ASEAN shifting away from dollar – economist

THE plans of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to increase its monetary autonomy so as to reduce reliance on certain foreign currencies and payment systems reflect the de-dollarization process going on in several parts of the world, said an economist of Indonesia’s Bank Central Asia (BCA).

In the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, which ended on March 31, member countries have agreed to reinforce the use of local currencies in the region and reduce reliance on major international currencies for cross-border trade and investment.

David Sumual, chief economist of the BCA, which is the largest privately owned bank in Indonesia, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the current global monetary system does not reflect the dynamic market.

“The trade and investment relations have changed fundamentally, yet the global monetary architecture remains practically the same,” he said, adding that not only in Southeast Asia but also in Latin America and the Middle East, the de-dollarization process has started to show. Sumual said the more use of local currencies in the region means reducing the demand for the U.S. dollar and other major currencies. It will not only u PAGE 7

Chew, however, denied allegations regarding ByteDance and its executives’ ties to the Chinese Communist Party. He also maintained that the app does not share users’ data with the Chinese government.

Aside from the U.S., other countries have already expressed concerns about the platform and its alleged ties with the Chinese government. Across the globe, several countries and regions have already implemented partial or total bans on TikTok, namely:

• India

• Taiwan (app is banned on

Despite security concerns and several countries’ decisions to ban the app, TikTok continues to gain popularity among adults worldwide.

Data published by the company’s self-service advertising tools showed that marketers could reach around 1.051 billion TikTok users aged 18 and above as of January this year.

“These latest figures indicate that marketers can reach roughly 13.1% of all the people on Earth using ads on TikTok today,” DataReportal explained.

“Through them we would like to show that the spirit of synodality is alive, nobody is left behind, nobody is alone in life’s journey, we are all u

“However, because the company only publishes advertising audience data for users aged 18 and above, TikTok’s actual audience reach rate will likely be higher than

Out of the total internet users aged 18 and above in the country, data analysis showed that 51 percent is included in TikTok’s ad reach. Meanwhile, 58.2 percent of the country’s adult population is reached by marketers through the platform’s ad service.

The country with the biggest number of adult users, according to DataReportal, is the United States with an estimated 113.3 million TikTok users aged 18 and above.

Other countries on the list were:

• Indonesia: 109.9 million users

• Brazil: 82.2 million users

• Mexico: 57.5 million users

Nurses’ exodus

EVEN before the COVID pandemic, the global demand for nurses had already been high. Advanced economies could dangle high salaries and other attractive incentives to recruit nurses from other countries. Global health experts warned that lower-income states could not match such remunerations and benefits, and were hard-pressed to address the loss of their health professionals.

As early as 2010, member states of the World Health Organization, worried about this trend, had adopted a Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. Among other things, the code urged wealthy countries to recruit health professionals through bilateral agreements, in consultation with the health department in the workers’ country of origin.

The destination country was also encouraged to provide some form of support for public healthcare programs in the source country, and to encourage foreign health professionals to return to their home country after a certain period, and after acquiring certain skills. The question has always been whether migrant health professionals wanted to return home.

The nursing shortage burdened the Philippines at the height of the COVID pandemic, when even the top hospitals that could afford high salaries reported losing a substantial number of their nursing staff. Amid the pandemic, wealthy

Babe’s Eye View

BaBe Romualdez

THOSE arguing against expanding the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the additional four new locations miss the whole point when they declare it is tantamount to preparing for conflict, or that our efforts to enhance the capability of our military through modernization could get us embroiled in a war over the Taiwan issue which, in their view, is “none of our business.”

Totally wrong. We, together with like-minded countries, want to prevent an armed conflict from occurring within our area. At the same time, we want to deter any more incursions into our territory. No one can dispute that we have been very patient in the face of the aggression that China has been repeatedly demonstrating for so many years, where we have been filing diplomatic protests for every instance of bullying against our fishermen and the harassment to which they

Point of View

Rommel C. Banlaoi

DESPITE some local oppositions against the expansion of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently announced his approval to allow the United States to build additional military facilities in four extra locations inside Philippine territory.

Though President Marcos Jr. has not yet identified these extra locations, there are talks that additional U.S. military facilities can be built in 1) Cagayan North International Airport, 2) Lal-lo and Naval Base Camilo Osias, Sta. Ana in Cagayan, 3) Camp Melchor Dela Cruz, Gamu in Isabela and 4) Philippine Air Force Base, Balabac Island in Palawan.

Secretary Carlito Galvez, officer-in-charge of the Department of National Defense, said that some elected officials in Camarines Sur have expressed interest to make the province an extra site for EDCA.

Apparently, all these locations can provide the U.S. operational countries moved aggressively to recruit health professionals from overseas. Canada, for example, eased language requirements for residency. Germany allowed foreign-trained doctors to move directly into assistant physician positions. Even Finland began recruiting health workers from overseas. The problem requires less affluent and developing economies to innovate and exert more effort to hang on to their health professionals particularly nurses. On Wednesday, March 29, President Marcos ordered the Commission on Higher Education to address the country’s loss of nurses to states that offer better remuneration. He noted that Filipino nurses are known for the quality of their service. He said that in his meetings with leaders of other countries, they always asked him for nursing staff from the Philippines. CHED officials have said that so far, several programs are already in place to address the problem. Among these are shorter courses for various nursing competencies, the “re-tooling” of those who fail the nursing board, and a “return service” program that offers nursing scholarships in exchange for a certain mandatory period of working in the Philippines. A “Nurse para sa Bayan” will be similar to the “Doktor para sa

Bayan” scheme under Republic Act 11509. President Marcos gave an accurate assessment: “Our nurses are the best; the whole world is our rival here.” One thing certain is that the country cannot afford to be complacent and ignore the problem. (Philstar.com)