BusinessMirror April 27, 2020

BIR, BOC collections 40% short of goal

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

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HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) missed their combined P1.073-trillion target as of April 17, falling short by 40 percent or P431.45 billion as government revenues dropped further while the entire Luzon was placed under lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Preliminary data from January to April 17 submitted to the Department of Finance (DOF) showed total collection of both BIR and BOC at P641.62 billion, plummeting by 26.3 percent or P229.56 billion from P871.19 billion collected in the same period last year.

As of mid-April this year, BIR—which accounts for 78 percent of the state-tax collection capacity—only collected P480.64 billion, slipping by P398.54 billion or 45.3 percent of its P879.18-billion target for the period.

Moreover, BIR’s actual collection as of midApril this year is also 32 percent below or P226.15 billion lower than last year’s P706.79 billion due to the extension of deadlines for the filing and payment of income and other taxes.

AN express lane for patients is set up at the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center in Marikina City. For medical frontliners battling the spread of Covid-19, the government has launched the no-contact Rapid Pass system for faster checkpoint inspections. NONOY LACZA

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In terms of total excise tax collections across all categories, BIR also failed to hit its P161.84billion target for the January to April 15 period as actual payments only amounted to P76.47 billion or 47.25 percent of the collection goal.

Its actual excise tax collection for the period also dropped by 33 percent this year compared to P114.23 billion in 2019.

The BIR suffered huge losses from excise tax collections across all product categories, with tobacco and alcohol—consistent large excise tax collection drawers—recording significant declines.

Excise tax collections from tobacco reached only P33.19 billion as of mid-April, dropping by 42.5 percent from last year’s P57.75-billion collection.

On the other hand, excise tax collection from alcohol products for the same period amounted to only P17.85 billion, a 26-percent dip from P24.09 billion in 2019.

Meanwhile, BOC’s actual collections for January to April 15 this year fell to P160.98 billion, which is P32.91 billion or 17 percent short of the P193.89-billion target for the period. From P164.4 billion collected by the bureau in the

same period last year, BOC’s actual collection this year was down by 2.08 percent or P3.42 billion.

April 1 to 15

FOR April 1 to 15, the combined BOC and BIR collections dived to P40.57 billion, posting a wide revenue gap of P275.37 billion from the P315.95billion target for the period.

For the first half of April, the total collection of both agencies plunged by 84.42 percent year-on-year. BIR and BOC’s combined collection for the period was P219.88 billion lower than last year’s P260.45 billion.

DOF said the BIR reported “even more discouraging” figures for the April 1 to 17 period, with collections reaching only P25.01 billion or just 8.66 percent of its P288.75 billion target for the entire month.

The amount collected for the April 1 to 17 period is still 89.5 percent short of the April 2019 collection of P237.93 billion.

For its part, the BOC collected P15.57 billion from April 1 to 15. This is lower by 42.76 percent or P11.63 billion compared to the P27.2-

billion target for the period. It also slid by 30.89 percent or P6.96 billion compared to P22.53 billion collected in the same period last year.

Despite the significant decline in both bureaus’ revenue collections, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III earlier assured the public that the country remains “financially able” to meet the unexpected challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Owing to government’s “conservative fiscal policies,” Dominguez said the government managed to roll out a four-pillar socioeconomic strategy to defeat Covid-19. With a combined value of P1.49 trillion or around 8 percent of the country’s GDP, the strategy involves budgetary, fiscal and monetary measures.

The components of the four-pillar strategy are: the emergency support for poor and low-income households, small businesses and their employees, and other vulnerable groups; the marshalling of medical resources to combat Covid-19 and ensure the safety of health frontliners; fiscal and monetary actions to finance emergency initiatives and keep the economy afloat; and an economic recovery plan to create jobs and sustain growth.

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ROYAL Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship, Asia’s largest, is seen at Manila Bay on Sunday, April 26, 2020.

Nine cruise ships began arriving in Manila on April 22, with some 4,000 Filipino crew members onboard—among the thousands of cruise-ship employees affected when the Covid-induced lockdowns in dozens of countries left their vessels float at sea, unable to get berthing rights from governments fearing the contagion (Story on A2). NONIE REYES

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By Elijah Felice Rosales

HE cancellation of trade fairs in the first half of the year cost the Philippines nearly P3 billion in export sales, and this is expected to shoot up should organizers decide to call off events for the second half, a likely possibility if the coronavirus pandemic worsens.

Data obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that exporters lost at least P2.91 billion worth of sales from the suspension of local and overseas trade shows in the first and second quarters. For the period, no less than eight events here and abroad were either deferred or canceled, as states try to contain the spread of Covid-19 within their respective jurisdictions.

The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem), the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), reported that it postponed CREATE Philippines and the maiden run of the Sustainability Solutions Expo (SSX).

Further, five overseas trade fairs, namely, South by Southwest and Summer Food Show in the United States, International Food and Beverage Exhibition in Japan, Fuorisalone in Italy and the Taipei International Food Show in Tai-

wan, were called off by organizers.

The deferral of CREATE Philippines and the SSX and the cancellation of the five events abroad are estimated to result in $55.9 million—around P2.83 billion— in sales losses for exporters, the Citem said in an e-mail to the BusinessMirror.

Likewise, the postponed National Food Fair, originally slated from March 12 to 15, had a projected sales of P83 million. Some 268 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from 16 regions were supposed to participate in the event to sell their products.

According to the DTI’s Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion, if the ban on mass gatherings will be retained for the whole of 2020, then it will be left with no choice but to call off as well the National Trade Fair (NTF) in October.

Last year the NTF generated P86 million in sales for the 285

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.8350

MSMEs that exhibited their goods in the annual trade show. The NTF this year was projected—before the pandemic broke—to tally better.

Trade Undersecretary Abdulgani M. Macatoman said the events were moved to a later date to ensure the safety and security of participants, as the Philippines struggles to curb its Covid-19 cases that now number over 7,000, one of the highest in Southeast Asia.

“2020 was set to be a big year for Citem, especially with the launch of SSX, the country’s first international sustainability trade show. However, we opted to postpone these signature events, along with CREATE Philippines, to prioritize the health and well-being of our stakeholders,” he explained.

The missed sales in trade fairs will rise further if the Citem projects for the second half, such as the Manila FAME, are canceled, along with overseas events that generate multimillion-dollar orders for MSMEs.

Trade shows awaiting developments on the pandemic are: PHX Tokyo; Malaysia International Halal Showcase; Interior Lifestyle China; China-Asean Expo; Maison & Objet, Premiere Classe and SIAL in Paris; and the China International Import Expo (CIIE). Their organizers were forced to take a wait-and-see mode on uncertainties caused by the health crisis.

Many of these trade fairs provide significant amount of sales for MSMEs. The CIIE, the first dedicated import expo in the world and one of China’s largest events, saw the Philippines double its sales last year to $300 million, from $124

million in 2018.

Estimates by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, showed the cancellation of trade shows worldwide in the first half will result in economic losses of €134.2 billion, roughly $144.9 billion. This figure is seen to go up with the rescheduling of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the anticipated postponement of the Expo 2020 Dubai.

In response, the DTI is eyeing to put up a digital platform for the country’s export products to make up for lost promotional opportunities in the canceled events.

For home and lifestyle items, the DTI is looking to create an online marketplace where frequent visitors of the Manila FAME can go to to find design products. An information-driven platform, on the other hand, is on the DTI’s pipeline to serve as marketing tool and promotional database for the country’s food and beverage exporters.

Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr., president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., favors pushing through with the local trade fairs set in the second half, to provide the export sector opportunities to make up for losses incurred in the first half.

However, with the extension of the lockdown in many areas of the Philippines, including Metro Manila, he said exporters will continue to produce at lower volumes due to the unavailability of workers and the disruption in flow of goods. To this, Ortiz-Luis posed a question: “If the trade shows push through, what will be there to exhibit?”

POST-ECQ STIMULUS PLAN TO NEED P1.2T; INFRA CUTS NIXED

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By Butch Fernandez & Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

HE stimulus package needed to prime an economy gutted by the prolonged lockdowns forced by the battle to stop the deadly coronavirus disease (Covid-19) will require from P1 trillion to P1.2 trillion, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian estimated over the weekend.

Gatchalian said the Senate is set to frontload passage of remedial legislation to prime the economy in the wake of the crippling effects of the enhanced community quarantine that shut down business activities and may cost the economy some P950 billion by May 15, the end of the third ECQ period ordered by President Duterte.

The President in mid-March imposed a community quarantine, but upgraded this to an ECQ, imposed over Luzon, to run from March 17 to April 14, or the end of Holy Week.

However, on advice of health experts and epidemiologists who presented models of how a premature lifting could cause transmission to accelerate anew and swamp the health system, Duterte extended the ECQ to April 30. Last Friday, he announced a second extension until May 15 for Metro Manila and other areas tagged high-risk in central and southern Luzon.

In an interview with DWIZ, Gatchalian cited the tourism industry among other sectors reeling from the Covid-induced lockdowns.

The airline industry is also barely operating amid lockdowns not just in the Philippines but in many other destinations struggling to contain the virus.

“Tourism-related establishments may not likely open soon for lack of tourists. As for small and medium enterprises, some of my franchisee friends who sell food [tell me that] if the small enterprises cannot open soon, they’ll go under,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Gatchalian stressed this was why it is important for the Senate to tackle a “stimulus program” to assist the business sector, particularly small businesses, warning that “job losses would lead to bigger problems.”

He agrees with suggestions that the focus of Congress upon resumption of session on May 4 is to address the funding required for such a stimulus package, reported to initially range, per various estimates, from a trillion pesos to around P1.4 trillion.

“I estimate we’ll need P1 trillion to about P1.2 trillion. Per our calculations, the economy lost at least P800 billion and this could rise to around P900 billion to 950 billion by the end of May 15,” he added.

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4719 n UK 62.7050 n HK 6.5594 n CHINA 7.1767 n SINGAPORE 35.6212 n AUSTRALIA 32.1277 n EU 55.0238 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5110

Source: BSP (April 23, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, April 27, 2020

OFW COVID DEATHS HIT 185; 4K SEAFARERS AT MANILA BAY

By Recto L. Mercene

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HERE are now 44 countries where overseas Filipinos (OF) have been reported to have contracted Covid-19, with three new recoveries, and one new death, bringing the total number of OF deaths to 185.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said a total of 1,343 OF have been infected, of whom 827 are undergoing treatment, while 331 have recovered.

Meanwhile, the DFA reported the government had brought home more than 20,000 overseas Filipinos displaced amid the Covid pandemic, with hundreds more being repatriated daily.

At presstime, some 4,000 Filipino seafarers remained onboard eight big cruise ships anchored off Manila Bay. The DFA maintained on Saturday that Filipino seafarers who returned to the Philippines aboard their ship after sailing for months or several weeks—and without contracting the coronavirus—should be allowed to disembark and go home to their respective provinces.

“Those seafarers aboard cruise ships that have been quarantined and have not been infected with Covid, either passenger or crew, that could be their 14-day quarantine at sea; so that when they arrive here, they can go to their respective provinces or homes,” DFA Undersecretary Brigido “Dodo” Dulay explained in Filipino.

“Apparently, it was the understanding at the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) that if the crew had undergone 14 days at sea on their way back and no cases of Covid were ever reported onboard, then they should be allowed off. There may have been confusion in implementation but they should sort it out,” he added.

Eight cruise ships with an estimated 4,000 OFW crew members arrived in Manila Bay last April 22.

“There are 8 Covid-19 free cruise ships in Manila Bay with Filipino crews,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. tweeted, adding, “we have vessels rotting in Manila Bay because of that distortion.”

The distortion Locsin was referring to seems to have been the resolution adopted by the IATF allowing the seamen to come ashore since they have already been quarantined at sea during their long voyages.

However, it appears that the resolution was not followed to the letter.

“We at IATF unanimously adopted the 3-point resolution addressing this situation—although a halfwit reduced it to one paragraph which explains why the BI [Bureau of Immigration] is confused,” he tweeted.

“I will bring up the distorted and truncated statement of the resolution adopted by the IATF unanimously regarding the Green Lane and the adoption of the sea voyages as compliance with the 14-

day quarantine,” said the DFA chief on Friday.

Dulay said it had been agreed upon by IATF members that all overseas Filipinos, either landbased or sea-based, should undergo a 14-day quarantine. However, he added, the Department of Health (DOH), a member of the IATF, had laid out a protocol, agreeing that the seafarers’ 14-day quarantine aboard their ships is enough reason for exemption.

However, other land-based OFWs should be brought to a quarantine facility.

The first flotilla of eight cruise ships dropped anchor in succession off Manila Bay on April 22, followed by Asia’s largest cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas, that arrived on April 23.

Two more cruise liners, P&O Australia and a Carnival ship, are steaming toward Manila Bay from Bali, Indonesia, and are expected to arrive here this coming week, according to recruitment consultant Manny Geslani.

The BusinessMirror asked Dana Sandoval, Bureau of Immigration spokesman, the exact number of seafarers aboard the nine ships. She said there is “ongoing inspection by the Bureau of Quarantine and the BI could not interfere while this is going on.”

Meanwhile, returning OFWs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport will undergo testing in a one-stop shop established at the premier airport starting April 23.

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Taiwan awaiting 4K PHL workers in May

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T least 4,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to be deployed to Taiwan after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila is lifted by next month.

In a press statement, Philippine Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan (Pilmat) President Aida Gerodias said the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco) is set to resume after May 16, 2020, the visa processing for the OFWs, who were stranded because of the travel restrictions imposed by many countries worldwide because of the novel

coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

Gerodias said Taiwan, among the least affected by Covid-19 due to its strict health protocols, is now in demand of more migrant workers as it eyes to resume full operations of the manufacturing sector.

Taiwan currently suffers a labor shortage due to the travel restrictions on its top sources of for-

eign workers like the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

It is trying to address its manpower woes by extending by three months those with expiring contracts and those who have finished the allowable 12-year stay.

Pilmat said Taiwan makes a good alternative market for many OFWs, whose destination countries have been greatly affected by the pandemic.

It said it will start processing the new hires for Taiwan once the ECQ in the National Capital Region is lifted.

All foreign workers, including OFWs, who will be arriving in Taiwan will be required to undergo 14-day quarantine before being allowed to work there.

Samuel P. Medenilla, Recto L. Mercene

A COAST Guard medical team collects blood samples from a returning overseas Filipino worker at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Returning OFWs are required to go through a “one-stop shop” holding area at Terminal 1, where they have to undergo rapid Covid-19 testing. NONIE REYES

Post-ECQ stimulus plan to need ₧1.2T; infra cuts nixed Continued from A1

“So, to jumpstart, we cannot simply fill up what was lost; we have to add to their funds for restarting businesses,” he continued.

The senator projects it could be “between maybe P1 trillion and 1.2 trillion or even more, depending on what we will see along the way, as the situation is fluid.

For now, that’s my rough estimate.”

Earlier, Duterte signalled that funds to contain Covid-19 are being depleted, signalling he may ask for supplemental funding for the Bayanihan Act, which Congress passed in a special session last month to authorize the Executive to realign at least P250 billion initially in the 2020 budget to provide for immediate cash aid to families amid the lockdowns.

“The Bayanihan Act was meant to stop the spread of the virus but the next step is to restart the economy, as we expect many businesses to lose money,” Gatchalian said.

‘Don’t stop infra’

MEANWHILE, the leadership of the House of Representatives on Sunday objected to the call of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to temporarily stop funding some infrastructure projects, saying it would cause a significant decline in GDP growth.

While backing the DBM’s decision to impose austerity measures to raise more funds to fight Covid-19, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado should implement planning and transparency in the war against Covid-19.

Cayetano proposed a dialogue between the DBM and Congress on projects, programs and activities that would be affected by the cost-cutting.

“The economic team has always been saying that the infrastructure program should not be touched, unless the project is useless or cannot be implemented, because infrastructure drives economic activity, especially in remote parts of the country. And in fact, it also fights insurgency,” he said.

Under National Budget Circular No. 580, the DBM said 35 percent of programmed appropriations under the 2020

national budget shall no longer be made available for release to government agencies starting April 1 this year. The DBM also said at least 10 percent of the total released allotments to national government agencies for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlays that are not related to the Covid-19 response efforts shall no longer be available for obligation.

Cayetano said certain infrastructure projects programmed for 2020 could be undertaken next year. However, he said there are roads and bridges implementation of which this year could not be postponed.

He said workers in such urgent projects expect to go back to their jobs once the extended ECQ is lifted or relaxed.

The Speaker also cited allocations for travel, as well as expenses for paper and other office supplies, among funds that could be used instead to fight Covid-19.

Growth impact

MARIKINA City Rep. Stella Quimbo, an economist, said reducing spending for infrastructure programs at a time when the government needs to keep the economy afloat would lead to a significant decline in GDP growth as well as over a million in job losses.

Quimbo said funds for infrastructure projects under the 2020 national budget should be left intact to provide the economy the stimulus it needs during and after the pandemic.

“Given its multiplier effects, a conservative estimate would show that a P100-billion loss in the infrastructure budget would translate into a corresponding drop in GDP valued at P300 billion,” said Quimbo, who co-chairs the economic cluster of the Defeat Covid-19 Committee in the House of Representatives.

Quimbo said that if labor accounts for 37 percent of the P100-billion cut in infrastructure spending, then the loss in wages would amount to P111 billion.

Citing Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, she also underscored the need to sustain funding for infrastructure projects to help restart the economy and generate jobs and other livelihood opportunities.

For his part, Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said, “‘Build, Build,

Build’ will enable the country to achieve a V-shaped or quick recovery as infrastructure investments have the highest multiplier effects on the economy, including the generation of jobs.”

“Creating a lot of jobs will go a long way in reversing the surge in unemployment brought about by the economic standstill,” he said.

However, Villafuerte believes “Build, Build, Build” could be restarted now rather than later, most especially in the low-risk areas under the relatively relaxed GCQ, to pave the way for the quick recovery of the domestic economy.

Spare

FOR her part, Quezon City Rep. Precious Castelo wants to spare big projects under the administration’s centerpiece Build, Build, Build program from the extended ECQ.

In a statement, Castelo said the government has to take advantage “of the remaining dry-season window” to resume work on BBB projects.

“We have at most May and June to do public works activities before the onset of the rainy season, which will surely slow down again the implementation of our national and local government infrastructure programs,” she said.

She said resuming work on certain BBB projects would provide income to those who lost their jobs due to ECQ.

“It would be a way of restarting the economy, even on a limited scale,” she stressed.

The government could require contractors to test their workers and other personnel for Covid-19 before resuming construction activities and compel them to observe social distancing and other ECQ protocols, she said.

She said contractors not complying with IATF requirements could face suspension of their projects or other penalties.

She cited the MRT-7 rail line from North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan as one project that could be resumed.

Before the ECQ, she frequently noticed that workers were spread out along the long stretch of MRT-7 and did not congregate in one work site or station.

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ADB: $1.5-B loan on top of existing fund support

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

D

ESPITE extending the largest budgetary assistance to the Philippines, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) assured there won’t be any changes in its Countr y Partnership Strateg y (CPS) on account of its coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic response.

In a virtual briefing, ADB Philippines Country Director Kelly Bird told reporters the financing to be used for its projects contained in the CPS will not be affected by the loan it extended to the country.

On Friday, the ADB announced that it has approved lending $1.5 billion to the Philippines, the largest budgetary support granted by the ADB, to boost the country’s response to Covid-19. “[The $1.5 billion is] in addition to our normal program. Having said that, of course, our program becomes much larger and, as I mentioned before, we’re closely working with government on our program,” Bird said.

“We’re monitoring it and we’re [going to] remain flexible; and we’ll take kind of guidance from government on the scheduling and approval of our programs and projects. But we’re closely monitoring the program,” he added.

Bird said most of its projects and programs in the Philippines under the CPS 2018 to 2023 and the Country Operations Business Plan (COBP) 2020 to 2022 are on track for approval by the ADB Board this year, specifically in July.

He assured that ADB is working closely with the government to monitor any changes that will affect its 2020 program in the Philippines. This includes efforts to prioritize, especially when it comes to government’s infrastructure program, called the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB).

“For the infrastructure proj-

ects, you’ve heard from the government that the BBB infrastructure programs are going to be critically important to economic recovery because it’s creating help to get many Filipinos back to work,” Bird said.

The loan for the Covid-19 response program of the Philippine government is supported by ADB’s Countercylical Support Facility Pandemic Response Option (CPRO).

Bird said the $13-billion worth countercyclical facility is part of the ADB’s Covid-19 pandemic response package of assistance worth $20 billion.

The Philippines projects and programs stated under the CPS and COBP are usually funded by ADB‘s Ordinary Capital Resources (OCR), co-financing arrangements between ADB and other institutions, and/or trust funds that are administered by the Manila-based multilateral development bank.

The first $500 million that the Philippines can tap from the ADB’s $1.5-billion facility will be disbursed in US dollars amounting to $250 million and in Euro equivalent for the other half of the amount.

This portion of the loan is payable in 10 years inclusive of a threeyear grace period. Bird said this is shorter compared to their other loans. The interest rate to be used for the loan is the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), a benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lend to one another in the international interbank market for short-term loans.

The remaining $1 billion will also be divided equally into the US dollar and Euro equivalents of the amount under the terms of the loan accord. This amount is payable in five years inclusive of a three-year grace period.

The disbursement of the first $1-billion tranche is expected this month while the remaining $500 million may be disbursed on or before June 20, Bird said.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, April 27, 2020 A3

Fil-Chinese investors to govt: Release cash subsidies to stimulate economy

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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ILIPINO-CHINESE investors are asking the government to hand out cash subsidies to numerous sectors affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, as this would ensure the economy is stimulated in spite of the disruption caused by the health crisis.

At least 15 recommendations were submitted by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) to the government seeking to rejuvenate the economy at the time of the pandemic. Many of these proposals involve the allocation of financial aid to some of the country’s most vulnerable sectors.

For one, the group is appealing for the grant of wage subsidies for firms—whose operations are either

compromised or stopped at all under the Luzon-wide lockdown—to sustain the jobs of millions of workers.

The organization also said farmers, fishermen and rural cooperatives should be given financial grant to alleviate countryside woes and boost food security. Cash subsidies and low interest credit, it added, must be also made available to members of the gig economy and informal sector.

Further, the business group is requesting the government to give loan guarantees to encourage banks to increase lending support to businesses, particularly to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Likewise, it said investment activities that improve business resilience and efficiency should be incentivized. The government was also asked to extend compensation for paid sick leaves of workers who got infected by Covid-19.

On the public works side, the FF-

CCCII argued that new infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program must be hastened, telling authorities to exert political will to resolve any bureaucratic and right of way issues.

The group also batted for the modernization of telecommunication and information-technology systems nationwide. It explained this will help firms and professionals improve efficiency, better productivity and foster e-commerce, which is thriving under the quarantine that kept most brick and mortar shops closed.

Moreover, the FFCCCII is proposing to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to further lower interest rates and lessen bank reserve requirements in order to free up liquidity for lending to MSMEs. It said the Central Bank can implement such moves with no imminent danger of high infla-

Elderly discount on vitamins, mineral supplement pushed

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AWYER Romulo B. Macalintal has asked Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III to immediately issue an order directing all establishments and drug stores to give or extend to senior citizens a 20-percent discount and exemption from the 12- percent value-added tax (VAT) for the purchase of vitamins and/or mineral or dietary supplements, especially as this time when such items are urgently needed by the elderly.

In a one-page letter e-mailed by Macalintal to Duque, he stated that said discount for “vitamins and mineral supplement” is allowed by the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9994, the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010.

“Article 5.9 of said IRR defines ‘medicine’ as “any prescription and non-prescription/over-the-counter drugs, both generic and branded, including vitamins and mineral supplements medically prescribed by the elderly’s physician, and approved by the DOH [Department of Health] and the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], which are intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of human disease or sickness,” Macalintal said.

“But despite this clear definition of the word medicine, drug stores or establishments selling vitamins, mineral, dietary or food supplements do not grant such privilege to senior citizens who, under the law are en-

titled to said discount in purchasing their medicines,” he added.

Macalintal, likewise, asked Duque that “pending further action on this request, the DOH issue the said order directing all drug stores or establishments selling vitamins and/or mineral, dietary or food supplement to senior citizens to grant them the 20-percent discount and VAT exemption.”

“I am sure you will agree with me that, under this current Covid-19 pandemic condition, these vitamins, especially vitamin C, and mineral or dietary supplements are urgently needed by our senior citizens, hence, this urgent request,” Macalintal emphasized.

“In the event that your depart-

Despite ban on visits, 27 more women inmates hit by Covid-19

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

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HE Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) announced that 27 more inmates at the Correctional Institution for Women (CIW) in Mandaluyong City has tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The number of infections at the CIW has now ballooned to 47 despite preventive measures that have been in place since last March, which include the suspension of visitation rights of inmates in all penitentiaries and detention centers.

The 27 were part of the 51 inmates who got tested for the virus last April 21.

The BuCor disclosed the current status of Covid-19 outbreak in a statement issued before midnight Saturday.

It added that the 27 new Covid-19 patients were brought to “Site Harry,” the quarantine area inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City where authorities brought the first batch of inmates

who tested positive with Covid-19.

The BuCor said the inmates are “doing well and are asymptomatic.”

On April 23, BuCor also confirmed that an inmate in the medium-security prison died of Covid-19 at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine where he was brought for treatment.

A total of 40 prisoners at the medium security compound have been placed in isolation on suspicion that they may have acquired the virus.

Medical staff who attended to the inmates are also considered as suspects and are now under quarantine, prison authorities said.

“Continuous focused medical care and monitoring will be provided to ensure that no [inmate] will develop severe symptom,” the BuCor said.

The BuCor listed the following penal colonies as still Covid-19 free since the first case was reported three days ago: Davao Prison and Penal Farm in Davao

del Norte; Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan; Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City; and, the Leyte Regional Prison in Southern Leyte.

Earlier, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has given the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) the go-signal to implement interim measures that would expedite the release of inmates through parole or executive clemency as part of the government’s measures to contain Covid-19 transmission.

In its Board Resolution OT-04-152020, the BPP said in the processing of parole or executive clemency review, it would be prioritizing inmates who are already old age, sickly or are suffering from terminal or life-threatening illnesses with serious disability.

It also simplifies the requirements and procedure for the processing of applications for parole and executive

clemency by dispensing with most of the documentary except for the “Court Certifications of No Pending Case” and “No Pending Appeal” and a check on the records of the Person Deprived of Liberty (PDL) at the National Bureau of Investigation.

The resolution also mandates the Board to double the number of case load for review and deliberation during its meetings to expedite the processing of applications.

The resolution further dispenses with the requirement for parolees and pardonees to report to parole and probation officers while the State of National Emergency remains effective.

The simplified requirements and procedures will apply to applications of PDLs qualified for parole or clemency.

However, the resolution excludes inmates convicted of heinous crimes or in cases involving illegal drugs, or those classified by the BuCor as high risk.

Parañaque dad vows probe of how Pogo operated amid lockdown

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ARAÑAQUE City Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez ordered, over the weekend, investigation on how a Chinese-operated offshore gambling business ran while similar non-essential businesses were shut down during a lockdown.

Last week, authorities nabbed Chinese nationals who they alleged to be behind a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) running despite government enforcing a Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

The regional special operations unit of the Southern Police District conducted a raid after receiving a call from a concerned citizen who allegedly saw a group of armed Chinese nationals outside their residence during the curfew hours.

tion in place on record low global oil prices nowadays. In relation to that, the group said banks should be instructed to suspend collection of interest and principal payments on loans by struggling MSMEs for at least by a few months.

T hese recommend at ions, among others, should fuel the economy some stimulus, as the state tries to contain the spread of Covid-19, the FFCCCII said.

Citing former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cielito F. Habito, the group warned that GDP could contract between 6 percent and 14 percent this year on the ill effects of the pandemic. As such, it demanded the government “to take the lead in bolstering business confidence and the national morale with a set of progressive and courageous policies needed to resuscitate the severely hard-hit, now dormant and even contracting economy.”

They destroyed the image of the city and these Chinese nationals ignored the city ordinances and laws during the Covid-19 pandemic, Olivarez was quoted in a statement as saying.

The mayor cited this as reason for not allowing the nationals to return to his city and be banned in Parañaque from now on.

Olivarez said he also ordered the city building office and the business permit and licensing office to make a quick probe on who is now the owner of the compound where the Pogo operated from and file necessary charges if found appropriate.

He said he also instructed local authorities to find out if some barangay officials conspired with the residents to protect the Chinese nationals.

The mayor noted that the Chinese nationals and the Filipino operators will be facing several charges including operating without Mayor’s permit, no local work permit, city ordinance on ECQ and illegal assembly, illicit possession of firearms, and unlawful gambling including telecom fraud.

The local chief executive, likewise, urged the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to immediately deport the 44 Chinese nationals.

Their unlawful gaming operations in the city are presumed to have started for the past two months when the ECQ was implemented last March, according to Olivarez.

He explained that offshore gaming operations is illegal since the govern-

ment directed on March 17 the temporary suspension of Pogo and its service providers in Luzon for the duration of the lockdown.

Pagcor said the suspension serves as a guarantee for the safety of all employees and to prevent the further spread of the flu virus.

Documents provided by the office of the mayor said police raided early Friday evening an apartment a few meters away from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s Entertainment City.

Forty-four Chinese nationals, nine Filipinos who reportedly acted as dummies of the operator, and look-outs in the area that protect the entry of the gamblers to the compound were collared during the operation. Roderick Abad

ment cannot immediately act on this request, may we respectfully request you, as the alter ego of the President, to refer this request to President Duterte for his information and immediate action” Macalintal urged Duque.

Macalintal said that “there has been a rapid growth in the sale of vitamins and dietary supplement since companies manufacturing these products are aware of the budget and income of those category of clients in this level. In one article it has been said that these companies ‘have taken advantage of the situation and have begun offering various vitamins and dietary supplements product in different formats, positioning and pricing.’”

Hundreds of airport staff to use Covid rapid test kits from China

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HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Sunday said it would use 500 sets of Covid-19 rapid test kits in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) among its employees.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said BI personnel exposed to the virus being at the frontline duties will be prioritized for the tests.

There more than 400 immigration officers currently assigned and performing frontline duties at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

BI Associate Commissioner and Covid Task Force Chairman Aldwin F. Alegre recently accepted the donated kits from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

“We are grateful to everyone for supporting our efforts to protect our employees from this virus,” Morente said.

Likewise, the BI said it has procured PPEs, which will be used by its frontline personnel. The PPEs include face shield, gown, gloves, goggles and sanitizers.

Morente said they expect these to last until December this year.

Aside from performing their regular duties, BI’s frontline personnel are also being dispatched to process hundreds of passengers aboard repatriation and sweeper flights that have been flying in and out of the Naia.

Immigration officers attending to special flights process repatriated passengers in a separate area at the airport’s tarmac as part of existing protocols and to lessen the risks of infection.

Many of the repatriates came from countries with a high number of Covid-19 cases.

The BI is anticipating the increase in repatriation flights arriving at the Naia in the coming days as the government extended its enhanced community quarantine. (ECQ) until May 15.

In the past three weeks, more than 40 repatriation flights already arrived at the Naia, carrying overseas Filipino workers who originated from different parts of the globe.

BI Seaport Operations Chief Alnazib Decampong, likewise, reported continued operations for arriving vessels. Decampong said they are tasked to process crew of arriving cargo vessels.

“There are a number of Filipino crew who disembarks in the Philippines,” he said. “These crew undergo processing and clearance from the Bureau of Quarantine, before being processed by our immigration officers.”

Apart from international airports and seaports, the BI has kept 60 offices nationwide operational despite the ECQ in Luzon and some part of Visayas and Mindanao.

“We are duty-bound to continue our operations despite the community quarantine, and this puts our personnel at risk,” Morente said. “We hope that through Covid-19 testing, we may help lessen this risk and curb the further spread of the virus.” Joel R. San Juan

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

A4 Monday, April 27, 2020 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Farm-gate price of rice hits ₧17.48/kg–PSA

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

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HE average farm-gate price of dry unhusked rice as of the first week of April rose by 4.73 percent to P17.48 per kilogram from P16.69 per kg in the previous week, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed.

This is the highest average quotation for dry palay since the third

week of August 2019, when it reached P17.61 per kg, PSA data showed.

PSA data indicated that this is also the biggest weekly increase in the price of unhusked rice in months, following the plunge in farm-gate prices due to the increase in purchases of imported rice.

However, PSA data showed that the average quotation was 6.52 percent lower than the P18.7 per kg recorded last year.

DA seeks help of millennials in rolling out farm programs

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HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is spending at least P100 million to tap 900 fresh graduates as millennial frontliners to help in implementing the government’s various farm programs nationwide.

Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said the farm sector needs “young blood” as they have the skillset and know-how with the latest technologies to help in modernizing the sector.

Dar said the prospective millennials would assist the DA in implementing agriculture programs in each congressional district nationwide.

“We need young blood in agriculture. They have the defining attributes when it comes to utilizing modern agriculture,” he said. “They are well connected through electronic devices that can help modernize farming and fishing activities.”

Under the program, Dar said the millennials will be tapped as onthe-job trainees or OJTs for about six months and would be given an “attractive” allowance. Later on, they will be “urged” to get employed and detailed at every congressional district under the DA-Agricultural Program Coordinating Offices (APCOs), Dar added.

The DA said tapping millennials would ensure that recommendations and monitoring services of national and regional policies and programs

are “effectively and efficiently cascaded at the local level.”

“Under the mentorship of APCOs, the millennial OJTs will also serve as ‘infomediaries’ or information providers of various DA programs to farmers and rural folk using information and communication technologies [ICTs],” said Dar. “Eventually, when their OJT stint is over we will ask them to develop their respective agri-fishery business plan to be pursued as a project in their own localities,” he added.

The DA chief added that “by engaging the youth as infomediaries we will be able to widen their mindset for farming to be more progressive.”

“The youth maybe ICT-savvy but, they still need the elders to pass their time-tested wisdom and experience in farming. That is why mentorship is also crucial in this endeavor,” he said.

The DA said the new initiative is tied up with its Kapital Access for Young Agripreneurs (KAYA), a loan program launched in January 2020 to entice young Filipinos to engage in farming and fishery ventures and agribusiness and food processing enterprises.

The KAYA is a P1-billion financing program, which is managed by the Agricultural Credit Policy Council, that lends P300,000 to P500,000 per borrower, payable in five years at zero interest. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

During the April 1 to 7 reference period, PSA data showed that the highest farm-gate price for dry palay was observed in Davao del Sur at P22.5 per kilogram while the lowest was recorded in Capiz and Maguindanao at P14 per kg.

Also, both the average wholesale and retail prices of well-milled and regular-milled rice inched up during the reference period.

The average wholesale price of

regular-milled rice increased to P34.14 per kg, from P33.34 per kg in the previous week while its retail price went up to P36.86 per kg, from P36.37 per kg, PSA data showed.

On an annual basis, the average wholesale price of regular-milled rice fell by almost P2 per kg from P36.41 per kg while its retail price slid by P2.68 per kg from P39.54 per kg recorded a year ago.

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seedlings as close as possible to smallholder farmers, home gardeners, and other people who have limited food resources.”

“Certainly, in this time of crisis, it is more vital than ever that people around the world continue to have access to healthy vegetables, and we must do all we can to help them,” said East-West Seed founder and 2019 World Food Prize Laureate Simon Groot.

As of last week, East-West said it has already turned over 90,000 planting materials (seed packs, seedlings, and fruiting plants) to 16

S

EN. Cynthia Villar expressed concern that the ongoing enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in various parts of the country, which has been extended until May 15, is already taking its toll on the employment situation of the poor in the country.

Villar said in a statement that “more realistic and sustainable” measures should be put in place.

She recommended the opening of the labor intensive sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and construction for the poor and lower middle-class.

The agriculture sector is in full swing but some allied industries have limited operations or have ceased operations already, she said. This has displaced food manufacturing workers and limited the supply of food in the market.

“With the extension of the ECQ for another half a month, we need to intensify food production as well as ensured the unimpeded flow of fresh produce and food products all over the country,” said Villar.

As widely reported in media, she said those employed in the construction and manufacturing sectors are adversely affected. With work stoppage due to the lockdown, many of them are not only stranded in their workplaces but without any income as well.

“As we all know, workers in construction and manufacturing are daily wage earners who are compensated on a ‘no work, no

FARM workers carry their produce somewhere in Central Luzon in this 2017 BusinessMirror file photo.

pay’ basis. They have no source of income while on ECQ. While the government and companies may have extended financial assistance and relief goods, those will not be enough,” said Villar.

Some 22 percent of workers in the country are in agriculture, 10 percent are in manufacturing while 10 percent are in construction, according to Villar. Construction workers number 3.9

communities in Pampanga, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Caloocan City.

East-West added that will be distributing more seeds and seedlings to more communities in Oriental Mindoro, Cavite, Leyte, Iloilo, Quezon City, Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, Marikina City, Laguna, Cagayan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, La Union, Abra, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and North Cotabato in the coming days.

East-West said it will also work with the DA and selected LGUs in Metro Manila through the Philippine

Seed Industry to establish community vegetable gardens in urban areas.

Furthermore, East-West said it operates under a skeletal work force for its seed production and processing business to ensure the steady supply of seeds in the country and continuous provision of assistance to farmers.

“Disruption of vegetable farming now could lead to shortages of nutritious vegetables in the near future.

Vegetable farmers need continued access to seeds and other agriculture inputs,” said East-West Seed Philippines General Manager Henk Hermans. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Hospitals in woman’s death face NBI probe. . .

The last hospital they went to was the San Jose del Monte General Hospital. Although this hospital did not turn them way, it was already too late for his wife, who was declared dead upon arrival by doctors.

Bulatao was the second case referred by Guevarra to the NBI involving people who were turned away by hospitals during the enforcement of the enhanced community quarantine

(ECQ) in Luzon.

The first case involved the death of 65-year-old Ladislao Cabling from Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, who reportedly died hours after he was denied by six hospitals.

Guevarra said the NBI had already submitted its initial findings on the case of Cabling, but he has yet to read it.

“As to the first NBI report, I will

go over it when I go to the DOJ tomorrow [Monday],” Guevarra said.

The NBI findings would determine whether charges should be filed against the hospitals, he added.

“If [allegations are] shown to be true, the hospital personnel involved may be charged with violation of Republic Act 8344, An Act Penalizing the Refusal of Hospitals to Administer Initial Medical

tries and sectors and individuals together to help respond to the global outbreak.

“Bahagi po ito ng tuloy-tuloy naming pagseserbisyo sa taong bayan lalo na’t marami sa kanila ang nalulugmok ngayong panahon ng krisis. Katuwang po ninyo kami sa lahat ng pagsubok [This is part of

our continuing service to the people, especially since many of them are down in this time of crisis. We stand with you in all these challenges],” the senator said.

The Gatchalians earlier extended assistance to their constituents in Valenzuela City, the neighboring Bulacan province,

continued from a8

Treatment in Emergency Cases, as Strengthened by Republic Act 10932,” Guevarra said.

R A 10932 refers to An Act Strengthening the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law by Increasing the Penalties for the Refusal of Hospitals and Medical Clinics to Administer Appropriate Initial Medical Treatment and Support in Emergency or Serious Cases.

Gatchalians give ₧30-M supplies to fight virus. . .

They thanked the Philippine government for providing support on the transport of the medical items.

Senator Gatchalian said the donation is part of their family’s ongoing humanitarian efforts and contributions as the whole country brings the government, organizations from across indus-

was observed at P41.49 per kg in the previous week and P43.94 per kg in the same week of the previous year,” PSA added.

Rice farmers in the Philippines are currently harvesting their crop. Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) President Raul Q. Montemayor said the buying prices for palay during the dry harvest season are usually high in anticipation of the lean months.

‘Let workers in agri, construction return to work to prevent hunger’

East-West to donate ₧6M worth of veggie seeds to groups, LGUs AST-WEST Seed said it will donate P6 million worth of vegetable seeds, seedlings and plants to farmer groups and local government units (LGUs) to help the government hike farm output.

In a statement, the multinational firm said the donation is in support of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) “Plant, Plant, Plant” program which seeks to improve the country’s food security, which has been threatened by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

East-West said it is “continuously working to get seeds and

”At the wholesale trade, wellmilled rice posted an average price of P38.59 per kg this week.

In the previous week, it was seen at P37.48 per kg and in the same period of the previous year, it was recorded at P40.18 per kg,” PSA said in its weekly price monitoring report. ”The average retail price of well-milled rice was registered at P42.40 per kg during the week. It

million in 2018 and almost the same number in manufacturing.

Villar cited ECQ should not only be dependent on areas but in industry types or sectors also.

“We should remember that 70 percent of the GDP of the Philippines is in the National Capital Region, Calabarzon and Central Luzon. And if we do not practice partial lockdown in these areas, we lose 70 percent of our GDP,” the

senator added.

She cited that while there may be health risks, workers who will be allowed to work will of course still have to follow governmentimplemented health and safety protocols such as social distancing and wearing of face masks. The employers can also make sure that they comply with those. They can even provide shuttle services to their employees.

USDA boosts effort to support virus-hit meat, poultry producers

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HEUnitedStatesDepartmentof Agriculture (USDA) announced it will establish a “coordination center����������������������������� ” to help livestock and poultry producers hurt by coronavirusinduced meatpacking plant closures.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will offer “direct support to producers whose animals cannot move to market” and work with state veterinarians and other public officials “to help identify potential alternative markets” as plant shutdowns increase, according to a release posted on the agency’s web site.

Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, said the state’s pork industry, the nation’s largest, “is in dire straits” with producers facing “difficult and devastating decisions” about their livelihoods but that the USDA’s action was a good step.

“With a system designed for justin-time delivery, this important sector of our state’s economy has been turned on its head due to meat pro-

cessing plant closures across Iowa, and the Midwest,” Ernst said in a statement on Saturday.

Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s No. 1 pork producer, said Friday it was closing its Illinois operations after some workers tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019. The news came less than an hour after Hormel Foods Corp. said it was idling two of its Jennie-O turkey plants in Minnesota, and a day after Tyson Foods Inc. said it was shutting its beef facility in Pasco, Washington.

Shuttered or reduced processing capacity has prompted some farmers, left without a market, to euthanize livestock ready for slaughter. In Minnesota, farmers may have to cull 200,000 pigs in the next few weeks, according to an industry association. Carcasses are typically buried or rendered.

The USDA said in its release it will “advise and assist on depopulation and disposal methods,” if necessary.

Bloomberg News

POLO move vs caregiver in Taiwan slammed continued from a8

continued from a8

Aparri in the province of Cagayan, frontliners of the Philippine National Police-National Capital Region Police Office (PNP-NCRPO), barangay and health frontliners, including tanods in Tacloban City, Leyte, and various government hospitals in Metro Manila and Batangas.

“We respectfully urge your[office to conduct an administrative investigation since it sets a] dangerous precedent that would put our OFW’s inherent and constitutional right to free speech and to travel in jeopardy,” Matula said.

He said the POLO official responsible for processing the deportation should be “disciplined and held accountable” if proven to have violated

laws or government regulations.

In its earlier statement, DOLE said the POLO in Taichung gave Ordidor the opportunity to apologize for her action and take down the purported offensive posts against Duterte.

The POLO, however, later learned Ordidor was also using multiple fake accounts and has a group to “malign the President and destabilize the government.” Samuel P. Medenilla

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Global death toll tops 200,000 as some virus lockdowns eased

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TLANTA— As the global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 200,000 on Saturday, countries took cautious steps toward easing lockdowns imposed amid the pandemic, but fears of a surge in infections made even some outbreak-wounded businesses reluctant to reopen.

The states of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska started loosening restrictions on businesses despite warnings from experts that such steps might be premature.

Shawn Gingrich, CEO and founder of Lion’s Den Fitness, decided after the Georgia governor's announcement that his Atlanta gym would remain closed for now.

“We’ve sacrificed so much already,” Gingrich said. “I feel like if we do this too soon, we‘ll see a spike in cases and we‘re back to square one.”

Others were eager to get back to business, with precautions. Russ Anderson, who owns four tattoo studios in south Georgia, said he “couldn‘t get up out of my chair quick enough” when restrictions were lifted. His main shop served 50 or 60 customers on Friday when it reopened, with customers and tattoo artists wearing masks, he said.

The worldwide death toll was over 202,000, according to a count by John Hopkins University from government figures. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher.

India reopened neighborhood stores that many of the country's 1.3 billion people rely on for everything from beverages to mobile phone data cards. But the loosening didn't apply to hundreds of quarantined towns and other places hit hardest by the outbreak that has killed at least 775 people in the country where many poor live in slums too crowded for social distancing.

Shopping malls also stayed closed nationwide. Still, for owners of small stores, being allowed to open again brought relief.

“This is a good decision,“ said Amit Sharma, an architect. “We have to open a few things and let the economy start moving. The poor people should have

Applicants sit for the written examination during an insurance planner qualification exam in Seoul, South Korea on Saturday, April 25, 2020. The qualification exam was held while maintaining social distancing at the outdoor as part of precaution against the new coronavirus and also all applicants had to wear face masks and had their temperature checked. AP Photo/Lee Jin-man some source of income. This virus is going to be a long-term problem.”

India also allowed manufacturing and farming to resume in rural areas last week to ease the economic plight of millions left jobless by the March 24 lockdown. The restrictions have allowed people out of their homes only to buy food, medicine or other essentials.

Elsewhere in Asia, authorities reported no new deaths on Saturday for the 10th straight day in China, where the virus originated. South Korea reported just 10 fresh cases, the eighth day in a row its daily increase was under 20. There were no new deaths for the second straight day.

Underscoring the unknowns about the virus, the World Health Organization said “there is currently no evidence“ that people who have recovered from Covid-19 cannot fall sick again.

Some countries extended or tightened restrictions, confirming a pattern of caution.

Sri Lanka had partially lifted a month-long daytime curfew in more than two thirds of the country. But it reimposed a 24-hour lockdown countrywide until Monday after a surge of 46 new infections, its highest daily increase.

Norway extended until at least September 1 its ban on events with more than 500 participants.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced that Spaniards will be allowed to leave their homes for short walks and exercise starting May 2 after seven weeks of strict home confinement, though he said “maximum caution will be our guideline.”

“We must be very prudent because there is no manual, no roadmap to follow,” he said.

Kids in Spain will get their first fresh air in weeks when a ban on letting them outside is relaxed starting Sunday. After 44 days indoors, they’ll be allowed out for adult-supervised one-hour excursions but not permitted to play with others.

“I really want to get outside, and Ema does as well,” Madrid resident Eva Novilo said of her 7-year-old daughter. But Novilo predicted “difficult situations” if they see her friends and have to stay apart. “I don’t know if we will be able to maintain control.”

In Italy, where restrictions will be eased on May 4, authorities warned against abandoning social distancing practices when millions return to work. Free masks will be distributed to nursing homes, police, public officials and transportation workers. Workers painted blue circles on Rome's subway platforms to remind commuters to keep their distance.

The country continues to have Europe‘s highest death toll, with 26,384.

The 415 deaths registered in the 24hour period that ended on Saturday evening was the lowest toll since Italy registered 345 on March 17, but only five fewer than Friday.

Italians celebrated the 75th anniversary of their liberation from occupation forces in World War II by emerging on balconies or rooftops at the same time to sing a folk song linked to resistance fighters.

Britain held off on changes to its lockdown as the virus death toll in hospitals topped 20,000. The figure doesn't include nursing home deaths, likely to be in the thousands.

France prepared to ease one of Europe's strictest lockdowns from May 11. The health minister detailed plans to scale up testing to help contain any new flare-ups.

Testing shortages are a problem in Brazil, Latin America's largest nation, which is veering closer to becoming a pandemic hot spot.

Officials in Rio de Janeiro and four other major cities warned that their hospital systems are on the verge of collapse or already overwhelmed. In Manaus, the biggest city in the Amazon, officials said they have been forced to dig mass graves in a cemetery. Workers have been burying 100 corpses a day —

triple the pre-virus average.

Along with Georgia, Oklahoma allowed salons, spas and barbershops to reopen, while Alaska cleared the way for restaurants to resume dine-in service and retail shops and other businesses to open their doors, all with limitations.

Some Alaska municipalities chose to keep stricter rules.

Though limited in scope, and subject to social-distancing restrictions, the reopenings marked a symbolic milestone in the debate raging in the United States and beyond about how quickly to ease economically devastating lockdowns.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, on Saturday stressed a step-wise approach, with restrictions gradually lifted as areas reach certain milestones.

“Any attempt to leapfrog over these almost certainly will result in a rebound, and then we can set ourselves back,” Fauci told an online meeting of the National Academy of Sciences.

President Donald Trump skipped conducting a press briefing on the coronavirus response and later tweeted that the near-daily briefings were “not worth the time & effort” because of what he claimed was negative and erroneous media coverage. Trump lashed out at the media two days after using a briefing to muse about the injection of chemical disinfectants, which drew warnings from manufacturers and the nation’s top medical professionals.

A survey from The Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research found Americans overwhelmingly support stay-at-home measures and other efforts to prevent the spread of the virus.

In Texas, where retailers are allowed to sell items for curbside pickup, Allison Scott said most customers of her women‘s clothing store in a Dallas shopping mall seem to feel more comfortable having their purchases shipped.

“I want to be open more than anything but I don't think that society is ready to come out either,” she said. AP

World’s big central banks meet as pressure mounts to do more

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lobal central banks remain under pressure to do more to support their economies through the coronavirus recession even after driving interest rates to record lows and pledging to spend trillions of dollars on asset purchases. The US Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and European Central Bank, which together cover almost half of global output, will all convene meetings of policy-makers this week after the pandemic-driven freezing of economies and turmoil in financial markets propelled them into action.

With governments this week set to confirm multi-year expansions ended in the US and euro area in the first quarter, monetary policy-makers may have to do more to limit the recession and speed the recovery. Among the options: extending the quantitative easing, helping ease credit to troubled businesses and committing to rock bottom rates for longer.

“The extremity of the virus crisis is forcing central banks to push the limits of the possible,” said Tom Orlik, chief economist at Bloomberg Economics. “We expect the ECB to expand its fire fighting Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program and the Bank of Japan to roll out more

support for corporates. Ahead of the game in terms of the size and scope of stimulus, the Fed won’t add additional support, but will confirm it has space to do more.”

Federal Reserve

The April 28 and 29 policy meeting will be the first scheduled gathering since January, but officials have met multiple times since then.

They have cut rates to virtually zero and rolled out a series of emergency and unorthodox lending facilities designed to backstop markets and keep credit flowing to businesses.

The Fed’s balance sheet has already reached $6.57 trillion.

Economists in a Bloomberg survey have limited expectations for any substantial changes at this week’s meeting. Large majorities, 90 percent and 87 percent, said they didn’t expect policy-makers to offer any additional guidance on how long they intend to keep rates near zero, or on the future pace of large-scale asset purchases.

But investors will be looking for any indications from Chairman Jerome Powell on how deep the Fed fears the recession will go

and its outlook for recovery.

The central bankers are also still being lobbied to do more as they try to get their Main Street lending program up and running. There are calls from some lawmakers to allow more cities and small counties to borrow from it.

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank sets policy on Thursday with a heavy weight on its shoulders as governments argue over joint fiscal action.

After President Christine Lagarde told leaders last week that they may have done too little, too late, and warning that the euro-area economy could shrink as much as 15 percent this year, they still failed to agree on how to structure a recovery fund. Most economists expect the central bank will keep monetary policy on hold this week. It only recently pledged to bump up its asset purchases by more than a trillion euros this year, and made it easier for banks to finance their loans to companies.

But one in four respondents to a Bloomberg survey said the ECB could still boost the size of its pandemic purchase program from €750 billion ($812 billion) as early as Thursday. Most

see it happening by September.

Having agreed last week to accept junk bonds as collateral for bank loans, there is also speculation is will add sub-investment grade assets to its purchase plan list.

Bank of Japan

After stepping up its buying of exchangetraded funds and corporate bond, the Bank of Japan will on Monday discuss allowing unlimited government bond purchases, replacing their current 80 trillion yen target, the Nikkei reported on Thursday.

Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and fellow policy-makers will likely take further steps to get credit to businesses hit by the pandemic, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Some 83 percent of 40 analysts forecast the BOJ will introduce new tools to support bank lending for businesses at a meeting now shortened to one day.

Options include increasing purchase targets for commercial paper and corporate bonds or widening a new lending operation so smaller firms can benefit via smaller banks.

Bloomberg News

Monday, April 27, 2020

A5

Next chapter of oil crisis: The industry shuts down

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egative oil prices, ships dawdling at sea with unwanted cargoes, and traders getting creative about where to stash oil. The next chapter in the oil crisis is now inevitable: great swathes of the petroleum industry are about to start shutting down.

The economic impact of the coronavirus has ripped through the oil industry in dramatic phases. First it destroyed demand as lockdowns shut factories and kept drivers at home. Then storage started filling up and traders resorted to ocean-going tankers to store crude in the hope of better prices ahead.

Now shipping prices are surging to stratospheric levels as the industry runs out of tankers—a sign of just how distorted the market has become.

The specter of production shut-downs— and the impact they will have on jobs, companies, their banks, and local economies—was one of the reasons that spurred world leaders to join forces to cut production in an orderly way. But as the scale of the crisis dwarfed their efforts, failing to stop prices diving below zero last week, shutdowns are now a reality. It’s the worst-case scenario for producers and refiners.

“We are moving into the end-game,” Torbjorn Tornqvist, head of commodity trading giant Gunvor Group Ltd., said in an interview.

“Early-to-mid May could be the peak. We are weeks, not months, away from it.”

In theory, the first oil output cuts should have come from the Opec+ alliance, which earlier this month agreed to reduce production from May 1.

Yet after the catastrophic price plunge on Monday, when West Texas Intermediate fell to -$40 a barrel, it’s the US shale patch that is leading.

The best indicator of how the US industry is reacting is the rapid drop in the number of oil rigs in operation, which last week fell to a four-year low. Before the coronavirus crisis hit, oil companies ran about 650 rigs in the US. By Friday, more than 40 percent of them had stopped working, with only 378 left.

“Monday really focused people’s minds that production needs to slow down,” Ben Luckock, co-head of oil trading at commodity merchant Trafigura Group, said. “It’s the smack in the face the market needed to realize this is serious.”

Trafigura, one of the largest exporters of US crude from the US Gulf of Mexico, believes that output in Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota and other states will now fall much faster than expected as companies react to negative prices, which have persisted for several days last week in the physical market.

Until prices collapsed on Monday, the consensus was that output would drop by about 1.5 million barrels a day by December. Now market watchers now see that loss by late June. “The severity of the price pressure is likely to act as a catalyst for the immediate turndown in activity and shut-ins,” said Roger Diwan, oil analyst at consultant IHS Markit Ltd. The price shock has been particularly intense in the physical market: producers of crude streams such as South Texas Sour and Eastern Kansas Common had to pay more than $50 a barrel to offload their output last week.

ConocoPhillips and shale producer Continental

Resources Inc. have all announced plans to shut in output. Regulators in Oklahoma voted to allow oil drillers to shut wells without losing leases; New Mexico made a similar decision.

North Dakota, which for years was synonymous with the US shale revolution, is witnessing a rapid retrenchment. Oil producers have already closed more than 6,000 wells, curtailing about 405,000 barrels a day in production, or about 30 percent of the state’s total.

The output cuts won’t be limited to the US. From Chad, a poor and landlocked country in Africa, to Vietnam and Brazil, producers are now either reducing output or making plans to do so.

“I wouldn’t want to get sensational about it but yes, clearly there must be a risk of shut-ins,” Mitch Flegg, the head of North Sea oil company Serica Energy, said in an interview. “In certain parts of the world it is a real and present risk.”

In emergency board meetings last week, oil companies small and large discussed an outlook that’s the most somber any oil executive has ever witnessed. For the small firms, the next few weeks will be all about staying afloat. But even for the bigger ones, like Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc, it’s a challenge. Big Oil will offer an insight into the crisis when companies report earnings this week.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and the rest of the Opec+ alliance will join the output cuts on Friday, slashing their output by more than 20 percent, or 9.7 million barrels a day. Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company, is already trimming to reach the target. And Russian oil companies have announced exports of their flagship Urals crude would drop in May to a 10-year low.

Even so, it may not be enough. Every week, 50 million barrels of crude are going into storage, enough to fuel Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK combined. At that rate, the world will run out of storage by June. What’s not stored onshore, is stashed in tankers. The US Coast Guard on Friday said there were so many tankers at anchor off California that it was keeping an eye on the situation.

Before the crisis hit, the world was consuming about 100 million barrels a day. Demand now, however, is somewhere between 65 and 70 million barrels. So, in a worst-case scenario, about a third of global output needs to be shut.

The reality is likely to be less severe as storage would continue to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Plus, oil traders say consumption has probably hit a bottom, and will start a very gentle recovery.

Refiners shut

But before that takes hold, the great shutdown will spread through oil refining too.

Over the past week, Marathon Petroleum Corp., one of the biggest US refiners, announced it would stop production at a plant near San Francisco. Royal Dutch Shell Plc has idled several units in three US refineries in Alabama and Louisiana. And across Europe and Asia, many refineries are running at half rate. US oil refiners processed just 12.45 million barrels a day on the week to April 17, the lowest amount in at least 30 years, except for hurricane-related closures.

Bloomberg News

Author’s warnings on inequality draw attention with coronavirus

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ALTIMORE—Against all odds, Thomas Piketty pocketed a small fortune from the publication of a weighty book about the perils of economic inequality and the necessity of wealth taxes.

The money he earned from his 2014 international best seller, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” he says, only reinforced the French economist's discomfort with the concentration of wealth among a privileged few.

Piketty said he paid a 60 percent tax on his book earnings and spent only a fraction of it to upgrade his lifestyle. The rest he parked in a bank account—waiting, he says, for a political transformation that would lead France to impose a 90 percent wealth tax on highly affluent people like himself.

“I am already incredibly lucky,” he said in a recent video-conference interview from his elegantly white-walled Parisian apartment. “I have enough.”

Piketty's research has helped define a debate about the consequences of concentrating so much money and property among so few.

His warnings have arrived at a coincidental moment: The coronavirus has suddenly exposed, in real time, the human impact of the seemingly abstract data and charts his research produced.

Now, Piketty is out with a new book, a manifesto for political change called “Capital and Ideology” that was published last month in the United States. Tipping the scales at over 1,100 pages, it argues that any nation‘s degree of inequality derives directly from political

decisions—decisions that can be reversed if governments have the will to do so. It precedes a virtual theatrical release coming on Friday, on the Kino Marquee platform, of a documentary film that was inspired by Piketty‘s previous book.

With stunning speed, the viral outbreak has inflicted disproportionate suffering on poorer communities. Even in affluent nations, a majority of households have become suddenly vulnerable as layoffs mount and savings are drained. All of that is intensifying political pressures as the disease increasingly exposes the scope of inequality from the United States to Italy to West Africa.

“This is a crisis that illustrates a virulent inequality,” Piketty warns.

Delivery workers on bicycles around Paris, he notes, are risking their lives because they need money. Millions of migrant workers in India have been left homeless as that nation's businesses have shuttered.

A central question for Piketty is whether the crisis will prove to be a catalyst that drives policy changes—from paid sick leave to government-provided health care to a reordering of the tax code—that might narrow the wealth gap. Or not.

Economists, including those recently surveyed by the University of Chicago, warn that the outbreak will worsen already high levels of inequality in the United States. Even accounting for $2 trillion-plus in government aid, 84 percent of the economists surveyed said that low-income workers would suffer a bigger hit to their incomes than more affluent people would. AP

A6

Monday, April 27 , 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

Economic data starts coming in

T

he first quarter of 2020 is now in the books and we are beginning to see the actual impact of the pandemic on various economies.

Needless to say, the biggest shock is the 26 million Americans that are now out of work and living on government money.

The most important aspect of getting new data and not just estimates is the ability to be able to make some reasonably reliable forecasts.

Singapore reported on March 30 that its economy contracted by 2.2 percent from the same period in 2019. That is bad. But what is worse is that the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic had not fully kicked in. Now with that first quarter data, some fairly accurate projections can be made and they are worse than they are now.

Previously, Capital Economics had expected a 5.5 percent reduction in Singapore’s GDP for 2020. That has been changed to an 8 percent decline, which is a catastrophe. Further, as a result of reduced economic activity—and the collapse of oil prices—Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Malaysia all fell into deflation in March. While Taiwan is still expected to see economic growth in 2020, price deflation reduces wage growth, consumer demand, and bank borrowing. Not good.

Global economic growth is expected to shrink by 5.5 percent this year from an original estimate of 0.5 percent. The key is that not all economies are “created equal.” Everyone is saying how wonderful Vietnam has been at reducing the spread of Covid-19, but economically speaking that does not mean a thing. Vietnam is one of the most export-dependent nations on Earth, with exports equivalent to over 70 percent of its GDP. The Philippine economy is only 30 percent dependent on exports.

Exports fell by 12.1 percent year-on-year in March. Korea’s export decline is expected at 20 percent. The Vietnam tourism sector, which generates 4 percent of GDP, will remain moribund at best and dead at worst. Vietnam reported growth of 3.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, which was the worst performance since the global financial crisis. The worst is still to come with a forecast of 0.5-percent growth this year. And Vietnam will be one of Asia’s “winners.”

Other economic growth forecasts for the region: Thailand minus 9 percent, Malaysia negative 5 percent, Philippines losing 4 percent of its GDP, and Indonesia down 1 percent. Interestingly, Capital Economics sees the Philippine stock market as the best performing in Asia for 2020, with the composite index ending the year at 6,300.

The two major concerns for the Philippines are remittances and our outsourcing business. Both account for about 10 percent each of the total GDP. One positive for the Philippines is that remittance sources are balanced with 30 percent each coming from the Middle East, the United States, and from other sources including sea-based workers. While there is no question that the growth in remittances will be low if there is any growth at all, as a percentage of GDP, our current account deficit is also low at about 3 percent. That is similar to Japan, the Eurozone, and South Korea at least for now.

The worst is not over, but at least we are starting to get a handle on how bad the situation really is. From this, we can move forward.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

Being mindful of our small joys Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

I

N the course of a recent research work, I came across the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Barbara Fredrickson, which is so apt for the experience that we are all going through these days. As an evolutionary psychologist, Fredrickson came up with a theory that describes how positive emotions like joy, serenity, amusement, awe, pride, gratitude, interest, inspiration, hope, and love are subtle nourishment for people, in the same way that sun and water nourish seedlings. Constant and authentic nourishment leads to the broadening of the scope of our attention, which lets us become more open, flexible and accepting. These result in personal growth, development and resilience, which are especially necessary for stormy times like what we have now.

Applied to our Covid-19 situation, the theory simply suggests that it will be helpful to be mindful of the good things that happen in our every day lives, no matter how small they seem to be. If we make it a habit to find positive moments every day, these tend to enable us to build resources

‘Pivot or perish’ Thomas M. Orbos

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like optimism, resilience, openness to new information, ability to solve problems better, and build stronger relationships and better physical health. Fredrickson’s advice is to shift our attention from bigger periods like hours and days toward the one present moment. Make each

M

uch has been said about putting emphasis on the resumption of businesses once the lockdown loosens. This would initially allow frontline services to open while the so-called nonessentials take the back seat for a little longer until the situation would normalize. But here lies what’s unspoken— when will things normalize or will the situation ever normalize?

As we struggle to go back to our lives in the “new normal,” there is a lot of apprehension and anxiety about how we will manage to survive.

Businesses will be affected, some sectors more than others. Most of them expect government subsidies, relief or even bailout. But we all know this may happen at the onset but not forever. Government itself will be struggling to keep the economy afloat. Whether we like to admit it or not, we will be in a U-shaped recovery—going through a deep global recession before we even begin to see the light of day. Given this stark scenario, companies that will and want to survive in these uncharted waters will have to write their own playbook.

A do-nothing scenario and pressuring government for aid will spell the end of their existence. Business schools would call this “Pivot or Perish.” Businesses will have to adapt.

There are no hard and fast rules, but adjusting to these realities will give businesses a fighting chance.

This can never be more appropriate than in the transport sector.

Expectedly, travel demand will go down for several reasons—social distancing, reduction of individual income allocated for leisure travel, and emergence of more people working online. This would account for at least 30 percent to 40 percent drop in commuter traffic. The natural tendency for transport operators will be to increase fares in order to offset the loss of demand. But as we know it, this will result in further bringing down demand. Transport groups have also the tendency to ask government for relief and subsidies.

This will not provide the answer.

To move forward, the transport sector needs to pivot on its own. Find ways and means to see this through

Related to what Fredrickson suggested, Santos also advocates mindfulness. “Notice what is happening to you. Be in the moment.” It takes the mind away from worries even for just a few minutes. Meditation is one of the tools that can be used in the practice of mindfulness. Both experts say that it is important that people learn to recognize the small happy moments, and to be grateful for each one every day. moment better and explore ways to live in the present.

Yale professor Laurie Santos is one of the current Internet superstars in the field of mental health and happiness. Her Coursera lecture called The Science of Well-Being has so far attracted more than 2 million students.

This just goes to show that people these days are being gripped by panic and fear as they deal with grief, loss of income, anxiety about the

To move forward, the transport sector needs to pivot on its own.

Find ways and means to see this through with or without government intervention. And in this kind of environment, it would do well that transport groups band together and seek common grounds. with or without government intervention. And in this kind of environment, it would do well that transport groups band together and seek common grounds. Throw out the “survival of the fittest” tendency as well as the “me first” mentality. But the aim of this would not be lobbying for a better position in the business ecosystem. No, on the contrary, banding together as one transport sector should lead us to further “marry” with the other members in the business ecosystem based on common grounds—the commuters, the business owners and the government. We do not go to the table and discuss “positions” but rather seek common “interests” that can be matched.

Think about this: Business continuity would require a work force that would be free from infections and no amount of rapid testing would assure that at the end of day. Big corporations would resort to having, if they still don’t have it, their own personnel transport. However, the SMEs, which account for 60 percent of the work force, would not have such

future, isolation, and depression, among other things. And there are good reasons to be anxious. In the United States alone, more than 26 million people have lost their jobs in just five weeks.

People in quarantine and lockdowns all over the world are dealing with stress and worry, and more serious mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Research further shows that cases of domestic violence have increased significantly since the pandemic started. Santos said that people are now looking for things that they can do to feel better. This is what her class addresses; it offers actionable tips on how to improve well-being.

Related to what Fredrickson suggested, Santos also advocates mindfulness. “Notice what is happening to you. Be in the moment.” It takes the mind away from worries even for just a few minutes. Meditation is one of the tools that can be used in the practice of mindfulness. Both experts say that it is important that people learn to recognize the small happy moments, and to be grateful for each one every day.

resources. Why not do business like transport matching, wherein present public transport groups get to provide exclusive shuttle services to these companies. Or matching public transport with brick and mortar establishments such as groceries and other essential services, given that most of the populace will remain at home even beyond the end of the lockdown. Let these transport vehicles bring in goods and services to the communities. Yes, online shopping is growing but still a large part of the populace is either not yet online or adept at it. Or how about utilizing some of the public transport operators as transport disinfection teams that would be the ones to disinfect the roads, while others act as the public transport that will be left to operate. And this is where government support can come in—not with subsidies but also by “pivoting” of the laws on cross-franchise, thereby allowing such a scheme to work.

Pivot or perish. This is the call of the times and the sooner that we realize this—in the transport sector as well as in the whole business ecosystem, including its interplay with government—the sooner can we assure ourselves a fighting chance in what is now known as the “new normal.”

Thomas Tim Orbos was former DOTr undersecretary for roads and general manager of the MMDA. He is currently undertaking further studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu

Opinion BusinessMirror

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There is hope for Filipino workers: New jobs, new skills

2020: Ctrl+Alt+Delete Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

By Ma. Catalina M. Tolentino, PhD

C

ovid-19 is bringing down the Philippine economy to its knees, like other economies in the world. Per Asian Development Bank forecast, growth rate is expected to slide to 2 percent or even lower this year, from 5.9 percent in 2019. The Department of Labor and Employment said that as a result of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), more than 1.5 million Filipinos were added to the unemployment statistics already at 2.3 million in 2019, per the Philippine Statistics Authority. OFWs are coming home from countries that could not renew their contracts.

If not properly addressed, this will raise the poverty level further and create domino effects on social and political conditions.

We can avert this grim scenario.

People must eventually continue to work. The policy note disseminated by the University of the Philippines (UP) Covid-19 Pandemic Response Team said that the ECQ has slowed down the spread of the virus. The reproduction number is 0.6398.

This means what took three days for new cases to double now take six days. Statistics also show that Covid-19-related deaths have not increased significantly.

The question now is: What kind of work will the displaced Filipinos do after the ECQ or in a modified lockdown? What new business opportunities will open up?

Experts are predicting the end of globalization, based on the articles of Philippe Legrain, Kenneth Rapoza, Zachary Karabell and others, due to disruption of production in many countries, flight restrictions and the consequent delayering of supply chains. People must now rely on resources in their immediate environment to reduce transactions.

Way back in the 1980s, frustrated about the excesses of capitalism and modern technologies, postmodern thinkers (in the writings of Mike Featherstone and Arturo Escobar) advocated for a return to localization, the dominance of culture, the utilization of local knowledge and resources.

Albert Einstein, besides being a great physicist, espoused small communities, cooperation not competition and respect for nature as early as the 1940s. These ideas resonate loudly now in the context of human health and environment.

Hence, it is time to modify or intensify industries, jobs and skills to revitalize the economy, most especially the micro, small, and medium enterprises. While we are doing these, we get to save human life and the planet.

In the agriculture sector, for example, farmers must be given higher subsidies and more incentives to plant, market their goods and engage in agricultural food processing. A strong immune system is the best defense against any virus. All of a sudden, the takenfor-granted ginger and calamansi became big hits against a backdrop of an incoherent, ill-prepared health-care system. The huge food service industry must diversify into healthier packaging, expand takeouts and home deliveries.

The crisis is teaching us that we can solve our own problems. We have expertise and resources. We formulated testing kits, a local ventilator, health drinks, and many other home-grown initiatives. All of these must be patented as Filipino products and properly commercialized.

Covid-19 was not the first and will not be the last pandemic.

Hence, the medical profession will need more medical data analysts, epidemiologists, virologists and medical researchers to experiment and develop new drugs, vitamins and vaccines. We can also expect naturopathy and psychotherapy clinics to proliferate, as the aftermath of the pandemic.

In manufacturing, certainly, an emerging industry is production of ventilators to address the scarcity in hospitals, the trading of PPEs, designed from head to toe, not only for health workers but also for every one who would like to be safe from the virus. Disinfection equipment and temperature scanners will be needed everywhere: in homes, schools and workplaces.

In the area of information technology, software and apps will be designed to suit online medical consultations, distance learning starting from the elementary level, and a wide array of online social and religious events. We can now imagine weddings to be celebrated in cyberspace. More Internet service providers will sprout.

For these, we need a large pool of engineers, programmers and technicians.

The crisis is teaching us that we can solve our own problems.

We have expertise and resources.

We formulated testing kits, a local ventilator, health drinks, and many other home-grown initiatives. All of these must be patented as Filipino products and properly commercialized. There are many more products and services that can be conceptualized by the scientific and creative minds. It will be a new working life after the ECQ. Entrepreneurs must plan ahead and embrace the new normal.

Ma. Catalina M. Tolentino teaches at the UP School of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Last of three parts

Delete

A

pplying the analogy used in the first two parts, this undesirable coronavirus has caused our life systems to stop working or “hang” long enough for many people to press CTRL+ALT+DEL in their lives. Given that this Great Interruption has led many to seize control of their lives and has presented alternatives during and after the pandemic is over, the final part of this series is DEL. In the process of readjusting priorities due to a “new normal,” some old habits have died or will just fade away. This once in a lifetime experience has caused people to become more aware of the things that are essential and worth keeping, as well as those things that have no value and must be discarded.

To understand what needs to be “deleted” in our systems will require some honest-to-goodness realization and a deep and serious reflection, both of which were offered by the lockdown, quarantine, shelter-in-place, or stay at home orders worldwide. The revelation given by this luxury of time has exposed the value of things we aspire, work hard for, and long for. For instance, family bonding can amazingly bring joy despite being stuck under one roof. The things people buy these days, whenever they can go out from their homes, are no longer clothes, gadgets, and decorative amenities but essential goods, like food, water, and medicines. Health professionals are now in the limelight more than movie celebrities and politicians. As shared by my friend Kay Abella, other revelations include: “The planet is able to heal itself without our help; majority of people can work from home; we can survive without junk food; living a hygienic life is not that

I

T is often said that crises bring out either the best or worst in people. I believe this can also be said for companies.

Amid the unprecedented threat that the world is facing from the Covid-19 pandemic, we have also seen recently how Filipino companies have stepped up and responded to these challenging times, in ways we have never seen before.

In a country so used to catastrophes and natural calamities, it has become almost a given for big businesses to provide relief for victims and give donations for rehabilitation efforts. After all, this is part of the

corporate social responsibility that is expected of them.

But this global health crisis brings with it extraordinary circumstances that none of us were ever prepared for: lockdowns of major cities and even entire countries, slowdown or stoppage of business operations, travel bans, loss of work and livelihood, extended quarantine periods for citizens, and near-breaking point for health-care systems.

The Philippines was not fully prepared to fight a pandemic of this magnitude. Where the government at times fell short, our top Filipino companies were more than willing to step up to the plate and make a difference.

remove any yeast bread, or chametz, from the home. Christian custom links Spring Cleaning to the celebration of Easter weekend as Catholics clean the church altar the day before Good Friday. The Greek Orthodox church members practice the habit of cleaning house for a week leading up to Lent. Pope Francis has said that this pandemic has forced us to judge what is important and get rid of the non-important ones accordingly.

Thus, we are also given a chance to do a Spring Cleaning of our hearts and minds, in the figurative sense.

First, let’s try to delete the habit of worry. As I try to constantly remind myself to let go of the things I have no control of, I still worry, as government post-Covid-19 plans seem so uncertain. Most people in government seem to be doing more talking than thinking; more grandstanding than just doing. If ever there is planning, it seems to be hinged toward a political agenda. Being a former public servant, I worry much about our country and our people. Having heard enough from government propaganda as well as its critics, I realized that my worrying should be replaced with trusting. In the Bible, Proverbs 3:5 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” So, more than just trusting our current leaders, you and I need to trust Him all the more.

Second, let’s try to delete people in our lives who are constantly angry, irritatingly hypocritical, and arrogantly use profanity or foul language to drive home a point or get attention.

I have seen people, who I know to be compassionate and humble before, do a 180-degree turn for the worst.

Saying and blurting out condescending, demeaning, perverting, and humiliating words unfortunately seems to be the in-thing these days.

Words like “puta,” “gago,” “shunga,” and “bobo” and phrases like “batukan kaya kita diyan” or “sampalin ka” have

Taxation during times of crisis

A former infantry and intelligence officer in the Army, Siegfred Mison showcased his servant leadership philosophy in organizations such as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Malcolm Law Offices, Infogix Inc., University of the East, Bureau of Immigration, and Philippine Airlines. He is a graduate of West Point in New York, Ateneo Law School, and University of Southern California. A corporate lawyer by profession, he is an inspirational teacher and a Spirit-filled writer with a mission.

For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.

with the amount collected being P156.26 billion, or 20.64 percent, short of the government’s P757.12 billion tax revenue target for the first quarter.

It is very alarming that the BIR and BOC collections did not even exceed the prior year’s first quarter collections. It is very rare that government revenues from tax collections not to exceed that of the prior period

converting their plants to produce much needed alcohol and sanitizers for hospitals and medical facilities. At a time when business operations have slowed down with no guarantee when things will normalize, we see companies assuring their employees of job security and continued compensation. At a time when their assets are not earning for them, we see real estate and construction companies offering their properties and facilities to house frontliners or to become quarantine areas. At a time when no business is coming in due to forced temporary closure, we see quick service restaurant owners preparing thousands of food packs

to be donated to not just medical/ health care, military and other frontliners, but also to the daily wage earners who are unable to work now.

In these times of distress, despair and anxiety, it is a comfort to see corporate greed replaced by humaneness and generosity. To witness corporate values like Integrity, People First, Caring, Teamwork, Leadership and Responsibility come alive and demonstrated when it is most needed is truly encouraging.

When times get better and things get back to normal, whatever that normal might be, we should look back at this time and remember the companies that gave much

and asked for little. We should also remember those that did nothing or, worse, took advantage of the suffering.

This crisis ultimately reveals companies for what they really stand for. I just hope that the public will remember the ones that put their money where their hearts are when the situation was at its worst.

W

e all know the familiar saying that taxes are the lifeblood of the nation. This truism is more pronounced during times of crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic that the entire world is encountering now. As governments of practically all countries are infusing massive amounts of funds to address the requirements of the virus attack, the leaders of the states will have to be conscious on how to sustain the supply of financial resources. For this, most governments resort to borrowing and taxation.

Having worked with conglomerates in an agency capacity, I know that many of them take their corporate mission-vision-values (MVV) seriously. We would conduct workshops where these business owners and high-ranking executives would spend much time introspecting, developing and articulating these ideals that would define what their companies would stand for. While these MVVs may merely be lip service for some companies, recent news and events have shown which ones actually take their values to heart.

At a time when revenue losses are almost inevitable, we see manufacturers of alcoholic beverages

been the norm these past few years.

“If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.” You and I are better off without such company, lest you want to be contaminated with obnoxious behavior.

Finally, let’s try to delete the fear in our hearts. I am not against the lockdown but the work stoppage of this magnitude can be unbearable to many of our countrymen. An unnecessary prolonged quarantine can destroy any vibrant economy in the world.

I am not a fan of those who have chosen to harshly criticize government action as well as those who have chosen to remain in the sidelines out of fear. With fear, people cower and fail to speak freely. Without fear, people can muster the courage to give bold and unwarranted counsel. For instance, in light of the public clamor in support of mass testing and the loud outcry against bureaucratic requirements for donations, government relented, listened, and eventually adjusted its policies. You and I can make good things happen for our country by ditching the fear of speaking loudly, yet politely.

Applying CTRL+ALT+DEL means we reassert Control of our destiny by assessing Alternatives and Deleting the nonessentials to make room for the really important ones in our lives.

You and I should really make use of this most valuable Spring Cleaning in our lives!

most needed at this time of crisis.

Delaying or deferring the payment of taxes is reneging on our civic and legal obligations.

The BIR and BOC are to be commended for putting in measures to alleviate the tax compliance obligations of taxpayers in the past weeks. Both agencies have issued guidelines that include extension of tax payment and compliance dates, streamlining the regulatory rules and processes, and other support mechanisms to lessen the burden on taxpayers. This type of collaboration between regulators and regulatees should be emulated and I hope it will continue to be pursued even after this time of crisis.

DEBIT CREDIT

The Department of Finance recently reported that the collections of the top 2 collection agencies, i.e., the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) for the first quarter of the year amounted only to P600.86 billion. This is 1.66 percent lower than the previous year’s first quarter gatherings of P611.03 billion. Compared to the tax collection goal, the shortfall was much higher

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collections. I anticipate that the full adverse impact on tax collections is still forthcoming since the business slowdown brought about by the Covid-19 lockdown started only in the latter part of March. Hence, it can be expected that the corresponding slowdown in tax payments arising from such will be felt only thereafter. Another barometer as to how BIR tax collections may move is the payment of the income taxes for 2019 operations, which traditionally are fully paid by April 15 of the following year. The collection goal for this amounts to P175.8 billion or a substantial 7 percent of BIR collections expected from this source of taxes for the month of April. However, since the tax payment deadline for the 2019 income tax payments have been extended to May 30, 2020, the BIR will be anxiously awaiting if the income tax payments will be up to expectations. Taxpayers definitely are feeling the pinch of dwindling funds due to the slowdown or closure of business operations. I implore our taxpayers to prioritize amounts from their available finances for the payment of their taxes, which are

Joel L. Tan-Torres

How crisis reveals a company’s values

By Agnes Dioso

hard; and there are still a lot of good people in the world.”

These revelations and more have resulted in my own adjustment of priorities and discarding of old habits. The quarantine has afforded me the time for spring-cleaning, literally. This untimely Spring Cleaning allowed me to declutter my desk at home and get rid of subtle distractions, which I just discovered in the process. This unwanted “Spring Cleaning” cleared my usual schedule so I can get rid of unnecessary stuff in my cabinets, drawers, refrigerator and pantry.

While we can literally get rid of unnecessary material things in our homes, we can also get rid of the intangibles in our lives. Curiously, various religious practices are linked to the origins of Spring Cleaning.

Jewish custom says spring-cleaning is linked to Passover. Before commemorating the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt, a general cleaning takes place in order to

Monday, April 27, 2020

Joel L. Tan-Torres is the Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business. He was the former Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the chairman of the Professional Regulatory Board of Accountancy and partner of Reyes Tacandong & Co. and the SyCip Gorres and Velayo & Co. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who garnered No. 1 in the CPA Board Examination of May 1979.

This column accepts contributions from the business community. Articles not exceeding 600 words can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com

Agnes Dioso is SVP for Client Experience at WSP Inc. She has been working in the Advertising and PR industry for over 26 years, managing accounts covering a diverse range of categories, from corporate, health, finance to technology and FMCGs. Her interests include musical theater, new age philosophies, food trips, theme parks, and western pop-culture.

She is aggieboo120ph on Twitter and Instagram.

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Hospitals in woman’s death face NBI probe

By Joel R. San Juan

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@jrsanjuan1573

HE Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sunday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe six hospitals that reportedly turned away a woman seeking medical attention after giving birth at home —rejections which eventually led to her death.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he instructed the NBI officials to submit in 10 days a report on the death of Kathy Bulatao who, according to reports, gave birth inside her home in Caloocan City on the afternoon of April 24 with the help of a midwife.

Jan Christian Bulatao, the victim’s husband, said his wife suffered complications and was in need of an operation to remove the placenta from her uterus.

He said he first rushed Kathy to North Caloocan Doctors Hospital where she was briefly admitted but was eventually referred to the nearby Commonwealth Hospital and Medical Center (CHMC) due to lack of blood supply for the victim.

However, the husband claimed the CHMC did not accept them due to lack of rooms and the presence of Covid-19 patients in the hospital.

Jan said he was forced to travel to the Far Eastern University (FEU) Hospital in Fairview, where they were reportedly asked to give a down payment of P30,000.

Since he did not have the money for a down payment at that time, Jan said he decided to bring his wife to the Bermudez Polymedic Hospital in Caloocan but they were told by the hospital that it has no equipment to do the necessary operation.

This prompted them to seek medical assistance at the Skyline Hospital and Medical Center and Grace General Hospital in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, but both said they did not have an obstetrician available.

Inflation for poorest 30% slows to 2.3% in Q1 on cheaper rice

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HEAPER rice prices in the first three months of the year slowed the inflation experienced by the poorest 30 percent of the population, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA data showed inflation for the Bottom 30 percent of the population slowed to 2.3 percent in the Januaryto-March period. This is the slowest since 2017 when inflation was at 2.1 percent in the same period.

In March, inflation for the poorest averaged 2.4 percent, slower than the 3.4 percent posted in

March 2019. However, this was higher than the 2.1 percent posted in February 2020.

“The average inflation rate of the Bottom 30 percent of income households during the first quarter 2020 is at 2.3 percent, which is lower compared to the same period in 2019—average 4.3 percent. This

is due to low inflation in the heavy weighted food group, particularly rice,” Claire Dennis S. Mapa Mapa told BusinessMirror over the weekend.

“For the month of March 2020, the inflation rate for this group of households is 2.4 percent compared to 2.1 percent in February 2020. The 0.3-percentage point increase is mainly due to increases in specific food items such as fish, eggs and fruits attributed to supply concerns because of the ECQ [enhanced community quarantine],” he explained.

However, Mapa said a clearer picture of the consumption of the poorest Filipinos during the ECQ may be drawn from the upcoming data that PSA is collecting.

Mapa said the PSA is currently conducting a consumer assessment

survey related to Covid-19, and the data are being collected along with the April 2020 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS).

“The inflation is just tracking prices. We will wait for the results of the April 2020 round of the Labor Force Survey and the rider questions on consumer assessment related to Covid 19. The data collection is still ongoing,” Mapa said.

March inflation for poorest

PSA data on the poorest Filipinos showed that in March, the increase in inflation was due to the 1.1-percent increase in the heavilyweighted food and non-alcoholic beverages index.

The PSA also observed higher annual increments were posted in the indices of health; and recreation and culture, both at 3.4 percent.

POLO move vs caregiver in Taiwan slammed

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Continued on A4

Gatchalians give ₧30-M supplies to fight virus

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O help equip the country’s health-care system in flattening the curve, the Gatchalian family donated medical supplies and complete sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) worth P30 million. The items were turned over to the National Task Force Covid-19 and received by NTF Covid-19 Head and Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana and NTF Covid-19 Chief Implementer and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Reconciliation and Unity Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr. A C-130 cargo plane carrying the supplies and equipment purchased from Fujian, China, landed at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The items include 20,000 pieces of PPE, 3,000 pieces of face shields, 3,000 pieces of goggles, 100,000 pieces of gloves, 42,000 pieces of KN-95 face masks, and 500,000 pieces of surgical face masks.

Senator Win Gatchalian and Valenzuela 1st District Representative Wes Gatchalian represented the Gatchalian family at the turnover.

Continued on A4

Data showed food inflation also increased to 1 percent in March 2020, higher than the 0.3 percent posted in February 2020 but slower than the 2.9 percent in March 2019.

Higher prices were also recorded in fish with 10.4 percent; Milk, cheese and egg, 3.8 percent; Oils and fats, 1.3 percent; Fruits, 8.6 percent; and Food products, not elsewhere classified, 9.3 percent.

In Metro Manila or the National Capital Region (NCR), prices increased 1.9 percent in March 2020, the same rate in February 2020 and lower at 2.9 percent in March 2019.

Prices in Areas Outside NCR (AONCR), meanwhile, increased 2.4 percent in March 2020. In the previous month, inflation in the area was recorded at 2.1 percent, and in the same month in 2019, 3.4 percent.

SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian (left) leads the turnover of his family’s donation of P30 million worth of medical supplies to the government in its fight against Covid-19. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana accepts the donation, witnessed by Rep. Wes Gatchalian of Valenzuela, AFP Chief of Staff Felimon Santos, and Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., Chief Implementer of the National Task Force Covid-19 and Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity. ROY DOMINGO

DOT soft sells PHL with new ‘dream’ ad

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

S

TAY home. Dream. Wake up in the Philippines.

This is the theme of the new social-media ad of the Department of Tourism (DOT), which was softly launched over the weekend on social-media channels to keep the Philippines top of mind among foreign tourists despite the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, DOT’s Assistant Secretary for Branding and Marketing Communications Howard Lance A. Uyking said the ad is available on the agency’s socialmedia accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like, “so it’s free. Given the limited budget, we want to do a full launch once we have the exact date/s of the lifting of the international travel restrictions.”

To introduce the new spot, the DOT wrote on its Twitter account

on Saturday: “To all our foreign friends, Beyond the Philippines’s breathtaking beaches, you can discover a wide range of adventures, getaways, and cultures. Until we can travel again, stay at home, dream, and #WakeUpInPH: http://philippines. travel/wakeupinph #TogetherInTravel #TravelFromHome.” The WakeUp link brings the visitor to a microsite that shows “wake up” videos for Central Visayas, the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Cordillera Administrative Region, and the Bicol region.

At the beginning of the new 60-second ad, images of people with their eyes closed, resting or sleeping, as if dreaming of floating in waters off a beach, trekking by a cave, scuba diving with fish swimming about, then lazily waking up to find themselves in destinations of the country. Among the featured destinations include the hills of Batanes, Mayon Volcano, Siargao, El Nido, the Banaue Rice Terraces, among others, as the tourists find themselves engaged in local activities like parasailing, driving AVRs, eating in

a fiesta, cycling in Vigan, among others.

The spot then ends with people closing their eyes again with words superimposed: “Until we can travel again, stay home, dream, and wake up in the Philippines.”

Uyking added the footages for the ad came from the shoots last year of DOT’s advertiser, BBDO Guerrero, “but we weren’t able to do a full launch due to Covid-19.” Last year, the DOT allotted P1.1 billion to create ads and place them in media channels to promote the Philippines for the fourth quarter until early 2020. (See, “DOT allots P600M to develop, place ads targetting ‘opportunity markets,” in the BusinessMirror, July 30, 2019.)

Under the government’s National Tourism Development Plan for 2016-2022, the DOT was targeting about 9.2 million foreign tourists to arrive in the Philippines this year, after having reached 8.26 million inbound arrivals in 2019.

According to the United Nations

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourist arrivals are projected to plunge by 20 percent to 30 percent and “could translate into a decline in international tourism receipts (exports) of between $300 billion to $450 billion, almost one-third of the $1.5 trillion generated in 2019. Taking into account past market trends, this would mean that between five and seven years’ worth of growth will be lost to Covid-19.”

The global tourism group noted that in 2009, on the back of the global economic crisis, international tourist arrivals declined by 4 percent, while the SARS outbreak led to a decline of just 0.4 percent in 2003.

In its report published on April 17, the UNWTO said, “96 percent of all worldwide destinations have introduced travel restrictions, in response to the pandemic. Around 90 destinations have completely or partially closed their borders to tourists, while a further 44 are closed to certain tourists depending on country of origin.”

HE coalition of the country’s largest labor groups on Sunday called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to probe the looming “illegal” deportation of a Filipino caregiver in Taiwan for allegedly committing cyber libel against President Duterte.

Nagkaisa said the ongoing initiative of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to bring home Elanel Egot Ordidor to be held accountable in her country is not only excessive but also legally questionable.

“A person in public office must not be too thin-skinned with reference to comment upon his official acts,” Nagkaisa said in a letter it sent to Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on April 26, 2020.

Nagkaisa Chairman and Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President Sonny Matula said the alleged posting by Ordidor of “nasty and malevolent” thing does not merit such a harsh treatment especially from the POLO, which is primarily mandated to assist Filipino nationals.

On Saturday, DOLE issued a statement that the POLO in Taichung, Taiwan, already coordinated with Ordidor’s employer for her deportation for violating the cyber libel law or Republic Act 10175.

“We went to view two of her postings and we found them neither defamatory or libelous. Personal hurt or embarrassment, even if real, is not automatically equivalent to libel or defamation,” Matula said.

He stressed that it should be the defamed party, in this case Duterte, who should initiate the charges against Ordidor.

“As we understand, libel cannot be filed by any person aside from the one defamed, according to the last paragraph of Article 360 of the Revised Penal Code. Is there a case filed by President Duterte, the one whom the defamations were allegedly directed at, against Ms. Ordidor?” Matula said.

Matula said DOLE should clarify this first through an administrative investigation since the case against Ordidor will set a ‘dangerous precedent,” which could undermine the freedom of speech and right to travel of workers.

Continued on A4

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, April 27, 2020

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SEC: Deadline for submission of governance reports extended

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By VG Cabuag

@villygc

he Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it is pushing back its deadlines for publicly listed companies to comply with their reportorial requirements due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a notice dated April 22, the SEC announced the extension of the deadline for the submission of the integrated annual corporate governance report (I-ACGR) until July 30.

The extension shall automatically apply, but the listed companies may submit the I-ACGR on the original deadline.

Under normal circumstances, publicly listed companies are re-

Grab expands cashless services as demand grows

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

S

UPER app Grab has expanded its services to accommodate the growing demand for cashless payments amid the coronavirus disease 2019 crisis.

Grab has expanded its GrabPay service to allow ewallet holders to pay for their GrabMart purchases.

GrabMart, the latest delivery service introduced in the app, allows users to purchase groceries from Grab retail partners Robinsons Supermarket, Great Deals Ecommerce Cor p., FamilyMart, Starbucks, ASSI Fresh Plaza, Fetch! Naturals, and Freshmart among others.

Aside from this, GrabPay Philippines Head Johnny Bates said GrabPay users may also use their digital wallets to pay for their GrabFood and GrabExpress orders and deliveries; pay bills such as utility bills and government dues; and pay for items in partner establishments such as SM and Watsons.

They may also opt to send money to their loved ones through GrabPay. “ We a r e n a v i g a t i n g t h roug h u nprecedented times and we are seeing a huge shift towards digital payments to minimize the spread of the virus. As a technology company that serves the everyday needs of our consumers, we have stepped up our cashless solutions to help our fellow Filipinos get more things done from the comfort of their homes, all within one GrabPay wallet,” said Bates.

GrabPay was rolled out in the Philippines in 2016 as a built-in mobile wallet that allows users to pay for their Grab rides without the need for physical cash. It was then developed further, as Grab decided to shift from merely a transport app into a super app.

quired to submit the I-ACGR every May 30 while they remain listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The SEC also extended the deadline for the submission of the sustainability report for publicly listed companies whose fiscal years ended on December 31, 2019, or November 30, 2019.

The SEC on April 21 issued SEC Memorandum Circular 13, Series

of 2020 to allow publicly listed companies to submit the sustainability report, as an attachment to the annual report, until June 30, or 60 days from the lifting of travel restrictions, whichever comes later.

The new deadline aligns with the extension of the filing period for the annual report and/or audited financial statement, as earlier provided under SEC Memorandum Circular 5, Series of 2020.

An annual report filed without the sustainability report will not be considered incomplete, provided it will be submitted by June 30. In such cases, the company shall file an amended annual report.

A sustainability report filed through an amended annual report shall be accompanied by a copy of the previously submitted annual report and a certification signed by the company’s president.

The certification should state, among others, that the company is

submitting the sustainability report and that no other changes were made to the annual report previously filed.

Publicly listed companies may avail of the extension without having to file a request. However, they may still submit the Sustainability Report together with the Annual Report on the original deadline, which is 105 days after the end of the fiscal year, or April 14.

The SEC has required publicly listed companies to submit the sustainability report as part of the annual report starting this year, under SEC Memorandum Circular 4, Series of 2019.

“The resilience of the business sector is integral to the recovery of our economy,” said SEC Chairman Emilio B. Aquino.

“The leeway in complying with the reportorial requirements should allow companies to focus their efforts on coping with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and supporting our economy,” Aquino added.

PAL carries out 90 international sweeper flights

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

yala Corp. is shortening its cycle planning as the country's oldest conglomerate adapts to the new normal, which it hopes to happen during the third or fourth quarter of the year.

“It is difficult to plan for the long term under the current environment, we are forced to shorten our cycle planning,” Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, the company's chairman, said during Ayala’s stockholders' meeting done online last Friday.

The conglomerate is looking at three phases of resumption of its operations with the lifting of the lockdown, especially in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

In the first phase, Zobel said the Ayala group is preparing for the reentry of the work force, with the safety and health of employees as the group’s priority.

“Phase two is ensuring the business resiliency a few months after ECQ. Spend a lot of time readjusting

to a new work environment as the ECQ is lifted,” he said, referring to the enhanced community quarantine.

This also entails monitoring consumer behavior, market behavior and regulatory shift to make assessment how the world changed, he said.

Zobel said the current environment has made it more pressing to use technology given that people cannot no longer move as they wish.

“And phase three is what call the new normal,” Zobel said, noting that this could be in the third or fourth quarter of this year when the company will start to understand the situation a little better.

In this stage, the company may start to expand its work force, while adjusting its market tactics, he said.

“In the case of employees how to balance their well-being and productivity, our customers, how do we retain them over the long term. And our operations and sustainability, how do we handle those environment,” he said. VG Cabuag

DOLE suspends Labor Day job fairs

By Samuel P. Medenilla

F

lag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) was able to carry out 90 international and 40 domestic sweeper flights during months-long lockdown to repatriate foreigners out of the Philippines and to bring in distressed Filipinos from abroad.

A PAL A330-300 left Manila to head out to Male on Saturday, the capital city of the Maldives, to repatriate some 338 distressed Filipinos, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) which shouldered the cost of the charter.

In a separate PAL flight chartered by the DFA, 185 overseas Filipino workers (OFW ) were brought, home from Bangkok, Thailand last Saturday. On the same day, DFA frontliners “welcomed and assisted 252 Filipino cruise ship crews from the United Kingdom and 207 OFWs from Equatorial Guinea and Congo."

“Aside from the DFA chartered flight from Thailand, our post in London, Sydney, Chicago and Los Angeles repatriated 684 distressed OFWs on four other flights to NAIA [Ninoy Aquino International Airport], where they were met and assisted by our DFA frontliner. That’s a wrap [for] today,” DFA Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns Brigido J. Dulay said in a tweet Saturday night.

Villaluna said another flight also left on Sunday for Heathrow, London, to bring out some British nationals caught by the lockdown in some remote resorts in the country.

“Many Filipinos have also been repatriated and would take the PAL returning flight from Heathrow to the NAIA,” Villaluna said.

Although commercial flights will remain suspended until May 16, PAL continues to operate not only sweeper flights but all-cargo flights as well. Since March 24, the carrier has operated flights to Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, London, Auckland, and a few Asian destinations.

“All of these flights brought home our fellow Filipinos who were caught by the lockdown in some distant parts of the globe,” said Villaluna.

Historically, she said PAL has always played a "huge role" in repatriating Filipinos, even from countries not in their destination list and even during times of war or civil unrest.

Pandemic prompts Ayala to shorten cycle planning A

@sam_medenilla

J

ob seekers will have to wait until after the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis is over before they can apply in any of the job fairs organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

DOLE announced on Sunday that it is suspending its largest simultaneous nationwide Labor Day job fairs for this year in compliance with existing measures to fight Covid-19, particularly in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Areas under ECQ until May 15 due to the high number of Covid-19 cases are Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.

Labor Assistant Secretary OIC Dominique R. Tutay said the postponement will also apply to the DOLE's other regular job fairs.

“We have written instructions to our Regional Offices [on the suspension of job fairs] and the same has not been lifted yet,” said Tutay.

She said the budget for the job

fairs remain intact under their employment facilitation programs, so they will be ready to implement it once the Covid-19 crisis is over.

Currently, the DOLE official said the agency's funds are being spent on social protection and ensuring the welfare of workers affected by Covid-19.

Mass gatherings, which includes onsite job fairs, remain prohibited in areas under ECQ. The same rule is encouraged in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ), or areas which have more relaxed quarantine measures compared to locations under ECQ .

Tutay said the DOLE’s Labor Day celebration on Friday will be simpler than the ones staged in previous years.

In a previous statement, DOLE said President Duterte and Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III will just issue their respective Labor Day messages on May 1.

Bello is also expected to unveil DOLE’s employment and productivity recovery plan for Covid-19 on that day.

EDC program aids communities In 1991, PAL repatriated Filipinos caught in the Gulf war during Operation Desert Storm, while in 2014, the airline brought home Filipinos caught in civil war in Libya.

While the world is waging war with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), “PAL takes extra precautionary measures to ensure the safety of every flight, providing Personal Protective Equipment for our flight attendants to ensure their safety,” Villaluna said, adding the airline also adheres to strict government-imposed safety protocols.

Cebu Pacific advisory

Cebu Pacific announced that all its domestic and international flights and Cebgo flights remain cancelled from May 1 to 15 due to the extension of the enhanced community quarantine imposed over much of Luzon and the implementation of general community quarantine over other provinces.

However, Cebu Pacific said it will continue to mount all-cargo flights to support the movement of vital goods, including medicines and personal protective equipment across the country.

“We will provide updates on

when we will restart passenger operations as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement.

Cebu Pacific said it is encouraging passengers on cancelled flights to manage their bookings online via its website, http://bit. ly/CEBmanageflight, before their scheduled travel dates. They may select any of the following options: n Free rebooking—Rebook to any other travel date within three (3) months. Change (rebooking) fees and fare difference are waived; n Full Travel Fund—Place the full cost of the ticket in a Travel Fund valid for one year. If the Travel Fund is not used within one year, passengers can apply for a full refund; n Full refund—Processing of refunds will start after the Community Quarantine is lifted and regular work schedules resume.

However, due to the unprecedented volume of requests for refunds, the company said the process will take as long as 3 to 4 billing cycles.

For flights booked through a travel agent, Cebu Pacific urged passengers to coordinate with them to manage the booking.

L

opez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said is addressing the the livelihood and environmental concerns of local communities via its 30-year-old Baslay coffee program.

Allan Barcena, head of EDC's corporate social responsibility-public relations group, said the initiative has transformed slash-and-burn farmers in the mountains of Baslay in Dauin, Negros Oriental into forest stewards.

The company said it was able to do so by providing them alternative and lucrative coffee farming livelihood, effectively turning them away from their former environmentally destructive practices.

“We believe that just as important as the implementation and positive impact of our various CSR and stakeholder relations programs is the way they are communicated,” said Barcena a statement.

Under the leadership of its chairman and CEO Federico Lopez, EDC revealed it would only develop clean energy. In 2017, the company adopted the First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) Sustainability Framework, which underscores system value and recognies that business can only grow and prosper if there is judicious management if ecosystems and natural resources.

Meanwhile, EDC recently bagged top Grand Anvil prize at the 55th Anvil Awards of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), along with 12 other trophies for communication excellence in its PR, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability programs.

EDC’s entry “Baslay Coffee: Brewing a Better Life for Kaingeros” received a Gold Anvil and was subsequently deemed the most outstanding among all other recipients, thus earning it the highest Grand Anvil distinction.

The Anvil Awards is the annual prestigious event of the Philippine public relations industry that recognizes exemplary, effective and innovative PR and communications programs and tools by companies, organizations and agencies.

EDC also won various other Gold and Silver Anvils in both PR program and PR tool categories for its projects such as the Positive Energy Negros Facebook page, the #MaketheShift geothermal energy advocacy, BINHI national greening legacy program, GeoSkwela youth dialogue on sustainability, OMGeo eco-tourism vlog series, and CSR initiatives under the Mt. Apo Foundation Inc. (MAFI) as well as the organization’s 25th anniversary coffee table book. Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

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Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, April 27, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

April 24, 2020

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

48 99.95 59.5 19.84 7.8 38.8 8.5 23.45 41.05 17.5 102 54 0.64 16.4 2.83 0.9 0.29 601 0.57 163 1520

48.5 100 59.55 19.9 7.85 39 8.8 23.5 42.35 17.52 103.4 54.6 0.88 16.42 2.98 0.94 0.3 639 0.66 165 1640

48.5 101.9 60 19.9 7.96 39.45 8.65 23.4 41.2 17.94 106 54.8 0.88 16.2 2.84 0.94 0.295 600 0.65 162.5 1510

48.5 101.9 61.5 19.98 7.98 39.5 8.65 23.9 42.45 17.94 106 54.8 0.88 16.42 2.84 0.94 0.295 600 0.65 163 1510

48 99.6 59.2 19.84 7.78 38.75 8.5 23.4 41 17.5 102 54 0.88 16.2 2.84 0.9 0.29 600 0.65 162.5 1510

48 100 59.5 19.84 7.85 39 8.5 23.5 41 17.52 102 54 0.88 16.4 2.84 0.9 0.29 600 0.65 163 1510

1300 2092570 1272440 113300 283600 4574900 26200 68500 2500 34600 347160 12100 1000 74400 6000 3000 40000 20 10000 350 500

63000 209750110.5 75838087 2252210 2220026 178774415 223027 1614620 103735 610264 35729060 653465 880 1213312 17040 2780 11650 12000 6500 56980 755000

-4800 -42652834.5 -47880128.5 -1188038 -728505 46749265 -277880 -15768 -21143652 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 2.3 2.31 2.28 2.36 2.24 2.31 9113000 20899340 ABOITIZ POWER 26.55 26.85 27.4 27.4 26.35 26.55 883500 23458280 BASIC ENERGY 0.17 0.18 0.17 0.18 0.17 0.18 50000 8700 FIRST GEN 18.48 18.5 18.56 18.66 18.24 18.48 2901400 53643628 FIRST PHIL HLDG 55.5 56.2 55.9 56.05 55.5 55.5 9910 554356 MERALCO 256 256.4 258 262.4 255 256 146090 37457966 MANILA WATER 10.7 10.84 10.9 10.94 10.7 10.7 1426100 15382756 PETRON 3.14 3.15 3.2 3.26 3.12 3.14 2520000 7972900 2.34 2.35 2.5 2.5 2.35 2.35 25000 59050 PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM 11.24 11.38 11.96 11.96 11.1 11.38 499900 5852878 18.2 18.38 18.66 18.8 18.18 18.2 609900 11179250 PILIPINAS SHELL 7.82 7.95 7.9 7.95 7.8 7.95 30000 237642 SPC POWER AGRINURTURE 8.3 8.31 7.68 8.36 7.68 8.31 2294200 18644508 2.67 2.7 2.61 2.72 2.6 2.67 1955000 5222020 AXELUM 12.56 13.94 13.96 13.96 13.96 13.96 100 1396 CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD 14 14.08 14 14.06 14 14 640200 8975352 DEL MONTE 3.5 3.65 3.5 3.52 3.36 3.52 43000 150090 DNL INDUS 5.47 5.5 5.6 5.69 5.45 5.5 1501500 8253596 EMPERADOR 7.9 7.97 7.98 7.98 7.9 7.9 3070400 24377604 SMC FOODANDBEV 57.7 57.95 59 59 57 57.7 346220 19860791 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.53 0.54 0.52 0.54 0.52 0.53 1148000 606320 FRUITAS HLDG 1.4 1.41 1.44 1.45 1.39 1.4 11107000 15673980 JOLLIBEE 134.3 134.4 137.8 137.8 133.7 134.3 1040620 140113927 MACAY HLDG 6.34 6.35 6.34 6.34 6.31 6.34 4800 30318 6.03 6.06 6.08 6.09 5.85 6.05 467700 2803310 MAXS GROUP 0.126 0.144 0.115 0.144 0.115 0.144 120000 14670 MG HLDG 1.9 1.91 1.91 1.91 1.87 1.91 3120000 5928190 PEPSI COLA 5.97 5.99 6.12 6.12 5.87 5.97 386200 2312577 SHAKEYS PIZZA 1.59 1.63 1.45 1.7 1.44 1.63 9927000 14864980 ROXAS AND CO 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.49 4.5 9000 40490 RFM CORP 1.39 1.44 1.39 1.44 1.38 1.43 27000 37810 ROXAS HLDG UNIV ROBINA 118.4 118.5 120 120 116.5 118.4 1141500 135349064 VITARICH 0.8 0.81 0.83 0.83 0.8 0.81 2443000 1984590 CONCRETE A 51.05 59.85 59.9 59.9 49.05 50.5 430 22099 CONCRETE B 52.05 69 69.8 69.8 69.8 69.8 110 7678 CEMEX HLDG 1.04 1.05 1.03 1.05 1.03 1.04 2555000 2657520 EAGLE CEMENT 8.2 8.45 7.97 8.47 7.97 8.45 58300 483044 EEI CORP 5.08 5.1 5.12 5.24 5.05 5.08 5018600 25612643 HOLCIM 11 11.28 11.4 11.4 10.9 11.28 578600 6487928 MEGAWIDE 6.65 6.75 7.2 7.2 6.55 6.65 1871100 12533703 8.5 8.88 8.88 8.88 8.88 8.88 1300 11544 PHINMA TKC METALS 0.75 0.79 0.74 0.8 0.74 0.79 41000 31780 VULCAN INDL 0.69 0.71 0.7 0.72 0.69 0.69 315000 218980 140.3 188.6 140.3 140.3 140.3 140.3 50 7015 CHEMPHIL 1.76 1.79 1.79 1.79 1.76 1.79 109000 193740 CROWN ASIA EUROMED 2.9 2.91 2.94 3.3 2.9 2.9 22867000 70292340 4.6 4.93 4.6 4.6 4.6 4.6 1000 4600 LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL 3.4 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.4 3.5 7000 24100 CONCEPCION 23.55 24 24.3 24.3 23.55 24 21900 525730 GREENERGY 1.21 1.22 1.17 1.22 1.12 1.22 5407000 6356510 INTEGRATED MICR 5.8 5.9 5.91 6 5.7 5.8 621500 3605959 IONICS 1.15 1.16 1.13 1.15 1.13 1.15 260000 298270 SFA SEMICON 1.04 1.06 1.04 1.06 1.03 1.06 528000 555340 CIRTEK HLDG 8.39 8.4 8.68 9.1 8.32 8.4 11502600 100745375

2797519.9997 -17933145 19495904.0004 -138290.5 -21490256 -6479612 -1442530 -600808 -7884576 -253821 643800 -127440 -41590 -3212794 -11962890 4327383.5 -123910 13388699 -631769 -4320 4699800 576086 14050 -4490 -55474289 -76230 -49720 -50634 -2681394 -3696224 -8518267 1400 7015 -97270 -304700 -328250 -35847 -252870

HOLDING & FRIMS ARTHALAND CORP 0.57 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.57 0.59 1472000 855760 AYALA LAND 28.9 28.95 30.25 30.5 28.9 28.9 17380700 511353825 ARANETA PROP 1.02 1.09 1.03 1.08 1 1.02 84000 88580 BELLE CORP 1.3 1.31 1.31 1.32 1.31 1.31 73000 95750 A BROWN 0.56 0.57 0.55 0.56 0.54 0.56 1598000 880440 CITYLAND DEVT 0.72 0.75 0.72 0.74 0.72 0.74 31000 22720 CEBU HLDG 5.9 5.99 5.9 5.99 5.9 5.9 3000 17709 CEB LANDMASTERS 3.92 3.98 3.95 3.98 3.92 3.98 170000 674630 0.35 0.365 0.365 0.365 0.35 0.35 3580000 1274850 CENTURY PROP 15.9 16.1 16.1 16.1 15.9 16.1 88800 1423000 DOUBLEDRAGON 7.05 7.18 7.15 7.2 7.1 7.17 49200 352180 DM WENCESLAO 0.29 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 60000 18000 EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND 0.9 0.92 0.94 0.94 0.9 0.9 10052000 9133200 0.8 0.81 0.8 0.83 0.8 0.83 12000 9900 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 10.22 10.94 11.48 11.48 10 10.5 52100 585218 0.81 0.82 0.85 0.85 0.81 0.82 448000 369480 PHIL INFRADEV MEGAWORLD 2.59 2.62 2.68 2.71 2.59 2.59 24782000 64849460 MRC ALLIED 0.162 0.164 0.165 0.166 0.157 0.164 13250000 2141370 PHIL ESTATES 0.3 0.325 0.325 0.325 0.325 0.325 10000 3250 PRIMEX CORP 1.5 1.51 1.52 1.65 1.49 1.51 691000 1043380 ROBINSONS LAND 15.38 15.5 15.6 15.6 15.2 15.5 5214900 80599468 PHIL REALTY 0.234 0.238 0.24 0.24 0.233 0.235 160000 37690 ROCKWELL 1.5 1.54 1.55 1.55 1.54 1.54 127000 195910 SHANG PROP 2.68 2.69 2.67 2.7 2.67 2.69 30000 80620 1.85 1.88 1.89 1.89 1.85 1.88 18000 33740 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 28.6 28.65 30.25 30.25 27.5 28.65 16089200 465182705 3.93 4 3.96 4.09 3.93 4 57000 228830 VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME 1.25 1.28 1.2 1.33 1.2 1.28 3194000 4064270 VISTA LAND 4.04 4.07 4.1 4.15 4.02 4.06 713000 2,892,200(

-239048170 -3930 5500 -575670 -10800 -605036 164580 -733450 -62886 -30536610 1580 -18937226 -53770 -153417450 1,264,190.0001)

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.56 0.57 0.56 0.57 0.55 0.57 732000 407710 AYALA LAND 30.2 30.3 30.6 31.15 30.2 30.2 5184700 158624895 ARANETA PROP 1.04 1.08 1.08 1.08 1.04 1.04 54000 56200 BELLE CORP 1.31 1.34 1.31 1.34 1.3 1.31 119000 156140 A BROWN 0.54 0.55 0.54 0.57 0.53 0.55 1671000 914090 CITYLAND DEVT 0.72 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.74 12000 8890 CROWN EQUITIES 0.121 0.131 0.134 0.134 0.134 0.134 10000 1340 CEBU HLDG 5.92 5.99 5.9 6 5.9 5.99 65200 390563 3.92 4.02 4 4.02 3.98 4.02 376000 1509300 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.36 0.365 0.355 0.36 0.355 0.36 5310000 1901700 CENTURY PROP DOUBLEDRAGON 16 16.08 16 16.1 15.9 16.08 58300 935424 7.1 7.15 6.98 7.15 6.95 7.15 11800 83813 DM WENCESLAO 0.29 0.325 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 90000 26100 EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND 0.92 0.94 0.93 0.94 0.92 0.94 2236000 2077880 0.83 0.85 0.8 0.87 0.79 0.83 444000 361010 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 11.5 11.52 11.56 11.56 11.5 11.5 9300 106956 PHIL INFRADEV 0.8 0.82 0.8 0.83 0.79 0.8 1112000 892740 MEGAWORLD 2.67 2.71 2.74 2.77 2.67 2.67 8556000 23250880 MRC ALLIED 0.165 0.166 0.171 0.171 0.162 0.165 17690000 2934970 PHIL ESTATES 0.305 0.325 0.33 0.33 0.3 0.325 1010000 320500 PRIMEX CORP 1.53 1.66 1.68 1.68 1.53 1.65 32000 49650 ROBINSONS LAND 15.54 15.6 15.32 15.8 15.3 15.6 2365700 36701108 PHIL REALTY 0.233 0.242 0.231 0.248 0.23 0.241 320000 75780 ROCKWELL 1.51 1.53 1.51 1.56 1.51 1.53 266000 410950 2.65 2.7 2.7 2.71 2.65 2.65 43000 115420 SHANG PROP 1.85 1.87 1.89 1.89 1.85 1.85 35000 65430 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 30.25 30.4 30.2 30.45 30.05 30.25 8418700 254802130 3.9 4.1 4.19 4.5 3.87 4.1 300000 1233160 VISTAMALLS SUNTRUST HOME 1.2 1.23 1.23 1.26 1.18 1.2 1893000 2310870 VISTA LAND 4.07 4.08 4.1 4.17 4.06 4.08 3564000 14550680

-32247860 -37400 8140 307287 -598040 265319.9997 -8393 -99170 -11500 -9651510 2888486 -26420 -63074950 -522650

SERVICES

ABS CBN GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN MLA BRDCASTING GLOBE TELECOM PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL DFNN INC DITO CME HLDG ISLAND INFO JACKSTONES NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER LBC EXPRESS LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A METROALLIANCE B PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG DISCOVERY WORLD WATERFRONT IPEOPLE STI HLDG BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES PH RESORTS GRP PREMIUM LEISURE ALLHOME METRO RETAIL PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP EASYCALL GOLDEN BRIA PRMIERE HORIZON

16.6 4.92 0.36 10.22 2208 1225 0.037 2.85 2.28 0.071 1.48 1.87 0.199 2.45 10.92 15.54 3.42 47.55 78 13 0.7 5.09 2.63 2.51 7 0.9 1.11 0.029 1.51 0.405 6.04 0.355 2.43 5.49 1.68 1.5 2.86 0.315 5.75 1.72 46.3 60.8 130 1.19 13.98 0.3 6.9 320 0.265

16.74 4.93 0.375 10.68 2210 1227 0.039 3.03 2.29 0.08 1.96 1.88 0.203 2.48 10.98 16 3.45 47.6 79.9 13.5 0.79 5.1 2.64 2.59 7.3 0.91 1.23 0.03 1.84 0.42 8.4 0.36 2.49 5.5 1.69 1.51 2.99 0.32 5.8 1.73 46.4 61.3 135.9 1.2 14.1 0.32 7 330 0.27

16.78 4.93 0.37 10.68 2200 1174 0.039 2.81 2.27 0.08 1.78 1.9 0.196 2.6 10 16.88 3.6 47.05 82.2 13 0.79 4.78 2.17 2.1 7.29 0.93 1.24 0.03 1.32 0.415 8.4 0.35 2.27 5.71 1.68 1.51 2.81 0.31 5.9 1.73 46.95 61.6 137.8 1.22 14.1 0.31 7.67 320 0.24

16.8 4.93 0.37 10.68 2216 1230 0.039 3.03 2.33 0.08 1.78 1.91 0.206 2.6 12.5 16.88 3.68 48 82.2 13.5 0.79 5.09 2.89 2.82 7.35 0.95 1.24 0.03 1.51 0.42 8.4 0.36 2.6 5.71 1.69 1.51 3.1 0.315 5.9 1.75 46.95 61.6 137.8 1.24 14.4 0.32 7.67 320 0.275

16.6 4.92 0.36 10.68 2172 1172 0.038 2.81 2.22 0.079 1.78 1.85 0.196 2.42 9.5 15.4 3.42 47 78 13 0.79 4.69 2.06 2.1 7 0.89 1.11 0.029 1.32 0.4 8.4 0.335 2.27 5.46 1.65 1.5 2.81 0.305 5.7 1.71 45.95 60.8 130 1.2 13.8 0.31 6.8 320 0.24

16.6 4.93 0.36 10.68 2208 1227 0.039 3.03 2.28 0.079 1.78 1.88 0.203 2.45 10.92 16 3.42 47.55 78 13.4 0.79 5.09 2.64 2.51 7.3 0.91 1.11 0.03 1.51 0.42 8.4 0.355 2.49 5.5 1.69 1.5 2.99 0.315 5.75 1.72 46.4 60.8 130 1.2 14.1 0.32 7 320 0.265

74000 54000 290000 100 54135 371905 1500000 27000 40507000 550000 3000 1637000 9000000 2277000 5156200 8500 3472000 137800 797280 1700 22000 10297000 31020000 1012000 16900 1244000 9000 7600000 2000 1550000 1000 9710000 1145000 4701000 211000 122000 35000 6020000 1637000 1620000 3980300 475570 72450 2532000 4922800 480000 320900 60 47690000

1237072 266030 104600 1068 119128610 -37620160 452470040 102133905 57600 80620 92115680 -3141750 43800 5340 3082600 -19290 1810460 5648290 123090 58618684 -526768 134516 12240010 -22520 6525800 -1576845 63779560 -10370622.5 22650 -1300 17380 51,003,150( 13,842,260.0003) 80695900 2577640 -303500 122763 1131670 10120 227800 2830 628800 8400 3371950 34000 2827990 25917961 -1854096 348770 87450 183260 103920 1851650 9488023 4507734 2787810 184528275 10495555 28992740 -9303856 9648138 -231570 3059240 -2222650 68737970 20178186 151300 2267630 19200 -12800 12472330 -299800

MINING & OIL

ATOK 10.06 10.6 10.7 10.7 10.7 10.7 500 5350 APEX MINING 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.05 1 1.02 3706000 3827380 ABRA MINING 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.0011 0.001 0.0011 144000000 145000 ATLAS MINING 1.78 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 3000 5700 BENGUET A 1.04 1.1 1.03 1.03 1.03 1.03 10000 10300 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.201 0.205 0.209 0.209 0.205 0.205 160000 33060 CENTURY PEAK 2.69 2.72 2.71 2.71 2.71 2.71 50000 135500 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.7 6.5 6.5 4600 30350 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 0.74 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.73 0.75 1009000 747170 GEOGRACE 0.203 0.207 0.198 0.218 0.196 0.203 940000 190840 LEPANTO A 0.083 0.084 0.079 0.085 0.079 0.083 15530000 1259720 LEPANTO B 0.081 0.094 0.088 0.094 0.088 0.094 1370000 121380 MANILA MINING A 0.0066 0.0067 0.0065 0.0066 0.0065 0.0066 87000000 570900 MANILA MINING B 0.007 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 5000000 37500 MARCVENTURES 0.57 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.56 0.58 325000 185100 56999.9999 NIHAO 0.9 0.96 0.89 0.96 0.89 0.96 12000 11400 NICKEL ASIA 1.62 1.63 1.63 1.69 1.6 1.62 7987000 13122180 -3760480 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.475 0.5 0.495 0.495 0.48 0.48 490000 236400 PX MINING 2.28 2.32 2.33 2.34 2.29 2.32 564000 1306660 -302830 SEMIRARA MINING 11.82 11.88 12 12.02 11.82 11.82 956500 11367590 -4990594 UNITED PARAGON 0.004 0.0041 0.004 0.004 0.004 0.004 16000000 64000 ACE ENEXOR 6.75 7.03 7.22 7.22 6.7 6.75 240700 1656293 -673 PHILODRILL 0.0082 0.0084 0.0083 0.0084 0.0083 0.0084 14000000 117300 4.45 4.46 4.52 4.74 4.31 4.46 1242000 5565350 -206200 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED AC PREF B2R 495 504 495 504.5 495 504.5 1550 769845 CPG PREF A 98 100 99.5 99.5 99.5 99.5 500 49750 DD PREF 99 100 100 100 100 100 6720 672000 FGEN PREF G 103 107.4 107.5 107.5 103.2 103.2 3420 353030 MWIDE PREF 99.7 100 100 100 100 100 130 13000 PNX PREF 3A 98.85 99.5 98.8 98.8 98.8 98.8 380 37544 PNX PREF 4 1000 1010 1005 1010 1005 1010 555 558050 1001 1010 1000 1000 1000 1000 100 100000 PCOR PREF 3A PCOR PREF 3B 1020 1035 1011 1020 1011 1020 230 234510 SMC PREF 2C 76.5 76.9 76.5 76.5 76.4 76.4 2200 168280 SMC PREF 2D 74 74.5 74.9 74.9 74.9 74.9 10 749 SMC PREF 2E 74.2 74.9 74.2 74.2 74.2 74.2 30 2226 SMC PREF 2F 75.05 75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5 40000 3020000 SMC PREF 2G 74.4 75.05 74.4 75.05 74.4 75.05 11160 831057 SMC PREF 2H 74.1 75 74.1 74.1 74.1 74.1 3720 275652 SMC PREF 2I 75 75.5 75.5 75.5 75 75.5 7000 526000

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 15.5 15.9 15.78 15.9 15.78 15.9 510000 8108212 8106622

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.78 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.78 0.79 4000 3150

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 2.18 2.2 2.25 2.33 2.13 2.18 9011000 19911690 177470 KEPWEALTH 7.15 7.19 7.2 7.25 6.9 7.15 89800 632729 XURPAS 0.63 0.64 0.66 0.66 0.61 0.64 4150000 2613230 -64270

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 83.5 85 86 86 83.5 83.5 27770 2344917.5 115552.5

www.businessmirror.com.ph

San Miguel earmarks ₧11.7B to help govt fight pandemic

C

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

onglomerate San Miguel Corp. said it is setting aside some P11.67 billion in tax, concession and contractual payments throughout the quarantine period to make available funds needed to respond effectively to the challenges of the pandemic.

Of the amount, the country’s largest conglomerate has already paid government P8.77 billion, while the remaining balance will

be remitted before the end of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ ).

The company also said it com-

mitted to grant full-time pay to all its employees and extended work force as the ECQ remains in effect, even as it works round the clock mobilizing resources to help address the larger societal and economic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis.

“These are trying times and while we, as a company, are not immune to the challenges of this crisis, the safety and security of our work force will always come first. We do not want them worrying about their jobs,” said company President and COO Ramon S. Ang. It said the company has released full compensation with benefits amounting to over P3 billion for all its 66,557 employees, consultants and contract workers.

“We are also aware that we have a huge role to play across industries and we are lucky to be more equipped than the rest to navigate this crisis. That said, we remain steadfast in our commitment to assist government and continue providing assistance where it's most needed,” said Ang. To date, the conglomerate provided assistance of over P1 billion in the form of cash, food, flour, disinfectant alcohol, fuel, free toll and personal protective equipment donations to vulnerable communities and frontliners.

Food items given by the conglomerate inc lude bread and poultry products. San Miguel had recently announced that it would donate some P150 million worth of poultry products.

Grab riders get free insurance coverage M anufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Manulife) Philippines on Friday announced that it will provide free insurance coverage worth P3 billion to more than 60,000 active two-wheel riders from Grab and Lalamove.

“Delivery riders are essential in bringing necessities and important supplies safely to our doorsteps during this community quarantine,”

Richard Bates, president and CEO of Manulife Philippines said in a press statement.

Bates said online delivery companies are playing an important role in keeping the economy running in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, meeting the growing demand for contactless food delivery. Through the insurance coverage, Bates said riders will be assured that they are protected during the com-

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices plunged last week, ending four weeks of gains, as investors were concerned over falling crude prices, which fell into negative territory for the first time in history due to lack of demand.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) lost 324.99 points, or 5 percent to close at 5,464.98 points.

The market was down almost all week long except for Thursday, when it gained 25.80 points.

“The extremely limited bounce in the middle of the week encouraged investors to start taking cash off the table which intensified on Friday as blue-chip issues were heavily sold off with several ending at their lowest level for that day,” said Christopher Mangun, research head at AAA Securities Inc. “The sentiment deteriorated after the enhanced community quarantine was extended by another fifteen days which will intensify the strain on the economy,” Mangun added.

Volume of trade for the week was lower, only reaching an average value of P4.74 billion, while foreign investors were still net sellers at P3.08 billion.

All other subindices were down with the exception of the Services index, which gained 5.73 points to close at 1,300.57 points. The broader All Shares index was down 141.70 to close at 3,350.73, the Financials index dropped 47.03 to 1,188.68, the Industrial index fell 357.34 to 7,209.48, the Holding Firms index declined 369.94 to 5,361.78, the Property index plunged 248.23 to 2,715.46 and the Mining and Oil index shed 95.77 to 4,592.45.

For the week, losers edged gainers 121 to 100 and 17 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers for the week were 2Go Group Inc., Metro Alliance Holdings and Equities Corp. A and B shares, Easycall Communications Philippines Inc., Chemical Industries of the Philippines Inc., Italpinas Development Corp. and Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp.

Top losers were F and J Prince Holdings Corp. A, Discovery World Corp., Megawide Construction Corp., Concepcion Industrial Corp., Acesite (Phils.) Hotel Corp. and Primex Corp.

This week

Share prices may resume its upward trend this week, the last days of lockdown in some areas in Luzon, although many analyst are cautious as many investors may lock in their gains during the previous weeks.

This week will be a four-day trading week as May 1 is a public holiday.

“We may see the PSEi continue lower but may stay within the support that we set between 5,350 and 5,500. Investors will take this opportunity to lock in any profits that was made in the last six weeks. A strong surge of selling may scare buyers away which may send the whole market much lower to test our original target of 5,000 which is the major support level. We will know in the first few days of next week how investors will react,” said Mangun.

“As the restart process is extended, however, the economic dent is bound to affect firms' financial performance, but it is not too late to recover these dents so long as the restart process is firmly supported with no disruptions or relapses,” broker 2TradeAsia said, referring to the extended lockdown in many areas of the country, including Metro Manila.

This week, the United States Federal Reserve will convene and many are expecting another round of monetary easing.

2TradeAsia said if another rate cut is made, this would ripple to other regions, including those of the Philippines, which already made a cut of 125 basis points as of April 17.

Stock picks

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. advised to trade the range on the stock of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) as the stock is moving sideways after establishing a support at P815 per share.

“However, an uptick in buying pressure may be indicative of some short-term upward movement before pulling back,” the broker said, placing a weekly target on the stock at P855 per share.

SMIC shares closed Friday at P814 apiece.

Meanwhile, it gave the same recommendation on the stock of Security Bank Corp. as its stock price appeared to have established strong support at P100 per share. Security Bank shares closed last week at P102 apiece.

“Indicators continue to be mixed, pointing to sustained sideward movement. With momentum still on the low, there may be minimal movement for the stock for the rest of the week,” it said. VG Cabuag

munity quarantine’s critical period.

“As they face additional risks and challenges in serving our communities, we hope that with this insurance coverage from Manulife, we are able to somehow express how much we value them,” said Brian Cu, president of Grab Philippines.

Dannah Majarocon, managing director of Lalamove Philippines, also added: “By extend-

mutual funds

ing insurance coverage to them, we are letting them know that we are grateful for what they do, and we can take care of them when they need it most.”

Manulife Philippines is a wholly-owned domestic subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corp., among the world’s largest life insurance companies by market capitalization.

Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

April 24, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 184.88 -28.9% -11.19% -8.24% -26.6% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 0.9492 -40.8% -13.61% -8.72% -31.32% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.4714 -39.29% -16.08% -10.71% -32.81% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6373 -31.36% n.a. n.a. -28.96% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.6516 -24.14% n.a. n.a. -23.28% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.0119 -26.16% -8.66% -7.25% -24.71% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.6254 -27.82% -12.59% n.a.

-26.73% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 74.86 -41.31% n.a. n.a. -27.55% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 36.9732 -28.19% -9.8% n.a.

-27.9% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 396.98 -26.19% -9.28% -7.29% -25.49% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 0.8327 n.a. n.a. n.a. -19.16% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 0.9467 -27.1% -9.22% -6.45% -26.44% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 27.7879 -27.41% -8.54% -6.36% -26.68% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.7299 -28.89% n.a. n.a. -28.31% -6.32% -27.92% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.7652 -27.79% -9.21% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

629.31 -27.68% -9.2% -6.52% -27.84% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.5724 -38.43% -13.41% -10.48% -32.77% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 2.9488 -31.02% -10.14% -7.49% -29.94% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7225 -27.8% -9.36% n.a. -27.81% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.681 -27.28% -7.2% -5.34% -26.61% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 84.4081 -27.51% -8.71% -5.69% -27.83% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.8801 -15.36% -1.72% -4.12% -14.42% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.202 -6.72% 3.06% n.a. -12.82% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.4849 -13.02% -5.21% -5.21% -4.98% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 1.9398 -15.78% -5.74% -3.75% -11.06% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.3017 -12.1% -3.26% -4.71% -12.53% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.182 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-20.35% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.7779 -6.77% -1.64% -1.92% -9.43% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.2728 -10.34% -3.81% -3.58% -13.63% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 14.6485 -11.1% -3.92% -3.66% -13.63% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.8258 -14.2% -4.69% -3.22% -14.11% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.1071 -18.63% -5.52% -4.58% -19.58% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 0.8851 -10.44% n.a. n.a. -12.86% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.781 -20.86% n.a. n.a. -21.62% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.7596 -22.88% n.a. n.a. -23.52% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.7587 -22.09% -6.95% -6.33% -22.17% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03778 4.97% 2.03% 1.28% -1.18% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.9093 -0.97% -2.66% -12.39% -9.06% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.5078 -5.42% 2.23% 1.03% -10.3% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $1.0461 -3.55% 0.82% n.a.

-7.33% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 361.57 3.96% 2.93% 2.35% 1.05% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9263 2.29% 0.93% -0.28% 1.28% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1637 4.85% 5.18% 5.1% 1.52% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2573 4.65% 2.6% 2.03% 1.45% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3993 6.45% 2.74% 1.53% 1.7% 4.4484 10.55% 3.13% 1.79% 1.73% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.841 6.57% 3.41% 1.7% 1.39% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.008 9.89% 2.92% 1.17% 4.53% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1034 7.84% 4.4% 2.59% 0.89% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a

1.7165 7.62% 3.94% 2.26% 0.91% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $467.06 2.86% 2.2% 2.34% -0.25% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є213.47 -1.13% 0.46% 0.49% -2.85% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1727 0.51% 1.63% 1.58% -2.86% 1.06% 0.96% -0.39% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0257 1.98% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0436 -1.54% -0.88% -0.81% -4.71% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.3787 5.52% 2.47% 2.09% -1.04% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0594731 2.28% 1.44% 1.36% -1.39% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1418 6.1% 1.91% 2.01% -1.06% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 127.23 3.89% 3.08% 2.32% 1.15% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0362 2.73% n.a. n.a.

0.96% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2701 6.19% 3.44% 1.85% 1.07% 3.38% 3% 2.52% 0.96% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2767 Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0409 1.67% n.a. n.a.

0.36% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,4 $0.9 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-9.09% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

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

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

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

8 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Belmonte exempts lenders from restrictions during ECQ

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wners and employers of businesses lending to the poor in Quezon City are now exempted from restrictions imposed during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), Mayor Joy G. Belmonte said.

Through a statement issued over the weekend, Belmonte said “establishments providing microfinancing, loans or credit to residents will be allowed to operate within Quezon City amid the ECQ.” In Executive Order 29, Belmonte emphasized that the city government is duty-bound to ensure the availability of sources of loans and credit to the poor and marginalized, during the ECQ. “Entities that are duly regulated by governmental authorities to offer loans and credit will be allowed to operate so they can provide assistance to our citizens in need,” the QC official said.

“We believe that this addresses a gap in the rules, which is sorely needed by our less-fortunate residents, and we hope the national government feels the same way,” Belmonte said. “The EO is pro-poor and gives the poor access to loans that they can’t avail from common banks.”

Covered by the order are financial institutions supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, such as banks, non-stock savings and loans associations, money exchange/remittance companies, e-money issuers, payment system operators and pawnshops.

Financial service cooperatives,

credit cooperatives and multi-purpose cooperatives that provide savings and credit to their members, as regulated by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) will also be allowed to operate.

Other establishments, duly regulated by governmental authority, providing micro-financing, loans and other forms of credit to unemployed or low-income individuals were also exempted from the ECQ. Belmonte said in Tagalog she included banks, monetary financial institutions and other lending institutions so people who lost sources of income due to the ECQ imposition can borrow with ease as these businesses are less-strict in documentary requirements compared to banks.

“Isinama natin ang mga kooperatiba, MFIs at iba pang lending institutions para mas madaling makautang ang sinuman na nawalan ng pagkakakitaan dahil sa ECQ dahil kaunti lang ang requirements kumpara sa mga bangko.”

Belmonte’s EO 29 requires that these establishments must only deploy a skeletal workforce, who will be allowed to travel to and from their place of operation.

“The personnel are enjoined to follow the strict rules on social distancing, mass gathering, the wearing of face masks and to observe proper hygiene,” Belmonte said.

Employees of said establishments are also advised to carry their valid identification card duly issued by their companies for validation purposes by law enforcers. Alladin S. Diega

Perspectives

Aligning business goals with security imperatives

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any organizations have spent massively on cyber security, both on tooling and personnel. Today, some feel the need to cut back.

In that sense, the cost of security has become a major focus—perhaps as much as security itself. In an effort to manage costs and ensure that business and security priorities are aligned, companies are automating significant portions of their cyber functionality by putting digitized cyber risk management processes in place to ensure they ladder up to the organization’s top-line operational and business strategies.

The landscape as we see it

In reviewing many risk models, we find the concept of business-driven risk scenarios to be lacking. The viewpoint of the business needs to go hand-in-hand with the viewpoint of the cyber security team and that is not the case at enough organizations.

The identification of these risk scenarios should be led by the business.

And the process would be much more effective if it were informed by a model that enables business leads to better understand the impact security controls may have on those risk scenarios. Many companies don’t get that insight consistently, making it challenging to formulate a fluid ongoing relationship between the controls and the business.

In the cyber community, we try to plan for worst-case scenarios, but many incidents happen in relative obscurity and are not earth-shattering, let alone business-shattering. From that perspective, we see many companies working to embed security, not only within the second line of defense, but within the more operationally focused first line as well as the audit-driven third line.

Larger organizations have spent, over the last 10 to 15 years, big money on information technology (IT) security. Now they are acknowledging that they need to develop a new model focused on lowering costs through an automated approach to

security and putting the right people in the right roles.

What we believe you should do about it

Think holistically about where you need to invest. Consider what risk scenarios need to be in place, and what controls are most relevant.

Most companies are now engaged in a digital transformation, which suggests they should also explore automating their cyber and risk management processes.

Many incidents would be quite easy to detect if security policies and controls were embedded in the business. Bottom line, companies are encouraged to integrate cyber security across all three lines of defense, rather than operating in silos.

Make security an end-to-end priority. The foundational action is to establish an ongoing dialogue between the security organization and the rest of the enterprise to ensure security is in sync with the business in terms of strategic and operational planning. To that end, implement engineering approaches—such as secure by design and privacy by design—that are intended to introduce security into the daily mindset of the DevOps (IT development operations) team as they craft new applications and services.

Ultimately, we’re hoping to see cyber security professionals move away from being perceived as an IT-driven function. As such, the cyber team needs to be business-led and business-aware. Otherwise, that symbiotic handshake between business and cyber is never going to solidify.

The excerpt was taken from the KPMG article titled “All hands on deck: Key cyber security considerations for 2020.” © 2020 R.G. Manabat & Co., a Philippine partnership and a member-firm of the KPMG network of independent member-firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.

Printed in the Philippines For more information on KPMG in the Philippines, you may visit www. kpmg.com.ph.

Monday, April 27, 2020 B3

More funding for IT urged on 2nd wk of SSS tech glitch

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member of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries on Sunday urged the Social Security System (SSS) and other agencies to invest more in boosting their “computing capacities” so that they can deliver services to the public over the Internet as government grapples with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Makati City Rep. Luis N. Campos Jr. issued the statement as SSS members couldn’t access the pension fund’s website for the second week, stalling claims for their muchneeded benefits as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a two-week extension of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to May 15.

“Agencies providing frontline services should upgrade their computer and information systems to meet the rapidly growing public demand for easier and faster online transactions,” Campos said.

“With or without the Covid-19 pandemic, the future of public transactions is clearly electronic

and online—not over-the-counter in brick-and-mortar agency branches,” Campos added.

The lawmaker also urged other government agencies to improve and expand the transactions that their respective members can conveniently perform online.

“Dependable round-the-clock online facilities are crucial to delivering uninterrupted services to the public,” Campos said.

In a notice posted on the website, the SSS said it is “urgently” updating its site to accommodate the surge.

“Please be advised that the SSS website (sss.gov.ph) has been on downtime since April 18, 2020. While

Investments, lower costs boost Insular Life’s Q1

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nsular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. announced that its consolidated net income soared by 62 percent in 2019 to P4.85 billion from P3 billion in 2018 due to higher earnings from investments, various businesses and lower operational costs.

The growth in Insular Life’s consolidated net income last year was attributed to its earnings in strategic equities, rental income and other investments, the insurer said in a statement.

Citing audited data, Insular Life said consolidated member’s equity or net worth rose by 8.4 percent to P43.92 billion from P40.51 billion in 2018. Consolidated assets also grew by 6 percent to P143.2 billion from P135.1 billion in 2018.

Insular Life Executive Chairman Nina D. Aguas said the company’s growth stemmed from its“continuing pursuit of disciplined investing and operational excellence aimed at sustained profitability.”

For President and CEO Mona Lisa B. De la Cruz, a long-term view “continues to be a key investment strategy of the company.”

“Our sustained investments in technology and in our people, enabled us to keep our operating expenses in check, driving our net income up,” De la Cruz said in a statement.

De la Cruz added the company’s flagship equity fund and balanced fund both continued to outperform other VUL [variable unit-linked] funds in terms of 10-year performance as of end-2019.

The firm’s equity fund posted a 10year average return of 10.8 percent, beating even the barometer Philippine Stock Exchange Index’s 9.9 percent, according to De la Cruz.

“Our Balanced Fund, meanwhile, recorded a 10-year return of 7.4 percent,”

she added.

She noted the company released P11.1 billion in gross benefits and claims, posting a 35-percent increase from the P8.2 billion paid in 2018.

De la Cruz said the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine midMarch had little impact on the company’s first-quarter performance. Insular Life used alternative work arrangements for its employees and took advantage of its end-to-end digital platform to continue its operations, she explained.

De la Cruz said the company used a multi-platform system “hinged on the digital tools and innovative procedures that enable their financial advisors to complete the sales process without a face-to-face interaction with a client.

“In this global pandemic, we are assuring our policyholders that all claims and benefits due them will be released as fast as we can. Our processes are digital so even our work from home arrangements will not impede our fast service and timely release of benefits,” she added.

Last year, the company launched various innovative products targeting different market segments.

These included a 3-in-1 product that addresses the unique health, protection, and investment needs of women; products that address protection from the most basic with features such as double insurance coverage and money back; and, products that offer maximum protection and fund build-up to generate more living benefits.

The insurer recently offered a themed fund “anchored on the performance of companies around the world that benefit from technological advancement and improvement.” Bernadette D. Nicolas

we expected higher online traffic due to the launch of the Small Business Wage Subsidy (SBWS), the overwhelming response to this program surpassed the computing capacity of the system,” said the SSS. “In the meantime, we will be sending out emails for alterative application arrangements to SBWS-eligible employers whose email addresses are on file and have been deemed compliant with both BIR and SSS regulations. We will inform the public as soon as the website is operational.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope for your understanding,” it added.

The SSS is also supposed to be accepting and processing claims for unemployment insurance payments from workers involuntarily separated from their jobs due to the pandemic.

However, in a statement issued on March 30, the SSS had said it is still working on enabling members to file claims for unemployment benefits online by the end of April.

Last week, the Department of Finance (DOF) announced the deadline extension for the SBWS program following the technical problems in the website of the state-run SSS. The application period for the program started on April 16.

The DOF said eligible employers may use one of two methods to ap-

ply for the program on behalf of their employees.

According to DOF, instructions for the application have been sent to SBWS-eligible employers, whose email addresses are on file with SSS. Those who did not receive the emailed instructions may proceed with the regular application process via their My.SSS account.

Under the SBWS program, wage subsidies will be given to 3.4 million employees who are not able to work due to the implementation of the ECQ in the entire Luzon and other parts of the country. The wage subsidies to be given will range from P5,000 to P8,000 per month for two months depending on the regions where the workers are employed.

In 1998, the SSS tapped American enterprise software company BMC Software Inc. to manage its distributed computing system.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said in 2001 that government has allotted P179.2 million for 1997-2002 for the Business Recovery Center project of the SSS. The “multimillion project aims to ‘ensure nationwide availability of SSS’ Information Systems should the Main Data Center and/or any of its regional branch hub data centers become inoperative’ due to disasters,” the Neda said. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

Standard Chartered breaks down Covid-19 relief funds

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tandard Chartered Plc. announced a donation totaling $25 million to humanitarian groups and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) to support the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a recent statement, the bank said that it pledged $5 million to Red Cross for urgent medical support.

This includes funding for primary and secondary health care, communication of protection measures and provision of personal protection equipment (PPE) for Red Cross staff, in addition to distribution of food and education packages.

Another $5 million is allocated for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) to fund educational aid for vulnerable sector across 12 locations in Africa and South Asia.

The fund is aimed at providing remote education via television, radio, online and mobile platforms.

This, as it supports child protection measures such as alternative care arrangements and family tracing services; and training for social workers to provide mental health support to vulnerable children, among others.

The remaining $15 million is to be given to Standard Chartered’s four regional segments to disburse to what the bank says are its “NGO partners.” These include those operating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nation and South Asia; Africa and Middle East; Europe and Americas; and, Greater China and North Asia.

Standard Chartered, to date, has committed $4.2-million funding

across 17 markets.

“Working with the Unicef and the Red Cross, as well as local NGO partners, will be critical in allowing us to provide rapid and effective medical and educational help to some of the most vulnerable people in our societies,” Standard Chartered Plc. Group Chief Executive Bill Winters was quoted in a statement as saying.

“But we can’t lose sight of the longerterm economic and health impact of Covid-19, and that is why our focus is also on supporting economic recovery and the protection of livelihoods.”

Both Unicef and Red Cross were grateful for the donation made by the bank, noting that the funding could help alleviate the situation of the vulnerable sector amid the pandemic.

“We know that our global response will only be as strong as the ability of the weakest public health system to respond, and this donation will help us deliver our vital work to the poorest and most vulnerable people,” British Red Cross CEO Mike Adamson was quoted in the statement as saying.

Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore was also quoted in the statement as expressing gratitude to the bank.

The $25-million donation is part of the total $50-million fund Standard Chartered PLC earlier pledged to help the fight against the virus.

The other half is earmarked for employment protection and educational opportunities. Funding will begin in August this year, aiming to deliver projects by end-2021.

Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Trading, forex losses cut BDO's first-quarter earnings

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rading and foreign exchange losses from challenging market conditions slashed the earnings of BDO Unibank Inc. by 10.20 percent in the first quarter.

The Sy-led bank posted net income of P8.8 billion in the first three months of 2020, down from P9.8 billion in the same period last year.

“Weak capital market conditions resulted in unrealized mark-to-market losses in BDO Life’s equities and unitlinked portfolios, leading to consolidated trading and forex losses,” BDO said in a statement released late Friday.

On Friday’s trading, BDO shares ended flat at P100 apiece amid the

2.40-percent decline for the main index. This despite BDO reporting core lending and deposit-taking businesses grew in the first quarter.

Customer loans rose 11 percent to P2.2 trillion on continued growth across all market segments while total deposits increased 9 percent to P2.6 trillion.

The bank booked net interest income of P33 billion on the back stable margins for the period. Meanwhile, non-interest profits reached P9 billion in January-March period on the back of fee-based income and insurance premium amounting to P8.1 billion and P3.9 billion, respectively.

Gross operating income dipped by 1.41 percent to P42 billion in the first quarter from P42.6 billion year-onyear. Operating expenses, meanwhile, were trimmed by 5.3 percent to P26.8 billion for the period on the back of lower volume-related expenses and policy reserves related to unit-linked funds.

BDO said on Friday it has set aside P2.3 billion for potential loan loss despite a stable gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio of 1.3 percent and high NPL coverage of 151.4 percent.

“To safeguard asset quality, the bank has undertaken initiatives [that includes], among others, rapid portfolio reviews of clients and sectors highly

affected by the impact of the ECQ [enhanced community quarantine], as well as reassessment of existing provisioning guidelines,” BDO explained.

The bank’s total capital base rose to P372.2 billion in the first quarter, booking capital adequacy ratio of P13.8 percent and common equity tier 1 of 12.7 percent. Both figures are above regulatory levels, with BDO assuring that its capitalization can withstand near-term shocks.

“BDO believes that its strong business franchise and solid balance sheet make the bank resilient in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 health crisis,” the bank said. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

B4

Show BusinessMirror

Monday, April 27, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Tessie Tomas talks about fear, food and faith observing strict quarantine procedures, and that God will protect them. When in doubt, trust.�

Three years ago, Tomas underwent a most difficult period in her colorful life. She underwent a double hip replacement surgery and she recalls being overcome by many emotions at the time. “That experience made me a tougher woman, a stronger human being, and a more faithful child of God.�

She mentioned that when she is faced with things and situations beyond her control, she just has to surrender everything to Higher Forces and put on the shield of faith. “I remember I was handed a Prayer to Saint Patrick by Sister Hazel of the Cenacle House before my medical procedure, something that replaced my fear with trust.�

Tomas, who has started her YouTube channel called TessTube since moving out of the Philippines, also shared that she realized the importance of being mindful about what really matters most in life. “This current pandemic made so many of us realize that life is precious, and what we have and own and enjoy can all be taken away just like that, in an instant, and we are left with only a few choices, and some even without any.� That’s why she said that it is important to always be grateful. “We still have a lot to be thankful for. I still have so many things to be thankful for. Each new morning brings new hope and new opportunities to make life better not only for ourselves but for others, as well.�

Tomas also rediscovered the joy of cooking and preparing her dishes during this lock-up period. “I am lucky to live near a supermarket that has almost everything I need. I whip up whatever comes to mind—adobo, afritada, salad, soup—anything that comes to mind. Food can definitely spark joy, don’t you agree? I enjoy a glass of good wine to cheer me up. I choose a good book to read. I visualize myself as a healthy, loving and lovable woman. I imagine being able to travel freely again. I think happy thoughts.�

Life during this Covid-19 era is tough, but the fierce and always fabulous Tessie Tomas has always been tougher. â–

ALL ACCESS RICKY GALLARDO

rickygallardoTFI@gmail.com

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-LIST comedienne, popular TV host and award-winning actress Tessie Tomas is home alone in her apartment unit in Makati City during this quarantine period.

Tomas, who is now based in the Isle of Man with her British husband Roger, flew back to the Philippines some time in January. She visits her 91-year-old mother Laura Hermosa at least twice a year, looks after some properties, and, if time permits, does some work as an actress for films and television.

We checked on Tomas recently and had a lengthy phone conversation. “My husband flew back to Isle of Man in late February because he had commitments, and I’m all alone in my unit in Legaspi Village. My mom lives a street away, with her personal nurse and a househelp-caregiver. I am sometimes engulfed with different emotions and I just try to be strong, productive and creative.�

Tomas centered on fear. “Fear has been magnified a hundred times during these uncertain times. We fear about some many things, from what we see in the news, what we hear about how this unseen enemy has caused so much pain, anxiety, grief, paranoia and many other negative emotions. We fear for those who are dear to us.�

Her only son Robin and his partner John live in New York, a city where the number of cases of the sick and the dying continue to rise. So how does Tomas fight fear? “I fight fear with trust. I trust that Robin and John can take care of themselves, that they are

TESSIE TOMAS

Advocates have warned that domestic abuse is a major danger during the pandemic as lockdown orders sometimes mean women at risk are confined at home with their abusers, with little means of escape. Children are also imperiled.

The Oscar-winning actress will be supporting efforts in the United States and in her home country of South Africa, according to a statement from the foundation. Additional funds will be designated both domestically

and internationally through two partner organizations, CARE and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. “As the global spread of Covid-19 has forced people indoors, life has become even more dangerous for women experiencing domestic violence, especially for those who are most marginalized and are at increased risk of experiencing violence,� the statement said.

It said donations to Together For Her would be directed toward

services such as shelters, support and counseling, helplines, crisis intervention, health services, legal services and other forms of support for women and children experiencing domestic violence. “Charlize and these three organizations are calling upon other influential women and organizations to join this critical cause to provide safe spaces and lifesaving programs for women in need,� the statement said. AP

‘Dobol B sa News TV’ celebrates 3rd anniversary DOBOL B sa News TV celebrates another successful year and takes GMA’s mission of “Serbisyong Totoo� up a notch as it continues with its extended programming to deliver more relevant news and commentaries especially while the nation faces challenging times.

Fondly known via the tagline “Radyo Na, TV Pa!,�

Dobol B sa News TV currently airs from 6 am up to the 24 Oras simulcast every Monday to Sunday. It is

led by some of the country’s most trusted and awardwinning news personalities: Mike Enriquez and Arnold Clavio, as well as Ali Sotto, Melo del Prado, Joel Reyes Zobel, Susan Enriquez, Nathaniel “Mang Tani�

Cruz and Connie Sison.  An addition to its top-rating program line-up is the “Bantay Covid-19 Special Coverage� bringing the latest updates and stories on the Covid-19 pandemic. “While we are grateful to be celebrating our

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: William Moseley, 33; Jenna Coleman, 34; Patrick Stump, 36; Ari Graynor, 37.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Uncertainty should be a warning sign. The push and pull you will feel regarding a change and potential opportunities will save you from making a mistake. Haste makes waste, and doing your due diligence before you make a decision will be your saving grace. Personal growth is in the stars.

Concentrate on looking, doing and being the best you can be. Your lucky numbers are 6, 13, 20, 27, 38, 44, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Take action. Be part of the solution, not the problem, when working alongside others. Question excess, promote moderation and keep your life simple. Practice discipline and work hard. ★★★★

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The responsibilities you take on will be demanding. Think twice before you let someone use you or take you for granted. Do only what you feel will help your situation. You cannot buy respect, but you can earn it. Do what’s right. ★★★

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Stay focused and shoot for the stars. There is money to be made and deals to put in place. Verify information, and negotiate on your behalf. Don’t trust someone from your past who tries to reconnect. ★★★

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Emotions will surface if someone challenges you or you take on too much. Your memory will serve you well if someone raises issues that are slightly off target. Don’t be afraid to correct a mistake someone makes, but do so with kindness. ★★★

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Get involved, and be part of the positive change you want to happen in your community, workplace or organization. The people you meet while helping others will make you an offer that is worth considering.

Romance is featured. ★★★★

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Evaluate your life, work and current location, and think about what you might like to change. An adjustment you make will change the way you want to live from day to day. Don’t settle for less than what you want. ★★★★

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Size up whatever situation you face, and make a calculated move to offset whatever isn’t going your way. If you hesitate, someone will take advantage of you. Be direct, contain your emotions and do what needs doing. ★★

Charlize Theron launches initiative to fight gender violence LOS ANGELES—Actress Charlize Theron and her foundation are committing $1 million to coronavirus relief efforts, with half of that dedicated to fighting gender-based violence resulting from the outbreak.

The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project announced on Wednesday that under an initiative called Together For Her, $500,000 would go to domestic violence shelters and community-based programs fighting gender-based violence.

Today’s Horoscope

3rd anniversary, we also know that reliable news and information are very much needed as we face this crisis together. Rest assured that the men and women of Dobol B sa News TV are working tirelessly to deliver ‘Serbisyong Totoo,’� says GMA Network Vice President for Radio Operations Glenn F. Allona.

Dobol B Sa News TVÂ can be seen on GMA News TV via Channel 27, and abroad via GMA News TV International.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Resolve financial, legal or health issues before it’s too late. Don’t labor over an inevitable change that takes place. Collect old debts, or apply for a grant or loan that will help you invest in something that will improve your life. ★★★★★

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll face opposition if you give someone too much information. Do your own thing, and don’t worry about what others do or say. If someone toys with your emotions, be prepared to walk away. Focus on selfimprovement and personal growth. ★★★

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Look over expenses, and cut corners. Don’t buy into what someone is trying to sell you. The best changes you can make are to lower your overhead and simplify your life. Too much of anything will drag you down. ★★

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): An honest assessment will help you come to the right conclusion. If change is what you want, go about it the right way. Don’t act on an assumption; get the facts, and consider what’s best for you. Personal change and romance are favored. ★★★★★

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take better care of your health, wealth and meaningful relationships. Emotional games won’t help you resolve personal issues. An unexpected problem at home should be taken care of quickly if you want to maintain control. Live within your means. ★★ BIRTHDAY BABY: You are diligent, outspoken and unpredictable.

You are aggressive and sensitive.

‘a bit irritated’ BY GAIL GRABOWSKI The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Invoice stamp 5 Tread heavily 10 “We’re toast!�

14 Gel-producing plant 15 Person in a tryst 16 Forfeited wheels, briefly 17 Acknowledges applause 18 “Hello� singer 19 Shocked reaction 20 One wearing stylish attire 23 Barbershop quartet member 24 Uncanny skill, for short 25 Biceps pic, say 28 Works hard 32 Synagogue leader 34 Plan, with “out�

37 Fruit-bearing cactus 40 Leaves off an attachment, e.g.

42 Just plain silly 43 Worry-free state 44 Intersecting roadway 47 Journalist Koppel 48 Creme de ___ 49 Like undomesticated cats

51 52 55 59

“Yes, Captain!�

Aroma-therapy spot Puts in order What a Monday holiday may give an employee 64 Money in Mexico 66 American Grown author Michelle 67 It may be tempted 68 Ready for customers 69 Connoisseur 70 Good-sized yard 71 Walk in washed-up surf 72 Cardiologist’s insert 73 “Be ___ as it may...�

DOWN 1 Blue Ribbon brewer 2 How solitaire is played 3 Hawkeye State resident 4 Iron-fisted ruler 5 Leave rolling in the aisles 6 Chuck of Meet the Press 7 ___ the moon (delighted) 8 Free-for-all 9 Be insistent 10 Hard-to-resist feeling

11 12 13 21 22 26 27 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 38 39 41 45 46 50 53 54 56 57 58

Small amount of time, metaphorically Covert ___ Use a pogo stick Support, with “up�

Agile Humiliate Ready to hit the hay Crime fiction author Johansen Clothes brush buildup Snowman’s neckwear Tarzan’s adoptive mother, e.g.

Muslim pilgrim’s destination Wide assortment Handled, as paperwork Reflex hammer target Lascivious look Federal retirement org.

Run-of-the-mill To-do list item Like some yogurt Dances for seniors Ready to swing, in baseball Get in touch with Colorful aquarium fish Clay pigeon sport

60 61 62 63 64 65

Fine-tune Surfer’s challenge Spilled salt, to some Angry blog post “Bam!�

Air quality index org.

Solution to Friday’s puzzle:

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Monday, April 27, 2020

B5

Fashion Revolution: No one should die for fashion THE Fashion Revolution Team: George Buid, Kevin Skinker, Buena Sawit, Sarah Ditty (Global Policy Director, UK), Sophia CalugayMorita, Ling Sing, Sienna Lula Somers (Policy and Research Coordinator, UK), Theresa Arigo, Hazel Roldan, Ysabl Marie Dobles, and Bianca Gregorio

TOTA PULCHRA MISS CHARLIZE

@misscharlize

O

N April 24, 2013, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the Rana Plaza collapsed. The worst-ever industrial incident to hit the garment industry killed 1,138 people and injured about 2,500. The eight-story factory manufactured clothes for brands such as Benetton (Italy), Bonmarché (UK), C&A (Holland), Camaïeu (France), The Children’s Place (USA), El Corte Inglés (Spain), Inditex (Spain), KiK (Germany), Joe Fresh/Loblaw (Canada), LPP S.A. (Poland), Mango (Spain), Mascot International (Denmark), N Brown Group (UK), Primark (UK), and Walmart (USA).

That infamous date also marked the birth of Fashion Revolution, a global movement founded in the United Kingdom by Carry Somers (global operations director) and Orsola de Castro (creative director). They lead a “democratic, diverse and unique team… responsible for organizing and managing the primary groups that create, direct and oversee Fashion Revolution globally,” states its mission at Fashionrevolution.org. “We believe that collaborating across the whole value chain—from farmer to consumer—is the only way to transform the industry.

Our mission is to bring everyone together to make that happen. We often call ourselves ‘pro-fashion protesters’ because we love fashion and want to see it become a force for good.”

In 2015, the Philippines joined the Revolution.

The current country coordinator is Sophia CalugayMorita, a recent graduate of MA AnthropologyArchaeology at the University of Aberdeen. Her team includes Prince Jimdel Ventura, spokesman, founder and CEO of fashion tech start-up Wear Forward; Sheila Mae Fuentes, brands and producers coordinator, one of the founders of Forth Co., a fashion tech start-up; and George Buid, community coordinator, a freelance photojournalist.

On April 20, Fashion Revolution Week (FRW) 2020 hosted an Online Kick-Off (instead of a press conference) at 1 pm; April 21, Remake’s Made In America Online Film Screening, 6 pm; April 22, Sustainability 101 for Fashion Entrepreneurs, 6 pm; and April 25, Conscious Label: She Creates the Future of Fashion, 4 pm.

This lockdown would have ushered me into the postmodern era of attending online events via Zoom.

But, unfortunately, my SmartBro can’t support an hours-long activity such as FRW. Thus, Fashion Revolutionaries Ventura, Fuentes and Buid replied to my queries the old-fashioned way: electronically.

Share a brief overview of Fashion Revolution Philippines and Fashion Revolution Week.

Fashion Revolution is a nonprofit social enterprise and global movement founded in 2013 which calls for greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry. We want to unite people and organizations to work together toward radically changing the way our clothes are sourced, produced and consumed, so that our clothing is made in a safe, clean and fair way.

Fashion Revolution Philippines was established in 2015 by a group of volunteers who also believe in a fashion industry that values people, the environment, creativity and profit in equal measure, and we continue to reach out to more Filipinos, and raise awareness about our advocacies.

Fashion Revolution Week happens every year in the week surrounding the 24th of April. This date is the anniversary of the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. During FRW, we remember the victims and the lives lost, and we push for change in a fashion industry that exploits too many and abuses our environment. FRW is a time to use your voice—by writing e-mails and sending letters, using your social media platform to push for change, and by taking part in collective action to imagine a new fashion system.

Whether that means asking #WhoMadeMyClothes?, hosting a clothes swap, attending a panel discussion, or getting friends together for an informative movie night, FRW is about taking action. Because no one should die for fashion.

With this, any organization or company can host their own FRW-related events and projects which will be endorsed by Fashion Revolution. This year we are launching our new #WhatsInMyClothes campaign that aims to educate consumers about the makeup of clothes and hold brands more accountable on giving proper information about the clothes they make.

As we are now experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic, we have shifted to doing virtual projects and events instead such as online workshops, webinars, film showings, competitions, networking events and more.

Since the organization’s inception, what have been the effects of your advocacy in terms of changes in the way designers, brands, and suppliers conduct their businesses?

Since Fashion Revolution’s inception in 2013, the organization has constantly demanded brands and other key players in the supply chain for transparency, accountability and traceability. More brands have now shifted to more sustainable practices since then. Meanwhile, more consumers have also started asking questions about the clothes they wear and buy through our #WhoMadeMyClothes campaign. Some government policies were also enacted as a result of our continuous discourse with policymakers. Here in the Philippines, we have been collaborating with DOST’s (Department of Science and Technology) Philippine Textile Research Institute for projects and events. Meanwhile, fashion schools like ICEFAD and iAcademy have already incorporated dedicated sustainable fashion courses as part of their curriculum. We are also working with the DTI’s (Department of Trade and Industry) Board of Investment in making the Philippines a hub for sustainable fashion in Southeast Asia.

How are the Filipino consumers responding to the practice of sustainable fashion? What more should they know about it?

Sustainability has been a buzzword in recent years not just in fashion but also in other industries.

This resulted to a growing interest among Filipino consumers in sustainable fashion brands and

products as well. We have observed a significant number of people who are now more curious in knowing the mission or advocacies of a brand before they support or purchase from it.

However, the majority of Filipinos aren’t embracing and practicing sustainable fashion yet.

A lot of brands are joining the bandwagon as well but, unfortunately, many of them aren’t really doing what they are promoting, using sustainability only as a marketing ploy. Consumers should realize that sustainable fashion is a lifestyle and be conscious about the greenwashing of brands.

How relevant will FRW be post-Covid crisis?

The theme of Fashion Revolution Week 2020 focused on the 4 Cs: consumption, composition, conditions and collective action. During this current pandemic, several issues in the supply chain have been highlighted, particularly the exploitation of the producers. Reports have been noted that a lot of garment workers are not fairly compensated for their rendered work, many of them aren’t provided social benefits, manufacturers experience massorder cancellations and big brands refuse to pay for their prior orders which were already in production since several months ago. These happen worldwide and clearly show the conditions of the different stakeholders in the supply chain.

We are not sustainable as a system. We have to incorporate sustainable principles and practices to make the industry and different stakeholders be not just stable and sufficient but also be more resilient and supportive of each other. Post-Covid-19, the organization will continue our call for collective action to ignite a revolution and transform the industry from farmers to consumers. We believe that with or without a pandemic, sustainability should be prioritized. ■

Products beauty experts and editors have not been telling you about AND THEN SOME DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

WHEN you read beauty blogs and web sites and watch videos on YouTube, most of what you see are products that are super-hyped. NARS Orgasm Blush, La Roche Posay Anti-Acne Skin Care, bareMinerals makeup, Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder and Stila Kitten Eye Shadow are only some of these hyped products. That’s not necessarily bad. Many of these hyped products are popular because they work well.

The real deal, though, are the products serious beauty girls don’t tell you about. They’re the products they’ve been using for a while and never talk about.

It’s not that they’re being secretive. Or maybe they are?

Chonx Tibajia, writer, beauty aficionado and publisher of Gistph.com, loves Perricone MD PreEmpt Series Fixer Solid Oil, a multi-purpose oil that she uses to moisturize the face, relieve the feeling of dry hands, tame hair frizz and split ends, and help prevent the scarring from minor wounds and scratches.

Last year, Chonx’s legs suffered from a sand mites attack while on an out-of-town trip and she was left with scarring. “One Earth Organics Pure DermaGrade Rosehip Oil and Biore UV Body Care Serum

Intensive White really helped get rid of the scars. The progress is impressive, although I think they’d never go away,” she said.

Nicole Arcano is the beauty girl responsible for the beauty direction in most of Preview.ph’s editorials. Her go to is Claudia Schiffer Makeup Blusher in Hot Sand, which she uses as a “blontour.”

“Blontour,” in beauty speak, means blush + contour.

“It has just enough peach to add a flush but enough brown to subtly sculpt my cheeks. It’s perfect for when I am too lazy to use too much cheek products but I still want definition.”

For Nicole Tejano, MAC Cosmetics Philippines PR and Artist Relations Executive, her favorite makeup product is MAC Cosmetics Lightful C + Coral Grass Tinted Primer SPF 45.

“If I could only choose one makeup product, it would be this. It’s a primer that moisturizes my skin; it has soft tint that brightens my skin and blurs dark circles; it has a dewy finish that makes me look fresh; and it has an SPF of 45.”

Tasha Santos, Digital and PR Manager at Benefit Cosmetics Philippines, has four products that she loves at the moment. First is the Hada Labo Premium Whitening Lotion with Vitamin C (blue bottle), which helps lighten her acne scars. She also swears by Avene Skin Recovery Cream, which helps prevent hormonal acne flare-ups and calms skin redness and irritation.

“Lately, I’ve been wearing just Dr. Jart’s Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment SPF 30 as my base since we’re staying at home. It already has SPF 30 and it helps balance the redness in my skin so I don’t have to wear as much concealer or foundation. Also, the Fresh Advanced Lip Treatment has been the best balm for my chapped lips.”

My friend Rae Ocampo, who is a beauty blogger

and enthusiast, is a fan of MAC Cosmetics Face and Body Foundation, which gives the right amount of coverage and blurring to the skin. Her other nonhyped favorites are the Cargo Swimmables Eye Liner Pencil, which are highly waterproof, and 3INA The Cream Eyeshadow, which is a more affordable alternative to MAC Cosmetics Paint Pot. My un-hyped favorite is the By Terry CC Serum Illuminating Primer in Apricot Glow. It is a primer with skin-care benefits. It has the “optical glow” technology that helps blur imperfections, evens skin tone and redness. Pre-ECQ days, I would wear this with a loose face powder and sunscreen when going out. These days, it’s my daytime skin-care product along with sun protection.

For dry and chapped lips, I rely on Tromborg Lip Cure. This isn’t really a lip balm but a thick white cream that contains macadamia nut oil, shea butter, aloe vera and vitamin E. I’ve gone through three to four small jars of this in three years. That’s a lot, considering I use other lip treatment products.

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BY Terry Brightening CC Serum

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MAC Cosmetics Lightful C + Coral Grass Tinted Primer SPF 45

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PERRICONE MD Pre:Empt Series

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3INA The Cream Eyeshadow

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B6 Monday, April 27, 2020

DOST & SMART expand RapidPass project to cover entire Metro Manila

JAC Motors Philippines lends test-drive vehicles to DSWD for the SAP implementation

J

AC Motors Philippines, official distributor or JAC vehicles in the country, does its own part in helping the country during this difficult time by lending its test drive units to the Department of Social Welfare a nd Development’s (DSWD) Region 4-Calabarzon office. JAC Motors turned over 2 units of JAC S2 Compact SUV, 1 unit of JAC S1 MiniSUV, 1 unit of JAC J4 Sedan, and 1 unit of JAC M3 8-Seater Mini-Van. JAC vehicles that were lent were to be used in DSWD’s monitoring and

validation of the implementation of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) in the different localities in the CALABARZON region. DSWD Region 4—Calabarzon was having challenges with the mobility of their staff given the distances of the locations. Some of the DSWD staff had to walk long distances after doing their work just to get home. Upon learning this, JAC Motors Philippines immediately offered to lend its vehicles to DSWD to help them successfully monitor and validate the implementation of SAP

and ensure that the people get support on time.

Vehicles were turned over at the JAC Motors Philippines Head Office in Alabang. Present were DSWD Region 4 Officer-In-Charge and Regional Director, Lucia C. Almeda; JAC Motors Philippines Group General Manager, Dan Rudolph Navarro; and JAC Motors Philippines Marketing and Sales Director Brian Badilla. The JAC vehicles will be used by DSWD Region 4 Office for the entire period of the ECQ until it is lifted.

Enderun Colleges Senior High School to offer AP capstone diploma program

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OING through quarantine checkpoints in the entire Metro Manila area is about to become easier for frontline personnel and other people authorized to travel under the COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions.

To achieve this, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-MEID) are expanding the RapidPass Project, an online registration service for frontliners, to cover the whole of Metro Manila.

Developed by DevCon Philippines and the DOST, RapidPass.ph is a website that provides for free a unique QR code that serves as authorization for frontliners like health workers and people delivering food, medicine and other essential supplies to go through checkpoints quickly and securely. The QR code can be printed on paper and placed on vehicles, or, saved on smartphones to be shown to uniformed personnel manning Quarantine Control Points (QCPs).

To enable the service to work throughout Metro Manila, PLDT Inc.’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, has provided the DOST with 540 smartphones loaded with voice, SMS and data packages. The mobile devices will be used by the Philippine National Police (PNP) at the QCPs to read and confirm the validity of the QR codes being shown by frontliners, thus facilitating their movement.

“Your company's support to the government to realize the full operationalization of RapidPass will affect millions of Filipinos who will benefit from the decongestion of Quarantine Control Points, as well as the health of PNP personnel at the control points as they will now be able to exercise social distancing with the use of RapidPass,” said DOST Secretary Fortunato

dela Pena in a letter to PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan who approved Smart’s support for the initiative.

At the launch of the RapidPass service in early April, PLDT, through its Enterprise Business Group, supplied an initial batch of 200 smartphones for the trial implementation of the system. The first phase of the project covered the main checkpoints at the boundaries of Metro Manila which helped authorities to set up RapidPass lanes in the highways leading to and from the metro area.

To expand RapidPass coverage to all of NCR, the DOST needed an additional 340 mobile phones to bring the total count to 540. These phones will be used to equip with three devices each of the 180 checkpoints which daily process an estimated 1 million people in Metro Manila who are allowed to go out of their homes for work or other essential purposes.

Moving forward, the IATF is thinking of using the RapidPass system for the entire country, even after the COVID-19 Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) is lifted, either entirely or partially. This will help the government control the movement of traffic even after restrictions are relaxed and thus help prevent the continued spread of the coronavirus.

“We hope that this initiative of the DOST, DevCon, DICT and the IATF will provide a positive example of how we can fight the COVID-19 pandemic in a smart way, using digital technologies,” said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President and CEO and SVP & Head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups.

“We are grateful to the DOST and IATF for giving us the opportunity to help make life easier for our frontliners as they provide services that are so vital to the public,” said Jane B. Basas, SVP & Head of Consumer Wireless Business.

AirAsia announces resumption of domestic flights

A

IRASIA is set to resume its scheduled domestic flights commencing with Malaysia on 29 April 2020, followed

by Thailand (1 May 2020), the Philippines (1 May 2020), India (4 May 2020) and Indonesia (7 May 2020), subject to approval from the authorities.

The resumption of services will initially be for key selected domestic routes, which will increase gradually to include international destinations around the network, once the situation improves and governments lift borders and travel restrictions.

The flights are already open for booking via the airasia. com website and our mobile app. Guests may use their credit accounts to redeem for these flights.

Further details on more routes and flight schedule will be announced in the coming weeks, subject to approval from the authorities.

President (Airlines) of AirAsia Group, Bo Lingam said: “We are very pleased to be able to fly again and to serve our guests starting with domestic routes, and hope to resume full operations as soon as possible. We have undertaken a thorough review of our guest handling procedures both on ground and onboard in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have been working closely with the airport authorities to ensure that all the relevant precautionary measures are in

place to ensure a safe, pleasant and comfortable journey for everyone.

“At AirAsia, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees is always our highest priority. We work actively with all our regulators, local governments, civil aviation and health authorities, including adhering to guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to ensure the highest standards of compliance and conformance are in place for every single flight we operate in our network.”

Guests are advised to practise the universally recommended protective precautionary measures including wearing a mask, social distancing and observing high personal hygiene. The aircraft, which are fitted with hospital-standard High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, will also be sent for a thorough disinfection after each flight.

Guests may contact AirAsia Virtual Allstar (AVA) or chat live with a Customer Happiness agent on airasia.com or support.airasia.com for further assistance.

Guests are advised to keep updated via Travel Advisories issued by AirAsia on airasia.com and social media platforms.

They are also encouraged to check their flight status at airasia. com/flightstatus for live updates given the ever-changing situation at this time.

How to stay healthy and productive while working from home

I

E

NDERUN Colleges Senior High School is one of approximately 1,800 schools worldwide to implement the AP Capstone™ Diploma program–an innovative program that allows students to develop the skills that matter most for college success, such as research, collaboration, and communication. The program consists of two courses taken in sequence: AP® Seminar and AP Research.

Students who score a 3 or higher in AP Seminar and AP Research and on four additional AP Exams of their choosing earn the AP Capstone Diploma™.

This signifies outstanding academic achievement and attainment of collegelevel academic and research skills.

Students who score a 3 or higher in both AP Seminar and AP Research (but not on four additional AP Exams) earn the AP Seminar and Research Certificate™.

Enderun Colleges Senior High School will start offering AP Seminar in August 2020.

According to Cherry May Tan, Enderun Colleges Senior High School Principal, “The AP Capstone Diploma program endeavors to produce students who are confident and highly capable consumers of information by equipping

them with increasingly important critical and analytical skills. The program allows both educators and students the freedom to shape its curriculum to best suit their needs and our context.”

In AP Seminar, typically taken in 10th or 11th grade, students choose and evaluate complex topics through multiple lenses; identify credibility and bias in sources; and develop arguments in support of a recommendation.

AP Seminar is a project-based learning course. Official AP Seminar assessments include research reports, written arguments, and presentations completed during the academic year.

Students complete the course by taking an end-of-course written exam in May. In the subsequent AP Research course, students design, execute, present, and defend a yearlong researchbased investigation on a topic of individual interest. They build on skills developed in AP Seminar by learning how to understand research methodology; employ ethical research practices; and collect, analyze, and synthesize information to contribute to academic research. Like AP Seminar, AP Research is a project-based course. Each student’s official AP Research score is based on

their academic paper, presentation, and oral defense. There’s no end-of-course exam for AP Research.

“We’re proud to offer AP Capstone, which enables students and teachers to focus on topics of their choice in great depth,” said Trevor Packer, senior vice president for AP and instruction at the College Board. He adds, “This provides terrific opportunities for students to develop the ability to write and present their work effectively, individually, and in groups—the very skills college professors want their students to possess.”

In partnership with the higher education community, the College Board developed AP Capstone so students can practice and master skills that serve them well in college and career. Colleges and universities have voiced their support for the program.

“We’re excited more schools are offering the AP Capstone Diploma program,” said Kedra Ishop, vice provost for enrollment management at the University of Michigan. “We believe the research, collaboration, and presentation skills taught in the two courses will be valuable to students throughout their academic and professional careers.”

T has been several weeks since the Enhanced Community Quarantine was announced for Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, and just recently we were informed of its extension until the end of April. Many companies were quick to adapt to a work-from-home arrangement for their people to ensure their safety and to help in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Authorities have likewise compelled the public to stay indoors as much as possible.

The sudden shift from an upwardly mobile lifestyle to one that is more restrained may have adverse effects on some.

Which is why BPI-Philam recommends maintaining a good balance between work and play, ensuring you stay healthy and productive while working from home, and with some health and life insurance coverage. Here are some helpful tips that you can follow: Eat and drink healthy. Eat nutritious meals and take vitamins before you start working to help boost your energy.

Stock up on nutritious snacks. You may also want to try some fruit and vegetable juices to strengthen your immune system.

Take a break. Working from home can also be overwhelming. Leave your seat to get some fresh air from time to time. We also want to avoid burnout, so try to squeeze in some activities in between, like watering your plants or cleaning up your desk.

Follow a schedule. Since there is that feeling that working from home is like working 24 hours a day, set a schedule and make sure your work gets done in a span of eight to nine hours, following yourusual working hours. Refrain from working 24/7 to keep your mental health. It will also be helpful to set some boundaries with clients and co-workers.

Stay insured. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted several - if not all - aspects of our lives, including our plans for ourselves and our family. During this time of uncertainty, one of the best things to do is to secure your future. Choose a health and life insurance plan that suits your needs so you can protect your loved ones from unexpected setbacks.

“While manyof us have shifted toworking from home, we often feel overwhelmed with all the news about COVID-19. That is completely understandable but one of the best decisions we can make during this time is to prepare for the future through insurance,” said BPI-Philam Chief Executive Officer Surendra Menon.

Be prepared, Why is there a need for health and life insurance? “The cost of medicine, laboratory tests, and medical procedures are not immune from price increases, and it is even increasing at a faster rate than inflation.That’s why it is important to have a source of funds in case an unexpected medical emergency happens,” explained Menon.

BPI-Philam, for example, is offering Critical Care 100, a comprehensive health and life insurance plan that gives one lifetime health protection from up to 100 critical illnesses until age 100.

To understand how one will benefit from this, BPIPhilam breaks down its features: Critical Illness Coverage until Age 100. Receive a cash benefit to help you recover from any of the covered illnesses.

Life Insurance Coverage. Protect your family with a life insurance benefit should anything happen to you.

Protection Boost. Add more benefits to your plan for a more comprehensive coverage.

Cancer Booster. Receive an additional cash benefit should you get diagnosed with any of the covered gender specific cancers (e.g., breast cancer, prostate cancer).

Recovery Benefit. Get a recovery income that’s payable for five years after a diagnosis of a critical illness.

Payor’s Benefit for Death and Disability. If you get a plan for your child, you don’t have to pay for the remaining premiums should anything happen to you or if you get totally and permanently disabled before 60 or before the child turns 25.

“These simple health and productivity tips, including insurance, can help any Filipino become more secure. Getting insurance is still possible since companies like BPI-Philam now offer online consultation,” said Menon.

“We just have to adapt to what appears to be our new normal. If we’re practical and foresighted enough, we can adequately prepare for our future and our family’s well-being,” Menon added.

BPI-Philam is a strategic alliance between two leading financial companies in the Philippines – the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philam Life) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). BPI-Philam is committed to create easily accessible solutions that help Filipinos live healthier, longer, and better lives.

Marketing BusinessMirror

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Monday, April 27, 2020 B7

What can we do better after the pandemic is over?

(Lessons beyond the quarantine) N

PR Matters

By Joy Lumawig-Buensalido

O one saw it coming, this insidious virus that upended our everyday lives and brought all that we knew as “normal” to a halt. Suddenly we are at war, not against a world power but against a vicious, unseen enemy. An alien invader might as well have set foot on this planet, the way this global pandemic is assaulting countries, with some more battered than others.

By now everyone knows that the novel coronavirus of 2019, tagged as Covid-19, has infected not only the unknown masses but also high-profile folks—from members of royalty to world leaders to celebrities. Here in the Philippines, Covid-19 has afflicted not just a few politicians and government officials, driving a slew of senators, mayors, and other public servants into self-isolation—or hospital ICUs. Sadly, it has also claimed the lives of doctors, nurses, and other health-care workers and remains a threat to those who are still in the trenches.

They say that a crisis brings out the best or worst in people.

We may become selfless and more compassionate, more resourceful and creative, and learn to trust in Divine Providence. Or we may turn fearful and paranoid, and a threat to other people, sometimes even to ourselves.

As we go through this ordeal, however, I choose to look at how strong and resilient it has made us, and how easily we can adapt to changes for the greater good.

Here are other priceless realizations that I hope this upheaval has brought to our lives.

1. There are alternative means of communication.

Even as the nationwide lockdown compels us to stay home, we remain connected. Millions of messages continue to be sent, forwarded, and shared through various digital platforms. With many print media companies having suspended newspaper printing and delivery temporarily, I turn to television and online news to stay updated.

But one thing I now appreciate is having a landline at home. Aside from online meetings with the staff, I am able to speak with them through landline service, which affords a more consistently clear signal than our mobile phones do. This makes communications more personal and allows me to express empathy and positivity when home confinement feels especially aggravating.

Because of social distancing, all events, meetings, mass gatherings and even our Church activities have had to be canceled. But again, thanks to modern technology, we have increasingly learned to rely on messaging apps. Viber appears to be the most widely used in the Philippines. I myself am a member of at least 20 different Viber groups that all became hyperactive during the lockdown.

According to Viber, messages sent on their app increased by 120 percent in the Philippines, while the number of calls received by an average Viber user increased by 85 percent in the past weeks. Online sellers have started using their Viber Groups and Communities to announce the availability of their products, and so Viber has seen the average number of community engagement rise by 78 percent.

Of course, Viber launched special communities in several countries where users can receive official and trusted information about the pandemic. Here in the Philippines, the Department of Health created the DOH PH COVID-19 Viber Community to dis-

seminate valuable and verified information about the coronavirus to its over 1 million members.

Aside from Viber, some popular messaging apps include Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. For videoconferencing, we use either Viber, Skype, Google Hangout, or Zoom. With all these options, communicating remotely from different locations is no longer a problem.

2. Time is not our boss. We can make time work for us instead.

We used to whine that we never had time for anything. Our schedules were packed with business or work appointments and social events we needed to attend.

With lockdown in place, suddenly we have all this time to ourselves. Time to reassess, reevaluate, and reflect on what is truly important. Is it work, money, and ambition—or is it our health, our family, and the safety of our country and people?

In fact, going through Facebook posts, Viber texts and messages on Messenger, what strikes me is that people can be kinder, more caring and generous. Without deadlines to chase, we now have a chance to help others in whatever small way we can. We are seeing this in the outpouring of donations, assistance, love, and time directed at many sectors, especially the frontliners.

People find time to go out of their way. People actually make time to do something good!

Our confinement to home has also given us time to realize that we can do without our usual distractions like movie and television celebrities and even our sports idols. We can reset our priorities. The threat to our health has made us look closely at this pandemic’s real heroes: the doctors, nurses, medical professionals, and hospital workers we used to take for granted because we thought they were getting paid to do their jobs anyway.

Yes, it has taken something like Covid-19 to give us pause, to appreciate the personal services of these frontliners and take a second look at those nameless supermarket clerks, drugstore personnel, and security staff that we barely noticed in the past. The question is: What can we do better after this pandemic is over?

Should we still race against time to achieve success or should we use it more judiciously now to make sure we are living our lives the best way we can?

Perhaps this is our time to recover what we’ve lost. To recharge, rethink, and reboot our values and priorities. The crisis has proven that we are capable of better time management so we can balance our lives in the long run.

3. Creativity thrives in a crisis.

Amid the anxiety, fears, and uncertainty of the pandemic, I have noticed a surge in the creativity of many people who are forced to stay home. Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” And that’s exactly what’s happening now. I am pleasantly surprised to find several friends productively responding. And what a delight it is to read what they have created online.

Pablo Tariman, an art and cultural journalist whose passion is producing musical concerts and taking care of his grandchildren, found his Muse again and resumed writing poetry, which he’d post on his FB page. With his permission I am borrowing this poem, entitled “Two Verses in the Time of Corona Virus” (see be-

low). As the lockdown progresses, Pablo continues to write even more poetry.

Another good friend, writer/ artist Babeth Lolarga who was recuperating from knee surgery when the lockdown caught her in the Metro, initially resented being unable to go back to her Baguio home but she coped beautifully by starting her Lockdown diaries, also on FB. There she shares not only her profound, imaginative, and most endearing personal thoughts but also an interesting selection of art photos, music pieces, and quotations that help her—and her FB friends—temporarily forget the challenges of the situation.

It is my hope that long after the worst of this crisis is over, gifted writers like Babeth and Pablo will continue to share more of their passions with the world.

Creativity is, indeed, contagious. Media personality Daphne Oseña Paez, for her part, invited a community of FB users to join CQ Diaries. Members were requested to share their experiences during the quarantine, which instantly turned into a wealth of categories like “Grow” (homebased plants and gardening); “Shelter” (favorite parts of the home, decorating, renovating); “Feed” (baking, cooking and eating); and “Create” (painting, arts and crafts, Easter egg painting, crochet). Daphne’s other categories are just as fun: “Share,” “Spirit,” and “City.” So you can imagine how these individual stories are moving others to get involved and be creative, too. CQ Diaries now has over 1,500 members and growing.

4. Communication with God has intensified during the pandemic.

Personally, this is the most beautiful effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. More people are praying, talking to God or their Creator, sharing thousands of messages of hope, faith, love and prayers. Simply put, they are communicating with Him. Since the lockdown was imposed in the middle of the Lenten season, Church authorities and members of the clergy suddenly found themselves with a huge communication problem. What could they possibly do in place of all the activities that the faithful looked forward to during Holy Week? This was, after all, the peak season for every Church year and with physical distancing, what a loss it would be to miss out on engaging the churchgoers.

The solution came rather naturally. They started with live streaming of the Masses so it became possible to access local Masses any time of the day for parish churches that went online.

The religious faithful could now hear Mass with no less than the Pope in the Vatican or with Cardinal Tagle in Pontificio Collegio in Rome. With the help of technology, Catholics were able to listen to Maundy Thursday liturgy, do Visita Iglesia, and even reflect on the Seven Last Words on Good Friday. For the entire Holy Week, people were being blessed while participating remotely in all the possible rituals they needed in order to pray for the ongoing pandemic.

Was this Divine intervention?

Many people believed so and this has now given the Church a challenge on how to sustain this “accidental engagement” with their audiences even beyond the quarantine and the Covid-19 crisis.

May we ask for suggestions on how they can do that?

“Two Verses in the Time of Corona Virus” (April 12, 2020)

By Pablo A. Tariman “Solitude produces originality, bold and astonishing beauty, poetry. But solitude also produces perverseness, the disproportionate, the absurd and the forbidden.”

—Thomas Mann, Death in Venice

1. The Prayer

Suddenly we are a country in deep prayer Asking deliverance from the common enemy we cannot see.

Out of nowhere there is a battered pick up With a sound system from the barangay hall Asking one and all to pray And be spared from The Virus.

More prayers on the Internet Full of moving images garnished with halos and blinding lights Signifying their supposed heavenly origins.

Even the substitute program in local stations Features a boy singing a love song Turned into a plaintive dirge I hear in funeral processions.

How apt it can be when another last-minute program Is called 100 Days To Heaven.

Yes, even the TV workers Into whom we reflect our real and reel lives Are on forced holidays.

From where I am contemplating A few pesetas that may not last a month, I pray for my loved ones From Pasig to Frankfurt.

I break into prayer when Granddaughter makes music on the piano While sister putters around and laughs As though everything is all right With the world.

I break into prayer when another granddaughter Interrupts a phone conversation To say, “I love you Papu.”

With the sound of washing machine In the background, I pray for disciples of the arts world-wide Separated from their audiences In many temples of the arts.

There will be ominous silence of pianos In the concert halls.

Of great singers whose golden voice we will not hear For some time.

Now and then, I pray for the elderly of Milan and Wuhan quietly entombed Without the benefit of parting rituals From kith and kins.

I may loathe him as a father figure But I like to look at him As a human being Tired of his fatherly role In a sea of disgruntled voices.

Meanwhile you pray for all support He can get in this difficult voyage To deliverance.

True There is weariness in his voice And fatigue in his profile as he

grapples With a prepared message And miraculously Ending with a prayer.

Yes, he meanders a lot And going nowhere Leaving his audience distraught.

When the box stops airing In the dead of night Still you offer a prayer For him hoping he survives his age and make it through a contagious night.

How I wish We continue as a nation in prayer Even without the threat of plagues And the sorry spectacle of comedians In the House of the People.

From where I am Contemplating ordinary mortals In unlikely destinations On their way to work I pray they get home safe With a semblance of food For their loved ones.

In my mind prayer works in many ways.

It is the only open path by which I can get in touch with the inner layer Of my troubled psyche.

From the clothesline I retreat into my mini-garden And savor the quiet neighborhood.

Yes I do believe in prayer As the only way to check The barnacles gathering In my soul.

2. Joy in the Morning

I love the new-found sense of calm In this city founded more than 400 years ago.

No Church bells ringing For early morning Mass.

No barker making urgent calls For commuters on their way to work.

Even the sound of tricycles Are gone replaced by an eerie stillness Marking another day.

A dog barks at passersby; The nearby eatery is closed.

No small talk in nearby convenience store.

Although I miss the movement and murmurs of Children on their way to school.

I rather like it this way.

It is a miracle It took a virus to make us all pause and reflect on things that really matter.

Whether this will last Is for us to make sense of.

I will savor this joy in the morning While it lasts.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior communications professionals around the world. Joy LumawigBuensalido is the president and CEO of Buensalido & Associates Public Relations.

PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Monday, April 27, 2020

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph / Editor: Jun Lomibao

Baseball goes full swing in Taiwan in empty venues

Bleachers’ Brew Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

N

EW TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan—When Wang Wei-chen had a base hit for the Chinatrust Brothers, no one booed or cheered from the stands at the suburban Taipei ballpark. No one hurled insults at the umpires. And no one yelled the Chinese-language line of encouragement “add oil” to either team.

The 12,150 blue plastic seats were devoid of fans Friday night for the game between Chinatrust Brothers and Fubon Guardians, down from the average crowd of 6,000 at professional baseball games in Taiwan. No fans have come to any games here since play started on April 11.

Taiwan’s five-team Chinese Professional Baseball League is barring spectators over concerns of spreading the coronavirus in a crowded space. But Taiwan has relatively few cases of Covid-19, so the league decided it was safe to let in players, coaches, cheerleaders, costumed mascots, face mask-wearing batboys and the media.

“We’d like to have fans coming into the stadium to cheer us on, yet due to the outbreak they can’t,” said Wang, an infielder for Brothers. “We are still lucky, since we have not stopped our season and people can still see us in this way.”

Other baseball leagues around the world have been postponed to May or later. Beyond baseball, organized sports worldwide have canceled or delayed competition. The Tokyo Olympics have been pushed back a year.

At the Taiwan ballpark, about 150 placards were placed upright on the seats. They wished luck to particular players from the Guardians home team, some with cut-out effigies, and thanked Taiwan’s medical personnel for keeping coronavirus caseloads low on the Western Pacific island.

Rock and roll sounds blasted out of the bleachers as if in a normal game, and players did some cheering for their teammates to replace the din of fans.

“I think it feels like a real game,” said Mac Huang, a longtime baseball fan and middle school teacher in Taipei who is following the league now online. Fan-less games, he said, are “a good way to stop coronavirus, but no one knows when coronavirus will stop, and it’s good to have the games on anyway.”

League officials delayed the season twice from its originally scheduled opening day on March 14, and only started competition after close consultation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare. They’re ready to allow all 240 regular games in empty parks through the season’s end in mid-November, if needed. AP

The waiting

VANUATU Cricket Association players celebrate during a match in Port Vila, Vanuatu. AP

CRICKET GOES LIVE IN VANUATU P

THE Chinese Professional Baseball League resumes with no audience at the Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City, Taiwan. AP

ORT VILA, Vanuatu—Overnight rain didn’t stop Vanuatu from producing a rarity in these coronavirus-restricted times—a live sporting event.

The tiny islands in the South Pacific were the only venue in the world hosting a competitive sports final on Saturday, as most international sports remain shuttered.

Vanuatu Cricket Association Chief Executive Shane Deitz invited anyone missing real-time action to tune in to a live stream of their women’s club championship finals. And Deitz said there were 350,000 views of a men’s 10-over exhibition match followed by the women’s Twenty20 final won by the Mele Bulls, who went undefeated in the four-team competition.

The rain meant a scheduled morning women’s semifinal wasn’t played due to wet grounds.

“Fantastic [live stream] numbers for us, a great day’s cricket here,” Deitz said.

The matches were played at the Vanuatu Cricket Grounds in the capital Port Vila, on the island of Efate. Deitz said national broadcaster VBTC set up four cameras for its first-ever live cricket show, and he helped with the commentary for the online stream on Vanuatu Cricket’s Facebook page.

The commentators had a bit of fun as well, with one of them suggesting the few fans were getting rowdy “now that the red wine has kicked in.” Play was delayed for a minute or two when a few children ran on the field, and the commentators apologized for not having many security people at the ground.

Vanuatu, population 300,000, went into

lockdown last month as a precaution because of the pandemic, and was then hit by a destructive cyclone on April 6. Spectators who came to the ground on Saturday were asked to bring food or clothing donations for those affected by the cyclone.

The lockdown and closed borders meant there were no reported cases of Covid-19 in Vanuatu.

POLISH LEAGUE EYES RESTART

POLAND’S premier soccer league plans to restart on May 29 after the government decided on Saturday to ease restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision makes Poland one of the first countries in Europe to set a date to resume a league that was suspended on March 13.

“It’s great news,” said Marcin Animucki, the head of the 16-team league, the Ekstraklasa.

He stressed the plan to resume matches on May 29 was dependent on the health situation in Poland.

The agreement was worked out by the league, the Polish Football Association, and government. The restart will take place in stages, with the first stage—players going into self-isolation—already under way. After that, players will begin training under strict medical supervision.

Animucki said the Ekstraklasa also got permission from UEFA to complete the season by July 20.

So far, Poland, with a population of 38 million people, has endured 524 deaths from Covid-19. AP

G.O.A.T. SHOOED FROM TAMPA BAY PARK T

ALLAHASSEE, Florida—When it comes to first impressions, Tampa didn’t exactly give the best of welcomes to one of its newest and most famous residents when National Football League (NFL) superstar Tom Brady was ejected from a downtown park while working out.

Mayor Jane Castor tried to make amends by issuing a letter of apology.

“Tom, my apologies for the miscommunication when you arrived—not the best first impression,” the mayor wrote in a letter she posted on social media on Saturday.

“But given my law enforcement background, I couldn’t help but have someone investigate the sighting of a G.O.A.T running wild in one of our beautiful city parks.”

The 42-year-old quarterback, widely known as “the greatest of all time,” has six Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots and recently joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On Monday, Brady was working out at the park and spotted by staff patrol, who ordered the four-time Super Bowl MVP to leave because the park was closed to the public because of the

coronavirus outbreak.

In her letter, the mayor thanked Brady “for being a good sport.”

The mayor thanked Brady and his wife, Gisele Bundchen, for their recent donation of 750,000 meals to Feeding Tampa Bay. The letter was also addressed to Rob Gronkowski, more simply known as “Gronk,” who also bolted the Patriots to join the Tampa Bay roster.

With so many “wonderful activities,” the mayor said, listing the area’s long list of offerings, “you must be ready to pARRGHty...but not too

hard [I’m talking to you Gronk].”

She was perhaps referring to Gronkowski’s penchant for playing hard on and off the field.

Tampa hosts next year’s Super Bowl and the city is looking to Brady and Gronkowski to help the Buccaneers be the first team to win an NFL championship in its own backyard.

With the coronavirus outbreak preventing large gatherings, the mayor said the welcome would have to be virtual for now, saying that a “proper Tampa welcome will have to wait for a while.” AP

FOOTBALL superstar Tom Brady is no exception from quarantine rules. AP

Fights resume in Nicaragua because ‘boxers have to eat’

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TWO-TIME former world champion Rosendo álvarez collects donations for a young cancer patient in Managua. AP

ANAGUA, Nicaragua—With the world pretty much devoid of sports events because of the coronavirus pandemic, boxing resumed in Nicaragua on Saturday night with a televised eightfight card in front of a live, though sparse audience in Managua.

Promoter Rosendo Álvarez, a former two-time world champion, had dismissed the threat of the virus, “Here we don’t fear the coronavirus,

and there is no quarantine. The three deaths [reported so far by the Ministry of Health] came from outside and nobody within the country has been contaminated,” Álvarez, known as “El Búfalo,” said before the event.

But his offer of free tickets appeared to fill only about a tenth of the 8,000 seats in the Alexis Argoello gym. Officials did not announce attendance figures.

The fights were broadcast by Nicaragua’s state-owned Canal 6 and

ESPN Latin America through its ESPN KnockOut program. álvarez said he signed up the 16 local boxers for the card because they needed to work.

“Nicaragua is a poor country and the boxers have to eat. They can’t stay shut up in their house,” he said.

The government insists Nicaragua has been barely touched by Covid-19. The Ministry of Health reports only 11 positive

cases and the three deaths. Meanwhile, in neighboring or nearby countries the regional Central American Integration System has reported roughly 13,000 cases and about 500 deaths.

The Nicaraguan baseball and soccer leagues are still playing, and Saturday’s local sports pages included stories on a triathlon and school wrestling tournaments. President Daniel Ortega recently ordered 1.8 million students

The English Premier League should be over now.

At least in theory had there not been a lockdown.

The tournament is supposed to end by May. With Liverpool Football Club’s 25-point lead look all but insurmountable, the Merseyside club needed to win about three more matches to put this championship in the bag.

Then the world stopped due to Covid-19. With the world in near total lockdown, hardly anything runs today. Sports leagues—save for Taiwan’s professional baseball league—are at a standstill. And rightfully so.

Everyone is eagerly anticipating when the quarantines are lifted so we can all pick up the pieces of our lives. Who knows what life will be like then? We will all crave for normalcy, but that is wishful thinking. Maybe in a year or so?

I remember when the Boston Red Sox finally lifted the World Series trophy in 2004, a friend of mine waxed eloquent and thankful as the tears flowed freely. I sure know what it is like although I didn’t have to wait 86 years for that.

My alma mater, Ateneo de Manila, had to wait one year before it lifted up another collegiate trophy. The New York Yankees—and at one point in my life, I lived in New York City—took 18 years before they claimed another World Series trophy.

My New York Islanders have not won a Stanley Cup since 1983.

Like I did in 1987 for Ateneo, and in 1996 for the Yankees, I want to let go of my pent up emotions, when Liverpool finally hoists that coveted trophy. I have to admit that I vacillate between staying humble and telling Chelsea to stick it. Forgive me. Losing does that. I do know, I’ll have my fun while staying humble.

So many times in the past has Liverpool botched the job as they finished second. Last season they came within two points of piping Manchester City for that crown.

Liverpool has not won an English domestic league championship since the 1989-1990 season. Since that time, Manchester United supplanted them as England’s most successful club. Chelsea and Arsenal have won titles. Hell even Blackburn and Leicester have Premier League trophies to their name.

I have had to endure listening to the taunts from the other clubs as they created their own history.

It is humbling I must admit. I remember when Merseysiders used to chant to Chelsea fans, “You have no history.” Talked about karma. As the other clubs added to their trophy shelf Liverpool agonizingly fell short. Yes, there have been a couple of Champions League, FA Cup, and League Cup silverware, but it is the domestic title that is important. So that is why I—along with millions of other Liverpool fans—cannot wait to claim this.

Since current Team Manager Jurgen Klopp came on board, Liverpool has won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and the Fifa Club World Cup. A Premier League trophy will look pretty neat next to those three and complete on of the most successful eras since that 1989-90 season.

You can bet, I got upset at pundits like Rio Ferdinand who opined for voiding the season. Him being an ex-Man United player, it sounds all the more bitter and tactless. I suppose he can surrender all his earnings from the past several months, right?

It isn’t only LFC lifting up the trophy. If you invalidate the season, how do player contracts work? Those fighting for contracts might not have anything to show? How do the European leagues work? Who was promoted and relegated?

But more than the football answers, one must first and foremost look into safety. The safety of all the people who will be playing and coaching or even maintain the facilities is paramount.

As I understand it, the leagues will be played out no matter the delay. The Sun noted that the Premier League is set to continue this May albeit to empty stadiums. The Guardian, also in the same day, opined that finishing the season is pointless and common sense and safety must prevail.

For me, this decision must be arrived at by several parties and not only the people running football. In the event, their respective curves have not flat lined, how do the football league proceed?

Will there be criteria to decide how what follows?

I’ve been waiting for 30 years. What’s a few more months.

back to school and 170,000 state employees back to work following a 15-day vacation.

This month alone, the government Tourism Institute promoted at least 81 mass events, including carnivals and parades.

The government’s approach has prompted expressions of concern from the Pan American Health Organization and alarmed local experts.

“Popular celebrations, massive funerals, marches and similar activities increase the risk of multiple simultaneous outbreaks in the whole country,” warned epidemiologist Álvaro Ramírez.

“I still don’t understand what the government is betting on.” AP