BusinessMirror October 17, 2020

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The chief of staff of the AFP admits that the radicalization of a Filipino suicide bomber has served as an ‘eye opener’ to security forces.

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‘ANGELS OF DEATH’

By Rene Acosta

HREE years after it had stopped the Islamic State (IS) dead on its tracks from establishing an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia in Marawi City, the military now finds itself dealing with the same extremist violent group, this time in the form of suicide bombing.

The birth of IS-inspired suicide bombers in Mindanao, through its local front, the Dawlah Islamiya (DI), has opened a new operational front for the enormously challenged and thinly spread Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), as admitted by no less than its chief of staff, Gen. Gilbert Gapay.

This situation prevails even as the military is still currently contending with threats posed by communist-led insurgents, Moroinspired terrorism courtesy of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), and the territorial row with China over portions of the West Philippine Sea.

Recruitment and captures

“WE are now strengthening and enhancing our program as far as preventing and countering violent extremism,” Gapay said recently on the military’s campaign to stop the IS from further radicalizing Moro extremists and beefing up its local ranks of suicide bombers.

“We are looking now, coordi-

nating with DepEd [Department of Education], looking into different schools, particularly in Sulu and other parts of Mindanao because it is among these [schools]… where recruitment is occurring, particularly among the youth,” he explained.

Gapay’s concern was highlighted by the successive captures a week ago of an Indonesian woman suicide bomber and two local financial conduits of the IS affiliated with the DI, following raids in Sulu and Zamboanga City, where several assembled bombs for suicide attacks were seized.

Rezky Fantasya Rullie alias Cici, who had also been tagged as one of the three architects of the twin suicide bombings in Jolo in August that killed 15 and wounded at least 74 others, was arrested at Barangay San Raymundo in Jolo.

According to Joint Task Force Sulu commander Brig. Gen. William Gonzales, Rullie is the widow of Indonesian foreign terrorist Andi Baso, whom the Army Scout Rangers believed to have been neu-

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.6200

PHOTO of recovered bomb during the arrest of Rullie.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LT. COL. RONALDO MATEO, PIO JTF SULU

tralized during a battle in Patikul in late August 2020.

Rullie, who reportedly planned to undertake a suicide bombing after the death of her husband, was arrested along with two women, Inda Nurhaina, wife of ASG subleader Ben Tatoh, and Fatima Sandra Jimlani, wife of Jahid Jam, an ASG member.

The raiding team seized from the three a suicide vest rigged with

pipe bombs and other improvised explosive device (IED) components.

A day before their arrests, police intelligence agents arrested in Zamboanga City Kadija Sadji and Abdulman Sarapuddin Tula, who are members of the ASG and IS financial conduits with the DI under Mudzrimir “Mundi” Sawadjaan, also a subleader of the ASG. “Sadji is the wife of Al Asgar, son of the late Abu Sayyaf founder

Abdurajak Janjalani. She belongs to the same financial conduit cell,” National Police chief General Camilo Pancratius Cascolan said in disclosing the arrest.

“Tula is identified in police records as in charge of procuring logistics and provisions for the groups of Sawadjaan and Radullan Sahiron in Sulu,” he added.

Sahiron is the overall leader of the ASG.

‘New direction’

SINCE last year, the IS has stepped up its suicide attacks in Mindanao through its roster of radicalized local and foreign suicide bombers, a direction it took after it was driven away from Marawi City in 2017 following a five-month devastating battle which left most parts of the city in ruins. These are still undergoing reconstruction and rehabilitation.

While the IS has been weakened along with its allied local groups that included the ASG, the three factions of the Maguindanao-based BIFF and the Lanao del Sur-based Maute Group, it has, however, morphed into a deadlier force by employing suicide bombers.

The use and recruitment by the IS of suicide bombers from among the ranks of Islamic locals was a feat that was never achieved by the al-Qaeda and the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah even during their heyday in Mindanao.

In January last year, an Indonesian couple attacked the Jolo cathedral and, several months later, two Army camps were also attacked by three suicide bombers, one of them Filipino Norman Lasuca. The latter had been radicalized while under Hadjan Sawadjaan, a commander of the ASG in Sulu and the leader of the IS in Mindanao.

The military believes it has neutralized Hadjan in one of its battles with the group in Sulu, and this is why his nephew, Mudzrimir, took over and ramped up DI’s activities.

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n JAPAN 0.4614 n UK 62.7636 n HK 6.2735 n CHINA 7.2297 n SINGAPORE 35.7552 n AUSTRALIA 34.4862 n EU 56.9437 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9622

Source: BSP (October 16, 2020)

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A2 Saturday, October 17, 2020

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The future of energy is about technology, not fossil fuels

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By Nathaniel Bullard |

Bloomberg News

DASHARK | DREAMSTIME.COM

IL forecasters have had the same long-term challenge for decades: figuring out how much of the world’s liquid hydrocarbons will be in demand years into the future, and where, and in what mix of products and uses.

And for decades, the long-term view has been pretty much consistent: in aggregate, global demand increases as the economy and population grow. Near-term lines are jagged (current oil demand is more than ten million barrels per day lower than it was a year ago, thanks to Covid-19); long-term lines are smooth and moving up.

There’s something different though in the two most recent longterm forecasts, from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). Those lines,

eventually, stop going up. Demand comes very, very close to peaking, even in the most conservative (and for oil, most bullish) scenarios.

OPEC and the IEA see demand continuing to grow through 2040, and OPEC even sees 2045 demand very slightly lower than in 2040.

Importantly, though, there are a half-dozen other projections of future oil demand that drop below 2019 levels, sometimes dramatically, thanks to equally dramatic policy interventions. Peak oil demand is also business as usual for some companies heavily invested

in oil’s future.

Look closely at the IEA and OPEC’s views of the future, and there is more to it than just “oil demand slowly tops out.” The IEA, for instance, says that coal-fired power generation is in terminal decline, and that by 2040 it will make up less than 20 percent of global power supply for the first time since the Industrial Revolution.

If terminal decline sounds dramatic, that’s because it is. A decade ago, it would have been heretical for the IEA to even suggest such a thing. Even in its 2010 World Energy Outlook, it maintains that “coal remains the backbone of global electricity generation.”

Equally dramatic, if less heretical to technology-minded energy analysts and observers, is what the IEA sees as the cheapest fuel today and into the future. Solar will be

“the new king of the world’s energy markets,” says the IEA’s executive director Fatih Birol.

Even though OPEC’s outlook only concerns oil, we should apply some creative thinking to the cartel’s view of energy’s future. I’ve done this before, and last time noted that the components of oil demand growth were already heavily skewed to a few sectors like road transport, petrochemicals and aviation. Covid-19 has set aviation reeling this year, though road transport has recovered, as has petrochemicals demand in some markets. More importantly, technological developments now make oil’s supremacy less certain, in the same way that solar’s growth and development has changed coal’s growth prospects.

My challenge to those thinking about oil’s future in 2020 is to look at OPEC’s own choice of

words over time, and consider how it reflects the factors changing oil’s future. Let us think of mentions as a measure of significance: the more times something is mentioned, the more important it is likely to be for that year’s narrative about energy’s future.

Thirteen years ago, in an age of tight supply, increasing demand, and high and rising oil prices, “resources”—the amount of oil that could be extracted and made available to the market—was mentioned on about one out of every three pages in the World Oil Outlook. “Technology” was mentioned less often, on about one out of every four pages. “Climate” was hardly mentioned and electric vehicles weren’t mentioned at all.

By 2019, “technology” was mentioned more than three times as often as “resources.” Electric ve-

hicles, for that matter, were mentioned more than resources—and “climate” was mentioned more than either of them.

You might notice the sharp downward spike in mentions of technology in 2020 (and a similar, if less dramatic, decline for electric vehicles). Absolute mentions of both dropped significantly, but something heretofore unmentioned appears almost 400 times: the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s only fair that technology and electric vehicles, which at this point are long-term trends for oil, are mentioned relatively less this year. The question for the long term, though, isn’t about a pandemic. It’s about technology, and whether or not oil demand responds to new technologies the way coal is now responding to solar: with structural decline.

‘Angels of death’

IN this photo provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command chief Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Filipino suicide bomber Norman Lasuca sits with his mother Vilman on Wednesday, July 10, 2019. Military and police officials say a DNA test has confirmed the identity of the first known Filipino suicide bomber named as Norman Lasuca. Two attackers carrying explosives killed three soldiers, two villagers and themselves and wounded 22 others in a June 28 attack on an army camp in southern Sulu province. The second attacker remains unidentified.

ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES VIA AP

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Bothersome GAPAY said IS’s effort in Mindanao is bothersome, noting that it has not only managed to recruit a Filipino suicide bomber but it has already radicalized some local women.

“We cannot imagine a Filipino suicide bomber really being recruited, or being…a suicide bomber. Usually, we expect that suicide bombers would be foreign terrorists who have slipped into our country, but we were really surprised when we had that first incident in 2019 in the person of Mr. Lasuca,” Gapay said.

“It was really an eye opener… the effort to recruit, to radicalize and even mold the suicide bomber out of Filipinos is really at that level,” he added.

Since the military believes that IS’s recruitment happens both among the ranks of local militants and students of Islamic schools, or Madrasas, it is taking steps to shield them from IS influence and recruitment.

“We are monitoring them really, where we suspect that there is some sort of radicalization activities going on, and we are coordinating closely with concerned government agencies as well as local government units in this regard, so

really, more on the preventive side of it,” Gapay said.

Indeed, the AFP has its hands full once again with real threats, while caught between a rock and a hard place. If another attack happens it will be blamed for failing to stop it. Yet it remains on the defensive as more than two dozen groups are questioning the recently enacted Anti-Terror Act (ATA) that was meant to put teeth to the 2007 Human Security Act. Meantime, it is locked in a tight race with the grim “avengers,” the terrorist widows turned “angels of death”—of whom more are believed to be lurking, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

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DA chief to bar farmer co-ops from importing rice amid ‘dummy’ issue

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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GRICULTURE Secretary William D. Dar said on Friday he will issue an order barring farmers’ cooperatives and associations from importing rice amid issues that they are being used as fronts, or dummies by unscrupulous traders.

Dar made the pronouncement during the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food hearing on a joint resolution to allocate all tariffs collected—in excess of P10 billion from rice imports—as direct cash assistance to farmers tilling 1 hectare and below.

In the same hearing, Dar disclosed that the Department of Agriculture (DA) was already studying whether to continue to allow cooperatives to import rice under the liberalized rice trade regime amid concerns that they are used as dummies by traders.

He revealed that their “orientation” is to ban cooperatives from importing rice.

But a few minutes after, Dar immediately made the pronouncement that, “I will issue an order not to allow co-ops and associations to import.”

The issue on co-ops was raised anew earlier this week by Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, head of the agriculture committee. She told the DA to closely monitor the farmer cooperatives amid reports that many of them are being used by rice traders and importers to buy from abroad.

“There are a lot of co-ops importing rice again. Is that right? Cooperatives importing rice without tariffs? Ha? Is that right?

Ha?” she asked the department, represented by Dar and Undersecretary Ariel T. Cayanan, at a virtual hearing last Monday.

Besides paying the farmer groups a measly amount in exchange for using their permits, these unscrupulous businessmen also cheat the government by undervaluing their imports, an earlier investigative story by the BusinessMirror had showed.

The BusinessMirror broke the story last year that unscrupulous traders continue to use farmers’ cooperatives and associations as their fronts and dummies even after the rice industry was liberalized.

(Read the award-winning story here:https://businessmirror.com.

ph/2019/10/31/pre-and-postrice-trade-liberalization-law-bigtraders-gaming-farmer-groups/).

The latest pronouncement of Dar is the latest in the string of stories published by the BusinessMirror on the country’s rice importation system, particularly issues on undervaluation and cooperatives.

A BusinessMirror report on Friday (October 16) said that some erring rice importers have availed themselves of legal remedies to avert paying charges for their “undervalued” shipments last year, as farmers pressed authorities to move more quickly against violators to plug the huge revenue drain of the government.

Customs Assistant Commissioner and spokesman Vincent Philip Maronilla told the BusinessMirror on Thursday they have yet to collect the total P1.4 billion charged to over 40 erring rice importers, majority of which are farmers’ cooperatives.

However, Maronilla has yet to disclose exactly how many of the rice importers resorted to the legal remedies and how many of those who availed themselves of legal remedies are farmers’ cooperatives. (read story here: https://businessmirror. com.ph/2020/10/16/erring-riceimporters-delay-paying-charges/).

During the hearing, the agriculture committee approved Senate Joint Resolution 12, which was introduced by Villar, to use all tariffs in excess of the P10 billion collected from rice imports in 2019 and 2020 as direct cash assistance to farmers tilling 1 hectare and below.

Villar said the cash assistance would benefit at least 600,000 rice farmers. Dar said about 1.1 million rice farmers are planting on 1 hectare and less.

Based on Customs preliminary report, the total rice tariff collected from rice imports this year has reached P13.681 billion as of end-September, Villar said.

Excess tariffs collected last year reached P2.1 billion.

This means that at least P5.781 billion would be given as cash assistance to the target rice farmers next year. The DA earlier planned to use the P2.1 billion excess rice tariffs from last year to bankroll its crop diversification and expanded crop insurance programs for rice farmers.

Peso setback from remittance slump seen as short-lived

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he Philippine peso hit an air pocket Thursday after a central bank report showed remittances unexpectedly fell in August, but its pullback is likely to be temporary, according to strategists.

Asia’s top-performing currency this year is set to extend gains as the nation’s trade balance improves, said Kanika Bhatnagar, a Bangalorebased economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., who forecasts the peso will rise to 48.2 per dollar by year-end.

“An acute compression in domestic demand has translated into a substantial reduction in imports that has more than offset the decline in remittances,” Bhatnagar said. “We expect this trend to persist longer, since a meaningful rebound in domestic demand and remittance inflows is not envisaged until early next year.”

The peso closed 0.1 percent lower Thursday at 48.68 per dollar, reversing a gain of as much as 0.2 percent after

the remittance figures were released. Money sent home by overseas Filipinos dropped 4.1 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said. Economists had projected they would rise 5.3 percent, according to a Bloomberg sur vey.

Remittances are set to fall almost 10 percent in the second half due to the fading of temporary factors that have supported its strength, including the easing of logistical disruptions, ANZ said in a note to clients on Thursday. Remittances account for about 10 percent of the Philippine economy and are the nation’s largest source of foreign exchange after exports.

The peso has strengthened 4.1 percent this year, including a gain of 2.8 percent last quarter that was its best performance in more than a decade. The advance has been driven by an expanding balanceof-payment surplus, increasing foreign reserves, and by the earlier recovery in remittances from the coronavirus crisis. Bloomberg News

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Top WB economist warns financial crisis could emerge from pandemic

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orld Bank (WB) Chief Economist Carmen Reinhart said the coronavirus pandemic is turning into a major economic crisis and warned of the possibility of a financial crisis emerging.

“This did not start as a financial crisis but it is morphing into a major economic crisis, with very serious financial consequences,”

Reinhart said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “There’s a long road ahead.”

Reinhart, who took her new

NACIONALISTA PARTY, CAYETANO VOW ‘UNEQUIVOCAL SUPPORT’ TO VELASCO, DUTERTE ADMIN’S LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

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orm e r House Speaker and TaguigPateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano and members of the Nacionalista Party (NP) released a manifesto on Friday, expressing their “unequivocal support” to newly elected Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, and rejected reports that NP will become the new minority bloc in the lower chamber.

The 44-strong NP, one of the largest political parties in the House said to be enjoying the support of the Villar family, affirmed the party’s support for Velasco and President Duterte’s legislative agenda.

Amid the recent developments unfolding in the House, Deputy Majority Leader and Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar, a leader of the NP, said the party remains steadfast in supporting the legislative agenda of the President, especially now that the country is in the middle of the pandemic.

“With a robust leadership backed by a proactive Cabinet, we believe that the country is in a better position to rise from the challenges

of this pandemic and ultimately, facilitate the delivery of the cure against Covid-19,” she said.

The NP is one of the largest political parties in the lower chamber with 44 members that may very well include Cayetano.

“We join President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his unrelenting campaign to weed out corruption in government, which is stealing precious resources that should have gone directly to the people,” she added.

She also said the members of the NP also commit to the speedy passage of the 2021 national budget that would be “truly reflective of the needs of the people and not merely based on the requirements of the districts.”

“The par t y never theless ex tends its collaborative hand to the new House leadership and vows to work closely with their team to ensure the success of the President’s legislative and economic agenda,” she added.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Back on the shelves: Reno liver spread secures CPR

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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ood and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo on Friday said that Reno liver spread is now back on the market shelves after the product’s manufacturer was able to secure its Certificate of Product Registration (CPR).

“This [Reno] liver spread brand had completed all the needed documents and requirements,” Domingo said in Filipino in a radio interview.

Domingo said that two weeks ago, the Reno Foods Inc. was able to secure the CPR, one of the two types of authorizations before any processed food product can be released to the Philippine market.

The license-to-operate (LTO), which is an authorization granted to manufacturers, repackers, impor ters, distributors, wholesalers, traders was already secured by the company.

“In 2017, the company applied for t h e va r i at i o n o f t h e i r LTO to i n c l u d e t h e i r produc t line as manufac turer of processed m e a t p ro d u c t s. U p o n i n s p e c t i o n o f t h e F DA , t h e c o m p a n y w a s g r a n te d a p p ro v a l o f t h e LTO a s m a n u f a c t u re r,” t h e F DA s t a t e m e n t re a d.

Af ter being issued an LTO, the food business operator is required to secure another authorization which is called CPR. The evaluation process for a CPR entails checking of the safety and quality of a given product

with applicable standards and issuances.

Th e F DA i n s p e c t o r s i n s t r u c t e d t h e company to secure CPRs for their products, including Reno brand liver spread.

Th i s ye a r, F DA i n s p e c to r s co l l e c te d samples of liver spread for verification of their CPR. However, upon extensive search of FDA databases, the mentioned liver spread was found to have “failed to secure a CPR.” “Thus, the FDA has a responsibility to inform the public, through an advisory, that Reno brand liver spread is ‘not registered’ as of this date as a processed food product and must secure the required authorization from this Office,” FDA said.

The FDA stressed that the LTO and CPR have been the basic requirements of FDA since 2009 with the passage of Republic Act 9711, or the ​F DA Act of 2009. ​ On December 28, 2009, a joint issuance was issued by the Depar tment of Agriculture and D epar tment of Health in transferring the mandate of regulation from DOH-FDA to DA-National Meat Inspec tion Ser vice of processed meat produc ts.

The mandate was brought back to the DOH-FDA with the signing of Republic Act 10611, or the ​F ood Safet y Act of 2013.​ The transfer was fully implemented on May 1, 2017, and FDA started requiring a valid CPR prior to the distribution of all processed meat, including liver spread products such as Reno brand.

role in June, is best known for her work with then-Harvard colleague Kenneth Rogoff on the last financial crisis in their 2009 book This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. It made the pair the go-to resource on the history of government defaults, recessions, bank runs, currency selloffs, and inflationary spikes.

Asked whether central banks buying bonds to keep yields low is ultimately a zero-sum game when ever yone’s doing it, Reinhart said, “ This is a war. During wars governments finance

their war expenditures however they can and right now there are dire needs.”

“The scenario we are in is not a sustainable one,” she added.

Reinhart spoke after the world’s richest nations agreed to renew a debt-relief initiative for the poorest through at least the first half of 2021, falling short of the WB’s call for a full-year extension.

China is owed almost 60 percent of the money that the world’s poorest nations would be due to repay this year, according to WB data. It has made many loans to

developing countries with terms that aren’t transparent and at higher interest rates than the nations can afford, the bank ’s president said in August.

Asked about China not participating in the debt-suspension relief, Reinhart said the nation was in fact involved, just “less than fully.”

The China Development Bank, a major lender, hasn’t joined the effort, nor have private sector creditors, she said. “Full participation is something we should strive for but unfortunately haven’t yet seen.” Bloomberg News

Consumers hit FDA for ‘flawed’ vape, heated tobacco public consultation

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h e Food and D rug Administration (FDA) continued to find itself in hot waters following what consumer groups viewed as a “flawed and biased” virtual public consultation on the guidelines for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) last week.

This surfaced in the wake of calls for a fullblown House investigation on the FDA following the reported admission of the agency that it received funding from international anti-tobacco groups.

“The supposed consultations held by FDA on October 6 and October 8 on vapor products and heated tobacco products, respectively, turned out to be a one-sided lecture with cherry-picked questions that ignored the concerns of vapers, skipped scientific evidence, and violated the rights of consumers to be heard,” said Clarisse Virgino, the Philippine representative to the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA).

“The imposed limitations during the public consultation made it challenging to discuss extensively and thoroughly the crucial provisions of the proposed guidelines. In coming up with

a regulation that has the potential to positively change the lives of 16 million Filipino smokers, we, the stakeholders, were expecting a more transparent and participatory process,” Peter Paul Dator of Vapers PH said.

He said “all we ask for are transparency and inclusion in the discussion because we—the consumers—are the ones directly affected by these guidelines, and not the pharmaceutical or medical groups who have no stake in the issue.”

Several stakeholders invited to the public consultation took the FDA to task for its “quit or die” approach to regulation and warned that those already using these alternatives are at risk of going back to smoking cigarettes.

They also have slammed the FDA for drafting very restrictive regulatory guidelines that may serve as de-facto ban on vapes and HTPs. “E-cigarettes and heated tobacco products are not pharmaceutical products and should not be regulated as such. What we need is a fair and risk-proportionate regulation that will encourage smokers to reduce their exposure to smoke which is the one that causes all these

diseases,” Virgino said.

During the public consultation last October 8, Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing exposed the grant received by the FDA from foreign anti-tobacco groups as they raised questions on possible conflict of interest on the part of the agency. This prompted Deputy Speaker and Ilocos Sur Rep. Deogracias Victor Savellano to call for a congressional investigation on the matter.

The FDA conducted two public hearings as it prepares the guidelines for the regulation of vape products and HTPs, which the Royal College of Physicians, Public Health England and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine recognize as presenting better alternatives to conventional smoking because they eliminate the combustion process that releases 7,000 chemicals.

“We hope that in the next dialogues if there are any, the FDA officials will open their minds, listen to scientific evidence, and do their job of regulating, and not restricting the use of these novel products, as our existing laws intended,” Dator said.

DOLE eyes cash aid to MSEs for 13th-month pay of workers

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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he government is now eyeing to allocate between P3.7 billion and P13 billion to provide cash subsidy to distressed micro and small establishments (MSEs) and enable to them to settle the year-end 13th-month pay of their workers.

This was based on the estimates of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) from the Philippine Statistics Authority that there are between 1.5 million and 5 million workers employed by MSEs. In an online briefing on Friday, Labor Secretar y Silvestre H. Bello III said they have already submitted the proposal to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) for consideration.

If approved, he said, MSEs will have to apply to DOLE to qualify for the subsidy to prove they have indeed incurred significant pandemic-induced income loses in previous quarters of the year.

“We will scrutinize them if they really need the subsidy,” Bello said.

Micro establishments are those which have an asset size worth P3 million below, while small establishments have an asset size of P3,000,001 to P15 million.

In case concerned agencies will thumb down the suggestion due to lack of available funding, Bello said, they will urge the Department of Finance (DOF) to come up with guidelines how MSEs could get loans from banks, particularly those from the government.

The labor chief said they would not likely ex tend similar aid to medium and large enterprises since they are more likely able to cope with the business disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Medium enterprises are those with an asset size of P15,000,001 to P100,000,000.

B ello reiterated they will not allow companies to defer on payment or be exempted from their responsibility in paying the 13thmonth pay of their workers under Presidential Decree 851.

He stressed it should be paid by employers on or before December 24, 2020.

IATF allows 2021 GAA ready for Senate transmittal on Oct. 28–Yap persons 15 to 65 T years old to go out of homes

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ersons between 15 and 60 years old will now be allowed to go out of their homes in areas still under community quarantine.

I n a n e w s s t a t e m e n t , P re s i d e n t i a l spokesman Harr y Roque said the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) decided to allow adjust the age group of those exempted from home quarantine to 15 to 65 years old through its Resolution 79, Series of 2020 “based on science and hard data.”

Citing “global experiences,” he said young people are not likely to suffer critical illness due to Covid-19.

As for those aged over 60 years old, he said the IATF opted to exempt them from home quarantine since some of them are still working.

Prior to the new resolution, only those in the 21 to 60 age groups were allowed to leave their homes provided they were have no immunodeficiency, comorbidity, health risks or pregnancy.

Roque, however, noted local government units (LGU) may impose a higher age limit for minors, depending on the Covid-19 situation in their respective jurisdictions.

The IATF made the decision as part of the government’s attempts to increase business operations in the country.

In the same resolution, the IATF also issued guidelines for interzonal and intrazonal movement.

Interzonal is the movement of people, goods and services between provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities under different community quarantine classification.

Meanwhile, intrazonal movement, refers to the movement of people, goods and services between provinces, highly urbanized cities and independent component cities under the same community quarantine classification, without transiting through an area placed under a different classification.

Roque said the IATF now also classified returning, or repatriated OFWs, as Authorized Persons Outside Their Residences.

Samuel P. Medenilla

he Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations on Friday vowed to transmit to the Senate the 2021 P4.5-trillion General Appropriations Act (GAA) on time, and preclude the possibility of a reenacted budget.

Panel chairman Eric Yap said the lower chamber will be able to comply with the Senate’s request to get hold of the 2021 budget proposal

by October 28.

“I cannot embarrass our Speaker. It will be on October 28. But it’s not the hard copy. Whatever we submit to the NPO [National Printing Office], we would also give to the Senate, which is printed on white paper only,” Yap said.

Yap also denied allegations that House members will insert their individual amendments in the budget, saying there are only amendments coming from government agencies.

The lower chamber is expected to approve on second and third and final reading the 2021 national budget on Friday late afternoon or evening at the earliest.

Earlier, Sen. Panfilo Lacson warned that the 1987 Constitution prohibits amendments after the third and final reading of bills.

Wi t h t h e t h e m e o f “ R e s e t, R e b o u n d, and Recover: Investing for Resilienc y and Sustainability,” the 2021 expenditure plan is higher than this year’s budget by 9.9 percent and equivalent to 21.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

By expense class, personnel services will receive the bulk of the next year’s allocation at 29.2 percent, reaching P1.32 trillion. Capital outlays will come in second with P920.5 billion, accounting for 20.4 percent of the proposed budget.

Meanwhile, maintenance, operating and other expenditures will amount to P 6 9 9 . 4 b i l l i o n , d e b t b u rd e n w i t h P 5 6 0 . 2 billion, suppor t to government-owned and - controlled corporations with P157.5 b i l l i o n , a n d t a x ex p e n d i t u re s w i t h P 1 4 . 5 billion.The top 10 agencies that will receive the biggest slices from the proposed 2021 budget are: Education sec tor, D epar tment of Public Works and Highways, the D epar tment of the Interior and Local Government, Depar tment of National Defense, Depar tment o f H e a l t h , D e p a r t m e nt o f S o c i a l We l f a re and Development, the Depar tment of Transpor tation, D epar tment of Agriculture, the Judiciar y, and the D epar tment of Labor and Employment. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

CREATE bill hanging in Senate on coverage, incentives length

By Butch Fernandez

HE Senate went on its scheduled break from October 17 to November15 without passing the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill as several contentious provisions remained unresolved.

After lengthy interpellation of its sponsor, Sen. Pia Cayetano, the senators have yet to fully resolve two key issues—who should be covered by the bill and the length of tax incentives.

Senators earlier voted to reject a bid to split the bill into two so that the first part, reducing corporate income taxes from 30 to 25 percent, can be passed right away to help the pandemic affected businesses recover and lure new investors.

The second bone of contention involves the rationalization of tax incentives, of which at least P440 billion have been questioned by economic managers for being neither performance-based nor time-bound.

However, some senators are inclined to heed the repeated pleas of economic zone locators and business groups for the government not to touch existing incentives at a time when the economy has yet to recover more quickly from the adverse effects of pandemic-induced lockdowns.

According to Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, “coverage of the bill and the length of the incentives [are] definitely involved,” when asked what he saw as the remaining sticking points in the pending tax reform, which economic managers have been prodding the Senate to approve. The House of Representatives approved its version on final reading eight months ago.

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‘Grandfather rule’

One group of senators favor Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto’s insertion of a so-called

grandfather rule which allows existing investors to retain their current incentives.

This grandfather rule, however, was denounced Friday by fiscal watchdog Action for Economic Reform (AER) for effectively diluting the second main plank of the CREATE bill.

The AER opposed the “killer grandfather rule” in CREATE. It also denounced senators who had supported the move to split the bill, if only to expedite passage of the bill’s first plank, the 5-percent reduction of the current 30-percent corporate income tax (CIT).

“The CREATE bill, which has been undergoing i nte rp e l l at i o n i n t h e S e n ate f o r t h e p a s t four weeks, is now under a crucial period of amendments,” the AER noted in voicing its disappointment over the action of senators who it said had “made attempts to weaken the reforms.”

Killer amendment

T h e AER said one amendment that “threatens to weaken the reform is the grandfather rule,” that Rec to proposed on O c tober 15, where a l l ex i s t i n g i nve s t m e nt s w i l l re t a i n t h e i r current incentives, and all new investments will follow the incentive system mandated in CREATE bill.

Apar t from Recto, the AER also denounced Senators Imee Marcos, Grace Poe and Minority Leader Franklin Drilon for suppor ting the grandfather rule, saying: “We believe that the grandfather rule is a killer amendment that destroys the ver y purpose of the bill.”

“Retaining the tax perks of existing registered enterprises without bounds and w i t h o u t t ra n s i t i o n i n g to b e s u b j e c te d to CREATE goes against the ver y purpose of rationalizing fiscal incentives, which is to

address the arbitrar y dispensation of fiscal incentives, the AER said, adding that “our abuse -prone incentive system has been in dire need of reform for many years now.”

The AER lamented that P440 billion worth of government funds are currently being spent on granting fiscal incentives that are neither performance-based nor time-bound, suggesting that “in order to lessen those wasted funds, we need to harmonize the administration of fiscal incentives.”

The watchdog quoted Sen. Pia Cayetano, the main sponsor of CREATE and chief endorser of the bill as head of the Committee on Ways and Means, as saying that the grandfather rule will mean providing these incentives in perpetuity, noting the P15.6 trillion present value of such perks.

Th e A E R e a r l i e r o p p o s e d “a n o t h e r d a n g e r o u s p r o p o s a l ” t o s p l i t C R E AT E into two bills: one for fiscal incentive rationalization, and another for corporate income tax reduc tion, recalling that in the O c tober 15 session, the S enate voted on this proposal, with 10 senators opposing it.

Four senators—Minorit y Leader Drilon, and Senators Imee Marcos, R ichard Gordon and Francis Pangilinan—voted to split the bill.

The AER warned that splitting the bill would weaken the political support for the incentive rationalization bill. “We cannot split the CREATE bill, as both fiscal incentive rationalization and corporate income tax reduction must go hand in hand if we want this bill to serve both a stimulus during the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, as well an instrument to rationalize and modernize investment promotion and the fiscal incentive regime in the long term,” AER added.

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

The World

NZ voters to reward Ardern with big poll win for Covid success

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ew Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern looks set for a resounding election victory on Saturday as voters applaud her masterful handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ardern’s Labour Party had 46 percent support in the latest opinion poll, while the main opposition National Party had 31 percent. With its ally the Green Party on 8 percent, Labour is on track for a comfortable majority in parliament.

New Zealand’s success in crushing community transmission of Covid-19 stands in stark contrast to countries like the UK, US and even neighboring Australia, where authorities are still battling to contain the virus. That hasn’t been lost on voters, who have mobbed Ardern on the campaign trail in a repeat of the “Jacindamania” that accompanied her rise to power three years ago.

“For so many voters it comes down to Ardern,” said Bryce Edwards, a political analyst at Victoria University in Wellington. “Her leadership during this crisis has led to what we’re seeing, which is a landslide for Labour.”

Polling stations in the nation of five million people close at 7 p.m. local time Saturday and a provisional result is due around midnight.

Ardern, 40, has captured the hallowed center ground in New Zealand politics with a blend of empathetic leadership and skilled crisis management that has also won her fame abroad.

The pandemic has given her a stage on which to display those strengths, drowning out criticism that she hasn’t delivered on some key promises during her first term in office.

Ardern has put the government’s pandemic response at the forefront of her bid for a second term, urging voters to trust it to keep the virus out and navigate an economic recovery.

Her opponent, National Party leader Judith Collins, has offered temporary tax cuts to spur growth while attacking Ardern for policy failures.

Both major parties are pledging massive spending on infrastructure to boost the economy. With government debt set to spiral, Labour would impose a higher tax rate on income over NZ$180,000 ($120,000) a year to raise more revenue.

In their final televised debate before the election, Ardern reminded viewers “how lucky we are” to be free of Covid-19 and asked for more time to enact change, while Collins warned of dark economic times ahead and appealed to undecided voters for their support.

The challenges ahead are enormous. The border remains closed to foreigners, crippling the key tourism industry, and unemployment is forecast to rise. But Collins, 61, hasn’t been able to gain traction with voters still focused on Ardern’s pandemic success.

In the battle against Covid-19, Ardern was alone among her western peers in pursuing an explicit elimination strategy and imposed one of the strictest nationwide lockdowns in the world.

The economy suffered its most severe contraction since the Great Depression, slumping 12.2 percent in the second quarter, but the lockdown wiped out community spread of the virus and restrictions were removed sooner than in many other countries. After more than 100 days without community transmission, an outbreak flared in largest city Auckland, but that was also quickly stamped out.

New Zealand has now gone three weeks without any cases in the community, with all new infections limited to returned overseas travelers undergoing mandatory quarantine. The nation has recorded just 25 coronavirus deaths.

Under Ardern, New Zealand has taken a nuanced foreignpolicy stance toward China, trying not to antagonize its largest trading partner while staying in line with the US and its other western allies in the Five Eyes alliance. This approach has so far helped it to avoid the souring of relations Australia is currently experiencing with Beijing.

Labour’s ascendancy under Ardern has overshadowed her current coalition partner New Zealand First, which at 3 percent is polling below the 5 percent it needs to be returned to parliament. The election may therefore bring the curtain down on the political career of its leader, Winston Peters, a maverick who’s often held the balance of power.

The libertarian ACT Party has seen its fortunes rise at the expense of both New Zealand First and National. ACT had 8 percent support in the latest poll.

New Zealand’s proportional representation electoral system lends itself to coalitions, with no party managing to secure an outright majority since its introduction in 1996. Labour is expected to govern with the Greens, which may see the next administration address issues such as poverty and climate change more actively.

Ardern has been criticized for failing to deliver the transformational government she promised at the outset of her first term.

She ditched plans for a capital gains tax that might have addressed the widening gap between rich and poor. A program to build tens of thousands of new homes to help fix a housing crises fell well short of goals, and environmental groups say her climate-change policies are too tame.

“They have been timid in pushing things through on poverty and housing,” said Shamubeel Eaqub, an economist and public policy consultant at Sense Partners in Auckland.

“But if you think there are risks on the horizon and there will be more crises to deal with, you want someone you think is going to be a good leader under pressure. I think Ardern has earned that trust and confidence.” Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 17, 2020

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Thai protesters set to defy ban with rallies outside Bangkok

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nti-government protesters plan to defy a ban on gatherings in Thailand’s capital for a third day and hold rallies across the nation, escalating a three-month old movement in support of monarchy reform and greater democracy.

Pro-democracy protesters will return to stage a demonstration in Bangkok later on Friday after tens of thousands of them defied an emergency declared by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha on Thursday to quell the escalating demonstrations. Parit Chiwarak, arrested during the demonstration near the premier’s office on Wednesday, urged his supporters to “keep staging protests” until their demands are met.

Protesters shouting “Prayuth get out” occupied the Ratchaprasong intersection in the middle of Bangkok’s main shopping district for several hours on Thursday, demanding the release of leaders arrested by the police in a morning raid. The crowds swelled throughout the evening before dispersing around 10 p.m.

The large crowd indicate the protests are unlikely to abate despite the arrest of key leaders and the government’s move to ban gatherings of five or more people.

The mounting demonstrations have weighed on the nation’s currency and stocks, with foreign investors turning net sellers of $10.6 billion so far this year. While the baht is headed for the first weekly loss in three, the benchmark SET Index of stocks has slid 2.4 percent in the past two sessions.

“We think the baht will likely underperform its regional peers

in the near term, given the ongoing protests” said Irene Cheung, a foreign-exchange strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in Singapore.

The protests, led at first mostly by students, have broken taboos about publicly criticizing the royal family, which sits at the apex of power in Thailand. Demonstrators have questioned taxpayer funds that go toward royal affairs, as well as laws that stifle discussion of the monarchy.

The demonstration Thursday night came a day after tens of thousands protesters broke through police lines in a march to Government House, Prayuth’s office, in an escalation of the movement that began in early July. Some protesters gave a three-finger salute—a symbol of the demonstrations— to a motorcade of Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana, who smiled and waved at them.

Those arrested included Arnon Nampa and Parit, according to the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

Parit had written a statement calling for reform of the monarchy with 10 demands, including prohibiting the king from endorsing any coups and revoking laws that criminalize insults against King Maha Vajiralongkorn and top members of the royal family.

On Friday, Parit asked his supporters to organize protests at

Pro-democracy protesters take part in a demonstration at a road intersection in Bangkok on October 15, after Thailand issued an emergency decree following an anti-government rally the previous day. Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

“several locations around Bangkok and in every province” of the country. In a letter from his jail, he told activists “don’t stay overnight so the group can be more flexible” to stage demonstrations everyday.

The location of the protests on Thursday night, in front of the Central World shopping mall, was the site of demonstrations in 2010 that ended with a clearance operation in which scores of people were killed. There were also protests in Hat Yai, Songkhla in Southern Thailand and Chiang Mai, according to local media.

The protesters are also calling for the resignation of Prayuth, a former army chief who staged a coup in 2014. They are pushing to rewrite the constitution drafted by a military-appointed panel that helped him stay on following elections last year. The government has said it’s open to changes in some areas but a process to rewrite the constitution has been delayed in parliament.

Prayuth said the government was ready to open public forums for the protesters “ but everything has to be done under the law.” “The majority will have to listen to the minority, and the

minority will have to respect different opinions too,” he said in a statement.

A special Cabinet meeting on Friday is expected to approve the emergency decree. The latest measures are in addition to a national emergency in place since the end of March to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak, which allows the government to enforce mandatory quarantines and streamline disease-control plans without multiple approvals.

The protests had gained momentum amid the worst economic crisis facing the tourism- and trade-reliant nation, which has passed a $60-billion stimulus to battle the pandemic-triggered slump. The emergency may also hurt the government’s plan to gradually reopen tourism to foreign visitors from this month.

“The state of emergency will likely fuel the movement that’s already gaining momentum,” said Punchada Sirivunnabood, an associate professor of politics at Mahidol University near Bangkok. “The protesters will likely continue their movement because they’re upset that the government isn’t listening to their demand.”

Bloomberg News

US intel exec says social media a ‘big vulnerability’

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top US intelligence official said disinformation on social media is a “big vulnerability” and warned of an “existential threat” to democracy and elections.

“The public in the democratic nations around the world really doesn’t understand what disinformation and influence looks like and feels like when you see it,” said William Evanina, director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

“Social media and the ability to promulgate information expediently on the web is going to be a big vulnerability for democracies going for ward,” he added during a conference hosted by

cyber-security company Crowdstrike Inc. on Thursday.

“We have not succeeded across our democratic countries in explaining to our populace how important and how fragile our democracy is,” he added. “The core fundamental basis of that fragility is free and open elections.”

Evanina and other government officials have repeatedly warned that foreign powers are trying to hack presidential campaigns, as well as other political targets and spread disinformation to influence elections.

In August, Evanina shared intelligence that concluded China and Iran are working to sway US voters against President Donald

William Evanina McNamee/Getty Images

Trump, while Russia is working against his rival, Joe Biden.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned of risks to “election information housed on government networks,” although it found no evidence at that time that the integrity of election data had been compromised.

Evanina argued on Thursday that threats to democracy are more enduring than the impact of terrorism.

“We have to do a better job of educating our voters and our populaces in our democratic countries why the threat to democracies through elections is an existential threat,” Evanina added.

Bloomberg News

Syria Kurds free 631 IS militants as part of amnesty

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EIRUT—Kurdish-led authorities released on Thursday hundreds of militants from the Islamic State (IS) group imprisoned in northern Syria, as part of a general amnesty in the region controlled by the US-backed fighters.

Amina Omar, head of the Syrian National Council, told reporters that IS members who were released have “no blood on their hands” and have all repented joining IS at some point.

“They are people who can be reformed,” Omar said shortly before the men were freed.

The Syrian Democratic Council said the 631 prisoners were released

Thursday while 253 others will have their terms cut in half. It said the amnesty and the release followed requests by tribal leaders in northeastern and eastern Syria.

Kurdish authorities currently operate more than two dozen detention facilities scattered across northeastern Syria, holding about 10,000 IS fighters.

Among the detainees are some 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them, including about 800 Europeans.

The Islamic State group—which at the height of its power in 2014 controlled a third of both Iraq and

Syria—lost its last sliver of land last year when the US-backed Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces captured the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.

Since then, the extremists have gone underground, carrying out hitand-run attacks, mostly targeting Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-led fighters.

Earlier this month, the Kurdishled authority said it will allow Syrian citizens to leave a sprawling camp that houses tens of thousands of women and children, many of them linked to IS. Most of the detainees at al-Hol

camp are Syrian and Iraqi women and children. Another highly secured tent settlement that is part of the camp is known as the Annex and is home to some 10,000 hard-line IS supporters from other countries.

The overpopulated camp is home to a total of 65,000 people and has been a burden to the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Kurdish police in charge of security at the facility.

Crime rates have been high inside the camp and some of the women have tried to escape.

Over the past 10 days dozens of families have left the camp.

A6 Saturday, October 17, 2020

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

Exporters told: Explore bank financing options

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N an effort to help micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) exporters, who are in need of emergency loans, recover from the economic impact brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Trade and IndustryExport Marketing Bureau (DTIEMB) conducted a webinar on bank financing options last September 24, 2020.

The webinar was under DTI-EMB’s Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP) that aims to boost exporter competitiveness through information sessions, seminars, and the like. Resource speakers from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) discussed their respective credit assistance programs tailored for MSMEs in need of bank credit.

Assistant Vice President and Head of LandBanks’ Program Management Department Gene David discussed the bank’s Interim Rehabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorablyaffected Enterprises by Covid-19, or I-RESCUE program. As a support program for small and medium en-

terprises (SME), cooperatives, and microfinance institutions (MFIs), I-RESCUE offers credit assistance through loan restructuring under more flexible terms and conditions.

As a lending program, it facilitates the rehabilitation of SMEs, co-ops, and MFIs by providing a loan tenor of up to five years with a maximum of two years’ grace period on the principal payment depending on cash flow. The loanable amount can reach up to 85 percent of actual needs, provided that the total loan exposure, including existing loans, shall be within repayment capacity of the borrower as per LandBank’s computation.

David also discussed LandBanks’ SME Credit Facility targeted for exporters, the Exporters Production

China’s exports gain, imports surge in Sept amid reopenings

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hina’s exports rose for the fourth straight month in September while imports surged, pointing to further recovery in the month for global trade and a robust domestic rebound.

Exports grew 9.9 percent in dollar terms in September from a year earlier, while imports rose 13.2 percent, the customs administration said Tuesday. That left a trade surplus of $37 billion for the month. Economists had forecast that exports would increase by 10 percent, while imports would edge up 0.4 percent.

The data indicate that China’s relatively rapid return to full production after its own pandemic shutdowns have enabled it to take full advantage of manufacturing reopenings and consumer demand

elsewhere. At the same time, the resurgence of the virus in Europe and elsewhere poses a threat to the recovery, as do geopolitical tensions with the US. The surge in imports “suggest that domestic demand remains on a decent footing,” said Zhou Hao, an economist at Commerzbank AG. “On the other hand, it could also indicate that the global economy is gradually coming back after a long halt.”

Tech distortions

The strong import performance may, in part, have been driven by tech industry stockpiling, ahead of the imposition of sanctions on telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies Co. Signaling strong activity in the Asian tech supply chain, purchases

from Taiwan jumped 35.8 percent, while imports from Japan and South Korea rose 13.4 percent and 17.2 percent, respectively.

Imports of integrated circuits reached a record high in absolute terms, a fact that’s “likely the result of both the domestic recovery and geopolitical tensions,” according to Tommy Xie, an economist at Oversea Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore. “On the bright side, that’s due to strong demand for electronic products due to working from home arrangements. On dark side, I think companies are stocking up, fearing more restrictions from the US.”

What Bloomberg’s economists say “Looking ahead, we expect exports to continue to pick up on a year-on-

year basis in the months ahead. But we think headwinds may strengthen, due to renewed outbreaks of Covid-19 in Europe and potential risks to trade related to the deterioration in USChina relations.”

David Qu, China economist

Exports to the US rose 20.5 percent to $44 billion and imports increased almost 25 percent to $13.2 billion, the data showed, resulting in a trade surplus of $30.8 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.

“We expect the uptrend in exports to continue,” said Louis Kuijs, an economist at Oxford Economics Ltd. “Renewed virus outbreaks in trading partners will be a challenge, but shipments of products benefiting from virus-related demand should continue to hold up.” Bloomberg News

DTI calls on exporters anew to register with EU-REX before Dec. 31 deadline

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he Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTIEMB) is once again calling on exporters to register to the European Union-Registered Exporter System (EU-REX) before the deadline on December 31, 2020. The original deadline, June 31, 2020, was moved due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The EU-REX is a system of self-certification of origin by exporters, with the statement on origin replacing the Certificate of Origin Form A. After the deadline, exporters not registered to the EU-REX will not be able to avail of the tariff privileges under the EUGeneralised Scheme of Preferences Plus (EU-GSP+).

In a previous statement, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez assured exporters after the EU Parliament issued a statement about

“So far, we are able to explain objectively the Philippines side on issues that are raised and we don’t see any reason why our GSP+ privilege will be withdrawn.”

—Lopez

temporarily withdrawing the said privileges: “So far, we are able to explain objectively the Philippines side on issues that are raised and we don’t see any reason why our GSP+ privilege will be withdrawn,” he said.

To apply for the EU-REX, exporters must fill out the application form available at: https://customs.ec.europa.eu/rex-

pa-ui/#/create-preapplication/.

Once the application has been filled out and submitted electronically, the exporter shall print and submit the application form to the concerned Bureau of Customs (BOC) Export Division/Unit.

The submission to the BOC must include the Unique Reference Number (URN) for Philippine Economic Zone Authority locators, Client Profile Registration System (CPRS) for non-Peza locators, or other equivalent document, and the Product Evaluation Report, if applicable.

The DTI-EMB, which offers EU-REX registration assistance to exporters, has assisted 328 exporters since August 2020.

To get registration assistance, exporters can e-mail DTIEMB Market Officer for

Europe Maria Jaena Go-Aco at MariaJaenaGoaco@dti.gov.ph.

Since the Philippines was granted the EU-GSP+ in 2014, exports to the EU increased from €5.3 billion in 2014 (under the regular GSP) to €7.6 billion in 2019.

For 2019, the Philippines had a 72 percent utilization of the GSP+, with €1.95 billion worth of products granted the privilege, out of the 2.7 billion euros worth of eligible products.

The top GSP+ exports of the Philippines for 2019 included crude coconut oil, vacuum cleaners, prepared or preserved tunas, spectacle lenses, new pneumatic tires, bicycles, electro-thermic hairdressing apparatus, prepared or preserved pineapples, relays, and activated carbon.

Support Facilities. This credit facility provides export packing credit lines through the financing of pre-shipment working capital requirements for the procurement of materials and labor to manufacture goods for export. It also offers export bills purchase line through the financing of post-shipment working capital requirement and liquidity support for exporters, before clearing of bank drafts, or notes.

On the other hand, DBP Vice President for Program Development and Management Department, Noli Cruz, introduced the bank’s credit assistance program called Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events, or RESPONSE. Eligible private sector borrowers such as MSMEs can avail of loans for their

capital expenditure projects for a tenor of up to 10 years, inclusive of three years’ grace period; and working capital for a tenor of up to five years, with one-year grace period. Fees and other charges are also waived and interest rates are fixed for five years based on Bloomberg Valuation (BVAL) plus 1 percent spread.

As a credit program, RESPONSE is part of DBP’s strategy to support “entrepinoys” and contribute to the government’s economic recovery efforts, focusing on infrastructure, health, and the food value chain, i.e., agriculture, logistics, and food manufacturing and trade.

The PECP is a monthly seminar series for export stakeholders. For more information, contact the Secretariat at PECP@dti.gov.ph.

UN bodies tell govts to keep ships moving, ports open, trade flowing

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ight United Nations (UN) organizations are calling on governments to facilitate trade and transport and restore supply chain connectivity amid the severe economic fallout from curtailing travel and closing borders.

The UN bodies made the call as they noted how the early response of countries to restrain the spread of the pandemic has led to severe disruptions in supply chains and trade flows worldwide.

“By this action all transport operations have been affected which has led to disruption of supply chains and trade flows. As a result, the delivery and availability of essential products such as food, or medicines, became a common challenge undermining countries’ capacity to respond to Covid-19 and begin to sustainably recover,” they said in a news statement.

They said that prior to the crisis, transportation was a key contributor to economic growth: Maritime transport carried more than 108.9 trillion tonne-kilometers yearly of the world’s food, energy and raw materials, manufactured goods, and components. It carried more than 80 percent of global trade by volume, and 60 percent to 70 percent of global trade by value.

Two million seafarers operated the world’s merchant ships. Air transport carried about 4.5 billion passengers and 223 billion freight tonne-km in 2019, while airfreight represented 35 percent of the value of goods shipped in all transport modes combined. The total number of licensed aviation professionals was 887,000 in 2019. The inland transport modes (road, rail and inland navigation) provided vital links for intra-regional trade.

In the pan-European region they moved 6.15 trillion tonne-km by road, 6.09 trillion tonne-km by rail,

and 654 billion ton-km by inland waterways.

Troubling forecasts

The UN statement highlighted preliminary data and forecasts indicating the severe impacts on economies worldwide as a result of curtailing travel and closing borders, for example: Inland transport may fall by up to 40 percent in 2020 in the pan-European region. Freight transport volumes may reduce by up to a half by the end of 2020 in most parts of Asia. Value of regional exports and imports is expected to contract respectively by 23 percent and 25 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. Total losses in the revenues of airline companies from the Arab region are estimated in 2020 at about $38 billion (some 53 percent of 2019 revenues). African airlines may lose over $6 billion of revenue and the contribution of the industry to the GDP of countries on the continent may drop by $28 billion. And 3.1 million jobs linked to the industry are at risk on the continent. “Ensuring that ships keep moving, ports remain open and cross-border trade continues flowing requires further reforms into digitalization and the dematerialization of processes. Many of our UNCTAD solutions help to achieve this,” said United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) SecretaryGeneral Mukhisa Kituyi.

The statement released on September 17, 2020 was signed by UNCTAD, UnitedNationsEconomicCommission for Europe, International Maritime Organization,InternationalCivilAviation Organization, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.

OurTime BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Prudencio Garcia: ‘Mekeni helps uplift lives by providing livelihood’

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

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EKENI Foods Corp. President Prudencio “Pruds” Garcia was working overseas in 1991 when he received a letter from his father, Felix, urging him to come home.

There was a sense of urgency in his father’s letter, which was sent just after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. His father was emphatic: He wants Garcia to come home and help their suffering Cabalens. An obedient son, Garcia immediately booked a flight home.

“The letter was very strong, and it led to great changes in our lives.

Tatay Felix, our father, reminded us that we wouldn’t be where we are if not for the people in our community.

He told us to use our talents to help our Cabalens. That’s the start of it all for me,” Garcia told the Businessmirror in an e-mail interview.

Coming from humble beginnings, Garcia and his siblings had to work hard for the survival of all members of the family. He said their parents invested their savings and obtained a loan from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to jumpstart their backyard business of processing food. Their parents had big dreams for the children, and the Garcia children did their best to help grow the business.

Felix and wife Medicia taught their children the value of hard work. When Garcia was sent to Manila for his college studies, Felix reminded him about the competitive environment in the city. Felix told his son that he could be better than the others if he would put more work in his endeavors.

“That reminder served me well, and I finished college with flying colors,” Garcia said.

“My younger brothers and our family business also served as my inspiration to remain focused on my studies and life goals,” he added.

Growing up years

DURING their growing up years,

GARCIA

Garcia and his four brothers— Adrian, Lito, Doods and Nards— were taught about the value of education by their parents, who were both public-school teachers. The Garcia matriarch always stressed to her children to prioritize education because it will help them build their future. “However, at the same time, they also showed us that hard work, gratitude, and determination are important values that we should put into practice,” Garcia said.

The Garcia children learned the value of hard work in their younger years. After school, or when they finished doing their projects and assignments, the five boys would help their parents in the small backyard business, doing their own assigned

tasks. Every day, before going to school, the children cleaned the chicken coop and sold eggs to their neighbors. Moreover, they also sold ice candy. “These activities trained us to be responsible, resourceful and become even more hard working,” Garcia said.

“Our parents did everything they could to give us a better life.

Love for family—that is my motivation,” he said.

As educators, Felix and Medicia always had that innate desire to effect a change in their community through quality education. They know that education has an important role as a great equalizer not only for their children but also for their students. They both dedicated their lives in helping shape young minds in their small barangay. “Now, many of their students are successful, partly because of their guidance and influence,” Garcia said.

Garcia also paid tribute to his parents for giving him and his siblings the best education possible, to the extent of using up all their savings to put up a small business that can augment the family’s income.

“Because of their sacrifices, we were able to finish college in Manila; and when we were starting in our respective careers, they encouraged us to share our talents to help our Cabalens, especially after the Mount Pinatubo eruption,” Garcia said.

and trust/honesty as their guiding principles. Felix and Medicia encouraged their children to always be independent, but at the same time, they always reminded them not to forget their roots and to show gratitude to the Lord for the blessings given to the family, and the community that has been patronizing Mekeni since it started.

“Trust and honesty are values we apply at work. Both are very important, especially when dealing with our employees, business partners and customers,” Garcia said.

Garcia said the brothers continue to impart these values to their own children. They also value family time.

Despite their busy schedules, they always find time to have a salo-salo every now and then with all family members. In their business decisionmaking processes, the Garcias make it a point to sit down as one family and decide not only for the welfare of the family, but also for the good of the whole Mekeni family and other families that depend on Mekeni.

“Up to this day, that message of gratitude from our Tatay rings true, and it has been our valuable guide especially when we are facing adversities,” Garcia said.

“This lesson from our father continues to guide us. Because of it, everything we do is always for a bigger purpose,” Garcia said.

Path to growth

WHEN Mount Pinatubo erupted, Garcia said the family realized that Mekeni has a bigger purpose —to help uplift the community by providing livelihood. “Ever since, helping others, especially in times of hardships, has become our mission. In this time of pandemic, we do our best to help others, especially those temporarily or permanently displaced from work,” he said.

Recently, Mekeni partnered with Caritas Manila for the distribution of Mekeni Bayanihan Packs.

The company committed to donate food packs every month until the end of the year. Moreover, it offered livelihood opportunities like its reseller program, which is available to employees and other interested consumers. “We do these amid this pandemic even though there are also internal difficulties because what we need now most is to practice compassion and bayanihan,” Garcia said.

WHEN Mekeni Foods was officially established, Garcia’s younger brothers Doods and Nards helped their parents build the foundation of the business. At that time, Garcia and his other two brothers were building their respective careers abroad. Back then, Mekeni had a lean work force, and Doods and Nards were hands-on running the business: Nards was in charge of sales and marketing, while Doods was involved in production.

The rest of the brothers decided to help grow the business after the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

“Mekeni now has a deeper meaning than just being the family’s source of income. The company’s mission is to uplift the community by providing livelihood to people in the community and outside,” Garcia said.

As far as the values that the children learned from their parents are concerned, they consider hard work, patience, gratitude

‘Bayanihan’ and compassion

New York’s luxury senior-living towers open to Covid-era reality

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Y the end of the year, New York City will get three posh assisted-living towers offering seniors spa treatments, gourmet meals and chauffeured rides along with their daily care.

The projects were built on a bet that a surging population of wealthy elders would pay hefty sums—starting around $13,000 a month in Manhattan—to stay near their grown children, in a vibrant urban center, when they could no longer live alone.

Then Covid-19 upended it all.

The virus, which disproportionately harms the elderly, spread quickly through senior-care facilities across the country. Indoor social events, such as wine tastings and other highlights of assisted living, have become untenable. The adult offspring of potential tenants haven’t yet returned to their Midtown offices and may even have moved to the suburbs. With Broadway shuttered and cultural attractions at minimal capacity, the city’s vigor, and the top rents it helps command, is indefinitely on hold.

“New York really needs to be humming for this to work,” said John Kim, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets who covers Welltower Inc., co-devel-

oper of Sunrise at East 56th, set to open in November. “I think it’s going to be very challenging to lease it up.”

Just before the pandemic, assisted-living facilities in Manhattan reached record occupancy of 96 percent, the result of high demand paired with a 15-year period when not a single new unit was built, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care.

The virus abruptly changed the equation. During the second quarter, when New York was locked down, occupancy fell to 88 percent, the lowest since 2010. A moratorium on move-ins, in the city and nationwide, meant residents who left, passed away or moved into higher levels of care couldn’t be replaced.

“Certainly, it could take a little longer for the area to absorb that new product along with the decline in occupancy that the pandemic had wrought,” said Lana Peck, a senior principal at the Maryland-based nonprofit.

New York’s luxury senior towers, where residents pay completely out of pocket for perks and modern design rivaling the city’s glitziest condo towers, were a new concept in

2016 when the first two ground-up projects were announced. With sales of high-end apartments slackening, and demographics pointing to a “silver tsunami” of aging boomers, developers sensed a new opportunity.

Human connection

“SENIORS deserve to have options and not have senior living be an afterthought,” said Bevin Littlehale, a New York-based managing director at Hines, Welltower’s partner on the East 56th Street project, which will be operated by Sunrise Senior Living.

Opening such a property during a pandemic has its challenges, but assisted living can reduce the isolation that seniors are feeling as the virus keeps visitors away, according to Jenifer Salamino, chief operating officer at Sunrise. Even socially distanced activities provide some human connection, she said.

“We have a full dining staff, housekeeping staff, 24-hour doorman and there will be 24-hour nurses,” Salamino said, adding that some activities, like art projects, can be brought into residents’ rooms.

“When you are home alone, some people don’t even have a home health aide—they are literally alone.”

The partners wouldn’t disclose how many of the building’s 151 apartments have been leased, but said 95 percent of inquiries have been from New Yorkers already living nearby. Monthly rents start at $13,750 for assisted living and $21,000 for memory-care units.

Virus safety

COVID protocols will guide life at the senior towers for the foreseeable future. On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. and Maplewood Senior Living have installed air purifiers and ultraviolet light sanitizers at their tower, called Inspir.

Residents will be screened daily for symptoms, wear masks in common areas, and events, like an improv comedy class or guided tour of the boroughs, will happen online.

The property—promising a bar with signature cocktails, a theater and a Mercedes chauffeur service —is awaiting final approval by the state health department and could open by early November. Deposits have been placed for 75 of the Inspir’s 215 units, said Greg Smith, chief executive officer of Maplewood Senior Living. Bloomberg News

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, October 17, 2020 A7

A lesson in four letters

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

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LASSES in schools all over the country have officially been resumed, albeit virtually. But even those of us who are not in school anymore, the Covid-19 pandemic has a lesson for each of us.

For me, it is the realization that we cannot control the universe. At any moment, something unstoppable can make the business of life stop so unexpectedly for all of us. Suddenly, our lives are disrupted.

The death of so many well-known doctors, educators, professionals at the top of their respective fields, should make us stop and ponder. They had successful careers, education, recognition and money. All that has been taken away in one instance by a virus.

The wealthy are unable to do anything about the “bleeding” of their business empires, and many have lost their jobs and livelihood. Many people are selling their possessions to make it through the pandemic.

We can no longer bring out our luxury cars. We can no longer go to social functions and display our glittering diamonds and expensive watches. We cannot even show our well-groomed faces and well-coiffured hair, covered as they are by face masks and face shields. Leisure travel is still out of the question.

In effect, an uncontrollable force is stripping us all down. A friend tells me that maybe God wants to empty us before He fills us up anew. There is also the famous saying attributed to Buddhist Master Ryutan: “You are like this cup; you are full of ideas. Before I can teach you, you’ll have to empty your cup.”

One vital lesson comes from people who survived Covid, some virtually coming out from the dead.

Their four-letter message for all of us: LIFE. Just to be alive, and to be able to breathe freely again, is the most important gift of all.

Individually and collectively, we’re being challenged to reappreciate the value of life and reframe our perspective on what true living should be.

It is a crisis we should process internally and not squander. Instead of feeling bitter about the restrictions being imposed on us, shift your perspective on another level: The long lockdown isn’t about painful deprivation. It’s about freedom from that unsatisfying cycle of desire. Enough of bragging, enough of showing off, enough of acts of vanity. Enough of the past lifestyle that left you still unsatisfied, whether you admit it or not.

What’s the use of bragging and showing off when at any moment, Covid can make it all useless and meaningless?

Consider living life on a simpler, more practical scale. Is there really a difference between a Toyota Vios and a Toyota Fortuner? Both will take you through the same roads to the same destination. Can a million peso Rolex tell you the time better than an inexpensive Timex watch?

Prices are not the same as values.

What we need to do is know what we really should value that would make us truly happy and fulfilled.

This quarantine is saying that it’s time to reconnect with life’s essence, put quality over quantity. It’s about valuing things that make us happy instead of chasing status symbols or societal expectations. It means living a simpler and more purposeful life, driven by what’s most important to you—not by material possessions or status. Marianne Williamson, author of spiritual books, says: “The realization of our own mortality creates a sense of urgency to use life wisely, to appreciate it fully, to love more deeply while we’re still here and we still can.” LOVE—that’s another

four-letter word to reflect on.

Try to unclutter your life of nonessential possessions. The more things you own, the more responsibilities you have, the more you need to service your ego, and the less freedom you enjoy.

As someone said: “Have nothing in your life that you do not know to be meaningful and useful or believe to be beautiful.” Indeed, happy are the poor in spirit, for they are not wanting of anything. For as the poet Gary Snyder puts it: True affluence is not needing anything.

Life is now telling us that the emphasis should be on gratitude and being happy that you still wake up each morning alive and well. Let’s be contented withwhatwe’vegot.Let’sstartstripping away the nonessential and focusing our time and energy on the things and the people who matter the most.

Rather than pursuing material riches, start to focus on things that will enrich your life. Ask yourself: How can I live my life to its fullest?

For a start, do more of what makes you happy. What really makes your heart sing? What lights you up?

Whatever you love to do, do it more often. What can you drop from your to-do list to allow yourself to tune into your internal joy?

To enrich your life, bring the arts into your daily life. This is something you expect from someone who has an avid interest in artistic pursuits like me.

But art is like a boat that helps take us away from the superficial shores and bring us towards deeper waters. This is where we can get more meaningful catch in abundance to feed our spirits.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life,” said Pablo Picasso. It turns out there’s a lot happening in our minds and bodies when we experience works of art. Girija Kaimal, a college professor and a researcher in art therapy, makes this observation: “Anything that engages your creative mind—the ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagine new ways to communicate—is good for you.”

Going even deeper, art helps nourish our spiritual life. Paintings, music, literature are a major source of spiritual nourishment. All art forms contribute to our spiritual wealth and development. Spiritual does not have to mean religious, although it might; but I would include any piece of music or writing, a photo or a painting, capable of releasing something profoundly emotional—some deep sadness, perhaps, or great joy.

When you are entranced, delighted, and awestruck for the entire duration of a movie or a symphony and do not want it to end, you are not simply enjoying moments of pleasure; you are having a spiritual experience.

And when your inner spirit is moved, you will not entirely be the same person afterwards. The eye of the artist in the service of truth and beauty has been able to expand and uplift your senses beyond your usual predisposition to settle for lesser things. You have become transformed.

So, to be able to transform and enrich your inner life, open yourself to the world of art. Immerse yourself in it. Live the creative life.

But first, empty your cup of nonessentials. Then it would be ready to be filled anew with the wisdom that lets you refocus on where true happiness lies.

To recap, let me just put here something I picked up from the net: “Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy so they know the value of things, not the price.” Let this guide your decisions and actions for the rest of your life.

Education BusinessMirror

A8 Saturday, October 17, 2020

N. Ecija students to represent PHL in Asean DSE finals

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WO college students from Central Luzon will represent the Philippines in the Asean Data Science Explorers (DSE) 2020’s Regional Finals in November, with their project focused on waste management.

Jairus Cairo Libunao and Alleah Eunice Tuliao of Team Incognito from Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology earned the privilege of being the country’s bet for the prestigious competition abroad, after their tandem was declared champion in the recent virtual national finals streamed live via Facebook.

“Our journey in this competition was beyond our expectations….Until now, the thought of being the national winner hasn’t sunk in yet,” Libunao said. “Going into the national finals was really nerve-wracking and, at the same time, exciting!”

The duo recalled the challenges they had to face in joining the competition. Though initially they were not aware about data science, the two said it was fortunate their college held a training on performing data analysis.

“That started it all! From there, we came up with a storyboard on waste management, because we noticed there’s a loophole in our current…system,” Tuliao explained. “We thought, [if we won’t

act on] this now, it will continue to cause fatal consequences to us and the environment.”

Data insight-driven

TEAM Incognito was judged based on its ability to design a best, all-rounded concept that tackles Asean socioeconomic issues, driven by data insights.

The judging criteria looked at the creativity, feasibility, innovation, and the team’s capability to demonstrate the solution's implementation.

Emerging as first runner-up was Team Gugma, composed of Kyle Anne Villariza and Genesis Daquinan from the University of the Philippines-Visayas, with their project designed to tackle the overexploitation issue of the Asean fisheries.

With their entry on “neural community,” Team Board Men made up of Gabriel Carlo Gamulo and John Michel Lee from Ateneo de Manila University finished as second runner-up.

“Now more than ever, we need the youth’s creativity and innova-

tiveness in finding solutions and ways to solve emerging problems that our region and the world are facing,” National Youth Commission Commissioner-at-Large Paul Anthony Pangilinan stated. “Their participation is paramount, especially in our recovery from this pandemic and in pushing forward our collective vision of a more resilient and sustainable future for all.”

Initiated by the Asean Foundation and SAP, Asean DSE is a regional program that aims to catalyze activism and critical thinking among university students in the region.

“Together with the Asean Foundation, we at SAP strongly encourage the youth to use their newly learned skills from SAP Analytics Cloud to create sustainable innovations for current social and economic issues,” said SAP Philippines Managing Director Edler Panlilio. “[They] should utilize these skills for their self-development.”

Panlilio added: “Digital skills are more relevant now in the middle of our current pandemic situation, and as we look towards recovery. We are pleased to see that youths in Asean can make a difference in that goal and improve people’s lives.”

SDG-based

SINCE its inception in 2017, Asean DSE has empowered more than 16,259 students, as well as 1,420 lecturers from 370 highereducation institutes in the region with data analytics skills. It engages youth from the bloc to de-

velop data-driven solutions that highlight six Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, namely: good health and well-being; quality education, gender equality; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovation and infrastructure; and sustainable cities and communities by harnessing SAP’s Analytics Cloud software.

Amid the pandemic, Asean DSE continues to draw interest from the youth sector and remains in its endeavor to upskill and equip the young populace with essential digital age skills. A total of 852 youths across the region competed to represent their countries in the respective national finals, with 4,563 students and lecturers trained in SAP Analytics Cloud in 2020.

“Asean DSE is the embodiment of our commitment with SAP to empower youth in the region with future-ready skills that will allow them to thrive and become globally competitive during this difficult period, and in the years to come,” said Asean Foundation Executive Director Dr. Yang Mee Eng. “We are [elated] to see so many innovative data-driven proposals presented by all national finalists.”

Yang further stated: “It is a testament to what our youths can do when exposed to and equipped with relevant digital skills and provided with an immersive platform to showcase their talents. We believe that our [young people] can create impactful solutions for the community to prosper, given the opportunity.”

Roderick L. Abad

Canada OKs ₧68M in peace, education funding

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HE government of Canada recently announced the approval of CAD$1.9 million (about P68 million) for the implementation of the “1001 Nights Civic and Peace Education Program” in the Philippines at the recently concluded Asean Ministerial Conference.

Said project will provide training and educational support to 100,000 children and 3,500 teachers in 100 schools across the country. It will be delivered by Vancouver-based Big Bad Boo Studios Inc., in partnership with the Education Department. The world-leading Canadian animation company works closely with a Philippine studio in Manila.

“Canada is honored to be part of efforts by the Department of Education [in further promoting] the teaching of life skills and civic values to Filipino grade-school children,” Ambassador of Canada to the Philippines Peter MacArthur said. “This is especially important today, as governments and parents around the world seek to ad-

FILIPINO students excited to learn from the 1001 Nights program EMBASSY OF CANADA

1st virtual summit for kids, by kids, on Oct. 17

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ANDEMIC or no pandemic, the European Union (EU) Delegation to the Philippines is steadfast in its resolve to uphold and protect the rights of every child, as it will conduct its first virtual edition of the Children’s Rights Summit “Para sa Kabataan, Mula sa Kabataan: Isang Pagtitipon Para sa Karapatan” today, October 17, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, to be streamed live through its Facebook page.

Youth advocates Frankie Pangilinan, Macoy Averilla (a.k.a. Macoy Dubs) and Atty. Maria Jela M. Moran are guest speakers for the engagement.

Copresented by the Ateneo Human Rights Center and the Commission on Human Rights’ Child Rights Center, the event will highlight children’s invaluable rights amid the new normal focusing on four basic rights: survival, protection, participation

and development.

EU Delegation to the Philippines Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Thomas Wiersing said, “We want to provide a platform for children to learn about their basic rights, and to advocate for their own rights.”

The concept behind the summit has been to train children and the youth, so they can train their peers in return. A two-day training session was held on October 10 and 11, which saw the orientation of nominated youth leaders aged 15 to 18 years old on facilitating discussions and breakout sessions for the summit proper.

The delegation previously held on-site children’s rights summits in 2018 and in 2019.

Guided by the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, the EU recognizes that children, including those less than 18 years old, are important members of society who must be provided healthy physical and emotional environments as they grow up. The EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantees the protection of the rights of the child.

dress education for the next generation in the middle of a pandemic.”

The program promotes the adoption of life skills and civic values among 6-to-12-yearolds—including nonviolence, human rights, democracy, gender equality, and the rule of law. MacArthur explained: “Through the project, we hope and trust that Filipino children will develop an increased understanding of... diversity, inclusion, tolerance, nondiscrimination and empathy [as] smart life choices leading to greater harmony and happiness.”

1001 Nights...is a multi-platform educational entertainment program that uses cartoons to teach children life skills and civic values in formal and informal learning environments. The program is based on a popular and award-winning animated television series 1001 Nights, which has aired as commercial entertainment on premier television networks in more than 70 countries to a global audience of more than 100 million people.

Editor: Mike Policarpio

Globe eModules guide educators, learners on responsible ‘netiquette’

GLOBE’s eModules’ five lessons now accessible

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ECOGNIZING the importance of keeping students safe from online risks while learning and having fun, Globe recently launched the first of a series of eModules designed to promote proper online behavior among the youth.

The Digital Insight eModules tackle the Internet landscape in the Philippines, while underlining imminent threats and risks such as cyber attacks and identity theft which digital technology users are exposed to, and in ways the youth can be protected against them.

Said eModules are an offshoot of Globe’s Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) workshops launched in 2016 to educate students on digital citizenship and responsible use of technology. DTP was eventually integrated by the Department of Education (DepEd) in the K-12 curriculum to bolster existing modules around digital literacy.

With the current pandemic discouraging face-to-face interactions in schools, the Ayala-led telco saw the need to convert traditional DTP workshop modules into bite-sized instructional materials that are easily accessible online to reach more educators, parents and students, as well as further enrich the DTP content to make it more applicable under the new normal.

The eModules are being created in partnership with DepEd, Plan International Phils. and Unicef ’s SaferKidsPH. “As young people spend more time online, they are now more vulnerable to online threats, which include online abuse, exploitation and identity theft,” Globe Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications Yoly Crisanto said.

“[Being] an enabler of #OneDigitalNation, we help the youth and online netizens increase awareness on online threats to make their online experience safe and secure.”

“Educating our netizens is especially crucial at this time when Filipinos are expected to increase their Internet usage. We hope to see more responsible digital citizens,” Crisanto added.

There are currently five lessons under the Digital Insight eModules: Internet addiction, digital safety, antipiracy, creating more secure accounts and understanding terms and conditions, as well as cyber bullying.

T he lessons are presented through short, 3- to-5-minute shareable videos that are easy for the youth to understand on their own. They are available at Globe DTP and the DepEd Commons web sites, as well as the Globe Bridging Communities Facebook Page.

Globe has also converted the lessons into one Virtual Reality video to give students a more immersive learning experience.

The eModules may also be used by teachers as part of their values education subjects, or by parents to enable them to guide their children in identifying, addressing, and avoiding the dangers present in the digital space. Succeeding eModules will be released in the coming weeks.

Globe continues to help the local education sector through connectivity and learning tools and materials. The company is committed to support 10 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG No. 4 on Quality Education, and SDG No. 17 on Sustaining Partnerships and Goals.

Mapúa eases enrollment process

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OGNIZANT of the times and in its effort to be more enabling during this pandemic, Mapúa is easing the admission process for students who wish to attend the university for their senior high school and college education.

Instead of its Mapúa Scholastic Aptitude Exam admissions test, incoming senior high school and college students will take the Mapúa Program Placement Assessment (MPASS), the university’s standardized assessment tool that measures the students’ cognitive and academic development to identify the academic strand or college program suitable for them.

Unlike previous “pass” or “fail” entrance exam results, the MPASS determines programs that match a student’s academic profile. It serves as automatic admission for students based on their assessment scores. Thus, with MPASS, all applicants are given the opportunity to get a Mapúa education.

“With this change in Mapúa’s admissions process for the next

academic year, we are taking out some steps that some may find as obstacles during this time of difficulty and adjustment,” Dr. Dionisia M. Lanuza, Mapúa’s dean of Admissions and Scholarships, said.

“The university would like all applicants to get a fair opportunity for education.”

Student-applicants may apply online via www.Mapúa.edu.ph/ ApplyNow.aspx, where the full admissions process—from the filing of application to enrollment—can be performed.

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Saturday, October 17, 2020 A9

There’s nature’s beauty beyond Melbourne

Loch Ard Gorge is known for its coastal wilderness and rich maritime history.

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Story & photos by Benjamin Locsin Layug

on’t get me wrong, Melbourne is a great city but a big part of Melbourne’s appeal lies in the fact that so much natural beauty lies a mere day-trip away. That being said, we took time to explore some of Victoria State’s jaw-dropping, mind-blowingly beautiful nature spots, diverse natural landscapes and iconic wildlife.

Our second whole day in Melbourne was to be spent on a DIY half-day tour of the 225-hectare Werribee Open Range Zoo, an African-themed zoo about 32 -kilometer southwest of Melbourne.

The highlight of our visit here was our unique 35- to 40-minute safari

bus tour that took us out into the 45- hectare open savanna section of the zoo. This is where we could find the hippo, the grassland animals such as the bison, zebra, waterbuck, giraffe, ostrich, eland, antelope and rhinoceros, as well as the camel and the scimitar-

CAPE Otway Lighthouse is the oldest working lightstation in southern Victoria.

horned oryx.

The next day, we availed of a Go West Philip Island Day Tour for us. The tour first took us to trendy Brighton Beach along Port Phillip Bay where we visited the iconic Brighton Bathing Boxes, a row of 82 distinctive, multicolored and uniformly proportioned wooden beach huts which were built more than a century ago. Then, it was on the 10-hectare Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park, crossing over to Phillip Island via the 640-meter long San Remo Bridge.

At the park, we had a great deal of fun hand feeding and petting the adorable, freely roaming kangaroos and wallabies, doing selfies with them, as well as seeing colorful birds in aviaries and other Australian animals.

Next was the 900-meter long The Colonnades (also called Ocean Reach Beach), an exposed, high energy beach used by surfers and fishers (but not suitable for safe bathing). One of the most Insta-

grammable places on Phillip Island, here we admired the columnar basalt, unusual rock formation resembling organ pipes on the tall cliffs that gives The Colonnades its name. We also dropped by the Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre, a network of boardwalks that allows visitors to view The Nobbies, the fur seal colony, and The Blowhole.

This is where I went for “The Antarctic Journey,” the world’s first interactive virtual reality Antarctic experience; toured Cowes (Phillip Island’s largest town) and its jetty and, finally, the Penguin Parade Visitor Center to see Australia’s largest colony of friendly, frolicking fairy penguins. In their natural habitat at Summerland Beach, the iconic Penguin Parade is one of Australia’s most popular tourist attractions. After the sun went down, the penguins made their way to their burrows in the sand dunes after a day out fishing in the ocean.

The best was yet to come as,

More than century-old Brighton Bathing Boxes

The iconic 12 Apostles

on our sixth and penultimate day in Melbourne, we explored a bit more of Victoria’s stunning coastal scenery via a full-day tour of the famous Great Ocean Road which hugs about 150 miles of the Victorian coast. Living up to its lofty name, we discovered some of Australia’s most photographed landscapes.

Our tour began with morning tea and coffee in the quaint surf town of Anglese as we made a stopover at the Memorial Arch, the gateway to the Great Ocean Road, and then another for lunch while overlooking the dramatic Apollo Bay. After lunch, our tour continued on the Cape Otway Light Station where we ascended the spiral staircase to enjoy amazing views from the top of the lighthouse.

Back on the bus, we again made a stopover to check out a wild koala poking its head through the gum trees. Then, we finally made it to the majestic and iconic 12 Apostles (there are actually only

eight), arguably Victoria’s most famous natural landmark, which were created by over 10 million years of constant erosion of the coastal mainland by the stormy Southern Ocean. From the various lookouts linked by coastal timber boardwalks around the cliff tops, we strolled and paused for photo opportunities and awe-inspiring views of these craggy limestone sea stacks which are a physical testament to the power and beauty of nature, as well as the inescapable truth that all things must change.

This natural wonder erodes at a rate of roughly three-quarters of an inch per year.

A few minutes down the road is Loch Ard Gorge, another highlight of our Great Ocean Road tour, where we visited the beach and appreciated the scale of the limestone cliffs. As we still had time, we also visited Gibson’s Steps which were carved into the limestone cliff during the 19th century to provide access to the beach below.

Feeding a wallaby at Moonlit Sanctuary.

Airasia.com is the Asean super app for everyone a

irasia.com today revea led its brand-new identity online as Asean’s super app, completing AirAsia’s transformation from a digital airline into a comprehensive lifestyle platform for everyone.

Marking a new era for AirAsia Group, the airasia.com Asean super app provides a simpler, faster and more convenient user experience with over 15 types of products and services under three main pillars, which are travel, e-commerce and fintech.

To celebrate the milestone, airasia.com is introducing the

first-ever airasia.com Super Sale that will now supersede our hugely popular legacy, Red Hot Sale. The biggest sales in the region began on October 12 (10 a.m, GMT +8) and will conclude on October 18, 2020 with storewide discounts of up to 50 percent across all product offerings on airasia.com super app and the airasia.com site.

Karen Chan, CEO of airasia. com said: “The launch of airasia. com super app is a testimony of airasia’s continuous innovation culture and our drive to deliver value to our customers. In this

new era of post-Covid-19, we do understand customers’ need for travel flexibility and therefore launched the uniquely innovative AirAsia Unlimited Pass, a buy-now-fly-later model which has now become a blueprint and trendsetter for other carriers. We understand customers’ pent-up desire to travel, so we launched SNAP, our best-price guaranteed flight and hotel bundle. We understand consumers’ want to shop in the comfort of their own home, so we offered home delivery for duty free, fresh food and meals.

“Airasia.com is not only about connecting people to destinations, more than that it’s about connecting people to people, creating communities among like-minded travelers, sharing best-eats tips and fostering social-based commerce. Our super app now offers a seamless user experience enabling customers to pay with BIG Points across our diverse range of products through a one-click checkout.”

Ricky Isla, airasia.com Philippines CEO said, “Our enhanced digital platform brings forth a unique offering for the Philip-

pine market at a time when industries are shifting and being shaped by the current health situation. We continue to innovate to expand our amazing product offerings and experiences to not just our guests but customers.”

As part of the airasia.com Super Sale, customers can look forward to countless amazing deals—there’s something for everyone. Enjoy 70-percent off on flights and up to 50-percent off on hotels for SNAP (flight+hotel) combo (starting from P1,914 per person for return flight and

3D2N stay); 50-percent off on all seats, all Z2 flights (airasia.com Philippines) and 10-percent off flights of other airlines to over 3,000 destinations worldwide; up to 30-percent off on activities and tours; and up to 20-percent off on hotels.

Users can also earn twice as much BIG Points during the airasia.com Super Sale period, and pay using BIG Points for their purchases made on airasia.com.

Now, everyone can travel, experience, shop, eat, enjoy rewards and more with the new airasia.com super app.

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, October 17, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Appliances for our current needs

Apple unveils new iPhones for faster 5G wireless networks

BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE & TALI ARBEL The Associated Press

S

HORTAGES have hit all kinds of major appliances in the US. I read somewhere that this woman has to wait two months for her new refrigerator and her old one is broken and can’t be repaired anymore. It’s that bad. It appears that the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on appliance supply and demand.

A local home retailer has announced that 40 percent of its sales for the second quarter has been attributed to appliances. Staying home for nearly most of the year has made us look at our home appliances and see which ones need to be replaced and/or upgraded.

The Covid-19 pandemic crisis has indeed brought changes to the way we live. In terms of doing laundry, most of us have had to do it ourselves as laundromats and self-service laundry establishments are now closed, so people are thinking of purchasing their own washing machines or have already bought one.

If you are still looking to buy a washing machine, consider one from Beko, Europe’s No. 1 appliance brand. Beko Pilipinas is an advocate for healthy living through the technologies in their appliances. These advanced features are designed to improve efficiency and optimize time, cost and energy.

Beko’s WCV10746M model in Manhattan Grey is a frontload washing machine with the energy-efficient ProSmart Inverter Motor and 15 wash programs. It also has time-efficiency features that will not let you sacrifice the quality of cleanliness you want and need.

Using the WCV10746M washing machine helps save energy and improves your time efficiency and management with features not seen in the usual washers in the market. For example, you can use the washing machine’s different programs to determine the length of time that the clothes will be washed.

The Daily Xpress program intensively washes a full 10kg load of laundry in 28 minutes. However, the Xpress Super Short program offers a quick wash to a 2 kilogram load in only 14 minutes. This is enough for those who don’t go out of the house and whose clothing are only lightly soiled.

The OptiSense technology will save you from guesswork because it uses smart sensors to automatically pick the right program and washing time of clothes while the Aqua Paddle technology massages the clothing in a gentle wave-like manner through a set of paddles in the system.

This technology makes sure that the antibacterial properties of the laundry detergent you are using are administered in all parts of the fabric while saving energy at the same time.

Meanwhile, the StainExpert program gets rid of 24 different kinds of stains so you won’t have to pre-treat any stain.

The Beko WCV10746M washing machine is easy to use after powering on and loading so you can do other things like reply to messages or vacuum the floor while the machine cleans the dirty clothes.

Beko appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines, cookers and range hoods, are available at SM Appliance Centers, AllHome, Robinsons Appliances and Anson’s. You can also check out their their Facebook page at Beko Philippines.

Beko was recently in the news with the announcement that it launched Hygiene Shield, a ground-breaking portfolio of household products “created in response to emerging consumer needs in the post-lockdown era,” the company said in a press release.

The Hygiene Shield product line, which has seven appliances, can kill over 99 percent of bacteria and viruses, including the coronavirus. The line is inspired by nature and uses steam and heat to enable consumers to address people’s hygiene concerns.

I’m very interested in the UV Cleaning Cabinet and the HygieneShield dishwasher. I think that even after this lockdown, people will remain vigilant about hygiene so I expect all seven products from Beko to do really well.

STRAY KIDS MEMBERS ON KMUNNITY PH LIVE

Globe Kmmunity PH’s VLive channel continues to provide exclusive events, experiences and content for Korean entertainment fans.

The new, called Kmmunity PH LIVE, successfully kicked off with a virtual fan meet with the cast members of popular variety show Running Man. The

event got more than 12 million hearts and 96,000 plays on VLive. By the way, those who missed it or just want to rewatch can view the event at glbe.co/ KmmunityPHVLIVE. Today’s event at 8pm features Lee Know, HyunJin, Felix, Seungmin and I.N of boy group Stray Kids.

Watch them share the latest updates about the group and their projects, answer questions sent by fans, and play fun games and challenges later today exclusively on Kmmunity PH’s VLive Channel. In case you’re wondering why Stray Kids won’t be complete for the event, the other members have pre-booked schedules.

Stray Kids officially debuted in 2018 with the release of their EP, titled I Am Not, along with the music video of the title track. They were supposed to continue their “District 9: Unlock” 2020 world tour this year with a Manila stop, but we all know how the pandemic basically put a halt to any form of live entertainment at least until late next year.

Stray Kids are producer-idols. This means the members are in charge of their discography, starting from song production to songwriting. Through their lyrics, Stray Kids talk about the struggles and challenges experienced by people everyday.

If you want to win an Ultimate Stan Experience with Lee Know, HyunJin, Felix, Seungmin and I.N of Stray Kids and get exclusive perks like live interaction and screen capture time with the members, join the Kmmunity PH Facebook group at glbe.co/KmmunityPH. ■

Cutting-edge intelligent parking system unveiled PRETTY soon, parking horror stories may become a thing of the past. Ayala Malls has found a way to make the mall experience better and safer with the Intelligent Parking System, the first and most advanced parking system in the country. Equipped with the latest technology, you no longer need to worry about misplacing parking cards, forgetting where you left your car, and over-thinking if your vehicle is safe within the basement premises.

Modeled after the technology used in the world-class Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport, the Ayala Malls Intelligent Parking System is smart, safe, convenient and, most importantly, contactless. Already introduced at Ayala Malls Manila Bay, the biggest Ayala Mall in the country

to date, the Intelligent Parking System was developed by NEXPA System Co., Ltd., a Koreabased industry leader that specializes in smart parking and is made available here in Manila through Ubitechnology. The innovative Intelligent Parking System makes customers’ mall visits more convenient and hassle-free with its three main features: Cardless and Digital Wallet Options, Find My Car, and Real-Time Monitoring.

More features will be rolled out in the near future, especially with the launch of Zing, Ayala Malls’ fully digital loyalty program and mobile app which aims to delight the customers through a totally differentiated shopping experience.

The app will make the parking experience even smoother, as shoppers can find available parking

www.businessmirror.com.ph

spots and pay for them in advance through their smartphones. The technology behind the Intelligent Parking System has benefited several establishments all over the world, from Southeast Asia to Australia to Saudi Arabia.

“Ayala Malls believes in the power of technology to help Filipinos adjust to the new normal with safety and in relative comfort,” says Ayala Malls President Jennylle Tupaz. “As they make their essential trips to the mall, we hope that they find their Ayala Malls experience safer and more convenient with the cardless and contactless ease that the Intelligent Parking System brings.”

More information is available at bit. ly/34TDRuM.

APPLE unveiled four new iPhones equipped with technology for use with faster new 5G wireless networks, hoping that demand for higher data speeds will spark demand for new phones. That might not happen as quickly as Apple would like.

In a virtual presentation Tuesday, the company announced four 5G-enabled versions of the new iPhone 12 ranging in price from almost $700 to roughly $1,100. Apple also announced a new, less expensive version of its HomePod smart speaker.

Smartphone sales have been slowing for years as their technology has matured. That has meant far fewer gotta-have-it innovations that can drive demand and, at least until recently, increasingly pricey phones. Add to that pandemic-related economic crisis, and consumers have tended to eke as much life as possible out of their existing phones.

Apple, however, is clearly betting that 5G speeds could push many users off the fence. At its event, the company boasted about 5G capabilities and brought in Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg to champion the carrier’s network. 5G is supposed to mean much faster speeds, making it quicker to download movies or games, for instance. But finding those speeds can be a challenge. While telecom operators have been rolling out 5G networks, significant boosts in speed are still uncommon in much of the world, including the US. So far, there are no popular new consumer applications that require 5G. Updates in the new phones mostly amount to “incremental improvements” over predecessor iPhones, technology analyst Patrick Moorhead said, referring to 5G capabilities and camera upgrades on higher-end phones. But he suggested that if carriers build out their 5G networks fast enough, it could launch a “supercycle” in which large numbers of people switch to 5G phones.

That might be a big if. Mobile expert Carolina Milanesi of the firm Creative Strategies said economic pain caused by the global pandemic and accompanying job losses could easily restrain that buying impulse. Apple’s new models include the iPhone 12, which features a 6.1-inch display and starts at almost $800, and the iPhone 12 Mini, with a 5.4inch display at almost $700. A higher-end iPhone 12 Pro with more powerful cameras will begin at roughly $1,000; the 12 Pro Max, with a 6.7-inch display, will set buyers back at least $1,100. Apple said the phones should be more durable.

In a move that may annoy some consumers, Apple will no longer include charging adapters with new phones. It says that will mean smaller, lighter boxes that are more environmentally friendly to ship. Apple, however, separately sells power adapters that cost about $20 and $50, depending on how fast they charge phones. The iPhone models unveiled Tuesday will launch at different times. The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro will be available starting October 23; the Mini and the Pro Max will follow on November 13.

That compresses Apple’s window for building up excitement heading into the key holiday season.

Although other parts of Apple’s business are now growing more rapidly, the iPhone remains the biggest business of a technology juggernaut currently worth about $2 trillion, nearly double its value when stay-at-home orders imposed in the US in mid-March plunged the economy into a deep recession.

The pandemic temporarily paralyzed Apple’s overseas factories and key suppliers, leading to a delay of the latest iPhones from their usual late September rollout. The company also closed many of its US stores for months because of the pandemic, depriving Apple of a prime showcase for its products.

Apple on Tuesday also said it was shrinking the size and price of its HomePod speaker to catch up to Amazon and Google in the market for Internetconnected speakers, where it has barely made a dent.

Both Amazon and Google are trying to position their speakers, the Echo and the Nest, as low-cost command centers for helping people manage their homes and lives. They cost as little as $50, while the HomePod costs almost $300.

The new HomePod Mini will cost almost $100. It will integrate Apple’s own music service, of course, with Pandora and Amazon’s music service in “coming months.” Apple didn’t mention music-streaming giant Spotify. It will be available for sale November 6 and start shipping the week of November 16.

The research firm eMarketer estimates about 58 million people in the US use an Amazon Echo while 26.5 million use a Google Nest speaker. Roughtly 15 million use a HomePod or speakers sold by other manufactures, including Sonos and Harman Kardon.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Saturday, October 17, 2020 A11

Realizations from Covid-19

South African firm introduces AI-powered solution to fight Covid-19

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-based UC-Wireless (Pty) Ltd. recently introduced in the Philippine market InstantVitals which the company described as “a unique mix of signal processing and AI technology that measures three key early-detection vital signs with medical grade accuracy.”

To boost its presence in the local market, UCWireless partnered with Filipino-owned tech company Radenta Technologies as its partner and distributor.

According to UC-Wireless, InstantVitals is the world’s first smart mobile-based app that provides advanced health-care risk assessment and Covid-19 screening for institutional and personal use.

UC-Wireless said InstantVitals is equipped with an embedded Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can measure oxygen saturation, resting heart rate and respiratory rate in approximately 20 to 50 seconds with a 98 percent accuracy.

The known critical early warning signs of Covid-19 include a reduction in oxygen saturation (below 95 percent) and/or a high resting heart rate (above 100 beats per minute), or an increase in respiratory rate (above 20 breaths per minute) in a resting person. The company said the entry of InstantVitals will boost the testing capacity of the country as latest studies show that temperature reading alone is ineffective in detecting a possible infection.

As an open system, Radenta Technologies said InstantVitals can be deployed on any user regardless of age, gender and skin color. “It runs like any other app on a mobile phone or tablet. The app calculates a risk status from the vital signs and the answers to the screening questions, which are encrypted and stored in its secure cloud service,” Radenta Technologies explained.

InstantVitals generates a unique encrypted QR code for each person’s device for screening. When the QR code is scanned, and the symptom questionnaire is completed, the vital signs are measured. The information captured is kept private. Companies using InstantVitals for their business can see risk status reporting on their InstantVitals dashboard.

The risk status of screened individuals is flagged as green for healthy; amber for caution (vital signs and symptoms are not normal but not high risk); red to mean one or more vital signs and symptoms are indicating a risk which should be referred for medical attention or diagnosis; and extreme red to mean a critical status so urgent medical treatment should be sought by the individual. Those whose risk results are red or critical status should be referred for Covid-19 testing.

The app can be made compliant for mass QR code scanning by individuals who are screened at home. It also enables screening for visitors and staff without phones at corporate offices, restaurants, retail stores, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, public transport facilities, schools, universities, airports, industrial sites and other places.

UC-Wireless (Pty) Ltd. developed InstantVitals in collaboration with medical doctors, engineers, professors and tech experts.

T

HE other day, I went to the mall to get a haircut from one of those popular salons. It was only my second in eight months. Before the pandemic, the place was always packed with customers, and you had to make an appointment or wait for an hour. Now, there were only five of us—including the three staff members. While being shampooed, I asked the receptionist/cashier and now hair assistant how they were doing, and she told me they couldn’t even make the rent of P300,000. The mall, she said, did give them a few discounts on other fees, but they still had to “cut” half of their staff to remain open.

I never thought going to the mall would make me feel sad.

As the country continues to battle the impact of Covid-19, brands and companies across various industries have been trying their best to try to jumpstart our economy.

One such attempt was the recently launched “Ingat Angat Tayong Lahat” campaign. The campaign seeks to send a message of resilience, hope and inspiration to boost businesses to continue to increase operations while ensuring strict safety standards, and to encourage Filipinos to once again enjoy activities outside the confines of their homes.

It is part of the private sector’s support for Taskforce T3 (Test, Trace, Treat), the multi-sector initiative put together in April 2020 to work closely with the Department of Health (DOH), the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19, and the InterAgency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to manage the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. With the reopening of the economy, the group realized the importance of rebuilding consumer confidence with health and safety still a priority.

It’s been one of the toughest years for businesses, save for some sectors like telco, logistics and ondemand deliveries that have become essential in this Covid-19 pandemic. Its effect cannot be denied, with many resorting to retrenchment and imposing pay cuts, or, worse, closing shop and declaring bankruptcy.

Yet to survive, many Filipinos have risked their savings to put up small businesses and go online, from baked treats to ready-to-eat dishes, selling fashionable face masks and face shields, or just about any other item to make ends meet. While the future remains uncertain until there’s a vaccine, we can always take steps to prepare today so we can worry less tomorrow. Covid-19 has affected our lives in

different ways but the lessons we have learned from it are essentially the same.

Health is indeed wealth: our health is our best asset—both physically and financially. Pandemic or not, protecting your health always comes first. And having good health and being in shape give you more energy to work hard for your family while pursuing your passions. Staying healthy will save you a lot of money too. After all, getting sick is not cheap. You have to pay for medicines, treatment, and confinement. The cost for Covid-19 treatment can reach millions, and so do other critical illnesses like cancer, heart attack, renal failure, or stroke. This might be a good time to consider protection plans like FWD Insurance’s Set for Health, which ensures that you have the money you need to pay for any medical bills. It allows you to claim up to three times against major critical illnesses—and if you remain healthy by 75 years old, you’ll get your money back.

It’s a good idea to have a rainy-day fund to cover expenses in case of emergencies.

This is all the more relevant today during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the saying goes: hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Financial planning is important, especially if you’re the breadwinner. Life insurance plans like FWD’s Set for Tomorrow make sure that your family has the financial means to go on, protecting them from unpaid loans and sudden income loss due to death. OFWs who work abroad get additional protection, too.

Covid-19 is a call for preparedness for everyone.

The pandemic took us by surprise, but we have learned some valuable lessons. Now that we know better, we can prepare better—physically, mentally and financially.

HEY, MR. DJ: JBL CLUB SERIES ZOOM mornings, Netflix nights.

If you’re like me who’s been spending even more time working on the computer at home, you know how important it is to invest on the gadgets you use; and its always a good idea to get one you could use both for work and play.

Last month, JBL launched its first headphone series inspired by touring musicians. Equipped with legendary JBL Pro Sound, Personi-Fi and native voice assistants, the JBL Club series—Club ONE, Club 950NC and Club 700BT—marries stage-ready performance with advanced features designed for everyday use.

The JBL Club 950NC is the mid-range entry offering a wide range of features, including active noise cancellation, Ambient Aware and TalkThru modes and EQ customization. With True Adaptive Noise Cancellation technology, environmental sound is monitored 50,000 times per second and adapted

to the perfect level of noise cancellation for the user’s environment. The technology also compensates for sound leakage caused by factors, such as eyeglasses, hair or head movement.

The package is standard but you can definitely feel the build quality of the headphones once you put them on. The earcup stems have metal hinges that allow the headphones to fold inwards and upwards, and the plastic has a matte finish and the texture exudes quality. My only gripe is that the headphones are a bit on the heavy side.

Sound quality is quite good and if you love bass, the JBL Club 950NC delivers a pleasurable combination of detail, bass and separation. The same can be said for call quality, as JBL uses a dual-mic configuration to help deliver clearer voices. I’ve used this for my Zoom calls and not once did the person at the other end complain about clarity. It also does a great job of dealing with sounds like the noise from your fan or aircon.

The JBL Club 950NC offer a reliable 55 hours of playback (22 hours with ANC on) and a 15-minute charge should get you about two hours of play time.

Fully charging the device takes about two hours.

I like the JBL Club 950NC for its solid, punchy bass and good noise-cancelling, long battery life and overall sound quality. It’s a good option if you are looking for a pair of headphones with great build quality and a lot of bass. ■

For better work-home online experience AS working, learning, doing business and enjoying entertainment have mostly shifted online, now more than ever, having a fast and reliable home Internet connection is a necessity and a practical investment.

A dependable connection ensures that the whole family can recreate their world right at home.

Globe at Home Prepaid Wifi introduces its new and leveled-up HomeSURF599+ and 1499+ promos (bit.ly/33Zb34T) with bigger data allocation and extended promo validity, exclusively available on GCash.

These broadband exclusive promos can be availed only via the GCash app. Globe at Home Prepaid Wifi customers only need to do a few taps on their GCash app to subscribe to this 30-day promo.

There’s no need to hold back on surfing as it comes with sizable data allocation of 30GB for HomeSURF599+, while

HomeSURF1499+ comes with 120 GB. Both promos last up to 30 days and comes with free 1 GB daily access to Watch & Learn (YouTube, Google G Suite, DepEd Commons, TESDA), Chat (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber), and Earn (Lazada, Shopee, GCash, Grab) apps, allowing customers to enjoy more content on top of their other connectivity needs.

Registering for promos with bigger data allocation is ideal for work-fromhome employees who regularly use video conferencing; for students who need to attend classes online and download multiple learning materials; for parents who wish to learn new skills through educational videos on YouTube; for home business owners who want to augment their earnings by being connected all the time; and of course for customer’s weekly family movie marathons through Viu and iWant.

Sports BusinessMirror

A12 Saturday, October 17, 2020

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

BUBBLES GROWING LIKE MUSHROOMS F

By Annie Abad

ROM Clark to Calamba and Carmona to Mandaue City, another bubble rises this time at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in Zambales where the Philippine Superliga (PSL) will resume its season stunted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) approved on Thursday the PSL’s request to return to action with a beach volleyball tournament at the gated SBMA facility.

Subic thus became the third bubble as sports activities gradually returned with the easing of quarantines. The PSL tournament

is scheduled November 27 to 29 at the Subic tennis center which will be converted to a sand court.

The Philippine Basketball Association is already on its second week in Clark, while the Chooks 3x3 Pilipinas is all set to open its inaugural Philippine Cup at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba. In Carmona, the Philippine Football League is in harness for its resumption at the Philippine Football Federation Training Center and last, October 7, Mandaue City played venue to a bubble boxing card.

In the IATF’s 11-page Resolution 79 signed by Dr. Kenneth Ronquillo of the Department of Health (DOH) on October 16, the agency tasked its regional task force to

evaluate and decide on requests involving sports activities.

But here’s a hitch—the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) was caught unawares of the IATF’s approval of PSL’s request, although the agency’s chairman, Abraham Khalil Mitra, told BusinessMirror they will abide by the resolution.

GAB is one of three agencies in the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) group which the IATF created and tasked to handle all sports activities and events during the pandemic. The other members of the group are the DOH and the Philippine Sports Commission.

“The official approval came from the IATF. So, as good soldiers, we will abide,” Mitra said.

“GAB has no business with the PSL.” Mitra, however, said the PSC, by procedure, should have taken the path of the JAO group.

“However, pursuant to IATF Resolution 79, one of the conditions given was that the protocols of PSL must comply with the JAO,” Mitra’s information officer Lorraine Rodriguez said.

In the same resolution, the IATF also approved the operation of licensed cockpits and cockfighting in areas under the modified general community quarantine.

Ironically, the IATF still disapproved online betting to operate.

Off track horse race betting is allowed in MGCQ areas, the IATF resolution said.

SECRETARY Mark Villar: With bike-friendly infrastructure, we aim to promote road safety to all and encourage the public to consider biking as a safe mode of transportation. PHOTO COURTESY OF PCOO

DPWH prescribes standard bike lane designs for future highway project

Saso goes hunting in Chiba, trails leaders by 2 shots

Y

UKA SASO is back in harness and offset shaky windup to salvage a 70 and trail Korean Bae Seon Woo by two strokes in the first round on Friday of the Fujitsu Ladies 2020 at the Tokyu Seven Hundred Club in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

The Filipino-Japanese, who fell into a five-tournament spell following consecutive victories August, had the chance to grab first day honors in the ¥100-million championship when she went three-under after 13 holes.

But a bogey on the 14th and a three-putt at the par-5 No. 16 saw her fall off the pace.

Saso closed out with par-saves for a backside 36 for that 70 and a share of seventh with eight others, including Player of the Year leader Sakura Koiwai and flightmate Asuka Kashiwabara, in the 54-hole tournament offering a top purse of ¥18 million (P8.3 million).

Saso, 19-year-old money race leader, also kept her domination of veteran Momoko Ueda, who actually recovered from a pair of bogey mishaps with birdies on Nos. 7 and 11 to rescue a 72.

Woo, 24, who lost to Mone Inami in a playoff in last week’s storm-hit Stanley Cup, rattled off

three birdies at the front before adding another in the last nine holes for a bogey-free 68 and a one-stroke lead over former champion Teresa Lu and four others.

Lu, who hit two birdies against a bogey at the front, gunned down three birdies at the back to tie for the lead. But the veteran campaigner bogeyed the closing hole to slip to joint second at 69 with Kana Nagai, multi-titled Mamiko Higa, Inami, and Akira Yamaji, who spiked her 36-33 card with an ace on the 171-yard No. 17.

The power-hitting Saso, who placed no better than joint eighth since sweeping the NEC Karuizawa and Nitori Ladies diadems to yield the Player of the Year lead to Koiwai, birdied the par-3 No. 4 and the next two par-5s (Nos. 7 and 10) to get into the early mix.

But after three straight pars, she overshot the 14th green off another booming drive and chipped short from the ankle-deep rough. She chipped again and canned in a five-footer for bogey.

Looking to regain the stroke, she reached the par-5 16th green in two off a superb second shot that landed on the edge of the sloping green below the pin. She putted to within 3 feet but misread the line to her dismay.

She then hit her tee shot into the left rough of the par-3 17th but chipped to within 4 feet to save par then drove to the adjacent fairway of No. 18, her view to the green blocked by a thickly forested hill.

After hitting a blind approach shot, she eagerly ran back to the fairway, only to find her ball in the thick rough before greenside bunkers. But she chipped to within 3 feet and made the putt.

Over in Florida, Dottie Ardina battled back from two early backside bogeys with birdies on Nos. 15 and 18 then parred the frontside for an even-par 73, five strokes behind Finland’s Matilda Castren at the start of the Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship at the Mission Inn and Resort Club course in the Howey-in-theHills Thursday.

Ardina proved quite steady off the mound, hitting all but two fairways but struggled with her iron game, missing six greens and ending up with 30 putts for a share of 19th.

Castren fired an eagle-spiked 68 to open a one-shot lead over Scot Gemma Dryburgh in the 54-hole $125,000 event of the Symetra Tour while Fil-Am Clariss Guce limped with a 76.

Moralde back atop ring after beating Covid-19

J

OHN VINCENT MORALDE comes off from a victory over the coronavirus when he returns to the ring on Sunday to fight Mexican Jose Enrique Durantes Vivas.

Moralde confirmed to BusinessMirror that he would be fighting in the Top Rank card main event world lightweight unification bout between Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“I am always in good condition. I am just checking my weight,” said Moralde, of Buhangin in Davao City, who is set to fight in an eightround non-title bout with a 128-lb catch weight.

“My opponent looks so tough, but I am more prepared than the last time I was.”

Moralde (23-3 win-loss record with 13

knockouts) was the first Filipino boxer to be tested positive for Covid-19 that forced the postponement of his fight last July 16 against Alexis del Bosque. He waited for three months in Miami to secure another fight from Top Rank head Bob Arum.

“I didn’t mind Covid-19 here in the US for my family. I sacrificed a lot for my children,” added Moralde who tested negative twice of the virus upon his arrival in Las Vegas this week. “I am not the only one who was tested positive. There are other boxers who got the virus, that’s why I don’t worried much.”

“It’s just like a normal illness here for the athletes,” said Moralde, referring to the disease which infected two Top Rank boxers—women’s lightweight prospect Mikaela Mayer and World Boxing Organization junior lightweight

champion Jamel Herring also last July. Both were asymptomatic and have already recovered.

Moralde, 26, is guaranteed of at least $6,000 of the $10,000 purse, win or lose. If he wins, his stock will rise and could negotiate for a title eliminator or regional title bouts next.

Vivas, also 26, is holding 19 wins against a loss with 10 knockouts.

The Sanman Promotions of JC Mananquil, who also handles Moralde, recently signed former ALA fighters, including ex-world title challengers featherweight Jeo Santisima (193 record with 16 knockouts), minimumweight Melvin Jerussalem, flyweight Esneth Domingo and super flyweight KJ Cataraja.

Josef Ramos

MARATHON QUEEN A PLANTITA S

OUTHEAST Asian Games Marathon Queen Christine Organiza Hallasgo endured three months of being away from her family in Malaybalay as she and dozens other national athletes and coaches were locked down at the PhilSports early into the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the unassuming runner who polished her running skills atop Bukidnon’s scenic mountains is now in the comfort of her home always beside her husband Wilmer and daughter Chrisxiah Mae. With no track oval to train on, at least within running distance, and with health and safety protocols still in place, Hallasgo has found a way to ease the pressure wrought by the pandemic.

If Mary Joy Tabal, who she replaced on the SEA Games marathon throne last December, is into baking, Hallasgo is into planting. Call her one of the millions who are now called plantitas.

“Because of the lockdown, I now have more time with my family and recently, I have time to plant—it’s not only fun, but self-fulfilling and relaxing,” Hallasgo told the BusinessMirror.

Hallasgo maintains a garden in her humble home in Barangay Casisang in Malaybalay, which she planted with egg plants, okra, tomatoes, string beans, among others. In another part of the garden, she grows Rhoeo Discolor, Caladium, Welcome Plant, roses and Snake Plants.

“My collections of plants are simple. I wish I have some rare plants in my garden, but I feel happy and satisfied with what I have...it’s the relief that I get from my plants,” she said.

The relief of being high, dry and happy at home make

CHRISTINE ORGANIZA HALLASGO and her daughter Chrisxiah Mae show off some of their plants in their home in Malaybalay.

MARCIAL MEETS ROACH Tokyo Olympics qualifier Eumir Felix Marcial finally meets

world renowned trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California, on Thursday. For starters, Roach engages the newly minted pro four rounds with the mitts. The Hallof-Fame trainer says he got nostalgic with Marcial as he remembers the first time he met boxing icon Manny Pacquiao at his gym in 2001.

Hallasgo smile at the experience she had at the PhilSports in Pasig City especially during the enhanced community quarantine.

“Three months of uncertainty. We couldn’t even use the oval because of protocols,” she said. “So I while the time away in my room [dormitory] looking for someone to talk to.”

With the Philippine Sports Commission and the city government of Malaybalay collaborating, Hallasgo was able to take a flight home.

Hallasgo came to prominence in the 30th SEA Games the country hosted last December when she upstaged Rio de Janeiro Olympian Tabal in winning the women’s marathon gold medal at the New Clark City, denying the Cebuana of back-toback victories.

She is under the watchful eyes of former long distance champion Eduardo Buenavista, who himself has four SEA Games gold medals.

“I’m happy with my victory in the SEA Games. With my incentive [bonus for medalists], I was able to purchase a humble lot. It’s an investment and each time I look at the lot, I know it’s the fruit of my hard work in my sport,” she said.

But Hallasgo makes sure she puts in the kilometers as she stays in shape for the tough year ahead.

“I do 30kms a day, at times racking up 200 to 300 kms [total] in my program with coach Bertek [Buenavista’s nickname],” she said.

Like Tabal, Hallasgo is looking forward to making it to the postponed Tokyo Olympics, but like the rest of the sports world, she has to wait for the qualifiers that were moved to next year. Annie Abad

M

AGNOLIA expects nothing but a difficult game against Alaska on Saturday in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup at the Angeles University Foundation gym.

The Hotshots, coming off a close 103-100 win over NLEX, gun for win No. 2 after three games in the Clark bubble in their 6:45 p.m. encounter with the winless and injury-plagued Aces.

That Magnolia win was highlighted

by Paul Lee’s four-point play in the pivotal stretch last Wednesday.

Despite Alaska’s 0-2 win-loss record, Magnolia Coach Chito Victolero is wary of an Aces’ fight back.

“I think it is very hard and tightly for us.

There will be a sense of urgency because Alaska is coming from a two-game losing streak and of course they will do better,” Victolero said. “It’s very hard to suffer a losing streak here in the bubble.”

Magnolia’s pesky guards Jio Jalalon and Chris Banchero joined forces against the Road Warriors and combined for 38 points, while Lee poured in 18 points to help the Hotshots crawl from a 22-point deficit.

Although it lost Kevin Racal to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in last Sunday’s opener against TNT Tropang

P

UBLIC Works Secretary Mark Villar issued a policy prescribing the standard design of bicycle lanes along national highways in an effort to meet the needs and safe access of cyclists and other road users.

Through Department Order 88, Series of 2020, Secretary Villar said that new national road and bridge construction or future expansion of projects shall incorporate a bicycle facility contingent on the prevailing road and traffic conditions, but will have no less than 2.44 meters of bicycle path width.

“From now onwards, design of new national roads and bridges will have a minimum width of 2.44-meter bike lane feature for direction. The desirable width of 3 meters is set for a twodirectional separated bike lane, unless under constrained condition which will follow the absolute minimum of 2.44 meters. This policy also covers road/bridge widening, diversion/bypass roads among others,” said Villar, who has long been advocating to include bike lanes in DPWH projects.

“With bike-friendly infrastructure, we aim to promote road safety to all and encourage the public to consider biking as a safe mode of transportation beneficial to their physical health, the environment through reduced greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution, to traffic, and to public roads that render less wear and tear,” Villar said.

According to Villar, future bicycle lane projects will be classified as Class 1, a designated protected path that is completely separated from motor-vehicle roadway by an open space with side walk; Class 2, a portion of a roadway designated for exclusive use of bicycle and is separated from the motor-vehicle roadway through pavement marking or physical separation; and Class 3, part of a roadway that has been officially designated and marked as bicycle route but can also be used by motor vehicle due to limited carriageway width.

Under the guidelines, class, width and directional criteria for the construction of new bike lane will be established based on motor vehicle volume and operating speed, available road, shoulder and sidewalk space, lane configuration, bicycle demand and other driveway and parking conflict.

Class 3 Bicycle Lane or the shared roadway is recommended for roads operating with the lowest speed and traffic volume; separated bike lane using pavement marking under Class 2 is for low speed to moderate traffic volume; and separated bike lane using physical separation under Class 2 or shared use path under Class 1 is for moderate to high speed and high traffic volume.

Detailed guideline information and exemptions of DO 88 are available online at www.dpwh.gov.ph.

Magnolia tries to add to Alaska’s woes in Clark Giga, Alaska remains determined.

“Magnolia is always tough. They have guards that pressure and make things hard for their opponents so handling that is crucial,” said Alaska Coach Jeffrey Cariaso, referring to Magnolia’s backcourt of Mark Barroca, Jalalon, Lee, Banchero and Justin Melton.

“We hope to contain both Ian Sangalang and Paul Lee. What I want is for us to be better. To play more consistently the way we know we can,” added Cariaso, noting Maverick Ahanmisi is arriving in the bubble only this week because of quarantine protocols.

“He [Ahanmisi] hasn’t practiced with the team, so he’s not ready yet. We shall see this coming Tuesday game,” Cariaso said.

Alaska lost to TNT (100-105) last Sunday and Meralco (81-93) last Wednesday.

Blackwater (1-1 win-loss), meanwhile, shoots for its second victory when it tangles with struggling NLEX (0-2) in the 4 p.m. match.

After beating Northport in their first game (96-89), the Elite couldn’t stop Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, losing to a 99-103 defeat last Thursday. Josef Ramos