THE MANILA TIMES | AUGUST 17, 2019

Palay output lower in 2nd quarter

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 2019

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IN FULL GEAR This picture taken on Aug. 11, 2019

shows a pro-democracy protester wearing a gas mask, goggles and a helmet during a rally in the Tsim Sha Tsui district of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s protesters have been gearing up with increasingly stronger levels of protective equipment as clashes during the past two months have become more violent. AFP PHOTO

Communications as if the future of the organization depends on it First word H AV E been puzzling for some time now over the repeated use by some communication executives of the term or concept “strategic communications.“ äObserverA4

OBSERVER YEN MAKABENTA

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What gives, Mr. Medialdea?

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HILE IN MY LINE this OF SIGHT columnist was away on a businesscum-vacation trip to the US last week, Executive Secretary Salvador “Bingbong” Medialdea filed another case against me.

RAMON T. TULFO

äIn my line of sightA5

REACH US AT: E-mail: newsdesk@ manilatimes.net Tel. Nos.: 524-5664 to 67 Address: 2/F Sitio Grande, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1002

Sunday protest stirs Tiananmen fears

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ONG KONG: Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement faces a major test this weekend as it tries to muster another huge crowd following criticism of the recent violent airport protest, prompting a warning from Chinese dissident-artist Ai Weiwei of a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

Activists plan to hold a major rally on Sunday, which is being billed as a “rational, nonviolent” protest designed to show the movement still maintains broad public support after suffering a setback earlier in the week.

Sunday’s rally is being put together by the Civil Human Rights Front, a protest group that advocates nonviolence and has previously been the driving force behind

record-breaking rallies in June and July that saw hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets.

“This coming Sunday should be another million-strong march. Hong Kong people can’t be defeated, Hong Kongers soldier on,” prominent pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo wrote on Facebook.

But the likelihood of renewed clashes

äProtestA8

Stay away from rallies, Pinoys in HK urged

POGOs behind rise of kidnap cases – PNP THE police had attributed the increasing number of abductions involving Chinese to the influx of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

The Philippine National Police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) said since 2017, 52 cases of casino-related kidnappings, mostly by Chinese, had been recorded and 119 Chinese kidnappers were arrested.

As of June 9 this year, 56 licensed POGOs are operating in the country, which employ an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 Chinese.

“In recent years, the upsurge of hotel and casino leisures in the Philippines, led

äKidnapA2

What’s inside

SUSPENDED MUSIC

DUTERTE SLASHES REAL PROPERTY NewsA2 TAXES OF IPPS

Swiss pianist and composer Alain Roche performs ‘Chantier’ suspended in the air with his grand piano under a moving crane at dawn on Aug. 16, 2019 during the 20th ‘Jeux du Castrum,’ a multidisciplinary festival that takes place until Aug. 18, 2019 in Yverdonles-Bains, Switzerland.

IT’S TIME TO PASS THE SOGIE BILL

Antonio ContrerasA5

AFP PHOTO

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has advised Filipinos in Hong Kong to avoid areas where protest actions are set to take place starting August 17.

Because of the unpredictable situation in China’s special administrative region, the DFA, through the Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong, is monitoring developments related to ongoing protest actions there.

It advised Filipinos, who have no urgent business in Hong Kong, to avoid the city as a destination or transit point.

“Filipino travelers departing from Hong Kong are requested to contact their airlines at least five hours before their scheduled flights to check if their flights will push through,” the DFA said in a statement on Friday.

The Philippine consulate in Hong Kong said protests in Hong Kong had been scheduled on August 17 at the Chater Garden, Central to Central Government Offices, Admiralty and Hung Hom Pier to Sung Wong Toi Garden, Kowloon Bay; on August 18 at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay to Chater Road, Central; on August 19,

äRalliesA2

Go favors resumption of peace talks SUMMONING BRIGHTS FOR SPRING-SUMMER 2020 D1

RED LIONS SHRED ALTAS 102-56

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SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go favors the resumption of peace talks with communist rebels over the revival of the Anti-Subversion Law. “Hindi po ako pabor sa pagbuhay, sa pag-revive ng Anti-Subversion Law dahil pabor po ako sa resumption of peace talks with the communist party (I am not in favor of reviving the AntiSubversion Law because I am for the

resumption of peace talks with the communist party),” he said on Friday.

Reviving the Anti-Subversion Law, Go added, could undermine peace talks since it would outlaw the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its affiliated organizations, including party-list groups.

Despite his disagreement, Go expressed concern about the influence of

leftist groups on students.

“Nabi-brainwash ‘yung mga bata sa eskwelahan pa lang at nagkakaroon ng galit sa gobyerno. ‘Yun ang dapat tingnan nang mabuti (Children are being brainwashed in school and they become angry with the government. We should look into this),” he said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra

äTalksA2

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Palay output lower in 2nd quarter

BY EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ

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HE country’s palay (unmilled rice) production decreased to 4.562 million metric tons (MMT) in the second quarter of 2019 from figures posted in both the first quarter and a year ago, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its “Seasonally Adjusted Palay/Rice Production and Prices” report released on Friday, the staterun statistics agency said the latest figure was a 5.3-percent drop from 4.815 MMT in January to March and a 1.8-percent dip from 4.644 MTT in April to June 2018.

The deseasonalized farmgate price of palay in the three months

ending June also slid by 8 percent to P18.13 per kilo from the quarter-ago amount. It also dropped from last year’s P20.85 per kilo.

The wholesale price of rice contracted by 5.3 percent to P39.37 per kilo year-on-year. Quarter-onquarter, it fell by 4.1 percent.

The staple’s retail price was at P43.55 per kilo, 7.3 percent

and 1.7 percent lower than the amounts recorded in the first quarter and a year earlier, respectively.

In a separate report released earlier this week, the PSA said the average farmgate price of palay of P17.76 per kilo as of the fourth week of July was still lower than the levels posted in the previous weeks. The amount was also a

18.6-percent decrease from P21.81 per kilo last year.

The average wholesale price of well-milled rice in the period inched up to P39.14 per kilo from the week before, but fell by 8.1 percent from last year’s P42.59 per kilo.

At retail trade, the average price

äLower B3

PLDT Global seals partnership Taxpayers can file tax returns via PESONet with South Korea’s Powercall PLDT Global Corp. has reinforced its e-commerce foothold by forging a partnership with South Korea’s Powercall Co. Ltd., the developer of the KMall e-commerce app.

Through the KMall e-commerce app, subscribers will now be able to purchase Smart, TNT and Sun electronic load products with just a couple of taps on their smartphones. The app will also provide Filipinos in South Korea a more familiar, convenient and secure payment method, such as debit card payments and interbank fund transfers through mobile apps, online banking and local automated teller machines (ATMs).

“Through this partnership, Filipi-

äPowercall B2

TAXPAYERS can now file their tax returns online using PESONet, one of the automated clearing houses under the central bank’s National Retail Payments System (NRPS), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said on Friday.

In a circular posted on its website, the tax agency announced the availability of PESONet, adding that

n (From left) Marx Mella, Global Marketing Operations head of PLDT Global in Korea; Joel S. Lumanlan, vice president and head of Global Marketing Operations at PLDT Global; Nam Su Kim, director at Powercall Co. Ltd.; and Jin Cheol Hong, deputy manager at Powercall. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Pag-IBIG Loyalty Card Plus launched THE Home Development Mutual Fund (PagIBIG Fund) has launched an improved version of its discount and rewards card — now called the Pag-IBIG Loyalty Card Plus — which its top executives say comes with the added feature of a cash card.

“The new and improved Pag-IBIG Loyalty Card Plus can now be used as a cash card where borrowers can receive the proceeds of their multipurpose loans, MP2 dividends and other benefits,” said Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees.

“It’s easier, because they don’t have to wait

for checks to clear anymore and the proceeds of the loan can be withdrawn [from] ATMs (automated teller machines). This is a welcome addition to our existing cash cards available to members applying for multipurpose loans,” he added.

“It’s one of our many ways to simplify our processes and hasten the delivery of service as we continue to heed the call of President Rodrigo Duterte for [the] government to use electronic means to achieve faster transactions.”

To enable the cash card feature, Pag-IBIG Fund partnered with some of the biggest names in the banking industry. As of writing, it has

äCard B2

EDSA needs more than traffic management

F

ROM the standpoint of the commuter, the experiment of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on EDSA last week (restricting buses to the two curbside “yellow lanes”) failed miserably. Hundreds of thousands of commuters suffered endless queues and excessive crowding on both rail and bus services.

For several days, many already long commutes took twice as long.

MOBILITY MATTERS

ROBERT SIY

Buses “imprisoned” in the yellow lanes made fewer round trips and therefore carried much fewer passengers.

Under the experiment, the capacity of EDSA to move people was significantly di-

minished.

This was because MMDA was focused on the objective of getting private motor vehicles to flow faster, ignoring its impact on public

äMobility B3

“[t]axpayers filing their tax returns using the eBERForms and taxpayers mandated to use the Electronic Filing and Payment System can use the aforesaid online payment facility.”

PESONet is a batch electronic fundtransfer payment system that is expected to provide an alternative to the still-widely used paper-based check

system. Funds will be made available to recipient accounts within the same banking day or immediately upon clearing.

The facility would enable taxpayers with an account in any of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) participat-

äPESONet B2

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