BusinessMirror October 24, 2022

News

PHL seeks $12.28-B funding from ADB for ’23-’25 projects

around 50 km south of Manila.

Pension...

“While the country’s pension benefits are currently still sustain able relative to much of the rest of the world, it is only because they are woefully inadequate for the needs of old age,” he said.

Retirement plan

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE Philippine government is seeking $12.28 billion worth of funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for various projects and programs in the next three years.

Socioeconomic Planning Sec retary Arsenio M. Balisacan said the amount will cover 26 program and projects in the 2023 to 2025 pipeline.

“We thank the ADB, particularly the Philippine Country Office, for completing this year’s Country Programming Mission, especially for allocating an estimated $12.28 billion for 26 programs and projects set for delivery during the 2023 to 2025 pipeline,” Balisacan Tweeted recently.

Agri...

Continued from

Emerging trends

OTHER issues to be tackled: the re view of the progress of various re gional programs on skills develop

Based on the 2018 to 2023 Coun try Partnership Strategy (CPS), the Philippines is considered a regular ordinary capital resources-only ADB developing member.

For the previous CPS, ADB pro posed a sovereign lending pro gram of $7.8 billion, or $2 billion annually, for 2018–2021. The to tal indicative lending for 2018–2023 is projected at $11 billion.

The focus of cooperation be tween the ADB and the Philip pines in the past three years are

ment, digitalization, climate change and green jobs, industrial relations and the changing world of work, mi gration and social protection.

On skills training, Laguesma said they will talk about upgrad ing competency and profession al qualifications standards and

key policy areas in education, labor market activation programs, ac cess to health services and quality childcare, financial inclusion, and social protection.

Currently, ADB has 12 active projects with the Philippines that were approved this year. Seven are regional projects while the other five are Philippine-specific projects.

Of the five Philippine-specific projects, the largest is the South Commuter Railway Project which will receive a $4.3-billion loan from ADB’s Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR) and $1.67 billion loan from the Japan International Coopera tion Agency (JICA).

The project will also get $2 mil lion worth of technical assistance from the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific.

The project will support the construction of the 54.6-kilome ter Blumentritt-Calamba section of the North-South Commuter Railway connecting Metro Manila and Calamba, in Laguna Province

the delivery of technical and vo cational education and training (TVET); making ICT (information and communication technology) and digitalization accessible to all.

“The meetings will also highlight the need for more effective regional responses to unemployment espe

The Project will provide im proved connectivity in the public transport network by connecting with all existing LRT/MRT-lines in Metro Manila. It includes a connecting line to the planned Metro Manila Subway, which will improve connectivity by operating direct trains for pas sengers travelling from Calamba to Bonifacio Global City, Ortigas and Quezon City along the Metro Manila Subway.

The new railway line will pro vide affordable, reliable and safe public transport, reduce green house gas emissions and cut the journey time by half to less than one hour. The project will be co financed by JICA.

The government is also con structing the 37-km TutubanMalolos section and the 53.1-km Malolos-Clark Railway Project. It also plans to further extend the project toward the north by 17.8 km to connect the New Clark City to Clark.

cially in rural communities, rising food prices, and inflation, which are now among the biggest threats to workers’ welfare and well-being in the region,” Laguesma said.

Labor officials from the 10 Asean member-states—Brunei  Darus salam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philip pines—are participating in the event.

Laguesma said they will also hold meetings with ASEAN Plus Three dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea.

Labor participation

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition chair man and Federation of Free Work ers (FFW) president Sonny Matula said the ALMM participants are also expected to meet with labor representatives.

“The actual meeting will be for labor ministers only, but they are expected to also meet with labor representatives during the side event [of the ALMM],” Matula told BusinessMirror in a SMS.

He said they endorsed Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Chairperson El mer Labog to be their representa tive in the event.

Labog said he will raise the issues of trade union rights violations, low wages, and unemployment in case their meeting with labor ministers pushes through. As of press time last Sunday, DOLE has yet to confirm if the ALMM participants will be meeting with employer or labor representatives.

SALCEDA also warned that without reforms, breadwinners will continue to be the retirement plans of their parents.

“As a result, if we don’t make re forms within this generation, we will burden our children. Gen Z breadwinners will continue to be the retirement plans of their parents. Instead of saving for homes or for their children’s education, they will be supporting the living and medical expenses of their elders. And that will keep us from being a rich country,” he said.

“Because the ability of our young to build their own wealth will be ham pered by the needs of their dependent parents. And that’s a terrible curse on our children—a curse only my own generation of policymakers can lift. If we ignore this growing problem, we will be truly irresponsible parents,” he added.

Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority, Salceda said only about 20 percent of senior citizens are covered by pensions either from the Social Security System or the Government Service Insurance System.

He said the Philippine pension as sets under management represent a measly 16 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) compared with the average 36 percent of non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-op eration and Development) countries.

“Pension contributions to the SSS are capped at a certain salary level. Beyond that cap, those with higher salary levels are not required to pay higher sums. The private pension system is also still managed by in dividual employers, and a single cor porate pension framework does not

exist,” he added.

Meanwhile, Salceda said mem bers of the Military and Uniformed Services enjoy a separate pension scheme where they pay no portion of their salary, while having their benefits indexed to the rise in cur rent salaries.

In response, Salceda is recom mending the House leadership and the Executive branch to create each other’s Select Commissions on Pen sion Reforms, to recommend sweep ing legislation to fix the country’s pension woes.

Corporate pension framework

THIS , Salceda says, should include a rethink of the administration’s pro posed Capital Market Development Act, which will establish a corporate pension framework.

“I am proposing that the House of Representatives create a select com mission on pension reforms, with the mandate to work with national government agencies to craft a full appraisal of the size of the country’s pension problem and propose solu tions within six months. The Execu tive Branch should create its own select commission, which can work on executive issuances that will im prove pension governance, and also propose legislation to Congress,” he said.

“Although not as immediate, this is just as worrisome as the fiscal cliff that major Philippine economists foresaw in the early 2000s, which led us to legislate VAT reforms. The Arroyo administration then had limited political room, but got the reforms done. President Marcos has the mandate of the vast majority of this country’s voters. So, I am hope ful that the economic team will wield that rare popular mandate and com mit to reform,” he added.

Salceda said neglecting pension reform now will be a “sin of omission the next generation would rightly blame us for.”

Q2 domestic...

Among the regions, Central Vi sayas (Region VII) topped with P47.46 billion value of traded commodities or 25 percent of the total value of traded commodities in the second quarter of 2022.

Western Visayas (Region VI) came next with traded commodities amounting to P35.14 billion or 18.5 percent of the total, followed by East ern Visayas (Region VIII) with P31.95 billion or 16.8 percent

Inflow, outflow

THE data also showed that by region, Central Visayas (Region VII) posted the highest inflow value of domestic trade at P46.52 billion or 24.5 per cent share of the total in the second quarter of 2022.

This was followed by Caraga (Re gion XIII) with an inflow value of P38.25 billion or 20.1 percent of the total and Western Visayas (Region VI) with P30.15 billion or a share of 15.9 percent.

Meanwhile, Cagayan Valley (Re

Bureaucracy...

While it will take time for invest ments to bear fruit, Sy-Coson said the country should first focus on making policies easier for foreign investors.

“Everybody knows that there’s a global problem and also the US dollar is very strong, so most in vestments go back to the US; so I think we have a lot of fundamen tals here. It will take a little while for them to bear fruit. In terms of the risks, I think we have a lot of the economic indicators that are pivoting for growth but the atten tion is not just with us because of all of this dollar strength. So what we can do perhaps is be able to make our policy easier for the foreign in vestors to come in; of course, tak ing into consideration what are the risks that we have to be cautious on. But otherwise i think we just have to wait for a certain time,” Sy-Coson told the CEO Forum.

She also noted that the problem is not just being experienced by the Philippines, as “most of the Asean

from

countries have the same problems.”

The SM Investments Corp. offi cial pointed out that “even invest ment trips . . . will not bring invest ments to us right now.” Sy-Coson said the purpose of investment trips is to provide knowledge to investors on what the country is doing so that when the investors are ready, they will come in.

For his part, Aboitiz Equity Ven tures Chief Finance Officer Manuel Lozano stressed that although in vestors are “not investing anywhere today,” they are looking at where the investments of the future will be.

Lozano underscored the impor tance of enhancing the country’s reputation in a bid to attract inves tors. Maintaining a good reputation should be backed by a supportive government, among others, he stressed.

With this, he added, “We have to continue the momentum; our reputation is critical, that I think is the most important.”

The CEO of motorcycle hailing

gion II) had the lowest inflow value, only P3 million.

Positive trade balance

THE PSA reported that the top three regions with favorable or positive do mestic trade balances in the second quarter of 2022 were led by Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) with P18.78 billion.

Other regions with the highest positive trade balance were NCR with P15.16 billion and Northern Mindanao (Region X) with P10.81 billion.

“Trade balance is the difference between the outflow value and inflow value,” PSA said.

Meanwhile, the regions with most unfavorable or negative domestic trade balances in the second quarter of 2022 were the Caraga (Region XIII) with a trade deficit of P33.94 billion.

This was followed by Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX) with a deficit of P6.88 billion and Calabarzon (Re gion IV-A), P5.89 billion.

platform Angkas George Royeca said that while attracting FDI is im portant, there are other industries which the Filipinos could leverage to spur economic growth.

“There’s a lot of industries [that] Pinoy capital [can afford]. For ex ample, the conglomerates right here, from malls to factories, all of them create jobs and those jobs put money into people’s pockets to move the economy forward,” Roye ca said during the CEO Forum on Wednesday.

However, the Angkas CEO ze roed in on MSMEs. “But I think one thing that’s a hidden gem that we haven’t really explored is the MSMEs, but the first thing we need to do is redefine what an MSME is,” Royeca added.

Royeca cited Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) data that “20 percent plus of exports come from MSMEs.” He added, “So this is I think a hidden gem that we have yet to realize and we can harness that aside from the employment that our local industries generate and aside from FDI, that is still a long-term process.”

The Nation

Imported spray paints contain lead above legal limit–group

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

IMPORTED hazardous paints that contain lead above the legal limit continue to enter the Philip pines despite a national ban on such paints to protect children, women and workers from the harmful ef fects of lead exposure.

This was disclosed by the EcoW aste Coalition and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (Ipen) in their report titled “Im ported Lead-Containing Spray Paints Sold in the Philippine Market.”

According to the report, 85 of the 100 paints bought by staff of the EcoWaste Coalition and sent to a private laboratory for analysis con tained lead above the maximum limit of 90 parts per million (ppm). These are paints supposedly imported from China and Thailand.

The report, released in time for the 10th International Lead Poison ing Prevention Week, seeks to draw attention to the urgency of adopting additional measures to fully enforce the national ban on lead in the man ufacture, importation, distribution and sale of all paints and similar surface coatings.

“Despite the ban, imported leadcontaining spray paints are still able to enter our ports and sold with impunity,” Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition was quoted as saying in a state ment. “This illegal trade infringes on our right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, a human right recognized by the UN General Assembly last July.”

“This situation should prompt the authorities to ramp up new ini tiatives to enforce the ban on lead paints, including nominating lead chromates, the most common leadbased paint pigments, for listing under the Rotterdam Convention in order to control the entry of such raw materials and the finished paint products containing them,” Manny Calonzo, Adviser, EcoWaste Coali tion added.

Lifelong, irreversible

IPEN International Lead Paint

Elimination Campaigner Jeiel Guarino said that lead-induced disorders on children’s brains are lifelong and irreversible.

“While often overlooked, these adverse neurological impairments can reduce a child’s intelligence, con tribute to a child’s low performance in school, increase impulses towards violent and anti-social behavior and may increase a child’s likelihood of incarceration later in life,” Guarino, a chemist, said. “If this continues un abated, a large population of young

Villanueva asks CSC: End ‘endo’ in government once and for all

Villanueva earlier also filed Sen ate Bill No. 131 or the Civil Service Security of Tenure Act, providing permanent appointment and au tomatic civil service eligibility to all casual and contractual govern ment employees who have rendered at least five years in service in the national government and six years in the local government units and have at least a satisfactory rating for at least three years.

The lawmaker lauded the the CSC initiative to give “preferential rating” for JOs and COS in the next civil service examination which will put into consideration their number of years in service.

“This is a welcome development on the part of CSC to secure jobs for JOs and COS workers in the govern ment. Let’s end endo in government once and for all,” adds Villanueva.

Filipino children with diminished life prospects imposes severe bur dens on the country’s overall health and well-being.”

Based on the laboratory analysis performed by SGS, a global testing company, the 85 paints represent ing 25 brands exceeded the 90 ppm total lead limit of which 69 paints contained extremely high lead concentrations above 10,000 ppm. An orange-yellow Automatic Spray Paint manufactured in China contained the highest lead content at 212,000 ppm.

Thirty-seven of these 85 paints were imported from China and 11 from Thailand (34 paints did not indi cate their country of manufacture on the label, while three had information written in foreign characters). None of these paints was produced or dis tributed by affiliates of the Philippine Association of Paint Manufacturers.

The brands Yandy (with 10 paints), Sinag (9), King Sfon (7), Colorz (6), Korona (5), Tacoma (5; old variant), Anton (4), Automatic (4), Best Drive Extreme One (4) and Standard (4) had the most number of analyzed lead-containing paints.

Most hazardous

THE study also shows that yellow paints were the most hazardous with 31 of the 35 yellow-colored paints containing lead concentra tions above 10,000 ppm, followed by green, red and orange paints.

None of the analyzed paints in dicated the presence of lead on the paint can label to inform and fore warn consumers. Fourteen of the confirmed Korona and Sinag lead paints were misleadingly marked “lead-free” or carried the “No Pb” pictogram (Pb is the symbol for lead from the Latin plumbum).

To uphold the national ban on lead paints, the EcoWaste Coalition and Ipen are urging the government to tighten customs checks for paint im ports; order business establishments, including online shopping platforms, to discontinue selling lead-containing paints or face administrative and criminal sanctions; and impose fines and penalties against manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers of leaded paints wrongfully labeled as “lead-free” in line with Republic Act 7394, or the Consumer Act of the Philippines.

The groups further ask stake holders from the government, business and industry, health care sector, academia and civil society to actively support policies and programs that will contribute to reduced children’s, women’s and workers’ exposure to lead from lead-containing paint, dust and soil towards a lead-safe future for all.

Amid new Covid variant, Prez feels life ‘returning to normal’

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

DESPITE the local detection of an infectious subvariant of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the country is now ready to return to its pre-pandemic “normal” of holding large events.

Marcos said the conduct of the culmination activity of the Mass kara Festival 2022 in Negros Oc cidental, which he attended last Sunday, was proof that the mass

events can now be safely held even amid the pandemic.

The festival was suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis and only resumed this year with the theme:

“Balik Yuhum!” or “smile again.”

“We now know how to man age Covid and we are happy we’re all here [for the festival],” Marcos said in Filipino during his speech at the event.

“That is why the MassKara Fes tival is so great. Everyone, not only those from Bacolod, feels that the lives of Filipinos are returning to normal,” he added.

He noted the return of the festi val was timely since it was originally conceptualized in 1980’s to help Ne gro Occidental, a sugar-producing province, cope with the global crash in sugar prices that time.

“The Masskara Festival was originally conceptualized because of poverty and sadness. The re turn of the Masskara Festival now

Group cites pitfalls in SIM registration

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

ACONSUMER group pointed out pitfalls that Republic Act (RA) 11934, also known as “An Act Requiring the Registra tion of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM),” might create, such as viola tion of privacy rights.

Lawyer Tim Abejo, co-convenor of CitizenWatch Philippines, said the primary practical concern among telco subscribers is the required reg istration of some 100 million SIMs in the country within 180 days from the implementation of the law.

“This will need a strategy that will be as painless and non-disrup tive as possible for consumers and that will be achieved within the shortest and most feasible timeline,” Abejo was quoted in a statement as saying. “The people also have to be given clear guidelines on how to register, and where.”

According to the law, existing sub scribers have to register their SIM with their respective public telecom munications entity (PTE) within 180 days; the Department of Information and Communications Technology may extend this by another 120 days.

The personal data of existing post-paid subscribers will be in cluded in the SIM Register. If a SIM card is not registered during the pre scribed period, it will be deactivated or retired by the telco.

Lingering questions LIKEWISE, all new SIMS to be sold

will be in a de-activated state and will only be activated once the user completes the registration process.

“On this one, our suggestion is that all services will be barred ex cept incoming SMS for one-timepassword validation for financial transactions,” Abejo stressed.

Abejo pointed out that another issue is that an enormous database of subscribers’ personal informa tion may be compromised and may even fall into the hands of digital crime syndicates.

“We want to know: while the National ID System is still being rolled out, what will be the identity verification process to be used and what safeguards will there be to en sure data privacy?” Abejo said. He added that a credible ID and signa ture verification protocol is key to purging the subscribers of telcos of anonymous SIMs rampantly used by crime syndicates.

“All these concerns raised by vari ous groups are valid and must be ad dressed accordingly, so that we will be able to achieve the ends envisioned by the law without endangering the rights of the people,” Abejo said.

He urged regulators to consult with all stakeholders while draft ing the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations, to ensure that all sides will be heard, and the most ef ficient implementation guidelines are adopted.

Rational discussion

EARLIER, former legislator Ray mond D. Palatino warned the new

law could be weaponized as “for mass surveillance and authoritarianism.’’

“It treats certain actions as if they were already crimes, such as “trolling,” “hate speech,” and “spread of digital disinformation or fake news,” even though this cur rently finds no basis under existing Philippine laws, and then invokes them to justify the need for the law and its oppressive impositions,” the group Democracy.Net PH said in their veto petition.

Abejo, meanwhile, commended the passage of RA 11934 and is op timistic that concerns on its imple mentation will be ironed out through transparent processes, sound plan ning and inclusive consultation.

“There is nothing that cannot be resolved through dialogue and rational discussion,” he said. “We finally have this opportunity to set in motion a law that protects ordinary citizens from fraudsters, thieves and other sinister elements pillaging our digital space. We have to do this right.”

Abejo said RA 11934 enables the state to “promote responsi bility in the use of SIM cards and provide law enforcement agen cies the tools to resolve crimes which involve its utilization and a platform to deter the commis sion of wrongdoings.”

“Let us not botch this one. We have a good law that needs urgent enforcement, so we must ensure that its intentions are not watered down or unduly delayed by sloppy implementation.”

Netizens lash at DENR Penro over remarks on hiring post

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

REACTING to negative com ments on the job posting by the Department of Environ ment and Natural Resources (DENR) Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office (Penro) in Marin duque has earned the ire of netizens.

The Penro Marinduque posted it is hiring 1 Accounting Clerk for the Duration of November 2, 2022 to December 22, and a Forest Protec tion Officer with a salary of P8,500 for a month’s work. The latter drew some negative comments.

These comments were given this post by the Penro Marinduque: “Para po sa lahat ng nagbibigay ng negative comments, hindi po kami humihingi ng opinion ninyo. Maging responsable po tayo sa ating mga sinasabi.” [For all those who give negative comments, we are not asking for your opinion. Let’s be responsible for what we say.]

shows we already left poverty and sadness as shown by the Bacolodi ans in bringing back our smiles,” Marcos said.

Marcos earlier said that tourism will be among the industries that will help the country recover from the economic effects of the pandemic.

Last Friday, the Department of Health (DOH) confirmed the local presence of Omicron subvariants XBB and XBC.

It registered 81 XBB cases and 193 XBC cases. Of the recorded XBB cases, 80 were from Western Visayas, which in includes Negros Occidental.

Health officials attributed the XBB to the surge of Covid-19 cases in Singapore, while the characteris tics of the XBC sub-variant are still under investigation.

Davao City is 4th most competitive highly-urbanized metropolitan hub

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO CITY—The city maintained its rank in the 10th Cities and Munici palities Competitiveness Summit, placing fourth most competitive in the highly-urbanized cities (HUCs) category.

The competitive ranking orga nized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was romped away by Quezon City, followed by Manila City and Pasay City.

The city maintained the fourth spot in the overall standing for most competitive HUCs, the same spot it had in 2021, the city information office said.

Apart from its overall rank, the city also ranked third “Most Com petitive in Economic Dynamism;” sixth “Most Competitive in Infra structure;” sixth “Most Competi tive in Resiliency;” seventh “Most Competitive in Innovation;” and, eighth “Most Competitive in Gov ernment Efficiency.”

This is the eighth time the city was feted among the top com petitive HUCs since 2015, said City Investment and Promotion Center Officer-in-Charge April Marie C. Dayap.

“The consistent inclusion of the city as one of [the] top five award ees [in the Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index] shows that we are growing. The award is a valida tion of the untiring efforts of the local government of Davao to im prove and enhance its operations and systems for the benefit of our constituents. We take note that other cities are also doing their best to improve their services to their people,” Dayap said.

She said that Davao remained strong in the four pillars “economic dynamism, infrastructure, resilien cy and innovation” that were used as the bases for ranking.

The business-friendly environ ment, improved “ease of doing busi ness” and maintaining a good work ing relationship with the private sec tor has keep high marks for the city, Dayap said. Infrastructure in the city has also continued to be robust with constructions going in many places in the city.

“When it comes to resiliency, we are confident that Davao City is one of the best in the country with our current infrastructure and systems,” she added. “While innovation has been fully em braced with the city’s operations and processes being automated and digitized.”

NEW ASSIGNMENTS This Monday, October 17, 2022, photo shows

Undersecretary Ciriaco A. Lagunzad III (left), Assistant Secretary Maria Liavel C. Badillo-Crisostomo (2nd from right) and HRDS Director Brenalyn A. Peji bearing witness to the turnover of leadership at the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC) from Director Ma. Karina Perida-Trayvilla (3rd from right) to Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin Satumba (2nd from left). Satumba, who served as Executive Director of the Institute of Labor Studies, receives the symbolic key and BWSC Banner and documents from outgoing Director Trayvilla last October 17 at the DOLE Central Office in Intramuros, Manila.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

Economy

BusinessMirror

DOTr to ask grants from ADB, Jica to develop master plan for ports

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

Agency for a grant to develop the maritime blueprint.

to-market ports because we are an archipelago,” he said.

Airlines asked to launch Manila-to-Ormoc route

from Ormoc City.

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

THE

Department of Transpor tation (DOTr) intends to de velop a “master plan for ports” to maximize the archipelagic nature of the Philippines.

In a chance interview, Transpor tation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said the government plans to tap the Asian Development Bank or the Japan International Cooperation

The plan came after, according to Bautista, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. asked the DOTr “to de velop ports for the efficient transpor tation of food products—to provide low-cost food all over the country.”

Bautista noted that the master plan may be finished “within the next six months.”

“We have farm-to-market roads; but what we want to have are farm-

The master plan aims to maxi mize the use of the more than 700 maritime gateways in the Philip pines, some of which are not opera tional, Bautista explained.

He added that the government is serious in developing seaports, to “capitalize the archipelagic features of our country.”

“Throughout the archipelago, further development and upgrades

in our maritime gateways are be ing undertaken by the Philippine Ports Authority. We expect ongoing projects in seven provincial ports would rev up economic develop ment,” he said.

These include projects such as the development and expansion of the Capinpin Port in Bataan, the Tablas Port in Romblon, the Dumangas Port in Iloilo and the Dapitan Port in Zamboanga del Norte, among others.

TPB travel exchange exceeds pre-pandemic sales record

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

LOCAL travel and tour operators recorded a surge in demand from foreign travel buyers, who are interested in booking more trips to the Philippines for their clients.

In a news statement, the Tour ism Promotions Board (TPB) said its Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex) 2022 tallied some P172.6 million in business leads in just two days last week, from sellers physically present at the venue, the Marriot Grand Ballroom.

“This is the biggest negotiated sales generated by Phitex in all its years; and we are seeing more leads coming in,” said TPB COO Margarita M. Nograles. The largest bookings came from South Korea.

This year’s sales leads surpassed the pre-pandemic P46 million in 2019 and P69 million at the hybrid edition last year.

“We spoke to them [buyers] and they’re so excited to be here and so raring to set up these products and tours to the Philippines,” Nograles said. “So I think this is an amazing start to the recovery that we want to see in the next few years.”

From February 10 to October 16, international arrivals reached 1.77 million, of which 1.27 million were foreigners and 495,723 were over seas Filipinos, as per data from the Department of Tourism (DOT).

‘A better year’

“DEFINITELY, this year was better in terms of buyers,” confirmed Rajah Tours president Jose C. Clemente III. “We had about eight buyers last year; it was all via hybrid. [On Wednesday], we had about 25 and there were solid leads,” he told the BusinessMirror

“We tried to get as many buyers as we could—from the US, Europe and Asia. Most of them are coming in for

next year and beyond, most likely towards their summer and winter of 2023,” he added.

Of the 116 total buyers from 32 countries, 53 were physically pres ent and 63 participated virtually.

The TPB added there were 3,432 en gagements between participants onsite participants, while the virtual business-to-business (B2B) meetings will continue from October 26 to 28.

More sales leads reports are expected within the week.

Negotiated sales are usually com puted from the seller’s sales leads re ports for both confirmed and pencilbooked sales, explained the TPB, the marketing arm of the DOT.

Buyers on ‘fun’ tours

INTERNATIONAL buyers who were

onsite are now on post-event tours in six tour circuits: Cebu-Bohol, Ne gros Oriental-Siquijor, Ilocos, Cala barzon, Davao and Metro Manila. There was a high demand for the Cebu-Bohol and Negros OrientalSiquijor tours, said the TPB.

Tourism Secretary Christina Gar cia Frasco, who also chairs the TPB, said “the impressive turnout of buy ers and sellers and the record-break ing numbers encapsulate the positive outlook for our country and growing interest in our destinations.”

“As we embark in an aggressive campaign to revive our tourism in dustry and roll-out never seen before projects that will facilitate an en hanced connectivity into and around the Philippines and provide a more convenient and seamless travel expe

rience for guests, we anticipate more interest from local and international tourism stakeholders.” Frasco said.

Now in its 21st year, Phitex is the biggest government-led travel trade event in the country organized by the TPB.

Nograles said that the Tourism Secretary “has always emphasized the importance and opportunity in equi tably promoting all our regions and not just our popular destinations.”

“This strategy has been proven ef fective as we brought the Regional Di rectors to be part of the B2B process, incorporated an exhibit of all the re gions, invited weavers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao and made sure that in our cultural shows, we integrated all regions in the visuals and live performances,” she added.

LEYTE Fourth District Rep. Richard I. Gomez is encourag ing airline companies to launch the Manila-Ormoc route, which will usher in more development in the city and the Eastern Visayas region.

In an interview with reporters at the sidelines of Ormoc City’s Dia mond Jubilee celebration, Gomez said he already asked the help of Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista to open take-off and land ing slots for Ormoc Airport.

He added that Bautista “is com mitted to help us because even if we have a good presentation, if the DOTr and CAAP will not open slots, we will not be able to invite commer cial flights here.”

Gomez said that the “airport has been here already; the Philippine Airlines has a plan.”

“We are all system go but the pan demic hits us in February 2020. We’re hoping that two more airlines will take a look at Ormoc City.”

Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport or Tacloban City Airport is an airport serving big part of Leyte. The air port is more than two hours away

Moreover, Gomez said Ormoc Airport will not just benefit Or moc City but all nearby towns in Western Leyte, Southern Leyte and Biliran province.

“We will present to airlines our financial viability showing that they can have business here,” he said.

Last Thursday, President Fer dinand R. Marcos Jr. said opening the Ormoc Airport to commercial flights will usher in more develop ment in the city and the Eastern Visayas region.

The president issued the remark during his inspection of the Ormoc Airport in a visit to the city to celebrate its 75th Charter Day anniversary.

The Ormoc Airport is currently being upgraded with the construc tion of the landing area and taxiway and the expansion of its Apron.

The P329-million project, which is expected to be completed in March 2023, would enable the airport to accept bigger commercial aircraft.

In his visit, Marcos lauded the city government for its accomplish ments in attaining food security and combating climate change, which are in line with his national devel opment agenda.

Lanao del Sur gets 2 farm roads

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

DAVAO

CITY—Farmer resi dents and commuters in the town of Sultan Dumalo ndong, Lanao del Sur province got two farm road projects, while neigh boring Maguindanao del Sur got its own post-harvest storage facility.

The Ministry of Public Works’s Second Engineering District of La nao del Sur would be constructing the two roads after these were of ficially inaugurated last October 19.

District Engineer Maldamin B. De campong said the road projects were funded under the Bangsamoro Appro priation Act of 2022 with a total amount of P56.8 million (about $964,758.79 at current exchange rates).

The Lumbac-Banday, Pagalongan road stretching to 1.5 kilometers has a budget of P28.4 million and the Phase-2, or concreting of the 1.5-km Bacayawan-Pagalongan-Lake Butig road has a similar budget.

“These several infrastructure proj ects are more than a gift to us but a legacy of our Bangsamoro government that could not be forgotten in the hearts and minds of our people forever,” Mayor Jamel B. Kurangking said.

Kurangking said his town also ex

pect road-concreting projects from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. One is the Bacay awan-Pagalongan-Dinganun, with a road length of 1.5 km road and with a budget of P27 million. Another is the Dinganun to Sumalindo-Malalis with a road length of two kilometers road. It has a budget of P36 million.

“These will connect several ba rangays within the municipality and will be beneficial for the far-flung farmers,” Kurangking said. Likewise, the town was also the recipient of a project to construct its municipal hall worth P30 million. It was funded by the Ministry of the Interior and Lo cal Government.

In Maguindanao del Sur, mean time, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (Ma far), started the construction of a post-harvest storage facilities on October 12 in Barangay Damalasak in Pagalungan, Maguindanao del Sur. This project would like to minimize the post-harvest losses caused by flooding.

Director II for Agriculture Servic es Ismail A. Guiamel said the building was funded under the Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) and it can store up to 10,000 bags of rice. Its solar dryer has a drying capacity of 80-100 bags.

‘Unicorns’ propel Asean region’s strong performance–Unctad Bill ordering space for ICT infra re-filed

AKEY factor behind the strong performance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) is its “dy namic” start-up ecosystem, ac cording to a joint report by the Asean and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Devel opment (Unctad).

According to the report, the number of start-ups in the Asean

region that have raised more than $1 million in funding almost tri pled from 652 to 1,920 between 2015 and 2021—a rate that was 85 percent more than in Europe and 65 percent faster than in the United States during the same period.

“The region’s unicorns—startups with a value of $1 billion or more—have also mushroomed,

growing from two in 2014 to 46 in 2021. Asean now ranks behind only the US, China and India,” a statement from the Unctad issued last Wednes day read.

The Asean-Unctad report not ed that Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand are the other Asean member states witnessing fast growth.

“The rise of start-ups and uni corns is causing rapid growth of global and regional private equity and venture capital funds in the region,” the Asean Investment Report 2022, published last Sep tember 14, noted.

According to Investopedia, start up refers to a company in the first stages of operations. These are founded by one or more entrepre neurs who want to develop a prod uct or service for which they believe there is demand.

Increasing numbers

THE report cited the funding re ceived by Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt) from its parent firm Ayala Group.

Mynt, which offers financial services, fintech and microlending,

reached unicorn status in 2021, five years after its launch. It’s now valued at $2 billion.

The unicorn firm is backed by these venture capital firms: Bow Wave LLC (United States); Ant Financial Services Co. Ltd. (Chi na); Warburg Pincus LLC (Unit ed States); Insight Partners LLC (United States); Amplo Manage ment LLC (United States); Globe Telecom Inc. (Philippines); and, Ayala Corp. (Philippines).

Of the 100 most-funded startups in the region, 52 or more than half are headquartered in Singapore and 23 or nearly a quarter in Indo nesia. Eight start-ups are located in Malaysia, eight in Thailand, five in Viet Nam, two in the Philippines and two in Myanmar.

“Singapore remains the most popular headquarters location; but other Asean member states are witnessing increasing num bers of regionalized start-ups and venture capital investment activities. These companies are enriching the ecosystems and strengthening intra-Asean in vestment,” the Asean Investment report 2022 noted.

In terms of types of business, the Asean report disclosed that most start-ups operate in technologyrelated businesses. In fact, of the 100 most-funded start-ups with re gional investment activities, 31 are in fintech, 24 in e-commerce and 17 in enterprise or other business-tobusiness services.

Important implications

THE report also said that of the 46 Asean unicorns, 33 have crossborder partnerships. In a bid to expand its market and service, Mynt has partnered with Igloo, an insurtech start-up based in Singapore, for online shopping insurance.

With this, the report under scored the correlation between the partnerships being estab lished among start-ups within the region and their ability to attract investments.

“The relative abundance of startups and unicorns in Asean are an im portant factor behind the dynamism of FDI [foreign direct investments] in Asean, including intra-regional investment,” the Asean investment report highlighted.

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

ALAWMAKER has re-filed a bill that requires housing developers to allocate a designated area for informationandcommunicationtechnol ogy (ICT) infrastructure in their projects.

Isabela 6th District Rep. Inno A. Dy said his House Bill (HB) 4472 or the Housing Development Digital Connec tivity bill, mandates the allocation of a designated “open space” for the estab lishment of ICT infrastructure and other amenities in existing and future housing projects, subdivisions, villages or other residential real property, including so cialized or economic housing.

“The pandemic has highlighted just how crucial digital connectivity is to our lives. We must be equipped to tackle the challenges under the new normal; and this includes ensuring greater access to the internet, which we hope this mea sure will address,” Dy said.

The lawmaker noted that the mea sure could complement other govern ment initiatives to fast-track the roll-out of much-needed infrastructure aimed at improving internet speed and mobile connectivity in the country.

THIS undated photo shows sellers during the Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex) 2022 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom. The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) said Phitex 2022 tallied some P172.6 million in business leads in just two days. TOURISM PROMOTIONS BOARD

Agriculture/Commodities

PHL milk imports seen rising on higher demand

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Philippines’s milk imports this year and next year could reach nearly 3 million metric tons (MMT), according to a report published by an international agency.

The United States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS) in Manila said the country’s dairy imports would recover next year following an an ticipated increase in demand as the economy “improves.”

“FAS Manila forecasts demand for dairy products to increase 3 per cent in 2023, the same percentage of increase as 2022, with a total demand of 3 million metric tons in liquid milk equivalent (LME),”

the international agency said in a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report.

“The Philippines imports 99 percent of its dairy requirement, as domestic production cannot meet demand.”

USDA-FAS Manila had released a report on the country’s dairy industry situation last week (Re lated story: https://business mirror.com.ph/2022/10/20/ report-phl-will-continue-torely-on-milk-imports/).

It noted that the country’s dairy consumption last year reached a record level of 3 MMT amid the lackluster local milk production.

The USDA-FAS Manila added that total dairy consumption would re main at the 3-MMT level this year

and next year.

“With an expanding middle class and a growing population, the Phil ippines is a large and expanding market for dairy products with an nual per capita consumption of 27 kilograms,” it said.

“In comparison, the United States consumes 287 kg per capita of dairy, showing that there remain ample op portunities for food manufacturers to offer more packaged dairy prod ucts in the Philippines.”

Production wise, the USDA-FAS Manila projected that local milk out put would increase to 32,000 metric tons (MT) next year due to the in crease in dairy herd. The country’s estimated dairy output this year is 31,000 MT.

“Post keeps cow’s milk produc

tion at 17,000 MT, which represents a 54 percent share of total pro duction. Production will rebound, boosted by more dairy animals and the active implementation of the government’s dairy development projects,” it said.

“Despite improvements in pro duction, the Philippines supplies only one percent of its total annual dairy requirement, with the rest im ported. Production growth has been slow in previous years because of the inability to increase the dairy herd, mostly due to insufficient funding and little investment from the pri vate sector.”

The Gain report projected that the country’s imports of ready-to-drink liquid milk would grow to 118,000 MT next year from the projected

Marcos vows to focus on ‘neglected’ sugar sector

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Mar cos, Jr. said over the weekend his administration will ad dress the existing problems hound ing the “neglected” sugar industry.

Marcos attributed the issues fac ing the sugar industry from the lack of attention it received from previous administrations.

“The problem with the sugar industry is that we have so many problems we need to address since it has been neglected in previous years. So we are slowly trying to restore it,” Marcos said in Filipino during distribution event of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Depart ment of Agriculture (DA) in Negros Occidental last Sunday.

During the distribution event, DSWD handed cash aid amounting P5,000 to P10,000 to 100 recipients, while DA held a ceremonial turn over of P88-million worth of aid to 6 farmer organizations.

Negros Occidental in Western Visayas is considered as the sugar

capital of the Philippines.

Marcos, who serves as the con current Agriculture secretary, ear lier said he will push to boost the production of the sugar and other agricultural commodities to reduce the country’s reliance on imports.

He said this will ensure the coun try’s food security amid the existing global crisis and supply chain disrup tions caused by the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukraine crop deal fears boost food costs and slow shipments

On his way to the culminating activity of the Masskara Festival in Bacolod City, Marcos held a situa tion briefing with officials of DA, DSWD, Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Labor and Employment.

The Office of the President said the meeting aims to “synergize ef forts to address the pressing con cerns of the people in the region.”

Last month, Marcos issued Sugar

BUSINESSMIRROR

Orders (SO) 1 which outlined the government’s sugar policy for the current crop year.

Under SO 1, the SRA board al located all raw sugar production for the current crop year for domestic use. Based on SO 1, the projected raw sugar output in the current crop year would be 1.876 million MT, relatively flat from the previous crop year’s 1.815 MMT output.

He also issued SO 2 which allowed the importation of 150,000 metric tons (MT) of refined sugar to “en sure” domestic supply and “manage” sugar prices.

“After taking into consider ation all comments, inputs and information the SRA deems it necessary to adopt additional, responsive, pre-emptive mea sures to ensure domestic supply and manage sugar prices, in order to achieve the foregoing policy declarations through timely gov ernment intervention by way of importation in order to maintain a balanced supply and demand of sugar for domestic consumption,” SO 2, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror , read.

volume of 115,000 MT this year.

“Growth drivers include the ex pansion of the milk feeding program, and consumption of coffee and milk tea with the opening of more stores and restaurants,” it said.

“Take-out and delivery services will also push demand, as consum ers especially in the National Capital Area adjust to online purchases.”

The country’s cheese imports would grow to 48,000 MT from 46,000 MT this year due to an “antici pation” of better prices and improved global supply chain, the USDA-FAS Manila said.

“Moreover, the expansion of fastfood, pizza, and other restaurants will drive increased demand for cheese. Hotels, which are an impor tant market for cheese, should return

to full operation in 2023, which will help drive cheese consumption.”

The country’s imports of skim milk powder would recover by 4.5 percent year-on-year to 230,000 MT due to the expansion of the food man ufacturing sector to meet increasing consumer demand.

“Post sees [whole milk powder] imports in 2023 at 18,000 MT, the same level as in 2022,” the USDA-FAS Manila said.

“Rising prices deter more impor tation. Whole milk powder is not a priority among Filipino house holds with tight budgets, who will opt for cheaper substitutes. Post maintains the current 2022 import estimate at 18,000 MT, a 5 percent drop from 2021, reflecting the ef fect of high prices.”

DAR: Moratorium on land amortization to benefit more than 500K farmers

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

MORE than half a million agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide will benefit from the one-year moratorium on land amortization and the corresponding 6 percent annual interest, Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III said.

According to Estrella, the suspension on payment of amortization and interest covers a combined 1.18 million hectares of agricultural lands awarded to 654,000 ARBs.

“This should be of great help to our beneficiaries because they can make use of the money intended for the payment of annual amortization and interest for farm inputs or other livelihood activities to augment their income,” Estrella said in a statement.

The one-year moratorium covers “the financial obligation

to pay the total cost of the land and the six-percent interest under Presidential Decree No. 27, series of 1972 or the ‘Operation Land Transfer,’ as well as the principal value of the 30-year land amortization under Section 26 of the Republic Act No. 6657 or the ‘Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.’”

To recall, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. declared the moratorium on payment of amortization and interest in his speech during his first State of the Nation Address last July 25.

“It’s time to give back to the farmers,” Marcos was quoted as saying during the signing of Executive Order No. 4 held last September 13.

A moratorium “will give the farmers the ability to channel their resources into developing their farms, maximizing their capacity to produce and propelling the growth of the economy.”

Govt, PSAC laid out plans to help boost local farm sector

UKRAINE’S

farmers are get ting increasingly nervous that an escalating war could thwart the renewal of a deal that re vived crop exports, dealing a blow to local growers and global food prices.

The pact signed in late July has been a lifeline to the country’s be leaguered farm industry, which his torically exports some two-thirds of its grain. It also brought down staple food costs, easing pressure on gro cery bills amid a deepening global cost-of-living crisis.

The United Nations—which bro kered the deal with Turkey—said there are “active” discussions to pro long it beyond mid-November. But forward sales are drying up and ship traffic has declined. The risk that an extension could be scuppered or the agreement’s terms amended has fueled a rebound in grain prices and weighed on plantings.

“It’s the most hot topic that ex ists in agriculture,” said Svetlana Omelchenko, chief financial officer at Agromino, which farms in central and eastern Ukraine. “If the whole world will help us to succeed in ne gotiations to prolong the vessel cor ridor, it means, for the world, more food security.”

The UN hailed the deal as a step toward relieving global hunger. More than 300 ships have departed Ukraine’s ports since early August, carrying some 8 million tons of grain, oilseeds and vegetable-oil to Europe, Asia and Africa.

That’s helped farmers clear some of the backlog created by the war and doubled Ukraine’s monthly crop exports, with the share sold by sea nearing pre-war levels, according to

analyst UkrAgroConsult.

At agribusiness company IMC, grain sales will reach about 65,000 tons this month, versus 10,000 tons in the early months of Rus sia’s invasion, according to Chief Executive Officer Alex Lissitsa. He expects the deal to be extended, but is seeing signs that traders are growing wary.

Data from Geneva-based AgFlow show no fresh free-on-board offers for Ukraine corn cargoes beyond November, whereas US and South American export prices extend well into next year.

Exports are already being slowed by a backlog of vessels in Istanbul, where Ukraine cargoes must be inspected under the terms of the deal. Vessels were stranded for months in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports after Russia launched its assault, a scenario vessel owners won’t want to repeat.

If ports shut again, farmers will be forced to return to longer and more expensive land and river routes via the European Union, which is also busy handling domestic crops.

Kees Huizinga, who farms about 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Kyiv, began delivering grain to Odesa as soon as the ports reopened and has since cleared more than 20,000 tons. Transporting that volume via Romania would probably have tak en double the time, and he worries trucking backups will swell if the pact doesn’t last.

“The queues for the border will explode again and farmers won’t be able to get rid of all of their products, with liquidity problems as a result,” Huizinga said. Bloomberg News

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Mar cos Jr. met again with the Agriculture Sector lead and members of the Private Sector Advi sory Council (PSAC) to help provide solutions and improve the agricul ture sector.

They revisited the recommenda tions of the Council and discussed the programs that would benefit all local farmers and fisherfolk.

The PSAC Agriculture Sector reexamined progress on the in terventions during the first 100 days of the Marcos administration which include the digitalization of agriculture through a scaled up government e-cloud, increased internet accessibility and speed, and improving the fisheries sec tor productivity.

The sector also called for the increase of Laguna Lake fish pro duction, mobilization of coco levy and sugar appropriation funds through the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and Sugar Regu latory Administration (SRA), and prioritization of research and cane variety improvements for sugar production.

Other short and long-term rec ommendations include the tap ping of agri-tech platforms, using Brazilian technology to increase sugarcane production, reviewing National Food Authority poli cies and structure to enable the agency to operate as a logistics hub, accelerating the replanting of coconut trees, and measures to further control African swine fever in order to revive the swine industry.

The PSAC recommendations aim to respond to critical issues in agriculture and support President Marcos’ call to accelerate efforts

in improving the country’s agricul tural sector and help both farmers and fisherfolks.

In the meeting, the President was joined by PSAC convenor and Aboitiz Group CEO Sabin Aboitiz along with PSAC Agriculture Sec tor Lead La Filipina Uy Gongco Group President and CEO Aileen Christel Ongkauko, other sector members including Century Pa cific Group President and CEO Christopher Po, Frabelle Fishing Corp. President and CEO Fran cisco Kiko Laurel Jr., Universal

Robina Corp. President and CEO Irwin Lee, Gaya Lim Farm Inc.

owner Ramon Lim, and the Secre tariat and Communications Leads Aboitiz Group’s Mary Geraldine Polanco-Onganon, Ginggay Hon tiveros and La Filipina Uy Gongco Group’s Cherrylene Advincula. Also in the meeting were PMS Secretary Zenaida Angping, Ag riculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Flores Panganiban, Ag riculture Assistant Secretary for Operations Engr. Arnel de Mesa, Bureau of Animal Industry Offi

cer-in-Charge and Director Reil drin Morales, NFA Administra tor Judy Carol Dansal, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Officer-in-Charge Nestor Domen den, PCA Administrator Benja min Madrigal Jr., SRA Adminis trator David John Thaddeus Alba, Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, Environment Un dersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Atty. Jonas Leones, and Laguna Lake Development Authority General Manager Jaime Medina.

FILE PHOTO

THE Private Sector Advisory Council's (PSAC) Agriculture Sector meets President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to reexamine the planned interventions during the first 100 days of the administration on October 21, Friday in Malacañang. In photo (from left to right) are PSAC Lead Secretariat Mary Geraldine PolancoOnganon, Century Pacific Group President and CEO Christopher Po, PSAC Convenor and Aboitiz Group President Sabin Aboitiz, Frabelle Fishing Corporation President and CEO Francisco “Kiko” Laurel Jr., PBBM, La Filipina Uy Gongco Group Aileen Christel Ongkauko, Gaya Lim Farm Inc. owner Ramon “Jojo” Lim, Universal Robina Corporation President and CEO Irwin Lee, PSAC Agriculture Secretariat Lead, La Filipina Uy Gongco Group Executive Associate Cherrylene Advincula and PSAC Communications Lead Ginggay Hontiveros. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

19 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

KURMANBEK, TANGNUR

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, FULIANG

20 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, JUN

21 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, MINGSHUN

22 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, SHUANG

23 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, XIAOXIAO

24 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, YAO

25 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LI, YUFEI

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range:

Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

28

WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

29 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

LIU, XINGBING

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LUO, HEJUN

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

MA, JUNCHENG

30 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

NONG, ZHIBAO

31 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

PENG, JIACHEN

32 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

SHI, ZHIMIN

33 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

SUN, TINGBAO

34 SMART WIN TECHNOLOGY, INC.

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like

Southwoods Office Tower 2, San Francisco, Biñan, City of Biñan, Laguna

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

LIN, TIANXUAN

Chinese Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description:

Field incoming help requests from end users from the Peoples Republic of China via both telephone and work orders in a courteous manner consistent with Chinese standards

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Basic Qualification:

Must be able to fluently speak, write and read Mandarin and other local dialects spoken in other parts of China like Cantonese and Fukien

Salary Range: Php30,000 - Php59,999

Range:

CHINA’S XI JINPING EXPANdS POwErS, PrOmOTES AllIES

The World BusinessMirror

By joe mcdonald| The Associated Press

BEIJING—President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, increased his dominance when he was named Sunday to another term as head of the rul ing Communist Party in a break with tradition and promoted allies who support his vision of tighter control over society

and the struggling economy.

Xi, who took power in 2012, was awarded a third five-year term as general secretary, discarding a party custom under which his predecessor left after 10 years. The 69-year-old leader is expected by some to try to stay in power for life. On Saturday, Xi’s predecessor, 79-year-old Hu Jintao,

Editor: Angel R. Calso

abruptly left a meeting of the party Central Committee with an aide holding his arm. That prompted questions about whether Xi was flexing his powers by expelling other party leaders. The official Xinhua News Agency later reported Hu was in poor health and needed to rest.

on A9

The World

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Continued from A8

The party also named a seven-member Standing Committee, its inner circle of power, dominated by Xi allies after Premier Li Keqiang, the No. 2 leader and an advocate of market-style reform and private enterprise, was dropped from the leadership on Sat

urday. That was despite Li being a year younger than the party’s informal retirement age of 68. Xi and the other Standing Committee members appeared for the first time as a group before re porters Sunday in the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China’s ceremonial legislature in cen tral Beijing.

BusinessMirror

Xi announced Li Qiang, a former Shanghai party secretary who is no relation to Li Keqiang, was the No. 2 member and Zhao Leji, a member of the pre vious committee, was promoted to No. 3. The No. 2 committee member since the 1990s has become premier while the No. 3 heads the legislature. Those posts are to be assigned when the legisla

ture meets next year.

Leadership changes were announced as the party wrapped up a twice-a-decade congress that was closely watched for signs of initiatives to reverse an economic slump or changes in a severe “zero-Covid” strategy that has shut down cities and disrupted busi ness. Officials disappointed investors and the Chinese

Monday, October 24,

public by announcing no changes. The lineup appeared to reflect what some com mentators called “Maximum Xi,” valuing loyalty over ability. Some new Standing Committee mem bers lack national-level government experience that typically is seen as a requirement for the post.

AP video journalist Caroline Chen contributed

www.news.businessmirror@gmail.com

editorial

How a parliament actually works

Receiving little coverage—almost exclusively through foreign news sources—and virtually no analysis in the local press and media, high politi cal drama has played out in the United Kingdom during the past four months.

A little history. UK Prime Minister David Cameron put his political career on the line as he supported his nation staying as part of the European Union. Cameron introduced a referendum on the UK’s continuing EU membership and resigned as prime minister when voters chose “Leave” in 2016. Theresa May succeeded him.

The Conservative and Unionist Party, known as the Tories, had won the general election in 2010 and May as the leader of the Tories assumed the PM post. Her plan and negotiations of “Brexit” was rejected three times by the Parliament, and she was looking at losing a “no-confidence” vote when she resigned in July 2019. Boris Johnson succeeded May.

Johnson proposed his own Brexit withdrawal agreement and failed to win parliamentary support. He then called a snap election for December 2019 in which he led the Conservative Party to victory. Then came Covid. Now the politics gets exciting.

In December 2021, it was revealed that government officials attended social gatherings that violated Covid-19 regulations, a controversy known as “Par tygate.” In April 2022, Johnson received a penalty notice for attending one of these gatherings, becoming the first UK prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. He survived a “no-confidence” vote in June, but his administration was overtaken by another scandal. A party leader ap pointed by Johnson was found to have had numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.

Johnson first said he was unaware of any of the accusations when he made the appointment, and then admitted he was fully informed beforehand. This led to mass resignations of ministers (Cabinet Secretary) and Johnson resigned.

But the drama was not over. Newly elected party leader Liz Truss replaced Johnson. She and her finance minister proposed new tax cuts and a govern ment budget that was immediately attacked as too favorable to “big business” and was blamed for a rapid decrease in the value of the British pound—11 per cent in 11 days. There were other issues but that is not the point.

Mary Elizabeth Truss resigned after 45 days in office on October 20, 2022, making her tenure of office for a serving prime minister who formed a govern ment the briefest in the 300-year history of the Parliament of Great Britain/ United Kingdom.

As in the past, the successor to Liz Truss to serve as head of government will not be chosen by the people but by the members of the Conservative Par ty. The reality is, with a successful vote of “no confidence,” the politicians can change the head of government any time they want without having to bother the public with “time-consuming and expensive elections.”

Under normal circumstances, a formal vote—after a campaign period— would be taken among the party’s roughly 200,000 dues-paying members. However, any candidate for that vote must first secure the support—by vote—of at least 100 sitting members of parliament from the Conserva tive Party’s 357 Members of Parliament. It is now expected that only one person will meet that 100-vote threshold, making him or her automati cally the next PM.

But do not worry. It is still a government “By the People.” The voters will get their opportunity to decide on who they want to lead the country at the next UK general election in 2025. At least that does away with having to put up with the voted-on decisions from citizens who—in some people’s opinion —are ignorant, misinformed, manipulated, and just plain “stupid.”

We are told that a parliamentary system is the only way to go. Great lead ers can govern for a long time like Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad. Incompetent leaders can be replaced almost instantly, like Liz Truss. It is just that you the voter may not have the chance to decide which is which.

A vibrant arts and culture scene

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

e is a lot of creative energy going around these days, in cluding here in our part of the Philippines. For one thing, as we enter the final week of the Museums and galleries Month, quite a number of exhibits are still running in different venues around the country. For a complete list of these shows, please visit the Facebook page of the national commission for culture and the Arts (nccA).

THeR

National Artist Kidlat Tahi mik’s “INDIO-GENIUS: 500 Taon ng Labanang Kultural (1521-2021)” opened on October 22 at the Na tional Museum of Anthropology. It features installations depicting the Philippines’ cultural struggles throughout history and is seen as a homecoming edition of the artist’s recently concluded historical exhibi tion that ran in Madrid’s Retiro Park from October 2021 to March 2022.

The country’s creative industry has huge potential but plenty of is sues that need to be addressed. And

so the culture and arts organization is organizing the 4th International Conference on Cultural Statistics and Creative Economy, which is happening on October 25 and 26 at Sequoia Hotel Manila Bay, Aseana City Business Park, Parañaque City, Metro Manila. Zoom participation is free and open for registration. Just e-mail iccsce.ncca@gmail.com for details.

With the theme “Culture Counts: Embracing and Forging the Philip pine Creative Future,” the confer ence aims to: (1) assert the impor

The country’s creative industry has huge potential but plenty of issues that need to be ad dressed. And so the culture and arts organization is organizing the 4th International Conference on Cultural Statistics and Creative Economy, which is happening on October 25 and 26 at Sequoia Hotel Manila Bay, Aseana City Business Park, Parañaque City, Metro Manila. Zoom participation is free and open for registration. Just e-mail iccsce.ncca@gmail.com for details.

tant role of culture in development, especially in the new normal; (2) encourage the appreciation and uti lization of cultural statistics as a tool in establishing data on creative economy and measures of develop ment; (3) strengthen support from the national and local governments for cultural and creative sectors in the Philippines, specifically on pol icy and legislation that will boost the cultural and creative economy; and (4) motivate more research and studies on culture and arts towards building a robust data resource for

policy-making and governance in the country.

For its part, the Cultural Center of the Philippines celebrates chil dren from October 30 to November 20 with the CCP Children’s Bien nale 2022: BALANGÁW, A Colorful Multi-Arts Festival For Children. It’s an onsite festival that features inter active art installations, educational film and play screenings, creative workshops, children’s book fairs, and puppet shows under the themes of Kultura (Culture), Kalikasan (Na ture), and Kalinga (Nurture). All collaborations with various artists and groups are either free or on a pay-what-you-can basis.

The festival opens on October 30 at the CCP with “Tricks & Musical Treats: A Tuneful Fiesta at Filharmo nia” by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Bayang Barrios and Na liyagan Band, Anima Tierra, Philip pine Baranggay Folk Dance Troupe, Mang Lalakbay, and Indigenous Representatives: Carlito Camahalan Amalla, a Manobo artist of Agusan del Norte & Kim Falyao, an IP youth leader and Secretary-General of Ka tribu Youth. For the complete list of events and activities, please visit the CCP’s Facebook page or web site.

Inflation protests across Europe threaten political turmoil

By Kelvin Chan | AP Business Writer

LOnDOn in Romania, protesters blew horns and banged drums to voice their dismay over the rising cost of living. Peo ple across France took to the streets to demand pay increases that keep pace with inflation. czech demonstrators rallied against government handling of the energy crisis. British railway staff and german pilots held strikes to push for better pay as prices rise.

Across Europe, soaring inflation is behind a wave of protests and strikes that underscores growing discontent with the spiraling cost of living and threatens to unleash political turmoil. With British Prime Minister Liz Truss forced to resign less than two months into the job af ter her economic plans sparked chaos in financial markets and further bruised an ailing economy, the risk to political leaders became clearer as people demand action.

Europeans have seen their energy bills and food prices soar because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Despite natural gas prices falling from record summer highs and governments allocating a whopping 576 billion euros (over $566 billion) in energy relief to households and businesses since September 2021, according to the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, it’s not enough for some protesters.

Energy prices have driven infla tion in the 19 countries that use the euro currency to a record 9.9 per cent, making it harder for people to

buy what they need. Some see little choice but to hit the streets.

“Today, people are obliged to use pressure tactics in order to get an in crease” in pay, said Rachid Ouchem, a medic who was among more than 100,000 people that joined pro test marches this week in multiple French cities.

The fallout from the war in Ukraine has sharply raised the risk of civil unrest in Europe, according to risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. European leaders have strongly sup ported Ukraine, sending the coun try weapons and pledging or being forced to wean their economies off cheap Russian oil and natural gas, but the transition hasn’t been easy and threatens to erode public support.

“There’s no quick fix to the energy crisis,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. “And if anything, inflation looks like it might be worse next year than it has been this year.”

That means the link between eco nomic pressure and popular opinion

Energy prices have driven infla tion in the 19 countries that use the euro currency to a record 9.9 percent, making it harder for people to buy what they need. Some see little choice but to hit the streets.

on the war in Ukraine “will really be tested,” he said.

In France, where inflation is run ning at 6.2 percent, the lowest in the 19 eurozone countries, rail and trans port workers, high school teachers and public hospital employees heeded a call Tuesday by an oil workers’ union to demand salary increases and protest government intervention in strikes by refinery workers that have caused gasoline shortages.

Days later, thousands of Roma nians joined a Bucharest rally to protest the cost of energy, food and other essentials that organizers said were sending millions of workers into poverty.

In the Czech Republic, huge flagwaving crowds in Prague last month demanded the pro-Western coali tion government resign, criticiz ing its support of European Union’s sanctions against Russia. They also slammed the government for not do ing enough to help households and businesses squeezed by energy costs.

While another protest is sched uled in Prague next week, the ac

tions have not translated to political change so far, with the country’s rul ing coalition winning a third of the seats in Parliament’s upper house during an election this month.

British rail workers, nurses, port workers, lawyers and others have staged a string of strikes in recent months demanding pay raises that match inflation running at a fourdecade high of 10.1 percent.

Trains ground to a halt during the transit actions, while recent strikes by Lufthansa pilots in Germany and other airline and airport workers across Europe seeking higher pay in line with inflation have disrupted flights.

Truss’ failed economic stimulus plan, which involved sweeping tax cuts and tens of billions of pounds (dollars) in aid for household and businesses’ energy bills without a clear plan to pay for them, illustrates the bind that governments are in.

They “have very little room for maneuver,” Soltvedt said.

So far, the saving grace has been a milder than usual October in Europe, which means less demand for gas to heat homes, Soltvedt said.

However, “if we do end up with unexpected disruption to the sup ply of gas from Europe this winter, then, you know, we’ll probably see an even further increase in civil un rest, risk and government instabil ity,” he said.

Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder

Frustrated aspirations

Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT

Part three

iWAs not paid a single centavo of salary as Dean of the University of the Philippines (UP) virata school of Business (vsB) despite serving my full term in the College. i was Dean of the vsB from october 2019 to 2022. But alas, due to the machinations of protest ing vsB faculty members and the condonation of the top UP admin istration, this irregular, if not illegal act, persevered for three years until i completed my term on october 10, 2022.

Fast rewind backward three years ago. I was sworn into office as the 14th dean of the VSB on October 21, 2019 with UP President Danilo Concepcion administering my oath of office. I had to leave then my es tablished and good-paying job as a tax partner of the Reyes Tacandong & Co., CPAs for this deanship ap pointment. I was ready to bid adieu to these perks for the opportunity to serve my alma mater.

After my oath-taking, President Concepcion take me aside and re vealed to me some “nuances” of the job. He disclosed the state of the VSB, which had been ruled uninter ruptedly by the powers that be in the College for the past several decades. My appointment as Dean had been opposed by some protesting faculty members, led by three retired VSB professors. I presumed that they per ceived me as an “outsider” who poses a threat to their domination and may uncover irregularities that they may have committed through the years.

In addition, President Concepcion stated that despite my appointment as Dean by the Board of Regents (BOR) of UP, I still had to undergo a separate process of applying for a faculty appointment and securing such an appointment before I can be paid my salary as Dean. When I asked him if the faculty application and ap pointment process involve engaging with the protesting faculty members in the College, he affirmed this un fortunate situation. Nevertheless, he appeared not to be disturbed by these circumstances and he called his Vice President for Academic Affairs

Rose Bautista to give some light on the consequences and solution to the predicament of me having a BOR ap pointment of Dean of the VSB that does not provide an automatic grant of salary for the position. President Concepcion further allayed my ap prehension by citing the recent prec edent of the UP College of Law Dean also undergoing the same process since she was appointed by the BOR as an “outsider” Dean and subse quently was appointed as a faculty member by her College colleagues.

I was initially taken aback by these revelations. However, I was ready to face the challenges with the expres sion of support for my cause by Presi dent Concepcion. Unfortunately, af ter only a few weeks, the President of UP became incommunicado with my repeated requests for assistance and guidance for the challenges that I had been encountering.

After taking my oath of office, I reported for work in the VSB. My first few days were not that pleas ant. I immediately encountered an “unwelcome” reception from the op posing faculty members. Plastered on the entrance walls and areas of the VSB buildings were several tarpaulin signages in black with the message “We protest.” One big “We protest” banner continues to be posted in

front of the building even after I completed my term.

On my first day of work, I had to find my way to the Dean’s office without any person welcoming or accompanying me. The person next in command at the VSB, the College Secretary (CS), was not immediately available. For the next few days, the CS was stubbornly resisting or delay ing complying with the instructions that I gave him. He subsequently resigned a few weeks later. The first meeting that I conducted with the faculty members was attended by a measly number, with one of them (who is one of the nominees for the next Dean of the College) unprofes sionally leaving the meeting without even having the courtesy of notify ing me. The second meeting was very disorderly, with one of the faculty members questioning my authority to lead the meeting.

The lack of cooperation and negative attitude of the protesting faculty members continued during the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. This included the denial of my application for a faculty position for flimsy, baseless, and even irregu lar reasons. In hindsight, this nega tive outcome is to be expected from people who are keen on opposing my appointment as Dean. Such action re sulted in the non-payment of my sal ary as a duly appointed government official. I have been asking for relief and remedial action from various au thorities, including the UP BOR and administration, the Commission on Higher Education, the Civil Service Commission, and even my friends in Congress. Unfortunately, no resolu tion to my dilemma has been attained to date. What should have been the concern and responsibility first and foremost of the UP administration, led by the UP President, has been neglected and set aside by these con cerned officials. Due to their dismal failure to do what was right and legal, I was compelled to seek recourse on my own. Unfortunately, even as I finished my term of office, I still have to find fulfillment of my frustrated aspirations and rights.

In my concluding column next week, I will share the positive out comes of my deanship. I am a believer that blessings are still possible in the midst of misery.

To be continued.

Joel L. Tan-Torres was the former Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Busi ness. Previously, he was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, and partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant who garnered No. 1 in the CPA Board Ex amination of May 1979.

This column accepts contributions of articles from the business community for publication. Articles not exceeding 700 words can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

By Harry Suhartono Bloomberg Opinion

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

Controversies continue to hound the Bureau of Cor rections, the latest of which is the supposed participation of inmates in the murder of media personality Percy Lapid. Ur ban legend has it that guns-for-hire abound in the prison facility in Muntinlupa where masterminds can easily engage assassin services at a “cheap” price. Local movies even portray situations where an in mate is let out temporarily solely for the purpose of killing a target for a fee, only to return to serve the rest of his sentence. Another rela tively recent controversy involved the implementation of the Good Conduct time Allowance, which was abused to allow viP inmates, such as known rapist Antonio sanchez, to go scot free, only to be thwarted by the watchful eyes of media and human rights groups. According to the Justice Department, these loopholes are there be cause of a failed bureaucracy since BuCor officials have unbridled discretion in managing inmates and in implementing the GCtA. Back then, the DoJ leadership wanted more review power over the BuCor. this measure can only go so far. it’s a legal solution to an implementation problem.

Major problems in the Bureau require major corrective measures to get rid of corrupt activities such as these guns-for-hire. Surprise in spections done by NBI, PDEA, and DOJ have led to seizure of contra bands, temporarily disrupting the illicit business inside the facilities.

Previous BuCor leaders have sought to demolish the much-entrenched gangs and thought of radical solu tions such as transferring the main facility in Muntinlupa elsewhere, as in an island, far away from the rest of the populace. Some suggested to have a targeted solution, such as the use of wiretapping devices, signal jammers, X-ray machines, and more CCTV cameras. Others proposed a massive recruitment campaign to get

more quality jail guards—a typical solution in a typically undermanned government agency. Prison reform advocates called for a technological revamp of records to enhance the National Justice Information System (NJIS), a tool to address the conges tion issue. All of these are sound tac tical solutions to a strategic problem.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) carry the same tune in that any reform to address these prisonrelated issues involve holistic and integrated approaches.

As per CHR, the challenge is more about “identifying the root causes of the problem and then addressing them strategically,” whereas UNODC

By Edith M. Lederer | The Associated Press

says that a prisoner-oriented mind set is necessary to ensure that the “human rights of prisoners are pro tected and their prospects for social reintegration increase, in compliance with relevant international stan dards and norms.” Unfortunately, a perusal of past Director Generals of the BuCor indicates that a large majority of them come from the military or police, whose authoritar ian mindsets are more on security and discipline. Most of these lead ers introduce innovations that fail to address the culture of the people running the Bureau.

Jail guards generally look down on inmates as the lowest scum of the universe. Such orientation is in stark contrast to what imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela once said, “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

The approach of most of these jail officers appear to violate one biblical principle found in Hebrews 13:2-3, which states, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without know ing it. Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Aside from empa thy training, all jail officers should continue to take ongoing seminars conducted by the Civil Service Com mission, called PIES (Patriotism, Integrity, Excellence, Spirituality).

Being a country of believers in God, the strategic solution necessary to reform our correctional facilities is to “correct the correctors” by apply ing the Biblical values of loving one another. To truly abide by the logo of BuCor, which focuses on the man be hind bars, but looks outwards to the community with hope, jail guards or correctional officers should be reori

Correcting the correctors West and Russia clash over probe of drones in Ukraine

rect military advantage anticipated,” she said.

ented to function with love not hate, to perform duties with respect not disdain, and to treat inmates with dignity and not shame. Perhaps re sort to the genuine transformation in the hearts of the correctors is needed—“And we all, who with un veiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”(2 Corinthians 3:18). The root cause of all issues in BuCor is the lack of love for others; the solution of which is therefore found in teaching them how to have Christ-like love. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)

Of late, BuCor chiefs come and go, with about more than 12 re placements in the last 12 years. In Norway, the criminal justice system largely focuses on restorative justice as its correctional facilities focus on attempting to make prisoners a functioning member of society when their detention time is done. In the Philippines, while it used to have a punitive system, the transition to a rehabilitative justice system has been woefully slow given the cul ture of how correctors correct the inmates. The restorative culture in the hearts and minds of God-loving “correctors” should never be an “us” versus “them” mentality.

A former infantry and intelligence officer in the Army, Siegfred Mison showcased his servant leadership philosophy in organizations such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Malcolm Law Of fices, Infogix Inc., University of the East, Bureau of Immigration, and Philippine Airlines. He is a gradu ate of West Point in New York, Ateneo Law School, and University of Southern California. A corporate lawyer by profession, he is an inspirational teacher and a Spirit-filled writer with a mission. For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

UniteD

nAtions the United states and key Western allies accused russia on Friday of using iranian drones to attack civilians and power plants in Ukraine in violation of a 2015 U n security Council resolution and international humani tarian law.

Russia countered by accusing Ukraine of attacking infrastructure and civilians for eight years in the eastern separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russian Presi dent Vladimir Putin illegally an nexed earlier this year.

The US, France, Germany and Britain supported Ukraine’s call for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send a team to investi gate the origin of the drones.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Ne benzia said the drones are Russian and warned that an investigation would violate the UN Charter and seriously affect relations between Russia and the United Nations.

US deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said that “the UN must investigate any violations of UN Security Council resolutions—and we must not allow Russia or others to impede or threaten the UN from carrying out its mandated respon sibilities.”

The Western clash with Russia over attacks on civilians and in frastructure and the use of Iranian drones came at an open council meet ing that also focused on the dire hu manitarian situation in Ukraine as winter approaches. Almost 18 mil lion people, more than 40 percent of

Ukraine’s population, need humani tarian assistance, UN humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown says.

UN political chief Rosemary Di Carlo expressed grave concern to the council that Russian missile and drone attacks between October 10 and October 18 in cities and towns across Ukraine killed at least 38 Ukrainian civilians, injured at least 117 and destroyed critical energy in frastructure, including power plants.

She cited the Ukrainian govern ment’s announcement that 30 per cent of the country’s energy facilities have been hit, most notably in the capital Kyiv and in the Dnipropetro vsk, Lviv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

“Combined with soaring gas and coal prices, the deprivation caused by these attacks threatens to expose millions of civilians to extreme hard ship and even life-endangering con ditions this winter,” she said.

DiCarlo, the UN undersecretarygeneral for political and peacebuild ing affairs, said that “under inter national humanitarian law, attacks targeting civilians and civilian in frastructure are prohibited.” So are “attacks against military objectives that may be expected to cause harm to civilians that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and di

Nebenzia claimed that high-pre cision missile strikes and Russian drones—not Iranian drones—hit a large number of military targets that included infrastructure in an effort to degrade Ukrainian military activities.

“Of course, this did not sit well with the West and they became hysterical, and this is what we’re witnessing loudly and clearly today at the meeting,” the Russian ambas sador said.

He said the West doesn’t want “to face facts” and acknowledge that civilian infrastructure was hit only in cases where drones had to change course because of Ukrainian defense actions. He said Ukrainian air de fenses also hit civilian sites because they missed incoming attacks.

In a letter to the Security Council on Wednesday, Ukrainian Ambassa dor Sergiy Kyslytsya accused Iran of violating a Security Council ban on the transfer of drones capable of fly ing 300 kilometers (about 185 miles).

That provision was part of Resolu tion 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six key nations—the US, Russia, Chi na, Britain, France and Germany— aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities and preventing the country from developing a nuclear weapon.

US President Donald Trump with drew the US from the 2015 nuclear agreement in 2018 and negotiations between the Biden administration and Iran for the United States to re join the deal have stalled.

Singapore invites billionaire Branson to death penalty debate

Under the resolution, a conven tional arms embargo on Iran was in place until October 2020. But restrictions on missiles and related technologies run until October 2023, and Western diplomats say that in cludes the export and purchase of advanced military systems such as drones, which are also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.

Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Wednesday that he “cat egorically rejected unfounded and unsubstantiated claims that Iran has transferred UAVs for the use (in) the conflict in Ukraine.” He ac cused unnamed countries of trying to launch a disinformation campaign to “wrongly establish a link” with the UN resolution.

“Moreover, Iran is of the firm be lief that none of its arms exports, in cluding UAVs, to any country” violate Resolution 2231, he added.

France, Germany and Britain on Friday supported Ukraine’s accusa tion that Iranian has supplies drones to Russia in violation of the 2015 resolution and they are being used in attacks on civilians and power plants in Ukraine. They backed Kyiv’s call for a UN investigation.

The three European countries said in a joint letter to the 15 council members that reports in open sourc es suggest Iran intends to transfer more drones to Russia along with ballistic missiles.

Neither Iran nor Russia sought ad vance approval from the council for the transfer of Mohajer and Shahed UAVs and therefore “have violated resolution 2231,” the letter said.

SINGAPORE

invited British bil lionaire Richard Branson to a live televised debate with Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmu gam on the city-state’s drug policy and death penalty in response to a blog post by the businessman on the subject. In his Oct. 10 post, Branson said

“Singapore still finds itself on the wrong side of history” with its con tinued, almost stubborn use of the death penalty, particularly for drug offenses. He highlighted the execution of convicted Malaysian drug trafficker Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam this year, which has attracted international criticism due to concerns about his mental capacity.

Nagaenthran was hanged after be

ing found guilty for trafficking about 43 grams of heroin into Singapore in 2009. Multiple appeals of the sen tence were dismissed in the city-state’s courts, and Branson linked the execu tion with Singapore’s commitments to protect those with disabilities.

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Af fairs refuted Branson’s remarks in a statement on Saturday saying that the drug trafficker “knew what he was

doing and that he was not intellectu ally disabled.”

“Mr. Branson may use this platform to demonstrate to Singaporeans the error of our ways and why Singapore should do away with laws that have kept our population safe from the global scourge of drug abuse,” the min istry said in the statement. His “flight to and accommodation in Singapore will be paid for.”

The ministry defended the gov ernment’s drug policy, stating that the measures were intended to pro tect Singapore and its residents from the dangers of drugs. The strict laws, and their clear enforcement, have significantly reduced the amount of drugs entering Singapore, resulting in a steady decline in number of sub stance abusers.

“Mr. Branson is entitled to his

opinions,” the ministry said. “These opinions may be widely held in the UK, but we do not accept that Mr. Branson or others in the West are entitled to impose their values on other societies. Nor do we believe that a country that prosecuted two wars in China in the 19th century to force the Chinese to accept opium im ports has any moral right to lecture Asians on drugs.”

PHL layer industry cites risk from AI surge, pushes vax

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

THE Philippine Egg Board Association (PEBA) is urging the government to allow and fast-track the entry of “inactivated” bird flu vaccines in the country to curb the impact of the disease on the domestic layer industry.

The group claimed that the transboundary animal disease, technically known as avian in fluenza (AI), has caused the death of 9 million layers, about 20 percent of the country’s total layer population, in the first half alone.

In a letter to the Bureau of Animal Industry Director Reil drin G. Morales, PEBA claimed that the layer industry suffered

its “heaviest losses” in history to AI this year.

PEBA explained that the uptrend in local AI cases was driven by the “inevitable” attractiveness of the country as a “wintering grounds” for AI-carrying migratory birds due to local natural wetlands and irrigated farmlands.

The group added that part of the reasons behind the spread of bird flu was the “unabated” selling of

bird flu-positive flocks in the cull market and the “rampant” practice of free-range farming of “some” do mesticated avian species.

“Given these circumstances, in behalf of the [PEBA] and our partner-local layer poultry orga nizations [BAEPA and SPEPA], we would like to plead with your office to allow and expedite the entry of relevant inactivated or killed AI vaccines,” PEBA President Irwin M. Ambal said in his letter.

“While we know that this may not totally eliminate AI disease nor totally protect our flocks from the subject virus, our in dustry needs all the protection it can get. Clearly, this would be better than the seemingly pas sive stance we adopted at the early part of this year,” Ambal added.

PEBA also proposed that the government explore the local man ufacturing of autogenous vaccines against bird flu in the country. PEBA said their recommendations were in consultation with local and foreign experts on poultry diseases such as the Philippine College of Poultry Practitioners.

“We would like to request as sistance from your office, either through funding or through ex pediting the setting up of the fa

cilities for the development and/ or the manufacturing of autog enous vaccines in the country,” the letter read.

“This may be done either by the government itself or through pri vate partnerships,” it added.

PEBA pointed out that the layer industry requires “proactive, ag gressive” interventions before the migratory birds start to arrive in the Philippines as winter in other countries draws closer.

“Without proactive aggressive interventions such as vaccina tions, early detection and decisive isolation and just compensation of affected farms, we are afraid that the poultry industry stands to suffer heavily again from AI next year,” it said.

The world has been struggling to contain bird flu outbreaks this year, with both Europe and the United States suffering near-record deaths of birds and flocks.

The United Kingdom and Europe have lost over 47 million birds to bird flu across more than 2,500 outbreaks of the disease, according to the Guard ian report earlier this month.

A recent Reuters report said the number of chickens and turkeys that died from infections and cull ing in the US has reached more than 47 million birds as well.

UNHAMPERED FLOW OF GOODS VITAL IN TRANSPORT REFORMS

THE unhampered flow of goods within the country should be taken into consid eration while fixing the country’s transport system, according to an official of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

“When it comes to transport sys tem, it’s very difficult, very spotty. Our  barangay, our towns,  [have] no efficient means of transporta tion of goods and services,” Perry A. Ferrer, chairman of the 48th Philippine Business Conference and Expo (PBC&E) told reporters on the sidelines of PBC&E event recently when he was asked to discuss PCCI’s resolution on transportation.

Among the PCCI’s resolutions at the 48th PBC&E is on Transporta tion, urging the national government to provide “world-class” integrated transport systems and to “decouple” the regulatory and commercial func tions of the Philippine Ports Author ity (PPA) and “other similarly situ ated” transport agencies.

Ferrer said , “once you have that, the free-flowing [traffic of goods], we will eliminate [what we call the] ‘middleman’ and let the profession als, the logistics companies, supply chain companies, really move the goods in an efficient but very costeffective way.”

The PCCI official, who’s the Di rector for Innovation and Digital Economy and Science and Technol ogy, said the middleman is “one of the biggest factors” in the rise in prices. “When you look at poultry, the price of chicken is rising be cause of the middle layer, right?” Ferrer said, partly in Filipino.

Life or death for bananas, time to press Japan for zero tariffs, Marcos urged

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

AS the banana sector faces a “life-or-death” situation this decade, a vice chairman of the House Committee on Agri culture and Food on Sunday asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., also secretary of Agriculture, to push for zero tariffs for Philippine bananas in Japan.

In a statement, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda is warning of a “lifeor-death decade” for the country’s banana sector, saying that disease, global competition, investor flight, and climate change threaten the survival of the country’s second largest agricultural export.

“If we don’t act on the problems of the sector, we will lose our domi nance over bananas in Asia by 2030. Climate change and disease are ex istential threats to the sector. But relatively high tariffs in our main banana markets, high input costs, and competition from other play ers are killing the sector by slow but steady strangulation,” he said.

Salceda said the most important change that is within the control of President Marcos is to push for zero tariffs for Philippine bananas in Japan, the country’s main market for banana exports, and a leading ally of the country.

“There is one single, most im portant, most immediate effort for the country’s domestic banana sector: Zero tariffs for Philippine bananas in Japan, our strategic partner,” he added.

On Sunday (October 23), the BusinessMirror reported on the herculean struggles of the local banana sector and its campaign to secure concessional tariff from Ja pan.  See “RACE FOR SURVIVAL” by Manuel T. Cayon

According to Salceda, Japan has already slashed tariff to zero for Mexico, Peru, Cambodia, and Laos.  Salceda added that Laos and Cambodia are already becoming

emerging sources of banana ex ports, after Filipino farmers were “pirated” in these farms.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s tariff is now at 8 percent and will be zero by 2028. The effective tariff rate for the country’s bananas is still 8-13 percent.

“There are [fewer]  typhoons in all of these competitors. And these countries are arguably less impor tant as a geostrategic partner for Japan than the Philippines is. So, I think morally and geopolitically, we can strongly argue for zero tariffs for Philippine bananas in Japan. I ask PBBM to place this atop his priori ties in discussions with the Japanese government,” Salceda added.

The lawmaker said agricultural exports for the Philippines is also a “lifeline during our current currency and balance-of-payments issues.”

Prepandemic,  the Philippines exported roughly $2 billion in ba nanas, he noted. By 2021, he added, it declined to just over $1 billion.

Biological issues

MEANWHILE , Salceda said that Fusarium wilt, also known as Pana ma disease, could “kill the industry just as disease killed the abaca ex port sector in my province of Albay. From planters, we are now merely an aggregator, largely because of disease in the 1980s.”

“Take this as a cautionary tale. Abaca used to make Albay the rich est province in the country during the early 1900s,” he said.

Salceda urged the Department of Agriculture to consider taking the Crop Pest Management Divi sion under the Bureau of Plant In dustry “out of the recesses of the bureaucracy” and transform it into a main unit of the DA.

“Pests are already posing the main existential threat to our onion industry. If we don’t get that right, you can say permanently goodbye to local onions this decade. The situa tion could be the same for bananas,” he added.

At the plenary session of the PBC&E organized by the PCCI, logistics solutions company Air21 Chairman Alberto D. Lina had urged the government to revisit the truck ban and the number coding scheme which increase the cost of doing business and food prices.

The Air21 chairman cited the experience of his own logistics firm, which has to park its trucks on certain days because of the num ber coding scheme.

Another pain point for business is the truck ban, as this leads to “double-booking.”

“For example, because there’s a ban on six-wheeler trucks and up on certain hours, businesses are forced to also book four-wheeler trucks [to transport their goods],” Lina said.

Higher logistics cost, he said, would have an adverse impact on the country’s efforts to achieve food security. He noted that the high cost of transporting goods has caused the prices of basic food items to rise.

In May, Supply Chain Manage ment Association of the Philip pines (SCMAP) President Pierre Carlo Curay stressed that truck ban, single lane, and number cod ing schemes are some of the factors that increase logistics cost.

Curay also noted that Philip pine logistics cost is highest among Asean neighbors, with traffic as one of the barriers to supply chain management. He also earlier em phasized that “the more integrated the supply chain is, the more effi cient it becomes.”

Andrea E. San Juan

Villanueva asks CSC: End ‘endo’ in government once and for all

SENATE Majority Leader Joel Villanueva pressed the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to tackle the ballooning number of Job Order (JOs) and Contract of Service (COS) employees in government and provide them with security of tenure, more so “if they have civil service eligibility.”

The senator stressed “it is about time that we address the issue of contractualization in government,” noting that lawmakers “have been raising the issue of unfilled positions in government during annual budget hearings since we became a senator in 2016, even as the number of JOs and COS workers in government re mains a problem.”

He lamented that while there are 170,688 unfilled government posi tions, the government has 642,077 employees under JOs or COS, repre senting 26.07 percent of all govern ment workers.

Citing CSC data, he listed the top government agencies with the highest number of JOs and COS employees as: Department of Pub lic Works and Highways (22,457), Department of Education  (12,465), Department of Health (8,188), Department of Social Welfare and Development (7,340) and Depart ment of Environment and Natural Resources (5,487).

Villanueva said data also showed these agencies have the following unfilled positions: DPWH (3,180), DepEd (47,034), DOH (21,038), DSWD (381) and DENR (2,430).

However, he noted that despite the high number of unfilled posi tions in different government agen cies, most JO and COS employees are not qualified to apply for a perma nent position in government because they do not have any civil service eligibility.

In turn, Villanueva filed Senate Bill No. 568 aiming to  institution alize the Skills Certificate Equiva lency Program (SCEP) and grant civil service eligibility for graduates of technical and vocational educa tion and training courses who are National Certificate (NC) holders issued by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Companies

Strong dollar could push up PLDT capex in 2023–exec

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

The chief honcho of telco titan PLDT Inc. said the 2023 capital expenditures (capex) of the listed firm may rise due to the impact of for eign exchange (forex).

“It’s too early to say, because we’re still in the budgeting process.

Just speaking about 2023, we will try to stay within the capex, but it’s going to be pushed up by for eign exchange,” PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a chance interview.

He noted that 45 percent of the company’s capex is foreign spend, as it sources its network infrastructure parts outside of the Philippines.

The Philippine peso closed at P58.986 per greenback on Friday, 16 percent higher than the P50.802 close the year prior.

For 2022 alone, PLDT is spend

ing P85 billion in capital outlays to expand and extend its wireless and broadband networks across the Philippines. In August, Pangilinan said the amount may still rise by as much as P3 billion due to the effects of inflation and forex.

PLDT recorded P16.7 billion in net profits in the first half, a 30-percent surge from P12.9 billion the year prior, padded by the sale of its tower assets during the said period.

Its telco core income, which also excludes the impact of innovations arm Voyager, also rose by 12 per cent to P17 billion from P15.2 bil lion last year.

Consolidated service revenues reached an all-time high P94.3 bil lion, a 5-percent growth from P89.9 billion the previous year, driven largely by its data and broadband businesses.

Data and broadband, which now account for 79 percent of the con solidated service revenues, grew by 10 percent to P74.9 billion. The wire

less business contributed P35.7 bil lion in revenues, while home, P24.6 billion, corporate, P11.9 billion, and ICT, P2.6 billion.

Expenses were flattish at P43.8 billion.

Shares in PLDT ended Friday’s trading at P1,490 apiece, down by 2.68 percent from its previous close the day prior.

‘JFC among world’s best employers’

For the third straight year, Jol libee Group is named among the World’s Best Employers by Forbes for 2022. The company is the highest-ranking restaurant company in the said global listing, as well as the highest-ranking Philippinebased company.

Jollibee Group’s ranking rose to 106th this year, an improvement from 239th and 256th in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

“We are honored and grateful to receive this global recognition, which validates our company’s com mitment to providing excellent care to our employees. By incorporating a People Agenda into our business strategy, we can capitalize on our

people’s strengths and provide them with opportunities for growth and development,” Jollibee Group Presi dent and CEo Ernesto Tanmantiong said in a statement.

Forbes and its market research partner Statista polled 150,000 em ployees from 57 countries to assess companies based on their image, economic footprint, talent develop ment, gender equality, and social responsibility. r espondents were also asked how willing they were to recommend their own employers to family and friends. The final list in cludes the 800 companies with the highest total scores.

“To continuously support the business as we reposition the

Jollibee Group for growth postpandemic, our People Agenda had to adapt. While we continued pri oritizing the safety and wellbeing of our employees, we also focused on strengthening organizational capabilities, enhancing our tal ent development and succession, and creating new ways of working built around speed, agility, and col laboration,” said Arsenio Sabado, Jollibee Group Chief Human r e sources o fficer.

Jollibee also adopted a hybrid model for office-based employees after more than two years of remote work, where they are onsite for two days and on remote work the rest of the week. This arrangement is part

of Jollibee’s work reentry strategy, which takes a more human-centered approach to redesigning new employ ees’ work-life experiences.

Besides the three consecutive years of being named among the World’s Best Employers, Jollibee was also recognized by Forbes as among the World’s Most Female Friendly Companies in 2021. It is also the first-ever Philippine-based company to be recognized with the Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award in 2020.

The Jollibee Group is now among the fastest-growing restaurant com panies in the world, operating 6,300 stores in 34 countries through 18 brands.

Cebu Pacific issues reminders to fliers

CEBu Pacific (CEB) issued re minders to passengers who will travel to pay their re spects to their departed loved ones during the All Saints’ Day holiday.

The airline said Cebu Pacific and Cebgo passengers must allot time for traffic going to the airport.

“Passengers must be at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Termi nal 3 and 4 at least two hours before departure for domestic flights, and three hours for international flights.

Passengers traveling to Dubai are al lowed to check in as early as seven hours before departure.”

To avoid long lines, the airline said passengers may check in via the official CEB mobile app or via the Manage Booking section of the CEB website.

“Both options are available from seven days up to one hour before scheduled time of departure for do mestic flights; and up to four hours before scheduled departure for in ternational fliers.”

The airline said all check-in counters close one hour before the scheduled time of departure to ensure there is ample time for all necessary pre-flight proce dures. It encourages passengers to immediately proceed to their re spective boarding gates. Boarding commences 45 minutes before the scheduled departure.

“Guests flying out of select do mestic destinations (Manila, Davao, Clark, Cagayan de o ro, General Santos, Bohol, Iloilo, and Zambo anga) are reminded to self-tag their check-in luggage prior to proceed

ing to counters for bag drops, in line with the airline’s contactless flight procedures.”

The airline said passengers must bring only one carry-on bag for a more convenient flight experience. The carry-on bag must not exceed 7 kilograms in weight and can fit in the overhead bins or under the seat.

CEB has exempted items that are allowed to be carried aside from the single handcarried bag: n Gadgets or food items that can not be checked-in; n Items purchased inside the airport (requires proof of receipt); n Assistive or medical items such as walking canes, foldable walkers; n Baby food and necessities for passengers traveling with infants; n or a small bag that can fit un der the seat

“Passengers are encouraged to purchase prepaid baggage with their tickets during initial booking on the CEB website and mobile app. CEB has implemented a per piece baggage policy which applies to all passengers with checked baggage. A passenger may choose either a 20kg or a 32kg check-in baggage, or a maximum of the two options.”

CEB said passengers traveling to the Philippines must accomplish the new electronic arrival card (“eA r r IVAL CA r D”) within 72 hours prior to departure from country of origin.

“This replaced the one Health Pass as entry requirement. Save a printed/digital copy of the Qr code at the end of the form, and present this at the check-in counter, and on arrival.”

Wall Street warns of trouble brewing in auto loansBulacan govt cites Holcim

CEMENT maker Holcim Philippines Inc.’s plant in Norzagaray will be feted again as one of the biggest taxpay ers in Bulacan on November 18.

This is the second for the com pany’s facility after it received such recognition back in 2017.

The firm’s sites have been regular ly recognized by local governments of host communities for tax contribu tions to fund state development pro grams and help in nation building.

In fact, the Holcim 2021 Tax Transparency r eport identified Holcim Philippines as the 13th big gest taxpayer in the Group.

Holcim Philippines President and CEo Horia Adrian expressed his gratitude to the provincial gov ernment of Bulacan for honoring once again their contributions to its progress.

“We are glad that the taxes we pay support the development of communities that host our opera tions by providing them the funds for essential services like educa tion, health care and transport,” he said. Roderick L.

THE largest u nited States banks are warning of trouble ahead in auto loans as drop ping prices for used cars risk leaving borrowers underwater.

Wells Fargo & Co. said that higher loss rates for loans it originated late last year contributed to an increase in write-offs for the period. Ally Finan cial Inc., the country’s second-largest auto lender, saw charge-offs for retail auto loans quadruple in the third quarter. And Fifth Third Bancorp said it’s pulling back on originations. used-car prices slumped 7 per cent in the third quarter, the worst decline since the depths of the global financial crisis, according to data compiled by vehicle-auction com pany Manheim. The risk, investors fear, is that if consumers end up ow ing more than their cars are worth, they might stop making payments and let the vehicles be repossessed.

“There has been a real tightening in margins on new-auto production, on one hand, and on the other there’s been a decline in used-car prices,” Fifth Third Chief Executive officer Tim Spence said in an interview. “That has caused us to throttle a bit back on production” of loans.

Ally warned investors this week that net charge-off rates may climb to 1.6 percent next year, a jump from 1.05 percent in the third quarter. Still, the rates remain below their

pre-pandemic levels, and Chief Ex ecutive officer Jeffrey Brown was adamant his company doesn’t need to pull back on originations.

“We still feel really good about new loans that we’re originating today,” Brown said. “We constantly trim the margins where we see incre mental pockets of risk. The analyt ics behind this are very robust—we have weekly credit conversations and buy-box adjustments—so it’s a very fluid environment.”

When Wells Fargo first started to see signs of higher loss rates on loans it originated just last year, the firm moved fast to tighten underwriting standards. The changes, combined with the impact of continued supplychain constraints, caused auto-loan origination volumes to plummet 40 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.

u sed-car prices jumped dur ing the early days of the Covid-19 crisis, forcing borrowers who bought then to pay more—and take out bigger loans—for their vehicles. Those customers are now reevaluating whether it’s worth remaining current on their payments, something that could prove “challenging for the autofinance sector going forward,” KeyCorp CE o Chris Gorman said in an interview.

While used-car prices have since declined, they remain elevated from pre-pandemic levels. Fifth Third is seeing more consumers -- especially those with subprime credit scores, whom the company doesn’t typi cally lend to—try to win concessions from lenders so they can keep their vehicles, Chief Credit officer r ichard Stein said.

BusinessMirror file photo

The used car lot of a Chevrolet dealership in the Queens borough of New York, United States, on Thursday, July 15, 2021. BlooMBerg news

Warburg Pincus to use bought Mapfre for biz

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

US private equity firm War burg Pincus LLC announced last October 20 it plans to establish “a digital general insurance platform in Southeast Asia” after its acquisition of Mapfre Insular Insur ance Corp. (MIIC).

In a statement issued from Singa pore, Warburg Pincus said it plunked $350-million equity commitment to see the plan take off.

Aside from Mapfre, Warburg Pincus said it also acquired PT Asur ansi Bina Dana Arta Tbk (ABDA) in Indonesia.

The New York, US-headquartered firm said these assets would bring the digital insurance platform it calls “Oona,” “an initial product portfolio, strong distribution relationships, a robust infrastructure and an im mediate foothold in the region upon which to build its business.”

“The companies will be rebranded as ‘Oona’ in due course,” Warburg Pincus’s statement read.

“With the acquisition of ABDA and MIIC, Oona carries a wide range of products, including motor, proper ty, and group health insurance, which are designed to be fit-for-market and well-suited to meet local customer demands,” the company said. “In

Banking&Finance New polymer banknotes more hygienic, cost-efficient–BSP

addition, Oona plans to introduce new products such as travel, health as well as products that are emerg ing on the back of increasing adop tion of internet, e-commerce, and digital payments.”

Warburg Pincus said the “Oona” platform would “deploy a unique value-creation strategy to scale up into Southeast Asia’s leading digi tal general insurance platform with operations across multiple major markets in the region.”

“Oona will invest meaningfully to build a new tech stack with a focus on leveraging market leading tech nology to significantly enhance cus tomer experience, with the aim to be the number one choice for partners and customers alike based on its customer service, technology, and strong brand.”

“General insurance is a signifi cantly underpenetrated industry in the region and a sector that’s ripe for digital disruption. Legacy systems and mindset amongst incumbents provide a real opportunity to create a truly customer-focused organiza tion with a strong tech and brand spine,” Abhishek Bhatia, Warburg Pincus’s partner in the investment, was quoted in the statement as say ing. “I am very excited to partner with Warburg Pincus to build Oona into a truly world-class company.”

Perspectives

Digital trust matters as cyber security and privacy expectations increase

A S organizations place ad vanced data and sophisti cated analytics at the heart of their operations and reshape cus tomer experiences with innovative digital services, new cyber security and privacy challenges are emerg ing that require corporate leaders to take digital trust seriously.

Building and protecting trust is now integral to how businesses operate and interact with stake holders. KPMG’s “2022 Cyber Trust Insights” report surveyed 1,881 ex ecutives to outline five key steps to building trust through cybersecu rity and privacy.

These steps are: weaving cyber security and privacy into the fabric of the organization; building in ternal alliances; evolving the role of the chief information security officer (CISO); and, collaborating with other partners in the corporate ecosystem as key to increased trust. And with that trust comes im proved profitability—according to more than a third of respondents— along with better customer retention and stronger commercial relation ships. Innovation, talent retention and an increased market share are also possible if organizations recog nize that digital trust matters.

According to KPMG Interna tional Global Cyber Security Prac tice Leader Akhilesh Tuteja, “each new data activity that an organiza tion embarks on exposes them to potential vulnerabilities and risks that should be guarded against to maintain trust.”

“Executives are starting to ac knowledge these risks—many of the respondents [78 percent] agree that new technologies [such as AI and machine learning] come with unique, and often ill-understood, cyber security and trust challenges. If these challenges aren’t adequately addressed, the risk to an organiza tion can be extreme,” Tuteja said.

Digital transformation is well underway across every industry, with businesses overhauling their technology. Data from KPMG’s Global Tech Report, launched ear lier this year, revealed 61 percent of businesses expect to embrace dis ruptive new tech platforms within two years and, over the next three

years, say they will increasingly ramp up their digital investments.

KPMG’s research and perspective show that for these new emerging technologies to be adopted suc cessfully, businesses must be able to instill trust.

The “2022 Cyber Trust Insight” report found over 80 percent of executives understand the impor tance of improving cyber security and data protection to securing stakeholder trust. They are also looking to their CISOs to be a cham pion of digital trust.

CISOs themselves know what is at stake, and although many have the confidence of their employers, others do not have a mandate to fulfill their objectives in building stakeholder trust. Almost twothirds of respondents (65 percent) say that information security is seen by their organizations as a risk-reduction activity, rather than a business enabler. And 57 percent say that senior leaders do not un derstand the competitive benefits that are possible due to enhanced trust that is enabled by better in formation security.

CISOs understand their respon sibilities, but the research shows that many are struggling to fulfill them. This could be because the organization they are in lacks a clear vision of what digital trust really means and the difference it can make.

The excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: https://home. kpmg/xx/en/home/media/press-releas es/2022/10/digital-trust-matters-as-cybersecu rity-and-privacy-expectations-increase.html.

Read more on the KPMG 2022 Cyber Trust Insights report here: https://home.kpmg/xx/ en/home/insights/2022/09/cyber-trust-in sights-2022.html.

Be safe and secure as we navigate the virtual world, and learn about internet safety and data protection. KPMG in the Philippines held Global Cyber Day Programs with schools to help students and instructors become more cyber-savvy in cel ebration of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

KPMG Intl. Ltd. is a private English company limited by guarantee and does not provide services to clients. For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may send a message through ph-marketsph@kpmg.com or visit www.home. kpmg/ph.

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

THE country’s new polymer banknotes are more hygienic, environment friendly, and cost efficient for the country, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

In a recent Senate hearing, BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto E. Tan gonan said based on the findings of researches conducted globally, these banknotes prevent the spread of bac teria, have less carbon footprint and save 40 percent to as much as 60 per cent of Central Bank costs.

The polymer notes, Tangonan said, are hygienic because these have non-absorptive surfaces that prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses. These are also environment friendly and cost efficient, due in part to its longer lifespan.

“Aside from durability and lon ger lifespan, recyclable property of polymer allows it to have more than one life, that is, the manufacture of banknotes does not represent the end of life for the resource as it can be used to produce other products,

creating further value for the soci ety,” Tangonan said.

Polymer banknotes, Tangonan said, can last at least 2.5 times longer than paper banknotes. This will lead to cost reductions on the part of the Central Bank.

Tangonan said production sav ings would lead to higher net profits, 50 percent of which accrues to the National Government.

These savings could be used to provide more hospital beds, class rooms, no. of household beneficia ries of 4Ps program, mass housing units, and similar other projects and programs.

“Using data on the actual volume of 2021 new banknote withdrawals by banks from the BSP and lifes pan assumptions ranging from 2.5 times to 4 times longer than that

of paper, estimated production sav ings amount to P1.2 to P2.4 billion, holding other factors constant,” Tan gonan said.

These savings could also be used to support the Philippine Fiber Industry Development Authority (PhilFIDA) abaca flagship project, the Abaca Tuxy Buying Special Project.

The project aims to produce higher quality abaca and boost farm produc tivity and increase the earnings of the farmers by at least 100 percent.

The Abaca Tuxy Buying Special Project aims to establish integrated centers where farmers can access mod ern production techniques to increase farm yields, more efficient processing machinery, as well as better access to market through the Grading and Bal ing Establishments (GBEs).

“There are vast emerging oppor tunities to widen and diversify the client base. PHILFIDA has a compre hensive program that seeks to raise income and the quality and quantity of abaca production. With the sup port of key government agencies, the abaca industry could position itself in the emergent ‘green’ economy, and in the manufacture of personal protective equipment [PPE],” Tan gonan said.

Tangonan said the shift to poly mer banknotes will have a nega

tive impact on the country’s abaca industry.

It is estimated that the abaca in dustry stands to lose P8.5 million to as much as P17 million which represents 0.1 to 0.2 percent of the country’s export revenues.

The BSP said the shift will also affect 0.2 to 0.4 percent or 210 to 481 abaca farming jobs. These es timates, Tanganon said, takes into consideration the circulation test of 500 million pieces of 1000-piso polymer banknote

In his presentation, Tangonan noted that 500 million pieces of 1000-piso for circulation test trans lates to 141.75 metric tons of abaca content.

This represents 2.25 percent of the combined average pulp produc tion of Pulp Specialties Philippines Incorporated (PSPI) and Albay AgroIndustrial Development Corporation (ALINDECO) for the period 2016 to 2020.

“Our existing paper banknote substrate is composed of 80 per cent cotton and 20 percent abaca,” Tangonan said. “Abaca farmers do not directly supply abaca to the BSP for the production of cotton-abaca banknotes. Instead, they supply ab aca pulp to various processors and exporters.”

PHL financial sector urged to maximize data, IT boom

EXECUTIVES of Singaporebased Paritybit Technologies Pte. Ltd., a privacy-enhancing technologies (PET) company, urged the country’s financial sector to de ploy the Internet of Data and Com puting (IoDC) ecosystem in their cyber infrastructure networks to ensure both protection and maxi mize the potential of data in the Philippines.

In a recent news briefing, Pari tybit CEO Zhen Luo said Philippine banks should “raise their bar” in network security to a higher level as both security and data are becoming more important in the current busi ness environment. Prior to meeting reporters, Luo gave a talk on IoDC in a forum organized by the Bank Mar keting Association of the Philippines.

The ParityBit executive said he believes this is the right time to enter the Philippine market as op portunities in the fields of cyberse

curity, data privacy and data protec tion abound globally and in South east Asia in particular. Moreover, the company is seeking to expand worldwide.

“In the region, the Philippines is one of the key areas where we want to grow our business,” said Luo. “Sin gapore and the Philippines have a strong economic relationship, which is one of the reasons why we’re intro ducing ParityBit here.”

The other reason, according to Luo, came from a “discovery.”

“In the last two years, [there was] a strong demand in the area of cyber security technologies because of the compliance and the enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Com mission.”

Since most of countries are now operating in a data-driven environ ment, Luo pointed out that devel oping countries like the Philippines must move swiftly to obtain more

LandBank opens new ATM in Cagayan town

SANTA PRAXEDES, Cagayan—The residents of this unbanked municipality now have access to banking services, with the installation of a new Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) automated teller machine (ATM) at the Municipal Gymnasium along the Pan-Philippine Highway.

“With the installation of this new ATM, the people of Santa Praxedes will save a lot of time, money and effort,” Santa Praxedes Mayor Esterlina A. Aguinaldo was quoted in a statement by LandBank as saying. “We are grateful to LandBank for granting us access to their services with this ATM.”

Aguinaldo led the LandBank ATM inauguration last September 27.

“LandBank continues to expand its reach to deliver banking services where it is most needed. As we promote financial inclusion, we also look forward to helping ad vance economic activity in Santa Praxedes,” LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo was quoted in the statement as saying.

The LandBank said its ATM will service all 10 ba rangays of Santa Praxedes in the northern part of the Province of Cagayan.

The strategic location of the LandBank ATM will benefit government employees and private customers, who no longer need to wait in long queues and travel to other towns for their cash requirements.

The LandBank said the ATM will also support the payout for about 5,000 combined beneficiaries under the conditional and unconditional cash transfer and social pension programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

value from data and, at the same time, protect it for the benefit of customers and business enterprises.

The growing number of nefarious activities by cybercriminals around the world has caused a major concern for financial institutions to beef up their security platform. In response to such threats, Luo said ParityBit is developing the “privacy enhanc ing platform” to ensure data can be harnessed with the right degree of protection and authorization.

In the same briefing, ParityBit Chief Scientist Lintao Zhang said the firm can provide the needs of gov ernment and enterprise to promote and maximize the potential of data.

Zhang said the firm “can unify enterprise organizations that are operating in silos” since it can handle several technology concerns rang ing from cybersecurity and protec tion issues.

“Anyone who asks us to host data,

run an application and/or manage an e-business, can tap ParityBit because it is a one-stop solutions provider,” Zhang said.

Luo said enterprise and govern ment must work together to tackle the challenges in privacy and data security issues.

“Regulators must always keep abreast with the latest trends and technologies.”

He added that the regulator must be aware that “there are solutions out there that work.”

Some of the regulators are not aware that these solutions are ca pable and of the impact it may have on data security and personal privacy protection, Luo said.

He is urging legislators to acquire “a deeper understanding of these technologies so they can craft the necessary laws to enhance the cy bersecurity situation of a country.”

Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

Bond market sees no end to worst turbulence since 2007 credit crash

FOR

bond traders, the upward drift of Trea sury yields hasn’t been that hard to predict.

It’s the short-term swings that are vexing.

The world’s largest bond market is being whip sawed by its longest stretch of sustained volatility since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, mark ing a stark break with the stability seen during the long era of historically low interest rates. And the uncertainty that’s driving it doesn’t appear set to fade anytime soon: inflation is still running at a four-decade high, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates aggressively, and Wall Street is strug gling to gauge how well a still-resilient economy will hold up.

The upshot is that money managers see no re spite from the turbulence.

“Bond market volatility will stay elevated for the next six to 12 months,” said Anwiti Bahuguna, portfolio manager and head of multi-asset strategy at Columbia Threadneedle. She said the Fed could pause its rate hikes next year only to resume if the economy is stronger than expected.

Draining cash

THE sustained volatility has driven some ma jor buyers to the sidelines, draining cash from a market contending with the worst annual loss since at least the early 1970s. On Thursday, Bank of America Corp. analysts warned that Treasurymarket liquidity—or the ease with which bonds are traded—has deteriorated to the worst since the Covid crash of March 2020, leaving it “fragile & vulnerable to shock.”

After retreating from June through early Au

gust, Treasury yields have surged back as a key measure of inflation jumped in September to the highest since 1982 and employment has remained strong. Those figures and comments from Fed of ficials have led the market to expect that the Fed will push its rate to a peak near 5 percent early next year, up from a range of 3-3.25 percent now.

The coming week’s main data releases are not expected to shift that outlook. The Commerce De partment is expected to report that an inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditure in dex, accelerated to an annual pace of 6.3 percent in September while the economy expanded by 2.1 percent during the third quarter, rebounding from the drop in the previous three months. Meanwhile, central bank officials will be in their self-imposed quiet period ahead of their November meeting.

Pushed questions

THE widespread expectation that the Fed will enact its fourth straight 0.75-percentage point on No vember 2 has effectively pushed questions about where monetary policy is headed into next year. There’s still considerable debate about how high the Fed’s key rate will ultimately go and whether it will drive the economy into a recession, especially given the mounting risks of a global slowdown as central banks worldwide tighten in concert.

The uncertainty was underscored Friday, when two-year Treasury yields rose, only to tumble as much as 16 basis points after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Fed is likely to discuss plans to potentially slow the pace of its rate hikes after next month. Bloomberg News

Explainer

Sparkling fiSh, murky methodS: the global aquarium trade

By Victoria Milko, Firdia Lisnawati & Kathy Young The Associated Press

LES, Indonesia—After diving into the warm sea off the coast of northern Bali, Indo nesia, Made Partiana hovers above a bed of coral, holding his breath and scanning for flash es of color and movement. Hours later, exhausted, he returns to a rocky beach, towing plastic bags filled with his darting, exquisite quarry: tropical fish of all shades and shapes.

Millions of saltwater fish like these are caught in Indonesia and other countries every year to fill ever more elaborate aquariums in living rooms, waiting rooms and restaurants around the world with vivid, otherworldly life.

“It’s just so much fun to just watch the antics between different varieties of fish,” said Jack Siravo, a Rhode Island fish enthusiast who began building aquariums after an accident paralyzed him and now has four saltwater tanks. He calls the fish “an endless source of fas cination.”

But the long journey from places like Bali to places like Rhode Island is perilous for the fish and for the reefs they come from. Some are captured using squirts of cyanide to stun them. Many die along the way.

And even when they are cap tured carefully, by people like Par tiana, experts say the global de mand for these fish is contributing to the degradation of delicate coral ecosystems, especially in major ex port countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

There have been efforts to re duce some of the most destructive practices, such as cyanide fishing. But the trade is extraordinarily difficult to regulate and track as it stretches from small-scale fish ermen in tropical seaside villages through local middlemen, export warehouses, international trade hubs and finally to pet stores in the US, China, Europe and elsewhere.

“There’s no enforcement, no management, no data collection,” said Gayatri Reksodihardjo-Lilley, founder of LINI, a Bali-based non profit for the conservation and

management of coastal marine resources.

That leaves enthusiasts like Siravo in the dark.

“Consumers often don't know where their fish are coming from, and they don't know how they are collected,” said Andrew Rhyne, a marine biology professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Is land.

Stunned by cyanide Mo ST ornamental saltwater fish species are caught in the wild be cause breeding them in captivity can be expensive, difficult and of ten impossible. The conditions they need to reproduce are extremely particular and poorly understood, even by scientists and expert breed ers who have been trying for years.

Small-scale collection and ex port of saltwater aquarium fish began in Sri Lanka in the 1930s and the trade has grown steadily since. Nearly 3 million homes in the US keep saltwater fish as pets, according to a 2021-2022 Ameri can Pet Products Association sur vey. (Freshwater aquariums are far more common because freshwater fish are generally cheaper and easi er to breed and care for.) About 7.6 million saltwater fish are imported into the U.S. every year.

For decades, a common fishing technique has involved cyanide, with dire consequences for fish and marine ecosystems.

Fishermen crush the blue or white pellets into a bottle filled with water. The diluted cyanide forms a poisonous mixture fisher men squirt onto coral reefs, where fish usually hide in crevices. The fish become temporarily stunned, allowing fishermen to easily pick or scoop them from the coral.

Many die in transit, weakened by the cyanide—which means even more fish need to be captured to meet demand. The chemicals dam age the living coral and make it more difficult for new coral to grow.

Lax enforcement CyANI dE fishing has been banned in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines but enforcement of the law remains difficult, and experts say the practice continues.

Part of the problem is geog raphy, Reksodihardjo-Lilley ex plains. In the vast archipelago of Indonesia, there are about 34,000 miles (54,720 km) of coastline across some 17,500 islands. That makes monitoring the first step of the tropical fish supply chain a task so gargantuan it is all but ignored.

“We have been working at the national level, trying to push na tional government to give atten tion to ornamental fish in Indo nesia, but it’s fallen on deaf ears,” she said.

Indonesian officials counter that laws do exist that require ex porters to meet quality, sustain

ability, traceability and animal welfare conditions. “We will arrest anyone who implements destruc tive fishing. There are punish ments for it,” said Machmud, an official at Indonesia’s marine af fairs and fisheries ministry, who uses only one name.

‘No real record-keeping’

A N o THER obstacle to monitor ing and regulating of the trade is the quick pace that the fish can move from one location to an other, making it difficult to trace their origins.

At a fish export warehouse in d enpasar, thousands of fish a day can be delivered to the big industrial-style facility located off a main road in Bali’s largest city. Trucks and motorbikes ar rive with white Styrofoam coolers crammed with plastic bags of fish from around the archipelago. The fish are swiftly unpacked, sorted into tanks or new plastic bags and given fresh sea water. Carcasses of ones that died in transit are tossed into a basket or onto the pavement, then later thrown in the trash.

Some fish will remain in small rectangular tanks in the warehouse for weeks, while others are shipped out quickly in plastic bags in card board boxes, fulfilling orders from the US, Europe and elsewhere. Ac cording to data provided to The Associated Press by Indonesian

government officials, the US was the largest importer of saltwater aquarium fish from the country.

o nce the fish make the plane ride halfway around the world from Indonesia to the US, they’re checked by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which cross-references the shipment with customs dec laration forms.

But that’s designed to ensure no protected fish, such as the endangered Banggai Cardinal, are being imported. The process cannot determine if the fish were caught legally.

A US law known as the Lacey Act bans trafficking in fish, wild life, or plants that were illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold—according to the laws in the country of origin or sale. That means that any fish caught using cyanide in a country where it’s prohibited would be illegal to import or sell in the US.

But that helps little when it’s impossible to tell how the fish was caught. For example, no test exists to provide accurate results on whether a fish has been caught with cyanide, said Rhyne, the Rog er Williams marine biology expert.

“The reality is that the Lacey Act isn’t used often because gener ally there’s no real record-keeping or way to enforce it,” said Rhyne.

Local response I N the absence of rigorous na

tional enforcement, conservation groups and local fishermen have long been working to reduce cya nide fishing in places like Les, a well-known saltwater aquarium fishing town tucked between the mountains and ocean in north ern Bali.

Partiana started catching fish— using cyanide—shortly after el ementary school, when his parents could no longer afford to pay for his education. Every catch would help provide a few dollars of income for his family.

But over the years Partiana be gan to notice the reef was chang ing. “I saw the reef dying, turning black,” he said. “ you could see there were less fish.”

He became part of a group of local fishermen who were taught by a local conservation organiza tion how to use nets, care for the reef and patrol the area to guard against cyanide use. He later be came a lead trainer for the orga nization, and has trained more than 200 fellow aquarium fisher men across Indonesia in use of less harmful techniques.

Reksodihardjo-Lilley says it is this type of local education and training that should be expanded to reduce harmful fishing. “People can see that they’re directly ben efiting from the reefs being in good health.”

For Partiana, now the father of two children, it's not just for his benefit. “I hope that [healthier] coral reefs will make it possible for the next generation of chil dren and grandchildren under me,” He wants them to be able to “see what coral looks like and that there can be ornamental fish in the sea.”

A world away in Rhode Island, Siravo, the fish enthusiast, shares Partiana's hopes for a less destruc tive saltwater aquarium industry.

“I don't want fish that are not collected sustainably,” he says. "Because I won't be able to get fish tomorrow if I buy [unsustainably caught fish] today."

Associated Press video journal ist Kathy Young reported from New York. Marshall Ritzel contributed to this report from Rhode Island. Edna Tarigan contributed fro m Jakarta.

Boat S line the coast of Les, Bali, Indonesia, on april 11, 2021. this site is commonly used for aquarium fishing. In the vast archipelago of Indonesia, there are about 54,720 kilometers of coastline across some 17,500 islands. that makes monitoring the first step of the tropical fish supply chain a task so gargantuan it is all but ignored. AP/Alex l indbloom

Worker S sort fish in Les, Bali, Indonesia, on april 11, 2021, for shipment to Denpasar for ex port. Nearly 3 million homes in the US keep saltwater fish as pets, according to a 2021-2022 american Pet Products a ssociation survey. AP/Alex l indbloom

Ba N gga I Cardinals swim in a tank at an export warehouse in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, on april 12, 2021. about 7.6 million saltwater fish are imported into the US every year. AP/Alex l indbloom

Worker S sort aquarium fish caught and delivered to an export warehouse in Denpasar, Bali, In donesia, on april 12, 2021. Fish from around Indonesia are brought to this facility. AP/Alex l indbloom

a W orker checks a sort and order list at middleman area in Les, Bali, Indonesia, on april 10, 2021. AP /Alex l indbloom

PR Matters

By Abigail Ho-Torres

Let’s normalize ethical practices again

TWICE this year—the first one in April and the last one just last week—I was given the opportunity to speak to communication and jour nalism students about ethics. It was both a nerve-wracking and a fulfilling experience. I was scared that I might disillusion them with the things I was going to share. But after each talk, I felt relieved knowing that the kids are alright. They had their hearts in the right place.

Listening to their questions, I knew It was crucial—no, impera tive—to discuss ethics with the young. Especially these days when disinformation and misinforma tion are an everyday occurrence, we have to ensure that the next generation of public relations and media professionals stick to ethi cal practices at all costs.

In preparing for those talks, I had to do a lot of introspection.

Having spent more than 20 years in the workplace—split almost evenly between being a reporter and an all-around communica tion and customer experience professional—I drew heavily from past and current experiences. While the media landscape and communication platforms have

changed a lot in the space of two decades, key themes across ethi cal codes for both PR practitioners and journalists have remained unchanged.

h onesty and integrity

THE International Public Rela tions Association (IPRA) Code of Ethics has a number of items related to honesty and integrity: n Integrity. Act with honesty and integrity at all times so as to secure and retain the confidence of those with whom the practitioner comes into contact.

n Deception. Do not obtain in formation by deceptive or dishon est means.

Other PR organizations have items along the same themes. The first item on the Code of Ethics of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) reads: “I am honest. My actions bring respect for and trust in the communication profession.”

Outside of the PR practice, I have also come across multiple organizations that listed honesty and integrity among their core val ues. As if to reinforce the practice of those values, these companies likewise have anti-corruption poli cies in place.

accuracy

JOURNALISTS and PR practitio ners are but two sides of the same coin. We are storytellers. We exist to inform and to educate. As such, it is our responsibility to deliver accurate information to the pub lic. This does not mean revealing anything and everything about our organizations. This just means delivering information that is not false, whether by mistake or by design.

IPRA’s Code of Ethics cap tures this in this item: “False hood. Make every effort to not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information, exer cise proper care to avoid doing so unintentionally and correct any such act promptly.”

IABC stated it very succinctly: “I communicate accurate infor mation and promptly correct any errors.”

With the proliferation of mis information and disinformation, it is even more important for PR practitioners to strive for pin point accuracy at all times. There may be times when we’d slip, let ting out information that may not be that accurate. In those times, be ready to admit your mistake and correct the inaccuracy as soon as possible.

r espect for others

LOOKING at random social media posts, it seems that disrespecting people has also become quite com monplace. I have often wondered if this has always been the case with people or if social media just provided a space for the innately rude to come out of the woodwork and spread their vileness on social networking sites.

While this kind of behavior has become common, as communica tion professionals, we need to hold ourselves to higher standards. In the way we frame our messages and deal with our publics and our colleagues, we should always be respectful.

The homegrown Public Rela tions Society of the Philippines (PRSP) states in its Code of Eth ics: “Foster harmonious relation ship and establish fair dealings at all times with employers, fellow practitioners and the general and special publics,” connoting a need to treat peers and stakeholders with respect.

IABC calls on its members to be “sensitive to others’ cultural values and beliefs.”

e asier said than done WHILE we have all of these ethical codes guiding us in the fulfillment

of our duties to our organizations and our publics, we still have no assurance that everyone in the PR industry would adhere to such standards. Those of us who can, though—let us do so. Know your non-negotiables and stick to them. Never sacrifice your ethics and your values—not even for a promotion or a raise. Because once you do so, it will be difficult to turn back. Let us also consider mentoring the young PR professionals and the future practitioners in the ethical ways of doing our jobs. Teach them and mold them while they are still willing to listen and learn.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Abigail L. Ho-Torres is AVP and Head of Customer Experience of Maynilad Water Services Inc. She spent more than a decade as a business journal ist before making the leap to the cor porate world.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or com ments to askipraphil@gmail.com.

n Filipino indie band S o S call S on FanS and Supporter S to n ovember FundraiS er gig ahead o F Japan S howca S e MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Phil ippine-based indie outfit SOS, formerly She’s Only Sixteen, are hitting the outdoor stage to raise funds for their upcoming stint at the debut edition of Tokyo Beyond Festival in Japan next month.

Also touted as a send-off show, “SOS DESU KA, SOS DESU NE” is slated to take place at 123 Block, Mandaluyong City on November 4 from 7:00 pm onwards.

SOS will be headlining the co-produced show, and are set to perform crowd favorites and new releases. “We’ve been independent as independent can be over the

past 15 years. Labels have come and gone, but we always found our way by sticking to our guns and steering our own ship. That’s not to say that we didn’t get by all these years without the help of all the great friends we made throughout the years,” vocalist Roberto Seña shared.

He added, “This year, we will be traveling to Japan for our first show there ever. If you didn’t know, showcase festivals are invest ments for a band in hopes to branch out on a global/regional scale, so we pay for everything ourselves. If our friends/fans/listeners would be so kind, we are asking for a little help to take us there. We’ve never really done anything like this before and I’m just thankful to everyone helping us out. We hope to make you guys proud!”

Sharing the stage are guest acts Cheats, Ang Bandang Shirley, Ena Mori, and The Itchyworms. The latter is also handpicked to grace the maiden edition of the afore mentioned international showcase

festival, which will host a combina tion of Japanese and international music acts.

The multi-lineup gig is co-pre sented by The Rest Is Noise PH, in its first show since the pandemic, and GNN Entertainment.

“We are proud to support SOS in their first Japan show in Tokyo. Since 2019, we have witnessed the band make strides internationally with warmly received showcase appearances in Taiwan, Thailand, and most recently, Singapore. It’s a huge, important step for any independent act determined to reach more people outside the country. After being invited to the digital edition of Music Lane Okinawa last year, we’re happy to see them off to perform again for the Japanese audience—this time, with a live performance in Tokyo,” said MC Galang, Co-found er of The Rest Is Noise PH and ASEAN Music Showcase Festival.

Since rebranding themselves with a new moniker, the alt-pop act has been busy getting booked with

overseas shows, including an invi tation to perform at the recently concluded ASEAN Music Showcase Festival in September 2022.

SOS kicked off a brand-new era in music with “Seryoso,” a funky, retro-modern number released in July 2022, and a 15th-anniversary show at Social House, Makati City earlier this month.

Tokyo Beyond Festival will be held on November 26 and 27 in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Tickets to SOS DESU KA, SOS DESU NE are available via tinyurl. com/sosfundraising Limited early bird tickets are priced at P700. Fol low SOS on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

n Sm Supermall S pre Sident Steven tan iS named global Filipino e xecutive oF the Year grand winner

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—SM Supermalls President Steven Tan was hailed as part of the Circle of Excellence and Grand Winner for

Global Filipino Executive of the Year in the recently concluded Asia CEO Awards. The Asia CEO Awards honors companies, entrepreneurs, and executives that have both ex celled, and have made a significant positive impact on society.

Under the leadership of Steven Tan, SM Supermalls did not only survive the pandemic but also emerged stronger. The company managed to recover and sustain its mall revenue, occupancy, and foot traffic targets. SM continues to be the first choice for market entry of global brands to the Philippines, and it’s the only mall operator to open new malls from 2020 until 2022. SM Supermalls also became a key player in help ing the country and the economy bounce back from the pandemic through its Covid-19 testing and vaccination programs in partner ship with local government units nationwide.

Committed to continuing serving the communities, SM Su permalls embraced the changes

brought by the pandemic with agil ity, innovation, and responsive ness to the needs of its employees, customers, and tenants.

“We are people, helping people, and giving back to our communi ties have always been a part of SM’s mission and DNA,” said Steven.

Rising stronger from the pan demic, SM launched “Safe Malling at SM,” a comprehensive campaign that reinvented the malling expe rience, ensuring that every cus tomer is safe and protected against Covid-19 in all its malls. Part of this campaign is the launch of its ecommerce platform called SM Malls Online, where customers can shop for their essentials in the comforts of their homes. New and safe malling experiences such as Farmers’ Market, Paw Parks, out door dining, and bike lanes among others were also introduced. SM also remains the first choice for market entry of global brands with the opening of the largest IKEA in the world at SM Mall of Asia Complex.

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

WASHup, WASHup! MWF celebrates 10 years of Global Handwashing Day

MANILA Water Foundation (MWF) celebrated a decade of leading the Global Handwashing Day (GHD) activities that magnified the message of proper handwashing with soap and clean water, as keys to health and well-being.

Celebrated on October 15, GHD 2022’s theme was “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene.” MWF and its valued partners in the government and private sectors led 10 special events and activities for the whole month of October.

In partnership with the Quezon City Health Department, MWF hosted a Global Handwashing Day Fair on October 10 at the Quezon City Hall Compound. Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian Sotto and Quezon City Councilors led the ceremonial handwashing, signing on the Global Handwashing Day pledge board and the GHD booth walk through to appreciate products and innovations that support and enhance the habit of proper handwashing.

The GHD Fair featured MWF’s

generous partners P&G Safeguard Philippines, PHILUSA Corporation, and Kalinisan Chemicals Corporation. QC Essentials, the community livelihood development project of QC Small Business and Cooperatives Development and Promotion Office (SBCDPO), were also at the GHD Fair. SBCDPO trained solo parents to produce and sell hand sanitizing alcohol and liquid handwashing soap.

To reach more Filipinos across the

country, MWF hosted hosted “WASHup, WASHup: MWF at 10 years of Global Handwashing Day” on its Facebook page on October 13, 2:00 pm.

With valued product partners and from onsite events, product donation handovers, social media contests, the GHD Fair and the GHD virtual event, Manila Water Foundation calls on everyone to master the habit of proper handwashing.

WASHup, WASHup!

PILAK AT GAYAK. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) launched on October 22 at the SM North Edsda Skydome in Quezon City “PILAK: Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/ IPs) Photo Exhibits” and showcased the “GAYAK: Runway Show of Contemporary and Traditional  Indigenous Peoples Attires” in celebration of the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Month and 25th Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) Commemoration with the theme.  “25   Years:   Fulfilling the Indigenous Peoples Rights and Bridging the Gaps through ICCs/IPs Convergence with Partners and Stakeholders to Ensure Economic Sustainability and Security in the Ancestral Domains.”

The Photo Exhibits and Runway Show aim to promote the rich culture of the ICCs/IPs and enhance public awareness and sustain initiatives done for recognition, respect. promotion, protection. and fulfilment of their thirty-six (36) Specific Rights and well-being. The Photo Exhibits will be launched in 27 locations, one in Metro Manila and two venues each in NCIP’s thirteen Ethnographic  Regions.

Painting a Vision of Sustainability: Mural Unveiling on Apartment Ridge Underpass

THE Makati Business Club (MBC) recently unveiled a mural in Makati City to promote sustainable transportation and active mobility. This is a joint initiative led by Allianz PNB Life, supported by AyalaLand, Makati Central Estate Association, and MBC.

Makati Mayor Abby Binay joined the unveiling and supported the multi-sector call for sustainable and liveable cities.

“The unveiling of this mural is a testament to the commitment of the business sector, government, and advocacy groups to promote sustainable and inclusive transportation in Makati.” said Mayor Binay.

She also shared that the City Government of Makati plans to purchase a fleet of electric vehicles and deploy 440 electric buses as part of the LGU’s Climate Change Adaptation Program.

Allianz PNB CEO Alexander Grenz thanked AyalaLand, MBC, Makati LGU, and MACEA for coming together in this initiative.

“It [the mural] is a creative and effective way of inspiring Filipinos to think about the state of the planet today,” said Grenz, “and encourage them to do what they can to secure the future, both on a personal level and on a

large scale. I hope it touches many people and sparks a need for positive change.”

The initiative aligned with MBC’s Business For Biking Program, which aims to support bike commuters via infrastructure, policy, and other activities to help mobilize the workforce and improve business productivity.

“In light of our commitments and responsibilities, we reaffirm the promotion of active mobility as being aligned with our goals in the private sector. Active mobility has been proven to be critical in making cities more sustainable, inclusive, and productive,” said MBC Chair Ed Chua.

The mural – located in Apartment Ridge Underpass, Ayala Avenue – was painted by local artist Glendford Lumbao.

Also present at the unveiling were German Chamber in the Philippines President Stefan Schmit and Executive Director Christopher Zimmer, Philippine Olympic pole vaulter EJ Obiena, Philippine volleyball phenom Alyssa Valdez, as well as representatives and advocates from civil society Aldrin Pelicano (MNL Moves), Myles Delfin (Bike Scouts PH), Ira Cruz (AltMobility PH), and Keisha Mayuga (Life Cycles PH).

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf gives you a new and different way to holiday this season with tumblers, glasses, accessories

THE most exciting time of the year is here--stamp collecting season at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf®. You’re in for a treat with the release of the NEW Limited Edition Holiday Tumblers in five sleek designs: Moonwalk, Gold Dust, Champagne, Purple Dream, and Meteor.

Each one has a glossy or matte finish and is made of stainless steel to keep your drink hot or cold for up to 12 hours. Plus you get six special drink coupons that you can avail and redeem next year.

You can redeem one of these beauties by collecting 18 holiday stamps at CBTL starting October 21, 2022 until January 15, 2023. Get one stamp whenever you order any coffee-based drink in-store or via delivery throughout the holiday season.

This year’s holiday celebration at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is truly special because they have released their first line of drinkware accessories: a tumbler boot, a metallic straw set, or an Original Ice Blended 3D keychain for the lid of your tumbler. All are available for purchase in stores and our e-commerce. Make it truly

yours

CBTL.

Another special collection this Holiday is the release of The Coffee Bean Classics. Each mug is double walled, making it easier to hold your coffee and keep it hot longer so you can enjoy it better. Elegantly engraved with our gold logo, they come in different shapes and sizes for all kinds of coffee enjoyment. Stay tuned this

November for the official announcement of The Coffee Bean Classics!

Of course, let's not forget another highlight of the season, our featured holiday drink: the Chocolate Banana Caramel Ice Blended®. Decadent dark chocolate, topped with caramel drizzle and banana caramel cubes. Yum! It's a holiday treat in a cup.

There may not be a Giving Journal this year, but CBTL keeps the tradition of giving alive with the Real LIFE Foundation as the beneficiary for their Limited Edition Holiday Tumblers. A portion of the proceeds will help empower underprivileged youth through educational assistance, character formation, and leadership development. You can learn more by visiting www. reallife.ph.

Celebrate the holidays in your own way at the nearest The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf® store and let your stamp collecting begin! Visit https://www.coffeebean.com. ph/updates/store-directory/ to find a CBTL store near you!

Have a Peek A Boo Halloween Special at Savoy Hotel Mactan

SAVOY Hotel Mactan Newtown will shake up your Halloween weekend with a night full of frights and a bag full of delights.Plan your weekend escape with our Peek A Boo Room Package with breakfast buffet and barbecue dinner buffet at The Poolside at the rate of P4,000 NETT. Guests may also enjoy complimentary use of the swimming pool, fitness center, and beach access to Mactan Newtown Beach.

Making this one-of-a-kind treat for everyone. Join us for a sumptuous barbecue buffet “Peek-A-Boo Special” by The Poolside at the rate of P650 nett per person. Kids

will also enjoy trick-or-treat Halloween giveaways, and movie night and may get a chance of taking home a gift certificate for the best in Halloween costume. The kid rate applies to this promo.

Peek-A-Boo Halloween special is available on Saturday, October 29, 2022, from 5 PM to 9 PM.

For more information, you may contact us through +032 494 4000 / +63 917 854 0739. You may also follow us on our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) at Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown |Facebook/@savoymactannewtown/ Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown

‘No Tricks, Just Treats’ at Rizal Park Hotel on Oct 30

GET your kids’ fa-BOO-lous costumes ready as Rizal Park Hotel opens its ballroom to celebrate Halloween on October 30 Sunday, from 2PM to 6PM.

Prepare for an afternoon of spooky fun during No Tricks, Just Treats where kids can embark in an array of exciting activities such as face painting, magic show, and a treats parade in the hotel.

Best of all, those who come in their most creative costume stand to win an overnight stay. Whether you’re dressed up as a fairy or a witch, the costume competition is open to all attendees.

Tickets are available for only P600, which covers one kid ages zero to 12 and one adult companion, inclusive of a loot bag, access to the kids party with games and prizes, inflatables, and activities.

Rizal Park Hotel is also offering a special Halloween room package from October 30 to November 2, 2022. For only P8,000, the package includes an overnight stay in a Deluxe Room with buffet breakfast for two (2) adults and two (2) kids, PHP 1,000 F&B voucher, and two (2) tickets to the Halloween Kids Party.

For tickets, call +639276687839. Follow

Rizal Park Hotel in https://www.facebook.com/ RizalParkHotel and https://www.instagram. com/rizalparkhotel1911/

MOA SIGNING.

From left, Department of Transportation Undersecretary Elmer Sarmiento, Department of Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, PMMA Assistant Superintendent for Academics Reynold Sabay, Carnival Cruise Line Chief Human Resources Officer SVP Bettina Deynes, Carnival Cruise Line Crew and Travel Operations VP Richard Brearly, Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent Commodore Joel Abutal, United Philippine Lines President Denny Escobar, and United Philippine Lines Human Resources Director Joey Consunji during the signing of the Student Development and Recruitment Agreement

This October, roam around a museum

ONE can meander aimlessly in a mall or traipse absent-minded all over a park. In a museum, one can also wander freely but with a purpose. To learn about the past, for one thing.

October is designated as the Museums and Galleries Month (MGM) by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 798, s. 1991. It is to recognize that our cultural and art forms are necessary for nationbuilding and shaping national destiny.

According to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, this year’s theme is “Embracing Uncertainty: Showcasing Solidarity, Hope and Recovery,” which “highlights the binding role of museums and galleries as cultural identifiers in a rapidly-changing world. As we slowly enter the postpandemic era, we are wandering into an unknown world. Nevertheless, we still stand as one—looking towards the future with a recovered and renewed.

There are numerous museums across the country. A few of them feature fashion, clothing and adornments among their permanent collections and special exhibits.

The National Museum of Anthropology reopened last Saturday, October 22, with the spectacular art exhibit by National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik, called Indio-Genius: 500 Taon ng Labanang Kultural (15212021). You can marvel at the mammoth installations, then be enchanted with the Ornaments Collection, which was amassed through archaeological excavations and donations since the 1950s.

The prehistoric artifacts include beads, necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings made of shell, bone, clay, stone, glass, and metal covering the Neolithic Period from around 4,000 years ago until the late colonial period. As per the museum: “Some of the most notable pieces in the collection are the nephrite jade lingling-o ear pendants, specifically the Zoomorphic Ear Pendant, a National Cultural Treasure [NCT]. Lingling-O earrings in the collection can also be found fashioned from shell and clay materials.”

The University of the Philippines College of Home Economics Costume Museum (UP CHE Costume Museum), meanwhile, has a dedicated space for clothing and accessories. Besides collecting and displaying practical objects of cultural significance, CHE also teaches its students about preventive conservation techniques and documentation procedures.

In November 2020, for instance, the school conducted a digital laboratory practicum called “From the Baul,” which included the reconstruction of the components of a terno. Rhaj Nortiza, Riva Quitevis and Regine Yu were assigned an Art Nouveau garment, and they “reimagined the elegant

dress on a manananggal of high influence and with a dark past who preyed on corrupt officials at night. The fully-embellished ensemble was fit for a socialite during the carnivalesque 1930s, and quite an easy wear when disembodying herself after an evening’s soiree.”

One of the references of the students was a baro’t saya made of cotton, piña, silk and metal donated in 1961 by Mr. and Mrs. Maxime L. Hermanos to the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, and which is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Hereabouts, a noted art patroness and collector is Mercedes Zobel. Her collection of indigenous textile arts is now on exhibit at the Ayala Museum, called Skeins of Knowledge, Threads of Wisdom. Some of the pieces were gathered from fellow collectors, such as Ricardo Baylosis and Floy Quintos.

Another art enclave owned by a prominent Filipino family is the Yuchengco Museum, which currently honors National Artist for Dance Ramon Arevalo Obusan. The artist’s legacy lives on in the Ramon A. Obusan Folkloric Foundation Inc., which was established in 1992. By providing for the education of promising but underprivileged youth through free dance and music workshops and training, the younger generation has better chances at life, and for their communities to thrive in the field of traditional arts and culture.

The foundation also ensures the “survival of the traditions and folkways of the Filipinos and its indigenous communities through research, recording and performances of the same.” All these are highlighted in the ongoing exhibit, called Dancing with Artifacts, which showcases objects, textiles and research from the collection of Obusan.

Leandro Locsin, the architect known as the “Poet of Space,” is another National Artist who contributed to making a place an art destination—the Monastery of Transfiguration of the Benedictine monks in Malaybalay, Bukidnon. It has the majestic pyramidlike but actually nipa hut-inspired church on its grounds. But our point of interest is the Museum of Transfiguration, which “enshrines” the 50-piece collection of vestments for worship designed by Dom Martin Gomez, OSB, formerly known as fashion designer Gang Gomez. He asked some 20 ethnolinguistic groups to weave indigenous textiles which could be used for the liturgy that were compatible with the solemnity of the liturgical celebrations.

The artist-monk, as noted in the Alliance for International Monasticism site, “was able to wed Benedictine classical art with the indigenous textiles of his country. These vestments exude the qualities of noble simplicity, balance and harmony, along with the tradition of classical art and the Benedictine respect

Filipino brand launches new products & shade range extensions

products that I like and use regularly.

NEXT Level Skin is a new makeup collection just launched by Filipino brand Issy & Co. As the name indicates, it includes extensions to the brand’s very popular Active Skin Tint and Active Concealer, and new products like a powder foundation and illuminator, both called True Flex.

The launch took place in Whitespace Manila and it was packed, as anything the brand launches gets people excited. Issy & Co.’s chief creative officer and cofounder Joel Martin Andrade is so passionate about what the brand does and stands for that it’s infectious.

Issy & Co. is the first local brand with an inclusive shade range so a morena like me with yellow undertones can get exact matches for powder, concealer and tinted moisturizer.

A colleague once asked another brand owner why they didn’t have deeper shades for their face bases and the person replied that there was no demand for them. If I had the chance to ask that brand owner a question, I would ask: If there wasn’t such a demand, why is Issy & Co. always running out of stocks because the Active Skin Tint is in so much demand? But anyway, here is my reviews of the Issy & Co.

First, the Active Skin Tint. These days, I only use two face bases. It’s either the Shiseido Synchro Skin Radiant Lifting Foundation or the Issy & Co. Active Skin Tint. I love both for different reasons but because we’re talking about Issy & Co. here, we’ll stick to Active Skin Tint. One of the things I love about this product is the consistency. It’s not watery or thick. It also goes on smoothly and while the coverage is light, the Active Skin Tint has blurring properties. It does not emphasize texture but just makes skin look better. There are three new shades, including Epsom, Spruce and Saddle. I wear Sienna usually but I can get away with Hazel. From the new range, I am trying out Epsom, which is Tan to Deep For Neutral/Cool Undertone. There are now 12 shades of Active Skin Tint.

I’m more a fan of Active Skin Tint than I am of Active Concealer just because I don’t usually use concealer. I did love the OT4 shade, which Issy & Co. recommends as a Conceal + Cover for tan olive tones.

This shade is like a corrector for my under eyes to help reduce the darkness in the area. My concealer shade from the new range  is NT4. The one I’m using from the original collection now is MW2 or MW3. I am not sure if they reformulated the concealers but the new tubes I am using seem to contain products that are easier to apply. Issy & Co. has added new shades to the range, which now has 24 concealers.

Now for the even more exciting part. Issy & Co. launched two new products, one of them being the True Flex Powder Foundation in the most beautiful packaging for a compact I have seen from a local brand. There is a brush attached on the top of the compact, which also has a mirror. The brush has a

press the compact with a dense brush, it still won’t be powdery and I love that. Someone asked if it was like the Danessa Mayricks Yummy Skin Blurring Balm, which, according to reviews, “offers light coverage, reduces skin’s texture, and balances oils throughout the day.” So, yes, if this is true, as I’ve never tried the Danessa Mayricks one, then it is similar to the Issy & Co. True Flex Powder Foundation. I wore the powder in Sienna (there are nine shades) to a concert over the illuminator and concealer and it held up.

The True Flex Illuminator—which comes in Ray, Halo and Flare—can be worn under makeup as a primer or can be applied on the high points of your face. I have Halo and Flare but I like the latter more

BALENCIAGA FASHION HOUSE CUTS TIES WITH YE, REPORT SAYS

PARIS—The Balenciaga fashion house has cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, according to a news report. The move came after several offensive comments from Ye, including antisemitic posts that earned him suspensions from Twitter and Instagram.

“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” parent company Kering told Women’s Wear Daily in response to a query Friday without elaborating. The company did not respond to multiple emails and calls from The Associated Press requesting comment. A representative for Ye also did not respond to a request for comment.

Ye had collaborated in several areas with Balenciaga and its artistic director, Demna Gvasalia. The label has also had an active relationship with Kim Kardashian, Ye’s ex-wife, who has appeared in their advertising campaigns and credits her former husband with introducing her to the brand.

Ye was recently blocked from posting on Twitter and Instagram over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies. He has also suggested slavery was a choice and called the Covid-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast.”

After getting locked out of the social-media platforms, he’s offered to buy rightwing-friendly social network Parler.

During Paris Fashion Week, the rapper walked as a model in Balenciaga’s readyto-wear show—what designer Gvasalia at the time called an “iconic moment.” He was then seen at Givenchy’s collection wearing a Balenciaga-branded black tooth brace.

Ye was also criticized that week for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection show in Paris and the shirt made an appearance on the runway itself. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, White Lives Matter is a neo-Nazi group. AP

a brand I really love because of its face bases, which are well-formulated and also have a wide range of shades. It’s true that Issy & Co. sends influencers and beauty writers and editors samples when they launch new products, but there is no pressure to give them positive reviews. When I don’t like a product that’s seeded by a brand, I tell the people concerned and I just don’t write about it.

I also do know for a fact that many beauty TikTokers really love the Issy & Co. Active Skin Tint and Active Concealer. They are both excellent products and as a Filipino, I’m proud that a brand has finally come up with products for morenas with deeper skin tones.

ANCIENT Ornaments, National Museum of Anthropology The Terno, UPCHE Costume Museum; Bagobo Men’s Bags, Ayala Museum; “Dancing With Artifacts,” Yuchengco Museum; Chasuble with T’nalak, Museum of the Abbey of Transfiguration in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.

ISSY & Co. has launched new products for the face, including illuminators and powder foundations.

PHOTO BY @ ISSYANDCOMPANY ON INSTAGRAM

Sports

PHL FED EYEING RUSSIAN SK ATER

REIG STUNS FIELD, QUIAMBAO WINS ANEW IN SUBIC

BY JOSEF RAMOS

Isabella Gamez and her

FILIPINO-AMERICAN

Russian partner Alexander Korovin—competing under the Philippine flag—clinched silver at the Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur in Nice, France, over the weekend.

COPA targets bigger national grassroots swim program in 2023

KABIGGER

national grassroot swimming program to be organized by the Congress of Philippine Aquatics Inc. (COPA) is expected next year, according to Olympian and former national coach Pinky Brosas.

Brosas said cluster heads of the 15 regional units of the COPA have mustered their partnership with their respective local government units (LGUs) and the Department of Education (DepEd) to conduct not only tournaments but educational programs for athletes, coaches and teachers.

U

PSTART Irienold Reig Jr. pulled off a stunner in the talent-laden men’s side of the Alveo 5150 Subic Bay while Bea Quiambao turned in another superb all-around performance to nail a second crown at the Subic Bay Boardwalk Sunday.

Making his first crack at 1.5-km-swim, 40-km-bike and 10-km run racing, the 19-year-old Reig didn’t disappoint. He dominated the opening leg in an impressive 18 minutes and 32 seconds, slowed down a bit in the bike leg with 1:08:58 and hung tough in the run with 41:27 to edge Raymund Velasco for the men’s overall crown in 2:12:48.

Velasco trailed in the swim (22:44) but rallied in the bike (1:04:22), only to fall short despite a 40:47 in the run to settle for runner-up honors (2:13:05) in a tightly-fought duel of power, speed and endurance that started in shady skies and ended in scorching heat.

Julian Teves posted a solid 1:03:27 time in bike after a 20:57 swim to wrest control but failed to match Reig and Velasco’s searing finish to wind up third in 2:13:53 with a 45:14 showing in run. The wiry Reig, a prized find from Quezon City, is currently training under the developmental team of the national triathlon squad.

He also ran away with the 15-19 age group title while Teves topped the 25-29 group and Velasco bagged the 35-39 title in the event sponsored by Alveo, SBMA, Finis, Rudy Project, Sante Barley, Lalamove and Active.

UST, Adamson secure seats in second round

It was a strong performance by the pair with the Philippines finally clinching a medal on the international rink—and with Korovin having secured a release from the Russian skating federation, he’s become a potential for naturalization.

“If everything falls into place, we’re considering to naturalize Alexander Korovin to represent our country,” Philippine Skating Union president Nikki Cheng said. “He’s gotten his release from Russia a few months ago.”

Korovin, 28, was a decorated winter games athlete for Russia. He won gold at the World University Games in 2019 in Krasnoyarsk in Russia with Alisa Efimova, a Finnish-Russian skater.

Gamez and Korovin tallied 143.54 points for the silver medal in the pairs won by Italians Irma Caldara and Riccardo Maglio (152.27) with French skaters Oxana Vouillamoz and Flavien Giniaux (143.38) settling for the bronze. “That’s a historical milestone for Philippines skating. They took home the first ever medal for Philippine pairs skating in an international competition,” Cheng said.

Gamez and Korovin draped themselves with the Philippine flag during the medal ceremony for the event that has seven pairs. They garnered qualification points for the Four Continents Championships in January in Colorado Springs. Gamez, 23, is based in Fort Myers, Florida, with her Filipino-born parents. She began skating in 2005 and has once competed under the Spanish flag. Cheng said the pair would be a perfect combination heading toward the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy.

“The inclusion of provincial teams and underprivileged students from public schools is a testament of COPA’s serious campaign to open swimming to a much wider community,” Brosas said. “We firmly believe that swimming or any other sport is not exclusive to certain groups or communities and right now, inclusivity is happening.”

Brosas said more than a hundred swimmers from public schools in Manila, Leyte, Cagayan Valley, Cebu, Samar and Misamis Oriental joined the COPA’s Reunion Swim Challenge Leg 3 that ended Sunday at the Teofilo Ildefonso Swimming Pool inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.

“Swimmers come and go, but coaches and trainors, they’re always there, therefore we need to educate them on how to properly conduct the sport, especially in the approach to young swimmners,” said Brosas, who swam in two Olympics—Munich (1972) and Montreal (1976).

Brosas joined COPA co-founder and tournament director Chito Rivera and technical head Richard Luna in awarding the medals to the winners headed by Nicola Queen Diamante and Paulene Beatrice Obebe, who each grabbed their third gold medal in the event organized by Samahang Manlalangoy ng Pilipinas and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Speedo and Milo.

UNIVERSITY

of Santo Tomas (UST) and Adamson University completed the second round cast after dominating their respective foes in the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum over the weekend. The Tigresses swept Pool B following a 25-17, 25-19, 25-22, crushing of Lyceum of the Philippines University behind stellar performances from Angeli Abellana and Regina Jurado on Saturday.

UST closed the group stage with a perfect 4-0 win-loss record to join the Lady Falcons, who defeated Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) in straight sets 25-14, 25-14, 25-19, in the second round along with De La Salle University and Far Eastern University in Pool F.

Facing off in the other second round bracket are University of the Philippines, University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines champion National University and Ateneo de Manila University.

In the second round which will begin next week, teams will play another round robin against the squads they have not faced in the first round to determine their rankings in the knockout quarterfinals. Abellana scored 15 points to pace the Tigresses while Jurado added 12 points including nine off kills. Xyza Gula chipped in seven attacks and an ace for the Españabased squad.

“At least my young players are stepping up,” UST coach Kungfu Reyes said. “It’s good that we have the momentum going into the second round.” The Lady Pirates, who were relegated to the classification round, absorbed their second straight defeat for a 2-2 card. Zonxi Dahab and Joan Doguna led Lyceum with eight and seven points, respectively.

Adamson University, on the other hand, banked on the trio of Lucille Almonte Aprylle Tagsip and May Ann Nuique to finish Pool B at second spot with a 3-1 slate.

“They’ve been together since 2020 although this is the first time that they competed together because they have waited for Alexander’s release from Russia,” Cheng said.

Mondilla leads men’s chase, Avaricio seeks 4th title at Pradera Verde

and the wind conditions forecasted at the long, challenging layout for the week, guaranteeing another wild finish to the P2 million championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

But Lascuña, another multiple winner in the ICTSI-backed circuit, is out to snap a run of sorry finishes, including back-to-back runner-up efforts at Eagle Ridge-Aoki and Riviera, while Que hopes to cash in on his length in dealing with the Pradera challenge and ending a long title spell. Gialon, Van der Valk and Bibat, on the other hand, try to become the only two-leg winner in this year’s edition of the PGT after ruling the Caliraya Springs, Splendido Taal and Eagle Ridge-Aoki legs, respectively, with the two other champions—Miguel Tabuena (Luisita) and Juvic Pagunsan (Riviera)—skipping

But a slew of others are going all out to upstage the fancied bets and fuel their respective title drive, including Rupert Zaragosa, one of those who lost to Mondilla in the playoff, Ira Alido, Reymon Jaraula, Jay Bayron, Jhonnel Ababa, Joenard Rates, Orlan Sumcad and Quiban, who is back on the local circuit after stints

Focus will also be on journeyman Rico

Depilo, whose tied for fourth finish at Riviera where he strongly contended in one stretch of the final round should make him one of the players to watch in the next four days with Ivan Monsalve and Sean Ramos heading the young guns’ challenge in the event.

Like the men’s, the Ladies PGT, offering a total prize fund of P1.25 million also braces for a tight, unpredictable finish as Avaricio re-joins the title hunt while making a homecoming of sorts at the wellmaintained layout where she reigned in runaway fashion last June before pursuing her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour card dream.

The postponement of the LPGA Q-School Stage II to next month also made the former Alabama State star, who also won at Hallow Ridge and Caliraya Springs, available for this week’s battle as she renews rivalry with two-leg winner Chihiro Ikeda, 2021 Highlands champion Sunshine Baraquiel, two-time winner Harmie Constantino, Sarah Ababa, Marvi Monsalve, Gretchen Villacencio, Martina Miñoza and Pamela Mariano, among others.

Spicing up the chase are amateurs Mafy Singson, winner at Splendido Taal last May and Annika Guangko.

fact, he is the president of the Pastry Association of the Philippines. As of this writing, he joined the Philippine team that will be competing in Singapore from starting this Tuesday in the Second Asian Gelato Cup in hopes of securing a slot to the World Gelato Cup that will be held in Italy in 2024.

Trinidad though, will not be baking but rather, he will be judging.

squad Pachanga, one of their players was—actor Derek Ramsay.

Yes, he was a member of Pachanga. While his busy schedule did not allow him to train or even play frequently, Ramsay was sometimes there during game days and did get to play a couple of matches.

Debunking stereotypes

OU really cannot stereotype people.

You’d think that a punk rocker is a misfit and probably a drug addict. Well, many are happy to smash those stereotypes to hell and back.

Buddy Trinidad, vocalist and guitarist of iconic Filipino punk band Betrayed, is a bonafide chef. In

JP Concepcion is from Cavite-based rock band the Dropouts. Last Saturday evening, Concepcion took part in Ultimate Knockout Challenge (UKC) Battlefield at the Elorde Sports Center in Parañaque for his third amateur boxing match.

Concepcion was supposed to battle Clarence Naguit who, like him, has two fights under his belt. But Naguit was a no-show.

A last minute switch saw Concepcion take on Rodson Lozano who is more experienced with a 4-1 record. Lozano’s opponent was also a no-show.

Lozano defeated Concepcion via unanimous decision to go to 5-1 while the latter fell to 1-2.

About 10 years ago, while serving as media officer for the United Football League Division 2

He gave a better account of himself though playing in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League with Batangas.

How many people can say they played in two professional leagues?

Television personality Paolo Bediones served as an adviser for Team Socceroo that had actor Jake Cuenca as a player.

Speaking of an actor who loves football, it is the other way around for Jao Mapa. While in college for the University of Santo Tomas, he played one year of University Athletic Association of the Philippines football for the team when it was still called the Glowing Goldies. He still actively plays every chance he gets.

He was part of ABS-CBN FC’s squad that participated in the Aboitiz and Adobo Cups.

It isn’t like getting day jobs is uncommon. It is. There are very few full time musicians in this country. Very few make serious money playing music. Why I pointed out Trinidad and Concepcion is because this isn’t the beaten path. It is… different and I think it’s great.

While I cut my eyeteeth writing about sports, in the last eight years, I have moved laterally into lifestyle and entertainment, travel, and now, food writing. I have held marketing positions concurrent to my being a journalist.

I also teach (having taught at my alma mater of the Ateneo de Manila University and Mary the Queen College in Pampanga). And as a testament to my passions, I also produce concerts, records, and well, manage some bands.

And I get to do all of that at the same time. The key there is incredible discipline and time management. And of course, knowing when to say no.

I think it is great that people get to follow their passions and dreams. When one hangs up his gear to meet the Man Above, he can always say, he tried and did everything he wanted to do.

EXPLOSIVE action looms in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) as Filipino fight fans finally get to witness bare-knuckle exhibition fights topped by the duel between Kenjhons “Mr. Mainit” and Map Soberano this Thursday night.

Kenjhons and Soberano, both 39, will not only entertain the crowd at the Xylo of the Palace at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City, but they are determined to crush each other for pride and glory in URCC 80 Bare Madness.

“I promise to show how I burn somebody like Map [Soberano] with my bare-knuckle flaming fists,” said the 40-year-old Kenjhons—Kenneth Serrano in real life.

“It’s going to be a bloodbath and I will use his own blood to wash my face,” Soberano, of Central Taguig, said. “I’m hoping he [Mr. Mainit] won’t be running around for entertainment. It will be entertaining if he’ll go toe-to-toe with me.”

For inquiries about tickets sale, go to www.urcc.online and download the app https://apps.wix.com/place-invites/ join-lp/b4e05b90-55a0-40a8-8fac-17ccf4a2c074?ref=pre_banner_top which is available for iOS and Google.

URCC Global chairman Arnold Vegafria and URCC founder Alvin Aguilar see an interesting bout that will captivate Filipino fight fans, who are in for a rare mano-a-mano fight—without gloves.

“Filipinos do love combat sports very much and we’re expecting that the first ever bare-knuckle fistfight to be held on Thursday in the Philippines will be a blockbuster,” Vegafria said. “This is going to be the first time here in the Philippines although it’s already being held in Europe and the US. So everyone is excited about this big event.”

Aguilar believes many Filipinos will excel in bare-knuckle boxing saying local fighters never back down from challenges.

“Here’s another avenue for our countrymen to excel: Bareknuckle boxing. We have to prove to everybody that we Filipinos are the real boss when it comes to real fights, and we’ll show it in our first ever bare-knuckle fight in our country,” Aguilar said.

Besides the super fight between Mr. Mainit and Soberano, Kimbert Alintozon and JV Baldonasa will collide in a 125-pound bare-knuckle battle, while Elias Duran faces Ronnel Esperas in a 145-pound clash.

Rocky Vergara takes on Marvin Dela Cruz in a 125-pound bare-knuckle bout and Ruel Catalan meets Edrion Macatangay at 125 lbs, Jayson Margallo faces Wilson Managuio at 135 lbs and John Ornido squares off with Janedie Bernardo also at 135 lbs all in mixed martial arts format.

Details of the fight and future fight cards could be downloaded at https://apps.wix.com/place-invites/join-lp/b4e05b9055a0-40a8-8fac-17ccf4a2c074?ref=pre_banner_top which is available for iOS and Google.

ISABELLA GAMEZ and Alexander Korovin are draped with the Philippine flag during the medal ceremony.

‘MR. MAINIT FIGHTS SOBERANO IN URCC BARE-KNUCKLE DUEL

BEA QUIAMBAO swims, bikes and runs a superb race.

TEAMMATES Nikola Queen Diamante  and Therese Annika Quinto pose with their medals.