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Friday, October 29, 2021 Vol. 17 No.21

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‘ALERT 2 STATUS IN NCR n

TO UNLOCK P3.6B WEEKLY’ By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE Philippine economy stands to gain at least P3.6 billion every week should the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) decide to place Metro Manila under Alert Level 2 or better from the current Alert Level 3. T his is according to the Nationa l Economic and Development Author it y (Neda) which also estimated that such a move would reduce unemployment by 16,000 indiv idua ls. T he gains for the economy

are ex pected to be greater at around P10.3 bi l l ion a week if the Nationa l Capita l Reg ion (NCR) w il l be placed on A ler t Level 1 from A lert Level 2. This wou ld reduce unemploy ment by 43,000.

See “Alert,” A2

IMPACT OF MOVING TO A LOWER ALERT LEVEL ON GVA & UNEMPLOYMENT IN NCR NCR Indicators Alert 5 to 4 Weekly gain in GVA +P93.7 billion Reduction in number of unemployed -395,000

Alert 4 to 3 +P5.8 billion -24,000

Alert 3 to 2 +P3.6 billion -16,000

IMPACT OF MOVING TO A LOWER ALERT LEVEL ON GVA & UNEMPLOYMENT IN AREAS OUTSIDE OF NCR

In today’s issue, BusinessMirror brings more special articles in its Second 16th Anniversary Folio, all embodying the anniversary theme. Earlier reports were carried in the First Folio last Oct. 8.

Hot money back to outflows PHL to big emitters: Fund clean energy in Sept

Outside NCR Indicators Alert 5 to 4 Weekly gain in GVA +P133.2 billion Reduction in number of unemployed -561,000

Alert 4 to 3 +P7.5 billion -31,000

Alert 3 to 2 +P4.7 billion -20,000

Source: PSA and Neda staff estimates

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

INANCE Secretary and Climate Change Commission (CCC) Chairman-Designate Carlos G. Dominguez III called on Western countries emitting the most greenhouse gases to urgently take responsibility and make good on their promise to extend the financing needed by climatevulnerable countries to shift to a clean-energy future. Speaking on behalf of the Philip-

PESO exchange rates n US 50.7820

Alert 2 to 1 +P10.3 billion -43,000

Alert 2 to 1 +P13.3 billion -56,000

Note: Decimals may not add up due to rounding

pines at the opening of the virtual 2021 Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Dominguez on Tuesday pointed out that Western countries have “avoided the pain by buying their way out of their global obligations, offering developing nations money for making the carbon reductions they themselves are unwilling to make in their own economies.” Clearly, Dominguez said at the AIIB Flagship Seminar on the Paris Agreement held virtually Wednes-

day night, “the Philippines is moving with urgency. But we have seen very little funding and actions promised by Western countries materialize. All that has been done is talk without concrete action.” He continued: “We need the Western countries to take responsibility for having contributed and continue to contribute the most to greenhouse gas emissions [GHG]. They must be given the greater burden of paying for the grants,

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HORT-TERM investments made by foreign investors to the Philippines slumped back to the net outflow territory in September due to higher withdrawals of investments from the country during the month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday.

See “PHL,” A2

n japan 0.4462 n UK 69.7897 n HK 6.5294 n CHINA 7.9453 n singapore 37.6665 n australia 38.1982 n EU 58.9274 n SAUDI arabia 13.5393

See “Hot,” A2

Source: BSP (October 28, 2021)

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BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, October 29, 2021

Hot...

Continued from A1

The BSP said the total gross outflows of foreign portfolio investments (FPI), which hit $1.2 billion in September, more than offset the $1.19-billion gross inflows for the month. This resulted in the net outflow of $24.16 million, reversing the $11.5-million net inf low in the previous month. Compared to last year’s level, however, the September 2021 net outf low is an improvement from the $493.6-million net outf low in September 2020. FPI are known as “hot” or “speculative” money because they are easily pulled in and out of the local platforms in the slight change of global and local sentiment. Majority of the investment—or 74.3 percent—during the month were in listed securities in holding firms, property, telecommunication, food, beverage and tobacco and utilities. Meanwhile, the remaining 25.7 percent went to investments in Peso government securities. The United Kingdom, United States (US), Sw itzerland, Hong Kong and Singapore were the top 5 investor countries for the month with a combined share to total of 84.4 percent. The US, meanwhile. received 70.8 percent of total outf lows. The September development in the country’s hot money pushed its nine-month performance to a net outf low of $493.13 million. While this is a bigger year-to-date net outf low compared to last month, it is still an improvement from the $4.5-billion net outf low seen in the first nine months of 2020. Earlier this week, a BSP study showed the Philippines ranked the poorest in majority of the indicators that foreign direct investors use in choosing which country to put their capital in. These foreign direct investments (FDI) are the long-term counterpart of FPI or hot money.

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Group backs graft case over sale of Malampaya stake to Udenna By Samuel P. Medenilla

sam_medenilla

HE Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas (LAIKO) said on Thursday it is backing the filing of graft cases against the people behind the controversial Malampaya stake sale to Udenna Corp. In a statement, LAIKO President Roquel Ponte said Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and business tycoon Dennis Uy should be held accountable for the "incredible crony agreement" after a Senate inquiry showed apparent irregularities on how the Department of Energy (DOE) processed the transaction. “We call on the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines and the Office of the Ombudsman to exert every effort to protect the interest of the government and of our people,” Ponte said. In the series of hearings held by the Senate Committee on Energy on the matter, it was alleged that Udenna was not qualified

to buy the 45-percent shares of Chevron Philippines Inc. in the Malampaya gas-to-power project. “The undue advantage given to Dennis Uy, a known close supporter of President Duterte is horrendously appalling, tantamount to theft of our precious natural resources and putting the country’s energy security at risk,” Ponte said. Last week, a group of concerned citizens filed a case before the Office of the Ombudsman against Cusi, employees of the Philippine National Oil Company’s Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) and other incorporators from Udenna. Chevron,

Shell Philippines Exploration BV over the Malampaya deal. The group alleged the incorporators of the agreement violated Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Presidential Decree 87 and RA 387 or the Petroleum Act. Earlier, Davao busines s m a n U y m a i n tained that the deal Udenna sea led w ith a Chevron subsidiary that has a 45-percent stake in the Malampaya gas field is fair and above board. “At this juncture, we maintain that the acquisition of UC Malampaya Phils. Pte.,Ltd. [UCMP] of the shares of Chevron Philippines in Chevron Malampaya LLC is within the parameters of the law,” said Udenna spokesman Atty. R aymond Zorilla. T he D e p a r t me nt of Energy (DOE) approved last April the sale and transfer of

Chevron Malampaya LLC’s entire 45-percent stake in the Malampaya gas consortium to UC Malampaya Pte. Ltd. owned by Uy. The sale, which was finalized in March last year, is worth $565 million. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian found clear violation on the part of the DOE for approving the ChevronUdenna deal despite “insufficient foundation” of legal basis to do so. “To be honest about it, what I am getting here is that you legitimized an illegitimate t ra nsac t ion. Parang this transaction is not qualified pero pinilit ninyo to be qualified and legitimized it. That was a clear violation in the transaction. So, why despite the violation, your department approved this transaction?” Gatchalian asked DOE officials during a recent hearing.

PHL...

Continued from A1

“[These] are very clear indicators why opening the economy will have a direct impact on GDP and the people,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said at a webinar of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) on Thursday. Chua also said that if the alert level of Metro Manila is de-escalated to Level 1 from Level 3, the economy stands to gain around P14 billion a week and unemployment reduced by around 59,000. Further, Neda estimates also showed that including Areas outside of NCR would also lead to an additional gain of P4.7 billion a week if the alert level is de-escalated to Alert Level 2 from 3. This will lead to 20,000 Filipinos finding jobs. If the Alert Level is further de-escalated to Alert Level 1 from 2 in areas outside Metro Manila, this would lead to the economy gaining P13.3 billion weekly. This would also slash by 56,000 the number of unemployed. “We are concerned about Covid and the Delta [variant] but we are also concerned about the hungry people, the jobless people and the children. So I’m glad that we brought this more balanced approach that is why even when we had the ECQ [Enhanced Community Quarantine] to address Delta, it was not like last year,” Chua added. Chua stressed that real recovery would depend on the safe reopening of the economy, which will lead to jobs and incomes for Filipinos. This will increase consumption spending and boost GDP. Further, Chua said, this will lead to high revenues that the government can collect to extend “more targeted support” to sectors and people who are in need.

Targeted stimulus

Continued from A1

investments, and subsidies needed for the most climate-vulnerable countries to mitigate the effects of global warming.” Dominguez will head the Philippine delegation to the 26th Session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26) set to be held next week in Glasgow, Scotland. The finance chief said the Philippines would want to see all nations in the COP 26 meeting affirm the need for climate justice. “ This is the 26th time that the COP will be meeting. Yet, little action has been taken. Nothing would please us more than seeing the countries that emitted and continue to emit the most greenhouse gasses to accept the responsibility of financing the transition to carbon neutrality,” he added. I n t he s a me fo rum, Dominguez also thanked AIIB for the opportunity given to c l imate-v u lnerable economies in Asia to collaborate with AIIB in accessing financing to help reduce their carbon emissions and proceed with climate-resilient initiatives. Under its Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement, the Philippines has committed to reducing GHG by 75 percent over the next decade. This, despite the country’s contributing only 0.3 percent to total GHG. “The Philippines has been doing its part and is staying true to its

Alert...

commitment to t he Paris Agreement. We are not yet a financial powerhouse but we are determined to punch above our weight class in green and climate finance,” he said. Dominguez reiterated that the Philippines will showcase the country’s Sustainable Finance Roadmap during the COP 26 meeting to inspire other developing countries to adopt appropriate finance policies that will help reduce carbon emissions. This Sustainable Finance Roadmap, developed by the Philippines’s “Green Force” of agencies led by the Department of Finance and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, synergizes public and private investments in green projects and sets the guiding principles that will create the environment for greener policies. Apart from the road map, Dominguez said they will be also launching a landmark project to accelerate the country’s transition from coal to clean energy and will continue to push the congressional passage of a law banning single-use plastics. The CCC has also reconstituted its experts’ panel which eventually identified the Philippines’ Top 10 climateinduced risks and proposed strateg ies on how to address these through actionable programs, especially in communities most vulnerable to the ill effects of this environmental crisis.

With this, Chua said, any stimulus that can be extended by the government would be better used to help people who could still not go to work due to existing restrictions such as granular lockdowns. “[This is better] than what we did last year wherein we shut down a big part of the economy and tried to give everyone something when a more effective and sustainable solution would be to open and let the economy function,” Chua said. On Wednesday, Chua said bringing down the quarantine level of the NCR may happen in a matter of weeks. He said that as of October 25, a total of 55.7 million vaccine doses have already been administered. This means 30 million Filipinos have received their first dose while 25.7 million got their second or have complete vaccine doses. Chua expressed concern that postponing face-to-face schooling for another year would further swell the cost to the economy. Based on studies, Chua said, a year without face-to-face schooling will trigger P11 trillion worth of lost productivity over the lifetime of workers. This will lead firms and establishments who hire these workers to also see lower productivity. Worker’s productivity will be reduced due to death, illness, and lack of schooling. Unfortunately, Chua said, the reduction in productivity will be permanent, staying with the child for the rest of his/her working life. “If we close face-to-face schooling for another year then the P11 trillion becomes, more or less, P22 trillion. That is why I am very hopeful and will work to review the data to see to what extent we can reopen face-toface schooling soon,” Chua said. This, Chua said, means the government would also have to review its medium-term budget. The review must be done to close the gaps on education and health which were created by the pandemic. He said the economic team will work with Congress to refine the 2022 budget and future budgets to reallocate higher funds for health and education which have suffered under the weight of the pandemic. He also cited the need to accelerate vaccination of all adult Filipinos to reach 70 million by the end of 2021. This means expanding vaccination sites to include workplaces; removing artificial barriers; and using technology to reduce the waiting and processing time. “At this point, it is about vaccinating everyone with the least restriction or prioritization as soon as supply comes, my thinking is, we should vaccinate everyone who is available and willing. That will help speed up our achievement of our goal,” Chua said.

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, October 29, 2021 A3

LTO halts PMVIC test for vehicle registration By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

ILLIONS of private vehicle owners are seen to get relief from the suspension of mandatory emission tests exclusively done by so-called private motor vehicle inspection centers (PMVICs) imposed by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) during the required annual renewal of vehicle registration.

Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services, acknowledged the wisdom of scrapping the mandatory test by PMVICs saying this should bring relief to vehicle owners. In welcoming the formal issuance of a memorandum suspending mandatory vehicle inspection exclusively done by LTO-accredited PMVICs, the senator expects this should put to rest “the qualms and

PITX readies for influx of ‘Undas’ passengers By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

HE Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX) is now bracing for the influx of passengers for the upcoming holidays by increasing the number of buses operating daily in its facility to over 2,000 buses. In an online interview with PTV last Thursday, PITX Corporate Affairs and Government Relations head Jayson Salvador disclosed they plan to increase the buses this weekend in time for the commemoration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day next week when the number of traveling passengers is expected to increase. Currently, Salvador said PITX accommodates 1,800 buses per day. He

said they plan to increase this from 2,000 to 2,200 buses by Saturday. Since the Department of Health (DOH) opted to downgrade the Alert Level in the National Capital Region (NCR) from 4 to 3 earlier this month, Salvador said they have observed a significant increase in the number of passengers in PITX. Prior to the lowering of the Alert Level in NCR last October 16, PITX only accommodated 20,000 to 25,000 passengers per day. Salvador said they now receive 50,000 to 55,000 passengers daily, which, he said, could rise to 60,000 to 65,000 during the long weekend. “So we continue to prepare and coordinate with the government to ensure travel of our passengers is safe and will have no disruption,” Salvador said.

confusion over the policy.” Poe pointed out that “at the minimum, this assures our vehicle owners and motorists a choice that is more convenient and favorable to them amid the pandemic’s challenges.” The LTO memo was issued in response to the call aired by Poe when she presided over Monday’s hearing of the Senate finance subcommittee. She cited the October 25 memo stating that PMVIC inspection is

“optional,” adding that “PMVIC inspection or PETC [Private Emission Testing Center] result with LTO inspection, shall be recognized and considered in the process of renewing vehicle registration.” The senator’s office learned that LTO chief Edgar Galvante had earlier said he already issued the directive that PMVICs are no longer mandatory, but was sent to regional directors “via Viber” only.

PHILIPPINES RECEIVES 896,000 DOSES OF ASTRAZENECA VACCINE FROM JAPAN

APANESE Ambassador to the Philippine Koshikawa Kazuhiko led the arrival ceremony for the first batch of the 1.96 million additional Covid-19 vaccine shots from the government of Japan. Together with Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer, Ambassador Koshikawa welcomed the delivery of 896,000 doses of Japan-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine in Manila. The second batch to complete these 1.96 million doses pledged by Japan is scheduled to arrive on October 30, 2021. In his remarks during the ceremony, Ambassador Koshikawa expressed hope that, with the vaccine provisions from Japan, the Philippines would be able to steadily recover from the impact of the pandemic and have a better Christmas season

this year. He further reaffirmed Japan’s readiness to complement the Philippines’s pandemic response measures and roll out initiatives that serve as added boost toward reaching its goal of herd immunity. The two vaccine provisions from Japan, now totaling to over three million doses, form part of its bilateral cooperation with the Philippines, in addition to its active contribution to the Covax Facility. Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu announced Japan’s intention to supply these life-saving vaccines for the second time during his October 15 press briefing. In July of this year, the Government of Japan also fulfilled its first provision of the same Covid-19 vaccine to the Philippines consisting of 1.12 million doses, which were then distributed by the Department of Health to different parts of the country.

This prompted Poe to call out the transportation official for an “unprofessional means of communicating an important policy,” prompting the issuance of a formal memorandum. “We hope this memo will set a standard policy to be followed in all inspection centers all over the country,” she said, reminding that “it always pays to listen to the voices of our people who know the realities on the ground.”

Poe also reminded that “the periodic technical inspection of vehicles is a must to ensure safety on the road.” She, however, stressed that setting guidelines—including the charging of reasonable fees, qualifications and accessibility—should adhere to the standards of due process and transparency, taking into consideration the concerns of stakeholders, reminding that the interests of the majority should prevail.

Ex-VP Binay warns vs ‘premature’ loosening of pandemic restrictions

ORMER Vice President and now senatorial aspirant Jejomar C. Binay has cautioned government officials against prematurely allowing more people outdoors, as health officials report a downtrend in Covid-19 cases. Binay said government should learn from the premature loosening of restrictions at around this time last year. “We were hit by a surge a few months after, even worse than the surge last year. And it is the people who suffered the most,” he said. “They should be cautious. They should be prepared and they should be certain. It is better to be cautious now, than sorry later,” he said in Filipino. The former vice president said while cases are declining and more people are vaccinated now than last year, vaccine hesitancy remains high

in the provinces. They also lack access to vaccines, he said. Binay added that hospital administrators have said they are not feeling the downtrend as their facilities remain full. The situation is aggravated by the continuing departure of nurses and health workers. Binay said government should now shift its spending priorities to public health, rather than infrastructure and the dolomite beach on Roxas Boulevard. “Thisshouldbethetimetostrengthen our public health system as a defense against any future surge in Covid cases, or future pandemics,” he said. “But instead, government would rather spend more money on roads and the domolite beach than hospitals, medicines, and benefits for health workers. It’s about time we rethink our priorities,” he added.

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DENR draft order lifting open-pit mining ban ready for Cimatu’s OK By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

ONTHS after the signing of Executive Order (EO) 130,

which lifts the moratorium on the processing of new mining projects, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is now poised to reverse the ban on open-

pit mining method for copper, gold, silver, and complex ores before the end of the year. The lifting of the ban imposed by former Secretary Regina Paz Lopez, through DENR Administrative Order (DAO) 2017-10, will be in the form of another DAO to be signed by Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, the BusinessMirror gathered. The move, which was rejected by anti-mining groups under the Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) stated that the draft DAO aims “to revitalize the mining industry and usher in significant economic benefits to the country by providing raw materials for the construction and development of other industries and by increasing employment opportunities in rural areas where there are mining activities thereby stimulating countryside development. “We reject this move of the DENR to lift the ban on open-pit mining. DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu must not sign this Department Administrative Order, especially in the light of the coming COP 26 climate summit. Such a policy move is a drastic reversal of preventing deforestation and protecting the remaining key biodiversity areas,” Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of ATM told the BusinessMirror

when sought for comment. The group also demanded that President Duterte, who was vocal against destructive large-scale mining operations, to categorically instruct the DENR not to sign any order lifting the ban on open-pit mining. Nevertheless, Garganera said, they will not be sur prised if Duterte would actually remain silent or even be supportive of such a move by the DENR. “It is simple to understand that huge Chinese demand for our minerals is driving this policy direction of aggressively promoting mining amid the pandemic,” he alleged. Aside from lifting the ban on open-pit mining for select ores, the five-page draft DAO also aims “to establish enhanced parameters and criteria for the types of surface mining methods under the Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility [DMPF] to address the environmental and safety issues of surface mining methods, particularly with open-pit mining.” To recall, President Duterte signed EO 130 in April this year, amending Section 4 of President Benigno Aquino’s mining policy, EO 79 which imposes the ban in the processing of new mining projects pending the enactment of a measure that will increase the government’s share in

mining revenues. The lifting of the mining moratorium is expected to open the floodgates for more mining projects in the Philippines. In recommending the lifting of open-pit mining ban, members of the technical working group of the DENR have put more weight on the arguments made by big mining industry players under the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP). The draft order states that open-pit mining, which requires scraping of forests, flattening of mountains, and digging huge holes to extract minerals, is a globally accepted method of mining considered to be the most feasible option for mining near-surface or shallow ore deposits, and that not all open-pit mines produce acid rock drainage or acidic contaminants. It also said that: There are best practice control strategies and technologies that can help avoid or manage the negative impacts of open-pit mining; There are existing policies/laws that designate areas that are not allowed for mining (e.g., protected areas, critical watershed, ancestral lands, and prime agricultural lands); Major issues concerning mining, including open-pit mining, cannot be attributed to the use of the

method itself, but rather on the accidents involving wastes and tailings confinement; Progressive rehabilitation of mined-out areas is now being practiced to restore vegetative cover and reduce adverse impacts on the environment; Continuing the ban on open-pit mining may result in loss of economic opportunity. To recall, an environmentalist and anti-mining advocate, Lopez issued the ban on open-pit mining and cited as the reason the lessons learned as evidenced by the so-called legacy mines in various parts of the country. These legacy mines are openpit mines that were eventually abandoned by mining companies after extracting minerals in the area. These areas are usually turned into huge man-made lakes with water tainted with toxic chemicals or heavy metals. Moreover, Lopez said then, openpit mining can cause enormous and irreversible damage to the environment, citing the case of the Marcopper Mining Disaster, one of the worst mining environmental disasters in the country’s history that happened on March 24, 1996, on the island province of Marinduque.

Briones commends Asean New Davao City app delivers customer ministers ‘for job well done’ service a step or bike ride away ‘ASAP’ By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

DUCATION Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones commended the ministries of education across Asean member-states for “a job well” done in “undertaking the necessary steps in initiatives for the continuation of learning” amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Briones stressed that the task is not easy, noting the constraints and challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Philippines, through the Department of Education (DepEd), fulfilled its role as chair of the 2021 Asean High-Level Education-related Meetings last September 29 to October 1, 2021. The three-day event served as a platform for the Asean memberstates and its dialogue partners to discuss efforts and strengthen cooperation for the Asean education sector, taking into consideration the challenges in face of the contagion. “The purpose of [this] cooperation is not just to ensure that we will be able to fully recover from Covid-19, [but] we want to [also] ensure that quality education will continue to be offered to our learners, pandemic or no pandemic. Cooperation must lead to an improved education sector,” said Briones who is also the Asean Education Ministers’ Meeting (ASED) chair. With the Philippines serving as host of the 16th Asean Senior Officials Meeting on Education (SOM-ED), Briones welcomed the participation in the discussion, updates, and initiatives on learning continuity and other programs presented by member-states. Guided by the theme “Transforming Education the Asean Way: Forging Partnerships in the Age of Global Disruptions,” the meetings featured presentations and updates from Asean member-states on their respective interventions, responses, and programs geared towards responding to the challenges of the global health emergency. Asean Deputy Secretary-General for Asean Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) H.E. Kung Phoak highlighted the relevance of this year’s theme. “I’m delighted to know this year that the Asean education sector has learned so much from the Covid-19 experience and keep on moving forward. Aside from lessons learned from Covid-19 responses, the 16th SOM-ED will be focusing on recovery efforts to discuss ways on how

the Asean education sector can [be] built back better, stronger, [and] wider,” Phoak said. This year’s meetings went over various topics on education with digital transformation, resiliency, quality assurance, and student mobility among the important points of discussion. Wilfredo Cabral, DepEd OIC Undersecretary for Human Resource and Organizational Development and chair of SOM-ED, also highlighted in a presentation Asean’s Covid-19 recovery efforts from the efficient responses to good practices in the education sector as a critical area of discussion and cooperation. He added that other areas of dialogue and collaboration include bridging development gaps in education, promoting the lifelong set of learning, building a learning society for a knowledge economy, and instilling regional identity and awareness among Asean member-states. “These meetings reaffirm our commitment in addressing priorities for regional cooperation in education within the Asean education with our dialogue partners,” Cabral said. The Philippines as chair welcomed all inputs and initiatives, which not only focused on the opening of faceto-face classes but also recognized the importance of blended learning in achieving a more sustainable response to the challenges currently faced by education in the region. Among the member-states and institutions who took part in the meetings were the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam, Kingdom of Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Federation of Malaysia, Union of Myanmar, Republic of Singapore, Kingdom of Thailand, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Asean Secretariat, SEAMEO Secretariat, and Asean University Network. The following partner countries and Asean entities also delivered presentations at the Open Session of the meeting: Canada, Hungary, India, the United States of America, Asean Quality Assurance Network, and the Asean Foundation. The High-Level Asean Education-related Meetings include the 16th SOM-ED, 11th Asean Plus Three Senior Officials Meeting on Education, 6th East Asia Summit Senior Officials Meeting on Education, 5th Asean Plus Three Education Ministers’ Meeting, and the 5th East Asia Summit Education Ministers’ Meeting.

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

MAGINE this: You are patient in a hospital just within the vicinity of a shopping mall complex. Your prescription has to be brought ASAP and you need some food for a sudden craving for the palate. And there are some hygiene items for your hourly change. With your son or a granddaughter away that morning for some quick nap and some hygiene call, to whom would you turn to? There would be someone to do it. And soon. And even ASAP because a Davao City homegrown online delivery app is launching not only catering to online food delivery but may very well include bicycle and on-foot delivery service for compact commercial and residential centers and townships here. One mobile phone call or click from the patient, and in less than an hour, the prescription medicines, the craved for food and the personal hygiene items would be at the patient’s doorstep through the delivery man stationed just somewhere in the complex. “The delivery man on foot does not have to run for miles to get these items, and to get another set of orders from other buyers elsewhere,” said Meonie Patricia Grace I. Sonico, chief executive officer of Retriever, the newest online delivery apps to enter the scene. With our on-foot delivery guys stationed in all the shopping and commercial complexes here in Davao City, buyers do not have to run the errands themselves to buy something from the shopping mall nearby from the comfort of their high-rise condominium residences, or their offices, or their hospitals or clinics.

Lots of legroom for start-up players

THIS would be getting ahead of the starting line that Retriever is planning to launch here soon. Sonico is proud to banner her company as a homegrown start-up company “with the hope to help the other start-ups, or the home-based and micro-scale, in food business, and our riders and other delivery persons as well.” Although her family is from Manila, her father established the family business on oxygen supply to hospitals here and around Mindanao, which boomed further as the nation turned to this product to save lives amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Sonico said her father floated the idea to her to establish a food deliv-

ery app in Davao City, looking at this business with the potential for growth even after the world would have discarded the threat to the minimum. “So this is not merely a business to tap into the promise of growth of this industry. This was established to help our sellers, our partners actually, and the riders, to a win-win arrangement,” she said. “The brainstorming of the concept was started in April yet, but it was in July when the IT [information technology] team of my father’s business began the application through Google Play,” she said. The Retriever team also networked with the home-based and other micro-level businesses on food to get their feedback and suggestions based on their experiences with the other food delivery apps. Some 20 of these start-ups have already inked a deal with Retriever, which has also expanded its discussion to about 100 other sellers. These new partners are into food and beverage business, such as pizza, sea food, pasta, noodle soups, grilled chicken, milk tea, Indian and Korean food, “items that are very popular and commonly sought out by consumers,” she said. “Our partners, the sellers, would usually point out to the high commission rates asked by the established deliveryapps.Theyalsowantedtoknow how our riders would benefit from this arrangement with them,” she said. There would be no problem with buyers asking for food items from known fast-food companies, she said. “Our riders would just line up for their turn in these establishments.”

Scam-free

“WHAT they like most in our operation is our online payment and other financial transaction. We still have the COD [cash on delivery] but we will eventually shift fully online in financial transactions,” Sonico said. Sellers and buyers that they have reached out told them that they would like to order online but they were prevented from transacting online because they have no cash at home. Besides, she said, “this online payment would prevent scammers from fooling around with our riders.” From food, Retriever would soon venture into other product lines, like household gadgets and fixtures, from dining, living and bedrooms. Maybe, after three or four months, “we would tap those on bicycles and those who would only walk from one store to another nearby store, from a food outlet to a pharmacy, hardware or clothing apparel shop.”

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NEW ICT TEST KIT FROM JAPAN DELIVERS RABIES DIAGNOSIS IN JUST 20 MINUTES

ETERINARY authorities can now diagnose rabies cases in less than an hour from the usual two to three hour laboratory time, thanks to a rapid test kit developed by the government in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). In a news statement, Jica said the test kits called Immunochromatographic Test Kit (ICT Kit) were developed under the “Establishment of the One Health Prevention and Treatment Network Model for the Elimination of Rabies in the Philippines,” or “Japan and Philippines One Health Rabies” (JAPOHR) Project. The JAPOHR project is a joint endeavor of Jica and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry (DA-BAI) that started in 2018 under Jica’s Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), which promotes international research collaboration between Japan and partner-countries. Jica explained the ICT Kit can quickly and accurately diagnose rabies in just 20 to 30 minutes, compared to the usual two to three hours that a diagnosis takes through the traditional use of a microscope and an incubator. “The ICT kits offer an innovative way to tackle rabies prevention and diagnosis in the Philippines. At this time when public health is an important issue in development, the test kits for rabies can contribute to the eradication of one of the common diseases in the Philippines and help

improve the quality of life of people,” said Jica Chief Representative Azukizawa Eigo. Dr. Saito Nobuo, deputy chief advisor of the project, said the project serves as an opportunity to share Japanese know-how in addressing diseases and other public challenges, especially since Japan has been able to eradicate rabies. The ICT test kits were developed by Dr. Nishizono of Oita University and ADTEC, a Japanese pharmaceutical company seeking to provide the rapid rabies diagnosis tool in parts of the world where the disease is endemic, according to Jica. “Jica vows to support the rabies prevention and control program in the Philippines for the next two years by providing said ICT kits for evaluation and providing necessary training to all regional animal diagnostic laboratories nationwide,” it said. Jica noted that rabies is one of the oldest communicable diseases known to man with 59,000 people dying from the disease every year globally. Citing the Department of Health (DOH), Jica pointed out that rabies remains a public health problem in the Philippines as it is responsible for the death of 200 to 250 Filipinos annually with one-third of which being recorded among children less than 15 years of age. “The ICT Kits will be most helpful in the early detection of rabies, especially in high risk areas as well as in free areas,” said BAI-OIC Director Reildrin Morales. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, October 29, 2021 A5

Neda chief pushes for easing of rules on sale of frozen pork to curb inflation By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

OCIOECONOMIC Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua on Thursday said the government must ease its rules on the sale of frozen pork to wet markets to further temper food inflation, which he noted remains elevated due to expensive pork products. Chua explained that he has two main concerns regarding inflation: food prices, particularly pork, and oil prices. He noted that the government has been able to arrest pork inflation down to 30 plus percent from 60 percent in the middle of the year due to the twin measures they implemented: expansion of minimum access volume (MAV+) and temporary reduction of pork tariffs. He cited that inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR) is now within the 2-percent to 4percent target of the central bank since majority of the pork imports are in this area and which are sold in supermarkets. However, he pointed out that pork prices remain high in areas outside the National Capital Region (NCR) since certain existing government rules hinder the sale of imported frozen pork to wet markets. “Where we are seeing higher in-

flation of above 5 percent because pork is outside NCR,” Chua said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines’s webinar, titled “Election Fever: Business Outlook 2022” on Thursday. “One reason for that is some restrictions that prevent some of these imported supply for being sold elsewhere, especially in wet markets. This is something we think should be more relaxed so more people can benefit,” he added. Chua was referring to a decadeold rule of government that imported frozen pork cannot be sold in wet market unless vendors are equipped with the right refrigeration system to properly store, handled and display these meat products. The rule is encapsulated in Department of Agriculture’s Administrative Order (AO) 6, Series of 2012, which outlines the guidelines on the “hygienic” handling of chilled, frozen and thawed meat in wet markets. Under AO 6, chilled meat products sold to market should not be frozen and shall maintain a temperature not higher than 10 degrees Celsius, while frozen meat should be stored, held and sold at a temperature not higher than zero degrees Celsius and should be stored in a meat cold storage at less than -18°C. (Related story: https://businessmirror.

com.ph/2018/04/21/phls-stiffmeat-trade-rule-stays/) Since the issuance of AO 6 Series of 2012, various industry groups such as the Meat Importers and Traders Association (MITA) and Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi), have called on the suspension or even the elimination of such rule, claiming that the order is discriminatory against imported meat products and it is not based on science. Pampi renewed its call earlier this week to suspend AO 6 after Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar issued Memorandum Circular (MC) 23, allowing the sale of pork imports under the MAV+ program to areas outside the NCR+ (Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite) “with relatively high prices of pork meat.” The group pointed out that Dar’s MC 23 is an “exercise in futility” and is not enough to address the “unabated high prices of pork” due to “dysfunctional” government policies that hinder the sale of frozen pork in wet markets. The agriculture chief explained that he issued MC 23, which amended the pork MAV+ guidelines, to facilitate the “full utilization” of the pork MAV+ following the “very low” utilization of the pork MAV+ “due to the very strict

market restrictions and distribution,” which defeated the objectives of the import program. “Only four regions registered a single-digit inflation instead of a less than double-digit inflation rate on meat while the rest displayed higher than the national rate of 4.2 from January to August 2021,” the document read. “There is a considerable deficit in pork supply being experienced all over the country,” it added. Based on the estimates of economist Ramon Clarete and Agriculture Undersecretary Fermin D. Adriano, the country’s pork supply deficit has now reached 651,000 metric tons (MT), from the earlier estimated shortfall of about 400,000 MT. Pampi emphasized that AO 6 must be suspended to allow freer entry of frozen meat products in wet markets. “The DA had recommended the expansion of MAV and reduction of pork tariffs without notifying other government agencies that the imported pork cannot be sold in wet markets unless they are displayed in freezers and kept at a temperature of -18 degrees Celsius,” Pampi said. “There is no logic in banning the sale of frozen meat but allowing imported frozen galunggong to be sold in wet markets,” it added.

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Yes, the business of living can go on in a decarbonized future, EDC proves

Businesses may now choose renewable energy and get them directly from licensed retail electricity suppliers like EDC’s BacMan Geothermal, Inc. By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

T the height of the pandemic last year, geothermal leader Energy Development Corp. (EDC) set the bar higher by committing to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future. Simply put, EDC has moved to decarbonize the business sector. EDC generation portfolio is almost 1,500 megawatt (MW). Of which, 1,181 MW is baseload geothermal, providing stable and reliable power at all hours of the day. EDC calls it Geo 24/7. “The mission of EDC calls for us to go beyond sustainability by looking at our business as more than just profit engines as we elevate everything we touch—be it the environment; our co-creators that include our employees, and contractors; our communities, customers and investors,” said EDC President Richard Tantoco. He said there are three major strategies that companies can implement to respond to the United Nation’s climate warning and, at the same time, to future-proof their businesses. First is to stop supporting coal—the largest source of global warming. Second is to be an enabler of decarbonization. Lastly, Tantoco urged everyone to make businesses carbon neutral. He cited the recommendation of the World Resources Institute for countries to phase out coal in electricity generation five times faster. “To do this, institutions and businesses need to put their foot down and say no to coal. The good news is that more nations, institutions, and companies around the world have already made this bold declaration,” Tantoco said.

Shut door on coal

EDC’s parent firm, First Gen Corp., had declared as early as

2016 that it was shutting its door on coal power even if this meant walking away from opportunities to make a profit. Four years later, the Department of Energy (DOE) declared a moratorium on new coal power projects. In the global scene, Globally, the Group of Seven (G7) nations pledged to end support for coal power by end of this year. Global banks, insurers, pension funds, asset managers have also committed to exit coal as of 2020. Ta ntoco poi nted out t h at without funding, coal companies would then have no choice but to transition to renewable energy (RE) if they want to stay in business. As Rep. Loren Legarda commented in August on the IPCC Working Group I’s assessment report “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis,” laws and key policies are already in place to pave the way for businesses to work toward decarbonization. “Digital technology is key to decarbonizing various industries. For instance, we realized that Zooming or doing meetings through Zoom, which has inadvertently become a huge part of our daily work since the pandemic started last year, will help us travel less once this health crisis ends,” said Tantoco. An hour of videoconferencing emits between 150 and 1,000 grams of CO2. By comparison, a car emits about 8,887 grams from burning one gallon of gasoline, Tantoco explained.

Apart from technologies, green financing is one of the biggest enablers in decarbonizing the global economy. For instance, Tantoco noted that six of the world’s top lenders have banded together through a collective climate-aligned finance agreement to decarbonize the steel sector, which produces 1.8 tons of CO2 for every ton of steel. Also this year, the first tranche to be issued out of EDC’s P15 billion worth of Asean Green Bonds shelf registration was 10x oversubscr ibed. Tantoco said the growing level of interest from investors in green projects are paving the way for companies to make that bold commitment to take a stand for the environment and to work toward carbon neutrality. The power market is indeed constantly changing. The DOE has put in place policies meant to encourage RE investments. These include the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA), and soon the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP). The RPS mandate requires all electric and distribution utilities to increase the use of renewable energy by 1 percent each year beginning in 2020 until 2030. R et a i l e lec t r ic it y t h rough RCOA—those with an average of at least 500 kilowatt (kW) of electricity consumption—and soon, through the GEOP will give customers a choice. GEOP allows electricity endusers with an average of 100kW and above to choose RE as their source of energy from power gen-

Can renewable energy provide 24/7 power? Geothermal can! It’s the most stable source of baseload power among all RE sources. That’s why it’s Geo 24/7.

erators with Retail Electricity Supplier and GEOP licenses. EDC is one of the first in the country to be given a GEOP license that will soon enable the company to provide the same Geo 24/7 to consumers with at least 100kW of average electricity consumption once the guidelines are released and the DOE gives the green light for the program. Geothermal energy has proven to be a more reliable source of energy, especially when compared to other renewable sources like solar, wind or hydro—which are more intermittent sources and thus require energy storage for longer use. EDC’s 1,181-MW geothermal portfolio accounts for 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity, putting the Philippines on the map as the third-largest geothermal producer in the world. In particular, the Visayas region is home to the country’s two largest 24/7 geothermal facilities, which are EDC’s Leyte and Negros geothermal sites. T he Ph i l ippi nes h a s been blessed with abundant geothermal resources, which EDC has been harnessing for 45 years now.

Watersheds nurtured

According to Atty. Allan V. Barcena, head, Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations, EDC has been sustaining its Geo 24/7 by planting,

growing, and maintaining lush forests in its geothermal watersheds, which comprise about 1 percent of the country’s total land area. Also, EDC has already reforested close to 10,000 hectares in its geothermal areas, with over 6 million BINHI seedlings planted. With EDC’s massive reforestation efforts through its BINHI program, EDC has become a carbon-negative company, meaning the minimal CO2 produced is offset by all the CO2 absorbed by the reforested watersheds. “Generat ing power f rom 100-percent RE sources and taking care of 270,000 hectares of forests in our geothermal reservations have made our operations carbon negative. “As we work to maintain this status, we know that we can’t save the planet on our own. For this reason, we fulfill our mission by helping our stakeholders take concrete steps towards becoming carbon neutral,” EDC Tantoco asserted. He was referring to the Net Zero Carbon Alliance, which EDC is spearheading. Atty. Barcena explained the Net Zero Carbon program in a nutshell: It is strategically developed to provide partners with a road map to attain carbon neutrality through the sharing of best practices and scaling up of carbon emission offsetting and tracking, as well as assistance in

obtaining third-party certification of carbon emissions and offsets, and even access to “green” financing, among many other capacity-building tools. EDC’s guidance will be primarily based on its experience as a carbon-negative company through its 100-percent RE operations and protection and restoration of the forests within its geothermal projects sites. With EDC’s established decarbonization mechanisms, partners can adopt these practices and leverage them toward carbon offsetting and sequestration. Attaining carbon neutrality is just a transition, Atty. Barcena explained, since the end goal is having net zero emissions by 2050. Tantoco pointed out, meanwhile, the need “to honor anyone who makes a firm commitment to be a part of the solution instead of contributing to our climate crisis.” T he compa n ies t h at h ave committed to walk down the same path to carbon neutrality with EDC are Arthaland, Drink Communications, First Balfour, Knowles Electronics, Rockwell Land, SGV, Silliman University, and Unilever. EDC’s goal, stressed Tantoco, is to collaborate with like-minded companies, organizations, and individuals that share a genuine commitment to inclusive growth and environmental restoration so they can all go beyond sustainability and do more together.

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MIESCOR continues legacy of engineering expertise

“

MIESCOR remains committed to providing dependable, reliable, and world-class endto-end engineering services to power and telecommunications to propel growth, effect change, and improve the lives of every Filipino.” RONNIE L. APEROCHO

MIESCOR PRESIDENT AND MERALCO NETWORKS HEAD Recently, MIESCOR was tapped by a flywheel energy storage company to lead the EPC of its flywheel testing capability, giving an important boost to ramp up flywheel production.

S the preferred partner of top local power and telecommunication companies, the Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corporation (MIESCOR) plays a significant role in nation-building. It provides various services such as Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) services across power infrastructure, renewable energy projects, electromechanical works, telecommunication infrastructure, and general construction. The clients that MIESCOR serves include big companies like the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), SMC Global Power, Aboitiz Power, and AC Energy to name a few. The list also includes other Independent Power Producers, distribution utilities, and electric cooperatives, showing that MIESCOR caters to just about the entirety of the energy industry. Through its Distribution Utility Services (DUS) and Miescor Builders, Inc. (MBI), MIESCOR has provided support and helped Meralco in improving, operating, and maintaining its distribution utility services, through engineering and allied services, design services, facilities inspection support, metering, sub-transmission line maintenance, transmission line testing, and substation maintenance among others. In addition, MIESCOR provides manpower services to Meralco and its subsidiaries through Miescor Logistics, Inc. (MLI) through facilities and buildings management, warehouse and inventory management of the various Meralco sectors, and logistics/transport services of the One Meralco fleet. The MIESCOR group is powered by more than 8,000 employees, the majority of which helps reinforce the reliability of services that the One Meralco group offers to its customers. MIESCOR holds a PCAB ‘AAAA’ license, the highest category granted by the Construction Industry Association of the Philippines (CIAP), for General Engineering; while MBI and MLI hold PCAB ‘AAA’ and PCAB ‘AA’ respectively. MIESCOR and its subsidiaries have been certified by TUV Rheinland for meeting global standards – ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management Systems). MIESCOR has also been granted by the same body with ISO 14001:2004 (Environmental Management) and ISO

MIESCOR has managed to help Meralco improve, operate, and maintain its distribution utility services such as engineering and allied services, transmission line testing, and substation services, among others.

Enabler for nationwide electrification

Accelerating and enhancing connectivity

GROWING demand for digital services requires a rapid expansion in the telecommunications

thrust in being the catalyst for better and broader connectivity in the country.

New segments offer products and services for power and telco companies

ESTABLISHED in 2020, the Utility Attachment Management group of MIESCOR has already accomplished a significant output from its contract with Meralco’s Foreign Attachment Team. The UAM group ensures the safety and integrity of foreign attachments (mostly fiber cable and lines) in Meralco poles, and provides efficient evaluation and audit of request-to-attach (RTA) applications. Aside from this, it also offers services such as pole inventory and pole clearing operations, alley-arm installation, survey of unauthorized attachments, and correction of low sagging or bundling cables for Meralco. Being an EPC company created the opportunity for MIESCOR Trading, a new business unit distributing a wide array of electrical supplies and equipment from world-class manufacturers and suppliers to provide efficient energy solutions and high-quality products for substation, transmission, and distribution systems to Meralco, its subsidiaries, and other clients in the energy and power sector. Its product line includes connectors, surge and lightning arresters, kWh meter, insulators, steel tower/poles, and smart poles, circuit breakers, disconnectors, cables, distribution transformers, reclosers, alley arms, splicing and terminating kits, relays, protection panels, capacitors and banks, underground and low voltage switch gears, and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)— from its partners NARI, SeoChang, TE Connectivity, BenBro, Eaton, PANCAB, Trade Edition, Hansei, Midel, and Aclara.

Sustaining growth towards 2023

45001: 2018 (Occupational Safety and Health) certifications.

ACROSS the country, MIESCOR has completed over 660 kilometers (km) of 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission and distribution lines; more than 1400 km of 230-kV lines; over 1600-km of 138-kV lines; 130-km of 115kV lines; and over 315 km of 69-kV lines, among others. It has 29 projects in the pipeline, namely services for GN Power Dinginin, SMC Global’s Mariveles Power, Meralco’s Alagao and Balagtas substations, as well as several priority projects identified by the NGCP such as the Mindanao Substation Upgrading Project, the Mindanao Transmission Backbone Project (substation portion), and the Cebu-Negros-Panay Stage III (substation project) in the Visayas. In addition to these, MIESCOR recently bagged new EPC projects from SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. and Fort Pilar Energy Inc. for their Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) interconnection facility projects in Laguna, Leyte and Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga, respectively, as well as two new contracts from AC Energy Group, namely the 230kV transmission line project in Zambales from Santa Cruz Solar Energy Inc. and a substation project in Ilocos Norte from Bayog Wind Power Corporation. Recently, MIESCOR was also tapped by flywheel energy storage company, Amber Kinetics, to lead the EPC of its flywheel testing area which shall increase their flywheel testing capability, giving them an important boost to ramp up flywheel production.

MIESCOR has completed over 600km of 500kV transmission and distribution lines, and more than 1400km of 230kV lines among others. Currently it has 29 projects in the pipeline for various transmission and substation works.

infrastructure and services sectors, and MIESCOR has been an active enabler in this development. At present, the Company provides design, build, installation, repair, and maintenance services for telco companies such as PLDT, Globe, Converge, Radius, and Sky Cable. Radius Telecoms, a new player in the broadband industry offering RED Fiber broadband, engaged MIESCOR for its aerial and underground cabling services, as well as the construction of telecom nodes where fiber networks are connected. MIESCOR is also Radius’ endto-end service provider, building Fiber-to-the-Home Infrastructure/ Optical Distribution Network and Subscriber Installation & Maintenance Services for Internet and IPTV services to RED Fiber customers. For Converge, MIESCOR has been tapped to build and expand

the Fiber-to-the-Home Infrastructure/Optical Distribution Network in highly urbanized areas, such as Makati, Quezon City, and Pasig, alongside several areas in Caloocan, Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna. Meanwhile, Globe sought MIESCOR’s subscriber line installation and repair services which effectively enable Globe customers to perform work-from-home, online schooling, and e-commerce setups in areas of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela; as well as its Fiber-to-the-Home Infrastructure/Optical Distribution Network services in Bulacan which further beef up Globe’s fiber presence. Similar services are provided by MIESCOR for Provisioning Requests and Warranty Assurance Requests of PLDT Customers in Manila and Cavite, while its Fiberto-the-Home Infrastructure/Opti-

cal Distribution Networks services are upcoming. For Sky Cable, MIESCOR built several network nodes for its Hybrid Fiber Coaxial Networks in Malabon, Pasig, Caloocan, and Manila. Through Meralco’s support in accelerating the telecommunications rollout of mobile network operators, MIESCOR installs micro cell sites on electric poles and upgraded streetlights. MIESCOR entered the passive telecommunications tower infrastructure (PTTI) space as one of the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s registered Independent Tower Companies (ITC). As an ITC, MIESCOR will work together with the mobile network operators in building and operating PTTIs at locations where mobile service needs to be improved. With this move, MIESCOR strengthened its

RESILIENCY towards recovery became MIESCOR’s battle cry last year—mainly as it took off from the setbacks the company experienced in the previous years and as it faced the challenges of a global pandemic. Given its extensive history and track record, MIESCOR developed its medium-term plan for the years 2021-2023 with the goal of sustaining its growth as it is about to celebrate its 50-year milestone. Engineering Execution Excellence towards scaling to greater heights and reaching the summit in its golden year is MIESCOR’s goal. In achieving this, the Company endeavors to focus on strengthening the core business by supporting Meralco in its EPC projects while sustaining a portfolio of projects from reliable clients in the power, and renewable energy sectors; supporting the growth of the telecommunications business; forming a new subsidiary that will be the official tower infrastructure development arm of the group; expanding services and contracts of the DUS, UAM, and trading business within One Meralco Group and extending best practices to other DUs and cooperatives; and growing the logistics and construction subsidiaries. “MIESCOR remains committed to providing dependable, reliable, and world-class end-to-end engineering services to power and telecommunications to propel growth, effect change, and improve the lives of every Filipino. This is a commitment we intend to operationalize as we forge ahead to meet the challenges of the new business environment,” said MIESCOR President and Meralco Networks Head Ronnie L. Aperocho. ABOUT THE COMPANY From its inception in 1973, MIESCOR has built a strong portfolio of engineering performance across power, oil and gas, industrial plants, and various utilities, across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the United States. It offers a wide array of services encompassing engineering, procurement, construction, operation, maintenance, distribution services, building works, testing and commissioning, building and facilities management, renovation and fit-out works, vehicle leasing, and fleet management. MIESCOR's expertise in engineering and construction, backed up by its financial strength, delivers the competitive advantage to do business in high-growth domestic and international markets.

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Homeschooling gains exponential growth amid Covid-19 restrictions By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

@claudethmc3

HILE schools have been closed amid the ravages of Covid-19, interest in homeschooling has evidently grown exponentially.

Notwithstanding the plan to resume the face-to-face (F-to-F) classes, some parents still opted to homeschool their children mostly due to safety concerns. An experienced homeschool mom, Dr. Donna Pangilinan-Simpao, former president of the Homeschooling Association of the Philippine Islands (HAPI), said that homeschooling has grown more popular during the pandemic. Dr. Simpao is also the founder of Homeschoolers of the Philippines on Facebook with 40,000 members. When asked why families choose to homeschool, Dr. Simpao, said that reasons may vary. “The reasons vary and of course it was largely affected also by the pandemic,” Dr. Simpao said in an interview with the BusinessMirror. However, prior to the pandemic, she cited that the foremost reason as to why some parents have decided to homeschool their child or children because they wanted to “take more influence and more responsibility in educating their

children in more holistic way.” “So, there you would have the value of faith, the value of character, as well as quality education. So, there are parents who feel that with their time, energy, and resources...they could give and provide a more holistic and more relevant education to their children,” she explained. “But among those who do that [the] top [reason] would be always, something to do with values formation and character faith building.” During this pandemic, she added that “a lot were also forced by the situation due to safety concerns, health and of course [and] also the inability to adjust and take on the online learning, so we have modular learners or the ones that are homebased learners who have decided to homeschool. Of course there are still those solidifying their reasons more and so to homeschool.” Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd) told the BusinessMirror that they are still gathering and preparing data on the number of homeschoolers in the

country the pre-pandemic period visà-vis the onset of the contagion.

‘God of order’

ONE of the parents who tried to homeschool her child during the pandemic is Ms. Mila Lumactao. Lumactao, a copywriter, said that they always wanted to intentionally integrate Biblical truth into the learning process. “For instance, God is a God of order, and Mathematics can reflect that; God has appointed the places and times where and when men should live, and the wonderful diversity of geography and culture shows that. Looking back, I now realize that even when our eldest was a toddler, we were doing something Charlotte Mason…as we did lots of reading at home, playing with other children, having mini-lessons at home with neighbors’ kids, exploring our subdivision and discussing praying mantises, frogs, etc. But I didn’t know we were unofficially homeschooling even then,” said Lumactao who is homeschooling her 12 -year-old son Enjo. Lumactao recalled that while her youngest child was still in a progressive school, they tried attending homeschooling seminars. “But we were still hesitating, though—until the pandemic hit and I realized this was the best time to finally try it out,” she said. Lumactao said that there are plenty of benefits of homeschooling your child. First, she said, the opportunity

“to anchor the growth and learning on God’s truth: why and how people should be valued, why truth [and being truthful!] matter, why we should be good stewards of our talents and resources; how wonderfully our bodies have been designed, and so on.” “Second, the unparalleled potential for customization and personalization, aligned as closely as possible with the child’s developmental stage and particular interests and strengths, and supportive of areas where he or she may be struggling. This is even more crucial when you’re doing homeschooling with your special needs child,” she said adding that the curricular content can also be adjusted to highlight aspects that are more relevant to real life. “Third, if not for the pandemic restrictions, the actual socialization opportunities for homeschoolers are endless, because you can technically go on a field trip every week, visiting offices, agencies, relatives, institutions, parks, etc. and be teaching and learning alongside other people. For instance, to learn how to craft questions using the 5Ws and 1H, we asked our son to do a video interview with two journalists. So, instead of 3 to 5 hours of exposure to peers plus a

few adults in a conventional school, a homeschooler can be interacting with a gasoline station crew, bank tellers, museum staff, the sari-sari store owner, her grandparents, neighborhood pets, the insects in the nearby vacant lot etc...and all of those interactions can be designed as part of the teaching and learning processes,” she shared. Fourth, she added, for children with very clear and strong inclinations, for example basketball, “homeschooling’s flexibility affords them the chance to allocate more time in pursuing and honing these passions. I know of several homeschooled children who have represented the country in overseas competitions— in music, gymnastics, mathematics, martial arts, etc.” “Last but not the least, and the favorite of our own learner...Homeschooling sometimes means ‘unli-recess,’” she quipped.

Assessments

DR. Simpao said that homeschoolers also undergo assessments. “Assessments maybe in many forms but not limited to standardize test, quizzes and long exams,” she said stressing that homeschooling provides “more creative assessments in terms of projects, initiatives, digital content and so many others.” “Reporting to the, there two sort of wings or tracks for homeschool school year—the independent route and the homeschool provider DepEd or homeschool provider international accreditation route—that is like two routes,” she explained. Earlier, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said that those who undergo homeschooling will be required to undertake assessment if they wish to move to higher levels of learning.

Cost

DR. Simpao said that the cost of homeschooling would be “as low

as you deem it, as you set it, and it could be as high as you would like to afford it.” She said that she has seen both— the ones with a limited budget and the ones who homeschool where sky is the limit. “Homeschooling is a lifestyle [where] you can save on a lot of things, you can also spend on a lot of things,” Dr. Simpao said. When asked of the disadvantages of homeschooling, she said, “It would depend on how you look at it.” “The glass can be half empty but it can also be half full. So, the disadvantages may actually be advantages for some. So it is not easy identifying exclusively which are the advantages and which are the disadvantages,” she explained. Dr. Simpao, however, picked the one she described as “very, very obvious,” prior to the pandemic, which is not having the access to school-based education can provide or the facilitybased education. Also, she said, not really more of the disadvantage but a commitment, which means giving more time, energy, and resources. “There would be some concerns regarding the experiences of the child limited to just a few of people like siblings, or support of friends. Some may think that this is a limited child experiences...,” she said but stressed that “socialization” was never an issue among homeschoolers. “But I guess when you want your children to have as many encounters, or as many friends, then that might be compared to a child in a school setting. You might have to, as a homeschool parent, seek out of these experiences. Try to make them happen and expose your children to other children and other situations,” she added. For parents who are considering to homeschool their children it is best to look for good sources like books on homeschooling.

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PRIME AFP ASSETS PROVIDE FOR BETTER Military eyes leasing out more lands to pursue modernization projects stalled by pandemic. By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

NSURE about where to get funds to fully finance and sustain its ongoing modernization program, the military is looking to dispose of its other prime assets, including its seaside property where the headquarters of the Philippine Navy is currently located, in order to ensure its projects will get moving.

As Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had earlier admitted, the Covid-19 pandemic has spurred uncertainties in their pursuit of big-ticket projects by taking away capability-upgrade money

for, among others, the planned procurement of two corvettes and six offshore patrol vessels for the Navy, and multirole fighter jets for the Philippine Air Force. For former Navy chief retired

Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, they have seen this problem coming, and as such, they drew up plans during his term to stave off the budgetary crunch by looking at the option of leasing the property where the Navy’s headquarters sit along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. If this happens, and with the assistance of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), the Navy will have to relocate to the Bonifacio Naval Station (BNS) located inside Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, where the headquarters of the Philippine Marine Corps is also located. “The lease will only happen as a Navy HQ [headquarters] will be built in BNS. This is also a BCDA project. Before my retirement, I already approved the engineering drawings of the buildings that will be built on BNS,” Bacordo told the BusinessMirror. Bacordo retired from the Navy in June this year.

BCDA mandate

Under Republic Act 7227, the BCDA is mandated to generate

funds for the Department of National Defense-Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program, primarily through the lease and disposition of military lands, the proceeds of which would be used to finance capability upgrade projects of the military. Until September this year, the BCDA under the Duterte administration remitted a total of P34.2 billion to the military, which the BCDA noted is “almost triple that of the previous administration and almost double the contributions from 1993 to 2010.” Since May 1993, the BCDA has remitted a total of P65.5 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury and contributed a total of P46.6 billion to the military. Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) commander Lt. Gen. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos Jr. and BCDA officials broke ground early this year for the new facilities of the Army Support Command (ASCOM) in its upcoming new home — a 29.8-hectare lot located inside the sprawling NOL-

COM property at Camp Aquino in Tarlac. The ASCOM will relocate its headquarters to the P1.5-billion facilities inside the NOLCOM from its current headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in order to give way to the 33.13-hectare Bonifacio South Pointe Property located inside Fort Bonifacio. The latter is a joint venture project of the BCDA and SM Prime Holdings Inc. Of the 33.13 hectares of prime lot in Bonifacio, around 11.5 hectares are currently occupied by the ASCOM as well as the Service Support Unit (SSU) and the Division Administrative Command Center (DACC), all under the Army. Bacordo said the Nav y has no problem vacating its current headquarters if only to ensure that it can pursue and finance its modernization plans and programs, especially the acquisition of brand new and much-needed floating assets. “The headquarters, Philippine Navy, since this a command-andcontrol [office], doesn’t need to be

ews

sMirror

Friday, October 29, 2021 A11

R WAY TO SAIL, SOAR, SECURE THE LAND in Manila Bay. . . . and the prime property can be up for a longterm lease to finance the Navy's modernization project,” he said.

leasing of the Navy headquarters and the reclamation of the Bacoor Bay, given the processes such would entail.

Naval real estate

Hanjin shipyard

Aside from the lot being occupied by the Navy headquarters, Bacordo said that the Navy during his leadership had also eyed the leasing of other property, including Bacoor Bay, which the Navy took possession of through Presidential Proclamation 88 signed by former President Diosdado Macapagal on March 2, 1963. “This is about 90 percent submerged, and it is about 66 hectares. There are many firms that are offering to do the reclamation and they'll go on for a longterm lease,” he said. “We have proposed this to the Secretary of National Defense, to identify naval real estate which has no strategic value to us, have it long-term leased, and this way, we can sustain a modern navy.” One of those interested to do the reclamation on Bacoor Bay and leasing it was a group from Singapore, Bacordo said, but did not name it. “We have made several discussions with the Singapore group as of my retirement. They are interested to a long-term lease,” he said. The retired Navy chief, however, considered a “long shot” the

BIMP-Eaga rebound backed; RCEP’s ratification pushed Continued from A20

The RCEP will also create efficient and convenient ways of trading, transparent rules, clear mechanism for resolving trade issues and concerns, and inclusion of MSMEs into the global value chain. Based on 2020 data, the RCEP free trade area accounts for 29 percent of the world’s trade, 29 percent of the world’s GDP, 33 percent of global inward Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), 47 percent of global outward FDI, and 2.3 billion population. “Being part of an FTA is not only about market access, but a big attraction as well for investors to

locate in the country. Thus, RCEP should be viewed as a platform to encourage more investments and service providers in vital sectors such as manufacturing, creative sectors, financial services, research and development, IT-BPO, professional services, and energy, among others,” Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said. In a recent meeting, Lopez said Duterte, together with other leaders, discussed the importance of cooperation in ensuring medical supplies for Public Health Emergencies, collaboration in vaccine production, and the implementation of ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework. According to him, Duterte also

called for the acceleration of the development of Circular Economy and Blue Economy models for a sustainable future and the need to future-proof the region by building smart cities and utilizing digital technology. RCEP is an Asean-led Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which consolidates its existing regional FTAs with Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand into a modern, comprehensive, highquality, and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement. It provides an open, inclusive and rules-based trading system that can serve as a major platform to deepen and broaden economic integration in the region.

‘PANDEMIC SUPPLIERS DID NOT PAY TAXES’ Continued from A20

She wondered a loud why some companies that responded to the pandemic in the Philippine “turned out to be law breakers?” It thus becomes not farfetched to suspect whether “the many cases of Covid-19 in our country is partly caused by doubtful medical suppliers,” Hontiveros added, partly in Filipino. This developed as Drilon disclosed that XCMG is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Bureau of Customs (BOC). He recalled that in the prev ious Blue R ibbon committee hearing, Robin Han, XCMG’s representative in the Philippines, also said that the company only secured clearance from PS-DBM, which then handled its clearance with the BOC. “We have repeatedly said in the hearings that an emergency does not provide an excuse for not following processes. It's also not right that companies get contracts because they are close to the President. That cannot be. Contracts should be given based on merit and capacity,” Drilon said.

‘Lao broke law’

Also at the 13th Blue Ribbon hearing, Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said that Lloyd Christopher Lao, ex-OIC of the Department of Budget and Management Procurement Service (PS-DBM), violated the Anti-Graft Law by giving Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. huge contracts way beyond its Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC). Pharmally had a net working capital of P599,450, Lacson noted, and thus could only be given a maximum contract of P5.994 million. Yet, Pharmally bagged its first contract amounting to P13.86 mil lion—more than twice the maximum—and even got a second contract amounting to P54 million, all within the same year, Lacson said, citing documents so far obtained during the hearing. “Bakit una pa lang na delivery, nasa P13 milyon agad mahigit? May violation agad dito [Why is it that in its first delivery, it already raked in more than P13 million? Here we can immediately see the violation],” Lacson said. “ T he y h ave no f i n a nc i a l capability pero pinapasok nila [Pharmally had no financial capability but got these huge

contracts],” he added. He told Senate Blue Ribbon panel chairman Richard Gordon that he may include in his preliminary committee report this “clear violation” of the Anti-Graft Law, where the administrative requirement was not followed. Lacson pointed out that Lao exceeded his authority or did not follow the provisions of the Procurement Law. “You will agree with me that Lao exceeded his authority or did not follow the Procurement Law’s provision on the net working capital,” Lacson said, partly in Filipino. Lacson noted the NFCC is part of the eligibility documents of bidders under the Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Resolution 16-2020. Citing Phar ma lly's Statement of Financial Position, L acson noted Phar ma l ly in 2019 had a net working capital of P599,450, and an NFCC of P5,994,500. “Pharmally should not have gotten a contract exceeding P5.9 million,” Lacson said. Yet Pharmally, despite its lack of financial capacity, was awarded some P11.11 billion in contracts from the government, Lacson said.

While it reels from the budgetary effect of the Covid-19, the Navy has not given up still on its pursuit of acquiring and occupying a portion of the facility of the bankrupt Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) in Subic Bay. The Navy is eyeing to occupy at least 100 hectares or one third of the whole Hanjin shipyard facility, which it would transform into a harbor for its big warships and other upcoming brand new floating assets. It also plans to relocate there its Philippine Fleet, which is currently based in Sangley Point, Cavite; as well as its Naval Sea Systems Command, the Naval Installation Command and the Amphibious Assault Battalion. “As of my retirement, the ball was in DOF’s [Department of Finance] court. What was being finalized are the finer details like 25 years or 50 years ‘rent’ of the Philippine Navy; chargeability? How much from the PN budget? From BCDA modernization funds?” Bacordo said “I was even expecting the signing last June,” he said.

A12

BusinessMirror

Friday, October 29, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

24/7 BUSINESS PROCESSING INC. 5th-6th-7th Flr., 81 Newport Bl Newport City, Brgy. 183, Pasay City

CHEN, PO-AN Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task

14.

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

JIANG, YUYAO Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

LIAO, YI-HUI Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task

LIU, SHUAI Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

16.

Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

17.

LOPEZ LOPEZ, OSCAR Agglomerate Machinery Foreman

18.

Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

19.

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

SONG, ZHENGANG Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task

WEN, YINGBIN Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

20.

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

10.

XING, YUANCHAO Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts)

Basic Qualification: X

Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

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

ZHANG, LEI Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts)

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task

Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

Brief Job Description: • Mechanical maintain equipment and supplies before executing the job orders. • Operate equipment safely and effectively for production processing. • Inspect equipment to identify any replacements, malfunctions and repairs. • Perform regular equipment maintenance to ensure production capacity and quality. • Repair and clean the equipment when needed. • Work under the guidance of Supervisor to perform and complete the assigned duties in timely manner. • Evaluate equipment performance and recommend improvements. • Follow safety procedures and company policies for equipment operation. • Recommend process improvements to enhance operational efficiency and safety. • Contribute to waste management programs. • Identify and report unsafe operations to Supervisor immediately. • Maintain the work area clean, safe and organized.

Brief Job Description: • Setup the production equipment and supplies before executing the job orders. • Operate equipment safely and effectively for production processing. • Ensure that equipment is maintained in good and safe working condition. • Inspect equipment to identify any replacements, malfunctions and repairs. • Perform regular equipment maintenance to ensure production capacity and quality. • Repair and clean the equipment when needed. • Work under the guidance of Supervisor to perform and complete the assigned duties in timely manner. • Evaluate equipment performance and recommend improvements. • Operate agglomerate machinery. • Follow safety procedures and company policies for equipment operation. • Recommend process improvements to enhance operational efficiency and safety. • Contribute to waste management programs. • Identify and report unsafe operations to Supervisor immediately.

11.

ZHONG, BUQING Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients with all their concerns

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5/f To 10/f, Tower 4 Pitx #01, Kennedy Road, Tambo, City Of Parañaque LAM Y LAN Mandarin Customer Service Representative 12.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status LIU, QIANG Mandarin Customer Service Representative

13.

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

CINGOYI, CISENGA BENOIT Bilingual French Analyst 21.

Brief Job Description: Provides customer service in foreign language, taking phone calls, answering to customer inquiries trough emails, and solving customer issues.

ACOSTA RUBIO, LUIS GUILLERMO Bilingual Spanish Team Leader 22.

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

25.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

26.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

27.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

28.

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in construction management, architecture, civil engineering, or related or relevant experience in self performing activities in major civil work projects. At least 10 years working as an Agglomerate machinery foremen. International experience will be highly valued. Fluency in English and/ or high level of Spanish is required. International experience will be highly valued.

29.

30.

Brief Job Description: Provides customer service in foreign language, taking phone calls, answering to customer inquiries trough emails, and solving customer issues.

31.

23.

24.

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries QIN, ZHAOJIANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

ZHU, YINGGUANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

HOEKSMA, RYKELE Multilingual Service Desk Member Brief Job Description: Provides technical support in Dutch

Basic Qualification: Proficient in written and verbal communication in English language and excellent knowledge of Dutch language, proficient computer and technical skills

SKJERVOEY, JOERUND LOSNEGAARD Multilingual Service Desk Member Brief Job Description: Provides technical support in Norwegian language

Basic Qualification: Proficient in written and verbal communication in English language and excellent knowledge of Norwegian language, proficient computer and technical skills

Brief Job Description: Removing potentially graphic content feeds and discipline users in violation of Twitter policies. Provide support through media review of sports, entertainment and adult video content for Thai language

Basic Qualification: Communication skills: Thai language expertise Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

Brief Job Description: Assist/Help Customers, Give Customers Information about products and services

Basic Qualification: With atleast 6 Months Customer service experience Goodmin Oral Communication and Written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

DAELIM PHILIPPINES INC. Paragon Plaza, Edsa Cor. Reliance, Barangka Ilaya, City Of Mandaluyong PRASAD, VINOD KUMAR Warranty Consultant 33.

Brief Job Description: Analyze customer warranty for responsibility, reason cost and resolution.

Basic Qualification: At least 3 years of experience as a warranty consultant. Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

DYNAMIC STUDIO TECHNOLOGY INC. 5th To 10th/f Platinum Tower Building, Aseana Ave. Cor. Fuentes Street, Baclaran, City Of Parañaque DU, PENGFEI Chinese Speaking Admin Associate Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

HUANG, HAIDI Chinese Speaking Admin Associate 35.

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

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

NGUYEN THI LAN ANH Chinese Speaking Admin Associate 36.

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

NGUYEN THI TRUC MAI Chinese Speaking Admin Associate

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

ZHAO, WEIJIE Chinese Speaking Admin Associate

34.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

ZHANG, ZHAORUI Chinese Customer Service

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

CRONYX INC. No. 4th-10th Flr. Yinhope Bldg., Dela Rama Cor. Zoili Hilario St., Seascape Village, Ccp Complex Subd. Zone 10, Barangay 076, District 1, Pasay City

37. HENDY Chinese Customer Service

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

PEYTRAL, ROJRAVEE Senior Process Executive- Data

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

Basic Qualification: Excellent writing, reading, listening and talking in Spanish language. Preferably with prior experience of at least 1 year in similar BPO outfit.

ZHANG, JUAN Chinese Customer Service

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

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINES, INC. 2nd, 3rd, And 4th Floors, Science Hub Tower 4 Bldg., Mckinley Hill Cyberpark, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

32.

Basic Qualification: Excellent writing, reading, listening and talking in French language. Preferably with prior experience of at least 1 year in similar BPO outfit.

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read and write Chinese language

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree in construction management, architecture, civil engineering, or related or relevant experience in self performing activities in major civil works projects. Road agglomerate experience of at least 10 years. Fluency in English and/ or high level of Spanish is required. International experience will be valued.

WANG, YINGCHAO Chinese Customer Service

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in construction management, architecture, civil engineering, or related or relevant experience in self performing activities in major civil work projects. Mechanical experience of at least 10 years in machinery of civil works. Fluency in English and/ or high level of Spanish is required. International experience will be highly valued.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

CGI (PHILIPPINES) INC. 2/f One World Square, Mckinley Hill, Pinagsama, City Of Taguig

ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f To 10/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D., Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

No.

ALLSECTECH MANILA, INC. 3rd Floor, Market! Market! Mall, Bonifacio Global City, City Of Taguig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

GONZALEZ MANSILLA, JESUS Tandem Roller Operator

Brief Job Description: • Lead the agglomerate machinery team on site. • Supervise the works safely and effectively for production processing. • Ensure that equipment is maintained in good and safe working condition. • Inspect equipment to identify any replacements, malfunctions and repairs. • Perform regular equipment maintenance to ensure production capacity and quality. • Repair and clean the equipment when needed. • Work under the guidance of Supervisor to perform and complete the assigned duties in timely manner. • Evaluate equipment performance and recommend improvements. • Follow safety procedures and company policies for equipment operation. • Recommend process improvements to enhance operational efficiency and safety. • Contribute to waste management programs. • Identify and report unsafe operations to Supervisor immediately. RODRIGUEZ MADRID, JOSE Mechanic Operator

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

LUO, QIHUA Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts)

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

ACCIONA CONSTRUCTION PHILIPPINES INC. 21/f Tower 2, The Enterprise Center, 6766 Ayala Ave. Cor. Paseo De Roxas, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Chinese fluently. Preferably 6 months to 1 year customer service experience. Detailoriented and has the ability to multi- task

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status ZHOU, LI Mandarin Customer Service Representative

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

LOUIS TAN HOW ANN Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts)

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status WU, MEILIAN Mandarin Customer Service Representative

Brief Job Description: Interact with customer to provide information, support and problem resolution to inquiries and order status WANG, XINDE Mandarin Customer Service Representative

15.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION NGOH JIAN XI Mandarin Customer Service Representative

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

WEN, HONGYING Chinese Speaking Admin Associate 38.

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

ZHENG, HONGYOU Chinese Speaking Admin Associate 39.

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ENERGY CHINA PHILIPPINES BRANCH OFFICE Unit 1718, High Street South Corporate Plaza Tower 1, Bonifacio Global, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig DAI, LONGCAI Technical Manager 40.

Brief Job Description: Serve as the technical expert for detailed design and construction aspects of the project. Propose and oversee timelines for engineering proposals and submissions are met. Set up procedure and processes in monitoring and tracking of engineering related documentation throughout project lifestyle.

Basic Qualification: Ability to work in a highpressure, deadline-driven environment. Exceptional communication and reporting skills. Solid working knowledge in all required software and programming languages. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

FABROS LTD. INCORPORATED (YOYOMARKET) 2nd Floor South Global Forum, 7th Avenue Corner Federacion Drive, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig SHI, YANBEI Store Manager/treasurer 41.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for overseeing the daily operation of the store. Manage or oversee the management of financial affairs of the organization

Basic Qualification: Must be fluent in writing, speaking, and reading Mandarin. Willing to work on a shifting schedule Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

FIRST GREAT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES INC. Lot 5, Sta. Agueda Cor. Queensway Pagcor Drive, Sto. Niño, City Of Parañaque

42.

43.

44.

45.

WANG, DINGHUI IT Technical Mandarin Brief Job Description: Maintain the system and networks WANG, DONGYU IT Technical Mandarin Brief Job Description: Maintain the system and networks YANG, TIANZHI Mandarin Customer Service Brief Job Description: Provide and maintain customer service YANG, WENLONG Mandarin Customer Service Brief Job Description: Provide and maintain customer service

46.

Brief Job Description: Research on market information and updates.

52.

ZHANG, HE Chinese Speaking Program Designer 53.

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

54.

CHEN, CHENG Mandarin Electrical Commissioning Analyst 55.

47.

Brief Job Description: Management, Interpreter, Disseminator of information and figures; Company’s representative. LAO, YINGHAO Chinese Project Manager

48.

Brief Job Description: Management, Interpreter, Disseminator of information and figures; Company’s representative.

56.

ZHANG, SHAOWEN Chinese Project Manager 49.

Brief Job Description: Management, Interpreter, Disseminator of information and figures; Company’s representative.

Basic Qualification: With experience with the position, speaks Mandarin and English and etc.

XU, YANGXING Philippine Integrated Data Center Project Manager

50.

Brief Job Description: Manage the transport network transformation (TNT) project; establish a foundation for local integrated data center (IDC) project delivery and capability development; develop the project delivery strategy and solution; responsible for project accomplishment by focusing on customer requirements and value realization

Basic Qualification: Has experience in project delivery overseas and projects in multiple dimensions such as integrated data center (IDC), wireless and core network; has strong execution and outstanding communication skills; with at least 5 years’ experience in telecom industry working as project delivery manager; with good leadership and management skills

57.

YAN, NIANYONG Senior Contract Scenario Expert And Program Director For Philippine Third Telecommunication Phase 2 Project

51.

Brief Job Description: Provide carriers with a one-stop customer experience management platform and services; enable digital transformation solutions for network operations; manage service industry that strengthens collaboration with the wireless and network product lines; implement the last-mile digital operation of carriers’ broadband services; identify the customer’s core requirements and business priorities

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 IGO DIGITAL HIGH TECHNOLOGY INC. Unit 1804 18/f Antel Corporate Centre, 121 Valero St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: AT least college graduate, Indonesian speaking.

WANG, XIAOHUI Chinese Speaking Business Analyst 67.

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Electrical Commissioning Analyst, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a Mandarin Quality Inspector, Familiarity, knowledge and awareness on Machinery and Heavy Equipment use by company, Demonstrable experience in developing strategic business plan.

68.

Brief Job Description: Manage member call reach outs, including periodic schedules on a regular basis; manage member engagement campaigns; prepare and circulate meeting notes for calls as needed; monitor action items, and all communication via same page and other channels; handle and assist in completing member profiles in EP network, EO matrix;

HENITA Indonesian Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services

69.

ZHU, BENXIN Mandarin Customer Service Specialist Brief Job Description: Creating and updating customer’s account information

WANG, RONGYUE Multilingual Business Processing Consultant 58.

Brief Job Description: Provides extremely flexible web development services, from full stack solutions to updating existing content, WEI, GAOJUN Multilingual Business Processing Consultant

NOMURA, EIJI Manager, Civil Engineering Department 70.

59.

Brief Job Description: Provides extremely flexible web development services, from full stack solutions to updating existing content, YANG, LIU Multilingual Business Processing Consultant

60.

Brief Job Description: Provides extremely flexible web development services, from full stack solutions to updating existing content,

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

Brief Job Description: Preparation of bidding documents and in-charge of construction planning, cost estimation

BARRIE, DANIEL JAMES Senior Vice President - Head Of Wealth And International, Philippines Wpb (wealth And Personal Banking) 71.

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower, C4 Rd. Edsa Ext., Brgy. 076, Pasay City

61.

62.

CAO, WANDING Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming calls and customer service inquiries LIAO, YU Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Brief Job Description: Responsible for premier promotions, products and P&L customer journey’s own the defined product AOP for wpbs wealth and international products and propositions and develop effective working relationships with key country stakeholders

LIANG, YULONG Customer Service Representative 72.

Brief Job Description: The target is to ensure excellent services standards, respond efficiently to customer

TAN, RUCHUANG Customer Service Representative 73.

Brief Job Description: The target is to ensure excellent services standards, respond efficiently to customer

ZHANG, GUANGQIN Customer Service Representative 74.

63.

64.

65.

66.

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LIU, YANTONG Chinese Customer Service

75.

Brief Job Description: Managing incoming Calls and customer service inquiries

76.

WANG, NI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

YIN, ZHIXING Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming calls and customer service inquiries

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

NEO INCORPORATED North Tower Centrum Bldg., Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Baclaran, City Of Parañaque

Brief Job Description: Identify and assess customer’s needs to achieve satisfaction

XIAO, GEHONG Chinese Customer Service Representative 77.

Brief Job Description: Identify and assess customer’s needs to achieve satisfaction

ZHANG, DEQING Chinese Customer Service Representative

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language

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

Brief Job Description: Identify and assess customer’s needs to achieve satisfaction

LIU, YUANKANG Chinese Customer Service Representative

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

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read and Write Chinese language

Brief Job Description: The target is to ensure excellent services standards, respond efficiently to customer

JIANG, LI Chinese Customer Service Representative

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language

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

Basic Qualification: 15+years of project experience working in the construction industry Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: Atleast 10years of experience in wealth management, products or related functions in the financial banking or allied sectors, masters degree in a relevant business discipline is preferred and with extensive skills in strategy development marketing and propositions product management, product profitability modeling

Basic Qualification: Bachelors degree in business management, excellent communications skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelors degree in business management, excellent communications skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelors degree in business management, excellent communications skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ZONAC AND SHIBATA SERVICES INC. 4/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

78. LIU, MIN Chinese Customer Service

Basic Qualification: Excellent oral and written communication in mandarin

VALUESERVICESTECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED G/f Horizon Bldg. Andrews Ave., Newport City St. Zone 20, Barangay 183, District 1, Pasay City

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, Read, and Write Chinese Language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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

Salary Range: Php 500,000 and above

Basic Qualification: 18-55 y/o, with at least 6 months experience, with good oral and written skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good oral and written communication skills

THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED - PHILIPPINE BRANCH 3058 Hsbc Center, 5th Ave. West, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: 18-55 y/o, with at least 6 months experience, with good oral and written skills

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

TAISEI CORPORATION - PHILIPPINE BRANCH OFFICE U-902 9f Bdo Equitable Tower, 8751 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati

LEXIGENT PRIME VENTURES INC. Level 40 Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati Basic Qualification: 18-55 y/o, with at least 6 months experience, with good oral and written skills

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written

SKYLUSTER TECHNOLOGY, INC. 11/f The Enterprise Center Tower 2, Ayala Ave. Cor. Paseo De Roxas, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

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

Basic Qualification: Bachelor degree holder; with five (5) to seven (7) professional experience in an MNC or an organization with global presence; excellent in MS office skills; aptitude in data management, analytics, reporting, preparation-CRM tool preferred; excellent strong verbal and written communication skills in English and Spanish

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION Sky Garage Bldg., Aseana Avenue, Entertainment City, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

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

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 Basic Qualification: Has deep understanding of network structure, cutting-edge technologies, and business perspective; can execute planning management, project management, solution and business structure including roles of multiple key projects and contract design and negotiation; with intensive understanding of international contract terms and conditions and general risks

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

LOZOYA ARZATE, FERNANDO Concierge - Us And Latin American Countries

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

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES PHILS. INC. U-5302, 53/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave., Cor., V.a. Rufino St., Bel-air, City Of Makati

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

JOHN CLEMENTS CONSULTANTS, INC. 14/f Lkg Tower, 6801 Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: With experience with the position, speaks Mandarin and English and etc. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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

WANG, ZHIGUANG Mandarin Quality Inspector

Basic Qualification: With experience with the position, speaks Mandarin and English and etc. Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: With at least 6 months customer service experience/good in oral communication and written

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

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

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

HAN, WENJUN Chinese Project Manager

Brief Job Description: Track main industry trends in Indonesian through blogs, micro blogs and forums.

No.

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

JIANGSU POWER DEVELOPMENT & CONSTRUCTION INCORPORATED Unit A&b U-8b 20/f Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

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

HI-SEAS CO. LTD. INC. 8th Floor, Jd Tower, Commerce Avenue, Mbp, Alabang, City Of Muntinlupa

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

JENEDY RIZKY MAWU Indonesian Customer Service Representative

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in managing incoming calls

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Japanese and English; College Graduate; Working experience for Japanese Real Estate Company for more than a year; Familiar with real estate industry in Japan.

Basic Qualification: College graduate; proven experience as a technical consultant; fluent in mandarin/basic English.

J-NA ALLOUT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP. 3/f Lipams Bldg., #48 President Avenue, Bf Homes, City Of Parañaque

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in managing incoming calls

Brief Job Description: Assist in identifying marketing trends and key opportunities for innovation in order to offer a wide variety of furniture products to the public.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

INFOVINE INC. 8th, 9th, 10th/f Aspire Corporate Plaza Bldg., Macapagal Blvd. St., Zone 10, Barangay 076, District 1, Pasay City

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in systems and networks application

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION ZHONG, XIAO Technical Consultant

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in systems and networks application

HANKYU HANSHIN PROPERTIES CORP. - PHILIPPINE REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE 27/f & 28/f Tower 2, The Enterprise Centre Ayala Ave. Cor. Paseo De Roxas, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

YAMASAKI, REI Bilingual Marketing Research Officer

No.

Friday, October 29, 2021 A13

Brief Job Description: Identify and assess customer’s needs to achieve satisfaction

Basic Qualification: Great communication skills and must be fluent in Chinese and English language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Great communication skills and must be fluent in Chinese and English language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Great communication skills and must be fluent in Chinese and English language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Great communication skills and must be fluent in Chinese and English language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ZTE PHILIPPINES INC. Unit 1201 & 1202 12th Floor Fort Legend Towers, 3rd Ave. Corner 31st St., Bgc, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

79.

HU, FALIAN System Analyst

Basic Qualification: Graduate of buss. Course

Brief Job Description: Overall management of the zte site acquisition project

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 *Date Generated: Oct 28, 2021

Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE National Capital Region located at DOLE-NCR Building, 967 Maligaya St., Malate Manila, within 30 days after this publication. Please inform DOLE National Capital Region if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

A14 Friday, October 29, 2021

The World BusinessMirror

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

New Zealand eases quarantine but won’t welcome tourists yet

ELLINGTON, New Zealand—New Zealand officials said Thursday they will gradually loosen their border quarantine requirements, which have been among the toughest in the world throughout the pandemic.

But while the changes will make it easier for New Zealanders stranded abroad to return home, officials gave no date for when tourists might be welcomed back. That change is likely still months away. Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said that from next month, most people arriving in New Zealand would need to spend seven days in a quarantine hotel run by the militar y, half the previous requirement. He said some new arrivals f rom low-r i sk Pac i f ic i sl a nd

countries could skip quarantine altogether and isolate at home. He said the new rules were an interim step ahead of broader reopening measures that would be gradually introduced once more than 90 percent of New Zealanders aged 12 and over were fully vaccinated. So far, 72 percent of eligible people have had both shots. The change follows a growing outcry from New Zealanders who have been trying to return home but have been unable to secure spots in the quarantine

system. Some have resorted to legal action. “I acknowledge that there’s a lot of pressure there. My message to the people who are keen to get back into New Zealand is: There isn’t very long to wait now,” Hipkins said. “And encouraging their fellow New Zealanders to get fully vaccinated will help us get to that point faster.” Hipkins said he expected most new arrivals would be able to isolate at home by sometime in the first quarter of next year. He said the first priority was New Zealanders and those with valid visas. “Tourists are more of a challenge, in that they don’t necessarily have somewhere to isolate on arrival,” Hipkins said. “But we’ll work our way through all of that.” Political opponents said the changes didn’t go far enough and that fully vaccinated travelers returning home posed little risk. Before the pandemic began, more than 3 million tourists visited New Zealand each year, and

the industry was among the nation’s largest earners of foreign income. For more than a year after the pandemic began, the strict quarantine system helped New Zealand remain almost completely virus-free and allowed life to return to normal. But an outbreak of the more contagious Delta variant in Auckland more than two months ago has proved impossible to extinguish, forcing officials to abandon their previous zero-tolerance approach in favor of a suppression strategy. With the virus continuing to spread in Auckland, which remains in lockdown, the border requirements had begun to seem outdated. T hu rsd ay ’s a n nou ncement came after officials said two people in the city of Christchurch had caught the virus after one returned from Auckland. There was no immediate evidence the virus was spreading further in the city. AP

Taiwan defense minister says the island must defend itself

AIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan’s defense m i n i ster sa id T hursd ay t hat Ta iwa n must be prepared to defend itself and could not entirely depend on other countries to help if China were to launch an attack against the island, even as Taiwan’s president said she had faith the US would defend it. “ The countr y must rely on itself, and if any friends or other groups can help us, then it’s like I said before, we’re happy to have it, but we cannot completely depend on it,” the minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, told reporters after being questioned in the

legislature as part of a session on national defense. Tensions between Taiwan and China have risen to their highest level in decades, with China sending record-breaking numbers of fighter jets toward international airspace close to the island, stepping up a campaign of military harassment. Taiwan’s defense ministry has said that China would have “comprehensive” capabilities to invade the island by 2025. C h i n a c l a i m s Ta i w a n a s part of its national territor y although the island has been self-ruled since it split from the communist-ruled mainland

in 1949 after a long civil war. Chiu has called the rising tensions between China and Taiwan the most “severe” he has seen in 40 years. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ingwen said in an interview with CNN that aired Thursday that she was confident the US would defend Taiwan if China made a move against the island. “I do have faith given the longterm relationship we have with the US and also the support of the people of the US as well as Congress,” Tsai said. Last week, US President Joe Biden seemingly contradicted

decades-long US policy toward Taiwan when he said the US was committed to protecting the island if China attacked it. The US has a policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward Taiwan, where it has been deliberately vague about whether it would defend the island in the face of an assault. However, the US also has a policy to support the island’s self defense, including by providing it arms, as declared in the Taiwan Relations Act. The White House later said Biden’s comments did not represent a change in policy toward the island. AP

India tests nuclear-capable missile amid rising tensions with China

EW DELHI—India has test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,125 miles) from an island off its east coast amid rising border tensions with China. T he successf u l l au nc h on Wednesday was in line with “India’s policy to have credible minimum deterrence that underpins the commitment to no first use,” said a government statement. The Agni-5 missile splashed down in the Bay of Bengal with “a very high degree of accuracy,” said the statement issued on Wednesday night. Beijing’s powerful missile arsenal has driven New Delhi to improve its weapons systems in recent years, with the Agni-5 believed to be able to strike nearly all of China.

In this January 26, 2013 file photo, the long range ballistic Agni-V missile is displayed during Republic Day parade, in New Delhi, India. India has successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile with a strike range of 5,000 kilometers (3,125 miles) from an island off India’s east coast on October 27, amid rising border tensions with China. Beijing’s powerful missile arsenal has driven New Delhi to improve its weapons systems in recent years, with the Agni-5 believed to be able to strike nearly all of China. AP/Manish Swarup

India is already able to strike any where inside neighbor ing Pakistan, its archrival against

whom it has fought three wars since gaining independence from British colonialists in 1947.

India has been developing its medium- and long-range nuclear and missile systems since the 1990s amid increasing strategic competition with China in a major boost to the country’s defense capabilities. Tension between them flared last year over a long-disputed section of their border in the mountainous Ladakh area. India is also increasingly suspicious of Beijing’s efforts to heighten its influence in the Indian Ocean. Talks between Indian and Chinese army commanders to disengage troops from key areas along their border ended in a stalemate earlier this month, failing to ease a 17-month standoff that has sometimes led to deadly clashes. India and China fought a bloody war in 1962. AP

Thai police: Woman cut rope holding painters 26 floors high

ANGKOK—A resident of a high-rise condominium in Thailand cut the support rope for two painters, apparently angry she wasn’t told they would be doing work, and left them hanging above the 26th floor until a couple rescued them, police said Wednesday. The woman is facing attempted murder and property destruction charges, Pol. Col. Pongjak Preechakarunpong, chief of the Pak Kret police station north of the Thai capital, told The Associated Press. Pong ja k d id not say wh at prompted the suspect to cut the rope, but Thai media reported

that she was apparently frustrated when the workers appeared outside her room and hadn’t seen an announcement by the condo that they would be doing work on October 12. A video clip on social media showed two painters asking the residents on the 26th floor to open the window and let them in. One of the painters, a Myanmar national named Song, told the Thai media that he and his two friends had lowered themselves from the 32nd floor to repair a crack on the building. When he reached the 30th floor, he felt that the rope was heavier

and when he looked down, he saw someone on the 21st floor open a window and cut his rope. He tried asking for help from other units, but nobody was in. The third colleague continued to support them from the top floor, said Praphaiwan Setsing, the resident who saved them. Praphaiwan said her British husband noticed one painter signaling for help and called her to talk to them. “This incident is shocking and should not happen at all,” she said. The management of the condo accompanied the painters to report the incident to the police. The

34-year-old woman at first denied she responsible, but police sent the severed rope for a fingerprint and DNA analysis, media reported. On Wednesday, the woman and her lawyer appeared at the police station. After the police showed her the CCTV footage and the forensic evidence, she confessed but denied any intention to kill the workers. Pongjak said the suspect was temporarily released. Police will file an indictment at the provincial court within 15 days, he said. She could face a prison term up to 20 years if found guilty on a charge of attempted murder. AP

This photo obtained by The Associated Press shows injuries a man in his 20s says he received while being tortured by Myanmar’s military during an interrogation session in March 2021. He says he was one of six youths who were arrested while sitting at a restaurant one evening. All of them were allegedly beaten during their arrest and questioning. They were released the next day. AP

Myanmar military uses systematic torture–AP J AKARTA, Indonesia—The soldiers in rural Myanmar twisted the young man’s skin with pliers and kicked him in the chest until he couldn’t breathe. Then they taunted him about his family until his heart ached, too: “Your mom,” they jeered, “cannot save you anymore.” The young man and his friend, randomly arrested as they rode their bikes home, had been subjected to hours of agony inside a town hall transformed by the military into a torture center. “I’m going to die,” the young man told himself, stars exploding before his eyes. “I love you, mom.’” Since its takeover of the government in February, the Myanmar military has been torturing those it has detained in a methodical and systemic way across the country, The Associated Press has found in interviews with 28 people imprisoned and released in recent months. Based also on photographic evidence, sketches and letters, along with testimony from two military captains and an aide to a high-ranking commander, the AP investigation provides the most comprehensive look since the takeover into a secretive detention system that has held more than 9,000 people. While most of the torture has occurred inside military compounds, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, has also transformed public facilities such as community halls into interrogation centers, prisoners said. The AP identified a dozen interrogation centers in use across Myanmar, in addition to prisons and police lockups. The prisoners interviewed came from every corner of the country, and ranged from a 16-year-old girl to monks. Some were detained for protesting against the military, others for no discernible reason. Multiple military units and police were involved in the interrogations, their methods of torture similar across Myanmar. The Myanmar military has a long history of torture, particularly before the country began transitioning toward democracy in 2010. While torture in recent years was most often recorded in ethnic regions, its use has now returned across the country, AP’s investigation found. The vast majority of torture techniques described by prisoners were similar to those of the past, including electric shocks, near-drownings and relentless beatings. But this time, the torture is the worst it’s ever been in scale and severity, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors deaths and arrests. Since February, the group says, security forces have killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 131 detainees tortured to death. “The military tortures detainees, first for revenge, then for information,” says Ko Bo Kyi, A APP’s joint secretary and a former political prisoner. “I think in many ways the military has become even more brutal.” The militar y has also taken steps to hide evidence that it has tor tured pr isoners, w ith several prisoners saying interrogators br uta l ized on ly t he parts of their bodies that could be hidden by clothes. An aide to

the highest-ranking army official in western Myanmar’s Chin state told the AP that soldiers covered up the deaths of two tortured pr isoners, forcing a militar y doctor to falsif y their autopsy reports. A for mer a r my capt a in who defected from the Tatmadaw in Apr i l conf ir med to t he A P t hat t he m i l it a r y ’s use of tor t u re a g a i n s t d e t a i ne e s h a s b e e n ra mpa nt since its t a keover. “In our country, after being arrested unfairly, there is torture, violence and sexual assaults happening constantly,” says Lin Htet Aung, the former captain. After receiving detailed requests for comment, military officials responded with a one-line e-mail that said: “We have no plans to answer these nonsense questions.” All but six of the prisoners interviewed by the AP were subjected to abuse, including women and children. Most of those who weren’t abused said their fellow detainees were. The AP also sent photographs of several torture victims’ injuries to a forensic pathologist with Physicians for Human Rights. The pathologist concluded wounds on three victims were consistent with beatings by sticks or rods. “You look at some of those injuries where they’re just black and blue from one end to the other,” says forensic pathologist Dr. Lindsey Thomas. “This was not just a swat. This has the appearance of something that was very systematic and forceful.” Photographs taken inside several detention and interrogation facilities confirmed prisoners’ accounts of overcrowded, filthy conditions. Most inmates slept on concrete floors, packed like sardines. Some became sick from drinking dirty water only available from a shared toilet. Cockroaches swarmed their bodies at night. There was little to no medical treatment. Not even the young have been spared. One woman was imprisoned alongside a two-year-old baby. The interrogation centers were worse than the prisons, with nights a cacophony of weeping and wails of agony. “It was terrifying, my room,” one man recalls. “There were blood stains and scratches on the wall.” Back inside the rural town hall, the young man and his friend survived the night amid a haze of pain. When dawn came, the interrogators sent them to prison. Their small cell was home to 33 people. They lay next to the lone squat toilet. Their fellow inmates shared water and biscuits, though the young man’s mouth was too torn apart to eat. After two days, the families of the young man and his friend paid officials to get them out of prison. Both men were forced to sign statements saying they had participated in a demonstration and were anti-police. For two months, his entire body ached. Even today, his right shoulder—stomped on by a soldier— won’t move properly. “After they caught us, I know their hearts and their minds were not like the people’s, not like us,” he says. “They are monsters.” AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World

Biden labels China’s Taiwan Straits actions as ‘coercive’

UALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—President Joe Biden told leaders at the East Asia Summit on Wednesday that China’s recent actions in the Taiwan Straits are “coercive” and undermined peace and stability in the region. The comments by Biden, who participated by video in the annual meeting of 18 Asia-Pacific nations, come during a surge in Chinese military activity near the island that China regards as a renegade province and has vowed to reclaim by force if necessary. “The president also reiterated the US commitment to the international rules-based order and expressed concern over threats to that order,” the White House said in a statement. “He made clear that the United States will continue to stand with allies and partners in support of democracy, human rights, rule of law, and freedom of the seas.” Last week, Biden set off alarm bells in Beijing by saying the US has a firm commitment to help Taiwan defend itself in the event of a Chinese attack. The White House later downplayed the president’s comments, which came during a CNN town hall, and said he did not mean to imply any changes in the US “one-China policy,” which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. Relations between Washington and Beijing have plunged to new lows since nosediving under former President Donald Trump’s administration, which adopted a confrontational approach on trade, visas, diplomatic representation and educational exchanges. A US nuclear submarine deal with Australia and the UK has also angered China, which claims most of the disputed South China Sea and warned the pact would threaten regional stability. Some nations such as Indonesia and Malaysia also fear the pact could escalate tensions and spark an arms race. “Indonesia does not want this region to become an arms race and a power projection that can threaten stability,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo told his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, according to Indonesia’s foreign minister. Australia announced a $93 million package to support security, climate and health efforts in Southeast Asia, while Morrison defended the new pact with the US and UK, saying it does not change Australia’s commitment to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or the Asean outlook on the IndoPacific—“indeed it reinforces it.” He said Australia had no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons and remained deeply committed to nuclear nonproliferation. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country shared serious concern with Asean about challenges to the free and open maritime order in the East and South China seas, according to Japan’s Foreign ministry. He did not mention China by name, but Tokyo has become more vocal in defending the freedom of navigation and resolution of disputes based on international law, at a time China expands its military power beyond its shores, rattling neighbors with the construction of man-made islands and sending ships near their coasts. The meetings have been clouded by a diplomatic standoff after military-ruled Myanmar skipped the summit in protest of Asean’s move to bar Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, whose forces seized power in February, from attending. In Biden’s private conversations with Asean leaders, he denounced the “horrific violence” by the military junta in Myanmar as he looks to press US leadership in the Pacific. “In Myanmar, we must address the tragedy caused by the military coup which is increasingly undermining regional stability,” Biden told the leaders, according to the White House. The president added, “The United States stands for the people of Myanmar and calls for military regime to end the violence, release all political prisoners and return to the path of democracy.” Asean’s censure of Myanmar was its boldest after the bloc’s envoy was prevented from meeting ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees as part of a proposed dialogue to ease the crisis that has left more than 1,100 mostly antimilitary protesters dead. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed concern over the detention in Myanmar of Australian academician Sean Turnell, who served as an economic adviser to Suu Kyi’s government. Morrison thanked Lee for the concern, a Southeast Asian diplomat, who took part in the meeting, told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the discussions publicly. Myanmar has refused to send a junior representative to the summit, and slammed Asean’s move as going against the bloc’s principles of non-interference in each other’s affairs and decision-making by consensus. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Myanmar’s decision to snub the summit was “regrettable” and hinted he may also consider not inviting the military-led nation’s top general to a video summit of more than 50 Asian and European countries Cambodia will host next month, the diplomat said. There have been concerns that European leaders may skip the summit and just send lower-ranking representatives if the Myanmar general will be allowed to join, according to the diplomat. In a chairman’s statement released after the summit Tuesday, the bloc’s leaders urged Myanmar to give its envoy, Brunei Second Foreign Minister Eryan Yusof, full access to all parties and release political detainees. While respecting Asean’s principle of non-interference, the bloc said it must also strike a balance in terms of rule of law, good governance, democracy and constitutional government in Myanmar’s situation. “We reiterated that Myanmar remains a member of the Asean family and recognized that Myanmar needs both time and political space to deal with its many and complex challenges,” the group said. AP

BusinessMirror

Friday, October 29, 2021 A15

Thai Finance Ministry cuts GDP outlook after deadly Covid wave

hailand’s economy is set to expand more slowly than previously expected this year as the country emerges from its deadliest Covid-19 outbreak, the Finance Ministry said. The ministry on Thursday lowered its gross domestic product forecast to 1 percent expansion, from 1.3 percent predicted in July. It’s the ministry’s fourth revision this year after a wave of cases that began in April triggered restrictions on businesses and travel that crippled growth. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy is likely to grow 4 percent next year, supported by exports and tourism, according to Pornchai Thiraveja, director

general of the ministry’s fiscal policy office. The ministry earlier had forecast growth as fast as 5 percent for 2022. Output will accelerate next year after restrictions ease, driven by tourism and local demand, Pornchai said in a briefing, with fiscal support continuing to play a key role. The ministry has been in close talks with the Bank of Thailand and is ready to take further measures if necessary, he said. The Finance Ministry is the latest

of Thailand’s three key agencies to adjust forecasts for the tourism- and trade-reliant economy, as policy makers respond to the pandemic with a combination of containment measures and fiscal support. Economic growth is seen rebounding to 3 percent in the final quarter of 2021 from the 3.5 percent contraction expected in the preceding three months, when much of the nation was under quasi-lockdown.

Weak baht

The Bank of Thailand last month cut its GDP forecast to 0.7 percent, while the National Economic & Social Development Council followed with a downward revision to 0.7 percent-1.2 percent. Those revisions came after new infections jumped to more than 20,000 a day, but the caseload has dropped to 8,000-9,000 per day in recent weeks.

The Finance Ministry forecast the average baht will weaken to 31.93 to the dollar this year and 32.70 next year, compared to 31.30 in 2020. The currency is down 10 percent against the dollar this year, making it the worst performer in Asia, according to Bloomberg. An expected recovery in tourism should provide support to the baht next year, Pornchai said. Prime Minister Prayuth ChanOcha has eased some Covid curbs in recent weeks and unveiled a plan to welcome vaccinated foreign tourists from November 1. The cabinet last week approved a slew of stimulus measures worth 92 billion baht ($2.8 billion) to reduce the cost of living, boost domestic consumption and support the economy. That’s on top of billions of dollars in fiscal support unveiled during the pandemic to minimize the hit to the economy. Bloomberg News

Indonesia warily weighs holiday travel with coronavirus concerns

AKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesians are looking ahead warily toward the holiday travel season, anxious for crucial tourist spending but worried an influx of visitors could spread the coronavirus just as its pandemic situation seems to be subsiding. A fter seeing infection and death rates soar in July and August, officials said this week they are sticking to plans to allow travel with some limitations. They expect nearly 20 million people to vacation in the popular islands of Java and Bali. The archipelago nation with the world’s fourth highest population has seen dramatic improvements since the devastating midyear months, but its vaccination rollout is lagging behind most others in Southeast Asia. Experts also question whether the official figures tell the true story, saying there is evidence many Covid-19 cases are going undetected and unreported, suggesting widespread travel could cause a resurgence. “There is some progression in terms of number of cases and, of course, in mortality, but what the government reports doesn’t always represent or reflect the real situation in communities,” said Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist and academic adviser to the government. Indonesia is transitioning to treating the coronavirus as an endemic disease rather than one that can be eliminated in the population. It is seeking to balance the idea of living with Covid-19 with precautions to minimize the risk of another broad outbreak. After announcing that year-end travel would be permitted, the government on Wednesday cancelled the Christmas Eve holiday—on a Friday this year—in an effort to discourage vacationing somewhat. President Joko Widodo also urged regional officials to manage and regulate visitors to minimize crowds. “We hope that we can manage Christmas and the New Year well, because almost all epidemiologists are afraid that what triggers a third wave could be during Christmas and New Year,” he said in a statement. The cancellation of the Dec. 24 holiday prompted cries of protest from the predominantly Muslim nation’s Christian minority, highlighting the challenge of balancing safety restrictions with individual freedoms. Indonesia has reported nearly 4.25 million cases and more than 143,000 deaths from Covid-19

among its 270 million people. As hospitals became overwhelmed by sick patients in July and ran out of beds and oxygen supplies, the 7-day rolling average of deaths

soared to more than 1,700 by the end of the month and into early August—though on a per capita basis neighbor Malaysia suffered even worse.

Since then, however, the situation has improved dramatically and today Indonesia boasts among the lowest case and death rates in the region. AP

A16 Friday, October 29, 2021

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Vaccine reluctance in Eastern Europe brings high Covid cost

YIV, Ukraine—Truck driver Andriy Melnik never took the coronavirus seriously. With a friend, he bought a fake vaccination certificate so his travel documents would appear in order when he hauled cargo to other parts of Europe. His view changed after the friend caught Covid-19 and ended up in an intensive care unit on a ventilator. “It’s not a tall tale. I see that this disease kills, and strong immunity wouldn’t be enough—only a vaccine can offer protection,” said Melnik, 42, as he waited in Kyiv to get his shot. “I’m really scared and I’m pleading with doctors to help me correct my mistake.” He added: “Death from coronavirus appears much closer than I imagined.” Ukraine is suffering through a surge in coronavirus infections, along with other parts of Eastern Europe and Russia. While vaccines are plentiful, there is a widespread reluctance to get them in many countries—though notable exceptions include the Baltic nations, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary. The slow pace of vaccinations in Eastern Europe is rooted in several factors, including public distrust and past experience with other vaccines, said Catherine Smallwood, WHO Europe Covid-19 incident manager. “At the end of the day, we’re seeing low vaccine uptake in a whole swath of countries across that part of the region,” she told The Associated Press. “Historical issues around vaccines come into play. In some countries, the whole vaccine issue is politicized, in any case.” Russia on Thursday recorded 1,159 deaths in 24 hours—its largest daily toll since the pandemic began—with only about a third of the country’s nearly 146 million people fully vaccinated. The Kremlin ordered a national nonworking period starting this week and lasting until November 7. In Ukraine, only 16 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated—the second lowest share in Europe after Armenia’s rate of

slightly over 7 percent. Authorities in Ukraine are requiring teachers, government employees and other workers to get fully vaccinated by November 8 or face a suspension of their pay. In addition, proof of vaccination or a negative test is now needed to board planes, trains and longdistance buses. This has created a booming black market in counterfeit documents. Fake vaccination certificates sell for the equivalent of $100-$300. There’s even a phony version of the government’s digital app, with bogus certificates already installed, said Mykhailo Fedorov, minister for digital transformation. Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky y chaired a meeting on how to combat the counterfeits. Police said they suspect workers at 15 hospitals of being involved iwn issuing false vaccination documents. Police have opened 800 criminal cases into such fakes and deployed 100 mobile units to track down their holders, said Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky. They even caught a former lawmaker who had produced a fake vaccination document upon returning to Ukraine last week. The low vaccination rate has led to the rapid spread of Covid-19, putting new stress on the country’s already overworked health care system. The surgical ward of a hospital in the town of Biliaivka, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, is now treating only coronavirus patients, with 50 of its 52 beds filled. Drugs and oxygen are in short supply, and some hospital personnel are leaving their jobs. “We are on the verge of catastrophe, pushed by aggressive opponents of vaccination and the lack of funds,” said Dr. Serhiy Shvets, the head of the ward. “Regrettably,

five workers of my ward have quit over the past week.” The situation looks similar at a 120-bed hospital in the western city of Chernivtsi, where Dr. Olha Kobevko says she has 126 patients in grave condition. “I’m weeping in despair when I see that 99 percent of patients in serious condition with Covid-19 are unvaccinated, and those people could have protected themselves,” the infectious disease specialist told AP. “We are left struggling to save them without sufficient amount of drugs and resources.” The current surge seems especially lethal, Kobevko said, with 10 -23 patients dying daily at her hospital, compared with fe wer t h a n si x per d ay l a st spring. The share of patients in their 30s and 40s has grown considerably, she added. She blames widespread vaccine skepticism, influenced by social media and religious beliefs. “Fake stories have spread widely, making people believe in microchips and genetic mutations,” Kobevko said. “Some Orthodox priests have openly and aggressively urged people not to get vaccinated, and social networks have been filled with the most absurd rumors. Ukrainians have learned to distrust any authorities’ initiatives, and vaccination isn’t an exclusion.” Lidia Buiko, 72, chose to get the Chinese Sinovac shot, citing a falsehood that the Western vaccines contained microchips to control the population. “Priests have urged us to think twice about getting immunized— it would be impossible to get rid of the chip,” she said as she waited in Kyiv. Vaccine hesitancy exists even among medical workers. Shvets said 30 percent of the employees at his hospital in Biliaivka have refused the shots, and Health Minister Viktor Lyashko admitted that about half of Ukrainian medical workers are still reluctant to get them. Murat Sahin, UNICEF representative in Ukraine, said false and misleading information about Covid-19 poses a growing threat. “The risks of misinformation to vaccination have never been higher—nor have the stakes,” he said. Similar skepticism has been

seen elsewhere in Eastern Europe, fueled by online misinformation, religious beliefs, distrust of government officials, and reliance on nontraditional treatments. In Romania, where about 35 percent of adults are fully immunized, tighter restrictions took effect this week requiring vaccination certificates for many daily activities, such as going to the gym, the movies or shopping malls. There’s a 10 p.m. curfew, shops close at 9 p.m., bars and clubs will close for 30 days, and masks are mandatory in public. So many are “afraid of the vaccines because of the immense (amount of) fake information that has flooded social media and TV,” said Dr. Dragos Zaharia of Bucharest’s Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumology. “Every day, we see people arriving with shortness of breath and most of them are feeling sorry for not being vaccinated,” he told AP. “Every day we see people dying in our ward. We see scared people.” Bulgaria, with only a quarte r of t he adu lt p o pu l at ion fully vaccinated, also reported record infections and deaths this week. According to official data, Bulgaria has had the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in the 27-nation European Union in the past two weeks, and 94 percent of those deaths were of unvaccinated people. Only 33 percent of Georgia’s population has been fully vaccinated, and authorities launched a lottery with cash prizes for those getting shots. Still, Dr. Bidzina Kulumbegov bemoaned the slow pace of vaccinations. The government’s information campaign “was not designed according to the peculiarities of our country. The emphasis should have been done, for instance, on the Georgian Orthodox Church, because we have many instances when priests are saying that vaccination is a sin,” Kulumbegov said in televised remarks. For Melnik, the Ukrainian truck driver, the fear of getting Covid-19 outweighed all his other concerns. “You can’t cheat this illness,” he said. “You can buy a counterfeit certificate, but you can’t buy antibodies. Ukrainians are slowly starting to realize that there is no alternative to vaccination.” AP

Australia rules out committing to methane reduction target

A NBER R A , Austra lia— Aust ra l ia on T hu rsd ay ruled out promising to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of the decade in a stance that will add to criticism that the country is a laggard in addressing climate change. Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor announced his government’s decision before he was to fly with Prime Minister Scott Morrison to a UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. The United States and the European Union pledged in September to the 30 percent methane reduction target. Taylor said the only way Australia could achieve that target would be to reduce numbers of cattle and sheep. “At present, almost half of Australia’s annual methane emissions come from the agriculture sector, where no affordable, practical and large-scale way exists to reduce it other than by culling herd sizes,”

Taylor wrote in The Australian newspaper. “What activists in Australia and elsewhere want is an end to the beef industry,” he added. Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and liquefied natural gas. The gas and mining sector account for almost one third of Australia’s methane emissions. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said his Nationals party, the conservative government’s junior coalition partner, had insisted Morrison not commit to reducing methane at the Glasgow summit, known as COP26. Inaction on methane was one of the conditions the rural-based Nationals had placed on support for Morrison’s Liberal Party’s target of net zero emissions by 2050. “The only way you can get your 30 percent by 2030 reduction in methane on 2020 levels would be to go and grab a rifle, go out and start shooting your cattle because it’s just not possible,” Joyce said.

But Meat and Livestock Australia—a Sydney-based producer-owned company that provides marketing, research and development services to over 50,000 cattle, sheep and goat farmers—said the Australian red meat industry was pursuing its own net zero target for 2030. “This target means that by 2030, Australian beef, lamb and goat production, including lot feeding and meat processing, will make no net release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere,” the company website said. Morrison’s net zero deal with the Nationals means he cannot budge from Australia’s 6-year-old target of reducing emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Scientists agree Australia’s 2030 targets are among the weakest in the developed world. The United States has committed to reductions of between 50 percent and 52 percent below 2005 levels. Britain has pledged to cut

emissions by 68 percent below 1990 levels. Critics argue that Morrison’s plan to achieve net zero without imposing costs on households or businesses will not achieve the target and contains no measures to wean the Australian economy off fossil fuels. Morrison and Joyce appeared to contradict each other on Thursday over the extent to which the agricultural sector will bear the burden of transitioning to net zero. When Joyce was asked if he was certain that agriculture had been excluded from the net zero plan, he told reporters: “Absolutely, 100 percent.” Morrison backed Taylor who earlier this week said the government’s policy was to reduce emissions across the entire Australian economy. “I have no misunderstanding. It’s a whole-of-economy emissions reduction plan,” Morrison said. “That’s the policy agreed by Cabinet.” AP

A man walks along Lake Tuz in Aksaray province, Turkey on October 25. Lake Tuz, Turkey’s second largest lake, and home to several bird species has seen its waters entirely recede this year, a victim of climate change-induced drought that has hit the region as well as decades-long wrongful agricultural policies that have exhausted the lake’s underground waters. AP/Emrah Gurel

Turkey’s Lake Tuz dries up due to climate change and farming

ONYA, Turkey—For centuries, Lake Tuz in central Turkey has hosted huge colonies of flamingos that migrate and breed there when the weather is warm, feeding on algae in the lake’s shallow waters. This summer, however, a heart-wrenching scene replaced the usual splendid sunset images of the birds captured by wildlife photographer Fahri Tunc. Carcasses of flamingo hatchlings and adults scattered across the cracked, dried-up lake bed. The 1,665 square kilometer (643 square mile) lake—Turkey’s secondlargest lake and home to several bird species—has entirely receded this year. Experts say Lake Tuz (Salt Lake in Turkish) is a victim of climate changeinduced drought, which has hit the region hard, and decades of harmful agricultural policies that exhausted the underground water supply. “There were about 5,000 young flamingos. They all perished because there was no water,” said Tunc, who also heads the regional branch of the Turkish environmental group Doga Dernegi. “It was an incredibly bad scene. It’s not something I can erase from my life. I hope I do not come across such a scene again.” Several other lakes across Turkey have similarly dried up or have receded to alarming levels, affected by low precipitation and unsustainable irrigation practices. Climate experts warn that the entire Mediterranean basin, which includes Turkey, is particularly at risk of severe drought and desertification. In Lake Van, Turkey’s largest lake, located in the country’s east, fishing boats no longer could approach a dock last week after the water fell to unusual levels, HaberTurk television reported. “[We have] rising temperatures and decreasing rain, and on the other side, the water needs for irrigation in agriculture,” said Levent Kurnaz, a scientist at Bogazici University’s Center for Climate Change and Policy Studies. “It’s a bad situation all over Turkey at the moment.” A study based on satellite imagery conducted by Turkey’s Ege University shows that water levels at Lake Tuz started to drop beginning in 2000, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. The lake completely receded this year due to rising temperatures, intensified evaporation and insufficient rain, according to the study. The study also noted a sharp decline in underground water levels around Lake Tuz, a hypersaline lake that straddles the Turkish provinces of Ankara, Konya and Aksaray. The Konya basin in central Anatolia, which includes Lake Tuz, was once known as Turkey’s breadbasket. Farms in the region have turned to growing profitable but water-intensive crops such as corn, sugar-beet and alfalfa, which have drained groundwater supplies, photographer Tunc said. Farmers have dug thousands of unlicensed wells while streams feeding the lake have dried up or been diverted, he said. Environmental groups say poor government agricultural policies play a significant role in the deterioration of Turkey’s lakes. “If you don’t pay them enough money, the farmers, they will plant whatever is water intensive and will make money for them. And if you just tell them it’s not allowed, then they won’t vote for you in the next election,” Kurnaz said. The overuse of groundwater is also making the region more susceptible to the formation of sinkholes. Dozens of such depressions have been discovered around Konya’s Karapinar district, including one that Associated Press journalists saw next to a newly harvested alfalfa field. Tunc, 46, a native of Aksaray, is saddened by the thought that he won’t be able to enjoy the flamingos with his seven-month-old son like he did with his 21-year-old son. He remains hopeful, however, that Lake Tuz may replenish itself, if the government stops the water-intensive agriculture. Kurnaz, the climate scientist, is less optimistic. “They keep telling people that they shouldn’t use groundwater for this agriculture and people are not listening. There are about 120,000 unlicensed wells in the region, and everybody is pumping out water as if that water will last forever,” Kurnaz said. “But if you are on a flat place, it can rain as much as you want and it won’t replenish the groundwater in a short time. It takes maybe thousands of years in central Anatolia to replenish the underground water table,” he added. The drought and flamingo deaths at Lake Tuz were just one of a series of ecological disasters to strike Turkey this summer, believed to be partly due to climate change. In July, wildfires devastated swaths of forests along Turkey’s southern coast, killing eight people and forcing thousands to flee. Parts of the country’s northern Black Sea coast were struck by floods that killed 82 people. Earlier, a layer of sea mucilage, blamed on soaring temperatures and poor waste management, covered the Sea of Marmara, threatening marine life. Although Turkey was among the first countries to sign the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the country held off ratifying it until this month as it sought to be reclassified as a developing country instead of a developed one to avoid harsher emission reduction targets. Turkish lawmakers issued a declaration rejecting the status of developed country at the same time they ratified the climate agreement. In the town of Eskil, near the shores of Lake Tuz, farmer Cengiz Erkol, 54, checked the irrigation system on his field growing animal feed. “The waters aren’t running as strong and abundant as they used to,” he said. “I have four children. The future doesn’t look good. Each year is worse than the previous year.” AP

A18 Friday, October 29, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

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How we can safely reopen schools

he United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) recently said schools in six countries for about 77 million students continue to be completely closed 19 months into the Covid-19 pandemic. The UN agency said Bangladesh, the Philippines and Panama are among the countries that kept schools closed the longest. In total, an estimated 131 million students in 11 countries have missed more than three-quarters of their in-person learning. Around 27 percent of countries worldwide continue to have schools fully or partially closed. “As classes resume in many countries around the world, millions of students are heading into a third academic year without stepping foot in a classroom,” said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “The losses that students are incurring from not being in school may never be recovered.” Unicef said while remote learning has been a lifeline for millions of schoolchildren, access to technology and the quality of the curriculum have been uneven even within communities and school districts. Experience shows that schools are not the main drivers of transmission and that it is possible to keep them open for in-person learning, according to Unicef, which urged governments, local authorities and school administrations to reopen schools as soon as possible and take all possible steps to mitigate against transmission of the virus in schools. From bbc.com: “In June, China began to allow some children from three to 17 years old to be offered shots of a vaccine produced by drug-maker Sinovac, making it the first country to approve a jab for such a young age group. The country has set a rough target of vaccinating 80 percent of its 1.4 billion population by the end of the year, a figure impossible to meet without jabbing large numbers of under-18s.” From India Today: “Schools and other educational institutes will resume inperson attendance for all classes in Delhi from November 1 with Covid-safety guidelines in place, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Wednesday. He said 50 percent of the students in a class should be called to school, and all staff members need to be vaccinated.” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones on Monday announced that at least 90 public schools would be participating in the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes on November 15. She said the guidelines of DepEd and the Department of Health provide specific operational rules to minimize the spread of Covid-19 in schools. The DepEd said around 93 percent of teachers and staffs of participating schools have been vaccinated. “We also secured the commitment of the National Task Force against Covid-19 to prioritize jabs for teachers,” DepEd said, emphasizing that the pilot run of face-to-face classes will be voluntary in nature. Parents must provide written consent allowing their children to join. (See, DepEd undertakes ‘stringent’ preparations for F-to-F classes, in the BusinessMirror, October 26, 2021). Of the 90 participating public schools, 14 schools are in Caraga Region; 10 schools in Region 1 (Ilocos); 10 schools in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley); 10 schools in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas); eight schools in Region 7 (Central Visayas), eight schools in Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula); eight schools in Region 11 (Davao); six schools in Region 10 (Northern Mindanao); five schools in Calabarzon; and five schools in Region 12 (Soccsksargen). Here’s good news for schools not participating in the pilot face-to-face classes: The DOH confirmed on Wednesday that nationwide rollout of Covid vaccination for children aged 12 to 17 years old will start on November 3. There are around 12.7 million children aged 12 to 17 in 2021, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the only shots granted an emergency use authorization for the age group, would be used for the rollout. From the Associated Press: “The US moved a step closer to expanding Covid-19 vaccinations for millions more children as government advisers on Tuesday endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer’s shots for five to 11 year olds. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously, with one abstention, that the vaccine’s benefits in preventing Covid-19 in that age group outweigh any potential risks.” Vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning. Following Unicef’s advice, the DepEd should start coordinating with local government units and school administrators to plan for the reopening of more schools as soon as possible in areas with low Covid cases. Like in other countries, our schools can safely reopen as long as they take all possible steps to prevent virus transmission in the classrooms. We can build back better in education if we complete first the vaccination of all learners and all teachers before reopening our schools.

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Better Days

uring the public hearing on the 2022 budgets of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its attached agencies, the Senate was updated on the alarming congestion rate of our jails and penal institutions. For one, the New Bilibid Prison, our national penitentiary, has a congestion rate of 344 percent. In exact figures, this means that Bilibid currently houses 28,545 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), which greatly exceeds its ideal capacity of only 6,435. The same can be said for the rest of the Bureau of Corrections’ (BuCor) managed prisons since the average congestion rate for all seven operating prisons and penal farms, including the NBP, is already at 303 percent. The state of our PDLs in district, city and municipal jails is also problematic. Based on the 2021 data submitted by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the congestion rate of its jails is at 397 percent. While this is a significant reduction from the 612 percent congestion rate in 2017, one could still imagine the deplorable conditions our inmates have to endure. There have been efforts to address this issue from the BuCor and the DOJ. The BuCor reported that they have been implementing and are undertaking construction works for more penal institutions across the regions. In addition, DOJ has been actively pursuing negotiations and consultations with LGUs and

other stakeholders to acquire land for the purposes of building more BuCor facilities. For BJMP, in addition to their infrastructure projects, the Bureau has been expanding its paralegal support services to aid in decongesting jails and prevent overstaying of PDLs. These efforts, however, do not take away the fact that our PDLs continue to experience such inhumane circumstances which in turn leads to other challenges not only for our inmates but also for those who manage our prisons. One such challenge is curbing the spread of Covid-19 among our penal institutions. This is hinged primarily on ensuring that our inmates are provided with adequate space and ventilation. And that

Going nuclear

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Decongesting Philippine prisons

EAGLE WATCH

ith the 2022 elections coming up, many policies can be discussed by aspiring candidates as they present their platforms to the public for close and intense scrutiny. It might be a good time to bring up an elephant in the room—specifically, an economic white elephant in the room—and to consider what role, if any, nuclear energy might play in the development of the Philippines from here on out. Is it high time for the Philippines to use nuclear power? A quick history review: the Philippines does have a nuclear power plant in Bataan, a costly project of the 1970s, but ultimately one that never saw full operational use, not even now in the 2020s. There are many opinions regarding what to do with it, which leads to layers of controversy. It is not only about finding out what things can be done with the edifice that was built; it is also about considering the things that need to

be done with a structure that is not going anywhere. Some are quick to point out the dangers of nuclear energy. Potential threats cited include environmental hazards and the grave risks that potential accidents could pose. Undeniably, even in developed countries, these perils continue to be sources of anxiety. Another thing, which is not a minor consideration, is cost. How much money from taxpayers will

While we recognize that these people have committed crimes against man and country, we must also affirm that there is still hope for these people to be reformed and corrected through our justice system. Hence, where these PDLs serve their time must also reflect the aspiration of the country for them to be rehabilitated and be better citizens.

is something currently not possible due to the exorbitant congestion rate. Another attendant problem would be on how the BuCor and BJMP can control the movement of our PDLs and prevent prison brawls and riots as well as other illicit transactions within these congested facilities. I echo what Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” If we want to progress as a nation, we must ensure that our PDLs are not left behind and are treated with dignity, even while they are incarcerated. While we recognize that these people have committed crimes against man and country, we must also affirm that there is still hope for these people to be reformed and corrected through our justice system. Hence, where these PDLs serve their time must also reflect the aspiration of the country for them to be rehabilitated and be better citizens. During the aforementioned hearing, many senators had suggestions

go into such an expensive and ambitious undertaking? Billions more! One might say it seems like a sunk cost to pursue it further. Others have a more positive view of its potential benefits and how it could be used to address development needs. Aside from the straightforward purpose of nuclear science to generate electricity as an energy source, this technology has a wide variety of non-electric uses: nuclear medicine and cancer treatment, seawater desalination, pest control through the sterile insect technique, plant breeding via irradiation, and a broad array of different industrial applications, too. There is certainly some potential for nuclear power to be used in sustaining economic growth and development. Given the rapidly increasing needs of the country, the Department of Energy has considered tapping nuclear energy to complement the current electricity supply. Indeed, the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, has conducted an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review at the request of the Philippine government to this end.

on ways to address the jail decongestion problem—one of which was ensuring the timely release by the BuCor of the carpeta or the records of an inmate eligible for parole to the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP). The BPP said that they have the capacity to review at least 1,000 petitions or recommendations in one month and facilitate the release of about 300 to 500 inmates during the same period. However, the carpetas are only forwarded to the Board one to three years after the inmate has served his minimum sentence, far from the mandate of BuCor to submit these records one month before an inmate completes his sentence. In response, the BuCor has stated that they are working overtime to address this issue. To move forward, we asked the DOJ to formulate and submit to Congress a comprehensive five to 10-year plan or roadmap as well as a funding schedule specifically for the purpose of decongesting our jails. A comprehensive reform program—with systematic targets, investment goals, and clear outcomes—would help free up our penal institutions. Coupled with an efficient jail management system, such a plan would turn around the otherwise inhumane situation our PDLs wrongfully endure. Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 17 years. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate. E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

According to the most recent mission reports—whose findings are made publicly available online at the time of this writing, all made possible by the aforementioned organization operating within the United Nations family—the country looks toward “a reliable, secure, sustainable, and affordable electricity supply” in line with the AmBisyon Natin 2040, which aims to “achieve 7 percent to 8 percent gross domestic product growth, lower poverty and unemployment, raise human development and drive innovation.” Although these reports were released before waves of Covid-19 lockdowns happened, this discussion should not fall under the radar. Such a momentous step forward needs to be considered by the people. One takeaway of the reports is that, for these initiatives to be convincing, they “will require open and transparent public consultations” along with holistic analyses of how nuclear energy will be included in the energy mix. This should be talked about, indeed! It could certainly be an interesting point for public discussion to See “Eagle Watch,” A19

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Atty. Jesus Melchor V. Respecting death is loving longer Quitain: The President’s Chief Legal Beagle Tito Genova Valiente annotations

Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

t’s definitely a giant leap from being the City Legal Officer of Davao City in 2001 to become the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel of the President of the Philippines in 2021. It took 20 long years and countless other public positions in between before Atty. Jesus Melchor Vega Quitain was appointed to his current post. Becoming the foremost resident lawyer of President Duterte in Malacañang is a distinct honor accorded only to one who does not only know the law but most importantly the President who is his principal client. Counseling the President is a role that is not strange to Atty. Quitain. In 2001, then Mayor Digong who had just reclaimed his old mayoral seat in Davao City after serving as the representative of his home district for one term, appointed Atty. Boy, the affectionate name given to him by his friends and contemporaries, as the City Legal Officer. Thus, their relationship as counsel and client started decades ago. Atty. Boy replaced Atty. Salvador Panelo who is running for senator. No two lawyers who succeeded each other over the same position have more contrasting qualities and styles. Atty. Sal is imperious and flamboyant while Atty. Boy is modest and unobtrusive. One is outspoken, if not loud, while the other is soft-spoken and restrained. But no one will doubt that both are very effective and able lawyers in their own way. They have served the President well, which the latter deeply appreciates. Atty. Sal also doubled as the President’s spokesperson before Secretary Harry Roque was appointed to the post. Atty. Jesus Melchor “Boy” Vega Quitain has gone a long way since he graduated with honors from the San Beda College of Law in 1970. Four years earlier, he earned his pre-law degree at the University of the Philippines where he became a member of the Upsilon Sigma Phi Fraternity. He decided to study in San Beda College to pursue his law degree. His transfer from Diliman to Mendiola in 1966 was providential. Attending the same school a couple of years later was another famous Davaoeno, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who also aspired to become a lawyer. Duterte’s father, Vicente Duterte, served as the Governor of the undivided province of Davao from 1959 to 1965 and later served as a member of President Ferdinand Marcos’s cabinet until his death in 1968. While Atty. Boy was President Digong’s senior, it was inevitable that they would be drawn to each other being townmates sharing a common aspiration. As a law student, Atty. Boy excelled in his studies, a fact which did not escape the future president’s attention. He received a Dean’s award when he got his diploma from the San Beda College of Law. After hurdling the bar examination, the new barrister immediately plunged into law practice in his native province of Davao. He had a successful law practice and gained the respect of his peers in the profession and the community. He was tapped to serve as the law dean of the Mindanao University. He was well loved by the university and its law students during his stint that after his active academic life he was conferred the title “Dean Emeritus” which he still holds up to now. On the other hand, his friend and schoolmate, President Digong, joined the government in Davao City as a prosecutor where he stayed for many years until he was appointed as Vice Mayor of Davao City by President Cory Aquino after the Edsa revolution. The President challenged the incumbent mayor, Zafiro Respicio, and was elected mayor of Davao City in 1988. In his 4th term as mayor, President Digong finally convinced Atty. Boy to join him at the City Hall as its Chief Legal Officer. Then he was appointed as the City Administrator to further help Mayor Duterte run the largest city in the world with a total land area of 244,000 hectares. He was also named resident Ombudsman of Davao City for which he was awarded as the Out-

standing Resident Ombudsman of the Philippines for 2008. He was chosen as the first National President of the Association of Resident Ombudsman in Government Agencies. He also forayed into politics and served as a city councilor. His Alma Mater, San Beda, had given Atty. Boy the recognition as Outstanding Alumnus in the field of education. The President brought Atty. Boy to Malacanang as undersecretary at the Office of the President. He did trouble-shooting for the President and held office close to his President Digong so that he would be at his beck and call. He is reputed to have ghost written for the President, particularly the President’s SONAs, the most important speech that our chief executive annually delivers before the joint session of Congress. But I’m sure Atty. Boy would deny this. In this capacity, he had done what Adrian Cristobal, Blas Ople or Teddy Boy Locsin and the other presidential ghosts of the bygone eras had invaluably contributed to the presidents they served. Ghost writing for the president is a very critical function. The ghost should know the president’s thoughts and be able to place himself in the shoes of his principal. He should be gifted with the flair of a great storyteller and the erudition of a scholar attuned with the past and contemporary events. As another famous ghost, the irreverent but esteemed Vergel Santos has once said, a ghostwriter “should be able to take in the best character of his client… to read his mind but also to protect him from himself. He should be able to put credible words in his mouth, words that don’t exceed his grasp or capacity for articulation.” His role is to amplify or embellish the president’s ideas and present them in a manner that will be appreciated by our country’s officialdom and the people in the street. But the ghost can always inject his own which the president may accept and incorporate them in the speech of the president. A foremost writer, Luis Teodoro, who by his own admission had ghosted for senators and university presidents had wondered, “how much public policy is being made by ghostwriters endowed with the power to put words into state programs in the mouth of decision-makers.” Writing for his beloved President is a craft that Atty. Boy has mastered. After serving the President for decades, Atty. Boy is not clueless about the issues close to President Digong’s heart and fully knows his sentiments on any given subject. He could write well because he has been there with him in good times, and bad. In a manner of speaking, Atty. Boy is the keeper of the flame that he deservedly earned out of unquestionable fealty to the President. In this regard, he is the ideal alter ego of the President. He does his job without aplomb and claims no credit for the success of his work. He is truly a ghost—unseen, unheard and unsung. We need more of him in the government. Today, let’s all take a moment to celebrate Atty. Boy Quitain’s achievements. My former colleague at the SSS, Commissioner Annie Quitain, and their two children, Dr. Grace Ann W. Pecson, a successful hematologist and oncologist and Atty. Jesus Melchor, Jr., a respected practicing lawyer and currently a city councilor of Davao City, all idolize him. No question, Atty. Boy Quitain is a good family man, a great lawyer and an outstanding Filipino.

his is the second year now when the State has stopped its citizens from observing the All Souls’ Day. As true with all other feasting, a day set aside to pay respect to the Dead has not always been limited to one day. We, Roman Catholics, to be specific, conflated two days, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day into one so that we do not anymore distinguish between Saints and Souls, the latter more about us. As if one day is not enough, we reserve a day or two for travel to the place where our departed are buried, and another day to travel back to our mundane world. The last day of October and the first three days of November have always been epic journeys for practically all Filipinos. Society imposes pressures on us all if the grace to observe these days are not spiritually embedded in us. The social pressure sets in as we manifest our remembrance both for the dead and for the observers (kin, neighbors, acquaintance). We have to make sure that the graves are cleaned of weeds, the epitaph with the name and other tributes blackened or gilded—in gold and silver. As people flock to the cemeteries and memorial parks, each one of us inspects the lots before us even as our gaze goes into the other graves and memorial plots nearby. Are the grasses well-tended? Can the names of those who have gone on to eternal peace still be read? Or, look the marble make is new! To the sad sights of unattended plots, we sigh and say a little prayer. Where are the children of these parents? Are they coming? Have they forgotten these dates? These moments are gone for now. All forms of governmental control is in place: no crowding in cemeteries

and memorial plots; therefore, these places should be closed from the days leading to the special dates of commemoration until the days when people shall think they can enter those hallowed spaces. October 29 to November 3—these days have been blocked. But the heart—a bit of the mind, too—persists. How can we be heard by our beloved if the slot in the wide calendar of the universe reserved for remembering them has been cancelled? Here is the situation: the days or even week before the closure of those spaces are open. And yet, we know the efficacy of rituals; they follow a time, an allocation in the year. The day for our loved ones who have gone ahead of us is marked. In our mind, it is not a moveable feast but a time fixed on the horizon. We wait for that moment, which is a day or two, and then we prepare for it. We gather our kin and collect our food and collate our memories. Together with the readiness to brave the crowd and the rains we journey to those markers on the ground. Our solace and our faith crowd out our sadness, for like

Christmas that cannot take place in summer or those ashes that are only administered on one Wednesday, the day and night for the Souls are permanent lessons of remembrance. Do not forget them so that the other generations will do the same, to remember us when we are gone. This articulation on the Dead, was this always present even among our ancestors, or, at least before the arrival of Spanish colonizers? The book, Spain in the Philippines, by Nicholas Cushner, SJ, posits: “Although great progress was made during the first fifty years of evangelization, an estimated five hundred thousand had been baptized by 1622, the question of how deeply Christianity had penetrated was legitimately asked. Pre-Hispanic religions did not entirely disappear even among baptized peoples who had been

Christians for almost a century.” According to the Jesuit historian, many old ceremonials continued even after Filipinos started going to churches and performing the Chris-

tian practices. One of these rituals affirmed our ancestor worship. This happened around planting and harvest times, “the occasion for pagan offerings when pigs or chickens were sacrificed, special meals were eaten, and prayers offered.” Cushner also speaks of sacrifices to departed relatives offered, accompanied by dancers who chanted: “Halina, mga nunò, tanggapin niyó ang hain ng inyong mga apó” (Come, our ancestors, accept the offerings of your descendants). These “ancient rites,” according to the book, “were kept hidden from the local missionaries for over a century by parents who warned their children that if they revealed them to a Spaniard, a priest in confession, the gods would strike them down or the Spaniards would burn them alive.” Continuing, the book states: “Thus the people would have their dead buried by the priest and a few days later hold their own ceremony.” Centuries ago, our ancestors did their ancestor worship in caves. Those caves, following the narrative of Cushner, may have become our small chapels and churches where images of saints have assumed powers the European shamans never sensed they had. Like the Dead and the notion of the eternal, the days for souls and saints are about the Living rekindling thoughts of those physically gone; their graves and niches are repository of powers that connect now and the ever after. The flowers, the communal eating, and the prayers complete what Pablo Neruda said about love and forgetting—the former is so short and the latter is so long.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Facebook froze as anti-vaccine comments swarmed users By David Klepper & Amanda Seitz Associated Press

ASHINGTON—In March, as claims about the dangers and ineffectiveness of coronavirus vaccines spun across social media and undermined attempts to stop the spread of the virus, some Facebook employees thought they had found a way to help. By subtly altering how posts about vaccines are ranked in people’s newsfeeds, researchers at the company realized they could curtail the misleading information individuals saw about Covid-19 vaccines and offer users posts from legitimate sources like the World Health Organization. “Given these results, I’m assuming we’re hoping to launch ASAP,” one Facebook employee wrote in March, responding to the internal memo about the study. Instead, Facebook shelved some suggestions from the study. Other changes weren’t made until April. When another Facebook researcher suggested disabling comments on vaccine posts in March until the platform could do a better job of tackling antivaccine messages lurking in them, that proposal was ignored at the time. Critics say Facebook was slow to act because it worried it might impact the company’s profits. “Why would you not remove comments? Because engagement is the only thing that matters,” said Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an Internet watchdog group. “It drives attention and attention equal eyeballs and eyeballs equal

Eagle Watch. . . continued from A18

see how energy policy, which includes the uses of alternative and sustainable sources of energy, might be perceived as an important topic to consider in the upcoming voting process. Shall the Philippines use the power plant and pursue nuclear energy? Or scrap the idea alto-

ad revenue.” In an e-mailed statement, Facebook said it has made “considerable progress” this year with downgrading vaccine misinformation in users’ feeds. Facebook’s internal discussions were revealed in disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by former Facebook employee-turnedwhistleblower Frances Haugen’s legal counsel. The redacted versions received by Congress were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including The Associated Press. The trove of documents shows that in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook carefully investigated how its platforms spread misinformation about life-saving vaccines. They also reveal rank-and-file employees regularly suggested solutions for countering antivaccine misinformation on the site, to no avail. The Wall Street Journal reported on some of Facebook’s efforts to deal with anti-vaccine comments last month. The inaction raises questions about whether Facebook prioritized controversy and division over the health of its users. “These people are selling fear and outrage,” said Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and early investor in Facebook who is now a vocal critic. “It is not a fluke. It is a business model.” Typically, Facebook ranks posts by engagement—the total number of likes, dislikes, comments and re-shares. That ranking scheme may work well for innocuous subjects like recipes, dog photos or the latest viral sing-along. But

Facebook’s own documents show that when it comes to divisive, contentious issues like vaccines, engagement-based ranking only emphasizes polarization, disagreement and doubt. To study ways to reduce vaccine misinformation, Facebook researchers changed how posts are ranked for more than 6,000 users in the US, Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines. Instead of seeing posts about vaccines that were chosen based on their engagement, these users saw posts selected for their trustworthiness. The results were striking: a nearly 12 percent decrease in content that made claims debunked by fact-checkers and an 8 percent increase in content from authoritative public health organizations such as the WHO or US Centers for Disease Control. Employees at the company reacted with exuberance, according to internal exchanges. “Is there any reason we wouldn’t do this?” one Facebook employee wrote in response. Facebook said it did implement many of the study’s findings—but not for another month, a delay that came at a pivotal stage of the global vaccine rollout. In a statement, company spokeswoman Dani Lever said the internal documents “don’t represent the considerable progress we have made since that time in promoting reliable information about Covid-19 and expanding our policies to remove more harmful Covid and vaccine misinformation.” The company also said it took time to consider and implement the changes. Yet the need to act urgently couldn’t have been clearer: At that time, states across the US were rolling out vaccines

gether? Or will this discussion—or rather, lack of discussion—continue to be as stagnant as it has been for the past decades? This is, of course, only one among many topics related to great costs and potential benefits that should be seen by the public and examined in open and honest political discourse. As the Philippines continues to grow, the heightening need for energy sources will eventually

become a problem too big to ignore. An investment was made decades ago: what will we do with it now? For all we know, a good answer may emerge out of the debate this topic will inevitably cause. The events leading up to the elections will surely involve a lot of taking sides, and, perhaps, more than a few heated arguments among friends, or even within the family. Without simply going nuclear in the sense of

to their most vulnerable—the elderly and sick. And public health officials were worried. Only 10 percent of the population had received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. And a third of Americans were thinking about skipping the shot entirely, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Despite this, Facebook employees acknowledged they had “no idea” just how bad anti-vaccine sentiment was in the comments sections on Facebook posts. But company research in February found that as much as 60 percent of the comments on vaccine posts were anti-vaccine or vaccine reluctant. Even worse, company employees admitted they didn’t have a handle on catching those comments, or a policy in place to take them down. “Our ability to detect [vaccine hesitancy] in comments is bad in English— and basically non-existent elsewhere,” another internal memo posted on March 2 said. Los Angeles resident Derek Beres, an author and fitness instructor, sees anti-vaccine content thrive in the comments every time he promotes immunizations on his account on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Last year, Beres began hosting a podcast after noticing conspiracy theories about Covid-19 and vaccines were swirling on the social media feeds of health and wellness influencers. Earlier this year, when Beres posted a picture of himself receiving the Covid-19 shot, some on social media told him he would likely drop dead in six months’ time. Seitz

reported from Columbus, Ohio

getting upset about any particular position on the issue, it would be good to hear the opinions of the election candidates on the matter…and to rightly inspect and deliberate if this journey on the path to nuclear energy is what the people of the Philippines truly want and need. Mr. Harald Eustachius A. Tomintz teaches at the Department of Economics of the Ateneo de Manila University

A20 Friday, October 29, 2021

BIMP-Eaga rebound backed; RCEP’s ratification pushed By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE Asian Development Bank (ADB) affirmed its support for the recovery of the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia– Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP–Eaga) region.

Apart from economic growth, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said the ADB’s support includes infrastructure development and regional cooperation. ADB said it is working with BI M P– E a g a go ve r n me nt s to identify transformative recovery strategies and manage regional cooperation in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. “ADB is honored to serve as BIMP–Eaga’s regional development advisor. We know that when adversity strikes, coordinated

action will help your countries endure the crisis and build for a strong and lasting recovery,” said Asakawa. “ADB supports BIMP–Eaga’s work, aligned with Asean revitalization, to maintain open markets, strengthen supply chains, support vibrant economic zones, and promote digital integration," he added. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, A DB has prov ided $875 million through its Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility

to help Indonesia and the Philippines procure and deliver safe and effective vaccines. ADB provided an additional $1.5 billion to each country in quick-disbursing loans to support their Covid-19 response. ADB support includes infrastructure connectivity projects in locations key to regional cooperation in Indonesia and the Philippines. The Manila-based multilateral development bank said its work aligned with the BIMP– Eaga Vision 2025 and its focus on connectivity, economic corridor development, tourism, and environment. ADB has provided assistance to enhance project management systems, institutional capacity, and cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and subregions.

RCEP ratification

Meanw hile, leaders of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Participating Countries are pushing for the

immediate ratification and entry into force of the agreement. President Duterte said ratifying and enforcing the RCEP will allow economies in the region, including the Philippines, to recover faster from the pandemic. The RCEP countries believe the regional trade agreement will create a stable and robust business environment but because it is viewed as an important tool in the economic recovery efforts of the region. “To accelerate post pandemic recover y, we must further strengthen our economic ties through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” Duterte said. Once implemented, the RCEP will enhance market access of substantially all the goods in the reg ion, which w il l boost Philippine exports, and at the same time can provide cheaper goods for production and manufacturing.

‘PANDEMIC SUPPLIERS DID NOT PAY TAXES’

AJOR government suppliers that cornered bi l l ions in pandemic-related contracts through the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management apparently did not pay correct taxes, according to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) records obtained by senators. This revelation was cont a i ned i n a present at ion made by Minor it y Leader Franklin M. Drilon at the 13th hear ing of the Blue R ibbon Committee, which is looking into, among others, the liabilities of suppliers Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. and Xuzhou Constr uction that bag ged multibillion contracts for face masks, shields and Covid-19 test kits. Per the documents ob tained by the Blue Ribbon which Drilon’s office culled f rom BIR , Pha r ma l ly not only failed to pay the right taxes but at one point also claimed P96 million in tax credits, prompting Blue Rib-

bon chairman Richard J. Gordon to blurt out, “humingi pa ng sukli? [they even asked for change]?” This, as opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros uncovered the connection to President Duterte of Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), one of the suppliers for the Covid-19 response that the senator said was found to have unpaid taxes in the Philippines even as it won a P1.67-billion medical supply contract. Hontiveros presented photos at a Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing showing XCMG chairman Wang Min and President Duterte at Malacañang way back in February 2017, noting that the pictures of the two were also found in a Chinese language website that published their meeting. The lawmaker lamented that the warm welcome rites at the Malacañang Palace turned out to be for “a tax evader.” Continued on A11

Continued on A11

BusinessMirror FREE LIVE WEBINAR November 5, 2021, 9 am

Updates on the National Integrated Cancer Control Act

resident Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11215, otherwise known as the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA), on February 14, 2019, to ensure the provision of quality health services and financial risk protection to cancer patients. The Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 11215 were signed in August 2019. The NICCA emphasizes cancer prevention and improvement of cancer survivorship by strengthening essential programs and increasing investments for the entire cancer continuum. It aims to make cancer services and care more accessible to all Filipinos. It has been more than two years since the Implementing Rules and Regulations were signed, but has all the salient features of this law been implemented already? Join us live on November 5, 2021, Friday at 9 am, to know more.

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Globe builds more cell sites as demand for data soars

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

isted telecommunications firm Globe Telecom Inc. on Thursday said its cell site builds in January to September went up by 82 percent versus the same period the year prior.

In absolute terms, this means that Globe built 1,080 new cell sites as of end-September, up by 487 sites from 593 sites a year ago. “The installation of new cell towers will greatly decongest traffic in our existing towers. By building more cell sites, while modernizing the existing ones to 4G LTE, we will ensure to meet the

demand for better and accessible connectivity for our customers in more parts of the country,” said Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Program Delivery, Network Technical Group. Most of the new towers, he said, are in Metro Manila and North Luzon, accounting for 340 sites and 230 sites, respectively. “At least

a hundred or more new cell towers” were also installed in South Visayas and Mindanao. Agustin added that Globe also completed 73 in-building solutions (IBS) during the same period. IBS enhances the quality of signal that subscribers get indoors. “We are very optimistic in sustaining the momentum because more cell towers simply mean better call, text and data browsing experience for our customers,” he noted. Globe is spending P76 billion in capital expenditures this year to further enhance its mobile and fixed line networks. In another development, Globe also emerged as the most valuable telecommunications company in the country as of October this year with its market capitalization reaching P456 billion amid

its pivot to become a digital solutions platform. Globe President Ernest L. Cu said the continued rise in stock prices of Globe signals that investors are confident of Globe’s prospects in the coming years. “Telco will continue to be our main and most important business but we now view ourselves as a digital platform that builds one business upon others. We will continue to enhance our telco business and keep an eye on maintaining our number one spot in mobile, as we compete heavily in the fixed-line business and expand our services to other fields of technology and digital solutions,” he said. Cu earlier announced that Globe is diversifying its business, leveraging its digital assets to grow in the healthtech, adtech, edutech, fintech, and e-commerce sectors.

Belle income up 84% in Jan-Sept By VG Cabuag @villygc

elle Corp., a company controlled by the SM Group, on Thursday said its net income in January to September grew 84 percent to P693.5 million from last year’s P376.2 million. Revenues fell 21 percent to P2.28 billion from last year’s P2.9 billion. For the quarter ending September, however, the company’s loss deepened to P351.28 million, a reversal of last year’s income of P72.23 million. For the period, it had a revenue loss of P248.97

million as against its revenues of P902.79 million a year ago. “The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020 with declining tourist arrivals prior to the implementation of the community quarantines nationwide, and was compounded by the temporary suspension of gaming operations at City of Dreams Manila on March 16, 2020 in compliance with government initiatives to contain the virus,” the company said. The share in the gaming revenues at City of Dreams Manila, from Belle’s subsidiary Premium Leisure Corp., tripled to P967.2 million from the previous year’s P324.8

million. The casino’s operations improved for the period although still with substantial limitations due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, the company said. Pacific Online Systems Corp., which leases online betting equipment to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for their lottery and keno operations, also experienced improvements during 2021, while still operating under limitations. Pacific Online, which is 50.1 percent-owned by Premium Leisure, posted a 37-percent increase in revenues to P302 million from P221.3 million last year.

Belle’s real estate operations recorded a 57-percent fall in revenues to P1.01 billion from P2.36 billion last year. Of the real estate revenues this year, P469.5 million came from Belle’s lease of the land and buildings comprising the City of Dreams Manila to Melco Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., which was 76 percent lower than last year’s P1.99 billion. Belle’s real estate sales and property management activities at its Tagaytay Highlands complex contributed revenues of P549.1 million for the period, or 52 percent higher than last year’s P361.7 million.

Mare ng Bayan on DWIZ 882 A

ward-winning broadcaster and entrepreneur Maresciel “Mare” Yao joins the DWIZ family as the host of DWIZ 882 AM’s newest public service program entitled MARE NG BAYAN: Ang Programang Kakampi ng Masang Pilipino, which airs Monday to Friday, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. The show offers a buffet of interesting topics for discussion each day and all are focused on serving various interests of the public. Mondays are dedicated to government agencies, while Tuesdays are for legal matters with Legally Yours. During the midweek, the show detours to a different topic which aims to appeal to the male listeners while Thursdays are reserved for the female market with Beauty and the Best. Finally on Fridays, Yao tackles issues concerning Overseas Filipino Workers. She is also joined by

Mare ng Bayan host and newest member of the DWIZ family Mare Yao receives a warm welcome and a bouquet of flowers from Aliw Broadcasting Corporation’s chairman and president D. Edgard A. Cabangon.

Pastor Paul Mata to share some reflections about the week. Armed with her credibility in the fields of media and business, Yao, whose main advocacies include public service, has earned the respect and approval of both the government and private sectors throughout her career. With her sphere of influence, Yao will surely give public service a fresh flavor at her new home at DWIZ 882 AM. DWIZ 882 can be heard worldwide via their website at www.dwiz882am.com, and by following their Official Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/dwiz882. Listeners can also download the DWIZ App on Google Play and the App Store. DWIZ is operated by Aliw Broadcasting Corp., headed by its chairman and president, D. Edgard A. Cabangon. It is a member of the ALC Group of Companies founded by Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua.

QC schools get digital tools from PLDT

n innovative program to help address the burgeoning electronic waste problem launched by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Smart aims to equip Quezon City schools with digital tools. On October 28, teachers and students from San Agustin Elementary School and Nova Homes Day Care Centers in Barangay San Agustin in Quezon City became the latest recipients of digital learning tools from PLDT and Smart as incentive for their community’s effective e-waste management efforts. Two School-In-A-Bag (SIAB) packages and 50 LearnSmart Kits were turned over

by the telecommunications companies in support of the “E-Waste to E-Learn” initiative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Eco Waste Coalition and under the Global Environment Facility funded, “Safe PCB & Ewaste Management Project.” Safe PCB and Ewaste Management Project aims to eliminate persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as Polychlorinated biphenyls and Polybromindated Diphenyl Ether, the latter mostly found in e-wastes. Apart from this, the project aims to educate communities on safe manage-

ment of these POPs. All e-wastes surrendered by community members from July to September earned equivalent points. Cumulative scoring for the e-wastes collected in the barangay determined the incentives awarded to the beneficiary schools. Outstanding participants were then rewarded with SIABs and digital tools to help schools in their area address some of the challenges of distance learning during the pandemic lockdowns. Each Smart School-in-a-Bag includes a water-resistant backpack that contains a laptop for the teacher, 10 tablets that allow students to access interactive applications even while offline. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Friday, October 29, 2021

Solon to NEA: Ensure Baguio’s power supply

he Senate Energy Committee strongly urged the National Electrification Administration (NEA) to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity in Baguio City and all 13 towns in Benguet province amid the leadership crisis in Benguet Electric Cooperative (BENECO). Senator Sherwn T. Gatchalian, committee chairman, said Thursday he is preparing to file a Senate resolution on the matter. Newly-installed NEA Administrator Emmanuel Juaneza stood his ground on NEA’s appointment of lawyer Ana Maria Rafael as general manager. He told Gatchalian that NEA would no longer disrupt BENECO’s operations. The BENECO Board of Directors appointed Engineer Melchor Licoben as the new general manager of BENECO. Based on reports that reached the committee, Gatchalian said it was NEA that did not follow its own memorandum insofar as succession mechanism and selection process is concerned when it appointed the new general manager. The senator cited NEA Memorandum 2017-035, the revised policy on the selection, hiring, termination of service/suspension for GMs of electric cooperatives, saying that it clearly provides for the rule allowing BENECO’s board to select the GM of their choice and for NEA to step in only if the board rejects all pre-qualified applicants. “We don’t want NEA, the supervisor of all ECs [electric cooperatives], to be imposing people over a well-run, functioning coop and that is not the intention of the law. The intention of the law is for the ECs to govern themselves and NEA will just step in during problematic times, if it’s badly managed or if it’s an ailing coop,” Gatchalian said. “My plea to NEA is to review your own rules. Make sure that you follow your own rule and make sure that BENECO is running smoothly because we owe it to the people of Baguio. We have to make sure that

electricity is continuously flowing to the homes of our constituents in Baguio,” said the lawmaker. Meanwhile, Gatchalian, who was one of the speakers at the 2nd Philippine International Geothermal Conference, said he remains “bullish” about the country’s geothermal energy prospects. “Let’s find ways to encourage more geothermal development, more exploration, more private sector participation. In the Philippines, geothermal is still a significant source of energy. We remain bullish in geothermal investments here because any way of minimizing imports of coal and potential natural gas in the future should be pursued,” he said. As of May 2020, the country’s potential geothermal capacity stood at 814.20 megawatts (MW). This represents 2.72 percent of the total potential renewable energy (RE) sources that the country could still tap. In terms of installed capacity, geothermal energy stood at 1,928.07 in the same period. “The number is almost insignificant when it comes to committed projects. But any megawatt of indigenous power is highly welcome in our country because it contributes in our self-sufficiency. That number is still a very important factor for us because we import coal, and soon, natural gas. The potential capacity of geothermal will definitely reduce importation of coal and natural gas,” said Gatchalian. Other ways to increase investment in geothermal energy is to activate the RE trust fund for geothermal energy’s research and development, fully implement the Energy Virtual One Stop Shop Act, Integrate the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones with the Green Energy Auction, align the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and establish a possible geothermal fund for a public-private risk sharing mechanism. Lenie Lectura

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, October 29, 2021

GBPC sets sights on more renewable energy projects

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

lobal Business Power Corp. (GBPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), has lined up more renewable energy (RE) projects starting next year, including two solar power projects worth P2 to P3 billion, a wind power project, and a battery energy storage system (BESS). “For 2022 and beyond, we are eyeing the construction of the first large-scale wind farm and development of solar storage that can compete in the mid-merit space. You

can expect more RE projects in the coming years as we endeavor to provide cleaner and sustainable energy supply in the market,” said GBPC President Jaime Azurin.

“And for next year, we’re looking at an additional investment of P2 to 3 billion for the other two solar. We are looking at certain projects for the mid-merit. We have not finalized any agreement with other parties.” GBPC has ownership in net capacity of 970 megawatts (MW) of coal and oil plants, of which 785 MW are contracted under Power Supply Agreements (PSAs) with captive and contestable customers and Ancillary Services Procurement Agreements (ASPAs). IT delivered 3,802 gigawatt hours (GW) in January to September and contributed P663 million to MGen’s consolidated core net income. GBPC and MGen have started consolidating their businesses into one organization, following the completion of MGen’s acquisition of an 86-percent stake in GBPC on March 31. “We have streamlined our opera-

tions and integrated GBP and MGen under one functional organizational structure effective September 16. We have already started. While formal integration is underway, it may take two to three years to fully complete regulatory requirements,” Azurin added. The power generation arm of Meralco is pursuing to build 1,500 MW of RE projects in the next seven years, starting with 55MW solar farm in San Miguel, Bulacan. It is currently the largest single operating solar plant in the country that commenced operations last May. “We have more solar projects under development. Construction work is ongoing for our 78MW plant in Baras, Rizal, while EPC [engineering, procurement, and construction] negotiations are progress for the 54 MW in Cordon, Isabela, 19MW Nueva Ecija, and 50 MW Ilocos Norte,” added Azurin.

Pandemic boosts AllHome furniture sales

llHome Corp., the Villarled retailer, said it saw a spike in furniture sales, a pattern seen across the home improvement industry due to the pandemic. “AllHome has always pushed to

elevate the Filipino’s experiences. It is in the brand’s DNA to elevate the design sensibilities of all our customers,” Camille Villar, the company’s vice chairman, said. Euromonitor International is

projecting a 9-percent compounded annual growth rate for furniture and homeware, driven by home-bound Filipinos paying closer attention to adjusting their spaces under the new normal and work-from-home setups.

“More than providing them comprehensive convenience in a single store, we want to open up their minds to all of the possibilities available to them when they furnish their homes” she said. VG Cabuag

mutual funds

October 28, 2021

NAV

One Year Three Year Five Year

per share

Return*

Y-T-D Return

Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

229.74

10.16%

-1.2%

-2.4%

1.12%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

1.6573

49.72%

6.69%

3.64%

26.22%

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.211

13.23%

-4.55%

-5.08%

2.49%

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7507 4.31%

-4.08% n.a.

-7.64%

First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.7987 14.62%

0.66% n.a.

First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a

15.69%

1.69%

-0.29%

4.58%

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.7748

10.28%

-0.56%

-4.04%

MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

17.91%

-1.92% n.a.

0.58%

5.1674

7.7%

102.46

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a

47.4733

12.51%

0.99%

-0.9%

1.35%

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

493.68

10.08%

0.86%

-1.52%

0.97%

1.1529

19.62% n.a. n.a.

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a

Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d

1.2857

21.03%

2.6%

0.51%

10.06%

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

36.0507

15.3%

1.33%

0.05%

3.68%

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.9332

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

4.89

5.07%

12.54% n.a. n.a.

2.21%

13.44%

1.81%

-0.19%

2.06% 1.84%

816.38

13.24%

1.82%

-0.24%

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

0.7487

14.87%

-2.47%

-3.26%

4.15%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.7239

13.32%

-0.87%

-1.67%

2.76%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9315 12.77%

1.45%

-0.44%

1.5%

United Fund, Inc. -a

1.33%

0.57%

3.36%

0.26%

3.4301

14.27%

-0.21%

Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c

109.7794

13.38%

2.07%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.1824

9.38%

9.15%

5.66%

-1.7%

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.8507

20.98%

15.82%

12.32%

10.63%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a

1.694

8.23%

2.03%

-0.74%

1.52%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a

2.2439

6.38%

1.73%

-0.62%

-1.82%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.6907

9.02%

3.47%

1.16%

2.43%

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

0.199

6.36% n.a. n.a.

2.0017

6.37%

3.99%

1.44%

1.76%

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.7393

4.34%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

16.7451

4.43%

3.72%

0.11%

-1.34%

3.4%

0.12%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

2.1038

-1.15%

6.1%

1.81%

0.21%

0.61%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.6224 7.79%

1.09%

-0.36%

1.37%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9858

2.11% n.a. n.a.

-3.6%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.9341

6.91% n.a. n.a.

-1.59%

8.37% n.a. n.a.

-0.88%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.9249 Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a

0.9308

12.78%

1.6%

-0.38%

0.45%

4.86%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a

$0.03763

-3.49%

2.9%

1.01%

-3.76%

PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b

$1.0909

2.1%

5.66%

3.29%

-3.46%

14.8%

11.34%

8.61%

6.54%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a $1.2194 6.28%

6.32%

4.38%

1.43%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.8081

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

372.68

1.04%

2.96%

2.47%

0.42%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9258

-1.42%

1.16%

0.13%

1.34%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.2421

1.14%

3.25%

4.08%

0.83%

Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a

2.2405

-2.12%

1.9%

1.34%

-2.51%

First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.422 -0.89%

3.07%

1.71%

-1.27%

Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a

4.4062

-4.72%

5.08%

1.31%

-4.83%

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a

1.3176

0.39%

3.95%

2.63%

-0.28%

Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.9529

-0.02%

4.63%

2.66%

-1.2%

Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.0274

-0.87%

5.49%

1.8%

-1.54%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1843 Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7313

0.36%

5.01%

3.11%

-0.68%

-0.57%

4.21%

2.42%

-1.35%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$488.21

1.64%

3.06%

2.18%

ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a

Є219.93

0.99%

1.03%

0.77%

0.87% 0.32%

ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b

$1.1947

-4.32%

2.13%

1.25%

-6.65%

First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0259 -1.89%

1.46%

0.71%

-2.63%

PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b

-0.16%

-1.45%

-6.48% -2.36%

$1.0194

-6.25%

Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$2.48

-1.09%

5.2%

1.93%

Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a

$0.0624617

1.02%

3.17%

1.95%

0.26%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1407 -1.51%

2.95%

0.8%

-2.57%

2.53%

0.82%

Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a

130.88

1.18%

2.93%

First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0565 0.99% n.a. n.a. Sun Life Prosperity Peso Starter Fund, Inc. -a,1

1.3122

1.52%

2.71%

2.54%

0.8% 1.18%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0598

0.87%

1.54% n.a.

0.59%

Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d 1.3717

35.2% n.a. n.a.

21.43%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

$0.98

4.26% n.a. n.a.

"While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www. pifa.com.ph to see the latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

October 28, 2021

Net Foreign Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Stocks Buy (Sell) FINANCIALs

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

511,345 154,975,982 94,033,566.50 818,215 12,135 3,222,776 87,705,920 295,538 8,081,955 126,890.50 2,417,690 19,123,916 1,278,182.50 10,178,060 429,690 6,800 623,312 4,790 31,500 9,700 12,330 242,198 2,619,000 56,950

-427,200 -63,433,792 -4,103,565.50 -3,392 12,350 -16,337,975 491,825 5,605 17,610 -8,626,628 -4,850 9,700 33,020 2,376,000 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 12.28 12.3 12.3 12.38 12.04 12.3 14,316,000 175,139,606 1.12 1.15 1.15 1.16 1.12 1.16 405,000 464,320 ALSONS CONS 32.1 32.15 32.25 32.3 32 32.1 3,305,200 105,914,745 ABOITIZ POWER 0.67 0.68 0.7 0.71 0.66 0.68 33,445,000 22,830,760 BASIC ENERGY 30.05 30.1 29.75 30.3 29.75 30.05 628,700 18,900,395 FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG 74.9 74.95 74.95 75.5 74.95 74.95 35,480 2,659,660 MERALCO 292.6 293 294.6 294.8 292.4 293 110,220 32,306,026 MANILA WATER 25.5 25.6 26.2 26.3 25.4 25.5 769,400 19,790,375 PETRON 3.86 3.87 4 4 3.85 3.87 3,536,000 13,763,450 4.35 4.45 4.4 4.45 4.35 4.35 44,000 193,800 PETROENERGY 11.1 11.5 11.04 11.5 11.04 11.5 14,500 163,292 PHX PETROLEUM 22.55 23 23.5 23.5 22.55 22.55 313,500 7,213,790 PILIPINAS SHELL 13.78 13.8 13.82 13.82 13.68 13.8 80,900 1,113,254 SPC POWER VIVANT 15 18.46 15 15 15 15 3,000 45,000 5.01 5.05 5.09 5.09 5 5.06 45,300 229,647 AGRINURTURE AXELUM 2.86 2.94 2.9 2.94 2.86 2.94 160,000 467,980 CNTRL AZUCARERA 13.88 13.9 13.9 13.9 13.9 13.9 800 11,120 27 27.3 26.9 27 26.4 27 714,600 19,075,750 CENTURY FOOD 15.18 15.2 14.78 15.28 14.78 15.18 314,700 4,736,562 DEL MONTE 8.21 8.22 8.3 8.34 8.22 8.22 901,300 7,449,839 DNL INDUS 18.18 18.3 18.28 18.38 18.08 18.18 265,500 4,834,284 EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV 76 76.5 76.5 76.5 75.8 76.5 270,000 20,632,206 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.61 0.62 0.61 0.61 0.61 0.61 4,000 2,440 1.32 1.33 1.35 1.35 1.32 1.33 7,862,000 10,435,130 FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA 104.1 105 111.1 113.7 105 105 73,370 7,845,442 JOLLIBEE 241.2 241.4 244.2 244.6 240 241.2 642,370 155,213,252 6.36 6.94 6.36 6.7 6.36 6.7 600 3,884 MACAY HLDG 7.36 7.38 7.45 7.45 7.35 7.38 154,900 1,141,000 MAXS GROUP 0.183 0.19 0.183 0.185 0.183 0.183 240,000 43,940 MG HLDG 16.4 16.44 16.42 16.62 16.36 16.4 10,549,200 173,882,376 MONDE NISSIN SHAKEYS PIZZA 8.05 8.2 8.02 8.2 8.01 8.1 51,400 414,703 ROXAS AND CO 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.77 0.74 0.75 1,492,000 1,111,400 4.6 4.61 4.61 4.61 4.61 4.61 4,000 18,440 RFM CORP SWIFT FOODS 0.119 0.121 0.118 0.121 0.118 0.12 3,710,000 448,250 138.1 138.6 139.5 139.8 137.2 138.1 1,369,140 189,817,166 UNIV ROBINA 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.76 0.77 900,000 697,060 VITARICH 2.47 2.48 2.47 2.47 2.47 2.47 127,000 313,690 VICTORIAS 46.6 47 47 47 47 47 2,100 98,700 CONCRETE A CONCRETE B 48.35 62.2 62.95 62.95 62.95 62.95 18,900 1,189,755 1.27 1.28 1.26 1.28 1.26 1.28 1,457,000 1,854,740 CEMEX HLDG 14.3 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.28 14.3 65,300 933,516 EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP 6.55 6.68 6.75 6.84 6.5 6.55 186,200 1,219,725 5.88 5.9 5.96 5.96 5.9 5.9 376,900 2,226,279 HOLCIM 6.07 6.09 6.15 6.15 6.06 6.07 1,974,200 12,021,479 MEGAWIDE 14.62 14.78 14.78 14.8 14.68 14.78 39,300 580,312 PHINMA 0.88 0.9 0.87 0.89 0.87 0.88 90,000 78,960 TKC METALS VULCAN INDL 1.21 1.22 1.24 1.24 1.21 1.21 1,453,000 1,770,290 1.67 1.69 1.67 1.69 1.66 1.69 102,000 169,710 CROWN ASIA 1.58 1.64 1.64 1.65 1.58 1.65 15,000 24,020 EUROMED 4.3 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 2,000 9,000 MABUHAY VINYL 5.45 5.47 5.48 5.48 5.47 5.47 8,400 45,994 PRYCE CORP 2.44 2.46 2.4 2.47 2.4 2.46 5,555,000 13,516,360 GREENERGY 9.08 9.1 8.99 9.28 8.93 9.1 1,910,400 17,473,476 INTEGRATED MICR 0.85 0.87 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 73,000 62,050 IONICS 5.93 6.04 6.08 6.08 6 6.04 5,500 33,240 PANASONIC SFA SEMICON 1.13 1.14 1.12 1.14 1.12 1.14 67,000 75,580 4.48 4.49 4.38 4.64 4.38 4.49 3,514,000 15,805,210 CIRTEK HLDG

56,897,050 -10,440 62,681,440 -1,072,980 12,043,530 -227,868 -17,438,828 -3,706,990 222,430 -8,900 -839,630 2,500 2,870 7,995,510 133,152 -895,288 -388,282 -2,106,108.50 -603,090 -110,026 41,640,734 14,760 14,640 -13,207,108 -183,201 9,220 30,712,072 -138,600 -266,760 -631,786 30,475 -1,712,098 -4,217,143 21,345 494,350 -32,978 -2,015,040

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 1.14 1.15 1.14 1.15 1.13 1.15 5,875,000 6,699,470 5.87 6 5.88 6 5.87 6 46,900 276,416 ASIABEST GROUP 850 860 877 877 850 850 183,110 156,498,565 AYALA CORP 48.2 48.85 48.65 49.4 48.05 48.2 1,448,100 70,139,310 ABOITIZ EQUITY 10.42 10.48 10.6 10.6 10.32 10.42 3,818,000 39,869,704 ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG 5.67 5.68 5.72 5.74 5.56 5.67 3,550,200 20,025,565 ANSCOR 7 7.25 7.2 7.3 6.95 7.27 7,900 55,780 0.92 0.93 0.91 0.92 0.91 0.92 342,000 314,320 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.47 0.5 0.495 0.495 0.485 0.485 280,000 137,450 ATN HLDG A 5.16 5.17 5.08 5.17 5.08 5.16 3,022,000 15,551,345 COSCO CAPITAL 8.2 8.22 8.76 8.78 8.05 8.22 29,279,500 244,704,785 DMCI HLDG 7.76 8.12 8.12 8.12 7.76 7.76 275,500 2,141,300 FILINVEST DEV 0.29 0.305 0.29 0.305 0.29 0.29 340,000 99,200 FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL 550.5 556.5 560 561 550.5 550.5 100,550 55,717,600 JG SUMMIT 62.3 63 63.8 64 62.3 62.3 1,262,110 79,104,285.50 LODESTAR 0.64 0.65 0.63 0.65 0.63 0.65 302,000 193,000 3.17 3.27 3.28 3.28 3.16 3.16 55,000 175,460 LOPEZ HLDG 10.2 10.22 10.2 10.32 10.14 10.2 7,360,000 75,087,770 LT GROUP 0.42 0.455 0.425 0.425 0.42 0.42 70,000 29,500 MABUHAY HLDG 3.79 3.8 3.97 3.98 3.79 3.79 44,568,000 170,745,880 METRO PAC INV 3.15 3.27 3.15 3.15 3.15 3.15 2,000 6,300 PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA 1.67 1.72 1.82 1.82 1.65 1.72 643,000 1,103,230 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.53 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 2.9 4,000 11,600 1.15 1.2 1.15 1.2 1.15 1.2 14,000 16,550 SOLID GROUP 987 992 993 1,007 980 992 155,840 153,779,505 SM INVESTMENTS 116.2 116.9 117 117 116 116.9 170,000 19,853,565 SAN MIGUEL CORP 0.66 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 7,000 4,830 SOC RESOURCES 128 128.1 125.1 127.9 121 127.9 349,980 44,757,580 TOP FRONTIER 0.25 0.27 0.25 0.27 0.25 0.27 100,000 25,800 WELLEX INDUS

3,358,770.00 -154,781 -12,092,565 -23,667,750 -9,076,206 -1,229,444 6,926,756 -66,733,929 -7,538,040 -38,626,847.50 31,700 -9,544,350 -51,487,940 15,850 -49,327,900 -2,140,296 4,830 -

44.5 127 86.8 24.1 7.5 9.46 48.1 8.7 20.3 56.05 19.3 121.8 90.35 1.39 4.1 3.25 6.52 1.09 0.315 970 0.65 220 2,700 0.84

45.9 127.4 86.95 24.35 8.48 9.5 48.15 9.29 20.4 57.6 19.5 122.4 91.1 1.4 4.11 3.4 7.8 1.19 0.34 975 0.7 225 2,750 0.89

43.75 130 87 24.4 7.31 9.48 48.7 9.08 20.6 57.55 19.5 123.5 89 1.25 4.12 3.4 6.52 1.2 0.315 970 0.62 220.4 2,700 0.85

44.5 130 87.05 24.4 8.48 9.5 49.2 9.08 20.6 57.6 20 123.7 91 1.43 4.12 3.4 6.52 1.2 0.315 970 0.7 220.4 2,700 0.85

43.75 127 85.55 24.1 7.31 9.46 48 8.5 20.2 56.05 19.2 121.6 89 1.15 4.08 3.4 6.52 1.19 0.315 970 0.62 220 2,700 0.85

44.5 127 86.95 24.35 8.48 9.5 48.1 8.5 20.4 57.6 19.3 122.4 90.35 1.4 4.1 3.4 6.52 1.19 0.315 970 0.7 220 2,700 0.85

11,500 1,211,180 1,083,910 33,600 1,500 340,000 1,814,600 32,900 398,200 2,210 125,200 156,520 14,140 7,736,000 105,000 2,000 95,600 4,000 100,000 10 18,000 1,100 970 67,000

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.63 0.65 0.64 0.66 0.64 0.65 430,000 280,070 35.65 35.7 35.9 36.1 35.65 35.65 12,283,400 439,534,285 AYALA LAND 1.03 1.07 1.05 1.09 1.02 1.09 51,000 52,180 ARANETA PROP 42.7 42.75 42 42.75 42 42.7 1,273,700 53,967,595 AREIT RT 1.37 1.4 1.4 1.41 1.36 1.4 284,000 395,130 BELLE CORP A BROWN 0.85 0.86 0.86 0.87 0.85 0.86 779,000 665,000 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.75 182,000 136,710 CITYLAND DEVT 0.115 0.117 0.117 0.118 0.115 0.117 550,000 63,590 CROWN EQUITIES 6.24 6.98 6.23 6.24 6.13 6.24 10,400 64,333 CEBU HLDG 2.91 2.92 2.97 2.97 2.91 2.92 1,261,000 3,684,610 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.45 0.46 0.46 0.46 0.45 0.46 4,840,000 2,199,550 CENTURY PROP 10.26 10.28 10.3 10.32 10.28 10.28 130,400 1,342,276 DOUBLEDRAGON 1.8 1.81 1.79 1.81 1.78 1.81 4,503,000 8,092,060 DDMP RT DM WENCESLAO 6.72 6.87 6.85 6.87 6.72 6.87 64,400 438,005 0.275 0.28 0.275 0.28 0.275 0.28 70,000 19,300 EMPIRE EAST 0.385 0.39 0.38 0.395 0.365 0.39 15,150,000 5,800,000 EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST RT 7.39 7.4 7.28 7.44 7.28 7.4 2,675,900 19,717,576 1.14 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.14 1.14 2,267,000 2,588,660 FILINVEST LAND 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.91 0.88 0.9 413,000 367,490 GLOBAL ESTATE 9.8 10.2 9.51 10.2 9.5 10.2 970,200 9,510,891 8990 HLDG 1.21 1.23 1.21 1.24 1.2 1.21 498,000 600,580 PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND 0.99 1.01 1.06 1.06 0.99 1.01 574,000 579,550 MEGAWORLD 3.07 3.08 3.07 3.09 3.04 3.08 10,241,000 31,368,650 MRC ALLIED 0.3 0.305 0.3 0.31 0.3 0.305 19,080,000 5,835,300 MREIT RT 18 18.02 17.92 18.06 17.92 18.02 11,378,700 204,883,546 PHIL ESTATES 0.5 0.51 0.51 0.51 0.5 0.5 5,088,000 2,558,590 2.07 2.1 1.99 2.1 1.99 2.1 164,000 336,840 PRIMEX CORP 6.95 6.99 6.82 7.01 6.82 6.95 18,813,800 130,682,416 RL COMM RT 16.88 17 17.02 17.36 16.84 17 1,542,400 26,215,858 ROBINSONS LAND 0.243 0.247 0.239 0.247 0.239 0.243 370,000 90,610 PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL 1.51 1.56 1.51 1.51 1.51 1.51 73,000 110,230 2.58 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.59 2.6 180,000 466,560 SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND 2.84 2.92 2.94 2.94 2.84 2.92 2,057,000 5,966,180 33.7 33.8 35.2 35.25 33.55 33.7 24,623,600 834,647,865 SM PRIME HLDG 3.8 3.84 3.84 3.84 3.84 3.84 1,000 3,840 VISTAMALLS 1.43 1.49 1.45 1.46 1.43 1.46 301,000 434,070 SUNTRUST HOME 3.76 3.78 3.8 3.82 3.75 3.78 1,475,000 5,567,750 VISTA LAND SERVICES ABS CBN 14.16 14.2 14.5 14.5 14.12 14.2 471,000 6,734,948 14.84 14.86 14.9 14.96 14.8 14.84 1,046,800 15,572,720 GMA NETWORK 0.41 0.43 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 130,000 53,300 MANILA BULLETIN 8.11 11 10.5 11 10 11 1,000 10,450 MLA BRDCASTING 2,972 2,982 3,032 3,050 2,972 2,972 104,705 314,566,240 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1,675 1,694 1,659 1,699 1,620 1,694 238,005 398,754,750 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.092 0.093 0.094 0.096 0.093 0.093 294,530,000 27,605,220 CONVERGE 32.4 32.85 33 33 31.8 32.85 9,939,400 322,039,430 DFNN INC 3.37 3.42 3.41 3.49 3.31 3.42 961,000 3,266,490 7.15 7.16 7.15 7.25 7.07 7.16 2,746,500 19,578,513 DITO CME HLDG 1.92 2.04 1.92 1.95 1.91 1.95 37,000 70,850 JACKSTONES 1.82 1.83 1.85 1.85 1.83 1.83 1,263,000 2,322,890 NOW CORP 0.36 0.365 0.405 0.415 0.36 0.36 97,660,000 37,786,250 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2.25 2.27 2.23 2.28 2.2 2.27 230,000 518,630 7.96 8.1 8.1 8.1 7.95 8.1 9,600 76,770 2GO GROUP CHELSEA 1.94 1.95 1.97 2 1.95 1.95 1,051,000 2,065,490 CEBU AIR 44.15 44.25 44.05 44.7 44.05 44.25 248,500 11,013,735 188 189 184.5 190.5 180.8 189 3,046,050 572,023,963 INTL CONTAINER 21 21.9 20.5 21 20.5 21 14,100 294,575 LBC EXPRESS 5.21 5.22 5.38 5.38 5.18 5.22 1,221,600 6,390,938 MACROASIA 1.56 1.6 1.58 1.58 1.58 1.58 23,000 36,340 METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B 1.62 1.76 1.62 1.62 1.62 1.62 1,000 1,620 1.02 1.04 1.02 1.03 1.01 1.02 184,000 186,430 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.47 1.53 1.47 1.47 1.47 1.47 10,000 14,700 2.22 2.28 2.42 2.42 2.17 2.3 1,270,000 2,892,990 DISCOVERY WORLD 0.5 0.51 0.51 0.52 0.49 0.5 756,000 376,280 WATERFRONT 6.49 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 10,500 68,250 CENTRO ESCOLAR 560 598 570 570 570 570 30 17,100 FAR EASTERN U 0.36 0.365 0.36 0.365 0.355 0.36 1,530,000 551,900 STI HLDG 5.31 5.42 5.34 5.42 5.3 5.42 56,800 301,796 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 6.62 6.8 6.6 6.8 6.5 6.8 8,911,700 59,635,278 PACIFIC ONLINE 2.14 2.15 2.13 2.15 2.1 2.15 88,000 187,740 1.56 1.58 1.58 1.59 1.55 1.58 156,000 245,220 LEISURE AND RES 0.93 0.94 0.94 0.96 0.93 0.94 1,095,000 1,030,620 PH RESORTS GRP 0.43 0.435 0.43 0.435 0.43 0.43 5,310,000 2,284,200 PREMIUM LEISURE 10.3 10.48 10.3 10.58 10.3 10.48 791,800 8,287,730 ALLHOME 1.33 1.35 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.33 808,000 1,074,890 METRO RETAIL 41.55 41.6 40.5 41.7 40.5 41.55 832,500 34,508,375 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 60.6 61.05 61.8 61.8 59.85 61.05 826,030 50,314,876 PHIL SEVEN CORP 88.1 90 93 93 90 90 15,190 1,367,160 SSI GROUP 1.22 1.23 1.25 1.25 1.21 1.23 953,000 1,163,220 WILCON DEPOT 31.2 31.25 31.75 31.9 30.5 31.2 4,507,600 140,131,545 0.241 0.249 0.24 0.249 0.24 0.249 1,410,000 344,810 APC GROUP 4.6 4.61 4.27 4.55 4.27 4.55 7,000 31,130 EASYCALL 525 540 540 540 540 540 220 118,800 GOLDEN MV 7.02 7.04 7.04 7.04 7.04 7.04 4,000 28,160 IPM HLDG PRMIERE HORIZON 0.84 0.85 0.9 0.9 0.83 0.84 21,711,000 18,735,670 SBS PHIL CORP 4.16 4.38 4.19 4.4 4.19 4.38 21,000 92,120 MINING & OIL ATOK 6.78 6.79 6.83 6.83 6.6 6.79 6,800 45,222 1.45 1.46 1.46 1.47 1.45 1.46 538,000 781,430 APEX MINING 6.34 6.35 6.35 6.4 6.3 6.35 623,500 3,961,691 ATLAS MINING 6.14 6.2 6.01 6.2 6.01 6.2 180,400 1,110,880 BENGUET A BENGUET B 5.97 6 5.97 6 5.97 5.97 13,000 77,700 0.285 0.295 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 200,000 58,000 COAL ASIA HLDG 2.7 2.78 2.78 2.78 2.78 2.78 6,000 16,680 CENTURY PEAK FERRONICKEL 2.12 2.13 2.13 2.14 2.12 2.13 2,609,000 5,550,760 0.133 0.134 0.131 0.133 0.131 0.133 1,820,000 240,360 LEPANTO A 0.134 0.139 0.135 0.135 0.135 0.135 750,000 101,250 LEPANTO B 0.91 0.92 0.92 0.93 0.92 0.92 82,000 75,450 MARCVENTURES 1.01 1.02 1.02 1.02 1 1 107,000 107,680 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 5.46 5.5 5.51 5.55 5.32 5.5 7,696,800 41,846,972 OMICO CORP 0.335 0.34 0.33 0.335 0.33 0.335 510,000 168,350 0.83 0.85 0.84 0.84 0.83 0.84 24,000 20,150 ORNTL PENINSULA 5.2 5.24 5.22 5.25 5.15 5.2 770,000 4,005,115 PX MINING 26.05 26.2 28.6 28.6 26 26.05 11,220,400 302,293,195 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0066 0.0068 0.0065 0.0066 0.0065 0.0066 12,000,000 78,200 UNITED PARAGON 18.76 18.8 18.8 19.5 18.72 18.8 267,800 5,076,256 ACE ENEXOR 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 9,100,000 99,900 ORNTL PETROL A PHILODRILL 0.0096 0.0097 0.0097 0.0097 0.0095 0.0095 25,000,000 240,100 6.41 6.44 6.38 6.5 6.38 6.44 139,700 895,013 PXP ENERGY PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 99 101.5 99 101.5 99 101.5 5,710 565,515 101.1 101.8 101.8 101.8 101.8 101.8 500 50,900 HOUSE PREF A 104 108 104 104 104 104 2,000 208,000 ALCO PREF C 44.1 44.15 44.05 44.15 44.05 44.15 7,600 335,350 CEB PREF 100.5 100.6 100.6 100.6 100.5 100.6 309,440 31,099,664 DD PREF FGEN PREF G 102.6 105.4 105.3 105.3 105.3 105.3 100 10,530 992 1,010 991 992 990 992 3,000 2,974,010 GTCAP PREF A 1,030 1,045 1,030 1,030 1,030 1,030 7,100 7,313,000 GTCAP PREF B 1,040 1,050 1,070 1,070 1,050 1,050 185 196,050 JFC PREF A 1,034 1,044 1,033 1,045 1,033 1,045 1,720 1,778,060 JFC PREF B 100.3 100.9 101.4 101.4 100.1 101.1 2,330 234,808 MWIDE PREF 105.1 107 106 107 106 107 330 35,030 PNX PREF 3B 1,005 1,007 1,005 1,007 1,005 1,005 9,250 9,296,350 PNX PREF 4 PCOR PREF 3A 1,102 1,115 1,115 1,115 1,115 1,115 100 111,500 1,150 1,189 1,140 1,189 1,140 1,189 755 880,260 PCOR PREF 3B 79.15 79.3 79.2 79.2 79.2 79.2 1,000 79,200 SMC PREF 2F 76.1 76.4 76 76 76 76 600 45,600 SMC PREF 2H 79.2 79.5 79.5 79.5 79.2 79.2 1,560 123,570 SMC PREF 2I 76.25 77.4 76.25 77.5 76.25 76.25 651,150 49,650,375 SMC PREF 2J 75.5 76.5 76.15 76.15 75.3 75.3 26,800 2,032,095 SMC PREF 2K PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 13.5 13.74 14.1 14.1 13.5 13.5 113,100 1,557,970 14.08 14.1 14.1 14.2 14.08 14.08 64,100 905,154 GMA HLDG PDR WARRANTS TECH WARRANT 1.3 1.32 1.33 1.35 1.29 1.32 970,000 1,277,610

-8,580 50,356,150 -1,504,880 -34,750 -57,469 -164,100 -126,000 83,416 2,327,370 25,750 2,601,402 -96,480.00 128,260 -42,020 -7,283,750 -105,650 -162,685,696 50,000 -10,200 13,105,088 -7,599,482 10,360 -86,405,445 21,600 715,370 -186,321,420 -86,685,820 1,313,010 -87,350,895 43,380 1,946,507 1,305,350 796 403,060 -3,104,845 174,047,342 147,974 -32,640 1,950 -86,400 21,320 18,872,340 -200 3,353,320 -675,640 5,037,095 32,657,693 -199,800 50,000 -11,161,625 -105,960 -5,770,550 -8,760 11,680 -212,060 16,680 -21,360 1,000 1,613,614 -2,221,638 -128,166,530 -17,196 308,880.00 503,000 11,625 - -1,183,570 -373,710

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

0% ALTUS PROP ITALPINAS a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU). KEPWEALTH MAKATI FINANCE MERRYMART 1 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last July 8, 2021 (formerly, Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc.).

ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a,d

www.businessmirror.com.ph

17.06 1.85 3.9 2.45 3.25

17.36 1.87 3.95 2.6 3.26

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

108.8

109.4

17.04 1.85 3.95 2.6 3.27

17.36 1.88 3.95 2.6 3.29

17.04 1.85 3.9 2.6 3.25

17.36 1.86 3.9 2.6 3.26

9,100 110,000 8,000 1,000 2,664,000

156,244 203,800 31,350 2,600 8,715,860

145,100 -5,208 -29,620

109.8 109.8 108.8 108.8 31,260 3,410,374 152,860

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Companies BusinessMirror

‘Office vacancy rate swells to global financial crisis level’

ushman & Wakefield said overall office vacancy rate in the country at the end of the third quarter has ballooned to a level not seen since the global financial crisis. Claro Cordero Jr., director and head of research, consulting and advisory services at Cushman & Wakefield, said office vacancy rate reached 14.4 percent as of end-Sptember. This, he said is, almost equal to the level estimated in the fourth quarter of 2009, widely-considered as the bottom of the real estate market down cycle caused by the global financial crisis. Cordero noted that Metro Manila alone accounted for 22 percent of the total vacancies in unoccupied spaces in developments during the quarter. “The vacancy rate is anticipated to swell further as the amount of space vacated by major tenants still outweighs the total space taken up in the market. The exit of offshore gaming operators continues to drive the increase in vacant spaces in Metro

Manila,” Cordero said in a statement. “Pasay City, where the majority of the offshore gaming operators were located, has over 62,000 square meters of office spaces that have been vacated.” Net absorption in the third quarter, according to Cushman and Wakefield, reached -40,000 sq.m. bringing up the running annual total to -140,000 sq.m. as of the end of September. Cordero noted that average prime and Grade ‘A’ asking rent in Metro Manila closed at P1,047/ sq.m./mo., a decline of 1.8 percent quarter-on-quarter and 3.3 percent year-on-year. “More developers made further downward adjustment in the published rates for some developments in Metro Manila. Average rents in

established CBDs [central business districts] such as Makati and BGC were more resilient, as majority of the developments which exhibited huge spike in vacancy rates were in the emerging business districts.” In the short-term, Cordero said one of the downside market risks will be the escalating vacancies, as firms remain cautious and may even be forced to adjust their space requirements. He said, however, that office space demand is expected to normalize over the long-term as space density expands to address prescribed health protocols amidst the blended or hybrid—i.e., partly working in the office and partly working from home—workforce arrangement. “The overall vacancy rate in Metro Manila is almost similar to levels last seen during the global financial crisis, and is expected to even breach the all-time high figure recorded 12 years ago,” said Tetet Castro, director and head of tenant advisory group at Cushman & Wakefield. “Some major markets are even demonstrating over 25-percent vacancies already as offshore gaming companies continue to return large amounts of office spaces, as well as

the unoccupied additional spaces in newly-completed office buildings.” Castro said demand from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector may start filling in spaces again as early as the middle of next year, with a number of prospects particularly interested in taking up fitted spaces vacated due to the pandemic. Cordero said the delayed resumption of full business activities continues to push the vacancy rate in the office sub-sector upwards while the average asking rate modestly declined as major office space operators - primarily in the CBDs - hold onto their prepandemic asking rents. “Leasing activities are seen to remain tamed in the short- to medium term as the stricter and more refined taxation rules for the Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) industry are likely to drive away some gaming operators, leaving the resurgence of the office property segment to be primarily influenced by the resumption of the expansion plans of the information technology and business process management (ITBPM) industry.” Rizal Raoul Reyes

AREIT on track to hit carbon-neutral goal By VG Cabuag @villygc

REIT Inc., the real estate investment trust (REIT) of property developer Ayala Land Inc., on Thursday said it is on track to become carbon neutral by yearend. The company said it can neutralize its emissions based on scopes 1 and 2 emissions definition in terms of inventory by the end of the year, and net zero emissions for its existing buildings by the end of 2022. Scope 1 emissions are greenhouse gas emissions coming from the use of fuel, such as those in generators and vehicles. Scope 2 refers to emissions coming from electricity consumption in common areas controlled by AREIT. Scope 3 refers to other emissions

from the company’s value chain. For AREIT’s building operations, this refers to electricity consumption by its locators. “As a sustainable REIT, we believe that moving towards net zero carbon operational emissions is the most impactful environmental initiative we can undertake. By using renewable energy in our buildings, we not only achieve AREIT’s ESG [environmental, social, governance] objectives, but also enable our building locators, many of whom are top multinational corporations, to achieve their own ESG standards,” AREIT President and CEO Carol T. Mills said. The company’s buildings include Solaris One, Ayala North Exchange and McKinley Exchange, all located in Makati, and The 30th Corporate Center in Pasig. Electricity consumption of these properties has

shifted to renewable energy sources from coal. It did not state, however, how it was able to accomplish such conversion. The company expects to reduce 80 percent of its 10,000 tCO2e (tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) business-as-usual emissions through the use of renewable energy, while the remaining 20 percent will be offset through Ayala Land’s carbon forests or planting of certain number of trees based on its measured carbon emissions. To promote site resilience, AREIT’s properties were developed to allocate open and green spaces to provide a healthy environment for the community, as well as a place for safety or refuge in the event of emergencies, it said. Aside from this, the properties also feature district cooling sys-

tems, a technology that helps cut electricity consumption by 20 to 35 percent compared to regular cooling systems. Many of AREIT’s buildings are also Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified, such as the Teleperformance building in Cebu, One Evotech in Nuvali and Vertis Corporate Center in Quezon City. The company said its measured electricity intensity for its buildings in 2020 has improved to 125.48 kilowatt hour per square meter, which is much lower than the Asean benchmark of 160 kWh per square meter. “With good governance guiding our value creation efforts for shareholders, our entire organization continues to strive for innovation, for exploring new ways to advance sustainably, to improve environmentally, and better adapt to our ever-changing climate,” Mills said.

San Miguel plants 3.5M trees, mangroves nationwide

an Miguel Corp. (SMC) reported it has planted 3.5 million trees on 1,000 hectares of upland and coastal land nationwide for the last three years as part of its corporatewide initiative to help rehabilitate and manage degraded forest lands and improve livelihoods of forest-dependent rural communities. Together with local government agencies and communities, the company said its initiative has yielded a survival rate of 89 percent for upland trees and 91 percent for mangrove saplings. “It’s been a meaningful year for us and our major environmental projects. Even as we made great progress in our river cleanup and rehabilitation initiatives—particularly for the Tullahan and Pasig River systems—progress on our nationwide upland and mangrove reforestation project has been better than expected,” said SMC President Ramon S. Ang. “It’s largely due to the commitment and focused efforts of our businesses, employees, volunteers, and community partners who have been working together to achieve our goals. As our country starts to recover from the pandemic, we will further expand these programs, which are essential to

improving quality of life, supporting livelihoods and shaping an overall better future for all of us, post-pandemic,” he added. Ang said that in all, SMC’s groupwide reforestation project targets to plant endemic trees and fruit tree species over 4,000 hectares nationwide recommended by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and local communities with vast knowledge of their areas. Ang said the bulk of its 2021 total includes close to 1.5 million trees and mangroves planted by its power subsidiary, SMC Global Power Holdings, (SMCGP) as of October 15, as part of its carbon capture initiative dubbed Project 747. The project entails planting of seven million trees in at least seven provinces nationwide. “We thank the DENR and our local partners for their continuing support and cooperation for our initiatives, expecially in helping us determine which tree species to plant in their respective areas. This is key to the trees’ survival and ensuring that the existing environment is not disrupted,” Ang said, noting that in some areas, fruit-bearing trees have been planted in line with the government’s agro-forestry program, to

benefit surrounding communities for generations. Ang touted SMC’s partnerships with local communities and farmers’ and fishermen’s groups as key to the high survival rate of its trees. For Project 747 alone, the survival rate is at 89 percent for upland trees, and 91 percent for mangrove saplings. “The success of our programs lies in the support and participation of communities—from farmers, to fisherfolk groups, to residents of our sustainable housing communities. In our experience, trees and mangroves planted have a higher chance of growing to adulthood if the community has a sense of pride and ownership over them, and when everyone fully appreciates their benefits—whether its shade, protection from tidal floods, better air quality, or fruits that they provide,” Ang said. For this year, SMCGP has planted 600,014 tree seedlings and 947,752 mangrove propagules, exceeding its one million annual goal to make up for a slightly lower output last year, due to the onset of the pandemic. The company is looking to plant up to 1.7 million trees by end of the year. Ang said that overall, this brings SMCGP’s total to 3,476,914 million

trees and mangroves planted in less than three years.

Tree varieties

Since the program started in 2019, Project 747 has already covered 1,021 hectares of upland and mangrove coastal areas. Trees and saplings planted are continuously maintained with the help of 39 people’s organizations throughout Zambales, Davao Occidental, Negros Occidental, Bataan, Pangasinan, Albay, Quezon province, and Bulacan. Among upland tree varieties planted and maintained are Narra, Molave, White Lauan, Palosapis Agoho, Batino, Igang, and Malabayabas, while mangrove varieties include Bakawan Babae, Bakawan Lalaki, Bungalon, and Api-Api. Meanwhile, Ang said that ongoing community-based reforestation projects of other SMC subsidiaries in various provinces, also added to SMC’s overall total. San Miguel Brewery’s Trees Brew Life Program this year planted 22,600 mangroves and trees in Mandaue, Cebu, and 1,500 trees in Bacolod and Tagoloan cities. In the last 10 years, SMB’s Trees Brew Life has planted an estimated one million trees in various locations nationwide.

Friday, October 29, 2021

Manila local govt, Microsoft announce digital partnership

Signage outside the Microsoft campus in Mountain View, California, United States, July 22, 2021. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

icrosoft and the City of Manila have signed an agreement to accelerate the digital transformation of the Philippines’s capital. Microsoft said it will mainly support the local government unit’s ambition for its Go Manila initiative, which seeks to build the first, holistic, digital data infrastructure by any Philippine city, large or small. The company said it is ready to support and roll out the initiative to create digital IDs for every one of Manila’s more than 2 million plus residents, with an initial focus on the estimated 350,000 poorest and most at-risk or vulnerable populations. “Our collaboration with Microsoft accelerates our ambitions to build a 21st century economy that lifts up our poor, improves job opportunities for our middle class, enhances how the City Government of Manila works internally and improves how we will deliver services externally and enhances our overall business and investment-friendly attractiveness, especially as we seek to recover from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Manila Mayor Francisco Moreno Domagoso said. “Creating smarter cities is more than just about devices and sensors.

It’s about creating an environment that allows every citizen to connect with the city and the city with every citizen. We work with local and national government agencies all over the world to achieve that outcome and we’re committed to its attainment for the City of Manila and every city across the Philippines,” Microsoft Country General Manager Ortola said. Microsoft said Manila’s 290,000 public-school students will be provided free email addresses and free Microsoft 365 accounts, its flagship software applications. Manila is also on a trial exercise to provide Microsoft Workplace to the City’s leadership team across all 54 of its executive departments. Both Microsoft and Manila will conduct extensive internal training sessions for the city leaders on the new digital platform. The partnership will seek to further optimize the city’s “Go Manila” platform, a whole-of-city digital data infrastructure initiative and wherever requested by the City of Manila, enhance data governance policies. Microsoft will provide access to government-specific resources and expertise in Artificial Intelligence and map horizons for future digital plans. VG Cabuag

B4 Friday, October 29, 2021

World Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Samsung expects global chip crunch to persist

amsung Electronics Co. said the tight supply of chips that’s hurting industries worldwide is set to persist through next year, as it reported quarterly profit boosted by rising prices at its semiconductor business.

The South Korean giant, both a major producer and consumer of chips that go into computers and mobile devices, said net income rose to 12.06 trillion won ($10.3 billion) in the three months ended September. Analysts predicted 11.54 trillion won on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung disclosed preliminary numbers earlier this month, including a more than 25 percent increase in operating profit. The world’s biggest maker of memory chips and smartphones has benefited from strong demand as the global economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, with a resulting shortage boosting semiconductor prices. While Samsung

and its chipmaker rivals are spending more to add production capacity, the crunch isn’t abating soon as consumers and companies continue to invest in technology. “The pandemic led global consumers to experience more onlinebased social activities and lifestyles —which has been called the new normal—and we think most of the demand of the new normal will persist as a fundamental part of our life,” JinMan Han, executive vice president of Samsung’s chip business, said on a conference call Thursday. The company didn’t give forecasts for earnings or investment for 2022 because of uncertainties including supply bottlenecks and

A Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Z Fold 3 smartphone inside the company's Digital Plaza store at the Hyundai Seoul department store in Seoul, South Korea, on October 3. Samsung Electronics will release its preliminary third quarter earnings on October 8. SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

rising raw-material prices. Meanwhile, memory-chip prices may start to cool this quarter as customers are less anxious to place new orders after stockpiling inventories. “The growth in Korea’s DRAM chip exports may continue apace but prices may keep on weakening. The export value of DRAM in September rose 29 percent year-onyear to $3.78 billion, the highest since November 2018. However, spot prices often used in small transactions began sinking in August, and large contract prices may fall anytime soon,” said Masahiro

Wakasugi, BI analyst. Samsung’s smartphone shipments and average selling prices rose from the previous quarter, helped by the launch of new Z series foldable models. The company predicted a decline in mobile device shipments for this quarter compared with the preceding three months. Shares of Samsung were little changed at 12:54 p.m. in Seoul. They have lost more than 10 percent this year, with industry observers predicting the memory-chip market will see prices on the decline.

While Samsung is better known for smartphones outside of South Korea, its profits are largely driven by its memory-chip business. Semiconductors typically account for the largest slice of its income. Server clients have built up their inventories, putting pressure on memory suppliers to reduce prices. Rival SK Hynix Inc. said Tuesday the supply flexibility has changed from the past as chip suppliers manage capacity in line with demand, echoing Micron Technology Inc.’s argument that the wide swings between shortages and gluts are moderating. Still, chip suppliers remain optimistic demand won’t fall off. Samsung said the widely expected downturn for the memory market is unlikely to be as severe as prior such episodes. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su gave a bullish outlook on Tuesday, predicting strong demand for server and console chips in 2022, while predicting a “flattish” PC market. Macro risks such as an energy crisis in China, soaring commodity prices and tepid United States job data could prompt customers to curb orders. “Considering the risk

of economic slowdowns in China and the US as well as falling memory prices, Samsung’s earnings may slow down until the first half of next year,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities. Samsung is preparing for a major technology shift to so-called DDR5 memory chips that are faster than the previous generation while improving power efficiency. Its 14nm DDR5 product is highly competitive and is set to be a boon for the company, said Kim Young-woo, an analyst at SK Securities. A prolonged delay in a new server processor that’d use DDR5—an Intel Corp. product codenamed Sapphire Rapids—could affect demand, Kim said. Samsung is also betting on a more advanced chipmaking process as a growth driver. Its foundry revenue is set to expand at an annual average rate of 24 percent until 2026, with growth this year reaching 30 percent, Daishin Securities forecasts. Samsung plans to start producing 3-nanometer chips in the first half, while industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. expects to start mass manufacturing in the latter half of 2022. Bloomberg News

McDonald’s beats estimates on fewer restrictions, price hike Novavax files for UK authorization

cDonald’s Corp. posted third-quarter sales that beat expectations as diners in the United States placed larger orders and absorbed higher menu prices, while international results were buoyed by fewer pandemic restrictions. The fast-food chain on Wednesday reported comparable sales growth—a closely watched gauge of performance for restaurants—of 12.7 percent in the quarter ended September 30. That’s above the nearly 10 percent estimate from analysts. Comparable sales also outpaced expectations in the US and international markets, the Chicago-based company said. The performance came despite a range of challenges for the restaurant chain, from “restrictions driven by new Covid variants to supplychain pressures and labor shortages

across industries,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said on a conference call. “I’m confident in our ability to meet whatever challenges may confront us.” While the restaurant industry is struggling with rising wage and commodity costs on top of supply-chain shortages and delays, McDonald’s is faring well thanks to its takeout and delivery focus. A new chicken sandwich and loyalty program, along with menu price hikes, helped in McDonald’s home market, where the chain has more than 13,000 locations. McDonald’s nudged up its forecast for system-wide sales growth to a high-teens percentage from midteens. The company also expects to open 1,500 stores this year, above the 1,300 previously predicted. McDonald’s shares rose 3.1 percent at 9:50 a.m. in New York. They gained

10 percent this year through Tuesday’s close, short of the S&P 500’s 22 percent advance over the same period. The company’s sales and margin results were strong, with international operated markets a particular standout, Wells Fargo analyst Jon Tower said in a note. “It’s hard to poke a hole in MCD’s financial results.” Still, Kempczinski acknowledged that a shortage of staff was slowing service times and lengthening lines at McDonald’s stores. Kempczinski said he had hoped the labor crunch would have eased more by now. In the meantime, restaurants are struggling to fill open positions— dangling sign-on bonuses and $20 an hour pay in some cases. The stubborn labor shortage in the US has been called out as an obstacle recently by rivals such as Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Chipotle Mexi-

can Grill Inc. and Domino’s Pizza Inc. McDonald ’s said results were strong in Canada, France, Germany and particularly the United Kingdom. This was driven in part by fewer restaurant closures with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. The company added that Latin America and Japan were strong performers. The company’s dine-in business— and kiosk usage—is returning now in Europe, where it’s a more important part of the business versus the US. Covid-related restrictions continue to weigh on McDonald’s in some regions, however. Comparable-store sales declined in China due to a resurgence of the coronavirus, while Australia’s sales were muted because of restrictions to curb the virus’s spread. The pandemic has caused reduced store hours and closed dining rooms in some cases. Bloomberg News

Facebook employees told to preserve Airbus ups profit target again on bullish jet demand outlook documents amid scrutiny

acebook Inc. has told employees to preserve company documents as the social media giant disclosed it’s coming under scrutiny over allegations that it misled investors and consumers about harms and declining users on its platform. Testimony and a trove of internal records provided by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager turned whistle-blower, as well as a series of news reports based on her information, has also intensified the clamor among Democratic and Republican lawmakers to curb the power of technology platforms. In a 10-Q form submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Facebook acknowledged that “from time to time, we are also subject to other government inquiries and investigations relating to our business activities and disclosure practices. “For example, beginning in September 2021, we became subject to government investigations and requests relating to a former employee’s allegations and release of internal company documents concerning, among other things, our algorithms, advertising and user metrics, and content enforcement practices, as well as misinformation and other undesirable activity on our platform, and user well-being,” the company told the SEC in the filing. Joel Osborne, a company spokesman, said that “Facebook sent a legal hold notice to all personnel,” in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday. “Document preservation requests are part of the process of

responding to legal inquiries.” Facebook’s request to employees to preserve documents in an internal memo Tuesday was reported earlier by the New York Times. Haugen, who has testified before Congress and appeared at a parliamentary hearing in London this week, opened a window into the practices of a company that, since its founding in 2004, has become omnipresent in the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. She said that the company has put profits over user safety and security. Her disclosures show, for instance, that some Facebook employees expressed alarm during the United States Capitol riot on January 6 that the company had not done enough to act against groups spreading the lie that then-President Donald Trump had won the 2020 election. On Monday, Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg presented a brighter portrait of the social network, telling investors about new efforts to attract young users and build immersive digital experiences. He said the press coverage regarding Haugen’s disclosures was part of a “coordinated effort” to paint a negative and unbalanced picture of Facebook’s efforts to moderate its platform, which he called better than that of rivals. “Any honest account should be clear that these issues are not primarily about social media,” he said. “That means that no matter what Facebook does, we’re never going to solve them on our own.” Bloomberg News

irbus SE boosted its earnings and cash-flow targets for the second time this year, banking on a recovery in air travel to support its push to boost jetliner output. Adjusted operating profit for 2021 will reach 4.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion), up from the 4 billion euros previously forecast, Airbus said Thursday as it reported third-quarter results. The European planemaker gave slight ground on the timing of its ongoing ramp-up in narrow-body production, while setting a higher target for mid-2023. Airbus is seeking to rally suppliers and customers that have been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic to support a significant production increase as air travel starts to bounce back. Aircraft lessors and enginemakers have pushed back against the plans, with Raytheon Technologies Corp. Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes saying Tuesday that he wasn’t sure the market would support build rates of 75 A320-series jets per month by 2025. “We are focused on securing the A320 family ramp up and striving to ensure the right industrial and supply chain capabilities are in place,” Airbus Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Faury said in a statement. The company stood by an earlier goal of delivering 600 jets this year, despite limited supplier issues that have held back production. “We see all the difficulties associated with going from hibernation for 15 months back to business,” Faury said on a conference call. Free cash flow before M&A and customer financing is expected to hit 2.5 billion euros this year, versus

the earlier outlook for 2 billion euros. The company said the new forecasts assume no further disruptions to the world economy or air traffic.

Better outlook

Airbus had boosted its financial targets in July, though analysts suggested then that they may be too cautious given the Toulouse, Francebased manufacturer’s delivery goals for the year. For the first nine months, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes reached 3.4 billion euros, on 35.2 billion euros in revenue. During the third quarter, the company said it released 400 million euros of Covidrelated provisions. Global supply-chain snarls are also an issue, while furlough programs have protected Airbus from labor shortages. Faury said Thursday that the company is managing difficulties with on-time deliveries from certain suppliers, which he blamed for disappointing deliveries during September. While the company made some adjustments to its production plans, the CEO said there’s been “no change of substance” when it comes to the A320. Faury said he’s still assessing whether to commit to 75 a month by 2025. The demand is there, but the company needs to take the supply chain into account. Airbus will target a rate of 65 per month on the top-selling narrowbody program by summer 2023, versus a previous plan to reach 64 in the second quarter of that year. A planned ramp-up of the larger A350 will also come slightly later, with build rates now seen going from five a month to six in early 2023 rather than late 2022 Bloomberg News.

ovavax Inc. applied for United Kingdom authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine, the first submission for a protein-based shot against the disease in the region. The company, which lost out to rivals in the initial phase of vaccine development, said in a statement Wednesday that it completed its rolling submission —an accelerated review of trial and manufacturing data—with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and filed for a conditional marketing license. Shares of Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Novavax rose as much as 16 percent in New York. Novavax’s vaccine mimics the coronavirus’s spike protein, sparking an immune response that prepares the body for a real infection. It requires two doses three weeks apart and can be stored at refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to transport than some messenger RNA shots.

Closer to delivery The drugmaker submitted clinical data to the regulator from a trial of 15,000 volunteers in the UK earlier this year. The results showed efficacy of 96.4 percent against the original Covid strain and 86.3 percent against the alpha variant that first arose in the UK. Data from a 30,000-person trial in the United States and Mexico has also demonstrated 100 percent protection against moderate and severe disease. “This submission brings Novavax significantly closer to delivering millions of doses of the first protein-based Covid-19 vaccine, built on a proven, well-understood vaccine platform,” said Stanley Erck, president and chief executive officer. The drugmaker is planning to apply for authorization in the US by year-end, according to the statement. It applied to the World Health Organization for authorization last month. Novavax secured some of the largest funding from the U.S. government in the early stages of the pandemic, and the Trump administration agreed to buy 110 million doses. The company has lagged in the commercial development of a shot compared to rivals such as

Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., and its shares are down more than half since hitting highs in February. Progress has been slowed by manufacturing problems and a production failure at a US-funded vaccine plant in Baltimore, operated by Emergent BioSolutions Inc. Last month Novavax said at least 2 billion doses of its vaccine would be available in 2022.

Lasting pandemic As of September 10, Novavax has a deal with the UK to provide up to 60 million doses and overall is committed to 400 million shots in advance purchase agreements with New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Europe and elsewhere. The company also has an agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, trying to speed up vaccinations in developing nations where inoculations are still far behind developed nations. Overall, some 1.1 billion doses of Novavax vaccine are due to be made available to countries participating in Covax, the program set up to deliver Covid vaccines equitably worldwide. Novavax Chief Commercial and Business Officer John Trizzino suggested last month that the pandemic would probably last into 2023 and potentially beyond. He pushed back against the notion that there won’t be enough demand for his company’s product. “Depending upon vaccination rate assumptions, depending upon booster frequency assumptions, I think we might find ourselves still being in demand outpacing supply 12, 18, 24 months from now,” Trizzino said then. There are still tens of millions of people in the US alone who are eligible for vaccines and haven’t received them. “There’s a long way to go, and we haven’t yet factored in boosters,” he said at a conference. Beyond that, there’s a good argument for boosting with a different technology of Covid vaccine than people got the first time around, Trizzino said. Novavax’s recombinant protein nanoparticle-based shot—used with an immune system-helping adjuvant— could be a good fit for people who initially received mRNA shots, he said. Bloomberg News

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Banking&Finance

₧131.4B revenue losses seen if fuel tax deferred By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

USPENDING the excise tax on fuel will be “detrimental” to the country’s economic recovery and long-term growth, the Department of Finance (DOF) warned. During the House Committee hearing on the proposed suspension of fuel excise tax on Thursday, Finance Director Euvimil Nina R. Asuncion told lawmakers that the move supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) would not only result in substantial foregone revenues of P131.4 billion next year but would also lead to lower overall economic growth. While disposable income and consumption may increase and there is inflation relief in the short-term, the overall growth of the economy will be lower, Asuncion said. “From 2022 onwards, overall economic growth will be lower with the decrease in government spending without the fuel excise tax revenues,” Asuncion said. Moreover, suspending the excise tax on fuel would see government losing gains in making the tax system more equitable under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law or Republic Act (RA) 10963, she added. Instead of the proposed suspension, Asuncion said providing a tar-

geted subsidy to the transportation sector “will be more equitable than removing all fuel excise taxes which may only subsidize the consumption of higher-income households.” On Monday, economic managers announced the rollout of a P1-billion fuel subsidy for the transportation sector to cushion the impact of increasing oil prices. Government aims to subsidize around 178,000 public transport drivers. The DOE also asked to be given the power to suspend the excise tax on fuel. During the same hearing, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi explained that the suspension of fuel excise tax be triggered if the oil price breaches a certain benchmark but will revert once the price goes down. The DOF has earlier said that the provision under the Train law cannot be invoked anymore as this has already lapsed and only covered excise tax increases from 2018 to 2020. Asuncion also emphasized during the hearing that what is being proposed to be suspended now is the full excise tax and not just the excise tax increase, which was previously suspended under RA 10963. After the hearing, some lawmakers appealed to the DOF to “reconsider” their position to oppose the proposed suspension of fuel excise tax given the increasing oil prices.

BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Friday, October 29, 2021

B2-1

BIR wins in ₧2.08B tax case vs. Landmark mall operator

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) secured a victory against Citysuper Inc., which operates Landmark Trinoma, after the Supreme Court (SC) reversed the ruling issued by the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) cancelling the P2.08-billion assessment notices for tax deficiencies that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (CIR) issued in 2011. In a 23-page decision penned by Associate Justice Marvic MVF Leonen, the Court’s Third Division granted the petition filed by the CIR seeking to set aside the resolution issued by the CTA on December 15, 2017. The CTA declared that the prescriptive periods for some of the deficiency value-added taxes, withholding taxes on compensation and

expanded withholding taxes had elapsed. The CTA noted that the prescription period was not validly waived. The CTA cited Section 203 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) that said assessments for deficiency taxes should be issued within three years from the last day prescribed by law to file the tax return, or the actual date of filing of such return,

which comes later. In reversing the CTA’s decision, the High Tribunal gave credence to the argument of the CIR that the CTA had no jurisdiction over the case due to the failure of Citysuper to file a protest before the agency prior to elevating the issue before the CTA. The CIR explained that Citysuper had admitted receiving the final letter of demand and assessment notices on April 24, 2015, which meant the company had until May 24, 2015, to file a protest. While it allegedly filed a protest on April 29, 2015, the CIR claimed that the protest letter only had the assessment notices attached and stated that Citysuper was still compiling supporting documents. With no protest, the Commissioner said, the assessment became final, thus, depriving the CTA of jurisdiction. “Section 228 of the NIRC requires that administrative protests against assessments conform to the rules and regulations issued by the BIR,” the SC said in a decision released on October 27, 2021. “Respondent’s April 29, 2015 letter did not comply with the requirements set down in Revenue Regu-

lation (RR) 18-2013. There was no administrative protest to speak of, and no decision on a disputed assessment to assail. Thus, the [CTA] had no jurisdiction over the petition for review,” it added. The SC noted that in its previous decision in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Villa, it held that the CTA’s jurisdiction was over the CIR’s decision on the protest against an assessment, and not the assessment itself. Thus, the period to invoke judicial review must be counted from receipt of the CIR’s decision on the disputed assessment. But, in the case of Citysuper, the SC said its protest was void for failing to comply with the requirements of RR 18-2013. “Section 228 of the [NIRC] is clear. The administrative protest must be filed not only within the stated period, but also ‘in such form and manner as may be prescribed by implementing rules and regulations,’” the SC explained. “When a taxpayer files a petition for review before the [CTA] without validly contesting the assessment with the [CIR], the petition is premature and the [CTA] has no jurisdiction,” the High Tribunal added.

More LGUs ask MB’s view GFI allocates add’l ₧300M in soft loans for small firms on domestic borrowings By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

OCAL government units (LGUs) have increasingly sought the opinion of the monetary board (MB) for their domestic borrowings in the first half of 2021, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday. In a statement, the BSP said it has received 198 LGU requests for opinion of the MB on their proposed domestic borrowings, with a total proposed loan amount of P47.2 billion. This was higher by 23.8 percent than the 160 requests received in the second half of 2020, which amounted to P42.8 billion. The prior opinion of the MB on the proposed borrowings of government entities, including LGUs, is mandated by the New Central Bank law (Republic Act 11211). R A 11211 requires the government, its political subdivisions or instrumentalities, to request the MB to render its opinion on the monetary and external sector implications of their proposed loans prior to undertaking any credit operation. This provision of the law stems from the BSP’s role as the government’s advisor on official credit operations. Broken down by LGU type, the number of requests received in the first half of the year were from 21 provinces for a total of 13.billion, 18 cities for P15. billion, 157 municipalities for P19.1 billion and two barangays for P25.5.million.

The BSP said most of the proposed loans of LGUs were largely intended for infrastructure projects, comprising 67.5 percent of the total proposed loans. These infrastructure projects include the construction and improvement of government buildings, public markets, multipurpose buildings, convention halls, commercial establishments, farm-to-market and access roads, water system, health care facilities or hospitals, school buildings, sports complex or gymnasium, as well as public transport terminals, among others. Other proposed loans were intended for the acquisition of heavy equipment and procurement of rescue and service vehicles, accounting for 20.5 percent of the total proposed LGU loans. Meanwhile, 10 percent of the total proposed LGU loans were allocated for the acquisition of lots and site development for sanitary landfills, waste management or recovery facilities, as well as loan refinancing. The remaining 2 percent of the total proposed LGU loans were for the purpose of supporting the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. These include the construction of Covid-19 monitoring and/or isolation facilities and rehabilitation areas, acquisition of service vehicles for disease surveillance and contact tracing, and procurement of medical equipment, reagents, testing kits, and protective personal equipment sets.

HE Small Business Corp. (SB Corp.) allocated an additional P300 million for its “soft loan” program to help micro-scale businesses and small firms pay the 13th-month benefit of their workers. SB Corp. Spokesman Robert Bastillo said they opted to raise the original budget for the loan facility from only P200 million to P500 million in anticipation of the large number of companies, which will avail of it. Bastillo estimates the current

fund for the program could benefit between 6,000 firms to 7,000 companies. He said establishments, which are interested to avail of the program, could apply through the SB Corp. website from November 2 to December 7. Bastillo said the deadline is meant to give SB Corp. enough time to process the loans before December 24, which is the deadline for the payment of 13th month benefits. “Under the law, such transactions should take 20 days processing, but we are targeting to complete the processing per application [for the

soft loan] within 7 days to 10 days,” Bastillo said.

Application requirements

TO qualify for the loan, the applicant must be included in the list of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) of over 11,000 companies that implemented flexible work arrangements between March 2020 until October 15, 2021. “The reason why they will be prioritized is because we will not have time to validate the companies one by one because there is only a short period left before Christmas,” Bastillo said in an online interview

with a government-owned television station. “If it is reported with [the] DOLE, we are sure they are legitimate,” he added. The company must also be in the “micro” or “small” category, which means having 20 or less employees. The amount of the loan could range from P12,000, which is the minimum, to over P50,000, according to Bastillo. The applicants must present a Barangay Business Permit if they will borrow below P50,000 and a Mayor’s permit if they will borrow more than P50,000.

BDO subsidiary reports lower net profit for Jan-Sept

DO Leasing & Finance Inc., a subsidiary of BDO Unibank Inc., reported lower net profit in the first nine months of the year. In a statement, BDO Leasing & Finance said its earnings hit P39.8 million in the first nine months of 2021. This is significantly lower than its profit of P134.6 million earnings a year-ago. The financing arm said the

profit in the first nine months of the year was derived solely from fair value gain from investments in Unit Trust Investment Funds (UITFs). In particular, of the P6 billion of BDO Leasing & Finance’s assets as of end-September, almost all or P5.9 billion was invested in UITFs. The January to September 2021 results were lower compared to the

earnings last year, as last year’s earnings was based on a balance sheet prior to the full implementation of the restructuring of BDO Unibank Group’s leasing business. This entailed the sale of substantially all of BLFI’s assets to BDO Unibank, BDO Life, and BDO Finance Corp. BDO Leasing & Finance ceased to operate as a leasing company

and completed the assignment and transfer of its leasing and financing business to affiliate BDO Finance on October 19, 2020. BDO Finance was established to offer customers continued access to lease products and services and, likewise, assumed the lease transactions booked in BDO Leasing & Finance to ensure continuity to the latter’s existing clients. Bianca Cuaresma

CIMB Bank PHL to provide credit to Lalamove drivers

IMB Bank Philippines Inc. announced on Thursday that it has partnered with Lalamove Philippines Inc. to provide a digital revolving credit access to the latter’s drivers for day-to-day needs and emergencies. With the partnership, qualified Lalamove drivers can get a revolving credit-line of up to P250,000, which can be convert into cash or a term loan, use it to pay bills, and soon, shop online through a virtual debit card, at low interest rates, Lalamove’s statement read. “We are all about consistently in-

novating to provide meaningful digital financial solutions that address a real need and solve pain points for Filipinos, especially those who are in the informal economy, where access to credit is just so difficult,” CIMB CEO Vijay Manoharan was quoted in the statement as saying. “We want to help hardworking Filipinos, like Lalamove’s partner drivers, have easier access to credit to be able to better fulfill their needs, get ahead, and earn more for themselves and their families. We are able to do so through an innovative solution in the form of REVI

Credit, CIMB’s ‘buy now, pay later’ product,” Manoharan added. Through the credit line, Lalamove drivers are given more flexibility over how to access, as well as use, the credit given to them. They can easily pay for bills and, soon, online goods upfront on credit and pay over a period of time. It also lets them withdraw cash from their credit line to their CIMB Bank savings account. In addition, they can convert up to 70 percent of their credit limit into a term loan, which they can pay at flexible terms and low interest rates.

The partnership also entails CIMB Bank providing for free to qualified Lalamove drivers a personal accident insurance of up to P50,000. “A lot of our partner drivers often need emergency cash, usually for unforeseen health, accident and personal emergencies,” Lalamove Managing Director Dannah Majarocon was quoted in the statement as saying. “With them having access to REVI Credit, and of course, the insurance, our partner drivers can breathe easier. They will always have something to tap in cases of unanticipated needs.” VG Cabuag

B2-2 Friday, October 29, 2021

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Managing a lean association staff: The essential aspects

recently participated in a virtual meeting of the European Society of Association Executives, with the theme “How to Run a Lean Secretariat?” As part of ESAE’s “Association Leadership Circle” series, the session aimed to exchange experiences and case studies among its members on how to achieve an outstanding performance despite limited resources. The pandemic has made this challenge even more daunting. The panelists included: Dianna Steinbach, vice president of Corporate Development, ISSA-The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association; Sebastian Emig, director general of the European Snacks Association; Roberta Mugnai, executive director of the European Calcified Tissue Society; Erwin Wetzel, director general of the European Vending and Coffee Service Association; and, Alfons Westgeest, managing partner at Kellen. The session was moderated by Carlos Olabe, CEO of the European Investment Caster’s Federation. I may have missed how a lean secretariat is defined in the European context but I recall that a small-staff association in the US has an employee complement of one to five, including the chief executive, and with an annual budget of less than $1 million. The objectives and strategies discussed based on each of the following five aspects are: 1. Organization and Administration. To run on efficient systems and overheads but still remain innovative, an association needs to consider instituting shared services, undertaking collaboration and partnerships, and regularly reviewing and refreshing its operational processes. 2. Digitalization. The aim of digitalization is to allow for maximum connection among the association’s stakeholders — its members, Board, volunteers and staff – which can be done via remote but reliable delivery of services, flexible work schemes, and constant communication. An association has to invest in appropriate technologies to optimize the use of database and email systems and to provide better, faster, and smarter member engagement activities.

Association World Octavio Peralta 3. Secretariat/Management staff. People are the main asset of an association and so continuous training, retooling, and up-skilling are essential for staff morale and productivity. This capability-boosting action can be supplemented by empowering them, by ensuring they fit their roles and responsibilities, and by building trust and confidence within the team. Use of interns and contractual personnel to augment work needs is also an option for the association. 4. Finance. As a significant resource for the association, finance is an enabler and strategic tool for the chief executive to be able to fulfil the mission of the organization and be sustainable. Disciplined financial planning and balancing, longterm viability mindset, and project orientation, are key ingredients to maintain the relevance of the organization. 5. Governance. The board, working with the chief executive, comprise the association’s leadership team that provides strategic direction, alignment to purpose, and opportunities to implement change, when needed. A board composition that consists of members with a diverse set of expertise and with no self-interest, coupled with a wellstructured onboarding process gives impetus to the organization. All these five aspects are also applicable, not only to lean-staffed associations, but also to any association regardless of the size of its personnel and its annual budget. They have also been major considerations in the past but the pandemic has made them front and center again. The column contributor, Octavio Peralta, is Founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE). The PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 9 (AS9) on November 24 and 25, 2021. The 2-day virtual event is supported by the Tourism Promotions Board. E-mail inquiries@adfiap.org for more details on AS9.

Banks backs economic recovery–BSP chief

HE Philippine banking sector remains sound, stable and supportive of the financing requirements of the recovering economy, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno. The capitalization of Philippine banks stand well above the 10 percent minimum requirement of the BSP and the 8 percent international standards, while system-wide non-performing loan ratio remain manageable, the BSP governor said in his keynote speech at a forum organized by Hong Kong-based multi-media firm Asset Publishing And Research Ltd. Lending has also improved expanding by 1.3 percent in August from a year ago. This marks the first expansion following the declines posted since December last year, according to a statement from the BSP. In his speech, the Governor also expressed confidence in the Philippines’s economic recovery. “A year-and-a-half since the pandemic, we are getting back on our feet.

We have learned to live with the virus better with the government shifting to a risk-based approach to mobility restrictions,” Diokno said. “This strategic shift has resulted in better economic and health outcomes.” The Governor added that the 11.8-percent growth in gross domestic product in the second quarter of this year is more than just base effects but “reflects the impact of the fiscal and monetary policy support during the pandemic and the calibrated imposition of mobility restrictions which enabled many businesses, including public transportation, to continue operation.” The BSP chief also cited data indicators that show that the economy is on the mend, such as improvements in manufacturing, employment, foreign direct investments and external trade. Thus, Diokno emphasized that the BSP is keeping its policy settings and regulatory relief measures supportive of the recovering economy and that withdrawal of relief measures will only be done once full recovery is underway.

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Treasury aims to raise ₧200B in Nov auctions of securities

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Bureau of the Treasury is set to borrow P200 billion from the local debt market in November, the same amount it programmed to borrow this month.

Broken down, the Treasury aims to raise P140 billion through auctioning off Treasury Bonds (T-bonds) while another P60 billion is pro-

grammed to be borrowed through Treasury Bills (T-bills). It will be offering P15 billion in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills

in each of the four auction days starting November 2 (Tuesday) and the next three Mondays of the month. Since November 1 is a holiday, the auction date was moved to November 2, which was declared by Malacañang as a special working day. The Treasury will also sell P35 billion in T-bonds on each of the four auction days, particularly on November 3 (Wednesday) and the next three Tuesdays of the month. This year, the national government programmed to borrow a total of P3.1-trillion, most of which is expected to be raised through domestic sources. The government borrows to meet

its spending requirements as well as to finance its budget deficit. The national government’s budget deficit as of end-September has reached P1.14 trillion, surpassing the P879.2-billion shortfall in the same period last year. The wider gap resulted from government expenditures overtaking state revenues. As of end-August this year, the national government’s outstanding debt has hit a new record-high of P11.64 trillion, up by more than a fifth from P9.62 trillion a year ago. It is expected to reach P11.73 trillion by the end of this year and P13.42 trillion by end-2022.

Regulator flags firm for lacking license to sell insurance

HE Insurance Commission (IC) issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO) against Holy Angels Health Management Services as it lacked the license from the regulator to sell insurance policies. This came after the IC investigated the operations of Holy Angels following the receipt of a complaint stating that the company, which presents itself as an insurer, did not pay the corresponding benefits when

the insurance policies they obtained matured. The complainant, later on, learned from the IC’s Licensing Division that Holy Angels was not a licensed insurance firm. Responding to IC’s demand to explain the issues alleged by the complainant, Holy Angels, through its President, explained that they operated as an insurance agency and that the claims of the complainant

and her kin were already settled. After finding the explanation misplaced, Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa then issued the CDO in a bid to stop Holy Angels’ insurance agency business due to the lack of license to do so. It was also ordered to refund the amounts it received from the complainant and her kin. “Bearing in mind that the sale of contracts of insurance is imbued

with public interest, it is within this Commission’s mandate to safeguard the rights and interest of the insuring public against the deleterious effects of unsanctioned and unsupervised activities of unregistered entities,” Funa was quoted in a statement as saying. “The insuring public is thus warned not to transact with these unregistered entities and encouraged to report the same to the IC.” Bernadette D. Nicolas

PNB Capital to refund PDIC to bid out agri lots in investors in IPO issue Mindanao on November 26 By VG Cabuag

@villygc

NB Capital and Investment Corp., the underwriter for the P4.5billion initial public offering (IPO) of AllDay Marts Inc., will be refunding the subscriptions of retail investors that cannot be accommodated after the Villar-led firm secured more demand from buyers. PNB Capital said AllDay’s IPO was 1.62-times oversubscribed. “The overwhelming demand from the local small investors (LSI) who participated in AllDay’s IPO and subscribed to the company’s common shares resulted in the total demand for the offer shares exceeding the maximum allocation of 585.72 million common shares with an oversubscription of 1.11 billion common shares,” PNB Capital said in its letter to the stakeholders. It was for this reason, and in accordance with the guidelines, that PNB Capital allocated fully-paid LSI applications in ascending order, or from the smallest to the largest orders. “Due to the above-mentioned distribution mechanism, certain LSI subscribers may have been allocated shares that are less than the amount subscribed and paid for,” it said. “For the affected LSI subscribers, please be advised that the receiving agent, Philippine National Bank acting through

its Trust Banking Group, shall refund the affected LSI subscriber, without interest, starting on the fifth banking day from the end of the offer period or on November 2, 2021,” it said. Check refunds is available for pick-up at the office of the PNB Trust Banking Group, PNB Financial Center in Pasay City. “On behalf of the company, PNB Capital is truly grateful for the support of the investing public in this monumental IPO. The overwhelming demand is a testament to the high confidence of investors in the company and the post-pandemic recovery of the Philippine economy,” PNB Capital said. The company that operates the AllDay Supermarket chain is selling to the public 7.54 billion shares, divided into 6.86 billion primary shares covering the primary offer and another 685.71 million secondary shares owned by mother company AllValue Holdings Inc. It will sell these shares at an offer price of P0.60 apiece. The company is expected to gross P4.52 billion, proceeds of which from primary offer will be used to retire P4.1 billion high-cost debt it tapped from seven banks to fund store network expansion. Part of the proceeds from the IPO will also be used by AllDay for the rollout of its new stores.

HE Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC), the statutory liquidator of closed banks, announced last Tuesday it is set to dispose a total of 31 agricultural lots located in Mindanao through an electronic public bidding (ebidding) on November 26. To be sold individually and on an “asis, where-is” basis are 27 vacant agricultural lots and four agricultural lots with improvements located in Maguindanao, North Cotabato, South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, which range from 1,200 to 220,965 square meters. Minimum disposal price ranges from P100,000 to P5.1 million, the PDIC said in a statement. Combined, these properties are being sold for a minimum disposal price of P60.9 million. The PDIC announced that it will accept bids for these closed bankowned properties via its e-bidding portal. Interested buyers may send their bids online starting at 9:00 a.m. on November 25, 2021 to 1:00 p.m. on November 26, 2021. Bids will be opened on November 26, at 2:00 p.m., the PDIC said. To complete the required one-time registration, interested parties can go to the PDIC “Assets for Sale” website. Registered bidders with submitted bids can observe the scheduled e-bidding proceedings through the said portal or by clicking the Assets for Sale icon on the homepage of PDIC’s website (www. pdic.gov.ph). The PDIC is reminding bidders “of their responsibility to determine the actual condition, status, ownership and other circumstances of the properties they wish to acquire. The PDIC said this includes the possible coverage of these assets in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and the issuance of “Emancipation

Patents” or “Certificates of Land Ownership Award.” Additional information on these may be inquired from pertinent registries, government agencies and other entities such as the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer and Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform where the properties are located. As part of the bid requirements, bidders must submit a Certification from the PARO that the property for which he is submitting a bid is not covered by the CARP and that no “Emancipation Patent or Certificate of Land Ownership Award” has been issued for said property. The complete list and description of the properties, requirements, e-bidding process and Conditions of Bid are posted on the ebidding portal. The standard format for the Affidavit of Aggregate Landholdings stating that the bidder’s aggregate landholding, including the property/ies to be acquired during the bidding, does not exceed the 5-hectare limit set by law may be downloaded from the e-bidding portal. For participants who are submitting bids on behalf of another individual or an organization, respectively, the standard format of the Special Power of Attorney and Secretary’s Certificate are also available from e-bidding portal. As liquidator, the PDIC disposes of various closed bank assets through public biddings and negotiated sale. Proceeds from the liquidation of closed banks’ properties are added to the pool of liquid assets of these banks for distribution to uninsured depositors and other creditors subject to the rules on concurrence and preference of credits. The disposal of these assets increases the chances of recovery of uninsured depositors and creditors of their trapped funds in the closed banks.

SSS mobile application transactions, queries hit 35.27M from January to August

HE Social Security System (SSS) announced it has recorded 35.27 million transactions and queries in its mobile application (app) from January to August 2021. SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio was quoted in a statement as saying that “the volume of transactions and queries is a clear indicator that more members and employers use the SSS mobile app for their transactions, especially during this

pandemic.” “We recognize that mobile technology is one of the new norms to provide easier and safer access to services and transactions,” Ignacio said. “We are continuously upgrading the SSS mobile app to include additional services and to make sure that its functionalities are user-friendly to better serve our members and employers, anytime and anywhere.” As of August 2021, the SSS re-

corded 9.37 million downloads of its mobile app through the “Google Play Store,” 8.85 million downloads on “Huawei AppGallery” and 1.25 million downloads on the “Apple App Store.” It is the third most downloaded free mobile application in the productivity category on Google Play Store, ranks second in the finance category on the Huawei AppGallery and ranks fifth in the utilities category on Apple App Store.

Moreover, since its launch in 2018, the SSS mobile app has facilitated a total of 109.73 million transactions and queries. Among the top three recorded member queries in the SSS Mobile App were salary loan balance, salary loan status and maternity claim information. Moreover, the top transaction recorded under the member portal was generation of their personal reference number or PRN.

Member services available in the SSS mobile app include access to membership information, which includes basic personal information, updating of contact information and view of enrolled bank information. Other services are inquiry on contributions, including total number of contributions posted and total amount of contributions as well as inquiry on loans, salary loan status and balance and application

for salary loan. Other services likewise include: inquiry on status of benefit claims (sickness, maternity, retirement, disability claim info and EC medical status); submission of maternity notification for self-employed, voluntary, non-working spouse, and overseas filipino worker members; generation of PRNs for contributions and payment for online payment channels; and, SSS branch-locator.

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World Banking BusinessMirror

Bond curves flash growth alert as longer-term yields decline

HE collapse in the global sovereign-debt yield curve is accelerating, sending a foreboding signal to central banks that a withdrawal of stimulus risks triggering a slowdown in economic growth. The narrowing gap between short- and long-term yields—which has been fueled by central banks removing accommodative policies or getting ready to do so—gained momentum last Wednesday with UK 30-year rates sinking the most since March 2020 as the nation cut issuance plans and yields on similar maturity US Treasuries falling as much as 11 basis points (bps). Australia’s benchmark curve is at the narrowest since November 2020 on speculation quicker inflation will force the central bank to act. The moves come as traders across global markets have been ratcheting up the outlook for policy tightening. The shift may be reinforced after Brazil’s central bank delivered its biggest interest rate increase in almost two decades and with Europe’s policy makers due to meet Thursday. “Big picture, investors are having to face the prospect of significantly more hawkish central banks dealing with a massive rise in cost-push inflation and subsequently inflation expectations,” said James Athey, investment director at Aberdeen Asset Management. “Central banks started a fire, then poured gasoline on it. Now they need to deal with it.” In the US, the world’s biggest government bond market, 30-year yields were already sliding this week as pensions ramped up buying. Meanwhile, short-term rates look poised to rise as money-market traders foresee two Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes in 2022 in a bet that inflation pressures won’t ease. A rally last Wednesday drove yields on 30-year US Treasuries below 2 percent for the first time in a month with the biggest decline since

July. That narrowed the gap with five-year yields to as little as about 78 bps, a level last seen in March 2020. Australian 10-year yields declined 3 bps to 1.78 percent in early trading on October 28 with shorter yields climbing after CPI data on October 27 showed stronger-thanforecast core inflation. Traders are now betting on the possibility of four rate hikes within a year.

Canada move

PETER Boockvar, chief investment officer for Bleakley Advisory Group, was especially struck by the Bank of Canada move. That “was not expected and reminds us all that monetary tightening is a global trend right now,” he wrote in a note. In the UK, 30-year yields tumbled to around 1.14 percent. The lack of liquidity exacerbated the rate sell-off in smaller fixed-income markets in countries such as Australia, as investors scrambled to price in more aggressive central bank tightening, according to Aberdeen’s Athey. The 3-year Australian yield jumped as much as 24 bps to 1.01 percent after a government report showed core inflation surged to a six-year high. The yields on the April 2024 note soared to double the 0.1 percent level that Reserve Bank of Australia aims to target. Following the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s hike at the start of October, markets are already pricing for a second hike at the November meeting as it faces pressure to take action in the face of surging consumer prices. “Central banks are responding more aggressively to inflation,” said John Briggs, global head of desk strategy at NatWest Markets in Stamford, Connecticut. “So markets are pricing in central banks signaling the likelihood of higher rates, and so curves are flattening in response.” Bloomberg News

Democrats make last-ditch bid to save IRS bank-account plan

EMOCRATIC negotiators are making a last-ditch effort to win backing for some form of President Joe Biden’s proposal to require banks to report some account flows to the IRS, in the face of opposition from lawmakers including Senator Joe Manchin.

The Senate Finance Committee had been working on a plan to require that banks disclose accounts with $10,000 of aggregate deposits or outflows over a year to the Internal Revenue Service, a move that could help the agency identify tax cheats. That would yield revenue to help pay for Biden’s sweeping socialspending bill. Negotiators are now looking at ensuring that people with income below $400,000 a year would be exempt, according to an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity as the talks are private. That still may not satisfy objections from Manchin and others who have raised questions about privacy rights. Ashley Schapitl, a spokeswoman for the Senate Finance Committee, denied an earlier CNBC report saying the item was nixed, saying “we are continuing to work on it.” New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a member of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team, said: “I know there’s some issues that people are trying to work through with respect to the bank reporting provision.” “Unclear to me whether it stays in or comes out,” Jeffries said. The original idea of having accounts with at least $600 of aggregate inflows or outflows over a year being reported to the IRS was met with skepticism from lawmakers.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen repeatedly expressed frustration that the plan had been mischaracterized as requiring banks to report to the IRS on individual transactions in and out of accounts. The House left it out of its version of the tax-andspending package. But the idea got a fresh look as Democrats scrambled to find hundreds of billions of dollars of additional revenue to offset much of the cost of the social spending package. With Senator Kyrsten Sinema, another crucial swing vote, opposing increases to tax rates, Democrats had to examine alternatives. The Senate has been working on a proposal applying to accounts with $10,000 in cumulative flows. Now lawmakers are again regrouping after Manchin, of West Virginia, said Tuesday that “no one should be in anyone’s bank account.” “As former governors, we care deeply about closing the tax gap and making sure everyone is paying

Crypto crackdown is ‘tip of the iceberg’ as US regulator seeks additional powers Citigroup offers social bonds after agreeing to racial audit of biz

Behnam

HE nominee to lead the US’s top swaps-regulator has a warning for lawmakers: Crypto misconduct the agency has already exposed is “the tip of the iceberg” and it likely needs more authority to police the white-hot market. Rostin Behnam, the Biden administration’s pick to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the explosive growth of digital tokens means Congress might have to step in to ensure the watchdog has the tools it needs to crack down. The CFTC has closely scrutinized the industry since greenlighting Bitcoin futures in 2017. But its powers are mostly limited to overseeing derivatives. “We’ve been one of the few cops on the beat because of limited statutory authority related to anti-fraud and anti-manipulation,” Behnam, who has been serving as the CFTC’s acting chairman since January, said last Wednesday during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee. Lawmakers should “consider expanding the

authority for the CFTC.” Behnam’s request comes as regulators jostle over jurisdiction. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has garnered attention for his aggressive comments that many virtual currencies are securities that should be registered with his agency. The White House is also weighing an executive order that could serve as a blueprint for regulating the market across the government. In his testimony, Behnam said almost 60 percent of the $2.7 trillion digital asset market consists of commodities. His agency and the SEC would work together to regulate the market, he said. But the the Senate Agriculture Committee should consider expanding his CFTC’s jurisdiction further because of the industry’s size, its appeal to retail investors and threats it potentially poses to financial stability, Behnam said. “It’s critically important to have a primary cop on the beat and certainly the CFTC is prepared to do that,” he said. Bloomberg News

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ITIGROUP Inc. returned to the social bond market with a $1-billion deal just days after it became the first Wall Street bank to agree to audit its business to determine if and how it contributes to racial discrimination. The social bond is maturing in four years and is part of a $4-billion, 3-part transaction, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The longest portion of the overall offering, a $1.25-billion 21-year security, yields 0.98 percentage point above Treasuries, after initial discussions of around 1.2 percentage points, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the details are private. The bank last week agreed to do a deep dive into its business to see if, and how, it contributes to racial discrimination. The audit will focus on its 2020 commitment to dedicate $1 billion toward initiatives it hoped would help close the persistent racial wealth gap in the US, where the average net worth of a White family is nearly ten times higher than that of a Black family. The debt will be Citigroup’s second syndicated social bond after it sold $2.5 billion in October last year—the largest-ever deal of its kind from the private sector—to help fund the construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing for low-and moderate-income populations in the US Its social bonds are meant to support lending to social inclusive businesses across the bank’s emerging-market footprint, the person said in relation to Wednesday’s deal. Global sales of social bonds from corporations and governments are at a record $217 billion so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s more than the $162 billion raised in the whole of last year.

Social boom

ISSUANCE of the bonds surged at the height of the pandemic as governments, supranational entities and companies boosted borrowing to get through the pandemic. Moody’s ESG Solutions expects the trend to endure long after the effects of the pandemic subside and social issues to increasingly permeate other sustainable debt instruments like sustainability-linked bonds, analysts led by Matthew Kuchtyak wrote in a report Wednesday. “Regardless of the structure used, investors will increasingly consider the link between an issuer’s social financing and its overarching ESG credentials and sustainability strategy,” the analysts wrote. Bloomberg News

This undated photo shows the US Congress building. Democrats are racing to gain support for President Joe Biden’s proposal to require banks to report some account flows to the Internal Revenue Service. Bloomberg News

their fair share. Misconceptions of what the financial reporting proposal would do should not derail us from this important goal,” senators Tom Carper of Delaware, Mark Warner of Virginia and Angus King of Maine said in a joint statement Wednesday. “We are committed to working with our colleagues to address any concerns with proposals to close the tax gap.”

The bank-reporting proposal prompted a wave of criticism by Republicans and bank lobbyists, proving to be one of the most controversial revenue ideas under consideration this year. Democrats had made some changes to the proposal in recent weeks, such as excluding payroll deposits, to narrow the scope of the accounts that would be reported. Bloomberg News

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Friday, October 29, 2021

QC gov’t, foodpanda sign deal to onboard 200 displaced workers as freelance delivery bikers

Kenny Rogers welcomes Coca-Cola Philippines as its new beverage partner

ENNY Rogers Roasters—one of the country’s largest restaurant chains—has partnered with Coca-Cola, the leading beverage company in the country, to deliver perfect dining pairings to Filipinos across the Philippines. After more than a decade, the two powerhouse brands reunited for diners to enjoy their favorite Kenny Rogers Roasters meals with their favorite Coca-Cola products. Kenny Rogers Roasters’ unique recipes for rotisserie-roasted chicken, complemented by a rich variety of hot and cold side dishes and beloved corn muffins, are now paired with much-loved Coca-Cola products. The partnership supports the restaurant chain’s commitment to innovating their product offerings and continuous service excellence to its guests, as it shares with Coca-Cola Philippines

the same passion for bringing people together through its portfolio. “At the heart of everything we do at Kenny Rogers Roasters is the goal of strengthening relationships through good and awesome food made with love. For more than 25 years, day in and day out, we’ve been serving our guests with deliciously healthy meals. Through our partnership with Coca-Cola, we see ourselves elevating the dining experience of our guests with the perfect match of our food and ice-cold Coca-Cola products,” said Frederick Siy, President and Owner of Epicurean Partners Exchange Inc. Established in the US in 1991, the brand brought its roasted chicken to the Philippines in 1995. Now with 100 branches across the country. Its beverage partner Coca-Cola also share the business philosophy that

innovation is an important driver of business growth. As a total beverage company, Coca-Cola has a range of product offerings to meet the needs of a wider variety of customers, from carbonated soft drinks to water, tea, and juices. “We are proud to be starting this journey once again with Kenny Rogers Roasters. We have a lot of things in common: our passion for producing great products, for bringing people together, and for helping create awesome moments for our customers. We are excited to reach more Filipinos through this partnership.” said Cherry Flores-Du, National Key Accounts Director of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines. To know more about the partnership and its exciting promos, visit Kenny Rogers Roasters Philippines’ Facebook page.

ATTENDING THE LAUNCH OF KENNY ROGERS ROASTERS PHILIPPINES AND COCA-COLA BEVERAGES PHILIPPINES INC. PARTNERSHIP ON OCTOBER 21 WERE, FROM LEFT: Cherry Du, National Key Accounts Director of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.; Daniel Garcia, Modern Trade Director of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.; Richard Schlasberg, VP for Commercial of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.; Frederick Siy, President and Owner of Epicurean Partners Exchange Inc.; Norman Raquel, Chief Finance Officer of Kenny Rogers Roasters Philippines; and Marissa San Diego, Operations Director of Kenny Rogers Roasters Philippines.

Marriott, Sheraton, and Courtyard go virtual for Christmas Tree Lighting 2021

LL the Marriott hotels in the Philippines unites for a Virtual Christmas Tree Lighting on November 4 at 6 p.m. via Facebook Live. Nothing can stop the festive celebration and adding to the excitement are staycation and buffet vouchers to all five hotels for giveaway! Welcome the festive season at the comforts of your home or anywhere you are. Just visit each hotels Facebook pages, sit back, discover all exclusive offers for the holidays, and get a chance to receive exciting giveaways. Apart from the festivities, all

five hotels continues to give back to the community. Manila Marriott, Sheraton Manila, and Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo curates a Charity Hamper—a plush robe and towel set complete with a sustainable tote bag. The proceeds from this initiative will help support Save the Children Philippines’ Project ARAL (Access to Resources for Alternative Learning), a program to help children from low income families and those with disabilities to access alternative learning platforms. In addition, Goeran Soelter, General Manager of Clark Marriott and the Chairman of the Marriott

MARRIOTT Philippines invites everyone on their Simultaneous Tree Lighting Event that will take place live at the hotels’ Facebook pages on November 4 at 6 p.m.

Business Council Philippines invites everyone to join Run to Give, the annual virtual charity run that aims to raise funds for the Marriott Associate Welfare Fund and the said beneficiary. Apart from Save the Children, Courtyard Iloilo has partnered with SOS Children’s Village and has opened their doors as a drop off point for donations for more than 100 children in the community. Meanwhile, Sheraton Manila Bay has partnered with World Wide Fund where for every purchase of their Sheraton Luxury Hamper you get to adopt a Signature Panda Plushie and support the organization’s nature conservation projects. They also have Plantable Cards of Care embedded with seed in which all the proceeds will go to Barangay 699 Children Fund and Aurora Quezon Elementary School, and lastly the Sheraton CommuniTREE, a tree-planting project where donations go to their reforestation and biodiversity efforts. Though the event will be held virtually, guests definitely will be up on their feet for surprises and giveaways! Tune in during the tree lighting event and you might just be the lucky recipient of an Overnight Stay at Deluxe Suite with breakfast for two at Manila Marriott, Overnight Stay at Loft Room with breakfast for two at Sheraton Manila, Overnight Stay at Deluxe Room with breakfast for two at Clark Marriott, Two-night Stay at Deluxe Room with breakfast for two at Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo or Pre-dinner cocktail for two at Sheraton Manila Bay. For more information visit the hotels official websites or follow their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages at Manila Marriott and @manilamarriott, for Sheraton Manila Hotel and @ sheratonmanila, Clark Marriott and @ clarkmarriott, Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo and @courtyardbymarriottiloilo, and Sheraton Manila Bay and @ sheratonmanilabay.

AT SIGNING OF AGREEMENT, FROM LEFT: Rose Romero, Public Affairs and Sustainability Manager, foodpanda Philippines; Rogelio L. Reyes, MD, City Government Department Head III, Public Employment Service Office; Mayor Joy Belmonte, Judith Tubil, Head of People and Culture, foodpanda Philippines; and Leopoldo De Castro Jr, VP / Director for Finance, foodpanda Philippines.

T least 200 beneficiaries of the Quezon City government’s bicycle distribution program will soon earn a living as freelance delivery riders of Foodpanda Philippines following an agreement signed by the city government and the leading food delivery online platform in the country. The signing of the agreement marked launch in Quezon City of ‘pandaBIZikleta’, a project of Foodpanda Philippines to help those who lost their jobs during the pandemic. “We continue to innovate and look for solutions to ease the suffering of hardworking employees who, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs due to this pandemic,” said Belmonte. Through the “pandaBIZikleta” project, Belmonte said, the unemployed would “gain the financial stability needed to get through these difficult times.” She also cited the assistance of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in providing free bicycles through its BIKECINNATION program. The 200 displaced workers who are to receive free bicycles would get an opportunity to earn a living as freelance delivery riders of Foodpanda PH. Daniel Marogy, Foodpanda managing director, said the project is part of Foodpanda’s corporate social advocacy and sustainability program. “We are honored to be in a position to help so many displaced workers in partnership with the Quezon City

government and DOLE,” he said. “As a company, we believe that what is good for the community, is also good for business. We warmly welcome our beneficiaries from Quezon City into the Foodpanda Philippines family,” he added. The memorandum of agreement between Foodpanda and the LGU was signed on World Sustainability Day, celebrated worldwide on the 4th Wednesday of October, to signify the global commitment to the environment, which is one of the reasons behind Foodpanda’s deployment of bicycle riders. “We are advocating the use of bicycles because this helps promote clean air and good health, which are vital factors in making communities more sustainable,” said Marogy. “While helping our displaced workers, we are also protecting the environment,” Belmonte said. Beneficiaries to be referred by the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) to Foodpanda Philippines must be at least 18 years old with NBI or police clearance and a Quezon City resident who lost employment during the pandemic. Belmonte said the beneficiaries would serve as independent contractors for at least three months. The Quezon City government also served as a pilot partner of Foodpanda’s pandaTODA project which enabled tricycle drivers displaced by COVID-19 to earn a living as foodpanda’s freelance delivery riders.

Get ready with Lenovo's holiday shopping spree

NSTEAD of spending on shipping fees from multiple stores to check off your Christmas shopping list, look no further than “Lenovo Presents: A Holiday Shopping Spree” starting October 31. It features Lenovo premium items and over Php11,000 worth of online shopping vouchers from more than 40 premium brands like Tumi, Moleskin, The North Face, Birkenstock and Herschel upon every purchase of a participating product. The sale will cover various Lenovo products, Each bundle is packed with Lenovo premium items such as the Legion H200 Gaming Headset and Legion M300 Mouse, as well as shopping vouchers for partner brands worth up to Php 5,000.

For your gamer kuya

THE Lenovo Legion series features some of the best gaming laptops in the market. Choose from Legion 5 / 5i / 5Pi / 5 Pro, Legion 7, Legion Slim 7/Slim 7i, Legion Y740Si, Legion Tower 5i, or IdeaPad Gaming 3 / 3i.

For the ever-independent working ate

POWERFUL meets portable with the Lenovo Yoga Series. Perfect for multitaskers and change-makers, the Yoga series is packed in an ultraslim and lightweight body, portable, and durable providing immersive experience. Choose from Yoga 6, Yoga 7i, Yoga 9i, Yoga C640, Yoga C740, Yoga C940, S730, S740, or S940 ;

Yoga Duet 7i, Yoga Slim 7 / 7 Carbon / 7 Pro, Yoga Slim 7i / 7i Carbon / 7i Pro, or Yoga Slim 9i.

For the techy mommy and daddy

FROM casual everyday use to heavy work, the IdeaPad Slim 5/5i Pro offers ease and accessibility without sacrificing design and performance. Choose from IdeaPad Slim 5 / 5 Pro, IdeaPad Slim 5i / 5i Pro, Tab P11 Plus LTE, Tab P11 Pro / Pro LTE, Tab P11 5G, or Yoga Tab 11 LTE / 11 WiFi.

For bunso’s online school needs

PERFECT for the current distance learning setup, Lenovo’s IdeaPad Slim 3/3i and Slim 5i devices offer Smart Learning features like Posture Alert, Eye Care Mode and Break Reminder that will enhance your child’s learning experience. Lenovo’s powerful Android tablets can keep up with students’ needs during this age of digitalization in education. Choose from IdeaPad Flex 5 / 5i, IdeaPad Slim 3 / 3i, IdeaPad Slim 5i, Tab M10 LTE, Tab M10+ LTE / M10+ HD LTE, Tab M7 / M7 3G / M7 LTE, or Tab M8 / M8 LTE.

For your home office glow-up

DESIGNED with FHD and IPS displays, adjustable stands, incredible resolution, fast refresh rates, multiple ports and eye care functions, Lenovo monitors exceed expectations and help maximize your potential. Choose from Lenovo G24-20, Legion Y25-25, Lenovo 24i-30, or Lenovo Q24i-1L. Get the hottest bundles and discounts until December 31, 2021. Visit lenovophpromos.com.

PRIMEWATER INKS “SAVE OUR WATERSHED CAMPAIGN” PROVINCIAL LAUNCH WITH DENR. PrimeWater and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently signed the Save our Watershed Campaign’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during the campaign’s provincial launch held at Villa Esmeralda Resort, Palayan City in Nueva Ecija. Present during the signing were, from left: Nueva Ecija PENRO representatives For. Maria Auren Cabalquinto (Regional Focal Person), For. Cherica Ruby Claudio (Provincial Focal Person), and PrimeWater Vice President Engr. Romeo Sabater.

Nzeusseu out of commission in Abu Dhabi

AMEROONIAN big man Mike Nzeusseu has been ruled out of Manila Chooks TM after the team held its final training before the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Abu Dhabi Masters at the Kasr Al Amwaj on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates. Nzeusseu suffered a minor left hand fracture last October 20 during Manila’s semifinals game against Cebu in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 Invitational. The country’s No. 3 3x3 player Mark Yee has been activated to replace Nzeusseu. Completing the team are No. 1 Mac Tallo, No. 2 Zach Huang and No. 16 Chico Lanete. “Of course, Mike is a big loss to our team but it’s the situation dealt to us,” Manila’s head trainer Aldin Ayo said. “But Mark is ready because he has been training with us along with Dennis [Santos], Jayvee [Marcelino] and [Ralph] Tansingco. “So today, we gave one last run-through of our system since this is the first time Mac, Chico, Zach and Mark will be playing together.” “I’m really disappointed because I have been really looking for this moment for two years for me to play one day for Chooks-to-Go,” Nzeusseu said. “I tried but I could not give my 100-percent if I played with this injury.” Tallo, Lanete Huang, and Santos went 0-2 in the qualifying draw at the Doha Masters in March. Six months later, Tallo, Huang, Santos and Yee finished in 11th place at the Montreal Masters. This time, Manila Chooks will face world No. 4 Liman of Serbia and No. 5 Amsterdam Talent & Pro of The Netherlands in Pool D. The Philippineside will hit the half court against Liman on Friday at 10:20 p.m. (Manila time) and Amsterdam at 2:45 a.m. The top two teams in the group will advance to the knockout playoffs in the maximum level tournament. Despite the predicament, Ayo and the team remained focused on making the knockout stage. “The goal is still to make the playoffs,” Ayo said. “If we stick to the system, we can upset Liman or Amsterdam.”

Sports BusinessMirror

| Friday, October 29, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

DELIMONDO’S Bianca Lizares dives for the ball against Black Mamba Army 2.

TNT GOES FOR KILL IN GAME 5 T

Wild finish looms as Superal withdraws from Aoki Classic

T CARLO BIADO is the toast of sportswriters for the month of September. strokes in the 54-hole event. Obiena, on the other hand, sparkled in his battlefield as he etched his name as the new Asian pole vault record-holder. The world No. 5 cleared 5.93 meters in his third try to seal his victory in the 17th Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria, while erasing the long-standing Asian record of 5.92m Kazakhstan’s Igor Potapovich set in France in 1992. Obiena’s fellow campaigner in Tokyo, Saso, delivered a strong showing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour by placing fourth in the Arkansas Championship. The national women’s football team also reaped success by topping Group F of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers against Nepal and Hong Kong to make it back to the continental tournament set next year where a ticket to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup is at stake.

HE title chase in the third restart of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT) next week suddenly turned wide open as multititled Princess Superal withdrew from the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Aoki Classic at Eagle Ridge to embark on a Japan mission. Superal was all set to go for a third championship after sweeping the Sherwood Hills and Eagle Ridge-Norman legs last July before the circuit went on another hiatus because of the spike of coronavirus cases in July. But the 2019 LPGT Order of Merit winner received her Japanese visa the other day, paving the way for her re-entry in the first stage of three qualifying tournaments for the LPGA of Japan Tour and Step Up Tour set November 23 to 26 in Gunma Prefecture, Mie Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture. She will leave on November 5 for quarantine and isolation protocols. That sets up an exciting, wideopen battle for top honors in the P750,000 Aoki Classic firing off November 3 with no player holding a distinct advantage mainly due to lack of competitive play the last three months. But the compact field has stayed in shape during the hiatus through regular practice and range

Rondina-Pons tandem off to fiery start REAMLINE 1’s Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons set in motion their bid for backto-back women’s titles in the Beach Volleyball Republic on Tour by winning two straight-set matches on Thursday in Santa Ana, Cagayan. Rondina and Pons hammered a 21-9, 21-11 victory over Sta. Lucia 1’s Jackie Estoquia and DM Demontaño, right after opening their Pool A campaign with a 21-14, 21-13 conquest of Biogenic’s Roma Joy Doromal and Heather Guino-o. Creamline 2’s Dij Rodriguez and Dzi Gervacio, third placers in the first leg, also posted a 2-0 record in Pool B.

bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial ties the knot with long-time girlfriend Princess Galarpe in a beach wedding ceremony on Thursday afternoon at the Pico de Loro resort in Nasugbu, Batangas. Among the principal sponsors are Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, Senator Manny Pacquiao, former POC President Ricky Vargas and sportsman Engr. Gilbert Cruz. Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio also attended the wedding. JOSEF RAMOS

By Josef Ramos

SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER ARLO BIADO brought billiards back in the spotlight after he ruled the prestigious US Open Pool Championship in Atlantic City, making him one of the toasts for the month of September for the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA). Not to be outdone, Miguel Tabuena and Yuka Saso strutted on foreign soil to put Philippine golf near the top of the totem pole and Tokyo Olympian EJ Obiena jumped to a new Asian men’s pole vault record in the same month The 37-year-old Biado pulled off one of the comeback for the ages in pool. Singaporean Aloysius Yapp was comfortably ahead, 8-3, but the Filipino won 10 consecutive racks to top the race-to-13 final. Biado, the world 9-ball kingpin in 2017, gave the Philippines its first US Open crown since Efren “Bata” Reyes hoisted the trophy 27 years ago. Tabuena scored a breakthrough in the US as the Rio Olympics veteran dished out a tour de force in the Idaho Open, logging a 14-under 196 spiked by a blistering 63 in the second round to beat American Brad Marek by four

MR. AND MRS. EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL Tokyo Olympics boxing

Rodriguez and Gervacio overcame a slow second set start to repulse Sta. Lucia 2’s Bang Pineda and Chay Troncoso, 21-12, 2113, and later withstood first set struggles to defeat PLDT’s Ella and Iza Viray, 22-20, 21-10, to seize the solo lead in their bracket. The Viray twins topped their Pool B opener, needing 42

minutes to carve out a 21-16, 16-21, 15-9 triumph over Black Mamba Army 1’s Nene Bautista and Jeannie de los Reyes. Bautista and Delos Reyes rebounded with a 21-19, 21-16 conquest of Toyota Tuguegarao’s Nicole Tiamzon and Jho Maraguinot for a 1-1 card. Pineda and Troncoso came through with a 21-17, 21-12 triumph over Eastern Telecommunications Perlas Spikers’ Mich Morente and Jules Samonte to enter the win column. Morente and Samonte, who pulled off a 23-21, 21-19 squeaker over Tiamzon and Maraguinot, fell to 1-1.

forays although actual competition remains a far more different arena for the touring ladies. But the sheer desire to shine will be more than enough motivation although Harmie Constantino has an added push as she would be heading back to the very site where she marked her pro debut with a victory over no less than the likes of Superal and Pauline del Rosario last March. A slew of bidders, however, is also coming into the 54-hole championship hungry for recognition, including Chanelle Avaricio, twice foiled by Superal the last time out, LPGA of Taiwan Tour veterans Daniella Uy, Cyna Ro-

NT Tropang Giga goes for the kill on Friday but returning Head Coach Chot Reyes just couldn’t dismiss Magnolia’s ability to bounce back strong coming off a lopsided loss. Reyes and his Tropang Giga are one win shy of ruling the Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup. Game Five is set for 6 p.m. at the Don Honorio Ventura State University Gym in Bacolor, Pampanga. Reyes expects this Game Five would be the most difficult game in the bestof-seven series, knowing pretty well that Magnolia would be playing with a sense of urgency to stay alive “We need to be better tomorrow [Friday] than yesterday [Game Four],” Reyes told BusinessMirror on Thursday. “Everyone is focusing on this game and everyone is taking it one game at a time.” TNT went 3-1 following its 106-89 rout in Game Four with explosive rookie Mikey Williams celebrating his 30th birthday on Wednesday with 26 points and seven assists. He’s averaging 28.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the series. A victory will be TNT’s first championship since the 2015 Commissioner’s Cup with only Jayson Castro, Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes left

of the event for medical reasons but has committed to play in the next LPGT bubble tournament, the ICTSI Tagaytay Highlands Challenge from November 9 to 11. Like in the past LPGT events held during the pandemic, the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. is imposing strict guidelines and protocols to ensure the health and safety of all those involved. The PGTI staged its first restart in late 2020 following an eight-month hiatus with Superal and Del Rosario splitting top honors at Riviera. It then kicked off its 2021 season last March with Constantino humbling Superal by two right in her first pro tournament at Aoki.

driguez and Marvi Monsalve, and former leg winners Chihiro Ikeda and Sarah Ababa, thus ensuring a fierce, wild battle of shotmaking and putting in all three days. Others vying in the event are Sheryl Villacencio, Apple Fudolin, Majorie Palumbarit, Pamela Mariano, Eva Miñoza, Lovelyn Guioguio, Sunshine Baraquiel and Florence Bisera. Gretchen Villacencio, meanwhile, also pulled out Estoquia and Demontaño, who scored a 21-18, 21-7 romp of Delimondo’s MJ Ebro and Bianca Lizares to open their Pool A stint, also hold a 1-1 record. Ebro and Lizares beat Black Mamba Army 2’s Jem Gutierrez and Audrey Paran, 21-9, 21-18, for their first win in two matches. In a rematch of the men’s semifinals in the first leg, Creamline 1’s Krung Arbasto and Jude Garcia reasserted their mastery over EVI Construction’s Doy Barrica and KR Guzman, 21-12, 21-14, to open their quest for a second consecutive championship in style in Pool B. Barrica and Guzman swept Army 1’s Joel Villonson and Randy Fallorina, 21-13, 21-11, to rise to 1-1 record in their bracket. Villonson and Fallorina, who topped Orchard Fresh’s Rhenze Hu and Benjaylo Labide, 21-18, 24-22, in their first match, dropped to 1-1. In the other Pool B match, DeliRush 2’s Nichol Jundana and

THE sheer desire to shine will be more than enough motivation for Harmie Constantino and Chanelle Avaricio.

Jeffer Guerrero turned back Hu and Labide, 21-19, 21-15. In Pool A, Negros Occidental Beach Volleyball Club’s Deanne Neil de Pedro and Eljhay Ronquillo fashioned out a 24-22, 21-19 win over Army 2’s Jason Uy and Josh Barrica, while Tuguegarao’s AJ Pareja and James Pecaña overcame Creamline’s Ranran Abdilla and Romnick Rico, 24-22, 16-21, 8-15. Uy and Barrica defeated DeliRush 1’s Evan Laraya and Joven Camaganakan, 21-11, 21-15, while Laraya and Camaganakan later sent Abdilla and Rico reeling to their second straight defeat with a 22-20, 19-21, 13-15 win. Pool play action resumes at 8 a.m. Friday.

from that champion team coached by Jong Uichico. A title will also be memorable for Reyes who returned to TNT bench this season. He left the team in 2012 to coach the national men’s team, a responsibility that spanned six years. Troy Rosario, who played with a fractured pinky in his left hand in Game Four, provided TNT “message of courage” and Reyes said his agile forward is “quietly preparing” for Game Five. Magnolia, on the other hand, is hoping to prevent another downfall. Best Player of the Conference Calvin Abueva was spectacular in Game Four with 28 points he highlighted with four triples and five rebounds, but his effort wasn’t enough. Castro added 12 points in Game Four where Ryan Reyes scattered all his 10 points in a blazing second quarter onslaught that saw TNT detonating a 33-15 bomb for a commanding 57-39 halftime lead. The Tropang Giga were never threatened the rest of Game Four and posted their biggest lead at 68-43. Former San Beda Red Lion Dave Marcelo showed championship experience by contributing 10 points and five rebounds, JP Erram and Brian Heruela had nine points apiece for TNT. The Manuel V. Pangilinan franchise is aiming for its eighth PBA crown and sixth Philippine Cup title.

RIVERA

PSC online lectures gather 300 coaches

HE Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) National Sports Coaching Certification Course (NSCCC) drew a huge audience of 300 participants who received specific lectures on athletics, badminton and volleyball online on Thursday. A project of the Philippine Sports Institute’s (PSI) Sports Education and Training Program, the NSCCC provides an opportunity for continued education and skill building for coaches as part of a unified national grassroots program in the country. “We want to elevate the learning experience of these participants, who previously passed the Level 1 Sports Science Lectures conducted from July 2020 to June last month,” PSI Grassroots Program Head Abby Rivera said. The two-day lectures for athletics, badminton and volleyball were simultaneously opened by PSC Commissioners Ramon Fernandez, Celia Kiram and Charles Maxey, respectively, via Google Meet. The program will be concluded with an examination on Saturday. The PSC-PSI tapped also tapped the expertise of coaches Roselyn Jamero and Joseph Sy (athletics), Bianca Carlos and Rjay Ormilla (badminton) and Jerry Yee (volleyball) to give high-level lectures through synchronous and asynchronous learning methods. Rivera said that successful participants will be granted Level 1 accreditation on the specific lectures and will be moving on to Level 2. Last February, 180 participants from cities and municipalities in Luzon received Level 1 Sports Science online lectures on sports philosophy, pedagogy, psychology, physiology, talent identification and ethics.

Friday, October 29, 2021 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

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How commercialization over the centuries transformed the Day of the Dead PHOTO BY SALVADOR ALTAMIRANO ON UNSPLASH

By Mathew Sandoval Arizona State University

S a Mexican-American who celebrates Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, at the end of October and beginning of November, I’ve noted an increasing concern the past several years that the holiday is becoming more commercialized. Indeed, for those who hold the holiday sacred, it’s jarring to see the extent to which it’s now massmarketed. The evidence is everywhere. The holiday aisles of Target are stuffed with cheap Day of the Dead crafts during October. Halloween stores sell Day of the Dead costumes. Nike makes Day of the Dead shoes. California and Arizona sell Day of the Dead lottery tickets. Disney famously tried to trademark “Día de los Muertos” before its 2017 film Coco. The examples go on and on. The bottom line is that Día de los Muertos and its associated imagery, skulls and skeletons have become trendy and a prime opportunity for companies to make a profit. But as a researcher of culture and performance, I know only too well that the truth is Day of the Dead has always been commodified. THE ROOTS OF COMMERCIALIZATION DAY of the Dead is what anthropologist Hugo Nutini calls a syncretic holiday, meaning it’s a cultural product of two different religious traditions that hybridized during the European colonization of the Americas. Day of the Dead brings together the annual feasts for the dead celebrated by pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures such as the Aztec, Maya, Zapotec and Mixtec peoples. During Mexico’s 300-year-long colonial period, which started in 1521, these Indigenous rituals were merged with the Spanish Catholic holy days for the dead known as All Saints, celebrated on November 1, and All Souls on November 2. Early Spanish chroniclers in Mesoamerica such as Diego Duran and Bernardino Sahagún documented the Aztec feasts for the dead known as Miccailhuitontli and Huey Miccailhuitl. Duran wrote in the 1570s that he was astounded to see how lavishly the Aztecs spent on supplies for their offerings to the dead. Sahagún noted the overwhelming bustle and financial activity that took place at the market in the capital city of Tenochtitlán, modern-day Mexico City, during the Aztec ritual feasts. All manner of foods and goods were sold to citizens to celebrate the Aztec feasts of the dead. In this respect, there wasn’t much distinction between commercial and religious activity. The religious feasts supported the market and vice versa. The Catholic religion also emphasized commercial activity in relation to All Saints and All Souls Day. According to 16th- and 17th-century Catholic belief, the majority of souls landed in purgatory after death, rather than heaven or hell. It was the responsibility of the living to help alleviate the suffering of souls in purgatory and assist them in getting to heaven. This could be done through prayer or by making offerings to the souls. In Mexico that meant Spanish colonizers and newly converted Indigenous Catholics were tasked with purchasing directly from the church candles and other religious items that could be used in offerings to those souls in purgatory. Additionally, they could pay their local priest to say special prayers for the souls during Día de los Muertos, a practice that remained in

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Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Ben Foster, 41; Gabrielle Union, 49; Winona Ryder, 50; Richard Dreyfuss, 74. Happy Birthday: Value what you have and want to keep, and discard what no longer has meaning or purpose. Getting your house in order will help you achieve the things that promote confidence, happiness and peace of mind. Take the necessary steps to ensure you don’t waste time procrastinating. Get to the root of an ongoing problem, then put it to rest. Your numbers are 9, 13, 20, 26, 32, 43, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): An upbeat attitude will attract attention. Stand up and be counted, and you’ll receive information and alternatives that will fit into your plans. Discuss what you want to do with someone you love, and you’ll get the help you need. HHHHH

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Stretching your budget to accommodate someone will lead to stress. Put your money in a safe place, and offer alternative solutions to anyone who wants you to spend it unnecessarily. Plan activities with people who are money-conscious like you. HH

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): A small change will help you succeed. Mix business with pleasure, and you will gain trust, respect and the opportunity to try something new and exciting. Plan a romantic adventure with someone who makes your heart skip a beat. HHHH

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Problems will crop up at home if you cannot agree with the people you live near. Be willing to compromise in order to avoid an argument that brings negative results and overall bad feelings. Take the high road. HHH

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Make a move or change for the right reason. Refuse to let your emotions take over. Don’t feel the need to follow someone else when you have plans that will benefit you more. Self-improvement projects are favored. HHH

effect through the 20th century. THE COLONIAL ERA AS Day of the Dead became a more popular and elaborate festival in Mexico, the associated commercial activity grew in size. According to anthropologist Claudio Lomnitz, in the 1700s Day of the Dead generated the largest annual market in Mexico City. In fact, the plazas and streets were so overwhelmed during the holiday with vendors, carts, booths and makeshift markets that the local government deemed it a “public disorder.” Mexico City’s mayor and city council eventually had to control Day of the Dead’s economic frenzy by enacting laws and issuing vendor permits. In other words, the holiday had become so commodified in Mexico City that it required government regulation. By and large the markets and vendors in Mexico sold items related to the holiday—food, candy, bread, alcohol, candles, toys and religious items. However, according to Lomnitz, by the 1800s, the Day of the Dead markets in Mexico City were also selling clothing, shoes, furniture, tools, home decor and many other things. The swell of commercial activity on Day of the Dead also presented an opportunity for musicians, dancers and other entertainers to perform on the streets for money. In short, Day of the Dead in Mexico City and other urban areas carried both religious and economic significance. MODERN-DAY COMMERCIALIZATION DAY of the Dead’s commercialization was also quite pronounced in rural Mexico. A number of anthropologists in Mexico and the US writing about Day of the Dead in the early and mid-20th century make special note of the sizable holiday markets. They write that villages are transformed into commercial

fairs where people gather from communities many miles away to buy and sell foods, goods and services during the festival. The scholarship of anthropologists Stanley Brandes and Ruth Hellier-Tinoco has been influential for understanding how Mexico began “selling” Day of the Dead to the outside world in the mid-20th century. Mexico’s tourism industry started promoting the holiday to US and European travelers as an “authentic” Mexican experience. Many guidebooks and travel brochures highlighted Day of the Dead as a cultural event for tourists to attend and buy folk art related to the holiday. Additionally, Mexico’s tourism industry positioned certain regional celebrations as the most “traditional” Day of the Dead festivals for tourists to explore. Hellier-Tinoco has shown how Mexico’s “selling” of the Day of the Dead on the rustic island of Janitzio in the state of Michoacán transformed the small community ceremony into a spectacle attended by more than 100,000 tourists a year. Given all this evidence, there doesn’t appear to be an era when Day of the Dead wasn’t intimately tied to financial activities and profiteering. But the holiday’s commercialization has also ensured its survival. In 2019, I talked to a grandmother building a Day of the Dead ofrenda, an altar with offerings for her family’s dearly departed that included candles, food, flowers, and festive decorations. For years she’d tried to get her grandchildren to help her erect the altar for their ancestors, to no avail. It wasn’t until they watched Disney’s Coco and saw sugar skulls at Target that they took interest in the holiday. Now they eagerly help their grandmother build the altar. Commercialization is and has been transforming Day of the Dead. But, from what I’ve seen, it’s also giving a new generation a chance to be proud of their culture. THE CONVERSATION

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Trust your instincts. Someone will mislead you if given a chance. An insincere gesture of friendliness will throw you off guard, putting you in a vulnerable position. Question anyone who appears to be offering too much for too little in return. HHH

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Reach out to someone you enjoy working alongside, and together you will get things done quickly and have time to do something you can enjoy together. A proposal will lead to exciting plans. Romance is in the stars. HHHH

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A change of plans will leave you in limbo. Pick up where you left off, and continue in a direction that engages your mind and encourages you to make improvements that will make your life better. Press forward with enthusiasm and diplomacy. HH

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Listen and you will find out something that will expand your mind and interest in using your knowledge and skills to improve your chance to advance. A chat with a friend or relative will lead to a proposal that’s worth considering. HHHHH

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Mull over new information; decide the best way to put what you discover to good use. A suggestion will be valid and encourage you to make a personal alteration that will give you a new lease on life. HHH

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You have more to offer than you realize. Stop being noncommittal. Decide, then follow through with your plans. The stronger your stance, the easier it will be to gain approval and recognition. Celebrate your accomplishments with someone you love. HHH

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Not everyone will abide by the rules. Refuse to let someone take advantage of you. Put your time and energy into something that will help you get ahead. Don’t take a risk with your reputation or health. HHH Birthday Baby: You are opportunistic, unpredictable and compassionate. You are resourceful and charismatic.

‘going separate ways’ by chase dittrich and jeff chen The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Pop bubbles? 5 Places to build muscle 9 People from Copenhagen 14 Rice-shaped pasta 15 “Not guilty,” e.g. 16 Wordless part of a text, perhaps 17 Bit of coffee 18 Serena ___ (tennis feat) 19 Los Angeles athlete 20 Nickname that drops “ediah” 22 Some eco-friendly trains 24 So-so 26 Nonbinary person, for short 28 Bothered a lot 29 Antipollution org. 30 Gen ___ 31 Weed 32 ID on a W-2 33 Debt notes 35 Like a 270-degree angle 39 Sister city of Gomorrah 41 Automated web scraper 43 Windshield device 44 Not outdoors 46 Lead-in to “colada”

8 “Without further ___...” 4 49 Feeling down 50 Reassuring touch 51 Stark father in Game of Thrones 52 Market price 54 Tennis legend Arthur 55 Nickname that anagrams to 58-Across 56 Party person? 58 “Color” of anger 60 Shaq’s surname 61 Russian form of John 63 Heart, on Facebook 66 Slowly sip 67 Thumbs-up, on Facebook 68 Influence 69 ___ Park, Colorado 70 Killed, as a dragon 71 Poker stake DOWN 1 Key ring item 2 Fury 3 Before: Dance move involving the fingers/After: Enliven+Without question 4 Sector

5 Rte. finder 6 Before: Treat for a dog/After: Bankrupt+Post-workout massage 7 Like some bad apples 8 “Likewise” 9 Before: Fiji product/After: Held in + Dilute 10 Italian almond cookies 11 Finnish telecom giant 12 DVD player button 13 Knights’ titles 21 Before: Tennis format that isn’t singlesex/After: Confused+Commits more 23 Guitar attachment 24 Soccer star Lionel 25 Printer brand 27 Prefix for “natal” 34 Sponge (up) 36 Fluctuating, or two words needed to understand the starred clues’ “After” parts 37 Passover feast 38 Chip away at 40 Drilling agreement 42 Before: Beverage drinker’s comic reaction/After: Regurgitate, baby-

style+Dismantle 5 Pitcher hidden in “brewery” 4 47 “I’ll pass” 52 Earth neighbor 53 Vigilant 54 Blacksmith’s block 56 Rod’s counterpart 57 Afflicts 59 Frozen II queen 62 Unused 64 Brewery container 65 Blinker? Solution to today’s puzzle:

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Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Friday, October 29, 2021

Conquering the archives: Lapulapu at the Met Top-notch GMA Public Affairs shows now on earlier time slot via ‘GTV Reality’ GMA Public Affairs brings its world-class branding of “Serbisyong Totoo” closer to both the young and young-at-heart with its latest programming strip GTV Reality, now airing weekdays at 10:30 am on GTV. From heartwarming and inspiring stories to significant issues that need investigating, GTV Reality makes some of GMA’s multi-awarded and flagship public affairs shows available to GTV audience, now on an earlier time slot. Start the week with positive vibes every Monday with Stories of Hope featuring inspiring and hopeful stories of people, riveting tales of struggles and triumphs, and how they ultimately find ways to overcome seemingly insurmountable adversities. Launched earlier this year, Stories of Hope aims to highlight the Filipino resilience, grit, determination and hard work. On Tuesdays, Oscar Oida and Mav Gonzales continue to celebrate life’s cherished moments caught on camera in the documagazine show On Record. Since it started airing this February, On Record has provided heartwarming and inspirational content that has touched the lives of the people featured—and viewers’ hearts. Every Wednesday, award-winning broadcast journalist Pia Arcangel tells the stories of people from all walks of life in the docu-reality program Tunay na Buhay. From celebrities to prominent personalities and ordinary individuals, Pia sits down with them and in turn makes their stories known to a wider audience so that more people can learn and be inspired from their experience. This year, Tunay na Buhay is celebrating its decade of being on air. Also moving to an earlier time slot is Reporter’s Notebook, which now airs on GTV every Thursday. Hosted by veteran journalists Maki Pulido and Jun Veneracion, the multi-awarded investigative program brings significant issues to the attention of the public. Now on its 16th year, the show remains one of the country’s highly acclaimed public affairs shows, with many of its featured stories given more attention by the authorities after its airing. The show recently earned its ninth World Medal from New York Festivals after winning the Bronze Medal this year for its “Mga Sugat ni Miguel” episode. Capping off the week on a high note is Good News Kasama si Vicky Morales. Every Friday, top GMA News anchor Vicky Morales makes sure viewers have all the positive vibes they need to wrap the week up and kick off the weekend. Joining Vicky are the show’s segment hosts Maey Bautista and Love Añover. Together, these women of substance spread positivity with their features on food, travel and social experiments. Good News also turned 10 this year. The GTV Reality block unfolds weekdays at 10:30 am before Balitanghali on GTV. More information is available at www.gmanetwork.com.

UBVERSIVE and reflexive, Lapulapu— staged in the newly restored Metropolitan Theater of Manila—shows us how to decolonize our past. Or see it this way: it triumphs over impositions from intellectuals whose perspectives remain beyond our control, and etched in a monolithic history many are not brave enough to question. Many things are going for the presentation and so many things are also going against the presentation that we cannot really review it in the form streamed on October 24. A luxuriating elephant is in the room: this is the fact that we are not watching a musical play but witnessing a documentation of that play on the Met stage. This is a limitation given how the energy of a live show can never be replaced by any audio-visual preservation of the same. That is the name of what would otherwise had been an evening of a live audience and live actors feeding off each other’s energy. We are left judging the presentation as cinema, which is not fair. Not all is lost though: there is the direction of Dexter M. Santos employing all the tools available for a director who knows his technology (the LED video screens have backdrops attributed to GA Fallarme). The light design is by Dennis Marasigan; there are the actors, voices seemingly boundless as they scale those notes; there is the costume design (the imagined habiliments are by Gino Gonzales; Norman Penaflorida does the hair, makeup and tattoo designs) that does not leave our “ancestors” half-naked as imagined in the past and appearing “uncivilized” to the well-draped bodies of the Spanish colonizers; there is the music by Krina Cayabyab that rises to the occasion when the story reaches the contemporary popular times, the ululations and chants vestigial remains of a culture; there are the dances (choreography is by Stephen Viñas and Kenneth Torres) that remind us of “igal” movements but do not come across as folkloric; and there is, finally, the bravura narrative of Nicolas Pichay, irreverent and sacrilegious to those who consider the accounts of Western historians like Pigafetta sacred and inviolable, and altogether inspirational and aspirational as stories for, and not of, people attempting to find meaning in their past and, ipso facto, their present as well their future. Santos directs the story of Lapulapu briskly without the burden of making it epic in the Western sense of monumentalism. The grandeur of the staging is not so much in the form but in the content of the story. Behold the huge ships sailing across the unknown and hitting the shores of what would never be the same again. The screen filled with footages of raging waves brings us back to the turbulence of circumnavigation, which precedes globalization. A

Cross comes down and on the screen, again, images of sacred paintings foretell what these colonizers bring. The summary of the aftermath of that arrival— the first Mass and the conversion of Humabon and his wife—is being told and retold, detailing what happens when the new religion becomes the avid sign of conquest. The charming and duplicitous dance of Reina Juana (she is given the name of a Western royalty like her husband) is presently familiar because it has become the Sinulog dance where the Santo Niño is swung like a doll or a talisman, perhaps the only act not divined by the European shamans. Outstanding in the direction are the parallel actions performed by the Spaniards and those of the inhabitants of Limasawa. In music, it is arranged as contrapuntal; in action and dialogues, the narrative is a dual apprehension of memories and histories. These moments enable the audience to think forward to where we are now given the histories of where we came from. What omen do those days bring? What lessons do these histories tell? The power of the performances in Lapulapu understandably are in the singing in character. Excelling in their portrayals and singing are the following: Al Gatmaitan as Antonio Pigafetta, Red Nuestro as Rajah Humabon, Paw Castillo as Enrique de Malacca, Natasha Cabrera as Babalaylan, and Ivan Nerry playing dual roles as Papa Alexander and Padre Pedro de Valderrama. Three Babaylans—Cabrera, Cara Barredo and

Marynor Madamesila—are showstoppers. Lapulapu is in the vocal prowess of Arman Ferrer who certainly lives up to the role. While one can glory in those high notes of Ferrer, the power of this very physical actor is embedded in the decisions made by the librettist, Nicolas Pichay, the multi-awarded writer. The Lapulapu we encounter in this work is one who does not flaunt the illusion of nationalism but its possibilities. But what is good literature without transcendence? Lapulapu, while not presented as a hero, states how he and his poetry will live on. Lapulapu with his thousand faces is eternal. In the poignant highlight of the play, Ferrer as the Dato of Mactan sings lines lifted from the kundiman Bituing Marikit, because he has become a heritage of songs soaring across centuries and colonizations. Lapulapu is the dato of that land but he is also anyone who defends the land. It does not matter who killed Magellan (finally a marginal character in the play); no one witnessed that. Only some historians will kill for a fact that is not essential. On rainy days, in the flooded street of Manila, we may a brave young man offering a free ride to a female worker. Could he be Lapulapu? Could the nurse be the Babaylan? Anything is possible in a land that has been colonized for so long and lost a lot. It saves itself through hope in the recuperation of the vanished, like Lapulapu. And while you may question why Al Gatmaitan as Pigafetta in the play speaks in Italian and English, then think again of all our histories hidden in archives and in languages not our own. ■

Jake Cuenca on ‘Viral Scandal’

JAKE CUENCA is one of the stars of upcoming ABS-CBN show Viral Scandal. Of course, the actor went, uhm, also viral a couple of weeks ago because of an incident with the police involving a buy-bust operation. According to reports, the policemen were in an undercover operation and dressed as civilians when he was stopped. The actor, in his vehicle, sideswiped one of the police cars. According to Jake, he wasn’t aware that he hit another vehicle but was surprised when unmarked cars started a chase. He also heard gunshots. Jake, in a statement on TV Patrol, said, “My instinct talaga was to not stop, to just go forward, to get away from trouble.” Jake shared that he was surprised to find out that the police were chasing after him, and not the “armed

civilians” he believed shot at his vehicle. But as soon as Cuenca understood the situation, he explained that he immediately cooperated. “Hindi ako nanlaban, hindi ko sila pinahirapan.” There was also a Grab driver who got accidentally shot in the chase and Jake promised to help him. Anyway, back to Jake’s upcoming show Viral Scandal. This is a prime-time teleserye and also stars Charlie Dizon, Dimples Romana and Joshua Garcia. In the show, Charlie, who won Best Actress for Fan Girl in last year’s Metro Manila Film Festival, takes on the challenging role of Rica, a teenager caught in a viral video scandal. How Rica and her mom Kakay, played by Dimples Romana, will deal with the scandal is the subject of the timely series. In the story, Kakay is an OFW while her husband Dan works as a furniture maker. By working abroad, she hopes to provide a better future for her family. She thinks her sacrifices have been paying off now that her eldest Rica is on the verge of finishing her apprenticeship in an architectural firm and is about to take the board. Their real-life nightmare begins when Rica gets involved in a video scandal that goes viral. As soon as Kakay learns about the scandal, she comes home to face the judgment and censure of the people around them. Aside from her family, she also finds support from her trusted friend and protector, Kyle, played by

Joshua. How will Rica be able to prove her innocence in the said video? How will Kakay protect and defend her daughter from the accusations? What is the role of Troy Ramones (Jake), the mayor of Sidero, in the lives of Rica and Kakay? Viral Scandal also stars Jameson Blake, Markus Patterson, Ria Atayde, Maxene Magalona, Aljon Mendoza, Karina Bautista, Louise Abuel, Kaila Estrada, Vance Larena, Gian Magdangal, Arielle Roces and Aya Fernandez. Watch it on Kapamilya Channel, TV5, A2Z, Kapamilya Online Live, iWantTFC, and TFC IPTV. If you’re on a nostalgia trip and want to watch classic ABS-CBN shows, you can go to the ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube Channel where shows, like May Bukas Pa, Dyosa, Palibhasa Lalake and many more are now available and with English subtitle for those who need such. Besides classic shows, the ABS-CBN YouTube Channel also houses Dear MOR where selected individuals share their life and love issues; there’s Mga Gapnod sa Kinabuhi which is a sure hit among Visayan audiences; while So De Yun Na Nga focuses on giving love and relationship advice. Meantime, every weekend, expect a bunch of music-related shows, drama anthologies, talk shows, YouTube exclusive features, and a classic Filipino film featured every week that would be perfect for your weekend chill.

JAKE CUENCA

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, October 29, 2021

Premier BMW Motorrad Dealership

breaks ground in Pampanga

AUSGROUP of Companies (LGC)—one of the largest and fastest-growing multibrand automotive network in the country—together with SMC Asia Car Distributors recently broke ground the Premier Motorrad, the first standalone showroom and dealership of BMW Motorrad in Pampanga. The first-ever showroom dedicated entirely for BMW Motorrad, Premier Motorrad’s riding gallery will feature 14 of the latest

motorcycles from BMW Motorrad’s lineup—ranging from their Adventure, Sport, and Heritage lines. As the only authorized

dealer of BMW Motorrad North of Metro Manila, the full-service facility will also come with six repair work bays, two hand-over areas, and will offer riding gear, riding equipment and Ride and Style merchandise. Expected to open its doors by Q1 of 2022, the Premier Motorrad’s site is within the same complex as LGC’s Premier Cars BMW Car Dealership along Jose Abad Santos Avenue in San Fernando City. The dealership will cover a total land area of 679 sq.m. Premier Motorrad will also display more products of BMW Motorrad and accommodate additional units for servicing to cater to the riding community from Central Luzon and neighboring areas including Metro Manila.

The dealership will also provide the usual excellent customer care and satisfaction that the LausGroup is known for. With continuous infrastructure development allowing for interconnectivity of the regions, the Premier Motorrad is envisioned to become a hotspot for motorc yc le ent husiasts f rom different parts of Northern and Central Luzon, and parts of Metro Manila—with the LausGroup strengthening the brand ’s foothold in the countryside. “We are glad to begin construction on the first and only BMW Motorrad Dealership North of Manila, and through the one-stopshop Premier Motorrad, the LausGroup will continue to provide the best service for our clients, and

make more BMW motorbikes accessible to such a diverse and robust riding community,” said Laus Group of Companies CEO, Lisset Laus-Velasco. “This Premier Motorrad was made possible by the trust and confidence of the biking community and BMW Motorrad enthusiasts. We express our gratitude to our principal, SMC Asia Car Distributors for trusting LGC to elevate a new experience of riding here in Central and Northern Luzon, and we look forward to servicing clients not just from here but even as far as Metro Manila,” said LGC Executive Director Diorella Laus. “As our longest-standing partner LausGroup begins the construction of its new BMW Motorrad facility, we are further strengthening

the brand’s foothold. The growth of the premium motorcycle segment in the industry has prompted us to bring forth the thrill of BMW Motorrad and, of course, our commitment to make the best service more accessible to the market. The new establishment will offer the entire North Luzon region a one-stopshop to cater to their BMW Motorrad needs,” shared SMC Asia Car Distributors President Spencer Yu. For 43 years, the Pampangabased conglomerate has flourished into a large network of over 65 dealerships located across Metro Manila, Central, and Northern Luzon, and is a dealer of leading automobile brands, trucks, buses, and well-loved premium motorcycle brands such as Harley-Davidson, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, and Vespa.

Nissan launches brain function development program

I S S A N Motor Co., Ltd . tod ay launched an innovative program focused on brain function and anatomy research, training and development for its Formula E drivers Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland. The program, called Nissan Brain to Performance, uses advanced brain imaging and analysis to determine the anatomical specifics of high performance, professional drivers. The program aims to develop bespoke, optimized training to enhance the brain functions and anatomy related to driving and racing. “At Nissan, we dare to do what others don't. With this groundbreaking program, we aim to understand our race drivers' brain functions like never before and push the boundaries of on-track performance in Formula E,” said Tommaso Volpe, Nissan global motorsports director. “What if,

through advanced brain function analysis and training, we could help make our drivers perform better? Every tenth of a second counts in Formula E, so we’re excited to see how our cutting-edge Nissan research team can enhance Seb and Oli’s already high-performing brain functionality.” The program will be coordinated by Lucian Gheorghe, a leader in the field of brain analysis and training, and a driving force behind Nissan’s forward-looking research on how to better build the connection between people and Nissan vehicles. The immediate priority of the Nissan Brain to Performance program is to enhance the performance of Nissan's Formula E racers. Gheorghe said: “Our brains are incredibly powerful. Without us realizing it, they perform a multitude of critical functions every second we drive our cars. Our highly trained and experienced Nissan Formula E

drivers perform these functions under intense pressure and at great speed as they constantly search for faster lap times. Our new Nissan Brain to Performance program seeks to understand what it is about their brains’ electrical activity that enables them to do what they do. Then, if we can, we'd like to help them further improve their performance through bespoke brain training. In the future, could our cutting-edge research help improve the driving skills of the average driver, and inform the development of our road-going EVs? We hope so.” Key research area overview

Understanding how Nissan Formula E drivers' brain functions and anatomy differ in comparison to average drivers: n By establishing a spectrum of driver brain activity, the program will provide a clear understanding of the impact of electrical brain stimulation. Through the use of electrical brain stimulation, can a professiona l driver’s brain be enhanced to improve on-track performance: n Once existing brain activity is known, a bespoke driver training program of electrical brain stimulation can

be initiated, monitored, and reported. Can brain computer interface training be used to enhance general driving skills, with a longer-term goal to inform and enhance future Nissan EV product development, with a focus on achieving the highest level of driver

excitement and focus: n Recommendations to be made around the intuitive nature of future EV product development, based on an increased understanding of bio-electricity to further enhance the driving experience.

Buying confidence stays despite oil price hikes

UST as we are seeing signs of Covid-19 infections easing up steadily, our joy is somewhat suddenly overshadowed by this continuous shock of oil price hikes hitting us with seeming impunity. Continuous because on Tuesday, we got hit by yet another increase. The price adjustments: +P1.15 per liter of gasoline, +P0.45 per liter of diesel, and +P0.55 per liter of kerosene. This marked the ninth straight week of spikes in fuel prices for a total of almost P20. Will it reach P100/liter? I remember in the late 60s and early 70s, a mere one-centavo per liter increase would already trigger a massive rally culminating in Plaza Miranda, the demonstrators angrily demanding, through fiery speeches by their leaders, a price rollback. “Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end” goes the line of a song written by Paul McCartney. Oil prices are dictated by the world market and non-oil producing countries like us are at the mercy of the

black gold monopolists, such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and our spitting distance neighbor Brunei. Such is oil power that its slight demand could automatically cause a surge in prices of commodities and services. At the moment, it is abetted by the steady recovery of world economies as virus infections continue to wane. Our jeepney drivers have been denied a three-peso increase in minimum fare and, in exchange, the government has pledged a P1-billion subsidy to 178,000 or so public utility drivers extending up to Christmas. Fair enough. Now, the question: Will the oil price hikes affect the buying confidence of our car buffs? Will they now prefer public conveyances over the comfort provided by a private vehicle? I don’t think so. By nature, man will always prefer riding in his own vehicle— no matter the cost. The sense of selffulfillment will forever prevail over expenses that can, in their stubborn-driven reckoning, be earned anytime anyway. Hard work will help him roll with the punches.

Fortuner, Hilux reinvented

TOYOTA’S latest GR-S variants have been introduced recently at the Clark International Speedway. Nadinne Capistrano reports: Motorsports fans were given a glimpse of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s lineup as its

highly popular models Fortuner and the Hilux get the GR Sport (GR-S) badge during a practice lap before the second leg of the TGR Vios Cup got flagged off. “We mark another milestone as we combine the reliable IMV platform with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s spirit of thrill!” TMP President Atsuhiro Okamoto said at the launch. The GR-S badge symbolizes the development of the vehicle guided by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing—Toyota’s global motorsports division focusing on specialized research and production of cars built with racing DNA. Both models will be available starting November 3, with the Fortuner GR-S priced at P2,509,000 and Hilux GR-S at P2,005,000 (emotional red) and P1,985,000 (super white or black mica). Visit https://toyota.com.ph/gazoo for more details. PEE STOP Pathfinder Co., Ltd. (Pathfinder), represented by air race pilot Yoshihide Muroya, and Lexus have partnered for the Air Race World Championship set next year, said Jade Sison. The race aims to create a carbon-neutral society in the near future…The Isuzu La Union was recently opened in Brgy. Paringao, Bauang town. In his inaugural speech, Isuzu president Hajime Koso said: “Now our La Union customers will enjoy the benefit that our partnership brings—Isuzu’s world-class products and services.” Cheers!

The Business of Living: Staying Strong at 16 BusinessMirror

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Friday, October 29, 2021 D1

BEYOND NCR, BETTER DAYS SEEN FOR RETAIL BUSINESS WITH NEW TWEAKS TO LAW Jobs, more capital, competition, tech transfer among expected windfall from amendatory legislation awaiting President’s signature

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

it and study the effects of competition on businesses, we see that competition increases technology transfers and efficiency,” said Gatchalian. Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Chairman Alegria Limjoco earlier expressed some concern. Lowering the capital requirements for foreign firms will hurt the local micro and small businesses, Limjoco said, pointing to competition.

T’S a hard pill to swallow for some, but for many others, further opening up the retail sector to foreign investors will result in greater competition in the market, bring in capital, generate jobs, and facilitate transfer of technology in the sector.

Good impact

SALCEDA believes that the main impact of the passage of these RTL law amendments will be in the provinces. “The RTLA amendments will probably have little impact on big Metro Manila malls, because foreigners were already allowed to own such establishments even before the RTLA amendments, under the old RTLA,” he said. “First of all, setting up a big

BERNARD TESTA

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda, Deputy Speaker for Trade and Industry Wes Gatchalian and Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo all agree that the recent ratification of the bill amending the Retail Trade Liberalization (RTL) Act will boost the country’s economic recovery amid the Covid-19 pandemic, as it could bring more foreign investments. The two chambers of Congress have already ratified the bill, which is now awaiting President Duterte’s signature. According to Salceda, “the main impact [of this proposal] will be in the provinces. The RTL amendments will lower minimum investment to just around P25 million, which practically opens the entire provincial retail market to foreign ownership.” For his part, Gatchalian said, “The first and most obvious effect of lowering the barriers to entry of foreign retailers is increasing competition.” “We, the principal authors of the amendments to the RTLA, believe that competition is good and increased competition will drive down prices for the benefit of the consumers,” the deputy speaker said. Quimbo, for her part, said, “Because these new thresholds [provided under the bill] are evidence-based, I am optimistic that this new version of the law will succeed in increasing foreign investments in retail trade.”

Technology transfer

mall in Metro Manila probably takes more than P47.5 million, and full foreign ownership is already allowed for that bracket, under the original Retail Trade Liberalization Act, or RA 8762. So, you will not see a sea change in Metro Manila,” he added. With this proposal, Salceda said a broader range of cheaper products sold in the provinces is expected. “That’s a good thing for consumers, because typically, provincial large retail is highly oligopolistic and undercapitalized,” he added. The Joint Foreign Chambers lauded the ratification of the bill, saying “the 18th Congress has recognized the potential contribution to Philippine economic growth and job creation of allowing more foreign investment in the dynamic retail trade sector.”

Original law falls short

IN 2000, Quimbo recalled, there was an attempt to liberalize the retail market through the enactment of Republic Act 8672. However, in her view, that law fell short of its objectives because of its more restrictive provisions compared to what the country’s neighbors have.

SALCEDA: “The main impact [of this proposal] will be in the provinces. The RTL amendments will lower minimum investment to just around P25 million, which practically opens the entire provincial retail market to foreign ownership.”

GATCHALIAN: “We, the principal authors of the amendments to the RTLA, believe that competition is good and increased competition will drive down prices for the benefit of the consumers.”

QUIMBO: “Because these new thresholds [provided under the bill] are evidencebased, I am optimistic that this new version of the law will succeed in increasing foreign investments in retail trade.”

“To illustrate, under the RTL of 2000, the minimum paid-up capital requirement for a foreign entity wishing to participate in our retail markets is pegged at $2.5 million, while in Thailand, the required paid-up capital is $66,300 only. In Vietnam, $10,000, while there is no requirement in Brunei,” she said. According to Quimbo, RA 8672 also failed to spur growth and the retail sector remains uncompetitive. From 2000 to 2019, she said only 43 foreign retail investments have been recorded, and only generated approximately 22,000 jobs. “This aligns with the finding of the Department of Trade and Industry that the meager share of the Philippines in the total FDI to Asean wholesale and retail trade was due to the ‘relatively restrictive and less competitive Philippine policy on retail trade vis-à-vis its Asean neighbors,’” Quimbo said. The recently approved RTL

amendments bring down this paidup capital threshold substantially, and now allow foreign retail investors to participate in the local retail market with a P25-million paid-up investment, and a minimum requirement of P10 million per store. The bill also directs DTI, SEC, and Neda to review the required minimum paid-up capital every three years to ensure that the threshold upholds the spirit of liberalizing the retail sector. Based on data on value of assets owned by businesses drawn from the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry, Quimbo said this per-store requirement is consistent with the objective to protect the micro and small enterprises and to open up medium and large corporations to foreign competition. “Even sari-sari store owners will benefit from this. Because greater market competition leads to better quality products at more affordable prices, sari-sari store owners will potentially have access to cheaper goods

on a wholesale basis,” she added.

‘Hard pill’

WHILE he sees positive changes with the amendments of the RTL, Deputy Speaker for Trade Gatchalian acknowledged that there “will be winners and losers” brought about by this change. “[However] we believe that the overall net effect is positive, not only for Filipino consumers, but also for businesses, manufacturers and all allied enterprises,” he said. From the manufacturer’s side, Gatchalian said some have argued that allowing foreign firms to compete with local firms will drive local firms out of business. “However, history and experience has taught us otherwise. Many countries who opened up their retail economy to foreign investment, like China, Japan and Korea, experienced growth in all aspects of their economy,” he said. “Now, this may be a hard pill to swallow but if we think about

WITH the amendments to the RTL law, Gatchalian projected an increase in technology exchange because foreign retailers can learn from local firms and vice versa. “Also, to remain competitive, firms will be forced to adopt more technologically advanced and more efficient means of producing goods. When this is achieved, the same set of inputs can produce more output, thereby increasing the total factor productivity of the country,” he said. “While we do recognize that there will be some who will get the short end of the stick with this change in the country’s business environment, the net long-term benefits of increased competition are much greater compared to protectionist policies,” he added. Gatchalian also said that “when we factor in the grim picture that the pandemic has painted for the mall-driven economy we have had in the past, the post-pandemic economy definitely looks brighter with these amendments.” The House leader also said the country can expect more jobs in the service industry to be created to cater to the operating requirements of foreign retailers. The service industry in the country has long been the biggest employer of Filipino labor. In 2017, the services industry accounted for 56.3 percent of Filipino employment. Four years later in 2021, the services industry now employs 57.9 percent of Filipino labor. “While the capital infused in the economy may be foreign, they will require local employees to operate the retail outlets, move their goods and services, and perform aftersales requirements,” he said. “Definitely, change in Philippine malls is to be expected because of the pandemic. But the mall-driven economy in the country goes deep into the Filipino culture and the liberalization of retail trade in the country will simply complement the serviceoriented economic driver of the country,” he added.

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Subic airport defies travel downturn

By Henry Empeño

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—Good things sometimes come in unexpected ways. Take the case of the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA). At a time when international air passenger traffic is down by 60 percent and airport revenues by 66 percent because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Subic air terminal is defying the odds and taking in more international flights. The reason for this surprising bonanza? The frequent arrival here of Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights to bring home overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stranded abroad because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was the result of a policy by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to impose a limit for all international airports in the country to accommodate just 1,500 passengers per day to avoid crowding during the pandemic. And accordingly, PAL distributed its flights to various airports to accommodate the market. The Subic airport, which had known far more flying school training flights than the international kind in the past several years, then became an alternate point of entry for returning workers.

PAL flights under the government’s OFW Repatriation Program have helped revive the Subic airport as a global air terminal.

More movement

ON a recent Tuesday, the latest PAL flight to Subic arrived with 299 overseas workers from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. This was the 27th of such Philippine Airlines arrivals since July

OVERSEAS Filipino workers from Abu Dhabi arrive at the Subic Bay International Airport on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.

this year, when Subic became an alternate port for OFW repatriation. This total did not include nine other flights that were diverted to the nearby Clark Airport during bad weather. SBMA airport manager Zharrex Santos said that under the government’s OFW Repatriation Program, the SBIA had handled a total of 9,159 international passengers consisting of 8,455 land-based and 421 sea-based OFWs, as well as 274 Filipino and nine foreign nonOFW passengers. Of these, more than 8,400 passengers brought in by PAL also stayed in Subic hotels for their mandatory quarantine of from seven to 10 days, thus providing another extra revenue stream for the Subic Bay Freeport. According to the SBMA Tourism Department, a total of 23 hotels and accommodation facilities with combined capacity of close to a thousand rooms have signed up for the quarantine hotel program. Nineteen of these are in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and four are in Olongapo City. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the use of Subic as an alternate port of entry for the government’s OFW Repatriation Program has given the Subic airport a new lease on life as a global gateway. “Subic had seen a resurgence of international aircraft and passenger movements, as well as improved income for the airport since then,” Eisma said on Tuesday. “In the third quarter of 2021 alone, the OFW flights had provided the Subic airport P1.6 million in direct income, as well as P218.7 million in income for Subic hotels.

But aside from the impact on revenue, we’re proving here that Subic can be a global gateway and that’s what’s more important from a strategic point of view,” Eisma added.

the SBIA charges P47,267 for landing and take-off fee per flight. Other fees paid to the airport coffers included those for parking, passes and stickers, vehicle escort, and rooms.

More revenue

Strategic direction

ACCORDING to a report from the SBMA Port Operations Group, aircraft movement at the Subic airport in the third quarter of 2021 increased to 17,756, or by as much as 25 percent compared to the 14,220 recorded in the third quarter of last year. While most of the movement involved domestic aircraft, a total of 55 international flights landed in the months of July, August and September, the report pointed out. These flights resulted in an increase of international passengers recorded in Subic—from just 137 in the second quarter of 2021 to a thousand-fold figure of 5,800 in the third quarter. “The increase in international passenger movement by 4,134 percent was attributed to the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers and retuning overseas Filipinos (ROFs),” said Ronnie Yambao, SBMA senior deputy administrator for the SBMA Operations Group. Yambao added that in the same period, the Subic airport posted an actual revenue of P62.15 million, thus surpassing its revenue target of P49.52 million by 126 percent. The third-quarter income was also 32 percent higher than that recorded in the same period last year, he said. Per SBMA records, the Subic Bay International Airport raked in P40.48 million from leases, P21.62 million from airport fees, and P48,672 from royalty income in the third quarter. The same report indicated that

THE OFW flights to Subic also provide a way to test the capacity of the Subic Bay International Airport, which is being upgraded to serve as a global gateway in the future, Chairman Eisma pointed out. “We are continuing with the airport rehabilitation program that we started three years ago, and the successful OFW flights now are an indication that we have made substantial progress in upgrading SBIA facilities and equipment,” she said. Among the completed upgrades made for the Subic terminal that were necessary for an international airport are a new Doppler very high frequency omnidirectional range distance measuring equipment (DVOR/DME), an automated weather observation system (AWOS), an area navigation approach (RNAV), and new airground communication system for air traffic control. Prior to the OFW flights, the SBIA also served as a Crew-Change One-Stop-Shop hub since September last year under another government program to bring home stranded Filipino seafarers and facilitate their return to work after some vacation in the country. Eisma said this was also an unexpected development that helped the SBMA assess the need for better facilities and upgraded equipment that would make the Subic airport a more competitive global gateway in the future.

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HIDILYN DIAZ: ONE GREAT FILIPINO ATHLETE OF ALL TIME A girl with spunk and true grit from the far south gives a pandemic-walloped nation the happiest news of the year.

By Jun Lomibao

T took some three months for the morning after to come to Hidilyn Diaz.

Three months of hectic schedule far away from the gym where she grizzled herself to one strong woman who lifts steel weights almost thrice her body weight, and tactically beating her opponents in a virtual chess game to win for the country its first Olympic gold medal in nearly a century. That was a fateful July 26 evening in the Japanese capital inside the Tokyo International Forum, an enormous building that could pass off as an aircraft carrier when seen from afar.

Let the party begin!

DAYS after, three boxers plucked three more medals and although they didn’t shine as Diaz’s golden disc hanging from her neck, they were more than enough to underline the Philippine participation in the Games of the XXXII Olympiad as an enormous success. “What more can you ask for?” said Cavite Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC). “Four medals, one of them gold!” The Philippines waited 97 years—or 22 Olympics—to nail its first gold medal. Diaz, too, had to chisel and mold her muscles in four consecutive Olympics to accomplish what could be the greatest Filipino sports story ever told. “It’s God’s gift crafted from hard work, dedication, discipline and, most of all, setting a goal,” said Diaz as she wipes away sweat from her forehead one warm day in August when she and silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio and bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial were hearing their hearts thumping loud as they toured their brand-new homes in Tagaytay City courtesy of the POC chief as reward for the Tokyo success. “It’s historic. Incomparable,” said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez, under whose watch the country broke that long Olympic drought. “But the success didn’t come overnight.” Indeed it didn’t. Thirteen years to be exact—could have been 12 had there was no pandemic. “It was a process, a program that, specifically for Hidilyn, started when she was glared by the Olympic stage in 2008, stung in 2012, missed the top of the podium in 2016 and finally lifted the big one in 2021,” Ramirez added. Ramirez was PSC chief when Diaz debuted as an 18-year-old wild card at Beijing 2008. Fresh off the juniors production line, the pride of Zamboanga City wasn’t expected to get a podium finish, more so stand in the way of the favored weightlifters of that time. In 2016 in Rio where carnival, samba and bossa nova are a way of life and competing at 53 kg, Diaz lifted her way to a silver medal—so near yet so far from the mint everyone back home craved for. And then the date: July 26, 2021. The venue: The Tokyo International Forum. The weight class: 55 kg. A Chinese had more illustrious credentials than Diaz. But Diaz’s

camp—now famously called Team Hidilyn or Team HD—had aces in their sleeves. It was a contest of who could lift the heaviest, but the evening turned into a chess match—a battle of wits and strategy, with the first to blink losing. The result had more icing than a mere gold medal—Olympic records in the clean and jerk (127 kg) and total lift (224 kg) and all hell broke loose. Every Filipino in the cavernous venue was in tears. Tolentino? He wasn’t only cheering and shouting, he was dancing while waving the nation’s colors.

Success of one, success of all

HIDILYN DIAZ was one of 19 Filipino athletes who made the grade for a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. Before Diaz and boxers Carlo Paalam, Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Felix Marcial went to shop for medals, 15 others gallantly held fort against formidable foes and they weren’t only Olympic first-timers, they were young and would be ripe for the medals come Paris 2024: Elreen Ando, 22 (weightlifting); Irish Magno , 30 (boxing); Carlos Yulo, 21 (gymnastics); Yuka Saso, 21, Bianca Pagdanganan, 23, and Juvic Pagunsan, 43 (golf); Margielyn Didal, 22 (skateboarding); Cris Nievarez, 21 (rowing); Kurt Bryan Barbosa, 22 (taekwondo); Jayson Valdez, 25 (shooting); Kiyumi Watanabe, 24 (judo); Remedy Rule and Luke Gebbie, both 24 (swimming); and EJ Obiena and Kristina Knott, both 25 (athletics). Nievarez was an unassuming 21-year-old from Atimonan, Quezon, and, at 5-foot-11, was a dwarf when compared with his worldclass opponents who could be mistaken as basketball players as they tower above 6 feet. The first Filipino on the starting block only hours before the July 23 opening ceremony, Nievarez muscled his way to the quarterfinals of men’s singles sculls, a performance that set the tone for what eventually became a fruitful Olympics campaign. “Cris [Nievarez] refusing to be eliminated on the first day of competitions was a morale boost for the Philippine delegation,” Ramirez said. “It was a whiff of fresh air.” The Tokyo Games were played under a playbook consisting of dozens of health and safety protocols,

which, months after the last of the Games panels were dismantled, could pass off as a success story in itself in the world’s battle against Covid-19: Out of the 10,000 or so athletes, almost as many media personnel and sports officials, staff and volunteers, a little over 400 contracted the virus—all local contamination. “This batch of athletes showed how Philippine sports progressed, despite the lockdown that shuttered sports and forced our national athletes to train at home and interact with their coaches online,” Ramirez said. “They proved winning Olympic medals, much more gold, is not impossible.”

Diaz success story a game changer

PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez said the success in Tokyo took time to ripen and the bottom line for it all were comprehensive training and funding. “Team HD is a classic example,

now a tried-and-tested formula that to clinch a medal in the Olympics, an athlete has to be well taken care of,” Ramirez said. “Gone are the days when an athlete has only one coach. There are many aspects to sporting success.” Team HD consisted of Chinese weightlifting coach Gao Kaiwen, strength and conditioning coach Julius Naranjo, sports nutritionist Jeaneth Aro and sports psychologist Karen Trinidad. “There you have it, Team HD. Elite sports and elite athletes is multifaceted,” Ramirez said. “Team HD is the template, the blueprint.” It took four Olympic cycles or 16 years for Diaz to achieve success—and fortune, as bonuses and incentives in cash and in kind, plus commercial endorsements are expected to breach the P100-million mark even before Diaz herself knows it.

Paris 2024 beckons

WITH one gold, two silver and one bronze medals, the Philippines emerged as the best performer among Southeast Asian Games countries. It was ranked No. 49 in terms of gold medal won on the medal tally board and No. 40 in total medals earned among 205 of the 206 member countries of the Olympic movement. It was ninth place among Asian countries also based on goldmedal harvest. Nineteen athletes, all, except four, are no older than 25 years old. Again, what more could you ask for? “This is the best-ever Philippine team that’s been assembled for the Olympics,” Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, said. “We carried the momentum from the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games and the 2019 SEA Games when we won the overall title and

brought them all to Tokyo.” Tolentino wasn’t president but was an active top brass of the POC when the 4-2-15 gold-silver-bronze haul was accomplished in Jakarta. One year later, as president of the POC that was still licking its wounds from ugly political intramurals, Tolentino engineered an amazing and unprecedented 149117-121 harvest in the SEA Games the country hosted. “And this team will be ripe for more medals in Paris 2024,” added Tolentino, referring to the next Olympics the French capital is hosting in three years. With the country’s sports leaders setting a common goal, Paris 2024 could yet be another resounding success, if not better than Tokyo. “The Paris Olympics are three years away, but three years could be done without you noticing it,” said Ramirez. “But with the Tokyo campaign came the momentum that we, sports leaders, won’t allow to pass.” “Let’s build from the momentum achieved in Tokyo, we have enough time and we know the drill—train, compete in as many competitions abroad and pounce on both mental and physical aspects of preparation,” he said. “Let us brand the Tokyo Olympics success not only as a mere victory, of winning the Philippines’s first Olympic gold medal, but as a legacy, one that goes down not only in our country’s sports history, but our pride and honor as a nation.”

Party’s over, back to training

HIDILYN DIAZ and soon-to-be husband Julius Naranjo are now back in Malacca, Malaysia, the very same place where they locked themselves down while training in near seclusion for the Tokyo Olympics. “The celebration and vacation are over,” said Diaz as she started to pack her luggage a week ago with Naranjo at their Eastwood condominium unit that was one of dozens of bonuses and gifts she re-

ceived for her Olympic gold medal. Diaz, who got so busy making TV appearances, photo shoots, product endorsements, among others, is back to her 100-percent athlete self: she’s now focused on the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships set from December 7 to 17 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. “I am still an athlete, still hungry to achieve my goals,” Diaz said. “It’s still in my blood as an athlete, I feel that I still need to compete.” “Like what I said in previous interviews, I am not stopping despite winning an Olympic gold or after achieving the goal,” said the 30-year-old Diaz, who was promoted to Staff Sergeant at the Philippine Air Force upon her arrival from Tokyo in July. “It’s not just because I needed to, but I am doing this for the love of what I am doing and this is my lifestyle,” she said. “Goal setting again.” Diaz will stick with the women’s 55-kg class in Tashkent, targeting the only gold medal missing from her collection after successful runs in the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games and Philippines 2019 Southeast Asian Games that preceded her successful Tokyo Olympics campaign. “I would like to say that every competition is important, yes the world championships are very important,” she said. “That’s the only one missing.” She stressed that once they step on Malaysian soil, it will definitely be “pure and serious training.” “It’s always going back to basics. It’s a six- to eight-hour training session a day, mental preparation, diet and recovery,” Diaz said. The morning after has come to Hidilyn Diaz, a brave woman of an athlete raised in simplicity in quaint Barangay Mampang in Zamboanga City who has a heart of a champion and a dream, an accomplished one, to become one of the greatest Filipino athletes of all time.

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Friday, October 29, 2021 E1

Still more fun, but path to tourism recovery can be confusing

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

ETERAN tour operator Fe Abling-Yu was anxious. As she sat at home, working on her laptop at the dining table, she received the news that the lockdown in the National Capital Region (NCR) has finally been lifted. But a new alert level system had been put in place, with NCR initially under Alert Level 4, then just recently, Alert Level 3—allowing more businesses to reopen and permitting more free movement of its residents, albeit with age restrictions still in place, to supposedly protect the most vulnerable sectors of society from the dreaded Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus. “So before that alert system, NCR was locked down in a ’plus’ with Calabarzon and other provinces. That would have been a good move, because that was a bubble, which allowed people to travel within those areas,” said Abling-Yu, general manager of the 26-year-old Arfel Travel and Tours. When NCR was on its third lockdown, “We sold tour packages for Rizal and Laguna; we harvested dragon fruit in Rizal, visited old churches in Laguna, ate the local cuisine in Paete, etc.,” she said. “We were also preparing a tour package for Bulacan which included cruising down Calumpit River…. But they [government] changed their guidelines again. And now the ’plus’ provinces have separate quarantine rules from NCR. So nawala na naman ’yung tours namin [so, that says goodbye to our tours],” she added, sighing in exasperation. Due to the international and local border restrictions put in place to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Philippine tourism industry has lost an estimated P467 billion in international tourism receipts, and P2.6 trillion in domestic revenue in 2020. About 4.8 million tourism workers have also been “displaced, or are working less,” according to the Department of Tourism. But almost two years in its war on Covid-19, government’s InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), with President Duterte as overall chairman, continues to issue confusing guidelines—and sometimes conflicting regulations— which directly impact many leisure destinations in the country, as well as on the survival of numerous accommodation establishments, airlines, and other sectors in the travel and hospitality industry.

BAMBOO suspension bridge across Loboc River, Bohol. ANDREI BORTNIKAU | DREAMSTIME.COM

’Near-death’ experiences

TOURISM stakeholders quickly pivot to find alternative revenue streams, but once new rules are issued by the IATF, almost all strategies and plans end up in the trash bin. Ramon Vinzon, general manager of The Cocoon Boutique Hotel and its sister property, Hive Hotel and Convention Place, in Quezon City, said, “With the ever-changing health and economic landscape, we already found ourselves facing many ’near-death experiences.’ We have endured the cancellation of countless bookings that we count on to help pay the bills and keep the business afloat.” Initially, they serviced BPO employees when transportation was unavailable during the first lockdown last year. When transport restrictions were eased, the hotels pivoted to the needs of the nearby TV networks for closed-in sets and tapings. “We eventually decided to convert Hive to a quarantine hotel, when the IATF guidelines became so stringent that we practically could not accept any other bookings except quarantine bookings.” Meanwhile, the DOT tries to encourage balikbayans to come home this Christmas. But the United States, from which the bulk of homecoming Filipinos come, continues to be on the Yellow List of countries, indicating moderate risk for Covid-19. Even those vaccinated have to undergo a five-day quarantine in a government-accredited hotel, and have to present proof of their vaccination. This, obviously, is a disincentive to balikbayans with limited vacation periods. On October 9, the IATF ruled that “the national digital certificate of the foreign government which has accepted the VaxCertPH under a reciprocal arrangement or the [World Health Organization]-issued International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP)” are to be presented upon arrival “for purposes of verification/confirmation of vaccination status for non-OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] and foreigners fully vaccinated abroad.” Upon checking, however, the BusinessMirror found out that there were still no countries that accept the VaxCertPH, nor has the WHO provided for the use of the ICVP to indicate Covid-19 inoculations. The ICVP or so-called Carte Jeune (Yellow Card) is often used by international travelers to indicate vaccinations for malaria and yellow fever, a requirement in some countries.

Six days later, the IATF changed its tune, and decided to accept federal vaccination certificates in the US and Canada as proof of vaccination status. (See, “State vaccination certificates now recognized for entry into PHL,” in the BusinessMirror, October 15, 2021.)

The primary goal

FOR MSMEs such as Cocoon and Hive, “Financial survival is our primary goal,” said Vinzon. “We believe that withstanding the pandemic is the greatest investment we can make for the business to have firm ground to stand on for whatever lies ahead. While we look forward to what the OCTA Research Group describes as a ’Happy Christmas’ for 2021, we prefer to move forward with a sense of cautious optimism. Covid remains to be an unpredictable enemy,” he underscored. Fortunately, the IATF has resumed allowing limited social gatherings, MICE events and staycations under Alert Level 3 in Metro Manila. Even the unvaccinated, such as children, are permitted to join staycations with their parents, as long as they present a negative RT-PCR test. (See, “Staycations, socials, MICE now allowed under AL 3,” in the BusinessMirror, October 14, 2021.) For her part, Abling-Yu believes the tide will start turning in 2022, washing in a wave of tourism recovery. She is already receiving lots of inquiries from foreign buyers and local incentive tour groups for tour packages. “During the recent Philippine Travel Exchange, we received an inquiry from a Malaysian buyer who wanted to bring a planeload of French tourists to Boracay; it’s like a bubble, if only our government allowed it daw. They will come from France, land in Kuala Lumpur, then [after touring there] go to Boracay. I think it’s possible if we have proper coordination.” Also, a number of local companies now want to book their incentive tours or planning conferences outside Metro Manila. “They just confirmed it, so on November 18, I’m bringing a corporate account group to Iloilo [and Guimaras] for their planning. Other corporate accounts are looking to travel to Baguio, Benguet, then get their tattoos from Apo Wang-od.” Barring any more surges or lockdowns, Abling hopes by next year, she’ll be back in the office with her employees, busily answering their phones, and e-mailing more clients to confirm tour packages.

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Friday, October 29, 2021

Private hospitals and the challeng W By Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

HILE hospitals are equipped to deal with emergency situations that involve multiple casualties, they were not prepared to deal with an invisible enemy known as the Covid-19 virus.

Imagine the concerns and the fears going through the heads of hospital administrators. Will frontliners get infected? What rooms can accommodate Covid-19 patients? Do we have enough medicines to treat them? Do we have enough PPEs for frontliners? How can we get non-Covid patients to come back to the hospital so that their illness will not worsen? The BusinessMirror had the opportunity to interview the executives of nine private hospitals to get their views on how the pandemic has changed the way they run and manage the hospitals. One theme was common with all the nine hospitals—the challenges they face with PhilHealth and how they managed to keep afloat financially in spite of this.

MAKATI MEDICAL CENTER

LAWYER Pilar N. Almira, President and CEO of Makati Medical Center (MMC), thinks she could not have managed the Covid-19 pandemic without the highly competent hospital personnel. The Infection Control Committee and the Facilities Management Team were able to transform patient rooms into negative pressure rooms. The Quality Management Group ensured that safety protocols were in place. The doctors were quick to come up with algorithms and protocols to deal with these kinds of situations and determine the ways to treat patients along the way. “Our recovery rates are very good, in fact our 2020 rate is better than the national index. That’s because our doctors are quick to come up with algorithms and protocols and they have really effected multidisciplinary teams to help treat our Covid patients,” she said.

On managing physical resources

IN addition to negative pressure rooms, Almira said they also implemented zoning to separate the Covid from the non-Covid patients.

PILAR N. ALMIRA, President and CEO of Makati Medical Center

This was to ensure that MMC is safe for non-Covid patients who required medical attention. “We did not want the hospital to be the cause of infection. And with that assurance, the patients continued to come,” she said. To accommodate the growing number of Covid patients, MMC put up tents in the Convergys area to serve as their drive-thru facility. This drive-thru facility not only offered RT-PCR testing, but also a venue for initial assessment or triaging for Covid. “We have doctors available there and they would assess whether the patient is mild, moderate or severe. If the patient requires hospitalization, that is the only time that he is referred to the ER,” she said. To handle clients who do not want to go to MMC for their blood works and other diagnostics, Almira made sure that MMC’s Wellness Center, an offsite facility, remained free from Covid. The hospital also opened the MakatiMed Outpatient Center at Discovery Primea, a complete clinic and diagnostic facility.

On financing and cashflow management

ALMIRA related that since there were challenges in dealing with PhilHealth, the hospital had to be very judicious in the way it made use of its financial resources. It prioritized the needs of the patients like the purchase of ventilators and converting hospital rooms into negative pressure rooms. The finance team also continued collecting from the patients but was cautious in implementing any price increases because of the financial situation caused by the pandemic. “Because of the efficiency by which our finance team has managed our cash, we were able to provide all the needs. We never thought of offering retrenchment or cutting our people just because we don’t have money,” Almira said. “In fact, we have been able to get out of the deep in 2020 and the basis now for our performance is 2019.” Management also put a lot of focus on connectivity, using virtual means because the medical team is very emphatic when it comes to social distancing and avoiding face-to-face meetings to avoid infection. “So how are we managing? We are managing through the use of virtual means. We continue with our meetings and planning sessions and regular reviews to make sure that we respond to the needs of our patients,” she said.

On handling and protecting human resources

ALMIRA placed much emphasis on how they looked after their staff during the pandemic because they “are the most important anchors of the hospital because it is the people who run the hospital, most especially our frontliners who are attending to our patients.” To ensure the healthcare workers’ safety, Almira said they provided them with PPEs, vehicles, lodging because of the limitations in transportation. The hospital also continued its medical training programs for medical trainees who provided invaluable support to consultants. “Every now and then, we would give them tokens of appreciation,

free merienda. We would take care of them if they get infected. We provided and continue to provide for their medical needs just to make sure that they are kept well,” she said. “Even during this pandemic, we continued to focus still on the development of our people. We did not stop training and development programs because we believe that we have to continue their progress in their career as they stay in MMC,” she added.

On services and upcoming plans

EVEN during this time of Covid, Almira said they purchased a piece of high-end equipment for the Catheterization Laboratory to treat heart ailments. MMC also added 13 to 15 rooms to its renal facility to accommodate Covid patients who required dialysis. A tent facility was put up in Mile Long to accommodate drive-thru RT-PCR testing and vaccination. “We initiated what we call a mobile diagnostic hub wherein we partner with villages and communities. We would then set up a diagnostic hub there in either their gyms or in their clubhouses so that they don’t have to come to the hospital,” Almira explained. MMC will continue to grow, Almira said, as its board of directors has approved its plan to open a complete offsite diagnostic facility in Cubao, Quezon City. “It’s going to be a 1,000-squaremeter outpatient facility with renal services in Manhattan Plaza in Araneta City. We are supposed to start construction on October 1 and hopefully in six months, we should be able to operate it,” she said.

On lessons learned

DURING this pandemic, Almira said that while she and all the other MMC employees experienced fear during this time, she said there was a need to continue inspiring the employees about the hospital’s mission and vision “so that all together we will be strong as a team to continue providing care for all Covid patients.” “We continue to interact with them, to provide them with the support that they need, for ex-

ample, for their mental health. We have fellowship activities just to make sure that we are able to balance the fatigue, hardship and fear and reinforce the spirit of care and service because we are a hospital,” she said. Additionally, Almira said they had to operate very judiciously and observe the culture of frugality. “Meaning to say, during these times where there are a lot of difficulties, we have to be very judicious in the way we use our resources. We have to be frugal without sacrificing the quality of care that every patient deserves,” she said. Another key learning for Almira is the importance of strengthening the organization and making sure that the relationship among employees is positive and teamwork is the key to all this. For the work they did to fight Covid-19, MMC received several awards from the Gawad Bayaning Kalusugan. The MakatiMed Covid-19 Task Force was declared winner in the Team category for the national award. MMC Medical Director Dr. Saturnino P. Javier was the overall winner for the individual category, while MMC’s Head of Infection Prevention and Control Janice C. Caoili was recognized in the Individual Category. MMC also won the gold award at the Asian Hospital Management Awards for its efforts to help healthcare workers. It also received a Gold Award from the International Public Relations Association Golden Awards for Excellence crisis communications online category for its Covid-19 Information Program. “We are happy to get affirmation that we are doing well. And we are out of the deep of 2020. We have bounced back,” she said. Almira added that MMC is also an advocate of vaccination and to date, it has already vaccinated 30,000 people, including employees of sister companies in the Metro Pacific Corp. “We are balancing the fact that we have to make sure that we are stable as a hospital and at the same time grow because with this pandemic, we have to make sure and assure the organization that we are stable and viable. We are sustainable yet not forgetting that we are going to grow,” she said.

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Friday, October 29, 2021

ges of navigating the new normal comfort of your vehicle, you pass through a certain part of the hospital where your blood examinations could be done,” he said. “We were also the first one to develop a system wherein there is a homeservice capability of extracting the blood and some minor tests that could be done to patients.” For its foreign patients, especially those coming from the Asian Pacific islands like Guam and Palau, St. Luke’s established the “Medical Bubble.” Dr. De la Peña described it as the point-to-point care of patients coming from overseas wherein the patients are quarantined at the hospital, they do the tests and treatments here. “As soon as they are finished, we swab them also, we bring them to the airport and they go back to the countries of their origin,” he added. St. Luke’s also has mobile vans that go to different areas like condominiums, corporate accounts, subdivisions and are capable of doing blood extractions and X-rays.

ST. LUKE’S MEDICAL CENTER

NOT too many people know that at the start of the pandemic, Dr. Arturo S. de la Peña, President and CEO of St. Luke’s Medical Center, was diagnosed to be positive for the virus. The diagnosis came three weeks after he had to undergo an emergency coronary heart bypass. “You see the treatment then was not standardized and everything that could be tried were given to me and we now know that many of those treatments did not work,” Dr. De la Peña said. “More or less, we were able to standardize. We know what worked, we know what does not work and to this day, that has contributed to the good outcomes in terms of managing patients with Covid infection.” No one was really prepared to handle this pandemic, Dr. De la Peña conceded, because not much was known about handling the virus. The last time the world had to handle a pandemic was in 1918 and the virus behaved differently. “So those are knowledge gaps regarding the behavior of the virus. So what we know was that this was highly transmissible and many of our hospitals were not designed to separate the physical structure

for those resources that would handle Covid patients,” he said.

On managing physical resources

SINCE St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City is a new hospital, Dr. De la Peña said they were able to segregate the Covid from the non-

Covid patients. “For Covid patients, we have a separate emergency room, a separate ward, separate diagnostic equipment and even separate elevators,” he said. “We were also able to segregate the people assigned to the Covid wards because later on, there were also a lot of patients

who are getting sick of non-Covid conditions. So that is what we have learned throughout the year.” The hospital also launched different services to reduce the exposure of patients going into the hospital. “We were the first one to launch the drive-thru: in the

On financing and cash flow management

DR. De la Peña said St. Luke’s encountered challenges in terms of financing and cashflow management because the demand for the medical supplies in handling Covid patients is high and the supply is really low. “So you really have to man-

age those contingencies and that is why we were able to go and determine exactly how much do we need in our inventory,” he said. Like all the other hospitals, St. Luke’s is also having difficulty with PhilHealth. According to Dr. De la Peña, PhilHealth has not been paying them on time. Even if PhilHealth has remitted any payment to St. Luke’s, it is only a partial payment. “If they try to give us only 60 percent and certainly the receivables have been going on for more than a year so that is not fair for the hospital not to be paid immediately. So those really are the challenges,” he said. A certain amount of St. Luke’s resources were also allotted for hazard pay, transportation, meal allowances and accommodation of many of their healthcare workers due to limited access to transportation when surges occur. Resources also have to be set aside for the RT-PCR testing of healthcare workers to ensure that they do not spread the virus to patients. “From our experience, most of the Covid transmissions to our healthcare workers are acquired in the community. There are very few transmissions in the hospital because everybody follows the very strict standard health protocols,” he added. Continued on E4

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E4 Friday, October 29, 2021

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PRIVATE HOSPITALS AND THE CHALLENGES OF

NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMAL EXPERIENCE, LEARNINGS TO GUIDE MANILAMED INTO THE NEW NORMAL

MANILAMED Management Committee in action

Continued from E3

In handling and protecting human resources

AS for its human resources, Dr. De la Peña noted that the hospital did not let go of any of its employees and added that it did not implement a no-work, no-pay policy. “We paid them. We spent a lot of money during the pandemic but we did not regret that decision because we gained the loyalty of our people and these are the people who saved us through these years also,” he added. It was not only the patients who had second thoughts of going to the hospital. Even doctors were hesitant to go to the hospital because they would be unnecessarily exposed to the virus. To help treat patients during the pandemic, the doctors decided to adopt the group practice concept. This meant that most of the doctors band together in their specialties so that they do not have to go on duty at the hospital every day and they just go to the hospital on a scheduled basis. “This limits the exposure of our healthcare workers to Covid patients and this is one of the positive things that came out of this,” he said. “We were able to standardize the treatment for Covid and doctors when into group practice so that not all of our resources are exposed to the elements.”

On services and upcoming plans

DR. De la Peña noted that during the pandemic, patients with chronic diseases developed severe complications of their diseases because

DR. Arturo S. de la Peña, President and CEO of St. Luke’s Medical Center

they missed follow-ups and the continuous care of their doctors. As such, the hospital received almost every day four to five heartattack emergency cases or the same number of stroke emergencies. The condition of cancer patients worsened as they did not want to be treated inside the hospital for fear of getting the virus. “So we embarked on campaigns that stressed that the hospital is safe and for those who would want to continue to maintain their health, they should try to have their checkup with their doctors in the hospital,” he said. To achieve this, Dr. De la Peña said they launched the telemedicine service to enable doctors to attend to their patients in the comfort of their homes. Additionally, the hospital also introduced wearables that allow doctors to monitor their conditions. He also revealed that the hospital is in the final stages of developing its hub-and-spokes model of healthcare delivery. “The hub meaning to say the centers and the spoke are the areas where we bring our presence to where our patients do live. And

should they need the services of the hub, they are referred back to us,” he said. The model, Dr. De la Peña explained, does not necessarily mean that they will open clinics. For now, St. Luke’s is making do with the vans as well as the laboratories. As demand increases, they will be able to determine the kind of services that will be needed. He did say though that the areas that they are targeting are the growth areas of Regions 3 and 4. In terms of non-Covid services, Dr. De la Peña said they are looking into subspecialization and are in the process of developing the concept of Centers of Excellence— excellence in fields like cardiology, neurology, cancer and on minimally invasive surgery. They are also looking into cancer specifically for children. “The concept of treating patients now is you cannot be an expert of all and a master of none. We are going to spread out the centers of excellence in the different hubs that we are going to put up,” he said. Healthcare will not be determined by price, Dr. De la Peña said, but will be defined ultimately by the highest quality of care that you can give to patients at a minimal cost. “In every aspect of healthcare, there is value to our patient as well as their relatives who will look into the nonmedical aspect,” he said. “It is the experience to make their life or stay in the hospital as comfortable as possible and this will be one of the main determinants of the success of healthcare delivery.”

O one was ready for the Covid-19 pandemic last year. So when Medical Center Manila, popularly known as ManilaMed, faced this invisible enemy, the management team counted on 54 years of experience to deal with it. “The uncertainty brought about by the situation gave further importance on how we address concerns at hand in our day-today operations and how it affects the way we plan long-term situations,” said Dr. Eduardo S. Eseque, ManilaMed medical director. He said the hospital’s “54 years of experience and the continuous knowledge we gained as we braved the challenges of the pandemic contributed to how we strategize and manage our physical resources, financials and human resources.” Like most hospitals, Manila Med was hard hit during the first few months of the pandemic. It suffered a huge drop in revenues and census. Thanks to the institution of the Hospital Recovery Plan set out by its network Mount Grace, Dr. Eseque said they crafted strategies that targeted revenue growth, cash flow management and infection control, among others.

Keeping workforce healthy

HE added that the pandemic brought to light the importance of keeping its workforce healthy and well cared for by providing them with food, board and lodging and transportation especially during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). “As a healthcare institution, we acknowledge all members of the ManilaMed team as frontliners,

On lessons learned

AS for the lessons learned during this pandemic, Dr. De la Peña said the experience has taught them to reserve their resources not only on supplies but on manpower as well. Technology will also be required to increase process efficiency and improve the patient care process. Digital transformation is also important because the data that will be gathered in the process will be analyzed and transformed into artificial intelligence. This artificial intelligence will help predict the success of a treatment, the course of the treatment and which treatment will be tailored for a particular patient. “And of course, we have to take care of our people, which is most important in healthcare,” he said.

STAFF observe Disability Week

There is an acknowledgement that the majority of our patients are still non-Covid. Therefore, moving forward, we set the priority on how a hospital should operate—and that is treating everyone with, of course, special preparations in place for Covid cases,” Dr. Eseque said. DR. Eduardo S. Eseque, ManilaMed medical director

whether medical or nonmedical, to whom all kinds of support must be provided—from physical, financial, emotional and psychological,” he said. “The strict implementation and application of safety and health protocols ensured a safe and well-managed environment not only for our employees, doctors and healthcare workers, but to all our patients as well.” When asked whether Manila Med was able to launch any new service offerings during the pandemic, Dr. Eseque said all their resources were focused on how to address the challenges from the virus and in strengthening infection control. The hospital addressed all touch points of every patient journey during the pandemic. These touchpoints ranged from the efficient admission/discharge policies (Bedside Admission to Bedside Discharge Project), online booking of appointments and services, availability of doctors through Manila Med eHealthline (Telemedicine), Home Service and Drive Thru Laboratory, Covid Home Care delivery to packages for Cardio-Metabolic and Cancer Care Program. “But later on, we shifted the priority to ‘Life is Not All Covid.’

Commitment, vaccination

WHILE it remains unclear as to when the pandemic will end, Dr. Eseque said ManilaMed was definitely more equipped now to deal with Covid-19, and attributed this to the adjustments they made, thanks to the issues encountered on a day-to-day basis. “Subsequently, health and safety protocols have been made and are in place and most especially, the emphasis we gave on the communication approach and the importance of continuous education played a huge role in addressing fear caused by lack of knowledge and serious misinformation,” he added. He commended the Manila Med staff for their commitment to continue caring for patients, especially now that most of them are fully vaccinated, giving them “another layer of protection against severe Covid, therefore, providing a sense of confidence and exudes the support of the government to the healthcare sector.”

Three lessons

ASKED about the lessons learned in the pandemic, Dr. Eseque listed three things—know your enemy (the Covid-19 virus), be equipped and provide exceptional care for your people. In dealing with the virus, Dr. Eseque said “vast knowledge and awareness are vital in our quick response and adaptability to change which includes embracing digitalization and technology.” “In-depth training for our workforce is and will still be a priority in order to prepare and equip them for this kind of enemy,” he said. “And above everything else, ManilaMed’s ability to express its full support and exceptional care towards our healthcare workers during these trying times is the key to establish and provide the right care needed by our patients.” He stressed that in the new normal, ManilaMed will continue to be driven by its guiding philosophy, a part of which reads, “We do not just make our patients feel better. In our quest to understand, help and heal, we dedicate our lives to you and the community. And in the process, we ourselves become better.”