By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo Special to the BusinessMirror
THE Philippines may like -
ly be insulated from the “Liberation Day” tariffs imposed by the United States due to its large domestic consumption base. In fact, it may even slightly benefit from the new tariff regime, as companies in Southeast Asia relocate to lower-levied economies.
In its latest analysis, Oxford Economics said, “The relatively larger size of domestic spending in the Philippines buffers its economy against external volatility from an almost 20-percent export exposure to the US.” Although the new tariffs have been postponed,
under its initial announcement, Washington said it is imposing a 17-percent tariff on the Philippines, while most members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) were levied tariffs above the global 27-percent average.
In the Asean, the two most likely to be severely impacted by the new tariffs are Vietnam and Cambodia, which were imposed the highest rates at 46 percent and 49 percent, respectively. These economies have the largest exposures to the US in terms of exports, and which account for a “significant share” of their respective local economic output as expressed in gross domestic product.
To soften the blow from the higher tariffs, some companies could shift their production from higher-tariffed locations to lower ones. “But not all businesses have diversified production bases and relocation costs are enormous. Also damaging is the hit from extreme trade policy uncertainty, which will lower business investment even if tariff hikes are eventually reduced or scrapped,” said Oxford Economics.
Low wage scale THE economic advisory firm noted, if these tariffs are made permanent, the shifting of the production of goods in China to Asean “will accelerate given the
large tariff differentials.” A piece in the New York Times recently profiled a Chinese investor, Liu Gang, who started relocating his electronics factory in 2018 from southern China to an economic zone in Batangas, when President Donald J. Trump launched a trade attack on China during his first term. “At least half a dozen companies with customers in the United States have made inquiries in the last few weeks with Mr. Liu’s factory and his neighbors in one area of Batangas province that is a 90-minute drive south of Manila. Some have made commitments to shift production. It’s an unexpected turn of events
By Reine Juvierre S. Alberto @reine_alberto
LOCAL monetary authorities could lower the benchmark interest rate again by 25 basis points as early as June, according to BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.
(BSP) will further lower the key policy rate by 50 basis points to 5 percent in 2025. “We are holding off from revising our projection until there is more clarity on how the United States’s protectionism policies will evolve,” BMI said. The Trump administration has put on hold its planned imposition of a 17-percent reciprocal tariff on the Philippines for 90 days, having slapped a 10-percent tariff rate on all countries instead.
The BSP reduced the Target Reverse Repurchase (RRP) rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 percent on Thursday last week. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were also reduced to 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively. (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/04/11/bsp-lowers-key-rate-by-25-bpsmore-cuts-seen/).
“In general, we’re looking at lower growth because of the uncertainty [and] volatility in the markets, as well as the prospective tariffs,” Remolona said in a televised interview.
BMI said growth concerns “have risen to the fore,” as Trump’s tariffs have combined with the Philippine economy’s underperformance in the fourth quarter of 2024. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) settled at 5.2 percent, below the government’s 6 to 8 percent target range.
While the central banker said the tariffs will slow the Philippines’ economic growth, he said inflation is expected to be lower than the rest of the world.
“The more manageable inflation outlook and the risks to growth allow for a shift toward a more accommodative monetary policy stance,” Remolona has said. BMI said with that inflation subdued, the BSP has the flexibility to lower key policy rates again, as signaled by Remolona.
“Prompt policy support will be crucial for achieving the government’s 6.0 percent lower bound growth target,” BMI said.
Should the 17-percent reciprocal tariff on Philippine exports be enacted, BMI said it will revise its policy rate forecast, penciling in more rate cuts.
CENTRAL bank services are now a one tap away from every Filipino’s fingertips as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) formally launched its mobile application on Monday. Through the BSP Mobile App, users can now easily access realtime financial data, policy decisions and economic indicators.
Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said launching the BSP Mobile App is an “important step” to bring the BSP closer to every Filipino.
“This reflects our broader goal to equip Filipinos with the tools
and knowledge they need to make sound financial decisions.
The launch is just the beginning. We will continue improving the app,” Romulo-Puyat said. As such, users can receive daily exchange rates through a push notification, which can be filtered to choose the currencies that matter most to them.
The application also features a service locator to help users locate BSP regional offices and coin deposit machines.
One of its standout features is “BSP Online Buddy” or “BOB,” a chatbot available 24/7 that al-
By Bless Aubrey Ogerio @blessogerio
THE Philippines may see modest gains in exports and gross domestic product (GDP) under the United States’s new tariff structure, according to the country’s chief economist.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan on Monday said that the shift to a uniform tariff system, where countries are now subject to the same rate, offers “more favorable” net benefits for the Philippines compared to the previous setup of
reciprocal tariffs based on bilateral trade deficits.
The Philippines, which initially faced a 17- percent tariff, now falls under a flat 10-percent rate. Neda simulations showed that this change could raise the country’s exports by around 1.5 percent, particularly due to stronger competitiveness not just in the US but in other markets as well.
“Our exports would have grown stronger under this last iteration of the tariff regime…It’s an increase of our Philippine exports, not just in the US, but in other countries,” Balisacan said. However, with exports comprising a relatively small share of
LOW TIDE, HIGH HOPES Entalula Island in El Nido, Palawan—renowned globally as one of the world’s top beach destinations—has seen fewer visitors recently compared to earlier this year. Still, with the Holy Week break under way, local tour agencies are optimistic about a renewed wave of tourists in the coming days. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS
REPENT, REUSE, REJOICE Artist Nikko Zorilla of the group Samahang Insiders applies finishing touches to a Passion of Christ installation made entirely of recycled materials at Poblacion, Makati.
lows users to submit complaints, ask questions and even upload supporting documents.
Users can also personalize the app’s interface by building a custom quick-access menu based on their preferences.
The app will also soon host the BSP E-Learning Academy (Bela), which will offer educational modules on personal finance, economics and central banking.
Technology and Digital Innovation Officer-in-Charge Reynaldo Florencio Zipagan said the BSP mobile application was developed to bring a seamless and convenient platform for accessing information and services through the public’s mobile phones.
“It’s a testament to our continuing commitment to innovation and excellence in public service. Through this app, we are making BSP more responsive and more connected to the people we serve,” Zipagan said.
Monetary Board Member Rosalia De Leon initially proposed to create the application drawing on her experience at the Bureau of the Treasury.
The BSP’s in-house team began the app’s development by January 2024 without external procurement.
The BSP Mobile App has been live since January 7, 2025, and already has over 2,600 active users.
Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
NCR construction retail index rises 1.2% in March
By Bless Aubrey Ogerio @blessogerio
CONSTRUCTION
materials became a bit pricier in Metro Manila in March this year, mainly due to costlier plumbing items, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Data from the statistics agency showed that it rose to 1.2 percent in March 2025, up from 1.1 percent in February and 0.6 percent in the same
Sub-capacity…
Continued from A18
not yet completed.
“We are also monitoring the source of the natural gas which is primarily the Linseed liquefied natural gas [LNG] facilities. It’s still undergoing final completion and, in fact, recently we were informed that the storage unit number 1 is for completion initially to be operational by May 15. But the latest that we have received is
that it may be extended until the end of May. So that means, one of the reasons for having the EERI natural gas facilities to fill in the 1,200 megawatts of its contracted capacity is the lack of supply. Because per our understanding, the liquefied natural gas supply of Linseed is being shared between EERI for its testing and commissioning and also the Ilijan natural gas facilities. So, our concern is without the fulfillment of the power supply agreements of Meralco and EERI, then there is a gap,” the DOE official said.
month last year.
The plumbing materials index rose to 0.7 percent in March 2025 from a 0.4-percent annual increase in the previous month.
Higher annual increases were also recorded in electrical materials (1.9 percent from 1.7 percent), masonry materials (0.4 percent from 0.2 percent), and tinsmithery materials (1.6 percent from 1.5 percent).
Slower annual increases, meanwhile, were seen in carpentry materials (0.7 percent from 0.9 percent), painting ma -
LFC and EERI both conducted a temporary shutdown last March 29 to facilitate mechanical activities at LFC’s LNG terminal, a crucial step towards completing its first onshore LNG storage tank supposedly by the end of April this year.
South Premiere Power Corporation (SPPC), which operates the 1,278 MW Ilijan power plant, also went on scheduled shutdown but is now back online and was synchronized to the grid last March 31.
terials and related compounds (2.4 percent from 2.7 percent), and miscellaneous construction materials (0.3 percent from 0.4 percent). According to the PSA, the Construction Materials Retail Price Index tracks changes in the average retail prices of construction materials. It is a variant of the General Retail Price Index and excludes black market rates and promotional prices, such as those during inventory, Christmas, summer or anniversary sales.
Oil firms set big price rollback for petroleum products Apr. 15
By Lenie Lectura
Athe country’s economy, he noted that the overall impact on GDP remains “positive but minimal,” likely still below 0.5 percent.
Latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed total export sales fell slightly to $73.27 billion in 2024 from $73.62 billion in 2023. This followed a 7.5-percent decline in 2023 after a 6.5-percent growth in 2022.
The US remained the top export destination, accounting for $12.14 billion or 16.6 percent of total shipments.
Asked whether the Philippines could benefit from trade diversion as its neighbors face higher US tariffs, Balisacan said opportunities exist, but global uncertainties continue to cloud the outlook.
“It’s only a 90-day pause, and we don’t know what’s going to happen after that. There’s still uncertainty...and that affects investment decisions,” he said.
Go leading negotiations
HE also confirmed that Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go would lead any potential discussions with the US, though no meeting date or agenda has been set.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Go is now scheduled to fly to the US next month to begin talks related to the reciprocal tariff.
Go earlier said he will push for a Philippines-US Free Trade Agreement during the said negotiations.
He said the Asean countries are also working on a Joint Diplomatic Outreach to “harmonize messaging among Asian countries” related to the tariff, which focuses on engagement rather than retaliation as well as cooperation and not confrontation.
Based on data from DTI, the Philippines exported P12.12 billion worth of goods to the US last year making it the former’s second biggest export market next to China.
An April 11 report from Ox-
Chromite Gas Holdings, Inc. (CGHI), which is 60-percent owned by MGEN and 40 percent owned by Therma NatGas Power, Inc. (TNGP) of Aboitiz Power, and SMGP acquired LFC to operate an LNG import and re-gasification terminal in Batangas City.
CGHI also acquired a 67-percent equity interest in SPPC, EERI and Ilijan Primeline Industrial Estate Corp. The remaining 37 percent in these three entities is owned by SMGP.
The temporary shutdown of these facilities—jointly owned by Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP), and Aboitiz Power Corp.—was part of broader infrastructure enhancements, including the completion of LFC’s first onshore LNG storage tank.
S more people are expected to draw gasoline for their Holy Week treks, Monday’s announcement of a huge price rollback in petroleum products, set to take effect Tuesday, April 15, comes as pleasant news. Oil firms announced Monday that gasoline prices will be slashed by P3.60 per liter, kerosene by P3.30 per liter and diesel by P2.90 per liter. Petron, Chevron (Caltex), Seaoil, Shell, PTT, Phoenix, Unioil, Total, Jetti said the new pump prices will take effect at 6 a.m. Other oil firms are expected to follow suit. This is the second straight price rollback for gasoline and kerosene. Last week, oil companies implemented a price decrease of P0.10/ liter for gasoline and P0.50/liter for kerosene. There was no adjustment for diesel. The year-to-date, gasoline, the DOE said, has a total net increase of P4.55/liter, diesel total net increase of P4.45 while kerosene has a total net increase of P0.40/liter. Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau (DOEOIMB) Director Rodela Romero cited escalating trade tensions between China and the United States, the expected cut in Asia-bound crude from Saudi Arabia in May, and the accelerated production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as reasons for the price adjustment. Movements in the world oil market affect local pump prices.
ford Economics said the Philippines could benefit from diverted trade flows due to lower tariff exposure. However, it warned that less-developed trade infrastructure may limit these gains. See related story in A1, “PHL may benefit from Trump tariffs—Oxford.”
Despite the modest external gains, Balisacan said the nation is on track to meet the lower end of its 6 to 8 percent full-year growth target. Moreover, he admitted the upper end may be harder to achieve given weak global demand.
“The only reason we had a wide range at that point when we were looking at and we were deciding on the targets, growth assumptions, was the realization that the global economy is more uncertain than it used to be,” he said.
“We wanted to have some flexibility in the way we could respond. But as things will solidify in the coming months, we hope, a firmer and more realistic trajectory,” he added.
Asked whether first-quarter growth could exceed the 5.9 percent posted in Q1 last year, Balisacan said it’s unlikely given the slump in exports: “We are not expecting positive growth in overall exports...But that’s only temporary.”
He emphasized that domestic consumption will remain the main growth driver this year, but stressed the need to strengthen exports and investment over the long term.
“I think moving forward, we should be even more paying attention to exports, together with investment, so that we can have these two other pillars of growth, and not just on consumption,” he said.
Balisacan added that it is still too early to revise targets, but urged continued efforts to build competitiveness regardless of tariff conditions. “Whether there are tariffs or no tariffs, we should keep pushing for strengthening our economy,” he said.
With Samuel P. Medenilla
for a country that has long lacked the manufacturing prowess that has pulled many other Asian nations out of poverty,” said the NYT piece. (https:// tinyurl.com/3w63hwct)
Oxford Economics said, with the interlinking hubs of production in Asean, especially in the semiconductor industry, the Philippines may gain if low-end chips produced in China or Malaysia are packaged in the Philippines or Vietnam instead. “The chips are then sent elsewhere— usually also in Asia—for assembly into final consumer electronic products.”
The Philippines’s comparative advantage is its lower wage scale, averaging US$239 per month, versus its neighbors. In China, for instance, the average pay scale is now $962 per month. The Philippines just ranks behind Vietnam ($346) but slightly higher than India ($222) and Indonesia ($199).
Firms won’t ‘reshore’ to the US IF companies shift their production from low-tariffed economies, “a reordering of shipping routes within Asean is likely.” Singapore could be a key beneficiary as it was imposed a minimum 10-percent tariff and is an established re-exporting hub in the region.
“The Philippines and Malaysia might also be able to capture some of the diverted trade flows looking to avoid ports with higher tariffs” as they were levied among the lowest rates in the region. “That said, the Philippines will probably not gain much from re-routing given its less developed trade logistics sector,” said Oxford Economics.
Trump has insisted that imposing higher tariffs especially on its trading partners where the US has had huge trade deficits will encourage American firms to relocate their factories to the US. This is highly unlikely, according to Oxford Economics.
“In the medium term, we doubt companies operating in Asean will reshore to the US. Labor costs in the US are prohibitively high for the labor-intensive processes dominant in Asean. The region also benefits from economies of scale as an existing production hub.” Average monthly earnings in the US are a staggering $6,536.
Comelec on online voting: Safe, verifiable, auditable
TBy Justine Xyrah Garcia
HE Commission on Elec -
tions (Comelec) on Monday
defended the integrity of its first-ever internet voting system for overseas voters, saying that the process is “safe, verifiable, and auditable.”
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia assured the public that the votes of Filipinos abroad—especially those using the online platform—are protected from any form of tampering.
“It is safe, it is verifiable, it is auditable. The PPCRV [Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting], Namfrel [National Movement for Free Elections], and our [information technology] IT experts would never have allowed this if they saw any problem with the system. They
participated in the source code review and didn’t find any secret instructions,” Garcia said in an interview on Monday.
“They know the votes can be verified, tracked, and confirmed to be exactly what the voter cast. And that these votes are preserved and stored correctly by the system,” he added. The poll chief’s remarks came in response to concerns raised by voters on social media who claimed that after casting their ballots electronically, the online voting platform did not display the names of the candidates they selected.
QR code
INSTEAD of receiving a digital receipt, voters were shown a QR code which, when scanned, revealed an encrypted script that included several candidate and
Govt agencies, expressways brace for surge of passengers
By Joel San Juan
T“We
party-list names—some of which, voters claimed, were not on their actual ballots.
Garcia clarified that the QR code displays randomized names as part of an encryption process and not an actual vote receipt.
“You will see names in the script, but that doesn’t mean those are the ones you voted for. Your actual votes are embedded in the encrypted data. Once decrypted into humanreadable format, your votes can be verified,” he explained, emphasizing that the encryption is an added layer of security to protect the integrity of online ballots.
He also noted that voters are allowed to copy their encrypted script and check it periodically to ensure there are no changes.
Garcia said full verification will only be possible on May 12 at 7:00
duration
Expressways THE country’s two largest expressway operators—San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC)—have rolled out traffic and motorist assistance plans in anticipation of a spike in vehicle volume during the Holy Week.
SMC President Ramon S. Ang said the motorists should expect heavy traffic in interchanges where tollways connect with national roads. The diversified conglomerate operates the South Luzon Expressway (Slex), Southern See “Expressways,” A4
p.m. Philippine time, once polls close both in the Philippines and abroad. At that point, all precincts—including embassies and consulates— will begin printing the official election returns (ERs), which voters can access and compare against their encrypted data.
In addition to personal verification, Garcia said that accredited poll watchdogs such as the PPCRV and the Namfrel will conduct a random manual audit.
This will determine if the votes cast match those reflected in the official ERs.
Under Section 29 of Republic Act 9369, the Comelec is mandated to conduct a random manual audit in one precinct per congressional district in every province, city, or country where the automated election system is used.
If discrepancies arise between the automated and manual counts, the commission will identify the root cause and may initiate a full manual count in affected areas.
Election verifier system
GARCIA added that both PPCRV and Namfrel have an independent election verifier system capable of converting the encrypted scripts into readable data to authenticate votes.
The Comelec stressed that showing a voter’s selection after submission is not allowed, as it could facilitate vote buying and compromise the integrity of the election.
However, the commission said they cannot stop online voters from taking screenshots of their filled-out ballots before submission, should they choose to do so.
This year, the Comelec expects
around 1.2 million registered overseas Filipinos to participate in the month-long voting period—slightly lower than the 1.697 million recorded in 2022. As of latest count, approximately 55,000 overseas voters have completed the required pre-enrollment to vote online.
Voting is being held across 93 Philippine posts worldwide. Of these, 77 are using internet voting, while 16 will continue to use automated counting machines due to restrictions on internet use in certain host countries. Comelec hopes that overseas voter turnout could reach as
Pinoy relief, rescue workers sent to Myanmar return
TBy Rex Anthony Naval
HE deployment of Filipino relief and rescue workers in earthquake-battered Myanmar have demonstrated the Filipinos’ willingness to help those in need.
This was stressed by Secretary of National Defense (SND) Gilberto Teodoro Jr. as he welcomed members of the Philippine Inter-Agency Humanitarian Contingent (PIAHC) upon their arrival at Col. Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City around 11 p.m. Sunday.
“Your actions there [Myanmar] have demonstrated the spirit and willingness of
Filipinos to help their fellow men, especially during times of need,” the defense chief said in Filipino.
Likewise, the selflessness and professionalism demonstrated by the PIAHC, Teodoro said, is something all Filipinos should be grateful and proud of.
The DND chief thanked the PIAHC on behalf of President Marcos Jr. and the people for their services in Myanmar.
Aside from this, Teodoro also expressed his thanks to God for the safe arrival of the PIAHC.
The PIAHC, led by Lt. Col. Erwen Diploma, returned home aboard two C-130 “Hercules” transport planes following a two-week
deployment to Myanmar. The contingent was deployed to the Southeast Asian nation after it was rocked by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake last March 28. The contingent, composed of 89 personnel from various government agencies and private companies left in two batches on April 1 and 2 The returning team included personnel from the PAF, Philippine Army, Bureau of Fire Protection, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Philippine Medical Assistance Team from the Department of Health as well as two mining companies.
PIDS: More young Pinoys delay living solo amid cost pressures
By Bless Aubrey Ogerio
THE decision of young Filipino adults to move out of their parents’ homes is not just about preference, but also affordability.
A recent study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) found that more young Filipino adults are putting off living independently, as housing prices and the overall cost of living continue to climb.
Using census data from 1980 to 2020, the study observed a clear drop in the rate of new household formation among those aged 24 to 34. In 2020, just 59 percent of Filipinos aged 25 to 34 were considered household heads or spouses, compared to 74 percent in 1980. Their share of total householders also fell, from around a third in the ’80s to just 20 percent in 2020. On the other hand, older adults aged 45 to 65 made up a growing 40 percent.
“These trends indicate that younger adults are staying at home longer and that the increase in the country’s householders is largely among the post-child-rearing age group,” PIDS said.
Households, at the same time, have also been shrinking. Citing a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, PIDS showed that the country’s average household size dropped from 5.9 in 1970 to 4.1 in 2020, partly due to declining fertility.
Additionally, in 2020, about 53 percent of the population lived in mid-sized households of 3 to 5 people, and nearly 38 percent still lived in large households with six or more members.
Nuclear families
REGARDING nuclear families, the government think tank said that it is still the most common setup, even if their share has declined from 71 percent in 1990 to 61 percent in 2020. Extended and multifamily households, meanwhile, became more common, growing from 25 to 29 percent over the same period.
According to PIDS, “While be -
ing in extended or multifamily households has its benefits, it is observed that relatives staying longer with their root families can lead to congestion, as larger homes are increasingly difficult to attain in the market.”
The institute also noted how housing options are increasingly out of reach for many, particularly in urban areas.
“The surge in housing prices in the formal market is mainly driven by the purchasing power of investors and high-income end users, resulting in inflationary effects,” PIDS said. “However, most Filipino households are low- to middle-income earners, and some are highly vulnerable to income shocks.”
Construction statistics from the government showed that the average construction cost in January this year rose to P12,208 per square meter, a 4.5 percent increase from the year before. Residential buildings remained the most expensive to build at P14,430 per sqm, with condominiums reaching as high as P23,655 per sqm.
“Such high costs,” PIDS said, “aren’t only discouraging young adults from moving out, but also from marrying and starting families early.”
It also highlighted the ongoing urban migration, noting that many workers cannot bring their families due to the lack of affordable, family-sized housing. It mentioned how others are left
with no choice but to endure long commutes or leave their families behind when working overseas.
“The limited access to largersized or family-type units in cities suggests that working family members may not be able to bring their dependents to their places of work or may have to spend more time traveling, resulting in social problems,” the think tank said.
Examining the implications
AS a solution, PIDS emphasized that housing supply should align not just with population growth, but also with actual household formation trends.
“Understanding whether the housing need is quantitative or qualitative, using the historical context of household formation and structure, is critical,” it said.
The think tank added that the low dependency ratio presents an opportunity to improve access to housing for the working-age population.
“For instance, providing incentives to small and medium enterprise employers for worker housing support, including rental housing, would be prudent,” it said.
PIDS also recommended a deeper examination of intergenerational housing, noting that elderly homeowners could play a role in supporting extended households, only if supported by the right policies and infrastructure.
PHL can now import meat from Sweden
FDAR expands youth engagement
By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga
THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is expanding its youth engagement initiatives nationwide to encourage young Filipinos to take an active role in agrarian reform and agricultural development.
DAR is promoting the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (Project SPLIT) while inspiring the next generation to pursue careers in agriculture through a series of engagements with the youth. Interactive forums have been successfully conducted in Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula and Abra. These sessions provide young leaders with a deeper understanding of land reform policies, individual land titling, and their impact on rural communities.
In Cagayan, DAR Region II partnered with Cagayan State University-Carig Campus to involve its programs in Development Communication and Mass Communication. A key highlight was the launch of PelikulAgraryo 2025, a short film competition that encourages students to tell the stories of agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs). In the Zamboanga Peninsula, DAR Region IX hosted fora in five major universities, including Western Mindanao State University (WMSU), Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU), Zamboanga Peninsula Polytechnic State University (ZPPSU), Pagadian City International College (PCIC), and Jose Rizal Memorial State University. Discussions focused on Project SPLIT’s role in securing farmers’ land ownership, boosting productivity, and driving economic growth.
In Abra, DAR-CAR reached over 200 students at the University of Abra and Northern Abra National High School. Aside from agrarian reform discussions, DAR introduced the DAR Scholarship Program for ARB Dependents (DSP-DARBs), which supports students pursuing agriculturerelated degrees.
The Stakeholders’ Engagement with the Youth program will be rolled out in 15 regions nationwide. Through these efforts, DAR is ensuring that the next generation understands the importance of agrarian reform in building a stronger, more sustainable agricultural sector.
Do we need to overthink or are we born smart?
By Henry J. Schumacher
WBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
ILIPINO consumers can soon
eat Swedish meat as the Department of Agriculture (DA) granted a system-wide accreditation of meat establishments in Sweden, allowing them to export beef and pork to the Philippines.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. signed Department Order 4, which authorized the accreditation of foreign meat establishments (FME) of the European nation.
The agency said eleven FMEs that were audited by the Department of Agriculture Inspection
Tagalog Arterial Road (Star), Skyway System, Naia Expressway, and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (Tplex).
To brace for the expected increase in vehicular volume, Ang said the company has suspended all construction works on its expressways until April 21, increased deployment of patrol and emergency
Mission (Daim) complied with the country’s quarantine and meat inspection system procedures.
“After thorough evaluation, the application of the Government of Sweden for system accreditation to export beef and pork meat into the Philippines has been found to be satisfactory,” the order read.
The Daim was conducted to assess the veterinary services, animal health, and food safety control of Sweden from October 5 to 18, 2024, following its government’s application for system accreditation.
“The eleven FMEs that were audited by the Daim team were
personnel, and coordination with local government units to manage chokepoints.
Motorists are also reminded to observe speed limits—100 kph for light vehicles on ground-level roads and 80 kph on elevated carriageways like the Skyway. He also urged motorists to use their RFID tags to hasten the movement at toll gates.
“Our instruction to our operations personnel is to make sure that our traffic management plans are in sync with the different towns and cities so that traffic flows smoothly along
found to be compliant with the Philippine quarantine and meat inspection systems procedures.”
The DA noted that the system accreditation of Sweden will be effective for three years, starting February 6, 2025, until February 6, 2028.
Under the rules, the Philippines has two types of accreditation: individual accreditation of FMEs and a system-wide accreditation of a country.
For system accreditation, any FME accredited by the exporting country could export meat products to the Philippines. An individual accreditation enables certain companies to export to the country.
public roads. When public roads are congested, motorists along our carriageways are also affected as traffic can extend to the exits and onto the main line,” Ang said.
It has also tapped its subsidiary Petron Corp. to offer free motorist assistance at select service stations on peak travel days.
Meanwhile, MPTC is expecting a 10-percent increase in traffic in its network which includes the North Luzon Expressway (Nlex), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (Sctex), Nlex Connector, Cavite Expressway (Cavitex), Cavite-Laguna Expressway (Calax), and CebuCordova Link Expressway (Cclex).
Under its “Biyaheng Arangkada Semana Santa” initiative running from April 16 to 21, MPTC is deploying over 2,000 personnel to manage traffic and provide assistance.
It is also offering free emergency medical services, basic mechanical aid, towing for Class 1 vehicles, free Wi-Fi and drinking water, and even EV charging and wellness consultations at select stops.
“MPTC’s role during Holy Week goes beyond traffic management by taking measures towards ensuring a travel experience that’s safe, seamless, and reassuring. ‘Biyaheng Arangkada Semana Santa’ reflects our commitment to service that anticipates the needs of our motorists and helps families reconnect and travel with peace of mind,” MPTC President and Chief Executive Office Jose K. Ma. Lim said.
The DA also allowed the individual accreditation of six FMEs from Portugal and 17 FMEs from Russia. The accreditation of meat plants in both countries will also be effective for three years in the same period as Sweden.
Exporters to the Philippines are required to secure the accreditation of their FMEs to ship meat and meat products into the country. This would ensure that an inbound shipment is safe for human consumption and does not pose a threat to the domestic livestock and poultry industry.
Observe guideline, protocols–Caap
THE Civil Aviation Authority (Caap) on Monday advised passengers to observe travel guidelines and protocols for a safe, orderly, and efficient journey during the expected increase in air travel this Holy Week.
In support of the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) Oplan Biyaheng Ayos: Semana Santa 2025, Caap implemented measures to minimize delays, improve passenger flow, and provide timely assistance across its airports nationwide.
All Caap-operated airports are on heightened alert, with additional personnel deployed and Malasakit Helpdesk set up to assist travelers.
Security and baggage screening procedures have been intensified, while medical and emergency teams are on standby to respond to incidents.
Major airports will continue operating 24/7, with enhanced coordination between Caap and airline partners to ensure the smooth management of flight operations.
“We anticipate high passenger volume during Semana Santa and have made the necessary preparations to ensure safe and efficient airport operations,” said Caap Director General Raul L. del Rosario. With Lorenz Marasigan and Nonie Reyes
E are living in a difficult world. Let’s get practical for a change and turn to the phenomenon of overthinking. What is meant is being caught in a merry-go-round of thoughts, because of all the problems in the world (climate, Putin, Trump, wars) plus personal decisions. We asked business leaders how they deal with “overthinking” and received insightful answers:
n There is the faction of the “mentals,” who rely on meditation. Others breath consciously for a few minutes on the office couch and listens to the birdsong in the national park once a week.
n There are the communicative ones, who just talk, talk, talk—with colleagues, friends and family.
n There are the structured ones, who rely on rituals—be it the daily viewing the same TV news for 20 years.
n And finally, there are movement artists, who appreciate “walking calls” (smartphone calls while walking) or, of course, the well-chosen running route.
To which group do you belong?
I belong to the movement artists—walking eight kilometers every day—but without a phone. These overthinking stories lead me to the question: Are we born smart?
When we hear stories about a 7-year-old who can speak 14 different languages or see a video of someone with a photographic memory repeating every single person’s name in a fifty-person auditorium, we sit back with awe. We begin to think that high levels of intelligence are more the result of nature, rather than nurture.
But that’s just not the case! The truth is, we are all blank slates when we arrive here on earth. Sure, we inherit a few things from our parents, but ultimately our future depends on our work ethic. There are many brilliant people in the world who never amount to much, solely because they lack the desire to refine their inherent talents and intelligence.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are many people who had the odds stacked against them and went on to do brilliant
things. We, of course, want to belong to this group. So take note: People aren’t born smart. People learn how to work with what they’ve got and become smart as a result. How?
Rule #1—make sure you are building a tree of knowledge. When it comes to learning, there is a difference between material that ends up hanging from a branch and the material that makes up the base of the trunk of your tree. It is the periphery versus the central! It underlines the ability to build vast and towering trees of intellect across multiple sectors.
Rule #2—You can’t remember what you can’t connect. Start with solid roots and dense trunks, and then begin to grow your knowledge upward, begin connecting branches and leaves together with other branches and leaves of other trees. You need to embrace these two rules. Build the trunk first, then work tirelessly on making connections.
Let me conclude with my vision: Smart people hang around other smart people. If you want to become smarter, you have to spend time around people smarter than yourself or at least communicate with them. One of my favorite quotes: “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.” Smart people hang around smart people. Remember: You are the reflection of the five people you spend the most time with! This is also an important message for the dialogue regarding office work and work from home. My view is very clear: it has to be a hybrid system: you have to meet from time to time with your smart colleagues. I look forward to your smart responses on overthinking and learning to be smart; contact me at hjschumacher59@gmail.com.
Comelec urges voters to use socmedia to expose election vote-buying, discrimination
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday urged Filipinos to use social media as a platform for accountability, especially as the campaign season enters its final stretch.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia encouraged the public to post photos and videos of candidates engaging in vote-buying, discrimination, or other forms of misconduct, saying these reports are crucial in helping the poll body enforce election laws.
“Social media is very important to us. To our fellow Filipinos, go ahead—flood social media with pictures and videos. We will act on them,” Garcia said, partly in Filipino.
So far, the Comelec has issued show cause orders to six candidates for alleged discriminatory statements. These include sexist, ageist, and derogatory remarks made during campaign events that targeted women, solo parents, Muslims, and persons with disabilities.
In addition, the poll body is investigating 63 vote-buying complaints.
Of these, one involves a senatorial aspirant, five are against party-list groups, while the rest involve local candidates.
Comelec Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr., who heads the Committee on Kontra Bigay, earlier said that most reports involve direct cash handouts.
Other forms of vote-buying include the distribution of rice, grocery packs, and
other goods.
The third most common scheme involves the abuse of social assistance programs.
There have also been reports of candidates misusing public facilities and mobilizing government employees for campaign activities.
The Comelec has also sent show cause orders to four candidates in Masbate City allegedly linked to the use of emergency alert systems to push political messages via text blasts.
If proven, violations such as vote-buying, discrimination, and the abuse of state resources may result in the filing of election offenses and lead to disqualification.
However, Garcia emphasized that due process must be followed before any disqualification can be imposed.
“A show cause order is only the beginning. It asks the respondent to explain their actions…The task force or committee will then evaluate if there’s enough basis to file a case. If they determine that there is, a formal election offense and disqualification case will be filed and raffled to one of the Comelec’s divisions,” the poll chief explained.
Even after a ruling is issued, candidates may still file motions for reconsideration. If the candidate wins and the case remains unresolved, Garcia said the Comelec has the authority to suspend their proclamation in order to retain jurisdiction.
“We will definitely act on every report—even if it starts with just a show cause order,” he assured
Pimentel eyes resurrection of shoe PHL industry
By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
OUTGOING Sen. Aquilino
Pimentel
III is aiming to revive the Philippine shoe industry and has filed Senate Bill 2994 for the purpose.
As filed, it aims to establish modern Shoe Manufacturing Hubs across the country, with Marikina City—dubbed the Shoe Capital of the Philippines—set to host the pilot facility.
Under the measure, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in coordination with local governments, will be tasked to identify strategic locations nationwide for the establishment of these hubs.
“The goal is to bolster the country’s footwear industry by supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises [MSMEs] through access to shared service facilities and modern infrastructure,” said Pimentel, who is running for congressman of Marikina’s First Congressional District.
Filed as Senate Bill 2994, the measure is titled “An Act Strengthening the Philippine Shoe Industry Providing Incentives to Local Manufacturers and For Other Purposes.”
Pimentel highlighted that the country’s once-vibrant footwear sector has struggled in recent decades owing to modernization gaps, foreign competition, and minimal government backing.
“The Philippine shoe industry, once a vibrant and globally-recognized sector, has suffered a significant decline over the past decades,” said Pimentel.
Under the bill, a Shoe Industry Development Program will be created, to be led by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).
The program will focus on research and development in shoe design and production technologies, skills training and certification, promotion of local brands in both domestic and international markets, and the implementation of quality assurance and standardization systems.
The measure also grants various incentives to local shoe manufacturers. These include subsidies and grants for capital investments, machinery upgrades, and research and development activities.
Local manufacturers will have preferential access to low-interest loans through government financial institutions, and
Marcos orders probe on violent bullying in Metro Manila schools
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla & Butch Fernandez @butchfBM
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos has ordered for the immediate investigation on the series of violent bullying incidents in schools in Metro Manila, which resulted in the death of several students.
Palace Press Office Claire Castro said the Chief Executive is now closely monitoring the developments in the probe conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) on the said bullying incidents in Quezon City, Parañaque, and Las Piñas.
“And as we said, even our DepEd has already conducted an investigation here, especially regarding what happened in Las Piñas, we have spoken to the principal here and the SDO [Schools Division Office],” Castro said in Filipino in a press briefing last Monday.
“So, we are just waiting for other details and the government has already taken immediate action on this through the directive of our President,” she added.
She said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) also deployed its social workers in the affected schools to assist those who were affected.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) undersecretary made the remark Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian expressed alarm over the recent bullying incidents, which resulted in casualties.
The bullying incident at the National High School in Las Piñas City, involved a 15-year old Grade 9 student, who stabbed to death two 15-year old students after they were dismissed from class for an argument related to a light switch in their classroom.
The perpetrator was accompanied by two other students, who acted as backups.
A similar stabbing incident happened at the Moonwalk National High School in Parañaque. The victim was a 14-year old Grade 8 female student, who was stabbed dead by a male classmate after she refused to lend him her makeup kit.
The incident at the Bagong Silangan High School in Quezon City involved a group of students, who initially teased a female student before things escalated and they
pulled her hair and dragged her to the floor. Castro said the Palace condemned the said bullying incidents especially since it involved minors.
“We condemn these bullying and harassment of students and our youth,” she said.
Violent bullying
ALARMED by the recent spate of violent bullying incidents that led to the deaths of at least three students and injuries to several others, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is aiming for the full and effective implementation of the Parent Effective Service Program (PES) Act, or Republic Act No. 11908, to help curb the incidence of bullying in schools.
Gatchalian made the call during a Senate hearing on recent incidents of bullying and violence in schools.
Gatchalian called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to operationalize the program at the level of local government units.
“I am urging the DSWD, together with the DILG, to issue a directive to operationalize the PES at the LGU level. It is really the local government units that will operationalize this.
The DSWD and the Department of Education will create the modules but the LGUs are in charge of organizing PES, so it needs DILG intervention,” Gatchalian pointed out.
“The DSWD Central together with the DepEd should instruct the local city or municipal social welfare development office to organize the program or else hindi mamo-mobilize and Parent Effectiveness Service Program Act,” said Gatchalian, principal author and a co-sponsor of PES. The law seeks to assist parents and parentsubstitutes in strengthening their knowledge and skills in responding to their parental duties and responsibilities, protecting and promoting children’s rights, fostering positive early childhood development, and advancing their educational progress. Under the law, cities and municipalities shall implement the PES Program through their respective social welfare and development offices.
Garma remains in detention in the US as she awaits result of her plea for political asylum
November 7.
Fbenefit from marketing support such as participation in fairs and government-run retail channels.
Government agencies will be mandated to procure locally-made shoes, supporting domestic producers.
Tax incentives are also included, such as a 50 percent additional income tax deduction on training and R&D expenses, and import duty exemptions for equipment and raw materials used in shoe production. Manufacturers will also be entitled to tax credits on VAT paid for local raw materials and supplies.
To stimulate innovation and increase production capacity, the bill calls for the establishment of Shoe Manufacturing Hubs across the country. These hubs, beginning with at least one in Marikina City, will serve as dedicated innovation, training, and manufacturing centers equipped with shared service facilities and modern infrastructure.
A nationwide “Buy Local, Wear Local” campaign will also be implemented under the Consumer Awareness Program to promote Filipino-made footwear and encourage public support.
The bill also creates a Shoe Industry Development Fund (SIDF), which will be sourced from 100 percent of tariffs and duties collected on imported shoes. This fund will ensure the long-term sustainability of all programs and initiatives under the proposed law and will remain in effect for ten years.
“This bill seeks to revitalize the Philippine shoe industry by instituting a comprehensive framework to enhance its competitiveness in both domestic and international markets,” Pimentel explained in his explanatory note.
The DTI, in coordination with the DOST, DOF, DILG, TESDA and other relevant agencies, is tasked to formulate the implementing rules and regulations within 60 days from the law’s effectivity to ensure smooth execution.
“Given the Filipinos’ resilience, hard work and creativity, there remains strongpotential to reclaim the country’s foothold in the shoe industry,” Pimentel said. In line with his advocacy for local shoemakers, Pimentel has vowed to push for the BTS Program or Baha, Trabaho, at Sapatos, which aims to prioritize the welfare of Marikina’s shoe industry workers and strengthen the city’s position as the country’s footwear capital.
By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573
ORMER Philippine Charity Sweepstakes
Office (PCSO) general manager and retired police colonel Royina Garma remains in detention in the United States pending the resolution of her application for political asylum.
This was disclosed by lawyer Emerito Quilang, who is representing Garma in the preliminary investigation being conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the murder and frustrated murder complaint filed against her by the National Bureau of investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“There is actually no case filed against her in the US. She is in detention because she went there without the necessary papers. So upon landing there they took her [under custody],” Quilang said.
Quilang told reporters that Garma could have filed the application for political asylum following her arrest in the US last
Garma’s lawyer added that he has no information as to the basis of Garma’s application for political asylum since another lawyer in the US is handling the case.
“What I know is that the asylum was set for the initial hearing on April 2 but it was cancelled and there is no setting yet,” Quilang pointed out.
Quilang said Garma will likely be extradited or return voluntarily to the Philippines in the event that her request for political asylum is denied by the US government.
Meanwhile, Quilang said their camp requested during Monday preliminary investigation on the murder and frustrated murder complaint that Garma be allowed to electronically file her counter-affidavit citing the latter‘s detention in the US.
“Actually, we are ready with the counteraffidavit today. But we want to avail of the last day which is May 2. We would be putting our defenses, of course, our defenses
there, she does not have any participation,” Quilang said.
The next preliminary hearing on the case was set on May 2
The complaint stemmed from joint investigation conducted by the NBI-Organized and Transnational Crimes Division (OTCD) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNPCIDG) in compliance with Department Order No. 772 issued by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
The order created a DOJ-NBI composite team tasked with coordinating with the PNP-CIDG to conduct a case build-up aimed at filing the appropriate charges in connection with the killing of PCSO board secretary Wesley Barayuga in 2020.
The NBI and the PNP said they found “sufficient pieces of evidence” to recommend the conduct of preliminary investigation and the eventual filing of charges against the respondents.
Aside from Garma, also named as respondents in the complaint were former
National Police Commission (Napolcom) Commissioner Edilberto Leonardo, Police Lieutenant Colonel Santie Mendoza, police informant Nelson Mariano, former Police Senior Master Sergeant Jeremy Causapin, the gunman identified only as alias “Loloy” and a “John Doe.” Barayuga was gunned down by a motorcycle-riding man shortly while on his way home from the PCSO central office in Mandaluyong City on July 30, 2020. Barayuga’s driver survived the incident, thus, the frustrated murder complaint against the respondents. The incident had previously been investigated by both the NBI and the PNP but it remained unresolved for four years due to lack of material witnesses. However, Barayuga’s case was resurrected after Mendoza and Mariano confessed their involvement in the killing during the House of Representatives’ Quad Committee hearing held last September 2024. They also claimed that Garma and Leonardo orchestrated Barayuga’s assassination.
PHL healthcare firms bag $79-M sales at global health conference in Las Vegas
PBy Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
HILIPPINE healthcare companies secured $79 million in actual and potential sales at a recent health technology event, according to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The DTI, through the Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Washington D.C., led the business delegation to the HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition held last 3 to 7 March 2025.
The mission aimed to showcase the strengths of the country’s Healthcare Information Management Services (HIMS) sector amid increasing global demand and rapid technological advancements in healthcare delivery and management.
“The Philippines stands uniquely positioned to cater to the demands of the global healthcare information management sector. Our inherent ‘culture of care,’ deeply rooted in our societal values, translates to patientcentric services,” DTI Secretary Cristina Roque said in a statement.
“Coupled with our established and robust Business Process Outsourcing infrastructure and capabilities, we offer a seamless blend of technical proficiency and genuine empathy. This combination ensures not just efficient services but also a human touch that is paramount in healthcare.”
For his part, Healthcare Information Management Association of the Philippines (HIMAP) Board Member John Dave Dueñas said the sector’s growth makes the country a preferred destination for healthcare services.
“With the sector growing to 190,000 fulltime employees and generating $4.2 billion in revenue in 2024, our blend of technical expertise and cultural empathy positions the
Philippines as the preferred destination for payer, provider, and life sciences outsourcing, ensuring world-class patient care and seamless healthcare operations,” Dueñas said.
Meanwhile, the delegation also conducted a business forum in its bid to promote the strengths and capabilities of the country in healthcare information management.
Key government officials stressed economic and digital infrastructure developments, workforce development initiatives, and investment incentives in the Philippines that provide a strong backbone for the development and growth of the sector.
“The Philippines’ strong economic performance and recent policy reforms reflects our commitment to empowering our private sector by fostering a competitive and business-friendly environment to drive long-term and sustained economic growth,” DTI-EMB Director Bianca Pearl Sykimte said.
“With policy-driven investment promotion strategies coupled with workforce development and strategic export promotion initiatives, the Philippines is poised to a global leader in key sectors, particularly in HIMS.”
The DTI said ten Philippine companies participated in the mission, including ADEC Innovations Healthcare, Inspiro, iReply Back Office Services, Inc., JBW Managed Services and Consulting, Office Symmetry, Pointwest Innovations Corporation, RCM Staff BPO, VISAYA, Wagmi Phil and Call Center Power, and WorldSource.
The business mission was co-organized by HIMAP and key government agencies such as the DTI-EMB, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) as part of the Tatak Pinoy Strategy.
Editor: Angel R. Calso
Israel intensifies strikes across Gaza on Palm Sunday and hits a hospital
By Wafaa Shurafa & Samy Magdy The Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza
Strip—A wave of Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday hit a hospital and other sites, killing at least 21 people, including children, as Israel vowed to expand its security presence in the small coastal strip.
The predawn strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was the latest of several attacks on northern Gaza’s last major hospital providing critical health care.
Hospital director Dr. Fadel Naim said the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, affecting over 100 patients and dozens of staff.
One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation following an Israeli warning because staff were unable to provide urgent care, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. Israel said it struck a Hamas command and control center at the hospital, without providing evidence. Hamas denied the allegations.
Al-Ahli Hospital is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, which condemned the attack, saying in a statement it happened on “Palm Sunday, the start of the Holy Week, the most sacred week of the Christian year.”
Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and worshipers in Gaza City marked it in a church whose gilded trim and intact walls were a contrast to the widespread debris elsewhere.
Associated Press video showed the hospital’s caved-in roof surrounded by rubble. The health ministry’s director general, Dr. Munir al-Boursh, said patients had been carried outside in beds and slept in the streets.
“Nothing was left safe inside the hospital, or all over Gaza,” said Mohammad Abu Nasser, an injured man who sat on his bed outdoors and looked at the destruction.
The health ministry said the hospital was temporarily out of service and patients were transferred to other hospitals in Gaza City. The aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians called it the fifth attack on Al-Ahli since the war began.
Hospitals have special protection under international law. Israel has besieged and raided them, some several times, and struck multiple ones while accusing Hamas of using them as cover for its fighters.
Last month Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the largest in southern Gaza, killing two people and causing a large fire, the health ministry said. The facility
had been overwhelmed when Israel ended a two-month ceasefire last month with a surprise wave of airstrikes.
Charity workers killed HOURS later Sunday, a strike on a car in Deir al-Balah in central
Gaza killed at least seven people including six brothers, according to staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. The youngest brother was 10.
Their father, Ibrahim Abu Mahadi, said his sons worked for a charity that distributes food to Palestinians. “For what sin were they killed?” he said.
AP reporters saw the mangled, bloodied car as relatives wept over the bodies. Israel’s military asserted that it killed the deputy head of a Hamas sniper cell.
An airstrike Sunday afternoon hit a house in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people including two women, according to the Indonesian hospital.
A pregnant woman was rescued from the rubble. Alaa Manoun later wept after learning her youngest daughter had died, along with her husband and her mother.
Two other daughters, ages 4 and 7, were injured.
Manoun had a broken ankle but otherwise seemed OK, according to a doctor. No scan was available, since the only machine in northern Gaza was at Al-Ahli Hospital, now damaged.
“We don’t know whose body is this and whose body is that,” said a neighbor, Abdallah Dardouna. “There is no resistance, there is no Qassam, no Hamas, there is no one here. It’s only civilians here.”
Another strike in Deir al-Balah hit a municipal building and killed
Russian missiles hit Ukrainian city of Sumy during Palm Sunday celebrations, killing more than 30
By Samya Kullab The Associated Press
SUMY, Ukraine—Russian
missiles struck the heart of the Ukrainian city of Sumy as people gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday, killing at least 34 people, officials said, in the second largescale attack to claim civilian lives in just over a week.
The two ballistic missiles hit around 10:15 a.m., officials said.
Images from the scene showed lines of black body bags on the side of the road, while more bodies were seen wrapped in foil blankets among the debris. Video footage also showed fire crews fighting to extinguish the shells of burnedout cars among the rubble from damaged buildings.
The dead included two children, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a statement. A further 117 people were wounded, including 15 children, it said.
“Only filthy scum can act like this—taking the lives of ordinary people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
In a statement on social media, he said the first strike hit buildings belonging to a city university, while the second exploded above street level.
The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, said cluster munitions were used to kill as many people as possible.
The Associated Press was unable to verify that claim.
The attack on Sumy followed a deadly April 4 missile strike on
Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih that killed some 20 people, including nine children.
Zelenskyy called for a global response to the attack. “Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and aerial bombs. What’s needed is an attitude toward Russia that a terrorist deserves,” he said.
Other world leaders also condemned the attack, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that it undermined Washington-led peace talks between the sides.
“Everyone knows: This war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it—with blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts” of US President Donald Trump, he wrote in a statement.
Asking about the attack, Trump said late Sunday evening that he was trying to get the war stopped.
“I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s
a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington. He did not clarify whether he was saying the attack was unintentional.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, two women, ages 62 and 68, and a 48-year-old man were killed in Russian attacks on the Kherson region, local Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said. Another person was killed during Russian shelling on Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Gov. Vadym Filashkin said.
The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said a Russian strike hit one of the city’s kindergartens, shattering windows and damaging the building’s facade. No casualties were reported.
Spring offensive fears despite peace talks
THE strikes come a day after Russia and Ukraine’s senior
at least three people, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. In Khan Younis, a strike killed at least three people, according to staff at Nasser Hospital.
Israel’s military said in a statement it had struck over 90 militant targets over the past 48 hours including command and control centers, tunnels and weapons. The military also said it had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza.
The war started when Hamasled militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel and took 250 people captive. Many were eventually freed in ceasefire deals.
Israeli authorities have vowed to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, 24 believed to be alive, and accept new ceasefire terms. It cut off all supplies to Gaza over a month ago.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead have been women and children.
Missile reported from Yemen ISRAEL’S military said a missile was launched from Yemen on Sunday afternoon and the details were under review. Sirens sounded in several parts of Israel and the occupied West Bank. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to target Israel in what they have called solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Magdy reported from Cairo.
diplomats accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges of negotiating an end to the three-year war.
The two countries’ foreign ministers spoke at separate events at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum a day after US envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss peace prospects.
“The Ukrainians have been attacking us from the very beginning, every passing day, maybe with two or three exceptions,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that Moscow would provide the US, Turkey and international bodies with a list of Kyiv’s attacks during the past three weeks.
His Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, contested that claim, saying Saturday that Russia had launched almost 70 missiles, over 2,200 exploding drones and more than 6,000 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine, “mostly at civilians” since agreeing to the limited pause on strikes.
Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, and Kyiv has warned that Moscow is planning a fresh spring offensive to ramp up pressure on its foe and improve its negotiating position.
Ukraine has endorsed a broader US ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.
www.businessmirror.com.ph
Xi Jinping’s Southeast Asia diplomacy: Strategic counter to Trump’s tariffs amid trade tensions
By Huizhong Wu & Aniruddha Ghosal The Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam—China’s leader Xi Jinping started a week of diplomacy in Southeast Asia with a visit to Vietnam on Monday, signaling China’s commitment to global trade, just after US President Donald Trump upended the global economy with his latest tariffs moves.
Although Trump has paused some tariffs, China was the outlier, as he has kept in place 145 percent tariffs on the world’s second-largest economy.
Xi’s visit this week lets China show Southeast Asia it is a “responsible superpower in the way that contrasts with the way the US under President Donald Trump presents to
the whole world,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
China also can work to shore up its alliances and find solutions for the high trade barrier that the US has on Chinese exports.
“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” Xi wrote in an editorial jointly published in Vietnamese and Chinese official media.
“Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”
He arrived in Hanoi on Monday and will be in Vietnam for two days as part of the state visit.
While Xi’s trip likely was planned earlier, it has become significant because of the tariff fight between China and the US, the world’s two largest economies. In Vietnam,
Xi will meet with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, as well as the Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
“The trip to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia is all about how China can really insulate itself against Trump,” said Nguyen, pointing out that since Xi became the president of China in 2013, he has only visited Vietnam twice. This is his third visit and comes just a year after he last visited in December 2023.
The timing of the visit sends a “strong political message that Southeast Asia is important to China,” said Huong Le-Thu at the International Crisis Group. She said that given the severity of Trump’s tariffs and despite the 90-day pause, Southeast Asian nations were anxious that the tariffs, if implemented, could complicate their development.
“Xi’s trip is to showcase how Chi-
na is the opposite to the coercive and self-interested US. There will be a lot of expectations about what type of leadership and initiatives China is going to come up with at this time of crisis,” she said.
Vietnam is experienced at balancing its relations with the US and China. It is run under a Communist, one-party system like China but has had a strong relationship with the US.
In 2023, it was the only country that received both US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. That year it also upgraded the US to its highest diplomatic level, the same as China and Russia.
Vietnam was one of the biggest beneficiaries of countries trying to decouple their supply chains from China, as businesses moved here. China is its biggest trading partner, and China-Vietnam trade surged
14.6 percent year-on-year in 2024, according to Chinese state media. But the intensification of the trade war has put Vietnam in a “very precarious situation” given the impression in the US that Vietnam is serving as a backdoor for Chinese goods, said Giang, the analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. Vietnam had been hit with 46 percent tariffs under Trump’s order before the 90-day pause. China and Vietnam have real long-term differences. They have disputes over territory in the South China Sea, and Vietnam has faced off with China’s coast guard but does not often publicize the confrontations.
After Vietnam, Xi is expected to go to Malaysia next and then Cambodia.
BANGKOK—China’s exports jumped 12.4 percent in March from a year earlier in a last-minute flurry of activity as companies rushed to beat increases in US tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, and analysts forecast sharp setbacks ahead.
Imports fell 4.3 percent to $211.3 billion in March, the customs administration reported, far exceeded by exports worth $313.9 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $102.6 billion.
“But shipments are set to drop back over the coming months and quarters,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a report. “We think it could be years
before Chinese exports regain current levels.”
China’s trade surplus surged to a record $992.2 billion in 2024 and its exports climbed 5.4 percent, helping to make up for sluggish growth at home as the country slowly recovers from a crisis in its property market and lingering impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
After taking office, Trump first ordered a 10 percent increase in tariffs on imports from China. He later raised that to 20 percent. Now, China is facing 145 percent tariffs on most of its exports to the United States, based on the most recent revisions in Trump’s trade policies. China has responded with 125 percent tariffs on US products and other measures meant to pinch the US where it hurts most, such
as controls on exports of critical minerals needed in high-tech manufacturing, such as electric vehicle production.
China’s trade surplus with the United States was $27.6 billion in March as its exports rose 4.5 percent. It logged a surplus of $76.6 billion with the US in JanuaryMarch even though exports were up only 2.3 percent the first two months of the year.
“Savvy US importers likely saw tariff hikes coming in April onward and frontloaded imports,” ING Economics said in a report, but that trend is likely to fall off as importers use up their inventories while they watch for the latest twists and turns in unpredictable US trade policy.
“As a result, it’s likely that direct trade between the US and China
will crater starting in April,” it said.
The customs data showed total exports from the world’s second largest economy rose 5.8 percent in the first three months of the year from a year earlier while imports sank 7 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $273 billion.
Late Friday, Trump exempted most computer-related goods from the higher China-specific tariffs, including laptops, smartphones and the components needed to make them, though his administration says he plans to announce those within days. Such products accounted for nearly $174 billion in US imports from China last year.
Still, the harsh US tariffs on Chinese products have raised questions about whether exporters might end
up diverting their goods to other overseas markets as they give up on selling to American consumers due to the more than doubling of import duties.
The biggest increases in exports in March were to China’s Southeast Asian neighbors, which saw the dollar value of shipments from China jump 8 percent in March from a year earlier. Exports to Africa rose more than 11 percent and those to India by nearly 14 percent.
A customs administration spokesperson, Lyu Daliang, said China was facing a “complex and severe external situation” but that the sky would not fall. He pointed to China’s diversified export options and huge domestic market.
When asked about falling Chinese imports, he told reporters in
Beijing that China has been the world’s second largest importer for 16 straight years, increasing its share of global imports from about 8 percent to 10.5 percent.
“At present and in the future, China’s import growth space is huge, and the large Chinese market is always a great opportunity for the world,” he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting Vietnam on Monday as part of a regional tour that also will take him to Malaysia and Cambodia, giving him an opportunity to firm up trade ties with other Asian countries that also are facing potentially steep tariffs, though last week Trump delayed enforcing them by 90 days.
The Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed.
Meta faces historic antitrust trial that could force it to break off Instagram, WhatsApp
By Barbara Ortutay Ap Technology Writer
META Platforms Inc. faces a historic antitrust trial beginning Monday that could force the tech giant to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups it bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses.
The looming antitrust trial will be the first big test of President Donald Trump’s Federal Trade Commission’s ability to challenge Big Tech. The lawsuit was filed against Meta—then called Facebook—in 2020, during Trump’s first term. It claims the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market. Meta, the FTC argues, has maintained a monopoly by pursuing
CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s strategy, “expressed in 2008: ‘It is better to buy than compete.’ True to that maxim, Facebook has systematically tracked potential rivals and acquired companies that it viewed as serious competitive threats.”
Facebook also enacted policies designed to make it difficult for smaller rivals to enter the market and “neutralize perceived competitive threats,” the FTC says in its complaint, just as the world shifted its attention to mobile devices from desktop computers.
“Unable to maintain its monopoly by fairly competing, the company’s executives addressed the existential threat by buying up new innovators that were succeeding where Facebook failed,” the FTC says.
Facebook bought Instagram— then a scrappy photo-sharing app with no ads and a small cult following—in 2012. The $1 billion
cash and stock purchase price was eye-popping at the time, though the deal’s value fell to $750 million after Facebook’s stock price dipped following its initial public offering in May 2012.
Instagram was the first company Facebook bought and kept running as a separate app. Up until then, Facebook was known for smaller “acqui-hires”—a type of popular Silicon Valley deal in which a company purchases a startup as a way to hire its talented workers, then shuts the acquired company down. Two years later, it did it again with the messaging app WhatsApp, which it purchased for $22 billion.
WhatsApp and Instagram helped Facebook move its business from desktop computers to mobile devices, and to remain popular with younger generations as rivals like Snapchat (which it also tried, but failed,
to buy) and TikTok emerged.
However, the FTC has a narrow definition of Meta’s competitive market, excluding companies like TikTok, YouTube and Apple’s messaging service from being considered rivals to Instagram and WhatsApp.
“The FTC already has the difficult task, whether it’s looking at 10 years ago or five years ago or today, of trying to define what is the market we’re talking about in a sufficiently narrow way that it can show Meta has a ton of power in that market,” said Paul Swanson, an antitrust attorney for the law firm Holland & Hart. “And I do think that challenge has gotten harder as the years have gone by and we see more and more potential competitors in social media spaces.”
Meta, meanwhile, says the FTC’s lawsuit “defies reality.”
“The evidence at trial will show
what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chineseowned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others. More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the Commission’s action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final. Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI,” the company said in a statement.
In a filing last week, Meta also stressed that the FTC “must prove that Meta has monopoly power in its claimed relevant market now, not at some time in the past.” This, experts say, could also prove challenging since more competitors have emerged
See “Meta,” A13
Some top tech leaders have embraced Trump; that’s created a political divide in Silicon Valley
By Nicholas Riccardi The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, California—Like many in the tech industry, Jeremy Lyons used to think of himself as a relatively apolitical guy.
The only time he had participated in a demonstration before now was in the opening days of Donald Trump’s first presidential term, when he joined fellow Google workers walking out of the company’s Silicon Valley campus to protest immigration restrictions. Google’s co-founder and its chief executive officer joined them.
Last weekend was Lyons’ second, also against Trump, but it had a very different feel.
The man directing thousands of marchers with a bullhorn in downtown San Jose on April 5 was another tech worker who would not give his full name for fear of being identified by Trump backers. Marchers were urged not to harass drivers of Tesla vehicles, which have gone from a symbol of Silicon Valley’s environmental futurism to a pro-Trump icon. And no tech executives were anywhere to be seen, only months after several had joined Trump at his January inauguration.
To Lyons, 54, the change says as much about what’s happened to Silicon Valley over the past quarter-century as it does about the atmosphere of fear surrounding many Trump critics nowadays.
in the social media space in the years since the company bought WhatsApp and Instagram.
Meta’s fate will be decided by US District Judge James Boasberg, who late last year denied Meta’s request for a summary judgment and ruled that the case must go to trial.
Boasberg “seems to be skeptical” of the FTC’s narrow market definition in his rulings to date, Swanson said. He added that the judge also said it is a “fact question,” which means he is open to hearing what the FTC and its experts have to say to define that narrow market.
While the FTC may face an uphill battle in proving its case, the
“One of the things I’ve seen over that time is a shift from a nerdy utopia to a money first, move fast and break things,” Lyons said. Political gap seen between tech leaders and their workforce THE tech industry’s political allegiances remain divided. But as some in the upper echelons of Silicon Valley began shifting to the right politically, many of the tech industry’s everyday workers have remained liberal—but also increasingly nervous and disillusioned. Their mood is in stark contrast to the prominent tech leaders who have embraced a conservative populist ideology.
“I think you’re seeing a real gap between the leadership elite here in Silicon Valley and their workforce,” said Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics at an ethics institute at Santa Clara University and a longtime observer of the industry.
“The shift hasn’t been for a lot of people,” said Lenny Siegel, a former mayor of Mountain View and longtime liberal activist in the valley. “It’s a handful of people who’ve gotten the attention.”
The biggest example of that is Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and CEO of the world’s best-known electric car company
stakes are high for Meta, whose advertising business could be cut in half if it’s forced to spin off Instagram.
“Instagram is now Meta’s biggest money maker in the US, its most lucrative market, where the app accounts for 50.5% of the company’s ad revenues in 2025. Instagram has also been picking up the slack for Facebook on the user front, particularly among young people, for a long time,” said Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg. “The trial also comes as Meta is trying to bring back OG Facebook in an effort to appeal to Gen Z and younger users as they join social media. Social media usage is far more fragmented today than it was in 2012 when Facebook acquired Instagram, and Facebook isn’t where the cool college kids hang out anymore. Meta needs
who has taken on a prominent role slashing federal agencies in Trump’s administration. Musk has been joined by several tech billionaires, including investor David Sacks, who helped fundraise for Trump’s campaign and became the White House’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, and venture capitalist Marc Andreesen. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also attended Trump’s inauguration in Washington.
Zuckerberg began praising Trump after the then-candidate, angered over money Zuckerberg steered toward local election offices in some states in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, threatened last summer to imprison him. Zuckerberg also donated $1 million to the president’s inauguration fund and co-hosted an inauguration reception for billionaire Republican donors.
Trump has filled a number of his administration’s posts with billionaires and his support from wealthy tech leaders led Democratic President Joe Biden to warn that the United States risked becoming an oligarchy ruled by elites. During Trump’s first term, the valley and its leaders were a bulwark of resistance to the Republican, especially over immigration, given that the industry draws its workforce from around the globe.
It’s against that backdrop that thousands of people attended the recent rally at a downtown San Jose Park to protest the actions of Trump and Musk.
Even as tech industry has changed, Silicon Valley has leaned Democratic SANTA Clara County, which
Instagram to continue growing, especially as more advertisers think Instagram-first with their Meta budgets.”
But Meta isn’t the only technology company in the sights of federal antitrust regulators, Google and Amazon face their own cases.
The remedy phase of Google’s case is scheduled to begin on April 21. A federal judge declared the search giant an illegal monopoly
comprises most of Silicon Valley, swung 8 percentage points toward Trump in November election against Democrat Kamala Harris, matching the shift across California. Even with that swing, the county voted 68% to 28% for the then-vice president and remains a Democratic stronghold.
“We’re still in the belly of the beast,” said Dave Johnson, the new executive director of the Santa Clara GOP, who said the party has gained some new members in the county but few from the tech industry. “If the lake was frozen, there’s a little glimmer on top. I would not say there are cracks in the ice.”
The valley has long leaned Democratic, but with an unusual political mix: a general dislike of getting too involved in Washington’s business coupled with an at-times contradictory mix of libertarian individualism, Bay Area activism and belief in the ability of science to solve the world’s problems.
That has persisted even as the tech industry has changed.
The tech boom was fueled by scrappy startups that catered to their workers’ dreams of changing the world for the better. Google’s motto was “don’t be evil,” a phrase it removed from its code of conduct by 2018, when it and other companies such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, had grown into multinational behemoths. The companies have had layoffs in recent years, a shock to an industry that not long ago seemed poised for unlimited growth.
Entrepreneurs once dreamed of building startups that would change the world, said Jan Eng -
last August.
“A big theme here is we are applying 19th-century laws to 21stcentury markets. And I think it’s an open question whether the judgment developments to antitrust law can keep up with markets as they are changing— these fluid and dynamic tech markets in particular,” Swanson said. “And this will be a case that speaks directly to that.”
lish-Lueck, a San Jose State University professor who has been studying Silicon Valley culture for more than 20 years.
“Now,” she said, “if you’re part of a startup, you’re hoping you’ll be absorbed in a way that’s profitable.”
Discontent among some in the tech industry about where it’s headed EVEN before some prominent tech leaders shifted toward Trump, there was mounting discontent among some in the industry over its direction. IdaRose Sylvester runs a business promoting a Silicon Valley-style approach to entrepreneurs in other countries.
“I feel sick to my stomach now,” she said.
Sylvester was already disenchanted with the growing inequality in the valley and the environmental cost of all the energy needed to power crypto, AI and data centers. She took part in protests against Trump in 2017, but felt that energy fade once he lost the 2020 election to Biden.
“I saw a lot of people get out of politics once Biden won. There was a feeling it was all OK,” Sylvester said. “It was not all OK.” It is worse now, she said. She helped organize one of several demonstrations across the valley
last weekend during a national day of protests against the new administration.
At first glance, the one in downtown San Jose could have been a typical anti-Trump protest anywhere.
A large crowd of largely middleage and older people carried signs against the president and Musk while chanting against oligarchs.
But it was clearly a Silicon Valley crowd, one still reeling not only from Trump’s challenges to the country’s system of checks and balances but also from the actions of the valley’s top executives.
“The money is all shifting to the wealthiest, and that terrifies me,” said Dianne Wood, who works at a startup. “Unfortunately, you’ve got the Zuckerbergs and Elon Musks of the world who are taking that over.”
“Just coming here, everyone’s saying turn off the facial recognition on your phone,” Wood added.
“We’re all scared.” Kamal Ali, who works in AI, said he felt betrayed by that shift.
“The trust is broken. A lot of employees are very upset by what’s going on,” he said. “It’s going to be different forever.”
The Associated Press writer Sarah Parvini in Los Angeles and video journalist Haven Daley contributed to this report.
President Noboa wins Ecuadorian election; opponent claims fraud and seeks recount
By Gonzalo Solano & Regina Garcia Cano The Associated Press
QUITO, Ecuador—Ecuadorian voters weary of crime reelected President Daniel Noboa, a conservative young millionaire with a divisive no-holds-barred crimefighting record, by a wide margin Sunday, but his opponent vowed to seek a recount over what she described as “grotesque” electoral fraud.
Figures released by Ecuador’s National Electoral Council showed Noboa receiving 55.8% of the vote with more than 92% of ballots counted, while leftist lawyer Luisa González earned 44%. Council president Diana Atamaint said those results showed an “irreversible trend” in favor of Noboa.
The win gives Noboa four years to fulfill the promises he first made in 2023, when he stunned voters by winning a snap election and a 16-month presidency despite his limited political experience.
“Ecuador is changing... and that path will mean our children will live better lives than we did,” Noboa told supporters during a brief speech in which he also criticized his opponent’s fraud allegations.
“I find it embarrassing that with an 11- or 12-point difference, they come out to question the will of the Ecuadorians,” Noboa added. “Ecuadorians have already spoken, now we have to get to work.” Noboa, heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, is expected to continue applying some of his no-holds-barred crimefighting strategies that part of the electorate finds appealing but which have tested the limits of laws and norms of governing.
González’s defeat marks the third consecutive time that the party of Rafael Correa, the country’s most influential president this century, failed to return to the presidency. She told supporters that her campaign “does not recognize the results presented by the “(National Electoral Coun -
cil),” arguing among other issues that pre-election polls showed her ahead of Noboa.
The candidates advanced to Sunday’s contest after getting the most votes in February’s first-round election. Noboa led González by about 17,000 votes that time.
No. 1 concern among voters was violence
VOTERS were primarily worried about the violence that transformed the country, starting in 2021—a spike in crime tied to the trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru.
Both candidates promised toughon-crime policies, better equipment for law enforcement and international help to fight drug cartels and local criminal groups.
“My vote is clear,” said Irene Valdez, a retiree who voted for Noboa. “I want to continue living in freedom.”
College student Martín Constante had a different view.
“I think Luisa is going to change things because Noboa has been very authoritarian,” Constante, 19, said near a voting center in Quito, the capital. “Our country needs a lot of changes.”
Much of González’s support comes from people who long for the low crime and unemployment rates of Correa’s presidency but gloss over his authoritarian tendencies, the huge debt he ran up and the corruption-related sentence handed down to him in absentia in 2020.
More than 13 million people were eligible to vote, which is mandatory for adults up to the age of 65. It is optional for people aged 16 and 17 and over 65. Failure to vote results in a $46 fine.
Electoral authorities reported voter participation of more than 80%.
“The most important thing is that a comfortable result gives peace of mind to the country because it avoids a political confrontation, or even worse, a violent one due to accusations of fraud,” said Grace Jaramillo, an Andean region expert and professor at the University of British Columbia. “Noboa’s victory is clear, and that also reassures the international community in the face of a wave of uncertainty.”
Several arrests over ballot anomalies
ATAMAINT said several people, including voters and poll workers, were arrested over ballot anomalies. She said some cases involved double voting and others stemmed from reports of counterfeit, premarked ballots.
Atamaint added that 17 people were caught taking photos of their ballots, which the National Electoral Council banned for this election citing reports of voter coercion by criminal groups. The violation comes with a maximum fine of $32,000.
Many Ecuadorians used their vote to express rejection of a candidate and not necessarily to endorse the candidate they voted for.
“Ecuador is polarized, which is a sign of rejection of the past, but also of the recent policies of the Noboa administration,” political analyst Oswaldo Landázuri said, adding that the expected tight result “could become a major problem for the country” if one candidate does not recognize the other as the winner.
In 2023, Noboa and González were largely unknown to most voters as they sought the presidency for the first time. They were first-term lawmakers in May 2023, when then-President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly, shortening his own mandate as a result and triggering that year’s snap election.
Noboa heir to a fortune built on bananas NOBOA’S first foray into politics was his stint as a lawmaker. An heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, Noboa opened an event organizing company when he was 18 and then joined his father’s Noboa Corp., where he held management positions in the shipping, logistics and commercial areas.
González, 47, held various government jobs during the presidency of Correa, who led Ecuador from 2007 through 2017 with free-spending socially conservative policies and grew increasingly authoritarian in his last years as president.
Noboa, 37, declared Ecuador to be in a state of “internal armed conflict” in January 2024, allowing him to deploy thousands of
soldiers to the streets to combat gangs and to charge people with terrorism counts for alleged ties to organized crime groups. Under his watch, the homicide rate dropped from 46.18 per 100,000 people in 2023, to 38.76 per 100,000 people in 2024. But despite the decrease, the rate remained far higher than the 6.85 homicides per 100,000 people seen in 2019.
Some of Noboa’s heavy-handed crime-fighting tactics have come under scrutiny for testing the limits of laws and norms of governing. He has also been criticized for allegations of electoral irregularities he made after February’s vote. Following the first-round election, Noboa said there had been “many irregularities” and that in certain provinces “there were things that didn’t add up.” He provided no further details or evidence. Electoral observers from the Organization of American States and the European Union ruled out fraud.
As González walked through the streets of Canuto, a town in the coastal province of Manabí where she grew up, to reach her voting center, supporters shouted “Luisa is the people.”
“We have all united to rewrite the history of Ecuador,” she told people Sunday before denouncing reports of attempts to “plant marked ballots” with her name.
Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.
Trump team tries to project confidence after his tariff moves rattled markets
By Bill Barrow The Associated Press
ATLANTA—Trump administration officials were out in force across the television networks Sunday defending President Donald Trump’s economic policies after another week of reeling markets that saw the Republican administration reverse course on some of its steepest tariffs. Trump, meanwhile, said on his social media platform that there ultimately will be no exemptions for his sweeping tariff agenda, disputing characterizations that he has granted tariff exceptions for certain electronics, including smart phones, whose production is concentrated in China. Rather, Trump said, “those products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’” White House advisers and Cabinet members tried to project confidence
and calm amid Trump’s on-again, offagain approach to tariffs on imported goods from around the world. But their explanations about the overall agenda, coupled with Trump’s latest statements, also reflected shifting narratives from a president who, as a candidate in 2024, promised an immediate economic boost and lower prices but now asks American businesses and consumers for patience.
A week ago, Trump’s team stood by his promise to leave the impending tariffs in place without exceptions. They used their latest news show appearances to defend his move to ratchet back to a 10% universal tariff for most nations except China (145%), while seeming to grant exemptions for certain electronics like smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and semiconductor chips.
Here are the highlights of what Trump lieutenants said last week vs. Sunday: There are varying answers on the
purpose of the tariffs
Long before launching his first presidential campaign in 2015, Trump bemoaned the offshoring of US manufacturing. His promise is to reindustrialize the United States and eliminate trade deficits with other countries.
LAST WEEK
COMMERCE Secretary Howard Lutnick, interviewed on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” played up national security. “You’ve got to realize this is a national security issue,” he said, raising the worst-case scenarios of what could happen if the US were involved in a war.
“We don’t make medicine in this country anymore. We don’t make ships. We don’t have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right?” he said.
SUNDAY LUTNICK stuck to that national security framing, but White House trade
adviser Peter Navarro focused more on the import taxes being leverage in the bigger economic puzzle.
“The world cheats us. They’ve been cheating us for decades,” Navarro said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He cited practices such as dumping products at unfairly low prices, currency manipulation and barriers to US auto and agricultural products entering foreign markets.
Navarro insisted the tariffs would yield broader bilateral trade deals to address all those issues. But he also relied on a separate justification when discussing China: the illicit drug trade.
“China has killed over a million people with their fentanyl,” he said.
Speaking before Trump’s Truth Social post disputing the notion of exemptions, Lutnick alluded to that coming policy. “They’re going to have a special focus-type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
The status of negotiations with other nations, including China, remains fuzzy
LAST WEEK
WITH the higher rates set to be collected beginning April 9, administration officials argued that other countries would rush to the negotiating table.
“I’ve heard that there are negotiations ongoing and that there are a number of offers,” Kevin Hassett, director of the White House Economic Council, told ABC. He claimed that “more than 50 countries (were) reaching out,” though he did not name any.
SUNDAY
NAVARRO named the United Kingdom, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Israel as among the nations in active negotiations with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Lutnick and other officials.
Greer said on CBS that his goal was “to get meaningful deals before 90 days”—the duration of Trump’s pause—“and I think we’re going to be there with several countries in the next few weeks.”
Talks with China have not begun, he said. “We expect to have a conversation with them,” he said, emphasizing it would be between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump took an aggressive tone himself Sunday in his social media post, saying “we will not be held hostage by other Countries, especially hostile trading Nations like China, which will do everything within its power to disrespect the American People.” Navarro was not as specific about Beijing. “We have opened up our invitation to them,” he said. Lutnick characterized the outreach as “soft entrees … through intermediaries.” Pressed on whether there is any
meaningful back and forth, Navarro said, “The president has a very good relationship with President Xi.” Then he proceeded to criticize several China’s polices and trade practices.
The pitches are different, but confidence is constant
LAST WEEK
NAVARRO was bullish even after US and global trading markets suffered trillions of dollars in losses.
“The first rule, particularly for the smaller investors out there, you can’t lose money unless you sell. And, right now, the smart strategy is not to panic,” he said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
SUNDAY
NAVARRO’S optimism did not waver despite another net-loss week for securities markets and rocky bond markets. “So, this is unfolding exactly like we thought it would in a dominant scenario,” he said. Others confronted some of the more complex realities of trying to achieve Trump’s goal of restoring a bygone era of US manufacturing.
Lutnick suggested the focus is on returning high-tech jobs, while sidestepping questions about lowerskilled manufacturing of goods such as shoes that could mean higher prices because of higher wages for US workers. But some of that hightech production is what Trump has, for now, exempted from the tariffs that he and his advisers frame as leverage for forcing companies to open US facilities.
Hassett did acknowledge widespread angst.
“The survey data has been showing that people are anxious about the changes a little bit,” he said, before steering his answer to employment rates. “The hard data,” he said, “has been really, really strong.”
www.businessmirror.com.ph
The World
Measles exploded in Texas after stagnant vaccine funding; new cuts threaten the same across US
By Laura Ungar, Michelle R. Smith & Devi Shastri
The Associated Press
THE measles outbreak in West Texas didn’t happen just by chance.
The easily preventable disease, declared eliminated in the US in 2000, ripped through communities sprawling across more than 20 Texas counties in part because health departments were starved of the funding needed to run vaccine programs, officials say.
“We haven’t had a strong immunization program that can really do a lot of boots-onthe-ground work for years,” said Katherine Wells, the health director in Lubbock, a 90-minute drive from the outbreak’s epicenter.
Immunization programs nationwide have been left brittle by years of stagnant funding by federal, state and local governments. In Texas and elsewhere, this helped set the stage for the measles outbreak and fueled its spread. Now cuts to federal funding threaten efforts to prevent more cases and outbreaks.
Health departments got an influx of cash to deal with Covid-19, but it wasn’t enough to make up for years of neglect. On top of that, trust in vaccines has eroded. Health officials warn the situation is primed to get worse. Recent cuts by the Trump administration have pulled billions of dollars in Covid-19 related funding—$2 billion of it slated for immunization programs for various diseases. Overseeing the cuts is Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who rose to prominence leading an anti-vaccine movement. While Kennedy has said he wants his agency to prevent future outbreaks, he’s also declined to deliver a consistent and forceful message that would help do so—encouraging people to vaccinate their children against measles while reminding them it is safe.
At the same time, lawmakers in Texas and about two-thirds of states have introduced legislation this year that would make it easier to opt out of vaccines or otherwise put up barriers to ensuring more people get shots, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. That further undercuts efforts to keep infectious diseases at bay, health officials said.
The more than 700 measles cases reported this year in the US have already surpassed last year’s total. The vast majority—more than 540—are in Texas, but cases have popped up in 23 other states. Two Texas children have died. A 6-year-old girl from Gaines County, the center of the outbreak, died in February, the first measles death in the US in a decade. An 8-year-old girl from the same town, Seminole, died earlier this month.
Children in the US are generally required to be vaccinated to go to school, which in the past ensured vaccination rates stayed high enough to prevent infectious diseases like measles from spreading. But a growing number of parents have been skipping the shots for their kids. The share of children exempted from vaccine requirements has reached an all-time high, and just 92.7% of kindergartners got their required shots in 2023. That’s well below the 95% coverage level that keeps diseases at bay.
Keeping vaccination rates high requires vigilance, commitment and money.
Though the outbreak in Texas started in Mennonite communities that have been resistant to vaccines and distrustful of government intervention, it quickly jumped to other places with low vaccination rates. There are similar under-vaccinated pockets across the country that could provide the tinder that sparks another outbreak.
“It’s like a hurricane over warm water in the Caribbean,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development in Houston. “As long as there’s warm water, the hurricane will continue to accelerate. In this case, the warm water is the unvaccinated kids.”
Flatlined vaccine funding in Texas LUBBOCK receives a $254,000 immunization grant from the state annually that can be used for staff, outreach, advertising, education and other elements of a vaccine program. That hasn’t increased in at least 15 years as the population grew.
It used to be enough for three nurses, an administrative assistant, advertising and even goodies to give out at health fairs, Wells said. “Now it covers a nurse, a quarter of a nurse, a little bit of an admin assistant, and basically nothing else.”
Texas has among the lowest per capita state funding for public health in the nation, just $17 per person in 2023, according to the
State Health Access Data Assistance Center.
Vaccines are among the most successful tools in public health’s arsenal, preventing debilitating illnesses and lowering the need for expensive medical care. Childhood vaccines prevent 4 million deaths worldwide each year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says the measles vaccine will save some 19 million lives by 2030.
US immunization programs are funded by a variable mix of federal, state and local money. Federal money is sent to every state, which then decides how much to send to local health departments.
The stagnant immunization grant funding in Texas has made it harder for local health departments to keep their programs going. Lubbock’s health department, for example, doesn’t have the money to pay for targeted Facebook ads to encourage vaccinations or do robust community outreach to build trust.
In Andrews County, which borders Gaines County, the biggest cost of its immunization program is personnel. But while everything has gotten more expensive, the grant hasn’t changed, Health Director Gordon Mattimoe said. That shifts the burden to county governments. Some kick in more money, some don’t. His did.
The problem: keeping people safe from outbreaks requires high vaccination rates across a broad region, and germs don’t stop at county borders.
Andrews County, population 18,000, offers a walk-in vaccine clinic Monday
through Friday, but other West Texas communities don’t. More than half the people who come to the clinic travel from other counties, Mattimoe said, including much larger places and Gaines County.
Some had to drive an hour or more. They did so because they had trouble getting shots in their home county due to long waits, lack of providers and other issues, Mattimoe said.
“They’re unable to obtain it in the place that they live.... People are overflowing, over to here,” Mattimoe said. “There’s an access issue.”
That makes it more likely people won’t get their shots.
In Gaines County just 82% of kindergartners were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella. Even in Andrews County, where, at 97%, the vaccination rate is above the 95% threshold for preventing outbreaks, it has slipped two percentage points since 2020.
Vaccine funding crises aren’t only in Texas
THE health departments millions of Americans depend on for their shots largely rely on two federal programs: Vaccines for Children and Section 317 of the Public Health Services Act. Vaccines for Children mostly provides the actual vaccines. Section 317 provides grants for vaccines but also to run programs and get shots into arms.
About half of kids qualify for Vaccines for Children, a safety-net program created in response to a 1989-1991 measles epidemic
that sickened 55,000 people and killed 123.
Section 317 money sent to state and local health departments pays for vaccines as well as nurses, outreach and advertising.
Health departments generally use the programs in tandem, and since the pandemic they’ve often been allowed to supplement it with Covid-19 funds.
The 317 funds have been flat for years, even as costs of everything from salaries to vaccines went up. A 2023 CDC report to Congress estimated $1.6 billion was needed to fully fund a comprehensive 317 vaccine program. Last year, Congress approved less than half that: $682 million.
This, along with insufficient state and local funding, forces hard choices. Dr. Kelly Moore, a preventive medicine specialist, said she faced this dilemma when directing Tennessee’s immunization program from 2004 to 2018.
“What diseases can we afford to prevent and how many people can we afford to protect? Those decisions have to be made every year by every state,” said Moore, who now runs the advocacy group Immunize.org.
A rural clinic may have to be closed, or evening and weekend hours eliminated, she said. “It becomes difficult for them to staff the clinics they have and difficult for the people in those communities to access them, especially if they’re the working poor.”
At the same time, health officials say more funding is needed to fight misinformation and mistrust about vaccines. In a 2023 survey by the National Association of County and City Health Officials, 80% of local health departments reported vaccine hesitancy among patients or their parents in the previous year, up from 56% in 2017.
“If we don’t invest in education, it becomes even more difficult to get these diseases under control,” Moore said.
An unclear future given continuing cuts and hesitancy FACING these headwinds, things got much worse in March when Kennedy’s health department canceled billions of dollars in state and local funding. After 23 states sued, a judge put a hold on the cuts for now in those states but not in Texas or other states that didn’t join the lawsuit.
But local health departments are not taking chances and are moving to cut services.
HHS said the money, allocated through Covid-19 initiatives, was cut because the pandemic was over. But CDC had allowed the money to be used to shore up public health infrastructure generally, including immunization programs. Before he was confirmed as health secretary, Kennedy vowed not to take vaccines away. But in Texas, his department’s cuts mean state and local health departments are losing $125 million in immunization-related federal funding as they deal with the measles outbreak. A spokesperson for the federal health department did not respond to an AP request for comment.
Dallas County, 350 miles from where the outbreak began, had to cancel more than 50 immunization clinics, including at schools with low measles vaccination rates, said Dr. Philip Huang, the county’s health director. Near the center of the outbreak, Lubbock’s health department said seven jobs are on the line because they were paid by those grants. Included in the affected work are immunizations. Across the border in New Mexico, where the outbreak has spread, the state lost grants that funded vaccine education.
Kennedy’s cuts also hit vaccination programs in other states It’s still unclear how the recently announced $2 billion in cuts will affect immunization programs across the country, but details are starting to trickle out from some states. Washington state, for example, would lose about $20 million in vaccinationrelated funding. Officials were forced to pause mobile vaccine efforts on their “Care-A-Van,” which has administered more than 6,800 Covid-19 vaccines, 3,900 flu vaccines and 5,700 childhood vaccines since July. The state also had to cancel more than 100 vaccine clinics scheduled through June, including more than 35 at schools. Connecticut health officials estimate if the cuts stand, they will lose $26 million for immunization. Among other reductions, this means canceling 43 contracts with local health departments to increase vaccination rates and raise confidence in vaccines, losing vaccination clinics and mobile outreach in underserved neighborhoods, and stopping the distribution of vaccinerelated educational materials.
CESAR Acevedo, left, holds his infant son, Adriel Acevedo, as nurse Tracey McElroy, right, prepares to give him a vaccination that included a polio dose at the Dallas County Health and Human Services immunization clinic in Dallas, Friday, April 4, 2025. AP/LM OTERO
Philippine Red Cross: Always
first, always ready, always there
to
serve for 78 years
TODAY, April 15, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) marks its 78th year of unwavering service to the Filipino people. For nearly eight decades, the PRC has stood as a symbol of hope and resilience, consistently delivering crucial aid and support during times of disaster, crisis, and everyday challenges. This anniversary is not just a celebration of longevity, but a testament to the organization’s remarkable growth, adaptability, and enduring commitment to its humanitarian mission.
From its humble beginnings with just 36 chapters in 1947, the PRC has expanded to a nationwide network of 102 chapters, supported by a dedicated army of two million volunteers. This expansion reflects the growing need for humanitarian assistance in a country prone to natural disasters, and the PRC’s ability to meet these challenges head-on. The organization’s core principle, encapsulated in its mantra “Volunteers + Logistics + Information Technology = a Philippine Red Cross that is Always First, Always Ready, and Always There,” highlights its strategic approach to disaster response and community support.
The PRC’s impact is evident in its impressive array of resources, including ambulances, first aid scooters, food trucks, water tankers, and specialized rescue vehicles. The establishment of a 24/7 Operations Center, equipped with advanced technology, further enhances the PRC’s ability to respond swiftly and effectively to emergencies across the country.
The organization’s response to Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, which saw the PRC and its partners raise P24 billion, remains the largest operation undertaken by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Furthermore, the PRC played a critical role in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, conducting millions of tests and providing essential support to healthcare facilities. From 2023 to 2024, the PRC served 322,681 families, amounting to P1.158 billion in assistance, in response to major operations.
Beyond disaster relief, the PRC serves as the nation’s leading blood supplier, contributing over half of the country’s blood requirements through its extensive network of blood service facilities. It also provides vital healthcare services, feeds thousands through its “Hot Meals on Wheels” program, and builds houses for families displaced by disasters.
What sets the PRC apart is its independence and autonomy. As a non-governmental organization, it relies on donations and fundraising initiatives like the Safe Card program to sustain its operations.
The PRC’s success is a result of the vision and leadership of Chairman and CEO Richard “Dick” Gordon and Secretary-General Dr. Gwendolyn Pang, as well as the countless volunteers and staff who dedicate their time and energy to serving others.
As the Philippine Red Cross celebrates its 78th anniversary, its legacy as a champion of humanity and a driving force for positive change in the Philippines remains stronger than ever. Its unwavering commitment to humanitarian service, its ability to adapt to changing needs, and its dedication to empowering communities make it a true beacon of hope for the nation.
The PRC’s nearly eight decades of service stand as a testament to the transformative impact of compassion, collaboration, and the unwavering dedication of volunteers. We salute the Philippine Red Cross for its tireless commitment to humanity, and look forward to many more years of its compassionate and selfless service.
Opinion
Economic reset chaos
POUTSIDE THE BOX
RIOR centuries, the 18th, 19th, and 20th, earned distinguished titles: Enlightenment, Industrialization, Globalization. The 21st century offers the Age of Information, Disruption, or perhaps Delusion. Had I foreseen how wild the current times would be, I would have requested fate to postpone my birth 20 years so I could enjoy more of this glorious “Age of Screw-Ups and Stupidity.”
For years, the chattering from Manila to Manhattan fueled a grand global economic “reset.” Analysts, pundits, and social media economists speculated endlessly. The reality arrived and it is not the happy tale they pitched, like “Capitalism and the Dollar Are Dead.”
This economic reset strikes with typhoon force.
Trillions of dollars fueled the global supply chain mess we are tangled in and rely upon. Government leaders from Malacañang Palace to the Hôtel Matignon in Paris should have prioritized and championed self-sufficiency. They neglected their duty and slept through the warnings. Who reaped the rewards? Companies sank fortunes into global supply chains, each link forged for maximum profit. Now those empires crumble.
Reversing decades of negligent government and private investment is like navigating an aircraft carrier in Laguna de Bay’s murky waters. Consider computer chip factories— $10 billion and three to five years to construct. Expecting a magic “reset button” to appear deserves a reality check delivered fist-first.
Since last year I have voiced concerns about increased risk, tried to slice through the chaos, and offered ways to evade ruin and thrive. Now someone pours gasoline onto the flames. History logs the largest, most significant global tariff escalation ever. This current turmoil may reveal the system’s excessive fragility.
Tariffs are shaking global markets like a West Valley Fault tremor, creating dread of an international downturn and much higher con-
Trillions of dollars fueled the global supply chain mess we are tangled in and rely upon. Government leaders from Malacañang Palace to the Hôtel Matignon in Paris should have prioritized and championed self-sufficiency. They neglected their duty and slept through the warnings. Who reaped the rewards? Companies sank fortunes into global supply chains, each link forged for maximum profit. Now those empires crumble.
sumer prices. “Trump’s administration may be playing a game of chicken with trading partners, but market participants are not willing to wait around for the results,” says Michael Arone of State Street Global Advisors. Investors sell first; ask questions later. Consumers face pricier electronics—an iPhone leaps from $799 to $1,142—as Apple clings to China for production. This analysis is most compelling. Major footwear companies invested billions into the roads, ports, factories, and rail lines of Vietnamese infrastructure that support the complex supply chain. Nike does not own one factory worldwide. You cannot e-mail India and request 20 million pairs of shoes. Extra production space does not exist.
Bond market’s steepener bet gets turbocharged amid tariff mayhem
AAngel R. Calso, Dionisio L. Pelayo
Ruben M. Cruz Jr.
Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes
D. Edgard A. Cabangon Benjamin V. Ramos Aldwin Maralit Tolosa
Rolando M. Manangan
BusinessMirror is
www.businessmirror.com.ph
By Michael Mackenzie
GO-TO wager in the Treasury market is seeing one of its best runs ever as investors flee long-term US bonds amid President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war.
In a sign of how Treasuries’ status as a global haven during times of turmoil may be fading, rates on longer-term debt soared last week as equities convulsed, turbocharging bets on a steeper yield curve.
The extra yield that investors demand to own 30-year Treasuries over two-year maturities has increased for nine straight weeks, a streak seen only one other time since Bloomberg began collating the data in 1992. Last week, that gap reached levels last seen in 2022, giving a boost to money managers such as DoubleLine that are positioned for such a move.
The appeal of long bonds dimmed last week in part on speculation that Trump’s tariffs will sap international demand for Treasur -
ies at a time when already-bloated US deficits could swell further with Congress debating tax cuts. Meanwhile, with worries around the economy growing, shorter maturities fared better versus longerdated debt because of expectations the Federal Reserve will soon lower interest rates.
For DoubleLine, anticipating an even steeper curve from two to 30 years is the way to play this dynamic.
“That’s the cleaner expression for us,” said Bill Campbell, a portfolio manager at the firm. “And it’s a curve positioning that continues to remain prudent at this time, given those longer-term factors.”
There were other forces feeding into the outsized selloff in longer
The appeal of long bonds dimmed last week in part on speculation that Trump’s tariffs will sap international demand for Treasuries at a time when already-bloated US deficits could swell further with Congress debating tax cuts. Meanwhile, with worries around the economy growing, shorter maturities fared better versus longer-dated debt because of expectations the Federal Reserve will soon lower interest rates.
maturities last week. There was speculation that hedge funds were unwinding leveraged trades, or that banks were dumping the debt to raise cash to meet clients’ liquidity needs as the trade war darkened the corporate outlook.
Amid all the volatility, there was also chatter on Wall Street that the Fed might need to step in if the bond
Athletic shoes, stitched from some 70 global components, require years to shift manufacturing elsewhere. Tariffs will separate the Champs from the Clowns. Here is a looming issue: $43 billion in vulnerable corporate debt accumulating rapidly, pointing to potential collapses.
Some murmur that Trump intentionally rattles the markets. Irrelevant. The US, China, and the EU will pile on taxes with these tariff hikes. Governments will fill their treasuries from customs revenues. We the People will see our buying power shrink and economic engines grind slow. From shoe makers to tech titans, decades of global investments may unravel. Formidable obstacles loom if this trend persists. Seeking a brighter, yet controversial assessment? Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya dares a bold, divisive take, rooted in his grasp of global capital flows. He contends tariffs, bearing a $750 billion economic weight, devise a deliberate scheme to redistribute American wealth and revive industrial roots.
“This transcends a mere trade skirmish,” he declared in an interview, “it seeks to reconstruct America’s industrial strength entirely.” Palihapitiya views Trump’s tariff strategy as an intentional move to offset decades of offshoring with domestic production. Via steep import duties, the policy labors to make US
See “Mangun,” A17
rout worsened. The central bank would “absolutely” be ready to help stabilize markets if needed, Boston Fed President Susan Collins told the Financial Times. The backdrop of potential Fed action suggests the steepener strategy likely will be far from a smooth ride, and with all the turbulence there’s also the prospect of profiting from reversals. The curve from two to 30 years sharply pared its steepening move on Friday, and the day before, BMO Capital Markets strategists said they entered a trade that the spread from two to 10 years would narrow.
“The US is renegotiating its relationship with its trade partners and taking back control of its borders, the principal motivations of Brexit. That did not work out well for the UK. Capital left, causing sterling to experience a huge fall. In the old world, the US would be insulated from this sort of effect, but that can no longer be taken for
John Mangun
Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua
London’s most desirable neighborhoods have lost 11,000 workers
By Irina Anghel and Damian Shepherd
KENSINGTON and Chelsea has long attracted high-earning workers willing to pay exorbitant housing costs to live in one of London’s most glitzy districts. Now they are leaving in their thousands.
The so-called Royal Borough and neighboring Westminster each lost about 4 percent of their employed residents over the past two years, or more than 6,000 people combined, according to official figures. Adding Hammersmith & Fulham, Camden, the City of London, Islington and leafy Richmond reveals an exodus of about 11,000.
The declines contrast with the majority of London’s 33 local authorities, where the number of payrolled employees has risen, and the UK as a whole. It suggests that flexible working, cost-of-living pressures and the lure of jobs in places like Dubai and Abu Dhabi are drawing workers away from areas of the capital where houses sell for millions and tenants can spend half of their income on rent.
The median house price in Kensington and Chelsea—famous for its upmarket shops, museums and billionaire mansions but also home to pockets of poverty—is about 27 times the full-time median earnings of its residents at £1.2 million ($1.6 million). Rents are equally eye-watering after a rise of around 25 percent in the past two years.
Six-figure salaried Londoners in search of space have taken advantage of post-pandemic work freedoms by moving to hot spots such as the Cotswolds, a picturesque area less than 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of London whose honey-colored stone villages and famous residents frequently make the pages of British lifestyle publications.
“They may still have a pied-a-terre in Kensington, they may spend one or two days a week in London, but they may well consider their core home now genuinely the Cotswolds where that was probably their weekend place before,” said Robert Salter, global mobility director at business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.
For some, changes in the high-end job market are dimming the appeal of London. Employers in finance and insurance are tightening their belts in response to global turbulence, according to Seemanti Ghosh, principal research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies. That means scaling back hiring, relocating jobs to cheaper locations outside of London and turning to automation.
“In terms of the jobs market, there’s no doubt that the market has shrunk,” said Elliot Jackson, director at recruitment consultancy Robert Walters in London. “It’s a domino effect.”
Companies in the Gulf are happy to take up the slack to boost their expansion plans. Tarun Tawakley, employment partner at law firm Lewis Silkin, said he has seen a “strong in-
granted,” said Bloomberg macro strategist Simon White.
Still, with the House passing a plan to advance Trump’s tax cuts, bets that longer-maturity Treasuries will remain under pressure have plenty of life. Last week saw a big options wager emerging that targeted 10-year yields rising to 4.6 percent in a couple weeks, the highest since February.
“We are watching fiscal negotiations and any sign of a larger package [IE deficit] will also not help Treasury demand as the supply/demand picture will look worse,” said Priya Misra, a portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
A $13 billion auction of 20-year Treasuries on Wednesday is the next big test of investor sentiment, after
Opinion
VAT refund for non-resident tourists
OFor some, changes in the highend job market are dimming the appeal of London. Employers in finance and insurance are tightening their belts in response to global turbulence, according to Seemanti Ghosh, principal research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies. That means scaling back hiring, relocating jobs to cheaper locations outside of London and turning to automation.
crease” in the number of UK employees, particularly in financial services, being poached for roles in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates.
“They feel the balance of having lower, or no, taxes, and paying for these sorts of benefits” such as health care and schools “gives them a better quality of life,” he said.
The loss of demand is being reflected in the prime London property market, where prices fell significantly last year. Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster had the biggest discounts to asking prices in the UK in 2023 and 2024, according to data firm Hometrack. Homes in the former took longer to sell than in any part of the country last year.
Jeremy Gee, managing director at London broker Beauchamp Estates, says domestic residents in central London have steadily been replaced by international buyers. Over the past decade, luxury home purchases in Chelsea, Mayfair and Knightsbridge have been dominated by American, Middle Eastern and Asian investors who are either employed or have their business interests outside of the UK, he added.
Foreign buyers purchased 37 percent of homes sold in central London’s most affluent postcodes in the first quarter of 2024, according to the most recent data from Hamptons. Those investors have been less exposed to the mortgage-rate volatility and cost-of-living crisis witnessed in the UK over the past few years, the broker said, though tougher taxes under Britain’s Labour government has weakened overseas demand.
“Their London home is typically not their main residence and is part of a global portfolio,” said Gee, who believes the decline in the number of payrolled employees in Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster will continue. “This shift in homeownership from domestic to international has resulted in a large swathe of prime central London becoming a globally influenced bubble.” Bloomberg
well-received offerings last week of 10- and 30-year debt briefly calmed the market.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks Wednesday, after making clear earlier this month that the central bank won’t rush to react to the Trump administration’s levies. On Friday, New York Fed President John Williams said he expects weaker economic growth, higher unemployment and hotter inflation due to US tariff policy and diminished immigration.
For now, traders are speculating the central bank will deliver three quarter-point rate cuts by year-end to fend off a steep economic slump.
“It’s going to be a volatile three to six months,” said Tom di Galoma, managing director at Mischler Financial Group. “A recession is being predicted by the market’s steepening move.” With assistance from James Hirai and Edward Bolingbroke /Bloomberg
Atty. Rodel C. Unciano
TAX LAW FOR BUSINESS
NE significant addition recently introduced in our tax laws is Republic Act (RA) 12079, which provides Value-added tax (VAT) refund mechanism for non-resident tourists. The law aims to boost tourism and encourage more foreign tourists to travel, shop, and spend more in the Philippines, thereby bolstering economic growth.
For a long time, VAT refund mechanism of this kind was not available in our tax laws until the signing into law of RA 12079. With the effectivity of RA 12079, a non-resident tourist shall now be eligible for refund of VAT on locally purchased goods if the following requisites are present: the goods are purchased in person by the tourist in duly accredited stores, the goods are taken out of the Philippines by the tourist within 60 days from the date of purchase, and the value of goods purchased per transaction is equivalent to at least P3,000, subject to review and adjustment every three years by the Secretary of Finance.
As defined, tourist refers to a nonresident foreign passport holder who visits the Philippines and whose residence is not within the Philippines. Filipinos with dual citizenship shall be eligible to avail a VAT refund if they use their foreign passport in entering the Philippines and they fall under the definition of “tourist”. Sales to citizens and residents of the Philippines and foreign nationals residing in the country are not eligible for VAT refund. The VAT refund shall only apply
to retail and tangible goods, such as clothing, apparel, electronics, gadgets, jewelry, accessories, souvenirs, food, or non-food consumables, and other goods intended for personal use. Purchases of commercial goods, perishable goods, goods to be consumed fully or partially in the Philippines, goods purchased from e-marketplaces and other digital or online stores, prohibited items, regulated items in commercial quantity, and services, among others, are not qualified for VAT refund.
Under the law, the Department of Finance has been tasked to engage the services of reputable, globally recognized, and experienced VAT Refund System (VRS) operators to provide end-to-end solutions to the government for the establishment and operation of a VAT refund system for tourists. The VRS operator shall be responsible for the design, build, and overall operations of a fully digital end-to-end VAT refund system.
Under the implementing rules and regulations, the tourists who intend to avail a VAT refund shall present their valid passport and E-Travel System-issued QR code to
The VAT refund shall only apply to retail and tangible goods, such as clothing, apparel, electronics, gadgets, jewelry, accessories, souvenirs, food, or non-food consumables, and other goods intended for personal use. Purchases of commercial goods, perishable goods, goods to be consumed fully or partially in the Philippines, goods purchased from e-marketplaces and other digital or online stores, prohibited items, regulated items in commercial quantity, and services, among others, are not qualified for VAT refund.
the duly accredited store prior to the purchase of eligible goods. The duly accredited store shall verify the identity and eligibility of the tourist for VAT refund by checking the passport and E-Travel System-issued QR code presented. The duly accredited stores shall issue a corresponding invoice with an indicator that the transaction is qualified for VAT refund to the tourist.
At the airport or seaport, the tourist claiming VAT refund shall present her foreign passport to the VRS operator for validation. After the successful validation of the claim for VAT refund, the same shall be approved and paid by the VRS operator in Philippine currency, either in cash or electronically (e.g., digital wallets, bank transfers, or credit cards). The electronic payment of the VAT refund shall only be made directly to the digital wallet, bank, or credit card account of the tourist claiming such refund.
VAT-registered retail establishments intending to participate in the VRS shall undergo accreditation with the VRS operator. The VRS operator shall provide duly accredited stores with hardware and/or software for processing transactions, training, performance reporting, marketing and promotions support, and other services required to ensure the efficient processing of sales transactions subject to VAT refund. The VRS operator shall apply for reimbursement of the amount of VAT refunded to tourists with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), subject to the submission of documentary requirements as may be required by the BIR. The BIR shall verify the documents submitted and shall process the reimbursement of the refund amount, subject to disallowances in case of any discrepancy or deficiency that may be found in the supporting documents.
The tourism industry provides a good source of income and livelihood to many of our citizens in various tourist spots all over the country. Hopefully, true to its objective, RA 12079 will be able to boost tourism in the country and, in its own little ways, help uplift the Philippine economy.
The author is a partner of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law) (www.bdblaw. com.ph), collaborating with Andersen Global in the Philippines. 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 rodel.unciano@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-2001 local 380.
Trump says he will look at ‘whole electronic supply chain’
By Josh Wingrove
PRESIDENT Donald Trump pledged he will still apply tariffs to phones, computers and popular consumer electronics, downplaying a weekend exemption as a procedural step in his overall push to remake US trade.
The late Friday reprieve—exempting a range of popular electronics from 125 percent tariffs on China and a 10 percent flat rate around the globe—is temporary and a part of the longstanding plan to apply a different, specific levy to the sector. Trump doubled down on the plan Sunday.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook,’” Trump said in a social media post Sunday, issued shortly after he finished his Sunday golf game. The exempted products are “just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket’” and the administration will be “taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN,” he added.
Taken together, the comments from Trump and his top trade chiefs Sunday are a stark reminder of the scope of his planned tariff onslaught. Still, the maneuver means weeks, maybe months, without extra tariffs on the array of phones and computers before the specific sectoral tariff on electronics kicks in—one virtually certain to be lower than the 125 percent rate on China, another level of reprieve. It also opens a window for companies and lobbyists to push for different parameters and exclusions.
The exemptions were published in a US Customs and Border Protection document late Friday, and are a step to shift those products ultimately to a different levy, which Trump has long threatened for semiconductors, without specifying the scope. Trump already carved out those sectors he plans to specifically target from being hit by both those levies and the across-the-board ones on countries
Mangun. . .
Continued from A16
he enacted this month in his “Liberation Day” announcement that triggered a market selloff.
The pause Friday was nonetheless a temporary victory for Apple Inc. and other manufacturers who rely on Chinese manufacturing in particular, and the country’s government had welcomed the exemptions and urged Trump to go further.
“This is a small step by the US toward correcting its wrongful action of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs,’” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its official WeChat account on Sunday. The ministry urged the US to “take a big stride in completely abolishing the wrongful action, and return to the correct path of resolving differences through equal dialog based on mutual respect.”
But US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other administration officials said Sunday it was only a pause before they’re shifted to different levies, though those will almost certainly be lower than the 125 percent rate on China that Trump set last week, and perhaps higher than the 10 percent rate charged on other countries.
“All those products are going to come under semiconductors, and they’re going to have a special focustype of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored,” Lutnick said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “We can’t be relying on China for fundamental things that we need.”
Trump’s latest exemptions cover almost $390 billion in US imports based on official US 2024 trade sta-
The semiconductor tariffs are “coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said. He said a notice will be published in the federal registry this week related to semiconductors, but he didn’t elaborate. The administration will likely need to launch a socalled Section 232 investigation as a next step, which would require a report within 270 days and then open the door to tariffs.
tistics, including more than $101 billion from China, according to data compiled by Gerard DiPippo, associate director of the Rand China Research Center.
Semiconductor tariffs to come
THE White House has long said it would not apply its country tariffs—125 percent on China, 10 percent on nearly every other nation— to sectors that were going to get their own specific levies. Trump has already enacted those sector-specific tariffs for steel, aluminum and autos, while teeing up addition ones on auto parts and copper and pledging yet others on semiconductor chips, pharmaceutical drugs, lumber and maybe critical minerals. The semiconductor tariffs are “coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick said. He said a notice will be published in the federal registry this week related to semiconductors, but he didn’t elaborate. The administration will likely need to launch a so-called Section 232 investigation as a next step, which would require a report within 270 days and then open the door to tariffs.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also pledged the products would face a different tariff.
“It’s not that they won’t be subject to tariffs geared at reshoring. They’ll just be under a different regime. It’s shifting from one bucket of tariffs to a different bucket of potential tariffs,” Greer said Sunday on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. Friday’s exclusion was the first time that the Trump administration published a detailed list of what products it thinks fall under the umbrella of semiconductors, which are used in electronics of all kinds. They are not required to apply the sectoral tariff to the same list but Lutnick indicated they would.
In some ways, Trump’s Friday exclusions were an announcement of the products that will ultimately be under the “semiconductor” sectoral tariff. It’s not clear what tariff rate the administration would apply to semiconductors and products it covers under that tax, but they’ve been 25 percent so far on other industries. Those Section 232 tariffs may prove more permanent than Trump’s country rates, which are based on a more vulnerable legal authority and which he’s said he will negotiate.
The tariff reprieve does not extend to a separate Trump levy on China—a 20 percent duty applied to pressure Beijing to crack down on fentanyl, including the shipment of precursor materials. Other previously existing levies, including those that predate Trump’s current term, also appear unaffected.
Trump, in his social media post Sunday, reiterated that the 20 percent rate still applies. On China, “everyone pays at least the 20 percent and these particular components are being put through a separate process controlled by the Department of Commerce which is the 232,” Lutnick told ABC. With assistance from Debby Wu, Shawn Donnan, John Liu, Ocean Hou and Tian Ying /Bloomberg
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Sub-capacity dispatch from Meralco-EERI deal scored
By Lenie Lectura @llectura
THEDepartment of Energy (DOE) has called the attention of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and the Excellent Energy Resources Incorporated (EERI) for not dispatching the full capacity of their supply deal.
In March last year, EERI put in the bid for the biggest 1,200 megawatt (MW) supply out of the 1,800MW capacity supply requirement of Meralco that underwent a competitive selection process (CSP).
It offered a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) rate of P7.1094 per kilowatt hour.
The resulting PSA from this CSP covers Meralco’s future baseload requirement for a 15-year period beginning December 2024.
Last March 29, EERI’s 1,320-MW combined-cycle gas power plant in Batangas City was placed on maintenance shutdown. It was supposed
to go online after a few days. According to DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan, not all units of EERI are back online. Hence, the full capacity that should have been injected into the grid has yet to happen.
“One thing that we have noticed was among the latest competitive selection process that they did, it involved 1,800 megawatts of power, wherein 1,200 will be sourced from the Excellent Energy Resources Inc.’s natural gas facility.
“But as far as the status of the natural gas facility is concerned, we are not yet fully aware and, per
Google Maps adds West Philippine Sea, near SCS
By Malou Talosig-Bartolome
US tech giant Google LLC has added the “West Philippine Sea” in its mapping service platforms Google Maps and Google Earth.
The West Philippine Sea label was placed at the left portion of Mindoro and Luzon islands of the Google Maps.
The South China Sea label remains at the northwest of the West Philippine Sea label. Google did not announce the amendment it made on one of the most contentious flashpoints in Asia, the South China Sea.
Last February, when US President Donald Trump unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, Google also updated its Google Maps to reflect the change in name.
“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” Google said on X.
Since 2011, official maps released by the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority have been labelling a portion of the South China Sea as “West Philippine Sea.” This is based on the Administrative
Order by then President Benigno Aquino III.
In November 2024, Congress officially renamed the waters west of the Philippines as West Philippine Sea when it passed RA 12064 or the Maritime Zones Act.
“The maritime zones of the Philippines on the western side of the Philippine archipelago, including the Luzon Sea and the territorial seas of Bajo de Masinloc and the maritime features of the Kalayaan Island Group, shall be collectively called the West Philippine Sea,” Section 2 of the law states.
Google said it has also been their “longstanding practice” that when official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names.
In the case of the West Philippine Sea, the amended portion is still reflected for China-based users of Google Maps users as of April 14, 6 p.m.
Google, however, has very limited presence in China due to the Chinese government’s censorship. The top search engine in China is Baidu.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Manila have yet to make a statement on the development.
our monitoring, not all the units of EERI are already in full commercial operation. These units are still under testing and commissioning wherein they were supposed to deliver last year. Per my understanding of the power supply agreement, delivery of the kilowatt hours should start by August, but the full capacity should be made available by December 2024,” Marasigan said in an online news briefing.
Possible higher rates IN statement, the DOE warned of possible higher power rates brought about by delays in meeting contractual obligations.
“The implications of this situation are significant. Without EERI fulfilling its PSA with Meralco, a supply gap will emerge, forcing the utility to source more expensive power, ultimately increasing electricity bills for consumers,” said Marasigan in a statement.
To ensure consumer protection, the DOE is urging the full cooperation of Third-Party Bids and Awards Committees in all distribution utilities (DUs).
“DUs bear the responsibility of securing power at the lowest pos-
sible cost for consumers. The CSP, along with its Terms of Reference, must adhere to the updated Power Supply Procurement Plan, ensuring the selection of reliable generation facilities that meet contractual timeliness,” said DOE Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella.
The DOE is in constant communications with Meralco and other distribution utilities and is committed to preventing regulatory issues and consumer inconvenience resulting from delayed power delivery and subsequent price increases. It stressed that consumers should not shoulder the burden of these additional costs.
Replacement power
THE PSA cites replacement power to be sourced from other plants in case EERI fails to deliver. However, Marasigan expressed concern because this alternative supply that could be tapped is supposed to serve different markets.
Moreover, Marasigan foresees the possible lack of gas supply because a gas storage unit of Linseed Field Corporation (LFC), which is supposed to supply gas to EERI, is
See “Sub-capacity,” A2
By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla
THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is now eyeing to scale up its anti-hunger measures nationwide, which includes increasing its Walang Gutom (No Hungry) Kitchen and raising the amount of its P3,000 Walang Gutom credits, amid growing incidents of involuntary hunger.
In a press briefing in Malacañang on Monday, DSWD Assistant Secretary Irene B. Dumlao disclosed they will soon expand the implementation of their Walang Gutom Kitchen (WGK) to identified involuntary-hunger hotspots nationwide.
The WGK is a new DSWD initiative which turns donated surplus food from hotels, restaurants, and organizations into hot meals for individuals experiencing hunger. It is currently being piloted in Pasay City.
“We’re also looking at having a Walang Gutom Kitchen in parts of the Visayas and Mindanao and in the Northern area of Manila because that was also one of the recommendations in terms of improving the implementation of the program,” Dumlao said.
She said DSWD will start expanding the WGK once they receive the finalized assessment of the program this month.
The DSWD official said they are now considering adjusting the amount and the frequency of the P3,000 monthly food credit under their Walang Gutom Program (WGP), previously called Food Stamp Program.
“Because in each area there is [increased] value that is being studied, so let’s wait for the study to come out,” Dumlao explained.
“That’s one of those things where we look at—whether the amount they’re [WGP beneficiaries] receiving is still appropriate to address
those gaps in the family,” she added. Launched in 2023, WGP initially only had 1,000 beneficiaries. It was increased to 150,000 households in 2024 and 300,000 households this year.
Different criteria
DSWD’s announcement followed Saturday’s release of the Social Weather Stations, Inc.’s (SWS) new survey, which showed the number of families who experienced self-rated poverty last March rising to 14.4 million from 14.3 million in the previous month. Among those families who considered themselves poor last month, 35.6 percent experienced hunger.
Dumlao said they recognize the result of the SWS survey, which she said focused on perceived hunger. She maintained that the government war on hunger has already gained traction based on data from
Asean, China meet on SCS code of conduct
By Malou Talosig-Bartolome
MID -RANKING diplomatic and maritime officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China resumed negotiations in Manila last week on the agreement on how countries should behave in the South China Sea to manage the conflict and prevent it to become a full-blown war.
The latest meeting of the Asean-China Code of Conduct joint working group last April 9-11 zeroed in on the most contentious provisions or what they termed “milestone issues.”
These issues include the exact coverage of the South China Sea, the legal nature of the code of
conduct, and definition of some concepts in the draft such as the word “self-restraint.”
Another milestone issue is the debate on whether to include all principles of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in the Code of the Conduct.
There were also discussions on the role of the non-claimant states in adhering to the code of the conduct, and the mention of the 2016 Arbitral Awards.
“The negotiations continued to tackle the paragraphs of the Draft COC, including the socalled milestone issues, in line with the commitment of Asean and China to conclude a substantive and effective COC in an early fashion,” the DFA said in a state -
ment Monday. Malaysia, as chair of the Standing Committee of Asean this year, is the co-chair of the joint working group, together with China.
In 2023, the Asean and Chinese foreign ministers agreed to expedite the negotiations of the code of conduct in the South China Sea by 2026.
The negotiations for a COC is now on its 23rd year.
Some experts expressed dismay at the slow pace of talks, giving China the upper hand to finish and fortifying all its artificial island-building.
“We are not yet there,” DFA
Secretary Enrique Manalo told reporters Monday. “That’s why we are having four rounds of negotiations this year and of course next year during our chairmanship.” The Philippines will be the chair of Asean Standing Committee in 2026. According to the DFA statement, the Philippine side also expressed its concern during the last round of negotiations about the “recent incidents that posed risks to Philippine vessels and personnel, and actions by other countries that infringed on the Philippines’ sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.” The Philippine delegation also took the opportunity to reiterate its call for claimants to adhere to international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and the 2016 South China Sea
Arbitral Award, the DFA added.
HOLY WEEK EXODUS BEGINS Passengers crowd the Batangas Port Terminal in Batangas City as they queue to purchase tickets for Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) vessels heading to Calapan, Iloilo, Cebu, and various provinces in Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental. With Holy Week marking one of the Philippines’ busiest travel seasons, ports across the country transform into gateways of faith and reunion, as families make their annual pilgrimage home or travel to rest and reflect. The mix of anticipation, exhaustion, and excitement is palpable, as thousands of Filipinos carry both baggage and blessings on their way to observe the sacred Lenten tradition. ROY DOMINGO
Editor: Jennifer A. Ng
Car, truck sellers saw sales up led by commercial units
By Ada Pelonia @adapelonia
THE local auto industry has sold 117,074 units in the first quarter, up 6.8 percent from the 109,606 cars sold in the reference period last year, based on a joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) and Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA).
The joint report showed that 40,306 cars have been sold in March alone. This is 2.9 percent higher than the 39,164 units sold in February and 7.6 percent higher than the 37,474 car units sold in the same period of
the previous year.
Commercial vehicles (CVs) continued to drive industry performance at 92,742 units accounting for 79.22 percent of total sales. This showed an increment of 13.9 percent from the 81,395 recorded in the first quarter of 2024.
The Asian utility vehicle and MPV grew by 9.4 percent to 20,436 units in the first three months of the year from last year’s 18,673 units.
Moreover, light commercial vehicles sold in the reference period jumped by 15.3 percent to 69,508 units from 60,302 sold in the previous year.
Light-duty trucks and buses also registered an upsurge to 1,677 units sold in the first quarter from 1,375 in the January to March 2024 period. Furthermore, heavy-duty trucks
and buses sold during the first quarter soared by 50.3 percent to 254 units from 169 recorded in the previous year.
Only the passenger cars and medium-duty trucks and buses units recorded contractions in the first quarter, down by 13.7 percent to 24,332 from 28,211 units sold and 1 percent to 867 from 876 units, respectively.
Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. continued to dominate the local auto market with 47.42-percent share, while Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. trailed behind with 19.97 percent.
This was followed Nissan Philippines Inc. with 5.74 percent, Suzuki Philippines Inc. with 4.65-percent share and Ford Motor Company Phils. Inc. with 4.46-percent share.
Emperador expects a better year
EMPERADOR Inc., the liquor arm of businessman Andrew Tan, said this year will be better than 2024, the year it booked a profit decline, as the company is pivoting its brandy business to target the low-priced segment.
In its disclosure, the company said the business environment will still be challenging this year, especially with the new trade policies from the United States.
The company said it is “keeping a close eye on developments on US
EdgePoint completes new towers
TELECOMMUNICATIONS in-
frastructure firm EdgePoint
Towers Inc. (DBA EdgePoint Philippines) has completed more than 400 new towers in the first quarter of the year, a ranking official said on Monday.
CEO William Walters said the company successfully rolled out over 300 co-locations and 100 build-tosuit (BTS) towers from January to March 2025.
“We are committed to bridging the tower-to-population gap in the Philippines, where the current ratio stands at approximately one tower for every 3,500 people,” Walters said. “While we are focused on ensuring more towers are built towards improving the ratio, co-location is a key strategy in enabling better connectivity and coverage across the country, as it allows multiple mobile network operators (MNOs) to share the same infrastructure, reducing costs and accelerating the rollout of services.”
He noted that the tower company also expanded into the Visayas region with the delivery of its first two BTS sites in central Philippines.
“We initially acquired sites in Luzon, with a few in Visayas and these new BTS projects in the region represent an expansion of our organic footprint beyond Luzon. Building in Visayas presents challenges due to its varied geography, remote islands, and rugged terrain, which can make construction and logistics more complex and costly, so we are pleased to be expanding in this region with successful delivery of our initial BTS sites,” Walters said. Lorenz S. Marasigan
SteelAsia, Italian firm ink deal for mill build
STEELASIA Manufacturing Corp., the country’s flagship steel manufacturer, forged an agreement with an Italian firm to establish the Philippines’s first heavy steel sections mill.
In a statement, SteelAsia signed a landmark agreement with Danieli Co. Ltd., a global leader in metals technologies, to set up the mill in Candelaria, Quezon.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Ambassador of Italy to the Philippines H.E. Davide Giglio and Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick D. Go.
or typhoon belts such as the Philippines because of its tensile strength advantages over reinforced concrete.
The Candelaria mill is projected to generate 7,000 jobs, both within the plant and across its external supporting industries, and more as the downstream preengineered building and fabrication industries develop as a result of the operations of the heavy section mill.
tariffs, and its effect on global market dynamics”.
The company said it will “continue to pursue [a] ‘premiumization’ strategy” on its liquors, composed of cheap brandy to the most expensive whisky in the world.
Emperador’s income last year plunged by 27 percent to P6.32 billion from the previous year’s P8.7 billion, as a result of lower revenues coupled with continued investment in the business.
Revenues fell 6 percent to P61.46
billion from the previous year’s P64.49 billion.
“Revenue declined due to weakness in consumer demand given economic challenges leading to tighter wallets,” read the company’s statement.
Revenues from brandy fell 9 percent year-on-year to P36.4 billion, while revenues from whisky fell 1 percent to P25.3 billion.
According to the company, revenues from its brandy segment declined “on weak demand as consum-
ers down traded to bottom-shelf products”.
Net profit on the brandy business fell by 51 percent to P1.81 billion, due to lower revenues and continued expenses.
On its whisky segment, revenues were slightly down as it is more resilient, but its income fell by close to 10 percent to P4.5 billion due to interest rate and taxes.
“Brandy segment was challenged by weaker consumer demand,” the company’s statement read. VG Cabuag
Alsons Group plans to develop hydropower project in Negros
TUnder the agreement, Danieli will supply all the core equipment and technology for the P30 billion project.
“Steel is the base development of any country. This is laying the foundation of future development in the Philippines, and this is what we are seeing everywhere in the world,” Danieli CEO Giacomo Mareschi Danieli was quoted in the statement as saying.
SteelAsia explained that the mill is a pioneering manufacturing facility in the country for the first local production of heavy beams, angles, channels, sheet piles, and narrow plates, which are currently being imported by the Philippines, mostly from China and Vietnam.
It added that sections are most suitable for seismic zones
SteelAsia said it expects the Philippine construction sector to benefit from both cost and time savings when operations commence in 2027, explaining that the delivery lead times, particularly for infrastructure projects, will be reduced from 3 months for imported steel to just 2 weeks locally.
With SteelAsia’s two section mills, Go noted that around $1.2-billion worth of imports annually will be replaced.
“It will really help our country’s self-sufficiency and reduce importation dependence from international suppliers,” he said. The company tapped Danieli’s green steel technologies and expects the mill to have one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world for steel plants.
The Candelaria mill is expected to avoid two million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year in line with global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonize the steel industry. Ada Pelonia
By Lenie Lectura @llectura
HE Alsons Power Group plans to develop a 34.8 megawatts (MW) run-of-river hydropower project worth P4 billion in Negros Occidental.
In a filing, the Alcantara-led firm said the proposed Bago 3 hydropower project is meant to provide dedicated and reliable renewable energy supply and to lower electricity cost for the province of Negros Occidental and Negros Island consumers.
The construction of the project is estimated to be finished in 30 months. It is expected to generate and distribute energy, at annual energy production of 161.5 gigawatt hours, to the local power grid for at least 50 years.
The project proponent is Alsons Energy Development Corp. (AEDC), the business development arm for new power generation projects of the group.
“The AEDC and its affiliates in the Alsons Power Group are committed to continue contribut -
ing to the growth in Visayas and Mindanao by providing power generation to help spur and sustain economic growth, employing best practices to ensure safe, reliable and efficient plant operations that benefit these regions, and working with the community for sustainable development,” the company said.
At end-2024, Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR), the publiclylisted company of the Mindanaofocused Alcantara Group, reported an 11-percent increase in its net income for 2024 – rising to P2.53 billion from P2.28 billion in 2023.
This growth was primarily driven by rising electricity demand, favorable trading opportunities in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, and the successful launch of its retail electricity supply unit. Furthermore, the company’s performance last year reflects the value of ACR’s strategic initiatives and investments and its continued commitment to expanding its presence in the energy sector while capitalizing on market dynamics.
ACR Deputy Chief Financial Officer Philip Edward B. Sagun attributed ACR’s financial growth to the continued performance of the 237-megawatt (MW) Sarangani Energy Corporation, which remains one of the most cost-efficient baseload power sources in Mindanao. Additionally, the implementation of the ancillary services agreements for Western Mindanao Power Corporation in Zamboanga and Mapalad Power Corporation in Iligan played a vital role in bolstering the company’s earnings.
“We are confident that our growth prospects will continue, fueled by the anticipated increase in power demand and our strategic focus on expanding our RES portfolio,” Sagun added.
In 2024, ACR launched its first renewable power plant—the 14.5MW Siguil Hydropower Plant in Sarangani. The company’s new RES unit has also gained momentum, securing major clients such as Holcim Philippines and Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc., with a combined contracted capacity of 43 MW.
Banking&Finance DOF cautioned against inducing capital flight
By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie
THE Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means is cautioning the Department of Finance (DOF) against pushing for tax increases on capital gains, donor and estate taxes.
While acknowledging the government’s need for revenue, Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda expressed caution against inducing capital flight during a period of economic uncertainty, noting the unpredictable nature of international trade policies.
“We want to be careful not to induce capital flight during a turbulent economic period. I’m not sure when Trump’s hardball strategies will ease.
If the government is in need of revenues, I would go for the luxury goods tax first. That is a better tax on the wealthy,” he added.
Salceda also pointed out the already high capital gains tax on land in the Philippines, which stands at 6 percent of the total value and not just the profit.
He further noted that the addition of documentary stamp tax (DST)
and local transfer taxes results in some of the highest rates globally, exceeding those of the Philippines’ regional peers.
“Plus, when you transfer land, the idea is to make it more productive, so when you raise taxes on land transfer, the policy statement you are making is, we want people to keep their land and not transfer it to more productive users. In short, I’m not the biggest fan,” he added.
‘Free hand’
HOWEVER, Salceda acknowledged that his role as a graduating legislator in the current Congress means his advice is primarily that of an economist.
He expressed his intention to give incoming Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto a “free hand” on fiscal policy.
“Most likely, the decision will no longer be up to this Congress, which I am graduating from. I would like to give Secretary Recto a free hand
Why most people fail at saving money
ASK anyone if it’s important to save money, and everyone would say “Yes.” But ask them again if they actually have savings, and I’m certain only a few would have one. It is a challenge to save money, especially for people who are barely making ends meet. However, most of those I’ve met who don’t have savings are actually earning more than enough.
What’s the reason why they can’t save? And why do most people fail at saving money? There are many factors. A few are beyond our control, such as scarcity of jobs that offer adequate income or suddenly having to care for a sick family member. However, most of the other factors why people can’t save are internal. Such as a lack of self-control over impulsive buying or having no discipline to follow a budget. Interestingly, a lot of them know that the reasons why they can’t save are these bad financial habits. They will even admit to trying to change for the better at some point but then eventually fail.
If you’re one of them, then how can you succeed at replacing these bad money habits with good ones? How can you turn your financial situation around and transform from being a spender to a saver?
I believe the answer is by being more intentional and consciously sticking to the saving habit.
Whenever you start something new in your life, there will always be a “honeymoon period” when you feel inspired and motivated. A time when you feel excited about your decision to change. Some would even share their good news with their friends or announce it on
social media.
Fitz Gerard Villafuerte
PERSONAL FINANCE
“I just enrolled in dance classes. I’m so excited!”
“I’m starting my diet tomorrow. I’m looking forward to losing weight soon.”
“This is it! I’m going to start saving beginning this payday.”
You’ll get positive reactions and a lot of encouragement from friends, and that’s often more than enough to motivate you for a few weeks. However, regardless if it’s starting a new hobby, changing to a healthier lifestyle, building your savings, or any other challenging pursuit—everyone will eventually hit a slump.
You’ll have difficulty learning the new dance routines. You start to experience mood swings from your new diet. An unexpected expense suddenly comes, totally ruining your budget.
When the honeymoon period ends, the real battle for change begins.
Stick with it, and don’t quit.
When it comes to saving and having control over your personal spending, it’s important to understand that smart financial habits cannot be learned overnight. And when things become rough and more difficult, when your willpower is slowly being depleted, and you’re at the brink of quitting—just remember to stick with it.
Take steps forward, no matter how small. You can choose to save a lesser amount, but at least you saved. Because
THE Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) announced plans to double the number of its phygital branches by opening 70 additional phygital branches this year. This target would bring the total to 140 phygital branches. BPI currently operates 59 phygital, nine prime phygital, and three flagship branches nationwide. BPI’s phygital banks merge their physical network and digital tools to make banking easier and convenient for customers.
BPI Head of Consumer Banking Maria Cristina L. Go said clients who bank digitally and those who primarily use branch counters show the same level of branch transactions. However, the engagement and frequency of transactions of digital clients are higher than traditional clients, Go said.
“Digital clients still turn to the branch for expert advice from our branch personnel to learn how they can manage their finances better and how they can achieve their dreams,” she added. “Being able to talk to someone and visit a branch is an assurance of the legitimacy and commitment of a bank, especially on matters as important as one’s hard-earned money.”
Go said BPI’s phygital strategy forms part of the bank’s efforts to deliver smarter, more seamless and accessible banking options for Filipinos.
“We’ve been on this phygital transformation journey for the past three years, and our customers have experienced the power of that transformation through enhanced convenience, simplified banking, and differentiated advisory service,” Go said.
BPI is also expecting more clients to migrate their service transactions to digital as the bank implements more capabilities on its application, such as pay via QR and mobile check deposits, among others. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
on fiscal policy. So, my reservations will not bind the next Congress, and I support the DOF’s goal of fiscal consolidation in general,” Salceda said.
According to the Committee, the proposals are reportedly part of a draft of the Government Revenues Optimization through Wealth Tax Harmonization, or “Growth,” bill.
Salceda said the bill has yet to be formally filed in the House of Representatives and, thus, has not undergone committee referral. However, he has reviewed the outlines of the proposals in various letters.
The Ways and Means Committee Chairman said he has already conveyed his concerns about increasing capital gains, donor and estate taxes to the office of Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs Secretary Frederick D. Go.
New revenues
EARLIER, Finance Secretary Ralph
during this time of struggle, any small win is still a win. And don’t fret if you fail once in a while. It is normal.
Forgive yourself for impulsively buying something, for spending a portion of your savings, or maybe for procrastinating on fixing your budget this month. These things happen. Just admit to your mistake and immediately get back to pursuing your goal. Don’t just give up and quit. It could take a few weeks to several months, but it will eventually happen. You’ll be able to break out of your slump. And before you know it, you’ll see that your savings have already grown significantly without notice. And saving money has actually become a habit that you do with little conscious effort anymore.
The key really is having the patience and determination to stick with it, even if and especially when it becomes hard.
Changing bad financial habits can be very hard. Resisting the temptation to spend can be very hard. Following a budget can be very hard.
However, not having enough money for financial emergencies is also very hard. Experiencing stress and anxiety when you’re deep in debt is also very hard. Giving up on your goals and dreams in life because you cannot afford them is also very hard.
Choose which “hard” you want in life. I chose the first one to struggle now so I can be comfortable later. And that’s why I chose to just have to keep going, to stick with it, and not quit. That’s how I succeeded, and that’s how you can also succeed at saving money.
Fitz Villafuerte is a Registered Financial Planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal finance, join the 111th batch of RFP program this May 2025. Please email info@rfp.ph for details.
LOANS backed by state-run Philippine Guarantee Corp. (PhilGuarantee) rose by double digits in 2024, with cumulative guaranteed gross loan portfolio reaching P554.06 billion. In a statement on Monday, PhilGuarantee said that figure is higher by 20.02 percent compared to the P461.62 billion in 2023. The money has benefited a total of 928,308 borrowers under PhilGuarantee’s credit guarantee programs last year, which also saw an 11.7-percent increase from 830,993 borrowers in 2023.
“[This indicates that] more Filipinos are gaining access to financial assistance through credit supplementation,” it said. Broken down, the bulk of PhilGuarantee’s credit guarantee portfolio supported the housing sector with P449.11 billion in guaranteed loans, while guarantees for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) amounted to P8.93 billion.
PhilGuarantee-managed funds also contributed significanº tly, including P24.32 billion under the Agriculture Guarantee Fund Pool, P71.69 billion through the AbotKaya Pabahay Fund and P30 million via the Electric Cooperative Partial Credit Guarantee Program.
The growth in credit guarantees followed the merger of the Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency and the Home Guaranty Corporation, and the transfer of guarantee functions and funds from the
G. Recto said the Growth bill, formerly the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (Pifita), will generate about P300 billion from 2025 up to 2030.
“We are raising new revenues. We’ve tweaked already the revenue measures,” Recto said, adding that the Pifita and the Capital Market Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA) spell revenue losses.
As such, the DOF has harmonized the current 6-percent tax rates for capital gains, donor taxes and estate taxes to a unified 10 percent.
Capital gains tax is a tax applied to the profit earned from the sale of real property and stocks acquired in the Philippines. A donor’s tax is a levy on the donor transferring property to a person or institution as a gift, while an estate tax is imposed on inherited assets.
The revised tax measures include a sunset provision until 2030, after which the rates will return to 6 per-
cent unless extended by Congress, according to Recto.
Moreover, interest on residents’ deposits under the foreign currency deposit system accounts will be taxed at 20 percent, up from 15 percent, to remove arbitrage opportunities.
The DOF will also remove the exemptions in the gross receipts and withholding taxes but will keep the rates at 5 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
Recto added that the public will not be affected by the proposed tax reforms since these are financial taxes, not consumption-based taxes.
The proposed Growth Bill is part of Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package, which aims to harmonize the taxation of passive income and financial intermediaries by reducing and simplifying the complex tax system of financial transactions.
Govt raises ₧25B via sale of debt papers
By Reine Juvierre Alberto @reine_alberto
THE national government raised P25 billion through the sale of Treasury bills (Tbills) amid yields ending mixed as investors gear up for the upcoming 10-year bond offering of the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).
On Monday, the auction committee fully awarded the T-bills up for auction as demands for the government securities reached a total of P74.512 billion. This is 2.9 times oversubscribed of the P25 billion on offer. The 91-day T-bill’s average yield went up to 5.422 percent by 2.9 basis points from the 5.393 percent rate during the previous auction last week.
The auction committee awarded the full P8 billion on offer, as tenders reached P13.387 billion. Yields of the government IOUs ranged from a low of 5.293 percent to as high as 5.522 percent.
The average yield of the 182-day T-bill, meanwhile, settled at 5.657 percent, 1.2 basis points higher than the 5.645 percent yield a week ago. The rate averaged between 5.590 percent and 5.718 percent.
Demand for the debt papers reached P28.525 billion, with the Treasury awarding the P8-billion offer in full.
Meanwhile, the 364-day T-bill’s average yield inched down to 5.722 percent, 0.4 basis points lower than the previous 5.726 percent yield for the same tenor.
Tenders for the T-bill amounted
Small Business Corporation, according to PhilGuarantee.
The merger also unified the management of the Agricultural Guarantee Fund Pool and the Industrial Guarantee and Loan Fund.
PhilGuarantee’s outstanding guarantees reached P279.60 billion as of the end of December 2024. New enrollments nearly doubled year-on-year to P92.53 billion in 2024 from P43.89 billion.
As an attached agency of the Department of Finance, PhilGuarantee is mandated to provide credit guarantees and enable easier loan access to support trade and investments, exports, infrastructure, energy, tourism, agricultural business or modernization, housing, MSMEs and other priority sectors of the economy.
PhilGuarantee’s total assets amounted to P57.41 billion, as its equity grew to P25.86 billion and liabilities declined to P31.55 billion.
The corporation posted P2.12 billion in income, 24.9 percent higher than its target of P1.70 billion.
In 2025, PhilGuarantee said it aims to continue its support to economic growth by expanding its network of partner lending institutions.
Last year, PhilGuarantee partnered with 194 institutions, up from 152 in 2023, to make credit more accessible to socialized/ low-cost housing, MSMEs and small farmers and fisherfolk. Reine Juvierre S. Alberto
to P32.6 billion, with the committee accepting P9 billion as planned. Yields ranged from 5.627 percent to 5.746 percent.
Yields of the 91-day and 182-day tenor T-bills were higher than the benchmark Philippine Bloomberg Valuation (PHP BVAL) rates, except for the 364-day tenor. The PHP BVAL reference rates are 5.370 percent for the three-month tenor, 5.618 percent for the six-month tenor and 5.780 percent for the one-year tenor.
According to Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), the increase in T-bill yields could be due to investors preparing for the upcoming 10-year bond offering of the Treasury.
The Treasury recently conducted a virtual investors’ briefing ahead of the issuance of fresh peso-denominated 10-year fixed-rate Treasury notes (FXTN) set on April 15. At least P30 billion is expected to be generated from the sale.
The notes, which will be offered for 10 days, will establish a benchmark-sized security to boost secondary market liquidity and price discovery of its debt instruments.
The security can be purchased by government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) at a minimum of P10 million and in increments of P10 million thereafter.
“The 10-year FTXN offering is intended to raise additional funding to support the implementation of the government’s budget priorities, including projects and programs related to agriculture, education, healthcare, and infrastructure de-
velopment,” the Treasury said. The notes will be priced on April 15, Tuesday, through a Dutch auction to GSEDs and will be made available to the investing public until April 24, or unless terminated earlier at the discretion of the Treasury.
“The latest T-bill average auction yields were mostly slightly higher for the third week in four weeks, despite the latest -0.25 local policy rate cut and dovish signals,” Ricafort said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reduced the key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.50 percent on Thursday, with BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona Jr. signaling for further rate cuts this year to support economic growth (See: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2025/04/11/ bsp-lowers-key-rate-by-25-bpsmore-cuts-seen/).
Ricafort said investors and banks may have also set aside funds to pay taxes ahead of the April 15 deadline, as well as reallocated funds for holiday-related spending, which likely increased the T-bill yields. This year, the government will borrow a total of P2.545 trillion, following an 80:20 borrowing mix in favor of domestic sources. It has borrowed P552.692 billion as of the end of February.
For this month, the government will auction off 91-day, 182-day and 364-day tenor T-bills every Monday to raise a total of P125 billion. Meanwhile, the government’s outstanding debt reached a new high of P16.632 trillion as of end-February, 9.57 percent higher year-on-year from P15.178 trillion.
Art BusinessMirror
Letizia Roxas Constantino: A ‘generational Filipina’
IT was an almost impossible task.
How does one curate a retrospective exhibition of someone like Letizia Roxas Constantino, a multihyphenate extraordinaire who dedicated her life to excellence in every pursuit, from writing history books meant to inspire the nation, to playing the piano, and even doing the grocery list? There are 80 years’ worth of materials to review—composed of an ocean of letters, notes, documents—all while dealing with the grief over the subject even nearly a decade after her passing, as she happens to be your grandmother, your matron of honor, your “best friend.”
Broadcast journalist Karmina Constantino-Torres took on the challenge nonetheless and offered a simple, eloquent answer on how she managed.
“What made [the task] difficult was also the one that made it easy,” she said, “and that was the love that we have for her and the love that she had for us.”
GRACE, INTELLECT, HEART
THE Constantino Foundation (www. constantinofoundation.org) was established in 1976 by husband-and-wife historians Renato and Letizia Constantino to advance the idea of usable history, “where lessons from the past become active elements of the present.” On April 9, the organization opened a tribute exhibition dedicated to one of its former presidents, Letizia, to commemorate her 105th birth anniversary.
Titled Letizia: A Life in Letters, the multi-sensorial exhibit celebrates the subject’s life and legacy as a writer, historian, political analyst, dancer, and classical pianist. It also covers her roles as a loving
wife, mother, friend and lola, presented through carefully selected mementoes, diary entries, and other materials. The exhibit runs until May 30 at the Linangan Gallery of the Constantino Foundation on Panay Avenue, Quezon City. According to Letizia’s grandson, Red Constantino, the foundation’s managing director, the show is not something to be seen but to be experienced. It is a show that “reflects the grace, intellect and heart” of her grandmother, honoring “the nationalist, the historian, the writer, and the generational Filipina that she was.”
“The exhibit represents a sliver of a fingernail of letters, manuscripts and other artifacts that we work on, which represents an incredibly tiny fraction of what remains covered in boxes inside the Constantino Foundation’s compound,” Red said during the exhibit opening. “There’s more than enough material to review or discover for new books, documentaries, or even novels. But that is a tomorrow challenge. Tonight, until May 30, we will honor Letizia.”
‘BETTER THAN DIAMONDS’
THE late, great writer was born on April 9, 1920. She lived a full life until her passing on June 27, 2016, leaving behind a legacy characterized by purpose and passion. One of Letizia’s great friends, scholar Inday Ofreneo, wrote in a book that she was so gifted in various fields that she could have even been a great concert pianist.
“But love steered her to another direction not as glamorous but no less demanding,” Ofreneo wrote. “Today, we are all the richer for that twist of fate; from piano to pen.”
Presented in the Letizia: A Life in Letters are carefully selected materials from the stacks and stacks kept in the organization’s compound. Actual and projected handwritten letters of Letizia fill the intimate space, along with photos and artifacts, while her piano recordings play in the background. There is a special installation as well, showing the illusion of pages coming to life from Letizia’s actual desk, floating, and suspended mid-flight.
One letter is addressed to her son, RC. Letizia thanked him for writing about her birthday in his column on the news magazine Isyu in 1997. “Thank
you, thank you for your love, for your support, for the way you have touched my heart. My best gift! Better than diamonds.—Ming”
Other notes chronicle Letizia’s daily schedule, segmented into hours, a testament to her obsession with details. There are also recordings of recipes and meals served to guests.
Meanwhile, a prominently featured piece shows a photo of Letizia with her husband, Renato. Below it is a text, which reads: “To make a contribution ‘towards the emergence of the decolonized Filipino’ was the loom upon which they had chosen to weave the fabric of their lives.”
Letizia and Renato penned several historical and nationalistic books, including the seminal 1975 title The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Letizia shied away from the spotlight, to the point that she insisted her name
your agenda. ★★★★★
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Pursue an outlet conducive to overcoming obstacles without anger. Discovering your options and determining your best route forward will help you micromanage your passage to success. Learn by listening to others and watching how they react.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Talk is cheap but valuable. Attend meetings, make phone calls and connect with experts in fields of interest. A day trip, getting together with an old friend or seeing firsthand what's necessary to reach your objective will help you make better decisions and impress someone you want to partner with personally or professionally. ★★★★
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Gather information and make plans. An open conversation will be telltale regarding what's possible and who you can count on for help. Regarding money matters, take your time, budget wisely and only buy what you need. ★★★
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Look for a fun outlet that will get you in the groove and encourage you to mingle and socialize with unique people who have plenty of different views to ponder. Being wellinformed is the best way to levy your chance to advance and fulfill your curiosity simultaneously. ★★★
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Emotional mind games will leave you at a loss. Recognize when someone is toying with you and retreat quickly to protect your heart, rights and prospects. Leave nothing to chance and do not let anyone scam you. Say no to anything that sounds too good to be true. ★★★
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Congregate with people who share your interests, and friendships will develop, giving insight into reinventing and rearranging your routine to suit your needs. It's up to you to set the rules you live by and the schedules you put in place.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Control your emotions and focus on home, family or broadening your interests. Explore the possibilities and alter your space to accommodate what
Show BusinessMirror
The heart and soul of ‘Fatherland’
BALIKBAYAN HEARTTHROB ANTHONY CONSTANTINO SIGNS WITH SPARKLE
GMA talent management arm Sparkle has announced the newest addition to its roster of artists: 22-year-old Filipino-American model and influencer Anthony Constantino. He officially signed with Sparkle on April 8, marking an exciting new phase in his career.
Born and raised in California to Filipino parents, Anthony has made a name for himself in the international modeling scene, working under Otto Models, DT Model Management, and Main Models Philippines. Now, the tall and handsome moreno returns to his roots by signing with the country’s biggest talent management agency, Sparkle. He’s ready to dazzle Filipino audiences with his charm, charisma, and undeniable star quality—while also embracing a deeper connection to his heritage.
In his earnest speech during the contractsigning, Anthony expressed his appreciation to GMA Network for opening doors and believing in him.
“First and foremost, maraming-maraming salamat. I’m just so proud and thankful to be part of the Kapuso family. Thank you to Miss Annette, Miss Joy for believing in me and seeing the potential in me. I’m just very excited to make everybody proud,” he said.
The signing was attended by GMA senior vice president Atty. Annette Gozon-Valdes, Sparkle first vice president Joy Marcelo, and Main Models managing director Michael Labuguen. Gozon-Valdes warmly welcomed Anthony, saying she was captivated not only by his looks but also by his personality. Marcelo added with a smile: “I have heard so many good things about you, and I have seen so many nice pictures of you.” Labuguen, who has worked closely with Anthony, also expressed his excitement and gratitude for this new opportunity.
Anthony closed his remarks with a reaffirmation of his pride in being a Kapuso.
“I am just so proud and happy to be a part of the Kapuso family,” he said.
With Sparkle’s full support and his rising fanbase, Anthony Constantino is set to make waves in the Philippine entertainment scene.
some of the industry’s most esteemed actors to work on the project. Take these names: Allen Dizon, Angel Aquino, Cherry Pie Picache, Max Eigenmann, Jim Pebanco, Richard Yap, Mercedes Cabral and Jeric Gonzales.
Lamangan also shared that he is thankful that well-loved producer and financier Benjamin Austria came in and gave his full backing when the original producer dropped out of the project. “This is not my first movie with Ben, and I am glad that he made sure that the film would be made and shown on the big screen.”
Austria is an engineer by profession and a businessman who got sidetracked by his deep love for the movies. It was the now classic Ishmael Bernal film Himala that truly made a dent on the then young Austria, who admitted that he has been a movie fan ever since he can remember. “I was awed by the
spectrum and vastness of that movie, and there was a sudden spark within me that made me want to be a movie producer someday, not an actor but a producer. Perhaps the universe heard that faint voice of mine then and turned that wish into a reality.”
It is interesting to note that Lamangan played a small town priest (and also served as the film’s crowd control director) in Bernal’s Himala, a film with a big message about people, politics and society as well. Fatherland is only Austria’s third movie, but he is determined to dole out more money to invest in filmmaking. “It’s totally different if bankrolling movies is fueled by one’s passion and love for cinema. That means that as a producer, I am not simply looking at making a killing at the box office; what weighs more is what I and the production team can
come up with, because a finished movie is forever, whether it is a box office hit or not, and if it turns out to be a masterpiece and it gets recognized by legit critics and award-giving organizations, then the film will somehow become a legacy. But more importantly, when the audience can see, feel and understand the many messages and truths that the movie has, then I guess the movie has served its purpose.”
Benjamin Austria and Joel Lamangan are both sure that their new film, which opens in cinemas this weekend, has a lot of important truths to share with the audience. The respective narratives of the many characters in the script by Roy Iglesias, and the society and situations where their lives unravel, share a truth that is as crystal-clear and as deep-colored as what is going on in our motherland today. n
Eric Dane, star of ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ reveals he has ALS
Continued from B4
to be listed only in the book’s inside title page as “With the collaboration of Letizia R. Constantino.” On the 1978 second volume, however, Renato insisted on a more proper attribution, which is why The Philippines: The Continuing Past carry both their names.
HER HEART IN HER WORDS
THE man behind the exhibit design was artist Ohm David. During the show’s opening reception, he shared that Karmina, the curator, reached out to him on January 9, mere months before the show.
“How hard could it be?” David, also a renowned stage designer, recalled thinking to himself when told the exhibit was to be centered on pictures and letters.
“And I was never so wrong in my life.”
He remembers being confronted with “tons and tons of letters, books and pictures.” They narrowed down the choices, reviewed the selection, and he gained a better understanding of the subject. David believes Letizia guided him throughout the process.
“When you read the letters, it’s like she’s talking directly to you,” he said. “That’s how loving and caring she was and you feel it through her writings.”
Whether it’s managing expenses for the house or talking to her grandchildren about marriage, or rallying the nation, David noted that Letizia “put all her heart” in her letters. He hopes that through the exhibit, viewers would come out not only knowing more about the Letizia, but seeing more of themselves
through her letters.
‘DADA MING SHOULD NOT BE THE LAST OF HER KIND’
A FREQUENT recipient of Letizia’s heartfelt, handwritten letters was her granddaughter, Karmina. Over the years, Karmina has built a strong reputation as a hard-hitting journalist, a figure of courage who does not back down from asking the tough questions. During the exhibit opening, however, Karmina was reduced to tears, even nearly a decade after the passing of her beloved grandmother.
“Well, iyakin talaga ako, to begin with,” Karmina said, smiling, while her eyes welled up. “Nothing moves me as much as family does.” Karmina and her “Dada Ming” shared a bond like no other, as her grandmother did with cousins and siblings, she said. “Such was her gift,” Karmina added, that receiving a letter from Letizia would make “you feel as if you’re the single most important person in the world.”
And then there was her grandmother’s inimitable appreciation of life. Karmina said her lola found beauty in everything—how nothing was mundane. There was a time when they were driving around and noticed a “beautiful tree.” Without skipping a beat, Letizia asked the driver to pull over, and they stepped out of the car to “spend about five minutes just looking at the tree.”
“That’s how special she was,” Karmina said. “There was nothing ordinary about life.”
EUPHORIA actor and former Grey’s Anatomy veteran Eric Dane has announced that he has ALS but will continue working.
Dane, 52, revealed his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive disease that attacks nerve cells controlling muscles throughout the body and is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in an interview with People magazine on Thursday.
“I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to set of Euphoria next week,” he said.
“I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.”
The 52-year-old actor is married to actor Rebecca Gayheart and the couple share two children, Billie Beatrice, 15, and Georgia Geraldine, 13. Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018, but filed to dismiss the petition earlier this year, news outlets reported. Euphoria is set to resume shooting this month. Dane’s publicist did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.
ALS gradually destroys the nerve cells and connections needed to walk, talk, speak and breathe. Most patients die within three to five years of a diagnosis. AP
Among Karmina’s most treasured, featured pieces in the exhibition is a stuffed toy, a little bunny. It went with a bouquet she gave to her lola as a birthday present, dated April 9, 1998. Letizia kept it and made a note that read: “Given to me by Karmina—to be kept for her first baby.”
“How can someone be so thankful in that moment enough to spur her to show that gratitude in the future?” Karmina said during our conversation, shaking her head in disbelief.
“I gave her that bunny, but in the end I was the one who was thankful.”
Years passed and both Karmina and her lola forgot about the gift. It wasn’t until after Letizia’s passing that Karmina unearthed the bunny. To honor her grandmother’s note, Karmina gave it to her youngest child, her only daughter, whom she named after her lola Karmina had given birth to three boys before the younger Letizia came along. She remembers engaging a friendly banter with her lola about her having a daughter—“ikaw dapat magkakababae”—to which Karmina would play around and juggle her responses between “we’re working on it” and “wala na.” When her grandmother passed in 2016, however, Karmina said “there was a desperate search for connection.”
“I was like, I’m going to have that baby. I’m going to have that daughter,” she said. After two failed IVFs and two miscarriages, Karmina began to lose hope. She prayed and told God: “If it’s not meant for me, it’s okay. But it’s this longing that I need help with. So,
help me with the longing and I’ll be okay.”
The following month, Karmina got pregnant. The younger Letizia was born on June 27, 2020, the same day her namesake passed in 2016.
“My husband would tell me, you willed her into life,” Karmina said. “And I’m like, no, kami ni Dada Ming, we dreamed her into life.”
Moments earlier, Red remarked about cosmic connections, particularly in the confluence of dates surrounding the occasion. He noted how their father, R.C. Constantino, passed on April 4, which happens to be the birthday of their maternal grandmother. Meanwhile, RC’s birthday, September 15, coincides with the day of the passing of their lolo, Renato, in 1999. Then, of course, there’s little Letizia and her great grandmother.
“Perhaps, these will all remind us that history is not about endings,” Red said.
“It is about renewal.”
As for the exhibit, it’s all about celebrating the great life of her lola, according to Karmina. With all the featured handwritten letters, she said that the hope—at the very least—is for the public to once again fall in love with writing letters.
“May it spur them to write tonight,” she said.”
There’s something so romantic and magical when you write. But I hope as well that when they walk through the exhibit, they will see how remarkable she was. And that they also find their way back to themselves, and think that [Dada Ming] should not be the last of her kind.” n
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos
BENJAMIN AUSTRIA (left) and Joel Lamangan
GMA senior vice president Atty. Annette Gozon-Valdes (left) and Anthony Constantino
ERIC DANE circa Grey’s Anatomy
BISELCO awards 15-year power supply deal to CIPC to strengthen Palawan’s energy security
BUSUANGA Island once faced daily brownouts lasting four to six hours, limiting economic activity and hindering development. With the entry of Calamian Islands Power Corporation (CIPC) in 2013, a stable power supply became a catalyst for growth, fueling tourism and local industries. However, the rapid economic expansion has led to increasing energy demand, underscoring the need for additional capacity to sustain progress.
To keep the momentum of progress, Busuanga Island Electric Cooperative Inc. (BISELCO) has signed a new 15year power supply agreement (PSA) with Vivant Energy’s CIPC. Building on their long-standing partnership that began with their first PSA in 2011, this new agreement secures a 24 MW contracted capacity for Busuanga and Coron, ensuring that homes remain lit, businesses continue to thrive, and communities keep moving forward.
Set to commence once the necessary approvals have been received, the PSA is a strategic step that will ensure the Calamian Islands to keep pace with growing energy demands driven by a thriving tourism sector and expanding local industries.
The agreement addresses the region’s increasing energy needs, ensuring reliable and sustainable power for residents and businesses.
BISELCO general manager Ruth L.
Rex Education Celebrates 75 Years of Commitment to Education at AECON 2025
REX Education marked it 75th anniversary at AECON 2025 which was held recently at the Gallio Events Hall in Parañaque. The theme, “Celebrating 75 Years of Commitment to Quality Education: Seamless and Meaningful Learning Experiences Through Assessment, Intervention, and Enrichment,” highlighted the company’s dedication to education. Nearly 1,000 educators, school leaders, and stakeholders attended the two-day event, which focused on addressing key educational challenges through insightful discussions and knowledge-sharing. Each year, AECON addresses pressing issues in education, equipping teachers and leaders with valuable insights and solutions. This year, as part of its 75th anniversary, the focus is on creating seamless and meaningful learning experiences for every learner and educator.
In his opening remarks, REX COO Roger John Y. Fontelera highlighted that education is not a one-sizefits-all approach. He stated, “This year’s AECON isn’t about giving ready-made solutions. Instead, it’s about creating a space for reflection, learning, and collaboration. We want to provide you with stepping stones—resources, strategies, and ideas—that you can adapt to meet the specific needs of your schools, communities, and learners.” Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Peter Irving Corvera delivered a keynote address emphasizing the urgency of preparing Filipino learners for an increasingly digital world. He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to developing future-ready learners by integrating technology, enhancing critical thinking, and strengthening public-private collaborations.
One key session featured a panel discussion with respected education experts and policymakers:
• Dr. Karol Mark Yee, Executive Director of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) Dr. Dina Joana Ocampo, Professor at the University of the Philippines and former DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching Rhodora Ferrer, Executive Director of the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC)
Atty. Joseph Noel Estrada, Legal Counsel of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA)
Moderated by Dr. Edizon Fermin, Vice President for Academic Affairs at National Teachers College, the discussion focused on improving learning outcomes in the Philippines. It emphasized evidence-based policy decisions, stronger accountability among education leaders, and the importance of authentic assessments to accurately measure student progress.
In the afternoon, Dr. Amy Berry, Director of EngagED Consulting, led a plenary session on student engagement. She challenged traditional approaches and introduced innovative methods that empower both teachers and students to co-create meaningful learning experiences.
The second day of AECON began with a Thanksgiving Mass celebrated by Most Reverend Jesse Mercado, Bishop of Parañaque, reflecting on the journey of Rex Education and its mission to support Filipino education.
After the mass, REX CEO Don Timothy Buhain introduced the “Symphony of Learning Solutions,” a suite of educational resources supporting lifelong learning, from early childhood to professional development. This initiative highlights REX’s commitment to integrating assessment, intervention, and enrichment for educators and learners.
Buhain compared learning to a symphony, where every effort, resource, and voice comes together to create something meaningful. He assured, “The symphony will improve—with practice, continuous learning, change, and execution. In the future, there will be additions when they are necessary. We will listen and count on our Edukampyon community, including the voice of our learners.”
The “Symphony of Learning Solutions” includes lesson exemplars, learning instruments, digital platforms like Schoology, and targeted assessments to ensure wellrounded education at every stage.
As the congress concluded, a spirit of unity filled the hall as attendees stood for the Edukampyon Pledge. Led by Jeanne Marie Tordesillas, Chief Marketing Officer of REX, this solemn moment reaffirmed the commitment of educators and education stakeholders to advancing quality education, advocating for policies that support meaningful learning, and prioritizing the best interests of Filipino learners.
Reaching 75 years is a testament to Rex Education’s dedication to every learner and educator it has served. The journey continues.
In his message of gratitude, REX Chairman and President Atty. Dominador Buhain thanked all the Edukampyons and shared, “Seventy-five years, and our work is not yet done. The future demands more from us, and we accept that challenge with open hearts and minds... We vow to continue listening, learning, and innovating to provide high-quality learning solutions for every Filipino learner.”
As Rex Education looks beyond 75 years, its commitment remains—to be the trusted “katuwang” of every Filipino educator, school, and learner, fostering lifelong learning for generations—para sa bata, para sa mamamayan, para sa bayan, for life.
Fortes said, “This new PSA will bring great opportunity for the Calamian Group of Islands for its infrastructure development. It will pave the way for a continuous and reliable power supply, ensuring fully lit households and businesses throughout Calamian.”
CIPC President Eric B. Omamalin emphasized the long-term benefits of the partnership “Vivant Energy is committed to creating solutions to our changing world by delivering reliable energy systems. Our partnership with BISELCO ensures that the Calamian Islands have a stable and sustainable power supply to support economic growth and enhance everyday life. This agreement reflects our dedication to investing in longterm, adaptive solutions that empower communities and drive progress.”
This 15-year PSA is a testament to the power of collaboration between the private and cooperative sectors. By creating longterm energy solutions, this partnership sets a model for future projects that drive progress in underserved areas.
Growing MICE Destination: Business Meets Bliss at Boracay Newcoast
SUN, sea, and powdery white sand may be the first things that grab a traveler’s attention, but Boracay also has the essentials to be the prime location for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) in the Philippines. Hotels in the National Capital Region (NCR) are still the preferred choice for hosting events. However, recent surveys indicate a promising trend for Megaworld Hotels and Resorts (MHR), with their Boracay properties ranking as the third most popular option. Cleofe Albiso, Managing Director for MHR, says, “Our Savoy Hotel Boracay and Belmont Hotel Boracay have hosted several MICE groups starting 2023, which is a very encouraging sign for the recovery of the island.”
With the Boracay MICE business landscape gaining momentum, the tourism sector is now beyond the recovery phase and optimistic about continued growth in travel. Meetings such as pharmaceutical conventions, the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting, and the Prosecutors League of the Philippines Convention have all been recently held in Boracay. “After the pandemic, we are glad the domestic market patronized our island, but we are also hoping that our MICE organizers will consider Boracay as their new option for a MICE destination,” she said.
Boracay Newcoast is a perfect example of why Boracay should be the first choice when planning MICE. Aside from having a beautiful private beach, Megaworld’s integrated tourism destination on the northeast side of the island has the modern Boracay Newcoast Convention Center (BNCC) nestled within it. It has versatile function spaces that can be customized to meet an event’s needs, and with a maximum capacity of 1,000 persons for theater-type seating and 750 persons for banquet set-up, it meets the average seating requirements of medium and large-scale conventions and conferences.
Fully air-conditioned, with an all-important 100 percent backup power supply, BNCC has reliable internet connectivity and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment. Albiso said that in fitting out the convention center, MHR took into consideration the
The fine, white sand and turquoise waters of Boracay Newcoast’s private beach make a stunning photo background for guests.
major requirements of events, including social banquets and large weddings; thus, BNCC’s nine-meter-high ceiling allows organizers to have more room to be creative with their designs and layouts.
The convention center is also walkable from Boracay Newcoast’s hotels— Savoy Hotel Boracay and Belmont Hotel Boracay. This also means that guests are just steps away from the township’s private white beach. Just imagine, drinks on the beach after the afternoon plenary or perhaps an early morning walk on its fine, white sand before the convention day begins.
These BNC properties, once its soon-to-launch new hotel officially opens its doors, will collectively have more than 1,500 room keys, an array of dining options to please the palates of local and international guests, and plenty of recreational activities to enjoy with family and friends.
Set inside an exclusive 150-hectare property, Boracay Newcoast offers reasonably priced rooms, attentive service, and a distraction-free setting for conference goers with its own set of activities - which perfectly checks all the boxes that event planners might look for. Service is attentive. It’s far enough from White Beach to avoid distractions for conference goers but still has its own set of fun activities. Aside from the Boracay Newcoast Convention Center for large events and smaller function
rooms in the hotels for executive meetings or breakout sessions, there’s a lot of potential within the property for outdoor venues that are safe and secure.
“The versatile event spaces, both indoor and outdoor, at Savoy Hotel Boracay, Belmont Hotel Boracay, and BNCC are designed to meet the needs of every occasion,” says Maia Israel, Area General Manager for Boracay Newcoast properties and president for Boracay MICE Alliance. “With personalized service, state-of-the-art technology, and a serene island setting, we ensure that your business events are as productive as they are unforgettable. MHR hotels handle the banquet requirements for BNCC. Their culinary teams are fully equipped to ensure that clients’ dietary requirements, with BNC taking pride in having a Halal-certification, and food preferences are met by delivering tasty meals inspired by a variety of local and international cuisines. Both hotels also excel in creating themed banquet packages fit for any type of event. Aside from the classic Luau and Filipino fiesta, their teams have planned and executed themes that run the gamut from Bohemian to Karaoke, dinners under the stars, and street eats, with package inclusions such as an exhilarating fire dance, soothing acoustic performances, or a live DJ performance.
While Boracay is primarily known for leisure travels, corporate agenda also thrives because when bliss and business come together, only the best MICE events can come from that synergy.
“With the island’s naturally stunning seascapes, enhanced infrastructure, and growing capacity for hosting large-scale conferences and exhibitions, we are seeing a significant increase in demand for corporate events and incentives. With this in mind, we are poised to become a premier and vibrant MICE destination where there’s a perfect blend of relaxation and productivity,” says Israel. For Meetings, Incentives, Corporate, and Events inquiries at Savoy Hotel Boracay and Belmont Hotel Boracay, interested parties may contact reserve@ savoyboracay.com or stay@belmontboracay.com.ph, respectively.
Suzuki Auto Tuguegarao Celebrates Grand Opening
Suzuki Philippines continues to expand its footprint in Northern Luzon with the grand opening of Suzuki Auto Tuguegarao on March 26, 2025. This milestone marks another step in Suzuki’s commitment to providing quality automobiles and exceptional customer service, catering to the growing demand for mobility solutions in Tuguegarao and nearby areas. Strategically located along Maharlika Highway in Brgy. Tanza, Suzuki Auto Tuguegarao is well-positioned to serve the region’s automotive
two Suzuki models, allowing customers to experience the latest offerings firsthand. Complementing this is a well-equipped service area with four service bays, ensuring efficient vehicle maintenance and aftersales support. Customers in Tuguegarao and nearby provinces can now enjoy top-tier aftersales services,
IN the photo are, seated from left, BISELCO Board President Segundo Aguilar, BISELCO General Manager Ruth Fortes and CIPC President Erickson Omamalin. Standing from left are BISELCO Bid and Awards Committee Chairman Selwin Alili, NEA Project Supervisor Atty. Ivan Zamora, Vivant Energy President Emil Andre Garcia and Vivant Energy Vice President Mark Habana
Central banks brace for impact as Trump’s trade war ripples through global markets
By Craig Stirling & Laura Dhillon Kane
THE first Group of Seven monetary policy decisions since President Donald Trump’s trade war unleashed global market turmoil may prompt diverging responses from either side of the Atlantic.
While Bank of Canada officials on Wednesday could keep borrowing costs on hold to guard against the potential inflationary impact of an ongoing tariff battle with the US, the European Central Bank is now widely anticipated to reduce interest rates the following day.
The next Federal Reserve decision isn’t until May 7, so this week’s meetings put the onus on policymakers in Frankfurt and Ottawa to soothe investors while assessing the economic fallout from Trump’s action.
The US president has paused many of the harshest elements of his promised tariffs—with actions against China the exception—but market volatility and pervasive uncertainty may inflict damage too. ECB President Christine Lagarde hinted at those risks on Friday, saying officials are monitoring the situation and have tools available, and that price stability and financial stability go handin-hand.
This is the second time in just over two years that she and colleagues find themselves puzzling over a rate decision in the wake of turmoil emanating from the US, but before Fed policymakers met. After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank prompted market ructions in 2023, the ECB opted not to blink, and delivered a promised half-point hike.
On this occasion, the ECB’s decision may be more straightforward. With tariffs likely to hit the economy but the European Union holding off for now on inflationary countermeasures, officials are
widely expected to cut their rate by a quarter point.
Canada has more of a trade-off to consider. While Trump’s tariffs are already hurting business investment and consumer spending, inflation expectations are spiking. Data on consumer prices out on Tuesday may prove pivotal for their judgment.
“The ECB’s next interest rate decision on April 17 is becoming an easier one to make. On top of the potential direct hit to the euro-area economy from US tariffs, the Governing Council will also have to take into consideration the impact of a stronger currency,” said Bloomberg economists David Powell and Simona della Chiaie. Elsewhere, rate decisions from South Korea to Turkey, Chinese GDP data, and inflation reports from the UK to Japan are among the highlights.
US economy AGAINST a backdrop of rising Treasury yields, weaker dollar and slumping stocks tied to US trade policy, investors will be seeking clues from Fed policymakers on their appetite for lower interest rates.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell will offer his assessment of the economy in a speech on Wednesday before the Economic Club of Chicago. The same day, regional Fed presidents Jeff Schmid and Lorie Logan will discuss the economy and banking.
On Monday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller speaks on the economic outlook, and Fed Governor Lisa Cook will offer remarks
Tuesday.
Meanwhile, March retail sales on Wednesday are projected to show a solid increase as consumers raced to beat tariffs on imported motor vehicles and auto parts. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists calls for a 1.4 percent jump in sales, the largest monthly increase since the start of 2023.
Industry data show vehicle sales increased to an annualized 17.77 million pace, the strongest month for car dealers in nearly four years, according to Ward’s Intelligence. Trump raised duties on imported autos and parts to 25 percent, which went into effect on April 3.
Excluding vehicles, gasoline, building materials and food services—the so-called control-group sales, which closely track goods spending within the gross domestic product report—sales are seen posting a solid gain to cap an otherwise tepid quarter for the consumer.
Also on Wednesday, industrial production data will probably show a 0.2 percent decline in March as moderate temperatures limited utility output and manufacturing cooled. Government figures on Thursday are forecast to show a decline in housing starts as builders concentrated on reducing new-home inventory.
Asia
DATA from China, which is currently bearing the brunt of Trump’s global tariff onslaught, may point to waning momentum before the US president’s levies were unveiled.
Export numbers on Monday are seen likely to show slowing in March, while first-quarter GDP numbers two days later are anticipated to reveal evidence of an economy losing steam. In a report on Thursday, consumer deflation persisted for a second month.
Despite the pressure bearing down on it, Beijing hasn’t flinched. On Friday, China retaliated against Trump’s latest tariffs by hiking duties on all US goods, calling the administration’s actions
a “joke,” and saying it no longer considers them worth matching.
A rate decision is expected on Monday from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, with Bloomberg Economics anticipating easing. On Thursday, South Korea’s central bank is predicted to keep its borrowing costs unchanged. Countries releasing inflation numbers in the coming week include India on Tuesday, New Zealand on Thursday, and Japan on Friday.
Europe, Middle East, Africa UK reports are likely to draw investor attention, with data pointing to the strength of price pressures in the economy.
On Tuesday, the labor-market report may reveal still-buoyant wage growth. The following day, inflation numbers are likely to show weakening on both headline and underlying measures, though still with outcomes that remain well above the 2 percent level targeted by the Bank of England. Neither report may offer policymakers enough comfort to accelerate monetary easing despite the global backdrop of trade tensions, not least after Friday’s report showing an unexpected surge in growth during February.
In the euro zone, second-tier economic reports may help guide ECB policymakers toward their
decision on Thursday. February
industrial production will be released on Tuesday, as will the German ZEW survey of investor sentiment.
The same day, Israel’s annual inflation may show deceleration to 3.2 percent in March. That would still be above the country’s target range of 1 percent to 3 percent, and may cause the central bank to wait for a further slowdown before beginning a cycle of rate cuts to help the war-strained economy.
Several rate decisions are planned around the region:
On Wednesday, Namibia will likely leave its key rate at 6.75 percent in line with South Africa’s unchanged stance last month. The Namibian dollar is pegged to the rand, and policy there is often guided by the actions of its bigger neighbor.
Botswana on Thursday is poised to keep its rate at 1.9 percent for a fourth meeting to quell inflation that’s at a six-month high.
The same day, Turkey’s monetary policy committee faces a tricky decision as it meets for the first time since a period of market turmoil triggered by the detention of opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu. Most analysts see a pause in easing, although Goldman Sachs is among a few banks predicting a hike.
Egypt’s central bank may begin
an easing cycle with a rate cut on Thursday. After a recent slowdown in inflation, the country’s real rate is about 15 percent, among the world’s highest. But money outflows in the wake of US tariffs could still prompt a delay. Ukraine’s central bank reveals its own decision the same day, following its move last month to raise borrowing costs by 1 percentage point.
Latin America
IN his first year in office, President Javier Milei delivered a fiscal surplus, Argentina’s first in over a decade and roughly equivalent to 1.8 percent of GDP—and 0.3 percent after accounting for interest payments. March data posted Wednesday will likely show the government notching its 14th monthly surplus since 2023. In a landmark moment, Argentina on Friday reached a $20 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund after Milei made sweeping changes to ease the nation’s currency controls. Peru on Tuesday publishes February GDP-proxy data along with the March labor market report for its megacity capital, Lima. The nation’s economy has expanded faster than expected for seven straight months, and Finance Minister Jose Salardi says Peru can grow as much as 4 percent this year and 5 percent the next.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect growth of 3 percent this year, up from 2.8 percent forecast in December, on the back of higher metal prices. Peru is the world’s No. 3 copper producer and a major exporter of gold. After losing some momentum toward the end of 2024, Colombia’s economy picked up steam in January on the back of lower interest rates and higher real wages. A raft of indicators in the coming week will likely support the consensus view that 2025 GDP will tick higher for a third year. With assistance from Andrew Atkinson, Vince Golle, Robert Jameson, Joel Rinneby, Piotr Skolimowski and Monique Vanek/Bloomberg
EU scrambles to expand €2 trillion global trade club as US links sour
By Alberto Nardelli
THE European Union is racing to clinch trade deals with countries around the world in an effort to diversify away from an increasingly protectionist US as officials worry that the transatlantic relationship has been irreversibly damaged.
The bloc’s chief trade negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, will travel to Washington on Monday to lobby for a reduction in the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on €380 billion ($432 billion) of the bloc’s exports. In tandem with the talks, the EU is ramping up efforts to strike free-trade accords elsewhere, since officials think ties with the US won’t ever go back to the status quo, according to people familiar with the matter.
The EU already has the largest network of trade agreements in the world, covering some 75 partners and more than €2 trillion in trade, according to data compiled by the bloc. But diversifying away from the US is no easy task — transatlantic trade in goods and services reached €1.6 trillion in 2023.
“Europe continues to focus on diversifying its trade partner -
ships, engaging with countries that account for 87% of global trade and share our commitment to a free and open exchange of goods, services, and ideas,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a Thursday statement, referring to the percentage of worldwide trade that doesn’t include the US.
The commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, has in recent weeks been urging capitals to get on board with the bloc’s trade agenda and speed up the approval process for accords, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Concluding trade deals and opening up new markets is a key element of the EU’s strategy to respond to Trump’s tariffs. Efforts to expand the EU’s web of agreements stalled in recent years mostly due to objections from member states such as France, which has a powerful agriculture industry.
But Trump’s policies have spurred renewed impetus to diversify supply chains and access new markets. In recent months, the EU has moved trade talks forward with the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and
India, among others. The disruption has also buoyed conversations between the EU and the UK over a deal to reset post-Brexit relations.
Free-trade agreements account for about 45% of EU trade with outside countries and deals that were awaiting adoption or ratification as of last year would add more than €185 billion worth of trade to the bloc’s tally.
In a further pivot to Asia, von der Leyen said on Thursday that the EU will explore closer cooperation with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade bloc that stretches from Australia to Canada. Trump pulled out of the partnership’s previous iteration in 2017.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has proposed using the accord as the basis for a wider agreement with the EU on a rules-based trading bloc.
Driving the EU’s diversification push is the raft of tariffs Trump has announced since the start of his presidency, which are now hitting most countries. Last week, he announced a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on nearly all the bloc’s exports, which he subsequently delayed for
URSULA VON DER LEYEN. BLDOOMBERG
90 days, leaving a new 10% rate in place.
The US has also imposed a 25% levy on EU steel and aluminum exports and a 25% levy on the bloc’s cars and some auto parts. Trump has also said he’ll announce additional tariffs on lumber, semiconductor chips and pharmaceutical products.
Trump this week boosted the tariff rate on Chinese goods to 145%, raising concern in Europe that Beijing will divert its goods toward the bloc and flood the market with cheap products. In a call
held earlier this week with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, von der Leyen discussed setting up a mechanism for tracking possible diversion and possible remedies.
Von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, who coordinates meetings of EU leaders, will travel to Beijing in July for a summit.
The EU and China have agreed to discuss cooperation in electricvehicle supply chains and are exploring ways to update a customs cooperation agreement, according to the people.
Some EU member states, including Spain, have argued for closer ties with Beijing — a move that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned against, saying it “would be like cutting your own throat.”
Most capitals remain skeptical of forging deeper relations with China, and French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Friday cautioned against turning to Beijing, saying China is trying “to replace all European producers in the world of agriculture and industry.”
The largest trade deal the EU is seeking to complete is with the South American Mercosur bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Mercosur accord seeks to create an integrated market of 780 million consumers in Europe and Latin America.
After more than two decades of negotiations, the two regions reached a political agreement in December for a free-trade pact. Following Trump’s new tariffs, Austria said it would ditch its long-time opposition to the deal, bolstering the ratification process. Bloomberg News
B8 | Tuesday april 15, 2025
mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph
Editor: Jun Lomibao
Rory conqers Augusta, Mathieu tops Roubaix
THE Premier Volleyball League has opened applications for the 2025 Rookie Draft set for June 7.
A pplicants must be female at birth, as indicated in a PSA-issued birth certificate. An applicant must be at least 21 years old on or before Dec. 31, 2025. Those below 21 years old must be college graduates. There is no requirement for collegiate playing experience or academic units.
A spiring pros must fill out the application form at http://pvl.ph/ draft and email additional required documents to draft@pvl.ph. The application window closes on May 23, with the final list of applicants to be announced on June 4.
W hile no rookies played in the All-Filipino Conference finals won by Petro Gazz over Creamline, they were among the breakout stars throughout the conference. Among the standout players were Thea Gagate of ZUS Coffee, Ishie Lalongisip of Cignal and Julia Coronel of Galeries Tower.
Filipino-foreign applicants must secure a Philippine passport or a receipt indicating the passport’s release before the May 23 deadline. An applicant who played college volleyball in the Philippines outside the University Athletic Association of the Philippines or National Collegiate Athletic Association must submit an endorsement letter from a currently registered PVL, UAAP or NCAA coach. They must also submit a notarized declaration of no pending obligations with their collegiate or club team prior to applying for the draft.
A pplicants must submit a fitto-play medical clearance from a licensed physician along with a medical declaration.
T he draft lottery is scheduled for May 26.
Awith sheer brilliance. A two-shot lead gone in two holes. A four-shot lead gone in three holes with a shocker of a mistake. A 5-foot putt on the final hole to win narrowly missed. And then McIlroy turned what could have been another major collapse into his grandest moment of all when he hit wedge to three feet for birdie in a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose to become—finally—a Masters champion and take his place in golf history as the sixth player with the career Grand Slam.
“There were points in my career where I didn’t know if I would have this nice garment over my shoulders,” McIlroy said, that Masters green jacket looking like a perfect fit. “But I didn’t make it easy today. I certainly didn’t make it easy. I was nervous.
“It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever had on the golf course.”
T he reward was greater than he imagined, and it showed. He rapped in that final putt, raised both arms in the air and let the putter fall behind him. He covered his head, dropped to his knees, and before long his forehead was on the green as his chest heaved with emotion.
That was 11 years of pent-up emotion from his last major, when he began to carry the burden of getting the final leg of the Grand Slam. It was 14 years of remembering the time he wasted a four-shot lead with an 80 on the final day as a 21-year-old.
“I star ted to wonder if it would ever be my time,” he said.
The thought could have easily crossed his mind during the final round.
W hat could have been a coronation
for McIlroy along the back nine turned into a heart-racing, lead-changing, jaw-dropping finish at golf’s greatest theater that ended with McIlroy sobbing with joy and disbelief.
I t ended with more heartache for Rose, who lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff in 2017 and forced this one with a clutch 20-foot birdie on the 18th hole for a 6-under 66. He wound up joining Ben Hogan as the only players to lose twice in playoffs at Augusta National.
“It’s the kind of putt you dream about as a kid, and to have it and hole it, it was a special feeling,” Rose said. “And unfortunately, the playoff, they always end so quickly. If you’re not the guy to hit the great shot or hole the great putt, it’s over. But not really anything I could have done more today.”
T he joy on McIlroy’s face never left him from the time that putt dropped—on the green, in Butler Cabin when defending champion Scottie Scheffler first helped him into the green jacket, and during the trophy presentation on the 18th green.
“M y dreams have been made today,” McIlroy said.
M oments later, speaking to 4-year-old daughter Poppy, he told her: “Never give up on your dreams. Never, ever give up on your dreams.”
T his was shaping up as another horror show for McIlroy, who in 2011 lost a four-shot lead on the final day with a 43 on the back nine, a highlight
Van der Poel rules Paris-Roubaix a third time at Pogačar’s expense
ROUBAIX, France—Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel benefited from Tadej Pogačar’s late crash on Sunday to win the Paris-Roubaix race for the third straight year.
Pogačar’s debut appearance at the one-day classic saw him seeking to become the first Tour de France champion to win it since Bernard Hinault in 1981.
The 259.2-kilometer race is called “The Hell of the North” because of its numerous cobblestone sections and reputation for crashes.
Pogačar found that out with 38 kilometers to go.
The 26-year-old Slovenian was neckand-neck with Van der Poel when he misjudged a turn on a cobblestone section and went into the crash barriers.
Although he was unhurt, his chain came off and he had to change bikes, losing crucial time. Then, when he picked up a puncture with 20 kilometers to go, his victory chances were gone.
The grueling race is one of the five “monuments” in one-day cycling along with Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the Tour of Lombardy, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders.
Van der Poel, who raised his bike in the air in celebration, and Pogačar have won eight monuments each.
“It means a lot. It’s such a hard race, I was suffering. I just had to go for it,” Van der Poel said. “I’m
reel that now can start collecting dust.
“I di dn’t make it easy today,” McIlroy said. R ight when it looked as though he would throw away another major, McIlroy delivered two majestic shots when nothing less would do, two birdies that sent him to the 18th hole with a oneshot lead.
That still wasn’t enough. He hit a wedge into the bunker and wound up missing a 5-foot par putt for a 1-over 73 and the first Masters playoff in eight years.
Faced with more failure, McIlroy responded with another booming drive, and this wedge bounced onto the slope of the top shelf with enough spin to trickle down toward the hole, closer and closer, until it stopped 3 feet away.
A nd when Rose missed from 15 feet, McIlroy finally sealed it.
“I ju st think all week how I responded to setbacks, that’s what I’ll take from this week,” McIlroy said, though he could have been speaking for the last decade.
“Couldn’t be more proud I myself for that and being able to back bounce when I needed to.” AP
By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco
THE Philippines became the first country in the Asia Pacific to officially join the Special Olympics Global Coalition for Inclusion, with the Department of Education (DepED) teaming up with Special Olympics Pilipinas to hold programs for people with intellectual disabilities.
The Special Olympics Global Coalition for Inclusion, now with 21 participating countries, works with governments and the private sector to expand the reach of inclusive education through sports.
Around 50,000 students from preschool to senior high across 500 schools will participate, while at least 2,000 educators will receive training to promote inclusive practices in schools.
T he program provides a stage for people with and without intellectual disabilities to play sports alongside each other. This partnership reaffirms our commitment to inclusive education and sports, ensuring that every Filipino child, regardless of ability, has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive in a more equitable society,”
followed this man’s career ever since he started playing and he’s always been close but no cigar like a putt to win it all where the ball stops at literally the razor thin edge of the hole coming up short time after time with near misses. He won a tense playoff against a formidable foe in Justin Rose staying cool calm and collected, making sure there won’t be futile number 17. The 35 year old from Northern Ireland closed it out right on the first hole of the sudden death playoff. After getting it done, McIlroy fell on his knees and let out all the emotion pent up by the past 16 attempts to win golf’s most prestigious tournament.
“I w ould say it was 14 years in the making, from going out with a four-shot lead in 2011, feeling like I could have gotten it done there,” McIlroy said. “Yeah,
City were Special Olympics Asia Pacific President & Managing Director Dipak Natali and Special Olympics Pilipinas chairperson and National President Akiko Thomson-Guevara.
said Education Secretary Juan Edgardo
“Sonny” Angara recently. A lso present during the signing ceremony held at the Philippine School for the Deaf in Pasay
