BusinessMirror September 04, 2023

MIF rules don’t bar a foreigner from top post

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

AFOREIGN national could become the first President and Chief Executive Officer (PCEO) of the Philippines’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF), the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

S

ocioeconomic

Planning Secretary

Arsenio M. Balisacan told the BusinessMirror there is nothing in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the MIF that prevents a foreigner from leading the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

A s Neda Secretary, Balisacan is part of the MIF Advisory Body along with Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon, who was appointed by the President to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monetary

Board over the weekend.

“ Yes, [there is] no nationality requirement for the President/CEO [of the MIF],” Balisacan recently told this newspaper.

D ata from the Sovereign Wealth Institute, the largest SWF in the world in terms of assets is the Norway Government Pension Fund Global with $1.48 trillion, followed by the China Investment Corporation with $1.35 trillion.

See “MIF,” A2

UPBEAT ON TOURISM

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco with Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa) President Fe Abling Yu and Tourism Promotions Board COO Marga Nograles, is seen with Aliw Broadcasting Corporation executives led by EVP and General Manager Atty. McNeil Rante, DOT regional heads and members of the diplomatic corps during the launch of the 34th Philippine Travel Mart at the SMX in Pasay City on September 1, 2023. President Marcos has vowed sustained support for tourism as the sector seeks to exceed prepandemic levels. Story in Economy, page A3. BERNARD TESTA

NEDA: RICE PRICE CAP TEMPORARY, NECESSARY

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

I n a statement issued after the President set a price ceiling on the country’s staple, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan backed the issuance of Executive Order No. 39 mandating a price ceiling of P41 per kilo for regular-milled rice and P45 per kilo of well-milled rice. (full story here: https:// businessmirror com.ph/2023/09/02/pbbm-setsnationwide-cap-on-rice-price/).

G overnment economists have in the past usually frowned on price ceilings, saying they distorted market economics and punish only small rice retailers, not big-time traders and profiteers. However, the Neda chief stressed that the Marcos EO issued on Friday is a temporary option, and is part of a whole slew of measures to temper the spikes in prices of the staple.

B alisacan said the country still had enough rice supply for the third quarter and the upcoming harvest season will ensure that the country has sufficient supply of rice for the rest of the year.

The imposition of a price ceiling on rice is not a standalone initiative. Law enforcement authorities continue their valiant efforts to crack down on individuals who hoard, excessively profit from, smuggle, or participate in rice cartels,” Balisacan said.

“ We are confident that the imposition of a price ceiling is only a temporary measure. We expect the rice harvest to commence soon and anticipate that other initiatives will produce the desired result,” he added.

Balisacan said rice prices are high because the country is currently “facing difficult times” particularly because of the Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon which he considered “a major disruptor” as extreme weather events significantly affected agriculture, especially rice.

T he Neda chief said the ENSO intensified the Southwest Monsoon which would result in “belownormal rainfall towards the end of the year in many countries along the Pacific.”

A nother factor preventing the country from sourcing cheaper rice is “the trade-restricting protectionist behavior of certain riceexporting countries.” This includes India, which imposed a ban on its non-basmati rice exports to ensure that rice prices are low in the domestic market.

“ The aggressive move of rice-importing countries to secure supply have resulted in a decrease in the volume of rice being traded and expected to be traded in the global market.

BIRDS IN BLISS

While birds blissfully feast on the grains at a rice store, seemingly oblivious to the bewildering high prices, human consumers grapple with a different reality. The concerns arise from illicit activities like hoarding and collusion among industry players during the lean season, aggravated by external factors such as the war in Ukraine, India’s ban on rice exports, and fluctuating oil prices. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., concurrently the agriculture secretary, has called upon Filipinos to report any violations of Executive Order 39, which mandates a price ceiling of P41 per kilogram for regular milled rice and P45 per kilogram for well-milled rice. As of Friday, retail prices for local well-milled rice ranged from P47 to P57 per kilo, while local regular milled rice was priced between P42 and P55 per kilo, per the agriculture department’s monitoring. BERNARD TESTA

HOUSEHOLDS STILL BEAR MOST OF HEALTH EXPENSES–REPORT

HOUSEHOLDS continued to account for the bulk of the country’s health expenses, according to the latest Total Health Expenditure (THE) data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

T he PSA said THE amounted to P1.2 trillion, a decline of 1.4 percent from the P1.22-trillion expenditure in 2021. The share of THE to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices was 5.5 percent in 2022.

O f this amount, PSA said 44.7 percent was accounted for by Filipino households. This share was higher than that of the government, whose share was 44.2 percent of the total.

“Out of the total health spending, Current Health Expenditure [CHE] contributed 93.4 percent, while the Health Capital Formation Expenditure [HK] shared 6.6 percent in 2022. CHE declined by 1.5 percent in 2022, while HK posted a 0.2 percent growth in the same year,” PSA said.

B ased on PSA data, the share of households in CHE was also higher than the share of the general

Rice price cap must exceed equilibrium price–Salceda

government in 2019. In that year, households accounted for 48.8 percent of CHE while the general government accounted for 40.8 percent of CHE.

I n 2022, the share of households to the CHE was again higher than the general government—which included the share of the central government, accounting for 20.9 percent of the total, and the Department of Health (DOH), a share of 15.5 percent.

General government also included the share of local governments at 9.7 percent and social security agencies at 13.6 percent, which was mainly extended by PhilHealth.

T he PSA’s derived indicators also showed the out of pocket payment (OOP) by households reached P501.785 billion in 2022, a 5-percent growth from the P478.04 billion posted in 2021.

O n a per capita basis, PSA data showed health spending in 2022 amounted to P10,059.49, which was lower by 2.7 percent compared with the amount recorded in 2021 at P10,341.73. Cai U. Ordinario

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

TO prevent any impact of price ceilings, including rice hoarding and shortages, an economist-lawmaker said the price ceiling should be higher than the equilibrium price.

H ouse Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda made the statement following the issuance of Executive Order (EO) No. 39, which sets the price ceiling on rice in the whole country.

“ There is some arbitrage and undue padding of margins in the sector, and a rice price ceiling will help put a stop to that behavior,” pointed out Salceda.

He said a rice price ceiling is a signal to those who wish to do price speculation that there is little profit in doing that.

“ In that sense, it will help prevent hoarding. But price ceilings can have negative second-round effects, such as shortages,” he said.

“ If we want to avoid any shortage, the price ceiling should be higher than the equilibrium price,” he added.

E arlier, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. urged Filipinos to report violators of Executive Order 39, which sets the mandated price ceiling of regular milled rice at PP41.00 per kilogram and for well-milled rice, P45.00 per kilogram.

To avoid shortages, Salceda said the Department of Agriculture must ensure that there is indeed enough supply in the market across all geographical areas.  “ Our monitoring of supply must not merely be at the aggregate national level. If you impose a price ceiling but some areas have less rice than they need, you will see supply problems in the rice-deficit areas. So, supply monitoring must also be localized, and some augmentation must take place in rice-deficient areas,” he said.

SETTING a temporary ceiling price on rice will give Filipinos a much-needed reprieve in terms of high inflation as well as discourage hoarding, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Military commanders of Japan, US, PHL, Australia fly over SCS

By Malou Talosig-Bartolome @maloutalosig

MILITARY commanders of the Philippines, United States, Japan and Australia flew over the South China Sea on board a US maritime patrol aircraft last week.

T he US Indo-Pacific Command identified the military leaders as:

■ Vice Adm. Toribio Adaci; Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command;

■ Commodore Juario Marayag, Philippine Navy Naval Air Wing Commander;

■ Brig. Gen. Erick Quijada Escarcha, Philippine Air Force Tactical Operations Wing West commander.

■ Vice Adm. Karl Thomas, US 7th Fleet;

■ Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton, Austra -

lian Defence Force Chief of Joint Operations ; and

■ Vice Adm. SAITO Akira, Japan

Maritime Self-Defense Force Commander-in-Chief Self-Defense Fleet .

T hese military commanders embarked on a flight over the South China Sea on board a US Navy P-8A maritime patrol aircraft on August 26.

During the flight, they were able

to observe the maritime environment and discuss ways to increase interoperability, preserve regional stability, and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.

T he navies of US, Australia and Japan also held port calls in Manila —Australia’s landing helicopter dock ship HMAS Canberra (L02), Japan’s helicopter-carrying destroyer JS Izumo (DDH-183) and the US’ amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6). Prior to the overflight, the four met in Manila to “further grow the cooperation” among the four armed forces.

D uring the meeting, Thomas emphasized the importance of likeminded nations working together in the air and on the sea to support a peaceful, secure and prosperous region.  Further, he opened the engagement by explaining he was,

Norwegian fund manager Nicolai Tangen while the Vice Chairman, President and Chief Investment Officer of CIC is Weimin Ju, a Chinese national who has been with the CIC since 2015.

The CEO of the Norway Government Pension Fund Global is

“honored to sail and operate sideby-side each of you here today.”   Our relationship with the Philippines is one of our most enduring,” Thomas said. “There’s no country more aware of the threats being posed in the South China Sea. Every nation benefits from a free and open Indo-Pacific. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships and look for more creative ways to operate together.”

the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, with assets of $853 billion, is also led by a citizen, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan who is part of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi. O ther top SWFs globally include Australia’s The Future Fund with as -

T he top SWF in the Middle East,

“Australia, Japan, the Philippines, United States, and the rest of the Pacific partner nations are committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region while adhering to the Law of the Sea,” Thomas said. “When we operate together, we demonstrate the importance of the freedom of navigation and reinforce the prosperity of all nations who rely on these critical waterways.”

sets worth $136.41 billion.

T he fund’s CEO is Raphael Arndt who has also been the fund’s chief investment officer since 2014 prior to his appointment as CEO.

L ast week, the BusinessMirror got hold of a copy of the approved IRR of the Republic Act 11954 or the MIF Act. (full story here: https://businessmirror .com.ph/2023/08/30/ search-is-on-for-1st-maharlika-investment-fund-chief/).

T he approved IRR, which takes effect on September 12, has outlined the qualifications for the members of the MIC board from Regular Directors, Independent Directors, and President and CEO.

Under Section 39 of the IRR, the MIC PCEO must hold an “advanced degree” either an MBA, MA, MSc or even a PhD in finance, economics, business administration or a related field from a “reputable university.”

I also suggested last year that we pay a premium to our partners for the right to buy rice at a slightly higher price than the current world price, but at a price that is already fixed regardless of any potential further increase in the future.

T hat helps put an end to unwarranted price speculation in the global market, since we are one of the world’s largest importers of rice,” he said.

U ltimately, Salceda said, rice prices will fall when India rescinds its rice export ban.

“But it highlights how our rice policy must remain focused on enhancing domestic yields. If we are able to produce yields at Vietnam levels [5.6 tons per hectare] from our current level [4.1 tons per hectare], we can close our domestic supply shortage and be less sensitive to movements in the world market,” he added.

Clarification

WHILE he agrees with the President’s imposition of a price ceiling for rice, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said clarification should be made on the price cap of imported rice unless it falls under the subject rice varieties.

He said the price ceilings must be accompanied by several measures to address the impact on farmers and other stakeholders.

L agman said the government should provide subsidies to farmers to maintain a viable farmgate price of palay, saying the subsidy is geared towards reducing the cost of production, from pre-planting, planting, harvesting, milling,

T he Government’s priority amid this situation is to ensure that the country has an ample supply of affordable rice,” Balisacan said.

FEF: Tariffs, not caps as tool

MEANWHILE , the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) expressed its disagreement with the issuance of EO 39. The group of local economists said it is more important to bring down rice tariffs than set price ceilings on rice.

FEF said import tariffs which are currently set at 35 percent for rice imports from Asean countries should be lifted or reduced to 10 percent to “immediately” bring down rice prices.

“ The government can afford to lower rice tariffs because the mandatory P10 billion allocation for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund [RCEF] as stipulated by the Rice Tariffication Law [RTL], has already been achieved,” FEF said.

It noted a recent report by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) revealed that tariff revenues from rice import stand at a healthy P16.8 billion as of August 23.

The government may restore the tariff rates back to 35 percent when the demand and supply situation stabilizes and if the onset of the harvest season results in falling rice prices,” it added.

T he economists said setting a price cap will cause hoarding; create a “black market” for the staple; and give unscrupulous traders a means to cheat unsuspecting consumers by mixing inferior broken rice with regular- and well-milled rice.

F EF also said the price cap can also cause suffering on the part of lower-income consumers when regular-milled rice becomes less available in markets at a controlled price and is passed on as well-milled rice by traders.

Food inflation hurts poor

THE poorest households are especially sensitive to increases in food prices, especially rice.

transport, and trading of palay.

H e said the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under the Rice Tariffication Act, or RA No. 11203, must be immediately and fully implemented for the benefit and welfare of farmers and their families and organizations.

A lso, Lagman batted for government-to-government negotiations for the importation of rice in order to get the lowest cost of importation by authorized private importers.

Rice retailers must be granted access to facilities at minimal interest rates and with minimum collateral requirements to help them in the procurement of rice,” he added.

A ccording to Lagman, the campaign against rice smuggling and cartelization must be fully intensified with the immediate apprehension, prosecution, and conviction, once warranted, of malefactors.

He said the role of middlemen in the rice trade must be strictly limited and monitored.

House backing

MEANWHILE , Speaker Ferdinand

Martin G. Romualdez said the chamber strongly backs EO39.  We won’t stop until the President is successful in achieving his targets. We’re very serious about it. And we’re not going to stop here in Luzon; we’ll go to Visayas and Mindanao. We’re going to hit every region,” Romualdez said, referring to the joint raid conducted by the Bureau of Customs and the House on rice warehouses in Bulacan.

Based on the Consumer Price Index for the bottom 30 percent of households, food accounts for 51.38 percent of the basket of goods and rice accounts for 17.87 percent.

T his situation becomes more dire knowing that poor households could not afford to buy in bulk. This is one of the ways that poor Filipinos pay a “poverty premium” as disclosed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) last week. (Full story here: https:// businessmirror .com.ph/2023/08/25/ poor-pay-poverty-premiumin-phl-aspac-adb-report/)

FEF also said EO 39 will harm farmers because traders will use the price cap to justify lowering their buying prices for palay.

T he group of economists said traders may also refuse to buy palay from the farmers as they will lose money due to the high farmgate price of palay.

The price cap will harm the entire economy because it will not be effective in solving the demand-supply gap and arresting increasing food price inflation,” FEF said.

It will only aggravate the current tight rice supply situation into a full-blown rice crisis. An Executive Order cannot repeal the law of supply and demand,” it added.

A part from lowering tariffs, FEF also recommended the amendment of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) to increase the farmland retention limit which is set at 5 hectares to an economically viable 24 hectares.

Because of CARL, average farm sizes have fallen to one hectare or less. The country needs bigger and better-managed farms to increase agricultural productivity, thereby increasing supply and reducing food prices.

I ncreasing domestic food production through commercial agriculture is the key to meeting the challenge of meeting the food requirements of an increasing population and solving the country’s malnutrition problem.

“ If we find out that people are importing, hoarding, and profiteering, we’re going to raid, and Customs will just seize it and give it to DSWD, Kadiwa, and the DA for sale at a much lower price point,” he added.

T he Speaker, meanwhile, acknowledged the gesture of the Philippine Rice Industry Stakeholders’ Movement (PRISM) to make available to the public rice at P38 a kilo, but he also noted that the target of recent raids in Bulacan rice warehouses suspected of hoarding and smuggling were members of the group.

He said the group could show their sincerity by helping the government unmask the “bad eggs,” or members suspected of involvement in unscrupulous trade practices. We will call them in. We will be the ones to talk to them on our terms. If we have to detain them until they tell us the truth, we will do that. And if we have to make sure they’re out of the business of smuggling, profiteering, or hoarding, we’ll get them out,” Romualdez said.

N oting that rice imports, particularly from Vietnam, constitute only 18 percent of the total rice consumption in the country, Romualdez said traders cannot justify price hikes in the local market by citing world market prices.

W hile it’s completely understandable for traders to earn profits from the rice trade, Romualdez said they should not be too greedy, warning that the government is willing to undertake even more drastic measures to regulate importation to prevent abuses by profiteers.

COMMANDER of the Philippine Navy Commodore Juario Marayag; Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Capt. Ichiyanagi Kimihiko; JMSDF Commander-in-Chief Self-Defense Fleet Vice Adm. Saito Akira; Commander, US 7th Fleet Vice Adm. Karl Thomas; and Australian Defence Force Chief of Joint Operations Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton listen to a safety brief aboard a P8A Poseidon during a flight demonstration in Manila, Philippines.

Diokno’s push to reform free education vexes youth group

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas & Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

FINANCE Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno is batting for merging some state universities and colleges (SUCs) as part of his proposal to reform the state’s free tertiary education system and ensure “optimal” allocation of government funds.

In a recent statement, Diokno further detailed his earlier pronouncement that the country’s free tertiary education must be reformed since the current system is “unsustainable,” leading to taxpayers’ money being “wasted.”

The Finance chief’s contention against the current system of free tertiary education is that it is “anti-poor” in the sense that there are a lot of poor Flipinos who are unable to reach college.

Part of Diokno’s proposal is to reduce the number of existing SUCs nationwide over time through mergers.

“The mergers of SUCs can be done over a period of years, say five years. Initially, it can be started by having the same set of trustees in all SUCs within the same region. Note that there are several SUCs in a region,” the Secretary of the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

Diokno added that other elements of his proposal include strengthening the K-12 program and filtering the possible beneficiaries of the free tertiary education through a so-called “filtering system” by administering a nationwide test.

“The poor have a better chance of entering college, and completing the same if they have a good foundation. That’s one of the goals of the K-12 program,” he said.

“ That’s the key—excellent basic education. That should be our focus. The other goal of the K-12 program is to prepare the student for gainful employment or higher education,” he added, noting that today more Filipinos are opting for “better” jobs instead of going to college.

Filtering system

FOR the filtering system, Diokno explained that a nationwide test must be administered to determine who will be able to secure their slots as government scholars in a given year.

The government scholar would be assigned to SUC based on his test scores. The scholar can also refuse the SUC assigned to him/her and may opt to enroll in any government-accredited private university. The scholars shall be given an education voucher with a corresponding amount of subsidy.

“Of course, the voucher will be released on an annual basis and will be based on satisfactory performance of the government scholar,” he said.

“These sets of proposals are not perfect, but they could immensely improve the allocation of scarce government resources,” he added.

Diokno reiterated that the free tertiary education must be reformed since state resources are “finite.”

“The core of my proposal to revisit the present ‘free’ college education is how to optimally allocate resources funded largely by taxpayers for education. The present regime is unwieldy, inefficient, and wasteful,” he said.

“An indicator of wastefulness is the rising dropout rate. The proposed reform also aims to reduce the threat to the robust private school system,” he added.

‘Anti-poor stance’

THE Kabataan Partylist, on the other hand, is bucking the DOF chief’s proposals, assailing Diokno as having an “anti-poor stance.”

“There is no such thing as an ‘undeserving’ student,” read the group’s statement issued over the weekend. “Diokno should be mindful that education is not a commodity subject to cost-cutting measures, but a right that benefits the entire nation and the generations ahead of us.”

To ensure learning recovery and to unleash the full potential of Filipino youth, the group underscored the need to uphold their democratic rights.

The group has expressed alarm that the proposed repeal or restrictions on the free college education program on top of the proposed budget cut against SUCs “is a wholesale attack to further dismantle the public character of tertiary education.”

“Reversing the hard-earned victory to provide free college education to students will negatively impact not just current beneficiaries but erect a barrier once again, blocking poorer students from claiming their right to education,” the organization said.

“We are disappointed but not surprised, once again, by Diokno’s anti-poor stance. Besides, multimillionaire government officials have no ascendancy to say that such a crucial program is not worth funding,” the group’s statement read. Bloated funds

THE Kabataan Partylist said that the quality of Marcos’s cabinet officials like Diokno, “reflects the leadership of the whole administration: prioritizing the few privileged elite over the basic rights of the people.”

“We assert that free college education is not a strain on public funds; it is instead the misplaced and bloated budget for confidential and intelligence funds, counterinsurgency operations, infrastructure, and travel expenses reflected on the National Expenditure Program created by the Marcos Jr.-Duterte administration, which Diokno himself is a part of,” the organization said.

The group cited that Republic Act 10931 (Free Tuition Law) is a good step forward.

“But as soon as it was passed, Filipino students already acknowledged that the law is no silver bullet to perennial problems caused by neoliberal education,” the organization said.

“The education system remains commercialized: a large majority of college students are in private schools, other school fees remain rampant across universities, and privatization schemes persist even in SUCs. Hence, the fight isn’t over, and we call on students nationwide to unite and fight uncompromisingly for free education,” they said.

Moreover, the group urged the national government to instead address other barriers to the right to education: high costs of public transportation; student housing; and, other campus services among others.

Uaqte Act

THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier disclosed that about P21.7 billion is allocated to 116 SUCs for RA 10931, formally known as the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education (Uaqte). The DBM allocation for the Free Tuition Law guarantees free tertiary education to 3,145,098 students across the country next year.

The proposed Uaqte budget for SUCs was higher by 14.32 percent than the P18.8 billion budget this year, according to the DBM. The Uaqte was enacted into law in 2017.

The government under then-President Rodrigo R. Duterte began full implementation of the Free Tuition Law in tertiary education institutions starting Academic Year 2018-2019 with a budget allocation of P40 billion. The law also provides additional support to eligible financially-disadvantaged students through the tertiary education subsidy and the Student Loan Program.

Marcos vows tourism support, travel fair sees sales topping ’22

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

PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. assured the tourism industry of his administration’s continued commitment, as he acknowledged it as a “strong pillar of our economic growth.”

In a speech at the opening of the 3-day 34th Philippine Travel Mart (PTM) on September 1, the President said: “As you continue to invest your energies and passion into your trade and craft, you can be assured of this administration’s fervent support for the entire tourism industry. Policies and programs are underway to create a wholesome climate and stable foundation through the upgrading of critical tourism infrastructure, capacity-building for our workforce and entrepreneurs, fostering a more businessfriendly environment, and [improving] the security and the rule of law in our country.”

He also recognized the tourism industry’s

contribution to the economy, “providing livelihood opportunities to more than five million of our kababayan [compatriot]. With the innate beauty of our 7,641 islands and our people, our tourism will remain to be a vital economic sector for our country in the decades to come.”

Government tourism agencies, however, are allocated just P3 billion in 2024, about 20 percent less than their approved budget this year, and access to P1.27 billion in marketing funds next year. Similarly, support for the construction and repair of roads and other infrastructure to tourism destinations is just P13.97 billion next year, 21 percent lower than the budget in 2023. (See, “Popular spots still get bulk of tourism roads budget,” in the B usiness M irror , August 15, 2023.)

30-40% hike in attendees MEANWHILE, participating stakeholders were encouraged by the sales and foot traffic at the PTM, held over the weekend at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

‘Make new discoveries’

Fe Abling-Yu, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa), told the B usiness M irror there was an estimated “30-40 percent increase in foot traffic” at the travel fair this year, from last year’s 48,738 attendees. But there were still no initial sales figures for the entire event, although she expressed optimism it would exceed last year’s P16 million.

She noted though, on an individual basis, “Sales in Ilocos Norte were high in terms of tour packages, accommodations, and products.”

For another, the Bellevue Group, with hotels in Alabang, Quezon City, and Bohol, racked up some P500,000 in sales, she added.

The travel fair, organized by Philtoa, brought together nearly 200 exhibitors from all 17 regions of the Philippines, from hotels to resorts, travel agencies, tour operators, and tourism offices under one roof. The one-stop shop made it easy for patrons to check out vacation packages from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and avail themselves of discounted rates from sellers.

PBEd: K-12 grads’ employability needs ‘strong’ OJT system

THE K-12 lobby group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) believes a “strong” work immersion or on-the-job training (OJT) system is needed to improve the employability of graduates of the Kinder-to-12 Basic Education Program.

According to PBEd Executive Director Justine B. Raagas, there is still the “prevailing sentiment” that employers prefer college graduates over K-12 graduates or senior high school students.

To address this, Raagas underscored the importance of having a strong work immersion or OJT system which she said should be carried out with the support of the private sector.

“If we’re able to strengthen that but at the same time, if we’re able to bring in private sector inputs,” the PBEd official told reporters on the sidelines of a forum organized by the PBEd last week. “[And] kungma-infuse natinyung mgacompetencies nanama-map out nila,mas magigingresponsive atmasnatutunantalaga ngmgabatakunganoyungmga skillsets na kailangansaworkplace.” [If we can infuse the competencies that they map out, the children will be more responsive and learn more about the skillsets that are needed in the workplace.]

She emphasized that immersion is “very important” because it gives students the interface with employers, especially since high school students are faced with “doubts” due to the impression that they lack work experience.

Raagas added they discovered that employers considers the employability of children when they perform in the workplace.

“What we found is that kungnakikitana nila ‘yung bata sa workplace, nakikita nila ‘O, kaya pala ng mga bata.’ That’s when they are able to hire. Interface [is really] very important. But at the same time, inputs to the curriculum to embed workplace-ready competencies,” she said.

The PBEd official said the 80-hour requirement for OJT is “just very surface level.” However, she said the length of work immersion would still be up for discussion. “We’ve seen in our experience that something as little as a month can actually already help or have better results,” Raagas added.

Last August 22, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported during the House committee on basic education hearing that at least 180,000 local jobs are open for high school graduates.

In a statement issued by PBEd two weeks ago, the business group said the Labor department noted the employers’ concerns about the skill readiness of current (senior high school) SHS graduates, prompting a recommendation for a more targeted SHS curriculum to develop strand-specific competencies for work.

To tackle unempoyment and underemployment issues among the youth, Raagas said PBEd has been “actively pushing” for private sectors, schools, and the government to collaborate and invest in youth training initiatives.

“PBEd’s workforce development program—implemented with the support of [United States Agency for International Development] USAID–YouthWorks PH, shows that out of 294 K-12 graduates who underwent

the work-based training, 222 have successfully secured employment, resulting in an overall employment rate of 76 percent,” PBEd said in an earlier statement.

Raagas emphasized that post-training, companies who are opening their doors for

K-12 graduates are in the sectors of construction, food and beverage services, and food processing.

According to PBEd, YouthWorks PH follows a training model that encompasses technicalvocational training, soft skills development

“IF there is anything that the recent pandemic restrictions have taught us, it is to love our freedom to travel, our freedom to explore. Let us take advantage of this freedom to make new discoveries,” Abling-Yu said at the opening of the travel fair on Friday.

For her part, Frasco said the Philippine Travel Mart is “another driving force to push the tourism industry closer to its prepandemic levels and further to even exceed it.” There were 3.63 million international travelers who arrived from January to August 30 this year, just 36 percent less than the arrivals during the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, according to data from the Department of Tourism. (See, “8-month inbound tourist arrivals already 76% of DOT goal,” in the BusinessMirror, September 1, 2023.)

The PTM began as a DOT initiative in 1989, meant primarily to cater both to trade and the consumer market. In 1994, the Philtoa took over the event and has organized and staged it as its flagship project.

and apprenticeship enabling the youth to acquire both theoretical knowledge and practical experience, making them wellrounded and adaptable employees. Under this initiative, PBEd said it engages with employers to provide work-based training opportunities for the youth to ensure that the skills learned by trainees match the needs of the company.

Andrea San Juan

Ayuda for rice retailers eyed after govt orders price ceiling

By Jovee Marie Dela Cruz @joveemarie

THE House of Representa -

tives is eyeing to provide aid or ayuda to the rice retailers who will be affected by Executive Order (EO) 39 while studying a win-win solution to the problem, Speaker Ferdinand Martin R. Romualdez said last Sunday.

Romualdez issued a statement as he vowed to continue to speak with leaders of rice retailers to discuss their fears that the rice-price ceiling ordered by the Palace would make them lose money.

“The government is not numb; so we want to listen to their concern, and we will try to find a solution to their fear that they will lose money,” Romualdez was quoted in

the statement as saying. “We have to talk to them to come up with a win-win solution wherein they won’t be adversely affected by the price ceiling.”

Through EO 39, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. placed a price cap of P41.00 per kilo for regular milled rice and P45.00 per kilo.

Retailers have complained about this since they acquire their

Fortun files case with QC PLEB vs gun-toting cops

rice products at nearly P50 per kilo from traders.

“They should not disobey the Palace’s order because apart from the penalty, the government can file criminal cases against those who do not comply with this price ceiling,” Romualez said. “Definitely, the government will help our retailers affected by this EO.”

SHC breaks ground in Batangas as Bong Go vows more support

SENATOR Christopher Lawrence “Bong”T.

Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, commended the Department of Health (DOH) and the local government of Lian, Batangas for the groundbreaking of its Super Health Center (SHC) last Thursday.

In a video message, Go said the groundbreaking marked a significant step towards bringing quality government medical services closer to Filipinos and strengthening the nation’s healthcare system.

“Ito po ay isang makabuluhang pagkakataonupangipahayagangakinglubosna pagpupugaysainyonglokalnapamahalaan sa pag-usbong ng [SHC] dito sa inyong bayan,” said Go.

“Ito ay isang malaking hakbang para mapalapitanggobyernosamgaPilipino,lalo nasamganangangailanganngserbisyong medikal.Sapamamagitanng Super Health Center, magiging accessible sa inyong komunidadangprimary care, free consultation at early detection ngsakitparamaiwasang lumubha pa ito,” he continued.

Go, an adopted son of Calabarzon with familial roots in Batangas and Davao, also continues to support the construction of more SHCs in the province. Under the 2022 national budget, SHCs in the province were funded in San Pascual, Agoncillo, Calatagan, Lipa City, Malvar and Taysan, aside from the one in Ibaan.

In 2023, more centers were identified to be established in the towns of San Juan, Tingloy, Lian and San Jose. In addition, two more SHCs were funded in Lipa City.

These centers will offer database management, out-patient, birthing, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: x-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy and ambulatory surgical unit. Other available services are eye, ear, nose and throat (EENT) service; oncology centers; physical therapy and rehabilitation center; and telemedicine, which makes remote diagnosis and treatment of patients possible.

Enough funds have been allocated to build 307 SHCs in 2022 and 322 in 2023.

The DOH, which is the lead agency in implementing the program, identifies the

Ex-EMB chief: ECCs for Manila Bay reclamation projects legal

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

THE Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECCs) for land reclamation projects granted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are above board and proponents of the projects have complied with the provisions of the environmental impact system (EIS) law, a former Director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) said.

William P. Cuñado, who resigned in March, told the BusinessMirror that land reclamation projects went through a tedious process. As the former Director of the EMB, it is within his authority to grant the ECCs sought by project proponents.

“If I will not approve these ECCs, then who will?” Cuñado told the BusinessMirror.

Cuñado took his oath before then-DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu on January 26, 2021.

He joined the EMB Central Office in 2019.

During his stint as EMB Director, eight ECCs for land reclamation projects were issued, including four in the Cavite area and four in the NCR. However, the projects are not yet being implemented at the time of Marcos’s suspension order early this month.

None of the three ongoing projects were issued during his term as they were issued

before his term as EMB director.

“They [ECC applicants] complied with the requirements. That’s why the ECCs were granted,” Cuñado said.

Under investigation

DURING the budget hearing for the proposed 2024 budget of the DENR, Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said the agency will look into irregularities in the issuance of ECCs for reclamation projects in Manila Bay.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the investigation will examine how ECCs for land reclamation projects in Manila Bay were processed and to know “if there were misdeeds or any kind of infraction in terms of the rules.”

She added that the investigation will also look into possible sanctions. Nonetheless, the DENR chief later admitted that an ECC is not a permit, but merely a planning tool. That may be changed at any point when a correction is made and issues need to be addressed, Yulo-Loyzaga explained during the hearing conducted by the House Committee on Appropriations early this month.

Suspension order

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the suspension of all land reclamation projects in Manila Bay due to

strategic locations for the construction of these centers.

Go also emphasized the importance of strengthening the nation’s healthcare system, highlighting the lessons learned from the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Napagtanto natin sa mga pagsubok na dala ng pandemyang Covid-19 ang kahalagahan ng malakas at handang healthcare system. Kailangannatingituloy ang paglalagay ng pondo sa ating healthcare infrastructure upangmasiguronamay access ang bawat Pilipino sa dekalidad na serbisyong pangkalusugan,” he asserted.

The SHC in Lian, Batangas, is just one of many initiatives spearheaded by Go to improve healthcare accessibility in the country as he also remains supportive of the continued operations of Malasakit Centers and the establishment of regional specialty centers nationwide.

Go also offered to help those with medical concerns. The senator encouraged the public to visit Batangas Provincial Hospital

alleged environmental violations.

The projects will remain suspended pending a cumulative impact assessment to be conducted by the DENR to address various environmental issues raised on land reclamation.

The DENR is still pooling experts from various fields to conduct the cumulative assessment of the impact of land reclamation.

SC mandamus

ONE of 13 government agencies mandated by the Supreme Court (SC) in 2008 to bring back the waters of Manila Bay to its pristine state, the DENR has recently reported that water quality in Manila Bay has improved significantly since the agency launched an ambitious rehabilitation program in 2019.

The DENR launched a massive crackdown against erring business establishments that dump untreated wastewater to Manila Bay and constructed sewage treatment plants (STPs) along Roxas Boulevard.

The DENR also implemented its own beach nourishment project and created the Boracay-like white sand beach now popularly known as “Dolomite Beach.”

The SC continuing mandamus specifically orders the rehabilitation to make the waters fit for swimming and other recreational activities in compliance with water quality standards.

Water quality

EARLY this year, the DENR reported that water quality in Manila Bay, particularly in the National Capital Region (NCR) continues to improve.

As of October 2022, the fecal coliform level in the NCR area went down to 51,300 most probable number per 100 milliliters (MPN/100mL) from a high of 126,000 MPN/100mL in 2019.

The Manila Bay Coordinating Office (MBCO), which monitors the water quality in Manila Bay, also reported that other parts of Manila Bay also experienced notable drops in coliform levels.

The levels in Region IV-A’s bathing beaches has dropped to 643 MPN/100mL from 3,040 MPN/100mL. In Region III, the coliform level fell to 1,243 MPN/100mL from 5,099 MPN/100mL.

The coliform level in the Manila Baywalk area has significantly decreased to 658,000 MPN/100mL from a high of 5.75 million MPN/100mL, the report also stated.

LAWYER Raymond Fortun, acting as a concerned citizen, has filed a case with the Quezon City (QC) People’s Law Enforcement Board (PLEB) against the personnel of the QC Police District Traffic Sector 4 (QCPD-TS4) of Kamuning in relation to the viral gun-toting incident that happened last August 8.

According to a statement he issued over the weekend, Fortun said he filed charges against Police Staff Sergeant (PSSg) Darwin B. Peralta, PSSg Joel Y. Aviso and Police Executive Master Sergeant Armando M. Carr, all from the QCPD TS-4 of Kamuning. Fortun’s lawsuit charged the three with oppression, irregularities in the performance of duties and incompetence, under Rule 21 of National Police Commission (Napolcom) Memorandum Circular 2016-002.

move was lauded by QC Mayor Maria Josefina “Joy” G. Belmonte.

“What we need now are little acts of heroism from ordinary Filipinos to stand up for what is right to exact accountability from those in power,” Belmonte was quoted in the statement as saying. “This move of Atty. Fortun in filing a case with our PLEB is a vote of confidence that here in Quezon City, we will get things done.”

The mayor added that “the proper process in the proper forum, which is the PLEB, will now take its course.”

Belmonte referred to the incident as highlighting “the need to institutionalize the presence of PLEB in other cities and municipalities to hear and decide the complaints filed against erring policemen.”

in Lemery and Batangas Medical Center in Batangas City where there are Malasakit Centers ready to assist with their medicalrelated expenses.

The Malasakit Centers Act of 2019 was institutionalized under Republic Act (RA) 11463, which Go principally authored and sponsored in the Senate. The Act aims to provide convenient assistance to indigent patients and help them with their hospital bills and other health-related expenses.

To date, there are 158 Malasakit Centers nationwide.

Go also proudly cited the enactment of RA 11959, also known as the Regional Specialty Centers (RSC) Act. He played a pivotal role in principally sponsoring and authoring this legislation in the Senate, which was recently signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on August 24.

The RSC Act mandates the establishment of specialized healthcare centers within the existing DOH regional hospitals.

On the same day, the SHC in Calatagan was inaugurated.

“It appears that the cyclist and expoliceman Wilfredo Gonzales were first brought to the QCPD Kamuning Police Station 11, since this was first considered a mere traffic incident by the first responders of QCPD Galas Police Station,” the statement read. “Eventually, no charges were filed in Kamuning, and the parties were instead referred to the Galas Police Station late in the evening.”

“Despite the clear and imbalanced status of the parties, the same police officers failed to protect the rights of the cyclist when they failed to provide a legal counsel for him so that the latter would be duly appraised of his rights. Further, they failed to secure the CCTV footages in the area in order to ferret out the real facts in the conflicting statements made by the parties,” Fortun was quoted in the statement as saying. “Finally, and for reasons known only to them, and despite there being sufficient basis to do so, the same police officers failed to file the appropriate charges.”

According to the statement, Fortun’s

She expressed confidence that the case filed in the PLEB “will be handled without fear or favor.”

Meanwhile, PLEB Chairman and Executive Officer Atty. Rafael Vicente R. Calinisan said institutions like the PLEB “are in place so that the community will feel safe and secure in their homes.”

“We commit to serve as an effective watchdog against abusive cops, and at the same time serve as partners to our men in uniform towards nation-building,” Calinisan was quoted in the statement as saying.

The lawyer also promised to act on the case filed by Fortun “with absolute dispatch.”

The PLEB is the check and balance mechanism created by Republic Act (RA) 6975 (An Act Establishing the PNP Under A Reorganized Department of the Interior and Local Government and For Other Purposes as amended by RA 8551, or The PNP Reform and Reorganization Act of 1998) where ordinary citizens are empowered against erring policemen.

The PLEB can summarily dismiss, demote, suspend and reprimand abusive policemen.

BI warns OFWs on perils of 3rd-country recruitment scheme

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on the perils of third-country recruitment scheme following the deportation to the country of five OFWs.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman G. Tansingco lamented that third-country recruitment for OFWs remains prevalent, while admitting that the practice is beyond its control.

Tansingco said third-country recruitment means legitimate OFWs are recruited to be transported to another country, normally after their visas expire.

“The recruitment would mean that the OFW would not return to the Philippines upon expiry of his contract, and would instead

AN archaeologist shows artifacts found in several Lanao del Sur municipalities that experts said provides evidence of a trade between the Chinese and the early Maranaos during the preIslamic period. Photo courtesy of the Lanao del Sur office of the Bangsamoro for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage.

directly transfer to a third country,” he said. He said the danger of OFWs availing of third-country recruitment is that the Philippine government would not have records of them being transferred to a different country.

“While third-party recruitment is beyond the scope of the BI, we deem it necessary to share to the public stories we encounter at the airport, as we are the first to hear about this back in the Philippines,”Tansingco pointed out.

Tansingco cited the case of five deported passengers from Moscow, Russia who arrived last September 1 on board an Oman Air flight.

The deportees, composed of four females and one male and all in their 30s and 40s,

Discovery of old Chinese jar prompts town’s first archaeological survey

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox

DAVAO CITY—Archaeologists conducted a 6-day “surface exploration” and mapping of eight municipalities of Lanao del Sur where an old Chinese jar was found in one of the validation activities of the historical significance of the area.

The surface exploration would be the first archaeological survey to unearth Lanao del Sur’s historical narratives, the Lanao del Sur office of the Bangsamoro for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH) said. There was no immediate report of what transcribed in the August 21-26 survey. An online post from the BCPCH said a report would be compiled “detailing the findings of the survey and recommendations which will help shape heritage conservation and tourism strategies in the province.”

The survey by the BCPCH-LDS was

collaborated with the Provincial Tourism Office and the University of the Philippines School of Archaeology. There were also representatives from Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, the Mindanao State University-Marawi Campus and the BCPCH Maguindanao Provincial Office.

“This cooperative effort between various institutions exemplified the importance of safeguarding cultural heritage while also harnessing its potential for tourism,” the BCPCH-LDS Office said in its online post.

It said the first-ever archaeological survey of Lanao del Sur “underscores the power of partnership, the value of cultural preservation, and the quest for knowledge.”

“As the region embraces heritage tourism, this journey bridges past and present, ensuring that the stories of those who came before continue to inspire and enrich the lives of generations to come, both from within and beyond the province’s borders,” the post said.

shared the difficulties they encountered in Russia, according to the BI chief. Based on the report the male deportee left as a tourist to visit his OFW wife in Russia, but overstayed in the country due to the pandemic while the four Filipino womens left as OFWs with valid overseas employment certificates. Three of the female victims were OFWs in Hong Kong and were recruited to transfer to Russia upon expiry of their contracts. The other female victim worked as a nanny in Russia, but remained despite the expiry of her contract.

“OFWs should protect themselves from exploitation by ensuring proper documentation when they work abroad,” he added.

Joel R. San Juan

Ruh Javier Alonto, consultant of BCPCH for Bangsamoro History, disclosed that the archaeological initiative was prompted by the discovery of a Chinese jar during a historical site validation in one of the municipalities of Lanao del Sur last year.

“It started last year during a historical site validation by a team of BCPCH-Lanao del Sur. In one of the municipalities of Lanao del Sur, they were able to discover a vase. It’s a jar: a Chinese jar,” Alonto said. He said more than 200 artifacts, including trade ware and earthenware, were also uncovered during the survey, “bringing light to the idea of the existence of a trade between the Chinese and the early Maranaos during the pre-Islamic period.”

The discovery of the Chinese jar necessitated “calling forth the dispatch of a team to carry out a surface archaeological survey by the BCPCH-LDS to uncover antique remnants and discover the rich cultural heritage of the province.”

“It is necessary to survey Lanao del Sur. Considering that our development is rapid, as in super rapid. We have a lot of infrastructure development and growth of municipalities. So, we need to have initial data on what are our potential archaeological sites,” he said.

“We are trying to assert our separate timeline for the country. These archaeological findings, especially if we can conduct excavation by next year, will definitely support our assertion that prior to colonialism, prior to Islam, we already have settlements that are occupied around the lake,” Alonto said.

• Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

‘Find long-term solutions for PHL rice dilemma’

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

THE decision of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to impose a price ceiling on rice is welcome, but his administration must put in place long-term solutions to ensure that the staple will remain affordable, Senator Grace Poe said over the weekend.

“The imposition of the price ceiling should assure our people that rice remains accessible,” Poe said on Sunday, but added: “In the long run, solutions must be in place to keep the supply and prices steady, and bring growth to the agriculture sector, especially to our farmers.”

Authorities, she said, must address the “unhampered smuggling and hoarding that continue to undermine efforts to improve farmers’ productivity, modernize our agriculture and reduce the retail price of the staple.”

She also said the Department of Agriculture (DA) must see to it that the benefits of the Rice Tariffication Law will trickle down to the farmers and enable them to become competitive.

“We trust these issues are in the priorities, especially with the President sitting at the helm of the [department].”

On Friday, Marcos imposed a nationwide cap on rice prices to ensure the food staple will remain affordable amid reports of widespread price manipulation and hoarding.

Citing the provision of Republic Act 7581 or the Price Act, the Chief Executive issued Executive Order (EO) 39 on Thursday imposing the following mandated price ceiling: P41.00 per kilogram for regular milled rice (RMR) and P45 per kg for well-milled rice (WMR).

The mandated price ceilings will remain in effect unless earlier lifted by the President upon recommendation of the Price Coordinating Council or the Department of

Villar vows to protect coco sector and help farmers boost output

ASSURING restive coconut industry stakeholders of its long-term sustainability, Senator Cynthia Villar cited continuing efforts to “keep improving, protecting and expanding the coconut industry without letup.”

Villar, presiding as chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, assured stakeholders that the panel is closely assessing the situation to promptly craft remedial legislation, if needed.

“We are aware that our work doesn’t stop here as we continually monitor the implementation of relevant laws [in the industry].”

Addressing delegates at the opening rites of 3rd World Coconut Congress 2023 with the theme “Sustain the Source,” the senator said she pursued the passage of Republic Act 11524 or “The Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act” which was enacted into law in 2021, as it was in line with her advocacy to lift the coconut industry.

“This law aims to consolidate the benefits due to coconut farmers, especially the poor and marginalized, under various statutes and to expedite the delivery thereof to attain increased income for coconut farmers, alleviate poverty and achieve social equality.”

The law mandated a Farmers and Industry Development Plan (CFIDP) that will “set the directions and policies for the development and rehabilitation of the coconut industry within 50 years.”

Despite the continued boom of exports, she said the coconut industry still confronts challenges.

The senator cited, among others, the identified problems on the vulnerability of the product to world price fluctuations, low farm productivity, recurring infestations, and the effects of climate change.

Villar exhorted all stakeholders to work together to tackle the issues and make initiatives to safeguard the coconut industry.

“We are set with a thrust to strengthen the value chain for domestic and international markets, develop talent and skilled workforce, attract more sustainable and inclusive investment development opportunities, and advance towards sustainable agricultural practices.”

Held at World Trade Center in Pasay City the Coconut Congress event was attended by a diverse group of delegates with different expertise from many countries, but organizers assured they were united by the same aspiration, towards sharing knowledge and exploring opportunities in the coconut industry.

Manila is implementing a program that aims to boost the productivity of the local coconut sector to reduce the Philippines’s copra imports.

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said the country is currently importing copra from Papua New Guinea to augment domestic supply, which has been reduced due to the low productivity of trees.

“The current average yield of 44 coconuts per tree each year could rise to 80 to 100 through the use of hybrid varieties,” PCA Administrator and CEO Bernie Cruz.

Butch Fernandez

Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the price ceiling for imported rice will be based on the Bureau of Custom’s reference price.

Marcos issued EO 39 after the DA and DTI received reports of alleged rampant practice of price manipulation through hoarding by opportunistic traders and collusion among industry cartels amid the lean season, international

developments that affect prices of basic goods such the RussiaUkraine conflict, India’s ban on rice exportation, and unpredictable price of oil.

‘Band-aid solution’

HOUSE Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro criticized the implementation of the price ceiling on rice, stating that it is a temporary solution to the larger problem of

rice affordability in the country.

Castro said there is a need for “a more comprehensive approach” to address the issue.

“The release of EO 39 by Malacañang is a clear indication that inflation is expected to rise this month due to the exorbitant prices of rice and other commodities. The government allowed the price of rice to skyrocket to P50 to P60 and even more per kilo before imposing the price ceiling, which is already within its mandate.”

Castro said the current price of rice can still be lowered further than the set price of P41 and P45 per kilo for regular milled rice and well-milled rice, respectively.

She noted the rule of thumb used by farmers under the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in determining the price of rice, which takes into account the median price of palay purchased by rice traders as well as expenses for drying, milling, hauling, transportation, and other costs.

Following this rule, Castro said the price of rice should only range from P30 to P37.40 per kilo, allowing traders and retailers to earn a profit.

Castro said the government must take “sincere steps” in dismantling the rice cartel, composed of opportunistic importers, traders, and businessmen with connections to the DA who manipulate the supply and price of rice in the local market.

“We urge the repeal of RA 11203, or the Rice Liberalization Law, and the restoration of the National Food Authority’s mandate to directly procure a significant volume of palay from Filipino farmers. Strengthening local production, rather than relying on imports, is the solution,” Castro said. “There is an urgent need for a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the rice problem in our country. We must prioritize the welfare of our farmers and the accessibility of affordable rice for every Filipino.”

Startups help close digital divide in rural areas–IFAD

THE International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) of the United Nations said 12 startups in Latin America and the Caribbean developed agricultural (agtech) and financial (fintech) solutions that benefited nearly 21,000 households in the rural areas.

IFAD said the startups developed various solutions to strengthen access to financial and agrotechnological services for small-scale producers in rural areas of six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Haiti.

Innovatech, the innovative project financed by IFAD and implemented by the German financial entity Sparkassenstiftung, is setting a precedent in Latin America, by achieving a successful link between technology startups— fintech and agtech companies—and the rural sector. In this way, it seeks to transform the way in which finances, production and marketing are managed in the agricultural sector.

“Innovatech emerges as a pioneering initiative whose main objective is to facilitate access to cutting-edge financial and technological services for small agricultural producers. This unprecedented collaboration is opening up new opportunities for the Latin American field,” Enrique Hennings, head of IFAD’s Multi-Country Office for Mesoamerica, the Caribbean and Mexico, said in a statement.

IFAD said Innovatech has “exceeded all expectations.” The goal was to reach 9,000 households, but the initiative benefited nearly 21,000 households in one year, 131 percent more than initially expected.

In addition, IFAD said 9,400 women, 6,500 young people and more than 10,000 people from indigenous peoples have benefited, thanks to collaborations with 382 productive organizations. The data shows that fintech and agtech solutions solve the specific needs of the rural sector in a novel way.

“The union of technology startups and

small agricultural producers is driving significant change in the field, generating a positive impact on economic development, financial inclusion and sustainability in rural communities,” said Christina Olsen, Director of the Innovatech Project.

IFAD said the success of this implementation was based on strategic collaboration with productive organizations, as well as a mentoring program and exchange of experiences that allowed startups to adapt their solutions and business models, according to the particular requirements of rural areas.

With a donation of $2.2 million, the UN agency said Innovatech contributes through 12 startups to the renewal of the rural sector, promoting fintech and agtech solutions to strengthen access to financial services, efficiency in agricultural management, decision-making informed, sustainability and productivity improvement.

This synergy makes it easier for small and small farmers to use innovative financial tools and technological solutions that were previously not within their reach, reducing the digital divide from different approaches, promoting:

n Access to markets and electronic commerce: through online platforms, mobile applications and satellite buying and selling technology, organizations have boosted the marketing of their products, eliminating intermediaries, achieving fairer prices and increasing their customer base. This has been achieved in Honduras with Sube Latinoamérica, Guatemala with sombraCo, Haiti with MACHE de Mannitòks and Mexico with Nilus.

n Financial management and access to financial services: the digital solutions developed, such as mobile banking applications and fintech tools, provide greater and better access to banking services—in some cases for the first time—to increase their production:

Rice market shows strain after India’s 6-week campaign of curbs

IN about six weeks, India has rattled the rice market. The world’s top shipper has placed restrictions on all of its exports, panicking governments from Asia to West Africa. Other big growers have tried to reassure consumers that rice supply is ample, but it’s done little to calm the market.

Rice prices in Asia jumped back near the highest level in almost 15 years on Wednesday after India slapped more curbs on parboiled and basmati over the previous weekend. They were the last remaining varieties free from export restrictions, bringing to a head a recent campaign of tightening that started with a July 20 ban on the shipment of some grains.

“Spikes in rice prices always hurt poor consumers the most,” said Peter Timmer, Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, who’s studied food security for decades. “The most pressing concern right now is whether Thailand and Vietnam follow India and put significant controls on their rice exports. If

that happens, we will see world rice prices zoom past $1,000.”

The anxiety over supply is understandable. Rice is vital to the diets of billions and contributes as much as 60 percent of the total calorie intake for people in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. The benchmark price is currently at $646 a ton and weather could shake up the market even further.

The onset of El Niño this year threatens to parch many key growing regions across Asia, with Thailand already warning of drought conditions in early 2024. The crop in China, the world’s biggest producer and importer, appears to have escaped poor weather so far, but India’s major growing areas need more rain.

India’s measures boil down to politics. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing an election early next year and high food prices can make voters very unforgiving at the polls. The curbs have had some impact. The cost of rice in the capital New Delhi

was still higher than a year ago as of August 31, but since the export ban in July, prices have held steady at 39 rupees (47 cents) a kilogram. Across the nation, they’ve inched up slightly. However, India’s restrictions are reverberating across other countries.

The Philippines was forced last week to place a cap on rice prices across the country due to an “alarming” increase in retail costs and reports of hoarding by traders. The nation is the world’s second-biggest importer of the grain.

Other worried nations are opting for the diplomatic route.

Guinea has sent its trade minister to India, while Singapore, Mauritius and Bhutan have requested that New Delhi exempt them from curbs on the grounds of food security—a provision the South Asian nation added when banning one variety. The restrictions have also provided an opportunity for Thailand. The world’s second-biggest shipper has been on a roadshow in recent weeks, with its

trade officials making trips to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan. If you want rice, we have it, was the message.

Vietnam is offering some support to the market, saying last month that the nation is likely to exceed its export target for the year, a feat it could achieve without jeopardizing its own food security. Volumes to Indonesia have soared over the first seven months of this year, while shipments to China are also higher, customs data show. However, Myanmar’s ambitions wavered recently. The nation’s rice federation suggested a temporary halt to shipments to cool rising domestic prices, a proposal that was knocked back by the government. The federation had only recently said it could ship more.

The Thai Rice Exporters Association is expected to update its white rice 5 percent broken price following its weekly meeting on Wednesday, and investors will be watching the Asian benchmark to see if calm, or concern, is trending. Bloomberg News

Honduras with Agrodigital, Guatemala with Imix, Haiti with Haitipay and El Salvador with Alfi.

n Education and training: Farmers now have access to financial education and critical information—such as good agricultural practices, weather updates, pest control, natural resource management and more—thanks to online educational resources tailored to their needs: El Salvador with Extensio and Alfi.

n Better record of information and

access to tools for production: through different digital applications, there is a better record of operations, expenses, sales, performance and control, as well as simplified access to inputs and machinery: Bolivia with your Manager, Hello Tractor and Mexico with Verqor.

“This alliance is a clear example of how technology and innovation can make a difference in the lives of people who are small agricultural producers, providing them with tools that were not within their reach before,” IFAD said.

A FARMER in Central Luzon plants rice in this BusinessMirror file photo.

The World

Russia says it thwarted Ukraine’s drone attacks on bridge in Crimea

By Susie Blann | The Associated Press

said Saturday its forces destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to the Moscowannexed Crimean Peninsula, forcing its temporary closure for a third time in less than a year.

One naval drone was destroyed late Friday and two others early Saturday morning, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

The Kerch Bridge, which is a key supply route for Kremlin forces in Russia’s war with Ukraine, has come under repeated attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

An explosion in October, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, left three people dead. A further attack on the bridge in July, killing a couple and seriously wounding their daughter, left a span of the roadway hanging perilously.

The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as a key artery for military and civilian supplies and as an assertion of Kremlin control of the peninsula it annexed in 2014.

On Saturday afternoon, one civilian was killed and two wounded during shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Two Ukrainian drones attacked the region’s Valuysky district, causing mi-

nor damage to a private home and car, while another drone was intercepted by Russian air defense in the Grayvoronsky district.

A woman was also wounded Saturday during shelling of a village in the neighboring Kursk region, also bordering Ukraine, regional Gov. Roman Starovoit said. He blamed Ukraine for the shelling. Ukrainian authorities, which generally avoid commenting on attacks on Russian soil, didn’t say whether they launched the attacks. Drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions are a regular occurrence.

Meanwhile, four people were wounded in the Ukrainian shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Moscow-installed mayor Aleksei Kulemzin said Saturday. Donetsk is the regional capital of the eastern Ukrainian province of the same name, which was among the four Ukrainian provinces illegally annexed by Russia in September. The city came under the control of Russia-backed separatists in 2014.

The Ukrainian military said in a regular update Saturday that over

the previous 24 hours, Russia had launched four missile strikes and 39 airstrikes, in addition to 42 attacks from multiple rocket launchers.

One person was killed and two were wounded during shelling of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Saturday, according to Gov. Oleh Prokudin. Farther north, a 32-yearold police investigator was killed and two other people were wounded when shells hit the town of Seredyna-Buda in the northeastern Sumy region.

Four people were wounded during artillery shelling and drone attacks in the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to regional Gov. Serhii Lysak. Elsewhere in the province, Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said the anti-aircraft defense in the central Ukrainian city, which is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, had successfully thwarted a strike, without specifying the nature of the attack.

A missile hit an apartment on the first floor of a multistory building in the eastern city of Kramatorsk but there were no casual-

Nobel withdraws invitation to Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend ceremonies

ties, Donetsk regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

U.K. military officials said Saturday that Russia risks splitting its forces in an attempt to prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough in Ukraine’s south. According to British intelligence, Ukrainian forces continued to take offensive action on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine, with units reaching the first Russian main defensive line.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian forces were “on the move,” after Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar announced Friday that Kyiv’s troops were advancing in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks next week, the Kremlin announced Friday, just over six weeks after Moscow broke off a deal brokered by Ankara and the U.N. that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets safely despite the 18-month war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Erdogan would meet Monday in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Pope joins shamans, monks and evangelicals to highlight Mongolia’s faith diversity, harmony

By Nicole Winfield & Saruul Enkhbold

The Associated Press

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia—

With China’s crackdown on religious minorities as a backdrop, Pope Francis joined Mongolian shamans, Buddhist monks and a Russian Orthodox priest Sunday to highlight the role that religions can play in forging world peace, as he presided over an interfaith meeting highlighting Mongolia’s tradition of religious tolerance.

Francis listened intently as a dozen faith leaders — Jewish, Muslim, Bahai, Hindu, Shinto and evangelical Christian among them — described their beliefs and their relationship with heaven. Several said the traditional Mongolian ger, or round-shaped yurt, was a potent symbol of harmony with the divine — a warm place of family unity, open to the heavens, where strangers are welcome.

“The fact that we are meeting together in one place already sends a message: it shows that the religious traditions, for all their distinctiveness and diversity, have impressive potential for the benefit of society as a whole,” Francis said in remarks that cited Buddhist writings, his namesake St. Francis of Assisi and the existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

“If the leaders of nations were to choose the path of encounter and dialogue with others, it would be a decisive contribution to ending the conflicts continuing to afflict so many of the world’s peoples,” he said.

The interfaith event, held at a theater in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, came midway through Francis’ four-day visit to Mongolia, the first by a pope. He is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world’s smallest and newest Catholic communities and highlight Mongolia’s tradition of tolerance in a region where the Holy See’s relations with neighboring China and Russia are often strained.

According to statistics by the Catholic nonprofit group Aid to the Church in Need, Mongolia is 53% Buddhist, 39% atheist, 3% Muslim, 3% Shaman and 2% Christian.

Later Sunday, Francis was to preside over a Mass in the capital’s sports stadium that the Vatican had said would also be attended by pilgrims from China. One small group of Chinese faithful from Xinjiang attended his meeting at the city’s cathedral

Saturday. They held up a Chinese flag and chanted, “All Chinese love you” as his car drove by.

“We have always been looking forward to it. We really hope that gradually our government and leaders will accept him and invite him to visit our country,” said Yan Zhiyong, a Chinese Catholic businessman in Mongolia who attended the event.

“That would be the most joyful thing for us.”

The Vatican’s difficult relations with China and Beijing’s crackdown on religious minorities have been a constant backdrop to the trip, even as the Vatican hopes to focus attention instead on Mongolia and its 1,450 Catholics. No mainland Chinese bishops are believed to have been allowed to travel to Mongolia, whereas at least two dozen bishops from other countries across Asia have

accompanied pilgrims for the events.

Hong Kong Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow, who made a historic visit to Beijing earlier this year, was on hand and accompanied 40 pilgrims to Mongolia, saying it was an event highlighting the reach of the universal church. He declined to discuss the absence of his mainland Chinese counterparts, focusing instead on Francis and the importance of his visit to Mongolia for the Asian church.

“I think the Asian church is also a growing church. Not as fast as Africa—Africa is growing fast—but the Asian church also has a very important role to play now in the universal church,” he told reporters.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded that Catholicism and all other religions adhere strictly to party directives and undergo “Sinicization” in the vast Xinjiang region, which has led to the demolition of an unknown number of mosques, but in most cases it has meant the removal of domes, minarets and exterior crosses from churches.

The Vatican and China did sign an accord in 2018 over the thorny issue of Catholic bishop nominations, but Beijing has violated it.

Most Mongolians follow the dominant Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and revere its leader, the Dalai Lama. As a result, many Mongolians are concerned with the Chinese Communist Party’s opposition to the exiled Tibetan leader and its heavy-handed control over monastic life and what appears to be a concerted effort to gradually eliminate Tibetan culture.

STOCKHOLM—The Nobel Foundation on Saturday withdrew its invitation for representatives of Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies after the decision announced a day earlier “provoked strong reactions.”

Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries to attend, saying it “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone.”

Some of the lawmakers cited Russia’s war on Ukraine and the crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott. Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Friday called on the Swedish Nobel Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Committee not to invite representatives of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s “illegitimate regime to any events.”

On Saturday, she welcomed the Nobel Foundation’s decision. She told The Associated Press that it was “a clear sign of solidarity with the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples.”

“This is how you show your commitment to the principles and values of Nobel,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko called the decision a “victory for humanism.”

“Thank you to everyone who demanded that justice be restored,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that “a similar decision” should be made regarding the attendance of Russian and Belarusian ambassadors at celebrations taking place in Norway following the ceremony in Sweden.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kris-

tersson, who said Friday he wouldn’t have allowed the three countries to participate in the award ceremonies, was also happy with the decision. He posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the many and strong reactions show that the whole of Sweden unambiguously stand on Ukraine’s side against Russia’s appalling war of aggression.”

The foundation said Saturday it recognized “the strong reactions in Sweden, which completely overshadowed this message” and therefore it had decided not to invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the ceremony in Stockholm where the prizes in Sciences and Literatures are awarded.

However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize said it would follow its usual practice and invite all ambassadors to the ceremony in the Norwegian capital of Oslo where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.

“The Committee wishes the government authorities in every country officially represented in Norway to have the opportunity to take part in the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony and to familiarize themselves with the Nobel Peace Prize laureates’ important message,” the Committee said to the AP in a statement.

“This applies not least to countries with an authoritarian regime which wage war against other countries or against their own population, and which our Peace Prize laureates oppose.”

Saturday’s announcement was widely praised in Sweden by politicians. Even the Swedish Royal House reacted with spokeswoman Margareta Thorgren saying, as quoted by newspaper Aftonbladet, that “we see the change in the decision as positive.” She added that King Carl XVI Gustaf was planning to hand out this year’s Nobel awards at ceremonies in Stockholm “as before.” AP

Thailand’s king approves new Cabinet 3 months after polls

BANGKOK—Thailand’s king has formally endorsed members of a new Cabinet, paving the way for a government headed by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin to take office more than three months after the general election.

Srettha, representing the Pheu Thai party, was named prime minister by Parliament on Aug. 22. A prominent real estate developer until officially entering politics last year, he will also hold the finance minister’s post.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn issued his royal approval on Friday.

The delay in forming a new government was caused by Parliament’s failure to endorse a coalition formed by the party that won the most seats in the May polls, the Move Forward party. It could not win a majority in a combined vote of the House of Representatives and the Senate because its progressive platform alienated

members of the conservative Senate, who singled out its support for minor reforms to the monarchy as the reason for rejecting it.

The Pheu Thai Party, which placed second in the election, then formed a broader coalition without Move Forward and was able to win Senate support. But it succeeded only by including pro-military parties from the last government to join its coalition, reneging on a promise during its election campaign.

Pheu Thai is backed by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in 2006. Thaksin, a billionaire populist, fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid prison on charges he said were politically motivated, but returned to Thailand on Aug. 22 to serve an eight-year prison term.

It was announced Friday that the king has commuted his sentence to one year. AP

KYIV, Ukraine—Russia

A Ukr AiniAn soldier passes by a burning house after the russian shelling close to the front line in Seversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine on Friday, September 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Libkos)

rector of the only or thodox church in Mongolia, Father Antony Gusev, left, addresses Pope Francis, right, during a meeting with religious leaders at the Hun theatre in the Sky resort compound some 15 kilometers south of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. Pope Francis has praised Mongolia’s tradition of religious freedom dating to the times of founder Genghis khan during the first-ever papal visit to the Asian nation. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

As Africa opens a climate summit, poor weather forecasting keeps the continent underprepared

By Cara Anna | The Associated Press

Nations-created trust fund, the Systematic Observations Financing Facility. An older funding mechanism with many of the same partners, Climate Risk & Early Warning Systems, has supported modernizing meteorological systems in a half-dozen West and Central African countries.

And it’s not just forecasting. As climate shocks such as Somalia’s worst drought in decades become more common, better recording of weather data is a critical need for decision-making.

The first Africa Climate Summit opens Monday in Kenya to highlight the continent that will suffer the most from climate change while contributing to it the least. Significant investment in Africa’s adaptation to climate change, including better forecasting, will be an urgent goal. At the heart of every issue on the agenda, from energy to agriculture, is the lack of data collection that drives decisions as crucial as when to plant — and when to flee.

The African continent is larger than China, India and the United States combined. And yet Africa has just 37 radar facilities for tracking weather, an essential tool along with satellite data and surface monitoring, according to a World Meteorological Organization database. Europe has 345 radar facilities. North America, 291.

“The continent, at large, is in a climate risk blind spot,” said Asaf Tzachor, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge. In August, he and colleagues warned in a commentary for the journal Nature that climate change will cost Africa more than $50 billion every year by 2050. By then, Africa’s population is expected to double.

The widespread inability to track and forecast the weather affects key development choices, their commentary said: “There is no point investing in smallholder farms, for example, if floods are simply going to wash them away.”

By Ashok Sharma

The Associated Press

NEW DELHI — India’s moon rover has completed its walk on the lunar surface and been put into sleep mode less than two weeks after its historic landing near the lunar south pole, India’s space mission said.

“The rover completes its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into sleep mode,” with daylight on that part of the moon coming to an end, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement late Saturday.

The rover’s payloads are turned off and the data it collected has been transmitted to the Earth via the lander, the statement said.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover were expected to operate only for one lunar day, which is equal to 14 days on Earth.

“Currently, the battery is fully charged. The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments!” the statement said.

There was no word on the outcome of the rover searches for signs of frozen water on the lunar surface that could help future astronaut mis-

Kenya, the host of the climate summit, is one of the few countries in Africa seen as having a relatively well-developed weather service, along with South Africa and Morocco. Kenya has allocated about $12 million this year for its meteorological service, according to the national treasury. In contrast, the U.S. National Weather Service budget request for fiscal year 2023 was $1.3 billion.

The vast expanse of the 54-nation African continent is relatively unserved and unwarned.

“Despite covering a fifth of the world’s total land area, Africa has the least developed land-based observation network of all continents, and one that is in a deteriorating state,” the WMO said in 2019.

And because of a lack of funding, the number of observations by atmospheric devices usually used with weather balloons decreased by as much as 50% over Africa between 2015 and 2020, a “particularly serious issue,” the WMO said in a report last year.

Fewer than 20% of sub-Saharan African countries provide reliable weather services, the report said.

“Weather stations are so far apart that their data cannot be extrapolated to the local level due to the varying terrain and altitude.”

Now, 13 of the most data-sparse African countries, including Ethiopia, Madagascar and Congo, are getting money to improve weather data collection and sharing from a United

“For many people in the West, accurate weather forecasts often make lives more convenient: ‘Shall I take an umbrella along?’ In Africa, where many people depend on rain-fed agriculture, that is all a bit sharper,” said Nick van de Giesen, a professor of water resources management at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. “With a changing climate, traditional methods to determine, say, the onset of the rainy season are becoming less reliable. So farmers regularly sow after a few rains, after which rains may fail and seeds will not germinate.”

That can be devastating during the current global food security crisis.

Van de Giesen is the co-director of the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory, a project that has helped to set up about 650 lowcost local weather monitoring stations in collaboration with schools and other entities across 20 African countries. Not all of those surface monitoring stations are operational because of issues including threats by extremist groups that limit access for maintenance in areas such as Lake Chad.

“To be clear, TAHMO can never be a replacement of efficient and effective national weather services,” van de Giesen said, adding that many African governments still don’t have the needed resources or funding.

In countries like Somalia and Mozambique, with some of the continent’s longest and most vulnerable coastlines, the lack of effective weather monitoring and early warning systems have contributed to thousands of deaths in disasters

such as tropical storms and flooding.

After Cyclone Idai ripped into central Mozambique in 2019, residents told The Associated Press they had received little or no warning from authorities. More than 1,000

people were killed, some swept away by floodwaters as loved ones clung to trees.

Cyclone Idai was the costliest disaster in Africa, at $1.9 billion, in the period from 1970 to 2019, ac-

cording to a WMO report on weather extremes and their economic and personal tolls.

The lack of weather data in much of Africa also complicates efforts to link certain natural disasters to climate change.

Earlier this year, a collection of climate researchers known as World Weather Attribution said in a report that limited data made it impossible to “confidently evaluate” the role of climate change in flooding that killed hundreds of people in Congo and Rwanda around Lake Kivu in May.

“We urgently need robust climate data and research in this highly vulnerable region,” their report said.

Last year, the researchers expressed similar frustration in a study of erratic rainfall and hunger in West Africa’s Sahel region, citing “large uncertainties” in data.

They urged investments as simple as a network of rain gauges, saying that even small shifts in rainfall can affect millions of people.

sions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel.

Earlier this week, the space agency said the moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements. The rover’s laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the surface, it said.

The Indian Express newspaper said the electronics on board the Indian moon mission are not designed to withstand very low temperatures, less than minus 120 degrees Celsius (minus 184 degrees Fahrenheit) during the nighttime on the moon. The lunar night also extends for as long as 14 days on Earth.

Pallava Bagla, a science writer and co-author of books on India’s space exploration, said the rover has limited battery power.

The data is back on Earth and will be analyzed by Indian scientists as a first look and then by the global community, he said.

By sunrise on the moon, the rover may or may not wake up because the electronics die at such cold temperatures, Bagla said.

“Making electronic circuits and components that can survive the deep cold temperature of the moon, that technology doesn’t exist in India,” he said.

After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India last week joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone.

The successful mission showcases India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with Prime Minister Narendra Modi desire to project an image of an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

The mission began more than a month ago at an estimated cost of $75 million.

India’s success came just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It had been intended to be the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years.

Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.

Active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014.

India is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year, in collaboration with the United States.

NAIROBI, Kenya—Much of the world takes daily weather forecasts for granted. But most of Africa’s 1.3 billion people live with little advance knowledge of what’s to come. That can be both deadly and expensive, with damage running in the billions of dollars.

DisplaceD families arrive after being rescued by boat from a flooded area of Buzi district, 200 kilometers (120 miles) outside Beira, Mozambique on March 23, 2019. Much of the world takes daily weather forecasts for granted. But most of af rica’s 1.3 billion people live with little advance knowledge of what’s to come. That can be deadly, with damage running in the billions of dollars. The first af rica climate summit opens this week in Kenya to highlight the continent that will suffer the most from climate change while contributing to it the least. at the heart of every issue on the agenda, from energy to agriculture, is the lack of data collection that drives decisions as basic as when to plant and when to flee. (AP Photo/ tsvAngirAy MukwAzhi)

India’s moon rover completes its walk, scientists analyzing data looking for signs of frozen water

editorial

good for a fight on our own behalf’

‘We’re

China was one of the first countries that signed the United nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) in December 1982, and ratified it in 1996. Unfortunately, it does not respect the utility of Unclos as a tool to ensure the peaceful, stable, and lawful use of the seas. For example, it does not recognize the U n-backed arbitration Tribunal that invalidated its nine-dash line. The arbitral tribunal’s decision means nothing to China.

The Ministry of Natural Resources of the People’s Republic of China on August 28, 2023 issued a new version of China’s Standard Map that even expanded the nine-dash line (now a 10-dashed line) that supposedly shows China’s boundaries in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has protested the publication of China’s new official map that included the entire South China Sea, the Bashi Channel off Batanes Island and Taiwan Strait. (Read the BusinessMirror report, “PHL protests new Chinese map with a ‘10-dash line,’” September 1, 2023).

Philippine Ambassador to the UK and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. said: “If China tried to make that map a reality in our neck of the waters, ‘right-thinking’ nations won’t stand by us in a fight. They’ll want to bleed China dry in our country as the battlefield farthest from themselves. Let’s do the bleeding on our own national behalf. We have no responsibility to cowards. We’re good for a fight on our own behalf. And it is coming and we will be alone. But so what? We were alone in World War II until the curtain was coming down on our burning capital. Why I voted for Ukraine. I saw our future there: lauded universally, sympathized global ally, but fighting alone. Look at Ukraine—within spitting distance of Russia; look at us.”

In an article published by Foreign Policy Research Institute—The US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty and Philippine External Defense Forces—Felix K. Chang said: “The Philippines’ security situation is somewhat puzzling. The country has a mutual defense treaty with the United States, the world’s strongest military power. Yet, China regularly intrudes into what the Philippines claims as its territorial waters in the South China Sea, denies Philippine fishing boats access to those waters [which are well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone], and, when the opportunity affords, occupies Philippine-claimed features in the region. In fact, China has stirred up so much uncertainty that international energy companies, normally accustomed to dealing with risk, have refrained from pursuing much-needed offshore exploration projects in Philippines. Meanwhile, Washington has offered its treaty ally what appears to be only modest support.”

“No doubt, having a mutual defense treaty with the world’s strongest military power is useful, but being utterly dependent on it can also be problematic. Even the slightest ambiguity in the treaty’s details could significantly weaken Philippine security. Unfortunately for Manila, the treaty contains several such ambiguous details, which Beijing has exploited to advance its South China Sea ambitions,” Chang added.

The Philippine government has long sought Washington’s clarification of the ambiguity in the Mutual Defense Treaty’s details. For example, it’s not clear what the US is willing to protect—is it the entire Philippine territorial waters, including disputed shoals? How would the US respond if a government-controlled, but nominally non-military entity, such as China’s maritime militia, takes aggressive action against Philippine forces?

While the US government expressed its solid support for the Philippines during the August 5 blocking and firing of water-cannon on Philippine vessels in Ayungin Shoal, and even invoked the possible use of the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty should things go worse, some of its legislators seemed to think that the treaty is sufficient and does not need any amendments. (Read the BusinessMirror report, “‘Good for now’: Four American lawmakers see no need to amend US-PHL defense treaty amid China’s aggression,” September 2, 2023).

This stance is contrary to the views of defense experts who believe the Mutual Defense Treaty needs some upgrading to make it more adaptable to today’s complex security situations.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte saw the treaty as an unequal arrangement, and tried to shelve it altogether. And Locsin is right to conclude that “right-thinking” nations won’t stand by us in a fight against China.

With an ambiguous Mutual Defense Treaty with the US, we are left alone to deal with foreign encroachments on our sovereign territory. Indeed, “we’re good for a fight on our own behalf.”

Tasks for the ‘ber’ months

RISING SUN

WE have entered the ber months and that means we’re down to the last four months of 2023. it’s the perfect time to review our goals and see how we can maximize the rest of the year.

An important aspect of evaluation is knowing when something is not working out and actually dropping it, not because we are giving up but because we recognize that pushing it, so to speak, is not the wise thing to do. Here we can instead choose to go another direction or replace the previous goal with something that is more achievable. Whatever course of action we take, the necessary step is to think things through very well. Four months is a long time and we can still do a lot, for sure. At the same time, we know we have to

Experts would advise us to use the 80-20 principle, which also means it’s best to focus our efforts, time, and resources on things that give the greatest results. Think about the specific activities that bring in more money, for example, and then organize the day/week so that we can spend more time on these tasks. Set aside a particular number of hours for these tasks on a daily basis.

work double time since time goes by quickly, especially towards the end of a given period. Aside from working harder, we must also move faster. My tip would be to prioritize the top 3 goals, for instance, and focus on these. Take note that I don’t refer only to professional or business goals here; all this can also be applied to relationship or personal goals.

Once we have identified our priorities, we can start to figure out how to break them down into smaller components and assign deadlines for their completion. This is where we

take into consideration our metrics (for tracking progress), strategy, and resources, including the help we can access in case we choose to delegate (that, we must!).

Experts would advise us to use the 80-20 principle, which also means it’s best to focus our efforts, time, and resources on things that give the greatest results. Think about the specific activities that bring in more money, for example, and then organize the day/week so that we can

spend more time on these tasks. Set aside a particular number of hours for these tasks on a daily basis. We’ll find that sometimes, there are things that hold us back. It’s good to recognize these and figure out how to circumvent the obstacles. Take away anything that might prevent us from inching closer to our goals. More importantly, we must also identify that thing (or things!) that pushes us forward or motivates us to keep going. It can be writing, for some people, imagining the rewards, prayer, movement, inspiration, and so on. It’s really not the same for everybody.

Finally, there is value in celebrating the wins along the way. Identify rewards for each milestone reached. Simple gifts for the self will do the job, or it doesn’t even have to be a tangible item. A reward could also mean time spent on a hobby, sleeping in, or the luxury of a massage. Whatever it is, it has to be something that is meaningful to the person receiving the reward.

May we all have productive, enjoyable, and blessed ber months ahead!

Rep. Marcos supports bill on Davao electricity

LITO GAGNI

WiTh the support from presidential son and ilocos Rep. Ferdinand a lexander Marcos, businessmen from Davao can now heave a sigh of relief for their problems associated with the high electricity rates, compounded by frequent power outages and poor service they get from an electric service cooperative, that of northern Davao Electric Cooperative.

Marcos had signed in his support for House Bill 6740 that Party-List Representative Margarita Nograles sponsored, which seeks to expand the franchise area of Davao Light and Power Company to the longsuffering residents of the northern half of Davao del Norte plus Tagum City and Samal. The bill, once signed into law, will result in huge savings for the residents who live in the franchise area of Nordeco, aside from being spared the problem of brownouts.

The young Marcos’ support for HB 6740 has an interesting subtext: why electric service cooperatives in the country charge much higher electricity rates, a fact that runs counter to the very heart of President Marcos’ desire to lower the prices of utilities, goods and services in the country. For the elephant in the room is the fact that many municipalities and cities

The young Marcos’ support for HB 6740 has an interesting subtext: why electric service cooperatives in the country charge much higher electricity rates, a fact that runs counter to the very heart of President Marcos’ desire to lower the prices of utilities, goods and services in the country.

better prospects for their respective businesses.

The statement from Davao Consumer Movement Convenor Ryan

for him to sign on and throw his weight for HB 6740. Good tidings await Davao.

in the country suffer from higher electricity rates due to the inefficiencies prevalent among electric service cooperatives.

Nograles’ bill exposes the huge disparity between what the electric service cooperatives charge against those obtaining in the franchise areas of private utility firms. In the case of Nordeco’s franchise, the electricity rate is P14 per kilowatt-hour against P8.50 from that of Davao Light and Power Company. And the fact that Nordeco-serviced residents are just a stone’s throw away from that of Davao Light’s is an unmistakable reality.

The business establishments and households in the Nordeco franchise area have been conducting protest actions against the electric service cooperative. In fact, business groups have joined forces in backing the passage of HB 6740 since it would mean

Amper said it best: “The people of Davao del Norte and Davao de Oro have suffered years of high power rates and poor service for the past couple of years from the Northern Davao Electric Cooperative. Not only is the local economy affected but the daily lives of the people as well.

“Despite our constant clamor for better power service from Nordeco, we feel like it has continued to fall on deaf ears. How can Nordeco not see that our constant clamor is evident in how we are not happy with their service? How can they continue to invalidate what we residents are actually experiencing? How can they turn a blind eye to businesses forced to purchase generator sets or constantly change equipment due to their poor power service?”

There is no doubt that Rep. Marcos saw for himself the festering problem of high electricity rates plus frequent power outages in Davao

We would like to give credit to Rep. Marcos, who along with, partylist Rep. Nograles have sponsored a bill to transfer the long-suffering electric consumers of Davao province to a private power distributor Davao Light and Power. The rural electric cooperative system is a very interesting topic considering that many if not most of the poorest provinces in the country ironically have the most expensive power— and they are being served by socalled electric cooperatives. While the biggest cities—Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao and others—enjoy the cheapest power.

Reps. Marcos and Nograles have seen that consumers in Davao del Norte in the cities of Tagum and the resort island city of Samal among others pay more than P5/wh and suffering from power fluctuations and poor service, while their neighboring municipalities and cities just across the street experience much cheaper power and far better service. This is the same fate suffered by many municipalities all over the country that have no choice but languish under the bad service of many electric cooperatives.

It’s interesting how the NogralesMarcos bill will pan out now that the presidential son is pushing in Congress what his father has promised to do—lower the prices of commodities, utilities, and services in the country.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

Collaboration among peers

Joel L. Tan-Torres

The right vetting

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

Conclusion

NoW that the BIR-Multi-sectoral Working Group (Working Group) has been formed with the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on August 8, 2023, how should this initiative move forward to ensure the attainment of the stipulated objectives. The MoA provides for the collaboration between the BIR and nine taxpayer and business organizations to share knowledge and best practices on tax policies and strategies on how the Philippine business tax system can be improved, and to support advocacy for comprehensive, relevant, and lawful policies, plans and regulations for tax administration.

The best indication that the Working Group is meeting its mandate is its ability to promulgate quickly priority revenue issuances to foster taxpayer service and address important tax compliance issues. BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui has taken the lead with his “Excellent Taxpayer Service” program as one of the pillars of his administration. There has been a spate of revenue issuances in the past months on taxpayer-friendly measures. The BIR Commissioner has also been visible accommodating invitations to speak at events of business and professional groups. In the recent Accountancy Week Celebration of the various accounting bodies, Commissioner Lumagui attended at least three events where he shared his plans and achievements with the accountants. This positive attitude of the BIR head in pro-actively engaging with his stakeholders is a good direction.

A recent BIR-taxpayer collaboration that I was involved in can present some lessons and insights to this Working Group. In February 2023, the BIR invited certain individuals and organizations to participate in the drafting of revenue issuances pertaining to Tax and Philippine Financial Reporting Standards (PFRS) reconciliation and alignment. This is a much-needed undertaking where guidelines governing the treatment of differences between tax rules and PFRS are defined to clarify the ambiguities and reduce conflicts between the BIR and taxpayers. There were several meetings held in the next two months which resulted in productive discussions. There were interactive deliberations with both parties working as peers and sharing their insights to arrive at solutions for various issues. In a short span of time, the discussants were able to come up with drafts of several revenue issuances. But despite the good start, the momentum was not sustained. After more than five months from the completion of the

draft circulars, these have not yet been signed for implementation. There has not been even any feedback provided to the private sector participants on the status and direction of the outputs they had jointly collaborated with the BIR. For us in the private sector, it is good consolation to know if there is anything else that must be done to move forward with any initiative that we have exerted time and effort in.

It is clear that for this collaboration to have good outcomes, the BIR and its partners should instill in the undertaking certain elements and practices. These include prioritization, constructive deliberations, progressive direction, time-bound activities, feedback and response between parties, sustainability of efforts, and results-oriented. A timetable for the issuance of guidelines for priority measures must immediately be defined. These should be pursued to their completion by dedicated focal persons mentioned in the MOA.My wish list for this working group to prioritize include the enhancement of the tax audit and resolution process, the rationalization of the tax practitioner accreditation system, the fast-tracking of the compromise settlement procedures, the refinement of the income tax refund, and the streamlining of the Reconciliation of Listings for Enforcement.

The collaboration among peers has once again started. Let this be a successful partnership that results in win-win outcomes for the BIR and the private sector groups.

Joel L. Tan-Torres was the former Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business. Previously, he was the Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy, and partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant who garnered No. 1 in the CPA Board Examination of May 1979. He is now back to his tax practice with his firm JL2T Consulting. He can be contacted at joeltantorress@yahoo.com

The term 201 file has its roots from the US Army. Borrowing this term, most government agencies and even private organizations have used “201 file” to pertain to employees’ administrative and personnel records. But, why 201 and not 101 or 202?

In military terms, “2” stands for intelligence. hence, the very first “intelligence” file in any organization is the person’s comprehensive profile—past and present, as these 201 files get updated for every promotion or award, leaves accrued and taken, and any other records to ensure that companies keep track of what’s happening with their employees. These 201 files are often used by human resource departments to consider whether a person is to be promoted or to be recruited.

For obvious reasons, organizations conduct a background check to review the personal, educational, financial, and criminal records of job applicants. Some companies go as far as requiring the submission of government clearances—from the NBI, the PNP, and the LGU, as pre-requisites prior to any interview. With the advances of technology, background checks are much easier compared to my Army days when I was part of a military intelligence unit. Back then, depending on the extent of the information needed, we conducted surveillance, casing, and elicitation activities just to find out more information about the person subject of the background check. There are compelling reasons to do background checks on all job applicants. These reasons include providing a safe workplace for all, minimizing exposure from employee liability, and discouraging applicants with something to hide. Knowing a job applicant’s history helps human resources departments, some of which

unfortunately rely on instinct alone or, worse, nepotism, evaluate and hire the most qualified job applicant. In the case of Wilfredo Gonzales, the gunwielding man in a road rage incident in Quezon City, his 201 file from the PNP ought to include red flags which should have prompted the hiring team in the Supreme Court to conduct further evaluation before the services of Gonzales were engaged.

By simply browsing through Gonzales’ 201 file, which now has been available to media due to Gonzales’ fourth case of misconduct, at least on record, the judicial department should have known that Gonzales was dismissed from the service in 2017 for grave misconduct. Prior to this case, Gonzales was also ordered dismissed in 2006 for another case of grave misconduct, only to return to active duty after a successful appeal in 2012. Further, based on record, Gonzales was demoted in 2013 for another case of grave misconduct. These acts of misconduct were so glaring that Gonzales should not

have been employed in government, especially in one that dispenses with justice and, at the same time, allows him to carry firearms in the process

After 30 years, I recently reconnected with a law school classmate who dedicated a significant time of her professional life protecting child’s rights. Under the auspices of UNICEF, she took on various assignments outside the country to teach people in developing nations about the rights of children. If our Almighty God were to run a background check on her, the very first area that He would look into would be whether she lived a life worthy of her calling. I am convinced that she was called on to teach. Hence, in her many years in Asia and the Pacific (Timor Leste, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, to name a few), she has served as a role model, perhaps unwittingly, for her audience—carefully following the things that she taught. These things, beyond the provisions of law, are the values of patience and humility, grounded on God’s commandment of loving God and loving others. These things, when done out of love, whether considered as accomplishments on any 201 file or attributes seen through personal observations over time, are far more important than those seen in a comprehensive resume.

A background check helps but is never a guarantee that a person is trustworthy for a position. Records reveal much about a person but cannot uncover a person’s character, integrity, or willingness to help others, all of which can only be observed over time. Records can be exaggerated, or worse, doctored. But an up close and personal observation almost always reveals the true character of a person. Interestingly, the Bible shows us how those closest to Jesus Christ had the opportunity of knowing him and his true character. Interestingly too, we

find the same incident of background check in the Bible when some people who witnessed Jesus ably teaching at the synagogue questioned his authority. They had to refer to Jesus’ “201 file” which states that he is the son of a carpenter, whose mother’s name is Mary, and brother to James, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Matthew 13:55 ). But to a believer of faith, Jesus’ “201 file” stretches beyond his earthly familial background, for His “201 file” likewise stated that He is, indeed, the Son of God: as attested to by the Apostle Paul: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” In these modern times, anyone who wishes to conduct a background check on our Savior need only look at the Cross to identify his character and fortify the fact of his sacrifice. Background checks are useful but should not be the sole determinant in major decisions, whether a person’s employment or marriage. In the case of the hiring of Wilfredo Gonzales, a simple check would have been sufficient. As for others, let’s be more circumspect and discerning, guided by the values of love, sacrifice, integrity and righteousness that our Savior has fully demonstrated to us at the Cross—the perfect embodiment of truth beyond any 201 file.

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

AI project imagines adult faces of children who disappeared during Argentina’s military dictatorship

By Almudena Calatrava The Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina—If a baby was taken from their parents four decades ago during Argentina’s military dictatorship, what would that person look like today?

Argentine publicist Santiago Barros has been trying to answer that question using artificial intelligence to create images of what the children of parents who disappeared during the dictatorship might look like as adults.

Almost every day, Barros uploads these images to an Instagram account called iabuelas, which is a portmanteau in Spanish for artificial intelligence, or IA, and grandmother, or abuela—taken from the well-known activist group Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo that searches for missing children.

“We have seen the photos of most of the disappeared, but we don’t have photos of their children, of those children who were stolen,” Barros told The Associated Press. “It struck me that these people did not have a face.”

During Argentina’s bloody dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, military officials carried out the systematic theft of babies from political dissidents who were detained or often executed and disposed of without a trace. The babies were often raised by families linked to the dictatorship, or those ideologically aligned with it, as if they were their own.

Using an app called Midjourney, Barros combines photos of the disappeared fathers and mothers from the public archive of the Grandmothers web site, creating images of what the faces of their children might look like as adults today.

For each combination, the app shows two female and two male possibilities. Barros then chooses the image of each gender that seems most realistic.

The project does not intend to replace efforts headed by the Grandmothers group of identifying grandchildren through DNA testing. Instead, Barros says, the goal is to stir the conscience of those over 46 who may have doubts about their origin and to serve as a reminder of the more than four decades the grandmothers have spent trying to locate these children.

The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo estimates around 500 children were snatched from their parents during the dictatorship. The group has located 133 grandchildren through genetic analysis.

The group appreciates Barros’ initiative as a way to raise awareness

about the children who were stolen or kidnapped during the dictatorship. But they warn that the only infallible tool to link these people with their families of origin is DNA testing that continues to be carried out by the National Genetic Data Bank, whose creation they promoted in 1987.

In addition to working with photos from the Grandmothers’ archives, Barros uses photographic material provided by interested parties.

In some cases, those who have accessed iabuelas have noticed in the images a tendency towards standardization, raising questions about their approximation to reality. But in others, families searching for a lost relative have been shocked by the resemblance they found in those faces to blood relatives.

Victor Caivano, a videojournalist with The Associated Press, contributed.

Berlin Wall relic gets a ‘second life’ on US-Mexico border as Biden adds barriers

By Elliot Spagat | The Associated Press

TIJUANA, Mexico—As the US government built its latest stretch of border wall, Mexico made a statement of its own by laying remains of the Berlin Wall a few steps away.

The 3-ton pockmarked, gray concrete slab sits between a bullring, a lighthouse and the border wall, which extends into the Pacific Ocean.

“May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges,” reads the inscription below the towering Cold War relic, attributed to Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero and titled, “A World Without Walls.”

For Caballero, like many of Tijuana’s 2 million residents, the US wall is personal and political, a part of the city’s fabric and a fact of life. She considers herself a migrant, having moved from the southern Mexico City of Oaxaca when she was 2 with her mother, who fled “the vicious cycle of poverty, physical abuse and illiteracy.”

The installation opened Aug. 13

at a ceremony with Caballero and Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s former foreign secretary who is now a leading presidential candidate. Caballero, 41, is married to an Iranian man who became a US citizen and lives in the United States.

She and their 9-year-old son used to cross the border between Tijuana and San Diego.

Since June, Caballero has lived in a military barracks in Tijuana, saying she acted on credible threats against her brought to her attention by US intelligence officials and a recommendation by Mexico’s federal government. Weeks earlier, her bodyguard survived an assassination attempt. Caballero said that she doesn’t know who wants to kill her but suspects payback for having seized arms

from violent criminals who plague her city. “Someone is probably upset with me,” she said in her spacious City Hall office.

Shards of the Berlin Wall scattered worldwide after it crumbled in 1989, with collectors putting them in hotels, schools, transit stations and parks. Marcos Cline, who makes commercials and other digital productions in Los Angeles, needed a home for his artifact and found an ally in Tijuana’s mayor.

“Why in Tijuana?” Caballero said. “How many families have shed blood, labor and their lives to get past the wall? The social and political conflict is different than the Berlin Wall, but it’s a wall at the end of the day. And a wall is always a sphinx that divides and bloodies nations.”

President Joe Biden issued an executive order his first day in office to halt wall construction, ending a signature effort by his predecessor, Donald Trump. But his administration has moved ahead with small, already-contracted projects, includ-

ing replacing a two-layered wall in San Diego standing 18 feet (5.5 meters) high with one rising 30 feet (9.1 meters) and stretching 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) to the ocean.

The wall slices through Friendship Park, a cross-border site inaugurated by then-US first lady Pat Nixon in 1971 to symbolize binational ties. For decades, families separated by immigration status met through barbed wire and, later, a chain-link fence. It is a cherished, festive destination for tourists and residents in Mexico.

At an arts festival in 2005, David “The Human Cannonball” Smith Jr. flashed his passport in Tijuana as he lowered himself into a barrel and was shot over the wall, landing on a net on the beach with US border agents nearby. In 2019, artist Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana covered the Tijuana side of the wall with paintings of adults who moved to the US illegally as young children and were deported. Visitors who held up their phones to bar codes were taken to a website that

voiced their first-person narratives.

Cline said he was turned away at the White House when he tried delivering the Berlin Wall relic to Trump and then trucked it across the country to find a suitable home. He said the piece has found “its second life” at the Tijuana Park alongside the colorful paintings on the border wall that express views on politics and immigration.

The US government has gradually restricted park access from San Diego over the last 15 years in a state park that once allowed cross-border yoga classes, religious services and music festivals. After lengthy consideration, the Biden administration agreed to keep the wall at 18 feet for a small section where some access will be allowed.

Dan Watman of Friends of Friendship Park, which advocates for crossborder park access, said the 60-foot (18.3-meter) section that will remain at the lower height is only a token gesture. “The park on the Mexican side has become sort of a one-sided

party,” he said.

US Customs and Border Protection said that it anticipates replacing the “deteriorated” two-layer barrier by November and that the higher one under construction “will provide much needed improvements.”

The Berlin Wall installation has gotten rave reviews from visitors.

Sandra Flores, 55, who vacationed from the Mexican port city of Mazatlan, drew parallels between the Berlin slab and the US-built wall.

“It’s a little less severe here than it was in Germany but it’s a wall that divides nations, lives, social and economic lives and everything related to the United States,” she said.

Lydia Vanasse, who works in the financial sector in San Diego and lives in Tijuana, said the relic took her back to her 20s when the Soviet empire fell and Germans were suddenly allowed to move freely.

“San Diego and Tijuana are sister cities,” she said. “The wall separates us, but we are united in many ways. It would be better if there wasn’t a wall.”

OIL, GAS PROSPECTS COULD YIELD HUGE FLOWS TILL 2050

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

OIL and gas prospects from 2029 all the way to 2050 could produce 42.14 million barrels (MMB) of crude oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas, data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed.

B ased on the oil and gas roadmap, production from 2023 to 2024 would likely reach 1.2MMB crude oil and 220 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas from additional discovery of at least two oil fields and one gas prospect. Reserves during the period could increase by 4.5MMB to 15MMB of oil and gas to 217BCF.

Under the medium-term scenario, the DOE roadmap showed 15.9MMB of crude oil and 522.4 BCF of natural gas that could be produced from 2025 to 2028. During those years, at least two oil and four gas fields are expected to be drilled.

L ong-term prospects, which run from 2029 to 2050, could result in a production of 42.14 MMB of crude oil and 4.6 TCF of natural gas from additional discovery and increase in reserves.

T he DOE expects six new oil wells and six gas fields during the said years.

T he country’s current energy plan covers only up to 2040.

T he DOE earlier presented this data during a public consultation last week. DOE Director for Energy Policy and Planning Bureau Michael Sinocruz the agency is updating the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP), which currently covers the year 2020 to 2040. The updated plan will include new projections up to 2050.

T he PEP serves as the roadmap of the country’s energy landscape in the next three decades.

July NG subsidies up by 10% to over ₧33B, says Treasury

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

Treasury data showed that national government subsidies in July reached P33.238 billion, or P2.917 billion higher than the P30.321 billion recorded in the same month of last year.

The increase in the month’s subsidy was driven by higher financial support provided by the state across major non-financial government corporation and other government corporation, based on Treasury data.

Treasury data showed that threefourths of the national government subsidy or about P25.117 billion went to other government corporations.

T he subsidy extended to other stateowned and -run corporations was 6 percent over last year’s P23.688 billion, according to the Treasury.

T he Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) topped the list of

other state corporations in terms of the amount of subsidy received during the reference month.

PhilHealth got P22.65 billion in subsidies in July, slightly higher than the P22.462 billion it received in the same month of last year, according to Treasury data.

PhilHealth was followed by the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority with a subsidy of P1.292 billion.

Total subsidy to major non-financial government corporations during the reference period, meanwhile, reached P8.121 billion, 22 percent higher than the P6.633 billion recorded amount in July of 2022.

T he National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and the National Housing Authority (NHA) were the top recipients of subsidies in July across all major non-financial government corporations.

N IA got P3.985 billion in funding, about 32 percent lower than the P5.872 billion subsidy it received in the same month of last year.

T he state provided P3.327 billion in subsidy to the NHA for the month of July.

T he state’s total subsidy from January to July has reached P96.939 billion, 17 percent over last year’s P83.066 billion, according to the Treasury.

USAID pours in ₧283Mto help DepEd address PHL education problems

By Claudeth S. Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

THE United States government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), poured in P283 million ($5 million) for a project to help the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) address education challenges, including boosting its capacity to assess the quality of education among Filipino learners.

W ith the support of various implementing partners, USAID’s five-year project, “Improving Learning Outcomes for the Philippines” or ILO-Ph, will aid DepEd in designing, implementing, and evaluating its full range of education programs, from early childhood education to workforce development.

As an enduring friend, partner, and ally, the US government,

through USAID, will continue to work with local partners to make quality education accessible to all educators and learners wherever they are in the Philippines so we can build stronger and more prosperous communities,” USAID Philippines Deputy Education Director Yvette Malcioln said.

T hrough ILO-Ph, USAID will provide DepEd with on-demand technical assistance, regular consultations, and trainings to improve its strategic communications and data analysis systems.

T his will enable DepEd to better track the progress of Filipino learners in standardized examinations and measure learning recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

T he ILO-Ph will also support DepEd in conducting policy-relevant research to help Filipino educators enhance their teaching methods and positively impact learning

outcomes.

V ice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte called the new partnership a “significant milestone” that would strengthen DepEd’s goal of addressing basic education challenges under its new “MATATAG: Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa” agenda.   “ The impact of policy-relevant research and technical assistance on educators and young learners can be profound,” Duterte said, in remarks delivered by DepEd Assistant Secretary G.H. Ambat during the launch.

Such, Duterte said, can “alter the fate of their future and consequently, the course of our nation.”

In the face of challenges and changes, initiatives like ILO-Ph offer hope and inspiration. I wholeheartedly support this noble project and encourage all stakeholders to tap into its transformative potential,” she said.

Loud noise over WPS masks pitiful ₧80M for KIG

AMID tensions in the West Philippine Sea and despite the loud protests of lawmakers, the government is only allocating P80 million to improve military facilities on Pag-asa Island in Kalayaan, Palawan, next year.

For all the loud noises the government makes in defending what is ours in the West Philippine Sea, Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto said it seems that the funds it is proposing in the 2024 national budget for the Kalayaan islands is a mere pittance.

T he lawmaker said, “Who would have thought that the government would be proposing a budget that small for a frontline military outpost in the middle of an area rife with tension?”

For 2024, Recto noted a measly P80 million insofar as itemized expenditures in the 2024 budget bill go.

Only two projects. One costing P40 million for the construction of an igloo-style ammunition storage and another P40 million for a new

two-story military personnel barracks,” he said.

R ecto said these two projects are found in the P3.8-billion “Tatag ng Imprastraktura para sa Kapayapaan at Seguridad Program “ or TIKAS program, under DPWH.

The share of Pag-asa Island, which hosts the Rancudo Air Station and Liwanag Naval Station, translates to a mere 2.1 percent of TIKAS funds.

“ I hope there are more funds or lumpsum funds in the budget [for Pag-asa Island], like the P50 billion AFP Modernization Fund for 2024, or perhaps in the proposed capital outlays of the Navy (P5 billion) and the Air Force (P3.25 billion),” he added.

“Maagnas ang airstrip ng Rancudo Air Station doon. Kailangan ng shore protection. Ngunit hindi man lang natilamsikan ng P215 billion in proposed flood control funds, na kabilang ang  coastal protection projects, for 2024,” he said.

[The airstrip of Rancudo Air Station will just melt away. It needs shore protection. And yet it didn’t get even a drizzle of the P215 billion in proposed flood control funds, where the coastal protection projects for 2024 are lodged].

T he P80 million is a small amount compared to the P15.9 billion fund for the feasibility studies of the DPWH, he added.

He said the P80 million is also small when compared to the P15.2 billion of road safety and maintenance projects to be funded from the extract of the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC). “ If P80 million is all there is, then we will be spending more for road guardrails than on an island that guards our interest in the disputed area,” he lamented.

“Our occupation of Pag-asa is unchallenged. Conventional wisdom dictates that we transform an island we physically possess into a bulwark,” Recto added. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

THE total amount of subsidies extended by the national government to state-run institutions and firms rose by an annualized rate of 10 percent to over P33 billion in July, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Monday, September 4, 2023

Energy sales rise in August as demand spikes–Meralco

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

“August month sales growth is estimated to be a little above 6 percent,” said Meralco Chief Commercial Officer and First Vice President Ferdinand Geluz.

He said this was mainly driven by an increase in electricity demand mostly from Meralco’s commercial and residential customers.

Geluz is confident that the commercial segment would still account for the biggest increase in sales vol-

ume in the second half and that full-year sales growth target is still expected to grow by 4 percent. in the first half of the year, Meralco energy sales volumes rose by 3 percent to 24,792 gigawatt hours (GWh) from last year’s 23,968 GWh. Monthly sales volume breached the 4,000-GWh level since April and reached a high of 4,643 GWh in June.

From January to June, higher temperature and humidity during

the dry season drove the increase in demand for electricity from the residential segment while the continuing economic recovery was the main driver of commercial segment sales.

sa les mix also continued to shift towards pre-pandemic levels, with commercial segment accounting for a bigger 37 percent share. share of residential was the same at 35 percent, while industrial’s share slipped to 28 percent from 30 percent.

Commercial led all segments with a volume of 9,162 GWh. With the resumption of face-to-face engagements such as concerts, conventions, and business gatherings, demand from leisure and entertainment, hotels, retail, and restaurant sectors continued to improve. t he shift in academic calendar also amplified demand of educational institutions, as schools consumed more electricity

to battle the heat.

Last month, Meralco said energy sales volume will grow by about 5 percent year-on-year in July to december as demand for electricity continues to surge.

“We’re projecting close to 5 percent growth for the second half, mainly driven by residential and commercial still,” said Geluz.

Meralco reported a consolidated core net income of P19.2 billion in the first half, up 47 percent from P13.1 billion realized in the same period last year.

t he utility firm sees full-year profits “to be north of P30 billion.”

“We expect profits to be a recordhigh for the full year, so it’s just a question of how much. But certainly much way ahead on what we reported for 2022, which is P27.1 billion,” Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

LMG, Maxwealth terminate deal

By VG Cabuag @villygc

Listed LMG Corp. has terminated its deal with a group of buyers, which would have allowed the backdoor listing of Maxwealth inifinity Holdings Corp. t he buyer, Maxwealth, was supposed to purchase 129.67 million common shares registered under Ann Marrieta L. sy tin, Robinson W. siao and Value Quest securities Corp. sy tin was supposed to sell her 98.58 million shares for a total of P305.61 million, siao’s 29 million shares for P89.9 million and Value Quest’s 2.09 million shares for P6.48

BMW exec sees profit boost from electric cars

AU t O - i N d U s t R y executives long complained that electric cars aren’t as profitable as their combustion-engine counterparts. BMW

AG Chief e xecutive Officer Oliver Zipse says those days are over.

All of BMW’s electric models are earning money, and the company’s ‘Neue Klasse’ battery-powered vehicles due from 2025 will be even more profitable, Zipse said saturday.

t he assumption that margins of combustion-engine cars are always higher is simply wrong,” he told reporters at an event ahead of the i A A car show in Munich.

BMW earlier saturday unveiled the first prototype of its future Neue Klasse line, which is meant to help the German automaker challenge tesla i nc. and defend sales in its most important market China.

t he luxury-car maker is growing in China and is selling twice as many fully electric cars there as rival brands Mercedes-Benz and Audi combined, Zipse said. He added that BMW isn’t affected by the country’s price war because of its positioning in the premium segment.

“We have a solid foundation in the Chinese marketplace,” the C e O said in a separate interview with Bloomberg te levision. “We will never go down to a volume segment just to push volume—because we don’t need to.” Bloomberg News

million shares.

t he parties further agreed that the date for the completion and closing of the transaction was supposed to be on August 31, or a later date as may be agreed upon by the parties. t he failure to close the transaction is a ground for termination of the agreement.

t he said number of shares will trigger a tender offer for the rest of the shares being held by other holders. t his will also result in the backdoor listing of Maxwealth into the Philippine stock exchange.

“As of 31 August 2023, the closing contemplated in the agreement has not occurred and the parties

did not reach an agreement for the extension of the long stop date. t he parties signified their intention to mutually terminate the agreement,” LMG said.

t he company said the transaction does not require the board approval of the corporation since it is not a party to the agreement.

“Moreover, since the buyer did not acquire the shares of the sellers, the revised rules on backdoor listing do not apply.”

A backdoor listing occurs when a listed company, directly or indirectly, acquires the shares or assets of an unlisted company or person or group of persons or vice versa.

“Considering the termination of the agreement, the corporation is no longer involved in any acquisition of its shares. Hence, the corporation is requesting the Philippine stock exchange to lift the trading suspension imposed on the shares of the corporation on 7 June 2023,” it said.

LMG shares were last traded on June 6 and closed at P3.35 apiece.

Maxwealth is chaired by Alfonso Huang, an honorary consul of Guinea-Bissau to the Philippines and 2022 Philippine Charity Ambassador.

Maxwealth’s current investments include interests in various financial and information technology companies.

BdO securities Corp., the brokerage arm of BdO Unibank i nc., is encouraging investors to make investment decisions based on “sound research” and not be swayed by superstitions during the Chinese Ghost Month, which runs through september 15.

“Making investment decisions based on sound research, diversification and long-term goals are crucial, regardless of the time of the year,” said John Michael Raz, assistant vice president and head of online sales of BdO securities.

t he Ghost Month is an annual observance and is often associated with cautious behaviors and superstitions that affect financial markets.

Raz said the 30-stock Philippine stock e xchange index (Psei) has generally exhibited weakness in the month of August, which happens historically 60 percent of the time.

t he Psei closed Friday at 6,181.06.

t his range may persist if participants continue to stay on the sidelines due to lack of catalysts. t here’s really no rule against buying in the month of August.”

Raz said investors should instead consider the Ghost Month as an opportunity to go bargain hunting.

“While historically weak, investors should take it as an opportunity to buy the dips and initiate positions in their favorite stocks. For a lot of investors, they see weakness as an opportunity to even improve their cost.”

BdO securities said a down or flat market still provides investors with decent returns and should not be a reason for them to stay on the sidelines.

“For active investors who like trading, a flat market offers an opportunity to trade in and out of a well-established range—buying near support and selling at or near resistance. A down market doesn’t mean no opportunities to make decent returns. Rather, you just need to be more selective of the stocks to buy and manage your expectations in terms of returns,” Raz said.

“For investors with a long-term view, our comprehensive research coverage provides up-to-date fair value estimates. t his aids our clients in identifying opportunities at bargain prices.”

By year-end, BdO securities is still looking at an index level of 7,700 based on an average earnings growth estimate of 15 percent. VG Cabuag

EteR NAL Gardens Lipa took a significant step towards expanding its services in the city with the ceremonial signing of a three-hectare property deal. t he deal was secured from AbaCore Capital Holdings through its executive Vice President, Mr. Arturo V. Magtibay.

t h is deal marks a significant stride for et ernal Gardens Lipa, which was established in 1992 as the fifth branch of eternal Gardens. t he expansion area will offer memorial properties, including Lawn, Garden Property, Heritage estate, and Family estate. it reaffirms the company’s commitment to developing beautiful

and well-maintained memorial parks for the Filipino people.

“We view the acquisition of this three-hectare property not merely as an expansion of our business, but as an expansion of our heart and purpose. t h is milestone is a testament to the enduring legacy of compassion and excellence instilled by my father, Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, whose guiding principles continue to shape our every endeavor,” said d e d gard A. Cabangon, Chairman and C e O of et ernal Gardens.

t he ceremony was attended by distinguished guests, including

Governor Hermilando i Mandanas of the Province of Batangas, who expressed his unwavering support and gratitude not just to eternal Gardens but also to the entire ALC Group of Companies. Governor Mandanas remarked, “Nandito ako dahil maraming mga negosyo si Mr. Cabangon sa Batangas. At malaki ang naitutulong ng inyong grupo sa aking mga kababayan.”

At present, the Province of Batangas boasts three eternal Gardens parks located in Batangas City (Balagtas and Concepcion), and in Lipa City, which have been serving the memorial care needs of its people.

SW i ss luxury watchmakers who’ve weathered the rise of smartwatches, a pandemic and the highest inflation in decades say they’re worried about a new threat: the strong franc.

t h e C e O s of mid-priced and entry-level brands including Oris, doxa and Maurice Lacroix said margin gains won from price increases last year have all but disappeared as the Us dollar’s value has dropped to about 88 sw iss centimes from parity with the franc in 2022. t he timing of the currency’s surge couldn’t be worse, because it’s coming just as demand eases following an unprecedented boom.

“At 0.88 it actually is a problem,” said Rolf s t uder, co-chief executive officer of Oris s A , whose 4,400-franc ($4,979) Muppetthemed “ProPilotX Kermit” watch introduced in March has become a top seller. “ t h at’s a lot when the U s is your biggest market.”

it ’s unclear whether Oris and its peers will get relief anytime soon. With the risk of inflation still present, the sw iss National Bank is still expected to maintain elevated interest rates—or possibly raise them further—leaving analysts forecasting that the franc will likely appreciate further in the coming months.

t he vast majority of sw iss watches are sold in the United states, Asia

and Western europe, making currency fluctuations a major factor in the industry’s performance. For stephane Waser, CeO of Maurice Lacroix, checking foreign-exchange markets each morning has now become “daily life.”

At the same time, demand has already ebbed from record levels seen during the pandemic, when consumers stuck at home flocked to Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe models posted on instagram, after an initial plunge when Covid first spread. in July, sw iss watch exports posted their first monthly decline in more than two years as shipments to China fell sharply and exports to the Us slowed.

Now, even as demand declines, watchmakers may have to impose further price hikes to offset losses from the franc’s strength.

“ t he Us dollar is the big question,” said Jan edöcs, the head of niche dive-watch brand doxa, which saw a spike in annual sales to about 10,000 watches during the pandemic as enthusiasts rediscovered its models once worn by French explorer Jacques Cousteau. doxa raised prices in europe last year to offset the euro’s weakness against the franc, but resisted hikes in the Us in part to keep its entry-level model below $1,000. edocs said if the dollar were to drop to 82 cents per franc, doxa would have to raise prices. Bloomberg News

Seated from left: abaCore Capital Holdings Inc. e xecutive Officers: Chairman and CeO Raul B. de Mesa, e xecutive Vice President and COO ar turo V. Magtibay; eternal Gardens Chairman and CeO d edgard a. Cabangon, and Province of Batangas Governor Hermilando I. Mandanas. Standing as witnesses from left: Melbert de Leon; eternal Gardens e xecutive Officers: Legal Officer at ty. alexis Oco, VP for Finance Marvin C. t mbol, President Numeriano B. Rodrin, agency Manager Saturnina G. alcantara and VP for Sales and Marketing Jose antonio V. Rivera.

Eternal Gardens Lipa acquires property for expansion

The Manila electric Co. (Meralco) recorded a 6-percent yearon-year increase in energy sales volume last August, a company official said over the weekend.

‘Make investment decision based on sound research’

Luxury watchmakers face profit squeeze from stronger franc

Perspectives Advancing the Future of Women in Business

ACCORDING to the 2023 “Women’s Leadership Summit (WLS) Report” by KPMG US, women executives perceive an exponential surge of stress in the workplace compared to pre-pandemic levels. The stress is attributed to increased workload and expectations tied to managing the mental health of their teams in addition to their own.

The annual study considered insights from over 1,500 executive women from leading companies across the United States who are past participants of the KPMG WLS on mental health in the workplace and the importance of prioritizing well-being.

Key findings STRESS at work continues to escalate.

n 91 percent of executive women perceive an exponential surge of stress in the workplace compared with prepandemic levels.

n 70 percent of executive women attribute higher stress in the workplace to increased workloads and expectations.

n 58 percent of executive women report added responsibilities stemming from the need to help manage their teams’ mental health and wellness on top of their own.

Executive women prioritize selfcare and seek support

n 79 percent of executive women report that wellness has become increasingly critical to their job success over the past couple of years.

n 79 percent of executive women have prioritized wellness by scheduling time for self-care, setting boundaries, focusing on healthy habits, connecting with others and seeking support.

n To support the mental health and wellness of their teams, executive women show authenticity and empathy (58 percent) while leading by example through setting boundaries (54 percent) and prioritizing time out of the office (52 percent).

n 87 percent of executive women report intentionally giving themselves downtime for self-care, and 69 percent report making sacrifices to make time for wellness.

n Almost all (98 percent) of the women executives surveyed prioritize spending quality time with family and friends.

Women want more support from employers on mental health and well-being

WHILE our findings indicate a deeper understanding of the positive impacts when organizations create and sustain wellness initiatives for leaders and their teams, 71 percent of executive women say organizations need to do more for leaders who are supporting their employees’ mental health and well-being while managing their own, especially during challenging times.

Be the change: best practices for a better you

BY modeling behaviors that promote well-being, more female leaders are gaining trust with their teams. Sharing their own vulnerabilities and mental health challenges helps reduce the stigma surrounding mental well-being and showcases a leader’s humanity, authenticity and relatability.

The issues on the surge of stress in the workplace for executive women, prioritizing self-care, seeking support, and the need for employer support on mental health and well-being, are all relevant and crucial topics in the Philippine corporate landscape.

The country has a highly competitive work environment and executive women often face intense pressure to balance work and personal life. As women continue to break barriers in leadership roles, the need for prioritizing their well-being becomes paramount to ensure sustained success and productivity.

KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co. Chairman and CEO Sharon G. Dayoan shares that “while many Philippine companies are recognizing the importance of addressing mental health issues and providing resources to support their employees’ well-being, building a culture of malasakit (concern), that resonates with many Filipinos, is something that Philippine companies can also consider.” “

’Malasakit ’ is our culture of caring for others and advancing this will help promote personnel looking out for others, offering the support needed, regardless of position or level,” Dayoan added.

Create a culture of caring

LEADERSHIP is instrumental in driving cultural change that prioritizes employee well-being and promotes greater acceptance, caring and emotional support. Consider the following action steps to build on the momentum of your organization’s health and wellbeing efforts.

n Normalize mental health and wellness. Open and honest communication will help remove the stigma associated with mental well-being. Host events or forums to increase awareness of mental health offerings and provide opportunities for employees to share personal stories of their well-being journeys. Seeing employees as holistic individuals will help everyone in the long run. Team members perform better when recognized as their whole self, not just employees.

n Engage with your employees to understand their stress–and then act. There is no one-size-fits-all policy for mental health and well-being. What works for one employee may not work for another. Consider continuous listening strategies to understand what team members need to be successful mentally and physically. Then evaluate the trainings and programs currently in place to ensure employees are aware they exist and are providing support.

n Create a culture of mental wellbeing. Encourage connection, communication and understanding, as well as sharing best practices for creating healthy boundaries and protecting your needs.

n Equip leaders to lead by example. To instill a culture of caring, executives must lead the way. Leadership starts from the top down, and actions speak louder than words. Provide resources and tools to help leaders role model healthy habits, setting boundaries and taking time out of the office. These practices will inspire team members to do the same.

The excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: https://womensleadership. kpmg.us/summit/kpmg-womens-leadership-report-2023.html.

© 2023 KPMG Int’l Ltd. is a private English company limited by guarantee. R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership, is a member firm of a global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG Int’l Ltd. All rights reserved. E-mail ph-kpmgmla@kpmg.com or visit www. home.kpmg/ph.

This article is for general information purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice to a specific issue or entity. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the BusinessMirror, KPMG International or KPMG in the Philippines.

Customs collections inched up by 4.24% in Jan-Aug period

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

The amount of revenues that the bureau collected was P23.678-billion, higher than the P558.455 billion it recorded in the same 8-month

period of last year, according to its statement over the weekend.

Furthermore, the BOC said it has surpassed its mandated target col-

lection for the January-to-August period of P567.740 billion by 2.54 percent or about P14.393 billion.

The BOC attributed the increase in its year-to-date collections to “efficient customs operations, enhanced trade activities, and robust revenue collection measures” it implemented this year.

“We will continue to monitor trade activities and implement measures to sustain this positive momentum in revenue collection, as part of the Bureau’s collaborative effort in further strengthening the nation’s financial standing,” Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio said.

The BOC noted that it has secured the second spot in terms of trade

facilitation in Southeast Asia in the 2023 United Nations Global Survey with a score of 87.1 percent.

Furthermore, the BOC pointed out that it has conducted 687 antismuggling operations with P31.118 billion worth of various smuggled goods being seized, the highest in the last five years.

“The BOC’s performance above revenue targets demonstrates the agency’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and its role in contributing to the country’s economic growth and stability,” it said.

“These achievements will fund essential government projects and services in the coming months, benefiting the Filipino people,” a statement from the Bureau read.

Chip-makers’ group asks govt to probe tax

By Andrea San Juan

THE Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) is urging the government to look into tax issues clutching the electronics industry.

Seipi President Danilo C. Lachica told reporters last week that “one of the challenges” that piques the industry is the full tax charged on equipment that electronics firms donate to higher education institutions (HEIs).

For instance, there’s a scanning electron microscope that a company wants to donate to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and test and lab equipment for HEIs.

However, the Seipi chief said the problem is “they will be taxed because they are in [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] PEZA zones; so these are duty-free importation

of equipment.”

He added that since the depreciated equipment are still in good working condition, the electronics firms want to donate the equipment.

But “they will be charged the full tax on the acquisition value, even if it’s zero value today,” Lachica said on the sidelines of the forum hosted by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd). “So that’s the only thing that I would like to appeal and I think the legislators have spoken to agree. But it just hasn’t happened.”

The head of the major organization of foreign and Filipino electronics companies in the Philippines divulged that the tax rate depends on the equipment. Lachica said the tax would be “substantial if you’re talking of say, for example, a $500,000 piece of equipment.”

“So that’s a challenge.” Meanwhile, he said that another pain point that the industry is fac-

issues

ing is the availment of incentives for research and training.

“The companies are not able to avail of that easily because what will happen is, again, the nuance…the bureaucracy of filing for these reimbursements for these incentives is just gonna be too difficult for the company,” the Seipi chief said.

Further, Lachica said high operating costs is still among the challenges that the electronics industry is grappling with.

“The reality is, we still have high operating costs. You know, the power logistics, even labor, including water. And so I realized that we can’t reverse what was done in terms of, you know, the incentives rationalization, but we really need to solve this problem, otherwise, you know, we’re still talking about maybe just getting 17 percent to 20 percent of what Asean competitors are getting. So we need to resolve that,” Lachica said.

Dubai-based firm advises PHL fintech on $20 million funding

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

DUBAI, UAE-headquartered Dalma Capital Management Ltd. (Dalma Capital), announced last Wednesday it advised a Philippine fintech startup FHL Financing Co. Inc. on a $20-million debt-financing deal, the largest such financing for a Series A company from the Philippines.

The debt transaction—backed by New York City, New York, USA-based emerging-markets specialist investment firm Argentem Creek Partners LP—is also the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia in a year.

The financing will allow the credit-led fintech firm to further scale its lending operations across the Philippines, according to alternative investment management advisor. Dalma Capital added that “the transaction was completed despite volatility in the credit markets.”

“Credit market volatility and the demise of certain traditional lenders to growth stage tech companies has created a vacuum in the marketplace, which alternative credit funds appear selectively prepared to fill,” Dalma Capital Managing Director John Porter was quoted in the statement as saying. It added

that Porter led the team that advised on the transaction.

“In addition, while in the past many Southeast Asian deals were being funded from Singapore and Hong Kong, we are seeing a lot more interest from investors in the Middle East and the West, which is a break with precedent,” Porter added.

Separately, FHL Financing has also secured financial backing from other influential investors. Notably, the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Co. PJSC (ADQ) is among the firm’s key supporters. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds ADQ’s venture platform, Dalma Capital explained.

The statement read that Dalma Capital “has established itself as a leading ‘bulge boutique’ investment banking advisory business in the Middle East, while operating a fund platform that offers portfolio managers access to operational, regulatory, legal and technological infrastructure.”

Principally established in the Dubai International Financial Centre in 2013 by Zachary Cefaratti, Dalma Capital is authorized and supervised by the Dubai Financial Services Authority under a prudential category 3c license.

He again pointed out that while the country is getting some investments in the industry, the amount is “not to the extent of what our Asean neighbors are getting.”

The head of Seipi explained that the problem with electronics is it relies on new products and technologies. So, if the country is not getting these new products and technologies—made from the perspective of the CEO of a multinational, these companies will operate in a country where the operating cost is at its lowest, he explained.

“And since they have sites in different countries outside the Philippines, they can compare the numbers. And so if you have high operating costs, if you have high power costs, for example, and if you don’t have some measures to mitigate that like incentives, then where do you think the CEO will place these new products?” Lachica added.

BIR fully resolves complaints sent via CCC–Lumagui

BUREAU of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner

Romeo D. Lumagui Jr. announced recently the BIR was able to resolve all the complaints lodged with the national government’s Citizens’ Complaint Center (CCC) for six consecutive months beginning January this year. Citing a report from the Office of the President’s CCC, Lumagui said the bureau was able to achieve a 100-percent resolution and compliance rates in complaints handling. “The BIR will address all corruption and red-tape complaints. I am committed to professionalizing the BIR and to establishing a culture of integrity amongst its ranks,” the BIR chief was quoted in a statement the bureau issued last Thursday.

According to the BIR, it received a total of 734 citizens’ concerns during the reference period, which it pointed out were all resolved and closed within the 72-hour compliance period.

“We look forward to our continued partnership in the fight against red tape and corruption, and the improvement in the effectiveness and efficiency of government service delivery,” Director Bernadette B. Casinabe, head of the 8888 CCC, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Standard Chartered Bank PHL named ‘Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion’

THE Philippine business of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Plc. announced being named “Best Bank for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)” by a unit of the England & Wales, United Kingdom-domiciles Delinian Ltd.

A statement issued last September

1 read that the bank was cited at Delinian’s “2023 Asiamoney Awards” for its “commitment to promote economic inclusion by lifting the participation of the youth, especially young women, in the community through education and livelihood support.”

SCB said its Philippine branch “currently works with the largest micro-

finance institutions in the country to provide equitable access to financial support for women-led micro and small businesses nationwide.”

SCB said it has received numerous accolades in recent years for its policies in promoting diversity and inclusion.

It ranked 36th in the “2022 Top 100 Organizations” by Stichting Equileap Investment Services Support for gender equality globally; 7th in the top 10 financial sector companies; recognized on the “Gender Equality Index 2022” of Bloomberg LP for the seventh year in a row; and ranked 73rd in the “D&I Index Score 2022” of Refinitiv LSEG for the

second time in a row.

“For years, SCB has embedded diversity and inclusion into its organizational DNA, celebrated female role models and allies to reaffirm its commitment to gender equality,” the bank’s statement read.

SCB said it signed in 2018 a statement of support for the United Nations “Women Empowerment Principles” to reinforce its ongoing commitment to gender equality. The bank also signed the UK “HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter” and has seen a positive trend in female representation in its senior leadership roles.

As of end of 2022, women represented 32 percent of SCB’s senior leadership roles across its markets and working to achieve its global target of 35 percent by 2025, the bank added. “As part of its commitment to fostering an equitable and inclusive culture, the bank continuously looks at how progressive, purpose-led benefits can improve employees’ experience and help them achieve their potential,” it added.

SCB said it is the only bank that offers each of its employees a minimum 20-week paid maternity and parental leaves, irrespective of gender, relationship status or how a child comes

to permanently join an employee’s family.

“An inclusive environment enables us to bring the best out of our people,” SCB Philippines Interim CEO Rowena Kapunan-Tamano was quoted in the statement as saying. “We are proud to take a holistic approach in empowering our staff to succeed at work and in their private lives through our enhanced policies, and are confident that an environment that genuinely respects professional and personal balance is a remarkable competitive edge.”

The World Economic Forum (WEF) “2023 Global Gender Gap Report” re-

leased in June ranked the Philippines 16th place in gender equality among 146 countries in the world, based on the following categories: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and, political empowerment.

SCB Philippines has 59:41 women to men gender ratio, and women hold 73 percent of the bank’s senior management positions.

SCB Philippines was recognized as the “2021 UN Women WEP Award Champion for Leadership Commitment” and won First-Runner Up in the “Gender Inclusive Workplace” category in 2022.

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said its revenue collections from January to August rose by 4.24 percent year-on-year to P582.133 billion on the back of “enhanced” trade activities and “efficient” operations.

China’s new national map has set off a wave of protests. why?

China has upset many countries in the asia-Pacific region with its release of a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as to contested parts of india and Russia, and official objections continue to mount. What is the map, and why is it upsetting people so much?

What is China claiming?

China’s Ministry of n a tural Resources released the new “standard” national map on Monday, p art of what it has called an ongoing effort to eliminate “problem maps.” i n it, China clearly shows its socalled nine-dash line, demarcating what it considers its maritime border, claiming almost the entirety of t he s o uth China s e a. The current, and other recent iterations of the annual map, include a 10th dash to the east of Taiwan.

i n the far northeastern corner of China on the border with Russia, it shows Bolshoy Ussuriysky i s land, an island at the confluence of the a m ur and Ussuri rivers, as Chinese territory, even though the countries signed an agreement nearly 20 years ago to split t he island.

a lon g the southern border with i n dia, it shows a r unachal Pradesh and the Doklam Plateau, over which China and i n dia have long feuded, clearly within Chinese borders, along with a k sai Chin in the western section that China controls but i n dia still claims.

How have countries reacted?

China's longstanding claims in the s o uth China s e a have brought it into tense standoffs with i ndonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and

t he Philippines, all of which have competing claims. China and i n dia fought a war over their border in 1962, and the disputed boundary has led to a three-year standoff between tens of thousands of i n dian and Chinese soldiers in the Ladakh area. a clash three years ago in the region killed 20 i ndian soldiers and four Chinese. a f ter the release of the map, i ndia fired back first, saying China's c laims have no basis. i n dian External a f fairs Ministry spokesperson a r indam Bagchi said “such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.” it lo dged a formal complaint on Tuesday through diplomatic channels.

Malaysia then rejected China’s “unilateral claims” and added that the map is “not binding” to the country. Vietnam, Taiwan, i ndonesia and the Philippines have since fol lowed suit.

Vietnam said the claims violate its sovereignty over the Paracel and s p ratly islands and jurisdiction over its waters and should be c onsidered void because they violate the United nations Convention on the Law of the s e a. i l lustrating how provocative the nine-dash line is considered by h a noi, Vietnam in July banned the popular “Barbie” movie because it includes a view of

a map showing the disputed Chinese claims.

T he self-governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own, a lso rejects the nine-dash line and Beijing’s s o uth China s e a claims.

The territorial claims at times lead to direct confrontation. a little more than a week ago, Philippine boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in a disputed area of the s o uth China s e a to deliver supplies to Filipino forces guarding a contested shoal.

i n its response to the map, the Philippine Department of Foreign a f fairs cited a 2016 ruling by an arbitration tribunal in The h a gue under the U n Convention on the Law of the s e a that largely invalidated China’s claim to virtually t he entire s o uth China s e a and upheld the Philippines’ control over r esources in a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

Russia, for which Chinese support in its war against Ukraine h as been critical, has not yet responded.

What does China say?

Chin E s E Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin sidestepped questions Thursday about s pecifics of the nine-dash line and why China has been using a 10th dash in recent years, telling reporters only that “China’s stance on t he s o uth China s e a is consistent and clear.” h e a lso didn't directly address the protests over the map, say -

ing that the update was “routine p ractice every year” with the aim of providing standard maps and to “educate the public to use maps in accordance with rules.”

“We hope that the relevant sides can see it in an objective and rational way,” he said.

Why now?

Th E national map is an annual production that could be released any

t ime, and China knows well that its claims are contentious, even though they are not new. it s eems significant, then, that Beijing chose to release the map on the heels of a late a u gust meeting of the BR iC s nations—Brazil, Russia, i n dia, China and s o uth a f rica —and just before China is to participate in top-level meetings of t he a s sociation of s o utheast a s ian n a tions and the Group of 20 rich and developing nations. a t t he BR i C s meetings, the China-Russia relationship was broadly s een as strengthened as the group voted in favor of a proposal pushed by Beijing and Moscow to invite i r an and s audi a r abia, along with four other countries, to join. On the sidelines, i n dian Prime Minister n a rendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping even talked about t heir disputed border, agreeing to intensify efforts to de-escalate tensions.

Most of the governments with which China has disputes in the s o uth China s e a are as E a n members, and i n dia is hosting the G20 talks.

i n r eleasing the map now, Beijing is widely seen as signaling it h as no intention of backing down on any of its claims and is making sure that its positions are fresh in the minds of other countries in the region. AP

A ne W China map shows the South China Sea with nine-dash line claims under Chinese territory and a new line next to Taiwan are seen on the map, at a bookstore in Beijing, Friday, September 1, 2023. AP/Andy Wong

An Indian girl stands for photos with an Indian flag at the India-China border in Bumla, Arunachal Pradesh, India, October 21, 2012. AP/Anu PA m nAt h

A BAnner erected by the Indian army stands near Pangong Tso lake near the India-China border in India’s Ladakh area, September 14, 2017. AP/m A nish sWA ru P

Style

Vince Geophra Veranda Tormis: ‘Golden Cagayan Woman’

retail Giant to sPend $1 billion on store and online uPGr ades in latest bid to reViVe business

NEW YORK—JCPenney said Thursday it plans to spend more than $1 billion by the end of 2025 in a bid to revive the storied but troubled 121-year-old department store chain.

The money is going toward remodeling JCPenney stores, upgrading its online shopping site and app, and making its supply network more efficient so that online orders are delivered more quickly.

JCPenney’s CEO Marc Rosen, who took the company’s helm in November 2021 and has served as an executive at Levi Strauss and Walmart, is renewing the chain’s focus on its core middle-income shoppers with affordable fashion and housewares. “Now is the time more than ever to lean into that and make sure that we’re delivering that experience for our customer,” Rosen said in an interview with The Associated Press. That’s a change of tactics from previous management teams that pursued wealthier shoppers with offers of trendy items and major appliances.

As part of the plans unveiled Thursday, check-out stations that had been located throughout JCPenney’s stores will be replaced with a single area of cashiers. Shoppers will also see brighter lighting and a fresh coat of paint. Store employees will be equipped with mobile devices to scan inventory and ring up shoppers’ purchases. And the chain is making upgrades to its Wi-Fi networks to speed up in-store connections. But JCPenney is playing catch-up with its competitors—from discounters to department stores like Macy’s and Walmart—that have been upgrading their stores and online businesses, underscoring the challenges faced by the retailer based in Plano, Texas.

JCPenney, which emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization in December 2020 with new owners, not only has grappled with years of internal issues but also faces an uncertain economy that has challenged healthier department stores.

The chain’s core customers are budget-conscious families, whose median income ranges from $50,000 to $75,000. They’ve been particularly hit hard by higher costs basic items and high interest rates, making borrowing on credit cards and taking out a mortgage more expensive.

Rosen said JCPenney’s customers are spending $700 more per month than two years ago just for basic necessities, like rent, gas and food. He noted they’re seeking competitive prices as well as a good shopping experience.

But in this tough economy, JCPenney has a role, Rosen said. He believes shoppers are finding other department stores too expensive, while online retailers and off-price stores don’t give them the customer service JCPenney shoppers are looking for. The company filed for bankruptcy reorganization in May 2020 after the pandemic-induced temporary closing of stores put the already struggling retailer deeper in peril. Under new owners—mall companies Simon Property Group Inc. and Brookfield Property Partners LP— JCPenney shuttered nearly a quarter of its 850 stores. It now has roughly 650 stores. It has less than $500 million in debt, down from nearly $5 billion at the time of its bankruptcy filing, Rosen said.

As part of the latest remodeling push, Rosen said 100 stores have been refurbished. The plan is to remodel anywhere from 50 to 100 per year, he said.

The retailer has been rebuilding its beauty business after Sephora announced a deal to leave the chain for rival Kohl’s three years ago. As part of its overhaul, it has been highlighting beauty products that cover a wider range of skin tones. One third of its customers are of color. The company said that more than 50 percent of its beauty brands are either owned by females or people of color.

The retailer launched new store label brands like Mutual Weave men’s clothing and reintroduced some national brands like Adidas. It launched national labels, such as Forever 21, owned by Authentic Brands Group Llc., which has a minority stake in JCPenney. a P

CAGAYAN DE

ORO—When Vince Geophra

Veranda Tormis was deemed the “Darling of the Press,” her victory as Miss Cagayan de Oro 2023 was inevitable. The 19-yearold, second-year nursing student at Liceo de Cagayan University won over 11 other candidates in the 58th edition of the pageant, held at the Lim Ket Kai Mall Atrium on August 26.

“The Press and Public Presentation marked the inaugural pocket event of Miss CDO 2023. As a newcomer to local pageantry, it stood as one of the most demanding experiences. The prospect of addressing a sizable audience for the first time and fielding questions from journalists and press members significantly heightened the pressure I felt,” Tormis relates.

“Yet, hearing my name announced as the ‘Darling of the Press’ dispelled all doubts during the coronation night. This signified that from the moment I entered Miss CDO, I was prepared for this journey. I’ve evolved from the shy, reserved girl I used to be, into a woman confidently expressing herself in public,” said the Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental-born beauty.

‘Hakot’ awards

A NEOPHYTE in pageantry, Tormis, nevertheless, went through the rigors of training like a pro. Arvin Jay Martinez Bantigue and the Team Amega Beauties were firmly in her corner.

“Collaborating and training the new Miss CDO was an extraordinary journey. Observing her unwavering commitment, unyielding resolve, and unbridled enthusiasm during the training period truly distinguished her from the rest. What sets her apart as a true victor is her unmatched charisma, eloquence, and profound ability to forge connections with the audience,” bares Bantigue.

Besides impressing the press, Tormis also won a treasure trove of awards: Miss Ororama, Miss Racini, Miss McSmile McDonalds, Miss Nature’s Spring, Miss Union Cement, Miss Skin in Bloom, Face of Le Rouge, Miss Eduardo Diego, Miss Ericashoeline, Miss Ciao Bella, Best in Swimsuit, and Best in Evening Gown.

“Winning numerous corporate and major awards only added to the pressure. However, I chose to harness this as motivation to excel further, work harder, and demonstrate that I genuinely deserve everything I’ve received,” Tormis says.

Her gown designer is Joshua N. Guibone, a member of the Oro Fashion Designers Guild. The theme for this year’s pageant was “Golden Cagayan Woman.” Drawing from this theme, the gold gown featured a striking slashed slit that adds an element of daring and sophistication, while a pleated cape cascaded gracefully, reminiscent of the golden rays of the sun that dance upon the surface of the Cagayan de Oro River. The choice of gold not only aligned with the theme but also served as a tribute to the city’s

nationwide manned by 18,000 employees. As the Yansons navigated the transport business, they also faced difficulties and challenges.

“In the course of our transportation business, there were numerous opportunities such as providing jobs to people and witnessing the realities of life for people who helped us in our business such as our employees and their families,” said Olivia. “I have witnessed first-hand my employees’ struggles with their own lives as they continued to help us succeed in our business. I became so involved with their worries as well as their successes, realizing that I was and am a big part of their lives.”

continued with the glittering rites, a highlight of the city’s Higalaay Festival. Another curious occurrence was the absence of last year’s winner, Arianne Galenzoga. But the crowd was more than happy to see hometown pride, Nikki de Moura, winner of Miss Grand Philippines 2023, crown the new Miss CDO.

PaGe ant Journey

HERE, the beautiful Tormis shares some insights on how she will navigate her role as the Golden Cagayan Woman: “Being Miss Cagayan de Oro involves embodying a role model, being an individual of integrity in both words and actions. Figuratively, you

degree “in recognition of her invaluable contributions to the business sector, and how she shared her blessings to the less fortunate people in our society as part of her corporate social responsibility.”

effective time management, meticulous planning, and adVocacy

“GROWING up with a single parent, I witnessed my mother's struggles. Despite challenges, she provided for my needs and even my desires. This experience drives me to advocate for solo parents, supported by Republic Act 8972, the Solo Parent Act of 2000. This law personally inspired my mother to strive for our future.

“I aspire to empower solo parents by creating a nurturing space where they feel valued, heard, and supported. Establishing a community that equips them for enhanced opportunities could alleviate their circumstances and bolster their empowerment. This ranks among my goals during my reign.” n

Beyond all her amazing achievements, I am impressed at Amit’s humility. Because of her immense success in a maledominated sport, she gives back through the Amit Cup billiard championships with the hope of uplifting women’s billiards and strengthen the sports at grassroots level.

THE August issue of Vogue Philippines with National Scientist of the Philippines Dr. Dolores Ramirez, a geneticist, on the cover has been applauded here and abroad. The lengthy spread featuring and honoring women like Ramirez, chef Glenda Barretto, culinary historian Felice Sta. Maria, and National Artist of Dance Alice Reyes was so beautiful to see in a milieu that usually only recognizes the artistry of younger women.

Inspired by that Vogue Philippines cover, I’ve put together a list of four females I admire. I actually have a long, long list which I will hopefully get to write about one of these days. For now, let’s talk about these four.

Olivia Villaflores Yanson, together with her husband Ricardo Yanson, Sr., established Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) in 1968. This company, which grew to become the largest public transport firm in the country, operates 4,800 buses

Being a nurse, Yanson found ways to give back to communities by sponsoring a group of physicians and surgeons from Pennsylvania in the US to come to the Philippines and perform free surgeries for children who had cleft lip and cleft palate. Olivia also helped support education by providing buildings and educational resources to schools and colleges, and funding the education of underprivileged children. She recently accepted an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos in Bacolod City (my hometown!).

Olivia was conferred with a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management (Honoris Causa) in recognition of her contribution to the world of business. She received the award from UNO-R President Rev. Fr. Joel Alve in a ceremony attended by her children Ginnette, Leo Rey and their families, as well as company executives and employees. Fr. Alve said Yanson was awarded the honorary doctorate

Malou Perez is the founder of Pawssion Project Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization that rescues, rehabilitates, and rehomes abused, abandoned and neglected animals. I have always been an animal lover but it was through Pawssion Project and Malou’s hard work that I learned so many things about being a dog parent (I have three at home right now). Pawssion Project began in Bacolod City in 2018 after Perez rescued dogs from the pound who were about to be put sown. A second shelter was opened in Bulacan in mid 2019. Since then, the journey has led Pawssion Project to more than 2000 rescues, and over 600 rehomed animals. I got to know about Pawssion Project after I fostered and adopted my dog Minnie, who was found tied to a guard house. Minnie was rescued by Pawssion Project and the rescuer brought her to us. She was a sick senior dog and we became her retirement home.

I love how Malou’s work not only helps animals but also change the way people think about dogs and cats as she is a staunch advocate of #AdoptDontShop.

Rubilen Amit is a two-time World Women’s 10-Ball queen and a World Mixed Team 10-Ball champion. She has amassed 10 gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games, aside from numerous other titles in international tournaments.

The petite Cebuana is considered the best female cue artist the Philippines has ever produced.

In a previous interview, Amit said she hopes the tournament will help produce more talented female players to represent the country in international tournaments.

I always say that the two women I admire strongly for being feminists are singer Dolly Parton and former Social Welfare and Development Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.

Taguiwalo was as a professor at the women and development studies department in the University of the Philippines Diliman from 1992 to 2015. She was faculty regent of the UP Board of Regents from 2009 to 2010.

Taguiwalo spent over three years in various prisons as a political prisoner during Martial Law. She was pregnant when she arrested in 1984.

Taguiwalo has a Ph.D. in Philippine studies from UP Diliman and a master’s degree in public administration from Carleton University in Ontario, Canada. She received her bachelor’s degree in social work from UP Diliman.

Taguiwalo is a member of the International Association for Community Development and the Women’s Studies Association in the Philippines, and she is a coconvener in the Pagbabago People’s Movement for Change.

She is now 73 years old but if you look at her Facebook page, her commentaries show that her mind remains brilliant and her political views haven’t changed.

PHOTOGRAPHED by Glenn Palacio, makeup by Hair and Makeup Artistry by Arvin Jay Bantigue, hair by Alea Chavez Salaum, Q&A Coach by Chester John Pasco and accessories by Eclectic Image Fashion Studio

These four women inspire others

Winford to host the Philippines’ first ever magic convention on Sept 19, 2023

WINFORD Resort & Casino Manila (WRCM) and the Magicians Foundation, Inc. (MAGFI), in cooperation with The Illusive, have inked a deal where WRCM will serve as proud venue sponsor of the first ever magic convention in the Philippines on September 19 and 20, 2023.

Dubbed “The Gathering International Magic Convention,” it will be the first of its kind in the country and is born out of the camaraderie formed by more than 25 local and international magic clubs.

Participants of the convention will be

vying for the coveted title of “Magikerong Pilipino,” a premiere nationwide magic competition that aims to promote advocacy, ambition, the magic of art, and the art of magic. The winning Filipino magician will not only earn the distinction of being the best in the land, but will also become an ambassador for his craft in terms of humility, wit, skill, and artistry in magic.

Happening at WRCM’s Ballroom, highlights of Day 1 (September 19) will include the first batch semi-finals of Magikerong Pilipino from 8:30 am to 12

Telco PLDT advances transparency on ESG metrics in 2023 S&P Global CSA participation

DEMONSTRATING its commitment in aligning business with sustainability strategies, PLDT Inc. (PLDT) (PSE:

pm and the International Stage Magic Competition from 7:30 pm to 10 pm. Day 2 will showcase the second batch semifinals from 9 am to 11:30 am and a Gala Magic Show from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm. WRCM is located in San Lazaro Tourism & Business Park, Santa Cruz, Manila. Visit www.winfordmanila.com for more information or call the hotline at +63 (2) 8528-3600 for inquiries. You may also follow Winford Resort & Casino Manila on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates on special events and promotions.

42 Outstanding Persons, 50 Companies to be Honored in Philippines Finest Business Awards

ONE can listen to interesting stories from an entrepreneur, a scientist, an engineer, a singer, an actor, a radio/ TV host, a DJ, a comedian, a photographer, a lawyer, a judge, a doctor, an educator, a public servant, an OFW, a gaming specialist, a vlogger and even a transgender and be inspired in this year's Philippines Finest Business Awards (PFBA), an award-giving body that has made a significant difference by recognizing companies and individuals that have etched a remarkable achievement in their respective endeavors through the years.

It all began when Nirro Marcelo sought the help of La Visual Corporation, an innovative advertising and events specialist, to organize the highly Philippines Finest Business Awards and Outstanding Achievers 2023. La Visual Corp. wholeheartedly conceptualized, financed and produced the award that makes it different from the other award-giving bodies in terms of compassion, dedication and awareness. And the rest is history.

Organized by La Visual Corp., Sirbisu Channel and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Rizal, the PFBA will primarily benefit the Tahanang Balik Alay, a residential care facility for the marginalized, abandoned, neglected, disenfranchised elderly.

The event is made possible by the support of PFBA sponsors Bhylinn's Modern Fashion and Densol's Catering (as primary sponsors) and Mountaintop Coffee Beans, J.P. Catering Services, Rich.B Health and Beauty Products Trading, and The Hexagon Events Place (as minor sponsors) as well as media partners like Malaya Business Insight, BusinessMirror, Daily Tribune, Philippines Graphic, Pilipino Mirror, Pasyal Tayo, Light TV, Amazing Manila Journal, 98.4 Love FM Teleradyo , XFM 101.7, Win Radio 91.5 Manila, DWIZ 882 AM, ALIW Channel 23, 97.9 Home Radio, Media House Express, Business World and Manila Bulletin.

This year's 42 outstanding individual achievers include Salvacion Paparon who will receive the Most Outstanding Individual Achievement in Business and Entrepreneurship award; Hon. Anthony Dacones as one of our Outstanding Public Servants; Gerald Santos as the Outstanding International Filipino Performer; Shirley B. Belangel, CPA, MBA as Most Trusted Rookie Financial Advisor; Elpidio OrtizCapito Jr. as the Most Outstanding Individual Achievement in Business and Entrepreneurship; Judge Tarcelo A. Sabarre Jr. as the Multi-Awarded and Innovative Presiding Judge of the Year; Gabriel John Rimando as Asia's Empowering Male Entrepreneur; Lae Mañego as the Most Exceptional Pop Rock Singer Artist of the Year; Garrett Bolden as the Outstanding Achiever in Music Industry; Ysang Semacio Bacasmas Acosta as the Most Exemplary Transgender

Woman; Dr. Edward Q. Perez as the Most Outstanding Man of Achievements in the Field of Gaming Industry of the Year; Dr. Ersyl Tatoy Biray as the Most Outstanding Leader and Inclusive Education Advocate of the Year; Edward "Peanut" Vallespin as the Multi-Talented Comedian and Advocate; Carla Gamer Vlog as the Most Outstanding OFW Social Media Gamer Vlog Influencer of the Year; Raymard Gutierrez as the Most Outstanding Host and Producer of Pasyal Tayo; Miller Daniolco as Excellence in Photography and Innovative Event Organizer of the Year; Eugenio Ferrer Santiago III, EnP, JD, PhD, PD-SMNL as the Most Outstanding Man of Achievements in the Field of Higher Education and Government Service; Martin Ocampo Tan as the Most Outstanding Public Servant of the Year; Jonavie Abarca as the Most Innovative and Inspiring Entrepreneur of the Year; Hero Angeles as the Most Extraordinary Visual Artist & Remarkable Filipino Actor; Beverly Salviejo as the Outstanding Comedian and Singing Performer; DJ Cali Manzano as the Outstanding Podcaster of The Year; Gil Aducal Morales (or simply Ate Gay) as the Most Outstanding Comedian of The Year; Reynaldo Z. Lachica as the Most Outstanding and Innovative Global Power Plant Chemist/Chemical Commissioning Engineer of the Year; Coco Martin as the Most Extraordinary Filipino Actor, Director and Film Producer; Ryan Martin as the Most Outstanding Fast-Rising Filipino Actor; Angelica Cabrera as the Most Excellent Woman in Humanitarian Service; Indhay Marie as the Promising Female Radio Host for "OFW DIARIES"; Wilric C.

Asuncion, MD, MPH as the Outstanding Business Leadership and Credibility in

the Field of Public Health; Annabelle D. Surara as the Most Trusted and Reliable Broadcaster of the Year; Chris Tsuper as the Most Inspiring and Remarkable Male Radio DJ; Nicole Hiyala as the Most Inspiring and Remarkable Female Radio DJ; Masculados Original as the Most Outstanding Talented Male Group; Justice Danilo Igano Gregorio as the Most Outstanding Registered Filipino Criminologist (Pioneering) and ASEAN Lawyer; Chef Jennifer M. Mojares as the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Business and Entrepreneurship; Rogelio Constantino Medina as the Most Outstanding Freelance Journalist of the Year; PSSG Meriam Jalman Jukuy as the Most Outstanding Policewoman of the Year; PTCOL. Ronaldo M. Lumactod Jr. , PESE, JD, RCRIM as the Most Outstanding Chief of Police and Remarkable Public Servant of the Year; DJ Lhen Tejome as the Most Promising Female Radio DJ, Lino D. G. Mallari as the Most Promising Whatta Whatta EUROTV Host of the Year; Braggy Braganza as the Most Outstanding Radio Station Manager; and Atty. Persida V. Rueda-Acosta for her Outstanding Achievement as the recipient of the Outstanding Excellence Award in Public Service.

Likewise, there are 50 companies that have been recognized as the best in their respective fields, and they are as follows:

PAGCOR, Chef Chateau, Hiroshi Wellness Healthcare Solutions, Robin’s RTW Boutique, Fotomagika Photography & Photobooth, Petals of Love MNL, Lagniappe PrintShop, Sheanne Roll Up Door Construction Services, Lyx Beautyline, Bagwiser Lux, VIP Dancers, Quick & Fast Logistics Services, Cave Beach Resort, Babes Confections, Excelsus Psychological Services, Illustratio Social Media Consultancy, Infinity Skincare, Gowns & Events Management by Touting, Studio45K Photography, Eye Leen Hair & Make Up Artistry by Aileen Sebua, Links Digital, Evelyn & Jeniton's Catering Services, Daphne Bags & Prints, IPHIOS Logistics Corp., Highness Collection, Goldmine Farm to Market, Rassa Health and Beauty, RTU HIMIG RIZALIA, 90.7 Love Radio Manila, Mayet De La Rosa Fine Jewelry, Donna Rivera Furniture, BahnhofPH Language Training Center, Rise & Shine Pilipinas (PTV4), Philippines Graphic, Pasyal Tayo, Light TV, 98.4 Love FM Teleradyo, XFM Philippines, NationwideY2H Broadcasting Network Inc., Win Radio, Media House Express, Aliw Channel 23, DWIZ-AM, 97.9 Home Radio, Radyo Agila, Bhylinn's Modern Fashion, Densol's Catering, Mountain Top Coffee Beans, JP Catering Services, Rich B Health and Beauty Products Trading, and The Hexagon Events Place, the venue of the Philippines Finest Business Awards and Outstanding Achievers 2023 on September 8.

TEL) (NYSE: PHI) participated anew in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). The integrated telco’s completion of its 2023 Sustainability Report underscores strategic efforts to evaluate and boost environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

The S&P Global CSA is an annual evaluation of ESG practices covering over 10,000 companies worldwide, with criteria that are both industry-specific and financially material. Results provide significant guidance for companies to benchmark and align with metrics of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI).

PLDT reported on key ESG metrics aligned with its four pillars: Connection, Concern, Conservation, and Commitment. “Sustainability is one of our strategic pillars and key drivers of performance. It is hence imperative for us to constantly measure ourselves against established standards and ensure that we align with global best practices,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, President and CEO of PLDT and its wireless subsidiary, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart).

In the 2022 S&P Global CSA ratings report, PLDT attained an overall score of 59 – the highest among Philippine telcos and a significant gain from the prior years’ scores of 51 and 47. This measures company performance in terms of governance, social, and environmental indicators, providing relevant sustainability-oriented insights and benchmarks among shareholders and investors.

“The goal is to continuously improve on

both our performance and transparency measures, particularly as we work on tightly aligning our business and sustainability objectives. These are all key to achieving our ambition for regional leadership in ESG,” said Melissa Vergel de Dios, PLDT First Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Head of Investor Relations.

PLDT’s participation in the 2023 S&P Global CSA follows the company’s top rankings in a recently released study from Brand Finance, the world’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy firm.

PLDT posted the highest Sustainability Perceptions Value (SPV) among all brands listed in Brand Finance rankings at US$222 million. Among the initiatives cited as having contributed to PLDT’s high SPV is its decarbonization roadmap, underpinned by its deployment of renewable energy solar panels in key company facilities, and expansion of digital infrastructure to democratize access to communications.

The same Brand Finance report also named PLDT as the Most Valuable Filipino Brand in the Philippines, with a two percent annual increase in brand value to US$2.6 billion. Besting other brands in telecommunications, banking, and food service, PLDT was cited for its consistent focus on innovation as a driver to improve customer service and propel the nation towards becoming a financial and technology hub.

UnionDigital Bank is The Asian Banker Awards 2023 Best Digital-Only Bank

LIGHTSTREAM 8 has congratulated UnionDigital Bank for its outstanding accomplishment in being honored as the Best Digital-Only Bank awarded by The Asian Banker Awards 2023. This award is in addition to being named The Best Digital Lending Service at the renowned World Digital Bank Awards 2023 held this past May.

In a satement, Lightstream8 said it was extremely proud of its partnership with

UnionDigital Bank, “a dedicated collaborator that is actively shaping and driving positive transformations in the lives of Filipinos.”

“The commitment displayed by UnionDigital Bank towards enhancing financial inclusion is genuinely inspiring and has a meaningful impact. As we join in celebrating your well-deserved achievements, rest assured that we are always wholeheartedly behind your initiatives,” Lightstream 8 said in a statement.

“Your efforts strongly resonate with our shared mission to empower individuals and communities through accessible and innovative financial solutions,” it added.

“We raise a toast to the continued excellence of UnionDigital Bank! Your accomplishments are a clear reflection of your unwavering dedication and visionary outlook. We stand resolutely beside you, eagerly looking forward to the positive changes that you will undoubtedly continue to bring about in the digital banking landscape of the Philippines,” it continued.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls join FIBA World Cup Fever

FANS across the metro who can’t make it to the venues will not miss a single hardcourt action as Megaworld Lifestyle Malls’ restaurants and sports bars will host viewing parties of the biggest basketball event when the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup tips off starting August 25, 2023. The establishments in the premier lifestyle destination of the country recognizes the religion of basketball for Filipinos and will be providing them the avenue for exciting basketball action, especially in cheering the Gilas Pilipinas national team, until September 10, 2023.

Here are the locations where fans can troop to and gather: 121, Eastwood City Agave, Eastwood City Bills Lounge, Eastwood City Frankies, Eastwood City Rue, Eastwood City Reserve, Forbes Town Tipsy Pig, Forbes Town Bugsy’s, Paseo Parkview Suites El Calle Food & Music Hall, Newport World Resorts Buffalo Wild Wings, Uptown Bonifacio

Whisky Park, Venice Grand Canal at McKinley Hill

Bugsy’s opening night festivities was headlined by DJs from popular metro radio station Magic 89.9. Each venue will also have their own games and amusements aside from the sizzling hardcourt actions brought by the biggest names in the basketball world as the event will be played in three countries simultaneously, a first for FIBA.

The 11 venues offer fans the choice of sports bar to go to for convenience and preference among the premier lifestyle destinations of Megaworld Lifestyle Malls and cheer their hearts out for big stars such as Luka Doncic, Karl-Anthony Towns, the bevy of Team USA led by Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and Austin Reaves.

“This is quite momentous for the Philippines as it is only the second time that they are hosting this big event. It’s also a great moment to share with everyone that we have top-notch pubs and sports bars who will cater to not just the basketball fan, but to sports fans in general and let them taste the world,” shared Megaworld Lifestyle Malls head Graham Coates.

PHOTO shows, from left, former Magicians Foundation, Inc. (MAGFI) President Nap Bargas Perez; MAGFI Treasurer Allan Soriano; MAGFI Secretary Casper Sellado; MAGFI President Ron Mariano; Winford Resort & Casino Manila (WRCM) president & COO Jeffrey Evora; WRCM corporate communications director Jose Maria Ledesma; and WRCM marketing communications director Sharon San Pedro.

HOW PR PROS CAN MASTER BRAINSTORMING MEETINGS

But as Arthur Solomon, journalist and SVP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, says in an article in prnewsonline.com, creative meetings can be a double-edged sword.

On one hand, “account execs who attended the session will get the opportunity to show their creativity if they are truly creative. The flip side is that those that can’t come up with anything original might be doomed.”

Here, he shares with us How to Shine at Brainstorming Sessions with tips he has discovered through the years.

n Before the Meeting. No matter how creative or

CCP unveils ‘The WhiTe elePhanT

ProjeC T’ exhibiT, a deeP dive inTo

The noTions of arChiTeC Ture and PurPose

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The Cultural Center of the Philippines opens the second exhibit of the Bulwagang Roberto Chabet (TIG Gallery), titled “The White Elephant Project” by visual artist Jomar Galutera, on view until August 13.

Curated by Jason Dy, SJ, the exhibit is a serial inquiry into monumental infrastructures inspired by the artist’s mushroom farming. To support his independent practice, Galutera propagates edible mushrooms and sells them to local restaurants in Lucban, Quezon. While farming, he gained insights on how organic materials flourish in decomposing substrate matter and correlated it on how disused, derelict, and destroyed buildings may have a future for utilitarian and humanitarian purposes, leading him to conceptualize and exhibit The White Elephant Project. For the iteration exhibited at the TIG

knowledgeable you are, it is best that you prepare for the meeting.

Study the material sent to you, after which Solomon says, divide the paper into thirds. On one third, “list any ideas from past programs that you know may also work for the program being discussed.”

In another column, “write down modifications of ‘old ‘ideas to make them ‘new’”. The third column should contain only your original ideas.

Solomon then suggests that we divide another piece of paper into three columns, one titled “client”, another media, and another “works for both.” At this point, we can “eliminate any of the above ideas that seem over promotional and client-centric; discard any media

Gallery, the artist discursively engages the cultural complex, specifically the Manila Film Center (MFC), as another site of exploration for his first solo exhibition in Metro Manila. He delves into the history, architecture, and adaptive reuse of the building, as well as other complex factors that shaped its Parthenon-inspired architecture.

“This is the second of the series; the first being the running commentary and critique on the Bataan Power Plant. For this current exhibit at TIG Gallery, the artist chose the Manila Film Center. Admittedly, it had some lofty ideals when the Manila Film Center was imagined to be created. Nonetheless, we know that eventually when the film festivals ended, we had to reinvent the building,” shared Ariel Yonzon, the CCP associate director and head of the Production and Exhibition Department.

Through the years, efforts to reinvent the structure were made. Before the pandemic, the CCP planned to repurpose it as a communal creative space for artists and filmmakers.

ideas that stray too far from the material provided to you.”

The third column should include “items that you think work both for the client and media.” He believes that if done correctly and honestly, the final result should be “the equivalent of your individual creative session, leaving you with a few solid ideas.”

An important tip: Everyone in the meeting should be viewed as your competition.

n At the Meeting

At the start of the meeting, it is best to listen, listen, listen. Knowing the ideas of others can help us determine whether these can be incorporated into yours and enhance your ideas. “Often listening to other’s ideas will generate new, original ideas on your part,” says Solomon.

More than anything else, avoid grandstanding or craving to make an impression at the start. Solomon says, its best to “practice self-control...don’t feel that you must present your ideas early in the meeting just because others are doing so.”

Another tip from Solomon: If you can piggy-back and improve someone else’s idea, do so on the spot. Management, he says, likes team players, even though history

Festival promises to deliver the best visual storytelling with new competing films to be screened at a new venue.

With the CCP Main Building undergoing rehabilitation, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Cinemalaya Foundation Inc. push the boundaries and bring its brand of cinematic experience to the Philippine International Convention Center, located inside the CCP Complex, from August 4 to 13.

“We hope to retain the unique community spirit of the festival, which was one of the main considerations when we were deciding on the venue. If we look at the history of the convention center, PICC is quite conducive for film screenings, having hosted the Manila International Film Festival in the 1980s,” said CCP president Margie Moran-Floirendo.

For its 10-day run, the Cinemalaya films will be screened at three meeting rooms, Cinema Rizal (Meeting Room 01), Cinema Bonifacio (Meeting Room 02 and 03), and Cinema Felipe (Meeting Room 04). Fringe events and talkbacks will be held at Cinema Palma (Meeting Room 05). The exhibitions and filmmakers’ profiles will be on display at the Executive Lounge.

Following the theme “ilumiNasyon,” the country’s pioneering independent film festival returns with 10 full-lengths and 10 short films in competition, as well as other components that will secure a space for

shows that all things being equal, the more aggressive individual most likely will be rewarded.

It’s also a good idea to keep the best for last. Towards the end of the meeting, “toss out a few of your good ideas, but never the best ones.” Keep that for another time.

That’s because “presenting a few good ideas will not go unnoticed by the facilitator, and you will be invited to attend future creative meetings.”

Solomon believes that “agency promotions are often decided because of office politics, friendships and loyalty to supervisors.” Thus, in all aspects of agency life, “lowerlevel personnel must find a way to let top management know of their great work.”

Creative meetings are usually combined in one report, that’s why it’s best to save the best for last.

n After the Meeting

New exciting ideas should not end with brainstorming sessions. And your communication with management, colleagues, and clients should not stop there.

Solomon suggests that “the day after the creative session, write a memo to the facilitator and copy your immediate supervisor and top management saying you thought if few additional ideas should be

independent filmmakers to tell their stories and share their perspectives on the issues that shape our times, while capturing the audience’s imagination.

The 10 competing full-length films are:

Ang Duyan ng Magiting (The Cradle of the Brave) by Dustin Celestino, As If It’s True by John Rogers, Bulawan Nga Usa (Golden Deer) by Kenneth De la Cruz, Gitling by Jopy Arnaldo, Huling Palabas (FIN) by Ryan Espinosa Machado, Iti Mapukpukaw (The Missing) by Carl Joseph E. Papa, Maria by She Andes, Rookie by Samantha Lee and Natts Jadaone, Tether by Gian Arre; and When This Is All Over by Kevin Mayuga.

ddb PhiliPPines issues aPology for use of s To Ck fooTage shoT abroad in d oT’s ‘love The PhiliPPines’ launCh video MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The recent Department of Tourism (DOT) campaign continues to make waves online, and not for a good reason.

When the rebrand first dropped to mark the DOT’s 50th year, shifting away from the iconic “It’s more fun in the Philippines” slogan to the new call to “Love the Philippines,” it was met with criticism from various corners of the internet. However, as the use of stock footage shot in other countries—including

considered.” Put your original best ideas in the memo.

You can also go a step further with examples of how your ideas can be used in various sections of newspapers and magazines or on different segments of TV programs.

Solomon is aware that doing so may ruffle some feathers and upset your supervisors. But, he says, so what.

“There are many brass rings at any agency,” he says, and only a handful of gold ones, and the only way to get a gold one is to make certain that top management knows your good work.”

As Solomon, has learned early on, “If you don’t let top management know of your good work someone else will take credit for it.”

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK- based International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the Senior Vice President for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chair.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.

Indonesia, Thailand, and UAE—in the campaign’s audio-visual presentation (AVP) was made apparent, opinions regarding the new controversial slogan no longer became the biggest issue surrounding the new tourism branding. In response to this, DOT has issued a statement saying that the department “is currently conducting an exhaustive investigation to determine the veracity of, and to gather the full faculty of facts on, these allegations.”

The probe ordered by DOT will involve DDB Group Philippines, the contracted ad agency that worked on the campaign. The department claimed that it repeatedly sought confirmation regarding the originality and ownership of all materials included in the AVP from DDB and that “DDB repeatedly assured the DOT that the originality and ownership of all materials are in order.”

“While no public funds have been paid for the AVP in question as this particular component of the launch was released on the account of DDB, the DOT holds the responsibility of promoting the country to the highest standard,” the department added. “Therefore, it will not hesitate to exact accountability and take the necessary action to protect the interest of the country even as it continues to exhaust all efforts to develop and promote the Philippine tourism industry.”

NOW that events and promotions are back, there are many more opportunities for PR Pros to tap into their creativity. It is not surprising to find ourselves attending more brainstorming sessions. And its everyone’s chance to learn and yes, shine.

Sports

B8 Monday, SepteMBer 4, 2023

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Editor: Jun Lomibao

Italians qualify for World Cup q’finals for 1st time in 25 years

FOR the first time in 25 years, Italy is going to the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup.

Stefano Tonut and Giampaolo Ricci each scored 15 points and Italy reached the World Cup quarterfinals with a 7357 win over Puerto Rico on Sunday in Manila, the final day of second-round play at FIBA’s biggest tournament.

Italy (4-1) will play either the US or Lithuania in Tuesday’s quarterfinals in Manila. The Italians are assured of their best World Cup finish since placing sixth in 1998. They were ninth in 2006, 10th in 2019 and didn’t qualify in

A FAMILY DECISION

2002, 2010 and 2014.

Simone Fontecchio added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Italy, and Luigi Datome scored 11. Italy used a 15-0 run in the first quarter to take some control, wound up losing that lead in the third quarter, rallied to take a slight edge into the final period and pulled away from there.

Tremont Waters scored 13 points and had nine assists for Puerto Rico (3-2), and Jordan Howard scored 11. Puerto Rico was bidding for its first World Cup quarterfinal trip since 2002.

I n Okinawa, Patty Mills scored 19 points and Australia had five players reach double figures in a relatively easy 100-84 win over Georgia in a classification-round game that ended the tournament run for both teams.

Dante Exum had 18, Duop Reath added 16, Josh Giddey scored 15 and Joe Ingles finished with 10 for the Boomers (3-2).

B oth teams were previously eliminated from advancing to the quarterfinals. Australia, the Olympic bronze medalist two summers ago in Tokyo, saw its hopes end Friday with a 90-81 loss to Slovenia. But Australia did achieve one goal at this World Cup, clinching a spot in next summer’s Paris Olympics.

Playing in its first World Cup, Georgia was led by Goga Bitadze with 20. Thaddus McFadden had 18 points and nine assists for Georgia (2-3).

Alido, 5 others seek to repeat as champs in Del Monte golfest

SEVEN legs into this year’s Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) and no player was able to score a “double,” making the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Del Monte Championship doubly interesting when it fires off Tuesday at the Del Monte Golf Club in Bukidnon.

I ra Alido, who won the kickoff leg in Bacolod in come-from-behind fashion, nearly did the trick when he led in the third round of the Luisita Championship—the fourth leg—but bumped into a more solid Miguel Tabuena in the final round and lost by two.

But the former national team hotshot, who scored a breakthrough victory at Riviera via an imposing 9-shot romp over Tony Lascuña in bubble setup in 2020, expects to contend again this week, the P2.5 million event also serving as part of his buildup for another tour of duty with Clyde Mondilla later this month.

But so do Rupert Zaragosa, who recorded his maiden win in Iloilo, incidentally also by 9 shots over Lascuña, Villamor leg titlist Jhonnel Ababa, Valley stage winner Reymon Jaraula, Caliraya Springs leg runway winner Lascuña, and Mondilla, who ripped the elite field in the last PGT jaunt at Forest Hills before the circuit took a two-month break.

Mondilla’s empathic five-stroke triumph over Angelo Que and Dino Villanueva and his local knowledge of Del Monte have installed the multi-titled campaigner the prohibitive favorite in the 72-hole championship put up by ICTSI and backed by Kampfortis Golf, the official apparel of the organizing Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

B ut no one holds a distinct advantage over the other at the tight, demanding course. In fact, Ababa humbled Mondilla and a slew of homegrown bets, including Jaraula, to emerge on top when the circuit made its last stop in Bukidnon in 2019. Th at should guarantee a wild, furious start and finish with a host of others going all-out to foil the six aces’ drive for a second championship while fueling their own title bids, including reigning back-to-back The Country Club Invitational winner Guido van der Valk, and former leg winners Zanieboy Gialon, Michael Bibat and Jay Bayron and the very player so extremely familiar with Del Monte— Frankie Miñoza.

A lso ready for a four-day test of iron play and strategy are young guns Gab Manotoc, Josh Jorge, Jonas Magcalayo, Ivan Monsalve, along with seasoned campaigners Ferdie Aunzo, Elmer Salvador, Mars Pucay, Jerson Balasabas and Marvin Dumandan.

Justin Quiban, who is currently competing in the Asian Development Tour in Vietnam, has also confirmed his participation, while former national champion Mhark Fernando marks his Tour return following a long absence due to injury.

NATIONAL team players celebrate the sweet and convincing victory over the Chinese as Chot Reyes—clutching the game ball bearing his team members’ signatures—announces he’s done as head coach but challenges his critics to man up to him. AP

By Josef Ramos

HEAD coach Chot Reyes was seen clutching the game ball moments after the Philippines’ amazing and pridesaving victory—a 96-75 thrashing of bitter Asian rival China—on Saturday night at the FIBA World Cup. Souvenir?

M inutes later during the postgame press conference, Reyes brought the game ball with him this time signed by everyone at Gilas Pilinas and announced he’s stepping aside as the men’s national team coach, a decision he said he alone didn’t make.

This is a decision that I arrived at with my family. It think it’s about time,” Reyes, close to erupting with emotions, told media. “After a while, it was just too heavy and painful, too difficult.”

Too heavy and painful it was for Reyes during practically his entire journey as head coach of Gilas Pilipinas.

Reyes was bashed on social media no end after those four defeats in this World Cup and was booed at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, a reaction from the critical fans Gilas players Jordan Clarkson, Renz Abando and

Dwight Ramos described as off from the local fans.

H ow short and fickle Filipino fans’ minds are.

The Gilas team that shocked South Korea in 2013 that led to the Philippines claiming not only silver in that year’s FIBA Asia tournament but a ticket to the 2014 World Cup in Seville was coached by Reyes.

There were more of Reyes’s accomplishments as national team coach overseas, but “experts” mushroom from nowhere each time he failed—losing the gold medal to Indonesia in the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May last year and before that, the infamous “own goal” when Marcus Douthit was instructed to shoot the ball in Kazakhstan’s goal in a failed and pathetic effort to salvage a victory at the Incheon 2014 Asian Games, just weeks after the Seville World Cup, to name two.

R eyes has shunned social media for years now although he got active on X (formerly Twitter) for a while when he headed Manuel V. Pangilinan’s broadcast empire.

He said his family, relatives and players have been and are still affected by the criticisms thrown him on all platforms.

Just to be very honest, some of those being said are already out of line. I don’t deserve it, my family doesn’t deserve it,” said Reyes, who has three sons and a daughter, none of them active in the sport their dad has become famous—to his critics infamous—for.

It’s been a day since Reyes announced he’s stepping aside, which he clarified isn’t synonymous to resigning by his context. But he told his bosses at the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) of his plan ahead of the China game. The SBP has no response yet,” he said. “I just informed them that

whatever happened [China game], I would step down as coach.”

R eyes achieved redemption in SEA Games basketball last May in Cambodia, handily beating an American-powered host team. He said it was his last time to coach in the regional games.

R eyes challenged his bashers to man up to him.

I would like to tell all of my detractors and bashers that I’m willing to answer every single one of their comments as long as they

PHL IN 24TH PLACE

THE lopsided victory over China put the Philippines at No. 24 in the 32-team World Cup played in Manila, Okinawa and Jakarta and also earned a berth to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Paris next year. T he finish was three rungs down the Spain 2015 World Cup where Gilas finished No. 21. In the 2019 China tournament, Gilas Pilipinas was No. 32.

Japan earned the automatic berth for Paris after finishing as the best Asian team in the World Cup with three wins and two defeats. The Japanese will play their second consecutive Olympics after 2020 when they hosted the Games.

L ebanon (2-3 won-lost) was the second-best Asian finisher at No. 23 followed by China (1-4) No, 29, Iran (0-5) No. 31 and Jordan (0-5) at No. 32.

A lso playing in the Olympics from the classification stage are South Sudan for Africa and France for Europe.

NO

ASIAD FOR RAMOS

DWIGHT RAMOS said he won’t be at the Hangzhou 19th Asian Games as he returns to his commitment with Levanga Hokkaido in the Japan B.League that starts in October.

The Asian Games are no longer in the FIBA national team window. No, I’m not playing in the Asian Games. I will be back to the B.League,” Ramos said after the China game. “But there will be a lot of good players.”

The OQT, Ramos said, is far from his mind at the moment.

I don’t think anyone’s really thinking about the OQT right now but obviously that’s a good thing and at least we still have a chance,” he said. “It’s better to have a chance than to have no chance after that.”

The Asian Games are set September 23 to October 8.

Gaccion, Sara lead winners’ list in VisMin JPGT

ALETHEA GACCION drew strength from her 18-hole stroke play win as she held off Velinda Castil’s strong showing in two skills sets in the drive, chip and putt challenge to clinch the overall girls’ 1518 championship in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Junior Philippine Golf Tour (JPGT) VisMin Classic at the Pueblo de Oro Golf and Country Club in Cagayan de Oro over the weekend. Zeus Sara, who placed third in 18hole play Friday, took the boys’ 15-18 overall trophy with 17 points, foiling Simon Wahing and stroke play topnotcher Ken Zonio, who finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively, in the two-day tournament that drew 123 players from the

Fallacious assertion

IT’S almost automatic.  W hen the national basketball team falls short of an intended goal, there are people who will comment on their

should instead go into other sports.

R eally?

Not only is that suggestion ludicrous. But let’s move laterally to see how uninformed that opinion is.

First and foremost, it is the national sport.

S hould England, the inventor of football, give up on the sport since it has not won the FIFA World Cup since 1966?

The United States’ national pastime is baseball but in the World Baseball Classic, they have only won it once. Japan, in contrast, has won it thrice including the most recent one. The Dominican Republic has taken home the trophy once, as many as the United States has.

S hould they give up on baseball since their pupils have exceeded them?

You cannot argue that the program is not successful.

The national team has become a fixture in the FIBA Asia Cup and has made the FIBA World Cup in the last three editions. We rule Southeast Asia with the rare stumble.

You want to reverse that?

9-to-18 age group classes and 15 kids in the 8-and-under category.

O ther division winners were Clement Ordeneza of Del Monte and Isabella Tabanas of Pueblo (13-14), Pueblo’s Ralph Batican and Johanna Uyking of Apo Golf (11-12), and Jared Saban of Brittanika and Cebu’s Zuri Bagaloyos (9-10).

Gaccion and Castil actually finished tied for first with combined 19 points after the 18-hole and DCP (drive, chip and putt) competitions.

But the former took the overall championship with the higher 18hole points to lead 23 others to the national finals of the pioneering Junior PGT Series organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc.

T he national men’s football team made the Asean Football Championship semifinals for the first time in 2010. That was the first time they got out of the group stage. They made the semifinals of the next two editions—2012 and 2014—missed 2016, and returned in 2018, but since missed 2020 and 2022.

So much money made its way into football since the Miracle of Hanoi, but since 2014, progress has stalled and even gone back down.

S hould we stop?

Not at all.

A s Steely Dan once sang, “You go back, Jack, and do it again.”

A s I have said, I think the basketball leadership or even the people as a whole, have created a false sense of expectations.

Yes, “bilog ang bola,” as the saying goes. And we nearly tripped some top squads—Croatia, Serbia and Argentina— in the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Whether they took the Philippines lightly or they were undergoing changes or even

The top three placers in four age divisions will thus join the top Luzon JPGT finishers in the national finals set next month at The Country Club.

A bby Abarcas placed third overall in the girls’ 15-18 with 16 points she earned from two formats.

Gaccion, from Pueblo de Oro, scored 51 Molave points to edge Del Monte’s Castil by two points to top the 18-hole tournament last Friday with Abarcas, also from Del Monte, ending up third with 45 points.

B ut Castil shone in the skills challenge, topping the putting side ahead of Princess Babia and Gaccion, while placing second in chipping ruled by Abarcas with Gaccion winding up third.

both, that was a great moment.

It showed the Philippines can compete.

H owever, since then, and prior to the win against China last Saturday, we did not win a game with many blowouts in between.

A s we also pointed out in another article, even the teams of Iran and China—the traditional powers in Asia until the inclusion of Australia and New Zealand—are out and really have not done well in the ultimate basketball tournament for the entire planet outside the Olympics.

I a m all for the support of other sports but seriously, one cannot support all. They are all in different stages of popularity and participation. For better or for worse, basketball is the national sport.

Deal with it.

O h, hey. We are constantly getting bullied by China about the Spratlys. The government has increased military spending in spite of us not being able to do anything. Surely you do not suggest we put that military spending elsewhere?

IRA ALIDO almost pulls off a double at Luisita.