BusinessMirror April 07, 2020

NG posts ₧37.6-B budget deficit in Feb

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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HE national government swung to a budget deficit of P37.6 billion in February after posting a budget surplus in January amounting to P23 billion, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

For February alone, revenues recorded a 2.35-percent growth year-on-year to P206.8 billion compared to P202.1 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, expenditures for the month are down by 12.22 percent to settle at P244.4 billion from last year’s P278.5 billion due to the base effect of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for local government units for January 2019, which was released in February last year, as well as lower interest payments.

A budget deficit occurs when expenditures exceed revenues.

Despite this, the shortfall for February was barely half the P76.4-billion deficit last year,

AN enforcer of the PNP Highway Patrol Group mans a checkpoint in Cainta, Rizal, on Monday (April 6). BERNARD TESTA

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narrowing the year-to-date budget deficit to P14.6 billion. The January to February budget deficit this year was also lower by 54.30 percent from P31.8 billion in the same period in 2019.

During the first two months of the year, total revenues amounted to P501.5 billion, expanding by 9.29 percent from last year’s P458.8 billion.

As of end-February, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P337.1 billion, higher by 5.08 percent from P320.8 billion in the same period in 2019.

On the other hand, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) collection as of end-February reached P100.7 billion, surpassing by 8.74 percent its revenue take in the same period last year at P92.6 billion. This, despite the BOC showing a “modest increase” by 1.33 percent for its collection for the month of February alone to reach P44.8 billion compared to P44.2 billion in February 2019.

According to the statement from the BTr, the slow growth for the month was mainly due to the slowdown of importation from China amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The BTr’s total income for the first two months this year also surged by 82.26 percent to P34.2 billion from P18.8 billion in January to February 2019.

This was driven, the BTr said, by early dividend remittance from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in January and higher Bond Sinking Fund investment performance.

Meanwhile, total expenditures as of endFebruary also increased to P516 billion, beating last year’s P490.7 billion by 5.17 percent.

Broken down, primary expenditures for the first two months of the year went up by 4.72 percent to P439.3 billion from last year’s P419.4 billion.

Interest payments as of end-February also expanded by 7.79 percent to P76.8 billion from

P71.2 billion in the same period last year.

For February alone, productive spending,

excluding interest payments, amounted to P229.1 billion, lower by 9.51 percent year-onyear from P253.2 billion in February 2019 due to the timing of IRA payments.

Interest payments for the month also

contracted by 39.32 percent year-on-year to P15.4 billion from P25.3 billion due to maturities and premium on reissued Treasury bonds as well as the timing of the payments for the global bonds.

The government also reverted to a

primary deficit in February amounting to P22.2 billion, less than half of the P51.1 billion posted for the same month last year.

As of end-February, the cumulative

primary surplus was up by 57.98 percent to P62.2 billion from last year’s P39.4 billion.

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Tuesday, April 7, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 180

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

SELECTIVE LOCKDOWN

GOVERNMENT officials inspect the Ninoy Aquino Stadium inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila (left), and the World Trade Center in Pasay City (right). In a government-private sector partnership, these facilities have been converted into quarantine centers to house Covid-19 patients to prevent hospitals from being swamped. ROY DOMINGO/NONIE REYES

I

By Elijah Felice Rosales

N what appears to be a decision weighing lives or livelihood, the government is facing the dilemma of whether to extend the Luzon lockdown— for which a consensus is emerging among authorities, primarily to prevent Covid19’s runaway spread while mass testing is just under way—or lift it to allow stalled investments to come in and allow exporters to recover.

As officials assess the need to extend the community quarantine placed on Luzon, industry leaders make their case on why the lockdown should be lifted as scheduled on April 13. They suggested modifying the existing setup by allowing regular work to resume and concentrating containment efforts on hotbed areas of the virus.

Charito B. Plaza, director general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), said many investors had to stall their plans of doing business in the country, as they find it costly to operate here with the restricted movement of people and disrupted transport of goods.

The Peza was evaluating a lot of investment proposals before the coronavirus pandemic hit the Philippines and the government resorted to locking down Luzon.

These prospective investors, as such, were forced to hold on to their capital and await developments, as it will be difficult to carry out plans with quarantine measures in place, Plaza explained.

PLAZA: “Extension of lockdown must be selective only in areas where [the tally of] Covid cases is higher, but exempt economic zones which are insulated and provided support and assistance by IATF—not to hamper the passage and flow of trade activities so our industries will continue with their business operations and their workers to continue having jobs; thus, our economy will not be crippled.” PIA/CAR

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.7580

As much as exporters are allowed to operate under the lockdown, they are required to shelter their workers near their workplace to spare them of the hassle of passing through checkpoints every day, adding cost to firms already reeling from global trade disruption.

WITH LOW OIL PRICES, ROBUST RESERVES, PESO STAYS STABLE

Investments, exports down

BASED on official records, investments registered with the Peza in the first quarter fell nearly 28 percent to P16.49 billion, from P22.9 billion during the same period last year—not a single peso was tallied in March, as board members were unable to convene. This represented a total of 87 projects as against 128 in 2019.

Likewise, exports made by manufacturers in economic zones declined by over 66 percent to $4.36 billion, from $12.94 billion, attributed by the Peza to, among others, the eruption of Taal Volcano in January and the coronavirus pandemic and its attendant quarantine.

Plaza also said at least 78 projects for the development of new economic zones and IT parks and centers are awaiting proclamation from Malacañang. With these concerns in hand, she is asking the Interagency Task Force (IATF) to limit the coverage of quarantine, should it recommend for an extension, to return a bit of normalcy in economic activities.

Selective lockdown

“EXTENSION of lockdown must be selective only in areas where [the tally of] Covid cases is higher, but exempt economic zones which are insulated and provided support and assistance by IATF—not to hamper the passage and flow of Continued on A2

STREET dwellers, mostly from Manila, are temporarily housed at Paco Catholic School in Manila. A total of 170 individuals get free breakfast, lunch and dinner from the school, which are catered to them. The school is one of four Catholic schools in Manila that opened their doors to the homeless amid the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. NONIE REYES

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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HE local tender has remained stable amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, analysts said, thanks to lower oil prices and robust foreign reserves.

On Monday, the peso ended flat at P50.72. It opened at P50.72, peaked at P50.65 and traded as weak as P50.85. The local currency has depreciated by almost 4 centavos year-to-date.

The value of the peso against the greenback has depreciated markedly since 2012 when there was an outbreak of

the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.

That year, the peso averaged at P42.2288: $1, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price was $94.05 per barrel in 2012—lower than $94.88 the previous year—while overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) remittances grew by 6.4 percent to $23.8 billion.

But compared to the peso level during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, the local tender now is performing better.

The BSP noted that the peso averaged at P54.2033: $1 in 2003. In 2003 WTI crude oil price jumped by over $5 to $31.08 per barrel from 2002 while OFW remittances climbed 6.3 percent to $7.6 billion.

Oil prices, foreign reserves

“THE recent strength of the peso exchange rate may be attributed to relatively lower global oil prices,” RCBC chief economist Michael L. Ricafort said.

He said the current exchange rate is “among the strongest in two years.”

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4681 n UK 62.0720 n HK 6.5477 n CHINA 7.1671 n SINGAPORE 35.2364 n AUSTRALIA 30.4396 n EU 54.8897 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4959

Source: BSP (April 6, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Pump prices down for sixth week

By Lenie Lectura

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UMP prices are still going down.

Oil firms said Monday they would implement a P0.35per-liter reduction in gasoline products, P0.70 per liter for diesel and P0.75 per liter for kerosene.

Pilipinas Shell, Seaoil Philippines, Petro Gazz, PTT Philippines, Total Philippines and Phoenix Petroleum said they will implement the oil-price reduction at 6 am of April 7.

Other oil firms are expected to implement the same price adjustment.

This week’s oil-price adjustment is the sixth consecutive week of rollback.

Earlier, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi appealed to the local government units (LGUs) to allow at their checkpoints the delivery trucks transporting petroleum products.

Cusi reminded the LGUs that the transportation of energy and power products should not be hampered amid the enhanced community quarantine. These include diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene and gasoline, among others.

The agency is closely coordinating with all its stakeholders to ensure the unhindered entry of fuel supply to affected retail outlets. In addition, the agency has already requested oil companies to submit a status report on depots supplying Metro Manila.

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Covid-19 PHL cases now 3,660; ECQ extension gets more backing

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HE Department of Health ( DOH) on Monday reported 414 new cases (PH3,247-PH3,660) of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 3,660. This, as authorities weighed calls to extend the monthlong, Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to prevent the virus from spreading while mass testing gets underway on April 14.

GO: “I am in favor of extending the Enhanced Community Quarantine for a few more weeks until the number of Covid-19 cases starts to substantially drop. The government’s capacity to conduct testing has increased and it would be best to extend the ECQ so we can effectively isolate the positive cases from the rest of the community and eventually get rid of the disease.” AP/BULLIT MARQUEZ

On Monday, two more senators—Bong Go and Kiko Pangi­ linan—added their voice to calls to extend the lockdown after April 13, a matter that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is seriously debating before

making a recommendation to President Duterte.

Several business groups worried by the deepening economic impact of the lockdown, however, said that if the ECQ is extended by at least two more weeks, authorities should do so selectively, enforcing quarantine

only in so-called hot zones where the virus is actively spreading.

Related story on A1, banner.

In a virtual presser on Monday, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that as of 4 p.m. (April 6), nine persons have recovered from the disease. There are now 73 recoveries reported.

Vergeire said 11 more patients succumbed to the disease. There are now 163 deaths recorded in the country.

Meanwhile, in the earlier “Laging Handa” virtual presser, Vergeire said that a total of 22,958 tests for Covid-19 have been conducted. Of this number, 16,615 turned out negative and 3,414 positive.

She explained earlier why numbers do not jibe completely: one person may undergo multiple tests depending on their respective cases.

She also clarified that the number she cited may be different from the data on the DOH’s online tracker, which she said “is suffering from technical issues.”

Quarantine sites

ALSO on Monday, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), and World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM) are due to open this week as community quarantine facilities.

Initially, all three community quarantine facilities will admit Covid-19-positive patients who

are asymptomatic and with mild symptoms only.

“This protocol may change depending on the number of PUIs [persons under investigation] and PUMs [persons under monitoring].

If a patient’s condition worsens, he or she will be rushed immediately to a hospital for proper management and treatment,” said Duque, who visited the sites.

PICC can accommodate a maximum of 294 patients, WTCMM 502, and Rizal Memorial Coliseum 112.

The PICC site will be managed by the Philippine National Police Medical Corps while WTCMM will be managed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Both the PNP and AFP will supervise the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. The DOH health-care workforce will also support the three quarantine facilities.

The conversion of the three quarantine facilities is a collaboration between government and private sector, composed of the DOH, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) led by Secretary Vince Dizon.

More senators

IN separate statements, Senators Go and Pangilinan also joined calls by their colleagues—Senators Sher-

win Gatchalian and Minority Leader Frank Drilon—to extend the ECQ. Earlier, the extension also drew support from Vice President Leni Robredo and House Ways and Means committee chairman Joey Salceda.

“I am in favor of extending the Enhanced Community Quarantine for a few more weeks until the number of Covid-19 cases starts to substantially drop,” Go said, noting that “the government’s capacity to conduct testing has increased and it would be best to extend the ECQ so we can effectively isolate the positive cases from the rest of the community and eventually get rid of the disease.”

At, the same time, Go noted that since the Duterte administration compelled the people to stay home, the government must ensure quick delivery of “food and cash assistance from the government.”

For his part, Pangilinan affirmed he was supporting the ECQ extension with mass testing and the establishment of isolation centers. He added that it should be made clear that adequate supplementary measures are being undertaken, including putting up isolation centers to contain Covid.

At the same time, Pangilinan stressed the urgency of providing “cash assistance and delivery of relief goods to daily wage earners who are not getting paid as of now.”

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco and Butch Fernandez

With low oil prices, robust reserves, peso stays stable Continued from A1

WTI crude oil as of April 3 is $28.34 per barrel, bringing the year-to-date average to $44.82.

This is lower compared to $57.05 and $64.90 registered in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Ricafort took into consideration as well that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) were record high, providing support for the peso.

According to him, the foreign reserves of the Philippines can cover seven months’ worth of imports, which exceeds the minimum acceptable international standard of three to four months.

The country’s GIR as of endFebruary stood at $87.606 billion, slightly higher than $86.868 billion a month ago. It was also better compared to $82.78 billion yearon-year.

Government response

MARKET sentiment toward the peso has also been heavily affected by the pandemic, UnionBank chief economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said, noting that traders were on the lookout for the government’s next moves in dealing with the economic impact.

“Uncertainties about the Covid-19 pandemic economic impacts are major catalysts. The response of the government to the pandemic is also critical at this point,” he said.

The President recently signed the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act, allocating P275 billion to address the needs of the country amid the pandemic.

The Monetary Board has reduced the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility by a total of 75 basis points (bp) to 3.25 percent, bringing the lending and deposit rates to 3.75 percent and 2.75 percent, respectively.

The BSP also slashed the reserve requirement ratio on reservable liabilities of universal and commercial banks by 200 bp to 12 percent. This is anticipated to release around P180 billion worth of

liquidity into the banking system.

The Central Bank advanced the remittance of its dividends worth P20 billion to the government in support of the battle against the pandemic, in addition to approving P300-billion Covid-19 relief funds.

Peso vs neighbors

BOTH Ricafort and Asuncion agreed that the peso is performing relatively better compared to other Asian currencies at the moment.

The RCBC analyst said the local tender was supported by overseas Filipino workers’ remittances, which rose by 6.6 percent to $2.65 billion in January from $2.48 billion year-on-year.

Fitch Solutions, in a report last week, said the peso has only depreciated 0.6 percent year-to-date, slower compared to Malaysia (6.3 percent), Thailand (10 percent) and Indonesia (17.8 percent).

This means that the peso has a stable demand and supply despite the economic slump due to the pandemic, it added.

The research arm of the Fitch Group maintains its forecast for the Philippine peso spot rate to average P51.70: $1 this year.

After the lockdown

AFTER the month-long enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) placed all over Luzon, Asuncion said the peso can grow stronger, as uncertainties were lifted as well.

Ricafort, for his part, said the peso will continue to trade within P50-P51 levels after the lockdown.

“The peso could continue to be relatively stable and resilient… especially supported by the sharp decline in global oil prices that will help reduce oil imports, narrow the net imports/trade deficit and lower inflation,” he added.

The government declared an enhanced community quarantine on the country’s biggest island mid-March to contain the spread of the virus. While it is expected to be lifted by April 14, the government is mulling over the possibility of a two-week extension.

BLANDINO ESPLANA, 71, pushes his mobile palengke in Vitas-Katuparan, Tondo, Manila. He spends P2,000 to buy vegetables in Divisoria. On a normal day, he earns double if he sells at a higher price, but he has to sell it for two days. If he sells lower, with less profit, he disposes of his vegetables within the day. He then returns to Divisoria to buy more vegetables. It is a daily grind that lets him survive the lockdown. BERNARD TESTA

Peza, biz groups pitch selective lockdown Continued from A1

trade activities so our industries will continue with their business operations and their workers to continue having jobs; thus, our economy will not be crippled,” Plaza told the BusinessMirror.

Losing out on investments will be heavy to take for the Peza, at a time it is trying to recover from a double-digit slump. Last year, investments applied to the agency dropped more than 16 percent to P117.54 billion, from P140.24 billion in 2018, on uncertainties caused by the government’s plan to rationalize the menu of fiscal incentives.

Economic zones, which the Peza regulates, employ roughly 1.6 million workers nationwide and contribute a huge sum to the country’s export receipts.

The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi) is also in favor of modifying lockdown protocols. Seipi President Danilo C. Lachica said the quarantine could be extended for as long as manufacturing operations are allowed to resume, roadblocks are moved to the barangay level, and transport of goods is unhampered.

However, Lachica conceded any hope of the electronics industry, the largest contributor to the country’s exports at over 55 percent, hitting its growth target of 5 percent this year.

“Our growth forecast was 5 percent higher than 2019’s $43.3 billion, [but] that will not be met.

Depending on how long the pandemic lasts, it could be flat to negative,” Lachica said.

Foreign investors as well are cautious of the effects to the economy of extending the lockdown, suggesting that the quarantine imposed on Luzon be moved to selected barangays only.

Florian Gottein, executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, told the BusinessMirror shifting the lockdown to the local level will streamline the movement of goods, reducing bottlenecks in checkpoints in the process.

This will also allow the government to manage the barangays where Covid-19 cases are surging.

As precautionary measures, the use of face masks when leaving the house should be required, and mass gatherings should still be disallowed, Gottein said.

German companies, too, are requesting the government to ease the

quarantine. As described by Martin Henkelmann of the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI), “the impact of every additional day of ECQ will be exponentially more painful.”

As much as German companies here were able to survive a monthlong stoppage of operations, it will be harder for them to sustain business if the lockdown is prolonged, said Henkelmann, who works as executive director for the GPCCI. “The decision on extending the ECQ is difficult as it must strike the balance between lives and livelihoods,” Henkelmann concluded. “If based on scientific evidence [that] there is room to ease the restriction, the government should at least make it easier for the export industry, allow general e-commerce and construction, and partly enable public transport.”

The Nation BusinessMirror

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, April 7, 2020 A3

POEA bans deployment of health-care workers

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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O help ensure the countr y w ill have sufficient medical workers during the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) crisis, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has temporarily

Role of virus experts from Wuhan purely advisory–DOH

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

H

EALTH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III has clarified that the task of Chinese medical experts who arrived in the country on Sunday would be purely advisory in handling Covid-19 cases.

“It is really guiding how to improve, level up our Covid-19 response, learn different levels of surveillance, risk-assessment, isolation strategies, detection through accurate testing, clinical case management, and nonpharmaceutical public health measures,” Duque said.

A dozen Chinese medical experts arrived in Manila to share their learnings with Filipino medical professionals.

“They have a lot of good practices when they managed their Covid-19 patients in Wuhan and Hubei,” said Duque.

He noted that Chinese medical experts have firsthand experience in the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Chinese experts also brought with them 5,000 personal protective equipment, 300,000 surgical masks, 30,000 medical N95 masks, 5,000 medical protective face shields and 30 non-invasive ventilators from the Chinese government.

Together with some DOH staff, they are scheduled to visit Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), Lung Center of the Philippines, San Lazaro Hospital and quarantine facilities to train Filipino medical professionals.

They will be in the country for 15 days, or until April 19.

stopped the deployment abroad of some categories of Filipino health-care workers.

In its Resolution 9-2020, the POEA Governing Board (GB) said it has included 14 occupations in mission critical skills (MCS).

MCS are skills which are deemed absolute and necessary for the industry; takes a long time to produce; and

cannot be easily replaced.

The new resolution covers the following occupations: medical doctor/physician; nurses; microbiologist; medical technologists; c linica l ana lysts; respirator y therapists; pharmacists; laboratory technician; radiologic technician; nursing assistant/aid; operator of medical equipment;

T

POEA GB said in its latest three-page issuance.

The issuance was signed on April 2, 2020.

POEA also temporarily suspended bilateral labor agreements for government-to-government deployment of health-care workers until the NSE is lifted.

It said the measure aims to

prevent the worsening of the “shortage” of health workers in the country.

Citing data from the World Health Organization, POEA said the country has a shortage of about 290,000 health workers, which could be aggravated by the average annual migration of 13,000 Filipino health workers.

STRANDED TOURISTS BRING HOME PLEASANT MEMORIES FROM BATANES AMID PANDEMIC

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HE Department of Tourism (DOT) said on Monday that at least 12 domestic tourists have returned home after staying in the Batanes islands for almost two weeks due to the travel restrictions prompted by the March 17 imposition of the enhanced community

quarantine (ECQ) in connection with the coronavirus or Covid-19 crisis.

Immediately addressing the difficult situation of the visitors who were scheduled to depart the country’s northernmost islands on March 18 for Clark International Airport, the DOT-Regional Office 2 (DOT-RO 2)

in joint efforts with the Batanes provincial government arranged their board and lodging, free-of-charge.

The local tourists welcomed their “extended vacation” in the breathtaking Batanes islands, called the “Home of the Winds”and known for its mesmerizing rolling hills scenery.

They left March 31 for their voyage to Catbangen Pier, San Fernando, La Union, onboard BRP Magat Salamat, which the DOT-Regional Office 2 arranged with the DOT-RO 1 and the Philippine Navy.

Upon departure, the Batanes Provincial Health Office issued each of

them a Certification of non-persons under monitoring (PUM).

In coordination with the LGUs, the tourists were safely transported to their respective home destinations, including Baguio City, Pangasinan and Cavite provinces, and Metro Manila.

‘Extended home stay may trigger surge in domestic violence, abuse on children’ Mining company

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

EN. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, citing concerns over a “surge in domestic violence,” pressed authorities on Monday to closely monitor and strictly enforce the law against violence on women and children.

“As countries under Covid-19 lockdowns see a surge in domestic violence, the Inter-Agency Council on Violence Against Women and Their Children must ensure that the implementation of Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004, remains in full force,” Gatchalian said.

The senator recalled that prior to the spike in the cases of Covid-19 in the country, the Center for Women’s Resources in early

March reported that violence against women continue to be among the issues that haunt women and children.

In a news statement, Gatchalian noted that the training institution for women had already raised the alarm as recent data on violence against women and children (VAWC) showed that at least one woman, or child, is abused every 10 minutes in the country.

The senator confirmed there were 9,935 reported cases from April to June 2019 based on data on nationwide violence against women and children recorded by the Philippine National Police-Women and Children Protection Center (PNP-WCPC).

“Quarantine measures may lead to a surge in domestic violence and make it harder for victims to go out of their homes to seek help,” Gatchalian warned.

To drive home the point, the senator cited, for instance, that domestic abuses in Paris had jumped 36 percent and 32 percent elsewhere in France since the country began a nationwide lockdown on March 17, adding that “the cases included two murders.”

“In Malaysia, the Women and Family Development Ministry’s helpline for women and children received 1,893 calls in nine days or a spike of 57 percent since the partial lockdown in the country started,” he added.

Even as the Philippines was placed under strict community quarantine, Gatchalian stressed that government agencies concerned must continue to provide protection to abused women and children.

“The violence against women and children should not be allowed to worsen, more so that we are in the midst

of a crisis,” he stressed. The senator stressed the key role of the barangay officers since they are “often nearest to victims and witnesses of abuse.”

“Under the Protocol for Case Management of Child Victims of Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation drafted by the Committee for the Special Protection of Children, barangays must have help desks that will monitor cases of child abuse and violenceagainstwomen,” he said,adding,“Barangays are also mandated to coordinate with social workers, health officials, and women and children protection units to give intervention and assistance to the victims.”

Atthesametime,Gatchalianprodded the National Bureau of Investigation’s Violence Against Women and Children Desk and the Philippine National Police’s Women and Children Protection Center to “be more vigilant and accessible.”

DOH told to act fast on LGU mass testing centers

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AWMAKERS on Monday asked the Department of Health (DOH) to extend all possible necessary assistance to local government unit (LGU) officials, particularly in Mindanao, who are working to establish their own coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) screening centers.

House Deputy Majority Leader and Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Wilter Wee Palma II issued the statement as the government is eyeing to undertake mass testing on or before April 14.

“With the guidance, wisdom,

skills and technical expertise of our good secretary and the country’s health experts, I don’t think there is reason to deny any application of local officials to establish more facilities nationwide for Covid-19 laboratory tests that are fully compliant with the standards set by the Department of Health,” said Palma.

Palma is proposing that all regional hospitals in Mindanao be authorized as testing centers to make the virus screening accessible to Mindanaoans and help the government eliminate Covid-19.

JTF CV Shield arrests more than 87,000 ECQ, curfew violators since Luzon-wide lockdown

HE Joint Task Force Corona Virus Shield (JTF CV Shield) has already arrested at least 87,494 violators of the curfew and enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that is being implemented in Luzon.

JTF CV Shield commander and Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Chief for Operations Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said the arrests were made during the 20-day period, or since the start of the lockdown.

“All of them [violators] were brought to the stations. 70 percent of them, or 61,000, were sent home after they were given a warning. About 5 percent or 4,184 were fined,” the police official added.

The task force commander said they would file charges against the other 22,790, of which 4,206, are respondents to inquest proceedings and are already in jail.

“We will show no mercy to those who will keep on violating the law and they will have to make their penitence inside jails,” Eleazar vowed.

Meanwhile, the PNP said that 32 others have been arrested for spreading fake news amid the police drive against spreading false information,

super visor of health ser vices and personal care; repairman of medical-hospital equipment.

“The deployment of health-care workers included in the list above hereby temporarily suspended until the national state of emergency [NSE] is lifted and until Covid-19 related travel restrictions are lifted at the destination countries,” the

unverified reports and other forms of disinformation.

The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) nabbed 24 suspects for spreading fake news on social-media portals that caused panic among people, while Police Regional Offices and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group also arrested another eight for spreading false information.

The false information the suspects posted tend to affect the united effort against the Covid-19, according to PNP spokesman chief Supt.

Bernard Banac.

The ACG said the 32 fake news proliferators are facing charges for violating Unlawful Use of Means of Publication and Unlawful Utterances under Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code as amended in relation to Sec 4c4 (Online Libel) and Section 6 of Republic Act 10175, or the AntiCybercrime Law. From March 9 to April 5, 2020, the ACG recorded 32 complaints filed for inquest, or preliminary investigation with 17 cases filed.

Cybercops reported that the suspects were from Quezon City, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Western

Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Caraga region.

Relatedly, PNP chief Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa said the PNP Health Service is closely monitoring the remaining 15 patients out of 19 Covid-19 cases in the PNP. Of the 19, two PNP personnel have recovered from the pandemic, while another two policemen have succumbed to the virus.

Among the latest addition of Covid-19 patients in PNP were identified as a female officer, 31, from Laguna province, a 41-year-old male policeman from Cavite, and a 45-year-old female police officer from Batangas province.

As of Monday, the PNP has recorded a total of 280 personnel who are categorized as persons under investigation (PUI), including 63 Police Commissioned Officers, 204 Police Non-Commissioned Officers, and 13 Non-Uniformed Personnel.

On the other hand, a total of 1,332 personnel are already listed as persons under monitoring (PUM) and they included 300 Police Commissioned Officers, 978 Police NonCommissioned Officers and 54 NonUniformed Personnel. Rene Acosta

Palma said the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC), the only tertiary DOH-retained hospital in Region 9, has pending application before the DOH to set up a facility for Covid-19 testing in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

He also said residents of Region 9 have been relying on the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) C-130 to fly swab samples to Manila for testing at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), the only national laboratory for infectious and tropical diseases in

Muntinlupa City.

The House leader also said the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Region 9 office in Zamboanga City also offered its facility as screening center because of the department’s capacity for Diagnostic Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), a laboratorybased procedure found to be most reliable for diagnosing Covid-19, using the Bio-Rad CFX96 Real-Time System. The machine is currently being used for detection of African swine fever and Avian influenza.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Lawyer files violation of Covid-19 quarantine rules against Pimentel

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HE Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced that it would formally start its preliminary probe against Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III for alleged violation of the infection and home quarantine protocols on the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made the announcement after learning that lawyer Rico Quicho filed before the DOJ a letter-complaint seeking Pimentel’s prosecution for violating the Luzon-wide enhanced community lockdown and breaching quarantine rules being imposed by the Department of Health (DOH) on those persons under investigation (PUI) for Covid-19.

The complaint stemmed following Pimentel’s admission that he breached quarantine rules and health protocols when he accompanied his expectant wife to the Makati Medical Center late last month when he should have been under quarantine for suspected infection.

“I hope the DOJ will swiftly act and pursue legal actions against Sen. Koko Pimentel. We trust that the DOJ will be true to its commitment to the Filipino people to uphold the rule of law without fear or favor,” Quicho stressed.

Pimentel was criticized by the public for his action, which placed frontliners at the Makati Medical Center and persons who had close contact with him in danger of being infected, considering that he was at the hospital when he found out that he was positive for Covid-19.

In his complaint, Quicho said Pimentel should be made answerable for direct violation of Republic Act 11332 and its implementing rules and other DOH regulations.

The said law “prohibits the non-cooperation of persons and/or entities that should report and/or respond to notifiable disease, or health events, of public concern and the non-cooperation of persons who have been identified as having notifiable disease, or those affected by the health event of public concern.”

Violators can be fined from P20,000 to P50,000 and/or one to six months in prison.

“As a lawyer and an advocate of the rule of law, I cannot in good conscience allow the reckless actions of Sen. Koko Pimentel to be brushed aside so easily.

He blatantly violated laws, which put the lives and health of frontliners, and even ordinary citizens, at grave risk,” Quicho said on his social-media account after he filed the case. Joel R. San Juan

secures mineral ore export permit despite lockdown

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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HE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has granted the application of a mining company to export chromite ore concentrate to China, a move described by anti-mining groups as “defiant” of existing general community quarantine put in place by local officials over the province of Leyte.

The Mineral Ore Export Permit was granted by the MGB Region 8 to Chromiteking Inc. allowing it to haul and transport around 7,000 wet metric tons of ores valued at P61.23 million from Homonhon Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, to any main point in China.

The ore was sold to Lee-Mah Trade Limited, for which the Philippine government will earn P2.45 million in excise tax, sccording to the Mineral Ore Export Permit issued by Leo Van V. Juguan, regional director of the MGB Region 8 on March 31, 2020.

Jaybee Garganera national coordinator of the Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) said the permit was granted on March 31, when the entire Leyte is under general community quarantine.

The province was placed under general community quarantine to prevent the entry and spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the province via an executive order signed by Leyte Gov. Leopoldo Dominico Petilla.

The order placed under general community quarantine and enhancing the implementation of mandatory precautionary measures against the contagion.

The general community quarantine period covers 12 midnight of March 18 and will last until April 17.

“How could the MGB officials go to their office? There is a lockdown order by Governor Petilla, including Tacloban City,” he asked.

He also said that the local government of Guiuan, including the barangay with jurisdiction over the mines, was not informed about the permit despite their opposition to any mining operations since 2016.

Garganera also said the previous permit of the company was suspended because of lack of transparency and the suspension order of thenSecretary Gina L. Lopez.

“I don’t think the conditions [for the lifting of the suspension order] have been met to warrant the issuance of a new permit,” he said.

Garganera said the continuous operation of the mining company entails great risks of spreading Covid-19.

“What are the assurances and measures that the crew of that Chinese ship are free from Covid-19?” he said.

Economy BusinessMirror

A4 Tuesday, April 7, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

DA rolls out ₧3-B cash aid program to farmers

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said it will extend P3 billion worth of cash assistance to 600,000 rice farmers as part of government’s intervention program to help them cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The DA said the cash subsidy program dubbed as the Financial Subsidy to Rice Farmers (FSRF) is part of its initiatives to assist small rice farmers, who are planting 1 hectare, or less, in 24 provinces not covered by the Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA) program.

The P3-billion FSRF fund is earmarked under the 2020 General Appropriations Act, the DA added. “Our rice farmers will receive it as a direct cash transfer that they can use to buy either farm inputs, food for their families, or anything they

need,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said.

“The FSRF is another intervention to further support our farmers who are experiencing the effects of the quarantine measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Dar added.

“We vow to continue helping our small rice farmers, by implementing not only the FSRF and RFFA, but also other major programs such as the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund [RCEF], the SURE Aid loan assistance program, and continuous palay-buying through the National Food Authority—to boost farmers’ productivity and incomes,” Dar said.

Tobacco farmers’ subsidy

IN a related development, The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) said it will provide at least P12-million cash assistance to over 6,000 farmers to help planters cope with the impact

of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a recent news statement, NTA said it has approved the grant of emergency cash assistance (ECA) to tobacco farmers under the tobacco contract growing system (TCGS) for crop year 2019-2020.

The NTA said its governing board adopted Referendum Resolution 002-2020 on March 24 that authorized the direct cash assistance of P2,000 to every eligible farmer.

NTA Officer in Charge Roberto R. Bonoan said the amount could still increase pending approval of the NTA governing board and availability of funds. The NTA is an attached government-owned and -controlled corporation of the DA. “We have to help our farmers during the national emergency and we have also proposed to the members of the Governing Board to include non-TCGS farmers in the cash assistance,” Bonoan said.

ERC moves to reduce electricity transmission charge to consumers

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

T

RANSMISSION charges will be reduced to P0.4701 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) this year after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) ordered the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to implement a lower Interim Maximum Annual Revenue (iMAR) for the year.

The iMAR refers to the maximum revenue that NGCP is allowed to earn from its transmission operations.

“This brings a favorable rate impact on the consumers as this will mean a lower transmission charge for this year. The lowered transmission charge will be effective upon NGCP’s receipt of the relevant ERC order,” said ERC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Agnes VST Devanadera.

NGCP earlier asked the commission to grant it an iMAR of P58.8 billion but the ERC only ap-

proved P47,051,640,000.00, or P11.8 billion less than what the grid operator applied for.

Effectively, the approved iMAR reduces the existing transmission charge by P0.0413/kWh from the P0.5114/kWh in 2019 to P0.4701/kWh for 2020.

“The interim relief granted by the commission to NGCP reflected a lower Interim Maximum Annual Revenue for 2020 which caused the reduction in the transmission tariff. The approved iMAR amounted to P47 billion, which is lower than the NGCP’s proposal of P58.8 billion.

The lowering of the transmission rate is again one of the more successful efforts of the commission to provide relief to all the electricity consumers, especially those that are economically disadvantaged, [those] who lost their jobs and earnings due to the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine,” Devanadera explained.

The ERC noted that NGCP’s last adjustment

Duterte grants special risk allowance to state health workers at the frontlines

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

P

UBLIC health worker (PHW) at the forefront of government efforts to control the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), will soon be getting a “special risk allowance” (SRA).

This, after President Duterte on Monday issued Administrative Order (AO) 28 giving the one-time benefit to qualified medical workers in recognition of their “heroic deeds and invaluable contribution” to the country during the Covid-19 crisis.

National government agencies (NGA), government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs) and local government units (LGUs) were authorized to give the SRA, which will be worth up to a maximum of 25 percent of the monthly basic pay of PHWs. It will be distributed on a pro-rated basis depending on the number of days the PHW physically reported for work during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, which started on March 17, 2020.

The payment of the SRA will based using the following bracket: three to seven days, 25 percent of SRA; eight to 12 days, 50 percent of SRA; 13 to 17 days, 75 percent of SRA; 18 or more days, 100 percent of the SRA.

SRA coverage

THOSE who will qualify for the SRA include “medical, allied medical and other necessary personnel assigned in hospitals and health-care facilities and who are directly catering to, or in contact, with Covid-19 patients, persons under investigations or person under monitoring.”

It will apply to civilian employees occupying regular, contractual, casual or part-time positions, as well as workers engaged in contract of service (COS), or job order (JO), including Barangay Health Workers (BHW).

The AO will not apply to consultants and experts; laborers engaged in job contracts, or those paid in piecework basis; and individuals and group of individuals whose services are engaged through COS, or JO, including not assigned to health-care facilities.

Funding sources

FOR regular, casual, contractual PHWs of NGAs, the SRA will be charged to personal services (PS) budget of the concerned agency.

The SRA for COSs/JOs of NGAs will be taken from their maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) allotments.

“In case of insufficient PS or MOOE allotments, the agencies concerned shall submit to the DBM [Department of Budget and Management] a Special Budget Request duly supported by a list of entitled personnel with three corresponding amounts required,” the AO read.

In the case of GOCCs, the SRA funding will be taken from their corporate operating budget for fiscal year 2020, while that for LGUs will be charged from their PS and MOOE budget.

of the Maximum Annual Revenue (MAR) was in 2016. NGCP is presently collecting revenue based on the 2016 iMAR of P43.78 billion.

The increase in revenues from the 2016 level to the 2020 level would allow NGCP to augment its capital expenditures (capex) requirements in order to address the forecasted increase in demand for 2020.

Furthermore, there were variances in the computations of capex between the NGCP and the ERC that caused the lower iMAR. Among others, the ERC considered the following in computing NGCP’s iMAR: “Unplanned capex identified as 100 percent completed projects considering that these assets are already existing and in operation in the transmission system and Energy Project of National Significance [EPNS] considered as priority projects per the Department of Energy [DOE].”

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ADB to govts: Avert closure of businesses amid pandemic

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

D

ESPITE the damage the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic is inflicting on the economy, Asian Development Bank (ADB) experts urged governments to undertake measures to forestall the closure of businesses at this time.

In an Asian Development Blog, ADB Senior Economist Paul Vandenberg and Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department Economist Matthias Helble said credit must be extended to businesses, as well as the temporary suspension of their government transfers.

Vandenberg and Helble also said the government and chambers of commerce should also encourage businesses to retain their employees. Companies can reduce work hours and still allow workers to earn a living.

“It is important for an economy that businesses survive during a temporary crisis. When businesses collapse, assets are sold off, and workers are let go,” Vandenberg and Helble said.

The authors said if the government does not support businesses, there may be irreversible consequences such as lost investments. They also said it is more costly to revive closed businesses after a crisis.

The closure of companies, Vandenberg and Helble said, would also make it difficult for employees to find new jobs after the crisis. Worse, they may need to be retrained just to get employed by a new firm.

Helping companies avoid bankruptcy is a sound investment for governments since companies can immediately reboot right after the crisis. This will allow for a V-shaped recovery for the economy instead of a U-shaped, or bathtub-shaped, recovery.

Vandenberg and Helble also said supporting businesses at this time is also an effective social protection measure for workers. Incomes earned at this time is crucial for families to survive the pandemic.

“There is little doubt that many workers will be displaced as a result of the slowdown and many businesses will collapse. But support to businesses gives some of them a fighting chance to weather the storm,” Vandenberg and Helble said.

Earlier, ADB projected the growth of the Philippine economy would slow to 2 percent this year due to Covid-19.

In the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020, ADB said, however, that the Philippine economy’s growth is expected to rebound to 6.5 percent in 2021.

The V-shaped recovery of the Philippine economy next year, ADB said, is based on estimates that “the effects of the virus outbreak dissipate

by June 2020.”

ADB said the government has enough fiscal space to increase its resources to mitigate the worst effects of Covid-19 and speed up economic recovery. Further, ensuring adequate resources for health care will help to prepare for any outbreak.

The Manila-based multilateral development bank said private consumption is expected to recover strongly, while private investment is estimated to increase together with higher public spending on infrastructure on the back of lower interest rates.

The report also stated that increased public spending on construction will drive investment in equipment and machinery, while private construction is sustained by demand for office and retail space and housing.

Task force vests When will things return to normal?

DAR with power to give quarantine passes to farmers

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

@jonlmayuga

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HE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will soon grant farmers quarantine pass that will allow them to bring their produce to areas affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

On April 4, 2020, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) granted the DAR the authority to issue quarantine pass to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

To recall, President Duterte declared a State of Public Health Emergency and placed the entire Luzon island under ECQ on March 16. The strict implementation of the monthlong ECQ prevents farmers and fishermen from bringing their produce to vegetable and fish landings, hence, limiting the food supply, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The request for authorization was initiated by DAR Secretary John Castriciones to ensure the delivery of food and other agricultural products to markets, especially those located in critical areas where people cannot buy food because of the ECQ. The DAR is now crafting a memorandum circular to guide DAR and ARBs in properly implementing the endeavor, Castriciones said in a news statement.

The authorization is expected to speed up the process of selling and distribution of agricultural commodities to critical areas nationwide, Castriciones said.

At the same time, the authorization would also accredit suppliers and truckers of agricultural products to be given incentives such as truckban exemptions, ease of passage in checkpoints and immediate assistance from local government units (LGUs) during deliveries.

The issuance of quarantine passes, or food passes, is being implemented under the Foodlane Project where DAR and other government agencies converge to institutionalize efficient and seamless distribution of agricultural and fishery products from the production sites to market centers.

“This move kills two birds with one stone because this [objective] will help contribute to food sufficiency and also help our farmers survive Covid-19 by earning income by assisting them in selling their agri-products,” Castriciones said.

By Henry J. Schumacher

W

HILE I agree that we are suffering from two crises, the Covid19’s very contagious influenza infection and the hype and to some extend the overreactions manifested largely in overly bureaucratic restrictions, I am sick and tired of the negative news being thrown at me continuously.

I am also watching with deep concern that governments take nationalistic approaches that risk disrupting an international system that has become increasingly interconnected in recent decades, and which was successful until Trump arrived.

My brain is rebelling and only willing to look at the more positive news that is available also but is overwhelmed by negatives. It’s unfortunate that politicians around the world are not listening to experts and seasoned virologists, whose strategies are widely different from the strategies applied by over-eager politicians.

Aren’t you wondering: When will things return to normal?

The answer is simple, if not exactly satisfying: when enough of the population—possibly 60 or 80 percent of people—is resistant to Covid-19 to stifle the disease’s spread from person to person.

There are two realistic paths to achieving this “population-level immunity.” One is the development of a vaccine. The other is for the disease to work its way through the population, surely killing many, but also leaving many others—those who contract the disease and then recover—immune. Once enough people reach that status, normalcy will be restored.

Projecting when each facet of daily life will be restored would be easier if public-health authorities had a well-informed view of who is infected, who has recovered and become immune, and who is still susceptible. This is the information that would emerge from widespread testing, which the Philippines and many other countries are terribly behind on deploying.

Also, pretty soon, researchers will likely have a better sense of whether those who recover from an infection are immune to future infections, and if so, for how long. Two types of tests matter here: one that detects the presence of the virus itself, and one that detects the antibodies that people develop when they’re immune to it.

With this new information, it might be possible to isolate contagious or more vulnerable people, while a large portion of the population returns to something resembling normal life. We can all accept fewer tables in a restaurant, for instance, or a smaller number of people at a bar. Social distancing is not that bad.

On the other hand, pharma companies are coming up with vaccines, but unfortunately there are a series of methodical trials done to make sure they don’t harm healthy people, to make sure they generate the desired antibodies, and to make sure those antibodies actually defend against the disease. If researchers are making something that’s going to be pumped into the arms of hundreds of millions, probably billions, of people, they want to make sure it’s just right.

And if it’s just right, normal life will resume, but not immediately. The logistics of vaccinating hundreds of million, probably billions of people is no mean feat. And assuming that the vaccine doesn’t all arrive in one big batch, some sort of system would need to be in place for determining who gets the first doses: the people most vulnerable to the disease? Health-care workers?

Or political and private VIPs? Even in a vaccine-less world, reaching populationlevel immunity means that future outbreaks of Covid-19 should be far less damaging than the one that are currently confronted with.

In conclusion, my brain tells me to get ready to take advantage of opportunities rather than seeing problems only. I am interested in your feedback; contact me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.

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

Premier infuriated

by Trump says Canada aided U.S. amid 9/11

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ORONTO—The premier of a Canadian province that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks questioned the humanity of US President Donald J. Trump on Sunday after Trump banned the export of N95 protective masks to Canada.

The conservative leader of another province compared it to one family member feasting while letting another one starve. And yet another premier said it reminded him of 1939 and 1940, when Canada was part of the fight against global fascism while the United States sat out the first years.

Canadians across the country expressed hurt and disappointment that their neighbor and longstanding ally is blocking shipments of the masks from the United States to ensure they are available in the US during the coronavirus pandemic. Canadian health-care workers—like those in the US—are in dire need of the masks that provide more protection against the virus that causes Covid-19.

Newfoundland Premier Dwight Ball said one of the great lessons in humanity is that in times of crisis you don’t stop being human.

“To say that I’m infuriated by the recent actions of President Trump of the United States is an understatement,” Ball said. “I cannot believe for a second that in a time of crisis that President Trump would even think about banning key medical supplies to Canada.”

B all noted that in 2001, more than 6,600 passengers descended on Gander, Newfoundland, a town of 10,000 without warning as more than 200 flights were diverted to Canada following the attacks on the United States.

Flight crews filled Gander’s hotels, so passengers were taken to schools, fire stations, and church halls. The Canadian militar y flew in 5,000 cots. Stores donated blankets, coffee machines, barbecue grills. Locals gave passengers food, clothes, showers, toys and banks of phones to call home free of charge.

“Newfoundland and Labrador will never give up on humanity. We will not hesitate for one second if we had to repeat what we did on 9-11. We would do it again,” Ball said.

“This is a time when we need to work together to continue to protect our residents and keep them safe from Covid-19 no mater where they live or what passport they hold.”

Former Gander Mayor Claude Elliott also said he’s disappointed.

“I understand the United States is going through a very dramatic time, especially in New York, and they need a lot of supplies, but we’re fighting an enemy that is just not one state, it’s the whole world,” Elliott said. “And when we come to those times of tragedy in our life, we need everybody helping each other.”

Trump used his authority under the 1950 Defense Production Act to direct the government to acquire the “appropriate” number of N95 respirators from Minnesota-based 3M and its subsidiaries. He also asked it to stop exporting such masks, also known as respirators, though 3M issued a statement saying that could have “significant humanitarian implications” for healthcare workers in Canada and Latin America.

The company said possible retaliation by other nations could actually lead to fewer of the masks being available in the US. Ontario’s conservative Premier Doug Ford also expressed disappointment.

“It’s like one of your family members [says], ‘OK, you go starve and we’ll go feast on the rest of the meal.’ I’m just so disappointed right now,” Ford said on Saturday. “We have a great relationship with the US and they pull these shenanigans? Unacceptable.”

Alber ta Premier Jason Kenney, also a conservative, recalled resentments from the start of World War II: “The United States sat out the first two or three years and actually initially refused to even provide supplies to Canada and the United Kingdom that was leading the fight at the time,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a more diplomatic approach, saying on Sunday he’s confident Canada will still be able to import N95 masks from the US despite the export ban and said he will talk to Trump in the coming days.

Trudeau noted Canada supplies the US with many supplies, including pulp for surgical-grade N95 masks, test kits and gloves. Canadian nurses also work in the US. Trudeau earlier said Canada won’t bring retaliatory or punitive measures against the United States.

“I’m confident we are going to be able to solve this and I look forward to speaking with the president in the coming days,” Trudeau said. AP

The World BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

A5

Americans brace for ‘hardest’ week as Britain becomes deadliest hot spot

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EW YORK—Americans braced for what the nation’s top doctor warned on Sunday would be “the hardest and saddest week” of their lives while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of deadliest coronavirus hot spot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy’s.

Britain’s own prime minister, Boris Johnson, was hospitalized, 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19 in what his office described as a “precautionary step.”

Amid the dire news, there were also glimmers of hope in some hardhit areas—the number of people dying appeared to be slowing in New York City, Spain and Italy. The news was cautiously welcomed by leaders, who also noted that any gains could easily be reversed if people did not continue to adhere to strict lockdowns.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams offered a stark warning about the expected wave of virus deaths.

“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,’’ he told “Fox News Sunday.”

But President Donald Trump later suggested the hard weeks ahead could foretell the turning of a corner. “We’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel,” Trump said at an evening White House briefing.

In New York City, the US epicenter of the pandemic, daily deaths dropped slightly, along with intensive care admissions and the number of patients who needed breathing tubes inserted, but New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned it was “too early to tell” the significance of those numbers.

Italy and Spain also got some encouraging news. Italy registered its lowest day-to-day increase in deaths in more than two weeks—525, said Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection agency. The

pace of infection also seemed to be slowing.

Even so, Borrelli warned, “This good news shouldn’t make us drop our guard.”

Confirmed infections fell in Spain, too, and new deaths declined for the third straight day, dropping to 674—the first time daily deaths have fallen below 800 in the past week.

The outlook, however, was bleak in Britain, which reported more than 600 deaths on Sunday, surpassing Italy’s increase. Italy still has, by far, the world’s highest coronavirus death toll—almost 16,000.

In a rare televised address, Queen Elizabeth II appealed to Britons to rise to the occasion, while acknowledging enormous disruptions, grief and financial difficulties.

“I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” she said. “And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any.”

Johnson, meanwhile, has been hospitalized, though his office said it was not an emergency and that the 55-year-old Conservative will undergo tests.

There are concerns that Johnson’s government did not take the virus seriously enough at first and that spring weather will tempt Britons and others to break social distancing rules.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK might even ban outdoor exercise if people still “flout the rules.”

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on April 3, in Washington. AP/Alex Brandon

“The vast majority of people are following the public health advice, which is absolutely critical, and staying at home,” Hancock told Sky TV. “But there are a small minority of people who are still not doing that—it’s quite unbelievable, frankly, to see that.”

As the numbers of infections rose, Saffron Cordery, the deputy head of Britain’s National Health Service Providers, said the agency needed to focus on quickly increasing ventilator capacity and getting more protective equipment for health-care workers.

Italians have not been immune to the lure of the good weather, either. Top Italian officials took to national television after photos were published showing huge crowds out shopping.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza told RAI state television that all the sacrifices Italians have made since the nationwide lockdown began risked being reversed.

Restrictions on movement vary from country to country, state to state, locality to locality. Swedes have been advised to practice social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants remain open. In Germany and Britain, residents can get outdoors to exercise and walk their dogs, while in Serbia and South Africa, dog walking is not allowed.

The ACLU filed its first lawsuit over coronavirus restrictions, arguing in part that Puerto Rico’s curfew

UK PM Boris Johnson hospitalized with virus

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ONDON—British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital on Sunday for tests, his office said, because he is still suffering symptoms, 10 days after he was diagnosed with Covid-19.

Johnson’s office said the admission to an undisclosed London hospital came on the advice of his doctor and was not an emergency. The prime minister’s Downing St. office said it was a “precautionary step” and Johnson remains in charge of the government.

Johnson, 55, has been quarantined in his Downing St. residence since being diagnosed with Covid-19 on March 26—the first known head of government to fall ill with the virus.

Johnson has continued to preside at daily meetings on Britain’s response to the outbreak and has released several video messages during his 10 days in isolation.

In a message on Friday, a flushed and red-eyed Johnson said he was feeling better but still had a fever.

The virus causes mild to moderate symptoms in most people, but for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.

US President Donald Trump offered encouragement to Johnson as he opened a White House briefing on the pandemic on Sunday. “All Americans are praying for him,” Trump said.

Johnson has received medical ad-

vice remotely during his illness, but going to a hospital means doctors can see him in person.

Dr. Rupert Beale, a group leader of the cell biology of infection lab at the Francis Crick Institute for biomedical studies, said doctors would likely “be monitoring important vital signs such as oxygen saturations,” as well as performing blood tests, assessing Johnson’s organ function and possibly performing a CT scan on his chest to assess his lungs.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been designated to take over if Johnson becomes incapacitated, is set to lead the government’s coronavirus meeting on Monday.

Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, 32, revealed on Saturday that she spent a week in bed with coronavirus symptoms, though she wasn’t tested. Symonds, who is pregnant, said she was now “on the mend.” She has not been staying with the prime minister in Downing St. since his diagnosis.

The government said on Sunday that almost 48,000 people have been confirmed to have Covid-19 in the UK, and 4,934 have died.

Johnson replaced Theresa May as Conservative prime minister in July and won a resounding election victory in December on a promise to complete Britain’s exit from the European Union. But Brexit, which became official on Jan. 31, has been overshadowed by the coronavirus

pandemic sweeping the globe.

Johnson’s government was slower than those in some European countries to impose restrictions on daily life in response to the pandemic, leading his critics to accuse him of complacency. He imposed an effective nationwide lockdown on March 23, but his government remains under huge pressure to boost the country’s number of hospital beds and ventilators and to expand testing for the virus.

London has been the center of the outbreak in the UK, and politicians and civil servants have been hit hard. Several other members of Johnson’s government have also tested positive for the virus, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock and junior Health Minister Nadine Dorries. Both have recovered.

News of Johnson’s admission to hospital came an hour after Queen Elizabeth II made a rare televised address to the nation, in which she urged Britons to remain “united and resolute” in the fight against the virus. “ We w i l l succeed—and that success will belong to every one of us,” the 93-year-old monarch said, drawing parallels to the struggle of World War II. “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again,” she said. AP

leaves people fearing arrest if they help elderly relatives by letting police determine who belongs in a family. A coastal community’s mayor in Georgia fears the governor’s mandate to open beaches will bring crowds to the small island with older residents and no medical facility.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis blessed palms for Palm Sunday in a near-empty St. Peter’s Basilica.

At a New Orleans church, Rev. Emmanuel Mulenga blessed palm fronds and put them on a back table so people could get them while also observing social distancing.

Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed infected and nearly 70,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are certainly much higher, due to limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate under-reporting by some governments.

The vast majority of infected people recover from the virus, which is spread by microscopic droplets from coughs or sneezes.

For most people, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death.

The rapid spread of the virus in the United States has prompted a chaotic scramble for medical equipment and protective gear.

An Associated Press review of purchasing contracts showed that

federal agencies largely waited until mid-March—more than two months after the first warnings of a potential pandemic—to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by frontline health-care workers.

By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and pleading for shipments from the national stockpile.

Now that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients requiring critical care is surging.

When asked about the issue, Trump said federal officials and the military had worked “a miracle.”

Rebekah Gee, who heads the Louisiana State University’s health-care services division, warned that the private and public sector have been competing with each other, leading to price increases.

Gee said one of her colleagues went on eBay to buy gowns, while equipment her department ordered from China got stalled for weeks in Hong Kong.

“Our whole country is at war with this virus,” said Gee, who once ran the state’s Department of Health.

“This needs a coordinated approach, and right now that’s not happening.”

Louisiana and the New Orleans areas have been hard hit by the virus, and Gov. John Bel Edwards has repeatedly warned of looming equipment shortages.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he hoped the pace of new infections would plateau soon, but that the virus is unlikely to be eradicated this year.

Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Fauci said the prospect of resurgence is why the US is working so hard to develop a vaccine and conducting clinical trials on treatments.

Scientists are sti l l lear ning about the virus that was first detected in late December in Wuhan, China. In what is believed to be the first known infection in an animal in the US, officials said on Sunday that a tiger at the Bronx Zoo had tested positive. AP

Oil retreats after sharp rally on doubts over price war truce

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il gave up some of last week’s rally after a delay to a planned meeting of top producers to discuss output curbs and signs the US won’t join any deal raised doubts over the prospects for an agreement.

Futures dropped around 4 percent in New York after surging by more than a third of their value over the previous two sessions as a production accord started to take shape.

However, a virtual gathering of the Opec+ alliance that was originally scheduled for Monday was postponed to Thursday as Saudi Arabia and Russia traded barbs over who was to blame for the collapse in oil prices.

Some progress was made toward an agreement on Sunday, according to diplomats, but the lack of participation from the US—the world’s largest producer—could prove to be a stumbling block. Despite originally calling for the deal, President Donald Trump on Saturday described Opec as a cartel and threatened tariffs on foreign oil. Trump said late Sunday in Washington that he could impose “very substantial” levies but doesn’t think he’ll need to.

The aim of the talks is to cut production by about 10 million barrels a day, around 10 percent of global production. But whether that can support prices that have fallen by more than half this year as the coronavirus crippled the global economy is questionable. The International Energy Agency said on Friday the deepest cuts in the industry’s history wouldn’t be enough to calm the market.

“The likelihood of a deal being done is extremely low,” said Daniel Hynes, senior commodities strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. “Certainly the type of agreement you’d need to stabilize the

market is a long shot given how much demand has been hit.”

West Texas Intermediate declined 3.9 percent to $27.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 11:18 a.m. in Singapore after dropping to $25.28 earlier. The contract surged 32 percent last week and has fallen 55 percent in 2020.

Brent crude fell 2.4 percent to $33.29 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. It rallied 37 percent last week and is down 50 percent so far this year. The contract’s six-month contango deepened to around $5 a barrel from $3.96 on Friday, indicating an abundance of supply.

Trump walked out of a meeting with the titans of America’s oil industry on Friday without any public declaration of a plan to curtail domestic output, calling into question his ability to broker a truce between Riyadh and Moscow.

Oil diplomats are now trying to stitch together a meeting of G-20 energy ministers for Friday, part of an effort to bring the US on board, according to two people familiar with the situation. While both Saudi Arabia and Russia have expressed openness to coordinated production cuts, it’s unclear that can be achieved without the US and other nations also taking part.

A deal to curb production is likely to happen, Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiCorp Ltd., said in a note released on Monday.

But cuts may not be enough to address the nearor medium-term oversupply, he said.

Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco is delaying the release of its closely watched monthly oil-pricing list until Thursday to wait for the outcome of the Opec+ meeting, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The official selling prices were due on Sunday. Bloomberg News

A6 Tuesday, April 7, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

China crisis

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resident Duterte has already thanked China twice in two public addresses on the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, the government has received more than 100,000 test kits from China. The Chinese government has also sent a team of 12 medical experts to share their knowledge in handling Covid-19 cases with Filipino medical professionals. They brought with them 5,000 PPEs, 300,000 surgical masks, 30,000 medical N95 masks, 5,000 medical protective face shields, and 30 noninvasive ventilators from the Chinese government.

As China extends help to other countries, some world leaders remind us that Covid-19 emerged from China and that Chinese authorities suppressed initial information. Various reports said the first clinical evidence of a deadly SARS-like new virus emerged in Wuhan as early as November, but Chinese authorities failed to warn the public about it.

When a Chinese doctor, Li Wenliang, attempted to warn others about the virus, he was harassed, reprimanded and even detained. Li subsequently caught Covid-19 and died in February.

In a Washington Times article on March 20, 2020 (China deliberately hid coronavirus, admonished whistleblowers), Rowan Scarborough said the Chinese government “told the world in early January there was no evidence that its Wuhan coronavirus spread human-to-human even as medical whistleblowers were warning of an epidemic and authorities shut down a wild animal market.”

She said the World Health Organization had relied on China’s assurances. Indeed, Covid-19 was not even classified by WHO as an “international emergency” in January.

At that time, a few hundred tourists from Wuhan were arriving in cruise ships for tours in Boracay and other local tourist destinations.

It was only in early February when WHO declared Covid-19 an international emergency. When the situation got worse, it declared a global pandemic on March 11.

On March 12, President Duterte placed Metro Manila on lockdown (later expanded to the entire Luzon area), suspended government work and classes for a month, and banned non-Filipinos arriving from countries where there were locally transmitted cases of Covid-19.

Days and weeks matter when a virus is spreading like wildfire. The first Covid-19 case was reported on December 8, but the Wuhan municipal health commission didn’t issue an official notice until several weeks later. The first Covid-19 death was reported on January 11, but the commission continued to insist there was no evidence that it could be transmitted among humans.

China eventually acknowledged human-to-human transmission, but its national health commission told the world in January the disease was “preventable and controllable.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged the Covid-19 outbreak on January 20, and placed Wuhan on lockdown three days later. By this time, thousands of Chinese were already infected, and the virus was rapidly spreading globally.

Chris Buckley and Steven Lee Myers, in the New York Times article on February 7, 2020 (As New Coronavirus Spread, China’s Old Habits Delayed Fight) wrote: “The government’s initial handling of the epidemic allowed the virus to gain a tenacious hold. At critical moments, officials chose to put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis to avoid public alarm and political embarrassment.

“A reconstruction of the crucial seven weeks between the appearance of the first symptoms in early December and the government’s decision to lock down the city, based on two dozen interviews with Wuhan residents, doctors and officials, on government statements and on Chinese media reports, points to decisions that delayed a concerted public health offensive.

“In those weeks, the authorities silenced doctors and others for raising red flags. They played down the dangers to the public, leaving the city’s 11 million residents unaware they should protect themselves. They closed a food market where the virus was believed to have started, but didn’t broadly curb the wildlife trade.

“By not moving aggressively to warn the public and medical professionals, public health experts say, the Chinese government lost one of its best chances to keep the disease from becoming an epidemic.”

Now, Chinese authorities are congratulating themselves, projecting an image of success against Covid-19, but even this is being disputed by a classified report, which quotes US intelligence sources saying China’s official tally of coronavirus cases and deaths are not accurate.

It is useless to lay the blame at this point, but many lives could have been saved if the correct information about the risks and severity of Covid-19 was relayed to the public and to the world right away, when the virus was initially spreading in Wuhan last year.

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here is no doubt the Philippines will survive this dreaded Covid-19 pandemic. The people’s patience, the Bayanihan spirit of the Filipinos, and our patriotism will carry us through these extraordinary times.

The Covid-19 numbers we hear and see everyday on radio and television are really depressing, but the discipline shown by every Filipino in coping with the lockdown, from the barangay to the provincial levels, gives us hope that all’s well that ends well.

The sight of our frontliners—doctors, nurses, medical staff, vendors, utility people and security guards, as well as grocery and drug store staff—tirelessly doing their job to serve the public is lifting our spirit.

Filipinos in an unprecedented gesture and on several occasions are expressing their gratitude to healthcare workers with simultaneous applause ringing throughout the Philippines—from villages, buildings, streets, hospitals to social media.

Our unheralded health-care workers

that include laboratory technicians and even the janitorial staff deserve the accolades for their hard work.

The private sector’s response to the health crisis is also admirable.

Conglomerates and big companies have pledged billions of pesos to feed the hungry, fund the acquisition of protective equipment, or PPEs, and ease the plight of our jeepney, taxi and tricycle drivers and other informal workers whose livelihoods are disrupted by the virus outbreak.

The initiative of some local government units and the Department of Public Works and Highways to develop alternative hospital facilities to accommodate a sharp rise in the number of sick patients is another example of our bayanihan spirit at its best.

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Character noticed

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso

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Patience, patriotism and ‘Bayanihan’ spirit

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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irculating around social media and in some opinion columns is the quote “Adversity [or Crisis] does not build character, it reveals it.” That comes from the pen of American author James Lane Allen, who, until two months ago, was completely forgotten in the dustbin of literary history.

Allen was a best-selling author at the turn of the 20th century. Even back then his “Adversity” quote was so popular that he also wrote, “Circumstances do not determine a man, they reveal him.”

Not wanting to encroach on a best-selling author—and knowing no one will ever quote my writings 100 years from now—allow me to offer my own “quote.” “Adversity [or Crisis] does not build or reveal character. It just makes other people notice it.”

By that I mean that sensible and silly ideas both come out during times of sunshine and storm.

Maybe it just becomes more obvious that a person never carries an umbrella when you see him wet in the rain.

San Francisco, California has been a septic tank of government policy for many years, with the local government being completely unable to deal with its homeless and drug problems. Since 2011, there have been at least 118,352 reported instances of human fecal matter scattered on city streets, in the tourist capital of the US West Coast. You can earn more than $184,000 a year for cleaning up human feces as an employee of the “Poop Patrol.”

of Companies, for example, is doing its share in helping the Duterte administration fight Covid-19. We are working with the Public Works Department and EEI Corp. to convert several halls of the Philippine International Convention Center into a health facility.

It will spearhead the conversion of Forum Halls 1 to 3 of the PICC into a much-needed facility to treat Covid-19 patients, and watch over those under monitoring and investigation.

Once converted, the PICC Forum Halls will assist in the treatment of roughly 630 Covid-19 patients.

More converted facilities will rise in the next few weeks in anticipation of an increase in the Covid-19 cases, as the Philippines conducts mass testing. The Ninoy Aquino Stadium inside the Rizal Memorial Complex will be operational as early as next week, while those in both the PICC and the World Trade Center in Pasay City will be finished on April 11.

The virus outbreak, meanwhile, has taken its toll on the Philippine economy, with the Asian Development Bank now expecting the economic growth to slow down significantly this year to 2 percent from an expansion of 5.9 percent in 2019.

This is a foregone conclusion. But I think the government must focus first on successfully containing the

spread of Covid-19 before “restarting” the economy by the middle of May or early June.

I agree with the personal position of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno, who warns of an “enormous risk in restarting the economy prematurely.” The debate across the globe is should nations keep the lockdown measures without causing permanent damage to the economy.

A form of lockdown already covers half of the Earth. In the country, the quarantine as we all know restricted all nonessential movement of people and closed down businesses and government agencies in Luzon― which accounts for 70 percent of the gross domestic product.

The government and the private sector are now debating over a “selective lockdown” and gradual resumption of economic activity when the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon ends on April 14. Keeping the population away from harm, however, remains a tough task in the absence of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Perhaps, we should give way to the conduct of more extensive Covid-19 tests to keep the virus curve in check and preserve the gains during the quarantine period.

Bear in mind that this waste is generated by approximately 10,000 people in a city with a population of over 800,000.

With California now under a “shelter-in-home” protocol, what do you do about the street-living homeless? The San Francisco city government has decided to rent rooms for 3,000 of these people in some of the empty five-star hotels, including the Mark Hopkins and The Palace.

“Guests” will receive three meals per day, hygiene products, and access to nurses. Others will be sheltered at the Moscone Center, a convention and exhibition venue.

Filling rooms with guests of any kind is attractive for hotel owners, especially since tax dollars will pay nearly all the entire bill. The Palace Hotel would certainly be my first choice with its “lush carpeting, restful beds, and bright, marble bath.” But at least some of these homeless luxury hotel guests are hardcore drug addicts.

They may get drug abuse help but how will the city manage their drug needs in the midst of a pandemic?

What happens if they want to leave their Superior Room in search of drugs in the streets? Will the police be expected to maintain order and

prevent drug addicts from leaving their rooms?

In addition, there is no exit plan.

A four-month contract for the room occupants is being considered, but where these people will go afterward is unclear. Further—and you are going to love this—California law says that a person who stays in a hotel room for longer than 30 days is considered a tenant. Therefore, thousands of homeless people who have stayed in the hotels would become legal permanent residents, with protection against eviction.

And certainly, the homeless, after a month or two in a five-star hotel, would not be happy to be returned to the streets.

Were I to draw a comparison of adversity that makes you notice “character,” it would be in the relationship between the national and local governments even after nearly 30 years of the Local Government Code. We still have to figure that out, like San Francisco’s poop problem. Stay safe.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

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Fight coronavirus, find homes for the homeless

By Tracy Walsh | Bloomberg Opinion

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S coronavirus spreads across the US, epidemiologists and public health experts keep hitting one message: Stay home. Without social distancing, Covid-19 could kill nearly 2 million Americans—perhaps 17 times as many as there would be if everyone hunkers down. This is why, as of early April, the vast majority of Americans are living under shelter-at-home orders. But what about those who have no homes? On any given day, more than 550,000 people live in the country’s shelters and on its streets. It’s a human tragedy—and a huge hole in the country’s public-health fabric.

Sickness is both a cause and effect of homelessness: It’s hard to stay healthy without reliable access to showers, laundry and toilets, for example, or to manage diabetes if you don’t have a fridge to store insulin. So while people without homes often go to great lengths to stay clean — long before there were bidding wars over hand sanitizer, researchers found its use was nearly universal among the homeless — they nevertheless remain at elevated risk of Covid-19, as well as almost all other health problems. This is true even of those with health insurance.

And crucially, most homeless people in America aren’t sleeping rough: They’re living out of view in shelters. While these facilities do an admirable job of preventing, say, frostbite, they aren’t designed for social distancing. Indeed, they’re frequently overcrowded: In some New York City shelters, it’s not uncommon for people to sleep 12 to a room. In Washington, D.C., one room can accommodate as many as 60. In Las Vegas, when a shelter with more than 500 beds was forced to temporarily close due to the coronavirus, its residents were relocated to a parking lot.

Ultimately, homeless shelters are prone to outbreaks for the same reason cruise ships are: When lots of people live close together, it’s like a petri dish.

This is terrible news for shelter residents — many of whom are elderly, more than 100,000 of whom are children, and none of whom deserves to be sick. And it’s a risk to everyone else, too. A substantial number of people in the shelter system hold full-time jobs—frequently in the crucial but low-paying sectors now deemed “essential.” Over the 10 years I’ve spent volunteering in New York City shelters, I’ve met grocery-store clerks, home health aides, food-prep workers and delivery people. These low-wage workers will spend the pandemic shuttling from crowded shelters to fast-food joints and groceries and back again—potentially

taking germs with them.

The pandemic has also shown that no man is an island in the health-care system. Homeless people are already disproportionately likely to use hospital services, and according to one conservative estimate, some 22,000 will need to be hospitalized due to Covid-19. (A grimmer estimate has the number at roughly 50,000.) At a time when ventilators, beds, masks and medical professionals are in short supply, why not take basic preventive action to keep the most vulnerable people from falling ill in the first place?

In the short term, cities and counties should “de-densify” homeless shelters—in other words, give residents private spaces, ideally with their own bathrooms, where they can self-isolate if necessary. New Orleans is one of many cities housing homeless residents in newly vacant hotels. (Las Vegas, with its thousands of empty rooms, should take note.) California is taking similar action, with one state official suggesting those rooms could later become permanent housing. Other places are getting creative: Los Angeles County has set aside RVs for the homeless, while Seattle has fast-tracked a new village of tiny houses.

Meanwhile, cities with large unsheltered populations should follow the CDC’s advice to leave outdoor encampments standing—dispersing them could spread the virus—and provide washing facilities nearby. Many places have wisely halted evictions during the crisis, which will prevent more people from joining the ranks of the homeless.

In the longer term, all levels of government should prioritize creating affordable housing. Nationally, there are more than 10 million extremely lowincome households in the US, and just 3.2 million affordable housing units.

True, many homeless adults require psychiatric or social services. But many others—the thousands working and raising families—are just poor. They only need homes they can afford. This is especially the case in New York, California and Washington state— all coronavirus hotspots—which until recently had superheated job markets but little affordable housing for workers.

But it’s not just true of blue states or urban areas. No matter where you live in America, homeless people are part of your community. And when they’re at risk, your entire community is. If we can bail out the airline-food industry, surely we can make sure America’s working poor—and every American child—has a home to shelter in. The health of our country depends on it.

Spain’s tragedy was all too predictable

By Ferdinando Giugliano Bloomberg Opinion

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rom the hospitals in Bergamo to the Pope’s prayers in Rome, Italy has become the symbol of the Covid-19 epidemic in Europe. But as the contagion in Italy slows and the daily death toll starts to fall, the eyes of the world have moved to Spain, which is suffering from an equal—if not worse—outbreak.

Spain has more than 130,000 registered cases now and 12,000 recorded deaths. The death toll is lower than Italy in absolute terms, but slightly higher if one takes into account Spain’s smaller population. What’s worse is prime minister Pedro Sanchez, much like his counterparts in France and the U.K., ignored the health crisis unfolding in Italy and dithered before imposing the kind of draconian lockdown measures that could have saved thousands of lives.

The most reckless decision was allowing a demonstration to take place in Madrid on International Women’s Day (March 8). More than 120,000 people took to the streets even though Spain already had over 500 confirmed cases.

The government only enforced a national lockdown in mid-March, which has since been tightened to include all non-essential economic activities and extended to April 26. These measures have started to show their effects, as growth of registered cases and deaths begins to slow, but they cannot help those who have already been infected.

The Spanish government should have been especially cautious given the fragility of its healthcare system. Fernando Simon, the head of the health ministry’s

Coordination Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies, said at the start of the crisis that Spain had roughly 4,400 intensive care beds, for a population of nearly 47 million. Compare that to Germany, which has a population of nearly 84 million but started the crisis with 28,000 critical care beds. The Spanish government is rushing to open up new hospitals, but doctors are already facing supply shortage problems, as they did in Italy, and are having to make devastating decisions over how to prioritize their scarce resources.

The rest of the political class has not helped. Spain is a federalist country, where autonomous regions hold power over a range of policy areas including healthcare. Prime Minister Sanchez eventually claimed emergency powers for his government, but only after a string of regional politicians had resisted. The opposing right-wing Popular Party behaved opportunistically. It attacked Sanchez after his decision to close down all non-essential activities, seemingly changing course from earlier calls for a tougher lockdown—only to change tack and support the stricter measures. Meanwhile, Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the left-wing Podemos party, which runs the country in a fragile minority coalition with the Socialists, has sought to exploit the emergency to push his agenda of sweeping nationalizations.

Much like Italy, Spain faces an enormous economic crisis on top of its healthcare emergency. The country had emerged strongly from the sovereign debt crisis, outperforming much of the rest of the euro zone for years.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 A7

Softening the economic blow of the pandemic Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

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olitics aside, we should commend the current leadership for its swift and decisive action to mitigate the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the lives of ordinary Filipinos. It should be pointed out that the Philippines is one of the countries to come up with an economic and social package to reverse the spread of the virus and mitigate its savage effects on our country’s economy and its hapless people. We should equally give credit to both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government for putting their act together to approve the financial stimulus package dubbed the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” (Republic Act 11469).

A major piece of legislation with far-reaching impact and magnitude, the measure was approved in both Houses of Congress in record time.

This will soften the economic blow of the pandemic that has disrupted our economy, broke down the country’s supply chain, halted business operations, canceled schools, suspended production of nonessential products and services, stopped all forms of transportation, and displaced millions of workers particularly from the informal sector. It’s been said, and few would disagree, that no devastation has brought such untold sufferings to our total population since the Second World War. The US has approved ahead of us a similar financial stimulus package otherwise known as the Coronavirus

Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES). It’s not just a battle of acronyms or names—Bayanihan vs.

CARES. It’s also a contest of immediate and effective implementation.

Both laws cover various aspects and they are not just limited to financial dole outs to individuals and business.

It’s remarkable that our government has already started distributing the financial subsidy to 18 million lowincome families for two months barely nine days after the passage of the law, which the US has not done up to now. The cash distribution, which ranges from P5,000 to P8,000 depending on the place where the beneficiary resides, started in the cities of Parañaque and Manila. The delivery of the subsidies for the rest of the regions outside Metro Manila

will immediately follow. A total of P200 billion cash assistance will be given out to poor households around the country. Many of their breadwinners were displaced from work and the loss of income resulted in a decrease in consumption, which fuels our economy. Hopefully the cash subsidies in the hands of consumers will provide them purchasing power to drive up our economy. Expectedly, it will spur more business activities.

Demand for essential goods will increase. nnn

What’s in a name? As the immortal line in Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet” declares, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Although Romeo was from the rival family of Montague, Juliet still fell head over heels for the former defying her family in the process. Today, the most dreaded name is “Covid-19.”

Long after this pandemic is gone, our generation that has been devastated by it will not bury it in oblivion. This horrible event will be recorded in our history books; it will be chronicled in the annals of mankind and it will be immortalized in movies and stories. Covid-19 will be spoken of in the same breathe as the Black Death and the Cholera epidemic. Covid-19 instills fear in most people and it is a term that they would rather erase from our vocabulary. In Mexico, Grupo Modelo, a top beer brewing company, has decided to temporarily stop the production of its top-selling beer, the Corona beer. For many years, its Corona beer has lorded over the

profitable beer market south of the US border. But now the coincidental name of the beer to the virus has discouraged customers to patronize the brand. Its withdrawal from the market was decided because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Corona beer is sold in the US where it is popular among the Latino-Americans but its local and foreign sales may be affected by the raging pandemic.

Interestingly, in other parts of the world, some people do not find the term atrocious. For instance, in Hanoi, an enterprising burger shop has launched ‘Corona Burger’ to spike the sales of its hamburger products. The burger bun is shaped like the virus.

It was done to cheer up people amid the anxiety and fears associated with Covid-19. In the Philippines, it was reported that several newly born babies were named Covid. Leave it to the Filipinos when it comes to humor and ingenuity. But poor children!

They will grow up to remind us of the scourge that devastated the entire world in 2020. Parents should not christen their kids with Covid.

It will be as odious as naming your child “Hitler” or “Attila.” nnn

Tip for 2020 Bar Examination in Civil Law (Persons and Family Relations): What is the difference between a “Lockdown” and a “Quarantine”?

Suggested answer: When an angry wife refuses to allow the husband to enter the house, that is a “Lockdown.” When a jealous wife refuses to allow the husband to leave the house, that is a “Quarantine.”

Assessment unplugged: Solving the BIR audit conundrum Atty. Lino Ernie M. Guevara

Tax law for business Part Two

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ollowing the signing of “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” (Republic Act 11469), coupled with the World Health Organization declarations and Presidential Proclamations combatting the Covid-19 pandemic, effectively prohibiting the BIR from making and serving assessment notices, came next the suspension of the running of the Statute of Limitations to assess under the Tax Code.

It is for a period starting on March 16, 2020 until the lifting of the state of national emergency and for 60 days thereafter. Still, understanding better the tax assessments would always be handy once the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) commences to assess.

Previously, we discussed the assessment procedure from the issuance of the electronic Letter of Authority (eLA) up to the Preliminary Assessment Notice (PAN) stage with some key questions to initially test the assessment’s validity. Now, we will tackle the rest of the process with additional pointers to guide you.

Formal Letter of Demand and Final Assessment Notice

After the PAN comes the FAN. The FLD/FAN issuance, not the PAN, constitutes the BIR assessment contemplated under our tax laws. BIR should assess within the three-year prescriptive period (10 years if with allegation of fraud or false returns or failure to file returns). The same may be suspended though under certain conditions as what happened now. Since the FLD/FAN receipt constitutes the date of assessment, which ought to be done within the prescriptive period, it should be accurately determined, together with the authority of the person receiving it.

Assessment is void if made by the BIR beyond the said 3- or 10-year prescriptive period under the law.

Prescription depends on the type of taxes being assessed based on their filing dates. For instance, income tax assessment prescribes in three years counted from the Annual ITR filing. The quarterly value-added tax returns are considered final returns, and thus, prescribe on a quarterly basis. Said statutory period to assess is extendible by the taxpayer’s execution of a valid waiver for the

defense of prescription and its acceptance by the BIR. Remember that the most important requisite for the FLD/FAN is its strict compliance with due process mandated under Section 228 of the 1997 Tax Code, as amended. It is one of the more groundbreaking amendments under the previous Tax Reform Act of 1997. It means that the assessment notice should state the facts, the law, rules and regulations, or jurisprudence on which the assessment is based; otherwise, it is void. Due process is a complex issue being “a malleable concept anchored on fairness and equity.” Simply put, the basic question for due process compliance is whether the taxpayer has been duly given by the BIR all the opportunities and needed information to reasonably and intelligently contest such assessment.

Questions to ask: n Was the FLD/FAN issued within the prescriptive period of three years (or 10 years)? n Was the said FLD/FAN validly received by the taxpayer’s authorized representative? n Did the FLD/FAN state both the factual and legal bases to comply with due process?

Protesting the FLD/FAN and Submitting Relevant Supporting Documents

IT is mandatory for the taxpayer to file a protest, by way of a Motion for Reinvestigation or Reconsideration, within the non-extendible period of 30 days after the FLD/FAN receipt.

A “Request for reinvestigation”

refers to a plea for reevaluation of an assessment based on newly discovered or additional evidence a taxpayer intends to present. A “Request for reconsideration” is a plea for reevaluation based on existing records without need of additional evidence. Distinguishing between them is vital relating to the right to submit relevant supporting documents 60 days after filing the protest.

“Relevant supporting documents” are those necessary to support the legal and factual bases to dispute the assessment. Said 60-day period to submit shall not apply to requests for reconsideration.

The taxpayer must raise all the factual explanations/reconciliations as well as the legal bases for the protest on each and every item of the assessments under the FLD/ FAN. If not, these uncontested issues are considered by the BIR as undisputed issues with the assessment becoming final and demandable.

More importantly, failure to protest within the prescribed period makes such assessment final, executory and demandable.

Question to ask: n Did the BIR observe the period prescribed for taxpayer to submit the relevant supporting documents for the protest, i.e., Motion for Reinvestigation?

Issuance of Final Decision on Disputed Assessment

After the BIR’s evaluation of the protest filed together with the relevant supporting documents, the BIR should then issue the FDDA. No period is provided by law for the BIR to issue a final decision on the protest.

The FDDA is also required to state the facts, the applicable law, rules and regulations, or jurisprudence on which such decision is based and that the same is its final decision; otherwise, the decision shall be void.

Questions to ask: n Did the FDDA comply with the due process requirement by stating the facts, applicable laws, regulations or jurisprudence upon which said decision is based? n Was it clear in the FDDA issued that the same was the BIR’s final decision?

Administrative and Judicial Appeals

IF the protest filed is DENIED by the BIR Commissioner’s duly authorized representative, the

taxpayer may either: (i) appeal to the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) within 30 days from date of receipt of the decision; or (ii) file a request for reconsideration with the Commissioner within 30 days from receipt thereof. No request for reinvestigation is allowed in administrative appeal. Only issues raised in previous decision shall be entertained by the Commissioner.

If the protest is NOT ACTED upon by the BIR Commissioner’s authorized representative within 180 days from the: (i) date of filing of the protest, for a request reconsideration, or (ii) date of submission of documents within 60 days from filing of protest, for a request for reinvestigation, the taxpayer has two options: (1) APPEAL to the CTA within 30 days after the 180-day period expiration; or (2) AWAIT the final decision of the Commissioner’s duly authorized representative on the assessment.

These two options are mutually exclusive and resort to one bars the application of the other.

If the protest or administrative appeal, as the case may be, is denied by the Commissioner, the taxpayer may judicially appeal to the CTA within 30 days from date of receipt of said decision. Otherwise, the assessment shall become final, executory and demandable.

In a nutshell, these are the assessment procedures and your starting point to evaluate and strategize.

Certainly, it would also not hurt to consult those who have the technical expertise and experience to properly assist you in the handling of BIR assessments.

As people now try to combat this current health crisis, there’s also hope to contain a BIR assessment, once commenced, with the right understanding and support. But to panic, much like in a pandemic, would simply not solve your assessment conundrum.

The author is a Special Counsel of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a memberfirm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at ernie.guevara@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-201 local 160.

A8 Tuesday, April 7 , 2020

BSP should still shore up banks’ liquidity after lockdown–UPSE E

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

CONOMISTS from the University of the Philippines said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) should “do whatever it takes” to shore up liquidity for banks after the lifting of the lockdown.

In a paper, eight UP School of Economics (UPSE) experts led by Toby Melissa C. Monsod said consumption will likely remain weak even months after the lifting of the lockdown, and the BSP should be ready to pump liquidity into banks to prevent the country from becoming financially unstable.

The economists said the BSP’s “monopoly power to print money is its most important power.” This will allow the BSP to play its crucial role of being the lender of last resort.

“These are not normal times and the Central Bank’s ability to

print money enables it to take on a crucial role and act as a ‘lender of last resort’ during a crisis,” economists said.

In order to meet the financial requirements these entail, the economists said the government should abandon its deficit targets.

This, they said, is part of the “old paradigm of spending to stimulate the economy, and then taxing to catch up with its deficit targets.”

The economists also said taxation as a source of government funds is “inferior to seigniorage revenue from the issuance of money

when the economy is stopped dead in its tracks.”

“While the economy is on lockdown and in the immediate aftermath of its lifting, when demand will likely remain muted, the Central Bank should do ‘whatever it takes’ to ensure that the program of expenditures laid out by government is provided the necessary financial resources,” the economists said.

“In this way, government can hold up its end of the social contract, at a time also when there is expected to be large tax revenue shortfalls,” they added.

Development gaps

The economists—among them Orville Jose C. Solon, Ma. Socorro Gochoco-Bautista, Emmanuel S. de Dios, Joseph G. Capuno, Ma. Joy C. Abrenica, Cielo Magno and Renato E. Reside Jr.—believe the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic is an opportunity to address the country’s development gaps.

These development gaps include not only problems in the health system but also logistics, research and development, social safety nets,

Volunteers from Pasig City prepare packed lunch for the hospitals, health centers, checkpoints, city hall staff, and other essential personnel in the frontlines. Malou Gonzales, executive assistant to Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, said they are feeding close to 3,000 people per meal. BERNARD TESTA

financial system, and the overall capacity for foresight.

The economists also said the current crisis highlighted the lack of understanding in the moving parts of supply chains as well as the micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) who are part of these chains.

“The point is, if equity, resilience and sustainable development are to remain at the core of the country’s vision for itself, observations of how these systems performed, must be taken into account in the design of economic policy and spending programs moving forward,” the economists said.

Opportunity to reset

“To ignore these and assume that the economy can simply start where it left off, would be to squander a unique opportunity to reset the country on a potentially better development path,” they added.

The economists said hunger and

hardships brought about by the pandemic will still be there even at the end of the lockdown.

They said consumption will remain low at least in the “next few months” due to low confidence.

Globally, the economists said foreign demand and investment demand will also “remain muted,” making it necessary for the government to carry the weight of the economy on its shoulders in the near term.

At this time, the economists said government should reevaluate pre-pandemic development policies and priorities. The local governments would also have to play an important role particularly in upgrading supply chains.

“The weaknesses revealed by the crisis offer elements of a resilience expenditure program that can begin immediately, even as development policies are being reassessed,” the economists said.

The government should ramp

up spending to modernize national and local health facilities and establish a Philippine Center for Disease Control, they added.

The funds should also be used to upgrade and update the Bureau of Quarantine; fast-track the implementation of a single electronic medical record system nationwide; fabricate/stockpile lifesaving equipment and supplies; offer incentive packages for all hospitals to establish separate infection control units, among others.

The government should also increase spending to boost the resilience of food and other supply chains, including investments to augment production/fabrication capacities; upgrade warehousing, transport and distribution; support research and technology development; and incentivize technology adoption by MSMEs and upskilling of workers, moving both up the value chain, and others.

With private-public tie-up, PHL can make ‘medical-grade’ PPEs

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

& Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

T

Correspondent

HE Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday it is working with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), industry associations, and private firms to locally manufacture personal protective equipment (PPEs) to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

A group of local manufacturers will soon be producing an estimated 10,000 medical-grade PPE coveralls daily to help address the shortage of the said item, a lack that has been blamed for the high rate of deaths—including at least 17 doctors—among frontliners attending to virus-stricken patients.

In an online press briefing, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the Confederation of Wearable Exporters of the Philippines (Conwep)

is set to start the production of the PPEs next week.

“Raw materials for these will be shipped in by this week and the roll out of production at the garment factories will immediately start after the Holy Week [April 5 to April 11],” Nograles said.

Nograles said the DTI’s Bureau of Investments (BOI) tapped Conwep for the initiative due to the prevailing shortage of PPEs. “Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, our country was not a local producer of medical-grade PPEs,” Nograles said.

A s t his developed, Hea lt h Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire appea led to pr ivate hospitals not to take advantage, during these difficult times, by charging patients the PPEs if they are from the government or donated by the private sector.

The issue was raised during the virtual presser that a hospital was charging patients even for “donated ” PPEs.

Vergeire said, “The DOH and the Philippine General Hospital [PGH] approved the design prototype for the PPEs, while Conwep has secured a supplier for the raw materials, such as face hoodies and elastic bands, that are certified to have met international standards for waterproofing and resistance to contaminants.

“This is to ensure that the PPEs produced will be of ‘medical grade’ and meet prescribed specifications for appropriate safety and protection,” she said.

Vergeire explained that Conwep can import PPE parts that have fabric import certificates from an international accreditation firm.

“Given the global shortage of medical supplies and equipment, we are glad that many sectors in the country are coming together to provide urgent PPEs to our frontline health workers in our fight against Covid-19,” Vergeire said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

B1

Investors commit to expand Voyager war chest by $120M

T

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

he existing investors in Filipino financial technology (fintech) player Voyager Innovations Inc. agreed to shore up its war chest with a fresh commitment of $120 million in investments.

Current investors PLDT, KKR, IFC, IFC Emerging Asia Fund, and Tencent will all pitch in to raise the amount, but a company officer could not readily confirm if the total will be shared equally.

Voyager Founder Orlando B. Vea

said the new fresh funding will be used to support the “rapid growth” of PayMaya, the company’s mobile digital wallet.

This fundraising activity is also precedent of the plan, as previously announced by PLDT Chairman

Manuel V. Pangilinan, to get future investors in PayMaya.

“This funding boosts PayMaya’s ability to reach more Filipinos, especially as access to digital financial services becomes even more important,” Vea said.

Voyager President Shailesh Baidwan said the funding will enable the company to “better support” its thrust for financial inclusion, and allow it to “expand to adjacent services.” Voyager’s main businesses are mobile wallet, payments solution, and loans.

The last time Voyager received a huge boost in funding was in 2018, when all four foreign investors injected $215 million into the Filipino fintech.

Voyager is expected to burn more cash through the next three years be-

fore turning a profit, as it continues to shift consumer behavior toward digital payments.

The company said in a statement that PayMaya is the only end-to-end digital payments ecosystem enabler in the Philippines with platforms and services that cuts across consumers, merchants, and government.

Aside from providing the payments acceptance for the largest e-Commerce, food, retail and gas merchants in the Philippines, Voyager said PayMaya is enabling national and social services agencies as well as local government units with digital payments and disbursement services.

PayMaya Philippines is a subsidiary of Voyager Innovations, the digital innovations company of PLDT and Smart.

Google helps DOTr make free bus service accessible to frontliners

G

oogle has digitized the free bus service program of the Depar tment of Transportation (DOTr), providing the “best” recommended bus routes for frontline healthcare workers traveling to their medical institutions.

With this digital solution, healthcare workers need only to launch the Google Maps app or website on their phones or on their computers and type their end destination. The app will then recommend the bus service, including the schedule, to the end-user.

“Technology makes our lives easier. So, as we help provide our health workers with daily free rides, I am certain that partnering with digital technology will also make navigating routes the least of their worries. We want to make things easier for them, given the enormous tasks that they perform everyday,” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said.

Currently, there are 19 bus routes available for frontline healthcare workers. They are spread across the country.

“Google Philippines strives to use our technology to provide help and support during this challenging time. We hope that by making the routes of the DOTr’s free rides accessible on Google Maps, we are helping provide ease and convenience to the daily transport of our frontliners,” Google Philippines Country Director Bernadette Nacario said.

She added that Google has also added in its map application a solution to help people find coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) testing centers.

Users simply have to type “Covid testing” on Google Search or Maps and they will see the nearest Covid-19 testing labs.

The government has placed the entire Luzon island under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ ) starting March 17 to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Manila also suspended mass transport systems, including taxis and jeepneys, to encourage the public to stay home.

Health workers as well as peace and order officers are exempted from the quarantine.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

‘Construction on schedule for Clark airport’s new passenger terminal’ D SMC aid to help fight

ESPITE the limitations brought about by the implementation of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Luzon, Megawide Construction Corp. said it is confident that it can complete the construction of Clark International Airport’s new passenger terminal building (PTB) on schedule.

Megawide Chairman Edgar Saavedra said construction works at the new terminal, access roads, bus station, and car parks, are now 96 percent complete with “only minor works remaining.”

“Despite any challenges we are facing, we were actually ahead of schedule before the ECQ was imple-

mented in Luzon,” he said.

Based on their agreement, Megawide is scheduled to deliver the project to the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) before July 31 this year.

“The ECQ has minimal impact on our construction timelines for Clark International Airport primarily because engineering and construction are Megawide’s core strengths and the fact that we leveraged on what we learned from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport expansion,” he said.

The Clark International Airport’s new terminal is designed to increase the capacity of the airport from 4 million passengers per an-

num (mppa) to 12 mppa. Clark International Airport is envisioned to be Asia’s next premier gateway and is seen to help decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila.

Megawide won the auction for the development of the new Clark terminal in 2017.

After the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila, Clark is the second main gateway to Luzon. It has a rated capacity of roughly 4 million passengers per year.

North Luzon A ir port Consortium—composed of Filinvest Development Corp., JG Summit Holdings Inc., Philippine Airport

Ground Support Solutions Inc. and Changi Airports Philippines Pte. Ltd.—operates the airport.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) said in an advisory in January that construction works for the new terminal was “93.31 percent finished.” What remains to be finished, the DOTr said, are the exterior finishes, ancillary facilities, the deployment of specialist systems and equipment, and landside works.

“Once finished, the new passenger terminal building will boost and triple the current passenger capacity, from 4.2 million to 12.2 million passengers annually,” the advisory read. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Select stores at Farmers Market deliver advance orders

S

elect stores at Farmers Market are offering advance order, pickup and delivery through Angkas, Grab or Lalamove while Metro Manila is under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

These stores offer fresh seafood, meat products, fruits, vegetables and grocery items.

According to a notice published

by ACI Inc., developer and manager of the Araneta City, some of the stores allow payment via online bank transfers.

The government placed the entire Luzon island under ECQ to stop the spread of Covid-19, which has now infected some 3,400 people, according to the latest data from the Department of Health.

The implementation of ECQ has also limited mobility as mass transportation was suspended by the government. Land, air and sea travel was also restricted.

Malls were also closed but private establishments providing basic necessities and services, such as banks and telecommunication facilities, were allowed to remain open provided that they implement precautionary measures, such as social distancing.

VILLAR GROUP’S DISINFECTING APPARATUS The disinfecting apparatus donated by the Villar Group in support of the country’s fight against the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 was installed on Sunday at the Rizal Medical Center in Pasig for use of the health-care workers, staff and everyone visiting the hospital. The disinfecting apparatus has a sensor prompting it to automatically spray disinfecting mist when people enter the tunnel. The disinfecting apparatus will also be installed at the Lung Center, Heart Center, and Quirino Medical Center in Quezon City, RITM and Las Piñas General Hospital, San Lazaro and Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila, and Don Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial in Caloocan. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Covid-19 hits ₧877M

D

onations f rom S a n Miguel Corp. (SMC) to the nationwide effort to manage the impact of the Covid-19 on the country, has reached P877.8 million, including a personal donation of P100 million from its president, Ramon S. Ang. “We are reporting on our progress so that people will be assured that help is on the way, that many organizations are mobilizing and working together to support the government and our fellow Filipinos. Together, we will win this battle,” said Ang. On the third week of the enhanced community quarantine implemented by government, the company reported on the progress of its ongoing initiatives to help medical front-liners, the national government, local government units, and other organizations. n The company has started to operationalize its commitment to donate P500 million worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical frontliners. It has partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry to tap local suppliers. Sourcing of PPEs through its network of global suppliers is also ongoing. n A total of P199.4 million worth of canned goods, meat products, biscuits, bread, coffee, are being donated to vulnerable communities through the local government units (LGUs), nonprofit organizations, charitable institutions, church-based groups and through direct donations.

Deliveries to various locations throughout Luzon are ongoing. n The company has also more than doubled its initial commitment to donate 500,000 kilos of rice to vulnerable communities.

To date, it has sourced P1.1 million kilos of rice worth over P38 million. Deliveries to beneficiary communities and families are ongoing. n Ang and his family also donated P100 million to “Project Ugnayan”, a broad coalition of private companies working together

to assist government in the fight against Covid-19. n Its Ginebra San Miguel Inc. has completed retooling its facilities nationwide to produce 70 percent ethyl alcohol for disinfection.

With this, it is now able to produce 100,000 liters of rubbing alcohol daily. As of April 4, SMC’s alcohol donations to hospitals, the Department of Health (DoH), LGUs, Philippine National Police (PNP) checkpoints, and other vital institutions, has reached 518,340 liters, or P38.9 million. n Free use of SMC tollways— Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, South Luzon Expressway, Skyway, NAIAx, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway—for medical doctors and nurses, which was implemented a week ago, has also reached P1.1 million as of April 4. About 2,000 medical practitioners had availed of the privilege thus far. n SMC Infrastructure has also provided support to the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines for the checkpoints set up along its expressways. This includes providing portalets, motorcycles and riders, passenger vehicles, generator sets, tower lights, traffic cones, barriers, tents, water, and disinfectant teams.

“We are working with a broad and diverse base of partners— from the national government, to the LGUS; our hospitals and doctors, the non-profit groups and charitable institutions; church groups, the PNP and AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines]—because we want to make sure that help gets to as many Filipinos as possible,” said Ang. Ang reiterated that SMC’s efforts would continue throughout the crisis. It has also repeatedly assured the public that its vital operations—food production, power and fuel generation, and the operation of infrastructure— would likewise continue, to assure Filipinos of access to essential goods and services.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

April 6, 2020

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

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

47 102 61.75 19.98 7.78 37.1 19.4 40.05 17.3 105.6 53.6 0.55 15.2 0.37 0.28 0.62 167.5 1550 0.95

47.45 102.5 62 20 7.85 37.15 19.48 43.65 17.4 106 53.8 0.58 15.8 0.5 0.29 0.68 168 1616 1.09

46 100 61.4 20.1 7.6 37.5 19.46 42 17.68 109 53.7 0.56 15 0.5 0.28 0.68 169.5 1619 0.99

47 102.6 62.15 20.1 7.88 37.6 19.5 42 17.68 109 53.8 0.56 15.8 0.5 0.32 0.68 170 1619 1.11

44.05 99.6 60.5 19.98 7.59 37 19.08 42 17.3 105.2 53.6 0.55 15 0.5 0.28 0.68 167.5 1580 0.99

47 102.5 62 20 7.78 37.15 19.4 42 17.4 106 53.8 0.55 15.2 0.5 0.28 0.68 167.5 1580 1.11

26200 2204440 3846260 56400 150600 4767200 370000 100 5600 810880 2340 10000 22500 3000 1460000 1000 420 70 13000

1203530 223829474 236301832 1127798 1178728 177504465 7,178,658( 4200 97238 86673063 125547.5 5510 346280 1500 417600 680 71045 111365 12990

313400 -74583393 -86160394.5 -265917 -13342 -92034145 4,869,285.9998) 10468 -28604133 -3400 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 2.01 2.03 2.01 2.04 1.98 2.03 36059000 73,143,090( 1,102,139.9997) 0.96 1 0.97 1 0.97 1 331000 322000 ALSONS CONS 28.5 28.8 28.2 28.85 28.05 28.5 1724600 49260765 -18844955 ABOITIZ POWER 0.16 0.169 0.16 0.169 0.16 0.169 2020000 323290 BASIC ENERGY 18 18.16 17.18 18.16 17.18 18.16 1147500 20469520 9814550 FIRST GEN 52 53 49 53.5 49 53 26600 1343795 402505 FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO 257 260 241 260 240 260 433720 109955446 42613540 MANILA WATER 10.3 10.38 9.79 10.5 9.66 10.3 5011300 50,882,519( 27,290,416.9996) PETRON 2.55 2.58 2.6 2.61 2.48 2.58 3742000 9526680 -1581130 PETROENERGY 2.11 2.43 2.55 2.55 2.4 2.44 12000 29600 10 10.28 10.4 10.4 10 10.28 92400 940980 PHX PETROLEUM 18.7 18.8 18.7 18.9 18.52 18.7 424700 7967116 -6620766 PILIPINAS SHELL 7.72 7.95 7.95 8.03 7.55 7.95 230300 1797448 77910 SPC POWER 6.3 6.46 6.47 6.49 6.02 6.49 171600 1093403 -452664 AGRINURTURE 2.51 2.52 2.55 2.64 2.51 2.51 3752000 9682900 -4577820 AXELUM 74.6 97.65 74.1 97.65 74.1 97.65 160 12091.5 BOGO MEDELLIN CNTRL AZUCARERA 10.16 13.7 13.8 13.8 13.8 13.8 200 2760 13.88 13.98 13.9 14 13.88 13.88 2790500 38762148 -8170896 CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE 3.26 3.49 3.49 3.49 3.18 3.49 18000 61520 -13150 DNL INDUS 4.9 5 4.81 5.06 4.81 4.9 5515000 27080770 -7264210 EMPERADOR 7.99 8 8.08 8.08 7.9 8 6442200 51819835 -48825320 50 50.2 50.5 50.5 49.5 50 201400 10059565 -1260860 SMC FOODANDBEV 0.51 0.53 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.51 1785000 910690 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.26 1.27 1.19 1.27 1.19 1.26 12373000 15239620 551820 FRUITAS HLDG 32 32.9 32.9 32.9 32 32 451700 14455650 14406400 GINEBRA 106 106.3 104.6 106.4 103.5 106 1865350 196347114 -53580071 JOLLIBEE 29.95 37 37 37 37 37 100 3700 LIBERTY FLOUR MACAY HLDG 4.82 6 6.2 6.2 6 6 9000 55307 31000 MAXS GROUP 4.4 4.53 4.62 4.8 4.4 4.4 2040000 9170050 -7274050 MG HLDG 0.114 0.144 0.112 0.144 0.112 0.144 3610000 404640 1.79 1.8 1.8 1.81 1.78 1.8 379000 682120 12610 PEPSI COLA SHAKEYS PIZZA 4.88 4.9 4.91 4.91 4.85 4.9 1087000 5320300 -1262440 1.41 1.45 1.39 1.45 1.39 1.45 283000 399170 ROXAS AND CO 4.35 4.42 4.35 4.42 4.35 4.42 52000 226270 152250 RFM CORP 0.103 0.107 0.107 0.107 0.101 0.107 11200000 1198230 5340 SWIFT FOODS 115 116.7 104.4 116.7 104 116.7 2657460 295685394 80144430 UNIV ROBINA 0.84 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.84 0.85 1112000 946060 27200 VITARICH VICTORIAS 2.5 2.67 2.78 2.78 2.35 2.7 73000 191880 -2600 CEMEX HLDG 1.04 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.04 1.05 3567000 3736220 -2606840 EAGLE CEMENT 7.53 7.55 7.55 7.6 7.53 7.53 42700 323044 -52297 EEI CORP 5.17 5.18 5.2 5.47 5.13 5.17 268600 1395197 -737083 HOLCIM 11.82 12.3 11.98 12.3 11.8 12.3 157300 1920760 -182618 6.27 6.28 6.11 6.35 6.09 6.27 544500 3356383 -420928 MEGAWIDE 8.5 8.8 8.8 8.8 8.8 8.8 500 4400 PHINMA 0.71 0.75 0.76 0.76 0.7 0.7 102000 71990 TKC METALS 0.57 0.59 0.56 0.59 0.56 0.57 601000 341850 25649.9999 VULCAN INDL 1.82 1.91 1.85 1.91 1.85 1.91 13000 24350 CROWN ASIA EUROMED 1.94 1.95 1.91 1.98 1.91 1.95 722000 1402490 4.02 4.5 4.38 4.4 4.38 4.4 130000 571200 PRYCE CORP 25.5 28 25.05 25.05 25.05 25.05 1200 30060 CONCEPCION 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.79 0.75 0.78 638000 484630 2960 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 4.45 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.43 4.45 2132000 9490600 -490420 IONICS 0.94 0.97 0.94 0.99 0.94 0.97 230000 220590 0.77 0.78 0.74 0.77 0.73 0.77 196000 146650 -36450 SFA SEMICON 6.53 6.55 6.45 6.59 6.29 6.55 820900 5327260 -15265 CIRTEK HLDG

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.53 0.5 0.51 1953000 1001390 5.58 5.83 5.75 5.83 5.46 5.82 21500 123094 ASIABEST GROUP 478 480 460 480 458 480 556850 260135426 AYALA CORP 43.45 45 39.95 45 39.95 45 1128100 48387460 ABOITIZ EQUITY 6.9 6.92 7.03 7.03 6.85 6.92 3163600 21894001 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 1.55 1.56 1.54 1.57 1.54 1.55 1228000 1896730 AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR 6 6.2 6.24 6.24 6.22 6.22 1500 9334 0.5 0.51 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 100000 50000 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.43 0.435 0.5 0.5 0.39 0.43 47451000 19499595 ATN HLDG A 0.45 0.47 0.51 0.51 0.45 0.47 1394000 660945 ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL 5.03 5.05 5.19 5.19 4.9 5.05 1887000 9,504,576( 4.02 4.03 3.84 4.07 3.8 4.02 32635000 130584150 DMCI HLDG 8.5 9.4 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 13800 117300 FILINVEST DEV 2.57 4.03 4.08 4.08 4.06 4.06 2000 8140 FJ PRINCE A 0.15 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18 4020000 723600 FORUM PACIFIC 400 400.2 403 409.8 399 400 265180 106154744 GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV 3.7 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.6 3.71 117000 432110 JG SUMMIT 54 55 53.4 55 52.05 55 957300 51356455 LODESTAR 0.415 0.43 0.4 0.425 0.4 0.425 20000 8250 2.84 2.85 2.93 2.93 2.82 2.85 353000 1001940 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 7.31 7.4 7.45 7.59 7.26 7.4 1584300 11694117 0.465 0.51 0.53 0.53 0.465 0.465 5000 2480 MABUHAY HLDG 2.53 2.54 2.51 2.55 2.48 2.53 39362000 99230490 METRO PAC INV 2.75 3 2.75 2.75 2.75 2.75 2000 5500 PACIFICA HLDG 0.75 0.76 0.69 0.75 0.69 0.75 309000 221370 PRIME MEDIA 0.82 0.89 0.81 0.92 0.81 0.92 516000 468260 SOLID GROUP 180 188 210 210 180 180 8670 1689816 SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS 846.5 850 827.5 850 804 850 371730 310246145 SAN MIGUEL CORP 92.95 93 95 95.2 93 93 337850 31656183 TOP FRONTIER 153 154 137.4 153 136 153 6100 877672 ZEUS HLDG 0.126 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 0.13 260000 33800

-29148164 12899810 -19390712 -532920 268550 3,170,073.9997) -8222640 -63064766 -409910 -10439907.5 -956250 -8744639 -34831060 3860 1305880 1105061.5 -430368 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.58 0.59 0.6 0.6 0.58 0.58 2416000 1403580 32.5 32.6 32 32.75 31.8 32.5 8315000 268021265 AYALA LAND 1.06 1.07 1.01 1.07 0.95 1.07 2157000 2212310 ARANETA PROP 1.32 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.32 1.33 133000 176790 BELLE CORP 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.53 526000 276410 A BROWN 0.7 0.71 0.8 0.8 0.71 0.71 548000 391640 CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES 0.125 0.135 0.135 0.135 0.135 0.135 40000 5400 5.6 6.04 5.9 6.04 5.6 6.04 1400 8272 CEBU HLDG 3.74 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.73 3.8 1294000 4875540 CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP 0.36 0.365 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.36 490000 176400 CYBER BAY 0.241 0.26 0.241 0.241 0.241 0.241 300000 72300 16.12 16.14 16 16.14 15.4 16.14 310100 4926400 DOUBLEDRAGON 6.7 7 7 7 6.5 6.7 520500 3451860 DM WENCESLAO 0.92 0.93 0.91 0.94 0.9 0.93 11524000 10620170 FILINVEST LAND 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.76 269000 202150 GLOBAL ESTATE 11.58 11.88 11.6 11.88 11.6 11.6 73900 857510 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV 0.71 0.72 0.73 0.73 0.69 0.72 1091000 764870 CITY AND LAND 0.66 0.74 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.75 3000 2250 2.58 2.59 2.58 2.6 2.54 2.58 87604000 225811600 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED 0.139 0.14 0.143 0.146 0.139 0.139 5330000 751640 0.325 0.37 0.37 0.37 0.37 0.37 160000 59200 PHIL ESTATES 1.69 1.73 1.73 1.74 1.55 1.73 26000 41920 PRIMEX CORP 14.4 14.5 13.98 14.78 13.98 14.5 3564400 50738296 ROBINSONS LAND 1.49 1.5 1.52 1.52 1.49 1.5 338000 506050 ROCKWELL 2.87 2.88 2.92 2.95 2.88 2.88 187000 539510 SHANG PROP 1.86 1.98 1.89 1.98 1.86 1.98 453000 856570 STA LUCIA LAND 30.15 30.25 29.05 30.15 28.5 30.15 10310600 304091420 SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 3.5 3.57 3.54 3.6 3.41 3.57 67000 234870 1.19 1.22 1.15 1.22 1.15 1.22 880000 1036830 SUNTRUST HOME 4.08 4.11 4.04 4.14 4.03 4.08 1914000 7798390 VISTA LAND

56024540 143640 22500 581600 3600 -263044 3123480 5146390 -8268 57030 -64582230 -1700 15146390 -90000 8760 32983115 -5277930

SERVICES ABS CBN 16.58 16.6 16 16.68 16 16.58 922900 15041630 5.09 5.1 5.09 5.15 5.08 5.1 223200 1137551 GMA NETWORK 0.34 0.365 0.38 0.38 0.34 0.365 1000000 343950 MANILA BULLETIN 10.2 12 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.2 800 8160 MLA BRDCASTING 2228 2300 2050 2300 2050 2300 116125 248100510 GLOBE TELECOM 1165 1170 1121 1170 1121 1170 127280 146871195 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.038 0.04 0.038 0.039 0.038 0.038 22600000 858900 2.76 2.95 2.7 2.95 2.7 2.76 9000 25460 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 1.67 1.68 1.6 1.68 1.6 1.68 22832000 37485250 ISLAND INFO 0.076 0.082 0.084 0.084 0.084 0.084 30000 2520 1.5 1.78 1.41 1.78 1.4 1.78 11000 16290 JACKSTONES 1.6 1.61 1.61 1.65 1.58 1.6 1254000 2006370 NOW CORP 0.154 0.159 0.154 0.158 0.154 0.154 370000 57860 TRANSPACIFIC BR 1.54 1.57 1.55 1.58 1.5 1.57 320000 491960 PHILWEB 5.99 6 5.98 6.01 5.98 6 33700 202096 2GO GROUP 2.61 2.65 2.56 2.65 2.56 2.65 879000 2286640 CHELSEA CEBU AIR 48.1 48.2 46.6 48.4 46.05 48.1 140500 6655805 INTL CONTAINER 72.8 74 71.15 74 71 74 1579380 114387304 LBC EXPRESS 11.6 11.62 11.98 11.98 11.6 11.6 4000 46538 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.35 4.15 4.24 2441000 10383340 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 1.42 1.46 1.46 1.46 1.41 1.42 443000 634220 1.46 1.59 1.58 1.63 1.55 1.55 9000 14150 METROALLIANCE B 6.75 6.8 6.49 6.8 6.38 6.75 54600 357603 PAL HLDG 0.76 0.78 0.75 0.8 0.74 0.78 492000 377520 HARBOR STAR 0.026 0.027 0.028 0.028 0.026 0.027 68900000 1864700 BOULEVARD HLDG 1.6 1.85 1.87 1.87 1.85 1.85 2000 3720 DISCOVERY WORLD 9.12 12.58 9.17 12.58 9.12 12.58 4400 41192 GRAND PLAZA WATERFRONT 0.38 0.395 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 70000 27300 0.39 0.395 0.395 0.395 0.38 0.385 1000000 386750 STI HLDG BERJAYA 2.04 2.24 2.1 2.28 2.1 2.27 31000 66200 5.82 5.89 5.84 5.9 5.76 5.89 3016900 17646133 BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE 1.71 1.79 1.7 1.79 1.7 1.79 41000 69790 1.31 1.33 1.33 1.33 1.3 1.33 142000 188470 LEISURE AND RES 2 2.2 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 9000 14900 MANILA JOCKEY 3.41 3.99 3.99 3.99 3.99 3.99 1000 3990 PH RESORTS GRP 0.295 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.29 0.3 3830000 1139300 PREMIUM LEISURE 7.8 8.5 7.8 8.5 7.8 8.5 3300 25810 PHIL RACING ALLHOME 4.58 4.6 4.8 4.8 4.53 4.58 4289000 19879250 METRO RETAIL 1.56 1.58 1.49 1.58 1.47 1.58 1857000 2866420 PUREGOLD 40.6 41 39.1 41 38 41 4223400 167058230 ROBINSONS RTL 60.05 64 57 64 56.1 64 259270 15503838 PHIL SEVEN CORP 132 133 135 135 130 132 118950 15694044 1.27 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.25 1.3 864000 1112170 SSI GROUP 12.56 12.6 12.7 12.72 12.5 12.6 1597500 20074112 WILCON DEPOT 0.27 0.275 0.275 0.275 0.27 0.275 600000 162250 APC GROUP 4.8 4.85 4.85 4.88 4.8 4.8 18000 86930 EASYCALL 2.14 2.39 2.14 2.2 2.14 2.2 15000 32160 PAXYS PRMIERE HORIZON 0.195 0.201 0.198 0.201 0.195 0.201 750000 149730 SBS PHIL CORP 5.03 5.39 5.6 5.6 5.02 5.03 33300 168006

31431340 9725775 14600 3678050 62590 -154150 -99610 129310 95585 -8953344 -3198060 -225150 -6178861 90 1330 -180000 -1472080 -527200 22375930 -2527944 -13806342 -241090 -6229850 8100 38000 -

MINING & OIL

ATOK 9.9 10.86 10.9 10.9 10.86 10.86 6200 67340 0.71 0.72 0.73 0.73 0.7 0.71 1364000 970130 5600 APEX MINING 0.001 0.0011 0.0011 0.0011 0.001 0.001 54000000 54300 ABRA MINING 1.7 1.85 1.85 1.85 1.7 1.7 54000 93840 7400 ATLAS MINING 0.78 1.1 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.78 18000 14040 BENGUET A BENGUET B 0.81 1.09 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.81 90000 72900 0.201 0.249 0.201 0.201 0.201 0.201 1000000 201000 COAL ASIA HLDG 2.5 2.63 2.58 2.63 2.58 2.63 716000 1873200 880400 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 6.02 6.2 6.03 6.2 6.03 6.2 65600 406618 0.61 0.62 0.6 0.64 0.59 0.62 6826000 4230320 -2065950 FERRONICKEL 0.186 0.19 0.185 0.186 0.184 0.185 400000 74000 GEOGRACE 0.07 0.071 0.074 0.074 0.07 0.071 4700000 331370 LEPANTO A 0.077 0.084 0.073 0.083 0.073 0.083 4740000 385650 LEPANTO B 0.0063 0.0069 0.0062 0.0062 0.0062 0.0062 8000000 49600 MANILA MINING A 0.57 0.58 0.56 0.57 0.54 0.57 381000 215710 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 0.9 0.95 0.9 0.98 0.89 0.9 1327000 1185030 -980 NICKEL ASIA 1.56 1.58 1.57 1.62 1.54 1.56 4216000 6614640 -3324320 OMICO CORP 0.34 0.4 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.34 1550000 527000 0.455 0.47 0.46 0.46 0.455 0.455 2140000 974150 ORNTL PENINSULA 2.02 2.04 2.05 2.05 2.01 2.02 1319000 2653570 22550 PX MINING 11.8 11.84 11.82 11.98 11.7 11.84 1417300 16779118 -2502206 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0036 0.0039 0.0036 0.0039 0.0036 0.0039 63000000 245400 UNITED PARAGON 5.16 5.35 5.27 5.4 5.13 5.16 155000 813654 ACE ENEXOR 0.0083 0.0089 0.0082 0.0082 0.0082 0.0082 8000000 65600 ORNTL PETROL A 0.008 0.0086 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 25000000 200000 PHILODRILL 3.95 3.96 3.98 4 3.93 3.96 783000 3102570 -87730 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 94.95 95 95 95 94.95 94.95 360 34183 497 498 498 498 498 498 1280 637440 AC PREF B1 98.5 100 99 99 99 99 1200 118800 ALCO PREF B 480.2 490 490 490 490 490 200 98000 AC PREF B2R 96.1 99.4 99.5 99.5 99.4 99.4 870 86525 CPG PREF A DD PREF 97.25 97.4 97.4 97.4 97.4 97.4 110 10714 102 107 108 108 108 108 40 4320 FGEN PREF G 480.6 499.8 499.8 499.8 499.8 499.8 10 4998 GLO PREF P 931 998 998 998 998 998 10 9980 GTCAP PREF A 980 987 987 987 987 987 10 9870 GTCAP PREF B 99 99.5 99 99 99 99 3100 306900 MWIDE PREF 993 995 996.5 996.5 995 995 110 109465 PNX PREF 4 75.8 76 75.6 76.1 75.6 75.8 12760 966003 SMC PREF 2C 73.55 74 73.45 73.75 73.45 73.75 310 22859.5 SMC PREF 2D 73.55 74.4 74.4 74.4 74.4 74.4 10 744 SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F 74.6 74.8 74.8 74.8 74.6 74.8 78550 5875080 74.05 74.8 74.75 74.8 74.75 74.8 5000 373915 SMC PREF 2H

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 14.2 14.88 14.06 14.8 14.06 14.8 150400 2150470 295600 4.81 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 4.9 107000 524300 -524300 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.7 0.81 0.84 0.84 0.81 0.81 3000 2460

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 1.85 1.88 1.9 1.91 1.84 1.85 177000 328390 28500 5.9 5.98 6 6 5.75 5.98 92500 543272 KEPWEALTH 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.49 0.48 0.48 560000 271050 -38800 XURPAS

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 85 85.95 81 85 81 85 27920 2305322.5 -22887.5

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Shakey’s net income last year flat at ₧862 million

S

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

hakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. said it ended 2019 with a flat net income of P862 million, from P840.91 million recorded in 2018, mainly as a result of the new accounting standard.

System-wide sales—the combined measure of company-owned and franchised stores’ sales— grew by 11 percent year-on-year to P10.4 billion. Same-store sales growth for the full-year, however, was flat.

The company said the flat net in-

come growth was a result of the Philippine Financial Reporting Standard (PFRS) 16, an accounting standard on leases which took effect at the start of 2019, accelerating the recognition of noncash expenses.

Shakey’s, led by the Po family, ended the year with 276 stores through-

out the Philippines, comprised of 246 Shakey’s and 30 Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken outlets.

Last year, there were 18 new Shakey’s stores, 17 of which were opened outside Metro Manila, and seven new Peri stores counting from the company’s acquisition mid-year.

Select Shakey’s and Peri outlets remain operational for delivery and carry-out services utilizing a limited menu, shortened hours, and a reduced and voluntary work force during the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

The company said it is looking to gradually reopen more select outlets over the next few weeks while strictly implementing enhanced safety protocols that are aligned with the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

“This is an extraordinary time, but we are able to manage through by prioritizing a strong cash and liquidity position, and slowly increasing delivery and carry-out accessibility,” said company President and CEO Vicente Gregorio.

“Amid the short-term disruptions, we are also readying ourselves to bounce back in what we believe will be a new ‘post-Covid’ [coronavirus disease 2019] world where a strong brand and delivery presence is key. Though the full effects of [Covid-19] remain unknown, we are firmly in this business for the long run benefit of all our stakeholders, including our employees and our guests, and we believe that the structural growth story of dining out in the Philippines is still intact,” he added.

Prime BMD helps turn stadium into health facility

P

rime BMD said it has mobilized its resources to implement the building works on the Ninoy Aquino Stadium at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex for it to become a level 2 emergency facility for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients.

The company is an affiliate of the Prime Infrastructure of the Razon Group. The Bloomberry Cultural Foundation Inc., the social responsibility arm of Bloomberry Resorts Corp., is funding and overseeing the two phases of the project.

The project is being fast tracked with Prime BMD initiating works on phase one last April 1.

Already 75 percent complete, phase 1 involves the construction of 116 patients’ cubicles, two nurses’ stations, drywall partition wall, installation of temporary furniture and conversion of facility common areas.

The second stage, commencing on April 7, will create an additional 108 patients’ cubicles.

Prime BMD has 180 direct workers and 30 staff working on the project 24/7 and has established strict guidelines to ensure proper social distancing and advanced hygiene practices on the project.

The company said on Monday that the project has been delivered at "breakneck speed" to quickly respond to the urgent requirement to provide additional treatment.

“We feel it our duty to provide as much support as possible to the interagency task force and to the Fili-

pinos to respond to this crisis. The combined resources of Solaire’s social responsibility arm and our construction company, Prime BMD, puts us in an ideal position to continue working hand in hand with the government agencies to deliver much needed facilities,” said Enrique K. Razon Jr., Prime BMD chairman.

“Prime BMD is very proud to be part of this project, and would like to thank all its staff and tireless workers who are delivering critical works and are going the extra mile to ensure that this much needed infrastructure is delivered quickly. Prime BMD also thanks our key suppliers and subcontractors for their ongoing support,” he added.

Meanwhile, SM Foundation said it has delivered several intensive care unit-grade ventilators to medical institutions in the country.

Ventilators were distributed to the following institutions: Philippine General Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and San Lazaro Hospital.

SM also provided ICU-grade ventilator units to West Visayas State University Medical Center in Iloilo and Baguio General Hospital.

The provision of much needed ICU-grade ventilators will help many patients in critical care, it said.

This donation forms part of P170 million in allocations pledged by SM Foundation to help frontliners and medical institutions nationwide in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. VG Cabuag

Grab extends assistance, raises funds for frontliners

G

RAB Philippines said it has raised P5 million nearly two weeks after the launch of its community-driven initiative called GrabBayanihan to help address the economic impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The ride-.hailing platform has collected the amount as of March 31 from the donated GrabRewards points by its users for the benefit of the Philippine Red Cross to help protect the frontliners battling Covid-19.

This project is still ongoing with more organizations that need support being added to the app’s GrabRewards catalogue.

The company, likewise, has obtained nearly P14 million worth of goods from its employees, communities and corporate partners.

These relief packs will include grocery vouchers, rice, canned goods, medicine and drinks to be given to around 40,000 driver-partners.

Grab has provided them with 30,000 face masks and almost 2,000 bottles of alcohol to ensure their safety and maintain a good hygiene as they deliver food and other items ordered by customers undergoing the Luzon-wide enhanced

community quarantine.

The transportation network vehicle service firm has virtually trained more than 1,600 GrabCar drivers to become temporary GrabFood and GrabExpress operators.

Emergency support funds were credited to the accounts of driver-partners on March 30.

The company is also working closely with some government offices to provide financial assistance for affected chauffeurs. One of them is the Department of Trade and Industry, through its lending unit SB Corp., which will provide them with small and medium enterprises loan packages. Currently, Grab is finalizing with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Social Welfare and Development the list of its drivers qualified for government assistance.

In support of the local government units (LGUs) during the lockdown, 61 units of GrabWheels have been already deployed in Manila (12), Quezon City (8), Marikina (8), Iloilo (7), San Juan (5), Pasig (5), Muntinlupa (4), Navotas (4), Pasay (4), and Cainta (4). Roderick L. Abad

mutual funds

April 6, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 177.61 -32.3% -12.29% -9.28% -29.49% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.8818 -45.61% -14.94% -10.42% -36.19% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.394 -41.32% -16.98% -11.73% -34.91% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.5979 -35.85% n.a. n.a. -33.35% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6051 -29.66% n.a. n.a. -28.75% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 3.8636 -29.28% -9.69% -8.37% -27.49% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.599 -31.28% -13.65% n.a.

-29.83% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 69.15 -45.63% n.a. n.a. -33.08% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 35.3603 -31.69% -11.13% n.a. -31.05% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 379.36 -29.81% -10.55% -8.33% -28.8% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 0.8018 n.a. n.a. n.a. -22.16% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. - a 0.912 -30.01% -10.26% -7.57% -29.13% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 26.7191 -30.64% -9.66% -7.47% -29.5% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.6955 -32.56% n.a. n.a. -31.69% -7.39% -31.04% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.6019 -31.26% -10.59% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 601.49 -31.22% -10.58% -7.61% -31.03% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.5528 -39.96% -14.31% -11.33% -35.07% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 2.8218 -34.15% -11.42% -8.63% -32.96% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.6914 -31.25% -10.69% n.a. -30.92% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.5522 -30.77% -8.71% -6.45% -30.14% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 80.6036 -31.11% -10.12% -6.8% -31.08% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.8356 -19.56% -3.71% -3.82% -18.75% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.0866 -15.36% -0.4% n.a. -21.19% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4243 -17.05% -6.65% -6.22% -8.86% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 1.8768 -18.76% -6.8% -4.66% -13.95% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.2333 -15.24% -4.03% -5.47% -15.13% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.1754 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-23.24% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.7362 -9.21% -2.41% -2.48% -11.56% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.1418 -14.26% -5.11% -4.52% -17.08% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 14.1195 -14.66% -5.06% -4.5% -16.75% -5.51% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.7794 -16.76% -3.91% -16.3% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.0226 -21.13% -6.35% -5.34% -21.77% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 0.844 -15.24% n.a. n.a.

-16.9% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7448 -25.1% n.a. n.a. -25.25% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7256 -26.86% n.a. n.a. -26.94% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7268 -25.53% -8.29% -7.49% -25.44% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03743 3.91% 1.88% 1.24% -2.09% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.8681 -13.34% -2.65% -2.73% -16.36% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.2567 -11.96% -0.19% -0.13% -16.73% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $0.9955 -7.97% -0.74% n.a. -11.81% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 360.56 3.8% 2.85% 2.31% 0.77% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9177 1.92% 0.72% -0.43% 0.83% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1488 4.66% 5.09% 5.08% 1.04% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.236 3.63% 2.26% 1.87% 0.49% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3593 4.35% 2.25% 1.21% 0.01% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.3516 8.09% 1.43% -0.49% 2.3% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.7768 4.5% 2.87% 1.4% -0.3% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9628 4.7% 1.29% 0.17% -0.16% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.06 6.1% 3.99% 2.37% -0.52% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.6972 5.97% 3.57% 2.03% -0.23% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $466.76 2.9% 2.28% 2.4% -0.31% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.8 -1.01% 0.53% 0.55% -2.7% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1601 -0.41% 1.3% 1.43% -3.9% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0255 1.19% 0.8% 0.89% -1.16% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0458 -1.48% -0.74% -0.86% -4.51% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.349 4.23% 2.18% 1.92% -2.28% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0592273 2.05% 1.32% 1.28% -1.8% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1055 4.46% 1.76% 1.82% -2.2% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 126.79 3.69% 2.98% 2.26% 0.8% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0341 2.72% n.a. n.a.

0.76% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2544 5.03% 3.01% 1.61% -0.18% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2743 3.43% 2.97% 2.49% 0.77% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0398 1.69% n.a. n.a.

0.25% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,4 $0.86 n.a. n.a. n.a. -13.13% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Launch date is January 3, 2019. 2 - Launch date is January 28, 2019. 3 - Launch date is February 1, 2019. 4 - Launch date is November 15, 2019.

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

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

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Yao-owned bank says income up 46% in 2019

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hilippine Business Bank (PBB) registered double-digit growth in its net earnings last year on the back of robust interest income.

In a disclosure on Monday, PBB announced that its net profits reached P1.26 billion last year, which was 46.4 percent higher compared to P858 million in 2018.

Interest income surged by 28.8 percent to P7.09 billion last year from P5.51 billion year-on-year. Core income, meanwhile, rose 25.2 percent to P1.96 billion for the period. “[The year] 2019 has been a great year for the Bank with record-setting earnings. Our profitability is generated from diversified revenue streams. The strong core business was supplemented by trading profits,” PBB President and CEO Roland R. Avante said.

Total assets grew by 20.4 percent to P114 billion while loans and receivables rose 15.6 percent to P87.3 billion last year.

Deposits, meanwhile, jumped by 23 percent to P95 billion in 2019. Its deposit mix stood at 46:54 low-cost to high-cost ratio as of end-2019.

PBB’s shareholders’ equity stood at P12.9 billion as of end-2019, which

represents book value per share of P19.03. The bank’s net interest margin improved to 4.48 percent last year from 4.28 percent in 2018.

PBB, which is majority-owned through AMY Group by Alfredo M. Yao, said that it was implementing new banking solution anchored at boosting its digital platforms, in addition to building a “more robust” database to “serve its customers in a deeper and more enriching manner.”

“PBB believes digital solutions would help empower the SME [smallscale and medium-size enterprise] market segment, the key clientele of the bank,” Avante added. “PBB’s focus on delivering long-term value to its clients and shareholders remains, and the bank looks forward to its clients’ continued support and loyalty in trusting PBB with their banking needs.”

Last year, PBB raised P3 billion through the issuance of three-year corporate notes.

The merger of PBB and Insular Savers Bank, the former being the surviving entity, was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in June last year. Their merged operations began a month after the approval. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Personal finance and the pandemic

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he year 2020 will go down in history as the year when the Covid-19 pandemic happened.

Many have gotten sick. Many lives have been lost. Businesses have been disrupted. The world economy and the Philippine economy are reeling from the adverse effects. Finances have been hit.

While people are on quarantine, it may be an opportune time to reflect in terms of the way forward in personal finance. Taking stock of the financial situation and planning for the future are key to sustained personal finance recovery.

We need to continue remembering that we have a financial goal to achieve. It is what should guide us in terms of how we live our respective lives. It is what should guide us in terms of identifying what our priorities in life are. It is what should guide us in terms of how we handle money.

It is said in economics that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Thus, achieving our financial goal will not be a walk in the park. If we are to eventually achieve our financial goal, we have to be ready to overcome adversity at all times.

We need to continue maintaining a healthy stream of cash flows.

Cash is king especially when there is a pandemic. Our cash inflows must be able to support our cash outflows sufficiently.

Since raising cash inflows may be a challenge owing to the irregular operations in the economy, we will find valuable use in the emergency fund. It will hopefully help us keep afloat while there is the pandemic.

Proper budgeting will likewise help us manage our cash outflows.

Now more than ever, we have to live within our means.

We need to stop bad habits in spending. We need to be more conscious about the difference between needs and wants.

In terms of priority, money should be devoted first to the fulfillment of basic needs like food, shelter and clothing before it can be allocated to wants. Spending for needs can be minimized. Spending for wants can be minimized or removed.

In the time of the pandemic, we should responsibly buy the items that we need along with reasonable quantities of each. Every peso saved is a peso earned.

We need to start reviewing our state of financial protection.

The emergency fund should be

Genesis Kelly S. Lontoc

personal finance equivalent to at least six months to one year of our monthly lifestyle spending. It should be placed in liquid assets that are accessible.

Our life insurance policy must be adequate enough to cover future developments like death, sickness and retirement. It should take into account both family size and projected future family lifestyle. There should be insurance as well for crucial assets like our house and vehicle given uncertain times.

We need to start reviewing our investment portfolio. While the financial goal should be constant, the investment mix must be flexible. A good combination of past performance and expected performance can be used as the basis to decide on where to invest.

Past performance can show how investments are able to weather the storms. Expected performance can show how investments are projected to evolve. Information is the new oil and this is what we need in order to make the right investing decisions.

From a nation-building perspective, we need to actively collaborate with government in helping rebuild our economy. The nation is our business. Economic growth is a concern for everyone.

All of us have to contribute.

Maybe, a part of our budget can be allocated in helping those who are in need. Maybe, a part of our time can be devoted in planning and executing relief solutions based on our areas of expertise.

When there is darkness, there is an opportunity for the light to glow brightly. During uncertain times, we need to have the positive mindset to rise above adversity.

During uncertain times, we need to have the resilient spirit in handling trials by working with more purpose and working harder. In a way, the pandemic can prompt us to discover the best version that we can be and lead us to sustained financial recovery.

Gemmy Lontoc is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal financial planning, attend the 82nd RFP program this May 2020. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at 0917-9689774.

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 B3

T-bill auction fetches ₧20B from ‘cautious’ investors

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has finally raised P20 billion on Monday’s auction, marking its first full award of bids for Treasury bills (T-bills) since the declaration of the Luzon-wide lockdown.

The BTr also snapped its 3- week rejection streak for bids on debt papers. Up to two auctions for government securities were held per week since Metro Manila was declared under community quarantine on March 15.

While the rates still trended higher compared to previous auc-

tions, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said these are “within internal estimates and secondary levels.” “[The] market continues to remain cautious as [the] duration of [the] lockdown is uncertain. But at the same time, [we] have to deploy liquidity from [the] RRR cut,” De Leon said referring to the Bangko Sentral

ng Pilipinas’ 200-basis point cut in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) last March.

“Also there is a P16-billion redemption adding to liquidity that needs to be put to work,” she added.

The auction was also oversubscribed by more than 1.5-times as total tenders reached P37.675 billion compared to the P20 billion offering.

The 91-day T-bills fetched an average auction rate of 3.413 percent, higher by 38.9 basis points from the previous average auction rate of 3.024 percent. Total bids for the security reached P15.95 billion compared to P10 billion offering.

Meanwhile, the 182-day T- bills capped at an average rate of 3.553 percent, up by 15.5 basis points from the 3.398-percent average auction rate in the previous auction. Bids for the security amounted to P10.915

billion compared to the P5 billion on offer.

The 364-day T-bills were awarded at an average auction rate of 3.845 percent, posting an increase of 28.8 basis points from the previous average auction rate of 3.557 percent.

Tenders reached P10.810 billion out of the P5 billion offering.

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

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

RCBC weighs Covid-19 financial impact

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izal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is still studying how the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic is affecting its financial performance.

“The Bank is currently assessing the impact of the enhanced community quarantine and this pandemic to its portfolio,” the Yuchengco-led bank told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail. The government ordered last March a month-long lock down all over Luzon in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.

RCBC said it had activated its business continuity plan as early as January.

“The bank leadership has responded quickly to the enhanced quarantine restrictions by mobilizing all available resources to allow select branches in Metro Manila and Luzon to continue to serve our clients,” the listed bank added.

The bank said it’s holding virtual meetings to limit the physical movement between the skeletal workforce in their offices.

It has also implemented workfrom-home arrangements for some of its employees using digital platforms.

To ease the burden of its customers, qualified borrowers were given a

30-day grace period, the bank said.

The bank also waived interbranch fund transfers until April 14.

RCBC also encouraged its customers to transact via online platforms to minimize exposure to the virus.

Last month, the bank reported that its P3-billion bond offering was subscribed by over two times. Each bond has a tenor of two years and carries a coupon rate of 4.848 percent per annum.

Proceeds of the fixed rate bond offering are allocated to finance asset growth, maturing obligations and other general corporate matters.

RCBC tapped Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. as the sole lead arranger and bookrunner of the transaction while RCBC Capital Corp. served as financial advisor.

The issuance is expected to be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on April 7.

The listed bank saw its net profits surge by 25 percent to P5.4 billion last year on the back of strong core business, margins and trading gains.

RCBC shares climbed by 30 centavos or 1.75 percent to close at P17.40 apiece amid the 4.19-percent rise for the benchmark index.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Nonlife insurer allots P10M for dependents of virus fatality

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BANK ON WHEELS Photo shows the Philippine National Bank’s “Bank on Wheels.” Taken in 1976, the

photo carries the caption: “In the middle of a ricefield drives a PNB mobile bank to collect farmers’ deposits, thus the name, PNB, the Bank on Wheels.” PNB revived its “Bank on Wheels” 19 days after Luzon was locked down due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Courtesy PNB

LandBank backs LGUs with P10-B emergency loan during pandemic

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he Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) said it is launching a new lending program to help local government units (LGUs) on the purchase of goods and procurement of services to support their constituents during the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. The state-owned bank said it is allocating P10 billion in emergency funding for provincial, city and municipal governments.

LandBank President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo was quoted in a statement as saying the move is the bank’s “way of supporting our LGUs deliver immediate health services, food, and basic commodities to their constituents during this crisis.”

“Our LGUs are at the forefront of this adversity, and as our partners in development, we will continue to finance

their recovery and rehabilitation needs,” Borromeo added.

Both client and non-client LGUs of the Bank may avail of the program at a fixed-interest rate of 5 percent per annum, payable up to a maximum of five years, with a one-year grace period on principal payment.

The bank said this move is line with Republic Act 11469, a law that placed the country under a state of national health emergency and granted President Duterte the power and authority to carry out urgent measures to combat Covid-19.

The law also mandates the provision of timely and affordable credit to affected sectors, especially in the countryside.

The bank said interested LGUs may contact the nearest open LandBank lending center or branch or call its customer service hotline.

onlife insurance player SGI Philippines General Insurance Co. earmarked a total of P10 million for its financial assistance program to dependents of all deceased nonlife insurance intermediaries duly registered with Insurance Commission and their employees whose annual income is less than P600,000.

The insurance firm said in a statement on Monday they decided to offer a financial assistance of P25,000 to a dependent of a deceased intermediaries provided they meet the conditions.

“With the impact of Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] continuing to ravage across the country and rest of the world, SGI Philippines has taken cognizance of the prevailing circumstances and have extended its deep and sincere empathy to all nonlife insurance intermediaries (whether they work for SGI Philippines or not) in the country by offering some relief to those who are financially more vulnerable in case the Covid- 19 causes loss of life of any non- life insurance intermediary,” the insurer said in a statement. SGI Philippines said they are extending this coverage “as a responsible corporate citizen of the Philippines.”

In case of the married person, the eligible dependent of the deceased intermediary will be the spouse or children. For the unmarried, the parents of the deceased intermediary will be his or her parents, the company said.

For the dependents to be eligible, the intermediary should have died from being infected by Covid-19 during the period from April 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 and reported to SGI Philippines

by May 30, 2020.

The dependent should also be

able to provide the death certificate of the intermediary which states that the covered person died from the Covid-19 virus.

Moreover, the dependent must also show any legal document as proof of relation with the intermediary as well as a proof of income.

Intermediaries are defined as either one of the following: n A duly registered nonlife insurance intermediary with Insurance Commission and or permanent employee of registered intermediaries wherein the employee must have served at least three months prior to the occurrence of the tragedy and gets salary in the bank account which to be proven by immediate previous bank statement for the last three months. n Already accredited and coded with SGI Philippines. n In the process of accreditation with SGI Philippines. n Have already requested for a quotation with SGI Philippines. n Have been approached by the sales team and is currently under negotiations.

Upon receipt and verification of these documents, SGI Philippines will arrange to process and make the assistance amount available to the affected family.

Besides the financial assistance, SGI Philippines said it is also contemplating to offer some financial assistance to its own insurance intermediaries whose commission income is on “the lower side.”

In December 2019, SGI Philippines increased its capitalization to P1.33 billion, complying early to the minimum net capitalization requirement of P1.3 billion by 2022 under the Amended Insurance Code.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

B4

Pages BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘Lost Children’ author: Writers must ‘document’ pandemic Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli AP

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Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Russell Crowe, 56; Jackie Chan, 66; John Oates, 72; Francis Ford Coppola, 81.

Happy Birthday: Take control of your life. Call the shots, and make changes that will help you gain ground. Greater involvement in projects or activities that give you a chance to use your talents to the fullest will encourage personal growth and success. Partnerships should be priorities, and decisions that will help declutter your life a choice. Your lucky numbers are 2, 8, 24, 26, 31, 37, 42.

By Claudia Torrens The Associated Press

EW YORK—Cooped up at her Bronx home with her daughter and a niece because of the coronavirus pandemic, Mexican writer Valeria Luiselli says she has lowered the “volume and speed” of her life. She is arranging books in alphabetical order, planting legumes on her balcony and listening to old recordings from Argentinian author Julio Cortázar.

Her rhythm has slowed but not the accolades and awards for her latest novel, Lost Children Archive, which last week was honored with the British Rathbone Folio Prize. The book, Luiselli’s third novel, is part fiction part documentary: A family’s American road trip mixed with the stories of migrant children along the Mexico-US border.

Luiselli accepted the prize at a ceremony held online because of the global coronavirus outbreak.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press, the 36-year-old writer said she’s sad that she could not be in London to receive it in person but grateful to see people keeping the faith in books.

“The fact that the literary community is still in full swing, even from their homes, and behind their screens, is moving and encouraging,” she said, speaking in Spanish.

“I think it is my duty, and the duty of every writer, whether is a science-fiction writer, a journalist, a poet, each at their own pace and within their own capacities, to document this moment,” she said.

Lost Children Archive has also won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and a Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature. It is a finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

Luiselli’s inspiration came from the immigration crisis of 2014, when thousands of children were trying to enter the US in search of asylum, fleeing poverty and violence in Central America. The author said she started paying attention to how that story was being told, both in the media or at casual conversations in

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): An innovative approach to life will attract favorable attention from like-minded people. Working in conjunction with someone who shares your values, work ethic and goals will lead to the results you desire. Personal gain and romance are favored. HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take time to recognize what others do and say. An unexpected change can alter the way you do business or the way you feel about someone you work alongside. Keep your ideas and plans a secret until you have everything in place. HHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Take pride in what you do, and everyone will take note. A personal change will improve the way you live, how well you take care of yourself and how well you get along with others. Traveling, participating and exploring educational pursuits are favored. HHHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Actions speak louder than words. If a change is required, don’t hesitate. How you handle matters will make a difference in how well you do. Refuse to let an emotional incident take over. Limit your expenditures, as well as the promises you make. HH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Check out vacation destinations or something or someone that interests you. A change doesn’t have to be drastic. Consider what will make your life easier, not more complicated. Personal improvements should be on your radar. Romance is encouraged. HHHH

f

diners in Arizona. “I started asking myself how [the migrant] children of this generation were going to eventually tell this story, what were they going to say about this reality—that on one hand was very real but on the other seemingly implausible—about thousands of children in a migratory limbo,” she said.

In New York, she started volunteering with nonprofits as an interpreter in immigration court, writing down the interviews she did with migrant children so attorneys could help them out. That experience led to an essay about immigration, “Tell

Me How It Ends,” in 2017. Lost Children Archive came in February 2019.

Born in Mexico City, Luiselli grew up in South Korea and South Africa, among others, because of her father’s work in nongovernmental organizations and later as a diplomat. She speaks both English and Spanish and can write in either language. In addition to writing during her seclusion, she’s reading out loud to her family and taking photos. “We are going to need this narrative fabric, some sort of fabric for us to lay down once we overcome this.” n

Google cites tools for journalists reporting on Covid-19 REPORTING on Covid-19 is nonstop, so tech giant Google now shares some tools journalists might find useful to help in their reporting efforts. n To understand what people are searching for: There is a dedicated page on Covid-19 Google searches, as well as local pages including the Philippines. All of the charts and visuals on the Google Trends site are embeddable and made to share and publish online. Users can sign up for a daily newsletter (bit.ly/2JHyzIs) on how the world is searching for Covid-19.

Those who need to learn more about how Google Trends works can visit bit. ly/2xSysah. n To make sense of data and visualize it: Professionals can learn how to build your own data sets, clean them, and visualize them. They can

z

also compare data through gifs with the data gif maker (bit.ly/2UWbVBi). n To illustrate stories: Learn how to use a range of mapping tools to illustrate stories, from MyMaps, Google Earth and features, like timelapse. n To review existing fact checks, and add a markup: Explore existing fact checks on the outbreak using the

Fact Check Explorer (bit.ly/39NR4pb) and API. If the team is working on debunking misinformation being circulated on this crisis, they can also add a Fact Check markup, which will label the article on Google properties as “Fact Check.” n To quickly find hard facts and expert opinion: Google Scholar (scholar. google.com) is a search tool that allows

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):Put in the work and be open to change, and you will excel.

The more you resist, the harder it will be to get ahead. Go with the flow, listen to what others have to contribute and be willing to compromise. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Emotions will run wild and lead to poor decisions if you aren’t careful. Don’t overreact to what others do or say. Give others the space needed to excel. Focus on creative projects, home improvements and personal gains. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Taking on a new project or participating in events that will bring you in contact with people from different walks of life will help you accept necessary adjustments. HHH

i

a journalist to find and explore a wide array of scholarly literature. Accessible material includes articles, thesis, books and abstracts from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and web sites. It can also be a useful way to contact academics and learn more about their work, as you research the coronavirus. n To take care of oneself while reporting: The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma (www. dartcenter.org) is a resource center and global network dedicated to improving media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy. This includes tips on covering disease, interviewing victims and survivors, and working with colleagues exposed to traumatic events.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Positive change is in the stars, and the chance to make plans is on the rise. A physical improvement will encourage you to use your attributes to get ahead.

A romantic gesture will enhance your personal life and improve your attitude. HHHH

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Too much will be just as damaging as too little. Some balance will be required if you want to get ahead. A love relationship or friendship will diminish if you overreact or one of you offers an ultimatum. Bide your time. HH

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t worry about what others are doing. Take care of your responsibilities, and move on to the things that make you happy. A change at home will brighten your day and encourage you to start a creative project. Romance is favored. HHHHH

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The more unpredictable you are, the more difficulties you will face. Immerse yourself in something that keeps you busy and out of trouble. Be helpful to others regardless of the circumstances. HHH Birthday Baby: You are steadfast, intelligent and strategic.

You are determined and observant.

‘in one’s element’ by paul coulter The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Golfer’s rental 5 More cunning 10 Tomato variety 14 Texter’s “Then again...”

15 Scott who played Princess Jasmine 16 Beowulf, e.g.

17 Eventually enter the mind of + an ancient element = get real 20 Symbolic American dessert 21 Bluish gray 22 Knowing, as a secret 23 They provide insights about relationships 25 Taking advantage of + an ancient element = elated 29 Roswell crash victim, some believe 30 Constantly remind 31 “@#$%,” for one 35 Iodide, oxide or nitride 36 Soda fountain treats 38 Kind of sauce 39 Caddie’s bagful 41 Mood music?

42 Suddenly paid attention 44 Handle idly + an ancient element =

do something risky 8 Descendants 4 50 Cocktail at a Mexican restaurant, informally 51 Forbidden City’s country 52 Guests’ call at the door 56 Inconsistent way to blow + an ancient element = standard sink connections 59 Word before “the Rainbow” or “the moon” 60 ___ Island 61 Zilch 62 Little sibling, perhaps 63 “___ Marner” 64 Coin opening DOWN 1 ___-Cola 2 At the peak of 3 Cakewalk 4 Similar stuff 5 Attach with a click 6 Sneaker feature 7 Oxen connector 8 Ambulance VIP 9 ___ de Janeiro

0 Total expert 1 11 Big name in book clubs 12 “Paws” 13 Advil target 18 Neighbor of Nigeria 19 Actor Morales 23 Small, biting insect 24 Riches’ counterpart 25 What many do at the DMV 26 Burn balm 27 One may be dotted 28 Simmering 32 Italian wine center 33 Part of a campus visit, often 34 Extravagant promotion 36 Unkind 37 Vegan Supreme Pizza brand 40 Motion pictures?

42 Molelike animal 43 Knitted blankets 45 Cash advance 46 Marcos with many shoes 47 “Buenas ___” (afternoon greeting in Acapulco) 48 Rudely push 49 Refers to

1 Slice of pork 5 52 Material in 43-Down 53 Latin abbr. hidden in “set a limit” 54 Second chance, informally 55 The “E” in QED 57 Many AMA members 58 Part of a Greek X word

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Singer Pink says she had Covid-19, gives $1M to relief funds

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CLOCKWISE: Roeder Camañag and Jesse Lucas, Rocky Salumbides, Nuel Naval, Ira Cruz and Nicole Asensio, Neal Tan, and Arnel Ignacio

LOS ANGELES—The singer Pink had tested positive for Covid-19, she said Friday, also announcing that she is donating $500,000 each to two emergency funds.

In a pair of tweets, she said she and her three-year-old son were displaying symptoms two weeks ago, and she tested positive after accessing tests through a primary care physician. Her family had already been sheltering at home and continued to do so, she said. They were tested again “just a few days ago,” and were negative.

The Grammy Award-winning artist behind eight studio albums and hits like “Get the Party Started,” “What About Us,” “Raise Your Glass” and “Just Give Me a Reason” called for for free and widespread testing.

“It is an absolute travesty and failure of our government to not make testing more widely accessible,” she wrote.

“This illness is serious and real. People need to know that the illness affects the young and old, healthy and unhealthy, rich and poor, and we must make testing free and more widely accessible to protect our children, our families, our friends and our communities.”

She announced she’s donating $1 million across two coronavirus-related relief funds, with $500,000 each going to the Temple University Hospital Fund in Philadelphia and the Covid-19 response fund run by the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. The Temple University donation honors the singer born Alecia Moore’s mother, Judy Moore, who worked at the hospital’s cardiomyopathy and heart transplant center for nearly two decades, she said.

She called health-care workers “heroes” and ended her post with an appeal to the public.

“These next two weeks are crucial: please stay home,” she wrote. “Please. Stay. Home.” AP

Rediscover the joys of having lots of free time BRANDON VERA

BRANDON VERA PREPARES FOR BIGGEST ROLE OF HIS LIFE

BUYBUST star and ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon Vera is preparing for many firsts in his life these days. Currently spending his quarantine period with wife Jessica in Guam, the ONE Championship star reveals that he spends a lot of time farming: stocking, clearing, cutting, digging and dumping junk from their farm land. He plans to build a barn that will double as a gym so he can stay in shape even at home.

Vera, the reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion, isn’t preparing for any specific bout at the moment—what with his scheduled return to live action at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on May 29 still to be confirmed due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. But the Fil-American sports and entertainment celebrity is definitely preparing heavily for a major milestone in his life: fatherhood.

Jessica is in the second trimester of her pregnancy, and it won’t be long until they welcome their first child together into the world. Vera says he has to be physically and mentally prepared for something he’s been preparing for his whole life.

“I’ve been preparing for fatherhood my whole life with my nephews, nieces and family. We have to be ready for the whole experience now—from packing the hospital bag when the time comes, all the way to helping our son grow as a self-contributing member to society in an amazing way,” says Vera.

With each passing day, Vera admits the excitement grows.

“I didn’t realize how excited I would be, and it increases every day. It does not stop! What I’m most looking forward to is hanging out with my son and seeing if I can help mold him into a better man than I could ever think of becoming,” he says.

They’ve already thought of a name for their son, Vera says, but fans will have to wait until the baby is born to find out.

“We’ve already thought of a name, but we’re not telling anyone! Not until we announce it the day he’s born...but it is a classic,” he says.

The heavyweight champ is also preparing to be a winner in the entertainment industry. Following his breakout role in the critically acclaimed Filipino action film BuyBust, Vera has received more movie offers with more big roles in the future, one alongside a famous Filipino-Arabian model.

“We were in the middle of a new action film costarring MJ Lastimosa, but we have postponed the rest of the film until the Covid-19 virus is under control and the environment is safe for all of the crew to resume working and creating,” says Vera.

Vera added that the movie has a projected late 2020 premiere, but that delays will obviously push everything back further in time.

Television also beckons to Vera. The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition, hosted by none other than ONE Championship Founder, Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, is pushing for a late 2020 release.

ALL ACCESS RICKY GALLARDO

rickygallardoTFI@gmail.com

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ATHER than contributing to the already very noisy state of social media these days, and after quietly reaching out and making a difference in the lives of their neighbors, work colleagues, frontliners and the public in general, some of our celebrity friends have decided to make the most of their time by indulging in their own private activities, creating quality projects with their families and friends, and rediscovering the pleasures of being able to learn and create.

Arnel Ignacio has learned how to make his own bread. The former deputy executive director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, who recently launched his new radio show Labor of Love on DZMM, shared that he was so happy to learn how to make bread at home and that his finished product tasted “quite good.”

We also found out that GMA Entertainment head

Lilybeth Rasonable also discovered the joy by making their own family bread, too.

International model-turned-award-winning actor Rocky Salumbides wears the chef’s hat at home these days and also doubles as a handyman from time to time. “I am discovering a lot of things about food. I try to experiment sometimes, adding or subtracting ingredients and, most of the time, the results come out good.”

Salumbides added that boredom only happens when we become idle. “There are so many things to do at home, so many things to clean, and fix and rearrange, and even throw away. We just have to be creative and keep ourselves busy.”

Box-office director Nuel Naval have always brought his pet dogs to the groomer. This time, he finds joy in bathing his furry babies.

“I have all the time now to bathe them. It takes a lot of both love and patience to be able to go through the process—shampoo them, give them a blow-dry, comb their fur, and make them smell good again. I am finding joy in these things that I never got to do when I was busy.”

Director Neal Tan also juggles his time between cooking, painting and playing the piano. “I find it therapeutic, with all the negative news going around, and the helplessness that many of us feel, to be able to channel and focus my energies into creating. I make time to paint, and play with colors and subjects. I also like to cook for myself and my partner. And I make it

a point to regularly play soothing pieces on my piano, aside from my favorite songs, and it somehow calms me. I believe music can be a good form of meditation specially during stressful times.”

Richard Somes, director of the ABS-CBN show A Soldier’s Heart, also took to painting, and working out at home, probably inspired by his actor-friend Paolo Paraiso, who is consistent in his home workout sessions. Actors Adrian Alandy and Max Eigenmann also make time every day to workout and keep fit.

Alandy frequently tries out new dishes for his wife Joselle. Eigenmann is also into yoga, and as a single mom, she also finds her happy place in the kitchen when she prepares meals for her two sons, Alessandro and Massimo.

Award-winning composer Jesse Lucas also made a special appearance to accompany singer-actor and longtime companion Roeder on piano in a music session, called Quaran-sing! Lovely couple Ira Cruz and Nicole Asensio continue to make beautiful music together, sharing their musical gifts in a live show billed as Quarantunes. They also collaborated on a song, titled “Atin Lamang,” a timely tune that speaks of hope during these extraordinary times.

Now that we have a lot of time, we can do a lot of things—for ourselves, our loved ones, old friends and new ones, colleagues and schoolmates from the past, even strangers. Let us continue to be productive, relevant, kind, and a source of strength, inspiration and happiness to others. ■

GMA leads TV ratings in March, continues to bring ‘Serbisyong Totoo’ amid pandemic GMA kept its winning streak in the nationwide television ratings for March despite the recent programming changes in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the network remained resolute in delivering reliable news and information to the public across all its platforms, it has suspended temporarily the production of its entertainment programs in compliance with the government’s implementation of the enhanced community quarantine. This resulted to the airing of a new programming lineup which include reruns of well-loved GMA programs.

Citing the latest data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement in March (with March 22 to 31 based on overnight data), GMA registered 33.8 percent average total day people audience share in the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (Nutam), while ABS-CBN got 29.4 percent. The network won in all dayparts which include the morning, afternoon, and evening blocks.

GMA continued to dominate in key urban areas including Urban Luzon and Urban Visayas.

The network recorded a 35.4 percent total day people audience share in Urban Luzon, while the competition posted 26.5 percent. In the recently clinched Urban Visayas, GMA also posted a bigger

lead with 35.9 percent versus ABS-CBN’s 32.5 percent.

With official data from March 1 to 21, the network likewise won in Mega Manila with a 37.7 percent total day people audience share, outscoring ABS-CBN’s 25.1 percent.

In the list of overall top-rating programs, Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) still reigns

as the No. 1 show nationwide as well as in the respective lists of Urban Luzon, Urban Visayas and Mega Manila.

Notably, GMA’s flagship newscast 24 Oras was also the most watched news program nationwide and in all the said areas, which further proved that the network is the Filipinos’ top news source especially during these troubling times.

Making it high in this month’s list of top-rating GMA shows is the replay of Encantadia followed by Descendants of the Sun (The Philippine Adaptation), Centerstage, Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko, Wowowin Primetime, Pepito Manaloto, Magpakailanman, Daddy’s Gurl, the rerun of Kambal, Karibal, Anak ni Waray vs Anak ni Biday, Amazing Earth, Prima Donnas, Eat Bulaga, and Love of My Life.

Nielsen TV Audience Measurement’s client pool covers a total of 37 clients/ subscribers consisting of local TV networks, regional clients, blocktimers, advertisers and agencies.

THE anchors of the top-rating GMA flagship news program 24 Oras.

B6 Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Private groups link for faster subsidy delivery Damayang Sambayanihan: Hatid-Ayuda sa Kababayan launched PLDT Home strengthens support for Filipinos, implements stringent safety measures for frontliners

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LDT Home strengthens support for Filipinos, implements stringent safety measures for frontliners Leading telecoms and digital service provider PLDT, Inc. reaffirmed its assurances to its customers that the company is exerting all efforts to continue providing vital communication services despite the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our customers need us now more than ever. Our internet services and solutions power homes and businesses and, keep families connected while maintaining social distance in these trying times,” said Al Panlilio, PLDT Executive Vice President and Chief

Revenue Officer.

The company is now carefully controlling the operations of its field and support personnel such as its repair and maintenance crews, its agents deployed in call centers, and, sales and service centers.

While field crews remain ready to address emergency requirements and critical operations, they follow strict health, safety, and sanitation procedures.

Given that in-home services of PLDT Home field installers have to be carefully managed, customers who have any urgent concerns are urged to access PLDT Home’s online platforms such as pldthome.com, Facebook.com/PLDTHome, and Twitter. com/PLDTHome for assistance.

PLDT Home also initiated its meaningful#StayHome campaign which, apart from its underlying message of encouraging people to remain safely at home, also provides for free, valuable services meant to alleviate the burden felt by their subscribers during these difficult times.

PLDT Home has rolled out free Speedboost until April 30 for highly affected areas in Luzon including Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Kalinga, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and Tarlac.

This translates to minimum speeds of 25 Mbps, which should be of great benefit to everyone working at home and for those who access entertainment streaming services for family bonding. In line with this, existing subscribers of PLDT Home Fibr Plan 1899 and up in Luzon are given an automatic onemonth subscription ofiflixVIPusable until

April 30, giving them access to thousands of TV shows, movies and more!

With the expected increase of home internet usage, PLDT has improved its network by expanding the caching capacity of its Data Centers. This will help avoid network overload and accommodate data traffic of commonly used social media and streaming sites such as Google, Facebook, and Netflix.

PLDT Home has also stepped up to help ensure Filipinos stay connected at home.

PLDT Home implemented a 30-day bill payment extension period and suspended disconnection of overdue accounts of its postpaid subscribers with bill period between March 16 to April 15.

Similarly, PLDT Home provides subscribers convenient access to accurate and timely news and information. PLDT Home Wifi Prepaid and PLDT Home volumebased subscribers can get free access to verified government and news websites— the DOH NCOV tracker, the official websites of the Department of Health and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), plus the news sites of CNN Philippines, ABSCBN, Philstar, BusinessWorld, GMA News Online, and TV5.

Free calls are also available for PLDT, Smart, Sun and TNT subscribers to the COVID-19 hotline 1555, National Emergency Response Center 8888 and Citizen Complaint Hotline 911.

For more information about our efforts to keep you connected and safe during COVID19, visit http://www.pldthome.com.

Isuzu Phils. lends D-MAX, mu-X units to transport healthcare workers, frontliners during the Enhanced Community Quarantine

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SUZU Philippines Corporation (IPC), responding to the immediate needs of the country’s healthcare and frontline workers fighting to stem the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (CoViD-19), lent on March 28 two units of the Isuzu D-MAX and one Isuzu mu-X to authorized representatives of the Binan local government.

Following the strict government protocols on social distancing and disinfection, the three Isuzu light commercial vehicles were completely sanitized and sterilized, and will be delivered to the Municipality of Biñan, Laguna.

These vehicles will be used to support the frontliners in Biñan and Sta. Rosa Laguna, to transport them going to and from the several hospitals to help them fulfill their critical duties in this public health crisis.

IPC also lent one mu-X and one NLR PUV to Medical City in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, which will be used as the Medical City's frontliners' service. IPC still continues to reach out to other hospitals to address their mobility problems.

IPC President Hajime Koso paid tribute to the country’s healthcare workers and frontliners. “As the world, including the Philippines, faces an unprecedented health crisis threatening countless lives, our healthcare workers and frontliners— the doctors, nurses, medical researchers,

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RIVATE companies join hands in support of the government’s social amelioration program to Filipinos severely affected by the COVID-19 enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) through the promotion of alternative encashment facilities nationwide.

In an agreement signed today, an operational plan was formed among groups of rural banks, cooperatives, and microfinance institutions non-government organizations, and a payment collection company to provide alternative option to quickly disburse government’s over P200 billion emergency subsidy to over 18 million families through the use of RCBC’s pocket and mobile automated teller machine (ATM) known as ATM Go. This collaboration was called Damayang Sambayanihan: Hatid-Ayuda sa Kababayan.

Signatories of the memorandum of understanding were Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP), MASS-SPECC Cooperative Development Center (MASSSPECC), National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), CIS Bayad Center, Inc., and RCBC. The combined branch network and customer touchpoints of these partners exceeds 5,000 8,000 throughout the country.

ATM Go is among RCBC’s digital facilities capable of accepting Banccet debit and prepaid cards issued by any financial institution supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. This service may be used for cash withdrawal, balance inquiry, funds transfer, bills payment, and e-loading transactions.

"We heed the call of President Duterte for the private sector to complement government’s effort in containing the pandemic and providing relief to those severely affected. This is one of RCBC's contributions as a member of the larger Philippine society," RCBC President and CEO Eugene Acevedo said.

“RBAP is ready to utilize its massive rural bank network of over 2,700 branches nationwide to handle the countryside pump priming needed to address this global pandemic and local quarantine,” RBAP president Roberto Abello said.

With the limited mobility of Filipinos due to the enforcement of the ECQ and partial operation of banks and other financial intermediaries, the use of digital channels and other electronic means such as ATM Go will bridge the gap towards access to government aide.

"Cooperatives, with its presence in the rural areas, join the bigger community in the use of digital channels to reach out to more people in these trying times,” NATCCO chief executive officer Sylvia Paraguya said.

On top of existing 1,250 RCBC ATM Go terminals currently in use nationwide, additional 2,000 units will be deployed that can be utilized by all these partners, bringing the service to various barangay in the country.

“This is our collective action in solidarity with the nation in crisis. These rural banks, cooperatives and microfinance institutions, and even sari-sari stores are the ones closest to the poor and marginalized in the country,” RCBC executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer Lito Villanueva.

RCBC has been running the ATM Go service for the past two years, enabling rural banks, sari-sari stores, cooperatives, microfinance institutions, pawnshops, and lending agencies the ability to provide the remote ATM services as a last mile approach.

“We hope to be of service to our people in this extraordinary time as a payout conduit in Southern Philippines, especially in hard-to-reach areas within the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” MASS SPEC chief executive officer Bernadette Toledo said.

Transactions using this service have grown in 2019 by over 560 percent year-on-year in terms of count and volume, reaching more than P3.1 billion in throughput.

Half of its transactions serviced payouts for millions of conditional cash transfer beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

“We are extending our assistance through our network in making payout facility available to our people especially during this critical time. And this collaboration will make it more effective and expansive,” Bayad Center president and CEO Manny Tuazon said.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed into law last March 25 Republic Act 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Law declaring a national emergency arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The legislation granted special powers to the President in addressing the public health crisis. This includes a social amelioration program or the granting of emergency subsidy of P5,000 to P8,000 to 18 million low income households all over the country.

Manila Water Foundation continues to deploy drinking water, hygiene kits amid COVID-19 pandemic hospital and clinic technicians, and other staff—have risked their own lives to help stop the pandemic, while caring for those who have contracted the disease. And they have been performing such selfless work tirelessly, without letup. With these vehicles, we at IPC hope that our dedicated and enduring heroes in the hospitals would find comfort and safety in their transport. Through our vehicles, we can help them fight the virus more effectively.”

IPC also assures that its aftersales service program, the Isuzu Mobile Medics, will still be offered for Isuzu vehicles used in essential operations for the duration of the Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine. With the Isuzu Mobile Medics service, owners, operators, and drivers of Isuzu vehicles can avail of expert and experienced technicians

and troubleshooters wherever and whenever they are needed.

“The Isuzu Mobile Medic is an onsite emergency servicing will be essential for Isuzu vehicles to continue operating uninterrupted in the government, armed forces, utility companies, logistics, and healthcare sectors,” Mr. Koso added.

To add to Isuzu owners’ peace of mind, IPC’s nationwide network of 45 dealers has also offered a 30-day grace period on all Isuzu vehicles with scheduled PMS (periodic maintenance service) during the enhanced community quarantine, while all Isuzu vehicles whose warranty coverages will be lapsing within the quarantine period will also be given a 30-day warranty extension.

For more info please log on to www. isuzuphil.com

Lica Auto Group and Hertz Philippines unite with a free car rental offer to medical frontliners

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ICA AUTO GROUP is one with Hertz Philippines in its initiative to support our Frontliners as they face this difficult time of fighting the battle against the COVID-19.

To aid their transport needs, all Medical Frontliners may avail the FREE SELF-DRIVE CAR RENTAL from Hertz Philippines.

This offer is valid within Metro Manila for a maximum of one (1) month, from March 30 until April 30, 2020. They simply need to sign up a registration form and a representative from Hertz Phils. will contact them for confirmation.

All frontliners who will take advantage of this free car rental will have to schedule their vehicle pick-up at Hertz Phils. Makati office from Monday to Friday starting at 9AM. For more information, you may call them at their hotline number +63 925 486 9713 / +63 915 061 8350, email at booking@hertzphilippines.com or visit their FB Page https://www.facebook.com/pg/ hertzphilippines.

Hertz Philippines is the Philippine licensee of Hertz Rent-a-Car, the global leader in car rental industry and is an affiliate of the LICA Group.

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ONTINUING its efforts on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Manila Water Foundation (MWF) deployed drinking water and hygiene kits to public hospitals’ frontliners, local government units, police personnel and quarantined university students as the enhanced community quarantine remains to take effect in the country.

MWF deployed much needed drinking water and water dispensers to six Quezon City public hospitals for medical frontliners on March 25. A total of 300 units of 5-gallon bottled water with water dispensers were deployed to Quirino Medical Memorial Center (QMMC), Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH), Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), Philippine Heart Center (PHC), and East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) to help their doctors, nurses and staff stay hydrated during this time of national health emergency.

Roch Pilones of the DOH Eye Center at the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) shared the current challenges in their hospital. "Many of our medical personnel are already facing the challenge head-on with dwindling medical supplies, protective equipment and basic needs such as food."

More than 200 students of the University of the Philippines – Diliman (UPD) in Quezon City remain stranded in their residence halls amid the enhanced community quarantine. It was reported that the university students were not able to go home to their provinces, nor can they receive their allowances from their

families due to the pandemic.

Heeding the call of the stranded dormers, the Foundation deployed 50 pieces of five-gallon bottles of drinking water to Sampaguita Residence Hall at UPD on March 25. In a message,Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Jerwin Agpaoa extended gratitude for the donation. “These will be distributed to 10 dormitories of UPD to augment the drinking water supply of the 272 students quarantined in their respective residence halls,”he said.

Proper hand hygiene is one of the most important measures that can prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. However, the lack of hygiene supplies can be a challenge for some communities.

In partnership with P&G Philippines, Manila Water Foundation distributed more than 1,000 bars of Safeguard soap, info-educational materials on proper handwashing and toothbrushing, hand towels and bottles, 350ml Healthy Family purified drinking water to the local government units of Quezon City, Marikina City, Pasig City, Municipality of Pateros, and Cainta, Rizal on March 20. The hygiene kits were distributed to Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams, police and military personnel and other local frontliners who are working towards containing the respiratory disease in their respective areas.

On March 27, in coordination with PHILUSA Corporation and P&G Philippines, MWF also prepared hygiene kits and essential products with cases of 350ml Healthy Family drinking water for the local government units of Antipolo City for their healthcare workers, and Mandaluyong City, for its street-dwellers quarantined in their day-care centers.

Meanwhile, 1,000 pieces of 350ml bottled water were also provided for frontline workers from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on March 27.

MWF also provided 2,248 pieces of 350ml bottled water for LGU frontliners in Makati City, Taguig City and Antipolo City on April 1.

During this global health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) underscores the importance of safe water, sanitation, and hygienic conditions in protecting human health during all infectious disease outbreaks.

Cognizant of the crucial need for WASH in these trying times, Manila Water Foundation helps Filipinos through its Agapay program, which deploys drinking water and sanitation interventions in calamity-stricken areas, and through its Health in Our Hands program, a hygiene education campaign that promotes good hygiene practices as keys to healthy living.

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

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Spanish players criticize league’s call for furloughs

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ADRID—Soccer players in Spain on Sunday criticized the Spanish league’s decision to ask clubs to put the footballers on government furloughs during the coronavirus crisis.

The league on Friday said the furloughs were needed because there was no agreement on the size of the salary cuts that players must take to reduce the financial impact of the pandemic.

“It is strange that the Liga supports [the furloughs],” Spain’s players’ association said in a statement.

It said the league should have created a financial cushion for this period considering it had always boasted about its “economic control measures” and the “well-balanced economy” of the Spanish clubs. The association said it also should be taken into account that the league has been temporarily suspended and not yet canceled.

The league and the players’ association have been in talks to try to find ways to mitigate losses that could reach nearly €1 billion ($1.08 billion) if the season cannot be restarted because of the pandemic.

The players said they agree with a salary reduction to help the clubs during the crisis, but not to the extent the league wants, which could amount to nearly half of the total losses if the competition is not resumed.

Players said they want to keep negotiating directly with the clubs instead of being forced into furloughs.

“The clubs and the players have been reaching agreements regarding the salaries,” the players’ association said. “What footballers are not going to do is relinquish labor rights.”

Barcelona and Atlético Madrid are among the Spanish clubs requesting furloughs, but both directly negotiated the amount of the salary reduction with players—70 percent in both cases. Both clubs and their players are contributing to guarantee the wages of nonplaying employees being furloughed.

Spanish media said Espanyol on Sunday became one of the first teams to have the furlough request approved.

The Spanish league said it expects such agreements—furloughs or individual deals between clubs and players—to cover the vast majority of professional football in Spain. It said they “will ensure that the industry suffers a minor blow in this health crisis that also brings an economic crisis.”

The league said Friday the furlough was “an exceptional mechanism to avoid and mitigate the negative impact that Covid-19 is having on the sector, and thus guarantee its subsequent recovery.”

It said it is responsible for preserving a sector that represents 1.37 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product and employs about 185,000 people.

The league had said clubs and players were far apart on the proposed salary cuts. The reductions being discussed reportedly varied depending on the clubs, and also on whether they were playing in the Champions League or the Europa League.

The government furloughs help reduce the clubs’ labor costs while also guaranteeing players their jobs once the crisis is over.

Spain has more than 130,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with nearly 12,500 deaths.

The nation is expected to remain in lockdown until April 26.

There is no timetable for the return of the Spanish league.

Players maintained their position to only resume competing when health authorities deem it safe for everyone’s heath, a view also shared by the Spanish league.

“We’ve met with all the captains of the teams in the first and second divisions and the message is clear: Health is more important than anything else,” said David Aganzo, president of Spain’s players’ association. “They demand maximum security for themselves, for their families and for everyone else in the world of sports.” AP

Vincent Juico @VJuico Instagram vpjp_j, vince.juico@gmail.com

SPORTS WITHOUT BORDERS

International Day of Sport

friends, football club, supporters and the public for letting them down.”

He added: “My actions in this matter are in direct contrast to what I should have been doing regarding the lockdown. And I want to reiterate the message: Stay home, stay safe.”

City said it will now look into Walker’s conduct.

A club statement read: “Manchester City FC are aware of a story in a tabloid newspaper regarding the private life of Kyle Walker in relation to a breach of the UK lockdown and social distancing rules.

“Footballers are global role models, and our staff and players have been working to support the incredible efforts of the NHS [National Health Service] and other key workers in fighting the effects of the Covid-19 coronavirus, in any way we can. Kyle’s actions in this matter have directly contravened these efforts. AP

ENGLAND defender Kyle Walker holds a party involving two sex workers at his home last week while Semi Kunatani (left) fails to self-isolate after returning to Fiji from overseas. AP

how our food is handled and eaten (especially in China) change?

The last time I felt like our world has been rocked and tilted off its axis was 9-11 and I was living in New York back then. To date, the horrific terrorist attack on the United States has had an effect on our world from how we take to air travel, how we view Muslims, how we handle our security, and how geopolitics is played to name a few.

To be honest...this pandemic—we are sailing into unchartered waters. Some say the Philippine economy was doing well; others, not. Some say that how we are dealing with pandemic is bad; others say it is better than other countries. Whatever the answer to both, I think it is immaterial. We are in the middle of the great unknown and sailing into a sea of uncertainty with guarded optimism while expecting the worst.

In the last several years, I would joke at

home about stocking up in the event of a zombie apocalypse. No doubt, the result of an imagination gone wild after watching one too many episodes of The Walking Dead and films such as 28 Days Later and Z Nation.

My late grandfather—whenever someone would open, say, a can of corned beef—would go out and buy two. He never allowed their stocks of food and canned goods to be depleted. Saving for a rainy and difficult day, he once told me. I thought it was hilarious and a tad ridiculous. And yet, decades later, I find myself during this time of lockdown— not to mention this bizarre fear of a zombie apocalypse—constantly replacing our stock.

I figure the lockdown will be extended for another two weeks. I think our economy can still take that hit, but for how long? If it extends even further, there will be bigger damage. I can only surmise what the effect on employment will be. I myself am scared I could lose my job. What more the graduates of a shortened school year? What

can they look forward to with an economy that has taken a battering?

We have seen a capacity to help on a large scale. And I think it is good. But is there a scarcity of food? Feeding the poor is one thing, but are there enough people going to work to produce food and even raise and grow them? The balance has been upset after all. I have seen reports about importing rice as a backup. It is well and good, but that sends signs that we are reaching a certain threshold of tolerance.

It’s funny how I ruminate while lying down in bed—with a hearty laugh I must add—that the biggest winners of the lockdown are not only the frontliners who will be replaced by many a younger generation who will see the profession as something more than noble—but also Netflix, YouTube, Zoom, cable television, Facebook and social media. Humor during a dark time. It is a coping mechanism.

In reality, this sends a signal to the human

race. Not since World War II has the entire world been affected by an event of this magnitude. Yes, the Cold War reshaped the map of the world as it was divided by the superpowers. But in this pandemic, the nuclear weapons and military strength hasn’t protected the populace.

There is this famous quote by Mohandas K. Ghandi that I have kept close to my heart since I first came upon it as a youngster, “There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need; not man’s greed.”

And it’s so true at this point in time. Even in the midst of this pandemic, some folks still have nefarious intentions.

There is one thing I have learned is to always look at things from another perspective. And while we see positives amid the chaos and inefficiency, one can still see the goodness in man. Now, let’s hope that the learnings stay with us and continue. Or else, we will be doomed to repeat them because you know these pandemics come in cycles.

TAKRAW ATHLETES MAN FRONTLINES MEMBERS of the sepak takraw team, like their fellow nationals in cycling and muay, are contributing to the campaign against the pandemic.

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EARLESS during the 30th Southeast Asian Games where they clinched a breakthrough two gold medals, the country’s sepak takraw athletes have brought their act in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“They have to do their part,” Philippine Amateur Sepak Takraw Association President Karen Tanchanco-Caballero told BusinessMirror on Monday. “But we check on them occasionally and their deployment status.”

The Filipino takraw bets also bagged three bronze medals in the 30th SEA Games the country hosted last December, the best performance so far by the Philippines in the sport endemic to the region.

Thailand won one more gold than the Philippines—but had no silver or bronze—to escape with the overall title, with Indonesia, also a traditional powerhouse with a 1-1-1 goldsilver-bronze tally, and Malaysia with 0-2-1.

But during the monthlong enhanced community quarantine, the takraw players are serving the flag and country in another form— as military personnel answering the call of duty in a competition against an invisible opponent that had taken the lives of thousands.

Armymen John Bobier and John Jeffrey Morcillos and Air Force officer Jason Huerte— half of the men’s hoop team that bagged the SEA Games gold medal—are manning several fronts to help contain the virus.

Bobier is assigned at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City, while Morcillos, stationed at the Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, is awaiting his deployment.

Huerte, meanwhile, is in Lipa City with fellow Airmen and men’s team doubles bronze medalists Rheyjey Ortouste and Joert Jumawan.

“The coaches of the men’s and women’s teams report to me weekly for head count and whereabouts and status of health. The civilians who I sent home strictly observed 14 days of quarantine and thankfully, no one has gotten sick or show any symptoms,” TanchancoCaballero said.

Guarding the shores of Manila is Mark Joseph Gonzales of the Philippine Coast Guard, also a

bronze-medal winner in men’s doubles.

Coaches also have their responsibilities— Junmar Aleta and Romulo Ruedas Jr. of the Air Force assist in the relief efforts of the Department of Social Welfare and Development at the Villamor Airbase.

Aleta and Ruedas Jr. and women’s hoop gold medalist Sarah Jean Kalalo are also at the Villamor Airbase.

Metodio Suico Jr. and Esperidion Rodriguez, both from the Air Force, are assigned at the Mactan Airbase in Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, respectively.

Also serving in the quarantine are military personnel from cycling and muay.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

VIOLATORS IN HOT WATER 2 Fiji rugby players arrested for breaking virus quarantine

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ELLINGTON, New Zealand—The Fiji Rugby Union has criticized two of its top professional players who have been arrested for failing to self-isolate after returning to Fiji from overseas.

Fiji media named one of the players as backrower Semi Kunatani who plays for the London-based Harlequins club. He was a member of the Fiji sevens team that won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

The other player has not yet been named.

Both players returned to Fiji via Singapore.

They were arrested for failing to observe a 14day quarantine designed the prevent the spread of Covid-19. Fiji has reported 12 cases.

“We strongly condemn the behavior of these two players and their disregard for lawful instructions to self-isolate themselves,” said John O’Connor, chief executive or Fiji rugby.

“Such irresponsible behavior is totally

unacceptable and we support the actions of the police in arresting these two players and any further action taken against them. Fiji Rugby will take appropriate disciplinary actions against the professional rugby players, including reporting this highly irresponsible behavior to their clubs and World Rugby.”

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama highlighted the case of the players during his regular news briefing on Sunday. AP

England soccer star apologizes after holding ‘lockdown party’

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Reflections during lockdown Bleachers’ Brew Rick Olivares | bleachersbrew@gmail.com

WHEN this lockdown, this pandemic is all done, I know it will change the way we live. It will change our world forever. Now, hopefully, for the better.

We have seen how much of the world is not prepared to handle a pandemic like this. Even China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Japan, that have been previously hit by certain viruses have still been knocked for a loop.

ANCHESTER, England—England defender Kyle Walker is facing disciplinary action from English Premier League (EPL) team Manchester City after appearing to break lockdown conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

The 29-year-old Walker apologized on Sunday after it was widely reported he held a party involving two sex workers at his home last week, breaking the government’s rules on social distancing. The country is in the middle of a three-week lockdown.

“I want to take this opportunity to issue a public apology for the choices I made last week which have resulted in a story today [Sunday] about my private life in a tabloid newspaper,”Walker’s statement read.

“I understand that my position as a professional footballer brings the responsibility of being a role model. As such, I want to apologize to my family,

IN Pope Francis’s words to conclude the celebration of the Palm Sunday Mass on Sunday, His Holiness cites the International Day of Sport and the values that sports espouses like teamwork and discipline.

What is the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace?

According to Olympic.org, “The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace [IDSDP] is an annual celebration of the power of sport to drive social change, community development and to foster peace and understanding.”

On Tuesday, the IDSDP will be a moment when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the whole Olympic Movement join the global effort to encourage everyone to be active and stay healthy at a time when the world is fighting an unprecedented health crisis and when populations are being asked to stay at home to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Sports and physical activities are essential to stay fit and healthy, especially in this time of uncertainty and social distancing. Physical activity improves mental health, helps beat negative thoughts, lowers stress and depression, and strengthens the immune system.

The Holy Father says that many sports events around the world have either been postponed or canceled due to the pandemic.

Arguably the biggest of them all, the Olympics, have been postponed to July 2021. Other sports events that have been either canceled or postponed are the US NCAA’s March Madness, Wimbledon, England’s English Premiere League, Germany’s Bundesliga and other domestic and international events.

The IDSDP reminds us to be physically active and to stay fit in a time of uncertainty and crisis.

During this quarantine, people have been working out and exercising at home to combat a potential sedentary lifestyle.

It will be a challenge for professional athletes like football players to stay focused and motivated throughout this quarantine period. According to cnn.com, “Dr. Craig Duncan, a human performance strategist currently supporting the Professional Footballers of Australia[PFA], tells CNN Sport: ‘”The postponement of competitions, the cancellation of training and, in many instances, the isolation of players, this could come at a psychological cost.

Football players have a strict daily, weekly and season routine. What time to sleep, eat and train is all determined by this schedule so at this stage there are obvious changes. The daily connection in a team environment is also vital, as in any workplace.’”

Sports teams like the Watford football club, its players have taken a proactive approach, cnn.com says, “This week a video of some Watford players remotely participating in a 30-minute spin class conducted by goalkeeper Ben Foster was shared on social media. These highly paid English Premier League players appeared to be training in wellequipped gyms in their palatial homes.”

Dr. Duncan says, “This is a very difficult situation,” he adds. “The only thing we can do is focus on what we can control and everything else will play out in some shape or form that at present is unknown.”

So the challenge for professional athletes on this and workout warriors is to look for ways to work on your weaknesses, to stay fit and focused.

The International Day of Sport for Development and Peace isn’t just for physical fitness and exercise but also mental health and

Does this change the way we look at health care and public health? Does this teach the Filipino patience as well as the unknown art of queueing? Does this make us take a long hard look at how we earn and save money and what we buy in the future? Does this change our rules about travel? When I was a youngster, I recall that you have to take certain shots before you went abroad. Furthermore, will the manner of

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Tuesday, April 7, 2020

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By Tim Dahlberg The Associated Press

HE unthinkable, at least for sports fans, already has happened.

The games, as we know them, are shut down. We’ll never know if San Diego State was a Final Four contender or if Tiger Woods would have defended his green jacket at the Masters.

There was no opening day in baseball. The odds are increasingly good there will be no Stanley Cup Final or National Basketball Association (NBA) champion in the year 2020.

And now it’s time to consider the unimaginable, at least when it comes to fun and games as we once knew them.

That means no college football this fall. No Super Bowl next February.

No sports at all as long as the new coronavirus keeps killing people across the country.

Presumably, the commissioners of this country’s major sports leagues already know that.

They understand the kind of things—immediate widespread testing tops the list—that would have to happen to allow play to begin again.

If not, a brief review of what the chief medical officer of the National Football League (NFL) told Barry Wilner of The Associated Press is in order.

Read between the lines—actually, just read the lines—and the prospects of an NFL season later this year seem bleak, no matter how much the president of the United States would like to see sports come back quickly.

“We have got to get a much better handle on the actual spread of this virus and how many new cases there are,” said Dr. Allen Sills, a neurosurgeon who has been with the NFL since 2017. “How it is transmitted and how we can mitigate it. We have to get to the point that when someone is tested as positive to the virus that does not mean an immediate quarantine.

If that is the case, you can’t think about opening up a team sport.”

That is not how President Donald J. Trump sees it.

He convened a conference call of major sports leaders on Saturday to give them a pep talk on sports coming back and indicated he would like to see it happen by September which, not coincidentally, is the scheduled start of the NFL season.

“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.”

Covid-19 IMPACTS SPORTS TIME LINE

CLEMSON’S Tee Higgins lifts weights during the National Football League Pro Day in Clemson, South Carolina, early this month. AP

BACH: STAY STRONG AND ACTIVE THOMAS BACH makes the call in a message published ahead of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.

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YDNEY—Australia’s triathlon world champion Mirinda Carfrae has found virtual reality competitions created to sustain sport amid the novel coronavirus outbreak have unexpected hazards.

The three-time world ironman champion was competing against Jocelyn McCauley of the United States, Canada’s Angela Naeth and Jeanni Seymour of South Africa in the inaugural Ironman VR Pro Challenge women’s race when disaster struck.

Carfrae was doing well on the 90 kilometer (55 mile) bike stage when she suffered a virtual mechanical failure. Husband Tim O’Donnell tripped over the cord of her smart trainer, disconnecting it and putting her out of the race.

“He decided to bring my trophies in here as motivation and when he walked around the back he kicked out the plug. What an idiot,” Carfrae said.

McCauley won the race, which was shown live on Facebook, with Naeth finishing second and Seymour third.

William Byron, meanwhile, led the most laps in Nascar’s first two virtual races and had nothing to show for his gaming skills. The third time out, he got the win.

Byron easily won the iRacing event Sunday at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway, where Nascar would have been really racing before the coronavirus pandemic caused sports to shut down.

“Some things are different but a lot of things are similar and this is a racetrack I’ve always enjoyed coming to,” Byron said. “It’s fun to have some pressure on iRacing; I usually just run it to have some fun and get better.”

Nascar changed the format this week and started with single-car qualifying to set

NTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach encouraged people to stay active, strong and healthy during the coronavirus crisis before celebrating Tokyo 2020 as a festival of resilience and solidarity.

Bach made the call in a message published ahead of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace on Tuesday.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the United Nations’ supported event will focus on the health benefits of participating in sporting and physical activity, especially in this time of uncertainty and social distancing.

Organizers asked people to be active, stay healthy and demonstrate solidarity, adding that team spirit will help the world through the current challenges together.

Bach echoed the sentiment in a video message where—riding an indoor bike—he said remaining active would help people through the crisis and afterwards.

“We are all in the same situation right now, we all cannot live our normal lives. We all have every day to find new ways to stand through this crisis,” Bach said. “There, sport and physical activity can play an important role. An important role for staying strong and for staying healthy, but also to get ready for the day after this crisis.

“For the day we are all longing for, when we can resume our professional and social life.

And for the day when finally we can hug each

other again and can play sport together again,” he said. “So, join all the Olympic athletes, and me, by staying active, staying strong and staying healthy to be ready for this very day.”

Dates for the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were for July 23 next year, with the Closing Ceremony set on August 8.

The Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan’s capital city was postponed last month due to the coronavirus pandemic. The IOC and Tokyo 2020 had faced mounting pressure from athletes and National Olympic Committees to postpone the Games.

Bach has claimed Tokyo 2020 can be a “festival of resilience,” with the event marking a celebration of the world coming through the crisis.

He said the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace was another reason to become active and look forward to the Games.

“One reason more to get active, to play sport and one reason more to look forward to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games which, because of the situation we are in now, we will celebrate next year,” Bach said.

“But if you are staying active, if you are staying strong, if you are staying healthy, we can celebrate them all together as a great festival of our resilience, as a great festival of our solidarity, and as a great festival of the unity of humankind in all of our diversity,” he said.

Insidethegames

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In England, horse racing must go on

HELTENHAM, England—Cheltenham Festival organizers have defended their decision to go ahead with the meeting last month after fears were raised that the mass gathering of people for the annual horse racing event helped to spread the coronavirus more widely around Britain.

Tens of thousands of people attended the four-day event in southwest England as no government social distancing measures were in place at the time.

Sporting events were being canceled elsewhere in Europe at the time but it was only as the Festival was reaching its conclusion that the English Premier

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

League was halted. A national lockdown was imposed later in the month by the government in a bid to contain the pandemic.

There is no data on the number of people who contracted the coronavirus who also attended the Festival. But there have been a few reports of racegoers saying they later had Covid-19 symptoms.

Cheltenham organizers have insisted the event “went ahead under the government’s

THIS photo shows the general view from the Grand Stand of the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse, England, early last month. AP

ongoing guidance throughout,” pointing out other sports continued in Britain at the time.

“It’s simply not possible to know how and where someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 has contracted it,” said Dr. Sue Smith, the Festival’s senior racecourse medical officer.

“The standards of hand wash and hygiene at the Festival were of the highest level and all measures were taken in accordance with daily updates from Public Health England.” AP

On that, most everyone can agree, no matter their political persuasion. Sports offers a pleasant diversion in ordinary life, and it becomes even more important during a time of crisis.

It’s why baseball continued during World War II. It’s why the NFL played two days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and why both Major League Baseball and the NFL rushed to get back on the field in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The new coronavirus, though, is as sneaky as it is deadly. Even experts have a hard time figuring out the different ways it spreads and how to protect against it.

And no amount of banging on the bully pulpit is going to stop it from coming to a stadium or arena nearest you.

Imagine going to a NFL game in September. Do they scan your forehead when they scan your ticket?

Will you have to present evidence of a negative virus test? Do you really want to sit next to a stranger and worry for three hours about what he or she might be carrying?

The beer lines would be scary and waiting to use the urinal even more frightening.

Indeed, the logistics of simply holding a game would be staggering. And playing in one might be a risk that even NFL players won’t want to take.

Everyone from players to the ball boy in a locker room would have to be tested, that’s a given. But the tests would have to be plentiful and they would have to be instantaneous. Everyone would need to be tested at least once a week, at minimum, and even that might not be enough.

And if someone tests positive, then what? Do you cancel the game? The season? Does an entire team go into quarantine just as the playoffs near?

And what if the governor of one state won’t allow games even as the governor of another does?

There’s too much that isn’t known to even take the risk. And in California, where three NFL teams play and a new $5 billion stadium is nearing completion in Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom is already on the record as expressing skepticism the season will open on time.

“I’m not anticipating that happening in this state,” Newsom said.

A statement like that would have been unthinkable just a month or so ago. But as the death count rises, the idea of an NFL season this year will seem even more fanciful a month from now.

The virus will make the time line, as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government’s foremost infection disease expert, has been saying to anyone who will listen.

Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly clear that time line won’t include any more games this year.

Pulled plug shows hazards of virtual competition the field for a pair of 50-lap heat races. Those heat races determined the starting order.

Byron started from the pole and was never challenged.

The entertainment again came from the drivers, most of whom streamed their gaming experiences for fans to eavesdrop on the action and the arguing. Clint Bowyer was the in-race reporter and again delivered a hilarious performance.

“I got Bubbaed!” Bowyer shouted after he was moved out of line by Bubba Wallace. “I need a beer really badly.”

Wallace appeared to “rage quit” the race after the incident. “That’s why I don’t take this [crap] serious. Peace out,” Wallace said on his gaming stream.

After fans ripped him on Twitter, he laughed at how seriously some are taking iRacing with his response.

“I ruined so many peoples day by quitting...a video game,” he wrote. “Bahaha.

A video game. Damn quarantine life is rough.” He also admitted to rage quitting in a second post.

Blue-Emu, one of Wallace’s sponsors, was apparently not pleased. “Bye bye Bubba. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters,” said a tweet on the account of the topical pain reliever cream.

The company added a second tweet using the image of Donald Trump uttering his “You’re Fired” catchphrase from The Apprentice.

Seven-time Nascar champion Jimmie Johnson fired his spotter less than 20 laps into the race after falsely being told he was clear of another car, only to crash. Erik Jones had Internet

TRIATHLON world champion Mirinda Carfrae suffers a virtual mechanical failure—her husband trips over the cord of her smart trainer, disconnecting it and putting her out of the race.

issues that caused him to miss qualifying, and Daniel Suarez was parked for the second consecutive week and was joined this time by Kyle Larson after the two tangled on track.

Suarez was not happy, complaining that Larson should have been disqualified as he was last week “and by the way our ‘racing incident’ was him pushing me to the apron... if this was real life my amigo would get his but kicked,” he tweeted.

Hendrick Motorsports became the first team to actively involve its sponsors in the

virtual racing by having Elliott and Alex Bowman live conference with guests who would typically get a prerace visit with the drivers in a hospitality suite at the track.

Teams and drivers are doing anything they can to keep the sport moving as all incoming revenue has frozen. Landon Cassill signed a sponsor for his iRacing and had the Blue-Emu logos featured prominently behind him as he raced. He also gave fans a tour of his borrowed rig in a plug to help the simulator company sell the setup. AP