BusinessMirror October 30, 2021

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MISSION: RETROFIT HUMANS

Training, reskilling for the 4th industrial revolution tests government, private sector’s mettle in pandemic

A

By Samuel P. Medenilla

FTER suffering a major blow from the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, the government’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programs are finally showing signs of recovery and even improvement.

Just like its enrollees, the program is now also trying to reinvent itself to meet the changing demands of the labor market amid and beyond the pandemic.

Data from the Technical and Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda) showed the number of its scholars shrank to 802,000 last year from 2.489 million in 2019. The 2020 figure was nearly half of the 1.6 million enrollees in 2010.

Tesda Regional Operations and Management Office Directorin-Charge Angelina Carreon said their training facilities and those of their partner institutions were not spared by the business disruptions brought about by the quarantine and movement restrictions during the pandemic.

“Last year, there was no output in March, April and June. We did not have any output and the whole sector did not produce anything,” Carreon told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview.

She said the enrollees returned in July 2020, when the government eased quarantine restrictions initially for some priority sectors like construction and agriculture.

This year, more programs were allowed to resume, but due to the tough quarantine restrictions, Carreon said only an estimated 894,000 trainees are expected to

graduate from TVET courses.

Slow, costly recovery

THE reopening of the training facilities of Tesda and its partner private institutions did not come easy as they were required to make changes in their training method and adopt stringent safety protocols.

“In 2020, we saw that 100 percent of our service providers, especially the private TVET providers, were badly affected by the pandemic,” Carreon said.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.7700

“Then we told them to upgrade their facilities not just their ICT [information and communications technology] but also their workshops,” she added.

Trainers were also required to upgrade their knowledge so they could offer virtual classes, which became mandatory as the government discouraged mass gatherings.

Financial aid

TO help the cash-strapped training institutions go through the necessary transition, Carreon said Tesda opted to reimburse the training cost of all students, including those who were unable to complete their programs.

Prior to the pandemic, training centers received reimbursement from Tesda only for trainees who were able to graduate from their chosen programs.

To allow the said facilities to continue operating in the pandemic, Carreon said they started paying training facilities whose trainees completed at least 50 percent of the training period.

As for the trainees themselves, Tesda provided all of them with a daily allowance of P160, a benefit usually given to just a few, to dissuade them from dropping out of their chosen TVET program during the pandemic.

“We cleared these measures with the COA [Commission on Audit],” Carreon said.

Online training

DESPITE the negative feedback it got from its private partners, Tesda’s introduction of online training was mostly successful.

Last year, 44 percent of the training provided by Tesda and its partners were through blended learning—a combination of faceto-face and virtual classes, while

2 percent were pure online classes.

More than half were delivered in face-to-face classes.

Prior to the pandemic, Carreon said their effort to persuade their partners to adopt online training hardly gained traction as many of them still opted to go with face-toface classes.

“We were encouraged to offer TVET institutions online but it was only during the pandemic when it blossomed. The providers were pushed to implement this kind, ’yung blended and flexible learning system,” Carreon said.

Paradigm shift

EVEN after the pandemic, Tesda said it plans to continue using online training due to its “inherent” advantages. Unlike onsite classes, where training time was limited, Carreon said online courses offered unlimited interaction between the trainers and their students.

Trainers are also able to reach more students, at least in areas with good Internet access, while students are able to get much needed personalized training.

“You cannot go back to the prepandemic mode. It is better for all since it is more flexible for learners and trainers,” Carreon said.

The Tesda official said they are currently trying to measure the competency as well as employability of their first batch of online graduates last year through their 2021 Study on Employment of TVET Graduates. Results of the study are expected to come out next year.

Aside from training, Carreon said Tesda is also eyeing digital solutions to address the gaps in their system, particularly for registration, assessment, and for tracking the qualification of their TVET graduates.

She said the agency plans to introduce biometrics registration and enrollment for their scholarship beneficiaries using facial recognition software to finally get rid of “ghost scholars.”

Tesda’s online assessment and its proposed “skills passport” to keep track of trainees’ credentials —making it easier and cheaper for them to access skills training—are in the works. The skills passport, Carreon said, is funded by the P80million budget given to Tesda to upgrade its ICT capabilities.

All of these initiatives are expected to be piloted and rolled out by next year.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) welcomed Tesda’s initiatives to beef up its TVET services, as these will be crucial to address the massive changes

in the labor markets.

Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay reiterated that the pandemic hastened the arrival in the country of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by the introduction of new technology, such as automation, artificial intelligence, threedimensional printing and other innovations in the labor market.

She noted that the trend could lead to the displacement of unskilled or low-skilled workers as companies start availing themselves of labor-saving technologies.

“They are least likely to participate in the labor market because of their [low] capacity and skills. So it will limit their opportunity in the labor market,” Tutay said in an interview.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4471 n UK 70.0626 n HK 6.5278 n CHINA 7.9430 n SINGAPORE 37.7613 n AUSTRALIA 38.2857 n EU 59.3197 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5358

Source: BSP (October 29, 2021)

NewsSaturday BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, October 30, 2021

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Why are US schools revisiting gifted education?

By Heather Hollingsworth

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The Associated Press

EW York City officials announced plans this month for its school system, the country’s largest, to phase out its program for gifted and talented students.

The screening test the city has given to 4-year-olds used to identify gifted and talented students had drawn controversy for years, but several other districts have been reassessing gifted programs, in which Black and Latino students are often underrepresented.

A look at the state of gifted and talented programs:

Why do gifted programs exist?

WHEN a kindergartener is already reading chapter books or a third grader is well beyond multiplication, teachers often struggle to keep them engaged. Enter gifted and talented programs, which serve about 3.3 million students nationwide.

Most often, students are identified based on their IQ or how they score on a standardized test. Sometimes a teacher makes a recommendation or a parent pushes for it.

But experts don’t agree about whom the programs should serve. What about kids from poor neighborhoods who aren’t acing standardized tests but are learning faster than their classmates?

Should artistically talented students or those with strong leadership skills qualify?

“The debate is ‘Gifted at what?’” said Marcia Gentry, director of Purdue University’s Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute.

The programs vary widely.

In some schools, students attend regular classes most of the time but are pulled out once or twice a week to participate in special activities like a Socratic debate. In other districts, students test into specific gifted schools or programs in which they are mostly or entirely separated from “nongifted” peers.

Does the federal government require gifted programs?

NO. Instead, each state decides whether such programs will be required. They are fully funded in only four states, according to the Davidson Institute, a nonprofit that serves exceptionally gifted students. Another eight states neither require gifted education nor fund it. Other states are somewhere in between.

“The big problem with there not being a federal mandate is that it really matters where you live, what ZIP code you live in. It dictates what you’re going to get,” said Stacy Haw-

IN this Thursday October 14, 2021, file photo, protesters at City Hall condemn Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to phase out the Gifted and Talented (G&T) public school program in New York. Public school programs for the gifted and talented are garnering increased scrutiny nationwide, as critics denounce them as modern-day segregation and push for broader access or outright elimination. AP

thorne, of the Davidson Institute.

Nationwide, only 56 percent of the nation’s schools teach students who have been identified as gifted and talented, according to Purdue’s Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute.

Do they make a difference?

A 2001 study that is often cited by gifted-program advocates found that adolescents identified as gifted pursued doctoral degrees at

rates over 50 times what is seen in the general population.

Some research, though, suggests that the effect is less profound, with only science achievement improving for those attending a gifted and talented magnet program. And yet another study found that when schools move to stop grouping mathematics students into advanced and regular levels, often called tracking, high-achieving students achieve at the same levels, and middle- and low-achieving students score at significantly higher levels.

Who is moving away from gifted programs?

NEW York City is the first major school system to entirely phase out its program for gifted and talented students.

Seattle, meanwhile, ended a program for gifted middle-school students. And a proposed math curriculum overhaul in California sought to end the practice of placing students in either regular or advanced placement math tracks starting in sixth grade. But the proposal, derided by critics as “woke math,” has been tabled.

In Virginia, a premier public high school has dramatically increased the number of Black and Hispanic students offered admission under a new application system.

Other districts, like Montgomery County, Maryland, and Broward

County, Florida, also have overhauled their admissions process.

Why are districts making changes?

GIFTED and talented programs are getting a closer look as the nation reexamines racial justice issues.

And the data is startling: Only 8 percent of students in gifted and talented programs are Black, although they make up 15 percent of the nation’s public school enrollment. Latinos, similarly, make up 18 percent of gifted program enrollment but a 27 percent share of the overall student population, the most recent federal numbers show.

The reasons have nothing to do with intelligence, Gentry and other experts say. The public school teachers who often make the referrals are about 80 percent white. But when a Black child has a teacher of the same race, they have a higher probability to be admitted, a 2016 study found.

Affluent families also are much more likely to be able to shell out money for test-preparation classes and tutors. And if they don’t like the results of school testing, they can pay afford to pay for their own private testing.

What role has racism played in the history of gifted programs?

RACISM has been intertwined with gifted education from the very beginning.

Just three years after the US Su-

preme Court overturned segregated education in its landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Russia launched the Sputnik satellite. That raised fears that the country was falling behind technologically and led to an explosion in gifted and talented programs.

Donna Ford, a gifted and urban education expert at Ohio State University, said it is no accident that gifted education took off as schools integrated.

Some gifted programs emerged in magnet schools, designed to lure white children to predominately Black neighborhoods to integrate them. In other districts, the gifted programs were set up to keep white families from leaving public schools and taking their tax dollars with them.

Ford noted that the man recognized as the father of the gifted education movement was a prominent eugenicist.

Lewis Terman, who believed that the human race could be improved through selective and restrictive breeding, is credited with revamping one of the earliest IQ exams in 1916 and then following some of the highest scorers on his still-in-use Stanford-Binet test throughout their lives.

A recent proposal to commemorate his research in the field’s flagship publication, Gifted Child Quarterly, led to a massive controversy before it was scrapped.

“Our organization almost came apart,” recalled James L. Moore III, also a professor at Ohio State.

What is changing?

THE plan in New York is to offer accelerated instruction for all elementary school students. Experts are skeptical it will work, though.

“The way to change it isn’t what New York is doing, which is to get rid of all the programing,” Gentry said. “What you do is you fix the problem. You say we have to open the programs up and make them accessible to kids who we have been excluding.”

Many districts are trying to do just that, said Lauri Kirsch, president of the National Association of Gifted Children. She said the best approach is to screen all students and to do so multiple times. She said districts also shouldn’t just rely on an IQ test or a teacher referral to identify them.

Some districts use nonverbal tests to identify students who aren’t native English speakers.

Kirsch said that “there’s no perfect way” but that districts that have made changes have seen improvement in finding students from diverse backgrounds.

Mission: Retrofit humans Continued from A1

High-skilled jobs

IN contrast, the labor official noted the shift toward a high-tech workplace will also translate to more new job opportunities for highskilled workers.

“We really need to produce skilled workers now since most of the tasks in many industries are now aided by technology,” Tutay said.

She said this is apparent in labor-intensive industries like construction, manufacturing, and even in the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) sector.

In such industries, she said repetitive tasks are now delegated to new technology, while the creative aspects of the operation are assigned to skilled workers.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said some companies are already trying to address this by upskilling their existing workforce.

“There are ongoing skilling up and multiskilling [trainings for] our electronics, banking, garment and food union workers. Even before the pandemic there was such training. But the pandemic height-

ened it,” said TUCP Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

Skills shortage

TUTAY highlighted risks that may arise from the failure of educational and training institutions to produce enough skilled workers needed by industries.

For one, she said this may prompt some companies that have the necessary capital to further invest in labor-saving devices, while others may look into hiring more skilled foreign workers.

Tanjusay said his group observed some companies in the electronics, banking, food and garment industries have started increasing automation in their system during the pandemic.

He also expressed concern over the possible entry of more foreign workers in the country, despite the fact that many Filipinos remain unemployed.

“That is why we are strongly pushing for government policy and control of the influx of foreign workers,” Tanjusay said.

NERS component

TUTAY said the government is now trying to mitigate the said risks

from a possible skills shortage via its National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) launched in May. A major component of the comprehensive plan, which consolidated the existing programs of various government agencies to counter the negative effects of the pandemic on the labor market, is to ramp up skills training.

Carreon confirmed this, saying Tesda’s funds for its skills training and scholarship programs are now part of the NERS implementation.

Tesda has a proposed budget of P17.76 billion for next year. Of which, over P10 billion will be allocated for the agency’s scholarship program.

Carreon noted the additional funds coupled with their ongoing digital innovations could help them meet the industries’ demand for skilled workers next year.

Sentro ng Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa Secretary General Joshua Mata said they welcome government initiatives to boost TVET availability, especially if its beneficiaries will be paid during their training.

“Ramping up training is important because usually only big companies who are able to afford it conduct training,” Mata said.

News BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

IATF okays hike in PUV pax capacity; NCR remains under AL 3 until Nov. 14

M

alacañang on Friday announced that Metro Manila would remain under Alert Level (AL) 3 until next month despite the decreasing number Covid-19 cases detected in the region.

Under the expanded implementation of the pilot test of the Alert Level System (ALS), the National Capital Region will retain its current alert level (AL) from November 1 to November 14, 2021.

At a virtual news briefing on Friday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) decided to delay issuing a lower alert level in NCR to make sure that an increased mobility of the public won’t cause a spike in Covid-19 infections.

This after the IATF approved the recommendation of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to start the gradual increase in passenger capacity of public-utility vehicles (PUV).

“This [AL 3] will only be for the next two weeks. If the case will not increase despite the increased mobility with 85 percent of the population in NCR already vaccinated, we will lower it to Alert Level 2,” Roque said.

In a related development, Roque said the IATF also decided to expand the pilot implementation of the ALS to include Regions 3, 6, and 10.

Starting on Monday, Aurora, Bacolod City, Negros Oriental, and Davao Occidental shall be placed under AL 4.

Meanwhile, areas that will be placed under AL 3 include Bataan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Iloilo City, Siquijor, Lanao del Norte, Davao City, and Davao del

Norte, with Baguio City, as an “area for special monitoring.”

AL 2 locations include Angeles City, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Olongapo City, Pampanga, Tarlac, Batangas, Quezon Province, Lucena City, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Cebu City, LapuLapu City, Mandaue City, Cebu Province, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro City, Camiguin, Iligan City, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental, Davao de Oro, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.

Roque said that for areas still not covered by ALS, the following community quarantine classifications would be in effect: Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ): Mountain Province, Catanduanes, and Zamboanga City (November 1 to 15, 2021).

General Community Quarantine (GCQ) with restrictions from November 1 to 30: Abra, Cagayan, Isabela, City of Santiago, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino.

GCQ from November 1 to 31: Ifugao, Benguet, Apayao, Kalinga, Ilocos Sur, Dagupan City, Batanes, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Albay, Naga City, Camarines Norte, Tacloban City, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, General Santos City, Sarangani, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Butuan City, Dinagat Islands, Cotabato City, and Lanao del Sur. “All other areas not mentioned shall be placed under modified general community quarantine for the whole month of November 2021,” Roque said.

Samuel P. Medenilla

BSP chief: Inflation could have hit between 4.5% and 5.3% in October

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By Bianca Cuaresma

ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said inflation could have hit between 4.5 percent and 5.3 percent in October, after easing to 4.8 percent in the previous month.

Diokno told reporters on Friday that inflation in October was largely driven largely by the upward adjustments in domestic oil prices. Higher Meralco electricity rates, increased fish and fruits prices, and the peso depreciation will provide additional upside pressures, he added.

However, these could be partially offset by the continued decline in rice and meat prices, reflecting continued arrival of pork imports.

“Moving forward, the BSP will continue to closely monitor emerging price developments to help ensure that its primary mandate of price stability conducive to balanced and sustainable economic growth is achieved,” the BSP governor said.

BSP’s forecast points to a still elevated inflation rate during the month, despite the slight easing in September.

The government’s target inflation rate for the year is at 2 to 4 percent.

Security Bank economist Robert Dan Roces, meanwhile, said inflation likely accelerated again in October to hit 4.9 percent.

“The main factors come from food and utilities. On the food basket, fruits and upland vegetables are pricey but

offset by pork and lowland vegetables.

For utilities, this may have accelerated 0.5 percent month-on-month on the back of higher electricity costs,” Roces said.

“Primary upside risks include global oil price movements, which may translate to pressures on transport and utilities. Food remains elevated and remains susceptible to any supply snags, such as a delay in meat imports,” he added.

In a BSP survey released earlier this month, 21 bank economists forecasted average inflation in the country to hit 4.3-percent—further away from the 2- to 4 percent target band for 2021 and higher than the 4.1-percent average forecast just three months prior.

According to the BSP, analysts expect inflation to remain above the upper end of the government’s target range in 2021, with upside risks including supply disruptions brought about by the reimposition of stricter quarantine measures, adverse weather conditions during the rainy season, persistence of the African swine fever, rising global crude oil prices, and weakening of the peso against the US dollar.

The expectation could be tempered, however, by potentially subdued domestic demand due to low purchasing power brought about by high unemployment and the prolonged and stricter lockdown measures amid the local transmission of the Delta variant, which could weigh down on recovery efforts.

Saturday, October 30, 2021

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NG debt balloons to record high of ₧11.92 trillion as of end-Sept

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

T

HE national government’s outstanding debt as of end-September this year ballooned to another record high of P11.92 trillion from P9.37 trillion a year ago.

Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed that the government’s debt stock grew by 27.2 percent or P2.55 trillion in just a year.

Interestingly, the outstanding debt level as of end-September this year already exceeded by 1.62 percent the government’s expected level of debt stock by year-end at P11.73 trillion.

Sought for comment, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon told the BusinessMirror “there will be repayments coming” which could bring down the total outstanding debt.

Nonetheless, compared to the previous month’s level of P11.64 trillion, the outstanding debt rose by P274.53 billion or 2.4 percent due to the net issuance of both domestic and external debt as well as peso depreciation against the US dollar.

Domestic borrowings cornered the bulk of the debt stock, accounting for 70.4 percent. The remaining 29.6 percent came from foreign sources.

Domestic debt reached P8.39

trillion, 30.3 percent year-on-year from P6.44 trillion.

This is also higher by 2 percent or P167.45 billion from P8.22 trillion as of end-August this year due to the net issuance of government securities.

Foreign debt

Meanwhile, foreign debt amounted to P3.53 trillion, soaring by 20.4 percent from P2.93 trillion as of September 2020.

This was also up by 3.1 percent or P107.08 billion from P3.42 trillion recorded as of end-August this year on the back of the net availment of foreign loans and the effect of local currency depreciation against the greenback.

Meanwhile, total outstanding guaranteed debt as of end-September this year also declined by 2.8 percent to P432.86 billion from P445.4 billion a year ago.

However, this inched up by 0.1 percent from the end-August level of P432.22 billion as peso depreciation against the US Dollar led to the increase in the value of external guarantees.

Based on the budget documents, the government expects outstanding debt to hit P13.42 trillion in 2022.

The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio this year is projected to rise to

59.1 percent and peak next year at 60.8 percent—slightly above the inter nationally accepted threshold—before gradually tapering off to 60.7 percent and 59.7 percent in 2023 and 2024.

The Department of Finance also

sees the national government returning to its pre-pandemic debt and budget deficit levels as early as 2024 or by 2025, if the recommended fiscal measures are passed early by the next administration, and if the economy quickly recovers.

Saturday, October 30, 2021

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News BusinessMirror

Elon Musk’s Starlink in talks to bring fast Internet to PHL

By Cecilia Yap & Ditas Lopez Bloomberg News

E

lon Musk’s Starlink is in talks with two Philippine telcos to launch its ultrafast satellite Internet in a country with slow speeds and poor connectivity.

Transpacific Broadband Group International Inc. said it’s looking to partner with Starlink for its satellite broadband venture, planning to roll out the technology by 2022.

It signed an agreement with operator ABS Global Ltd. for a low-earth

orbit satellite station in Pampanga province, north of the capital, according to a news statement issued on Thursday.

Low-earth orbit satellite technology offers a combination of affordability, speed, flexibility, ease-of-setup and a 27-millisecond low-latency bandwidth, it said in a stock exchange filing.

The Philippines ranks 72nd in the world for mobile Internet speed and 64th in terms of fixed broadband, according to the Speedtest Global Index.

Starlink, a unit of Musk ’s SpaceX, has deployed more than 1,700 satellites in low-earth orbit, a number that could eventually top 30,000 if it receives the necessary regulatory approvals and market demand warrants.

Meanwhile, fiber-optic broadband operator Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is talking to several satellite providers including SpaceX to complement its network, CEO Dennis Anthony Uy said.

“We would like to utilize loworbit satellite technology to bridge

the gap in areas that are unreachable with fiber-optic cables so that we can provide quality broadband connectivity to the majority of our people,” Uy said. Converge in March said it sees room for growth by targeting the 90 percent of the Southeast Asian nation’s 110 million population that is still without high-speed Internet.

Transpacific Broadband shares gained 5.6 percent in morning trade in Manila, building on Thursday’s 5.9 percent rally. Converge was down 2.6 percent.

NEA told to realign ₧1.6-billion funding to energize Bangsamoro

By Butch Fernandez

S

enator Sherwin Gatchalian goaded the National Electrification Administration (NEA) Friday to reallocate the P1.6-billion funding for next year’s Sitio Electrification Program (SEP) upon learning that “not a single centavo” was earmarked to electrify remote villages in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

“Please consider it because it is one of the desires of our kababayans in BARMM, to get villages electrified especially in that area [plagued] by insurgency,” the senator stressed. “It is one way to ward off insurgency by making sure electricity is continuously flowing,” he

added, reminding “without electricity, there is poverty.”

Gatchalian conveyed his concern as senators started scrutiny of the P3.896-billion corporate operating budget of NEA in the 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP).

In turn, newly designated NEA Administrator Emmanuel Juaneza admitted to senators sitting in the Finance Subcommittee E chaired

by Gatchalian that the prevailing peace and order situation led them to “exclude BARMM in funding Sitio Electrification Program next year.”

“I think it’s common knowledge that BARMM is one of the poorest areas in our country. We need to energize our sitios there to make sure that the government is

present and reaching out to those areas,” said Gatchalian.

He affirmed that lawmakers support the provision of billions for the barangay development program of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to clear the strongholds of communists and insurgents and pave the way for the construction of farm-tomarket roads, schools, livelihood programs, and establishment of rural electrification.

Gatchalian affirmed it is “important to reach out to them so that they will feel the services of the government. I think we should really look at BARMM and poverty-stricken areas there so t hat t he gover nment ca n

reach out to them. And electricity is one way to reduce poverty,” he said.

For his part, the NEA administrator assured they “have been coordinating with NTF-ELCAC to provide them support” in addressing the peace and order problem, being “one of the major hurdles in remote areas, such as the case in BARMM.” Juaneza informed Gatchalian that “even with the present allocation that we have, we will refocus and reallocate more to the BARMM area and we are also talking with the DOE [Department of Energy].”

He confided to Gatchalian that “we might be able to source some funds, P450 million I think. We can allocate it to BARMM.”

BOI greenlights ₧603-million Tuguegarao hospital project

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

T

he Board of Investments (BoI) gave its nod on a P603-million hospital project in Tuguegarao City, which is seen to increase the hospital capacity in the Cagayan Valley region amid the pandemic.

In a news statement issued on Friday, the attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) approved the application of Cagayan United Doctors Medical Center (CUDMC) as a new operator of General Hospital Level 2.

The hospital, whose project is categorized as health care and disaster risk reduction management service, can avail of tax and other incentives under the Corporate

Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act and the current Investment Priorities Plan (IPP).

“Due to the stark concern on the spike of Covid-19 cases coupled with the limited hospital care capacity for patients, the project will augment the hospital capacity in Region 2 to cater for Covid-19 patients with critical symptoms,” DTI Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said.

BOI noted that the hospital project is part of the government and private sector’s initiative of expanding health-care facilities.

Rodolfo said that the “gains of such undertaking are doubling investments in the area of medical equipment and devices,

manufacturing of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, research and development, life sciences and innovation.”

Citing data from the Department of Health, BOI said the Cagayan Valley region has an occupancy rate of 78.8 percent for Covid-19 patients. The project will add 100 beds, which will make the region compliant with the requirement for hospital licensing under Level 2.

The 5-story hospital project aims to cater to Isabela and Kalinga-Apayao areas as well, in addition to Cagayan province.

It will have 18 critical care unit beds with five-bed intermediate care unit. The project also covers the construction of

“eight negative pressure isolation rooms, a laminar f low system an operating room, and a healing garden.”

The hospital will be offering “extensive, comprehensive and specialized health care” given its laboratory and diagnostic services, BOI added.

The establishment is expected to hire some 652 employees. It is expected to “infuse P75 million contribution to household income” in the first four years of commercial operations.

The hospital also seeks to invest in digital health technologies, such as computing platforms, connectivity, health-care software solutions and health information technology.

Exec: SEA to see more tech start-ups A

venture capitalist sees more start-ups, especially in the field of technology, emerging in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region.

Paul Santos, managing partner of Singapore-based Wavemaker Partners, said that technology investments in the region have been growing through the years, although a slight dent was recorded last year amid the pandemic.

“We have a hot market. There’s always excitement around unicorns or billion-dollar companies,” he said, noting that the demand for technology has been on the rise as well.

In Sout heast A sia, Sa ntos said there are 40 unicorns present and 19 of them were just introduced in t he past year.

T he remainder was launched between 2013 and 2020.

“There is real momentum in

the region to create these kinds of companies,” he said. “More and more people are using technology in their day-to-day lives, and so are businesses.”

Investors are drawn to the region because of its robust macroeconomic fundamentals, he said.

Citing reports, Santos shared that the economic block has 70-percent Internet penetration, which is higher than the global average of 59.5 percent. The number of Internet users in SEA also grew to 400 million last year from 360 million in 2019 due to the accelerated shift to digital amid the pandemic.

The Internet economy of the region is also expected to reach $300 billion in gross merchandise value by 2025 despite the pandemic, he said.

As a venture capitalist, Santos said it is crucial to back the funding of start-ups that may not offer “obvious” products and services but may yield value in the future.

“Can we back the things that are less obvious? Can we build a conviction that they can actually be really exciting opportunities?

And if we are able to do that, that’s how we get our reward,” he said.

Santos said that Wakemaker

has been investing in the Philippines as well, given that it has a big population and opportunities for start-ups.

“There are many problems to solve and you can use technology in ways that make solving it worthwhile,” he said.

“I think we have a ton of oppor tunities. We just have to look for these insights and back these entrepreneurs that are doing things that might not be so obvious,” he added.

According to Global Startup Ecosystem Report (GSER) 2021, Manila is one of the top emerging ecosystems for start-ups in the world amid its growing financial technology (fintech) and e-commerce space.

The Philippines has $101 million worth of early-stage funding and $584-million ecosystem value.

GSER pointed out that fintech start-ups in the Philippines were able to take advantage of the increasing mobile banking usage, enabling regulatory environment and unbanked segment. Meanwhile, the e-commerce revenues are pegged at over $5 million this year and forecast to reach $8.8 million in 2025. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Duterte resets 1st-ever BARMM polls to 2025

By Samuel P. Medenilla

T

he first-ever election in the Bangasamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will be held in 2025.

This after President Duterte signed last Thursday Republic Act 11593, which rescheduled the BARMM polls from 2022 to 2025.

Presidential spokesman Harr y Roque said the new legislation authorizes Duterte to appoint 80 new interim members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA).

Roque said the interim officials will serve up to June 30, 2021, or until their successors are elected or qualified.

The new law reiterated the mandate of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to promulgate the rules and regulations for the conduct of the BARMM polls.

Some members of the BTA pushed for a push back of the BARMM elections after their preparations for the activity were derailed by the pandemic.

RA 11593 will take effect 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or in at least one newspaper of general circulation.

‘Most welcome’

In the Senate, Senator Francis Tolentino expressed gratitude to President Duterte for signing the law resetting the first regular elections in BARMM. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government, Tolentino sponsored the measure in the Senate.

“The approval is most welcome since a postponement is needed to achieve long and lasting peace in the region,” added Tolentino, adding that the approval of the law is also a testament of the government’s commitment to push for inclusive growth in the BARMM region.

The senator said the postponement would also ensure that all the agreements under the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro between the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are fulfilled.

BBM remains to be ‘best bet’ in surveys, dominates latest Pulso ng Pilipino polls

P

artido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) standard-bearer Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., again leads another noncommissoned survey released by the Issues and Advocacy Center, or the Center, showing that the public sees him as their preferred presidential candidate for the May 2022 elections.

Based on the Pulso ng Pilipino nationwide survey conducted among 2,400 respondents from September 27 to October 8, Marcos is leading the presidential race after having a nationwide tally of 23.5 percent.

Other candidates, Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao garnered 19.75 percent for the second spot, followed by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso with 18 percent, Vice President Leni Robredo with 14 percent, Sen. Panfilo Lacson with 12.50 percent, Sen. Bato dela Rosa at 7.75 percent, Ka Leodegario de Guzman with 3.25 percent and former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales with 1.25 percent.

The center considered the 23.5 percent rating generated by Marcos as “very significant.”

While the research group sees that there is no individual or organization who can take credit for the 23.5 percent rating of Marcos except him alone, the presidential aspirant believes that it is because of the support of his party and group supporters that he remains at the top of surveys.

Last week, Bongbong, in the 3rd Quarter survey released by PUBLiCUS Asia Inc., has emerged as the No. 1 Presidential candidate confirming the growing grassroots support for his candidacy and proving that the Kalye Surveys conducted by independent YouTube vloggers in various parts of the country consistently showed him as the top choice of the people.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa lahat na nagsabing sila ay boboto sa akin.

Maraming salamat at sana pagdating ng araw ng botohan ay nandoon tayo para marinig ang boses natin,” Marcos said.

Three Cebu Pacific Bayanihan flights bring home 469 Pinoys

C

ebu Pacific (PSE: CEB), the Philippines’s leading carrier, brought home 469 Filipinos from Dubai via three Bayanihan flights this week in response to the government’s call to repatriate overseas Filipinos (OF) who were stranded in the Middle East.

The CEB Bayanihan f lights from Dubai-Manila on October 25, and Dubai-Davao on October 27 and 28 were mounted in coordination with the Philippine government’s special working group.

Passengers on these flights received meal upgrades and an additional 25 kilogram baggage allowance.

Guest s were requ i red to stay in a facility-based quarantine; and must take RT-PCR swab test on the fifth day if fully-vaccinated, or seventh day if partially vaccinated after arrival.

CEB coordinated with Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to accommodate all arriving overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and their dependents in Bureau of Quarantine (BoQ )designated stringent quarantine hotels.

The cost of quarantine accommodation and testing for landbased OFWs was OWWA; while the Philippine Ports Authority covered the cost for sea-based OFWs. Returning OFs or non-OFWs should arrange and pay for their testing and six-day hotel quarantine accredited by the BoQ. “We are happy to keep on supporting the government in bringing home more fellow Filipinos. We are honored to help them reunite with their loved ones, especially now that we are entering the holiday season,” said Alex Reyes, chief strategy officer at Cebu Pacific.

CEB has repatriated more than 6,900 Filipinos from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, India, Vietnam, Lebanon, and Bahrain through Bayanihan and Department of Foreign Affairs-arranged charter flights since July.

CEB operates the widest domestic network in the Philippines covering 31 destinations, on top of its eight (8) international destinations. Its 74-strong fleet, one of the youngest in the world, includes two dedicated ATR freighters and one A330 freighter.

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The World

‘Stupid’ and ‘insane’: Some billionaires vent over tax plan

E

lon Musk isn’t happy.

With a personal fortune that is flirting with $300 billion, the Tesla CEO—the richest person on earth—has been attacking a Democratic proposal to tax the assets of billionaires like him.

The idea behind the Democratic plan is to use revenue from a billionaires’ tax to help pay for a domestic policy package being negotiated in Congress that would, among other things, help combat climate change, provide universal prekindergarten and expand healthcare programs. The proposal wasn’t included in President Joe Biden’s framework for the domestic policy package released Thursday, though that deal among Congressional Democrats isn’t final.

Musk, who recently blew past Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world No. 1 in wealth thanks to Tesla’s soaring share price, would be liable for perhaps a one-time $50-billion tax hit under the Democratic proposal.

Forget it, he says.

“My plan,” the SpaceX founder tweeted Thursday about his fortune, “is to use the money to get humanity to Mars and preserve the light of consciousness.”

He may well get his wish, with the proposal removed from the White House framework.

Earlier this week, Musk argued, the fundamental problem is that government spends too much money—and he warned that the billionaire tax proposal could lead over time to tax hikes for more Americans.

“Eventually,” he tweeted Monday, “they run out of other people’s money, and then they come for you.”

The Democratic proposal, unveiled Wednesday by Sen. Ron Wyden, would tax the gains of people with either $1 billion or more in assets, or three consecutive years of income of $100 million or more, at the capital gains tax rate of 20 percent and the 3.8-percent net investment income tax rate. It would apply to fewer than an estimated 800 people, who would have to pay tax on the value of tradable items, like stocks, even if they don’t sell them. Under current law, such assets are subject to tax only when they’re sold.

Supporters have said the tax could raise $200 billion over 10 years that could help fund Biden’s legislative priorities. Republicans are unified in opposition to the proposal. And some have suggested it would be challenged in court.

The Democrats’ proposal came against the backdrop of growing concerns about vast economic inequality, with the wealth of many American multibillionaires having accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to increased stock and home equity, even more than before the virus struck.

John Catsimatidis, the billionaire grocery chain and real-estate magnate who owns Gristedes, condemned the proposal as something you would “expect Putin to do,” referring to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

The billionaire tax plan, Catsimatidis told The Associated Press, is “a little bit insane.”

“The American people have reached the point where they’re saying, ‘Enough is enough,’” said Catsimatidis, who lost a bid for the Republican nomination for New York City mayor in 2013.

“Stop spending the money stupidly. They come up with budgets that are stupid budgets, and they want to make everybody else suffer for it.”

“Do we need infrastructure?” Catsimatidis added. “Sure, we need infrastructure. Do we need bridges to nowhere? No, we don’t need those.”

“You’re talking about the people that create the jobs,” he said of billionaires. “We can get up and go somewhere else.”

Leon Cooperman, the outspoken billionaire investor who has long denounced Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s own proposal for a wealth tax, has added his voice to the exasperation coming from some of the uberwealthy.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cooperman said of the tax, “I doubt it’s legal, and it’s stupid.”

“What made America great,” he said, “was the people who started with nothing like me making a lot of money and giving it back. A relentless attack on wealthy people makes no sense.”

Not every billionaire shares such outrage. A spokesperson for George Soros, the investor and liberal philanthropist, told the AP that Soros is “supportive of the proposed billionaires’ tax.”

And while Warren Buffett has yet to comment publicly on the proposal, the billionaire head of Berkshire Hathaway has long called for higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy like himself.

Bob Lord, a tax lawyer and associate fellow at the progressive think tank Institute for Policy Studies, said that even if this particular proposal doesn’t pass, it does reflect how concerns about financial inequality are gathering momentum.

ProPublica reported in June that some of the richest Americans have paid no income tax, or nearly none, in some years—including Musk, who, the report said, paid zero income taxes in 2018. Critics argue that Musk’s criticism of the billionaire tax proposal overlooks the fact that Tesla’s rise has been aided by government incentives and loans.

Lord noted, for example, that the run-up in Tesla stock Monday, after a major order of Teslas from Hertz, increased Musk’s wealth by roughly $37 billion—more than what the IRS collects in estate and gift tax revenue from the entire country in one year.

Wyden’s proposal, Lord suggested, might need to close some loopholes.

“But I think they’ve done a pretty good job with it,” he said. “There are folks out there who are saying the billionaires will just put their money into non-publicly traded assets. But it’s not going to be that easy. It’s a pretty well-crafted bill.”

Such tax changes could also shift how billionaire philanthropists make donations.

Brian Mittendorf, a professor of accounting at Ohio State University, said he believes that in the short term, the billionaire proposal would lead some of the uber-wealthy to rush philanthropic contributions into so-called donor-advised funds. Such funds would allow them to receive tax deductions up front without distributing any of the money. (Donors can’t get the money back from these funds).

“If, in fact, this were to pass,” Mittendorf said, “it creates huge incentives to donate some of these assets that have gone up in value before the tax hits.” AP

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 30, 2021

A5

Facebook Inc. renames itself Meta amid crisis

O

AKLAND, California—Like many companies in trouble before it, Facebook is changing its name and logo.

Facebook Inc. is now called Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, to reflect what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday is its commitment to developing the new surroundyourself technology known as the “metaverse.” But the social network itself will still be called Facebook.

Also unchanged, at least for now, are its chief executive and senior leadership, its corporate structure and the crisis that has enveloped the company.

Skeptics immediately accused the company of trying to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, the trove of leaked documents that have plunged it into the biggest crisis since it was founded in Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room 17 years ago. The documents portray Facebook as putting profits ahead of ridding its platform of hate, political strife and misinformation around the world.

The move reminded marketing consultant Laura Ries of when energy company BP rebranded itself to “Beyond Petroleum” to escape criticism that the oil giant harmed the environment.

“Facebook is the world’s socialmedia platform, and they are being accused of creating something that is harmful to people and society,” she said. “They can’t walk away from the social network with a new corporate name and talk of a future metaverse.”

Facebook the app is not changing its name. Nor are Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The company’s corporate structure also won’t change. But on December 1, its stock will start trading under a new ticker symbol, MVRS. The metaverse is sort of the Internet brought to life, or at least rendered in 3D. Zuckerberg has described it as a “virtual environment” you can go inside of, instead of just looking at on a screen. People can meet, work and play, using virtual reality headsets, augmented reality glasses, smartphone apps or other devices.

It also will incorporate other aspects of online life such as shopping and social media, according to Victoria Petrock, an analyst who follows emerging technologies.

Zuckerberg’s foray into virtual reality has drawn some comparisons to fellow tech billionaires’ outer space adventures and jokes that perhaps it’s understandable he would want to escape his current reality amid calls for his resignation and increasing scrutiny of the company.

On Monday, Zuckerberg announced a new segment for Facebook that will begin reporting its financial results separately from the company’s Family of Apps segment starting in the final quarter of this year. The entity, Reality Labs, will reduce Facebook’s overall operating profit by about $10 billion this year, the company said.

Other tech companies such as Microsoft, chipmaker Nvidia and Fortnite maker Epic Games have all been outlining their own visions of how the metaverse will work.

Zuckerberg said that he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade and that he hopes the new technology will creates millions of jobs for creators.

T he a n nou ncement comes amid heightened legislative and regulatory scrutiny of Facebook in many parts of the world because of the Facebook Papers. A corporate rebranding isn’t likely to solve the myriad problems revealed by the internal documents or quiet the alarms that critics have been raising for years about the harm the company’s products are causing to society.

Zuckerberg, for his part, has largely dismissed the furor triggered by the Facebook Papers as unfair.

In an interesting twist, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic organization run by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, bought a Canadian scientific literature analysis company called Meta in 2017.

By Thursday afternoon, though, its web site Meta.org announced that it will “sunset” at the end of March. The Meta.com domain, meanwhile, redirected to the former Facebook’s rebranded corporate site.

At headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the iconic thumbs up sign that has long been outside was repainted to a blue, pretzel-shape logo resembling an infinity symbol.

Some of Facebook’s biggest critics seemed unimpressed by the name change. The Real Facebook Oversight Board, a watchdog group focused on the company, announced that it will keep its name.

“Changing their name doesn’t change reality: Facebook is destroying our democracy and is the world’s leading peddler of disinformation and hate,” the group said in a statement. “Their meaningless name change should not distract from the investigation, regulation and real, independent oversight needed to

A Facebook employee take a selfie in front of the company’s new name and logo outside its headquarters in Menlo Park, California on, October 28, after announcing that it is changing its name to Meta Platforms Inc. AP

hold Facebook accountable.”

In explaining the rebrand, Zuckerberg said the name Facebook no longer encompasses everything the company does. In addition to the social network, that now includes Instagram, Mes-

senger, its Quest VR headset, its Horizon VR platform and more.

“Today we are seen as a socialmedia company,” Zuckerberg said.

“But in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people.” AP

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Saturday, October 30, 2021

The World BusinessMirror

Biden-Xi thaw quietly takes hold as Taiwan tensions flare

U

NITED STATES President Joe Biden pledges to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack.

Beijing warns of “game changing and huge risks.” Chinese warplanes fly by the island democracy almost daily, and state media warns American actions could “trigger a war.”

Recent headlines make it seem as if the nuclear-armed powers are hurtling toward conflict. More and more analysts warn that China’s President Xi Jinping is preparing for war sometime in the next few years to seize an island that Beijing has threatened to overrun ever since the Communist Party took power in 1949.

But underneath the surface, signs are increasing that the US and China are starting to climb out of the diplomatic spiral that began w ith for mer President Donald Trump’s steel tariffs in March 2018.

Biden and Xi this month announced plans for a video summit in the coming weeks—the first public meeting between leaders of the countries in more than two years. On Tuesday, China described talks between US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He as “pragmatic, candid and constructive.” Both governments also set up a working group to solve thorny issues.

The conflicting signals reflect the political realities facing both leaders, who need some level of cooperation to protect their own economies yet can’t afford to look weak. That has thrust Taiwan back to the fore as a proxy front, a role it has played for much of the past seven decades since rival Chinese governments reached their current stalemate across the Taiwan Strait.

Speaking up for the island’s popularly elected government helps Biden maintain A merican credibility in a region under

growing Chinese influence, while potentially giving Beijing greater incentive to compromise on other issues, said Wen-Ti Sung, a lecturer at Australian National University.

“So long as there is sufficient communication between the US and China, and they can be reassured that both sides aim for competition without catastrophe, then cooperation between the world’s two largest economies will remain possible and even desirable, regardless of the tough rhetoric they have been exchanging in public,” Sung said.

Biden, who Trump regularly accused of being soft on China during last year’s presidential campaign, must convince voters and US allies that he can stand up to Beijing.

At the same time, he needs Xi’s cooperation on global issues such as combating climate change and stabilizing places like Afghanistan and North Korea.

Xi, who faces his own “reelection” as Communist Party leader next year, can’t afford to look weak on an issue as emotionally charged as Taiwan’s sovereignty.

But he also needs stable relations with the rest of the world to keep China’s export-dependent economy on track and meet pledges to improve living standards across the board—goals a war would jeopardize.

Trading barbs

The two sides traded barbs over Taiwan almost daily this week, with China condemning Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s call for

increased Taiwanese participation at the United Nations as a violation of the agreement that allowed Washington and Beijing to establish ties. On Thursday, Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, confirmed the presence of some American troops on the island, which the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper denounced as “one of the most dangerous factors that could trigger a war in the Taiwan Straits.”

The tensions center on Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of its territory and its vow to use military force to prevent its formal independence. The US and its allies such as Japan argue the international community must signal resolve to discourage Xi from trying to absorb Taiwan after pacifying the former British colony of Hong Kong.

“We are in a situation where all sides are trying to deter each other, but those deterrent moves are interpreted as aggression,” says Shelley Rigger, a political science professor at Davidson College who has authored several books on Taiwan. “The People’s Republic of China is afraid the US could give Taiwan the green light to make a run for it, so it’s doing everything in its power to deter the US and Taiwan from busting a move.”

Risks of miscalculation

The risks of miscalculation are real even if nobody wants a war, especially after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August. Biden’s pledge to defend Taiwan isn’t spelled out in any law or treaty, raising questions about how a war-weary US would respond. The Washington security establishment is divided over how soon Xi will have the military capability to mount an amphibious assault across the Taiwan Strait and prevent an American intervention.

Increased Chinese, Taiwanese and US military activities in the region raise the possibly of a collision or confrontation. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said this month that the closer People’s Liberation Army planes get, “the stronger we

will hit back,” in what was seen as a warning for them not to follow through on state media threats to fly over the island.

“We’re in a security dilemma where Beijing is convinced it has to take tougher measures to counter what they see as US shifts in long-standing policy,” said Kharis Templeman, an adviser to the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “And the Biden administration is increasingly worried Beijing might actually be thinking about a military option and wants to signal its seriousness about defending Taiwan.”

‘We have the initiative’

The US and China have been publicly feuding over Taiwan for years. And they continued to spar even as top envoys met in Geneva earlier this month and agreed to set up the summit between Biden and Xi. Talks to set up that meeting have continued, despite the latest volleys.

An editorial by the Communist Party-backed Global Times late Thursday blasted the US and Taiwan while also saying China shouldn’t be goaded into a war.

“We have the initiative to decide when to punish ‘Taiwan secessionists’ and how to solve the Taiwan question,” it said, adding: “We don’t need to ask ourselves why we still don’t resort to force or if we should draw another red line.”

Ryan Hass, who was director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia on former President Barack Obama’s National Security Council staff, said the risk of a “deliberate” conf lict remains low through 2024, even if tit-for-tat responses on Taiwan continue to raise US-China tensions.

“While the risk of conflict cannot be ruled out, and the US and Taiwan must strengthen efforts to sustain deterrence in the face of China’s significant military build-up, the near-term risk likely is far lower than a casual perusal of American commentaries on the subject would suggest,” Hass said.

Bloomberg News

Woman in Bali ‘suitcase murder’ freed from jail

D

ENPASAR, Indonesia— An American woman convicted of helping to kill her mother on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali in 2014 walked free from prison Friday after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence and will be deported to the United States.

The badly beaten body of a wealthy Chicago socialite, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, was found inside the trunk of a taxi parked at the upscale St. Regis Bali Resort in August 2014.

Heather Mack, who was almost 19 and a few weeks pregnant, and her then-21-

year-old boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, were arrested a day later after they were found at a hotel about 10 kilometers from the St. Regis.

Police said the hotel’s CCTV showed the couple had argued with the girl’s mother in the lobby of the hotel shortly before the killing, which is alleged to have taken place inside a room in the hotel.

An Indonesian court sentenced Mack to 10 years in prison for assisting Schaefer in her mother’s murder and stuffing the body in a suitcase.

Schaefer received an 18-year sentence.

T hei r d aughter, Ste l l a

Schaefer, was born shortly before her parents were convicted in 2015. Under Indonesian law, she was allowed to live with her mother in her cell in Kerobokan female prison until she turned 2 years old, and Mack gave custody of her young daughter to an Australian woman until her release from prison.

Mack and her mother had a troubled relationship, with officials confirming police had been called to the family’s Oak Park, Illinois, home dozens of times.

In 2016, Robert Bibbs, a cousin of Schaefer, pleaded guilty to helping to plan the

killing in exchange for $50,000 that Mack was expected to inherit, and was sentenced the next year to nine years in prison.

Mack, now 26, was escorted through a crush of reporters outside the Kerobokan Female Prison in Denpasar, the Bali provincial capital, into a waiting car that took her to an immigration office near Bali’s international airport on Friday morning.

Wearing a mask, sunglasses and an immigration deportee’s orange vest, she made no comment to reporters except to say, “Oh my God... you’re insane!” from behind the car’s window.

A few of friends of Mack were seen welcoming her outside the prison, including Oshar Putu Melody Suartama, an Australian woman married to a Balinese man, who has been raising Stella.

Mack’s sentence was shortened by a total of 34 months due to reductions that are often granted to prisoners on major holidays because of their good conduct, including a six-month remission of sentence awarded during Indonesia’s Independence Day in August, said Lili, the prison chief warden, who goes by a single name.

Lili said that Mack was entitled to the sentence reduction under Indonesian law for good behavior and Mack also got involved in activities arranged by correctional officers, such as organizing fashion shows featuring designs by inmates, and teaching them to dance.

She described that Mack was a bit shocked, sad and frightened when she was about to leave, “but we all cheered her on and reassured her that everything would be all right.”

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State Department urges probe into reports of Myanmar military torture

S

YDNEY—The US State Department expressed outrage and demanded an investigation on Friday after The Associated Press reported that Myanmar’s military has been torturing detainees in a systemic way across the country.

The United Nations’ top expert on human rights in Myanmar also called for strong international pressure on the military. And lawmakers in Washington urged Congress to act in the wake of AP’s investigation, which was based on interviews with 28 people, including women and children, imprisoned and released since the military took control of the government in February.

“We are outraged and disturbed by ongoing reports of the Burmese military regime’s use of ‘systematic torture’ across the country,” the State Department said, using Myanmar’s other name, Burma.

“Reports of torture in Burma must be credibly investigated and those responsible for such abuses must be held accountable.”

AP’s report, which included photographic evidence, sketches and letters from prisoners, along with testimony from three recently defected military officials, provides the most comprehensive look since the takeover into a highly secretive detention system that has held more than 9,000 people. The AP identified a dozen interrogation centers in use across Myanmar, in addition to prisons and police lockups, based on interviews and satellite imagery.

Security forces have killed more than 1,200 people since February, including at least 131 detainees tortured to death.

The AP found that the military, known as the Tatmadaw, has taken steps to hide evidence of its torture. An aide to a highranking commander told the AP that he watched security forces torture two prisoners to death.

Afterwards, he said, soldiers attached glucose drip lines to their corpses to make it look like the men were still alive, then forced a military doctor to falsify their autopsy reports.

“The AP’s investigation sheds important light on the scope and systemic nature of the junta’s criminal torture campaign,” UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said in a news statement. “The confession of military personnel who directly witnessed detainees being tortured to death will be important for accountability efforts, as well as the AP’s uncovering of torture and interrogation center locations.”

Given the military’s efforts to hide its abuses, Andrews said the accounts in AP’s report are “very likely just the tip of the iceberg.”

US Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the

House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the House to hold a vote on the Burma Act in light of the findings. The legislation would authorize additional targeted sanctions against the military.

While the US, United Kingdom and European Union have already placed sanctions on high-ranking Myanmar military members and state-owned enterprises, they have yet to sanction American and French oil and gas companies working in Myanmar. That has allowed the military to maintain its single-largest source of foreign currency revenue, which the Tatmadaw uses, in part, to purchase weapons.

“The disturbing reporting by The Associated Press on the sadistic torture and horrific violence committed by the Burmese military junta are sadly the latest in a long string of their atrocities, including genocide against the Rohingya,” McCaul said in a news statement, referring to the military’s mass slaughter and rape of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in 2017.

Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also urged Congress to pass the legislation.

“I condemn the Burmese military’s unconscionable treatment of detainees, allegedly including victims as young as 16 years old, in the strongest possible terms,” Meeks said in a statement.

The administration is considering sanctions that could impact Myanmar’s oil and gas industry but has yet to make a decision, according to officials familiar with the process. These officials say privately that there is great internal debate among the National Security Council, the State Department and Treasury about how best to ensure that any sanctions imposed do not negatively affect the people of Myanmar.

Huma n-r ights g roups a lso urged an immediate international response.

“The AP’s searing and expansive investigation sheds light into the black-box of the Myanmar military’s detention facilities. The Tatmadaw’s methodical torture regime—and attempts to hide it from public view—demand immediate global acknowledgement and action,” said Susannah Sirkin, director of policy at Physicians for Human Rights. The group concluded that the wounds seen in photographs sent by the AP of three torture victims were consistent with deliberate beatings by sticks or rods.

The military did not respond to a request for comment on AP’s report. Earlier this week, it dismissed questions from the AP about its findings as “nonsense.” AP

‘Everything is at stake’ as world gathers for climate-change talks

M

ore than one world leader says humanity’s future, even survival, hangs in the balance when international officials meet in Scotland to try to accelerate efforts to curb climate change. Temperatures, tempers and hyperbole have all ratcheted up ahead of the United Nations summit.

And the risk of failure looms large for all participants at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP26.

Six years ago, nearly 200 countries agreed to individualized plans to fight global warming in the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement. Now leaders will converge in Glasgow for two weeks starting Sunday to take the next step dictated by that pact: Do more and do it faster.

It’s not easy. Except for a slight drop because of the pandemic, carbon pollution from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is

increasing, not falling.

Between now and 2030, the world will spew up to 28 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases beyond the amount that would keep the planet at or below the most stringent limit set in Paris, the United Nations calculated this week.

“Everything is at stake if the leaders do not take climate action,” young Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate said.

“We cannot eat coal. We cannot drink oil, and we cannot breathe so-called natural gas.”

Her words were echoed by a man tasked with steering one of the world’s richest economic blocs through the climate transition.

“We are fighting for the survival of humanity,” European C o m m i s s io n V i c e P re s i d e nt Frans Timmermans said. “Climate change and the threatening ecocide are the biggest threats humanity faces.” AP

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Editor: Angel R. Calso • Saturday, October 30, 2021 A7

DOH urges LGUs to raise vaccine coverage among senior citizens

By Allen Estabillo

tion coverage among senior citizens or priority group A2, which remained way below their target as of last week.

She said out of the 314,465 eligible A2 population, only 128,153 or 40.75 percent are so far fully vaccinated.

Montañer said the National Vaccine Operations Center (NVOC) has made the A2 inoculation accomplishment as a requirement for the expansion of the Covid-19 mass vaccination to the pediatric group or those aged 12 to 17 years old.

G

ENERAL SANTOS CITY— Health authorities in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) urged local government units (LGUs) to further accelerate the vaccination against Covid-19 for their vulnerable elderly population.

Dr. Edvir Jane Montañer, Department of Health (DOH)-Region 12 immunization manager, said the region needs to increase the vaccina-

“We cannot expand to our pediatric group if we will not reach at least 50 percent of our target for the A2 population,” she said in a report.

She appealed to concerned stakeholders to help campaign for the vaccination of the remaining unvaccinated senior citizens, who are considered the most vulnerable to severe Covid-19 infection.

As of October 19, she said a total of 1,287,506 residents in Soccsksargen and Cotabato City have

received at least the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The region comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, and Kidapawan.

DOH-12 manages the vaccination activities in Cotabato City, which is under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The agency has targeted to vaccinate a combined 3,523,867 resi-

A jab in each arm: France vaccinates senior citizens, at-risk people against flu and Covid

By John Leicester

infection and the development of serious cases and deaths.”

French health authorities also fear that because there were fewer flu infections in 2020, because of social distancing and coronavirus lockdowns, people could be more vulnerable this winter.

“The flu could be strong this year—I stress ‘could’—because we had no flu last year and so the population’s immunity is lower,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said on BFM-TV. The flu vaccination campaign was already under way in elderly care homes, which got a green light to start giving jabs from Monday.

Those immediately eligible for flu jabs include all those aged 65 and above, pregnant women, people of all ages with chronic illnesses or obesity, health professionals, homehelpers for at-risk people and families with vulnerable new-borns under 6 months old.

France’s Covid-19 booster-shot campaign was launched in September, targeting many of the same people now prioritized for free flu shots. They include the over-65s, care-home residents, the chronically sick and recipients of the single-shot

The Associated Press

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ARIS—Worried that the flu and Covid-19 could trigger a wintertime double-whammy of new infections and deaths, France is forging ahead with a nationwide vaccination and booster-shot program against both diseases, offering simultaneous jabs to millions of at-risk people.

The annual f lu vaccination campaign kicked off Friday, four days earlier than initially planned, dovetailing with France’s Covid-19 vaccination program as well as trying to reach those who remain unvaccinated. The program is also providing booster shots to those in need.

French health authorities, in instructions issued this week, urged doctors, nurses, pharmacists and midwives to “systematically promote both vaccinations” to at-risk people eligible for Covid-19 booster and flu shots. The note said the jabs can be given the same day, one in each arm.

It added that the onset of the winter flu season with the pandemic ongoing “increases the risk of co-

IN this September 24, 2021, file photo, a woman gets a Covid-19 Pfizer booster shot in the “Im Lauesch” nursing home of Strasbourg, eastern France. Worried that the flu and Covid-19 could together trigger a wintertime double-whammy of new infections and deaths, France is forging ahead with a nationwide vaccination program against both diseases, offering simultaneous jabs in both arms to millions of at-risk people. AP PHOTO/JEAN-FRANCOIS BADIAS

Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Close to 50 million people in France—nearly 74 percent of the

Recollections of a closet poet

By Nick Tayag

MY SIXTY-ZEN’S WORTH

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Y earliest connection with the world of poetry was during my boyhood. At age five, I used to declaim during our family reunions as well as social gatherings in our local parish. My Tatang loved to heave me up on a chair in front of everybody to display my prodigious prowess in the spoken word. From memory, with accompanying choreographed gestures, I would recite the poems of Amado Yuson and Jose Corazon de Jesus. People would never fail to shed a tear or two whenever I would recite lines from such iconic poems as “Ang Pamana” and “Ang Pagbabalik.”

Was I continuing the long lineage of the aoidos in Dark Age Greece, trained from early youth to recite their epics because human society had not yet discovered writing? Was I a forerunner of what is now called performance poetry? The truth is, I was probably just a prop used to puff up my Tatang’s pride.

I was nothing more than a “performing monkey” as Antonio Salieri pejoratively described the prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

That seed planted in my childhood was forgotten, until one day in college during our Español class, it suddenly stirred up in me again and moved me to volunteer to take part in a Spanish declamation contest. As I remember, I did poorly in

that contest, considering that most of my competitors were high-nosed natural Spanish speaking mestizos.

For my piece I chose “Lament for the Death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías” by Federico García Lorca. The repetition of the line “A las cinco de la tarde” (At five in the afternoon) in the said poem had a huge impact on me then. The rhythm of the repeating line reminded me of the ringing of church bells.

But every time I said the line repeatedly, I could hear the audience at the back snigger and even mockingly join me as I intoned the words. The tragic elegance of that poem was utterly lost on them. Maybe I did not deliver the lines expressively enough to reach and touch them. It was a disaster and a humiliating experience. As a consolation, I got an automatic A in that subject for being the class sacrifice.

So I vowed not to recite poems on stage again. Instead, I turned to writing them. I composed clumsy poems in the imagist style of “Lovesong of Alfred J. Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot.

My brother, Cong Caloy, fueled my enthusiasm for poem writing. A Benedictine monk on an indefinite sabbatical leave, he was then finishing his masters in Philippine Literature at UP. He was an accomplished poet himself, writing in English. Two or three of

his poems were published in the weekly magazine Free Press where Nick Joaquin was then the Literary Editor. I idolized my brother and began to pass on my abysmal scribblings to him.

I wrote in English, Tagalog and even in the dialect. One time, I sent him one of the poems I wrote in Pampango. Before I knew it, it was published in the Philippine Collegian, where he was then the Literary Editor while Miriam Defensor was the editor-in-chief. That was before the pre-Martial Law days. I can still vividly remember that on a trip to the province, my brother and a friend were having a good time, belly laughing all the way, taking turns in reciting excerpts from that poem, which caricatured colorful characters in our hometown. I felt proud because I could not believe that my composition had such an impact on my brother and his friend. The memory of that night trip home will remain as a poem in my mind.

One late afternoon, Cong Caloy suddenly dropped by at the boardinghouse where I was staying and asked me to go with him to a place called Los Indios Bravos. It didn’t ring a bell to me. Anyway, I found out later that it was a joint where bohemian artists flocked and where poets could read their works on stage. At some point, my brother pushed me to go on stage and recite the poems I’ve just sent him. So there I was—a teenage college student mouthing off amateurish poems and gesticulating as if I was a five-year-old declaiming kid again!

I never became a serious poet.

If I had talent for writing poems, I hid it or neglected it. Sometimes

population—are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and more than 1.2 million others have had a first shot.

I would scribble a poem or two and then I would just shelve it. My wife has been an occasional recipient of my closet poetry since way back when we were still only engaged.

But I never stopped loving poetry as a closet poet. I’ve always been drawn to poems. I have books of them. I have come to realize that the emotion poetry evokes—joy, pain, hunger—comes in different voices. Every time I read a poem, it teaches me how to understand its language, connecting me to the speaker through idioms, metaphors, images, tones, and more.

In fact, I have channeled my skill for rhyming in crafting jingles and songs as an advertising copywriter.

My colleagues gave me the moniker “nick of time” for being able to scribble jingle and song lyrics over a cup of coffee.

One thing about my excursions into poetry is the love of elegance of language and expression has been ingrained in me. When you have grown up listening quietly with your inner ear to a long list of encountered poems, you will in time eventually develop an inner rhythm that stays with you all your life.

Until now, I can hear the graceful swaying cadences of Edgar Alan Poe’s “Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary,” Alexander Pope’s “laborious, heavy busy, bold and blind,” John Keats’s “Unravished bride of silence and slow time,” Emily Dickinson’s “If I can stop one heart from breaking I shall not live in vain,” Robert Frost’s “And miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep,” Jose Corazon de Jesus’s “Apat na kandila ang nangagbabantay, sa paligid-ligid

dents, which represents 70 percent of the area’s adult population or those aged 18 years old and above, until the end of the year to achieve population protection.

Montañer assured citizens that the region has enough vaccine supplies to cope with the mass vaccination activities.

As of October 18, she said NVOC delivered a total of 2,043,657 vaccine doses in Soccsksargen and in Cotabato City.

This is composed of the Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik V, Janssen, Moderna and Pfizer brands.

Montañer some 264,903 vaccine doses are currently on standby in local health offices and 509,290 doses at the regional vaccine hub in Cotabato City.

“We don’t have any problem with the vaccines right now, the challenge is how to give them to our residents, especially the unvaccinated senior citizens,” she said. PNA

New poll reveals significant changes to seniors’ lives since onset of Covid

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OUISVILLE, Ky.—Findings released today from a new Humana Inc. national poll indicate the extent to which seniors’ health—and their values related to health—have been affected since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. Overall, four-in-five seniors reported that their lives have changed since the start of the pandemic. For many, these changes may have a lasting effect on what they value going forward.

The national poll of 1,003 seniors aged 64+ was conducted in partnership with Kelton Global.

When it comes to seniors’ personal health, the social and mental aspects have taken the biggest toll from the pandemic, with one-in-two (51 percent) seniors reporting that they spend more time alone and 43 percent indicating that they spend less time doing the things that bring them joy. Senior women are more likely than their male counterparts to report that they feel sad more often (26 percent v. 15 percent) and feel less independent than ever before (21 percent v. 13 percent).

Despite these feelings, when asked if they had met virtually with a mental health specialist during the pandemic, only 3 percent of seniors indicated that they had done so.

ng irog kong bangkay” and the last words written by Jose Rizal before his execution, which every high school student is required to put to memory: “Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida, Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestro perdido Eden!”

The words echo on and on in one’s memory. As the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy says: “Sometimes they speak to us in our dreams; sometimes in thought the mind hears them.”

I now live my life with what the Victorians call the “sense of aesthetic felicity.” I am captivated by the sound of titles that have a poetic ring to them: “Unbearable lightness of being” “women of the weeping river.” Don’t you just love those titles, which tread trippingly or liltingly on the tongue, conjuring images in the eye of your mind.

I have a notebook where I write down many ravishing words I meet while reading to caress and cherish in my solitary contemplative moments. Such words as “incardine” or “nonce.” I also write down native words that have an onomatopoeic ring to me: matarling dalumat hiraya rahuyo or dantay.

I find companionship or fellowship with all kinds of poets —the traditionalists, the formalists, the free versers, as if they are intimate friends who have bared their hearts to me. Since I have written poems, I know how it is to labor and struggle to give birth to a piece of poetry. I collect their biographies because of my avid interest to find out more about their lives as well as the art and craft we have in common.

I now find poetry everywhere.

Consider the lyricism of Psalms

Seniors’ physical health has also been negatively impacted, with onein-two (52 percent) seniors reporting that their physical activity level has decreased since March 2020, and one-in-four (26 percent) having experienced a decrease in the amount of sleep they get each night.

Despite preconceived notions that seniors tend to shy away from technology, such as telehealth and video meeting tools, the poll revealed the opposite: more than fourin-five (84 percent) seniors used technology to manage their health and wellness during the pandemic.

Among them, one-in-three used telehealth to meet with their doctor during the pandemic.

“While we have known about the acute effects the pandemic has had on our nations’ seniors, this new data sheds light on many of the longlasting effects that will impact how they live their lives going forward,” said Kathy Driscoll, MSN, RN, CCM, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Humana. “Health plans should take particular notice, since it is critical to understand all the evolving needs of seniors—health, social and behavioral—as the industry increasingly moves toward models of ‘whole health’ senior care and coverage.” AP

being read or sung at mass. I am now paying more attention to them than I ever did before.

I even discovered pieces of poetry in pop songs like “It’s a still life watercolor on a Sunday afternoon” from the “Dangling Conversation” by Simon and Garfunkel. Even in prose pieces I am intuitively drawn to essays or articles which exude or elicit what the French poet Baudelaire calls “the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm or rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul…”

My fervent wish in the evening of my life is that people would infuse more poetry into their mundane lives. After all, our native term for poem is tula.

With poetry we may just become tulala (bewildered or mesmerized) by the beauty of life and the wonder of creation and human existence.

One and half years ago, a former classmate of 50 years ago requested me to compose a poem for a souvenir book as part of a cultural reawakening campaign he was spearheading. It is especially poignant because just a few months ago, I learned that he died due to severe Covid infection as he was waiting to be admitted to the ER at the parking lot of a fullpacked hospital.

The irony is that the poem I wrote was about the hometown where I first became acquainted with poetry as a six-year-old boy.

I was speaking and performing it before I understood it and even before I knew it was poetry. It was long ago, and I have kept a photograph.

A8 Saturday, October 30, 2021

Education BusinessMirror

Govt to jab 90% of teachers, students by end-November

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HE national government targets to complete the vaccination of at least 90 percent of teachers, students, and other education personnel versus Covid-19 by the end of November.

Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, said this is part of the government’s preparation to ensure safe learning during the gradual reopening of face-to-face classes amid the pandemic. He confirmed this during President Duterte’s prerecorded “ Talk to the People” aired late Monday.

Citing data from Chairman Prospero de Vera of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Galvez reported that only 57 per-

cent of teachers and students were inoculated to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among their ranks. This pushed the government to further scale up the vaccination drive for the education sector.

Anticipating expanded face-toface classes, de Vera earlier urged college students to get jabbed.

“The good news is in some schools, the vaccination level is very high—as high as 90 plus percent,” de Vera confirmed. “And 53 percent of our HEIs [higher education institutions] have reported... of more than 75 percent among their personnel.”

Japan’s Young Leaders’ Program 2022 now open for applications

Hungary hosts alumni, learners’ get-together

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HE Embassy of Japan in the Philippines has started accepting applications for the 2022 Young Leaders’ Program (YLP)—a year-long academic program launched by the government of Japan, and is also one of the said country’s scholarship initiative.

YLP aims to contribute toward the development of national leaders from various countries by deepening their understanding of Japan, and hopes to help in the professional growth and development of its participants, while enabling them to form strong connections with fellow peers from different countries.

The ideal, according to the embassy, is for these participants to become future leaders and work together in contributing significantly to the economic, social, and political development of their home countries.

Grantees of the program may choose to specialize in one of the following areas: business administration, law, public administration, and local governance. Classes will be conducted primarily in English. The program will commence around September and October 2022. A Master’s degree will be conferred to participants upon successful completion of the program.

To qualify for the program, an applicant must be: (1) a Filipino citizen; (2) a Bachelor’s degree holder, with excellent academic records; (3) highly proficient in English; (4) under 40 years old; and (5) employed, with at least three to five years of work experience.

All YLP applications must be coursed through the specific recommending authorities for each course. Deadline of submissions will depend on each recommending authority. For more information, visit https://www.ph.emb-japan. go.jp/itpr_ en/00_000350. html.

A STUDENT is among those who were vaccinated early in his age group ROBERT ALFILER/PNA

Meanwhile, Galvez described the vaccination of minors ages 12 to 17 years old as an “instrumental tool” for the opening of face-to-face classes and “ancillary businesses” related to the education sector.

“Allowing them to have leeway to move around and play will not just help in protecting the mental well-being of minors, but also

revive economic activities—especially this Christmas season,” the secretary added.

According to the 2021 Philippine Projected Population data of the Philippine Statistics Authority, there are 12,722,070 young Filipinos ages 12 to 17 years-old.

The rollout of pediatric vaccination nationwide will begin on October 29. Lade Jean Kabagani/PNA

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HE Embassy of Hungary in Manila organized the first Filipino students’ and alumni meeting in Hungary on October 16.

T he “Balik Eskwela-Back to School” gathering aimed to bring together the Filipino student community and alumni in Hungary for an exchange of views and experiences about life in the said European country, as a way to support their integration, well-being and self-organization.

Held at the University of Physical Education in Budapest and attended by 70 students and alumni, the event featured distinguished speakers such as Ambassador of Hungary to the Philippines Titanilla Tóth, rector of the University of Physical Education Dr. Tamás Sterbenz, director of the Tempus Public Foundation Stipendium Hungaricum Office Gábor Dobos

A

SSESSMENTS and feedback form an important intersection that assists students’ learning process, and enhances the teaching efficacy of educators. With learning transitioning almost entirely online due to the pandemic, educators had to fundamentally change how they conduct assessments and provide feedback.

It has also prompted educators to consider various grading systems so that they can evaluate students fairly and accurately.

In the Philippines, a study revealed how the pandemic has reshaped assessment practices after quizzes and summative tests were temporarily halted. With the remote-learning set up, educators are facing challenges in ensuring the integrity of test environments, while restricted Internet connectivity has created logistical issues, which complicate the shift to online assessment.

As a conduit for teacher-student understanding, timely and highquality feedback derived from reliable assessment methods reinforces positive learner values and behavior while highlighting areas for improvement, even during the most challenging of times.

Online grading is a key element

Double back-to-back wins for T.I.P. in intl industrial eng’g conference

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HE Technological Institute of the Philippines (T.I.P.)-Manila recently bagged four wins in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) Society International Second Asia Pacific Conference, with three papers and a research-design project in podium finishes.

Mental load of work-from-home (WFH) employees, Metro Manila’s Covid-19 vaccination rate, and problems arising from manual labor were among the issues tackled in the studies.

“These are all hot topics, especially mental health. We endeavored to know if there really is ‘WFH stress,’” said Engr. Janina Elyse Reyes, who co-authored with her students Sheeno Dasmariñas, John Margel Otalla, and Kimberly Joy Perea.

The paper, “Ergonomic Assessment on the Mental Load of Work from Home Employees,” which won first place, validated their earlier assumption and recommended a specific timeline similar to the pre-WFH arrangement, which is to set boundaries and avoid “Zoom fatigue,” especially for the education, information technology/ business-process outsourcing, and financial industries.

Engr. Reyes likewise worked with a team of students for the research: “Process Improvement of Covid-19 Vaccination System by Utilizing Queuing Theory and ProModel Simulator on Vaccination Facilities in Metro Manila.” The study conducted by Larianne Cruzado, Mary Antonette Faminiano, Unique Kate Guna, Maria Ziziana Llegos, Kyla Mendoza, and Jolly Ann Villaflores finished second place and was able to establish the reduction of the average vaccination time per person: from more than two hours, to just 85 minutes and 12 seconds.

“We streamlined processes like registration and screening so people

would have less waiting time and less exposure to the virus, providing a safe facility and equitable access to vaccines,” said Villaflores.

Also placing second were Gavin Bautista, Nellaine Delos Santos, and Edmar Garcia for the paper: “Application of Proper Manual Material Handling Techniques, Six Sigma Target Equation, and NIOSH Lifting Equation for the Improvement of the Level of Safety of Workers of AMG Rice Dealer.” The research focused on ergonomic hazards of manual labor, noting that for anything that involves heavy lifting, a person should take it one load at time on his/her shoulder; not with the head, as some would do, to prevent injuries and musculoskeletal disorders. Investing in gloves, shoulder paddings and other equipment was further advised.

Completing T.I.P’s podium wins, Val Ryan Aguilar, Racquel Tadina, and Eugene Tamba’s Bakelite cleaner landed third place in the senior-design project competition. The device, made from scraps, automatically polishes the insulating material attached to kitchen wares called Bakelite, ultimately reducing bottlenecks in the production line.

“We’re gearing our students to be research/design-oriented by making it part of their academic achievement to present their papers in local and international research fora,” said T.I.P. Manila Industrial Engineering (IE) Chair Dr. Maria Teresa Mendoza. “The automatic Bakelite cleaner was actually Tamba’s on-the-job-training project at Marilao Alerco Industrial Corp.”

IEOM is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of IE and operations management among countries. It holds various conferences in a year to connect students and professionals with innovative and entrepreneurial minds.

Teach for the Phils., ENZ wrap up workshop on digital tools DR. TAMÁS STERBENZ, president of the University of Physical Education (Budapest) delivers his opening remarks. EMBASSY OF HUNGARY

and José L. Garcia III, consul general of the Philippines in Hungary.

Highlight of the event was an authentic táncház (dance house) experience provided by the per-

formance of the Mlinár Family from Békéscsaba and the Talléros Band, which the organizers said “ bridged...two cultures on the dancefloor.”

Elevating student learning via transformative grading

by Chukwudi Ogoh Assessments and Feedback Technologies Consultant at Turnitin

Editor: Mike Policarpio

for educators to determine student learning efforts. The following are suggested best practices that educators can take on board: n Low-sta kes assessments during the learning curve can help educators identify students’ knowledge gaps, and enable the delivery of formative feedback that supports meaningful learning. By moving away from grading in the learning-curve stage, students become self-regulated learners and develop their confidence in taking steps to improve their performance where it matters. n Objective grading requires a fair evaluation process when assigning scores to a student’s work.

By implementing clear rubrics or criteria, educators can evaluate fairly and mitigate any scoring bias or unreasonable advantages. This also sets clearer student expectations during remote assessments. n Conducting item analysis on examination questions can help evaluate assessment quality by identifying patterns in students’ demonstrated learning, thus enabling educators to set the appropriate difficulty of assessments and accurately reflect the students’ grasp of the learned concepts and ideas. Tests that are too difficult can drive some students to take shortcuts to attain the desired grade, which remove the focus

away from actual learning. n Grading technology enables fast, quality feedback loops between teachers and students, and action-oriented data for subjects.

Beyond just numerical or lettergrade assessments, grading technology helps build a detailed and high-quality rubric for consistent application across all student submissions.

With the evaluation criteria built into the system, educators can assess students’ output in real time, and even apply the set standards to previously graded submissions. This can help accelerate the grading process, align student-teacher expectations, and allow students to address their learning gaps in preparing for assessments more effectively. In addition, educators leverage the insights from grading technology to help measure teaching efficacy, improve assessments and course content, and anticipate potential roadblocks to learning in real time.

With changes in the learning environment, assessment and grading methods must also respond to the needs of both students and educators. By leveraging on education technology, educators can better harness student strength and capabilities, while providing fairer, faster grading and datadriven feedback to address learning gaps efficiently.

S

CIENCE teachers from nonprofit organization Teach for the Philippines had the opportunity to find ways to use digital tools to create more effective and engaging science lessons.

Held in partnership between Education New Zealand (ENZ) and Teach for the Philippines in early October, Dr. Srirparna Saha, a PhD candidate in Geoeducation at the University of Canterbury, led the latest edition of the School Influencer Workshop.

Leveraging on New Zealand and the Philippines’s geographical similarities consisting of volcanoes, Dr. Saha shared with the 50 participants her experience and knowledge of using digital resources throughout her work on the caldera kind.

Teachers were introduced to an array of digital tools to teach science, with a focus on the said land forms.

The tools included virtual field trips, online platforms, and digital storytelling that can further enhance science curricula for students.

“It was an incredible opportunity to design and conduct the workshop for the teachers in the Philippines,” Dr. Saha shared. “During the workshop, we managed to bounce off ideas on...various ways to integrate information and communication technologies into different classrooms, [while] keeping in mind that the main objectives of our lessons are not only to make learning enjoyable and meaningful for them, but also to satisfy their thirst for knowledge to the best of our abilities.”

The workshop also encouraged teachers to develop a contextualized activity around a virtual field trip that can be used during their science lessons. Beyond that, interested teachers can opt to create digital storytelling lesson plans based on their learning from the workshop, and submit short videos featuring their key takeaways.

“The workshop facilitated by Dr. Saha was helpful in enhancing my teaching-learning process, especially amid the challenges brought by the pandemic,” said Curt Marvin B. Cruz,

workshop participant and learning support staff at International School Manila. “It emphasized the need for cultural appropriation and contextualization when discussing scientific concepts.”

Cruz added, “The session left an impact on me, [as it taught] us the value of creative strategies such as digital storytelling to promote the veracity of science, while ensuring we connect with our learners. Through interactive tools such as online field trips and interviews with locals, I found that integrating technology and storytelling in the lesson flow makes it significantly relatable for students.”

The workshop was the latest in ENZ’s series of School Influencer Workshops that began in 2017. The series reasserts ENZ’s goal of achieving knowledge diplomacy, sharing the expertise, courses and skills that New Zealand has to offer international communities.

According to Ben Burrowes, ENZ’s regional director for Asia, the workshop represented his organization’s efforts in enabling more communities outside of New Zealand to experience the said country’s way of learning.

“Mātauranga Māori, or Maor i Knowledge, is unique to us. It is holistic, and refers to the knowledge, comprehension or understanding of everything visible or invisible that exists within the universe—and volcanoes are part of this,” Burrowes explained. “Most important, the foundation of Mātauranga Māori sees knowledge being passed on from one generation to another through oral lore.”

“The workshop [of Dr. Saha has made it possible for local educators to learn how we teach in my country], and apply them in their local and current context of education, where digital tools are beginning to play a bigger role in teaching,” the ENZ director concluded. “We hope to continue organizing more workshops together like these with our experts in New Zealand and partners in the Philippines.”

Tourism&Entertainment BusinessMirror

Editor: Carla Mortel-Baricaua

Saturday, October 30, 2021 A9

SAFE TRAVELS IN A POST-COVID MALAYSIA

BATU Caves, complex of limestone grottoes in Gombak, Selangor Bloodua | Dreamstime.com

PETRONAS Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur TAMPATRA1 | Dreamstime.com

LIMESTONE pinnacles formation at Gunung Mulu National Park JUHKU | Dreamstime.com

LOCAL market scene in Kelantan howen | Dreamstime.com

FAMOUS “Wau” or traditional kites made by Kelantanese craftsmen taolmor | Dreamstime.com

CURVED suspension bridge for pedestrians on Gunung (Mount) Mat Cincang, Langkawi Island SHARIFFC | Dreamstime.com

O

By Benjamin Locsin Layug

n October 10, 2021, three association giants in the industry and a national airline company united in ramping up destination readiness and facilitating Malaysia’s reopening to leisure and business travelers by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The event launched the Travel Safe Alliance Malaysia (TSAM) to position Malaysia as a safe destination for leisure and business travelers.

These four major players in Malaysia’s tourism, business events and the airline industry are the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (MACEOS), the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH), the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) and airlines under the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) consisting of Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and MASwings.

Sig nator ies to t he MOU were Datuk Tan Kok Liang, president of MATTA; Dato’ N. Subramaniam, president of MAH; and Captain Izham Ismail, group chief executive officer of Malaysia Aviation. The signing ceremony, graced and witnessed by Francis Teo, president of MACEOS; YB Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri,

minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia; YBhg Datuk Wira Dr Noor Zari Hamat, secretarygeneral of MOTAC; and Dato’ Hj. Zainuddin Abdul Wahab, director general of Tourism Malaysia, was held hybrid, virtually and inperson, at the Danna, Langkawi.

Tourism and Business Events industry stakeholders from around Asean attended via a fully virtual platform.

T he TSA M aims to ensure safety, security, and health concerns in travel into Malaysia in the near future and post Covid-19 pandemic period as well as to help bring back the travel and tourism industry in this country, region, and worldwide. They also seek to establish a favorable operating environment for all businesses involved in the delivery of travel

and tourism in the country.

Certified by Bureau Veritas Certification Malaysia, TSAM is a complete ecosystem of safe travel solutions made up of the “Travel Safe Malaysia” label of MATTA for travel and tour arrangements; “Clean & Safe Malaysia” label of MAH for hotels; and “Safe Business Events [BE]” label of MACEOS for Business Events and convention venues. Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines will continue to be the flag bearer to vouch a seamless, safe and hygienic travel experience in line with its “Fly Confidently” campaign.

The TSAM has committed to ensuring appropriate health and safety procedures and processes are in place with globally recognized best practices, procedures, and recommendations related to preventive measures for a safer travel and business environment during and after the Covid-19 pandemic period. With the vaccination program gaining traction and the government strengthening support for tourism recovery plans in Langkawi and other major destinations, the collaboration is seen as a timely move to facilitate tourism and economic recovery efforts.

Francis Teo, president of MACEOS, agrees, saying: “This collaboration is a key move that will set Malaysia on the path to tourism and business events recovery.

TSA Malaysia will provide unequivocal assurance to travelers and business events delegates that Malaysia is safe and ready to welcome international visitors to our

Mr. Francis Teo (from left), president of MACEOS, YBhg Dato’ N. Subramanian, president of MAH, YBhg Datuk Tan Kok Liang, president of MATTA, Capt. Izham bin Ismail, Group CEO of Malaysia Aiirlines Berhad

shores.” He added, “For MACEOS, this collaboration and its outcome will strongly position Malaysia as a safe business events destination.

It will help us gain the trust and confidence of our international clients and investors who are typically highly risk-averse. Their business decision on whether to choose Malaysia for their next international conference, convention, or exhibition, will be driven by health and safety risks they perceive in Malaysia. Having TSA Malaysia audit and certify our businesses will go a long way in driving up confidence in the market.”

In his opening remarks, Datuk Tan Kok Liang, president of MATTA, noting the changing behavior of travelers due to the Covid-19 experience, said: “Current travel trends have indicated that travelers are placing a much greater emphasis on safety and hygiene.

MATTA members, who are all licensed tour and travel operators, play a crucial role in ensuring that

travelers’ safety needs are prioritized at all times whilst still being able to fully maximize their leisure time while they holiday in Malaysia.”

Dato’ N. Subramaniam, reiterating the marketing and branding potential of TSAM, said that “MAH was the first in the industry to introduce an independently certified hygiene and safety label for hotels last year in July 2020, with over 130 hotels on the program now. Our ‘Clean & Safe Malaysia’ hotel label is the sign to look for—it is an added assurance given to our guests for a worry-free stay be it for leisure or business.” He added that “the collaboration with MATTA and MACEOS further amplifies this, providing end-to-end safe travel solutions to travelers, and we are sending a strong message out to the world, that Malaysia is ready, we are ready to welcome everyone back.”

Captain Izham Ismail, group

chief executive officer of MAG, commented that “This alliance further signifies our commitment and seriousness to bring back confidence in traveling for all travelers that their health and safety are our utmost priority. We pledge to ensure our customers will bring back memorable experience of Malaysian Hospitality across every touchpoint. More so, all our employees on active rosters have been fully vaccinated. I am delighted to share that we saw a positive trend in forward booking reflecting customers’ confidence in traveling from the recently launched Langkawi Travel Bubble. This positive development has translated to an over 500-percent increase in our flight booking domestically, the highest recorded booking following the reopening of Langkawi.

We believe the development of more travel bubbles with critical markets will help resuscitate air travel, at the same time, helping boost the socio economy of the people impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Malaysia Airlines, the country’s national carrier, currently flies to 58 countries within its network and, via our alliance with oneworld® and airline’s codeshare partners, Malaysia Airlines is set to offer superior connectivity once again with seamless journeys to 1,000 destinations across 150 plus countries. Together with sister airlines Firefly and MASwings, they are fully ready to facilitate safe air transportation service to, from and within Malaysia.

Welcome back, Taal Vista Hotel’s got your back!

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aal Vista Hotel opens its doors with fully vaccinated employees ready to serve and cater to everyone’s needs. Escape from the hustle and bustle of city life with relaxingly cool weather, warm comfort food, and a magnificent view of the Taal Volcano!

With over 80 years of heartwarming and genuine hospitality, Taal Vista Hotel relentlessly strives to reach new heights in redefining guest experience and service. The timeless property prides itself as the ideal venue for both leisure and business travelers, with its amenities and location perfect for revitalizing one’s mind and body while “working from home,” away

from home!

With a variety of unique indoor and outdoor dining choices, Taal Vista Hotel encourages a safe dining environment for all guests. Each outlet offers a perfect location with a backdrop of stunning views. The hotel’s allday dining Veranda Restaurant has both indoor and patio seating, and serves Filipino heirloom dishes and international fare.

Menu items such as some of the most magnificent steaks in town can be found at TĀZA Fresh Table, which offers cozy yet casual dining with fresh and inspired dishes. After spending the day unwinding, couples and friends can enjoy private barbecues with succulent meat and seafood at

Grill at The Ridge or refreshing cocktails at Chill at the Ridge.

Don’t forget to bring home sweets and pastries, too! The classic Pan de Coco and Ube Ensaymada are just some of the best sellers at The Cakeshop and should not be missed when visiting. The Cakeshop takes pre-orders, available for pick-up.

As a cultural landmark in the heart of Tagaytay, Taal Vista Hotel remains committed to elevating its service and adapt to the changing needs of guests, all while preserving the warmth and friendliness of its staff.

With SustainablySafe, the hotel’s health and safety program, guests are assured of a tranquil and secure stay.

Taal Vista Hotel Facade

Taal Vista Hotel, Veranda Fireplace

Taal Vista Hotel, Dining Under the Stars Setup

BusinessMirror

A10 Saturday, October 30, 2021 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Google ads gain fuels profit for parent company Alphabet

AUSTRALIA WANTS FACEBOOK TO SEEK PARENTAL CONSENT FOR KIDS CANBERRA, Australia—Australia plans to crack down on online advertisers targeting children by making social-media platforms seek parental consent for users younger than 16 years old to join or face fines of 10 million Australian dollars ($7.5 million) under a draft law released on Monday.

The landmark legislation would protect Australians online and ensure that Australia’s privacy laws are appropriate in the digital age, a government statement said. Social-media platforms would be required to take all reasonable steps to verify their users’ ages under a binding code for socialmedia services, data brokers and other large online platforms operating in Australia.

The platforms would also have to give primary consideration to the best interests of children when handling their personal information, the draft legislation states. The code would also require platforms to obtain parental consent for users under the age of 16. The proposed legal changes come after former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen this month asserted that whenever there was a conflict between the public good and what benefited the company, the social-media giant would choose its own interests.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention David Coleman said the new code would lead the world in protecting children from social-media companies.

“In Australia, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a consistent increase in signs of distress and mental ill health among young people. While the reasons for this are varied and complex, we know that social media is part of the problem,” Coleman said in a statement.

Facebook regional director of public policy Mia Garlick said her platform had been calling for Australia’s privacy laws to evolve with new technology. “We have supported the development of international codes around young people’s data, like the UK Age Appropriate Design Code,” Garlick said in a statement, referring to British legislation introduced this year that requires platforms to verify users’ ages if content risks the moral, physical or mental wellbeing of children.

“We’re reviewing the draft bill and discussion paper released today, and look forward to working with the Australian government on this further,” she added. Australia has been a prominent voice in calling for international regulation of the internet.

It passed laws this year that oblige Google and Facebook to pay for journalism. Australia also defied the tech companies by creating a law that could imprison social-media executives if their platforms stream violent images. AP

A CONTINUED rebound in digital ad spending at Google drove its parent company’s profit up 68 percent in the third quarter. Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc. said on Tuesday that it earned $18.94 billion, or $27.99 per share, in the July-September period. Revenue rose 41 percent to $65.12 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $23.73 per share on revenue of $63.53 billion. Shares slipped less than 1 percent to $2,763 in after-hours trading.

Google is the world’s dominant search engine, owns the biggest mobile operating system in Android, and runs the behemoth video site YouTube.

It holds 29 percent of the global $455 billion digital

ad market, according to eMarketer, followed closely by Facebook. Both tech giants are benefiting as companies that scaled back on advertising last year during the pandemic pump more money into marketing.

The company’s dominance has drawn scrutiny for years, and regulators in the US and other countries have gone after Google over different aspects of its business, including search, ads and its app store, to try to curtail its reach.

The advertising business, the core of the company, rose 43 percent to $53.13 billion, with retail “by far” the largest contributor to that growth, said Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler. The company sees a lot of potential in retail, including YouTube ads that let users buy directly from

creators’ videos. YouTube’s ad revenue jumped 43 percent, to $7.21 billion, in the most recent quarter.

Synovus analyst Dan Morgan said it appeared that Apple’s recent iOS 14 privacy changes, which make it more difficult for companies to track users and target ads, were affecting results at Snapchat and Facebook more than they were at Google. Asked about the impact on Tuesday, Google CFO Ruth Porat said only that Apple’s changes had a modest impact on YouTube’s revenue.

Google is also trying to get a bigger piece of the cloudcomputing business, where it competes with Microsoft and Amazon. That division climbed 45 percent to $4.99 billion, with an operating loss of $644 million. AP

Over 100 content creators expected to grace ‘hybrid’ event

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AICON Infest, a gathering of content creators and influencers, started in 2018. In 2019, it held a big event at Sky Hall Seaside Cebu with 72 content creators. In 2020, it was a virtual event with 108 creators. This year, over 100 creators are expected to grace the hybrid staging of the event on October 30 and 31.

BaiCon InFest was created to provide a platform for fans and aspiring influencers to see their favorite creators perform, educate and even receive awards for their accomplishments.

This year’s event theme is “Y2K and the 2000s,” the era when content creation was booming.

The event can still be accessed through BaiCon InFest’s Facebook, TikTok, and Kumu pages, but this year, there will be a physical stage in Cebu where the hosts and even some performers can perform live and engage with their audience real-time.

BaiCon is also a venue for promoting digital media literacy and the responsible use of the Internet.

“We believe in the power of the Internet—it has many benefits, but it can also be an avenue for negativity. From the spread of fake news, the practice of the cancel culture to online exploitation, many netizens can fall prey to this Internet negativity. But if there’s one thing more powerful than the Internet, it’s influence. This is why BaiCon InFest fuels creators and influencers to be the champions against Internet negativity,” said Bea Alfar Evardone, Production Head and Creative Lead of the event.

There will be sessions where creators and influencers educate the audience about using the Internet responsibly. Educational skits and talks will fill up the whole event, all the while having one grand, entertaining time with your favorite influencers and creators. To further amplify the message on the responsible use of the Internet, the event will also serve as a fundraiser. While the event may be accessed for free, audiences are encouraged to make donations to #CreatorsUnitedPH, a cause that aims to

provide 1,000 students who go to school in mountain barangays across the country with digital media literacy workbooks. Donations can be done via the web site at www.baicon.ph.

Among the content creators who are expected to join this year’s event powered by Smart are AC Bonifacio, Kween Yasmin Asistido, Dimples Romana and her husband, Boyet Ahmee, Dr. Kilimanguru, Kimpoy Feliciano, Angie “Anghet” Cayetano, Mikey Bustos, Gino Quillamor, Bogart D’Explorer, Medyo Maldito, Snake Princess, Kean Cipriano from the band Callalily, Ramon Bautista, Jen Barangan, Jae Miranda, Ady Cots, Mayonnaise, Xavier Gonzales Solis, Erwan Heussaff, Mark del Rosario, Renz David, Ian Mauricio, Kit Digno, Dr. Dex Mallari, Dr. Zeke Albaria, Ninong Ry, Alem Garcia, Phillip Te Hernandez (Davao Conyo), Malaya Macaraeg, Kim Charlie Cruz, Gandang Morenx, Chinky Enopia, Deedee Villegas, Clare Inso, Chezka Carandang, Inka Magnaye, Dom Guyot, Justine Luzares, Maggiekarp, Amara, Blink, Nikkinikki and many more.

BaiCon InFest is an event organized by the Republiq Group of Companies (RGC), VisMin’s largest digital agency, in partnership with the Creator and Influencer Council of the Philippines, an organization that aims to elevate the standards of content creation and influencer marketing in the country. More information can be found at www.baicon.ph.

Meanwhile, the country’s leading group in the endto-end supply chain is expanding its presence in cold chain solutions with the launch of Fresh by FAST—a

new generation of temperature-controlled logistics solutions built on FAST’s track record of managing the country’s largest warehouse footprint and largest modern transport fleet. The launch of Fresh by FAST also coincides with the opening of two cold chain hubs in Cavite and North Cebu.

“Our new-generation cold chain solutions are integrated, intelligent and flexible, specifically designed to better help companies navigate the evolving supply and demand logistical challenges in the new normal and beyond,” said William B. Chiongbian II, Group President and CEO of FAST Logistics Group.

Within the Fresh by FAST brand, the logistics company offers an integration of refrigerated transport, cold storage for frozen and chilled temperatures, value-added services such as blast freezing, meat processing, packaging and even dry warehousing for related items that do not require refrigeration.

FAST’s North Cebu hub is the Philippines’ first intelligent cold storage facility. It makes use of sensors and new technologies that are also being used in intelligent buildings. The cold storage facility is equipped with temperature and humidity sensors that are capable of mobile- and web-based monitoring, offering real-time visibility 24/7 to customers from the comfort of their own homes or offices. The operations in the Cebu hub runs on the same warehouse management systems as Asia’s largest warehouses. ■

PCTA creates employment with Tesda skill-building program PCTA partners with Tesda to codevelop training programs for potential workers in the cable TV and broadband industry.

AS more homes need to be powered by connectivity in response to the pandemic, the Philippine Cable and Telecommunications Association (PCTA) has partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to co-develop training programs for potential workers in the ever-growing cable TV and broadband space.

According to surveys, cable connectivity is one of the few industries that experienced growth in 2020 and PCTA members need more skilled workers to help connect homes and bring them online, to help them stay entertained at home or work and study at home.

The program is designed to engage the direct participation of employers, workers, learning institutions and government in the design, development and implementation of industry- and demand-driven technical education and skills development toward creation of qualified, competent, and job-ready Filipino workforce. It also aims to

provide for more strategic policy reforms in Tech-Voc training that is aligned to the industry requirements to address the unemployment and job-skill mismatch.

“For decades, the PCTA has wanted a cable TV academy and we had already laid the groundwork

for it by joining with Tesda to create courses for cable installers. The challenge was always ‘Where will we put the academy?’ With the pandemic showing distance or virtual instruction can work, the academy can be anywhere where there is Internet,” says PCTA

President Joel Dabao.

Through the strength of Tesda’s nationwide network of learning hubs, there will be more Filipinos who can be given job opportunities to help support their families. With this program, the PCTA hopes to be a primary driver of pandemic recovery.

With more skilled workers available for hiring

by PCTA members all over the country, more homes will be able to go online and work from home through reliable broadband technology. Increasing the work forces in the cable industry will likewise help drive a rise in consumption and subscription services, ensuring security for those who previously could not find work.

PCTA hopes that it will inspire other industries to create new pathways toward employment and help the country bounce back toward recovery in the next normal.

More information is available at www.pcta.org.ph.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

VEREMARK POSTS MAMMOTH ANNUAL GROWTH OF 800% IN PHL OPERATIONS

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES DESPITE the pandemic wreaking havoc on the economy, major global pre-employment service provider Veremark has posted more than 800 percent growth in the last 12 months, delivering thousands of checks per month to its range of business-process outsourcing (BPO) and professional service clients in the Philippines, and exceeding $1 million in annual recurring revenues (ARR) in monthly sales.

Jeremiah Chow, head of sales for Asia Pacific of Veremark, told BUSINESSMIRROR in an e-mail interview that the company is having a banner year highlighted by the huge confidence given to them by their clients from the BPO sector.

“We are very bullish on the growth of Veremark’s business in the Philippine market. The Philippines has demonstrated its resiliency during the pandemic and companies continue to hire people to support the growth of their businesses. Since last year, the Philippines has been our most active market for new companies to start using Veremark’s automated background screening platform. The market is highly accepting and forward-thinking about the digitization of old-fashioned and manual processes which relates to everything we do,” Chow explained.

BPOs contribute 70 percent of the company’s total revenues.

Moreover, Chow also stressed that the technology-driven company is also interested to help the local small and medium enterprises. “Veremark is designed to help companies of all sizes. SMEs can easily sign up and order the different background checks they need without any difficulty or longterm commitment,” Chow added.

“We know SMEs are already inundated with many priorities but want to make sure they hire the right people for their companies through background checks, and as such we have specifically built our product to make it easier and faster for them to save time and money when doing these necessary checks,” Chow added.

SMEs constitute 99.6 percent of registered businesses in the Philippines.

Chow said hiring the right people for the job is an arduous task that involves spending a big sum of money to source, onboard and train a candidate, only to realize a few months later that they made the wrong hire. For getting a wrong hire, Chow said the cost can easily go up to five times the monthly salary of the person.

He noted that integrating efficient and time-saving background checks in the hiring process can help entrepreneurs mitigate hiring risks. “Veremark can help businesses make fewer bad hires at a more efficient turnaround time,” he said.

He stressed Veremark can handle the demands of finding the right people for a company, helping most time-pressed businesses to quickly implement a best-in-class screening process that requires no manual effort on their side.

Veremark has a superb track record as it is the highestrated background screening platform on third-party review sites like Capterra because it gives value to a positive user experience.

Launched in late 2019, Veremark provides an automated digital-first solution that instantly lets companies, large or small, order a wide range of checks like employment history, academic, criminal and credit records checks anywhere in the world.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Saturday, October 30, 2021 A11

YouTube, TikTok, Snap in defensive spotlight over kids’ use

BY MARCY GORDON AND MATT O’BRIEN The Associated Press

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ASHINGTON—US senators put executives from YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on the defensive on Tuesday, questioning them about what they’re doing to ensure young users’ safety on their platforms.

Citing the harm that can come to vulnerable young people from these platforms—ranging from eating disorders to exposure to sexually explicit content and material promoting addictive drugs—the lawmakers also sought the executives’ support for legislation bolstering protection of children on social media. But they received little firm commitment.

“The problem is clear: Big Tech preys on children and teens to make more money,” Sen. Edward Markey, said at a hearing by the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection.

The subcommittee recently took testimony from a former Facebook data scientist, who laid out internal company research showing that the company’s Instagram photo-sharing service appears to seriously harm some teens. The subcommittee is widening its focus to examine other tech platforms, with millions or billions of users, that also compete for young people’s attention and loyalty.

“We’re hearing the same stories of harm” caused

by YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the panel’s chairman.

“This is for Big Tech a big tobacco moment...It is a moment of reckoning,” he said. “There will be accountability. This time is different.”

To that end, Markey asked the three executives— Michael Beckerman, a TikTok vice president and head of public policy for the Americas; Leslie Miller, vice president for government affairs and public policy of YouTube’s owner Google; and Jennifer Stout, vice president for global public policy of Snapchat parent Snap Inc.—if they would support his bipartisan legislation that would give new privacy rights to children, and ban targeted ads and video autoplay for kids.

In a lengthy exchange as Markey tried to draw out a commitment of support, the executives avoided providing a direct endorsement, insisting that their platforms already are complying with the proposed restrictions. They said they’re seeking a dialogue with lawmakers as the legislation is crafted.

That wasn’t good enough for Markey and Blumenthal, who perceived a classic Washington lobbying game in a moment of crisis for social media and the tech industry. “This is the talk that we’ve seen again and again and again and again,” Blumenthal told them. Applauding legislative goals in a general way is “meaningless” unless backed up by specific support, he said.

“Sex and drugs are violations of our community standards; they have no place on TikTok,” Beckerman said. TikTok has tools in place, such as screen-time

THE leaders of a Senate panel have called executives from YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat to face questions on what the companies are doing to ensure young users’ safety.

AP

management, to help young people and parents moderate how long children spend on the app and what they see, he said.

The company says it focuses on age-appropriate experiences, noting that some features, such as direct messaging, are not available to younger users.

The video platform, wildly popular with teens and younger children, is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. In only five years since launching, it has gained an estimated 1 billion monthly users.

Early this year after federal regulators ordered TikTok to disclose how its practices affect children and teenagers, the platform tightened its privacy practices for users under 18.

Pressed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, about a 19-yearold said to have died from counterfeit pain medication he bought through Snapchat, Stout said, “We’re absolutely determined to remove all drug dealers from Snapchat.” She said the platform has deployed detection measures against dealers but acknowledged that they are often evaded.

Stout made the case that Snapchat’s platform differs from the others in relying on humans, not artificial intelligence, for moderating content.

Snapchat allows people to send photos, videos and messages that are meant to quickly disappear, an enticement to its young users seeking to avoid snooping parents and teachers. Hence its “Ghostface Chillah” faceless (and word-less) white logo.

Only 10 years old, Snapchat says an eye-popping 90 percent of 13- to 24-year-olds in the US use the service. It reported 306 million daily users in the JulySeptember quarter.

Miller said YouTube has worked to provide children and families with protections and parental controls like time limits, to limit viewing to ageappropriate content. The offshoot YouTube Kids, available in around 70 countries, has an estimated 35 million weekly users.

“We do not prioritize profits over safety. We do not wait to act,” she said.

The three platforms are woven into the fabric of young people’s lives, often influencing their dress, dance moves and diet, potentially to the point of obsession. Peer pressure to get on the apps is strong.

Social media can offer entertainment and education, but platforms have been misused to harm children and promote bullying, vandalism in schools, eating disorders and manipulative marketing, lawmakers say.

The panel wants to learn how algorithms and product designs can magnify harm to children, foster addiction and intrusions of privacy. And Blumenthal especially asked the executives whether independent research had been conducted on the impact on young people of the platforms. He said the lawmakers want to receive information from the companies on such research soon. ■

by the World Health Organization. Celebrated yearly on October 10, World Mental Health Day looks to raise awareness of mental health issues worldwide and mobilize efforts in support of mental health.

“Mental health is a growing concern across all

age groups and gender. By joining the Light Up Blue initiative, we hope to shine a light on this sensitive topic and make those who are feeling blue realize that there are people and organizations they can reach out to,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe chief sustainability officer and SVP for corporate communications.

As an advocate of mental health for almost a decade now, Globe has programs such as HOPELINE, a round-the-clock suicide prevention and crisis support desk created in 2012 with Globe providing the necessary technology for its operations. HOPELINE can be accessed using the HealthNow app’s Urgent Help button on the welcome page.

Another Globe initiative is HopeChat, a mental health consultation platform developed with Australia-based Virtual Psychologist for employees.

It was piloted to over 8,000 employees back in July 2020 to help them deal with the psychological impact of Covid-19.

Globe also partnered with Bantay Bata 163, a child welfare program of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc., launched in 1997 to protect disadvantaged and at-risk children through a nationwide network of social services. Dialing #163 means hope for Filipino children and their families suffering in silence due to child abuse.

Bantay Bata #163 and the HOPELINE 2919 are tollfree for all Globe and TM customers.

Globe joins ‘Light Up Blue for Mental Health’ GLOBE took part in the 2021 National Mental Health Week celebration by lighting up with its blue glass sculpture at the lobby of its headquarters, The Globe Tower, on October 8. This illustrated the company’s unwavering support for the promotion of mental health advocacies in the country.

The glass sculpture, called The Flow, is a Bohemian hand-blown glass designed by Libor Sostak and developed by Lasvit exclusively for Globe (www.globe. com.ph). It is inspired by “the flow of data in virtual and infinite space that are spreading to all directions over the globe.”

The “Light Up Blue for Mental Health” is an initiative by the Philippine Mental Health Association (PMHA) and several other partners to put the spotlight on mental wellness and its importance, especially during the pandemic. The color blue as a symbol of serenity, peace and calmness provides a beacon of hope during this time of health crisis. It was the second time for the annual activity to be held locally.

Establishments and institutions that supported the campaign include the Philippine International Convention Center, National Museum, Quezon City Government, Lourdes School of Mandaluyong, DepEd Tayo Kapangan National High School, Ambangeg National High School, Philippine National Police Cordillera, Adamson University, UP College

of Public Health, and the Ifugao United Action Force: among others.

The country’s celebration of National Mental Health Week runs in line with the global celebration of World Mental Health Day, an initiative championed

Sports BusinessMirror

A12

| Saturday, October 30, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

WEDDING DONE, EUMIR WANTS BACK TO GYM

By Josef Ramos

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EDDING’S over and the honeymoon will be brief. Eumir Felix Marcial will be back in the gym very soon.

“My next goal is to return to training and prepare for my next fight, whether it will be an amateur or professional fight,” Marcial told BusinessMirror during a break in the reception for his wedding to long-time girlfriend, now Mrs. Princess Malarpe Marcial, at the Pico de Loro resort in Nasugbu, Batangas, on Thursday night.

Marcial said he will be joining his fellow national boxers in the Baguio City training camp which the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines will open in

November to train its athletes for the world women’s championships in Istanbul in December.

But returning as a pro is also tops in his agenda.

“I think I will fight in the pro after my wedding and a couple days of rest. For the meantime, I’ll take that opportunity to train with my fellow national boxers in Baguio City,” the 25-year-old Philippine Air Force sergeant said.

Marcial clinched a middleweight bronze medal in men’s boxing at the Tokyo Olympics. He won his professional debut, a four-rounder, against American Andrew Whitfield in Los Angeles last December.

“Instead of spending the holidays in Zamboanga City, me and my wife are thinking of flying to the US and resume my training there,” he said. “Let’s see what happens,

EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL kisses his bride Princess Malarpe Marcial to highlight their wedding on Thursday night.

but for now, I really need to go to the gym and get to my usual form.”

He is under contract with Senator Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotion and also expects to fly to Los Angeles and train at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym after his Baguio City sortie.

Marcial said he gained some weight but remains in the vicinity of 69 to 75 kgs.

“I’m still in good condition because I keep training on my own,” he said.

“It could be a six-rounder or eightrounder next, I will be ready,” Marcial said of his second pro fight.

Marcial said that like his fellow Tokyo Olympians, Paris 2024 is a priority.

“If they give me the opportunity to fight in next year’s Vietnam Southeast Asian Games and Hangzhou Asian Games, I’ll go for it,” he said. “And of course, fighting for the gold in the Paris Olympics remains to be my greatest dream.”

Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz and silver medalists Carlo Paalam and Nesthy Petecio graced the Marcials’ wedding, along with Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and his fellow national team members and coaches.

During the short program after the wedding, Marcial narrated how he met and fell in love with his wife.

“We were in the dining hall for athletes at Rizal Memorial [Sports Complex] for lunch [nine years ago] when I tried to make my emotions known to her,” he said. “What I thought of was for me to exchange plates with her, I was nervous and I couldn’t think of anything else.”

That brought the house down.

Sultan takes on Puerto Rican KO specialist Caraballo in NY

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ONAS SULTAN will face undefeated Puerto Rican Carlos Caraballo on Sunday in a nontitle bantamweight fight organized by Top Rank’s Bob Arum as co-main event of the Jose Zepeda-Josue Vargas bout at the Hulu Theater of the Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“I’m very excited for this fight. I’m proud to be here again in a Top Rank card,” the 29-year-old Sultan said during the card’s news conference on Thursday in New York City. “This is going to be a great fight between me and Caraballo. May the best man win—and maybe I’ll be the best man.”

Sultan (17-5 record with 11 knockouts) is supported by the MLV Group of Michael Venezuela, Zamboanga City sports patron Junnie Navarro and her mother Kings CEO Cory Navarro. He will be taking on the knockout specialist Caraballo who decked all of his previous 14 opponents.

“If I beat Caraballo, it would have a big impact on my career,” Sultan said. “I would be looking for another world title fight.”

Sultan thanked International

Boxing Federation super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas and head trainer Joven Jimenez for helping him train at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, California.

“Jerwin Ancajas is my friend and a sparring partner for this fight. He gave me the confidence and motivated me to win this fight,” he said. “He taught me a lot of technique…let’s get ready to rumble for this fight.”

Sultan is coming off an impressive seventh-round technical knockout win against American Sharone Carter last August 14 in Carson City, California.

A victory by Sultan will line him up for a possible world title bout next year. Caraballo, an up-and-coming superstar in Puerto Rico who fights under former world champion Miguel Cotto, said he would be the next superstar from his country.

“It’s motivating for me to know that big names in Puerto Rican boxing like Miguel Cotto and Felix Trinidad and other great champions have performed here,” he said. “I’m ready to put on a great performance and be the next fighter to come out of Puerto Rico.” Josef Ramos

JONAS SULTAN brings his act to the Madison Square Garden.

NCAA RARING TO RESTART

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HE National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) intends to allow its athletes to start face-to-face training on November 15 or early December, according to NCAA Management Committee (ManCom) Chairman Dax Castellano of host College of Saint Benilde.

Castellano made the announcement during an inoculation

STA. LUCIA’S Jackie Estoquia tries to score off Biogenic’s Heather Guino-o during their women’s Pool A match on Friday in Santa Ana, Cagayan.

campaign of athletes of Letran on Friday, although he stressed that only basketball and volleyball athletes will be covered by the restart of training.

He said all of NCAA’s member schools were hit hard financially by the Covid-19 pandemic and couldn’t maintain a complete roster of varsity teams.

“The first step before training is vaccination and we’re happy that most athletes prior to this event were already inoculated,” said Castellano, adding that 85 percent of the NCAA’s student-athletes in several sports got the vaccine since last May. “The remaining 15 percent who unvaccinated are those from far provinces,” he said.

The league’s vaccination campaign started on Thursday at the Jose Rizal University and will make the rounds of the eight other member schools.

Castellano said the NCAA Season 97 would potentially open in February.

“But this still depends on the situation or decision of the Commission on Higher Education and the IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases],” he said.

The season, Castellano said, could be staged in a bubble either at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna or in Subic.

“But Metro Manila remains an ideal venue whether it’s a non-bubble or closed circuit setup,” he said. “But I’m hopeful and excited to do what is necessary that this face-to-face training and competition will push through. Sports is our duty and life.”

The ManCom’s recommendation for the training restart and the season setup will be presented to the league’s policy board which is composed of the member schools’ presidents, he said.

Online chess and other virtual sports, including taekwondo’s speed kicking, among others, will be maintained in Season 97, he said.

Josef Ramos

Rebisco backs ‘SiPons’ looking unbeatable PNVF’s C-League

in beach volley tour 2nd leg

C

REAMLINE 1’s Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons made quick work of Black Mamba Army 2’s Jem Gutierrez and Audrey Paran, 21-8, 21-5, to dominate Pool A of the Beach Volleyball Republic on Tour second leg in Santa Ana, Friday.

The top Philippine beach volleyball tandem called “SiPons,” swept the four-match pool play to remain on course for a second straight championship in the bubble.

Durable as ever, Rondina and Pons beat Delimondo’s MJ Ebro and Bianca Lizares in straight-sets, 21-8, 21-10, in the morning session.

Creamline 2’s Dij Rodriguez and Dzi Gervacio moved closer to sweeping Pool B by trouncing Toyota Tuguegarao’s Nicole Tiamzon and Jho Maraguinot, 21-13, 21-19. The Cool Smashers’ second team, third placers in the first leg, were also unbeaten in four matches.

Rodriguez and Gervacio opened the day with a 21-12, 21-14 romp of Eastern Communications Perlas Spikers’ Mich Morente and Jules Samonte.

PLDT’s Ella and Iza Viray moved to second place in Pool B at 3-1 wonlost following a 21-7, 21-18 victory over Toyota Tuguegarao’s Nicole Tiamzon and Jho Maraguinot and 219, 21-16 tripping of Sta. Lucia 2’s Bang Pineda and Chay Troncoso.

Pineda and Troncoso, who roared back from a 0-5 deficit in the deciding set to outlast Black Mamba Army 1’s Nene Bautista and Jeannie delos Reyes, 19-21, 21-13, 15-10, fell to a 2-2 card.

Bautista and de los Reyes rebounded in the afternoon with a 21-18, 21-11 win over Morente and

Samonte to also post a 2-2 slate.

Sta. Lucia 1’s Jackie Estoquia and DM Demontaño used a strong 9-2 third set start en route to a 21-18, 16-21, 15-10 victory over Biogenic’s Roma Joy Doromal and Heather Guino-o to raise their record to 2-1 in Pool A. Doromal and Guino-o failed to follow up on their 21-16, 21-18 victory over Gutierrez and Paran to drop to 1-2 in a tie with Ebro and Lizares in third place.

In men’s action, Creamline 1’s Jude Garcia and Krung Arbasto, also vying for a back-to-back title romp, swept DeliRush 2’s Nichol Jundana and Jeffer Guerrero, 21-14, 21-10 and Army 1’s Joel Villonson and Randy Fallorina, 21-10, 21-11, to stay perfect in Pool B. EVI Construction’s Doy Barrica and KR Guzman kept within reach of the first leg champions following a 21-9, 21-15 win over Orchard Fresh’s Rhenze Hu and Benjaylo Labide, and a 21-15, 21-15 victory over Jundana and Guerrero for a 3-1 slate.

Tuguegarao’s James Pecaña and AJ Pareja got back at first leg tormentor Negros Occidental Beach Volleyball Club’s Deanne Neil de Pedro and Eljhay Ronquillo, 21-17, 14-21, 15-11, and later took the Pool A lead at 3-0 following a 24-26, 21-13, 15-11 decision of DeliRush 1’s Evan Laraya and Joven Camaganakan.

De Pedro and Ronquillo bounced back with a 18-21, 2523, 15-12 victory over Creamline 2’s Ranran Abdilla and Romnick Rico for a 2-1 slate.

Abdilla and Rico, who barged into the win column following a 21-19, 21-19 victory over Army 2’s Jason Uy and Josh Barrica, slipped to 1-3.

R

EBISCO—a staunch supporter of Philippine volleyball from the grassroots, campus, professional and national levels—is going all out for the Philippine National Volleyball Federation’s (PNVF) Champion’s League in November.

The snacks and biscuits company is the platinum sponsor of the Champions League, the first national league ever organized in the country’s volleyball program with men’s and women’s events.

The women’s event will take place from November 20 to 25 while the men’s contest is set from November 29 to December 4, both in Lipa City, Batangas.

Rebisco’s professional volleyball teams, Creamline Cool Smashers and Choco Mucho Flying Titans, will not participate in the event.

Rebisco team managers Alan Acero for Creamline and Rolando Delfino for Choco Mucho said the two teams were given time to rest and recharge, mentally and physically, and for them to reconnect with family after their hectic training and playing schedule since April this year.

“We commend the PNVF for this competition that brings together the country’s top caliber teams, not just from the PVL [Premier Volleyball League], but from the regions as well,” said Noric Ng, business unit head of Rebisco.

“Metro Manila teams will be competing with provincial squads and this is a big step in our common dream to grow the sport.”

Ng added: “Next year, the PNVF intends to welcome more teams across the country as well. We at Rebisco are happy that our national volleyball program is moving in the right direction.”

PSC celebrates International Day of the Girl Child on ‘Rise Up’ show

T

HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) joins the United Nations (UN) celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child 2021 by dedicating a special episode of the “Rise Up Shape Up” online program on Saturday.

The episode, entitled “My Voice, Our Equal Future” will discuss how sports can contribute to girls’ growth and development.

“The PSC is all about strengthening the country’s sports

industry and encouraging all Filipinos to aspire for sports excellence, including young girls, and we hope that ‘Rise Up, Shape Up’ helps us achieve this goal,” PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said.

The episode will feature young champions, including Zyce Mae Jizmundo and Nashica Tumasis, who will share their athletic journey especially during this digital age.

Also joining the program are Digital Communications expert Rona Joy Bulaong and Cagayan

State University College of Human Kinetics Assistant Professor Robin Darwin Tuliao, who will share their insights to better understand girl athletes and help them achieve excellence in the digital age.

PSC Women in Sports Commissioner Celia Kiram describes “Rise Up, Shape Up” as a platform that encourages girls to actively co-lead in the journey of digital transformation while practicing sports.

“This web series has demonstrated

that it is possible to navigate through the digital realities and challenges while staying true to our commitment to supporting women and girls in sports,” Kiram said.

“We want kids watching our show to be motivated to be athletes and sports champions. We also want to reach out to parents to guide and support their children who want to be the next generation of Filipino elite athletes,” added Kiram, who will talk about girl sports champions in her “K-Isport” segment.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

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

1.

WEN, GUPENG Customer Service Representative (Chinese Accounts) Brief Job Description: Assists clients will all their concerns.

NGUYEN THI HAI VAN Seller Support Associate 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

12.

2.

Brief Job Description: Build sustainable relationship of trust through open and interactive communication in Mandarin Speaking

LIU, GUOQING Mandarin Customer Service Representative 3.

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

4.

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

5.

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

CHEN, HELONG Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking 6.

Brief Job Description: Monitor, review and report on all Marketing activity and result

LIU, HUALAI Marketing Staff Mandarin Speaking 7.

Brief Job Description: Monitor, review and report on all Marketing activity and result

Basic Qualification: Knows how to recommend potential products or services to management by collecting customer information and analyzing customer needs

13.

14.

8.

Brief Job Description: Strong, effective written and oral English communication skills - impeccable attention to detail ability to multitask under pressure in an ever-changing environment professional knowledge of ANDROID OS, IOS AND MAC OS desired. Be able to work as an individual contributor, as well as part of a close team. Ability to keep up to date in a very fast paced environment, staying on top of policy, procedure and workflow changes and evolutions. A team player with a positive attitude and people skills. Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or other relevant fields; must be able to communicate effectively verbally and written, in both English and required language; experienced in any of the following; o java (java EE, JAVA SE, SPRING, NODEJS) O JAVASCRIPT O SAP O .NET O COBOL O angular; knowledgeable in back-end programming language/ framework; willing to work on holidays, weekends, shifting schedules and extended working hours.

Brief Job Description: Input Finance data into the system

Brief Job Description: Serves as a Liason between the customer and various departments and ensures that basic CS Functions are performed

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written SUN, DUXUN Operations Executive

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 15.

Brief Job Description: Serves as a Liason between the customer and various departments and ensures that basic CS Functions are performed

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Analyze the productivity of the marketing plans and projects ,recommend to Senior Management

ZUO, JUNWEI Operations Executive 16.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Analyze the productivity of the marketing plans and projects ,recommend to Senior Management Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in information technology, computer science, or other relevant fields; must be able to communicate effectively verbally and written, in both english and required language; experienced in any of the following; o java (java ee, java se, spring, NODEJS) O JAVASCRIPT o sap o .net o COBOL o angular; knowledgeable in back-end programming language/ framework; willing to work on holidays, weekends, shifting schedules and extended working hours.

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

Brief Job Description: Serves as a Liason between the customer and various departments and ensures that basic CS Functions are performed

LEVERTON, PIYADA Operations Senior Executive 17.

ACCENTURE, INC. 7f, Robinsons Cybergate Tower 1, Pioneer St, City Of Mandaluyong ANGO ZEH, LAETITIA Application Development Analyst

TAN, KHENG Finance Executive

NGUYEN THI MY LINH Operations Executive

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin both oral and written

Brief Job Description: Assist in responding to customer inquiries and resolving issues or complaints

JOSHI, SAMRAT VISHNUBHAI Commercial Manager - Surgical 9.

Brief Job Description: Successfully manager Surgical Business franchise in order to achieve targeted profitability, market share growth and sales volume; to successfully implement business strategy as per global, regional and local guideline; and lastly, to work synergistically with other business units as a whole.

PANG YEE MEI Payment Senior Manager 18.

CHEN, GUIQING Investigation Specialist I 10.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for a wide range of duties related to the investigation and elimination of online ecommerce risk.

SRINOOT, TACHPOL Investigation Specialist I

19.

11.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for a wide range of duties related to the investigation and elimination of online ecommerce risk

Brief Job Description: Coordinating with Upper Management to find ways in developing handling customer transactions

PALANISAMY, RAJ PRAVEEN Sales Executive (Multi-lingual) Brief Job Description: Reports on sales progress and attainment of goals

QIU, JINMING Administrator Of PRDP 20.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for assisting the project department manager in daily administrative coordinating the relationship between different departments and improving the overall work efficiency

ZHANG, YUANMING Administrator Of PRDP 21.

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

ZHAO, PENGPENG Survey Technician Of PRDP 25.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for assisting the project department manager in daily administrative work, coordinating the relationship between different departments and improving the overall work efficiency

Brief Job Description: Responsible for overall management of the project designs including survey control and daily survey work

HU, KANGNING Data Analyst-mandarin Speaking 26.

Brief Job Description: Coordinate, respond and address inquiries of bahasa speaking customer

FRASER, BRIAN MALCOLM Solutions Consultant

27.

Brief Job Description: Provide advanced technical and business consultative services during the pre-sales and post cycle.; provide technical or business analytical leadership for specific product groups or business objectives in order to engage the customer or implement and maintain an engagement.; deliver strong presentations for general education.; display strong listening skills for solution construction to help emc customers and show fair competence in competitive knowledge.; take ownership of high-level technical design convergence with the customer and other emc teams, and to move to involve other emc organizations as required.; assist with sow writing based on the customer requirements.

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

Basic Qualification: College Degree in any field: Must be native Singaporean fluent in English and Mandarin: With Good understanding of Techniques Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Indian and English able to develop understanding of technology and develop with industry development

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

Basic Qualification: College graduate: speaks Mandarin fluently

Basic Qualification: College graduate: speaks Mandarin fluently Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate speak Mandarin fluently Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Good in statistics and probability. Excellent in writing, reading, and speaking Bahasa and English Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: 12 years and above of related experience in a professional role, strong writing skills and demonstrated ability to document processes for the customer, strong customer communication skills, experienced in mainframe z/os environment, experienced in managing multiple storage systems (dell emc, ibm and hitachi) in a mainframe environment, experienced in installation, configuration and maintenance of hardware and software used for mainframe storage etc.

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

DEXIN 999, INC. Red Hotel No. 345, Edsa Cor. Don Carlos Revilla St., Barangay 147, Pasay City

CHEN, QIANG Mandarin Customer Support Representative 28.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience.

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

EASTERN GOLD CORPORATION 503, Nueva St, , Binondo, City Of Manila

LIU, WEI Marketing And Sales Agent 29.

Brief Job Description: Researches and develops various marketing strategies for products and services and implements marketing plans and works to meet sales quotas

Basic Qualification: Can contributes information, ideas, and research to help develop marketing strategies; can help to detail, design, and implement marketing plans for each product or service being offered.

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

ENERLIFE PHILIPPINES INC. 20th Flr. Unit D Citibank Square Bldg., Eastwood City Cyberpark, #188 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave. 3, Bagumbayan, Quezon City

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

Basic Qualification: College graduate: speaks Mandarin fluently

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

DELL TECHNOLOGIES PHILIPPINES INC. World Plaza E-square Crescent Park West, 5th Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

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

Basic Qualification: Must be native Cambodian, Indonesian /Vietnamese/ Taiwanese/ Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese / Taiwanese Fluent in English language with atleast a year experience in similar field

Basic Qualification: College graduate speaks Mandarin fluently

CLOVERSENSE TECHNOLOGY INC. 29/f Robinsons Summit Center, 6783 Ayala Center, Bel-air, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Must be native thai, Indonesian /Vietnamese/ Taiwanese/ Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese / Taiwanese Fluent in English language with atleast a year experience in similar field

Basic Qualification: Must be native Thai, Indonesian /Vietnamese/ Taiwanese/ Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese / Taiwanese Fluent in English language with atleast a year experience in similar field

Brief Job Description: Responsible for overall management of the project designs including survey control and dally survey work

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

ALFREDO CHRISTIANTO Finance And Accounting Manager 30.

Brief Job Description: Manage and oversee all financial operations and development of the company.

Basic Qualification: Solid experience in FMCg Industry’s financial accounting and knowledge in Bahasa Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

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

31.

32.

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

LAN, HAI It Technical Mandarin Brief Job Description: Maintain the system and networks

YUAN, ERDONG It Technical Mandarin Brief Job Description: Maintain the system and networks

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

FUJIAN ELECTRIC POWER ENGINEERING COMPANY 5 West, Lawin, Phil-am 1, Quezon City

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

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

Basic Qualification: Must be native thai, Indonesian /Vietnamese/ Taiwanese/ Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese / Taiwanese Fluent in English language with atleast a year experience in similar field

Brief Job Description: Responsible for the company/project department salary, social insurance cost accounting, tax declaration and payment SHI, FUHAI Survey Technician Of PRDP

24.

CHINA HARBOUR ENGINEERING COMPANY 5/f Rm 501 Ramon Magsaysay Center, 1680 Roxas Blvd., 076, Bgy. 699, Malate, City Of Manila

Basic Qualification: Proficiency in Chinese language

Basic Qualification: Proficiency in Thai language

23.

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

Basic Qualification: Must be native Cambodian, Indonesian /Vietnamese/ Taiwanese/ Chinese/ Korean/ Japanese / Taiwanese Fluent in English language with atleast a year experience in similar field

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION FENG, QI Finance Supervisor Of PRDP

BAYVIEW TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 43/f Yuchengco Tower, Rcbc Plaza Ayala Ave. Cor. Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 AMAZON OPERATION SERVICES PHILIPPINES, INC. B21 Three E-com Moa Complex, Harbour Drive Cor. Bay Shore, Brgy. 076, Pasay City

Basic Qualification: Clear and effective oral and written communication in both Vietnamese and English fluently where required.

No.

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

ALCON LABORATORIES (PHILIPPINES), INC. 801 8th Floor, Tower 1, Rockwell Business Center, Ortigas Avenue, Ugong, City Of Pasig Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree of any 4 years pref. MBA or a Post Graduate Course in a business disciple; Proficient in English; At least 5 years experience in medical-related sales and 3 years medical-related marketing; and Pref. at least 7 years sales and marketing experience in the eyecare industry and capital equipment.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

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

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

Brief Job Description: Acts as the primary interface, collecting the required information and documentation and conducting the relevant verification so the seller can complete registration and begin selling on Amazon. Interacts directly with Amazon sellers through a live session Demonstrates excellent time-management and prioritization skills, with minimal supervision

RONG, DIQING Deputy Commercial Manager Of PRDP 22.

Brief Job Description: Assists the project master contract management and risk control, follow up the implementation of the contract in the whole process

A13

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

AVANTICE CORPORATION 19/f Pbcom Tower, Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5-10/f Tower 1, Pitx Kennedy Road, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

KYUE YONE KYINT Customer Service Representative Mandarin Speaking

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Basic Qualification: College graduate, speaks mandarin fluently Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

WU, QIANG Installation Supervisor 33.

Brief Job Description: Coordinate and direct commercial and residential multi-family installation projects

Basic Qualification: Equivalent combination of education and experience Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

A14 Saturday, October 30, 2021

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

IDNPLAY CORPORATION 8/f Burgundy Corporate Tower, 252 Sen. Gil J.puyat Ave., Pio Del Pilar, City Of Makati DO TRUNG HIEU Vietnamese-speaking Customer Service 34.

Brief Job Description: Serves customer by providing product and service information and resolving product service problem

NGUYEN HOANG BAO LONG Vietnamese-speaking Customer Service 35.

Brief Job Description: Serves customer by providing product and service information and resolving product service problem

NGUYEN MANH DUC Vietnamese-speaking Customer Service 36.

Brief Job Description: Serves customer by providing product and service information and resolving product service problem

No.

52.

Basic Qualification: Fluent for both native and English languages, Computer literate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent for both native and English languages, Computer literate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

53.

54.

55.

INVECH TREASURE PROCESSING CORPORATION 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Floor, Six West Campus Mckinley West, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

ELBERT SIONG Indonesian Customer Support Specialist 37.

Brief Job Description: Experts at their product, and their primary duty is to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently.

BAI, XUEMENG Mandarin Customer Support Representative 38.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

CHEN, YALIANG Mandarin Customer Support Representative 39.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions and responding to complaints.

FU, SHANCHAO Mandarin Customer Support Representative 40.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

LI, NING Mandarin Customer Support Representative 41.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions and responding to complaints.

MA, YI Mandarin Customer Support Representative 42.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

SUN, GUIQING Mandarin Customer Support Representative 43.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions and responding to complaints.

ZENG, MAOBIN Mandarin Customer Support Representative 44.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions and responding to complaints.

ZHENG, CHUNFENG Mandarin Customer Support Representative 45.

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions and responding to complaints.

ZHANG, YUXIN Mandarin Customer Support Specialist 46.

Brief Job Description: Experts at their product, and their primary duty is to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Indonesian and at least college level with related BPO experience.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin/Fukien and at least college level with related BPO experience.

48.

49.

50.

51.

57.

58.

59.

60.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience

61.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin/Fukien and at least college level with related BPO experience.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience

62.

63.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience

64.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience

HUANG, BAOLIN Marketing Staff (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: To contribute to the implementation of marketing

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

YANG, LIPING Marketing Staff (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: Ensure accounting, budget, and auditing

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

CHEN, YANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

FU, WEIJIE Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

HUANG, XIAOBO Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

JIANG, HAINING Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LIN YOU KEE Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

LIN, HENGYUAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

NONG, GUIFU Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

XIAO, HUISHANG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

YUE, YULIAN Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

ZOU, DAFAN Chinese Customer Specialist Brief Job Description: Managing incoming calls and customer service inquiries

BAI, MENGMENG Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer Support and Data Bases Services

CAI, WEI Chinese Customer Service 65.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin/Fukien and at least college level with related BPO experience.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

CHANG, MING Chinese Customer Service 66.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

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

CHANG, WAN-CHIEN Finance Officer (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: Ensure accounting, budget, and auditing

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

HUANG, SHENGLI Finance Officer (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: Ensure accounting, budget, and auditing

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

YOU, SENSEN Finance Officer (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: Ensure accounting, budget, and auditing

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

CHEN, BOYU Marketing Staff (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: To contribute to the implementation of marketing

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

DENG, XUBO Marketing Staff (Mandarin Speaking)

Basic Qualification: College graduate

Brief Job Description: To contribute to the implementation of marketing

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

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

No.

71.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 73.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak, read, and write Chinese language 74.

75.

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

76.

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

67.

68.

CHEN, HAONAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer Support and Data Bases Services

CHEN, YAHUI Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer Support and Data Bases Services

DENG, YANQING Chinese Customer Service 69.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

FENG, SHAOHUA Chinese Customer Service 70.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

LIU, GAOLEI Chinese Customer Service 77.

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

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

LIU, DU Chinese Customer Service

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

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

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

LI, ZHENG Chinese Customer Service

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

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

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

LI, PENG Chinese Customer Service

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

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

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

HUANG, HEPING Chinese Customer Service

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

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

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

HE, XIANGPING Chinese Customer Service 72.

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

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION GUO, XIAOKANG Chinese Customer Service

78.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

LIU, XIANGZHEN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer Support and Data Bases Services

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

LUO, JIE Chinese Customer Service 79.

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

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

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

LIAN JIA SOLUTION AND SERVICES CORPORATION 3/f Adriatico Square Sheraton, Manila Bay Malvar Cor. Adriatico Sts., 076, Bgy. 699, Malate, City Of Manila

47.

56.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in Mandarin/Fukien and at least college level with related BPO experience.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

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

Basic Qualification: Fluent for both native and English languages, Computer literate Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in Computer Applications with Good Oral And Written Communication Skills

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

LUO, LIN Chinese Customer Service 80.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

MA, CONG Chinese Customer Service 81.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

QI, XU Chinese Customer Service 82.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in Computer Applications with Good Oral And Written Communication Skills

SHI, WEIJIE Chinese Customer Service 83.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in Computer Applications with Good Oral And Written Communication Skills

SONG, YAXUAN Chinese Customer Service 84.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

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

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

WANG, DONG Chinese Customer Service 85.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English)

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

WANG, LINGJUN Chinese Customer Service 86.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in Computer Applications with Good Oral And Written Communication Skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION WANG, YIBO Chinese Customer Service

87.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

XIONG, JIN Chinese Customer Service 88.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

YIN, YUANNAN Chinese Customer Service 89.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

YU, TINGTING Chinese Customer Service 90.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHANG, BIN Chinese Customer Service 91.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHANG, BO Chinese Customer Service 92.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHANG, XIAOWEN Chinese Customer Service 93.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHANG, YU Chinese Customer Service 94.

95.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHAO, DONGYAN Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer Support and Data Bases Services

ZHAO, HAO Chinese Customer Service 96.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHAO, XU Chinese Customer Service 97.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHENG, YICHUAN Chinese Customer Service 98.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHU, PENGCHENG Chinese Customer Service 99.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZOU, WEIQIANG Chinese Customer Service 100.

Brief Job Description: Manages incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

NAY LA MIN TUN Myanmari Customer Service 101.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file the documents.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

No.

102.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

CHEN, SHUTING Chinese Customer Service Brief Job Description: Customer support and data base services

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

103.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

104.

105.

106.

107.

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

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

108.

109.

110.

111.

112.

113.

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

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1yr experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language and English)

114.

Brief Job Description: Maintain computer systems and networks of an organization INDRA WIJAYA Bahasa Indonesian Language-supervisor Trade Specialist Brief Job Description: Ensure all prices changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate IWAN Bahasa Indonesian Language-supervisor Trade Specialist Brief Job Description: Ensure that all price changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate MULYADI Bahasa Indonesian Language-supervisor Trade Specialist Brief Job Description: Ensure all prices changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate

Brief Job Description: Ensure all prices changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate

Brief Job Description: Ensure that all price changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate

Brief Job Description: Ensure all prices changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate

LAU KOK WENG Malaysian Language-manager Trade Specialist 115.

Brief Job Description: Ensure that all price changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate

CHE TOAN THANH Vietnamese Language-supervisor Trade Specialist 116.

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in computer application with good oral and written communication skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

No.

HAN, DONG Mandarin Customer Support Representative 120.

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: Has knowledge in computer applications Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

121.

Brief Job Description: Ensure that all price changes and delivery of events are timely and accurate

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in computer science or IT

122.

123.

124.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: bachelor’s degree in business, marketing and other relevant courses Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

DUARTE JAIMES, JOHANA KARINA Customer Ops Specialist - Order To Cash 117.

Brief Job Description: Provides high quality front line support to existing Shell Customers from Order through to payment.

125.

126.

127.

Brief Job Description: Oversee erection works using launching gantries

MUTHALIBU, IMRANKHAN Gantry Specialist Brief Job Description: Oversee erection works using launching gantries

MU, RUIJIE Chinese Project Manager Brief Job Description: Planning and Defining Scope of the Project

ZHANG, BINYAO Chinese Project Manager Brief Job Description: Planning and Defining Scope of the Project

Brief Job Description: Performing analyses on hardware software and network capabilities.

HUANG, FENGJIE Chinese Technical Consultant 128.

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

Brief Job Description: Performing analyses on hardware software and network capabilities.

LYU, CHUNBU Chinese Technical Consultant 129.

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business marketing and other relevant courses

CASMAOLANA Gantry Specialist

FU, KAIMING Chinese Technical Consultant

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business marketing and other relevant courses

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing and other relevant courses

Brief Job Description: Performing analyses on hardware software and network capabilities.

PAN, YUYANG Chinese Technical Consultant 130.

Brief Job Description: Performing analyses on hardware software and network capabilities.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business marketing and other relevant courses

XU, QIN Chinese Technical Consultant 131.

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

Basic Qualification: Native Spanish Speaker Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

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: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience.

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

Basic Qualification: Minimum 10 years of experience in overseeing full span erection works using launching gantries Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999 Basic Qualification: Minimum 10 years of experience in overseeing full span erection works using launching gantries Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Demonstrate Experience in Marketing Together with the potential and attitude required to learn Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Demonstrate experience in Marketing together with the potential and attitude required to learn Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

YONGFU PHILIPPINE NEW ENERGY MANAGEMENT LTD. INC. Units A&b, 20/f, Rufino Pacific Tower, 6784 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing and other relevant courses Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

Basic Qualification: Able to speak and write in MANDARIN/FUKIEN and at least college level with related BPO experience.

XIAN ELECTRIC ENGINEERING COMPANY LIMITED PHILIPPINES BRANCH 2101-2102, Raffle Don Francisco Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business marketing and other relevant courses

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

VSL CIVIL WORKS PHILIPPINE BRANCH # 162, 2/f, Unit 201 D Paragon Plaza, Highway Hills, City Of Mandaluyong

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing and other relevant courses

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

ZHU, YANWEI Mandarin Customer Support Representative

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

Brief Job Description: Supports customers by providing helpful information, answering questions, and responding to complaints.

YIN, YINGZHE Mandarin Customer Support Representative

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Has knowledge in computer applications

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

TRIVES TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION Tower 4 Bayport West, Naia Garden Residence, Naia Road, Tambo, City Of Parañaque

Basic Qualification: Has knowledge in computer applications

SHELL SHARED SERVICES (ASIA) B.V. 16/f-25/f Solaris One Bldg., 130 Dela Rosa St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Brief Job Description: Performing analyses on hardware software and network capabilities.

Basic Qualification: Advance knowledge of hardware and software solutions and network maintenance.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Advance knowledge of hardware and software solutions and network maintenance.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Advance knowledge of hardware and software solutions and network maintenance.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Advance knowledge of hardware and software solutions and network maintenance.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Advance knowledge of hardware and software solutions and network maintenance.

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

APO CEMENT CORPORATION SOLID CEMENT CORPORATION BEDROCK HOLDINGS, INC. EDGEWATER VENTURES CORPORATION TRIPLE DIME HOLDINGS, INC. SANDSTONE STRATEGIC HOLDINGS, INC. ECOCAST BUILDERS, INC. ENERHIYA CENTRAL, INC. NEWCRETE MANAGEMENT, INC.

132.

SOTO CARBAJAL, JUAN CARLOS Procurement Director *Date Generated: Oct 29, 2021

118.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 119.

SA RIVENDELL GLOBAL SUPPORT, INC. Flr. No. 5th & 7th Star Cruises Ce Bldg., Andrews Drive, Newport City St., Brgy. 183, Pasay City

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers; give customers information about products and services

ROFINA Bahasa Indonesian Language-trade Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services

POTY Bahasa Indonesian Language-trade Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

SU, SHAOPENG Chinese Customer Service

HELEN Bahasa Indonesian Language-trade Specialist

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services

EKO SUPRIYANTO Bahasa Indonesian Language-officer Operation Support

Basic Qualification: Knowledgeable in Computer Applications with Good Oral And Written Communication Skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

RUAN, LANJIAN Chinese Customer Service

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

LAY DIU HUNG Mandarin Finance Specialist Brief Job Description: Records Accounts payable and Accounts Receivable

A15

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

SHANG SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. 11/f Pbcom Tower, Ayala Avenue, Salcedo Village, Bel-air, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers; give customers information about products and services

UNG NHIT PHI Vietnamese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

Brief Job Description: Customer support and database services

JIN, SHIWEI Chinese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speak and write fluently (native language & English)

CHEN, XIAOCAN Chinese Customer Service

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Basic Qualification: Excellent oral and written communication in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

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.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Accounting or any Related Field of Study Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR