BusinessMirror April 06, 2020

Pandemic forces Internet to ‘save the world’

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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HE need for resilient, affordable and secure Internet access has become more pronounced than ever, as the Covid-19 pandemic has forced human connection and interaction to be digitized in all ways possible, to flatten the curve, so to speak.

Millions of workers, including public servants, must work from home, and hospitals, schools, local governments and business operations rely on the Internet to avoid the least disruption despite the social distancing required by circumstance.

With the growing number of confirmed cases and deaths around the world, the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development adopted an agenda that

PALM SUNDAY A churchgoer holds her palaspas (palm) at the side door of the Bamboo Organ in Las Piñas City on Palm Sunday, which signifies the start of Holy Week. Catholic eucharistic celebrations have been held online since the monthlong, Covid-19-induced lockdown began, to avoid large groups of people congregating and spreading the deadly virus. NONIE REYES

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outlines key policies and strategies to promote “faster and better recovery” through the Internet.

The Broadband Commission has identified the “three pillars of resilient connectivity, affordable access, and safe use of online services for informed and educated societies, to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and ease the immediate adverse impacts for economies and societies.”

Resilient connectivity spells out the need for stable and secure infrastructure to support the daily requirements of vital services such as health care and other frontline services.

Affordable access refers to pricereduction initiatives to ensure that access to digital services will be much greater for the population, and promote social cohesion through digital human interaction.

The third pillar, safe use of online

services for informed and educated societies, outlines the need for stronger safety and security measures for different digital services such as e-learning, e-health, digital agriculture, digital financial services, and Internet-based government services.

The agenda requires a cross-sectoral approach to ensure its success. At home, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the private sector are working hand in hand to ensure that digital initiatives in the time of Covid-19 are in line with the agenda.

Eliseo M. Rio Jr., an undersecretary at the ICT department, said the government and the private sector are now working on several projects to support the global Internet agenda. For one, he said, the two groups are developing a platform enabling quicker delivery of basic and critical services to the masses.

“The DICT is in fact working on a

common platform that will integrate all vetted apps that are now working in silos, so that the compilation of data, including those generated by the apps of Facebook and Google, will become available in this platform that has among others a central control dashboard and a data warehouse.

So frontline agencies can use these data for contact tracing, social amelioration, workers’ support compensation, etc.,” Rio said.

The government also encouraged companies to adopt work-from-home arrangements for their employees while the enhanced community quarantine is in place.

The government and private sector also developed RapidPass, a digital solution expediting the verification processes—made contactless—for frontline workers crossing borders and checkpoints.

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Monday, April 6, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 179

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NEDA POLLS SECTORS TO DEFINE THE ‘NEW NORMAL’ POST-COVID

CHAIRS with names of residents are seen outside the gate of an apartment building in Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City. They are waiting for authorities to put their relief goods on the seats during lockdown. BERNARD TESTA

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AROUND 29 families from Barangay Buso-Buso in Laurel, Batangas, are housed in a covered basketball court turned evacuation center, which has been their temporary shelter because of a lockdown caused by the Taal Volcano eruption on January 12. They have been here for almost three months, and now with another lockdown brought by Covid-19, they would have to stay here until the enhanced community quarantine is lifted. ROY DOMINGO

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By Cai U. Ordinario & Recto L. Mercene

HE coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic that has paralyzed economies, and the decline in oil prices could render as many as 400,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) jobless, experts said at the weekend. This in turn would slow consumption, the primary driver of Philippine economic growth, this year.

In an Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) policy brief, Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) Direc-

tor Alvin P. Ang and Institute for Migration and Development Issues (IMDI) Executive Director Jeremaiah M. Opiniano estimated

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around 300,000 to 400,000 OFWs will be laid off or suffer pay cuts due to the pandemic.

Ang and Opiniano said this will likely cut the remittances from OFWs by 10 to 20 percent or as much as $3 billion to $6 billion, “the steepest decline in remittances in Philippine migration history.” This means remittances could only reach $24 billion to $27 billion this year from $30 billion in 2019.

Their estimate of $3 billion to $6 billion fits in with a similar estimate made by House Ways and Means committee chairman Rep. Joey Salceda last week. Salceda, an economist and former investment banker, said modeling made by experts he tapped had projected as

much as a $5-billion yearly decline in remittances, which have shored up the Philippine economy since the ’70s.

The dire predictions came as Overseas Workers Welfare Administration chief Hans Cacdac, citing official estimates during a radio interview, said more than 10,000 OFWs including seafarers have returned to the country since the repatriation wave started.

This excludes the 2,500 OFWs who were caught by the travel ban in Manila and are now under the care of OWWA and a few of the manning agencies who hired them.

Cacdac directed the 15 other manning agencies to give assistance to the Filipino workers.

HE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is conducting online surveys to include in the progress report of the Inter-Agency Task Force Technical Working Group for Anticipatory and Forward Planning (IATF-TWG-AFP).

Neda Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie G. Edillon told the BusinessMirror over the weekend that the report aims to define the “new normal” for the country.

The survey consists of two surveys for business owners and consumers, to be followed by two more surveys for industry and services, and another for agriculture and fisheries.

“In any case, we have other sources of information, if recourse of households was done through formal sources,” Edillon said, in ensuring that the progress report will be backed by reliable information.

The progress report from the group is expected to be submitted to the IATF for Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases on April 7 and the final report by April 13, 2020.

The Neda, in a statement on Sunday, said the government is also conducting an online public consultation on defining and preparing for the “new normal” nationwide.

The IATF-TWG-AFP was created through the IATF-Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolution 16 on March 27, 2020. It is chaired by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia.

“As this pandemic affects various sectors, it is important for us to be able to characterize what this new normal would mean to each and every segment of the population. We are currently crowdsourcing for inputs on how the whole of government can address the challenges the country is facing,” Pernia said.

Pernia said the TWG will recommend programs and strategies to promote confidence in the country’s health systems through data analytics.

The TWG will also recommend programs and strategies to rebuild consumer and business confidence, and recommend policies and programs to adapt to a “new normal” state of economic activities.

“The whole of government will also be ready to adjust plans and implement the necessary interventions as the air of uncertainty is expected to remain with us for some time. We aim for these strategies to cover the most pressing issues and build from there with forward planning as our lens,” said Pernia. Cai U. Ordinario

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n JAPAN 0.4722 n UK 63.1551 n HK 6.5682 n CHINA 7.1887 n SINGAPORE 35.5822 n AUSTRALIA 30.8521 n EU 55.2843 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5347

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A2 Monday, April 6, 2020

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Pandemic forces Internet to ‘save the world’ Continued from A1

Aligned with the agenda

LOCAL telcos said they are following the guidelines set by the Broadband Commission, given the huge demand for Internet connectivity in these trying times.

“First, resilient connectivity is our first priority because we realize that the Covid-19 pandemic will generate extraordinary demand for connectivity while operators will face serious constraints on our ability to maintain our networks.

So we have taken extraordinary measures to ensure service availability like locking down key network facilities and carefully managing the deployment of our field personnel,” PLDT Inc. spokesman Ramon R. Isberto said.

In terms of affordable access, the telco group has provided free speed boost for its broadband customers in Greater Manila for the duration of the community quarantine, and has also bumped up the data allocation for mobile services, he said.

“And we are providing for free a range of communications services—carrier-grade WiFi, mobile phone services, special messaging services—for the government agencies and their personnel who are at the frontlines of the fight against Covid-19,” Isberto said.

For the third pillar, Isberto said his group has partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund, the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Education (DepEd), and local governments to promote the safe use of online services for informed and educated societies.

“Our first initiative in this area was to make it easier for the public to access official information regarding the Covid outbreak. Correct information was critical. So, we started by giving free mobile data access to the websites of the Department of Health,” he said.

This was followed by the setting up of a hotline service for the DOH and for major hospitals like the Philippine General Hospital and other health facilities throughout the country.

“We’ve also set up hotlines for local governments in Metro Manila and different parts of the country. Moving forward, we are now working with the education department and individual schools in different parts of the country to help provide e-learning tools for the schools and their students.

And in the thick of all this, we are also providing our customers access to information about protecting their mental health amid all the stresses and strains of life under lockdown,” Isberto explained.

For her part, Globe Telecom Inc. spokesperson Yolanda C. Crisanto said her group is aligned with the Broadband Commission’s agenda.

“The short-term, mediumterm and long-term strategies outlined in the paper are already business as usual for Globe when dealing with disasters and which are equally applicable for health emergencies,” she said.

Globe, she said, may consider adding a new item in its future budget to mitigate the effects of emergencies.

“Moving forward it would look like a budget item would have to

be reserved or allocated every year for emergency responses for augmentation of telco infrastructure, reserve capacity for free voice, SMS and data for health, educational content and government information. On the part of government, telcos should be given relief from payment of spectrum user fee in the form of prorated discounts in such fees and even tax credits for resources employed during a public emergency,” she said.

Too late?

MARY GRACE MIRANDILLASANTOS, the convener of the Better Broadband Alliance (BBA), noted that the agenda for action should have been a national priority even before the pandemic started.

“To be honest, it’s frustrating to see that what we should have started doing years ago—expand digital infrastructure, allow different types of players and technologies, create a digital connectivity policy framework, promote online platforms in government, push for electronic transactions—but didn’t, is now proving to be some of the most critical infrastructure and services that we need now,” she said.

Consumer group Democracy.

Net.PH founder Pierre Tito M. Galla added that the national and global health crisis highlights the immense power of the Internet to bring critical services to the people. Thus, legislation and policies should be reviewed, amended and passed to promote better Internet connectivity in the country. “[We] recognize and support in principle the proposals of the Broadband Commission, in light of

IN this March 24, 2020, file photo, a sign that prohibits nonresidents from entering the area is hung at the entrance of a slum area as two men sit outside with their mobile phones while the city goes on enhanced community quarantine in Manila. Local telcos said they are following the guidelines set by the Broadband Commission, providing free speed boosts for broadband customers and bumping up data allocations for mobile services. AP/AARON FAVILA

our own push for ICT rights, governance, development and security.

With we and our partners and fellow stakeholders supporting ICT reforms, such as Open Access in Data Transmission, we also believe in this timely recognition by the Broadband Commission of the role of ICT in crisis, disaster and pandemic management, response and recovery,” he said.

It is high time, Galla noted, that local policies be aligned with global best practices.

Winthrop Y. Yu, who chairs the

Internet Society of the Philippines, said digital services should now become the new normal, most particularly for government services.

“We are now reacting in the midst of a crisis, but…we can and should be better prepared, particularly government. We are saying that e-government online processes should become the ‘new normal,’ the default. That, as much as possible, there should be a ‘no contact’ policy in government transactions,” he said.

Yu added that this practice will

not only prove to be beneficial during the pandemic, but also during other emergencies such as national disasters. This, he added, will also streamline processes, reduce red tape and mitigate corruption.

“We hope that this crisis will push for more political will and a future-ready mindset in all of us.

We want better Internet precisely because of situations like these.

And we needed to do all the preparations, starting with a digital connectivity law, years ago,” Mirandilla-Santos said.

VIRUS, OIL PRICE PLUNGE TO CUT 400-K OFW JOBS Continued from A1

As many as 5,000 to 6,000 Filipino seafarers were stranded on dozens of cruise ships that got stuck in lockdowns around the world as governments raced to arrest the spread of the deadly respiratory virus, cases of which breached the millionth mark before the weekend.

As crew members serving the needs of quarantined passengers round the clock, many OFWs were exposed to Covid-19 and have themselves fallen ill, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported earlier.

In their analysis, Ateneo’s Ang and IMDI’s Opiniano said, “These base-to-worst case scenarios are significant numbers hitting the economy externally and then internally. With overseas Filipinos’ remittances fueling national consumption, we can lose 20 percent to 40 percent of consumption due to the pass-through effect of remittances,” referring to the job loss and remittance plunge.

Grim picture

THE Covid 19-induced lockdowns and work stoppage have put global economies in limbo. Multilateral institutions as well as international and local think tanks have painted a grim picture for global GDP growth this year.

The Philippines is not spared as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) remains imposed over Luzon island, where the National Capital Region, Calabarzon and Central Luzon regions are located. The three regions account for 60 percent of the country’s GDP. The lockdown began March 17 and should end April 13, but there are mounting calls to extend the ECQ because mass testing—crucial to mapping infected populations and thus prevent spikes in contamination—will be under way only on April 14, which means unleashing the work force on the mass transportation system by April 13 would be exposing so many to the virus.

Middle East

ACCORDING to Ang and Opiniano, another concern when it comes to the plight of OFWs is the decline in oil prices.

They estimate that if the current trend continues, more Filipinos in the Middle East will be out of jobs or suffer pay cuts.

Based on the 2018 National Migration Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), majority of Filipinos working abroad went to the Middle East.

Data showed 20 percent of all Filipinos who migrated abroad in the past

five years went to Saudi Arabia. Another 15 percent went to the United Arab Emirates; 7 percent went to Kuwait; and another 7 percent went to Qatar.

“Many countries are on lockdown and all the oil producers in the Middle East [where nearly half of our OFWs are based] are at risk with falling oil prices. If this price trend continues, the Middle East might be forced to stop oil production and possibly lay off many workers—including Filipinos,” Ang and Opiniano said.

In order to address the problem, Ang and Opiniano recommended the strict monitoring of the plight of OFWs and rapid assessments made of how many will be displaced from their jobs, similar to the 2008-2009 Global Economic Crisis.

Ang and Opiniano also said the government needs to track the assistance given by host countries to OFWs, in order to buy agencies such as OWWA, Social Security System (SSS) and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) some time to address OFW concerns.

The authors said private insurance companies should also activate the provisions of the insurance paid by OFWs that pertain to repatriation expenses.

PhilHealth should also cover the health expenses of Covid-19-infected returning overseas workers through its Overseas Workers Program (OWP), they said.

of the Seas. These ships are to set sail to Indonesia, the Philippines and China “and will be refueled and restocked with the healthy crew before departing to a long journey to Asia,” Geslani said.

The Spectrum of the Seas is expected to arrive in Manila on April 22, to unload 577 Filipino crew, while 382 Filipino seamen will leave their ship, the Celebrity Solstice, to board the Voyager of the Seas for the trip back to Manila.

A total 880 Filipino crew members from Ovation of the Seas will transfer to the Voyager of the Seas, currently sailing off the coast of Bali, Indonesia, on April 19, 2020.

This ship will then sail to the Philippines and reach Manila on April 25.

“This will be one of the largest contingents of returning Filipino seafarers since the coronavirus pandemic forced some 100 cruise ships to call at the nearest ports of return to their homeports,” Geslani added.

He said the five Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines have disembarked all their passengers in Australia, while all the crew members have been on quarantine inside passenger cabins “except for the technical and catering crews.”

Also expected to arrive are the Filipino crew of some 60 cruise ships, some of which are sailing in the Caribbean, unable to find a friendly port, while others are headed toward ports in Florida.

ON Sunday, the DFA welcomed 302 distressed workers from Kuwait, “the fifth straight day of repatriations of our kababayan.”

The DFA on Saturday said 4,349 seafarers from cruise ships have been repatriated since the arrival of 444 seamen from the Diamond Princess in March. That vessel got stuck off the port of Yokohama, as Japanese authorities refused disembarkation following the infection of some passengers.

Added to the mounting numbers of returning seamen are 1,839 Filipino crew members of five Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines scheduled to arrive last week of April.

“Instead of chartering planes, the company decided to return a total of 2,584 crewmembers in three of their sailing vessels,” recruitment executive Emmanuel Geslani said.

All five Royal Caribbean ships have dropped anchor off Australian cities, he said. There are also Indonesians, Chinese and Indian crew members from the three ships that are being returned to their respective countries.

The returning ships are the Spectrum of the Seas, Ovation of the Seas and Voyager

60 cruise ships

DFA gets waves of workers

CONSUL Jose Victor V. Chan Gonzaga reported from Washington, D.C., “that there are more than 60 cruise ships with Filipinos on board these ships.”

Estimating an average of 400 crew per ship, that would be about 2,400 Filipino seamen who could be rendered jobless and majority would be forced to return home, he said.

Gonzaga looks after Filipino communities in 10 US states, 23 Caribbean countries/territories, and the District of Columbia (plus over 60 cruise ships with Filipinos on board).

Meanwhile, it was reported that the cruise ship Zaandam, with 203 Filipino crews, has arrived at Port Everglades, Florida, to offload passengers for medical treatment and for transport home.

The Filipinos remained in their cabin and were not allowed to leave the ship.

The Maritime Executive reported that guests have not been off the ship since March 14, “and more than 100 have reported flu-like illness. Four have died, including two fatalities attributed to Covid-19, and at least nine have tested positive for coronavirus.”

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Courts ready to cope with bigger case backlog after the lockdown

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HIEF Justice Diosdado Peralta has assured that the judiciary has come up with various initiatives that would address the problem on the backlog of cases that is expected to worsen after the judiciary suspended its operation last March 16 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an interview, Peralta pointed out that, even before the pandemic, he has been at the forefront in the revision and drafting of Rules of Court, which he believes could make the resolution of cases faster.

Peralta also noted that the justices and judges have been instructed to draft decisions and orders in their respective residences during the work stoppage to stop the spread of the virus and prevent their pending cases from piling up.

“I am hoping it will not, because our magistrates are supposed to draft decisions and orders to be released after the crisis is over,” Peralta said when asked on the possibility that pending cases would pile up due to the health crisis.

Peralta explained that currently there are a lot of rules that have been revised and promulgated by the Supreme Court to speed up the resolution of cases.

These include the special rules on admiralty cases, revision on the rules on small claims, continuous trial on criminal cases and pilot-testing of remote testimony.

He added that the Court also re-

cently amended the Rules on Evidence and the Rules on Civil Procedure.

“I believe this will have a significant impact in addressing the case backlog in some of our courts,” Peralta said.

The amended Rules on Evidence and the Rules on Civil Procedure will take effect on May 1.

Aside from these, Peralta stressed that the courts would have to be strict in the implementation of the rules governing reglementary period in resolving motions and pending incidents.

“We have to strictly monitor the issuance of TROs and inhibition of judges. All these measures and policies will no doubt address any backlog in our courts’ dockets,” Peralta pointed out.

As of December 2018, the SC has 8,852 pending cases; 19,732 pending cases in the Court of Appeals; 5,237 in Sandiganbayan; 1,353 in the Court of Tax Appeals; 546,182 in second-level courts; and, 160,153 in first-level courts.

Thus, there are a total of 741,509 pendingcasesinallcourtsinthecountry.

When asked how the SC justices are coping with the Covid-19 crisis considering most of them belong to the age bracket susceptible to the virus, Peralta said “We all have to take proper precautions against this virus regardless of age.”

“However, for those of us senior citizens, we need to be extra careful and boost our immune system by eating the right food, taking supplements, and getting enough rest,” he added.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, April 6, 2020 A3

Govt misses out on using nat’l ID for seamless delivery of welfare

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

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F only the National Identification System or PhilSys were in place, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said efforts to distribute social amelioration could be smoother.

Neda Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie G. Edillon told BUSINESSMIRROR over the weekend that with the PhilSys in place, the government can crossreference with other registries to improve distribution.

Unfortunately, the PhilSys is not yet in place. Initially, a series of pilot test registrations were supposed to be conducted until May 2020 before the mass registration scheduled in June this year.

“A National ID [database can be used] but cross-referenced with other registries,” Edillon told this newspaper on Viber. “[Another] advantage of having the National ID is that it will enable electronic transmission of assistance.”

Another option is the Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) but, according to National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa, while the law has already been passed and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) was tasked with the CBMS, it will not be ready until 2021.

Initially, the CBMS was tasked to be implemented by LGUs but there

were no standards set and due to the lack of funding, the conduct of the CBMS was highly irregular.

Mapa earlier estimated that the PSA would require at least five additional personnel per PSA field office to ensure that the CBMS is carried out. With 81 field offices, the PSA may require 405 new employees. This is a conservative estimate given that there are provinces that have several highly urbanized cities (HUCs) which will require more staff.

On top of the financing concerns, Mapa also said the confidentiality of the data for the CBMS is a concern. If the CBMS will be used for targeting various social services, the identity of the households will have to be bared.

But, Mapa earlier said, this is the reason the PSA is looking forward to working with other government agencies in implementing the CBMS.

Interoperability

PHILIPPINE Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Research Fellow Jose Ramon G. Albert said the government has databases to help them distribute the cash assistance from the social amelioration program but what is needed is interoperability of the databases.

Based on Data Operability Standards Consortium (DISC), data operability helps in having “shared expectations for the contents, context and meaning of” data.

Albert said this means any new

database to be derived from Covid-19 efforts by DSWD should be integrated with the Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTSPR).

This also means databases outside DSWD such as those lodged at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. should also be integrated into the other databases.

“The problem is that government offices tend to think of programs, and develop databases without care for ensuring data interoperability,” Albert said. “If there is data interoperability, they can prevent duplications.”

Albert said, however, the lack of interoperability of databases should not be an excuse to avoid duplication and undercoverage. He said efforts must still be done to correct these issues moving forward.

For the time being, given the current situation, Albert said the government should be willing to make mistakes given the urgency of the need to provide basic food and medical needs for poor households.

“There is a need for haste. People are hungry,” Albert said. “We have no way to find out undercoverage and leakage.”

DSWD process

DEPARTMENT of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rolando Bautista earlier said

in a news briefing that the data for the social amelioration cards will be obtained by local government units (LGUs) through Barangay officials from households.

Each household will be asked to accomplish forms that will be turned over to the Barangays who will in turn submit these to the LGUs. Bautista said the forms will have two copies. One copy of the form will be submitted to the Barangays and, consequently, to the LGU while the other form will stay with the beneficiaries.

He said the DSWD is tasked to conduct a validation of the social amelioration cards. Bautista said the entire validation process will take three days.

Under the government’s social amelioration program, the government will provide cash grants to the elderly, homeless, informal workers, farmers and fishermen, and stranded workers, among others.

It is estimated that 18 million poor households nationwide will receive P5,000 to as much as P8,000 each. The amount to be provided will depend on where households are located.

If households are located in the National Capital Region (NCR) where there is a high standard of living, households will receive P8,000 per month while households in Bicol region, where there is a lower standard of living, will receive P5,000 per month.

Pandemic prompts PN to postpone RITM to inspect facilities eyed hosting biggest naval event in May as Covid-19 testing laboratories

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HE Philippine Navy has decided to postpone its hosting of the International Fleet Review (IFR) scheduled for next month due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19); temporarily passing off both the first and biggest naval event, not only in its history but for the whole Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The cancellation of the fleet review, a highly-anticipated event where most of the best and most modern military ships in the world are assembled together just once in a year, comes with the postponement of the Navy’s hosting also of the 17th Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) “The rapid increase of cases worldwide, which also affect 21 WPNS-member countries and eight observer states compelled the PN [Philippine Navy] to defer the historic convergence of navy chiefs and warships in the country especially now that the Philippines is now under a state of public health emergency,” Navy Public Affairs Office Chief Lt. Commander Ma. Christina A. Roxas said.

Roxas said the Covid-19 pandemic, which has put the military in frontline duty, has also forced the cancellation of other international events like the meeting

of Navy chiefs of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member-countries, the Asean Multilateral Naval Exercise and the International Maritime Review.

Navy chief Rear Admiral Giovanni Carlo J. Bacordo said they are already sending notices about the indefinite deferment in the holding of the IFR and the 17th WPNS. Before the decision to postpone the two events, at least 17 navies have already confirmed to attend both the symposium and the fleet review including the top naval powers in the Pacific: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and South Korea.

Asean states, including Malaysia and Singapore have also confirmed their attendance to the two international events, according to Bacordo.

The IFR is a “parade of naval ships, aircraft and submarines, and is organized by countries to promote goodwill, strengthen cooperation and showcase their organizational capabilities.”

The fleet review “also serves as an ideal platform for world’s navies to showcase their prowess and indigenous ship designing and ship building capabilities in a global and international arena.”

The WPNS, on the other hand, hopes to “increase cooperation and the ability to operate together, as well as to build trust and confidence between Navies by providing a framework to enable the discussion of maritime issues of mutual interest, the exchange of information, the practice and demonstration of capabilities, and the exchange of personnel.”

Earlier, Navy officials said that Russia will send a flotilla of ships to the IFR, including a submarine, a warship that it has been trying to sell to the Philippines as it market for top of the line warships in its ongoing effort to build up the capability of the Philippine Navy.

Bacordo said the holding of the WPNS and the IFR next month would have been a good timing for the Navy since it would also be holding its anniversary, and at the same time, will showcase its first brand new and South Korean-built frigate.

“It’s supposed to be the first ever international fleet that the Philippine Navy hosted, and also for the Philippines, it will be the first time that we will have so many international ships, international military vessels within our territory,” Bacordo said. Rene Acosta

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HE staff of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) would be inspecting facilities as the health department acquired requests from facilities seeking to test individuals suspected afflicted by coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“An on-site visit will be arranged to check the laboratory; an assessment of gaps, technical, and safety recommendations will be provided,” RITM Director Celia C. Carlos said in a news briefing.

Carlos said the primary parameters that would be used in the initial stages of laboratory assessment include the following: design and layout of the facility, workflow, equipment, trained personnel, logistics and supplies, management system and safety controls.

Earlier, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire said they already received around 40 letters from institutions across the country that signified interest to put up a Covid-19 testing lab.

In response, the Department of Health will send a self-assessment tool designed by the RITM, Carlos explained. This serves as an initial evaluation to check the readiness of a laboratory to conduct the complex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of suspected Covid-19 cases.

A DOH Assessment Team will review the tools and provide inputs on which areas of improvement the interested laboratory should prioritize.

Once recommendations have been provided, the laboratory must submit evidences of their compliance before they could be given the go-signal to proceed to the next stage, which involves proficiency testing (PT), according to Carlos.

She added the RITM will provide a PT panel that consists of a set of unknown samples. The laboratory technologists of the applicant laboratory must then test these samples on PCR. The results of their testing will be the basis for determining whether their facility and staff complement is capable to correctly and accurately test for Covid-19.

If successful, the DOH Assessment Team will recommend the laboratory to proceed with Covid-19 testing.

The laboratory will then submit the first five positive samples to RITM for confirmation. If the results are in agreement with RITM’s, the laboratory can commence with Covid-19 testing independently, Carlos further explained.

As the National Reference Laboratory for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, RITM will regularly conduct proficiency testing to ensure and maintain the high-quality performance of independent laboratories.

Applicants wishing to obtain training on PCR testing for Covid-19 can avail of said training from the RITM and other laboratories already certified to test for Covid-19. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Covid-19 offers opportunities for transportation sector–ADB Navy remains active in patrolling

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HE coronavirus 2019 pandemic (Covid-19) offers a unique opportunity for countries to expand its transportation options, according to an expert from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In an Asian Development Blog, ADB Central and West Asia Department Senior Urban Development Specialist (Transport) Lloyd Wright said the pandemic can be an opportunity to adopt walking and cycling as alternative modes of transport.

Wright said upgrading footpaths and developing cycleways will boost government investments as well as provide jobs and grow the economy during this time.

“With streets now operating under dramatically reduced traffic levels, an opportunity exists to quickly address long-standing needs that are

difficult to implement under day-today realities,” Wright said. “Upgrading footpaths and developing cycleways is the type of quick win that can utilize the economic stimulus spending being deployed to shore up falling economies.”

Wright said the pandemic casts doubt on the safety of travelling through certain transport modes such as buses and trains where passengers are in close proximity to each other, increasing the risk of infection.

He said with this, there is a large potential for walking and cycling.

Wright said in the early days of the virus in New York, there was a 50-percent year-on-year increase in cycling. Further, there was a 67 percent increase in the use of CitiBike, New York’s bicycle sharing system.

Further, Wright said given the lockdowns imposed by various national and local governments, home delivery services have increased.

These services, he said, can help reduce congestion and emissions if these reach economies of scale in urban delivery logistics.

“During this time of crisis, to the extent persons have options, passengers do appear to be avoiding public transport. Most likely, governments will need to step forward with financial support to public transport operators for both short-term and long-term viability,” Wright said.

The pandemic is also helping improve nation’s carbon footprints. Satellite images showed that the most seriously affected countries have shown a remarkable clearing of the typical season

pollutant levels.

Wright said based on these images, greenhouse gas emissions from these areas have been reportedly reduced by approximately 25 percent.

Further, through new technologies, millions are able to work from the confines of their homes reducing congestion in the streets and greenhouse gas emissions.

These technologies, Wright said, create visual space for sharing information and facilitating decisionmaking. He said countries are already moving away from tele-conferencing to “lifelike virtual interaction.”

“While work-from-home may never fully replace workplace presence, the new technologies at least offer the potential to reduce the need for everyday commuting,” Wright said. Cai U. Ordinario

Visayas waters, Ayungin Shoal

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HE Philippine Navy said it remains active in patrolling the country’s maritime waters as it sent over the weekend two of its patrol boats to the Visayas to augment ongoing operations there amid the enhanced community operations in Luzon.

Navy public affairs office chief Lt. Commander Maria Christina A. Roxas said the deployment of Patrol Boats 356 and 358 was still part of the Navy’s mission to secure the country’s maritime waters.

The two patrol boats were sent for patrol missions in the Visayan waters aboard the strategic sealift vessel BRP Bacolod, which left its port in Cavite on Friday.

“Deployment plays a very crucial role in the Navy’s effective conduct of maritime patrol operations, internal se-

curity operations and logistics support missions with the end view of better serving the Filipino people,” Roxas said.

The sendoff ceremony was presided over by Capt. Alfonso F. Torres Jr., commander of the Philippine Fleet’s Littoral Combat Force, who also witnessed the boats’ lifting and loading operations onto the BRP Bacolod.

Meanwhile Commodore Renato P. David, commander of the Naval Forces West, cited a Navy contingent that has manned the BRP Sierra Madre for four months wherein they guarded the Ayungin Shoal in the Kalayaan Island Group.

The Sierra Madre is a partly-sunken boat used by Filipino troops as an outpost in guarding the shoal, which has constantly seen the presence of Chinese military and paramilitary ships in its waters. Rene Acosta

A4 Monday, April 6, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Govt opens platform to speed up medical imports

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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HE Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) has created a single window platform intended to hasten the importation procedure of medical supplies that are needed in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Under Joint Memorandum Circular 1, the Arta, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) institutionalized the Bayanihan One Stop Shop, or BOSS. It functions as a single window and concierge for state agencies dealing with the importation of health goods crucial in combatting the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the existing setup, importation of products regulated by the FDA would require the issuance of license to operate to the importer and registration of every medical item unless exempted.

The importer would then be mandated to present the license to BOC for entry clearance of the imports into the country. The government, however, finds that this causes delay at a time of crisis, and, therefore, decided to put up the BOSS that will accept all online applications for the importation of medical supplies.

Under the joint memorandum, the web sites of the Arta, FDA and Customs were linked to one another for end to end processing and monitoring of applications.

Further, an online platform composed of the three agencies and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Cooperative Development Authority (CDA), Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was activated. It will serve as their tracker for all incoming shipments for processing.

Once a filing for importation

or license is entered into the BOC or FDA portal, concerned agencies shall be automatically prompted through the one-stop shop, as well as via e-mail, for information and monitoring.

In case there is a need to verify an issue, the SEC for private firms, DTI for sole proprietorships, CDA for cooperatives and the GCG for GOCCs may immediately validate.

All FDA laws, rules and regulations governing post-importation of medical products included in the circular shall be complied with by the importing party.

Likewise, once the public health emergency is lifted, FDA rules on registration of health goods, inspection of inventory and postmarket surveillance shall apply to the importers granted with provisional license to operate.

Lead agencies Arta, FDA and BOC will come up with daily and weekly reports on number and volume of

medical imports facilitated through the BOSS which are to be submitted to the Interagency Task Force. They can then be incorporated in President Duterte’s weekly report to Congress as demanded of him when he was given emergency powers.

The BOSS, which went online last Friday, will be operational for as long as the country is under public health emergency or until otherwise required by the President.

The circular covers the importation of personal protective equipment, including gloves, gowns, coveralls, body suits and face masks.

Moreover, shipment of medical devices like thermometer and hospital essentials like cotton are included to ensure sufficiency in supply at a time health workers are responding to the outbreak.

Protection for health workers

SUN Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. (SLCPI) announced it would

be donating 3,000 life insurance products with up to P75-million coverage to health workers through its philanthropic arm.

Those who will receive the product called Life Armor are health workers; including doctors, nurses and other medical support staff who are directly involved in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19. However, they can only receive this if they are registered members of the eponymous platform operated by Lazada e-Services Philippines Inc. SLCPI CEO and Country Head Benedicto C. Sison emphasized the need to also protect frontliners whose risk their health and lives working in facilities.

“Filipinos in the medical field are working doubly hard and putting their lives on the line to protect the rest of us from Covid-19. It is only fitting that we also protect them and look after the welfare of

those who are most important to them: their families,” said Sison, who also chairs the Sun Life Foundation Inc. “We earnestly hope that Sun Life’s simple gesture inspires our health workers to keep fighting because brighter days will soon be upon us.”

Sison said the donation is part of their foundation’s efforts to support Filipinos amid the pandemic.

Based on Sun Life Philippines’ web site, one can avail a Life Armor plan, or a P25,000 life insurance coverage, against accidents and illnesses for as low as P100.

The plan, however, is an exclusive offer for registered Lazada members.

They can also avail up to four plans with a total coverage of P100,000.

Apart from the life insurance donation, SLCPI said it has also recently donated 3,000 personal protective equipment units and other equipment to a number of hospitals.

With Bernadette D. Nicolas

Lawmaker bats for ‘economic lifeline’ VIRUS-HIT EMPLOYEES TO GET ADDITIONAL BENEFITS FROM E.C.C. for MSMEs affected by Covid-19 crisis

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE government announced that the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) will give additional benefits to frontliners and other employees who were affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

ECC said the additional benefits could be accessed not only by those who tested positive for Covid-19, but also by individuals classified as patients under investigation (PUI) or those suspected of having the disease.

“All workers whether they belong to health-care [sector] or not, can claim the EC [Employees’ Compensation] benefits,” ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis told the BusinessMirror via SMS.

Cash aid

QUALIFIED employees could apply for daily sickness benefit (DSB) for suffering temporary total disability due to Covid-19. The DSB

for the private sector is at P480 for a maximum of 120 days, but the period could be extended to 240 days if necessary.

For those in the government, the DSB is at P200 or P340 if the worker avails of the sickness benefit under the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Law or Republic Act 8291.

Qualified applicants could also reimburse their medical expenses, including the cost of their medicine, and also a cash assistance.

The cash assistance is P10,000 for a disability/sickness claim and P30,000 for a death claim.

Death benefits

BENEFICIARIES of employees, who died of work-acquired Covid-19, could apply for survivorship pension, which will be computed based on the number and amount of premium paid by the employer.

The minimum EC surivorship pension for private-sector workers is P2,000 per month.

The survivors could also avail the

funeral benefit worth P30,000.

PUIs or their beneficiaries could apply for the said benefits at the Social Security System (SSS) and GSIS if they are diagnosed with respirator y infection or similar illness related to Covid-19.

Covid-infected workers and their beneficiaries could also apply once they are diagnosed for the said illness.

To prove that their Covid-19 exposure is work-related, Banawis said applicants will have to present basic documentary requirements including their medical records, certificate of employment with job description, certificate from employer that they worked during enhanced community quarantine, and logbook indicating where they got infected by it.

As of Saturday, the Department of Health (DOH) said there were already 3,094 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. The DOH said 144 died due to Covid-19 while 57 were able to recover from it.

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

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EN. Joel Villanueva is pushing for the early delivery of a promised “economic lifeline” for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) reeling from the backlash of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Citing MSMEs as a major employment generator, the senator will cite the prompt implementation of economic assistance that the Duterte administration committed to provide to MSMEs when Villanueva renders a report to Congress on the Bayanihan law as soon as lawmakers reconvene regular sessions on May 4.

The senator affirmed in a statement Sunday the need for early delivery of relief, listing MSMEs among the “badly-suffering sectors facing the brunt of the crisis brought about by Covid-19.”

Villanueva voiced concerns over the labor sector’s ability to maintain jobs during this pandemic, asserting that “just as we immediately implemented emergency employment programs for our affected workers both in the for-

mal and informal economy, we should likewise act with dispatch to provide relief to MSMEs.” He pressed for prompt action, saying that “we must throw them a lifeline immediately, so they in turn can sustain their workers too.”

“The assistance that we will provide to them should be conditional on them keeping their workers now and until the economy recovers,” said the senator, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resource Development.

“We face a big challenge for the MSMEs. The livelihood of millions of workers is at stake if the government’s aid for MSMEs does not come on time,” he added, in a mix of English and filipino.

MSMEs employed some 5.7 million workers in 2018, according to data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), or about 13 percent of the total number of employed workers.

Industries severely affected by the community quarantine enforced in Luzon and other local governments are in the wholesale and retail trade, and food and accommodation sectors,

which comprise at least 50 percent of the employment generated by MSMEs, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed.

The Bayanihan Law of 2020, which Congress passed two weeks ago, mandated the DTI to provide relief for “productive sectors of the economy.” The agency is preparing for the implementation of its Pondo Sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso (P3) Enterprise Rehabilitation Financing worth P1 billion, which is expected to roll out once the quarantine restrictions are lifted.

The DTI issued a moratorium on payment of loans of about 127,000 micro enterprises under the P3 program, as well as 15,000 MSME who have existing loans under the government-owned Small Business Corp.

Other government lending institutions have existing loan programs such as the Development Bank of the Philippines’s Small Business Puhunan Loan Program and Rehabilitation Support Program. Land Bank of the Philippines offers loans under its Calamity Rehabilitation Support Program.

‘PHL must hike investments in improving food quality, safety’

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HE Philippines must ramp up investments in initiatives that will improve food quality to help Filipinos avoid health problems, according to the latest Global Food Security Index (GFSI), which indicated that the country was able to boost its food security last year.

GFSI 2019 Project Lead Priya Bapat told the BusinessMirror that the availability of key nutrients, such as vitamin A, zinc and iron, are low and this could pose dietary challenges that could lead to long-term health problems for Filipinos.

The Philippines improved its overall food security score to 61 in 2019, from 51 in 2018, making it the 64th most food secure country out of 113 countries, according to the GFSI. The GFSI indicated that the Philippines improved in all three categories that were assessed by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU): affordability, availability and quality and safety.

In terms of affordability, the Philippines’s score improved by 3.5 points to 68.9 points on the back of improved access to financing for farmers. ”Additionally, poverty levels in the country have decreased. According to World Bank data, of the countries covered in the GFSI, the Philippines is the most improved country in Asia Pacific for the proportion of people living with less than $3.20/day,” Bapat said in an e-mail interview.

The Philippines ranked 65th in terms of food availability with a score of 57.7 while it placed 80th in the quality and safety category

THIS BusinessMirror file photo shows buyers and sellers of different vegetables along Hidalgo Street, Quiapo, Manila.

with a score of 50.3, GFSI data showed.

Lack of nutrition

THE Philippines’s standing in terms of food quality and safety inched up to 50.3 in 2019, from 49.9 in 2018 due to improved access to potable water and electricity, Bapat explained.

Out of the three categories, Bapat said the country scored the lowest in quality and safety, despite the slight increase.

Bapat explained that despite the “top score for policies and programs in place to support

nutritional standards and monitoring, the scores show that dietary diversity and nutrient availability remain a challenge.” ”The Philippines falls in the bottom 25 percent of countries worldwide when assessing dietary diversity. Nearly 60 percent of average caloric intake comes from starchy sources, such as rice,” she said.

The reliance on these starches highlights lower levels of consumption of more nutrient-rich food sources, such as fruits and vegetables. ”Availability of key nutrients, such as vita-

min A, zinc and iron are low; the Philippines has the fifth-lowest levels of dietary iron availability of the 113 countries included in the study,” she added.

Bapat explained that these dietary challenges can lead to more long-term health and nutritional challenges, including anemia, impaired immune function and problems with eyesight.

this time of economic turbulence,” she said.

The Philippines could also improve investments in research and development for agriculture, which Bapat pointed out, “is important for improving agricultural productivity, resilience to pests and natural disasters and agriculture’s environmental footprint.”

Prescriptions

BAPAT said the Philippines “lags behind other countries in terms of making public commitments to address the impacts of climate change on agriculture. “She noted that efforts could be poured in “developing mitigation strategies through international agreements and investing in early warning systems.”

“In the Global Food Security Index, the Philippines ranks as one of the top 3 Asian countries most exposed to climate change impacts. The Philippines in particular faces high levels of risk from factors such as temperature rise and severity of storms,” she said.

The Philippines should also sustain its efforts in protecting and properly managing its land, water and marine resources which are “essential” in ensuring long-term food security, Bapat said.

“The Philippines’s marine ecosystems are in need of protection from overfishing. Recent efforts to expand marine protected areas are one way to ensure sustainable management of fisheries,” she added.

The GFSI is a comprehensive assessment of the state of global food security developed by the EIU, supported by Corteva Agriscience.

BAPAT said the Philippines should improve accessibility and affordability of more nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that can help to improve dietary quality.

Fruits and vegetables can be challenging to incorporate in the diet as these foods are often more expensive than starchy foods, and are also not shelf-stable,” she said.

“Countries can undertake efforts such as making greater investments in nutrition education, expanding subsidies and support programs for lower-income families to purchase nutritious foods and increasing the available supply of nutrient-dense foods, particularly in rural and marginalized communities,” she added.

Bapat noted that the Philippines could also increase its interventions related to food safety nets and access to financing for farmers especially amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

“These are two areas where countries need to assess if additional support and funding is needed in order to ensure uninterrupted domestic agricultural production and strong support for people who may be at risk during

Challenges

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Spain virus cases pass Italy as total deaths reach 11,744 S pain’s Covid-19 cases surpassed Italy as Europe’s two main epicenters continue to struggle to curtail the virus, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing plans to extend the country’s lockdown until April 25.

Spain’s confirmed cases increased by 7,026 to 124,736 over the past 24 hours, while deaths rose by 809 to 11,744. Total cases are now higher than Italy’s 124,632, where the country reported the fewest number of new deaths since March 26. In France, the total number of fatalities rose to 7,560 and the UK reported its deadliest day yet with an increase of 708 deaths.

The virus has crippled Europe at different times with most countries now in some form of lockdown, even as nations like Sweden and the UK were more reluctant to take drastic measures earlier. Governments and policy-makers are scrambling to find ways to mitigate the damage with entire economies headed into deep recession and a common approach still elusive.

As attention shifts to Spain, Italy has signaled the situation, while still grave, is improving. Angelo Borrelli, the head of the country’s civil protection agency, said the

number of patients in intensive care has dropped by 74, the first fall since the country went into a state of emergency.

In Spain, a slower pace of fatalities and new cases is also offering some hope that the outbreak may be moving toward a peak. Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Friday that the goal of slowing the epidemic was “within reach.”

The government in Madrid has imposed some of the most restrictive lockdown measures in Europe, shuttering most businesses and forcing people to stay in their homes except to buy groceries and seek health care.

Containment measures across the continent have cut off border crossings and limited air travel, while countries have announced trillions of euros in aid to support businesses and individuals.

Italy’s ruling parties and the Treasury reached an agreement to free up an additional €200 billion ($216

billion) of liquidity for firms, according to daily newspaper La Stampa. It said the moves, part of a new aid decree, will be approved by Monday and will let companies seek bank loans for as much as 25 percent of their revenue, most of which will be granted by the state.

In Germany, the number of coronavirus deaths and confirmed cases climbed further, a day after Robert Koch Institute President Lothar Wieler warned the country might require further intensive-care space. Germany has boosted capacity by more than 40 percent since the outbreak began.

The death rate in Europe’s largest economy has been well below the levels seen in Italy and Spain, but government officials and healthcare experts insist it’s too early to ease social distancing rules and transport restrictions.

Swedish question

There are signs in turn that the death rate in Sweden is growing faster than elsewhere in Scandinavia, raising pressure on the government to abandon its controversial hands-off approach— schools, restaurants and cafes remain open—in tackling Covid-19.

The number of Swedish deaths from the virus rose to 373 on Saturday, up 12 percent from Friday. That brings the rate per million in Scandinavia’s biggest economy to 36, compared with 29 in Denmark and 9 in Norway, where much tougher lockdowns are in place.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven warned that Sweden may now be facing “thousands” of deaths, and said the crisis is likely to drag on for months

rather than weeks.

Apart from imposing lockdowns, several European leaders have moved to institute other controls which in some cases could also consolidate their own holds on power.

In Hungary, political parties will lose half of their state funding this year, Gergely Gulyas, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s office, said in a video briefing. The move comes after Prime Minister Viktor Orban secured the power to rule by decree this week, drawing criticism from European Union members that he staged a power grab under the cover of the Covid-19 crisis.

Equipment tensions

Meanwhile , a not her d ispute emerged over emergency medical equipment with Madrid accusing Ankara of retaining a shipment of respirators bought by two regional Spanish governments from a Turkish company.

Turkey cited the risk of a shortage at home in holding onto the ventilators, Spain’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Spain would insist on reimbursement if the equipment was not released, it added. There was no immediate comment from the Turkish government.

It comes after local officials in France and Germany accused unnamed Americans of using unfair means to obtain protective masks. The US embassy in Paris said any suggestion that the federal government was involved in such practices was “completely false.

Bloomberg News

Where will the bodies go? Morgues plan as virus grows

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HILADELPHIA—There are the new dead.

And then there are the bodies waiting in overcrowded mortuaries to be buried as cities struggle to meet demand and families wrestle with rules on social distancing that make the usual funeral rituals impossible.

Med Alliance Group, a medical distributor in Illinois, is besieged by calls and e-mails from cities around the country. Each asks the same thing: Send more refrigerated trailers so that we can handle a situation we never could have imagined.

“They‘re coming from all over: From hospitals, health systems, coroner‘s offices, VA facilities, county and state health departments, state emergency departments and funeral homes,” said Christie Penzol, a spokeswoman for Med Alliance. “It’s heart-wrenching.”

The company has rented all its trailers and there's an 18-week wait for new materials to build more, she said.

With US medical experts and even President Donald Trump now estimating the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic could reach 240,000 nationwide, the sheer practicalities of death — where to put the bodies — are worrying just about everyone as cities, hospitals and private medical groups clamor to secure additional storage.

The need is compounded by private mortuary space that is occupied longer than usual as people wait to bury their loved ones— regardless of how they died— because rules on social distancing make planning funerals difficult.

It's a crisis being repeated worldwide.

In Spain, where the death toll has climbed to nearly 12,000, an ice rink in Madrid was turned into a makeshift morgue after the city's municipal funeral service said it could no longer take coronavirus bodies until it was restocked with protective equipment. In Italy, embalmed bodies in caskets are being sent to church halls and warehouses while they await cremation or burial.

And in the coastal Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, macabre images and pleas from families on social media show dead loved ones wrapped in plastic or cloth, waiting for days to be taken away by overwhelmed morgue workers.

In the US epicenter of New York City, where the death toll was more than 1,900 on Saturday, authorities brought in refrigerated trucks to store bodies. At Brooklyn Hospital Center, a worker wheeled out a body covered in white plastic on a gurney and a forklift operator carefully raised it into a refrigerated trailer.

A body wrapped in plastic is prepared to be loaded onto a refrigerated container truck used as a temporary morgue by medical workers due to Covid-19 concerns on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at Brooklyn Hospital Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. AP Photo/John Minchillo

Cities and states that haven't been hard-hit yet are trying to prepare for the worst.

It‘s hard to say exactly how much morgue space is available nationwide. Many cities and counties submit emergency preparedness plans for review by state and federal officials, but tallies aren‘t always complete and private mortuaries aren‘t always included.

Trade groups like the National Association of Medical Examiners don‘t track those capacities either.

But, in general, few morgues in the country can hold even 200 to 300 bodies.

In Washington, D.C., which has a morgue that can hold about 270 bodies, officials said they would seek help from federal partners if needed. Dallas has a plan for refrigerated space as part of its emergency preparedness efforts.

And Chicago is already using a trailer outside the medical examiner‘s office for the bodies of coronavirus victims, and may use a refrigerated warehouse if needed.

Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked the Defense Department for 100,000 body bags, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Andrews said on Thursday.

On a daily basis, the system works at essentially full capacity in most jurisdictions, said

Robert A. Jensen, co-owner of Kenyon International Emergency Services, a private disaster response company based in Texas.

“They‘re not made for surge. They're made to handle the daily numbers,” said Jensen, whose company has helped with mass fatality incidents from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina to the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, all of which involved using refrigerated trucks to store bodies.

In Pennsylvania, the state coroner‘s association is working to figure out resources and help with what will likely be regional planning.

Brian Abernathy, Philadelphia‘s Managing Director, said the city had secured refrigerated trucks to help with any overflow storage needed for bodies.

The city had reported 26 deaths as of Friday.

“This isn‘t because we expect a large influx of people succumbing to the illness, but rather it's likely that there will be fewer funerals, which will cause backups in both our city morgues as well as the hospital morgues," Abernathy said.

Brian Murphy, the CEO of Arctic Industries, which manufactures walk-in coolers and quick-assemble modular structures in Miami and Los Angeles, said he is getting calls seeking help. In the past, most clients were from the food industry, but with restaurants shuttered, calls about mortuary needs have risen.

He says his company is prioritizing work related

to Covid-19 and is considering working more hours to meet needs.

“Everything is very much in flux,” Murphy said.

The families of the dead, meanwhile, are making do.

Rosina Argondizzo of Glenview, Illinois, was buried in March with just a priest and four people present: her husband of 58 years, her son Peter, his wife and their son. Another son who lives in Italy didn‘t travel. Peter Argondizzo said his 79-year-old mother, who died after contracting pneumonia and the flu, would have had a very different funeral in normal times.

“We‘re Italian so it would have been a lot of people....It would have been big,” he said, adding they would have hosted a meal in her honor, something they now hope to do at a later date. “She would have wanted everyone to have been well-fed.”

David Dittman said he inquired about waiting to hold a funeral for his 94-year-old mother, Ruth, who died after battling cancer, so more family could attend.

But the funeral home handling arrangements in Connecticut didn‘t want to hold the body for more than two weeks.

He said he understood: “Especially with this rush of people that may be coming at them. They may be overwhelmed, you know.” AP

Monday, April 6, 2020

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Gilead to donate experimental Covid-19 drug G ilead Sciences Inc. said it’s donating 1.5 million doses of its experimental anti-coronavirus drug remdesivir, which could treat 140,000 patients.

The drug will be offered for compassionate use, expanded access and clinical trials, and will treat patients with severe symptoms, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel O’Day said in an open letter. The company is also boosting its supply of remdesivir to more than 500,000 treatment courses by October, and to more than 1 million by the end the year. Production time has also been accelerated to six months from one year, he said.

“While we are working with the utmost sense of urgency on the immediate needs before us, we are also looking forward,” he said. “Over the next weeks and months, we will be able to further increase our supplies of remdesivir as raw materials with

long lead times become available for manufacture.”

The drugmaker said last week it’s switching to “expanded access” from a “compassionate use” program under which remdesivir was given. The move will accelerate its emergency use for multiple severely ill patients.

More than 1,700 patients have been treated through these programs, O’Day said in the letter on Saturday.

A World Health Organization panel said in January that remdesivir was considered to be the most promising therapeutic candidate based on its broad antiviral spectrum, and existing data based on human and animal studies. The medication was developed initially for Ebola and studied in patients in Eastern Congo.

Multiple clinical trials are investigating the drug’s effects in Covid-19 patients in China and elsewhere. Bloomberg News

Trump says he’d use tariffs if needed to protect oil industry

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resident Donald J. Trump ramped up his threats to impose oil import tariffs as renewed diplomatic tension between Saudi Arabia and Russia threatens efforts to reach a new deal to cut output.

Trump said on Saturday at a White House press briefing he’d use tariffs if needed to protect the domestic oil industry, a day after meeting with US industry leaders. A gathering of Opec and other major producers scheduled for Monday was delayed until later in the week as Saudi Arabia and Russia traded barbs about who’s to blame for the collapse in crude prices.

Optimism over prospects for a deal sent benchmark oil futures to a record gain this week, despite an unprecedented global demand loss from the Covid-19 outbreak. A failure to come to an agreement would likely cause prices to crater again. The US oil industry is split on the idea of tariffs, with some independent shale producers—who’ve been hardest hit by the recent market slump—in support, while refiners and large integrated companies are typically opposed.

The American Petroleum Institute, which helped arrange Friday’s meeting, argues tariffs would inject uncertainty into an already rattled global marketplace.

“If I have to do tariffs on oil coming from outside, or if I have to do something to protect thousands and tens of thousands of

energy workers, and our great companies that produce all these jobs, I’ll do whatever I have to do,” Trump said on Saturday. Low oil prices are “going to hurt a lot of jobs,” he said.

Measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak has forced businesses to shut and billions of people around the world to stay at home, causing demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to collapse by tens of millions of barrels a day.

Hundreds of thousands of US oil industry jobs are hanging in the balance, with about $15 billion of investments wiped out from the budgets of shale explorers and many of them on the brink of bankruptcy.

On Friday, Trump had suggested he wasn’t inclined to target Russia or Saudi Arabia with oil tariffs.

“It’s a free market. We’ll figure it out,” he told reporters after Friday’s meeting with the heads of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and other major producers.

“Ultimately the marketplace will take care of it.”

In a statement early on Saturday, the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said comments by Putin laying blame on Riyadh for the end of the Opec+ pact between the two countries in March were “fully devoid of truth.”

Trump still expressed optimism that Russia and Saudi Arabia would reach a deal.

Bloomberg News

19 killed in clash between rival drug gangs in Mexico

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EXICO CITY—A big shoot-out between rival drug gangs killed 19 people in the northern Mexico border state of Chihuahua, state prosecutors’ office said on Saturday.

A total of 18 corpses, two grenades, vehicles and guns were found at the scene of the clash in the hamlet of Chuchuichupa in the township of Madera.

Two other men were found armed and wounded on the dirt road where the confrontation occurred late Friday. One died later at a hospital, and the other is in custody.

The office said police and soldiers had been sent to secure the area, where groups allied with the Sinaloa cartel have been fighting other gangs, including a remnant of the Beltran Leyva gang and others aligned with the Juarez cartel.

In an area about 60 miles (100 kilometers) to the north of Friday's clash, nine USMexican dual citizens were ambushed and slain on Nov. 4 by suspected drug gang assassins along a remote road. It was not clear if any of the same groups were involved in the two sets of killings. AP

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Monday, April 6, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial Silence

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E have our noses pressed against the window glass so hard that we have a difficult time seeing the outside world. We— meaning the world—are fiercely engaged in petty politics and finger pointing. We are thinking and saying foolish things almost without any consideration of what those words mean.

But that is absolutely normal given the situation. We are all fearful about what today and tomorrow will bring. We are angry with both “god” and man, for us having to face uncertainty each coming day. We are feeling helpless, not being able to control those forces that have brought this chaos. We are all having difficulty adjusting to a complete curtailment of our previous daily routine.

And most seriously, there is no definite end in sight to our predicament.

The term “unprecedented”—“never having happened or existed in the past”—is suddenly part of our vocabulary. The truth is that in many ways, the Covid-19 pandemic is a minor footnote in world history.

Unprecedented in terms of war was the 30 Years War in the 1600s that killed 8 million. However, that title was taken by World War ll when more than 60 million people died.

In China, 20 million died in the mid-1800s from drought and famine. July 1931 saw over 4 million die in the “China Floods.”

In 1815, Indonesia’s Mount Tambora erupted, killing 100,000 in the immediate aftermath.

Even as a pandemic, Covid-19 doesn’t even come anywhere near “historical.” The Plague of Justinian in 541 killed an estimated 40 million people, perhaps half of the world’s population. If you are complaining about the “quarantine,” that idea was invented during the Black Plague, which was actually an 800-year resurrection of the Plague of Justinian. It is estimated that more than 50 million died then. Fifteen million people died from 1545 to 1548 in Mexico and Central America from the “Cocoliztli Epidemic.”

However, this is what is unprecedented. Currently, Covid-19 cases have been verified in 205 countries and territories. There are 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations.

Almost 3 billion people are under at least limited lockdown.

Around the globe there are virtually no professional sports being played. Hotels and resorts are empty in most every country. Air traffic is down 50 percent. One billion students at all levels are not in school or had their schedules disrupted.

There is probably not a single establishment in the “World’s Top 100 Restaurants” that is open today. There are no rock concerts you can go to. Philharmonic orchestras are not performing. Cinemas are closed, and movie and television production has been stopped.

But this is the most unprecedented thing: The silence.

Highways and streets are nearly empty. Parking lots holding 2,000 cars now might have 20. The morning hustle and bustle of people going to work around the world is gone. From the Taj Mahal to the Eiffel Tower and beyond the Egyptian Pyramids and the Kremlin in Moscow—all are silent. New York’s Times Square is empty, as is St. Peter’s Basilica.

Dozens of public and private groups, from militaries to think tanks, including Nostradamus and Bill Gates, are all credited with “predicting” this pandemic. But only in the most apocalyptic film or novel could anyone have imagined “The Silence.”

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The Pope’s message Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

Continuation of the summary of Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi blessing given on March 27 in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

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he Pope remembers the question of Jesus to His disciples: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” This is being asked again to us now. The Lord, according to the Pope, is calling us to faith, which means that we must come to Him and trust in Him. As we begin the Holy Week, this call “to return to the Lord with all our hearts” becomes even more urgent. The Pope says further that this time of trial is a time to choose what matters and what doesn’t. It is a time to separate what is important from what’s not.

Our “exemplary companions” on this journey are those who are giving their lives even if they are afraid— the ordinary people who are often forgotten. These are the “doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, caregivers, providers of

transport, law and order forces, volunteers, priests, religious men and women and so very many others who have understood that no one reaches salvation by themselves.”

“In the face of so much suffering,” the Pope says, “we experience

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the priestly prayer of Jesus: ‘That they may all be one’” (John 17:21). He continues to pay tribute to those who offer hope and exercise patience, the parents, grandparents, and teachers who continue to show the children how to face this crisis, those who are praying for the good of all. The Pope’s important message is this: Prayer and quiet service are our victorious weapons.

He then teaches us the way to gain faith. It is when we realize we need to be saved, when we accept that we are not self-sufficient and that we need the Lord. The Pope wants each and everyone to invite Jesus

into our lives and to let Him handle (and conquer) our fears. With Jesus on board, there will be no shipwreck because it is God’s strength at work.

He has the power to calm the most turbulent of storms.

The Pope says: “The Lord asks us and, in the midst of our tempest, invites us to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering. The Lord awakens so as to reawaken and revive our Easter faith.”

Jesus is our anchor because by His cross we have been saved and redeemed. He, too, is our hope because

by His cross we have been healed and embraced. The Pope also addressed our collective plight of being trapped under quarantine, when we suffer from a lack of tenderness and the opportunity to meet up with others. In isolation, after experiencing the loss of so many things, the Pope wants us to believe and hold on to this truth: He is risen and is living by our side.

Businesses and jobs in the post-Covid world

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Publisher

The Pope says: “The Lord asks us and, in the midst of our tempest, invites us to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering. The Lord awakens so as to reawaken and revive our Easter faith.”

W

E are now on our fourth week of lockdown and there are mixed feelings among us whether this will be extended or not. For most of those who want the lockdown to be lifted, the reason most cited is financial. Businesses have to run and people have to earn their livelihood, otherwise you end up with nothing to feed your family. Though I am for extension of the lockdown, I understand the predicament that our government and the business decision makers need to address. It is not an easy decision to make, and whatever that decision may be, there will always be a positive and a negative factor to consider. Such is the uncertainty that this pandemic has brought, and we just need to be thankful that our numbers are not as bad as in other countries. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

But lifting the lockdown doesn’t mean we can go back to our normal lives again. No sir—it will be a different world that we will get out to. A lot of adjustments need to be made.

Harsh realities will need to be addressed, and the sooner the better.

Life will definitely stabilize—and we thank modern technology for doing this in a hastened manner; unlike the plagues of old that took decades or centuries before the virility of humankind was developed. But life as we know it will not be the same

again. So, the sooner we say that to ourselves, the better.

One thing that we should ponder on while we are locked down in our homes is this—will our pre-lockdown livelihoods be still relevant in the post-Covid world? It may be good right now to do a self-assessment and have a reality check. How will I fare?

Will my current job continue to feed my family? How can I adjust?

One thing is for certain—any work or profession that requires excessive human contact or social gath-

The good thing is we humans are social creatures. We won’t allow ourselves to be totally remote, and neither will we consign our lives to virtual existence on the Internet. These “richly human contact” businesses and professions will never disappear, but they will need to adjust and so do we, as patrons.

erings will be affected. Examples of this would be food service firms like restaurants, assembled entertainment like cinemas and live sports events, and even barbershops and beauty parlors.

The good thing is we humans are social creatures. We won’t allow ourselves to be totally remote, and neither will we consign our lives to virtual existence on the Internet.

These “richly human contact” businesses and professions will never disappear, but they will need to adjust and so do we, as patrons.

The new world will call for a lot of caution and a lot of priming up to make sure that we have a safe environment. Venues must be disinfected regularly. Utensils and equipment cleaned as well. Those involved in the food handling business will have to include processes that ensure extra safeguard on hygiene and freshness.

Those in the transport business will

have to guarantee social distancing.

This will, of course, put a stress on costs to make it viable for the business owner. And there will be a time that these businesses will suffer. Hopefully, during the said time, the government will help and subsidize these industries and their workers. But this won’t be for long. New technology innovations will emerge, definitely to bring down costs, and new enhancements in one’s profession will evolve.

One good thing among nations: There will be no monopoly of ideas on how to address the challenges of the “new world.” Yes, scientifically, the MIT’s and Yale’s will have to be given the pole position in coming out with medical solutions; but on preserving our livelihood and adjusting to the new environment, solutions will come from everywhere. And that will be a good thing. Imagine, billions of minds collectively working to address and adjust our lives to the new normal.

Yes, we will survive and human kind will prosper. It is the humanness in us that will help us adjust to whatever adversity that comes our way.

Thomas “Tim” Orbos was former DOTr undersecretary for roads and general manager of the MMDA. He is currently undertaking further studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu

Opinion BusinessMirror

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All hands on deck to fight once-in-a-lifetime pandemic

Staying online

By António Guterres | Secretary-General of the United Nations

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nly by coming together will the world be able to face down the Covid-19 pandemic and its shattering consequences. At an emergency virtual meeting last Thursday, G-20 leaders took steps in the right direction. But we are still far away from having a coordinated, articulated global response that meets the unprecedented magnitude of what we are facing.

Far from flattening the curve of infection, we are still well behind it.

The disease initially took 67 days to infect 100,000 people; soon, 100,000 people and more will be infected daily. Without concerted and courageous action, the number of new cases will almost certainly escalate into the millions, pushing health systems to the breaking point, economies into a nosedive, and people into despair, with the poorest hit hardest.

We must prepare for the worst and do everything to avoid it. Here is a three-point call to action—based on science, solidarity and smart policies—for doing just that.

First, suppress transmission of the coronavirus.

That requires aggressive and early testing and contact tracing, complemented by quarantines, treatment, and measures to keep first responders safe, combined with measures to restrict movement and contact.

Such steps, despite the disruptions they cause, must be sustained until therapies and a vaccine emerge.

Crucially, this robust and cooperative effort should be guided by the World Health Organization, a member of the United Nations family; countries acting on their own— as they must for their people—will not get the job done for all.

Second, tackle the devastating social and economic dimensions of the crisis.

The virus is spreading like wildfire, and is likely to move swiftly into the Global South, where health systems face constraints, people are more vulnerable, and millions live in densely populated slums or crowded settlements for refugees and internally displaced persons. Fuelled by such conditions, the virus could devastate the developing world and then re-emerge where it was previously suppressed. In our interconnected world, we are only as strong as the weakest health systems.

Clearly, we must fight the virus for all of humanity, with a focus on people, especially the most affected: women, older persons, youth, lowwage workers, small and medium enterprises, the informal sector and vulnerable groups.

The United Nations has just issued reports documenting how the viral contagion has become an economic contagion, and setting out the financing needed to address the shocks. The International Monetary Fund has declared that we have entered a recession as bad as or worse than in 2009.

We need a comprehensive multilateral response amounting to a double-digit percentage of global Gross Domestic Product.

Developed countries can do it by

Ending the pandemic everywhere is both a moral imperative and a matter of enlightened self-interest.

At this unusual moment, we cannot resort to the usual tools. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. We face a colossal test, which demands decisive, coordinated and innovative action from all, for all. themselves, and some are indeed doing it. But we must massively increase the resources available to the developing world by expanding the capacity of the IMF, namely through the issuance of special drawing rights, and of the other international financial institutions so that they can rapidly inject resources into the countries that need them.

I know this is difficult as nations find themselves increasing domestic spending by record amounts. But that spending will be in vain if we don’t control the virus.

Coordinated swaps among central banks can also bring liquidity to emerging economies. Debt alleviation must also be a priority—including immediate waivers on interest payments for 2020.

Third, recover better.

We simply cannot return to where we were before Covid-19 struck, with societies unnecessarily vulnerable to crisis. The pandemic has reminded us, in the starkest way possible, of the price we pay for weaknesses in health systems, social protections and public services. It has underscored and exacerbated inequalities, above all gender inequity, laying bare the way in which the formal economy has been sustained on the back of invisible and unpaid care labor. It has highlighted ongoing human rights challenges, including stigma and violence against women.

Now is the time to redouble our efforts to build more inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change and other global challenges. The recovery must lead to a different economy. Our roadmap remains the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.

The United Nations system is fully mobilized: supporting country responses, placing our supply chains at the world’s disposal, and advocating for a global cease-fire.

Ending the pandemic everywhere is both a moral imperative and a matter of enlightened self-interest.

At this unusual moment, we cannot resort to the usual tools. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. We face a colossal test, which demands decisive, coordinated and innovative action from all, for all.

Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

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nherently relational, human beings need to interact with each other as part of their daily needs. During this crisis, so much gratitude has been conveyed to our health personnel, law enforcers, and people in the food supply chain. Yet we should also thank the people behind our communications infrastructure that have allowed government to share vital information about the pandemic and have provided well-meaning Filipinos to exchange ideas and solutions as well as comic relief that help us keep our sanity during this quarantine period. Movies from Netflix and video clips from YouTube, the little things that help us stay at home, would be impossible without Internet connectivity. Much as we pray for our frontliners, we should also pray for our backliners— the men and women who maintain our telecommunication lines and Internet connections, without whom, this “whole of government” campaign would be harder to sustain.

For the past two weeks, I assume most employees use digital technologies to do work from home (WFH), whose arrangements entail the use of either MS Teams or Skype for Business, to name a few. Personally, I have been using much of MS Outlook to keep me abreast of what’s happening in the workplace. I tried Zoom as part of our online educational learning efforts in Ateneo Law School. In terms of checking up on relatives, our family holds daily online meetings via FB Messenger.

My daughter, a self-appointed chef in the house, shares pictures of her masterpiece dishes via Telegram.

Most of my friends stay connected via Viber while a few friends from abroad do it via WhatsApp. I listen to my favorite preaching (Rick Warren and Steven Furtick) and informational channels (TedTalks and the Bible Project) via Podcast. And,

of course, majority of the Filipinos interact either through Facebook or Instagram. These are just some of the creative ways where human beings can stay abreast of what’s happening with the world around them and entertain themselves during this lockdown. Without connectivity, staying at home would be close to impossible.

But, too much of anything can be detrimental instead of being productive. Information overload can bog down government from making timely decisions. Spending too much time watching movies and TV series can make people lethargic and complacent, not realizing that this lockdown will inevitably end, sooner or later. Monitoring current events via social media can be overwhelming or destructive as I noticed some already arguing quite lengthily online over things that are beyond

Bloomberg Opinion

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riting to shareholders this week, BlackRock Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink ruminated on how business and society will be reshaped by the searing experience of the new coronavirus: “People worldwide are fundamentally rethinking the way we work, shop, travel and gather. When we exit this crisis, the world will be different.

Investors’ psychology will change.

Business will change. Consumption will change. And we will be more deeply reliant on our families and each other to stay safe.”

I had a similar epiphany this week while trying to cut my own hair—it turns out my regular $30 haircut isn’t

as essential as I’d thought. Preparing a meal for my family later that evening made me think that eating out or getting dinner delivered isn’t as rewarding as home cooking. Right now the do-it-yourself version also feels a whole lot safer, and probably will do for a while.

Compared to the courage shown by medical workers and those in other essential functions, and the devastation wrought by coronavirus on already vulnerable communities, many of us in the western world have it easy. We’re asked to do no more than stay home. But in between worrying about our jobs, our parents and how to entertain or home-school children, we’re reevaluating priorities. What will we do differently when this is over? What will we prize more and what will we give up?

their control. Facebook has been the favorite venue for critics, bashers, propagandists, opportunists and, of course, fake news. To know what’s worthwhile to share or post or even “like” has been challenging. After all, there has been a multitude of trollers, which has been politicizing all kinds of events, even before the launch of the government campaign against the virus. Those who spend a lot of time on social media must be cautious in terms of liking, posting comments, or sharing what they see online. As my friend Jay Jaboneta would always say, “think before you click.” By reason of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (RA 11469), particularly Section 6(6), “individuals or groups creating, perpetrating, or spreading false information regarding the Covid-19 crisis on social media and other platforms, such information having no valid of beneficial effect on the population, and are clearly geared to promote chaos, panic, anarchy, fear, or confusion” are subject to a “penalty of two months jail time or a fine of P10,000 to P1 million or both.” So, staying online can be hazardous to our health and can even lead to jail time, when done irresponsibly.

Still, we have to stay online during this crisis. At all times and without any concern for any overload, we must remain online, but only with our God. And it does not require any special gadget or technology to stay online with Him. Especially now that we have been blessed with so much time on our hands, we should spend more time with Him. It can be done through a planned prayer, as in Sunday worship or Bible study (online), or spontaneously, such as by way of silent moments with Him every morning.

Due to His omnipresence, we can talk to Him in our bedroom, while running or biking, in the kitchen or anywhere we have time to pray.

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Many have prayed for a vaccine to end this crisis. Some have prayed for unity in the country. Others have prayed for the safety of their loved ones and for the protection of those in the front lines. What most people perhaps fail to remember is that authentic prayer begins with a heart devoted to God. Devotion comes only after you get to know Him, through His word. Just like how we ask our human fathers for things, we only get what we ask for based on their wisdom and grace. I recently learned to end my prayers with “thy will be done,” just as Jesus taught us. During His life on Earth, Jesus shared: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). In agony, Jesus prayed and surrendered, prior to His crucifixion, “Not my will, but yours be done”(Luke 22:44). Remember, God’s sovereign rule tells us, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10).

In the words of author Meg Bucher, “the Holy Spirit searches our heart and knows its intentions and motivations. When we submit our lives into His sovereign hands, we can confidently pray, “Your will be done.” In the Bible, 1 John 5:14-15 tells us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of Him.” With absolute certainty, our Father knows what’s best for us.

Staying online with God, especially these days, is not about bending His will to get what we ask for.

As such, we Filipinos can always pray, “Lord, allow us to heal as one...but thy will be done.”

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

Managing business risks in times of high volatility Filbert Tsai

DEBIT CREDIT Part Two

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he country is now on its fourth week of coping up with Covid-19 turmoil. Business enterprises, from the smallest MSMEs to the largest conglomerates, have been addressing the risks and problems never ever before encountered in the past. Highlighted below are the more pressing concerns.

1. Employee absenteeism With a high contagion rate and current known infected locations within key business areas of the Philippines, together with the announcement of Code Red by the DOH, employees, especially those working in high risk areas or functions (e.g., office buildings, front desk or recruitment), will likely consider the health risk of going to work in these times.

Other than absenteeism, employ-

ees engaged in higher infection risk areas (e.g., public transport, malls, etc.) might consider abandoning work to minimize contraction risks.

2. Infection event An infection event occurs when an employee contracts the virus, confirmed or suspected, such that the workplace needs to be disinfected and employees will be home quarantined (unless otherwise required by the DOH in the future) for trace testing. In this

What I learned from trying to cut my own hair

By Chris Bryant

Monday, April 6, 2020

Once the immediate battle to protect employees and remain solvent has passed, the business world will have to confront these questions too.

Two themes stand out: Instead of visiting far-flung places and seeking out mass entertainment, I’m sure there will be a bias toward more modest, local activities. And where the coronavirus has exposed dependency or vulnerability, as with the business world’s complex cross-border supply chains, we’ll seek more security and resilience.

Looming above all of this is the damage that the lockdowns are inflicting on people’s incomes. The longer the economic shutdown lasts, the more reluctant the world’s consumers will be to spend, period. With more than 10 million Americans filing new unemployment claims in the past

fortnight, the omens aren’t good.

In the worst affected sectors such as travel, hospitality and leisure, businesses are already facing a bleaker future. Increased consumer awareness about the negative environmental and social impact of mass tourism has now been compounded by the realization that people on planes and pleasure boats carried the virus around the globe. Lufthansa AG’s boss, Carsten Spohr, thinks the German airline will have to shrink because the economy will be smaller than before. Easyjet Plc’s founder, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, said similar this week when calling on the carrier to cancel a big order from Airbus SE. Even once travel restrictions are lifted, demand for cruises may remain weak for a “significant length

likely event, business operations will automatically shutdown and transition into telecommuting arrangements adopted to avoid business disruptions.

Companies not prepared to shutdown and transition to prolonged telecommuting during an infection event are likely to suffer financially.

3. Commercial losses During these periods of heightened fear of contracting the virus, many service businesses and establishment-based businesses are starting to feel the slump of consumers’ foot traffic in key commercial areas. Further, with the cancellation of most planned holidays in the Philippines, businesses that rely on tourists will have to seriously plan ahead.

4. Supply chain disruptions Companies that depend on imported materials (e.g., raw materials or finished goods) have suffered from production delays as China has halted many manufacturing operations to minimize the contagion risks in mega factories within China. With the virus expected to

last over several months, businesses with high reliance on imported products will have to manage their supply chain risks.

5. Cash flow risks One of the biggest risks that smaller companies with unstable cash flows is to manage the limited working capital currently available matched with a fast cash burn to payoff operating expenses during these volatile times. With a looming potential to fully halt business operations, companies will have to be prepared for sustained cash outflow amid low cash inflows.

I will address in my column next week the coping mechanisms that may be employed by business enterprises in addressing these challenges.

of time,” Carnival Corp. warned. The beleaguered company had to offer bond-buyers an 11.5 percent interest rate to get them to back a $4 billion debt offering. That’s a bad sign.

Fitness is another industry that relies on cramming people into confined spaces. Until recently it was booming but customers are discovering much cheaper ways to work out. Having sampled online classes and the timesaving benefit of exercising at, or close to, home, some memberships won’t be renewed. Good news for Peloton Interactive Inc.’s indoor cycling business, perhaps not for Planet Fitness Inc. or The Gym Group Plc. Until coronavirus came along, the tech world seemed hell-bent on taking agency away from individuals and consigning ownership to the dustbin. Why learn to cook when you can

have food delivered in 30 minutes?

Why own a car when you can take an Uber? Why look after your gadgets, when those nice people at Apple will fix them for you. But as my colleague Adam Minter pointed out this week, it’s only in a crisis that you discover the drawbacks of not being able to repair your own phone.

There will be winners from this realignment too. Right now, auto sales are collapsing in Europe because you can’t go to a showroom and you’re not meant to drive far, but the freedom and security of owning a vehicle might cause sales to rebound more quickly than other discretionary purchases (provided of course that governments can curb unemployment). In China, emerging from the first virus wave, cautious consumers have begun returning to car dealers.

To be continued Filbert Tsai is a Certified Public Accountant and is the chief strategist at UpSmart Strategy Consulting Inc. This column accepts contributions from the business community dealing on the various aspects of relevant concerns of the community. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com.

A8 Monday, April 6, 2020

Chinese doctors to share technical advice on Covid-19

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By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

S promised, a dozen medical experts deployed by the Chinese government to share technical advice with the Philippines on the prevention and control of Covid-19 arrived in Manila on Sunday, along with another batch of donated supplies like face masks, face shields and ventilators.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III led the welcome party for the Chinese team, whose members are said to be experts in infectious disease prevention and control, clinic treatment, and laboratory testing.

They will work closely with the Department of Health for 15 days, and exchange with their Filipino counterparts China’s own experience in controlling the novel coronavirus, which began in Wuhan in late November 2019 and turned China’s manufacturing hub into ground zero, infecting and killing thousands.

The visiting Chinese team will not take part in any direct clinical diagnosis or treatment.

To boost the Philippines’s arsenal against Covid-19, the chartered flight also carried dona-

tions from the Chinese government—300,000 surgical masks, 30,000 medical N95 masks, 5,000 medical protective suits, 5,000 medical face shields, and 30 noninvasive ventilators.

Also welcoming the Chinese team were Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Atty. Brigido J. Dulay and Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.

The welcome committee included as well Michael Tan, president of LT Group Inc. and vice president of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. Locsin thanked China for its support to the Philippines in its fight against the pandemic and

affirmed the DFA’s commitment to advancing cooperation with China on this crucial issue.

For his part, Ambassador Huang said: “During the time of crisis, the Chinese government and people feel keenly for the health and safety of the Filipino people. We will always stand together with the Philippine government and people to cope with the challenges and overcome the epidemic.”

During the handover of the medical supplies at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Huang added: “I hope the arrival of this team will help the Philippines improve its ability of epidemic prevention and control as well as diagnosis and treatment,” noting that the Chinese doctors “have had frontline experience in Hubei province [in the] fight against the epidemic.”

DOLE seeks ₧5B more for lockdown-affected workers T HE Department of Labor a nd Employ ment (DOLE) on Sunday said it is seeking an additional P5 bil lion for its prog rams for workers affected by the Covid19-induced lockdown.

This, after the number of applicants for its Covid-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) and the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers ( T UPA D)-Ba ra ngay ko, Bahay Ko (BKBK) program reached 600,000—almost twice the original target number of beneficiaries for both programs.

“The labor department would need another P5 billion for the remainder of the month to help more workers affected by the Covid-19 crisis,” Labor Secretary Silvestre

H. Bello III said.

As of April 4, a total of 102,895 formal sector workers had received the P5,000 cash assistance under CAMP, and nearly 80,000 informal sector workers benefited from TUPAD-BKBK. Bello said they have released P622 million of their P1.5-billion funds for CAMP and TUPAD beneficiaries.

They expect that by mid-April, they would have used all of the initial allocated funding for CAMP and TUPAD-BKBK to assisted 350,000 Covid-affected workers, the labor chief said.

Labor coalition Nagkaisa asked DOLE to hold an online meeting for the members of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (NTIPC) on Wednesday to dis-

cuss reforms in CAMP’s implementation, among others.

It said it got reports that some workers in several barangays covered by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon received minimal to zero aid from government in the past three weeks.

Nagkaisa also plans to raise these matters at the emergency TIPC meeting: National Action Plan for Covid-19; food and other basic necessities for workers during quarantine; guaranteed income and financial support to MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises); 14-day quarantine leave for patients under investigation (PUI) and persons under monitoring (PUM) due to Covid-19. Samuel P. Medenilla

‘Extend community quarantine while mass testing is ongoing’

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IFTING the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon just when the mass testing for Covid-19 is set to start on April 14, is a futile exercise that wastes the sacrifice people made for the monthlong lockdown because it would cause the number of infections to balloon, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said, raising serious concerns over the weekend.

“As I see it, if we open the cities prematurely and allow people to move about as before, the big risk is we don't know who's infected or not.

We won’t know if they can infect others or not,” warned Gatchalian in a radio interview.

Gatchalian, in a mix of English and Filipino, added that “the sacrifices everyone made in the 30 days under ECQ would have been for naught” since mass testing is just about to commence. “We go back to our original problem” of risking quick contamination as people mingle on public transportation and in work places everywhere, he explained.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Manage-ment of Emerging Infectious

Diseases (IATF) is set to finalize on Monday its recommendation to President Duterte on the possibility of the lifting, extending or expanding the ECQ in Luzon, which ends April 13.

During the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said they will be using available latest “scientific data and evidence” of their findings from experts as basis for the recommendation.

“We will discuss this tomorrow [April 6] so we could recommend to President Duterte, who will ultimately make the decision [for the ECQ],” Nograles said.

Among the factors in their decision are the epidemiological trends; health capacities; social, economic and security concerns related to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Last Friday, Nograles said the IATF started discussions for the recommendations.

However, the existing data and models on the epidemiological trends presented to the IATF members at that time were“inconclusive.”

The presented models include doubling time, acceleration, or deceleration of new cases.

Lawmakers

Gatchalian is among the most vocal of a growing number of lawmakers openly supporting an extension of the ECQ, worried that without the mass testing that would give authorities a clearer picture of who are infected, simply letting people out of their houses on April 13 could imperil thousands of workers.

Earlier, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Joey Salceda advocated extending the ECQ. In the Senate, Gatchalian's view is shared by Minority Leader Franklin Drilon.

“The economy is one of the important considerations for deciding on an extension.

But there’s the most basic consideration we all must focus on in fighting Covid-19," said Gatchalian on Saturday in a radio interview, and “that is mass testing.” Butch Fernandez, Samuel P. Medenilla

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, April 6, 2020

B1

PSALM pares down debt to ₧417.88B

T

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.

(PSALM) has reduced its principal financial obligations to P417.88 billion last February, from P422.011 billion recorded at the end of 2019.

PSALM President Irene Joy Besido-Garcia, in a text message, said the state firm’s total principal financial obligation as of February

28, 2020, is P417.88 billion. This amount consists of debts, P273.32 billion; and IPP (Independent Power Producer) lease, P144.56 billion.

At end-2019, PSALM reported that its financial obligations were cut

by P27.18 billion to P422.011 billion.

PSALM is the entity created by the Epira, the law that restructured the power industry by privatizing the assets of the National Power Corp. (NPC).

The obligation transferred to PSALM was at a high of P1.24 trillion. This is on top of the P16 billion loans of electric cooperatives (ECs) with the National Electrification Administration assumed

by PSALM. Funds in settling PSALM’s assumed financial obligations are sourced from collections from its

power generation, privatization proceeds and universal charge (UC).

PSALM has successfully adopted new disposal modes and simplified the public bidding procedures to attract more bidders. It also entered into short-term lease agreements over certain assets that are not yet scheduled for privatization in order to raise revenues.

For this year, Garcia said among PSALM’s goals is the liquidation of its maturing financial obligations with a target net reduction amounting to P11.943 billion.

“Despite all the challenges created by the Covid-19 [coronavirus

DOTr, 2GO to roll out ‘quarantine ships’ T

he Department of Transportation (DOTr) said it has partnered with 2GO Shipping to turn passenger vessels into “quarantine ships,” which will be operational by next week.

The DOTr said the move is aimed at ruling out the possible spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) infection for returning seafarers and other overseas Filipino workers who are required to undergo 14-day quarantine.

As proposed by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on March 22, private passenger ships will be converted into temporary quarantine facilities as authorities expect more repatriates to return to the country.

Currently, 2GO Shipping has agreed to convert two of their ships into quarantine ships that can serve 1,500 patients.

The Inter Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), in

Aramco recovers to IPO level

S

audi Aramco shares have shaken off the ravages of an oil-price war to regain the company’s $1.7 trillion valuation achieved in its record-breaking initial public offering.

The stock rose as much as 2.8 percent to 32.55 Saudi riyals on Sunday in Riyadh, trading above the 32 riyals IPO level it surrendered a month ago.

The slump reflects a dispute over production levels between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Aramco shares retreated as much as 27 percent from a peak in December to the low plumbed last month, also dragged down by a decline in global crude oil demand as governments locked down economies to fight the coronavirus.

Saudi Aramco is at the center a price fight between the kingdom and Russia. The Saudi oil giant delayed the release of its key monthly oil pricing list that was due on Sunday until later this week. That will allow it to wait for an indication on what may happen at an OPEC+ meeting planned for Thursday to discuss crude production levels.

Oil posted a record weekly jump last week on hopes that global producers will agree historic output cuts. Bloomberg News

a meeting on March 30, gave the DOTr and PCG the green light to implement the operation of quarantine ships as temporary facilities for persons under monitoring (PUMs) or those who have traveled to Covid-19 affected areas and those who show symptoms but have no history of exposure.

The project will be implemented in close coordination with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Bureau of Quarantine. This is also expected to unburden hospitals that are now operating at their full capacity.

“We must always be prepared to face worst-case scenarios. Most hospitals in Metro Manila have already pleaded for help in attending to Covid-19 patients. Some of them can no longer accept more patients due to overcapacity. And that is what we are trying to address here,” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said in a statement.

The DOTr said the PCG will also make sure that there will be un-

hampered and orderly operations of quarantine ships, and that the deliver y of effective onboard health care, subject to standard environment controls, hygiene protocols, as well as maritime safety and security regulations, are observed.

“We are grateful for the support and partnership we had with 2GO. Negotiations with them went well and so, two ships are now awaiting their deployment to serve our people. With this meaningful cause, we are setting an example for other nations how to combat this pandemic,” said PCG Commandant Admiral Joel Garcia.

Meanwhile, DOTr OIC Undersecretary for Administrative Service and IATF official representative Artemio U. Tuazon Jr. said efforts of the DOTr to reach out to various shipping companies have resulted in more shipping companies expressing their intention to join the project.

Efforts to gather the support of shipping companies for

the important project were also supported by PCG Commandant Garcia and Vice Admiral Narciso Vingson Jr. “The DOTr has been continuously reaching out to various shipping companies to seek their support for the project. A lot of them have already signified their intent to make use of their ships as floating quarantine facilities.

We are grateful that more of them are expressing their willingness to cooperate with government during this very critical situation,” said Tuazon.

The DOTr said the Philippine Ports Authority will perform support functions to ensure smooth administrative and logistics operations.

As part of safety protocols to mitigate the spread of the virus, the capacity of each ship will be limited in order to observe proper physical distancing. The ships will also be subjected to inspection by the DOH to ensure their compliance with other health requirements.

SEC warns public against groups exploiting pandemic

By VG Cabuag @villygc

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has war ned the public against individuals and groups taking advantage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis to defraud investors and consumers.

In separate advisories, the SEC flagged at least 14 groups engaged in unauthorized investment-taking activities and other fraudulent activities since the declaration of a national public health emergency following the confirmation of local transmission of Covid-19 in early March.

In its most recent advisories, the SEC urged the public to stop investing in Maginvestka.online or MIK.O, which trades bitcoin against the US dollar and AzenzoOnline, which operates as an independent crowdfunding platform.

MIK.O is operated by a person or persons using the pseudonym “Mag Forex.” It entices the public to invest with a guaranteed 2 percent return daily, or a compounded interest of 200 percent total for a period of 100 days.

Azenzo-Online, meanwhile, boasts about a “Deposit-Dona-

tion, Withdrawal-Blessing,” a scheme akin to that being offered by the Kapa-Community Ministry International. It promises a 30 percent return in as early as five, 10 or 15 days and a 100-percent “Donation Return” after 20 days.

Based on SEC records, neither MIK.O nor Azenzo-Online registered as a corporation or partnership. Furthermore, they did not secure prior registration or license to solicit investments from the public, as required under Sections 8 and 12 of Republic Act (RA) 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code.

“We encourage the public to carefully study and examine offers and invitations to participate in schemes promising easy money especially in these difficult times,” said SEC Chairman Emilio B. Aquino.

“On our part, the Commission will continue monitoring investment-solicitation activities online and on the ground to stop unscrupulous groups from putting any other burden on Filipinos, especially the vulnerable, amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.

The SEC also flagged the activities of individuals and groups using

the names of certain foundations.

The agency warned the public against a text scam using the name of President Duterte.

Under the scheme, one would receive a text message stating that he or she won P750,000 from the “President Rodrigo Duterte Charity Foundation” through an electronic raffle. The SEC said it is not registered as a corporation.

Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of fraudulent investment schemes may be held criminally liable and penalized with a maximum fine of P5 million or imprisonment of 21 years or both under the Securities Regulation Code, the agency said.

Those who engage in text scams also face criminal prosecution for violation of the Revised Penal Code, the Cyber Crime Law and Data Privacy Act. In addition, RA 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, penalizes those participating in cyber incidents that make use or take advantage of the current crisis to prey on the public through scams, phishing, fraudulent e-mails, or other similar acts with two-month imprisonment or a maximum fine of P1 million or both.

disease 2019] situation and the enhanced community quarantine, PSALM is still able to remit payments not only for the principal financial obligations, but also for the interests, the borrowing costs as well as all other payables of PSALM,” said Garcia.

From P449.19 billion in 2018, PSALM cut its principal financial obligations to P422.011 billion in 2019, down by 6.05 percent or P27.18 billion, an improvement over the firm's original target of slashing its debt by P15.21 billion.

Other plans of PSALM for the year include the privatization of the Malaya Thermal Power Plant

(TPP) in Pililia, Rizal and to start the privatization activities for the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan Hydroelectric Power Complex in Kalayaan, Laguna.

PSALM is also targeting to maintain its 93-percent collection efficiency on current power sales by collecting P10.47 billion this year and another P754 million from delinquent and overdue accounts, Garcia said.

Through the efficient administration of the UCs, Garcia said PSALM is also aiming to collect P30.59 billion this year, equivalent to a collection efficiency of 98 percent.

HARI extends warranty coverage for customers

H

yundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI), the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines, said it will extend the coverage of all Hyundai passenger car owners whose warranties lapsed within the enhanced community quarantine period (ECQ) period until May 31.

HARI said Hyundai vehicle owners currently enjoy an industryfirst five-year UNLImited mileage warranty.

“The well-being and safety of our employees and customers are our highest priority. We understand that our customers have no access to vehicle servicing during these extraordinary times. We wish to set their mind at east by extending their warranty coverage,” HARI President and CEO Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo said in a statement.

Worldwide, Hyundai Motor Co. has extended the warranty coverage of an estimated 1.2 million customers.

In a related development, the company said it was mobilizing support for frontliners in the Philippines with an initial donation of 2,500 personal protective equipment (PPE) to a leading public hospital.

HARI said this will be followed by the distribution of PPE to other public health facilities, and schools and churches where frontliners are housed.

“We are closely monitoring Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] developments and we are one with the nation in fighting this epidemic.

We are in awe and are grateful to our medical workers who are tirelessly working to protect and care for all their patients,” said Agudo.

Local Pepsi-Cola taps former Yokohama exec as president

P

epsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI) recently announced the appointment of seasoned industry professional, Frederick D. Ong, as its new president and CEO, effective February 16.

"I feel honored to have been chosen to lead a dynamic team of ethical and purposedriven individuals who are leading the industry to transition into a more sustainable business model that puts priority on the people, environment, and the future of the world," Ong said in a statement.

Before joining PCPPI, Ong was the vice president and group general manager and chief marketing lead for the Yokohama Group of Cos. and the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiabased Century Motolite Battery SDn Bhd. With over 25 years of senior-level experience, Ong has a wide experience in commercial management in various sectors, including fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in food, personal care and pharmaceutical, consumer electronics, and automotive supply industries.

PCPPI said Ong's management style demonstrates the ability to manage, coach and lead high performance teams across

cultures. Futhermore, Ong is also known for driving innovative business improvements, which is aligned with the sustainable business approach of PCPPI. "I hope to add the most value in leading PCPPI, while considering the impact of our decisions and activities on our ability to achieve our long-term goals to Win as One," he added.

A graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts degree major in Economics, Ong's career highlights include senior positions in brand management, strategy, trade marketing, sales and sales operations, general management, and regional management experience for both B2C and B2B industry.

PCPPI is the exclusive bottler of PepsiCo beverages in the Philippines. Lotte Chilsung, one of the biggest beverage companies in South Korea, is the lead shareholder of PCPPI as an independently listed company and comanages it with PepsiCo. The group manufactures and sells wellknown brands such as Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, 7-Up, Mirinda, Mug, Gatorade, Tropicana, Lipton, and Premier. Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, April 6, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

April 3, 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 PSBANK PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG MEDCO HLDG NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE

45.85 99.25 60.6 19.98 7.6 37 19 42 81.5 17 108 53 14.9 2.69 0.26 0.62 160 1580

46 99.3 60.65 20 7.8 37.05 19.04 43.5 103 17.1 108.5 53.5 15.2 2.71 0.27 0.69 169.5 1620

46 101.7 61 20.2 7.56 38.8 19.12 42.45 103 16.7 111.4 53.7 15.2 2.65 0.27 0.68 168 1580

46 101.7 61.1 20.2 7.85 38.8 19.2 42.45 103 17.1 111.9 53.75 15.2 2.8 0.27 0.69 169.5 1620

45.8 98.3 60.1 19.98 7.54 36.7 18.9 42 103 16.7 107.1 53.5 15 2.65 0.27 0.68 168 1580

46 99.3 60.6 19.98 7.6 37 19 42 103 17.1 108.5 53.5 15.2 2.71 0.27 0.69 169.5 1620

5500 2335270 1613260 85400 27200 4677800 3065900 2400 10 175400 926700 1880 2100 46000 40000 123000 120 35

252800 232086617.5 97749159 1711108 209113 173995360 58295204 101710 1030 2929580 100559070 100950 31820 122750 10800 84630 20215 55500

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 VICTORIAS CONCRETE A CONCRETE B CEMEX HLDG EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CROWN ASIA EUROMED MABUHAY VINYL CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

2 0.99 27.55 0.153 16.94 49 238 9.76 2.58 2.3 10 18.6 7.83 14.52 6.32 2.46 75.05 13.72 3.19 4.81 8.04 49 0.52 1.16 30.6 102 4.5 4.61 1.78 4.84 1.4 4.35 0.103 102.9 0.85 2.35 46 46 1.03 7.38 5.03 11.7 6.09 0.68 0.55 1.85 1.91 3.03 25.05 0.79 4.45 0.95 0.75 6.3

2.01 1 28.2 0.162 17.16 49.5 240 9.79 2.59 2.42 10.3 18.7 7.95 15.08 6.48 2.5 97.7 13.88 3.43 4.9 8.05 49.4 0.53 1.17 32 103.2 5.5 4.62 1.79 4.85 1.44 4.4 0.106 103 0.86 2.72 65 61.9 1.04 7.53 5.05 11.98 6.1 0.75 0.57 1.87 1.92 3.1 28.95 0.8 4.52 0.98 0.76 6.38

2 0.97 27.45 0.14 17.04 48.95 232 9.6 2.71 2.3 10.3 19 7.81 15.06 6.49 2.45 94 14 3.5 4.9 7.98 50 0.5 1.19 32.9 102.3 5.5 4.68 1.81 4.89 1.37 4.4 0.106 102.9 0.89 2.51 46.2 50 1.03 7.7 5.1 11.98 6.11 0.75 0.55 1.91 1.9 3.1 25.05 0.82 4.45 0.94 0.78 6.23

2.04 1 28.3 0.165 17.16 49 240 9.85 2.79 2.44 10.7 19.2 7.95 15.06 6.51 2.5 99 14 3.5 4.95 8.1 50.65 0.53 1.2 32.9 105 5.5 4.68 1.81 4.95 1.44 4.4 0.106 104.8 0.9 2.8 46.2 50.1 1.06 7.7 5.18 11.98 6.15 0.75 0.57 1.91 1.93 3.1 25.05 0.82 4.51 0.99 0.78 6.55

1.95 0.97 27 0.14 16 48.95 227 9.5 2.59 2.3 10.3 18.5 7.71 13 6.31 2.4 85 13.7 3.5 4.81 7.92 48.55 0.5 1.16 32.9 102 5.5 4.6 1.78 4.79 1.37 4.4 0.102 102.2 0.84 2.51 46 48 1.02 7.35 5.03 11.98 6.09 0.75 0.55 1.87 1.89 3.1 25.05 0.79 4.45 0.94 0.74 6.23

2.01 1 28.2 0.164 17.16 49 240 9.76 2.59 2.44 10.3 18.6 7.95 13 6.48 2.5 97.7 13.88 3.5 4.81 8.05 49.4 0.53 1.16 32.9 102 5.5 4.62 1.79 4.84 1.44 4.4 0.106 103 0.86 2.8 46 48 1.03 7.53 5.03 11.98 6.1 0.75 0.57 1.87 1.91 3.1 25.05 0.79 4.45 0.95 0.76 6.3

3996000 4462000 681400 250000 364500 2800 193150 1843300 3442000 4000 12000 318100 138000 200 155700 2270000 210 124700 4000 3587000 3335400 312300 306000 2992000 100 846300 700 413000 131000 547000 680000 1000 280000 786520 1282000 163000 800 800 1409000 197400 693700 1700 1017300 8000 251000 25000 423000 4000 100 253000 826000 483000 72000 1009800

133200 -83643382 -13493974 192977 -40417 -43912440 -44324468 -2903930 -7401505 -

8018070 4328500 19033545 37560 6167060 137165 45432114 17899949 9072570 9340 123776 6011074 1081063 2806 1009265 5574760 19514 1725086 14000 17538660 26980762 15400430 159750 3522560 3290 87392308 3850 1910960 234590 2651710 964630 4400 29180 81131660 1117850 412930 36830 39010 1459020 1485141 3509310 20366 6214833 6000 138090 47150 804750 12400 2505 200480 3675900 463870 54550 6443916

-663820 -3158120 -432570 19600 6179098 -5857376 -2465160 -83430 -3764604 -771366 -1619600 4750 628830 -4646700 -241657 237435 1040 -54712047 -1650 -969580 -3420 -560879.9997 3194849 -594190 -1154211 -579368 127249 -55000 -28350 -12400 -1548660 -15750 1928

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.52 0.53 0.53 0.53 0.51 0.52 2003000 1041630 5.5 5.7 5.5 5.7 5.41 5.7 69500 382014 ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP 451 455 463 463 451 451 965140 437600126 38.95 39.9 39.1 39.9 38 39.9 793800 31268375 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 7.03 7.04 6.9 7.03 6.78 7.03 1587500 11076389 1.49 1.5 1.66 1.66 1.5 1.5 3111000 4758910 AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR 5.98 6.24 6 6.26 6 6 11000 66026 0.5 0.51 0.5 0.51 0.495 0.51 139000 69650 ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B 0.52 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.56 1000 560 5 5.01 5 5.19 4.85 5.01 1869100 9340579 COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG 3.82 3.84 3.8 3.85 3.78 3.84 3234000 12390260 8 9 9.3 9.4 9.3 9.4 200 1870 FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL 399 401.4 405.2 407.6 395.2 399 207010 82905470 3.62 3.8 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 1000 3700 HOUSE OF INV 52.9 53.2 53.6 54 52.9 53.2 714140 38001123.5 JG SUMMIT LODESTAR 0.405 0.415 0.41 0.41 0.405 0.405 20000 8150 2.81 2.89 2.83 2.89 2.79 2.81 316000 886840 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 7.47 7.5 7.79 7.79 7.32 7.5 470300 3510967 0.48 0.52 0.44 0.52 0.44 0.52 82000 36240 MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV 2.45 2.46 2.51 2.54 2.44 2.46 24218000 59820190 0.81 0.84 0.83 0.84 0.83 0.84 1709000 1418510 SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID 199 200 172 220 172 200 29900 5917913 817 825 823 833 817.5 825 196500 162082285 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 92.95 93 93 95 92.6 93 216540 20339188 0.59 0.61 0.6 0.6 0.58 0.59 11000 6450 SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER 146 152.5 137.3 152.5 137.3 152.5 2690 407308 0.12 0.13 0.123 0.13 0.12 0.13 2460000 298500 ZEUS HLDG

273520 -169344738 14555750 -5296701 60000 -410444 552250 -26101664 -13128928 -863910 -1822617 -22475100 -14000 -2379020 -77178.5 -38086 22800

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.6 0.61 0.6 0.6 0.57 0.6 1729000 1033690 31.85 32 31.9 32.1 31.2 32 8311000 264271475 AYALA LAND ARANETA PROP 1.03 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.01 1.01 405000 420820 1.3 1.33 1.3 1.33 1.3 1.33 200000 261280 BELLE CORP A BROWN 0.5 0.51 0.53 0.53 0.5 0.51 1081000 552910 0.7 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 1000 790 CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES 0.119 0.139 0.12 0.12 0.119 0.12 1950000 233810 3.82 3.95 3.89 3.95 3.72 3.95 827000 3230040 CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP 0.36 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.365 480000 175200 16.12 16.14 16 16.16 15.96 16.12 109000 1754852 DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO 6.9 7 7 7.2 7 7 135500 948580 0.28 0.315 0.255 0.315 0.255 0.315 60000 16150 EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.93 0.9 0.91 4144000 3769960 0.74 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.75 173000 129310 GLOBAL ESTATE 11.6 11.9 11.8 11.9 11.6 11.6 112900 1324762 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV 0.73 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.69 0.74 393000 288730 0.74 0.75 0.62 0.74 0.62 0.74 77000 53190 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 2.52 2.54 2.62 2.65 2.51 2.52 45854000 117624960 0.146 0.148 0.149 0.149 0.143 0.148 3350000 490210 MRC ALLIED PRIMEX CORP 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 4000 6800 13.88 13.94 13.86 14.1 13.5 13.88 2655800 36538874 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.228 0.285 0.228 0.228 0.228 0.228 10000 2280 1.46 1.5 1.45 1.5 1.44 1.46 63000 92850 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.78 2.95 2.98 2.98 2.9 2.97 41000 121010 1.89 2 1.95 2 1.88 2 577000 1092490 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 29 29.05 29.15 29.4 28.6 29 7305300 211316060 3.4 3.54 3.6 3.6 3.41 3.54 89000 310640 VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME 1.16 1.17 1.16 1.18 1.15 1.15 132000 152420 4.03 4.04 4.23 4.24 4.03 4.03 333000 1357180 VISTA LAND

19745560 11000 78000 -327880 65700 412224 706920 1181950 -84568 5780860 -1700 11935566 -36680725 3500 -526140

SERVICES ABS CBN 15.98 16 15.8 16 15.6 16 144300 2295636 5.07 5.1 5.1 5.15 5.1 5.1 177400 909959 GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN 0.36 0.375 0.375 0.375 0.365 0.365 70000 25950 2040 2050 2006 2050 1978 2050 109870 223032065 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1118 1120 1120 1130 1110 1118 87310 97885435 2.53 3.09 2.53 2.53 2.53 2.53 10000 25300 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 1.58 1.59 1.59 1.63 1.55 1.58 17041000 27046450 0.073 0.078 0.077 0.077 0.076 0.077 400000 30600 ISLAND INFO NOW CORP 1.56 1.58 1.51 1.61 1.51 1.56 2412000 3785580 0.153 0.154 0.155 0.155 0.153 0.154 200000 30710 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 1.54 1.58 1.63 1.63 1.53 1.58 613000 959810 5.96 5.98 6.2 6.2 5.94 5.98 52000 314372 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS 15.02 17.28 15 17.48 15 17.48 1900 32468 2.55 2.56 2.57 2.6 2.54 2.56 1097000 2804660 CHELSEA 46.5 46.65 46 46.85 45.35 46.6 152600 7047280 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 70 70.8 72.5 73.75 70 70 2575920 182048192 11.12 11.98 12.48 12.48 11.12 11.98 8600 103566 LBC EXPRESS MACROASIA 4.23 4.25 4.3 4.47 4.15 4.25 4740000 20383080 1.39 1.42 1.49 1.49 1.37 1.39 737000 1036230 METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B 1.42 1.58 1.41 1.58 1.41 1.58 17000 24310 6.11 6.49 6.6 6.6 6 6.49 19800 121300 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.77 0.74 0.75 258000 194920 1.15 1.21 1.15 1.15 1.15 1.15 8000 9200 ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG 0.026 0.029 0.025 0.029 0.025 0.028 12900000 359800 0.385 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 140000 54600 WATERFRONT STI HLDG 0.39 0.395 0.4 0.4 0.395 0.395 3530000 1395950 2.04 2.25 2.14 2.28 2.1 2.25 44000 95340 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 5.87 5.98 6 6 5.68 5.98 2125300 12358090 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.6 1.79 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 1000 1600 1.3 1.37 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 573000 744900 LEISURE AND RES PREMIUM LEISURE 0.295 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.285 0.3 1650000 483250 4.72 4.73 5 5.03 4.71 4.72 3477000 16836960 ALLHOME METRO RETAIL 1.46 1.47 1.44 1.5 1.43 1.47 1066000 1576680 38.5 38.7 37.4 39.75 36.65 38.7 7325800 281174285 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 55.95 56 54.9 56.85 54.85 56 602950 33377309.5 130.1 131 132 132 130 131 706690 93281960 PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP 1.26 1.3 1.26 1.32 1.26 1.3 218000 278830 12.7 12.72 12.98 12.98 12.7 12.7 68200 871470 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.27 0.275 0.265 0.275 0.265 0.275 500000 135550 4.85 4.99 4.83 5.1 4.83 4.85 17000 82910 EASYCALL GOLDEN BRIA 335 370 350 378.8 350 378.8 110 38788 2.13 2.42 2.13 2.42 2.13 2.42 3000 6970 PAXYS 0.193 0.195 0.196 0.198 0.195 0.195 860000 167790 PRMIERE HORIZON

-74130915 -26514375 168030 395710 -118400 -105000 4500 -12800 -2012800 23322616 1240 2761640 6000 -1311950 -690276 -1600 7800 141239.9999 -124220 8116955 -24897087.5 -126820 -129080 -346856 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.7 10.86 10.86 10.86 10.86 10.86 6200 67332 APEX MINING 0.71 0.73 0.7 0.74 0.7 0.73 183000 133180 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.001 0.001 0.001 10000000 10000 ABRA MINING CENTURY PEAK 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 260000 676000 -390000 6.2 6.21 6.07 6.2 6.04 6.2 3400 20691 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 0.58 0.59 0.58 0.6 0.56 0.58 2874000 1669730 -74360 0.184 0.189 0.185 0.185 0.184 0.184 150000 27740 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.074 0.076 0.076 0.078 0.074 0.074 1250000 96570 0.072 0.088 0.09 0.09 0.089 0.089 50000 4460 LEPANTO B MARCVENTURES 0.55 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.58 165000 95700 0.9 0.93 0.86 0.94 0.86 0.9 65000 58840 -13500 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 1.53 1.54 1.58 1.58 1.53 1.53 3521000 5463960 -2097870 0.46 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.46 0.46 40000 18450 ORNTL PENINSULA 2 2.03 2.03 2.03 1.99 2 1145000 2,289,210( 2,000,109.9997) PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 11.8 11.82 11.74 11.82 11.48 11.82 1311200 15274902 2614024 5.13 5.24 5.39 5.39 5.1 5.27 5000 26152 -5140 ACE ENEXOR PHILODRILL 0.0075 0.0086 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 1000000 8000 3.99 4 4.2 4.4 3.97 4 800000 3289870 -108490 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 93.15 94.95 95 95 94.95 94.95 120 11399.5 AC PREF B2R 482 490 495 495 480 490 1160 558700 4850 96.5 99.5 99.5 99.5 99.5 99.5 50 4975 CPG PREF A DD PREF 97 97.4 97.8 97.8 97 97.25 2400 233902.5 101.5 108 107 108 107 108 4650 502010 FGEN PREF G GTCAP PREF B 980 989 980 980 980 980 180 176400 102 106 101.6 101.6 100.1 100.1 500 50089 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 995.5 996 996.5 996.5 996 996 1950 1942230 1015 1017 1016 1018 1016 1016 20300 20627400 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B 1022 1030 1022 1022 1022 1022 1000 1022000 75.3 75.8 75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5 87040 6571520 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D 73.4 73.75 73.55 73.55 73.4 73.4 53400 3924190 73.1 74.4 74.35 74.35 74.35 74.35 1990 147956.5 SMC PREF 2E 74.2 74.5 74.5 74.5 74.5 74.5 12000 894000 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G 73.8 75.1 73.75 73.75 73.75 73.75 700 51625

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS GMA HLDG PDR 4.86 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 153000 749700 -602700

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.71 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.7 0.71 30000 21560

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 1.88 1.9 1.91 1.98 1.88 1.9 134000 256620 19200 KEPWEALTH 5.9 6 6.04 6.04 5.9 6 19800 118089 0.48 0.48 0.47 0.48 0.46 0.48 940000 436350 XURPAS

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 80.95 81.45 80.6 81.75 80 80.95 10780 869883 -

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Clark locator to produce 2M face masks per month

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LARK FREEPORT—A locatorfirm inside this freeport is targeting to produce about 2 million face masks a month in view of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon (ECQ), according to the Clark Development Corp. (CDC).

Despite the lack of manpower, CDC said Yokoisada Philippines Corp. (YPC) will boost its production as the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) including surgical face masks has increased the past weeks.

YPC President Yuki Yokoi said his firm is only producing at about

20 percent of the total maximum capacity. The company can produce up to 10 million face masks under a full capacity with 300 workers.

“We are hopeful that once the ECQ is lifted on April 14, we can produce more face masks,” Yokoi said in a statement.

Yokoi in his meeting with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) officials said that the manufactured face masks will be distributed to various Philippine hospitals and other pharmaceutical firms to supply the demand and help prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Currently, YPC has about 100 regular employees and was assured

by DTI that additional manpower will be supplied in the coming weeks to reach the full production of face masks every month. About 50 workers have already been reporting for work.

Yokoi also thanked the CDC and the Philippine government for the opportunity to produce the much needed face masks to help save more lives. CDC has provided transporta-

tion for the essential workers of YPC. “Our company would like to help our frontliners by providing them quality face masks that will be made inside Clark,” Yokoi said.

The government has placed the entire Luzon island under ECQ to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which has already infected more than 3,000 persons, according to data from the Department of Health.

Demand for face masks is expected to rise after the government required all Luzon residents to wear it when leaving their homes to minimize the transmission of Covid-19.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said the face masks can either be store-bought or improvised.

LBC allots ₧50M to help ‘flatten the curve’

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BC is heeding the government's call to move for the nation during this time of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) by committing P50 million worth of supply of washable and reusable 2-ply masks to support communities and mitigate the virus' spread in at-risk areas.

The company said it has coordinated with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to distribute the face masks in denselypopulated areas where it is in short supply.

“The current situation calls for people to do their ‘part’: be it by staying at home or having to

risk their own safety by going to work, to treat the sick. For us at LBC, our ‘part’ is to move—together with our courageous frontliners, and join the fight,” said LBC Foundation Executive Director Nena L. Wuthrich in a statement.

“LBC is starting this mask program with hopes of being one with all Filipinos—to ‘flatten the curve.’ This initiative is also set to assist in educating the public more, on the vital function of masks to protect not just themselves, but also others around them. We believe that masks can and will save lives,” Wuthrich added.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices gained for the second straight week last week as investors' fears over the coronavirus disease 2019 subside, but volume has started to thin out.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index gained 80.35 points to close at 5,346.97 points.

“Trading was less volatile across the board as investors come to terms with the new normal. Here at the PSE, we were an outlier as our main index ended the week with some minor gains. This may be because most markets were coming off all-time highs while ours was already trading at undervalued levels,” said Christopher Mangun, research head at AAA Securities Inc. The main index was down 22 percent in March, one of the steepest drops in its recent history.

Trading was less volatile this week since investors stayed on the sidelines. Value of trade only averaged at P4.96 billion for the week.

Foreign investors dumped local shares all week long and were net sellers at P3.51 billion.

Other subindices all ended on the green with the exception of the Financials index which fell 33.50 points to close at 1,183.78 points.

The broader All Shares index gained 40.16 to 3,259.66, the Industrial index rose 229.43 to 6,433.97, the Holding Firms index added 123.41 to 5,265.52, the Property index climbed 43.01 to 2,824.16, the Services index increased 11.63 to 1,188.90 and the Mining and Oil index was up 159.40 to 4,261.87.

This week

Trading is expected to be less volatile during the Lenten Week as investors are now used to the new conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There will only be three trading days during the Holy Week as trading is suspended on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

“We are expecting the main index to trade within a 500-point range between support at 5,000 and resistance at 5,500. However, if we get any surprises, investors may trade irrationally which will result in a spike of volatility. This would disregard any technical and fundamental analysis,” said Mangun.

Inflation figures will be released this week and most are expecting a slowdown in the basket of prices as oil prices plummet and public transportation suspended for the more than half of the month of March.

“With the global environment on a standstill, this would be a good time to reflect on investment strategies,” broker 2TradeAsia said, adding that long-term positioning on select stocks is a must for an investor to ride the V-shaped recovery.

It sees immediate support of the main index at P5,000 and resistance at 5,500 points.

Stock picks

Broker 2TradeAsia picked grocery chain operators Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. and Puregold Price Club Inc., as the recent panic-buying behavior of the public in populated areas prompted a review of store traffic and its retail sales estimates for the year.

The broker said it is expecting a spike in same store sales growth of both grocery chain operator to a high double-digit rates during the first quarter of the year, from about 5 percent last year.

“Downside will be on possible inventory lapses if the ECQ [enhanced community quarantine] extends, especially if ports remain sub-optimal relative to households' buying behavior,” it said.

It said windfall should accrue to Puregold with its higher mass retail exposure and less operational expenses burden as against Robinsons Retail, which also operates department stores and other shopping malls that were closed during the quarantine.

Puregold is expected to post a 10-percent growth in earnings per share, but that of Robinsons Retail is expected to have contract by 5 percent.

Puregold shares closed at P38.70 apiece on Friday, while Robinsons Retail ended at P56 per share. VG Cabuag

mutual funds

April 3, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 177.67 -32.59% -11.27% -9.17% -29.47% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.875 -46.07% -14.95% -10.5% -36.69% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.4019 -41.39% -16.02% -11.57% -34.7% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.5988 -36.07% n.a. n.a. -33.25% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6043 -30.02% n.a. n.a. -28.85% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 3.8592 -29.58% -8.92% -8.34% -27.57% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.5986 -31.54% -13.01% n.a.

-29.87% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 68.42 -46.49% n.a. n.a. -33.78% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 35.3317 -31.94% -10.11% n.a.

-31.1% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 379.28 -30.15% -9.57% -8.23% -28.81% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 0.8009 n.a. n.a. n.a. -22.25% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 0.911 -30.45% -9.49% -7.51% -29.21% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 26.7205 -30.94% -8.8% -7.37% -29.49% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.6967 -32.72% n.a. n.a. -31.57% -31.1% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.599 -31.52% -9.53% -7.28% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 600.99 -31.48% -9.52% -7.5% -31.08% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.555 -39.97% -13.23% -11.16% -34.81% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 2.8244 -34.47% -10.38% -8.5% -32.9% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.6909 -31.5% -9.64% n.a. -30.97% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.5572 -30.9% -7.42% -6.31% -30% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 80.5404 -31.36% -9.04% -6.69% -31.13% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.8127 -21.05% -4.63% -4.33% -20.97% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.091 -14.13% -0.38% n.a. -20.87% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4145 -17.77% -6.28% -6.26% -9.49% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 1.8696 -19.13% -6.36% -4.66% -14.28% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.2362 -15.45% -3.42% -5.45% -15.02% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.1759 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-23.02% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.7332 -9.44% -1.95% -2.42% -11.71% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.1368 -14.78% -4.58% -4.46% -17.22% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 14.1012 -15.06% -4.5% -4.43% -16.86% -4.92% -3.82% -16.3% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.7794 -17.09% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.0238 -21.38% -5.67% -5.22% -21.74% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 0.8416 -15.74% n.a. n.a. -17.14% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7439 -25.59% n.a. n.a. -25.34% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.725 -27.28% n.a. n.a.

-27% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7265 -26% -7.7% -7.38% -25.47% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03759 4.13% 2.04% 1.33% -1.67% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.8665 -12.9% -2.83% -2.7% -16.51% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.2745 -10.89% -0.06% -0.09% -16.27% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $1 -7.3% -0.59% n.a. -11.41% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 360.44 3.8% 2.85% 2.29% 0.74% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9169 1.98% 0.7% -0.35% 0.78% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1474 4.65% 5.1% 5.07% 1% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2358 3.63% 2.22% 1.86% 0.49% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3567 3.87% 2.23% 1.19% -0.1% 1.44% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.3436 7.74% 2.24% -0.67% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.7526 4.07% 2.65% 1.28% -0.94% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9582 4.17% 1.17% 0.08% -0.63% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.0559 5.91% 4.05% 2.36% -0.65% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.6951 5.8% 3.62% 2.01% -0.35% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $466.76 2.91% 2.31% 2.42% -0.31% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.84 -1.04% 0.62% 0.55% -2.68% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1579 -0.59% 1.26% 1.4% -4.08% -1.16% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0255 1.19% 0.8% 0.89% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0463 -1.52% -0.65% -0.88% -4.46% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.341 3.72% 2.14% 1.87% -2.61% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0591519 1.87% 1.29% 1.25% -1.93% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1006 4.12% 1.79% 1.82% -2.35% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 126.75 3.68% 2.98% 2.26% 0.77% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.034 2.73% n.a. n.a.

0.75% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2534 4.97% 2.99% 1.6% -0.26% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2742 3.44% 2.98% 2.49% 0.76% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0397 1.7% n.a. n.a.

0.24% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,4 $0.85 n.a. n.a. n.a. -14.14% 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."

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

GSIS members told to go online to receive pensions

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ld-age and survivorship pensioners of state-run Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) do not need to personally appear anymore to the nearest GSIS office or kiosk to ensure continued receipt of their pension during the Luzon-wide lockdown.

The state-pension fund said pensioners who were unable to comply with the personal appearance requirement before March 2020 are now allowed to do it online.

In a statement on Friday, GSIS President and General Manager Rolando L. Macasaet said they decided to push through with the online service to ensure the safety of its pensioners during the crisis.

“The safety of our elderly pensioners, who are among the most susceptible to Covid-19, remains our top priority. To ensure that all of them receive their pension without letup during the enhanced community quarantine, GSIS has been adjusting its operational procedure,” Macasaet was quoted in the statement as saying.

While GSIS earlier extended the deadline for pensioners born in March and April to comply with the personal appearance requirement, he said some pensioners may have failed to do so even before the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine took effect last March 17.

“We are accepting requirements online because we want our pensioners to stay safe at home,” he said.

The GSIS said it will inform concerned pensioners once it has received their documents.

To comply with the online requirements, pensioners must e-mail a letter to the GSIS requesting to activate their status and send it to an e-mail

address designed by the state-run agency for particular areas.

The letter must indicate the date of request and contain their details, namely, complete name; complete address; contact number (mobile or landline); and, signature.

Moreover, pensioners must attach to the letter a photo of their unified multi-purpose identification (ID) card or eCard Plus card or their temporary card. In case these are not available, a photo of their two valid IDs may be submitted.

They must also attach a chestlevel photo of them holding a current newspaper whose headline and date of publication are prominently displayed, the GSIS said. If not, the photo background may be a news crawler or a ticker on the TV showing the current news headline and date.

The date in the photo must coincide with the date of request indicated in the letter.

Pensioners must send the letter and other requirements to the designated e-mail address according to their place of residence: gsiscares@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of NCR including Quezon City and the entire province of Rizal and Cavite); gsisnorthluzon@gsis.gov. ph (for residents of North Luzon); gsissouthluzon@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of South Luzon; gsisvisayas@ gsis.gov.ph (for residents of Visayas) gsismindanao@gsis.gov.ph (for residents of Mindanao).

GSIS said it has also rolled out its online pension loan program to assist pensioners in their financial difficulties during the lockdown.

Under the program, pensioners may borrow up to six times their monthly pension but not exceeding P100,000, depending on their age.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

GOCC adds ₧130M in war chest vs deadly pandemic

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LARK FREEPORT, Pampanga —The Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC), the government-owned and -controlled corporation managing the Clark Civil Aviation Complex, remitted at least P130 million to the Bureau of Treasury on Thursday to help boost the government’s efforts at containing the fast-spreading and deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

CIAC Officer-in-Charge Joshua M. Bingcang was quoted in a statement as saying the amount of P130,535,077.59, representing payment of dividends due from CIAC was remitted to the Bureau of Treasury on April 2.

Bingcang said the move was in response to government’s call to

advance dividends to support government’s spending measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic as part of the implementation of Republic Act 11469.

Early last week, three other port managers remitted over P10 billion in dividends to the National Treasury.

The Philippine Ports Authority remitted over P4 billion while the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Manila International Airport Authority remitted P3 billion each.

Aviation sector officials undertook a scenario analysis in a meeting to ensure readiness in the event of worst-case situations, giving rise to stoppage of airline operations and closure of airports.

Yuchengco bank ramps up tech in time of Covid-19

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HE banking arm of the Yuchengco Group of Companies said it is ramping up its technology approach as mobile and Internet applications have become ubiquitous during the time of a pandemic.

In a recent statement, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) said the ubiquitous of technology is witnessed among the younger generation whose members are considered “digital natives.” They are able to maximize the use of smartphones and Internet-enabled devices such as managing finances, RCBC said.

“That is why we in the industry

continue to invest in technology and be on the lookout for ways to make banking even more convenient than it is now,” RCBC Executive Vice President Lito Villanueva was quoted in the statement as saying.

Last week, RCBC signed an agreement with rural banks, cooperatives, microfinance firms and Bayad Center targeting customers encashing government’s P200-billion social

amelioration program.

Additional 2,000 terminals will be rolled out across the country for this, the bank said.

“We continue to listen to the market and harness the power of fintech [financial technology] to enable us to offer the best customer experience,” Villanueva added.

RCBC said that a report noted younger consumers were taking into consideration experiential factors—and not necessarily interest rates—in opening deposit accounts.

RCBC shared as well that the financial sector has integrated technology in its operations, including application programming interfaces, to optimize banking experience of the clients.

The listed bank’s mobile application now includes features such as

After five decades, PNB revives ‘Bank on Wheels’

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lmost 50 summers later, the Philippine National Bank revived its “Bank on Wheels” (BOW) as the Luzon-wide lockdown entered its fourth week.

“We hear the plight of our kababayans [compatriots],” PNB President and CEO Jose Arnulfo A. Veloso was quoted in a statement as saying. “Our ‘Bank On Wheels’ (BOW) is ready to serve them especially in these most difficult times.”

Veloso said the bank deploys [BOWs] in areas “where accessibility to cash is limited.”

“Since the start of the Enhanced Community Quarantine, we have been servicing many communities in Metro Manila,” Veloso said adding that each day, PNB’s BOW is sent to a different location to serve those who have difficulty in getting to an automated teller machine.

PNB first introduced its BOW in the summer of 1973. In the form of a jeep, banking is brought to farmers from the rice-producing provinces in the Philippines.

Through gravel roads and amid rice fields, transactions are done on the nearest place of convenience: a big shady tree, a barber shop and even inside a chapel, the bank said.

The bank said its BOW allows Filipinos to conveniently perform transactions such as cash withdrawal, cash deposit, bills payment, and fund transfer. On April 3, 2020, a BOW was sta- An unidentified man wearing a mask uses the facility of Philippine National Bank’s “Bank on Wheels,” tioned at the Lung Center of the which the bank said it revived 19 days after Luzon was locked down due to the coronavirus disease 2019 Philippines.

(Covid-19) pandemic. Courtesy PNB

Perspectives

Maintaining business resilience in the face of Covid-19

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HE coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is a fast-growing and unique challenge to organizations globally. Understanding what it is and what precautions to take and preparing your organization to be resilient will likely prove crucial in protecting employees and maintaining operations.

This includes understanding your organization’s position in terms of business continuity and crisis management, specifically as it relates to your staff, vendors, supply chain and IT operations and infrastructure.

As the global challenge of Covid-19 potentially increases, organizations should assess the following considerations to protect themselves and their staff.

How do we keep our organization operating?

Confirm mission-critical outcomes are well understood from end to end and contingency plans are in place to keep them operating. In particular, key dependencies—processes, locations, people, vendors, and IT systems—need to be confirmed and documented (typically achieved through a business im-

pact assessment [BIA]).

Can the strategies included in our continuity plans be relied upon?

Make sure business continuity plans (BCPs) reflect critical outcomes. Organizations should have BCPs and continuity strategies that reflect critical business outcomes and dependencies mapped out in a BIA. If possible, these plans should be pressure-tested (either immediately or in the recent past) to ensure they remain fit for purpose in the face of a potential global pandemic.

Additionally, confirm whether business continuity insurance arrangements provide adequate coverage.

How do we manage if this becomes a crisis?

To safeguard the effectiveness of an organization’s strategic response to a significant global incident, it is important that crisis management arrangements be formalized. This includes clear, repeatable, processes for activating an executive leadership team—either locally in an emergency response center or remotely using teleconference platforms—steering the strategic direction of the organization and communicating clearly internally

Monday, April 6, 2020 B3

and externally.

Have we planned for a pandemic and are we postured to respond?

Given that Covid-19 has now been declared a pandemic, organizations need to have a clear strategy for managing the virus as it spreads. In particular, while staff continues to work from a central location, the depth and breadth of cleaning services should be confirmed. However, to contain the virus, organizations should have formalized processes and policies for implementing social distancing (i.e., work from home (WFH), split shifts) and managing mission critical outcomes using the minimum number of staff (i.e., “skeleton staff”).

What can we do right now?

Alternative working arrangements

Clarify the WFH processes.

Organizations often lean on the “we’ll just work from home” strategy in the event of a challenge of this nature.

However, it is important to confirm a number of key questions related to this strategy prior to implementation: n Do policies/procedures allow the

organization to seamlessly transfer staff to WFH arrangements? n Will staff continue to be paid their full salary if a WFH culture is not currently in place? n How long can we maintain mission-critical processes with staff working from home? n Are all staff equipped with laptops? If so, do we have a list of steps staff need to complete in order to WFH (e.g., logging into a remote virtual private network)? n Do we have the technical capability to provide all staff with remote working licenses and have we tested this type of load? n Are we setup to enable the majority of our workforce to WFH while maintaining mission-critical outcomes?

Vendor and supply chain management

For organizations that rely on global manufacturing locations and/ or vendor distribution partners for mission-critical outcomes, planning for the eventuality that these locations and vendors become unavailable is critical.

This planning should include confirmation of any contingent strategies/ providers that could be relied upon and any continuity processes that could support mission-critical outcomes in the short to medium term.

Staff communications

Organizations should monitor and maintain regular communication with staff, providing staff with regular, upto-date information on the state of Covid-19 and the processes being implemented to protect staff and maintain critical operations.

Organizations should advise staff to communicate with Human Resources unit if they have personal international travel—particularly to locations that may have confirmed cases.

The excerpt was taken from “Maintaining business resilience in the face of Covid-19,” March 2020. © 2020 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG network of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative, a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. Printed in the Philippines.

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

real-time bank-to-bank transfers via PESONet and InstaPay and push and pull payments via QR Ph. RCBC developed quick response (QR) code-enabled application RCBC Touch Q to facilitate quick cashless payments.

The bank also launched Diskartech, a financial inclusion accelerator app, to tap the unbanked and underserved Filipinos in the provinces as it promotes financial inclusion, in line with the government initiatives.

RCBC recently rebranded its mobile point-of-sale device product. The product allows BancNet cardholders to make basic banking transactions like withdrawals, inquiry and fund transfers through any partner rural bank, drug stores, microfinance firms and even sari-sari stores.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

DAR chief lauds debt moratorium of LandBank

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grarian Reform Secretary John R. Castriciones lauded the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank), where he sits as director, for the bank’s initiatives to cushion the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) on small farmers, particularly those who receive parcels of land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Castriciones, in particular, lauded fellow director and LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo, “as she works to comply with the statutory mandate of the Bayanihan Act and the various instructions of the President on the requisite social amelioration measures under the national health emergency.”

As the nation confronts the challenges wrought by the Covid-19 virus, the LandBank’s Board of Directors passed a resolution on March 31 imposing a 1-year moratorium on the amortization payment of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

The Landbank resolution was passed to assist the ARBs as they face economic difficulties brought about by the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine.

Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), agricultural lands are distributed to qualified tenants, farmworkers, and tillers. Landowners are paid the just compensation of their lands. ARBs pay to the LandBank their awarded lands for thirty years with interest at six percent per annum. The recent LandBank resolution suspends the obligation of the ARBs to pay the amortization for one year.

The LandBank Board also approved a 30-day grace period for loans with principal and/or interest falling due within the lockdown period without incurring interest on interest, penalties, fees and other charges. It shall not charge or apply interest on interest, fees and charges during the 30-day grace period to future payments and/or amortizations of the individuals, households, micro, small and medium enterprises and corporate borrowers.

The bank has said it will also extend an emergency loan to local government units (LGUs). The LGUs, including those whose IRA are not yet with Landbank, are eligible to borrow, according to the bank.

The eligible purpose is permanent working capital as an additional source of fund for the provision of goods and services.

The amount that an LGU may borrow will be based on the actual request of the LGU provided the total loan exposure (including the proposed emergency loan) will not exceed the net borrowing capacity of the LGU per Bureau of Local Government Finance.

Loans under this program shall have an affordable interest rate of 5-percent per annum, fixed for the term of the loan. The loan shall be payable up to a maximum of five years and shall be further based on the LGU’s cash flow with a maximum of a 1-year grace period on principal payment. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Perspective BusinessMirror

B4 Monday, April 6, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

From Dhaka to Gaza: How do you socially distance in a crowd?

CINDERBLOCK homes fill the hills of the Catia neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela, as a governmentimposed quarantine to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus is in place. From Mumbai to Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg the question is: What do you do if there is no space to socially distance yourself from others in some of the world’s most unequal regions? AP/MATIAS DELACROIX

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By Victoria Milko & Aniruddha Ghosal The Associated Press

AKARTA, Indonesia—Josna Begum lives with her son in a house with four other families in a slum in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, the world’s most densely populated city. “Distancing is impossible for us,” she said.

The 35-year-old, who occupies a single room with her 12-year-old son and earns $100 a month as a domestic worker, shares the single kitchen in the house with 22 other residents.

The Bangladeshi government last week ordered a nationwide shutdown to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in a country considered at high risk because hundreds of thousands of overseas workers have returned home from Italy and other virus hot spots. All businesses were ordered closed except food markets, pharmacies and other essential services, and people were told to stay indoors and keep a safe distance from each other.

But in Dhaka, a city of more than 10 million where the average home is less than 120 square feet and a million people live in slums, that is easier said than done.

From Mumbai to Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg the same story is playing out in some of the world’s most unequal regions, where tens

of millions live in crowded slums without adequate water, sanitation and access to health care.

“The future of this pandemic to a greater extent will be determined by what happens in very large and densely populated countries,” Dr. Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, said this week.

Experts believe the virus is mainly spread through droplets expelled from the mouths and noses of infected people when they speak, cough or sneeze, traveling 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) before gravity pulls them to the ground. And while most people suffer mild or moderate symptoms like cough or fever, in older adults and people with other health problems the risk of pneumonia or death is far higher.

Social distancing, while necessary in the face of such an easily spread virus, envisions a “citizen who is able to live in the most de-

sirable way,” said Hyun Bang Shin, a professor of urban studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “Injustices and inequities that have basically been embedded are being exposed in face of this outbreak.”

Abu Bakar, 74, who lives with his family of three in a makeshift two-room structure in a slum in northern Jakarta, can’t imagine how social distancing could work.

“For me it is more important to keep myself clean,” he said.

But even that can be nearly impossible in an area regularly ravaged by seasonal flooding from the murky, trash-filled water of a neighboring reservoir. Marks on the walls show the flooding can be as high as 2 feet.

In the sprawling slum, where thousands lived crammed together in dilapidated structures with poor ventilation and narrow walkways, Bakar says that even if he were to become sick, he wouldn’t be able to isolate himself.

And that’s far from the only problem, said Elisa Sutanudjaja, of the Jakarta-based Rujak Center for Urban Studies.

“There’s a major lack of clinics, sanitation, and other utilities.

So for many it’s not only the lack of space that’s a concern,” she said.

In Mumbai—where the city and its suburbs have seen a tenth of India’s nearly 900 cases— 53-year-old Abrar Salmani lives with 11 family members in a house so small that many regularly sleep outdoors in the Bhim Nagar slum.

The unemployed weaver said most families don’t have access to water and rely on communal wash-

From Mumbai to Rio de Janeiro to Johannesburg the same story is playing out in some of the world’s most unequal regions, where tens of millions live in crowded slums without adequate water, sanitation and access to health care. rooms for bathing. “Our demands to have a water pipeline haven’t been answered for years,” he said.

In the Gaza Strip, where 2 million Palestinians lived squeezed into 140 square miles and more than half are unemployed, the arrival of the virus last week prompted the territory’s Hamas rulers to order the closure of cafés and wedding halls, and to cancel Friday prayers at mosques. Residents were urged to stay at home and refrain from close contact.

But with chronic power shortages of at least eight hours a day, it’s hard for Gazans to stay inside their homes. And the traditional conservative Muslim society frowns upon a handshake being declined, let alone a kiss on the cheek.

“My friend was upset after I refused to shake hands with him, even though I tried to explain to him this is because of the coronavirus,” 53-year-old Yasser Anan said. “Eventually, because he is dear to me, I had to kiss his forehead in apology.”

Across Africa, home to some of the world’s fastest-growing cities with badly strained infrastructure, authorities worry that the virus could swiftly spread through slums and impoverished townships. Tear gas and gunfire have been used in a couple of cities in a rough bid to en-

force social distancing. So far the continent of more than 1.3 billion people has nearly 3,500 cases, but with the global shortage of testing kits the actual number could be higher and health experts have warned that the rising rate looks like that of Europe.

In Nigeria’s seaside city of Lagos, Africa’s largest with more than 20 million people, authorities have scrambled to spread the word about the virus among slum dwellers. In the vast Makoko slum, where shacks are built on stilts and sewage runs into the sea, residents listened with a mix of fear and defiance.

Biodun Edward scooped up a handful of the murky water and drank it. “Let [authorities] come and test it, there’s no disease here,” he declared.

“Firstly, the smoke in the air will ward off disease, strong alcohol,” he added, then pulled a piece of ginger root from his pocket and called it protection.

In South Africa’s crowded, impoverished townships, tens of thousands of workers pack into groaning minibus taxis for commutes with little or no protection. At home, extended families squeeze into a single room or two and communities draw water from collective taps. A countrywide lockdown began last week.

“Coronavirus scares us since we’re living in a shack,” said one Soweto resident on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Mando Masimola.

“We don’t know how we’ll survive if the virus infects us.”

In Latin American and the Caribbean, experts are warning the virus could kill untold numbers in the poorest sectors of society, where not working means not eating, people live packed together and few have access to health care, let alone sophisticated medical care.

“Quarantine here is impossible,” said Raull Santiago, founder of two charities in the favelas, or slums, of Rio de Janeiro.

“It’s wall to wall, there are homes of two or three rooms with six people living inside,” he said on Twitter, along with a photo of tightly packed brick houses in the Complexo do Alemao favela. “How do you do it?”

The first person to die in Rio de Janeiro state was Cleonice Gonçalves, a 63-year-old woman who worked as a maid for a family in Leblon, one of Rio’s wealthiest neighborhoods. The woman of the household was infected during a trip to Italy but didn’t tell Gonçalves, the victim’s brother told local media. Conçalves, who had hypertension and diabetes, fell ill and died on March 17.

“There’s a large population of working people...that are just going to be unable to simply stay home,” said Geoff Ramsey, a Washingtonbased researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America.

“We’re looking at a region that’s going to be deeply, deeply impacted by the global pandemic.”

Style

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, April 6, 2020

B5

The fashionable history of social distancing

BY EINAV RABINOVITCH-FOX Case Western Reserve University

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FASHION DESIGN EDUCATORS, ALUMNI, STUDENTS PRODUCE P.P.E.s FOR FRONTLINERS

THE Philippine fashion industry has joined forces to combat the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic through the production of complete personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontliners.

A group of fashion veterans, experts, textile specialists, educators, mentors and alumni from the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde has joined efforts in the production of jumpsuits and gown sets complete with head, foot cover and mask.

The team has finished over 100 jumpsuits, which are set to be delivered to small public and private hospitals that do not have immediate access to PPEs and cannot meet the minimum quantity requirements of suppliers.

For the washable jumpsuits, the group utilized waterrepellent fabrics such as ripstop provided by The Leather Collection, and nylon taffeta raised from the goodwill of industry professionals, associates and the general public.

Meanwhile, disposable gowns are made from donated 40 GSM nonwoven fabrics.

The designs follow standards provided by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research Institute, which closely works with the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital. The design studies of the PPE are ideal for the Philippine condition without relying on imported supplies, and the suits likewise adhere to the requirements plotted by the Manila Sewing Club’s Open Source Design based from an actual sample from the Office of the Vice President Leni Robredo, and outputs from experts in the United States.

Meanwhile, the young student-artists from the Mark of Designers Alliance (MODA), the official fashion organization of the college, have likewise started their own cause. The aspiring fashion designers are currently producing 4,000 additional face shields made from acetate, clear plastic sheet, garter and foam to be donated to hospitals including the Philippine General Hospital, Las Piñas Doctors Hospital, Ospital ng Makati, Ospital ng Maynila, UP Diliman Health Service, and Unihealth-Parañaque Hospital and Medical Center. “When the industry heard the need of the hospitals in this crisis, we saw this as an opportunity for us to be a part of the solution, not just monetarily but also exhausting all our resources from knowledge to networks,” shared Benilde FDM Program Chairman Christine Benet.

They call on for donations both in cash and in kind for materials such as fabric, garter, velcro, ballpoint needles, and polyester and nylon threads, and welcome volunteers who wish to contribute in the production, packaging and actual delivery of the finished products.

Interested donors and volunteers for the FDM Faculty Members may send an e-mail to mischellemaxim.felix@ benilde.edu.ph or visit the BenildeFDM page on Facebook.

Those who wish to extend their help to the MODA fashion design students can likewise reach out to bithiaysabel.reyes@ benilde.edu.ph or andreaionica.abrahan@benilde.edu.ph, or visit MODA’s Facebook page at DLSCSBMODA.

S the world grapples with the coronavirus outbreak, “social distancing” has become a buzzword of these strange times.

Instead of stockpiling food or rushing to the hospital, authorities are saying social distancing— deliberately increasing the physical space between people—is the best way ordinary people can help “flatten the curve” and stem the spread of the virus.

Fashion might not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think of isolation strategies. But as a historian who writes about the political and cultural meanings of clothing, I know that fashion can play an important role in the project of social distancing, whether the space created helps solve a health crisis or keep away pesky suitors.

Clothing has long served as a useful way to mitigate close contact and unnecessary exposure. In this current crisis, face masks have become a fashion accessory that signals “stay away.”

Fashion also proved to be handy during past epidemics such as the bubonic plague, when doctors wore pointed, bird-like masks as a way to keep their distance from sick patients. Some lepers were forced to wear a heart on their clothes and don bells or clappers to warn others of their presence.

However, more often than not, it doesn’t take a worldwide pandemic for people to want to keep others at arm’s length.

In the past, maintaining distance—especially between genders, classes and races—was an important aspect of social gatherings and public life.

Social distancing didn’t have anything to do with isolation or health; it was about etiquette and class.

And fashion was the perfect tool.

Take the Victorian-era “crinoline.” This large, voluminous skirt, which became fashionable in the mid-19th century, was used to create a barrier between the genders in social settings.

While the origins of this trend can be traced to the 15th-century Spanish court, these voluminous skirts became a marker of class in the 18th century. Only those privileged enough to avoid household chores could wear them; you needed a house with enough space to be able to comfortably move from room to room, along with a servant to help you put it on. The bigger your skirt, the higher your status.

In the 1850s and 1860s, more middle-class women started wearing the crinoline as caged hoop skirts started being mass-produced. Soon, “Crinolinemania” swept the fashion world.

Despite critiques by dress reformers who saw it as another tool to oppress women’s mobility and freedom, the large hoop skirt was a sophisticated way of maintaining women’s social safety. The crinoline mandated that a potential suitor—or, worse yet, a stranger—would keep a safe distance from a woman’s body and cleavage.

Although these skirts probably inadvertently helped mitigate the dangers of the era’s smallpox and cholera outbreaks, crinolines could be a health hazard: many women burned to death after their skirts caught fire. By the 1870s, the crinoline gave way to the bustle, which only emphasized the fullness of the skirt on the posterior.

A PORTRAIT of Princess Dagmar of Denmark wearing a crinoline in the 1860s. WIKIPEDIA

Women nonetheless continued to use fashion as a weapon against unwanted male attention. As skirts got narrower in the 1890s and early 1900s, large hats—and, more important, hat pins, which were sharp metal needles used to fasten the hats—offered women the protection from harassers that crinolines once gave.

As for keeping healthy, germ theory and a better understanding of hygiene led to the popularization of face masks—very similar to the ones we use today— during the Spanish flu. And while the need for women to keep their distance from pesky suitors remained, hats were used more to keep masks intact than to push strangers away.

Today, it isn’t clear whether the coronavirus will lead to new styles and accessories. Perhaps we’ll see the rise of novel forms of protective outerwear, like the “wearable shield” that one Chinese company developed. But for now, it seems most likely that we’ll all just continue wearing pajamas. THE CONVERSATION

THE cage crinoline underskirt from the 1860s. MODEMUSEUM, ANTWERP

Fired, dismissed and disregarded: A beauty-related story WHEN I first stepped into the Sephora store in ION Orchard Singapore years ago, I felt like I had crossed an item off my bucket list. As someone who lived in a Third World country and wasn’t a frequent traveler, Sephora was one of my dream destinations.

Whenever I would travel, I’d make sure to check beforehand whether there was a Sephora in my destination and I would never leave without buying anything, even if it was just a lipstick or a makeup remover.

On Tuesday, I woke up to a tweet by someone I consider a friend, although we’ve never met personally. She stated that she had been fired while on a call with other Sephora US part-timers with their microphones on mute. It wasn’t a Zoom conference call. “The way it was done was so dehumanizing,” said my friend, who worked part-time at cashwrap for one of Sephora’s locations in the US. She was making $11.25 an hour.

Weeks before this development, Sephora The Americas had sent out an email on behalf of its president and CEO Jean-André Rougeot assuring everyone that the company would take care of its employees in relation to coronavirus-related closures.

“Any changes to our corporate or store operations will not affect our commitment to them [employees].

To that end, all store employees will continue to receive their base pay for the duration of this closure. In addition, health and wellness benefits for employees who are currently enrolled will continue.

And all distribution center employees will receive

AND THEN SOME DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

the same considerations should we experience any unplanned disruptions in one of our centers,” said Rougeot in the e-mail.

In the end, Sephora laid off 3,754 of its US stores’ part-time and seasonal employees.

“We believe keeping stores closed is the right thing to do, but it means we have to make changes to our business, while keeping our employees informed of what the changes mean for them. Like many retailers with an extensive physical store business, there are tough decisions to be made to adapt to an unprecedented and uncertain environment,” said Rougeot in a press release.

According to Sephora, the laid-off employees had only been with Sephora “for a short tenure and work limited hours.”

During the closure, my friend along with other part-timers were paid the average of their last six weeks “as if you were working normally.”

As someone who had been fired via a letter sent via courier, I felt for my friend.

It wasn’t the money, although that helped.

It was the feeling of being treated like a commodity.

She was told by her store director to hop on a call.

“I had been doing daily training they had assigned us as well as going to Zoom meetings online literally up to that day so I thought was that,” said my friend.

“When we got on the call, it was basically our district manager and then all of our store directors, and a portion of employees from every store. They told us to mute our mics and then went through basically a script. It was horrific. We were all there but since we were muted, no one’s reactions could be heard. At the end of the call, they went over some frequently asked questions but did not offer us a chance to ask questions and then they hung up.”

My friend is by no means poor. She doesn’t support a family. But imagine if she did.

Corporations should realize that it is more humane to sit down people and tell them in a civilized manner that they’re being let go. There is no easy way of firing people. You’re really going to hurt them. At least have the courage to face them.

Now on to beauty talk. I realize that what gives me a sense of normalcy right now are taking two showers a day and wearing lipstick. I don’t dress up like my friend who even wears shoes while working from home but I do need to shower then apply my skin care and then lipstick.

In the first two weeks of the enhanced community quarantine, I loved Julep It’s Balm. I would alternate between the three colors I have—Caramel Nude, Cardinal Red and Vintage Mauve. It’s Balm is a fullcoverage lip crayon with a moisturizing core. I love it because it is hydrating and the colors aren’t too in-your-face. Even the red is soft and more rosy red than bold. I tell you, this is better than lip balms.

Last week’s favorite was Dior Addict Stellar Shine. The finish is shiny. It’s not so shiny that it looks oily but it’s definitely glazed. The formula is smooth and balm-like. This is not a lipstick to wear if you want a look that’s matte and super pigmented. There is pigmentation but the effect is more juicy-looking than matte. But the finish is smooth and, yes, juicy.

I miss wearing makeup, not necessarily going out. At the moment though, there are more pressing concerns. Someday, we’ll wear makeup again.

JULEP It’s Balm full-coverage lip crayon

Monday, April 6, 2020

B6

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

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CelebRiTies bORn On This Day: Eliza Coupe, 39; Candace Cameron Bure, 44; Zach Braff, 45; Paul Rudd, 51. happy biRThDay: Concentrate on completion, perfection and letting go of whatever isn’t necessary anymore. Streamline your life to ensure that you make your way to a place that will satisfy you mentally, physically and emotionally. Recognize when you should delegate and when you should do something yourself; this will be the key to your success. Fine-tune your life, and make love a priority. Your lucky numbers are 5, 12, 17, 22, 28, 36, 45.

Bulletin Board BusinessMirror

Valenzuela City Temporarily Defers Tax Payment Deadlines, Waives Penalty

Learn at Home: Globe MyBusiness launches e-learning webinar for educators

a

aRies (March 21-april 19): Go over details carefully, and redo anything that may not be working for you. Don’t trust someone to take care of responsibilities that belong to you. Take a new approach to an old idea. HHH

b

TaURUs (april 20-May 20): Do your best, and reap the rewards. There are plenty of opportunities to make money or advancements. Live up to your promises, and learn from your mistakes; good things will happen. HHHHH

c

GeMini (May 21-June 20): A friend or relative will rely on you for assistance. Your input will make a difference in the way people judge you.

Do what you say, and finish what you start. Someone will mislead you regarding an emotional matter. HH

d

CanCeR (June 21-July 22): An adjustment you make at home or work will improve your day. Consider an offer or excellent idea someone provides. An emotional matter can and should be dealt with quickly. HHHH

e

leO (July 23-aug. 22): Keep an open mind regarding what others do, but don’t get involved in something that isn’t right for you. Focus on ways to raise your profile. Nurture partnerships that are good for your soul and encourage you to do better. HHH

f

viRGO (aug. 23-sept. 22): It will be difficult to control your emotions when dealing with partnerships or matters concerning youngsters or seniors. Patience will pave the way to solutions. A chance to get involved in an event or activity that interests you looks promising. HHH

g

libRa (sept. 23-Oct. 22): Rethink your strategy before you jump into something that will take the time you don’t have to spare.

Gauging what’s essential and what isn’t regarding partnerships and your personal life will be crucial. HHH

h

sCORpiO (Oct. 23-nov. 21): Someone may flatter you, but consider the motives behind his or her actions. A change made prematurely will leave you at a loss. Don’t be afraid to take a different path if you don’t like what someone offers. HHH

i

saGiTTaRiUs (nov. 22-Dec. 21): Refuse to let anyone interfere in your personal affairs.

Be suspicious of anyone who offers dirt on someone else. Gossip and rumors will lead to trouble.

Concentrate on money matters, work and meaningful relationships. Romance is on the rise. HHHH

j

CapRiCORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): An offer will turn out better than anticipated. Look over contracts and legal agreements, and you’ll discover a way to earn more and spend less. A lifestyle change will give you the boost you need physically, mentally and emotionally. HHHHH

k

aQUaRiUs (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Reevaluate the way you live and the stress you endure, and you’ll stay ahead. It may be time for a heart-to-heart talk with someone close to you who can help you make a transition that will make you happy.

HHH

l

pisCes (Feb. 19-March 20): Reach out to someone who has something you want or can use. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want and to counter with what you are willing to give in return. Set the groundwork for better relationships and prospects. HHH biRThDay baby: You are persistent, entertaining and smart.

You are expressive and original.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

G

LOBE joins forces with digital learning experts to discuss the future of education amid COVID-19 pandemic With schools closed for the duration of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon, many educators deem it as the perfect time to harness the power of communications technology so that students can still learn while in the comfort and safety of their homes.

Globe MyBusiness supports this idea, and is encouraging an in-depth discussion through a webinar that is open to educational institutions, with experts offering insights on the right tools and techniques for utilizing and maximizing digital learning.

The E-Skwela webinar, which will be held on March 31, will discuss the possibilities of current learning technologies and their integration in the school system during the time of the COVID-19 crisis. The webinar will help school owners and educators understand digital learning and how it can be implemented remotely.

Moderated by Gerson Abesamis, Executive Director of Habi Education Lab and Senior Lecturer at UP Diliman and Miriam College, the webinar is designed to help school administrators, key decision makers, and faculty members understand and learn how to integrate tools and activities that are intentionally experiential, collaborative and reflective

to maximize learning.

Panel members for the E-Skwela discussion are experts who will share best practices in integrating e-learning: Bro. Dennis Magbanua, FSC, Community Director at La Salle College, Hong Kong; Rogelio Dela Cruz, Head of the Center for Instruction, Research, and Curriculum- Education Technology Office at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde; Miguel Bermundo, Head of Citizenship and Advocacy Marketing Division at Globe; and Mark Abalos, Learning Technologies Scholar and Education Industry Lead at Globe.

Among the topics for discussion are strategies to help schools become crisisready by integrating technology in their ecosystem, best practices in leading schools on handling the quarantine situation, challenges of the use of technology in teaching and learning, processes to set up an e-learning program for students, and impacts of this teaching practice on the future of education in the country.

Globe myBusiness helps educational institutions integrate technology and digitally transform to help teachers and students continue being productive and informed as they stay #SafeAtHome during the time of the COVID-19 crisis. As it helps customers stay connected in this period of social distancing, it continues doing its part towards nation-building as a reliable and trusted partner for educators in promoting 21st century Learning.

To know more about E-Skwela and other events and programs by Globe myBusiness, visit https://www.facebook. com/globemybusiness/.

GCash's #FightCOVID19 raises P4.5M for 7 partners

E

XPERTS all over the world believe that to mitigate the effects and end the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), all sectors of the society must work hand in hand to fight the deadly virus.

Various non-government organizations and even individuals have started calling on Filipinos to help in the war against the pandemic, whether it's through volunteerism or through monetary donations.

Donation drives have been launched by various groups to help protect frontline healthcare workers from the virus. These came amid the reported scarcity of personal protective equipment (PPEs) in hospitals.

Likewise, groups and individuals are seeking support to fund relief goods for the families that are in need of food and personal hygiene kits, as major cities and provinces impose their own community quarantine protocols.

For instance, friends Shary Laiz, Erika Jean Ente, and Alyana Singian are encouraging the Twitter universe to donate P20 to their mobile wallets to purchase hand sanitizers and soaps for the homeless. They are part of religious group Agape Christian Church International.

Quezon City-based professional alliance Save San Roque is seeking both donations in cash and in-kind to help the community of Sitio San Roque cope with the effects of the viral threat. The group aims to gather as many goods as they can to distribute to the citizens of the barangay.

People for Accountable Governance and Sustainable Action, a group of friends, also took to social media the call for donations for the purchase of a weekly “survival pack” communities in Tatalon, Talayan, Pinyahan, and Payatas as well as for the mothers in Tondo and Commonwealth. Each pack includes rice, canned goods, coffee, powdered milk, sugar, bread, and vegetables.

Youth-led movement Zero Hunger Philippines is also gathering monetary donations to provide food bags to over 10,000 families in select provinces in Luzon.

Tulong Kabataan, a youth movement, is also building up funds to supply food and hygiene kits to relocation sites and urban poor communities in Tacloban, Quezon City, and Manila.

Medical interns of Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center have also launched their social-media-based donation drive for the staff of the hospital, which is in need of masks, caps, alcohol, gloves, and disposable gowns for frontline employees that are treating suspected COVID-19 cases.

Other non-profits such as Project Tanglaw, Caritas Manila, and Tayo Kabataan are pooling donations to provide food and hygiene kits to the less fortunate and those who are most hit by the threat of the virus, as well as donate PPEs to hospitals in need.

GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the Philippines, has been seeing spikes in the number of money

transfers from one mobile wallet, as people collectively fight COVID-19 through digital donation drives.

Caritas Manila, for instance, has so far collected almost P850,000 in individual donations through GCash.

“It’s heartwarming to see firsthand how the uniquely Filipino Spirit of Bayanihan works. Since day one, we have envisioned the GCash platform to be a channel of good, and now we are seeing individuals and organizations maximizing the GCash app to efficiently facilitate donations for noble causes. We hope that as we further develop our platform, we continue to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those in need,”GCash President Anthony Thomas said.

GCash and its partners the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), World Vision, UP Medical Foundation, PGH Foundation, Inc., ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, and Ayala Foundation have their own digital donation drive, dubbed #FightCOVID19, which aims to help provide medical gears to hospital workers in the country.

To send their support, GCash users simply have to click on the “Pay Bills” icon on their GCash apps, choose the “Others” tab, and click on “FightCOVID19.” GCash users then have to enter their name and the amount that they are donating to confirm their donation.

So far, #FightCOVID19 has raised roughly P4.5 million in individual donations.

T

O provide a reprieve to taxpayers who will not be able to file real property and transfer taxes because of the ongoing Luzon-wide Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), the Valenzuela City Council enacts three ordinances extending the payment deadlines and forgoing penalties for the said taxes due by the end of the month.

Ordinance No. 677, Series of 2020, also known as “An Ordinance Extending the Deadline for the Payment of Real Property Tax for the First Quarter of 2020” was enacted on March 23 during the 32nd Regular Session of the 8th City Council.

Under the ordinance, the payment deadline of Real Property Tax for the first quarter of 2020 is extended until April 30, 2020. Originally, the first quarter installment is payable on or before March 31. However, the deadline for the first quarter payment falls within the period of mandatory ECQ, which lasts until April 30, making it imperative for an adjustment to be made to the deadline.

In conjunction with this, the City Council also passed Ordinance No. 679, Series of 2020 or “An Ordinance Providing Amnesty in Penalty for Late Declaration of Real Property During the Period of Enhanced Community Quarantine”.

While Ordinance 373, Series of 2017 prescribes a penalty of Php 2,000 per property that is declared after sixty (60) days from date of completion or occupancy, and after sixty (60) days from registration with the Register of Deeds, Ordinance No. 679 waives any penalty arising from the late declaration of real property, if the deadline also falls within the period of the ECQ. This ordinance likewise grants the owner or administrator of the real property an extension of thirty (30) days from the lifting of the ECQ to process the proper declaration with the Office of the City Assessor.

The third ordinance, Ordinance No. 678, Series of 2020 or “An Ordinance Extending the Deadline of Payment Until 30 April 2020 for the Payment of Transfer Tax”, mandates the delay of the deadline for payment of Taxes on Transfer of Ownership that fall due during the ECQ. The sellers, donors, transferors, executors, or administrators of the real estate are given until April 30 to pay the Transfer Tax until April 30 without incurring any interest, surcharge, or penalty.

Sandari Batulao Cares. In keeping its nearby communities safe and disinfected, the Sandari Batulao team, in support of the initiatives of Brgy. Kaylaway and Brgy. Aga, conducted chlorine spraying and distribution activities from March 17 to 20 and on March 23 as well. Brgy.

Captains Ruel Fenol (Kaylaway), and Norbetro Apolonia (Aga), lead the team that went around the different neighborhood. For its part, Sandari Batulao provided the sanitation materials and distribution vehicle for the said project. For inquiries on Sandari Batulao, please send your emails at inquiries@cpmc.ph.

‘linking word’ by evan kalish The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 ___ 1 (speed of sound) 5 Drains of strength 9 Comical sound of hitting the ground 14 “Good heavens!”

15 Banyan or birch 16 Like Enya and Sinead O’Connor 17 It’s sprinkled on a dish 18 Invisible glow 19 Like Abraham Lincoln’s physique 20 Magical solution to a huge problem 23 Walk-___ (some closets) 24 In-flight stat 25 Caper 28 Speck in the South Pacific 30 Just slightly 32 Place for a flask 34 Regarding 36 Floating casino sites 39 Book group holder?

41 Actress Vardalos 42 Doesn’t spend immediately 43 Levitating transport for Marty McFly 46 Time off 47 Ram’s mate

48 49 51 53 54 57

Has samosa chaat, e.g.

Visible sign of oxidation Disdainful expression “Mayday!”

Raw mining product Like a movie filled with exciting scenes, or a hint to the word hidden in 20-, 36- and 43-Across 61 In the know 64 “___ is so you!”

65 Rihanna album with the hit “Needed Me” 66 “You can count on me!”

67 The 411 68 Categorize, e.g.

69 Streep of Little Women 70 Liquid lunch, perhaps 71 Unlikely change for a ten DOWN 1 Soccer star from Argentina 2 “You can say that ___!”

3 Considers the debt repaid 4 Home theater purchase 5 Official at a race 6 Southern Caribbean island

7 Ecuador neighbor 8 Close, as an envelope 9 What wombs and tombs have in common?

10 Chris of Jurassic World 11 Architect Maya 12 Request 13 “Love ___ neighbor” 21 Wriggler in the water 22 31-Down’s den, e.g.

26 “My curiosity is killing me!”

27 Gives as an example 29 Shoe bottom 30 Alternative to Nikes 31 See 22-Down 33 “Ahem” relative 34 Tennis legend Arthur 35 Performances 37 Playing a fourth NHL period, e.g.

38 Rowing tools 40 Classic PC card game 44 Eldest Simpson child 45 Convertible 50 Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the ___” 52 Before the deadline

53 55 56 58 59 60 61 62 63

Big mess Back in fashion Corrects errors in, say Suffix for “senior” “How awful!”

Group of performers Goal Org. with a SmackDown event Scuba tank filler

Solution to Friday’s puzzle:

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, April 6, 2020 B7

In desperate need of crisis leaders T

PR Matters

By Ron F. Jabal, APR

ODAY, we live in uncertainties and disruptions. No thanks to the pandemic “veerus” wreaking havoc on global economies. And in times like this, we need leaders who will step up—leaders who can swiftly develop and implement strategic plans with practical solutions in timely fashion.

What we need now are crisis leaders.

Time and again, we are reminded that crisis management needs very strong leaders and executives who are prepared to respond to the crisis and regard crisis response as a test of stewardship and ownership.

These crisis leaders, whenever possible, bypass routine or “de kahon” policy-making procedures, which obviously include red tape, to facilitate and hasten decision-making processes.

So , today, do we have crisis leaders?

implement as part of the “whole of government” or “whole of nation” response in future crises. Our leaders should also be constantly analyzing vulnerability and risks as part of scenario planning and decision making for future crisis. We certainly hope this is the case. Do you think, we have those leaders now?

Do we have leaders who use collaborative language during this pandemic crisis?

We have seen how more mature economies with supposed first-class governance systems in Europe and North America tumble and fall flat on their faces in their efforts to arrest the myriad of issues brought about by Covid-19. We have seen how they were unable to effectively contain the virus outbreak because urgency of will and actions were far from their minds. As we speak, the number of infections and deaths in these economies continues to rise.

In the Philippines, what kind of leaders do we have? Do we have political leaders who are complacent and maybe overconfident that the pandemic will be resolved right away?

Or do we have leaders who think that the risks posed by the virus are too big hence, requiring a multi-sectoral approach involving all layers of society? Do we have national and local leaders coordinating to manage the ill effects of the pandemic in their national and local constituency?

What’s very clear, based on global experience in managing the pandemic, is that a slow and uncoordinated response to this crisis makes the pandemic outbreak worse.

Do we have leaders who clearly and methodically articulate directives and make deliberate policy decisions that help manage the crisis?

During crisis, leaders always make

n Digital: Learning and Working From Home— Upskilling Opportunities to Take Advantage of and Organizations Showing Creative Support as Business Copes with COVID-19 Concerns

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Though the world feels out of whack and everyone is still finding normalcy despite the global pandemic, the enhanced community quarantine conditions could be the perfect opportunity to learn something new or improve skills you’ve always wanted to hone. To help the creatives out there who want to learn from home, we’ve compiled a list of pages, groups and communities that are offering up upskilling opportunities either for free or a fraction of what they would normally cost. Below is also organizations showing some support to displaced creatives.

While you’re in between concalls, virtual presentations, or household chores, here are pages you can browse through to level up:

1. Creative Capital’s List of Arts Resources

Turning to online workshops and webinars, Creative Capital has opened up its platform as a channel

Skypixel | Dreamstime.com

Do we have leaders who recognize the acuteness and complexity of risks pose by the crisis?

timely, bold and strict decisions— sometimes not very popular decisions. Populist tactics and statements are normally shunned especially when they do not help in managing the crisis. As experts say, crisis leaders can afford to pay for short-term costs, but may not be able to do the same when we see collapse of the systems and the economy. Do our current leaders carefully communicate the extent of the crisis and offer solutions that can both arrest short-term problems and long-term challenges?

Do we have leaders who are willing to take the heat just to manage the crisis?

Do we have leaders who effectively coordinate policy response and mobilize necessary resources in the fight against the pandemic?

A number of crisis management approaches are available that can be adopted to manage this Covid-19 crisis.

As some experts have suggested, we

for creatives to find classes hosted by known creatives and creative groups that they can join. The resource was made in response to creatives losing work across the US as Covid-19 continues to spread.

5. Offshoot Gallery and Tarzeer Picture’s Online Gallery.

2. Creative Review’s Go-To Guide for Creative Support

6. Acer and Google Educator Group Philippines

Free portfolio reviews, premium access to Skillshare, and chat groups with creative discourse?

Count us in. UK-based Creative Review built a resource where individuals can have an active conversation with other creatives, and help uplift each other. The page also has free access to webinars and online courses.

3. YouTube #LearnAtHome, #StayHome

Partnering up with Khan Academy and select YouTubers. the video streaming giant created a dedicated page on its web site which contains resources for people to learn just about anything—whether that’s mastering the Photoshop, getting better at writing, even learning a new language. Content is fit for all ages, whether you’re an up and coming creative blazing new trails for advertisers, or a grade schooler missing out on fun learning because classes have been canceled.

4. Khan Academy

Speaking of Khan Academy, the nonprofit organization is a great resource of knowledge for learners of any age. Whether you’ve got kids who need extra lessons while in primary school, or an adult learner looking to study something

new. They’ve also been doing livestreams with special guests, as seen in the post above.

As many educational institutions are facing temporary campus closures due to Covid-19, Q Software Research (QSR), Google Educator Group Philippines, and Acer will be conducting a series of free and public webinars to help teachers implement distance learning strategies in their respective classes. This is intended for the schools and educators who need to continue with their curriculum, be connected with their students, and maintain productivity despite not being in one physical classroom together.

If you’re a musician or an artist, you can have your works exhibited at the Offshoot’s online gallery where art and music will be paired together.

Visuals can include photos, artwork, video clips, and the like, while audio can include music, sound art, and more. Signup is free, and deadline for submissions is April 14, 2020. Artists will be asked to pledge to donate to charities that are supporting Covid-19 relief efforts.

Meanwhile, if you’re a creative who lost some work due to the lockdown, here are groups and pages to help you keep involved:

1. ilostmygig.ph

The page created a survey on creatives and artists who lost work due to the pandemic, and is open

can have a “whole-of-government” approach in addressing the crisis, which refers to the creation of shared goal and integrated government response across the public service agencies.

Or, as some experts suggested, we can have a “whole-of-nation” approach as the state agencies alone are not capable of addressing the crisis of such scale and magnitude.

This approach requires more active participation from other segments of society such as the private sector, academic and research institutions, civil society groups, the media and local community.

So, do our leaders recognize or adopt any of these approaches?

Do we have leaders who are accountable for and transparent in presenting their policy directives and actions before and during the crisis?

Do we have accurate and updated information about the crisis? Are policy

to all sorts of disciplines—whether you’re a performer, a musicians, independent filmmakers, makeup artists, or even creative hub owners. On the page, people will also find resources on educational opportunities and possible gigs.

2. BOMB Magazine’s Artist Resource

The BOMB Magazine has put up a list of foundations, associations, and institutions who are distributing grants to creatives whose works have been affected by the ongoing global pandemic. They’ve also listed down companies such as Adobe who are extending subscriptions for licenses that are about to expire.

n Cannes Lions 2020: The Festival and Awards announces Cancellation as the impact from COVID-19 continues

Cannes, France—Cannes Lions announces today that the annual Festival of Creativity will not take place in October as previously planned.

The next edition of the Festival will run June 21 to 25, 2021.

As the impact from Covid-19 continues to be felt across the world on consumers and our customers across the marketing, creative and media industries, it has become clear to us our customers’ priorities have shifted to the need to protect people, to serve consumers with essential items and to focus on preserving companies, society and economies.

Our difficult decision follows indepth consultations with our part-

responses and measures taken developed and conducted in a transparent manner? As in all crisis communication, clear articulation and delivery of policy communications is critical in maintaining public trust and confidence in the government, especially the health-care system during this pandemic scare. Do we feel secure, safe and content with how our leaders communicating with us during this time? Do we clearly understand what the national and local governments are doing that impacts our way of life these days?

Do we have leaders who are learning from the crisis as a way to enhance the resilience of communities as well as the effectiveness of the government?

It is an accepted truism that crises present an opportunity for reforms and changes. Our leaders should reflect on what kinds of changes public institutions should develop and

ners and customers and reflects the unprecedented societal, health and economic challenges currently facing the world, as well as our desire to remove any uncertainty about the running of the awards and event for our partners and customers.

Philip Thomas, chairman, Cannes Lions, commented: “Cannes Lions at its core has always been about creativity and the Lions. We realize that the creative community has other challenges to face, and simply isn’t in a position to put forward the work that will set the benchmark. The marketing and creative industries, in common with so many others, are currently in turmoil, and it’s clear that we can play our small part by removing all speculation about the Festival this year. We have tried to make our decisions as early as possible to give the industry total clarity on the situation, and that is why we are announcing this move today.”

Simon Cook, Managing Director, Cannes Lions, added: “We all look ahead to a more positive time—right now, Cannes Lions will continue to bring the global creative community together and provide inspiration where we can find it. Our recent call for inspirational creative stories from around the world has already garnered hundreds of accounts of our community uniting and showing progress in this crisis. We believe firmly that the Lions continue to offer valuable recognition to that community and we look forward to celebrating and honouring the work in 2021, when the world will hopefully feel more stable, and our community can give their work the

While there is no magic formula for showing concern for others, one effective way is to use language that has a collaborative tone, especially as we are physically distant. In times of crisis, crisis leaders must avoid too many “I” statements and instead use the language of “we.”

During “peace” time, using the first person has traditionally been a sign of confidence, but in times of crisis, overusing it or using it in a self-centered way can reflect badly on leaders. Using, instead, “we” “everyone” and “each other,” especially during times when people are feeling vulnerable and dislocated, could spell a huge difference. Some other collaborative terms as a way to manifest “communal” communication is the word “team” and “teammates” and the word “together.” Using these words is a powerful way of building a community.

Indeed, we are in desperate need of crisis leaders these days. Today, more than ever, we are reminded that anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm but only a select few can navigate treacherous waters and steer the boat to reach the shores safe and secure.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Ron F. Jabal, APR is the CEO of PAGEONE Group and coleader of the Risk and Crisis Management Working Group of the Asia-Pacific Association of Communication Directors (APACD).

We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com

focus it deserves.”

n Digital: Desperados and Elrow bring the Party to Homes across The Globe through Live Stream DJ Session

Amsterdam—As people adjust to a new way of life, with social distancing making it difficult for people to connect, Desperados and elrow have come together to ignite the party spirit, virtually, for consumers around the world.

Through live stream DJ sessions, partygoers worldwide will be able to share a party together, while they are apart.

The elrow Home Sessions powered by Desperados, create an energetic distraction from the outside world by unleashing 1.5 hours of epic beats and high-tempo entertainment featuring a mix of international elrow DJs. From elrow favourite and resident DJ Viviana Casanova, to the unique sounds of Technasia, Italian DJ and producer Marco Faraone, British native Yousef, Spanish DJ and producer Dennis Cruz and other talented artists on the line-up. People can expect an eclectic mix of electronic music, like deep house, tech house and techno, right from the DJs’ living rooms to theirs. Because in these uncertain times, together we keep the party going.

The sessions will be held live on elrow’s Facebook every Sunday at 4 p.m. CET, starting from Sunday 5th April until 26th April 2020. Partygoers will be able to re-live the sessions following the live stream on elrow’s and Desperados’ social channels.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Monday, April 6, 2020

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

Pandemic forces NBA players to work out with what’s on hand

M

HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2020

Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan and headline the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2020. AP

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

K

OBE BRYANT’S résumé has yet another entry to validate his greatness: He’s now, officially, a Hall of Famer.

And he’s got plenty of elite company in the 2020 class, one that may be as glitzy as any.

Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on January 26, and fellow National Basketball Association (NBA) greats Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett headlined a nine-person group announced Saturday as this year’s class of enshrinees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“An amazing class,” Duncan said.

They all got into the Hall in their first year as finalists, as did Women’s NBA great Tamika Catchings. Others had to wait a bit longer for the good news: Two-time NBA champion Coach Rudy Tomjanovich finally got his call, as did longtime Baylor women’s Coach Kim Mulkey, 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens of Bentley and threetime Final Four Coach Eddie Sutton.

They were the eight finalists who were announced in February, and the panel of 24 voters who were tasked to decide who merited selection wound up choosing them all. Also headed to the Hall this year: former Fiba Secretary-General Patrick Baumann, selected as a direct-elect by the international committee.

“He was the head of Fiba and this was a way to honor him,” Hall of Fame Chairman and enshrinee Jerry Colangelo said. “It was a special thing done through that committee.”

Bryant died about three weeks before the Hall of Fame said—as if there was going to be any doubt—that he was a finalist. Duncan and Garnett were also widely perceived to be locks to be part of this class; they were both 15-time NBA All-Stars, and Bryant was an 18-time selection.

Bryant’s death has been part of a jarring start of the year for basketball: Commissioner Emeritus David Stern died on January 1, Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine

who died in the crash in late January, and the NBA shut down March 11 as the coronavirus pandemic began to grip the US. “Obviously, we wish that he was here with us to celebrate,” Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife, said on the ESPN broadcast of the class announcement.

“But it’s definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a steppingstone to be here. So we’re incredibly proud of him.”

Bryant was also a five-time champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, just as Duncan was with the San Antonio Spurs.

“This is an incredibly special class, for many reasons,” Colangelo said.

Garnett is the only player in NBA history with at least 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 blocks and 1,500 steals. He also was part of Boston’s 2008 NBA title.

“This is the culmination,” Garnett said. “All those hours...this is what you do it for, right here. To be able to be called ‘Hall of Famer’ is everything.”

Duncan spent the entirety of his career with the Spurs, and is now back with the team as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich.

“It’s kind of the end of the journey here,” Duncan, on the broadcast, said of his enshrinement. “It was an incredible career that

I enjoyed so much. To call it a dream come true isn’t even doing any justice to it. I never dreamt I’d be at this point.”

Duncan, Garnett and Bryant were similar in many ways as players: The longevity of their careers, the eye-popping numbers, almost perennial inclusion on award lists.

They also shared a dislike for touting personal accomplishments.

But even the Hall would have touched Bryant, those closest to him said.

“No one deserves it more,” Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss said.

Added Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka, Bryant’s former agent: “All of us can trust that this Basketball Hall of Fame honor is one Kobe would, and will, deeply appreciate.”

Catchings was a 10-time WNBA All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist. Tomjanovich,

who had overwhelming support from NBA peers who couldn’t understand why it took so long for his selection, was a five-time All-Star as a player, guided Houston to back-to-back titles and took the 2000 US Olympic team to a gold medal.

“It’s a scary time and families are being shattered by this pandemic. To get something positive right now is so wonderful,” Tomjanovich said.

Mulkey has three NCAA titles as a coach, won two others as a player and had Baylor in position to vie for another championship this season had the global coronavirus pandemic not forced the shutdown of virtually every sport around the globe.

Stevens has coached for 43 years and is a five-time Division II coach of the year. Sutton won more than 800 games in nearly four decades, and Baumann was one of the most powerful voices in international basketball until his death in 2018.

“The incredible emotions that I felt after receiving the call from the Hall of Fame Friday afternoon, I can’t even put into words,” Stevens said.

The enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts, is scheduled for August 29.

Should the pandemic force a delay, there is a tentative plan for an October ceremony as well.

For this year, largely because of the star power of this class, the Hall chose to enact a one-year suspension of direct elections from the Veteran’s, Women’s Veteran’s, Early AfricanAmerican Pioneers and Contributors categories.

With Bryant, Duncan and Garnett as perhaps the top NBA trio to ever enter simultaneously, the Hall wanted to make sure that no enshrinee would be overlooked.

“We didn’t need to water it down,” Colangelo said. “Next year is another year for many.”

QUALIFICATION DEADLINE FOR TOKYO GAMES MOVED

Trump: Let’s resume action ‘as soon as we can’

PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump talked to many US pro sports leaders about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. AP

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RESIDENT Donald J. Trump talked to many US pro sports leaders about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, saying he was looking forward to the resumption of competitions “as soon as we can.”

“I want fans back in the arenas,” Trump said later in a briefing at the White House.

“I think it’s...whenever we’re ready. As soon as we can, obviously. And the fans want to be back, too. They want to see basketball and baseball and football and hockey. They want to see their sports. They want to go out onto the golf courses and breathe nice, clean, beautiful fresh air.”

A person with direct knowledge of the call said Trump believes the National Football League (NFL) season—scheduled to begin September 10—will start on time with fans in seats. But that seemed too optimistic for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was asked if he thought the NFL season would start on time.

“I’m not anticipating that happening in this state,” Newsom said.

The National Basketball Association

(NBA), National Hockey League, NFL and Major League Baseball were all represented by their commissioners—Adam Silver, Gary Bettman, Roger Goodell and Rob Manfred, respectively.

None of those leagues released public comment.

A second person with knowledge of the call said some commissioners, Silver included, stressed to Trump that they are working on multiple season-resumption plans but cautioned nothing can move forward without clearance from public health officials. The people spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because no discussion from the call was to be revealed publicly.

Others on the call included Professional Golfers Association Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, Ladies PGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, UFC President Dana White, World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Englebert and Breeders’ Cup President Drew Fleming.

National Women’s Soccer League Commissioner Lisa Baird was not included in the call, and that league was not pleased.

“As a leader in women’s professional sports, the NWSL would welcome the chance to participate in any future discussions between the top sports leagues in the US and the White House,” the league said.

Trump addressed Little League players on Saturday, tweeting to tell them, “hang in there!

We will get you back out on the fields, and know that you will be playing baseball soon. We will get through this together, and bats will be swinging before you know it.”

Trump said the need for social distancing is affecting his 14-year-old son, Barron. The president described his son as a good athlete and soccer fan.

“We have to get back,” Trump said. “We have to get back. Remember that. We have to get back and we have to get back soon.” AP

ILWAUKEE—Giannis Antetokounmpo is spending much of his time during the coronavirus-imposed hiatus working out, helping care for his newborn son and playing occasional video games.

What the reigning MVP isn’t doing very often is shooting baskets since the National Basketball Association (NBA) has closed team practice facilities.

“I don’t have access to a hoop,” the Milwaukee Bucks forward said Friday during a conference call. “A lot of NBA players might have a court in their house or something, I don’t know, but now I just get my home workouts, [go] on the bike, treadmill, lift weights, stay sharp that way.”

The hiatus is forcing thousands of athletes, pro and otherwise, to work out from home as they try to keep in shape. Equipment varies from player to player, too.

“It all comes down to what they have and what they’re capable of doing,” Atlanta Hawks Coach Lloyd Pierce said. “We can do a lot of body weight stuff.

That’s how they stay ready. That’s the most I can offer as a coach for them to stay ready. I can’t say ‘Hey, can you find access to a gym?’That would be bad management on my part.’’

For instance, Pierce said Hawks guard Kevin Huerter has access to a gym in New York and guard Jeff Teague owns a gym in Indiana.

Other players face different situations.

“I’ve seen LeBron’s Instagram,” Pierce said of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.

“LeBron has a house with a full weight room and he has an outdoor court. He’s got a different reality right now that gives him a little more access to continue the normal. [Hawks rookie] Cam Reddish lives in an apartment and it’s probably a two-bedroom apartment. He can’t go in the apartment weight room because it’s a public facility. So he’s limited in all things.’’

Bucks Coach Mike Budenhlolzer said he wanted his players to focus on keeping their bodies in shape and conceded that logistics surrounding the pandemic would make it tougher for them to do any basketball-specific activities.

The Bucks are still finding ways to stay sharp.

Bucks players said team officials have made sure they all have the necessary exercise equipment. Antetokounmpo noted the Bucks also had a catering company bring food to make sure they maintain a proper diet. Center Brook Lopez said workout plans have been sent to them via a phone app.

“They’ve done a really good job of getting everything taken care of and still having tailored workouts for each individual player despite the situation,” Lopez said.

But it’s difficult for them to work on their shooting without access to a court. AP Giannis Antetokounmpo spends much of his time during the hiatus working out.

THE qualification period for the Tokyo Olympics will end in June 29, 2021.

T

HE International Olympic Committee (IOC) has revised the qualification deadline for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after the Games were postponed until 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its qualification system principles— updated following confirmation of the new dates for the Games—the IOC said the qualification period would end on June 29, 2021.

The date is exactly a week before the final entry deadline of July 5, 18 days before the Olympics are due to open on July 23.

In a separate letter to national Olympic committees, the IOC said it hoped to finalize the adapted qualification system later this month.

“We understand that at this time these are unlikely to include the full details on the dates and locations of the specified events, recognizing that these will follow later as the impacts of Covid-19 and its related restrictions become clearer,” the IOC said in the letter.

“We aim to finalize the adapted qualification systems by mid-April, with the details on specific

events to follow when available,” the statement added.

The IOC also told international federations to use their original qualification systems where possible after numerous events had been canceled or postponed in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

“This principle encourages IFs to follow a like-for-like approach by replacing those lost opportunities that were allocating quotas with the same number of events,” the IOC said.

Sports which use world rankings to determine their Olympic qualifiers—including badminton, weightlifting and judo—are facing a tougher challenge compared with the other federations.

The IOC said federations should “retain full discretion to define the new ranking deadline and pathway,” but warned a balance “needs to be found between protecting those athletes who were close to qualifying based on the previous 2020 deadlines, while also ensuring the participation of the best athletes at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 by allowing the top performers of the 2021 season to qualify.”

Athletes to teach kids on Instagram

M

ilo has brought together another set of top athletes that parents should watch out for as they are set to teach kids fun and energizing physical activities in its latest edition to the Milo Champion IG Live.

Milo Champions will energize Instagram with a one-hour training sessions to help kids get active and healthy while staying indoors during

the enhanced community quarantine.

The program dubbed Milo Champion IG Live is set at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Pauline Lopez will demonstrate basic taekwondo routines to develop agility and reflexes on her Instagram profile.

For young aspiring runners following

Confirmation of the new deadline and further clarification on the qualification process is set to alleviate uncertainty among athletes following the decision to delay the Games by a year.

Fifty-seven percent of the 11,000 athletes had qualified for Tokyo 2020 before the Games were postponed. The IOC has guaranteed athletes who had secured a spot at the Games will keep their places at the rescheduled event.

Qualification for Tokyo 2020 had already been completed in sports including equestrian, hockey and volleyball.

Others—such as weightlifting, judo and skateboarding—have not had any confirmed qualifiers as they use world rankings to determine athletes at the Games. Insidethegames six-time National Marathon Queen and 2016 Olympian Mary Joy Tabal, they could tune in to her profile to learn useful running exercises that kids can practice with their moms and dads.

On the same slots on April 15, national team members Juan and Javier Gomez de Liaño will show basic and fundamental basketball moves that kids could easily practice in the comfort of their home. Running icon Coach Rio de la Cruz will also go live on Instagram to lead simple and

fun drills to stay in shape.

Each live session will be preceded by short training videos through the Milo Champion Minute, a 60-second session that will give viewers a brief demo of personal training practices.

To join the Milo Champion Live and Champion Minute, visit Pauline (@pauweenie), Mary Joy (@maryjoytabalofficial), Juan (@juangdl9), Javier (@javigdl22) and Coach Rio’s (@coach_rio316) Instagram pages.