BusinessMirror April 01, 2020

‘Largest’ social amelioration plan on track

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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HE government is set to embark on its “largest and widest” social protection program in the country’s history, which will cover 18 million poor households, to offset the economic impact of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a video recorded public address aired late Monday evening, President Duterte bared how the P200 billion for the emergency subsidy component of the Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act will be implemented.

“Beneficiary-households will receive emergency support for two months based on the regional minimum wage,” Duterte explained.

Currently, the largest daily minimum wage in the country is in the National Capital Region (NCR) at P537, while the

WORKERS in essential services (food delivery) continue to serve despite the risks of Covid-19. NONOY LACZA

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lowest is in Region 1, which is only at P282.

RA 11469 stipulates that the minimum emergency subsidy in a month per beneficiary should be P5,000 and the maximum subsidy should be P8,000.

Distribution process

IN a press briefing on Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles explained the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will distribute the cash subsidy after it completes handing out its food packs using its master list of qualified household beneficiaries.

During the food packs distribution, he said DSWD will get additional beneficiaries from the separate list from local government units (LGUs), to be vetted by DSWD personnel if they are indeed qualified for the Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP).

Qualified ESP household

beneficiaries are those with one family member belonging to the vulnerable or disadvantaged sectors including senior citizens; person with disabilities; pregnant and lactating women; solo parents; indigenous people; subminimum wage earners and those under a “no-work, no-pay” work arrangement.

He said the DSWD will use the consolidated list of the national government and LGUs in identifying households to be given the ESP.

Business assistance

DUTERTE said the large-scale quarantine related to Covid-19 has caused an unprecedented “loss of economic opportunities” not only in the country, but also in international superpowers like the United States and China.

He said they are also aware that

businesses, particularly micro, small, and medium enterprises, will need government aid to recover from the Covid-related quarantines.

Duterte said he already tasked his economic team to craft the guidelines for the proposed “recovery packages” for the affected establishments.

RA 11469 gives the President the power to ensure availability of credit to productive sectors of the economy through measures like lowering lending rates of interests and reserve requirements of lending institutions.

Duterte said he hopes these interventions will be sufficient for the workers in the private sector who will be displaced because of Covid-19.

“We implore employers to do their part in protecting the welfare of the millions of Filipino households that

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BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

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Wednesday, April 1, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 174

BSP SEES LOWER INFLATION AMID LUZON LOCKDOWN

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

HE ports in Manila are almost filled to the brim as cargo owners and consignees—apparently chafing from the initial confusion over Covid-19 lockdown rules that spawned indiscriminate local blockades—are not heeding calls to withdraw cleared, readyfor-delivery and overstaying cargo. As a result, a possible shutdown may happen anytime soon, paralyzing the supply chain.

Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago noted there are efforts to transfer overstaying containers from the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) to a facility inside the Manila North Harbor. However, there is still not enough berthing space for the Manila port terminals to operate at their optimal level.

Already, yard utilization at the ports is almost at 100 percent, with idle containers stacked against and atop each other. Experts say that a utilization rate of about 70 percent is optimal for a productive port.

“Ports, specifically the Manila ports, are the lungs of the country’s commerce and trade. These lungs right now are not functioning efficiently due to congestion.

If we continue to ignore calls to withdraw even only those cleared, ready for delivery, and overstaying cargo, these lungs are in danger of total collapse, resulting in fullblown port congestion, or worst, a shutdown, and consequently a shortage in the much-needed goods and supplies which are expected to address the demands of the market,” Santiago explained.

As of Friday, over 800 cleared reefer vans are inside the MICT containing perishables like food, medicines and other essentials;

while more than 2,000 dry containers that are already cleared and ready for delivery remain inside the terminal.

The threat of a port shutdown could easily hamper the alreadylimited movement of goods in and out of Metro Manila due to the limitations on production and mobility with the implementation of the monthlong enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

“Again, government is appealing to the consignees, cargo owners, brokers, logistics, manufacturers and other supply chain service providers to help us address this situation by withdrawing their cargoes. We really need to clear these cargoes to accommodate the incoming ones as most of our needs to fight this Covid-19 pandemic are in these incoming cargoes,” Santiago said.

As this developed, the PPA, the Bureau of Customs, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture are considering measures to ease the congestion at the ports.

These measures include the forfeiture of overstaying cargo and reducing the cargo clearing and free storage periods to force cargo owners to withdraw their containers.

Soon, these measures may be implemented through a joint memorandum order.

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A POLICEMAN sprays a resident of Barangay Binirayan in Laurel, Batangas, with disinfectant at a checkpoint to avoid the spread of Covid-19. This barangay is one of those under a total lockdown. ROY DOMINGO

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A MAN peddles washable facemasks in Makati City as a source of income during the enhanced community quarantine.

The masks sell for P30 each, but he offers it at P100 for 4 pieces. NONIE REYES

ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno on Tuesday announced their forecast of a tamer inflation in March 2020 amid the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon and other parts of the Philippines during the month.

Diokno said their Department of Economic Research projects March 2020 inflation to settle within the 2.0-percent to 2.8-percent range. The average inflation rate for the first two months of 2020 is at 2.8 percent.

“The sharp decline in the prices of petroleum products due to the significant fall in global crude oil prices contributed to the downward price pressures for the month. In addition, the prices of selected food products remained broadly stable in March due to adequate supply and favorable weather conditions along with the price freeze imposed on basic necessities by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA),” the BSP said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the BSP noted that electricity rates in Meralco-serviced areas were slightly higher during the month.

The central bank said earlier that the Covid-19 outbreak and the resulting enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is expected to put a negative pressure on local consumer prices as domestic demand falls and prices of imported goods, like oil, crash.

The subdued inflation also allowed the BSP to inject further stimulus into the economy through various traditional and extraordinary measures.

To date, the BSP has: pledged to remit P20 billion in dividends ahead of time to the national government, arranged for the purchase of government securities from the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) under a repurchase agreement in the amount of P300 billion, cut the reserve requirement ratio cut by 200 basis points, and reduced its policy rate by 50 basis points.

“Going forward, the BSP will continue to monitor economic and financial developments, and stands ready to implement appropriate policies in support of its primary mandate of price stability conducive to balanced and sustainable economic growth,” the BSP said in its latest statement on Tuesday.

Diokno is scheduled to lead the monetary board into its next policy meeting on May 21.

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n JAPAN 0.4734 n UK 63.2282 n HK 6.5824 n CHINA 7.1918 n SINGAPORE 35.8581 n AUSTRALIA 31.4686 n EU 56.3934 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5882

Source: BSP (March 31, 2020)

News Default rate to rise even more with pandemic, says Moody’s BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, April 1, 2020

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www.businessmirror.com.ph

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

ORE outstanding loans will be left unpaid and written off as the economic downturn wrought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic continues to induce financial stress, a report by Moody’s Investors Service noted.

Moody’s said the global default rate as of February was 3.1 percent, but this could increase significantly in the next 12 months depending on what would happen during the pandemic.

“Actual default rates over the next year will depend on, in addition to length and severity of the coronavirus-driven downturn, its sector and firm level impact,” the credit-rating agency said.

Should the world see recovery in the latter part of the year, the default rate would climb to 6.5 percent by end-2020 and increase to as much as 6.8 percent by February 2021.

The debt watcher noted that, in this scenario, a “severe disrup-

tion in economic activity” occurred in the first half as the world ground to a halt in containing the virus. This, as monetary and fiscal stimuli cushion the adverse financial impact of the pandemic.

The default rate could spike to 16.1 percent in February 2020 from the projected 14.2 percent by yearend should the economic conditions reflect the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. These figures are higher than the 13.4-percent default rate notched during the economic turmoil over a decade ago.

“This scenario assumes that as the virus continues to spread and restrictions on movement are extended, economic disruption and

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belong to the formal sector and depend on their employers for continuous livelihood,” Duterte said.

Valuable contributions

AMID the still rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, Duterte has committed to “protect” and “reward” medical personnel, who are in the forefront of government efforts against the pandemic.

He said the government, in cooperation with the private sector, is now procuring 1 million additional personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used by the medical personnel.

“So they should continue with their work. The supplies are already there and we could buy additional ones if needed,” Duterte said.

Duterte again recognized the heroism of medical workers and other frontliners during the Covid-19 health crisis, especially those who died in the performance of their duties.

“They are the ones who died to save others. They are the lucky ones since they died for the country,” Duterte said, adding it [serving the country] is a good reason for “why we should die.”

The chief executive also thanked the countries, including China and Singapore, and private companies and institutions, which donated much needed resources to the country to help in its campaign against Covid-19.

“On behalf of the Filipino people, I thank you [for your] compassion and your generosity, and my personal gratitude,” Duterte said.

WORKERS rush the construction of the Covid-19 Testing Center in Marikina City after the Department of Health approved it. NONOY LACZA, BERNARD TESTA

financial market turmoil combine to create recessionary dynamics that persist for a 12-month period,” Moody’s said.

But the credit-rating agency warned that the default rates could even be higher if “containing the virus proves to be extremely challenging, economic activity is severely curtailed and business and

consumer confidence collapse.”

Moody’s said this was a scenario even worse than the global financial crisis in 2008.

Default rate, in this extreme case, would hike to 18.3 percent by yearend and ascend further to 20.8 percent by February 2021.

Fitch Solutions earlier said that central banks should employ

coordinated policy measures to mitigate the adverse economic impact of the pandemic, especially now as the world faces recession.

“As regards central banks’ conventional responses, we expect further rate cuts in the coming months with an increasing number of central banks hitting the zero bound,” the Fitch unit said, not-

ing that slashing interest rates and reserve requirement could provide some boost.

The International Monetary Fund earlier declared a global recession as the pandemic continues to drag the economy, but noted that a recovery is seen next year should countries succeed in containing the virus.

With kits’ approval, mass testing pushed to stop spread of virus

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WO senators are pushing for mass testing for certain populations as a means to fast-track detention of Covid-infected people and arrest the spread of the virus, a day after regulators approved five brands of rapid-testing kits and was poised to approve one developed

by Filipino scientists backed by the Department of Science and Technology.

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Panfilo Lacson aired similar calls Tuesday amid growing concerns on the need for immediate government action, as hospitals are straining from the influx of patients and authorities seek facilities for quarantine of persons under investigation and monitoring.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Lacson assured the public that legislators prepared to frontload passage of remedial legislation to address the pandemic, and future crises.

“Naka-ready kami sa Kongreso [We in

Congress are ready],” Lacson said, recalling the lawmakers’ quick action when the President requested authority to realign over P200 billion in the 2020 budget in order to fight the pandemic.

“Like I said, we acted quickly when the President sought authority. Now the backlog is in implementation,” he added.

He, however, acknowledged public observation, some posted on Facebook, saying that everyone acted too late. “I read a post by someone young, but the observation was right. It took us two months to ban flights.”

Lacson lamented the late approval of Covid test kits, even as the acquisition had long been approved. “The rapid test kits were approved, what took them so long?” asked Lacson, noting that these test kits were already being used by other countries.

The senator said that if one is found positive in rapid test kits that were ap-

proved by regulatory agencies in the country that supplied them and are even using the same kits, it only means that “if you are positive, that is virtual positive, no doubt you are positive. But if you are negative, it could also be false negative.” This is why validation is still necessary. But the positive results already help authorities sift through cases.

Gatchalian weighs in

FOR his part, Gatchalian said he supports not just mass testing, but efforts to ensure the results are used in an efficient way to guide policy and action.

He clarified that the results are not just for the DOH records on number of cases but also for local governments, to enable LGUs to come up with effective strategies to limit the infection in their localities.

He made it clear, in a mix of English and Filipino, that mass testing is being

pitched, “not just because it is being done by other countries, or because it’s a fad or because we read about it constantly.”

The senator added they are backing the “mass testing” strategy so that the results can be provided to local governments to enable them to contain and prevent spreading the virus. “This mass testing is a tool for local governments to prevent the virus from spreading in their communities. Remember, on the ground the mayors, barangay captains and governors are the ones acting and they need the tools to determine if what they’re doing is effective or not. What’s important for our local governments is to prevent the infection from spreading and they need to know who are infected or not; otherwise, they’re blind.”

In many cases, Gatchalian noted, people have already died of what was listed as “pneumonia,” yet the results confirming they had Covid-19 come out only days later. Butch Fernandez

PICC FORUM HALLS SOON TO BE QUARANTINE FACILITY

DUTERTE assured the public of full transparency in government’s use of all its resources and funds for its anti-Covid 19 measures.

“All of the details of our actions will be part of my report, which will be submitted to Congress pursuant to Bayanihan Act,” Duterte said.

He also committed to hold accountable all the government officials who will misuse government resources during the Covid crisis either to make a profit or to further their political ambition.

“If you will be politicizing [in responding to the needs of Covid-affected communities] and I got word of it, I will suspend you immediately. And for those who are really absconding [with] the money, I will detain you, I said, and maybe I will release you after the Covid [crisis],” Duterte said.

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Full accountability

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Y mid-April, the government should be able to convert the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Forum Halls as a treatment facility for Covid-19 patients, a ranking official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said on Tuesday.

Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain of the Public Works Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local and National Health Facilities said contractor EEI Corp.’s “commitment” to transform the Forum Halls of the PICC into Covid-19 facilities is “within

two weeks.”

Once completed, the facility can serve 630 patients. It will be under the supervision of the Department of Health (DOH).

Likewise, Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar said the department will implement the same initiative in the World Trade Center (WTC) in Pasay and Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.

Ayala Development Corp. and Makati Development Corp. will handle the WTC, while the Razon Group will undertake the Ninoy Aquino Basketball Stadium of the

Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Hospitals and health-care facilities in different parts of the country are filled beyond capacity with patients, and the government, following examples from abroad and expert advice, found it prudent to augment their capacities by converting facilities into temporary health-care sites, specifically designed to accommodate Covid-19 patients or those suspected of being infected.

Aside from the three facilities, the public works department is looking at using the open spaces of the WTC, PhilSports Arena,

Rizal Coliseum, Quezon Memorial Circle, University of the Philippines-Diliman Campus, Veterans Memorial Medical Center, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines for prototype tents that will serve as isolation facilities for suspected cases.

A total of 747 tents may be deployed in these areas, which can accommodate up to 7,470 patients.

Likewise, the department is looking at using the old Casino Filipino building near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 as an isolation facility. Lorenz Marasigan

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

IATF eyes additional quarantine facilities for Covid-19 patients

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE government is now bracing for a possible surge in the number of confirmed novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) with the establishment of additional quarantine facilities.

Among the establishments, which are now under consideration to house Covid-19 patients are the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), World Trade Center, and the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

In a news briefing on Tuesday, Cabinet Secretar y K arlo Nograles said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), through a resolution, had instructed the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Tourism (DOT), and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to identify and prepare such facilities.

DOTr will identify sea vessels, which could serve as floating quarantine centers, while the DOT will come out with a list of hotels and other similar establishments per region, which could serve as quarantine facilities.

DPWH will coordinate with private companies to convert, “as may be necessary” large infrastructures as earlier mentioned in quarantine facilities.

LGU role

NOGRALES said the IATF also

tasked provincial, city, municipal, and barangay officials to identify and refurbish facilities, which could also be used for quarantine purposes.

Nograles said all of the said facilities will be manned by a composite team, which will come from the DOH Centers for Health Development and the regional offices of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), LGUs, including uniformed services.

DOH earlier said the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, which already reached 2,084 as of Tuesday, is still expected to increase especially after the government was able to improve its testing capacities.

TWG decision

LAST month, President Duterte placed the entire Luzon under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in an attempt to slowdown the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Nograles said the IATF has created a technical working group (TWG) to be led by DOH to determine the parameters for the possible lifting, extension, or even the expansion of the 30-day ECQ, which is supposed to end on April 13, 2020.

Currently, the IATF spokesman stressed there is still no decision if the ECQ will be extended. “Now it is still too early to determine [if there will be an extension], but DOH will be setting the parameters for this. And once the DOH is able to present to the IATF, I will also share it with the public,” Nograles said.

Tarlac taps Athletes’ Village to treat local Covid-19 cases

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LARK FREEPORT—The Province of Tarlac will now start using the Athletes’ Village at the New Clark City (NCC) in Capas town to quarantine and even treat its persons under investigation (PUIs) and persons under monitoring (PUMs) of Covid-19 infection.

Edgar Guevarra, Capas municipal administrator, also said on Tuesday the University of the PhilippinesPhilippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) facility at the NCC will be for the exclusive use of Capasños to treat its own Covid-19 positive patients.

Guevarra said this developed following the send-off ceremony for 441 of the 444 crew members of the MV Grand Princess after completing their mandatory 14-day quarantine at the NCC. Three crew members developed symptoms and are now considered PUIs and were transferred to Mariv-

eles, Bataan.

Guevarra said this is what Capas got for its hospitality in hosting Covid-19 positive seafarers and as quarantine area at the NCC, which is within the territorial jurisdiction of Capas.

Guevarra said a 28-year-old male who came from abroad from Barangay Sto. Rosario, Capas, was found positive of Covid-19. But Guevarra said the patient was infected when he went to his relatives in Quezon City.

It is for this reason, he said, that all persons who came from Manila will first be checked at the Command Center before being allowed to go to their homes.

Meanwhile, the Filipinos, mostly ship crew members, belonged to the third batch to be quarantined at NCC after the cruise ship was stranded in Oakland, California, because of Covid19 infections. Ashley Manabat

JTF CV Shield head to police commanders: No checkpoints on natl and provincial roads

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By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

HE commander of the Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) has called on police commanders to dismantle barangay checkpoints along provincial and national roads across the country blamed earlier by agriculture officials for the impeded movement of delivery trucks ferrying food and other essential goods.

Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, head of the JTF CV Shield which is the enforcement arm of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID), reminded police officials to uniformly implement the guidelines under the quarantine, which in the case of checkpoints, should be put and manned only by the JTF CV Shield.

Eleazar said the move was in compliance with the order of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año to remove all barangay checkpoints along major thoroughfares amid complaints of varying rules and regulations being implemented by certain local government units (LGUs) down to the barangay level, adding he had also coordinated this with Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Archie Gamboa for the full implementation of the order.

“Our Chief PNP, General Archie Gamboa, has already directed all the police commanders to assist us in the implementation of the SILG’s [Secretary of Interior and Local Government] order,” Eleazar said.

A statement issued by the PNP, t hrough its spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, quot-

ing Gamboa said the PNP chief has issued a directive mandating police commanders to supervise barangay checkpoints.

“To ensure uniform implementation of IATF-MEID guidelines, all QCPs [Quarantine Control Points] at the barangay level must be coordinated with the Municipal Joint Task Group and directly supervised by the PNP Unit commander or chief of police,” Gamboa said.

“Under the guidance of the IATFMEID, PNP units manning Quarantine Control Points are under strict orders to guarantee safe and unimpeded passage of food products, basic and essential commodities and authorized personnel categorized in the medical, agricultural, industrial and utilities sectors, subject to existing biosafety and quarantine protocols,” he added.

Agriculture officials earlier pointed to checkpoints manned and put up by barangay and local government units behind the spike of food prices and even the artificial shortage of agriculture products in the market as delivery trucks were being halted and turned away by barangay and other local personnel manning QCPs.

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@jonlmayuga

ORMER Sen. Heherson Alvarez and wife Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, who are both afflicted with Covid-19, are now in critical condition at a hospital in Manila.

On Tuesday, employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the agency where Alvarez started before throwing his hat in the political arena in 1987 and eventually won a seat in the Philippine Senate, joined the call for prayers for the couple’s immediate recovery.

The couple had reportedly been placed under intubation after their condition got worse.

Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, first emerged in Wuhan, China. To address the threat of the pandemic, which has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic, President Duterte has declared the country under a State of Public Health Emergency and placed the entire Luzon under enhanced community quarantine two weeks ago.

In the same order, Gamboa also “directed all local police units to provide every possible assistance and security to medical staff and health workers following the two separate incidents of violent attacks in Cebu and Sultan Kudarat in recent days.”

“At this time of national health emergency, the Philippine National Police stands doubly committed to apply the full might of the law against any person who will lay hands on our health workers, thus, we shall do whatever it takes to protect them from crime, violence, and any form of oppression and discrimination,” he said.

Eleazar said the existence of barangay checkpoints along national highways and provincial roads has not only resulted in the delay on the movement of basic commodities but also caused confusion among the people, particularly those exempted from the home quarantine or APOR, as some barangay officials are implementing quarantine rules and regulations which are not in line with the guidelines issued by the IATF. APOR stands for Authorized Persons Outside Residence.

“Some of these barangay checkpoints are implementing their own rules which are clearly in defiance of the IATF guidelines. We in the JTF CV Shield have been receiving similar complaints from cargo owners and drivers and even from people who are supposed to be exempted,” Eleazar said.

He said that only PNP checkpoints are allowed along national highways and provincial roads and that only PNP personnel are allowed to inspect cargo trucks passing along the major thoroughfares.

Eleazar said barangay checkpoints are only allowed on interior roads provided that there is a prior coordination with the local police station for their set up and that those barangay checkpoints will be supervised by the local police.

He explained that the supervision of the PNP on all barangay checkpoints is necessary in order to ensure that the barangay officials will not be given any chance to implement rules and regulations that are not aligned with the IATF Guidelines, particularly on the APOR. Eleazar said that based on the same directive issued by Gamboa, all chiefs of police and station commanders were directed to make sure that all barangay checkpoints are complying with the IATF rules and the APOR issued by the JTF CV Shield.

“The Chief PNP also approved our recommendation for the chiefs of police and station commanders to make sure that the IATF guidelines prevail over the rules and regulations of the LGUs. This is the reason why we have been providing the local commanders the regular updates on IATF guidelines particularly on APOR,” Eleazar said.

Meanwhile, Gamboa said that the PNP has already arrested more than 500 people for economicrelated cases under the being implemented lockdown.

“During the first three weeks of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, we have arrested filed appropriate charges against 593 persons arrested for hoarding, profiteering and price manipulation of prices of consumer goods, medical supplies and other commodities,” he said.

“To help mitigate the effects of this national emergency to the local economy and domestic consumer market, the PNP will step up police operations in support of the DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] to strictly enforce the price act and pertinent provisions of the Bayanihan Act of 2020, even as I urge traders, retailers and businessmen to heed President Duterte’s call...hindi ngayon ang panahon para kumita lalo na ang pagsasamantala,” the PNP chief stressed.

Swarms of jellyfish in Palawan ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ during dry season–DENR exec

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SWARM of jellyfish taking over El Nido, Palawan’s waters is nothing out of the ordinary, especially during the summer season, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.

“Like in Boracay, there’s this natural phenomenon that happens every year—the algal bloom. In Palawan, it’s jellyfish. These jellyfish were brought by the ocean current and usually, they end up in CorongCorong Bay,” according to Benny Antiporda, DENR’s undersecretary for

Local Government Units (LGUs) and Solid Waste Management Concerns.

He added that the exceptional number of jellyfish caught on video by a netizen in El Nido is due to the fact that harvesting of jellyfish had stopped because of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) following President Duterte’s declaration placing the entire country under a State of Public Health Emergency due to health threats brought about by Covid-19.

Antiporda, receiving reports of the awesome sight of a big swarm of jel-

DAR offers prayers for Alvarez, wife; Castriciones readies help for ARBs

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, April 1, 2020 A3

Meanwhile, to help agrarian reform beneficiaries affected by Covid-19, DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones directed Undersecretary for Support Services Office (SSO) Atty. Emily O. Padilla to submit a proposal in line with the government’s program “Bayanihan to Heal As One.” Castriciones wants the DAR’s SSO group to immediately undertake an “ARBold Move to fight Covid-19” program and redirect the SSO budget for Social Infrastructure Building and Enterprise Development and Economic Support.

He had also instructed all DAR Regional Directors (RDs) and Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officers (PARPOs), including Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officers (CARPOs), to submit within three days the list of the poorest ARBs using the Departments of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Trade and Industry (DTI), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) data, with the recom-

mended package, or menu of essential services to be provided, including seeds for backyard gardening, repacking plan, coordination and delivery to the target agrarian reform beneficiaries.

The list of ARBs to be submitted should be sourced out from Calendar Year 2010 to 2020.

“Seeds that will be distributed to the ARBs must be immediately planted in their land during the enhanced community quarantine [ECQ ] period to ensure food production and security,” Castriciones said.

Padilla, for her part, has directed the Project Management Service (PMS) and all SSO CARPO to work together to finalize the first proposal to be submitted, March 30, 2020.

The initial proposal she said will form part of the Omnibus proposal of the SSO to be submitted on April 3, 2020.

Also required to be included on the Omnibus proposal is the Rehabilitation Program for the ARBs once the ECQ has been lifted by the national government.

lyfish, immediately consulted DENR experts to explain the phenomenon.

“When the harvesting stopped, naturally, there was more jellyfish. But the jellyfish phenomenon is naturally occurring. After summer, they will migrate and leave Palawan,” Antiporda said.

The subject species of jellyfish is said to be edible and do not pose serious threats to humans, or other species, along with the ecosystem in the area.

But the official said swimming in the waters taken over by jellyfish is

not advisable, especially because of the fact that the entire Luzon is still under ECQ. “[But the real] reason, why it is also not advisable to swim in areas with jellyfish, is because they still sting and may cause skin irritation,” he said.

The DENR official advised the public to stay at home and avoid close contact with people to help the government’s effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which has so far claimed the lives of about 1,500 Filipinos since its outbreak in the country.

Jonathan L. Mayuga

IBP vows to defend frontline health-care workers vs harassment and discrimination

By Joel R. San Juan

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@jrsanjuan1573

HE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Tuesday said it would provide legal assistance to frontliners battling Covid-19 pandemic who would be the object and victims of harassment, discrimination and any form of violence by unscrupulous individuals.

In a news statement released on Tuesday, the group through its National President Domingo Egon Cayosa, also appealed to the public not to succumb to fear, or panic, “that diminishes our humanity as well as our support and compassion for the victims and frontliners in the health emergency.”

“The Integrated Bar of the Philippines calls out undue discrimination against Covid-19 health workers, other frontliners, and patients denied entry to boarding houses, denied transportation, denied admission in some hospitals and other forms of discrimination,” the statement read.

“Precautionary measures are understandable and desirable but they should remain

reasonable and remain within the bounds of law,” it added.

The IBP issued the statement after receiving reports that some health-care workers were being asked to leave their boarding houses, or refused to board transport, to and from their workplaces out of fear that they are infected with the deadly virus.

The Department of Health earlier called on the public not to discriminate against health workers.

“We will uphold their rights and defend them against any inequity or prejudice,” the IBP vowed.

The IBP reminded the public that the Magna Carta of Patients Rights and Obligations, the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers and other rules and regulations that remain in effect and should be observed and followed.

“We urge our countrymen to fully cooperate rather than discriminate, show benevolence rather than bias, increase help, not hype,” the IBP said.

A4 Wednesday, April 1, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

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Duterte report details projected spending in fight against virus T

BTR REJECTS ALL BIDS FOR T-BILLS

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

RESIDENT Duterte on Tuesday told Congress that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is now mandating all national government agencies (NGA) to utilize any and all released allotment from 2019 and 2020 national budget to support the Covid-19 response of the government.

In an 18-page report submitted to Congress, President Duterte said all agencies with existing released allotment to accommodate their respective Covid-19 response activities are:

P53.2 million of Department of Science and Technology for the production of 1,300 Covid-19 testing kits for 26,000 tests, delivery, training for the administration of the tests and genome sequencing validation;

P108.7 billion for Pantawid Pami lyang Pi lipino Prog ram, P23.9 billion for Social Pension for Indigent Filipino Citizens, P6.6 billion for Assistance for Indigents in Crisis Situation and P1.2-billion Quick Response Fund (QRF) of Department of Social Welfare and Development;

P9.4-billion Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients and P600-million QRF of Department of Health; and

P4.3 billion for the Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged, or Displaced Workers Program (TUPAD) and Government Internship Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

According to DOLE, the total amount disbursed for Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program and TUPAD is now at P95.4 million.

Moreover, President Duterte said the DBM has already started the preparation of a master list of all items categorized as “for late release” under special purpose fund worth P372.2 billion. The SPF will include budgetary support to government corporations and allocation to local government units.

As of March 27, the Chief Executive said no SPFs have been utilized for Covid-19 measures except for the P500 million replenishment of the DOH’s QRF. To ensure uninterrupted access

to cash, President Duterte said the Department of Finance and Bureau of Treasury added P300 billion to its cash reserves by securing a repurchase agreement facility with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

According to the President, the Department of Transportation has remitted dividends in advance amounting to P10 billion to fortify the government spending measures to address this emergency.

He said the DOF is also in discussion with government-owned corporations on the dividends to be collected, saying the P100-billion dividend collection will include the excess revenue collected or unprogrammed revenue.

The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act authorizes the President to consider abandoned the purpose of any unutilized or unreleased balance as of date of declaration of State of Emergency, and all such funds, including future collections and receipts, shall be deemed appropriated for measures to address Covid-19.

It also authorized the President to direct the discontinuation of appropriated programs, projects and activities of any agency of the Executive department, whether released or unreleased, the allotments for which remain unobligated, and to utilize such savings to augment the allocation for Covid-19 emergency.

Also, to ensure the availability of credit to the productive sectors of the economy, especially in the countryside, the President said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is preparing for the implementation of P1-billion Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing, which includes restart and/or restock of businesses to avoid foreclosure of their business assets.

He said this DTI’s program will start once quarantine restriction

are l i f t e d .

President Duterte also said the task force has recommended the suspension of the export percentage requirements for export enterprises engaged in the manufacture of much-needed medical supplies to allow them to operate and sell domestically for the use of local medical facilities.

Subsidy

ME A N W HILE , t he President said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases already approved the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) for the implementation guidelines of the Emergency Subsidy Program (ESP).

He said the JMC serves as a guide to streamline social amelioration programs of the DSWD, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Agriculture (DA), and local government units, among others, to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of Covid-19. The ESP includes the provision of cash, or non-cash subsidy, for low-income household beneficiaries amounting from P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months.

The subsidy amount for Metro Manila is P8,000; CAR (P5,500) Region 1 (P5,500) Region 2 (P5,500), Region 3 (P6,500), Region 4A (P6,500), Region 4B (P5,000), Region 5 (P5,000), Region 6 (P6,000), Region 7 (P6,000), Region 8 (P5,000), Region 9 (P5,000), Region 10 (P6,000), Region 11 (P6,000), Region 12 (P5,000), Caraga (P5,000) and ARMM (P5,000).

He said the DOF will provide technical assistance to the DSWD in forming a consolidated database that will host Covid-19 social amelioration programs.

The President added the DOF is also working with the IATFTechnical Working Group for the submission of the budget augmentation requests to the DBM, mapping of household beneficiaries based on the consolidated database, and finalization of the operational guidelines for the ESP implementation, to be rolled out on April 1, 2020.

He said the DSWD is also undertaking the implementation of the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), among the recipients of the assistance include residents from the National Capital Region, Cavite, Rizal and Bulacan. Also, requests groups such as Banda, Grab, Transport Network Vehicle Service, NVS, Angkas, Joyride, SNMNO and

TODA are currently being facilitated, subject to the submission of requirements needed.

For his part, House Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda, co-author of the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, said that the rollout of the ESP will act as an incentive for families to comply with social distancing measures.

“The quick rollout of the ESP will help us keep families at home.

Kapag wala na kasing pera, lalabas talaga yan para makapaghanapbuhay. Or in the worst conditions, be forced to violate the law. We’re definitely not yet in recovery stage but we want to keep society from reaching a stage of desperation for now, while we’re still in survival mode,” the lawmaker said.

Earlier, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte assured the public that Congress would be exercising its oversight functions to ensure that all acts performed by the Duterte administration are within the bounds of the special but limited powers—and with restrictions—that Congress has vested in President Duterte so his government could best respond to the pandemic.

The principal author in the House of the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” pointed out that this measure requires the President to submit weekly reports to the Congress on all acts carried out by the Executive department in the preceding week, in pursuit of government efforts to contain the spread of the virus and attend to infected people and those who had been exposed to them.

Alongside reporting all acts performed in the preceding week in pursuit of RA 11469, Villafuerte said the weekly reports to Congress shall include the amount and corresponding utilization of the funds used, augmented, reallocated, realigned and reprogrammed under this law.

For this purpose, the Camarines Sur lawmaker said RA 11469 provides for the creation of a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee to determine whether such acts, orders, rules and regulations fall within the restrictions on such special powers as so provided by the law.

This oversight committee— to be composed of four senators and four House members—shall determine whether the acts, orders, rules and regulations carried out by the government are within the restrictions set by R A 11469, he added.

Govt to activate network hubs to ensure sufficient supply of food during ECQ

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HE National Economic and Development Aut hor it y (Neda) is setting up a network “hubs” to address supply chain concerns and bottlenecks in the supply, distribution and movement of essential goods and services, amid the implementation of an enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, President Duterte said, even as he assured that the country’s food supplies will last up to 75 days.

In an 18-page report dated March 30 to Congress as mandated by the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, President Duterte said these “hubs” would serve as a network where public and private stakeholders can share information to ensure unhindered supply, distribution and movement of goods and services.

To ensure the availability of essential goods, he said the Department of Agriculture (DA) is also coordinating with its Asean trading partners on rice to ensure continuous trading transactions with importers and a possible govern-

ment to government arrangement of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of rice as contingency.

The President also assured that basic food requirements such as rice, fish, pork, chicken and vegetables are sufficient, with the national rice inventory this quarter enough to last for the next 75 days.

Also, he said the DA has formulated the Food Resiliency Action Plan which includes “KADIWA ni Ani and Kita” by facilitating the movement, trucking, and marketing of food supplies from the provinces to the Metro areas in partnership with local governments and the private sector and the implementation of rice farmers financial assistance program.

Sure Aid Loan Recovery and implementation of Ahon Lahat, Pagkain Sapat Kontra Covid-19, or Plant, Plant, Plant Progam, to increase food sufficiency level in the country are also included in the Food Resiliency Action Plan, said Duterte.

Moreover, he also reported that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has issued a memo-

randum to ensure compliance with the Price Act and Consumer Act, especially on automatic price control until May 15, 2020, and provisions against hoarding, panic buying and profiteering.

He said the DTI and the DA have already conducted a joint market inspection to ensure compliance with the mandatory price freeze on all basic necessities. As of March 28, a total of 36 nationwide operations were conducted and led to 59 persons arrested.

The President said the DA, DTI and Department of Health have reactivated the Local Price Coordinating Councils nationwide to monitor and enforce price freeze.

Medical supplies

ALSO, to ensure that donation, acceptance and distribution of health products from foreign governments, international organization and 12 private companies, individuals and civil-society organizations, the President said the Department of Information and Communications Technology is

coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to create an accessible web site to promote transparency and to assist in the immediate acceptance and distribution of donations intended to address Covid-19.

President Duterte said the Bureau of Customs issued orders providing for online filing of goods declaration, clearance of relief consignments entered during a state of calamity and suspension of seven-day period to lodge goods declarations.

He also said the Government Procurement Policy Board has already adopted a resolution providing efficient, effective and expedient procurement procedures during a State of Public Health Emergency through negotiated procurement regarding the use of emergency procurement to respond to the Covid-19 situation.

The Bayanihan to Heal as One Act authorizes the President to undertake in the most expeditious manner, as exemption from Government Procurement Reform Act.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@BNicolasBM

HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) rejected on Tuesday all bids for the P15-billion 35day Treasury bills (T-bills) offering as these would fetch a higher average rate if fully awarded.

The BTr is on its third week of fully rejecting bids for government securities at a time that the government is spending more to cushion the economic impact due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bids for the 35-day T-bills capped at an average of 3.390 percent, higher than the prevailing rates of comparable government securities.

However, the auction was nearly twice oversubscribed as tenders reached P29.6 billion compared to the P15 billion offering.

Even with the Tuesday’s auction turnout, National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the BTr still has not ran out of ammunition.

“Plenty of ammo that’s why we rejected,” she said in a message to reporters.

De Leon’s remark came after the BTr added P300 billion to its cash reserves by securing a repurchase agreement with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The national government will be allowed to convert up to P300 billion of government securities holding into cash on the condition that it will repurchase the securities at a

predetermined period of not more than six months.

The fund generated from the agreement shall be used to support the national government’s programs to manage the spread of the Covid-19 and to counter its impact on the local economy.

De Leon also earlier took positively Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin E. Diokno’s statement in a televised interview over the weekend that it can still purchase more government securities under a repurchase agreement with the national government on top of its earlier P300 billion purchase.

While Diokno said they are allowed under the law to undertake a repurchase agreement with the national government of up to slightly above P500 billion, he said BSP’s additional purchase of government securities would depend on the demand of the national government.

For April alone, the BTr earlier programmed to borrow P190 billion from the domestic market amid the risk-off appetite stemming from the lingering concerns on the pandemic.

As of end-February this year, national government’s total outstanding debt has reached P8.17 trillion, higher by 9.6 percent compared to P7.45 trillion on the same month in 2019. This is also up by 5.2 percent from P7.76 trillion as of end-January this year.

DOE seeks stakeholders’ comments on proposed green energy pricing rules

By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) is soliciting comments from industry stakeholders on the proposed rules governing the Green Energy Pricing Program (GEPP), which seeks to promote the utilization of renewable energy (RE) in the country.

In a notice posted on its web site, “the DOE, through the Renewable Energy Management Bureau, solicits comments and inputs on the draft Department Circular entitled, “Promulgating the Rules and Guidelines Governing the Green Energy Auction Program [GEAP] in the Philippines.”

“All interested individuals and RE stakeholders may send comments until 12:00 noon, 03 April 2020,” the agency said.

Under the GEPP, interested RE developers could offer their capacity and allocate the capacity to the distribution utilities (DUs) that are required to purchase RE as mandated by the RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standards).

The DOE will facilitate the procurement of supply from RE projects by the DUs and retail electricity suppliers (RES) through a competitive process for their long-term power supply requirements.

“In order to provide more avenue for compliance by mandated participants in meeting their RPS requirements and bolster the DOE’s efforts in promoting the utilization of indigenous and environment-friendly energy resources to meet the nationally set NREP [National Renewable Energy Program] targets, there is a need to explore and pursue new and supplemental programs to support increased investment in new RE projects,” the draft rules stated.

Under the NREP 2011-2030, the DOE is targeting to triple the existing RE capacity of 5,438

megawatt in 2010 to 15,304 MW by 2030. Beyond 2030, the government wants the target capacity increase to 20,000 MW by 2040.

However, the installed capacity as of end-2018 is lower than the target capacity by 3,608 MW, with the share of RE in the country’s generation supply mix reduced to less than 24 percent.

Given this, the DOE deemed it necessary to come up with a new RE program which, it claimed, veers away from the feed-in-tariff (FiT) program.

FiT is a system that provides guaranteed payments in the form of power rates given to RE developers for 20 years.

Consumers are paying for the RE developers’ incentives.

The draft rules basically provide rules governing the green energy tariff and green energy auction.

The green energy tariff would “provide price signals on the commercial value of electricity generated from RE facilities.”

This component deals with the tariff and the price cap to be determined by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Meanwhile, the green energy auction would facilitate supply contracting by qualified suppliers with eligible customers under a competitive process.

Earlier, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi proposed a plan to bid out 2,000 MW of RE capacity as part of the proposed GEPP. Cusi had said the rates “shouldn’t be expensive than what we are paying right now.”

The energy chief was referring to the following FiT rates: P9.68 per kilowatt-hour and P8.69 per kWh under the FiT-Solar 1 and 2; P8.53 per kWh and P7.4 per kWh under the FiT-Wind 1 and 2; P6.63 per kWh for biomass; and P5.9 per kWh for ROR (run-of-river) hydro.

The ERC earlier issued a degressed FiT rate of P5.8705 per kWh and P6.5969 per kWh for hydro and biomass plants, respectively.

www.businessmirror.com.ph• Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World

Trump shifts to worry over oil rout, discusses prices with Putin

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resident Donald J. Trump said he’s concerned oil prices have fallen too far and called Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss Russia’s oil-price war with Saudi Arabia.

The leaders, who also talked about the spread of the coronavirus, agreed to discussions on oil between energy officials in the two countries, according to the Kremlin. The White House had no immediate comment and didn’t release a summary of the call.

The US president has earlier said he does not want to see the energy sector “wiped out” after Russia and Saudi Arabia “both went crazy” and launched into a conflict that depressed oil prices.

“I never thought I’d be saying that maybe we have to have an oil increase, because we do.

The price is so low,” Trump said in an interview on Fox & Friends .

Crude oil futures tumbled as much as 7.7 percent in New York, touching an 18-year low.

The Trump-Putin call came at the request of the US and was “prolonged,” according to the Kremlin, which didn’t specify how long it lasted.

Trump’s view on the dispute marks a shift from earlier this month, when he likened the plunge in oil prices to a “tax cut” for Americans. The US president spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on March 9 about the dispute.

Trump has long argued that improving relations between Washington and Moscow could help solve international disputes. The president said he wanted to discuss trade with Putin, though he said he expected the Russian president to raise objections to US sanctions.

State-run Tass quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin didn’t ask Trump for sanctions relief on the call.

Oil tumbled earlier to its lowest point in nearly two decades, heading for the worst quarter on record as coronavirus lockdowns c a s c a d e d t h ro u g h t h e w o r l d ’s l a rg e s t economies, leaving the market overwhelmed by cratering demand and a ballooning surplus.

The slump in demand has shut refineries from South Africa to Canada.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates consumption will drop by 26 million barrels a day this week. Meanwhile, Riyadh and Moscow are showing no signs of a detente in their supply battle as Saudi Arabia announced

plans to increase its oil exports in the coming months, despite US warnings against flooding the market.

Some analysts argue Russia’s motivations extend well beyond oil and are complicated by the federation’s anger over US sanctions and opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline linking Russia to Germany. And the price for getting Russia to back down could be too high.

“Russia’s concerns with the US go beyond market share. Putin is frustrated with sanctions and may be more interested in punishing the US than Saudi Arabia,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor and chief executive of drilling services company Canary Llc. “If Trump wants an agreement with Putin, he may have to promise to ease up on sanctions. I am not sure he can deliver without the backing of Congress.”

Rosneft PJSC over the weekend sold i t s a s s e t s i n Ve n ez u e l a to t h e R u s s i a n government, a move that shields the Russian oil giant from further US sanctions while keeping Moscow behind the regime of Nicolas Maduro. Fears of broader sanctions have grown after the US in recent months slapped restrictions on Rosneft trading companies for handling business with Venezuela.

Talks between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies broke down in early March as Russia refused to sign on to larger production cuts proposed by Saudi Arabia. The failure to reach an agreement prompted the Saudis to unleash a price war, which, combined with the devastating effect of the virus pandemic, caused the market to crash.

Global demand is slumping by as much as 20 million barrels a day, about 20 percent, as billions of people go into lockdown to slow the spread of the virus. The outlook remains dire, with traders, banks and analysts forecasting a huge oversupply as governments effectively shut their economies.

Oil industry leaders, trade groups and some Republican senators have pressed the Trump administration to seek a diplomatic solution with Saudi Arabia. Six senators from oil-producing states last week urged Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to take a tougher stance against Saudi Arabia, while highlighting several “powerful tools at our disposal,” including sanctions, tariffs and other trade restrictions. Bloomberg News

Facebook, Twitter delete posts shared by Brazilian president

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witter Inc. and Facebook Inc. removed posts shared by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for including coronavirus misinformation that violates the social-media companies’ rules against posting harmful content.

Facebook said it took down a video on Monday that had been shared to both Facebook and Instagram, in which Bolsonaro said the antimalaria prescription drug hydroxychloroquine was an effective treatment for Covid-19. Twitter earlier had removed two tweets that also showed video of Bolsonaro praising hydroxychloroquine and encouraging the end of social distancing.

Small studies testing the effec ts of hydroxychloroquine on Covid-19 patients have had mixed results, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site says the drug is “currently under investigation in clinical trials” for use as a treatment for the virus. US President Donald J. Trump has also praised the drug, which was given emergency FDA approval to be prescribed to Covid-19 patients, though scientists have criticized the move as premature.

Facebook has a policy against sharing posts that could cause users physical harm, a spokesman

said. Twitter, too, has a policy that requires people to remove tweets that recommend cures or advice that goes against the recommendations of public health authorities.

“Twitter recently announced the expansion of its rules to cover content that could be against public health information provided by official sources and could put people at greater risk of transmitting Covid-19,” a Twitter spokesman said. Bolsonaro declined to comment on the Twitter removal when speaking to journalists earlier Monday.

Twitter and Facebook have taken a stronger stance on coronavirus misinformation than other types of controversial content, including some political postings. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this month that fighting medical misinformation is easier because companies can follow clear guidance from the World Health Organization on what can be defined as “harmful,” instead of deciding as a company in a way that could be considered biased or restrictive of free speech.

“This is a very different dynamic than trying to be referee of political speech,” Zuckerberg said at the time. Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

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from South Africa to Canada, leading to excess barrels in the market. A huge oversupply is further collapsing the oil market’s structure, and there may be more weakness to come as the world quickly runs out of storage capacity.

“Any little bit of optimism is welcome even if it is little more than a false dawn,” said Stephen Innes, global chief market strategist at A xiCorp Ltd. “The demand devastation is the most aggravating fac tor these days, while the supply issues are exacerbating that pressure.”

West Texas Intermediate for May delivery added 57 cents to $20.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 8:26 a.m. Singapore time. The contract slumped 6.6 percent to $20.09 on Monday, the lowest since February 2002.

Prices are down 54 percent this month and 66 percent this quarter.

Brent for May delivery rose 29 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $23.05 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange after dropping 8.7 percent Monday to settle at $22.76. The

A5

NY governor begs for help amid ‘staggering’ death toll

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EW YORK—New York’s governor issued an urgent appeal for medical volunteers on Monday amid a “staggering” number of deaths from the coronavirus, as he and health officials warned that the crisis unfolding in New York City is just a preview of what other communities across the US could soon face.

“Please come help us in New York now,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said as the state’s death toll climbed by more than 250 in a single day to a total of more than 1,200 victims, most of them in the city. He said an additional 1 million health-care workers are needed to tackle the crisis.

“We’ve lost over 1,000 New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. “To me, we’re beyond staggering already. We’ve reached staggering.”

Even before the governor’s appeal, close to 80,000 former nurses, doctors and other professionals in New York were stepping up to volunteer, and a Navy hospital ship, also sent to the city after 9/11, had arrived with 1,000 beds to relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospitals.

“Whatever it is that they need, I’m willing to do,” said Jerry Kops, a musician and former nurse whose tour with the show Blue Man Group was abruptly halted by the outbreak.

He returned to his Long Island home, where he volunteered to be a nurse again. While waiting to be reinstated, Kops has been helping at an assisted-living home near his house in Shirley, NY. The spike in deaths in New York was another sign of the long fight ahead against the global pandemic, which was filling Spain’s intensive care beds and shutting millions of Americans inside even as the crisis in China, where the outbreak began in December, kept easing.

More than 235 million people— about two of every three Americans—live in the 33 states where governors have declared statewide orders or recommendations to stay home.

In California, officials put out a similar call for medical volunteers as coronavirus hospitalizations doubled over the last four days and the number of patients in intensive care tripled.

“Challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days, and this is a very

Oil halts drop near 18-year low after crashing on demand shock i l clawed back some losses after plunging to the lowest level in 18 years as investors grapple with demand shocks and an impending supply flood from some of the world’s biggest producers.

Futures in New York advanced 2.8 percent as equity markets rallied on glimmers of optimism about the health sector’s efforts to deliver rapid testing for the new coronavirus.

While oil climbed for the first time in four sessions, prices are still set for the worst month and quarter on record as the rapidly spreading virus leads to lockdowns across the globe, sapping demand for crude and fuels.

US President D onald J. Trump spoke with Russian counterpar t Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss the impor tance of stable energy markets, but that did little to improve sentiment. The demise of the Opec+ alliance means that former allies Saudi Arabia and Russia will be able to pump -at-will from April 1.

The slump in demand has shut refineries

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

contract is down 54 percent in March and about 65 percent this quarter.

Futures in the global Brent benchmark are suggesting a historic glut is emerging, with the May contract trading at a discount of more than $14 a barrel to November, a deeper and more bearish super-contango than the market saw even in the depths of the 2008-09 global financial crisis.

In the market for physical barrels, prices a re a l re a dy f a r b e l ow t h o s e o f f u t u re s benchmarks. Oil from Canada touched a record low of $3.82, while many other key grades are trading below $10, with some as low as $3. It’s a similar pic ture in Europe, where Kazakh crude was offered at a 10-year low.

“Crude oil markets continue to suffer from the one-two punch of declining demand and potentially surging supply as major producers squabble,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific, said in a note. Bloomberg News

vital 30 days,” President Donald Trump told reporters. “The more we dedicate ourselves today, the more quickly we will emerge on the other side of the crisis.”

In Europe, meanwhile, hard-hit Italy and Spain saw their death tolls climb by more than 800 each, but the World Health Organization’s emergency chief said cases there were “potentially stabilizing.” At the same time, he warned against letting up on tough containment measures.

“We have to now push the virus down, and that will not happen by itself,” Dr. Michael Ryan said.

More than three-quarters of a million people worldwide have become infected and over 37,000 have died, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.

T he US reported more than 160,000 infections and over 3,000 deaths, with New York City the nation’s worst hot spot, and New Orleans, Detroit and other cities also seeing alarming clusters.

“Anyone who says this situation is a New York City-only situation is in a state of denial,” Cuomo said. “You see this virus move across the state.

You see this virus move across the nation. There is no American who is immune to this virus.”

Some hospitals are now parking refrigerated trailers outside their doors to collect the dead.

At two Brook ly n hospitals, videos posted by bystanders and a medical employee showed workers in masks and gowns loading bodies onto trailers from gurneys on the sidewalk.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious-disease e x per t, sim i l a rly wa r ned t hat smaller cities are likely about to see cases “take off ” the way they have in New York City.

“What we’ve learned from painful experience with this outbreak is that it goes along almost on a straight line, then a little accel-

The Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort passes lower Manhattan on its way to docking in New York on Monday, March 30, 2020. The ship has 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms that could be up and running within 24 hours of its arrival on Monday morning. It’s expected to bolster a besieged health-care system by treating non-coronavirus patients while hospitals treat people with Covid-19. AP/Seth Wenig

eration, acceleration, then it goes way up,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

In other developments around the world: n Bells tolled in Madrid’s deserted central square and flags were lowered in a day of mourning as Spain raced to build field hospitals to treat an onslaught of patients. The death toll topped 7,300. n In Japan, officials announced a new date for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—summer of 2021—as a spike in reported infections fueled suspicions that the government had been understating the extent of the country’s outbreak in recent weeks while it was still hoping to salvage the Summer Games. n Moscow locked down its 12 million people as Russia braced for sweeping nationwide restrictions. n Israel said 70-year-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is quarantining himself after an aide tested positive for the virus. And in Britain, Prince Charles, the heir to the throne who tested positive for the virus, ended his period of isolation and is in good health, his office said.

Italy’s death toll climbed to nearly 11,600. But in a bit of positive news, newly released numbers showed a continued slowdown in the rate of new confirmed cases and a record number of people recovered.

“We are saving lives by staying at home, by maintaining social distance, by traveling less and by closing schools,” said Dr. Luca Richeldi, a lung specialist.

At least six of Spain’s 17 regions were at their limit of intensive care unit beds, and three more were close to it, authorities said. Crews of workers were frantically building more

field hospitals.

Nearly 15 percent of all those infected in Spain, almost 13,000 people, are health-care workers, hurting hospitals’ efforts to help the tsunami of people gasping for breath.

In a sign of the mounting economic toll exacted by the virus in the United States, Macy’s said it would stop paying tens of thousands of employees thrown out of work when the chain closed its more than 500 department stores earlier this month.

The majority of its 130,000 workers will still collect health benefits, but the company said it is switching to the “absolute minimum work force” needed to maintain basic operations.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia.

More than 160,000 people have recovered, accord ing to Johns Hopkins.

The crisis in China, where the outbreak began in late December, continued to ease. China on Monday reported 31 new Covid-19 cases, among them just one domestic infection, and the city at the center of the disaster, Wuhan, began reopening for business as authorities lifted more of the controls that locked down tens of millions of people for two months.

“I want to revenge-shop,” one excited customer declared.

Japanese automa ker Toyota h a lted produc t ion at it s auto plants in Europe, but all of its factories in China resumed work on Monday. AP

WORLD BANK SEES COVID-19 PANDEMIC TAKING BIG TOLL ON ASIA’S ECONOMY

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ASHINGTON—The World Bank is estimating that the coronavirus o u t b re a k w i l l c a u s e e co n o m i c growth to slow significantly this year in China and other East Asian-Pacific countries, throwing millions into poverty.

Under a worse-case scenario, the region could suffer its sharpest downturn since a devastating currency crisis more than two decades ago, the bank said in an updated forecast released on Monday.

The bank’s report projects that growth in the region would slow to 2.1 percent this year from 5.8 percent in 2019 under a “baseline” forecast in which economic recovery takes hold this summer.

But under a worse case, in which the adverse effects of the virus spillover into next year, the region’s economy would contract 0.5 percent, the bank estimates. That would

represent the weakest performance for the region since the 1997-1998 Asian currency crisis, which plunged 40 percent of the globe into recession.

More than 11 million people could fall into poverty in the region under the worsecase scenario, the bank estimates. That’s in stark contrast to its earlier forecast that growth would be sufficient this year to lift 35 million people out of poverty.

A slowdown of the size being projected by the World Bank for such a critical par t of the global economy would have severe effects for the rest of the world. The World Bank said it has not finished forecasts for other par ts of the world but last week , International Monetar y Fund Managing Direc tor Kristalina Georgieva said it is clear that the global economy has already entered a recession that could be as bad

or worse than the slump after the 2008 financial crisis.

In the World Bank’s base case, China, the world’s second-largest economy, would see growth slow from 6.1 percent last year to 2.3 percent this year. In the worse-case scenario, growth in China would come to a near halt with a tiny 0.1 percent gain.

In the worse-case scenario where the virus keeps disrupting activity for many more months, the negative 0.5 percent drop for the region would include economic declines of 2.3 percent in Indonesia, 4.6 percent for Malaysia and 5 percent for Thailand.

“In addition to bold national actions, deeper international cooperation is the most effective vaccine against this virulent threat,” said Aaditya Mattoo, chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific at the World Bank. AP

A6 Wednesday, April 1, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

LGUs can help ease pressure on hospitals

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he Covid-19 pandemic helped expose a weak link in the country’s health-care system: The severe shortage of hospital beds. During the budget deliberations of the Department of Health, former Health Secretary Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial admitted the lack of hospital beds in Metro Manila (See, “DOH admits lack of beds in Metro Manila hospitals,” in the BusinessMirror August 15, 2017). Hospitals are also in dire need of medical supplies and facilities, such as toilets, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which revealed in April 2019 that 3 out of 10 health-care facilities in the Philippines lack access to clean toilets.

Compounding the woes of the Philippine health-care system is the fact that it lacks doctors and health workers, who are opting to work abroad.

The former DOH chief said the Philippines has one doctor for every 33,000 persons, a far cry from WHO’s ideal ratio of one doctor for every 10,000 people. The shortage of health workers, Ubial said, is more pronounced in far-flung communities.

Against this backdrop, the Philippines is now fighting a global pandemic. The exponential rise in cases and the spread of the virus to more than 100 countries are proof that no one is safe from Covid-19. The virus, which could be eliminated by washing your hands for 20 seconds, 10 to 15 times a day, has caused the near-collapse of health-care systems in rich countries like Spain and Italy.

The Philippine health-care system will be hard put to handle the challenge if the virus infects thousands of Filipinos. Knowing this, the government decided to place the entire Luzon island under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to fight the virus. Two weeks later, however, private hospitals that can handle Covid-19 cases have run out of beds for the growing number of patients.

By designating quarantine facilities in their respective areas, local government units (LGUs) could ease the pressure on hospitals. Even before the designation of government buildings as quarantine facilities, the local government of Valenzuela has already identified a centralized isolation unit where those suspected of having Covid-19 could be quarantined. The local government of Makati has also prepared a quarantine facility to prevent the spread of the virus in the city.

Taking a cue from these LGUs, the national government has decided to use the Philippine International Convention Center, World Trade Center and the Rizal Memorial Stadium as quarantine facilities. This is a welcome development as this will ease the congestion in hospitals and allow them to focus on severe cases. Informal settlers living near these facilities will also benefit from this move if they fall ill.

Of the 1.4 million informal settler families in the Philippines, 40 percent are in Metro Manila, according to an estimate made by the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council in 2017. Slum areas in Metro Manila are of particular concern to authorities because slum dwellers are vulnerable to infectious diseases. Informal settlers also have a much higher risk of contracting diseases due to poor sanitation, lack of access to safe food and water, and lack of access to health-care services.

To prevent the collapse of the health-care system and win the battle against Covid-19, the national government must rely heavily on the community as the first line of defense against the virus. The national government and other LGUs must build these quarantine facilities soon to ease the burden on hospitals that are currently struggling to treat not only those with Covid-19 but also patients suffering from other diseases.

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SSS pensioners: Stay home, no need for Acop Aurora C. Ignacio

All About Social Security

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e’ve heard it countless times in the news—experts claiming that one’s risk of severe illness and death increases with age. They say older people are much more vulnerable to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) than the rest of the population.

As I write this column, the Department of Health has already reported through ncovtracker.doh. gov.ph a total of 226 female and 378 male elderlies aged 60 years old and above to have tested positive for Covid-19. By merely looking at the graph of the country’s confirmed cases by age group, it comes as no surprise that the “60 to 69” age bracket has the second-most number of Covid-19 cases next to the “50 to 59” age group.

In this unprecedented enhanced community quarantine to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, the safety of our beloved Social Security System (SSS) pensioners becomes more important to us than ever. Thus, to ensure their safety amid the global health crisis, we pushed for the temporary suspension of our Annual Confirmation of Pensioners (Acop) program.

Acop is a program that requires pensioners to annually report to

SSS offices or their depository banks on their birth month or of the deceased members’ to ensure continuous payment of their benefits. It was implemented in 2012 to safeguard the System from fraudulent claims by avoiding circumstances where persons other than the rightful beneficiaries are receiving benefits.

Starting March 1 until April 30, 2020, the Acop requirement for survivor and total disability pensioners residing in the Philippines as well as all pensioners living abroad has been waived. On top of this good news is our announcement that all affected pensioners, including those who were unable to comply with the program from January 2020 onwards, shall continue to receive payment of their monthly pensions.

We deemed it important to provide our SSS pensioners with the pension they can rely on, most

In due time, the SSS shall again continue mandatory home visits to check Philippine-based pensioners who are 85 years old and older, as well as for those who are unable to report personally due to particular disabilities such as total blindness and amputation of two or more extremities.

especially in these trying times. It is but necessary to prioritize their health, safety and protection over the need for their timely compliance with Acop.

In lieu of Acop, the SSS shall conduct a verification procedure for the said period to confirm whether the affected pensioners are still alive or not. Confirmation shall be done through the implementation of the Data Matching of Pensioners’ Records, which has been the pension fund’s process of verifying the status of our retiree-pensioners aged 84 years old and below for the past several years.

Compliance with the Acop program shall be temporarily suspended for the duration of the emergency from March 2020 up to May 2020, or until further notice. Upon lifting of the emergency period due to the outbreak of Covid-19, pensioners who have not complied with the Acop program will be required to comply starting June 2020 up to July 5, 2020 for the continuous payment of their pension benefit. Fail-

ure to comply within the said period will result to suspension of pension benefit effective August 2020.

Under normal circumstances, failure to comply with the Acop program leads to suspension of the benefit. But with the country being currently placed under a state of public health emergency, we have taken these steps to ensure continuity of our service for our pensioners.

In due time, the SSS shall again continue mandatory home visits to check Philippine-based pensioners who are 85 years old and older, as well as for those who are unable to report personally due to particular disabilities such as total blindness and amputation of two or more extremities.

Meanwhile, also suspended for the duration of the national emergency is the mandatory Unified Multi-Purpose Identification card application. As we are all aware, applying for UMID card requires the member-applicants’ direct contact with our personnel as the former are required to have their pictures taken, fingerprints scanned, and digital signatures captured. Hence, the dire need to postpone it too, for the time being.

Stay indoors and stay safe, everyone!

Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.

We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss. gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.

Trump rules bar foreign nurses willing to help US

By Bruce Einhorn, Claire Jiao & James Paton Bloomberg Opinion

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S the coronavirus pandemic threatens to strain nursing staffs at hospitals across the US, Melanie N. Beckham knows where to find reinforcements. But first, the Trump administration needs to give its approval.

Beckham, president of Vintage Health Resources Inc. in Germantown, Tennessee, specializes in helping hospitals throughout the southeastern US hire nurses from the Philippines, a country with a large population of English speakers and a long history of sending health-care workers abroad.

Of the several hundred Philippine recruits now in Vintage’s application process, more than 100 nurses have passed the licensing and language exams. They’ve completed background checks and are ready to head to the US. Yet, they are stuck because they can’t get their visas processed.

“They could come tomorrow,” Beckham said. “The demand is overwhelming right now.”

Since President Donald J. Trump

took office on a promise to crack down on immigration, nurses from the Philippines have faced more red tape. Officials return about 50 percent of Vintage’s applications and demand additional paperwork, up from just 5 percent of applications during the Obama administration, Beckham said.

The issue is becoming more urgent by the day because of the spread of Covid-19 cases throughout the US. At more than 104,000 infections, the country now has a higher tally than China and Italy.

“If nurses are infected and become sick, all of us are at greater risk,” National Nurses United, a union with 150,000 members, said in a March 24 statement. “If we are sick, who will take care of patients in the face of this terrifying pandemic?”

Staff overwhelmed

Some of the hardest hit states are rushing to find reinforcements as their hospital staffs rapidly become overwhelmed. California Governor Gavin Newsom is considering a rule change to speed up licensing of nursing students and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is appealing for retired nurses to return to the work force.

One staffing company has received a request for 5,000 nurses in New York, according to Shari Dingle Costantini, president of the American Association of International Healthcare Recruitment. Members of her association have as many as 12,000 nurses from the Philippines and other countries who could fill those jobs, if only they could enter the US, she said.

“We have the nurses with all the credentials and ready to come into the country but they can’t because there are no visas,” she said. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, many hospitals across the US didn’t have enough nurses to care for patients.

America’s not-for-profit hospitals were “experiencing an extreme

nursing shortage,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a 2018 report, “and the added expense pressure and personnel issues will negatively affect hospital margins for at least the next three to four years.”

Southern and western states, including Florida, Georgia, Texas and California, had the most severe problems. Several of those states— including California—have worsening shortages amid the virus.

Applications denied

The US had about 3 million registered nurses in 2018 and the total will grow by more than 12 percent by 2028, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which cited an older population and the increasing rates of chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity as factors contributing to rising demand.

The Philippines could significantly ease the shortage, said Leo-Felix M. Jurado, chair of the Nursing Department at William Paterson University in New Jersey and a board member of the Philippine Nurses Association of America. There are about 150,000 See “Trump,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

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A smart plan to end the US lockdown arrives just in time Noah Smith

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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he US is finally starting to take a sensible and proactive approach toward the Covid-19 pandemic. After a disastrous initial failure, coronavirus testing has now risen to levels similar to or higher than South Korea. Meanwhile, although he almost succumbed to the temptation to reopen the economy before shutdowns had time to quell the epidemic, President Donald Trump has wisely decided to recommend that social distancing continue through the end of April. And Congress, showing rare unanimity and boldness, passed a huge relief package that will sustain most households and many businesses throughout the next couple of months.

But these are all simply holding actions, temporary measures to stop the virus from spreading out of control. Even the harshest lockdown will never eliminate the virus, and if restrictions are lifted without a regime in place to suppress new outbreaks, the epidemic will simply come roaring back. Meanwhile, every day the economy remains shutdown generates more losses and creates a larger backlog of un-serviced debt. That won’t work forever; an escape plan is urgently needed.

A team of experts at the American Enterprise Institute has come up with exactly such a plan, and it looks like a good one. Those experts include Scott Gottlieb and Mark McClellan, both former commissioners of the Food and Drug Administration; Lauren Silvis, who previously held several high positions at the FDA; and Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security professors Caitlin Rivers and Crystal Watson.

The first and most essential part of the AEI plan is to create a system that can suppress coronavirus outbreaks without lockdowns. This will require extensive testing; the plan’s authors estimate about 750,000 tests per week.

Fortunately, that sort of number is now possible:

Markets no longer know how to define ‘safe’

By Jared Dillian | Bloomberg Opinion

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F the recent sell-off in markets proves anything, it’s that for too many years too many people were focused solely on returns with zero consideration for risk or safety. The last time anyone really thought about safety in markets was during the financial crisis more than a decade ago, when investors couldn’t get enough government bonds or cash.

But as the economy recovered, so did investors’ appetite for risk. A sort of cult of equity developed, with the unshakable belief that stocks would keep going up, and if they ever went down—which they did fairly sharply in the second half of 2015 and the end of 2018—they would always come back—which they always did.

“Buy the dip” became an actual strategy. The American Association of Individual Investors found that its members had an almost 66 percent allocation to stocks in December, up from 41 percent at the bottom of the financial crisis.

More important, the definition of safe morphed as stocks soared to new heights. If you went to your financial advisor and told him or her that your risk tolerance was low, he or she probably would have put your money in a portfolio of stocks that had a history of rising, not because they had any defensive qualities. But as we have seen this month, all stocks can go down with equal ferocity. That cult of equity has been shattered— perhaps permanently.

The prevailing feature of this bear market is that nothing has really been safe. If you had any exposure to

bonds, it was probably in the form of investment grade or high-yield, highrisk debt, which were down almost as much as stocks until the stimulus packages from the government and Federal Reserve. And nobody contemplated a scenario where municipal bonds would not be safe. General obligation munis are backed by the unlimited taxing power of municipalities, but yet they were not spared, and that market ceased functioning.

US Treasury notes and bonds did provide some diversification benefits, but only to a point. After yields bottomed a couple of weeks ago, a massive unwinding of certain trades and the promise of massive government borrowing to fund the fiscal rescue plan drove yields higher. For decades, bonds mixed with stocks were good enough to achieve diversification, but will probably be less useful going forward.

Gold has been a bit of a disappointment. The whole reason people buy it is for situations like this, and it hasn’t worked, initially taking a big dive from about $1,680 an ounce to $1,471 in a matter of weeks. Although something similar happened in the last crisis, with gold peaking

early at $1,000 as Bear Stearns collapsed, and then proceed to go down as the financial system unraveled, before finally turning and surging to $1,900. Although gold has rebounded somewhat, those expecting gold to go up when stocks went down were let down. Similarly, Bitcoin has also been less than underwhelming. The digital currency, which sometimes trades like a haven asset, has mostly traded as a risk asset instead, though it has also recovered somewhat just like with gold.

Money market funds are struggling to avoid a situation like what happened in 2008, when the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy caused the Reserve Primary fund to “break the buck,” which led to a run on money market funds. The commercial paper market is smaller than it used to be, but money market and ultra short duration bond funds don’t strike me as very safe here without help from the Fed. Only Treasury bills or cash would have provided you with the safety you desired. But cash has its own set of issues and concerns. If you have more than $250,000 in one bank, there is a chance that it’s not entirely safe, either, which people were forced to think about in 2008. Also, it looks like the government and the Fed will be dropping money out of helicopters, and people are—perhaps prematurely—starting to talk about inflation again. So, on a long-term basis, cash makes less sense.

As for the safety of different investment vehicles, exchange-traded

funds that own bonds are again taking heat for trading at a significant discount to their underlying assets (though I wrote about this a few years ago, and it is a feature, not a bug, of ETFs). And we are again looking at a situation where there is a possibility that open-end mutual funds might gate redemptions for liquidity reasons.

All of this forces an investor to ask, what is safe? Is anything really safe?

The days of dollar-cost-averaging a standard portfolio where 80 percent is invested in stocks and 20 percent is invested in bonds and watching your money grow at 10 percent a year and end up with a few million dollars at retirement are likely over. Returns will undoubtedly be lower, forcing people to save more and consume less—which is not what is needed for an economic recovery.

My beliefs about risk were shaped years ago reading books such as The Black Swan and The (Mis)behavior of Markets, which focused on ideas like how financial markets follow a power-law distribution, and not a normal distribution, and that markets are vulnerable to large, unforeseen events. Knowing this, you try to build a portfolio that gives you a modicum of exposure to the upside, but truncates your exposure to the downside.

The bears and the financial doomsday preppers were widely ridiculed during the bull market. I won’t say they have been vindicated, but people’s perception of risk has been forever altered.

Urns in Wuhan prompt new questions of virus’s toll

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Meanwhile, new rapid tests like the one from Abbott Laboratories will reduce turnaround times so that cases can be identified in minutes instead of days. People who test positive can immediately isolate themselves.

But testing and isolating isn’t enough to halt the virus because Covid-19 becomes contagious before many infected people start showing symptoms. To really halt the spread, therefore, public health authorities will need to use an approach called contact tracing. This means finding out who an infected person has had contact with in the past few days and notifying those people that they need to get tested even if they don’t show symptoms.

Traditionally, as in the fight against HIV/AIDS, contact tracing was done by hand. Coronavirus moves so quickly, however, that technological solutions may be needed to speed things up. Singapore, for example, has recently made its own contact-tracing app publicly available. This app relies on Bluetooth signals to tell who has been in close physical proximity to whom.

Of course, that raises privacy concerns. That has tech leaders working on alternate solutions that do contact tracing while preserving anonymity. It’s possible that Apple and Google already have the data to do this.

Meanwhile, any contact-tracing app will also have to quickly notify people that they’ve been in contact with an infected person, and (ideally) route them to the nearest testing center. Those who test positive can immediately quarantine themselves at home to prevent spreading the disease.

Establishing robust test-and-trace systems can start at the local and state level. However, implementing these systems will take both money and wise policy changes. The federal government should provide generous funding to help local and state governments implement test-and-trace systems. Local governments and public-health authorities, meanwhile, must loosen their testing criteria to allow for people to be tested before they show symptoms. The AEI authors also call for a national surveillance system to tie local systems together and enable contact tracing throughout the country, as well as to help infected people quarantine themselves quickly and safely.

In addition to the test-and-trace approach, governments can use antibody tests to identify individuals who have already had the virus and, thus, may be able to return to work safely. Germany is already experimenting with this approach.

After test-and-trace systems are in place, and new cases have fallen for 14 days or more in a row, the AEI team suggests lifting shutdowns—but not all at once. They recommend a phased reopening of businesses, with telework, distance learning and personal social distancing continuing as much as possible, while maintaining indefinite bans on gatherings of more than 50 people. Only once a vaccine against Covid-19 is developed—probably in mid-2021—can all restrictions be lifted. And if outbreaks do spiral out of control in a city or state, the AEI team recommends a swift but temporary return to shutdown.

The battle against coronavirus will thus be a long one. But in a few weeks the tide may turn. The AEI plan provides a great road map for coming out of hiding and going on the offensive.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020 A7

he long lines and stacks of ash urns greeting family members of the dead at funeral homes in Wuhan are spurring questions about the true scale of coronavirus casualties at the epicenter of the outbreak, renewing pressure on a Chinese government struggling to control its containment narrative.

The families of those who succumbed to the virus in the central Chinese city, where the disease first emerged in December, were allowed to pick up their cremated ashes at eight local funeral homes starting last week. As they did, photos circulated on Chinese social media of thousands of urns being ferried in.

Outside one funeral home, trucks shipped in about 2,500 urns on both Wednesday and Thursday, according to Chinese media outlet Caixin.

Another picture published by Caixin showed 3,500 urns stacked on the ground inside. It’s unclear how many of the urns had been filled.

People who answered the phone at six of the eight funeral homes in Wuhan said they either did not have data on how many urns were waiting to be collected, or were not authorized to disclose the numbers. Calls

Trump. . .

continued from A6

nurses from the Philippines working in the US, he said, up from approximately 120,000 in 2013.

In 2019, about 5,100 people from the Philippines received the EB-3 visas commonly used for nurses, down by a third from 2015.

“It’s absolutely been harder in the Trump administration to get people in,” said Costantini, who is also CEO of Avant Healthcare Professionals, a recruiting company in Florida. US Citizenship and Immigration Services “has been delaying and denying visa applications that were once easily approved.”

A USCIS spokesman said visa wait times vary and that employers have the option to request an expedited application, yet overall processing times are lower compared to 2016.

The State Department appears to be opening the door a little. In a statement dated March 26, it encouraged medical professionals with approved visa petitions or certificates of eligibility in exchange visitor programs,

were not answered at the other two.

Some families said they had been forced to wait for several hours to pick up the ashes. The photos circulated as mass deaths from the virus spiked in cities across the west, including Milan, Madrid and New York, where hospitals were erecting tents to handle the overflow as global infections soar.

According to Chinese government figures, 2,548 people in Wuhan have died of the virus. The announcement that a lockdown in place since January would be lifted came after China said its tally of new cases had hit zero and stepped up diplomatic outreach to other countries hard hit by the virus, sending some of them medical supplies.

But some in China have been skeptical of the accuracy of the official tally, particularly given Wuhan’s overwhelmed medical system, authorities’ attempts to cover up the outbreak in its initial stages, and multiple revisions to the way official cases are counted. Residents, on social media, have demanded disciplinary action against top Wuhan officials. Many people who died had Covid-19 symptoms, but weren’t tested and excluded from

“particularly those working to treat or mitigate the effects of Covid-19,” to seek a visa appointment at their nearest US embassy.

One surgical nurse in Manila has waited for two years. The 32-yearold, who asked not to be identified because of concern about her visa status, earns about P30,000 ($590) a month in the Philippines, not enough to support her family. She has had an offer to work at a US hospital since 2018. Since submitting her paperwork, she has received multiple requests for more documentation.

As a nurse in a major public hospital, she spends her days caring for Covid-19 patients, sometimes with limited protective equipment.

She fears the pandemic will tighten health screening requirements and make the visa process even more complicated.

The US isn’t the only country where government policies are making it tough to fill nursing gaps. In the UK, the Brexit vote in 2016 contributed to the loss of thousands of nurses from European Union countries.

“The number of EU nurses coming into the UK suddenly went off a

According to Chinese government figures, 2,548 people in Wuhan have died of the virus. The announcement that a lockdown in place since January would be lifted came after China said its tally of new cases had hit zero and stepped up diplomatic outreach to other countries hard hit by the virus, sending some of them medical supplies.

the official case tally, Caixin said.

There were also patients who died of other diseases due to a lack of proper treatment when hospitals were overwhelmed dealing with those who had the coronavirus.

There were 13,856 cremations in Wuhan in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from the city’s civil affairs agency. That was 2,419 lower than in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Mourning restrictions

The families of the deceased may not be able to say a proper goodbye to their loved ones just yet. Wuhan’s government issued a statement on Thursday prohibiting individuals cliff,” said Michael Hodges, a managing director and health-care specialist at London-based Christie & Co.

Worldwide issue

Now the pandemic is hurting British recruiters’ ability to tap countries such as the Philippines. Monica Felix, 32, who arrived in the UK on March 24, received her visa a day before the Philippine government announced a lockdown of Manila. Her trip to Britain included a layover in Dubai, two days before the United Arab Emirates halted flights through the city.

Her colleagues at home are worried their moves abroad will be delayed, she said. “We’re all anxious about what’s happening around us,” Felix said. “All of us know the possible consequences if we get this kind of dreaded disease.”

The Covid-19 crisis is also highlighting a nurses shortage in Australia, estimated to reach 85,000 by 2025 and 123,000 nurses by 2030.

Amid the pandemic, the Australian health regulator is easing licensing rules to get more health workers into the system quickly, including internationally qualified

in the city from tomb-sweeping activities until April 30, meaning they would not be able to observe the traditional April 4 Ching Ming Festival, or tomb sweeping holiday.

Other provinces including Guangxi and Zhejiang have also announced similar restrictions.

Two locals in Wuhan who have lost family members to the virus said online that they were informed they had to be accompanied by their employers or officials from neighborhood committees when picking up the urns, likely as a measure against public gatherings.

“I was told by district government to wait until further notice on when I can pick up my father’s ashes,” one Wuhan resident using the name “Xue Zai Shou Zhong,” meaning “snow in hand,” posted on Weibo. “There is a staggered arrangement for urn collecting.” Another Weibo user using the handle Adagier said she lost her husband to the coronavirus and had since been contacted by police warning her not to be too emotional—and to stop posting online.

“I have only one demand,” she wrote. “I want to give my husband a proper burial as soon as possible.”

Bloomberg News

practitioners awaiting bridging visas. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also said the government will relax work restrictions for 20,000 international nursing students.

Shortage at home

Back in the Philippines, the government wants to keep nurses in the country to help stem the virus outbreak there. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello has issued an order to strictly regulate the overseas deployment of Filipino health-care workers until the pandemic is declared to be under control. The Philippines lacks about 23,000 nurses, according to Rustico Jimenez, president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc., which has about 900 members. While local hospitals can’t compete with salaries abroad, they will seek to compensate with such perks as free lodging and training programs, he said.

Still, nurses in the countryside make as little as P6,000 a month, according to Leah Paquiz, founder of nursing advocacy group Ang Nars Inc., and many nurses at top hospitals make only P26,000.

A8 Wednesday, April 1, 2020

DA gets DILG help in untying Covid-19 food-trade blockades T HE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has vowed to ease the bottlenecks in quarantine points to ensure the steady flow of food trade within Luzon to avert supply disruptions, the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Tuesday said.

In a statement, the DA said the DILG committed to the government’s the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) “to further enhance checkpoint protocols to ensure the unhampered movement of food and agri-fishery products, inputs, and personnel.”

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has agreed to ensure that checkpoint protocols at the municipal down to barangay level would

be adjusted to existing national protocols on the transportation of cargoes and food products during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Dar added that Año made the commitment following reports of “distress in chicken supply” that the DA received due to difficulties in transporting farm inputs, particularly at the level of local government units (LGUs).

See related story in Nation, PNP orders barangays to remove

EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTION OF THE COUNTRY. as of 4:00 am - March 31, 2020

food blockades.

“Secretary Año understands the importance of bringing our food supply immediately to our consumers who need these products the most.

The IATF has been supportive of this, and the entire DILG is our partner in the ground,” he said.

“We cannot overemphasize our battle against the potential hunger this pandemic is posing us. As much as we want to prepare for the worst, we also need all the hands we can get to prevent this from happening. So again, we need to achieve a smooth movement in the food value chain,” Dar added.

The DA reiterated its appeal to local chief executives to align their protocols and measures with the approved national guidelines on the flow of food supply and cargo in the country during ECQ. The DA has issued about 48,000 food passes nationwide to allow cargo and trucks carrying foodrelated goods to easily pass through checkpoints but some LGUs, particularly at the municipal and barangay levels, refuse to honor the IATF-endorsed document.

“The IATF-EID has reaffirmed

Motorists and vehicles coming from Marikina and Antipolo pass through the DPWH disinfecting area in Brgy. San Isidro, Cainta, near the boundary of Antipolo, Rizal. Authorities have reminded all local governments to ensure vehicles for essential services, such as food and produce delivery, are allowed to pass through quickly. BERNARD TESTA

the DA recommendation to adopt as a national policy the unhampered movement of cargoes and workers in permitted establishments such as agriculture and food products, and their supply chain.

The DILG will issue a new set of guidelines on checkpoints at the LGU level for the said purpose,” it said.

Food industry groups, particularly farm producers, have been complaining that the deliveries of their raw materials and shipments of finished food products have been barred and held at certain checkpoints in Luzon due to stringent lockdown measures imposed by LGUs.

Industry groups like the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) have sounded the alarm that the country could face a food shortage in the second half—and during Christmas—if LGUs continue to hamper food production.

PCAFI President Danilo V. Fausto said the food value chain “should be left unhampered” during the implementation of the Luzon-wide EQC, which ends mid-April.

Fausto, owner of DVF Dairy Farm, said LGUs are giving it a hard time to ensure a smooth flow of food trade.

“LGUs should be forced, with the help of the police and the

military, to let go of their excess food produced in their area in order to ensure their availability to other parts of the country,” he added.

Fausto explained that if the delivery and availability of farm production inputs like chicks, piglets, fertilizers, among others, are delayed, then the country may face a shortfall in food supply.

“Production inputs like chicks, piglets, fingerlings, seeds, feeds, fertilizer and irrigation should be made available and [their] delivery to the farmer producers assured this coming production and planting season,” he said.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

COVID-19 PHL CASES TOP 2,000; 88 DEATHS, 49 RECOVERIES LISTED

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

T

Correspondent

HE number of positive Covid-19 cases in the country rose above 2,000 as Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire confirmed 538 new cases (PH1,547-PH2,084) on Tuesday.

Among the new confirmed cases is former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong Marcos," who is now in an "isolation area," recovering well, according to his spokesman-lawyer.

In a virtual press conference, Vergeire said the total number of cases is now at 2,084.

As of 4 p.m. on March 31, seven new recoveries were also reported and 10 deaths. A total of 49 patients have recovered thus far while 88 patients succumbed to the disease.

The DOH said that PH577 (43rd PH recovery) is a 64-year-old Filipino male from Rizal with no travel history. Onset of symptoms was on March 5 and he was confirmed positive for Covid-19 on March 24.

He was discharged on March 29, asymptomatic with one negative result.

PH271 (44th PH recovery) is a 60-year-old Filipino male from Quezon City with no travel history.

He felt the symptoms on March 11, was confirmed positive on March 20, and was discharged on March 30—asymptomatic, with two negative results.

PH58 (45th PH recovery) is a 45-year-old Filipino female from Makati City, with no travel history but with exposure to a known Covid-19 case. The symptoms surfaced on March 6 and she was confirmed positive on March 14. She was discharged on March 29, asymptomatic with one negative result.

A 48-year-old Filipino male from Pasig City is PH185 (46th PH recovery) with no travel history felt the symptoms on March 8, was confirmed positive on March 16 and was discharged on March 28, asymptomatic, with one negative result PH197-(47th PH recovery) is a 77-year-old Filipino male from Rizal with no travel history. Onset of symptoms was on March 8. He was confirmed positive on March 18 and was discharged on March 28, asymptomatic, with one negative result.

A Filipino-American male from Mandaluyong City, 68, is PH258(48th PH recovery). He had traveled to Dubai, Jordan, Israel and Egypt.

His symptoms surfaced on March

14, he was confirmed positive on March 20. He was discharged on March 29, asymptomatic , with one negative result.

PH96 (49th PH recovery), is a 39-year-old male from Abra with travel history from UAE and Thailand. Onset of symptoms was on March 9. He was confirmed positive on March 14 and was discharged on March 31, asymptomatic with one negative result.

Meanwhile, the reported deaths are: ■ PH935 (79th PH death), Filipino male, 83 years old, from Parañaque City; ■ PH798 (80th PH death), Filipino male, 74, from Quezon City; ■ PH1419 (81st PH death), Filipino male, 69, from Quezon City; ■ PH1032 (82nd PH death), Filipino female, 64, from Manila; ■ PH2045 (83rd PH death), Filipino male, 60, from Quezon City; ■ PH1372 (84th PH death), Filipino male, 89, from Caloocan City; ■ PH1508 (85th PH death), Filipino male, 72, from Rizal; ■ PH862 (86th PH death), Filipino male, 78, from Quezon City; ■ PH1240 (87th PH death), Filipino male, 51, from San Juan City; and ■ PH1680 (88th PH death), Filipino female, 51, from Rizal.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

B1

AboitizPower aims to raise ₧9.55B via sale of bonds

By Lenie Lectura

A

@llectura

boitiz Power Corp. said on Tuesday that it is planning to issue up to P9.55 billion worth of fixed rate bonds this year to raise money for its power projects.

The power firm said it filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the planned bond offering, which represents the fourth tranche of its P30 billion fixed-rate retail bonds registered in 2017 under the shelf registration program of the SEC. “The Fourth Tranche Bonds, with

an aggregate principal amount of up to P9.55 billion, including oversubscription, is expected to be issued in the second or third quarter of 2020, in one or two series,” it said.

Proceeds will be used to reimburse equity infusions into AA Thermal Inc., to fund succeeding infusions into AA Thermal and to fund equity

infusions into Therma Power Inc., in relation to the construction of the 2x668 MW super critical coal-fired power plant of GN Power Diningin Ltd. Co. BDO Capital & Investment Corporation and First Metro Investment Corporation were appointed as Joint Issue Managers while BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, First Metro Investment Corporation, and China Bank Capital Corporation were tapped as Joint Lead Underwriters. BDO Unibank Inc.-Trust and Investments Group were named as the Trustee.

AboitizPower intends to list the bonds with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

The power firm has set a target of registering 4,000MW of attributable

capacity in 2020, from the current 3,200MW. “We will definitely hit the goal of 4,000MW by next year. We have sold 23 terawatt hours to the grid.

We are expecting to hit over 30 terawatt hours by 2029,” AboitizPower President Emmanuel Rubio said last year.

“We are aggressively expanding our energy portfolio and also pursue our aspirations in Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar with focus on hydro, solar and also look at opportunities in gas. By 2029, our mix would be 50:50 thermal and renewable energy,” he added.

AboitizPower is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution, and retail electricity services.

Share prices rise as panic selling eases

By VG Cabuag @villygc

S

hare prices rose on Tuesday, the last trading day of the first quarter, after local equities tracked overseas markets which recorded gains in response to the stimulus package being promised by the United States government.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 190.07 points, or 3.7 percent, to close at 5,321.23 points.

“Philippine stocks closed higher today, building on a strong rally from last week as the US extended measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak,” said Luis Limlingan, managing director at Regina Capital Development Corp.

Limlingan said the increase follows the overnight rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gained 690 points, or 3.19 percent, to about 22,327, after a brief morning dip into negative territory. The S&P 500 climbed 85 points, or 3.35 percent, to 2,626. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 271 points, or 3.62 percent, to 7,774.

There were also some buying as a result of window dressing of companies for the end of the quarter.

“Today ended the trend that we have been seeing of heavy selling pressure at the beginning of the trading day that would send prices much lower. We saw heavy buying pressure at the open, followed by some selling

and then another round of strong buying at the close which allowed the PSEi to end near its high for the day. This tells us that panic selling has subsided and bulls are starting to take control of this market,” said Christopher Mangun, research head at AAA Securities Inc. “There is still a lot of uncertainty on how bad the economic consequences will be from the Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic. The general sentiment remains fearful,” he added.

Foreign investors continue to dump local shares and were still net sellers at P634.52 million.

Total value of shares traded reached P7.41 billion.

Gainers led losers 132 to 53 and 41 shares were unchanged.

All other subindices managed to end on the green led by the broader All Shares index that rose 93.46 points to 3,237.77, the Financials index gained 47.19 to 1,223.64, the Industrial index climbed 290.08 to 6,361.71, the Holding Firms index was up 249.48 and the Mining and Oil index surged 114.35 to 4,161.90.

“I think this is in line with our expectation that the market performance today [Tuesday] will rally, including financial sector, [because] investors are taking cues right now from the US markets,” Philstocks Financial Inc. analyst Piper Chaucer Tan told the BusinessMirror.

BDO Unibank Inc. was still the most actively traded shares among

the financial stocks, booking value turnover of P383.65 million on Tuesday, higher than day earlier P256.17 million.

Next to this were Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (MetroBank) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) with value turnover of P277.76 million and P230.42 million, respectively.

MetroBank had the most gain at 6.38 percent, ending the day at P40 apiece. Security Bank came in second with 5.42-percent growth.

The shares of BDO was up 4.33 percent; BPI, 2.83 percent; China Banking Corp., 1.77 percent; East West Banking Corp., 2.53 percent; Philippine National Bank, 2.19 percent; and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., 0.59 percent.

Union Bank of the Philippines Inc., meanwhile, saw its shares slid by 1.39 percent or 75 centavos to finish at P53.10 each.

Tan added that market sentiment toward financial stocks have been supported by the news on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ latest moves to inject liquidity into the economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among these are the reduction of overnight repurchase facility and regulatory requirements, he cited.

Ayala Corp. was the day's most active and it fell P1.60 to P467.40, property developer Ayala Land Inc. was also down P0.80 to P30.20, SM Prime Holdings Inc. rose P1.05 to P28.40, SM Investments Corp.

SEC processed 2,500 online applications

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday said it was able to process some 2,500 applications for registration of corporations and partnerships online from Luzon and other regions.

The SEC's Company Registration System (CRS) has remained online since the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases implemented the monthlong quarantine over Metro Manila and eventually the entire Luzon effective March 15.

“We are working to ensure the CRS will remain accessible in order to facilitate the registration of companies while the enhanced community quarantine remains in force,” said SEC Chairman Emilio B. Aquino.

“We will continue finding ways to limit the disruption in our everyday operations and to ensure

our stakeholders can cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," Aquino added.

The CRS allows for the full automation and online pre-processing of the registration of corporations and partnerships, as well as licensing of foreign corporations.

To register online, an applicant may log onto https://crs.sec.gov.ph/. In the system, the applicant can verify its proposed company name, generate its articles of incorporation, bylaws and other company registration documents, and upload all required documents for processing, review and approval.

However, the verification of payment and generation of Certificate of Incorporation or Certificate of Filing of Articles of Partnership may be made and released by the SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department only after the enhanced

community quarantine has been lifted because of the limitations in the mobility of individuals and operations of establishments.

From March 16 to 27, the CRMD processed 2,500 applications. Of the total, 314 were promoted for the generation of the corresponding certificates of registration, 1,014 were assessed for payment, and 1,172 were required to include additional requirements. The CRMD also processed 562 name verification appeals, of which 429 were approved and 133 were denied. Applicants whose name verification appeals were approved may now proceed with the registration process.

The SEC continues to accept applications for monitoring clearance for amendments to the articles of incorporation and bylaws of companies during the enhanced community quarantine. VG Cabuag

gained P48 to P818, BDO Unibank Inc. added P4.30 to P103.50 and Universal Robina Corp. climbed P6.40 to P104. With Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Security Bank eyeing to issue P50-B LTNCDs

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @TyronePiad

S

ecurity Bank Corp. announced on Tuesday that its board had greenlighted the issuance of up to P50-billion worth of long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD).

In a disclosure, the listed bank said the offering was still subject to the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Security Bank did not share any other information about the issuance yet, including offer period and interest.

Security Bank, in a separate disclosure, declared cash dividends of P1.50 per common share. This was the total of regular semestral cash dividend of P1 apiece and P0.50 special semestral cash dividend.

The cash dividends will be based on record date of April 16 and will be paid out by April 30.

The listed bank has activated recently its business continuity plan amid the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon due to the coronavi-

rus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

While some of its branches are still operational, Security Bank has encouraged its clients maximize digital platforms for transactions to avoid exposure to the virus.

Earlier, the bank gave 30day extension to all its customers having credit card, home loan, personal loan, auto loan, business mortgage loan or business express loan with current payment status as of March 16. It also waived all withdrawal fees nationwide until further notice.

Security Bank also recently par tnered w ith Singaporebased e-lea r ning pl at for m 88Tuition to offer free access to educational materials and online classes amid the lock down. The said platform offers online modules tackling Mathematics, Science and English.

The bank's shares climbed 5.42 percent or P5.50 to end at P107 apiece amid the 3.70-percent rise for the benchmark index on Tuesday.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

March 31, 2020

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

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PHIL NATL BANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH VANTAGE

44.9 103.5 61.8 20.15 7.7 39.85 20 16.6 107 53.05 0.6 14.9 2.71 0.26 - 0.55 165 1.01

44.95 103.6 61.85 20.45 7.8 40 20.05 17.1 108 53.1 0.67 15.5 3.13 0.28 718 0.67 168.8 1.12

44.45 103.5 62.8 20.45 7.53 38.25 20.1 16.6 105 53.9 0.6 15 2.69 0.26 718 0.52 167 1.01

44.9 106 63.9 20.6 7.97 40.45 20.75 17.1 109 53.9 0.6 15.5 3.13 0.27 718 0.67 168.8 1.12

44.45 102.5 60.7 20.1 7.53 38.25 19.9 16.5 104.7 53 0.6 15 2.69 0.26 718 0.52 165 1.01

44.9 103.5 61.8 20.15 7.7 40 20.05 17.1 107 53.1 0.6 15.5 3.13 0.26 718 0.67 168.8 1.12

2700 3697910 3723630 54000 142200 7019200 716100 11900 638970 16130 9000 2600 5000 390000 20 22000 500 17000

120545 383650219 230418157 1090900 1107104 277762270 14373375 202044 68447642 856530 5400 40000 14410 102700 14360 11740 83486 17830

INDUSTRIAL

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

1.98 1.01 26.15 0.155 16.5 48 224.8 9.52 2.46 2.32 10.2 18.8 7.85 13.1 6.2 2.15 74 13.4 3.3 4.93 7.97 49 0.5 1.17 31.9 106.3 4.7 4.69 1.79 4.93 1.4 4.07 0.103 103.2 0.87 1.07 7.35 5.09 11.62 6.28 8.2 0.7 0.57 1.8 1.97 4.3 4 21.05 0.8 4.53 0.96 3.59 0.73 6.6

2 1.11 26.3 0.162 16.58 48.5 225 9.54 2.53 2.7 10.42 18.86 8.05 15.08 6.39 2.19 85 13.5 3.51 4.95 7.98 50 0.52 1.18 32 106.4 5 4.7 1.81 4.97 1.44 4.3 0.115 104 0.88 1.08 7.4 5.1 12.28 6.3 8.9 0.71 0.58 1.92 1.98 4.7 4.28 28.95 0.81 4.65 0.99 4.9 0.75 6.65

1.93 1.17 25.05 0.164 16.02 48 221.2 9.31 2.4 2.5 9.5 18.52 8.01 12.1 6.57 2.11 85 13.5 3.3 4.9 8 50 0.53 1.15 32.2 105 4.75 4.59 1.75 5.11 1.34 4.69 0.101 98.15 0.87 1.05 7.52 5.3 12.28 6.5 8.95 0.72 0.57 1.8 2.05 4.8 4.1 28.95 0.8 4.64 0.94 4.9 0.75 6.55

2.04 1.17 27.05 0.164 16.5 48.2 225 9.69 2.53 2.5 10.2 19 8.2 12.1 6.6 2.19 85 13.76 3.58 5.01 8 50 0.53 1.19 32.5 109.5 4.75 4.77 1.82 5.27 1.45 4.69 0.101 104 0.89 1.09 7.52 5.31 12.28 6.59 8.95 0.72 0.6 1.92 2.05 4.8 4.1 28.95 0.81 4.64 1.04 4.9 0.78 6.94

1.93 1.11 25 0.155 15.88 48 213 9.31 2.37 2.5 9.5 18.52 7.8 12.1 6.2 2.11 85 13.46 3.3 4.87 7.97 46.5 0.51 1.15 31.9 105 4.75 4.52 1.75 4.91 1.34 4.23 0.101 98 0.86 1.04 7.35 5.05 12.28 6.3 8.2 0.7 0.57 1.8 1.91 4.4 4.1 28.9 0.78 4.53 0.94 4.9 0.7 6.5

2 1.11 26.3 0.162 16.5 48 225 9.52 2.53 2.5 10.2 18.86 8.05 12.1 6.3 2.19 85 13.5 3.54 4.95 7.98 50 0.51 1.17 32 106.4 4.75 4.7 1.8 4.93 1.45 4.3 0.101 104 0.87 1.07 7.4 5.1 12.28 6.3 8.2 0.71 0.58 1.92 1.97 4.4 4.1 28.95 0.8 4.53 0.99 4.9 0.75 6.65

6715000 120000 2883100 1110000 2702200 26700 378030 1964200 3143000 32000 148500 373000 105200 700 547100 1212000 50 65700 9000 3032000 256600 414200 45000 9434000 80100 1549020 10000 887000 2259000 332000 914000 12000 100000 3705010 495000 12062000 1457800 1163600 225000 2010900 3100 8000 425000 137000 1277000 10000 6000 10300 2615000 61000 764000 2000 803000 3264700

40410 -22642251 -39897438.5 -772945 -14102 13093675 -5691875 17000 -6496090 -773317 -1340 1670 11110

13346140 136720 75511465 176450 43714514 1282005 83180356 18594357 7692560 80000 1449300 7028768 830503 8470 3524154 2611350 4250 887466 31100 15096730 2048037 19872900 23050 11029790 2560020 166562737 47500 4167920 4043300 1661780 1227900 51360 10100 377714279.5 431700 12880910 10821986 5959788 2763000 12815041 25495 5670 244460 261700 2509020 46000 24600 298155 2086740 279030 745390 9800 595830 22133397

-446510 22372150 -1432724 -43400 -6988734 -10272686 314700 -574750 -2564484 -702929 -600810 -4250 -788920 -3300 -4323480 308326 410290 -286990 1317680 -18097543 -47500 -2885190 -454710 -163410 4230 15653732 8800 309100 -1183063 992358 -480148 -7336114 230400 52095 -800 -145230 46497

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.51 0.52 0.51 0.52 0.5 0.52 1586000 811520 5.51 5.6 5.71 5.71 5.51 5.51 51200 282595 ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP 467.4 469 480 492.4 467.4 467.4 2363000 1116191018 36.8 37.7 35 37.7 34.25 37.7 2162800 79222600 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 6.79 6.98 6.7 6.98 6.6 6.98 10156000 68690230 1.76 1.77 1.76 1.76 1.75 1.76 136000 238260 AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR 6 6.36 6.35 6.36 6.35 6.36 2000 12714 0.51 0.53 0.51 0.54 0.5 0.54 59000 30060 ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.52 215000 111810 0.53 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.53 0.53 23000 13190 ATN HLDG B 4.75 4.83 4.87 4.95 4.63 4.75 2041000 9769730 COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG 3.77 3.8 3.7 3.89 3.66 3.77 9698000 36490820 8.1 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4 200 1680 FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL 406.6 407 402.6 415.4 402 407 233410 94972570 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.7 3.6 3.7 289000 1064300 HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT 52.3 52.4 49.85 52.55 49.85 52.3 3335900 172163080 0.405 0.42 0.4 0.415 0.4 0.405 70000 28350 LODESTAR 2.79 2.87 2.9 2.9 2.79 2.79 1085000 3094550 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 7.44 8.3 7.1 8.3 7.1 8.3 1179200 9146007 2.42 2.46 2.5 2.53 2.42 2.42 110243000 272021710 METRO PAC INV PRIME MEDIA 0.72 0.79 0.83 0.83 0.8 0.82 11000 8870 0.8 0.83 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 10000 8000 SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID 150 154.5 131 150 131 150 710 101440 817.5 818 785 820 785 818 550010 442957420 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 91.4 91.5 91.4 96.15 90 91.5 410510 37614581.5 0.62 0.65 0.63 0.63 0.63 0.63 12000 7560 SOC RESOURCES 0.18 0.19 0.182 0.19 0.18 0.19 410000 74880 WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG 0.132 0.139 0.138 0.138 0.138 0.138 170000 23460

51890 -91230692 16303820 10411493 -960730 712670 2667836 -1027300 24468905 -2625000 2232707 -77013760 -25650 -61358625 -13032071.5 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.59 0.61 0.57 0.62 0.57 0.61 527000 308690 30.2 30.4 31.6 32.8 30.2 30.2 30775000 948649195 AYALA LAND BELLE CORP 1.3 1.31 1.34 1.34 1.3 1.31 982000 1282490 0.51 0.53 0.51 0.54 0.51 0.51 2087000 1080250 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.72 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 1000 790 0.127 0.135 0.127 0.127 0.127 0.127 80000 10160 CROWN EQUITIES CEB LANDMASTERS 3.71 3.72 3.8 3.8 3.7 3.72 503000 1883380 0.365 0.375 0.38 0.38 0.37 0.37 5980000 2232950 CENTURY PROP DOUBLEDRAGON 16.12 16.16 16 16.2 15.9 16.16 180100 2886830 DM WENCESLAO 7 7.48 7 7.01 7 7 121400 850099 0.91 0.95 0.93 0.95 0.91 0.91 9939000 9237100 FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE 0.77 0.78 0.75 0.77 0.75 0.77 290000 219000 11.8 11.96 11.98 12 11.8 11.96 153000 1821982 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV 0.67 0.68 0.7 0.7 0.68 0.68 696000 477460 2.53 3.6 3.61 3.61 3.6 3.6 8000 28840 KEPPEL PROP CITY AND LAND 0.68 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.68 0.68 11000 7520 2.5 2.55 2.45 2.59 2.45 2.5 55048000 139097240 MEGAWORLD 0.14 0.141 0.14 0.142 0.14 0.141 2460000 346050 MRC ALLIED PRIMEX CORP 1.65 1.71 1.75 1.75 1.6 1.71 46000 75790 14.84 15 14.5 15.68 14.42 14.84 3128400 46284866 ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL 1.47 1.57 1.48 1.48 1.48 1.48 1000 1480 2.7 2.75 2.75 2.8 2.68 2.75 569000 1562830 SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND 1.95 2.05 2.14 2.14 1.95 2.05 845000 1672450 28.4 28.6 28.05 28.7 27.2 28.4 23699100 669725360 SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 3.51 3.6 3.49 3.68 3.36 3.61 269000 949070 1.18 1.19 1.2 1.27 1.16 1.19 280000 334620 SUNTRUST HOME 4.08 4.15 4.21 4.32 4 4.08 2760000 11446280 VISTA LAND

-15500 -148364205 -695060 445950 -152206 -452499 -2109110 -3582 -1554690 2499254 -893780 -130029135 -417510

SERVICES ABS CBN 15.7 15.82 15.9 15.92 15.68 15.82 170300 2685344 5.2 5.24 5.18 5.26 5.15 5.24 66400 343776 GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN 0.37 0.375 0.37 0.375 0.37 0.37 80000 29650 1930 1943 1916 1949 1913 1930 77700 149865820 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1110 1129 1069 1129 1050 1129 277210 304792545 0.036 0.039 0.039 0.04 0.038 0.039 10200000 389500 APOLLO GLOBAL DFNN INC 2.53 3.2 3.1 3.5 3.1 3.5 2000 6600 0.076 0.08 0.084 0.084 0.08 0.08 30000 2440 ISLAND INFO ISM COMM 1.7 1.71 1.6 1.7 1.56 1.7 60459000 99727820 NOW CORP 1.41 1.42 1.36 1.42 1.36 1.41 1344000 1877810 0.155 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.155 0.16 330000 52550 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 1.56 1.59 1.51 1.6 1.51 1.56 1311000 2050730 5.95 6 6 6.2 6 6 32700 197587 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS 14.5 15.9 15.78 15.8 15.78 15.8 4000 63160 2.85 2.86 2.56 2.89 2.56 2.85 2527000 7026790 CHELSEA CEBU AIR 45.2 45.3 47 47.5 45 45.3 282100 13023645 74.7 75.4 73.95 76.25 72.5 74.7 1930410 143785881.5 INTL CONTAINER 10.02 11.64 11.6 11.6 11.6 11.6 3200 37120 LBC EXPRESS LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.67 0.84 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 30000 21000 4.76 4.77 4.73 4.9 4.61 4.77 1181000 5627270 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 1.55 1.56 1.55 1.63 1.52 1.55 813000 1265290 1.48 1.59 1.6 1.63 1.48 1.48 39000 62290 METROALLIANCE B PAL HLDG 6.6 6.66 6.69 6.69 6.3 6.6 12000 78818 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.76 0.65 0.75 298000 217450 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.09 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.2 1.25 4000 4950 0.026 0.028 0.027 0.027 0.027 0.027 8800000 237600 BOULEVARD HLDG 1.7 1.88 1.88 1.88 1.88 1.88 1000 1880 DISCOVERY WORLD WATERFRONT 0.39 0.395 0.375 0.39 0.37 0.39 110000 41800 6.05 6.79 6.78 6.8 6.78 6.79 1300 8826 CENTRO ESCOLAR STI HLDG 0.395 0.4 0.405 0.405 0.395 0.4 6770000 2706850 2.02 2.2 2.1 2.28 2.1 2.28 2000 4380 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 5.9 6 5.8 6 5.8 6 2296100 13596174 1.34 1.42 1.41 1.42 1.41 1.41 112000 157930 LEISURE AND RES PH RESORTS GRP 3.31 4.1 3.94 4 3.9 4 52000 207520 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.295 0.305 0.31 0.315 0.295 0.305 1310000 392650 7.6 8.5 8 8.5 8 8.5 600 4850 PHIL RACING ALLHOME 4.68 4.69 4.5 4.8 4.49 4.68 7761000 36159830 1.39 1.41 1.41 1.42 1.37 1.39 2615000 3637190 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 36.45 36.8 35.95 37.8 35.85 36.45 5401800 197285320 56.1 57 57 57.8 55 57 644600 36552837.5 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 130 133 128.7 130 128.7 130 29920 3889483 1.23 1.25 1.13 1.26 1.13 1.25 1322000 1616070 SSI GROUP 12.94 12.96 12.84 13.3 12.84 12.96 1067200 13836286 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.246 0.255 0.245 0.245 0.245 0.245 210000 51450 4.86 5 4.9 5 4.6 4.85 57000 277173 EASYCALL GOLDEN BRIA 325.4 365 360 396 330 368 840 289264 0.196 0.2 0.202 0.203 0.195 0.2 1110000 220020 PRMIERE HORIZON SBS PHIL CORP 5.11 5.7 5.42 5.42 5.4 5.4 8300 44856

-13899825 45018830 3500 3679910 490690 -295120 -99047 -7887665 14717645.5 198990 1332 -2466600 -1872366 16930 160000 345270 -422430 -68419775 -20006213 -2805504 381340 858014 -237038 10820

MINING & OIL ATOK 10.2 10.86 10.86 10.86 10.5 10.86 17700 191502 APEX MINING 0.71 0.72 0.74 0.74 0.71 0.72 307000 221150 0.001 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 4000000 4400 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 1.8 1.88 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89 1000 1890 0.231 0.246 0.23 0.249 0.23 0.246 200000 48560 -9200 COAL ASIA HLDG CENTURY PEAK 2.43 2.6 2.57 2.6 2.57 2.6 499000 1293930 260000 6.35 6.45 6.25 6.48 6.25 6.35 2400 15120 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 0.55 0.57 2768000 1551620 -224140 GEOGRACE 0.183 0.192 0.188 0.191 0.183 0.183 50000 9350 0.071 0.073 0.071 0.071 0.071 0.071 130000 9230 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.069 0.082 0.08 0.082 0.08 0.082 20000 1620 0.0056 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 0.0084 1000000 8400 MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES 0.56 0.58 0.57 0.64 0.57 0.57 816000 480210 0.88 0.91 0.87 0.96 0.87 0.9 163000 153320 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 1.55 1.59 1.5 1.61 1.5 1.55 10654000 16474040 -5299820 0.46 0.465 0.475 0.475 0.46 0.465 50000 23200 ORNTL PENINSULA 2.01 2.04 2.05 2.06 2 2.04 789000 1588640 -307040 PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 11 11.04 10.7 11.5 10.7 11 4562900 50355028 10401494 0.004 0.0042 0.0041 0.0041 0.0041 0.0041 1000000 4100 UNITED PARAGON ACE ENEXOR 5.1 5.19 5.2 5.27 5.1 5.1 75600 389891 0.0084 0.01 0.0084 0.0094 0.0084 0.0094 10000000 89000 ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL 0.007 0.0073 0.007 0.007 0.007 0.007 3000000 21000 4.1 4.11 4.1 4.12 4 4.1 208000 846720 85620 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 92.55 94.5 95 95 92.5 92.5 1250 115755 AC PREF B1 498 506 498 498 498 498 70 34860 488 490 492 492 490 490 490 240120 4900 AC PREF B2R CPG PREF A 96 100.8 100.8 100.8 100.8 100.8 100 10080 97.7 97.8 97.75 97.75 97.6 97.7 77000 7522891.5 DD PREF GLO PREF P 491.2 499.8 498 499.8 498 499.8 80 39966 921 1000 999 999 999 999 20 19980 GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B 931 987 980 980 980 980 2290 2244200 98 99.5 98.2 99.5 96.5 99.5 2000 195101 MWIDE PREF 98 99 98 98 98 98 100 9800 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B 100 102 102 102 100 100 4990 501740 995 999 998 999 998 999 1090 1088820 PNX PREF 4 PCOR PREF 3A 1015 1016 1014 1016 1014 1015 17100 17357400 1020 1030 1020 1030 1015 1030 485 494450 PCOR PREF 3B SFI PREF - 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 2000 3400 75 75.5 75.5 75.5 74.8 75.5 223590 16785233 -9567435 SMC PREF 2C 73.55 75 74 74 74 74 5000 370000 SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E 73.55 74.4 74.5 74.5 73 74.5 5220 385880 -334480 74.15 74.5 74 74.5 74 74.5 77520 5758632.5 -693302.5 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H 74.2 74.5 74.5 74.5 74.3 74.3 6370 473311 73.5 74.5 74.2 74.2 73.5 74 37610 2775090 -785140 SMC PREF 2I

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 13.84 14.66 14 14 13.8 13.84 146200 2027368 -139360 GMA HLDG PDR 4.95 5.25 4.91 5.25 4.9 5.25 7000 34385 -14220

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.7 0.75 0.63 0.69 0.63 0.69 14000 9540

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 2.03 2.09 1.98 2.27 1.98 2.09 543000 1113180 164860 KEPWEALTH 5.85 5.95 5.8 5.9 5.65 5.85 38500 222250 0.48 0.48 0.47 0.5 0.47 0.47 2990000 1440650 52800 XURPAS

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 81 81.45 79.45 82.4 76.9 81 52260 4136003 -2082404

www.businessmirror.com.ph

GT Capital income expands in 2019 on higher car sales

G

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

T Capital Holdings Inc., the holding firm of the Ty family, said its attributable net income last year rose by more than half to P20.31 billion, from P13.16 billion in 2018, due to higher car sales.

Revenues rose 8 percent to P222.9 billion from the previous year’s P205.8 billion, mainly as a result of the increase in the sales of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp.

Toyota Philippines and Toyota Manila Bay Corp. had a combined sales of P192.97 billion, or an increase of 8 percent, from P179.12

billion. Toyota Philippines’s sales accounted for 87 percent of total revenue.

The company said it also had higher equity in net income of associates and joint ventures, which grew by 27 percent to P14.58 billion, from P11.51 billion. This accounted for 7 percent of total revenues.

“The above increases [were] mitigated by a lower real estate sales and interest income on real estate sales from Federal Land Inc. which declined by 7 percent to P9.84 billion from P10.55 billion,” the company said.

Core net income for 2019 reached P15.78 billion, lower than the reported net income after it deducted the P3.58 billion total income from redemption of investment in Property Company of Friends Inc. and P1.28billion share in Metro Pacific Investment Corp.’s non-recurring gain.

Core net income for 2018 amounted to P12.92 billion.

Of the 10 component companies, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., MPIC, Toyota Philippines, Federal Land and Sumisho Motor Finance Corp. posted growths in their respective net income while Toyota Finan-

cial Services Philippines Corp. and AXA Philippines reported declines in their respective net income for the year.

Automotive operations comprising the sale of assembled and imported auto vehicles and spare parts grew after it saw a 5-percent increase in wholesale volume to 163,493 units from 155,508 units in the previous year.

Toyota Philippines’s overall market share as of end-2019 was at 40 percent, with Mitsubishi Philippines a far second at 16 percent and Nissan Philippines ranked third with a 10-percent share.

Income from Metrobank rose 28 percent to P28.06 billion, from P22 billion in the previous year, partly as a result of the impact of increased ownership to 36.65 percent, from 36.36 percent.

Manulife policyholders to get extra benefits

I

NSURANCE firm Manulife Philippines is giving extra coverage to customers affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) as the country grapples with the adverse impact of the pandemic.

Customers who are diagnosed with Covid-19, from March 23 to June 30, can avail of additional hospitalization and new diagnosis benefits at no added cost.

For those with Hospitalization Benefit coverage, they are entitled to an additional P1,500 per day of hospitalization, up to a maximum of 10 days.

Critical Illness coverage owners, on the other hand, will get a onetime Diagnosis Benefit of P10,000 upon being diagnosed positive for Covid-19.

These supplementary benefits are applicable for policies purchased

on or before March 15 of this year.

The company earlier announced that it is extending its premium payment period to 60 days after their due date from March 16 to April 30.

Also, it is waiving its 30-day notice period and 90-day requirements submission deadline for claims related to Covid-19 from March 10 to June 30 this year.

“We are closely monitoring this situation and continuously looking for ways to make lives better for our customers during these unprecedented times,” said Richard Bates, president and CEO of Manulife Philippines. “By offering Covid-19 coverage benefits, we hope to lessen our customers’ worries about its potential financial burden on their families, so they can focus instead on recovering and getting better,” he added. Roderick L. Abad

Meralco vows to keep lights on during ECQ

T

he Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) assured the public that it will keep the lights on and continue to serve its customers, operating 24/7 to ensure uninterrupted distribution of power during the 30day community quarantine (from March 15 to April 14)andenablebusinesscontinuityamidthelockdown.

Prior to the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), the distribution utility readied its business continuity plan and stated that it has taken all precautions to preserve the safety and health of its employees while also sustaining its continuous operations in the franchise area.

Meralcoagainreiteratedthatitwilldeferitsearlier scheduled maintenance activities during the community quarantine period except for those deemed as critically loaded areas, as approved by the Department of Energy (DOE).

The distribution utility reassured the public that aside from these crucial maintenance activities, which affected only a small number of customers for a short period of time, there has been close to zero interruptions experienced in the franchise area as a whole.

Meralco SVP & Head of Networks Ronnie L. Aperocho said, “During these challenging times, Meralco remains always ready and will continue working with the energy sector so as to ensure that electric power servicesremainuninterrupted.Meralcoisimplementing its business continuity plan and emergency measures to distribute power around the clock, especially to crucial installations such as hospitals.”

“At the same time, we are one with the power sector in our total compliance with the directives of the DOH in order to arrest the Covid-19 [coronavirus disease2019]situation.Ourcustomerscanrestassured that safety is also of paramount concern to us and we will continue to cooperate with the government in ensuring that we will provide the best level of service expected from us,” Aperocho added.

He said Meralco’s triple-redundancy of its Control Center ensures continuous real-time visibility 24/7 of

the entire distribution network, even in the midst of the enhanced community quarantine. “This flexibility affords us to spread deployment of personnel critical to our business operations, not only to assure their well-being, but more importantly, to ensure that power across our franchise is uninterrupted during these critical times.”

Among Meralco’s operational highlights during the lockdown include installations in Cavite City Hall and Maynilad facilities in Cavite last March 21, as well astheMarch23installationsintheManilaDisasterRisk Reduction and Management Office and the completion of the service application of Urban Homes on the same day, which will provide free lodging to health workers at St. Luke’s Medical Center in BGC, and the energization last March 25 of Quezon City’s Covid-19 regional evacuation center.

The distribution utility reassured its customers that many more facilities ensuring continuous public service by the national government, LGUs, and utilities are being attended to by the company’s dispatch of crews with the utmost top priority.

Meralco President and CEO Ray C. Espinosa also assured the public that “all hands are on deck to ensure Meralco runs like clockwork. Our company continues to keep up the good fight and sustain our mission to keep the lights on for each and every single customer in our franchise area.”

“Goingbeyondthepowerandlightwedeliver,this current crisis that our country faces calls for us to be a beacon of reliability and hope. We are keeping the lights on for our customers as we also provision for the safetyandcomfortofouremployees,”Espinosaadded.

For the safety and health of its customers during the community quarantine, Meralco also continues to offer its Meralco Online service for all updates and transactions. Customers may download the Meralco Mobile App at http://onelink.to/meralcomobile or check out other online options at bit.ly/MeralcoPaymentPartners.

mutual funds

March 31, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 172.14 -34.81% -12.3% -9.74% -31.66% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.8501 -46.79% -15.85% -11.26% -38.49% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.3242 -43.29% -17.01% -12.12% -36.81% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.5911 -36.85% n.a. n.a. -34.11% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.5999 -30.71% n.a. n.a. -29.37% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 3.7393 -31.72% -9.98% -8.93% -29.82% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.5779 -33.85% -14.11% n.a.

-32.3% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 66.04 -48.26% n.a. n.a. -36.09% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 33.9244 -34.58% -11.41% n.a. -33.85% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 367.42 -32.33% -10.64% -8.8% -31.04% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 0.775 n.a. n.a. n.a. -24.76% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 0.8821 -32.59% -10.57% -8.1% -31.46% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 25.852 -33.1% -9.89% -7.98% -31.78% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.6698 -35.3% n.a. n.a. -34.21% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.4588 -34.1% -10.8% -7.93% -33.78% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 577.02 -34.13% -10.83% -8.16% -33.83% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.5388 -41.23% -14.2% -11.68% -36.72% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 2.734 -36.63% -11.44% -9% -35.05% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.6632 -34.17% -10.94% n.a. -33.73% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.4702 -33.15% -8.58% -7.03% -32.38% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 77.3125 -34.02% -10.35% -7.35% -33.89% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $0.8264 -17.5% -4.18% -3.83% -19.64% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.1107 -11.36% 0.23% n.a. -19.44% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4111 -18.08% -6.4% -6.26% -9.71% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 1.8425 -20.6% -6.84% -4.92% -15.52% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.1947 -17.06% -4.06% -5.83% -16.6% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.1734 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-24.11% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.7143 -10.38% -2.29% -2.61% -12.67% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.0899 -15.78% -4.98% -4.72% -18.45% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 13.9008 -16.21% -4.92% -4.69% -18.04% -5.49% -4.14% -17.65% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.7505 -18.22% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.9612 -23.11% -6.39% -5.54% -23.36% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 0.8243 -17.73% n.a. n.a. -18.84% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7208 -27.95% n.a. n.a. -27.66% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7007 -29.75% n.a. n.a. -29.45% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7097 -27.85% -8.47% -7.7% -27.2% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.0378 4.65% 2.2% 1.44% -1.12% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.8714 -11.33% -2.58% -16.04% -2.67% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.2992 -9.33% 0.2% 0.14% -15.64% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $0.9985 -7.05% -0.63% n.a. -11.54% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 360.4 3.88% 2.85% 2.31% 0.73% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9161 1.77% 0.69% -0.35% 0.74% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1455 4.71% 5.08% 5.06% 0.94% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.235 3.56% 2.28% 1.86% 0.45% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3561 3.55% 2.23% 1.2% -0.13% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.3505 2.56% 1.49% -0.51% 7.93% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.7547 4.2% 2.67% 1.29% -0.88% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9575 3.88% 1.26% 0.08% -0.71% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.0515 5.58% 3.96% 2.34% -0.79% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.6929 5.42% 3.58% 1.98% -0.48% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $466.76 2.9% 2.3% 2.42% -0.31% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.96 -0.99% 0.65% 0.56% -2.63% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1548 -0.79% 1.17% 1.36% -4.34% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0254 0.79% 0.81% -1.55% 0.66% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0491 -1.7% -0.6% -0.9% -4.21% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.3283 3.03% 1.87% 1.78% -3.14% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.059389 2.28% 1.43% 1.34% -1.53% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.0886 3.66% 1.6% 1.74% -2.73% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 126.73 3.72% 2.98% 2.25% 0.76% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0337 2.75% n.a. n.a.

0.72% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2526 4.98% 2.96% 1.58% -0.33% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.274 3.48% 2.97% 2.48% 0.74% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0396 1.72% n.a. n.a.

0.23% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,4 $0.86 n.a. n.a. n.a. -13.13% 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 January 3, 2019. 2 - Launch date is January 28, 2019. 3 - Launch date is February 1, 2019. 4 - Launch date is November 15, 2019.

5 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 6 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.).

7 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019. 8 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

"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."

BusinessMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

Wednesday, April 1, 2020 B3

Federal Land, INAX offer Japanese luxury in residential condo living

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

D

O you want to a have piece of Japan while living in the Philippines?

The Seasons Residences towers, namely, Natsu, Aki, and Fuyu, will feature the luxurious and innovative bathroom fixtures from INAX, including its flagship product spalet.

This will be made possible when The Seasons Residences of Federal Land Inc. and INAX of Lixil Philippines recently formed their partnership at the North Bonifacio Global City.

Sunshine Fort North Bonifacio Realty Development Corp. (SFNBRDC), a joint venture between Federal Land Inc. and Japan’s leading firms, Nomura Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. is the developer of the project.

SFNBRDC President Catherine Co said Filipinos who adore and love the Japanese brand of luxury will now have the opportunity to experience it.

“This partnership aims to provide the residents of The Seasons with a Japanese-inspired lifestyle experience through impeccable Japanese innovations meant to elevate the standards of comfort, convenience, and functionality,”

Artist’s perspective of the Seasons Building facade

said Co in a press statement.

Lixil Philippines General Manager Alpha Ang said the company is optimistic that Filipino customers are going to love the Japanese hygiene technology.

“We at Lixil Philippines are excited to deliver a distinct Japanese cutting-edge shower toilet to the Japanese-inspired The Seasons Residences. We share the vision of the developer to build homes of excellent quality inspired by the best aspects of Japan and the Philippines. We look forward to enhancing the residential units with the installation of our automated

and manual spalets which ensure hands-free and hygienic bathroom visits,” Ang said.

Through the partnership between SFNBRDC and Lixil Philippines, Co pointed out it will be a Japanese-inspired design as The Seasons Residences’ remaining residential towers, namely, Natsu, Aki, and Fuyu, will feature bathroom fixtures from INAX, the world-famous brand of innovative and luxurious Japanese bathroom fixtures.

Co said the four-tower residential complex The Seasons Residences is envisioned to provide functionality, safety, harmony with the environ-

ment, and Japanese technology.

Moreover, she said the residences will feature Japanese elements, such as an earthquake vibration control technology, smart storage solutions, such as a kitchen floor cabinet, a below-floor drainage system (sunken slab) for easier pipe maintenance, and world-class bathroom fixtures including specialized toilets called “spalets.”

She said Japanese ingenuity through the spalets, a combined term of “spa” and “toilet,” are the flagship products of INAX as they are designed to provide an overall experience of comfort. The best

features include a non-scratch and self-cleansing surface powered by the Aquaceramic technology, an Air Shield Deodorizer and Room Refresh functions that eliminate odors, and a hands-free, easy-to-use remote control.

Another exciting attraction that Filipinos can look forward to as part of the development is the arrival of the first Mitsukoshi in the country, which will be at The Seasons Residences’ podium area and is set to open in 2021. It will boast of a uniquely Japanese shopping experience through the signature basement level supermarket, selec-

tion of boutiques carrying Japanese brands, as well as the best names in global retail.

INAX, formerly known as Ina Seito, started its sanitary ware business in 1945, manufacturing wash basins and squat toilets in Japan. Since then, the company has spearheaded the advancement of Japanese toilet space by drawing on the sophisticated technologies and craftsmanship developed over the years.

Lixil Corp., a global leader in housing and building materials, products and services, also has Lixil, Permasteelisa.

Farming is the new sexy for this Davao developer Amor Maclang

first dibs in real estate Part Two The next generation of agri experts

As part of its commitment to cultivate the next generation’s knowledge and skills in agriculture, DLI through Agriya, has partnered with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in housing an education center dedicated to the young, innovative minds of people from the South who will be the future of agriculture.

The memorandum of agreement between DLI and UPLB was signed in January 2017. Among others, the partnership between these two institutions entailed a 32,000-sq-m land donation from DLI and its mother company, Anflo Management and Investment Corp. This space

was reserved for the erection of administrative offices, multipurpose halls, academic buildings, lecture rooms and laboratory facilities for the benefit of the university’s students. Ample space inside the property was also set aside for the expansion of the campus, and the building of additional academic buildings and greenhouses.

“Despite the richness of our country’s soil, the agricultural industry of the Philippines remained overshadowed by other booming sectors. Armed with our expertise, and vast lands dedicated to paying homage to our agricultural heritage, we endeavor to reverse this unfortunate circumstance, and propel the agricultural industry to be one of the country’s main drivers of economic growth,” Cary shared.

Coined as the UPLB of Mindanao, the Uni-

versity of the Philippines Professional School for Agriculture and the Environment will offer students courses on Entomology, Environmental Science, Agricultural Business and Architectural Landscape. In the academic year 2018-2019, UPPSAE offered a Master of Science in Plant Pathology program in off-campus mode. As it bolsters its stature, the university is set to offer the Doctor of Philosophy by Research Program with specializations this year. In the succeeding years, UPPSAE will also be announcing additional short courses and trainings as they become available in the university.

“DLI strives to educate and instill the value of the industry to the current and the future generations. The establishment of a university, the first of its kind to boot, that can ensconce the region’s agricultural values and train them to be the masters of this field is our first step in achieving this,” he added.

Apart from molding the next set of agricultural experts, the anticipated presence of the UPPSAE in Davao can aid in the prevention of brain drain in the South as it lessens the risk of scholars not returning to Mindanao. It is envisioned to be a catalyst for development in the region as it accelerates the necessary human capital formation in the region, and provides an accessible hub for knowledge sharing in agriculture and related disciplines.

Ultimately, the establishment of the UPPSAE will provide devoted learners in the South the opportunity to experience high-quality education without the need to spend money on

Rendered façade of UP—Coined as the UPLB of Mindanao, the University of the Philippines Professional School for Agriculture and the Environment (UPPSAE) will offer students courses on Entomology, Environmental Science, Agricultural Business and Architectural Landscape

relocation, and to leave their family and the comforts of their home.

Naturetainment: the nature of learning, the learning from nature

With agriculture as the backdrop of DLI’s agropolis, Naturetainment capitalizes on this treasure of the region through tourism. A combination of the words “nature” and “entertainment,” this agritourism element of Agriya attracts all kinds of tourists with its diverse, exciting adventure and recreational activities that make agricultural learning more palatable to people of all ages.

Coupled with experiential, fun and interactive activities on sustainable farming, endemic, and edible fauna integrated in the landscape as

the main theme, Naturetainment will also serve as an encouragement for tourists to integrate agriculture in their way of life.

“Mindanao takes pride in its status as the country’s main producer of agricultural products.

The possible influx of nature-interested tourists, brought upon by an agropolis conceptualized and brought to life by our company, is one of the greatest homage that we can give to the agricultural heritage of Mindanao. More than that, however, their entry will generate more opportunities for our communities to thrive and grow along with the region’s economy,” Cary shared.

Naturetainment will be divided into two zones that will offer distinct activities for people

from all stages of life. In March this year, the first phase of the Farming Zone will be operational, where the beauty of agriculture is showcased to visitors. As Davao is the largest producer of bananas in the country, the Farming Zone features a working banana farm that displays a total of 67 edible and ornamental varieties of the fruit out of the more than 300 varieties available around the world.

The agritourism park will also be demonstrating to their patrons the overall production process of bananas through an experiential banana walk that will tour Agriya’s tourists to the manufacturing stages of banana: planting, harvesting and packing, grading and its exportation to various places.

To give tourists a better picture of Mindanao’s abundance in natural wealth, the Farming Zone is also home to high-value crops farm that flaunts the variety of vegetables grown and cultivated in farms, and used as well in edible landscaping. This will also be featuring crop mazes, fruit-bearing trees such as pomelos and mangosteens, a pick-pay-eat farmhouse restaurant and farmers’ stands that provide fresh produce daily to DLI’s communities.

This month, the Activity Zone of the Naturetainment will be launching its operations that include features such as Earth Mound and Nature Play. The development of the Activity Zone will continue for two years, and will be expected to introduce activities such as a Giant Swing, Roller Coaster Zipline, Rappelling and Free Fall Activities.

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Show BusinessMirror

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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Today’s Horoscope

blind spot bruce c.

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Asa Butterfield, 23; Hillary Scott, 34; Taran Killam, 38; Susan Boyle, 59.

Happy Birthday: A little will go a long way this year.

Hone your skills, and focus on what matters the most to you. You’ve spent too many years spreading yourself thin doing for others and not enough time engaging in your own best interests. It’s your turn to head in a direction that will bring you the greatest joy. Your lucky numbers are 5, 12, 19, 27, 35, 38, 42.

THE PRIZE

THE actress is now happily married even if her husband, who’s not a celebrity but is in show business in some way, did cheat on her with another actress at some point. The actress really had to fight for her man. Before her, he was involved with a young socialite who was beautiful and rich. The guy was on the lookout for a rich wife but he also wanted someone whose religious beliefs were aligned with his. The actress was that person and she won the prize, so to speak. Or did she? The husband is quite good-looking but he doesn’t have a steady source of income and his family is dependent upon him and his wife for financial support. The actress doesn’t mind. He is the prize and he is all that matters to her. It’s sad that he cheated and would probably do so again but it’s her choice. Her own mother has given up.

SAVING HERSELF

MANY are wondering why this controversial public figure’s ex-wife left him years ago, leaving their children behind. There are rumors (circulated by the public figure’s paid hacks) that the ex-wife cheated on him. That is not true at all. The ex-wife was devoted to him and the kids except that she couldn’t stand the physical and emotional abuse that her ex subjected her to on a daily basis. The public figure always looked down on his ex-wife because of her humble beginnings. He always believed that she was lucky he married her. The ex left the family home with the clothes on her bag and a small suitcase. She knew the public figure would make it difficult for her to see her kids in the future and she was right. But she didn’t care. She had to leave to save her sanity and her life.

SHE HAS A DREAM

EVERYBODY wondered why the actress was killed off in a TV drama. Well, she left without her show management’s permission to go abroad for a big event.

The actress used many connections, who she met when she was with her rich and well-connected ex, to get herself invited to after parties and special promos related to the event. She did it so that she would realize her dream of having an international career.

But it really isn’t is as easy as that. The actress has told those close to her that she is willing to do anything just to be an international star and that’s exactly what she did while she was at the event. She looked for someone to hook-up with so that she’d at least know someone in high places there. It is not clear whether the actress was successful or not.

TOO DEFENSIVE

SOMEONE is not telling us the truth about a show where one of the stars tested positive for the coronavirus. At least three of the other stars should be considered PUIs. One is an actor who has since denied that he’s a PUI. Another is an actress and the third one is an older actress. It’s funny how the actor seemed so defensive about being a PUI when stars from another show where an actor tested positive for Covid-19 were more forthright about self-quarantining themselves.

This leads us to wonder: Why is management being so reticent about what is happening? Shouldn’t they be having mass tests for anyone and everyone who ever worked with these stars? One of the stars in the dramas involved has publicly called for a mass testing for everyone (not just people involved in the suspect shows). Shouldn’t their management insist on this, too, in the name of transparency?

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may feel targeted. Keep a low profile, take care of your responsibilities and don’t let anyone goad you into a senseless argument. It’s what you accomplish that will matter when all is said and done. HH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Consider your emotional needs, and start to make the changes necessary to ensure your happiness. Get the lowdown regarding the paperwork, financial plan or legal implications that you will have to deal with to get what you want. Romance is on the rise.

HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Update your skills, knowledge and technological savvy. Refuse to let someone from your past disrupt your plans.

Keep your feet planted on the ground when it comes to emotional matters. Willpower will be required if you want to get ahead. HHH

Acclaimed chef Floyd Cardoz competed in and won Season 3 of Top Chef Masters.

‘Top Chef All Stars’ winner dies at 59 of coronavirus complications

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By Leanne Italie The Associated Press

EW YORK—Chef Floyd Cardoz, who competed on Top Chef, won Top Chef Masters and operated successful restaurants in both India and New York, died on March 25, of complications from the coronavirus, his company said in a statement. He was 59.

Cardoz had traveled from Mumbai to New York through Frankfurt, Germany, on March 8. He was admitted a week ago to Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, New Jersey, with a fever and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, the statement said.

The committed advocate of making the food industry more sustainable began his hospitality training in his native Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay. He later moved to Switzerland, where he honed his skills in French, Italian and Indian cuisine before moving on to the kitchens of New York City.

He was a partner in Bombay Sweet Shop, O Pedro and The Bombay Canteen in India at the time of his death. The Indian-American partnered with famed restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group to open Tabla in 1997. The Manhattan spot was praised by critics. It closed in 2010.

Cardoz’s death was mourned by famous friends in both the restaurant and television industries.

“Love you so much @floydcardoz,” Meyer tweeted, calling him a “beautiful human being.”

The two worked together for 17 years. At Tabla, they celebrated Cardoz’s new Indian cuisine that

melded the sensual flavors and spices of his homeland with Western techniques.

Padma Lakshmi, host of the Bravo cooking competition series Top Chef, praised the success of Tabla and offered condolences to Cardoz’s loved ones, including his wife and business partner, Barkha.

“He had an impish smile, an innate need to make those around him happy, and a delicious touch,” Lakshmi tweeted.

The Twitter account for Top Chef offered condolences and called Cardoz an “inspiration to chefs around the world.”

In 2011, Cardoz competed in and won Season 3 of Top Chef Masters. He used his $110,000 in winnings to support the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The now-independent foundation, referred to as the Young Scientist Foundation, enables high school and college students to work alongside accomplished researchers to develop new treatments for diseases, according to a spokesman for Cardoz’s company. It was a central focus of his charity work.

In addition to Tabla, Cardoz and Meyer partnered in 2012 on North End Grill, a Battery Park City staple that was a downtown Manhattan favorite until its closing in 2018. In addition to his work with Meyer, Cardoz partnered with Sameer Seth and Yash Bhanage in Hunger Inc. Hospitality starting in 2015.

Cardoz was a four-time James Beard Award nominee. He was the author of two cookbooks, Once Spice, Two Spice and Flavorwalla. In 2008, he launched a line of ready-to-cook entrees in collaboration with the online grocery Fresh Direct. n

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Emotional indulgence will be your enemy. Stay focused, and expand your knowledge, ideas and plans.

Don’t lose sight of your goals. Keep life simple, live in the moment and don’t overreact. Choose your words wisely, and make creativity a priority. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Refuse to let an unexpected change lead to an argument.

Keep your opinions to yourself until you know all the facts and you are sure you can live with the results should things not go your way. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your kindness and generosity are admirable, but don’t let anyone take advantage of you. Listen and make suggestions, but don’t offer handouts.

A partnership is looking exceptionally fortuitous. A makeover will lift your spirits and lead to compliments.

HHHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Look for the good in whatever situation you face, and you will come out on top. If you overreact, take on too much or let someone bully you, it will lead to discord.

Take pride in handling matters with grace and dignity.

HH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Use your imagination, be creative and follow your heart. You have so much to gain if you pursue what makes you happy. Surround yourself with supportive people, not those who are jealous or use emotional manipulation. HHHHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Pay off any personal debts, as quickly as possible. Cut your overhead, and start thinking about your financial future. How you handle matters now will make a difference to the lifestyle you lead in the future. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Make a change at home that will please someone you love or will bring you joy. Love and romance are on the rise, and the way you address personal matters will determine the outcome. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Concentrate on self-improvement, not trying to change others. Your health and emotional well-being should be priorities. Do what’s best for you instead of trying to please everyone around you. Be responsible for your happiness, and follow your heart. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Share your thoughts and experience with someone you feel will benefit and offer something in return.

A smart investment will pay off if you are patient and disciplined in the way you go about getting things done.

HHHHH Birthday Baby: You are curious, engaging and observant.

You are astute and intuitive.

‘minimize’ by karen steinberg The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Melville captain 5 In ___ straits 9 Balkan native 13 First part of NB 14 The dark side 15 Concepts 17 Fires 19 Doughnut-shaped cake type 20 Cartoonist’s liquid 21 Unimportant bother 22 Certain guy, in personal ads 23 Director Judd 26 It might be tipped or passed 29 Sights under tired eyes 33 Like the worst fail ever 35 Install, as carpet 36 “___ Man” (Village People hit) 38 Suffix for “infant” 39 Letter feature rarely found in comics 43 Easy seasoning instruction 46 Gushing review 47 Cartoonists, at times 51 Tie-___ 52 Apprehensive

53 Not home 55 Single bicep curl, e.g.

56 Most goofy 61 Egg-shaped 64 Get rid of unnecessary stuff, as you must do in the starred answers 65 Convey, as information 66 Sunburn reliever 67 On a ship, perhaps 68 Cat’s number of lives, proverbially 69 Ironically, it might leave a ring when removed 70 Big Apple address abbr.

DOWN 1 Opposite of pro 2 Shofar, e.g.

3 Just somewhat 4 Mild soap brand 5 It’s written with a point in the US but not in France 6 First and worst tsar?

7 Curling site 8 Windy City trains 9 Sis, say 10 End of UChicago’s URL

1 Name meaning “reborn” 1 12 Scolding for a Scottie 16 Puts away 18 Harley bike 23 “Give it ___!” (“Try!”) 24 Church benches 25 “Li’l” character in comics 26 Haw’s accompaniment 27 Org. for many therapists 28 Involuntary jerk, e.g.

30 Russian activist Gorbacheva 31 Condo regulation 32 “Someone Like You” singer 34 “Queen of Funk” Khan 37 Ends’ partner 40 “Groovy!”

41 Brown, but not Auburn 42 Service charge 44 What fresh pumpkin seeds need to do 45 Harassed online 47 Senator, on occasion 48 Lopsided 49 Many a Sherpa 50 Shipmate of Scotty

4 Very important person 5 56 Sisters actress Ward 57 Very important person 58 Site with one-of-a-kind goods 59 Spotted 60 Ceiling type with a higher center 62 Coffee yogurt color 63 <O> 64 Sand ___ (Pacific flounder) Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Image BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

4 WAYS TO TELL WHETHER A COVID-19 ARTICLE IS FAKE COVID-19 has permeated every facet of the news cycle, and sometimes it seems like there’s a new update on the novel virus every hour. News spreads more quickly than ever now, thanks to social media and messaging apps. However, misleading or sensationalized information has also started circulating, spreading dangerous claims and causing unnecessary panic.

No less than Health Secretary Francisco Duque III asked Filipinos to stop sharing false information on Covid-19 at a briefing in Malacañang recently. “Kung saang anggulo po natin tingnan, wala pong kabutihang ginagawa ang inyong mga fake news na ikinakalat. Sayang lang po ang panahon natin.”

Since the popular messaging app Viber uses endto-end encryption, it’s impossible for the app to read messages and say whether you’ve received fake news or not. That’s why Viber is giving you some helpful reminders for identifying fake news. Spreading disinformation can be life-threatening as well, so it’s time to do your part and be vigilant.

■ KNOW THE OFFICIAL AUTHORITIES. There are government agencies and organizations battling the virus, and they have firsthand information on developments, confirmed cases, and important advisories. It’s best to remember who these agencies are so you can tell whether a cited source is credible.

Locally, the Department of Health (DOH) is the lead government agency handling Covid-19 efforts, working with the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. They also work alongside international institutions like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It would be helpful to follow these agencies’ official accounts, as there is fake info circulating out there that uses their name and logo to spread misinformation. Always check their verified channels before sharing posts.

To help spread legitimate updates on the virus, DOH created a Viber Community to disseminate the latest news and information. To follow the group, just search DOH PH COVID-19 on Viber. Aside from sharing helpful infographics and important statements on Covid-19, DOH is also using the Viber community to debunk fake information being circulated online.

■ MAKE SURE THE SOURCE IS CREDIBLE. Always verify where an article or piece of information comes from. On Viber, you can check out verified news communities for constant updates on Covid-19. Top news organizations are all on Viber Communities, and you can follow them to get guaranteed credible stories and announcements as they happen. And since the virus is no small matter at this point, even your favorite lifestyle and entertainment sites are sharing tips and reminders on their Viber Communities.

■ KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THESE RED FLAGS. Pay attention to the quality of writing. Fake information almost always has bad grammar, spelling errors, and excessive punctuation, since they’re usually written by independent parties with no journalism training, institutional backing, or fact-checking resources.

Also look at what the story is actually reporting: Is it a stated claim from a medical organization, or is it a personal anecdote based on hearsay? Don’t trust a message about Covid-19 just because it was sent by a friend whose tito works at a hospital. They might mean well, but if it’s not verified, it’s still tsismis.

■ DON’T LET EMOTIONS TAKE OVER. Ask yourself what the goal of an article is. Is it to induce panic and uncertainty, or to inform? Was it written by a credible reporter? Was it published on a site with a strong track record of reporting? When determining whether an article is fake, it’s usually best to take a step back and look at things more objectively. Don’t get caught up in the flurry of stories on your feed or chat.

Be critical and cautious—the information you share on Covid-19 can have serious impact on your family, friends and communities.

Home-cooked benefits SUI GENERIS CARLO ATIENZA

biblisko@gmail.com

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HEN I was young, we all took turns helping in the kitchen—be it preparing ingredients, watching over a simmering pot, or holding down a chicken while being butchered. We also had our schedules for washing the dishes and we only graduated from it when we went to college. Sadly, our youngest never got to hand over dish duty until after one of our nieces became old enough to do it. But you would find most of us in the kitchen especially during big celebrations, putting together the ingredients for whatever my mom would be cooking. Some of our best times were spent around the big dining table, sharing a laugh or two while preparing food.

There is something very relaxing about being in the kitchen for me. I am not a master chef, nor did I want to become a chef someday but I have always liked cooking. I only knew how to cook from watching over my mom as she whipped up something from the ingredients she could find in the cupboard and the refrigerator. And because of the ongoing community quarantine, I find myself more and more drawn toward cooking because our kitchen is just in front of me. And I would find myself also putting together whatever I can find in our kitchen.

The overarching theme of the movie Ratatouille is the belief that anyone can cook, and I tend to believe in it also. It just takes practice and a little encouragement from family and friends to get the ball rolling. But the important thing is that you start. Try putting together a simple garden salad or a one-pot dish so you take away some of the complexities which might confuse and intimidate a first-time cook. To add motivation and a fun goal, get a simple recipe book and cook all the dishes there. After that, I can assure you that you will find the kind of dishes you will be comfortable doing. After a few dishes, you would have built up a repertoire of dishes you can cook and serve to your family and friends.

Cooking, or any activity for that matter, is something you can do to increase your positive disposition just by doing something rewarding.

Psychologists call this behavioral activation therapy, which simply means that doing something increases your feelings of having accomplished something significant which in turn will make you feel better.

The adage “keep calm and carry on” is scientifically proven to help you get through tough times and help you overcome feelings of depression or helplessness because you have accomplished something.

And to maximize the positive psychological benefits of cooking, build up your selection by adding more and more dishes. Cooking helps you become creative because you get to start with the basic know-how of how to do a dish and when you have mastered the basics, you can become more innovative.

In training, we use the term “scaffolding” to explain to trainers that people learn a complicated skill by mastering the basics of the skills first and then using them as the foundation to build on more and more skills until they can do the complicated task. In cooking, you start with the basics and in time, you

In The Great British Bake Off, amateur cooks compete against each other with a cake stand as the sole prize at the end of it. Now why would anybody put themselves through all that trouble without even a small financial prize to bring home? I guess they embody what the American psychologist Abraham Maslow would call self-actualization—the need to be the best that they can be. develop a sense of what you can and cannot do, and create your own flavors. Filipinos are extremely good at doing this. How do you think we came up with different versions of adobo?

An important element in using cooking to boost your mood and creativity is to have fun with the experience. Make your favorite dish your target goal so you are invested in the outcome. Because of the quarantine, one of the things my son misses doing is eating out. He has this favorite Italian restaurant where he would always get aglio olio, a traditional Italian pasta dish made by lightly sauteeing garlic (sliced, minced, or pressed) in olive oil. And because the restaurants do not deliver, I challenged him to cook it instead.

He was a bit apprehensive so I asked him to look for the recipe online so he can check if we can cook it. It turned out the dish was fairly simple to do. I asked him to peel and mince the garlic while I cooked the pasta. It became a bonding activity for us and in the end, he exclaimed that our aglio olio was actually better than the one in the restaurant— talk about a mood booster. The name of the dish may ring fancy, but I recommend you do it as one of your starter dishes.

Cooking also helps you save money in the long run because you avoid the added costs of eating out or having food delivered. This means savings from fuel cost (more so if you get stuck in traffic), overhead expenses in the restaurant, as well as other charges

inherent in going to a restaurant (ambiance included).

So instead of paying others more for eating, why not cook your next meal as a family and use it as a way of strengthening filial bonds? And not only that, you also get to choose what really goes inside your body.

You get to cook healthy meals because you become more aware of what you eat, and you also become more sensitive to your body’s reaction to certain food which helps you better decide which food to eat.

Have you ever noticed the proliferation of cooking shows nowadays? My favorite is The Great British Bake Off. Now these are amateur cooks whose sole prize, after weeks of competing against each other, is a cake stand. Now why would anybody put themselves through all that trouble without even a small financial prize at the end of it? I guess they embody what the American psychologist Abraham Maslow would call self-actualization—the need to be the best that they can be. I especially like the bit where the program reveals how these chefs are doing after the show. And most of them go on to leave their day jobs to pursue their passion for cooking because they found their calling in the kitchen.

I guess my mother knew that bringing us to the kitchen together would help us realize that there is more to life than just waiting for something to happen. She brought us together so we can appreciate the effort that goes into preparing the food and, at the same time teach us that in our own little ways, we helped assemble a meal we can enjoy together. ■

Essilor Sight Center launched at CEU ELEVATING the platform of future optometrists, Essilor, a global leader in spectacle lenses, launches the Essilor Sight Center at Centro Escolar University Manila (CEU). Located at the second floor of the School of Optometry, the state-of-the-art facility is equipped with the most innovative devices and Essilor’s exclusive application, the Essilor Eye Ruler 2, which will allow students to experience hands-on training and utilize some of the most advanced equipment available in the market.

Photo shows (from left) CEU School of Optometry Dean Dr. Elena Borromeo, CEU President and Chief Academic Officer Dr. Ma. Cristina Padolina, Essilor Amera and Digital President Bernhard Neusser, Essilor Asean and Korea President Kathy Park, and Essilor Philippines General Manager Dr. Emelita Roleda.

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B6 Wednesday, April 1, 2020

PSBank bags a gold and two silvers at the 55th Anvil Awards

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HILIPPINE Savings Bank (PSBank) won big once again as it secured three prestigious recognitions at the recently-concluded 55th Anvil Awards, held at the iconic Manila Hotel. Dubbed as the “Oscars” of the PR industry, the Anvil Awards are presented yearly by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) in recognition of excellent campaigns that impact society.

PSBank took home a Gold Anvil

for its long-running financial literacy programs – Good to Know and Be Aware, which have proven to be effective public awareness campaigns in informing and educating its customers, as well as the general public on how financial resources work and how their hard-earned money can be protected from fraudsters. These campaigns are also in strong support of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Financial Consumer Protection (FCP) efforts.

The Bank was also given a Silver

Anvil for its “Innovating to Lead” themed 2018 Annual Report, which garnered impressive feedback from its more than 700,000 stakeholders post-distribution, testament to how it successfully transformed and injected an innovation mindset in its culture.

Another Silver Anvil was likewise awarded to the Bank for its popular PaSend & Mobile Check Deposit TV commercials, which not only surpassed a million views in just a few days after release—but also influenced a significant increase in PSBank mobile app enrolments and transactions in the short period following their launch.

These select awards showcase the Bank at its prime, and point to its continued outstanding efforts and leadership initiatives in the industry—which are all underscored by its purposeful mission to be always the best in offering simple and reliable banking services.

For more information on PSBank and its suite of products, services, and offerings, please check out www.psbank.com.ph. You may also visit any of the Bank’s 250 branches nationwide.

Valenzuela city government adopts alternative work arrangement for contractual, JO employees

A privilege to serve every Valenzuelano: Mayor REX addresses around 6,000 City Hall employees during the Employees' General Assembly last May 23, 2019 (Rodrigo de Guzman/VC PIO).

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ITH the work and pay policies gaining considerable debate on employee welfare during Luzon’s Enhanced Community Quarantine, the Valenzuela City Council addresses the need to ensure delivery of government services during the monthlong quarantine.

Ordinance No. 676 Series of 2020 otherwise known as the “Alternative Work Arrangement Ordinance,” was passed during the 8th City Council’s 32nd Regular Session, March 23, 2020. The city government’s Contract of Service (COS) and Job Order (JO) employees will be adopting alternative work arrangement

which may be considered as work from home or skeletal workforce.

An exception to the “no work, no pay” principle in the course of quarantine period brought by the COVID-19 outbreak, the City Government of Valenzuela maintained a skeletal workforce among its personnel to continue to attend to the crucial needs of its constituents during this time of national emergency.

Salary and wages for workers who will be part of the alternative work arrangement shall be paid for, ascertaining the employees’ means for a living as they assure the delivery of necessary and essential services to the public.

The COS and JO workers are therefore enjoined to observe the guidelines and measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace by strictly observing social distancing, practicing personal hygiene, regular handwashing, and proper coughing and sneezing etiquette.

The ordinance will take effect immediately and shall also retroact from March 16, 2020 or the date of effectivity of the Enhanced Community Quarantine period. This ensures that COS and JO employees’ welfare is upheld, helping them tide over the month-long quarantine and supply to the needs of their families.

PHL-UAE REMITTANCE SERVICE PARTNERS. To further serve the money remittance needs of overseas Filipino workers in the United Arab Emirates, microfinancial services company, Cebuana Lhuillier, has partnered with Worldwide Cash Express Limited, one of world’s leading remittance services providers. The tie-up provides OFWs with wider touchpoints for more convenient money transfers. The remittances can be claimed in any of the 2,500 Cebuana Lhuillier branches nationwide. Photo shows Cebuana Lhuillier senior executive vice president Philippe Andre Lhuillier and Worldwide Cash Express Limited general manager Rashed Al Ansari formalizing the partnership.

CLI supports 3rd party construction workers amidst community quarantine in Vismin

L

ISTED property firm Cebu Landmasters, Inc., announced that in support of the local governments and economies where it operates in the VisayasMindanao region, it will continue work in its construction sites in the 10 cities in the area.

It will provide additional financial support by way of daily allowances to its 5,000-strong third-party construction workers in these cities, namely: Cebu, Mandaue, Mactan, Davao, CDO, Dumaguete, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bohol and Ormoc. Business activity continues in these areas.

Meanwhile its regular work force based mostly in Cebu City will be given an early release of its 14th month bonus to support the needs of their families. “Should there be a lockdown, pay without work will be provided for those who cannot work from

Standard Chartered Bank COVID-19 Advisory

A

S the situation around COVID-19 continues to evolve, we would like to update the public on the measures that the Bank has taken to protect our clients and employees at this time of unique challenges.

We have taken a series of actions to reduce the risks to our people, clients and business activity and are working closely with authorities, while continuing to transact business and serve our clients. Our Groupwide actions include travel restrictions, and these are updated continuously as we respond to external conditions and advisories from governments and health departments in the 60-plus markets in which we operate. To also ensure that all local regulatory authority requirements are met, we have instituted additional measures such as reduced face-toface meetings, working from home for certain functions, split locations and cancelling or delaying events.

In the Philippines, in line with the government’s enhanced community quarantine

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The AO25 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) sets specific conditions and reviews the agency’s compliance and accomplishments within a fiscal year to determine the eligibility of the agency and its personnel to receive PBB. The Task Force has decided to grant the 2018 PBB for teaching and non-teaching school-based personnel in all elementary and secondary schools nationwide, subject to the submission of DepEd’s school level performance rating and ranking. To date, school level performance ranking reports, which will be the basis for processing the bonus, have been submitted to the Task Force and DBM for funding.

Notwithstanding the decision of the AO25 IATF, the Department is committed to appeal for re-consideration and exhaust all possible courses of action for its nonschool-based personnel to likewise receive

the PBB. “We are still appealing to the DBM and AO25TF to reconsider the grant of eligibility to all DepEd non-teaching staff too, especially that they have been contributors to the improvement of the performance indicators of the DepEd and will be the ones who will be directly exposed to extreme risk and hazards during ECQ in processing the payment of the PBB 2018 for the schoolbased positions,” Briones emphasized.

DepEd has been found to be noncompliant with the Transparency Seal, PhilGEPS Posting, and two other reports under General Administration and Support Services and Cross-Cutting Requirements.

This has led to the decision to deny the grant of 2018 PBB of the non-schoolbased personnel in DepEd Central Office (CO), Regional Offices (ROs), and Schools Division Offices (SDOs).

in Luzon, the Bank has been operating with skeletal workforce in our Makati and Quezon City offices, and on flexible working arrangement since March 17 until further notice. This is to ensure continuity of our service to our clients while supporting efforts to halt the further spread of the coronavirus. We have a well-established business continuity plan for pandemic emergencies such as this. We continue to be responsive to our clients’ needs while making our digital platforms available to access our transactional services across cash management, trade, foreign exchange and securities services. Despite these challenging times, we continue to invest in our digital offerings and experiences to ensure that clients can do business with us across the globe, 24/7.

Rest assured that the Bank is monitoring the situation very closely and we will continue to keep the public and our clients updated. We pray for everyone’s safety and well-being.

J&T Express, to help mobilize goods amid community quarantine in Metro Manila

School-based personnel eligible for 2018 PBB CHOOL-BASED personnel in the Department of Education (DepEd) are now eligible to receive the Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

PBB is an incentive given to government employees in accordance to their performance and contribution to the accomplishment of their agency’s overall targets and commitments.

“We are delighted that the DBM has granted our request for reconsideration on the matter of the PBB. We truly appreciate the desire to recognize the contributions of DepEd to the fulfillment of goals of the government,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said.

“Thank you DBM, CSC and most of all, to the DepEd staff, who worked tirelessly to ensure that the PBB will be granted,” Briones added.

home,” according to chairman and CEO Jose Soberano III. All employees will also be provided masks and health kids.

Cebu and neighboring VisMin cities have been placed under community quarantine which implies heightened safety measures and reduced business and government operations. CLI will do its part by donating medical supplies to frontline community health workers.

Soberano added: “We cannot predict the business impact of COVID 19 at this time but are committed to put ourselves in the best position to resume normal operations when this situation recovers. CLI will continue to place the well-being of our people first and make sure to deliver and cater to the needs of our buyers, residents, business partners, government, and communities we serve.”

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ESPITE the government’s recent announcement of community quarantine of Luzon, J&T Express, the number one e-commerce delivery company in Southeast Asia, remains operational to help mobilize goods around the metropolis.

Recently, the government put Metro Manila under community quarantine to contain the spreading of the Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) starting from March 15 until April 14. During the month-long quarantine, traffic restrictions will be implemented for all domestic land, air, and water travel, entering and exiting the metro.

According to Dean Ding, chief executive officer of J&T Express Philippines, the company sees the need to continue its operations and, it is ready to help any individual or organization in transporting goods and other products, as

part of its commitment to help the public amid the COVID-19 situation.

“As a delivery company, we want to help ensure that all-important goods and products, from food to disinfectants, are delivered on time, especially in difficult situations, such as this pandemic. We are also ready to help any organization should they need our assistance,” he said.

Ding also noted that all its staff, riders, and deliverymen are well-equipped with the knowledge on health and safety procedures set by the authorities to ensure safety.

“Everyone’s health and safety are our top priority. Our staff, including our riders and truck drivers, are equipped with facemasks, hand sanitizers/alcohols, and package disinfectants, as part of our precautionary measures,” Ding added.

J&T Express also encourages citizens to heed to the government’s call to practice proper hygiene and safety precautions to beat the virus such as wearing facemasks, washing hands with water and soap, carrying hand sanitizers or alcohol, and practice social distancing by avoiding crowded places.

For those who are experiencing symptoms of the virus, it is also advised to be selfquarantined at home or call DOH hotline (02)8651-7800 for inquiries on what to do.

To know more about J&T Express and our services, visit their official FB Page at https:// www.facebook.com/jntexpressphilippines.

Sports BusinessMirror

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao

valdez

ho

Gervacio

soriano

ahomiro

Volleyball stars band together to help in fight vs coronavirus V OLLEYBALL Community Gives Back to the Philippines (VCGBPH) is an organization led by various volleyball players in their effort to unite the community during times of adversities.

The organization was formed in the wake of Supertyphoon Yolanda’s destruction in 2013, where it raised monies to be donated to the victims in Tacloban.

The group—led by Gretchen Ho, Charo Soriano, Alyssa Valdez, Dzi Gervacio and Amy Ahomiro—has since been raising funds to help other communities such as those affected in the Marawi City siege in 2017, Typhoon Lawin in 2018 and

most recently, the Taal Volcano eruption in January.

This time around, VCGBPH is organizing a fund-raising to #ServeOurFrontliners: Raffle for Heroes. The group met through Zoom last Saturday to talk about ways on how to produce personal protective equipment (PPEs) for medical frontliners—real-life heroes who are doing a valiant battle against coronavirus (Covid-19).

“I read the news everyday about the battles of our doctors, nurses, health workers and frontliners. And I wanted to help them, to ease their pain, their burden. So I was speaking with Pablo Cabahug about his efforts to produce PPEs in his shop. And he

mentioned that they are having difficulty sourcing materials. So I contacted Ate Cha and said it’s time we revive VCGBPH,”Valdez said.

VCGBPH is eyeing to produce initial 2,500 PPEs but it hopes to make more for the frontliners.

“We want to do our part, as much as we can. We contacted the rest of our group and planned on how to produce PPEs in the quickest time possible. Most of the suppliers of PPEs that we contacted can only deliver in two to three weeks,” Soriano said.

“So one option that we thought of is to buy the raw materials and give them to the numerous sewers and designers. This way, we can produce of PPEs as soon as possible, and daily, too.”

“In serving our frontliners, we came up with the concept of doing bundle raffles, with memorabilia from our players including jerseys, training shirts, shoes and the like. The idea behind this is to generate as many raffle bundles as possible,” Ahomiro said.

The raffle tickets cost P300 each and the more one buys, the more chances of him or her winning, according to Ahomiro.

“Players from PSL [Philippine Superliga], PVL [Premiere Volleyball League] and UAAP [University Athletic Association of the Philippines] are all coming together and pledging their memorabilia for this cause,” she added.

The other players who committed to the Raffle for Heroes are Amanda Villanueva, Nicole Tiamzon, Kathy Bersola, AJ Pareja, Tatan Gata-Pantone, Sue Roces, Sasa Devanadera, Thang Ponce, Jen Nierva, Jen Reyes, Kath Arado, Ella de Jesus, Sisi Rondina, Bernadeth Pons and Dennise Lazaro.

Visit Volleyball Community Give Back on Facebook and @vcgbph on Instagram and Twitter for details on how to join the Raffle for Heroes.

F1 TEAMS UNITE: PROJECT PITLANE

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

FIL-AM MARTIN EYES NBA DRAFT

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S collegiate star Remy Martin announced on Tuesday that he is taking the big leap to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Rookie Draft.

If drafted, Martin will be the second FilipinoAmerican to play in the NBA after former LA Laker, Cleveland Cavalier and Utah Jazz guard Clarkson.

The junior guard from Arizona State said in a statement that the he is fulfilling his childhood dream and “now is the perfect time to slingshot himself to the NBA.” “I would like to thank God for giving me the ability to play the game that I love,” Martin said. “I am thankful for the constant support, especially from my family who has always encouraged me to pursue my goals.”

“Starting from a young age, I have worked towards the opportunity to play in the NBA and I have now decided to take another step into making my dream a reality,” he added.

The 6-foot Martin played for three seasons at Arizona State and led the Sun Devils this year with 19.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds. He was selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team.

The team was originally headed to the NCAA Tournament, but the coronavirus pandemic froze all leagues to stop the spread of the disease.

Martin, son of Filipino Mary Ann Macaspac, was chosen for the “23-for-23” program of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas which is being trained for the Fiba 2023 World Cup. Ramon Rafael Bonilla

REMY MARTIN tries to make a big leap to the National Basketball Association.

A FEMALE volunteer demonstrates the use of a continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP device at the University College London Hospital. AP

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By Steve Douglas The Associated Press

ORMULA One team Mercedes has helped to develop a breathing aid that could keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care and ease some pressure on Britain’s strained health service.

As part of a combined effort involving seven Britainbased teams, Mercedes worked with engineers at the University College London and clinicians at University College London (UCL) Hospital to adapt and improve a device that bridges the gap between an oxygen mask and the need for full ventilation.

The device, known as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), has been used extensively in hospitals in Italy and China to deliver oxygen to the lungs of coronavirus patients during the pandemic.

UCL said the adapted devices have been recommended for use in Britain and that 100 of them are being sent to its hospital for clinical trials. There is the potential for quick roll-out by

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HARLOTTE, North Carolina—Virtual racing has been the small saving grace for motorsports since the coronavirus pandemic brought nearly everything to a halt.

Timmy Hill’s iRacing victory on national television gave the journeyman driver and his sponsors exposure they would never receive during a normal Nascar weekend.

“What I’ll gain from this is recognition. It’s hard to get that recognition because of the level of competition that we are in real life,” said Hill, who at 27 has bounced around Nascar’s three national series since 2011 before making his first Daytona 500 this year.

“We just don’t have the money, the dollars, to compete at a high level. Every once in a while we’ll get that big payday and we can really reinvest in our race team,” he said. “This win will hopefully gain some recognition and attract more sponsors for us, maybe in the real world when we get back racing. Hopefully it will help me in the real world.”

The real world looks grim right now: Racing and revenue have come to a halt and it is unknown what the landscape will even look like when the crisis ends.

IndyCar suspended its season 48 hours before it was set to open, and last week new series owner Roger Penske made the unprecedented decision to delay the Indianapolis 500 from Memorial Day weekend for the first time in its long and storied history.

Penske’s transportation business has been hit and he informed Penske Corp.’s 60,000 employees over the weekend that both he and the company president would forego their salaries while senior leadership be paid less. Roughly 50

Mercedes to hospitals across the country.

Tim Baker, a professor from UCL’s department of mechanical engineering, said clinicians called on the “capability of Formula One” to reduce a process “that could take years down to a matter of days,” with the adapted device taking less than 100 hours to develop from an initial meeting.

“We have been proud to put our resources at the service of UCL,” said Andy Cowell, managing director of Mercedes, “to deliver the CPAP project to the highest standards and in the fastest possible time frame.”

The technology arms of six other teams—Red Bull, Haas, McLaren, Renault, Williams and Racing Point—has contributed to the developing of the medical devices in the fight against the virus, as part of what F1 has labeled “Project Pitlane.”

McLaren, for example, told The Associated Press it has been focused on component manufacturing for ventilators, and is “additionally deploying planning, project management and purchasing teams to procure all parts to help ramp-up production.”

F1 said the teams will continue to pool their resources and “support in other areas requiring rapid, innovative technology responses to the unique challenges posed” by the pandemic.

The CPAP machines work by pushing a mix of oxygen and air into the mouth and nose at a continuous rate, helping to increase the amount of oxygen entering the lungs. They are used routinely by Britain’s National Health Service but are in short supply currently.

There have been almost 20,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Britain, with more than 1,200 deaths.

For most people, the new virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The F1 season has yet to start, with the first eight races of the schedule having been postponed or canceled. It means there will be no racing until the middle of June at the earliest.

Mercedes is the leading team in F1, with defending

champion Lewis Hamilton as its top driver.

USA Weightlifting, meanwhile, received 500 masks from the Chinese Weightlifting Association and is donating them to University of Colorado Health (UCHealth) to help battle the coronavirus pandemic.

The Chinese Weightlifting Association wrote to USA Weightlifting Chief Executive Phil Andrews to give 500 masks to the governing body.

Andrews revealed on Twitter that the masks would be donated to UCHealth, a not-for-profit health-care system based in Colorado.

Chinese company Zhangkong Barbell has also donated 5,000 masks to the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), which will be distributed to national federations.

IWF has asked National Federations to request the number of masks they need.

Like all sports, weightlifting has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. All five continental championships had been due to take place in April, but have now been postponed.

iRacing fun but won’t carry teams for long

employees from IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway were laid off.

Nascar has so far cut salaries for its executives by 25 percent—that includes the presidents of tracks owned by Nascar—and 20 percent for all other employees. Behind the scenes, Nascar has crafted a schedule to accommodate the seven races already postponed, but series leaders have been hesitant to release details because everything is so fluid.

Nascar has officially suspended the season until May 9 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia—a state that on Monday issued a stay-at-home order until June 10 or it is rescinded by executive order.

Senior Nascar executives have consistently checked in with teams and discussed future scenarios, including the development of the Next Gen car that had been scheduled for a 2021 debut. A car meant to revolutionize the sport by improving the racing while cutting costs—a project the entire industry is deeply tied to—could be pushed back a year.

Teams are caught in financial limbo. Sponsors unsure when their logos will be seen at a race are withholding money needed to make payroll and meet operating expenses. Stay-at-home orders have left little to no work for race teams.

“Are we concerned about teams broadly and their financial health? Of course we are,” Nascar President Steve Phelps has said.

There are very few team owners like Penske or Rick Hendrick, who have other businesses larger than their racing hobby. The bulk of the sport is composed of racers. AP

IndyCar driver Tony Kanaan practices on his racing simulator in his home in Indianapolis. AP

B7

Al Mendoza alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

Sing our blues, woes away IN uncertain times such as now, when a vicious virus has put sporting competitions to a complete stop, why don’t we make our minds fertile? For once, let’s be singers—with lyrics replaced to be in tune with the enraged era?

Let me begin with John Lennon, the immortal Chief Beatle, whose death in 1980, at age 40—from a gunshot fired by a crazed Mark David Chapman—robbed us of many more great songs from his brilliant mind.

IMAGINE

By John Lennon (Virus-Revised)

Imagine there’s no virus It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only God. Imagine all the people Living for today.

Imagine there’s no Covid It isn’t hard to do No corona or death bed And no contagion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace.

You may say I’m a writer But I am glad I became one I hope and pray you read me And the world will think as one.

Imagine no positions I wonder if you can No need for greed or fame now A universe free of sin Imagine all the people Sharing all the world.

You may say…

**********

AND now, Mona Lisa, the favorite song of my beloved neighbor, Jake P. Ayson:

MONA LISA

By Nat King Cole (Virus-revised)

Corona Lisa, Corona Lisa men have named you You’re so like the virus with a mysterious smile Is it only cause you’re deadly they have banged you For that Corona Lisa sadness in your smile.

Do you smile to trick a victim, Corona Lisa Or is this your way to mend a broken world Many dreams have been dumped at your doorstep They just lie there and they die there.

Are you at war with us mortals, Corona Lisa Or just a cold-blooded foe, and murderer of mankind?

Corona Lisa, Corona Lisa...

**********

THAT’S ALL

By Michael Buble (Virus-revised)

I can only give you pain that hurts so badly And the promise of a Covid each time you call And the virus I don’t own Might come for you alone That’s all, that’s all.

I can only give corona oh yeah right away And infect you when you’re stubborn and go astray And a breathing so very tight Will hound you every night That’s all, that’s all.

There are those I am sure who have told you They would order you to stay home and sit tight All I have are these words to warn you And a love till the end of time.

If you’re wondering what social distancing is, my dear You’ll be glad to know that my love is for real Say it’s me that you’ll adore For now and Covid no more That’s all, that’s all.

THAT’S IT When I find myself in times of trouble, Mama Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be—Paul McCartney.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Wednesday, April 1, 2020

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao

34 sports unanimous on Olympic 2021 sked

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A MAN takes pictures of a countdown display for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics on Tuesday in Tokyo. AP

TOKYO OLYMPICS

COUNTDOWN

BEGINS, AGAIN!

By Stephen Wade

T

The Associated Press

OKYO—The countdown clocks have been reset and are ticking again for the Tokyo Olympics.

The model outside Tokyo Station, and others across the Japanese capital were switched on almost immediately after organizers announced the new dates—July 23 to August 8, 2021.

The clocks read 479 days to go. This seems a long way away, but also small and insignificant compared with the worldwide fallout from the coronavirus.

Then again, it’s not much time to reassemble the first Olympics to be postponed since the modern games began 124 years ago; not for 11,000 Olympic athletes, 4,400 Paralympic athletes—and not for sponsors, broadcasters, the fans that have already bought tickets, and Japanese organizers and taxpayers who have spent billions, and will have to come up with billions more to pay for the setback.

“I believe that these Olympics are going to have great historical significance,”Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo organizing committee, said after confirming the new dates.

Mori, an 82-year-old former Japanese prime minister, also recalled there’s no guarantee that the coronavirus pandemic will be under control a year from now. That includes the new dates for the Paralympics now set for August 24 to September 5.

“This is a prayer that we have and I do believe that someone is going to listen to our prayers,” Mori said.

After cursory talk about an Olympics in the spring, the new summer dates overlap perfectly with the same time slot that was picked for 2020. Organizers are hoping to overlay the old plans with new plans, keeping venues in place, securing thousands of rooms in the Athletes Village, deploying the same volunteers, and letting people who bought tickets keep them.

The summer date also avoids conflicts with the crowded North American and European sports schedules. But summer in Tokyo also means grappling with intense heat and humidity, the major worry for Games organizers before the pandemic.

“Obviously in the summer there might be typhoons and the heat problems,” Mori said. “However, this situation is the

same. We always had those problems so we will be prepared for those issues.”

Though the international sports federations went along with the new dates, some like the International Triathlon Union preferred the cooler spring during Japan’s cherry blossom season. But that was overridden by the easiest route to lining up venues.

“We are having discussions with all the venues at the moment,” said Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the organizing committee. “At this point we don’t have a final decision.

However, some problems have already become apparent.”

Muto said organizers haven’t yet heard from any venues saying the rescheduled Olympic events can’t be staged there next year.

“There are a lot of venues that can’t make a decision yet.

WOMEN dressed in Belarusian national clothes carry traditional bread to greet players prior to the Belarus Championship match between Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino and Belshina Bobruisk in the town of Zhodino, Belarus, over the weekend. AP

IN BELARUS, SOCCER DOESN’T STOP

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INSK, Belarus—With most sports around the world shutting down because of the coronavirus pandemic, longtime Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is proudly keeping soccer and hockey arenas open.

The Eastern European nation of nearly 9.5 million even started a whole new soccer season this month as coronavirus cases rose.

The move has the full support of Lukashenko, who took to the ice in an amateur hockey tournament on Saturday with a few hundred spectators in the stands.

“It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees,” he said, defending Belarus’s refusal to introduce isolation measures and border restrictions

So we have to negotiate with them,” he said. “If we have to make a change to the venues, then we might have to change the competition schedule as well.”

“I personally don’t think there are going to be many major changes to the [competition] schedule,” he added.

“But our discussions haven’t gone that far yet.”

David Wallechinsky, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, said the Olympics in 2021—they will still be officially called the 2020 Olympics—could become a symbol for a world pulling together after the pandemic.

“I see this postponement as more of an opportunity for the Olympic Movement, rather than a setback,” he said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

He said an outright cancellation, rather than postponement, probably was not feasible.

like its neighbors, such as Russia.

With foreign sports networks having little to show and few other options for sports betting, Lukashenko says the pandemic is a perfect opportunity to put the country’s soccer league on display.

“I look at Russia and some people there are winning a lot on bets, because beforehand they didn’t really know our teams,” Lukashenko said. “Someone’s losing, someone’s winning. It’s all useful.”

Fans entering the stadiums in Belarus are given antiseptic hand gel and some have their temperatures monitored by medics. Few wear masks because they’re not considered necessary for open-air events, Belarus soccer federation

spokesman Alexander Aleinik said.

Belarus doesn’t publish daily figures on the spread of the virus. On Friday, the last day for which statistics are available, the country recorded 94 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with no deaths.

The Belarusian league isn’t usually an international attraction. Crowds this season barely average 1,200 and UEFA ranks it the continent’s 25th strongest, just below Norway, Israel and Kazakhstan.

But Russian TV has given its games prominent slots on state sports channels and betting firms around Western Europe are streaming them for customers.

British fans on social media have picked teams to follow and thrown themselves into a new fandom, elevating obscure players to hero status and berating coaches for supposedly negative tactics.

There isn’t much competition, with betting sites offering little more than Nicaraguan soccer, Tajikistan

“From a Financial point of view, cancellation was not a viable option,” he said. “The repercussions would have been complex and widespread.”

Mori and Muto have both acknowledged rejiggering the Olympics will incur “massive costs.” Estimates range between an added $2 to $6 billion. And Japanese taxpayers will pick up most of the bills, as they have for most of the preparations so far.

Muto promised transparency in calculating the costs, and testing times deciding how they are divided up.

“There will be costs and we will need to consider them one by one,” Muto said. “I think that will be the tougher process.”

Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. However, an audit bureau of the Japanese government says the costs are already twice that much. When it won the bid in 2013, Tokyo said the Olympics could cost $7.3 billion.

All of the spending is public money except for $5.6 billion from a privately funded operating budget. About $3.3 billion in that budget has been raised from local sponsorship deals driven by Dentsu Inc., Japan’s giant advertising and public relations company.

That amount is almost three times more than any previous Olympics.

“The current sponsor contracts will expire this year,” Muto said. “And since the Games will be extended until next year, we would like to ask them for extensions.

I’m not hearing they have any specific objections to this. And whether we would like to ask them for more contributions—nothing has been decided.”

The Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee is contributing $1.3 billion to the Tokyo Olympics, according to organizing committee documents.

The IOC’s contribution goes into the operating budget.

The IOC had income in the latest four-year Olympic cycle of $5.7 billion, and 73 percent was from selling broadcast rights with 18 percent from long-term sponsor revenue. The American broadcaster NBC makes up half of the IOC’s broadcast revenue and pays more than $1 billion for the rights to each Olympics.

The IOC also has almost $2 billion in reserve funds and insurance to cover emergency situations.

“NBC, in particular has a lot to say,” Wallechinsky, the historian, said. “That’s why the Games are scheduled for the summer, which is not ideal for athletes competing in outdoors sports. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics took place in October, when the weather was more favorable.”

The Olympics planned for 1940 in Tokyo were canceled because of Japan’s war with China.

So were Olympics in 1916 and 1944. And these Olympics have had a bumpy time, which included the resignation last year of the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee amid a bribery scandal.

“Even the 1940 Tokyo Olympics were planned for September-October,” Wallechinsky said. “For 20202021, you see the power of television.”

basketball and Russian table tennis as rivals.

Sergei Melnikov is one of those hoping to make an impression on the mostly empty global sports stage. He is the director of the Isloch club, which beat Smolevichi 1-0 on Sunday to keep pace with the leaders on points. AP

OME—Despite some early differences of opinion, the 33 sports that make up the Summer Olympic program voted unanimously on Monday to delay the Tokyo Games by a full year.

Moments later, local organizers and the International Olympic Committee made it official.

“We were the last to express our view. We’re the ones who have problems with the calendar to deal with,” said Francesco Ricci Bitti, president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

“Two minutes after the end of our call, the press release was issued,” Ricci Bitti told The Associated Press in an interview.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach held three conference calls before giving the go-ahead to make official the July 23 to August 8 dates for 2021.

First, Bach consulted with the local organizers in Tokyo.

Then he talked with the IOC’s executive board. The ASOIF— which represents the international track and field, swimming and gymnastics federations as well as every other Summer Games sport—came last.

“We knew last night.... Today the vote was unanimous by the 33 federations,” Ricci Bitti said by phone from Switzerland. “Everyone was convinced that this was the best solution.”

Including National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, golf and tennis players was decisive. So was keeping NBC happy.

Last week, the IOC and Japanese organizers postponed the Olympics until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s when Ricci Bitti became extremely busy, working day and night to get all of the sports involved on the same page.

As a former president of the International Tennis Federation, where he had to deal with sometimes conflicting forces such as the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association tours, Ricci Bitti is experienced at getting various factions to form a consensus.

“When we started to discuss it everyone had their own ideas,” Ricci Bitti said, referring to opinions from the triathlon and equestrian federations, which would have preferred holding the Games earlier in the year due to concerns over hot weather in Tokyo.

In the end, though, the prospect of placing the Games earlier in the year—when many professional athletes would be unavailable—became untenable.

“The biggest reason is participation. For other dates, many sports—especially the professional ones—wouldn’t have had this [availability],” Ricci Bitti said. “There are too many things that coincide.”

He added that “at least six or seven professional sports” wouldn’t guarantee that their athletes would participate if the Games were held earlier. AP

Messi, Barcelona teammates agree on 70% pay cut

M

ADRID—In a letter critical of Barcelona club officials, Lionel Messi and his teammates said on Monday they are taking a 70-percent cut in salaries because of the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Barcelona players wrote in a social-media post that they will also make donations so other club employees are not badly affected by the upheaval.

“A lot has been said about Barcelona’s first team and the players’ salaries during the country’s state of alarm,” they wrote in the letter. “Before anything, we would like to make it clear that we have always wanted to reduce our salaries as we perfectly understand that this is an exceptional situation and we always were the first ones to help the club when it asked. Actually, we have done that on our own in moments when we felt it was necessary or important.

“Therefore, it surprises us that within the club there were those who wanted to put us under scrutiny and tried to put us under pressure to do something that we always knew we would be doing.”

They said it took a few days to announce the deal because “we were looking for a formula to help the club and also its workers in this very difficult moment.”

The donations the players will make are expected to help cover 100 percent of the salaries of club employees.

This year, Messi publicly complained about club officials after some criticized the players’ efforts amid a controversial coaching change and a run of poor results.

Barcelona said all members of its professional sports teams and most of the basketball team have agreed to a pay cut. It added the club would also be contributing to the salaries of the other workers.

“In the case of the first football team, the reduction will be over 70 percent of that originally agreed with the club,”Barcelona said. “This additional contribution by the team, together with the contribution that the club itself shall make, will guarantee 100 percent of the salaries of all nonsporting staff at the club.”

The club said it wished to “express its gratitude to all of the professional athletes for their implication in such an exceptional situation that has been caused by this health crisis.” AP LIONEL MESSI says they will also make donations so other club employees are not badly affected by the upheaval. AP