BusinessMirror August 31, 2020

w

n

Monday, August 31, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 326

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 16 pages |

NEARLY 3-FOLD RISE IN NG 7-MO SUBSIDIES TO P187B OFW HOUSEHOLDS TOLD: LOOK BEYOND REMITTANCE SOURCE

By Cai U. Ordinario @caiordinario

R

There’s a semblance of social distancing, but none of the rally participants is wearing a mask, unlike the worker cleaning this area of Pugad Lawin Park in Quezon City on Sunday, the eve of National Heroes' Day. They could have been apprehended for quarantine violations in another time, but Andres Bonifacio and his band of Katipuneros, with key enabler Melchora Aquino, pulled through their historic meeting as commemorated here—one of the key events that led to the 1896 Philippine Revolution. August 31 has been declared National Heroes Day. NONIE REYES

S

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

UBSIDIES extended by the national government to staterun firms nearly tripled as of end-July this year from the same period last year as the country continued to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

Latest data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed subsidies given by the national government to government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) reached P187.465 billion, a 188.47-percent jump from only P64.986 billion in the seven-

month period a year ago.

Meanwhile, data for July alone painted a different picture, with total subsidies dropping by 53.16 percent to P17.935 billion from P38.288 billion in the same month in 2019.

As of end-July this year, major nonfinancial government corporations cornered the biggest chunk or 52.61 percent of subsidies, equivalent to P98.623 billion. The remaining 47.39 percent was shared by other government corporations.

State-run Social Security System (SSS) still led the list of GOCCs with the biggest subsidies received during the period due to the P51-billion Small Business Wage Subsidy Program implemented by the government to help workers of small and medium enterprises to cope with the impact of the pandemic.

Trailing SSS were National Food Authority (P37.650 billion), embattled Philippine Health Insurance Corp. or PhilHealth (P30.302 billion), National Irrigation Administration or NIA (P19.744 billion),

and National Housing Authority or NHA (P17.740 billion).

For July, major nonfinancial government corporations received the bulk of subsidies, amounting to P11.875 billion or 66.21 percent while other government corporations got P6.06 billion or 33.79 percent.

More than half of the total subsidies in July went to NHA, which received P9.892 billion. It was followed by PhilHealth with P4.128 billion and NIA (P1.911 billion).

The national government gives subsidies to GOCCs either to cover operations that are not supported by corporate revenues or to fund specific programs or projects.

In 2019, the government extended a record P201.524 billion in subsidies, a 47.47-percent hike from P136.652 billion in 2018.

EMITTANCE-RECEIVING families shou ld explore other sources of livelihood outside of labor migration to survive this pandemic and beyond, according to Uniteller Philippines.

In an e-mail to BusinessMirror, Uniteller Philippines President Noel Fernando Cristal said the expected decline in remittances this year should prompt overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to create a long-term strategy that may not involve labor migration.

Cristal said a new strategy is crucial given that many OFWs are working in the global tourism, airport service, shipping and cruise industries that have been badly hit by the pandemic.

“With remittance being one of the key economic drivers for the Philippines, the decrease in remittance inflows could push many remittance-dependent families into increased uncertainty. In the longer term, Filipinos may have to look for alternative sources of finance beyond economic labor migration,” Cristal said.

With the pandemic causing problems in industries OFWs belong to, Cristal said the country is among the economies exposed to the ill effects of the pandemic.

Remittances, Cristal said, is

central to boosting consumption in the Philippines. With a consumption-driven economy, the country’s GDP growth is also fueled by remittances.

Cristal added that a recent Central Bank survey stated that 80 percent of remittance inflows are directed toward consumption.

He added that financial literacy will also help OFW families. This means companies and the government must help OFW families do financial planning. “ W hile remittances can provide a financial lifeline for families back home, Covid-19 has demonstrated that being overly reliant on remittance payments as a means of survival is not sustainable,” Cristal said.

“It is therefore crucial to inculcate good saving habits especially amongst remittance receivers so that they are able to build sustainable wealth in the event of another crisis,” he added.

Apart from families, Cristal said the remittance industry must also adjust to the demands of being sustainable in an increasingly digital world.

He said the remittance industry must fully embrace digitization to be more resilient to future disruptions similar to the ongoing pandemic.

Cristal said sending remittances becomes difficult if digital alternatives are lacking or See “Remittance,” A2

Cayetano sets Oct timeline for budget okay

H

OUSE Speaker A lan Peter Cayetano said the lower chamber eyes to approve t he proposed P4 . 5 trillion 2021 national budget as early as next month, as he vowed to be transparent with the budget proceedings.

“It’s a very ambitious schedule to send it right away to the Senate, because we hope that, for the first time in history, if I’m not mistaken, we can sign the budget maybe late November or

PESO exchange rates n

mid-November as a sign of unity by our country,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

Cayetano said their pr iority for the 2021 national budget would be Covid-19 response funds followed by “important infrastructure” that the country “needs during the pandemic and post-pandemic period.”

“There are important infrastructure we have to keep on building.

Number one is mass transportation. Second is digital infrastruc-

ture—all of us want better Internet, better connection. Third is health-related infrastructure— hospitals, health centers. [Then] infrastructure for tourism, also for agriculture,” he said. Cayetano vowed that they will be “very transparent” in scrutinizing the budget proposal.

Addressing “all the members of the opposition in the House,” Cayetano promised they will first get a copy of the budget “and [the leadership will] listen to you first and

give you more time so this budget will be a product of the whole of Congress, the whole of the representations of the Filipino people, not only of the administration.”

Cayetano added, “We will work together diligently with the Senate, our counterparts, and with all the sectors. We invite the media to scrutinize every part of the budget, and we will work with the Executive branch to come up with a very, very good budget in 2021.”

See “Budget,” A2

US 48.6210 n japan 0.4565 n UK 64.2283 n HK 6.2736 n CHINA 7.0520 n singapore 35.5807 n australia 35.2891 n EU 57.4846 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.9656

Source: BSP (28 August 2020)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, August 31, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Senators back Locsin call to shun China firms used in WPS dredging

S

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

ENATORS backed Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.’s call for the Philippine government to shun contracts with Chinese firms involved in dredging and reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea. Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Risa Hontiveros in separate statements on Sunday endorsed the Department of Foreign Affairs chief ’s plan to recommend to Malacañang immediate termination of Philippine government’s d redg i ng cont racts w it h t he Chinese firm.

“Kudos to DFA Secretary Teddy

Boy Locsin for putting the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in his place,” said Lacson, citing previous incidents of “China’s arrogance” that the senator said deserved an appropriate response.

Lacson said, “banning us from sending our military aircraft into airspace near Panatag Shoal surely deserves a strong rebuke. I’m proud

that our top foreign policy implementor did it.”

The senator added: “Indeed, it’s long in coming by way of a statement from our DFA secretary.

China’s display of arrogance by accusing us of infringing on its sovereignty and security by sending military aircraft into airspace adjacent to Panatag Shoal/Bajo de Masinloc, urging the Philippines to immediately stop illegal provocations, tops it all.”

Hontiveros, at the same time, suggested that the Philippine government drop projects with companies involved in China’s military installations in the West Philippine Sea. Hontiveros suggested that the Philippine government move to “immediately drop project agreements with Chinese companies” involved in the construction of

China’s artificial islands and military installations in the West Philippine Sea, amid reports of China launching missiles in the disputed waters.

“It is disturbing that the government has engaged with Chinese companies involved in the destruction of our territories,” the senator added. “Tayo na nga ang ninanakawan ng teritoryo, tapos magiging kasabwat din pala ang gobyerno sa pagnanakaw na ito [It’s bad enough they’ve taken parts of our territory; and then the goverment becomes complicit in this]?”

Calling on Malacañang to withdraw from these infrastructure deals, Hontiveros listed the companies that contributed to dredging and construction of military islands in the West Philippine Sea —as released by the US Department

of Commerce—including China Communications Construction Co., Ltd. (CCCC), a company whose subsidiaries have entered into several projects with the Philippine government.

Moreover, Hontiveros added that “based on the information available to us, the government currently has five memorandum of understanding [MOU] with this Chinese company.”

The senator noted that CCCC’s subsidiaries have MOUs for the Davao Coastline and Port Development Project, Manila Harbour Center Reclamation Project, Cebu International and Bulk Terminal Project, and the Manila-Clark railway. She added another Chinese company, China Harbor Engineering Co. (CHEC), also won a bid to build an access road to New Clark City.

Budget…

Continued from A1

On September 4, the House will conduct its initial committee hearing on the 2021 national budget with members of the Development Budget Coordination Committee discussing the state of the economy and presenting their macroeconomic assumptions.

In a separate statement, House Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera urged her colleagues to support the swift passage of the proposed budget for 2021, which is focused on reviving the coronavirus-hit economy.

“We need to act fast, scrutinize carefully and make the necessary improvements to what would probably be one of the most important national budgets in the country’s recent history,” Herrera said.

“This year, Congress is faced with an all-important task of ensuring that the 2021 national budget would serve as a powerful tool to defeat Covid-19, build long-term resilience and support economic recovery,” she added.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Filipinos may now register for overseas voting Remittance…

F

ILIPINOS who will be abroad during the 2022 National and Local polls, will now be able to register with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) starting on Tuesday This after the poll body announced in its Resolution No. 10677 that its Office for Overseas Voting (OFOV) located within its main office in Intramuros, Manila, will resume its operations on September 1, 2020.

Those eligible to transact with the OFOV are Filipinos, who are over 18-years old and will be abroad from April 9 to May 9 2022.

Allowed transactions

The OFOV will handle the following transactions: registration/certification as overseas voters; open for transactions such as recapture of biometrics; reinstate-

ment of name inadvertently omitted in the National Registry of Overseas Voters; change of name due to marriage or court order; and correction of entries in the Voter’s Registration Record.

It could also process reactivation of registration records; change or updating of address and other contact information (within the same foreign service post and country); updating of photograph and/or

signature; and request to withdraw the application for registration/certification pending Resident Election Registration Board (RERB) approval.

Voters, who previously participated in the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV), may also opt to transfer their voting records in local registration centers from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021, if they plan to stay in the country up to the May 2022 National and Local Election.

Mandatory appointment

Comelec said a “no appointment, no entry” rule will be strictly implemented by the OFOV to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The appointments will be scheduled from Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., excluding holidays.

Applicants may set their appointments through the office’s official e-mail address at overseasvoting@comelec.gov. ph or through its official Facebook page using the URL: http://www.facebook.com/ overseasvoting.ph.

Those who would like to make the appointment via telephone may call the OFOV: (02) 8522-2251 or (02) 8521-2952 or via SMS through +63 951 875 9882 (TNT/Smart/Sun) and +63 905 034 5158 (TM/Globe).

The request should include the preferred date and time of appointment and type of transaction.

Health protocols Before going to their appointment, the applicants are encouraged to accomplish the voter application form (except the oath portion) and submit it via e-mail in advance.

On the actual date of the appointment, applicants will be required to comply with minimum health standards including wearing of face masks and face shields and accomplish the health declaration form.

“They must present a printout or show a screenshot of their appointment confirmation slip and bring their original Passport or Seaman’s Book. Supporting documents for specific types of applications must also be submitted, if advised to do so by the OFOV staff. Registrants are encouraged to bring their own black or blue pens,” Comelec said in a statement.

Field and overseas registration

Comelec said its other local field registration centers for overseas voting in the offices of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and Martime Industry Authority (Marina) will remain closed until further notice.

It said the resumption of overseas voting registration in foreign service abroad will depend on the discretion of its respective heads “in recognition of the varying circumstances faced by posts worldwide and the different measures adopted by the hosts countries’ government in response to Covid-19.”

“The public must be always notified of any temporary closure, including date of resumption of operations.”

Samuel P. Medenilla

Continued from A1

when people are unbanked or unfamiliar with digital alternatives.

“Enabling our customers to conveniently send and receive funds from the comfort of their homes would be critical and a must. Thus, going digital is imperative in order to continue the funds flowing from migrant workers to their loved ones and also to reduce costs of the remittance,” Cristal said.

With digital alternatives in sending remittances, Cristal said, this will bring down the cost of remittances allowing OFWs and their families to maximize their inflows.

This will also help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of bringing down the transaction cost of remittances to less than 3 percent by 2030.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported late Monday that OFWs were able to increase their remittances in June to compensate for decreases in the previous months due to the pandemic disruptions.

Total cash remittances during the month hit $2.4 billion, $175 million more than the level of cash they sent back home in June 2019.

Their total June remittances was also $359 million higher than the volume sent in May.

Hit hard

Remittances—one of the Philippine economy’s pillars—were also hit hard by the global economic downturn due to Covid-19. Remittances started with a 6.6-percent growth in January, just before the pandemic becomes global. This 6.6-percent growth was trimmed to 2.5 percent in February as news of the pandemic spread.

Since February when it began mass repatriations of OFWs, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said more than 130,000 have come home, many of them losing jobs as the pandemic-induced lockdowns gouged economies around the globe, shutting down businesses.

March, April and May were the hardest for Filipino migrant workers. In March, remittances sent back home declined by 4.7 percent.

The decline hit 16.2 percent in April, reversing gains seen in the first two months of the year. In May, remittances declined by 19.3 percent.

18 PHL IT, creative firms joining virtual China expo Continued from A8

development and film production and visual effects.

On the other hand, a couple of exhibitors do construction and engineering outsourcing; online learning and training; and higher education services.

Senen M. Perlada, director at the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau, said the Philippines is taking part in the CIFTIS mainly to sell its IT services to Chinese investors. Likewise, he explained the trade expo may help the country position itself as an outsourcing destination.

Perlada argued that “the Philippines has an excellent track record in supporting global operations of companies all over the world,” attributing this to the “strong customer service orientation of its work force.”

The DTI is partnering with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Beijing in leading the country’s participation in CIFTIS. The delegation will attend online business matching meetings and conferences organized by the China-Asean Business Council, China Association for Trade in Services and Beijing Association

of Services Sourcing.

The exhibitors will be accompanied by industry groups—the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines, Philippine Software Industry Association, Animation Council of the Philippines Inc., Game Developers Association of the Philippines and Cybercraft Philippine Association.

The DTI, for its part, is heading the government team. It will be joined by its attached agency Construction Industr y Authority of the Philippines-Philippine Overseas Construction Board, as well as the Film Development Council of the Philippines a nd C o m m i s s io n o n H i g he r Education.

The CIFTIS was initially scheduled to run from May 28 to June 1 in Beijing, but organizers had to postpone and reorganize it due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In previous sessions, CIFTIS gathered more than 11,000 exhibitors from at least 122 countries and regions worldwide. Signed contracts from the CIFTIS now amount to $601.51 billion since its inception in 2012, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, August 31, 2020 A3

Male farmworkers got bigger pay in 2019–PSA

F

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

ARMWORKERS nationwide received an average daily wage of P331.10 in 2019 and male laborers continued to outperform their female counterparts in terms of salary, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Data from the PSA showed that the average nominal wage rate of agricultural workers in 2019 was

equivalent to two whole dressed chicken sold at P140 to P150 each.

On the average, the PSA also said

male farmworkers were paid P335 per day, higher than the average wage rate of female farmworkers at P304.60 per day.

“Wages paid in cash or in kind are converted into daily wage rate equivalents using the reported mandays and total wages paid to farmworkers,” PSA said.

Data showed that the daily wage rate of farmworkers was the highest in Calabarzon at an average of P399.08. It was the lowest in Central Visayas at P276.43 per day.

PSA said female farmers in Calabarzon received the biggest payment at P392.43 per day while those in Central Visayas got the lowest at P251.55 per day.

For the male farmworkers, Mimaropa recorded the highest pay at P412.19 per day while the lowest was recorded in Northern Mindanao at P281.09 per day.

In terms of regional wage difference between male and female farm workers, the widest was in Mimaropa at P82.41 per day. The average daily wage of female farm workers was at P329.78.

The smallest wage difference between male and female farm workers was recorded in Caraga Region at P1.65 per day, according to the PSA. “Palay farm laborers were paid the highest nominal wage rate at an average of P351.39 per day. The daily wage rates of male and female farm

RCBC helps coffee farmers go digital during pandemic

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad @TyronePiad

R

IZAL Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) is onboarding some 50,000 coffee farmers on its financial inclusion app to allow them run their business during the pandemic.

The Yuchengco-led bank said the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) tapped the services of its digital platform DiskarTech to digitize its value chain processes.

RCBC said coffee farmers are among those severely affected by the pandemic, as the lockdown measures restrained their product distribution.

Going digital, the bank said, can help the coffee growers sell their products.

The app will enable the

coffee farmers to accept direct payments from buyers. Each farmer will have a unique quick response (QR) code that can be used to process cashless transactions.

Payments will then go to a basic deposit account that will earn 3.25-percent interest on savings.

“As the Philippines speedily shift to a cash-lite and digital economy, our Filipino coffee farmers should be empowered to keep up and thrive in this new normal,” PCBI President Chit Juan said, welcoming RCBC’s DiskarTech assistance in “aggressive digital scaling and adoption of the industry to keep farmers afloat during this time with digital financial services.”

DiskarTech will also allow the farmer-users to earn through

referral incentives program and performing transactions on behalf of others. These services are bills payment, cash in and withdrawal, fund transfers, top-up of electronic load and gaming pins, and purchase of loans, sachet insurance, and telemedicine products.

“Truly inclusive efforts should benefit the unbanked and underserved members of our community so we are more than willing to help the coffee industry to address the pain points that keep its farmers from transitioning to our new normal,” said Angelito M. Villanueva, executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC. Recently, RCBC said 1.43 million unbanked Filipinos

now have digital accounts with DiskarTech.

The new accounts consisted of at least 610,000 DiskarTechbasic deposit accounts—accomplished through electronic knowyour-customer verification— and 822,720 DiskarTech Lite accounts for the receipt of emergency cash grant from the social amelioration program.

The listed bank saw its net earnings surge 17 percent to P3.1 billion in the first half, from P2.66 billion last year on the back of higher trading gains, which rose by 80.3 percent to P5.9 billion.

Provision for potential losses increased by 94 percent to P5.2 billion as of end-June, from last year’s P2.68 billion.

laborers corresponded to P355.67 and P328.84, with wage differential of P26.83 per day,” PSA said.

Data also showed that regional daily wage rates ranged from P270.88 in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to P422.27 in Calabarzon. The daily wage rates of both the males and females were highest in Calabarzon at P423.69 and P410.20, respectively.

In BARMM, males were paid the least at P270.46 per day. Females got the lowest payment in Central Visayas at P254.45 per day.

The biggest wage differential was noted in Mimaropa at P115.47 where male farm workers were paid an average of P422.93 per day while

their female counterparts received P307.46 per day.

The lowest nominal wage rate in 2019 was received by corn farmworkers at an average of P288.04 per day. Male farm laborers were paid P294.32 per day, or P27.51 more than what was received by the female farm laborers at P266.81 per day.

PSA data showed that as of 2018, farmers and fishermen were among the poorest Filipinos nationwide with average poverty rates of 31.6 percent and 26.2 percent, respectively.

However, poverty rate among these workers was already lower in 2018 compared to the 2015 data. It was at 40.8 percent among farmers and 36.9 percent among fishermen.

BAVI gives Chooks-to-Go Manok ng Bayan Award to heroic nurse

N

O matter how big or small the act is, a hero should always be recognized. In a simple ceremony held at the Bounty Agro Ventures Inc. (BAVI) headquarters, Lorraine Pingol was feted the Manok ng Bayan Award for her extraordinary work, heroics, and selflessness she showed, Saturday afternoon.

Her heroic act happened back in August 18 when the 29-year-old Medicard Philippines nurse was about to come home from a long shift.

When she passed by General Estrella Street and Osmeña Highway in Makati City, Pingol saw Jeca Mae Rausa, 31, who was on the sidewalk and about to give birth.

With the nearest hospital being 7 kilometers away, Pingol did not hesitate to help. With her backpack still on, she facilitated the birth of a healthy baby girl right then and there.

The photos went viral and Chooks-to-Go ambassador Kobe Paras made sure that BAVI and its President Ronald Mascariñas recognize the act.

“I was browsing the Internet when I saw what happened on Facebook. It inspired me since it was Lorraine’s day-off. Her vocation did not stop,” said the 22-year-old Paras.

“I immediately looked for a way to connect her and Bounty.”

Besides the award, Pingol also received a cash incentive and one-year supply of Chooks-to-Go chicken.

It was something she did not expect.

“For me I just did what I had to do as a nurse.

Mas marami pang tao na deserving na tawaging bayani, like our policemen and soldiers. And those medical frontliners who are working in the hospital attending to Covid patients,” she said.

“Ako, I’m a nurse, but I’m a company nurse so I’m really not that exposed to Covid. Hindi ako makapaniwala na tinatawag ninyo akong bayani, pero thank you! Nakakataba ng puso ang lahat ng mga papuri.”

A4 Monday, August 31, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

News

BusinessMirror

SC prevents release of PDLs convicted of heinous crimes

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

T

HE Supreme Court (SC) has barred the release of two convicted drug traffickers from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP) saying that persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) convicted of heinous crimes are not covered by entitled to the benefits under Republic Act (RA) 10592 or the Expanded Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.

In a 10-page resolution penned

by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda, the SC’s Third Division stressed that the 2019 implementing rules and regulations of RA 10592 issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) remains valid unless declared void by the Court.

“Rules and regulations issued by the administrative bodies to interpret the law which they are entrusted to enforce, such as the 2019 IRR issued by the DOJ and the DILG, have the force of law and are entitled to great respect,” the SC explained.

“Administrative issuance partake of the nature of a statute and have in their favor a presumption of legality. As such, courts cannot ignore administrative issuances especially when, as in this case, its validity was not put in issue. Unless an admin-

istrative order is declared invalid, courts have no option but to apply the same,” it added.

The Court’s decision stemmed from the petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus filed on behalf of Raymundo Reyes and Vincent Evangelista, who were convicted for the illegal sale of 974.12 grams of shabu in 2001.

Their conviction was affirmed by the SC in a decision dated September 27, 2007.

Lawyer Rubee Ruth CagascaEvangelista, wife of Vincent and counsel for both petitioners, argued that with the abolition of the death penalty and the repeal of the death penalty law (RA 7659), the penalty for illegal sale of drugs should be reverted to that originally imposed in RA 6425, or from reclusion perpetua to six years and one day to 12 years.

Both Reyes and Evangelista, according to the petitioner, have already served 19 years and two months, or more than 18 years if the benefit of the GCTA under RA 10592 was to be considered.

Their lawyer pointed out that with the benefit of the GCTA, which may be applied retroactively, both Reyes and Evangelista have already served more than the required sentence imposed by law.

However, the Court held that it is

clear from the IRR of the expanded GCTA that PDLs convicted of heinous crimes are not entitled to its benefits.

“Accordingly, the writ cannot be issued and the discharge of Reyes and Evangelista from imprisonment should not be authorized,” the SC declared.

Class suit vs IRR of RA 10592

IT can be recalled that a class suit was filed before the SC in September last year on behalf of the inmates of the NBP who were affected by the DOJ and DILG’s revision of the provisions of the IRR of the expanded GCTA. The convicted inmates through lawyer Rolito Abing are asking the Court to stop the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) from retroactively applying the exclusions introduced under Section 1 and Section 3 of RA 10592 or the expanded GCTA. In a ruling released last June, the SC declared that the expanded GCTA should be applied retroactively.

The petitioners, in particular, are seeking the nullification of provisions of the new IRR which exclude recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and those charged with heinous crimes from benefitting from the expanded GCTA, time allowance for studying, teaching and mentoring and special time allowance for loyalty.

They argued that the said pro-

visions of the IRR violate the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto law.

An ex post facto law is defined “as one which makes an action done before the passing of the law and which was innocent when done, criminal, and punishes such action; or which aggravates a crime or makes it greater than it was when committed.”

The implementation of the expanded GCTA became controversial after it was reported that Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez was already eligible for release owing to the retroactive implementation of RA 10592.

Sanchez was convicted in the controversial slay-rape case of UP Student Eileen Sarmenta and for the killing of his boyfriend Allan Gomez in 1993.

Reports about his release drew public outrage, prompting the DOJ and the DILG to come up with a revised IRR for RA 10592.

The controversy also pressed the President to sack then-BuCor Chief Nicanor E. Faeldon for the premature release of heinous crime convicts from the NBP due to erroneous application of the expanded GCTA. He also ordered the almost 2,000 heinous crime convicts who were prematurely released to surrender for a review of their records.

The Court has yet to issue a decision on the class suit.

2 slain in firefights after Jolo bombing

T

WO suspected terrorists were killed on Saturday as security forces in pursuit of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu clashed successively with members of a group the military said is under chieftain Radullan Sahiron.

A soldier was also killed while seven others were wounded during the firefights, which occurred at past 9 a.m. and past 10 a.m. at Barangay Kabuntakkas, Patikul, the military said in a belated report.

The clashes involving the 9th Scout Ranger Company (SRC) and the 14th SRC occurred as the military leadership ordered a “searchand-destroy” operation against the ASG following the suicide bombings in Jolo on Monday.

The suicide bombings were reportedly carried out by two women and said to be the wives of two dead ASG members who have been radicalized by the Islamic State. The bombings left 15 people dead, including eight soldiers, and wounding 74 others, most of them civilians.

According to reports, the Scout Rangers clashed with about 30 ASG members led by Sahiron and Mundi Sawadjaan, the latter having been tagged by the military as the brains behind the bombing.

Joint Task Force Sulu commander Brig. Gen. William Gonzales had directed all units in the province to conduct and sustain their operations against Sawadjaan and all the leaders and members of the ASG. “We will employ all military assets to destroy the fleeing [ASG] members who are perpetrators of the Jolo bombing,” Gonzales said.

He also expressed gratitude to the mayor of Patikul, Sulu, for declaring the ASG persona non grata last August 27.

That declaration, according to Gonzales, “led to the successful armed encounter of our troops this morning in his municipality.” Rene Acosta

CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Jeepney drivers plying routes connected to the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, campus receive their ayuda, or financial relief, of P2,000 each from UP alumni and members of the Pi Sigma Fraternity. Around 300 drivers were provided the cash that were given in tranches and has hit P900,000. These drivers were among thousands affected by government’s order to stop public transportation and prevent the spread of Covid-19. BERNARD TESTA

NEA donates 300 PPE kits to 3 govt hospitals in QC

By Lenie Lectura

T

@llectura

HE National Electrification Administration (NEA) announced it donated 300 personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for the use of workers attending to patients afflicted with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

The NEA said it gave the PPE coveralls to three government hospitals located in Quezon City last August 26.

The beneficiaries of the PPE kits were the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC), the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) and the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI). Each received 100 pieces of PPE kits.

The activity was in line with the monthlong commemoration of the 51st Founding Anniversary of the NEA and the 11th National Electrification

Awareness Month (Neam).

NEA Human Resources and Administration Department Manager Jona E. Andal said the donation was made possible through financial contributions from the state agency’s officials and employees to help frontline health workers battling the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is our way of appreciating the sacrifices of the medical frontliners in our neighboring government hospitals in this time of pandemic as we commemorate 51 successful years of rural electrification,” Andal said.

“In this time of pandemic, there is no better way to celebrate the anniversary of the NEA than to extend a helping hand to our frontliners who are risking their lives to save others,” said Samahan ng mga Kawaning Makareporma ng NEA President Virginia Cabonce.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Lawmakers hike fund for subway by ₧34.6B

L

AWMAKERS have allotted additional funds for the construction of Metro Manila subway as part of the proposed 2021 national budget to expedite the project and ease Filipinos’ transportation woes amid Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, House Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman and Makati City Rep. Luis N. Campos Jr. said they have allocated an additional P34.6 billion for the Phase 1 of the country’s first underground commuter train system.

The allocation was part of the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) total capital outlay of P96.2 billion under the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021, Campos was quoted in the statement as saying.

“There’s no question the future of our mass transportation is in dependable, fast, organized and safe train systems,” he said.

“We expect up to 75 percent of Filipinos to live and work in congested cities in the years ahead; and the only way we can efficiently move people

around will be through high-capacity trains either below the ground or in elevated structures,” he added.

Campos said that the NorthSouth Commuter Railway Project, which is part of the DOTr’s Railway Construction, Rehabilitation and Improvement Sub-program, will also get an additional P58.6 billion next year.

“The 147-kilometer elevated train will run from Calamba, Laguna, to New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, and have a direct link to Clark International Airport in the cities of Angeles and Mabalacat in Pampanga,” he said.

Furthermore, the South LongHaul Project of the Philippine National Railways would get a P3-billion boost under the proposed 2021 budget, Campos said.

“The 639-kilometer train will link up Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Bicol and cut travel time between Manila and Legazpi City from 13 hours to just six hours,” he added.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Govt to generate 1k applications from Cagayan Valley innovators

T

HE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has pioneered a project in Cagayan Valley aimed at getting a thousand intellectual property filings from the region until 2022.

Dubbed “Engaging Innovation by Nurturing Significance of a Thousand Excellent Ideas in the North,” or “Einstein 1K,” the program seeks to register applications from innovators in Cagayan Valley. The government agency said it has collaborated with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) for the project.

Last week the agency signed a memorandum of agreement with the DOST and PCCI in Cagayan Valley, as well as with nine colleges and universities, to inaugurate the project.

Under the agreement, the IPOPHL is designated to come up with and implement plans and policies to improve rights protection of creative works in the region. The office is also tasked to enhance its services in Cagayan Valley by carrying out capacity building activities, such as seminars, patent writing and search workshops.

Applications for patent inventions, utility models and industrial designs in Cagayan Valley grew an average of 77 percent from 2012 to 2019, with filings totaling 122 last year, according to the IPOPHL’s records.

Trademarks expanded an average

of 31 percent from 2013 to 2019, with applications reaching 129 last year.

Further, copyright posted a similar 31-percent growth from 2014 to 2019, with the Tuguegarao IP Satellite Office receiving 54 deposits the previous year.

IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba vowed to provide the northern district with programs and projects needed to build up its intellectual property rights protection, promising as well to work with the PCCI there to bring in technology and commercialize new products.

The PCCI, for its part, is mandated to assist academic institutions find prospective investors for generated innovations. The group is also assigned to market the original products in the public and private sectors.

On the other hand, the DOST is tasked to extend technical and financial support, monitor and assess the project’s progress and lend administrative and managerial service.

Officials of colleges and universities are instructed to provide an enabling environment for the researchers, innovators and creators in Cagayan Valley. They are also delegated to deposit copyrighted works and file patents, utility models, industrial designs and trademark.

Barba stressed the importance of the project in the time of a pandemic, asserting the country’s need to develop its own products to cope with the global crisis. Elijah Felice E. Rosales

Vaccine drive against polio on track–DOH

I

N the first quarter of 2020, the Department of Health has immunized over 95 percent of the target children to fully stop the spread of polio, the Department of Health (DOH) said over the weekend.

This complies with what was set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for every round of immunization to successfully stop the outbreak.

Launched in 2019 when the presence of the reemergent poliovirus was first detected in the waterways of the National Capital Region, the next rounds of the polio vaccination drive were briefly put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the immunization efforts continued across Mindanao, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog regions since last July 20, 2020.

A highly infectious but preventable disease, polio is transmitted through the fecal-oral route or through ingesting water or food contaminated with the poliovirus, usually in areas with poor sanitation and poor personal hygiene.

In response to the polio outbreak, the DOH has been working closely with local government units (LGUs), civil society organizations, development partners and other key stakeholders, including community members.

“That is our key to victory—all stakeholders should help [in] what we call ‘whole-of-society’ approach,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario

S. Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Due to the restrictions caused by Covid-19, special preparations like online orientations on polio vaccination and infection prevention and control guidelines and meticulous planning with field teams are being held to ensure a safe and quality immunization campaign, Vergeire said.

Since resuming the Sabayang Patak Kontra Polio (SPKP) campaign, about 3,408,241 children werevaccinatedinMindanao,accordingtotheDOH. Due to Covid-19 limitations, only 1,093,317 out of the 1,347,005 target or about 81.16 percent were vaccinated in Central Luzon. Meanwhile, in the Calabarzon, Laguna province excluding Calamba City and Pakil town tallied 81.71 percent in phase 1 (250,577 children out of the 306,670 target).

Round 2 of the SPKP will run from September 14 to September 27, targeting about 1,185,005 children in the three provinces (Laguna, Cavite, Rizal) in Calabarzon.

DOH National Immunization Program Manager Maria Wilda T. Silva said that they are also conducting trainings for vaccination against polio.

“To be able to respond to the delay in barangay immunizations caused by the challenges of the pandemic and the demand for health-care workers, we are training volunteers to do vaccinations against polio in close coordination with local community leaders in order to synchronize efforts for

both polio and Covid,” Silva said.

Aside from vaccination, the physician said surveillance is a key factor in keeping polio at bay.

“The implementation of the SPKP campaign includes the immunization of children below five years old and strengthening of the acute flaccid paralysis [AFP] surveillance,” Silva added.

The DOH said this close partnership with LGUs has allowed for a strong surveillance-driven and proactive case-finding approach that includes health information dissemination, capacity building, and filling in the resource gaps for communities most in need. They added that such “best-case practice” has acted as the blueprint for the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) protocol currently in place for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vergeire said that with CODE, they are working with their partner LGUs and the people in the communities.

“If we were able to prevent polio and protect our children, we can also protect our families from Covid-19. We just need to do our part by following the minimum health standards, immediately isolating ourselves when we have symptoms and not wait for confirmation that we are Covid-19-positive, and cooperating with [members of the] barangay health emergency response teams who go house to house,” Vergeire concluded. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Monday, August 31, 2020

A5

‘Exponential’ coronavirus spread in France as schools set to open

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows during a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo on Friday, August 28, 2020. Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, says he’s resigning because a chronic illness has resurfaced. Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP

Japanese PM says ‘gut wrenching’ resignation leaves goals unfinished

T

OKYO—Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he is stepping down because a chronic health problem has resurfaced. He told reporters on Friday that it was “gut wrenching" to leave many of his goals unfinished.

Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment. Concerns about his health began this summer and grew this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. He is now on a new treatment that requires IV injections, he said. While there is some improvement, there is no guarantee that it will cure his condition and so he decided to step down after treatment on Monday, he said.

“It is gut wrenching to have to leave my job before accomplishing my goals,” Abe said Friday, mentioning his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia and a revision of Japan's war-renouncing constitution.

He said his health problem was under control until earlier this year but was found to have worsened in June when he had an annual checkup.

“Faced with the illness and treatment, as well as the pain of lacking physical strength...I decided I should not stay on as prime minister when I’m no longer capable of living up to the people’s expectations with confidence,” Abe said at a news conference.

In a country once known for its shorttenured prime ministers, the departure marks the end of an unusual era of stability that saw the Japanese leader strike up strong ties with President Donald Trump even as Abe's ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China. While he pulled Japan out of recession, the economy has been battered anew by the coronavirus pandemic, and Abe has failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the US-drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.

Abe said he achieved a stronger JapanUS security alliance and the first visit by a serving US president to the atom-bombed city of Hiroshima. He also helped Tokyo gain the right to host the 2020 Olympics by pledging that a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant was “under control” when it was not.

Recently, “the coronavirus impact on the economy was a blow to Abe, who was stuck at home and lacking an opportunity to make any achievement or show off his friendship with Trump, and was pushed into a corner,” said Koichi Nakano, an international politics professor at Sophia University in Tokyo.

Abe continued to bolster Japan’s defense capability to respond to America's needs, Nakano said. “For those who believe the Japan-US alliance is paramount, that was his major achievement,” he said. But Abe bulldozed his expanded defense policy and other contentious issues through parliament, repeatedly neglecting public opinion, Nakano said. Trump paid tribute to his “great friend” Abe, telling reporters about Air Force One that he was surprised to hear of his resignation.

“We had a great relationship. And I just feel very bad for him. Because it must be very severe. Look, for him to leave—he loves his country so much and for him to leave, I just can’t imagine what it is. He’s a great gentleman and so I’m just paying my highest respect,” Trump said.

Abe is a political blue blood that was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister No-

busuke Kishi. His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a “normal” and “beautiful” nation with a stronger military and bigger role in international affairs.

Abe, whose term ends in September 2021, is expected to stay on until a new party leader is elected and formally approved by the parliament, a process that is expected to take several weeks.

Abe became Japan's youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later because of his health.

In December 2012, Abe returned to power, prioritizing economic measures over his nationalist agenda. He won six national elections and built a rock-solid grip on power, bolstering Japan's defense role and capability and its security alliance with the US. He also stepped up patriotic education at schools and raised Japan's international profile.

Abe on Monday became Japan’s longest-serving prime minister by consecutive days in office, eclipsing the record of Eisaku Sato, his great-uncle, who served 2,798 days from 1964 to 1972.

But his second hospital visit on Monday accelerated speculation and political maneuvering toward a post-Abe regime.

Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation and sometimes polyps in the bowels.

People with the condition can have a normal life expectancy but serious cases can involve life-threatening complications.

After his recent hospital visits were reported, top officials from Abe's Cabinet and the ruling party said he was overworked and badly needed rest.

His health concerns came as his support ratings plunged due to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and its severe impact on the economy, on top of a stream of political scandals, including his own.

There are a slew of politicians eager to replace Abe. Shigeru Ishiba, a 63-year-old hawkish former defense minister and Abe's archrival, is a favorite next leader in media surveys, though he is less popular within the governing party. A low-key former foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, Defense Minister Taro Kono, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, and economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of coronavirus measures, are widely mentioned in Japanese media as potential successors.

Abe was often upstaged in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, a former governing party conservative who is seen as a potential prime minister candidate by some. But she would have to first be elected to parliament to be in the running for the top job.

Analysts say no major change of policy is expected whoever succeeds Abe, though Japan may return to an era of short-lived leadership.

The end of Abe’s scandal-laden first stint as prime minister was the beginning of six years of annual leadership change, remembered as an era of “revolving door” politics that lacked stability and long-term policies.

When he returned to office in 2012, Abe vowed to revitalize the nation and get its economy out of its deflationary doldrums with his “Abenomics” formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms.

Perhaps Abe’s biggest regret was his inability to fulfill a long-cherished goal of his grandfather and himself to formally rewrite the pacifist constitution. Abe and his ultra-conservative supporters see the US-drafted constitution as a humiliating legacy of Japan's World War II defeat. AP

P

ARIS—With France’s national health agency decrying an “exponential” rise in new virus infections, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday he couldn't rule out a new nationwide lockdown.

become a new virus hotspot, Macron defended his government's push to restart the economy and its handling of the post-lockdown period. Over the summer, French people traveled around the country for family gatherings and dance parties blamed for fueling the rise in cases.

In the face of new cases, Paris started requiring masks everywhere starting Friday and French workers nationwide will have to wear masks on the job starting Tuesday. The government also promised this week to further augment testing capacity— after coming under criticism for shortages of masks and tests when the virus first slammed France.

But the government is going ahead with plans to send France’s 12.9 million students back to classrooms starting Tuesday, and France’s beloved Tour de France professional cycling race kicks off a three-week trek across the country Saturday despite the escalating infections. Macron said on Friday that workers should gradually return to their jobs.

“We must bring everyone back to work,” he said, notably to pay for France’s social safety net.

With Britain, Germany and Belgium all imposing new restrictions

on people arriving from all or parts of France, Macron called for better European coordination to fight the spread of the virus.

“Let’s have the same criteria,” he said. “Let’s not repeat the errors of March,” when Europe’s chaotic unilateral border closures left mileslong lines of trucks stuck on the roads and millions of travelers suddenly stranded.

He said it made “no sense” to close European borders, particularly for the millions of workers within the EU’s travel-free zone who cross borders to get to work. In contrast, fellow EU member Hungary announced Friday it will close its borders to foreigners beginning on Tuesday.

Speaking through a mask, he admitted that masks are “bothersome, annoying” but called it “a reasonable constraint that we should accept for a certain time” to revive the economy.

He also promised €15 billion ($17.8 billion) in state investment in projects to bring jobs and manufacturing back to France, and inaugurated a new production site at the Seqens pharmaceutical plant north of Paris. France’s dependence on suppliers in China fueled its shortages of masks, medicines and other medical supplies. AP

UN expresses concern over ‘dramatic turn’ in Libya crisis

UAE ends Israel boycott amid U.S.-brokered deal

France registered more than 7,000 new virus infections in a single day Friday, up from several hundred a day in May and June, in part thanks to ramped-up testing. But the rate of positive cases is also growing, with more than 30 positive tests per 100,000 people in 20 percent of the country’s regions. That figure was in the single digits a month ago.

“The dynamic of the epidemic’s progression is exponential,” the national health agency said.

While the number of hospitalized patients remains well below levels during the height of France's outbreak in the spring, it is rising, notably in areas where the virus is circulating most intensely.

“Nothing in theory can be excluded,” Macron told reporters when asked about a new nationwide lock-

C

AIRO— The United Nations on Saturday voiced alarm over what it called "a dramatic turn of events" in Libya's civil war, after a power struggle between leaders of the Tripoli-based government surfaced in the wake of anti-corruption protests.

Protests over deteriorating economic conditions erupted earlier this week in the capital and elsewhere in western Libya, which is controlled by forces loyal to the UN-supported government.

In Tripoli, local militia allied with the government opened fire on demonstrators with rifles and truck-mounted guns and abducted some of the protesters.

“Libya is witnessing a dramatic turn of events that underlines the urgent need to return to a full and inclusive political process,” the UN support mission in Libya said.

Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj and his interior minister, Fathi Bashaga, initially accused “outlawed infiltrators” of instigating the violence.

The prime minister also said protesters “did not obtain necessary permits” for their rally and described their demonstrations as “riots.”

However, on Friday, Sarraj suspended Bashaga and initiated an administrative investigation after Bashaga accused a government-allied militia of attacking the peaceful protesters in Tripoli this week.

Bashaga, who was excluded from two highprofile military and security meetings in the capital over the past few days, quickly responded.

He said in a statement he accepted the premier's

down. “I would not have learned much from what we have lived through for eight months if I said I totally exclude it.”

Macron said the government favors regional measures to stop outbreaks and will do everything it can to prevent a new nationwide lockdown by “learning to live with the virus.” France’s strict two-month lockdown in the spring devastated its economy but was credited with sharply slowing the virus.

France has seen more than 30,600 confirmed deaths from Covid-19, the third-highest toll in Europe after Britain and Italy. In addition, experts say all confirmed numbers understate the true impact of the pandemic due to limited testing and other factors.

Amid worries that France could

decision but demanded a public and live questioning "to expose the facts” to the Libyan people.

He did not elaborate.

Following the suspension of the interior minister, militias in Tripoli celebrated the decision by firing weapons into the air, while others in Bashaga's hometown of Misrata took to the streets to show support for the minister.

The dispute between Sarraj and Bashaga threatens to deepen a rift within the U.N.-supported government less than three months after Tripoli-allied forces, with Turkish support, ended a 14-month siege by rival forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter.

Hifter's forces launched an offensive in April 2019 trying to capture Tripoli. But his campaign collapsed in June when the Tripoli-allied militias, with heavy Turkish support, gained the upper hand, driving his forces from the outskirts of the city and other western towns.

The UN mission in Libya, known as UNSMIL, said it was still concerned about “the excessive use of force against demonstrators as well as the arbitrary arrest of a number of civilians.” It did not say how many people were detained.

Retweeting the UNSMIL‘s statement, the US Embassy in Libya urged Sarraj and Bashaga toward “cooperation” in the interests of "the Libyan people.”

Over the past two days, militias sealed off main streets and roads to prevent the demonstrators from reaching Tripoli‘s Martyrs Square, the epicenter of the protests, according to two

residents who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A group of women, however, protested in the city center before being dispersed. Two women were wounded and four others were arrested, according to the protest movement, known as “Hirak August 23.”

The movement called for civil disobedience until achieving their demands that include handing over power to the Supreme Judicial Council to work towards presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Libyan Crimes Watch, a local rights group monitoring the conflict, said Saturday a protester died of his wounds after he was shot Friday when a militia dispersed the protesters in the city center.

Protests also spread to the southern town of Sabah and the eastern town of Quba, both under the control of rival east-based Libyan forces led

by Khalifa Hifter.

The UN also said it is concerned about “ongoing human-rights violations and abuses” in the coastal city of Sirte, which is controlled by Hifter's forces since January. It said at least one civilian was killed and several others were arrested.

Oil-rich Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country is now split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by different armed groups and foreign governments. AP

Belarus cracks down on media as massive protests continue

M

OSCOW—Belarus, shaken by three weeks of massive protests against its authoritarian president, on Saturday cracked down hard on the news media, deporting some foreign journalists reporting in the country and revoking the accreditation of many Belarusian journalists.

Two Moscow-based Associated Press journalists who were covering the recent protests in Belarus were deported to Russia on Saturday. In addition, the AP’s Belarusian journalists were told by the government that their press credentials had been revoked.

"The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms this blatant attack on press freedom in Belarus. AP calls on the Belarusian government to reinstate the credentials of independent journalists and allow them to continue reporting the facts of what is happening in Belarus to the world," said Lauren Easton, the AP's director of media relations.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists said accreditation rights were also taken away from 17 Belarusians working for several other media. Germany's ARD television said two of its Moscow-based journalists also were deported to Russia, a Belarusian producer faces trial on Monday and their accreditation to work in Belarus was revoked. The BBC said two of its journalists working for the BBC Russian service in

Minsk also had their accreditation revoked and US-funded radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said five of its journalists lost their accreditation.

Criticism over the crackdown came from both media outlets and governments.

The program director for ARD's biggest regional affiliate, WDR, which oversees the coverage of Belarus, called the treatment of its camera team “absolutely unacceptable.”

“This shows once again that independent reporting in Belarus continues to be hindered and is made almost impossible,” Joerg Schoeneborn said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas summoned the Belarusian ambassador following the detention and expulsion of the foreign journalists in Minsk and said “this attack on press freedom is another dangerous step toward more repression instead of dialogue with the population.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “has consistently called for journalists to be able to do their work free from harassment, anywhere in the world,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The International Press Institute said “authorities in Belarus must immediately drop all charges against journalists detained during recent police crackdowns, stop cancelling accreditation for foreign journalists and immediately halt interference with state-owned

publishing houses.”

US State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus urged the government in Belarus to show restraint, to release those unjustly detained and to account for protesters reported missing.

“We are concerned by the continued targeting of journalists, the blocking of independent media and opposition websites, intermittent Internet blackouts and random detentions of peaceful citizens exercising their rights of freedom of assembly and speech,” she said.

Protests in Belarus began after the August 9 presidential election that officials said gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office with 80 percent support. Protesters say the results were rigged and are calling for Lukashenko, who has run the country since 1994, to resign.

The protests, some of which drew enormous crowds estimated at 200,000 or more, are the largest and most sustained challenge yet to Lukashenko’s 26 years in office, during which he consistently repressed opposition and independent news media.

On Saturday, hundreds of women dressed mostly in red and white—the colors of the former Belarusian flag that the opposition uses as an emblem—marched through the capital of Minsk in a protest. AP

D

UBAI, United Arab Emirates—The ruler of the United Arab Emirates issued a decree on Saturday formally ending the country's boycott of Israel amid a US-brokered deal to normalize relations between the two countries.

The announcement now allows trade and commerce between the UAE, home to oil-rich Abu Dhabi and skyscraper-studded Dubai, and Israel, home to a thriving diamond trade, pharmaceutical companies and tech start-ups.

The announcement further cements the August 13 deal opening up relations between the two nations, which required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex occupied West Bank land sought by the Palestinians. But Palestinians so far have criticized the accord as undercutting one of its few bargaining chips with Israelis in moribund peace negotiations.

The state-run WAM news agency said the decree formally ending the boycott came on the orders of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the Emirates' leader.

WAM said the new decree allows Israelis and Israeli firms to do business in the UAE, a US-allied federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. It also allows for the purchase and trade of Israeli goods. “The decree of the new law comes within the UAE’s efforts to expand diplomatic and commercial cooperation with Israel,” WAM said. It lays out “a road map toward launching joint cooperation, leading to bilateral relations by stimulating economic growth and promoting technological innovation.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the decree. “This is an important step toward advancing peace and prosperity in the region,” he said. Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in a statement the UAE decision “is an important step towards peace, which will yield substantial economic and commercial achievements for both people while strengthening the stability in the region.”

Already, some Israeli firms had signed deals with Emirati counterparts. But the repeal of the law widens the likelihood of other joint ventures, such as in aviation or in banking and finance.

Dubai International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Emirates, has been the world's busiest for international travel for years. The Dubai International Financial Center also hosts major firms who trade in the hours between Asian and European markets. Dubai already has a major gold market and growing diamond trade.

Emirati firms likely also want to access Israeli technological know-how. Some already had even before the deal—with the cybersecurity firm DarkMatter reportedly hiring Israeli militarytrained hackers.

On Monday, the first direct commercial flight

by Israel's flagship carrier El Al is expected in Abu Dhabi, carrying US and Israeli officials including President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Telephone calls already can be made between the nations. AP

A6

Monday, August 31, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

The whole world needs a vacation

A

friend who is a physician and is on the staff of a major medical facility in the south of the Metro had this assessment of both health-care professionals and patients: People are very anxious right now.

The doctor’s choice of using the word “anxious” is revealing. The definition is “experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.”

That probably describes the feelings of most people nowadays, to a certain extent.

However, there is a possible progression of such feeling, which can potentially become a serious mental health situation. If “anxious” is a feeling of worry and concern about an imminent event, “anxiety” goes farther to a broader range of emotions and extends into the future.

David H. Barlow is an American psychologist who is an expert on the nature and treatment of anxiety disorders. He defines anxiety as “a future-oriented mood state in which one is not ready or prepared to attempt to cope with upcoming negative events.” We have all probably experienced this when anticipating a job interview, for example.

But feelings of being anxious can be pushed to the next level.

Worry becomes fear. Uneasiness can move to having an unfocused overreaction about what is going to happen next. Not only are you not going to get the new job, but you will probably be hit by a jeepney on the way to the interview. Anxiety can also be characterized by a state of internal turmoil affecting all parts of your life beyond the initial focus of your nervousness.

Over the past months we have seen the psychological pressure building not only with increased fear of the Covid-19 pandemic but also as a result of the quarantines. This past week 10,000 people in London went to the streets in protest. In Berlin, 300 were arrested as nearly 40,000 protested their lockdown.

Anxiety disorder is not an issue to be dismissed and may need professional mental health treatment. But the anxiety that we might be experiencing should not be ignored either.

Recognizing that life is not going back to “normal” in the foreseeable future is an important first step. Examine what is “bothering you.” Do you find yourself closely following every daily development and then feel upset? Take a “news-break” for a couple of days and see if your anxiety lessens. The world will manage without you.

Your daily routine has probably changed and not for the better.

You’re bored and frustrated. Some have advised people to learn a foreign language. If you can do that, you have our upmost respect and you deserve an award. For most of us, that is not going to happen.

What we all need is a vacation. Leave it to the South Koreans to figure that out. “Home-camping, setting up camping gear as at the beach, has become popular in South Korea. Che and her husband sat on folding chairs and cooked food on a small stove. Behind them, the television was showing ‘waves-on-the-beach’ video.”

Taking care of problems, like financial matters, is important. But your mental health and that of your family must come first. Talk about how you are feeling and discuss ways to cope. Watch out for each other and work together.

How our working styles will change after Covid-19 Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

S

ince the pandemic started, almost everyone has been working from home—at least for those whose tasks can be performed from the house. And while some of us have returned to the workplace, or are going to do so in the near future, it is looking like remote working is here to stay. Covid-19 has certainly made it faster for more people to embrace the practice and realize its benefits.

In a remote work survey that was done by PwC in the US last June, 69 percent of the firms surveyed expect that almost two-thirds of their workforce will be working from home once a week in the post-pandemic future.

Meanwhile, 48 percent of US employees surveyed by the Grossman Group, a communications consultancy firm, said that they want to continue working from home after the pandemic.

Let us look at some of the reasons why remote working seems to

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Senior Editors

Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso

Online Editor

Ruben M. Cruz Jr.

Creative Director Chief Photographer Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

BusinessMirror is published daily by the Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., with offices on the 3rd floor of Dominga Building III 2113 Chino Roces Avenue corner De La Rosa Street, Makati City, Philippines.

Tel. Nos. (Editorial) 817-9467; 813-0725. Fax line: 813-7025.

(Advertising Sales) 893-2019; 817-1351, 817-2807.

(Circulation) 893-1662; 814-0134 to 36. E-mail: news@businessmirror.com.ph.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Printed by brown madonna Press, Inc.–Sun Valley Drive KM-15, South Superhighway, Parañaque, Metro Manila MEMBER OF

It has become easier to bring people together via the online meeting platforms, which means that the level of collaboration has increased and geographical divides are slowly being shattered. It has also become easier to strengthen communication lines between employees and the management. For example, at HP, more staff members are able to directly communicate with CEO Enrique Lores via the

A bubble that we don’t like to burst

W

“Bubble” environments are a stark contrast to the mega-city mindset of the pre-Covid era where central business districts became the building blocks of commerce and industry. Most people working in these cities live in “bedroom communities” and they have to travel great lengths daily, enduring traffic, to get to their place of employment.

“Bubble” environments are a stark contrast to the mega-city mindset of the pre-Covid era where central business districts became the building blocks of commerce and industry.

Most people working in these cities live in “bedroom communities” and they have to travel great lengths daily, enduring traffic, to get to their place of employment. In cities such as Metro Manila, centralization has included even premier schools, hospitals and commercial centers. No wonder that our metro populations get decimated overnight when a substantial number of workers decide to live outside these central districts.

be difficult to achieve but can be augmented locally with technology in urban agriculture energy production. One very important aspect of a “bubble” is the availability of adequate communications facilities, allowing people to work from their homes. As we have experienced in this pandemic, an adequate broadband service is very important. A “bubble” community ideally has almost all community-critical services within 15 to 20 minutes of travel.

Most of these should be reached by foot or by biking. Public transport will be present but not as stressed, mostly operating in loops with an average of five to ten-minute point to point travel time. Lastly, such an environment will most likely result in a stronger personal bind among inhabitants, as they have to depend on each other for the survival of their communities.

In the Philippines, potential “bubble” communities do exist. We have the natural island bubbles given our geography. We have the special zones

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

be effective for both employer and employee, based on data from the World Economic Forum. First of all, some managers have found that their staff members are more productive at home, partially because of zero commute time and zero stress/expense due to commuting. Employees are able to save time and focus on the output, rather than stress over fare expense, traffic, and the physical burden of actually getting dressed and ready to go to the office.

A term that is being used now is TBW, or trust-based working.

With TBW, bosses look at their employees’ output rather than the number of hours being put into the task. Employees are more free to do the work in the manner that they prefer, where and how they want to, for as long as they deliver good work on time. It therefore involves a clear understanding of goals and expectations, as well as tight accountability as far as quality and timeliness are concerned.

Thomas M. Orbos

STREET TALK

E have all heard about the so-called “bubbles” across the globe in this time of the pandemic. A “bubble” under current circumstances is loosely defined as a specific area that is supposed to be sheltered from the pandemic with the basic resources to last a good period of time, available for all occupants.

A “bubble” may be as specific as the NBA bubble in Florida allowing the league to resume its games, or “bubble” countries such as New Zealand and Palau with their distance to the world serving as their natural barrier to the pandemic. “Bubbles” also exist in major urban areas, mostly in the suburbs, leading to a silent migration of city dwellers to the confines of the outlying areas of their cities. This phenomenon might very well dictate the design of future cities in the post pandemic world, and might be the way to ensure better future for our children and grandchildren in a much-damaged world they will be inheriting from us.

Feeding these megacities requires thousands of tons of produce from the countryside or imported from other countries. Traffic congestion, pollution, waste management problems, as well as social inequality, are staple problems in these megacities.

For an area to be truly called a “bubble” it must be self-contained with the needed resources available within easy reach of residents. Local commerce is encouraged with services such as barbershops, repair shops and corner grocery stores strengthening local employment.

Total self-sufficiency, especially in food and energy production, may

series “Connect with Enrique.” Other managers have observed that the digital platform also enabled certain people to express themselves better, thereby delivering better performance in general.

A term that is being used now is TBW, or trust-based working. With TBW, bosses look at their employees’ output rather than the number of hours being put into the task.

Employees are more free to do the work in the manner that they prefer, where and how they want to, for as long as they deliver good work on time. It therefore involves a clear understanding of goals and expectations, as well as tight accountability as far as quality and timeliness are concerned.

Traditional managers and organizational systems apparently have a lot of catching up to do to be able to keep up with the rapid developments happening in the world of work.

Flexibility, adaptability, openness to change, and a little sense of adventure are all necessary ingredients to ensure success in the post-Covid work setting.

of Subic and Clark and the university areas such as Dumaguete, Baguio and Los Baños. However, it does not mean that “bubble” cities are exclusively safe from the virus. Baguio is in fact hard hit currently with most of the infections coming from travelers to the city. What also constitutes a bubble city is its administration’s capacity to open and close when necessary, with the needed resources in place. It goes without saying that bubble cities also need a good internal management of their resources without much dependence from the outside.

Moving forward and given the global pandemic experience, governments need to rethink their policies about how cities are restructured. It will be the micropolis mindset instead of the “mega” one, with communities ready to huddle in when needed. “Bubble” communities will also mean moving and working with people with the same shared values in these communities.

It will mean working closer to home and having more quality time with our families, something truly lacking in the rat race of the pre-Covid world. With that benefit, along with the others, bubble-communities will ensure a better community for our children, which will enhance their chances to successfully carve their own future.

Thomas “Tim” Orbos was formerly with the DOTr and the MMDA. He has completed his graduate studies at the McCourt School of Public Policy of Georgetown University and is an alumnus of the MIT Sloan School of Management. He can be reached via e-mail at thomas_orbos@sloan.mit.edu

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Ending hunger and poverty amid Covid-19

By QU Dongyu

G

lobal hunger has been on a regrettable rise in recent years, and despite Asia’s economic clout, the continent—home to more than half of the world’s undernourished—has not been spared. Now Covid-19 is leading to a slowdown of regional economic growth and further threatening food security.

Southern Asia is particularly vulnerable, with the number of chronically underfed people projected to rise by almost a third to 330 million by 2030. It is also the only sub-region in the world, where more than half the children from the poorest fifth of society are stunted, a condition that prejudices their future. But there are challenges all around: The Pacific Island States have the world’s highest child wasting rates, and East Asia has the world’s highest absolute costs for a healthy diet—one that goes beyond mere calorie counts to offer balanced nutrition. On top of that, Asia and the Pacific is the region where obesity and overweight, for children and adults, are growing faster than anywhere else.

We are facing two pandemics: Covid-19, which beyond its health toll is crushing livelihoods, and hunger, a scourge the international community pledged to eradicate by the end of this decade under the Sustainable Development Goal 2.

Tackling them will require new ideas and more robust political will. Past progress was sustained by the benign trickle-down effects of strong economies. This is not the case anymore.

The facts have changed, and so must our minds.

We need to find ways to increase resilience across our food systems by identifying new marketing channels (like e-commerce), increasing efficiency to reduce losses, improve the quality of products available and storage facilities, which are critical to flows of healthy foods and income to those who produce them. Inclusive access to finance to strengthen and expand rural supply chains is also crucial.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recently launched a new comprehensive Covid-19 Response and Recovery Program to provide an agile and coordinated global response aimed at ensuring access to nutritious food for everyone by mobilizing all forms of resources and partnerships at country, regional and global level. In line with the UN agenda to “build back better”, and in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, the new comprehensive Covid-19 Response and Recovery Program aims to mitigate the immediate impacts of the pandemic while strengthening the longerterm resilience of food systems and livelihoods.

So we are making headway, but

We are facing two pandemics: Covid-19, which beyond its health toll is crushing livelihoods, and hunger, a scourge the international community pledged to eradicate by the end of this decade under the Sustainable Development Goal 2. Tackling them will require new ideas and more robust political will. we must, as a priority, attend to the most urgent issues at the very source by enabling farmers to be more dynamic, entrepreneurial and competitive through continual innovation.

We need smallholder farmers to produce nutritious foods, without fear of crop failures, and we need to get those foods to the mouths of the hungry across the region and beyond. To do this, smallholders desperately need access to financial resources, technology and innovation. We also need to educate people on the importance of healthy diets, so that farmers will have a solid base of demand to whom they can market those foods.

The Asia-Pacific region is as dynamic as it is large. It has some of the best agricultural scientists, institutions and innovative ideas.

From Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific to China, India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and virtually every country in between, innovators are proving that everyone can benefit from new technologies and science.

Examples range from deploying drones to monitor flood and pest risks, smartphone apps that can identify plant diseases, advanced genetics that build on crop and livestock breeding, precision agriculture and aquaculture systems that conserve natural resources such as water, indoor farming and consumer tools for nutrition monitoring and smart purchasing.

There is no time to waste. Everyone needs to lend a hand: governments, academia, the private sector, UN agencies, civil society organizations, international financial institutions and the people who bring us the food we eat—the smallholders.

And our hands need to be working in unison to overcome pandemics that by definition affect and involve everyone.

FAO has rolled out the Handin-Hand Initiative to tackle these collective challenges, and the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, which will be virtually hosted by Bhutan (September 1-4), is the perfect opportunity for 46 members and other partners to forge ways to expedite action and leverage resources.

By working together, learning together and contributing together, we can overcome both pandemics and transform the agri-food system.

QU Dongyu is the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Take the high road Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

J

ust like the rest of the world, this country is full of critics. There are two kinds of critics. With established institutions, whether government or corporate hierarchy, there are conscientious people who sincerely give suggestions to help the organization grow and improve. These are well-meaning people who do it out of love of country or the company.

Unfortunately, there are those who only criticize others for no reason except because they want to or in order to get attention for themselves. These people, more often than not, resort to hurtful or gutter language to deliberately offend instead of build. Now more than ever, their rude and disgusting messages seem to proliferate and dominate the airwaves. These “critics” are not capable of intelligent discourse, and will not even listen to differing opinion. Bashing has been the norm in recent years, but what is surprising is that bashers do not exclusively come from the troll community. There are some highly educated people who have joined the bashing trend, which appears to be the in-thing in this generation of creative memes and innovative messages.

In Proverbs 15:1-2, the Bible tells us, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness.” When Vice President

Leni Robredo delivered a short, insightful, direct to the point speech that openly criticized the current administration, but at the same time suggested specific plans and activities to the government in its fight against the coronavirus, many citizens took notice and praised her for this class act. I am one of those.

It was highly evident that what VP Leni said and how she said it, came from a heart that just wants to help.

She used respectful language; no profanity. Sadly, the bashers completely ignored her message and resorted to hate language, criticizing her wardrobe, the delivery and timing of her speech, and just about every petty thing in order to distract from the important and substantial contents of her speech.

In contrast to the soft manner of VP Leni is that of Senator Leila de lima, a firebrand of a public servant. Senator de lima has never relented in speaking her mind as regards the government campaign against drugs. Even at the cost of her continued detention, she has not

Bloomberg Opinion

T

he US is deploying its economic weaponry as never before, using unilateral sanctions to punish China for the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and its treatment of Uighur minorities in the country’s northwest. Western experience with Russia suggests Washington’s efforts to force a change of behavior are unlikely to succeed, even if the measures remain in place for years.

Washington blacklisted a powerful Chinese conglomerate and officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang at the end of July, just as President Donald Trump suggested he would ban popular Chineseowned video app TikTok. In early August, weeks after Beijing imposed

a national security law on Hong Kong, the White House took the most dramatic step of all, targeting the territory’s leader, Carrie Lam, and a handful of others. The Hong Kong Autonomy Act passed by the US in July may expand that group, and target their bankers, too.

The US sanctions machinery has generally been targeted at smaller, rogue states. Not always, though.

Russia has been under progressively tougher measures since 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and the downing of a passenger aircraft over Ukraine. The Russian economy, before punitive action, was twice the size of all others under US sanctions combined. Targeting the world’s second-largest economy represents another step up. Still, experience offers some hints of what can be expected.

As it has been said, when your opponents go low, go high! Take the high road and use respectful language when your critics bash you. Refuse to engage the rabid fanatics in endless, pointless, and ruthless debate. Engage the reasonable ones in a healthy discussion. tempered her acerbic comments on what she perceived as lapses in the government’s actions. These past days, however, owing to the trend of bashing and vulgar language, she has seemingly joined the gutter language fray if only to get her message across to those who prefer or understand only this kind of communication. Senator Antonio Trillanes III, Senator Panfilo Lacson, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., and Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, generally known for their respectful statements, have on some occasions resorted to gutter language as well, totally opposed to their previous conduct in public.

I think the way most people communicate these days can be traced to President Duterte himself. He has been talking the way he does for quite some time already. He has endeared himself to his constituents in Davao with his street-like style of doing things. His supporters are enamored with his candid, unfiltered, and uncensored way of communicating. He can be obscene, as he even raised his middle finger in a nationally televised speech, but I suppose it comes from his emotions, hurt by his own set of critics.

President Duterte has a natural

Regulatory compliance ecosystem Joel L. Tan-Torres

DEBIT CREDIT Second of a series

T

here are still significant complaints about the sad state of the government regulatory compliance ecosystem in our country. So many documentary requirements, excessive procedures to follow, too long for the government agency to act on citizen’s requests, and even the prevalence of bribe or corruption…these are just some of the problems and issues encountered when complying with the government regulatory requirements.

Though these irritants continue to prevail, I note the improved present state and see a brighter future that improvements are currently happening and will continue. The institution of anti-red tape measures, the simplification of government processes for front line services, use of technology to enhance government service, the continued prosecution of erring government employees are now part of the regulatory ecosystem. I have high hopes that the government-citizenry interaction

will improve over time.

Of course, the key factor in an efficient bureaucracy is the mindset and the “heart” for service of the government official fronting with the public. With a focus on the citizen welfare by the head and staffs of a government office, that agency will most probably be rendering the best service for its constituents and stakeholders. Better yet, having an “entrepreneurial” spirit will motivate and move government to transform itself. This is the notion of authors

Trump’s China sanctions fail Russian history test

By Clara Ferreira Marques

Monday, August 31, 2020

The first Russian lesson is that success is distant, no matter how victory is defined. Certainly, European and US efforts haven’t prompted a U-turn in Crimea. Such a drastic policy reversal would be unusual in any event. A study of sanctions by economist Manuel Oechslin, now at the University of Lucerne, finds that using them to promote regime change in autocracies—at the extreme end of possible outcomes, but a frequent target—has a negligible hit rate. He cites figures showing that between 1914 and 2000, out of 57 episodes, only 12 were at least partly successful.

Yet sanctions aren’t just about compelling governments to change.

They are also aimed at constraining further moves, encouraging political settlements, and signaling to domestic and international audi-

ences. It’s possible to argue that sanctions encouraged Russian restraint in Eastern Ukraine. That matters for Hong Kong and China: While Washington may not be able to reverse the territory’s reduced autonomy, increasing the opportunity cost may encourage Beijing to tread more cautiously.

Yet such effects are questionable, and difficult to measure. There is plenty of evidence that Russia and its oligarchs have adapted, expecting sanctions won’t be reversed, and that the economy is more self-reliant, even if sluggish. Simply, the Kremlin has shown itself willing to bear the cost of holding onto Crimea. China, for which Hong Kong is a non-negotiable issue of territorial integrity, is even better equipped to pursue such a policy.

It doesn’t help that it isn’t always

A7

foul mouth and uses gestures and terms that most Filipinos can relate to. Yes, I was one of those who once admired how he expressed himself then—authentic and unadulterated.

I still would want to see the President I voted for in 2016 finish his term despite his failure to properly address the pandemic crisis, among others.

Unlike his bashers who want his health to deteriorate, I wish him well as his heart still wants to serve this country to the best of his abilities.

Duterte’s critics should not resort to his gangster style of communication just because he does so.

As it has been said, when your opponents go low, go high! Take the high road and use respectful language when your critics bash you.

Refuse to engage the rabid fanatics in endless, pointless, and ruthless debate. Engage the reasonable ones in a healthy discussion.

For those supporters and critics in any organization, exert earnest efforts to agree to disagree by the use of polite language. Remember, a gentle answer deflects anger. Never use gutter language unless that is where you want your level of discussions to be. Remember, the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness.

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.

system, institutionalizing the strategic and work planning exercise, moving the key performance indicator assessment and evaluation system, championing the Performance Governance System, the formulation of a comprehensive “Making the Public Know” strategy and program, and a host of other innovations. One of the highlights of my efforts is presenting these programs to the Multi-Sectoral Anti-Corruption Council consisting of the senior government officials in March 2010 with my talk on “Leadership in Governance: Setting the Tone at the Top.” I can “humbly” state that I did my share in transforming the BIR regulatory compliance ecosystem.

(To be continued)

David Osborne and Ted Gaebler in their best selling book, Reinventing Government. As early as in 1993, the two have been invoking that the principles and practices in the private sector, if effectively applied in the government, will enhance and transform the bureaucracy. They mentioned such imperatives in a transformed government such as being community-owned, competitive, mission-driven, results-oriented, entrepreneurial, customer-driven, anticipatory, market oriented, and decentralized in operations.

I brought these insights as I discharged my functions in government. In particular, when I was with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, as Assistant Commissioner in the 1990s and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue from 2009 to 2010, I was able to fully utilize the concepts of transformative leadership espoused by Osbore and Gaebler. I implemented several taxpayer service oriented initiatives, including the “Handang Maglingkod” program, the standardization and simplification of tax forms, the setting up of nationwide taxpayer counters and help units, the institution of taxpayer perception and satisfaction surveys, the adoption of e-complaint

Joel L. Tan-Torres is the Dean of the University of the Philippines Virata School of Business. Previously, he was the 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 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.

easy to establish the precise economic damage delivered by sanctions. In Russia around 2014, the collapsing oil price caused more obvious pain, though sanctions hurt. In Hong Kong, it will be similarly hard to unpick the impact of sanctions from that delivered by months of antigovernment protests followed by a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

Another message from Russia is that targeting larger economies can come with significant unintended economic consequences, and a greater risk of retaliation.

The US role in the global financial system and the primacy of the dollar give Washington asymmetrical power, as my colleagues Nisha Gopalan and Andy Mukherjee have written. Secondary sanctions in particular mean that banks even far outside the US fall into line. China needs

Hong Kong to access world markets.

None of that prevents larger economies from striking back. China doesn’t have its own sanctions bureaucracy—there is no real Beijing version of the Office of Foreign Assets Control—but it has in the past, and can again, turn to what it does have: vast numbers of tourists, rare-earth minerals and consumers for US products like Apple Inc.’s iPhones. It can also begin chipping away at the dominance of the dollar and systems like the international payments network SWIFT. Russia already receives more euros than dollars for its exports to China.

Eventually, that adds up. And the US has other vulnerabilities, like its debt pile. Plenty of US-owned businesses in Hong Kong and beyond could easily get caught in the crossfire.

A8 Monday, August 31, 2020

Canned meat price may rise on tight MDM

T

IGHTNESS in supply of raw materials, particularly mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken, may cause prices of canned meat to rise, as the country enforces its import ban on Brazilian and Australian chicken meat as part of health safeguards, an industry group said.

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) said the tight supply of materials, particularly MDM of chicken, “would likely push up” prices of their products by 10 percent to 14 percent in the coming weeks.

Brazil is the country’s second-largest supplier of MDM, accounting for 20 percent to 25 percent of the imported raw materials being used by processors, Pampi noted.

“Because of the ample and affordable supply of poultry products from Brazil, we were not worried over the inventory of our raw materials,” Pampi spokesman Rex Agarrado said.

“With the availability of poultry products from Brazil, we followed the order of President Rodrigo Duterte, through Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, that we would not increase prices of our products,” he added.

Pampi earlier explained that chicken MDM from Brazil is currently cheaper than European and American prices at $680 per metric ton compared to $800 per metric ton from other sources.

Only the Philippines to date has imposed a ban on Brazilian chicken meat following reports that certain sample of chicken wings imported

by China tested positive for SarsCov-2, the causative agent of Covid-19 disease “China advised the source factories of the sample shipments to be cautious, but it did not impose a ban on Brazil imports,” Agarrado noted.

Pampi explained that the situation worsened when the Department of Agriculture (DA) also imposed a blanket ban on Australian chicken meat after a confirmed bird flu case in Victoria.

“The local meat processing industry is now beginning to feel the impact of the import bans. While the industry agreed to hold off any price increase at the start of the pandemic in March as mandated by the Price Act, it was able to do so because of the availability of affordable raw materials from Brazil,” Agarrado explained.

Citing the Department of Trade and Industry’s product monitoring system, Pampi said the country’s inventory of MDM as of August 14 was good for only 30 to 45 days.

“This means that after two weeks of the ban on Brazil poultry products, our inventory dwindled to 15 to 30 days,” he said adding that shipping time between Brazil and the Philippines is normally 45 to 60 days . Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Neda chief sees ‘signs’ Q3 GDP growth would improve

T

By Cai U. Ordinario

@caiordinario

HE “U-turn” in some economic indicators are indications that GDP growth in the third quarter of the year could be better, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said.

In a statement, Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said a “U-turn” has already been observed in terms of manufacturing production and export earnings.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that exports contracted 13.3 percent in June while the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) contracted 19.3 percent—improvements from the contraction of 26.9 percent and 28.5 percent, respectively.

“If the slower decline continues, then Q3 [third quarter] growth can possibly improve,” Chua told BusinessMirror last week.

Chua said the “U-turn” in exports and manufacturing output will be driven by the recent approval of Bayanihan 2, the proposal of the

2021 budget, and “Build, Build, Build” (BBB).

The proposed P165.5-billion Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or the Bayanihan 2 is now awaiting President Duterte’s signature.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has submitted to Congress the proposed P4.506trillion national budget for 2021, government’s main tool in dealing with the continuing economic damage wrought by Covid-19.

T he gover nment hopes to continue the BBB program after months of lockdown due to the pandemic. The BBB program, launched in 2017, is meant to usher in the “golden age of infrastructure” in the country.

Under Pillars 1 and 2 of the government’s phased and adaptive re-

covery approach, P655 billion have been allocated to help people cope with the pandemic and improve the country’s health-care system.

This includes the ramped-up spending to protect some 18 million low-income households and 3.1 million workers of small businesses.

“Moving forward, we are optimistic that Bayanihan 2 will help the country bounce back from the crisis with its improved provisions on the health-care system, public transport, and restoring consumer demand,” Chua said.

He added that the government will also provide equity support to distressed firms that are deemed strategic and allow banks to dispose of bad loans and assets so they can serve more businesses.

In addition, Chua said the government is focusing on enhancing the productivity of the agriculture sector, as it also plays a crucial role in economic recovery.

“There’s no way for the Philippines to complete its structural transformation if we don’t make the agriculture sector productive.

We have already taken huge steps through the Rice Tariffication Law and the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. We can also do more through our infrastructure and logistics programs,” he said.

18 PHL IT, creative firms joining virtual China expo

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

A

@alyasjah

T least 18 Philippine firms in the information technology (IT) and creative fields will make their pitch to foreign investors in China’s trade fair for services exports.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is heading the country’s participation in the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) 2020 from September 3 to September 7. Unlike before, joining the CIFTIS will be done online to ensure the health and safety of exhibitors and guests.

The digital Philippine pavilion will promote the country’s competitive advantages and offerings through photos and videos of services offered by local IT and business process management, software development, animation, game development, film, digital creative original intellectual property, construction and engineering firms.

Philippine exhibitors include 18 firms, five private-sector groups and three state agencies. Most of the delegates work on IT-enabled services, such as software development, business-process outsourcing and customer relationship management, while some engage in the creative trades of animation, game Continued on A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, August 31, 2020

B1

Rockwell Land to continue expansion in Cebu, Iloilo

By VG Cabuag

L

@villygc

opez-led Rockwell Land Corp. said it will continue its expansion outside of Metro Manila, despite the changes in consumer behavior caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nestor Padilla, the company's president and CEO, said the company is developing “safer” communities in Cebu and Iloilo. It is also exploring a possible joint venture expansion project in Pampanga.

“We will continue to make changes as necessary during these uncertain times. For now, as we stay true to our vision of providing beyond ordinary communities, the rest of our efforts will focus on the project completion of Proscenium, Vantage, Edades Suites and 32 Sanson’s Soli-

hiya Tower,” Padilla said.

“Despite the inevitable business impact, we immediately had to adapt to evolving protocols. As we learned more about the virus, we also kept improving our safety measures and policies to keep our residential communities protected."

Rockwell said the company is already preparing for the Christmas season, as they want to give their customers and residents not only a safe experience, but also an enjoyable one.

It said the company expects an increase in demand for horizontal living spaces with wide open areas.

As such it is transitioning developments in Bacolod to offer more lots.

“We will continue to build beyond ordinary communities. The shift in market behavior because of the crisis has led to make changes in our plans to deliver more exciting developments. This includes a new 30-hectare self-contained inner city mixed-used development in Bacolod set to launch in 2021,” Valerie Soliven, the company’s chief revenue officer, said.

Rockwell said its consolidated net income in the first half fell 44 percent to P702 million from last year’s P1.26 billion.

Revenues for the period were down 40 percent to P4.14 billion from last year’s P6.93 billion, due to the imposed quarantine in Metro Manila and key cities in the Philippines where the company operates.

Residential development ac-

counted for 80 percent of the total revenues in 2020, slightly lower than last year’s 81 percent.

The company said the first half of 2019 figures were restated to reflect the impact of PFRS 15 mainly on cost of sales and interest expense and PFRS 16 on rent expense, depreciation and interest expense in order for the 2020 figures to be comparable.

For the second quarter alone, Rockwell had a P32-million loss as against the previous year's P538 million in income.

Revenues for the period, meanwhile, managed to reach P924 million, down by 73 percent from last year's P3.44 billion, but mostly as a result of its interest income as other revenue streams were depressed.

Residential development for the first half generated P3.31 billion, contributing 80 percent of the total revenues for the period. Bulk of the revenues came from the sale of condominium units, including accretion from interest income.

‘Meralco complied with billing directives’

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

T

HE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said over the weekend that it is exploring legal remedies following the decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to penalize the company for its lapses related to billing advisories.

Meralco said it received last Friday the ERC’s August 20 decision.

It maintained that it has been fully compliant with the ERC’s directives.

“Meralco is currently evaluating the said decision and its available legal remedies given that it is the position of the company that it has fully complied with the advisories issued by the ERC during the enhanced community quarantine [ECQ] period,” it said.

The utility firm was ordered to

DFNN unit to acquire Australian gambling firm

L

isted firm DFNN Inc. said its affiliate has offered a non-binding term sheet to take control of debtsaddled Australian-listed gambling firm Silver Heritage Group Ltd. for about P18.88 million.

The said term sheet, offered on August 16, was coursed through DFNN's affiliate Hatch Asia Inc. through its wholly owned Australian subsidiary. DFNN owns 18.98 percent of Hatch Asia.

The company said the administrators met with the creditors of Silver Heritage who unanimously resolved to execute the Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) and relayed the approval to Hatch Asia.

“This welcome news comes after the announcement of iWave Inc., a DFNN investee company, of its on-going listing in the Singapore Stock Exchange via another reverse takeover through a scheme of arrangement, as allowed under SGX rules,” it said.

Hatch Asia's recapitalization via DOCA methodology, as allowed by the Australian Stock Exchange, will be effected via the acquisition of shares equal to about 92 percent of the issued share capital of Silver Heritage through a consolidation of shares of existing shareholders. This will be followed by a new issue of ordinary shares of a new Australian subsidiary of Hatch Asia, Hatch Australia Holdings Pty Ltd. The said deal is still subject to Silver Heritage shareholder approval.

The company said it is buying the Australian gambling firm for A$530,000, or about P18.88 million in cash, and 3 percent of the issued shares in the company, subject to the terms and conditions to be set in a DOCA. The company said the successful conclusion of the deal would eventually result in the Hatch Asia shareholder-controlled entity being listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and DFNN owning part of the ASX Listed Entity. VG Cabuag

pay P19 million for failing to indicate clearly that the March to May billings were “estimated”, and for failing to properly inform its consumers that the cumulative amount of electricity bill that was supposed to have fallen within the ECQ period shall be amortized in four equal monthly installments.

Meralco was also told to set to zero the Distribution, Supply, and Metering (DSM) charges of each of the lifeline consumers whose monthly energy consumption does not exceed 100 kilowatt hour (kWh) for one month cycle of billing.

The discount to be provided to all lifeline consumers is estimated to be around P275 million, based on the May 2020 records of ERC. This directive becomes effective in the next billing cycle immediately upon receipt of the ERC decision.

In all, the total penalty slapped on Meralco is almost P300 million.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian commended the swift action against Meralco and, at the same time, warned other distribution utilities (DUs) that have committed similar lapses.

“This should serve as a stern warning against all erring distribution utilities that might face the same consequences,” he said in a statement.

The senator also said Meralco should not contest the ERC decision.

“Una, ang payo ko sa kanila, wag na nila ilaban kasi para sa akin ito ay isang risonableng pagmumulta sa kanila. Kapag lumaban sila iaadvise natin sa ERC na taasan nila at maghanap pa ng ibang paraan para ma-penalize ho sila,” Gatchalian said in a radio interview.

Gatchalian said he "empathizes" with the millions of Meralco consumers as he himself complained of apparent bill shock.

“Nakita ko na maganda rin yung mekansimo ng ERC kasi yung sasabihin nilang P300 milion na multa ay mapupunta sa gobyerno, walang makikinabang na konsyumers diyan kaya ginawa nila bigyan mo na lang ng diskwento yung mga maliliit na konsyumers para deretsong mararamdamanng ating mga konsyumers,” said the senator.

Aside from apparent miscalculated and inaccurate billing amounts, public outrage against Meralco also stemmed from technical problems in paying their bills, such as the P47 “convenience fee” charged for paying bills through its web site or mobile app.

PCCI names Sangyupsal Food chain’s Mangio as 46th PBC and Expo chair T

he national leaders of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) named Korean Sangyupsal owner Enunina Mangio as chair of the 46th Philippine Business Conference and Expo (PBC&E), making her only the second woman to steer the biggest gathering of businessmen, policymakers and thought leaders in the country.

Even before Korean Sangyupsal made its way to the Philippines and become popular, Enunina Mangio knew early on that it was going to be a big hit, so she invested in it and quietly built her chain of SangyupMasarap. Now, she operates 52 branches nationwide.

Nina, as she is fondly called by her colleagues in business, is this year’s Chair of the 46th Philippine Business Conference & Expo. She is the second woman in PCCI to chair the biggest business gathering in the country.

A licensed engineer by profession, Nina is Chairman of the Board and President of Choosers Choice Food & Development Corp., Mawell Chemical Corp., and Servcare International Corp., an international corporate organization engaged in mining, resorts, hotels and casinos and property management with subsidiaries in the United States, Asia and Dubai.

PCCI President Benedicto V. Yu-

Mangio

juico named Mangio as Conference Chair in February before Luzon was put on enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I am honored with the appointment. My chairmanship is exciting and challenging at the same time as it is happening while the country is in a health crisis. We aim to be able to impart innovative solutions to businesses especially on how they can navigate their ecosystems in this new normal,” Mangio said.

The PBC&E is a venue for policymakers and business and industry captains to meet and exchange ideas on current and pressing issues, as well as on potential business opportunities. One of the significant highlights of the PBC&E is an audience

with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte where the business community will present a set of policy resolutions that resulted from national and regional consultations.

This year’s conference will have innovation@ph as its theme. It will look closely into the country’s innovation ecosystem and deep dive into how executives in government and across industries are leading digital transformation across different aspects of government and business operations.

A series of innovation webinars was launched last week to officially kick off the 46th PBC leading to the actual conference on October 7 and 8, 2020.

Consultations with the regional chapters, which were presided over

by PCCI President Yujuico, have also taken place. Inputs from the consultations will form the basis for the policy resolutions to be submitted to the President at the concluding session of the conference.

Mangio has been an active member of PCCI serving as Chair of the Philippines-Korea Business Council (PhilKorek) and Philippine USA Business Council (PUBC). She is an Honorary Consul of the Republic of Liberia in Manila and Charter President of Rotary Club of Fort Bonifacio West.

PAL lands on top 10 list of safest carriers

By Recto L. Mercene @rectomercene

F

lag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) was recognized one of the top 10 airlines with the highest safety credentials for travel during Covid-19 following an audit of more than 150 airlines conducted by Safe Travel Barometer.

PAL secured a 4.2 rating out of 5.0, the highest score.

PAL President and Chief Operating Officer Gilbert Santa Maria said, “We are grateful for the unexpected recognition, and honored to be recognized for doing the right thing. PAL shall continue to maintain the highest standards of safety and the protection of the health of our colleagues and all the passengers in our care.”“The fundamental premise of Safe Travel Score is to benchmark travel brands’ initiatives to reduce traveller anxiety,” said Virendra Jain, cofounder and chief executive of Safe Travel, an independent subsidiary of travel industry advisory and consulting firm VIDEC. The flag carrier's safe travel score tied with China Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, AirAsia Malaysia and UAE’s Emirates. The rating system provided a score for each stage of the travel journey –preflight, the actual flight and post flight.

The top 10 safest carriers are: 1. Lufthansa: 4.5 2. Vistara: 4.4 3. Delta Airlines: 4.4

4. Allegiant Air: 4.4 5. China Airlines: 4.2 6. Hawaiian Airlines: 4.2 7. AirAsia: 4.2 8. Emirates: 4.2 9. Philippine Airlines: 4.2 10. Alaska Airlines: 4.1.

The rating includes Covid-19 related hygiene and safety measures announced by airlines for travelers and its crew.

PAL has been carrying out the following safety protocols against Covid-19: n Provides personal protective equipment (PPE) for cabin crew for use throughout the flight; n Carries out disinfection of aircraft surfaces before and after every flight using high-grade eco-friendly cleaning agents; n Uses High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters to cleanse cabin air of bacteria, viruses, and impurities with 99.99 percent efficacy; n Carries out simplified inflight food service to minimize contact between cabin crew and passengers; n Conducts Covid-19 testing for returning Filipino (non-overseas Filipino workers) and foreign travelers; n Mandates the use of face masks and shields among all travelers and airline workers; and n Ensures availability of hand sanitizers at pre-flight facilities (ticket offices/check in counters /boarding gates), flight proper and post-flight procedures.

Michael Page opens Manila office

G

lobal recruitment company Michael Page opened an office in Manila—its sixth in Southeast Asia, saying it is bullish on the potential of Filipino talent.

“Looking at industries in the Philippines with high growth potential in the next few years, it is clear why the economy is well-poised for recovery,” said Olly Riches, board director at Michael Page South East Asia.

According to him, manufacturing, including supply chain and 3PL [third-party logistics] is a major growth area, and the consumer market, amid the lockdown and other challenges, has remained robust, including retail, food and beverages, and fast-moving consumer goods.

“While many companies already have back office operations in the Philippines, we want to build upon the enormous potential beyond that. With the office opening, we aim to foster long-term partnerships on the ground, and nurture the best talent here to build on the local opportunities that exist,” he said.

With a young population learning to be entrepreneurs—average of 24.4 years old—the company noted that local technology and digital industries are well-positioned to generate employment opportunities for the upcoming generation of working professionals.

“There is interest in doing business in the

Philippines due to the very strong talent here. We produce a lot of technical experts, such as engineers and healthcare professionals, among other skilled professionals. As a result, more MNCs [multinationals] are being drawn to investments and local conglomerates are tapping into expansion opportunities within the country for years to come,” said Carla Lastimosa, director of Michael Page Philippines.

“We are seeing more overseas Filipino professionals returning home to the Philippines to continue building their careers. This has created increased confidence in local employers of a healthy rebound for the economy,” she added.

Given this trend and leveraging on their company’s global network, Lastimosa said that they have also contributed their local knowledge by attracting top talent and investment back to the Philippines.

The Philippines is considered one of the 5 highgrowth regions in Southeast Asia. Based on estimates of the International Monetary Fund, the country’s GDP growth rate reached 5.9 percent in 2019.

“In 2020, as in many countries, that growth has slowed down. Covid-19 and the stringent lockdown have had a real effect on the economy in the first half of the year. However, the Philippines has the ability to bounce back,” said British Ambassador Daniel Pruce. Roderick L. Abad

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, August 31, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

August 28, 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 PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE COL FINANCIAL FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

44.25 85.95 66.4 20.5 8.5 33.5 19.66 48.3 16 96.5 54 0.8 21.15 0.56 2.56 0.96 0.295 735 0.58 155 1925 1.04

45.5 86 67 20.6 8.51 34 19.8 48.95 16.1 97 54.3 0.82 22.2 0.59 2.78 0.99 0.305 760 0.6 156.7 1950 1.1

44.5 87.1 65.4 20.3 8.6 34.5 19.8 48.9 16 97 53.9 0.86 20.85 0.6 2.62 0.97 0.295 735 0.62 156.9 1900 1.1

45.5 87.35 67 20.6 8.68 35.05 19.92 48.95 16.1 97 54.3 0.86 22.2 0.6 2.78 0.97 0.3 760 0.62 156.9 1925 1.1

44.5 86 65.4 20.3 8.42 33.5 19.64 48.3 16 95 53.9 0.82 20.85 0.56 2.62 0.97 0.295 735 0.57 156 1900 1.1

45.5 86 67 20.6 8.5 33.5 19.66 48.3 16.1 97 54 0.82 22.2 0.59 2.78 0.97 0.3 760 0.6 156 1925 1.1

2500 6172430 2366520 46100 779100 7607700 150600 800 3800 371300 61330 139000 6500 74000 8000 15000 890000 30 2164000 240 65 2000

112250 533165933 157437839 939550 6662029 256409650 2975932 38940 61000 35833760 3311597 116020 142320 42540 21350 14550 263550 22550 1267360 37634 124850 2200

45500 -328037287 56221440.5 -190730 -682096 -149198975 -1420106 -37000 -8337503.5 -584053.5 860 8400 -35700 -3120 124850 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 2.7 2.72 2.78 2.78 2.66 2.7 11838000 32055770 ALSONS CONS 1.27 1.29 1.3 1.3 1.27 1.27 2142000 2736590 ABOITIZ POWER 26.5 26.65 26.5 26.65 25.8 26.65 2667500 70833795 BASIC ENERGY 0.176 0.178 0.166 0.179 0.165 0.178 12290000 2111950 FIRST GEN 24.35 24.5 24.35 25.45 24.35 24.35 2865000 71189785 59.25 59.3 59 59.5 59 59.25 2340 138734.5 FIRST PHIL HLDG MERALCO 269 269.2 269 270 267.4 269 369420 99300400 MANILA WATER 14.3 14.38 14.28 14.38 13.94 14.38 3223400 45912914 PETRON 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.05 3.02 3.04 1600000 4852110 3.1 3.24 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 10000 32500 PETROENERGY PHX PETROLEUM 11.1 11.3 11.04 11.3 11 11.3 67800 758354 PILIPINAS SHELL 17.62 17.7 17.52 17.7 17.52 17.7 443700 7814424 SPC POWER 8.55 8.7 8.42 8.72 8.38 8.7 114700 970679 AGRINURTURE 7.65 7.7 7.76 7.76 7.55 7.65 88200 671096 2.49 2.5 2.45 2.52 2.45 2.49 19564000 48402770 AXELUM CNTRL AZUCARERA 11.44 12 12 12 12 12 100 1200 CENTURY FOOD 16.18 16.22 16.3 16.3 16.16 16.22 2651500 42952990 DEL MONTE 4.85 4.86 4.86 4.9 4.85 4.86 73000 355640 DNL INDUS 4.6 4.62 4.79 4.81 4.6 4.6 3849000 17960560 EMPERADOR 9.99 10 10 10 9.89 10 1046300 10434101 66.55 68.5 67.2 68.5 66.55 68.5 266070 18096884 SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT 0.65 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.65 0.66 661000 430570 1.18 1.19 1.2 1.21 1.15 1.19 6829000 8087890 FRUITAS HLDG GINEBRA 37.8 39 37.75 37.8 37.75 37.8 21800 824035 JOLLIBEE 135 135.1 138 138.1 135.1 135.1 1594030 216611590 7.77 7.99 8.03 8.03 7.77 7.99 6400 50600 MACAY HLDG MAXS GROUP 4.8 4.82 4.81 4.82 4.74 4.82 93000 444550 0.128 0.137 0.126 0.126 0.126 0.126 10000 1260 MG HLDG SHAKEYS PIZZA 5.62 5.68 5.7 5.7 5.62 5.62 235300 1326394 ROXAS AND CO 1.16 1.17 1.17 1.2 1.16 1.17 6606000 7735120 4.5 4.53 4.5 4.53 4.5 4.5 2003000 9013530 RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG 1.56 1.63 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1000 1650 137.8 139 138.8 140 135.4 137.8 2439680 336619483 UNIV ROBINA VITARICH 0.77 0.78 0.78 0.78 0.77 0.77 13516000 10535140 2.22 2.35 2.22 2.22 2.22 2.22 41000 91020 VICTORIAS CONCRETE A 52 52.9 52 52.9 52 52.9 460 24028 52.1 53.9 52.25 52.25 52.25 52.25 300 15675 CONCRETE B 1.46 1.5 1.5 1.56 1.46 1.46 53362000 80393800 CEMEX HLDG 12.04 12.3 12 12.5 12 12.3 454100 5599622 EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP 5.69 5.7 5.61 5.75 5.5 5.69 2560800 14498814 5.93 5.94 5.51 6 5.51 5.94 8317500 48749078 HOLCIM 6.34 6.35 6.54 6.54 6.3 6.35 535200 3399641 MEGAWIDE PHINMA 8.52 9 9 9 9 9 12400 111600 0.66 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.68 0.69 9000 6190 TKC METALS VULCAN INDL 0.72 0.75 0.73 0.75 0.72 0.75 64000 46600 CROWN ASIA 1.99 2 1.92 2 1.92 2 431000 848630 EUROMED 1.81 1.86 1.83 1.87 1.81 1.81 219000 399720 4.45 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 12000 54000 LMG CORP 3.9 3.98 3.99 3.99 3.99 3.99 2000 7980 MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP 4.12 4.13 4.08 4.2 4.08 4.13 14000 58270 CONCEPCION 18.82 20 18.8 19 18.8 18.82 1400 26360 1.87 1.88 1.81 1.91 1.81 1.88 10665000 20023960 GREENERGY 4.67 4.85 4.66 4.68 4.65 4.67 232000 1080350 INTEGRATED MICR 0.95 0.97 0.96 0.99 0.95 0.97 375000 363670 IONICS PANASONIC 4.3 4.64 4.22 4.64 4.22 4.64 16000 69720 1.35 1.37 1.38 1.42 1.34 1.35 1749000 2381330 SFA SEMICON 5.65 5.7 5.86 5.9 5.58 5.7 3331700 18963478 CIRTEK HLDG

31120 -881920 10709750 3053390 -1777.5 -31258242 -2226788 -2120820 3997458.0004 842 107759 -41375330 1200 966190 -68190 -16822510 -5034049 -8737289.5 -121290 755999.9998 -95642274 157900 224986 -348890 -18000 -57662147 -16380 962720 6296156 166692 -758929 664010 -18838 2284120 13820 -4140 208804

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.465 0.47 0.47 0.475 0.465 0.465 1840000 863150 7.68 7.99 8.08 8.08 7.63 7.98 31700 242887 ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP 732 733.5 730 734.5 720.5 733.5 331850 242155055 47.75 48 47.8 48 46.05 48 2210100 105571550 ABOITIZ EQUITY 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.23 6.15 6.18 12030500 74346872 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 1.74 1.75 1.77 1.8 1.72 1.74 1169000 2038580 AYALA LAND LOG 6.24 6.3 6.28 6.28 6.24 6.28 5000 31280 ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.52 0.53 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.52 120000 62400 0.55 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.55 0.56 458000 254910 ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B 0.56 0.58 0.56 0.58 0.56 0.58 209000 117240 COSCO CAPITAL 4.81 5.04 5.1 5.1 4.81 4.81 2604800 12,576,830( DMCI HLDG 3.86 4 3.91 4 3.86 4 6956000 27418450 FILINVEST DEV 8.4 8.99 8.4 8.4 8.4 8.4 400 3360 399 400 406 406 396 400 261300 104379080 GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT 63.5 64.3 63.6 64.3 61.5 64.3 6153660 391382159.5 LODESTAR 0.59 0.61 0.59 0.61 0.59 0.59 307000 184400 2.36 2.41 2.27 2.54 2.27 2.36 562000 1328630 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 8.28 8.42 8.26 8.42 8.2 8.42 1008600 8415643 3.35 3.36 3.42 3.45 3.32 3.36 52867000 178244380 METRO PAC INV 2.86 2.99 2.87 3.05 2.87 3.05 4000 11840 PACIFICA HLDG 0.98 1.01 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 50000 49500 SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID 160 169 169 169 169 169 1170 197730 SM INVESTMENTS 848.5 850 870 879.5 847 850 1338910 1152498350 100.1 101.5 100 101.5 100 101.5 46150 4667035 SAN MIGUEL CORP TOP FRONTIER 130 131.4 131 131 125 130 7290 940546 0.186 0.197 0.186 0.186 0.186 0.186 140000 26040 WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG 0.144 0.145 0.15 0.15 0.143 0.144 4200000 609180

-93550 -99979160 -4661900 20554815 262500 9,108,281.9997) 2555970 -63608852 20541615 -651960 -96386 -74827960 35660085 -3228471 -939246 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.52 0.53 0.53 0.53 0.52 0.52 276000 143780 7.63 8.39 - - - - - - ANCHOR LAND AYALA LAND 28.8 29 29.65 29.85 28.8 28.8 28158300 819509460 0.95 0.99 1 1 0.93 1 429000 405990 ARANETA PROP AREIT RT 25.55 25.6 25.75 25.75 25.6 25.6 1329900 34060905 1.33 1.35 1.34 1.35 1.33 1.33 143000 191590 BELLE CORP 0.81 0.82 0.83 0.83 0.81 0.82 1555000 1271800 A BROWN 0.121 0.124 0.121 0.125 0.121 0.124 380000 46570 CROWN EQUITIES 5.68 5.95 5.95 5.95 5.95 5.95 200 1190 CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS 5.08 5.19 5 5.5 5 5.19 4281000 22038990 0.365 0.37 0.365 0.37 0.365 0.37 1710000 631250 CENTURY PROP 0.255 0.275 0.26 0.26 0.255 0.255 130000 33600 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON 14.88 15 14.92 15.3 14.84 15 1082200 16234926 5.95 5.99 5.96 5.99 5.95 5.99 116200 692807 DM WENCESLAO EMPIRE EAST 0.26 0.265 0.26 0.275 0.26 0.26 6260000 1662000 0.089 0.09 0.089 0.089 0.087 0.089 100000 8880 EVER GOTESCO 0.93 0.94 0.92 0.94 0.91 0.94 21830000 20348800 FILINVEST LAND 0.79 0.8 0.79 0.79 0.79 0.79 17000 13430 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 7.6 7.79 7.65 7.8 7.3 7.8 46100 351999 PHIL INFRADEV 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.2 1.15 1.17 3210000 3731990 2.91 2.93 3.01 3.01 2.91 2.91 30808000 90213010 MEGAWORLD 0.244 0.246 0.243 0.246 0.241 0.246 16810000 4099100 MRC ALLIED PRIMEX CORP 1.17 1.19 1.2 1.22 1.17 1.19 408000 490130 14.6 14.62 14.8 15.28 14.62 14.62 5737600 84513838 ROBINSONS LAND 0.227 0.228 0.227 0.227 0.227 0.227 20000 4540 PHIL REALTY 1.52 1.56 1.57 1.57 1.52 1.52 18000 27580 ROCKWELL 2.67 2.73 2.73 2.74 2.67 2.73 387000 1060170 SHANG PROP 1.83 1.86 1.86 1.86 1.85 1.86 138000 256410 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 29.15 29.2 29.5 29.8 29.2 29.2 18218100 532857540 3.65 3.78 3.7 3.7 3.65 3.7 14000 51650 VISTAMALLS 1.21 1.22 1.2 1.22 1.2 1.22 1589000 1924520 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 3.02 3.07 3.18 3.19 3.02 3.02 2674000 8215300

-490923805 -17683715 -1330 8300 -1823350 -4544726 -249982 81500 -9309000 -306380 1160 -70651780 -24510 -25763072 1570 2730 -176498755 -6551810

SERVICES ABS CBN 7.24 7.25 7.24 7.3 7.24 7.25 443100 3214929 GMA NETWORK 5.04 5.06 5.11 5.12 5.02 5.04 560800 2847165 MANILA BULLETIN 0.395 0.4 0.395 0.395 0.395 0.395 150000 59250 11.8 11.96 11.4 11.96 11.4 11.96 1200 13856 MLA BRDCASTING GLOBE TELECOM 2088 2106 2126 2132 2082 2088 133135 278536630 -123819200 PLDT 1476 1479 1446 1480 1446 1479 268595 394242285 46789855 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.052 0.053 0.052 0.053 0.051 0.053 9070000 471280 DFNN INC 3.06 3.07 3.12 3.2 2.99 3.06 206000 625330 3.34 3.36 3.41 3.43 3.34 3.35 21086000 71027080 20350 DITO CME HLDG IMPERIAL 1.22 1.37 1.28 1.28 1.28 1.28 4000 5120 0.069 0.073 0.07 0.073 0.069 0.073 1430000 99110 730 ISLAND INFO JACKSTONES 1.58 1.59 1.59 1.59 1.58 1.59 25000 39640 2.18 2.19 2.17 2.23 2.17 2.18 6380000 13996920 -1034090 NOW CORP 0.175 0.178 0.178 0.18 0.175 0.178 1470000 260730 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 1.97 1.99 1.89 2 1.89 1.97 630000 1239700 2GO GROUP 8.34 8.4 8.32 8.4 8.32 8.34 5700 47569 CHELSEA 3.29 3.3 3.36 3.37 3.28 3.29 429000 1425290 -65880 CEBU AIR 35.65 35.8 35.85 36.05 35.55 35.65 645600 23,093,370( 13,926,320.0001) INTL CONTAINER 105 105.5 104.5 107.4 104.5 105 2949580 312059891 -32840095 LBC EXPRESS 15.4 15.8 15.86 15.86 15.8 15.8 2100 33198 15800 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.74 0.78 0.75 0.75 0.73 0.73 81000 60710 MACROASIA 4.82 4.83 4.85 4.88 4.8 4.82 1713000 8272250 348529.9998 METROALLIANCE A 1.59 1.62 1.62 1.62 1.59 1.62 70000 111840 PAL HLDG 5.79 5.8 5.9 5.9 5.76 5.8 71500 414965 HARBOR STAR 0.87 0.9 0.91 0.92 0.87 0.87 532000 473810 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.027 0.028 0.027 0.028 0.027 0.028 40000000 1086700 FAR EASTERN U 560 575 580 580 575 575 110 63750 IPEOPLE 7.27 7.43 7.43 7.43 7.4 7.4 800 5929 STI HLDG 0.305 0.31 0.305 0.305 0.3 0.305 1240000 377150 BERJAYA 2.2 2.24 2.23 2.27 2.23 2.24 20000 44820 BLOOMBERRY 6.05 6.12 6.08 6.12 6.03 6.12 1739200 10581445 -4917263 PACIFIC ONLINE 1.94 1.98 1.98 1.98 1.98 1.98 18000 35640 LEISURE AND RES 1.2 1.25 1.2 1.21 1.2 1.2 22000 26430 -12000 MANILA JOCKEY 2.16 2.2 2.2 2.24 2.14 2.2 8000 17700 PH RESORTS GRP 2.12 2.13 2.19 2.2 2.13 2.13 11000 23830 -8590 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.29 0.295 0.29 0.295 0.285 0.295 14470000 4196450 -1638150 PHIL RACING 7.11 7.89 7.89 7.89 7.89 7.89 500 3945 ALLHOME 6.14 6.2 6.3 6.3 6.12 6.2 975800 6026067 -2727622 METRO RETAIL 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.43 1.4 1.41 680000 958580 -1420 PUREGOLD 53.8 54 51.5 54 51.15 54 3875790 206297975.5 118418363.5 ROBINSONS RTL 68.6 70.1 68 70.1 68 70.1 422190 29495704 18478465.5 SSI GROUP 1.01 1.02 1.04 1.04 1.01 1.02 3786000 3871460 103620 WILCON DEPOT 16.2 16.22 15.96 16.2 15.9 16.2 2057400 33178838 28759616 APC GROUP 0.295 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.295 0.295 1240000 366700 236750 EASYCALL 6.31 6.4 6.25 6.4 6.25 6.4 36500 229548 PAXYS 2.04 2.24 2.04 2.04 2.04 2.04 15000 30600 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.228 0.23 0.231 0.233 0.228 0.23 6520000 1502350 SBS PHIL CORP 4.5 4.7 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 3000 13500

MINING & OIL ATOK 7.3 7.99 8 8 8 8 100 800 APEX MINING 1.58 1.59 1.63 1.63 1.56 1.58 4956000 7865210 427840 ABRA MINING 0.0008 0.0009 0.0009 0.001 0.0008 0.0009 2916000000 2635800 9100 ATLAS MINING 3.1 3.14 3.11 3.14 3.1 3.14 267000 828960 -46500 BENGUET A 2.65 2.7 2.9 2.9 2.65 2.7 471000 1283850 BENGUET B 2.54 2.7 2.68 2.78 2.6 2.7 151000 401140 53500 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.201 0.205 0.201 0.218 0.2 0.201 1140000 235270 CENTURY PEAK 2.59 2.65 2.65 2.65 2.65 2.65 40000 106000 106000 DIZON MINES 7.75 7.9 8.06 8.06 7.76 7.9 14500 114312 FERRONICKEL 1.28 1.29 1.34 1.38 1.27 1.29 47709000 62285010 -25399950 GEOGRACE 0.232 0.235 0.235 0.235 0.232 0.232 70000 16310 LEPANTO A 0.15 0.151 0.154 0.154 0.15 0.15 14160000 2142800 LEPANTO B 0.151 0.153 0.15 0.154 0.15 0.15 2580000 394810 -13860 MANILA MINING A 0.0093 0.0096 0.0094 0.0095 0.0094 0.0095 4000000 37800 MANILA MINING B 0.01 0.011 0.0099 0.01 0.0099 0.01 1200000 11890 MARCVENTURES 1.04 1.05 1.02 1.09 1.01 1.04 16039000 16801470 53060 NIHAO 2.12 2.14 2.12 2.2 2.1 2.14 1426000 3051250 -12780 NICKEL ASIA 3.25 3.26 3.28 3.34 3.21 3.26 17879000 58695910 552390 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.59 0.6 0.61 0.61 0.59 0.59 785000 470190 PX MINING 3.67 3.69 3.75 3.8 3.63 3.67 2149000 7959550 2793560 SEMIRARA MINING 9.4 9.42 9.38 9.47 9.38 9.42 2083700 19635010 9330954 UNITED PARAGON 0.0049 0.0052 0.0053 0.0053 0.005 0.005 28000000 140500 ACE ENEXOR 5.56 5.6 5.8 6.2 5.52 5.6 755000 4411034 ORNTL PETROL A 0.0086 0.0089 0.0086 0.0086 0.0086 0.0086 2000000 17200 PHILODRILL 0.0094 0.0096 0.0094 0.0097 0.0094 0.0094 11000000 103900 PXP ENERGY 5.32 5.33 5.34 5.4 5.31 5.32 515400 2753604 -339360

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 101 101.5 101 101 100.5 101 11960 1207860 AC PREF B1 511 519 515 519 511 519 4920 2529080 ALCO PREF C 101.1 106.5 106.5 106.5 106.5 106.5 70 7455 AC PREF B2R 506 515 507 507 506 506 23900 12093980 CPG PREF A 100.7 102 102 102 102 102 500 51000 DD PREF 101 103.5 101.5 103.4 100.8 103.4 43960 4514426 GLO PREF P 503 516 503 516 503 516 60 30830 -5030 GTCAP PREF A 1001 1079 1087 1087 1001 1001 75 75505 GTCAP PREF B 1020 1030 1020 1030 1020 1030 2280 2325700 MWIDE PREF 101.3 101.5 100.1 101.5 100.1 101.5 55030 5584045 PNX PREF 3A 96.25 97 97.05 97.05 97 97 19380 1880515 PNX PREF 3B 99.65 100 100 100 100 100 11970 1197000 943 949 950 950 940 943 21160 20017000 95000 PNX PREF 4 PCOR PREF 2B 1021 1070 1070 1070 1070 1070 50 53500 PCOR PREF 3A 1060 1061 1060 1060 1060 1060 2290 2427400 PCOR PREF 3B 1070 1089 1078 1078 1070 1070 1000 1071020 SMC PREF 2C 78 78.2 78.2 78.2 77.65 78.2 25740 2001756 SMC PREF 2D 75.15 75.85 75.85 75.85 75.85 75.85 900 68265 SMC PREF 2E 75.4 76 76 76 76 76 686010 52136760 SMC PREF 2F 77.1 78 77 78 77 78 1039620 81058460 SMC PREF 2G 75.85 76.8 76.6 76.6 76.6 76.6 170 13022 -13021.9999 SMC PREF 2H 76.1 76.6 75.2 76.6 75.2 76.6 2600 197760 SMC PREF 2I 78.3 78.95 78.3 79 78.3 79 44800 3534390

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 6.81 7.15 6.8 7 6.8 6.81 155000 1057180 -513180 GMA HLDG PDR 4.89 4.93 4.8 4.9 4.8 4.89 206000 993500 -734400

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.6 0.64 0.62 0.62 0.6 0.6 10000 6120

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 12.5 12.72 12.66 12.96 12.5 12.5 514800 6505866 -2082620 ITALPINAS 1.81 1.82 1.85 1.88 1.81 1.81 1258000 2304880 18500 KEPWEALTH 5.18 5.19 5.15 5.2 5.12 5.2 21400 110728 MERRYMART 2.94 2.95 3.13 3.15 2.92 2.94 76468000 230216560 198580 XURPAS 0.54 0.55 0.56 0.56 0.53 0.55 730000 392220

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 89.1 89.7 89.7 89.9 89.1 89.1 22350 2000739.5 118187

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Alsons sale of commercial papers gets SEC approval

A

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

lcantara-led Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. (ACR) said over the weekend that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given its nod to the company’s sale of commercial papers (CP) worth P1 billion to fund its working capital requirements.

The amount represents the second tranche of the company’s CP program of up to P2.5 billion registered with the SEC in 2018.

“The issuance will provide ACRthe publicly-listed company of the Alcantara Group, with interim funding for the company’s ongoing projects,” ACR said.

The second tranche of the ACR’s CP issuance received in April a “PRS A plus (corp.) with a Stable Outlook” issuer credit rating from the Philip-

pine Rating Services Corporation (PhilRatings).

This means that ACR has an above average capacity to meet its financial commitments. A stable outlook, meanwhile, means the rating is likely to be maintained or to remain unchanged in the next 12 months.

Among the factors cited by PhilRatings as basis for the rating were “the positive growth prospects for Mindanao which will bring about an increasing demand for power,”

and ACR’s “ability to establish joint ventures with strong partners for particular projects.”

ACR has a portfolio of 4 power facilities with an aggregate capacity of 468 megawatts (MW) serving over 8 million people in 14 cities and 11 provinces including key urban centers such as Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Iligan, and Zamboanga City.

The company will focus on renewables for the long-term with 8 run-of-river hydroelectric power plants in its pipeline, one of which is currently under construction.

Once completed and operational these hydro power plants will comprise the bulk of the company’s power facilities.

“In the next few years, in terms of the number of power facilities, renewable energy will constitute the largest segment in Alsons’ power portfolio,” said ACR Chairman and President Tomas I. Alcantara.

The company expects renewable energy’s contribution to ACR earnings will exceed 35 percent in the mid-term once the first 3 hydro plants are operational.

“In the long-term, when all 8 hydro plants are operating, we project that renewable energy contribution to ACR earnings will be around 45 percent,” said ACR Deputy Chief Financial Officer Philip Edward B. Sagun.

The company is also developing the 105 MW San Ramon Power, Inc. (SRPI) baseload coal-fired power plant in Zamboanga City. The engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the SRPI plant will be signed within the third quarter of this year with construction expected to begin in early 2021. The P16-billion SRPI plant is expected to begin commercial operations in 2023 to provide much needed baseload power to Zamboanga City and nearby areas.

ACR earlier said its consolidated net earnings in the first half rose to P1.39 billion from last year's P293.08 million. Net earnings attributable to the parent during the period climbed to P331.98 million, from P23.38 million in 2019.

ACR’s revenues in the first half went up to P5.28 billion, from P3.10 billion the previous year.

‘Co-living spaces help stop spread of Covid-19’

C

o-living spaces, or otherwise known as dormitories, is a much-needed, critical form of urban affordable accommodation, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study conducted in the region.

A study of global business school INSEAD said

that in many Southeast Asian nations, alternatives to shared living are unaffordable, impractical or unlivable.

“Co-living developers therefore provide an essential and unique form of dignified housing, and a higher quality of life to the backbone of

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

Share prices went down last week, with the main index returning to 5,800 points, as economic activity remains slow due to the lack of public transportation.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell 121.22 points, or 2 percent, to close at 5,884.18 points.

“Businesses are not seeing the pick up in revenues that were expected this quarter.

Buying pressure was light all week as most investors were on the sidelines. The Jolo suicide bombings did not cause a massive sell off as these are seen as isolated events, although this was a breach in security, investors are not as fearful as the government has prioritized the country's security with a stronger military and police force,” Christopher Mangun, research head at AAA Securities Inc., said.

The main index was down all week long, except on Tuesday when it recorded a minimal increase.

Average daily value was up at P8.99 billion, thanks to the huge volume of trade of P10.02 billion on Monday and P17.33 billion on Wednesday. Foreign investors were net sellers at P4.82 billion.

Among the subindices, the Property index took the biggest loss, down by 6 percent or 174.03 points to close at 2,710.60 points. The broader All Shares index fell 38.48 points to 3,534.58, the Financials index dropped 1.24 to 1,129.70, the Industrial index declined 1 to 7,791.26, the Holding Firms index shed 147.15 to 6,099.90, the Services index was up 32.66 to 1,482.93 and the Mining and Oil index surged 322.16 to 6,005.07.

For the week, losers outnumbered gainers 122 to 97 and 29 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Bogo-Medellin Milling Co. Inc., Benguet Corp. A and B shares, F and J Prince Holdings Corp. A, Eagle Cement Corp., Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. and Philippine Infradev Holdings Inc. Top losers were Makati Finance Corp., Da Vinci Capital Holdings Inc., Abra Mining and Industrial Corp., Merry Mart Consumer Corp., Macay Holdings Inc., Manila Mining Corp B and D and L Industries Inc.

This week

Share prices are expected to be down at the start of the “ber” months this week as investors are looking for guidance on placing their bets on the market.

It will be a four-day trading week as Monday is a public holiday for the celebration of National Heroes Day. “From a trend view, the next month to watch out for is October for the 'October Effect,' where Wall Street returns are generally weaker than the rest of the year. Being the midpoint, September brings with it, higher volatility,” broker 2TradeAsia said.

For the week, the inflation data for July will be revealed on Friday, while the government will announce if it will extend or ease the current general community quarantine status of Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

“The week's headlines saw re-affirmation from listed firms of capital plans that are restarting/continuing despite headwinds from coronavirus. To this effect, we further see elevated transaction activity such as on mergers and acquisitions and cash flow strengthening most likely via debt,” the broker said.

Stock picks

Broker Regina Capital Development Corp. gave a "buy" recommendation when its support price holds on the stock of SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) after its share price consistently showed downward pressure throughout the week.

“The relatively tapered momentum has managed to allow for sideways consolidation after hitting a three-month bottom of P865. It is unlikely that (last week's) large selldown will push SMIC to this level, despite indicators pointing to a continued downturn,” it said.

The broker gave a support price for the conglomerate at P835 and P865.

SMIC’s shares closed Friday at P850 apiece.

Meanwhile, the broker also gave a buy on pullback on the stock of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. as the price of P33.80 is starting to prove itself as a reliable support for the lender.

“Although it is still at its lower range, we do think the upward momentum will be sustained, albeit not significantly. Indicators are pointing to renewed buying pressure,” it said.

Metrobank shares closed last week at P33.50 apiece. VG Cabuag

Southeast Asian economies; the young working population,” it said.

INSEAD researched co-living in times of coronavirus with MyTown, the co-living brand under Philippines Urban Living Solutions; PeoplePods, a local dormitory for migrant workers; and in-

mutual funds

dustry experts.

Its findings were published online through an e-book entitled Co-Living Safety and Sanitation Handbook, and discusses best practices in safety and sanitation for co-living operators during the Covid-19 pandemic. VG Cabuag

August 28, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 195.24 -23.35% -10.96% -5.02% -22.47% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.042 -30.98% -13.59% -3.55% -24.6% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.6121 -33.8% -15.74% -7.21% -28.98% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.6722 -28.81% -12.6% n.a.

-25.14% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.689 -19.06% n.a. n.a. -18.87% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.2061 -21% -9.23% -4.31% -21.06% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.6559 -23.3% -12.04% n.a.

-23.16% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 79.18 -33.17% n.a. n.a. -23.29% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 39.0849 -23.52% -9.64% -3.85% -23.78% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 421.22 -21.15% -8.77% -3.97% -20.94% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.8883 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-13.77% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.0011 -22.46% -9.01% -3.49% -22.21% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 29.3101 -22.76% -8.65% -3.15% -22.66% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7738 -23.73% n.a. n.a.

-24% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 3.9898 -23.07% -9.12% -3.13% -23.62% 667.03 -22.95% -9.13% -3.25% -23.5% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6006 -32.92% -13.12% -7.32% -29.46% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.0983 -26.9% -10.38% -4.43% -26.39% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.7644 -23.18% -9.31% -3.32% -23.62% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.7858 -23.83% -8.17% -2.73% -23.74% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 89.5852 -22.82% -8.67% -2.44% -23.4% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.0801 17.91% 1.26% 4.99% 5.03% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.5433 22.01% 9.46% n.a.

11.94% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.578 -5.59% -4.14% -2.76% 0.97% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0447 -10.58% -4.94% -1.45% -6.25% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.3949 -8.82% -3.48% -2.21% -8.99% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1829 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-19.96% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8271 -6.12% -1.71% 0.21% -6.86% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.4666 -8.31% -2.82% -0.97% -8.51% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.4509 -8.65% -3.11% -1.12% -8.9% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 1.9021 -11.02% -4.29% -1.19% -10.37% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.2506 -15.81% -5.27% -2.35% -15.86% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.9332 -7.81% n.a. n.a.

-8.12% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8313 -16.63% n.a. n.a. -16.57% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8049 -19% n.a. n.a. -18.96% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8032 -18.56% -6.32% -3.15% -17.6% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03905 1.43% 2.84% 1.92% 2.23% 9.52% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.0595 1.79% 4.22% 4.69% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $4.1965 12.95% 6.54% 6.44% 7.31% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1716 5.74% 3.43% n.a.

3.8% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 367.88 4% 3.14% 2.58% 2.78% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9488 1.91% 1.13% 0.01% 2.46% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1988 4% 4.92% 5.02% 2.59% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.306 3.93% 2.98% 2.31% 3.72% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.457 4.67% 3.54% 1.97% 4.15% 4.6847 Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 8.37% 4.66% 2.74% 7.13% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.3095 5.65% 4.35% 2.45% 4.2% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9529 5.74% 4.24% 2.26% 4.35% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.038 8.77% 3.71% 1.8% 7.64% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1794 4.95% 4.88% 2.76% 3.37% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7445 3.84% 4.2% 2.21% 2.55% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $478.09 3.24% 2.54% 2.88% 2.08% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є217.05 -1.4% 0.71% 1.16% -1.25% 2.62% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2388 3.67% 3.05% 2.82% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0264 1.93% 1.83% 1.67% 2.33% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.089 -1.36% 0.2% 0.23% -0.42% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4995 3.48% 3.7% 3.5% 3.99% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0609819 1.4% 2.05% 2.05% 1.13% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.2239 1.36% 2.13% 2.7% 1.53% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 128.86 3.49% 3.29% 2.5% 2.41% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.0439 2.24% n.a. n.a.

1.71% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2885 2.91% 3.05% 2.61% 1.86% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0477 1.57% n.a. n.a.

0.91% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 1.0404 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.95 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-4.04%

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

1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Monday, August 31, 2020 B3

DOF cites study to assert gains from tax-reform tack

T

By Bernadette D. Nicolas

@BNicolasBM

he Department of Finance (DOF) cited a pre-Covid study commissioned by the labor department to assert that tax reforms would benefit the economy.

Citing a study commissioned by the labor department, the DOF said in a statement that proposed reforms in corporate taxation were found to spur economic growth, lower poverty incidence, level the playing field for businesses across the country, boost the flow of foreign direct investments (FDIs) into the country and lead to a reduction in the prices of consumer goods.

The study by Caesar B. Cororaton of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University or Virginia Tech and Marites M. Tiongco of the De La Salle University School of Economics was based on the original proposal called the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Incentives Rationalization Act, or Citira.

The Citira seeks to gradually lower the CIT from 30 percent to 1 percentage point each year until the rate reaches 20 percent in 2029.

This was a slower tax rate reduction than the one more currently proposed under Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (Create) Act. The research was conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Better opportunities

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III was quoted in the statement as saying that “with these positive findings, the Dole is confident that Citira [now renamed Create] will facilitate the creation of more and better employment opportunities for our workers through a regionally competitive corporate tax rate and a level playing field for firms and industries across regions, [especially for MSMEs] and in lagging and underdeveloped regions.”

The DOF said it and the Asian Development Bank bankrolled the study titled “The Potential Economic Effects of Reducing Philippine Corporate Income Tax and Reforming Sectoral Incentives.” The study focused on six key simulations in which the CIT is reduced in all exercises, but with different assumptions on how the reduction of the tax rate is balanced out, whether through higher borrowings or lower spending by the government.

Agriculture, services

The DOF said the study found out that services and agriculture sectors stand to benefit the most from the corporate tax reform in terms of employment, with the increase in jobs significantly larger in the skilled than in the unskilled sector under a simulation scenario where the original Citira as envisioned by the government is considered. In this scenario, the deficit is kept at 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and with the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program in full swing.

Meanwhile, most simulations, including the one described above, showed increase in employment rate in all sectors and drop in poverty incidence by at least 4.9 percentage points should the CIT reduction be offset by reforms in the grant of fiscal incentives, the DOF said.

The study warned that if the CIT reduction is not accompanied by a modernization of fiscal incentives, the same study showed there would be a steady increase in deficit to 4.3 percent of GDP in 2029

Rural bank, PLDT unit agree to lend to OFWs

P

LDT Global Corp. (PGC) announced recently that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have gone back home as well as those still abroad but nearing retirement can now get help in looking for the right savings or investment product and the right institution to bank with. They can access these services through the partnership of PGC and the New Rural Bank of San Leonardo (NRBSL), the PLDT Inc. subsidiary said.

“Under this partnership, OFWs can shop for financial products and services that are available from NRBSL through the Free Bee mobile app. These include time deposits and various loan packages that are specifically designed for farmers, overseas Filipinos, small and medium enterprises, among others.

“We hope that we can help our fellow Filipinos look for a fresh start as they cope with the effects of the pandemic, particularly on their

economic situation,” PGC Chief Commercial Officer Albert V. Villa-Real was quoted in the statement as saying. “Through this partnership, we hope to bring NRSBL’s financial services closer to our customers through Free Bee on their smartphones.”

“For over 26 years, NRBSL has advocated the development of local economies through collaboration work with different pillars, including the overseas Filipino sector,” NRBSL President and CEO Abundio D. Quililan Jr. said. “Our bank provides financial options to migrant workers and their relatives through various modes of credit, deposits and investment instruments.”

“With the help of [PGC’s mobile application], we can achieve a wider multiplier effect by making Filipinos abroad become aware of these choices and be one step closer to their goal of one day enjoying financial freedom,” Quililan added.

Perspectives

Uncertainty threatens current investments

S

ince Covid-19 has upended business as usual, many companies need to accelerate their use of emerging technologies faster than ever before. Yet they are simultaneously dealing with an unparalleled level of uncertainty across the business landscape. Looming over everything is fear of new spikes in case numbers.

Despite the burning platform for new technology, many enterprises are struggling to find dollars to invest in digital transformation. Average investments in emerging technologies have been slashed by millions of dollars across industries and company sizes.

Approximately 4 in 10 executives say they will halt investment in emerging technology as a result of Covid-19. Only 13 percent expect to significantly increase investments.

As cash becomes increasingly critical for survival, companies are turning to the classic recession tactic of instant budget myopia.

The need to generate and preserve liquidity is causing organizations to pull back or delay certain emerging technology projects in order to meet immediate financial objectives in the pandemic’s wake.

Some industries, such as airlines, hotels, restaurants and brick-and-mortar retail, are

in especially precarious positions. Anticipating permanently lowered demand for offerings and with insufficient capital to ride out an extended recession, these industries will need to make a hard reset to recover. Other industries, such as travel, industrial manufacturing, insurance and real estate, also face a slow recovery that is dependent on reserves of capital to transform operating models in line with changed customer priorities.

Traditional digital transformation has always been correlated with more investment.

Now industries that were most susceptible to Covid-19 risks must do the opposite: capitalize on emerging technology without increasing budgets, and at a pace and scale that is much faster than their usual timeline.

The excerpt was taken from “KPMG Thought Leadership, Enterprise reboot: Scale digital technologies to grow and thrive in the new reality.” © 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, 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.

as the government suffers a shortfall in revenues. Prices are also seen to generally rise and GDP growth decreases under this deficitfinancing scenario. Further, employment and real wages “also generally decline”, “poverty incidence increases and income inequality deteriorates” under this environment, the DOF said citing the study.

this scenario as the inflows of FDI expand the aggregate supply in the economy,” the study said.

It also noted higher GDP growth of 8.2 percent in 2029 with additional FDI inflows and more jobs created at 212,000 in 2020 to 2.3 million in 2029 if the CIT reduction is reinvested in the economy.

Decreased pressure

Executive proposal

The study said such results indicate “that any reduction in CIT needs to be accompanied by a compensatory sector tax (referring to the reforms in fiscal incentives) for the reduction to be growth-enhancing, employment generating and poverty reducing.”

The study recognizes that the CIT “is a major source of government revenue.”

“Reducing this source could put a lot of pressure on government finances. Increasing taxes on select sectors to reform the fiscal incentives reduces the pressure on government finances.”

The study showed that if the CIT reduction is fully reinvested in the country, around P58 billion will be infused into the economy in the first year of this proposal’s implementation in 2020 (1 percent CIT reduction), which will increase to P1.08 trillion by 2029 (10 percent CIT reduction).

In terms of net foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, the study estimates increasing amounts flowing into the country, rising to P1.75 trillion by 2029.

“The reduction in prices is higher under

During hearings in the 17th Congress, the Senate requested a job impact study by the DOLE on this reform, Finance Assistant Secretary and Spokesman Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said.

“We welcome this study, which validates our own studies’ conclusion that this reform will create jobs and reduce poverty,” Lambino said. “The case for the reform becomes more compelling when the labor department itself sees this package as a job-creating measure.”

In response to the pandemic and its effects on the economy, the Executive proposed recalibrations to allow the outright CIT cut from 30 percent to 25 percent this year, along with a targeted, transparent, tailor-fit incentives system to attract investments that will benefit the public.

On top of the outright 5-percent tax cut in 2020, the Create bill also seeks a 1-percentage point CIT reduction each year from 25 percent in 2023 to 20 percent by 2027. Both Citira and Create aim to make the Philippines’ CIT, which is now the highest in the region, closer to the 23-percent regional average of

the CIT rates of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member-economies.

The largest package

The DOF has since been pushing for the passage of this bill, which forms part of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package. But critics have argued that passing Citira would result to job losses and capital flight. Those who opposed Create said the new version of the bill would not attract foreign investments into the country while the global economy is in a downturn as it reels from the impact of government measures against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III has described the proposed Create bill as the first-ever revenue-eroding proposal from the DOF, adding that it will provide “one of the largest economic stimulus measures in the country’s history.” The government is expecting to lose P667 billion in revenues between 2020 and 2027 due to the CIT reduction.

The Senate failed to pass Create, or the recalibrated version of Citira, before the sine die adjournment of Congress last June 5.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III had earlier committed to prioritizing the bill upon the resumption of the congressional session.

This bill was certified by President Duterte as urgent.

The House has, likewise, committed to adopt the Senate’s “fiscally responsible” version of Create to speed up the bill for the President’s signature.

B4

Monday, August 31, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

Style

BusinessMirror

The pivotal September 2020 issues TOP row: Breonna Taylor, Vanity Fair; Hunter Schafer, Allure; Aurora James, US Vogue; Rihanna, US Harper’s Bazaar; second row: Cardi B, Elle; Kerry Washington, Town & Country; Breonna Taylor, O; Zhang Ziyi, Vogue China; bottom row: Zendaya, In Style; Kaia Gerber, Vogue Italia; Megan Thee Stallion, W; Marcus Rashford and Adwoa Aboah, British Vogue

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Sara Ramirez, 45; Chris Tucker, 49; Zack Ward, 50; Richard Gere, 71.

Happy Birthday: You’ll discover new ways to interact with people you love and those who share your interests. A positive change will be a step toward personal freedom and a new beginning. Finding solutions will be your thing, and setting new standards geared toward a better lifestyle will result in substantial stability and security. Make physical improvements, and love your priorities. Your numbers are 8, 17, 21, 23, 30, 32, 45.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Take your time, dig deep, get the facts and make decisions based on verified information, not what someone leads you to believe. Separate your business and personal lives to avoid confusion and interference. Protect against illness, arguments and injury. HHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Stick to your plan, regardless of what others do. Personal gain is apparent if you are diligent in using your knowledge, experience and skills to get ahead.

A physical change will boost your morale and attract compliments. Romance is favored. HH

I

T used to be that by mid-August, the September issues of fashion magazines would already be out in newsstands. But due to the pandemic, and maybe because of dwindling ad spending, some publishers have pushed back this all-important edition closer to its actual issue date—September.

Breonna Taylor, 26, the Black emergency medical technician killed by the Louisville, Kentucky, police in her home, graces the cover of Vanity Fair in a painting

by Amy Sherald. Her death, and that of George Floyd’s, galvanized protests worldwide against systemic racism.

In an unprecedented move in its 128-year history, all of Vogue’s 26 international editions will revolve around, as Vogue.com explains, the “universal theme of hope.... The idea is to explore hope in all its interpretations, elevating the voices of those, above all, who are determined to create positive change.”

Kaia Gerber is the 100th cover star in Vogue Italia’s epic “100 Covers, 100 People, 100 Stories” issue, shot

by Mark Borthwick. Cindy Crawford’s daughter is also one of the cover girls of Vogue Japan, shot by Luigi and Iango. Zhang Ziyi is on the cover of Vogue China, shot

by Elizaveta Porodina while Hend Sabri fronts Vogue Arabia shot by Ämr Ezzeldinn.

Jordan Casteel painted fashion designer Aurora James wearing a Pyer Moss blue silk creation for US Vogue. The formidable Anna Wintour, in her editor’s letter, said: “Hope may be hard to find in a moment of crisis, but it also feels more essential than ever.

It’s part of our shared humanity, a source of delight and inspiration, and keeps us focused on a brighter future.”

Vogue’s older rival, Harper’s Bazaar, also breaks tradition by featuring only one person in all its 26 editions: the “superhero-ish, ultramagnetic, überswaggy star” Rihanna. The US edition is the first to drop, with the Barbadian beauty wearing a Bottega Veneta coat and dress on one cover, photographed by Gray Sorrenti. “Rihanna has built a behemoth of a fashion and beauty empire, which includes a makeup line, Fenty Beauty; a Paris-based fashion house that she created in partnership with luxury conglomerate LVMH, Fenty; an inclusive intimates collection, Savage X Fenty; and the highly anticipated new skincare line she dropped in July, Fenty Skin,” the mag says. So why isn’t she a billionaire yet but Kylie Jenner claims she is?

Because of the Black Lives Matter movement, and many are hoping this is not just riding a fad or “tokenizing,” most September issues celebrate #BlackGirlMagic and, in the case of British Vogue, #BlackBoyJoy. This is a vast improvement when Donyale Luna graced British Vogue in March 1966 and Beverly Johnson in US Vogue in August 1974.

Thor and Creed breakout star Tessa Thompson, photographed by Nagi Sakai, struts in Porter, while La La Anthony, actress, author and designer, graces Essence magazine, in a rust lace blazer by Prabal Gurung. Kerry Washington, nominated for an Emmy for Little Fires Everywhere, appears in an amazing Afro

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Look for the positive in every situation you face, and you’ll find a way to take care of your responsibilities and have time left to enjoy doing something that makes you happy.

Refuse to let anyone put unfair demands on you. HHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You may not like change, but it’s time to make adjustments that will encourage you to keep up with technology and economic trends. Don’t fight the inevitable; go with the flow, and be happy with the results. Romance is favored. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Keep moving forward. Looking back will cause confusion and uncertainty. Focus on what you can do, and live in the moment. Refuse to let anyone compromise your health and well-being. Tunnel vision will be required if you want to excel. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take a break from your schedule. The change will spark your imagination and encourage you to make adjustments to the way you live. Focus on what makes you happy and how best to incorporate memorable moments into your daily routine. HHH

and a Cushnie dress on the cover of Town and Country, photographed by Emily Kitching for AB+DM and styled by Law Roach.

Another Emmy contender, Zendaya of Euphoria was styled by Roach and AB+DM for The Only Agency for the cover of In Style. She was asked by Patrisse Cullors, the cofounder of the BLM movement, about her activism. The rising superstar replied: “I have always hesitated to use the word ‘activist’ for myself.

That is a lifestyle. That is a choice every day to be doing the work and devoting your life to a cause. And I don’t feel I am deserving of the title. There are a lot of words that better describe what I do. I’m an actress, but I’m also just a person who has a heart and wants to do the right thing. I care about human beings, so this time is very hard to talk about. It’s painful.”

Perhaps Zendaya was influenced by her costar Hunter Schafer, who should’ve been nominated, too.

Though she’s white, Hunter is trans and is open about her LGBT activism: “That’s been the project of my life.

Just trying to feel seen and learn how to see others correctly.” She has the most glamorous September cover, for Allure, photographed by Daniella Midenge, wearing Iris van Herpen, and beautified by Shiseido, of which she is the latest global brand ambassador. “I was shook,” she said.

“WAP” (read: Wet Ass Pussy) can’t be stopped, as its sex-positive rap powerhouses Cardi B brandishes her badassery for Elle (in a crystal wig by Area, dress by Atelier Versace, cuffs by Mordekai by Ken Borochov, photographed by Steven Klein) and Megan Thee Stallion gallops in W magazine (in a Miu Miu set, styled by EJ King, photographed by Colin Dodgson.

Megan says of BLM: “I shouldn’t have to tell you how

to fix racism. I shouldn’t have to tell you not to be racist. I shouldn’t have to tell you how to help us...you should just genuinely feel that way. The color of your skin does not dictate the function of your brain.”

For the first time in its 20 years of existence, O, The Oprah Magazine gave up its namesake cover star for Breonna, with an illustration by Alexis Franklin.

“What I know for sure: We can’t be silent. We have to use whatever megaphone we have to cry for justice.

And that is why Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O magazine. I cry for justice in her name,” Oprah writes.

And, maybe, in another first, my footballobsessed brothers will finally read an issue of Vogue.

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford shares the British cover with model/mental-health activist Adwoa Aboah in the issue dedicated to “faces of hope,” shot by Black male photographer Misan Harriman, a first in the mag’s 104-year history. Rashford is one of a few males who have appeared on the mag’s cover, following in the steps of Alan Bates, Manolo Blahnik, Elton John, Puff Daddy, Bono and the Beckham boys.

Rashford’s child-poverty campaign forced the UK government to make a policy change on the granting of free food vouchers for the poorest families. “I’m by no means a politician but I have a voice and a platform that could be used to at least ask the questions,” he told The Guardian. “If I didn’t put myself out there and say, ‘This is not OK and it needs to change,’ I would have failed my 10-year-old self.”

Edward Enninful, the Black editor of British Vogue who is a victim of racism right in his own workplace, writes in his editor’s letter: “This year has often seemed like a dark time for humanity, but it has also marked itself as a golden era for activism.” n

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Personal improvement is favored. Change situations that are unsuitable or causing stress. Refuse to let anyone bully you into something you don’t want to do.

Call the shots, and make your thoughts and your needs known. Do what’s best for you. HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Stick to your original plan, regardless of the emotional backlash you get from others. You are responsible for your happiness, so do whatever it takes to do what’s in your best interest. Romance is in the stars. Live life your way. HH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Live and learn. Take on a physical challenge that will pump you up and encourage you to get involved in something you find serviceable and rewarding. Learn from your mistakes and experiences, and you will find a path that gratifies you. HHHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Pay less attention to what’s already happened and more attention to the best way to move forward.

Concentrate on home improvements, lowering your overhead and doing whatever it takes to feel financially comfortable. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Refuse to let your emotions take over. Look at situations from a logical perspective, and you will understand situations you face with clarity. You can’t change others, but you can make decisions and changes that suit your needs. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Lend a helping hand, and you will make new connections. An unusual partnership will turn out to be helpful as well as entertaining. Love and romance are in the stars, and a change of pace is heading your way. HHH Birthday Baby: You are productive, fussy and organized.

You are resourceful and ambitious.

Local beauty products worth trying

ONE of the things I promised myself I would do as a beauty writer and consumer is to buy more local products.

Admittedly, because of my age, I go for midrange to high-end brands but I do know there are a lot of good homegrown makeup and skin-care products out there.

Colourette Cosmetics is one of the brands I have been hearing about from friends. A beauty writer I know said Colourette’s Colourtints are the only lip and cheek tints that she wears and can tolerate on her lips. My beef with many lip and cheek tints, aside from them not being able to fully cover my lips, is that they’re very drying. My friend said the Colourtints are not drying and quite opaque, and they wear well. I’ve been meaning to try the Colourtints and Velvetints

because I’ve heard only good things about them. I’ve also been seeing my Instagram friends wearing the Colourtints in their photos and I’m quite impressed with the look and finish.

Colourette Cosmetics is a brand you can’t ignore. It’s one that Gen Z and younger millennials go for not only because they’re well-priced (I will not use the word cheap because P299 for a Colourtint is not cheap) but perform well and look good. Colourette recently sent me their reformulated Coloursnaps in adorable small tin containers. The multi-use tinted balms have a dewy finish and can be used on the eyelids, cheeks and lips.

I received all eight colors—Hunny (candy apple), 100 (popsicle red), Waves (brick red), Bloom (tulip pink), Cozy (raspberry red), Beachy (peachy brown), Milk (bright coral pink) and Mood (everyday terracotta).

I was immediately drawn to Mood, Hunny and Waves.

I wasn’t wrong about Waves. Terracotta is a color that seldom fails me. As for the texture, I like the dewy finish of Coloursnaps and that it isn’t very silicone-y like most multiuse products. The lasting power is quite decent, considering the price tag. This is a product I’d be proud to to give Filipino friends in the US because I know they’d enjoy using it, too.

I love how you can use Coloursnaps for a quick Zoom look. Remember that when you’re showing your face in a video call, bright blush is a must if you don’t want to look

washed-out. The blush must look very bright in person for it to become noticeable on video. Coloursnaps is very useful for this. A small dot on each cheek is enough. Most of the time, I use my fingers. Sometimes, it’s an eye blending brush.

I’ve used Coloursnaps on my eyelids, cheeks and lips, and I must say that I love it as a blush. It really makes your face look healthy. For blush, my new favorite is Milk but, overall, it’s Cozy. So would I recommend this? Yes! Coloursnaps is an inexpensive color option especially if you’re on a budget and can only afford one color cosmetic. The product is emollient but not sticky. It’s lovely on the eyelids, as it is on the cheeks.

As a lipstick, it colors and wears better than a liquid tint. The pigment is distributed evenly and not in patches.

I like how Colourette respects its customers by coming up with good and affordable products. Some people are bothered by Coloursnaps’ scent but I actually like it and find it comforting.

My wish: For Coloursnaps to eventually evolve into tube form, similar to Bite Beauty’s Multistick.

Colourette Cosmetics is sold on Lazada and Shopee, and can be found on Instagram at @colourette.cosmetics.

Speaking of Filipino brands, Happy Skin makes the best pimple patches. Their Beauty Invisible Pimple Patch is not just a sticker that you use to cover up a pimple. Each patch has Centella Asiatica a.k.a. Cica, which helps to treat your pimples

and prevent scarring. It’s not cheap at P175 per pack but it’s worth every centavo.

Another product that I’ve been loving is the Nivea Healthy Glow Cooling UV Lotion. I know that Filipinos aren’t big fans of body lotions because they can be sticky but this one isn’t.

I believe this lotion is different from Nivea’s best-selling Intensive Moisture Body Milk in the blue bottle. The Nivea Healthy Glow Cooling UV Lotion has a mousse-like texture so if you prefer a lotion with a lighter texture, you’d like this.

The lotion is part of Nivea’s Blooming Pink collection, which also includes the Fair & Glow MicellaAir Cleanser, Whip Foam 0% Alcohol and two deodorants.

The lotion comes in Cooling Lotus, Dewy Sakura and Radiant Rose, which is my favorite scent of the three.

Most of the products in the range include Hokkaido Rose extract or oils, said to contain “36 times more antioxidants for clean and glowing skin.”

The brand recently launched the Blooming Pink Range via an online press conference with actresses Liza Soberano and Yassi Pressman, and vlogger Raiza Contawi.

“Above all else, Nivea puts caring as its utmost priority.

Hence, the Nivea Blooming Pink Range was born—for healthy, beautiful, glowing skin you can easily achieve at home,” said Jamie Sanico-Sy Ching, Beiersdorf Philippines Inc. marketing director, said at the digital launch event.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

HarvardManagementUpdate BusinessMirror BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, 13, 2020 b5 B5 Monday, August 31,July 2020

Does Your Company Have a Long-Term

Plan for Remote Work?

M

4. Use the learning from these experiments to adjust or pivot your system’s components and your vision itself

By Mark W. Johnson & Josh Suskewicz

Covid-19 has shown many companies that their workers can be just as productive—or in some cases, even more so—working from home. Are we on the brink of a new work paradigm? Will corporations empty out their office buildings and shrink their physical footprints? Microsoft’s Satya Nadella isn’t so sure. Switching to an all remote system is “replacing one dogma with another,” he said in a conversation with The New York Times.

The real issue is not whether Mr. Nadella is right or wrong, but whether leaders are thinking deeply enough about what they want their new work paradigm to achieve—and whether they can design and construct systems that will allow them to meet their objectives.

Remote work is currently helping companies muddle through, but what do they want from it in the long run? Higher productivity?

Savings on office space, travel and cost-of-living adjusted salaries?

Better morale and higher retention rates?

To know what’s “best” for your organization’s future when it comes

to remote work, it must be put it in the context of all the things that you are looking to achieve.

In other words, you have to have a conscious aspiration. Then you need to think and plan according to that aspiration.

At Innosight, where we both work, we’ve developed a way of thinking and planning that we call “Future-back.” Our approach is designed to help business leaders develop a vision of their best possible future and a clearly laid-out strategy to achieve it, starting with the future scenario and working backward.

Such an approach allows leaders to fully articulate what they hope to achieve with a new work system and then design its major components unencumbered by how things work today or have worked in the past. Once they have developed their vision, they need to consider all the things that would have to be true for that vision to be achievable, then test those assumptions with initiatives they can begin today.

The process unfolds in four distinct stages:

www.freepik.com

ark Zuckerberg recently shared his plans for the future of remote work at Facebook.

By 2030, he promised, at least half of Facebook’s 50,000 employees would be working from home. A few days before, Jack Dorsey had announced that Twitter and Square’s employees would be allowed to work wherever they feel most creative and productive, even after offices reopen.

1. What is your overall vision of your ideal work system of the future?

At this stage you are articulating your grand purpose and envisioning what the new system will look like. Your initial aim is simply to develop clarity about your intended future, not achieve analytic certainty.

As you begin to sketch out your work force system of the future, frame it as a purpose- and objective-driven narrative. This is your vision. As such, it should include: your purpose; your objectives and metrics; and a concise description of the components of your system and how they fit together.

For example: In order to expand our talent base to the four corners of the world and ensure that they are fully motivated by 2022 (purpose), 50 percent of our creative work force will work remotely for up to 50 percent of their time (objectives and metrics). Employees will be fully reimbursed for the

costs of their home offices and work-related travel; salaries will reflect local costs of living (components of the system).

2. Consider the implicit and explicit assumptions you are making

As Donald Rumsfeld famously put it, there are known knowns and known unknowns that must be taken account of; in addition there are also unknown unknowns. Work through each of them, bringing to the surface as many of those known and unknown unknowns as you can. Each will need to be proved or disproved: that virtually convened teams can problem-solve as well as teams that meet in person; that executive development can be carried out online as well as at inperson meetings—or not, as the case may be.

3. Test those assumptions

What do you need to learn and how can you best do it? To an-

swer these questions, walk your vision and its key assumptions back to the present in the form of experiments. You will need more than one if there are different circumstances or contexts in which the system would work— for example, if your company includes geographic locations with different societal norms or government regulations, or business units that are fundamentally different from one another.

People are different, too. Telework makes tremendous sense for some roles and personality types; less for others.

If you are a multinational and want to learn if telework can work within one of your geographies, carve out a business function or small business unit; systematically apply the remote-work technologies, practices, rules and norms that you wish to use; run it in parallel for a short time; and then carefully measure its results against those of the larger unit.

Through this iterative process of exploring, envisioning and testing, you will ultimately discover your best way forward. This learning will be an ongoing process, not a discrete event, unfolding over time as your assumptions are converted to knowledge.

Inevitably, there will be tradeoffs that must be negotiated. While you may be able to tap more talent and save money by not requiring your new hires to move, it is also likely that your creative ecosystem will become more diffuse. Some teams may need to meet in person as frequently as several days a week, so they won’t have the luxury of living wherever they wish. You will likely have to beef up your technical and human capabilities before you can fully apply your new knowledge across your organization; significant investments may be required to provide sufficient bandwidth for your employees’ homes, reducing some of your expected savings.

You may find that your new system won’t work in every business unit or geography.

Future-back thinking doesn’t reveal a future that is written in stone — it gives you a way to shape it and own it, ensuring your organization’s long-term viability. As Satya Nadella suggested, trading one dogma for another is rarely your best solution; in most cases, those dogmas themselves are your biggest problem. At the end of the day, the organizations that can develop the clearest, most inspiring visions, learn the fastest and pivot the most capably, are the ones that win.

Mark W. Johnson is cofounder and senior partner of the strategy consulting firm Innosight and a coauthor of Lead from the Future. Josh Suskewicz is a partner at Innosight and a coauthor of Lead from the Future.

What it takes to lead a disease research foundation

By Kathy Giusti & Richard G. Hamermesh

N

icola Mendelsohn, an accomplished advertising industry executive who leads Facebook in Europe. Lynn O’Connor Vos, a pediatric nurseturned-communications guru.

Michael Milken, a financier with a penchant for philanthropy. What do they have in common? They’re all at the helm of charitable foundations leading progress toward curing very specific diseases: follicular lymphoma, muscular dystrophy and prostate cancer.

At the Harvard Business School Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator, our mission is to identify ways to accelerate cures. Over the past four years, we’ve studied cureseeking organizations and identified the fact that a group’s success hinges on three critical factors: a comprehensive strategy, the right leadership and a sustainable funding model.

In a previous HBR piece, we talked about strategy, articulating the challenges that cure-seeking organizations face and how to build a plan to overcome those obstacles.

But to bring your strategy from ideation into reality, you need a leader able to execute the strategy and drive results.

Across the entire nonprofit sector, however, more than 80 percent of organizations struggle with lead-

ership. Leading an organization toward breakthroughs—and eventually, cures—is even more difficult.

Cure-seeking organizations are often founded by the people with the most pressing need for progress: patients and their loved ones. But while passion and urgency are important, leaders must understand the complex health care system and have strong business acumen in order to accelerate progress.

They must also be able to work within an ecosystem that is vast and growing—one that includes clinicians, researchers, payers, data scientists, technologists and patient advocates.

That’s a lot to ask of one person or a small team, and it’s why so many organizations grapple with having the right leadership. By observing a broad array of leaders, we’ve seen where some fall short and have identified three key consistent approaches that allow leaders to be successful:

1. Live the strategy

Living a strategy means using it as the basis for making decisions and prioritizing key initiatives.

Less effective foundation leaders often have difficulty saying “no”; they can be indecisive, seeking to please all stakeholder and donors.

More effective leaders keep their eye on the prize of accelerating cure development. They realize that not every good idea fits with the

organization’s strategy and not all goals can be accomplished simultaneously. Consequently, successful nonprofit leaders determine which programs require immediate focus and are adept at keeping their team concentrated on those goals.

Effective leaders also live the strategy by constantly communicating it—internally and externally. Strategic communication begins within the organization, with the leader making sure the team understands the strategic goals and timelines for deliverables. All communication is grounded in strategy.

It’s also crucial for an organization’s leaders to communicate the vision and strategy externally— whether through meetings, speaking engagements, public relations or social media. Conferences can also provide a platform to network, share missions, and lay the groundwork for future partnerships and investments.

2. Surround yourself with experts

Most leaders of cure-seeking foundations realize that their foundation acting alone will not produce a cure. A cure will only be developed by orchestrating a focused ecosystem. Less effective leaders try to have the organization do too much internally, don’t engage the right experts and don’t define each player’s scope of work. In contrast, effective leaders define the experts and partners the organization

needs and engage in thorough due diligence and careful contracting to choose the right partners and put incentives in place.

In creating the right team and ecosystem, the most successful CEOs build a leadership group of experts with diverse skill sets and backgrounds. This group will include a range of experts from the medical, data, technology, fundraising and marketing fields. The experts may interact with the organization in a variety of ways. Here are some of the most common formats:

A well-designed advisory board: The most effective advisory n

boards we’ve observed have members who are medical and scientific experts. But they also include business leaders and technologists who can advise on a broader array of issues, such as optimal clinicaltrial design, the best ways to enroll patients and new funding models.

People will be motivated to join such boards when they are well-run and when all participants are motivated to cure this specific disease.

n Consultants: They can be extremely valuable in strategy development and business planning. n External partners for specific tasks: For example, one leading

foundation has outsourced work to a partner focused on science and biopsies, another that pulls data

from electronic medical records, and yet another with analytics expertise. This organization has also partnered with a firm for phlebotomy to gather blood samples from patients at their homes and a public relations agency to generate attention around new initiatives.

Each partner has been chosen for its expertise in a specific area and contracts have been negotiated with great attention to detail.

3. Stay current and connected to the relevant science

Leaders of disease-focused organizations must constantly be attuned to the entire cure-seeking landscape and to scientific developments related to the targeted disease. With science and technology evolving at an increasingly rapid pace, so, too, are new opportunities for innovations and breakthroughs. Some of these innovations happen outside of your immediate disease space; leaders who have a broad view of the landscape will spot opportunities earlier.

For example, recent advancements in gene therapy are showing enormous potential to change the way we treat diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s. To be an early mover, a leader must ensure his foundation stays abreast of such advancements by constantly engaging with other organizations that are working toward cures—

including academic medical centers, pharmaceutical companies and technology startups. This will help a leader and the foundation assess the potential benefits and risks surrounding such innovations and determine if and when to invest the organization’s resources in supporting it.

For traditional nonprofit foundations, where the main activities are to support patients and engage in advocacy, organizations can be run by good managers with operational and executional skills.

But foundations that truly aspire to drive cure development require skilled strategic leaders. These bold leaders must be able to develop and articulate a clear strategy, must have the discipline to execute the strategy in a world with numerous distractions and must be able to orchestrate an aligned, collaborative ecosystem with the right experts and partners.

With the right strategy and the leadership, disease-focused foundations give themselves the best possible chance to fulfill their mission and develop lifesaving cures for patients.

Kathy Giusti is the founder of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium. She also is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School.

Richard G. Hamermesh is a senior fellow at Harvard Business School.

B6 Monday, August 31, 2020

NGCP donates ambulances to four hospitals

Kneading in a time of need

T

HE past seven months have been a challenging time for almost everyone. Developing countries, vulnerable communities, and already at-risk individuals took a huge hit economically. Amid all the strife, it is, however, good to see seemingly ordinary folk step up and become unsung heroes in their own right.

Along with the praise and support that we give our frontliners--the medical and healthcare professionals, the police and military peacekeepers, and all the other support units that strive to keep our lives as normal as possible--we should also thank our humble bakers who, through the efforts of Pilmico Flour, were able to help ease the burden of said frontliners through their breads and pastries.

Evimei Reyes, proprietor of Rovi and Rev Bakeshop in Negros Oriental, is one of Pilimico’s PanadHeros--bakers who answered the call to help make bread and pastries to feed our hungry frontliners.

“I saw a Facebook post [from Pilmico] calling for bakeries to support frontliners,” Evimei shared. “So, I immediately contacted [Pilmico’s] Mark Daruca without hesitation,” she continued.

She added that it was a way for her to give back to the community as she was also a beneficiary of kindness--of someone just giving her a chance to bounce back. As a widow of 11 years, with two lovely children, Evimei is no stranger to struggle.

“Working hard was the only choice for me to survive,” she said. She decided to start a bakery business with whatever money she had left. From this, she was able to grow her business through determination, hard work, and a little help from Pilmico. Through Pilmico’s

training and grant programs for small and medium bakeries, Evimei was able to take her business further.

Even before the pandemic struck, Evimei has also been running her bakery’s own charity project called “Just Share a Little”. Ever since it started in 2014, the charity project has fed many people in schools, penitentiaries, and other communities in need.

Evimei is just one of the many bakery operators under Pilimico’s PanadHero program.

The nationwide effort distributed a total of 665,000 pieces of bread as food relief to communities in need and frontliners nationwide.

The PanadHero program provides the participating bakeries with flour and other materials that they need to bake bread, which will be donated to frontliners and other people in need of nourishment.

“Being a food company, we knew from

the start that it’s critical for Pilmico to be at the forefront of relief and feeding efforts. At the start of the community quarantine, we immediately mobilized our teams and provided assistance to these communities, especially the ones we operate in,” said Joeben Gamatero, II, Pilmico’s Vice President for Brand and Marketing, and head of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) group. “We were fortunate that, over the years, we’ve built an excellent relationship with many bakeries across the country, who have owners and operators just as passionate as Evimei in helping others. With the help of our very own PanadHeroes, it became easier to act on our group’s mission, which is to feed humanity,” Gamatero added.

For more information regarding Pilmico’s PanadHeroes you may visit https://www.facebook.com/PilmicoFlour.

O

Nikko Duarte, a PBEd trainee in Zamboanga City uses his mobile phone to download lessons

City received a donation of 500 test kits.

NGCP also donated PhP10 million to Project ARK, a pooled COVID testing initiative in partnership with local government units in Metro Manila.

Other NGCP COVID-19 response and relief projects currently in the works include the donation of four donning and doffing chambers and five isolation rooms to several government hospitals.

“NGCP's service to the country does not end with quality transmission services. In the spirit of bayanihan, we are continuously looking for ways to help our nation fight and overcome this unprecedented global health crisis,” NGCP said.

NGCP also engaged in grocery distribution to 1,028 LGUs across the country and other initiatives such as Meals on Wheels, a hot meals feeding program for indigent communities; and a PhP5 million donation to Project Ugnayan, which distributes supermarket vouchers to economically displaced families in Metro Manila.

NGCP is a Filipino-led, privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid, led by majority shareholders and Vice Chairman of the Board Henry Sy, Jr. and Co-Vice Chairman Robert Coyiuto, Jr.

RPA technology Empowering workforce, automating the future

Tech-voc trainees get connectivity, training support from Globe VER 750 combined trainees and scholars of the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and the Foundation for Professional Training, Inc. (FPTI) have received connectivity and communications assistance from Globe to enable them to transition to digital and distance learning beginning this school year.

Globe provided support through prepaid SIM cards and load cards which 600 trainees under PBEd’s YouthWorks PH Program and 160 scholars under FPTI’s Lifelong Development for Women Program, can use to connect to the internet for three and six months, respectively, to access relevant digital tools and content.

“Globe reinforces its commitment to nation-building by being the catalyst for the new normal. One of our goals is to assist the education sector by providing connectivity,

N

GCP turned over four brand new ambulances to government hospitals around the country, recently, as part of its COVID-19 relief and response efforts.

The Rizal Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Ospital ng Sampaloc, and Siargao District Hospital received one ambulance unit each from NGCP as part of the company’s PhP 1 Billion donation to the Filipino people. This is in addition to the ambulances donated to the Philippine General Hospital, Philippine Orthopedic Center, Philippine Heart Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, and Binan Doctors Hospital last July 05.

NGCP’s earlier donations include medical equipment and supplies such as mechanical ventilators, ultrasound machines, x-ray machines, RT-PCR machines, SteraMist systems, hazmat suits, face masks, face shields, and other personal protective equipment (PPEs), sanitizers, disinfectants, and non-contact thermometers to more than 300 hospitals around the country. Quezon City and Mandaluyong City also received assistance through the turnover of 50 testing booths and the conduct of 10,000 COVID-19 testing to the city's residents, while Navotas

educational materials, and training that can help schools, teachers, students, and parents prepare for and embrace digital learning,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe Chief Sustainability Officer and SVP for Corporate Communications.

PBEd’s YouthWorks PH Flexible Training for Work (FTW), is a set of interventions for unemployed, out-ofschool youth affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the current program, trainees came from Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, and Zamboanga City.

“We thank Globe Telecom for their generous support to our FTW trainees, and we are certain that their assistance will go a long way in ensuring that our trainees will not be left behind,” PBEd Executive Director and YouthWorks PH Chief of Party Lovelaine Basillote said.

“This partnership is a testament to the private sector’s commitment to work hand-in-hand with other stakeholders in the education and workforce development sectors. With this, the youth are given access to programs that will help them become productive and eventually employed,” she added.

Through the strong partnerships with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), PBEd is working to streamline blended training approaches and to develop/ revise training regulations and online programs for certain trades/skills that are foreseen to be in-demand, given government priorities and the new normal of the labor market.

GCash is also supporting PBEd through a donation channel for those who wish to sponsor the PBEd trainees’ connectivity needs. Funds collected will go towards the provision of learning devices.

In addition, Globe’s Digital Thumbprint Program modules on responsible online citizenship will be integrated into the program for the trainees to learn the proper way of

interacting with other people through the internet.

“This program has helped me a lot because it taught me how to answer a lot of questions, which will be useful for me in the future. I would like to thank the FTW team for this program because not only does it help the youth, it also helps their parents who also learn from the knowledge taught by the program. Because of FTW, the youth have something to do, especially right now that we are in a pandemic. I hope you can help more young Filipinos,” said Nikko Duarte, a PBEd trainee in Zamboanga City.

On the other hand, the two-year FPTI program is geared towards young women aged 16-21 who are interested in Hotel and Restaurant Services. It includes training in skills with accreditation (National Certificate II) from TESDA as well as job placement assistance.

Given the current situation, blended learning will also be facilitated for the program. All module-based and theoretical lessons will be frontloaded in the first semester so that the students can do 100% digital learning.

Mila Araneta, FPTI Executive Director said: “We extend our thanks to Globe for their support of #OplanGadget, providing our scholars with the connectivity they will need to participate fully in online learning. This is only the beginning of a collaborative partnership with Globe as we work towards achieving shared goals and development of lifelong learning.”

Courses are focused on the skill sector of food service. It also offers various tech-voc programs and stand-alone senior high school in the tech-voc track.

To learn more, visit Globe https://www.globe.com.ph/about-us/ sustainability.html, PBEd YouthWorksPH page https://www.pbed.ph/youthworksph, and FPTI FB https://www.facebook.com/ fptiPH/ and www.fptiphilippines.org

R

OBOTS have been around for years, working side by side with humans in ways never imagined before. They make lives easier as they serve as tools that complement how people live, work, and play. They also help in performing simple, repetitive tasks faster and more precise, making them the perfect “assistants.”

In modern workplaces, there is the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology, a term that is heard more and more. For some IT professionals, RPA does not require further explanation. But others need a bit of help. What is it, really?

RPA works just like “virtual assistant,” aimed at automating business processes.

By using this technology, businesses can configure software or “robots” to capture and interpret applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses, and communicating with other digital systems to emulate the way people work, without disrupting the business.

RPA is not yet ‘deep learning’ like Artificial Intelligence (AI), solving global problems with automated algorithms, but if you can teach it, then you can use it to automate processes. It is most helpful in cutting costs, increasing efficiency, accelerating speed-to-market, and achieving compliance.

By automating repetitive, rule-based tasks, businesses can optimize their business operations—for instance, running operational costs, monitoring working queues, updating system records, creating incident logs, and enabling business improvements.

Perhaps, less obvious is RPA’s positive impact on employee satisfaction. Free from the burden of mundane, repetitive processes, employees have more time for interaction, innovation, and delivering better value to the company and customers.

With the onset of RPA, more “virtual assistants” will appear at the office. What do they exactly do? Here are some of RPA’s applications, as listed by Fujitsu Philippines, Inc., one of the country’s leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) system integrators: Faster and error-free Order Processing.

Manual processing of orders leaves a business open to processing errors, fulfillment delays, and lack of visibility, which drain resources and hinders customer service. It may even hurt your reputation.

With RPA, it can help streamline the process as it automatically checks the price, verifies it against the sales order, and posts them directly on your enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform or any back-office applications.

Stress-free Financial Closing. RPA can also help ease and reduce error risk of the painstaking process of opening hundreds of excel files and manually reconciling data for financial closing.

Remote Workflow Automation. With just an email or thru a portal, you can command Fujitsu’s RPA to execute tasks, anytime and anywhere. RPA reduces the need for a laptop with higher specs and the consumption of electricity and internet data. It also asks for the next steps to proceed.

Fujitsu Philippines has been helping local organizations across various industries in automating their business processes through its RPA solution offerings. With its local knowledge that comes from its nearly five decades of operations in the country, the company has gained rich experience and best practices in executing pilot projects and scaling-up across the enterprise.

Aside from the benefits that organizations can get from RPA, Fujitsu also ensures that the integration of solutions is unobtrusive with legacy systems, as well as accurate and consistent 24X7. They also work with their clients on upskilling employees with automation or partner with them to co-create their automation journey. Fujitsu also provides strong support through their local and regional teams.

To know more about Fujitsu Philippines Inc., visit the website at http://www.fujitsu. com/ph.

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, August 31, 2020 B7

Outside looking in: Communications is the key A PR Matters

By Margarita Y. Locsin

Insight: The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 technology on education according to Lenovo

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Lenovo has commissioned IDC to examine the impact of Covid-19 on the education landscape. The latest IDC InfoBrief, Reimagining the Future of Learning in the Digital Era, is presented in partnership with Lenovo and reveals how the technological transformation of the education sector has accelerated during Covid-19, highlighting the importance of intelligent technologies to deliver quality education, mitigate health risks, and build student resilience.

WISE man in Ateneo’s Communications Department once said, “communications is LIFE” and it was this first day in Communications 101 class that stuck with me my entire life and rings truer today than ever before.

In the midst of an unprecedented event like Covid 19, which has overwhelmed our lives and threatened our very existence since it was discovered just, and I use that loosely, eight months ago, the world has sought for answers and comfort amid an environment of uncertainty, doubt, distrust and most basic and core of all, fear.

This is none the more felt in countries such as the Philippines where there is a large population across a 7,107 island-strong archipelago, all with access, no matter how spotty and sporadic, to media and more important, social media. It is therefore incumbent on the powers that be and the media on whom the people rely to deliver news and information efficiently, diligently, apolitically, and most of all, accurately.

Social media has ensured that the news deliveries are more than efficient, in fact, too much so that editing and proofreading, and even fact-checking, seems to have gone extinct. Diligence, well, yes, it’s there too. Apolitical, that’s non-existent, on every side, and accurately? Well, that’s certainly wanting.

Of course, as someone based overseas, I am on the outside looking in and perhaps it is this perspective that allows for another level of objectivity, of seeing something from a bird’s eye view. I peruse my multiple social media timelines and shake my head – why did they say this? How come they did not focus on this? Why does this not make sense? Why are they making this so difficult for themselves?

And it seems, from my multiple chat groups as well, that my opinion was not solely my own, but shared by many others in the same situation.

These are Overseas Filipinos (OFs) worried sick for friends and family back home, sitting—and only connected by social media—in Singapore, where communications has been efficient, diligent, apolitical, accurate and clear as crystal Circuit Breaker (Singapore’s version of a lockdown) rules laid out for—yes, even, bubble tea stores!

What follows are just little bits of best practice sharing, and some brutally frank, but constructive feedback and criticism from Filipinos overseas—including myself. I asked several others to share their thoughts so that people back home may get ideas for how to communicate better in the middle of these turbulent times. It’s always a good thing to hear others speak and share, for how would you know better if all you do is listen to

For many educational institutions, the mass migration into distributed, online learning during the pandemic was launched very quickly, without the opportunity for change management processes and operational best practices. This resulted in education institutions recognizing the critical need for a well-coordinated and structured approach to ensure digital accessibility, curated content quality, enhanced student learning experiences and support for educators and administrators. However, with almost one third of education institutions in Asia-Pacific expecting their budget to fall by 10 to 20 percent, and a quarter anticipating a bigger drop of 20 to 49 percent, education institutions are confronted to rethink their future strategies for digital transformation.

The Asia-Pacific education landscape in the next normal

Accelerating digital transformation in the ‘next normal’ of Asia Pacific’s

yourself?

Margarita Locsin, consultant, 10 years in Singapore.

“While Singapore had its surge in cases, at least personally I feel, we did not have the same level of fear or anxiety, and even xenophobia, that engulfed other countries.

Our experience, while equally as daunting, was responded with good measure and calculation, immediately calibrated where and when needed, and done so for everyone’s comfort and security.

“I feel that in terms of coming up with solutions to day-to-day realities, both national and local governments should look to best practices from neighboring countries that can be easily and readily adapted for the local setting.

“For example, to in a way do your own bit for contact tracing, limit the number of visitors to five persons, as we do in Singapore, other than the persons in the household. While larger families will have to adapt, this ensures that if ever, the spread is contained, and the people potentially affected can be easily contacted.

“This also goes for restaurants. A limit of 5 or 6 per table, thinking of what restaurant tables usually are, is a reasonable size, is easily adaptable to most spaces and controllable. From what I’ve seen on social media, gatherings back home are getting rather large. Add in household staff for the more affluent and you have a Covid cluster waiting to happen.

“Furthermore, the rule of wearing a mask unless eating or drinking should be enforced and encouraged.

Of course, proper communications of how these rules work are essential so that law enforcers, legitimate or self-proclaimed, cannot overstep their bounds. Do you allow the mask to be removed between courses? Will restaurants be legally empowered to ask patrons to leave if they are not compliant? Sometimes the simplest things work better than overcomplicating matters.”

VJ Yamat, advertising executive, 10 years in Singapore.

“Try to avoid the usage of jargon, especially when communicating to the mass population. The usage of jargon and complex concepts confuse rather than clarify. Limit the use only when engaging with groups who have an existing background or can quickly learn concepts.

“When introducing jargon is unavoidable, make sure to provide easyto-understand tools and language to explain i.e., infographics, bulletpointed explanations, etc. In other words, remember to KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!).

“Don’t Be an Expert on Covid-19 [or any topic], when you are not. We education landscape is essential amid the emergence of several challenges in the next normal. Even with some careful easing of restrictions in some markets, circumstances remain dynamic and ever-changing.

Educational institutions face the challenge of maintaining a delicate balance between pre-Covid-19 normalcy and protecting students’ health. For curriculums that cannot be replicated virtually, such as engineering and medical courses, educational institutions have to adopt smarter ways to simulate the physical learning experience, without compromising the health and safety of students. This is also a need to ensure a digital learning ecosystem where students, regardless of family income, geographical location and age group, will continue having access to these materials.

Having a distributed learning strategy that taps on smarter technology is essential and critical for education institutions to remain agile and be

see a lot of information about hot topics [i.e., Covid-19, Racial Justice, etc.].

Unless your brand is directly invested in these topics even before them being hot, avoid acting like a subject matter expert or styling yourself as a ‘thought leader.’

“People will perceive that your brand is taking advantage of the situation. For example, for Covid-19, strictly adhere and keep to the recommendations and prevention tactics from the two most-trusted global sources for this pandemic: the WHO and US-CDC. The Philippine DOH, for example, in the case of the Philippines, can provide locally contextual information.”

Roxanne Aquino, marketing professional, 12 years in Singapore.

“For government communications, I think they fundamentally have to start with an understanding of their audience. Aside from demographics by age, working vs non-working and socioeconomic class, they should also know if the audience is aware or not aware, receptive or resistant, or skeptical, and if the audience is knowledgeable of the subject matter or oblivious. Basically, segment the audience and design material accordingly.

“In these complex times, there is no such thing as over-communicating. When the topic is new or urgent and important, communicate clearly, consistetly and often! Material should be easy to understand. Infographics help a lot because many people understand through visual means. And Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs] are extremely helpful.

They represent the questions the citizens have in detail which is relevant to their daily lives and answered in conversational language.

“One of the leading news agencies can make this their role to publish an FAQ after every major announcement.” In Singapore, the Straits Times and Channel News Asia are quick to do this, assuring understanding and clarity and a quick response to the questions in the public’s heads.

So, while Philippine politics is a current tug-of-war of issues, doing as Roxanne recommends could actually make room for all relevant issues as she elaborates further, “this could change per topic so the war on drugs would have a different audience segmentation to info about Covid-19.

Based on this understanding they can then choose the appropriate language, level of detail, medium and presenter, and other aspects.”

Noelle de Jesus, book author and publisher, 20 years in Singapore.

The one who's been away the longest has the most to say, perhaps because she was also in Singapore at the onset prepared for unpredictability.According to the IDC InfoBrief, 35 percent of institutions are turning their focus to strengthening their software capabilities, 30 percent are looking to invest in cyber-security solutions to ensure online safety for students, and 20 percent of institutions want to improve operational efficiency.

Clearly, accelerating digital transformation and adopting intelligent digital tools are pivotal to helping education institutions ensure that learning continues, while empowering students to build the skills needed for the future work force.

Lenovo’s role in the smarter way forward for education

With almost half facing looming budget cuts, education institutions need to find smarter technologies to accelerate digital transformation, and to do so in a smarter way by leveraging educational solutions. This enables the school IT to focus less on fixing random and time-

of SARS, which hit them more than it did the Philippines at the time. Here's what she shared: “Communications is at the root of any successful relationship— parent-child, siblings, husbandw ife, manager-direct reports, employer-employee...and on and on and on. That’s my thesis. By communication, I refer to the effective expression, packaging and transmission of information by the government to those governed.

Crafting the message clearly and delivering it widely.

“About what? The pandemic is primarily a public health issue. Therefore, the messaging must be about the virus—what the virus is, its characteristics and symptoms, how infectious is it is and how people get infected, what people need to do to avoid infection, to “flatten the curve” and what that means, exactly.

“What people should do so the health care system is not stressed to overflowing, so that more of the infected are able to get treatment and do not die, and so that the medical frontliners themselves are not made so vulnerable. They too get sick and die, preventing even more people from getting the help they need.

“The governments that have had some success on the various metrics of this pandemic—keeping infections low; not overwhelming hospitals and frontliners; ensuring the sick have medical care; and keeping the virus mortality rate as low, have also excelled in communicating with their people.

“These countries had a clear message, a clear plan of delivering it through their communication channels, including key information about the process and logistics.

We’re not only talking about Taiwan and South Korea and New Zealand, but also Vietnam and Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia—all just a bit better than others across the metrics, including, significantly, the mortality rate.

“These are just some of the governments that did great work in this regard, ably informing the citizenry about the virus, making it very clear where people could get masks, sanitizers and making sure these were available, even to those who cannot afford them; being transparent about the number of the country’s infections and, above all, preventing panic among the people. And the proof is in their respective infection curves and mortality rates.

“But communication goes beyond even this. Good, ideally—excellent communication—needs to flow from top to bottom, between and among parties, particularly when it comes to the overall plan, the processes and their execution. That includes even what the barangay heads tell consuming IT glitches.

By collaborating with leading software developers, Lenovo offers holistic and smarter education solutions that are designed to protect the software and hardware used for distributed learning, such as SentinelOne™, a next-generation antivirus software that proactively identifies and blocks malicious activities amid a growing number of cyber threats.

Security is also secured through FileWave, a multi-platform and unified endpoint management system that offers complete client management capabilities for both Windows and macOS computers, and protects against unauthorized access.

Lenovo’s smarter solutions for education also allow for students and educators to thrive in their day-today experiences. The Veative Home Study application, for instance, is a web-based learning library with over 500 lessons, that provides virtual reality experiences and assessments

their communities, who should go to which health facilities, and what those managing the checkpoints say to people in any and every foreseeable situation.

“As the pandemic rages on worldwide and the problem remains far from over, can communication through all the government channels improve? Can the various agencies, including those much maligned, still turn out a good performance?

“Of course, it can.

“In fact, and even though, we have a very politically divided populace, if the administration, its attached agencies, the LGUs, and the police and military, would just start with making improvements on the communications front, we would see a flatter curve than what we have.

“The massive emergency powers accompanied by emergency funds in billions could go into staffing a data clearing center for test results, purchasing a contact tracing app and mobilizing contact tracing staff, transportation, for both frontliners and displaced workforce, and for centralizing the lines for national communications so messages and daily public service announcements can be delivered online and via mobile text, which even people who don’t have data can receive.”

Think of all those mindless spam SMSs that annoy us daily. Wouldn’t those be better served sending out critical info about the pandemic? But what Noelle pleads for is a concrete, long-term plan. “Waiting for a foreign power to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is not a plan.”

To conclude

And so, as a very “now” expression goes, just as “PM [or DM] is the key” for those enterprising online today, so “communications is the key” for those running our towns, cities, provinces, and country, holding the lives of all those we hold most dear back home in their hands. We hope that by sharing our thoughts, the little idea light bulbs in their heads will turn on and help illumine the path our motherland needs to walk out of this darkness that has engulfed the world in so short a time.

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 premiere association for senior communications professionals around the world. Margarita Locsin is an OFW from Singapore.

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. on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(STEM). Students also have the opportunity to exercise their creativity using the suite of six creativity tools on their Chromebooks to create videos, podcasts, art, books and so on. Teachers too can create creative projects through these ready-to-use apps that promote interactive learning.

“We have entered the next phase of what is likely to be a multi-phase pandemic, where the education landscape still remains extremely fluid. In this dynamic environment, learning has to continue even if students and teachers are physically apart. Educators and institutions have the opportunity to take advantage of transformative technology, such as Lenovo’s smart education solutions, which will enable them to stay agile and equip students with the necessary 21st century skills for the future work force,” said Michael Ngan, President & General Manager, Lenovo Philippines.

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Monday, August 31, 2020 | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

STRANGEST TOUR FLAGS OFF N

ICE, France—Delayed but alive again and out on French roads, the strangest Tour de France ever set off Saturday in a bubble of anti-Covid protocols to try to keep the 176 riders virus-free for three weeks of racing through the country’s worsening epidemic.

Only after riders peeled off their face masks and pedaled off from the start in the Mediterranean city of Nice, serenaded by a uniformed band playing “La Marseillaise,” did the Tour begin to look like its old, pre-Covid self, immediately delivering thrills and spills as storms made the roads as slippy as ice.

But with fans kept firmly at arm’s length, told by the government that it was best to stay home and watch the racing on television, the Tour lost much of its festive atmosphere. There was very little of the usual up-close communing between athletes and their adoring public that made the venerable 117-year-old rolling roadshow unique among

sports events in more carefree times.

Powering past thin crowds on the finishing straight in Nice that would usually have been crammed with spectators rows deep, Norwegian rider Alexander Kristoff won the first stage with a fearsome final sprint. He celebrated by giving a Covid-sensible fist-bump to a teammate.

Winning Stage 1 earned Kristoff the first yellow jersey of the 2020 Tour, which he will wear as the race leader on Sunday’s Stage 2 that loops into the mountains behind Nice. Usually, a race official or a VIP would have helped him slip into the iconic jersey, one of the most coveted and recognizable in sports. But not this year, with social distancing the priority.

Kristoff stood alone on the winner’s podium, flanked by a host and a hostess a safe distance away. He then disappeared backstage to wriggle into the jersey himself, before coming back out to pose for photos. Still, the thrill of wearing the jersey for first time in his eight Tours more than

outweighed the weirdness.

“An amazing feeling,” he told reporters at the finish. “It means a lot for my career and a stage win shows I can still be up there even at 33 years old and with four kids.”

With infections rising steadily across France, the Tour has no guarantees of reaching the finish in Paris on September 20. Riders will have daily health checks and coronavirus tests during the race, and can be tossed out if they fail them. Entire teams could be sent home if two or more riders or staff test positive for Covid-19 within a week. Fans have been told not to approach riders for selfies or autographs and to always wear masks.

Jean-Michel Blanquer, the French minister in charge of sports, was upbeat at the start Saturday, saying the Tour only has a “very slim” chance of being canceled before Paris but also cautioning that “everything is possible.”

“That type of thing could happen but of

course I hope that it won’t and I think that it won’t because the Tour organizers have done an extraordinary job,” he said.

The crowd-control and social distancing measures sucked much of the usual boisterous joy out of the Tour’s first day. An eerie silence, and a thin crowd kept well away across an empty square, greeted riders as they paraded on stage at the start. Even a stone statue that overlooked the strange scene wore a mask, marked “protect ourselves.”

Still, roadside fans were grateful for the spectacle, after gruesome months of mounting deaths in France—now at 30,600—and lives turned upside down by the virus. The European soccer championships and the Olympic Games were postponed to 2021 and scores of other events have been canceled. But the Tour, delayed from July, survived and is becoming a gauge of the feasibility of continuing to hold sporting mega-events during the pandemic.

The sight of the peloton zooming past the corner that he chose by Nice’s port caused 32-year-old tennis teacher Benjamin Sand to beam, thrilled by the riders’ speed through

‘SASO-PERWOMAN’ YUKA WINS AGAIN! Y

UKA SASO topped Sunday’s Nitori Ladies Golf Tournament in Hokkaido not only to notch back-to-back victories on the rich Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour but to significantly become a multimillionaire at 19 years old.

Saso closed out with a one-under 71—her worst in four days at the Otaru Country Club—to stave off a desperate rally by Japan’s Sakura Koiwai, who with a 72 finished two strokes off the Filipino-Japanese sensation.

In the end, Saso was the most consistent in the field and totaled 275—she had 67, 69 and 68 efforts in the earlier rounds—which is 13 under for the tournament.

The victory was worth Y36 million (about P16.5 million) and adding the P6.5 million Saso deposited in the bank with her runaway victory two weeks ago at the NEC Karuizawa also in Japan, she now has P23 million very early into the season.

Three players—Kana Mikashima, Ji Hee Lee and

Mayu Hamada—were a far third at 10 shots off Saso.

It was win or nothing for Saso in the Y200 million (P92 million) tournament. The runner-up purse was half what she snatched on Sunday.

With her remarkable earnings, Saso looked on her way to becoming one of the most successful Filipino golfers.

Saso won two gold medals—individual and team play—at the 2018 Asian Games, signaling a career bound to go places.

Juvic Pagunsan perhaps ranks No. 1 among Filipino golfers, having amassed more than $1.6 million in career earnings on the men’s Tour. He topped the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2011, reaping a whopping $788 million for that year. He remains a regular on the Japan Tour.

Dorothy Delasin and Jennifer Rosales also had remarkable careers ahead of Saso, winning two and one title, respectively, in the LPGA Tour. Now both retired, they highlighted their careers with their conquest of the 2008

Women’s World Cup in South Africa.

Saso started on the wrong foot on Sunday with a double bogey 6 in the second hole, but was quick to recover with birdies at Nos. 4, 6, 7 and 9 for a 34 going out.

Saso encountered trouble going home, though, and saw her last nine messed up by bogey 5s at the 11th and 15 holes. She made a lone birdie at the par-3 No. 12 and parred the rest to go one over at 37.

Luckily for Saso, Koiwai had her own bad hair day.

After matching Saso’s 34 in the first nine holes with three birdies that negated a threeputt bogey 5 at No. 3, Koiwai lost her putting touch and fell into a maze of bogeys at the 11th, 15th and 16th holes to virtually give the victory to the Filipino-Japanese at that point.

The Japanese managed a birdie at the par-3 17th but her effort fell short.

KNOTT BREAKS ‘DIAY’S’ 100M RECORD

F

ILIPINOAMERICAN Kristina Knott ran a 100-meter race in a modestly quick 11.27 seconds that was good enough for a silver medal behind an American rival at Knott the Drake Blue Oval Showcase at the Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday.

But that burst of speed was more than enough for the 24-year-old Knott to break the 33-year-old Southeast Asian Games record of 11.28 seconds Lydia de Vega set when the former Asian Sprint Queen was 23 in Jakarta.

Knott finished behind 23-year-old Kayla White, who clocked 11.18 seconds. Tianna Bartoletta, 35, bagged the bronze medal with 11.44 seconds.

The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association announced Knott’s record-breaking run in social media and noted that the 30th Southeast Asian Games sprint champion is well on track to qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics next year.

Knott needs to run the Olympic standard of 11.15 seconds to make the grade in Tokyo.

Also the record-holder at 23.01 seconds in the SEA Games—she broke also De Vega’s standard last December at the New Clark City— Knott has a lot of time to get achieve her goal with qualifiers set to end in May 2021.

Pole vaulter EJ Obiena is one of four

K

Rick Olivares | bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Johnny Lawrence to win the All Valley Karate Championships.

Unlike the film trilogy, the web series gives Lawrence more depth as a character; an anti-hero if you will, who finds redemption and his balance when he opens the infamous Cobra Kai dojo.

The rivalry between LaRusso and Lawrence is inadvertently rekindled when the former’s daughter, Sam (Mary Mouser), accidentally hits the latter’s car in a hit-and-run incident. When Johnny’s

L

AKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—While the ultimate objective is to win a title, LeBron James said the Los Angeles Lakers achieved a key goal against the Portland Trail Blazers—and it wasn’t simply to win the first-round playoff series.

It was improvement.

“We got better throughout the course of the series,” James said. “We knew we were coming into a series versus a hot Portland team that was car is taken to a car repair show owned by LaRusso, the two meet. Even that meeting is contentious.

Lawrence reopens the Cobra Kai dojo where he takes in Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) as an understudy. LaRusso comes across the reopened Cobra Kai dojo and tries to stop its operation through various means. Daniel, now wealthy and happily married, then unknowingly picks up estranged son, Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) who is out to piss off his old man.

Now that sends sparks flying in all directions and the powder keg situation explodes in the 2018 All Valley Karate Championships when Diaz defeats Keene. Oh, that’s just the first season.

The web series has multiple flashbacks and even reprises certain scenes from the original Karate Kid film when Diaz and Keene nearly come to blows during a lakeside party and the karate finals.

What I love about the series is the solid writing and character development. You will find yourself

NORWAY’S Alexander Kristoff wears the overall leader’s yellow jersey after winning the Tour de France’s Grand Depart in Nice on Saturday. AP

Swimming ace Ikee back after leukemia treatment

T

AT 19, Yuka Saso is a multimillionaire with earnings of P23 million only two tournaments into the rich Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour.

The PBA appointed Alaska governor Richard Bachmann early this month as chairman of the 3x3 committee with Eric Arejola of Northport and Raymond Zorilla of Phoenix as members.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Al Panlilio and 3x3 national Team Coach Ronnie Magsanoc along with technical official Joey Guanio were also added to the committee.

The PBA awaits the government’s approval

Kobe Chooks ambassador OBE PARAS inked a new deal with Chooksto-Go to serve as the fried chicken brand’s ambassador on Saturday afternoon.

“There’s no doubt that Kobie would come back,” said Chooks-to-Go President Ronald Mascariñas, who had Paras’s back when he was left in limbo in 2018.

“Chooks-to-Go has been there for me since the lowest point in my life,” Paras

Bleachers’ Brew

I AM having a blast watching Cobra Kai, the Web series sequel to the successful Karate Kid films from the 1980s starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, who are both executive producers for this action-comedy-drama.

The series—two seasons are now available on Netflix after initial having been shown on YouTube Premium with a third season on its way by 2021—takes place 34 years after Macchio’s character of Daniel LaRusso defeated Zabka’s

T

HE Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) teams are back training in gyms hoping for a restart to the league’s 45th season in October.

But this early, Commissioner Willie Marcial already bared plans of complimenting its 3x3 men’s league next season with a women’s contest.

“When I entered PBA, setting a 3x3 tournament for women was one of my visions,” Marcial said.

James

‘Cobra Kai’

the bend.

“We’re so lucky,” he said.

“It’s such a breath of fresh air.”

Fans were also rewarded with high drama on the 156-kilometer (97-mile) first stage that did three loops around Nice and hilly backcountry to the city’s north.

Rain storms turned the tarmac so slick that riders eventually made a pact between themselves out on the road to dial back the pace after multiple crashes.

Among the most dramatic was Colombian rider Miguel Angel Lopez skidding headfirst into a road sign. He labored on to the finish. Another crash took out a heap of riders in the dash to the line on Nice’s splendid seafront.

The defending champion, Egan Bernal, suffered the blow of having two of his support riders on the Ineos team involved in painful pileups.

“People were crashing almost on every corner,” said Kristoff. “It was really slippy out there.” AP

PBA ponders women’s 3x3

Filipinos who have qualified for the Olympics so far. The others are boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno and world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo.

Besides Knott, Patafa’s other athletes hoping to qualify for Tokyo include sprinter Eric Cray, thrower William Morrison, marathoner Christine Hallasgo and pole vaulter Natalie Uy. Health protocols were imposed in the Drake event with athletes running one lane apart of each other.

James, Lakers advance; Bucks top own series

Editor: Jun Lomibao

said. “They’re really a family to me. What we do here is not business.”

Paras left Cal State Northridge in March 2018 and together with his father, Benjie, returned to the Philippines, thanks to Mascariñas who didn’t hesitate to shoulder the father-son tandem’s flight back.

Mascariñas also vouched for the 6-foot-6 Paras’s commitment to the 23-for-2023 Gilas Cadets program that played in the 2018 Chooks-toplaying the best basketball inside the bubble along with Phoenix. So we wanted to just come in and try to work our game, get better and better as the games went on, as the series went on. And I believe we did that.”

James had 36 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and the Lakers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals, beating the short-handed Blazers, 131-122 ,in Game 5 on Saturday night. also rooting for Lawrence (more so when Martin Kove’s character of John Kreese returns at the end of Season 1) as he tries to turn his life around.

Characters aren’t one-dimensional.

Karate Kid was such a beloved film during the 1980s for Generation Xers like me who were in high school and college during that decade.

After seeing new web or television series such as Red Oaks, GLOW, The Goldbergs, Deutschland 83, and Stranger Things all set in the 80s, it feels like being transported back to that time complete with the fashion and music of the era. And yes, it was a great time to be growing up.

Cobra Kai pushes the narrative to the 21st century but in the tastes and likes of both LaRusso and Lawrence, the 80s lives on.

To wit, when both Daniel and Johnny go driving, the groove to REO Speedwagon and do a bit of reminiscing when they see the former’s old apartment.

Metallica and Guns N’ Roses also find their way

to resume its season hoping to kick off action that were shuttered in February under the same “bubble” format the National Basketball Association is implementing.

Marcial said the PBA “bubble” could be in Laguna, Subic, Clark, El Nido in Palawan and even at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. A sports event organizer in Dubai also offered the mega city as a venue for the league’s comeback.

Go Filoil Premier Cup. He also played a huge part in bringing Paras to the University of the Philippines.

“When he first arrived [2018], Kobe was in what we say, a dark place. He was very guarded then. But as he stayed here with us, he was able to realize who he really is and more,” Mascariñas said “I could definitely say, he has become a true Isko [UP student].”

Paras involved himself in numerous outreach activities and drives. He also gave hints at playing in the country’s first professional 3x3 league, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3.

Anthony Davis had a playoff-best 43 points for the top-seeded Lakers in their first playoff appearance since 2013. The Lakers hadn’t won a playoff series since 2012.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, had 28 points and 17 rebounds and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic, 118-104, also on Saturday to close out the Eastern Conference series in five games. into the screen if not the audio (along with Twister Sister, Ratt, and other 80s hair metal acts).

As a nostalgic touch, the old Ford Super Deluxe of Mr. Miyagi—it is still there as Macchio purchased the car used in the original film.

Despite his success as a car salesman, LaRusso has lost some balance in his life when he lost his mentor in Mr. Miyagi (the late pat Morita who is such a sight for sore eyes even if only in old footage). As he loses some of his clarity, he learns not only from his wife, Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) and even his daughter, Sam. I love the interaction between LaRusso and Lawrence. I love the part when Lawrence is invited to have breakfast by Amanda and it clearly rankles Daniel.

And just when you think the two will finally bury the hatchet between them instead of on their heads, something happens. And that makes the web series riveting. And there is the sub-plot between Miguel-Sam-Robby, Johnny

OKYO— Olympic hopeful Rikako Ikee returned to competitive swimming on Saturday after undergoing treatment for leukemia for more ikee than a year.

The 20-year-old from Japan would have been among the favorites in several races if she had not fallen ill and the Tokyo Olympics had taken place on schedule last month.

Ikee’s best event is probably the 100-meter butterfly, in which she was nearing the world record until she last swam in early 2019.

She marked her return in a 50-meter freestyle heat in a local meet in Tokyo, clocking 26.32 seconds. Her national record time is 24.21 in the event.

“I feel like I have started the second chapter of my swimming career,” she said, speaking in Japanese.

Ikee—pronounced E-kay—won six gold medals two years ago at the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, which included the 50 and 100-meter freestyle, and the 50 and 100-meter butterfly. She also won gold in two relays, and added two silvers.

She said she intends to swim in an intercollegiate meet in October, and has not talked about trying to qualify for the delayed Tokyo Games next year.

“My main goal is to qualify for the Paris Olympics,” she said. “At the moment, it’s not like I am trying to record my best time. But I would like to try to get better gradually, to rebuild my physical strength. That is my motivation right now.”

Ikee talked about being “extremely nervous” despite swimming at a familiar pool in east Tokyo.

“But I was able to swim faster than my target time of 26.80. I think I was able to make a good restart,” she said.

A month ago she appeared in Tokyo’s new National Stadium where the opening ceremony would have been held. She was part of a brief video message to encourage other athletes to be hopeful the Olympics will take place next year despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local organizers and the International Olympic Committee say the delayed Games will open on July 23, but have given few details how the massive event might he held during a pandemic. AP Brook Lopez finished with 16 points for the Bucks.

The Bucks advanced to face Miami in the second round, beginning Monday. But they showed little interest in congratulating themselves or talking about basketball after the first National Basketball Association game played since they declined to take the court on Wednesday night, when Game Five was originally scheduled. AP and Kreese, and the various kids in school and who are part of the Miyagi-Do Karate dojo.

Each episode clocks in at under 30 minutes making each one tasty morsels that you cannot get enough.

Ten years ago, I saw the parody of LaRusso’s life in the hilarious Wax Off, F*^k Off film. Cobrai Kai has its moments of levity and you don’t see it coming.

It happens. Macchio and Zabka have this chemistry afforded them through the entire Karate Kid series and its hilarious spin-offs through the years.

And that makes watching Cobra Kai feel like old home week. Like finding that old chair in the living room that you loved so much. Like an old picture or a baseball glove.

It’s cool too because martial arts is given focus instead of the usual basketball, soccer, baseball, or American Football.

Take some time to watch Cobra Kai when you aren’t busy. It will surely put a smile—or several dozen ones—on your face.