BusinessMirror April 21, 2020

Extend, lift, modify ECQ? Experts asked

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz & Samuel P. Medenilla

H

OUSE leaders on Monday called for the extension of the enhanced community quarantine, saying lifting the ECQ amounts to carelessly exposing the entire population to Covid-19, thus delaying the economic recovery period.

As they made the call, President Duterte consulted with former Secretaries of Health on the best approach in deciding whether to lift the extended ECQ, as scheduled, on April 30, or order another extension, or impose a modified lockdown specific to certain areas or sectors.

This, as businessman Joey Concepcion, the presidential adviser for entrepreneurship, pressed with his earlier pitch for a targeted lockdown after April 30 in order

MANILA Police District Patrolwoman Jessa Mae Nero and Patrolwoman Analiza Oggas lend a helping hand to an elderly street dweller by giving her food. The two policewomen are assigned at a checkpoint on President Elpidio Quirino Avenue, Manila. NONIE REYES

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to avoid “punishing” those places that have remained infection-free and to allow certain businesses to resume operations to mitigate the economic damage.

Duterte’s meeting on Monday with medical experts, including former health secretaries as well as his economic team, was a bid to come up with a “scientific” basis to decide if the ECQ in Luzon will be extended, lifted or modified by next week.

In a press briefing on Monday, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte wished to determine if business operations could be allowed to resume after the scheduled lifting of the ECQ on April 30, 2020, even amid the continuing threat of Covid-19.

“He wants to make a decision, I would like to repeat, a decision based on

finding a balance between the obligation of the state on one side to protect our health and the right of the people to have their livelihood,” Roque said.

Among those invited to the meeting were former health secretaries Janet Garin, Esperanza Cabral, Jaime Galvez Tan, as well as medical experts Susan Pineda-Mercado, Anthony Leachon, Ana Lisa Ong Lim, Marissa Alejandria, Katherine Ann Reyes and Alfredo Mahar Lagmay.

Also present were Secretaries Carlos Dominguez III of Finance, Ramon Lopez of Trade and Industry, Eduardo Año of Interior and Local Government, Delfin Lorenzana of Defense and Francisco Duque III of Health; and National Economic and Development Authority acting chief Karl Chua, chief implementer of the govern-

ment’s national policy on Covid-19 Carlito Galvez, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Alan Cayetano.

Roque said Duterte will also consider the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF).

Among the options being considered by Duterte is to lift, extend, or to “modify” the ECQ so that it will be limited to just some areas with high infection rates rather than the entire Luzon.

Members of the government economic team and business groups have been pushing for the resumption of more business operations after the ECQ to minimize the negative economic impact of Covid-19.

Continued on A2

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Tuesday, April 21, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 194

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

A FOOD-DELIVERY biker passes by graffiti admonishing everyone to stay home, in reference to the enhanced community quarantine, at the Pres.

Sergio Osmeña Sr. Highway in Makati City on Monday. ROY DOMINGO

L

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

ONG-TERM debt papers continue to attract investors as the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) opened again on Monday its tap facility to auction an additional P10 billion in 364day Treasury bills (T-bills).

The BTr also upsized to P24 billion the volume of T-bills it awarded on Monday on the back of strong demand and lower rates following Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s 50-basis-point policy rate cut last week.

The auction was also nearly four times oversubscribed as tenders reached P79.9 billion compared to the P20-billion initial of-

fering. This, the BTr said, prompted the committee to raise the accepted non-competitive bids for the 91day and 182-day securities.

To take advantage of the strong demand and drop in rates, the Treasury also decided to open the tap facility to all 11 government securities eligible dealersmarket makers for an additional P10 billion in the 1-year T-bills.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.7870

Tenders reached P11.9 billion, exceeding the P10-billion offering.

“[We] accepted more than offer because double [non-competitive] award. [We opened the] tap with significant drop in rates following 50bps off-cycle cut,” National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon told reporters via an online messaging system.

The P10-billion 364-day government-backed debt papers fetched an average rate of 3.295 percent, lower by 39 basis points from the previous average auction rate of 3.685 percent.

Tenders reached P25.864 billion exceeding the P10-billion offering.

The Treasury upsized its offerings for 91-day T-bills and 182-day T-bills as it accepted P7 billion for each tenor, well above its initial offering of P5 billion each.

The 91-day T-bills fetched an average auction rate of 3.113 percent, a decrease of 35.8 basis points from the average rate of 3.471 percent in the previous auction.

Total bids for the 91-day Tbills amounted to P33.010 billion, well above its initial P5-billion offering.

The 182-day T-bills settled at an average rate of 3.239 percent, posting a drop of 17 basis points from the previous average auction rate of 3.409 percent. Tenders reached P21.125 billion, significantly higher than its initial P5billion offering.

As for offshore issuance, the Treasury said it continues to monitor the market “to pull the trigger at the best timing.”

ADB: PANDEMIC NEED NOT TURN INTO ECONOMIC MELTDOWN

PUBLIC-UTILITY jeepney drivers in Pasay City practice physical distancing as they wait for the local government’s cash aid. Tens of thousands of jeepney and bus drivers are among the most impacted by the lockdown forced by the Covid-19 crisis, which included a ban on mass transportation in Luzon. NONIE REYES

By Cai U. Ordinario

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HE Asian Development Bank (ADB) believes countries should act fast in responding to the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic to prevent further deterioration of the economy.

In an Asian Development

Blog, ADB Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department Chief of Governance Thematic Group Bruno Carrasco said many Asian countries, being among the first to experience Covid-19, were able to respond within 1 to 2 weeks of the signs of infection. They are also now on

the third round of packages to respond to the crisis.

“With timely and well-targeted programs, policy makers can prevent the health crisis from deepening into a wider economic and financial crisis.

This could sow the seeds of economic recovery,” Carrasco said.

See “ADB,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4721 n UK 63.5193 n HK 6.5525 n CHINA 7.1809 n SINGAPORE 35.7202 n AUSTRALIA 32.3005 n EU 55.2410 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5252

Source: BSP (April 20, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Tuesday, April 21, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

With Covid cases at 6,459, DOH still tracking ‘flattening’ of curve

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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

HE Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday it had yet to determine if it is succeeding in “flattening the curve” as cases of Covid-19 infections and deaths have increased.

As of 4 p.m. on Monday, the DOH reported 200 new cases (PH6260-PH6459) of Covid-19.

The total number of cases in the country is now at 6,459.

DOH also announced 41 new recoveries, bringing the total number to 613.

Meanwhile, 19 new deaths were reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 428.

Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, at a virtual presser on Monday, said that 55,465 individual tests were already conducted.

In a radio interview, she underscored that the cases and number of deaths continue to rise, however.

“Pinag-aaralan pa din [if we have achieved] ang flattening of the curve kung nasaan na po tayo. Gumagamit po tayo ng mga modelo at estimate na galing po sa ating partner institutions [We are still studying where we are right now in flattening the curve. We are using models and estimates from our partner institutions],” Vergeire said.

“But our experts are already looking into this,” Vergeire said, adding that they are also preparing for recommendations of the InterAgency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

She pointed out that if stringent measures had not been imple-

mented from the start, “we couldn’t have prevented the sudden surge of cases here.”

Nonetheless, the DOF official said, “But we can’t still disclose and we still can’t say that we have flattened the curve.”

etiquette, and avoid going to infected places.”

Another substrategy, she said, is reduced contact rate.

“This is to make sure that the people are not exposed by limiting their movements by practicing physical distancing rule. Those considered as vulnerable populations are requested to stay in the house while schools are advised to cancel their classes temporarily and only those establishments selling commodity needs are allowed to open,” she added.

Another major strategy to manage the reduction of Covid-19 deaths and non-Covid-19 conditions is identifying contacts and cases early to have them isolated immediately.

“Under this strategy, we also have two substrategies. First, to shorten the infectiousness of the case and second, to upgrade the quality…[and] standard of treating Covid-19 patients,” the health official added.

After persons exposed to confirmed Covid-19 cases are identified, they will be quaran-

Strategies and substrategies

DURING the DOH virtual press conference, Vergeire revealed the steps done to fight Covid-19 and bring down the cases of infections and deaths.

Vergeire said there are two major strategies to succeed: prevent more cases, and manage contacts and cases early.

“Our first strategy is prevent cases. We can do this through these two substrategies: to be resilient and stopping transmission.

To be resilient we should observe a healthy diet and healthy lifestyle and manage stress,” she said.

To stop transmission, Vergeire pointed out, the public should follow guidelines on enhanced community quarantine. “We should use face masks if we go out....Frequent handwashing, proper cough

tined and monitored.

“They will also be tested if they are showing symptoms so that we can diagnose if they are infected as well. We will immediately manage and isolate contacts with symptoms while waiting for the result of the RT-PCR tests.

Under this substrategy, we are activating teleconsultation lines where they can consult with our medical professionals. We also have transportation if they need to be transported to our health facilities,” she said.

The DOH is also working to ensure there are enough qualified health-care workers in health facilities.

“Before we assign our healthcare workers, we make sure that they have the needed skills and knowledge to manage Covid-19 patients and even our equipment, to ensure that not only our patients are safe but our health-care workers also. We continue to distribute PPEs that they need. The DOH is also monitoring Covid-19 hospitals if they have enough supply of medicines,” she added.

SOLONS DEBATE ‘TOUGH LOVE’ APPROACH IN QUARANTINE ENFORCEMENT

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz & Butch Fernandez

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The senator suggested instead that

areas from ECQ and adopt a full lockdown in

concerned Executive department officials act

highly dense barangay areas where the infec-

on the data shown in the last report to Con-

tion has not flattened after April 30.

AWMAKERS are of mixed views in the

gress by Malacañang, “that only 25 percent of

debate on whether or not to extend the

the beneficiaries received the assistance.”

create “Covid-free zones,” as some cities

six-week enhanced community quaran-

within the National Capital Region (NCR) are

He noted: “So you have almost 75

Sarmiento said the government should

tine (ECQ) beyond April 30, or on the notion

percent of people who have lost their jobs,

still a challenge—approximately 95 percent of

of imposing drastic enforcement measures

who are not earning anything today, who are

Covid-19 cases are located in Luzon, 2 percent

now in order to curb the still-rising number of

going hungry and they would have to go out

in Visayas and 3 percent in Mindanao

quarantine violators and allow health authori-

and figure out how to address the hunger.”

ties to “flatten the curve” of infections.

“liberated zones,” Sarmiento said the local

He stressed that between a Martial

In declaring “Covid-free zones” or

Law-type crackdown and fast-tracking the

government unit (LGU) must be certified as

1-Pacman has pushed for a total lockdown

assistance, “I think the right direction is to

Covid-free by the Department of Health and

until April 30 to reduce the need for

fast-track the assistance and to make sure that

the Inter-Agency Task Force.

extension.

the cash assistance and the relief goods reach

those in lockdown.”

officials, aided by Department of Interior and

Deputy Speaker Michael Romero of

“I say, we go full throttle on lockdown

SEN. Francis Pangilinan: “I think the right direction is to fast-track the assistance and to make sure that the cash assistance and the relief goods reach those in lockdown.”

measures under peacekeeping mode. With

the State of Emergency as legal basis, what

a person to stay home and stay hungry, look-

we need to stop Covid-19 now is a full-scale

ing at his child—his children who are starv-

red alert peacekeeping mobilization of the

ing—and not do anything about it. So, I think

military and police until April 30 covering

more than a martial law-type crackdown,

Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon.

we have to fast-track the delivery of cash as-

tapping private cellphone companies. “We do

assigned to offices, as well as the cadets in

Not martial law,” he said.

sistance and food packs to our citizens. I think

have 129 million cell-phone numbers. Perhaps

the academies and those in training at the

cases must be allowed a 10-percent increase

that should be the priority.”

the telcos and the DSWD can look into how do

military camps.

in work force returnees per week.

we determine, perhaps, a telco-type padala

“Their mission would be to make citi-

The senator added: “You cannot expect

“Daily monitoring of cases if any. LGU

One solution is for government agen-

zens stay at home and to secure all hospitals,

Local Government (DILG) officers, will strictly monitor cases. Report will be on weekly basis and will be collated by the Office of the Governor then forwarded to the DILG for reporting to the IATF,” he added.

“Mobilize up to 50 percent of the reserv-

An area with consistent zero Covid-19

Sarmiento said there are 81 provinces,

temporary quarantine facilities, supermarkets,

cies concerned to address the problem of the

system, direct cash assistance. What we have

ists if needed. This is necessary because we

145 cities, 1,470 municipalities nationwide

and public markets,” he said.

right beneficiaries. “I think we should err on

to do is hasten the distribution and ensure

have over 100,000 violators of the quarantine

and infections are now pinpointed in specific

the side of being generous. The fact that we

that the 18 million families needing it will get

measures. Their numbers are rising,” he said.

areas. “The IATF-EID can now decide which

sees no need for Malacañang to resort to

are still trying to figure out who shall receive

it as soon as possible.”

areas should serve as pilot testing for LGUs for

drastic options like imposing a “martial law”

what is, I think, a bureaucratic nightmare that

type of quarantine to contain the deadly coro-

has to be addressed immediately."

Tough lockdown

navirus (Covid-19), which had infected 6,459

people in the country as of Monday (April 20), and killed 428.

Minority Senator Francis Pangilinan

“Shut down all the public markets and

supermarkets to walk-ins. No more long lines.

us to restart the economy.”

Wait at home for your groceries to be deliv-

IN pitching a tougher lockdown now, Rep.

ered. Enough of this nonsense of thousands

it is expected that except for the National

agencies involved should have prepared a

Romero said the government should mobilize

of people roaming the streets and thousands

Capital Region, Central Luzon and some

verified list of low-income families when the

and deploy the armed services to as many

of motorists on the road,” Romero added.

portions of the Calabarzon, the trajectory of

Duterte administration allotted P200 billion for

streets and intersections as possible, all

House Committee on Transportation

Covid-19 infection is already expected to go

lated?” Pangilinan asked Monday during an

the estimated 18-million family beneficiaries.

the military and police, including all their

Chairman Edgar Mary Sarmiento urged the

down and can already be liberated from the

interview with CNN Philippines.

civilian personnel and uniformed personnel

national government to “liberate” certain

ECQ, he added.

“Why? is the quarantine being vio-

He agreed with a suggestion that state

Pangilinan raised the possibility of

Of the 17 regions in the Philippines,

ADB… Continued from A1

ADB data showed that as percentage of GDP, Asean-5 countries that allocated the largest resources were Malaysia with 15.5 percent of its GDP followed by Thailand at 13 percent and Singapore, 12.2 percent.

The Philippines only allocated 6.3 percent of its GDP, while Indonesia allocated 3.2 percent of its GDP to respond to the pandemic. China, where the pandemic originated, allocated the smallest amount, at 2.5 percent of GDP. Carrasco said from mid-to-late February, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand already announced initial packages.

“Most of these countries are now on their third packages with each subsequent package increasing in size and coming approximately one month apart,” Carrasco said.

These packages, Carrasco said, are targeted toward the health sector, tourism and transport (mostly aviation), and increasingly the retail sectors, restaurants and hospitality.

Carrasco said the packages aimed to improve the cash flow of businesses to address “second-round effects mainly from lockdown and confinement.”

These include tax cuts, sovereignbacked bank guarantees for extending loans for working capital to small businesses, and wage subsidies.

“Helping small and mediumsized enterprises to keep operating, even at some cost to the treasury, may spur economic recovery. It will keep people employed and hence reduce the size of the safety net coverage that governments will have to finance,” Carrasco said.

“It may also lead to an eventual faster economic recovery as it reduces the potential for hysteresis and more permanent effects from closure of businesses on the economy,” he added.

High of P2.5 trillion

LAST week, a team of Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) researchers led by Research Fellow Michael R.M. Abrigo estimated that the pandemic will cost the Philippine economy P276.3 billion to as much as P2.5 trillion.

The PIDS researchers said the transport, storage and communication sector is expected to suffer substantial losses due to tourism declines worth P11.7 billion to as much as P124.3 billion.

The study also showed that losses in other services could reach P41.5 billion to P356.9 billion; manufacturing, P82.1 billion to P855.2 billion; and wholesale and retail trade, P93.2 billion to P724.8 billion.

However, Abrigo and the other researchers said the cost of inaction may be larger at P2 trillion in foregone gross value added. This will be due to weak household demand and unemployment of workers for extended periods of time.

The country’s Employment to Population Ratio (EPR) could decline by 12 percentage points to as much as 30 percentage points. With an EPR of 60 percent, the worstcase scenario means there could be a 50-percent reduction in the total number of workers nationwide.

Extend, lift, modify ECQ? Experts asked Continued from A1

‘Justified confidence’ IN his recent white paper on the ECQ extension, House Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda of Albay urged the National Task Force (NTF) to recommend extending the ECQ for another two weeks.

He cited quantitative and scientific evidence suggesting that the Philippines is not yet in what Salceda calls “a point of justified confidence” when it comes to fighting Covid-19.

Responding to suggestions that policymakers have to choose between health or the economy, Salceda, who is cochairman of the House Economic Stimulus Cluster, said that “It’s a mischaracterization of the tradeoff. And a short-sighted assessment of the situation, too.”

The economist-lawmaker described as misguided the idea that the choice is between economic damage and health damage.

“We are trying to minimize both.

At this rate, opening up the country and hoping that we will not have to lock it down again is wishful thinking. Let’s finish the job now, when we are already building on some successes, rather than erase those gains and then face a second wave later,” he said.

According to Salceda, there are about 1.9 billion social contacts in the Philippines daily, and the ECQ, despite all the rule breakers, must have eliminated 80 percent, or a reduction of 1.5 billion.

‘Resurgence much costlier’

SALCEDA estimates that the expected monetary value (EMV) of the costs in foregone economic activity and loss of market and consumer confidence from a six-week resurgence in cases are much more significant than the economic costs of another two-week extension.

“A resurgence will likely require a

longer lockdown period than the initial March 15 to April 30 enhanced community quarantine and the country’s economic recovery period will be delayed, while another package of both survival and transitional measures will have to be financed and rolled out,” he said.

Resurgence will likely be more damaging to business and consumer confidence than the initial six-week ECQ was, he added.

“The liquidity of already struggling companies will likely be erased in a viral resurgence, at a time when the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) shall have expended much of its monetary policy tools,” Salceda said.

In the meantime, he said the government will have to consider the liquidity and solvency of firms, facilitating or modifying usual cash flows, including assisting businesses set up online payment and delivery systems, crafting production and

logistics systems that comply with strict social-distancing measures, etc., while also providing alternative modes of liquidity enhancement.

“Publicly listed firms remain able to access market capitalization, and the largest conglomerates have access to sizable credit lines on the merits of good performance in previous years as well as the traditional durability of large conglomerates in the Philippines. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will benefit immensely from the wage subsidy program about to be implemented by the government, but more interventions will likely be needed to allow leveraged enterprises to sustain operations,” he said.

“We’re simply not there yet, no matter how much we wish this pandemic to end. It would be almost willful neglect to say that the country can now reopen,” Salceda said.

“So far, we have undertaken around 46,000 tests, with possibly another 80,000 coming by April 30. Thus, with only 130,000 tests or 0.1 percent of the population, we are most possibly missing many positive, especially asymptomatic, cases that are undetected and at large. As of April 16, out of 5,660 confirmed cases, only 3,238 were assessed, out of 7,496 possible close contacts. Doubling time for infections hovers at just above 12 days,” added Salceda.

Careless

Modified lockdown–Quimbo

SALCEDA said lifting the ECQ amounts to carelessly exposing the entire population to infection, no matter what residual social distancing exists.

FOR her part, Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo proposed a modified lockdown after April 30.

“The economic costs of a lockdown

are substantial—we lose an average of P18 billion per day in unearned wages and corporate income—and the last 37 days have taught us how to manage risks. I propose that we use lessons learned and implement a modified lockdown,” she said.

“For provinces that are not Covidfree, allow selected businesses to operate provided that they can create Covid-free work sites, using a mix of social-distancing protocols, 14-day quarantine of workers who are housed at work site prior to commencement of work, and mandatory testing of workers if not housed at work site; subject to worker’s consent and proper protection and compensation,” she said.

Under both scenarios, Quimbo said mass testing will be conducted on a random sample basis and any indication of Covid-19 transmission as defined by the Department of Health will cause the reverting to mandatory lockdown or ceasing of business operations.

The Nation BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PNP men tested positive for virus climbs to 71

A

T least 71 personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) have tested positive of the novel coronavirus anew, while another 10 personnel have recovered from the disease.

A news statement released by the PNP, through its spokesman Brig.

Gen. Bernard Banac, said the number of personnel affected by the Covid-19 have increased after three more cases were confirmed.

“The three confirmed cases were, a 45-year-old male, a 32-yearold male and a 33-year-old male, all assigned in Metro Manila,” Banac said, citing the report of the PNP Health Services (PNPHS).

“Further, PNPHS recorded a total of 59 PNP personnel who are categorized as Probable Persons Under Investigation [Probable PUIs], including 17 Police Commissioned Officers, 50 Police Non-Commissioned Officers and two Non-Uniformed Personnel, while a total 604 personnel were recommended as Suspected Persons Under Investigation [Suspected PUIs] including 132 Police Commissioned Officers, 442 Police Non-Commissioned Officers, and 30 Non-Uniformed Personnel,” the police spokesman said.

He also said that a total of 600 personnel that include 196 Probable PUIs and 404 Suspected PUIs have completed “self/home quarantine.”

In the military, Armed Forces public affairs office chief Capt. Jonathan Zata, said the AFP Medical Center in Quezon City has already confirmed 33 Covid-19 cases, and of this number, 22 are military personnel and six are military dependents.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Navy will send to China today (Tuesday) one of its logistics support vessels, BRP Bacolod City to pick up personal protective equipment (PPE) that the Duterte administration has procured from Beijing.

The vessel will sail for Xiamen in China to pick up 23,385 boxes of PPEs that were stacked in 17 containers at the Zhangzhou Port there.

The Navy said earlier through its public affairs office chief Lt. CommanderMariaChristinaRoxasthatthe deployment was in response to the call ofNationalTaskForceonCovid-19chief implementerCarlitoGalvezJr.“tomake use of the services of the Navy to fetch and deliver to the country the remaining sets of PPEs that the Department of Budget and Management procured in China last month.”

BI tip leads to arrest of wanted South Korean at Incheon airport

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SOUTH Korean fugitive allegedly involved in cybercrime and illegal online gaming business was nabbed by airport immigration agents while about to leave for Incheon on Monday.

Airport immigration division chief Grifton Medina identified the passenger as Ju Minhyeok, 23, who was about to board an Aseana Airlines flight.

“The immigration officer who handled his passport saw his name in the Interpol watch list, requesting alert [from South Korean authorities] if he is encountered,” Medina said.

Medina said Ju was allowed to board his flight after alerting South Korean authorities on his impending arrival in Incheon.

“Our counterpart handcuffed Ju upon his arrival at the Incheon airport,” Medina said, adding operatives from the Busan cybercrime investigation squad were there waiting for

him to step out of the plane.

Lawyer Rommel Tacorda, BI-Interpol chief, said Ju is on the wanted list in Korea for violating the National Sports Promotion Act for allegedly engaging in illegal gambling activities.

Ju allegedly conspired with other Korean suspects in operating several online gambling web sites which solicited and accepted bets from Korean customers. “Korean authorities alleged that the suspects ran the sites called ‘Deadpool’ through which bettors could win, or lose money, by predicting the results of various sports competitions,” Tacorda added.

It was learned that last April 11 the Busan district court issued a warrant for Ju’s arrest, prompting the Interpol to issue a red alert notice against the fugitive.

“Ju could be sentenced to a sevenyear term if convicted,” Tacorda said.

Recto Mercene

DOJ chief orders NBI to identify, probe martial law rumor mongers

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By Joel R. San Juan

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center, thus, treated majority of the leptospirosis patients who require dialysis for acute kidney injury.

There are patients, however, with severe disease marked by sepsis and multi-organ failure.

The organ failure resulting from severe leptospirosis is reversible, the NKTI has learned, with recovery ranging from two weeks for the kidneys and up to eight weeks for the lungs.

The leptospires induce the release of inflammatory mediators that result in leaky blood vessels.

The extravagant host immune response ultimately leads to organ damage resulting in acute kidney injury, liver failure and pulmonary hemorrhage requiring dialysis and mechanical ventilation.

Although conventional hemodialysis replaces kidney function while the kidney recovers, patients presenting with cardiovascular collapse are unable to tolerate dialysis despite blood pressure support.

Hemoperfusion, an extracorporeal blood purification modality successfully removes inflammatory mediators, through adsorption to a sorbent material. The removal of pro-inflammatory cytokines results in cardiovascular stability and cell responsiveness. Blood pressure stabilizes, dialysis can be effectively performed and lung injury improves.

@jrsanjuan1573

USTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra has directed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to identify and investigate the people behind an audio clip spreading false news that the national government would implement a total lockdown and martial law to stem the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“I will ask NBI to investigate this phone clip on social media that seeks to agitate and alarm the public with a falsehood,” Guevarra said.

A parallel investigation is also being conducted by the Philippine National Police-Anti Cybercrime Group in connection with the release of the said audio clip, which government officials said contain false information.

In the voice clip, a woman’s voice would be heard warning people about a supposed total lockdown.

Government officials, includ-

Govt prescribes limits on use of RABTK in mass testing

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE government has imposed limitations on the use of rapid antibody-based test kits (RABTK) in its ongoing mass testing efforts for the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Citing the revised Interim Guidelines on Expanded Testing for the novel coronavirus disease, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said RABTK may be used only for asymptomatic non-health-care workers who have close contacts with confirmed Covid-19 cases.

He said only licensed medical doctors, who have the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), may request and administer RABTK. “For settings where resources permit and there is sufficient availability of rapid antibody-based testing kits and PPEs, testing maybe done twice. The first must be done at the time of isolation, but preferably at least five days from exposure, and another on the last day of quarantine,” Nograles said in an online news briefing on Monday.

In cases, where there is limited availability of RABTKs and PPEs, testing may be done once only, during the 14th day from contact

NKTI wins innovation tech award in multi-organ failure treatment

HE National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) was recently awarded by Healthcare Asia with the Service Innovation of the Year Award for 2020 for its entry “Hemoperfusion: An innovative adsorption technology for multi-organ failure.”

Healthcare Asia cited NKTI’s “excellence in the Asia Pacific health-care sector for hospitals and clinics that rise above challenges and recognizes initiatives that have made a tremendous positive impact to their patients and the health-care industry.”

These best practices among Asia’s premium health-care facilities serve as models of breakthrough practices in various fields of the health-care sector, a news statement read.

The honor bestowed upon NKTI was brought about by its innovative handling and treatment of leptospirosis, considered to be a scourge of urban centers like Metro Manila, notably during wet season with the combination of floods in rat-infested environments.

Such was the experience of the NKTI in 2018 and 2019 marked by the upsurge of patients admitted with severe leptospirosis accompanied by kidney failure, liver dysfunction and lung hemorrhage.

NKTI, a tertiary renal referral

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, April 21, 2020 A3

The use of hemoperfusion using the sepsis cartridge was used in 20 patients with leptospirosis with acute kidney injury and pulmonary hemorrhage. This is the first report of 20 cases.

This advance technology was performed in 20 leptospirosis patients with multi-organ failure requiring dialysis and ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, therapy. All patients were successfully dialyzed following hemoperfusion.

Inotropic support became unnecessary in all patients. The patients had an 80 percent survival and were discharged with complete recovery of renal and lung function.

Pulmonary hemorrhage usually results in 100 percent mortality.

However, with ECMO and hermofusion, only three patients died. Thus the combination of hermoperfusion and ECMO resulted in an effective innovative treatment in leptospirosis with multi-organ failure.

Hermoperfusion is now considered part of the NKTI’s protocol for multi-organ support for patients with severe sepsis due to leptospirosis, and because of this success, it can now be studied in other diseases with multi-organ failure.

This new technology will have a huge impact in saving more lives in devastating diseases.

with a confirmed case.

“All asymptomatic non-healthcare workers who are close contacts of confirmed cases need to complete 14 days of quarantine from the date of last contact with the confirmed case either at the temporary treatment and monitoring facility, or home quarantine, if and only if they have solo room and toilet regardless of rapid antibody-based test results,” Nograles said.

If there are no RABTK and PPEs available, patients can be released from quarantine after 14 days as long as the patient remains asymptomatic.

Confirmatory test

NOGRALES noted the RABTKs “shall not be used as standalone test to definitely diagnose, or rule out, Covid-19 infection because these must be used in conjunction with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR].”

“Testing of symptomatic patients who are close contacts of a known, or probable case, with rapid antibodybased test kits alone is not recommended,” Nograles said.

RT-PCR, which remains the “gold standard” for Covid testing, will be used mainly by the government for health-care workers, who are at the forefront of the government efforts

against Covid-19 and the most at risk of acquiring the pandemic sickness.

“All sub-national laboratories are directed to allocate between 20 to 30 percent of their daily testing capacity for health-care workers, and the remaining 70 to 80 percent for patients,” Nograles said.

He said other priorities to be tested using RT-PCR for patients with severe, or mild Covid-19, symptoms and has a history of travel abroad, or contact with confirmed Covidinfected patient.

President Duterte has ordered the purchase of 2 million RABTKs to help in the mass testing efforts of the government.

However, the move drew public criticisms since the results of the RABTKs is less reliable compared to RT-PCRs. The government is eyeing to prioritize the testing of 6,000 to 10,000 suspected Covid-19 carriers in Metro Manila, which is considered the epicenter of Covid-19 cases in the country before it decides if it will lift, or extend, the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon next week.

As of Sunday, Nograles said the government has already tested a total of 52,837 individuals for Covid-19.

Of the said figure, 6,259 tested positive for the disease.

Scientists and conservationists issue call for ‘culture of care’ ahead of Earth Day ceremony

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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DAY ahead of the global celebration of Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22, around 300 Filipino scientists and conservation leaders come together to call for a culture of care for nature amid the threat of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus from Wuhan, China.

“Make nature a priority,” they said in an open letter released ahead of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, where they also called on present and future leaders to put nature on top of the agenda as Philippine society adjusts to a “new normal” with the pandemic.

“The survival of humans depends on nature. When we create an imbalance in natural systems, the ability of nature to repair itself and take care of us is compromised,” the letter said.

“Long before the Covid-19 pandemic, the conversion of natural ecosystems, such as forests, mangrove forests, wetlands, seagrass beds, and coral reefs have resulted in many calamities. These have heavily

impacted the lives of Filipinos through widespread flooding, landslides, destruction of farmlands and fishing grounds, and loss of property and lives,” the letter read.

According to the signatories, the water shortages and droughts experienced in the Philippines due to extreme weather events is undoubtedly a result of changing climate.

“Destroying wild habitats and wildlife trade also increases ‘virus spillover risk’ from wildlife to humans, giving rise to deadly diseases such as Covid-19,” it explained.

In order to prevent future pandemics and other threats to the survival of the Filipino people, the signatories to the letter said the country’s leaders must address three interconnected emergencies, namely, biodiversity loss, climate change and ecological amnesia.

Government leaders, they, on the other hand, said, must “aggressively support the protection of remaining natural ecosystems and the restoration of destroyed ones, relentlessly enforce environmental laws and prosecute violators.”

ing Presidential spokesman Harry Roque and DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya, have debunked contents of the audio clip.

The government has yet to make a decision on whether to lift or extend the enhanced community quarantine being implemented in Luzon and some parts of the country.

The enhanced community quarantine was extended from April 15 until the end of the month.

The country has more than 6,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with more than 400 deaths.

Coast Guard tapped to assist repatriated OFWs from virus-hit countries at Naia

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

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BOUT a hundred Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel were deployed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to assist repatriated Filipino seafarers and land-based workers brought back by chartered flights from across the world.

PCG Task Group Commander Capt. Luisito Sibayan said they were ordered to report at Naia, in cooperation of other government agencies, to help maintain an orderly repatriation of overseas Filipinos.

Sibayan said the seafarers will be ferried to Pier 15 from the Naia for physical examination, after which, they would be escorted to their respective quarantine sites. “Their manning agencies coordinated with the Inter-Agency Task Force [IATF] to subject them for the 14-day quarantine,” he said.

Sibayan said they have been at the premier airport for the past week, escorting the seamen to their respective buses for the trip to Manila Harbor and to their quarantine sites.

Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) Public Affairs Office (PAO) head Connie Bungag said that big manning agencies have closely coordinated with the different government agencies, like the Department of Foreign Affairs, Customs, Immigration and Quarantine, the Philippine Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

Bungag said airport Manager Ed Monreal welcomed the development, while the Miaa vowed to find ways “to extend the helping hand as we are all in this together, fighting the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.”

Gas down by P0.55, diesel by P1.15 as oil firms rollback fuel pump prices

By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

IL firms will implement a price rollback starting Tuesday morning.

The price of gasoline products will go down by P0.55 per liter, diesel by P1.15 per liter and kerosene by P0.60 per liter.

The oil price rollback will take effect at 6 a.m. of April 21.

Seaoil Philippines, Petro Gazz, Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp., PTT Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum and Total Philippines announced the price reduction.

Last week, local pump prices increased after six consecutive weeks of price reduction.

This week’s price rollback reflects movements in the world oil market, they said.

A4 Tuesday, April 21, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

IPOPHL reports surge in IP piracy cases amid lockdown

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By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

HE government observed a surge in piracy cases, mostly illegal streaming and downloading of films, at the outset of the lockdown in March, as counterfeiters exploit the health crisis that is keeping people in their homes.

Data from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) showed that complaints on counterfeiting, including piracy, totaled at 21 in March alone. This figure already surpassed the 14 cases received by the agency for the whole of 2019.

Roughly 20 percent—four to be exact—of the intellectual property (IP) complaints lodged last month involved illegal streaming and downloading of movies, marking the first piracy cases of the year.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel

S. Barba said all have been reported to their rights holders and platforms, resulting in the takedown of three while one is pending resolution. He added that the IPOPHL has been proactive in informing the original creators to ensure the immediate removal of the pirated content.

Barba said “the findings are expected given that many are scrambling to find various sources of entertainment during the quarantine period,” which was implemented on March 17 and was later extended to April 30—that’s over one month that people are forced to stay at home.

Among all platforms, Facebook was the most infested with pirates, Barba disclosed. However, the social-media network was cooperative enough in quickly taking down violating posts.

With Barba as vice chairman, the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) is guarding against counterfeiting at the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

The IPOPHL chief said that counterfeiters are expected to take advantage of any catastrophe to advance illicit trade. He cited as example the complaint received by his office in January on the sale of suspected fake N95 masks at the wake of the Taal Volcano eruption.

“The gaping hole between supply and demand all over the world is also an easy entry point for counterfeiters. We saw this week that amid the continuing global mask shortage, mask maker 3M Co. filed its first Covid-related lawsuit for alleged trademark infringement, among others,” Barba said. “Like IP rights holders, various agencies

of the 12-member NCIPR have eyes wide open amid the crisis.”

Aside from masks and personal protective gears, pharmaceutical, hygiene, food and beverage products were flagged by the IPOPHL chief as likely to record a rise in counterfeiting cases due to the increase in the demand for these items.

Food, drinks, especially alcohol, and pharmaceuticals accounted for just about 2 percent of the NCIPR’s capture in 2019, and some 5 percent of its seizure in 2018. And while these numbers appear to be negligible, the effects of counterfeiting these products are harmful and could even be fatal.

Barba explained that counterfeit drugs and food and beverage products “can cause irreparable damage to health” given that they eluded quality and safety tests

from experts. In the ongoing crisis, contraband masks and personal protective gears could erase any gains that the country is making in combatting the spread of the coronavirus disease.

“Needless to say, counterfeit versions of these basic essentials cost lives,” he simplified.

As such, Barba asked consumers to inform the IPOPHL of any lead on counterfeit goods that they may encounter in online marketplaces and brick and mortar shops. Reports can be sent to the agency through e-mail at operations@ipophl.gov.ph.

Latest available data showed that the NCIPR confiscated P13.73 billion worth of counterfeits between January and July of last year, bulk of which was brought in by the National Bureau of Investigation at P9.32 billion.

UN agri devt body commits $40M DA and DTI team up to provide for virus-affected member-states ample food supply for Metro

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HE United Nations’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has committed at least $40 million to support farmers and communities among its member-states affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a news statement issued on Monday, IFAD said its new multidonor fund dubbed as the Covid-19 Rural Poor Stimulus Facility (RPSF) seeks to “mitigate the effects of the pandemic on food production, market access and rural employment.”

IFAD added that the RPSF will “ensure that farmers in the most vulnerable countries have timely access to inputs, information, markets and liquidity.”

On top of its own contribution, IFAD said it aims to raise at least $200 million more from member-states, foundations and the private sector.

“We need to act now to stop this health crisis transforming into a food crisis,” IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo said.

“The fallout from Covid-19 may push rural families even deeper into poverty, hunger and desperation, which is a real threat to global prosperity and stability. With immediate action, we can provide rural people with the tools to adapt and ensure a quicker recovery, averting an even bigger humanitarian crisis,” Houngbo added.

IFAD said a lot of small-scale farmers are unable to access markets to sell produce, or buy farm inputs due to movement restrictions imposed to contain the further spread of Covid-19.

IFAD noted that about 80 percent of the world’s poorest and most food insecure people live in rural areas.

“As entire production chains are disrupted and unemployment rises, the most vulnerable include daily laborers, small businesses and in-

DILG official to provincial officials: Don’t scrimp on BGP fund spending

By Samuel P. Medenilla

U

@sam_medenilla

SE it, or lose it.

This was the statement of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to some provincial government units who may be inclined to scrimp on spending the P6.1-billion Bayanihan Grant to Provinces (BGP) for measures to address the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

In an online news briefing on Monday, Interior and Local Government spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan E. Malaya explained unused BGP funds will have to be returned to the National Treasury after the state of national calamity due to the Covid-19 crisis is lifted.

“So the provincial [governments] should spend all of it for their Covid-19 relief to address all the needs in their provinces,” Malaya said.

The BGP is worth half of the one month of the Internal Revenue Allotment share of the 81 provinces nationwide for the current fiscal year.

Malaya said the fund could only be used for Covid-19-related interventions like purchase of personal protective equipment, rapid test kits and repair of hospitals.

It could not be used to pay for salaries, overtime pay, and hazard pay of government employees.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the BGP will be subject to existing government rules on procurement, budgeting, accounting and auditing rules and regulations to ensure it will be properly used.

Last week, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) already announced it released the BGP. Malaya said President Duterte has approved the BGP after several provincial government requested for additional support for their Covidrelated measures.

formal workers, who are very often women and young people. The return of workers from cities affected by lockdowns will put further strain on rural households, which will also stop receiving much-needed remittances,” it said.

IFAD said the RPSF aims to provide the following interventions to farmerbeneficiaries: providing inputs and basic assets for production; facilitating access to markets; targeting funds of rural financial services; and promoting the use of digital services.

IFAD added that supported country programs that are at risk of not achieving their development goals due to Covid-19 are eligible to receive funding from the RPSF with preference being given to countries with “low institutional and financial capacity” to respond to the pandemic.

IFAD said it eyes to expand the list of countries covered by the RPSF once sufficient funding becomes available.

Sugar in relief packs eases oversupply, decline in mill-gate price of sweetener

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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) has partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to intensify their respective programs of providing affordable and accessible food products to Filipinos affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) by establishing “mini” groceries.

In a news statement issued on Monday, Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said it welcomed Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez’s proposal to tie-up their Diskwento Caravan with the DA’s Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita Program.

Both programs establishes trading stalls, or posts in key areas to provide consumers with affordable and accessible food products.

“As in previous years, the DTI has been a strong ally and partner.

Hence, we more than welcome the suggestion of Secretary Lopez that we include discounted manufactured goods in the marketing of agri-fishery products in all Kadiwa

outlets and platforms,” Dar said.

“Hence, in the coming days, with the partnership the Kadiwa and Diskwento Caravan would be like a mini-grocery store but with more affordable goods,” he added.

The partnership is expected to benefit more families in Metro Manila affected by the ECQ since both programs have similar objectives.

Use jeepneys or tricycles

ECONOMIST Pablito M. Villegas urged Metro Manila local government units (LGUs) to tap idle jeepneys and tricycles as “mobile palengkes” to provide displaced drivers with income and, at the same time, help farmers to have an assured market during the ECQ. Villegas, a former United Nations’s food security and value chain consultant, said utilizing jeepneys and tricycles is a winwin situation for LGUs, farmers, drivers and consumers.

First, tapping them as service

Transparency and integrity at Covid-19 time

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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said the inclusion of refined sugar in relief packs being distributed by local government units (LGUs) would ease the high supply of the sweetener and arrest the decline in mill-gate prices.

In a news statement, the DA said it welcomed the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on the inclusion of refined sugar in relief packs, which was its proposal to hike demand for local sugar.

“Through this, we can ease the pressure brought about by the high supply of the sweetener,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said.

Dar noted that ensuring a stable market for local sugar would not only benefit consumers but also sugarcane farmers, who are harvesting their crops for the current milling season.

DA said there has been a 30-percent to 40-percent decline in sugar demand from food manufacturers and other institutional buyers as a result of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), which forced certain food establishments to temporarily shut down.

The closure of these buyers, according to industry sources, has led to oversupply of sugar, hence, drop in mill-gate prices.

“With the IATF approval, we are hopeful to offset the slowdown in demand for sugar during the quarantine period,” Dar said.

As of April 12 the DA said the country has sufficient sugar supply stored in traders’ warehouses in Luzon with a total raw sugar stock balance of 1.793 million 50-kilogram bags and refined sugar stockpile of 2.2 million LKg. In early April, Sugar Regulatory Administration (SR A) board members Emilio Yulo and Roland Beltran f lagged the abnormal drop in sugar prices with an observed decline of as much as P200 per LKg.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

providers to bring farm produce closer to consumers would decentralize public markets, particularly bagsakan or trading centers, hence, lessening foot print in these areas which could help in preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Such partnership would also give tricycle and jeepney drivers with an income during the ECQ period when mass transportation has been paralyzed for more than a month now, he explained.

For example, the LGU of Manila could tap jeepneys to sell farm produce from Divisoria, which is Manila’s bagsakan center, to barangays.

“This should be under the direction of LGUs, DTI or DA by subsidizing them. Say, providing them gasoline subsidy and extra allowance or pay for the day,” Villegas told the BusinessMirror.

“We have to decentralize distribution of goods [as a way to control Covid-19 spread and help farmers],” he added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

By Henry J. Schumacher

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HILE we are all waiting for decisive steps into a more normal future, I have a strong feeling that in the process to achieve this, transparency, ethics and integrity have flown out of the window.

There is a clear need to get face masks, test kits and much-needed medical equipment into the country, for health-care institutions, for government activities and for the private sector getting ready to restart business.

There is plenty news about donations of that from many countries and from private companies.

Allegedly, government has placed orders and has plenty of money to buy the stuff, but is there any information what has arrived, where did it go, what is on the way, how much is still needed? Who is planning

all this and manages the supply chain and fair distribution?

Antibodies testing is good, but where do we get the equipment? Japanese medicine testing in the Philippines—when? Under what rules?

Back to basics! There are two realistic paths to achieving a more normal life: One is “population-level immunity.” Two types of tests matter here: one that detects the presence of the virus itself, and one that detects the antibodies that people develop when they’re immune to it.

The other is the development of a vaccine. Pharma companies are coming up with vaccines (there are at least 21 companies in the world working on coronavirus treatments, or vaccines). A vaccine for Covid-19 may be available by September, according to Oxford University scientists who are developing the vaccine.

A report in The Times of Israel said the scientists are expected to commence human trials next week for a coronavirus vaccine. A total of 510 people between the ages of 18 and 55 have been recruited to take part in the trial.

And when the vaccine or other treatment is available, normal life will resume, but not immediately. The logistics of vaccinating hundreds of millions, probably billions of people is no mean feat. And assuming that the vaccine doesn’t all arrive in one big batch, some sort of system would need to be in place for determining who gets the first doses: the people most vulnerable to the disease? Health-care workers? Or political and private VIPs? In conclusion, the economy that wants to get going again needs predictability, and the predictability has to be based on transparency, ethics and integrity.

Additionally, the new beginning in the Philippines must work on its first attempt: A renewed shutdown would have unforeseeable consequences for the country. Proper planning and then decisive implementation are essential. At the moment, only outlines can be seen from a plan how to restart the economy. We need to see a concrete plan.

I am interested in your feedback; contact me at Schumacher@eitsc.com.

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

The World

Oil slumps to 21-year low with storage filling as demand drops

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il extended its slide, falling to the lowest in more than two decades, on concern the world is rapidly running out of places to store crude after output cuts proved insufficient to cope with plunging demand.

Futures in New York fell 15 percent to less than $16 a barrel after losing almost a fifth of their value last week as the deal by Opec+ and other producers failed to counter the demand hit from a crippled global economy. The current May contract expires on Tuesday, however, with the more active June futures falling by around a third as much on more than five times as much trading volume. Global benchmark Brent crude was only down around 1 percent.

Near-term prices for West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, are trading at huge discounts to later-dated contracts on concern the storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, will fill to capacity. That has seen prices disconnect from Brent futures in London. Buyers in Texas are offering as little as $2 a barrel for some oil streams, raising the possibility that American producers may soon have to pay customers to take crude off their hands.

The 9.7 million barrels a day of production cuts agreed by Opec+ are paling in comparison against this backdrop. China reported its first economic contraction in decades on Friday, an indicator of what’s to come in Europe and North America, which have yet to emerge from coronavirus-driven lockdowns. There were some

signs of optimism, however, as death rates eased in New York and some of the hardest-hit European countries.

“The current prices show that the Opec+ cuts proved to be a blip, with oil prices at the mercy of the virus once again,” said Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights in Singapore. “Until we approach a lifting of the lockdowns in the US, oil may drift lower or remain range bound around current levels.”

WTI for May delivery fell 15 percent to $15.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 10:25 a.m. in Singapore after plummeting 20 percent last week.

It dropped to as low as $14.47, the weakest since March 1999. The June contact declined 5.4 percent to $23.69.

Brent for June delivery fell 0.9 percent to $27.83 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange after losing 10.8 percent last week.

It traded at a $4.11 premium to WTI for the same month.

Concern continues to mount that storage facilities in the US will run out of capacity, with stockpiles at Cushing rising almost 50 percent since the start of March, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said in a note. “We hold some hope for a recovery later this year.”

The price collapse is reverberating across the oil industry. Crude explorers shut down 13 percent of the US drilling fleet last week as the swelling worldwide glut of crude spurred drastic cost-cutting and project cancellations among drillers. Bloomberg News

16 killed in shooting rampage, deadliest in Canadian history

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ORONTO—A gunman disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires in a rampage across the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that killed 16 people, the deadliest such attack in the country’s history. Officials said on Sunday the suspected shooter was also dead.

A police officer was among those killed.

Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Halifax what police called the first scene. Bodies were also found at other locations. The assault began late Saturday, and authorities believe the shooter may have targeted his first victims but then began attacking randomly.

Overnight, police began advising residents of the town—already on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic—to lock their doors and stay in their basements. Several homes in the area were set on fire as well.

Police identified the man believed to be the shooter as Gabriel Wortman, 51, who was thought to live part-time in Portapique.

Authorities said he wore a police uniform at one point and made his car look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser.

Police first announced that they had arrested Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, outside Halifax, but later said he had died. It was not clear how, and they did not explain further.

“This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province’s history,” said Nova

Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil.

RCMP spokesman Daniel Brien confirmed that 16 people had been killed in addition to the suspect. The dead officer was identified as Constable Heidi Stevenson, a mother of two and a 23-year veteran of the force. Another officer was also injured.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada.

The country overhauled its gun-control laws after gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college in 1989. Before this weekend’s rampage, that had been the country’s worst.

It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.

“As a country, in moments like these, we come together to support one another. Together we will mourn with the families of the victims, and help them get through this difficult time,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a written news release.

While they believe the attack did not begin as random, police did not say what the initial motive was. RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said many of the victims did not know the shooter.

“That fact that this individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being a random act,” Leather said. He added that police believe he acted alone. AP

Japan’s exports sink in March as pandemic hits major markets

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OKYO—Japan’s exports sank 11.7 percent in March as the coronavirus pandemic slammed auto shipments to the US. The Finance Ministry said on Monday that exports to the US fell 16.5 percent in March from a year earlier, while those to China declined 8.7 percent.

Trade has slowed precipitously recently due to travel restrictions and shutdowns aimed at curbing the outbreak of the coronavirus. The outlook is grim, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting the world economy is heading into its worst slowdown since the 1930s’ Great Depression.

Japan’s overall impor ts in March also suffered, sinking 5.0 percent, according to the provisional figures that aren’t seasonally adjusted.

The economy of China, Japan’s major trading

partner, is undergoing its worst contraction, at least since the 1960s, according to Beijing.

Japan’s overall impor ts in March also suffered, sinking 5.0 percent.

The government has requested a stop to nonessential travel and urged many businesses to close nationwide in an effort to stem the spread of the virus that causes Covid-19.

Deaths from the coronavirus total about 250 people in Japan, according to Johns Hopkins University. But cases have been surging lately, mostly in Tokyo and other urban areas.

The sickness is critical in a minority of the cases, but people can also be infected for days until symptoms appear, or have no symptoms at all. That has contributed to people unwittingly spreading the virus, for which there is not yet any vaccine or cure. AP

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

A5

Reports suggest many have had coronavirus with no symptoms

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flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared.

While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious. That complicates decisions about returning to work, school and normal life.

In the last week, reports of silent infections have come from a homeless shelter in Boston, a US Navy aircraft carrier, pregnant women at a New York hospital, several European countries and California.

The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 25 percent of infected people might not have symptoms. The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. John Hyten, thinks it may be as high as 60 percent to 70 percent among military personnel.

None of these numbers can be fully trusted because they’re based on flawed and inadequate testing, said Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard’s School of Public Health.

Collectively, though, they suggest “we have just been off the mark by huge, huge numbers” for estimating total infections, he said.

Worldwide, more than 2.3 million infections and more than 160,000 deaths have been confirmed. The virus has caused nearly unprecedented economic and

social harm since its existence was reported in early January.

Stealth cases

Based on known cases, health officials have said the virus usually causes mild or moderate flu-like illness. Now evidence is growing that a substantial number of people may have no symptoms at all.

Scientists in Iceland screened 6 percent of its population to see how many had previously undetected infections and found that about 0.7 percent tested positive. So did 13 percent of a group at higher risk because of recent travel or exposure to someone sick.

Aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, where one crewmember died from the virus, “the rough numbers are that 40 percent are symptomatic,” said Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, deputy commander of naval operations.

The ratio may change if more develop symptoms later, he warned.

In New York, a hospital tested all pregnant women coming in to deliver over a two-week period.

Nearly 14 percent of those who arrived with no symptoms of coronavirus turned out to have it. Of the 33 positive cases, 29 had no symptoms when tested, although some developed them later.

Previously, tests on passengers and crew from the Diamond Princess cruise ship found nearly half who tested positive had no symptoms at the time. Researchers estimate that 18 percent of infected people never developed any.

Flawed methods

These studies used tests that look for bits of the virus from throat and nose swabs, which can miss cases. Someone can test negative one day if there’s not much virus to detect and then positive the next.

Symptoms also may not appear when someone is tested but turn up later. One Japanese study found more than half of those who had no symptoms when they tested positive later felt sick.

Better answers may come from newer tests that check blood for antibodies, substances the immune system makes to fight the virus. But the accuracy of these, too, is still to be determined.

On Friday, researchers reported results from antibody tests on 3,300 people in California’s Santa Clara county: Between 1.5 percent and 2.8 percent have been infected, they claimed. That would mean 48,000 to 81,000 cases in the county — more than 50 times the number that have been confirmed.

The work has not been formally published or rev iewed, but some scientists were quick to question it. Participants were recruited through Facebook ads, which would attract many people likely to be positive who have had symptoms and want to know if the coronavirus was the reason. Some neighborhoods also had way more participants than others, and “hot spots” within the county might

have made infections seem more common than they are elsewhere.

Ships, maternity wards and single counties also don’t provide data that can be used to generalize about what’s happening elsewhere.

And many of the figures have come from snapshots, not research on wide populations over time.

Next steps

Antibody testing in particular needs to be done “in an unbiased approach” on groups of people that are representative of the geographic, social, racial and other conditions, Mina said.

The CDC and other groups plan such studies, and they could guide public health advice on returning to normal life for people in certain areas.

If infections are more widespread than previously understood, it’s possible that more people have developed some level of immunity to the virus. That could stifle the spread through what’s called herd immunity, but scientists caution that there is still much to learn about whether mild illnesses confer immunity and how long it might last.

It will probably be months before enough reliable testing has been done to answer those questions and others, including how widespread infections have been and the virus’s true mortality rate, which has only been estimated so far.

“If they’ve all seen the virus before, then maybe you can relax in that neighborhood” and ease social distancing, Mina said. “We’re not anywhere close where we need to be” on antibody testing to do that yet, he said. AP

Australia to make Google, Facebook pay for news content

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Pope Francis presides over a Mass in the Santo Spirito in Sassia church, in Rome, on Sunday, April 19. Vatican News via AP

Pope Francis dreams of post-virus world where inequalities abolished

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OME—Pope Francis is urging the faithful to use the coronavirus pandemic’s “time of trial” to prepare for a future where inequalities are abolished and the poorest are no longer left behind.

“This is not some ideology,” Francis said.

“It is Christianity.”

Francis traveled a few blocks outside the Vatican walls on Sunday to celebrate Mass at a nearby church to mark a special feast day dedicated to mercy. Only a few priests were in the pews given Italy’s strict virus lockdown.

In his homily, Francis said the grave, global toll of the pandemic has reminded the world that there are no borders between those who suffer, no differences in nationalities among those who are struck or spared.

“We are all frail, all equal, all precious,” he said.

“May we be profoundly shaken by what is happening all around us,” he said from the altar of the Santo Spirito church. “The time has come to eliminate inequalities, to heal the injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family!”

While people infected with the coronavirus often experience mild or moderate symptoms, possible complications like pneumonia can put their lives at risk.

Francis has been using his daily livestreamed Masses in the Vatican hotel where he lives to single out a particular group of people for prayers during the pandemic: the elderly, doctors and nurses, prisoners and those with disabilities.

On Sunday, he delivered a broader message about inequality and the need for a post-virus

world to rethink its priorities. It’s a theme that echoes the pre-pandemic preaching of the world’s first Latin American pope, who has constantly demanded greater solidarity among rich and poor.

In recent days, Francis has proposed the creation of a universal basic wage to help those who have lost their jobs as a result of the virus economic shutdown to survive. On Sunday, he said there is a grave risk that while Covid-19 might eventually be tamed, the virus of “selfishness indifference” could take its place.

To combat that risk, he said: “Let us welcome this time of trial as an opportunity to prepare for our collective future. Because without an all-embracing vision, there will be no future for anyone.” AP

ANBERRA, Australia—Global digital platforms Google and Facebook will be forced to pay for news content in Australia, the government said on Monday as the coronavirus pandemic causes a collapse in advertising revenue.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would release in late July draft rules for the platforms to pay fair compensation for the journalistic content siphoned from news media.

Frydenberg said he believed that Australia could succeed where other countries, including France and Spain, had failed in making Google and Facebook pay.

“We’re very conscious of the challenges and complexity of ensuring a mandatory code.

Many other countries have tried it without much success,” Frydenberg told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “We think we can be world-leading.”

“We do want the rules of the digital world to reflect as much as possible the rules of the physical world,” he added.

The ACCC had attempted to negotiate a voluntary code by which the global giants would agree to pay traditional media for their content.

But the parties couldn’t agree on “this key issue of payment for content,” Frydenberg said.

But Google and Facebook said they had been working to the ACCC November deadline to negotiate a voluntary code.

“We’re disappointed by the government’s announcement, especially as we’ve worked hard to meet their agreed deadline,” Facebook Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand Will Easton said in a statement.

“Covid-19 has impacted every business and industry across the country, including publishers, which is why we announced a new, global investment to support news organizations at a time when advertising revenue is declining,” he added, referring to a $100 million investment in the news industry announced in March.

Google said it had engaged with more than 25 Australian publishers to get their input on a voluntary code.

“We have sought to work constructively with industry, the ACCC and government to develop a code of conduct, and we will continue to do so in the revised process set out by the government today,” a Google statement said. AP

A6 Tuesday, April 21, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

No need for liquor ban

O

ne of the highly contentious issues since the implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) throughout Luzon is the ban on the sale and consumption of liquor, which is being enforced by local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, and other cities and provinces outside Luzon.

President Duterte did not order a nationwide liquor ban. Proclamation 929, which ordered the ECQ and declared the whole Philippines under a State of Calamity for a period of six months, enforces strict home quarantine, suspends public transportation, regulates food and essential health services, and heightens the presence of uniformed personnel to enforce quarantine procedures.

Several LGUs, however, enforced liquor ban, probably thinking that drinking would be a hindrance to the enforcement of the ECQ. The Department of the Interior and Local Government, in its memorandum to LGUs, “strictly enjoined” them not to overextend the implementation of the ECQ, beyond what the President ordered.

Manila, for instance, was one of the first cities to enforce a liquor ban. Mayor Isko Moreno said he decided to enforce it because some residents were not following the government’s rules banning mass gatherings. He said some people were still drinking together in the streets, having parties and doing karaoke.

The police should have apprehended the violators. The behavior of a few disobedient residents failing to comply with the ECQ does not justify a total ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in the entire city.

Even before the ECQ was enforced, most LGUs already have ordinances banning the drinking of alcohol in public places. If restrictions on the sale and consumption of liquor were based on other reasons, say, alcohol intoxication leads to abusive and violent behavior at home, or it could lead to medical emergencies that would further strain hospital resources, then that’s another matter. But why penalize 99 percent of your constituents that are complying with the ECQ for the fault of the 1 percent disobedient residents?

This does not mean that LGUs cannot enforce their own rules amid the ECQ. But there should be sufficient reasons for the enforcement of strict rules and sanctions to avoid arbitrary exercise of powers. There should be no “overextension” of the President’s order.

Some companies said local liquor bans will ruin their businesses and are begging the executive department to intervene. In a letter addressed to Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, the Center for Alcohol Research and Development Foundation Inc. said: “If this ban continues, the industry can no longer survive, a situation that can affect a large sector of the community.”

Some of CARD’s members are Absolut Distillers, Emperador Distillers, Ginebra San Miguel, Far East Alcohol, and Asian Alcohol, companies that are also helping the country contain the coronavirus through their donations and other CSR activities.

“We plead that you take into consideration the plight of our workers and the benefit that our industry provides to our nation’s economy,” CARD said. “We are pleading to let us thrive as a business, by allowing our products to exist in the market, with the same freedom of trade given to other goods and products.”

“We are a legitimate business enterprise and banning the existence of our products in the market will only proliferate the existence of bootleggers who would take advantage of the prohibition by selling alcohol of inferior quality and standards, or of illegal drugs in place of our alcoholic beverages, further endangering the lives and health of the public,” the letter said. “There is no need to further restrict the flow of alcoholic beverages, as the buying freedom of the people is already constrained by the quarantine.”

While many small sari-sari stores would certainly benefit from the lifting of local liquor bans, we are against completely ceasing alcohol consumption for very practical reasons.

At a time when a further extension of the ECQ is being considered beyond April 30, government authorities should also acknowledge that moderate drinking can help a lot of Filipinos cope with the stress and anxiety caused by isolation and home quarantine. If having a beer or two, or a glass of wine or two, can give citizens a much needed dose of temporary euphoria or happiness, if it can help lighten the heavy emotional burdens of the ECQ and social distancing, then why deprive them the pleasure of enjoying their favorite drink?

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Manny B. Villar

THE Entrepreneur

D

octors, nurses and other health workers are in the frontline of the battle against Covid-19. So are Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno, who are making sure the Philippine economy is intact and ready to roll once the pandemic is effectively contained.

The latest 50-basis point cut in the benchmark interest rate by the BSP and Dominguez’s word that the government has enough funds to bankroll an extended enhanced community quarantine in Luzon even beyond April 30 are reassuring to the public and the whole business community.

Against the current situation where there is anxiety and fear over Covid-19, our economic managers are putting a resolute front. They give a clear impression that they are in command of their job, which is what the public and the business community want to see from their public servants.

President Duterte, like many leaders in the world, is facing the gargantuan task of keeping the population healthy and the general economy functioning at the same time. Gradually re-opening the Philippine economy after the Luzonwide lockdown is lifted, as espoused by some in the Inter-Agency Task

Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases, is plausible as long as the business environment is conducive to our merchants, small entrepreneurs and our businessmen.

I believe Gov. Diokno’s decision and that of the Monetary Board to lower the interest rate by another 50 basis points to 2.75 percent to support the economy is in the right direction and a good preparatory move to restart the economy.

The rate cuts this year, according to Gov. Diokno, were designed “to make borrowing money cheaper, to ensure the public and private sector will have no problem financing the fight to contain Covid-19, as well as all other basic needs during the health crisis.”

This is the first time in more than 11 years that BSP reduced the benchmark interest rates by a total of 100 bps in two successive Monetary Board meetings. The first happened on December 18, 2008 during the global financial crisis.

A game changer

Gradually reopening the Philippine economy after the Luzon-wide lockdown is lifted, as espoused by some members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, is plausible as long as the business environment is conducive to our merchants, small entrepreneurs and our businessmen.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Leachon, special medical adviser to the IATF, offered an interesting insight about “a rolling restarting of the economy” after the end of April when the extended quarantine ends, depending on certain key metrics.

Leachon, in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel, said the task force is discussing the possible courses of action to be taken after April 30, including another 15-day extension or pushing through with the lifting of the lockdown.

“The recommendation for a win-win situation—because we think the economy will not endure so much from this extension—is for a rolling or a localized opening of the economy, but based on two metrics,” Leachon said. He referred to the epidemiological and healthcare capacity of the Philippines, or each town or province, to continue caring for the sick and restrain the pandemic after the lockdown period.

Dominguez shares the same pragmatic approach. He guaranteed

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The two game changers from Covid-19 that I have written about before are that the world will no longer put all of its eggs in one supply chain basket like they did with China. The second is that nations will be forced to become more self-sufficient. For example, the Philippines can no longer have as much dependence on overseas workers.

We can say that “The Protestant Reformation” as well as the American Revolution were game changers. The movable type printing press might be the most important invention of the last 2,000 years. Of course, my vote for the greatest invention is “valet parking,” but that’s just me.

The Soviet Union launched the first artificial Earth satellite in 1957, and a human walked on the moon 12 years later. There are hundreds of stories like this in human history, but again, as

population left the kings and nobles with all the feudal lands they held before but without serfs and slaves to till the fields. The economy became a “seller’s market” for labor.

No longer could the Lord of the Manor send out his boys to round up the peasants to work his lands.

Both the “boys” and the peasants were dead. Workers were in short supply, and the law of supply and demand kicked in. The “capitalists” had to actually pay wages for the first time in the agricultural sector. And there was wage competition for the newly minted “farm employees.”

An analyst puts it this way:

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Senior Editors

Creative Director Chief Photographer

Dominguez, Diokno are in good command

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

egardless of the latest rant about “who did what”—either rational or ridiculous—about the Covid-19 pandemic, certain global events change the future like no one expected.

This is not about an occasion like the first test of a nuclear weapon.

A situation like that is just one step on a long path—and there are many of those. No major war started with a single incident, no matter how we wish to reduce the circumstances to a single sentence. from the first vacuum tube to the super computer, these are all journeys on a long road.

There are events that change the course of human history and are not part of a long road. The “Black Death” or Bubonic Plague of the mid 1300s completely changed the global economy in a few years.

The 100 million deaths in Europe, Eurasia, and North Africa destroyed feudalism and built the foundation of capitalism. The death of 30 percent to 60 percent of Europe’s

enough funds are available if the government decides again to extend the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon beyond April 30. The government, according to him, had prepared the funds until the end of May. “I am not saying that we will extend it [ECQ] beyond April 30, but our plan has been really to fund our requirements to beat this Covid-19 from April to May,” he said.

Mr. Dominguez has cautioned against a hasty reopening of the economy. The government knows the potential risks of opening or restarting the economy. “Should we expect additional infections? Will these infections overwhelm our hospitals? Will there be additional deaths? That is why we have to be very careful when we evaluate how and when we are going to open up our economy,” he said.

Against all these headwinds, our finance chief has remained optimistic on the economy. He sees the Philippines in a very good position to confront the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dominguez also said the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program would remain a focus of the government to pump-prime the economy amid the setbacks posed by the pandemic.

With timely assurances and moves from our finance chief and the BSP governor, I think the Philippine economy is in good hands.

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

“Wages rose and society had more money to spend on consumer goods.

With fewer people, the agricultural economy could focus on livestock or specialty crops like hops or sugarcane instead of grain. More people were drawn into the market economy and trade networks grew wider and deeper.”

It took about 75 years and technology improvements like the lateen sail to begin the Age of Exploration/ Colonization to bring back the feudal system, at least outside of the “civilized world.”

On December 31, 2019—a lifetime ago—the British Daily Mail newspaper published an article titled “World changing events that are likely to happen in the next 10 years.” Oddly, none of the experts who now have perfect hindsight published anything about “World changing events that are likely to happen in the next 10 weeks.”

The two game changers from Covid-19 that I have written about before are that the world will no longer put all of its eggs in one supply chain basket like they did with China. The second is that nations will be forced See “Mangun,” A7

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Disruption in cross-border assignments: Tax impact

The ECQ has made our atmosphere less polluted Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

Fulvio D. Dawilan

Tax Law for Business

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ross-border transactions are not spared from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions and quarantine measures undertaken in almost all jurisdictions have heavily impacted cross-border assignments and projects.

Constraints in movements between jurisdictions and the unexpected repatriations of foreign nationals back to their home countries suddenly resulted in the disruption in their usual work arrangements. Employees find themselves out of work or physically working outside their usual place of business.

This disruption in cross-border assignments raises several taxrelated issues for the cross-border workers and for their employers or principals as well as to their clients/ customers. This apprehension is valid as this would affect the concerned countries’ right to impose tax, both on the employees or agents and on their employers or principals.

On the application of tax treaties, an issue springs from the possible unintended creation of a permanent establishment. A PE is a concept in tax treaties where a person, who is a resident of one State, may be considered as carrying on business in another State, giving the latter the right to tax that person—a right that is not present in the absence of a PE. A number of instances are enumerated in tax treaties, which may lead in the creation of PE, some of which are dictated by the length of presence or duration of project in a host State.

A number of discussions had already been made on this issue, such as whether a home used as an office by a stranded employee may result to a PE. I will not deal further on those, and instead limit my discussion on the PE impact of a prolonged presence in the Philippines of a foreign entity through its stranded employees/ agents and the extension of project timelines due to the travel restrictions and implementation of quarantine procedures. The other ramifications will be discussed in future issues in this column, including the impact on the concerned individuals.

In most of the existing tax treaties, which the Philippines has with other countries, the furnishing of services in the Philippines by an entity which is a resident of a treaty country for a period or periods aggregating more than 183 days results in the creation of a PE (service PE) in the country. The question is—will the employee create a taxable presence in the country with the unintended extension of stay due to the travel bans, either locally or in his home country?

Our tax authority had, in the past, in evaluating whether this 183-day period is breached, often referred to the number of days of actual physical presence of representatives in the Philippines. In fact, one of the requirements in applying for the benefit (tax treaty relief) under a treaty is for the foreign provider of service or income recipient to present copy of the passport of its concerned employees or representatives. If based on the passport, the actual stay in the Philippines exceeded the 183-day threshold, the tax treaty relief is denied. In essence, our tax authority assesses the existence or non-existence of a PE by counting the number of days in the Philippines, regardless of whether or not they all refer to the furnishing of services. On this basis, a forced extension of stay may result in the creation of a PE.

Mangun. . .

Continued from A6

to become more self-sufficient. For example, the Philippines can no longer have as much dependence on overseas workers.

Remember when we realized “number coding” would last forever?

The question then is—would a project that would have been completed in five months but extended to seven months due to the implementation of a lockdown result in the creation of a PE? That would be the effect.

On the other hand, would a PE cease to exist due to work interruptions? The answer is no.

Another instance that may lead to the creation of PE, which is a fact of time, is the presence of a building site or construction or assembly project or installation project and related supervisory activities, where such site, project or activity continues for a period of more than 183 days (construction site PE). The duration of the project is the element that determines the presence or absence of a PE. Our tax authority had often cited the Commentaries on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is Model Tax Convention that a site should not be regarded as ceasing to exist when work is temporarily discontinued. Seasonal or other temporary interruptions should be included in determining the life of a site. Interruptions are therefore included in determining whether the 183-day period is breached.

The question then is—would a project that would have been completed in five months but extended to seven months due to the implementation of a lockdown result in the creation of a PE? That would be the effect. On the other hand, would a PE cease to exist due to work interruptions? The answer is no.

Having said that, the situation is unprecedented. The extensions and interruptions are not due to the requirements of the business. It is due to the pandemic that governments are forced to implement restrictions and businesses are required to follow.

Some countries have in fact issued guidelines in the application of tax treaties, essentially disregarding the effects of the changes in business activities brought about by the pandemic. While our tax authority had not issued one, we hope that it will be more tolerant in the determination of the presence or absence of a PE, vis a vis the changes in business arrangements, if such changes are the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The author is a partner of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices (BDB Law), a member-firm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at fulvio.dawilan@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 8403-2001 loc 310.

We made sure our cars did not have the same last digit license plate numbers. What changes will we all personally make going forward?

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

Tuesday, April 21, 2020 A7

A

mid the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic, a greater tragedy wreaks the political life of the Americans. Nothing is more divisive than the politicization of the coronavirus at a time when what the US needs is unity and cohesion. Lately, instead of issuing inspiring words that will galvanize America, President Donald J. Trump has been releasing incendiary messages urging his supporters across the country to defy the current orders to stay home.

His call for open revolt against the Governors of Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, who all belong to the Democratic Party and strong advocates of stay-at-home order, is nothing but a cheap political stunt designed to rally his followers to support his reelection bid. His ill motive is unmistakable when he also threw in the issue of gun rights—a question that never fails to inspire voters. “Save your great 2nd Amendment, it is under siege,” Trumps intoned.

This is reminiscent of the 2016 election where he adopted a politics of fear when Hillary Clinton was leading him in the polls by warning that a Clinton presidency will appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn the Second Amendment. Trump brazenly displays his sinister design that he won’t stop at nothing to get reelected even at the cost of tens of thousands of lives of his countrymen who will be unduly exposed to risks if preventive measures such as lockdown and social distancing are

untimely lifted. It undercuts the effectiveness of the mitigation measures. His calls, if heeded, will encourage massive protests, which can only spread the virus. “Liberate Michigan!” Liberate Minnesota!” Liberate Virginia!” But not in pro-lockdown states where the governor is a fellow Republican. It’s the height of political partisanship the likes of which has never been seen in America. He should not light a fire that will trigger a conflagration that he cannot stop.

His call for revolt against states ruled by his political enemies at this precarious time when people confront serious health risk, unemployment and hunger may spew unrest among the masses.

This is clearly a scheme to gain partisan support and create a surge to his flagging campaign adversely affected by the lockdown. The massive loss of jobs and closure of business establishments will gravely affect the US economy and adversely imperil his chances for reelection.

There should be no room for poli-

The banning of vehicles on the road and the shutdown of manufacturing plants that emit pollutants on the air has tremendously improved the air quality. A dreaded virus has delivered what the climate authorities and activists have failed to achieve in decades.

tics in the fight against Covid-19. He should not blame it on Obama and the Democrats. He should not heap the blame on China and the World Health Organization. Changing the narrative to suit his political agenda is a ploy of a demagogue. nnn

It’s a blessing that this pandemic did not happen in an election year in the Philippines, unlike in the US. Can you imagine the circus and the hullabaloo that will accompany every relief effort in the so-called name of public service?

Every elective official grandstanding to project himself as pro-poor and champion of the frontliners.

Elective officials grabbing credit for legislative measures or executive actions to prevent the spread of the virus and protect the population from its ill effects.

The financial aid will be on checks with the official’s name printed on it; or the relief goods packed in bags with the names of the government official seeking reelection or running for another public office. Distribution of the dole-outs, cash or in kind, will go to their political supporters.

The public will be swamped with fake

news to favor or destroy candidates by projecting them as heroes or heel in our fight against Covid-19.

Thank God it’s not 2022 lest we perish not from Covid-19 but from the wrath of the more lethal political virus. nnn

A Pasay City resident captured in his camera a clear view of the imposing windmills in Pililla, Rizal, some 50 kilometers away from his house.

He took the photos from a rooftop and uploaded them to his friends and the media. About a week ago, the pink moon was more visible to the naked eye. Some people even claimed that nowadays, one can view the Milky Way. This must be the season to visit Iceland or the northern tip of Canada to look at the Aurora Borealis.

The ECQ has made our atmosphere less polluted by smog and other pollutants. The banning of vehicles on the road and the shutdown of manufacturing plants that emit pollutants on the air has tremendously improved the air quality. A dreaded virus has delivered what the climate authorities and activists have failed to achieve in decades. Now, everything is becoming more visible.

Husbands who get home late should be wary when their wives stand on their rooftop. nnn

Today marks the 94th birthday anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. Happy Birthday, Your Royal Highness. Please do not invite Prime Minister Boris Johnson in case you plan to hold a birthday bash in Buckingham Palace.

This crisis shouldn’t end like the last one Mohamed A. El-Erian

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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ust a few weeks into the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s most powerful central banks have found themselves shoved violently back into crisis-management mode. How they emerge from this latest emergency—and how it affects their political autonomy, mandates and credibility—is less a function of what they do and more of what happens around them.

After a golden age in which central banks were feted for vanquishing inflation, and sometimes even for taming the vagaries of the business cycle, they found their reputations tarnished by the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed. An aggressive “whatever it takes” policy helped them to eventually win that war. But the prolonged and excessive reliance on them that followed—a result of the failure of most advanced countries to pivot to a more comprehensive policy response—failed to secure the peace.

In this latest crisis, which is likely to be a generation-defining one, central banks have now gone “all in,” deploying emergency interventions in record time that have already exceeded the steps they took during the financial crisis and its aftermath.

What they’ve done is truly stunning.

It has included flooring interest rates, embarking on massive securities-buying programs, reopening emergency financing windows and creating new ones.

The magnitude of this response is likewise unprecedented. The Federal Reserve has now expanded its balance sheet beyond $6 trillion, an increase of almost $2 trillion in less than a month. It has taken extraordinary steps to lift regulations to help banks play their part in the relief effort. It’s also still working closely with the US Treasury—and, in the process, venturing into areas that were once deemed verboten, both for the risks involved and the potential for serious mission drift.

As the old saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. And as wel-

come as these aggressive new interventions have been in containing already severe economic damage, there’s no denying the costs and risks that come with them. These are not just economic and financial risks, but institutional and political as well.

Consider the following: n By taking on its balance sheet more exposure to different segments of the economy, both directly and in partnership with the Treasury, the Fed is exposing itself to risks that go well beyond what it can influence directly. This includes the extreme credit risk that comes from defaults and bankruptcies. n By rushing in with “massive bazookas” to support markets, central banks may again inadvertently contribute to investor behaviors that have consistently decoupled asset valuations from underlying fundamentals. Already, the stock market has soared in response to the Fed’s enhanced activism. The result is continued under-appreciation of liquidity risks, deeper unhealthy codependency between central banks and markets — and, with that, an increased risk of financial instability down the road. n Being forced into crisis-management mode, and making so many decisions amid the “fog of war,” means not just that the chance of central banks making mistakes is inherently high but also that the likelihood of Monday-morning quarterbacking is considerable. n By attracting so much attention to the trillions of dollars that it is deploying to avoid market failures, the Fed has again opened itself to the

accusation that it has been co-opted by the financial sector. At the same time, a more damaging and unfair view is already circulating on social media: that the central bank cares more about the wealth of the 1% than the wellbeing of the population as a whole. n More political actors, including relatively new lawmakers in Congress, are being exposed to the considerable power and resources of central banks—this at a time when many more elements of so-called Modern Monetary Theory are becoming realities on the ground.

With that, the pressure on the Fed to embark on a “people’s QE” or some similar program is likely to increase significantly.

These risks will multiply the longer it takes to restart the economy.

The more durable the shutdown, the higher the threat that liquidity problems become solvency ones, and the more likely that bankruptcies and defaults proliferate and raise questions about the Fed’s judgment and competence.

That could also lead to renewed market volatility at a time when the Fed is putting massive resources on the line—and, with them, its credibility.

Unfortunately, these challenges won’t end once this exceptional period of crisis-management subsides.

They’ll also extend to the next two stages: the economic restart and the post-crisis policy landscape.

It’s increasingly clear that the economic reopening may not be as immediate—or as generalized— as we would all hope. The growing likelihood of a sequential restart of both national and global economies will raise a new set of challenges for central banks and governments, companies and households.

After that, we’ll need to navigate a landscape that involves more than simply disentangling what is quickly evolving into a spaghetti bowl of public-sector involvement in private-sector activities. We could also be facing an environment of more sluggish supply and demand responsiveness.

With an expected shift in corporate emphasis from efficiency to

resilience, we should anticipate that many global companies will revisit their supply chains, even if it means sacrificing cost-effectiveness and just-in-time inventory management.

This rewiring, while not instantaneous, will accelerate existing trends toward deglobalization, which have been driven by concerns for the marginalized, trade wars and the weaponization of economic tools.

At least in the short-term, all this will involve a decline in productivity accentuated by a higher risk of “zombie companies” due to the immense financial subsidies now being provided by governments and central banks. Meanwhile, corporate indebtedness continues to rise, as does government debt. Both trends may end up putting pressure on the Fed to resist interest-rate increases in the years ahead.

Turning to the demand side, households may well become more risk averse. To the extent they do, they’ll prove less responsive to the stimulus policies that will follow the current phase of relief. And the longer the crisis stage lasts and the harder the restart phase, the higher the possibility of a recurrence of a more frugal “great depression generation.” This would be especially likely if economies were inadvertently pushed into a “W”-shaped recovery — that is, a repeat of the lockdownrestart cycle, due to a resurgence of health concerns.

It’s important to stress that the optimal central bank response to all these uncertainties is not paralysis.

Rather, it is to continue with intense work on scenario analyses, internal and external communications, contingency planning, feedback and mid-course adjustments as needed.

To avoid repeating the errors of the financial crisis, these efforts will need to be supported by a “whole of government” approach that combines stimulus with a range of structural reforms aimed to counter the downward pressure on productivity and growth potential.

Otherwise, central banks may once again help to win the war against a depression, but be part of a system that fails to win the peace of durable and inclusive growth.

A8 Tuesday, April 21, 2020

DOF chief nixes liquor ban lifting, but defers to ‘tradeoffs’ review

F

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

INANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III rejected the proposal of the alcohol beverage industry to lift the liquor ban amid Luzon-wide lockdown.

“I am not in favor,” Dominguez said in a text message to reporters on Monday.

However, Dominguez said this would “depend on the result of the ongoing evaluation of trade-offs involved in the decision of maintaining the current partial lockdown or tightening it or loosening it further.”

This, after major liquor makers appealed to the government to lift the total ban on alcoholic beverages, arguing that the industry can no longer survive if the ban continues.

In a April 16 letter addressed to Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, Center for Alcohol Research and Development Foundation Inc. Chairman Gerardo Tan Tee said the industry is already taking the brunt of declining demand due to the govern-

ment’s imposition of high alcohol excise taxes.

Tan Tee is also the chairman of Absolut Distillers Inc. However, the industry also pointed out that an imposition of a partial ban on sale and purchase of alcoholic beverages can be done by the government instead, through, for instance, restrictions on the time that alcohol can be sold.

“Allow us a means to survive amidst the already difficult situation we are in. Provide us a way to survive the extinction that our alcoholic beverage industry is already threatened by foreign competition.

While the alcoholic beverages in the Philippines are banned, elsewhere in the world, it is not, putting our industry in much unnecessary peril,” the letter read.

Aside from this, the industry

A Department of Public Works and Highways employee sprays disinfectant at Trabajo Market stalls in Sampaloc, Manila, which was placed on lockdown after one of the vendors tested positive for the coronavirus. ROY DOMINGO

said farmers may also be displaced given the possibility of closure of the industry due to the total liquor ban.

Agricultural products, including sugarcane, coconut and corn are used as raw materials in the production of alcoholic beverages.

It also said the Philippines is the biggest producer of rum, brandy, and gin worldwide due to the abundance of said agricultural products

and the Filipino’s craftsmanship in the art of making these alcoholic beverages.

The Department of Finance earlier estimated government can collect P332.3 billion from “sin” products this year.

Sin tax collections reached P269.1 billion in 2019, increasing by 87.5 percent from P143.5 billion in total revenues from sin products in 2015.

Senators mourn Alvarez’s passing

S

ENATE leaders mourned Monday the death of former senator Heherson Alvarez, the latest high-profile victim of Covid-19, which he had fought since late March.

His wife Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, who, like him, was also infected with the coronavirus disease, is recovering in hospital after being extubated, reports said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto recalled that Alvarez, a member of the 1971 constitutional convention who later joined the anti-dictatorship exiles in the United States, was also a colleague in the House of Representatives during the 11th Congress.

“He [Alvarez] crafted policies, defended these on the floor and interpellated in plenary with the skill of a seasoned parliamentarian and the undiminished passion of a patriot,” Recto said, adding that Alvarez also “had the gift of gab and the wisdom that went with it.”

According to Recto, Alvarez always had a soft heart for the common man and spent a lifetime championing their rights and freedoms, and at one time paying dearly for the courage of his convictions.

“He [Alvarez] spent his last years representing one client—Mother Earth—so that our grandchildren will have clean air, safe water, blue skies. He was no longer a politician with the next election in mind, but a statesman concerned about the next generation.”

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, one of three incumbent senators who survived a scary brush with Covid-19, in a separate statement called Alvarez “one of the original environmental advocates of the Philippine Senate.”

Alvarez authored many environmental laws, and was “one of our most ardent fighters against climate change,” said Zubiri, recalling that Alvarez “would always touch base with me to discuss environmental issues during the deliberation of bills and even the budget policies that could affect the environment.”

Zubiri rued that as the Senate “lost another pillar of its rich history,” the “saddest part is that we will not be able to properly honor him befitting an honorable statesman due to the Covid 19 protocols which prevents us from doing so.”

Still, senators are set to adopt a Senate Resolution “to honor such a statesman” when regular sessions resume on May 4, said Zubiri.

Butch Fernandez

PHL growth rates in past decade ‘improved’ under rebased NIA

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

@caiordinario

HE Philippines’s economic performance in the past 10 years showed an improvement using the rebased National Income Accounts (NIA) estimates released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Monday.

The latest PSA data showed growth averaged 6.38 percent in the past 10 years using a 2018-based NIA computation versus 6.3 percent using 2000-based data.

National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told BusinessMirror that while real GDP growth rates are not that different compared to the 2000-based estimates, the differences were more pronounced in terms of growth rates.

“The base effect differences due to prices is obvious there,” Mapa said. “Real GDP growth rates, for base year 2018 and base year 2000, showed higher average growth rates during 2010 to 2019,” Mapa said.

With the rebasing and the ongoing coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, Mapa said GDP growth estimates for the first quarter will significantly be affected.

The PSA maintains that it can release the first quarter GDP figures on May 7. The estimates will already use 2018 prices.

“The GDP growth will surely be affected by the events re: lasted to Covid-19, the first quarter output measurement covers the month of March, half of the month is

nder ECQ [enhanced community quarantine] already,” Mapa told BusinessMirror.

Meanwhile, the latest estimates took into consideration not only the rebasing of prices but also the revision of the NIA. The country’s GDP now takes into consideration emerging industries particularly information and communication.

The new NIA also highlighted industries such as accommodation and food service activities; education; and human health and social work activities.

T he rev isions a lso considered highlighted demand commodities such as valuables and highlighted import and export commodities.

“Why revise and rebase? To capture changes/trends in the current economic structure such as the digitization of the economy [e.g., Grab, Airbnb, Big data]; rise of global production networks and buying chains; [and] agglomeration economies—firms and institutions locating close together,” the PSA said in a primer.

PSA said these changes will also make the NIA more responsive to the needs of stakeholders and policy-makers in relation to the Philippine Development Plan, AmBisyon 2040, and sustainable development goals.

In terms of current 2018 prices, GDP growth between 2010 and 2019 averaged 8.82 percent. This is also higher than the average of 8.79 percent GDP growth in current 2000 prices.

Data showed the highest GDP

g row t h rate, using constant 2018 prices, was in 2010 when GDP reached 7.3 percent. In the 2000-based GDP estimates, the growth rate in 2010 The slowest growth was in 2011 when GDP reached 3.9 percent under the 2018-based NIA. In the 2000-based NIA, GDP in 2011 was at 3.7 percent.

Meanwhile, comparing average GDP growth in the past 20 years, the 2018-based estimates were also higher at 5.5 percent than the 2000-based estimates at 5.4 percent.

Growth estimates, however, were lower during the period in the 2018-based estimates for Industry at 5.2 percent, compared to the 5.4 percent estimate using 2000-based prices.

Industry subsectors Mining and Quarrying as well as Manufacturing also saw lower estimates using 2018 prices at 6.5 percent and 4.5 percent versus 2000 prices at 8.5 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

Services subsectors such as wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorc yc les, educ at ion, hu m a n health and social work activities and other services also saw lower growth estimates under the 2018-based NIA compared to the 2000-based data.

Using the 2018-based NIA, the PSA said the country’s full-year GDP reached P19.37 trillion in 2019. This is significantly higher than the P9.75 trillion estimate using 2000-based prices.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

B1

Ayala consolidates units, sets sights on infra, renewables

By VG Cabuag

C

@villygc

onglomerate Ayala Corp. on Monday said it is consolidating its energy, water, transport and logistics businesses under a holding company, using AC Energy Inc. as a vehicle.

The company said the move is meant to create a “sizeable and agile platform” that would boost its foothold in the country’s physical infrastructure space.

It said the holding firm will house the company’s stake in two listed

companies, AC Energy Philippines Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc.— the East Zone concessionaire—and its unlisted unit AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.

“We believe that consolidating our various infrastructure interests

creates a formidable platform with a strong balance sheet and allows Ayala to participate in the many opportunities in infrastructure development in a more significant way,” Ayala Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.

“The energy and infrastructure platform emerges as one of the major pillars of Ayala, along with real estate, banking, and telecommunications,” he said.

Ayala will use its wholly owned subsidiary AC Energy Inc. as the vehicle for the consolidated entity, which then will be renamed to AC Energy and Infrastructure Corp.

“The consolidation can generate a host of opportunities for our various infrastructure businesses. We shall continue the rapid expansion of AC Energy in the renewables space and

scale up our investments in transport and logistics,” Ayala President and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala said.

“We will also continue to invest significantly in the water sector to ensure long term water sustainability and reliability,” he said.

Ayala has a well-diversified infrastructure portfolio. In power, Ayala has one of the fastest growing regional energy platforms with nearly 2,000 megawatts of capacity in renewable and conventional power.

In water, apart from the Metro Manila East Zone concession, Manila Water operates and develops various water, wastewater, and other related assets in the Southeast Asian region.

AC Infra, meanwhile, has investments in mass transportation, mobility and logistics.

MICT yard utilization rate improves

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

T

RAFFIC within the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) has returned to optimal levels, according to operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), as cargo pullouts peaked last week.

ICTSI EVP Christian R. Gonzalez reported Monday that overall MICT utilization is now under 67 percent and reefer utilization at under 65 percent. This, as more cargo owners and consignees withdrew their cargoes the week prior.

He noted, however, that the pullouts last week do not include numerous containers of unclaimed cargo.

They were transferred to the other yards and facilitated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).

“Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our frontline employees and many port stakeholders, the

terminal has been able to pull off this feat. Efforts should continue, however, to ensure that we have no repeat of the dangerously low level of pullouts we experienced at the end of March and in early April,” he said.

The past few weeks saw the terminal reaching congestion levels because of overstaying cargoes, which were a result of the limitations brought about by the Luzon lockdown.

“The statistics have proven that government implemented exemptions for cargo and penalties for overstayers worked and that these, along with the efforts of importers, have avoided the unmanageable consequences we would have had if we did not respond as we did. With the continued enhanced community quarantine, we cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.

Gonzales added: “We must remember that there remains a significant amount of unclaimed cargo

from well before March 2020, and we must ensure a free flow of cargo to facilitate the transport of critical food, medical supplies and basic necessities.”

Yard use at the MICT improved after the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) reported two weeks ago that utilization rates at the international terminals have again reached the 90-percent mark.

PPA said this was due to the failure of cargo shippers and consignees to withdraw their containers from the ports.

Shippers and consignees explained that the red tape at the clearing facilities of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the process of shipping line documents were behind the overstaying of their cargo.

After the transportation department sought their cooperation, however, the yard utilization rates at the ports went down from 98 percent to 75 percent, almost

close to the 60-percent rate goal of the agency.

Jay Daniel R. Santiago, PPA general manager, said his group is coordinating with the BOC to hasten the clearing process, especially at the MICT. “We are appealing to consignees to continue withdrawing their cargo to sustain the momentum. In the meantime, PPA is coordinating with the BOC for the disposition of the over 800 overstaying reefer containers in order to make up much needed space in the reefer yard of MICT,” Santiago said.

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

CDO rolls More firms to distribute medical gear out online delivery service T

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

C

DO Foodpshere Inc. (CDO) on Monday launched its online food delivery service which allows Metro Manila consumers to order frozen meat, processed meat and dairy products through their smartphones.

CDO President Jerome D. Ong told the BusinessMirror that they have set up an online delivery system through the Viber messaging app “to bring their products closer to consumers.”

“We have 25 food stores, 22 of which are scattered in high foot traffic areas. We studied how we can use these company-owned food stores to bring our products closer to our consumers. So we set up the online delivery system,” he told the BusinessMirror via phone interview.

“We set a very reasonable minimum purchase to make it more affordable for consumers. We want to reach as many households as possibles not just [those] with higher purchasing power but everyone,” he added.

Under the CDO foodstore home delivery service, consumers could avail a wide-array of products including longganisa, beef tapa, crispy burger, cheesedog, ulam burger, bacon, corned tuna, cheese, and loaf bread.

The company said prices of the products are within the suggested retail price (SRP) matrix. CDO has set a minimum of P300 worth of orders per delivery. Delivery will be done by the its motorcycle fleet, which will be augmented by Grab Delivery and Lalamove, Ong said.

Ong added that consumers could pay for their orders through online banking, PayMaya, and G-Cash to ensure that all transactions are secure and legitimate.

“The products are priced within SRP and we observe the 60-day price freeze. And we have maintained the prices for products not under government monitoring as part of our social responsibility, regardless of whether the products are included in the price freeze or not,” Ong said.

he National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) said over the weekend that it is fast-tracking the sourcing and distribution of medical equipment, with target date of distribution eyed within the week.

The grid operator earlier pledged P500 million worth of medical equipment, including 12 ventilators, 32 powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) and 200 closed suction system.

This is part of NGCP’s P1-billion donation to the national government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) relief and response efforts.

NGCP will also donate 10,000 test kits, 42,000 gallons of 70 percent alcohol, 3,800 gallons of disinfecting solutions, 2,100 infrared thermometers, and two decontamination chambers.

Included in the donation are over 6.6 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for medical frontliners, including 3,000 hazmat suits, 65,000 full face shields, 3,300,000 gloves, a combined 3,000,000 N95 and surgical masks, 85,000 pairs of shoe covers, 75,000 disposable gowns, 60,000 surgical caps, and 45,000 goggles.

“NGCP is targeting to start distribution of medical equipment and supplies to big government hospitals in Metro Manila by the week of April 20 to 24, with the rest of identified public and private hospitals across the country in the coming weeks,” it said over the weekend.

ACE Enexor looking for strategic partner

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

A

CE Enexor Inc., formerly Phima Petroleum and Geothermal Inc., will soon commence initial discussions with potential foreign partners for an exploration project in offshore West Palawan.

“Our preference is to invite a strategic partner to partner with us on the drilling. It is a significant undertaking. We would welcome both the financial and technical capabilities to complement Enexor.

We do not have a foreign partner at this moment yet but in the next few months, we will endeavor to begin our discussions on potential partners. We will look at both the financial and technical capabilities that ideally will be complementary and beneficial to the consortium,” said ACE Enexor President Eric Francia during the company’s annual meeting.

Drilling activities of Palawan 55 Exploration & Production Corp. (Palawan55), a subsidiary of ACE Enexor, in offshore West Palawan is expected to happen early 2022.

SBMA eyeing to build mass testing facility

Two Covid-19 swabbing booths are being prepared for the mass testing program of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority. The booths have glass partitions to separate the health worker who will take swab samples from the patient who will stay outside the booth.

Story & photo by Henry Empeño Correspondent

S

Also part of the P1-billion donation is the ongoing distribution of P500 million worth of grocery items to select cities and municipalities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Distribution of grocery items began last April 11.

Fund-raising

Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said it expects to raise over P200,000 from its fund-raising campaign “Tindog Pilipinas, Dili Mo Namo Pasagdan.”

It said Sunday that proceeds will be utilized to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and food packs to be donated to healthcare frontliners in hospitals in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

The country’s leading geothermal power firm also contributed to the Pantawid ng Pag-ibig campaign of ABS-CBN, which provides food to families who can’t make a living due to the quarantine in place. To date,

the total amount of donations pooled by the employees of EDC has reached P1.8 million pesos.

This is in addition to the P100 million pledged by its mother company, First Philippine Holdings, to the Pantawid ng Pag-ibig Program as well as another donation of P100 million by the Lopez Group to the Department of Transportation’s efforts to bring OFWs (overseas Filipino Workers) safely back to the Philippines.

With the extension of the enhanced community quarantine to April 30, the organization extended aid to the contractual workers who might not have enough cash reserves to get through the entire period without pay.

EDC employees agreed to the delayed release of their merit increases so the funds can be allocated instead to the security guards, housekeeping staff, delivery personnel, and drivers across all sites for the meantime. Lenie Lectura

Palawan 55 and Pryce Gase, Inc. make up the SC 55 consortium. Palawan 55, operator of Service Contract No. 55, holds a 75-percent interest in the project. The remaining 25 percent is held by Pryce Gases.

SC 55 is a deep-water block located in the southwest Palawan Basin, covering an area of 9,880 sq km.

Palawan 55 is currently conducting follow-on evaluation of two candidate target sites for drilling.

Upon completion of the comparative assessment, the consortium will choose the prospect to be drilled and commence preparations for drilling immediately thereafter.

“Right now, Palawan 55 is in the middle of prospect specific technical studies that would help the consortium decide which of the prospects in the block to be drilled. We expect to complete this work program in the next two months,” said chief operating officer Raymund Reyes, Jr. The company will be ready to implement its drilling program next year, with actual drilling operations “likely to happen in the first quarter of 2022 and may last around 40 days.”

UBIC BAY FREEPORT—After setting up two surge facilities here in the fight against the new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is now eyeing a mass testing facility in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone to heighten the community’s response to the pandemic.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the agency will establish the facility in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) with the end-view of completing up to 2,000 tests daily.

To do this, Eisma said the agency will put up at least two telephone booth-type swabbing centers at the Subic Bay Freeport main gate, where health workers will collect swab samples from patients.

“Once the samples are collected, these will be validated and sent to the Red Cross logistics and training center at the Naval Magazine area for testing,” she added.

Eisma said the PRC is now building a special facility to house testing equipment, including an automated RNA extraction machine and two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines.

The extraction machine is touted to run 90 samples per hour, while the PCR machines can each complete 1,000 tests daily for a combined total of 2,000 tests a day.

The PRC is said to be using polymerase chain reaction-based test kits to ensure accuracy.

Eisma said testing will be open to the public, although priority for the medical procedure will be given to suspect and probable Covid-19 cases.

The Subic agency will also coordinate with the

Philippine Health Insurance Corp. for the mechanics on fees and other charges that may be shouldered by the government for indigent patients.

“But [financially-capable patients] would have to pay at cost,” said Eisma.

The SBMA sounded out this plan with the growing public clamor for mass testing on a national scale, with experts saying that it could further optimize the government’s quarantine strategy and prevent further loss of lives.

Locally, Eisma said mass testing would also help the government and the Freeport authority in particular, “to get a good reading of the prevalence of the outbreak with the end-view of safely lifting the ECQ in order to get the Subic businesses running again.”

“If we don’t undertake mass-testing, we’d be fighting Covid-19 blindly. We have to get a better grasp of the situation so that we can act accordingly,” Eisma added.

The SBMA has been initiating solutions to the growing health risks that the local community faced because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before this, the Subic agency established two care and isolation facilities at the Subic Gym and the former Leciel Hotel here, using its own funds and some donations from private companies, civic organizations and concerned individuals.

Eisma said these facilities will be used in the event that positive cases exceeded the capacity at the Baypointe Hospital in the Subic Freeport, which has admitted patients from Zambales, Olongapo City and Bataan.

As of April 18, Zambales has reported 9 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 2 recoveries, while Olongapo listed 9 cases with 1 recovery, and Bataan province 80 cases with 15 recoveries.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

April 20, 2020

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

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

48.5 102.5 60.75 19.88 8 41.2 8.24 16 24.9 42.5 17.36 104.8 54.7 0.8 15.6 2.72 0.96 0.29 0.59 165 0.96

48.75 104 60.8 19.9 8.04 41.35 8.79 18.9 24.95 43.95 18.08 106 54.75 0.88 15.8 3.1 0.97 0.31 0.63 167 1.09

48.9 105 61.6 19.86 7.95 41.95 8.21 16.02 25.1 43 17.28 107.7 54.05 0.78 15.5 3.12 0.97 0.29 0.67 163.1 0.96

48.9 107 61.8 19.92 8.08 42.3 8.79 16.02 25.6 43 17.34 107.7 54.8 0.88 15.9 3.12 0.97 0.31 0.67 169 0.96

48.5 102.5 60.05 19.86 7.85 40 8.21 16 24.55 42.5 17.28 104.8 54 0.77 15.5 3.1 0.97 0.29 0.61 163.1 0.96

48.5 102.5 60.75 19.9 8 41.35 8.79 16 24.9 42.5 17.34 104.8 54.75 0.88 15.8 3.1 0.97 0.31 0.61 165 0.96

1500 2104730 1581860 98800 283900 3086100 17300 20000 331100 1400 3000 461210 16360 269000 8800 12000 12000 400000 53000 170 300000

72915 218149811 96301102.5 1964190 2259530 126709130 144933 320012 8276175 59680 51862 48863279 889242.5 232870 139040 37240 11640 119800 32390 28231 288000

INDUSTRIAL

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

2.2 0.94 26.55 0.172 18.02 55.85 261.8 11.08 3.28 2.31 10.52 19.04 8 7.78 2.64 12.68 14.38 3.6 5.88 7.97 58.95 0.51 1.4 32 142.8 5.29 6.5 0.136 1.81 6.12 1.44 4.4 1.3 122.1 0.87 45.3 1.06 8.2 5.55 11.46 7.68 0.75 0.72 156 1.81 2.8 4.6 3.31 26.5 1.09 6.37 1.12 1.08 9.61

2.22 1.1 26.6 0.185 18.06 57.05 262.2 11.14 3.29 2.38 11 19.06 8.01 7.86 2.69 13.96 14.6 3.8 5.96 7.98 59 0.52 1.41 32.6 143 6 6.52 0.145 1.84 6.14 1.46 4.5 1.39 124 0.88 55 1.09 8.35 5.56 11.6 7.69 0.76 0.73 - 1.82 2.82 4.94 3.45 26.8 1.1 6.44 1.14 1.09 9.62

2.2 0.95 27.15 0.185 17.96 56 269 11.16 3.25 2.4 10.86 19.24 8 7.78 2.55 12.64 14.38 3.7 6.15 7.98 59.9 0.53 1.44 33.8 148.5 4.81 6.58 0.14 1.78 6.03 1.4 4.35 1.32 126.8 0.82 41.15 1.09 8.2 5.51 11.5 7.9 0.73 0.71 129.8 1.82 2.68 4.7 3.33 27 1 6.78 1.07 1.12 8.8

2.3 0.95 27.15 0.188 18.44 57.05 275 11.4 3.36 2.4 11.14 19.28 8.05 7.86 2.76 12.64 14.64 3.7 6.15 7.98 59.9 0.53 1.46 33.8 149.9 6 6.7 0.145 1.84 6.14 1.45 4.6 1.32 127.2 0.88 56 1.1 8.38 5.7 11.96 7.94 0.75 0.73 156 1.82 2.9 4.7 3.47 27 1.09 6.78 1.13 1.12 9.64

2.15 0.94 26.2 0.172 17.78 55.05 261.8 10.88 3.21 2.31 10.2 18.52 8 7.61 2.54 12.64 14.38 3.6 5.85 7.92 58 0.5 1.38 32.6 143 4.81 6.42 0.14 1.78 6.01 1.39 4.35 1.3 122 0.81 41.15 1.06 8.18 5.51 11.36 7.68 0.72 0.7 129.8 1.82 2.66 4.7 3.21 26.5 1 5.63 1 1 8.1

2.22 0.94 26.6 0.185 18.06 57.05 261.8 11.08 3.29 2.31 11 19.04 8 7.86 2.64 12.64 14.38 3.6 5.88 7.98 59 0.52 1.4 32.6 143 6 6.5 0.145 1.81 6.12 1.45 4.5 1.3 122.1 0.87 56 1.06 8.2 5.56 11.6 7.68 0.73 0.73 156 1.82 2.8 4.7 3.45 26.5 1.09 6.37 1.12 1.08 9.61

23360000 8000 1018000 1410000 1537300 228610 213760 2958000 3421000 37000 471300 617100 11700 1193800 5037000 300 2890700 41000 1082400 7063100 594420 2257000 7909000 40700 1587640 400 981800 220000 1969000 1470100 1707000 7000 28000 1399020 10984000 100 6512000 2107300 2904800 374000 1704400 83000 632000 870 38000 13410000 1000 27000 1200 8348000 1915300 910000 2437000 11814200

51799420 7580 27178540 248620 27722762 12838275.5 56423146 32780634 11250170 85850 5154532 11726796 93631 9270930 13219530 3792 41694140 148700 6418450 56362105 35067269 1147820 11099760 1327400 230578052 2043 6420352 31300 3556870 8893767 2415700 31550 36860 172937652 9298990 4689 7000490 17301450 16250786 4322546 13185794 60100 447990 122566 69160 37369080 4700 90990 31900 8851020 11911344 972560 2583640 104830096

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.58 7.31 605 43.25 7.12 1.69 5.93 0.53 0.46 4.95 4.41 9 494 3.61 53.3 5.02 5.07 0.435 2.77 7.64 0.495 2.72 2.76 0.73 0.98 164 844 100 0.62 140.1 0.174 0.133

0.59 7.78 606 44 7.13 1.71 6.02 0.55 0.465 4.97 4.43 9.2 495 3.95 53.5 6.29 6.59 0.455 2.78 7.72 0.52 2.73 3.1 0.75 1.02 166 845 100.1 0.71 144.2 0.19 0.137

0.58 7.58 597 44.2 7.11 1.68 6.1 0.55 0.47 4.98 4.4 9.2 498 3.95 53.85 5.5 5.01 0.445 2.8 7.86 0.475 2.77 2.71 0.73 0.98 166 858 100.2 0.63 145.1 0.173 0.132

0.59 7.93 606 44.2 7.2 1.72 6.1 0.55 0.47 4.99 4.45 9.2 513 3.95 54.5 6.28 5.01 0.45 2.83 7.88 0.5 2.77 2.71 0.74 0.98 168 863 100.4 0.72 145.1 0.174 0.137

0.56 7.26 576 43.1 7.1 1.61 6 0.53 0.455 4.85 4.38 9 480 3.94 53.3 5.5 5.01 0.435 2.78 7.63 0.46 2.62 2.4 0.73 0.98 162.1 845 98 0.61 136.2 0.172 0.132

0.59 7.77 606 43.25 7.13 1.71 6 0.55 0.465 4.95 4.41 9 494 3.95 53.3 6.28 5.01 0.45 2.78 7.64 0.495 2.72 2.65 0.74 0.98 162.1 845 100 0.72 144.2 0.172 0.137

7244000 17300 433730 1030900 2621400 3394000 39000 15000 880000 722000 3452000 11200 139620 9000 1378640 6100 1300 40000 1903000 1315500 2250000 35387000 42000 190000 2000 720 324100 471110 54000 26320 430000 170000

4890 -72203806 -35114840 -544776 -26317 -4465265 -1868570 572311 -559628 281280 -2111410 3485880 -11869272 -270324.5 -20793510 -13583134 -1699250 1082 644545.9999 -974388 -6619290 99648 -101400 -905390 -55942194 -13785398.5 56300 -270900 -22996214 118420 -947790 -21549 -150 -76027815 -172560 -4230850 -4557466 -1174758 -1285122 -6213657 -160170 2700 -28070 -94870 26250 5550 614537

4188780 128367 258158345 44847030 18688579 5671290 235240 8230 402850 3571690 15239660 100920 69123788 35480 73822594.5 33628 6513 17800 5307690 10155906 1108750 95295530 109670 139800 1960 119190 275826335 46640539 33810 3776404 74210 22590

-606890.0001 80277145 -20450275 -7323941 77020 211000 -2004920 -2342340 1800 -16385322 -47907757 -207430 -7080869 -785000 2763160 -82957980 -25175421.5 -3201457 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.54 0.55 0.54 0.55 0.54 0.55 752000 409140 8.23 9 9 9.09 9 9.09 1000 9045 ANCHOR LAND AYALA LAND 31.1 31.35 31.75 32.05 30.5 31.1 11689400 365100300 ARANETA PROP 1.05 1.09 1.06 1.06 1.04 1.05 75000 78930 1.35 1.37 1.37 1.37 1.35 1.35 72000 98490 BELLE CORP 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.56 0.54 0.55 2907000 1599560 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.71 0.74 0.71 0.74 0.71 0.74 15000 11040 CEB LANDMASTERS 3.98 4.03 4.03 4.17 4 4.03 596000 2399380 0.365 0.37 0.365 0.365 0.36 0.365 1890000 687000 CENTURY PROP 0.285 0.335 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 250000 70000 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON 16 16.1 16.3 16.38 15.86 16.1 275000 4391930 DM WENCESLAO 6.9 7 6.97 7 6.9 6.9 190200 1321824 0.29 0.315 0.285 0.3 0.285 0.3 50000 14850 EMPIRE EAST 0.93 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.93 0.93 14995000 14110390 FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE 0.8 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.8 0.8 139000 111400 11.58 11.62 11.8 11.8 11.58 11.58 160200 1868374 8990 HLDG 0.85 0.86 0.82 0.85 0.81 0.85 1412000 1179170 PHIL INFRADEV 0.72 0.75 0.72 0.72 0.7 0.72 21000 15100 CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD 2.81 2.82 2.82 2.84 2.73 2.82 15684000 43676110 0.145 0.146 0.143 0.145 0.141 0.145 4240000 606410 MRC ALLIED 1.75 1.76 1.74 1.77 1.74 1.77 11000 19200 PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND 15.32 15.7 15.28 15.8 14.54 15.7 2417100 37527704 ROCKWELL 1.47 1.52 1.5 1.53 1.5 1.52 37000 55750 2.62 2.71 2.62 2.71 2.62 2.71 9000 24300 SHANG PROP 1.88 1.9 1.95 1.95 1.87 1.9 88000 165380 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 31.2 31.5 31.95 31.95 30.5 31.5 7963000 248690115 VISTAMALLS 3.83 3.9 3.61 4.03 3.61 3.9 288000 1095610 1.26 1.27 1.26 1.27 1.21 1.27 1865000 2311710 SUNTRUST HOME 4.15 4.16 4.12 4.3 4.06 4.15 1786000 7457280 VISTA LAND

-50567200 -43790 1420 -1094770 -1729852 -118930 -9610200 71222 -10200 -1247040 8899532 -67665470 -1240 316680

SERVICES ABS CBN 17.12 17.28 17.38 17.38 17.08 17.28 77800 1338398 4.95 4.97 4.98 4.98 4.95 4.95 153000 758030 GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN 0.37 0.385 0.39 0.39 0.365 0.365 370000 137950 10.28 10.94 10.26 10.26 10.24 10.24 2500 25640 MLA BRDCASTING 2180 2200 2220 2220 2154 2180 37850 82782610 GLOBE TELECOM 1140 1150 1132 1165 1120 1150 166680 189209720 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.039 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 600000 24000 2.8 2.95 2.82 2.95 2.8 2.95 86000 246310 DFNN INC 2.33 2.34 2.13 2.35 2.13 2.33 107448000 238511890 DITO CME HLDG 1.2 1.45 1.12 1.45 1.12 1.45 40000 50060 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.082 0.086 0.082 0.086 0.082 0.086 140000 11640 1.81 1.82 1.75 1.82 1.69 1.81 2671000 4710790 NOW CORP 0.181 0.183 0.18 0.184 0.176 0.184 3440000 620320 TRANSPACIFIC BR 2.69 2.7 2.38 2.69 2.35 2.69 3307000 8468080 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 6.12 6.15 6.2 6.24 6.11 6.15 40300 247955 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.92 16.98 15.9 15.9 15.9 15.9 800 12720 3.2 3.21 2.96 3.2 2.96 3.2 2908000 8999690 CHELSEA 52.85 53.2 51.8 53.5 51.8 52.85 96370 5088239.5 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 80.45 80.75 82 82.95 79.95 80.45 619780 50010507 12.5 12.8 12.5 12.5 11.94 12.5 1400 17444 LBC EXPRESS 0.78 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.87 13000 11310 LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA 5.03 5.04 5.02 5.1 4.88 5.04 7461000 37362000 METROALLIANCE A 1.82 1.86 1.88 1.99 1.81 1.86 8218000 15381010 1.8 1.89 1.77 1.9 1.77 1.9 72000 133390 METROALLIANCE B 7 7.2 7.19 7.2 6.8 7.2 21900 155052 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 0.92 0.94 0.98 0.99 0.87 0.92 2736000 2546190 ACESITE HOTEL 1.19 1.25 1.14 1.25 1.14 1.25 21000 25640 0.033 0.034 0.032 0.035 0.032 0.034 6700000 222500 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.43 0.45 0.46 0.46 0.42 0.45 240000 108000 WATERFRONT CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.4 6.5 6.01 6.01 6.01 6.01 500 3005 0.375 0.38 0.39 0.395 0.37 0.38 42680000 16358300 STI HLDG 2.21 2.3 2.21 2.38 2.21 2.37 49000 108960 BERJAYA 5.98 5.99 6 6.08 5.94 5.99 17287900 104182444 BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE 1.68 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.68 1.68 45000 75620 1.43 1.44 1.42 1.44 1.4 1.42 280000 397960 LEISURE AND RES 3.13 3.39 3.3 3.44 3.06 3.06 75000 239330 PH RESORTS GRP PREMIUM LEISURE 0.315 0.32 0.32 0.33 0.315 0.315 5810000 1852850 ALLHOME 6.15 6.2 5.95 6.35 5.54 6.2 4373400 26866666 1.54 1.55 1.53 1.56 1.53 1.55 1143000 1769740 METRO RETAIL 46.3 46.5 46.2 47.5 46.2 46.5 4905000 229292360 PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 61.1 61.4 62.7 62.7 60.95 61.4 481680 29588002.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 130.2 135 130 135 130 135 50 6600 1.27 1.28 1.33 1.33 1.26 1.28 3133000 4035370 SSI GROUP 14.96 15 14.9 15.08 14.46 15 2142900 31716112 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.31 0.315 0.325 0.325 0.3 0.315 650000 201550 5.1 5.25 5.3 5.3 5.09 5.1 12300 62989 EASYCALL 323 330 330 330 320 330 590 190000 GOLDEN BRIA 0.215 0.219 0.214 0.22 0.21 0.215 2880000 622290 PRMIERE HORIZON

-30730660 69588950 9302380 20000 -24990 26900 -90230 3180 -41480 -1394551 -9804754.5 -22558630 -82880 -11933300 27301038 13000 157500 7926924 -210580 14546550 -10000978 2600 -1377970 12547902 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 10.5 10.6 11 11 10.5 10.5 80400 854360 APEX MINING 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.93 0.89 0.91 1096000 987630 297000 ABRA MINING 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.001 40000000 41800 1.76 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 5000 9500 ATLAS MINING 1.1 1.12 0.95 1.12 0.95 1.1 49000 52610 BENGUET A COAL ASIA HLDG 0.2 0.207 0.21 0.21 0.2 0.2 1040000 211140 2.7 2.75 2.73 2.75 2.73 2.75 300000 822180 274590 CENTURY PEAK 6.75 6.98 7.14 7.15 6.76 6.97 1200 8263 DIZON MINES 0.77 0.78 0.76 0.79 0.74 0.78 5223000 4012090 -7750 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.195 0.2 0.195 0.195 0.193 0.195 130000 25320 0.079 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.079 0.08 5060000 404360 LEPANTO A 0.0063 0.0066 0.0066 0.0066 0.0065 0.0065 68000000 442500 MANILA MINING A 0.0071 0.0084 0.0071 0.0071 0.0071 0.0071 1000000 7100 MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES 0.57 0.58 0.55 0.57 0.55 0.57 167000 93860 0.95 0.98 0.95 0.99 0.95 0.95 114000 108700 NIHAO 1.7 1.71 1.72 1.74 1.69 1.71 6781000 11617680 -7171780 NICKEL ASIA 0.49 0.55 0.495 0.52 0.495 0.52 190000 95225 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 2.18 2.23 2.11 2.23 2.1 2.23 349000 760450 -359050 12.74 12.76 12.98 12.98 12.6 12.76 723800 9232094 2278842 SEMIRARA MINING 0.004 0.0042 0.004 0.0042 0.004 0.0042 6000000 24600 UNITED PARAGON ACE ENEXOR 6.74 6.75 6.48 6.85 6.2 6.74 203500 1332397 14344 ORNTL PETROL B 0.0085 0.01 0.0085 0.0095 0.0085 0.0095 8000000 72000 0.0083 0.0087 0.0083 0.0083 0.0083 0.0083 1000000 8300 PHILODRILL 4.81 4.85 4.2 4.89 4.18 4.81 4841000 21959400 292410 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 95 98.65 96 96 96 96 360 34560 24960 AC PREF B1 490 500 500 500 500 500 20 10000 486 495 490 495 490 495 300 148000 AC PREF B2R 96.7 99.5 99.5 99.5 98.5 98.5 3300 327420 29850 CPG PREF A 97.2 97.5 97.5 97.5 97.1 97.5 48870 4754570 486000 DD PREF FGEN PREF G 102.5 107.5 102.3 102.3 102.3 102.3 1000 102300 500 510 499.8 500 499.8 500 410 204950 GLO PREF P 977 997 977 977 977 977 500 488500 GTCAP PREF B 99.5 100 99.9 100 99.9 100 3000 299965 MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A 98.55 99.45 98.5 98.5 98.5 98.5 1000 98500 1000 1010 995 1000 995 1000 14840 14807480 PNX PREF 4 1010 1035 1009 1013 1006 1013 170 171345 PCOR PREF 3B 76 76.1 76 76.1 76 76 22340 1698034 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D 74.1 74.2 74.2 74.2 74.2 74.2 3450 255990 75 75.5 75 75.5 75 75.5 29510 2220005 SMC PREF 2F 74.35 75 74.3 74.35 74.3 74.35 1300 96605 SMC PREF 2G 75 75.3 74 75 73.8 75 23650 1762838 SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I 75 75.5 74.25 75 74.25 75 274310 20570195

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 15.7 16.2 16.2 16.2 15.7 16.2 9200 147540 GMA HLDG PDR 4.83 4.89 4.87 4.89 4.87 4.89 5000 24410

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.76 0.81 0.75 0.81 0.7 0.81 84000 63560

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 2.05 2.06 1.68 2.05 1.63 2.05 28822000 52818790 395910 KEPWEALTH 6.2 6.3 6.2 6.35 6.16 6.35 34900 217607 3105 XURPAS 0.59 0.6 0.57 0.59 0.55 0.59 3313000 1898400 -6160

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 86.3 87.5 87.6 89 86.3 86.3 33130 2883444.5 61120

www.businessmirror.com.ph

SEC to ease registration requirements for local firms

By VG Cabuag

T

@villygc

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to further relax the requirements for the registration of new domestic corporations, particularly for the authentication of articles of incorporation.

In a notice issued on April 20, the agency released for public comment a draft memorandum circular on the Guidelines on Authentication of Articles of Incorporation in Applications for Registration of New Domestic Corporations.

The SEC said the the proposed guidelines is meant to help improve the ease of doing business in the Philippines and subsequently bolster the economy.

Under the proposed guidelines, the SEC will accept for registra-

tion articles of incorporation that are accompanied by a certificate of authentication signed by all incorporators in the form prescribed by the SEC. Both the articles of incorporation and the certificate of authentication will no longer have to be notarized or consularized.

The incorporators, however, may still choose to acknowledge the articles of incorporation before a notary public. If executed outside the Philippines, the articles of incorporation may be notarized or authenticated by a Philippine diplomatic or consular officer.

The proposed guidelines are still aligned with the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines, which requires corporations to file with the SEC articles of incorporation, duly

signed and acknowledged or authenticated, in such form and manner as may be allowed by the Commission.

The registration of a corporation, which has procured its certificate of registration through fraud or misrepresentation, shall be revoked.

Furthermore, those responsible for the formation of said corporation or who assisted directly or indirectly therein shall be punished with a fine ranging from P200,000 to P2 million. When the violation is detrimental to the public, the penalty shall be a fine ranging from P400,000 to P5 million.

Willfully certifying incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading statements or reports will be fined ranging from P20,000 to P200,000, and double amount if found to be detrimental to the public.

AC Energy expects to post profit this year

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

A

C Ene rg y Ph i l ip pi nes (ACEPH), the power arm of conglomerate Ayala Corp., is expected to post profit this year despite the low demand for power caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

From a net loss of P417 million in 2019, ACEPH President Eric Francia said during the company’s annual meeting Monday that they “expect the turnaround initiative to prosper and are aiming for a positive bottom line by 2020.”

The company’s power generation portfolio has increased from 416 megawatts to over 1,100MW. The additional 684MW of new capacity has been added to the company’s portfolio, of which 60 percent was from renewable sources.

The additional capacity came from a combination of infusion of generation assets from AC Energy parent (176MW); acquisition of brownfield power generation assets (196MW); and starting the construction of new power projects (330MW).

This year, ACEPH is targeting over 1,500MW of power generation capacity.

“While we are facing significant challenges amid the current crisis, the Company remains solid and steadfast in its commitment to a sustainable future. We will continue to expand and diversify our generation capacity and will target to exceed 1,500MW of capacity by 2020 and significantly increase our renewables capacity.

We will also enhance the operating efficiencies especially of our thermal power plants, where we aim to improve availability by over 20 percent,” said Francia.

The company has also decided to put a stop to investing in coal power business in the future, but it remains open to thermal technology, such as gas or diesel-fired power plants that complement its renewable assets and developments.

“ACEPH will now focus on renewable investments and we will not be making additional investments in coal plants.The company will also explore whether it is feasible to transition SLTEC [South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.] feedstock to biomass.

It is also open to bringing in a partner and reducing its stake in the coal plant consistent with the company’s transition to a low carbon portfolio and coal divestment

Megawide helps build quarantine facilities

M

egawide Constr uction Corp. on Monday said it fielded volunteer employees and subcontractors to build emergency quarantine facilities (EQF) that help decongest major hospitals in Metro Manila dealing with coronavirus disease 2019 cases.

Meg aw ide volu nte ers, i ncluding engineers, electricians, plumbers, and carpenters, assisted in constructing the said facilities designed by architect William Ti of WTA Architecture and Design Studio, at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and Fe Del Mundo Medical Center.

Megawide is also building facilities for Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital or Tala Hospital in Caloocan and Cardinal Santos Medical Center. “ The EQFs are part of the company’s efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak,” said Eric Tan, Megawide deputy chief for construction.

“Our staff have committed to volunteer for a total of 12 days to build the EQFs, and we finished

construction of the EQFS for Fe Del Mundo Medical and National Kidney on day five. We are targeting to complete construction for the others by Day 10,” he added.

Each of its facilities measures 3.1 meters tall, 26 meters long, and 6 meters wide, and can hold 15 beds and two toilets. The facilities will be used to accommodate those suspected of having the disease who need to be quarantined but can no longer be admitted by hospitals.

Ti said his firm has made the design of the facilities open source and available online. These are designed for patients and healthcare workers to have different entrances, with doctors having their own external testing box to check patients without having to go inside the quarantine area.

Megawide will also build additional quarantine facilities in other Metro Manila hospitals in partnership with other organizations. The company said it has donated the needed medical supplies to facilities to Covid-19 cases and hospitals in its host communities. VG Cabuag

by 2030,” said Francia.

The company is currently experiencing a 30-percent to 40-percent drop in demand for power as industries and commercial business are on hold. The Covid-19 pandemic also resulted in delays in power project construction.

“Covid pandemic has had a significant impact on the company’s business environment. In Luzon, we have seen between 30-40 percet de-

mutual funds

cline in the demand for power. This has resulted in some reduction in ACEPH’s off-take volumes.

In terms of projects under construction, there have been some inevitable delays due to restrictions on working onsite due to the quarantine. However, our development teams continue with planning, engineering and permitting works to maximize timelines,” said Francia.

April 20, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 190.61 -26.94% -10.08% -7.63% -24.33% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.9539 -40.09% -13.21% -8.59% -30.98% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.5597 -37.24% -14.97% -10.1% -30.41% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6565 -29.64% n.a. n.a. -26.82% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.662 -23.26% n.a. n.a. -22.05% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.12 -24.33% -7.78% -6.72% -22.68% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.6464 -25.5% -11.48% n.a.

-24.27% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

75.03 -40.97% n.a. n.a. -27.39% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 38.2228 -25.85% -8.55% n.a. -25.46% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 408.81 -24.09% -8.16% -6.86% -23.27% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 0.8433 n.a. n.a. n.a. -18.13% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 0.9738 -25.3% -8.16% -5.98% -24.33% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 28.6055 -25.5% -7.45% -5.91% -24.52% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.7575 -26.36% n.a. n.a.

-25.6% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.8916 -25.44% -8.02% -5.83% -25.5% 650.48 -25.33% -7.97% -6.03% -25.41% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.5908 -35.93% -12.26% -10.05% -30.61% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.0364 -28.95% -9.07% -7.08% -27.86% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7471 -25.42% -8.12% n.a. -25.35% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.7684 -25.24% -6.01% -4.76% -24.22% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 87.2966 -25.1% -7.46% -5.19% -25.36% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $0.8755 -15.81% -1.7% -4.17% -14.87% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.1982 -7.27% 2.98% n.a. -13.09% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4926 -12.67% -4.97% -5.09% -4.49% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 1.9661 -14.62% -5.28% -3.46% -9.86% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.3355 -10.95% -2.71% -4.37% -11.25% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.1838 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-19.56% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.7919 -6.09% -1.28% -1.85% -8.72% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.3263 -8.91% -3.12% -3.33% -12.21% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 14.8836 -9.74% -3.26% -3.41% -12.25% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.8548 -13% -4.11% -2.89% -12.75% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.1711 -16.96% -4.76% -4.28% -17.93% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 0.8989 -9.11% n.a. n.a.

-11.5% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.8043 -18.6% n.a. n.a. -19.28% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7831 -20.59% n.a. n.a.

-21.15% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7772 -19.16% -6.04% -5.97% -20.27% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03813 5.92% 2.43% 1.55% -0.26% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.9091 -9.31% -1.01% -2.55% -12.41% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.502 -5.81% 2.21% 0.98% -10.45% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $1.0465 -3.69% 0.83% n.a.

-7.29% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 361.43 3.96% 2.92% 2.37% 1.01% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9246 2.26% 0.82% -0.21% 1.19% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1597 4.81% 5.14% 5.11% 1.39% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2599 4.74% 2.63% 2.09% 1.57% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4019 6.59% 2.79% 1.54% 1.81% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.4627 11.01% 3.24% 1.96% 2.05% 3.8361 6.66% 3.37% 1.71% 1.26% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0091 10.02% 2.97% 1.19% 4.65% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1007 7.78% 4.38% 2.59% 0.81% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7152 7.52% 3.92% 2.22% 0.83% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $467.27 2.95% 2.23% 2.35% -0.2% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.89 -0.92% 0.47% 0.52% -2.66% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1707 0.39% 1.57% 1.57% -3.02% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0259 2.78% 1.32% 1.2% 0.39% $1.0491 -0.98% -0.76% -0.78% -4.21% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.381 5.7% 2.55% 2.11% -0.95% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0594516 2.32% 1.43% 1.36% -1.43% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1585 6.53% 2.15% 2.13% -0.53% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 127.2 3.95% 3.07% 2.32% 1.13% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0358 2.77% n.a. n.a.

0.93% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2693 6.16% 3.42% 1.84% 1% 3.41% 2.98% 2.51% 0.9% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.276 Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0406 1.69% n.a. n.a.

0.33% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,4 $0.91 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-8.08% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

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

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

7 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

8 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

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

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

ING Bank boosts savings by keeping interest at 4%

I

NG Bank Manila is keeping its saving interest rate at 4 percent per annum to encourage more clients in creating an account as the need to build up savings increases amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a statement on Monday, the local unit of the global financial institution said that offer was extended until July 31.

“In many ways, we now see that Filipinos have a higher awareness of the need to build their savings and keep an emergency fund,” ING Bank Manila Country Manager Hans Sicat said. “This way, we hope to give our customers the assurance that their money will continue to grow with ING as their sustained savings or for any emergency needs.”

ING Bank’s offer was initially set to last until this month only.

In the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s (BSP) quarterly survey of consumer expectations last year, the Central Bank’s data showed the overall percentage of households with

savings in the second quarter of 2019 went down from 36.6 percent to 35.2 percent in a span of three months.

To note, ING Bank said its offer means customers could earn 16 times more in interest rate compared to most retail banks.

The bank said there is no required minimum amount to start earning interest and there’s also no lock-in period.

Sicat added that the bank’s mobile application will always be accessible to provide banking services to all clients.

“We know that managing your money digitally is highly necessary at this time, so it is important for us to maintain our no-fees policy when customers transfer funds from ING to other local banks,” he said.

Apart from this, ING Bank, along with global processing and support center ING Business Shared Services, vowed to donate 100,000 euros to healthcare and non-governmental organizations amid the pandemic.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

BDO Leasing recovers from margin depression

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DO Leasing and Finance Inc. credited measures to temper costs for its turnaround in the first quarter of the year ending March: the financial intermediary posted a net income of P83 million from a P24-million loss last year.

“The results reflect successful measures undertaken to address margin compression, which dragged down its financial results in 2019,” the company said. Margin compression occurs when the input costs to deliver a service rise faster than its sales price.

According to BDO Leasing, measures were able to address margin compression as evidenced by gross revenues reaching P696 million, while total expenses dropped by 30 percent to P569 million, largely due to the 52 percent drop in interest and financing charges as funding costs normalized.

Earlier this year, BDO Leasing’s parent BDO Unibank Inc. agreed to sell its 88.54-percent stake in the company to a group led by Luis N. Yu, one of the owners of 8990 Holdings Inc. The latter’s business is in mass housing.

Yu is buying 33 percent of BDO Leasing, while Vittorio P. Lim will buy 33 percent; Victor Y. Lim Jr. will acquire 4 percent and the remaining 18.54 percent will be by third-party buyers.

The company already announced that it will change its articles of incorporation and by-laws to reflect the change in name and purpose of the firm from a leasing company to a holding company.

The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier suspended the

registration statement (RS) of BDO Leasing as a listed company after its primary business will be changed with the sale of most of the company to the Lims and Yus. Included in the suspension by the SEC Markets and Securities Regulation Department (MSRD) are BDO Leasing’s order of registration and permit to sell securities.

The SEC MSRD said it acted so after finding that the information contained in the main document “has become materially incomplete and inaccurate.”

“The MSRD particularly noted the disclosure of [BDO Leasing] that there would be a change in its primary business, from leasing and finance to a holding company, as a consequence of BDO Unibank’s sale of its controlling stake in [BDO Leasing] to a third party,” the regulator said.

“The MSRD finds that the suspension of the RS is consistent with public interest and protection of investors as the RS is materially incomplete and inaccurate and, if left unchecked, would tend to work a fraud on investors,” it added.

Shares of BDO Leasing was last traded on January 24 and closed at P3.16 apiece.

According to the SEC, under Rule 14 of the 2015 implementing rules and regulations of the Securities Regulation Code, a company needs to file an amended registration statement if it had major change in the primary business of the issuer, reorganization of the company and an increase in risk on the investment or on the securities covered by the registration. VG Cabuag

Pandemic seen to spur demand for hedging, insurance products

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By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

@Tyronepiad

he banking industry should be prepared to shield customers from financial exposures and risks given the market volatility amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, an audit firm said.

In a report titled “Perspective for the Philippine banking industry,” PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Services Philippines Co. Ltd. (PwC Philippines) said that demand for hedging and insurance products will likely surge due to increasing uncertainty in financial and commodity markets. “[Banks] will need to come to grips with customers’ concerns quickly to help manage their exposures and risks,” the accounting firm said in its report posted on its web site.

Hedging and insurance are tools reducing exposure to financial risk,

with the former done through investment to offset it while the latter via a contract with a firm bearing the risk.

According to the latest data by the Insurance Commission, insurance coverage in the Philippines stood at 59.10 percent of the population or around 63 million Filipinos in 2018.

“You [banks] may also need to consider whether alternate forms of collateral can be accepted to help mitigate significant cash flows that your customers may need for their day to day operational needs,” PwC

By Alexis Calla

W

hat we have experienced in the past two months is unprecedented.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) global pandemic and the resulting physical lockdowns will deliver a massive blow to the global economy. France’s statistical office estimates the current lockdown will cost the French economy 35 -percent of dai ly gross domestic product (GDP) as long as it continues. That means a 1-month lockdown would shave almost 3 percent off the 2020 GDP. Meanwhile, there is huge uncertainty surrounding how long the lockdowns will go on for, how many companies will go bankrupt because of cashflow challenges and how many jobs will be lost.

Policymakers have been quick to respond with sharp interest rate cuts, massive liquidity injections and huge fiscal spending.

We are all left trying to make sense of it all. What are the chances that I will contract the virus? Will I recover if I do? What about my family, friends and colleagues?

What actions can I take to protect myself and those around me?

Oh and, as an aside, what should I do with my investments that have just declined sharply in value? The US equity market took less than a month to fall from a new all-time high to a bear market (i.e. over

C

China’s financial managers vowed to prop up the economy that contracted 6.8 percent in the first quarter. Bloomberg News

China’s top leaders said last week that the nation is facing “unprecedented” economic difficulties and signaled that more stimulus was in the works. The meeting was held the same day as China announced that

Philippines added.

Apart from this, the audit firm warned that individual and corporate borrowers might be facing pandemic-induced financial challenges now, explaining this could increase loan defaults or restructuring.

PwC Philippines, with this, said that banks should be able to distinguish the routine payment delay from decline in credit quality.

“How you [banks] respond could be critical to future customer relationships and to your public image,” it added.

Liquidity

PwC Philippines said that banks should be able to meet the urgent liquidity needs of its customers amid the pandemic and evaluate their credit rating as well.

“Some customers will have immediate needs for short-term funding, particularly for business where there has been a sharp and sudden reduction in demand, but they have not been able to reduce their operating costs commensurately,” the audit firm said.

“This is a difficult situation and

you will need to be able to identify between those customers for which you expect to be able to recover and others which are less likely to do so,” it added.

Banks should be able to monitor and forecast the borrowers’ financial position to have an idea of the credit risk involved, PwC Philippines said.

At the same time, banks are urged to make services always accessible for both physical and digital platforms to meet customer needs.

Shift to digital

With mobility restricted amid lock down, the audit firm said that the bank should take the opportunity to boost customer digital touch points to reduce face-to-face interactions.

The sector, PwC Philippines said, should also use its platform to educate customers on financial literacy for them to maximize both online and mobile services.

“Equipping customers with knowledge can play a significant role in furthering the level of trust banks currently enjoy from their customers,” the audit firm said.

The importance of understanding yourself 20-percent decline). And then just to add to the confusion, the market rebounded 20 percent in just four days!

Rather than focusing solely on what could happen in the future, we believe we would all benefit more by analysing what we have learned about ourselves as an investor in the past few weeks.

Given hindsight, what actions would I change if I could go back in time—either in the heat of the moment, or over the past five years? Did I take on excessive risk or leverage? Did I panic sell? Of course, we cannot time-travel, but we can commit to acting differently going forward.

What we might struggle with is identifying a framework to apply to ourselves so that we can assess our traits and see how this might influence the investment decisions we make.

In partnership with Oxford Risk—a specialist in the world of behavioral finance—we identified nine personality traits (risk tolerance, speculation, composure, confidence, financial comfort, desire for guidance, impulsivity, desire for legacy, internal locus of control) that best describe and explain investor behavior. If you measure these traits with high, medium or low rankings, this gives us just under 20,000 potentially different individual profiles.

However, based on a survey

China pledges more stimulus as banks cut lending rates hinese banks lowered borrowing costs and the government promised to sell another 1 trillion yuan ($141.3 billion) in bonds to pay for stimulus spending after the economy had its first contraction in decades due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The 1-year loan prime rate was set at 3.85 percent versus 4.05 percent in March, according to a statement from the People’s Bank of China last Monday. That followed a series of policy-loosening steps in the past month by the central bank aimed at cushioning the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

In a separate statement, the Ministry of Finance announced the new quota of special local bonds and promised they would be sold by the end of May. The money raised will mainly be used to pay for infrastructure spending.

Tuesday, April 21, 2020 B3

the economy contracted 6.8 percent in the first quarter and the nation’s outlook is also weak as the shutdown of other countries will likely hit demand for exports.

The yuan weakened to session

lows in offshore trading after the rate cut announcement, falling as much as 0.15 percent versus the dollar to 7.0894. Chinese stock indexes were little changed in early action while 10-year government bond futures erased slight gains to trade 0.11 percent lower.

The 1 trillion yuan in new bonds adds to 1.29 trillion yuan of special local government bonds that have already been approved this year to finance infrastructure projects, such as roads and industrial parks. Local governments have sold almost 90 percent of the existing quota, a finance ministry official said Monday.

China’s full-year fiscal policy has yet to be detailed, as the nation’s annual legislative meeting usually held in March, the National People’s Congress, was postponed due to the coronavirus. A new date hasn’t yet been announced. Bloomberg News

of our clients in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, we found there are three main clusters of behavioral profiles, which we label as: “Conservative,” “Comfortable” and “Enthusiastic.”

The Conservative Investor is generally comfortable in his own financial skin, does not really want much guidance and is less likely to be speculative or impulsive. This type of investor is likely to experience lower drawdowns in times of market volatility.

One potential thing for Conservative investors to think about is whether their investment allocations are too conservative and consistent with their long-term goals.

Periods of market volatility, such as we are seeing at the moment, can be a good time to think about gradually adding risk to their investment allocations.

The Comfortable Investor is similar to the Conservative Investor, but ranks higher on composure and confidence. This investor tends to have more investment experience, is likely to be calm in a crisis and will likely try to evaluate the situation as rationally as possible. One potential weakness is a tendency to be overconfident.

It is very important for this type of investor to try to find views from different perspectives and try to find out why his perspective could be wrong. This will help ensure that the investor remains diversi-

fied, while continuing to factor in alternative scenarios.

The Enthusiastic Investor is largely the opposite of the Conservative Investor and is high on speculation, impulsivity and looks for guidance from those around them. Investors with this profile can be whipsawed in times of market turmoil, exacerbated by the fact that this profile tends to have the least investment experience.

This investor would benefit from pre-committing to a disciplined investment approach. This should include a core diversified allocation that is held through periods of volatility. It could also include a separate allocation that can be implemented through more thematic ideas (which would also satisfy their need for action).

Of course, we are all individuals and are likely to have traits from different profiles. However, we hope this framework will help you identify the potential strengths and weaknesses of your own profile.

Increased self-awareness is the first step in developing an investment approach that is consistent with both your behavioral biases and also your long-term objectives.

Alexis Calla is Chief Investment Officer at Standard Chartered Private Bank. The views expressed here by Mr. Calla do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror’s.

Manulife further extends grace period for premium payments due by May 31

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he Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. Philippines Inc. (Manulife Philippines) announced it is extending a 60-day grace period for those with premium payments due between May 1 to May 31, 2020.

The wholly owned domestic subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corp. said in a statement issued on April 20 the extension applies to holders of life insurance policies issued and assumed by Manulife Philippines, Manulife China and Manulife Financial Plans.

The company previously extended a 60-day grace period for payments due from March 16 to April 30.

Manulife Philippines President and CEO Richard Bates said in the statement the insurer understands the difficulty for policyholders to make their premium payments.

“We keep everyone’s health and safety in mind, as we face the situation brought on by Covid-19,” Bates said. “We are extending our payment deadlines to help alleviate the financial pressures they may be under.”

One of the leading life insurance companies in the country, Manulife Philippines posted a premium income of P17.74 billion, based from the data compiled by the Insurance Commission. Bernadette D. Nicolas

B4

Show BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

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Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Queen Elizabeth II, 93; James McAvoy, 40; Andie MacDowell, 61; Tony Romo, 39; Gugu Mbatha-Raw, 36.

Happy Birthday: Take your time, reflect, digest what’s happened and prepare to let go of anything that is no longer a necessity. The relief you feel from uncluttering your life emotionally, mentally and physically will help you take advantage of new possibilities. A demonstrative approach to life, love and personal gain will push you in a positive and prosperous direction. Your lucky numbers are 6, 14, 19, 22, 27, 34, 41.

Multi-awarded chorale group holds online fund-raising concert for frontliners, barangays

THE multi-awarded resident chorale group of the De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde, Coro San Benildo kicks off Coro Sessions Live: An Online Fundraising Concert to raise funds for basic medical supplies and food packs to the frontliners of the Philippine General Hospital, who are partners of the college for its Project Safe Shelter.

Other recipients of donations include the neighboring barangays affected by the enhanced community quarantine amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The performances are spearheaded by Coro San Benildo alumni including independent acoustic/pop/R&B singer-songwriter and soloist Mark Atienza; 2019 National Music Competition for Young Artists finalist and baritone and tenor singer Marvin Bautista; and tenor classical artist and multi-awarded vocalist Mark Bautista. Freelance musical theater performer, voice teacher, and 9 to 5 Manila vocalist Paula Paguio; performing arts teacher, freelance musician, voice coach and singersongwriter Hannah dela Rosa; Believe Music’s label manager, session musician, and Malana and The Espasouls band member Pauline Lauron complete the lineup.

Remaining shows of Coro Sessions Live will be held on Thursday to Saturday, April 23 to 25, starting 7 pm. Watch them live at www.facebook.com/corosanbenildo.benilde.

Interested donors may support this initiative through BDO bank transfer (account name: College of Saint Benilde Inc. account number: 004580243334) or via GCash QR Code available in the organization’s official accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@CoroSanBenildo).

More information is available via 0949-1770494.

The Hunks reunite for Landers Superstore’s online benefit concert

FOLLOWING the success of the first and second online benefit concerts, Landers Superstore, together with the Philippine Army, staged its third One Voice Pilipinas concert, reuniting The Hunks’ Jericho Rosales, Piolo Pascual, Diether Ocampo and Bernard Palanca to raise a total of P8.9 million to help the families in need during the lockdown.

The online concert, which streamed on Landers’ official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LandersPH) and Matteo Guidicelli’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/matteog), was hosted by Matteo and Kean Cipriano. It also featured Landers endorser Erwan Heussaff, Vicki Belo and Hayden Kho, Kim Atienza, Laureen Uy, John Prats with wife Isabel Oli, Chynna Ortaleza and live performances from Morissette Amon and Kyline Alcantara.

You can still watch the first two installments of One Voice Pilipinas on Landers’ and Guidicelli’s Facebook pages. Enjoy live performances from Manny Pacquiao, Martin Nievera, Christian Bautista, Ylona Garcia, Jaya, Donnalyn Bartolome, Seth Fedelin, Joey Generoso, Janine Teñoso, Jason Dy, Jed Madela and Sarah Geronimo who did a duet with Janine, and guest appearances including Liza Soberano, Kylie Verzosa, and Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo.

Donations are also still open (www.onevoicepilipinas. landers.ph). Proceeds will be used to prepare food packs and will be distributed to barangays that need them most.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Overreacting will lead to a poor decision. Don’t do anything unpredictable because you are angry or frustrated with what’s happening around you. Keep the peace, bide your time, and don’t jeopardize your reputation or your income. Avoid indulgent behavior.

HHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Think about what you can do, and head in that direction.

The help you offer will be appreciated and encourage you to update your skills and qualifications.

A change of scenery will lead to unusual friendships.

Live within your means. HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Truth matters; if you mislead someone or you are inconsistent or uncertain, you will damage your reputation.

Take your time, be direct and concentrate on selfimprovement, not trying to change others. Get rid of any bad habits you’ve adopted. HH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Join in and spend time with your friends, relatives or peers.

Sign up for something that interests you, and share your ideas and feelings with someone you find special. Do your research, and lay down the foundation for something you want to pursue. HHHHH

IDRIS ELBA

Elba and wife, recovering from coronavirus, to help others

E

By Louise Dixon The Associated Press

VEN though they only had mild symptoms, Idris Elba says he and his wife had their lives “turned around” after contracting the coronavirus, calling the experience “definitely scary and unsettling and nervous.”

“You know, everyone’s sort of feeling the way we have been feeling, but it has definitely been sort of just a complete upheaval,” he told The Associated Press late last week.

But the British actor feels that there are life lessons to be learned, and the pandemic serves as a reminder that “the world doesn’t tick on your time.”

“I think that the world should take a week of quarantine every year just to remember this time.

Remember each other. I really do,” he said.

The British actor and his model wife, Sabrina Dhowre Elba, spoke to the AP as they began a push with the United Nations to lessen the impact of Covid-19 on farmers and food producers in rural areas. “People forget that 80 percent of the poor

population live in these rural areas.” Dhowre Elba said. “What we are really worried about at the moment, and why we are launching this fund is that those people are being forgotten.”

In their new roles as UN Goodwill Ambassadors, Elba and his wife have joined forces with the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development to launch the new $40 million fund.

Elba said he was particularly concerned as to what the coronavirus pandemic could do on the continent in countries already suffering economically.

“We have to think about the forward planning.

What’s what’s the fallout going to be?” he said.

The couple have been recovering in New Mexico, where the actor was filming when he became sick, but plan to return to London as soon as they can get a flight. Elba said he had to miss his six-year-old son’s birthday because of the lockdown but he’s “hoping to see him as soon as I can.”

“We’ve been fortunate,” he added.

“We have been staying in a lovely place that’s been very comfortable for the time. But we’re looking forward to going home.” n

e f

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Ignore what others are doing, and stay focused on what you want to achieve. A personal goal geared toward making updates will add to what you have to offer. HHH

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Keep your money and your possessions in a safe place.

Don’t take risks or let anyone take advantage of you. Focus on keeping a steady pace and making adjustments that will help you get ahead. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Take time out for yourself. A day of pampering, spending time with someone special or curling up with a good book will ease stress. Do whatever it takes to avoid an argument. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Don’t hesitate; you are more than ready to take on whatever comes your way. Seize the moment, ask questions and start making the changes required to turn your plan into a reality. HHHHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll face confusion and uncertainty due to the information someone offers. Question whatever you are told, and find out what’s real and what isn’t before you commit to anything or anyone. HH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Check out the job market, and consider what excites you and what you’d like to do next. A change at home will help you make a move in a new direction. Turn your dream, passion or talent into a prosperous venture.

HHHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Take action, and form alliances with someone who has always been there for you. Don’t worry about the changes others are making. Focus on what’s best for you, and work with those who are heading in a similar direction. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Common sense, reason and fair play will help you stay on course and reach your target. Refuse to let ego, regrets or bad habits come between you and the success you deserve. Stay on track, do your best and don’t look back. HHH Birthday Baby: You are astute, dedicated and fair.

You are strong-willed and faithful.

‘ball game over’ by matthew stock The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 “Fat chance!”

5 Org. of Wizards and Magic 8 Health info site 13 Kid ___ (“Day ‘n’ Nite” artist) 14 Mystical radiance 16 Open courtyards 17 On any occasion 18 Half a supposedly telepathic pair 20 Barking marine animals 22 Model airplane set, e.g.

23 It’s big and blue 24 Long, pointy weapons 26 Like a Starburst 28 Event with snow biking 30 Untidy stacks 34 Intense dance party 35 PC hookup 36 Watch in astonishment 37 Unrefined metal 38 Toasted breakfast treat 40 The Pioneer Woman host Drummond 41 Streep’s Out of Africa role 43 1 or 66: Abbr.

44 Untidy stack

45 ___ Lauder 46 If Beale Street Could Talk author 48 Go bad 50 Snazzy electric cars 51 “I did NOT need to know that!”

54 Rock greats’ shrine, briefly 55 Choices 56 Exhilarating baseball finish, or a hint to 18-, 28- and 46-Across 59 Easter Bunny’s favorite breakfast spot?

62 Disney princess from Atlantica 63 2020 also-ran Andrew 64 “Finished!”

65 Decorate for showings 66 GameCube ancestor 67 Instructions unit DOWN 1 Score 100 percent on 2 Honda CR-V, e.g.

3 “This queen is gonna treat herself!”

4 Door buster?: Var. 5 Polish business?

6 Pals 7 “___ you sure?”

8 “Hold on...huh?”

9 And so on: Abbr.

10 Supportive garments 11 Four laps, on most tracks 12 They’re often plotted 15 Egyptian crosses 19 Score such as 1-1 21 Uru. neighbor 24 Light at a 34-Across 25 Gems strung on a necklace 26 Like this answer’s position 27 “Uh-huh” 29 Explorer’s reference 31 Picture taken by a drone, perhaps 32 Spanish rice dish 33 Spirited horses 36 “Season’s ___!”

38 Apartment door feature 39 All-hrs. bank amenity 42 Crosses (out) 44 Arthur channel 46 Blink of an eye 47 Blink of an eye, briefly 49 Reaction to a punch 51 “Jabberwocky” opener

52 Convenience store 53 Hip bones 55 Knotty wood 57 Frat party barrel 58 Obi-Kenobi link 60 Number of states with three-word capitals 61 Verve Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Home BusinessMirror

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

B5

CLOCKWISE: Chez Nina by India Mahdavi for De Gournay, Ixtapa Ocean by Pierre Frey, Totem Tunis

by Work and Sea, Vårklockor from Svenskt Tenn, and Splash by Eskayel

For your next video chat, give the wall behind your mug some love

T

By Monica Khemsurov Bloomberg News

HE wallpaper business was booming before coronavirus forced us all to contemplate the state of the walls in our home—and in the home of everyone else on our virtual meeting. Those in the industry are taking notice: “We’ve seen a big spike in wallpaper sample orders,” says Noel Fahden, vice president of merchandising at online retailer Chairish.

“Many customers are ordering five-plus samples at a time, so they’re clearly considering a range of options.” Eskayel founder Shanan Campanaro says her business has remained “fairly stable” because it works mainly with interior designers who are working on new buildout and long-term projects that can’t be put on hold. The biggest increase has been social media engagement, though. “Fans at home seem particularly interested in inspiring home imagery right now,” she says.

Family-owned French brand Pierre Frey got lucky: It recently rolled out a new web site, and Kim Huebner, who manages its showroom in New York, says clients are quickly adapting to working online.

With so much teleconferencing going on, “a woven design that is paperbacked and applied to the wall will help with acoustics,” she suggests. “And remember to choose a flattering color to make your image look good on screen.”

FLORALS ONE of the most loved wallpaper designers is Josef Frank, an Austrian-born architect who moved to Sweden in 1933 amid rising anti-Semitism in Europe.

“All of Josef Frank’s prints are bold and colorful,” says Thommy Bindefeld, creative director of Svenskt Tenn, a Swedish interiors company founded in 1924.

“Even though many of them were designed during the Second World War, [they] are very joyful and playful.”

The mix of fantastical and realistic drawings in his

Vårklockor design includes such spring flowers as tulips, crocuses, dandelions, and forget-me-nots.

Less bold, but no less unique, is Gucci’s new Herbarium print from its spring-summer 2020 collection. Its floral design also comes in a variety of colors. Status brand Calico Wallpaper, meanwhile, has produced a couple of more subtle flower-inspired patterns, including Flora, which evokes “the eternal calm and serenity of an open field.”

PATTERNS De Gournay, the grand dame of French wallpaper brands, also released a riotous floral pattern with fashion brand Erdem this year, but its “Chez Nina” collection, with Iranian-French architect and designer India Mahdavi, takes a bold, geometric turn by giving diamond patterns the star treatment.

One low-risk way to dip a toe in the wallpaper waters is with removable options. Graduate Plaid by Chasing Wallpaper gives off an intellectual’s library look, while Graham Brown’s Plum Heritage is a luxurious, versatile stripe that can be hung vertically or horizontally.

ANIMALS THE playful zebra print featured at bit.ly/2wW5G8S was designed by Flora Scalamandre in 1945 and was originally intended for use in Gino of Capri, a restaurant in New York’s Upper East Side.

The print has since been used by many retailers, including Barney’s and Kate Spade, as well as in such movies as The Royal Tenenbaums and Mighty Aphrodite. If that’s too twee for your 10 o’clock appointment, Chairish’s Fahden recommends scenic, botanical, or verdant patterns.

For even more personality, Voutsa’s Plumes and Eyes pattern gives the impression of depth with its insanely detailed feathers, and he’s got a forthcoming Birds collection, too.

And who doesn’t love elephants? The Totem Tunis pattern from up and coming Los Angeles studio

Work and Sea proves that animal patterns don’t have to be relegated to kids’ rooms.

PAINTERLY Softer colors can sometimes look better on camera.

“So many of our patterns have been used in home offices,” says Eskayel’s Campanaro. “They each feel right depending on the intention. Sometimes a bright vibrant paper like Splash in cerulean can spark lively thought, and other times something more calming and subtle like Nairutya in chalk is nice for quiet contemplation.” Portico is its latest. It’s based on the whitewashed walls in Ostuni and other towns in the Italian region of Puglia, where is where her father’s family is from.

District, the latest pattern from Kelly Wearstler, comes in a variety of colors and makes you look like you’re in an actual painting. Triad No. 5 from Wallpaper Projects is one of a few lush colorways that have the benefit of also feeling cheerful.

TROPICALS THE newest wallpaper collection from Hermès doubles down on the wish-you-were-here vibe.

Its Decor Mural Tropical is the image of a villa’s window looking out from a pool. The inspiration for Pierre Frey’s Ixtapa Ocean, meanwhile, came from a vacation video by the company’s chief executive officer, who worked with an artist to recreate the scene of waves rolling onto a beach in Mexico. The scale, notes Huebner, allows you to feel as if you’re part of the scenery. One of the most famous classic wallpapers: Martinique was designed for California’s Beverly Hills Hotel, where much significant work has been accomplished.

FOR A REAL GREEN SCREEN...

Burke Decor’s Jute Grasscloth is a modern mix of grasscloth, cork, and mica patterns. The real benefit?

The green screen function in Zoom works far better with a genuine green screen behind you. n

Amiya Raya officially launches Phase 4 of highland development COMMUNITY Creators Inc. recently officially launched Phase 4 of its premier community development, Amiya Raya Highland Homes, in an Investors’ Night held at the La Piazza Events Village by Albergus in Quezon City.

As part of the event, AVP for Marketing and Business Development Arlene Jacosalem conducted a brief presentation on the attractive landscape of the municipality of San Mateo, and Amiya Raya as real-estate investment prospect.

The Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index currently lists San Mateo as one of the Top 10 Municipalities in the Philippines. With its own Investment Board, and as part of the ongoing construction of the C-6 Road and San MateoAntipolo Toll Expressway, San Mateo presents a viable and new investment hub for businesses.

In Hindu-Sanskrit, Amiya Raya means “a view that delights the senses,” a description that captures the essence of the development. The exclusive Asian-themed residential enclave boasts of a stunning 270-degree view of the city, Laguna de Bay, and the Rizal mountain ranges.

Phase 4 of this development has a limited number of residential lots with cuts ranging from 250 square meter to 755 sq. m. With less than 10 percent of the available lots for sale at Amiya Raya, it offers a much more exclusive neighborhood with lots having some of the highest peaks and best views in the development.

Amiya Raya is currently working on the completion of its 1,400 sq. m. clubhouse and sports facility, an 11-hectare nature park, a village center, and a retail area.

Situated 240 meters above sea-level and enveloped by its natural environs, it offers resort-like living that is only a 15-minute drive from the city. It is located in San Mateo, Rizal, which makes it close to places of interests such as schools, churches, malls and government offices.

Residential development spotlights world-renowned Japanese brand LIXIL Philippines recently formalized its partnership with Sunshine Fort North Bonifacio Realty Development Corp. during a ceremonial contract-signing held at The Seasons Residences Showroom in Bonifacio Global City.

Under the partnership, The Seasons Residences’ remaining residential towers, namely, Natsu, Aki and Fuyu, will feature bathroom fixtures from Inax, the worldrenowned brand of upscale Japanese sanitary ware known for such innovations as non-scratch and self-cleansing surface powered by the Aqua Ceramic technology, Air Shield Deodorizer and Room Refresh functions that eliminate odors, and a hands-free, easy-to-use remote control. The Seasons Residences is a collaboration between

Federal Land Inc., Sunshine Fort North Bonifacio Realty Development Corp. and Japan’s leading firms Nomura Real Estate Development Co. Ltd. and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. Shown in photo are Nomura Real Estate Development Residential Development Division International Department General Manager Masaya Hirao (from left), Federal Land General Manager Thomas Mirasol, Sunshine Fort North Bonifacio Realty Development Corp. President Catherine Ko, Lixil Philippines General Manager Alpha Ang, assistant country manager Joralyn Ong, and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. Real Estate Development Department Division Manager Daisuke Kobayashi.

B6 Tuesday, April 21, 2020

One Meralco Foundation provides aid to homeless, PPEs for frontliners amid COVID-19 crisis

Scientists from UP Diliman’s Philippine Genome Center who will sequence samples from COVID-19 patients admitted at While public transport is suspended, Meralco’s subsidiary eSakay and OMF the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), The Medical City, and PGH, received 20 desktop computers donated teamed up with Pasig City to provide electric vehicle shuttle services for mediby Meralco, through OMF. cal workers and employees of vital businesses.

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NE Meralco Foundation (OMF), the Manila Electric Company’s (MERALCO) social development arm, has mobilized to help thousands of homeless families and frontline medical personnel heavily impacted by the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak and the current enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed on Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.

Without a roof over their heads, families living on the streets are among the most vulnerable as they are exposed to the elements and lack access to the basic necessities.

In partnership with TV5's Alagang Kapatid Foundation (AKFI), Maynilad, and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), OMF distributed food packs on March 24, benefiting 200 families living along Kalayaan and E. Rodriguez avenues in Quezon City, and 500 marginalized families at Brgy.

Buting, Pasig City.

In addition, the foundation gave out care packages in Tondo, Manila (300 families); Bacoor, Cavite (300 families); Brgy. Talon Cuatro, Las Pinas City (100 families); Pateros City (400 families); Brgy. Bukana, Ternate, Cavite (300 families); Malabon City (300 families); Caloocan City (300 families); Navotas City (150 families); Antipolo City, Rizal (200 families); Marikina City (300 families); Mandaluyong City (200 families); and San Juan City (200 families).

It also launched an internal online campaign within the Meralco

organization to provide marginalized families in Metro Manila with grocery gift certificates – a project in collaboration with Caritas Manila that raised more than P1.5 million and benefited at least 1,500 families.

Meanwhile, OMF also responded to the needs of private and governmentowned referral hospitals for personal protective equipment (PPEs) and basic safety gear for healthcare personnel attending to the rising number of COVID-19 patients. OMF donated 1,000 face masks to the Rizal Medical Center and the Philippine Heart Center, turned over 500 face masks, 450 goggles, and 4,000 surgical gloves to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), and 2,000 surgical gloves to the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala Sanitarium).

OMF also donated 450 face masks and 2,000 surgical gloves to the Lung Center of the Philippines, and 100 face masks and 400 surgical gloves to Baguio General Hospital.

The Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Sta. Mesa Manila, designated as the main COVID-19 referral hospital of the Metro Pacific Hospitals, received 1,600 face masks and 100 face shields.

The foundation also provided KN95 masks, goggles, and face shields to frontliners of various local governments in the Meralco franchise area, such as Marikina City, Batangas City, and San Pascual, Batangas.

OMF also sponsored the disinfection and decontamination

of various offices of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Rizal Medical Center using SteraMist technology, a decontamination system that cleans and sanitizes without downtime.

Additionally, volunteers from Meralco's Networks group installed floodlights at the Lung Center of the Philippines’ parking lot, which now serves as an extended triage area for COVID-related cases.

Meralco, through OMF, donated 20 desktop computers to the Philippine Genome Center (PGC) at UP Diliman.

Their scientists are set to start sequencing samples from COVID-19 patients to better understand the characteristics of the virus and find ways to stop it from spreading. The institution will also serve as the operations center for a united effort of different volunteer groups within the University of the Philippines system to help respond to the crisis. eSakay, a Meralco subsidiary, and OMF teamed up with the local government unit of Pasig to shuttle health workers and employees of essential businesses to work.Launched on March 19, it served more than 5,000 passengers – of which 592 were health workers – in the first week alone.

OMF also joined PayMaya in its "One Against COVID-19" project to offer a convenient way to contribute to the initiatives of OMF and other partner organizations. To donate, visit the campaign website at http://pymy. co/onemeralco.

Insular Foundation provides PPEs and free insurance coverage to medical frontliners

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NSULAR Foundation together with contributions from employees, agents, families and friends of Insular Life and its subsidiary, Insular Health Care, Inc. raised funds to assist medical workers who are leading the fight against covid-19.

The amount raised was used to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) sets to nine hospitals in Metro Manila, and cash donations to the Philippine Nurses Association – Cebu Chapter, Clark Investors and Locators Association and Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the purchase of PPEs. Additionally, Insular Foundation will provide free care packages consisting of life insurance and hospitalization allowance for doctors, nurses, medical technologists, and other frontliners of selected hospitals. The care package will provide a total of P27.5 million in life insurance benefits and hospitalization allowance to the medical workers.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic affects the lives of many, Insular Foundation contributes to various initiatives to assist our medical frontliners, and to help families in need. Through generous contributions from our employees and agents, and the assistance fund from our Insular Foundation, we are able to provide donations to hospitals, industry associations, and the Muntinlupa City government,” InLife Executive Chairman and Insular Foundation Chairman Nina D. Aguas said.

During the first week of the enhanced community quarantine, Insular Foundation was the first responder to the call of Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime Fresnedi. Program Manager Teresita T. Melad turned over a check donation to the Muntinlupa City government to support the city’s relief distribution efforts.

Melad also turned over various kitchen equipment and food supplies to the medical frontliners of Ospital ng Muntinlupa who are temporarily staying in Tunasan, Muntinlupa.

Texas Instruments commits $250,000 to support fight against COVID-19 in Philippines

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EXAS Instruments (TI) today announced a donation of $250,000 USD to support COVID-19 relief efforts in the Philippines. TI’s donation will help support the needs of frontline medical workers, including personal protective equipment (PPE), and provide food aid to communities around Baguio City and Clark Freeport Zone where our two factories are located.

“TI has always been committed to building stronger communities, ever since our founding,” said Sarjit Kaur, managing director of TI’s factory in Clark. “Our employees in the Philippines have engaged with local students on science, technology, engineering and math tutorials and plastic recycling. During typhoons and earthquakes, TI and its employees worldwide have reached out to assist the community’s recovery efforts. We have always strived to be a good neighbor – and helping our neighbors has never been more important.”

In the early stages of the Luzon enhanced community quarantine, TI employees quickly sourced and donated 600 cleanroom bunny

suits, 200 booties, and 11,000 vinyl gloves to local hospitals in Baguio, Angeles and Mabalacat to help protect medical frontliners.

TI produces analog and embedded semiconductor chips, which are used by customers to develop virtually every type of electronic system and enable critical technology, including life-saving medical equipment needed to fight the virus and other infrastructure. TI continues to manufacture at its sites in the Philippines and around the world to help our customers meet global needs.

“I am incredibly amazed by our TIers' passion to serve – creating innovative solutions and pooling talent and energy to help even when resources are limited, especially if it means making our communities better,” said Erwin Estepa, managing director for TI’s Baguio factory. “TIers have been committed to support critical production needs to make a big difference during this world crisis.”

Read about TI’s approach to giving at www. ti.com/giving or in the Corporate Citizenship Report at www.ti.com/ccr.

Smart boosts network service at San Lazaro Hospital

DOT outlines tourism response, post-Covid 19 recovery plan to aid private sector

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OURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat assures the public that the Department of Tourism (DOT) is doing everything within its mandate to aid the stakeholders of the country’s tourism industry in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The assertion comes on the heels of the appeal of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) for government to provide aid to local travel agencies weathering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Puyat noted that some points and suggestions raised by the PTAA have been incorporated in the Tourism Response and Recovery Program as well as incentives lined up by the DOT and its attached agencies to help tourism-related businesses and their work force get back on their feet.

“To cushion the impact, the DOT and its attached agencies, even before the lockdown, laid out the response and recovery plan during the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country with the tourism sector taking a direct hit early on,” Secretary Puyat added, noting that the DOT will be extending a wide range of assistance not only to tour operators, but to the entire travel and hospitality sector.

The DOT’s immediate response actions include the implementation of a moratorium on the collection of accreditation fees from new and renewing applicants from Tourism Enterprises (TEs) and Tourism-Related Enterprises (TREs) for the year 2020. The DOT and the Tourism Promotions Board have also waived the participation fees in international fairs and exhibitions between now and the end of 2021.

Also among the immediate response of DOT was mounting its own 20 sweeper flights and assisting those by embassies that helped many of the travel trade’s clients leave the country. As of 14 April 2020, the DOT was able to extend assistance to 19,898

foreign tourists and 1,456 domestic tourists.

The DOT was also able to assist the OWWA in looking for rooms for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, and bank workers. As of 13 April 2020, the DOT was able to find a total of 13,116 rooms in the NCR for OFWs and 25,687 rooms for BPO agents, bank workers, and health frontliners.

The DOT also submitted to the Department of Labor (DOLE) the list of displaced workers from various tourism-related enterprises for cash assistance. Along with other industries, employees of tourism enterprises will be provided with a 5 to 8 thousand peso wage subsidy per worker under DOF’s program.

The agency likewise lobbied with the DOLE to include tourism front-liners among the recipients of Hazard Pay for the duration of the ECQ, especially those who work at accommodation establishments that house health workers and repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and risk contamination to COVID-19.

In response to to the appeal of the travel industry, the DOT has also been communicating with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to provide rehabilitation financing support such as, but not limited to, extending low interest loans for tourism enterprises that have been severely affected by the COVID-19. Relative to this, the DBP has identified the tourism industry under COVID-19 as qualifying under its program called Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events or RESPONSE, which aims to provide rehabilitation financing support through low interest loans to business, which have been adversely affected by calamities. The Land Bank of the Philippines will also assist tourism stakeholders

under its program called: Rehabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorably Affected Enterprises by Covid-19 (I-RESCUE) Lending Program.

The department has also made appropriate representation with the Social Security System (SSS), PAGIBIG Fund, and PhilHealth for the deferment of tourism workers’ contributions. Upon these representations Philhealth has agreed to extend the deadline to remit the members’ savings/contributions until two weeks after the lifting of the ECQ without any penalty. PAGIBIG has also agreed to extend its deadline of payment of premium contributions for the first quarter of 2020 to 30 April 2020. Social Security System agreed to extend the deadline for the remittance of contributions until 01 June 2020.

On the other hand, for the requested deferment of corporate income tax payments by the BIR, as well as other interventions which require the action of other government agencies, the DOT has made the necessary representation with the proper government agencies for these interventions andand will follow up on behalf of the travel industry.

As for the association’s request for rent and utility discounts, and travel agency commission from airlines, these are normally matters governed by contracts between private parties, and not subject to government intervention, but they can be subject of legislation which can provide financing or subsidies therefor. The same thing may be said for the association’s request for salary and travel tour expo subsidies. All these matters will be raised by the DOT to the Congress which is also currently considering a bill granting a fiscal stimulus package to the tourism industry.

The DOT assures its tourism stakeholders that it will continue to extend them assistance to cushion the impact of the crisis on the industry.

A

S part of continuing efforts to support the communication needs of COVID-19 frontliners, PLDT wireless arm Smart Communications, Inc. has boosted its network services at the San Lazaro Hospital (SLH) in the City of Manila.

Smart has deployed Multi-Element On Wheels (MEOW) equipment at SLH, one of the Department of Health’s (DOH) primary COVID-19 facilities, which will augment Smart’s LTE, 3G and 2G services in the area.

This recently activated service is the latest in PLDT-Smart’s ongoing partnerships with local government units, hospitals and government agencies to support frontliners responding to the nationwide COVID-19 emergency.

“In these difficult times, connectivity is essential. Our commitment during this COVID-19 response is to ensure that our customers are connected with their families and loved ones, especially our frontliners during this critical time,” said Mario G. Tamayo, PLDT-Smart senior vice president for Network Planning and Engineering.

Previously, PLDT-Smart has extended communications assistance to the DOH, the Armed Forces of the Philippines

(AFP), the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) by donating SIMS, load cards, smartphones and Wi-Fi kits to provide for the connectivity of their frontliners.

Fast, free and reliable 24/7 Smart WiFi has also been deployed in newly activated facilities for COVID-19 patients, as well as in campuses that are housing COVID-19 frontliners. Carrier-grade Smart WiFi connectivity is also available in provincial capitols, city and municipal halls across the country, which are being used as a base of operations for local government logistics, transportation and relief, as well as in hospitals, supermarkets and convenience stores.

PLDT, Smart and ePLDT also developed COVID-19 emergency hotlines in partnership with the DOH and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for Filipinos seeking consultation and forwarding concerns about the disease. The 24-hour help line may be reached at 02-894-COVID (02-89426843) and 1555.

Sports BusinessMirror

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

PHILIPPINE Basketball Association Chairman Ricky Vargas will hoist his second Danny Floro Executive of the Year trophy.

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ICKY VARGAS’S brand of leadership in the last two seasons brought stability to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) board of governors that he was elected to a third consecutive term as chairman for the league’s 45th season.

After earning anew the confidence of the board during its annual planning session last January, Vargas, representing the TNT Katropa, became the first board member to serve as chairman for three straight terms since Luis “Moro” Lorenzo Sr. of Pepsi from 1991 to 1993.

Vargas earned the respect of his peers with his cool and calm demeanor but strong-minded will that helped the board work as a unit again and steer the league into better times.

The tremendous work done by the TNT Katropa executive made him the unanimous choice as the Danny Floro Executive of the Year by the PBA Press Corps.

Vargas, the former Philippine Olympic

D

ave Brailsford has made it clear he would pull Team Ineos from the rescheduled 2020 Tour de France if he felt that the race’s precautions against coronavirus were not working in a “measured, intelligent and responsible way.”

Brailsford and his staff have been busy helping Ineos deliver a million bottles of hand sanitizer produced in Britain, France and Germany since stopping racing in early March and mourning the sudden death of lead Sports Director Nicolas Portal.

He suggested the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has perhaps changed the way the world considers its role models and heroes, and it could change professional cycling as teams struggle to survive due to a collapse of the sponsorship business model.

“I think a little bit of humility isn’t a bad thing. We’re pretty lucky to be involved in professional sport. The world doesn’t need it.

It needs doctors and nurses. Nobody ever died from a lack of [professional] cycling,” Brailsford told The Times in an interview, also suggesting the postponement of the Tour de France to September could help Chris Froome compete for a record-equaling victory by giving him more time to recover from the injuries of 2019 crash.

Tour organizer ASO announced on Wednesday that professional cycling’s biggest race is now scheduled for August 29 to September 20. Thus far, there are few details of how the Tour intends to protect the health of the riders, staff, media and especially the huge number of fans expected to line the race route during the three weeks.

Everyone taking part may have to go into quarantine before starting the Tour, while the race would surely be stopped if one person on the race tested positive for Covid-19.

Scientists from Harvard and the Imperial College in Britain, among others, agree that the expected lifting of suppression measures will lead to a second peak of Covid-19, the timing of which could very well coincide with the September Tour de France.

Brailsford seemed aware of the risk.

Cyclingnews

Covid-19 cases hit 17 in Japan judo body

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TOTAL of 17 officials in the All Japan Judo Federation (AJJF) tested positive for coronavirus since the outbreak began.

The AJJF confirmed recently that their Managing Director Soya Nakazato had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Nakazato’s case was the ninth to emerge from the national federation, with eight other members having tested positive since April 4. The number of cases has now risen to 17. According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the AJJF have said 12 men and five women from their 39 staff members have contracted the virus.

All Japan Judo Federation President Yasuhiro Yamashita, an Olympic judo gold medalist, said that the organization’s staff did not have close contact with the first infected person, or their family members, before April 1.

The statement suggested other individuals may have been infected during work or outside work hours by another person, with several employees reporting fevers until April 3. Insidethegames

Committee (POC) president, was supposed to be feted with the award last March 16 at the Novotel Manila in Araneta Center, but the event presented by Cignal was indefinitely postponed following the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the second time Vargas will be honored with the award named after the late affable team owner Valeriano “Danny” Floro of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers.

Vargas, who is also doing a wonderful job as president of the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines, first won the award handed out by the men and women regularly covering the PBA beat during the 2006-2007 season.

Past recipients of the prestigious award included San Miguel Beer team owner Ramon S. Ang, MVP Group Head Manuel V. Pangilinan, Alaska boss Wilfred Uytengsu, Rain or Shine co-team owners Raymund Yu and Terry Que, to name a few.

Elmer Yanga, the amiable team manager

SCRIBES HONOR VARGAS

of the RFM franchise in the 1990s, was the first recipient of the award, winning the honor during its first three years from 1993 to 1995.

SMC Sports Director Alfrancis Chua hoisted the trophy in 2018.

Vergel Meneses, the PBA’s one and only “Aerial Voyager,” continues to soar, meanwhile, will be honored with the President’s Award.

The 51-year-old PBA Legend retired 15 years ago and is now trekking a new career as mayor of Bulakan, Bulacan. During his 14-year playing stint, he won three PBA championships and hailed as MVP 25 years ago.

The Bulakan mayor will also be the guest of honor and speaker in the affair.

Do-it-all NorthPort forward Sean Anthony, on the other hand, gets another major award as the Defensive Player of the Year. The honor comes in the heels of Anthony earning a firstever Mythical First team selection and a place in the All-Defensive team during the recent PBA Leo Awards.

This marks the first time Anthony, 34, will be receiving the award that was bestowed to the likes of Chris Ross, June Mar Fajardo, Marc Pingris, Chris Jackson, Freddie Abuda and Gabe Norwood. Poy Erram was the last to be accorded the honor in 2018.

The Defensive Player of the Year is one of 11 awards to be handed out during the affair, now on its 26th year.

Earlier announced as recipients of the other awards were Terrence Romeo (Quality Minutes), CJ Perez (Scoring champion), June Mar Fajardo (Order of Merit) and Game of the Season (NorthPort vs. NLEX).

Also to be feted are the All-Rookie team (Perez, Robert Bolick, Javee Mocon, Bobby Ray Parks and Abu Tratter), All Interview team (Kiefer Ravena, Christian Standhardinger, Beau Belga, Vic Manuel, Arwind Santos and NLEX Coach Yeng Guiao) and the D-League Finals MVP (Thirdy Ravena for the Aspirants Cup and Hesed Gabo for the Foundation Cup).

Team Ineos to pull out if it’s unsafe

THE health of members of Team Ineos is vital to management.

‘RECIPE FOR DISASTER’ O

NE of the leading experts in global public health—also an adviser to the Scottish government on the Covid-19 pandemic— described the plan to stage the 2020 Tour de France, even as late as the end of August, as a “recipe for disaster.”

Devi Sridhar, Chairman of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh and one of the most prominent experts on testing strategies to fight the coronavirus pandemic, warned that the Tour going ahead, even in August, could kick start another spread of the virus in Europe.

“It’s a painful decision but they have no choice.

The wise thing to do is cancel for this year,” Sridhar said. “[The Tour promoters] have to weigh the risks against the benefits. Thousands of people from all over the world, gathered together, moving around, from town to town, this is where a virus could thrive—it could be a recipe for disaster.”

“There’s definitely a risk that the Tour de France moving around and unwittingly spreading the virus could kick start a new lockdown,” she added.

The change to the Tour’s schedule became a fait accompli after French President Emmanuel Macron banned any large public events until July 11. The Tour had originally been scheduled for a June 27 start. In response to Macron’s decree, the Tour has now been postponed from its original date to a Grand Depart in Nice on August 29, but even this two month delay drew criticism from Sridhar.

“This is a long-term problem, a chronic problem,” she said. “This virus is here to stay and will come back. Even if France gets a handle on it by August, then of course the issue is people coming in from different countries.

“This [the arrival of the Tour’s international convoy] could set off a new cluster of infections so you’d have to think, at minimum, of a two to three week quarantine before they properly come into the country.”

In that case, as Sridhar suggested, this would mean that all those working within the Tour “bubble” would need to be quarantined at least two weeks prior to the Grand Depart on August 29.

“People would have to arrive two to three weeks before to allow time for quarantine,” she said, while accepting that such restrictions on elite athletes were unlikely to be imposed. “I don’t think going ahead is realistic. It won’t be like the Tour in previous years. It would make more sense to cancel. That seems more realistic.”

Ideally, she said, testing for the virus in the Tour convoy would be onerous.

“Ideally they would test everybody every day, but the logistics would be both mindboggling and expensive. We know 20 percent to 60 percent of people are presymptomatic, in that they feel fine and exhibit no symptoms but are passing the virus to others,” she said.

“This virus is wily. We don’t have a treatment or a vaccine and in fact a vaccine is super far off, like a year or a year-and-a-half, in best case,” she added.

But even if those concerns are unfounded she reiterated that there were a host of other issues regarding the Tour being run as usual.

“One thing we don’t know is if indoor transmission is different to outdoor transmission [of the virus] so you could implement use of masks. If it’s not behind closed doors you could require everyone, including spectators, to wear masks,” she said.

“That could start other problems,” she said.

“If fans are used to gathering and then are told they can’t because they don’t comply, that could be problematic. You might need a police or military presence to enforce this, so running the Tour not behind closed doors is setting up a situation that might spiral out of control.”

Cyclingnews

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

B7

ATP ‘will try to help’ players struggling financially during coronavirus pandemic

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SSOCIATION of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi claimed his organization “will try to help” players struggling financially due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 46-year-old Gaudenzi became ATP chairman in January, having enjoyed a successful career as a player from 1990 to 2003.

During an interview on ATP Tennis Radio, Gaudenzi revealed the organization would “try to help” players that may be in financial difficulty due to the suspension of ATP events until June 7. He, however, suggested the ATP may soon have financial trouble itself.

“Our guys are at home, obviously unable to play, unable to earn money and financially struggling, so we will try to help,” Gaudenzi said. “The difficult part of it is also being conscious that the ATP reserves and resources are not infinite.”

“We depend on the tournaments to be played and we don’t know when we will go back on court. One of the large revenue streams of the ATP is actually the ATP Finals,” he said. “It is a bit difficult to actually go in full, without exactly knowing how deep the hole is. We will try to do something to help those players who need it the most.”

Despite the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, Gaudenzi has tried to see the positive side.

“Managing the current scenario is extremely complex, especially because of the nature of our calendar, the nature of our business,” he said. “But I’m an optimist, in general, by nature. I try to see the positive side, which has been a tremendous collaboration with the other Grand Slams, the Women’s Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation [ITF].”

Italy’s Gaudenzi earned three ATP titles during his career, recording a career-high singles world ranking of 18th in 1995.

The ITF is another organization which expressed concern over finances, with President David Haggerty revealing that close to 50 percent of ITF-related activity had been postponed in the first half of this year, accounting for approximately 50 percent of income.

The ITF announced a staff furlough program and significant pay cuts as part of its response to the severe economic hit caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The body is

IMPROVISED PIT

furloughing approximately half of its 133 staff.

Haggerty said that while the majority of staff are based in the United Kingdom, “several” of those affected by the furlough program lived elsewhere. He said those furloughed would “all be paid 80 percent of their salary.”

“We will take advantage of the UK government program, with the ITF covering the costs above the government subsidy,” he said.

Most remaining staff are to continue working with a 10-percent salary reduction.

Salaries of the “Senior Leadership Team” will drop by 20 percent, while Haggerty himself has taken a 30 percent reduction “for the year.”

Haggerty disclosed that for the first time, the body’s annual income in 2019 had risen significantly to $88.7 million. Last year saw the inaugural edition of a restructured Davis Cup, played as an 18-team competition across a single week in late November.

This now appears propitious, with Haggerty confirming that the 2020 Davis Cup Finals in Madrid is currently still planned to go ahead.

Serena Williams’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, meanwhile, said he is starting an independent tennis league to have professionals play matches without spectators starting in May at his academy in Nice, France.

The ATP and Women’s Tennios Association professional tours have been on hold since March because of the coronavirus pandemic and are suspended at least until mid-July.

Mouratoglou announced his venture Saturday, calling it the Ultimate Tennis Showdown or UTS. He says the plan is to livestream 10 matches per weekend for five weekends in May and June.

The competition is slated to start May 16. That is when 10th-ranked David Goffin of Belgium, a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist, is scheduled to face 103rdranked Alexei Popyrin of Australia, whose father is the cofounder of the UTS. The next Grand Slam tournament on the calendar is supposed to be the US Open, which is planning to begin main-draw competition on August 31 in New York.

The French Open’s start was postponed from May until September, while Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since 1945.

Insidethegames

Olympic pole vaulting silver medalist Sandi Morris runs on the vaulting pit she is building with her father in Greenville, South Carolina.

Morris didn’t have a place to practice and plenty of down time due to the coronavirus pandemic. So she and her father are constructing their own pole vault setup. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Tuesday, April 21, 2020

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

Former NBA top draft pick Bogut unsure about future

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FTER 15 years in professional basketball, Andrew Bogut is close to making a decision on when to end his career. The new coronavirus and subsequent postponement of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo isn’t making it any easier.

The 35-year-old Bogut, a 2005 No. 1 draft pick by Milwaukee and who won a National Basketball Association (NBA) championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, was planning to retire after playing for Australia at the Tokyo Games in three months. Those games have been delayed until July 2021.

But Bogut, who has played for Sydney in the National Basketball League (NBL) the past two seasons, isn’t sure he can take the training and discipline needed to go another year.

“I’m not doing much, I can tell you that,” Bogut told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Offsiders program aired on Sunday. “To be able to kiss your kids goodnight and put them down every night...I’ve appreciated doing that.”

Bogut has two boys, Luka, three, and Nikola, two, with his wife Jessica.

“I haven’t done any basketball since the season ended and it feels good waking up, getting out of bed and not feeling like I’m walking on glass,” Bogut said. “It’s [my career] all been thrown into a washing machine essentially...but there’s a decision to be made probably by mid-May.” Bogut, who played a key role in Australia’s

CLOUD OF UNCERTAINTY GATES remain locked outside the closed Manchester City Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England. AP

By Eddie Pells

ITH no games being played, recent sports headlines have centered around hopes and dreams—namely, the uncharted path leagues and teams must navigate to return to competition in the wake of the pandemic.

Virtually all leagues talk publicly about their desire to return before summer. But behind closed doors, they are hatching different potential plans: all 30 baseball teams playing in Arizona; home run contests to decide tie games; the Stanley Cup being hoisted in an empty arena that neither team calls home; end-of-season soccer standings decided by vote; college football games in spring.

Over the past week, The Associated Press spoke to more than two dozen policy-makers, coaches and players across the globe to get their candid assessments of plans to return from the stoppages caused by the new coronavirus. The conclusion: While it’s critical to put optimistic restart scenarios in place, there is no certainty any of these plans will work without buy-in from politicians and an OK from players and medical experts. Underpinning it all would have to be a drastic ramp-up in testing, a vaccine or treatment breakthrough, or some other solution.

In short, the return of any sports, no matter how innovative the plan, will be risky and uncertain for the rest of this year and into 2021.

“It’s not about 22 players walking onto a pitch and throwing a ball out,” said Fifa Vice President Victor Montagliani, whose concerns about restarting soccer mirror those of all sports worldwide.

The organizers of the Olympics were among the last to postpone their event, then among the first to set a new date—exactly 52 weeks after the original July 24 cauldron lighting had been scheduled. The decision to reschedule for a date 15 months down the road came just before an unexpected spike in virus cases hit Japan. The worry that followed underscored the many open questions about the arc of the outbreak.

“I think everyone’s probably working on multiple options. It’s ’If this, then what?’” said Tim Hinchey, the CEO of USA Swimming, the sport’s governing body in the United States.

Virtually all the big-time team sports are coming up with scenarios to play games with no fans in the stands.

The Washington Post reported that while the National Football League (NFL) is publicly committed to its usual kickoff date in September, it is looking into contingencies that include shortening the season or playing in front of halffull or empty stadiums.

College athletic directors have come up

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From Hopkinton to Boston, marathon absence seen and felt

The Associated Press

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OPKINTON, Massachusetts— “It All Starts Here.”

The motto is bannered on the Hopkinton web site, laid into the floor of the Marathon Elementary School, painted on a sign that sends Boston Marathon participants off on their way to Copley Square. Since 1924, this 300-year-old town serendipitously located 26.2 miles west of Boston has been the starting line for the world’s most prestigious road race and, like Marathon and Athens themselves, the two are enduringly linked.

“It gets stronger and stronger every year, this relationship,” said Tim Kilduff, a longtime Hopkinton resident and former Boston Marathon race director. “We see it as: The spirit of the marathon resides in Hopkinton, and we lend it out one day a year.”

From the starting line in this leafy Colonial town to the finish on Boylston Street, residents and runners are preparing for a spring without the Boston Marathon—the first in 124 years.

Organizers and authorities have postponed the race originally scheduled for Monday until September 14 because of the coronavirus pandemic, stripping the streets of brightly colored singlets and opening a gap in the sporting schedule for runners from all over the world.

“Tradition’s an overused word. But this really is a rite of spring,” Kilduff said. “So this year it will lead into a beautiful fall season in New England.”

On a regular marathon weekend, Hopkinton triples in size from its 16,000 residents to absorb a field of more than 30,000 runners, wheelchair racers and hand cyclists. The Town Common teems with people, along with food carts and other vendors serving both tourists and race participants previewing the course.

But while others may think of Hopkinton

with a half-dozen or more scenarios for football season, including, according to Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione, a scenario in which part of the season would be played in spring. One theme gaining wide acceptance: If it’s not safe enough for students to return to school or attend games, then athletes shouldn’t be asked to return either.

Without the millions of dollars from football, all college sports are in peril.

Nascar, which has been holding virtual races, has given teams a tentative schedule under which the season would resume May 24 without fans.

The National Hockey League has drawn up plans that include resuming the season this summer, going directly to the playoffs and/or playing games in empty arenas in neutral-site cities.

The Professional Golfers Association Tour announced a mid-June restart and meshed its schedule with the already reworked majors calendar. In a nod to the precariousness of it all, Andy Pazder, the tour’s chief officer of tournaments and competition, said if events cannot be held in compliance with health regulations, then “we will not do anything.”

That’s also where the National Basketball Association appears to be for now. The league that got in front of the coronavirus pandemic first, calling off games on March 11, is in a holding pattern. Most of the league’s conversations center on how to resume the

season, not whether to cancel it.

In Australia, ambitious plans to resume play in the National Rugby League by the end of May got shot down by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

England’s Premier League also says it wants to finish its season but would do so only “with the full support of the government” and when “medical guidance allows.” Meanwhile, in Scotland, a wild round of voting has already taken place to decide whether to lock in standings for leagues there and get ready for next season.

Major League Baseball in the US is talking about bringing all 30 teams to Maricopa County, Arizona, for a regular season at spring training sites.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who has been calling for restraint in resuming any normal activities, offered a glimmer of hope when he suggested sports could conceivably return. He suggested no fans in arenas and constant testing for the players, who would likely need to be quarantined in hotels for weeks or months.

Not all the players are on board.

“I’m going to go four or five months without seeing my kid when it’s born? I can tell you right now that’s not going to happen,” Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals wrote in a diary for AP. Zimmerman’s third child is due in June.

Whether Zimmerman shows or not, baseball could be a vastly different game if it returns in 2020. Some

other ideas floated include wrapping up the season in December, scheduling a multitude of doubleheaders with seven-inning games and quickly deciding ties with home run derbies.

Yet for all those scenarios, nobody’s quite sure what will happen if, despite all the precautions, an outbreak hits a team. Could one positive test eviscerate an entire season?

Before setting anything in motion, all the leagues are waiting for a consensus to emerge from government and health experts, to say nothing of players and owners.

Right now, Montagliani said, “the paramount skill set required from us is risk management and nothing else.”

TRAINING for a marathon can be a solitary endeavor, but the event itself is a social distancing calamity. AP

only on the third Monday in April, the marathon and its essence permeates the town all year.

Residents drive over the starting line painted on Main Street on their way to work or to concerts at the gazebo. An International Marathon Center is planned for the town, a sister city of Marathon, Greece, where the long-running tradition was birthed. There are three marathon-related statues in Hopkinton, including “The Starter,” which stands at the starting line, pistol raised, ready to send the field off for another race to Boston’s Back Bay. These days, his face is covered with a cloth mask.

“This is not the NBA [National Basketball Association] or baseball or the NFL [National Football League]. This is ours,” said Kilduff, who was the race director in 1983-84, ran the marathon in 1985 and for the last 33 years has been a spotter on the truck that leads the men’s field to the finish line.

“Anybody who has run the race, volunteered for the race, supported the race, feels that they own a part of the race. They own just a little bit.

So it’s ours,” he said. “The Boston Marathon is almost bigger than itself in the emotion it elicits, and the respect that people have for it.”

Training for a marathon can be a solitary

endeavor, but the event itself is a social distancing calamity.

Participants crowd into corrals to wait for the start, then run in packs to minimize air resistance. Volunteers hand out water on the course and medals at the finish. Fans and family are waiting with high fives or hugs.

At Wellesley College, where the cheering is so loud it is known as the Scream Tunnel, students traditionally wave signs encouraging the runners to stop for a kiss. It’s hard to imagine this custom—already a relic of another era— surviving post-pandemic.

“A lot of the signs are jokes about kissing.

That’s part of the tradition, too,” said Erin Kelly, a senior who returned home to San Diego when the campus closed. “The marathon is just a big part of Wellesley’s culture. I was looking forward to seeing it as a student one last time.”

Oncologist Amy Comander decided to run the Boston Marathon in 2013, when colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital treated many of those injured when two pressure-cooker bombs exploded at the finish line.

“I just told myself: You’re running next year.

And I did,” she said.

fourth-place finish at last year’s World Cup in China, has been on the Australian team’s roster since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The Melbourne-born Bogut was named The Associated Press college basketball player of the year in 2005 while playing for Utah, just before being chosen No. 1 in the NBA draft by the Bucks.

The World Cup fourth-place finish for Australia came without NBA all-star Ben Simmons, who could play for Australia at Tokyo in 2021. Bogut hopes Simmons is in the squad, but whether Bogut is there to partake in the experience is still up in the air.

“We’ve been tantalizingly close and the squad we’re going to have is arguably going to be the best squad in the history of the Boomers, on paper at least,” Bogut told the ABC program. “To be part of that, selfishly, is something I really want to do, but the body is what it comes down to.

“I can get up for a basketball game any day of the week, but it’s hard to get up for five, six days of training a week and lifting weights.”

Bogut has never been one to hold back on his opinions. After his Sydney Kings refused to fly across Australia to play the Perth Wildcats in the fourth game of the five-game NBL finals because of the coronavirus, a series the Kings trailed 2-1, the NBL awarded the title to Perth. Bogut said the players were “used like pawns” in the process.

He’s also had some dust-ups with players and officials on Twitter, including fellow Australian and WNBA star Liz Cambage. But this past week in virus-forced isolation, he was more concerned with the location of his television remote.

Could he be mellowing close to a potential retirement?

“OK, a TV remote has been lost. I have a two year old and three year old. Turned whole kitchen and lounge room upside down. Any guesses to where else these hoodlums could of “placed” the remote,” he first tweeted.

Later came the good news.

“Wow. So older brother hid from little brother so he couldn’t change channel,” Bogut tweeted.

“Best hiding place: Behind drapes, on window sill in bedroom near lounge room. Black remote upside down, black window sill!

1.5 hours!” AP

ANDREW BOGUT isn’t sure he can take the training and discipline needed to go another year.

And every year since.

After starting work at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, right around the Mile 16 marker, Comander has used it as a base for her training runs. During the race itself, the sight of coworkers, friends and even patients out front cheering her on gives her a boost of energy right when she needs it: just before making the turn toward Heartbreak Hill.

“I see it as a true privilege that I can go to work and I’m on the marathon course,” Comander said. “You’re talking to someone who truly loves everything about the Boston Marathon.”

Comander is registered to run for her seventh year in a row, this time to raise money for cancer survivors and their families; she is still determined to do so in September. But on Monday, she will be caring for cancer patients, a task more stressful because of the danger the coronavirus poses to their weakened immune systems.

“I will be a little sad,” said Comander, who plans to take a break from the clinic to get in an 8-mile run—but not on the course, per the request of authorities concerned about crowds. “I feel like I need to do that for myself.”

Just a few steps from the finish line, the Marathon Sports shoe store on Boylston Street gets especially busy over the weekend leading up to the race, when tens of thousands of runners descend on the Back Bay. Things typically cool off on Monday, giving the staff a chance to pop out and cheer the finishers.

“We don’t have any official party,” said Dan Darcy, the chain’s marketing director. “It’s really just a celebration of the runners that day.”

Marathon participants are easily recognizable after the race: There is the medal around their neck, of course, and a mylar warming blanket draped around their shoulders if the weather is cold. Often their bib number is still pinned to their chest. AP