BusinessMirror October 15, 2022

BIG GUNS FOR MINDANAO

By Rene Acosta

THEbig guns shipped by the Philippine Army to Mindanao have already reached Maguindanao with the purpose of providing firepower support to the military’s counterterrorism operations there by quelling whatever challenge lawless groups may pose to government.

Central Mindanao, includ ing Maguindanao, is home to the breakaway Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and its three factions that have allied and pledged their allegiance to the in ternational terrorist group Islamic State (IS), which is behind the in famous siege of Marawi City in La nao del Sur in 2017.

Who’s the ‘enemy’?

THE region is also home to other local lawless groups and even some

units of the Moro National Libera tion Front (MNLF) and Moro Is lamic Liberation Front (MILF) de spite their mother organizations’ signing of separate peace agree ments with the government.

Just a few weeks back, villag ers in Midsayap, North Cotabato, were forced to leave their homes after warring families linked with the MNLF and MILF got entangled in a violent conflict due to a clan war locally known as rido

The eight Autonomous Truck

Mounted Howitzer System (AT MOS) 155mm self-propelled guns and their operators, the 10th Field Artillery “Rolling Thunder” Bat talion, are already with the Army’s 6th Infantry “Kampilan” Division after arriving at the Makar Port in General Santos in late September.

The ATMOS 155mm self-pro pelled guns were put under op

erational control of the Joint Task Force Central to support counter terrorism operations, according to 6th Infantry Division commander Major General Roy Galido.

The howitzers were transport ed by a Philippine Navy vessel that sailed from Sangley Point, Cavite City, on September 24, 2022, three days after the send-off ceremony

by defense and military officials led by Department of National Defense (DND) Officer-in-Charge Jose Faustino Jr. and Army Com manding General Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr.

Army’s biggest gun

GALIDO said the ATMOS is cur rently the biggest and probably the

most lethal military hardware in the Army’s arsenal.

With automatic loading and a digital fire control, it can deliver accurate fires to a range of up to 41 kilometers,” he explained.

“An advantage of ATMOS is that it offers high accuracy and ‘shoot and scoot’ operation, yet can operate on the existing road network and bridges found in the country. They can deploy even in rugged terrain, while being able to respond to mission demands more quickly than towed howitzers,” he added.

The batteries of ATMOS were among the latest firepower that the Army acquired in its capability upgrade program under the overall military modernization program where Brawner sought to equip the Army with modern firepower systems, while strengthening and adding up its units.

According to Army spokesman Col. Xerxes Trinidad, the Rolling Thunder battalion, which operates the ATMOS, was activated on June 22 this year.

Continued on A2

Army deploys its latest, and probably most lethal, hardware in fight vs lawless elements in the South

Autonomous Truck Mounted Howitzer System (ATMOS 2000) 155mm self-propelled guns ready for deployment within the Joint Task Force Central’s area of responsibility after arriving at the Makar Port in General Santos City on September 29, 2022.

NewsSaturday

US firepower showcased in Philippine joint combat drills

By Jim Gomez and Aaron Favila The Associated Press

CAPAS,

Tarlac—Truck-mounted launchers blasted off rockets and US stealth fighter jets streaked across the northern Philippine sky on Thursday in a combat drill that marked the latest display of American firepower in a region where Washington has tried to deter what it warns as China’s growing aggression.

The live-fire exercises at a gun nery and bombing range in a desolate valley in Capas town north of Manila were the highlight of two weeks of combat readiness maneuvers, which included mock amphibious assaults and joint coastal defense tactics in volving more than 2,500 American and Philippine marines.

Howitzer artillery shots boomed across the dusty valley hemmed in by a mountain range and hills from US and Philippine marine fire positions, some con cealed by camouflage tents.

C alled Kamandag—a Tagalog acronym for “Cooperation of the Warriors of the Sea”—the military maneuvers ending on Friday were being held simultaneously with combat drills between US Marines and Japanese army forces on Ja pan’s northern island of Hokkaido that involve about 3,000 military personnel from the two sides, US military officials said.

US Maj. Gen. Jay Bargeron of the Japan-based 3rd Marine Divi sion has said the exercises were

aimed at bolstering the defensive capabilities of the US alliance with the Philippines and Japan, and ensuring that “we are prepared to rapidly respond to crisis through out the Indo-Pacific.”

This exercise is an important opportunity to bring together US and Philippine capabilities and per sonnel to strengthen our combined readiness, proficiency and trust,” US Marine Lt. Col. Kurt Stahl told The Associated Press.

A merica’s High-Mobility Ar tillery Rocket System or HIMARS rocket launchers, which have re cently helped Ukraine gain mo mentum in its war with Russia, and F-35B supersonic fighter jets were showcased in the military exercises on Wednesday and Thursday.

The HIMARS launchers fire GPS-guided missiles. Depending on the munitions and system con figuration, HIMARS are capable of hitting targets up to 300 kilome ters (186 miles) away, Stahl said. The highly mobile launchers are hard for the enemy to spot and can

quickly change position after firing to escape retaliatory airstrikes.

W hile it could deliver a preci sion strike against critical targets like a communications system or radar, HIMARS could also be used to stop an enemy force from gain ing “on a contested piece of coastal terrain,” Stahl said.

F-35B jets also can play a sig nificant role “in increasing battle field awareness” between allied forces on the ground and in the air through a communication link,

and providing details on positions of adversarial forces, he said.

Stahl echoed remarks by Philip pine military officials that the regu larly scheduled annual exercises were not directed against any country.

The combat maneuvers, how ever, were being held at a time when Washington has more stern ly warned Beijing over its increas ingly assertive actions against Tai wan and rival claimant states in the South China Sea.

US President Joe Biden has

said American forces would defend Taiwan if Beijing tries to invade the self-ruled island, sparking angry protests from China.

Separately in July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitra tion ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. He warned that Washing ton is obligated to defend the Philip pines under a 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty if Filipino forces, vessels or aircraft come under

attack in the disputed waters.

The ruling was issued by a tri bunal set up in The Hague under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea after the Philippine government brought China to arbitration in 2013 over Beijing’s seizure of a shoal off the northwestern Philippines. China did not participate, called the arbi tration decision a sham and contin ues to defy it.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the busy waterway, where an estimated $5 trillion in goods passes each year and which is be lieved to be rich in undersea gas and oil deposits.

The military drills were the first large-scale exercise between the treaty allies under newly elect ed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in June after a landslide election victory.

His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, was an outspoken critic of US security policies and nurtured closer ties with China and Russia.

Early in his presidency, Duterte threatened to sever ties with Wash ington and frowned on military ex ercises with American forces that he said could offend Beijing.

Duterte later attempted to end a key defense pact that allowed large number of American forces to visit the Philippines for combat ex ercises but walked back his threat.

Big guns for Mindanao

Continued from A1

Brawner is not only rearming the Army and expanding its units, but also perfecting the proficien cies of its units.

A few weeks ago, the Army Ar tillery Regiment (AAR) held its reg istration firing and live-fire drills in Negros Occidental for its 3rd Field “Hell Every Shell” Battalion, with the series of drills aimed at sharpen ing the skills of its gunners.

The activities were taken in connection with AAR’s unit and individual certification program aimed at ensuring that firing units and personnel can perform vari ous artillery gunnery procedures for timely and accurate delivery of artillery fires. The certification pro gram was also made to validate the proficiency of firing unit personnel on their respective duties and re sponsibilities.

Trinidad said the AAR is im plementing a certification program for gunners and assistant gunners prior to their deployment to firing lines. Field artillerymen also un dergo recertification before han dling actual combat operations.

The regiment is one of the units at the forefront of Army modern ization by consistently organizing, training, equipping, developing and sustaining artillery units in provid

ing timely and accurate fire support to maneuver units.

The delivery of the ATMOS to Mindanao will ensure that ground forces will have the necessary fire power support when and where they need it as they operate against lawless groups and fighters allied with the IS. The latter are likewise equipped with modern tactical weapons and heavy firepower, in cluding mortars, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

The deployment of the ATMOS in Central Mindanao was made as the Army prepared to destroy the BIFF and the last major groups from the BIFF factions, on which the IS re lies heavily for local support.

Army’s Marawi exhibit IT was also symbolic as the Army has drawn up events and activities to commemorate the heroism and valor of soldiers who died liberat ing Marawi City from the clutches of the IS.

The commemoration begins October 15, and would last until October 17.

Philippine Army major units that played crucial roles in liberat ing Marawi will mount an exhibit depicting their courage and dedi cation to defeat ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)-inspired Marawi occupiers from October 15 to Octo

ber 16, 2022,” Trinidad said. The IS was originally called and known as ISIS.

The five-month-long Marawi campaign will also be showcased as one of the greatest heritage of the Army at the Philippine Army Museum. Marawi memorabilia, re covered items and equipment will be put on exhibit at the Philippine Army Officers’ Clubhouse Pavilion. The exhibit will be open to the pub lic,” Trinidad said.

Mobile firepower

EARLIER, Brawner said the lessons learned from the Marawi battle partly prodded the Army to go for heavy firepower buildup.

Instead of howitzers and oth er big guns, he said, the military primarily used track and wheeled armors during the battle because there were not enough types of such weapons.

The military has called the AT MOS a “game changer” asset, which Faustino earlier said could be handy for both territorial defense and in ternal security operations.

These assets are considered game-changers as they will cer tainly bolster the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s internal security operations for a decisive victory against enemies of the state,” Faus tino declared.

FILIPINO and American Marines talk beside a US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during a Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise as part of the annual combat drills between the Philippines and the US in Capas, Tarlac, Thursday, October 13, 2022. AP/AARON FAVILA

Philippine central bank makes case for 75 basis-point rate hike

THE Philippines will consider another round of outsized interest-rate hike to keep the peso from weakening and feeding into domestic price pressures, central bank Governor Felipe Medalla said.

“It’s a question of whether it is 50 or 75 basis points,” Medalla said in an interview in Washington with Bloomberg Television on Thursday, when asked on the outlook for the next rate meeting. While a 75-basis-point move will ease pressure on the peso and cool inflation, it could impact the economic recovery, he said.

Policymakers in the Philippines, home to Southeast Asia’s worst performing cur rency this year and among the region’s fastest inflation, are under pressure to halt the peso’s slide and rein in price gains, which risk eroding President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s popularity.

The peso dropped more than 13 percent this year, one of the steep est declines among major Asian cur rencies. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipi nas raised the key rate by 225 basis points so far this year, the most in Southeast Asia.

“The argument for not responding point-by-point is that our inflation rate is lower, but the argument for doing something bolder is that the question of the currency also has to be addressed,” Medalla told Bloom berg Television’s Kathleen Hays and Haidi Lun.

While the central bank may have already done enough as the forecast for inflation is already consistent with the target, “what the Fed does has a very significant effect on what we will do,” he said.

The BSP has been intervening in the currency market to curb excessive volatility and stem the peso’s drop and on Sunday said it may tighten report ing requirements on foreign-exchange transactions. Policymakers are next scheduled to review the key rate on November 17.

“What’s on the table is a combina tion of using reserves, raising rates, and of course, if possible some form of international cooperation,” Medalla said. The nation’s foreign-exchange reserves fell to a two-year low of $95 billion in September. AP

Senators push PNOC-EC to ‘explore, exploit’ potential oil, gas resources

By Lenie Lectura

LAWMAKERS urged the Philip pine National Oil CompanyExploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) to “explore and exploit” prospective oil and gas resources as the country embarks on the road towards energy self-sufficiency.

“We need to explore and exploit later on because PNOC has a lot of service contracts. I’m quite optimistic that under the leadership of its new president, we can, once and for all, explore all of these service contracts.

“Year in and year out, I would look at the service contracts and it remains the same. I’m waiting for the day when it would be reported in this committee that we have discovered oil, gas... but we’re not seeing that. One of the most important subsidiaries of government is PNOC- EC because it is the driver to wards self-sufficiency. So, hopefully, in the next few years, we will see light

at the end of the tunnel,” said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

Gatchalian presided at the hybrid briefing of Finance Subcommittee E on Friday (October 14) on the pro posed 2023 budgets of National Power Corporation (Napocor), Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM).

PNOC –EC, for its part, assured the senators that it would pursue explora tion activities covered by the service contracts awarded to it.

These are SC 37 in Cagayan, SC 57 Calamian, SC 58 West Calamian, SC 59 West Balabac, and SC 74 Linapacan.

PNOC-EC vice president for up stream operations Jaime Bacud said SC 37 is currently undergoing well drilling and testing. “Hopefully, we can get drilling started by late 2023 or early 2024. If the well becomes a gas discovery then we can develop that within three to five years,” he said.

BSP gov unveils marker declaring PICC as National Cultural Treasure

SC57 will undergo another seismic survey. “We need to conduct a 3D seis mic survey. It’s the same with SC58 and SC59. So, these are more explo ration programs and we need at least three to four years to develop if there is confirmed oil or gas,” added Bacud.

For SC74, Bacud said the state firm is looking to develop a marginal oil dis covery. “We just need to look into the potential of joint development with nearby field. This is the bigger West Linacapan field. Since it’s marginal, we need to pursue a joint development.”

He said there are security issues involving some of the service con tracts. For instance, SC58 and 59 are part of the waters enclosed by the 9-dash line claim. SC 75, in which PNOC has 35 percent, is one of the service contracts that was suspended.

“In Palawan, we have potential areas for gas. We were trying to conduct some seismic survey last April but that was put on hold due to security issues in the

West Philippine Sea,” he said.

Also at Friday’s hearing, Sen. Rob inhood Padilla inquired at length on the government’s oil exploration ef forts. Padilla noted that in the pre sentation made by PNOC, aside from the Malampaya gas field off the coast of Palawan Island, there are prospects of oil reserves in Cagayan, Calamian (Palawan), Northwest Palawan, and Liguasan Marsh in Mindanao.

PNOC-EC’s Bacud said preparations for well-drilling and 3D seismic acquisi tion and processing program in Cagayan and Calamian are ongoing. However, he said that the 3D seismic survey in Northwest Palawan, which is within the disputed West Philippine Sea, was discon tinued and further activities were put on hold pending clearance from the Security, Justice and Peace Coordinating Cluster.

On the Liguasan Marsh, Bacud in formed Padilla that the Department of Energy awarded the service contract to another private company.

B

ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor and Philip pine International Conven tion Center (PICC) Chairman Felipe M. Medalla recently led the unveiling of the marker declaring the PICC as a “National Cultural Treasure.”

The declaration by the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) underscores the PICC’s historical and cultural significance.

Designed by National Artist for Ar chitecture Leandro Locsin, the PICC opened in 1976 and has served as the

venue for countless momentous events, including the Miss Universe 1994 Pageant, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Asean summits and performances of international artists like Luciano Pavarotti, The Bolshoi Ballet, Josh Groban, Ricky Martin, and Lea Salonga.

PICC also houses four major art works from National Artists Arturo R. Luz, Jose T. Joya, and Napoleon V. Abueva, which were likewise des ignated as cultural treasures by the NMP.

DPWH’s Bonoan grilled on Manila Bay reclamation area ROW and flooding

By Butch Fernandez

SENATOR Cynthia Villar is question ing the jurisdiction of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) over other government agencies upon learning that the PRA reportedly blocked the De partment of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) move to set up a field district in Manila Bay’s reclaimed area.

The senator stepped in to clarify the situation, raising the issue during the Sen ate deliberation on the proposed P718.36billion DPWH budget Thursday, wondering why the PRA, a government-owned and -controlled corporation (GOCC) attached to the Office of the President, had refused the construction of a DPWH Field District Office in Las Piñas, Villar’s bailiwick.

In turn, DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan

DA Caraga showcases new tech in soybean, sorghum production

By Manuel T. Cayon

DAVAO CITY—Farmers in the Caraga Region were treated to a demonstration of new cultivation technology for soybean and sorghum as part of the marketing initiative of the regional Department of Agriculture (DA) to showcase adaptable agricultural technologies.

The DA Caraga has its Del Monte Lowland Rainfed Research Station in San Francisco town, Agusan del Sur, which hosted the Farmers’ Field Day on Tuesday, October 11, to highlight the soybean seed production project and sorghum research trial.

The soybean seed production project used the Select Manchuria and Select Tudela Black varieties, which were planted on an area of 2,500 square meters in the station’s premises.

The seeds used were from the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB).

The IPB is tasked with developing new and improved varieties that they share with farmers by collaborating with the DA.

The soybean seed production project is also a part of Component 1 of the DACaraga’s Sustainable Feed Formulation Program also called Team Bahug “to promote the utilization of locally available raw materials to produce quality but affordable feeds,” the DA information office said.

Sorghum, on the other hand, was planted for the Sorghum Research Trial, which was scheduled for harvest by November to demonstrate the suitability of the crop in the region.

The DA assured farmers that there is a market for sorghum, and a potential buyer, the AMCB Enterprise, was invited during the activity.

AMCB Enterprise is a feed manufacturing company based in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur.

A ceremonial signing of the supply and purchase agreement was held among the DA, farmer Archie Jacinto and the AMCB. The agreement stipulates that AMCB would purchase sorghum grains from Jacinto, who has been endorsed by the DACaraga, upon harvest this November.

The DA said sorghum is a climate-resilient grain crop grown mainly for food, fuel, feeds, forage, and fertilizer. The department is promoting sorghum production to support the livestock and poultry industry in the country.

The conduct of field days is meant to showcase and disseminate various packages of technologies to the farmers and other stakeholders, the DA said.

sought to clarify that the depart ment has an obligation to pay P4 billion right-of-way (ROW) to PRA and promised to settle the amount next year.

Villar noted the Las PiñasParañaque Wetland, on the other hand, is a legislated protected area and its maintenance should be done by the Department of Envi ronment and Natural Resources.

“You have to give me a briefer to file a resolution investigating the PRA for what they are doing to us here in Las Piñas,” Villar said.

At the same hearing on the DPWH budget, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., chairperson of the Committee on Public Works,

asked DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan if the department has a task force to look into the flood ing problems of provinces, cities and municipalities nationwide.

“Please look into this, especially those places that experience floods. We should know the cause of flood ing,” said Revilla, adding, “You should also consider the dredging of river to widen the water lanes.”

Revilla noted during the Fi nance Subcommittee A’s delib eration of the P718.36 billion 2023 proposed DPWH budget has been provided for “ongoing projects and programs to ad dress the perennial flooding in the country.”

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

ASUBSIDIARY of the Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) is being scrutinized by the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) for possible abolition to save the government from incurring further losses.

GCG Director Johann Carlos Barcena disclosed that the Philippine Pharma Procurement Inc. (PPPI), formerly PITC Pharma Inc., is “under evaluation for actual abolition.”

“We have identified certain GOCCs (government-owned and -controlled corporations) that are under evaluation for abolition. One of the GOCCs identified is the PPPI,” Barcena said in a news conference on Friday afternoon.

“Historically [PPPI] is constantly operating at a net loss. [And] as such [it is] under evaluation for actual abolition,” Barcena added.

PPPI is the sole pharmaceutical GOCC mandated to provide “low priced quality” medicines to the public, according to its web site.

Barcena said 25 GOCCs have been approved for abolition and are currently in various stages of liquidations.

Barcena explained that the GCG has an ongoing review of the performances of the GOCCs under its jurisdiction, particularly those that are operating at a net loss.

“Even [those] operating at a profit but their presence is better served by the private sector. That is one of the standards by

which a GOCC can be abolished or otherwise privatized,” he said.

GCG Chairperson Alex Quiroz said there are at least 13 GOCCs being reviewed for possible privatization.

Quiroz disclosed that the GCG is studying new approaches to compel GOCCs to cooperate with the GCG’s performance review, such as the issuance of “show cause” orders.

The other approach that the GCG is considering is the use of special audit, a function that the commission has under the GOCC Governance Act.

Quiroz noted that one of the challenges faced by the GCG is the “non-compliance” of GOCCs during performance evaluation.

“The doctrine of justice delayed is justice denied, so we won’t allow further delay of action obligated to the GOCCs...We’re adopting measures, schemes, how to make these GOCCs to be transparent. We’re going to digitalize the transactions, open to the public,” Quiroz said.

Furthermore, Quiroz said the GCG is “open” to the possibility of filing criminal, civil, or administrative cases against erring officials “to prevent dissipation and wastage of funds arising from corruption.”

Last month, Quiroz assured senators that GCG will fast track the process of abolishing nonperforming state corporations despite a modest proposed budget of P245.7 million for 2023. (Related story: https:// businessmirror.com.ph/2022/09/30/ new-gcg-chief-vows-to-fast-track-purgeof-non-performing-state-firms/)

PITC’s pharmaceutical subsidiary PPPI marked for ‘actual abolition,’ GCG says

WITH the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Felipe M. Medalla are (from left) Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Board Members Octavio Peralta and Atty. Carlos Flores, PICC General Manager Renato Padilla, BSP Deputy Governor and PICC Vice Chairperson Bernadette Romulo Puyat, and PICC Board members Dr. Jocelyn Yambao-Franco and Susan Villar. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BOI approves ₧91.49-million Pangasinan piggery project

By Andrea E. San Juan

THE Board of Investments (BOI) has recently approved the P91million live hog-raising project of Sunjin Farm Solutions Corporation in Pangasinan, which is seen to further develop the local piggery industry.

The attached agency of the Depart ment of Trade and Industry (DTI) said this project will “revitalize” the coun try’s pork supply, which suffered a deficit due to the disruption brought by the African swine fever (ASF).

With a project cost of P91.49 mil lion, the BOI noted, the firm will en gage in the breeding, gestation, farrow ing, lactation, weaning, and growth of market hogs.

“This project is significant in mak ing up for the losses in pork production because of the ASF. The Sunjin Farm Solutions Corporation’s project will ultimately contribute to the recovery of the country’s local hog industry in

the coming years,” Trade Undersecre tary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said.

At the national level, the agency said the project—with the annual capacity to produce 1,775 metric tons (MT) of live hogs (equivalent to 1,508 MT of pork)—can supply the 1.25 percent of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) pork supply deficit of 120,889 MT for this year, contributing to attaining the recovery of the local hog industry.

As for the regional level, the BOI said the hog production in Ilocos Region (Region I) could spike by 2.93 percent, from 57,660 MT to 59,398 MT during the first year of the project’s operation.  Meanwhile, at full capacity, from 2026 and beyond, the firm can annually pro duce 1,775 MT of live hogs equivalent to a three percent increase of the projected hog production in the region.

The attached agency of the DTI said the project will jumpstart the hog re population to be supplied within Ilocos

Region and other nearby “red zone areas.”

Endorsed by the Department of Ag riculture (DA), the BOI said the project is in line with the Department’s Bantay ASF sa Barangay (BABay ASF) program. The agency added that it “shores up” the DA’s recently-launched Plant, Plant, Plant 2.0 Program, which it said con tinuously aspires for intensified local food production to increase local food sufficiency and enhance resilience to natural calamities, including ASF.

With strict biosecurity measures support, the BOI said Sunjin would operate using a “semi-conventional” type of housing wherein some houses are installed with curtain winches, cool pads, blower fans, and an automated feeder line.

As for the economic side, the agency said the project is estimated to increase domestic output by P563.15 million.

“Notably, the firm will provide aware ness seminars to farmers on disease pre vention every quarter. Particularly, the

seminar topics will depend on the need of the community (e.g. ASF Awareness Program),” the BOI said in a news state ment issued on Friday.

Moreover, the BOI noted that the firm would also donate organic fertilizer to rice and palay farmers in the area. It added that this would help farmers save around P100 per kilogram of organic fertilizer.

According to the firm, they will grow their hogs free from antibiotics and hor monal drugs, which is aligned with the World Health Organization recommen dation to reduce the use of these drugs in food-producing animals.

With this, the BOI said, Sunjin aims to minimize the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in animals contribut ing to the rising threat of antibiotic resistance.

In 2020, the Philippines ranked as the 14th largest pork producer in the world and the second largest producer in Southeast Asia, next to Vietnam.

Intl cruise firm ties up with local schools to open career opportunities for Pinoys

FLORIDA-BASED international cruise company Carnival Cruise Line (Carnival) has formed a partnership with Philippine Merchant Marine Academy (PMMA) and STI, one of the largest networks of college schools in the country, to allow Filipinos to pursue their dream of taking up maritime studies and to work onboard some of the biggest cruise ships in the world.

As part of the partnership, PMMA will provide training programs in various merchant marine fields to prepare Pinoy students for shipboard training onboard Carnival ships, as well as work with Carnival in selecting students who will receive cadetship, internship, and employment opportunities.

STI Educational Services Group Inc. (STI ESG) or STI Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Institute (STI NAMEI) will devote a section of its school in Manila for courses related to culinary and housekeeping. Part of the partnership involves exploring the possibility

of recruiting STI NAMEI graduates of marine transportation and marine engineering for potential employment with Carnival.

Being widely popular across the world, and with incoming new ships to add to its already impressive 200-strong fleet, Carnival continuously hires people from various backgrounds. To date, Carnival’s workforce is in the thousands and consists of a broad mix of workers from over 200 countries.

According to Bettina Deynes, Carnival’s Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, investing in the Philippines and partnering with PMMA and STI is “about leveraging further.”

“More than bringing a lot of expertise and knowledge, the Filipino community carries our values and identity of having fun, so Carnival wants to go beyond providing traditional roles. We want to make it across all functions— captains, chief engineers, hotel directors, chefs. Every position where we could really find the

best qualified team members,” she said during the recently held memorandum of agreement signing ceremony.

“Our vision is to expand the careers of our Filipino crew. Hopefully one day we will have a captain and a chief engineer from the Philippines.”

Carnival’s Vice President for Crew and Travel Operations, Richard Brearley, added that “the Philippines is the backbone of Carnival’s sourcing.”

“Investing in the country is about developing people, It’s about giving them careers and lifestyle choices,” he said.

The vision is to give opportunities to Filipino maritime students not just from the country’s capital but from other areas as well. To this end, Carnival and its recruitment agency United Philippine Lines (UPL) have been working together in creating a system that aims to develop potential seafarers outside Manila.

“To be able to hand-hold Filipino seafarers from the time they graduate from school until the time they go onboard cruise ships like Carnival has been our Holy Grail,” UPL Chief Operations Officer Leo Oscar Tanseco said. “It’s rare to find a partner like Carnival that is fully invested and fully embedded in the whole process. We’re very excited to have an international partner that’s working with us towards this goal.”

During the signing ceremony, STI ESG president and COO Monico Jacob expressed the company’s pride in partnering with Carnival.

“With our partnership with Carnival, our students can be confident that they will get the best training and they have somewhere to go once they graduate,” he noted.

PMMA superintendent Commodore Joel Abutal said that their partnership with Carnival aims not only to train the brightest maritime professionals in the country, but also to contribute to nation-building.

project seen to boost PHL’s NQI capacity

THE newly launched Global Qual ity and Standards Programme (GQSP) project of the United Nations Industrial Development Orga nization (Unido) in the Philippines will “certainly boost” the capacity of the national quality infrastructure of the country, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

“The GQSP project will certainly boost the capacity of the NQI of the Philippines, especially in terms of promoting and verifying the compli ance of these critical products with relevant quality and safety standards,” DTI’s Undersecretary for Competitive ness and Innovation Group Rafaelita M. Aldaba said during the launch of the GQSP Standards and Conformity Assessment for personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical devices on Friday in Makati City.

Unido is the specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with a “unique mandate” to promote and accelerate sustainable industrial and economic development.

The UN specialized agency said the GQSP Philippines was designated to provide support to government in stitutions and local manufacturers of PPE and other essential goods, such as medical devices and sanitation prod ucts, in response to major challenges which the country faced at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Unido recalled the struggles en countered by the Philippines amid the pandemic, when the country was fac ing “significant” shortages of adequate supplies of PPE that met quality and safety standards to prevent the spread of respiratory diseases and to protect health-care workers against infection.

With this, the UN specialized agency noted, with the “cooperation of the De partment of Trade and Industry (DTI), the project aims to strengthen the qual ity infrastructure, facilitate the adoption of standards and access to state-of-theart testing laboratories for PPE, medical devices and sanitation products.”

“This will ensure adequate, accessible, fit-for-purpose and safe PPE, medical

devices, and sanitation products for the general population and health-care work ers,” Unido said in a statement on Friday.

For her part, Aldaba stressed, “Right now we still don’t have a NQI, the ecosys tem is fragmented and hence this project really would create a very big impact es pecially as we build the NQI ecosystem here in the country.”

Aldaba highlighted that in enhanc ing the quality of these “critical” prod ucts, “we are investing in our country’s resilience against future disruptions and shocks to our health-care system.”

At the same time, the trade official noted that this will lead to the creation of “more and better jobs,” especially in the manufacturing sector that she said will spur the country’s economy as the Philippines transitions to the post-pandemic future.

The project is in collaboration with the DTI and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which will de velop the Philippine Laboratory Policy “that will take into consideration the short-, medium- and long-term testing

needs of the country through a holistic approach.”

“New laboratory policy will guide [the] development of testing infrastruc ture in the country with high impact on the manufacturing sector’s competitive ness and market access,” Unido said.

Moreover, the UN specialized agen cy noted, this project will enable PPE producers to access accredited testing and make production more competitive by providing direct assistance to the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) Medical Textile Laboratory to develop a “time-business plan” that will include the short-, medium- and longterm objectives and development goals of the laboratory, including the scope of services and their target market for testing services.

The project will be undertaken through the funding provided by Swit zerland, through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) with a budget of €300,000 or P17.28 million. Unido will serve as the implementing agency. Andrea E. San Juan

‘No basis’ for calls for DOJ chief Remulla to leave post–PBBM

By Samuel P. Medenilla

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. dismissed calls on Friday for the resignation of Justice Sec retary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla fol lowing the arrest of his eldest son for alleged illegal possession of “kush,” or high-grade marijuana early this week.

In an interview with reporters on Friday, the President said Remulla has prudently acted on the issue by assur ing he will not interfere in the drug case of his son.

“He has taken a very proper posi tion that he is recusing himself from any involvement in the case of his son,” Marcos said.

“Being the Secretary of the Depart ment of Justice, he’s very [much] aware that he must allow the processes of the Judiciary to work properly, and that no one in the Executive should interfere,”

the President pointed out.

Remulla’s son, Juanito Jose Re mulla III, was arrested in Las Piñas on Tuesday for alleged illegal posses sion of close to one kilo of imported kush with an estimated street value of P1.3 million.

He is now facing charges for the reported importation of the banned item and for alleged violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.

In a news statement issued on Thursday, the justice chief said he will not “intervene in nor influence” the case of his son.

Despite the assurance, however, several groups called for Remulla’s resignation.

“I think the calls for him to resign have no basis. You call for somebody to resign, if he’s not doing his job or that they have misbehaved in that job,” the President said.

BOI finalizes MC on seamless transfer of RBEs from PEZA

THE Board of Investments (BOI) said on Thursday it is finaliz ing the memorandum circular (MC) to facilitate the seamless trans fer of registration from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to the BOI.

At a roundtable discussion hosted by the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI) on Thursday which included the participa tion of investment promotion agencies (IPA), BOI and PEZA, BOI’s Director for Legal and Investment Compliance Ser vice Atty. Elyjean DC Portoza said the BOI will depend on the endorsement of the concerned IPAs in allowing the transfer of registered business enter prises (RBEs) from PEZA to BOI as it aims to facilitate a seamless paper transfer.

“Everyone is aware that this is only until December 31, 2022 that’s why all the other requirements were already removed, such that we just have to be very dependent on the endorsement of the concerned IPA because all the checking of their standing or their status is with their concerned IPA so when it reaches BOI, you have already that presumption of regularity here,” Portoza stressed.

Portoza divulged some relevant details which will be crucial in the RBEs’ transfer of registration from the PEZA to the BOI to enjoy the benefit of adopting up to 100 percent workfrom-home arrangement without los ing their “current incentives or remain ing incentives.”

In relation to this, Portoza noted that the move by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) to allow the regis tration with the BOI would only apply to those that are under the Information Technology and Business Process Man agement (IT-BPM) sector. The deadline for the transfer of registration for the affected RBEs to exercise their option to register is until December 31, 2022.

“All of these discussions, subject to the issuance of the circular which will be approved by the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) Secretary as also the chair of BOI and as mandated by the [Fiscal Incentives Review Board] FIRB Resolution,” the BOI official added.

With around two months left from the deadline of the transfer of regis tration, Portoza unveiled the crucial steps in the said transfer, noting that the “reckoning point” would be the date

of the endorsement by the concerned IPA and the applicable payment fee for the certificate of registration (CR).

“It’s a technical thing that we need to address that’s just to assure everyone that in the draft memorandum circular, actually we placed there in relation to issuance of the BOI CR, after compli ance with the required endorsement and then the payment of the applicable fee which is set at P2,250 which is for the certificate of registration. And then we will issue the certificate of registra tion and then reckoning point there would be the date of endorsement,” the BOI official noted.

“We will ensure that we won’t be cre ating some more issues but I would also encourage everyone to signify as early because once the MC is out, everything is templated so they just have to put in there the details of their registration,” Portoza added.

Meanwhile, Ian Leuterio, deputy executive director of the Fiscal Incen tives Management Group of the FIRB Secretariat, laid down the steps for the process for the transfer of regis tration to BOI.

The first step in the process is that RBEs in the IT-BPM sector shall signify to the concerned IPA of the intention to transfer to BOI.

The second step is the concerned IPA shall prepare an endorsement to BOI, which shall contain the follow ing basic information: registration of details (certification of registration, date of registration, and registered ac tivity with corresponding PSIC Code); remaining tax incentives; and status of compliance with registration terms and conditions;

The third step is the BOI shall is sue the BOI Certificate of Registration indicating the remaining tax incen tives of the project; Provided that the current Cost Benefit Analysis for new projects shall no longer be applied to the transferee RBEs.

The fourth step is the concerned IPA shall monitor compliance of transferee RBEs and submit a report to the BOI in relation to the BOI CRs issued.

In an earlier statement, Trade Sec retary Alfredo E. Pascual assured, “The procedure for transfer of registration from PEZA to BOI will be seamless—to be carried out expeditiously.”

Pascual is co-chair of FIRB and chair of both PEZA and BOI. Andrea E. San Juan

Study says PHL retirement system trails behind global, regional peers

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

WHILE the Philippines is among the top preferred destinations of foreigners to spend the remaining years of their lives, Filipino retirees may think otherwise as the Philippines comes at the penultimate spot on the 14th annual Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI).

In this report, which analyzed the 44 pension systems across the globe, the Philippines settled at the 43rd position, with an aggregate D grade. While most retirement income systems worldwide saw overall im provements, this was not the case for the country as it only got a total score of 42, as well as with other Asian neighbors like China (54.5) and Indonesia (49.2).

For the second time in a row, Iceland has lorded over the list as it earned an overall score of 84.7 and A grade in the 2022 MCGPI, followed by the A-listers Netherlands (84.6) and Denmark (82), which also main tained their second and third posi tions, respectively.

In the region, Singapore, which slid slightly from in its overall index value last year, has maintained its top spot in Asia, ranking 9th, with 74.1 total score and a grade of B, mainly due to the modified scoring matrix and a surge in net replacement rates. Completing the Top 3 places are Hong Kong and Malaysia, while ranking 19th and 23rd, accordingly, against their global peers.

T he study has Malaysia (63.1) and Japan (54.5) having the most improved systems with the former upgraded from C to C+ and the lat

ter from D to C year-on-year. While Thailand (41.7) continued to have the lowest index value being 44th world wide, it’s showing a steady progress.

Global investment professionals group CFA Institute and its partners Monash Centre for Financial Studies (MCFS) and Mercer used the weight ed average of the sub-indices of ad equacy, sustainability, and integrity to measure each pension system of the surveyed nations.

For adequacy, which takes into account the benefits for the poor and a range of income earners as well as some design features and characteristics that strengthen the effectiveness of the overall retire ment income system, the Philip pines (40.5) is not even half of the top biller Iceland (85.8) having the highest value of such, though it’s a bit above mid-range in Asia bookended

by Singapore (77.3) and India (37.6).

W hen it comes to sustainability, which considers a number of factors that impact the current systems’ con tinuity in the long run like the partici pation rate of the older population in the labor sector and the status of real economic growth, the Island nation is also fairly in the middle (52.3), with the above-cited European Union (EU) member (83.8) again the smallest state nation (65.4) consistently on the lead globally and regionally, accordingly.

Unfortunately, the Philippines’ (30.0) retirement income system is the laggard of all the surveyed coun tries, or more than a third of Finland (93.3) being the world’s leader in in tegrity. This sub-index gauges three broad areas of the pension system, namely, regulation and governance, protection and communication for members, and operating costs.

Despite developments over the years, Asia’s retirement systems keep on trailing behind the world over. The region’s average overall index value stands at 53.8 compared to the global average of 63, per the research.

The economic impact of the pandemic, as well as a volatile geo political landscape, has led to the readjustment of priorities for not just Asian markets but the world in general. While Asia still lags the global average in the overall index value, we are seeing positive year-onyear improvements for most of the markets,” explained Janet Li, Asia wealth business leader at Mercer.

A mid such development, how ever, she warned that longevity will continuously pose a challenge, “hence, governments cannot afford to put refining and improving their retirement systems on the back

burner, but must prioritize and take action promptly.”

For CFA Institute Managing Direc tor for Asia Pacific Nick Pollard, the unabated inflation, rising interest rates, currency devaluation and in vestment outflows that mostly drive a challenging near-term outlook is impacting progress in Asia as lots of its economies, especially developing markets, are trying to reverse the ef fect of the ensuing health crisis.

“Longer term, Asia, and the rest of the world, face the risk that these trends persist and become a new normal. As such, there is no mar ket in Asia that doesn’t need urgent pension reforms, and policymakers and industry stakeholders need to take collective action to ensure the adequacy of pension balance sheets and the sustainability of retirement benefits,” he said.

NIB’s outreach program brings joy to displaced senior citizens

MANILA—During crucial times in life, home brings warmth. Finding the prop er care, especially for the elderly, is essential in ensuring that they live in comfort.

For some senior citizens, state-run Golden Reception and Action Center for Elderly and other Special Cases (GRACES), formerly known as Golden Acres Home for the Aged, is home.

Some of them took time to ex press their gratitude for a variety of reasons.

George Morante, 76, said the fa cility provides everything that they need. Here, senior citizens find emotional stability, peace of mind, knowing that they are accepted, protected, and well cared for and provided with quality services. The facility provides the companion ship they need especially at this point in their lives.

“Andito naman lahat, dito li bre kami. Lahat, ’yung mga damit namin…kung anong kailangan mo rito. Ayos naman sila [elders] rito. Mababait naman, parang magka kapatid na kami rito, sama sama na kami dito. Tinutulungan nila kami rito. ’Yung mga ‘di namin alam, si nasabi nila. Meron kami minsang talakayan…’yung mga nasa loob mo, sasabihin mo,” Morante said.

GRACES is a residential care facility managed by the Depart ment of Social Welfare and De velopment-National Capital Re gion (DSWD-NCR) that provides temporary shelter, programs and services to senior citizens who are indigent, abandoned, neglected,

lost and unattached who are in need of special protection.

George said that in his early years, he used to own a club before he was transferred to GRACES. Unfortu nately, a fire destroyed his business, losing everything he had. He real ized that he had nowhere to go home and started to sleep at the Chinese Temple in Harrison Plaza.

Josefina Rigoti, 89, said she has been staying in GRACES for four years already. She shared that she was confined at the Philippine Heart Center for more than two months but being extremely sick, her neph ews and nieces didn’t want to take care for her.

“Noong nasa ospital ako, yung pen sion ko, sila ang kumukuha for 3 months. Nang pumunta ako rito, wala akong kapera-pera,” Josefina said.

V irginia Daniles, center head of GRACES, said the elders arrive in their facility through walk-ins, reach-out cases or are referred by concerned local government units.

T hey have funds for the resi dents’ medication, other basic needs, and even activities for lei sure such as exercises and prayer meetings to reconnect with their spiritual beliefs.They also offer dif ferent psychosocial interventions for the elders.

A side from the fun activities they share, the residents in the facility also told us that they have their own council; and the committee consists of ambulatory elders such as George.

On Thursday, the News and In formation Bureau (NIB) under the Office of the Press Secretary, dis

Label me a third ager

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

EVERY musical performance is not over until the featured pia nist, singer or symphony orches tra does an encore, which refers to the performance of an additional song or piece of music after a show has formally ended. Sometimes encores can go on and on by audience demand.

T his is why I ask my age-mates this question: what do you do for an encore?

T he painful truth is that when we officially retired at 60 or 65, our per formance had already ended from so ciety’s perspective.

But because of the trend in extend ed life expectancy, an individual who reaches the age of 60 will likely live

till age 80 and even beyond. That’s a big number of bonus years living as a senior citizen!

If this is so, what are you expected to do in the meantime? Will you just sit and wait and be content with your SSS or GSIS monthly pensions, and the special entitlements and privileges accorded to you as well as the govern ment ayuda and freebies extended to you from time to time?

Maybe we need to think of ways to make better use of our bonus years. Thanks for the help but we seniors need to earn our keep.

In the accounting book of society, old adults in their 60s and 70s should

The donation included basic necessities from the elders’ wish list, such as home appliances and essentials needed to follow pan demic protocols.

Lee Ann Pattugalan, Director III of NIB, said the donation drive aimed to check on the welfare of the

not belong to deficit column or payables but in the column of assets and receivables. Why? As aged adults, we have accumulated knowledge and experience. With our vitality, wisdom and untapped creative talent, we still have much much more to contribute.

Believe me, it’s not time yet to withdraw from the world, because we are just transitioning to some thing new, exciting and fulfilling!

T homas Peter Laslett, the Brit ish historian, has a term for life af ter 60: “The Third Age.” In his very influential book called “A Fresh Map of Life: The Emergence of the Third Age,” he describes this period in later adulthood as characterized by health, vigor, activity, and a positive mindset. Rather than see ing healthy, active older people as exceptional, we need to recognize that many people can reasonably anticipate years of fulfilling life after the children have left home.

Seen through the lens of the Third Age, life after 60 must be considered as an occasion for self-actualization, for doing those things that have the most personal meaning, that keep us

abandoned and neglected elderly and give them the love and care they deserve.

’Yung ginawa ni [former] First Lady Imelda Marcos na Golden Acres ay nagkakalinga sa mga ating mga matatanda na wala ng ibang mapupun tahan kung ‘di dito. Dito kumpleto rin, ’yung mga may sakit may infirmary agency ’yan, may doktor and nurse rin na talagang nakatutok din sa kanila

continuously challenged and ac tively learning and contributing to the progress our community and society.

T he thing with transitioning to the third age is that one should stop resisting the reality that you are now in post-retirement. It’s hard especially for those who are with drawing from a lucrative or egosatisfying busy careers. Just like with substance addiction, they are still wrestling with the hormonal and psychic changes that come with the passage into a new territory.

As a former executive who loves barking orders, you need to retire your dictatorial manner and adopt a humbler and friendlier attitude toward people around you.

Instead of denying or resisting, we need to accept it positively. “I know I’m in my sixties but I’m not going to be 60 something like my mother.”

W hat this means is that the show is far from over, just transitioning to another number. As one woman in her 60s exclaims: “I’m through with just staying at home all day long, making meals and doing laundry. This is my time of adventure!”

L ook around you and you’ll see

kaya hindi sila napapabayaan dito. Pati pagkain at ibang pangangailangan din nila,” Pattugalan said.

“Natutuwa ako sa mga istorya nila. Kahit sila’y matatanda na at ’yung mga walang pamilya, ‘may dignidad pa rin sila. Huwag silang mawalan ng pag-asa, kahit na wala silang pamilya, nandito pa rin ang pamahalaan, sa pangunguna ni President Ferdinand Marcos na

an abundance of creative talent among older persons. We may be belittled as “thunders” behind our backs but there’s real thunder, a power inside each of us.

In 1971, an ad to promote edu cation of the underprivileged had this slogan: a mind is a terrible thing to waste. I would like to re phrase that: an elderly mind is a terrible thing to waste but a won derful thing to invest on. Another old adage says, “youth is wasted on the young.” Let me spin that from another angle: the “youth” still within old folks is being wasted.

A few days ago, I saw this testi monial from a retired person who has been contracted by a university to give a regular talk to college stu dents and share her accumulated wisdom: “I feel respected because not only does somebody think I have a brain, they make me use it.”

In 2015, there was a cute little movie called “The Intern” starring Robert de Niro. The film is about the value of generational wisdom, not judging people by their age and making the most of people’s talents. It’s all about starting over, and doing what you enjoy. It’s only

magkakalinga sa kanila,” she added.

During the program, Resty Reyes, 67, dedicated songs for the NIB.

Resty said that the personnel from GRACES rescued him not too long ago. He also shares his love and talent for singing with the elders.

“Dati po akong kumakanta sa ama teur kapag may piyesta po…dumadayo kami. Bale lima kami. Halimbawa po isa lang po ’yung nanalo, hahatiin po namin pareho. Nakahiligan ko na po ’yan. Mula kabataan po kumakanta na ako,” he added.

George, Josefina, and Resty ex pressed their appreciation to the NIB for the donation and gifts.

“Maraming maraming salamat po sa suporta ng News and Information Bureau, ’yung inyo pong ibinahagi na biyaya para sa ating mga lolo’t lola, napakalaking tulong po ‘nun, con sidering na government agency din po kami, ’yung suporta niyo po is add-on sa regular nating supply,” Daniles said.

Blood donation for the elders IN celebration of Filipino Elderly Week from October 1-7, GRACES calls for volunteers who can donate to the elders in their community.

In partnership with an organiza tion, GRACES will also conducted a bloodletting activity on October 7 at their facility.

GRACES is located along Misamis Extension St., Bago Bantay, Quezon City beside SM North Edsa. For dona tions, they can be contacted through landline number (02) 929-1187 and mobile number 0932-3422-654. Irish

Marie Caidoy and Anne Lorraine Bustamante/PNA

a movie but it’s something to make one think.

W hy not a national arts program for seniors aged between 60 and 80? Or perhaps we can put up an Academy of The Performing Arts for Seniors, where they can give ex pression to their creative talents in singing, dancing, acting. Why can’t a company sponsor an “Oldie You’ve Got Talent” or “Talentadong Se niors.” Or a national video karaoke singing contest for oldsters? Why not a national choral competition for golden agers? Why not make more indie movies featuring senior acting talents? Why not make more plays involving elderly actors? Why not have a workshop to teach old folks the skills of journaling and memoir writing? Why not painting classes for them also? The list of why nots can go on and on.

We used to be teen-agers. Then we became middle-agers. Now we are third-agers.

We may be in our 60s, 70s or 80s, but we are not old men and women. Sure, our bodies have aged, but we have no desire to give up.

L et’s not waste good aging. What will you play for your encore?

NEWS and Information Bureau (NIB) Assistant Director Lee Ann Pattugalan leads the distribution of goods donated by NIB personnel during their outreach program at the Golden Reception and Action Center for the Elderly and other Special Cases (GRACES) in Quezon City on October 6, 2022. GRACES envisions providing a friendly and home-like atmosphere to vulnerable, disadvantaged, and marginalized senior citizens. PNA PHOTO BY RICO H. BORJA tributed gifts to the shelter and resi dents as part of the agency’s annual outreach program.

Pinoy students participate in Asian electric vehicle tilt

new ‘Safe Schools calculator’ to assess classroom ventilation

WEARING face masks, frequent handwashing and social dis tancing have become habits a mong Filipinos, and these minimum health protocols remain in place as schools in the country reopen.

Authorities and public-health ex perts continue to recommend these m itigation measures, but another key approach against Covid-19 that needs instilling is adequate and appropriate ventilation in schools.

As understanding of the virus im proved, evidence for transmission was c onfirmed, as the World Health Orga nization acknowledged the airborne s pread of Covid-19. With this, airborne precautions were proven necessary.

occupants, and duration of stay in a classroom. Once these have been input ted, the tool will assess which of these p arameters will need to be adjusted to meet the 1,000 parts per million (ppm) threshold for CO2 levels set by the gov ernment.

B y eliminating guesswork for proper classroom ventilation, the tool offers guidance and reassurance to teachers, students and their parents, as well as their communities. This is precisely the reason the local government unit (LGU) of San Juan City is also considering the use of the calculator, which could significantly contribute to their larger Covid-19 response plan.

By Roderick L. Abad

FILIPINO engineering students are pitting their skills against those of their regional peers in the Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) Asia in Lombok, Indonesia.

At the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit, De La Salle University’s (DLSU) Eco Car Team and Polytechnic Uni versity of the Philippines’ (PUP) Hygears are matching their most fuel-efficient automotive ve hicles against those of 49 teams from eight countries in the re gion, which include India, Indo nesia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore and Vietnam.

Motivated by its first runnerup finish in the Communications Award category of the 2021 SEM’s Off-Track Awards for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, the 104-member PUP team is back on track anew in the five-day race which will end today, Octo ber 15, with the third edition of its entry named “Luna.” It is an electric vehicle (EV) that boasts

of enhanced energy efficiency and modular chassis segmented into three parts: the front, mid dle and rear.

“Since it’s modular, it’s easy to assemble, dismember, and modi fy,” PUP Hygears Team Manager Nicole Rose. E. Tugay told report ers during their send-off.

According to Tugay, they took inspiration from a shark in cre ating their 1,000-watt EV, with a target running speed of about 50- to 70-kilometers per hour.

“We will maximize [it not only in terms of battery power, but also through] the aerodynamic design of our vehicle,” she ex plained.

Meanwhile, leveraging on the optimum efficiency of its vehicle, DLSU’s urban-concept gasoline vehicle entry is called “Maxima.”

“The main competitive edge

of our car is that it’s ultralight weight,” Eco Car Team Manager Eunice Nicole M. Rupisan said. “It’s very comparable to other cars—because even with our older models, you can see the difference in the weight when we lift it, [which is actually easy].”

Being one of the licensed ve hicles in previous competitions, Maxima is aimed at bringing highfuel functions with less emissions to local machine engines.

“As a team, we expect the best, because we want to surpass our benchmark in testing,” Rupisan shared of their goal in the upcom ing contest, as she expressed her appreciation of those who have supported them in their journey. “Pilipinas Shell has been help ing us from the start, helping us communicate with Shell Global. They’ve played a big role in get ting us far into the competition.”

Sustain or surpass EXCITED for their in-person quest to at least sustain—if not surpass—their achievement last year, Tugay described join ing SEM as an opportunity: “We will experience working in the industry not only in the techni cal sense, but also in a manage rial [kind of way].”

Making cars more efficient

since 1939, SEM shifted to its current eco-friendly focus in 1985. The annual event provides students of science, technolo gy, engineering, and math—or STEM—an avenue to conceptual ize, design, build, and run an en ergy-efficient, battery-powered vehicle that can outlast others on a track.

“What’s good about this com petition is that it’s not only local, but…also regional and global,” Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. Vice President of Corporate Rela tions Serge Bernal pointed out. “Because it’s international, you get to interface with other coun tries, other schools, and we get to learn as well. You bring home that technology—[or at least, the knowledge—and then you apply it until] it becomes selfpropagating.”

With this once-in-a-lifetime experience, Bernal encouraged the students to take the op portunity to learn, collaborate, and make friends not just with members of the Philippine teams, but also with those from other countries.

“It’s still a competition: You need to make your families, schools, and the Philippines proud,” he stressed. “When you go there, make the future for all of us.”

The Department of Education, through Undersecretary Kris Ablan, is in talks with Aral Pilipinas for the use of an evidence-based assessment tool to help teachers and school administra tors determine if a classroom setting is w ell-ventilated and consequently, its level of risk for Covid-19 transmission, plus the corresponding interventions needed. This tool is called the “Safe Schools Calculator.”

Aral Pilipinas is a coalition that works with the government and civil society toward the safe return to schools of all Filipino learners amid the pandemic and other disruptions. Together with Engineer Joshua Agar from the Univer sity of the Philippines Institute of Civil E ngineering, Aral Pilipinas codeveloped the said calculator for the Education Department.

With a plug-and-play function, this calculator is easy to navigate. All the user has to do is choose buttons to indicate the dimensions of the class room, available ventilation such as e lectric fans and windows, number of

Last year the San Juan City LGU was recognized by the Galing Pook Founda tion. Their initiatives, collectively re ferred to as Kaagapay, Lingkod at Gabay s a Pandemya , or KALINGAP, won them a spot in the Top 10 Outstanding Local Governance Programs.

“Safety and learning continuity should go hand-in-hand. With 28 mil lion learners returning to school, it’s i mperative that we reduce the risk of transmission indoors to keep our learn ers, teachers and their families safe,” s aid Reg Sibal, lead convenor of Aral Pilipinas. “There’s no better time than the present to foster a learning environ ment free from disease and harm, and w e’re optimistic that if the ‘Safe Schools Calculator’ is institutionalized, we can make this come to life.”

Aral Pilipinas is a network of educa tion practitioners, parents, students, a nd development workers advocating for the continuity of education in times of crises. For more information in se curing a better future for the country t hrough human capital development, contact aralpilipinas2020@gmail.com.

Canada’s Trade Minister Ng admires CSB’s innovations

DISTANCE and time should never hinder anyone in obtaining quality educa tion. However, these factors dictate whether aspiring undergraduate and postgraduate students can enroll into a program or not.

This issue of accessibility is one of the driving factors for Mapúa University’s full online programs. Approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the asyn chronous degrees have no in-person and no live video classes. The setup allows students to start or continue their learning despite hurdles in ge ography and time.

In 2017 the university introduced its first fully online engineering course and the first of its kind in the country: the Master of Engineering Program in Industrial Engineering (MEP-IE). Its success among work ing professionals soon led to the development of other fully online program offerings of Mapúa for both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

The offering is a major thrust under Mapúa’s DROID (Digital, Research-Driven, Outcomes-Based, and International Domain) strategy, and was envisioned to make educa tion more accessible and flexible for learners in the country and abroad. Designed to be delivered online and asynchronously, the programs al low for self-paced, “anytime, any where” learning for students who are constrained by geography, time, events, and even physical capacity.

To date the university offers 15 fully online degree programs: Bachelor of Science (BS) programs in Computer Engineering, Elec trical Engineering, Electronics

Engineering, Industrial Engineer ing, Information Technology, and Computer Science; Master of En gineering programs in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineer ing, Electronics Engineering, and Industrial Engineering; Master of Science programs in Computer En gineering, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and Me chanical Engineering; and Master in Information Technology.

Said programs cater to highly technical professions and subjects.

Students have the academic free dom to review and master complex theorems and principles at a pace and schedule that works for them.

Mapúan Andrea May M. Pineda, a second-year BS Computer Engi neering student, vouched for the program’s effectiveness: “[Its] selfpaced feature allows us to manage our time. I enjoy freedom and con venience in my academic pursuit.”

The individually timed learning feature also ensures that coursework is unhurried and does not interfere

with personal and professional com mitments. This academic latitude enables enrollees to confidently attain the prescribed learning out comes while they are working or fulfilling other obligations.

Students of the program have 24/7 access to recorded lectures, online references, learning tools, modules, and assessments through Mapúa’s learning management sys tem Cardinal EDGE. They also re ceive regular student support, life coaching, and academic advising during the duration of their program to help them meet the desired learn ing outcomes.

Nineteen-year-old Johann Zeke Fabie Rivadenera, another BS Com puter Science student, appreciated the way the fully online program lit erally bridged the distance for him to start his college life. Since he is currently based in the Kingdom of Bahrain due to his parents’ work, the university’s full online-learning program paved the way for him to enroll in college without relocating.

“The [setup allowed me to live with my family], rather than having myself go to the Philippines for faceto-face classes,” said Rivadenera.

On top of overcoming geographi cal constraints, full online programs are more affordable than traditional, face-to-face programs. It eliminates miscellaneous fees and other stu dent living costs like transportation, fuel, and board and lodging.

Roselyn C. Radovan, teacher and parent of Mapúa student Tricia Ann Bernadette C. Radovan, stressed that the program saved her daughter the hassle of commuting to school. The former also emphasized the way full online programs gear up students for success in their cho sen degrees.

“The level of dedication for and support to students’ success is what I appreciate most about Mapúa,” said Radovan. “I was surprised to learn about the opportunities avail able in terms of virtual learning. My daughter was welcomed with open arms, and I am confident about her future.”

Tricia, who is taking up a fully online Computer Science program, couldn’t agree more. She relayed how it helped her excel in school and honed her soft skills in selfdiscipline and time management: “Mapúa’s fully online program has significantly impacted my academ ic performance. [The university’s] world-renowned education has been made available to us regardless of geographical, time, and other con straints, allowing us to earn our dream degree and attain our per sonal goals. It also made learning more robust and interactive.”

DE La Salle-College of Saint Be nilde (DLS-CSB) Chancellor Ben hur Ong recently welcomed Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, during her recent Philippine visit which included the Design and Arts (DAC) Campus of the college.

Ng witnessed firsthand Canada’s con tribution to cutting-edge technology in keeping Benilde at the forefront of in novative and inclusive education in the Philippines. She was accompanied by her country’s ambassador to the Philippines Peter MacArthur, as well as Senior Trade Commissioner and Commercial Counsel or Guy Boileau, Trade Commissioner An gel Cachuela, together with Jeff Mercer and Renato Chin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Her ministerial delega tion included Chief of Staff Jason Easton, Senior Special Assistant for Communica tions and Media Alice Hansen, as well as Protocol Officer Jennifer Currie.

Benilde’s side had Vice Chancel lor Angelo Marco Lacson (Academics), Dean Maria Sharon Arriola (School of New Media Arts), Chairperson Patrick Astilla (Animation), Chairperson Cathy Samaniego (Consular and Diplomatic Affairs), School of Diplomacy and Gov ernance faculty member and Protocol Of ficer John Paul Mondejar, plus Officer In Charge-Director Rogelio Del Cano (Cen ter for Educational Technology (CET)).

The classroom visits around the DAC Campus provided Ng with a general un

In one of the Animation Studios, Ng was able to personally view young Be nildean student-artists nurturing their creativity and honing their mastery of their craft through the up-to-the-minute applications and all-in-one storyboard solutions of Toon Boom Animation Inc.—a Canadian software company that granted Benilde Animation Program with a Center of Excellence accreditation.

Last stop was the Farrales@Benilde ex hibition at the 12th-floor gallery, which exposed Ng and her delegation into the rich history of Philippine fashion and culture through the works of the dean of Philippine fashion Ben Farrales, and his miniature inspired pieces by Benilde Fashion Design and Merchandising pro gram students.

Other members of the Benilde delega tion present were Vice President Juan Ramon Odulio (Administration); Deputy Director Mark Henry Lapuebla (Center for Emergency Management, Safety and Security) and his security team; CET team m embers Ferdinand De la Paz, Jenesis Adriano, Reuel Rito Seno and Trini Sug uitan; as well as Benilde associates An gelo Cayamanda, Hayca Serrano, Gowri Nainani and Vida Antoinette Cuaresma.

derstanding of BigSky—DLS-CSB’s offi cial Learning Management System which is powered by Canadian global learning innovation company D2L. Regional Mar keting Director Eden Tang, Asia Regional Manager Ling Lee and Solutions Engi neering Manager Moses Lim likewise met with the minister during the visit.

Tourism&Entertainment

Beachside living at its best at Club Laiya

Millennial Resorts, the hospitality arm operated by sister company and pioneering beach resort developer landco Pacific Corporation, is at it again.

Continuing to evolve and rais ing the bar for premier resort and c ondominium living, The Spinna ker, at the 24-hectare Club Laiya i n San Juan, Batangas, is an ecofriendly, master-planned Leisure Tourism Estates (LTE) beach prop erty inspired by Batangas’ coastal s urroundings.

A-List & Partners and the Land co team extended an invitation for m embers of the media to catch a teaser of this latest condominium development as well as experience luxurious glamping at Club Laiya. Meeting us at Landco’s Office at the Filinvest Corporate City (the new home of the late National Artist

Napoleon Abueva’s frieze) in Ala bang, Muntinlupa City, were Ailene C hua-Co and Victoria Elgin Santos, CEO, and director of Events & Part nerships, respectively, of A-List & Partners.  A three-hour drive, via vans, brought us to our destination, arriving at Club Laiya by noontime.

Upon arrival, we were first checked in at some of its 33 iconic, experimental Poolside and Garden Cocoons, air-conditioned and un conventional cylindrical sleeping p ods with queen-size beds (good for 2 pax) and modern facilities such as flat-screen cable TV, mini fridge, and safety deposit box.  These re furbished giant concrete pipes,

b uilt as pod-like rooms for an inti mate and cozy overnight stay, have v ibrantly painted murals on their exteriors celebrating the diverse marine life of Laiya. Robust Wi-fi for Work from the Beach (WFB) is part of the setup.

By converting and utilizing re purposed large drainage pipes and t railers, they became Instagramworthy accommodations with mod ern conveniences.  There was no r oom for a toilet and bath inside our Cocoons but modern communal bathrooms are just a few steps away. It was truly an out-of-the-ordinary lodging experience.

After checking in and freshening up, we had lunch at the second-floor Sands Restaurant at the tropical Asian-style Laiya Beach Club, over looking the infinity and lap pools a nd the private white sand beach.  Here, we were welcomed by Gerard “Gibby” F. Penaflor, vice president for Sales and Marketing of Landco.

After lunch, we proceeded to the ground floor Landco office for a presentation, by Gibby, of the 10.6-hectare Seaside District (106 residential/commercial lots with an

average size of 300 to 3,000 s. m.) and the inland (yet accessible to the beach), gated community of the Up per West Side District (190 lots with a n average size of 300 sq m).  With its broader perspective of Laiya’s mountain views, the latter also has a nearly half-kilometer-long swim ming pool and an urbanized forest t rail around its perimeter.

Gibby also gave us a preview of the stunning Spinnaker, the soonto-be-built anchor point and unique architectural landmark at Club Lai ya.  Drawing inspiration from the l arge, three-cornered sail of a rac ing yacht when running before the w ind, The Spinnaker is a modern, sleek, medium-rise condominium with terraced levels and luxurious cuts. It has an exclusive, fourthfloor infinity pool and wide balco nies with stellar and unmatched v iews of Laiya Beach.

Back at the powdery white sand beach, Gibby also showed us the two “Camperisti,” air-conditioned, Airstream-style, 30-ft. aluminum travel trailers that sleep up to six people.  Made in China, it features a bedroom, a bathroom, a U-shaped

dinette (with a versatile dining table that makes it into a queensize bed), and a kitchenette with an induction cooktop and microwave oven. Currently in the finishing stage, according to Gibby, this oneof-a-kind beachfront experience will be made available to glampers by November of this year.

Also soon to be built is The Isle, an elevated, multi-purpose center, to accommodate wedding recep tions and large-scale social and c orporate events, with expansive glass windows to let in plenty of natural light and provide incred ible ocean views. They also plan t o set up sustainable, upcycled container vans, transformed into comfortable and modern cabins by the sea.  Refreshed with rustic and beachy exteriors that blend in with the relaxing coastline, they will be similar to Crusoe Cabins in the 15-hectare Calatagan South Beach (CaSoBe), Club Laiya’s sister cocoon resort.

After this short presentation and tour of the facilities, we re turned to our Cocoons to freshen u p and changed outfits for a late

afternoon of fun at Laiya Adventure Park, just a 10-min. drive away (via a narrow concrete/dirt road), accom panied by A-List and Landco staff.  Ideal for company outings, team building activities, and family/ barkada getaways, here you can do thrilling outdoor activities such as riding ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles); aerial walking or trying the giant swing; relaxing or swimming at its infinity pool; wall climbing, free falling or rappelling at its 40-foot high wall and experience its two ziplines.  We all availed of the wall climbing and the zip lines.

After again freshening up and changing outfits at our Cocoons, Ailene, Victoria and Gibby joined us for a sunset cruise on board a chartered yacht where we had a merienda of fish and chips, ham burgers, nachos, and cold drinks w hile enjoying the cool breeze and watching the setting sun.  Back on dry land, we capped our day with dinner at the beachfront, piratethemed Captain Barbozza.  Its bar serves whiskey and beer, chicken and ribs, and all manner of hearty cuisine, from noon to sundown.

NLEX celebrates the northern spirit and culture with Humans of the North series

STORIES a re the marrow of hu manity. Conversations serve as the thread that connects communities, allowing histories, cultures, and traditions to flourish from generation to generation. In an era where tourism has afforded us a window to the world, humans and their vibrant stories lend more meaning to experience. Through the human element of travel, des tinations transform from being mere points on a map to one that reconnects us to our roots and our humanity.

In celebration of the narratives that lend vibrancy to Philippine destinations, NLEX Corporation is launching “Humans of the North,” a mini-documentary series that showcases the indomitable human spirit, traditions, and cultures of the North. The campaign will un fold over six parts, and each will feature a unique story of an every day man or woman from a northern Luzon province.

Humanity through strength

W H AT m akes Humans of the North a standout is its ability to provide viewers a lens into North ern Luzon through the accounts of day-to-day heroes and workers.

Ditas Gonzalo, a 46-year-old fe

male kutsera (coachwoman) from Vigan, left her hometown in search of a better life in the city. As fate would have it, her hopes would be crushed by the sudden death of her husband, forcing her to return to the historic cobblestone streets of Ilocos Sur to single-handedly raise her children.

Belonging to a family of horsedrawn carriage drivers and guides, Ditas found herself returning to her roots to sustain the household.

Today, Ditas is one of only six fe male kutseras among a group of 150 coachmen in the city and is

beloved by customers and fellow drivers for her fortitude and color ful life story. Her tale is one that speaks of the indomitable spirit of Vigan women who are making the most of a male-dominated indus try in one of Luzon’s most historic destinations.

Humanity through community empowerment

W H ILE t o some, humanity means protecting natural resources, oth ers see it as an opportunity to uplift the plight of their fellow men.

Such is the belief of Manuel

Acosta, whose search for fulfill ment led to La Union in 2016, where he founded Ibit’s Farm, one of the leading DOT-accredited ag ri-tourism sites in the province.

Acosta started out with nearzero knowledge about farming. But, through a determined pursuit of farming knowledge and com munity dialogue, he was able to employ innovative and sustainable farming methods and novel agricul tural practices—a passion that he shares with other farmers through education and constant awarenessraising efforts. This passion soon

grew into advocacy for alleviating poverty among La Union farmers.

Acosta created the “Adopt a Fam ily of Farmers” Program. Currently, there are four farmer families under the program, where they receive training, credit, livelihood, and farm inputs.

Humanity through the preservation of tradition and legacy

W H ILE s ome return to their home towns in search of greener pas tures, some return to their roots to preserve family and community

traditions. For Ezra Aranduque, a 60-year-old social entrepreneur, his global journeys from South America to Africa to Northern Eu rope not only equipped him with weaving know-how from various countries, but also ignited in him the passion for preserving Sagada’s unique weave.

When his mother passed away in 2007, Aranduque took over the fam ily’s weaving business in Sagada—a decision that proved to be difficult with rising costs, fierce competition, and the unpredictability of sales brought about by the pandemic. All these also led to several employees, all of whom were close to him and his family, being let go.

Despite these challenges and the uncertainties that lie ahead, Aranduque remains steadfast and dedicated to the craft, commit ting to imparting his knowledge to more Sagadans in hopes of not only uplifting the lives of indigenous female weavers, but also keeping a community tradition and a family legacy alive.

Anchored on the beauty of the Northern spirit, these stories are part of several others that are guar anteed to reignite interest in the real heart of travel: the humans that make a place and culture come alive.

Ditas Gonzalo

M an U El aCo staEzra aran D U q U E

tHE Cocoons is an extraordinary accommodation concept from Millennial resorts.

Captain Barbozza is a beachfront dining spot inspired by the pirates of the Caribbean concept.

l aiya adventure park is perfect for team-building activities.

tHE inf inity swimming pool is open for fun and leisure.

a favorit E among tourists,

aiya Beach has an awesome shoreline and clear blue waters.

Smartphone camera tips for K-pop concerts

pictures and videos, it is usually against the light so you need to adjust the brightness. You can edit the photos later but that would be more time-consuming.

■ Don’t zoom in too much as you could end up with pixelated videos and images. Go for quality instead of quantity. So what can you do instead? You can move closer by leaning forward or if there’s a particular song you’d want to record, you can move to another place to do that.

example, if you’re taking a photo of a nine-person group and you want everyone in the frame, you might need to do some manual adjustments.

■ Use a wrist strap or pop socket so your phone does not slip out of hands when they sweat.

■ Clean you lens with a microfiber cloth before the concert starts. You can find these cloths at optical shops. Yes, they’re the ones used for wiping eyeglasses.

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES

SINGAPORE-BASED ViewQwest, a managed security services provider (MSSP), recently urged local enterprisetype organizations to deploy the secure access service edge (SASE) and software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) services to protect their data and information.

“In the Philippines, there is widespread enterprise adoption of cloud applications and the hybrid workforce as companies pursue continued digital transformation. Large enterprises with archipelago-wide branch networks and a distributed workforce require high-performance, high-availability and high-security access to their corporate network and resources—all while streamlining operations, driving cost savings and enabling business agility. This has magnified the weaknesses of traditional network and security models, and created the growing need for SASE and SD-WAN services,” ViewQwest’s Vignesa Moorthy commented during a recent press briefing held in Makati City Moorthy told journalists that Managed SASE and SDWAN combine networking and security services into one unified solution, replacing legacy data center-oriented security with cloud-based architecture and placing network and security controls on the edge instead of the corporate data center, resulting in lower cost and complexity.

ViewQwest Chief Marketing Officer Jurist FranciscoGamban said the rollout of its Managed SASE and SD-WAN offerings across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, are going to be done with their local partners to address the unique needs of large and highly distributed domestic and regional enterprises in the region. ViewQwest will also take a closer look at the distinct challenges in the region, including diverse connectivity and inconsistent network quality, rising bandwidth costs, data residency and data sovereignty requirements, and a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape.

Moorthy said the company’s deep understanding of the Philippine market and vast experience from large-scale enterprise projects will benefit local enterprise organizations as they’re assured of a cost-effective, simplified and highavailability network that provides superior network and application performance, as well as best-of-breed secure access to any remote user, branch office or device.

WHEN

I started watching K-pop concerts, it was 2010 and people were not yet obsessed with recording everything. I remember that a few years later, fans would bring their Instax cameras to concerts and the idols would get them to take pictures.

Note that this was the time when barricades were not yet in place during these concerts, and idols and fans could freely interact with each other.

I remember that when the boy group EXO l-K came here for Kpop Republic with other artists like SHINee and Dal Shabet, my phone was a Sony Ericsson clam shell and my photos were very grainy.

Recording videos became more the norm later on because videos could capture the movements of the artists. Smartphones have made it easier for fans to have souvenirs of their favorites’ concerts.

I’m no expert when it comes to taking pictures and recording videos during concerts (also, I’m an iPhone user) but here are some tips I have that could help:

■ Always adjust the lighting by lowering the intensity. When you’re watching a concert and taking

E-COMMERCE platform Lazada has released its Lazada Sponsored Solutions (LSS) thought leadership report, “Transforming Southeast Asia: From Discovery to Delivery,” at its LazMall Brands Future Forum 2022 held here at Resorts World Sentosa. Now in its third edition, LazMall BFF is a trade event that brings together the region’s industry leaders and Lazada partners to exchange ideas and innovations aimed at enabling brands and sellers to thrive and offer a differentiated retail experience in Southeast Asia. The event featured presentations from Lazada executives, a panel discussion with LazMall’s top brands, as well as interactive booths showcasing some of Lazada’s experiential shopping technology.

With e-commerce user penetration expected to reach 413 million users by 2025, more dynamic shopping journeys are seeing 57 percent of shoppers in the region searching for products directly on e-commerce marketplaces. This

■ When taking videos with your iPhone, put settings to 4K with a frame rate of 60 for sharper images. You can find this by setting your camera app to videos and tapping the upper right hand. First, tap the left side to 4K and then tap the right side to 60. This setting will result in videos that take up a lot of memory but it will be worth it. Shooting in 4K means your iPhone is already shooting at the highest quality possible. I have not used an Android phone in years although I borrow my daughter’s Samsung Z Flip 3 during concerts from time to time. In my humble opinion, the Z Flip 3 is great for shooting still images while the iPhone is better for videos. I say this in the concert setting where the lighting is different than that of a normal setting.

■ This tip is not for better photo and video quality but for the performers: Turn off your smartphone camera flash, which might distract the artists and cause accidents.

■ Shooting in burst mode for still photos will help you collect and select later on. This works instead of trying to find the perfect shot and losing time in the process.

■ Most smartphones are on autofocus but there are times when you’d need to do this manually. For

shift away from commonly-used search engines highlights the importance of e-commerce marketing solutions and the digitalization of businesses to remain resilient and relevant amid rising global interest rates and inflationary pressures.

“E-commerce marketplaces like Lazada have surpassed social media and search engines to become the discovery channel of choice. The behavior and mindset change during the past two years have driven more high-quality consumers who are looking for high-quality authentic products and high-quality experiences to come to LazMall. Brands now have the opportunity to build mindshare and connect with consumers using the tools from Lazada, to accelerate their growth in the e-commerce space and engage the right audience,” said James Dong, Lazada Group CEO who gave the keynote speech at the event.

In their joint address, James Chang, Lazada

■ Take advantage of whatever light is available to create arty images. For instance, when confetti is being thrown on the stage, you can take a dramatic pic and the bad lighting will even actually make the pic look better.

■ Buy extra space on Google Drive so you can store your photos and videos there to free up memory on your phone.

Speaking of K-pop related events, beauty brand BYS Philippines has announced that world-famous K-pop boy group Enhypen is its latest endorser.

“We have to be in the now, with one foot in the future, constantly surprising and delighting our customers with cut-through product lines, collaborations and endorsers. And we’ve got to top ourselves especially on our 10th anniversary. Enhypen is perfect with their playful edge, creativity and personality,” said Angie Goyena, president of iFace Inc.

The group—composed of Jungwon, Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo and Ni-Ki—will be seen on store shelves and BYS Philippines’s social-media platforms. There will also be an Enhypen Fun Meet happening on December 3, 2022, at the Araneta Coliseum. ■

He added this allows ViewQwest to develop varied services that address unique security demands across their markets and customers—a distinct advantage that ViewQwest offers to enterprises in the Philippines and across Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, global cybersecurity company Kaspersky recently reported that phishing incidents continue to rise rapidly in Southeast Asia. Moreover, the security specialist revealed that it only took six months for cybercriminals to exceed their phishing attacks last year against users from the region.

From January to June 2022, Kaspersky’s anti-phishing system blocked a total of 12,127,692 malicious links in SEA. It is 1 million higher than the total number of phishing attacks detected here in 2021—11,260,643.

“The first half of 2022 is eventful in good and bad ways. On a personal level, we went through the seismic shift of trying to regain our lives post-pandemic, forcing companies and organizations to welcome remote and hybrid work. The travel sector, including airlines, airports, travel agencies and more, has also been overwhelmed by the influx of tourists wanting to travel with borders now open. Behind these shifts are networks and systems that needed to be updated and secured hastily. On the other hand, cybercriminals are all ears and with their ability to tweak their messages and infuse them with believable urgency. As a result, we’ve seen real, unfortunate incidents of victims losing money because of phishing attacks,” explained Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.

remains confident as buyers continue to purchase, with eight out of 10 consumers continuing to shop online for ease and convenience, despite a lower average spend per user compared to the past two years. LazMall also saw an unexpected surge in buyer growth, and moving forward will center its efforts around engaging and retaining customers beyond price and promotion.

Group’s chief business officer, and Brigitte Daubry, Lazada Group’s chief customer officer, shared that LazMall remains a key offering which Lazada will continue to grow and invest on uplifting customer experience, engagement and retention.

The e-commerce industry in Southeast Asia underwent tremendous growth from 2019 to 2021, driven by unprecedented buyer adoption during the pandemic. Even as consumers resumed their postpandemic lifestyles, Chang revealed that Lazada

Lazada’s state-of-the-art technology, powered by Alibaba’s cloud infrastructure, is the enabler behind the platform’s offerings, from consumer engagement, seller empowerment to partner integration. Howard Wang, Lazada Group’s chief technology officer, explained how the company’s data intelligence helps brands and sellers target audiences more accurately and boost conversion. Wang shared that this is further amplified with the use of augmented reality, which elevates business outcomes and enhances the brand experience for shoppers.

Twitter under Musk?

Most of the plans are a mystery

BY BARBARA O�TUTAY & TOM KRISHE� The Associated Press

that are delayed or may not come true, such as colonizing Mars or deploying a fleet of autonomous robotaxis. “This is not a car manufacturer where, good enough, all you have to do is beat General Motors.

SAN

FRANCISCO—A super app called X? A bot-free free speech haven? These are some of Elon Musk’s mysterious plans for Twitter, now that he may be buying the company after all. After months of squabbling over the fate of their bombshell $44 billion deal, the billionaire and the bird app are essentially back to square one—if a bit worse for wear as trust and goodwill has seemed to erode on both sides.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX and Twitter’s most high-profile user since former President Donald Trump was booted from it, has shared few concrete details about his plans for the social-media platform. While he’s touted free speech and derided spam bots since agreeing to buy the company in April, what he actually wants to do about either is shrouded in mystery.

He could own one of the world’s most powerful communications platforms with 237 million daily users in a matter of weeks, though the deal is not final.

The lack of clear plans for the platform are raising concern among Twitter’s constituencies, ranging from users in conflict regions where it offers an information lifeline to the company’s own employees.

“Both users and advertisers are—understandably— anxious about whether the move will fundamentally change the culture of the platform,” said Brooke Erin Duffy, a professor at Cornell University who studies social media. “And so, Musk will need to decide whether he wants to quash their concerns by retaining core features (the content moderation system, for instance) and keeping the company public—or whether he will undertake a full-scale overhaul.”

Muddling things further, on Tuesday Musk tweeted that “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” without further explanation. Although Musk’s tweets and statements have been cryptic, technology analysts have speculated that Musk wants to recreate a version of China’s WeChat app that can do video chats, messaging, streaming, scan bar codes and make payments. He gave a little more detail during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in August, telling the crowd at a factory near Austin, Texas, that he uses Twitter frequently and knows the product well. “I think I’ve got a good sense of where to point the engineering team with Twitter to make it radically better,” he said.

Handling payments for goods could be a key part of the app. Musk said he has a “grander vision” for what X.com, an online bank he started early in his career that eventually became part of PayPal, could have been. “Obviously that could be started from scratch, but I think Twitter would help accelerate that by three-to-five years,” Musk said at the August meeting. “So it’s kind of something that I thought would be quite useful for a long time. I know what to do.”

For now, Twitter has immediate and pressing problems Musk will need to deal with if he takes ownership of the company. Its social-media rivals are struggling with declining stock prices and some, like Snap, even announced layoffs. Government regulation and attracting younger users away from

TikTok are also challenges. And Musk’s vision of a free speech haven has social media and content moderation experts, as well as digital and humanrights advocates, concerned.

“When this all started in the spring, we had indicators and a strong sense of what Musk might do with the platform,” said Angelo Carusone of Media Matters, a watchdog group that opposes the takeover.

“Because of the lawsuit, we know who he’s been talking to, what he’s been saying and the types of far-right ideological decision makers he wants to put in place. To put it bluntly, the worst fears have been confirmed.”

Twitter employees, under former CEO Jack Dorsey and his predecessors, have spent years working to tame the platform once called the “free-speech wing of the free-speech party” where hate and harassment abound into something where all are welcome and safe.

While it’s far from perfect, critics worry Musk’s ownership will mean turning back the clock on years of this work.

“Musk made it clear that he would roll back Twitter’s community standards and safety guidelines, reinstate Donald Trump along with scores of other accounts suspended for violence and abuse, and open the floodgates of disinformation,” Carusone said.

The company, for instance, was an early adopter of the “report abuse” button in 2013, after UK member of parliament Stella Creasy received a barrage of rape and death threats on the platform, echoing the experiences of other women over the years.

In subsequent years, Twitter continued to craft rules and invest in staff and technology to detect violent threats, harassment and misinformation that violates its policies. After evidence emerged that

Russia used their platforms to try to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election, social-media companies also stepped up their efforts against political misinformation.

The big question now is how far Musk, who describes himself as a “free-speech absolutist,” wants to ratchet back these systems—and whether users and advertisers will stick around if he does.

Aiming to tamp down such worries, Musk said in May he wants Twitter to be “as broadly inclusive as possible “ where ideally, most of America is on it and talking—a far cry from the far-right playground his critics are warning against.

And while Musk has hinted he’d consider reinstating Trump’s account, it’s not clear the former president, who has since launched his own socialmedia platform, would return.

Then there’s the matter of Twitter’s employees, who’ve been living with uncertainty, high- (and low-) profile departures and a potential owner who’s publicly derided them on their own platform. Musk has also targeted Twitter’s work-from home policy, having once called for the company’s headquarters to be turned into a “homeless shelter” because, he said, so few employees actually worked there.

As a hyper-frequent Twitter user with over 100 million followers, Musk does know how to use the platform. During an all-hands staff meeting Musk attended in June, he said his goal was to make it “so compelling that you can’t live without it.” If he’s able to realize this, it could finally put Twitter in the big leagues of social media, with TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, where users are counted in the billions, not mere millions.

Of course, Musk is also well known for predictions

Sorry, that isn’t really that hard,” said David Kirsch, a professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland who’s studied Twitter bots’ effect on Tesla’s stock price. “You are dealing here with all of these other companies [that] also have very sophisticated AI programs, very sophisticated PhD programmers...everyone is trying to crack this nut.” ■

MAKING THE #SMARTCHOICE IN WHATEVER YOU DO

VALUE for money, durability, unbeatable performance, HD camera and stylish design—there are many things you ask for in a smartphone.

It has to do all that, but also stay within a reasonable budget. Global smart device brand OPPO designed their A-Series line with this in mind, giving you a variety of options to make the #SmartChoice. One of its recent additions, the A16, is packed with features to keep up with every aspect of your life—from work and school, to streaming and photography.

Here are five smart choices you can make with the device:

■ SMART PERFORMANCE— Powered by Mediatek HelioG35, the A16 is built to keep up with all your needs. The gadget’s System Booster works to reduce lags by up to 18 percent, so you can access multiple apps at the same time, get faster downloads and optimize functionality while on your phone.

■ SMART STREAMING— After clocking out, you deserve much-needed down time with your current favorite TV series or the latest movie. The phone’s HD+ Eye-Care Display is a large screen designed to make streaming as comfortable as possible. Thanks to AI algorithms, your A16’s brightness automatically adjusts to your lighting environment and even remembers your brightness preferences, so you don’t have to worry about eye strain.

■ SMART CHARGING—The OPPO A16 doesn’t just come with a 5000mAh long-lasting battery that lets you stream your favorite videos for over 21 hours. It also comes with the best battery care features so you can get the most of your mobile experience. Turn on Super Power Saving Mode, and get more than 100 minutes of call time. Meanwhile, Super Nighttime Standby Mode reduces battery usage by 1.21 percent so leaving your phone on all night won’t eat up the charge. Other features include Optimized Night Charge AI, which protects your device while you’re juicing it up as you sleep, and Charging Temperature Control to keep your phone cool even while running multiple apps.

■ SMART PHOTOS—Giving three times as much power to your photography skills is the AI Triple Camera Setup, consisting of an 80° wide-angle, autofocus-enabled 13MP Main Camera, a 2MP Depth Camera, and a 2MP Macro Camera. The phone also comes with an 8MP Front Camera for crystal-clear selfies. Each camera is powered by AI algorithms to naturally enhance complexions and brighten details so you can record your precious memories in HD. Other camera features include Dazzling Mode, which enhances the vibrant colors of your portrait, and a wide selection of Bokeh Filter to add a creative flair to your photos.

■ SMART STYLE—Your gadget can double as a fashion accessory, as the OPPO A16 comes in premium colors, created to add an iridescent shine to your OOTD. Available in Pearl Blue, Crystal Black and Space Silver, the ultraslim smartphone gives that extra sleek touch to your ensemble.

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has clarified the assertions made by an organization of digital advocates that its proposal to put up a marketplace for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is inessential and does not meet their actual needs.

“DTI is working to address their constraints to access finance, technology and the market, and our efforts to do so include the e-commerce platform,” DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual said in a statement.

This is in response to a recent report on Digital Pinoys, led by national campaigner Ronald Gustilo, which argued that the agency’s proposed e-commerce platform is redundant and wasteful.

The online shop that is set to be launched before the end of the year is among the agency’s initiatives, “alongside a suite of complementary assistance such as Go Negosyo centers,” according to the trade chief.

Such forms part of its priorities, including “for MSMEs

to continue to grow and develop and graduate from micro to small, small to medium, and medium to large.”

Pascual noted that the online shop they plan to establish and operate, together with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, will be in partnership with the private sector to push the omnichannel strategy among merchants.

“The proposed e-commerce platform will not charge the same fees or arrangements as those of other commercial platforms. It will be free,” he pointed out.

With this portal, he emphasized that the MSMEs will be able to ply their trade on the web in an easy manner, as it serves as an “incubation space” to guide them on how to utilize online platforms before they expand to the bigger market of existing digital channels.

Doing so, he said that the agency is “providing support for MSMEs so that they can digitalize their establishments.”

Reacting to Gustilo’s suggestion for DTI’s search for ways to enable the growth of micro to medium businesses, the secretary said that they will gain funding from their

banking- and lending institution-partners, among the online store’s benefits. “The platform will also serve as the basis for facilitating the granting of finance to MSMEs,” he added, citing the credit scoring it will provide based on data analytics could be the grounds for banks to extend loans to them.

More information is available at analytics

Proving that the agency is in constant consultation with enterprises for programs responsive to the requirements of their customers, he said the proposed e-commerce channel is already their answer “to the expressed needs of MSMEs,” per the information they gathered from their continued dialogue with them.

“The establishment of this comprehensive, integrated and accessible e-commerce platform and network will help MSMEs create, operate and maintain e-commerce web sites for free,” Pascual explained.

“It will further enable them to access services offered by organizations and startups in addressing business needs such as operations management, financing and market linking, among others,” he stressed.

www.oppo.com/ph.

Rising rates evoke fears of 1990s Asia crisis for emerging markets

EMERGING market governments that borrowed heavily in dollars when interest rates were low are now facing a surge in refinancing costs, evoking flashbacks to Asia’s 1990s debt crisis and stoking fears of a default wave.

Sovereign dollar bonds from a third of the countries in Bloom berg’s EM Sovereign Dollar Debt Index are trading with a spread of 1000 basis points or more over US Treasuries, a generally accepted metric of distress. Nigeria’s fi nance minister said this week that Africa’s biggest economy is seeking to extend the tenors of some of its debt, but added that eurobonds won’t be included in the plan.

The surge in yields is remind ing investors of previous emerging debt crises, notably the one that swept Asia in 1997 when collaps ing domestic currencies propelled country after country into default. And it’s forcing a painful realiza tion that swathes of the develop ing world are still beset by “origi nal sin”—the phrase once popular with economists to describe devel oping nations’ reliance on foreign

currency debt.

“There will be countries that will default and restructure debt,” said Lisa Chua, New York-based portfolio manager at hedge fund Man Group, whose EM debt fund has outperformed 99 percent of its peers this year with returns of 5 percent. Rising debt burdens are crowding out investment and reducing growth, “Making it more challenging for many emerging markets to grow fast enough to stabilize their debt,” she said.

Debt distress is not confined to the emerging world, with swathes of corporate borrowers across de veloped markets also vulnerable to higher interest rates. But the fallout from a wave of defaults across devel oping nations could have far bigger implications for the global economy.

Dollar borrowing that left coun tries vulnerable to exchange rate

swings and Fed policy shifts, was a key force behind the 1997 Asian crises, which then swept through Russia and Latin America.

It had seemed for a while that emerging markets were absolved of original sin, as many built lo cal bond markets and cut reliance on hard currency debt. But recent years saw a spate of sovereigns for aying overseas, lured by rock-bot tom global interest rates and lack ing deep domestic capital markets. That continued through 2020, the year dollar and euro borrowing by EM sovereigns and corporates hit a record $747 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.  Analysts at Man Group wrote in a note published last month that the sheer size of distressed EM debt could potentially infect developed markets, with European credit being particularly vulnerable.

Mongolia, the latest entrant to the distressed list, typifies many of the problems faced by emerging markets. Investors now demand a premium of about 1200 basis points over Treasuries to hold its March 2024 dollar bond, around five times the level recorded a year ago. Surging import costs from the strong dollar have caused the Asian nation’s hard currency reserves to shrink and debt has ballooned to almost 100 percent of annual gross domestic product.

While the bulk of the distressed credits are small frontier mar kets, some larger nations such as Egypt, Nigeria and Pakistan are also on the list. Other than sanc tioned Russia and Belarus, only Sri Lanka has actually defaulted in 2022. That said, fifteen of the 23 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg are down more than 10 percent this year, heaping pressure on governments at a time when energy bills are also rising. Developing-nation govern ments need to pay back or roll over about $350 billion in dollar- and euro-denominated bonds by the end of 2024, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Pressure on EM currencies and bonds will continue at least through mid-2023, after which dol lar strength could ease, Deutsche Bank strategists led by Chief Econo mist Michael Spencer wrote in a note published October 10. They high light Bulgaria and Turkey among countries with more than half their debt in foreign currencies and sug gest that investor losses are already big enough to qualify a crisis.

“The pertinent question, then, is whether this stress will spread to the core of the asset class—the large emerging-market sovereigns that dominate investors’ portfolios,” the Deutsche strategists wrote.

News

World’s finance chiefs urged to tame spending

GOVERNMENTS need to tighten spending plans to help their central banks combat inflation, according to New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson.

“We must bring inflation under control,” he told Bloomberg Television Friday in Wellington.  “Fiscal policy’s been very expansionary through Covid as it needed to be, but finance ministers like myself now have to think about how do we stabilize that?

How do fiscal and monetary policy be friends together?”

New Zealand’s central bank was among the first to start tighten ing as inflation pressures began to mount in late 2021, while others such as the Federal Reserve have signaled they have significant in terest rate increases still to come.

Robertson met Fed Chairman Je rome Powell this week during a US visit, where he is also attend ing International Monetary Fund

meetings in Washington.

The Fed’s tightening has pushed the dollar higher, weighing on other nations’ currencies such as the kiwi dollar, which has dropped 8 percent the past three months.

“Each country has to deal with its own situation,” he said. “While the United States is massively in fluential on what happens in other countries, they have to manage the goals that they have for monetary and fiscal policy.”

Robertson remains optimis tic that New Zealand can avoid recession, but said policymakers will need to be mindful of global developments.

“We come into the difficult situa tion the world has with good strong fundamentals, low unemployment, low public debt and so on,” he said. “Over the next couple of quarters, New Zealand will go fairly well, but we have to keep a close eye on the global economy.” Bloomberg News

Indonesia gears up to start its first high-speed rail line

By Dita Alangkara The Associated Press

BANDUNG, Indonesia—Indonesia is preparing to start Southeast Asia’s first high-speed rail service that will cut travel time between two cities from the current three hours to about 40 minutes.

The railway line, which connects Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and Bandung, the heavily populated capital of West Java province, is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

As the Jakarta-Bandung portion of the rail project approached 90 percent completion, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Thursday visited Bandung’s Tegalluar station—one of the railway’s four stations—where eight train cars and an inspection train that arrived from China

in early September were parked.

“We hope with the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, the mobility of goods and people can be faster and improved, and our competitiveness will also be stronger,” Widodo told reporters during the visit. Widodo also expected the bullet train to benefit other sectors.

Earlier reports said Widodo would invite his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to ride on the China-made bullet train after the Group of 20 biggest economies summit in Bali next month. However, Widodo told reporters Thursday, the plan is still being discussed with Xi and “it is still not final yet.”

The train cars were designed and built by China’s CRRC Qingdao Sifang railway company. September’s delivery was CRRC’s first export of high-speed trains in its 11-train contract for KCIC400AF

eight-car trains and one KCIC400AF-CIT inspection train.

The contract, worth $364.5 million, was awarded to CRRC in April 2017.

The rail line construction that began in 2016 was originally expected to start operating in 2019 but was delayed until June 2023 due to disputes that involved land purchases and environmental issues.

The 142.3-kilometer railway worth $7.8 billion is being constructed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, or PT KCIC, a joint venture between an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned companies and China Railway International Co. Ltd. The joint venture said the trains will be the fastest in Southeast Asia.

The CRRC claimed that the KCIC400AF train can reach speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, pass curves with a minimum

radius of 492 feet, and is equipped with electric motors, each with a power of 625,000 watts.

The cars will be divided into three classes: VIP, first and second, and several cars with large spaces between seats will be allocated for passengers with limited mobility.

The manufacturer said the trains are specifically modified to adapt to Indonesia’s tropical climate, and are equipped with an improved security system that has the ability to track earthquakes, floods and other emergency conditions. The length of the eight-car train is 685.3 feet.

The rail deal was signed in October 2015 after Indonesia selected China over Japan in competitive bidding, and financed by a loan from the China Development Bank for 75 percent. AP

Oil heads for weekly decline as traders gauge risks of recession

OIL headed for a weekly loss as signs of a global economic slowdown and tighter monetary policy threaten to sap energy consumption.

West Texas Intermediate fu tures traded near $89 a barrel, taking this week’s decline to al most 4 percent. Red-hot US infla tion data released on Thursday spurred expectations that the US Federal Reserve will again hike interest rates substantially at its two remaining meetings of 2022, slowing growth.

Crude has also struggled as de mand in China, the largest importer, remains subdued as the government presses on with its Covid-Zero poli cy. Cases have persisted this week, including in Shanghai, in the runup to the country’s critical twice-adecade Communist Party Congress, which opens this weekend.

Oil rebounded last week from lows in September after the Or ganization of Petroleum Export ing Countries (OPEC) and its al lies, including Russia agreed to cut production, but that advance

has been partially unwound since Monday. The International Energy Agency warned the group’s supply cut risked causing prices to spike, potentially tipping the global economy into recession.

The decision by OPEC+ to reduce output enraged the Biden admin istration, with officials critical of Saudi Arabia’s role, saying the move will help keep revenue flowing to Moscow to support its invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden—who ordered releases from the Strate gic Petroleum Reserve earlier this

year—said he’d announce new ac tions next week to combat high US gasoline prices.

“In the short term, the macro picture and potential US action— further SPR releases—to try and counter OPEC+ supply cuts could put some further downward pres sure on prices,” said Warren Patter son, head of commodities strategy at ING Groep NV. “However, in the medium to long term, the market is looking increasingly tight which suggests that prices should move higher.”

Asian economies are running out of fiscal space, IMF warns

A

SIA’S economies will need to focus on fiscal stability in order to offset surging debt and to support monetary policy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

In its latest outlook for the region, the IMF said Asia is now both the world’s largest debtor and saver and that several countries are at a high risk of debt distress. That means any additional spend ing by governments to offset the hit from food and energy shocks needs to be targeted, temporary and budget neutral, the Washing ton-based lender said.

“Public and private debt dynam ics are already worse following the pandemic because of slower growth, rising rates and higher debt levels,” the IMF said. “Large depreciations and rising interest rates could trigger financial stress in countries with high leverage among non-financial corporates and households as well as un hedged balance sheets and those facing refinancing risks.”

If interest rates continue to rise

sharply, it will limit government spending options, the IMF said.

The warning comes as the fund, a lender of last resort, downgrades its 2022 growth forecast for the Asia-Pacific region by 0.9 percent age point to 4 percent. For 2023, it expects growth to be 4.3 percent, down 0.7 percentage point than previously seen.

“While this rate of growth is much lower than the 5.5 percent average growth rate enjoyed over the previous two decades, the re gion continues to perform better than the rest of the global econo my,” the IMF said.

Other risks include large ex change rate depreciations that could stoke inflation and force faster mon etary policy tightening in the region.

Asia is vulnerable to geo-economic fragmentation, or decoupling, given its central role as the world’s factory, the multilateral lender said.

“Our advice for most of the region is for monetary policy to continue tightening, and for fis cal consolidation to continue,” the IMF said. Bloomberg News

China debt crunch sparked by developer Evergrande snares state-aided CIFI

CHINA’S ability to contain a deepening property debt crisis has come under more scrutiny, after a private developer with state backing for funding joined an expanding list of bond defaulters.

CIFI Holdings Group Co. has failed to pay a coupon due Oct. 8 on a Hong Kong dollar convertible bond on time. The Shanghaibased firm also warned it may face a similar outcome on offshore debt, after blaming a long Chinese public holiday for delaying payments.

The default is particularly worrying because CIFI was consid ered a barometer for the broader success of a new rescue effort by Beijing to use state guarantees to help a select group of develop ers access domestic funding. The builder’s payment struggles also serve as a reminder of the uphill battle that Chinese leaders face to revitalize a key economic engine, as they gear up for a major Communist Party congress this weekend.

“It’s just another surprise for investors, who are becoming increasingly skeptical about any private developer,” said Charles Macgregor, head of Asia at Lucror Analytics. “It’s really too late for authorities to support the sector now,” he added, saying confidence among homebuyers and creditors appears “terminally eroded.”

Since a default in December by China Evergrande Group, the nation’s property industry has seen a record wave of bond failures fueled by private developers with limited access to a banking sec tor dominated by state lenders.

CIFI’s latest payment setback has extended a selloff in the shares of Chinese developers, with a Bloomberg Intelligence gauge falling as much as 2.6 percent Thursday and poised for its sixth-straight daily loss. China high-yield dollar notes, dominated by develop ers, also weakened, according to traders, pushing a Bloomberg index back toward August’s record low.

While the builder’s Hong Kong-listed shares plunged 12 per cent, those of Country Garden Holdings Co., China’s top developer by contracted sales, also slumped 11 percent in a sign of conta gion to even bigger rivals. Country Garden’s 6.5 percent dollar bond due 2024 was down 3.5 cents at 26.7 cents as of 5:56 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg-compiled prices, on pace for an all-time low.

The Shanghai-based builder of residential projects and shop ping malls failed to deliver interest payment on a 6.95 percent Hong Kong dollar convertible note originally due October 8, the bond’s trustee said in a notice dated Tuesday to Euroclear, one of the world’s top clearing houses. China Construction Bank (Asia) Corp., the trustee, said the payment miss constitutes an event of default.

CIFI didn’t respond to Bloomberg News’ request seeking com ment. In a Thursday filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the company said it has experienced a delay in remittance of cash offshore to meet scheduled interest and amortization payments due to the recent long public holiday in China.

The developer added that it has been proactively engaging with creditors to address the issue in a bid to reach consensual solutions, adding that its commercial operations remain normal. However, CIFI also warned that if it doesn’t meet its offshore debt obliga tions in a timely manner or is unable to implement appropriate consensual solutions with creditors, “events of default may occur.”

Separately, two holders of the Shanghai-based developer’s 4.375 percent dollar note due 2027 said earlier they have yet to receive coupon payment originally due Wednesday for the note. The investors asked not to be identified because they’re not au thorized to speak about the matter publicly.

“CIFI’s default on the convertible bond may make investors nervous and spread the concern on other quality private develop ers that have issued state-backed guarantee bonds,” said Willer Chen, an analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia Ltd. Bloomberg

China accuses US of ‘Cold War thinking’ in security strategy

The World

Nokor fires missile, shells further inflaming tensions

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea early Friday fired a ballistic missile and 170 rounds of artillery shells toward the sea and flew warplanes near the tense border with South Korea, further raising animosities triggered by the North’s recent barrage of weapons tests.

EIJING—The Chinese gov ernment on Thursday ac cused Washington of “Cold War thinking” and appealed for efforts to repair strained relations after President Joe Biden released a national security strategy that calls for “out-competing China,” and blocking its efforts to reshape global affairs.

B

across Asia and Africa has fed con cern in Washington, Moscow and other capitals that Beijing is try ing to build its strategic influence and undermine theirs.

The foreign ministry also ac cused Washington of trade protec tionism after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States would reinforce its global supply chains to guard against “geopoliti cal coercion” by China, Russia and other governments.

Biden’s document Wednesday accused China of trying to “erode US alliances” and “create more permissive conditions for its own authoritarian model.” It called for “out-competing China” in political alliances and “global governance” as well as business, technology and military affairs.

US-Chinese relations are at their lowest level in decades, strained by disputes over tech nology, security, Taiwan and hu man rights.

“Cold War thinking and zero-sum games, sensationalizing geopolitical conflicts and great power competi tion are unpopular and unconstruc tive,” said Foreign Ministry spokes person Mao Ning. She called on Washington to “meet China halfway and promote China-US relations back to a healthy and stable track.”

The White House document calls for the United States to “maintain a competitive edge” over China, which has antagonized Japan, India and other neighbors with an increasingly assertive for eign policy and growing military.

China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative to build ports, railways and other infrastructure

China, with the second-largest global economy and military, is the “only competitor with both the in tent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the eco nomic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do it,” the document says.

Mao, speaking at a regular news briefing, said China was a “defender of the world order” and rejected “sensationalizing geopo litical conflicts and great power competition.”

Mao criticized the “weaponiza tion of economic and trade issues” after Yellen said Wednesday the United States was trying to reduce reliance on China and other Asian suppliers of semiconductors, elec tric vehicle batteries, solar panels and other technology.

President Xi Jinping’s govern ment is spending heavily to reduce its need for US and other Western technology by developing its own creators of processor chips, arti ficial intelligence, aerospace and other know-how. Beijing is press ing Chinese companies to reduce reliance on global supply chains by using domestic vendors whenever possible, even if that increases costs.

“We know the cost of Russia’s weaponization of trade as a tool of geopolitical coercion, and we must mitigate similar vulnerabilities to countries like China,” Yellen said in Washington.

The United States should “aban don unilateralism and protection ism,” Mao said, and work with “the international community to maintain the security and smooth flow of the industrial and supply chain.”

5 KILLED, INCLUDING OFFICER, IN NORTH CAROLINA SHOOTING

The North Korean moves sug gest it is reviving an old playbook of stoking fears of war with pro vocative weapons tests before it seeks to win greater concessions from its rivals.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the shortrange missile lifted off from the North’s capital region at 1:49 a.m. Friday (1649 GMT Thursday; 12:49 p.m. EDT Thursday) and flew to ward its eastern waters.

It was North Korea’s 15th mis sile launch since it resumed its testing activities on Sept. 25. North Korea said Monday its re cent missile tests were simulations of nuclear strikes on South Korean and US targets in response to their “dangerous” military exercises in volving a US aircraft carrier.

After the latest missile test, North Korea fired 130 rounds of shells off its west coast and 40 rounds off its east coast. The shells fell inside maritime buffer zones the two Koreas established under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing tensions, South Korea’s military said.

Observers said it was North Korea’s third and most direct violation of the 2018 agreement, which created buffer zones and no-fly areas along their land and sea boundaries to prevent acciden tal clashes. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it sent North Korea a message asking it not to violate

the agreement again.

North Korea separately flew warplanes, presumably 10 aircraft, near the rivals’ border late Thurs day and early Friday, prompting South Korea to scramble fighter jets. There were no reports of clashes between the two coun tries. It was reportedly the first time that North Korean military aircraft have flown that close to the border since 2017.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said North Korea’s provo cations are becoming “indiscrimi native’” but that his country has massive retaliation capabilities that can deter actual North Korean assaults to some extent.

“The decision to attack can’t be made without a willingness to risk a brutal outcome,” Yoon told re porters. “The massive punishment and retaliation strategy, which is the final step of our three-axis strategy, would be a considerable psychological and social deter rence (for the North).”

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it imposed sanctions on 15 North Korean individuals and 16 organizations suspected of involvement in illicit activities to finance North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

They were Seoul’s first unilat eral sanctions on North Korea in five years, but observers say they are largely a symbolic step because the two Koreas have little financial

dealings between them.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yo shimasa Hayashi told reporters he supports South Korea’s decision to impose the sanctions.

Most of the North’s recent weapons tests were ballistic mis sile launches that are banned by UN Security Council resolutions.

But the North hasn’t been slapped with fresh sanctions thanks to a divide at the UN over US disputes with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and with China over their strategic competition.

The missile launched Friday traveled 650-700 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 50 kilome ters before landing in waters be tween the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to South Korea and Japanese assessments.

“Whatever the intentions are, North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile launches are absolutely impermissible and we cannot overlook its substantial advance ment of missile technology,” Japa nese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said.

He said the missile flew on an

“irregular” trajectory—a possible reference to describe the North’s highly maneuverable KN-23 weap on modeled on Russia’s Iskander missile.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the US commitment to the defense of South Korea and Japan remains “ironclad.”

Other North Korean tests in recent weeks included a new in termediate-range missile that flew over Japan and demonstrated a potential range to reach the US Pacific territory of Guam; a bal listic missile fired from an inland reservoir, a first for the country; and long-range cruise missiles.

After Wednesday’s cruise mis sile launches, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the tests success fully demonstrated his military’s expanding nuclear strike capabili ties. He said his nuclear forces were fully prepared for “actual war to bring enemies under their control at a blow” and vowed to expand the operational realm of his nuclear armed forces, according to North Korea’s state media. AP

Ukraine gets more air defense pledges as Russia hits cities

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YIV, Ukraine— Ukraine’s allies vowed Thursday to supply the besieged nation with advanced air defense systems as Russian forces attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and fired missiles elsewhere at civilian targets, payback for the bomb ing of a strategic bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea.

a human rights organization. “If this is done, it will be a fundamen tal step to end the entire war in the near future.”

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ALEIGH, North Carolina—Five people were killed by a shooter who opened fire along a walking trail in North Carolina’s capital city on Thursday and eluded officers for hours before he was cornered in a home and arrested, police said.

An off-duty police officer was among those killed by the suspect, who police only described as a white, juvenile male. He was arrested around 9:37 p.m., authorities said. His identity and age weren’t released.

The gunfire broke out around 5 p.m. along the Neuse River Greenway in a residential area northeast of downtown, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. Officers from numerous law enforcement agencies swarmed the area, closing roads and warning residents to stay inside while they searched for the shooter.

Two people, including another police officer, were taken to hospitals. The officer was later released, but the other survivor remained in critical condition.

“Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless horrific and infuriating act of

violence that has been committed,” Gov. Roy Cooper told reporters.

Authorities didn’t offer any details on a motive, but Baldwin joined Cooper in decrying the violence.

“We must stop this mindless violence in America, we must address gun violence,” the mayor said. “We have much to do, and tonight we have much to mourn.”

The Raleigh shooting was the latest in a violent week across the country. Five people were killed Sunday in a shooting at a home in Inman, South Carolina. On Wednesday night two police officers were fatally shot in Connecticut after apparently being drawn into an ambush by an emergency call about possible domestic violence. Police officers have been shot this week in Greenville, Mississippi; Decatur, Illinois; Philadelphia, Las Vegas and central Florida.

Two of those officers, one in Greenville and one Las Vegas, were killed.

Thursday’s violence was the 25th mass killing in 2022 in which the victims were fatally shot, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings database. A mass killing is defined as when four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator. AP

Missile strikes killed at least five people and destroyed an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while heavy artillery dam aged more than 30 houses, a hospital, a kindergarten and other buildings in the town of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zapor izhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia has intensified its bombardment of civilian areas in recent weeks as its military lost ground in multiple occu pied regions of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally annexed.

Kremlin war hawks have urged Putin to escalate the bombing campaign even more to punish Ukraine for Satur day’s truck bomb attack on the landmark Kerch Bridge. Ukraine has not claimed re sponsibility for the attack.

“We need to protect our sky from the terror of Russia,” Ukrai nian President Volodymr Zelen skky told the Council of Europe,

Responding to Zelenskyy’s repeated pleas for more effec tive air defenses, the British government announced it would provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. The UK also is send ing hundreds of aerial drones for information-gathering and logistics support, plus 18 how itzer artillery guns.

“These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defense alongside the US NASAMS,” UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.

Other Nato defense minis ters meeting this week prom ised to supply systems offering medium- to long-range de fense against missile attacks.

Germany has delivered the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, while France pledged more artillery, antiaircraft systems and missiles.

The Netherlands said it would send missiles, and Canada is planning about $50 million more in military aid, including winter equipment, drone cameras and satellite communications.

Speaking in Berlin, German

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Pu tin “and his enablers have made one thing very clear: this war is not only about Ukraine,” but rather “a crusade against our way of life and a crusade against what Putin calls the collective West. He means all of us.”

Nato plans to hold a nuclear exercise next week against the backdrop of Putin’s insistence he would use any means neces sary to defend Russian terri tory, including the illegally an nexed regions of Ukraine. The exercise takes place each year.

On the battlefield Thursday in Ukraine, Russian forces hit a five-story apartment building in Mykolaiv with an S-300 mis sile, regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim said, a weapon ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft. An 11-year-old boy was pulled alive from the building’s rubble after six hours but later died. “No words. Creature terror ists,” Kim wrote on Telegram.

Video showed rescuers working by flashlight to pull the boy out of the concrete and metal debris. As they carried him on a stretcher through the building’s front door to an am bulance, a man who appeared to be his father leaned over to kiss the boy’s head, then place a blanket on him.

Four other people were re ported killed in Mykolaiv.

Residents of Ukraine’s capital

region, whose lives had regained some normalcy when war’s front lines moved east and south months ago, were jolted by air raid sirens mul tiple times Thursday after explosives-packed Iran-made drones found their targets.

Ukrainian officials said Iranians in Rus sian-occupied territories of Ukraine were training Russians how to use the Shahed-136 systems, which can conduct air-to-surface at tacks, electronic warfare and targeting.

The low-flying drones keep Ukraine’s cities on edge, but the British Defense Ministry said they’re unlikely to strike deep into Ukrainian territory because many are destroyed before hitting their targets. Ukraine’s air force command said Thurs day its air defense units shot down six drones over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions during the night. Ukrainian authorities also reported knocking down four Russian cruise missiles.

Describing the scope of Russia’s retaliatory attacks, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Russian forces struck more than 70 energy facilities in Ukraine this week.

State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin threatened an “even tougher” response to future Ukrainian attacks. The 12-mile Kerch Bridge is a prominent symbol of Moscow’s power. AP

CHINESE Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning gestures during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Thursday, October 13, 2022. The Chinese government on Thursday accused Washington of “Cold War thinking” and appealed for efforts to repair strained relations after President Joe Biden released a national security strategy that calls for “out-competing China” and blocking its efforts to reshape global affairs. AP

IN this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, supervises tests of long-range cruise missiles at an undisclosed location in North Korea on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/KOREA NEWS SERVICE VIA AP

BBM TO EJ: WE’RE VERY THANKFUL

By Josef Ramos

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA ended his four-week vacation on Friday but not without an important and memorable courtesy call on President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in Malacañang.

President Marcos heaped praises for the world No. 3 and Asian record holder, who’s bound to return to the world pole vault center in Formia, Italy, to plunge into a two-month spartan-like training as he tries to secure a ticket to his second Olympics in Paris 2024.

From your President and I think from the rest of the Philippines, we are so thankful to all what you’ve done, for bringing honor,” President Marcos told Obiena. “I think that is the greatest tribute that you can give—the greatest service as an athlete now is to bring honor to the Philippines.”

O biena was all smiles during the brief meeting with the President whom

he presented his world championship bronze medal he clinched in Eugene, Oregon, last July. The President obliged and did a mock medal ceremony for the 26-year-old from Tondo.

M arcos also told Obiena to do well and qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics Games.  We look forward to the Games in Paris, I hope you do well,” President Marcos said. “If there’s anything that we can do to help you to get a beautiful result, just tell me because I know how important that is.”

“So thank you very much and I congratulate not only you, but also those who have supported our champion,” he added.

Obiena waa accompanied in Malacañang by his father Emerson, sister Emily and Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Noli Eala and Executive Director Atty. Guillermo Iroy.

Obiena arrived with his girlfriend, German long jumper Caroline Joyuex, last September 15 and made the most out of the vacation, his first since the December 2019 Southeast Asian Games where he won gold.

Joyuex returned to Germany last week to attend to her own training but managed to visit several of the country’s pride, especially the captivating beaches of Palawan and island vacation paradise in the Visayas.

O biena flew to Italy via Qatar Airways early evening Friday and waiting for him in Formia is his legendary coach, Ukrainian Vitaly Petrov.

Perhaps it’s a vacation hangover, but Obiena admitted he’ll love to return to training a day after arriving in Formia.

Most probably the next day, we will start training, but I hope not,” said Obiena, who’ll gear up for indoor competitions in the winter. “Probably I’ll be competing in January for the indoor season, but there’s no fix date so far on how we plan to attack the season.”

Ateneo, NU top Super League sked

Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.

FANCIED

teams Ateneo and National University (NU) shoot for seats to the next round when they take on separate foes in Pool C of the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

The Blue Eagles are back in action after a two-week break following their opening day win and they’re taking on also-ran Jose Rizal University (JRU) at 3 p.m in the tournament airing live via Plus Network on

Ateneo, behind inspired games from Makana Kowalski and veteran Vanie Gandler, stormed past Arellano University, 25-14, 30-28, 25-17, last October 1.

The duo—along with other Blue Eagles hotshots Faith Nisperos, Joan Narit, Sofia Ildefonso and Alexis Miner—are again expected to deliver the goods for the Oliver Almadro-coached squad.

A lthough Ateneo is favored to come up on top against the Lady Bombers who are listless in two matches, Almadro doesn’t want his wards to be too complacent.

We can’t take any team lightly. Just like in our last game against Arellano, we can’t let out guards down,” said Almadro, whose squad will face the reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines champion Lady Bulldogs in a marquee showdown on Sunday.

The Lady Bulldogs, on the other hand, are looking to hurdle the Lady Chiefs in their 5:30 p.m. match to secure a seat in the second round.

Rookies Vangie Alinsug, Renee Mabilanga and Minierva Maaya made their presence felt in the Lady Bulldogs’ 25-14, 25-6, 25-12, drubbing of the Lady Bombers last week.

Bunquin rules BRAFE 15 at Forest Hills

LA SALLIAN Raymond Bunquin

the last

holes to shoot a gross 73 and rule the BRAFE Golf 15

the Forest

Golf and Country Club in Antipolo.

Bunquin as the club’s general manager used his knowledge of the Nicklaus course for the win in the tournament organized by BRAFE Golf

of the

for the

Foundation for Sharing

The

Albert

L ex Macaranas shot a

under

win Class

“BRAFE Golf is happy to have continued our advocacy after being sidelined by the pandemic. I would like to thank everyone who supported the 15th edition,” said Garcia, who owns Megafiber, a Psyllium Fiber supplement.

A, narrowly beating Splendido Taal Golf Club general manager Bobby Chico and Joemar Española, who each had 77.

winners were Lee Tajonera

(Class

Uly Rosal

(Class C), Dondie Valdez

(Class

Toti Umali

(seniors), Dave David

seniors) and Gina Flores 87 (ladies).

RAYMOND BUNQUIN JR. (with trophy) with the BRAFE officers (from left) Bong Africa, Ting Yupangco, Randy Nonato, JR Hernandez, George Elazegui, Roy Peña and Martin de Castro.

ERNEST JOHN “EJ” OBIENA shows President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. his world championship bronze medal. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

VETERAN Vanie Gandler will be leading the Lady Eagles anew.

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