BusinessMirror October 20, 2022

Russian airstrikes hit Ukraine’s

@caiordinario

THE Philippines’s foreign currency debts pushed the country’s balance of payments (BOP) to over $2 billion in September, the highest since April 2021, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

e BSP reported that the country’s overall BOP position posted a deficit of $2.339 billion in September. e BOP remained in a deficit for the sixth consecutive month this year. “ e BOP deficit in September 2022 reflected outflows arising mainly from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ net foreign exchange operations and the National Government’s payments of its foreign cur-

rency debt obligations,” the BSP said in a statement.

e BOP deficit in the January to September period reached a deficit of $7.831 billion, higher than the $665-million deficit recorded in the same period a year ago.

“Based on preliminary data, this cumulative BOP deficit reflected the widening trade in goods deficit as goods imports continued to surpass goods exports on the back of the persistent surge in international commodity prices and resumption in domestic economic activities,” the BSP said.

With this, the BSP said the gross international reserves (GIR) level declined to $93 billion as of end-September 2022 from $97.4 billion as of end-August 2022.

However, BSP said the latest GIR level represented a “more than adequate” external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.4 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

e BSP said this buffer ensures the availability of foreign exchange to meet balance of payments fi nancing needs, such as for payment of imports and debt service, in extreme conditions when there are no export earnings or foreign loans.

e Central Bank also said that it is also about 6.6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4 times based on residual maturity.

Short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to outstanding external debt with original maturity of

one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors falling due within the next 12 months.

Based on preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s trade deficit widened 81 percent to $6 billion in August 2022 from the $3.31 billion posted in August 2021. is was the highest increase in the deficit since June 2021 when it rose 133.9 percent. is was largely due to the 2-percent contraction in the country’s export earnings and 26-percent jump in import payments in August. (Full story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2022/10/12/ trade-gap-widens-81-to-6b-in-august-psa/)

THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) has called on the national government to focus on attaining food security and enabling the free flow of electricity nationwide by integrating the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.

in IRR of PSA to hurt PHL’

M N.

@joveemarie

THE House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman on Wednesday reminded the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) that “the deadline is over” for the release of the implementing rules and regulations of the key investment liberalization law.

“ e deadline was 6 months after the effectivity of the Public Service Act [PSA]. at deadline lapsed two weeks ago. Where’s the IRR?” Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda asked.

“ is delay is another self-infl icted wound. Our FDIs are taking a hit due to global conditions. But we can stave off the bleeding by opening up the sectors we already decided to open up by law,” he added.

Republic Act (RA) 11659 or “An Act Amending Commonwealth Act No. 146 otherwise known as the Public Service Act” as amended was signed by the President on March 21, 2022.

Salceda was its leading author and sponsor in the House of Representatives.

is measure allows up to 100 percent foreign ownership of public services in the country, except those classified as public utilities.

THE President’s economic team will recommend the extension of the validity of an executive order (EO) that allowed the reduction of tariffs on a number of commodities to help cool infl ation, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

At the sidelines of the Philippine Business Conference and Expo which kicked off on Wednesday in Manila, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters that the economic team is “fully aware” that adjusting interest rates would not be enough to curb infl ation.

is is the main reason for their recommendation which

has yet to be tackled at the Committee on Trade and Related Matters (CTRM) and will also be subject to a hearing at the Tariff Commission.

“My understanding of the sources of infl ation is that some of it is on the supply side. So if you are going to use monetary policy to address what is essentially a supply issue, you’re not going to get it right,” Balisacan said.

Executive Order (EO) No. 171 s. 2022 which was issued in May 2022 provided for the reduction of tariffs imposed on pork, corn, rice, and coal.

Local economists from the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) recommended the extension and expansion of the EO to cover

more commodities in light of the spike in prices.

Balisacan said it is possible that the EO will be extended, depending on the decision of the CTRM and the Tariff Commission.

He said this must be done before the year ends to prevent tariffs from returning to higher levels.

“It’s not the right time to get those tariffs to their old levels,” Balisacan said.

FEF earlier said allowing more imports of these commodities would help cool infl ation which hurts the poor more because a larger portion of their income is allocated for food items.

Food accounts for 55 percent of the 2012-based consumer

price index (CPI) for the bottom 30 households while food and non-alcoholic beverages accounts for only 37.75 percent of the 2018-based CPI for all income households.

Lowering infl ation would also bring down input costs of businesses. While agriculture only accounts for 10 percent of GDP, the economists said, agricultural and the food manufacturing industries contribute around a third of the country’s total GDP.

e CTRM is one of seven interagency committees under the Neda Board, which is the highest policy-making body of the Neda. e Tariff Commission, meanwhile, is an attached agency of the Neda. Cai U. Ordinario

With the passage of RA 11659, the term “public utility” has been limited to public service that operates, manages, or controls for public use any of the following: Distribution of Electricity; Transmission of Electricity; Petroleum and petroleum products pipeline transmission systems; Water pipeline distribution systems and wastewater pipeline systems, including sewerage pipeline systems; Seaports; and Public utility vehicles.

“At this point, especially when the draft was already more or less complete before the Duterte administration ended, this delay is frankly unacceptable. Especially during a time when we are trying to fight off capital fl ight,” he said.

“Shouldn’t we be throwing anything we have on hand at the problem of low FDIs? I fought very hard in Congress, amid dozens of interpellators, to get this law passed quickly. IRR na lang ’yan. e ball is entirely in Neda’s court. It’s two weeks past deadline. Where is it?” he added.

Salceda earlier said that the PSA amendments could attract as much as P299 billion in new foreign investments over the next five years as a result of the law’s liberalization of key sectors.

“We’ve tied our own hands from picking this extremely low hanging fruit,” Salceda said.

Salceda said that if the IRR is not released “within October,” he will “ask the Committee on Economic Affairs to inquire into the delay.”

‘Lower fuel surcharge to make plane fares more affordable’

@lorenzmarasigan

A IR travelers should expect to pay less for their tickets, as the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) lowered the allowed fuel surcharge for November.

In an advisory, the air traffic regulator said the fuel surcharge level was reduced from Level 9 to Level 8 for November, following the lower jet fuel prices in the market. e advisory noted that jet fuel averaged P42.87 per liter, which corresponds to Level 8 of the Passenger and Cargo Fuel Surcharge Metric.

Under the matrix, airlines may charge passengers between P253

and P787 per fl ight sector in fuel surcharge, depending on the distance traveled. International passengers, meanwhile, have to shell out P835.05 to P6,208.98 per fl ight.

Fuel surcharge is an optional fee imposed and collected by airlines to recover fuel costs and stem losses caused by upward spikes in fuel costs. It is not part of the basic fare and is reduced or even removed de-

pending on the market prices of jet fuel.

Data from the International Air Transport Association showed jetfuel cost was at $144.45 per barrel as of October 14, still 47.3 percent more than the year-ago price, but is 18.8 percent lower than the month prior. Fuel accounts for over 60 percent of the expenses of carriers.

Local carriers welcomed the lower fuel surcharge level for November.

“At AirAsia, we’re expecting to meet a high average of 90 percent to 95 percent in domestic load factor this fourth. With the goal of making travel more affordable as demand peaks, our guests can expect regular promos from AirAsia Philippines as we near the end of the year,” AirAsia Philippines Spokesperson Steve Dailisan said.

For her part, Philippine Air-

lines Spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the “good news” complements PAL’s continued growth in terms of fl ight capacity for both its domestic and international route networks.

“We are pleased to comply. We shall implement the adjustments to our fuel surcharges in line with the latest CAB directive. e adjusted fuel surcharges apply to tickets that will be purchased in November,” she said.

Cebu Pacific Chief Commercial Officer Xander Lao said the lower fees will further stimulate travel, especially during the holidays.

“We look forward to the lower fuel surcharge which should help make fares more affordable and stimulate air travel as we get nearer the Christmas season. Cebu Pacific will adjust its fuel charges accordingly which should provide passengers great value,” he said.

SIM card registration process pushed

to ensure the public of a “foolproof” cellular phone registration.

ASENIOR lawmaker on Wednesday asked Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte issued the statement even as he welcomed moves by the DICT and the NTC to fast track the implementation of a new law requiring the registration of possibly as many as 150 million cellular

phone numbers in the country, but told these agencies to refrain from completing this task with haste, and risk coming up with a database system vulnerable to hacking and other security breaches.

Villafuerte, co-author of Republic Act (RA) 11394 that President Marcos signed last October 10, at the same time supported the plan by DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy to let both prepaid and postpaid subscribers register their respective cell phones’ subscriber identity module (SIM) cards online, to avoid the scenario of them getting stuck in long queues to sign up at would-be registration centers of PTEs (public telecommunication entity) in malls and other commercial establishments.

“Although we commend the DICT and NTC for wanting to put on the fast track the crafting of the IRR [Implementing Rules and Regulations] for RA 11394, we caution their o cials against rushing headlong on the mandatory registration of SIMs without rst ensuring that they have, in tandem with our PTEs, future-

proofed their would-be nationwide system of collecting, storing and managing biometric data and other personal information from as many as 150 million cell phone numbers against data breaches and other security risks,” Villafuerte said.

“Speed is okay,” said the president of the National Unity Party (NUP), “but not at the risk of having the personal data of the owners of 150 million SIM cards become prone to hacking or attacks from cybercriminals and other unscrupulous groups here and abroad that would just torpedo the very purpose of RA 11394, which is to protect our people from the almost daily deluge of text scams and other cell phonebased fraud,” he said.

Villafuerte said the DICT and NTC should work closely with our local PTEs Globe Telecom, PLDT Smart and Dito Telecommunity in crafting the law’s IRR—and giving them the time they need to prepare for the mandatory registration and future-proo ng of their systems, before requiring all cell phone users to register their SIMs within the prescribed period.

MARCOS VOWS SUPPORT FOR FILIPINOMADE MULA SATELLITE

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has thrown his full support behind ongoing government efforts to build the largest Filipino-made satellite to be launched by 2025.

On Tuesday, the President met with members of the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSa) to discuss priorities of the agency to help in “national security and development.”

e President expressed interest in the Multi-Spectral Unit for Land Assessment (MULA) satellite, which is currently being developed by PhilSa, and is expected to help the government in gathering land, air, and water data in the country’s territories.

Its practical uses will include detecting air and water quality; determining abundant fi shing grounds; check traffi c situations in cities and urban centers and detect presence of ships in the country’s territorial waters.

“I am looking forward to the development of our MULA satellite and its subsequent launching sometime in 2025,” Marcos said during the meeting.

MULA, which is approximately 130 kilos, will be the largest satellite to be built by an all-Filipino team of engineers.

During the budget hearing in the Senate last Monday, PhilSa said it would be using most of its P756 million proposed 2023 budget for the development of MULA.

e agency requested for a budget of P2.8 billion for next year, but it was significantly reduced in the 2023 National Expenditure Program.

MULA was initially scheduled to be launched by PhilSa next year but was reset to 2025.

Samuel P. Medenilla

GOVT MUST FOCUS ON FOOD, ENERGY—PCCI

Ownership Award [CLOAs] into fee simple titles,” the PCCI document read.

In September, Paul Cuyegkeng, chairman of PCCI’s agriculture and food security committee, called for the amendment of the Agrarian Reform law to increase landholding size and allow the consolidation of lands by agrarian reform beneficiaries.

PCCI is also urging the national government to expedite the integration of the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids to enable the free flow of electricity nationwide. e group is prodding the Department of Energy (DOE) to amend the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Renewable Energy Act to allow 100 percent foreign investment in solar and wind projects.

On Tuesday, local economists backed the government’s plans, through the DOE, to allow more foreigners to invest in renewable energy, noting that it would be beneficial in increasing the foreign direct investments (FDI) of the country in addressing the country’s energy needs.

Health, jobs, education

THE national government, the PCCI said, must reform the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) into a “science-based and transparent” healthcare system and encourage Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the implementation of the Universal Healthcare Law.

On employment, the business group is urging the government to work together with the private

sector to “reenergize” the economy by supporting new investments to generate employment, providing assistance to pandemic-surviving micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), amending all “restrictive and punitive” labor laws and enact laws that will increase productivity.

e PCCI also prodded the national government to amend the Philippine Qualifications Framework (PQF) Law to create a Philippine Qualifications Authority (PQA) which it said will “establish and maintain” Qualification standards for all levels of education and training.

Modernization, trade deals

TO bolster national security, the PCCI urged the government to “deepen” its cooperation with neighboring states, expand participation in regional and multilateral defense agreements while accelerating the Modernization Program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Part of the PCCI’s wish list is the development of a nationwide internet connectivity program that is reliable and competitive. e group said the government can do this by passing into law the proposed Open Access in Data Transmission Act.

In June, the PCCI recommended the enactment of the Open Access in Data Transmission Act which it said introduces a regulatory framework, specifically for Internet services.

e bill proposes a simple and efficient qualification and registration process for internet services providers, promotes infrastructure-sharing, and helps fast-track

Internet network rollout. To minimize barriers to the free flow of goods and services, the business group asked the government to fast-track the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and to join bilateral free trade agreements and trans-pacific partnerships.

RCEP is a free-trade agreement among Asean countries and their trading partners Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. Touted as the world’s largest trade pact, RCEP represents 30 percent of the global GDP or $26.2 trillion.

e regional trade pact entered into force on January 1, 2022. e Department of Trade and Industry has also been lobbying for the ratification of RCEP as it is seen to “help restore business confidence and encourage more economic activities, particularly MSMEs, investors, service providers and professionals.”

PCCI also urged the government to provide “world-class” integrated transport systems and water and waste management infrastructure and to “decouple” the regulatory and commercial functions of the Philippine Ports Authority and other similarly situated transport agencies.

In September, the business group said this year’s PBC&E would look into how the new government will build on various economic reform measures initiated by the previous administration to strengthen the country’s economic gains.

Leading this year’s 48th PBC&E is Ferdinand Ferrer, Chairman/ CEO of EMS Group of Companies.

Economy

PAL keeps focus on US routes as intl arrivals dominate market

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

PIONEERING flag carrier Phil

ippine Airlines (PAL) contin ues to focus on its bread-andbutter market, bringing balikbayans (returning Filipinos) home to the Philippines, even as demand from other international destinations are in the offing.

In an interview with PAL Presi dent Capt. Stanley Ng on the sidelines of the Philippine Tourism Industry Convergence Reception on Monday night, he said there were no plans to launch new routes at the moment.

“We can’t add [new routes] yet be cause our US routes are profitable, so it will be a waste if we don’t maximize it,” he told the BusinessMirror

He added, “We also don’t have enough planes. We’re mostly using them for our US routes.” When the company filed for bankruptcy last year, PAL had to return their leased planes, leaving it with a current fleet of 74, from 98. It also let go of un profitable routes like direct flights between London and Manila.

Tel Aviv has been urging Manila to commence flights between the Phil ippines and Israel, but since PAL’s an nouncement of such a route in 2021,

the route has yet to be launched.

“We’re still studying it,” said Ng, adding, “I think the issues on their end have already been addressed.”

Among those issues include Saudi Arabia not allowing PAL overflights from Tel Aviv.

While he recognized the possi bility of just code-sharing with El Al, Israel’s flag carrier, “They [Tel Aviv] really want us [PAL] to fly there. Maybe because they don’t have enough planes.”

Total tourist arrivals at 1.77M PAL currently has 35 weekly flights to the US, including Guam, from Ma nila to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Honolulu. Although these make up just 18 percent of the carrier’s international flights, PAL Vice President for Corporate Communications explained, “The biggest planes fly to the US so ca pacity share is 25-30 percent of our international network, roughly.”

The US continues to be the top source of foreign tourists to the Phil ippines, with 335,327 arrivals from February 10 to October, according to data from the Department of Tour ism (DOT). Balikbayans, whether Philippines or foreign passport holders, are considered tourists by the DOT.

On Monday, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco announced some 1.77-million international visi tors to the Philippines for the refer ence period, exceeding the lower-end of the revised projections of private

tourism stakeholders.

“ Under the leadership of PresiPresi dent Marcos Jr., your Department of Tourism [DOT] is committed to build on the industry s current gains, and vows to work relentlessly towards

ushering the Philippines in a primary tourism position in the Asean and the world,” said Frasco, during her welcome remarks at the Convergence Reception at the SMX Convention Center, where Marcos Jr. was guest

The Philippine Experience

OF the total arrivals for the period, DOT showed, some 72 percent or 1.27 million were foreigners and the rest, at 495,723, were overseas Filipinos. After the US, the other top source markets for foreign guests were: South Korea (240,469); Aus tralia (82,927); Canada (75,447); the United Kingdom (67.352); Japan (65,080); India (36,570); Singapore (33,931); Malaysia (29,602); Viet nam (28,941); Germany (25,009); and mainland China (24,599).

Mid-year, the Tourism Congress of the Philippines revised its arrivals projections for the year to between 1.7 million and 2.1 million, after its members experienced a surge in bookings from foreign guests.

At the event, Frasco also launched the Philippine Experience, a cultural, heritage, and arts caravan program, which aims to diversify the tourism products of the country, equalize op portunities across the regions, sup port the preservation of the country s heritage, and artistic resources and assets, and instill a sense of pride and patriotism among the Filipino people.

speaker. (See, “‘Galaw-galaw!’ President Marcos urges Cabinet members,” in the BusinessMir ror , October 19, 2022.)

REGIONAL Director Karen Tiopes shows off the traditional attire and products of Eastern Visayas, as the agency introduced the Philippine Experience, a cultural, heritage and arts caravan program, showcasing these tourism products of the country. The program was launched during the Philippine Tourism Industry Convergence Reception on October 17, at the SMX Convention Center, where President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. was guest speaker.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DOT

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

The Nation

BusinessMirror www.businessmirror.com.ph

China’s Covid curbs on travel, not POGO, behind drop in PHL arrivals

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz  @joveemarie

This was stressed by Salceda dur ing the consultation held by the labor and employment panel in Congress.

According to Salceda, data that showed that the decline in Chinese tourist arrivals in the Philippines was consistent with the drop in out bound Chinese tourists worldwide due to the Covid-19 pandemic—an explanation that was carried by the BusinessMirror as it crunched the Chinese tourist arrivals date when the story first broke about an alleged “blacklist” where Beijing had included Manila, on account, supposedly for its continued hosting of POGOs, which

is deemed illegal in China.

According to the BusinessMir ror , the decline was consistent with China’s restrictions on outbound Chinese tourists as it pursued its zero-Covid policy.

On Wednesday, Salceda cited data showing that between 2019 and 2020 there was a drop of 90.2 percent in Chinese tourists bound for the Phil ippines, similar to the 88.4-percent decrease in Chinese tourists that trav eled to different parts of the globe.

Between 2019 and 2022, he said the figures showed a 99.4-percent drop in Chinese tourists visiting

the Philippines, coinciding with the 94.5-percent drop in Chinese tourists that traveled abroad in the same period.

These figures were also similar for Cambodia and the United Arab Emir ates, two nations that also allow PO GOs in their jurisdictions, he added.

“With or without POGO...actually no tourists are allowed out of China because of their zero Covid policy,” Salceda said.

“China has been actually imple menting a no tourist policy,” said the Bicolano lawmaker, who explained that it was “highly speculative” for

Police file murder complaint vs suspect in Percy Lapid case

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

THE Philippine National PoliceSouthern Police District (PNPSPD) has filed a complaint for

murder against the self-confessed gunman of broadcaster Percival Ma basa, also known as Percy Lapid, and three others before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Named respondents in the com

plaint for violation of Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code were Joel Escorial, the self-confessed gunman; brothers Israel and Edmon Dimacu langan, and a certain Orly.

Escorial had earlier surrendered to authorities for fear of his safety, while the three other suspects are still at-large.

Journalist Roy Mabasa, brother of the victim, also appeared before the DOJ to subscribe to the com plaint affidavit against the suspects.

DOJ’s Prosecutor General Bene dicto Malcontento said Escorial was presented by the PNP for inquest last Tuesday and that a resolution is ex pected to be released today (Thursday).

In an interview, Mabasa said he was able to talk to Escorial on Tuesday and asked him about the motive and the people behind his brother’s killing.

Mabasa said Escorial reiterated his previous statement that he was contracted by an inmate of the New

Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

The 63-year-old Lapid was gunned down by motorcycle riding men on October 3 on Aria Street, Barangay Talon Dos, Las Piñas at around 8:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Bureau of Correc tions  (BuCor) Deputy Director Gen eral and spokesman Gabriel Chaclag said the institution is open for an investigation by the Senate in con nection with Lapid’s killing.

Chaclag made the statement in response to Sen. Ramon “Bong” Re villa’s resolution seeking an inquiry on the claims of Escorial.

“BuCor takes note of the Senate resolution filed by Hon. Senator Ra mon Revilla relating to the Percy Lapid case and in fact welcomes any inquiry into the incident to validate the verac ity of the allegations which involve our penitentiary,” Chaclag said.

“We are certain that our policies in the NBP are all aimed at prevent ing convicted PDL [persons deprived

of liberty] from further committing any crimes that endanger our soci ety,” he added.  Chaclag noted that the DOJ has already instructed BuCor to conduct an in-depth investigation in coordi nation with the PNP to determine the veracity of the allegations made by Escorial.

Not just a ‘fall guy’

INTERIOR Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. on Wednesday reassured that the ballistics tests and forensic evidence obtained by authorities at the crime scene of the killing of Percy Lapid matched the murder weapon used by selfconfessed gunman Escorial.

Abalos pointed out that the ac tual gun used by Escorial in the murder of Percy Lapid matches the bullets, which he referred to for bal listics test and forensic evidence in addition to the CCTV footage of the alleged gunman. With Glen Jacob Jose

the National Economic and Devel opment Authority to relate POGOs with Chinese tourists.

He added, “The Chinese Ambas sador was quick to clarify the state ments that were attributed to some of our leaders.”

After Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri announced recently that China had placed the Philippines on a “blacklist” due to the presence of POGOs in the coun try, the Chinese Embassy immedi ately issued a statement that clari fied that the Philippines was on no such blacklist.

DENR, DOLE ink pact for ‘green’ job generation

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has partnered with the Depart ment of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to create new job opportunities in the environment sector.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Environment Secre tary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga and Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma formalized the partnership during the DENR Multi-Stakeholder Forum held in Manila on Wednesday, October 5.

Both agencies agreed to promote employment opportunities aligned with the protection and conserva tion of the country’s natural re sources and ecosystems.

IT is China’s no-tourist policy, and not the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs), that explains the drop in Chinese tourist arrivals in the country, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said on Wednesday.

News

PBBM vows relentless pursuit of Coast Guard modernization

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has vowed to re lentlessly pursue the ongoing modernization program of the Phil ippine Coast Guard (PCG) to keep the country secured amid the “uncharted and turbulent” post-pandemic times.

The President made the commit ment after recognizing PCG’s impor tant contribution to the country’s se curity and disaster response during

PCG’s 121st founding anniversary commemoration at Pier 15 of the Manila Port Area on Wednesday.

“As your leader, I assure you that this administration will al ways be behind you, supportive of your efforts and initiatives to modernize the Philippine Coast Guard, which will redound to the better delivery of service to the nation,” Marcos said in his speech during the event.

The modernization program in cludes PCG’s procurement of vital

maritime, aerial, and land mobil ity assets as well as weapons and rescue equipment.

It also includes the building or rehabilitation of stations in dif ferent parts of the country and the 570 “operationalized” light houses nationwide.

Marcos noted the said initiatives will be crucial so PCG could continue with its important role of protecting the country’s waters, including the West Philippines Sea, which is also being claimed by China.

Police nab 6 for involvement in online sabong ops in Pasig

By Glen Jacob Jose

PHILIPPINE National Po

lice-Anti Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) arrested six per sons who were allegedly caught in the act of engaging in online sabong in Pasig City.

In a news statement issued on Wednesday, PNP-ACG chief Brig. Gen. Joel Doria said the suspects were identified as Roger Altiche, Julius Francisco, Monddie Cas trono, Rolando Belen, Noe Ronapo and alleged STL collector, Manu el Pangos. They were nabbed by members of the Eastern District Anti-Cybercrime Team (EDACT) last Tuesday afternoon.

Online sabong, a cockfight game broadcasted through the Internet,

was previously regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation but has been recently de clared as unlawful due to gambling’s destructive effects.

A report submitted by Maj. Ely Compuesto II, Team Leader of EDACT, said the suspects were ar rested after their office received a complaint with regards to the online “e-sabong” at a certain merchandise store in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City.

“After receiving the report, we conducted surveillance and vali dation to check the veracity of the information. During the police op eration, the suspects were caught in the act of betting online using a cellphone of Julius Francisco,” Compuesto said.

They were all caught inside the general merchandise store betting online while waiting for prospective bettors to come.

The suspects will be facing charg es of illegal gambling (PD 1602) in re lation to Section 6 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (RA 10175) and will be turned over to Pasig City Detention Cell.

“Once again, we would like to remind the public to refrain from engaging in online sabong Kailanman, wala pong magandang maidudulot ang sugal sa ating pa mumuhay [Once again, we would like to remind the public to refrain from engaging in online sabong. Gambling has proven to be so de structive in the lives of many],” Doria said.

“Philippine Coast Guard in the recent past has taken on many new duties. Critical of that is now you are the frontline in the defense of our maritime territory, in defense of our economic zones, in defense of our baselines,” Marcos said.

Likewise, he said PCG will also play a crucial role in the government’s ongoing efforts to address global warming, which is now causing ex treme weather effects worldwide.

“You are the stewards of the en vironment who promote environ

mental sustainability by ensuring that all vessels and activities in the seas are compliant with our existing regulations and laws,” Marcos said.

He also lauded PCG’s contribu tion in the government’s Covid-19 interventions in the last two years, conduct of search and rescue opera tions, and enforcement of maritime rules and regulations.

“I urge you to continue your dedi cation and persistence in your duties and responsibilities and move full

throttle towards the realization of your vision to be a world-class guard ian of the sea—committed to save lives, assure safer maritime trans portation, ensure cleaner seas, and secure maritime jurisdiction,” Mar cos said.

During the anniversary celebra tion, Marcos led the presentation of awards to the exemplary members of the PCG and toured BRP Gabri ela Silang (OPV-3801)—the thirdbiggest modern vessel in the Coast Guard fleet.

Health authorities pressed to control further spread of HFMD in Batangas

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie   & Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

LAWMAKER has pleaded to health authorities’ help to prevent massive disruption of classes amid a reported outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Batangas.

Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bit rics” Luistro announced the outbreak of HFMD affecting around 100 chil dren in San Pascual, Batangas.

HFMD is a viral and infectious dis ease common among children. Its symp toms include fever, painful sores in the

mouth, rash and blisters in hands, feet and buttocks. More severe symptoms such as meningitis, encephalitis and polio-like paralysis may likewise occur.

“This outbreak of HFMD is very alarming because young people are just starting to have face-to-face classes in school,” she said.

Due to the outbreak, the mayor of San Pascual, Antonio Dimayuga, is sued an executive order, declaring the suspension of classes from October 18 to December 21 for children going to daycare up to grade 3. The suspen sion was imposed in eight barangays severely affected by the outbreak.

“We call on Department of Health Officer in Charge Secretary Ma. Rosario

Vergeire to pay attention to this out break. We hope the health department would find the source of the outbreak and help in immediately stopping it,” Luistro added.

“This is to prevent it from spreading to other towns so that classes will not be again disrupted. Most importantly, it quickly spreads, as the 100 kids in San Pascual contracted the disease in just a few days,” Luistro pointed out.

The Department of Health’s Cen ter for Health Development (DOHCHD) Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) launched an epidemiological investigation to find the source of the HFMD out break in San Pascual, Batangas.

A

Agriculture/Commodities

Farmers incur ₧355-M loss due to typhoons

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

across three regions.

The DA-DRRM OpCen said it recorded 25,297 metric tons (MT) of production loss in the regions of Cordillera Administrative Re gion (CAR), Ilocos Region, and Cagayan Valley.

“Affected commodities include rice, corn and high value crops. These values are subject to valida tion,” it said on its latest bulletin on Wednesday.

and Cagayan Valley.”

The DA-DRRM OpCen latest report showed that the rice sec tor accounted for 96.88 percent of the total agricultural damage and losses recorded.

by the typhoons. The DA-DRRM Op Cen tallied a production loss of 191 MT in the high value crops sector.

Corn farmers lost 382 MT of pro duce valued at P4.16 million, accord ing to the DA-DRRM OpCen.

In its third bulletin on Typhoon Maymay and Neneng, the DA-Disas ter Risk Reduction and Management

Operations Center (DA-DRRM Op Cen) said the two typhoons affected 15,850 hectares of agricultural areas

“The values of damage and loss es for Maymay and Neneng have been combined as the two tropical cyclones occurred in a span of one week and affected the same agricul tural areas in CAR, Ilocos Region

The DA-DRRM OpCen recorded P344.53 million in damage and losses in the rice sector after 15,705 hectares of farms were affected by the two typhoons in Ilocos Norte, Apayao and Cagayan. The estimated volume loss was at 24,723 MT, ac cording to the report.

The high value crops sector reg istered nearly P7 million worth of damage and losses after 18 hectares of assorted vegetables were affected

Report: PHL will continue to rely on milk imports

DESPITE the persistent logis tics disruptions, the Phil ippines would continue to source nearly all of its dairy require ments from other countries, an in ternational agency said.

The United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) in Manila said the Philippines remains a “competi tive” market for imported dairy prod ucts since the country only produces 1 percent of its total requirement.

“The industry is affected by global shipping bottlenecks, the effects of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and rising prices,” the USDA-FAS Manila said in a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report.

“There is no quick solution, but dairy importers will continue to ship imported dairy products despite all these challenges to address the coun try’s increasing demand.”

The USDA-FAS Manila noted that the Philippines’s dairy output this year would increase to 26,800 metric tons (MT) from last year’s 26,000 MT as it will be “boosted” by a bigger dairy herd and as a result of the government’s dairy development projects “geared towards increasing milk production.”

“Dairy consumption reached 3 million MT in 2021. Post sees these combined factors leading to greater

dairy consumption,” the USDA-FAS Manila said.

“Rising consumption is also sup ported by infrastructure invest ments, particularly in cold chain facilities, supermarkets, and dis play areas.”

The USDA-FAS Manila report showed that the country’s dairy im ports last year reached 3.035 million MT (MMT) while total consumption was estimated at 3.010 MMT.

“The limited local supply makes the Philippines a competitive market for dairy imports, with the United States and New Zealand having the largest shares,” it said.

“According to NDA data, over all imports grew by 3.4 percent in volume terms and 10.8 percent in value terms in 2021. FAS Manila sees overall dairy imports recover ing in 2022 as the economy reopens, most of the population becomes vaccinated, and business operations expand,” it added.

The USDA-FAS Manila said the dairy importers in the Philippines were not spared from the global lo gistics and shipping woes, such as scarce vessel space, delays in arrivals and high freight rates.

It added that shipping delays now range from 30 days to as long as 120 days from the pre-pandemic travel time.

“Dairy importers complained of shipping delays, which hampered delivery of goods and added to lo gistics costs,” it said.

“Securing space on next sailing af ter getting a quote has a 50/50 chance at best, and bookings for container space could be pushed out three or four weeks.”

The USDA-FAS Manila noted that dairy imports will “continue to do advance orders and stock up inven tory in anticipation of delays.”

“The global shipping bottle necks will continue to affect the Philippines in terms of escalat ing freight rates, and the surge in freight rates shows no sign of los ing steam this year,” it said.

“High freight rates, lack of vessel space, shipping delays due to port congestions, lack of equipment in transshipment ports, empty sail ing, unpredictable arrival of vessels, and other current challenges will re main.”

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

FERTILIZER prices are falling as farmers balking at the high costs of nutrients hold off on purchases, driving down demand and causing gluts that are upending the market for crop inputs.

Fertilizer prices soared to re cord highs earlier in the year af ter sanctions against Belarus, a major producer, and Russia’s war in Ukraine fueled soaring prices for crop nutrients. That prompted global fertilizer firms to boost purchases and transport massive amounts of product to avoid supply chain issues and trade restrictions in export markets such as Russia.

Such moves have led to bloat ing fertilizer inventories in some key regions and farmers just aren’t buying—a situation that’s now weighing on the market. The turnabout is playing out in both the US, a major fertilizer-buying nation and the world’s top corn exporter, as well as agricultural powerhouse Brazil, the No. 1 soy bean supplier.

“Farmers are pulling back on the pricey input,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Alexis Maxwell said. “Global ammonia, phosphate and potash de mand are all down year to date.”

A weekly index for the common nitrogen fertilizer urea in New Orleans fell 3.2 percent Friday, extending a monthlong downward trend as US farmers wait to see how low prices might go. Brazilian farmers are also halting purchases, driving prices down as fertilizer piles up.

Global nitrogen prices are still trading at nearly five times historical averages, according to

Bloomberg Intelligence.

Those in the fertilizer industry were betting farmers would buy the crop inputs given how high grains prices have been in a world facing shortfalls. But as farmers saw crop prices retreat from highs they moved to curb expenses, re visiting decisions around fertil izer applications, deliveries and the impacts on yields for future harvests. For example, while corn farmers must apply nitrogen every year, those in the US don’t often need to do it in autumn.

The start of the fall fertilizer ap plication season in the US hasn’t been that great, said Josh Linville, director of fertilizer at StoneX. The market could see a lot of growers looking to buy nitrogen in the spring and the market could struggle to meet that demand, he said.

Brazil, the world’s largest im porter of fertilizers, is facing simi lar circumstances. The country im ported a record amount of fertilizer this year to ensure farmers would have enough inputs to expand their

planted areas.

“The record importing pace this year filled warehouses, making Brazil re-export the surplus,” said Maisa Romanello, fertilizer analyst for Safras & Mercado firm. That’s “pressuring prices internally and internationally, as Brazil imports smaller volumes in the second half of this year.”

Fertilizer deliveries in Brazil between January and July fell 8.7 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Brazilian Na tional Fertilizer Association. The industry group sees deliveries fall ing between 5 percent and 7 percent for the full year.

Meanwhile, Brazil fertilizer prices have plunged by almost half from April’s highs, which is leaving some to wonder how low they can go.

“Prices of some fertilizers are far above previous years,” said Jeferson Souza, fertilizer analyst for Agrin vest Commodities in Brazil. “Farm ers see the price dropping and keep waiting to make purchases.”

The worst-performing sectors are mining (17 percent), nongov ernment organizations (12 per cent) and government and public service (10 percent).

While 93 percent of consumers surveyed in the Philippines say they have at least an average understand ing of what sustainability means, only 54 percent have a strong un derstanding of it. Fewer also have an average level of understanding of more technical terms including Cor porate Social Responsibility (CSR) at 78 percent, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) at 76 percent--showing that talking to consumers about these issues in everyday, non-technical language is important.

While the underlying issues that are sought to be addressed by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are of wide concern, only 47 percent of consumers in the Philippines have heard of them.

“As global sustainability chal lenges continue to grow, we see increasing expectations on all or ganizations and individuals to act. While governments are shouldering the weight of solving sustainability challenges, increasingly consum ers see both private companies and themselves as critical to solutions and they have a growing appetite to learn more and be involved.

BUSINESSMIRROR

“The DA, through its Regional Field Offices [RFOs], is conducting assessment of damage and losses brought by Maymay and Neneng in the agri-fisheries sector,” it said.

“The DA continuously coordinates with concerned [national govern ment agencies], [local government units] and other DRRM-related of fices for the impact of the tropical cy clones, as well as available resources for interventions and assistance.”

The DA-DRRM OpCen said the government assistance is available for distribution to affected farmers and fishers such as rice, corn and assorted vegetable seeds, drugs and biologics for livestock and poultry and even fingerlings.

The DA-DRRM OpCen added that affected farmers and fisherfolk could avail of the Survival and Re covery Loan Program from the Ag ricultural Credit Policy Council with loanable amount of up to P25,000 payable in three years at zero inter est. The DA-DRRM OpCen said the government has an available quick response fund for the rehabilitation of affected areas.

N. Cotabato farmers’ association receives solar dryer from DAR

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) recently turned over support services amount ing to P450,000 to the Upper Pacao Farmers’ Association based in Al amado, North Cotabato.

The capacity-building interven tions in the form of training and dry ing facilities are part of the directive of DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III to boost economic activities and improve the lives of the farmers in the countryside.

Cheryl Rose Belbar, President of Upper Pacao Farmers Association led the group in receiving DAR’s package of support services.

“The collapsible dryer will provide great relief to us because everyone can now have access to an instant solar dryer anytime they need it. The facility will also serve as an incomegenerating project for our associa tion,” she said.

Pacao Barangay Chairman Joey Obenza added that the scarcity of

solar dryers in their barangay has been a struggle for the farmers, es pecially during harvest season.

“Due to limited solar driers in our barangay, farmers have no choice but to sell their produce directly to traders, usually at a low price. But now that DAR has provided the col lapsible driers, there is no reason for the farmers not to dry their produce before selling to the market,” he said.

The support services were pro vided under the Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support Pro gram-Sustainable Livelihood Sup port, which addresses food security amidst climate change by provid ing livelihood support in the form of farm machines and equipment, farm inputs, and capacity develop ment interventions.

Charish Paña, Provincial Agrar ian Reform Program Officer II, said the provision of capacity-building interventions aims to help farmers become more resilient in adapting to climate change and allow them to generate income even amid the erratic weather conditions.

Plan to address health threats to humans, animals launched

ANEW One Health Joint Plan of Action was launched by the Quadripartite—the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organiza tion (WHO), and the World Organi sation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) last October 17.

This first joint plan on One Health aims to create a framework to inte grate systems and capacity so that we can collectively better prevent, predict, detect, and respond to health threats. Ultimately, this ini tiative seeks to improve the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment, while contributing to sustainable development.

The One Health Joint Plan of Action, developed through a par ticipatory process, provides a set of activities that aim to strengthen collaboration, communication, ca pacity building, and coordination equally across all sectors responsi ble for addressing health concerns at the human-animal-plant-envi ronment interface.

FAO said the five-year plan (20222026) focuses on supporting and ex panding capacities in six areas: One Health capacities for health systems, emerging and re-emerging zoonotic epidemics, endemic zoonotic, neglect ed tropical and vector-borne diseases, food safety risks, antimicrobial resis tance and the environment.

This technical document is in formed by evidence, best practices, and existing guidance. It covers a set of actions which endeavor to ad

vance One Health at global, regional and national levels. These actions notably include the development of an upcoming implementation guid ance for countries, international partners, and non-State actors such as civil society organizations, pro fessional associations, academia and research institutions.

The plan sets out operational ob jectives, which include: providing a framework for collective and coordi nated action to mainstream the One Health approach at all levels; provid ing upstream policy and legislative advice and technical assistance to help set national targets and priori ties; and promoting multinational, multi-sector, multidisciplinary col laboration, learning and exchange of knowledge, solutions and technolo gies. It also fosters the values of co operation and shared responsibility, multisectoral action and partnership, gender equity, and inclusiveness.

Why One Health?

ONE Health is the main approach for addressing the complex health challenges facing our society, such as ecosystem degradation, food sys tem failures, infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.

“Using a One Health lens that brings all relevant sectors together is critical to tackle global health threats, like monkeypox, Covid-19 and Ebola.”

WOAH Director General Monique Eloit highlights the need for enhanced disease prevention capacity in all sec tors. “It all starts with ensuring the health of animals. Animal health is our health, it is everyone’s health.”

Consumers want firms to prioritize protection of environment–study

FILE PHOTO

NEARLY 12,000 farmers lost at least P355.63 million in earnings after their crops were damaged by two recent typhoons, according to the initial assessment of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Biden to release 15M barrels from US strategic oil reserve

By Josh Boak & Zeke Miller The Associated Press

WASHINGTON—President

Joe Biden will announce the release of 15 million barrels of oil from the US strategic reserve Wednesday as part of a response to recent production cuts announced by Opec+ nations, and he will say more oil sales are possible this winter, as his administration rushes to be seen as pulling out all the stops ahead of next month’s midterm elections.

Biden will deliver remarks Wednesday to announce the draw down from the strategic reserve, senior administration officials said Tuesday on the condition of ano nymity to outline Biden’s plans. It completes the release of 180 mil lion barrels authorized by Biden in March that was initially supposed to occur over six months. That has sent the strategic reserve to its lowest level since 1984 in what the administration called a “bridge” until domestic production could be increased. The reserve now contains roughly 400 million barrels of oil.

Biden will also open the door to additional releases this winter in an effort to keep prices down. But administration officials would not detail how much the president would be willing to tap, nor how much they want domestic and pro duction to increase by in order to end the drawdown.

Biden will also say that the US government will restock the stra tegic reserve when oil prices are at or lower than $67 to $72 a barrel, an offer that administration of ficials argue will increase domes tic production by guaranteeing a baseline level of demand. Yet the president is also expected to renew his criticism of the profits reaped

by oil companies—repeating a bet made this summer that public con demnation would matter more to these companies than sharehold ers’ focus on returns.

It marks the continuation of an about-face by Biden, who has tried to move the US past fossil fuels to identify additional sources of en ergy to satisfy US and global sup ply as a result of disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and production cuts announced by the Saudi Arabia-led oil cartel.

The prospective loss of 2 mil lion barrels a day—2 percent of global supply—has had the White House saying Saudi Arabia sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin and pledging there will be consequences for supply cuts that could prop up energy prices. The 15 million-barrel release would not cover even one full day’s use of oil in the US, according to the En ergy Information Administration.

The administration could make a decision on future releases a month from now, as it requires a month and a half for the govern ment to notify would-be buyers.

Biden still faces political head winds because of gas prices. AAA reports that gas is averaging $3.87 a gallon. That’s down slightly over

the past week, but it’s up from a month ago. The recent increase at prices stalled the momentum that the president and his fellow Demo crats had been seeing in the polls ahead of the November elections.

An analysis Monday by Clear View Energy Partners, an indepen dent energy research firm based in Washington, suggested that two states that could decide control of the evenly split Senate—Nevada and Pennsylvania—are sensitive to energy prices. The analysis noted that gas prices over the past month rose above the national average in 18 states, which are home to 29 po tentially “at risk” House seats.

Even if voters want cheaper gasoline, expected gains in sup ply are not materializing because of a weaker global economy. The US government last week revised downward its forecasts, saying that domestic firms would pro duce 270,000 fewer barrels a day in 2023 than was forecast in Sep tember. Global production would be 600,000 barrels a day lower than forecast in September.

The hard math for Biden is that oil production has yet to return to its pre-pandemic level of roughly 13 million barrels a day. It’s about a million barrels a day shy of that level. The oil industry would like the administration to open up more federal lands for drilling, approve pipeline construction and reverse its recent changes to raise corporate taxes. The administra tion counters that the oil industry

is sitting on thousands of unused federal leases and says new per mits would take years to produce oil with no impact on current gas prices. Environmental groups, meanwhile, have asked Biden to keep a campaign promise to block new drilling on federal lands.

Biden has resisted the policies favored by US oil producers. In stead, he’s sought to reduce prices by releasing oil from the US reserve, shaming oil companies for their profits and calling on greater pro duction from countries in Opec+ that have different geopolitical interests, said Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of policy, eco nomics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute.

“If they continue to offer the same old so-called solutions, they’ll continue to get the same old results,” Macchiarola said.

Because fossil fuels lead to car bon emissions, Biden has sought to move away from them entirely with a commitment to zero emis sions by 2050. When discussing that commitment nearly a year ago after the G-20 leading rich and developing nations met in Rome, the president said he still wanted to also lower gas prices because at “$3.35 a gallon, it has profound impact on working-class families just to get back and forth to work.”

Since Biden spoke of the pain of gas at $3.35 a gallon and his hopes to reduce costs, the price has on balance risen another 15.5 percent.

Oil rises from two-week low on lingering supply concerns

By Sharon Cho & Yongchang Chin

OIL climbed from a twoweek low on concerns that the European Union’s lat est sanctions on Russian fuel could exacerbate the market tightness that the US is trying to alleviate with additional sales.

West Texas Intermediate pared some gains after rising as much as 1.6 percent. Futures dropped 7 per cent in the previous three sessions on the US attempts to tamp down prices. The EU’s moves on Rus sian petroleum could send shock waves through the global tanker market, and have already caused some Indian refiners to halt spot purchases before the latest sanc tions take effect early December.

US officials are planning to re lease 15 million barrels from the country’s emergency reserves, and may consider significantly more this winter. It’s the final tranche of oil from a program the White House began in the spring to re lease a total of 180 million barrels of crude. It’ll also seek to replenish its emergency stockpiles by buying when WTI is priced at or below $67 to $72 a barrel.

Crude has rebounded this month after losing more than 20 percent last quarter as the Organization of Petroleum Ex porting Countries and its allies

agreed on the biggest production cut since 2020. Opec+ defended its move, saying it was justified by the growing risk of a global recession, while Chinese oil de mand is still in limbo on virus lockdowns amid concerns of a global economic slowdown.

“The EU sanctions will hurt deliveries, and we also need to consider whatever supply side retribution Russia could take in light of the sanctions, which are two factors driving prices, while the other is how the SPR gets re plenished,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. “We could be in for an uptick in volatility.”

The EU’s eighth round of sanc tions could end up affecting a swath of tankers. It states that if a vessel owner transports Rus sian crude above an agreed price threshold, their ship would be banned from getting EU services needed to ship the commodity, such as insurance, “in the future.”

Adding to supply concerns, the restoration of full oil output at the Kashagan field in Kazakhstan has been delayed as the operator keeps working on a solution to a gas leak, people familiar with the matter said. Kazakhstan is Central Asia’s largest producer and one of the main alternatives to Russian crude for European buyers.

Bloomberg News

UK inflation returns to double digits as food prices soar

By Liza Tetley & David Goodman

SOARING food prices drove UK inflation back into double digits in September, intensifying pressure on the government and central bank to act.

The Consumer Prices Index rose 10.1 percent last month from 9.9 percent the month before, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. That matched a 40-year high reached in July and exceeded economists expectations for 10 percent.

The figures leave inflation well above the Bank of England’s 2 percent target, adding to pressure on policy makers to lift the key rate significantly next month. The danger is that prices accelerate again early next year after the government loosens its support for household energy bills.

Soaring prices have delivered the sharpest squeeze on consumer spending power in decades, leading to a plunge in poll ratings for Prime Minister Liz Truss’s government. While she introduced generous aid for households energy bills and tax cuts to jump-start growth, a market rout forced her to backtrack on many of those measures, leaving open the question how ministers will respond.

“I understand that families across the country are struggling with rising prices and higher energy bills,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. “This government will prioritize help for the most vulnerable.”

The Labour opposition blamed the government for rising prices. Rachel Reeves, the Labour member of Parliament who shadows Hunt, said, “inflation figures this morning will bring more anxiety to families worried about the Tories lack of grip on an economic crisis of their own making.”

The pound dropped after the report,

falling as much as 0.3 percent on the day to $1.1286.

The ONS said food prices rose by 14.8 percent from a year ago, also the strongest increase in more than 40 years. Furniture and household goods were another driver, rising 10.7 percent in September.

“These rises were partially offset by continuing falls in the costs of petrol, with airline prices falling by more than usual for this time of year, and second-hand car prices also rising less steeply than the large increases seen last year,” said Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS.

There were also signs of stickier inflation at the wholesale level. Producer prices, measuring the cost of goods leaving factories, rose 15.9 percent from a year ago in September. That was slower than the previous month but slightly above expectations. Raw materials prices rose 20 percent, also above expectations.

September’s inflation reading traditionally has been used to up-rate an annual increase in welfare benefits paid out starting the following April. It also feeds calculations about how much state pensions rise, though Hunt has yet to commit to using this year’s figure.

Meanwhile, scaling back aid for electricity and natural gas bills will expose consumers to surging prices in energy markets early next year. UK inflation may peak around 10.7 percent this year but surge to 12 percent in April if the government doesn’t manage to rein in spiraling energy costs, Bloomberg Economics estimates.

“We still expect inflation to peak in October this year, but this can only be achieved with more aggressive interest rate moves by the Bank of England, which could see base rates rising to at least 4.5 percent early next year,” said Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK. Bloomberg News

PRESIDENT Joe Biden speaks during a Democratic National Committee event at the Howard Theatre on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, in Washington. AP/EVAN VUCCI

Russian airstrikes hit Ukraine’s power stations, water supplies

By Hanna Arhirova The Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine—Airstrikes cut power and water supplies to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians on Tuesday, part of what the country’s president called an ex panding Russian campaign to drive the nation into the cold and dark and make peace talks impossible.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said nearly one-third of Ukraine’s power stations have been de stroyed in the past week, “caus ing massive blackouts across the country.”

“No space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime,” he tweeted.

Depriving people of water, electricity and heat as winter be gins to bite, and the broadening use of so-called suicide drones that nosedive into targets have opened a new phase in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. The bombardments appear aimed at wearing down the notable re silience Ukrainians have shown in the nearly eight months since Moscow invaded.

Meanwhile, along the front lines, things remained “very dif ficult” for Russian troops in the southern region and city of Kher son, according to Russia’s new commander, Sergei Surovikin.

He told reporters in Moscow that the Russian military would help evacuate civilians ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive.

Kherson is one of four regions illegally annexed by Russia last month. Regional head Vladimir Saldo said Tuesday that residents of Berislav, Belozersky, Snigiry ovsky and Alexandrovsky were to be moved across the Dnieper River, away from Russian troops building “large-scale defensive fortifications.”

Saldo urged residents to stay calm and said they would “remain under the reliable protection of the Russian army.”

On Friday, too, Saldo had urged Kherson residents to evacuate.

Russian authorities promise free travel and accommodations to those who leave for Russia, the only route out that they have offered.

Across Ukraine, even far from front lines, basic utilities are no longer certainties, with daily Russian strikes reaching far into the country and damaging key facilities.

The latest city shorn of power was Zhytomyr, home to military bases, industries and leafy boule vards, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of Kyiv. The mayor said the whole city of 250,000 lost power and also water initially.

Repairs quickly reconnected some homes but 150,000 people were still without electricity hours af ter the morning strike, regional authorities said.

Pavlo Raboschuk, a 33-year-old computer repairman in Zhytomyr, said that only small shops that could get by without electricity were open on his route to work.

“Only swear words come to mind,” he said. He’s bracing “for a tough and dark winter,” with dehydrated foods, warm clothes and batteries already stockpiled at home.

City hospitals switched to back up power after the double missile strike Tuesday on an energy facil ity, said Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn.

In the capital, Kyiv, missile strikes damaged two power fa cilities and killed two people, city authorities said. The attack left 50,000 people without power for a few hours, the facilities’ opera tor said.

Missiles also severely damaged an energy facility in the south-cen tral city of Dnipro, and strikes hit the northeastern region of Sumy.

Russia is mixing up its modes of attack.

Suicide drones set ablaze an in frastructure facility in the partly Russian-occupied southern Za porizhzhia region, the regional governor said.

Air-defense S-300 missiles, which Russia has been repurpos ing as ground-attack weapons as its stocks diminish, were used to strike the southern city of Mykolaiv. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, eight rockets fired from across the nearby border with Russia hit an industrial area, the regional governor said.

In Zhytomyr, school director

Iryna Kolodzynska had students back at their desks within 30 minutes of the air raid all clear. Without power for their comput ers, they used the class board to work on math equations.

“We must not break down,” she said. “There are regions that suf fered much more from the war than we did.”

Waves of the explosives-laden suicide drones also struck Kyiv on Monday. One slammed into a resi dential building, killing four people.

The Iranian-made Shahed drones that hit Kyiv have also been widely used elsewhere in Ukraine in recent weeks. An Associated Press photographer caught one on camera Monday, its triangleshaped wing and pointed warhead clearly visible, though the Kremlin refused to confirm their use.

The UN Security Council sched uled closed consultations Wednes day afternoon on the Iranianmade drones at the request of the United States, Britain and France. They contend that supplying them to Russia violates the 2015 UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six countries.

A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia is pur suing a strategy of “attempting to destroy Ukraine’s electricity network” with long-range strikes that are causing civilian casualties rather than degrading its military. The official said the Iranian drones “are playing an increas ingly significant role, although we can see that Ukraine is effectively neutralizing many of them before they hit their targets.”

In a televised address on Mon day night, Zelenskyy said Russia is using the drones because it is losing ground in the war.

“Russia doesn’t have any chance on the battlefield, and it tries to compensate for its military defeats with terror,” he said. “Why this

Lebanon approves some banking law changes demanded by IMF

By Bassem Mroue & Kareem Chehayeb The Associated Press

BEIRUT—Lebanon’s parliament late Tuesday approved some amendments to a banking secrecy law that has been a key demand of the International Monetary Fund before it agrees to a bailout program amid the country’s economic meltdown.

Despite the changes, legal advocacy groups say the alterations to the law will likely not be enough to please the IMF because it restricts moves to lift banking secrecy provisions to judicial authorities. The decades-old law is seen by many as a way to hide the widespread corruption that brought the small nation to bankruptcy over the past three years.

“We agreed on a law to lift banking secrecy with some amendments where we widely expanded the number of groups that can ask to lift banking secrecy,” the

head of parliament’s finance and budget committee, Ibrahim Kanaan, said in a tweet. “Negotiations with the International Monetary Fund have not stopped, and we have been in constant communication in the past days and hours so there won’t be flaws in the agreement that Lebanon aspires to.”

Among the amendments is the authority to lift banking secrecy off accounts retroactively to 1988. Kanaan told local television station Al-Jadeed that some proposed amendments in line with the IMF’s critiques were voted out of the legislation during Tuesday’s session.

Since Lebanon’s economic slide began in late 2019, three-quarters of the population of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, plunged into poverty. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value. The international community has been demanding major reforms in order to help the corruption-plagued nation.

Talks between Lebanon’s government and the IMF began in May 2020 and reached

a staff-level agreement in April.

The Lebanese government has implemented few of the IMF’s demands from the agreement, which are mandatory before finalizing a bailout program. Among them are restructuring Lebanon’s ailing financial sector, implementing fiscal reforms, restructuring external public debt and putting in place strong anti-corruption and anti-money laundering measures.

Lebanon defaulted in March 2020 on paying back its massive debt, worth at the time some $90 billion, or 170 percent of GDP, making it one of the highest in the world.

A key demand by the IMF in a tentative agreement with cash-strapped Lebanon for a bailout has been to allow the country’s tax authority to lift banking secrecy. That demand was rejected by parliament’s financial committee, saying it threatens privacy by allowing some civil servants to look into bank accounts without orders from the judiciary.

terror? To put pressure on us, on Europe, on the entire world.”

Zelenskyy’s tweet ruling out talks with Putin wasn’t the first time he’s said that he won’t negoti ate with the Russian leader. Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of talks in the first month after Mos cow’s invasion but they fell apart. The Kremlin has said talks could only be possible if Ukraine meets Russian demands and accepts its land-grabs of Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine has flatly ruled out talks on those terms.

North Korea fires artillery shells near border with South Korea

By Hyung-Jin Kim The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea—North Korea fired artillery shells near its sea boundaries with South Korea late Tuesday, a day after the South began annual military drills to better deal with North Korean provocations.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement early Wednesday that North Korea fired about 100 shells off its west coast and 150 rounds off its east coast. It said the South Korean military broadcast messages several times asking North Korea to stop the firing, but there were no reports of violence between the rivals.

South Korea’s military said the shells didn’t land in South Korean territorial waters but fell inside the northern part of the maritime buffer zones the two Koreas established under a 2018 inter-Korean agreement aimed at reducing front-line animosities.

It’s the second time North Korea has fired shells into the buffer zones since last Friday, when it shot hundreds of shells there in its most significant direct violation of the 2018 agreement.

South Korea’s military said North Korea must halt provocations that undermine peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. It added that it is boosting its military readiness and, in coordination with the United States, is closely monitoring North Korea’s moves.

Hours later, an unidentified spokesperson for the North Korean People’s Army’s General Staff issued a statement describing the latest artillery firings as a response to the South Korean artillery training that it claimed took place earlier Tuesday at a border area. Seoul didn’t immediately confirm it had conducted such artillery drills on Tuesday.

“The enemies should immediately stop the reckless and inciting provocations

escalating the military tension in the forefront area,” the North Korean military spokesperson said.

The North Korean spokesperson also lashed out at the South Korean military for kicking off an annual 12-day field exercise on Monday, calling it an invasion rehearsal.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the training is aimed at improving operational capabilities to counter various types of North Korean provocations and that an unspecified number of US troops will take part in this year’s drills.

The North’s artillery tests draw less outside attention than its missile launches. But its forward-deployed long-range artillery guns pose a serious security threat to South Korea’s populous metropolitan region, which is about 40 to 50 kilometers (25 to 30 miles) from the border with North Korea.

In recent weeks, North Korea has conducted a spate of weapons tests in what it calls simulations of nuclear strikes on South Korean and US targets in response to their “dangerous military drills” involving a US aircraft carrier. North Korea views regular military exercises between Washington and Seoul as an invasion rehearsal.

North Korea has test-launched 15 missiles since it resumed testing activities on September 25. One of them was an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and demonstrated a range capable of reaching the Pacific US territory of Guam and beyond.

Some foreign experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would eventually aim to use his expanded weapons arsenal to pressure the United States and others to accept his country as a legitimate nuclear state and lift economic sanctions on the North.

TheAssociatedPresswriterKimTong-hyung contributedtothisreport.

FIREFIGHTERS carry the body of a person killed after a drone fired on buildings in Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, October 17, 2022. Waves of explosive-laden suicide drones struck Ukraine’s capital as families were preparing to start their week early Monday, the blasts echoing across Kyiv, setting buildings ablaze and sending people scurrying to shelters. AP/YEVHENII ZAVHORODNII

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

editorial

Is China preparing to invade Taiwan?

Theglobal economy is expected to grow by only 3.1 percent this year, down from an earlier projection of 4 percent, be cause of the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the UN’s latest World economic Situation and Prospects report. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “The war in Ukraine—in all its dimensions—is setting in motion a crisis that is also devastat ing global energy markets, disrupting financial systems and exacer bating extreme vulnerabilities for the developing world.”

If the war in far away Ukraine is punishing oil importing countries in Asia like the Philippines and causing food prices to soar, will a war involving China be more devastating for countries in the region? What will happen if China attacks Taiwan?

From Bloomberg: “China has made a decision to seize Taiwan on a “much faster timeline” than previously thought, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, shortly after China’s leader reiterated his intent to take the island by force if necessary. “There has been a change in the approach from Beijing toward Taiwan in recent years,” Blinken said in an event at Stanford University in California.” Blinken said China had made a “fundamental deci sion that the status quo was no longer acceptable, and that Beijing was deter mined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.” He didn’t elaborate on the timing or provide other details.

Admiral Philip Davidson, then commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told the US Senate Armed Services Committee in a hearing last year that Chi na wanted to take Taiwan “during this decade, in fact, in the next six years.”

In his speech on Sunday at the opening ceremony of the ruling Communist Party of China’s 20th National Congress, President Xi Jinping said: “We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the best efforts, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force. And we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.”

In their new book—“Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China”—authors Hal Brands and Michael Beckley said in the event of a war involving China, the economic fallout would be disastrous. They added that “a global depres sion would be all but guaranteed.”

The authors argued that China has been increasingly making aggressive moves against its neighbors in Asia and defining its future in terms of a stra tegic battle with the United States for influence in a changing world. Beckley said that, in recent years, China has embarked on a military buildup unlike any since World War II. The book also said “China today fits the profile of a dangerous adversary, a rising power that has reached a point where its growth seems to have peaked and its leaders become increasingly reckless in striking out against rivals allying against them.”

The Rand research organization estimates that a war involving China and the United States would slice 5 percent off the $23 trillion US economy.

However, China’s $17 trillion economy would suffer a lot more, with its GDP plunging by as much as 25 percent, according to Rand. Taiwan’s relatively small $670 billion economy would probably suffer the most, as the nation fights for its very survival.

Rick Newman, in a Yahoo! article— Here’s what would happen to markets and the economy if China attacked Taiwan— said Taiwan’s semiconductor industry is so important that capturing it intact might be a Day One goal of China’s military, if it were to invade. It’s also possible Taiwan and its allies could de stroy state-of-the-art fabrication plants, to keep advanced technology out of Chinese hands.

Newman said: “Markets have shown no concern over Pelosi’s visit to Tai wan or China’s menacing response. The S&P 500 rose the week Pelosi visited Taiwan and China sent missiles flying, as investors interpreted the chest puff ing as posturing. There’s no tangible sign that China is preparing to launch an actual war or that President Xi would be willing to plunge his nation into a maelstrom he himself might not survive.”

“That’s probably right,” Newman said, “but many analysts thought Russian President Vladimir Putin would never risk the wrath of the West by invad ing Ukraine, and Putin proved them wrong. There’s nothing to worry about until the moment invading forces cross a border. Then there’s everything to worry about.”

Turn down the volume

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

entertaining. For a time, I taught foreign currency trading to profes sionals. That was when the French franc and the deutsche mark were major currencies and the Chinese renminbi and the South Korean won were considered “exotic”.

were thinking about the world being a simulation or one of the “parallel universes.” Watching Amazon Prime Video’s “The Man in the High Castle” reminded of hazy late-night conver sations of what was real and what was invented in our own or someone else’s mind.

SeveRA

l weeks ago I shared on social media something from a psychologist who answered the question of what a child should do with a parent with dementia who talks about the past as if it were the present.

The response was, “Enter into his reality and enjoy it. He doesn’t need to be “oriented” to some boring current reality. If Dad spends most of his time in 1959, sit with him. Ask him ques tions and celebrate his stories. This isn’t playing along to pacify the old guy. This is an opportunity to com municate and treasure his memories, real even if out of time.”

Granted that 1959 is a little far back, I can tell the story of watch ing the announcement of the as sassination of John Kennedy in real time on television the day before my 13th birthday. Perhaps because I have more free time now that my family is secure, I think back to some of the interests I had years ago.

A woman I once dated told me her eight-year-old son could read a person’s aura. One night when I picked her up for a date, I gave the

kid 10 dollars to tell his mother he saw my strong red and orange aura. Look it up.

My sons recently asked if I ever travelled the “Hippie Trail” from Lon don to Bangkok by way of Istanbul and Delhi. Three types of my gen eration’s men made that trip. Those looking for enlightenment ended up in Kathmandu. Those looking for love went to Bangkok. Those look ing to make substantial profits in the recreational drug business went to Tehran or Kabul.

I was too busy learning to trade the New York Stock Exchange. Be sides, flying first-class seemed more enjoyable to me than making that journey riding in the back of a Volk swagen van.

Speaking of which, the re sponses to Congressman Sandro Marcos’s comment on the move ment of the Philippine peso was

Thinly traded currencies are still considered exotic, the Philippine peso, baht, and Singapore dollar now in that category.

But no matter the year on the calendar, all currencies are traded in pairs—USD/PHP, USD/JPN, AUD/ CAD, EUR/NZD and so on. The best way to understand movement is by looking at an old balance beam scale. When one side goes up, the other side goes down. It is impossible for both sides to go up or down at the same time.

I see the aura of the Philippine peso as grey—exhaustion, depres sion, low energy, and skepticism about the future. However, a grey aura also means a transition, perhaps to silver, which is currently being blocked by oil prices and the weather. The hippie generation wasn’t all sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.

Then again, forex trading started in Amsterdam roughly 500 years ago. It is probably no coincidence that the modern foreign exchange trading market began about the same time when cannabis became legal in the coffee shops of the Netherlands in 1976.

Long before the Matrix movie, we

On January 15, 2001 Wikipedia was launched and since then the 21st century has been quite a ride. The September 11 attacks. The euro enters circulation. The Indian Ocean Boxing Day Tsunami killing 230,000, and that’s only up to 2004. The meltdown at the Fukushi ma Nuclear Power Plant. The Arab Spring and Middle Eastern wars from Yemen to Afghanistan. Pope Benedict XVI resigns, the first since 1415. Covid. The list of major events of global significance in the 21st cen tury goes on and on and never seems to end. Ukraine, a global flashpoint? It was much better when Ukraine was known as the birthplace of Mila Kunis, Sergei Prokofiev, and Anatoly Onoprienko.

If this is all the natural order of things, so be it. But if I am living in a multiverse you created—or you in mine—maybe we could turn the volume down for a change. We all need a break.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.

AP-NORC poll: Many remain critical of state of US democracy

By Gary Fields & Christina A. Cassidy | The Associated Press

WAShINGTON—Many

Americans remain pessimistic about the state of US democracy and the way elected of ficials are chosen—nearly two years after a divisive presi dential election spurred false claims of widespread fraud and a vio lent attack on the US Capitol.

Only about half of Americans have high confidence that votes in the upcoming midterm elections will be counted accurately, accord ing to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, though that’s an improve ment from about 4 in 10 saying that just before the 2020 presidential elec tion. Just 9 percent of US adults think democracy is working “extremely” or “very well,” while 52 percent say it’s not working well.

In a reversal from two years ago, Republicans are now more likely than Democrats to say democracy is not working well. This year, 68 percent of Republicans feel this way com pared to 32 percent two years ago. The share of Democrats with a sour outlook on how democracy is func tioning in the US dropped from 63 percent to 40 percent.

Ronald McGraw Sr., 67, of In dianapolis, is a retired construction

worker who recently registered to vote and intends to cast a ballot for the first time this year.

“I thought I’d let everybody else put their vote in and just go with the flow, but this whole thing is at stake now,” he said, referring to democracy, the economy, “everything, how the whole country runs.”

McGraw, who is Black and con siders himself a moderate, said a big concern is the political turmoil in the country and the fact that he sees too many self-serving politicians con cerned with power, especially those who work against the interest of minorities. He said he registered as a Republican, but did not give any thought to party platforms or stances at the time.

“I am paying attention now,” he said.

After every presidential election, members of the losing candidate’s party can experience a letdown. The

fallout from the 2020 election has been deeper, fueled by the lies from former President Donald Trump and his allies that Democrats stole the election.

There is no evidence of wide spread fraud or manipulation of vot ing machines. Exhaustive reviews in key states upheld Democrat Joe Biden’s win, while judges—includ ing some appointed by Trump—dis missed numerous lawsuits challeng ing the outcome. Trump’s own attor ney general, William Barr, called the claims bogus.

The general despair over democ racy comes after decades of increas ing polarization nationwide, from the presidential and congressional races down to local contests such as races for school boards.

Overall, just a quarter of US adults—including similar percent ages of Republicans and Demo crats—say they are optimistic about the way leaders are chosen, while 43 percent say they are pessimistic. An additional 31 percent feel neither.

Adam Coykendall, a 31-year-old social studies teacher from Ashland, Wisconsin, said he sees party loyal ties driving lawmakers more than the good of the country.

“I feel like everything is becom

ing a little more divisive, a little more polarized, more focused on party loyalty ... rather than working for your constituency, having things that work for people rather than working for the party,” said Coyk endall, who described himself as an independent who leans toward the Democratic Party.

The AP-NORC poll also found a large segment of Republicans—58 percent—still believe Biden’s elec tion wasn’t legitimate. That’s down slightly from 66 percent in July 2021.

Gary Phelps, a 70-year-old retired truck driver in Clearwater, Minne sota, accepts Biden is president but doesn’t think he was legitimately elected. Phelps said he was concerned about voter fraud, mail ballots being received and counted after Election Day, and irregularities with some voting machines, although he ac knowledged it’s based on his feeling rather than evidence.

Phelps remains concerned about the voting process and whether the tallies will be accurate. “I would hope so, but I don’t think so,” the Republi can-leaning independent said.

The poll shows 47 percent of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence

Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua

By Raf Casert & Samuel Petrequin | The Associated Press

‘Bad situation’: Soaring US dollar spreads pain worldwide

By Paul Wiseman, Kelvin Chan, Samy Magdy & Ayse Wieting The Associated Press

THEcost of living in Cairo has soared so much that secu rity guard Mustafa gamal had to send his wife and year-old daughter to live with his parents in a village 70 miles south of the Egyptian capital to save money.

isting inflationary pressures.

n It squeezes companies, con sumers and governments that bor rowed in dollars. That’s because more local currency is needed to convert into dollars when making loan pay ments.

recession and recovery.

In Manila, Raymond Manaog, 29, who drives the colorful Philippine mini-bus known as a jeepney, com plains that inflation—and especially the rising price of diesel—is forcing him to work more to get by.

BRUSSELS—European

Union leaders enter a crucial stretch this week to make sure runaway energy prices and short supplies don’t further tank their struggling economies and foment un rest. At the same time, they need to keep all 27 members united in their opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Leading up to Thursday’s start of a key summit, the european Com mission, the bloc’s executive branch, proposed a blueprint on Tuesday that needs to reconcile the yawning gap between those who want to impose a common gas price cap to keep prices down and those who think it would primarily keep out supplies, further starving industries and businesses.

Then, going into the weekend, eU leaders will seek a compromise during two days of talks, however hard that may be. As a sweetener, the european Commission also proposes to retarget some 40 billion euros in budget aid towards those most af fected by the crisis.

european Council president and summit host Charles Michel told the 27 leaders in his invitation letter that there were three lines of action: re ducing demand, ensuring security of supply and containing prices.

europe is facing its week of truth,” Belgian Prime Minister Al exander De Croo said. “This week it is hit or miss.”

It didn’t take long for eU member countries to realize that the bloc’s dependence on Russian energy was a huge political error after Putin invad ed neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24 and natural gas prices skyrocketed. Amid sanctions imposed on Russia’s energy sector, the wealthy bloc of 450 million has since been struggling to find ways to keep freezing tempera tures from entering the homes of the poorest and businesses from going down for lack of affordable energy.

With nationalists and right-wing populists complaining ever more about the eU’s common approach, the ability to find a joint exit strategy from the crisis could have a direct impact on the bloc’s future.

“The coming winter could freeze and shatter european sentiment— the shared sense of belonging, mutu al trust among european countries, and citizens’ emotional attachment to the idea of europe,” said Pawel Zerka of the european Council on Foreign Relations.

even De Croo, leader of one of the most eU-embracing nations, knows there is no more time to waffle. “The time for excuses has gone. If the eU still wants to be meaningful, contain energy prices and better protect fam ilies and businesses in this energy war, it finally has to deliver,” he said.

De Croo has been pushing hard in recent weeks to cap the cost of all gas imports to the eU, with other countries like Poland and Greece also increasing the pressure on the european Commission.

The body tried to find a common ground between juggernaut Ger many, which doesn’t back a full gas price cap, and other countries that are convinced such a cap won’t lead to a decline of offer on the market.

The european Commission pro posed a compromise that would allow for a temporary correction mechanism to kick in in exceptional circumstances, and the creation of a new LNG gas index better reflect ing the market following the drastic reduction of imports of pipeline gas from Russia.

If any prodding was needed, the International energy Agency did it early this month by saying that “eu rope’s security of gas supply is facing

EU faces battle to keep energy prices from tanking economy that the votes in the 2022 midterm elections will be counted accurately.

Confidence is highest among Demo crats, 74 percent of whom say they’re

It didn’t take long for EU mem ber countries to realize that the bloc’s dependence on Russian energy was a huge political error after Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24 and natu ral gas prices skyrocketed. Amid sanctions imposed on Russia’s energy sector, the wealthy bloc of 450 million has since been strug gling to find ways to keep freez ing temperatures from entering the homes of the poorest and businesses from going down for lack of affordable energy.

unprecedented risk as Russia inten sifies its use of natural gas supplies as a political weapon.”

even if hoarding of gas supplies has gone full thrust ahead and re liance on Russian provisions has dwindled to less than 10 percent, dangers still lurks.

“The possibility of a complete cutoff in Russian gas deliveries cannot be dismissed ahead of the 2022/2023 heating season—when the european gas system is at its most vulnerable,” the Ie A said.

And the energy crisis is ripping deep into the fabric of european society. The eTUC european trade union group said that wages adjusted for inflation have fallen in every eU member state this year by as much as 9 percent. Meanwhile, corporate profits continued to rise, sometimes by as much as 6.5 percent in Roma nia, it said.

“People are missing meals, having to scrap the leisure activities. And families have to choose between fill ing up their cars or turning on the heating,” said Manon Aubry, an eU lawmaker from the Left group.

Against such a background of potential social foment, the eU lead ers are in line to agree on a system to pool buying of gas to make sure member states stop bidding against one another to boost reserves and push up energy prices overall. Under the commission’s proposal, natural gas arriving through the entry points from Russia would be excluded from the plan.

To get ready for possible shortages in the winter, the eU has already agreed to cut gas consumption by 15 percent. The european Commission also suggested Tuesday to bolster eU solidarity rules to make sure mem bers can receive gas from the others in case of an emergency in exchange of a compensation.

To counter the threat of business failures and industrial decline, eU nations have independently started subsidizing threatened sectors, at the risk of skewing the market. If a wealthy member state can throw bil lions of euros at an industry while a poorer one has to scrape by and look on jealously, the concept of the eU’s common market is under threat.

This is why Germany’s 200 bil lion-euro plan to subsidize its in dustry to get through the next two winters has come under criticism by many. But then again, keeping Germany’s wheels of industry going, could also benefit all. “Usually what is good for Germany is good for us,” De Croo said.

highly confident. On the Republican side, confidence in elections is decid edly mixed: 25 percent have high confidence, 30 percent have moder ate confidence and 45 percent have little to no confidence.

That erosion of trust comes af ter two years of Trump and his al

Gamal, 28, stayed behind, work ing two jobs, sharing an apartment with other young people and elimi nating meat from his diet. “The prices of everything have been doubled,” he said. “There was no alternative.’’

Around the world, people are sharing Gamal’s pain and frustra tion. An auto parts dealer in Nairobi, a seller of baby clothes in Istanbul and a wine importer in Manchester, england, have the same complaint: A surging US dollar makes their lo cal currencies weaker, contributing to skyrocketing prices for everyday goods and services. This is com pounding financial distress at a time when families are already facing food and energy crunches tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“A strong dollar makes a bad situ ation worse in the rest of the world,’’ says eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University. Many economists worry that the sharp rise of the dollar is increasing the likelihood of a global recession sometime next year.

The dollar is up 18 percent this year and last month hit a 20-year high, according to the benchmark ICe US Dollar Index, which mea sures the dollar against a basket of key currencies.

The reasons for the dollar’s rise are no mystery. To combat soaring US inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark short-term in terest rate five times this year and is signaling more hikes are likely. That has led to higher rates on a wide range of US government and corporate bonds, luring investors and driving up the US currency.

Most other currencies are much weaker by comparison, especially in poor countries. The Indian rupee has dropped nearly 10% this year against the dollar, the egyptian pound 20 percent, the Turkish lira an astound ing 28 percent.

Celal Kaleli, 60, sells infant cloth ing and diaper bags in Istanbul. Because he needs more lira to buy imported zippers and liners priced in dollars, he has to raise prices for the Turkish customers who struggle to pay him in the much-diminished local currency.

“We’re waiting for the new year,” he said. “We’ll look into our financ es, and we’ll downsize accordingly. There’s nothing else we can do.’’

Rich countries aren’t immune. In europe, which was already tee tering toward recession amid soar ing energy prices, one euro is worth less than a $1 for the first time in 20 years, and the British pound has plunged 18 percent from a year ago. The pound recently flirted with dol lar parity after Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, announced huge tax cuts that roiled financial markets and led to the ouster of her Treasury secretary.

Ordinarily, countries could get some benefit from falling curren cies because it makes their prod ucts cheaper and more competitive overseas. But at the moment, any gain from higher exports is muted because economic growth is sput tering almost everywhere.

A rising dollar is causing pain overseas in a number of ways: n It makes other countries’ im ports more expensive, adding to ex

n It forces central banks in oth er countries to raise interest rates to try and prop up their currencies and keep money from fleeing their borders. But those higher rates also weaken economic growth and drive up unemployment.

Put simply: “The dollar’s appre ciation is bad news for the global economy,’’ says Capital economics’ Ariane Curtis. “It is another reason why we expect the global economy to fall into recession next year.’’

In a gritty neighborhood of Nai robi known for fixing cars and selling auto parts, businesses are struggling and customers are unhappy. With the Kenyan shilling down 6 percent this year, the cost of fuel and imported spare parts is soaring so much that some people are choosing to ditch their cars and take public transpor tation.

“This has been the worst,” said Michael Gachie, purchasing manager with Shamas Auto Parts. “Customers are complaining a lot.’’

Gyrating currencies have caused economic pain around the world many times before. During the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, for instance, Indonesian companies bor rowed heavily in dollars during boom times—then were wiped out when the Indonesian rupiah crashed against the dollar. A few years earlier, a plung ing peso delivered similar pain to Mexican businesses and consumers.

The soaring dollar in 2022 is uniquely painful, however. It is add ing to global inflationary pressures at a time when prices were already soaring. Disruptions to energy and agriculture markets caused by the Ukraine war magnified supply con straints stemming from the Covid-19

“What we have to do to earn enough for our daily expenses,” he said. “If before we traveled our routes five times, now we do it six times.”

In the Indian capital New Delhi, Ravindra Mehta has thrived for de cades as a broker for American al mond and pistachio exporters. But a record drop in the rupee—on top of higher raw material and shipping costs—has made the nuts much cost lier for Indian consumers.

In August, India imported 400 containers of almonds, down from 1,250 containers a year earlier, Mehta said.

“If the consumer is not buying, it affects the entire supply chain, including people like me,’’ he said.

Kingsland Drinks, one of the United Kingdom’s biggest wine bot tlers, was already getting squeezed by higher costs for shipping contain ers, bottles, caps and energy. Now, the rocketing dollar is driving up the price of the wine it buys from vine yards in the United States—and even from Chile and Argentina, which like many countries rely on the dollar for global trade.

Kingsland has offset some of its currency costs by taking out con tracts to buy dollars at a fixed price. But at some point, “those hedges run out and you have to reflect the reality of a weaker sterling against the US dollar,” said ed Baker, the company’s managing director.

Translation: Soon customers will just have to pay more for their wine. Wiseman reported from Washington, Chan from London, Magdy from Cairo and Wieting from Istanbul. Cara Anna and Desmond Tiro in Nai robi; Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Krutika Pathi in New Delhi; and Joeal Calupitan in Manila contributed to this story.

HK tries to reverse expat exodus with housing tax cut, new visa

By Shirley Zhao, Kiuyan Wong & Sarah Zheng Bloomberg Opinion

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee unveiled a sweeping plan to woo talent back to the city and ease its housing woes, in a bid to revive its status as a thriving internation al finance hub.

The city leader in his maiden poli cy address on Wednesday announced he would cut property duties for non-permanent residents and ease visa rules to reverse a brain drain prompted by years of isolationist Co vid policies. His proposals to make property more affordable answered Beijing’s call to fix the hub’s notori ous housing market, which Chinese officials have blamed for political unrest in the city.

Lee, who took office in July, has a tough road ahead of him as Hong Kong’s economy limps toward the end of the year. Gross domestic product is projected to contract for the third time since 2019 as fallout from Covid restrictions, rising interest rates, global infla tion and Russia’s war in Ukraine all pummel growth.

“The world is undergoing pro found changes unseen in a century,” Lee said, citing some of those factors as having “weakened the growth momentum of the global economy.”

The visa and property rules were most keenly watched on Wednesday for signs of how Lee intended to re vive the city’s economy and its com petitiveness among rival financial hubs, chiefly Singapore. The South east Asia city-state has been trying to lure talent and business away from Hong Kong with its own new visa

lies promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election and peddling conspiracy theories about voting machines.

Narratives about mailed ballots mysteriously changing vote totals have been one persistent source of misinformation. To be clear, results

program and a faster, more aggres sive rollback of Covid restrictions.

The Hang Seng Index was down 1.8 percent at 1:36 p.m. local time as Lee was delivering his address. A sub-index of property developers was down 0.8 percent, erasing gains before his speech of 2.8 percent.

Countering Singapore Lee outlined a two-year visa pro gram for people who bring in at least HK$2.5 million ($318,480) annually that will allow them to explore op portunities in Hong Kong without being subject to any quota. Recent graduates of the world’s top 100 universities will also be eligible for work visas, he added.

The city will also suspend the an nual quota of its current program for skilled talent and extend the limit of stay for non-local graduates from one to two years.

The proposal comes two months after Singapore announced its own five-year work visa program for foreigners earning S$360,000 ($253,530) annually, citing a hyper competitive battle for global talent.

While Hong Kong has relaxed its toughest Covid restrictions in recent weeks—in September, Lee announced an end to hotel quaran tine for travelers—it has trailed Sin gapore, which this spring dropped

announced on election night are unofficial and often incomplete. It’s normal for counting to continue sev eral days after election Day, as mailed ballots received by their deadline are processed and added to the tally.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a surge of mailed balloting as

many of its most prohibitive curbs and has been outspoken about need ing to position itself as a premier fi nancial hub and global city.

The university visa program, meanwhile, echoes a similar talent incentive program in the United Kingdom, which earlier this year launched a two-year visa plan for jobseekers who have graduated from top-ranked universities in the last five years.

Property proposals

A MUCH ANTICIPAT eD change to property rules include a plan to re fund extra stamp duties that nonpermanent resident property buyers have to pay after they have stayed in the city for seven years.

Once they have become perma nent residents, those buyers can apply for refunds of two separate stamp duties that are each fixed at 15 percent. They still have to pay for another duty capped at 4.25 percent, as the city’s permanent residents do.

Hong Kong’s property market is one of the world’s most expensive, and the sector has been slumping as a result of rising rates and a popula tion outflow.

Secondary home prices have dropped 8 percent since the start of the year and are on track to ap proach a five-year-low. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. expects home prices to plunge 30 percent through 2023 from last year’s levels.

The easing or lowering of stampduty rates for non-local buyers could attract demand, particularly from mainland Chinese interested in luxury residential properties, said Patrick Wong, a real estate analyst

voters opted to avoid crowded polling stations. A large number of those bal lots slowed down the results as local election offices worked through the steps to verify the ballots and ensure they matched registered voters.

Julie Duggan, a 31-year-old police officer from Chicago, is among the

with Bloomberg Intelligence ahead of the policy address. The impact on sales of mass residential projects could be limited until there is more clarity on how high mortgage rates could go, he added.

To help more people access the housing market’s costly barrier to entry, Lee also detailed a proposal to expand homeownership. He vowed to increase overall public housing production by about 50% in the com ing five years.

National security Lee also used his address, his most important speech since taking office in July, to express his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping. The city leader said Xi’s Sunday speech at a major congress in Beijing would serve as his “blueprint” for govern ing Hong Kong.

In that address, Xi credited a na tional security law enacted in June 2020 -- along with an electoral over haul to ensure governance under ap proved “patriots”—with restoring order to the city. The Chinese leader also stressed the “one country, two systems” governance model in Hong Kong “must be adhered to over the long term.”

National security has been a key theme of policy addresses in recent years, and Lee made clear it’s still a priority. He emphasized the city must remain vigilant to threats and recommitted to implementing Hong Kong’s own local security law, Article 23, without setting any timeframe for achieving this. With assistance from Enda Curran, Shawna Kwan, Kari Lindberg, Jinshan Hong, Krystal Chia and Catherine Ngai / Bloomberg.

Republicans who does not believe Biden’s win was legitimate. She said watching his gaffes and missteps, it was impossible to believe he garnered enough support to win. Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Washington and Nuha Dolby in New York contributed to this report.

Experts: Costly food benefits middlemen, not producers

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

TURNING the current food crisis into an opportunity for the poor would require reducing the benefits of middlemen, according to experts from the World Bank.

In a virtual briefing on Wednesday, World Bank Senior Economist Nadia Bel haj Hassine said high inflation, which the country is experiencing right now, would “definitely” lead to higher poverty and wider inequality.

Hassine said the main question now is how the government can respond. The response, she said, should “turn the crisis into an opportunity” particularly for the agriculture sector.

“If we look at an increase in food prices, this is an opportunity to increase domestic production of agricultural out put and this is an opportunity to reduce the benefits going to the middlemen,” Hassine said.

“The past crisis where food prices in creased, it showed that this increase did not benefit the agricultural producers exactly, it benefitted the distribution sectors,” she added.

Hassine also recommended the provi sion of well-targeted cash transfers to the poor. She, however, advised against the extension of subsidies given that these would only benefit higher income house holds.

“The question is what mitigation mea sures could be put in place to turn this or at least reduce the impact and at the same time, also how to turn part of this infla tion in favor of the poor,” Hassine said.

In a presentation, Hassine said the

country was already able to significantly reduce poverty and inequality before the pandemic.

Poverty reached 16.7 percent in 2018 from 49.2 percent in 1985. This reduction led to the creation of a middle class composed of 12 million people and 44 million economi cally secure individuals nationwide.

However, inequality in the country remained high. Th e gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, reached 42.3 per cent in 2018 from 42.4 percent in 1985.

Hassine said the top 1 percent earn ers accounted for 17 percent of national income while the bottom 50 percent ac counted for 14 percent of national income.

“With an income Gini of 42.3 percent in 2018, the Philippines ranks as the 15th most unequal out of 63 countries where income Gini coefficients are available, and is second only to Thailand in East Asia,” Hassine said.

The drivers of inequality in the Phil ippines are gaps in education which con tributed to over 30 percent of income inequality in the past three decades.

Gaps in occupation contributed 32 per cent of inequality in 2000. This was later reduced to 24 percent in 2018.

Hassine said gaps in sectors of employ ment also contributed to inequality, hav ing a share of 17 percent in 2018 from 25 percent in 2000.

CONSUMERS WANT FIRMS TO PRIORITIZE PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT–STUDY

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

SEVEN in 10 Filipino consumers in the Philippines believe that compa nies should prioritize environmental protection over profits, with 35 percent be lieving governments should do the same, according to a new study by consultancy firm Sandpiper.

Sandpiper’s 2022 Consumer Expecta tions Index for Asia Pacific looks at the expectations consumers have of public and private sector organizations and their leaders around sustainability issues. It is based on a survey of 6,000 consumers across 11 markets in the region.

The company said in a statement that consumers in the Philippines ranked the government (92 percent) as being the most responsible for solving sustainability is sues, with publicly listed companies (87 percent) ranking second, ahead of consum ers themselves (85 percent) and media (77 percent).

This was also reflected in responses around which individuals have the most power in re lation to sustainability issues with 84 percent ranking Heads of State as being the most pow erful, followed by Government Ministers at 5 percent, Consumers themselves at 4 percent, and Scientists at 3 percent.

However, while consumers in Philip pines believe governments are making the

strongest contribution to environmental sustainability, they see public companies as the greatest underperformers. Over one in five or 21 percent of Filipinos believe consumers themselves are contributing to environmental sustainability.

The study reveals that an overwhelm ing 99 percent of consumers in Philippines believe climate change is a reality, with just (1 percent) saying otherwise. This is despite only 60 percent of consumers say ing they have a strong understanding of climate change.

When asked about their feelings around climate change, the top emotions Filipino consumers feel are concern (55 percent), frustration (17 percent), guilt (15 percent), with a further 10 percent saying they are satisfied the problem is being managed, while 4 percent are in different.

According to the study, people in the Philippines are the most concerned about climate change among all markets, with 56 percent saying they are worried this problem will develop in the future. In ad dition, 60 percent are concerned about poverty and 52 percent are concerned about ocean pollution.

Looking specifically at sectors, more than 1 in 10 consumers see five sectors as irresponsible or non-compliant when it comes to regulation.

Companies

Araneta biz group to spend ₧41B for hydropower plant

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

$1 as of the last quarter of 2018.

BHC was granted by the Depart ment of Energy (DOE) a service con tract to explore, develop and utilize hydropower resources within the contract area located along Laguna de Bay in the municipality of Pangil.

“The proposed [project] in gen eral is envisioned to augment power supply and contribute to energy se curity in the country as a renewable energy resource consistent with the strategy directions of the Philippine Development Plan and the Power Development Plan,” read the draft

environmental impact statement by project proponent Belisima Hydro power Corp. (BHC). “It will also in crease the contribution of renewable energy sources in the Luzon grid.”

According to BHC, the indicative cost of the project is P41 billion, us ing the exchange rate of P52.53 per

Project construction will take approximately 48 months and will involve a workforce of 2,000. It will be located along the northwestern part of the Laguna Lake East Bay and will occupy several barangays in the municipality of Pakil and Pangil.

“BHC is in the process of negoti ating the lease over the properties forming part of the project site. The memorandum of agreement between Greogorio Araneta (GA) Inc. and BHC relating to the acquisition by

GA Inc. of the properties underly ing the project site and subsequent lease to BHC is attached,” it told the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The company added that the ma jor benefit of utilizing a pumpedstorage facility is that only a mini mal amount of water is required during operation. Water losses due to evaporation, leakage, or seep age will be provided by rainfall or additional pumped water from La guna de Bay.

“The project will only use about 0.5 percent of the lake volume,” BHC said. “In addition, water used to gen erate electricity is not in contact with any harmful substances.”

Buying ABS-CBN no longer on MVP’s mind

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

PLDT Inc. no longer intends to revive its plan to acquire significant shareholding in ABS-CBN Corp., but instead it will strengthen its partnership with the multimedia conglomerate for con tent development.

“I think we have mutually ter minated discussions with respect to investments, either investments in Sky and investments in ABSCBN,” PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said last Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of PLDT’s Digital Convention 2022. PLDT’s stock price was at P1,590 at last trading

The PLDT Group and ABS-CBN earlier entered in two separate deals that involve the acquisition by ABSCBN of 34.99 percent of total voting and outstanding capital stock in TV5 Network Inc., a PLDT unit, for P2.16 billion; and the P2.86-billion invest

ment by Cignal Cable Corp. into Sky Cable Corp.

The two contracts also carried eight-year maturing deals amount ing to P11.5 billion in convertible notes and debt instruments. These have been terminated as well.

However, after being publicly questioned by lawmakers and the telco regulator, the two groups de cided to terminate the deals.

“Before that particular transac tion—which has already been ter minated—we had already been in discussions with ABS-CBN about content being shown on TV5,” Pangilinan said. “That discussion continues to this day about con tent, but limited to entertainment

alone. That discussion continues in various forms, whether in block time, licensing of existing [shows] and corporate actions. There are no investments involved in the discussion.”

ABS-CBN currently buys block time slots from TV5.

“There are discussions focused on the program grid, weekdays from 5 a.m. all the way to closing time. They know that TV5 would have to pro duce its own content and we know that we have to work with other con tent providers, not only ABS-CBN, because we are also working with Viva, Unitel,” Pangilinan said. “We just have to make sure that we have our own content. “

of NOW Corp. tapped by Unionbank

BY Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28 Contributor

UNION Bank of the Phil ippines (Unionbank) has tapped NOW Corp. to pro vide cutting-edge fixed wireless broadband solutions to its inno vation hub as it pushes the coun try’s banking industry towards digitization.

With their partnership, the telco company’s NOW Fiber Air brings connectivity to the re cently inaugurated UB Innova tion Campus (UBIC) of the Aboitiz Group’s banking unit.

Located within a 1-hectare compound in San Pedro, Laguna, UBIC is the country’s pioneering strategic site for training and development on digital bank ing, blockchain, artificial intel ligence, metaverse, and other future technologies.

It caters not only to the lender’s employees and its parent firm, but also for small businesses and government agencies that need to learn and understand digita lization.

For a guaranteed connection security at all times, NOW Fi ber Air uses point-to-point or point-to-multipoint fixed wire less technology to UBIC, thus,

sparing the service from fiber optic cable cuts.

Such inevitable problems, which are common to fixed wired internet services that pass through copper cables or fiber ducts mounted underground or via electrical posts, are logically resolved within days, weeks or even months.

This makes it as the best solu tion for enterprises that consider every second of downtime as a major setback to overall opera tions and customers’ experience.

“NOW Fiber Air’s advantage is that there is no need to dig underground, thus, their speed to deploy is unmatched,” Union Bank said.

What’s more, it utilizes telcograde equipment from global sup pliers that are compliant to the digital trust standards set by the Clean Network.

Impressive feature

THE outdoor antenna and the necessary peripherals could with stand even very harsh weather conditions, so connectivity will never be interrupted even in the most critical times.

Another impressive feature of NOW Fiber Air is its commitment of five-day installation, which is possible since it does not require

to dig cables underground. So installation, configuration and connection of any office space or building are no longer a hassle for clients.

“For our UBIC, they were able to install in about one week, right after construction was done,” the bank noted.

The hub’s reliable and secured connectivity marks an extension of the existing service relation ship between UnionBank and NOW Corp.

The former is one of NOW Fiber Air’s biggest clients, with UnionBank Plaza also relying on its 1.2Gbps dedicated inter net connectivity as backup. The bank’s head office in Ortigas Cen ter, Pasig City is among the 450 buildings and enterprises across Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite and Batangas that are currently enjoying its uninterrupted and dependable enterprise connec tivity service.

“NOW Corp. has been our con nectivity partner for a few years now, and we are very happy with their service,” UnionBank said.

“We get VIP customer experience, as we get C-level executives’ vis its to our headquarters, ensur ing our connection is stable. And they also share insights valuable to the bank.”

SEC automation feted by consultancy firm

By VG Cabuag @villygc

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been recognized by Chalre Asso ciates Inc. in its “Asia CEO Awards” as “Airspeed Service Excellence Company of the Year” for “provid ing high-service level standards to stakeholders.”

Chalre Associates said the win ners of the award were chosen based on: service level improvements and advancements made by the orga nization to enable business expan sion; the financial impact of such improvements; pioneering achieve ments; customer satisfactions; and, other recognitions garnered by the initiative.

“The SEC has always been at the forefront of devising new programs that would make transacting with the Commission easy and hasslefree,” SEC Chairman Emilio B. Aqui no said. “These programs serve to further the growth of our corporate sector as we move to a digital-first

world, while ensuring that our stake holders can adapt to such changes.”

Aquino thanked Chalre Asso ciates “for the recognition of our humble efforts, and likewise com mit to upholding the standards of excellence we have shown the public thus far.”

Over the past two years, the SEC has rolled out several programs un der its digital transformation pro gram to further improve the ease of doing business in the country and spur the growth of domestic enter prises. Among these is the “Electron ic Simplified Processing of Applica tion for Registration of Company,” or “eSPARC,” which allowed for an easier and faster company registra tion process.

The automation of the registra tion process helped grow the num ber of newly registered domestic corporations and partnerships by 50 percent and 33 percent, respectively, in 2021. Since its launch in April last year, the system has so far processed 95,163 applications for company registration.

THE group of businessman Gre gorio Ma. Araneta III will in vest P41 billion to put up an 800-megawatt (MW) pumped-storage hydropower facility in Laguna.

Banking&Finance

BSP partially awards TDFs as shorter tenors favored

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pili pinas (BSP) partially award ed Term Deposit Facilities

(TDFs) as investors preferred shorter tenors during the auction on Wednesday.

The BSP offered a total of P280 billion in today’s TDF auction from P310 billion last week. Of this amount, P150 billion was allocated to the 7-day tenor, lower than the P170 billion last week, and P130 billion for the 14-day tenor, which was lower than the P140 billion in the previous week.

However, only P256.77 billion was awarded by the Central Bank during the auction. This was com posed of P150 billion for the 7-day tenor and P106.77 billion for the 14-day tenor.

“The results of the TDF auction show market participants’ prefer ence for the shorter tenor ahead of All Souls’ Day holiday as well as to fund loan releases and deposit ma turities,” BSP said.

“Nonetheless, financial system liquidity remains adequate. For its

part, the BSP’s monetary operations will remain guided by its assessment of the latest liquidity conditions and market developments,” it added.

Total tenders amounted to P276.096 billion which was within the range of expected volume of the BSP. This is composed of P169.326 billion for the 7-day TDFs and P106.77 billion for the 14-day TDFs.

The BSP said the 7-day TDF was oversubscribed, receiving bids 1.13x the volume offered while the 14-day TDF was undersubscribed, with bids reaching 0.82x the offering.

The weighted average interest rate (WAIR) for the two tenors con tinued to rise from the rates last week. The 7-day WAIR increased by 9.7381 bps to 4.7093 percent as the 14-day WAIR rose by 11.1871 bps to 4.7611 percent.

The yields accepted in the 7-day tenor shifted higher but narrowed to a range of 4.5800-4.8398 percent. Meanwhile, that for the 14-day tenor shifted higher and widened to a range of 4.4800-5.2125 percent.

Cai U. Ordinario

Neda: Sharp peso swings, not weakness, crucial to economy

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

SHARP peso swings are more crucial than the actual value or whether the currency is ‘weaker’ or ‘stronger’ relative to the dollar, ac cording to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

At the sidelines of the Philippine Business Conference and Expo last Wednesday, Socioeconomic Plan ning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told reporters that having a stable and predictable foreign exchange is more helpful for businesses and the economy.

Balisacan said having sharp swings in the foreign exchange will create uncertainty in the economy which could prevent potential investors and existing

businesses from doing business in the country.

“What is important is (to moni tor) the swings. We don’t want that. In investments, we need predictabil ity. The industry will have a difficult time planning if the exchange rate or interest rate (keeps fluctuating),” Balisacan said. “What is important is to ensure that there is stability, predictability.”

Reserve’s efforts to tighten monetary policy. Balisacan said “it’s anybody’s guess” until when the tightening will continue, especially if the US econo my goes into recession.

“We have to watch for any sharp increases in the exchange rate and be able to do something to prevent such changes,” Balisacan said.

Balisacan noted that the coun try’s exchange rate is also affected by domestic issues such as the wid ening trade deficit. Global logistics issues are also making the country’s imports more expensive causing the trade deficit to balloon.

Remittance effect

ON the other side of the equation, Balisacan said, the country’s posi tion as one of the largest recipi ents of remittances also affects the foreign exchange rate. Exports also help boost the country’s dol lar earnings.

Data showed this represented an in crease of 4.3 percent from the $2.61 billion posted in the same period last year.

Cash remittances reached $20.99 billion in the January to August 2022 period, which was a 3-percent in crease from $20.38 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Sta tistics Authority (PSA) recently re ported that the country’s trade deficit widened 81 percent to $6 billion in August 2022 from the $3.31 billion posted in August 2021.

This was the highest increase in the deficit since June 2021 when it rose 133.9 percent. This was largely due to the 2-percent contraction in the country’s export earnings and 26-percent jump in import payments in August.

Pagcor provides ₧19.5-M grants to several entities Weak baht seen aiding Thai tourism resurgence

THE Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) announced it turned over a total of P19.5-million worth of financial grants to various orga nizations and local government institutions.

The Kaginhawaan Develop ment Institute Inc. (KDI), Orga nization of Student Services Ed ucators Inc. (OSSEI), Wounded Soldiers Agriculture Cooperative (WSAC), Provincial Government of Isabela and Barangay Bau tista, City of San Pablo, Laguna were the latest recipients of the funding, Pagcor said in a state ment.

Of the total donation, the lion’s share of P12.5 million went to the Davao-based KDI, Pagcor said. The grant, according to KDI Chief Operating Officer and Pro gram Manager Arvin Carlom, will be used for the integrated liveli hood expansion for marketing and agri-learning program that KDI is spearheading.

KDI is a non-stock, non-profit organization that caters to poor farmers, fisher folk, indigenous people, women, and children. They also implement projects on disaster relief in the Davao Ori ental province, Pagcor said.

WSAC Chairman Captain Jerome Jacuba represented the Batangas-based cooperative dur ing the ceremonial turnover of P 1.83 million. The donation will be used for the procurement of a service van, Pagcor said.

Training, equipment

THE WSAC is a duly-registered cooperative founded on De cember 2018. Their members are disabled soldiers who were

briefs

➜ BPI Foundation gives P3M in grants

wounded in action. Majority of them are also casualties from the 2017 Marawi siege, Pagcor said.

The WSAC facilitates live lihood and skills training for wounded soldiers in their fivehectare headquarter in Nasugbu, Batangas. Mushroom production and swine raising are examples of the agricultural livelihood train ings they offer.

The cooperative also conducts computer training and domes tic appliance repair for wounded soldiers who wish to go back to service. Said skills enhancement program will equip them with skills that will help them con tinuously become productive in spite of their disability.

The University of the Philip pines (UP) Diliman-based OS SEI and the local representatives from the Provincial Government of Isabela and Barangay Bautista in San Pablo, Laguna each re ceived financial grants from Pag cor worth P 2.46 million, P2.36 million and P366,400, respec tively.

According to OSSEI Presi dent Bella Villanueva, the dona tion from Pagcor will be utilized for the procurement of various hospital equipment for the UPHealth Service.

Also, the Provincial Govern ment of Isabela will use the grant for the procurement of oxygen concentrators with nebulizer for various hospitals in the prov ince, while Barangay Bautista will procure ten laptop computers, one desktop computer, and three units of printer with scanner for the Fernando A. Quisumbing El ementary School.

BPI Foundation Inc., the social development arm of the Bank of the Philip pine Islands (BPI), announced it recently awarded a total of P3 million cash grants to the winners of its business challenges for three social enterprise (SE) ecosystem pillars: social enterprises (SEs); educators; and, intervenors.

On its 8th year, the program, with the theme “BPI Sinag Evolution,” in partnership with Bayan Academy, aims to elevate its impact and achieve inclusive and sustainable growth by implementing, for the first time, a multi-stakeholder approach, the organization said. A total of 202 educa tors, intervenors, and social entrepreneurs applied for this year’s business challenge. After thorough deliberation and intensive boot camps, the finalists were shortlisted and tasked to prepare a pitch of their business plan, the organization said.

➜ LandBank wins 3 awards

THE Land Bank of the Philippines announced it garnered three Circle of Excellence awards during the 13th Asia CEO Awards ceremony organized by Calre Associates. “These awards serve as confirmation that Landbank is headed in the right direction,” Landbank President and CEO Cecilia C. Bor romeo was quoted in a statement as saying. “We have fully transformed into

AWEAKER baht is supporting Thailand’s post-pandemic tourism recovery, which is key to shoring up the nation’s eco nomic performance, according to Finance Minister Arkhom Termpit tayapaisith.

“Thailand is value for money,” Arkhom said in an interview on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Eco nomic Cooperation finance minis ters meeting in Bangkok, highlight ing the nation’s appeal to travelers looking for bargains. The baht’s pro longed weakness will “surely” help get more foreigners back, he said.

The weakness in the local curren cy—Southeast Asia’s second-worst performer this year—may linger through 2024, he said, adding that it’s still competitive and the central bank need not worry about capital out flows as much as other economies. The baht fell 0.2 percent against the dollar at 2:18 p.m. local time, halting two days of gains.

Arkhom’s comments suggest that the benefits of a weaker currency outweigh the negatives at the mo ment for the tourism-reliant econo my, and that the Bank of Thailand’s measured approach to tightening monetary policy was appropriate in a world where central banks led by the Federal Reserve are employing large interest-rate hikes to fight inflation.

The finance chief, who doesn’t see the Fed halting rate hikes anytime soon, said the BOT’s gradual tighten ing—two 25-basis-point increments last quarter—is helping recovery to gain traction, even as inflation is near a 14-year high.

Gross domestic product is seen

What is also difficult at this time is the uncertainty with the Federal

The Central Bank earlier reported that Filipinos abroad sent $2.72 bil lion in cash remittances in August.

The country’s total trade in Au gust amounted to $18.82 billion—an annual growth rate of 14.8 percent. In July, the annual increase was slower at 11.8 percent, while in August 2021, it grew by 24.4 percent.

Japan to further relax crypto rules on tokens

to rise 3.7 percent next year, faster than the 3 percent-3.5 percent pace projected for 2022, thanks to the return of foreign visitors, according to Arkhom.

Dollar flows

ECONOMISTS at DBS Bank in Sin gapore expect the nation’s tourism recovery to gain “further traction” next year and support a 4.2 percent growth pace. Fitch Ratings sees a Thai expansion similar to DBS and said it’s one of the few where growth is projected to accelerate in 2023. “The recovery of tourism is gaining momentum,” Fitch said.

As tourism revenue comes back, more dollars will flow in to support the baht and the current account and to rebuild reserves that have plunged to a five-year low due in part to re valuation, he said.

Thailand, where tourism ac counts for 12 percent of GDP and a fifth of jobs, is betting that “revenge spending” by foreign visitors lured by its broad reopening will help rev up recovery. Its growth is trailing regional peers after two years of pandemic kept tourists away, costing billions of dollars in an economy that hosted as many as 40 million over seas a year before the virus outbreak.

Thailand is seeing more visitors from neighboring countries as well as India and the Middle East to help offset the absence of Chinese na tionals restricted by Beijing’s lock down. Before the pandemic, Chinese nationals accounted for almost 30 percent of overseas visitors. Thailand said arrivals totaled 6.48 million this year through October 9. Bloomberg News

a development-oriented institution that is more responsive to the needs of an expanded and diverse customer base.” LandBank said it bagged the “Most Innovative Company of the Year” award for its mobile wallet. Through the application, users can safely and conveniently pay bills, load up mobile phones and tollway RFID accounts, make purchases online and transfer funds, the state-run lender said.

➜ GCash bags 2 awards G-Xchange Inc. announced the mobile wallet app GCash it operates re cently received two citations at the Financial Technology Innovation Awards 2022 organized by digital content platform-operator TAB Global Pte. Ltd. In a statement, the firm said GCash was awarded the “Best Digital Wallet/ Money Product in the Philippines” and “Best Digital Business Model in the Philippines.” The company said these awards make G-Xchange “the sole fintech company in the country to receive both citations.” The award was a recognition of the firm’s efforts in facilitating digital business solutions and digital financial services by streamlining its business process, G-Xchange said. An executive was quoted in the statement as saying the awards are “a testimony” to the firm’s “commitment in making Filipinos’ lives better every day towards financial inclusion.”

JAPAN

plans to further loosen cryptocurrency rules by mak ing it easier to list virtual coins, potentially burnishing the country’s allure for Binance and rival foreign digital-asset exchanges.

The body that governs crypto exchanges plans to allow them to list coins without going through its lengthy screening process, unless the tokens are new to Japan’s mar ket, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The relaxed rule could take ef fect as early as December, helping startups compete with established players by smoothing the process of listing tokens and lowering the bar for market entry. The documents out lining the changes were distributed to member firms recently.

By March 2024, the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Associa tion could also scrap pre-screenings for coins new to the nation, as well as for tokens issued through initial coin or exchange offerings, Vice Chair man Genki Oda said in comments he described as personal views.

‘Revitalize’ crypto

“WE hope the latest measure will help revitalize Japan’s crypto assets mar ket,” he said in an interview, while also confirming the documents. Oda is president of software developer Remixpoint inc.

Japan is getting more serious about rejuvenating its crypto mar ket, a shift away from the regula tory tightening of a few years ago.

Binance, the world’s biggest digitalasset exchange, is seeking a license to operate in Japan four years after it retreated, partly because of the change in stance.

The country’s steps contrast with the tougher oversight emerg

ing in some jurisdictions after a $2 trillion wipeout in digital as sets from last year’s peak led to blowups at crypto hedge funds and lenders.

Once the JVCEA’s planned mea sure takes effect, exchanges will be able to list tokens within 30 days of reporting their listing plan and coin assessments. Oda said the goal is to trim that to within 14 days from April at the latest.

Remaining watchful THE latest moves goes beyond the JVCEA “Greenlist” introduced earlier in 2022, whereby some tokens quali fied for faster listings. The JVCEA will watch for any “inappropriate” coins and may call on member firms to stop offering them.

Crypto exchanges will need to report every three months to the JVCEA about events associated with listed coins, such as so-called hard forks, where a blockchain splits be cause of changes to the underlying software code.

Over 50 coins are being traded in Japan, compared with fewer than half about two years ago, thanks partly to quicker listing screenings, Oda said. Aggregator CoinGecko currently counts more than 13,000 digital tokens globally, though many are hardly traded so-called zombie tokens.

The prospective shift in crypto listing rules comes as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pursues an agenda for reinvigorating Japan’s economy un der the rubric of “New Capitalism,” including support for the growth of so-called Web3 firms. The term “Web3” refers to a vision of a decen tralized internet built around block chains, crypto’s underlying technol

This Thursday, June 2, 2022 photo, shows a man in a coffeeshop in Tokyo, Japan. An easing of rules signals good times for cryptocurrency traders in Japan. CREDIT: BloomBERg NEws

Fitness

Vaccination, minimum health standards remain effective vs new Covid-19 variants

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

The Department of health (DOh ) on Tues day underscored that vaccines remain ef fective in preventing severe and critical Covid-19, as well as death, regardless of the variant.

This comes after the recent detec tion of the Omicron XBB subvari ant and XBC variant in the country.

The DO h has also recognized their reported potential immuneescape characteristics and assured that surveillance and monitoring ac tivities continue to be implemented so that threats of possible outbreaks can be immediately addressed.

“We remind the public that re gardless of the variant, we must continue to work together to pre vent virus transmission and mu tation. h ence, as we learn to live with Covid-19, we must arm our selves with the proper knowledge and ability to assess our individual risk and consequently supplant our individual defenses such as vaccina tion, masking, physical distancing, sanitation, and ventilation,” said h ealth Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.

Low health-care utilization Like W ise , the DO h emphasized

that despite the detection of the new variant and subvariant, the country’s health-care utilization rate remains at low risk, and that preparatory ac tivities have already been initiated to ensure that triage systems are in place and step-down health facili ties are available should an increase in health-care utilization rates be observed.

To ensure that the country’s health-care utilization rates remain low, the DO h reminded the public, especially the immunocompromised and the elderly, to get vaccinated and boosted to prevent severe and critical Covid-19, as well as death.

The DO h highlighted that new variants will naturally emerge with continued transmission, and that limiting the spread of Covid-19 is the definitive way to prevent this emergence.  h ence, adherence to minimum public health standards such as masking, isolation, ventilation, and hand washing are important steps the public can take to mitigate transmission.

The DO h , the University of the Philippines-Philippine Genome Cen ter (UP-PGC), UP-PGC Visayas, and the University of the Philippines-Na tional i nstitutes of health (UP-N ih ) reported that of the 766 samples sequenced, one Delta variant and

its sublineages (0.13 percent), one Omicron BA.2.75 variant case (0.13 percent), three Omicron BA.4 variant cases (0.39 percent), 180 Omicron BA.5 variant cases (23.49 percent), 246 Omicron BA.2.3.20 variant cases (32.11percent), 61 XBB variant cases (7.96 percent), and 71 XBC variant cases (9.27 percent) were detected in the latest batch of whole genome sequencing run last October 15 to 17, 2022.

XBB

The XBB variant, first detected in i ndia last August 2022, is a recom binant of two Omicron subvariants.

At present, it has been detected in at least 24 countries and four conti nents and has been the primary cause of the recent spikes of Covid-19 cases in s ingapore.

Preliminary studies suggest that the XBB variant appears to have higher immune evasion ability when compared with the BA.5 variant, h owever, there is insufficient evi dence to indicate that the variant causes more severe illness.

Currently available evidence for XBB does not suggest any differences in disease severity and/or clinical manifestations compared to the B.1.1.529 Omicron variant.

Due to the rapidly changing na ture of the s AR s -CoV-2 virus, lineage

assignment of samples may change as more sequences are submitted to the global genome database (Global i nitiative on s haring Avian i nflu enza Data).

Twenty cases previously detected with an Omicron subvariant were re classified as the XBB variant by the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (PANGO L i N) tool.

As of the latest sequencing run, a total of 81 XBB cases have been detected in the country.

XBC

The XBC variant is a recombinant of the Omicron BA.2 and Delta (B.1.617.2) variant.

As of October 3, 2022, the United k ingdom h ealth s ecurity Agency (U khs A) classified the XBC variant as a variant under monitoring and investigation.

h owever, the World h ealth Orga nization (W hO) and the e uropean Centers for Disease Control ( e CDC) are yet to determine the risk this variant poses.

i n addition, 122 cases previous ly detected with Omicron or Delta subvariants were reclassified as the XBC variant.

As of the latest sequencing run, a total of 193 XBC cases have been detected in the country.

By Rory Visco | Contributor

WH y are the eyes important? The mo ment we wake up, our eyes are the first to tell our brains what we see. They also keep us away from any potential danger because we can see what or who they are since 80 percent of what we perceive comes through our sense of sight.

We use them in the way we live, play, work or learn. Most of the time, people neglect car ing for them by staying up very late, and with the advent of digital devices during the pan demic, they are one of the most used—and abused—of our body’s senses. Community lockdowns also deprived the eyes of natural light, especially among children who learned from home and stayed long in front of comput ers and other digital devices, thus contributing to more eye problems.

Among these problems include myopia or near-sightedness, now a common eyerelated disorder globally. Sadly, many were undiagnosed in both developed and develop ing countries and was noted to be prevalent in East Asian countries, where it affects 80 to 90 percent of high-school graduates, with 10 to 20 percent having pathologic myopia.

The Philippines’ national average is only at 10 percent compared to neighbors Singapore and Taiwan, but is a scary 20 to 30 percent in poor, disadvantaged urban areas. The World Health Organization (WHO) even said that there are at least 2.2 billion people globally who have a near or distance vision impairment, and sadly, almost half of them could have been prevented or have

yet to be addressed, with the leading causes be ing uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts.

Visual impairment

A CCORDING to Dr. Leo Cubillan, Director of the Philippine Eye Research Institute, National In stitutes of Health, UP Manila, the Philippine Eye Disease Study (PEDS), a randomized, popula tion-based study done in 2018, revealed that the National Prevalence of Visual Impairment was at 1.98 percent among Filipinos, where the major cause of visual impairment was cataract that affected 1.06 percent or 1.18 million Fili pinos and 393,000 needed surgery. Glaucoma was at 0.27 percent or around 300,000 Filipinos, while 0.38 percent or 423,000 Filipinos have uncorrected errors of refraction (EOR), and 0.2 percent or 223,000 Filipinos have maculopathy or diabetic retinopathy.

Compared to around 21 regions around the world in terms of blindness and visual impair ment, the Philippines was at the Top 30 percent in Southeast Asia, Dr. Cubillan said during the webinar “Ilang taon dapat magpa-check-up ng mata ang isang bata?” organized by the Uni versity of the Philippines together with the UP Manila NIH National Telehealth Center and UP Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH).

Myopia progression, prevention I N the Philippines, EOR prevalence among chil dren is at 8.9 percent, but this changes when children reach high school, where prevalence reaches 16 percent, and 90 percent of the 16 percent are myopic. Prevalence is increasing not just in the Philippines but also globally,

where children who reach to as high 600 in eye grade can have complications that can lead to blindness.

“It was learned that outdoor exposure can reduce myopia progression and since there are medicines already, it is still imperative that increased outdoor exposure be included in the school curriculum,” Dr. Cubillan explained.

Data in 2016 projected the prevalence of myopia by region, where in Southeast Asia, this will increase from 39 percent to 62 percent, East Asia from 47 percent to 65 percent, and Asia Pacific from 50 percent to 66 percent. The projection estimates that by 2050, around 4.76 billion people or about 50 percent of the global population are expected to become myopic.

Preventing myopia progression D URING the Philippine Eye Health Summit held in 2019, the Philippine Eye Research In stitute (PERI) suggested three hours daily or about 15 hours weekly of outdoor light ex posure for children. “I believe it is best that the Department of Education can allow at least one additional hour of different outdoor activities for kindergarten and high school children. This was shelved due to Covid-19 so we hope this could be implemented this year or next year,” Dr. Cubillan said.

There is also Republic Act 11358 or the “Na tional Vision Screening Act” that was signed into law by former President Rodrigo Duterte in July 31, 2019. This act calls for mandatory eye screening for children, particularly those in kindergarten, where teachers and school health personnel are trained to conduct a very quick

testing on kids using the “pass fail” method.

Why is eye screening important? Uncor rected vision problems may have a dramatic impact on kids’ learning capabilities and aca demic potential, a negative impact on a child’s social growth and maturity, and of course can lead to permanent visual loss.

The country’s K-12 system may have a good impact on eye screening in the country since the age for kindergarten students is five years old, and a child’s eyesight undergoes develop ment until they are about seven to10 years old so if in case there will be problems, it can be treated earlier.

During the pandemic, Dr. Cubillan said that PERI conducted an online vision screening program that involved the parent and child at home, a trained screener, remote screen shar ing through Messenger, Zoom or Viber. “Hope fully in the next five years when the pandemic is gone, we can reach more kids of our target, which is about 80 percent.”

He said that it is also advisable to let students with slight visual impairment sit in the front row to improve learning and must already be referred to eye professionals for proper management.

The WHO also prescribed a new set of guidelines regarding “screen time,” especially if non-school related, among kids of only 60 minutes (less is better) for kids two to five years old, while children below two years old should have no screen time at all. “This is more about giving kids the opportunity to have social in teraction by having them play outside for the eyes, and of course, for their mental health,” Dr. Cubillan concluded.

Patching your way to wellness with LifeWave’s wearable device

By Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

THERE S a new product in the market that promotes health and wellness without the use of drugs.

What LifeWave, an advance technology com pany, offers to the market is wearable wellness, a patch that boosts cellular activity using light.

Lori Burgher, President for Global Sales and Marketing of LifeWave, was recently in Manila to open LifeWave’s newest office at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

“Wearable wellness. That is what Life Wave offers. This LifeWave patch boosts cel lular activity by using light. This technology was developed by David Schmidt, LifeWave’s Founder and CEO,” Burgher said in an inter view with Philippines Graphic.

Patented technology

S CHMIDT founded LifeWave in 2002 as a research company based on a newly patented technology for enhancing health through a novel form of phototherapy that he had invented.

The United States Navy recognized Schmidt’s innovative work and invited him to join an elite research team that developed mini-subs or

midget submarines. Schmidt attempted to help the crew of the mini-sub stay awake without the use of drugs. He investigated natural methods for increasing the body’s energy. Three years of research led to the creation of the Energy Enhancer Patch, the first LifeWave prototype.

“Stem cells are the foundation of health. If you have less stem cells, you will get sick. It is your primary source of defense. As we grow older, the number of stem cells in our body decreases,” said Dang Gilera, LifeWave Philippines General Manager.

She added that when you place a Life Wave patch on your body, it will help grow your stem cells.

“What is nice about this product is that you wear it and you do not drink it. This is not a drug, not a pill, not a pain killer. It is a pat ented product,” Gilera said.

Immediate success

L IFE WAVE was launched in August 2004 and was an immediate success, generating $17 million in sales in its first year. Since then, LifeWave has grown into a multinational corporation with of fices in the United States, Ireland, Taiwan and distribution in over 100 countries.

LifeWave made its way to the Philippines back in 2018 with a pre-launch in December. The grand launch happened in March 2019. However, the Covid-19 happened a year after and LifeWave’s plans had to be set aside.

Simulates nerves

S INCE Burgher is in charge of sales and mar keting, she had to try and experience the product herself. So far, LifeWave has devel oped 12 different products that make use of this patch technology. Each patch stimulates nerves and points on the skin that produce health benefits specific to each patch.

LifeWave’s flagship product is LifeWave X39. The product “is clinically proven to provide the body with a level of health and vitality that users would not have experienced since their youth.”

“Using LifeWave’s patented technology, the LifeWave X39 patch activates and mo bilizes the body’s stem cells which can help support the natural wound healing process and immune function, elevate antioxidants, manage inflammation, stimulate the produc tion and collagen and more,” LifeWave said in materials provided about the product.

LifeWave X39 technology provides health

benefits like rapid pain relief, reduced inflam mation, supports wound healing, energy and vitality, metal clarify, enhances sports per formance, faster recovery from exercise and improved skin appearance.

More products

T HE other products that Schmidt developed for LifeWave include x-49, Energy Enhancer, IceWave, Silent Nights, y-age Aeon, y-Age Gluta thione, y-Age Carnosine, SP6 Complete, AcuLife, Nirvana, Alavida and two skin-care products.

“So I have been working with the company for one year and I have been using the patches for a year. During the Global Convention we had recently, many people were coming up to me to say that my skin is glowing and that I looked different compared to a year ago, And I feel I am stronger, more aware and have this continuous clarify that I believe the products do for me,” Burgher related.

“The incredible part of the product, espe cially when you look at X39 is that it knows how to connect to your body and rebuild your stem cells and help where it needs the most. What it is doing is that it is helping you to stay healthier longer,” she added.

Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Fight against child malnutrition to benefit children in BARMM

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

ABOUT 500 children in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) initially stand to benefit from #Batang Matatag, a movement that aims to ex tend health, nutrition, sanitation and education access to conflict-affected areas in the country.

This crusade was officially launched last October 13 due to the alarming cases of famine among the country’s young populace that cause developmental is sues and, much worse cost the lives of some of them.

Statistics show that 2.9 million Fili pino kids aged zero to 10 years were es timated to have experienced hunger in 2021. Of this total number, about 1.8 mil lion are from war-torn places in BARMM, who typically have a meager meal com prised of only rice with some fish- or shrimp-flavored crackers called “kropeck” as their daily source of nutrition.

Prolonged hunger in children results in malnutrition. Undernutrition affects and stops the growth of children. Around two or three of five children below five years old are stunted in the Philippines, and BARMM is the most affected with over 45 percent of them being too small for their age.

“Stunting is the most accurate way to gauge the nutritional status of children and, therefore, if you are undernour ished, it is a vicious cycle. It will affect brain growth and this is tantamount to affecting also the development of chil dren,” Dr. Joselyn Eusebio, specialist for developmental and behavioral pediatrics and associate professor at the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center, said during the kick off event in Pasay City.

This health issue is, more often than not, linked to the lack of nutritious food, inadequate sanitation, unsafe water and poor hygiene that could lead to children developing various illnesses. The most prominent of these illnesses is diarrhea that compromises the absorption of es sential nutrients needed in brain devel opment. A child who experiences this also has a concomitant infection and usually ends up with electrolyte imbalance. In case the body’s potassium in decreased, it can cause the heart to stop beating.

Such health maladies, if not ad dressed, could be fatal. In fact, 95 Filipino children die each day from malnutrition. Diarrhea, on the other hand, is the second leading cause of death nationwide for kids under five years of age, approximately claiming the lives of around 570,000 in this age group annually.

“Basically, this partnership aims to improve the health nutrition status of children in the most disadvantaged com munities,” Save the Children Philippines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Atty. Alberto Muyot said of their Batang Matatag cam paign, together with Erceflora Kiddie, in a sideline interview with the B usiness M irror

With BARMM as the pilot site of the project, he bared that the initial batch of beneficiaries would come from the Bad jao tribe in Iligan and orphaned young victims of the Marawi siege, as well as youngsters in Lanao del Sur who have yet to be identified.

“It’s a small group. We want to test out what interventions that will reach the children, who are actually not being cov ered by regular programs,” he explained.

Needed interventions

THROUGH the Life Changer for Children initiative of Save the Children, the move ment will immediately check on the health status of the kids, particularly on the as pect of stunting.

Secondly, it will provide a plan that focuses on their nutritional needs, with the engagement of their own families with regards to provision and preparation of nutritious food they require.

This initiative will, likewise, provide livelihood and financial literacy trainings for parents or guardians.

“And then we have to bring this to the table so that local governments will include this in their social services,” Muyot added.

Unlike other similar causes, the

Batang Matatag is not just merely a char ity kind of movement. He noted: “This is not just an ayuda type of project. We want to raise consciousness. We want to educate families. We want them to adopt practices that will ensure better health and nutrition for their children.”

First 1,000 Days law

THE initial three years in a child’s life is a very crucial stage for his growth and development.

“If during the first 1,000 days, a child is undernourished, it’s so hard to reverse this even if you provide all the necessary stimulation. The brain is also stunted. It’s under-developed. That’s why in that ‘Window of Opportunity,’ all the necessary factors or ingredients to optimize the development of our brains and, consequently, the development of a child should be provided for,” Dr. Eusebio said.

It is for this reason that former Presi dent Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act 11148, otherwise known as the First 1,000 Days Law, in 2018 to provide for the health nutrition of pregnant moth ers and children. Unfortunately, this is hardly implemented in the country, per the Save the Children CEO, primarily due to lack of funding.

“So really a big push would have to come from the government, especially local governments, who starting this year will now have access to more fundings for social services,” Muyot said.

Save the Children was part of the ad vocacy for the enactment of the law. Also, it helped develop its implementing rules and regulations.

“But the full implementation of that will only be felt if only local governments can really provide for the funding and the programs to reach the disadvan taged communities,” he pointed out. “I guess, we still have a long way to go to fully implement this to the local govern ment level.”

With the Batang Matatag movement, they want to prove to everyone that it’s not just enough that there is a policy like the First 1,000 Days law.

“We have to bring it down to actual implementation at the community level,” Muyot reiterated. “We hope that local governments can get the inspiration from this project to show that, indeed, even with minimal funding, through education of communities and parents, the health nutrition status of children can really be improved.”

Initial support and more BUILDING resilient children and com munities is a gargantuan task. It takes a village to do so. The good thing about Save the Children is that it has corporate and individual donors who help it in es tablishing the movement and realize its very program of changing the lives of those in need.

With the benevolence of the makers of Erceflora Kiddie, which bankrolled the program initially with P12 million for the first year of its implementation, address ing the malnutrition among the first 500 children-beneficiaries in BARMM will start before the end of 2022.

“We’re happy that the first to actually sponsor is Erceflora as a corporate do nor,” Muyot said, while adding that they are working also for the same initiative with one municipality in Eastern Samar within the year with the support from individual donors pooling funds together reaching to P8 million. “We still have a long way to go, but if we can show that this can work as very cost-efficient that when we bring it down to the families not only as a dole-out but also to make them conscious how important nutrition is for their children, then we will see the beneficial effects.”

“I think, together, we can be part of the solution, maybe not all of the solutions, but that would be the ultimate measure [of its success]. We want it to be a long term [partnership],” Batang Matatag Ambassador Carol Ann Stewart noted of their ambitious multiyear endeavor. “We hope this would be a steppingstone for Filipinos everywhere to continue spread ing awareness and maintaining the good practices in proper food preparation and sanitation.”

PReVeNt MyoPIA AMoNg kIDS wIth MoRe outDooR eXPoSuRe, LeSS SCReeN tIMe

MARRIOTT ROAd TO GIVE REINVENTS VIRTuAl RACE

A mArrioTT international-initiated charity running event that is simultaneously conducted in Asia Pacific as part of its Take Care programs, run to Give returns under the new name of road to Give, offering more inclusivity for all types of movement such as running, biking, walking, or dancing. in the Philippines, the road to Give event is organized by the marriott Worldwide Business Councils (mWBC) Philippines, in coordination with all marriott properties in the country such as manila marriott Hotel, Clark marriott Hotel, Sheraton manila Bay, Sheraton manila Hotel, Sheraton Cebu mactan resort, Courtyard by marriott iloilo, Four Points by Sheraton Palawan, and The Westin manila Sonata Place. The virtual race aims to raise funds for the marriott Associate Welfare Fund and its partner beneficiary, Save the Children Philippines.

The road to Give virtual race allows runners to have the flexibility and freedom to achieve fitness goals at their own pace, route and schedule from october 17 to November 15, 2022.

runners may choose a distance goal of 100km, 200km, or 300km. registration fee starts at P500 for Standard category inclusive of e-certificate, P950 for Deluxe category inclusive of marriott road To Give Dri-Fit Shirt, Printable race Bib, and e-certificate, and P1,250 for Premium category inclusive of Finisher’s medal, marriott road To Give Dri-Fit Shirt, rTG race Bib, and e-certificate. more information is available at marriottroadtogive.raisely. com.

in celebration of continuing wellness

MEMBERS and guests of Sunshine Place gathered recently to celebrate the center’s eighth anniversary with a tea party theme—with great music, great company, and lots of fun with raffle giveaways.

Sunshine Place President Lizanne Uychaco thanked Sunshine Place founders, members and staff who bring the sunshine to Sunshine Place. “Today I just want to thank everybody for your friendship, for the camaraderie, for making Sunshine Place what it is today. We have so much to look forward to, and are grateful that we can get together again a little bit more in a safe way,” she said.

It was an evening of great music as the Pastor brothers traveled all the way from Batangas to serenade members—Atty. Tony Pastor with classic piano pieces, and a duet with his brother Rafael.

It was also an evening of dance as Tap Dance Class and Dekada Class members performed to the beat of “Uptown Funk” and “Macarena,” entertaining guests and even making everyone join in the dancing.

As a way of thanking its members, Sunshine Place raffled off gift certificates, tickets to Sunshine Classics 2022 and handbags in colorful prints. An award was also given to the evening’s best dressed.

The anniversary celebrations also featured a throwback corner or time capsule where photos from Sunshine Place’s milestones and activities in past years were shown.

A big canvass was also provided for members and students to write their anniversary messages and well-wishes for the senior hub.

The Sunshine Place (www.sunshineplaceph.com), a senior recreation center under the Felicidad Tan Sy Foundation, is a venue for adults to live actively by engaging in recreational classes and age-appropriate

ALythcott-Haims’s YouTube video, titled How to Raise Successful Kids—Without Over-Parenting, helped me discover the term “self-efficacy” in parenting. This week, let me continue with the excerpts that resounded with me, as well as continue with how I have applied her key points to my now 16- and 13-year old children.

Below are additional excerpts from the video that resounded with me:

“A second very important finding from the Harvard Grant Study said that happiness in life comes from love, not love of work [but] love of humans: our spouse, our partner, our friends, our family. So childhood needs to teach our kids how to love, and they can’t love others if they don’t first love themselves, and they won’t love themselves if we can’t offer them unconditional love.

“...My kids aren’t bonsai trees. They’re wildflowers of an unknown genus and species and it’s my job to provide a nourishing environment, to strengthen them through chores, and to love them so they can love others and receive love—and the college, the major, the career, that’s up to them. My job is not to make them become what I would have them become, but to support them in becoming their glorious

see how they learned and, most of all, what made them enjoy learning. I loved seeing those smiles, and witnessed as well the usual difficulties related to school. I tried to show them that difficulties could be turned into something fun, and every hard task was just like solving a puzzle. [This is why I strongly suggest parents to start with puzzle play as early as 2 years old because for me, I really feel it helped my kids to be psychologically strong when facing any difficulty.] Art-infused learning, which I have shared in previous columns, was very helpful for this. That is why even now, crayons, markers and compounds are still part of my highschoolers’ study desks.

2. Self-efficacy means allowing our children to do a whole lot more of the thinking, planning, deciding, doing, hoping, coping, trial and error, dreaming and experiencing of life for themselves, so they can see the outcomes of their own actions. For me, this starts with giving time for free play especially in their toddler years. Pretend play tools allowed my children to try and build on any activity from cooking, being a doctor, a newscaster or even a combination of roles. Moreover, it exposed my children to chores, and to the confidence at a young age that they can contribute to the “betterment of the whole,” which is their family.

3. Teaching our children how to love themselves, and supporting them as they become their glorious selves. Unconditional love is an everyday goal for me, and the best way I show this is respecting decisions that matter to my children most especially starting in their pre-teen years. I had to respect my son’s decision of quitting the violin after playing for eight years. I respected how he wanted to build a new hobby in basketball, even when he continues to thrive in fencing. He now plays both sports.

My daughter at 16 recently chose to join the Asia U23 Fencing Championships in Kuwait. She was the only junior women’s sabre fencer who represented the Philippines together with the eligible Senior Sabre National Team. It was a humbling experience to say the least. Here was the message I sent to her after I saw the results: “Saw the ranking. Proud of you, Ach. You are 16 and chose to compete at such a big competition! Wish mom was there to hug you so tightly. Pray and thank God for another one of your bold fights. Love you so much.”

I always emphasize to my children not to focus on the winning, but relish all the winning experiences… because those are what you remember meaningfully later in life. n

focus instructional time.

By Susanna Loeb Brown University

WITH reading and math scores plummeting during the pandemic, educators and parents are now turning their attention to how kids can catch up.

In the following Q&A, Susanna Loeb, an education economist at Brown University, shines a light on the best ways to use tutoring to help students get back on

How much money is spent on tutoring in the US each year?

Billions of dollars are spent each year on tutoring in the US. This was true even before the pandemic. The private tutoring market—made up largely of parents who can afford to hire tutors for their children—was estimated at $24.9 billion in 2021.

With many students struggling as a result of disruptions from the pandemic, spending on tutoring is expected to grow. Much of this growth will be driven by wealthy families who hired tutors during the pandemic and plan to keep them. This extra help is likely to worsen the gaps in academic achievement between students from upper-middle-class families and those from families who are poor.

What kind of difference does tutoring make? It depends, because not all of the approaches are effective. During the era of No Child Left Behind—the federal education law that sought to get all children proficient in reading and math by the year 2014— parents of children in failing schools could sign them up for tutoring outside of school at the school district’s expense.

But it didn’t really work. Research shows that only 23 percent of eligible students participated. And for those students, the average effect was close to zero. When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act replaced No Child Left Behind in 2015, it did not require tutoring to be offered to students in failing schools, although schools can still spend on tutoring if they choose.

Not all tutoring is effective. Research shows that for tutoring to be effective—or what I refer to as high-impact tutoring—there are several critical elements. They include small groups, meaning no more than three students. Tutoring also works best when it is embedded in the school day, such as during homeroom or as an elective, occurs with a consistent tutor and takes place for at least 30 minutes at least three days a week. And it involves using student assessment data so that the tutor knows where to

Does tutoring work online?

New studies from Spain and Italy find that virtual tutoring can be effective. Like in-person tutoring, virtual tutoring connects students to a consistent tutor. They just meet online instead of in person.

Potential for online tutoring broadens opportunities for students in rural districts. It does the same for those who need tutoring in subjects for which it is harder to find teachers, such as math.

How can parents get free tutoring for their kids?

The most effective way for parents to get free tutoring for their children is through their school.

Tutoring programs offered through their child’s school offer a number of benefits for students, schools and parents. Students who attend tutoring as part of their regular school education either during or immediately before or after school are shown to have higher attendance rates, which leads to better outcomes, such as stronger math and reading achievement.

When tutoring is offered through the school, it enables the child’s teacher and tutor to collaborate on ways to help the child progress.

eagan’s interests growing up: her first sport was baseball; she loved fashion and

alongside fashion; worked hard for basketball since Grade 4 and won championship at Grade 6; got chosen for a speech contest in middle school; with her fencing idol, 2022 World Fencing Champion, mura, at the 2022 Asian Fencing Championships in

Does tutoring work? The evidence on whether it’s effective

rAFAel PASTor serenaded Sunshine Place members and guests with his stellar performance singing “Gaano Kita Kamahal.”

PHL to host International Ecotourism Travel Mart in 2023 in Silang, Cavite

The gathering will also bring together delegates and exhibitors worldwide to showcase products and services that have a strong ecotourism component, green technology, and sustainable green practices.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has catalyzed the growing awareness that nature is part of the solution to public health and environmental challenges. Thus, a regional fair that elevates the tourism sector as a leader in promoting the balance between economic development and harnessing nature as a solution to our current challenges only comes timely,” said ACB executive director Theresa Mundita Lim.

She said that as an event partner, the ACB will feature the success stories of its biodiversity conservation and livelihood programs in Southeast Asia through an interactive exhibition.

Newest, biggest biz simulation playground in the world has officially been launched at Ayala Malls

DREAM Lab had its launching ceremony held on October 12, 2022, at the Upper Ground Floor of Ayala Malls Circuit attended by business partners, corporate investors, media friends, Ayala Malls executives, and brand partners Rain or Shine, Maya Philippines, Basi Matsi, Bulgar, Tiny Buds and Star Playschool.

The launching and ribbon-cutting ceremony were followed by a simulation tour where invited guests got their first-hand experience to explore and had fun inside Dream Lab.

Dream Lab is the biggest entrepreneurship museum that can teach Filipinos of all ages to become an entrepreneur through interactive experimental simulations and is one of the newest concepts launched by the Philippine Amusement and Entertainment Corporation (PAEC),

THE Philippines will take the global environmental stage once more as it hosts the International Ecotourism Travel Mart (IETM), the world’s first-ever and biggest ecotourismthemed expo on March 29 to April 2, 2023 in Silang, Cavite.

In line with the event, the International School for Sustainable Tourism (ISST), the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) recently forged a

memorandum of understanding for the hosting of this expo.

According to ISST president Mina Gabor, the five-day fair will share best practices on ecotourism from global experts and provide networking avenues with ecotourism authorities and advocates.

Organized by the Japan-based Asian Environmental Network, the IETM will promote the country’s ecotourism sites, indigenous practices and culture, and push for measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The 11-member Jakarta-based ASEAN has declared the revival of the tourism sector as a key component in the region’s efforts in its comprehensive recovery framework.

Originally set in 2020 at the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction in Cavite, the IETM was postponed due to the pandemic.

The event’s government partner agencies are the Department of Tourism, Department of Foreign Affairs, Tourism Promotions Board, Province of Cavite, and Municipality of Silang.

Merzci opens 66th store, 1st store in City of Manila

MERZCI Bread & Pastries, producer of Bacolod’s best food pasalubong, finally lands in the Capital City of the country – Manila!

Merzci Pasalubong held its grand opening of its first ever branch in the City of Manila last Friday, October 14, 2022. The event was graced by CM & Sons CEO & President Jonathan Manuel T. Lo & family.

The store is strategically located along Blumentritt Road, a major thoroughfare in Manila, Philippines. It runs through the border of the City of Manila and Quezon City from Rizal Avenue in Santa Cruz district to G. Tuazon Street in Sampaloc district, to bring the yummiest and tastiest products to more Filipinos in the Luzon region.

This is the company’s 66th branch to be opened since it started in 1995. The company aims to expand and reach more clientele in Negros, Panay, Cebu, even in Mindanao and now in Luzon where it has been receiving a lot of inquiries for distribution of the best tasting Filipino delicacies that has to offer.

Manileno fans of Merzci Pasalubong treats will surely delight on its best selling items like special biscocho,

cashew-topped butterscotch, delicious piaya, crunchy barquillos, assorted mouthwatering tarts, and enjoy the famous hotoff-the-grill piaya.

Merzci’s newest branch is located at 1637-1639 Blumentritt, Corner Oroquieta Streets, Sta. Cruz, Manila.

This branch is also set up to cater to wholesalers and dealers who are interested in partnering with the company in distributing delicious Merzci products in other parts of the country. Interested sellers may get in touch directly at the branch or contact 0917.708.8783 / 0917.700.7747.

Sunshine Place to host Ikebana-Sogetsu flower arrangement class for beginners in November

SUNSHINE Place together with Marc Tomas, former President of Ikebana International Manila Chapter 108 and a member of Sogetsu Potential Manila Chapter, will conduct another workshop on Ikebana-Sogetsu inspired flower arrangement at Sunshine Place next month.

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. From the simple floral offerings dating back to the Heian period, the art of flower arrangement has evolved through the years and now has several schools. Ikebana has a three-pointed structure to represent humanity, earth, and heaven. It is guided by minimalism and graceful shapes.

The workshop is for beginners who will learn the basics of Japanese art of

flower arrangement such as upright Moribana style, basic slanting and Variation number 4 with Movements, basic Nagiri Style and combination of Moribana and Nagiri Arrangements.

Tomas, who has been teaching Ikebana classes at Sunshine Place since 2017, will conduct the limited face-to-face workshop on November 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2022 from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.

Starter kits are available at the venue. Each starter kit includes flowers for the four sessions, kenzan and a vertical and horizontal base. Students are encouraged to bring their own gardening scissors for the class.

To enroll and for more information, please call M. (0917) 515-5656 or email: operations@sunshineplaceph.com.

the biggest creator and operator of indoor attractions in the country. This 4,000 square meter-comprehensive entrepreneurship museum is located on the Upper Ground Floor of Ayala Malls Circuit in Makati City. Dream Lab is open from Tuesdays to Sundays 11 AM to 8 PM.

Book your tickets now at  https:// amusements.global/dream-lab-shop-andbook/  or follow our social media accounts @yourdreamlab. For more information or inquiries, you may reach us at dreamlab@ amusements.global or call +63915 009 1031.

11 DLSU researchers among the world‘s top 2% researchers based on scientific impact

ELEVEN De La Salle University faculty researchers are included in the 2022 list of the world’s top two percent researchers across all disciplines, in a paper published by a team led by Stanford University statistician John loannidis.

The list includes approximately 200,000 scholars from all over the world.

Four faculty members are included in the list of top researchers based on cumulative career statistics. They are Vice President for Research and Innovation and University Fellow Prof. Raymond Tan, Department of Chemical Engineering Adjunct Professor Prof. Luis Razon, Gokongwei College of Engineering Dean and University Fellow Prof. Kathleen Aviso, and University Fellow and Adjunct Professor Prof. Consolacion Ragasa†. There are a total of 32 locally-based researchers listed, but only 13 from HEIs or higher education institutions.

Ten DLSU faculty members are among the world’s leading researchers based on

2021 statistics. They are Prof. Raymond Tan, University Fellow and Distinguished University Professor of Psychology Prof. Allan BI Bernardo, University Fellow and Department of Industrial Engineering Distinguished Full Professor Prof. Anthony SF Chiu, Prof. Kathleen Aviso, Gokongwei College of Engineering Assistant Dean and Department of Mechanical Engineering Full Professor Prof. Aristotle Ubando, Prof. Luis Razon, Department of Chemical Engineering Full Professor Prof. Michael Promentilla; University Fellow and Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Management Distinguished Full Professor Prof. Elmer Dadios, DLSU Laguna Associate Dean and Department of Theology and Religious Studies Associate Professor Dr. Fides del Castillo, and Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Management faculty member Dr. Ronnie Concepcion. The listing includes 41 locals with 23 from HEIs.

Philippine Heart Association celebrates 70th anniversary with launch of coffee table book

THE Philippine Heart Association–Philippine College of Cardiology (PHA-PCC) @ 70 “The Heart Turns Platinum” Coffee Table Book (CTB) was unveiled during the “Platinum Heart Media Awards 2022” Night on October 12, 2022 at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

PHA President Dr. Jude Erric Cinco said that “media have been our partners in heart health and our voices.”

A unique publication that gives a CTB a new definition and dimension, the editorial team took inspiration from mainstream media). It is a showcase of the organization’s adventures and feats; trials and triumphs, with the seventh decade as the top stories and the PHAPCC’s response to the pandemic as banner story.

Even in the most crisis-ridden moments triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the unconquerable Pinoy spirit found in every Filipino cardiologist prevailed.

Valiant frontliners stood their ground on the heels of adversity. The PHA-PCC performed its mandate as a collegial group and a respectable advocacy institution.

“We capitalized on digital tools as pivots in the PCC’s continuing medical education trainings and PHA’s advocacy programs like UPP and CPR trainings afloat,” according to Dr. Cinco.

It is a journalistic piece, a collection of memoirs narrated through snappy stories and evocative photos. A compilation of news stories culled from its own publication, “The Heart News & Views” and “myheart.ph” as well as sourced from its Usapang Puso sa Puso monthly virtual forum.

Cinco added that “The Heart Turns Platinum is a catalogue of the many activities of the PHA towards its Mission/

Vision of promoting heart health.”

A combination of a CTB and history book, it also serves as a handy library for the PHA Members and Secretariat; as well as the PHA Allies who get a copy. Not resting on its laurels, the PHA is battling for more legislations like the installation of Automated External Defibrillators in public places and private establishments; and reforms in the Sin Tax Law and Universal Healthcare Act.

PHA Vice President Dr. Ronald Cuyco said “with your constant support we were able to hit our targets. The CPR bill lapsed into law in July 2016 because you helped us push for its enactment. Now we need your help anew because we are lobbying for the passage of the Automated External Defibrillation Bill.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Gilbert Vilela, immediate past president, said that the PHA will continue to formulate guidelines for adoption into national policies and institutionalized the PHA Advocacy staples such as the 52100, Fit Heart Minute and Sneakers Friday.

The PCC mandate is to oversee, regulate and elevate the cardiovascular learning standards in the 23 PHA-accredited training institutions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The PCC is comparable to the Commission on Higher Education because as a professional scientific body, it can bestow credentials on deserving cardiovascular specialists.

As a separate entity engaged in Advocacy, PHA has been at the frontlines in the war versus the cardiovascular disease pandemic that has been making global rounds for the last 30 years.

From 2021 to 2022, the PHA-PCC garnered a media value of P1.4 billion, the highest in the history of PHA.

AT THE MOU signing are (seated) ACB executive director Theresa Mundita Lim, ISST president Mina Gabor, and SEARCA director Glenn Gregorio. The signing is witnessed by (standing) ACB external relations and policy officer Allan Pormento, Department of Foreign Affairs undersecretary Jesus Domingo, DOT-Calabarzon acting regional director Marites Castro, ISST treasurer Miguel Guioguio, ISST finance officer Merlita Del Mundo, and SEARCA deputy director for administration Joselito Florendo.

Envoys&Expats

PHL joins preliminary gatherings for Asean Summits in Cambodia

TRADE AND PARTNERSHIP Ambassador Peter Kell (right) met with Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban at the Department of Agriculture (DA) Headquarters and tackled plans to improve bilateral ties, as well as combat climate change. “The meeting [aimed to further boost] partnership in areas such as market access of high-value products, research and development, livelihood [aid] to local farmers, and other initiatives that will help the agriculture sector generate high-quality products suitable for the export market. The officials also discussed possible collaboration to address climate change,” the DA said. Panganiban also invited Kell to visit Guimaras—known as “Mango Capital of the Philippines.” DA/PNA

Japan, IOM electrify health units in Mindanao’s remote provinces

power operation and equipment maintenance.

PHNOM

PENH—The Philippines played an active part in the Asean Joint Consultative Meeting and Related Meetings on October 5 and 6.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and Asean Affairs Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, who is the country’s Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader, headed the Filipino delegation, composed of rep resentatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Asean Affairs, the Philippine Permanent Mission to Asean in Jakarta, as well as the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The series of meetings was a pre cursor to the 40th and 41st Asean Summits and Related Summits,

which will be held from November 10 to 13 in Cambodia’s capital city.

It will be the first to be held inperson since the pandemic’s onset, and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s initial engagement with the re gion’s fellow heads of state since he assumed office.

The gathering discussed prepa rations for the upcoming leaders’ meetings, including those from the region’s dialogue-partners. Senior officials also exchanged views on cross-sectoral and cross-pillar issues of concern, Asean’s postpandemic

economic-recovery initiatives, the application of Timor-Leste to be come a member of the association, accession of countries to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South east Asia, as well as various regional and international issues.

“The Philippines appreciates

Cambodia’s earnest efforts in keep ing Asean together under its chair manship this year, and pursuing the implementation of its priorities and key deliverables despite…everchanging geopolitical dynamics and socioeconomic challenges exacerbat ed by Covid-19,” emphasized Lazaro.

THE government of Japan, in cooperation with the In ternational Organization for Migration (IOM), successful ly completed the installation of solar-power equipment in eight health-care facilities in the remote Mindanao islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi (BaSulTa) in Octo ber 2022.

Launched in 2020, the Japanese government provided a $2-mil lion grant for the program geared toward facilitating uninterrupted access to medical services in the BaSulTa region’s communities.

The IOM, as the implementing organization, supplied depend able and long-term sustainable energy resources to select healthcare facilities in the islands. The efforts will significantly reduce daytime electricity and fuel costs from the use of diesel-powered generators. Key health personnel also received training on solar-

According to its embassy, Japan and the IOM “have been working together for many years on various development projects to make a difference in the lives of Filipinos.” This recent initiative, it said, also forms part of its government’s un wavering support for the Mindanao Peace Process.

Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshi kawa is confident in the “remark able development” program, as he expressed high hopes that solar technologies will ensure stable elec tricity supply, while personnel will be aided in addressing humanitar ian and medical issues.

In his video message, Koshikawa conveyed: “We are honored to be supporting the development of the electricity sector in the [Bangsam oro Region], in line with the Mar cos administration’s priorities for renewable energy.”

Germany advances youth, livelihood, women empowerment for lasting peace in Mindanao

THE German Embassy and its implementing partner-orga nizations continue to sup port sustainable peace-building in Mindanao through several projects that employ an inclusive approach in various sectors.

“We are convinced that a success ful and inclusive peace process will increase prosperity and social cohe sion not only in the Philippines, but also in this highly interconnected region,” Ambassador Anke Reiffen stuel of Germany said. “We are aim ing at expanding our partnerships with the Philippines, knowing that the Indo-Pacific region is of growing relevance in the political as well as economic sphere,” as she added that advocating for peace and stability worldwide is a core priority for her country.

Working with the Philippine government and nongovernment organizations (NGOs), Germany is currently providing more than P2 billion in direct support. Projects include building institutions in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), rein tegrating former combatants into society, and empowering key stake holders such as women, the youth, and indigenous people.

Germany’s strong commitment to sustainable peace and growth in Southeast Asia is translated to well-planned and properly funded projects on the ground.

“We are partnering with around 70 different organizations imple menting projects funded in Mind anao,” added the ambassador. “In our view, the peace process can only be successful if all stakeholders are actively involved in it from early on.”

The European country is also pro viding financial support for projects in key sectors such as land rights, disaster-risk reduction, health, hu man rights, climate change, and live lihood—especially in agriculture.

Protecting the youth ONE such is the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’s (GIZ) “Youth for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence in Mindanao (You cap).” Linking with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity, the proj ect empowers the youth and keeps them from being involved in armed conflicts.

Youcap actively works with Sangguniang Kabataan officials in four local governments in Regions 10 and 13 to develop conflict-, gender-, and culturally sensitive Local Youth Development Plans. Such were drafted during training sessions involving 120 SK officials and youth representatives, cover ing about 100,000 young Filipinos, with 21,500 of them classified as vulnerable.

GIZ Country Director Immanuel Gebhardt hopes that such projects will continue to give the youth hope and resilience, while helping shield them from armed struggles.

“The plan is to give them stability and as a result, when [their lives are stable], they have hope for life,” the GIZ official said. “Having…reliable income for their families helps alle viate feelings of frustration.”

Most people who get involved in armed conflicts, according to him, do so out of frustration and lack of sup port and perspectives. Youcap aims to show the youth in Mindanao that

life away from strife is a better, more stable option.

“I think the world needs stabil ity—it’s the only way people can en joy prosperity,” believes Gebhardt, as he also emphasized the importance of caring about what’s happening in conflict areas.

“Right now, in most parts of Min danao, we don’t need to be afraid of bombs. Terrorists are not currently attacking us. Nevertheless, this destabilization leads to prosperity loss. So instead of economic growth, there’s an economic slowdown,” he pointed out, adding that the civil ians are those who suffer greatly in any war.

Sustainable livelihoods GIZ also implements “DeveloPPP,” a project line aided by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co operation and Development (BMZ). Such is implemented in several parts of the world, promoting partnerships

with the private sector that can pro vide entrepreneurial opportunities to beneficiary communities.

In Mindanao, one of the major sectors assisted by DeveloPPP is ag riculture, particularly coffee farm ing. While the Philippines has a long history of growing coffee, production is on the decline despite rising de mand. Coffee farming takes place in rural areas with high poverty rates, which hampers improvement and modernization of farming methods and techniques.

GIZ has partnered with Nestlé Phils. to address the problem, partic ularly in Mindanao. The global food giant brings in its strong agriservices team and technical expertise, while the agency helps in training and ca pacity-building for farmers’ groups.

“We help…farmers produce [bet ter crops] through education which, of course, is also in the interest of companies like Nestlé,” Gebhardt explained. “Harvesting better crops

leads to a secure and continuous supply of coffee for companies and more revenue for the coffee farmers in Mindanao, which helps them get out of poverty.”

So far 1,565 coffee farmers in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat have been trained. From producing only 235 kilograms of coffee per hectare in 2018, they saw a 133.62-percent increase in their harvest in 2020, at 549 kilograms per hectare.

Giving women a platform

EMPOWERING women is also at the forefront of Germany’s priorities in Southern Philippines.

For one, the German Federal Foreign Office is working with Relief International (RI) on a new project called “Women Engaged in Responsive Solutions to Conflicts and Violence in Mindanao (WeRESOLVE).”

Started on September 15, it aims to increase the participation of Bangsamoro women in their own communities, while providing them with livelihood opportunities.

“This will engage women-leaders in conflict resolution, allowing them to be at the forefront of establishing ‘Communities of Peace’ in selected areas in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur,” shared RI Program Manager Norma ‘Bing’ Constantino.

The project conducts workshops to equip local government units, women-led civil society organiza tions (CSOs), community members, and other stakeholders with the skills to develop better gender and development plans. They are also implementing activities that pro mote peace which, in turn, aid the creation of peaceful communities.

We-RESOLVE will also improve women’s economic status in con flict-prone areas through livelihood support for 40 CSOs, creating links between peace and socioeconomic empowerment of women through re silient enterprises. The project is now implemented in eight municipalities, involving 40 barangays in BARMM.

Sustainable progress, peace

“DURING my trips to Mindanao, I have always been impressed by the well-structured approach and concept of the projects our partner organizations are implementing,” Reiffenstuel said, noting their pride in the sustainability of Germanfunded projects.

She noted that lasting peace in the region is the goal; and while shortlived benefits are good, ensuring the welfare of the Bangsamoro’s resi dents for the long term is of utmost importance.

“Overall, sustainability can be achieved through close coordination with Philippine authorities, between German implementing partners, as well as international donors,” the ambassador explained.

In coordination meetings, Ger many and its partner-organizations identify synergies between national development goals and the proj ects, building up on them to ensure their lasting effects. She added that stakeholders are involved early on, particularly women, in their peacebuilding role.

While there is much to be done as a committed partner of the Philip pines, the ambassador assures that Germany will be there to support peace-building efforts every step of the way.

TOKEN OF APPRECIATION State of Qatar’s Ambassador Dr. Ali Ibrahim Al-Malki (right) presents a Fifa World Cup football to Mayor Benjamin Abalos Sr. (left) as a token of appreciation during the gift-giving and distribution of education materials to day-care learners at the Mandaluyong City Hall Atrium-Executive Building on October 6. Looking on were Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte (second from left) and Vice Mayor Carmelita Abalos. JOEY O. RAZON/PNA

EXPOSITION The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium jointly hosted a passport exposition on October 3 at the DFA Headquarters, led by Assistant Secretary for European Affairs Jaime Victor B. Ledda (left) and Ambassador Michel Parys (center). Ledda said the event was a “celebration to renew bonds of friendship and solidarity and cultural understanding with friends half-a-globe away.” For the DFA, the exposition was a “fine example of the two countries’ efforts to further appreciate each other’s culture through the [artistic] designs of their respective travel documents, as both…continue to work on further expanding bilateral relations, and continue exploring opportunities for…cooperation. The event showcased [their] unique cultures, injecting life into an otherwise stolid identity document.” DFA

UNDERSECRETARY Maria Theresa Lazaro (second from left) ASEAN-CAMBODIA

WOMEN need to have a voice and be highly regarded in their communities. RELIEF INTERNATIONAL/GERMAN EMBASSY

Nisperos shines in Lady Eagles’ rout of ‘Baste’ side in V-League women’s meet

ATENEO flexed its muscle early to rip San Sebastian College (SSC), 25-19, 2519, 25-14, in a rousing start to its V-League Women’s Collegiate Challenge campaign at the Paco Arena in Manila Wednesday.

Faith Nisperos unloaded 18 points off 11 attacks she laced with six aces and one block despite sitting out the second set of the Lady Eagles’ Pool A matchup with the Lady Stags that took 78 minutes to finish.

Vanie Gandler chipped in 14 points while Lyann de Guzman and Joan Narit added 10 and eight points, respectively, for the Loyolabased squad, which will next face Far Eastern U on Oct. 26.

Despite their convincing win, Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro admits they still have a lot of work to do to reach the desired form.

“We still have to polish many things. ‘Baste [SSC]’ is a very good team, we just had a little edge in rotation,” Almadro said. “But we are preparing for bigger games, not just in the V-League but also in the UAAP [University Athletic Association of the Philippines]. So, we really need to work on so many things.”

After taking the first two sets in identical fashions, the Lady Eagles turned it up a notch higher in the next, unleashing an 11-1 run capped by Nisperos’ four straight aces for a huge 19-8 bulge.

De Guzman’s kill made it 22-10 before Gandler took over and closed out the match.

Kristine Dionisio fired 12 points while Tina Marasigan and Kamille Tan put in seven points apiece for the Lady Stags, who will clash with the Adamson Falcons next.

Meanwhile, Almadro also thanked the league for providing a venue where college teams could hone and sharpen up for their respective upcoming leagues.

“We thank the V-League for this opportunity. Volleyball has risen in popularity, and so is the level of competition,” Almadro said. “Many players are benefitting from this and they’re are able to fulfill their dreams by landing in good schools. So this V-League is important for us, for volleyball.”

CURRY, WARRIORS IN ROUSING START

SANFRANCISCO—Stephen Curry opened the season with 33 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and the Golden State Warriors beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-109, on Tuesday night after receiving their championship rings in a pregame ceremony.

Jordan Poole made a pretty bounce pass to a driving Draymond Green for a layup and all seemed perfectly well with the defending champions almost two weeks after Green punched Poole at practice October 5, then took a brief leave of absence from the team to work on his emotions.

Poole wound up with 12 points and seven assists.

James had 31 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, while Russell Westbrook scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds after nursing a sore left hamstring.

Anthony Davis added 27 points, but the Lakers couldn’t keep up in another signature, runaway third quarter by reigning National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals MVP Curry and Co.

Klay Thompson contributed 18 points in 20 minutes for the Warriors, who celebrated the franchise’s fourth title in eight years.

Golden State coach Steve Kerr limited the minutes of both Thompson and Green, who was away from the team until last Thursday. Kerr said he will increase Thompson’s minutes each game as a precaution following his return in January from an absence of more than two-anda-half years for surgeries to his left knee and right Achilles tendon.

Warriors center James Wiseman made his first appearance since his rookie season of 2019-20 after sitting

out all of last season recovering from right knee surgery. He had eight points and seven rebounds.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, meanwhile, each scored 35 points and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 126-117, in the opening game of the NBA regular season.

Malcolm Brogdon added 16 points and Grant Williams finished with 15 as the defending Eastern Conference champions gave interim coach Joe Mazzulla a victory in his debut.

Mazzulla has been tasked with leading the team after Ime Udoka was suspended for the season following an investigation by a law firm that found he committed multiple violations of team policies.

Mazzulla successfully led a Celtics team that very much resembled the one that made a surprise run to the NBA Finals a season ago.

Boston opened up a 110-97 lead with 8 minutes to play and never trailed again.

James Harden scored 35 points— his most since joining the 76ers last season—including 12 of 12 from the free throw line. He also had five 3-pointers.

Joel Embiid added 26 points and 15 rebounds. Tyrese Maxey finished with 21 points.

Mazzulla has vowed to keep the focus on building upon the culture Udoka established on the court as a rookie head coach last season.

He insists that it will be done primarily on the defensive end of the floor, but the offense was the story for the Celtics on Tuesday with 56 percent shooting from the field.

With big man Robert Williams sidelined as he recovers from offseason surgery on his knee, the Celtics stuck with the same starting lineup they employed during the

preseason, playing defensive stalwart Derrick White alongside Marcus Smart, Tatum, Brown and Al Horford.

The smaller group sped Philadelphia up at times, forcing the 76ers into 14 turnovers for the game, leading to 22 Boston points.

The 76ers are looking to contend with the top teams in the Eastern Conference with Harden embarking on his first full season in Philadelphia after being swapped for Ben Simmons late last season in a trade with Brooklyn.

Harden looked rejuvenated coming off a season defined by hamstring injuries that hampered his effectiveness in a truncated 21 regular-season games with the Sixers last season.

The 10-time All-Star frustrated the Celtics, displaying the mobility he was missing a year ago. He was able to get to the free throw line often. He also was effective from the 3-point line, connecting on four in the first half, including a rainbow heave from the top of the key to beat the shot clock late in the second quarter.

Crossovers target 3rd straight victory in Reinforced tiff

CHERY TIGO sets out for a third straight victory in a match against Akari Thursday hoping to sustain a fine start to a campaign that has been nothing but inspiring as Choco Mucho and PLDT tangle in a key duel in the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference eliminations at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

Cebu remains king of Kampeon Cup

By Rick Olivares

BACOLOD City—Cebu defend ed its AIA Vitality Kampeon Cup title with a pulsating 2-1 win over tough Bonifacio Global City (BGC) at the La Provincia Polo Field in Bacolod City Sunday.

In both halves of this national championship for seven-a-side football, BGC subjected Cebu to an intense barrage of shots but keeper Leonard Tan was quick to parry all of them in the seven-a-side tournament.

The defending champions made the most out of their few opportuni ties to stun BGC behind goals from Hayato Fukui in the 36th minute and John Clyde Vitualla in the 45th minute.

Tonaldo pulled one back for BGC with a penalty in the 49th minute. However, with only a minute of play left, the Manila-based squad was unable to equalize.

Cebu went undefeated in the tournament at 4-0.

Cebu swarmed BGC on opening day, 3-1, punched a ticket to the semifinals with a 9-4 hammering of Iloilo.

The Cebuanos made short work of the home side, Bacolod, 4-1, in

the crossover semifinals to return to the finals.

BGC, after losing to Cebu, out lasted Iloilo, 7-5, and crushed San Carlos, 7-0, in the semifinals.

Cebu’s Leonard Tan was named the Best Goalkeeper while his teammate, John Clyde Vitualla was awarded the Most Valuable Player trophy.

BGC salvaged some pride when Tonaldo took home the Best Scorer trophy with six goals.

Unlike majority of the nine-team field, the Crossovers have flourished in the early going of the qualifiers behind a cohesive local unit although import Jelena Cvijovic is due for a big outing after six-point game in their straightset romp over the F2 Logistics Cargo Movers last October 11 and a 12-point showing in their four-set win over the Cignal HD Spikers last weekend.

But skipper Mylene Paat, EJ Laure and Cza Carandang have been dishing

Former IronKids champion vying in Sunrise Sprint

out big games after big games and playmaker Jasmine Nabor and libero Bea Duremdes have provided the needed spunk and aplomb that have kept their offense going and defense holding, putting Chery Tiggo on top with the powerhouse Creamline two weeks into the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.

Hurdling seasoned campaigners F2 Logistics and Cignal, however, doesn’t make Chery Tiggo invincible, particularly when ranged against a newcomer, as the Akari Chargers have shown some punch and poise in upending UAI-Army in straight sets, also last Saturday, to put themselves

WACKY BANIQUED, the most prominent star to have come out of the IronKids program, steps up his drive for multi-sport honors in a higher level as he banners the cast in the Go for Gold Sunrise Sprint spicing up the Alveo 5150 Subic Bay triathlon on Sunday.

Now 20, the Team TNST spearhead from San Pedro, Laguna seeks to sweep both the overall and age-group titles in the short-distance event, which features 750-m open water swim, 20-km bike ride and a 5-km run at Subic Bay Boardwalk.

Dubbed as S2, the sub-category to the centerpiece Alveo 5150 is aimed at providing a venue for those making a comeback in the ever-growing sport and at the same time provide quality triathlon experience on an Olympicstyle course setup.

It is also designed for beginners wanting to race without having to worry about long periods of training and those seeking to immerse

in early contention.

But coach Jorge Souza de Brito will have a lot of motivating to do to continue to draw superb games from import Prisilla Rivera and locals Janine Marciano, Erika Raagas, Princess Madrigal, Genevieve Casugod and Michelle Cobb, improve their 1-1 slate and stop the Crossovers’ early surge.

Gametime is at 2:30 p.m. with Chery Tiggo upbeat of making it threein-row and sustaining a solid start after winding up eighth in both the Open Conference and the Invitationals this year due to health issues following a breakthrough in the league’s inaugural pro staging (Open) under bubble setup in Ilocos Norte last year.

The 5:30 p.m. clash between the Flying Titans and the High Speed Hitters is also expected to be fierce

themselves into triathlon.

“The Go for Gold Sunrise Sprint symbolizes strength and hope—hope for everyone that things will get better and time to draw strength from each other as we heal around the world,” said Go for Gold PH founder Jeremy Go.

For Alveo 5150 details, log on to www.ironman.com. For the Sunrise Sprint, log on to www.goforgold. sunrisesprint.com.

The IronKids, meanwhile, ushers in the triathlon weekend on Saturday with the future of local tri-sport clashing for top honors in their version of the swim-bike-run race set at various distances.

Tipped to crowd Baniqued for the overall championship are Dash Ramirez, Jyrehn Sales, Lawrence Uy, Michael Balasbas and Jacob Tan, who are all competing in the 15-19 category and Jerome Sales (20-24), while Lucienne Aragones, Erika Burgos, Michelle Cabaron, Tiffany Cabero, Dondi de Vera, Kira Ellis,

Bulldogs finally defeat Archers in UAAP action

NATIONAL University (NU) eked out an 80-76 squeaker over De La Salle University for its fourth straight triumph in University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 85 men’s basket ball action Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

It was the Bulldogs’ first win over the Green Archers since the second round of Season 78 on October 28. De La Salle won their next 10 matchups until Wednesday.

“Finally I got to breathe, De La Salle is one of the big boys,” NU coach Jeff Napa said. “We were down in the third quarter and we had to put the game’s momentum to our advantage. The match went tight all the way with neither team getting a clear advantage after each of the first three quarters.

De La Salle led 63-61 entering the payoff period but NU kept threatening all the way to force both sides to teeter at crunchtime.

De La Salle pulled to within 76-79 with 58.2 seconds left on Kevin Quiambao’s triple, and the Green Archers got an other shot at the victory after NU’s Steve Nash Enriquez missed his three-pointer attempt.

But Quiambao missed a tripe from the corner and John Lloyd Clemente iced the game for NU from the line.

Enriquez led the Bull dogs with 16 points on four triples, three rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes of action.

Clemente had a doubledouble of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Omar John got 15 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

NU rose atop the stand ings at 5-1 won-lost, half a game over reigning champion University of the Philippines, which faced University of the East later on Wednesday. De La Salle, which slipped to 3-3 at fifth, was paced by Quiambao had 15 points and six rebounds and returning Mike Phillips also booked 15 points with three blocks and three steals for De La Salle, which dropped to 3-3 at fifth place.

Evan Nelle contributed 14 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds for the Green Archers, while Deschon Win ston, who averaged 24.0 points before the game, was limited to 12 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field.

The Green Archers will close the first round against Adamson University on Saturday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, while NU play Far Eastern University on Sunday.

with the winner breaking away from a tight five-way tie at third at 1-1 with the Petro Gazz Angels, the HD Spikers and the Chargers.

But Choco Mucho has some kind of momentum after foiling F2 Logistics in a gripping four-set battle last October 13 with Odina Aliyeva, Kat Tolentino, Bea de Leon, Isa Molde, Des Cheng, Cherry Nunag, Maika Ortiz and setter Deana Wong ready to slug it out with PLDT’s prolific import Elena Samoilenko and locals Mika Reyes, Dell Palomata, Jules Samonte, Joy Soyud, Chin Basas, Fiola Ceballos and Jovie Prado.

Games are aired every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on One Sports, One Sports+, Cignal Play and Smart Gigaplay with hashtag #TheHeartofVolleyball.

The other titles to be disputed in Alveo 5150 are the men’s and women’s relay and the mixed relay.

The Sunrise Sprint wave start is set at 8 a.m. for the male side and 8:05 a.m. for the women’s.

The 750-m counterclockwise swim starts at Subic Bay Boardwalk with participants heading out for 300 meters before turning left for 150 meters then making another left for the last 300 meters all the way to transition.

The 20-km single-loop bike course starts at Dewey Ave. heading to Burgos St. with bidders to turn right to Rizal Highway then right to Argonaut Highway and to the first turnaround at NCT Road at KM 10 then back to Argonaut and Rizal Highway en route to transition in Dewey Ave.

THE Cebuanos are unscathed at the La Provincia Polo Field in Bacolod City.

Ashley Payumo, Maurelle Salas, Katrina Salazar and Marianne Suico gear up for a showdown in the distaff side of the event organized by the Ironman Group/Sunrise Events Inc.

STEPHEN CURRY has big numbers to open the season for the defending champions. AP

FAITH NISPEROS unloads 18 points off 11 attacks, six aces and one block for Ateneo.