BusinessMirror April 21, 2022

WTTC sees PHL tourism raising $155B by ’32 B M. S F. A

@akosistellaBM Special to the BM

T TOURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat (center) is flanked by WTTC President and CEO Julia Simpson and WTTC Chairman Arnold Donald at the news conference opening the three-day 21st WTTC Global Summit in Manila. PHOTO COURTESY OF WTTC

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HE Philippines received high praise from a global tourism body for leading the way in reopening the Asia-Pacific region to international leisure travel.

In a news conference on Wednesday to mark the opening of the 21st World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit, WTTC Chairman Arnold Donald said, “The Philippines has led by example and spearheading the reopening and recovery of the region,” which in 2019, was actually the fastest growing in the world.

He noted that there were over 1,000 delegates attending the conference at the Manila Marriott Hotel, 600 of who are foreign visitors.

WTTC officials also expressed optimism about the country’s tourism prospects, as it announced partial data from its Philippines Economic Impact Report. Its President and CEO Julia Simpson said, “We forecast an average annual growth rate of 6.7 percent over the next 10 years here in the Philippines exceeding the Philippines’ expected overall economic average growth rate of 5.6 percent.”

As such, WTTC forecasts that travel and tourism’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic

product (GDP) could be worth more than $155 billion in 2032, accounting for 21.4 percent of the whole economy.

She added, employment will also “grow annually by an average of 3 percent for the next 10 years generating a critically important 2.9 million new jobs, which will account for 21.5 percent of all jobs in the Philippines.”

’Fourth fastest growing economy’

THE positive projections for the country stem from the increase in the number of domestic trips taken in the country, giving a massive 129-percent boost to the sector’s

contribution to GDP in 2021. This rise was equivalent to $41 billion versus the $17.8 billion recorded in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to global travel restrictions.

“The impressive rise of the sector’s contribution to the country’s economy saw it ranked as the world’s fourth fastest growing economy during 2021,” said Simpson.

However, this was still short of the $93-billion prepandemic level in 2019, which accounted for 22.5 percent of the country’s GDP. She stressed that growth in 2021 supported 7.8 million jobs in the country, growing an “impresC  A

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Thursday, April 21, 2022 Vol. 17 No. 193

P.  |     | 7 DAYS A WEEK

SPURRED IMF UPGRADE DTI courts investors in RE projects, data centers

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@BcuaresmaBM

HE weakerthan expected impact of the recent Omicron surge on the country’s economy drove the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) most recent move to upgrade its projection on the Philippine economy.

In an e-mailed response to the BM, IMF Resident Representative to the Philippines Ragnar Gudmundsson said the revision of their growth projection from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent reflects the Philippines’s “signs of economic recovery” from the pandemic, beginning especially in the second half of 2021.

“The recovery momentum is expected to strengthen in 2022 owing to the weaker-than-expected impact of the domestic Omicron wave. As a result, annual GDP growth in 2022 is projected at 6.5 percent, higher than the January 2022 WEO [World Economic Outlook] forecast of 6.3 percent, notwithstanding some adverse spillovers from the virus resurgence in trading partners and the Ukraine-Russia crisis,” Gudmundsson said.

“The output gap is expected to close in 2023 and the mediumterm economic growth is forecast to return to the pre-pandemic rate of 6.5 percent by 2024,” the resident representative added.

In its World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday night, the IMF data showed an upgrade of its Philippine growth forecast from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent for this year. For next year, the global monetary authority projects a 6.3-percent growth for the country.

Compared to the forecasts of its Asean+5 peers, the Philippines is looking to grow the fastest for 2022, followed by Vietnam’s projected growth of 6 percent, Malaysia’s projected growth of 5.6 percent, Indonesia’s 5.4 percent, and

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HE Department of Trade and Industry is pursuing investors that would build data centers and renewable energy projects in the Philippines.

DTI officials led by Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez met with executives from the ENDECGROUP Inc. and Black and Veatch (B&V) on April 18 and cited the Duterte administration’s major economic reforms and investment promotion activities on high-tech-oriented projects.

“Among our priority sectors include those that promote Regional Equity, Digital Infrastructure and Skills Development, and Climate Adaptation, which can potentially be categorized under Tier III of the Strategic Investment Priority Plan [SIPP],” Sec. Lopez said.

“Building more data centers supports our strategy to build the country’s digital infrastructure needed for the hyperscalers in this age of growing e-commerce and internet and social media use,” he added.

Meanwhile, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), through the 2022 National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, has expressed concern over the electronic commerce situation in the Philippines since it was reported as one

FLASH-MOB AT THE MALL Dancers surprise mall-goers with a flash-mob performance during the launching of the Grab Gigil Summer Sale at Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. NONOY LACZA

S “DTI,” A

2021 NET OIL IMPORT BILL SOARS 89% TO $11.15B ON GREATER BIZ ACTIVITY B L L @llectura

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HE country’s net oil import bill shot up by 89 percent to $11.15 billion last year from $5.9 billion in 2020, reflecting an improved economic activity as quarantine restrictions eased.

The net import bill is the difference between oil imports and exports. In 2021, the total volume of petroleum products imported stood at 23.4 billion.

The Philippines imported 4.7 billion liters of crude and 18.7 billion liters of finished products in

2021. The cost of total imports stood at $11.7 billion last year.

Meanwhile, total export earnings reached $580 million, equivalent to 1.2 billion liters.

Of these, 100 million liters are crude and 1.1 billion liters are finished products.

The DOE requires a minimum inventory requirement for refiners—a combination of 30 days’ supply of crude oil and finished products. Bulk of oil suppliers and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) importers without refining capacity are asked to maintain 15 days’ supply of finished products and seven

days’ supply of LPG. The DOE’s Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) Director Rino Abad said the strong demand for petroleum products was observed in 2021, as mobility increased.

Meanwhile, the same DOE data showed that Petron Corporation remained the largest oil firm with a market share of 19.2 percent, followed by Pilipinas Shell with 15 percent.

The market share of Caltex stood at 5.3 percent; Unioil, 7.1 percent; Phoenix fuels, 6.4 percent; and Seaoil, 5.5 percent.

S “R,” A

PESO EXCHANGE RATES

■ US 52.3810 ■ JAPAN 0.4063 ■ UK 68.1005 ■ HK 6.6795 ■ SINGAPORE 38.3070 ■ AUSTRALIA 38.6310 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 13.9687 ■ EU 56.5296 ■ CHINA 8.1922

Source: BSP (April 20, 2022)

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News BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Recovery...

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Thailand’s 3.3 percent. The average projected growth for the economic bloc this year is at 5.3 percent.

Just last week, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)—in their annual report the Asean+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO)—also forecasted a 6.5-percent growth for the Philippines for this year.

The emerging 6.5-percent projection, however, is still below the government’s target growth for 2022, which is at 7 to 9 percent.

In terms of inflation, the IMF sees the Philippines’ inflation to breach the government’s 2 to 4 percent target range and average at 4.3 percent.

This is consistent with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) latest inflation projection.

Gudmundsson said while the surge in commodity and food prices is projected to result in average headline inflation at 4.3 percent in 2022, the end-year inflation should come down to 4 percent, remaining within the BSP’s target band of 2-4 percent.

The resident representative also said that BSP’s stance to curb inflation remains data-driven and may call for some tightening in the second half of the year.

This is also consistent with the BSP governor’s guidance of starting to taper off monetary policy in the second half of the year.

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Last 2 Comelec debates to focus on economic infra reforms, labor

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CONOMIC infrastructure reforms and labor policies will be among the topics to be tackled by national candidates in the last two remaining debates to be organized by the Commission on Elections this weekend.

During the presidential debate on April 23, 2022, Comelec Commissioner George M. Garcia said the participants will discuss electoral reforms, education and eco-

nomic infrastructure, particularly on the “digital frontier.”

Meanwhile, the poll official said issues concering indigenous people, persons with disabilities, work

force, farmers, overseas Filipino workers (OFW), LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer), and women will be discussed by vice presidential bets on April 24, 2022.

Poll officials earlier said that the last two of its five-part debate series for national candidates will be in town hall format wherein the audience will be given greater participation.

During the first three debates held by Comelec for the 2022 polls, the candidates were asked questions, which were selected by Comelec. Two of the said debates, which were held last March 19 and

April 3, were for presidential candidates. A debate for vice presidential candidates was also held last March 20.

All of the presidential and vice presidential candidates participated in the said events except for former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, and Buhay Party-list Rep. Jose “Lito” L. Atienza Jr. Marcos is running for president, while Carpio and Atienza, who gave medical reasons for skipping the debate—are part of the vice presidential race in the 2022 polls.

Samuel P. Medenilla

VP Leni vows to boost agri, education, health B R A

@reneacostaBM

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ICE President Leni Robredo assured Negrenses on Tuesday that she will double the budget of the agriculture sector and improve education and health services if she becomes the country’s next president.

She gave the assurance during a rally in Canlaon City, Negros Oriental wherein she declared that education, health and agriculture would be top priorities of her administration. “’Yun, ’yung aming pangako sa inyo. ’Yung budget natin sa agrikultura, dodoblehin natin. ’Yung ating pong health-care system, sisigu-

raduhin natin na hindi niyo na kailangan pumunta pa ng malayo para makakuha kayo ng medical attention,” Robredo said.

[That’s our promise to you. We will double the budget for agriculture. We will make sure our health care system is fi xed, so you don’t have to go too far just to get medical attention].

“Sisiguraduhin po natin, hindi magiging hadlang ang kahirapan para matanggap niyo ’yung medical assistance na kinakailangan ninyo. Aasikasuhin po natin ’yung pagpalakas ng local government units at mga basehang sector,” she added.

[We will make sure poverty won’t be a barrier to get medical assistance. We will strengthen local government units and basic sectors].

Robredo also assured them that all senior citizens will receive their pensions and, when told that not all have been receiving their government-granted benefits, said she may even double it.

“Some mayors told us that few senior citizens are getting pensions. I told them our program will not discriminate. All senior citi-

zens will receive pensions and we will double that because we know how hard it is for you,” she said, speaking in Filipino.

The vice president noted that the amount that senior citizens are currently receiving is not even enough to cover for their medicines. Robredo was in Negros Oriental just hours after holding a rally in Balanga, Bataan on Monday night, which was attended by an estimated 65,000 people and did not have any prominent provincial and municipal officials present.

“You know, we are quite apprehensive because we don’t have many local officials on our side here. But you proved tonight by your presence where true power lies,” the vice president said.

Before her sortie in Bataan, the presidential candidate campaigned in Zambales where a huge crowd also showed up in her rally in Olongapo City.

During the rally, the Aetas of Zambales endorsed the candidacy of Robredo, with chieftain Fe Domulot raising her hand and that of her running mate, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.

WTTC sees PHL tourism raising $155B by ’32 C  A

sive” 20 percent from 2020. “[The growth led] to the recovery of 1.8 million more jobs compared to the previous year. Our export analysis shows the economy has turned a corner and is firmly on the road to recovery. And I really want to publicly recognize the work of [Tourism] Secretary Bernadette [Romulo Puyat] for her leadership. She has absolutely led Southeast Asia and she has been removing restrictions, which has allowed so many of us to be here today, and she has been reopening borders and consequently reopening the Philippines.”

Seamless travel

IN her opening remarks, Romulo Puyat described the three-day conference as a “momentous occasion” for the global tourism industry striving to revive and rediscover travel, and significant for the Philippines hosting a large international event for the first time, shortly after the country reopened to international leisure travelers.

During the open forum, she declined to make projections on tourism arrivals for the year. “Of course. I don’t think it can be, as soon as the 2019 levels, but at least we are getting there. But we are also still working on making it as easier and seamless for all travelers.” In 2019, inbound tourist arrivals reached 8.26 million, the highest in history. With the international pandemic restrictions, however, arrivals fell to 1.48 million, then plunged by 89 percent to 163,879.

From February 10, when the Philippines reopened to foreign

guests, to April 18, 2022, arrivals reached 272,345. Of this number, close to 60 percent or 161,666 were foreigners and 110,679 were balikbayans (homecoming Filipinos).

Local tour operators have expressed surprise at the quick recovery of their bookings from foreign visitors especially from the US, Canada, and Europe.

DTI...

C  A

of the barriers to digital trade.

“The USTR has expressed concerns about the proposed Internet Transaction Act, which was introduced in June 2020 and still pending full congressional approval in the Philippines as of March 2022,” the report read.

In addition, the USTR also emphasized that: “While US cloud service providers are active in the Philippine market, they continue to face constraints that limit their participation, particularly in competing for government projects.”

On a lighter note, US cloudbased services providers back the Philippines’ plans to digitize public service functions. This, amid continuing concerns about government-mandated data localization requirements, apparently tasked to ensure cybersecurity or address latency issues as stressed by the USTR. Sec. Lopez also pointed out during the meeting: “The setting-up of renewable energy projects would also benefit from the recent policy move to allow greater foreign equity participation in renewable energy projects.”

He added that the “DTIBoard of Investments [BOI] team has also been pushing for more green metals processing activities or the further processing of nickel, copper and cobalt as new efficient minerals for batteries and battery energy storage for clean energy systems,” he added. For his part, B&V Executive Director Martin Travers took note of the Philippine policies on electric vehicles (EVs), renewable energy, and data centers which align with the priorities and strategic direction of the US firm.

Meanwhile, ENDECGROUP Chairman and CEO Mr. Bill Johnson recognized the country’s strategic location in the Asia Pacific region.

Johnson considers the Philippines’s existing infrastructure in telecommunications and submarine cables, strong business process outsourcing (BPO) hub, and ability to develop renewable energy as factors that make the Philippines an ideal location for their investments.

B&V is among the top 10 employee-owned firms in the US, with experience in installing a network of EV charging stations. It is also among the top data center developers in the world and a leader in climatefriendly data centers.

Andrea E. San Juan

CON ARTIST USING BBM TOP AIDE’S NAME NABBED

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HE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested a woman who solicited money, using the name of Atty. Vic D. Rodriguez, the chief of staff and spokesman of presidential frontrunner Ferdinand ’Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr., purportedly to help the victims of typhoon Agaton.

The report by Atty. Jerome Bomediano, chief of the Special Action Unit (SAU), to NBI officer-in-charge Director Eric Distor, identified the suspect as Caseilyn dela Cruz Cardenas, 31, of 1018 Morales Street, Lolomboy, Bocuae, Bulacan. She was arrested based on a complaint filed by Atty. Rodriguez and Arsenio Boy Evangelista of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC).

It was learned that on April 18, Rodriguez filed a complaint with the NBI after receiving information that some individuals were using his fake Facebook account to illegally solicit money from wealthy businessmen.

The modus operandi of the suspect and her group is to call or send a message to their potential victims before asking for donations for the alleged relief operation of the BBM camp for the victims of typhoon Agaton.

Rodriguez said that many of his friends called him about this type of solicitation and one of those who gave him the information was Evangelista.

Allegedly, Cardenas’ group is demanding

P120,000 as a shipping fee for deliveries of tons of rice. The money is forwarded under the name of a Jennylyn E. Complido, with BDO account No. 002430167693.

According to Atty. Mark Santiago, Executive Officer for Operations of NBI-SAU, he immediately instructed Senior Agent (SRA) Levi Anthony Royeras to file an entrapment operation against the suspect. The suspect was arrested on the night of April 18, in her hometown.

Recovered from the suspect were an iPhone 6 unit, a BDO ATM card and a receipt of Cebuana Lhuillier Pera Padala.

Cardenas, however, denied the charge against her, claiming that a National Bilibid Prison inmate she identified as a certain Kiko allegedly instructed her to open a bank account where some money will be deposited to be used to buy a car.

She admitted that before her arrest, P50,000 had been deposited in her bank account, which she sent to Kiko through Cebuana Pera Padala.

When asked about Kiko’s real identity, the suspect failed to identify him except by saying that they were former batchmates at Lolomboy National High School.

The suspect is now detained at the NBI detention cell for violating RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) and attempted estafa in relation to RA 10175.

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DILG slams FB for flagging NSC chief’s post on natl security

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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HE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Wednesday took the cudgels for National Security Council Director-General Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and denounced social-media platform Facebook (FB) for its warning issued to the country’s top national security official.

In a news statement posted on the official web site of the DILG, Undersecretary Jonathan E. Malaya, DILG and National Task Force to End Communist Conflict spokesperson, attacked and branded as “biased” FB’s “fact-checkers.”

He described such a warning issued to Esperon, also the concurrent National Security Adviser, for his FB post on April 14, 2022, urging all Filipinos to unite to end the communist insurgency, as “imprudent” and “audacious.”

“The imprudence of FB to warn Secretary Esperon on a national security issue is unthinkable and downright offensive as the socialmedia platform has taken on the role of ‘Big Brother’ with the power to censure the social-media posts of the NSA himself on matters of national security,” the statement read.

On April 14, Esperon’s official account received a restriction warning from Facebook for its post last year, which allegedly did not follow the platform’s standard.

Esperon took this to his account on April 13 and called on FB stating that between him and FB, it is him who should know better when it comes to matters of national security. “I should know better than you do on matters of national security,” Esperon said.

The official went on to raise the question of how come Facebook issued such a restriction for his post about ending the insurgency in the Philippines. He said as NSC chief, he knows what he is talking about and has the basis for such.

“How come I was restricted by Facebook when I shared a status about ending the insurgency in the country? As NSA, I sure know what I’m talking about and have a basis for it. How did I violate the community standards when I only shared the truth?” he asked.

According to Malaya, such a move

by FB is alarming, if not dangerous.

“This move of FB is alarming, if not dangerous, as it has appointed itself as an omnipotent force that can censure at their discretion— based on standards that they themselves created—the legitimate posts of highly respected officials of the country,” Malaya added in his statement posted on Wednesday, April 20.

Malaya also said FB and its factcheckers seem to be overly focused on calling out and restricting the accounts of government officials while turning a blind eye to others.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, April 21, 2022 A3

Study predicts surge in poll-related violence as election day draws near

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

LECTION-RELATED violent (ERV) incidents are expected to escalate further as the May 9 polls draw nearer, according to a study released by the Ateneo School of Government (ASOG) through the Ateneo Policy Center (APC).

In the past three election periods, researchers from the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) led by Imelda B. Deinla found that there were a total of 351 election-related incidents in the country.

The study also showed that the majority or 195 of such recorded incidents were lethal or resulted in at least one death.

“As the Philippines goes into the 2022 national elections to elect new sets of national and local leaders, there is danger that the Philippines

may yet again experience a surge of electoral violence given the highly contested nature of these elections,” the study predicted.

“It is for this reason that this study has been conducted to specifically locate spatial trends, or where and when ERVs might be on the uptake and identify risk factors that may correlate to these patterns,” it added.

In order to prevent an upsurge of violence in the country’s elections, the ASOG-APC said there is a need

to implement anti-political dynasty reforms which have been severely plaguing Philippine local politics since the end of the Marcos era.

Previous ASOG-APC studies have shown that dynasties continue to rise across all local elected positions since 1987. The study warned that this trend might only further perpetuate ERVs. “Using the ASOG Political Dynasties Dataset, a positive relationship was observed between the number of ERV incidents and the concentration of dynastic officials in a province for a given year. That is, more dynastic provinces are more likely to exhibit higher total incidents of ERVs than less dynastic provinces,” the study stated.

Further, the researchers said stronger legislative frameworks that respond to matters relating to firearms ownership and against the establishment of private armies should be crafted.

There is also a need for more collaborative and coordinated efforts to address the means, effects and causes of election violence in the Philippines.

Findings

THE data showed that 77 percent or 63 out of the 81 provinces in the country were reported to have at least one ERV incident between 2012 and 2019.

The ERV hot spots were Malabon City, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur, Cebu, Eastern Samar, Batangas, Quezon, Masbate, Nueva Ecija, Ilocos Norte, Abra, La Union, and Isabela.

Further, the study found the majority of the ERV incidents targeted state actors or incumbent reelectionist public officials, non-state actors or ordinary citizens or known supporters of other candidates. Other ERV targets were armed groups, civil society, foreign nationals, and unknown persons.

The dataset also showed a buildup of ERV incidents targeting state actors the most just days before the election. Ordinary citizens became targets in these incidents on election day.

Then, a significant number of ERV incidents targeting state actors once again occur right after

Comelec dismisses last DQ case vs Marcos Jr.

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has finally dismissed the last case against presidential candidate former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., which has been pending in one of its divisions.

Comelec Commissioner George M. Garcia on Wednesday confirmed the promulgation of the decision of the Comelec First Division dismissing the disqualification case filed

by Margarita Salonga Salandanan and members of the Pudno Nga Ilokano group against BBM. The Salandanan case, which was filed last December 7, argued Marcos should be disqualified for being convicted by Quezon City court for alleged violation of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), which it claimed is considered a crime involving “moral turpitude.”

Another ground for Marcos’s disqualification, the group said, is his supposed conviction of a crime that carries a penalty of more than 18 months.

In its 29-page decision, the members of the Comelec First Division unanimously denied the petition due to lack of merit.

It noted the tax cases are not crimes involving moral turpitude citing a Supreme Court ruling.

“In the case of Respondent, it can be said that the filing of income tax return is only for record purposes, not for the payment of tax liability. He may have been neglectful in performing this obligation. It, however, does not reflect moral depravity,” the division ruled.

Likewise, the division said the petitioners were also “gravely mistaken” for claiming Marcos’s conviction from these tax cases are grounds for his disqualification since it was based on Republic Act 7497, which took effect in 1992 long after the former senator’s violation of the NIRC from 1982 to 1985.

“It cannot be denied that the applicable laws are clearly written in the RTC [Regional Trial Court] Decision, yet Petitioners chose to ignore them. We see this as an act of lack of respect and insult to the Commission,” the division stated.

The Comelec First Division is presided by Comelec Commissioner Socorro B. Inting and its members are Comelec Commissioners Aimee P. Ferolino and Aimee S. Torrefranca-Neri.

The Salandanan cases were initially assigned to the Comelec Second Division, but was transferred to the First Division pursuant to the existing rules of the Commission after the membership of both divisions were revamped with the appointment of Comelec Chairman Saidamen B. Pangarungan, Garcia and Neri last month.

PNP launches deeper probe into Bukidnon shooting report

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

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DIGNITY AND COMPASSION

Former Vice President and senatorial candidate Jejomar “Jojo” Binay visits Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto at the Pasig City Hall on Tuesday. Binay, who is running for senator under the United Nationalist Alliance, gave Sotto a copy of his biography “Dignity and Compassion: The Life Story of Jejomar C. Binay.” CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Cebu holds biggest rally for UniTeam in preview of a BBM-Sara landslide win

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EBU CITY—At least 300,000 people attended the mega festival rally here Monday night of Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) presidential candidate former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his tandem, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) vice presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte where officials of Cebu province reassured of landslide victory to UniTeam candidates.

The mammoth rally organized for the UniTeam by One Cebu local party led by Gov. Gwen Garcia, Lakas-CMD led by its President and House Majority Leader Martin G. Romualdez, and Tingog party-list headed by Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez was a preview of what is to come by May 9 where the country’s number one vote-rich province has

vowed to deliver a landslide victory for the BBM-Sara and other UniTeam candidates.

Garcia said the mega rally for the UniTeam was a concrete expression of support to the candidacies of Marcos and Duterte.

“This is a 30 hectare lot eh punongpuno ‘yung 30 hectares, even if you were to give 1 square meter for every person, you do the math, 1 hectare is 10,000, this is 30 hectares, so in other words there are 300,000 [persons] at least if we were to give an allowance of 1 square meter per person,” Garcia told reporters in an ambush interview about her conservative estimate of attendees after the UniTeam mega festival rally at City Di Mare, Filinvest Grounds here, adding that Cebu will deliver a landslide victory to UniTeam Duterte-Marcos.

“The UniTeam is overwhelmed

by Cebu’s great show of support.

Thanks to our allies and partners led

by Governor Garcia. This is what we should expect and what will happen in three weeks—an overwhelming win for Marcos and Duterte,” Majority Leader Romualdez said.

Rep. Yedda Romualdez, chairperson of the House Committee on the Welfare Children, also campaigned hard for Duterte-Marcos and UniTeam candidates during the rally.

Marcos thanked Garcia, the four city officials as well as all the other mayors of Cebu towns for organizing the biggest rally in coordination with Lakas-CMD and Tingog party-list and show of support to the UniTeam.

Marcos said the Cebu rally was the biggest political event that he attended in the campaign period.

the election date. Majority of these post-election day targets involved candidates waiting on the election results or poll officials.

“This may indicate that perpetrators employ more lethal ERVs against state actors prior or after election day [including incumbent re-electionist public officials, opposing candidates and electoral officials] to eliminate rivals and intimidate supporters, while employing non-lethal ERVs against civilians and voters throughout the election season,” the study said.

The dataset was constructed from publicly available media reports, as there is no publicly available dataset from government institutions. The list of media sources used in the study included the BusinessMirror.

This was mainly due to the absence of official data from the Philippine National Police (PNP), the agency tasked with collating and reporting on election related violence.

The researchers said the PNP has not disclosed to the general public incident level data on election-related violence in those election years.

“Maraming-maraming salamat Cebu sa napakainit na salubong na ibinigay ninyo sa UniTeam at sa tambalang Marcos-Duterte,” Marcos said in his speech.

“Alam ko po marami sa inyo ay kanina pa nag-antay, kanina pa nagbilad sa araw, pero hindi kayo umaalis kaya ngayon ang bilang ng rally ay ito na ang pinakamalaking rally sa buong kampanyang ito,” Marcos added.

Wearing Tingog party-list shirt, Duterte expressed gratitude to Cebuanos for the huge support they have extended to UniTeam and the organizers of grand rally led

by Garcia, Romualdezes, Tingog party-list, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, Liloan Mayor Christina Frasco, and others.

Duterte also assured the people of equality and fairness under

her leadership.

“Sa akong pag-trabaho, pantay-pantay ang lahat, pare-pareho ang lahat, walang pobre, walang mayanan, pareho ang lahat ng mga Pilipino. Burger kayong lahat sa amin,” said Duterte who has been espousing unity, love and patriotism.

She said Cebu would always be a key partner of the country in progress and economic development.

The rally, an unprecedented in the sorties of the UniTeam, was held after agreements were signed with Cebu province’s officials and the city chief executives of its four cities that formed the “One Cebu UniTeam Alliance” and “One Cebu Island UniTeam Alliance,” both of which supported and endorsed the candidacies of Marcos and Duterte.

HE Phi lippine Nationa l Police (PNP) said on Tuesday that it is still premature to declare that the shooting incident against the group of presidential candidate and labor leader Ka Leody de Guzman in Quezon, Bukidnon was election related pending completion of investigation.

An individual was wounded, according to the PNP, while the group of de Guzman said four people were taken to the hospital as a result of the shooting, which took place while the presidential candidate and his group were meeting with members of the Manobo-Pulangihon in Barangay Butong, Quezon.

De Guzman, of the Partido Lakas ng Masa, was with his party’s two senatorial candidates, Roy Cabonegro and David D’Angelo, when the incident happened. All of them were not hurt.

“It is premature to say that the motive is election-related since we are still gathering enough evidence and determining the circumstances surrounding the incident,” said PNP Public Information Office chief Brig. Gen. Roderick Augustus Balba.

Balba said the PNP is still conducting a deeper investigation into the alleged shooting, adding that based on the report that they got, one person was wounded as a result, obviously referring to Nanie Abela, who sat beside de Guzman when the shooting incident occurred.

“The patient is now undergoing treatment and police investigators are exerting effort to obtain a statement from the patient,” he said.

Balba said details of the incident remained sketchy, although it appeared from the initial investigation that “there had been no proper coordination with authorities” regarding to de Guzman and his group’s presence in a “property that has a standing court case.”

“It was unfortunate because responding PNP units in the area had no one to talk to in an attempt to gather vital information for the filing of appropriate charges,” he said.

A4 Thursday, April 21, 2022 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Solon aims for ‘big whale’ investments from Japan

J

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

@joveemarie

APANESE investors are still interested in financing Philippine infrastructure development projects, especially now that they can avail of the 40-year tax incentives under Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE), the co-chairman of the House Economic Cluster said.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda issued the statement following his meeting last April 18, 2022 with Japanese Embassy officials led by Minister for Economic Affairs Mr. Masahito Nakata and Finance Attaché of the Embassy of Japan Mr. Kotaro Yamaguchi.

According to Salceda, he is actively promoting the Philippines as an investment destination for “big whale” investments under the country’s main tax incentives law, the CREATE Act. “I am seeking major Japanese investments into the Philippines, particularly those above $1 billion.

I’m shooting for big whales, those

that will qualify for the 40-year tax incentives under CREATE. Frankly, when it comes to investors in the Philippines, no one else comes close to Japan. If anybody will qualify, it’s gonna be a Japanese investor,” Salceda said, referring to official foreign direct investments (FDI) data, which show Japan as the country’s top source of equity investments.

“The meeting was productive, and I provided the Japanese officials with insights into the possible composition of our priority list of investments, as well as the ‘green flags’ we’re looking for in FDI investors,” he said.

Under the CREATE Law, the

President has the power to grant tax incentives of up to 40 years for high-value, high-tech investments of at least P50 billion.

“I am working with the Department of Trade and Industry to craft guidelines for that particular section of the tax code,” said the CREATE law’s principal author and sponsor.

“We also talked about the prospects of the Philippine economy, as well as how Japan seeks to help,” Salceda said of the meeting with Japanese officials.

“In particular, they remain interested in financing our infrastructure development, but they are also looking into other areas. I empha-

sized our need for Japanese knowhow, technology, and researchers,” Salceda added.

Visa-free entry

SALCEDA also said he brought up the topic of tourist visas for Filipinos bound for Japan. “I asked Japan to waive visas for Filipino tourists, with the view towards more relaxed restrictions on Filipino workers. I think they’ll do some form of it, after that meeting.”

“We need them and they need us. It’s a perfect economic, geostrategic, and demographic relationship because our interests almost completely align,” Salceda added.

Lacson presses wider consultations on converting Boracay into a GOCC

By Butch Fernandez

S

@butchfBM

EN. Panfilo Lacson, in a town hall forum at the Aklan Provin-

cial capitol, cautioned against rushing plans to convert tourist haven Boracay Island into a governmentowned and -controlled corporation

(GOCC) and called for a wider stakeholder consultations involving longtime local residents.

The senator stressed the need for holding “careful stakeholder consultations” before Congress vote to endorse final passage of an enabling law creating the proposed Boracay Island Development Authority (BIDA).

“Turning the tourist-haven island of Boracay into a government-owned and -controlled corporation must be a collective decision not only by public officials involved, but the local residents who would be affected more importantly,” he pointed out.

The senator conveyed his concerns during a town hall forum Tuesday at the Aklan Provincial Capitol when asked to comment on House Bill 9286 providing for the creation of BIDA, which lawmakers from the House of Representatives already approved.

Lacson assured affected stake-

holders that “whatever it takes to improve our opportunities for tourism, I’ll go for it.” He added, however, that “as I said, we don’t have to do it somewhat indiscriminately or in a whimsical manner. We need to carefully study the matter and with full consultation with the people surrounding the area.”

Appearing before the Kapisanan ng Brodkaster sa Pilipinas’ (KBP) “Panata sa Bayan” presidential forum last February, Lacson indicated support for the BIDA bill.

Upholding his position during a recent visit to Kalibo, Aklan believing BIDA to be “a good concept,” the senator reminded, however, that while he is “generally affirmative of the proposed legislation, any executive action that would be made under his leadership about it must be backed by science and data-driven with due respect to environmental concerns.

He suggested that “it should be

based on science; meaning, is this going to be harmful to the environment, or affect climate change, and so forth and so on; and most of all, how would it help the people affected? If the people don’t want it, then we should respect the will of the majority. That is my position.”

In a trip to Western Visayas early this week, Lacson, likewise, raised anew his proposal to develop tourism estates in the most beautiful destinations across the country, this time including the picturesque islands of Gigantes in Iloilo and Boracay in Aklan.

The senator suggested that Ilonggos and Aklanons take the cue from his “tourism development plan” that is tied to his flagship Budget Reform Advocacy for Village Empowerment (BRAVE) program where local officials would be authorized to implement various projects for their communities to spur economic growth.

“What we need is a tourism estate in many areas,” Lacson said, recalling for instance his visit to Estancia in Iloilo, noting that “they also have an island, the Gigantes Island. It’s so beautiful because they have a lake at the top of the mountain. It could be turned into a tourism area, but we lack government support.”

Lacson explained that through BRAVE, local government units (LGU)—from the provincial down to the barangay levels—would be allocated development funding on top of their national tax allotment to boost different industries in their localities, which could include tourism.

The senator envisions that “if it would be developed—at least through the barangay chairman with the help of the municipal government—if the Gigantes [Island] would be developed, you can just imagine the revenues, what you would earn out of the tourism activities in Gigantes.”

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Thursday, April 21, 2022 A5

‘High fertilizer prices to cut PHL sugar output’

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE Philippines’s sugar raw production in marketing (MY) 2023 is expected to decline by 50,000 metric tons (MT) to 2 million MT (MMT) due to low productivity and rising fertilizer prices, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (Gain) report.

According to an April 18 Gain report prepared by the US Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila, the MY 2023 consumption is forecast to stay flat at

2.3 MMT. Imports are expected to help ensure sufficient sugar supply.

“Thedemandforsugarbyindustrial users is expected to grow as a result of the loosening of Covid-19 restrictions but remains constrained by high prices following lower domestic production and absent an increase in imports to stabilize prices,” the report read.

The Gain report noted that half of the country’s sugar demand comes from industrial users, such as beverage and processed food manufacturers, hotels, bakeries and restaurants.

It said the area planted in MY 2023 is expected to remain flat at 390,000

hectares, with low productivity and high input costs constraining growth.

The post also projected that the Philippines will not export sugar in MY 2023 and that it will not participate in the US sugar quota scheme.

“The United States is the sole export market for Philippine raw sugar, but SRA has not approved any MY 2022 sugar exports, per SO [Sugar Order] No. 1. Considering MY 2023 production is forecast to decline to 2 million MT, Post also expects no exports in MY 2023,” it said.

The post expects the Philippines to import 275,000 MT in MY 2023,

up from the previous year’s 175,000 MT. This, it said, will supplement lower production.

The SRA released SO No. 3 last February 4 which authorized the importation of 200,000 MT of refined sugar to plug the gap in domestic output.

However, farmers appealed to local officials and to the Department of Agriculture and Sugar Regulatory Administration to stop importing during the harvest season.

The Regional Trial Court of Negros Occidental issued a temporary restraining order against SO 3.

Meanwhile, the post lowered the

Philippines’s sugar production forecast for MY 2022 as it took into the account the damage caused by Typhoon Odette.

Output in MY 2022 was revised downward to 2.05 MMT as Odette destroyed sugarcane crops worth P1.2 billion.

The report noted that Odette’s impact on sugar farms prompted the Philippines to allocate 100 percent of its production to the domestic market in MY 2022.

Earlier, the SRA said it will issue a fourth SO that revises the production estimate for MY 2022

to 1.982 million MT. According to the report, sugarcane areas in the Philippines declined over the years as farmers shifted to corn, bananas, and other crops.

The report noted that farmers and millers have expressed concern over the potential for trade reform in the sugar industry, which may also limit additional planting.

In MY 2022, the 390,000 hectares planted with sugarcane is smaller than the usual 400,000 hectares planted annually. Of that total, the post said sugarcane for ethanol production is only allocated 4 percent.

Hog raisers oppose lifting of ban DepEd: Feeding program will prioritize local milk on porcine animal protein

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco @claudethmc3

T

L

OCAL pork producers on Wednesday expressed their opposition to the aquaculture sector’s request to lift the ban on imported porcine animal protein.

In a joint position paper, National Federation of Hog Famers Inc., Samahan Industriya ng Agrikultura and Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines said lifting the importation ban from countries with cases of African swine fever (ASF) will certainly “expose the fragile and recovering” swine industry to further threats from contaminated raw materials.

Aquaculture stakeholders have urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to allow the importation of processed animal protein (PAP) from Italy to avert a possible shortage in raw material supply and mitigate the impact of the UkraineRussia conflict on prices of feeds and fish products.

Hog producers said they support the efforts of the aquaculture sector to reduce their feed and production costs, “but not at the cost of annihilating another [sector].”

“In fact, the whole local agriculture is impacted by the rising cost of production, brought about by a number of factors—unprecedented fuel price increase[s], ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, among others,” the groups added.

Also, the hog producers said “the aquafisheries industry does have alternative sources of ingredients like poultry meals, fermented soya etc. to explore and will not in any way result to its industry’s significant downfall.”

“We again underscore the fact that this is not about which industry is more economically important or contribute bigger or one’s growth targets. This issue is about forming policies and directions that do not threaten or pose harm to another industry,” they added.

The DA and the Bureau of Animal Industry issued Memorandum Order No. 06, Series of 2019 which authorized the ban on imports of

PHOTO FROM BLOOMBERG NEWS

processed porcine or pork-based meal for use in animal feeds, as well as suspension of the issuance of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (SPSIC) for these commodities and calls for seizures of such shipments.

Citing the DA, the groups noted the evidence that contaminated feed can possibly transmit the ASF virus to pigs consuming the feeds. The ban covers countries with reported cases of ASF in both domestic and wild boars.

They said the country was hit

by ASF in July 2019 and that the disease continues to wreak havoc on some regions, decimating the hog population by a little over 3 million pigs.

“As a result of the ASF disease outbreaks, thousands of farmers suffered complete losses to their income and livelihood with small hold farmers suffering the most,” the groups added.

“The livestock industry recognizes the aquaculture sector’s need for reducing their costs of feeds to be more competitive, as this is also the concern of the whole agriculture industry.”

As a result of the ASF outbreak, they said millions of farmers, of which 71 percent are classified as

backyard, lost their income and livelihood and many are still in debt to feed millers, veterinary suppliers and other creditors and are unable to return to profitable pig farming.

Also, they noted that the ASF outbreaks resulted in a pork supply shortage and higher pork prices, which caused inf lation to accelerate.

“After careful deliberations of the ASF TWG [technical working group] and Task Force, recommendations were made to protect the industry from further ASF contaminants and all pork products including porcine meals for feeds were totally banned from ASFinfected countries as a necessary precaution with our first border inspection facility still not in place,” the groups said.

“The expert opinions of our veterinarian-colleagues in the industry suggest that most rendering plants producing these porcine meals make use of pig mortalities from different farms, which mostly are not healthy animals so various other diseases like PRRS [porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome], PED [porcine epidemic diarrhea] or other new pathogens may be contained in these meal.” Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

HE Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday assured that it will prioritize locally produced milk for its School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP).

The agency made the assurance after the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) and Dairy Confederation of the Philippines (DCP) expressed their opposition to the supposed plan of the DepEd to procure milk from commercial sources for the SBFP. The DepEd denied that it asked the National Dairy Authority (NDA) and Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) “to sign a certification that local dairy farmers cannot supply the milk to allow the entry of foreign multinational dairy companies dislodging the local dairy farmers from the GAA [General Appropriations Act] budget 2022.”

“This statement seems to make it appear that DepEd was influencing the NDA and the PCC to sign the said certification and that the intention of the certification was to dislodge local dairy farmers [from] the GAA budget 2022,” it said.

On the contrary, the DepEd said, requiring such certification is in fact a mechanism that has been institutionalized by the agency to ensure that its field offices will prioritize locally produced milk and procure commercial milk only when local milk is not readily available.

“DepEd assures all concerned that its implementation of the SBFP espouses the sourcing of milk from the local dairy farmers, consistent with RA 11037 or the ‘Masustansyang Pagkain para sa Batang Pilipino Act.’” The agency said the law is operationalized through DepEd Order (DO) No. 22, Series 2020, and DO 37, Series 2022.

“Schools division offices [SDOs] that are either not covered or are insufficiently covered under the final source/supply map jointly prepared and approved by the National Dairy Authority [NDA], the Philippine Carabao Center [PCC], and DepEd, may be allowed to procure commercial powdered/sterilized, subject to the

following pre-requisites: [1] Certification by NDA and/or PCC that it is unable to provide the milk requirements of the SDO concerned; and [2] Justification by the SDO that it is no longer practicable to source the milk supply from a local dairy farm/ cooperative despite best efforts and utmost prudence,” the order read.

The DepEd Orders practically tied the SDOs, as the procuring entities for the SBFP, to source out milk to local suppliers, except in areas that will be certified by NDA and the PCC that they are unable to supply the milk requirement of concerned SDOs. In addition, DepEd has regularly secured a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the NDA and with the PCA since the milk component of the SBFP has been implemented, which has helped facilitate the procurement of locallyproduced milk for the program.

DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua said “for the last two years, we sourced out around 80 percent of fresh milk and other milk-based products from the local cooperatives and enterprises, and we purchased only 20 percent commercial milk in areas where the partners of the NDA and the PCC cannot supply the milk requirement.”

Feeding calendar

PCAFI in its letter also said that the DepEd’sdecisiontoimplementthemilk feeding component of the SBFP from April to July “in effect will diminish and minimize the participation of local dairy farmers under the program” and “effectively exclude and eliminate the local dairy farmers and milk processing plants from participating in DepEd’s Milk Feeding Program in favor of the big multinational processors.”

The DepEd reiterated that the local farmers’ participation in the SBFP has been through DepEd’s MOA with the NDA and the PCC, as provided by law. Together with the said agencies, DepEd regularly conducts “milk supply mapping workshops” to determine how much milk local farmers can provide for the program through these agencies.

“It is only after the NDA and the PCC have made their commitments that the ‘share’ for commercial suppliers can be determined,” DepEd said.

“PCAFI itself admits in its letter that local farmers are currently producing and delivering milk for the SBFP through funds allocated from 2021 and that they have consistently done the same for funds allocated in 2019 and 2020. This proves that local farmers have been and will always be prioritized when determining milk supply.”

DepEd, however, stressed that it cannot particularly adjust its feeding calendar, as requested by PCAFI, solely depending on when the farmers can produce milk for its learners. PCAFI is practically requesting DepEd to delay the utilization of its 2022 funds for the milk component of the SBFP beyond June of this year because it is only then that local farmers will be able to supply the program’s requirement.

“DepEd appreciates PCAFI for understandingDepEd’s‘commitmentson fund utilization’ with the Department of Budget and Management [DBM], as communicatedintheirletter.Suchcommitment is among DepEd’s considerationsindecidingtostartinAprilthe16 days of milk feeding budgeted through 2022 funds, but it is not entirely so.”

The DepEd said that current school year ends in June and the next school year is set to start around two months after.

“If the milk feeding does not commence in April, the effectiveness of the SBFP will be affected as its components [e.g., the milk component and the nutritious food product component] will be split into different sets of beneficiaries in different feeding periods with two months break in between.”

It added: “DepEd needs to balance effectively achieving the goals of the SBFP [e.g., sustaining the feeding within the school year to achieve optimal nutrition impact among learner-beneficiaries], and fulfilling the administrative demands for the program [e.g., achieving budget utilization rate targets, complying with directives from the Commission on Audit or COA].”

As stated in PCAFI’s letter, some farmers are not able to supply milk for the April-June feeding because “[the feeding, utilizing 2021 funds,] is ongoing and the milk is still being produced and delivered by them.”

Rising fertilizer costs are catching up to rice farmers, threatening supplies

S

OARING fertilizer costs have rice farmers across Asia scaling back their use, a move that threatens harvests of a staple that feeds half of humanity and could lead to a full-blown food crisis if prices aren’t curbed.

From India to Vietnam and the Philippines, prices of crop nutrients crucial to boosting food production have doubled or tripled in the past year alone. Lower fertilizer use may mean a smaller crop. The International Rice Research Institute predicts that yields could drop 10 percent in the next season, translating to a loss of 36 million tons of rice, or the equivalent of feeding 500 million people.

That’s a “very conservative estimate,” said Humnath Bhandari, a senior agricultural economist at

the institute, adding that the impact could be far more severe should the war in Ukraine continue.

Fertilizer prices have been rising globally due to supply snags, production woes, and more recently the war, which has disrupted trade with Russia, a big supplier of every major type of crop nutrient. The surge in fertilizer costs is threatening to stoke food inflation assuming farmers continue to cut back and crop yields suffer. If that happens, global supply chains are likely to take a major hit: Practically every plate of food makes it to the dinner table with the help of fertilizers.

Rice farmers are particularly vulnerable. Unlike wheat and corn, which have seen prices skyrocket as the war jeopardizes one of the

world’s major breadbaskets, rice prices have been subdued due to ample production and existing stockpiles. That means rice growers are having to deal with inflated costs while also not getting more money for their grains.

Nguyen Binh Phong, the owner of a fertilizer and pesticide store in Vietnam’s Kien Giang province, said the cost of a 50-kilogram sack of urea —a form of nitrogen fertilizer—has jumped three-fold over the past year.

He said some farmers have slashed fertilizer use by 10 percent to 20 percent because of soaring prices, leading to a lower output.

“When the farmers cut fertilizer use, they accept that they will get lower profit,” he said.

Governments in Asia, where much of the world’s rice is harvested, are

FRESHLY harvested rice in the Philippines, on April 10. BLOOMBERG NEWS

keen to avoid this scenario. Keeping prices under control is important for politicians, given rice’s importance as a staple for hundreds of millions

of people, especially lower income groups. Many nations provide fertilizer subsidies to increase yields of improved varieties of cereal crops.

The fertilizer rally is increasing their fiscal burden. India, which relies heavily on fertilizer imports, is set to spend about $20 billion to shield farmers from higher prices, up from about $14 billion budgeted in February. The South Asian nation is the world’s second-biggest producer of rice and exports to countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Somashekhar Rao, 57, a farmer who grows rice on a 25-acre plot in Telangana, in southern India, said he’s struggling with the increased cost of fertilizer. He expects yields to fall by 5-10 percent for his wintersown crop because of the delay in securing enough supplies. Fertilizer is most effective when used on plants at their peak growing cycle.

Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 21, 2022

A6

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

24 INCH GAUGE CONSTRUCTION INC. L4 Blk. 4, Near Kay Buboy Bridge, San Dionisio, City Of Parañaque

CHEN, YULONG Marketing Specialist 1.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for coordinating with other marketing and sales professionals to implement innovative campaigns for branding or product launches.

Basic Qualification: Ability to work under pressure and motivation to succeed in a competitive environment; Should have a bachelor’s degree in journalism, marketing, communications or a related field; Good communication and interpersonal skills.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

777 KORPHIL HOLDINGS CORP. Unit 2604, 26th Floor Ibp Tower, Julia Vargas Ave. Cor. Jade Drive, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig CHOI, JUNMO Customer Service Specialist 2.

Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language.

KIM, DONGHO Customer Service Specialist

3.

Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language.

LEE, GWANGLOK Customer Service Specialist

4.

Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language.

LEE, KYEONGIN Customer Service Specialist

5.

Brief Job Description: Perform customer support via phone, chat and email both in English and their national language.

KIM, YOUNGJUN It Professional

6.

Brief Job Description: Develop company’s software that is suitable to foreign employees.

LEE, YONGHUN It Professional

7.

Brief Job Description: Develop company’s software that is suitable to foreign employees.

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean fluently.

9.

KIM, MIN JI Consultant 13.

14.

15.

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean fluently

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean fluently Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean fluently

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean fluently Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

WANG, MENGYUN Operations Manager

Basic Qualification: With operations and managerial skills Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Excellent writing, reading, listening and talking in French language. Preferably with prior experience of at least 1 year in similar BPO outfit.

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

17.

11.

Brief Job Description: “1. Responsible for providing timely and accurate operation support to 3rd Party Sellers on the Amazon Platform.

2. Expected to address Chronic System issues, provide process improvements, develop internal documentation, and contribute to a Team Environment.

3. Demonstrates effective, clear and professional written and oral communication.”

18.

19.

MO, NI Expatriate Administration Manager

12.

Brief Job Description: You shall be the head responsible in reviewing, checking, approver of all the salary of alien employee and other HR-related documents before submission to the head of human resources. Shall oversee all expat subsidies, housing, and other needs to ensure humane working conditions. Review and process expenses and reimbursements due to expats within the deadline. Ensuring that the expat program is aligned with government policies and procedures. Point person for expat’s concerns and other related matter.

You understand that reports must be translated into Mandarin.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

TRUONG DUC CHIENG Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

VU VAN HIEU Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

Basic Qualification: Bachelor Degree, Fluent in English and Mandarin

Basic Qualification: TBM Expertise

Brief Job Description: Installation and maintenance/repair of TBM

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ZHANG, HAILIN Tunnel Boring Machine Expert

Basic Qualification: TBM Expert

Brief Job Description: Troubleshoot & inspect the machine & equipment

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Overseas and directs all aspects of the kitchen and stewarding operation, leading to guest satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and profit for the Hotel. While supervising the preparation and production of all food and related items in the Hotel. Responsible for the quality of food preparation and presentation maintaining a high standard of sanitation and hygiene while achieving desired cost level resulting to a profitable food and beverage operation.

Brief Job Description: To play integral role in a strategic market for the company, handling all country-related activities for the shipping agency. Beyond the responsibilities described the successful candidate also provide leadership to the team, redefining and implementing the strategic plan to ensure continued growth.

Brief Job Description: Streamline and transform processes before transitioning it to offshore using RPA, SMART automation and lean interventions; Feasibility checks and ROI analysis of Digital automations and Point Solutions.

Brief Job Description: Assist/help customers, give customers information about product and services

32.

20.

21.

22.

24.

26.

27.

28.

29.

Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

ZHOU, PENG Chinese Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

CHAU VINH LOC Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

LE ANH BINH Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

NGUYEN DUC DUNG Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

NGUYEN HUU HUNG Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

NGUYEN MINH QUAN Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

SIU HOI THANG Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

TE VAN HIEU Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

TRUONG CONG BAO Customer Service Officer Brief Job Description: Converse and interact with the customer.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Requires substantial and successful track record in hotel operation; Leadership experience; Preferably 5 years or more into food trends; Well-versed in Food and Safety and Hygiene specifically on hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. Proven track record of success in achieving revenue and service objective; Proven ability to recruit, motivate, and retrain team of professional.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline; MBA Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

Basic Qualification: Excellent analytical skills using statistical tools to analyze problem and come up with solution; Good command over verbal & written English.

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

DIGICHROM INC. Unit 2602 & 2603 26/f Pbcom Tower, 6795 Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati

33.

Basic Qualification: With Atleast 6 Months Customer Service Experience/ Good in Oral Communication and Written

CHANG, CHIA-PIN a.k.a. NAPHIRI Mandarin Speaking Customer Service Representative Brief Job Description: Manage incoming and outgoing calls, chats and emails.

SON, BONG SAM Odn Director 34.

Brief Job Description: Manages all ODN/FTTH-related functions of the company.

LIN, SONG Chinese Assistant Manager 35.

Basic Qualification: College Graduate Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

Brief Job Description: Demonstrate extensive experience in managing construction project resources and budgets under the supervision. Proactive in avoiding construction delays and unnecessary expenses.

Basic Qualification: Must be self-motivated and possess the desire for self-development.

Have the ability to work autonomously when required. Excellent communication, interpersonal, leadership, coaching, and conflict resolution skills. Able to support staff members.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

SUN, XIAOLIAN Chinese Hr Manager

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 36.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ENERGY CHINA PHILIPPINES BRANCH OFFICE Unit 1718, High Street South Corporate Plaza Tower 1, Bonifacio Global, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin.

DSCP, INC. Unit 306, 3/f, Bldg. No. 2, Marbella I Condo Bldg., Roxas Blvd., Barangay 13, Pasay City

DATACLICK INTERNATIONAL CORP. E. Rodriguez St., Roxas Blvd. St., Barangay 3, Pasay City ZHAO, FAN Chinese Customer Service Officer

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

DELUXE HOTELS AND RECREATION INC. U-b 9/f Necc Bldg., Newport Ci Newport Blvd. Vab, Barangay 183, Pasay City

BAI, YONGSHENG Tunnel Boring Machine (tbm) Technician

TRAN MAN NHI Chinese Speaking Admin Associate

25.

Basic Qualification: You shall be the head responsible in reviewing, checking, approver of all the salary of alien employee and other HRrelated documents before submission to the head of human resources. Shall oversee all expat subsidies, housing, and other needs to ensure humane working conditions. Review and process expenses and reimbursements due to expats within the deadline.

Ensuring that the expat program is aligned with government policies and procedures. Point person for expat’s concerns and other related matter. You understand that reports must be translated into Mandarin.

31.

CRONYX INC. No. 4th-10th Flr. Yinhope Bldg., Dela Rama Cor. Zoili Hilario St., Seascape Village, Ccp Complex Subd. Zone 10, Barangay 76, Pasay City

Basic Qualification: Fluency in Vietnamese language

AVANZADO OUTSOURCING SERVICES CORP. Unit 25d, 2/f Zeta Ii Bldg., 191 Salcedo St., San Isidro, City Of Makati

30.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

HONG, RYAN SUNG JU Executive Chef

SINGH, PUNEET PRAKASH General Manager - Pex

23.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINES, INC. 2nd, 3rd, And 4th Floors, Science Hub Tower 4 Bldg., Mckinley Hill Cyberpark, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

AMAZON OPERATION SERVICES PHILIPPINES, INC. B21 Three E-com Moa Complex, Harbour Drive Cor. Bay Shore, Brgy. 076, Pasay City NGUYEN VUONG KHOA Seller Support Associate

Basic Qualification: At least 10 years experience in Banking or other Financial Institutions. Fluent in Korean and English, oral and written.

No.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ODEYER, LIONEL LILIAM DIDIER General Manager

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Know how to do branding job, with management skillS

Brief Job Description: Provides customer service in foreign language, taking phone calls, answering to customer inquiries through e-mails, and solving customer issues.

Brief Job Description: Overseeing account representatives

CMA CGM PHILIPPINES, INC. 9/f One E-com Center Moa, Harbor Drive, Barangay 76, Pasay City

ALLSECTECH MANILA, INC. 3rd Floor, Market! Market! Mall, Bonifacio Global City, City Of Taguig

10.

YOU, FEN Construction Administrator

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

CHINA INTERNATIONAL WATER AND ELECTRIC CORP. (BRANCH OFFICE) 5/f, Two E-com Mall Of Asia Complex Bldg., Harbor Drive St., District 1, Barangay 76, Pasay City

16.

Basic Qualification: Advanced marketing skills

YUH, LEO NDITOH Bilingual French Analyst

Brief Job Description: Provide consulting services on premium quality servicing standards to BDO Korean clients at all points of contacts

Basic Qualification: Any nationality who can speak and write Korean fluently

LIU, YIFENG Brand Team Lead

Brief Job Description: Oversee the company operations

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

BDO UNIBANK, INC. Unit G-1, G/f Bdo Towers Paseo, 8741 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

AB LEISURE EXPONENT, INC. 5/f Sm Megamall Bldg. D, J Vargas, Wack-wack Greenhills, City Of Mandaluyong

8.

No.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Brief Job Description: Developing and implementing HR strategies and initiatives aligned with the overall business strategy.

Bridging management and employee relations by addressing demands, grievances or other issues.

Basic Qualification: Highly motivated and driven to improve the skills and know-how of employees, managers and staff alike.

Highly analytical, system driven & policy-procedure oriented. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Proactive, collaborative, team player and with a positive attitude.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ESTPOWER CONSULTANCY INC. Ub, 111 Paseo De Roxas Bldg., Paseo De Roxas, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

HO THI NGOC DIEU Foreign Language Marketing Specialist

Basic Qualification: Excellent in foreign language

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

37.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

FLASH EXPRESS SOFTWARE (PH) CO., LTD. INC. 11/f Cybersigma, Lawton Ave., Mckinley West, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

YANG, JINGUANG Hub Manager 38.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

39.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Control and manage the quality of service, branch action plans by setting quality indicators, annual operation plan including establishing quality control standards for branches.

WANG, LINJIA Network Training Deputy Manager

40.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Brief Job Description: To manage, oversee and direct all aspects of the Hub’s operation including letting, memberships, finance, sales, marketing, and events.

WANG, XI Network Qc Manager

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Brief Job Description: Developing and implementing marketing plans

Brief Job Description: Oversees the daily activities of training associates and consultants. Conducts performance evaluations that are timely and constructive

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual.

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual.

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999 Basic Qualification: Job-relevant degree/ 5-10 yrs. supervisory/managerial experience in logistics or operations/ multilingual Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

FLYING FUTURE SERVICES INC. 3/f Salcedo One Center, 170 Salcedo St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

41.

KUA GUAK NGOH Mandarin Accounts Staff

Basic Qualification: Can speak mandarin

Brief Job Description: Assist in determining pricing quotes for customers

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

GLOBAL PACIFIC KNOWLEDGE CONSULTANCY INC. Unit No. U-1207 Villaruel Tower Bldg., Villaruel St., Barangay 38, Pasay City

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS No.

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION DA, JIAN Customer Service Representative (mandarin Speaking)

42.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

Brief Job Description: Responsible for producing, information, transcribing, formatting, inputting, editing, retrieving, copying, and transmitting data and graphics from English to Mandarin

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE Basic Qualification: Extensive, thorough and fluency in Mandarin language and characters

43.

Brief Job Description: Responsible to manage the team activities, operation management, customer relationship management, vendor relationship management and project management.

Basic Qualification: Excellent skills in managing the Service Desk Operations. Strong Knowledge on IT Service Management Stream.

Effective communication in English is mandatory.

TANG, FENGQIN Chinese Speaking Business Development Associate 44.

Brief Job Description: Developing , Implemmenting Sales Strategies, Client Service , Plan and Analyzing Sales Data

YOU, HONGLIN Chinese Speaking Business Development Associate 45.

Brief Job Description: Developing , Implemmenting Sales Strategies , Client Service, Plan and Analyzing Sales Data

JI, LIN Chinese Speaking Marketinf Supervisor 46.

Brief Job Description: Supervise Sales Representative and Assistant Rceive and Report on all sales Leads

DESAI, PRATIK Accounting Business Partner Manager 56.

Basic Qualification: Proficiency in Halding Customer Questions about Services or Products/ Excellent Mandarin Communications Skills Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: Proficiency in Halding Customer Questions about Services or Products/ Excellent Mandarin Communications Skills

57.

47.

Brief Job Description: Reviews/validates invoice received, inputs invoices details into ERP, Process wire/EFT payment, create/ amend new or existing customer data into ERP, manage vendor/supplier queries, perform vendor reconciliations and reports based on deadlines with the client

48.

Brief Job Description: Responsible for providing quality it support of enterprise systems throughout the chinese clientele.

49.

Brief Job Description: Develop financial well being of the organization by providing financial projections and accounting services Preparing growth plans and directing staff

ZHANG, SHUGEN Equipment Insulation Specialist 50.

Brief Job Description: Develop financial well being of the organization by providing financial projections and accounting services, preparing growth plans and directing staff.

58.

Brief Job Description: To troubleshoot, maintain and monitor the computer system.

51.

Brief Job Description: -Maintains financial account; recommend potential products and services; attract potential customers -Recommends potential products or services to management by controlling customer information and analysing customer needs -Prepares products or service reports by collecting and analysing customer information LIN, YU-CHEN Chinese Technical Support Representative

52.

Brief Job Description: -Maintains financial account; recommend potential products and services; attract potential customers -Recommends potential products or services to management by controlling customer information and analysing customer needs -Prepares products or service reports by collecting and analysing customer information

HU, YANZHENG Mandarin Software Specialist 59.

Brief Job Description: To engage in the business of software development, technical consulting services LIU, YAN Mandarin Software Specialist

53.

Brief Job Description: Install and use software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs to protect sensitive information.

61.

54.

Brief Job Description: Conduct marketing research to identify industry trends and commercial opportunities. Develop and implement a marketing strategy according to objectives and budget.

XIE, ZAIYUAN Mandarin Speaking Marketing Specialist

55.

Brief Job Description: Conduct market research and analyze consumer rating reports/questionnaires. Support Marketing Executives in organizing various projects.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

LIN, NAN Mandarin Finance Specialist Brief Job Description: Records accounts payable and accounts receivable

CHEN, PEIXIN Chinese Customer Service 62.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in chinese writing and speaking language.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

DING, JIALIN Chinese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 63.

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English language both written and verbal Have knowledge for handling heavy equipment machine

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English language both in written and verbal.

Must have knowledge for handling heavy equipment machine.

Brief Job Description: To engage in the business of software development, technical consulting services

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

FENG, XIN Chinese Customer Service 64.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

HUANG, ZHIQIANG Chinese Customer Service 65.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: At least 19 yrs old.

Ability to speak, write and communicate Chinese in Chinese Mandarin

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

LI, BAOQI Chinese Customer Service 66.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: At least 19 yrs old.

Ability to speak, write and communicate Chinese in Chinese Mandarin

67.

69.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHANG, YAN Chinese Customer Service 70.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

SHENG, WEI Chinese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Fluent in Mandarin and English

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

PANG, MURONG Chinese Customer Service 68.

Basic Qualification: Excellent Communication/ Customer Service Skills, Energetic and Eager to Learn Good Understanding of Market Research Techniques, Statistical and Data Analysis Methods

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

LIU, BING Chinese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Can speak Vietnamese language and knowledgeable in information technology system.

73.

74.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

ZHANG, YAXU Chinese Customer Service 71.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

75.

76.

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

NGUYEN THI THUY DUONG Vietnamese Customer Service 77.

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

SAM BUI CHAU Vietnamese Customer Service 78.

Brief Job Description: and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

SAM TONG SANG Vietnamese Customer Service 79.

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents TRAN A DAU Vietnamese Customer Service

80.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

GIP DAU KHOAN Vietnamese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

DO TUAN DUC Vietnamese Customer Service

Basic Qualification: Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting or any related field of study Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

SUNG, YU-HSIEN Taiwanese Customer Service

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

AILEEN HII IK TIING Malaysian Customer Service

NEW ORIENTAL CLUB88 CORPORATION 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th/f, Pearl Marina Building Pacific Drive, Don Galo, City Of Parañaque

Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

72.

Basic Qualification: Proficient in speaking, reading and writing in mandarin.

MYSTIC REALTY DEVELOPMENT CORP. Ub 111 Paseo De Roxas Bldg., 197 Paseo De Roxas, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

LUCKY365 CONSULTING LIMITED CORP. U/18a 18f 18/f Trafalgar Plaza, 105 H.v. Dela Costa St., Bel-air, City Of Makati BENSON JR., DAVID HAROLD Consultant And Marketing Specialist

Salary Range: Php 90,000 - Php 149,999

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION ZOU, QINGSONG Chinese Customer Service

Basic Qualification: Bachelors degree holder in finance; master’s degree in finance; at least 4 to 5 yrs of experience in general ledger accounting operations.

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

LOGICDOSE INC. 36f Robinsons Summit Center, 6783 Ayala Ave., Bel-air, City Of Makati NGUYEN THI HUONG Information Security Analyst (vietnamese Speaking)

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

60.

Basic Qualification: must be fluent in both written and verbal Portuguese and English language. You possess at least bachelor’s college degree in Finance/ Accounting/Business related

No.

MULTI AVANCE SOLUTIONS INC. 7/f Ba Lepanto Bldg., 8747 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati

JIU ZHOU TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL, INC. 31/f Tower 6789, 6789 Ayala Avenue, San Lorenzo, City Of Makati LIN, JIA-YING Chinese Technical Support Representative

Basic Qualification: At least 3-5 working experience and knowledgeable in sap/ bi; with leadership skills; experienced in IFRs; solod understanding of local business.

Basic Qualification: Proficiency in Halding Customer Questions about Services or Products/ Excellent Mandarin Communications Skills

JIANGSU DIBANG CONSTRUCTION PHILIPPINES CORPORATION Unit 2106-a West Tower, Psec Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, San Antonio, City Of Pasig LIU, YONG Equipment Insulation Specialist

Brief Job Description: He will handle and perform the GI operations task of the assigned entity; to ensure the realization of service objectives; he will manage his processes.

HUANG, QINGNA Mandarin Technical Support

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

ITECHNO SPECIALIST INC. 24/f Yuchengco Tower I, Rcbc Plaza, Bel-air, City Of Makati ZHENG, XINGLONG Chinese It Support Specialist

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

MINDSCAPE CREATIVES INC. Unit 19-o, Burgundy Corporate Tower, 252 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Pio Del Pilar, City Of Makati

IBM BUSINESS SERVICES, INC. 8th Floor, 1800 Bldg., Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City ANTUNES DE ALMEIDA, IVO ANDRE Bilingual Portuguese - Accounts Payable Analyst

Brief Job Description: Single point of contact for the CFOs; responsible for the financial statements; ensure financial compliance; carried out in close cooperation with the centralized acct. depts.

SHAH, RONAK SAILESH General Ledger Specialist

Salary Range: Php 150,000 - Php 499,999

I-PLEX MARKETING INC. 24/f Bgc Corporate Center, 30th Street Corner 11th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio, City Of Taguig

NAME OF FOREIGN NATIONAL , POSITION AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION

A7

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

MERCK BUSINESS SOLUTIONS ASIA INC. 36th To 39th Floor, The Finance Centre Condominium, 26th Street Corner 9th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, City Of Taguig

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

HCL TECHNOLOGIES PHILIPPINES, INC. Net Cube Center, 3rd Avenue Corner 30th Street, E-square Zone, Bonifacio Global City, City Of Taguig SIREKOLLAM, KRISHNAMURTHY SRINIDHI Manager

No.

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Brief Job Description: Manage incoming calls and inquiries, handling complaints, provide solutions, process customer accounts and file documents.

TRUONG THI TRINH Vietnamese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language)

VAN NGOC VAN Vietnamese Customer Service

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language)

81.

82.

Brief Job Description: Managing Incoming Calls and Customer Service Inquiries , Handling Complaints Provide Solutions Process Customer Accounts and File Documents

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language)

83.

NAGATA, KOSUKE General Manager Brief Job Description: Manage overall operation of salon

84.

ROBERTSON, MURRAY IAIN WILLIAM Business Administrative Consultant Brief Job Description: Organizing and executing assigned business projects

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

GUILFORD, RHIANNON LOUISE Foreign Relations Consultant

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College Graduate , Preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, Speaks and Write Fluently (native Language) Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: Proven experience as a general manager or similar executive role Salary Range: Php 60,000 - Php 89,999

Basic Qualification: Must have enough experience in helping companies maintain and improve operations by providing professional expertise to current procedures; must be able to identify goals and business needs and works closely with department heads to develop and oversee the implementation of specific goals Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speaks and write fluently (native language).

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

PAGE GROUP CORPORATE SERVICES (PHILIPPINES) INC. 24/f Philamlife Tower,, 8767 Paseo De Roxas, Bel-air, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field, speaks and write fluently (native language).

NORA MANILA HAIR SALON CORP. G/f Bsa Tower, 108 Legaspi St., San Lorenzo, City Of Makati

Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999 Basic Qualification: College graduate, preferably 1 year experience in the similar field. Speaks and write fluently (Native Language).

QUALIFICATION AND SALARY RANGE

85.

Brief Job Description: Carry out researches on economics issues that may affect the company

Basic Qualification: Must have enough experience in managing diplomatic, political, and economic affairs between one country and others; willing to act as relationship managers for multinational organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other companies who do business beyond the shores of our country Salary Range: Php 30,000 - Php 59,999

A8

Thursday, April 21, 2022

TheWorld BusinessMirror

Shanghai allows 4 million out of homes as Covid rules ease

By Joe McDonald

B

The Associated Press

EIJING—Shanghai allowed 4 million more people out of their homes Wednesday as anti-virus controls that shut down China’s biggest city eased, while the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast of Chinese economic growth and warned the global flow of industrial goods might be disrupted.

A total of almost 12 million people in the city of 25 million are allowed to go outdoors following the first round of easing last week, health official Wu Ganyu said at a news conference. Wu said the virus was “under effective control” for the first time in some parts of the city.

Under the latest changes, more than 4 million people are included in areas where the status shifted from closed to controlled, said Wu. He said some are not allowed to leave their neighborhoods and large gatherings are prohibited.

Meanwhile, the IMF reduced its forecast of Chinese growth this year to 4.4 percent from 4.8 percent due to the shutdowns of Shanghai and other industrial centers. That is down by almost half from last year’s 8.1 percent growth and be-

low the ruling Communist Party’s 5.5 percent target.

China’s case numbers in its latest infection surge are relatively low, but the ruling party is enforcing a “zero-Covid” strategy that has shut down major cities to isolate every case.

On Wednesday, the government reported 19,927 new cases in China’s mainland, all but 2,761 of which had no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95 percent of the total, or 18,902 cases, of which 2,495 had symptoms.

The Shanghai city health agency reported seven people who had Covid-19 died Tuesday but said the deaths were due to cancer, heart disease and other ailments. All but two were over 60.

Shanghai shut down businesses and confined most of its population to their homes starting March 28 after a spike in infections. That led to complaints about lack of access to supplies of food and medicine.

People in Shanghai who test positive but have no symptoms have been ordered into quarantine centers set up in exhibition halls and other public buildings.

Official data this week showed economic growth in the first three mont hs of t his year dec l ined

compared with the final quarter of 2021.

The lockdowns in China “will likely compound supply disruptions elsewhere” and might add to pressure for inflation to rise, the IMF said in a report.

The ruling party has promised tax refunds and other aid to businesses but is avoiding large-scale stimulus spending. Economists say that strategy will take longer to show results and Beijing might need to spend more or cut interest rates.

Chinese leaders have promised to try to reduce the human and economic cost of anti-disease controls by shifting to a “dynamic clearing” strategy that isolates neighborhoods and other smaller areas instead of whole cities. However, many areas appear to be enforcing more stringent controls after Shanghai officials were criticized for not acting aggressively enough.

Also Wednesday, the Ministry of Agriculture ordered local officials to avoid any measures that might interfere with spring planting by farmers who feed China’s 1.4 billion people. The order followed warnings that production of wheat and other crops might be disrupted, which would boost demand for imports and push up

already high global prices.

The government reported 26,760 people who tested positive but had no symptoms were released Wednesd ay f rom obser vation.

That included 25,411 in Shanghai, where some residents of quarantine centers have complained they are unsanitary.

Other industrial and trading centers including Changchun, Jilin and Shenyang in the northeast, the port of Tianjin east of Beijing and Shenzhen and Guangzhou in the south have closed businesses, imposed travel restrictions or told told residents to stay home.

Global automakers and other manufacturers reduced or stopped produc t ion bec au se suppl iers couldn’t deliver.

This week, Volkswagen AG announced its Changchun factory resumed production and the automaker was considering when its Shanghai facility would reopen. BMW AG said its factory in Shenyang reopened.

While some cities were easing controls, the the government of Harbin, a city of 5.3 million in the northeast, suspended bus and subway service on Wednesday and barred the public from moving between districts.

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

Taiwan TV channel apologizes for false China invasion report

A

television news channel in Taiwan apologized after erroneously reporting on Wednesday that China had launched an invasion just outside the capital Taipei, triggering alarm online.

Taipei-based Chinese Television Systems, a TV network partially owned by the Taiwanese government, ran a ticker along the bottom of the screen at 7 a.m. local time on Wednesday saying that China had attacked several areas of New Taipei City.

“New Taipei City has been hit by a Chinese Communist guided missile.

Ships in Taipei Port have exploded, damaging facilities,” the graphic read. “Banqiao Station is reported to have been set on fire by explosives placed by Special Forces.”

The station issued an on-air apolog y a few hours later, explaining that the chyron had been produced for a New Taipei City Fire Department disaster-prevention video and broadcast due to a production error. CTS later announced an investigation into what it called “gross negligence,” pledging in a text message to severely punish any staff found to be responsible.

The Ministry of National Defense had asked municipal governments to include the Chinese invasion scenario in a video as part of an annual drill, New Taipei City Fire Department Commissioner

Huang De-ching said by phone.

“This is for the drill of national defense mobilization and disaster prevention,” Huang said. “The Defense Department asked us to include the scenario of a China attack. So we have that scripted in the start of the video.”

Russia’s invasion of U k raine has fed specu lation about the r isk that China may simi larly m a k e g o o d o n it s l o n g - h e l d threat to ta ke control of Taiwan by force, if peacef u l means fai l.

W hile there are no sign of an imminent invasion, particularly as Chinese President Xi Jinping appears focused on a pivota l part y leadership reshuf f le later this year, Taipei has faced increasi n g m i l it a r y, d iplom at ic a nd economic pressure from Beijing in recent years.

Last year, the People’s Liberation Army more than doubled its flights into Taiwan’s air-defense identification zone to almost 1,000 sorties. China has also regularly blasted Taiwan for strengthening ties with the US. Taiwan’s broadcast regulator, the Nationa l Communications Commission, visited CTS offices Wednesday for an “administrative inspection,” the Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung told a briefing. The regulator has ordered the net work to come up w ith measures to prevent it from repeating the mistake. Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

TheWorld BusinessMirror

First protest death fuels calls to oust Sri Lanka president

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he first fatality after weeks of protests in Sri Lanka over food and fuel shortages intensified calls for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, with a key opposition leader saying Rajapaksa was “responsible for every death.”

Officers fired live rounds Tuesday night in the central Rambukkana area after tear gas failed to dispel a group of protesters who had blocked a train track and tried to set fire to a diesel truck, the police media unit in capital Colombo said by phone. One person was killed in the clash, according to Agence France-Presse and several local media outlets.

Those injured, including police officers, were taken to the nearby Kegalle hospital, the police media unit said, adding that an indefinite curfew has been imposed in the area. Demonstrators pelted police with stones.

“Resign now!” said Harsha de Silva, a lawmaker from the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party in a Twitter post directed at the president. As head of state, “you are responsible for every death.”

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis—the worst since it gained independence more than 70 years ago—has brought angry citizens to the streets demanding the ouster of the Rajapaksa family. The government is now seeking as much as $4 billion in emergency aid this year to help the island nation ease hourslong power cuts, shorten fuel lines that go on for miles, and pay for imports of lifesaving drugs and food.

President Rajapaksa said on Twitter Wednesday that police would carry out an impartial and transparent inquiry about the incident “which led to the tragedy for which I’m deeply saddened.”

He also urged citizens to remain peaceful.

Earlier, the prime minister—his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa—had tweeted a similar comment.

Condemnation of the violence poured in on social media, including from several local celebrities and cricket stars. US ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung said she was “deeply saddened by the horrible news” and called for a “full, transparent investigation.”

Former national cricketer Kumar Sangakarra also tweeted to say, “using lethal force against unarmed protestors

is unconscionable.”

Fears of a crackdown have persisted for weeks as protesters camp out in downtown Colombo to pressure President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down. In a statement on Saturday, the army denied “sinister” rumors that soldiers were now training to assault protesters.

While the Rajapaksas have resisted calls to step down Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday said the government would support moves to trim presidential powers in an apparent olive branch to protesters.

However, he hasn’t elaborated on the details of the constitutional changes he proposes, and it’s not clear if this will placate the family’s opponents.

A delegation led by Finance Minister Ali Sabry arrived in Washington this week hoping to secure rapid funding from the International Monetary Fund. An official from the multilateral lender said Tuesday night in Washington that discussions were still at an early stage.

“We are very concerned about the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka and hardships suffered by the people,” Masahiro Nozaki, IMF’s mission chief for the South Asian nation, said in a statement confirming talks this week with a delegation from Colombo. “Approval of an IMF-supported program for Sri Lanka would require adequate assurances that debt sustainability will be restored.”

Those assurances are also key to disbursing any emergency funding, he said.

The delegation’s visit follows the central bank’s decision this month to raise interest rates by a record 700 basis points. State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp. on Tuesday increased petrol prices for a second time in April as imports become costlier after authorities ran out of dollars to defend a currency peg and allowed the rupee to float free.

Sri Lanka’s stock exchange is closed this week to allow investors to assess the economic conditions. The 5.875 percent note due July 25 was 0.25 cent higher on the dollar at 47.27 cents Wednesday.

Newly appointed power and energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said on Twitter Tuesday that the country received new supplies of coal and diesel, implying an easing in the fuel and power crisis.

Bloomberg News

Johnson says sorry for attending party as critics prep censure bid

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ONDON—British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday offered what he said was a “wholehearted” apology for attending an illegal party during lockdown—but insisted he didn’t knowingly break rules or mislead Parliament, and brushed off calls to resign.

Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons that it simply “did not occur to me” that the birthday gathering, complete with a cake, was a party.

That excuse was greeted with derision by opposition politicians—and some among the governing Conservatives— who have called with increasing frustration for Johnson to quit since stories began to circulate late last year of parties in the prime minister’s office and other government buildings in 2020 and 2021, when millions in the country were barred from meeting with friends and family or even attending funerals for their loved ones.

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer branded the apology “halfhearted” and “a joke.”

Last week, Johnson was fined 50 pounds ($66) for attending his own surprise birthday party in 10 Downing St. in June 2020, making him the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.

Speaking as the House of Commons returned from an 11-day Easter break, Johnson acknowledged people’s “hurt and anger,” but added that “it did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet Room, just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy, could amount to a breach of the rules.”

Starmer said that excuse would

ring hollow with ordinary people who “understand that the rules apply to all of us,” and he challenged Conservatives to “bring an end to this shameful chapter” and jettison Johnson.

“He knows he’s dishonest and incapable of changing,” Starmer said. “So he drags everybody else down with him.”

Starmer was told off by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle for accusing another member of dishonesty—a breach of parliamentary rules. Minutes later, Labour lawmaker Karl Turner also was chastised by the Speaker after branding Johnson a liar.

“I withdraw the word ‘liar,’ Mr. Speaker,” Turner said. “But the electorate will already have decided.”

Labour has not given up on trying to get lawmakers to censure Johnson over the “partygate” scandal. Speaker Hoyle said he would allow Labour to hold a Commons debate and vote Thursday on whether Johnson should be investigated for allegedly misleading Parliament.

Ministers found to have done that knowingly are generally expected to resign.

Johnson is due to be out of the country Thursday on a visit to India, and the big Conservative majority in Parliament means the measure is unlikely to pass. But the vote will force Tory lawmakers uneasy with the prime minister to publicly back him or criticize him.

Johnson insisted Tuesday that he was contrite, but argued it would be wrong to change leaders while Britain faces crises including the war in Ukraine and a costof-living squeeze driven by surging energy and goods prices. AP

Thursday, April 21, 2022

A9

Russia hits Ukrainian cities, pours more troops into war

By Adam Schreck

K

The Associated Press

YIV, Ukraine—Russia hurled its military might against Ukrainian cities and towns and poured more troops into the war, seeking to slice the country in two in a potentially pivotal battle for control of the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories.

The fighting unfolded along a boomerang-shaped front hundreds of miles long in what is known as the Donbas. If successful, it would give President Vladimir Putin a victory following the failed attempt by Moscow’s forces to storm the capital, Kyiv, and heavier-than-expected casualties.

In Mariupol, the devastated port city in the Donbas, Ukrainian troops said the Russian military dropped heavy bombs to flatten what was left of a sprawling steel plant—believed to be the defenders’ last holdout— and hit a hospital where hundreds were staying.

The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that Russia was continuing to mount offensives at various locations in the east as its forces probe for weak points in the Ukrainian lines. The General Staff said in a statement that defeating the last resistance in the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol remains Russia’s top priority.

The eastern cities of Kharkiv and Kramatorsk came under deadly attack. Russia also said it struck areas around Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro west of the Donbas with missiles.

Ru ssi a n Defe n se M i n i st r y spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Moscow’s forces bombarded numerous Ukrainian military sites, including troop concentrations and missile-warhead storage depots, in or near several cities or villages. Those claims could not be independently verified.

Both sides have described the assault that began Monday as a new phase of the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian military was throwing everything it has into the battle, with most of its combatready forces now concentrated in Ukraine and just across the border in Russia.

“They have driven almost everyone and everything that is capable of fighting us against Ukraine,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation.

Despite claims that they are hitting only military sites, the Russians

continue to target residential areas and kill civilians, he said.

“The Russian army in this war is writing itself into world history forever as the most barbaric and inhuma n a r my in t he world,” Zelensk y y said.

Weeks ago, after the abortive Russian push to take Kyiv, the Kremlin declared that its main goal was the capture of the mostly Russianspeaking Donbas, where Moscowbacked separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.

A Russian victory in the Donbas would deprive Ukraine of the industrial assets concentrated there, including mines, metals plants and heavy-equipment factories.

A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the Pentagon’s assessments of the war, said the Russians had added two more combat units, known as battalion tactical groups, in Ukraine over the preceding 24 hours. That brought the total units in the country to 78, all of them in the south and the east, up from 65 last week, the official said.

That would translate to 55,000 to 62,000 troops, based on what the Pentagon said at the start of the war was the typical unit strength of 700 to 800 soldiers. But accurately determining Russia’s fighting capacity at this stage is difficult.

A European official, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military assessments, said Russia also has 10,000 to 20,0 0 0 foreig n f ighters in the Donbas. T hey are a mi x of mercenar ies from Russia’s pr ivate Wag ner Group and Russian prox y f ighters from Sy r ia and Libya, according to the of f icia l.

While Ukraine portrayed the attacks on Monday as the start of the long-feared offensive in the east, some observers noted that an escalation has been underway there for some time and questioned whether this was truly the start of a new offensive.

The US official said the offensive in the Donbas has begun in a limited way, mainly in an area southwest

Security forces help an injured man following a Russian bombing of a factory in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, killing at least one person and injuring three others.

Russian forces attacked along a broad front in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as part of a full-scale ground offensive to take control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland in what Ukrainian officials called a “new phase of the war.” AP/Petros Giannakouris

of the city of Donetsk and south of Izyum.

Justin Crump, a former British tank commander now with the strategic advisory company Sibylline, said the Ukrainian comments could, in part, be an attempt to persuade allies to send more weapons.

“What they’re trying to do by positioning this, I think, is...wzfocus people’s minds and effort by saying, ‘Look, the conflict has begun in the Donbas,’” Crump said. “That partly puts pressure on Nato and EU suppliers to say, ‘Guys, we’re starting to fight now. We need this now.’”

President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new weapons package in the coming days that will include additional artillery and ammunition, according to a US official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Canada and the Netherlands also planned to send more heavy weapons, their prime ministers said.

Associated Press journalists in Kharkiv said at least four people were killed and three wounded in a Russian attack on a residential area of the city.

An explosion also rocked Kramatorsk, killing at least one person and wounding three, according to AP journalists at the scene.

In the southern city of Bashtanka, an unspecified number of people were wounded when Russian forces shelled the hospital, destroying the reception area and the dialysis unit, the head of the regional council, Hanna Zamazeeva, said on Facebook.

Eyewitness accounts and reports from officials have given a broad picture of the extent of the Russian advance. But independent reporting in the parts of the Donbas held by Russian forces and separatists is severely limited, making it difficult to know what is happening in many places on the ground.

Military experts said the Russians’ goal is to encircle Ukraini-

an troops from the north, south and east.

Key to the campaign is the capture of Mariupol, which would deprive Ukraine of a vital port and complete a land bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, seized from Ukraine in 2014. It would also free up Russian troops to move elsewhere in the Donbas.

A few t housa nd U k ra inia n troops, by the Russians’ estimate, remained holed up in the sprawling Mariupol steel plant, representing what was believed to be the last major pocket of resistance in the city.

Russia issued a new ultimatum to the Ukrainian defenders to surrender Wednesday after a previous ultimatum was ignored. The Russian Defense Ministry said those who surrender will be allowed to live and given medical treatment.

There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian troops, but they have repeatedly vowed not to give up.

The deputy commander of the Azov regiment, who was among the troops remaining in Mariupol, said the Russian military dropped heavy bombs on the steel plant and hit an “improvised” hospital.

Serhiy Taruta, the former governor of the Donetsk region and a Mariupol native, also reported the bombing of the hospital, where he said 300 people, including wounded troops and civilians with children, were sheltered.

The reports could not be independently confirmed.

Zelenskyy said the Kremlin has not responded to a proposal to exchange Viktor Medvedchuk, the jailed leader of a pro-Russia party, for the Mariupol defenders.

The Associated Press journalists Mstyslav Chernov and Felipe Dana in Kharkiv; Yesica Fisch in Kramatorsk, Ukraine; Danica Kirka in London; and Robert Burns and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report, as did other AP staff members around the world.

Muslim properties razed in New Delhi after communal violence

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EW DELHI—Authorities riding bulldozers razed a number of Muslim-owned shops in New Delhi before India’s Supreme Court halted the demolitions Wednesday, days after communal violence shook the capital and saw dozens arrested.

Shop owners weeded through the rubble of their shops afterward to collect their belongings. But for nearly an hour after the Supreme Court order, officials continued to demolish structures, including the outer entrance and stairs leading into a mosque.

They stopped the bulldozers just outside the entrance of a Hindu temple, about 50 meters from the mosque, and began to retreat, spurring outrage from Muslim residents who said they were being targeted.

Anti-Muslim sentiment and attacks have risen across India in the past 10 days, including stone-pelting between Hindu and Muslim groups during religious processions and demolitions of a number of properties, many belonging to Muslims, in another state last week.

Police have arrested at least 24 suspects since communal violence broke out Saturday during a Hindu religious procession in New Delhi’s northwest Jahangirpuri neighborhood. They said Hindu and Muslim groups threw stones at each other during a procession to mark the birth date of Hindu god Hanuman, leaving eight police officers and a civilian injured, local media reported.

Officials say their demolition drive targets illegal buildings and not any

particular community. But critics argue this is the latest attempt to harass and marginalize Muslims, who are 14% of India’s 1.4 billion population, and they point to a pattern of rising religious polarization under Prime Minister N a r e n d r a M o d i ’s H i n d u n a t i o n a l i s t Bharatiya Janata Party.

On Wednesday morning, bulldozers demolished a string of shops on the roadside in Jahangirpuri while the owners peered out from windows in their homes, watching helplessly as their stalls were destroyed or taken away on trucks.

“They don’t want Muslims to live in this country. Why? Are Muslims terrorists?” said Sabiran Bibi, 31, who has lived in the area all her life.

Raja Iqbal Singh, mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation that is ruled by the BJP, said authorities were only bringing down “illegal buildings that have encroached onto the roads.” He added that the action had nothing to do with the earlier violence but that some of the shops belonged to people accused of rioting.

The drive occurred as the area in northwest New Delhi was swarmed by paramilitary forces in riot gear and comes after the city’s BJP chief Adesh Gupta urged the municipal corporation to “take action on the illegal construction and encroachment of the rioters,” he said in a tweet on Wednesday. “I congratulate the corporation for taking quick action on it,” he said. AP

A10 Thursday, April 21, 2022 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Credible elections can save us from chaos

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lections are very important in a democracy because they give citizens the right to choose leaders and to hold them accountable for their performance in office. It is crucial that we have credible elections if we want to promote peaceful, democratic political progression that leads to increased stability and economic prosperity. The fundamental principle that defines credible elections is that they must reflect the free expression of the will of the people.

The Commission on Elections on Tuesday assured senators that adequate measures are in place to ensure glitch-free national and local elections on May 9. However, the National Bureau of Investigation disclosed at the same Senate hearing that a former contractual employee of Smartmatic was able to hack its data server. The Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, chaired by Senator Imee Marcos, learned from the NBI that the hacker was not acting alone. Senators also learned that Smartmatic, Comelec’s software provider, also rents and repairs vote counting machines used by the poll body (Read, “Comelec assures senators cyber security in place for May polls,” in the BusinessMirror, April 19, 2022).

At the hearing, Atty. Victor Lorenzo, head of the NBI Cybercrime Division, said it was likely that the former employee of Smartmatic, Ricardo Argana, was not acting alone, noting he was “not too fluent in English” and it was unlikely that only one man can log in 726 times in six days to enter Smartmatic’s data server.

In an earlier Senate hearing, Senator Marcos has expressed shock at some electoral security threats that surfaced. She said government agencies involved in the coming elections could no longer implement electoral security checks that had been agreed on. Where observer access was easy in the past, the Comelec now prohibits political party representatives, non-governmental organizations, and the public from monitoring the configuration of SD cards at the technical hub in Santa Rosa, Laguna. “The Comelec has already configured all the SD cards for Mindanao to Region 4, in total absence of witnesses. Only the SD cards for three regions remain to be processed,” Senator Marcos said. “We all know that SD cards have been the rabbit pulled out of the cheating hat in past elections.”

The senator added that the same lack of transparency was evident at the National Printing Office, which was able to print 66.4 percent of the ballots for the May elections without being monitored.

Overseas voting began on April 10 and will last until May 9. Our OFWs may only vote for president, vice president, 12 senators, and a party-list group. This early, however, many issues have emerged, thanks to social media platforms where OFWs are airing their complaints. In Hong Kong, for example, a number of voters said they were issued preshaded ballots. They also complained that the vote counting machine failed to read the votes for president, and only the votes for vice president and senators appear in voting receipts.

In Milan, overseas Filipino workers (OFW) complained that they were issued ballots with handwritten numbers. They wonder why there’s no vote counting machine, and why they were asked to put their filled out ballots in an ordinary box.

A free election is one in which all citizens are able to vote for the candidate of their choice, and a clean election is one in which all votes are properly counted. As the premier guardian of the ballot, it would do well for the Comelec to address the issues raised by our OFW voters. It can’t afford to be indifferent to any form of election misconduct, here and abroad.

Election fraud can lead to civil conflict. A credible election is at the heart of our democracy, and all citizens must help protect the integrity of the ballot.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

The candidates are not ready John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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very election is always for the “soul of the nation.” It is because of SocMed where we hear something to that effect over and over and over. But it is always the same.

In the US election of 1860, the campaign slogan for Abraham Lincoln was “Vote yourself a farm and horses” in support for a law granting homesteads on the American western frontier areas. Politicians of either gender today do not have the cojones to say directly “Vote for me and I will give you free stuff.”

The history of US slogans is interesting. 1848 Zachary Taylor: “For President of the People.” Too bad the Taylor estate cannot be paid a royalty every time a politician says that.

The 1872 opposition campaigned on “Turn the Rascals Out,” which would work well for some candidates today as then when rascal meant “rude, dishonest, mean, unprincipled and even dirty like ‘Doesn’t take a bath.’”

Presidentiable Al Smith in 1928 campaigned for repealing Prohibi-

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Kuwentong Peyups

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not-always-there president who has the lowest approval rating on record for this point in his administration.

What happens with US interest rates affects every economy.

The Philippine president is the head of government, but he/she does not even come close to running the government. Under current conditions and with all these developing situations, it is the members of the cabinet who are crucial, particularly Foreign Affairs, Finance, Budget and Management, and Energy.

It is the men and women who occupy those seats that will directly determine the near-future of the nation, not the ones on stage at the “Biggest Grand Rally in History.” Regardless of their experience, in truth, there is not a single presidential candidate ready to take over in June 2022. There will be a hard 2022 learning curve. Even assuming that they can all turn buko juice into champagne, this time it is genuinely different.

On a personal note, congratulations to our son Christopher John and his wife-to-be Joyce Valenzuela who will be married this Saturday.

Time does fly by so quickly.

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.

The OFW votes and the party-list system

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Publisher

tion with “Make your wet dreams come true.” How can you beat that?

This coming Philippine election though is unique as we are in the middle of a crisis cycle that we have not experienced before. Certainly, Joseph Estrada came in near the tail end of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. However, the economy was only affected for two quarters in 1998 with the worst being negative 3.1percent growth. We were observers and not major participants in the crisis despite the peso depreciation.

The 2008 Global Debt Crisis did impact economic growth. But here again we were really bystanders because it was a commercial banking disaster, and our banks were not involved. The gloom and doom headlines—and Social Media—were hysterical. But if you look at actual

economic data from 1998 to 2019, the few speed bumps were not major and were infrequent.

Everything changed when we went into the “chaos panic cycle” in January 2020.

For example, the Russian war in the Ukraine. No one has a clue what will happen next. As I said previously, I see a slow burn rather than an explosion as Russia consolidates gains and the EU/US try to figure what to do. But I will probably be wrong about the military aspect.

However, this is serious. “An EU embargo on Russian oil in the works—French minister.” Then, “EU to impose full embargo on Russian oil next week, after this weekend’s French election, and will send price above $185, according to JPMorgan.”

The container terminal at the Port of Shenzhen went to 30 percent of normal operations in May 2021, which caused the massive backlog of global shipping and goods distribution. This port handled more than 26 million TEUs (twenty-foot container equivalent unit) in 2020.

Now the Port of Shanghai is under Covid siege, and this port traffic was 43 million TEUs in 2020.

On the financial front, the US economy is under attack by 40-year high inflation, a sickening debt-togross domestic product ratio, and a

T

he votes of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), both landbased and sea-based, are now being courted by groups aiming to have political seats through the party-list representation.

Around 173 groups will vie for 59 seats allotted for the party-list in the House of Representatives— trimmed from the 273 organizations that sought to enter the 2022 partylist race during the filing of candidacies The Overseas Absentee Voting Act (OAV) was passed in 2003 allowing Filipinos overseas to vote for who they want to be president, vice president, senators, and party-list representatives.

POEA data shows that there are 1,707,660 OFWs in 2020, which is lower than the 2,177,088 in 2019 primarily due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In terms of 2020 total remittances amounting to $31,417,614,000, the sea-based sector sent home $6,545,002,000, or almost 20 percent, while the land-based sector

sent home $24,872,612,000.

Comelec records show that out of the 1,697,215 OFWs who have registered to be OAVs, 1,677,631 are land-based while the remaining 19,584 are seafarers.

The large numbers of landbased OAVs are in Middle East and Africa (785,470) followed by Asia Pacific (445,607), North and Latin America (303,002), and Europe (143,3542).

The number of registered voters of the sea-based OFWs has been decreasing for the past three elections, putting again into test their impact on their sector’s votes on the party-list system.

Comelec records show that 19,584 seafarers have registered under OAV for the 2022 election, showing a decreasing number of sea-based OAVs from 2016 (49,339) and 2019 (43,033).

The party-list system was introduced in the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act 7941 (the Party-List Law) to provide a balance for locality-based lawmakers who are almost always elected on the basis of their popularity and the money that they release.

It is a proportional representation system to favor single-issue parties, and to allow underrepresented sectors to represent themselves in the law-making process.

It was originally envisioned to focus on underrepresented community sectors or groups, including labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural, women, youth, and other such sectors as may be defined by law (except the religious sector).

The Constitution allots 20 percent Lower House membership for party-list nominees, maximum at three nominees each, dependent on the votes they gather nationwide.

However, its application changed when the Supreme Court issued a 2013 clarificatory decision noting that the party-list is a system of proportional representation open to various kinds of groups and parties, and not an exercise exclusive to marginalized sectors.

Due to their absence during the election period, there is a specialized mode of voting by which ship

officers and ratings manning ships, including offshore workers, service providers and fishermen who are registered overseas voters, may cast their ballots 60 days before the day of elections.

Seafarers may vote at any post, specifically in Philippine embassies, consulates, Foreign Service establishments and other Philippine government agencies maintaining offices abroad, e.g., the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO).

During the voting period, seafarers may vote through two modes: adopting personal voting or, in case of postal voting, in any post with international seaports as identified and recommended by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

But the strength of the seafarers’ votes is essentially felt through their families residing in the Philippines.

For the seafaring sector, two party-list groups are campaigning for this year’s election.

MARINO Party-list was formed in 2014 and it secured two seats during the 2019 election as it placed seventh in ranking for its 677,378 votes.

On the other hand, ANGKLA was founded in 2011 and ran for congressional seat in 2013 and won for 2 consecutive terms. It lost in the 2019 elections after garnering only 179,531 votes.

See “Gorecho” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Thursday, April 21, 2022 A11

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine distorts global economic order Val A. Villanueva

Businesswise

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he anticipation of the outcome of the country’s presidential elections next month may be diverting us from the disturbing effects of the war in Ukraine: a potential mayhem in global finance that could lead us to uncharted new-world bedlam, which advanced democracies are watching with serious concern.

Western sanctions, specifically the difficult restrictions on pecuniary transactions between banks all over the world and Russia, have immobilized almost all of Russia’s foreign currency reserves.

These sanctions are pushing Russia deeper in debt so much so that credit ratings agencies foresee it to be defaulting on government bonds, with billions of dollars still to be paid to foreigners. Remember Moscow’s 1998 default that spiraled into a global financial disruption?

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva conceded that the probability of such a default is no longer an “improbable event.” Russia faces an interest payment of $117 million on two bonds denominated in dollars.

There isn’t any compelling course that could be taken by the United Nations to stop the war. It could only go as far as condemning Russia’s

actions through a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, but the sanctions nonetheless are crippling Russia’s economic core.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t admit it, but his country is teetering into economic limbo. His family members and his billionaire oligarch friends are all being targeted, with only China and his country’s few allies offering him token solace.

A Russian debt default is considered to be one of the most problematic in history to settle. A report from the consultancy Oxford Economics says it could lead the US to permanently seize assets from Russia’s central bank. Russia is in the cusp of its first foreign-currency default since the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution in 1918.

Earlier this month, the US Treasury blocked Russia from paying $650 million due on two bonds using funds held in American banks.

Given a 30-day grace period starting April 4, Russia tried to pay in rubles, but doing so according to credit ratings agencies would still constitute a default. Russia was given a 30-day grace period starting April 4 to pay in dollars. Right now, bondholders are scrounging around for ways to recoup their money.

So far, the Philippines has chosen to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine at the UNGA. It urges both countries to cordially mend their differences, even as President Rodrigo Duterte himself fears Putin’s “suicidal” policies in Ukraine could “spill over” into Asia. If push comes to shove, he says, the Philippines is willing to let the US Navy use the country’s military facilities.

Experts see global finance facing sluggish growth and runaway inflation, adversely affecting three main areas. For one, higher prices for commodities like food and energy will further propel inflation, resulting in eroded value of incomes which will in turn weigh on demand. The second channel of concern involves Ukraine’s neighboring economies, which will undoubtedly grapple with disrupted trade, supply chains, and remittances, as well as a historic surge in refugee flows. Third, the subsequent decrease in business confidence and rise in investor uncertainty will weigh on asset prices, tightening financial conditions, and potentially spurring capital outflows from emerging markets.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causes structural changes in the global economic and geopolitical order, should there be a shift in energy trade, a reconfiguration of supply chains, and fragmentation of payment networks, with countries rethinking their reserve currency holdings. Increased geopolitical tension will further heighten the risk of economic fragmentation, especially in trade and technology.

Considering that Russia and Ukraine are both major producers of commodities, war-caused disruptions have caused global prices to soar, also those of oil and natural gas. Food costs have jumped, with wheat—for which Ukraine and Russia make up 30 percent of global exports— reaching record-high levels.

A greater risk of strife in some regions, from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America to the Caucasus and Central Asia, is expected due to steeper price increases for food and fuel. Food insecurity is likely to further escalate in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Forecasts for Philippine economic growth are likely to be revised down next month, when a fuller picture in our World Economic Outlook and regional assessments will be presented.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

causes structural changes in the global economic and geopolitical order, should there be a shift in energy trade, a reconfiguration of supply chains, and fragmentation of payment networks, with countries rethinking their reserve currency holdings. Increased geopolitical tension will further heighten the risk of economic fragmentation, especially in trade and technology.

A turtle-paced growth in Europe and the global economy will weigh in on major exporters. Crude oil importers of Asean economies, India, and frontier economies, including some Pacific Islands, will bear the brunt, exacerbated by weakening tourism for nations reliant on Russian visits.

Spillovers of the war in Ukraine are similar for Japan and Korea, where new oil subsidies may ease impacts. In India, inflation which is already at the top of the central bank’s target range will increase due to higher energy prices.

In Asia, pressures on food prices should be eased by local rice production given that rice is preferred over wheat. Consumer prices will receive a boost from food and energy imports.

Subsidies and price caps imposed on fuel, food and fertilizer may ease the immediate impact, although there will be fiscal costs.

The consequences of Russia’s war on Ukraine have already shaken not just the two nations, but the region and the rest of the world as well.

This underscores the importance

of having global safety net and regional arrangements in place to buffer economies from any negative impact.

At a recent press briefing in Washington, IMF’s Georgieva pointed out how the world has become “more shock-prone,” which makes “the strength of the collective to deal with shocks to come” more crucial.

The Philippines may not feel the palpable effects of the war yet, but there are clear signs that Russia’s aggression and the collateral jump in the costs of key commodities will make it more pressing for world leaders to do a balancing act of reining in inflation and supporting their economic upturn from the pandemic. nnn

Russian state television has declared that World War III has already started after the sinking of its naval vessel Moskva in the Ukraine war.

Though Russia said this was damaged after a fire, Ukraine claimed the credit of destroying the flagship vessel of Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet through its Neptune missile.

But the sinking of the ship led to meltdown on the Kremlin’s main propaganda mouthpiece Russia 1.

Presenter Olga Skabeyeva made the chilling statement, informing the viewers that “what it’s escalated into can safely be called World War III” and insisted “that’s entirely for sure.”—ndtv.com For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com

Russia’s Chernobyl seizure seen China looks to learn from Russian failures in Ukraine as nuclear risk ‘nightmare’

By Cara Anna & Inna Varenytsia The Associated Press

C

HERNOBYL, Ukraine—Here in the dirt of one of the world’s most radioactive places, Russian soldiers dug trenches. Ukrainian officials worry they were, in effect, digging their own graves.

Thousands of tanks and troops rumbled into the forested Chernobyl exclusion zone in the earliest hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, churning up highly contaminated soil from the site of the 1986 accident that was the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

For more than a month, some Russian soldiers bunked in the earth within sight of the massive structure built to contain radiation from the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor. A close inspection of their trenches was impossible because even walking on the dirt is discouraged.

As the 36th anniversary of the April 26, 1986, disaster approaches and Russia’s invasion continues, it’s clear that Chernobyl—a relic of the Cold War— was never prepared for this.

With scientists and others watching in disbelief from afar, Russian forces flew over the long-closed plant, ignoring the restricted airspace around it. They held personnel still working at the plant at gunpoint during a marathon shift of more than a month, with employees sleeping on tabletops and eating just twice a day.

Even now, weeks after the Russians left, “I need to calm down,” the plant’s main security engineer, Valerii Semenov, told The Associated Press. He worked 35 days straight, sleeping only three hours a night, rationing cigarettes and staying on even after the Russians allowed a shift change.

“I was afraid they would install something and damage the system,” he said

Gorecho . . .

continued from A10

Several groups have called for the repeal or the amendment of the party-list law as political dynasties have “hijacked” the system for being a system of recycled lists of people already in power.

According to election watchdog Kontra Daya, the party-list system has instead been “weaponized to further marginalize the already marginalized.”

For the 2022 election, KontraDaya flagged at least 70 percent (7 out

in an interview.

Workers kept the Russians from the most dangerous areas, but in what Semenov called the worst situation he has seen in his 30 years at Chernobyl, the plant was without electricity, relying on diesel generators to support the critical work of circulating water for cooling the spent fuel rods.

“It was very dangerous to act in this way,” said Maksym Shevchuck, the deputy head of the state agency managing the exclusion zone. He was scared by it all.

Russia’s invasion marks the first time that occupying a nuclear plant was part of a nation’s war strategy, said Rebecca Harms, former president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, who has visited Chernobyl several times. She called it a “nightmare” scenario in which “every nuclear plant can be used like a pre-installed nuclear bomb.”

A visit to the exclusion zone, more desolate than usual, found that the invasion risked a catastrophe worse than the original explosion and fire at Chernobyl that sent radioactive material into the atmosphere and became a symbol of the Soviet Union’s stumbling final years. Billions of dollars were spent by the international community, including Russia, to stabilize and secure the area.

Now authorities are working with Ukraine’s defense ministry on ways to protect Chernobyl’s most critical places.

At the top of the list are anti-drone systems and anti-tank barriers, along with a system to protect against warplanes and helicopters.

None of it will matter much if Russian President Vladimir Putin resorts to nuclear weapons, which Shevchuck says he can’t rule out anymore.

“I understand they can use any kind of weapon and they can do any awful thing,” he said.

of 10/120 out of 177) of the partylist groups that are identified with political clans (44) and big businesses (21), as well as for having incumbent local officials (26), connections with the government and military (32), unknown or unclear advocacies and representations (34), and pending court cases and criminal charges, including being implicated in pork barrel scams (19).

As they say, please vote wisely.

Atty. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.

B

By David Rising | The Associated Press

ANGKOK—With its ground troops forced to pull back in Ukraine and regroup, and its Black Sea flagship sunk, Russia’s military failings are mounting. No country is paying closer attention than China to how a smaller and outgunned force has badly bloodied what was thought to be one of the world’s most powerful armies.

China, like Russia, has been ambitiously reforming its Soviet-style military and experts say leader Xi Jinping will be carefully parsing the weaknesses exposed by the invasion of Ukraine as they might apply to his own People’s Liberation Army and his designs on the self-governed island of Taiwan.

“The big question Xi and the PLA leadership must be asking in light of Russian operations in Ukraine is whether a military that has undergone extensive reform and modernization will be able to execute operations that are far more complex than those Russia has undertaken during its invasion of Ukraine,” said M. Taylor Fravel, director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Russia’s armed forces have undergone an extensive process of reform and investment for more than a decade, with lessons learned in combat in Georgia, Chechnya, Syria and its annexation of Crimea helping guide the process. The Ukrainian invasion, however, has exposed weaknesses from the top down.

Experts have been collectively stunned that Russia invaded Ukraine with seemingly little preparation and lack of focus—a campaign along multiple, poorly coordinated axes that has failed to effectively combine air and land operations.

Soldiers have been running out of food, and vehicles have been breaking down. With losses mounting, Moscow has pulled its bloodied forces away from the capital, Kyiv, to regroup. Last week, the guidedmissile cruiser Moskva sank after Ukraine said it hit the ship with missiles; Russia blamed the sinking on a fire on board.

“It’s very hard to see success at any level in the way that Russia has prosecuted the campaign,” said Euan Graham, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies based in Singapore.

President Vladimir Putin, who has been closely involved in Russia’s military reform, did not even appoint an overall commander for

the operation until about a week ago, apparently expecting a quick victory and grossly misjudging Ukrainian resistance, Graham said.

“It’s a very personal war on his part,” Graham said. “And I think the expectation that this would be a cakewalk is obviously the biggest single failure.”

Putin’s decisions raise the question of whether he was given accurate assessments of the progress of military reform and Ukrainian abilities, or was just told what he wanted to hear.

Xi, also an authoritarian leader who has taken a personal role in China’s military reform, could now be wondering the same, Fravel said.

“Xi specifically may also wonder whether he is receiving accurate reports about the PLA’s likely effectiveness in a high intensity conflict,” he said.

China has had no recent major conflict by which to gauge its military prowess, having fought its last significant engagement in 1979 against Vietnam, said David Chen, a senior consultant with CENTRA Technology, a US-based government services firm.

“The wakeup call for (China’s) Central Military Commission is that there are more unknown factors involved in any such campaign than they may have anticipated,” Chen said.

“Russia’s experience in Ukraine has shown that what may seem plausible on paper at the Academy of Military Science or National Defense University becomes much more complicated in the real world.”

Xi, the son of a revolutionary commander who spent time in uniform himself, began undertaking military reforms in 2015, three years after assuming leadership of the Central Military Commission.

Total troop strength was reduced by 300,000 to just under 2 million, the number of officers cut by a third and a greater emphasis given to non-commissioned officers to lead in the field.

China’s military has a tradition

of respect for initiative from lowerranking soldiers dating from its revolutionary origins, said Yue Gang, a Beijing-based military analyst. By contrast, Russian forces in Ukraine have shown weaknesses where decisions have had to be made on the front lines, he said.

“Chinese soldiers are encouraged to put forward their thoughts and views when discussing how to fight,” Yue said.

China’s seven military districts have been reorganized into five theater commands, the number of group armies reduced and the logistics system reorganized to boost efficiency.

The ratio of support to combat units was increased and a greater emphasis placed on more mobile and amphibious units.

Xi has also sought to end rampant corruption in the military, going after two former top generals shortly after taking power. One was sentenced to life in prison and the other died before his case was concluded.

China’s military is highly opaque and outside the purview of civilian judges and corruption investigators, so it’s difficult to know how thoroughly the organization has been exorcised of practices such as the selling of commissions and kickbacks on defense contracts.

For Xi, the military’s primary mission remains to protect the ruling Communist Party, and he has followed his predecessors in fighting back hard against efforts to have the military shift its ultimate loyalty to the nation.

Xi’s overriding political focus could mean the lessons he draws from the Ukraine conflict are off base, Graham said.

“Xi Jinping will always apply a political solution because he’s not a military specialist or an economic specialist,” Graham said. “I think the military lessons have to go through a political filter, so I’m not sure that China will take the lessons that are abundant and on show for everyone to see.”

The stated goal of China’s military reform is to “fight and win wars” against a “strong enemy”—a euphemism widely understood to refer to the United States.

China has pumped huge amounts of money into new equipment, has initiated more realistic training exercises with force-on-force scenarios, and sought to reform its fighting doctrine by studying American engagements in Iraq, Afghanistan

and Kosovo.

Gen. David Berger, the commandant of the US Marine Corps, said in a forum in Australia last week that Beijing would be watching the Ukraine conflict closely.

“I don’t know what lessons they will learn but...they’re focused on learning, without a doubt, because they’ve been doing that for the last 15 years,” he said.

Berger stressed the need for strong coalitions in the Pacific as a way to keep China’s ambitions toward Taiwan in check.

China claims Taiwan as its own, and controlling the island is a key component of Beijing’s political and military thinking. In October, Xi again reiterated that “reunification of the nation must be realized, and will definitely be realized.”

Washington’s longstanding policy has been to provide political and military support for Taiwan, while not explicitly promising to defend it from a Chinese attack.

Like Putin’s assessment of Ukraine, Xi’s China does not appear to believe that Taiwan would try to put up much of a fight. Beijing routinely blames its problems with the island on a small group of hardcore independence advocates and their American supporters. The entirely state-controlled Chinese media, meanwhile, draws on the imagined narrative that Taiwan would not willingly go to battle against what it describes as their fellow Chinese.

Now, the quick response by many nations to impose tough, coordinated sanctions on Russia after its attack on Ukraine, and the willingness to supply Ukraine with high-tech weaponry could make Xi rethink his approach to Taiwan, Fravel said.

With “the rapid response by advanced industrialized states, and the unity they have demonstrated, Xi is likely to be more cautious over Taiwan and less emboldened,” he said.

Conversely, the Ukraine experience could prompt China to accelerate its timetable on Taiwan with a more limited attack, such as seizing an outlying island, as a real-world test of its own military, Chen said.

“A sensible course would be to mature the PLA’s joint institutions and procedures through ever more rigorous exercises,” Chen said.

“But as the world has witnessed, a central leader with a specific ambition and a shortening timeline may short-circuit the process in reckless fashion.”

A12 Thursday, April 21, 2022

PINOY FISHERS AMONG BIGGEST LOSERS IN REGION, SAYS ILO STUDY

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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ILIPINO commercial fishermen were among the biggest losers in Southeast Asia in terms of job opportunities during the onset of the (Covid-19) pandemic, according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) study.

In its “Rough Seas: The impact of Covid-19 on fishing workers in South-East Asia” report, the labor arm of the United Nations noted that employment in the commercial fishing sector in 2020 dropped by 9.1 percent compared to the 1,111,733 in the previous year.

Thailand took the top place, with the biggest percentage reduction in its fishing sector jobs, which dropped by 15.4 percent to 185,662 from 219,545.

Both countries also registered significant reduction in total hours worked. For the Philippines, it dropped by 17.54. percent, while for Thailand it was 23.11 percent.

The decline in the fishing sector in both countries happened while countries worldwide were implementing lockdowns to stop the spread of infection.

ILO noted that fishermen, who were fortunate enough to still have work at that time, were subject to “intensified precarity” onboard their fish-

ing vessels.

The study pointed out that sea vessels often “lack personal protective equipment and limited access to medical care.”

“Employers were found to have not prioritised health and safety protections for workers whereas alternative solutions of reducing crew sizes heightened overwork on vessels, making a dangerous situation worse,” ILO said in a statement issued last Wed. ILO is now calling for increased transparency in corporate practices as well as better data collection for the fishing sector to address the said plight of fishermen in Southeast Asia.

It noted the “general dearth of reliable data” for the fishing sector in the said region makes it difficult for the concerned government to come out with better working conditions for fisherfolks.

“The Covid-19 pandemic hit the fishing and seafood processi ng i ndust r ies i n South-East Asia hard and migrant workers the hardest.

Continued efforts to promote international labour standards and inclusive government policies are needed to address underlying protection gaps for workers,” ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Chihoko Asada-Miyakawa said.

Trade curbs limit production of food, energy, fertilizer–WB

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE World Bank called on countries to reduce trade barriers to encourage the production of food, energy and fertilizer to prevent millions from joining the ranks of the poor and going hungry.

In a briefing, World Bank Group President David Malpass expressed concern that countries have imposed quotas, high import tariffs, high export tariffs and export bans amid the ongoing pandemic and the war in Eastern Europe.

Malpass said the World Bank is providing $17 billion per year to strengthen food security. But the international community, he said, should step up their efforts.

“Countries must be taking action now to encourage the production of food, energy, and fertilizer. The production chain needs all three.

It’s vital for countries, both advanced and developing, to reduce their trade barriers,” Malpass said.

Malpass said the World Bank Group’s Board will be discussing a 15-month crisis response of around $170 billion. The response will cov-

er April 2022 until June 2023.

The bank expects to commit $50 billion of the amount in the next three months. This will also be complemented by the $93 billion that the International Development Association (IDA) will start extending to the poorest countries

by July 1st.

Malpass also said the World Bank Group has increased its climate financing and technical support to over $26 billion in fiscal 2021, the highest in the institution’s history.

Debts and inflation

APART from these, Malpass said, another major concern is the mounting debt of countries and the rapid increase in inflation in many countries.

He said 60 percent of low-income

countries are in debt distress or at high risk of it. In a recent meeting, Malpass said, suggestions on how to expand the Common Framework have been made.

These suggestions included, among others, suspending debt service payments and penalty interest as well as expanding eligibility under the Common Framework.

The Common Framework was created by the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and “offers a structure for guiding agreements on debt treatments for eligible countries.”

A document from the World Bank stated: “It aims at providing debt treatments—including deep debt reductions when needed—to countries eligible under the DSSI (Debt Service Suspension Initiative).”

On inflation, Malpass called on Central Banks to utilize other monetary policy tools at their disposal to address inflation. These tools, he said, should not be limited to adjusting interest rates.

Malpass said some of these tools include shortening the duration of their portfolio; encouraging supply through their regulatory policies; and providing forward guidance that fosters currency stability.

“Central banks need to use more tools under current policies. The inequality gap has widened mate-

rially, with wealth and income concentrating in narrow segments of the global population. Interest rate hikes, if that’s the primary tool, will add to the inequality challenge that the world is facing,” Malpass said.

Earlier, World Bank economists warned countries against imposing price controls and restrictions in food exports to arrest rising domestic food prices.

In a blog, World Bank economists Clemens Graf von Luckner and Kathryn Holston as well as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group Carmen Reinhart said food prices have been climbing since the pandemic began.

The economists also raised alarm bells that the Ukraine-Russia war, the first war in Europe since 1945, has also contributed to the rise in food prices. Some countries have seen an increase in food inflation of above 4 percent.

The economists said the 2008 food crisis was aggravated by the restrictions imposed by a third of all emerging markets and developing countries (EMDEs).

However, since the pandemic until the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war, EMDEs have implemented these policies. One caveat, the economists said, is the difficulty in removing these policies which could lead to larger economic “distortions.”

CALL THEM ‘BFF’ Members of Babae Laban sa Fake at Fraud (BFF) sign a manifesto during a news conference and launching at the Commission on Human Rights headquarters, April 20, 2022. BFF is a women-led alliance committed to helping guard against all forms of fakery and fraudulence in the May 2022 elections. NONOY LACZA

PHL keen on joining IPEF, but cites need to be more inclusive

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HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) hopes that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will be more inclusive, with diverse participation from other interested countries.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez has conveyed the Philippines’s support for the IPEF and expressed interest in joining the initiative.

“In terms of the objectives of the IPEF, advancing resilience, inclusiveness, and competitiveness are aligned with the Philippines’ offensive interests,” a DTI news release quoted Lopez as saying in a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai. The Philippines has also signified interest in the elements of the IPEF such as trade, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) promotion and development, digital economy, supply chain resiliency, environmental sustainability, and investment in infrastructure.

In relation to inclusivity, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) also noted in its report last April 11 that “a successful IPEF would need to include a diverse set of countries— geographically, economically, and developmentally.”

According to the nonprofit policy research organization, “some countries counsulted said that they did not want to see the IPEF become an ‘insiders’ club’.”

The report stated: “The Biden administration has signaled lit-

tle interest in inviting the three sm a l lest A sea n econom ies — Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei— while offering no clear rationale for why these three countries are not eligible.”

The report added: “Privately, administration officials initally signaled focus on just for of these— Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore—again with no clear explanation as to why Thailand and the Philippines were less worthy of discussion.”

The report ended up pointing out that domestic politics could complicate prospects for the IPEF, which could be the case with the Philippines, where national and local elections are set on May 9.

“Many countries face general elections over the next two years,” the report pointed out.

“First up is the Philippines, in early May, which could significantly shift the country’s approach to engagement with the United States,” it emphasized.

However, as President Duterte’s term is about to end, Lopez still managed to engage USTR’s Tai in a bilateral meeting to discuss further the IPEF. The IPEF is the proposed vehicle for strengthened US economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, seeking to operationalize shared objectives around trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply chain resiliency, decarbonization and clean energy, among others.

Andrea E. San Juan

Digital divide works vs use of big data in PHL

I

T may take a while before the Philippines can maximize the benefits of using big data such as Google Trends, especially for elections, according to local statisticians.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Senior Research Fellow Jose Ramon G. Albert told BusinessMirror that the country’s digital divide remains a major obstacle to the use of big data.

However, Albert said, studies on the use of big data such as those obtained from Google Trends have shown that social media data has been used for nowcasting and forecasting exercises in other countries.

“Right now, (there are no examples of big data use) for the Philippines but there have been instances in other countries where there is no tech divide (that this has been used),” Albert said.

Key to the use and reliability of big data is access to stable and high- speed internet connection as

well as technology such as laptops and mobile phones that have the capability to connect directly to the internet.

Albert said this also requires that people know how to use the technology that they have access to. Knowledge and access are important if the country will be able to maximize big data.

“If not, then the signal you are getting is only from those with access and knowledge plus trolls,” Albert warned.

Given this, Albert said, it is difficult to disregard traditional data sources such as surveys. However, it is important to ask whether a data source is fit for an intended purpose.

Trolls

IN a public post on social media, former National Statistical Coordination Board Secretary General Romulo A. Virola said traditional and new data sources, such as big data, can both be “infiltrated by

trolls from all sides of the political spectrum.”

However, Virola admitted that big data, specifically that of Google Trends, can be “easier to manipulate” in favor of a certain individual.

Virola said trolls working for one side of the political spectrum can game the data and increase searches for the politician they represent to give that candidate an online boost.

Nonetheless, Virola said, the increase in searches online could also indicate greater interest with the intention of voting for a particular candidate.

For traditional surveys, Virola said trolls could also game these data sources through the commission of “huge nonsampling errors” which can happen when barangays or households have been compromised by trolls.

“This can happen if the list of sample barangays/households has been compromised because the trolls got possibly unauthorized

information on the identity of the sample barangays/households, with or without knowledge of the survey firm. The trolls can then try to ‘influence’ how the respondents should respond to the survey questions, similar to vote-buying,” Virola explained.

Virola earlier said Pulse Asia election surveys oversampled lower socioeconomic classes and excluded higher-income classes which may skew the actual results of the May 9 polls.

In these surveys, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was the leading candidate for President. The survey showed 56 percent of respondents favoring Marcos over Vice President Ma. Leonor Robredo with only 24 percent.

Online, data from Google Trends showed Robredo was the top choice, earning 52 percent of the searches over a 7-day period. Marcos Jr. accounted for only 22 percent of the searches.Cai U. Ordinario

Companies

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

Thursday, April 21, 2022

B1

Offshore wind seen helping PHL meet energy demand

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he Philippines has the potential to install 21 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power, based on the new roadmap released by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the World Bank Group (WBG).

Based on a low-growth scenario, the Philippines has the potential to install 3 GW of offshore wind by 2040, making up 3 percent of the country’s electricity supply. The high-growth scenario, meanwhile, suggests the potential to install 21GW, making up 21 percent of its electricity supply.

The roadmap is one of a series of offshore wind roadmap studies

commissioned by the WBG under the joint Energy Sector Management Assistance Program-International Finance Corp. Offshore Wind Development Program.

To achieve these scenarios, the roadmap provides guidance on actions that must be taken by the government, putting in place a long-term plan for offshore wind until 2050 as part of a decarbonized

energy mix; establishing offshore wind development zones through further marine spatial planning; investment in transmission, port and other energy infrastructure upgrades; increasing collaboration with industry and other relevant government agencies; among others.

“The Philippines has a rapidly growing demand for power. It is clear from this roadmap that offshore wind can play a major role in meeting our country’s energy demand indigenously, while also accelerating decarbonization,” said Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

The WBG has been working closely with the DOE to prepare this first-of-its-kind roadmap, which aims to tap the country’s 178GW offshore wind potential.

During the launch of the roadmap, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said the

agency has received numerous interests and applications in offshore wind from the private sector, with awarded wind energy service contracts equivalent to more than 14,000 MW capacity as of February this year.

The DOE, he added, engaged public and private sectors through focus group discussions conducted in the first quarter of 2022, to ensure an efficient and coherent permitting process for private stakeholders.

“One of the next steps we are taking to build the Philippines’s Offshore Wind Industry is a high-level technical study on a representative offshore wind project that could be delivered before 2030.

It describes all of the main activities that a developer will need to undertake to develop and construct a project and, importantly, how these actions relate to the government’s actions and the roadmap’s recommendations,” said Fuentebella.

FNI unit ships nickel to China

By VG Cabuag @villygc

& Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

G

lobal Ferronickel Holdings Inc. (FNI) on Wednesday said it expects to exceed its target shipment of 5.5 million wet metric tons (WMT) for 2022 after making its first shipment for the year.

The company, the country’s second-largest nickel ore producer, said its wholly-owned export unit Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) began its shipment to customers in China with 53,700 WMT of low-grade nickel ore bound for Guangdong Century Tsingshan Nickel Industry Co. Ltd. PGMC is the second-largest value exporter of nickel ore in the country.

“We are upbeat that our mining operations at PGMC have been running seamlessly from the get-go. Weather permitting, we might be able to exceed this year’s target of 5.5 WMT consisting of

First Gen donates solar panels

F

irst Gen Corp. said Wednesday it donated solar panels to targeted state facilities in the city of Tuguegarao and Cagayan province as part of its efforts to promote climate change consciousness for a decarbonized future.

The solar panel systems, each with a market value between P150,000 to P170,000, was turned over to the Tuguegarao City Government, Cagayan National High School and Cagayan 1 Electric Cooperative (CAGELCO 1).

The solar panel systems, each with a total capacity of 2.4 kilowatts, will benefit the Peoples’ General Hospital, Cagayan National High School (CNHS) Main Campus and CAGELCO I Main Office.

First Gen Corp. Vice President and Engineer Gerald Cajucom said carbon dioxide emission will be reduced by 1,600 kilograms per site while annual savings will amount to at least P43,000 per site or P130,000 for all three sites.

“The donation is a small token but the hope is that, with this initial gesture, this project would go a long way in making Cagayanos look into sustainability, fight climate change and contribute in our hope for a decarbonized future,” said Cajucom. Lenie Lectura

60 percent low-grade ore and 40 percent mediumgrade ore,” FNI President Dante R. Bravo said The company said about half of PGMC’s shipment target for 2022 has been allotted for, and the rest will be open to other customers.

PGMC has a general nickel ore supply contract with the Guangdong Century and Baosteel Resources International Co. Ltd. for 20 and 30 shipments, respectively. Prevailing market prices for all customers will be determined at the time of their individual order confirmation, the company said.

“We remain bullish as demand from China continues to be strong, and nickel prices have been rising in recent years. And with current global events adversely affecting oil prices, there is a greater appreciation for electric vehicles, which use nickel for their rechargeable batteries,” Bravo said.

The company earlier said its income last year grew 6 percent to P1.98 billion, from the P1.87 billion recorded in 2020.

Revenues rose by 6 percent to P7.71 billion from the previous year’s P7.26 billion.

“We are also delighted with the continued surge in nickel prices, which has allowed us to grow our top and bottom line despite having experienced relatively bad weather conditions throughout last year’s mining season,” Bravo said.

The company said bad weather resulted in a 13-percent decline in shipments. FNI shipped 90 vessels of nickel ore for a total of 4.887 million WMT in 2021 against the 103 vessels totaling 5.62 million WMT in 2020. The resulting product mix was 77 percent, or 3.76 million WMT, of low-grade ore and 23 percent, or 1.12 million WMT, of medium-grade ore.

In 2020, it had a mix of 68 percent, or 3.83 million WMT, of low-grade ore and 32 percent, or 1.79 million WMT, of medium-grade ore.

BCDA renews Shell lease pact for C5 property

T

he Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (PSPC) have renewed their partnership for the energy company’s use of a property along Circumferential Road 5 (C-5 Road) in Taguig City as a full-service mobility station.

BCDA Officer-in-Charge President and Chief Executive Officer Aristotle B. Batuhan and Pilipinas Shell General Manager Mobility Philippines Randolph T. Del Valle on March 31 led the ceremonial contract signing, which extended for another 20 years PSPC’s lease of a 7,497-square-meter (sqm.) land along C-5 Road, LogCom, Aranai, including structures with a gross floor area of 750 sqm.

“More than 20 years have passed since BCDA and Pilipinas Shell first entered into a public-private partnership for the lease of this property. We consider this as a successful partnership, allowing BCDA and the government to generate additional revenues for the Filipino people year after year,” Batuhan said.

He added, “Achieving this again through the renewal contract is imperative. It will enable the government to beef up its coffers, no matter how modest, at a time when Filipinos are still reeling from the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the conflict in Ukraine.”

Pilipinas Shell also commits to invest P80 to P100 million for the improvement and redevelopment of its existing mobility station on the site and the inclusion of value-added services.

“C5 is a very important thoroughfare that connects people from the north and south, and we want to make the journey better and hassle-free for everyone. Our mobility stations are strategically located to make sure that we cater to every community. This C5 location is ideal because we can serve the various surrounding communities not only with fuels, but with other relevant products and services,” Del Valle said.

“Our investments are geared for the commu-

nity. Shell aims to power progress of the Philippines, and in this case, we are powering progress for people from Metro Manila, Taguig, and around the country.”

Under its proposed development plan, PSPC seeks to upgrade its mobility station in line with its future site design, introducing offers to address the needs of motorists and communities, while also incorporating sustainability initiatives.

The renovated station is envisioned to offer addon facilities for motorists, including a Shell Select convenience store, Shell Car Wash, Shell Helix Oil Change facility, Shell Advance MotoCare Express, a lounge, and parking spaces. It will also have space for co-locators, such as restaurants and cafes.

The site’s design incorporates various green elements like solar panels that greatly reduce the site’s overall electrical consumption, a green wall to offset carbon emissions from vehicles, grasscrete, ecoslab, and furniture made with upcycled single-use plastic. In anticipation of the growth of the electric vehicle market, space is also allotted for electric vehicle charging (Shell Recharge).

BCDA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Aileen Zosa invited the energy company to explore other opportunities for partnership, this time in New Clark City, BCDA’s inclusive, sustainable and smart city development in Capas, Tarlac. “I’m happy to know that Shell is giving back to the environment. Your progressive thinking, your sustainable principles–which I’m sure you advocate and adhere to–are really the right fit for New Clark City,” Zosa said.

Del Valle welcomed Zosa’s remarks, adding that Shell already has a wealth of experience working with various smart cities in other parts of the globe.

“With the expertise of BCDA from a location and development perspective, and the expertise of Shell in terms of supporting mobility, we can co-create and co-develop future-proof locations in New Clark City.”

Jollibee’s finance chief to retire J o l l i b e e Fo o d s C o r p.

(JFC) said Ysmael V. Baysa, its chief financial officer (CFO) for the past two decades, is retiring by the end of the month.

In its disclosure, Baysa, 65, will retire from his post as CFO and compliance officer.

Baysa saw Jollibee’s transformation from a local fastfood brand that mainly caters to Filipino customers even in its overseas branches to what is now a company that has diverse brands.

He will be replaced by Richard Chong Woo Shin, who will take over as the company’s CFO on May 1 and Valerie F. Amante as compliance officer who will also start in May. As CFO, Baysa is also a member of the boards of directors/ trustees of Jollibee’s wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures including Smashburger in the United States, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf firms in Singapore, United States and Ireland, Jollibee Group Foundation in the Philippines and several other subsidiaries in the country and China.

Baysa joined Jollibee as CFO in July 2003. Previously, Baysa was senior vice president for financial comptrollership, human resources and corpo-

Ysmael Baysa

rate planning of Union Bank.

He was also finance director of Procter and Gamble from 1993 to 2001.

JFC said it posted a strong recover y last year, a lmost reaching its pre-pandemic levels in 2019 on strong overseas sales.

The company said its operating income for the fourth quarter of 2021 reached P2.5 billion, reversing its operating loss of P2.86 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. Compared with 2019, it recorded a growth of 63 percent from an operating profit of P1.5 billion.

For the full year 2021, the company’s operating income amounted to P6.3 billion a reversal of the previous year’s loss of P12.81 billion and about the same level in 2019 or prepandemic operating income of P6.5 billion. VG Cabuag

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 21, 2022

The Keepers 2021 income hits record on strong sales

T

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

experienced during the year,” the company said.

By the end of the year, the company has about P7.7 billion in cash, which it said will be “utilized for the expansion of its diversified and curated liquor portfolio as well as its distribution capabilities across the Philippine archipelago in line with its medium-term strategic expansion plans and programs”.

Keepers houses Co’s three liquor distribution firms—Montosco Inc., Meritus Prime Distributions Inc. and Premier Wines and Spirits Inc. The company made its backdoor listing last year using Co’s shell company, Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc. It is one of the newly-listed firms last year at the Philippine Stock Exchange whose share price took a beating from investors.

It shares closed at P1.28 on Wednesday, down from its follow-on offering price of P1.50.

The company conducted its followon offering in November. The money raised from the offering will be used to finance strategic acquisition opportunities, expansion of product portfolio and distribution channels, investments in distribution and logistics network, and working capital.

he Keepers Holdings Inc., the largest imported liquor distributor in the Philippines led by businessman Lucio Co, on Wednesday said its income last year reached a record high of P1.58 billion, up by 34 percent from the previous P1.18 billion.

The company said it posted a strong sales performance last year, augmented

by management’s strategic cost control of its distribution, marketing and promotion expenses.

Keepers said its revenues for the year reached P11.03 billion, a 35-percent increase from the previous year.

The company said it saw a 32-percent growth in volume of cases sold totaling more than 4.46 million cases sold in 2021.

“This was driven principally by the continued robust performance of Alfonso, the leading imported brandy in the market, which has already surpassed its pre-pandemic levels despite some challenges brought by the continuing impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns

mutual funds

April 20, 2022

NAV

One Year Three Year

Five Year

per share Return*

Y-T-D Return

Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a

225.66

8.8%

-4.72%

-2.95%

-3.19%

ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a

1.5199

17.51%

-1.54%

0.82%

-8.67%

9.5%

-8.51%

-5.58%

-3.52%

ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.1237

Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7438 2.45%

-7.28% n.a.

-1.68%

First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6956 2.98%

-6.92% n.a.

-9.77%

First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a

5.0738

First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

85.88

11.29%

-2.32%

-0.69%

-2.1%

0.7568

15.35%

-4.46%

-4.08%

-12.25% n.a.

-9.05%

-11.88%

PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a

46.3721

8.96%

-3.47%

-1.48%

-3.65%

Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

484.38

8.59%

-3.47%

-1.7%

-3.26%

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a

1.3611

24.94%

1.45%

1.6%

0.35%

Philequity Fund, Inc. -a

35.668

11.8%

-2.43%

-0.23%

-2.53% -2.48%

Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.9181

11.06%

-3.72% n.a.

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a

4.8065

10.26%

-2.71%

-0.79%

-3.11%

Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

799.14

9.6%

-2.83%

-0.86%

-3.54%

Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a

0.7214

9.04%

-7.86%

-3.78%

-4.15%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.6192

9.48%

-5.39%

-2.17%

-4.14%

Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a

0.9102

9.25%

-3.15%

-1.13%

United Fund, Inc. -a

9.26%

-3.33%

0.07%

-2.67%

3.3454

Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a

1.1673

974.99 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

14.49% n.a. n.a.

-3.38%

-3.63%

0.4%

Exchange Traded Fund (shares) First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c

107.8166

10.2%

-2.56%

-0.43%

-3.28%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.9892

Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.6526

-22.25%

-1.65%

1.42%

-12.19%

-6.3%

8.55%

8.54%

-10.5%

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a

1.6265

-0.07%

-1.64%

-1.33%

ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a

2.21

2.82%

-1.36%

-0.91%

-3.13%

6.2%

0.3%

0.86%

-1.65%

First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.6466

First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.2064 NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a

-3.87%

10.08% n.a. n.a.

1.9758

4.36%

1.17%

1.19%

-2.03% -2.86%

PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a

3.6575

3.49%

0.05%

0%

Philam Fund, Inc. -a

16.3902

3.43%

-0.2%

-0.06%

-2.7%

Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a

2.0816

4.83%

-0.79%

-0.21%

-1.88%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.5343 5.07%

-2.55%

-0.75%

-3.09%

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a

-1.24%

-0.23%

-2.94%

0.9261

11.59%

-1.24%

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a

0.9431

-1.41%

-1.57% n.a.

-4.72%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a

0.9033

4.84%

-2.95% n.a.

-4.36%

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a

0.8926

5.56%

-3.27% n.a.

-4.42%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03451

-9.42%

-1.4%

-0.55%

-9.04%

-13.07%

-0.27%

1.19%

-6.83%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.3387 -7.36%

5.28%

5.75%

-9.65%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,2 $1.0892 -8.33%

1.23%

2%

-9.13%

PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b

$0.9942

Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

373.56

0.86%

2.42%

2.42%

-0.2%

ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.8868

-1.24%

0.08%

0.09%

0.11%

Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a

3.2386

0.57%

2.42%

3.56%

-0.17%

Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a

2.2082

-1.97%

0.77%

1.1%

-1.92%

First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4162 -0.55%

2.35%

1.79%

-0.4%

Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a

2.13%

1.1%

-2.58%

4.2823

-3.87%

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a

1.3165

-0.03%

3.26%

2.79%

-0.2%

Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a

3.9258

-0.77%

2.96%

2.48%

-1.01%

Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.0126

-1.4%

3.35%

1.84%

-1.52%

Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1576

-0.66%

3.15%

2.98%

-0.93%

-1.3%

2.37%

2.29%

-1.1%

Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7115

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a

$483.5

0.01%

2.13%

2.03%

-1.24%

ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a

Є215.05

-2.17%

-0.13%

0.39%

-2.25%

ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.0949

-7.01%

-2.08%

-0.41%

-9.05%

First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0248 -4.25%

-0.53%

-0.08%

-4.62%

PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b

-11.89%

-4.23%

-2.81%

-8.99%

$2.2851

-8.01%

0.48%

0.69%

-8.8%

$0.0611462

-2.39%

1.72%

1.43%

-1.84%

Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $2.8407 -9.72%

-1.42%

-0.84%

-11.12%

Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a

$0.9308

Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (shares) ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a

131.64

1.31%

2.46%

2.53%

First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a

1.0613

1.04%

1.74% n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Peso Starter Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.3217

1.52%

2.32%

2.5%

0.34% 0.34%

0.46%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (shares) Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0624

0.63%

1.26% n.a.

0.17%

Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a

45.5767 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a 1.3222

6.81% n.a. n.a.

-4.39%

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities (units) ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -a

$0.8963

-10.37% n.a. n.a.

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago.

c - Listed in the PSE.

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

April 20, 2022

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

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK COMMERCE BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL IREMIT PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

39,375 334,767,054 7,808,620 323,076,284 1,434,530 7,675 761,047 89,286,037 1,804,750 15,120 1,100,520 45,305,500 39,394,267.50 1,200,540 59,860 860 6,122 28,180 1,560

-39,375 142,725,319 5,542,868 -21,114,708 40,250 -120,996 29,129,114.50 -123,788 -50,513 32,885,594 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 8.59 8.6 8.44 8.64 8.43 8.6 14,049,200 120,766,179 ALSONS CONS 1 1.03 1.01 1.03 0.99 1.03 11,000 11,050 ABOITIZ POWER 35 35.2 35 35.4 35 35 1,065,000 37,387,415 0.4 0.405 0.405 0.41 0.4 0.405 2,010,000 812,500 BASIC ENERGY 25.15 25.25 25.2 25.25 25.1 25.15 23,900 601,630 FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG 70.15 70.2 70.2 70.2 70.2 70.2 90 6,318 MERALCO 355.4 355.6 357 359.8 355 355.6 266,870 95,167,402 19.5 19.6 19.2 19.52 19.2 19.5 736,100 14,353,184 MANILA WATER 3.29 3.3 3.29 3.3 3.29 3.29 238,000 783,540 PETRON 4.9 5.06 5.2 5.2 4.89 4.9 42,000 207,440 PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM 9.93 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.2 10.2 300 3,060 SYNERGY GRID 12.66 12.72 12.5 12.72 12.5 12.72 920,400 11,658,080 17.86 18 17.58 17.9 17.5 17.86 239,400 4,226,428 PILIPINAS SHELL 14.36 14.4 14.34 14.36 14.2 14.36 137,400 1,961,706 SPC POWER SOLAR PH 1.77 1.78 1.78 1.79 1.73 1.78 22,529,000 39,671,060 AGRINURTURE 4.59 4.61 4.7 4.79 4.53 4.61 1,168,000 5,534,840 2.46 2.55 2.45 2.55 2.45 2.55 224,000 566,110 AXELUM CENTURY FOOD 22.5 23 23 23 22.2 22.5 1,073,400 24,148,110 14.38 14.4 14.38 14.38 14.3 14.38 16,200 232,468 DEL MONTE DNL INDUS 7.4 7.45 7.5 7.55 7.4 7.4 349,500 2,607,316 EMPERADOR 17.2 17.38 17 17.6 17 17.2 2,716,400 47,085,462 62.45 62.8 62.6 62.8 62.45 62.8 24,070 1,510,002 SMC FOODANDBEV 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 1,949,000 1,094,070 FIGARO COFFEE ALLIANCE SELECT 0.57 0.58 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 312,000 176,720 FRUITAS HLDG 1.11 1.13 1.12 1.13 1.11 1.13 1,092,000 1,226,560 104.5 106.9 104.6 107 104 106.9 16,640 1,741,133 GINEBRA 229 229.6 229 230 227.8 229.6 302,040 69,193,272 JOLLIBEE 1.28 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.27 1.28 2,835,000 3,635,390 KEEPERS HLDG LIBERTY FLOUR 21.2 21.9 22 22 20.65 21.9 13,300 279,615 MAXS GROUP 6.16 6.22 6.13 6.26 6.13 6.16 248,500 1,539,878 13.7 13.78 13.6 13.78 13.52 13.78 4,803,900 65,705,110 MONDE NISSIN 8.2 8.46 8.12 8.46 8.12 8.4 30,700 256,762 SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO 0.6 0.62 0.58 0.63 0.58 0.62 786,000 483,580 RFM CORP 4.25 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 7,000 30,100 1.2 1.23 1.23 1.23 1.23 1.23 9,000 11,070 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.101 0.107 0.101 0.101 0.1 0.1 100,000 10,080 UNIV ROBINA 116.8 116.9 116.7 117.5 116.7 116.9 539,770 63,104,285 VITARICH 0.65 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.66 522,000 343,990 VICTORIAS 2.9 2.99 2.75 3 2.75 3 894,000 2,653,900 45.4 51.75 48 48 45.25 45.25 1,300 61,575 CONCRETE A CONCRETE B 46.55 59 50.1 50.1 50.1 50.1 90 4,509 CEMEX HLDG 0.85 0.86 0.85 0.86 0.84 0.86 382,000 324,170 EAGLE CEMENT 13.1 13.26 13.3 13.3 12.9 13.26 22,500 298,610 4.68 4.71 4.61 4.71 4.58 4.68 738,000 3,412,350 EEI CORP 5.58 5.6 5.55 5.65 5.55 5.58 4,700 26,123 HOLCIM MEGAWIDE 5.1 5.12 5.12 5.12 5.1 5.12 64,100 327,190 PHINMA 19.6 19.7 19.66 19.7 19.6 19.7 8,200 161,358 TKC METALS 0.77 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 3,000 2,370 0.96 0.97 0.97 0.99 0.97 0.97 1,435,000 1,397,560 VULCAN INDL MABUHAY VINYL 4.35 4.4 4.41 4.42 4.4 4.41 5,000 22,050 PRYCE CORP 5.65 5.66 5.66 5.74 5.65 5.66 485,400 2,747,135 CONCEPCION 19.2 19.44 19.4 19.4 19.2 19.2 3,900 75,390 1.57 1.59 1.53 1.63 1.52 1.59 11,197,000 17,457,480 GREENERGY 7.59 7.6 7.65 7.65 7.59 7.6 80,900 614,932 INTEGRATED MICR 0.71 0.73 0.71 0.72 0.71 0.71 110,000 78,120 IONICS PANASONIC 6.2 6.33 6.33 6.33 6.3 6.3 24,100 151,878 SFA SEMICON 1.15 1.18 1.17 1.18 1.17 1.18 181,000 213,230 3.14 3.16 3.21 3.21 3.14 3.16 127,000 400,740 CIRTEK HLDG

16,080,357 -8,893,520 -28,050 -160,915 -24,017,490 -11,463,544 -236,880 1,746,924 -2,383,084.00 -143,200 -74,930 -710,470 -5,319,645 -1,902,464 -4,985,398 -866,913 -31,312 25,854,274 610,060 14,682,848 -29,400 -21,500 14,686,542 26,400 2,528,700 -71,300 120,280 102,000 2,198,979 3,068,310 71,495 35,500 176,650 -

ABACORE CAPITAL AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP TOP FRONTIER

1,096,090 1,841,455 -1,622,850 -23,868 -5,400 -71,680 475,710 7,131,799 7,854 10,946,915 75,800,119.50 -3,704,668 -31,047,450 27,000 -9,805,455 -1,217,597 -3,540

HOLDING & FRIMS

43.75 131.6 12.18 99.6 26.8 6.98 8.01 54.8 18.96 56 19.9 108 83.75 1.97 3.63 0.86 203.2 2,656 0.78

1.11 777.5 56.2 12.08 9 0.95 0.56 0.55 4.95 8.66 6.93 530.5 3.6 59.4 6.63 0.51 3.06 8.8 3.86 2.56 1.31 0.89 876 108 117

44 132.5 12.2 99.8 26.85 7.99 8.03 55.2 19 57.2 20.3 108.3 83.8 2.1 3.83 0.93 206 2,818 0.85

1.12 778 56.3 12.1 9.1 0.96 0.57 0.58 4.97 8.68 7.14 533 3.77 59.65 7.1 0.53 3.19 8.84 3.88 2.82 1.34 0.9 877 108.1 118

43.75 130 12.14 99.85 26.9 6.95 8 53.9 19.2 56 19.48 107.3 84 1.94 3.85 0.86 206.2 2,818 0.78

1.11 782 55.35 12.1 9 0.95 0.57 0.57 4.94 8.78 7.14 517 3.6 58.5 7.04 0.53 3.03 8.81 3.88 2.57 1.4 0.9 895 107.9 118

43.75 132.5 12.2 99.95 26.9 6.98 8.06 55.2 19.28 56 20.1 108.4 84 2.1 3.85 0.86 206.2 2,818 0.78

1.14 782 56.6 12.16 9 0.95 0.57 0.58 4.96 8.78 7.14 533 3.6 59.75 7.08 0.54 3.06 8.86 3.89 2.57 1.4 0.9 895 108 118

43.75 130 12.12 99.25 26.8 6.95 7.99 53.9 18.96 56 19.48 106.2 83.7 1.94 3.62 0.86 203 2,818 0.78

1.1 772 55.35 12.04 9 0.95 0.55 0.56 4.92 8.6 7.14 517 3.6 58.45 7.04 0.51 3.03 8.8 3.85 2.56 1.31 0.9 865.5 107 118

43.75 132.5 12.2 99.8 26.8 6.98 8.03 55.2 18.96 56 20 108 83.8 2.1 3.83 0.86 203 2,818 0.78

1.12 778 56.3 12.1 9 0.95 0.56 0.58 4.95 8.66 7.14 533 3.6 59.65 7.08 0.51 3.06 8.8 3.88 2.56 1.31 0.9 877 108 118

900 2,536,800 641,000 3,236,380 53,500 1,100 94,900 1,628,700 94,600 270 55,100 423,470 470,100 580,000 16,000 1,000 30 10 2,000

16,671,000 189,010 1,012,120 1,963,100 4,400 41,000 1,298,000 208,000 145,000 2,988,000 1,100 121,480 64,000 2,208,470 11,500 362,000 2,000 1,683,800 19,285,000 17,000 525,000 30,000 302,310 40,520 30

18,486,000 147,079,375 56,922,667.50 23,759,314 39,600 38,950 717,600 117,020 717,850 25,970,035 7,854 63,854,990 230,400 131,236,234.50 81,400 186,450 6,090 14,843,158 74,717,200 43,650 701,700 27,000 265,120,775 4,371,292 3,540

PROPERTY

Primarily invested in Peso securities (units) Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

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-7.6%

d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last July 8, 2021 (formerly, Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc.).

2 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last November 25, 2021.

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

AYALA LAND 35.35 35.6 34.2 35.6 34.2 35.6 6,676,200 235,339,290 95,170,760 AYALA LAND LOG 4.82 4.84 4.76 4.83 4.7 4.82 523,000 2,488,360 -481,020 ARANETA PROP 1.03 1.05 1.12 1.12 1.1 1.1 19,000 20,920 43.7 43.75 43.85 44 43.4 43.7 256,800 11,216,800 -2,139,195 AREIT RT 0.86 0.88 0.87 0.88 0.86 0.88 33,000 28,540 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.71 0.72 0.7 0.71 0.7 0.71 128,000 90,760 CROWN EQUITIES 0.092 0.094 0.094 0.094 0.092 0.094 550,000 50,660 2.82 2.83 2.84 2.85 2.8 2.83 826,000 2,329,430 -16,810 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.41 0.415 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 370,000 151,700 CENTURY PROP CITICORE RT 2.59 2.6 2.6 2.62 2.59 2.6 8,074,000 20,982,320 2,004,620 DOUBLEDRAGON 8.82 8.87 8.8 8.88 8.76 8.87 34,400 302,977 -1,819 DDMP RT 1.56 1.57 1.56 1.57 1.55 1.56 2,317,000 3,617,480 20 6.85 6.87 6.8 6.87 6.8 6.87 234,500 1,608,865 0 DM WENCESLAO EVER GOTESCO 0.249 0.25 0.265 0.265 0.25 0.25 1,070,000 267,950 FILINVEST RT 7.33 7.35 7.35 7.35 7.33 7.33 5,678,100 41,621,365 13,478,381 FILINVEST LAND 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.04 1.04 4,546,000 4,786,650 -3,612,190 0.89 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.91 203,000 184,730 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 13.5 13.6 13.22 13.62 13.22 13.6 589,700 7,919,440 10,630 609 640 633 640 630 640 110 69,660 GOLDEN MV PHIL INFRADEV 0.92 0.98 0.92 0.92 0.92 0.92 9,000 8,280 CITY AND LAND 0.85 0.88 0.87 0.87 0.85 0.85 21,000 18,070 2.98 2.99 2.95 2.98 2.94 2.98 7,481,000 22,189,270 -2,308,260 MEGAWORLD 0.223 0.226 0.226 0.231 0.223 0.223 9,160,000 2,086,250 -421,780 MRC ALLIED MREIT RT 17.38 17.4 17.26 17.44 17.26 17.38 2,932,400 50,920,680 -37,189,174 PHIL ESTATES 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 410,000 168,100 2.39 2.49 2.42 2.49 2.32 2.49 1,244,000 3,041,030 PRIMEX CORP RL COMM RT 7.35 7.38 7.4 7.45 7.33 7.38 3,078,700 22,656,410 2,823,115 19.84 19.9 19.9 19.98 19.82 19.9 3,430,600 68,109,000 -2,953,242 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.233 0.24 0.239 0.24 0.239 0.24 120,000 28,700 -4,800 ROCKWELL 1.42 1.44 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 13,000 18,200 2.78 2.88 2.79 2.9 2.79 2.9 28,000 81,090 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 37.65 38.2 37.4 38.2 37.15 38.2 5,820,400 220,869,595 68,372,045 VISTAMALLS 3.16 3.36 3.37 3.38 3.37 3.38 5,000 16,880 SUNTRUST HOME 1.03 1.07 1.05 1.07 1.02 1.07 139,000 142,800 2.63 2.66 2.61 2.67 2.61 2.63 391,000 1,030,230 -133,950 VISTA LAND

SERVICES ABS CBN 12.78 12.98 12.76 12.98 12.76 12.98 106,600 1,372,934 GMA NETWORK 14.5 14.52 14.68 14.68 14.46 14.5 6,289,600 91,761,346 MLA BRDCASTING 7.53 9.87 9 9 9 9 1,500 13,500 2,536 2,560 2,500 2,572 2,484 2,536 52,945 134,031,660 -19,932,450 GLOBE TELECOM 1,912 1,914 1,910 1,916 1,907 1,914 129,815 248,367,360 59,883,865 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.045 0.046 0.046 0.047 0.045 0.045 304,100,000 13,721,700 9,000 CONVERGE 30 30.4 31 31 30 30 7,401,400 224,371,895 -13,785,960 2.8 2.84 2.67 2.9 2.67 2.85 333,000 920,560 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 5.03 5.04 5.01 5.03 4.92 5.03 6,241,400 31,138,706 9,866,138 1.3 1.32 1.28 1.32 1.27 1.3 864,000 1,128,190 -14,290 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.32 0.325 0.335 0.335 0.32 0.325 1,790,000 582,500 2GO GROUP 7.4 7.55 7.5 7.5 7.4 7.5 7,200 53,900 13.38 13.66 13.5 13.5 13.5 13.5 4,200 56,700 ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA 1.49 1.52 1.49 1.54 1.48 1.49 136,000 203,610 CEBU AIR 46.5 46.55 47 47 46.5 46.5 101,800 4,748,200 23,100 INTL CONTAINER 229.6 231 225 231 223.4 231 1,538,190 351,943,558 134,412,814 22.1 22.7 22.7 22.7 22.7 22.7 5,400 122,580 LBC EXPRESS MACROASIA 5.6 5.61 5.55 5.65 5.5 5.6 444,900 2,479,019 METROALLIANCE A 0.95 1 0.95 1 0.95 1 2,000 1,950 PAL HLDG 6.26 6.29 6.25 6.3 6.25 6.28 53,100 333,042 -81,375 HARBOR STAR 0.65 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 0.67 45,000 30,150 0.44 0.445 0.44 0.45 0.44 0.445 170,000 75,250 4,400 WATERFRONT 0.34 0.36 0.36 0.36 0.34 0.36 2,620,000 909,750 7,200 STI HLDG BELLE CORP 1.27 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.27 1.27 8,000 10,250 3,900 BLOOMBERRY 6.21 6.23 6.16 6.3 6.14 6.23 14,829,000 92,430,754 -7,997,063 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.29 1.27 1.27 1,832,000 2,345,090 LEISURE AND RES PH RESORTS GRP 0.98 1.02 0.96 1.02 0.92 1.02 1,364,000 1,305,700 36,200 0.455 0.465 0.46 0.465 0.46 0.465 230,000 106,150 -13,700 PREMIUM LEISURE PHILWEB 2.29 2.3 2.32 2.32 2.3 2.3 956,000 2,201,550 -2,079,330.00 ALLDAY 0.435 0.44 0.44 0.44 0.43 0.44 9,510,000 4,135,850 1,896,650 8.05 8.33 8.05 8.4 8.05 8.2 298,500 2,464,108 1,250,127 ALLHOME 1.4 1.41 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 207,000 289,800 METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD 37.55 37.6 37.65 37.7 37.4 37.6 761,900 28,660,215 17,245,055 ROBINSONS RTL 56.6 56.95 56.5 56.6 55.15 56.6 127,370 7,177,289 -1,286,978.50 67 67.2 68 68.3 67 67 168,290 11,440,716 246,550 PHIL SEVEN CORP 1.15 1.16 1.14 1.16 1.14 1.15 1,581,000 1,814,200 1,054,920.00 SSI GROUP 27.95 28.15 28.95 28.95 27.9 27.95 996,600 27,944,330 -8,144,605 WILCON DEPOT IPM HLDG 6.8 7 6.7 6.7 6.7 6.7 29,000 194,300 MEDILINES 0.82 0.83 0.82 0.84 0.81 0.83 375,000 312,620 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.53 0.51 0.52 5,090,000 2,654,080 -258,060 PRMIERE HORIZON 3.84 3.93 3.84 3.93 3.84 3.93 10,000 38,850 SBS PHIL CORP

MINING & OIL APEX MINING 1.7 1.71 1.7 1.74 1.7 1.71 1,918,000 3,287,990 ATLAS MINING 7.01 7.02 7 7.03 6.98 7.01 211,200 1,478,344 7.39 7.42 7.03 7.42 7.03 7.42 11,300 83,456 BENGUET A BENGUET B 7.3 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 7.4 3,000 22,200 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.246 0.249 0.245 0.245 0.245 0.245 10,000 2,450 DIZON MINES 4.96 5.49 5.49 5.49 5.49 5.49 900 4,941 2.8 2.82 2.85 2.86 2.75 2.82 4,012,000 11,310,100 FERRONICKEL 0.175 0.199 0.186 0.2 0.186 0.199 210,000 40,380 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.146 0.147 0.148 0.149 0.147 0.147 12,190,000 1,798,130 LEPANTO B 0.146 0.147 0.146 0.15 0.146 0.147 3,780,000 565,080 MANILA MINING A 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.011 23,600,000 256,600 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 800,000 8,800 MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES 1.69 1.71 1.75 1.77 1.68 1.71 3,579,000 6,159,000 NIHAO 0.96 1 1 1.01 1 1 60,000 60,200 NICKEL ASIA 8.16 8.19 8.2 8.3 8.11 8.19 7,994,100 65,504,404 0.96 0.97 0.97 0.99 0.96 0.97 176,000 170,940 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 5.36 5.4 5.5 5.53 5.36 5.36 931,800 5,040,395 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 29.95 30.3 1,690,700 51,145,770 SEMIRARA MINING ACE ENEXOR 16.06 16.08 16.2 16.5 16.06 16.08 36,100 582,426 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 4,200,000 46,800 0.0092 0.0094 0.0092 0.0092 0.0092 0.0092 3,000,000 27,600 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 4.81 4.85 4.8 4.85 4.8 4.84 143,000 688,980

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 100 101 101 101 100 100 1,200 120,600 BRN PREF A 103.5 105 105 105 105 105 100 10,500 CEB PREF 46.2 46.5 46.5 46.9 46.2 46.2 33,000 1,533,240 100.7 102.6 102.6 102.6 102.6 102.6 100 10,260 CPG PREF A DD PREF 99.4 99.8 100 100 99.5 99.5 11,520 1,146,920 EEI PREF A 100.6 104 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 500 50,250 JFC PREF B 980 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 10 10,000 100.2 102.9 103 103 103 103 600 61,800 MWIDE PREF 2B MWIDE PREF 4 99 99.5 99.5 99.5 99.5 99.5 10 995 PNX PREF 4 975 979 980 980 979 979 770 753,870 PCOR PREF 3A 1,056 1,060 1,056 1,056 1,056 1,056 600 633,600 PCOR PREF 3B 1,085 1,119 1,083 1,085 1,083 1,085 280 303,700 76.3 76.35 76.35 76.35 76.3 76.35 453,630 34,627,369 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H 75.5 76 75.5 76 75.1 75.5 136,780 10,290,408 SMC PREF 2I 76.35 77.9 76.35 76.35 76.05 76.05 11,800 900,030 SMC PREF 2J 75.1 76.5 75.1 75.1 75.1 75.1 1,000 75,100 75.1 75.8 75.8 75.8 75.8 75.8 20 1,516 SMC PREF 2K TECH PREF B2D 54.6 55 55 55 54.55 54.55 16,720 917,165

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 12.22 12.6 12.22 12.22 12.22 12.22 100 1,222 GMA HLDG PDR 13.6 13.9 13.94 13.94 13.6 13.6 130,600 1,796,934

WARRANTS TECH WARRANT 0.62 0.66 0.65 0.66 0.61 0.66 85,000 53,000

-64,400 -49,019 22,200 -240,830 -8,760 -105,750 28,330,274 284,145 -4,695,855 -5,020.00 109,472 -49,720

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP CTS GLOBAL HAUS TALK ITALPINAS KEPWEALTH MERRYMART XURPAS

16.2 1.01 1.13 0.9 2.56 1.77 0.31

16.68 1.02 1.16 0.91 2.73 1.78 0.32

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF

108.5

109

16.5 0.95 1.15 0.9 2.61 1.79 0.31

16.5 1.02 1.17 0.91 2.76 1.8 0.325

16.2 0.9 1.15 0.9 2.56 1.77 0.305

16.2 1.01 1.16 0.9 2.56 1.78 0.32

33,600 151,899,000 115,000 30,000 46,000 480,000 1,160,000

554,102 147,348,920 133,070 27,100 119,040 853,210 356,950

201,082 -2,317,230 -120 -

108 109 108 109 5,200 563,944 72,728

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Banking&Finance

BSP, group launch agent registry in inclusion tack

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

T

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) announced on Wednesday that it, together with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), launched the Agent Registry for Cash Agents in an effort to reinforce its goal of financial inclusion and payments digitalization.

Cash agents are retail outlets, such as sari-sari stores, convenience stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and pawnshops, that provide basic banking services such as cash deposits, cash withdrawals, balance inquiry, fund transfer and bills payment.

By 2020, there were more than 58,000 active cash agents in the Philippines covering 85 percent of cities and municipalities reached by banking services.

“The agent registry is a regulatory technology tool that will strengthen the BSP’s supervision of cash agents. The registry will facilitate standardized and timely collection of agent data and create a public database that will help customers locate the nearest accredited agents and their available financial services,” BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said.

The governor further said the registry is a recognition of the role of cash agents in promoting greater financial inclusion.

“They expand the reach of financial services for the unbanked and underserved population, especially in remote areas in the countryside,” Diokno said. “Besides providing easy and convenient access, cash agents are also low-cost and less intimidating access points than automated teller machines.”

Meanwhile, the AFI is a global network of policymakers composed of 101 member institutions from 89 countries, which aims to empower its members to advance the financial inclusion agenda through the formulation, implementation and global advocacy of sustainable and inclusive policies.

Earlier this year, the BSP announced that the number of Filipinos with deposit accounts continued to rise in the second quarter of 2021.

In particular, regular deposit accounts rose to 83.1 million as of end-June last year. This is 3 million higher from its level in end-2020.

Meanwhile, for basic deposit accounts, (BDA) the number of accounts hit 7.4 million at the end of the second quarter of 2021, up from the 6.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Fund managers provide cash to fossil-fuel firms

N

ONE of the world’s largest asset managers has definitively called on fossil-fuel companies to stop the development of new oil and gas projects.

Surely, one would think, given all the climate-conscious talk coming from Wall Street bigwigs like BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, that the investment industry would be using all of its muscle to press the world’s worst polluters to reduce their production of dangerous greenhouse gases.

Instead, the opposite is true.

Together, 30 of the biggest asset managers have at least $550 billion invested in oil, gas and coal companies that have expansion plans, and even more alarmingly, they continue to provide “fresh cash to companies that are ignoring climate science,” said Lara Cuvelier, sustainable investment campaigner at Reclaim Finance, a nonprofit which published a scorecard Wednesday grading investment firms on their environmental commitments.

In effect, the fund industry is “adding fuel to the fire,” she said.

And this is happening against a backdrop where the world’s leading climate finance experts and economists warn too much money is pouring into fossil fuels, putting the planet on track to blow past its limit to avoid catastrophic global warming. The Reclaim Finance-led report also provides a checkup on an industry that unveiled the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero almost a year ago, when bankers and fund managers exclaimed how they’re committed to helping fight climate change.

Instead, Reclaim Finance found that all 30 of the fund managers’ policies and investment guidelines are “too flawed” for them to align their entire portfolios with a net-zero emissions target. The investment firms included in the survey ranged from BlackRock and Vanguard Group Inc. in the US to Axa Investment Managers and Amundi SA in Europe.

Here are 4 of the key findings: n Twenty-three of the 30 firms allow investments in companies that are starting new coal

projects. n None completely restrict holding shares or bonds of companies that are involved in new oil and gas projects.

And none are calling for companies to “immediately and progressively decrease” their overall fossil-fuel production. n Twenty-five say they’re pushing companies to improve on climate-related issues. However, case studies indicate this engagement work has thus far failed to lead to concrete changes. n Ten of the asset managers have released 2030 decarbonization goals, but the targets only cover a small proportion of their total portfolios and financed emissions.

None apply their existing fossil-fuel restrictions to their index-tracking assets, which is particularly concerning given that “passive” investments keep growing and represent 46 percent of the assets covered by the report.

(Amundi has exclusion policies for oil, gas and coal that cover less than 40 percent of its passive assets, which is “insufficient,” Cuvelier said.)

The bottom line is “leading asset managers are kicking the can down the road without even asking companies to stop worsening the climate crisis,” Cuvelier said.

Reclaim Finance’s research found that, while none of the 30 firms ranked very well, though Natixis SA’s Ostrum Asset Management and Axa Investment Managers rated the highest. Ostrum was singled out for its coalexclusion policy and to a lesser extent for its oil and gas policy, and Axa for having a better engagement policy regarding the fossil-fuel sector than other firms, Cuvelier said.

Overall, asset managers aren’t engaging companies on key climate issues to limit global warming Cuvelier said. The report calls on investors to force fossil-fuel companies to end their expansion plans.

“Let’s be clear,” she said. “Drilling a new oil well or opening a new coal mine isn’t a normal thing to do in a widespread climate catastrophe.” Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Thursday, April 21, 2022

B3

BIR tax amnesty schemes get nearly ₧14B from 85K availers

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected nearly P14 billion from implementing amnesty programs on tax on delinquencies and unsettled estate taxes.

In a report, BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay the agency collected P13.8 billion as of June last year from a total 85,556 taxpayers who availed of tax amnesty since these programs were implemented.

The applicability period for the tax amnesty program on delinquent accounts, which was offered in 2019, ended in June last year following an extension in line with the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 11494.

The law, also known as the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, allowed the extension of statutory deadlines and timelines to ease taxpayers’ burden as government attempted to soften the pandemic’s economic impact.

Under the amnesty program on delinquencies, taxpayers with delinquent accounts were allowed to take advantage of lower rates to settle their obligations. This also provided an opportunity to unclog administrative and judicial dockets of slow-moving cases.

Meanwhile, the applicability period for the estate tax amnesty program, which also started in 2019, is still ongoing after it was recently extended for two years or until June 14, 2023.

The program provided a onetime opportunity to settle estate tax obligations as well as to avail of reasonable tax relief to estates with deficiency estate taxes.

The estate tax amnesty covers the estate of decedent/s who died on or before December 31, 2017, with or without assessments duly issued, and whose estate taxes have remained unpaid or have accrued as of December 31, 2017.

Dulay also said the number of registered business taxpayers last year also grew by 5 percent to 4.63 million from 4.41 million in the previous year despite the pandemic.

New business registrations can now be done through the BIR’s webbased portal https://www.bir.gov.ph/ newbizreg/ launched on June 1, 2021, Dulay said.

The bureau also attributed their “improved” collection performance on the back of digitalization transformation programs complemented by its growing workforce of young and skilled professionals.

However, the BIR in 2021 narrowly missed its P2.081 trillion collection goal after its revenue take only reached P2.078 trillion.

“We can attribute our improved performance to our digital transformation programs as well as to our increasing number of young workers who are quicker and more

adept at learning digital skills,” Dulay said.

Of the taxes it collected in 2021, Dulay said about P1.75 trillion or 84 percent was done electronically.

Moreover, the number of electronically filed tax returns at 23.78 million formed 93 percent of the 25.66-million filed returns in 2021.

The BIR was also able to expand its workforce to 13,818 from 9,626 employees in 2016.

Under its digitalization roadmap, the BIR has so far rolled out, among others, its Internal Revenue Integrated System (IRIS), which serves as the Bureau’s central tool and repository to process taxpayer information. The BIR also implemented its “Enhanced Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System,” an application that manages the ordering, production, distribution, affixing and tracking of revenue stamps to monitor the proper payment of excise taxes on tobacco products.

For this year, the BIR is aiming to collect P2.438 trillion in revenues, even higher than its 2020 full-year target of P2.081 trillion.

Call to suspend excise tax renewed as fuel prices still high

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

F

OLLOWING another round of oil price hikes, the chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday renewed the call to suspend the excise tax on petroleum products.

In a statement, AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon S. Garin said despite the price rollbacks for the past month, the prices of oil since the year started is nowhere near the pre-2022 level.

“I am reiterating my call for the suspension of the excise tax on fuel to help many industries, which are highly vulnerable and just starting to recover due to the pandemic,” Garin said. “They are still hurting due to the high cost of fuel despite recent price rollbacks.”

The solon said the net year-todate price hike is still P15 per liter for gasoline, P25.65 per liter for diesel and P21.10 per liter for kerosene.

“Plus, we must be vigilant for upcoming oil price hikes because global oil prices only went down after International Agency Energy members and the United States agreed to tap almost 240 million barrels of their oil reserves,” Garin added. “The supply of oil is still being driven by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and soon, we might be facing shortages and skyrocketing fuel prices again.”

She cited as example the fuel subsidy for public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers, which Garin said lacked any form of support for private car owners, which makes up a big chunk of local tourists.

“For example, Holy Week is historically a peak period for domestic travel in the Philippines and we had so many local travellers,” Garin further said. “The easing of travel requirements has led to great feedbacks for local tourism as more Filipinos took advantage and travelled home to their provinces or visiting

tourist destinations and beaches in the country.”

The current excise tax rate is P10 per liter for gasoline, P6 per liter for diesel, P5 per liter for kerosene, and P3 per liter for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Meanwhile, unconditional cash transfers amounting to P33 billion has been approved to help curb the effects for the most vulnerable sectors.

An estimated 74.7 million Filipinos or each qualified household would receive P200 a month or a total of P2,400 as aid.

“Actually, the suspension of excise tax on fuel will not only benefit private car owners and PUV drivers but will translate to benefits for other industries which are highly reliant on fuel and transportation such as the agriculture and tourism industry,” Garin said.

“However, we should also look at the big picture. It is not a single sector which is affected. There are other industries that rely heavily on

transportation and the restrictive costs of oil products will surely lead to price hikes in other industries. The sure effect will be the rising costs of electricity and other necessities especially food products. Cash aid might not be enough when the prices of other necessities are affected by the oil price hikes,” added the lawmaker.

Garin expressed hope Congress can still hold a special session to address this issue as the May 9 elections nears.

She estimates that at least P6 per liter would be removed from current retail prices if the excise tax on oil is suspended.

The House version of the bill aims to reduce excise taxes on diesel, kerosene, and liquified petroleum gas to zero.

Under the bill, excise taxes on lowoctane gasoline, used primarily by tricycle drivers, will also be reduced to P4.35 from the current P7, while taxes on premium gasoline will be retained at P1.

BOJ further boosts bond buying as yields advance

T

HE Bank of Japan reiterated its ultra-loose monetary policy with four days of unscheduled bond buying as the widening interest rate gap with the US puts upward pressure on bond yields and weakens the yen.

The move comes as Japan’s benchmark 10-year yield stayed elevated at the 0.25 percent upper limit of the BOJ’s tolerated trading band despite announcing unlimited bond purchases for the first time since late March. Similar maturity Treasury yields hovered just below 3 percent— underscoring a rate differential that’s driven the yen to a 20-year low.

“The BOJ is demonstrating that its stimulus resolve hasn’t shifted even with the yen weakening rapidly,” said Tomo Kinoshita, global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management. The bank won’t follow its peers in tightening policy while the economy is fragile and inflation is being fueled by cost pressures rather than demand, he added.

The BOJ said actions were taken in light of recent yield moves and that consecutive fixed rate operations are aimed at firmly attaining the bank’s yield curve control target.

The currency weakened to little more than half a yen from the key 130 level against the dollar in early trading Wednesday, before bouncing

A man walks in front of the Currency Museum of the Bank of Japan, located in front of the BOJ building in Chūō, Tokyo. The BOJ has stuck to its monetary policy and bought bonds amid a weakening yen. Bloomberg News

back to 128.59 by 4:10 p.m. in Tokyo.

After 13 straight days of declines, investors were also said to be buying the yen to close out short positions.

The BOJ followed up an earlier announcement of unlimited fixed-rate operations with a statement saying it would make similar purchases on the next four trading days to April 26.

During its week-long tussle with markets last month, the BOJ said it would ramp-up its scheduled purchases before the market open, drawing attention to its determination to keep a lid on yields. This time round, it was less aggressive as it left sched-

uled purchase amounts unchanged and advised on its fixed-rate buying at the usual operation time, helping to avoid unduly adding to yen-selling appetite.

“While the dollar/yen is pausing after the rapid pace of rally, its uptrend remains intact as the US raise rates more while the BOJ is not seen changing policy,” said Jun Kato at Shinkin Asset Management in Tokyo.

While surging inflation in other parts of the world spurs policy makers to raise interest rates, the BOJ stands out with its commitment to

loose policy to boost a moribund economy. Dogged by decades of minimal price appreciation, the central bank is much less willing to withdraw stimulus until it’s convinced a revival will become sustainable.

The BOJ announces its latest policy decision on Thursday next week when it is also due to release inflation forecasts that are expected to show much stronger price growth this fiscal year. While economists are expecting it to hold firm with policy, should market pressure on the yen and yields intensify in the intervening days, speculation of a tail-risk surprise could grow.

Amid the mounting pressure on the BOJ, some economists have speculated that it could shift its 10-year yield target to a shorter maturity.

The International Monetary Fund’s Japan mission chief said Wednesday that this should be looked at in the longer term, but not now.

Analysts differed on the likelihood that the Ministry of Finance will intervene via the BOJ in an effort to curb the yen’s rout.

Joseph Capurso at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note the odds were rising, though “we do not know what level of dollaryen is the ‘line in the sand.’” Kato at Shinkin said the probability remains low. Bloomberg News

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

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Thursday, April 21, 2022

PHL, Indonesia revitalize ties at senior-level talks

ACTING Undersecretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro (left) and Director General Abdul Kadir Jailani DFA

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HE Philippines and Indonesia reaffirmed their strong bilateral ties and charted new areas of partnership at their seventh Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) summit.

At the virtual convening of the Senior Officials’ Meeting from April 11 to 12, Undersecretary for Bilateral Relations and Asean Affairs Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro led the Philippine delegation, while Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was spearheaded by Director

General for Asia-Pacific and African Affairs Abdul Kadir Jailani.

The joint commission facilitated substantial discussions on areas of mutual concerns such as political and security cooperation, border and cross-border issues, economic cooperation, so-

ciocultural and people-to-peopleexchanges, as well as judicial and consular matters.

Both sides also exchanged views on regional and global issues—including the Asean Outlook in the Indo-Pacific, the South China Sea, the situation in Myanmar, and other geopolitical developments.

The two senior officials cited the maritime border delimitation agreement in 2014 as a highlight of the good neighborliness of the two archipelagos, and welcomed the preparatory work for talks on the delimitation of the two countries’ continental shelf.

Both sides agreed to negotiate a new plan of action that will lay out priorities and bilateral coop-

eration for the next five years. “ Truly, [Philippine-Indonesian] cooperation has come a long way marked with great success, and has expanded to many new areas of collaboration,” Lazaro said, satisfied that both sides were able to comprehensively discuss their progress in bilateral cooperation and future initiatives.

The JCBC is the primary dialogue mechanism between the two countries to review accomplishments on mutual collaboration initiatives, exchange views on issues of mutual interest, and consider plans for enhancing linkages. The ministerial meeting of the latest JCBC will be held on a mutually agreed schedule later this year.

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Embassy marks 42nd year of PHL-Cyprus bilateral ties thru meetings, cultural activities

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HE embassy of the Philippines in Rome, which has concurrent jurisdiction over the Republic of Cyprus, sent a delegation to the latter from March 2 to 7, in time for the 42nd anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations which was observed on March 6.

The Philippine delegation was headed by Ambassador to Greece Giovanni E. Palec, First Secretary and Consul Therese R. Cantada, as well as Rhea Lorraine B. Lorenzo. Members met with several officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus—including Ambassador Dimitris Hatziargyrou, who is the director of Schengen, consular affairs and crisis management; Ambassador Andreas Panayiotou, chief of protocol; as well as Ambassador Andreas Ignatiou, the political director for Bilateral Affairs and Foreign Affairs Council Coordination.

Further, the delegation also touched base with Evagoras Tambouris, the acting director of Cyprus’ Ministry of Health-Nursing Services Department.

The meetings discussed various issues currently affecting the Philippines and Cyprus, such as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, the recognition of Covid-19 vaccine certificates issued by both, and areas of possible cooperation, particularly on culture, labor and employment, science and technology, plus tourism development.

One of the highlights of the visit to Cyprus was the series of cultural activities organized by the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Larnaca featuring Paris-based Filipina Chef Erica Paredes, where she showcased Filipino dishes in a way that suit the tastes of the locals by incorporating locallyavailable ingredients.

The events benefitted survivors of Typhoon “Odette” (international name Rai), which raised close to €3,000 to be sent through the Negros Artisans,

AMBASSADORS Giovanni E. Palec (left) and Andreas Ignatiou ATHENS PE/DFA

particularly to those in Siargao, Samar and Palawan, whose livelihood were adversely affected.

The Philippine Embassy’s delegation also visited the village of Pano Lefkara in Larnaca, Cyprus, world-renowned for its traditional handicrafts and filigree silver. Finding similarities to the Philippines’s own traditional crafts such as the barong Tagalog in Lumban, Laguna, the visit opened an opportunity to exchange knowledge on the craft as a way to preserve the traditional ways of embroidery in the Philippines and Cyprus.

Palec was also one of the speakers at the 2022 Annual General Assembly on March 6 of the European Network of Filipino Diaspora, which is a volunteer organization registered in Malta with members from the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Cyprus. It is duly recognized by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.

In his inspirational message, Palec underscored the need to pass on Filipino values and culture to its younger generation as a way to keep their identity and heritage, while promoting such among the host countries where they live.

A consular outreach in Nicosia was also conducted during the same weekend to further provide assistance to Filipino nationals in Cyprus.

Why Russia declared war on Ukraine

By Jarosław Szczepankiewicz Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Embassy of Poland

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HE term “Ukrainian crisis” is misleading. After all, we are dealing with Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against its neighbor, which is a flagrant violation of the prohibition on the use of force under the Charter of the United Nations.

The federation has broken one of the most fundamental principles of international law by directly threatening European and international security and stability. It is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and should uphold its charter.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine in an attempt to seize land, power and property—as in a colonial-type war. It is clearly interfering with the ongoing democratization process in the besieged country by brutal military aggression and annexing part of its territories. Its actions have the potential to spark a European and global arms race.

The role of sanctions, with their impacts on debt and trade, remain crucial in the broader attempt to stop Vladimir Putin. Russia’s threats to use chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons could lead to heinous acts of violence that make future peace difficult to achieve.

Why war?

TO understand the decision behind it, we must understand Putin’s motivations. In line with the strongman’s thoughts, his country has become a great power not because it achieved great economic or scientific achievements, but that it won a great victory over the Third Reich. However, it was gained through alliance with the United States, Great Britain (as part of the “Big Three”), and the rest of the Allies, including Poland.

Russia strives to restore its status as one of the global powers. By 2014 Russia saw itself in the contemporary “Big Trinity,” along with the US and

the European Union (EU). Over time, Moscow was considered the last one subordinate to America as part of the so-called “Collective West,” while China emerged in the capacity of the third main partner of the new world configuration.

In American perception, China became the main rival and threat.

On the other hand, the US considered Russia as the main potential rival; and at the same time, a threat. Not without significance in the selection of the moment of armed assault on Ukraine was the fact that the entire Kremlin elite always ached to determine Russia as the power of the second category: a regional power.

Putin was particularly offended when he heard from Barack Obama that Russia has the status of a regional power. The Kremlin recognized this as an attempt to redefine the role of Russia in the world as a state that no longer has to decide on global matters, and plays only a role in its region. A complex of many autocrats and dictators speaks here.

They often feel a huge need not only to exercise leadership internally, but also to look for its confirmation in the eyes of the world.

Why Ukraine?

MOSCOW’S decision to target its neighbor results in a much greater extent from the situation in Russia itself than from that in Ukraine.

Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński believed that Ukraine, subject to Moscow, had been the main condition for the existence of the Russian empire. A democratic Ukraine would end Putin’s dreams of rebuilding such.

During the first governments of Putin, and also in Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency, almost every Russian program and strategic document in their conclusions ended with the need for modernization. After 2012 this word suddenly disappeared from public speeches and documents.

This word was replaced with another concept that has never been

spoken loudly: “militarization,” or a straightening of a military-industrial complex. Modernization requires deep reforms, and it would force Moscow to abandon central manual management and bureaucratic control processes, so typical for the former Soviet economy. Modernization in Russia failed, but militarization turned out to be successful. Putin opposed an idea of “vertical power” based on centralized and hierarchical authority implemented by special services, army and other uniformed services, compared to “horizontal power” based on democracy and economic liberalism.

Against the wishes of the Kremlin, Ukraine entered into the formation process of horizontal power: the path of liberal and democratic changes. Ukrainian democracy is still quite weak because of the oligarchizing of power characteristic for almost all former Soviet republics and parts of the countries of the former East Camp.

Nevertheless, the adoption of a democratic model meant that potential chances of regaining control over Ukraine began to drift away from Putin’s hand. In a country that operates according to democratic standards, it is impossible for Moscow to install the “vertical power” system, which could be a minor copy of the Kremlin system. It is an obvious challenge for authoritarian power in Russia and the next reason Putin decided to settle a puppet government in Kiev.

Moreover, he would be ready to defend such power in Ukraine, as he does in Belarus with Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime. Probably he would be personally happy if he had this kind of “satrap” ruled in Kiev after the end of the “small winning war” that would bring the Russian president another victory in the elections of 2024.

Why now?

RUSSIA has been convinced that it has an advantage in the sphere of the latest technologies. Putin and his

surroundings know that Americans will eliminate this advantage soon in the arms race.

In this short window of time, Russia decided to resort to the threat of using nuclear charges against enemies, but Moscow knows that the threat can never be used in practice because both sides want to avoid what was called in the times of the Cold War’s Mutual Assured Destruction. Therefore, this is an advantage used as an element of political blackmail, and not practiced on the battlefield.

Therefore, with pride and sense of triumphalism, Putin and his generals announced that Russia had reached the ability to build hypersonic weapons; that is, technology where a nuclear weapon or a ballistic missile can fly a distance of 5,000 kilometers in just a dozen or 20 minutes. This joy comes from the fact that, for the first time in history, Russia managed to get a strategic advantage over the US and all other countries in the world.

Not without significance in the selection of the moment of aggression were also the assessment of the weaknesses of the Western world leadership: the UN’s system and in particular, the underestimation of the US president and the expectation that the free world would not be unable to demonstrate unity, solidarity, and the ability to quickly make decisions.

Why is aggression popular in Russia?

A MAJORITY of Russians warmly embraced Putin’s demand for “dignity and recognition” of their country as a superpower and his repeated claim that “they will start to respect us again when they [are] afraid.” It gave Putin a green light for the “special operation.”

Overwhelming governmental disinformation and propaganda in Russia—including disturbing information space, brainwashing minds, as well as corrupting human values and principles of the traditional Rus-

sian society—remains one of the powerful tools in Russia’s arsenal in justifying the aggression. Its leadership has so “successfully” poisoned the minds of Russians that for many of them, the process of democratization and the pro-European course of Ukraine has become synonymous with “Nazism.”

The Kremlin applies pure military censorship. Russia’s Ministry of Defense is the only one source of information about the military operation of its army in Ukraine. Administrative censorship laws threaten those accused of discrediting the Russian armed forces, or who call for sanctions, with stiff fines followed by jail time up to 15 years in prison.

More than 300 Russians have been charged in the past month under those laws that silence critics of Putin’s invasion.

Russians have aspects of identity that they do not like, choosing to reject and repress such to avoid anxiety. The Kremlin uses this defense mechanism in propaganda and disinformation, blaming its own past and present illegal and destructive wrongdoings on other nations.

This helps to soothe the remorse of Russians.

What with PHL?

RUSSIA’S war in Ukraine has global repercussions but in the Philippines, there is a natural tendency to see Europe as completely separate areas, because they are far away from the conflict, as it takes place in a cultural space alien from their perspective.

Many politicians still embraced the 19th-Century concept that large states still have the right to have a sphere of influence, and that full independence for smaller units is not a realistic option. They view Ukraine as a rebellious province, because it was a part of the former Soviet Union.

However, Europe and Asia are in fact interconnected to such an extent that they often constitute one area, including building and supporting the principles of global order.

SZCZEPANKIEWICZ

In addition, the war in Ukraine is a warning to other countries in the region in the context of potential operations that would be similarly destabilizing and destructive. The next regional strategic concept must reflect this new security reality. It needs to seek connections among the EU, the US and other like-minded partners to face fundamental challenges in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea (SCS/WPS): those of technological, commercial, political, security and diplomatic dimensions.

Any passivity in condemning Russia’s breach of fundamental principles of global law is a direct threat to security and stability in Asia as well. It creates a very dangerous legal precedent, notably for any assertive power that has repeatedly pushed for its own interpretations of international law, most clearly in the SCS/WPS. Neutrality is not a political option to comfortably close the eyes when a stronger state aggresses a weaker one. The region’s response to the war in Ukraine showed unprecedented solidarity among the EU, the US, and other partners in Southeast Asia. In the case of Asean countries, these commitments and solidarity are often uncoordinated, and result from individual actions of the countries themselves, but not from the organization as such.

The Philippines has explicitly condemned the invasion of Ukraine.

The attitude of the Ukrainians, their incredible hope of freedom and independence in challenging imperialism of greater power, inspires many Filipinos. The personal charisma of President Volodymyr Zeleńskyy even echoes those of Jose Rizal.

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Parentlife BusinessMirror

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Thursday, April 21, 2022

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Shame and secrecy shroud culture of sexual assault in boys’ high-school sports

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By Jamie L. Small University of Dayton

COAT hanger. A broomstick. A pool cue All these objects were used in a series of sexual assaults in recent years in which the perpetrators allegedly targeted highschool boys who play sports.

The perpetrators always had easy access to their alleged victims. That’s because they were teammates.

In the world of education, sexual assault is often seen or portrayed as something that men do by overpowering women or girls. But as a sociologist who studies sexual violence and masculinity, I know there’s another form of sexual assault taking place at America’s schools that is just as harmful but which seems to get far less attention, perhaps because it’s seen as ritualistic “hazing” or characterized as “horseplay.”

It’s a form in which high-school boys athletes— and sometimes middle school boys, too—assault other boys who are members of their team.

In peer-reviewed research published in Social Problems in 2021, I examine this issue by taking a close look at how a small American community responded to allegations that boys on the high-school wrestling team had sexually bullied other boys on the team.

Prosecutors filed misdemeanor and felony charges against five defendants, which focused mostly on sexual assault and physical restraint. Some of the boys were facing up to life imprisonment. However, a conviction would prove difficult, as the allegations were portrayed as boys just horsing around, and many members of the community expressed concerns that its reputation was on trial.

Reputation at Stake TO examine the case, I conducted in-depth interviews with one prosecutor and two defense attorneys; examined news accounts of the incident; and listened to audio recordings of police interviews with 21 witnesses.

What I found is that the community—mainly the boys’ school administrators, coaches and the boys themselves—were more concerned about whether what the perpetrators did was “gay” than they were with the effect it had on the victims.

No one disputed the facts of the case, only whether or not the actions were criminal.

They also expressed anxiety about how it would affect the community’s reputation as a whole if what the boys did was seen as a homosexual act.

One defense attorney told me that if the defendants had been accused of sexually assaulting girls, “they’d go along with” being referred to as accused rapists. But the dynamics were different, the defense attorney said, when the boys were accused of sexually assaulting other boys—an accusation they resented because it implied sexual behavior with another male.

Thus, what made these criminal charges so egregious—at least to some members of the community—was the fact that they called into question the presumed heterosexuality of the community’s star high-school athletes.

The perpetrators, victims and male authority figures in the school community felt like the boys’ masculinity itself was threatened. attackS miRror otheRS IN the attacks that I examined, groups of boys from the high-school wrestling team targeted individuals in dark spaces with little adult supervision, such as the locker room and on bus rides. The attacks were rapid. They typically lasted less than a minute.

They usually involved several boys pinning down the victim, restraining his arms and legs, covering his face, punching his genitals and attempting to stick their bare fingers in his anus. Targeted boys, especially those who were assaulted multiple times, were often younger and smaller than the aggressors.

The targeted boys reported different reactions in their interviews with police investigators. Some became fearful, agitated and reluctant to stay on the team. But others brushed it off as annoying but not a big deal.

In this case, coaches and other school officials reported they knew there was ordinary horse play—as they named it—but they didn’t know that it involved sexual assault.

The attacks that I studied are in no way isolated.

In many ways, they mirror other sexual assaults throughout the nation that have involved high-school sports teammates as perpetrators and victims.

For instance, at Plainfield Central High School in Plainfield, Illinois, varsity football players targeted two players for what the boys referred to as a “Code Blue” in the locker room after practice in October 2019.

“When one of the plaintiffs tried to run away, the players grabbed him and pinned him to the ground,” states a news account describing a lawsuit filed in the case. “They then allegedly pushed a broom stick between both students’ buttocks, resulting in penetration, according to the suit. The assault was so violent that the broom stick snapped in half.”

The lawsuit alleged that the school “had ‘longstanding issues’ involving hazing, and coaches allegedly knew about the hazing ritual and failed to act to stop it,” according to the news account.

It’s common for perpetrators to view their assaults as something other than sexual.

For instance, on the last day of practice in 2018, four junior varsity players at Damascus High School in Damascus, Maryland, turned out the lights in the locker room and attacked several teammates.

The attackers pulled down the pants of one boy and shoved a broom handle into him through his underwear as he screamed. They did similar things to two other boys and stomped another as he fought off the broom attack.

At court proceedings in 2019, a judge said the alleged attackers “didn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of the attacks” and seemed to view their attack “as a prank or some kind of team-building exercise.”

Scope of proBLem unknown AS a researcher, I’ve found it difficult to pin down just how prevalent is the problem of adolescent athletes who sexually assault their peers in the same manner as the perpetrators in the case I examined.

Public Justice is a non-profit legal advocacy organization that tracks lawsuits involving sexual bullying, harassment and assault in K-12 schools.

In its January 2022 compilation of jury verdicts and settlements, which includes cases from the past 20 years, 21 out of 334 of these lawsuits involved groups of boys sexually harassing and assaulting other boys, mostly in sports settings. Yet civil and criminal proceedings do not really reveal the scope of the problem.

The Department of Education tracks sexual violence in K-12 schools, but not specifically cases that involve athletes who attack their teammates. There’s a federal government campaign to stop bullying, but sports-related sexual assaults fall outside of what the campaign considers bullying.

There’s another barrier to getting an accurate picture of the prevalence of boy-on-boy sexual assault.

Although victims of all genders may be reluctant to report that they’ve been sexually assaulted due to the stigma of being a rape victim, men and boys face a different type of stigma in disclosing experiences of sexual victimization because men are expected to be strong and fight off physical attacks. For that reason, male victims of sexual assault may be reluctant to report their experiences of victimization.

NEW YORK—Camila Alves McConaughey has cowritten a new children’s book about a bunch of picky eaters. Only in this case, the picky eaters aren’t the children.

Just Try One Bite (Penguin Random House) follows three kids as they try to get their parents to put down the ice cream, cake and chicken fried steak and embrace healthy, whole foods. Actually, all the kids want is for the adults to take a single bite of anything healthy.

“It’s not about preaching being perfect. I know I’m not. I know my household is not. We’ve got a ways to go,” says the model and entrepreneur. “It’s about making small changes.”

The rhyming book—cowritten with Adam Mansbach and illustrated by Mike Boldt—features well-meaning kids confronting their junk food-loving parents (who somewhat resemble Alves and her husband, actor Matthew McConaughey) about giving kale a chance, a role reversal with plenty of humor.

“Oh Papa, oh Mama, please be open-minded. You can’t say kale’s gross if you won’t even try it,” they plead in the book. “A well-balanced dinner really ought to be more than some French fries you found in your car on the floor.”

A breakthrough occurs when the parents finally eat some cauliflower—and like it. That opens the door for yams, linguini with clams and, as a reward, donut holes. Yes, treats are allowed, in moderation.

“One of the most important conversation to have about doing better for yourself is early on,” says Alves from her home in Texas. “If you start giving kids the understanding and the knowledge, all of a sudden you start seeing them feel empowered and make better decisions on their own.”

Alves—mother to Levi, 13, Vida, 12, and Livingston, 9—is candid about the challenges parents face with

CAMILA ALVES MCCONAUGHEY’S new book Just Try One Bite.

picky eaters, noting that siblings go through different stages at different times. Her youngest recently would only eat beans, prompting her to call the doctor.

Boldt filled the book with big movements and expressive faces, saying he was paying homage to Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, which also has kids taking charge and creating a bit of chaos. “It’s much easier to draw something when the words are incredibly descriptive and visual, because that feeds your imagination,” he says.

DON Juan’s Filipino Delicacies bestsellers Inutak, blueberry graham de leche, and leche flan

SOL’S Italian Foods variety of pasta sauces

a focuS on pRevention IN the case I examined, the prosecution was largely unsuccessful. The defendants pleaded guilty to minor misdemeanor charges, which were substantial reductions from the original felony charges. The defense attorneys had effectively portrayed the assaults as funny, ordinary and a normal part of friendship among boys.

Preventing sexual violence in high-school sports requires a multi-pronged approach. I see three things that merit priority status. First, federal agencies, such as the Department of Education, the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control, could collect better data on the scope and nature of the problem. Second, prevention efforts can engage men and boys in promoting healthy forms of masculinity.

Tony Porter’s advocacy with the NFL to prevent gender-based violence serves as a good model because it shows that prevention efforts are not just women’s issues. Finally, the forthcoming US National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence could prioritize sexual violence in sports as a key issue.

THE CONVERSATION

Camila Alves McConaughey takes on picky eaters, with love By mark kennedy The Associated Press

ABACA footwear in floral designs by Monedo Footwear

He also has three children but, thankfully, they aren’t that picky. “They actually like a lot of vegetables and foods that I wasn’t sure they were going to,” he says with a laugh. “Stuff I didn’t like when I was a kid.”

Alves has tips for parents of picky eaters beyond the classic one of making plates more fun by arranging the food into faces. One way she keeps the household happy is by sticking to good dietary rules all week and then having free-for-all-Friday, when everyone can eat what they want.

She also endorses letting each child choose a “throw-up vegetable”—one item they can skip as long as they try all the others. (Her throw-up veggie would be okra, a lifelong slimy enemy, she says.) Another tip: Encourage children to help cook in the kitchen to learn about ingredients.

“My daughter would say, ‘I really don’t like onions.’

And then once I’ll get her to cook this meat sauce with me, she’ll say, ‘Oh, I can’t eat this. You put onions on it.’

I’ll say, ‘I put onions on this every time I cook it.’”

The Brazilian-born Alves grew up on a farm and moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. “The relationship with food and what it came from—from seed to table—was very vivid for me growing up,” she says.

She tries to replicate what she grew up with by adding lots of colors to her plates—beets, beans, hearts of palm, tomatoes, roots and legumes. She prepares them simply, puts them in the middle of the table, and lets her kids and mother-in-law graze.

While she was growing up, her family never talked about moderating sugar, something she still struggles with. Her husband’s family did talk about it, and she says he has a healthier relationship with sweets and dessert.

Alves advocates making small changes and embracing the notion that no one’s perfect. She admits her kids have busted her on her chocolate addiction, and she’s moving toward less sweet, darker versions.

“No matter what stage you’re in, there’s always room to do a little bit better.”

FOR THE FAMILY FROM LAGUNA THE province of Laguna is known not only for its scenic and historical attractions, magnificent festivals, and cultural treasures, but also for its wonderful delicacies, artisan crafts, and the entrepreneurial spirit of its people.

Mallgoers in Manila recently had a glimpse of Laguna’s food, fashion, fun and fitness products during the recent “Kababaihan sa Kalakal at Kaunlaran” trade fair at the SM Mall of Asia.

A joint partnership of DTI Laguna and the SM Mall of Asia, the week-long event highlighted the food and creative industry sectors of Laguna, particularly those engaged in processed fruits and nuts, wearables and home styles, handcrafted works, and fashion design.

Gracing the event were DTI Key Officials, namely, DTI4A Regional Director Marilou Toledo, DTI NCR Regional Director Marcelina Alcantara, the commissioners of the Philippine Commission on Women led by chairman Sandra Montano, and Philippine Franchise Association Chairman and Director for MSME/Homegrown Franchises (Nonfood) Sherill Quintana.

The event showcased products from 12 Laguna businesses led by women in celebration of Women’s Month. These included dresses from Frannie Wei Haute Couture; bayong bags made of water hyacinth from Da Buena’s Handicrafts; stylish Liliw footwear from Ai-She Fashion; statement accessories from Beadiday Beadshop; and abaca sandals and slippers from Monedo and Nyms Footwear.

Foodie finds included Laguna delicacies from the Calamba City Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative; coconut organic products from Cocoplus Aquarian; non-solvent, single origin and vegan products from Gold in Grass; homemade delicacies from Don Juan’s Filipino Delicacies; and pasta sauces and fruity liqueurs from Sol’s Italian Foods.

GOLD in Grass products are nonsolvent, single origin and vegan

B6 Thursday, April 21, 2022

Sunshine Place offers Fundamentals of Nihongo online Blogapalooza earns 2022 Great Place to Work certification

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LOGAPALOOZA Inc., the Philippines’ premier influencer marketing company, is proud to be Certified™

by Great Place To Work® (GPTW) for 2022!

This is the first-ever GPTW certification that the company achieved as it earned a 100 percent employee satisfaction rate-- surpassing the average 53 percent of a typical global company.

“We are truly honored to become a GPTW-Certified™ company as it validates our hard work in ensuring the work culture is maintained even in the virtual set-up. We believe

that becoming a great place to work goes beyond just the office—it’s creating a fulfilling and rewarding career path for everyone. And this shows that we are on the right path,” shares Ace Gapuz, CEO of Blogapalooza Inc. As businesses start to transition to onsite work, the company continues the hybrid work set-up which gives flexibility to employees to work from home or anywhere.

“Being certified as a Great Place To Work is just the beginning of our journey to maintaining a strong company culture where

everyone thrives. We are looking forward to strengthening our culture of collaboration and teamwork which led us to where we are right now,” Gapuz said.

For 30 years, Great Place to Work® Certification has been the global authority that set benchmarks, standards, and executive advisory to let the organization be recognized for its outstanding workplace culture. Companies are evaluated and certified based on the result of a confidential employee survey.

To learn more about Blogapalooza and other career opportunities, visit http:// www.blogapalooza.ph.

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O you want to learn Japanese? Would you like to understand and appreciate more of Japan’s culture and history?

Or is Japan simply on your list of must-visit countries?

Whether you’re an adventurer looking for your next destination or a student looking to broaden your horizons, this course will help you get a jump start by teaching you some of the basics in a fun, easy manner.

The Fundamentals of Nihongo course is for travelers, students, and anyone else who wants to quickly pick up the basics in an engaging way.

Sunshine Place with Ms. María Gladys G. Tomas will offer the Fundamentals of Nihongo in a 15-session workshop every Saturday starting April 23, 2022. Online classes are scheduled at 10:00 am to 12:00 nn. Regular Rate is P 7,350.00, while senior rate applies at P 5,250.00.

Ms. Tomas is a graduate of AB Mass Communication at St. Scholastica’s CollegeManila. She took up her Masters in Business Administration at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Manila campus.

She is a multi-lingual instructor handling French, Spanish, Italian, German and Nihongo,andpassedtheprescribedproficiency examinations for these languages. She is also the Executive Director and Founder of MGGT

Language Tutorial Center.

She studied at the Nihongo Center Foundation and is a JLPT Level 4 passer. She is currently teaching at San Beda CollegeAlabang, Manila Tytana Colleges, and Assumption College handing French, Spanish, German and Nihongo to college students.

For more details, call 0917-515-5656 or send e-mail to: online.sunshineplace@gmail.com

UP-CIFAL Philippines explores presidential candidates’ governance agenda highlighting the United Nations’ SDGs

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Blogapalooza is a great place to work! Blogapalooza reaches another milestone as the premier influencer marketing company becomes a Great Place To Work-Certified™ company this 2022.

MR.DIY shares household essentials for an eco-friendly lifestyle

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R.DIY, your one-stop shop for home improvement, is with the entire globe in celebrating April as Earth Month!

This month-long celebration encourages the public to learn and practice sustainability to make the world a better place, and MR.DIY has exciting items to offer for Filipinos who are looking into contributing to this ongoing cause for the environment.

MR.DIY offers household essentials that promise great value for money and can be useful to help everyone kickstart their journey towards a more sustainable and waste-free lifestyle.

Glass Storage Jars have become a symbol for zero waste movement, and for all the good reasons. The glass jars from MR.DIY are incredibly useful, a great eco-friendly alternative from single use plastic containers, and can be used as storage for your everyday food items.

Need to get into a tight spot to clean? MR.DIY’s bottle brush set is the perfect zero-waste tool for the job. Great for tall bottles, baby bottles, and even coffee pots. Bottle brushes are essential because they can reach deep into the bottle of deep objects such as nondishwasher safe glassware. This helpful item can help you clean a variety of bottles, from small baby containers to tall tumblers.

Whether you’re storing pantry staples or leftovers, food containers from MR.DIY will be perfect for any occasion! Food containers play the most crucial role in ensuring food safety. They protect the food from contamination, improve the shelf life of the product, and maintain the freshness of the food items.

MR.DIY’s kitchen towels are ideal for achieving your waste-free cooking area. This reusable towel is a fantastic alternative to disposable paper towels and is a great sustainable housewarming gift for a friend’s new home. These cloths can also be used as hand and face napkins.

Having dustbins and garbage bags in the corners of your house keep your home cleaner and safer for the family! Garbage bags are useful for messy or wet trash, such as food waste, and they can also be used to wrap garbage in order to reduce odor. And with MR.DIY’s eco-friendly material, your zero-waste lifestyle continues.

To learn more about MR.DIY and its products, visit www.mrdiy.com/ ph. You may also follow /mrdiyPH on Facebook, and @mrdiy.philippines on Instagram and Tiktok for updates and upcoming promos.

Have a fun summer with amazing treats from Araneta City

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UMMER is here! And with the warmer weather comes our desire for a quick getaway or thirst quencher to beat the heat and have fun this season.

To help you make the most out of summer, the City of Firsts is giving away treats like travel packages to some of the most in-demand summer destinations, and cool Coca-Cola merchandise, all for FREE! Here’s how you can score any of these: 1. Win a special summer escapade for 2.

Get a chance to spend a few days in dream destinations like San Juan, La Union; Boracay; El Nido; The Farm at San Benito; and Calatagan, Batangas with a friend or loved one by joining Araneta City’s Summer Travel Fun promo!

Get one raffle entry by exchanging any of the following: a P1,000 single-receipt purchase from any establishment within Araneta City; a maximum of four accumulated receipts worth P250 from any Araneta City Food Courts or Dampa at Farmers Market; four Gateway Cineplex or Ali Mall Cinema tickets, or P1,000 single-receipt purchase from Novotel Manila Araneta City.

Receipts can be exchanged for a raffle entry at the Gateway Mall Concierge, Gateway Mall Activity Area, Food Express, Ali Mall Concierge, and Farmers Plaza Concierge.

The Summer Travel Fun promo lasts until June 22. Two winners will be drawn for each summer destination, so make sure to join the promo now!

2. Bring home the cool taste of summer.

The City of Firsts is also teaming up with Coca-Cola to bring you some much-needed refreshment this summer.

Through the Cool Summer Gulp promo, customers who dine in at Food Express, Food Plaza, Food Gallery, or Dampa at Farmers Market can exchange P250 worth of single or accumulated receipts from any of the aforementioned establishments for a cool 500ml Coca-Cola Tumbler or a 220ml ice-cold can of Coke.

Receipts can be exchanged at the booths that are located at the said foodcourts and Dampa at Farmers Market. The promo lasts until May 31.

HE University of the PhilippinesCentre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders or the International Center for Authorities and Leaders Philippines (UP-CIFAL Philippines), together with the UP System Public Affairs, invites the public to Leaders in Focus: Embedding Sustainable Development in the Governance Agenda of Candidates on 28 April 2022 (Thursday) at 12:00 noon.

With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable D e v e l o p m e nt , l o c a l a n d n a t i o n a l governments are responsible for contextand culture-specific integration of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in national and local policies and strategies.

Beyond being the implementer of the SDGs in the country, the United Nations (UN) also recognizes the national government as the catalyst for sustainable development and nation-building.

As the upcoming 2022 Philippine elections draw nearer, it is vital to provide an avenue to the country’s future leaders and elevate the discourse on their plans and prospects in relation to achieving the SDGs, reaching the furthest, and leaving no one behind.

L e ad e r s i n Fo c u s br i n g s i n s i x presidential candidates to contribute to this goal through an insightful session.

This public forum provides candidates a platform to expound on their SDG agenda and how they aim to promote and attain the targets of these goals in their leadership.

This event is free and open to the public via the official TVUP YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/T VUPph). You may also watch through the University of the Philippines YouTube channel (www.youtube. com/UniversityofthePhilippines1908) and UPCIFAL Philippines YouTube channel (www. youtube.com/CIFALPhilippines).

Reader’s Digest’s 24th Annual Trusted Brands Awards celebrates the brands and personalities Filipinos trust the most

MIKE ENRIQUEZ

JESSICA SOHO

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HE Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands and People Awards was presented at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, Manila last April 8, 2022. The independentlyconducted Trusted Brands survey appears exclusively in the April 2022 issue of the Philippines Reader’s Digest. It was conducted by leading market research company Catalyst Research, who surveyed 8000 individuals across the five key regions of the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan to determine which brands consumers trust most.

The Personalities Filipinos Trust the Most

Just like previous years, recognized were personalities in the following categories: Most Trusted News Presenter; Most Trusted Radio Presenter; Most Trusted Variety/ Entertainment Presenter; and Most Trusted Sportsperson.

The personalities that Filipinos put their trust in most were: Mike Enriquez of GMA Network, RGMA Network Inc., and Super Radyo DZBB 594 AM, and Jessica Soho of GMA Network who has over 37 years of broadcast excellence under her name. Vice Ganda, comedian, talk show host, television presenter, actor, entrepreneur and singer, is also recognized for his talents and his involvement in social causes. Sen. Manny Pacquiao is cited as the country’s most successful sporting hero combined with his contributions in the Senate and his charitable foundation.

VICE GANDA

The Brands Filipinos Trust the Most

The award-winning Trusted Brands that are outlined in the Reader’s Digest 24th annual survey standout among their competitors.

During the hardest of times throughout the pandemic, they have continued to build their customers’ trust by consistently responding to their customers’ concerns, by sympathizing with their situations and providing the necessary support.

Platinum Awards went to those brands that perform exceptionally, based on consumers’ perception. In the poll, these brands attained scores that exceed those of their nearest competitors. Some of the awardees were: BDO, PLDT Home Fibr, Sun Life, Uratex, Executive Optical, Pilot, Mercury Drug, and GMA Network.

Meanwhile, Gold Awards went to brands that had outstanding results, based on the perception of consumers. Some of the brands included in this list were: Carrier, Condura, J&T Express, Sharp, Mothercare, BDO, Baguio Oil, CopperMask, Indoplas, Manulife, Macao Imperial Tea, Ideal Vision Center, Acer, Orocan, ABS-CBN Network, and Whirlpool.

Reader’s Digest is among the few brands in the world to have the opportunity to celebrate its 100th year anniversary. As a global brand with 23 editions in 41 countries, Reader’s Digest has published more than 40,000 article that inform and entrain, and sold more than 10 billion magazine copies. We are proud to celebrate a century of laughter, changing lives, and journalistic excellence.

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Health&Fitness BusinessMirror

Don’t bow down to bowel obstruction, get checked

By Rory Visco Contributor

J

UST a day before Easter, Jose Javelona “Boyet” Sison, a sports commentator, news anchor and music DJ, succumbed to cardiac arrest after his surgery to remove the blockage in his large intestine.

He was a young 58 years old.

What surprised many of those who knew him in the sports news and music world, him with the booming voice and jolly personality, was the kind of ailment that struck him. It was sudden, shocking and deadly. Perhaps he just didn’t know it then and when he found out about it, it was already too late.

Large intestine blockage, or bowel or intestinal obstruction, is defined as a “mechanical obstruction in the intestine that seriously affects or completely arrests the passage of food, fluid, gas, feces and other contents.”

Dr. Jun Ruiz, a Philippine and American board-certified gastroenterologist at The Medical City (TMC) and the Lead for Colorectal Cancer Screening of the TMC’s Augusto P. Sarmiento Cancer Institute, and who also acts as the institute’s Programs and Advocacy Officer, said it can either be a small or large intestinal obstruction, and can also be partial or complete.

Common causes

He explained that the most common causes of bowel obstruction in adults are scar tissue resulting

from previous abdominal surgery, also known as “adhesions,” hernias, or part of the intestine bulging into an abnormal opening, and tumors, which include cancers.

“For large intestinal obstruction, the usual causes are cancer, diverticulitis and fecal impaction.

Adhesion is a less common cause, while cancer is just one of the causes of bowel obstruction,” he said.

Other less common causes, according to Dr. Ruiz, include diverticulitis (the inflamed or infected pouches that can form in the intestines) volvulus (twisting of the bowel), fecal impaction and inflammatory bowel disease.

“The part of the intestine above the obstruction continues to function, but it will enlarge as it is filled with bowel content. The lining becomes swollen and inflamed. If not treated, the bowel can rupture and leak its contents in the abdomen,” Dr. Ruiz explained.

Aside from adhesions, hernias and tumors like cancers, Dr. Ruiz said prior surgery is a risk factor for bowel obstruction due to the formation of adhesive disease (from adhesions), risk factors for colon cancer, where the cancer may lead

to intestinal obstruction if the cancer is diagnosed late.

How about symptoms?

Just like with any ailment, pain is a usual symptom that can indicate that something may be wrong. In this case, Dr. Ruiz pointed to some of the most common symptoms usually include cramping pain in the abdomen, commonly experienced around the umbilicus or the “belly button,” bloating, and loss of appetite. The pain, he said, usually comes in waves and eventually becomes continuous.

“Vomiting is more encountered in small intestine obstruction, and only starts later in colon obstruction. Complete blockage causes severe constipation. When strangulation occurs with resulting compromise of blood supply, the pain may become more intense and persistent. Fever may also happen, especially if the intestinal wall ruptures,” Dr. Ruiz pointed out.

Obstruction of the large intestine usually causes milder symptoms that develop more gradually, while volvulus has an abrupt onset of symptoms, he added.

When asked if bowel obstruction can affect anyone regardless of race or age, Dr. Ruiz said it can occur in patients of all ages, such as neonates (or newborns four weeks old or younger), children and adults.

Older patients, he said, who are at risk for colon cancer and diverticulitis are more at risk for large bowel obstruction.

Treatment, recovery

Dr. Ruiz said admission to a hospital is necessary if a person is suspected of having bowel obstruction. To provide relief from the obstruction, he said a long, thin tube

called “nasogastric tube” is passed through the nose and placed into the stomach and intestine. This is then connected to a suction in order to remove any materials that may have accumulated above the blockage. Fluids and electrolytes are then given intravenously to replace lost water and salts.

“Sometimes, the obstruction may be resolved without further treatment, especially if caused by adhesions. In several cases, however, surgery is done as soon as possible if the doctors are concerned with strangulation,” he emphasized.

He said it is the surgeon who can determine the cause and appearance of the intestine during the operation, if the obstruction can be treated without having to remove a part of the intestine. “Adhesions can be cut to release the trapped portion of the intestine without the need to remove a segment, and hernias can be repaired,” Dr. Ruiz added.

However, if the obstruction is caused by cancer, especially colon cancer, surgery should be done to remove it, he said. Dr. Ruiz said it can be a single-stage resection, or may need a “colostomy,” an opening between the colon and the wall of the abdomen and brought to the skin surface that can be created surgically in order to relieve the bowel obstruction.

In terms of recovery, Dr. Ruiz said it will depend on the cause of the bowel obstruction and the overall medical condition of the patient.

He said persons with bowel obstruction are usually managed by surgeons but sometimes, patients may seek assistance from a gastroenterologist in order to determine the cause of the obstruction before surgery is performed.

Thursday, April 21, 2022 B7

DOH continues campaign for rabies-free PHL in 2030

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

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abies remains to be one of the most acutely fatal infections causing t he death of an average of 200 to 300 Filipinos per year. The Philippines ranked sixth among the countries with the highest number of human rabies cases worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that rabies causes 59,000 human deaths annually in over 150 countries, with 95 percent of cases occurring in Africa and Asia.

The virus is the deadliest disease on earth, with a 99.9 percent chance of dying if a patient has not received a vaccine immediately after getting infected.

Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by a virus and can be transmitted due to a bite, scratch, or even lick on the mucous membrane of animals (dogs) whose saliva contains the virus. Rabies may also occur, though sporadically, through the inhalation of a virus-containing spray or organ transplants.

When a rabid animal bites an unvaccinated individual, the rabies virus will travel from the bite site to the victim’s brain. As it reaches the human nervous system, it becomes 100 percent deadly.

Symptoms

The symptoms of rabies may be similar to the flu, such as a high temperature of 38ºC, chills, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, and vomiting.

After two to 10 days, more severe symptoms will manifest, including aggressive behavior such as biting, excessive salivation, hallucination, hydrophobia, aerophobia, and muscle spasm.

In celebration of Rabies Awareness Month last month, the Department of Health (DOH) Center for Health Development- Calabar-

zon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Department of Agriculture (DA), and other partners reaffirmed their commitment to end the rabies disease.

Through an E-turo learning session in partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University Institute of Philippine Culture (ADM-IPC) DOH Calabarzon discussed rabies prevention and control measures with the theme “Rabies-free na Pusa’t Aso, Kaligtasan ng Pamilyang Pilipino.”

“Prevention is key in eliminating the rabies disease. Ninety-nine percent of all rabies transmissions to humans are from dogs. In line with this, DOH Calabarzon has encouraged all pet owners to have their pets vaccinated and be responsible pet owners. This is the most costeffective strategy to prevent rabies,” Local Health Support Division chief Maria Elena G. Castillo–Gonzales emphasized.

Animal bites

In 2021, a total of 206,167 animal bite cases and 26 human rabies deaths were reported in the Calabarzon region.

“In spite of the provision of providing free full doses of the antirabies vaccines from the DOH and being dispensed to the Animal Bite Treatment Center, the number of human rabies deaths remain high,” Jomell Mojica, Regional Rabies Prevention and Control Program Manager said.

DOH Calabarzon remains committed to ending human deaths from dog-mediated rabies in 2027 and Rabies Free Philippines in 2030.

“We need to achieve at least 70 percent dog rabies vaccination coverage, be a responsible pet owner, strict Implementation of Republic Act 9482 [Anti Rabies Act of 2007], Provision of Free Anti-Rabies Vaccines to all animal bite patients, Intensive advocacy campaign to the community, and Commitment, partnership and collaboration of all stakeholders in the implementation of the Rabies Program,” he concluded.

Online platform helps overseas Filipino health-care workers adjust abroad TMC Clark expands

By Roderick L. Abad

foremost of which is to never hesitate to ask for help.

According to the platform provider for Filipino health-care professionals worldwide, it is completely understandable if they are unfamiliar at first with certain customs and traditions of their host countries.

“Try to seek help and don’t hesitate to ask questions from the locals or from friends or colleagues who have been there lon-

ger than you. Online resources for health-care professionals can also be really valuable and places like dedicated social-media groups can be the perfect forums to get the answers you need. Once you have the information you need, you can adjust quickly and hopefully avoid any issues in the future,” TrueProfile.io said.

justment. While things may not go as they planned, it reminded them that the errors they commit will be a lesson learned and help them grow as a better person and worker.

It is advised that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) be very observant so they know how their colleagues, or even the locals, are doing it. It said: “Go out and explore as much as you can to familiarize yourself with the new place and

culture you are in.”

For TrueProfile.io, it is important for OFWs to seek out Filipino communities because having a support group that shares the same culture and values may make the whole experience more bearable for them.

“Thankfully, Filipinos are everywhere, so seek them out. Not only will they be a great company, but they can also help you out when you need it,” it noted.

Pharma group continues push for Covid-19 vaccine equity

novators for future pandemics,” he concluded.

As the pandemic evolves, Covid-19 treatments are an increasingly critical part of pandemic response. Voluntary licensing has been used extensively. The collaborations have been set up directly by pharmaceutical companies or through Medicines Patent Pool.

These collaborations help with the transfer of know-how and speeds up the recipients’ manufacturing capabilities to be able to quickly produce affordable quality treatments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Other partnerships have been important in overcoming the shortages in materials needed to produce monoclonal antibody treatments.

Today, there is a range of approved treatments for people with Covid-19. But action is needed to address patient access—from regulatory authorities prioritizing the review of new potential treatments and governments supporting weakened health systems to test and treat, through putting in place mechanisms to ensure all indicated patients are prescribed available treatments quickly.

Contributor

A

WARE that homesickness is among the many challenges being faced by Filipino medical professionals based abroad that affect their mental health, TrueProfile.io has helped them adjust overseas while working.

This is by way of sharing some helpful advice and tips to them,

A

bout 13.7 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses have been delivered and 11 billion doses have been administered so far.

However, the equitable distribution of these vaccines remains a major concern.

According to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), there is now broad ack nowledgement t h at suppl ies of Covid-19 vaccines have outstripped demand, and manufacturing of treatments for people who have contracted Covid-19 or who are unable to be vaccinated is on track thanks, in part, to widescale voluntary licensing.

IFPM A represents researchbased biopharmaceutical companies and regional and national associations across the world. The research-based pharmaceutical industry’s 2 million employees research, develop and provide medicines and vaccines that improve the life of patients worldwide. Based in Geneva, IFPMA has official rela-

tions with the United Nations and contributes industry expertise to help the global health community find solutions that improve global health.

The biopharmaceutical industry renews its commitment to join all players in doubling-down and focusing efforts on supporting country readiness and contributing to equitable distribution, with a particular focus on the highest risk populations.

“The trend that we predicted last year that Covid-19 vaccine supplies will outstrip global demand has been proven correct,” said Thomas Cueni, director general of IFPMA. The Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing scale-up has seen 372 partnerships forged, of which 88 percent (329) include technology transfer or fill and finish. 51 manufacturing and production agreements were made in developing countries (LICs and LMICs).

New variant

The spread of the Omicron BA2

Adjustment period

Mistakes are part of the ad-

variant underscores the importance of targeted immunization and should focus all minds to ensure full course vaccinations are administered hastily to all in need, in particular the elderly, vulnerable populations, and people who are immunosuppressed. Sufficient vaccines are available to continue inoculation programs, since more than 7.98 billion doses could be produced this year.

More than half of the doses forecast to be produced this year will be Covid-19 vaccines produced by companies member of IFPMA, together with partners who are in technology transfer agreements with them. In parallel to Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing, innovation into broader spectrum vaccines to tackle the pandemic continues apace, with combination vaccines or vaccines that are easier to transport and administer.

The biopharmaceutical industry remains steadfast in its position that steps urgently need to be taken to ensure all health-care work-

ers, the elderly, and those who are immunosuppressed or vulnerable through comorbidities wherever they live should receive a full course of vaccines.

Technology transfer

In addition, several important commitments have been made by biopharmaceutical companies that are set to change Africa’s vaccine manufacturing landscape in years to come. “To continue to advocate that vaccine equity is caused by scarcity of vaccines due to a lack of technology transfer flies in the face of the facts—both for the numbers of vaccines available but also for the way vaccines are made. The reasons for the woeful inequity are manyfold but cannot be laid at the door of intellectual property,” Cueni explained.

“We remain steadfast in our verdict that the proposed World Trade Organization’s TRIPS waiver is a solution in search of a problem. It is a distraction and is misleading in its promise of equity for this pandemic.

And it sends the wrong signal to in-

care for seniors in Central Luzon

T

he Medical City (TMC) Clark recently opened a dedicated facility for elders and senior citizens.

TMC Clark’s Center for Healthy Aging caters to older patients through geriatric assessments. Tagged as the “future of medicine,” geriatric is now one of the core patient categories attended to by the TMC group in the midst of a pandemic when “safer and more special care is needed by the elderly.”

T he center compr ises var ious specialty sub-clinics including the Elderly Care and Wellness Center, Universal Health Clinic, and Palliative Care Clinic, all with the goal of improving the health of the elderly through a “holistic treatment and recovery approach.”

Aside from the checkups and consultations being done at the health-care facility, the Palliative Care Clinic also offers home-based care for elders and those people living with serious illness.

“Our elderly population have physiologic and medical needs that are different from the adult population and [these] should be approached and managed accordingly. Healthy aging with promotion of independence and prevention of common problems should be prioritized,” Dr. Irene Flores, one of TMC Clark’s geriatrics doctors, said.

Additionally, the geriatric specialists not only focus on the prevention and treatment of diseases, but also promotes effective coordination of care, family engagement, and lifestyle practices of healthy living, making TMC Clark’s Center for Healthy Aging the suitable for patient partners and their elderly loved ones.

The newest facility at TMC Clark is located at the Ambulatory Surgical Center in Berthaphil Compound III, Clark Freeport Zone.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8

| Thursday, April 21, 2022 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

AVARICIO IN CONTROL DESPITE CARDING 74 C

HANELLE AVARICIO surged ahead despite a 74 as she pounced on Marvi Monsalve’s frontside meltdown and Chihiro Ikeda’s backside collapse to move closer to completing a backto-back title romp on the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT).

Not even a three-bogey, one-birdie round in another challenging day Wednesday at the Caliraya Springs Golf Club in Cavinti, Laguna, could stymie’s Avaricio’s charge to the top of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Caliraya Championship at 145 after 36 holes as Monsalve shot herself in the foot with a horrible 85 on a frontside 43 after a lead-grabbing 69 CHANELLE AVARICIO’S in command solo in the women’s tournament while Jeonard Rates shares the lead in the men’s side. PHOTOS BY NONIE REYES

Top notch volley tilt tickets now on sale

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ICKET for two Volleyball Nations League (VNL)Quezon City Pools matches will be out on sale starting Wednesday afternoon.

The Philippine National Volleyball Federation announced that the ticket prices for the Philippines’s first VNL sortie at the Smart Araneta Coliseum are pegged at P2,000 for Courtside, P1,500 for Patron A, P1,000 for Patron B, P500 for Lower Box, P300 for Upper Box and P150 for General Admission.

The tickets are on sale via www. ticketnet.com.ph.

Week 2 of the top-level women’s preliminary round of the top level Volleyball World action will be played from June 14 to 19. After a day’s break, Week 2 of the men’s pool matches will take place from June 21 to 26.

The Quezon City edition will feature reigning women’s and men’s Olympic champions United States and France, Tokyo Games men’s bronze medalist Argentina, Asian women’s champion Japan and Southeast Asian queens Thailand.

For future VNL Quezon City pools updates, follow the official PNVF Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Tuesday and Ikeda blew a three-under card and the lead after 11 holes with a double bogey on the 13th and a bogey on the next for a 73.

But Ikeda lay just a stroke off Avaricio at 146, which Daniella Uy matched with a gutsy 72, setting the stage for a three-way battle for top honors in the P750,000 championship.

Harmie Constantino made a 75 for fourth at 151 but stood six shots off Avaricio, who humbled Princess Superal in sudden death to snare the ICTSI Hallow Ridge crown two weeks ago.

Now, the comely former Alabama State U mainstay, who nailed her breakthrough win at Riviera-Couples last November, is 18 holes away from a third championship.

“I didn’t play as good as yesterday (Tuesday). I struggled with my second shots,” said Avaricio, who hit just one green at the back but flashed superb short game to rescue a number of pars and grab the lead.

She said she needs to keep the ball

in play in the final 18 holes, adding: “Hopefully, my putts will go in.”

Ikeda went on an attack mode after seizing control on No. 11 but overshot the next green and into the hazard for double bogey then three-putted the next to reel back.

But the 2019 playoff winner over Pauline del Rosario at Midlands remained confident of her chances, saying: “Just play steady because it’s a tough course,” said the former SEA Games individual champion.

Uy also stressed the need to keep the ball in play as the former Junior World champion bids to score a follow-up to her first win at RivieraLanger last year.

Monsalve bogeyed five of the first eight holes and dropped two strokes on the ninth, a horrendous slide that continued at the back that saw her limp with two more bogeys and a couple of double bogeys. She tumbled to joint fifth at 154 with Midlands led winner Sunshine Baraquiel, who fought back with a 73, and amateur Arnie Taguines, who skied to a 79.

Bucay up by 1 stroke after 71 at National Stroke Play

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ERRY JOSEF BUCAY fired a oneunder-par 71 to grab a one-shot lead over erstwhile frontrunner Rho Hyun Ho halfway through the 2022 National Stroke Play Championship on Wednesday at the Manila Southwoods

Legends course in Carmona, Cavite.

The 19-year-old Bucay continued his steady touch with three birdies and two bogeys in a round that bettered his opening 73 on Tuesday and with a 144 total, inched a stroke ahead of Korean teener Ho, who

CASIMERO OUT, SULTAN IN

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HE British Boxing Board of Control LTD (BBBofC) barred Johnriel Casimero from defending his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight belt in Liverpool on Friday after the board caught the Filipino shedding extra weight in a sauna.

“The British Boxing Board of Control has been made aware [with supporting evidence] that Mr. Casimero has made use of a sauna in a close proximity to his World Boxing Organization Championship contest on Friday,” the board’s General Secretary Robert Smith said in a document obtained by the BusinessMirror on Thursday.

“As you are aware, this is against the BBBofC’s medical guidelines and therefore we cannot permit him to compete in the proposed contest on Friday,” Smith added in the document.

The BBBofC said it is alarming for Casimero to shed 10 pounds in only three days—an extreme weight loss that could put a boxer in grave danger.

As a result, Jonas Sultan was called in to replace Casimero, who was supposed to stake his title against hometown challenger Paul Butler at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

Zavier, crowd pleaser ZAVIER LUCERO, the University of the Philippines’s (UP) blue chip recruit from Cal State Maritime Academy, is largely responsible for the Fighting Maroons’ runaway performance in the ongoing University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.

The two-and-done, Swiss knife UP Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) player has been wowing the crowd and earning accolades from the TV panel when he does his

Casimero, 33, refused to comment on his disqualification from the title fight.

The Casimero-Butler fight was first scheduled in Dubai last December 11 but the fighter missed the official weigh-in saying he contracted viral gastritis in his effort to make the 123 pounds bantamweight limit.

Casimero (31-4 record with 21 knockouts) remains champion until such time the WBO will decide on the weight division champion.

The fight between the 31-year-old Sultan (18-5 win-loss record with 11 knockouts) and 33-year-old Butler (33-2 record with 15 knockouts) will be a 12-round interim bantamweight championship.

MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons immediately flew to London on Wednesday and also refused to comment on his ward’s case.

Sultan is on standby in London since Monday. He was chosen as a replacement for Casimero based on his unanimous decision victory over Puerto Rican Carlos Caraballo for the vacant WBO international bantamweight belt last October 30 in New York City. Josef Ramos

stuff on both ends of the court. He brings skill, energy, athleticism and bounce to UP’s game, making people notice that his name (which he prefers to be said in full instead of the shorter “Zeyv”) rhymes with “savior,” which he is to the UP faithful.

Right now he is a candidate for Season 84 Most Valuable Player and running neck and neck with Ateneo’s Ange Kouame who leads him by just one statistical point—the sole basis of MVP voting in this collegiate league. Kouame has 68 SP’s against Lucero’s 67. A far third is La Salle’s Justine Baltazar with 58.

Lucero is here on his own. His immediate family is in the States and he has planted himself solidly within the campus community in the mini-forest of UP Diliman. He is growing lushly there.

Why did he go to UP? His answer, based on an article written by Lui Morales for online news site Philstar.com, is quite odd. Where others say their parents and ancestors were alumni of the school, or they’re doing it for the education, or they so admire and believe in the coach, Lucero says: it’s the fan base.

“That was one of the things I came to UP [for] was because I heard so much about their support system and their fan base,” he told Lui.

needed back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to salvage a 75 and stay in the championship hunt.

Lois Kaye Go, meanwhile, put things back into the order in ladies division play by wresting a one-shot lead with a one-over-par 73.

Upstaged by Lia Gabrielle Rosca in the opening round, Go carried the cudgels for the Vietnam 31st Southeast Asian Games-bound team with a 147 total for 36 holes to jump ahead by one over Laurea Duque, who became the first player in the ladies field to break par with a 71 for 148.

Reese Ng turned in a 74 to occupy third place at 150 then came Rosca, who carded a 78-151, and recent

RATES TIES GIALON ON TOP

JOENARD RATES stayed hot under the sun and rain then sun again and endured the blustery conditions to match his opening solid 68 and catch an equally steady Zanieboy Gialon in the lead after two rounds of the men’s tournament also on Wednesday.

Rates shot a couple of birdies on each side of Caliraya Springs and shot himself into a share of the lead at 136 and closer to another crack at a Philippine Golf Tour title.

“I’m happy to be in contention going to moving day,” said Rates.

“This round is super good. I hit some good drives and avoided troubles.”

Gialon also put in a bogey-free 69 as the duo continued to flash top form on an Arnold Palmer-designed course spruced up to championship condition for its initial hosting of a PGT event.

“I had a good up-and-down game, especially at the back, and finished with a solid round,” said Gialon, who has never tasted victory since dominating the field in the ICTSI Calatagan in 2017.

Philippine Junior Amateur winner and SEA Games team member Mafy Singson (74-153).

Bucay, a legal management freshman at La Salle, is coming off a rousing performance at the International Container Terminal Services Inc. Luisita Championship leg of the the local pro tour where he contended for the crown before settling for third place behind eventual winner Miguel Tabuena and runner-up Clyde Mondilla.

Bucay’s short game performance saved him a lot of strokes against the testy pin placements, needing just 29 putts after hitting 13 of 18 greens— as he kept himself in solid contention for the title being chased by a solid pack including members of the national SEA Games team competing next month in Vietnam.

FANS are lining up at the Smart Araneta Coliseum unaware that Game 6’s been canceled.

COURTESY RUDY ESPERAS True. The UP crowd—a sea of Maroon that pulsates and sways and puts its arms together to clap rhythmically to its iconic yell of U-ni-ber-si-dad ng Pi-li-pi-nas—can produce one of the strongest reverberations in playing arenas.

The size and number of the crowd can be staggering, especially at full size. Before the pandemic halted action, the UP crowd could fill up majority of the space in playing venues, with plenty more fans waiting for access at the ticket booths.

Even now with just limited numbers allowed inside the Mall of Asia Arena, current site of UAAP basketball battles, the UP crowd occupies majority of the seats in the stands.

It wasn’t always like that. Had Zavier Lucero been born earlier and had been asked to play for UP, maybe he wouldn’t have. “The UP Crowd” was an oxymoron, because there was none.

To count 50, 40 or even 20 people showing up for UP back in say, the 90s, was like being rained with manna from heaven. Only a very few committed souls came to watch UP games. Hardly anybody cared.

For one, UP would more often than not, lose. Nobody wanted to cheer for a losing team and absorb all the bad vibes after a lost game. Academics was the main focus of UP student and faculty life. Sports was just a diversion. Sports

Fire breaks out at Big Dome, Ginebra-Meralco Game 6 canceled

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By Josef Ramos

IRE broke out at the Smart Araneta Coliseum before noon on Wednesday canceling Game 6 of the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup Finals with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel hoping to wrap up the series against Meralco.

Smoke billowed out of the historic arena but firefighters immediately arrived to control the fire caused by faulty electric wiring.

PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial made an earnest call to postpone Game 6 of the best-ofseven championship to Friday— also at 6 p.m.—and move the venue to the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

“We, the PBA, won’t risk the welfare and safety of the fans as well as the players and game staff,” Marcial said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Also canceled was the final of the Ginebra-Platinum Karaoke Tatluhan final.

Fans were already lining up at the various gates of the coliseum when Marcial announced the cancelation four hours before Game 6 at 2 p.m.

Araneta Coliseum management said in a statement that the fire didn’t cause any injury or damage and thanked Bureau of Fire Protection personnel for declaring fire out at 1:08 p.m.

“To ensure everyone’s safety, the scheduled PBA Finals Game 6 today is postponed to give way to security checks,” Big Dome management said also in a statement. “All ticket holders are advised to stand by for refund details from TicketNet. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Coaches Tim Cone of Ginebra and Norman Black of Meralco said the incident was beyond their control.

“Not much to say. I think we were ready to play, but what happened was out of our control, so we move on,” said Cone, whose Gin Kings hold a 3-2 lead in the series.

“It’s out of our control so we will just adjust and get ready for the game on Friday at MOA,” Black said.

programs, operating on meager state university budgets, had no support.

So the crowd stayed away. Until it got worse. Two 0-14 seasons put UP in the pits, crushing Maroon Pride like nothing else.

But when you’re at your lowest, you can only look up.

That’s where nowheretogobutUP was born. This visionary, impassioned and committed alumni group said enough is enough and turned everything around.

Slowly, surely, things changed. Recruitment became an adventure. Coaching leveled up. Support came from all directions—from the grassroots, from fellow alumni and even unlikely sources. The crowds grew with every season.

In Season 81, UP struck gold. OK, silver. Landing in the finals on a magical run was when the UP crowd came out in droves. Since then, it has never dwindled. Today they come, rain or shine, during office hours, on holidays, who cares where.

It doesn’t matter if the games start at 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. They’re loud and rowdy, committed, passionate.

After decades of sleeping and not caring, UP fans now show adoring love. That’s the crowd Zavier Lucero is fighting for. Along with his Brother Maroons.