BusinessMirror April 22, 2021

Economists back move to abolish MAV B C U. O @caiordinario

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OCAL economists threw their support behind the government’s plan to abolish the minimum access volume (MAV) and regulate the importation of various agricultural products by setting appropriate tariffs.

Former UP School of Economics Dean Ramon L. Clarete said the MAV can be removed by unifying the inand out-quota scheme or by zeroing the quantity of the MAV. However, setting an appro-

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priate tariff would be important. Former Tariff Commissioner George M. Manzano said the tariff should be “lower than the ad valorem equivalent of a MAV, otherwise there is no point in removing the MAV and replacing it with an equivalent tariff that is even higher than the tariff equivalent of a MAV.” “If the appropriate tariff is lower and causes additional imports, trading partners have no cause to sue us. Our consumers would be better off,” Clarete stressed.

University of the Philippines Professor Emeritus Epic-

tetus Patalinghug told BM on Wednesday that it is within the legal rights of the country as a World Trade Organization (WTO) to adjust the MAV and set tariff rates.

This is stipulated under the WTO Safeguards provision.

The MAV is a Non-Tariff Measure (NTM) that guarantees the entry of a certain volume of exports into an importing country.

Manzano said the “spirit” of the WTO encourages free trade among its members.

This means the WTO will support efforts that promote

freer trade globally.

“In the spirit of things, I think the WTO does not mind if you become more liberal.

It minds when you become more restrictive. So they put a cap on your restrictiveness.

That’s what’s called a bound tariff, you cannot exceed that.

But you’re free to set up a tariff which is lower than the bound,” Manzano said.

Ateneo Eagle Watch Senior Fellow Leonardo A. Lanzona Jr. told the BM on Wednesday that the Philippines has some leeway S “E,” A

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PUT PROPER TARIFF—DTI

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B T J C. P

Give EO 128 2 months to work—Palace to senators

@Tyronepiad

HE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) backed the lifting of non-tariff barriers and replacing them with an appropriate tariff instead, following the Economic Development Cluster’s (EDC) call to ease the country’s trade system.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, in an interview with the BM, said that imposing the proper tariff on imports while removing non-tariff barriers can support the local industry.

“It is always the best economic and trade policy principle to remove non-tariff barriers, that usually lead to bureaucratic inefficiencies and governance issues in issuing permits, higher costs and

B S P. M @sam_medenilla

 B F @butchfBM

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economic rent, and instead just replace it with the proper and needed tariff rate to develop and nurture the industry,” Lopez said.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said, in a letter on April 20 to Senate President Vicente Sotto III, that during an EDC meeting last month, it was discussed that key commodities that S “L -,” A

Central Bank prods Congress on loosening bank secrecy law B B C @BcuaresmaBM

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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is calling for urgent reforms in the bank secrecy law, noting that the Philippines is now the only country with such a measure in place.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the Philippines needs to change its current framework of bank secrecy in order to keep up with international standards on

transparency and to help combat both domestic and global tax evasion, money laundering, and other financial crimes.

Diokno said based on studies by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, only the Philippines and Lebanon have bank secrecy laws that hamper implementation of prudential and anti-money laundering frameworks.

S “C B,” A

A GARDENER at the Las Piñas Nursery and Botanical Garden prepares to plant a tree a day before the celebration of Earth Day (April 22). Earth Day 2021’s theme is Restore Our Earth, which focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystem. Planting trees means sinking natural carbon and reducing greenhouse gasses. NONIE REYES

ALACAÑANG urged lawmakers on Wednesday to allow the implementation of Executive Order 128 for at least two months before they push for its withdrawal.

This after senators called out to President Duterte to scrap the new issuance, which lowered the tariff for pork for one year, amid concern it could flood the market with imports. Some senators doubted government projections and said data indicate the planned additional import volumes far exceed the projected demand despite shortages triggered by the African swine fever (ASF).

In a statement, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced the appeal of Duterte the lawmakers to give EO 128 a chance to achieve its intended purpose.

“We are one with the Senate in ensuring the recovery of the local swine industry and the attainment of sufficient domestic pork production,” Roque said.

“Let us revisit the EO in two months to assess whether the aforesaid intended effects have been realized/met,” he added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III confirmed on Wednesday that Senate probers are reopening next week their inquiry into another controversial pork supply delivery from foreign suppliers.

Sotto said he is set to convene on April 27 the Committee of the Whole to look deeper into the issues surrounding the pork shortage and price spikes crisis, and the interventions which some senators believe mask anomalies in the C  A

MAV REFORMS, UNITARY TARIFF RATE FOR FARM IMPORTS MULLED B J E Y. A @jearcalas

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GRICULTURE Secretary William D. Dar said on Wednesday they are mulling over reforms in the country’s minimum access volume (MAV) system and are seeking a unitary tariff rate for in-quota and outquota imports of concerned agricultural products.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES ■ US 48.3020

Dar confirmed to the BM that reforms concerning the country’s MAV system are on the way to “streamline import procedures.”

Dar said they are looking to remove the current MAV licensing requirements and implement a “first come, first serve” policy on availing the existing quotas for certain agricultural imports.

Dar also disclosed that the

Department of Agriculture (DA) will request the assistance of the Cabinet-level interagency Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM) in coming up with a unitary rate for agricultural commodities that have existing MAVs. “The removal of MAV licensing requirements will streamline processes and ensure actual availment by MAV importers based on a ‘first to arrive’ principle,” he said

via SMS. “We will request CTRM to assist in the unification of in-quota and out-quota tariffs inasmuch as there are now a few products that have unified rates,” he added.

MAV is a commitment made by countries like the Philippines to the WTO to facilitate trade between countries by ensuring a C  A

■ JAPAN 0.4469 ■ UK 67.3330 ■ HK 6.2234 ■ CHINA 7.4301 ■ SINGAPORE 36.3501 ■ AUSTRALIA 37.3085 ■ EU 58.1411 ■ SAUDI ARABIA 12.8795

Source: BSP (April 21, 2021)

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Thursday, April 22, 2021

MAV REFORMS, UNITARY TARIFF RATE FOR FARM IMPORTS MULLED C  A

guaranteed minimum volume of imports to enter their respective domestic markets at a lower tariff.

The MAV is implemented in the form of tariff rate quotas, wherein imports within the quota (in-quota) are slapped with lower tariffs compared to out-quota volume.

At present the MAVs for agricultural products are allocated among eligible importers, firms and companies based on their past MAV performances. Quota holders are also required to secure a MAV license.

Dominguez letter

FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III earlier revealed that the Economic Development Cluster (EDC), which he chairs, has instructed the DA and the Department of Trade and Industry to “work towards” the “removal of the MAV system,” replacing it with an appropriate tariff rate to regulate agricultural imports. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2021/04/21/dominguez-tariff-mavoptions-were-suggested-by-edc/) The instruction came after the EDC identified that “government tariffs, low MAV quotas and non-tariff barriers to trade” were factors to the spike in prices of key food commodities, contributing to higher inflation rate.

“Likewise, the EDC requested agencies to undertake administrative measures to reduce barriers to importation,” Dominguez said in his letter dated April 20 to Senate President Vicente Sotto III, a copy of which was obtained by the BM.

Certain agricultural products with existing MAVs have two-tier tariffs such as pork; here, in-quota imports are levied with 30-percent tariff while out-quota volume has a 40-percent tariff.

However, certain agricultural products that have MAVs have achieved unified inquota and out-quota tariff rates today due to commitments made by the Philippines to the WTO. The products with MAV that already have uniform in-quota and out-quota tariffs are: chicken, frozen or chilled (40 percent); turkey livers, frozen or chilled (40 percent); potatoes, fresh and chilled (40 percent); and roasted coffee beans (40 percent).

The United States’s International Trade Administration noted that the Philippines in-quota and out-quota tariff rates for agricultural products “averaged 36.5 percent and 41.2 percent, respectively, and have not changed since 2005.”

Abolition call

INDUSTRY groups like the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) have long pushed for the abolition of the MAV system after the in-quota and out-quota tariff rates for poultry imports reached parity in 2005 at 40 percent.

Monetary Board Member V. Bruce J. Tolentino pointed out that the MAV system is now “obsolete” as it is “no longer a significant aspect of WTO agreements.”

“It is up to each country to set tariffs according to its best interest,” Tolentino told the BM.

“The quotas are part of the MAV system and should also be abolished. In general, tariffs should be relatively low and uniform.

Competitiveness is a matter of productivity, not tariff barriers,” Tolentino added.

Industry experts told the BM that having a uniform tariff for imported goods could curb technical smuggling as it removes the “incentive to misdeclare,” unlike in a two-tier tariff regime.

Central Bank...

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In May 2020, however, Lebanon removed its bank secrecy rules in an effort to tackle corruption in the country.

This leaves the Philippines the only country in the world to have strict bank secrecy laws. Diokno said it “does not look good” for the Philippines to be the only country that has no provisions to open up bank accounts under the guise of prudential and anti-money laundering frameworks.

As such, Diokno said they are recommending amendments to Republic Act 1405, also known as “The Secrecy

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‘Scrapping MAV for agri products to cut prices’ In his letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III disclosed that the Economic Development Cluster (EDC) has instructed the Departments of Agriculture, and Trade and Industry to “work towards” the abolition of the MAV system and “set an appropriate rate of a tariff to regulate the importation of agricultural products.

Dominguez also said the key commodities that contributed to higher inflation rate were a result of “government tariffs, low MAV quotas and non-tariff barriers to trade.”

MAV refers to the volume or quantity of a specific agricultural commodity that may be imported with a lower tariff. This is part of the Philippines’s commitment to the World Trade Organization to facilitate trade between countries.

A government source, who attended the said EDC meeting, told the BM that there was a need to review the decades-old MAV system for agricultural

products “to determine whether such import restrictions are still relevant.”

“Actually, the instructions were to review to check relevance and then remove or revise accordingly,” the source said.

Sought to clarify the implication of scrapping the MAV system, the source added: “Off hand, cheaper prices if imports are allowed in greater volume during lean months.”

According to the source, the move also does not necessarily entail lower uniform tariffs. “Not necessarily lower, but there will no longer be an in-quota and out-quota tariff. [Just a] single tariff rate,” the source said. Another government source also told this paper that the rationale behind the scrapping of the MAV system was “to remove red tape which is causing inflation to rise.”

The source also recalled that during the EDC meeting there was a mention of having uniform tariff rates along with the removal of MAV, but it was not specified that the move will entail lower tariff rates.

Inflation in the first quarter averaged 4.5 percent, higher than last year’s 2.7 percent. The March inflation print reached 4.5 percent, slower than February’s 4.7 percent, but higher than last year’s 2.5 percent.

The government is targeting to keep inflation this year within the 2- to 4-percent range.

Apart from instructing DA and DTI to start working on the removal of the MAV system, the EDC also requested agencies to undertake administrative measures to reduce barriers to importation.

Certain industry groups like the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) have long proposed the abolition of the MAV as certain in-quota tariffs for some agricultural commodities, like poultry, have reached parity with their out-quota tariff.

In its letter to Sen. Cynthia A. Villar last month, Ubra proposed to abolish both the MAV for pork and chicken as it is the “fastest way to get rid of corruption.” Ubra made the proposal anew following allegations made by Sen. Panfilo Lacson of an alleged “tongpats” (kickback) in the MAV system of the government.

Industry experts told the BM on Tuesday that abolition of the MAV system would help curb technical smuggling as there will be “no incentive to misdeclare when tariffs are uniform.”

However, some industry players told the BM that abolishing the MAV without decreasing the high tariffs for pork and chicken would be useless.

Economists...

that will apply equally to all.

Sta. Ana added that “MAV discriminates against imports” and removing it would ultimately benefit consumers. This is especially the case when it comes to pork imports at this time.

Due to the shortage in supply caused by the African swine fever (ASF) which increased pork prices, Sta. Ana said removing the MAV would address the steep prices.

“Neda [National Economic and Development Authority] has done calculations that tariff rate likewise has to be reasonable in order to encourage imports. Too high a tariff rate will not meet the objective of addressing supply and lowering prices,” he said.

For University of Asia and the Pacific Center for Food and Agri Business (CFA) Rolando T. Dy, increasing the MAV volume for pork at this time will help consumers.

Dy said, however, local pork producers believe it will lower farm prices. Nonetheless, the Neda and the Department of Finance believe otherwise.

In the case of pork, Patalinghug said, the domestic hog raisers can sue the government. But given the slowness of the court system, it may not be worth fighting out in court. He said after 12 months when the old MAV and tariff rates are reinstated, the court case may already be moot and

academic. This would render the legal route impractical.

On Tuesday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, as chairman of the government’s Economic Development Cluster (EDC), took responsibility for the twin proposals to reduce pork tariffs and increase minimum access volume (MAV), measures facing opposition from lawmakers.

In a letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday, Dominguez disclosed that the EDC has instructed the Departments of Agriculture, and Trade and Industry to “work towards” the abolition of the MAV system and “set an appropriate rate of a tariff to regulate the importation of agricultural products.”

Furthermore, Dominguez, a former agriculture secretary, assured Sotto that the importation of pork under the proposed MAV plus of 350,000 metric tons will enter the country “in batches,” according to his letter, a copy of which was obtained by the BM.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary William Dar had given the House of Representatives similar assurance that import arrivals will be “calibrated” carefully to avoid the “flooding” of imports that the local hog sector fears will wipe out whatever is left from the impact of the ASF.

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B B D. N

@BNicolasBM

CRAPPING the decades-old Minimum Access Volume (MAV) system for agricultural products is expected to reduce prices of commodities, government sources said.

C  A

in adjusting to a lower tariff and a higher MAV. Lanzona said if the removal of the MAV passes the necessary procedures and laws are adjusted, there would be no question as to the legality of the measure.

The removal of the MAV would benefit consumers particularly in terms of the lower prices of goods. However, Lanzona said, the producers will be adversely affected.

Producers need to be more efficient while the government should develop the right policies such as taxes and subsidies to ensure market efficiency and competition.

“On the whole, the consequences will be good for the country. It reduces the market power possessed by local producers, making them more efficient,” Lanzona said.

Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Roehlano Briones agreed with the decision to remove the MAV, highlighting its impact on lowering prices.

Pork issues

ACTION for Economic Reforms (AER) Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III told the BM the WTO encourages rules

HIGH RENTALS, LOW PAY: MANILA AMONG REGION’S COSTLIEST PLACES C  A

Further, Manila’s cost of living tops the others’ cost by 33 percent compared to Kuala Lumpur; 28 percent, Ho Chi Minh; and 24 percent, Jakarta.

Meanwhile, renting in Manila is the second most expensive in the region after Singapore. It is 9 percent higher than Bangkok’s, which is a Southeast Asian tourist hot spot. The data also showed that the price of a one-bedroom apartment in Manila is 56 percent higher than Kuala Lumpur’s; 47 percent higher than Jakarta’s; 31 percent higher than Ho Chi Minh’s.

of Bank Deposits Law,” to be limited within the confi nes of BSP’s banking supervision and its investigation of closed banks.

House Bill 8991, the BSP’s version of the law amendment, is currently on second reading in plenary.

In this proposal supported by the BSP, the coverage of allowed inquiries is not too broad as to include just any depositor; it is limited only to deposits of specified persons and anchored on their commission of fraud, serious irregularity, or unlawful activity.

“The proposed reforms will place the country’s deposit secrecy law on a par with international standards. This is seen to strengthen the Filipino public’s and the global community’s trust in our banking

Low average pay

HOWEVER, Manila has the lowest average salary among Southeast Asian countries. The city’s average salary is only about P18,900 per month.

“These numbers will leave people scratching their heads because Numbeo records Manila to have the lowest estimated average net salary among the other cities,” iPrice Group said.

Data on the estimated average monthly cost of living for a single person was taken from www.numbeo.com on April 20, 2021.

The lowest rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in

system,” Diokno said.

The governor added that they expect President Duterte to certify this as an urgent measure.

Among the key provisions of the BSPsupported version: First, the inquiry is limited to the deposit account of the stockholder, owner, director, trustee, officer or employee of an entity that is subject to the supervision or regulatory power of the BSP, the representative or agent, the related party, or any of the conspirators of the person involved in the commission of fraud, serious irregularity or unlawful activity.

Second, the grounds for inquiry or examination of bank deposits are limited only to deposits of specified persons and anchored on the commission of fraud,

the city center was added to the overall monthly cost of living.

Numbeo gathers data from user inputs (from over 500,000 contributors) and manually collects data from authoritative sources.

Data is updated twice a year.

It filters data in each country by using heuristic technology and periodically removes statistically inaccurate data. XE currency conversion rates (on April 20, 2021) were used on to convert figures. iPrice Group is a meta-search web site operating in seven countries across Southeast Asia namely; Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

serious irregularity or unlawful activity. As such, it will be done only in the exercise of BSP’s supervisory powers or in the course of investigations of closed banks.

Third, the definition of “deposits” will use the one provided under the charter of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

(PDIC), but carves out inapplicable portions like those on insurability.

“We’d like to emphasize that the proposed law protects the interest of depositors. This is clear in the provisions of the bill that limits inquiries to specified persons only; sets the parameters for sharing of information; and protects against political persecution, harassment or attempts to hamper competition in trade and commerce,” Diokno said.

Lift non-tariff...

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propped up the inflation were due to the following factors: “government tariffs, low MAV [minimum access volume] quotas and non-tariff barriers to trade.”

The EDC then directed the DTI and Department of Agriculture (DA) to conduct a study should the MAV system be removed and replaced with an appropriate tariff rate. Lopez said the DTI is currently working on this with the DA, which is the lead agency given that the “MAV is for a few selected agri-commodities.”

MAV refers to the certain volume of agricultural imports that are imposed lower tariffs. In the Philippines, it covers rice, corn, pork, poultry meat, coffee and sugar.

Sought for comment on the matter, Tariff Commissioner Ernesto L. Albano declined to give an opinion for the moment.

“It is premature for me to comment on this as it has not even filtered down for an interagency level discussion,” he told the BM.

In the 2021 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers by the US Trade Representative (USTR), among the non-tariff barriers cited were the quantitative restrictions. It was noted that the country does not allow the importation of used motor vehicles in certain cases.

In addition, USTR said there have been reports of corruption and irregularities in customs processes. These include “costly delays, irregularities in the valuation process, 100 percent inspection and testing of some products and inconsistent assessment of fees.”

Give EO 128 2 months to work—Palace to senators C  A

importation of agricultural products.

The Senate leader confirmed that on the list of invited resource persons at the April 27 hearing are Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez who chairs the Economic Development Cluster (EDC) that led deliberations and made final recommendations to issue EO 128; agriculture officials led by Agriculture Secretary William Dar, as well as Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua.

Sotto told the BM on Tuesday that he will invite Dominguez to the next hearing after the latter wrote him to say that it was the EDC which pushed all the crucial decisions on the pork crisis issues—a taking of responsibility seen to allay suspicions by some senators that Dar or DA officials might have been pressured by lobby groups looking to cash in on an expanded MAV. After the first two hearings, Senate probers had indicated they were inclined to shoot down the twin options to reduce pork tariff and increase import volumes as this will effectively kill the P300-billion local hog industry and cause government billions in revenue.

Duterte issued EO 128 on April 7, 2021 upon the recommendation of the Department of Agriculture and the government’s economic managers to stabilize the supply and price of pork meat, and thus minimize inflation.

Under EO 128, the tariff of in-quota pork will be reduced to 5 percent during the first three months of its implementation. It will be raised to 10 percent during 4th and 12th month of effectivity of the issuance.

For out-quota pork products the following rates will be implemented: 15 percent during the first three months of effectivity of EO 128; and 20 percent during the 4th to 12th month of effectivity of the issuance.

A year after the implementation of EO 128, the original tariff rate for in-quota and out-quota imported pork will revert to their original rates at 30 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Instead of the lower pork tariff, senators urged the concerned agencies to provide the necessary support and financing to hog farmers affected by the ASF, so they could resume their operations.

The government insisted, however, that it has lined up ample interventions to help the local hog sector from collapsing, but the tariff and MAV options are still necessary as short-term, emergency measures.

Since the introduction of ASF in the country, the disease infected and led to the culling of thousands of hogs, which created a shortage of locally sourced pork.

The Nation BusinessMirror

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7 survivors of ill-fated barge rescued in Surigao del Norte

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

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HE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on Wednesday that its personnel and villagers have recovered the bodies of four dead crewmen who were among those earlier reported as missing after a ship ran aground in Surigao del Norte on Monday.

PCG spokesman Commodore Armand Balilo said seven other crewmen who survived the mishap were also fished out in the waters of two barangays of Surigao del Norte in the ongoing search and rescue operations.

The four dead crewmen, along with the seven others, were among the 20 crew members of the LCT Cebu Great Ocean that ran aground along the shoreline of Barangay Cantapoy, Malimono, Surigao del Norte due to rough seas whipped up

by Typhoon Bising, which battered Bicol and the Visayas.

The barge, which was hired by a still unidentified mining firm, was loaded with nickel ore and at least 2,000 liters of diesel.

“The PCG and PNP-MARIG [Philippine National Police-Maritime Group] continue their search and

rescue operations to look for other missing crew members. The PCG also deployed a land mobility vehicle that conducts patrol operations along the shorelines of Malimono and San Francisco,” Balilo said.

Typhoon losses

MEANWHILE, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, has so far reported three deaths, excluding the four crewmen, and 10 injuries due to Bising, whose damage is steadily climbing in Regions 5, 7 and 8.

It reported that the typhoon affected at least 59,098 families or 229,829 individuals in the three regions and even Caraga as the number of villages that inundated by floodwaters have increased to 68, while at least 1,022 houses were totally destroyed or damaged.

It also said that electricity service has been restored in most of the 63 cities and towns that have earlier been hit by power outages.

The NDRRMC said at least P45.9 million worth of agriculture produce has so far been damaged in Regions 5 and 8, aside f rom inf rastr uct ure projects worth P10.5 million.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, April 22, 2021 A3

New mining projects won’t adversely affect environment, DENR chief says E

NVIRONMENT Secretary Roy A. Cimatu on Wednesday vowed to scrutinize pending applications for new mining projects to ensure that these would not cause any adverse effects to the environment.

“There is no automatic approval even if these mining applicants submit all the requirements,” Cimatu said in a news statement following President Duterte’s issuance of Executive Order (EO) 130 that lifted the ban on new mining agreements in the country.

EO 130, signed by President Duterte last April 14, amended Section 4 on the Grant of Mineral Agreements Pending New Legislation of EO 79 issued by former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in 2012.

The DENR chief vowed that pending applications would only be approved by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) “only after a thorough review and validation of the Final Exploration Report and Mining Feasibility Studies.”

As a new policy, Cimatu said, only delineated mineral resources and reserves that are plentiful to last at least a 10-year mine life or commer-

cial extraction life for metallic minerals and seven years for non-metallic, will be considered.

The Mining Feasibility Study, he said, should also show that the cost to develop the mine can pay for all the expenses related to the mining operation, including operating costs, administration overhead, and milling cost if there is a processing plant, environmental cost, social development cost, and safety and health cost.

Only financially capable companies, or companies that are able to pay national and local taxes, royalties, local government fees, other national government fees, and interest and charges on loans, would be allowed to operate.

If the feasibility studies “show less than ideal returns from the operation,” Cimatu said the application would likely be turned down.

“It is also possible that new requirements will come up based on the newly issued order. The MGB-DENRDepartment of Finance Working Group is set to convene to draft the Implementing Rules and Regulations

of EO 130,” he said.

Moreover, applicants should prove that the benefits of the mining operation, which is of national interest, would far outweigh the risks from adverse environmental effects.

Cimatu said the DENR has already put in place additional environmental measures to ensure a balance in the care for the environment and the economic and social concerns of the mining industry. In 2018, Cimatu issued Administrative Order 2018-19 to provide new environmental policies that will ensure sustainable environmental conditions in every stage of the mining operation and minimize the “disturbed” area of a mining project at any given time.

Under the Duterte administration, environmental measures have been put in place, requiring mining companies to implement progressive rehabilitation, and limiting the areas to be disturbed at any given time.

Mining companies are also required to establish a progressive rehabilitation fund with a minimum amount of P5 million, as well as pay the mine waste and tailings fee based

on the amount of tonnage of mine wastes and tailings which the company generates every semester.

These fees will be for the payment for damages caused by a leak of tailings pond or mine waste to adjoining lands.

The mining companies also have to deposit the initial fund, an average of 8 percent, of the cost of the Final Mine Rehabilitation and Decommissioning Plan even before the mines can start commercial operation.

The MGB has so far issued a total of 309 mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs) all over the country. Of the total, 51 MPSAs are in Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, and Dinagat Islands in Caraga.

Forty MPSAs are in Zambales (Central Luzon), 36 in Calabarzon, 32 in Central Visayas, 26 in Bicol region, and 19 in Samar and Leyte in Eastern Visayas.

Eighteen MPSAs were also issued in Davao Region, mostly inside and surrounding the Diwalwal Mineral Reservation. The rest of the MPSAs are spread to other regions.

Marcos camp asserts PET set a ‘bad Arta, PACC ink deal to fight red tape and corruption precedent’ in junking VP poll protest

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @TyronePiad

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

T

HE camp of former senator and losing vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) have set a “bad precedent” in dismissing Marcos’s election protest without hearing all the evidence they presented.

Marcos’s lawyer Vic Rodriguez issued the statement after the Supreme Court, sitting as the PET, officially released on Monday afternoon, or after more than two months, an official copy of its 92-page decision on Marcos’s election protest, which was promulgated on February 16, 2021 and penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

“This is a bad precedent because in the future, no one in their right mind would dare question the results of an election. It is expensive and time-consuming,” said Rodriguez.

Former Senator Marcos had this to say: “I read the 92-page decision penned by Justice Leonen and it is unfortunate that he dismissed my election case without even allowing us to present proof about the massive cheating that occurred in Mindanao. In effect, what was supposed to be a separate, distinct and independent cause of action was rejected because of a plethora of rules.”

He noted that the “power of the PET is plenary. The third cause of action, like annulment, should not pose a problem even in the absence of rules because the will of the electorate is of paramount importance. When asked for their opinion regarding election rules, both the Commission of Elections [Comelec] and the Office of

the Solicitor General [OSG] were one in saying: What is important in any election is that the will of the people is paramount.”

The Marcos camp wondered aloud “if the PET was going to dismiss our election protest without hearing all the evidence, then why didn’t it dismiss our third cause of action from day 1? Instead they made us pay P66 million for the protest...made us wait for almost five years...made us believe that the annulment was a separate, distinct and independent cause of action—only to decide the case without affording us due process?”

It took the PET five years to resolve the Marcos election protest, and the first election protest case that the PET successfully concluded.

The first four election protests were dismissed for mootness due to abandonment and failure to substitute the deceased protestant, and expiration of term.

‘Due process’

THE SC, however, maintained that it did not shirk on its duty and afforded the parties due process and a chance to defend their arguments in the proper forum.

In its ruling, the SC held that Marcos’s election protest appeared “bare, laden with generic and repetitious allegations, and lack of information as to the time, place, and manner” of the alleged irregularities.

In his election protest, Marcos identified three pilot provinces as Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Vice President Leni Robredo’s Camarines Sur home province.

After the revision and appreciation of votes in the 5,415 clustered precincts, the protestant Marcos got 14,436,337 while the protestee Robredo received 14,157,771.

This showed that Robredo even increased her lead over Marcos from 263,473 votes to 278,566 votes in these three provinces.

The PET said it could have dismissed the electoral protest under Rule 21, but decided to “painstakingly” hear every argument to afford due process to the parties.

Rule 21 refers to the “summary dismissal of election contest” wherein the tribunal can summarily dismiss the petition without requiring the protestee to answer.

In failing to prove his case through his designated pilot areas, Marcos, the PET said, cannot insist on annulling election results in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Basilan, which was his third cause of action.

The PET said the rules direct the immediate dismissal of the election protest without further consideration of the other provinces.

Nevertheless, the tribunal noted that for a full disposition of the election protest, it scrutinized Marcos’s allegations and assessed evidence he presented to support his claims under the third cause of action. The evidence was lacking, however, it said.

True will of electorate

“SO long as there is a ray of hope, I will continue to fight. I owe this to the more than 14 million loyalists who voted for me. I owe this to our youth who will be casting their ballots in 2022,” Marcos declared.

Rodriguez said the existence and non-existence of procedural rules should not be an obstacle in knowing the true will of the people.

“Rules are just secondary in nature. What is important is the true will of the electorate,” Rodriguez asserted.

T

HE Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) and Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) signed a pact on Wednesday to strengthen the campaign against red tape and corruption in government.

The memorandum of agreement between Arta and PACC aims to boost coordination and cooperation in addressing complaints and reports of violations relating to red tape and corruption.

Under the partnership, Arta and PACC will be endorsing cases to one another if these will fall under their jurisdiction.

Arta will cover all cases relating to public officials or employees found in violation of the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act. PACC shall deal with all the cases involving violations from covered presidential appointees under the

Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, as amended, Republic Act 1379 on the unlawful acquisition of property by a public officer or employee, and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, among others.

Both agencies can also jointly audit or investigate complaints, which are “from a common act or omission, incident or case.”

Arta Director General Jeremiah Belgica said that red tape and corruption are related matters, explaining this is why the agencies joined forces in resolving such concerns.

“If you give it a serious thought, they are connected. Because of red tape, the queues are getting longer, the process slows down, and this gives opportunities for corruption,” the Arta chief said in Filipino.

PACC Chairman Greco Belgica, meanwhile, said this partnership has been anticipated as this is seen to help in seizing corruption in the government.

“This agreement is a big step forward in developing and strengthening the anti-corruption campaign of the President and in achieving the administration’s goal of ensuring transparency and accountability in the government,” he added.

Last week, Arta and other government agencies inked a joint memorandum ordering the local government units (LGUs) to automate their business processing and licensing systems by June 17.

In particular, it directed the LGUs to set up an electronic business one-stop shop (eBoss) that can facilitate online submission of business permit applications; digital payment options; and issuance of electronic versions of permits, licenses or clearances.

Arta also recently welcomed the Executive Order 129, which ordered the formation of the Office of the Presidential Advisor on Streamlining of Government Process. The office is headed by former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio “Jun” Evasco Jr.

Eviction of 2K households in UMRBPL pushed

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is eyeing to relocate more than 2,000 illega l household-occupants of the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape (UMRBPL) as part of its plan to rehabilitate the degraded watershed.

This was disclosed by Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu in his pre-taped video message during the online launch of the Upper Marikina Watershed Coalition on Wednesday.

Cimatu said the restoration of the Marikina Watershed, including the

close to 27,000-hectare UMRBPL, is one of the priority programs of his leadership in targeting the implementation of integrated watershed management program.

He said a recent survey conducted by the DENR revealed that around 3,400 households within the UMRBPL. Of these, 80 percent are within the political boundaries of Antipolo and Rodriguez, Rizal.

He said that of the 3,400 households occupying the UMRBPL, about 60 percent are non-tenured migrants “who may need to be relocated.”

Aside from the illegal squatting problems besetting the UMRBPL, he said the DENR is confronted with the issue of overlapping proclamations

and other tenurial instruments dating back to 1915.

Cimatu said to address the problem, an Executive Order or Act of Congress will be needed to harmonize the various tenurial instruments within the protected area.

“This calls for rationalization by the President, and if necessary by Congress,” he said.

Cimatu said the DENR has been trying to restore Marikina Watershed for a decade now.

Over the course of 10 years, he said the DENR was able to initiate reforestation activities in a total of 17,935 hectares of UMRBPL. The area, he said, represents more than 68 percent of the entire UMRBPL.

Tesda bets on drone technology to boost agriculture, forestry and fishery yield

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

T

HE Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) announced on Wednesday that it would offer a training program for Agricultural Drone Operation to boost the production of the country’s agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors.

“We also would want to provide a world-class and competent human resources for the Agricultural Drone

Operation under the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Sector,” Tesda Director General Secretary Isidro Lapeña said after Tesda, together with stakeholders and agriculture experts remotely piloted aircraft from the AgriDom Solutions Corp.’s Competency Standards (CS) for Agricultural Drone Operation, which will be used by training institutions.

Last March 18, Lapeña issued a circular containing the guidelines in the deployment of the CS for Agricultural Drone Operation Level II.

We also would want to provide a world-class and competent human resources for the Agricultural Drone Operation under the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Sector.

Tesda Director General Secretary Isidro Lapeña

BM

Lapeña noted that the training program aims to respond to industry skills requirements for agricultural drone operation and produce individuals with 21st-century skills and compliant to the existing industry standards.

The Tesda chief has been strongly supporting the agriculture sector to help the country achieve food security, even listing it as among the top priorities of Tesda.

“We should be developing more training programs that would shift the skills of our local farmers from

traditional farming to smart farming. We want to make farming more attractive and enticing among the youth,” he added.

Drones have become an essential part of smart farming, helping farmers to deal with wide range of challenges and gaining numerous benefits.

Specifically, drones can be used for the following: estimating soil condition, planting future crops, fighting infections and pests, agriculture spraying, crop surveillance, livestock monitoring, among others.

BusinessMirror

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8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5/f To 10/f, Tower 4 Pitx #01 Kennedy Road Tambo Parañaque City 1.

WU, YU-WEI Taiwanese

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

ANOC99 CORPORATION 5/f Ayala Malls Manila Bay Building D. Macapagal Blvd. Cor. Aseana Street Tambo Parañaque City 2.

YEU, THUY OANH Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

3.

LI, LIANCHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SPECIALIST

AZBIL PHILIPPINES CORPORATION 4/f Republic Glass Bldg. 196 Salcedo St. San Lorenzo Makati City 4.

SHIGETA, KIYOHITO Japanese

PRESIDENT AND MANAGING DIRECTOR

BIG EMPEROR TECHNOLOGY CORP. 5f-13f, Jiaxing Tower Building Aseana Avenue, Aseana Business Park Tambo Parañaque City Eastfield Center Cbp1, Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City

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CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

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LIU, WANCHUN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

LI, QINGCHI Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

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NING, ZHIBO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

85.

OOI JIN XIANG Malaysian

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

46.

RAO, HUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

86.

WANG, ZILI Chinese

47.

WEI, JUNYI Chinese

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WEN, XIAOLIN Chinese

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87.

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XIAO, TIANSHENG Chinese

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88.

ZHANG, JUNJIE Chinese

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50.

XIE, ZIDONG Chinese

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51.

YANG, CHAOWEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

INVECH TREASURE PROCESSING CORPORATION 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Floor Six West Campus Mckinley West Fort Bonifacio Taguig City 89.

TERRY KIU YONG HONG Malaysian

COMPUTER SYSTEM ANALYST

NO. 133.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

PARK, HYUNMIN South Korean

KOREAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

JDB MANAGEMENT AND CONSULTANCY CORP. 107 T & D House Magallanes St. 069, Bgy. 655 Intramuros Manila 134.

LIAO, ZIHAN Chinese

STRATEGIC AND FACILITATION OFFICER

JIDA COMMUNICATION (PHILIPPINES) INC. 99 Comclark Reliance Center E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave. Ugong Pasig City 135.

WANG, ZHENYU Chinese

PROJECT MANAGER

JINSHENGLONG BUSINESS SUPPORT, INC. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th Flr. Filinvest Bay City Brgy. 076 Pasay City 136.

ANG WENG KEONG Malaysian

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

137.

CHEN, YAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

138.

CHENG, JIANFENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

5.

PYAE PHYO AUNG Myanmari

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

52.

YUAN, YEXING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

90.

DOU, TIRUI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

6.

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

53.

ZHANG, WANGCHENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

139.

CHEN, WEI Chinese

ARIYANTO Indonesian

91.

FAN, ZIQUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

7.

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

54.

ZOU, ZIYING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

140.

GAO, XINGCHANG Chinese

CHRISTINA Indonesian

92.

GOON CHIN HOOM Malaysian

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

8.

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

141.

HONG, TIANCI Chinese

ELYANA Indonesian

93.

HOANG THI NHU LOAN Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

9.

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

COMPUTER TECHNICAL SUPPORT SPECIALIST

142.

LU, BANGKUN Chinese

TRAN MANH TOAN Vietnamese

143.

HU, JINGLEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

10.

QIAN, RUHAI Chinese

144.

HUANG, MEIJIE Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

11.

145.

HUANG, JIMING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

146.

HUANG, XIBAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

147.

LE VAN QUANG Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

148.

LIANG, PENGZHI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

149.

LIU, HAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

150.

LIU, HAOQUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

151.

LIU, BIANBIAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

ELEX INC. 2802 The Trade And Financial Tower 7th Avenue 32nd Street Fort Bonifacio Taguig City 55.

CONSULTANT

94.

ZHOU, QIANG Chinese

I.T TECHNICAL MANDARIN

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

XIAO, CHANGWEI Chinese

56.

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

CONSULTANT (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

95.

ZHAO, YUN Chinese

PHAM THI PHI YEN Vietnamese

PENG, YUNFEI Chinese

INFORMATION SECURITY ANALYST

57.

GUO, JINYAN Chinese

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

12.

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

FINANCE SPECIALIST (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

96.

GUO, KANGLE Chinese

HUYNH KHA HAN Vietnamese

58.

HE, XIAOLONG Chinese

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

13.

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

FINANCE SPECIALIST (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

97.

HE, LEI Chinese

NGO THANH THANH Vietnamese

59.

LI, MENGJIE Chinese

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

14.

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

FINANCE SPECIALIST (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

98.

LI, HAO Chinese

TRAN THI HIEN Vietnamese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

60.

LIU, QIN Chinese

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

LIN, LONGXIANG Chinese

SENIOR CONSULTANT (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

99.

15.

NGUYEN VU NGOC QUYEN Vietnamese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

TECHNICAL SPECIALIST (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

LU, HAITAO Chinese

NI, HUI Chinese

16.

NGUYEN THI HONG NI Vietnamese

100.

101.

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

17.

OU, RUOTUO Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

QU, JUNLONG Chinese

102.

KOREAN CUSTOMER SERVICE

18.

PENG, YINGUANG Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

YANG, SEONGCHEOL South Korean

19.

XIANYU, ZHUOCHENG Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

20.

ZHANG, HAIZHI Chinese

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

BILLION DRAGON OUTSOURCE PHILS., INC. One Townsquare Place Bpo Bldg. Alabang Zapote Rd. Almanza Uno Las Piñas City 21.

22.

23.

HAN, YINGPIN Chinese LIU, ZHAOMING Chinese NHAN KHOANG LAN Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (CSR) CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (CSR) CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (CSR)

BYTE COMPUTER INT’L TRADING INC. Alabang Zapote Rd., Rsti Compound, Pamplona Uno, Las Piñas City 24.

KIM, SUNGTAK South Korean

PRESIDENT/MANAGER

CHINA PHILIPPINE LAWYER ASSOCIATION INC. Unit 1212 12/f Vellagio Tower 2010 Leon Guinto St., 079 Bgy. 723 Malate Manila 25.

ZHAO, XUEFA Chinese

OFFICE TRANSLATOR

CONSULTING SUPERIORS INC. Unit No. 2c, Flr. No. 4/f, One E-com Center Bldg. Ocean Drive Mall Of Asia Complex St. Zone 10, Barangay 076, District 1 Pasay City 26.

ZHI, HUAXUAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

CROWNTECH CORPORATION Unit 1203-1204 Techzone Bldg. Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. San Antonio Makati City 27.

DANNY PERDANNA Indonesian

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

28.

DYKO Indonesian

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

29.

GUAN, LIBO Chinese

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

30.

LI, YANG Chinese

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

31.

LIM CHIN MEI Malaysian

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

32.

TANG TIEU LE Vietnamese

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

33.

WANG, CUIFANG Chinese

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

34.

YING, YAO-TE Taiwanese

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT OFFICER

DYNAMIC STUDIO TECHNOLOGY INC. 5th To 10th/f Platinum Tower Building Aseana Ave. Cor. Fuentes Street Baclaran Parañaque City

61.

ENCORE AMUSEMENT AND GAMING SUPPORT SERVICES CORP. 3f Metlive Metro Park Edsa Ext. Cor. Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City 62.

LE THUY DUNG Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST

103.

QA (QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

152.

LIU ING LAN Indonesian

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

63.

NGUYEN NGOC KHANH CHI Vietnamese

HU, FAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST

104.

PU, YULIN Chinese

QA (QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

153.

LO SIN NGA Indonesian

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST

105.

WANG, ZHONGWEI Chinese

QA (QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

154.

64.

NGUYEN VAN HIEN Vietnamese

LU, BIN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

TRAN THI MY DUYEN Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE SPECIALIST

106.

WANG, HAO Chinese

QA (QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

155.

65.

LUO, YANSONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

107.

CHEN, YONG Chinese

QA(QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

156.

NGUYEN HUU THANG Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

108.

LI, QIANGQIANG Chinese

QA(QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

157.

NIU, QIANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

109.

ZHANG, JIAQIANG Chinese

QA(QUALITY ASSURANCE) SPECIALIST

158.

SHU, CHEN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

159.

SU, XUELI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

160.

SU MY LONG Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

161.

TAN JUEHAO Malaysian

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

162.

TANG, HUARONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

163.

TANG, ZEYANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

164.

TU, JIAYUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

165.

VONG HONG LIEN Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

166.

WANG, QINGLONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

167.

YAN, LI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

168.

YANG, DONGXIAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

169.

YU, FEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

170.

ZHANG, HUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

171.

ZHANG, YUE Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

EPSON PHILIPPINES CORPORATION 8/f Ansons Centre #23, Adb Ave., Ortigas Ctr. San Antonio Pasig City 66.

UEYAMA, TOMOKI Japanese

PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR

FLYING DRAGON NETWORK PHILIPPINES INC. Malate Bayview Mansion 1781 M. Adriatico Street 076, Brgy. 699 Malate Manila 4th-11th Floor Aseana 3 Building Aseana Avenue Corner Diosdado Macapagal Tambo Parañaque City 67.

LI, JUNJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

68.

WU, WEIQIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

69.

LI, XIAOBO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

REN, QIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

71.

XIA, DONGDONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

72.

ZHOU, ZHISHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

70.

HAMMERTIME CONSTRUCTION INC. Unit 203-s3 2nd Flr. Fbr Arcade Bldg. #317 Katipunan Ave. Loyola Heights 3 Quezon City 73.

QU, PENG Chinese

ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER

74.

PI, MINGZHI Chinese

CHINESE EQUIPMENT SUPERVISOR

75.

WANG, SHIBO Chinese

CHINESE FINANCIAL CONTROLLER

76.

ZHANG, ZHONGJUN Chinese

ELECTRICAL AND INSTRUMENTATION CONSULTANT

77.

WEI, LIPING Chinese

FINANCE & ADMIN MANAGER

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES PHILS. INC. U-5302, 53/f Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Ave., Cor., V.a. Rufino St. Bel-air Makati City 78.

YUAN, ZHI Chinese

APAC SUPPLY CHAIN PO OFFICE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT MANAGER

IRISBLOOM INC. Unit 25d 2/f Zeta Ii Bldg. 19 Salcedo St. San Lorenzo Makati City 110.

LIU, YUZHUO Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

111.

SONG, WENLEI Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

ITECHNO SPECIALIST INC. 9/f 100 West Building Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. Pio Del Pilar Makati City 112.

BI, YUFEI Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

113.

CAO, KANG Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

114.

HUA, WANLONG Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

115.

LEI, XIAOQI Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

116.

LI, HAISHAN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

117.

LI, HUAN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

118.

LI, WENZHAN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

119.

LI, QIANYU Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

120.

LI, YINGJIE Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

121.

LI, ZHEN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

KONGANBUDDIES MARKETING INC. 48/f Lower Ground Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St. Bel-air Makati City

122.

LIN, HENG Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

172.

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

123.

LIN, ZHONGHAI Chinese

DAVIN YOHAN Indonesian

173.

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

124.

QIN, QIN Chinese

FENNIATI Indonesian

174.

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

125.

SU, PENGYIN Chinese

LIE TRAS Indonesian

175.

ZENG, HUIRONG Chinese

MANDARIN SPEAKING HELPDESK SUPPORT

35.

GUO, FEIXIANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

79.

ZHANG, BAOJUN Chinese

PROCUREMENT MANAGER FOR PLDT FIBERGEN PROJECT

126.

XIUZHEN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

176.

GUO, DONGLIANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

80.

HUANG, JIASHENG Chinese

127.

XU, SUHUI Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

MANDARIN SPEAKING IT SPECIALIST

36.

177.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

128.

178.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

129.

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

MANDARIN SPEAKING SERVICE DESK SUPPORT

HU, YUEYING Chinese

ZHAO, YING Chinese

HUANG, XUN Chinese

38.

NING, LIBO Chinese

SENIOR SOLUTION MANAGER FOR GLOBE TELECOM ACCOUNT PROJECT

CHINESE IT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

MANDARIN SPEAKING SENIOR DATA ANALYST

37.

ZHANG, JIAQIN Chinese

ZHOU, SHENG Chinese

HE, WENSHAN Chinese

SENIOR SOLUTION DEVELOPER FOR GLOBE TELECOMS PROJECT

JASON CHENG QI SHEN Malaysian

179.

LIN, CHI-AN Taiwanese

MANDARIN SPEAKING SERVICE DESK SUPPORT

39.

HUANG, HONGBING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

40.

JI, GUANGZHE Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

41.

LI, LILI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

LIANG, LIANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

42.

81.

INFOVINE INC. 9/f Y Tower, Moa Complex Coral Way Drive Cor. Macapagal Brgy.

076 Pasay City 82.

BAHAMIR, SADIN Indonesian

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

83.

GAN, JIAXIN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

J-NA ALLOUT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP. 3/f Lipams Bldg. #48 President Avenue Bf Homes Parañaque City 130.

CAO, YANTING Chinese

CHINESE MARKETING CONSULTANT

131.

JOHAN Indonesian

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

132.

KIM, JONGWON South Korean

KOREAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

LARKSPUR INC. 19/f Marco Polo Hotel Manila Sapphire Road Ortigas Center San Antonio Pasig City 180.

HE, DAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

181.

WANG, HEHE Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

Economy BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 22, 2021 A5 Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

NielsenIQ study digs deeper into consumer and retailer behavior amid pandemic

C

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

ONSUMERS may find some of their favorite products missing from supermarket shelves as manufacturers were advised to streamline their offerings to maximize shelf space.

In its latest study, NielsenIQ found that a number of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) have been underperforming in many emerging and developing markets.

This highlighted the need for manufacturers to streamline their products to better maximize limited shelf space in supermarkets. NielsenIQ said retailers are already reducing their assortment on the shelf without compromising category sales.

“This involves choosing products that are not just fast selling, but also those that are niche but incremental to the category,” NielsenIQ Philippines Analytics Leader LouAnn Navalta said in an e-mail to the BusinessMirror.

“If the assortment is optimized this way, we do not turn off shoppers because they will always find a product in the assortment to fulfill their needs,” she added.

Navalta said if manufacturers were to streamline their products, this would remain a win for shoppers, manufacturers and retailers.

She said that while removing some products on the shelves that

are “underperforming,” retailers and manufacturers can play it smart and still provide choices to consumers.

Navalta also said retailers and manufacturers can weed out not just low-selling products but also those that are easily replaceable.

This streamlining is necessary given the study findings, which showed 75 percent of stock keeping units (SKUs) contributed less than 2 percent of category sales.

In Philippine supermarkets, some 79 percent of SKUs in the instant noodles and wine and spirits categories contributed to less than 2 percent of category sales.

Beverage, instant noodles, chocolate, and detergent are some of the most underperforming categories in the region’s top 15 markets, including the Philippines.

NielsenIQ said this pointed to the glut in non-performing products that exist within just this one category alone.

“More is not more, but rather the opposite as manufacturers end up investing in production and in-store shelf space for products that do not

drive any incremental value, thereby eating into their profit margins,” NielsenIQ Senior Vice President and Analytics Leader Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (APAC & EEMEA) Didem Sekerel Erdogan said.

The pandemic, NielsenIQ said, has made cash-strapped consumers more discerning in their purchases, careful to keep within their budgets.

NielsenIQ also said consumers are also now favoring smaller store formats such as community supermarkets, convenience stores, and minimarts that are near their homes.

This, NielsenIQ said, reinforces the need to make the best use of limited space in their locations.

Further, due to e-commerce, consumers spend less time browsing shelves than before the pandemic.

“Financially impacted consumers have less money to spend, less time to shop and will therefore be more deliberate in their spending.

The challenge for manufacturers and retailers is to ensure that the products on their shelves cater to consumers at all ends of the economic spectrum, while also remaining cost-efficient and eliminating wastage,” Navalta said.

Apart from the Philippines, the study also focused on Russia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam.

The study aimed to provide NielsenIQ clients a forward-looking view into consumer behavior in order to optimize performance across all retail platforms.

Calabarzon wage board defers decision on workers’ pay hike petition for 2nd time

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ITING the effects of economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the regional wage board of Calabarzon has deferred for the second time since 2019 its decision on a pending petition for a minimum-wage increase.

In its Board Resolution 1, Series of 2021, the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board 4A (RT WPB-14) announced it would postpone its action on the petition of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) for a P50.91 to P70.92 pay hike.

“The foregoing events, especially the lockdown imposed to minimize the spread of Covid-19 have created an adverse impact on the regional and national economy,” RTWPB-4A said in its three-page issuance.

Among the economic indicators the wage board used in its decision was the spike in unemployment in the region, which rose to 11.6 percent last year from 6.2 percent in 2019.

The pandemic caused higher underemployment (17.20 percent) and consumer price index (121.6) last year due to the pandemic that con-

tributed to the economic contraction in the region.

“In view of the preceding situation in relation to the minimum wage issue, the Board decided, as a collegial body, to defer its decision on the petition of Federation of Free Workers, without prejudice, however, to any further action the FFW, or any other concerned labor sector groups may deem appropriate,” RTWPB-4A said.

The first was last year after the eruption of the Taal Volcano, which also caused economic disruption in Calabarzon. Samuel P. Medenilla

DOH bares major strides in vaccination drive

T

HE Department of Health (DOH) reported on Wednesday that a total of 1,562,563 vaccine doses have been administered already in 3,263 vaccination sites in various sites in 17 regions of the country.

As of 20 April 2021, 100 percent of the available doses have been distributed, equating to 3,025,600 out of 3,025,600.

The DOH said that 76 percent of the 1,780,400 allocated first doses have already been administered, equating to 1,353,107 administered doses.

Likewise, 12 percent of the 1,780,400 allocated second doses have already been administered, equating to 209,456 administered doses.

Janssen and Covaxin

THE DOH also said that the emergency use authority (EUA) issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Janssen and Covaxin would help widen the country’s vaccine portfolio.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also allayed fears on the re-

These report of blood clotting events [linked to AstraZeneca and Janssen] are still being studied thoroughly by the experts.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire

ported blood clots linked to the vaccines.

This sideeffect was reportedly identified after the administration of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen jabs.

“These report of blood clotting events [linked to AstraZeneca and Janssen] are still being studied thoroughly by the experts,” Vergeire said, adding that those reported blood clots are “very, very rare” side effect.

“This is according to the experts, the EMA [European Medicines Agen-

BM

cy], and the CDC [United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]... even the World Health Organization came out with a statement that is why we are pursuing vaccinations using these vaccines,” she added.

ForJansseninparticular,Vergeiresaid that they need to train health-care workers for them to easily recognize “these kinds of adverse effects among our citizens who will be vaccinated “for us just to be on the safe side.” Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

TheBroa

Business

A6 Thursday, April 22, 2021• www.businessmirror.com.ph

PHL climate change S

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

HE’S disappointed.

Lawyer Angela C. Ibay of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines said so days before the country’s 13th Earth Day celebration on April 22.

“While we appreciate the commitments made by the Philippine government, we also note with disappointment that only 2.71 percent of the 75-percent emission reduction target remains unconditional, while the remaining 72.29 percent is conditional,” Abay was quoted in a statement last Monday.

Abay was referring to the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted last April 15 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“This gives much space for the possibility that the NDC targets will not be met in full,” Abay, a lawyer, added. “Climate action must be among our top priorities, as the lives of millions of Filipinos will continue to be affected otherwise.”

The effects are already being felt: it’s in the air.

Sensitive to pollution

LAST year, based on an IQAir report, the average air quality in the Philippines is 52 US Air Quality Index (AQI), which refers to the color classification of “yellow” or description of “moderate.”

This means that air quality is acceptable but there may be a risk for some people, particularly those who are unusually sensitive to air pollution. To note, the US AQI is the index of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for reporting air quality.

Based on the information posted on a website pertaining to AQI Basics, an AQI value of 50 or below represents good air quality.

An AQI value over 300 represents hazardous air quality.

The US EPA establishes an AQI for five major air pollutants namely: ground-level ozone; particle pollution (also known as particulate matter or PM), including PM2.5 and PM10; sulfur dioxide; and, nitrogen dioxide. Sulfur dioxide is naturally released by volcanic activity and produced as a by-product of copper extraction and the burning of fossil fuels contaminated with sulfur compounds.

According to the greenfacts.org website, nitrogen dioxide “is part of a group of gaseous air pollutants produced as a result of road traffic and other fossil fuel combustion processes.”

“Its presence in air contributes to the formation and modification of other air pollutants, such as ozone and particulate matter and to acid rain.”

AQI values

FOR each pollutant, an AQI value of 100 generally corresponds to an ambient air concentration that equals the level of the shortterm national ambient air quality standard for the protection of public health.

AQI values at or below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory. When AQI values are above 100, air quality is unhealthy: at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as AQI

AVG. US AQI

values get higher.

The air quality data sources for the Philippines include mainly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), with eight air quality monitoring stations. The others are: Rhean Group of Companies with one station; Sunwest (1): Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. (15); and, an anonymous source with five stations.

Last year, Calamba was designated as having the cleanest city with 24 AQI while the most polluted was Meycauayan in Bulacan, which has an AQI of 83.

Globally, the Philippines ranked 70 out of 106 countries ranked in terms of air pollution in 2020.

US AQI

source: https://www.iqair.com/philippines

Vehicles as source

GREATLY improved air quality is one of the benefits of the community quarantine put in place by the government last year. As mobile and stationary sources of pollution stop operation, the pollution levels have dramatically gone down, DENR data revealed.

The DENR’s own air quality monitoring stations tells the same good news, especially during the first two months when the community quarantine was strictly implemented in Luzon beginning March 17, 2020.

According to DENR-Environment a l M a n a gement Bu reau (EMB) Director William P. Cuñado, the situation is reflected in the real-time air quality monitoring stations in various parts of Metro Manila.

“During the lockdown, almost all our stations are ‘green,’ which means the air quality is good,” Cuñado told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview last April 13.

He attributed this to almostzero pollution coming from the transportation sector, with the motor vehicles being the source of about 80 percent of air pollution.

Eased restrictions

“IMAGINE the hundreds of thousands of vehicles that stopped plying the roads of Metro Manila,” Cuñado said in a mix of English and Filipino. “Also, all other sources of pollution like the manufacturing sector stopped operations.”

Sadly, the benefits of community quarantines to air quality proved to be only temporary. As the government slowly opened up the economy, so did the dumping of toxic air pollutants resume.

Greenpeace’s special report titled “Managing Air Quality beyond Covid-19,” said that May 16, or two months after the government eased restrictions from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to modified ECQ saw the return of motor vehicles around the National Capital Region. Air pollution returned, albeit gradually.

With the worsening air quality in various parts of the world comes the realization a time will come that even without Covid-19, people may still need to wear face masks or, worse, have an oxygen tank in tow.

US AQI

source: https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-countries

Tide reversal

THE quality of the air people breathe ref lects the health of Mother Earth amid the exploding human population and destructive human activities happening worldwide.

Incidenta l ly, the theme of “Earth Day 2021,” a global event held since 1970 is “Restore Our Earth.” It became an official celebration after President Gloria Arroyo issued Proclamation 1481 declaring April 22 of every year as

the Philippines’ Earth Day. However, the emission of too much toxic air pollutants vis-àvis the shrinking forest cover— the earth’s lungs—has reduced the country’s carbon-absorption capacity. For years, this combo had also undermined the country’s capacity to produce oxygen to replenish the environment with clean, breathable air.

From an estimated forest cover of about 12 million in 1960, the Philippines’s forest cover is now

slightly above only 7 million hectares, or roughly just half of the 15 million hectares classified as forest land.

The effort to reverse the tide of deforestation in the Philippines suffered a huge setback under the Duterte administration, with the P2-billion average annual cut for reforestation in the last five years.

As the government focuses on protecting its existing forest more than attempting to expand its forest cover through massive treeplanting activities, an estimated 100,000 hectares of additional forest cover for each year or a total of 500,000 hectares of additional forest cover in the last five years is inadvertently lost.

Healing the planet

ASIAN Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCo) Executive Director Ricardo L. Calderon underscored the importance of putting a stop to deforestation and fasttracking reforestation efforts to restore the planet back to health.

“Forests serve both as a carbon sink and provides oxygen for cleaner air,” Calderon, a forestry expert, said.

According to Calderon, the AFoCo, as a multilateral and intergovernmental organization, is now focusing on restoring drought-prone areas, which are prone to major environmental perturbations such as El Niño, extreme rainfall, wildfire including pest and diseases.

“Existing water shortages in these drought-prone areas are projected to increase owing to population increase, land cover change due to human activities and development as well as climate change,” he added.

According to Calderon, a former director of the DENR-FMB and the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), restoration and reforestation in drought-prone areas should be science-based and knowledgebased with consideration of traditional knowledge in order to ensure success.

“Member parties including the

aderLook

sMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Thursday, April 22, 2021

A7

policy? It’s in the air Philippines are already in the process of identifying these areas for inclusion in this major partnership program that includes parties from Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Central Asia,” he said.

Ensuring protection

THE DENR, through the EMB, continues to strengthen its air quality monitoring system to ensure that the environment and public health are protected from the dangers of air pollution.

A line bureau of the DENR that sets air quality standards and monitors ambient and point source pollutants, the EMB considers air quality monitoring as a crucial step for taking corrective actions to reduce air pollution, considered as the largest single environmental health risk—causing many non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular and respiratory ailments, stroke and lung cancer.

The EMB has a total of 75 air quality monitoring stations strategically located in 16 regions nationwide, 34 of them capable of continuous online monitoring, while 41 use a manual method of sampling.

Through the air quality monitoring stations, the public can also monitor real-time air quality in various parts of the country.

The air quality monitoring stations are capable of measuring air pollutants, particularly PM10 or particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter and PM2.5, whose diameter is 2.5 micrometers or less.

Fifteen of these stations in eight regions are also capable of measuring gaseous air pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide.

Pollution sources

HOW EV ER , Cuñado sa id t he

DENR-EMB is still working to enhance the capacity to monitor PM2.5 He explained that the monitoring of PM2.5 is being prioritized by the EMB because the tiny inhalable particles are able to travel deeply into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs. These fine particles pose the greatest risk to human health, Cuñado said.

The current ambient air quality guideline values for PM2.5 are 50 micrograms per Normal cubic meters (ug/Nm3) for average 24hour short-term monitoring and 25 ug/Nm3 for an average 1-year long-term monitoring.

Currently, the air quality standards for PM2.5 are being reviewed and updated by the Inter-Agency Committee for Environmental Health, chaired by the Department of Health and vice-chaired by the DENR. Also, the interagency body is also reviewing the emission standards for stationary or industrial air pollution sources.

“What we want to do is to be able to measure air pollution in major roads separately from industrial and commercial areas so we will know the contribution of mobile sources like motor vehicles and stationary air pollution sources,” Cuñado said.

Such strategy, he added, will help the DENR-EMB come up with a more informed decision and program on how to address air pollution at source.

Legal requirements

A SK ED to weigh in and rate the gover nment’s accomplishments in manag ing the countr y’s air qua lit y, K hev in Yu of Gre e np e a ce S out he a s t A s i a , told the BusinessMirror that t h e P h i l i p p i n e g o v e r n m e nt star ted on a high note w ith the

n Make air pollution monitoring devices mandatory in all cities, government offices, particularly in heavy polluting industries and/or facilities such as coal power plants and in areas with a high concentration of motorized vehicles n Allocate more funds and manpower to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to increase the agency’s capacity in air quality monitoring, including enabling the department to install its own emissions monitoring devices in existing coal power plants and, in the meantime, adopt a stringent process for validating self-monitoring reports of emissions rates n Fully prepare and implement a National Plan on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), as mandated by Section 31 of Republic Act (RA) 8749 (Clean Air Act) n Address the root cause of air pollution in the country by implementing a transition plan away from the use of coal energy and fossil fuels in the transport sector. n For the president to declare air pollution as a national issue and order all line agencies involved in air quality monitoring and regulation to prioritize this issue n Enhance transparency and expedite the review and update of the air pollution standards under RA 8749 (Clean Air Act of 1999) n Issue a moratorium on all Permits to Operate Air Pollutant Installations especially for proposed coal power plants until the Ambient Air Quality Guideline Values and Standards and Emission Standards are updated

passing of the Clean A ir Act of 1999. T hat law, Republic Act 8749, est abl i shed st a nd a rd s for hazardous pol lutants and ba n n i n g p ol lut i n g pr ac t ice s such as incineration.

However, Greenpeace Climate Change and Energy Campaigner Yu told the BusinessMirror the Philippines lagged behind in implementation of the law and its provisions, such as updating standards regularly.

“For almost two decades, air pollutants such as PM 2.5, PM 10, and Sulfur Oxide (SO2) from stationary sources were not updated,” he said. “By law, it should be revised every two years to be able to respond to new research and global standards. It was only

last year that a revision was made for PM 2.5 air standards.”

Air toxicity

BEFORE the Covid pandemic tore apart the “normal life” across the globe, Greenpeace released a study about the toxic air from fossil fuels. It said the country is losing 1.9 percent of gross domestic product annually, with 4.4 million work absences and 27,000 premature deaths due to air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels from the transport and energy sector.

On the other hand, Yu said the DENR came up with their findings as early as 2015 with their National Air pollution status report (2008 to 2015) enumerating the health

impacts of air pollution.

“Coa l, considered the dir tiest for m of energ y, ex panded exponentially since the passage of the Clean A ir Act. It is now t he largest source of energ y w it h 52 percent of sh a re in the nationa l generation mi x,” Yu said. “In response to this, t he DENR dec l a red t h at a i r pol lution is considered a top pr ior it y.

“But a year after, we have yet to see significant developments in updating air pollution standards for the transport and energy sector,” he added.

Not safe

ASKED if the DENR’s air quality management program helps make

the air we breathe healthy, or at least safe, Yu said “the government is mandated to address air pollution.”

“But they have yet to make significant strides to provide us with better air quality because we still have limited air pollution monitors across the country,” he told the BusinessMirror. “The public will not feel safe if they don’t know if the air they are breathing is clean or not.”

According to him, by Greenpeace’s own account, the Philippines only has a f leet of 55 government-owned PM2.5 monitor ing stations. Twent y-t wo are stationed in Metro Manila while some are not strateg ically located in areas with high PM2.5 concentrations, such as major highways and coal plants.

Bat a a n, wh ic h hou ses m ajor megawatt-coal plants, has a lone PM2.5 monitor for the whole province, Yu noted.

T he gover nment, Yu sa id , should not wait for the pandemic to end before prioritizing air pollution.

“It is an ongoing crisis affecting everyone,” he said. “The solutions will both solve air pollution and contribute in addressing the climate crisis.”

Enhanced transparency

GR EENPE ACE, along w ith other advocates of clean air, have identified a set of demands for t he D ut e r t e a d m i n i s t r at ion (See Sidebar). T he demands include a declaration that air pollution is a nationa l issue and, hence, order a l l line agencies involved in air qua lit y monitor i n g a nd re g u l at ion mu s t pr ior itize the issue.

He also thinks there should be enhanced transparency in expediting the review and updating of the air pollution standards under RA 8749.

T he gover nment, Yu sa id , should also issue a moratorium on all “Permits to Operate Air Pollutant Installations,” especially for proposed coal power plants until the “Ambient Air Quality Guideline Values and Standards and Emission Standards” are updated.

Time running out

GREENPEACE and other environmental organizations based in the Philippines join advocates across the globe in challenging governments to honor commitments under the Paris Agreement. The agreement, signed on December 12, 2015, seeks to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels.

Ibay said the WWF is calling on all stakeholders “to work together to take our commitments even further and to act upon them.”

“We look for ward to continued constructive engagement with the government, the various agencies and other stakeholders on the key aspects of the Philippine NDC and look towards its enhancement and the attainment of goals set therein,” Ibay said. “We are running out of time in the fight against climate change, and our islands w i l l be among the worst affected should we fail to change course now.”

She, however, emphasizes that the Duterte government must “act swiftly, with higher ambition and with a great sense of urgency.”

Hopefully, on Earth Day 2022, she would not be disappointed.

A8

The World BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 22, 2021

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

Brazil Covid infections soaring among exposed young people I

Modi urges India’s states to shun lockdowns as Covid cases surge

S

ão Paulo—Brazil’s slowly unfolding vaccination program appears to have slowed the pace of deaths among the nation’s elderly, according to death certificate data, but Covid-19 is still taking a rising toll as unprotected younger people get sick.

People 80 and over accounted for a quarter of the nation’s Covid-19 deaths in February, but less than a fifth in March, according to data provided to The Associated Press on Tuesday by Arpen-Brasil, an association which represents thousands of the notaries who record death certificates in Brazil.

But relatively few beyond the elderly have been protected: Less than 9 million of Brazil’s 210 million residents have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to Our World in Data, an online research site.

Confirmed new infections from the virus among all age groups jumped about 70 percent between December and March: Reported cases rose from 1.3 million in December to 1.5 million in January, to 1.36 million in February and to 2.25 million in March.

But among people aged 20 to 59 the death toll tripled from February to March, hitting 23,366, according to the notaries.

Gustavo Renato Fiscarelly, the president of Arpen-Brasil, said the figures show the importance of vaccines as well as the danger

of people letting down their guard. “ There needs to be precaution by younger people, who have been proportionally more affected by the number of deaths.”

Heath experts blame that lack of caution for a similar pattern across the continent.

“We are not acting like a region in the midst of a worsening outbreak,” Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, head of the PanAmerican Health Organization, said last week, complaining that the regional weekly death toll was higher than at any point in 2020.

“Despite ongoing transmission in many places, restrictions have been relaxed.

Crowds are back, and people are gathering indoors and taking public transportation, often without masks,” she said.

E x per t s compl a i n t h at even Brazilians who want to isolate are often forced to go to work because government welfare payments meant to let people stay home were sharply reduced in the first months of this year.

Brazil ’s vaccine program has suffered re peated delays, but President Jair Bolsonaro has disregarded calls f rom he a lt h e x per t s a nd some governors to impose

A policeman talks with a woman outside a night club after it was shut down during a police operation against illegal and clandestine gatherings that authorities believe are partly responsible for fuelling the spread of Covid-19, in São Paulo, Brazil on April 11. AP/Andre Penner

a nationwide lockdown to slow the virus’ spread.

In the absence of countrywide restrictions, unvaccinated people remain vulnerable to the so-called Brazilian variant that has rapidly spread across the country—and Latin America as a whole. “ The new P.1 variant is much more transmissible, and very probably it is also much more aggressive. And it is contaminating a lot of young people,” said Margareth Dalcolmo, a pneumologist and researcher at the state-run Fiocruz Institute.

Local leaders have found it hard to enforce restrictions while Bolsonaro is urging people to ignore them.

São Paulo state’s government imposed limited hours for bars and restaurants, but they were widely violated.

In the seven weeks through April 19, more than 500 establishments were fined for violating the rules and police have detained thousands of fun-seekers.

E du a rd o B r o t e r o, w ho helps head a police task force

targeting clandestine parties, described one April 11 raid to The Associated Press: “ There were almost 100 people drinking and smoking hookahs. There was even a barbecue inside, with no security measures, even in this period in which every day we face these enormous death figures.”

Bra zi l has seen a lmost 375,000 deaths from the virus, a toll second only to that of the United States. Nearly half that total has come so far in 2021.

The seven-day average death toll surged to above 3,000, though the figure has retreated slightly over the last few days.

Ever ton G odoy, 3 4 , i s among these younger Covid-19 patients. He was laid up in a field hospital’s infirmary April 13 in the small city of Ribeirao Pires on São Paulo’s outskirts and said he believes he was infected while working at a produce shop.

“This disease has no age, and it’s a very sad disease,” Godoy said with labored breaths.

“From one day to the next, unfortunately, it takes people away.” AP

Seoul court rejects sexual slavery claim against Tokyo

S

EOUL, South Korea—A South Korean court on Wednesday rejected a claim

by South Korean sexual slavery victims and their relatives who sought compensation from the Japanese government over their wartime sufferings.

Activists representing sexual slaver y v i c t i m s d e n o u n ce d t h e d e c i s i o n a n d said the Seoul Central District Cour t was ignoring their struggles to restore the women’s honor and dignity. They said in a statement that the plaintiffs would appeal.

The 20 plaintiffs, including 11 women who were forced to work at Japanese military brothels during World War II and relatives of other deceased sex slaves, sued the Japanese government in 2016.

Japan had boycotted the cour t proceedings. The Seoul court ruled that the Japanese government should be exempt from civil jurisdiction under the principles of international law, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

Wednesday’s decision seemed to run against a largely symbolic ruling made by the same cour t in Januar y, which had called for the Japanese government to give 100 million won ($89,000) each to a separate group of 12 women who sued in 2013 over their war time suffering as sex slaves.

Japanese officials had angrily rejected the January ruling, which was the first such ruling in South Korea, accusing Seoul of making “illegal” demands and undermining international law and bilateral relations.

Amnesty International issued a statement calling Wednesday’s ruling a “major disappointment that fails to deliver justice to the remaining survivors of this

military slavery system and to those who suffered these atrocities before and during World War II but had already passed away, as well as their families.”

“This ruling runs contrary to a decision by the same court in January, which required Japan to accept legal responsibility for its systematic sexual enslavement that amounted to crimes against humanity and war crimes,” said Arnold Fang, Amnesty International’s East Asia researcher. “What was a landmark victory for the survivors after an overly long wait is again now being called into question.”

The ruling came as the Asian US allies struggle to repair their relations that sank to post-war lows in recent years over history, trade, and military issues.

Japan insists all wartime compensation issues were settled under a 1965 treaty normalizing relations with South Korea in which Tokyo provided $500 million in economic assistance to Seoul.

Tens of thousands of women across Japanese -occupied Asia and the Pacific were moved to front-line brothels used by the Japanese militar y. About 240 South Korean women registered with the government as victims of sexual slaver y

by Japan’s war time militar y—only 15 of whom are still alive.

Recurring animosity between South Korea and Japan over historical grievances co u l d p o s s i b l y co m p l i c ate Pre s i d e nt Joe Biden’s efforts to bolster three-way cooperation with US regional allies, which declined under years of President Donald Tr u m p’s “A m e r i ca f i r s t ” a p p ro a c h , to coordinate action in face of China’s growing influence and North Korea’s nuclear threat.

Besides the impasse over sexual slavery, South Korea and Japan have feuded over

South Korean court rulings that called for Japanese companies to compensate Koreans who were forced to work in factories during the war.

The countries have made little progress in repairing their relations despite South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s vow last month to build “future-oriented ties” with Tokyo. Fresh tensions have risen after Japan confirmed it would release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.

I n 2 0 1 5 , S o u t h Ko re a’s p re v i o u s conservative government reached a deal with Japan to “irreversibly” resolve the sexual slavery dispute. Under that deal, Japan agreed to fund a foundation to support victims in return for South Korea ceasing its criticism of Japan over the issue.

But Moon’s government took steps to dissolve the foundation after he took office in 2017, saying the 2015 deal lacked legitimac y because officials failed to properly communicate with victims before reaching it.

One of the plaintiffs in Wednesday’s case—92-year-old Lee Yong-soo—has been campaigning for South Korea and Japan to settle their decades-long impasse over sexual slavery by seeking judgment from the UN’s International Court of Justice.

She has said it has become clear the issue cannot be resolved through bilateral diplomatic talks or rulings by South Korea’s domestic courts that have been repeatedly rejected by the Japanese government, and that the friction between governments has hurt friendship between civilians.

“Regardless of the verdict, we will go to the International Court of Justice,” she told reporters after Wednesday’s ruling. AP

ndia’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who last year imposed a strict lockdown on short notice, asked states to avoid shutting businesses as the South Asian nation grapples with a new wave of Covid-19 infections that threatens a nascent economic revival.

T he South Asian nation is now the world’s second-worst hit country, lagging only the US, after reporting more than 200,000 daily new infections for the last six days.

“I urge states that they should consider lockdowns as the last option,” Modi said in a televised address late Tuesday. “ They should earnestly tr y to avoid lockdown and focus on micro-containment zones.”

As infections rise the countr y’s health system has been pushed to breaking point, with hospitals reporting shortages of everything from intensive care beds to medical oxygen. Soaring new cases have forced both India’s financial and political capitals to impose restrictions on movement, with New Delhi mandating a six-day strict lockdown starting Tuesday.

In images reminiscent of India’s first strict lockdown in late March last year where hundreds of thousands of workers fled cities, thousands crowded into bus terminals in Delhi earlier this week

trying to get home after their income suddenly dried up with the new lockdown.

Meanwhile, least six of India’s 30 chief ministers, two federal ministers and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, have all tested positive for the virus in recent days.

The nation’s benchmark stock index fell to its lowest since endJanuary on Tuesday and the rupee is Asia’s worst-performing currency this month as India became the globe’s epicenter of the fresh outbreak.

In February, the central bank said it expects the economy to expand 10.5 percent in the year that began April 1 after an estimated 7.7 percent contraction in the previous 12 months.

Renewed lockdowns will cost the country 1 percent of gross value added in the April-June quarter and more if replicated by other states, according to estimates by HSBC Holdings Plc. Meanwhile, public finances will be hit by the rise in demand for social safety programs, weaker tax revenues and uncertainty about asset sales, HSBC economist Pranjul Bhandari wrote in a note published Tuesday.

Modi also said that his government is working with states and companies to augment supplies of medical oxygen and crucial drugs required to fight the pandemic.

Bloomberg News

Mexican president gets Covid vaccine after waffling on shot

B

OCA DEL RIO, Mexico— Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador finally got a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, after waff ling on receiving the shot.

Mexico is in a race to get its population vaccinated as case numbers have begun to rise again and the country’s estimated total death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 336,000. On Tuesday, Mexico expanded efforts to vaccinate teachers to five more states.

López Obrador got a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine from a military nurse live at his daily morning press conference.

“It doesn’t hurt, and what is more, it protects us all,” López Obrador said, urging all Mexicans over 60 to get vaccinated.

T he president had sa id in March he would hold off on getting the shot because he still had antibodies after being infected in January. But he later changed his mind after his doctors recommended he be vaccinated. He also said he wanted to set an example for others to get the shot.

Based on his age, 67, the president was scheduled to have gotten his shot in the first week of April along with other over-60s in central Mexico City.

While López Obrador sought to set an example with the vaccine, he has disdained wearing face masks himself and refused to make them mandatory in public spaces, saying that would violate people’s individual liberties.

He has also consistently refused to push for more drastic lockdowns used in other countries, calling such tactics “authoritarian.”

W h i l e M e x i c o ’s C o v i d -19 caseload declined dramatically in the 11 weeks since the latest outbreak in January, infections began to rebound by about 4 percent over the last week, which authorities said was a cause for concern but not alarm.

Mexico has so far administered about 14.4 million vaccine doses, a small amount for a country of 126 million. The country has approved

seven different vaccines and is currently using five, including the Pfizer vaccine, two Chinese shots and one from Russia.

The country began mass vacc i n at ion s of s c ho olt e a c he r s Tuesday, in hopes of reopening classrooms in less-affected states. The Gulf-coast state of Campeche became the first of Mexico’s 32 states to partially reopen schools on Monday, allow ing grade-school students to return to classrooms with reduced class sizes and face masks.

In Boca del Rio, a town in Veracruz state, teachers lined up before dawn Tuesday at a convention center to get the singledose CanSino vaccine. Teachers saw the vaccinations as a positive step, but some expressed concerns about the conditions of their schools.

Teaching assistant Cristina Cortés Suárez said she was happy to receive the vaccine, but worried her school and others were far from ready to welcome students back to their classrooms after a year of closure. “ T he conditions at my school a r e v e r y b a d ,” C o r t é s s a i d . “ T hey entered to stea l, t hey dest royed t he a ir cond it ioning , t hey stole t he l ights, t he water, ever y t h ing.”

Teacher Anabel Caballero Mora said she was worried about keeping her unvaccinated students and their families safe.

“I know there are a lot of schools that were sacked,” she said. “There needs to be a survey of those schools to see which ones are in condition to begin classes, because the schools are adrift.”

Mexico has suffered almost 212,500 test-confirmed deaths from Covid-19, but because the country does so little testing, authorities acknowledge the real toll is now over 336,000. That number is based on 316,344 deaths through the first week of March where Covid-19 or related symptoms were mentioned on death certificates, and 19,978 test-confirmed deaths since then. AP

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Biden calls Chauvin conviction ‘giant step’ toward racial justice

P

resident Joe Biden said the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was “a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America,” and called on lawmakers to ensure the legacy of George Floyd wasn’t his murder, but lasting law-enforcement reform. “No one should be above the law and today’s verdict sends that message, but it’s not enough,” Biden said Tuesday evening at the White House. “This takes acknowledging and confronting head-on systemic racism and the racial disparities that exist in policing.”

Hours earlier, a jury had convicted Chauvin of second-degree murder and lesser charges for cutting off Floyd’s air supply last May 25 as he lay handcuffed and begging for his life.

The conviction, which stood out against decades of impunity for most police excessive-force cases, could mean decades in prison for the 45-year-old Chauvin, who will face sentencing in eight weeks. It also could lend momentum to congressional legislation named for Floyd that would set limits on aggression by police officers.

“Painfully earned justice has arrived for George Floyd’s family,” Ben Crump, a lawyer who is head of its legal team, said in a statement. The verdict’s impact, he said, extends beyond Minneapolis and will have “significant implications for the country and even the world.”

The episode that started a racial reckoning around the globe unfolded last spring after Chauvin and other officers responded to a call from a convenience store, where a clerk said Floyd had tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill.

Bystanders’ video recorded the 9 minutes and 29 seconds during which Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck. It galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement, already active after years of previous killings by police and vigilantes, while attracting unprecedented support from White people who marched for weeks last summer. Floyd’s death prompted an urgent debate about the broader issue of inequality and institutionalized racism in all its forms, including in corporate America.

In his Tuesday evening address, the president expressed optimism that the verdict could mark a “moment of significant change” for a nation he said has done too little to confront racial injustice. And Biden said that the exhausted relief expressed by many Americans following a verdict that provided “basic accountability” only underscored the need for progress toward new federal policing legislation.

Biden captured the Democratic nomination—and eventually the White House—in part on the strength of support from Black voters eager to see change after the presidency of Donald Trump. Trump repeatedly voiced support for law enforcement while sharply criticizing demonstrators and other acts of protest, like Black National Football League players kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem.

Yet since arriving in the White House, Biden has seen little progress toward the sweeping police reforms he promised.

House Democrats passed legislation that would institute restrictions on federal authorities prohibiting racial profiling, chokeholds, and no-knock warrants. Yet the bill has languished in the Senate without a clear path to a filibuster-proof 60-vote

majority. Republicans have opposed provisions that would strip law officers of protection from lawsuits over their conduct.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat and a former prosecutor in the county where the trial was held, said in a statement that the verdict should lead to federal laws requiring changes in policing practices.

“It’s long past time the Senate moves forward and passes police reform to hold officers accountable for misconduct, increase transparency in policing practices, and improve police conduct and training, including banning chokeholds,” she said.

“This is the urgent task before us—not for tomorrow, not for next year, but for now.”

Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican US senator, said “the verdict just reinforces that our justice system continues to become more just.” He said he saw a path forward for a bill that would require de-escalation training for local police officers and increase use of body cameras.

Biden said Tuesday that it shouldn’t take “a whole year” to get Congress to act.

With or without a law, a cultural change may already have begun. Chauvin’s trial was notable for the number of police officers, including Chief Medaria Arradondo, who testified against one of their own, rejecting the closed-mouth ethic that has historically pervaded law enforcement.

That was “an inflection point,” said Arthur Ago, director of the Criminal Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “We will see if that type of police participation in the prosecution of other police officers continues,” Ago said.

“Without that participation of other police officers, we’re going to slide back to where we were before this trial.”

Indeed, the eruption that followed Floyd’s death was the culmination of a long string of killings of Black people, some of them captured on video and instantly ubiquitous on social media. Anger had been building since the 2012 death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin at the hands of a neighborhood watch member, followed two years later by the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Months before Floyd’s death, White men in Georgia shot Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged, and police in Louisville, Kentucky, killed Breonna Taylor in her home after waking her and her boyfriend in a raid gone awry.

Chauvin’s conviction was a beginning, said Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed in a police chokehold in New York City’s borough of Staten Island in 2014.

“This should be a little victory for all of us, but now it has to be put in practice everywhere,” she said in an interview. “A victory for them is a victory for all of us, because it’s not only about one family. It’s justice for all.”

Earlier, Biden told Floyd’s family that he was relieved by the conviction, and hoped that the verdict would lead to broader change.

“Nothing is going to make it all better but at least, God, now, there’s some justice,” Biden told the family in a telephone call that Crump, their attorney, posted on Twitter.

The world, Biden said, is going to “start to change” now.

Bloomberg News

Report: Mideast countries top 2020 global executioners list

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—Apart from China and despite a worldwide drop in death sentences, countries in the Middle East remained among the world’s leading executioners last year, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The number of executions worldwide plummeted to its lowest level in over a decade, with at least 483 people executed in 2020, compared to 657 the previous year, as the coronavirus pandemic slowed criminal trials and disrupted scheduled executions.

Four states in the region—Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia—topped the global list and pressed on with shootings, beheadings and hangings, ignoring pleas by rights groups to halt executions during the pandemic, the report said.

Although counts in the nations fell in line with global trends, largely due to Saudi legal reforms, the countries carried out 88 percent of the world’s total known executions in 2020, according to the London-based rights group that campaigns for abolition of the death penalty.

The numbers show the region is “truly out of sync with the rest of the world,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s director for the Middle East and North Africa. “The Middle East stands out as a region that clings to the use of the death penalty after deeply unfair trials.”

Egypt executed more than three times as many condemned prisoners in 2020 as it did the year before, overtaking Saudi Arabia as the world’s third-most prodigious executioner, the report said.

Although Iraq more than halved the number of people it put to death last year compared to 2019, primarily because of virus-induced court closures, the government faces international criticism for carrying out mass executions. Iraqi courts have grappled with thousands of detainees suspected of being Islamic State group fighters or supporters following the militant group’s defeat on the battlefield in 2017. Last November, 21 prisoners held on terrorism-related charges were hanged in a single day.

The region’s overall 25 percent decline in executions was driven by Saudi Arabia, long one of the world’s most prolific executioners. In a dramatic shift, the Saudi government scaled back its executions last year by 85 percent. The kingdom attributed the drop to legal reforms promoted by the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. New directives halted executions for drug offenses and abolished the death penalty for minors.

Amnesty’s annual country-to-country figures exclude

China, where figures, believed to be in the thousands, are classified as a state secret. The report also omits executions from some countries marred by conflict like Syria, which Morayef called “one of the big black boxes.”

Egypt held 107 executions last year, a significant increase from the 32 recorded in 2019. Some two-dozen of the executed men had been convicted on political violence charges, particularly following the military overthrow in 2013 of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, the late Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Last fall, executions soared in Egypt after unrest on death row at Cairo’s notorious Tora prison, where authorities claimed that several inmates tried to escape. Rights groups say military trials for civilians and the use of torture to extract confessions have increased as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi entrenches his authoritarian rule. In response to criticism, the government has insisted that security and stability are its top priorities.

Iran remained the top executioner in the Middle East, meting out at least 246 deaths last year, more than half of the region’s total.

The Amnesty report particularly lamented Iran’s execution of juveniles, political opponents and journalists. Last December, Iran hanged dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam, who launched a popular news channel that helped spark nationwide economic protests. In another case, Navid Afkari, a wrestler imprisoned for allegedly stabbing a man amid protests against Iran’s theocracy in 2018, was hastily hanged without prior notice to his family or lawyer last fall, Amnesty said.

Saudi Arabia, long notorious for its public beheadings, decreased its executions as international scrutiny of the kingdom’s human rights record increased, Amnesty noted. The change came as Saudi Arabia promoted its global stature by hosting the Group of 20 summit last year and braced for cooler relations with US President Joe Biden.

Mideast countries that had not put anyone to death in years also did so in 2020. The sultanate of Oman reversed course by putting four people to death and Qatar resumed executions for the first time in over two decades with the hanging of a Nepali migrant worker convicted of murder.

By law or in practice, the death penalty is now abolished in 144 countries, though Amnesty expects no such change in the Middle East.

“It’s a reflection of the crisis of human rights,” Morayef said. “Until Middle East leaders start taking the justice system seriously instead of just empowering their security services, I fear we’re going to continue to see these kinds of numbers.” AP

Thursday, April 22, 2021

A9

A10 Thursday, April 22, 2021 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

There’s good news and some bad news

T

he good news is that Covid vaccines are proving effective and rapidly scaling. In the long run, vaccines will help flatten the curve in many countries. Skeptics should look at the growing evidence that Covid jabs are effective. For example, real-world data from Israel and the United Kingdom validate the clinical-trial results by showing a sharp reduction in hospitalizations and deaths.

Although still far from ideal, it’s good to know that global vaccine rollout is improving. Massive inoculation programs have accelerated, especially in the US and the United Kingdom. As of April 21, more than 925 million doses have been administered across 155 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 15.9 million doses a day. In the US, 213 million doses have been given so far. In the last week, an average of 3.03 million doses per day were administered.

As of February 19, 2021 the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a financing instrument supporting Covid-19 vaccine access for 92 low- and middleincome countries, has received the following cash donations: United States, $2 billion (the US pledged $4 billion); Germany, $1 billion; UK, $735 million; European Union, $489 million; Japan, $200 million; Canada, $181 million; Saudi Arabia, $153 million; and Norway, $141 million.

China announced in February it will provide 10 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to COVAX to meet the urgent needs of developing countries, at the request of the World Health Organization. “This is another important measure taken by China to promote the equitable distribution of vaccines, advance international cooperation in fighting the pandemic, and uphold the concept of a global community of health for all,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Just as important, sentiment about vaccine adoption is improving all over the world. From the Associated Press: “Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador finally got a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, after waffling on receiving the shot. Mexico is in a race to get its population vaccinated as case numbers have begun to rise again and the country’s estimated total death toll from Covid-19 surpassed 336,000.”

Here’s the bad news: In the past two weeks, only 2 million doses were cleared for shipment to 92 countries through COVAX, the same amount of jab injected in Britain alone. The vaccine shortage stems mostly from India’s decision to stop exporting vaccines from its Serum Institute factory because of a surge of Covid cases. The factory produces the majority of the AstraZeneca doses that COVAX counted on to supply about a third of the global population.

What’s alarming is that more infectious coronavirus variants may drive a new wave of cases in the coming months, like what is happening in India and Brazil. Variants may also reduce vaccine efficacy or enable reinfection. Data from the AstraZeneca vaccine trial in South Africa highlight the potential for variants to reduce the efficacy of vaccines.

Other vaccine data, including those from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson, show a more modest reduction in efficacy, especially against severe disease caused by these variants. And there is evidence of mutations in the US that may reduce the efficacy of vaccines. Health experts said “although the initial findings are based on very small sample sizes, we still do not know the impact of vaccines against severe disease from these strains.”

The Covax initiative was designed to provide vaccines to countries lacking the clout to negotiate on their own for scarce supplies. Fortunately, the Philippines does not rely on the COVAX initiative alone for our jabs. But we have to get our orders soon. We can’t afford to allow the virus to spread unchecked because of the possibility that it will mutate into variants that evade the immune protection from Covid vaccines.

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Covid for government control John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

T

he last 12 months has proven one thing conclusively. If hostile aliens ever invade Earth, it will be “Mars Attacks!” and not “Independence Day.” The fate of the world will depend on an elderly grandmother playing a 1920’s Broadway musical song rather than a globally coordinated strategy and effort.

I suggest that you repeat after me.

“I am responsible for my personal health and safety, the health and safety of my family, and the health and safety of my nation.”

However, government wants as much control as possible over our lives because control equals power.

The best way to achieve that objective of control is to make people dependent on the government.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan was an American politician, sociologist, and diplomat. In 1965 he made a comprehensive study on the black American family. Moynihan highlighted the rising fraction of black children growing up in households headed by unmarried mothers. At that time,

roughly 25 percent of black children lived in families headed by an unmarried mother. Moynihan was called a racist for his data, although no one actually refuted his statistics.

By 1992 that percentage had reversed, with only 25 percent of black children living in traditional nuclear families with both a mother and father. From 25 percent of black children living with only their mother in 1965, now 65 percent of all black children live with a single mother.

There is no question that a child raised in a single parent household, regardless of race or wealth, suffers some disadvantages, and 25 percent of all—not just black—American

children are in this situation. But the greater concern is that 72 percent of all single parent households receive continuous government financial assistance.

There is an enormous difference between people receiving help from government and being dependent on government for their very existence. If you need the government to feed, shelter, and protect you at all times, you have a critical interest in the government maintaining and even increasing control over your life.

Covid is becoming the ultimate government-control weapon.

Life is not risk-free and sometimes we are all foolish. We need government control like traffic lights and food and drug regulation. But can it go too far?

April 17, 2021: “[The US state] Oregon is floating an idea to require masks and social distancing indefinitely. One of the state’s top health officials wants to require masks and social distancing in all businesses indefinitely.”

The Czech government just issued the rules for when shops and services reopen applicable “from the current 4th stage to the 1st stage— i.e. very few “cases” and pretty much no deaths.” When shops and services

reopen in the first stage, “people will need a negative test to enter service establishments [such as hairdressers], hotels and other such tourist places, restaurants, and bars. Staff will also have to be tested every few days with test requirements only to be dropped in stage 1.” Interestingly, the Czech rules do not at all include any stage when all restrictions will be dropped.

April 15, 2021: “Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top Covid adviser, says Australia cannot rely on vaccines and border controls to protect its population. Even though most of the rest of the world is vaccinated, it can threaten the [countries] that [have] felt that they’ve controlled the virus, when they’re still quite vulnerable.”

Fauci continues with this chilling statement: “If you want to maintain control you want to have control throughout the entire world.”

The global daily case number is at a historic high. This is dismissed with comments like “Well it’s just India [or Brazil or USA].” You may want to read Fauci’s last statement again.

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

Floyd verdict gives hope, if only fleeting, to Black America

By Aaron Morrison & Kat Stafford Associated Press

M

INNEAPOLIS—Relief, even if fleeting and momentary, is a feeling that Black Americans have rarely known in America: From slavery to Jim Crow segregation to enduring punishments for living while Black, a breath of fresh air untainted by oppression has long been hard to come by.

Nonetheless, the conviction of ex-cop Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd nearly a year ago allowed many across this city and the nation to exhale pent-up anxiety—and to inhale a sense of hope.

But what might they feel hope for?

The fate of Chauvin—found guilty of murder and manslaughter for holding a knee to Floyd’s neck, choking off his breathing until he went limp last May—showed Black Americans and their compatriots once again that the legal system is capable of valuing Black lives.

Or at least it can hold one white police officer in Minnesota accountable for what many declared an unambiguous act of murder months ago.

“This may be the beginning of the restoration of believing that a justice system can work,” said civil rights leader Martin Luther King III, echoing a sentiment that many expressed Tuesday.

“But we have to constantly stay on the battlefield in a peaceful and

nonviolent way and make demands,” he said. “This has been going on for years and one case, one verdict, does not change how systematic racism has worked in our system.”

Alexandria De La Cruz, a Minneapolis mother, brought her 7-yearold daughter to the intersection near where Floyd was murdered, now dubbed George Floyd Square.

Along with the hundreds who gathered there—Black, white and otherwise—De La Cruz erupted in cheers after it was announced Chauvin was guilty on all three counts.

“I feel relief that the justice system is working—it’s working today,” De La Cruz said.

Her daughter, Jazelle, sported a hooded sweatshirt that read, “Stop killing Black people.” Perhaps that’s a reminder, her mom said, that there’s still work to do to ensure the feeling of relief isn’t so fleeting this time.

“It’s important to bring her [to the square], so she can see what’s happening to our people, so that she can see what this country really is,”

Brandon Williams, a nephew of Floyd’s, called the verdicts a “pivotal moment for America.”

“It’s something this country has needed for a long time now,” he said. “We need each and every officer to be held accountable.

And until then, it’s still scary to be a Black man and woman in America encountering police.”

De La Cruz said.

Black Americans have seen similar moments before. In recent years, they followed the convictions of the officers who killed Oscar Grant, Laquan McDonald and Walter Scott. Still, some of these victims’ families continue to press for broader accountability from a policing culture they say has never proved it is meaningfully changed or reformed after the convictions of police officers.

And even as the Chauvin trial moved into its final days, the Twin Cities region and the nation were rocked by yet another police killing of an unarmed Black man. This time it was 20-year-old Daunte Wright, in Brooklyn Center, roughly 10 miles north of Minneapolis.

Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s first Black attorney general, said the jury’s decision was a reminder of how difficult it has been to enact

enduring change and prevent the kind of upheaval and civil unrest that ignited the nation and the world last summer.

Furthermore, Ellison pointed out, America has known about and largely ignored the root causes of the upheaval and uneasiness in Black communities. More than a half-century ago, the Kerner and McComb commissions empaneled to study racial unrest warned of the dangers of doing just that.

“Here we are in 2021 still addressing the same problem,” Ellison said. “This has to end. We need true justice. That’s not one case. That is a social transformation that says that nobody’s beneath the law, and no one is above it.”

Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, an online racial justice group, echoed the attorney general.

“We cannot, every single time, have uprisings to deliver justice nor should we have to be in a conversation about holding police officers accountable when they go around killing us,” Robinson said.

So again, what might Black Americans hope for after the outcome of Chauvin’s trial?

It can’t be about simply getting more police in front of a judge and jury, or about locking more of them up, said Miski Noor, an activist with See “Floyd,” A11

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Riding out the pandemic: Heroic leadership To each his own Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

Val A. Villanueva

Businesswise

I

N his recent televised public address, President Duterte told us not to worry about the pandemic. The government is not without a backup plan, he said, as he threatened to take over hotel establishments if and when the crisis overwhelmed the country’s health facilities.

But what has been happening in the last 13 months has unfortunately confirmed what many of us were suspecting all along: the government is ill-equipped to deal with this serious health crisis. The prevention aspect has been deficient since the government’s focus seems to be on preparing death beds, instead of averting the likelihood of majority of the populace catching the deadly coronavirus.

His government has been doing everything it could, Duterte further said, touting the creation of the InterAgency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases as a major achievement.

But with over 9,000 people getting the bug each day, has the agency delivered? Despite imposing different and interminable stages of suffocating lockdowns, the IATF has done little to contain the pandemic.

The lockdown slowed down businesses and has practically punished the poor, many of whom were left without livelihood. They have been forced to cramp themselves in their respective shanties no bigger than 15 square meters with rodents and roaches as company. And when community pantries sprouted, formed by well-meaning pro-poor organizations to offer some relief to the unemployed and downtrodden, this administration —as confirmed by no less than Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade Jr., spokesman of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac)— was quick to red-tag their organizers.

I don’t know if the government has realized by now that putting all of its marbles on vaccine procurement to contain the disease is not a good idea. With the vaccine shortage, Duterte could only mumble: “There is nothing we can do.” The government has not learned from the successes of Vietnam, New Zealand, and other countries that have weathered the pandemic even prior to their respective citizens getting the much-needed jabs. While waiting for the vaccine, the government has closed its ears on well-meaning recommendations on the prevention aspect of the disease from concerned health experts and the opposition. Instead, Duterte, et al., hurled profanities at them and treated them as virtual saboteurs.

With the pandemic taking center stage, other deadly diseases have been practically neglected. Health experts warn of a surge in more endemic infectious disease, which are not being properly addressed because of Covid-19.

Placing the country’s deliverance from the pandemic solely on the vaccine’s availability is alarming and shortsighted. Health policy experts at Duke University in North Carolina estimate that the US could have around 300 million excess Covid-19 shots by end-July of this year, but it is unlikely that it would share its excess stock in the near-term, despite calls for it to apportion doses more widely to address the stark inequality around global vaccine distribution.

CNN reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US won’t share shots more broadly until the country is more confident in its own supplies: “The US is the biggest financial donor to the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, but the country has been tight-fisted with the actual vaccines it has in huge supply, while many others have none at all.

Three-quarters of the world’s vaccines actually administered have been in just 10 nations, which together account for under half the world’s population.”

According to Duke University health experts Dr. Krishna Udayakumar and Dr. Mark McClellan, “The world’s wealthiest nations have locked up much of the near-term supply. At the current rate vaccines are being ad-

ministered, 92 of the world’s poorest countries won’t vaccinate 60 percent of their populations until 2023 or later.”

India makes more than 60 percent of all vaccines sold globally, having the Serum Institute of India (SII) which is the world’s largest vaccine maker. Because of this, it has signed on as a major player in COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing agency that feeds discounted or free vaccine doses for lowerincome countries. Amid a devastating second wave of infections there, with 261,500 new cases registered last Sunday, India has now decided that, rather than supply vaccines to COVAX, it would prioritize the health of its own citizens.

With an estimated 7.8 billion population as of 2020, the world now has only the European Union (1.3 billion doses committed COVAX for 92 lowand middle-income countries); the United Kingdom (1 billion doses to 92 developing countries); China (10 million doses), and Russia (no figures, but will be a small part of COVAX) to depend on for vaccine supply. But the vaccine rollout has been grinding slowly due to some adverse effect issues.

For one, a small number of the nearly 7 million people who have gotten the Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Covid-19 vaccine in the US has reported suffering from a rare and severe blood clotting reaction to it. These reactions happened six to 13 days after vaccination. As a result, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended a pause in distributing the Janssen vaccine.

Occurrence of these blood clots haven’t been reported among those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines. On Saturday, Manila time, the CDC is expected to make an announcement on J&J’s jabs.

It is expected that its vaccine would be given the go-ahead with some restrictions on its applications.

Where does this leave us? I guess we are left with no choice but to rely on ourselves and each other to survive or ride out this pandemic. Currently, experts do not know exactly how long the virus can stay infectious (outside the laboratory) because different environmental conditions, such as humidity and temperature, or exposure to direct sunlight, can affect its viability outside the body. Scientists estimate, however, that the Covid-19 virus can survive on hard surfaces, or in the air, on the order of hours, but can be killed by wiping down surfaces with a bleach or alcohol-based disinfectant, trapped by helping to keep indoor air “clean” with filters and face coverings, or diluted from indoor air by improving ventilation.

We now know that the virus is helpless unless it gets inside our bodies through our eyes, noses and mouths.

It is destroyed by soap and alcohol and is helpless if it doesn’t infect a host.

This means that the minimum health protocols of frequent hand washing, wearing masks and face shields, social distancing and staying at home remain our first line of defense. While waiting for our vaccine shots, observing these minimum health protocols and staying at home are what can shield us from the microbe up until we get ourselves inoculated.

Perhaps the private sector should be given the leeway to institute its own health protocols. With the knowledge on the nature of how the virus is transmitted, these businesses are now equipped to adjust their operations to protect their employees from the virus and finally set the stage for the re-opening of commerce.

For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com

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very year for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, the gospel text is taken from Chapter 10 of John, the discourse on the good shepherd. Our reading for Year B (John 10:11-18) is an interpretation of the short parable about the sheep who are called by name and who follow their shepherd whom they recognize.

They know Him IN the original Palestinian setting, sheepfolds were enclosures fenced off by stones or briars at the outskirts of the village, and a village with a common sheepfold meant that at night all the sheep were corralled together and the shepherds take turn as guards or gatekeepers. To take the sheep to pasture in the morning, each shepherd would gather his own flock from the common herd. The sheep would be called by its name, and would respond only to the particular whistle or familiar call by its shepherd. Leading them, the shepherd went before his flock, and they would follow him because they knew his voice.

As the sheep recognize and follow their shepherd, so also those who know Jesus as their Lord and

savior follow him. But they have to be familiar to his voice and attentive to his words. That is why Christians do not gather together in the presence of the Lord in any celebration without the liturgy of the word. This is an irreplaceable level of interpersonal communication in any real and intimate relationship with Jesus. Also, any form of Christianity that is not shaped by the Gospel of Jesus would be insensitive to his vital teachings and a stranger to his true spirit.

He would lay down His life for them

A true shepherd is willing to do all for his sheep. “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Such commitment cannot be expected of someone who is not a shepherd

Thursday, April 22, 2021 A11

Laying down his life for his sheep was exactly what Jesus did. He was committed for the salvation of humankind, and we have come to believe in him. “I know mine and mine know me.” In the context of this mutuality of gracious love and complete trust, Jesus insists that he lays down his life on his own; no one takes it from him. (who has a personal relationship with the sheep), whose sheep are not his own (they do not relate with him either), because he is only a hireling (one who does the shepherding for money). Such a hired person works for pay and has no concern for the sheep, and when danger comes he thinks of himself first. Such false shepherds in the history of God’s flock Israel were painfully plentiful, leaders who really cared nothing for the flock but only for themselves.

Laying down his life for his sheep was exactly what Jesus did. He was committed for the salvation of humankind, and we have come to believe in him. “I know mine and mine know me.” In the context of this mutuality of gracious love and complete trust, Jesus insists that he lays down his life on his own; no one takes it from him. Jesus was not a

Why can’t ADB and AIIB make a resolute stand against fossil fuels?

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

I

N February this year, the European Investment Bank sent shock waves to energy investors when it formally announced that EIB is withdrawing support for energy projects using fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas. This EIB stand is in line with the EU commitment to the Paris Agreement of 2015, that is, to prevent global temperature rising beyond the maximum 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era.

If the EIB can make such a bold policy declaration, why can’t the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has been projecting itself as champion of the renewables, do the same? If one has to do any research on the risks facing humanity under global warming, the ADB is a good place to go to. It has produced lengthy studies on the debilitating impact of climate change on Asia’s industry, agriculture, habitat, health and population. And yet, ADB’s funding for coal, oil and gas projects remains heavy across Asia.

So where is the disconnect?

One explanation is history. The ADB has been the primary partner of Asian governments in the construction of energy and other infrastructure projects in more than five decades. In the energy sector, most of the investments have gone to the construction of power plants using fossil fuels. Along with the World Bank, the ADB is also Asia’s leading financier in the construction of big dams, which a number of CSOs have been denouncing as anti-people and environmentally degrading because whole communities are uprooted and forests decimated.

Now in the construction of the power and infrastructure projects, the partners of the ADB are not only governments but also the private sector, which is usually assigned the task of designing, erecting and operating the power projects as well as in raising supplementary funds.

Floyd. . .

continued from A10

the Twin Cities-based Black Visions Collective.

“That doesn’t actually stop the murders of Black people,” said Noor.

The doublespeak adopted by the ADB and AIIB has been copied by their partner governments in Asia. Openly, they all say “Yes” to the collective fight against global warming. And yet, majority have been reluctant and hesitant in submitting realistic, measurable and time-bound commitments to the Paris Agreement under their respective nationally determined contributions.

This policy of working closely with the private sector, composed mostly of multinational corporations from the advanced economies and their corporate partners in the different Asian countries, is very much part of the neo-liberal development framework being pushed by the ADB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. To grow a developing economy, neo-liberal economists want the borrowing country to open the doors to the free flow of goods and free flow of capital under the general programs of trade and investment liberalization and privatization.

The ADB and the IMF, through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), are the original promoters of privatization in power and infrastructure development in Asia.

The ADB christened the privatization program in the 1970s as “cofinancing.” Today, privatization, as the panacea for the economic problems facing Asia, has become the standard policy recommendation given by ADB, IMF and the World Bank to the borrowing Member Countries of Asia.

This explains then why the public or government-run power sector in some countries has been subjected to privatization on the advice and pressure of the ADB. This happened in the Philippines in 2000-2001, when the ADB assisted the Philippine government in providing the rationale, design and mechanisms

for the wholesale privatization of the power sector, meaning the privatization of power generation, transmission and distribution, including the establishment of a so-called spot market for corporations engaged in the buying and selling of power.

The justification advanced for the wholesale privatization of the Philippine power sector was seductively simple: cheaper electricity for the Filipino consumers. And yet today, two decades after, the Philippines has acquired the notorious title of having the most expensive electricity in Southeast Asia and one of the most expensive as well in the world.

So the dilemma for ADB is how can it persuade, if it so decides, its development partners in the power sector of Asia—investment financiers from Japan and other countries and corporate power builders and operators in the different Asian countries—to get out of coal and other fossil fuels and to go renewable instead? How to push these big investors to get out of coal or oil or gas when these investors are already raking in so much profits from their investments? As it is, the ADB partnership with its private power financiers and developers has spawned a chain of GHG-emitting power plants across Asia, with some just built in the last 10 years.

Is this the reason why per report of a CSO energy tracker for Asia, ADB refused to sign a statement in the 2020 “Finance in Common” Summit where the participating development banks made express commitments

“We’re trying to get into a world where lives are not lost, when Black people actually get to live.”

That’s the hope.

As relieved as Floyd’s family members are by the guilty verdicts, none see this as a bookend to the pursuit for justice. And three other

former Minneapolis police officers face trial for the role they played in the case.

Brandon Williams, a nephew of Floyd’s, called the verdicts a “pivotal moment for America.”

“It’s something this country has needed for a long time now,” he said.

helpless victim but a freely sacrificing savior. And he has the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again. The whole Paschal Mystery of his death and glorious resurrection and ascension make up the one indissoluble act of carrying out the plan of his Father who loves him as he lays down his life in order to take it up again. The same love of the Father and the Son is for all humanity, hence Jesus must also lead “other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” He must take them all home with him to the Father.

Alálaong bagá, so much revolves around the shepherd, when we talk of the welfare of the flock. To have one flock and one shepherd, it is necessary for all to know the one shepherd, listening to his voice and following him, even as the good shepherd inspires the flock with his radical commitment and integrity. We pray that we may have always such good shepherds in the format of Jesus to look after the welfare of the flock. May we be blessed with leaders, both spiritual and civil, who are capable of heroic leadership, transcending selfish interests and sacrificing themselves to put first the people of God.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

to phase out fossil fuel investments?

Ironically, the energy tracker also reported that ADB has been investing actively on renewable projects.

Is this part of the ADB’s two-sided policy on energy, one side renewable and another GHG emitting?

Similarly, the Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank, China’s financial arm for its grand Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI), has been equivocating on AIIB’s commitment to green finance. In July last year, AIIB President Jin Liqun openly declared the vision of AIIB to become the “green bank” of Asia. And yet, an energy investment tracking done by the NGO Forum on ADB found that for every dollar (US$1) the AIIB has invested since 2016, the AIIB has invested more than twice on fossil fuels.

It is abundantly clear that both the ADB and AIIB cannot walk the talk on going green or going renewable. And yet, their public rhetoric indicates that the two banks are leaders of green finance and are fully committed to the goals of the Paris Agreement. To the NGO Forum on ADB, this is all part of the “green washing” exercise that the two banks have been making.

The doublespeak adopted by the ADB and AIIB has been copied by their partner governments in Asia.

Openly, they all say “Yes” to the collective fight against global warming.

And yet, majority have been reluctant and hesitant in submitting realistic, measurable and time-bound commitments to the Paris Agreement under their respective nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

Obviously, the ADB, AIIB, Asian governments and other financial institutions can only give their full commitment to humanity’s fight against global warming if—and only if—there is a determined pressure from the organized working people of Asia.

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo is a Professor Emeritus of University of the Philippines.

For comments, please write to reneofreneo@ gmail.com.

“We need each and every officer to be held accountable. And until then, it’s still scary to be a Black man and woman in America encountering police.”

Stafford reported from Detroit. AP writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed.

A12 Thursday, April 22, 2021

HIGH RENTALS, LOW PAY: MANILA AMONG REGION’S COSTLIEST PLACES

By Cai U. Ordinario

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@caiordinario

UE to high rent prices and low salaries, Manila is considered one of the most expensive places to live in Southeast Asia, according to the latest study by iPrice Group’s research.

Based on their research, living in Manila costs P50,798 a month. This is higher than living in Jakarta, Indonesia; Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Only those living in Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand are paying more than that at P119,732 and P51,517, respectively.

“The average cost of living is 168 percent higher than the

average salary, so it comes as no surprise that about 35 percent of Metro Manila’s population is reported to live in unstable, badly constructed shelters in the slums, and 11 percent of these reside near railroads or garbage dumps,” iPrice Group said.

In terms of cost of living, the estimate of P50,798 per month in Manila is only good for a single person. Without rent, the cost of living reaches P28,800 per month in the city.

In Bangkok, the estimated monthly cost of living of P51,517 for a single person already takes into account every necessity (rent, food, transportation, utilities, etc.).

Continued on A2

‘Vaxx program will restore travel confidence of other governments in PHL’—DOT

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

T

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) looks at travel advisories issued by different governments as temporary and expressed confidence that the state’s vaccination program will contain the spread of the Covid-19 cases in the country.

In a news statement, the DOT said, “Travel advisories issued by different countries are transient and it is our fervent hope that the situation will improve sooner than anticipated, with the rollout of the vaccination program, and that families and friends will get the opportunity to travel safely back to the beautiful islands of the Philippines.”

This developed as the US State Department issued on April 20 a “Level 4” alert on the Philippines, making it a no-go destination for its citizens, due to “a very high level of Covid-19 in the country.” Level 4 is the highest travel alert of the State Department.

Earlier, the State Department said it would list 80 countries that Americans shouldn’t travel to, aligning it with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s epidemiological assessments. The Hong Kong government has also temporarily banned flights from the Philippines due to emergence of new Covid variants.

Safe Travels Stamp

THE news of the travel advisory broke just as the DOT was awarding the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Safe Travels Stamp to 33 accommodation establishments in six regions. Five of them are star-rated hotels, while 28 have regular accreditation from the DOT. The Stamp is meant to show these destinations and establishments have adopted global standardized health protocols aligned with the WTTC is an association of private-sector tourism stakeholders with over 200 CEOs as members across the globe. Industry members include those from airports, airlines, cruise companies, destinations, tour operators, travel companies, online travel agencies, car rentals, hotels, digital players and travel services.

Strict health and safety protocols

THE DOT said it was “one with all leaders, governments and their citizenry in observing every measure imposed in order to protect their

constituents from the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected the lives of millions around the world.”

It added, “The vaccination drive of the national and local government units, complemented by the continuing adherence to the health and safety guidelines, is pivotal in arresting the number of cases in the country, an important factor in restoring travelers’ confidence.”

As of April 20, the country recorded 953,106 total Covid cases with the addition of 7,379 cases. Of the total cases, 127,006 are active, and 809,959 have recovered. Of total cases, 16,141 persons have died.

It stressed, the agency “will continue to implement the health and safety protocols for all sectors of tourism, interfacing with international travel trade counterparts to sustain ‘top-of-mind’ level of awareness, and collaborating with global tourism advisory bodies and economies to ensure the smooth and safe resumption of international tourism.”

DOE takes cue on WPS drilling from Palace, DFA

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday said it will not allow any unauthorized party to go after oil and mineral resources in the seabed and subsoil of the West Philippine Sea.

DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said he firmly stands behind any decision of President Duterte regarding the assertion of the exclusive licensing authority of the Philippines over petroleum and other resources in the area.

“Should any foreign state engage in petroleum activities inside the Philippine petroleum jurisdiction, the DOE shall take the neces-

sary steps to protect our licensees and preserve our resources,” the agency said.

It shall also defer to the sole prerogative of the President regarding any security option. It shall also conform to any decision that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) might take regarding the ongoing informal negotiations on oil and gas cooperation

with China.

The DOE supports the President’s statement regarding the defense of the resources of the Philippine seabed and subsoil, as this is in accordance with the Constitution and our petroleum laws.

Under Philippine laws, only the government, through the DOE, may issue licenses to drill in Philippine land territory, including its islands, internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and continental shelf.

Meanwhile, the DOE continues to develop the uncontested Philippine EEZ and continental shelf through the resumption of petroleum operations by our licensees and the award of new petroleum areas. The Philippines remains in business, Covid-19 and China, not w ithstanding, the DOE said.

Duterte said last Monday that he would send military ships if China starts drilling for oil and other resources in the area. His statement comes after hundreds of Chinese ships were spotted in those waters since early March.

He said the Philippines cannot

do anything about the Chinese presence in the country’s EEZ at present, but he gave the assurance that he is ready to fight once China starts drilling for oil.

“I am addressing myself to the Chinese government. We wa nt to rema in f r iend s. We want to share whatever it is.

Sinabi ko naman sa inyo, sa [I told you, the] Chinese government, I am not so much interested now in fishing. I don’t think there’s enough fish to quarrel about.

But when we start to mine, when we start to get whatever it is in the bowels of the China Sea, our oil…. then at that time, I will send my ships there. I will send my gray ships there to stake a claim,” he said. ‘ “ Yan masig uro ninyo. ‘Pag kinuha na ‘yang oil, mga nickel diyan, [You can be sure of that. Once you start to get the oil, the nickel there], the precious stones, that would be the time because that is the time that we should act on it.

Hindi ngayon na pahabol habulan lang diyan [Not now, when there’s only a lot of chasing going on],” he said earlier.

The awardees

MEANWHILE, during the virtual awarding ceremony for the WTTC Safe Travel Stamps, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said, “We received more than 100 applications coming from the different regions [in March], which also include Mabuhay accommodation establishments and destinations.

This surge of interest is reflective of their readiness to adopt to the new normal and desire to be globally recognized as a fun and ‘safe travels’ facility.” Seven hotels received their stamps early this year.

The new Stamp recipients are from Central Visayas (16), Mimaropa (9), Western Visayas (3), the Zamboanga Peninsula (3), the Cordillera Administrative Region (1), and the Davao Region (1). This brings the total number of Safe Travel Stamps recipients to 40.

Among the new recipients are Baguio Country Club, El Nido Resorts and Lio Estate properties, Bohol Beach Club and Bai Hotel in Cebu, Grand Astoria Hotel in Zamboanga City, and Seda Abreeza Hotel in Davao City.

In September 2020, the Philippines received the Stamp after being assessed as having in place, health and safety guidelines that are aligned with the WTTC’s core requirements. Subsequently, recipient countries take on the role as Safe Travel Ambassadors, advocating the implementation of the Safe Travel protocols and the enrollment of facilities and destinations.

THE Light Rail Manila Corporation said on Monday the LRT-1 would no longer suspend operations on April 24 to 25 since majority of its planned maintenance works were completed ahead of schedule.The operator previously announced that the train line would be closed in the last two weekends of April to complete rehabilitation works on its trains, stations and other systems. The engineering team did their best to accelerate and compress activities through improved planning and coordination, officials said. ROY DOMINGO

DOTr, SM launch Active Transport Manual

By Mia Rosienna Mallari

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@MiaRosienna

HE Department of Transportation (DOTr) and partner SM Group launched on Wednesday the so-called Active Transport Manual, which spells out guidelines to promote road safety, courtesy and etiquette, as it has completed more than half of the government’s P1.1-billion bike lane network in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said his group aims to finish the whole bike lane network by end-2021. The road network aims to promote active transport means as the pandemic continues to pose a threat to the industry.

“We recorded 55 percent or a total of around 296 kilometers of bike lane network established with pavement markings, bollards, curbs and solar studs. Our goal is to complete the total bike lane network length in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao to almost 535 kilometers before the year ends,” Tugade said during the launch of the Active Transport Manual.

According to Transport Assistant Secretary for Road Steve Pastor, the government is spending P1.3 billion to develop active transport facilities, of which P1.1 billion was allotted for the establishment of bike lanes.

“For Metro Manila, we allotted more or less P800 million and we have 340 kilometers here. For

Metro Cebu, with 140 kilometers, around P150 million, and another P150 million in Metro Davao, which equates to 160 kilometers of bike lanes,” Pastor said.

The government has been promoting active transport since the second half of 2020, as the pandemic forced the public transport sector to cut their capacities to minimize the risk of spreading Covid-19.

Tugade noted that the bike lanes will persist even after the pandemic has been curbed.

“We will not stop this program even if the pandemic ends,” he said.

Department of Health Director Beverly Lorraine Ho noted that promoting active transport will help reduce the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

“Active transport will help us move more people across our cities and municipalities safely and promote economic recovery, by reducing the risk of Covid-19 transmission through a well-ventilated and physically distanced means of travel for our frontliners and essential workers,” she said.

This, she added, promoted better health, as exercise helps in boosting the immune system as well as preventing common lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

For its part, Move As One Coalition lauded the decision of the government to promote active transport, noting that this is a crucial first step to the “emergence of a new and powerful mindset about our planet, our health, and our choice.”

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 22, 2021

B1

Converge ICT to spend ₧5B for cable landing system

C

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

onverge ICT Solutions Inc. is investing P5 billion in the joint development of a cable landing system in southern Philippines with Keppel Midgard Holdings Pte. Ltd. (KMH).

KMH is a part of the consortium that is building the Bifrost Cable System, which will directly connect Singapore to the west coast of North America.

This developed as KMH allowed Converge to an indefeasible right of use for one fiber pair on the cable system’s main trunk, providing the Filipino company more bandwidth to address the growing demand for Interest connectivity in the country.

“This is an important milestone

not just for Converge but also for the Philippines as we expect to experience faster internet speeds and greater resiliency within our fast-growing fiber network with the completion of this project,” Converge CEO Dennis Anthony H. Uy said.

“Our investment into one full fiber pair, connecting us to Singapore and the west coast of North America, will allow us to independently activate at will up to 15Tbps of capacity to either country using the latest

technology.” Expected to be completed in 2024 and spanning over 15,000 kilometers, the Bifrost Cable System will be the largest capacity high-speed transmission cable across the Pacific Ocean when completed. It will connect Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam, and the west coast of North America.

The Bifrost Cable System will boost the connectivity of the region’s governments and businesses, including cloud operators, telecommunications operators, network providers, over-the-top providers, data centers, governments, enterprises, and consumers by offering them competitive pricing and capacity resilience.

This initiative, Uy said, complements the construction of its national backbone, which will allow Converge to reach approximately 55 percent of the total households in the Philippines by 2025.

“Furthermore, our ongoing construction of our national backbone spanning the whole country will allow Converge to distribute this

capacity from Davao to any point in the Philippines. We look forward to a continued strong collaboration with Keppel to bring our countries closer together and further enhance the connection of the region to the rest of the world,” he said.

Converge reported record profits in 2020, when it booked a net income of P3.39 billion, a 78-percent surge from P1.94 billion the year prior, as its revenues grew by 71 percent to P15.65 billion from P9.14 billion.

The stellar performance of Converge is attributable to the huge jump that its residential subscriber base recorded—from 530,000 subscribers at end-2019 to 1.04 million subscribers at end-2020.

Converge’s consumer business contributed the largest to its revenues at P12.62 million, while its enterprise business contributed P3.02 billion.

The company is on track to achieve its target of reaching approximately 55 percent of total households in the country by 2025.

DoubleDragon to unveil 3 new hotels

By VG Cabuag @villygc

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oubleDragon Properties Corp. on Wednesday said it will launch 3 new affordable projects under the Hotel 101 brand this year, which would generate around P11.3 billion in sales.

The company said it will start the pre-selling of its Hotel 101 brand in Cebu, Boracay and Libis in Quezon City. A total of 2,251 new rooms will be added to its portfolio.

The Hotel 101 model being a

3-star affordable hotel maintained high occupancy as it provided accommodation to employees of BPO companies even at the height of the pandemic. All of its hotel units in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig were fully sold out during the pandemic, while the 518-room Hotel 101 Manila in Pasay had an 80.11-percent occupancy rate last year.

The affordable hotel concept allows DoubleDragon to generate revenue and income twice, first from the pre-selling of the condotel units, and second after the project

is completed and starts to generate long-term recurring revenue from hotel operations.

“As far as we are aware, Hotel 101 is the only hotel concept of its kind in the world, the patent documents for Hotel 101’s unique and pioneering concept has already been filed,” company chairman Edgar Sia said.

“The Hotel 101 model has proven to be truly resilient, even in these circumstances it was able to deliver as much as 6.72 percent gross annual yield to its original Hotel

101­—Manila unit owners, which is much higher than most corporate bond yields last year,” DoubleDragon chief investment officer Hannah Yulo-Luccini said.

“The completion of these new Hotel 101 projects will be perfectly timed with the full recovery and anticipated rebound in the tourism industry in the Philippines.

We believe in a couple of years, all this pent up demand for tourism will cause an unseen surge in demand for hotel rooms across the country.”

ABS-CBN files SMC unit nears completion of BESS facilities lawsuit against pirate domains

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

A

BS-CBN Corp. has filed for a $40-million lawsuit against 40 pirate domains in a United States court, a company official said on Wednesday.

Elisha Lawrence, Assistant Vice President and Head of Global Anti-Piracy at ABS-CBN, said her group has secured a preliminary injunction from the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the 40 online domains, which is allegedly pirating ABS-CBN’s content and infringing its copyrights and trademarks.

Lawrence also reminded consumers to only watch or stream content via legitimate channels, as pirated materials may pose security and safety risks.

“Beware of pirate domains, especially clicking on them. They usually contain malware which can substantially infect your computer. Watch our content on safe legitimate services such as ABSCBN’s OTT platform iWantTFC and the TFC channel on all major cable and satellite providers,” she said.

Lawrence noted that piracy has become a perennial problem as unscrupulous individuals now have more time on their hands due to the pandemic which forced almost everyone to stay at home.

ABS-CBN Managing Director of North and Latin America Jun Del Rosario said: “We see it as our job to protect the consumer from the dangers that pirated content brings and, at the same time, provide quality content for their enjoyment.”

ABS-CBN, one of the largest multimedia conglomerates in the Philippines, produces hundreds of shows per year and streams it various digital platforms. Lorenz S. Marasigan

S

MC Global Power Holdings Corp. (SGPHC), the power arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), would soon complete its 1,000megawatt (MW) battery energy storage projects nationwide.

SGPH has lined up 31 Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facilities worth $1 billion. The power firm nears completion of the facilities, which would be located in several strategic sites from Luzon to Mindanao where power quality mitigations are required. Once completed, these will improve power quality nationwide and fuel the country’s transition to clean energy.

SMC President Ramon Ang said some of the facilities are now in the advanced stages of completion.

Four of 31 facilities are located in Masinloc Zambales; Malita, Davao; Maco, Davao de Oro, and Jasaan, Misamis Oriental.

The BESS facilities are currently undergoing testing and commissioning.

The company completed in 2018 the very first battery energy storage facility in the country in its power plant in Masinloc, Zambales. It has since embarked on a project of such historic scale using a relatively new technology capable of improving power quality throughout the grid system and facilitate integration of renewable power sources into the country’s generation portfolio.

“Our ongoing investment into battery energy storage facilities will greatly benefit power consumers all over the country, because this will mean that even faraway provinces

Four of 31 Battery Energy Storage System facilities being put up by San Miguel Corporation’s power arm, SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., in Masinloc, Zambales; Malita, Davao; Maco, Davao de Oro, and Jasaan, Misamis Oriental. Contributed Photo

or areas, can have the same stable and good quality power supply as everywhere else,” said Ang. “This means that provinces and islands will have better and more equal opportunities for industrialization and economic growth.

If previously some areas could not attract investments because of unstable or poor power supply, battery energy storage will make power supply more stable and reliable. Battery storage will significantly reduce imbalances in the grid that cause power interruptions and brownouts.”

Ang said the technology will boost flexibility of the country’s power grid and improve power quality by removing excess power and injecting required power at strategic areas within the grid within millisecond level.

This ensures power quality is maintained and that it reaches power users all over the country.

“This can even support equalopportunity industrialization in many provinces where historically, no industrial plants would locate because of poor power quality.”

Moreover, Ang said BESS can facilitate the integration of intermittent renewable sources such as solar and wind into the grid.

“Our country’s challenge with renewables is that it is intermittent, because of its nature. But with strategically located battery storage facilities, this can be mitigated and renewables can become more viable. This will help the transition to more renewable sources of energy in the future.”

The BESS is also meant to be used as regulating reserve type of ancillary service for the country’s major power transmission firm, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, to specifically mitigate grid frequency fluctuation and voltage issues.

Flexibility for private sector vaccination drive pushed

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

W

ith more than a thousand small and large companies procuring Covid-19 vaccines for their workers, the Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship appealed to the government to give the private sector “flexibility” in their vaccination rollout.

During the joint hearing of the House Committee on Health and House Committee on Trade and Industry, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said flexibility should be given to private companies as their workers belong to different priority groups under the A4 list.

“We want to appeal to DOH [Department of Health] and NITAG [National Immunization Technical Advisory Group] to give private sector the flexibility because if you look at the industry here there are so many industries that have different positions. We should allow them [to roll out the vaccine program] with flexibility,” he said.

“People are not present in certain times but they belong to a particular company. We should allow them to just inoculate those listed in A4 [with flexibility]. I think that is important.”

According to Concepcion, 751 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and 253 large enterprises have so far procured Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax and Bharat of India. “[A total of] 751 MSMEs companies bought 590,996 doses while 253 large enterprises bought about 6,003,486 doses, of which 50 percent will be donated to national government. The donations from private sector will be taken at the back end.

They will be taken towards the end or after private sector vaccinates its employees,” he added.

Currently, there are 19 sectors belonging to the A4 group, including commuter transport, public and private wet and dry market vendors, frontline workers in groceries, supermarkets, delivery services and workers in manufacturing for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products.

Moreover, Concepcion said the private sector has always been a strong partner of the national government in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s difficult to balance health and livelihood by doing what we are doing in the last 12 months like wearing face mask and face shield and social distancing--does that help no doubt about that.

But our problem will be solved by vaccine. In other countries, they vaccinated most of their citizens and you can see economic activities are coming back.”

Partnership

Also, Concepcion said the private sector has the

liberty to choose their local government partners.

“Each private sector has the liberty to choose what center they want to do whether they want to do it with LGUs [local government units] it is still fine,” he said.

“If LGU and private sector, and the national government can do this together with great speed, then there is a great chance by end of the year we would be able to vaccinate a great number of people. I believe that there is a great hope by fourth quarter of the year.”

Opportunities

In a related development, San Jose Del Monte (SJDM) Rep. Florida Robes has declared that the local government of San Jose Del Monte has allotted an initial P100 million for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines from different manufacturers.

Robes said vaccination will help them resume employment and take advantage of income opportunities in the so-called Human Resource Capital of the Philippines.

In an interview, Robes said the city government is finalizing tripartite agreements with several producers for the purchase of vaccines that will cover all the eligible residents in the city. The city has over one million residents.

“The city government of SJDM has allotted an initial amount of P100 million for the purchase of vaccines and additional funding will be allotted depending on the final cost of the vaccines and actual number of those who will get the vaccines,” she said.

She added that the local government is are aiming to vaccinate 75 percent of eligible residents by the end of this year to achieve herd immunity. The remaining 25 percent will be vaccinated in the first quarter of 2022 but this will depend on the vaccine procurement of the national government.

“We were assured by Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Chairperson, Secretary Carlito Galvez, that sufficient vaccines will arrive in the country by middle of this year until end third quarter of this year,” she said.

The city has inoculated nearly 90 percent of health workers being targeted for vaccination. Latest data from the city’s Public Information Office showed that as of April 6, the city health department had vaccinated 3,459 out of the 3,895 health workers or 88.81 percent of their target. They were given either Sinovac or AstraZeneca.

The city has likewise already vaccinated 100 percent of the 220 targeted people with comorbidities under the A3 category.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 22, 2021

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

April 21, 2021

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

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

42 105.5 82.1 23.15 9.5 45 9.53 22.9 55.1 17 115.4 70.1 1.64 3.94 3.27 1.49 0.405 950 0.69 147 2,338 0.97

43.5 105.6 82.9 23.25 9.53 45.1 10.98 23 56 17.5 115.5 70.5 1.66 3.95 3.38 1.53 0.425 992 0.7 147.2 2,346 1.05

42.2 106.2 83 22.95 9.5 45.1 10.28 22.8 56.2 17.2 116.5 69.95 1.63 3.97 3.29 1.53 0.43 950 0.72 147.2 2,338 0.97

42.2 107 83.5 23.15 9.54 45.3 10.28 23 56.2 17.5 117.2 70.1 1.67 3.97 3.39 1.53 0.43 950 0.72 147.2 2,338 0.97

42 105.6 82.1 22.95 9.5 44.3 10.28 22.8 55.1 17 115 69.95 1.62 3.93 3.25 1.49 0.42 950 0.7 147.2 2,338 0.97

42 105.6 82.1 23.15 9.53 45 10.28 22.9 55.1 17 115.5 70.1 1.66 3.95 3.3 1.49 0.43 950 0.7 147.2 2,338 0.97

26,600 2,008,180 352,480 129,500 153,100 2,254,900 600 125,700 4,870 115,600 409,350 2,110 333,000 189,000 62,000 94,000 270,000 130 927,000 80 125 36,000

1,119,200 213,491,061 29,056,069 2,982,610 1,455,032 101,104,865 6,168 2,881,155 271,097.50 1,973,200 47,372,950 147,797 544,690 747,050 203,600 140,260 113,750 123,500 649,100 11,776 292,250 34,920

-4,200 62,512,011 -17,814,671.50 -1,796,960 -863,604 -56,780,800 -1,233,495 -15,954,996 6,995 -269,200 123,500 -645,600 292,250 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 7.38 7.39 7.55 7.55 7.32 7.39 9,114,600 67,548,449 ALSONS CONS 1.32 1.35 1.33 1.37 1.32 1.32 1,387,000 1,850,680 23.4 23.45 23.75 23.8 23.45 23.45 1,248,800 29,364,005 ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.01 1.02 22,762,000 23,332,500 31.2 31.25 31.45 31.8 31.15 31.2 461,600 14,427,055 FIRST GEN 67.9 68.5 68 69.7 67.5 68.5 144,390 9,807,079 FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO 271 272 276 277.6 271 271 214,840 58,507,816 15.04 15.1 14.62 15.24 14.62 15.1 682,200 10,232,012 MANILA WATER PETRON 3.13 3.18 3.2 3.2 3.14 3.14 244,000 769,240 PETROENERGY 3.75 3.84 3.8 3.84 3.8 3.84 18,000 69,080 11.94 12.28 12.1 12.28 12.1 12.28 4,000 48,580 PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL 20.75 20.85 20.65 20.8 20.55 20.75 250,200 5,174,200 10.3 10.32 10.34 10.34 10.26 10.32 138,000 1,421,514 SPC POWER VIVANT 13.98 15.38 14.74 14.8 14.74 14.8 2,100 31,008 AGRINURTURE 6.68 6.79 6.8 6.93 6.68 6.8 1,321,700 9,075,266 3.29 3.3 3.33 3.34 3.28 3.3 780,000 2,578,050 AXELUM CENTURY FOOD 20.95 21 20.75 21.5 20.65 21 4,429,000 93,019,475 DEL MONTE 10.88 11 11.06 11.78 10.86 10.88 741,200 8,278,816 7.13 7.19 7.14 7.2 7.11 7.13 1,311,900 9,361,155 DNL INDUS EMPERADOR 10.14 10.16 10.28 10.32 10.12 10.16 4,017,000 40,815,628 SMC FOODANDBEV 68 68.2 68.4 68.4 67.1 68.2 266,040 18,133,219 0.63 0.65 0.66 0.66 0.63 0.63 200,000 126,060 ALLIANCE SELECT FRUITAS HLDG 1.37 1.39 1.4 1.41 1.36 1.39 10,085,000 13,896,950 56.5 57 56.3 57 55.6 57 450,010 25,219,928 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 177.3 179.2 176.2 179.3 176.2 177.3 300,310 53,171,880 MACAY HLDG 7.38 7.82 7.35 7.35 7.35 7.35 400 2,940 5.92 5.99 5.9 6 5.89 5.99 78,800 468,960 MAXS GROUP MG HLDG 0.335 0.34 0.33 0.335 0.325 0.335 6,830,000 2,249,800 7.31 7.4 7.28 7.35 7.28 7.31 33,600 246,293 SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO 1.04 1.05 1.03 1.07 1.03 1.05 705,000 738,340 RFM CORP 4.59 4.63 4.63 4.63 4.63 4.63 5,000 23,150 1.46 1.51 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 2,000 3,060 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.135 0.137 0.134 0.137 0.134 0.135 3,660,000 498,030 UNIV ROBINA 131.5 132.5 132.2 132.7 131.1 132.5 703,960 93,106,815 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.82 0.83 296,000 244,650 VITARICH VICTORIAS 2.37 2.38 2.3 2.39 2.28 2.37 582,000 1,344,830 CONCRETE A 55.05 55.9 55.3 56 55 55.05 71,910 3,956,695.50 59 61.85 58.5 62.9 58.5 59 1,030 61,029 CONCRETE B CEMEX HLDG 1.22 1.23 1.26 1.26 1.22 1.23 1,457,000 1,796,640 3.11 3.12 3.08 3.11 3.01 3.11 2,493,000 7,672,770 DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT 11.82 12.04 11.72 12.02 11.72 12.02 62,100 741,428 EEI CORP 7.21 7.47 7.51 7.51 7.2 7.48 409,200 3,009,065 5.56 5.6 5.67 5.67 5.55 5.56 88,300 491,074 HOLCIM MEGAWIDE 7.08 7.09 7.1 7.1 7 7.09 569,900 4,006,658 PHINMA 12 12.36 12.36 12.36 12.34 12.36 20,500 253,376 1.17 1.18 1.16 1.19 1.16 1.18 493,000 575,050 TKC METALS VULCAN INDL 2.42 2.43 2.35 2.48 2.3 2.42 5,186,000 12,504,350 1.87 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.86 1.92 397,000 742,450 CROWN ASIA EUROMED 2.07 2.09 2.05 2.18 2.05 2.09 623,000 1,319,690 LMG CORP 4.4 4.88 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.6 7,000 32,200 4.6 4.69 4.67 4.67 4.67 4.67 4,000 18,680 MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP 5.25 5.38 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.3 2,200 11,660 CONCEPCION 22.5 23.4 22 23.5 22 23.4 64,200 1,463,550 3.89 3.9 3.78 3.9 3.75 3.9 15,371,000 58,773,850 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 10.86 10.88 11 11.18 10.88 10.88 334,400 3,661,558 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.12 1.12 60,000 67,790 IONICS PANASONIC 5.67 5.75 5.7 5.75 5.65 5.67 11,500 65,367 SFA SEMICON 1.36 1.39 1.36 1.39 1.36 1.39 144,000 196,660 5.89 5.9 5.86 5.95 5.82 5.9 528,000 3,110,024 CIRTEK HLDG

3,287,404 -16,760,180 -1,356,920 48,160 263,234.50 -35,861,724 362,484 -28,600 4,668,980 -458,483 3,330 2,790,695 -514,838 -7,320,770 -53,012 -1,319,197 660 223,040 11,732,451 -13,601,116 119,792 -303,100 23,360 -37,889,467 48,440 100,980 10,800 -26,543 -333,438 907,579 -320,890 955,790 -107,000 29,100

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 FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MJC INVESTMENTS METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

1.16 7.2 745 34.5 10.42 3.44 6.61 0.83 0.73 5.14 5.23 8.22 0.265 534 3.6 56.8 4.61 1.08 3.36 13.5 1.75 4.02 3.6 3.06 1.29 404 967 116.5 0.73 133.3 0.26 0.245

1.17 7.35 752 35.15 10.48 3.46 6.79 0.84 0.74 5.15 5.25 8.35 0.29 535 3.7 56.9 5.46 1.09 3.46 13.52 1.88 4.04 3.72 3.07 1.31 405 968 116.6 0.74 136.8 0.27 0.247

1.14 7.42 748 35.5 10.68 3.44 6.79 0.71 0.73 5.17 5.25 8.22 0.255 530 3.72 58.7 4.52 1.06 3.46 13.6 1.79 3.97 3.72 3.21 1.31 371 970.5 116.8 0.73 133.5 0.255 0.24

1.17 7.42 752 35.65 10.68 3.48 6.79 0.85 0.74 5.19 5.28 8.22 0.27 534 3.72 58.75 5.46 1.08 3.46 13.78 1.88 4.1 3.72 3.21 1.31 424 974 117 0.76 136.8 0.27 0.255

1.12 7.35 745 34.5 10.38 3.41 6.79 0.71 0.72 5.12 5.22 8.22 0.25 526.5 3.63 56.8 4.52 1.03 3.35 13.5 1.75 3.96 3.7 3.05 1.29 371 965 116.5 0.73 133.1 0.255 0.23

1.17 7.35 745 34.5 10.48 3.46 6.79 0.84 0.74 5.15 5.25 8.22 0.27 534 3.63 56.8 5.46 1.08 3.46 13.52 1.88 4.02 3.7 3.06 1.31 404 968 116.6 0.74 136.8 0.27 0.247

17,883,000 300 83,460 1,605,000 5,555,700 2,646,000 1,000 39,549,000 1,300,000 1,401,700 2,098,100 7,300 130,000 58,800 136,000 3,183,740 3,000 2,838,000 26,000 13,483,400 47,000 10,094,000 3,000 5,417,000 62,000 7,040 267,370 45,480 46,000 21,000 350,000 14,240,000

20,689,680 2,217 62,327,085 55,945,355 58,334,602 9,132,580 6,790 31,839,950 954,290 7,221,755 11,004,415 60,006 33,450 31,337,490 505,160 182,287,981.50 15,440 3,007,080 87,810 183,428,548 83,270 40,699,710 11,120 16,900,910 80,650 2,825,550 259,463,825 5,308,751 33,730 2,802,800 91,950 3,467,400

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND ARANETA PROP AREIT RT BELLE CORP A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON DDMP RT DM WENCESLAO EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

0.65 32.95 1.2 33.95 1.56 0.89 0.99 0.133 6.95 5.9 0.39 0.33 13 2.2 6.85 0.129 1.12 0.81 7.15 1.38 2.14 3.19 0.435 0.69 3.24 17.2 0.26 1.48 2.64 2.24 34.8 3.89 1.54 3.68

0.66 33 1.21 34 1.58 0.9 1 0.136 7.5 5.96 0.395 0.34 13.02 2.21 6.93 0.131 1.13 0.83 7.22 1.39 2.15 3.2 0.44 0.7 3.25 17.4 0.27 1.49 2.69 2.28 35 3.91 1.55 3.69

0.66 33.15 1.28 33.7 1.56 0.87 0.99 0.137 6.78 5.88 0.38 0.35 13.06 2.2 6.93 0.127 1.13 0.8 7.22 1.37 2.2 3.25 0.41 0.71 3.27 17.68 0.265 1.5 2.65 2.29 36 3.88 1.57 3.68

0.66 33.3 1.3 34.55 1.56 0.9 1.03 0.143 7.6 5.96 0.395 0.36 13.16 2.21 6.93 0.131 1.14 0.81 7.22 1.4 2.2 3.31 0.435 0.72 3.36 17.7 0.265 1.51 2.69 2.29 36 3.91 1.57 3.7

0.64 33 1.21 33.7 1.56 0.87 0.96 0.132 6.78 5.75 0.375 0.33 13 2.19 6.85 0.125 1.12 0.8 7.22 1.37 2.08 3.2 0.41 0.68 3.15 17.16 0.265 1.47 2.65 2.24 34.8 3.88 1.53 3.68

0.65 33 1.21 34 1.56 0.9 1 0.136 7.5 5.96 0.39 0.33 13.02 2.2 6.93 0.131 1.13 0.81 7.22 1.38 2.15 3.2 0.435 0.7 3.25 17.4 0.265 1.49 2.69 2.24 34.8 3.91 1.55 3.69

1,166,000 18,083,800 193,000 142,400 25,000 392,000 2,357,000 1,400,000 2,018,600 1,344,900 25,980,000 11,030,000 417,800 5,631,000 39,600 3,560,000 4,085,000 4,000 1,200 181,000 7,239,000 55,920,000 125,930,000 16,941,000 3,171,000 1,441,400 40,000 452,000 101,000 25,000 5,159,400 27,000 242,000 1,147,000

161,610 -742 -37,255,495 -11,891,530.00 -8,068,706 -51,900 -1,036,010 -4,487,552 -1,114,439 7,979,490 -182,280 -50,962,210.50 -30,900 -6,863,530 -1,209,250 1,121,380 -8,100 -119,648,910 -1,611,062 -2,666,000 -15,450

759,000 598,501,655 239,920 4,835,575 39,000 345,390 2,313,930 187,570 15,099,240 7,899,423 10,063,050 3,680,400 5,448,714 12,372,520 273,877 458,690 4,612,870 3,210 8,664 249,710 15,349,130 180,352,810 53,724,850 11,765,020 10,270,950 25,030,512 10,600 675,340 267,690 56,100 181,755,145 105,130 372,200 4,233,350

-288,644,125 246,325 -1,560 -284,920 -329,915 -134,300 87,600 -1,749,332 -2,891,610 -811,870.00 -5,540 -2,175,550 11,026,800 2,315,450 189,180.00 1,323,540 -1,199,738 -214,990 265,000 51,520 -123,106,245 -3,598,980

SERVICES ABS CBN 10.94 10.96 11.2 11.2 10.96 10.96 74,600 818,960 GMA NETWORK 7.71 7.75 7.7 7.82 7.68 7.71 1,069,900 8,282,518 0.465 0.49 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.48 10,000 4,800 MANILA BULLETIN MLA BRDCASTING 10.36 11 10.98 11 10.98 11 2,600 28,588 GLOBE TELECOM 1,866 1,870 1,867 1,873 1,853 1,866 60,065 112,117,735 1,293 1,296 1,245 1,296 1,237 1,296 211,175 269,420,480 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.223 0.224 0.226 0.229 0.22 0.224 286,720,000 64,348,160 19.02 19.1 19.08 19.34 18.9 19.1 6,332,100 121,354,144 CONVERGE 3.98 3.99 3.95 4.15 3.85 3.98 120,000 471,560 DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG 10.52 10.54 10.52 10.64 10.5 10.54 4,580,600 48,299,362 2.18 2.24 2.25 2.3 2.18 2.24 222,000 494,070 JACKSTONES NOW CORP 2.82 2.83 2.8 2.85 2.77 2.83 962,000 2,695,620 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.465 0.45 0.455 13,120,000 5,973,500 2.64 2.68 2.68 2.68 2.61 2.68 539,000 1,414,290 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 8.63 8.65 8.52 8.89 8.52 8.64 48,800 420,159 15 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 3,000 46,500 ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA 3.32 3.33 3.35 3.35 3.31 3.33 344,000 1,145,700 CEBU AIR 49.1 49.5 48.95 49.5 48.1 49.5 151,200 7,404,300 130 130.2 129.9 130.5 129.1 130 2,246,550 292,066,018 INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS 16 16.28 16.28 16.28 16.28 16.28 400 6,512 LORENZO SHIPPNG 1 1.04 1 1.04 1 1.04 215,000 220,480 4.83 4.84 4.9 4.92 4.82 4.84 1,114,000 5,400,010 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 2.36 2.4 2.36 2.4 2.36 2.39 104,000 247,080 2.4 2.67 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 15,000 36,000 METROALLIANCE B PAL HLDG 6.07 6.15 6.06 6.15 6.06 6.15 30,400 184,717 HARBOR STAR 1.21 1.24 1.23 1.25 1.2 1.21 231,000 282,400 1.91 1.99 1.95 1.99 1.8 1.99 307,000 593,250 ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG 0.108 0.109 0.105 0.108 0.101 0.108 445,440,000 47,081,650 DISCOVERY WORLD 3.59 3.6 3.68 3.68 3.5 3.6 546,000 1,957,860 0.63 0.64 0.64 0.66 0.63 0.64 6,700,000 4,257,280 WATERFRONT FAR EASTERN U 580 595 580 580 580 580 930 539,400 0.38 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.38 0.38 540,000 208,400 STI HLDG BLOOMBERRY 6.76 6.91 6.99 6.99 6.76 6.76 5,942,200 40,940,254 PACIFIC ONLINE 2.09 2.1 2.05 2.1 2.05 2.1 34,000 71,050 1.75 1.8 1.73 1.82 1.72 1.75 398,000 699,070 LEISURE AND RES MANILA JOCKEY 2 2.08 2.02 2.02 2 2 168,000 336,430 PH RESORTS GRP 2.12 2.14 2.1 2.15 2.07 2.12 1,402,000 2,942,120 0.46 0.465 0.46 0.465 0.455 0.465 8,440,000 3,881,400 PREMIUM LEISURE PHIL RACING 6.4 6.5 6.15 6.5 6.05 6.5 4,300 27,210 7.77 7.9 7.86 7.9 7.8 7.9 169,700 1,330,180 ALLHOME METRO RETAIL 1.33 1.34 1.33 1.34 1.31 1.33 191,000 253,600 PUREGOLD 37.55 37.65 37.45 37.8 37.2 37.55 2,043,700 76,834,845 51.2 51.3 51 52 50.95 51.2 406,700 20,839,305.50 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 103 104 103 103 103 103 180 18,540 SSI GROUP 1.22 1.23 1.23 1.24 1.2 1.23 1,432,000 1,730,440 17.28 17.4 17.62 17.62 17.26 17.4 1,698,300 29,665,538 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.39 0.395 0.39 0.39 0.39 0.39 80,000 31,200 6.34 6.68 6.5 6.68 6.5 6.68 7,100 47,010 EASYCALL IPM HLDG 5 5.05 4.53 4.95 4.53 4.95 32,000 148,550 PAXYS 2.31 2.45 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 7,000 16,100 2.32 2.33 2.25 2.36 2.23 2.32 35,192,000 81,390,810 PRMIERE HORIZON

-41,197,955 65,857,050 258,420 22,416,780 -4,100 -918,168 240,650 4,600 40,070 1,848,325 -34,098,151 -1,676,270 -38,520 -11,000 7,240 50,400 -7,850,267 20,910 192,360 -18,600 -22,952 -20,100 -35,276,115 -7,402,726.50 6,180 -115,480 -775,096 -1,542,440

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.95 10 10.1 10.4 9.92 10 2,298,300 23,150,850 292,242 1.63 1.65 1.62 1.69 1.59 1.65 5,926,000 9,730,770 460,950 APEX MINING ATLAS MINING 7.75 7.77 7.18 7.83 7.18 7.77 7,059,100 53,566,924 1,523,039 BENGUET A 3.15 3.25 3.38 3.38 3.1 3.29 343,000 1,086,170 3.16 3.18 3.15 3.28 3.1 3.18 211,000 670,570 -185,040 BENGUET B COAL ASIA HLDG 0.315 0.33 0.325 0.33 0.31 0.33 520,000 166,850 2.8 2.82 2.75 2.82 2.75 2.82 70,000 195,800 111,800 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 8.41 8.48 8.48 8.48 8.22 8.48 3,300 27,721 FERRONICKEL 2.63 2.65 2.68 2.68 2.6 2.65 3,923,000 10,323,560 -48,900 0.395 0.4 0.375 0.41 0.365 0.4 12,230,000 4,805,000 -18,000 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.171 0.172 0.185 0.187 0.17 0.171 396,090,000 71,113,810 LEPANTO B 0.176 0.18 0.184 0.192 0.175 0.177 14,530,000 2,675,410 -70,330 0.013 0.014 0.014 0.015 0.013 0.014 1,076,100,000 15,021,800 MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B 0.014 0.015 0.016 0.016 0.014 0.014 163,800,000 2,397,500 1.36 1.38 1.36 1.39 1.3 1.36 2,761,000 3,693,750 344,440 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 1.82 1.84 1.87 1.87 1.81 1.82 260,000 477,170 NICKEL ASIA 5.5 5.55 5.66 5.7 5.43 5.55 4,619,000 25,642,280 1,417,241 0.405 0.42 0.415 0.42 0.405 0.42 110,000 45,200 OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA 1.05 1.07 1.06 1.09 1.03 1.08 1,576,000 1,664,500 PX MINING 5.4 5.41 5.4 5.56 5.35 5.41 3,956,900 21,509,548 231,481 12.18 12.2 12.16 12.3 12.08 12.18 763,300 9,258,622 263,338 SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.01 73,700,000 768,800 20.95 21 22.35 22.35 20.7 21 1,238,900 26,417,820 2,865,075 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.013 20,100,000 252,900 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 242,100,000 2,921,700 0.012 0.013 0.013 0.013 0.012 0.013 41,200,000 511,700 24,000 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 8.05 8.19 8.03 8.25 8.02 8.05 744,900 6,053,114 897,487

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF B 101 101.2 101 101.2 101 101.2 15,550 1,572,950 -60,600 HOUSE PREF A 100.5 101.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 1,000 100,500 511 535 511 511 511 511 680 347,480 AC PREF B1 ALCO PREF C 102.4 109.9 102.1 102.4 102.1 102.4 10,510 1,075,474 CEB PREF 45.7 45.9 45.25 45.9 45.1 45.7 46,300 2,107,880 348,675 101 101.5 101 101 101 101 350 35,350 DD PREF GTCAP PREF A 1,001 1,028 1,001 1,001 1,001 1,001 5 5,005 1,031 1,048 1,048 1,048 1,048 1,048 3,000 3,144,000 -602,600 GTCAP PREF B MWIDE PREF 101.8 102.1 101.8 101.8 101.8 101.8 2,920 297,256 MWIDE PREF 2A 100 101 100 100 100 100 620 62,000 62,000 100.6 101.8 101.8 101.8 101.5 101.8 10,140 1,031,952 MWIDE PREF 2B PNX PREF 4 999 1,000 1,000 1,010 999 999 1,040 1,042,115 PCOR PREF 2B 1,024 1,036 1,024 1,036 1,020 1,036 35 35,860 1.68 1.85 1.68 1.68 1.68 1.68 5,000 8,400 SFI PREF SMC PREF 2C 78.05 78.1 78.1 78.2 78 78.1 50,710 3,959,693 78.75 79.3 78.9 78.9 78.7 78.7 853,500 67,170,550 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H 77 78.85 78.85 78.85 78.85 78.85 13,070 1,030,569.50 SMC PREF 2J 77 77.2 77 77.1 77 77 5,920 455,897 77 77.1 76.55 77 76.55 77 24,830 1,911,869.50 -308,000 SMC PREF 2K

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS GMA HLDG PDR 7.65 7.68 7.62 7.67 7.62 7.65 383,000 2,928,219 2,437,423

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 2.08 2.09 2.06 2.13 2.03 2.08 1,175,000 2,426,340 -

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 19.38 19.4 19.7 19.76 19.38 19.4 102,100 1,991,860 -42,658 ITALPINAS 2.5 2.55 2.6 2.68 2.5 2.55 371,000 950,380 -63,270 5.4 5.58 5.45 5.6 5.4 5.4 37,400 203,085 KEPWEALTH MERRYMART 5.48 5.49 5.49 5.54 5.47 5.49 3,385,900 18,630,617 353,632

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 97.8 99.4 100.2 100.2 97.8 97.8 49,400 4,858,885 1,711,121

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Ayala Land pushes all units to tweak business strategies

P

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

roperty developer Ayala Land Inc. on Wednesday said it is pushing its business units to adjust their strategies and to continue strengthening their market position as the pandemic has ushered in changes in one of the hardest-hit economic sectors.

“We believe this health crisis has inevitably caused temporary and permanent shifts in consumer behavior, affecting our business lines in numerous ways. Each business unit is carefully adjusting their strategies and practices to strengthen our market position and reinvent some

of our business models to adapt to the new environment,” Bernard Vincent O. Dy, the company’s president and CEO said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting.

Dy said the company is still expecting a “V-shape” recovery starting this year, although he said it

could take 2 to 3 years for it to fully recover what it lost during the pandemic, or just match its 2019 performance.

The company said it is experiencing construction delays due to insufficient manpower and lower productivity due to physical distancing and work stoppages, but it is following government health protocols and working out a system to efficiently carry out a development project.

Ayala Land will spend some P88 billion in capital expenditures (capex) during the year, and will launch residential projects worth some P100 billion. This is higher than last year’s P63.7 billion in revised capex mainly for the completion of residential and commercial leasing assets, with a portion spent on land acquisition and development of estates.

Of this year’s spending, some P38.8 billion worth of projects will be for Avida Land, P37 billion for

Alveo Land, P17.2 billion for Amaia Land, P12 billion for Ayala Land Premiere and P300 million for Bellavita.

Some 62 percent of these projects are for high-rise buildings, 37 percent are for horizontal and 1 percent for the leisure.

About half of its projects are still in Metro Manila and the rest are scattered in several parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the company’s stockholders have approved the company’s planned merger with Cebu Holdings Inc., Asian I-Office Properties Inc., Arca South Commercial Ventures Corp. and Central Block Developers Inc. with Ayala Land as the surviving entity.

Dy said the move will effect efficiencies in the company as it will simplify its work structure and it can realize savings in terms of administrative cost.

“The merger streamlines operations, allows the management to work efficiently,” he said.

Volkswagen PHL banks on new model to drive sales

T

he newly launched sport utility vehicle (SUV) T-Cross is expected to drive the sales of Volkswagen Philippines as the car company seeks to revive the brand in the country.

Automobile Central Enterprise Inc. (ACEI)—the local distributor of the German brand Volkswagen—introduced on Wednesday the 5-seater T-Cross, which falls under the company’s portfolio of subcompact SUV. Volkswagen Philippines President Felipe Estrella III said in an online briefing that T-Cross is the company’s entry to the “emerging” subcompact SUV segment in the country. He said that this segment is expected to remain relevant and to continue growing.

“As a consequence of that, the TCross will also result to be a volume contributor to the overall Volkswagen Philippines sales,” he said.

Estrella said the new model is the vehicle “we hope will be ushering in the revival for the Volkswagen brand in the Philippines.”

Volkswagen is also looking forward to bringing more SUVs in the local market.

Estrella said the introductory price for S variant is P1.068 million while the SE variant costs P1.168 million—both reflecting a discount of P30,000. Interested buyers may

now reserve a unit across the company’s dealerships.

“Our customers will be asked to make a refundable deposit, in addition to the price we showed earlier, and of course depending on how the safeguard duty eventually pans out,” he said.

In January, the Department of Trade and Industry imposed provisional safeguard duties in the form of a cash bond amounting to P70,000 per unit for imported passenger cars and P110,000 per unit for imported light commercial vehicles.

Both variants of the T-Cross come with a 1.5-liter engine and has 3-year or 100,000-kilometer (km) warranty coverage, whichever comes first. Spare parts warranty covers a 2-year period.

“I don’t think there is a model available in that segment that has a cachet of a Volkswagen vehicle. And therefore, we do expect to be relevant in that segment,” Estrella added.

ACEI saw its sales fall by 48.8 percent to 44 units in the first quarter from 86 units a year ago, according to the report by Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and Truck Manufacturers Association.

Last year, it sold 177 units, which is 67.8 percent lower than 550 units in 2019. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

SMC: Massive Pasig River cleanup begins next month

S

an Miguel Corp. (SMC) said it is gearing up for the massive cleanup of the Pasig River as part of its P95-billion Pasig River Expressway Project.

An elevated toll road along the banks of Pasig River, the Expressway Project will connect the east and west sides of Metro Manila, from R-10 road in Manila to Edsa and C-5.

With its completion, traffic in Rizal, Cainta, and Marikina is expected to improve.

It will likewise provide easier access to the central business districts of Makati, Ortigas, and Bonifacio Global City, and also connect to the Skyway system.

In a statement, SMC said preparations for the “historic effort” to clean up the Pasig River, to be fully funded by the company, will be jointly undertaken with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

In preparation for the activity, the first intensive study on the riverbed is currently underway, the company reported.

SMC is looking to remove 600,000 metric tons of waste per year from the Pasig River, with actual cleanup to start in May.

SMC President Ramon S. Ang said the company has already completed the initial bathymetric survey of the Pasig River, from the Pandacan, Manila area going upstream. Further studies of the Manila Bay to Pandacan area are also now underway, using new equipment the company acquired.

Bathymetry is the study of the ocean, lake, or river floors, to determine their topography and characteristics underwater. The studies are the first to be done for these sections of the Pasig River.

“This is a very important environmental effort, and we want to do it right. Cleaning up the Pasig River has been a dream for many Filipinos, even our older generations, so we want to make sure our plan is strategic and effective. While we will use science and utilize modern technology, this project can only succeed with the cooperation of all stakeholders,” Ang said.

“We are grateful for the support of [DENR] Secretary Roy Cimatu and Secretary Mark Villar. They will be the key to making this project a success. Their expertise and ability to mobilize support from many stakeholders are vital to this initiative.” Jonathan L. Mayuga

mutual funds

April 21, 2021

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 208.74 10.49% -7.38% -3.73% -8.13% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.2941 34.05% -6.27% 1.09% -1.44% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.864 12.84% -11.78% -6.09% -8.59% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7291 11.35% -7.52% n.a.

-9.3% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6799 2.6% n.a. n.a. -8.32% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.5852 12.23% -5.04% -2.87% -7.21% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6601 3.12% -8.93% -7.55% -13.12% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 97.54 27.62% -5.57% n.a. -4.32% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 42.8213 13.14% -5.41% -2.45% -8.59% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 448.91 10.64% -5.43% -2.98% -8.19% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d, 1.0239 21.6% n.a. n.a. -6.69% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0955 13.45% -4.84% -1.87% -6.22% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 32.0836 13.08% -5.1% -1.5% -7.73% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8328 11.07% n.a. n.a. -8.78% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.3858 13.8% -4.93% -1.69% -8.46% 733.7 13.9% -4.82% -1.83% -8.48% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.663 12.93% -9.24% -5.32% -7.78% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.3262 10.37% -7.04% -3.19% -8.21% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8382 13.32% -5.18% -1.95% -8.66% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.0798 12.06% -4.58% -0.77% -7.21% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 98.4467 13.89% -4.62% -1.15% -8.47% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.2696 42.65% 4.51% 8.19% 5.54% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.7639 44.29% 5.45% 10.88% n.a.

Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6289 9.46% -1.7% -1.32% -2.38% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.1546 10.06% -2.33% -0.77% -5.72% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.5007 7.48% -1.09% -1.37% -4.81% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1881 2.23% n.a. n.a. -5.29% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8984 6.04% 0.6% 0.62% -3.34% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.5482 6.94% -0.88% -0.72% -6.33% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.9089 7.2% -0.75% -0.7% -6.07% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.993 7.96% -1.74% -0.41% -4.83% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3772 7% -3.18% -1.68% -5.49% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9589 7.04% n.a. n.a. -6.23% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8658 8.5% n.a. n.a. -8.79% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8501 9.46% n.a. n.a.

-8.9% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8344 7.96% -4.14% -2.3% -6% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03812 -0.1% 2.63% 1.34% -2.56% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.1463 24.45% 2.65% 4.81% -0.34% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.6876 32.06% 8.11% 8.41% 3.87% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.2077 16.78% 4.04% n.a.

0.47% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 370.4 2.49% 3.09% 2.5% -0.18% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9105 -0.74% 0.8% 0.22% 0.54% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.2205 1.83% 3.99% 4.48% 0.18% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2526 -0.34% 2.22% 1.52% -1.89% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4298 1.06% 3.15% 1.74% -0.95% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.456 -0.27% 3.88% 1.53% -3.85% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3184 3.74% 4.24% 2.69% -0.21% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.957 3.12% 4.26% 2.46% -1.1% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0271 1.63% 4.06% 1.73% -1.43% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1795 2.46% 4.72% 2.72% -0.83% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7347 1.09% 3.99% 2.04% -1.16% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $483.38 3.43% 2.98% 2.28% -0.1% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є219.83 2.72% 1.02% 1.19% 0.3% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1776 0.14% 1.75% 1.09% -8.03% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0259 0.39% 1.46% 0.95% -2.63% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0583 0.96% 0.54% -0.53% -3.15% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4834 4.16% 4.45% 2.05% -2.06% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. - a $0.0626406 5.28% 3.37% 2.19% 0.52% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1386 -0.53% 2.29% 0.88% -2.64% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 129.95 2.15% 3.17% 2.52% 0.11% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0504 1.39% n.a. n.a.

0.22% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.3019 2.01% 2.89% 2.57% 0.41% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0557 1.43% 1.73% n.a.

0.31% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.2387 n.a. n.a. n.a. 9.66% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $1 9.89% n.a. n.a.

2.04% 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 September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

"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

More pawnshops than banks, MFIs last yr–BSP

By Bianca Cuaresma @BcuaresmaBM

T

HERE are now more pawnshops in the Philippines than universal, commercial, thrift, rural and cooperative banks combined, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

In a news briefing last Wednesday, Central Bank Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said pawnshops’ offices and branches surpassed the combined 13,044 physical network of universal, commercial, thrift, rural and cooperative banks by end-December 2020.

The BSP said pawnshop head offices and branches reached 14,641, a 5-percent rise from the figure posted a year earlier. The pawn broking industry has a footprint in 1,348 cities and municipalities nationwide.

“Pawnshops play a key role in inclusive finance because of their extensive network that serves as financial access points for low-income individuals, small businesses and social amelioration beneficiaries,” Diokno said.

Because of their ability to reach even the remotest areas of the country, Diokno added that about P6.8 billion in cash aid for 983,505 beneficiaries has been distributed via pawnshops as of end-

December 2020, according to reports by banks and e-money issuers (EMIs) to the BSP. This includes the social amelioration and Covid-19 adjustment measures programs of the Department of Labor and Employment, the small business wage subsidy from the Social Security System, and the rice farmers financial assistance program of Department of Agriculture.

“With presence in 82 percent of the country’s local government units, pawnshops serve as cash-out agents for banks and EMIs in distributing government financial assistance during the pandemic,” Diokno said.

The governor also said that the industry is showing continuous signs of growth. In the first two months of 2021, the BSP has already issued 31 new pawnshop licenses.

“The pawn broking industry remains optimistic that it will continue to be resilient amid the current crisis. Going in its favor is its continued extensive reach, especially in rural areas, as well as its varied services,” Diokno said.

The 2019 financial inclusion survey report showed that Filipino consumers perceive pawnshops as the most accessible form of financial center, along with automated teller machines and bayad (payment) centers.

Total bank deposits hit ₧15T as Pinoys saved more in ’20

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By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@Tyronepiad

A

N Indonesia-based financial technology (fintech) player will be introducing more over-the-counter payment options starting this second quarter.

Xendit Philippines Inc. said it was investing in local partners and channels to come up with solutions addressing the common paint points of merchants and customers.

“Xendit strives to make payments in the Philippines more affordable and accessible, even for those without steady access to the internet,” the fintech firm said. “By operating at scale, Xendit is able to provide the most competitive rates and innovative solutions to our customer base.”

In the Philippines, Xendit said it has key strategic partnerships with major banks, e-wallet service providers, retail outlets and lending fintech platforms.

Specifically, the fintech player has partnerships with the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Union Bank of the Philippines, GCash, GrabPay and Paymaya.

“We just recently rolled out with [BDO Unibank Inc.] for Direct Debit, as an additional channel for GrabPay users to cash-in to their GrabPay wallet,” Xendit said.

“For Paylater—our checkout financing product—we have piloted this with BillEase and will be adding more channels this year,” it added. BillEase is a fintech platform operated by First Digital Finance Corp.

Xendit said that Amazon Web Services allows it to run application services, database system and big data platform in the country.

Last year, the fintech firm noted that its business was severely affected in the first few months of the pandemic given that most of its customers are big travel companies.

@BNicolasBM

OTAL bank deposits in the country reached nearly P15 trillion during the pandemic year, up by 9 percent from P13.6 trillion in 2019 as Filipinos were inclined to save money.

Latest data released by state-run Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

(PDIC) showed total bank deposits hit P14.9 trillion as of end-December last year.

Likewise, deposit accounts also rose to 80.1 million last year, rising by 8.7 percent from 73.7 million in the same period the previous year.

The state-run deposit insurer

Fintech plans to roll out more payment options

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Thursday, April 22, 2021 B3

But the accelerated adoption of digital platforms in the Philippines and Indonesia allowed the fintech player to expand its digital payment infrastructure into new sectors.

These include retail, gaming and other digital products.

Apart from this, Xendit recently launched an initiative in Indonesia to support local businesses, charities and nonprofit organizations during this pandemic.

It provided working capital for struggling enterprises and free payments for new merchants who just started their business when the pandemic hit.

“We continue to support businesses with capital loans and fee waivers, as well as fundraising and providing donations for local nonprofit organizations,” Xendit said.

Xendit is also eyeing to expand its footprint in other Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.

also said the sustained growth in deposits shows more savers are benefitting from the protection provided by PDIC up to the maximum deposit insurance coverage (MDIC) of P500,000 per depositor per bank.

“The pandemic underscored the important role banks play in enabling access to essential financial services,” PDIC President and CEO Roberto B.

Tan was quoted in a statement as saying. “The deposit growth is also an indication of improved depositor confidence in the banking system.”

Boost in deposits also mirrored the 8.8-percent expansion of fully insured deposit accounts to 77.4 million from 71.2 million in 2019.

According to the PDIC, this represents 96.7 percent of the total fully insured deposit accounts.

In terms of amount, P1.7 trillion total deposits is fully covered by deposit insurance, an 8.6-percent climb from P1.6 trillion in the same period in 2019.

Meanwhile, deposits with balances above P500,000 increased to P13.1 trillion, surging by 9 percent from P12 trillion in December 2019.

Total number of accounts reached 2.7 million by end of last year, higher than the previous year’s 2.5 million.

Despite the pandemic, most deposit types posted increases both

in terms of the number of accounts and the amount.

Accounting for the bulk or 75.9 percent of total domestic deposits are savings deposits and demand/ NOW deposits. Savings deposits and demand and/or NOW (Negotiable Order of Withdrawal) deposits increased by 16.2 percent and 20.8 percent to reach P7.2 trillion and P4.1 trillion, respectively.

However, the state deposit insurer said time deposits and Long-Term Negotiable Certificates of Deposit (LTNCDs) dropped by 11.8 percent year-on-year to P3.6 trillion from P4.1 trillion in end-December 2019 due to depositors’ preference for liquidity in uncertain times that will allow them to withdraw cash immediately.

“Combined, time deposits and LTNCDs summed to P3.6 trillion and accounted for 24.1 percent of total deposits,” it said.

Sale of T-bonds via tap facility raises ₧25B

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HE Bureau of the Treasury raised an additional P25 billion from fully awarding new 7-year Treasury Bonds (T-Bonds) via tap facility auction last Tuesday.

This is on top of its sale of P35 billion in the T-bonds the Treasury sold during the primary auction on the same day.

The tap facility auction was opened to all 11 government securities dealers-market makers.

Investors also swamped the tap facility auction as total bids hit P42.12 billion, way above the P25billion on offer.

During the primary auction, the tenor fetched a coupon rate of 3.625 percent, lower than the prevailing secondary market rates. The debt paper is set to mature on April 22, 2028.

For this week alone, the Treasury has already sold a total of P90 billion in debt papers.

On Monday, it raised P25 billion in its primary auction of 91-day,

182-day and 364-day Treasury Bills (T-bills) on Monday and another P5billion via its tap facility auction of 364-day T-bills.

On the same day, the Philippines also announced it may soon offer euro-denominated bonds.

The Philippine government said they may offer 4-year and/or 12-year and/or 20-year euro-denominated bond offering, subject to market conditions.

International credit watchers S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service have already assigned investment-grade ratings to the proposed euro-denominated bond issuance of the Philippine government.

S&P Global Ratings announced that they have assigned a “BBB+” long-term foreign currency rating to the proposed benchmark-size euro-denominated bond issuance while Moody’s assigned a senior unsecured rating of Baa2 to the

planned bond offering.

The proposed euro bond issuance is expected to be about $500 million.

The proceeds from the bonds are intended for general purposes, including budgetary support.

Should the euro bond offering push through, this would be the second time that the country will be tapping the offshore bond market this year after it raised ¥55 billion ($500 million or about P24.2 billion) from its sale of 3-year zero-coupon Samurai bonds last month.

The last time that the government tapped the euro bond market was in February last year wherein it raised 1.2 billion euros.

The country aims to borrow a total of P3.03 trillion this year, roughly the same amount it borrowed in 2020.

The bulk of the gross borrowings this year will be sourced locally at P2.58 trillion while P442.36 billion will be raised from foreign sources.

Bernadette D. Nicolas

HSBC Holdings pivot stokes tension between Hong Kong, London bankers

H

SBC Holdings Plc is shipping senior executives from its London headquarters to Hong Kong to seal a pivot

by Europe’s largest lender to Asia. The moves are also stoking some discontent.

Already smarting from a cut to the bonus pool after losses in Europe, some senior executives in Greater China worry their push into the world’s second-largest economy could be slowed by added bureaucracy and blurred reporting lines, according to people familiar with the discussions who asked to remain anonymous discussing a sensitive issue.

With the global heads of investment banking, commercial banking and wealth relocating to Hong Kong this year, senior bankers expect friction with regional chief Peter Wong, who has so far enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. Wong has expressed his unhappiness about the costs of the relocations, one of the people said.

At the same time, some staff are encouraged by the move to shift more leadership to Hong Kong, the bank’s Asian hub, the people said.

The status of local leadership is a sensitive topic for HSBC, whose board and C-suite are dominated by westerners even as it makes almost all its profits in Asia and counts Hong Kong as its biggest market.

For HSBC, the changes are intended to demonstrate its commitment to a historic turnaround plan centered on Asia and help speed up local decision making. The bank has earmarked investments of about $6 billion for the region, on top of billions more in risk-weighted assets it intends to shift from moribund operations in Europe and the US. It’s targeting becoming a market leader in managing wealth in an increasingly affluent part of the world.

The growing strength of markets and the economy in Greater China is “shifting the geographic balance of power for HSBC,”

Ismail Erturk, a senior lecturer in banking at the University of Manchester, said. “But its main institutional shareholders are still international, not from China. This creates a complex situation for HSBC.” The potential for friction hasn’t gone unnoticed in London. On a global call on April 14, Greg Guyett, the co-head of the investment bank who’s one of the executives moving, said unprompted that the reason for his relocation wasn’t because of poor management in Asia, according to people on the call. He emphasized that he would continue to keep his eyes on Europe and the US as well, the people said.

While some were puzzled by his comment on performance, others on the call said they felt it was intended to reassure staff and highlight the contribution from Asia. The bank is scheduled to release first-quarter earnings on April 27.

“Asia Pacific is central to the long-term growth plans” of the bank and the move reflects HSBC’s intention to “locate more of our global leadership roles in our key growth region,” CEO Noel Quinn said in an April 14 memo.

Some roles that work directly with the top executives will also move to Hong Kong, according to Quinn.

A Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for HSBC declined to comment for this article.

Wong’s transition

THE transfers coincide with another transition: the bank has started an informal search to identify a successor for the 69-year-old Wong, its long-time chief executive for Asia Pacific, people familiar with the matter said in January. A member of China’s top politicaladvisory body—the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference—Wong’s ties have been pivotal to mending relations with Beijing, frayed by the lender’s role in a US probe

of Huawei Technologies Co. With most of the bank’s top management in London, away from its biggest market of Hong Kong, Wong has pressed for quicker engagement with Beijing’s concerns. He publicly endorsed the security law that China imposed on the financial hub last year, quietening criticism from pro-Beijing factions in the city.

Wong has been preparing for his eventual retirement by mentoring David Liao and Mark Yunfeng Wang, the heads of Asia Pacific global banking and its China operations, people familiar with the matter have said. Any discord between the incoming executives and Wong could complicate that effort. Liao, for example, reports to both Guyett and Wong.

HSBC is casting a wide net both within its ranks and beyond in its hunt for a replacement, a person familiar has said, with Wong viewed as difficult to replace.

Quinn signaled in his memo that relocating the executives could boost the bank across the region.

“The move will also create significant opportunities for collaboration across the businesses in Asia,” he wrote. HSBC currently makes more than 80 percent of its Asia profits from just two markets: Hong Kong and mainland China.

It’s unlikely that China wants HSBC to maintain its dominant position in Hong Kong, said Chen Zhiwu, director of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong. “What had been expected to happen after 1997 is starting to happen,” Chen said, referring to the year Britain handed the colony back to China. “Moving some executives from London to Hong Kong won’t change that trajectory.”

Either way, HSBC’s leadership presence in Hong Kong, where it was founded in 1865, will now be the strongest since it moved its headquarters to London in 1993.

Along with Guyett, Nuno Matos, CEO of wealth and personal banking, and Barry O’Byrne, CEO of global commercial banking, are expected to be on the ground in the second half of this year.

Together, the three executives control

HSBC’s main divisions, with only the corporate center remaining. Nicolas Moreau, who runs HSBC Global Asset Management, is also relocating. Georges Elhedery, co-head of investment banking and markets, will remain in London. Bloomberg News

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

B4

Thursday, April 22, 2021

www.businessmirror.com.ph

SFA Locsin urges Asean, UK to boost cooperation in climate-change action; Covid response, recovery

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ECRETARY of Foreign Affairs (SFA) Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. joined foreign ministers and top representatives of the region’s memberstates, the Asean secretary-general and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab at the Asean-UK Open-Ended Troika Dialogue.

The meeting via video conference on April 8 saw exchanges of views on ways of enhancing cooperation in tackling socioeconomic challenges caused by the pandemic, starting on the path to sustainable recovery, as well as advancing climate-change priorities.

The foreign ministers recognized

the importance of rebuilding sustainable, green and resilient economies, as well as fostering fruitful and substantive means of cooperation between Asean and the UK in tackling climate change.

Locsin shared that, despite initial setbacks in securing vaccine supplies for the Philippines, vac-

PHL contributes to Centre for Chemistry and Technology

AMBASSADOR J. Eduardo Malaya (left) at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons DFA/OPCW

By Recto L. Mercene @rectomercene

T

HE Philippines recently reaffirmed its strong commitment to disarmament and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction—notably, chemical weapons.

Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya presided over a ceremonial signing and exchange of letters on April 9 with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPC W ), which announced the Philippine government’s contribution of $15,000 to the trust fund for a Centre for Chemistry and Technology (ChemTech Centre).

OPCW was represented by Director General Fernando Arias.

“I commend the work of OPCW and its vision to establish the…[center], which aims to strengthen the organization’s capability against new and emerging chemical weapons threats, and support capacity

building among member-states,” Malaya said.

For his part, Arias expressed his gratitude to the government of the Philippines and noted that “[its] contribution advances the establishment of the ChemTech Centre, which will be a centerpiece for research, analysis and training for all member-states.”

The center is currently earmarked to become operational at the end of 2022.

As implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW and its 193 memberstates oversee the global endeavor to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since its entry into force in 1997, the convention is the most successful disarmament treaty through elimination of weapons of mass destruction.

Over 98 percent of all declared chemical weapon stockpiles have been destroyed under OPCW verification. For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the organization was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.

BOLSTERING TIES Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Affairs Brigido J. Dulay (left) welcomed Ambassador of the Republic of France Michèle Boccoz at the Department of Foreign Affairs on April 13, as both reaffirmed the close ties between their countries built on the strength of cooperation in the areas of defense, maritime, business and investments, and health. Among other topics discussed by both diplomats were the Philippine government’s vaccination plan and France’s contribution to the Covax facility, upcoming commemorative activities in line with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2022, and further engagements on key priority areas—including the European country’s new role as Asean development partner. DFA-OPCD/PHILIP ADRIAN FERNANDEZ

LOCSIN at the Open-Ended Troika Meeting DFA-ASEAN

cine czar Carlito G. Galvez Jr. has already secured firm commitments from suppliers for several million doses of the vaccine to be delivered

in time for the subsequent phases of the country’s vaccine-rollout plans.

The SFA also shared the progress of the government’s negotiation with

the Russian Federation on securing Gamaleya vaccines.

On climate change, the secretary called for more decisive action to resolve climate change, and urged Asean member-states and the UK to deliver on their respective countries’ commitments to the Paris Agreement—particularly on deep and drastic cuts in carbon emissions.

He also emphasized the connection between climate change and the prevalence of zoonotic disease outbreaks, aside from other drivers such as global warming and biodiversity degradation.

As president of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, scheduled in Glasgow, Scotland this November, the UK plays a pivotal role in leading high-level discussions in transitioning to green and sustainable practices toward achieving the goals of

the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

On Myanmar, Locsin expressed the Philippines’s concern over the latest developments: “We are closely following the situation, especially the recent escalation of [the former’s army’s] action, leading to the rising number of deaths among peaceful protesters.” He urged security forces to exercise restraint and refrain from using excessive force against unarmed demonstrators, as he called once more for the return to the status quo ante—the full restoration of the previously existing state of affairs in Myanmar. The secretary also called for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees.

Member-states are currently studying the UK’s application to become a dialogue-partner of Asean.

New leadership seen to further boost Vietnam’s ties with PHL

E

ARLY this month, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s National Congress, which is held roughly every five years, saw the reelection of Nguyen Phu Trong as general secretary of the Communist Party.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, former head of the Communist Party’s Central Organization Committee, replaced Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who will be the country’s ceremonial president of state. Vuong Dinh Hue was appointed chairman of Vietnam’s National Congress.

Chinh will be leading the Vietnamese government, acknowledged for its suc-

cess in containing the deadly pandemic within its borders using effective and low-cost control measures. The country achieved this by “preventing, detecting, quarantining, localizing, containing and treating” individuals infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) through a centralized quarantine system and mass testing.

As of April 19, Vietnam—despite its long borders, as well as busy air and sea routes—has only 2,785 infections and 35 fatalities.

After successfully containing the Covid-19 contagion, Chinh hopes to transform Vietnam into Asean’s second-

COUNTRIES’ COVID RESPONSE

largest economy by 2030 because of its outstanding economic performance.

This is largely due to the former prime minister’s 2021-2030 national socioeconomic development strategy and the 2021-2025 development plan to realize the targets made by the National Party Congress on March 28.

Vietnam’s economic performance is described as “outstanding,” as its gross domestic product achieved 2.9-percent increase despite the negative impacts of the pandemic last year. It had an average GDP growth of 6.8 percent.

Backed by the Joint Declaration on Strategic partnership, bilateral rela-

Australia extends assistance to Covid-vulnerable families

US supports PHL’s vaccine deployment T

T

HE US gover nment, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing the Philippines P170 million (about $3.5 million) to support the Department of Health’s vaccination rollout.

This new assistance, which brings total US government support for the country’s pandemic response to nearly P1.3 billion (about $27 million), will strengthen the national health system and its vaccine-delivery efforts.

The US Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires John Law announced this new subsidy during a visit to a vaccination site in Caloocan City with Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, Mayor Oscar G. Malapitan, USAID Philippines Mission Director Lawrence Hardy II, as well as other officials of both governments.

Through this new funding, the agency will support the Philippines in strengthening its vaccine-supply chain, monitoring vaccine safety and delivering effective communication campaigns to address vaccine hesitancy. This aid will also support local government units as they plan for, track, and administer vaccines.

“While the pandemic has tested our peoples and our economies, the strong bonds between Americans and Filipinos will help us rise above this challenge,” said Law. “We will continue to fight this unprecedented global health crisis together.”

US government support for the

tions between Vietnam and the Philippines flourished and benefited people of both countries. The latter’s exports reached $1.27 billion, while its counterpart amounted to $3.64 billion. Filipino companies investing in Vietnam has considerably increased over the years.

Today, there are 8,000 “Pinoys” in Vietnam in the fields of manufacturing, and who work as English language teachers, hotel staff and musicians.

With its new set of leaders, Vietnam’s strategic partnership with the Philippines will benefit both their citizens, who are seen to collectively contribute toward regional peace and stability.

CHARGÉ d’Affaires John Law

Philippines’s pandemic response has helped the latter implement internationally recognized infection prevention and control strategies, strengthen laboratory systems and case management, as well as communicate effectively about health risks.

In addition, the White House recently announced a P194-billion (or $4-billion) commitment to support the Covax facility—the global initiative to support early vaccine access for 92 countries— which include the Philippines. An initial P97.2-billion (around $2 billion) contribution—provided through USAID—is supporting the purchase and delivery of safe and effective vaccines.

Through this effort—of which the US is the largest donor—the Philippines will receive enough vaccines to immunize at least 20 percent of its population by the end of 2021.

HE Com monwea lt h of Australia is providing additional support through its partnership with Community and Family Services International (CFSI) for a pandemic response and recovery initiative targeting individuals displaced by the Marawi City armed conflict, along with locally stranded individuals affected by the health crisis.

T he P10 6 - m i l l ion (about AU$2.99 million) contribution from the Australian government for the Marawi Covid-19 Recovery Project (MCRP) will help at least 4,000 families, or around 20,000 persons, reactivate lost livelihoods and recover from the impact of three major shocks: armed conflict, protracted displacement, and the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) contagion.

“Australia has been a strong supporter of development, peace and stability in the southern Philippines for over 20 years,” said Ambassador Steven J. Robinson AO. “Our commitment to the people and the recovery of Marawi [City] is steadfast; this new project will assist the most vulnerable people in Mindanao who have been severely affected by prolonged displacement and by the pandemic’s socioeconomic impacts.”

Under its Partnerships for Recovery program, Australia has redirected its development cooperation to reinforce the Philippine response to the pandemic. The envoy noted, “Our partnership with CFSI will support families recover from the impacts of [the contagion] and help foster inclusive and cohesive

communities in the spirit of mateship and bayanihan.”

The MCRP is an expansion of the previous Australia-CFSI partnership that provided livelihood support for those displaced by the Marawi City conflict. The project will support the recovery of livelihoods that have been directly affected by the pandemic. It will also help facilitate birth registration and provide community rights awareness to prevent and address gender-based violence.

“Through this project, we will contribute to improving the conditions for peace and stability in the conflict-affected areas of Mindanao,” said CFSI Executive Director Steven Muncy.

The MCRP will be implemented by CFSI over 30 months from January 2021 through June 2023 in Marawi City and six other municipalities in Lanao del Sur province, in close partnerships with the local government.

Task Force Bangon Marawi Field Manager Assistant Secretary Felix Castro Jr. and Marawi City Mayor Majul Gandamra welcomed the new assistance from the commonwealth. The latter affirmed: “This project, which builds on previous partnerships between the government, Australia and CFSI, will provide critical support to vulnerable families and help them recover from the multiple challenges of displacement...exacerbated by the pandemic.”

“This will be a big help,” said Gandamra. “Because of the pandemic, many people lost their jobs, and we are hopeful that this project will help more families to recover their livelihoods.”

Life

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Thursday, April 22, 2021

How ‘art-ful’ Paulina springs hope

THIS pandemic has put us in a time capsule, where time froze for us for more than a year now. The general fear is the unknown length and gravity of the situation. It made me want to think of ways to squeeze out a path of hope, especially for kids and families. I want to challenge families that although we are amid a pandemic, we should not stop to dream, hope and find happiness.

I first encountered Paulina Luz Sotto’s work through an online auction. I was drawn to the simple yet whimsical strokes. I honestly did not know who she was. I later found out from my husband how young she is, and that she is the granddaughter of National Artist Arturo Luz. I thought her story would be a good way to inspire kids and guide parents at this time in choosing their passions. I also thought it would be a good way for Paulina to share her thoughts on how art can alleviate anxiety today.

Paulina actually had no intention of pursuing art as a career.

Growing up with her grandfather, National Artist Arturo Luz, she was never influenced in any way to follow in his footsteps. She was into drawing and painting, as a lot of young people were, but went with the more practical choice of taking a communications degree at the Ateneo de Manila University, where she graduated Cum Laude. When she was taking a break from work, she started pursuing different hobbies, and painting was one of them. She would share her paintings on social media, and eventually got inquiries. She had 11 abstract paintings at the time. She sold them all and people kept wanting to buy, and the rest is history.

I love how Paulina says, “It’s important to note that I never had anyone in my life tell me what to be, or what to pursue. My parents have always supported me no matter what. Had I chosen to take up Fine Arts in college, they would have supported it. They never tried to sway me in a specific direction. As long as I was happy, they were happy. Even my grandfather, who I was very close to growing up, never tried to influence me in any way when it came to the arts.

I’m very thankful my family has always shown me nothing but support. Without that support, I don’t think I would have found this path. They gave me the space and freedom to figure things out on my own, and it has led me to everything I wanted and more. I now have a supportive husband and a beautiful daughter, but with the added bonus of a career that I love.” I think it gives us parents a perspective on wanting our kids to find their craft, their passion, as well as respecting their path on getting there.

When asked about the inspirations for her pieces, she says, “I create what I find beautiful. Sometimes the ideas come out of nowhere; sometimes I’ll look at something completely unrelated to art and it will spark an idea. I also try to keep things simple when it comes to my art, which sounds easier than it is. Restraint is its own discipline.”

Her advice for kids and parents today: “Creative freedom is so important, not just for kids but for everyone. Unlike Math and Science where everything is black and white, there is no concept of right and wrong when it comes to art. I would tell kids today that art isn’t just about painting or drawing—it can literally be anything you want it to be. Art can be appreciated by everyone, but understood by no one else except the artist, and that’s OK. Art can be messy, it can be neat. It can be simple or complicated, something big or something small. Whatever or however you choose to create art, do it because there’s nothing to lose.”

During this pandemic, Paulina recommends art as a hobby because it provides emotional release and is a form of selfexpression which can be safely done indoors. With everyone feeling a wide range of emotions like sadness, anger, frustration and happiness, she says art can serve as a safe way to make those emotions tangible.

Paulina admits that even she has a hard time staying positive these days. She also has lots of worries. However, she tries her best to focus on the present, her family, and her household. She prays a lot and spends a lot of time with her daughter, who is almost seven months old now. She says, “Sachi knows nothing of what’s going on in the world, and I try to let myself feel that innocence. Her eyes are so bright and she looks at the word with such fascination. She sees nothing bad. I try to see things from her perspective because sometimes it can really feel like too much.”

In the current business environment, we keep on hearing about essentials as the focus of consumers. I hope the concept of “essentiality” can also extend to include the happiness and positivity of our families, as well as ourselves. Because what can be more essential than our total well-being?

Paulina with the Rogue#2 artwork that I purchased from her

B5

THE Blue Angel is a 1930 German tragicomedic film directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich.

Leading lives: Marlene Dietrich ‘T

ODAY filmmakers know all about camera placement and visual angles. But TV cameras often distort contours much to the astonishment of bewildered viewers who wonder why an actress’s face appears broad on one day and narrow on another.”

The speaker continues: “You should hold the camera high, slightly above the eye level of those you want to photograph. If you hold the camera lower, about the subject’s belly-button level, say, the face appears round and thick and bears no resemblance to what you actually wanted to photograph.”

Still continuing: “But back to studio lighting.

The back light is the big bugaboo. If a performer near it is speaking to her partner, she is told not to turn completely away from it. If she does, the back light will give her a bulbous nose.... A side light can also play little tricks—but it is not quite so risky.... The key light, directly behind the camera, is the most important of all. The higher this key light is placed, the longer and narrower the face will appear on the screen. If an actress happens to be blessed with high cheekbones, such lighting sketches attractive, soft shadows on both cheeks.”

Then, she says with finality: “Since at the present time, there are no great film beauties [ca. 1980s, annotation mine] as in the past, this knowledge is not all too important [underscoring mine].”

Who is speaking?

Let us continue: “In my case the face was created.”

If your guess is Marlene Dietrich, you are correct.

The legendary (the modifier is justified, this time) actress is speaking from her autobiography, Marlene by Marlene Dietrich (first published in 1989).

This is the actress who made sexual ambiguity a glamor brand, the German import who came to Hollywood with all the allure and mystery of one who was obscure and obscured, a creature by her own admission of a director, Josef von Sternberg, who taught her how to act and how to dress and, most of all, how to use the light and the camera.

In many passages of the book, Marlene would devote her discourse on the power of light and editing. While fans expect that she be discussing about makeup and how to chew a scene, readers and good fans will be assured of this screen personality keen about the working of the technologies of cinema.

But, yes, she talks about her face—that face: “The most outlandish stories have made the rounds: that I had to have my molars extracted so as to highlight my hollow cheeks, that young girls could suck in their cheeks to achieve the secret effect to be seen on the screen.” She reveals the truth: “None of these tales is true. Nor are those that claim that in the shooting of Morocco I ran through the desert on high-heeled shoes.”

So, it was all light: “In this film [The Blue Angel] von Sternberg used the main spotlight to give greater prominence to the roundness of my face.

No hollow cheeks in The Blue Angel.

Everybody knows of course that film and

that scene, where a white-skinned, sultry girl, poses with her one leg close to the camera hoisted up, her thigh showing, daring in those years, in a pose that would grace the performances of impersonators and even be recalled by Liza Minnelli in the KitKat Club of Bob Fosse’s film, Cabaret.

The whole thing was sin as imagined by a German Dante Alighieri, but Marlene would tell us she was not the lead in The Blue Angel.

Other than honoring the backlight, the autobiography of Marlene pays homage to von Sternberg who is quoted as saying, “I then put her into the crucible of my conception, blended her image to correspond with mine, pouring lights on her until the alchemy was complete.”

But here is always what happens in an autobiography—or biography, for that matter: Other people’s lives are revealed at the same time as the confession of the autobiographer or the writing of biographer takes place.

Whose lives are compromised? Whose secrets are disclosed? Marlene’s words about actors are writers are gems of caustic brilliance.

Of her friend, Edith Piaf, Marlene recalls: “Horrified, I looked on as she exhausted her energies and took on three lovers at once.... In my eyes, she really was The Sparrow, the little bird whose name she bore. But she was also Jezebel, whose unquenchable thirst for love must have been due to a feeling of imperfection, her ‘ugliness,’ as she put it.... She liked me, perhaps she loved me. But I believe she could only love men.... Very much later, when she became a drug addict, I broke faith with her…. I gave Edith Piaf

up like a lost daughter whom you forever mourn.”

The passionate words, Marlene reserved to the men she “loved.” There is Orson Welles: “He will always remain the wunderkind of film.... I feel his absence, the absence of his friendship, of the strength he gave me, as a painful loss. I try in vain to reach him in my helpless dreams.”

What saves the personal rhapsody from froth is in the fact that in the long paragraphs devoted to Welles, Marlene would speak in detail about the technological contribution of the filmmaker, how Orson Welles “revolutionized photography by his use of the frog perspective, a perspective Eisenstein had used in his outdoor shots....”

How the filmmaker was the first to use the hand camera with a swivel device.

A long section is devoted to Ernest Hemingway: “I have never stopped loving him.... I say this because the love that Ernest Hemingway and I felt for each other—pure, absolute—was a most extraordinary love in the world in which we lived.”

Of her many loves, Marlene is Lola, the vamp, once more: “Thus, I’ve met many wonderful men like ships that pass in the night. But I believe that their love would have been more constant had I dropped anchor in their port.”

Her role as an entertainer at the World War II front occupies another chapter. In these memories, Marlene is critical, human: “I’ve seen these men during battle and afterward. Long after the war, I saw them again—in their homes, hobbling around on their crutches, or seated, legless.... I’ve seen them all. I’ve loved them all, long after the world forgot them.” n

B6 Thursday, April 22, 2021

Excited for the GR Yaris? Secure your slot at the nearest GR Performance dealership Teleperformance Philippines to offer free Covid-19 vaccinations for all employees

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IGHLIGHTING its commitment to promote the safety and welfare of its employees, Teleperformance Philippines will be offering free Covid-19 vaccinations for their more than 47,000 employees in the country nationwide.

This is in line with the global initiative of Teleperformance to provide free access to vaccines for all its employees worldwide. As the nation awaits the ongoing government reviews to allow distribution of the vaccine, Teleperformance Philippines is currently collaborating with government agencies and employers in the country to quickly secure the supply of safe and effective FDA-approved vaccines for 100% of their employees.

Teleperformance, a leading global group in digitally integrated business services, recently announced its plans to reimburse the cost of Covid-19 vaccinations for its more than 330,000 employees worldwide, wherever the vaccine is not being provided free of charge by the country’s healthcare system. The plan will be deployed in accordance with the decisions of the local authorities concerned and in partnership with key private healthcare partners across Teleperformance’s footprint, which spans 80 countries.

Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, Teleperformance has paid careful attention to protecting its employees, notably with a strong focus on health and hygiene standards in all its locations, millions of masks proactively secured and distributed to its staff, the assertive move to a Work-at-Home delivery model in conjunction with its clients, and enforcement of extra physical distance at its operational sites, over and above local country guidelines.

A Great Place to Work® certified company, Teleperformance Philippines likewise initiated efforts throughout the pandemic to promote the safety and well-being of their employees while helping businesses adjust to the new environment. Aside from stringent health and safety protocols on site, they also implemented the work-at-home (WAH) model for thousands of employees and launched Teleperformance Cloud Campus, a model that allows homebased interaction experts to work from anywhere in the world while remaining connected virtually to their

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secure your slot now!

Check out toyota.com.ph/GRYarisiscoming for details and updates on the GR Yaris. TMP’s official pages – Toyota Motor Philippines and Toyota Gazoo Racing PH on Facebook and Instagram, toyota.com.ph, Twitter (ToyotaMotorPH), and Viber (Toyota PH) – are also constantly updated with news on the GR Yaris and other Toyota models.

Concepcion applauds FDA’S approval on Covaxin Teleperformance team through one of the Cloud Campus hubs.

Today, by offering the vaccine as a free, optional staff benefit, Teleperformance aims not only to honor its commitment to protecting the health of its people, but also to help governments address the pandemic with agile, large-scope support of vaccination programs deployed at the corporate level.

Teleperformance Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Julien remarked, “Nothing is more important in fulfilling our mission than the safety and health of all our employees. Since the beginning of this grave crisis, we have done everything in our power to ensure business continuity for our clients and protect the health and safety of our employees, our partners, and jobs in the communities where the Group is present. Now, more than ever, we are focused on the same priorities. Based on strong relationships with healthcare partners and in compliance with government decisions and procurement agendas, we are well prepared across the world to assist in securing critical Covid-19 vaccinations for our employees.

The reimbursement of vaccination costs for our staff is another critical step in this commitment to our employees. We will support every employee in the Group who wants the vaccine, especially in countries where the public or private insurance system doesn’t cover the cost. We are also proud to be actively contributing to the ongoing fight against the virus by boosting vaccinations worldwide.”

Teleperformance Chief Executive Officer for US, Canada, and Philippines Mike Lytle added, “From the beginning, the safety and well-being of our employees has been our priority. While the past year has definitely been a

challenging one for the company and its many employees and partners, the announcement of the vaccine brings hope for everyone across the globe and we are committed to giving free access to this for all our employees. As we wait for the distribution of the vaccine, we continue to maintain a positive outlook for the industry and the country. We enjoin everyone in the ongoing fight against Covid-19 by continuing to follow the government’s lead and practice safety measures and protocols wherever they are.”

Teleperformance began operations in the Philippines in 1996 and has grown to become a preferred offshore contact center outsourcing option. The company employs over 45,000 people in the country and operates over 30,000 workstations in 22 business sites located across Metro Manila, Antipolo, Baguio, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

Teleperformance Philippines was awarded as Outstanding Employer and Outstanding Community Project of the Year by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the Top Employer of the Year and Corporate Social Responsibility Circle of Excellence at the Asia CEO Awards, and the Outstanding Volunteer by the National Economic Development Authority.

This 2021, Teleperformance celebrates its 25th year of continued excellence and leadership in the country. This milestone highlights the company’s commitment to steadily provide the best employment experience for Filipinos, proactively support the nation’s IT-BPM sector, and uphold its socio-civic engagements to create a difference in the lives of the Philippine community.

For further information, visit teleperformance.ph

Emapta Philippines secures Moderna vaccines for its employees

USTRALIAN-OWNED outsourcing company, Emapta, announced that it has finalized the pre-order of 7,000 doses of Moderna vaccines for its 3,500 employees in the Philippines. The company secured the earliest available vaccines to ramp up its COVID-19 response plan with the first batch of vaccines to be administered as early as Q2.

Emapta will provide both rounds of vaccines without any charges to all 3,500 employees in its 14 offices located all over Metro Manila, Baguio and Pampanga.

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OYOTA Motor Philippines (TMP) is finally making its much anticipated hatchback available for reservation in its GR Performance dealerships!

After its initial confirmation that the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing developed GR Yaris is coming to Philippine soil, TMP has officially announced the list of authorized dealerships which will accept reservations for the popular sports car.

Dealerships offering the GR Yaris in the Philippines are available nationwide from Toyota Alabang, Commonwealth, Global City, Makati, Manila Bay, Otis, Quezon Avenue, Bacoor, Cavite, Batangas City, Calamba, Laguna, La Union, San Fernando, Pampanga, San Pablo, Laguna, Cebu City, Mabolo, Cebu, and Davao City.

Retailing as we enter the third quarter of 2021 with a P2.65M price tag, the local specs for the GR Yaris features 1.6L Turbocharged Inline-3 engine with 257HP max output and a GR-FOUR 4WD system. Keep your eyes peeled for possible surprise appearances in future TMP events as we welcome the arrival of the GR Yaris this July.

Reservations are open for very limited slots so

“We are determined to safeguard the wellbeing of our staff against the COVID-19 virus,” Emapta CEO and Founder Tim Vorbach said. “Procuring a legitimate and proven vaccine for our people early and at no cost is the best way to protect them at present.”

The vaccine rollout program is the latest addition to Emapta’s pandemic response initiatives designed to help employees cope during these trying times. The recently- launched online Emapta COVID-19 vaccine hub will also

serve as the central communications platform to update staff with its vaccine rollout progress.

Since the onset of the pandemic and declaration of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the Philippines last March 2020, Emapta was quick to mobilize its team to work from home while its cybersecurity department implemented bank-level security protocols organizationwide. Emapta’s 14 offices spread across the Philippines remained fully operational and continues to serve employees as part of its business continuity procedures.

Emapta also supported employees who have been displaced by the pandemic through talent reassignment programs as well as applying them for the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE)’s COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP).

“Right from the start, we have implemented strict health protocols in our offices and even helped our staff transition to remote work arrangements to keep them safe,” says Inge Zwick, Executive Director at Emapta. “There’s no doubt that the vaccine would have a tremendous impact on their physical safety and psychological wellbeing, easing their worries and keeping everyone around them safe from COVID-19, too.”

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RESIDENTIAL Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo Founder Joey Concepcion applauds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for granting the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin.

“Covaxin is a very promising vaccine with an efficacy rate of 81%. It has also promised an early arrival this coming May and June which many companies are really wanting for them to inoculate immediately its employees.

As of now, we are expecting a total of 8 million doses of Covaxin for the Philippines,” Concepcion said.

In a tweet, India's Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran said “Delighted that #Covaxin has been granted EUA in the #Philippines. Congratulations @ BharatBiotech! Thank you @FDAPhilippines.”

Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

It is India’s first indigenous vaccine and is vouched by many health professionals and senior politicians from India, who took the vaccine along with their recommendations including His Excellency himself Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Go Negosyo’s “A Dose of Hope” vaccine program is working closely with many vaccine manufacturers and is supporting AstraZeneca, Moderna, Novavax, and now Covaxin.

“We are facing a serious situation as the infection levels have dramatically accelerated due to the more transmissible variants. Thus, we need to accelerate the

arrivals of our vaccine purchases. The early arrival of Covaxin will help our immunization program as it would accelerate further our rollout. This will complement the arrival of the rest of the initial batches, from the first and second batch of the AstraZeneca vaccines, that the private sector and LGUs have procured. For AstraZeneca, the first batch is expected to arrive in June while the second batch is expected to arrive in July onwards. We hope we will be able to vaccinate much more of the economic frontliners,” Concepcion stated.

IP Biotech, the exclusive importer and distributor of Covaxin to the Philippines, and Ambica International Corporation, the appointed consolidator, held a series of meetings with Go Negosyo’s partners here in the Philippines. Also, just last month, Concepcion and Go Negosyo held a private sector briefing for Covaxin which was attended by over 1,000 attendees.

A Padma Shri Awardee in 2017, Concepcion assured the country’s support for India and its vaccine and that this partnership will bear fruits—with the Covaxin augmenting the need of the Philippines as it seeks to hasten its vaccination program.

“As we have another vaccine in our hands, we encourage more Filipinos to suit up and take our civic duty of being vaccinated. The vaccine is our only way throughout this pandemic and it is only through our united action that we could achieve herd immunity.

Attaining herd immunity, we can open further the economy and make lives and livelihoods flourish in the process,” Concepcion advocated.

With the recent EUA approval, Go Negosyo will hold a Townhall meeting via Zoom this April 27 to cater to those interested in ordering Covaxin. For companies who would like to join the Townhall meeting, you may contact Coleen Pabua 09154996570, Leisa Navarro 09663993019, or email opae.gov@gmail.com.

CSC offers online accreditation of L and D institutions

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PPLICATION for accreditation of learning and development (L&D) institutions can now be done online.

The Civil Service Commission (CSC), thru CSC Resolution No. 2100220, has amended the accreditation process for L&D institutions with the Civil Service Institute to comply with provisions of Republic Act No. 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act, as well as promote digital or online modes of service delivery amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The said policy covers the accreditation of private and non-government L&D institutions seeking to provide face-to-face and/or online L&D interventions to government agencies in the areas of leadership development, human resource management and organization development, and personal and professional effectiveness.

Accredited Learning and Development Institutions or ALDIs are recognized by the CSC as partners in building the capabilities of civil servants. Training hours earned by civil servants from courses administered

by ALDIs may be credited or considered to satisfy the training requirement in the Qualification Standards, as long as the training acquired is relevant to the position to be filled as certified by the agency’s Human Resource Management Officer.

Under the revised policy, any interested institution may submit its application for accreditation via email to csi@csc.gov.ph or csi.oed@csc.gov.ph through a request letter addressed to the CSI Executive Director, along with the supporting documents.

In lieu of a physical ocular inspection, the applicant institution shall also submit pictures of their office to indicate the existence of a permanent business address; adequate space, facilities, furniture, and equipment to support its operations; adequate number of support and/ or administrative staff; and professional image in terms of orderliness, cleanliness, and overall condition of the space and facilities, furniture, and equipment therein.

A one-time fee of PHP10,000 shall be charged upon submission of complete documents.

The CSI shall have 20 working days upon receipt of a complete submission to process the application for accreditation. It shall evaluate the submitted documents based on the institution’s legitimacy and

compliance to legal and regulatory requirements, financial stability and viability, reputation and expertise, and ethical and professional practice.

Moreover, a three-person Panel of Experts shall evaluate the submitted designs of the programs, courses, and/or services for certification.

Afterwards, CSI shall prepare a comprehensive report indicating the findings and observations, as well as the final recommendation, which will be submitted to the Commission for approval.

To signify approval of the accreditation, the Commission shall issue a Resolution of Accreditation, which indicates the specific titles of the accredited programs, courses, and/or services, and a Certificate of Accreditation. The accreditation shall be valid for three years from the date of issuance of the Resolution of Accreditation, subject to possible suspension or revocation for reasonable causes such as significant decrease in satisfaction rating by participants, discrepancies on the submitted documents and requirements that were discovered upon subsequent validation, or unethical business or unprofessional practices.

Requests for renewal of accreditation may be submitted online within three months before the expiration of the existing accreditation. Application for renewal is free-of-charge.

To date, there are 37 private ALDIs that complement the CSC’s L&D interventions for the bureaucracy. The CSI regularly updates its list of ALDIs, which may be accessed from its website at csi.csc.gov.ph.

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Health&Fitness BusinessMirror

Thursday, April 22, 2021 B7

UP expert weighs in on supposed Covid-19 treatment options

By Rory Visco

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Contributor

s Covid-19 vaccines continue to arrive in the country in trickles, there has been a lot of talk about alternative prevention and treatment options for the virus.

With the way social-media pages have practically become online obituaries, it is not surprising that people are in a hurry to be protected from Covid-19 so as not to become a fatality statistic.

In fact, people will believe anything they read or hear even to the detriment of their own health.

That is why during last week’s “Stop COVID-19 Death” webinar organized by the University of the Philippines, one of the speakers talked about the various treatment options that are being talked about to help combat Covid-19, especially the most controversial ones.

Dr. Joseph Adrian Buensalido, Infectious Diseases Specialist; Chair, Infection Prevention and Control and Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, UPPGH, talked about the facts—and the fiction—on Covid-19 prevention and treatments. “People should first gather the facts, and not be too fast and furious in choosing certain supposed treatments against Covid-19 without being properly guided.”

The options Here are some treatment options that have been the talk of the town in social media:

Ivermectin— It has been approved by the FDA as an anti-parasitic drug that deals with various parasitic conditions and has an anti-inflammatory effect. It is still being subjected to randomized studies around the world because a lot has yet to be discovered, and Ivermectin needs to prove itself more to the scientific and medical worlds. The consensus panel composed of technical reviewers declared that there is still insufficient (with very low quality) evidence for Ivermectin to be considered a treatment option for Covid-19. There are no benefits for Clinical Improvement, including time to symptom resolution or hospital discharge, though it is not seen to cause harm.

Based on the latest evidence from randomized trials, Ivermectin is not recom-

mended as treatment for Covid-19. However, this recommendation will be updated as more evidence is generated from ongoing trials. It is also not advised that Ivermectin be used as prophylaxis (preventive health care) against Covid-19.

Ivermectin is unlike vaccines that undergo phases of clinical trials on small hundreds to several hundreds and then thousands of volunteers. This is done to determine if the vaccines developed are safe and effective, and to know if there are side effects. “Clearly, vaccines have more participants during trials compared to Ivermectin’s preventive capability assessment. Thus, the panel recommends against the use of Ivermectin prophylaxis for the general population, for household contacts of confirmed Covid-19 patients and healthcare workers,” Dr. Buensalido said.

Melatonin— It is used to treat sleep disorders, also for atherosclerosis, respiratory diseases, viral infections, with potent anti-inflammatory capacities. The panel also said there is insufficient (very low quality) evidence to recommend Melatonin as an adjunct treatment (or treatment in addition to the primary treatment) for Covid-19, where it displayed very low benefit for mortality, time to recovery, length of stay or pulmonary involvement.

“Similar to Ivermectin, there are a lot of ongoing studies to help the panel decide if Melatonin can be used in the future.”

In terms of prevention, Melatonin is also not recommended for use.

Zinc and its immune function— Zinc is an essential trace element for growth, development and maintenance of the immune function. “We have seen that high-dose [more than 75 mg] Elemental Zinc is much better in shortening/reducing [around two to three days] of viral URTIs’ [Upper Respiratory Tract Infections, where coronavirus is the number 2 cause] duration during observational studies and not Randomized Control Trials [RCTs], considered the “gold” standard in rating the quality of evidence. However, the panel still thinks there is insufficient evidence to recommend Zinc as adjunct treatment to Covid-19. There is also no direct evidence on Zinc supplements to prevent Covid-19.

Vitamin C and its immune function— Vitamin C is an essential micronutrient, a potent antioxidant, where supplementation of Vitamin C appears to be able to both prevent and treat respiratory and systemic infection. But there is also insufficient (low quality of) evidence to use Vitamin C as adjunct treatment to Covid-19, where the panel also saw that Therapeutic Vitamin C has no significant benefit for Covid-19 in terms of mortality and need for respirator. However, consumption of 8 grams/day of Vitamin C significantly shortens viral URTIs. However, Dr. Buensalido noted that Harri Hemila, one of the most noted nutrient experts in the world, said in his expert opinion, “prophylactic daily dosing

of Vitamin C does not seem worthwhile under normal circumstances.” But since many URTIs are caused by coronaviruses, “there is no reason to assume that Vitamin C would be completely ineffective against Covid-19.”

Lianhua Qingwen—A classic Chinese medical preparation used in the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003 in China, but also not recommended for use against Covid-19 because of very low quality of evidence just like the rest of the prevention and treatment options.

Steam inhalation— Called by others as suob or tuob, a traditional home remedy for treating common colds, it is seen to provide relief by loosening mucus, opening up the nasal passage, reducing mucosal inflammation, inhibiting viral replication by heat inactivation. Expert reviewers also recommended against the use of Steam Inhalation in the treatment of Covid-19, with very low quality of evidence.

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to remind the public that in fighting Covid-19, people should be guided by science and evidence because there is no approved or recommended mode of prevention or treatment yet for Covid-19.

This is why the WHO declared that until there is sufficient evidence, using (selfmedicate) or recommending unproven treatments patients should be avoided or stopped immediately.

LGUs tapped for early Nourishing your inner, outer self should start in your 20s diabetes risk assessment T

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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

side from Covid-19, health experts also warned that diabetes is an emerging pandemic.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that requires medical attention. Patients should not self-medicate and should consult their physicians regarding their condition and treatment.

Dr. Francis Pasaporte, president of Diabetes Philippines, said that one in every 11 adults globally have diabetes.

He added that diabetes is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases.

Diabetes burden

According to Dr. Pasaporte, 80 percent of the diabetes burden is in low- and middle-income countries and that 35 percent of all adults with diabetes is in the Western Pacific Region (WPR).

“The highest number of deaths related to diabetes also occurred in WPR,” Pasaporte said during a virtual launch of ACT NOW for Diabetes.

The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recorded 37,265 deaths in 2020 caused by diabetes mellitus, a number that exceeded the 5-year average of 32,991.

Ranked fifth

The Philippines also ranked fifth among top five countries who have this burden of diabetes (ages 29-79 years old).

As of May 2020, a total of 3,993,300 Filipino adults have been diagnosed with diabetes.

“People with diabetes might develop complications in the heart as well as in the kidney,” Dr. Pasaporte said stressing that such heart and kidney risks develop along the diabetes continuum, thereby highlighting the importance of early prevention.

“We see an important intervention by looking at multiple risk factors of individuals before they develop diabetes because these individuals with multiple risk factors will develop diabetes and will have increased risk of hospitalization for heart failure, chronic disease,” Dr. Pasaporte warned.

ACT NOW

With this, the local government units (LGUs) across the Philippines are urged to do their part to help curb the increasing mortality and morbidity rates of diabetes in the country through early risk assessment in partner health centers.

In a panel discussion hosted by AstraZeneca Philippines, Diabetes Philippines, Philippine Association of Diabetes Educators (PADE), Association of Diabetes Nurse Educators of the Philippines (ADNEP), and LGUs, a pathway was introduced to address the increasing mortality and morbidity rates of diabetes mellitus.

A joint effort between the private and public sector, ACT NOW for Diabetes, according to Dr. Alberto Pam-

plona, Medical Affairs Manager of AstraZeneca, stands for “Addressing Complications Today through Network of Warriors for Diabetes is a holistic approach to diabetic patient wellness.” The program aims to promote early recognition of diabetic patients at risk for developing cardiovascular or kidney complications and to prevent them.

So far, 12 LGUs across the country have initially pledged their support to ACT NOW for Diabetes on its pilot run by distributing risk screening forms in accredited health centers within the locality.

LGUs that have committed to the program include Bacolod City, Caloocan City, Davao City, Iloilo City, Makati City, Manila City, Marikina City, Ormoc City, Pasig City, Quezon City, Taguig City, and Valenzuela City.

Holistic approach

AstraZeneca Philippines Country President Lotis Ramin says, “With ACT NOW, we aim to emphasize the importance of collective action, a shared effort between health-care stakeholders and decision-makers to better manage the increasing morbidity and mortality from diabetes in the country.”

“Our holistic approach is designed to provide diabetic patients access to earlier diagnosis and effective disease management, to help reduce the risk of heart and kidney complications. We look forward to partnering with more LGUs and the medical community across the country to encourage optimal diabetes care,” Ramin said.

As the program expands to onboard more LGU partners, more Filipinos will have access to early identification of risk factors on the heart and kidney complications from diabetes.

Diabetes Philippines shall provide continuing medical education for health-care practitioners on the importance of early risk identification and proper interventions to prevent these complications.

Multilateral partnership

The multilateral partnership against Diabetes shall alleviate disease burden, mortality, and health-care expenditure in the Philippines.

In parallel, the PADE and ADNEP will also conduct lay lectures and patient education on diabetes care and early prevention.

“Managing the interconnectedness of diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases is a triple threat that needs to be discussed prevalently. We hope to empower both patients and the general public [especially those with family history] on diabetes care and ways to prevent it,” shares Leyden Florido R.N, president of PADE. For her part, Eleonor Tangkeko, RN, PhD., president of ADNEP said, “By Acting now, we continue to help promote quality education for persons with diabetes and those at risk.

“At the same time, we are able to equip our professional nurses, nursing graduates and students with the knowledge, skills and values needed for diabetes awareness and management,” she added.

hey say that the eyes are the windows to the soul.

When it comes to nutrition, many believe that what our bodies appear or look like from the outside is a reflection of what we are inside.

Generally, it is said that “inner health” or nutrition refers to the nutrition needed by the body, while outside nutrition is about the nutrition needed by the skin.

That is, essentially, the general rule. However, our nutritional needs also vary as we age. What worked for us during our 20s may not work anymore when we are in our 30s or 40s. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn how to address our individual inner and outer nutritional needs as we age.

Luckily, this month’s Herbalife Nutrition E-Wellness Tour featured Susan Bowerman, Senior Director, Worldwide Nutrition, Education and Training of Herbalife Nutrition, and Laura Chacon-Garbato, Director of Worldwide Nutrition Education and Traning, Chairwoman of the Outer Nutrition Advisory Board of Herbalife Nutrition.

In a webinar organized by Herbalife, both Bowerman and Chacon-Garbato shared how our eating habits and lifestyle choices can affect our body and skin.

The Herbalife Nutrition E-Wellness Tour is a monthly event presented by Herbalife Nutrition Philippines that aims to impart nutrition education to the public through a forum with health and nutrition experts.

The time to start practicing healthy habits is during their 20s. While it may be challenging because of lifestyle changes as we begin to socialize and eat out more, it is important to note that our eating habits at this age—and the changes it brings—may affect our health in later years.

According to Bowerman, it is at this age that one should start consuming more calcium and iron.

“In your 20s, you still have the ability to put down some bone mass. You continue to accumulate bone mass until your mid to late 20s, so getting enough calcium at this time is critically important. Iron is also important, especially for women,” Bowerman said.

She also advised against crash dieting and noted that those who consume alcohol because of certain lifestyle habits should watch their alcohol calorie intake.

Garbato, meanwhile, averred that for those in their 20s, prevention is important when it comes to the skin’s health. “When you’re younger, you tend to indulge a lot more. We need to remember that diet can impact the way the skin looks. There are also hormonal changes happening in the body so there’s an excess production of oil. It’s an adjustment period for a lot of people, and lifestyle habits can really impact the way the skin looks,” Garbato said.

She advised establishing good self-care habits while avoiding those that can negatively affect the skin.

Our nutrition timeline

30s: Eat healthy food and exercise

During the event, Bowerman and Garbato discussed the challenges that people face in different age brackets. In a perfect conversational setup, the two offered solutions on how to best address people’s inner and outer nutrition needs—and how these change over time.

“When we talk about nutrition from the inside, we talk about how diet impacts every part of your body, every organ and every cell. Everything you eat also ends up on your skin. This is why we wanted to have this inside-out approach and talk about it from both angles because you can’t have one without the other,” Bowerman said.

20s: Establish healthy habits

People in their 30s mostly juggle between their career and family life, especially since most are in a rush, they have less time to prepare balanced meals and exercise.

This results in them putting on excess weight, which they cannot take off quickly as they did when they were in high school or college.

For people in their 30s to stay healthy, Bowerman recommended that they should eat regular meals and snacks. Getting organized and stocking up on nutritious staples in their homes and setting aside time for exercise will also help.

As for the skin, it is in this age bracket where people

start seeing the first signs of aging as their hormone levels start to decrease. Stress, changes in nutrition, and lack of sleep can also have adverse effects on the skin.

This is why, Garbato said, people should be more mindful of their self-care routine. “In our 30s, we should make sure that we’re masking, exfoliating, hydrating, and using that eye cream,” Garbato pointed out.

40s: Re-enforce and maintain healthy habits

Bowerman gave this stern warning: “If you don’t challenge your body or change your routine at all, your body doesn’t really continue to grow or develop because it becomes used to that same routine all the time.”

She added that at this age, people should watch their caloric intake, like how much they take in and how much they expend. It is also important that they pay more attention to their muscle mass.

When it comes to the skin, Garbato said that in the 40s, fine lines, dryness, sunspots, and loss of firmness start to appear. To counter these, Garbato said people should re-evaluate their diet and spend more time to exercise.

50s: Be diligent and sustain the momentum

As their muscle mass start to decline and calorie requirements drop, people in their 50s should control stress eating, especially for those who spend too much time working. They should also eat more nutrient-dense foods and get plenty of calcium. As with any age, having a daily skincare regimen must be prioritized and moisturizing day and night is crucial.

In closing, Bowerman and Garbato shared this piece of advice to staying healthy at any age.

“Try to eat a fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack. If you can do that, you do a world of good in nutrition. It’s an easy to rule to live by,” Bowerman said.

For Garbato, it is all about consistency. “Make sure that you are consistent with your self-care. Consistency is going to help you get through the different stages of your life and it’s going to help you age gracefully,” she said. Rory Visco

Comm&Sense bags top prize in Quill Awards Communications Research category

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ublic Relations and Content Marketing agency Comm&Sense bagged the top prize in the Communications Research division in the Philippine Quill Awards for its collaboration with leading health maintenance organization (HMO) PhilCare.

The agency was also named first runner-up Agency of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators—Philippines. This was Comm&Sense’s AOY nomination for the second year in a row.

Comm&Sense collaborated with PhilCare for its CQ Wellness Index. Rolled out during the imposition of the first enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March 2020, the PhilCare CQ Wellness Index looked into the actual state of the well-being of Filipinos amid the lockdown stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. The study also examined how various sectors of society across the country responded to the effects of the lockdowns and the pandemic as a whole.

The PhilCare CQ Wellness Index was also nominated

for the top award in Covid Communications, a special division in this year’s Quills dedicated to business communication efforts in response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the study’s publicity effort also won a Quill award of merit under the Communications Management division.

Apart from the two collaborations for the PhilCare CQ Wellness Index, Comm&Sense and its affiliates received 13 awards for its collaborations with clients in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), financial, and healthcare industries. All in all, the agency received six Quill awards of excellence and nine Quills of merit.

A full-service digital PR agency established in 2005, Comm&Sense has since then always believed and practiced #IntelligentPR, which is rooted in data, whether from clients or from research. Data and actionable insights are crucial in each communication plan the agency makes for campaigns to have impact on their respective target audiences.

The data-driven content is then followed by creative execution and smart amplification. Together, the three elements are what clients need to build credibility with their respective customers.

“It’s an honor to be receiving these achievements from the Philippine Quills with most of the efforts done as we celebrated our 15th anniversary in 2020.

But while we are happy with these awards, we are more fulfilled with the validations of our data-driven communications strategy from peers in the communications business,” said Comm&Sense founder and president Jaeger L. Tanco.

“Truthful and relevant data have always been at the center of any intelligent decision-making, especially amidst the pandemic. Together with our partners, we look forward to providing more insights that impact individuals, businesses, and society, as we rise from this crisis,” said Comm&Sense director Eusebio H. Tanco.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Thursday, April 22, 2021 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Plans, test events change daily for postponed Tokyo Olympics

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OKYO—Each day seems to bring another change to the Tokyo Olympics as surging coronavirus cases in Japan threaten planning for the games, which are to open in just over three months.

A leg of the torch relay on Wednesday was moved off the public streets in Matsuyama City in the Japanese prefecture of Ehime. It was to take place in a city park with “no spectators or stage performances,” an organizing committee statement said.

This followed the torch being detoured last week in Osaka—Japan’s second largest metropolitan area—and run only in a city park.

Some legs of the relay will also being taken off the public streets on May 1 and 2 on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa.

The torch relay will feature a total of 10,000 runners crisscrossing Japan until it

TOKYO Olympics Organizing Committee President Seiko Hashimoto delivers an opening remark during a multi-party meeting with the athletes’ committee on Tuesday. AP arrives on July 23 at the opening ceremony in Tokyo. The relay began on March 25 in northeastern Japan and, though it has run with few incidents, organizers have cautioned that it may need to be rerouted as conditions change.

Osaka and Tokyo were expected to come under new emergency orders this week.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said Tuesday that measures needed to be taken “as soon as possible” to stem the spread.

Japan has attributed more than 9,600 deaths to Covid-19, good by global standards but poor by standards in Asia.

“If the coronavirus infection keeps getting worse, it’s no time to be holding the Olympics,” Kotaro Nagasaki, the governor of Yamanashi prefecture, said this week. Yamanashi is located just southwest of Tokyo and the home of famous Mount Fuji. AP

EUMIR MISSES HOME

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By Josef Ramos

UMIR FELIX MARCIAL hit the beach in Ternate a day after arriving from Los Angeles and shaking off jet lag while under quarantine on Wednesday.

Signs that the gold medal prospect at the postponed Tokyo Olympics missed home.

“After my quarantine time here, I will fly immediately to Zamboanga to see my parents and visit my brother’s grave,” Marcial told BusinessMirror as he dried himself from sea water, a luxury he didn’t have during his six-month training at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles.

“It’s more than a year that I haven’t been there,” added Marcial, who never got to visit home because of travel restrictions in pandemic 2020.

Marcial and International Boxing Federation super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas flew in via Philippine Airlines unannounced on Tuesday. They headed straight to the Philippine Marine Base in Cavite where they—along with trainer and manager Joven Jimenez and sparring partner Jonas Sultan— will be quarantined for six days.

The four, who completed two doses

of Pfizer anti-Covid-19 shots in Las Vegas, were very thankful to the Philippine Navy for accommodating them at the Ternate facility. Marcial is also in the military holding the rank of Airman First Class in the Air Force.

Marcial, 25, couldn’t attend the wake of his eldest brother, Eliver, 39, who died of stroke last October, a few days after his arrival in the US to jumpstart his pro career and train under Roach for Tokyo.

He also clarified that his 71-year-old father Eulalio is not sick.

“I missed Tatay and Nanay [Carmelita], that’s why I decided to come home,” he said. “And of course, my girlfriend [Princess Jenniel Cabradilla Galarpe].”

Marcial said that he has gotten in touch with the Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) and sought for a coach to monitor his training.

“We’ll set up a training camp in Zamboanga [Barangay Lunzuran] and hopefully one of my coaches at ABAP could join me,” he said.

Marcial said that there are no plans yet for him returning to the Wild Card Gym although he dismissed the possibility of him joining his national teammates— especially fellow

Olympic qualifiers Irish Magno, Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam—in the training camp in Thailand.

“So far there’s no decision yet if we’ll go back to the US. But all my hard work, what I learned from there won’t go to waste,” said Marcial, who thanked Senator Manny Pacquiao, Premier Boxing Champions, Sean Gibbons and Roach for treating him well in the US. “They provided me everything,” he said.

Marcial also stressed his desire to participate in the Asian Elite Men and Women Boxing Championships set from May 21 to 31 in New Delhi despite the alarming race of Covid-19 infection in India.

“If I have to spend on my own to fight in New Delhi, I will,” he said. “That tournament is very important for my Olympic preparations. I only fought once the last year, while my potential opponents in Tokyo have fought at least four times already.”

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) declined to fund the national team’s stint in New Delhi because of the enourmous infections India has been recording every day. Instead, the PSC agreed to extend its assistance to the team’s training camp in Thailand.

Marcial fought as a pro last December 16 in Los Angeles, beating American Andrew Whitfield in a four-rounder via unanimous decision.

THAT’S your Tokyo Olympics gold medal prospect enjoying the sea and the sand in Ternate on Wednesday. COURTESY Princess Jenniel Cabradilla Galarpe

PNVF holds national team tryouts in Subic

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HE Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) will hold a three-day national team tryouts in a bubble environment later this month in Subic, according to PNVF President Ramon “Tats” Suzara.

Tryouts for the men’s and women’s volleyball teams are set on April 28 and 29 at the Subic Gym, while those for the men’s and women’s beach volleyball squads are scheduled on April 30 at the Subic Tennis Courts.

Suzara said invitations were given to 40 women and 40 men for indoor volleyball tryouts, while 20 women and 20 men were given the call

for beach volleyball.

“The PNVF is currently prioritizing its elite/ high-performance initiatives through the National Team Commission,” Suzara said. “The national team will be focusing on the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi in December.”

The athletes, coaches, organizers and officials involved will undergo RT-PCR tests 48 hours before the tryouts with a guaranteed turnaround time of 24 hours.

Suzara and PNVF Secretary General Donaldo Caringal and Medical Commission head Dr. Jose Raul

Canlas met with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority officials and Philippine Red Cross officers at the Subic Gym on Monday to finalize health and safety protocols.

“These tryouts are needed in order for the athletes to be at their optimal condition prior to key competition events this year,” Suzara said.

National coaches Arthur “Odjie” Mamon (volleyball women), Dante Alinsunurin (volleyball men), Paul Jan Doloiras (beach volleyball women) and Rhovyl Verayo (beach volleyball men) will supervise the tryouts.

Mandaue survives Dumaguete

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CS Computer SpecialistMandaue City finished the first round on a winning note at resilient Dumaguete City’s expense, 79-73, in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Visayas leg on Wednesday at the Civic Center Alcantara, Cebu.

Veteran guard Gryann Mendoza and young forward Dyll Roncal provided the finishing kick for Mandaue City which wound up with a 4-1 won-lost card in the eliminations—good for second place behind unbeaten MJAS Zenith-Talisay City (5-0).

The Warriors roared back from a 52-65

third-quarter deficit and grabbed the lead, 6867, behind a sizzling 16-2 run anchored on the frenetic play of jitterbug guard Jaybie Mantilla.

The score changed hands after that until Mendoza split his charities to give Mandaue City a 72-71 lead with a minue and 18 seconds left.

Dumaguete City tried to regain the lead on the next play but Mark Doligon missed a layup and Mandaue City quickly took advantage as Roncal scored in transition to put them up at 74-71. Mantilla then missed a potential game-tying triple and Mendoza put the game away on the next play with

Tribute up for women in hoops

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HE Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) will pay tribute to the players, coaches and officials who made a valuable contribution to women’s basketball in the Philippines through its “Legends Circle.”

The league already shortlisted eight nominees for the first batch of inductees which will be finalized upon evaluation by the Honors Committee chaired by WNBL ambassador Kiefer Ravena.

The first batch will formally be enshrined

to the Legends Circle in the opening ceremony of the inaugural season of the league as a professional this year.

“This is our way to honor the legends whose passion paved the way for the younger generation to pursue the sport we all love,” said WNBL executive vice president Rhose Montreal following a meeting with the executive committee on Tuesday.

The competition committee led by vice president of basketball operations Edward

Life after Kobe Tessa Jazmines |

tessa4347@gmail.com

PART OF THE GAME KOBE PARAS has left the lush campus of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman to seek greener pastures, so to speak.

East West Private—the agency that has cornered young promising talents with easternwestern roots and has also helped place and push notable National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Stars and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) standouts in various advantageous opportunities, and organized big basketball events as well—has invited the UP Fighting Maroon to join its stable, and he has accepted.

Two years ago, the younger secondgeneration Paras had brought a lot of excitement and promise to the Fighting Maroons community, helping to bring Maroon Mania to heights never reached before. He averaged 17.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, wowed the crowd with his fearless forays into the shaded area, most of the time with great success.

In just one season (2019) he had become part of the Mythical Five of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). He was a certified collegiate superstar. But as for the Big Dream of winning a championship for UP, last won 35 years ago by the team his Dad Benjie had played in, that didn’t come in Season 82. Perhaps the following year?

But then, Covid-19 struck. Not only has it derailed two regular seasons of UAAP action. It has kept a lot of athletes’ and teams’ futures in limbo.

For most athletes, there’s no other way but to sleep through limbo. For a few lucky ones, there are other options. Kobe is one of them. Now he is gone.

If there is anyone who should be shocked or affected most by Kobe’s departure, it would have to be UP men’s basketball team (UPMBT) head

coach Bo Perasol, right?

But in true Bo Perasol fashion—calm and cool as a cucumber—Coach Bo had only good things to say about Kobe’s Decision. “He is too talented to be kept waiting,” he told Tiebreaker Times. On the official Twitter account of the UPMBT, he said : “It’s not every season that one gets to convince a talent like Kobe to be part of a growing program like the UPMBT. He took a chance on us and played his heart out.”

“There are two ways to look at Kobe’s departure,” the former UP Fighting Maroonturned-coach told us a day later. “The impact on the team would be, first: we are going to lose our primary source of scoring and (an) offense creator, one of our best last lines of defense, and one of the leaders of our team. However, as a second thought, it could also be a great opportunity for our young batch of players to create their own team character and culture to carry on for the next three to five years.”

Bo, who always sees the proverbial silver lining, was referring, of course, to the new talent acquisitions of the Fighting Maroons during—or in spite of—the pandemic: CJ Cansino from the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, Carl Tamayo and Gerry Abadiano from the National University Bullpups, Miguel Tan from Xavier School, Alonso Tan and Anton Eusebio from Canada and Youth Gilas cadet RC Calimag, among others. The Fighting Maroons Family at the moment also includes AJ Madrigal, Bright Akhuetie, Brix Ramos, CJ Catapusan, James Spencer, JC Cabahug, Jboy Gob, Javi Gomez De Liaño, Javi Gomez De Liaño, Lorenzo Battad, Malick Diouf, Mai Cagulangan, Matt Santiago, Noah Webb, Polo Labao and Ricci Rivero.

SOTTO

Kai to play ball ‘Down Under’

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EVEN-FOOT-THREE Zachary “Kai” Sotto is moving “Down Under” by signing a multiyear deal with the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League (NBL) in August in Australia, his agent Joel Bell said an online news conference organized by Smart on Wednesday.

But Sotto guaranteed that he would be available for the national team which play in the last window of the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia Cup qualifiers from June 16 to 20 in Clark and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, from June 29 to July 4.

“Playing for the national team is the top goal of any player or athlete in his country. And I’m just excited for what’s ahead,” said Sotto, who was also named brand ambassador of PLDTSmart Prepaid.

“I am very excited to play also in a different competition, different style of play, different country [United States and Australia],” added Sotto, who is presently in Miami, Florida, with his parents.

Bell said they have reached an agreement with the 36ers to help Sotto’s development and possible entry into the 2022 National Basketball Association Rookie Draft.

“It was kind of a surprise to our people when I talked to several teams, and they weren’t going to draft him. So that’s off the table. So, we decided to look for other opportunities for him,” Bell said.

Sotto will return to the Philippines to rejoin Gilas in training soon.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Al Panlilio and Gilas Pilipinas program head Tab Baldwin also joined the virtual news conference.

The 36ers were in the seventh place last season. He will be coached there by Henry Conner. Josef Ramos

a cold-blooded triple for a 77-71 Mandaue City cushion with 28 seconds to go.

But Mandaue City Head Coach Mike Reyes was disappointed as his team struggled to close out Dumaguete.

“Maybe we are tired from last night’s game but that’s not an excuse to let go of a 17-point lead,” Reyes rued. “We can’t let this happen especially in the second round.”

Mendoza continued his string of great performances, this time piling up 20 points and 10 rebounds. Rhaffy Octobre added 13 points, nine boards, and three assists for Mandaue City, while Roncal contributed 11.

Mantilla led the Warriors (1-4) with 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Doligon and Ronald Roy had 13 points apiece.

Aquino and vice chaired by commissioner Haydee Ong, meanwhile, is finalizing the tournament rules and guidelines this week to be approved by the executive committee.

The executive committee was recently formed in which players were included as members. They are Allana Lim, Angeli Gloriani, Raiza Palmera-Dy, Marichu Bacaro, Fille Cainglet, Adrienne Lualhati, Ays Hufanda, Krizanne Ty, Karla Manuel and Carol Sangalang.

Ty, who is the safeguarding committee chairman, will present the proposed safeguarding policies of the league on and off the court.

Details of the WNBL 1v1 tournament will also be announced this weekend.

It’s a whole new playing field, Bo acknowledges. Covid has changed the rules of the game and made life more challenging and frustrating for everyone. “I’m really not sure about the resumption of college sports this year. Our hope though of finally ending our championship drought doesn’t wane for a moment. We are all locked-in in that quest.”

The team still trains regularly to a certain extent and stays connected, Bo reveals. “We were able to create group workouts as allowed by the IATF with our strength-and-conditioning and skills coaches before we experienced the second wave. Players who are out of the country or are in provinces have their own individual workouts too.”

The team is tight despite the irregularity in schedules. “The best venue for their sense of being a unit at this time is the virtual classroom,” he explained. “Most of them are classmates in most subjects so they collaborate among themselves in submitting requirements or just by simply passing the class. Those who are in Metro Manila have regular workouts together too.”

The coaching staff is pretty tight as well, according to Bo. “We’re tighter than ever, perhaps even more so than before the pandemic happened. We got to play golf once a week when it was finally allowed. Ricci Rivero, who now also plays golf, gets to join us when his schedule lets him. He has committed to play for the next season, whenever that may be.”

Kobe’s absence, definitely will be missed in the Fighting Maroons locker room. He had made good friends in this company and had been both a spiritual leader at times and a lovable, fun guy at others.

But Bo would rather look at Kobe as a gift rather than a loss. “I’ve always said this to Kobe. God has gifted you with so much in life: superb athletic ability, innate intelligence, good looks, and the fierce hunger to succeed. These are all meant to be shared with others. Your gift to Him is to hone all of these with His guidance, not just for your own self, but to make His light shine through you.”

“We’re just so happy we were part of Kobe’s journey,” Bo concluded. “We thank him and we wish him the best.”