agent Brief Job Description: Customer service.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

48.

Brief Job Description: Provide product/services, information, answer questions and resolve emerging problem.

PAULO SIMBOLON Indonesian Customer Service Representative 49.

Brief Job Description: Provide product/services, information, answer questions and resolve emerging problem.

50.

51.

Brief Job Description: Ensuring that food are of excellent quality and authentic taste are consistently achieved, modifying menus or create new ones that meet quality standards, estimating food requirements and food/labor costs, supervise kitchen staff’s activities, performing other duties assigned by the company.

TRAN THI LIEN Vietnamese Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services.

Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

52.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Site Supervisor will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

56.

53.

Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services.

Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

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

57.

58.

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

Basic Qualification: Graduate of 4 years’ bachelor degree with critical thinking and problem solving skills.

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

Basic Qualification: Ability to assist and direct kitchen staff in meal preparation, creation, plating and delivery and ensure that kitchen activities operate in a timely manner.

54.

Brief Job Description: Manage large amounts of incoming calls. Generate sales leads, identify and assess customer’s need.

Handle customer complaints. Follow communication procedures, guidelines and policies.

Brief Job Description: Inspecting construction sites regularly to identify and eliminate potential safety hazards.

CHEN, CHIH-YU a.k.a. CHEN, YANG-SHENG Mandarin Speaking Client Coordinator 59.

Brief Job Description: Schedule meetings or telephone conferences between client and management.

SUN, YU CHING a.k.a. SUN, CHI MEI Mandarin Speaking Client Coordinator 60.

Brief Job Description: Schedule meetings or telephone conferences between client and management.

ALBERT WIJAYA Indonesian-language Customer Support Staff 61.

Brief Job Description: Serves as primary contact for problem resolution and information gathering regarding customer complaints and work assignment.

MARCO ANDERSON HOWARD Indonesian-language Customer Support Staff 62.

Brief Job Description: Serves as primary contact for problem resolution and information gathering regarding customer complaints and work assignment.

CHAWLA, MANISH Chief Information And Operations Officer 63.

Brief Job Description: Formulate the long-range & short-range corporate information technology plan, budget & strategy, as well as IT policies & guidelines, consistent with the overall technological direction & supportive of the bank’s business objectives.

VICCI BUSINESS CONSULTANCY CORP. 10/f Liberty Plaza, 102 H.v. Dela Costa St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

CHIANG, CHIA-CHENG Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation)

64.

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

65.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin site supervisor, excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills.

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good verbal and written communication skills.

66.

67.

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

Basic Qualification: Must be College graduate.

Can prepare product or service reports by collecting and analyzing customer information.

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English language both in written and verbal and with working knowledge in the field of construction.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English language both in written and verbal and with working knowledge in the field of construction.

70.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

CHEW YEE JI Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation)

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

Basic Qualification: Graduate of any college course and preferably 6 months to 1-year experience in the same industry.

LI, JING Recruitment Associate (Chinese Speaking) 71.

Brief Job Description: Scheduling interviews, changing the calendar as needed, returning phone calls, and checking e-mails.

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

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English languages both written and verbal.

72.

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

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

CAI, JUN Executive Assistant 73.

Basic Qualification: Ability to multitask and priorities tasks.

Brief Job Description: Develop and sustain level of professionalism among staff and client.

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

XINCHUAN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL PHILIPPINE PROJECT LTD CORP. 16/f Tower 6789, 6789 Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

SHEN, YING Mandarin Operations Manager

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: With 2 to 5 years of working experience with the position and must be fluent in speaking English and Mandarin languages.

Brief Job Description: Scheduling interviews, changing the calendar as needed, returning phone calls, and checking e-mails.

WORLD MEDICAL RELIEF-PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BUSINESS AND COORDINATION CENTER FOUNDATION, INC. 14-d 14/f Ocean Tower Condo, Roxas Blvd., 077, Barangay 701, Malate, City Of Manila

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

Basic Qualification: With 2 to 5 years of working experience with the position and must be fluent in speaking English and Mandarin languages.

Basic Qualification: Graduate of any college course and preferably 6 months to 1-year experience in the same industry.

WANG, GUOQIANG Recruitment Associate (Chinese Speaking)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language.

Basic Qualification: A native speaker of Vietnamese and fluent in English language (spoken and written).

74.

Brief Job Description: The Mandarin Operations Manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

XSPACE SERVICE OFFICE INC. U-a&b 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

68.

69.

Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

HOANG THI AN Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation) Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

LI, WENQIANG Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation)

75.

Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

LIU, ZHIAN Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation)

76.

Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

MAH CHUN KIT Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation) Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

WONG SIE DING Customer Relation Representative (Mandarin Translation) Brief Job Description: Handles service support calls, emails and chats related to clients inquiry.

78.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

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

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as sales manager, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company.

Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

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

79.

Brief Job Description: Operate and maintain core site for ZTE projects.

Managing On-Site Personnel and Equipment Maintenance.

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

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

Brief Job Description: Responsible for project issue and risk management.

Project budget management together with finance department. Project procedure and work follow management. Project internal audit management and lastly, project KPI monitor.

ZHAO, DERONG Project Manager 80.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write, type in Mandarin language.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write and type in Mandarin language.

CHENG, WEI Project Management Manager

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

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

Brief Job Description: Responsible for commercial discussions with customers. Telecom Solution discussion with operators.

Delivery management.

SONG, TUO Customer Support Manager

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

Brief Job Description: The sales manager will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

ZHUO, HUIXIAN Account Manager

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

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

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

ZTE PHILIPPINES INC. Unit 29 Fort Legend Tower, 3rd Avenue Corner 31st, Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

77.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

Brief Job Description: The admin assistant will be a strategist and a leader able to steer the company to the most profitable direction while also implementing its vision, mission and long term goals.

LIN, FU-CHUN Sales Manager

Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: Fluent in English, Mandarin and any language.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as admin assistant, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company.

Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

CHANG, TAO Admin Assistant

Basic Qualification: A native speaker of Vietnamese and fluent in English language (spoken and written).

Basic Qualification: At least a bachelor’s degree as well as an MBA, and 10 15 years’ robust leadership experience at a senior level.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as mandarin operations manager, familiarity, knowledge and awareness on machinery and heavy equipment use by company.

Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

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

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

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

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

VISSIONARIES INC. 20/f Salcedo Towers, 169 H.v. Dela Costa St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

UNION BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES Unionbank Plaza Meralco Ave., Ortigas Ctr., San Antonio, City Of Pasig

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

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

No.

RUNNINGMAN CORPORATION 8/f Techzone Bldg., 213 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., San Antonio, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Graduate of 4 years’ bachelor degree with critical thinking and problem solving skills.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

QNECT INC. Unit 2105 The Finance Centre, 26th St. Corner 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

Brief Job Description: Collaborate with engineers, architects, etc. to determine the specifications of the project DAI, WEI Site Supervisor

Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

OMNIWEALTH ENTERPRISE INC. 17th Flr. Citibank Square Bldg., No. 188 Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Eastwood City Cyberpark 3, Bagumbayan, Quezon City

DUONG THAI HIEN Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Oversee the activities of other workers.

Hires, trains and evaluates new employees.

CHEN, HONGWEI Project Manager

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION Sky Garage Bldg., Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

LE, THI NGUYET Vietnamese Customer Service

Brief Job Description: Manage, design , develop, create and maintain smallscale to large-scale construction projects in a safe, timely and sustainable manner.

WANG, FEI Multilingual Business Manager

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

NEPC POWER CONSTRUCTION CORP. 15/f Cyber One Bldg., Eastwood Cyberpark City, Bagumbayan, Quezon City YAO, YUCHEN Mandarin Site Supervisor

55.

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

NATURAL9 CORPORATION Unit 8c-1, 8 Rockwell Building, Hidalgo Drive, Rockwell Center, Poblacion, City Of Makati ZHANG, YILANG Chinese Chef Assistant

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

WANG, HAN Civil Work Technologies

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate/level and fluent in Mandarin/basic English.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

POWERCHINA PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Unit 2101 21/f Bdo Equitable Tower, 8751 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati

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

MPOTECH DIGITAL SYSTEM INC. 2/f 331 Bldg., Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

CHRISTIANTI VALENSIA MICHELL PANGAU Indonesian Customer Service Representative

No.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Brief Job Description: Responsible for project maintenance of the company.

Daily maintenance inspection and problem handling.

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write and type in Mandarin language.

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

Basic Qualification: Can speak, write and type in Mandarin language.

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

*Date Generated: Oct 13, 2023 In the ad material of Notice of Filing of Application for Alien Employment Permits published on October 5, 2023, the salary range of CHEN, LI under the company HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES PHILS. INC., should have been read as Php 150,000 - Php 499,000 and not as published.

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

Please inform DOLE National Capital Region if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.