BusinessMirror September 14, 2020.pdf

8-MONTH GOVT REVENUE DIPS 12% ON VIRUS WOES

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Monday, September 14, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 340

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages |

A RESIDENT of Baseco in Port Area, Manila, tries his luck at catching fish, oblivious to the fact that a couple of kilometers down the bay a controversial government rehabilitation of Manila Bay is in full swing, with critics citing economic, health and legal implications of its P400-million “white-sand” project in the face of a pandemic. NONIE REYES

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

OVERNMENT revenues are still down by 12.17 percent year-on-year from January to August despite the government’s main collecting agencies exceeding the revised combined target for the period.

Citing preliminary data, the Revenue Operations Group (ROG) of the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement at the weekend that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected a combined total of P1.637 tril-

lion, exceeding by 7.17 percent the P1.527 trillion adjusted target set by the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

However, separate data from BIR and BOC showed the combined revenue take as of end-August is still

lower compared to P1.864 trillion collected in the same period last year.

For the seven-month period, BIR’s tax take amounted to P1.289 trillion, dropping by 11.23 percent from P1.452 trillion a year ago.

Nonetheless, it surpassed by 8.08 percent the P1.193 trillion revised target set by DBCC. Meanwhile, the BOC collected P347.55 billion, falling by 15.49 percent from the P411.25 billion it collected from January to August last year. However, BOC managed to beat its goal of P334.44 billion by 3.92 percent in the same period.

For the month of August, both BIR and BOC exceeded their collection targets despite the curtailed economic activities in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces of

Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal from August 4 to 18, when these areas were placed under a strict modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

Combined collections of the BIR and BOC reached P216.65 billion, lower by 16.71 percent from P260.12 billion in 2019.

Of the combined revenue take for the month, BIR’s share was P172.06 billion, falling by 16.31 percent from P205.59 billion in the same month last year.

BIR also surpassed its P118.2 billion target by 45.57 percent.

For its part, BOC collected P44.65 billion, topping the DBCC target of P33.68 billion by 32.58 percent.

However, this was 16.7 percent less than the P53.59 billion it collected in the same month a year ago.

See “Revenue,” A2

Pag-IBIG may postpone hike in contributions

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HE workers’ shelter fund, Pag-IBIG, may put on hold the plan to raise the decades-old monthly contributions of its members in consideration of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on businesses and labor.

Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario, who heads the Department of

Human Settlements and Urban Development and the 11-member PagIBIG Fund Board of Trustees, has instructed the Management of PagIBIG Fund to consult stakeholders again to discuss the possibility of delaying the January 2021 implementation of the P50-increase to the agency’s decades-old P100

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.5790

monthly contributions or savings.

“We recognize that a number of our members and several businesses are experiencing financial hardships brought about by Covid-19. We understand their plight and we want to help them in any way we can. That’s why we are studying the possible delay of

the P50-increase in the members’ monthly savings right now. This is our contribution to the efforts of the administration of President Duterte to alleviate the financial burden of our fellow Filipinos during these challenging times,” said del Rosario.

INVESTMENT PLEDGES SEEN TO CREATE 73K JOBS AMID PANDEMIC

By Cai U. Ordinario

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@caiordinario

HE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) still expects more jobs to be created from investment pledges made by both Filipinos and foreign investors at the height of the Covid-induced lockdowns in the first and second quarter of the year.

Based on the approved foreign and Filipino investments through Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), investments of foreign and Filipino nationals that cleared the hurdle amounted to P691.2 billion in the first semester, higher by 81.3 percent than the P381.2 billion committed in the same period last year.

T hese approved investments in the first semester of 2020 are expected to create 72,702 jobs, a 0.4-percent increase in 72,380 jobs last year.

The most number of jobs will be created in manufacturing.

“Manufacturing would absorb the most number of jobs for the period, with 26,667 or 36.7 percent of the projected total for the semester,” PSA said.

This will be followed by Transportation and Storage where a total of 20,776 jobs will be created or 28.6 percent of the total jobs created from investment pledges.

Another area that will create jobs out of these investments is Administrative and Support Service Activities with 17,766, or a share of 24.4 percent of total jobs.

For investments approved in the second quarter, PSA said around 36,572 jobs will be created. This is 21.4 percent higher than the 30,135 jobs expected from the investments approved in the same period in 2019.

Continued on A2

Continued on A4

n JAPAN 0.4577 n UK 62.2200 n HK 6.2682 n CHINA 7.1086 n SINGAPORE 35.4669 n AUSTRALIA 35.2392 n EU 57.4398 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9523

Source: BSP (September 11, 2020)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, September 14, 2020

Eased transport rules start Monday to boost economy

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HE government started implementing today (September 14) eased transport rules to increase the capacity of various transport modes and “help in the opening and recovery of the economy.”

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Assistant Secretary Goddes Hope O. Libiran said her group will implement the eased rules as planned, as the InterAgency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases “approved on September 7” the reduced physical distancing requirement for transportation.

T he physica l distancing requirement for var ious transport modes will be implemented in phases per fortnight—from the present 1-meter distance which was enforced last August 19, it w ill be reduced to 0.75 meters starting September 14; 0.5 meters starting September 28; and 0.3 meters starting October 12.

In effect, this will increase the capacities of transport modes available during the pandemic, including railways, jeepneys, buses, and sea vessels.

Despite the reduction in physical distancing, the government now requires a “no talking and no answering of calls” policy to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. The usual health protocols such as the wearing of face masks and face shields and constant disinfection will still be in place.

“In the past few days, we have seen and heard the plea of com-

muters for the lack of public transportation. We have also taken into consideration the call of the economic team for the transport sector to help the economy open and recover,” Transportation Undersecretary for Administrative Service Artemio Tuazon Jr. said.

With the easing of physical distancing requirements, the capacity of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 will be gradually increased from 155 passengers per trip to 300 passengers per trip by October; LRT Line 2 will have a max capacity of 502 passengers per trip; the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3 will have 327 max capacity per trip; and the Philippine National Railways (PNR) will have a max capacity of 320 passengers per trip.

Transportation Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John R. Batan noted that this move is being implemented after consultations with medical experts as well as simulation activities in regards to transmission and exposure. His group also considered “international practices” in the pandemic.

For the road sector, jeepneys will have maximum increase in capacity of 12 percent, while 2x2 buses can accommodate as much as three more passengers. UV Express units can also ferry at most two more passengers.

Maritime vessels will have a gradual increase in passenger load between 75 percent to 100 percent through October.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL peso to take cues from Fed policy stance, seen to stay strong

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By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

@Tyronepiad

HE local currency is seen to have support from the Federal Reserve’s policy stance of nearly zero interest rate this week.

RCBC Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said that the Feds are expected to keep the nearly zero policy rate to buoy the US economy.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set to convene this week to decide its policy move on the interest rates.

“Zero Fed rates as well as near

record low US bond yields have sustained weakness of the US dollar in the recent month, still among the lowest in more than two years or since June 2018, as this reduces the attractiveness of the US currency with reduced US interest rate returns,” Ricafort said.

He explained that weak demand

for the dollar spells strength for the peso.

A report by the Union Bank of the Philippines agreed, saying: “We expect a confirmation of the Fed’s near zero, rate stance in this week’s FOMC meeting, likely to result in another round of USD weakness.”

The listed bank added that the external account indicators will be negligible as the dollar reserves nearing $100 billion will offset the decline in remittances from money abroad.

ING Bank Manila Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said that the peso is expected to maintain its strength for a while.

“Given the still anemic corporate demand for the dollar with the out-

look on overall economic activity and imports to remain weak, we expect the peso to remain supported in the near term,” he explained.

Other catalysts are the new Covid-19 cases and measures to further reopen the local economy, Ricafort said.

On Friday, the peso appreciated by 3 centavos to close at P48.54 against the greenback. It is among the strongest closings in nearly four years, according to Ricafort.

The peso has strengthened by 4.1 percent year-to-date.

UnionBank expects the local currency to trade within P48.80 to P48.70 this week. Ricafort, meanwhile, pegged the immediate support at P48 to P48.50 level.

LGUs tap other non-SEF sources for schools

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INCE local governments will take on a more active role in aiding public schools in their areas, some local officials plan to get funding from their general fund —aside from the Special Education Fund (SEF)—for financial support and technical assistance to accelerate the adoption of distance learning of school children.

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto said they will continue to support the Department of Education (DepEd) as the city strengthens their “participatory governance,

school governing councils, expanded local school boards, scholarship programs and many more.”

Sotto said at a “Handang Isip, Handa Bukas!” online press briefing hosted by DepEd that the Pasig LGU had allotted a P1.3 billion to buy tablets for distribution to public school students; laptops for teachers; and support the printing of modules and Internet connectivity.

Sotto said their response to help learners access education despite the pandemic can be described in two words: adaptability and synergy.

When asked by BusinessMirror in a separate interview, Luna, Isabela Mayor Jaime Atayde said they will utilize either general funds or the economic development fund on top of the SEF to support the Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP).

The SEF is sourced from real property taxes collected by local governments, in behalf of the national government. Funding from SEF is regulated by the Civil Service Commission, Department of the Interior and Local Government and DepEd. “We continuously use the funds of our barangay, Sangguniang

Kabataan and local government to support our school learners in Luna,” Atayde said, in a mix of English and Filipino, adding that they also provided gadgets to some students.

“Luna town has already launched Educational TV with two channels for elementary and high-school students. In connection to this, we also distributed televisions in barangays for households who do not have television,” Atayde said.

He said 19 Internet towers were also installed but to limit the use, they gave out Internet coupons for people to access the Internet but within a limited time only.

For Mayor Dan Masinsin of Pililla, Rizal, the local government will also use will use their general fund as source to support the BELCP. “Just like other local governments, we continue to distribute the educational resources to the schools in preparation for the opening of classes,” Masinsin said.

Meanwhile, Sarangani Board Member Jess Bascuña, chairman of the Committee on Education, said they will also tap their regular fund base on the priority of the provincial government “once endorsed by the governor.”

INVESTMENT PLEDGES SEEN TO CREATE 73K JOBS AMID PANDEMIC Continued from A1

PSA said of these anticipated jobs, around 21,840 or 59.7 percent would be generated by projects with foreign interest.

Meanwhile, of the total approved investments for the first semester, data showed 93.5 percent were provided by Filipino investors with investments valued at P646.6 billion.

PSA said the industry with the largest amount of investments was Transportation and Storage, which stands to receive P617.8 billion or 89.4 percent of the total approved investments for the semester.

By region

IN terms of region, PSA said investment pledges for the Januaryto-June period this year reached P554.5 billion or 80.2 percent of the total pledges. “ The bulk of the total approved investments of foreign and Filipino nationals in the first semester of 2020 were intended to finance projects in Region 3,” PSA said.

Investment approvals for Metro Manila will receive the secondlargest amount at 13.9 percent of the total; and Calabarzon, the third largest investments share or 2.4

percent of the total.

Meager foreign share

MEANWHILE, foreign investments accounted for only 6.5 percent of the total investments approved in the first six months of 2020.

PSA data showed total approved foreign investments in the first six months of 2020 only reached P44.6 billion.

This represented a decline of 53.3 percent from the P95.6 billion recorded in the same period of 2019.

PSA said total foreign investments approved in the second quarter of 2020 amounted to P15.5 billion, 68.8 percent lower than the P49.6 billion in the same period in 2019.

The data was based on investment approvals from six IPAs: the Board of Investments (BOI), Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (Afab), and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza).

PSA said no foreign investments were recorded for BOI-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BOI-BARMM) for the reference quarters.

Six strategies

THE DepEd has reiterated its identified six strategies to fund the BELCP as it had to shift its designed 2020 budget away from face-to-face or the traditional learning modality to various modes of distance learning, given the infection risks from Covid-19.

Aside from the SEF, the funding will also come from the following internal and external fund sources: ■ Recalibration or reprogramming of DepEd’s budget through alignment and modification of Programs, Activities and Projects (PAPs); ■ Use of available balance of the school maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE); ■ Enhanced partnerships with Development Partners and access to Official Development Assistance (ODA); ■ Enhanced Brigada Eskwela and maximized private sectors contributions; and ■ Request to DBM (Department of Budget and Management) and/or Congress for Supplemental Budget.

These strategies can help DepEd and its regional offices and school divisions offices to fund the remaining budget requirements needed for LCP. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Revenue…

Continued from A1

For this year, the DBCC expects to collect less revenues due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By year-end, the government is expecting to collect a total of P2.52 trillion, down from P3.14 trillion in 2019 despite estimated an increase in disbursements to P4.335 trillion from P3.798 trillion last year, due to the implementation of measures to combat Covid-19, including those under Bayanihan 1 and 2.

Given the revenue hit, the government has also ramped up its borrowing program from P1.4 trillion to P3 trillion this year to cover the expected doubling of the budget deficit as well as to fund its spending requirements for Covid-19 response.

The budget deficit—when expenditures outpace revenues—is seen to rise to 9.6 percent of GDP or P1.815 trillion from only 3.4 percent of GDP or P660.2 billion last year.

The DBCC also expects the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio this year to increase to 53.91 percent of GDP —a level it has not seen in over a decade — from a record-low of 39.6 percent of GDP last year.

The debt-to-GDP ratio is used to gauge the country’s ability to pay its debts. The government is projecting the economy to contract by 4.5 percent to 6.6 percent this year amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The Nation BusinessMirror

8 LGUs obtain ₧154.87-M revenue share from SBMA

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

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UBIC BAY FREEPORT— Eight local government units (LGUs) near the Subic Bay Freeport received a total of P154.87 million in revenue shares from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) last week, the latest financial package that the Subic agency released despite a downturn in business due to lockdown measures against the pandemic.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma handed over the checks to officials from the beneficiary LGUs last September 10, almost two weeks after the usual lateAugust release because of the difficulty in scheduling face-toface meetings.

Eisma pointed out that the total LGU shares given out this semester decreased from the P175.7 million given in the July-to-December period last year.

Still, the highly urbanized Olongapo City received P36,020,102.98 and remained to be the recipient of the biggest doleout among the LGUs. The following are the other LGUs and their respective revenue share from the SBMA: Subic, Zambales (P23,677,221.95); Dinalupihan, Bataan (P19,262,853);

San Marcelino, Zambales (P18,561,184.24); Hermosa, Bataan (P16,125,939.80); Castillejos, Zambales (P14,496,222.41); Morong, Bataan (P13,458,376.24); and, San Antonio, Zambales (P13,271,704.95).

The SBMA assessed the allocation based on the following: population (50 percent); land area (25 percent); and, equal sharing (25 percent). The shares, which are given to LGUs twice a year, are derived from two percent of the 5-percent gross income taxes collected from business locators in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Shares for the January-toJune period are released in August while shares for July-toDecember are given out every February the next year.

Eisma emphasized that the shares were meant to augment LGU resources and enable stakeholder communities to carry out development projects in health, education, peace and order, and livelihood generation.

Mayor Elvis R. Soria of San Marcelino, Zambales, said the LGU shares would be a big boost to local communities as they grapple with the effects of the pandemic.

“While the LGU shares are usually budgeted for development projects, we hope it can be realigned for use in our Covid-19 response, too,” Soria said.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, September 14, 2020 A3

Lawmaker seeks higher budget for DOLE, ERC

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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N assistant majority leader of the House of Representatives is prodding Congress to increase the 2021 budget allocations for the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Iloilo City Rep. Julienne Baronda said the DOLE should get additional funding next year being one of the frontliners from the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Let us ensure that DOLE and its attached agency OWWA [Overseas Workers Welfare Administration] have the needed budget to help our OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] and all the laborers and workers displaced by the pandemic rebuild their lives,” Baronda, also a member of the House Committee on Economic Affairs and House Committee on Energy, said. “That’s the least that we can do for the labor sector and to the men and women who are mandated to serve and help them.”

Baronda added that the jobs of the OWWA and the DOLE “are not yet over.”

“We need to enable our displaced OFWs to find jobs or do business,” she said. “They are our modern-day heroes who power our economy, no less.”

The OWWA was able to obligate only P1.9 billion or 36.5 percent of the P5.2-billion allotment for Covid-19 initiatives, specifically to augment the Social Protection and Welfare for OFWs program.

Actual disbursements amounted to only P1.32 billion.

The Department of Budget and Management granted the DOLE a P27.5-billion budget under the P4.506-trillion National Expenditure Program for 2021. It is higher by 53.7 percent, or P9.624 billion, than this year’s allocation of P17.908 billion.

The Office of the Secretary will receive the highest allocation of P15.9 billion or 57.8 percent of the total proposed DOLE budget for 2021. This is followed by the OWWA with P7.4 billion, the Professional Regulation Commission with P1.6 billion and the National Labor Relations Commission with P1.4 billion.

Both the OWWA and the Office of the Labor Secretary will capture most of the increments for next year. About P11.631 billion would be for agencies attached to the labor department.

Among the programs lined up by the DOLE for next year include aid for disadvantaged and/or displaced workers amounting to P9.938 billion and for integrated livelihood with a funding of P809.516 million. The latter is a

grant assistance for capacity-building on livelihood for the working poor, vulnerable and marginalized workers, either for individual or group livelihood projects/undertakings.

Meanwhile, the proposed budget for the special program for employment of students is P605.743 million. This is an “employment bridging” program that aims to provide temporary employment to poor but deserving students, out-of-school youth and dependents of displaced or would-be displaced workers.

ERC

MEANWHILE, Baronda also called for a budget increase for the ERC as the DBM only granted more than half of what the agency had requested.

“I believe that electricity is one of the major problems, not only in my district [Iloilo City], but in the entire country. That is why I am very saddened upon knowing that there is a reduction in the proposed budget of the ERC despite their many problems,” she said.

For her part, ERC Chairman Agnes VST Devanadera told lawmakers that with a P1.10-billion budget request allocation, “we are committed and be able to deliver about P200 billion in investment.”

Of the P1.10 billion budget request, the DBM granted only P564.8 million to the ERC for next year.

Govt to offer 2,452 vacancies via job fair

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VER 2,400 vacancies will be available during a weeklong online job fair by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) starting September 14.

The CSC said it was able to secure 2,452 available positions from 249 national government agencies, local government units, governmentowned and -controlled corporations and state universities and colleges for its “Government Online Career Fair.”

The CSC “highly encourages” applicants from the following sectors to apply: persons with disabilities (PWD); members of indigenous communities; and, those from any sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (Sogie).

It noted that first-time applicants will be entitled to a waiver of fees and charges in the issuance or authentication of a copy of Certificate of Eligibility (COE) under the First Time Job Seekers Act. There were only 729 vacancies for the event as of August 31; but this increased after the CSC extended the registration for participating government offices.

The CSC said in a statement on Sunday job seekers are required to go to https://onlinejobfair. jobstreet.com.ph and type in their e-mail address, then fill out the CSC Form 100 or the Personal Data Sheet (PDS) from there.

“The PDS will be automatically attached to the account once created,” it added.

The jobs fair, which will run until September 18, was organized for the 120th anniversary of Philippine Civil Service.

“The [jobs fair] seeks to promote easy access to employment opportunities in the public sector by bringing job seekers and hiring government agencies together in a virtual job fair,” the CSC said. “This is also held to help Filipinos rendered jobless by the Covid-19 [novel coronavirus disease] pandemic.” Samuel P. Medenilla

Agriculture/Commodities

A4 Monday, September 14, 2020 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

BusinessMirror

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‘Bans to make PHL pork products more costly’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HINA’S decision to ban pork shipments from Germany following Berlin’s confirmation of the first outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the European nation could put the Philippines’s pork supply at risk.

Meat Importers and Traders Association President Jesus C. Cham said China’s blanket ban on German pork would put pressure on global supply and international prices.

“The Philippines, being a poor country, is in no position to match the prices China is willing to pay,” Cham told the BusinessMirror on Sunday. “We already see price increases from countries such as the United States.”

The Department of Agriculture (DA) recently imposed a blanket ban on German pork imports after Berlin confirmed an ASF outbreak involving one wild boar in Schenkendöbern, Spree-Neiße, Brandenburg, which

borders Poland whose wild boar population was struck by ASF. However, the Philippines’s borders have been closed to German pork shipments since July 2019 following the involvement of German foreign meat establishments (FMEs) in a commingling issue.

Sources familiar with the matter, however, told the BusinessMirror that the latest blanket ban on Germany came as Berlin was about to obtain reaccreditation for its pork exports to the Philippines after a year-long dialogue to resolve the commingling issue (See “Lift porkimport ban, Germany tells Philippines,” in the BusinessMirror, August 9, 2019).

The sources also said the meat processing industry has been in constant communication with the German Embassy regarding the matter.

Impact on consumers

CHAM said higher international pork prices would be detrimental to the CDE segments “who cannot

afford local meat and relies on imported pork offal and processed meat products.” He added that small meat processors and consumers of street food would also be “badly affected.”

“Production worldwide has not gone back to pre-Covid 19 levels.

We will have difficulty finding pork that is affordable to our massive 80 percent CDE economic class,” he said.

Because of this, Cham appealed anew to the DA to reconsider its blanket bans and conform to scientific principles and guidelines set by international organizations.

He said one of the approaches that the DA could adopt is regionalization wherein countries will impose an import ban only on a specific area struck by outbreaks of animal diseases.

Cham noted that pork trade in the European Union continues despite the confirmation of ASF in some member-countries as long as the shipments are certified free from the fatal hog disease.

Another example, Cham said, is the approach adopted by Can-

ada which has agreed to continue accepting pork from the EU provided that the shipments are certified ASF-free.

Cham noted that local pork inventory is “not plentiful” while imported supplies are “normal” compared to previous years due to reduced consumption during the lockdown.

“Our strategy should not only be to protect pig farms and pork production but also to ensure availability of affordable meat to consumers. Keeping out wholesome pork meat that is certified ASF-free only deprives our consumers and economy of affordable meat and nutrition,” he said.

“We need to revisit our strategy and change our approach. In a way it is like Covid-19—we need to live with it while awaiting a vaccine. We should not isolate ourselves.”

The country’s pork imports from January to August plunged 36.83 percent to 137,131.272 metric tons (MT) from last year’s 217,102.929 MT, latest Bureau of Animal Indus-

try (BAI) data showed.

Last year, the Philippines imported 335,786.89 MT of pork products, more than half of which being byproducts and pork cuts that are used by the meat processing industry.

Meanwhile, the country’s frozen pork inventory as of August 31 was estimated at 43,124.13 MT, of which 80 percent is imported, latest National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) data showed.

NMIS also data showed that the August frozen pork inventory was higher than July’s 40,085.47 MT and bigger than last year’s 36,448.23 MT.

‘Double whammy’

AN industry source familiar with the matter told the BusinessMirror that a prolonged blanket ban by China on German pork is a “double whammy” for meat processors as they would have to pay more for their imported raw materials.

The source, who has been following the development since Berlin confirmed its ASF outbreak, said

Harvest area expansion to prop up rice output in July-September–PSA J

producers of chicharon, longganisa, tocino and even liver spread may be affected by higher global prices.

The source said meat processors that produce liver spread and chicharon use imported pork skin/rind, liver, sirloin and shoulders to make their products affordable.

EU countries, particularly Germany and Spain—the top pork suppliers of the Philippines—offer cheaper prices compared to the US and Canada, according to the source.

“Prices may have to go up in the international market considering that the US, Germany and Spain account for about half of the world’s pork export,” the source said.

However, the source said he does not see the blanket ban imposed by China on German pork to have an immediate impact on the Philippines.

There is also the possibility, the source said, that China will reconsider the blanket ban and opt for the regionalized approach to plug the shortfall in its pork supply.

Meatpacker JBS fined $15,615 after deadly Covid-19 outbreak

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HE country’s unmilled rice production in the third quarter could rise by 16.4 percent to 3.551 million metric tons (MMT), from last year’s 3.051 MMT due to the expansion in harvest area, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In its latest production forecast report, the PSA revised upward its palay harvest estimate for the Julyto-September period from the previous 3.545 MMT. PSA said harvest area during the third quarter may increase by almost 16 percent to 860,000 hectares, from last year’s 742,870 hectares.

“Yield per hectare may rise to 4.13 metric tons, from 4.11 metric tons in

the same period of previous year,” it said in the report published recently.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar told the BusinessMirror via SMS that the “gain” in rice production is a “welcome development.”

Dar attributed the projected increase in rice production to “good weather.”

Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor told the BusinessMirror that their member-farmers are reporting the same “feedback” of higher output in the third quarter.

Citing reports from farmers, Montemayor said good weather will pave the way for higher output as the

As Pemberton flies to US, DOJ ponders VFA impact continued from a8 On September 7, Duterte granted Pemberton an absolute pardon after Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde of the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court Branch 74 ordered his release last September 1, 2020.

Pemberton, now 25, was convicted when he was only 19 years old.

He met Laude, 26, at a nightclub in Olongapo City, outside Subic Bay when he was in the Philippines for joint military exercises in 2014 under the VFA, the legal framework for the temporary visits of US Forces.

Closed-circuit television video presented at trial showed the two entering a hotel together, and Pemberton later leaving alone. A hotel worker found Laude dead, with the head slumped over a toilet. Laude’s neck was broken.

Pemberton, an anti-tank missile operator from New Bedford, Mas-

sachusetts, was among thousands of Americans who have participated in joint drills with Filipinos under the VFA. Duterte terminated the agreement earlier this year, but two months later later backtracked and suspended the termination process.

Duterte defended his decision in a public address on Monday, asserting that Pemberton “should be allowed the good character presumption,” because he had behaved well behind bars. “If there is a time when you are called upon to be fair, be fair,” Duterte said.

Since assuming office in 2016, Duterte has shown a hostile attitude toward the United States, decrying its atrocities against Filipinos while the country was its colony, and thereafter announced his pivot toward China. With Rene Acosta

PHL rice inventory as of Aug. 1 falls 16.3% continued from a8 Last month, rice industry groups sounded the alarm over the government’s rice buffer stock, which they said will last for only seven days based on a nationwide daily consumption rate of 33,000 metric tons (MT).

In the same report, the PSA disclosed that corn inventory as of August 1 grew by 1.1 percent to 732,180 MT from last year’s 724,080 MT. “However, the total corn stocks inventory as of 01 August 2020 was lower by 1.3 percent compared with the previous month’s level of 741,660 thousand metric tons,” the PSA said.

“About 86.8 percent of the current stocks inventory level were in commercial warehouses and 13.2 percent were in the

households,” it added.

Corn stocks held by commercial warehouses reached 635,660 MT while those stored in households were estimated at 96,520 MT, PSA data showed.

“In comparison with the previous year’s same period level, corn stocks in the households and commercial warehouses grew by 3.5 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively,” it said.

“Corn stocks in the households increased by 25.5 percent, while stocks in the commercial warehouses decreased by 4.4 percent relative to the previous month’s level,” it added.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

sunny weather is good for palay.

“It could be that more farmers decided to plant, maybe induced by better prices in the dry season this year. Yield increase is very small and implies that the seed subsidy has not made a lot of difference,” he said.

If the forecast materializes, palay output in the third quarter may be the highest harvest on record for the July-to-September period, based on available PSA data analyzed by the BusinessMirror.

Rice harvest in the third quarter is usually minimal due to bad weather.

The expected increment in output will boost the country’s supply of the staple amid low imports.

The Department of Agriculture said palay output may hit a record of 22 MMT on the back of expanded rice programs.

In the same report, the PSA said corn production in the third quarter may increase by 3.4 percent to 2.817 MMT, from last year’s 2.723 MMT due to the expansion in harvest area, which would offset the decline in yield.

“Harvest area may rise to 919,580 hectares, from 874, 400 hectares in 2019. Yield per hectare may decrease to 3.06 metric tons from the 3.11 metric tons in the same period of previous year,” the PSA added.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Solons tout revenue, aid features of Bayanihan 2, oversight unit eyed continued from a8 P17.5-B POGO revenue

MINORITY Leader Drilon said Bayanihan 2 redefined the taxation of POGO and tightened the regulations in a bid to raise funds to augment the government’s dwindling resources.

“The Bayanihan 2 will more than double the tax collection from POGO—from P7 billion estimated collection in 2019 to approximately P17.5 billion this year because of the reforms we have introduced in the measure,” said Drilon in an interview with DWIZ, citing estimates by the Department of Finance.

Drilon noted that the government had been meaning to tap into the offshore gaming industry to close budget gaps in the P165-billion stimulus fund. The Bayanihan 2 can only fund up to P140 billion. Thus, the measure sets aside P25 billion as standby appropriation which can be funded when there are additional revenues or windfall collections, Drilon explained.

“All revenues from POGO will be used to fund the various types of assistance laid out in the Bayanihan 2 for all sectors affected by the pandemic,” he added.

Bayanihan 2 also tightened the regulations on POGO to fix the loopholes in the current system, Drilon said.

Telco towers hurdle

THE Bayanihan 2 also paves the way for faster construction of cell towers in the country which is often cited as having the most expensive, yet slowest, Internet connection in Asia, noted Drilon.

A provision that Drilon proposed temporarily suspends most permits for the installation and operation of cell towers in the country within the next three years.

There are about 29 to 35 documentary requirements and permits before a single tower could be built in a subdivision, barangay or town, Drilon noted, adding that telcos often cite the difficulty in getting clearances and permits

to build cell sites and towers, which can take years to complete.

Drilon also authored a provision against the issuance of any temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction against the construction of telecommunications infrastructure, including cell sites and cell towers by courts except for the Supreme Court.

Initial stimulus

MEANWHILE, Villafuerte said Bayanihan 2’s P165.5-billion budget “would just be an initial stimulus package, considering the immense resources required to spell a strong and early recovery for the sectors reeling from the global economic fallout unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.”

He expressed hope that Malacañang can raise more resources in months ahead “to bankroll further stimulus packages needed for an early and strong economic rebound.”

The House earlier approved proposals on the P1.5-trillion Covid-19 Unemployment Reduction Economic Stimulus Act (CURES) and P1.3-trillion Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy Act (ARISE), which both call for aggressive spending to rev up the economy and ease the pandemic’s impact on its worst-hit sectors.

For his part, Abante said the country “literally cannot afford the misuse of these funds.”

Abante said: “Because of Covid-19 our revenue collections went down, and that’s why the 2020 tax collection goal went down to P1.74 trillion from the P2.26trillion target the BIR set in March. Funds are scarce, and we must make the most of what we have.

“Second, we cannot allow these funds to gather dust because of slow or delayed implementation,” said the solon.

“Third, we cannot lose funds meant for our kababayan to corruption,” added Abante.

BS Foods, the world’s largest meat producer, was issued a $15,615 fine for failing to protect staff from the coronavirus in a Colorado facility where at least six workers have reportedly died.

The fine from the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), announced late Friday, came one day after regulators in the United States issued a penalty of $13,494 for a similar infraction by Smithfield Foods Inc., the first sanction against a meatpacker connected with a deadly Covid-19 outbreak.

The fine levied against Smithfield drew outrage as inadequate from two senators, a former safety official and a major national union. OSHA said it was the maximum allowed by law.

São Paulo-based JBS on Saturday called the OSHA citation “entirely without merit,” saying the federal agency was attempting to “impose a standard that did not exist in March” when the meat producer fought the pandemic “with no guidance.”

The company’s Greeley, Colorado, facility “is in full compliance” with all recommended guidance, and has been audited by health and government experts, JBS said.

OSHA also said the fine against JBS was the maximum allowable.

JBS has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference, or

contest the findings.

Six workers from the Greeley plant have died from coronavirus, according to Food & Environment Reporting Network, a nonprofit that tracks outbreaks in America’s food system.

Company incentivized

UNITED Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents more than 3,000 workers at the plant, put the death toll at seven in an e-mailed statement, and said the small fine “incentivizes the company to continue endangering its employees.”

“It is immoral and unethical, but in the current administration, unfortunately not illegal, that OSHA waited seven months to investigate the unsafe working conditions that led to this deadly outbreak,” said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7.

The meatpacking industry was an early epicenter of coronavirus as the disease rapidly spread among its often poorly paid, immigrant employees working in close quarters for extended periods. As of September 11, at least 252 workers in meatpacking, food processing and farm had died, FERN’s data show.

The Greeley facility has had 14 confirmed cases in the past three and half months, the company said in a statement. Bloomberg News

Pag-IBIG may postpone hike in contributions continued from a1

In November 2019, the Pag-IBIG Fund Board approved the staggered increase of the members’ monthly savings from P100 to P150 by January 2021, and to P200 by January 2023.

The approved increases also apply to their employers’ share.

Both labor and employer groups expressed stupport for the move as Pag-IBIG Fund officials held months of public consultations before approving the increase.

Stakeholders took note that PagIBIG Fund contributions had remained unchanged for three decades already.

“The adjustments in members’ monthly savings were meant to provide the necessary additional funds to sustain the growing demand for housing.

In the last five years, the demand for Pag-IBIG Fund housing loans steadily grew at an average rate of 17.5 percent annually. We expected then, that raising the monthly savings gradually by P50 will infuse more funds so that Pag-IBIG can continue to offer the lowest rates in the market and help more members acquire homes of their own,” del Rosario said.

He continued: “But again, the study and consultations were done in 2019.

The continuing pandemic this 2020 has changed all that. So I urged the Pag-IBIG Fund Management to renew consultations with our stakeholders.”

Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti, meanwhile, said they will start consulting stakeholders again in the coming weeks following del Rosario’s call. “We will be in talks again with labor unions, nongovernment organizations and employer groups and we will consider their stand before we proceed. It is important for us to consult them and hear their voices before we decide. As managers of the Filipino workers’ fund, we need to consider the plight of our members and business owners during the pandemic,” Moti said.

He added that, “Pag-IBIG Fund’s strong financial position allows us to consider delaying the increase in our members’ monthly savings. At the current monthly savings rate of P100, in addition to our housing and short-term loan payment collections, we have more than enough funds to support the home loan needs of our members. We would like to assure our members and stakeholders that we remain true to our commitment to serve them, especially amid the challenges we are facing today.”

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

U.S. reports deadliest virus day as global deaths near 1 million

T

he US reported its deadliest day since August 26 while the global death toll from the novel coronavirus moved closer to 1 million.

US deaths related to Covid-19 increased by 1,215 on Friday, making it the deadliest day since August 26, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.

Reported virus cases increased by 46,975, a 0.7-percent rise on the day compared with a 0.6-percent increase over the previous week.

Deaths from Covid-19 topped 14,000 in Texas, after the state reported 146 additional fatalities for a total of 14,143. The number of cases climbed 0.6 percent to 657,589, the Department of State Health Services said on its web site. That compares with an average 0.5-percent increase in the previous seven days.

California reported 4,107 new virus cases on Saturday, higher than the 14-day average of 4,033, for a total of 750,298, according to the health department’s web site. The number of deaths increased by 162, the most since Sept. 4, to 14,251. The two-week average for deaths is 101.

New York reported 849 cases, its second straight day with more than 800, but the 0.2-percent rise was in line with the average daily increase of the previous seven days. Another two deaths were reported.

Meanwhile, almost half the prisoners in a Virginia correctional facility are infected with Covid-19, the facility said on Saturday. Two died on Saturday, for a total of six fatalities in the Deerfield Correctional Center, the worst hit in the state.

The prison—which houses many old and ill inmates—has a total of 407 cases out of a total population of about 925.

The entire correctional system has tested extensively and has found many asymptomatic cases and intervened to prevent the virus from spreading further, the facility said.

Politico: Trump aides sought review of CDC Data

US health department spokesman Michael Caputo and other aides asked for the right to read and suggest changes to weekly Covid-19 reports from the Centers for Disease Control, Politico reported.

Communications aides from the US Department of Health and Human Services complained to CDC Director Robert Redfield that the agency’s reports would undermine President Donald Trump’s upbeat messaging about the pandemic, according to the report, which cited e-mails and people familiar.

While CDC employees pushed back against changes to the Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, a document for medical professionals and the general public, they have increasingly allowed political appointees to review the reports and agreed to amend language in some cases, Politico said.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement that Trump “ has always been receptive to the data and science presented by me and other members” of the Covid-19 task force. CDC officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Bloomberg News

Monday, September 14, 2020

A5

Oxford University, AstraZeneca resume coronavirus vaccine trial

L

ONDON—Oxford University announced on Saturday it was resuming a trial for a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, a move that comes days after the study was suspended following a reported side-effect in a UK patient.

In a statement, the university confirmed the restart across all of its UK clinical trial sites after regulators gave the go-ahead following the pause on Sunday.

"The independent review process has concluded and following the recommendations of both the independent safety review committee and the UK regulator, the MHRA, the trials will recommence in the UK,” it said.

The vaccine being developed

by Oxford and AstraZeneca is widely perceived to be one of the strongest contenders among the dozens of coronavirus vaccines in various stages of testing around the world.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the restart, saying in a tweet that it was “good news for everyone” that the trial is “back up and running.”

The university said in large trials such as this “it is expected

that some participants will become unwell and every case must be carefully evaluated to ensure careful assessment of safety."

It said globally some 18,000 people have received its vaccine so far. Volunteers from some of the worst affected countries—Britain, Brazil, South Africa and the US—are taking part in the trial.

Brazil's health regulator Anvisa on Saturday said it had approved the resumption of tests of the "Oxford vaccine" in the South American country after receiving official information from AstraZeneca.

Although Oxford would not disclose information about the patient’s illness due to participant confidentiality, an AstraZeneca spokesman said earlier this week that a woman had developed severe neurological symptoms that prompted the pause. Specifically, the woman

is said to have developed symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare inflammation of the spinal cord.

The university insisted that it is “committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our studies and will continue to monitor safety closely."

Pauses in drug trials are commonplace and the temporary hold led to a sharp fall in AstraZeneca's share price following the announcement on Tuesday.

T he Ox ford-A stra Zeneca study had been previously stopped in July for several days after a participant developed neurological symptoms that turned out to be an undiagnosed case of multiple sclerosis that researchers said was unrelated to the vaccine.

During the third and final stage of testing, researchers look for any signs of possible side effects that may have gone undetected in earlier patient research.

Because of their large size, the studies are considered the most important study phase for picking up less common side effects and establishing safety. The trials also assess effectiveness by tracking who gets sick and who doesn’t between patients getting the vaccine and those receiving a dummy shot.

Dr. Charlotte Summers, a lecturer in intensive care medicine

at the University of Cambridge, said the pause was a sign that the Oxford team was putting safety issues first, but that it led to “much unhelpful speculation.”

"To tackle the global Covid-19 pandemic, we need to develop vaccines and therapies that people feel comfortable using, therefore it is vital to maintaining public trust that we stick to the evidence and do not draw conclusions before information is available," she said.

Scientists and others around the world, including experts at the World Health Organization, have sought to keep a lid on expectations of an imminent breakthrough for coronavirus vaccines, stressing that vaccine trials are rarely straightforward.

Italy’s health minister, Roberto Speranza, welcomed the resumption of the vaccine trial, but warned that prudence was still necessary.

“Science is at work to give the world efficient and secure treatments and vaccines,” he said. “In the meantime, the key continues to be our behavior.”

Italy, which was ground zero for Europe's outbreak, is one of the main countries investing in the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Two other vaccines are in huge, final-stage tests in the United States, one made by Moderna Inc. and the other by Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech. AP

A6

Monday, September 14, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Covid-19: It’s not over yet, maybe

W

ith the data from the Department of Health often delayed and “adjusted,” it is difficult for the average person to get a grip on the genuine Covid-19 situation in the Philippines. As with all data examination, the larger the number, the less likely accurate conclusions can be drawn.

Therefore, it might be better to look at other data rather than the number of cases, deaths, or tests conducted. A month ago, there was great and valid concern about the facilities dedicated to Covid patients being overwhelmed. At one point in the National Capital Region, we were up to nearly 80 percent of all Intensive Care Units and Isolation wards being occupied.

Currently, less than 50 percent of ICU and Isolation units nationwide are occupied, and about 60 percent of that number is in the NCR. However, here again the data is not as “clean” as it might appear. When there was concern, some if not many hospitals opened up more ICU and isolation beds for Covid patients.

Many people during the lockdown did take the time to learn a foreign language or organize their closets. But perhaps people spent most of their time becoming professionals at “20/20 hindsight.”

God help the next virus that tries to take over the world because there are now legions of health experts with answers that are ready to do battle. We are prepared with a range of options from North Korea’s “shoot on sight” anyone displaying symptoms of illness, to Sweden’s basic strategy of letting the virus run its course.

In fact, Sweden became one of the most “hated” countries in 2020 for not following the mass lockdown protocols used by almost every other nation. The New York Times called Sweden a “pariah state.” That is the sort of language usually reserved for a nation that uses nerve gas to kill its own citizens (Iraq) or has a leader who reportedly boasts “I keep the decapitated heads of political enemies in my freezer.”

But it turns out that Sweden is like the smartest person in high school that everybody hated. That person goes on to invent a Smartphone app that makes him or her a billionaire and you use it every day. You remember their name; they don’t remember yours.

Sweden did suffer a large number of preventable deaths in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Who would have figured that a bunch of old and probably sick people in one place would probably get sick and die if Covid was spread in there?

But here is the cautionary tale. Anders Tegnell, the Swedish state epidemiologist and architect of the “Sweden strategy,” says: “To believe that once the vaccine is here, we can go back and live as we always have done. I think that’s a dangerous message to send because it’s not going to be that easy.”

Nonetheless, we need to take our chances, take proper precautions, and get back to work. But it is confusing. A couple of months ago, standing less than two meters from a stranger might be a death sentence. Now, we will be down to 0.75 of a meter on public transportation.

But then again, economic experts are now health experts and medical practitioners know what is best for the economy. Thank goodness there are only 108 days left until 2021.

A note for mayors

I

The world’s city mayors have the power to use resources and implement policies that will enable their cities to help in the overall economic recovery. The group believes that cities have the capability to cut emissions by 90 percent and to create 87 million jobs by 2030, yielding an economic return of $24 trillion by 2050 in cost savings alone.

These mayors see the pandemic as an opportunity to transform the world’s great cities and create a new normal for the benefit of the cities’ inhabitants. At the same time, their efforts are geared toward addressing the threats of climate change. Mayor Sala wrote, “We must not only treat the symptoms of global destabilization, but also prepare for future shocks and address deep, systemic ills that existed long before Covid-19.

The world’s city mayors have the

and zero-carbon mass transit. They intend to transform their respective economies into inclusive systems that will benefit everyone. For example, programs will be launched to train and upskill workers and to support the cities’ essential workers.

To enable their cities to deal with future shocks, the mayors plan to strengthen the foundations of a fair society and build a strong economy that can provide basic public services for every resident. This includes safe mass transit and access to clean water, food, sanitation, and affordable, healthy housing.

Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

N a new effort to lead cities toward a better path as they recover from the tragedies brought about by Covid-19, the C40 Global Mayors Covid-19 Recovery Task Force was born. It was initiated

by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala to bring together mayors from all over the world to create a solid plan for the green recovery of their cities.

An invitation for RSA to expand the PAREX dream

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power to use resources and implement policies that will enable their cities to help in the overall economic recovery. The group believes that cities have the capability to cut emissions by 90 percent and to create 87 million jobs by 2030, yielding an economic return of $24 trillion by 2050 in cost savings alone.

These cities will prioritize the creation of green jobs, safe and affordable housing for the people, resilient infrastructure, renewable energy,

Part of the plan is to create “15-minute cities” where every basic need is accessible to everyone via a short walk or bike ride. There will be permanent reallocation of road space to pedestrians and cyclists and investments in nature-based solutions like parks, green roofs, and permeable pavements to reduce the dangers of extreme heat, drought and flooding. As a result, there will be more green spaces and cleaner air to promote healthier, sustainable lifestyles.

The cities that are part of the task force have already started to implement programs and actions to turn the above mentioned plans into reality. It would be great if some of our Philippine mayors could become part of this global task force, or create a local version of the worldwide effort to create a better future for the cities of the world.

Covid-19 has certainly taught us many lessons, and I hope that these will not go unheeded, especially by our leaders who have the capability to build places and a future that is safe, healthy and abundant.

Thomas M. Orbos

STREET TALK

A

welcome development is the recent pronouncement by San Miguel Corp. on their Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) project, which is now undergoing review by the national government. This project, estimated to cost P95 billion, intends to connect the western and eastern side of Metro Manila utilizing the banks of the Pasig River, via a six-lane elevated expressway. This will contribute immensely to traffic decongestion as well as spur economic development, especially in the eastern Metro Manila communities. Included in this project is San Miguel’s commitment to dredge the river—a gargantuan task that many past government administrations tried but failed to do. With San Miguel’s visionary leader, Mr. Ramon Ang or “RSA” at the helm, such a task is now believable and achievable. The impact of the project does not stop there. Now open for the taking are other potential projects associated with the Pasig River that only someone like RSA can initiate and realize.

Some suggestions: Pasig River Public Transport Corridor—The 19.4-kilometer highway though intended for road vehicles can also be combined with a good rail-based transit mode or at the very least a BRT type of public transport service. The needed infrastructure for such a project will now be minimal as the base foundations needed will be redundant because of the roadway project. More importantly, this will democratize the project by providing affordable mass transport to a greater number of the populace. Also, this can be our first green public transport corridor,

utilizing electric vehicle buses to ply the route.

Pasig River Tollway—To continuously maintain the condition of the river, as well as fund its development, a river tollway system to include all marine vehicles plying the corridor as well as the charging of the applicable berthing fees for such parked marine vehicles can be implemented, similar to a land-based tollway.

In this manner, a more responsible commercial use of the river system can be achieved at no cost to the government. Included in this would be the continuous dredging of the river that will allow heavier cargos to cross

With San Miguel’s visionary leader, Mr. Ramon Ang or “RSA” at the helm, such a task is now believable and achievable.

The impact of the project does not stop there. Now open for the taking are other potential projects associated with the Pasig River that only someone like RSA can initiate and realize.

Metro Manila at a lower cost than doing it via land. Imagine carrying down loads of products from Rizal to Cavite, now faster and in greater volume. Not only will it help in traffic decongestion but this will also provide a cheaper way of bulk transport.

Revival of the MAPALA Ferry—The PAREX project can jumpstart another dream project that has been in the drawers of our transport policymakers for the longest time.

This is the Manila Bay-Pasig RiverLaguna de Bay (MAPALA) ferry link, which would entail the operations of ferry services in these aforementioned areas. Think of it as a super water-based river corridor that would make possible commerce and travel from Rizal and Laguna provinces all the way to Manila Bay—therefore Cavite and Bataan. And with San Miguel’s Bulacan Airport now beginning construction, such a river ferry connection will be even more valuable to those residing in the eastern front.

Revival and expansion of Laguna de Bay circumferential road project—Again one of the many

“dream” projects in the past, this can easily be jump-started as well as expanded similar to the extension projects that San Miguel has done with their land-based expressways.

Integrated Laguna Bay Aquaculture Project—With San Miguel’s involvement in food production, a valuable contribution can be made to the present state of aquaculture development in the area, especially in Laguna Lake. Vital infrastructure such as state of the art buying stations, blast freezing facilities, as well as refrigerated marine vehicles can increase production and value to the present aqua producers in the area as well as bring down costs and assure freshness of produce for the consumers.

Indeed, there are endless possibilities that the PAREX project can engender, including ones that will provide needed solutions to our evergrowing metropolis, including the plan for an expanded Metro Manila territory. Rivers have always been and continue to be the lifeblood and the heart and soul of many civilizations. We, as Metro Manilans, have almost failed in our responsibility to preserve our very own river system.

But with San Miguel’s PAREX project, we can now see this being realized, including dream projects that we didn’t expect to see in our horizon.

Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He has completed his graduate studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and is an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Regulatory compliance ecosystem

Absolute? Absolutely!

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT Third of a series

A

fter my stint as the Commissioner of Internal revenue of the BIR, from 2019 to 2020, I shifted back to tax and consulting practice and engaged in my own business. From a government regulator, I was transposed back to being a complier of government rules and procedures. During this time, I experienced both the feeling of frustration of contending with long delayed and substantial regulatory requirements, as well as the satisfaction of receiving prompt action from hard working public employees.

I returned to the realm of government regulatory work when I was appointed in June 2014 as the Chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy (Boa).

The Boa is the regulator of the accountancy profession, as well as the qualifier of Certified Public Accountants. The profession is one of the oldest in the Philippines, with the Boa being created by law in 1923 to pursue its mandate. The accounting community is composed of several stakeholders, including the CPAs, the accounting students and teachers, the government accountants, the bookkeepers and accountants in industry and business, and the global standard setting institutions.

For the more than five years of my Chairmanship, I was able to steer the profession and its constituents with the “Expanding Horizons” strategy and vision that I formulated.

One of my priority concern was enhancing the regulatory compliance environment for the various stakeholders. Because of the large number of players and the antiquated environment in the profession and industry, I initiated a strategy of overhauling and updating the educational and regulatory framework and ecosystem. I prioritized on transforming the entry gateway of the CPAs—the Professional Licensure Examinations. The accountancy law provided that all persons aspiring to become a CPA in the Philippines have to graduate from a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy degree and pass the qualifying PLE administered by the Boa. It has been about 45 years since the PLE was last revised. It was time to make major changes.

The changes were effected in Boa Resolutions 274 and 275 Series of 2015, and 114 Series of 2016. These changes included the reduction of the number of examination subjects from seven to six, the consolidation of the previous separate practice and theoretical subjects for Auditing to just one module, the abolition of the Business Law and Taxation subject, the creation of two new subjects consisting of a stand-alone examination subject for Taxation and a new Regulatory Framework for Business Transactions (RFBT), and an overhauled table of specifications and coverage for all examination subjects.

I will dwell on two PLE subjects that have the greatest impact on regulatory compliance. These are taxation and the RFBT. The Boa Resolution 275-2015 prescribed new topics for the RFBT and Taxation beginning

One of my priority concern was enhancing the regulatory compliance environment for the various stakeholders. Because of the large number of players and the antiquated environment in the profession and industry, I initiated a strategy of overhauling and updating the educational and regulatory framework and ecosystem. in the October 2017 CPA Board examinations. These new topics include the regulatory compliance measures and laws that are encountered even by the new CPAs in the course of their work and engagements.

The new topics for RFBT are the compliance provisions in Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act, the Revised Securities Act, Security Exchange Commission circulars and issuances, Code of Corporate Governance, Cooperative Code, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

Law, Secrecy of Bank Deposits and Unclaimed Balances Law, General Banking Law, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the New Central Bank Act, Intellectual Property Law, Law on Patents, Law on Trademark, Service Marks and Trade Names, and the Law on Copyright.

On the other hand, the new topics to be covered are the compliance provisions in the Local Government Code, Senior Citizens Law, Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, 3 Special Economic Zone Act, Omnibus Investments Code, Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Act, Tariff and Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. The principles in Double Taxation Agreements are also included in light of the need for CPAs to keep abreast of the globalization thrust of businesses. These new topics are in addition to the National Internal Revenue Code.

The changes are really a game changer to address the requirements of the profession and the various communities operating in a complex regulatory ecosystem.

(To be continued)

Joel L. Tan-Torres is the 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.

This column accepts contributions from the business community. Articles not exceeding 600 words can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

P

ardon is the total extinction of the criminal liability of the recipient to whom it is granted without any condition. Except for a few cases listed under the Constitution, the President can exercise this power of executive clemency. Jurisprudence has established that this pardoning power is exercised as an act of grace and humanity in proper cases, without such a power of clemency, “a country would be most imperfect and deficient in its political morality and in that attribute of deity whose judgments are always tempered with mercy.” The grant of pardon is therefore premised on the valid assumption that there are imperfections in any justice system.

In a speech last week, President Duterte unequivocally declared that (translated from Bisaya) “the power to commute and to pardon is absolute. May discretion lang. The people I grant pardon to is my responsibility (sic). You do not question because the Constitution says it is an absolute power. It doesn’t involve the Congress. That’s mine alone.” Note that Art. VII, Sec. 19 of our Constitution provides for some limitations whereby the President cannot exercise this pardoning power in impeachment and election cases. Further, pardon cannot be applied if the conviction is not yet final, and, more importantly, it is subject to judicial review. As such, pardons are theoretically reversible but only by the Supreme Court.

Hence, this presidential discretion

as to how and why is never absolute, contrary to the statement of President Duterte.

According to the Supreme Court, in the case of Monsanto v. Factoran Jr., “the very essence of pardon is forgiveness or remission of guilt.”

Pardon does not erase the fact of the commission of the crime and does not wash out the moral stain.

“It involves forgiveness and not forgetfulness.” Thus, when President Duterte granted pardon to US Marine corporal Pemberton, he simply exercised a presidential prerogative as legitimately conferred upon him by the Constitution. As long as the legal requisites are present and the constitutional limitations are observed, his wisdom to forgive is beyond scrutiny. He does not even have to expound on the reasons for such

Bloomberg Opinion

P

resident Donald J. Trump’s poll numbers are bleak. No matter the outcome in November, however, on at least one issue his side can declare victory: The era of free trade, already on the wane, is officially over. It has been replaced by a new “America first” industrial policy, which even Trump’s Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, has now embraced.

Biden’s campaign is shifting its

economic focus from “green jobs” to “reversing offshoring.” In political terms, the proposal goes at Trump’s (relative) strength—the economy.

On policy terms, however, Biden is continuing the abandonment of the economic narrative that has sustained centrist Democrats since the 1990s. The basic story was that offshoring and deindustrialization were inevitable, and the important thing was to train Americans for the jobs of the 21st century.

Indeed, until very recently economists who served in Democratic

pardon as the matter often comes down to having connections to the right people or those whose release fits into a strategic political agenda.

As a pardon is not retrospective, it makes no amends for the past and affords no relief for the offender.

Some may share the anguish of the Laude family but that is how pardon is carried out in our Constitution. It does not impose upon the government any obligation to make reparation for it is assumed that the judicial body has taken care of such amends.

In contrast, the kind of pardon given to us by our Almighty God is very different. From what I understand, God freely pardons us, not based on who we know or if we fit into a hidden agenda. His pardon is absolutely, without limitation, dependent solely on His abundant mercy and grace. Widely known as the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon considered God as “ready to pardon.” He said that our Almighty God is not one who may possibly pardon and not one who may be convinced to pardon due to strong persuasion. Believers are fortunate to have a God “ready to pardon,” who is more than willing-ready, and just “waiting to be gracious.”

For those who criticize the Pemberton pardon, we have to remember that the President’s prerogative to pardon a convicted murderer need not be explained. While there can be some political considerations not known to the public, we need to respect this grant of executive clem-

A7

ency. It might look unfair as some sectors are now calling for the release of General Jovito Palparan and other high profile convicts. In the Bible, Isaiah 55:7 tells us, “Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Those who ask for pardon but in return show apostasy and rebellion may find difficulty to receive God’s grace unless their hearts reflect genuine repentance and humility. Charles Spurgeon said, “The Lord’s readiness to pardon is very conspicuous to sinners, because he sends his message of love to them while they are yet in their sins. He presents perfect pardon through Jesus Christ to them, even while they are sinners, for “Christ died for the ungodly.”

So, whenever a pardon is given by any President, it is never absolute.

The power as well as the effects are not absolute as they seem. Whereas, whenever a pardon is given by our Almighty God, it is always absolute.

Grace undeserved, our offenses are forgiven and forgotten, absolutely!

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.

Public disclosure in the fight against corruption

By Jose Antonio Cangco

C

orruption did not start with Adam and Eve. It started in ancient times when leaders dipped their hands for their own selfish purposes in the kingdom and state coffers that were meant for the people.

Corruption is a global problem that is happening in high-income (developed) countries, newly emerging economies, and low-income (developing) countries in varying scales.

But this is not an excuse for anybody to steal: even though everyone does it, one should have the moral strength not to follow the wicked.

To understand the fight against corruption, let us first examine the three ways in which the officials given public trust who get involved in any kind of theft can successfully achieve their aim: confusion, delay, and lies. Then we will look at how public disclosure helps mitigate corruption in government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), departments, bureaus, and other agencies in the government sector.

If there is connivance with other willing participants, confusion can be employed on records and documents by blurring contents, obscuring them with erroneous entries and false transactions. The more errors there are in a document, the more money, time, and effort auditors and investigators will have to use to trace and find them.

Another way for dishonest officials to circumvent investigation and hide their actions is by delaying the posting, recording, submission, and transmission of the needed records. The documents and papers

are spread in different parts of the country where they have branches at the regional, city and municipal levels. This is done until the issue cools down, is forgotten, or dies a natural death.

The third way for corrupt and thieving public officials can hide their actions is by outright denial.

They tell lies, they claim innocence by feigning ignorance or they point fingers to somebody who becomes their sacrificial lamb. They escape criminal and administrative charges by leaving the country with their families. These are usually the methods employed by thieving officials who were given public trust to achieve their aims.

As the title says, how can public disclosure help mitigate corruption in GOCCs and other government offices? What is meant by public disclosure?

Big private companies that are listed in the Philippine Stock Exchanges (or in any Exchanges in countries where the companies are listed) have stockholders who buy and sell shares of stocks to people who want to invest. To ensure that everybody will have the correct information and data that can affect the operations of the company, thus its share price, all the relevant operating and financial facts are disclosed in an electronic home or portal. Hence, all interested

Biden embraces Trumpism on free trade

By Karl W. Smith

Monday, September 14, 2020

administrations said that concern about trade was misplaced. Manufacturing jobs losses, they argued, were driven by technology, and any attempt to stem those losses was bound to backfire.

The left wing of the party never quite bought this narrative, of course, and discontent with it predates the 2020 Democratic primary.

(Recall that in 2016, Hillary Clinton ran against a trade deal, the TransPacific Partnership, that she helped negotiate.) Still, through much of former President Barack Obama’s

tenure, this was conventional wisdom. Even Obama, who was skeptical of free trade as a candidate, was thoroughly converted by 2016, when he wrote an essay for the Economist extolling free trade as a way of expanding opportunity for working Americans. The Trump administration’s trade agenda, by contrast, is focused on expanding US exports rather than reducing barriers to free trade. While that agenda has met with limited success at best, the Democratic response has been to question not its premises but its

parties will have equal and useful information that they could act on in a timely manner. Such portal ensures transparency.

It is necessary that all departments, bureaus, GOCCs, and other institutions performing governmental or proprietary functions recognize the need for an honest accounting and reporting of how our taxes are being used. Likewise, the revenues generated by them must be fully disclosed and should not be kept hidden from the public.

The Electronic Disclosure Generation Technology (EDGE) run by the Philippine Stock Exchange is a good analogy of what I mean. EDGE is “a state-of-the-art, fully automated system that facilitates the efficient processing, validation, submission, distribution, and analysis of timesensitive disclosure reports submitted to the Exchange.”

Let us take an example. When a GOCC wants to upgrade its IT system costing tens of millions of pesos (apparently, a new better, improved version is released every year), it must first be approved by a board resolution. A copy of the board resolution would then be transmitted and posted online on the government disclosure portal. When bidding is opened to the public, the results of the bidding, the final contract price, revisions and change orders, percentage of completion, and everything else related to the IT upgrade must be made public in a timely fashion.

One government clerk is all that it takes to scan a hundred documents a day and another clerk to upload them to the portal. Like what is being done at EDGE, there should be

penalties imposed for delays in the submission.

Financial reports comprising the balance sheet, revenue and expense statement, and cash flow statement, as well as any material information should be made available on the portal. In this way, private watchdogs, interested parties, the media, and the general public will have access to the information. They will be able to review, question, and point out data that are incomplete and missing in the reports and highlight discrepancies from outside independent sources of information.

Commission of errors, omission of relevant information, habitual delays, and flagrant violations of the rules of the government portal are considered as red flags.

Government corporations and agencies are not private concerns that are primarily in business, so they are not in competition with one another. They should have no trade secrets, closed-door dealings, and private transactions. By adopting a transparent policy, it will be easy to trace the perpetrators of the corrupt acts by following the trail, electronic or otherwise. The Filipino and the foreign taxpayers’ money will be protected.

execution. Biden’s proposal criticizes Trump for failing to close loopholes that would stop companies from outsourcing. It proposes not only to reverse the preferential treatment of foreign profits, but also to add an additional 10% tax penalty for any US company that manufactures products overseas for sale in the US, or locates overseas a service center that deals with US customers.

In addition, Biden’s campaign has promised to end all deductions and capital expensing for firms that use offshore production that could “plau-

sibly” be done by US workers. That’s a sharp turn from Biden’s rhetoric just a year and a half ago, when he criticized both the extreme left and the extreme right for turning their back on globalization.

At the time, Biden argued that clear rules of the road were all that was needed for US companies to thrive in a global environment. Today he’s added not only penalties for shipping jobs overseas but also a 10% “Made in America” tax credit for companies that bring production back to the US.

Jose Antonio Cangco has a Business Management degree from the Ateneo de Manila University and an Accounting degree from PSBA, QC. He contributed articles on ancient eastern knowledge and other subjects to the Philippine Panorama from May 2006 to December 2013. He also worked as an online editor, translator and writer on regulatory compliance at EBAR Abstracting Co. Inc. which supplies web content to www.thomsonreuters.com.

He is now retired.

A8 Monday, September 14, 2020

As Pemberton flies to US, DOJ ponders VFA impact T

PHL rice inventory as of Aug. 1 falls 16.3%

By Joel R. San Juan & Recto Mercene

J

THE US Embassy in Manila released a short statement on Sunday morning. “All legal proceedings in the case took place under Philippine jurisdiction and law. Lance Cpl. Pemberton fulfilled his sentence as ordered

by Philippine courts and he departed the Philippines on September 13,” the statement said.

From his detention cell at the Jusmag area in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Pemberton boarded a BI vehicle early Sunday morning and was escorted by the US Military and embassy personnel in Manila.

Wearing a gray shirt and a black face mask, Pemberton appeared calm as he talked to his escorts before boarding.

HE country’s rice inventory as of August 1 fell 16.3 percent to 1.786 million metric tons from the same period of last year’s 2.133 MMT, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed.

Likewise, the inventory was 15.1 percent lower than the 2.104 MMT rice inventory recorded in July, according to the PSA’s latest monthly rice and corn stocks report.

“Of the total stocks for this month, 47.7 percent were in the households, 40.9 percent were in commercial warehouses, and 11.4 percent were in NFA [National Food Authority] depositories,” the PSA said.

Rice stocks held by households reached 852,460 MT while those in commercial warehouses was estimated at 729,950 MT, according to PSA data. NFA buffer stock was at 203,850 MT. “Year-on-year, rice stocks inventory in households rose by 7.5 percent. However, stocks in commercial warehouses and NFA depositories dropped by 17.1 percent and 55.8 percent, respectively,” the PSA said.

“Month-on-month, rice stocks inventories in all sectors posted decreases. A decline of 20.6 percent was recorded in the households, 9.7 percent in commercial warehouses, and 8.4 percent in NFA depositories,” the PSA added.

Rice industry sources said household figures were high during the month as Filipinos stocked up on the staple to ensure their supply during the Covid-19-induced lockdowns imposed by the government.

Sources noted that stocks in commercial warehouses fell due to lower imports this year.

“The supply is good for 51 days, which is okay but it is much lower than the previous years,” Federation of Free Farmers National President Raul Q. Montemayor told the BusinessMirror. “So it is still surprising why palay prices are going down. Unless it is really the speculative behavior on the part of the traders,” he added.

Continued on A4

Continued on A4

@jrsanjuan1573 @rectomercene

USTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday said the case of convicted US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton should be taken into account in reviewing the future of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Guevarra made the statement as he expressed relief that Pemberton is now out of the country following his deportation on Sunday morning.

“I am relieved to see the end of Pemberton episode. Though attended with intense conflict, it has provided insights and lessons to ponder on regarding the future of the Visiting

US Marine Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton’s handcuffs were taken off as he arrives at the old Balagbag airport terminal, prior to being escorted to a waiting US C-130 military airplane, Sunday, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City. The plane took off for Kadena Air Base, a US military installation, in Okinawa, Japan. Pemberton, who was convicted in 2015 for choking to death transgender Filipino woman Jennifer Laude, was granted absolute pardon by President Duterte on September 7 on account of his good behavior in prison. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION & NAIA MEDIA AFFAIRS DIVISION

Forces Agreement, the administration of criminal justice and the exercise of the President’s constitutional powers,” Guevarra said.

Following Pemberton’s departure, Virginia Suarez, lawyer of Laude family, said : “May he find peace of mind. Hoping he has

learned from all these the value of life and dignity regardless of gender and nationality.”

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said as a consequence of Pemberton’s deportation, he has been placed on the bureau’s blacklist, thus, can no longer go back to

the country.

The BI said Pemberton boarded a military aircraft bound for the United States, at the old Balagbag International Airport, near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, at 9:14 a.m.

Convicted of killing Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude in October 2014, Lance Cpl. Pemberton was given absolute pardon by President Duterte last week, amid a legal wrangle over a court order to release him ahead of the end of his 10-year jail term with the use of good-conduct credits.

The Stars and Stripes, a US military publication, said Pemberton left a message to President Duterte and the family of Laude “but the message’s content will be released after his departure,” his lawyer, Rowena Garcia-Flores, said.

Before heading to the airport, Pemberton was subjected to a coronavirus test, which turned out negative, immigration spokesman Dana Sandoval said.

The C-130 plane that fetched the soldier came from the US Air Force

Base in Kadena, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It landed at Naia and taxied toward the Balagbag tarmac, far away from prying eyes. Only those given clearance by Naia authorities were allowed to get near Pemberton before he boarded the plane.

US Embassy

Solons tout revenue, aid features of Bayanihan 2, oversight unit eyed

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

& Butch Fernandez

W

@butchfBM

ITH the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2 now signed into law, the leadership of the House of Representatives was urged to create an oversight committee to ensure that the P165 billion allocated by Congress is “utilized properly, prudently, and expeditiously.”

Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte and Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante made the call as they welcomed President Duterte’s signing of the Bayanihan 2 late Friday.

Villafuerte, principal author of the bill, expressed hope that Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado would honor a commitment to release P165 billion in economic stimulus funds as soon as Bayanihan 2 is enacted.

Meanwhile, despite criticism that Bayanihan 2 is “too little, too late,” senators touted its revenue potential and socioeconomic benefits.

The law, for one, will raise P17.5 billion in additional revenues from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) and fast-track the

construction of telecommunication towers in the country, according to Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon.

In an interview at the weekend with DWIZ, Drilon, who proposed the two key provisions of the law, expressed hope that Bayanihan 2 can still provide the government and the people some buffer during the pandemic, despite criticisms—mainly by independent data bank IBON—that it comes too little, too late.

The measure will also sustain government’s response to the Covid-19 health crisis, ensuring no interruptions in vital measures— health interventions and economic assistance to Covid-impacted sectors—Senate Finance Committee Chairman Juan Edgardo Angara, who sponsored Bayanihan 2 in the chamber, assured in a separate interview.

Bayanihan 2’s signing, said Angara, will “ensure government’s response” to the health crisis the country is going through will continue without interruption. This will provide much needed support to our health sector, which is at the frontline in this battle against Covid-19. It will assist sectors that have fallen on their knees due to the lack of economic activity.”

Assistance will also go to the

sectors most affected by the community quarantines such as tourism and the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), which experienced zero economic activity for over four months, Angara added. “They will have access to lowinterest loans to help them continue their operations and financial aid for the workers who lost their jobs.”

Villafuerte gave a similar observation. He said the signing of Bayanihan 2 would let Malacañang scale up its Covid-19 response while extending immediate financial aid to distressed companies—especially MSMEs—and reverse the alarming trend of increasing business shutdowns and mass layoff of workers.

For his part, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian cited a provision in Bayanihan 2 that guarantees a 30-day grace period for payment of utility bills covering those falling within the period of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ). For now, Iligan City, Bacolod City, and Lanao del Sur remain under MECQ until September 30.

The payment of interests, penalties, and other charges would likewise be waived in the covered period.

Continued on A4

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, September 14, 2020

B1

Big firms ordered to provide shuttle services for workers

T

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

he Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are requiring large companies to provide shuttle services for their employees to reduce their risk of exposure to Covid-19.

sustain the provision of shuttle services, they may adopt alternative arrangements, such as costsharing, partial vouchers for use of Transport Network Vehicle Services, and other alternative arrangements to facilitate the transportation needs of their employees,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in a statement.

Another alternative, DOLE said, is for the concerned firms to “contract the services of Public Utility Vehicles (PUV)” to service their workers.

Examination

The DOLE-DTI advisory issued over the weekend was in compliance with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ Resolution 69, series of 2020.

Under the new advisory, large companies, or those with special assets above P100 million, and located within special economic zones and other areas under the jurisdiction of Investment Promotion Agencies must provide transportation ser-

vices to their employees.

The basis for the determination of the worth of “asset” of a company will include its “loans but exclusive of the land on which the particular business entity's office, plant, and equipment are situated” as stipulated under Republic Act 9501, or the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

“In case the private establishments are unable to financially

Bantayan Island gets emergency power supply

RSA Foundation to build hospital

I

sla Norte Energy Corp. (INEC), a joint venture of Vivant Energy and Gigawatt Power Corp., has provided Bantayan Island a three-megawatt (MW) power facility to temporarily address the power outage incidents in Northern Cebu.

INEC said it brought the power generators to provide power to Bantayan Electric Cooperative (BANELCO), which claimed that it has been frequently experiencing outages.

“The welfare and comfort of BANELCO member-consumer-owners have been and will always be our utmost priority. The past several months had been a nightmare and an unfortunate experience that we wish will not happen again,” BANELCO General Manager Lee Rivera said. “The generators now provide nearly half of the island’s total demand. It’s not the ultimate solution but it will greatly improve the power supply situation in Bantayan Island.” BANELCO sought for an exemption from the conduct of a competitive selection process (CSP) for the procurement of the 3MW emergency power supply, which was approved by the Department of Energy (DOE).

“We’re honored to be given this opportunity to help the people of Bantayan, both by bringing in emergency power supply and through our long-term commitment to provide sufficient and reliable power with the INEC power plant.

This is part of our commitment to help the social and economic development of Cebu, our home province,” said Vivant Energy President Arlo A. G. Sarmiento.

INEC said it is constructing a 23.3MW diesel power plant that will supply the long-term total power requirement of Bantayan Island. This after INEC has been awarded a 15-year contract to supply BANELCO’s power requirements following a successful CSP. The INEC plant is expected to be completed in 2021. Lenie Lectura

By VG Cabuag @villygc

R

SA Foundation said it will build a hospital and a research facility in Southern Luzon to help the country’s health-care system better deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and future health crises.

The foundation, established by San Miguel Corp. President and COO Ramon S. Ang, said it will build the facility on a 3-5 hectare property.

The health facility, which will specialize in research on infectious diseases and providing care for ambulatory patients, will be designed to operate efficiently during a crisis, he said. “This pandemic has been an eyeopener for all of us. Our healthcare system needs to be strengthened. For this reason, we want to help build up our country’s capability to handle future pandemics and other health crises,” Ang said.

The new DOLE-DTI advisory also indicated that employees, who belong to the “Most-at-Risk Population [MARP] and those who are at least 18 years old but below 21 years” can now return to their workplaces.

However, they must undergo a fit-to-work examination and secure a medical certificate from any competent authority.

The issuance stressed that “employers are highly encouraged to

allow the said employees to be in a work from home arrangement, when applicable.”

DOLE and DTI also mandated companies to have at least one isolation room in their workplace for every 200 of their employees.

The isolation, which should be always be available, will serve as temporary holding facility for workers or visitors exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms.

The two agencies appealed to companies to have protocols for the temporary closure and disinfection of their workplaces.

Such closure may be in the form of a granular lockdown, wherein only a portion of the worksite will be temporarily shutdown.

“A shorter lockdown period of less than 24 hours for disinfection [disinfection time of three to four hours] is allowed, provided that the safety of employees is ascertained and a certificate of return to work from the specialists/cleaners/disinfecting agents is secured,” DOLE said.

“We envision this hospital to be resilient and adaptable. It will operate efficiently, improve health services, and make health care more accessible and affordable to a greater number of Filipinos.”

He said the facility will focus on treating ambulatory or outpatients so that it can treat more patients from vulnerable or disadvantaged communities for sicknesses that typically won’t require hospitalization.

The hospital, he added, would also be home to a research facility that will provide support for government on public health concerns, specifically, infectious diseases.

Over the last six months, since the enhanced community quarantine was declared, San Miguel emerged as a leading private sector partner in the response to fight Covid-19.

It allotted P500 million out of its over P13 billion Covid-19 response package to donate to government and

public and private hospitals various medical-grade personal protective gear and life-saving, capacity-building medical equipment.

Its donations of RT-PCR testing machines, fully automated RNA extraction machines, and PCR test kits alone, raised the country’s total testing capacity by 15,000 tests per day.

It is also the first major Philippine company to put up its own purposebuilt RT-PCR testing laboratory and commit to testing its entire workforce—some 70,000 strong, composed of employees, partners, consultants, and third-party providers.

The planned hospital is part of Ang’s and San Miguel’s commitment to help revive the economy through crucial infrastructure projects that can immediately create jobs, stimulate economic activity, and in the long-term pave the way for an inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery.

CIAC JOINS EARTHQUAKE DRILL. Employees of

the Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) duck, cover and hold as they join employees of other government agencies that participated in the Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) for the third quarter on September 10. The exercise was conducted in government offices as well as online to continuously instill in the public earthquake preparedness amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Contributed Photo

AllHome: Pandemic sparks interest in home appliances

A

llHome Corp., the Villarled listed retailer, said it saw an increased market interest in home appliances and essential items due to the pandemic, which pushed the government to implement lockdowns in varying degrees.

All Home vice chairman Camille Villar said its line of appliances and other items contributed significantly to sales growth, despite the imposition of a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) and general community quarantine (GCQ) in most of AllHome’s areas of operation.

“During the second quarter of this year, appliances contributed 40 percent of our sales, generated by our tactical pop-up stores placed near All Day Supermarkets. We recognized and capitalized on our All Value retail ecosystem, of which AllHome is an integral part,” Villar said.

As the country moved to a more relaxed GCQ, AllHome’s sales saw an improvement, with shoppers resuming their home projects and the reopening of select businesses.

Due to the pandemic, shoppers had a surplus of time at home, and their respective incomes were diverted from travel and nonessential entertainment to renovations and passion projects, the company said.

Many people, it said, started their do-it-yourself home improvement projects, while others bought new kitchen appliances to pursue culinary hobbies and refrigerator and freezers for their business ventures.

Some purchased air conditioners to make their home cool and comfortable at the height of summer during the second quarter.

With the new normal of work from home arrangements and online classes, All Home said it also saw an increase in sales of furniture and equipment for home office and virtual classes.

“These shifts in shopper behavior cushioned somehow the disruption caused by the pandemic such as closure of stores and stoppage of construction activities during the ECQ,” it said.

AllHome pivoted to e-commerce during the pandemic after a Nielsen Philippines online survey Pandemic Impact on Shopping Behavior, fielded in April at the height of the Covid-19 situation showed that ABC segments are more positive that online shopping habits will continue post ECQ. It further said the purchase of appliances and furniture in the ABC demographic remained unchanged

by ECQ. Shoppers from the same segments foresee returning to usual online shopping for home appliances after the community quarantine.

“This community lockdown has pushed AllHome to find new channels to bring its products and services closer to its customers.” All Value Chairman Manuel B. Villar Jr. said.

All Value is the privately held holding firm of the Villar group.

VG Cabuag

Solon asks MPT to rethink automation of toll collection

A

lawmaker urged the Metro Pacific Tollways (MPT) to delay until January next year its plan to fully automate toll collection on its tollways through the use of pre-installed radio frequency identification (RFID) tags starting November 2.

Currently, Rep. Ronnie Ong of the Ang Probinsyano said in a statement that toll operators have their own RFID and easy pass lanes but these are not interoperable thereby discouraging motorists using multiple tollways from availing RFID tags and other forms of electronic toll cards.

He said MPT's plan is not only "premature" but it is also "ill-timed" because hundreds of toll booth collectors, who are already struggling to survive because of the pandemic, could lose their jobs once toll collection becomes fully automated.

Metro Pacific Tollways is the operator of the North Luzon Expressway, the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the Manila-Cavite Expressway.

While he is not against the plan for a full transition to cashless tollway operation, the lawmaker said this should be implemented only when all tollway operators have already integrated their electronic toll collection system.

“This would allow motorists to use just one or a single RFID tag instead of having to use several

RFID tags for different toll gates,” he said.

According to Ong, there are some motorists who barely travel to the north that would require them to use RFID tags for NLEX and SCTEX or to Cavite via CAVITEX and are only equipped with RFID tags intended for tollways in the Southern Luzon area.

“Buying another RFID tag that is intended only for a single trip is not only oppressive and impractical, but it can also cause so much hassle for motorists particularly to 'probinsyanos' who live in Southern Luzon,” Ong said.

“I don’t know why Metro Pacific Tollways is in a rush to go fully cashless. For one, they should consider the fact that not all motorists are frequent travelers to the north especially those who live in the south. The government should not allow these tollway operators to have different RFID tags because this would mean additional financial burden for our motorists,” Ong said. “Besides, what would happen to our toll collectors if we go fully automated especially now that we are in the middle of the pandemic? Instead of using the RFID as an excuse purportedly to protect toll collectors from [Covid-19], the MPT should just equip them with proper personal protective equipment and ensure that all health and safety protocols are strictly observed.” Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, September 14, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

September 11, 2020

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

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

44.15 91.05 64.9 21.3 8.15 34.55 8.69 23.9 49.6 16.2 95.1 54.05 0.8 22 0.58 2.76 7.3 0.96 0.28 0.59 155.1 1902

45 91.1 65 21.6 8.18 34.6 9.87 24 49.7 16.4 95.95 54.2 0.81 22.95 0.6 2.8 7.99 1.06 0.3 0.6 158.9 1980

45.15 90.9 65 21.3 8.07 34.85 8.68 23.5 49.8 16.2 95 54.2 0.8 23 0.58 2.66 7.21 1.06 0.295 0.61 155.1 1975

45.15 91.65 65.3 21.6 8.18 35.35 9.88 25.2 49.8 16.4 96.45 54.2 0.8 23 0.68 2.95 7.21 1.06 0.3 0.61 159.5 1980

45 90.85 64.9 21.15 8.07 34.5 8.68 23.35 49.5 16.2 93.65 53.95 0.8 21.65 0.58 2.66 7.21 1.06 0.28 0.59 155.1 1975

45 91.1 64.9 21.3 8.15 34.55 9.88 23.9 49.7 16.4 95.1 54 0.8 22.9 0.62 2.8 7.21 1.06 0.28 0.61 155.1 1980

17900 1780210 1602310 44400 302300 3229800 6900 5629000 2200 1700 1169980 23160 23000 400 121000 68000 100 17000 610000 11000 1360 20

806965 162321803.5 104192773 943670 2458291 112141925 63856 135856975 109275 27740 111341769 1250584 18400 9055 73720 189260 721 18020 174750 6610 211044 39575

INDUSTRIAL

AC ENERGY ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER AGRINURTURE AXELUM CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA JOLLIBEE MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP MG HLDG SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH VICTORIAS CEMEX HLDG EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE PHINMA TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CROWN ASIA EUROMED MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

3.17 1.24 26.7 0.172 25 61.5 270 14.06 3.07 10.78 17.74 9.17 7.78 2.38 11.44 18.14 4.72 5.46 9.93 64.15 0.65 1.19 47.25 135.5 7.68 4.88 0.127 5.92 1.11 4.6 1.95 0.104 143 0.78 2.24 1.52 14.22 6.8 5.87 7.09 8.55 0.69 0.74 1.93 1.87 4.53 4.11 19.5 2.2 6.3 0.95 1.36 5.72

3.18 1.25 26.85 0.178 25.1 62 270.2 14.12 3.08 11 17.78 9.18 7.97 2.39 11.46 18.2 4.78 5.47 9.95 64.2 0.66 1.21 47.95 135.6 8.34 4.89 0.13 5.95 1.12 4.97 1.98 0.11 144.9 0.79 2.3 1.53 14.3 6.84 5.88 7.12 8.88 0.7 0.76 1.96 1.88 4.67 4.15 20.5 2.21 6.32 0.96 1.37 5.73

3.11 1.23 27.2 0.18 24.75 60.8 269.4 14.3 3.08 10.82 17.74 9.16 7.99 2.36 11.46 18.4 4.7 5.6 9.94 64.05 0.65 1.21 49 136 7.63 4.96 0.13 5.99 1.11 4.56 1.89 0.104 143.6 0.78 2.3 1.51 14.46 6.9 6.21 7.1 8.8 0.68 0.76 1.98 1.85 4.7 4.15 20.8 2.23 6.34 0.97 1.4 5.8

3.18 1.24 27.2 0.182 25.1 62.7 270 14.3 3.1 11 17.78 9.18 7.99 2.38 11.46 18.42 4.85 5.6 9.98 65 0.66 1.23 49 136 8.34 4.96 0.13 5.99 1.13 4.6 1.98 0.104 144.9 0.79 2.3 1.55 14.46 6.9 6.21 7.26 8.89 0.69 0.76 1.98 1.91 4.7 4.15 20.85 2.26 6.34 0.97 1.4 5.8

3.03 1.21 26.55 0.177 24.2 60.8 266.4 14.06 3.08 10.8 17.58 9.15 7.97 2.31 11.46 18.1 4.68 5.46 9.93 64 0.65 1.18 47.25 135 7.63 4.82 0.13 5.91 1.1 4.56 1.89 0.104 140.5 0.78 2.3 1.5 14.22 6.75 5.81 7.08 8.6 0.68 0.74 1.98 1.85 4.5 4.15 19.5 2.16 6.2 0.96 1.36 5.72

3.18 1.24 26.7 0.18 25.1 62 270 14.06 3.08 11 17.78 9.17 7.97 2.38 11.46 18.2 4.72 5.46 9.95 64.2 0.66 1.21 47.95 135.6 8.34 4.88 0.13 5.91 1.12 4.6 1.95 0.104 144.9 0.78 2.3 1.52 14.22 6.8 5.87 7.09 8.89 0.69 0.76 1.98 1.88 4.67 4.15 19.5 2.2 6.3 0.96 1.36 5.72

36790000 687000 963600 290000 2221000 41170 263270 476500 540000 186400 117800 103700 9400 489000 1000 1956700 22000 1874700 1159400 35880 231000 4834000 20900 548660 200 408000 80000 87000 3217000 3000 178000 400000 945260 454000 2000 12825000 3245400 739400 4440400 1664900 35400 195000 82000 1000 183000 13000 7816000 3600 23042000 565900 121000 1807000 1142800

114269050 837170 25725735 52240 54882495 2561428.5 70951214 6746810 1666730 2048060 2087116 950223 75003 1148030 11460 35594574 104880 10317839 11534362 2309023 150180 5831430 1002985 74437497 1597 1982340 10400 517649 3566570 13720 348650 41600 135710389 356620 4600 19522060 46727502 5023726 26279707 11878428 308565 133000 62100 1980 345660 60050 32436400 71827 50788530 3549834 116240 2486050 6554638

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER ZEUS HLDG

0.48 7.7 700 47.7 6.92 2.09 6.5 0.54 0.55 0.54 5.2 4.05 8.53 405.4 3.15 61 0.59 2.4 8.78 0.54 3.54 0.98 153.1 895.5 100.2 0.63 125.1 0.143

0.485 7.88 701 48.8 6.93 2.1 6.8 0.55 0.56 0.58 5.27 4.07 8.55 406 3.2 61.35 0.62 2.45 8.8 0.55 3.55 1 166 905 100.5 0.65 129 0.146

0.485 7.98 700 47.5 6.97 1.96 6.36 0.55 0.55 0.55 5.16 4.05 8.53 402 3.15 60.6 0.61 2.41 8.5 0.55 3.44 0.98 166 880 99.55 0.62 129 0.143

0.485 7.98 708.5 48.8 7.06 2.1 6.5 0.55 0.56 0.58 5.3 4.09 8.53 407.4 3.15 61.4 0.64 2.45 9.05 0.55 3.54 0.98 166 905 101 0.65 129 0.143

0.48 7.27 700 47.15 6.93 1.96 6.35 0.55 0.54 0.55 5.15 3.99 8.53 401 3.15 60.6 0.61 2.4 8.5 0.54 3.43 0.98 166 872 99.55 0.62 129 0.142

0.48 7.88 700 48.8 6.93 2.1 6.5 0.55 0.56 0.58 5.2 4.05 8.53 406 3.15 61.35 0.62 2.45 8.8 0.54 3.54 0.98 166 905 100.5 0.65 129 0.142

3080000 39000 216960 594200 20507200 8359000 19200 2000 358000 155000 2199900 7406000 4000 197240 3000 828350 83000 44000 2623700 67000 11268000 4000 70 278910 173890 16000 510 1400000

-536965 -100264247 -67796437 -861916 -7484620 17981310 -9834291 -2763020 13310 -8106835 -45878080 427568 -15291636 -441386 -99000 164904 143058 137820 10037601.9999 -23720 651116 -782088 -1960628.5 -337890 -59540 -40923794 98000 -3594 8800 1040 26254133 -780 4352050 1440 1466794 -1671914 -2474198 84320 37340 30170500 -59622 1617140 -1442046 -32640 -11580

1482550 298497 152121290 28692185 143355950 17199590 124385 1100 197330 85400 11438791 29930590 34120 79840098 9450 50691629.5 51640 105960 23271221 36710 39521200 3920 11620 251662615 17478533.5 9950 65790 198930

-48100 -94485015 -6244445 82654506 -458160 82500 -1581794 -882249.9996 1705.9999 -23490286 -21528883.5 -9620 -1316377 5761140 39321315 -1422184.5 -58050 122119.9999

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.54 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.55 0.55 981000 545380 7.3 8.3 7.04 7.04 7.04 7.04 100 704 ANCHOR LAND AYALA LAND 30.2 30.4 29.9 30.4 29.7 30.4 6574200 198901415 0.97 1.01 1.02 1.02 1.02 1.02 1000 1020 ARANETA PROP AREIT RT 25.65 25.7 25.7 25.75 25.65 25.7 706400 18146875 1.36 1.38 1.38 1.38 1.36 1.36 28000 38480 BELLE CORP A BROWN 0.79 0.8 0.81 0.81 0.79 0.8 2676000 2135260 0.85 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.84 0.85 203000 173670 CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES 0.13 0.133 0.124 0.137 0.124 0.133 71380000 8922340 5 5.04 5.05 5.06 4.9 5.04 1648800 8259162 CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP 0.36 0.37 0.365 0.37 0.36 0.36 2110000 767850 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 40000 10800 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON 14.48 14.5 14.6 14.78 14.44 14.5 623200 9063640 5.82 5.83 5.8 5.95 5.79 5.82 886700 5168058 DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST 0.265 0.27 0.265 0.27 0.26 0.27 420000 110300 0.086 0.091 0.087 0.087 0.087 0.087 300000 26100 EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND 0.89 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.89 0.89 4334000 3902220 0.78 0.79 0.77 0.79 0.77 0.79 58000 45490 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 7.34 7.35 7.5 7.5 7.3 7.34 41300 305797 1.28 1.29 1.29 1.3 1.24 1.28 5489000 6957640 PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND 0.74 0.75 0.72 0.74 0.72 0.74 85000 62860 3.07 3.08 3.06 3.08 3.05 3.07 4898000 15026500 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED 0.247 0.248 0.247 0.255 0.246 0.247 10720000 2656230 0.285 0.3 0.285 0.285 0.285 0.285 80000 22800 PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP 1.12 1.13 1.12 1.13 1.12 1.13 213000 240220 14.72 14.78 14.7 14.86 14.6 14.72 1221900 17978276 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.222 0.232 0.233 0.233 0.233 0.233 50000 11650 1.52 1.57 1.52 1.52 1.52 1.52 4000 6080 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.66 2.68 2.68 2.68 2.68 2.68 7000 18760 1.91 1.98 1.99 1.99 1.97 1.98 125000 247750 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 28.35 28.4 28.45 28.8 28.25 28.35 5775700 164267940 3.71 3.82 3.84 3.84 3.69 3.82 21000 78510 VISTAMALLS 1.26 1.27 1.18 1.27 1.17 1.27 11300000 13355530 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 3.29 3.31 3.34 3.36 3.29 3.31 1315000 4387300

550 34926040 -12908160 9600 -441739 -727800 -7716746 -797066.9998 -2942380 -133500 -21590 -4462610 -9920 -12197280 -64025740 10882820 -58740

SERVICES ABS CBN 6.95 6.96 7.07 7.07 6.91 6.96 432700 3021011 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.14 5.08 5.12 212000 1083305 GMA NETWORK MLA BRDCASTING 11.22 11.68 11.12 11.68 11.1 11.68 1500 16838 2080 2092 2080 2118 2078 2080 43230 90045120 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1478 1485 1443 1485 1441 1485 130290 191507715 0.057 0.058 0.057 0.058 0.056 0.058 6780000 388630 APOLLO GLOBAL DFNN INC 2.85 2.98 2.98 2.98 2.98 2.98 2000 5960 3.42 3.43 3.41 3.48 3.39 3.43 25396000 87210130 DITO CME HLDG ISLAND INFO 0.068 0.071 0.067 0.071 0.067 0.067 460000 31360 2.29 2.3 2.31 2.36 2.28 2.29 3886000 8987450 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.179 0.182 0.19 0.19 0.177 0.182 8630000 1565920 2.22 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.22 2.22 185000 412310 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 8.65 8.8 8.5 8.8 8.5 8.8 73300 634133 3.34 3.37 3.38 3.38 3.33 3.34 837000 2795520 CHELSEA CEBU AIR 37.1 37.5 36.65 37.7 36.65 37.5 147100 5,484,400( 106.5 107.5 107 107.5 105 107.5 1447870 154354020 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 16.02 16.04 15.52 16.04 15.52 16.02 147300 2338032 0.78 0.83 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 1000 740 LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA 4.66 4.67 4.7 4.74 4.59 4.67 4826000 22464370 1.56 1.57 1.55 1.58 1.55 1.56 159000 249110 METROALLIANCE A PAL HLDG 5.75 5.8 5.8 5.8 5.72 5.8 32100 185136 1.14 1.15 1.13 1.17 1.13 1.15 5496000 6322010 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.06 1.23 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.06 2000 2120 0.027 0.028 0.028 0.028 0.028 0.028 13100000 366800 BOULEVARD HLDG GRAND PLAZA 10.6 11.62 10.6 10.6 10.6 10.6 100 1060 0.39 0.395 0.38 0.39 0.38 0.39 170000 65250 WATERFRONT IPEOPLE 7.29 7.94 7.29 7.29 7.29 7.29 100 729 0.33 0.335 0.32 0.33 0.315 0.33 38380000 12623700 STI HLDG BERJAYA 2.93 2.94 3 3.07 2.8 2.93 1427000 4197720 6.68 6.7 6.82 6.87 6.64 6.7 9625200 64841143 BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE 1.92 1.99 1.97 1.99 1.97 1.99 104000 205050 1.3 1.34 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 23000 29900 LEISURE AND RES 2.06 2.22 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 20000 44000 MANILA JOCKEY PH RESORTS GRP 2.15 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.13 2.29 16000 35380 0.315 0.32 0.32 0.325 0.315 0.32 2080000 664650 PREMIUM LEISURE ALLHOME 5.82 5.83 5.9 5.9 5.7 5.82 2853200 16540929 1.39 1.4 1.42 1.42 1.39 1.4 1261000 1763740 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 49.95 50 49.75 50.95 49.75 50 4246500 213243270 68 69.5 68 69.5 67.9 69.5 236210 16185384 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 119.9 120 116 120 116 120 1020 121988 1.22 1.23 1.25 1.26 1.2 1.23 9618000 11786630 SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT 15.94 16.02 16.18 16.28 16 16.02 867000 13955178 0.3 0.305 0.305 0.31 0.305 0.305 1860000 568250 APC GROUP EASYCALL 6.18 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.18 6.18 21100 130446 0.219 0.22 0.219 0.222 0.219 0.22 2780000 611650 PRMIERE HORIZON

-46964480 74853765 52200 1232850 514800.0003 82350 68000 1,749,885.0001) -53376834 -744200 -6475270 5750 2300 3850 -223900 15049.9999 -28022556 -4426422 -64595185 -1799948.5 -99600 -3023710 -1035358 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 6.65 7.95 7.99 7.99 7.95 7.95 3000 23962 APEX MINING 1.56 1.57 1.6 1.6 1.55 1.56 3088000 4835170 -117000 0.0008 0.0009 0.0008 0.0009 0.0008 0.0009 515000000 459000 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 3.77 3.78 3.82 3.82 3.76 3.78 261000 987410 102120 2.8 2.84 2.87 2.87 2.78 2.84 209000 583210 BENGUET A BENGUET B 2.81 2.95 2.81 2.97 2.8 2.96 56000 161160 98840 0.22 0.226 0.223 0.226 0.218 0.226 1050000 232500 11050 COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES 7.72 7.83 7.8 7.85 7.72 7.83 1000 7828 1.24 1.25 1.25 1.26 1.24 1.25 6773000 8470790 50110 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.226 0.23 0.229 0.229 0.226 0.229 90000 20580 0.148 0.149 0.148 0.149 0.148 0.149 6720000 996320 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.146 0.147 0.147 0.147 0.146 0.147 880000 129200 -113030 0.0096 0.0099 0.0096 0.0099 0.0096 0.0098 7000000 68500 MANILA MINING A MARCVENTURES 0.92 0.93 0.95 0.95 0.92 0.92 2236000 2075180 311490 2.05 2.08 2.1 2.1 2.05 2.05 683000 1404220 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.1 3.03 3.07 5232000 16015230 -71180 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.57 0.53 0.55 738000 402370 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 4.08 4.11 4.1 4.11 4.06 4.08 1621000 6617590 2250370 9.79 9.8 9.8 9.86 9.79 9.79 1417000 13901386 -113961.9998 SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON 0.0048 0.005 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 0.0048 8000000 38400 5.9 6.02 5.84 6.18 5.82 6.02 123000 734259 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.0084 0.0088 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 34000000 285600 0.0091 0.0092 0.0093 0.0095 0.0091 0.0094 9000000 84300 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 5.2 5.21 5.24 5.25 5.17 5.21 923000 4790486 -573169

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 100 101 101 101 101 101 100 10100 512 519 512 512 512 512 30 15360 AC PREF B1 DD PREF 100.9 101 100.9 102 100.9 101 11960 1208153 20180 508 515 515 515 515 515 40 20600 GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF B 1021 1029 1021 1030 1021 1030 25 25570 101 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 290 29435 MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A 97 98.5 97.05 98 97 98 22770 2212295 101 102.8 102.8 102.8 102.8 102.8 90 9252 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 940 947 940 947 940 947 4110 3863470 1075 1080 1075 1075 1075 1075 85 91375 PCOR PREF 2B PCOR PREF 3B 1070 1089 1075 1075 1070 1070 500 535225 78.45 78.5 78.5 78.5 78.45 78.45 36690 2879885 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2E 76.1 76.5 76.2 76.5 76.1 76.5 15050 1147325 139189.9999 77.25 78 78 78 78 78 3150 245700 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G 75.9 76.9 76.9 76.9 76.9 76.9 50 3845 76.35 76.6 76.3 76.6 76.3 76.6 230 17558 SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I 77.9 78 78 78.5 77.9 77.9 9900 772178

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 6.7 6.8 6.65 6.7 6.65 6.7 70200 466855 -3350 4.98 5 4.99 5 4.98 5 64400 321540 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.62 0.65 - - - - - -

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 10.46 10.48 10.88 10.88 10.36 10.46 238600 2515358 -132484 2.04 2.05 1.83 2.04 1.83 2.04 13898000 27242440 -555820 ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH 5.51 5.61 5.23 5.75 5.2 5.6 436500 2403335 16212 2.97 2.98 2.99 3.02 2.96 2.98 8250000 24617700 -80720 MERRYMART XURPAS 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.5 0.52 1005000 516690

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 90.3 91 91.2 91.2 89.5 90.3 11020 999405.5 20802

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Concentrix PHL to recruit displaced tourism workers

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

C

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

ONCENTRIX Philippines, a leading business-process outsourcing (BPO) company, will be making available over 10,000 jobs nationwide, with an eye on hiring a number of displaced tourism workers.

At the virtual presser of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Concentrix last Friday, company vice president for delivery shared services Amit Jagga said, “For the next three months [job] opportunities are actually running into literally thousands…. So it's difficult to pinpoint a number [of jobs specifically for displaced tourism workers], but we plan to hire more than 10,000 people in the next two months itself.

And therefore we are looking at large number of people and given that, we will have specific virtual fairs for the people who are displaced in the tourism industry.”

The online press briefing was held to launch the virtual job fair “Mabuhay! Partnership: Overcoming Adversities Through New Opportunities,” a partnership between the DOT and Concentrix Philippines. “Concentrix operates in over 40 countries across the world, and the Philippines is our bedrock when it comes to invest-

ments. More than 30 percent of our staff from a global perspective is actually from the Philippines,” Jagga underscored in his opening remarks.

He noted that workers in the hospitality industry are among the best candidates for BPO jobs. “[The] two big skills that the people in the hospitality industry bring is one, their ability to interact with foreign nationals because there's so much tourism that comes in from an international perspective into the Philippines, and second, is their customer service orientation. Customer service orientation is the bedrock of success both in the tourism industry, as well as the BPO industry.”

Also, the displaced tourism workers can get short-term work for about three to six months, to long-term jobs, depending on their situation.

Part-time work is also available. He said customer service jobs are the “strongest fit” for displaced tourism workers.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices rebounded last week despite the fall of some technology stocks in Wall trade due to bargain hunting, but the value of trade was depressed as many investors remained on the sidelines.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) gained 182.87 points to close at 5,967.96 points.

Trading was still volatile during the week, with the main index gaining more than 4 percent for the first 2 days of the week, but falling on the next two days, and then rebounding again on Friday.

Value of trade for the week remained low at an average of P4.48 billion, while foreign investors were still net sellers at P2.13 billion.

Most of the subindices closed in the green, with the exception of the Mining and Oil index that fell 0.72 to close at 5,991.36 points. The broader All Shares index gained 83.65 to 3,557.38, the Financials index rose 24.49 to 1,150.90, the Industrial index surged 257.04 to 8,071.54, the Holding Firms index increased 214.71 to 6,212.94, the Property index added 97.40 to 2,733.67 and the Services index was up 32.10 to 1,487.51.

For the week, gainers led losers 126 to 93 and 24 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers for the week were Berjaya Philippines Inc., Philippine National Bank, Ayala Land Logistics Holdings Corp., Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., AC Energy Philippines Inc. and Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc.

This week

Share prices may remain depressed this week, but analysts expect that the newly signed economic stimulus package, the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act could spark optimism in trading.

“Nonetheless, we may not yet see a sustainable rally as much uncertainties continue to linger over our economic and pandemic situation. Trading could also remain tepid amid the said uncertainties. As for cues, investors are expected to watch out for the upcoming data on remittances which has been one of the sources of strength of our economy primarily consumption,” Japhet Louis O. Tantiangco, senior research analyst at Philstocks Financials Inc., said.

He said the main index may trade sideways, within the 5,700 to 6,100 range during the week.

Meanwhile, 2TradeAsia said the narrowing trading bands may mean many things from a technical standpoint, but it is most commonly due to the indecisiveness among investors. The market is also waiting for stronger signals for a breakout of the current trend.

“Caution is therefore warranted, especially with catalysts in the near term such as the US Federal Reserve policy meeting and the third quarter earnings report period, are not particularly inspiring of a run above 6,500 points,” the broker said.

Stock picks

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. advised to take profits on the stock of Alliance Global Group Inc. as all indicators are already showing signs that the stock is in the overbought region, with its next resistance level at P7.35 per share.

“All things considered, the bullishness is bound to come to an end at some point as investors start to take profits. Watch out for the P7.05 level, as we believe this to be the first psychological upper bound that could prompt price pullbacks once hit. Note that AGI is already trading above its 100-day and 50-day moving averages,” the broker said.

Alliance Global shares closed Friday at P6.93 per share.

Meanwhile, the broker advised to sell on rallies on the stock of Universal Robina Corp. as its indicators are all on buy signs, but a bit flat.

“At the rate the indicators are going, URC will likely not post a breakout anytime soon, but it will manage to retain its position at the upper band of its consolidation range,” it said.

It gave a support price for the stock at P135.10 and P138.00 and resistance at P145.

URC shares closed last week at P144.90. VG Cabuag

Concentrix has over 85,000 BPO workers in the country, and has been on a hiring binge, despite the Covid-19 outbreak, said Jagga, as the company has been able to adapt many of their services to a workfrom-home situation.

The company trains workers for three to seven weeks before actually deploying them at their actual work stations. Training centers are located in Metro Manila, Baguio, Clark in Pampanga, Laguna, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Naga, Camarines Sur. According to DOT Assistant Secretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Ma. Rica Bueno, there are 9,697 accredited enterprises as of August, with an estimated 182,000 workers affected by the pandemic, “because most tourism businesses are not open yet.”

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat hailed the partnership with Concentrix Philippines as a “timely blessing for affected tourism workers. Our tour guides and frontline service providers certainly have an edge, especially those who speak foreign languages, as they find work in the BPO industry while tourism operations are still limited.”

Through the partnership, the DOT and Concentrix will be opening posts for customer service rep-

mutual funds

resentatives, technical support representatives, frontline/specialists, supervisors, trainers, managers, and others for the human resources and recruitment, finance, IT, and marketing sectors. These are all applicable for on-site and work-from-home setups in light of the new normal.

“Both the tourism and the BPO industries are people-oriented. We believe in your talent and skills, and we know you will rise above this crisis through this new and exciting undertaking,” said Romulo Puyat.

Applicants must be at least high school graduates, can comfortably converse in English (knowledge of a foreign language is a plus), have good computer skills, have problem solving skills, and have a pleasant personality especially when dealing with multiple concerns.

The hiring process will be completed in less than 24 hours after a series of online interviews and assessments. Hired applicants will be compensated while on training.

The virtual regional job fair will be on September 22, 24, 29, and October 1 for Luzon Cluster; September 17, 18, and October 1 for Visayas Cluster, and September 15 and 16 for Mindanao Cluster.

The registration links for the said job fairs will be announced at the DOT and Concentrix Philippines Facebook pages.

September 11, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 194.58 -24.59% -11.13% -4.76% -22.74% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.0883 -30.17% -12.92% -2.44% -21.25% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.6085 -35% -15.83% -6.81% -29.08% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6678 -30.73% -12.78% n.a. -25.63% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6902 -19.73% n.a. n.a. -18.73% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.1893 -22.95% -9.38% -4.18% -21.38% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.653 -25.28% -12.14% n.a.

-23.5% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

83.52 -28.56% n.a. n.a. -19.09% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 38.9471 -25.42% -9.84% -3.55% -24.05% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 419.43 -22.89% -9.1% -3.71% -21.28% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.8746 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-15.1% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 0.9989 -24.1% -9.15% -3.19% -22.38% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 29.2258 -24.45% -8.8% -2.87% -22.88% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7683 -25.67% n.a. n.a. -24.54% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.976 -25.06% -9.3% -2.85% -23.88% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 664.75 -24.94% -9.29% -2.95% -23.76% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6021 -34.31% -13.15% -6.92% -29.28% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.0766 -28.53% -10.74% -4.24% -26.91% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7617 -25.15% -9.49% -3.04% -23.89% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.7774 -25.24% -8.46% -2.46% -23.97% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 89.2631 -24.83% -8.86% -2.15% -23.68% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.0513 9.85% 0.08% 3.67% 2.23% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.4984 15.45% 8.02% n.a.

8.68% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5647 -5.91% -4.56% -2.65% 0.12% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0421 -11.34% -5.1% -1.19% -6.37% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.3864 -10.24% -3.64% -2.16% -9.31% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1722 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-24.64% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8129 -7.67% -1.89% 0.26% -7.58% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.4491 -9.5% -3.2% -0.83% -8.97% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.3831 -9.85% -3.44% -0.96% -9.3% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.9015 -11.71% -4.31% -1.02% -10.4% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.2395 -16.81% -5.53% -2.16% -16.15% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9282 -9.2% n.a. n.a.

-8.61% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8263 -18.26% n.a. n.a. -17.07% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8007 -20.6% n.a. n.a. -19.38% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7972 -19.39% -6.75% -3.01% -18.22% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03906 1.38% 2.62% 2.02% 2.25% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b 5.01% 0.84% 3.35% 2.25% $1.0348 Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.1098 8.81% 5.45% 5.81% 5.09% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1595 4.06% 2.76% n.a.

2.73% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 368.28 4.15% 3.11% 2.6% 2.89% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.949 1.82% 1.07% 0.23% 2.47% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1999 3.86% 4.85% 5.03% 2.63% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.3004 4.4% 2.74% 2.29% 3.46% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4532 5% 3.39% 2% 3.99% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6614 8.13% 4.23% 2.72% 6.6% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3101 5.82% 4.36% 2.45% 4.25% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.9579 5.82% 4.25% 2.36% 4.48% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0368 9.25% 3.5% 1.88% 7.52% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1806 5.48% 4.81% 2.89% 3.41% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7424 4.43% 4.07% 2.36% 2.43% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $478.38 3% 2.42% 2.87% 2.14% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є217.11 -1.46% 0.68% 1.15% -1.22% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2379 2.98% 2.7% 2.54% 3.28% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0263 1.54% 1.57% 1.59% 1.94% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0893 -1.21% 0.01% 0.41% -0.39% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4982 3.08% 3.42% 3.46% 3.94% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0610697 1.55% 2.08% 2.04% 1.28% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2145 1.28% 1.74% 2.61% 1.24% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.01 3.58% 3.3% 2.5% 2.53% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0443 2.19% n.a. n.a.

1.75% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2894 2.86% 3.04% 2.61% 1.93% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0483 1.57% n.a. n.a.

0.96% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0215 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.95 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-4.04%

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund).

7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

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

see the latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance

ADB prodded to step up in climate finance

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

I

n order to achieve the Paris Climate agreement, civil society organizations (CSOs) in the Philippines and abroad recommended that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) should align its country partnerships with the global environmental accord.

The report titled “Decarbonizing the ADB” stated that the multilateral development bank’s efforts to set a clean energy agenda and climate agenda are not enough.

The CSOs supported the call last week by the ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department (IED) that the Manila-based financial institution should formally withdraw from financing new coal-fired energy projects and revisit its energy policy.

“While the IED recommends emphasizing climate change mitigation and adaptation as a core priority and alignment with the ‘Strategy 2030.’ which refers to the Paris Agreement, it’s important to specifically and clearly state the 1.5-degree-Celsius Paris temperature goal,” according to the report, which was written by the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development and commissioned by the NGO Forum on the ADB. “Developing Asia’s pivotal situation as the last bastion of coal and also among the most climatevulnerable countries warrants that the ADB take a firm and stringent stand on pursuing a 1.5-degreeCelsius pathway, in order to avoid high-carbon lock-in and the risk of stranded assets in the future,” the report added.

The Paris Agreement aims for global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to decline by 45 percent by the year 2030 from 2010 levels and achieve a net-zero CO2 emission by mid-century. The CSOs said these goals should prompt multilateral institutions such as ADB to be more proactive.

The CSOs said updating the country partnership strategy (CPS) would mean increasing ADB’s technical assistance to its Developing Member Countries (DMCs) to formulate long-term low greenhouse-gas emission development and efforts to decarbonize their economies.

The updated CPS will also prompt ADB to finance projects that will place DMCs on the 1.5-degreeCelsius pathway. The CSOs said ADB-funded projects should also be screened according to their alignment with the Paris agreement.

Further, the CSOs said the ADB should impose a shadow carbon price of $80 per total carbon dioxide (tCO2) by 2020 and $100/tCO2 by 2030. Currently, ADB’s carbon price of $36.30/tCO2 is still considered as the bottom range or the lowest carbon prices imposed by financial institutions.

According to the 2017 Report of the High Level Commission on Carbon Prices, the explicit carbon-price level consistent with achieving the Paris temperature target is at least $40–80/tCO2 by 2020 and $50–100/ tCO2 by 2030, provided a supportive policy environment is in place.

“To meet the Paris temperature goal, [the] ADB should impose carbon prices at least at the highest end of the range and also determine a faster and higher rate of increase of its carbon prices, much like how [the] EIB [European Investment Bank] has already determined its increasing carbon prices until 2050,” the report said.

Earlier, in an e-mail to BusinessMirror, the IED said the ADB approved $2.06 billion in financing for coal-fired power plants between 2009 and 2019.

The IED said the financing for coal-fired power plants located in Pakistan, Philippines, China and Vietnam, accounted for a total of 4.8 percent of the total financial support of ADB for the energy sector.

The IED report stated that ADB approved $42.5 billion for the energy sector between 2009 and 2019, the second-largest sector allocation after transport.

The Asia and Pacific region, IED said, is still heavily reliant on thermal coal for power and heat generation, which is a major contributor to climate change and air pollution.

The region has the world’s most coal projects in the pipeline, with 78 percent of new plants in the pipeline located in ADB’s developing member countries.

The IED review also found that ADB’s energy program made significant contributions to increasing the availability and reliability of electricity supply, through investment in power grid infrastructure, as well as increasing the share of renewable energy in the region through public and private sector financing.

ADB was a pioneering investor in renewable energy in many of its developing member countries. However, the IED said its energy program fell short of addressing other priorities such as demand-side efficiency, last-mile electrification, and sector reforms.

Security Bank saw surge in online fund transfers

O

nline money transfer rose substantially in 2020 as the lockdown measures imposed during this pandemic accelerated shift to digital banking, Security Bank Corp. said.

In a statement, the listed bank said its online fund transfer grew by over 300 percent year-on-year in 2020.

Overall online banking usage surged by 170 percent between March 17 and August 31, the bank said.

The online fund transfer transactions include interbank money transfer through InstaPay and remittances via Security Bank’s eGiveCash.

“We have seen a surge in the number of people transacting via [our online platform] with transactions growing steadily month-on-month,” Head of Transaction Banking Group John Cary L. Ong said.

Ong added the online bills payment also comprised a big portion of the transactions. “This [online bills payment] has been one of the main drivers of our electronic channel growth with a 48-percent increase versus the previous year,” he added.

Ong welcomed the surge in online banking users because this showed that more are adapting to the new normal already.

“Security Bank will continue to test and roll out new user-friendly features, streamline our digital solutions, and strengthen our technology and platforms to support the changing needs of our customers,” he said. “Our commitment to continuous innovation allows us to provide better banking services to those we serve.”

Meanwhile, the bank also reminded the public to remain vigilant against online scams amid the pandemic.

Security Bank saw its first half earnings increase by 14 percent to P5.7 billion from P5 billion last year for the same period on the back of higher net interest income and trading gains.

Total revenues surged by 68 percent to P25.9 billion while total net interest income rose by 34 percent to P15.8 billion in the first semester.

Security Bank earmarked P11-billion worth of buffer for potential credit losses, which is markedly higher than P639 million last year. Gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio stood at 1.58 percent while NPL coverage ratio was at 174 percent.

Capital adequacy ratio was at 19.7 percent while common equity tier 1 ratio was registered at 18.8 percent.

Both are above the minimum regulatory requirements. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

BusinessMirror

Monday, September 14, 2020 B3

Govt debt service bill breaches ₧600-B mark despite July slide

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he government’s debt service bill for the January-to-July period breached the P600-billion mark despite a decline in July.

Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) showed government’s debt payments as of end-July surging by 27.33 percent to P608.26 billion from P477.71 billion a year ago.

In July, the government paid a total of P60.91 billion for debt service,

reflecting a 34.12-percent contraction from P92.46 billion in the same month last year.

Of the total debt service bill for the January to July period, the bulk went to amortization payments, cornering 59.38 percent or P361.2 bil-

lion. Interest payments, meanwhile, amounted to P247.06 billion, equivalent to a share of 40.62 percent.

For July alone, the government mostly paid for interest payments, which grew by 16.52 percent to P59.38 billion from P50.97 billion in the same month last year.

On the other hand, amortization payments for the month plunged by 96.32 percent year-on-year to P1.53 billion from P41.5 billion in 2019.

The national government’s debt service bill this year is seen to reach a total of P1.005 trillion, up by 19.33 percent from last year’s actual total debt service of P842.45 billion.

Of the projected debt service

bill this year, P584.322 billion will go to principal amortization while P420.964 billion will be for interest payments.

For this year, the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) expects the country’s debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio to increase to 53.91 percent of GDP—a level it hasn’t seen in over a decade—from a record-low of 39.6 percent of GDP last year. For 2021 and 2022, this is seen to surge to 58.1 percent and 59.9 percent, respectively.

Debt-to-GDP ratio is used to gauge the country’s ability to pay its debts.

Bank backs BSP’s plan to boost sustainable finance

R

egulatory perks for banks that are being considered by the Sustainable Central Banking (SCB) program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will help spur interest in sustainability initiatives among local banks, according to Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) President Eugene S. Acevedo.

The statement was made in support to the BSP’s reported plan to consider lending for green projects as compliance with the Agri-Agra Law (Republic Act 10000). This law requires banks to allocate 25 percent of their loanable funds to farmers and fishermen. The BSP’s SCB program seeks to help banks in complying with the BSP’s Circular 1085 on Sustainable Finance Framework.

In a recent presentation to the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), Acevedo said RCBC has been an early adopter of Philippine sustainable and inclusive

banking practices, having started the implementation of an Environmental and Social Management System in 2011. He said the ESMS enables RCBC to engage its customers, share best practices and support clients that seek solutions to reduce their impact on the environment and communities.

Acevedo said RCBC’s sustainable and inclusive banking practices are also aligned with the objectives of BSP Circular 1085, which mandates lenders to include environmental and social considerations in their governance frameworks, risk management systems, strategies and operations. Acevedo said RCBC also supports the BSP’s recent membership with the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), which is expected to benefit the banking industry through best practices in other jurisdictions, particularly in the areas of risk management and stress testing exercises.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has strengthened our resolve on helping address urgent environmental and social needs such as renewable energy, clean transportation and public health,” Acevedo was quoted in a statement as saying. “These are needs that meet our sustainable finance framework.”

RCBC issued its own Sustainable Finance Framework in April 2019, enabling it to raise Sustainability Bonds last year: the two-year P8billion Asean-labeled bond and the five-year $300-million bond, which marked RCBC’s return to the US dollar bond market. The bond proceeds refinanced the bank’s sustainable lending portfolio, which extends support to projects with environmental benefits and those that are vital to society’s needs, primarily health care (hospitals and distributors of affordable generic medicines) and education. RCBC’s sustainable lending portfolio comprised 11 percent of its total loans

as of end-July 2020.

As the pandemic underscores the relevance of financial inclusion, RCBC responded by further reaching out to unbanked Filipinos, according to the bank. Two months into the quarantine period, RCBC said it recorded over 2 million mobile app downloads of its DiskarTech platform, making possible the disbursement of the government’s emergency cash subsidy in at least eight regions nationwide. It also enabled unbanked and underserved Filipinos to access alternative financial services amid the pandemic through RCBCDiskarTech’s payout partners such as rural banks, convenience stores, pawnshops, and payment centers.

“For RCBC, we have a commitment to help promote a low-carbon economy, develop services that respond to the needs of the unbanked and underbanked, and build a resilient balance sheet,” Acevedo said.

Perspectives Insurtech’s place in a Covid-19 world Who will benefit as insurers accelerate innovation efforts?

Covid-19 has impacted every sector of the economy; and insurance is no exception. The pandemic has highlighted inefficiencies and created new friction points for carriers and customers alike—but the experience has also validated carriers’ efforts to innovate and invest in a digital future.

Insurtech (insurance technology) is sure to play a vital, ongoing role in bringing digital innovation to the insurance sector overall.

However, in the short term, many insurtech companies may face significant challenges.

Insurance companies stay the course on innovation

AS countries begin to ease Covid-19 restrictions and reopen their economies, insurance carriers will continue to focus on stabilizing their businesses, adjusting to new ways of working and meeting their customers’ needs while protecting the health and safety of both customers and staff.

For many carriers, the crisis has further fueled their innovation ambitions, and accelerated efforts to adopt a digital-first approach to customer and worker interactions, to modernize technology infrastructure and improve data capabilities, and embrace touchless, digital underwriting and claims processes. And insurtech companies will play a key role in helping carriers achieve these longer-term ambitions, whether as partners or acquisition targets.

Insurtech companies should be

encouraged by the fact that these carriers are choosing to stay the course with their insurtech providers—and even speed things up. In our conversations with insurance leaders, we found zero inclination to either pull back on existing insurtech relationships or switch from an insurtech company to a larger, more established technology provider. Insurance carriers continue to see opportunity and value in their insurtech relationships.

However, while carriers are committed to the innovative projects and insurtech partners they’re already involved with, they are less likely to take risks on new, unknown insurtech companies. For new B2B (business-to-business) insurtechs trying to build relationships and get a foot in the door with potential customers, it’s likely to be a highly challenging business environment and an unbalanced market in the near term.

Operational enablement a key focus for insurers and their insurtech partners

In discussing the challenges of doing business in a Covid-19 world with a number of insurance leaders, it became clear that operational enablement is a key focus of carriers’ innovation effort. And they’re eager to work with insurtech companies that can improve and enhance their operations.

Carriers are accelerating work in such areas as digital customer interactions in distribution, customer service, and claims.

They’re working to augment their underwriting through the

use of new data sources and decision models. They’re investing in improving data capture and ingestion, especially with regard to unstructured data such as audio and video.

They’re looking for ways to improve how data is accessed and shared among different business units and teams, which has become even more important now, at a time of widespread remote work. They’re also looking to leverage remote data capture and analysis to support claims submissions and decisions.

The property and casualty insurance leaders we’ve spoken with feel the Covid-19 situation has been a powerful accelerant to their innovation efforts. The pandemic has validated digital-first strategies, but it’s also led to some new perspectives.

Where efforts to develop digitalfirst customer service and touchless claims processes were once seen entirely in terms of speed and efficiency, they’re now also seen in terms of protecting the health and safety of customers and employees—a powerful way to build trust with both groups. At least one carrier is focused on making the vast majority of their claims touchless in the near future.

For commercial insurers, remote risk identification is getting a lot of attention. Carriers are not only looking for ways to make more— and more effective—use of remote imaging to assess underwriting risk and evaluate claims, they’re also ramping up efforts to harness the power of Internet of Thingsconnected sensors and devices for

the same purposes.

Life insurers are, not surprisingly, in the current environment, especially driven to find “fluidless” solutions for underwriting—such as health data from connected devices or algorithm-based approaches. However, life insurers are also looking for ways to improve the profitability of their underwriting and operations overall. The low interest rates we’ve seen for the past several years, and which seem likely to continue as the world recovers from the Covid-19 situation, have greatly dampened life carriers’ investment returns and profits.

In many cases, the initiatives and projects carriers are focused on aren’t entirely new: insurers have made efforts to enable customers to connect with them over digital channels and submit claim information using their smartphones, for example. Yet what is different now is the scale and speed of these initiatives.

Carriers are emboldened to move well beyond pilots, proofs of concept and small-scale rollouts.

Now, their intent is to move these innovations into the mainstream of their business—they want to “go big,” fast.

The excerpt was taken from “KPMG Thought Leadership, Insurtech’s place in a Covid-19 world.” ©2020 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG network of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. Printed in the Philippines.

For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may visit www.kpmg.com.ph.

B4

Monday, September 14, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Style

BusinessMirror

Veluz’s inner Venus F

OR richer and for better, Philippine fashion forges on. As the most prominent female wedding designer in the land, Veluz doesn’t let the pandemic deter her brides from getting their happily-ever-after.

“The wedding and events industry has been badly hit by the pandemic. Thank goodness, no one has canceled on us. They all just moved to a later date.

Some opted to have two dresses—a simple gown for an intimate wedding and their original gown for their post-pandemic event,” said Veluz, an avid fan of Alexander McQueen, Oscar de la Renta, Ramon Valera, Joe Salazar and Inno Sotto. And, yes, she goes by one name only. Like Cher and Madonna.

Pre-pandemic, practically all of the “Veluzbrides” were into heavily embellished dresses. Now, the brides are leaning toward simpler silhouettes and less embellishments. The RTW dresses are getting more popular, too, so Veluz is working on new designs that she feels will be more appropriate for the times.

“A few days before the quarantine was implemented, I actually asked my team to all go home to their respective families. Their health and their safety were my primary concern. It was so difficult because their work is their source of livelihood so we

had to find ways to provide financial assistance, too,” Veluz said.

When the country went into GCQ, some brides wanted to have dresses made for their simpler events, while others are pushing through with their weddings to the last quarter of this year to early 2021. “So we needed to get back to work, too. Safety precautions are being implemented now. We are still not at full capacity given the limited work but we’re inching our way to providing work for everyone,” she shared.

Veluz is grateful that she didn’t have to take drastic measures to keep her business afloat: “Fortunately, we had some overseas weddings that were not canceled or postponed so we didn’t see the need to shift our business practices. We also have our Heirloom

by Veluz line, and we’re getting enough orders to support our limited work force. We also made major adjustments on our operations to lower our cost.”

What excites her during this gloomy time is her new labor of love, Io Sono (www.iosono.ph), which means “I am” in Italian. It’s a seductive line of intimate apparel that even Claudia Cardinale, Sophia Loren and Monica Bellucci will approve of.

“Saying ‘I am’ is declaring one’s true self.

Acknowledging and claiming ownership of who we really are. Perfect for intimates, it is the us that no one else sees, because what matters most is who we are inside,” she said.

It’s the absence of a local luxe intimate apparel line, like La Senza or La Perla, that motivated her to develop Io Sono. Homegrown brands like SoEn or Sogo have been in the market for decades, she stressed, but these brands are geared for everyday wear. They are made of comfortable knits, not luxurious satin and lace.

“This absence is even more apparent in special events. Practically all my brides and everyone I know

wear imported brands for those occasions,” she shared. “They’ve become defaults, too, for those who are particular with panty lines and bra creases.”

Veluz had been working on Io Sono for almost a year before the Covid-19 pandemic started. She conceptualized the line with three of her close friends, who are all Clothing Technology graduates: Anna Regala-Abadesco, a retailing expert who noted the absence of a locally-made luxury line; Zhet ZerdaGuzman, who has a 15-year history handling high and middle-ranged intimates; and Nicole Panganiban, an e-commerce expert.

“We worked closely together when I was working on the designs, from the materials to the patterns, accessories, workmanship and fit. We were planning to launch this last April but then the pandemic happened. We decided to launch at a later date because we felt it was time,” Veluz explained. “Aside from assuring continuity of work for our team, in our own small way we want to spread some happiness.

Beautiful and well-fitted intimates can make every woman feel good. We all need that extra dose of happiness today, right?”

Since the Philippines doesn’t have a textile industry that manufactures microfibers or those with elasthans, rayon blends, satin and stretched lace, Veluz sourced materials overseas, including the accessories. But even if the materials are sourced abroad, Veluz assured that everything is cut, assembled and packed here. They are also developing some designs that will have embroidery and beading, all handled by her well-trained team. n Photos: Jonathan Roco de Guzman for TanMan Photo Model: Erika Tang of Mercator Artist and Model Management Inc. Hair and Makeup: Madge Lejano Manila Jewelry: Atelier 818 Location: Manila Marriott Hotel

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Veteran broadcast journalist Vic de Leon Lima finds new home in DWIZ VETERAN broadcast journalist Vic de Leon Lima is now part of AM radio station DWIZ 882 as one of the hosts of its new morning radio program which premiered on August 31.

The new program, which he cohosts with Alex Santos, is entitled Santos at Lima sa 882, airs on DWIZ 882AM from Monday to Friday, 6 am to 8 am. Lima’s move to transfer to DWIZ came after his show on former station DZMM ended when ABS-CBN’s franchise bid was denied. He brings with him more than 30 years of experience as a broadcaster and commentator.

Mr. D. Edgard A. Cabangon, chairman of ALC Media Group, sees this development as a welcoming change, with de Leon Lima’s long years of broadcasting experience translating into dynamism and energy to the newly formed tandem with Santos.

“We would like to welcome Mr. Vic de Leon Lima to the DWIZ family. He is such an experienced broadcaster that can certainly contribute to the station’s continuing pursuit of broadcasting excellence,” Cabangon said.

Aside from delivering the latest news, Santos and Lima will also give commentaries on the important issues that are currently affecting the nation, in keeping with the station’s corporate slogan, “Balitang Sigurado, Tapat na Serbisyo, Sa Komentaryo Numero Uno!” Santos at Lima sa 882 is also being streamed via DWIZ’s Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/ dwiz882, on YouTube via DWIZ on Demand, on the DWIZ web site at www.dwiz882am.com, and through the DWIZ app that can be downloaded for free on the AppStore for iOS devices, and Google Play Store for Android devices.

DWIZ is operated by Aliw Broadcasting Corp., headed by its chairman and president, D. Edgard A. Cabangon. Established in May 1991, it is a member of the ALC Group of Companies founded

by Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua.

What is Piolo’s grooming essential?

Beautéderm Corp.’s Rhea Anicoche-Tan has always wanted actor Piolo Pascual (photo) to be one of her brand ambassadors.

ONE of Beautéderm Corp. President and CEO Rhea AnicocheTan’s dreams when she started her beauty business 11 years ago was for actor Piolo Pascual to be a Beautéderm ambassador. That dream is finally a reality.

Anicoche-Tan, who was honored by People Asia magazine as one of the “Women of Style and Substance” in its September issue, is happy to have the award-winning actor on-board the thriving beauty and wellness company that she built 11 years ago.

“Having Piolo as one of out brand ambassadors has been on my bucket list ever since I started the company in 2009.

I have always admired his body of work as one of the most accomplished and respected artists in the industry,” said Anicoche-Tan. Pascual is someone who lives an active and healthy lifestyle and fits right in with the Beautéderm brand DNA. He is endorsing Beau Charcoal Soap from the brand’s Spruce & Dash men’s line—a best seller and favorite product of thousands of consumers. Beau, an FDA notified and certified

Superbrands bath soap, promises to detoxify and exfoliate while leaving a clean and fresh scent.

“My sister has been a longtime user of Beautéderm products. I have read a lot about the brand, and I’ve heared positive feedback about it from my colleagues in the business,” said Pascual.

Beau Charcoal Soap is a grooming essential to the actor because it makes him feel energized and rejuvenated when he uses it to shower after a long day.

Anicoche-Tan is grateful for the support of loyal Beautéderm users even with the pandemic. The company has recently launched products that are very timely, including Caress Hand Sanitizer Spray (perfect for disinfecting when you’re out of the house) and Don’t Bug Me Insect Guard Lotion. The soaps, creams and serums continue to do well because at this time, people are more into skin care than makeup.

“We will continue to be faithful to our commitment to serve not only our users but our resellers and distributors, as well in developing more products that are of the highest quality. We at Beautéderm are humbled to have Piolo as part of our family,” said Anicoche-Tan. Pascual is amazed at Beautéderm’s business model.

“I’m so glad to know that the brand is helping so many people and their families because of the business opportunities that it provides to its resellers and distributors around the country. Their sales force is one of the most hardworking teams I’ve ever seen.”

ORGANIC SOAP’S BUSINESS MODEL MEANWHILE, I was sent some organic soaps by a Filipino

brand, called Diwatang Maria, and while I have only tried one variant (the Diwatang Maria Cacao), I was interested in their pandemic business model. Yes, the things you think about when you’re forced to stay home.

“The pandemic has changed everyone. It has changed personality, attitudes, views, principles and beliefs. It has remodeled how we do business, how we make a living. It has redesigned and reshaped the norms. With this fact, Diwatang Maria in its own little ways is guiding those who are interested to brave the challenges of this pandemic through small acts of generosity and bayanihan,” said Maria Concepcion Macalintal, who co-owns Diwatang Maria with Maria Daisyrie Almendras-Ward.

For the last eight months, Diwatang Maria (www. diwatangmaria.com) has been helping communities affected by the pandemic. To celebrate its second anniversary recently, the brand gave away resellers kits. Some of Diwatang Maria partners and resellers also sponsored individuals to become Diwata resellers.

“Diwatas are also heroes, and in every Diwata reseller is a hero since these people are fighting to live a decent life, to lift others. For our second anniversary, Diwatang Maria will rise above the challenges of this pandemic and we would like to invite everyone who feels that there is an inner Diwata in them to be a part of our team and experience business that advocates for the environment, empowerment, bayanihan and of course Filipino beauty—inside and out,” said Macalintal.

I will review the Diwatang Maria soaps after I’ve tried them all. The Diwatang Maria Cacao, by the way, smells like chocolate and it makes showering so enjoyable.

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What to do when your employee is harassed online

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By Viktorya Vilk

and listen closely to their needs.

Keep in mind that some individuals may not feel comfortable calling attention to their situation for fear of retaliation or increased scrutiny, so be discreet. Such conversations are best held privately, although the affected employee should feel empowered to invite a trusted colleague or an HR representative.

S law requires employers to create a workplace free from discrimination and harassment.

But what happens when staff members confront a torrent of hate and abuse online? Given that over 44 percent of Americans say they’ve experienced online harassment, chances are employers will have people on staff who have been affected.

For individuals with publicly oriented jobs, such as journalists and policy-makers, online abuse may well be part of day-to-day working life.

Although anyone can be subjected to online abuse, women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community are disproportionately targeted for their identities and experience more severe forms of harassment. As more and more organizations proclaim their commitment to providing equitable and inclusive work environments, they can no longer afford to ignore the very real consequences of online abuse.

When employees are attacked online in a way that intersects with their professional life, organizations have a responsibility to take the abuse seriously and help address it. Some employers may feel that they don’t know where to start, but there are many steps you can take to support your teams in preparing for, responding to and mitigating the damage of online abuse. Here are some actions to get started:

Acknowledge the harm

To create an environment where employees feel safe and supported enough to come forward when they are being abused online, leadership needs to let workers know that it takes the issue seriously and expect managers and colleagues to do the same. Targets often suffer in isolation, partly

n Assess the threat. Work closely with targeted staff members to gauge threats to physical safety (for themselves, their family and colleagues); in some cases it may be necessary to engage law enforcement or professional security experts. n Document and delegate.

because there’s still a great deal of stigma and shame associated with harassment. A commitment to supporting staff members who are being abused online can be formalized by amending existing policies and protocols around sexual harassment and social media use, communicated via all-staff emails and meetings and reinforced by the ways in which managers and human resources react to individual cases.

Assess the scope

Survey staff members to figure out the degree to which they are facing and how they are navigating online abuse. The survey can be informal and anonymous. It should examine how often employees are experiencing abuse and on which platforms; what kinds of tactics they’re being subjected to; the emotional, psychological and professional toll; and how the institution can offer support.

Create protocols and offer training

When employees are being harassed online, they often have no idea what to do. Arm them with the knowledge that there are concrete steps they can take to proactively protect themselves from and respond to abuse. Having clear protocols can make workers feel safer and more empowered. To ensure staff members are actually aware of these initiatives, employ-

Monitoring and documenting online offenses can be instrumental for escalating abuse to tech companies and law enforcement and pursuing legal action. But taking these steps can also be exhausting and retraumatizing for the target.

Managers can offer temporary respite by asking a close colleague of the targeted individual or the social media team to monitor, report or document abuse.

Online abuse is intended to be profoundly isolating, which is why giving your staff a safe space to vent, share experiences and exchange strategies is vitally important. Encourage employees to band together and create a peer support group. Just make sure they have adequate time and access to leadership to apply their experiences to help improve policies, protocols and resources.

If you are a manager, you have an especially important role to play in supporting employees enduring cyber harassment. In particular, you can:

n Escalate. Most digital platforms have mechanisms to report online abuse. But sometimes these mechanisms fail. As an individual, it can be difficult to get a platform’s attention. Luckily, organizations often have direct contacts at tech companies. If staff members have reported abuse that clearly violates terms of service, but they are unable to get it removed, escalating the issue directly to tech company contacts can make all the difference.

The racial justice movement is putting much-needed pressure on organizations to redouble their commitment to creating more diverse, inclusive and equitable workplaces. Online abuse is a major stumbling block to these efforts. If an organization is serious about supporting its workers, it should have their backs in the face of online attacks.

n Reach out and listen. Proactively reach out to staff members targeted by online abuse, check in

Viktorya Vilk is program director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America.

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

ers can fold policies and protocols into onboarding and employee handbooks, post information on intranets and Slack channels, and encourage managers, HR, information technology and social media staff to reinforce them.

Companies should also offer training on how employees can better protect the digital tools they use, how to report online abuse internally, ways to combat hate speech and how to conform to corporate social media policies.

Develop an internal reporting system

As a part of your online abuse protocol, create a space where staff members can safely and privately report it. Put together a small task force to clarify what kinds of abuse employees can report, create a reporting mechanism (for example, a designated email account or Slack channel), monitor it and ensure prompt follow-up.

Offer concrete resources and services

These can include cybersecurity services that protect against hacking, impersonation, doxing and identity theft (including password managers, such as Password or LastPass); data scrubbers, such as DeleteMe or PrivacyDuck; mental health care or counseling; and legal counseling.

Moderate content

If your organization expects employees to express themselves via blogs, articles or organizational social media channel you can protect them from harassment by creating and enforcing guidelines for acceptable content. While fostering open online debate is important, it is also fair to define what you consider to be abusive and decide how problematic content will be dealt with. News outlets like The Wall Street Journal have started creating clear policies for

moderating article comments.

Machine learning can also help human content moderators enforce policies.

Encourage peer support networks

Intimidating bosses can change—They just need a nudge L

By Zhenyu Liao

eaders often believe they are obliged to adopt a toughminded approach to steer their teams in the right direction, especially when struggling with mutinous members, rigid management systems or turbulent business environments. But while abusive leadership may produce advantageous results in the short term, the long-term consequences can be devastating, both for employees and the organizations.

My research shows that being on the receiving end of abusive behavior can draw employees downward, resulting in poorer performance, a lower commitment to their managers and companies, counterproductive work behaviors and overt hostility. Managers, however, are often unaware of the consequences of their intimidating leadership style. As a result, corporations have been ineffective in developing appropriate solutions to curb the abusive behaviors displayed by these managers.

Luckily, research shows that poisonous leadership behaviors can be curtailed when workplaces use a powerful, collective “nudge” system. In this system, executives and employees at distinct levels of the organizational hierarchy col-

lectively encourage constructive leadership behavior from managers in three ways:

Process-oriented leadership evaluation programs

Companies often struggle to identify abusive and intimidating leaders, in large part because most companies evaluate a leader’s performance based on measurements of financial performance and subjective perceptions, ignoring the process by which managers achieve those numbers.

A process-focused leadership evaluation program addresses this flaw by focusing on all specific work-related and interpersonal actions that managers have taken to achieve better collective performance. It can be a great help in dispelling the illusory effects of numbers and point to necessary leadership interventions.

Evaluating and offering constant feedback to managers is essential. The feedback can provide leaders with proper and timely guidance on how to adjust their behavior to develop stronger teams and achieve better outcomes.

Situation-based leadership training programs

Most companies find that leadership training initiatives don’t

work, as they rarely see expected transformations from managers and executives. This is largely because managers often find themselves wrestling with the implementation of lessons from a one-time training experience in real work situations. But programs that emphasize sustained learning and ongoing application opportunities, and that situate leaders in their respective management contexts, can work and are especially effective in getting abusive managers to correct course.

A simple but practical approach, which I often use in my leadership development course, focuses on self-reflection. I first ask managers to recall a time when they abused a subordinate and to write down what they did, why they acted in that certain way, and how they felt while doing it. Then, managers write down all the consequences their behaviors lead to, for both themselves and the targeted subordinates. After that I ask the managers to develop three better alternatives for dealing with that situation. Finally, I pair managers together and ask them to share their experiences and alternatives with each other; the manager listening is expected to provide feedback and suggest alternative behaviors that might be more effective.

Employee self-shielding programs

Companies can also proactively offer a program that allows employees to cope collectively when dealing with unwelcome leadership behaviors. Research on power dependency and followership suggests that employees under the same disparaging leader can work together to reconstruct the power dynamics in their favor and curb abusive behaviors.

One good way for employees to do so is to form a coalition with colleagues suffering similar mistreatment and coordinate actions aimed at restraining managers and getting the support needed. Companies can help by encouraging or organizing employee learning and mutual support programs. Those should be independent of managers and exclusively for employees who want to share work experiences and develop collective strategies to combat belittling leadership behavior. Once employees can develop stronger collective power, they will be more likely to be successful in pushing managers to take actions to make amends and improve strained relational dynamics.

One added benefit of selfshielding programs is that by taking part in them employees are

able to learn from one another and acquire valuable skills, knowledge and abilities. Doing so can boost workers’ fundamental value and increase their managers’ dependence on them, which in turn strengthens the employees’ leverage in seeking better treatment.

Organizations could also offer self-development training programs focused on implicit influence tactics, to be used to push back against abusive managers appropriately. For example, employees could be trained to confront a manager while diffusing tensions by explaining how they can’t effectively get their work done when faced with abusive behavior. To be sure, this is not an easy thing to do; but such fact-based nudging does help intimidators realize their behavior is unacceptable, and it can lead them to reduce continuing damage.

The consequences of vicious leadership extend beyond employees; abusive behaviors also impose an unexpected psychological costs on the managers themselves. In a series of studies that examined how leaders responded to their own abusive behavior, colleagues and I found that managers tended to feel guilty after yelling at or humiliating subordinates.

To ease those negative feelings,

managers would seek to make amends by paying more attention to the needs of their abused employees and by providing extra resources, support and work guidance. Although such post-hoc amendments might have helped in the short term, they ultimately reduced overall efficiency, as they diverted time and energy from other important work.

This drives home my key point: Abusiveness and intimidation are not viable influence tactics for leaders. And while firing a leader might in some cases be the only solution, companies can often design a set of programs to transform the behavior of intimidators into conscientious, d e v e lo pme nt a l a nd i n s pi r a tional leadership behavior. The strength of such an approach rests on the fact that the nudging programs outlined above are built upon the collective efforts of individuals at different levels of the organizational ladder, and are intended to develop constructive dynamics between managers and employees—rather than impose severe punishment on those “great” abusive leaders.

Zhenyu Liao is an assistant professor in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University.

B6 Monday, September 14, 2020

Reward yourself for working from home Lexus offers the drive you deserve with low down payments, 0%-interest offers

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OU deserve to drive a luxury car that was built with utmost attention to detail, and craftsmanship that is recognized by the most discerning car enthusiasts.

Well, owning a Lexus has just become easier with offers it has created especially for select models with a 30% downpayment, 24-month term, at 0% interest.

The Lexus ES 350 (SRP 4,478,000) midsize sedan showcases a humancentered cabin; a coupe-like silhouette; advanced passive and active driversafety technologies; and an innovative infotainment system with a 12.3-inch display and 17-speaker Mark Levinson Premium Surround Sound System. Its wheels are 18-inch noise-reducing alloy wheels finished in a hyper chrome metallic coating. It also has the Hands-free Power Back Door feature. You can open and close the trunk with a simple kicking motion under the rear bumper. Under its hood is a 300hp 3.5-liter V6 engine mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. It is worth noting that the ES is also Lexus’s most popular sedan model.

The Lexus IS 350 (SRP 2,948,000) compact sedan delivers the pinnacle of control thanks to its drive-mode selection and paddle shifters behind the wheel.

Electric power steering offers precision and feel, while under the hood, the IS 350’s 312hp 3.5-liter V6 engine paired with the 8-speed sport direct-transmission will bring a smile to your face. This sophisticated transmission features a clutch that locks the torque converter in gears two through eight during hard acceleration. Front bumper air ducts, aero stabilizing fins, and a sharp rear end enhance the aerodynamics of the entire body, further helping the IS 350 slice through the air.

The Lexus RX 350 (SRP Php 4,378,000) midsize luxury SUV is a technological showcase. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity allow you to use dedicated smartphone functions via the dashboard touchscreen display. How’s that for modernday convenience? Because it is the pioneer in the luxury SUV segment and is one of the most popular SUVs in the Philippines, the RX is available in three other variants.

You won’t be lacking in choice as there is an RX that will suit your every demand.

The Lexus RX 350 F Sport (SRP 4,938,000) will satisfy the enthusiast driver who is also looking for a practical crossover for the family. Its 20-inch twinspoke aluminum wheels; F Sport dials; dimpled leather seats; perforated finish on the steering wheel and shift knob; and aluminum pedals are just a few of the features that set the RX F Sport models apart from its siblings.

The Lexus RX 350L (SRP 4,858,000) variant takes practicality to a whole new and luxurious level with the addition of a third-row built with a slide function. Rear seats slide, recline and fold virtually flat in a 60/40 split, while storage compartments are conveniently spread throughout the interior. The exterior also features stylized brake lamps, LED headlights, and illuminated door handles.

The Lexus RX 450h (SRP 5,178,000) is powered by a V6 3.5-liter direct-injection engine with front and rear electric motors that enhance fuel economy. The hybrid drive is mated to an innovative CVT that lets you feel even closer to the road with responsive acceleration and assertive torque while maximizing fuel efficiency.

It also features an EV drive mode for low speeds. It is super silent and has no emissions. That’s eco-friendly motoring for

these environment-conscious times.

The Lexus NX 300 (SRP Php 3,208,000) delivers 235hp and 350Nm of torque to all four wheels via a sixspeed automatic transmission. Power comes from a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder direct-injection engine.

For a more engaging driving experience, the NX 300 features a gravity ball sensor that detects when the car is braking, accelerating, or cornering, and finds and holds the right gear.

The Lexus NX 300h (SRP 3,678,000) features a Hybrid System Indicator that displays real-time information about the hybrid system’s output and regeneration, encouraging you to adopt an eco-friendly drive. This variant features Lexus Hybrid Drive which draws power from both electric and petrol motors, resulting in instant torque and rapid acceleration. Talk about guilt-free fun.

The Lexus NX 300 F Sport (SRP 3,708,000) has a front grille that uses an F-mesh pattern with the same jetblack plating used on the RC F. The F Sport seats feature integrated foaming technology to keep you firmly in place even during aggressive driving. Plus, the cabin features dimpled leather with an exclusive perforated finish on the steering wheel and shift knob. If you are in need of interior legroom, the distance between the NX’s front and rear seats is a class-leading 962mm.

Meanwhile, Lexus UX 200 requires 50% downpayment, 12-month term, at 0% interest.

The Lexus UX 200 (SRP 2,538,000) is the gateway model into the world of Lexus and the ideal crossover for the buyer who demands more from a vehicle.

It offers SUV performance, stunning design, and the nimble handling of a hatchback. Its Sashiko-quilted leather seats and dashboard trim are unique Japanese elements that highlight the craftsmanship that goes into the creation of the UX. Driver connectivity us unparalleled, too.

Don’t wait too long. These offers are only available this September.

Get to know the Lexus lineup without leaving the comfort of your own home with Lexus Remote. Visit https://www.lexus.com.ph/en/lexusremote.html.You will then be contacted by a dedicated sales consultant who will be pleased to guide you.

“Lingkod ng Isa't Isa” stories prove anyone can be a hero

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BS-CBN recently launched the “Lingkod Ng Isa’t Isa” campaign to pay tribute to those who continue to serve despite the challenges and losses during this pandemic, and to encourage the public to help uplift lives in their own way.

Featured in the “Lingkod Ng Isa’t Isa” microsite (https://news.abs-cbn.com/LingkodNgIsatIsa) are several stories of everyday heroism by Filipinos that were reported by ABS-CBN News or shared by “Bayan Mo, Ipatrol Mo.” The goal is to bring hope and inspiration to people through real-life accounts of kindness, ingenuity, and compassion among Filipinos. Netizens are also encouraged to share more of this type of stories on social media using the official hashtag #LingkodPinas.

Here are the seven stories featured:

Nurse Mary Lorraine Pingol, 29, was all over the news and social media recently after helping a woman give birth in Makati City. She was on her way to work when she saw a rescue team attending to a street dweller in labor. "There's no other person to help them kundi ako at that period of time, kaya tumulong na ako," she recounted. Diagnosed with leukemia in 2013, Mary Lorraine fought through her sickness and pursued her calling.

'Spiderman' Jheelan Ocon goes to work as a delivery rider in a Spiderman suit, bringing smiles to his clients. The 31-year old is also a real-life hero to his wife, who has chronic kidney disease.

Jheelan gave up his work in Makati to personally take care of her and their three kids in Batangas.

Healthcare worker Paolo Bianco Villar Bartolo shared with Bayan Mo, Ipatrol Mo how thankful he and his colleagues are to taho vendor Rolando Urbina, who has been giving away the delightful treat for free to frontliners like him. “Malaking tulong din po 'yung ginagawa ni Kuya Rolando eh

Jheelan Ocon, 31 “Fake” spiderman brings real joy to wife, clients on Right Photo: Bayanihan In Australia (photo courtesy of ABS-CBN News , BMPM)

kahit paano po nagkakalaman 'yung tiyan namin bago po kami magsimula sa duty," he said. Rolando is a hero on his own right too, as he goes out of his way to cheer up workers in Sta. Ana Hospital with taho during community quarantine.

Bayanihan works in Australia. With many overseas workers losing jobs abroad due to the pandemic, a group of Filipinos formed a response team that deliver canned goods, noodles, soap, and other basic necessities to those in need.

"Bilang Pilipino, ginawa po namin ito sa tulong na ating kababayang Pilipino dahil ramdam din natin ang kanilang nararamdaman nila ngayon dahil dumaan din kami sa temporary working visa at sa napakahirap na sitwasyon," said Reynaldo Manlutac, a Filipino migrant in Australia. Like him, Filipino chef Edward Ocampo and businesswoman Vangie Reyes have also been helping their kababayans through cooking for them.

Suffering from a rare type of bone cancer, Aedan Pio Malvar, 9, has witnessed firsthand the commitment and sacrifices of medical professionals in helping their patients get better. Using his love

for the arts, he began to sell his paintings of stars, planets, and the galaxy to raise funds for frontliners.

Among the beneficiaries of Pio’s art project are Brave Warrior Kids Foundation (BWKF) and the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) Medical Foundation.

Without a doubt, delivery riders are among the unsung heroes during this pandemic. Wanting to honor them for their hard work, Anali Lorraine Mojica and her friends started a “free food stopover,” offering free lunch and drinking water to delivery riders in Bangkal, Makati City. “Kasi dapat pati sila i-cheer at i-salute natin ngayong may ganito tayong pandemic," she said.

After receiving his P3,000 allowance from the local government, 15 year-old Jarred Gaviola, an incoming Grade 10 student chose to use it to help other people. About 200 families, including workers in Muntinlupa Science High School and frontliners benifitted from his donations. A Bayan Patroller, Jarred is not done helping yet. He has started calling for donations that he will use to buy face masks for distribution to people.

For updates, visit www. abscbnpr.com.

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HE Covid-19 pandemic has literally transformed the way we live. It has brought so much change, and everyone is working hard to ease into this “new normal”.

These new social norms have been greatly impacting the way business is conducted too. Because of these major shifts happening at an extremely fast rate, companies have been forced to adopt work-from-home (WFH) arrangements for their lean teams.

Concerns for their livelihood and health have been driving anxiety levels for a huge part of the population. While having a positive disposition has helped people to cope, there are actually a few proven ways that can help you manage stress and the onset of cabin fever during this time of pandemic: watch a good movie, eat delicious healthy food, go online shopping, get uninterrupted sleep, nurture

your neglected relationships, exercise, and do anything you want that your heart desires.

For Peter, a BPO team leader, he just wants to relax using his MOK heat-not-burn (HnB) device after every successful call. “Other than being a better alternative to smoking, this MOK gadget feels like a well-deserved break after achieving my tasks.”

Available in LazMall and Shopee Mall, MOK (mok.com.ph) is a revolutionary HnB device that allows smokers to enjoy that same tobacco experience with reduced risks. Since it simply heats tobacco rather than burning it, the harmful toxins and second-hand smoke associated with combustion are eliminated.

Its proprietary heat-not-burn stick called COO is 100% made of real tobacco leaves and comes in three flavors. MOK & COO are available in LazMall and Shopee Mall.

TikTok helps keep teens and users of all ages safe online

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EENS love being online, both for entertainment and social interaction.

While the internet does have a lot of educational, inspirational, and enjoyable content to offer its users, it isn’t always a safe space to be. Abuse from digital predators, cyberbullying, and identity theft are among the dangers that teens and their parents need to be wary of online. And, because most teens have their own phones and computers for browsing, it can be difficult for parents to monitor their internet use, placing them at greater risk compared to smaller children.

Despite the challenges, with proper guidance and open communication, parents can help keep teens safe as they browse the internet and social media.

Engaging in regular conversations about online safety is a good place to start. Some things to talk about are the websites that your teens visit, the people that they interact with on social media, and the content that they post and share.

TikTok has made a commitment to do their part, and provide parents with tools they can use to boost their teens’ safety

on the platform.

The app has extensive privacy settings in place, all of which are easy to navigate and control. Plus, through the new Family Pairing feature, additional security settings can be customized by both teens and parents, based on their individual needs.

This value-added security feature allows parents to link their own accounts with the accounts of their teens, and set up the following control measures: Screen Time Management, to control the amount of time that teens can spend on TikTok each day, Restricted Mode, to filter out inappropriate content, and Direct Messaging Controls, which limits who can send private messages to a teen’s account or disables the direct messaging feature completely.

Direct Messaging is not available for users under 16 years of age.

Users of all ages can look forward to a safe, positive, and welcoming environment as they creatively express themselves on TikTok. Download TikTok on your iOS or Android device today.

Mandaluyong govt. orders temporary closure of all cemeteries during Undas

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ANDALUYONG City Mayor Menchie Abalos has ordered the temporary closure of all public and private cemeteries in the city from October 30 to November 3.

The closure is meant to discourage people from flocking to cemeteries to celebrate the annual Undas or All Souls Day. The temporary closure covers the Garden of Life, San Felipe Neri Roman Catholic and Paradise cemeteries.

Mayor Abalos said she has ordered the City Legal Department to draft an executive order for the temporary closure. "This is to prevent crowding of people in these places to visit their departed loved ones. This has long

been the tradition but we have to ensure that social distancing protocols set by the InterAgency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is followed at all times for the safety of everyone."

Instead of flocking to cemeteries, families are urged to bring home the urns of their dead relatives to celebrate Undas. Even during the time of former Mayor Benhur Abalos, residents were already permitted to take out urns from the columbary of the Garden of Life cemetery seven (7) days before November 1 and return it after seven days. It has become the practice of many residents who wanted to avoid crowds during Undas and celebrate it at the comfort of their homes.

ASH Philippines calls for open-door policy on e-cigarettes hearing

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ction on Smoking and Health (ASH) Philippines calls out the “closed door” decision of the House of Representatives to ban media coverage on the substitute bill on the regulation of the use, sale and distribution of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs).

“We are calling for complete transparency regarding the actions to be undertaken for the bill involving e-cigarettes and HTPs. These products are not safe. Keep in mind that less harm does not mean zero harm,” said ASH Philippines Executive Director and Pulmonologist Dr. Maricar Limpin.

“This gives the impression of possible tobacco industry interference meant to weaken legislative control. If they are confident that their products are completely safe and effective smoking cessation devices.

Otherwise we wonder why ban media coverage? Why keep the public in the dark?” added Limpin.

Under the rules of the 18th Congress, committee

meetings and public hearings should be “open to the public subject to reasonable regulations in the interest of security, order and the safety of persons in attendance.”

The exclusion of media coverage on House committee and plenary sessions also circumvents policy of transparency being endorsed by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

“Public health interest must preside over commercial interests. Currently there is no independent evidence-based research that will prove the health claims of the tobacco industry over these products, but if we recall the epidemic of vaping related illnesses and EVALI reported by the CDC, then what we know is that the dangers of these products are very real,” said ASH Philippines President Roberto Del Rosario.

Last year, the Department of Health recorded the first case of e-cigarette or vaping product use associated lung injury (EVALI) from a 16-year-old girl from Cebu which sparked the call for regulation of the novel tobacco products in the Philippines.

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Monday, September 14, 2020 B7

A timely call for good manners and positive values S

PR Matters

By Joy Lumawig-Buensalido

O much in our lives have drastically changed since March 2020. Suddenly our social behavior is racked by rules brought about by a monstrous plague: we need to stay and work from home; we need to shun socializing, even with our own family members; we need to wear masks and face shields whenever we venture out of our homes.

And we need to stop shaking hands, hug, and kiss people around us. Not seeing the people we love— our besties, our favorite kin or coworkers, even our grandparents—is even worse. We can’t get together for birthday bashes, anniversary celebrations or some such joyous occasions. Social distancing has become SOP. Thankfully, we have apps like Viber, Messenger and Google for reaching out to our friends and colleagues.

However, we are a very sociable people—we enjoy talking, bantering, laughing or just being with one another. In fact, I have always maintained that even business dealings in this country are imbued with the Filipinos’ warm, personal touch. This is why I often give the personal side of working more attention, more importance, and more of my time.

For me, one of the best rewards that I can ever have in my professional life is remaining friends with clients, suppliers, work associates or media long after our business relationship ends. This would make everything we’ve worked hard for, or even the difficulties we endured, worth it.

The pandemic may have upended our lives, careers, and plans but there is happily one aspect that we can always keep intact: our basic good

manners and positive values that can guide us in whatever we choose to do in the face of any crisis.

Thus, an incredibly positive development came as a ray of sunshine during this bleak and tortuous period of the quarantine: when Congress passed—without much fanfare— the much-needed Good Manners and Right Conduct and Values Education Act. This mandates the return of good manners and right conduct as a separate subject but complemented by values education throughout all the levels of our country’s basic (K12) educational program.

Those of us from an earlier generation who grew up with GMRC as a basic subject know the critical role it played in our character formation.

It kept many of us grounded on the basic good moral values that are sadly missing in the current system of education. Parents should indeed laud this landmark piece of legislation that we hope will be taken seriously by educators and implemented soon by the Department of Education.

Yes, especially now that the system is temporarily on a blended form of distance and face-to-face learning.

RA 11476 not only encompasses moral and character formation; its Declaration of Policies stresses “the role of all educational institutions in the inculcation of patriotism and nationalism, fostering of love of humanity, respect for human rights, and appreciation of the role of modern-day and national heroes.”

Section 5 also states, “It shall inculcate the values of honesty and integrity, and good faith, in dealing with other human beings.”

I think it’s about time that these positive values of honesty, integrity, love and respect for country, love for

others, and appreciation for national and present-day heroes be brought back as early as the elementary level all the way to high school. We may have overlooked these ideals, which may account for our country’s present problems not only with corruption in government but also for our citizens’ lack of concern, involvement, and positive action to help others in need.

I personally believe that these basic principles are what can spell the difference in the way we conduct ourselves as parents, businessmen, professionals—and even as private citizens—during this pandemic.

How do we react to losing our jobs, our businesses, and even our loved ones? Should we dwell on the negative aspects and criticize the government, or should we do something positive instead like random acts of goodness and sharing our talents and abilities to help others?

How do we treat those who have

tested positive for the virus? Should we avoid them and treat them like lepers or should we teach our children that these people deserve our care and understanding as well?

Should we only think of ourselves and our survival, or should we take moral responsibility for our countrymen, too? Only the right set of values will lead us to do what is right.

Still on GMRC but of a gross and repulsive nature is the subject of an ordinance that the City of Mandaluyong recently passed. Called the Anti-Spitting Ordinance of 2020 (650- S-2017), it states: “It shall be unlawful and a public nuisance for any person to spit or urinate in places to which the public has access, including any street, highway, road, alley, sidewalks, parks, plaza, parking lots, or other vacant public and private properties not owned or controlled by the offender, and other such areas that are open and in full view of the public."

One can only wish that all other city mayors in the entire country would adopt this ordinance, as well, since such disgusting habits are not only unhygienic but definitely “insulting, offensive, and revolting to the public sensibilities and proprieties.”

Finally, please allow me now to refer to my book Pinoy Manners, which I wrote and published in 2017 and which was awarded as Best Book in Leisure by the National Book Development Board in 2018.

In Pinoy Manners, I cited the 10 positive values that we must keep in mind in all ‘seasons’ of our lives: 1. Say “Please,” “Thank You,” and “May I.” 2. Smile 3. Show respect for, and offer to

help, older people.

4. Dress decently for the occasion.

5. Keep quiet when you have nothing good or positive to say.

6. Use humor to defuse tension or avert potentially volatile situations.

7. Be sensitive about money matters.

8. Avoid being rude or unkind whether you are the customer/aggrieved party or the one being complained to.

9. Be role models for your children.

10. Always remember that nobody's perfect, so learn to forgive.

And now that a global health crisis heightens the need for more acts of kindness and consideration for others, let me add three more ideals to this list: 11. Be considerate of others, especially during a national crisis or a disaster, and try to help in whatever small—or big—way you can.

12. Love your country and show some respect for our laws and leaders.

13. Help safeguard and nurture the environment by practicing basic cleanliness and good hygiene in our homes and all public places.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior communications professionals around the world. Joy Lumawig-Buensalido is the President and CEO of Buensalido & Associates Public Relations.

PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Monday, September 14, 2020

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EW YORK—After one errant forehand in the first set of the US Open final, Naomi Osaka looked at her coach in the mostly empty Arthur Ashe Stadium stands with palms up, as if to say, “What the heck is happening?”

In response to another wayward forehand against Victoria Azarenka seconds later, Osaka chucked her racket. It spun a bit and rattled against the court.

Surprisingly off-kilter in the early going Saturday, Osaka kept missing shots and digging herself a deficit. Until, suddenly, she lifted her game, and Azarenka couldn’t sustain her start.

By the end, Osaka pulled away to a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory for her second US Open championship and third Grand Slam title overall.

“For me, I just thought,” said Osaka, who trailed by a set and a break, “it would be very embarrassing to lose this in an under an hour.”

This, then, is what she told herself with a white towel draped over her head at a changeover when things looked bleakest: “I just have to try as hard as I can and stop having a really bad attitude.”

It worked. A quarter-century had passed since a woman who lost the first set of a US Open final wound up winning: In 1994, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did it against Steffi Graf.

“I wasn’t really thinking about winning. I was just thinking about competing,” Osaka said.

“Somehow, I ended up with the trophy.”

Osaka is a 22-year-old who was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father—the family moved to the US when she was three.

Osaka, now based in California, arrived for the US Open intent on claiming the championship, to be sure, but with another goal

NAOMI NAILS U.S. OPEN TIARA NO. 2 in mind, as well: continuing to be a voice for change by calling attention to racial injustice.

She showed up for Saturday’s match wearing a mask with the name of Tamir Rice, a Black 12-yearold boy killed by police in Ohio in 2014. That was the seventh mask she’d used during the tournament, after honoring other Black victims of violence: Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Philando Castile.

“The point,” Osaka explained, “is to make people start talking.”

Last month, Osaka refused to compete after the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, in Wisconsin—she said she would withdraw from her semifinal at the Western & Southern Open, although decided to play after the tournament took a full day off in solidarity.

Osaka and her coach, Wim Fissette—who used to work with Azarenka—have said they think the off-court activism has

helped her energy and mindset in matches.

“I wanted,” Osaka said, “more people to [see] more names.”

So perhaps it was no coincidence that this win over Azarenka, a 31-year-old from Belarus also seeking a third Grand Slam title but first in 71/2 years, made Osaka 11-0 since tennis resumed after its hiatus because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Osaka added to her triumphs at the 2018 US Open—earned with a brilliant

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to manage eSports as a demonstration sport in the 2018 Indonesia Asian Games.

Suzara requested the POC to revisit the hierarchy of recognition when an IOC-affiliated IF is nonexistent.

“The contention is now between one NSA recognized by an IF candidate [PESO], and one NSA recognized by the AF [Asian federation], by the OCA, and by another IF candidate [NESFP],” Suzara said.

Once again, in a scenario where two IFs are in contention, the general succession or hierarchy would place the AF to prevail in deciding upon the NF. In this case, NESFP clearly carries all the credentials.”

Suzara also took notice in the letter the absence of any action or correspondence by the POC to numerous letters and attempts by his group to discuss why the NESFP should be a member of the organization.

“Despite several attempts and methods to communicate with the POC, the NESFP has been unable to receive any action,” Suzara said. “The initial letters and/or e-mails were transmitted weeks before the pandemic struck, and therefore, would have merited any form of reply from the POC Membership Committee or the POC Secretariat.”

“There is no factual and legal basis for the accreditation of PESO as a POC member. But with the documents the NESFP have presented—and given its experience and outstanding performance in the conduct of the 2019 SEA Games—the NESFP is unquestionably the one eligible for accreditation by the POC,” Suzara said.

Andersen

Danish rider beats ’em all in 14th stage

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YON, France—In the fast-changing finish to the latest Tour de France stage, the lead was seized and lost in waves of attacks by French and Sunweb team riders on the up-and-down roads of Lyon.

Each move on short, sharp climbs was quickly marked by sprint specialist Peter Sagan eyeing the win, as the yellow jersey of Primoz Roglic stayed safe and alert in the main pack.

Then the wide-open Stage 14 was sealed by a decisive burst by Soren Kragh Andersen, breaking clear with 3 kilometers to go as Sunweb’s tactics proved perfect on Saturday.

The rider from Denmark cruised to his biggest career win, smiling and sitting up in his saddle before crossing the finish line next to the River Rhône.

“I’m just amazed,” Andersen said. “It’s always hard to say I am good enough before I have done it.”

In a stellar Tour for Slovenia, Luka Mezgec crossed 15 seconds later to take the sprint for

second, and Simon Consonni was third.

Sagan finished only fourth on a stage he targeted to close the gap in the points classification to green jersey wearer Sam Bennett.

Overall leader Roglic had a drama-free, four-anda-half hour ride to keep the yellow jersey he claimed last Sunday. The former ski jumper stayed 44 seconds ahead of his fellow Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, and 59 clear of Egan Bernal, the defending champion.

“We didn’t have to ride the whole day but our guys did the perfect job,” Roglic said of his Jumbo-Visma team. “Luckily we had everything under control.”

The yellow jersey battle is sure to reignite on Sunday. A 174.5-kilometer trek from Lyon ends with a grueling ride up Grand Colombier in the Jura mountains suited to creating time gaps.

The Slovenia vs. Colombia contest atop the general classification will play out over two category 1 summits before approaching an even tougher final climb that stretches for more than 17 kilometers. AP

performance in a memorably chaotic and controversial final against Serena Williams—and 2019 Australian Open.

Azarenka carried an 11-match winning streak of her own into Saturday, including a stirring three-set victory over Williams in the semifinals, stopping the American’s bid for a 24th Grand Slam title.

Azarenka won the 2012 and 2013 Australian Opens and lost to Williams in the US Open finals each of those years.

“I thought the third time was the charm,” Azarenka said, “but I guess I’ll have to try again.”

Even after Osaka surged ahead 4-1 in the third set, the outcome was unclear. Azarenka drew to 4-3, then stood and stretched during the ensuing changeover.

“Had a little bit of a energy dip,” Azarenka said.

Osaka regained control, then laid

NAOMI OSAKA recovers from a first set loss to emerge victorious at Flushing Meadows. AP

Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Bleachers’ Brew down on the court when the final was over.

The 23,000-plus seats in the main arena at Flushing Meadows were not entirely unclaimed, just mostly so—while fans were not allowed to attend because of the coronavirus pandemic, dozens of people who worked at the tournament attended—and the cavernous place was not entirely silent, just mostly so. One of the lucky few in the house: Osaka’s boyfriend, rapper YBN Cordae. AP

Lakers, LeBron head to conference finals

NESFP appeals to POC on choice of eSports NSA HE National Electronic Sports Federation of the Philippines (NESFP) asked the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) to reconsider its decision to accept as member any group claiming legitimacy as the national sports association (NSA) for eSports until after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognizes an international federation for the sport.

NESFP President Ramon Suzara sent POC President Rep. Abraham Tolentino a meticulously detailed letter stressing that the IOC has yet to name an IF for eSports and that the NESFP—and not the PESO—has a lock as the NSA for the sport for having organized and managed the competition and selected and trained gold medal-winning athletes in the 30th Southeast Asian Games where eSports was played as a medal sport for the first time in the Games.

“On behalf of the NESFP, I urgently seek a reconsideration of your decision to accredit the Philippine eSports Organization [PESO] as an associate member NSA for electronic sports instead of NESFP,” Suzara said in the letter dated September 2.

The POC, in a virtual General Assembly last August 29, accepted the PESO as member—upon the recommendation of Membership Committee head Bones Floro—on the contention that the PESO is affiliated with the International Esports Federation (IESF), which claims IOC recognition.

Suzara said the IESF is neither recognized by the IOC nor is it on the list of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF).

“This clearly does not comply with the captioned requirement under POC Membership Rules,” he said.

The NESFP, on the other hand, enjoys the sanction of the Global Esports Federation (GEF) and its continental confederation, the Asian Esports Federation (AESF). The AESF, Suzara stressed, is also the Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) partner, having received the authority

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao

LEBRON JAMES is going to the conference finals for the first time since 2018. AP

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AKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—The Los Angeles Lakers are going to the conference finals for the first time in a decade, ending the longest drought in franchise history.

LeBron James is going there for the first time since 2018. For him, that also qualifies as ending a drought.

James scored 29 points and the Lakers

wrapped up their first trip to the Western Conference finals since 2010 by topping the Houston Rockets, 119-96, on Saturday night in Game Five at Walt Disney World.

“It’s the reason I wanted to be a part of this franchise, to take them back to a place that they were accustomed to being—and that’s competing for a championship,” James said.

“It’s an honor for me to wear the purple and gold, and for us, we just try to continue the legacy.”

Kyle Kuzma scored 17 points, Markieff Morris had 16, Danny Green added 14 and Anthony Davis finished with 13 for the topseeded Lakers. They will play either the secondseeded Los Angeles Clippers or third-seeded Denver Nuggets for the West title in a series that won’t begin before Wednesday.

James is going to the conference finals for the 11th time overall—six with Cleveland, four with Miami and now with the Lakers. It’s his ninth time getting to this round in the last 10 seasons; the one miss in that stretch was last season, when his inaugural year with the Lakers fell apart because of

injury and the team missed the playoffs.

“The opportunity to play for a championship, that’s what we’re all here for, that’s what we all signed up for,” James said.

James Harden scored 30 points, Jeff Green scored 13 and Russell Westbrook had 10 for Houston.

“Tough season for us,” Harden said.

“Obviously, it didn’t end like we wanted it to.

Just got to figure it out.”

And now that the offseason is here, the speculation about coach Mike D’Antoni’s future will ramp up. His contract with the Rockets is now complete, the sides couldn’t agree on terms of any extension a year ago, and he’s been mentioned as a candidate for the vacancies in Indiana and Philadelphia.

“We’ve got a great organization, great city, great fans, team’s great,” D’Antoni said. “I mean, everything’s good here. We’ll see what happens, but I couldn’t ask for a better situation. I had four years and hopefully it keeps going. You just never know.”

It was a tough end to a tough week for the Rockets. AP

SASO FALTERS IN FINAL ROUND Y

UKA SASO bombed out with a final round 76 to fall to joint 13th place in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA) Konica Minolta Championship local bet Saki Nagamine won by one stroke on Sunday in Okayama.

After staying in the hunt in the first three days and going bogey-free in the third round on Saturday, Saso’s rhythm drastically blew and with a round marked by a solitary birdie and stained by five bogeys, the 19-year-old failed to win her first major crown—and the third title—on the JLPGA Tour.

But despite finishing outside the top 10, Saso, who wound up tied for 29th spot at the Golf5 Ladies after consecutive wins at the NEC Karuizawa and Nitori Ladies, remained atop the

Player of the Year race with her ¥2,640,000 (P1.2 million) prize at Okayama hikinwg her earnings to ¥62,088,000 (P28.4 million) for 644.85 points.

The Filipino-Japanese wound up with a 283 built around a 68, a 70 and a 69 in the earlier rounds.

Nagamine stormed back from four down to close out with a 69 and claim her first major victory and second career win via a one-stroke triumph over Na-Ri Lee (67), Ayako Kimura (69) and Hikari Tanabe (71) on a 12-under 276 total at the JFE Setonaikai Golf Club.

The 25-year-old Nagamine, who won the Fujisankei Classic in 2018, pocketed the Y36 million purse a week after missing the cut at Golf5 Ladies. From No. 25 in the rankings, she

is now No. 3 with 489.75 points on Y44,440,000 winnings.

Na-Ri Lee, Ayako Kimura and Hikari Tanabe finished with 277s while Hee-kyung Bae ended up with a 72 for fifth at 278 followed by Golf5 Ladies winner Sakura Koiwai (72-279). Shina Kanazawa (70) and third-round leader Yuna Nishimura (76) shared seventh place with 281s.

Koiwai moved a notch up to No. 2 in the ranking with 536.50 (¥39,640,000) heading to next week’s Desant Ladies Tokai Classic in Aichi. Earth Mondahmin Cup winner Ayaka Watanabe slipped one rung to No. 3 after missing the cut this week.

Tied with Saso were Eri Jouma and Ritsuko Ryu with similar par 72s, 2015 titlist Teresa Lu (73) and first day co-leader Lee Min-Young (75).

Iran executes wrestling champion Afkari

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EHRAN—Iranian state TV on Saturday reported that the country’s authorities executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man, after President Donald J. Trump asked for the 27-year-old condemned man’s life to be spared.

State TV quoted the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying: “The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz.”

Afkari’s case had drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran’s Shiite theocracy in 2018. Authorities accused Afkari of stabbing a water supply company employee in the southern city of Shiraz amid the unrest.

Iran broadcast the wrestler’s televised confession last week. The segment resembled

hundreds of other suspected coerced confessions aired over the last decade in the Islamic Republic.

The case revived a demand inside the country for Iran to stop carrying out the death penalty. Even imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, herself nearly a month into a hunger strike over conditions at Tehran’s Evin prison amid the coronavirus pandemic, passed word that she supported Afkari.

The International Olympic Committee in a statement Saturday said it was shocked and saddened by the news of the wrestler’s execution, and that the committee’s president, Thomas Bach, “had made direct personal appeals to the Supreme Leader and to the President of Iran this week and asked for mercy for Navid Afkari.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the

execution was cruel.

“We condemn it in the strongest terms.

It is an outrageous assault on human dignity, even by the despicable standards of this regime.

The voices of the Iranian people will not be silenced,” Pompeo tweeted.

Last week, President Donald J. Trump tweeted out his own concern about Afkari’s case.

“To the leaders of Iran, I would greatly appreciate if you would spare this young man’s life, and not execute him,” Trump wrote. “Thank you!”

Iran responded to Trump’s tweet with a nearly 11-minute state TV package on Afkari. It included the weeping parents of the slain water company employee. The package included footage of Afkari on the back of a motorbike, saying he had stabbed the employee in the back, without explaining why he allegedly carried out the assault. AP

The gutting of the Tigers THE gutting of University of Santo Tomas’s (UST) men’s basketball team is nearly complete.

Word is Mark Nonoy and Deo Cuajao are the latest among the Growling Tigers to decamp.

This time bound for De La Salle.

That brings to seven players who have left— CJ Cansino to University of the Philippines; Rhenz Abando, Ira Battaler and Brent Paraiso to Letran; Jun Asuncion to Mapua; and now Nonoy and Cuajao. And word is, it isn’t over.

Head Coach Aldin Ayo has resigned with his assistants, McJour Luib and Jinno Manansala also out. Ayo was suspended indefinitely from coaching in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) but not in other leagues.

I agree he should be suspended. Indefinitely is rather harsh. Furthermore, he couldn’t have done this alone. Others are just as culpable and complicit. Was he the fall guy?

Save for Asuncion, all the others played vital roles in last season’s run up to the UAAP finals.

And to think they already lost Renzo Subido, Zach Huang, and Enrique Caunan to graduation.

Who else was left from the rotation of UST— Sherwin Concepcion and Soulemane Chabi Yo. In the meantime, there is still no final decision by all the parties investigating the case on any punishment for UST. This slowness of this has hurt UST player-wise.

No “quarantine” was placed on the players to prevent any poaching. And to make matters worse, it isn’t only the basketball team that is affected.

I have learned that even the athletes on the other teams are growing restless and are concerned, and asking questions. Will there be a blanket-wide suspension?

Imagine the mess. The UST officials are clearly at fault. But the UAAP isn’t helping. We learned they have made their recommendations to the Board of Trustees. But there has been no word yet.

I find it weird they allowed UST to conduct its investigation. While I guess, it is respectful, I don’t think it is right. They are the ones in question. The league should have done it.

Whatever happens now, whether suspended or not, UST has almost been rendered toothless. From a near high of a UAAP title to the lowest of lows for this proud institution. And I feel for them.

If they are allowed to field a team...jeez.

They are going to get massacred.

I still am at a loss that Ayo and company deigned to even do this. It was completely irresponsible.

What makes it maddening is the fall out (the player transfers). This could have been really avoided.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are going to pay for their arrogance.

And now, how long will it take to rebuild their program (and other teams if they are indeed going to be affected)? They already cannot recruit this year. If they do, who’s left? To rebound from this will take at least two years, maybe more.

You don’t have to be a UST alum to feel gutted.

Navid Afkari is charged of killing a security guard and joining a protest against the Iranian government.