BusinessMirror December 17, 2020

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Thursday, December 17, 2020 Vol. 16 No. 70

P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK

POVERTY IN ASPAC–ILO

THE pandemic has not dampened the spirit of the faithful as they arrive in trickles at churches in Manila to attend the traditional simbang gabi, nine dawn masses leading up to Christmas Eve. The crowd was visibly thinner due to the strict implementation of health protocols, with some opting to attend masses online. Clockwise: the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help (Baclaran Church); St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Piñas City, home of the world-famous Bamboo Organ; Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Manila Cathedral; and the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, also known as the Quiapo Church. BERNARD TESTA/ NONIE REYES / ROY DOMINGO

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

T least 22 million people in the Asia-Pacific region could live in poverty due to the economic disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus disease pandemic (Covid-19), according to a latest report of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The labor arm of the United Nations made the projection in its Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2020 report.

“Preliminary estimates in the report find an additional 22 million to 25 million persons could fall into working poverty, which would push the total number of working poor [living on less than $1.90 a day] in the Asia-Pacific region to between 94 million and 98 million in 2020,” ILO said in a statement.

It noted this could worsen in-

PHL UP 4 RUNGS IN HUMAN DEVT INDEX, BUT TRAILS PEERS

By Elijah Felice Rosales

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HE Philippines has jumped four notches in an index that measures human development across 189 economies, according to a report by the United Nations (UN).

The Human Development Report 2020, published by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), put the Philippines tied at 107th with Bolivia and Indonesia among 189 economies last year. The country’s score of 0.718 on a zero to 1 scale improved from last year’s 0.712, and its ranking went four spots higher from 111th.

However, the Philippine score was on the low end of the average score of countries listed in the high human development pillar, which the country is logged under, at 0.753.

Also, it was below the 0.747 average of economies in East Asia and the Pacific, and the 0.737 average of all the countries

worldwide. The Human Development Index (HDI) measures the average achievement of economies across three dimensions, namely, a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

Among Southeast Asian nations, the Philippines and Indonesia tied, trailing the region’s leaders Singapore at 11th, Brunei Darussalam at 47th, Malaysia at 62nd and Thailand at 79th, while it stayed ahead of Vietnam, 117th; Lao PDR, 137th; Cambodia, 144th; and Myanmar, 147th.

The UNDP reported life expectancy in the Philippines in 2019 is at 71.2 years, while the expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling were at 13.1 years and 9.4 years, respectively. Further, GNI per capita was recorded at $9,778 based on 2017 figures.

For the decade the country’s average annual HDI growth was at 0.76, while from 1990 to 2019 it’s at 0.66.

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 48.0590

See “HDI,” A2

STEINER: “Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before. In the wake of Covid-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden.” UNDP.ORG

equalities especially in developing countries in the regions, which include the Philippines.

In the report, the Philippines was tagged as one of the countries with the highest employment loss for the second quarter of the year at 19 percent.

Vulnerable sector

SOME 81 million jobs were lost in the Asia-Pacific region this year due to the pandemic and millions other with reduced work hours or benefits.

ILO estimated the unemployment rate in the region could increase from 4.4 percent in 2019 to somewhere between 5.2 percent and 5.7 percent this year.

This as the region suffers massive job losses, which ILO estimates is now at 81 million. Most of these affected workers are women and young people.

The mass displacement could have been worse had the affected governments did not implement See “Poverty,” A2

Bills on coco fund, GAA ’20, Bayanihan 2 fast-tracked

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O fast-track the transmittal of three priority measures to the Palace, the House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted the Senate versions of the Coconut Farmers and Development Trust Fund Act, the bill extending the validity of the 2020 General Appropriations Act and the measure extending the appropriations under the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act.

These three measures will thus skip the bicameral conference process and can now be transmitted to President Duterte for signature.

The proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act seeks to create a trust fund for coconut farmers in the country through the selling of assets procured through the coco levy fund.

Under the Senate version, the government is mandated to turn over P75 billion cash of the coconut levy assets in the next five years to create a trust fund for coconut farmers in the country.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform and principal sponsor of the bill, said See “Bills,” A2

n JAPAN 0.4636 n UK 64.7066 n HK 6.1999 n CHINA 7.3496 n SINGAPORE 36.0776 n AUSTRALIA 36.3182 n EU 58.4157 n SAUDI ARABIA 12.8116

Source: BSP (December 16, 2020)

A2 Thursday, December 17, 2020

HDI… Continued from A1

UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said world leaders have to decide on how to reduce carbon emissions on a large scale to reduce the pressure put on the environment.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic may not be the last crisis to haunt the world if governments do not act fast on lessening carbon and consumption footprints.

“Humans wield more power over the planet than ever before. In the wake of Covid-19, record-breaking temperatures and spiraling inequality, it is time to use that power to redefine what we mean by progress, where our carbon and consumption footprints are no longer hidden,” Steiner said in a statement.

“As this report shows, no country has yet to achieve very high human development without putting immense strain on the planet. But we could be the first generation to right this wrong. That is the next frontier for human development,” he added.

Poverty…

Continued from A1

the necessary measures to “help enterprises retain workers.”

“Given the mounting evidence that social protection and employment policies save jobs and incomes, the hope is that the crisis brings about a more permanent and increased investment in elements needed to boost resilience and promote a more people-centred future of work,” said Sara Elder, Senior Economist at the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific and lead author of the report.

Bills…

Continued from A1

the passage of the measure would benefit the approximately 3.5 million coconut farmers from 68 coconut-producing provinces owning not more than five hectares who belong to the poorest sector in the country.

Villar said that immediately after the enactment of the bill, the Bureau of the Treasury shall transfer P10 billion to the trust fund; P10 billion in the second year; P15 billion, third year; P15 billion, fourth year; and P25 billion, fifth year.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives also adopted the Senate version of the bill extending the validity of Republic Act 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, and RA 11465, or the General Appropriations Act of 2020, to ensure programs are fully implemented and public funds for aid reach intended beneficiaries.

The Department of Budget and Management reported that the Bayanihan 2 Act, which shall expire on December 19, 2020, still has unreleased appropriations.

The DBM reported that it has so far released a total of P105.775 billion.

The legislation, signed on September 11, provides the resources needed to assist Filipinos adversely affected by the pandemic, boost economic recovery, and strengthen the fight against Covid-19.

It finances various government programs, including the implementation of a cash-for-work program, provision of economic relief to industries, improvement of the national healthcare system, and procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, among other interventions.

Additionally, unused funds from the 2020 GAA are also set to revert to the National Treasury when the legislation expires on December 31, 2020.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

News BusinessMirror

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Covid-impacted workers can still get DOLE assistance

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HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Wednesday announced the extension of the period of implementation of its assistance for workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

This after the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the proposed bill the day before extending the effectivity of the funding from the Bayanihan to Recover As One (Bayanihan 2) beyond December 19, 2020, the initial date of expiration of the said legislation.

In an online briefing, Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III welcomed the development, which he said will give them more time to complete their programs funded by Bayanihan 2.

Bello said they were allocated a total of P16.4 billion to help Covidaffected workers.

Of the said amount, P4.1 billion is for the beneficiaries of their regular Covid Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP), which pro-

vides a one-time P5,000 cash aid for workers in the formal sector.

A P3.1-billion budget was allocated for the CAMP benefits of workers in the tourism sector, and another P300 million for the CAMP coverage for employees in the education sector.

Bello said a sizeable portion or P6.2 billion of their Bayanihan 2 allocation was meant for the emergency employment of informal sector workers under their Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.

Pandemic-stricken overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will also be given a one-time P10,000 financial assistance from Abot Kamay Ang Pagtulong for OFWs (AKAP)

LABOR Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III ROY DOMINGO

program, which has an allocation of P2 billion from Bayanihan 2.

Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique R. Tutay noted they have almost completed the disbursement of the funds for their regular CAMP as well as CAMP for

the education sector, which have a completion rate of 88.7 percent and 72 percent, respectively, as of December 15, 2020.

She also said TUPAD implementation has made a significant headway with a completion rate of

64.61 percent.

The programs, which may still take time to complete, are the AKAP, which has a completion rate of 44.59 percent, and CAMP for the tourism sector, which has a measly 8-percent completion rate. Samuel P. Medenilla

Duque: No ‘dropping of ball’ in Pfizer vaccines

LOCSIN: “Somebody committed a mistake which apparently affected the shipping of Pfizer vaccines to the country.” AP

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EALTH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III on Wednesday denied that “somebody dropped the ball” on the Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer for the negotiations, which he said is still ongoing.

In a media forum, Duque was asked to react to a tweet by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. on Tuesday on the reason for the delay in the shipping of the vaccines.

Locsin posted: “That said my thanks just the same to US Sec of State Mike Pompeo we—Babe Ro-

DUQUE: “There is no such thing as dropping of the ball.” AP

mualdez and I—got 10 million doses of Pfizer financed by World Bank and ADB to be shipped thru FEDEX to Clark in January. BUT SOMEBODY DROPPED THE BALL. I have steel ball bearings. I just need a slingshot. Somebody committed a mistake which apparently affected the shipping of Pfizer vaccines to the country.”

However, Duque, denied this.

“There is no such thing as dropping the ball. There is still an ongoing negotiation,” he said.

He explained that he was informed on September 24 that the Office of the Executive Secretary and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will no longer sign the Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA), but it would be his

office that will do this.

Duque said that he reviewed the CDA before signing it to make sure that the provisions will not be “disadvantageous” to the government.

“I would just like to refer this to our lawyers, to the lawyers of the DOST, lawyers of the Executive Secretary,” Duque said.

“So, on October 20, on the day it [CDA] was given [back] to me, I signed it already. So there is no such thing as dropping of the ball,” he explained.

The health chief added that no less than National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. has also signed the CDA.

“He [Galvez] is in the best position to tell you, to tell us at what stage of the negotiations we are in,” Duque added.

Senate probe

THE Senate is mounting an inquiry into the Duterte admin-

istration’s Covid-19 vaccination program to assess how the country’s work force would be covered given initial estimates by vaccine czar Galvez that the planned inoculation intends to cover 70 percent of the population in the next three to five years.

This, as Senator Joel Villanueva, in filing Resolution 598 paving the way for the Senate committee inquiry to review implementation of the National Covid-19 Vaccination Program, sought to ensure the inclusion of the labor force “who help sustain the economy, aside from those providing essential frontline services.”

Villanueva’s Resolution 598 also aims to enable senators to look into the details of the plan, particularly the readiness of the national government in rolling out an “effective, equitable, affordable and timely Covid-19 vaccination of 100 percent of the Filipino population, especially to members of the labor force.”

According to the government’s

inoculation plan, the first priority in the mass vaccination would be frontline health workers who account for 1.6 percent of the population or 1.76 million Filipinos, followed by indigent senior citizens comprising 3.78 million or 3.5 percent of the population; the remaining senior citizens (5.67 million or 5.3 percent of the population); the remaining indigent population (12.9 million or 12 percent of the population), and the uniformed personnel (525,523 or 0.5 percent of the population), the resolution noted.

Villanueva’s resolution also seeks to direct the Labor committee to hold an inquiry into the government’s vaccination program, specifically to assess how workers would be covered, given the public pronouncements of the country’s vaccine officials that the planned inoculation intends to cover 70 percent of the population in the next three to five years.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco, Butch Fernandez

The Nation BusinessMirror

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1,114 schools in Calabarzon, E. Visayas qualify for pilot face-to-face classes–DepEd

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday announced that over 1,000 schools have been nominated for the pilot implementation of faceto-face classes.

In an interview with PTV, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said their regional directors have already nominated 1,114 schools for the said initiative, which will be implemented from January 11 to January 23, 2011.

This is about 1.8 percent of the 61,000 schools nationwide.

Briones, however, noted only a few of the nominated schools will be able to participate in the pilot test since they would still have to get the permission of the concerned local government units, as well as the parents of the students of the said schools.

DepEd is scheduled to come out with the final list of par-

ticipating schools by December 28, 2020.

Most of the nominations came from areas in Calabarzon and Eastern Visayas regions.

No nominations came from the National Capital Region (NCR), Davao, and Cotabato due large reported incidents of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections in the said areas.

DepEd-NCR Director Malcolm Garma said they were not able to nominate any school for the faceto-face classes since Metro Manila remains under general community quarantine (GCQ).

“The minimum requirement to be nominated for the pilot class is [the school] should be in [an area] with a low severity cases. So this means it should be in MGCQ [modified GCQ],” Garma said.

“We know the National Capital Region will be under General Community Quarantine at least until December,” he added.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, December 17, 2020 A3

Mati City imposes tighter Covid measures for the holiday season

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

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AVAO CITY—The coastal city of Mati in Davao Oriental, which boasts of one the country’s longest white-sand beach, has announced it will be enforcing stricter measures on entry of people, including tourists, to the city during the holiday season.

The city was one of the few local governments to open its destinations to tourists in June this year, including its famous Dahican Beach, a 7-kilometer white-sand beach and its three world-famed bays.

Although the health protocols were already in place, the city government said it would not relax these “to serve as a deterrent to the expected surge of cases of Covid-19 due to the expected increase in traffic of visitors in time for the celebration of Christmas and New Year,” its information office said on Wednesday.

Mayor Michelle Nakpil Rabat is-

sued on Wednesday Executive Order 110, Series of 2020 for “returning and visiting families/friends; and visiting tourists, businessmen, and transient workers, who will be staying in the City of Mati for more than 5 days; to present a negative result of their RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen Test [RAT] before they will be allowed entry.”

Returning and visiting families or friends, and tourists would be also required of the following: health or medical certificate from place of origin; accomplished health declaration; to undergo required health screening and to observe City Ordinance 427, Series of 2020, known as “City of Mati Disiplina Panahon sa Pandemya Ordinance”; to stay in residence for a maximum of 5 days only in order not to be quarantined.

For visiting or returning family members or friends, their movement shall be restricted within the vicinity of the residence and no engagements with family members for those

placed under home quarantine and they must avoid densely populated areas such as markets, malls, and the like unless the quarantine has been complied and completed.

For returning residents frequently traveling to other places due to medical, business or official reasons, they are required of the following: present identification card and travel manifest at border checkpoints upon entry back to Mati. Travel authority issued from the City of Mati may also be presented; if travel to other places will exceed for more than three days, they would undergo home quarantine of 14 days upon return; and completion of case investigation form (CIF) and kasabutan (or agreement), if required for 14 days home quarantine (contact tracing teams and BHERTs will provide form and do monitoring).

For visiting tourists and businessmen, the city would require them to have prior booking with resorts or hotels as “no booking, no entry” policy will be strictly enforced.

Curfew hours are imposed from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Meanwhile, Mati City was the lone awardee in the Davao region for the 2020 Anti-Drug Abuse Council (ADAC) Special Awards.

The Special Award is given to cities or municipalities that have sustained the Drug-Cleared Status of their Drug-Affected Barangays for this year.

There are a total of 274 recipients of the ADAC Special Awards and the City of Mati was the only awardee in the Davao region.

The 2020 ADAC Special Awards recognizes outstanding Civil Society Organizations and Department of the Interior and Local Government ADAC Regional Focal Persons and Alternates for their exemplary efforts on their role in complementing the national government’s anti-illegal drug programs amid the pandemic, and local government units for their relentless effort in eradicating the drug menace with drug prevention programs from 2017 to 2019.

Govt sets 20M AFP showcases air, naval assets in fleet review, wing flyby in 85th anniversary event in Bataan registration goal for National ID system in 2021

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

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N additional 20 million of the population is expected to be registered under the government’s National ID system by next year.

In a news statement issued on Wednesday, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said President Duterte and other members of the Cabinet approved during a meeting on Monday the allocation of P3.52 billion for the said initiative through the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).

He said this is on top of the 50 million target registrants for PhilSys for next year.

Republic Act 11055, or the PhilSys Act, mandates the government to provide a valid proof of identity for all Filipinos and resident aliens through a National ID System.

Last month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported delays in the implementation of the second phase of the enrollment process for PhilSys due to the delays in the availability of registration kits.

The first part of the registration involves collection of demographics data, while the second part is for the collection of biometrics data of registrants.

As of last November 24, PSA was able to register 6.289 million people for the National ID system.

It is targeting to enroll 9 million people under PhilSys this year.

During the latest Cabinet meeting, Roque said, the President also approved the f lood mitigation and management plan of the Task Force Build Back Better (TFBBB) led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Cagayan province and Marikina City.

Both areas suffered heavy flooding, when Typhoon Ulysses (international code name Vamco) hit the country last month.

This prompted Duterte to issue Executive Order 120 creating the TFBBB.

A PHILIPPINE Navy ship sails as Air Force helicopter hovers during the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s 85th anniversary fleet review and flyby near the coast of Bataan on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. PHOTO COURTESY OF AFP

HE Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) celebrated its 85th anniversary with a fleet review and wing flyby joined by 63 air and naval assets on Wednesday near the coast of Bataan.

The BRP Jose Rizal and BRP Davao Del Sur led the contingent from the Philippine Navy and three FA-50 and two Black Hawks headlined for the Philippine Air Force.

“The Fleet Review and Wing Flyby showcases the AFP’s development into a world-class armed forces and a regional power through the modest

but well-planned AFP Modernization Program,” AFP Chief of Staff General Gilbert Gapay said.

Other naval assets include BRP Ramon Alcaraz, BRP Emilio Jacinto, BRP Batak, BRP Abraham Campo, and BRP Ang Pangulo.

Thirty six fixed wing and rotary aircraft also joined the FA-50s and the Black Hawks, including the two AW159 and three AW109 helicopters.

On board BRP Batak, a Navy Landing Craft, is the Philippine Army’s Simba armored personnel carrier and the Philippine Marine Corps’ V-150 Commando vehicle.

A short ceremony was also held on site presided by Defense Secre-

tary Delfin N. Lorenzana onboard BRP Tarlac that served as the viewing deck for defense officials and senior military officers attending the activity.

“We are truly grateful to our Commander in Chief, President Rodrigo Duterte, for the unprecedented support to our modernization,” Gapay added.

“This showcase of our reliable and modern assets is our gift to the Filipino people. This is where your taxes go. The AFP as protector of the people and the state shall continue its judicious use of its resources and protect the trust and support the people have vested on us,” Gapay said.

Seized lumber boosts Quirino Cops arrest wanted NPA leader in Pangasinan residents’ post-disaster recovery

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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UNDREDS of families who lost their homes due to geological hazards will be receiving a much-needed boost from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The agency has been donating confiscated forest products, such as wood, which can be used to reconstruct school furniture like chairs and tables for years.

This time, the DENR in Cagayan Valley decided to donate 3,338 board feet of common hardwood lumber for residents of Barangay San Pugo in Nagtipunan, Quirino province who lost their homes due to soil liquefaction.

The beneficiaries are among the estimated 190 Bugkalot families who lost their houses to soil liquefaction due to continuous heavy rains brought about by recent typhoons that peaked during the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses on November 14.

In a news statement, the DENR Cagayan Valley Region said Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua received the lumber from DENR Regional Executive Director Gwendoly n Bamba lan through a deed of donation signed on December 15 in Cabarroguis, the

province’s capital.

In her message, Bambalan said the DENR will explore the possibility of increasing the volume of lumber for donation in line with the postdisaster recovery and rehabilitation under the government’s Build Back Better Program.

The community environment and natural resources officers in the region were instructed to provide some confiscated lumber stockpiled in their jurisdictions.

Executive Order 120 mandates the Build Back Better Task Force to ensure availability and adequacy of key lifelines such as basic needs, medical services, electricity, water, telecommunication, and transportation that can be mobilized immediately after the typhoon. It shall also rebuild or repair houses to be more resilient to hazards and build safer sites for housing under the township approach.

“We pledge to commit our support to the local government in whatever undertaking especially on environmental conservation and protection,” the regional environment chief said.

The provincial chief executive considered the donation as “a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas,” as he expressed gratitude to the DENR for the donated lumber.

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SUSPECTED ranking member of the New People’s Army (NPA) on the most wanted persons list in Cagayan Valley Region was captured on Monday night in Pangasinan as the Philippine National Police (PNP) intensified its legal offensive against rebels in support of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

PNP chief Gen. Debold M. Sinas, citing reports from Brig. Gen. Crizaldo Nieves, PNP Regional Director for Cagayan Valley, said, Allan Rey Balanay Agbayani, 48, was arrested at around 10:45 p.m. at Barangay

San Mabilao, San Fabian, Pangasinan, by police intelligence operatives who came all the way from Cagayan Valley to serve the warrant of arrest against the suspect.

Balanay is accused in four separate criminal cases for murder, frustrated murder, illegal possession of explosives and illegal possession of firearms filed before the sala of Judge Edmar Castillo of Regional Trial Court, Branch 11 of Tuao, Cagayan.

Balanay is listed in PNP records as an officer of the Henry Abraham Command of the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA (CPP-NPA)

Northern Front Committee operating in northern Cagayan, the same CPP-NPA unit held responsible for the killing of Mayor Carlito Pentecostes during the attack on the townhall of Gonzaga, Cagayan, in 2014.

He is also being sought for involvement in the February 2016 ambush-slay of six members of the PNP Regional Public Safety Battalion in Baggao, Cagayan.

Balanay is among the 12 CPPNPA personalities accused of 11 counts of attempted murder in connection with the landmine ambush of Philippine Marines in Gattaran, Cagayan, in March 2019.

SSS refunds April and May 2020 payments of pension plan borrowers

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HE Social Security System (SSS) refunded the April and May 2020 loan payments of pensioners who borrowed from its Pension Loan Program (PLP) starting December 9, 2020.

SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C.

Ignacio said that the pension fund refunded P253,584,557.76 worth of pension loan payments to 56,750 pensioner-borrowers.

Ignacio said that those entitled to the refunds are pensioners whose monthly pensions for April and May were deducted under the PLP and are currently amortizing

as of the implementation date.

Ignacio explained that pensioners who paid their loan amortizations for April and May 2020 received a two-month refund. Those who only started paying their loan amortizations in May 2020 only got a onemonth refund.

24/7 LIBRARY IN ILOILO CITY Mayor Jerry P. Treñas on Wednesday led the groundbreaking ceremony of the Graciano Lopez Jaena Shrine, which will also be the public library that will be open for 24 hours. Lopez-Jaena is an Ilonggo who was a journalist, orator, reformist and national hero. He is remembered for his literary contributions to the Propaganda Movement, and founding of the newspaper, La Solidaridad.

A4 Thursday, December 17, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

Just in time for Christmas: DA lifts ban on all Brazil poultry products

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

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HE Philippines has fully lifted its import ban on Brazilian poultry products after authorities were convinced that Brazil has enforced various safety measures and protocols to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks in its meat-packing plants, the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced.

In Memorandum Order 71 dated December 14, 2020, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said upon evaluation of the submitted documents, Brazil has provided evidence that the safety protocols enforced in different accredited foreign meat establishments (FME) are equivalent to the guidelines established by the Philippines relative to the mitigating measures against Covid-19 in meat

establishments.

The agriculture chief also said several documentary requirements were requested by the Philippines to veterinary authorities of Brazil to assess the Covid-19 precautionary measures implemented by their government and its FME. “Based on the relevant information provided by Brazil, there is satisfactory evidence to show that food safety measures in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices are primarily considered in the daily operations of FMEs,” said Dar. “Now, therefore, I William Dar, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, by the powers vested in me by law, do hereby lift the temporary ban on the importation of poultry meat originating from Brazil. All import transactions of poultry meat shall be in accordance

with existing rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Animal Industry,” the memorandum said.

Earlier, the Philippines has imposed DA Memorandum Order 39, Series of 2020 for the temporary suspension on importation of poultry meat originating from Brazil due to the numerous reports on the detection of SARS COV-2, the causative agent of Covid-19, in a surface sampling conducted in chicken meat imported from Brazil to China.

Last December 7, the Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil reiterated its call to totally lift the import ban slapped against its poultry products by Manila, arguing that it has already complied with all the technical requirements imposed by Philippine authorities.

In a three-page letter to the De-

House allots ₧50M for Covid vaccination of employees, families, members of media

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HE House of Representatives has allotted P50 million for free Covid-19 vaccination of its employees, as well as their immediate families.

At a news conference, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said the vaccination program will be available for House employees and their five immediate family members.

Velasco said the vaccine that will be administered would either come from AstraZeneca from the UK, or Sinovac from China, which both are expected to be available by early next year.

“For the normalcy of business in Congress, we’ve decided to set aside a certain amount for the vaccines, for purchasing of vaccines for our employees. Five of their immediate family members will be included, mainly because we want the legislative mill to be grinding,” Velasco said.

He also said members of the media covering the lower chamber and their immediate families would also be provided the free vaccine.

“We also thought that our media friends are also considered as our family. So we’ll include our media friends in the vaccines,” said Velasco. “[But] the members of the House [will] not yet be included. We’ll start to get the vaccines first for the employees and the media and their families,” he added.

Earlier, the House announced that a total of 98 employees turned out Covid-19 positive in the mass testing initiated by the House leadership.

Meanwhile, Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin G. Romualdez said the House had made the necessary

partment of Foreign Affairs, the embassy provided an explanation on two issues raised by the Department of Agriculture (DA) as part of its technical assessment of the poultry import ban on the Latin American country.

The two issues are: 1) list of slaughterhouses that export to the Philippines in whose premises cases of Covid-19 would have been found among its employees and 2) current percentage of testing for Covid-19 of employees of establishments which presently export chicken meat to the Philippines.

In October, Manila stood its ground and kept the ban on Brazilian poultry products, except mechanically deboned meat (MDM), until it was satisfied with how Brasilia curbed the Covid-19 outbreaks in its meat-exporting plants.

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USAID’s ₧2.3-million aid boosts wildlife protection

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

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HE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently turned-over some P2.3 million worth of tools and equipment for the proper handling and management of rescued wildlife.

These include conservation tags, armored gloves, snake tongs, forceps, and microchips for efficient handling and tagging of live animals that will be distributed to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) wildlife rescue centers across the country.

These tools will help DENR veterinarians and personnel properly examine and care for rescued and injured wildlife and speed up their rehabilitation and recovery for subsequent release into natural habitats, according to DENR Assistant Secretary and concurrent Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) Director Ricardo Calderon, who also received the complete

Wildlife Agency and Citizen Law Enforcement Reporting Tool (WildALERT) system and manuals from USAID Protect Wildlife Chief of Party Rebecca Paz during a simple ceremony last December 11.

The donation is part of USAID’s support to strengthen wildlife law enforcement and protection in the Philippines to boost its work in combating wildlife trafficking and providing holistic care for rescued wildlife under its custody.

The complete components of the WildALERT system, which was launched on World Wildlife Day last March, is an innovative solution developed by the DENR and USAID to help enforcers and frontliners in the field to curb wildlife crimes through real-time and centralized reporting.

The system, made up of a mobile app and a reporting management platform, helps users correctly identify rescued wildlife species and promptly submit digitized reports of wildlife law violations.

PRC gets green light for the operation of another molecular lab in Passi, Iloilo

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HE Philippine Red Cross (PRC) passed again another proficiency test for its molecular laboratory to open soon in Passi, Iloilo.

“This will be our 13th installment nationwide; we only await for the completion of requirements after passing the test last December 14, 2020, in compliance with the Department of Health,” PRC Chairman and CEO Sen. Richard J. Gordon said.

The newly built molecular laboratory, which will service the entire province of Iloilo and its nearby areas for faster testing, is equipped with two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines and one ribonucleic acid (RNA) extractor which can process up to 1,000 tests a day.

“The Philippine Red Cross continues to establish more molecular laboratories to support our people

A SNAPSHOT of the interior of Philippine Red Cross’s molecular laboratory in Passi, Iloilo. PHOTOCOURTESYOFPRC

with accessible health facilities. With the completion of the Passi molecular laboratory, we pave the way to testing more people and helping to stop the spread of the virus,” the chairman added.

The PRC recently opened a new molecular laboratory in Surigao.

These two new laboratories will further boost the testing capacity for Covid-19, which is currently at 44,000 tests a day.

Angeles City MSMEs showcase products at SM Clark exhibit FILE photo shows a nurse holding a phial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The House leadership has set aside P50 million for such vaccines for its employees and families, including members of media covering the beat once it’s available in the country by next year. AP

adjustments in the 2021 national budget to ensure sufficient funding for Covid-19 vaccination and social amelioration programs.

“We have made all the requisite adjustments, congressmen have made all the sacrifices to prioritize the vital needs of the nation, in terms of medical concerns like vaccines and social amelioration

program. We are one with the President and one with you and the nation to defeat this Covid-19 pandemic and help us recover economically,” Romualdez said.

Congress has allocated P72.5 billion for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines under the proposed 2021 P4.5-trillion General Appropriations Act. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

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NGELES CITY, Pampanga— Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in this city will have an opportunity to showcase their products this holiday season.

The city government here will stage an exhibit at the SM City Clark to put on display the MSMEs’ products at the One Town One Product (OTOP) store from December 17 to 20.

Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. said on Tuesday that the free space offered by SM City Clark has been an avenue for promotional exhibits of local products.

The mayor thanked the mall of-

ficials for helping the city government in its objective of promoting “Gawang Angeleño” products.

“This will not be possible if not for our partnership with SM City Clark. Executive Assistant IV Reina Manuel is in constant coordination with SM City Clark to assist our local MSMEs in promoting their own crafts, such as home decorations, wooden kitchen wares, kitchen organizers, fashion accessories, and bags,” he said in a news statement.

Manuel said this is also the best time for local merchants to showcase their crafts in time for the gift-

giving season.

“This will be a great opportunity for our local merchants this holiday season to flaunt their own crafts and products by showing how high-quality and world-class Gawang Angeleño products are,” Manuel said.

Recently, the Angeles City Economic Development Investment Promotions Office (ACEDIPO), led

by Irish Bonus-Llego, hosted a Facebook live selling “12.12 Christmas OTOP sale” of 16 local merchants displaying their products at the OTOP store.

Zorayda Tecson/Philippine News Agency

Solon confident on Palace OK of coconut levy trust fund bill

DTI launches natl trade fair digital mall

HE House of Representatives is optimistic that the bill creating the coconut levy trust fund will be signed into law by President Duterte this time around.

House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Wilfrido Mark Enverga said the concerns on the first coconut levy bill that President Duterte vetoed last year have been addressed under the new measure, which the House approved on third and final reading earlier this week.

“We are very careful in crafting this new version of the bill so we are confident that we have resolved everything,” said Enverga, who earlier endorsed for plenary approval House Bill 8136, or the proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act. “We ensured that there is a limi-

N lieu of the usual national trade fair (NTF) organized annually, the Department of Trade and Industry-Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotion (DTI-BDTP) has launched the NTF digital mall to address the challenges of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Formally opened Tuesday, the NTF digital mall is a platform that offers continuous promotion of the food and non-food products from the different regions amid the physical restrictions of the pandemic, the DTI-BDTP said in a news statement.

A project of the DTI-BDTP in collaboration with the DTI-Regional and Provincial Offices, the NTF digital mall is an e-commerce platform inside the UB GlobalLinker site that aims to help MSMEs future-proof

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tation of 99 years. Secondly, with regards to the broad powers given to PCA [Philippine Coconut Authority], we addressed this by delineating powers of implementing authority to the newly constituted Board of PCA.” Enverga said the House bill also established a Trust Fund Management Committee, composed of the Department of Budget and Management and Department of Justice.

Enverga thanked Speaker Lord Allan Velasco for finding ways to coordinate with the Executive department to ensure that the bill will reach the table of the President for his consideration. HB 8136 is one of his priority measures of Velasco.

The Speaker earlier lauded his colleagues in the House for the approval of the said measure. He also looks forward to its passage into law and

help change the lives of poor coconut farmers and their beneficiaries.

HB 8136 is expected to benefit around 3.5 million coconut farmers from 68 coconut-producing provinces, who own not more than 5 hectares of farmland. It aims to increase the income of coconut farmers, alleviate poverty and promote social equity, and rehabilitate and modernize the industry toward farm productivity.

With this bill, Enverga said the government will be able to invigorate the coconut farming sector by investing in the industry itself.

Enverga said the bill seeks to consolidate all assets and benefits emanating from the coconut levy, and creating a Trust Fund, to be used to rehabilitate and modernize the coconut industry for the ultimate benefit of coconut farm-

ers and farmworkers.

He said the utilization of the Trust Fund created under this proposal shall be in accordance with the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan which shall be prepared by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), in consultation with all the stakeholders concerned, and approved by the President of the Philippines. The Plan shall be subject to mandatory annual review.

Under the bill, the lawmaker said the Plan shall set the directions and policies for the development and rehabilitation of the coconut industry within 99 years.

Enverga, citing the Bureau of the Treasury, said the cash component of coco levy assets now stands at P76.4 billion as December 2020.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

I

their businesses as they pivot to online selling.

Like all national trade fairs, the digital mall showcases the best products of 223 MSMEs from all parts of the country.

Featured products include processed food and beverages, gifts and souvenirs, houseware and decor, fashion accessories, wearables, as well as health and fitness products.

“For a more convenient online shopping experience, the NTF digital mall features a product catalog with a facility to search for a specific product or product category. For easier transactions, buyers can connect with the MSMEs via the Viber app for secure instant messaging.

Visitors will also have access to DTI webinars, and can read about the participating exhibitors’ inspirational success stories,” it said.

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Ayala Corp. CFO elected as new BPI CEO for 2021

B

ank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) will be welcoming a new chief next year after the current president was elected as board director for its parent firm Ayala Corp.

In a disclosure on Wednesday, the listed bank announced that its current chief executive officer, Cezar P. Consing, will be succeeded by incumbent Ayala Corp. Chief Financial Officer Teodoro K. Limcaoco effective April 22 next year.

The decision was made by the board of directors during the bank’s yearend meeting.

BPI said that Consing will remain a board director and executive committee member of the bank after his term despite being elected as board director of Ayala Corp. back in November.

Consing has served on the bank’s board for nearly two decades. BPI has been under his leadership beginning 2013 after being appointed as the president.

At the same time, he is serving as chairman in various BPI subsidiaries. These include BPI Family Savings Bank, BPI Capital, BPI Europe, BPI/MS Insurance Corporation and BPI Tokyo Century Leasing.

Consing is also leading the Bankers Association of the Philippines, Philippine Dealing System and Bancnet Inc. Meanwhile, Limcaoco has been a BPI board director since February last year before becoming a member of the executive committee a few months later.

Before taking his post in Ayala Corp., Limcaoco was the executive vice president of BPI, president of BPI Capital and president of BPI Family Savings Bank.

He was given roles in BPI’s insurance businesses, including Ayala Life and Ayala Plans, and oversaw BPI Philam and BPI/MS.

Limcaoco is a director in other Ayala firms, including Globe Telecom, Integrated Microelectronics Inc., AC Energy and Infrastructure Corporation, AC Industrials, AC Health and AC Infrastructure.

In addition, Limcaoco was the president of the Chamber of Thrift Banks in 2013 to 2015. He also served as a trustee and officer of the Investment House Association of the Philippines.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University. He completed his master’s in business administration in Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Consing welcomed the appointment of Limcaoco, noting that the latter was an “excellent choice to lead BPI.” “Prior to his (Limcaoco’s) many roles in Ayala, he headed the bank’s investment banking business, and later our retail lending business,” Consing said. “He has been a banker for most of his career, and his strong technological bent and commitment to sustainability will be critical for the BPI of the future.”

Limcaoco said he was looking forward to taking the helm of “one of the strongest banks,” crediting BPI’s current robust position to Consing’s leadership.

“I am excited to be given the opportunity to lead BPI at a time of massive opportunity and transformation in the industry,” he said.

Meanwhile, BPI Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said that the bank is “very fortunate to have the depth in our leadership bench that enables us to transition to a leader of Mr. Limcaoco’s expertise and experience.”

Zobel de Ayala also acknowledged the “extraordinary leadership” that Consing has provided for the bank during his term. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Security Bank champions women empowerment

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division of global media group Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc. recognized Security Bank Corp. (SBC) for championing women in the workplace, the bank said in a statement.

Security Bank said it ranked highest among Asian banks and Philippine banks in terms of the number of women in senior management positions, with 58 percent of women employees holding senior positions. The bank added it ranked second in the country and fifth in Asia, with 68 percent of the total workforce being women.

“Our better banking promise is for all, regardless of one’s background or gender. We value diversity and inclusivity in the organization,” Security Bank Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Banking Segment Ma Cristina A. Tingson was quoted in the statement as saying.

“Security Bank has always been an ad-

vocate of women empowerment. This is evident in the decision-making process, organization policies, employee engagement, and the causes we support.”

The Leaders for Women survey by Euromoney’s division recognized banks that have done the most to encourage women in the workplace across Asia’s financial markets based on the data received from nearly 60 financial institutions. Studies have begun to report that more gender diversity, particularly in corporate settings, increases the possibility of better productivity, innovation, and decision making. More inclusive companies also report higher employee retention and satisfaction.

Aside from upholding women within the organization, Security Bank also champions women empowerment in communities as shown through the advocacies and programs it has supported over the past couple of years.

Thursday, December 17, 2020 A5

BOC inks agreement to ease trade flow in freeport areas

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By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

he Bureau of Customs (BOC) announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Strategic Trade Management Office and freeport zones in the country to facilitate the ease of trade in the country. The STMO is a government bureau under the Department of Trade and Industry tasked to manage the flow of strategic goods.

The MOA is part of its bid to increase the overall efficiency of trade environment in the country. The agreement includes the following

entities: Authority of the Freeport of Area Bataan; Clark Development Corp.; Philippine Economic Zone Authority; and, the Subic Bay Met-

ropolitan Authority.

The partnership is geared towards establishing an effective coordination and cooperation mechanism towards enhanced trade facilitation and optimization of information sharing. It is also expected to boost the capability of front-liners to identify strategic goods and reduce the complexity of doing business of legitimate and compliant strategic goods exporters.

As part of the agreement, a technical working group on strategic trade facilitation was created to establish communication mechanisms and procedures, organize and implement commodity identification training for frontline and enforcement officers and streamline documentary requirements.

The MOA is in consonance with Republic Act 10697 otherwise known as the “Strategic Trade Management Act,” authorizing the establishment of the STMO to serve as the executive and technical agency of the national

DBP taps RBAP to boost financial inclusion plans

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he Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) is boosting its efforts in promoting financial inclusion by teaming up with several rural banks across the country.

The state-owned bank recently announced that it has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) to develop and roll out strategic growth initiatives in the countryside.

This, as the partnership aims to extend banking services to the underserved communities.

“Through this partnership initiative, about 420 RBAP members shall

be granted enhanced access to DBP’s digital banking services and credit programs as the bank implements its mission to reach more Filipinos in rural communities,” the DBP said in a statement.

Last week, DBP listed its P21-billion fixed rates series 2 bonds with the Philippine Dealing Exchange.

The bonds due in 2022 carry an interest rate of 2.5 percent.

Proceeds are allocated for projects and investment aimed at generating employment and ensuring access to goods and services.

This offering came after DBP raised P18.125 billion from sustainability bond issuance in 2019. Pro-

ceeds were used to fund projects on economic inclusion; climate change mitigation and adaptation, natural resource conservation and pollution control and prevention and other social development initiatives.

DBP also recently announced it will be providing interest rate subsidy for loans extended to the local government units (LGUs) following the government’s mandate.

Earlier, it has been allotted P1 billion by the government for the interest subsidy program.

DBP President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel G. Herbosa said the funds coming from Bayanihan 2 would allow the bank to have

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Of the individual small farmers and fishermen, only P1.36 billion was through direct lending. P34.3 billion were loans to conduits such as cooperatives and farmers’ associations, rural financial institutions and other lending mechanisms.

From 1,300,135 farmers and fishers in April, the state-owned lender almost doubled the number of rural folk it has assisted to 2,502,640 in October.

Broken down, 716,931 small farmers out of the 2.5 million were assisted through the rice farmers’ financial assistance program and the financial subsidy to rice farmers project of the DA.

Misamis Oriental projects

Meanwhile, the LandBank said it is bankrolling two projects of the Municipal Government of Jasaan, Misamis Oriental amounting to a total of P300 million.

Of this amount, P150 million is allotted to finance the upgrade of the municipality’s water system facilities, addressing the declining supply.

The project is seen benefitting

longer repayment terms for LGUs of up to 15 years. The loans will be offered at a lower interest rate of 4 percent per annum, half of which will be subsidized.

The state-run bank is capping the interest rate subsidy at P10 million for provincial and city governments and P5 million for municipalities.

Aside from Herbosa, those present during the DBP-RBAP MOUsigning ceremony included DBP Executive Vice President Jose Gabino D. Dimayuga, RBAP President Elizabeth C. Timbol, RBAP Vice President for Luzon Gregory D. De Guzman and DBP Executive Vice President Susan Z. Prado. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

OFW remittance protection bill receives House OK

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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he House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading in its late-Tuesday session the proposed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) Remittance Protection Act. Voting 224 affirmative and zero negative, lawmakers passed House Bill (HB) 7951, which seeks to protect the hard-earned money remitted

by OFWs against usurious interest

rates and exorbitant fees charged by financial institutions.

The bill prohibits all banks and non-bank financial intermediaries offering remittance services to OFWs from raising their current remittance fees without prior consultation with the Department of Finance, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

The measure said banks and nonbank financial intermediaries may impose fees for services rendered

in sending money of OFWs to their immediate family members. However, the fees would be subject to a 50-percent discount.

The proposed bill, however, provides that the total deduction from the gross income of establishments providing discounts on remittance fees shall not exceed P24,000 per OFW every taxable year. It also provides for the DOF secretary, upon recommendation

LandBank meets target 2M agri-agra beneficiary early he Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) announced it has completed its target of giving financial access to 2 million farmers and fisherfolk ahead of time, the finance department reported on Wednesday.

According to a statement released by the Department of Finance, the LandBank extended a total of P230.2 billion in loans to the agriculture sector as of October this year, benefitting over 2.5 million farmers and fishers.

LandBank’s target was set at 2 million beneficiaries by the end of 2020. Its target loan volume to the sector, meanwhile, was at P245 billion by the end of this year which, as of October, is 94 percent fulfilled

by LandBank.

Of the loan releases of P230.23 billion, P145.86 billion went to small, medium and large agribusinesses enterprises, while P35.66 billion went to small individual farmers, fisherfolk. The agri-aqua related projects of local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and controlled corporations, meanwhile, got P48.71 billion.

government for the establishment of the management systems for the trade in strategic goods.

A mandatory application for authorization from the STMO will also be implemented alongside the agreement.

Authorization refers to the license issued by the STMO to any person who engages or intends to engage in the trade of strategic goods. This shall be requested prior to export as this shall form part of the shipment clearances and requirements of Customs.

The verification of the authenticity of the authorizations will be done through the Quick Response Code system and or call or email to STMO’s designated lines.

In case the item for export does not meet the minimum technical specifications in the National Strategic Goods List but are visually similar with the strategic items, the NonStrategic Good Certificate is issued by the STMO to requesting parties.

over 7,700 households across six barangays with uninterrupted potable water supply.

The loan agreement will also be funding the construction of Level-3 water system to connect secondary pipelines to Level-3 household connections. This is part of the LGU’s potable water supply system project.

The other P150-million term loan is for the construction of a Category-1 sanitary landfill to ensure that the residual and hazardous wastes are properly disposed.

The project includes excavation of two-hectare land, along with the construction of drainage, gas ventilation, leachate, septic, hazardous waste and electrical systems, an administration building and a perimeter fence.

In addition, the Jasaan LGU is eyeing to expand the landfill by 10 more hectares.

LandBank and the LGU has already partnered earlier. In 2007, the state-owned bank extended a P22.7million loan term for the construction a municipal hall building and a P29.71-million term loan to build a water system.

Hiked funding

Recently, the LandBank confirmed that the funding for its LGU lending program was hiked to P80 million.

It was the second time the staterun bank hiked the fund allocation for the said lending program. In October, LandBank added P10 billion to the program, bringing the total funding at the time to P20 billion.

LandBank introduced the loan program in July, initially with a P10billion funding, to boost the recovery efforts of the LGUs amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Proceeds of the loans can be used to fund acquisition of agricultural produce and equipment and construction of facilities linking products to market. LGUs could also avail the loans to finance programs and projects for basic and support services, social welfare and healthcare, and other infrastructure activities seen spurring the economic activities.

As of end-November, LandBank approved P52.27-billion worth of loans under this program, benefiting 156 LGUs. Bianca Cuaresma and Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, to issue the revenue regulation for the purpose.

The bill allows establishments providing discounts on remittance fees to claim the same as tax deductions.

The measure said any person who will be found guilty violating this proposal face imprisonment of six months to up six years and a fine of P200 up to P750,000.

BusinessMirror

Thursday, December 17, 2020

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ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS NO.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS POSITION

8 STONE BUSINESS OUTSOURCING OPC 5th-10th/f Tower 3, Pitx #1 Kennedy Road Tambo Parañaque City

NO.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS POSITION

BILLION DRAGON OUTSOURCE PHILS., INC. 3/f Ayala Mall Southpark National Road Alabang Muntinlupa City CAI, REN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

1.

CHEN, CHENGLIN Chinese

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41.

2.

CHEN, JINHANG Chinese

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CHEN, SONG Chinese

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BOSCH SERVICE SOLUTIONS, INC. 23rd Floor, W Fifth Avenue Building 32nd Street Corner 5th Avenue Bonifacio Global City Taguig City

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CHEN, XIAOFEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

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DONG, ZHIXIANG Chinese

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6.

HUANG, CHUNYAN Chinese

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JIANG, WEI Chinese

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LAU CUNG LINH Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

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LI, LIANG Chinese

10.

42.

KAKIHARA, YUSUKE Japanese

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ASSOCIATE

C’EST LA VIE EVENT MANAGEMENT INC. 230 Narra Street Marikina Heights Marikina City

NO.

ESTABLISHMENT / ADDRESS

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

POSITION

NO.

73.

CHU, GUOQING Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

116.

KONG, CHENGCHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

74.

HU, KAIWEN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

117.

LAN, WENDA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

75.

HUAN CHEE KAI Malaysian

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

118.

LE THI THAO Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

76.

QU, JIAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

119.

LE THI THUY SUONG Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

77.

WANG, YONGJIE Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING PROGRAM DESIGNER

120.

LI, XIAOBO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

121.

LI, XUEJIAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

122.

LI, QIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

123.

LI, XIANGCHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

124.

LI, YILONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

125.

LI, ZENGCHAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

126.

LI, BING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

127.

LI, JIAHUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

128.

LI, BIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

129.

LI, JUANJUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

130.

LI, HAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

INTEGRITY GLOBAL GROUP, INC. 2/f-3/f Ayala Malls Circuit A.p. Reyes Ave. Carmona Makati City

43.

LI, WEIHONG Chinese

CHINESE - BOOTH FABRICATION SPECIALIST CONSULTANT

44.

CAI, JIWEI Chinese

CHINESE - FIELD SALES CONSULTANT

45.

CAI, SHUANGYA Chinese

CHINESE - GENERAL TRADE MARKETING SPECIALIST CONSULTANT

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

46.

HONG, TENGHUI Chinese

CHINESE - KEY ACCOUNTS SPECIALIST CONSULTANT

JFE SHOJI TRADE PHILIPPINES, INC. 17/f 6788 Ayala Avenue Oledan Square San Lorenzo Makati City

LI, JINYANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

47.

HONG, YINGJIE Chinese

CUSTOMER SUPPORT TRAINOR - MANDARIN SPEAKING

80.

11.

LIN, WENJUN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

12.

LYU, XI Chinese

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13.

WANG, HAO Chinese

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YANG, RENYUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

14.

ABOITIZ POWER CORPORATION Nac Tower 32nd St. Bonifacio Global City, Fort Bonifacio Taguig City 15.

MULLIN, STEPHEN JOHN British

PROJECT CONSULTANT

AVIA MANAGEMENT GROUP INC. 6th-10th Flr. Southkey Hub Indo-china Drive Northgate Cyberzone Alabang Muntinlupa City 16.

CHEN, BIDAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

DUAN, HAOZHUAN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

FENG, GUOMIN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

HE, YULIN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

20.

HONG, YUHAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

21.

HUANG, YULIN Chinese

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22.

LI, YUNFEI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

23.

LI, YUANSHENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

LIU, CHENGBAO Chinese

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25.

MA, CHAO Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

26.

TANG, RENJIE Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

XU, XIAOHUI Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

17.

18.

19.

24.

27.

28.

YANG, DERONG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

29.

YANG, HONGMING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

30.

31.

32.

PHAM ANH VU Vietnamese

IT SUPPORT

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PHILIPPINES, INC. 5th And 6th Floors, 8/10 Upper Mckinley Building Mckinley Hill Cyberpark Fort Bonifacio Taguig City 50.

SREEDHAR, ARUN Indian

ENGAGEMENT DELIVERY LEAD

DA SUCCESS BUSINESS TRADING INCORPORATED Unit 25d 2/f Zeta Ii Bldg. 191 Salcedo St. San Lorenzo Makati City 51.

YANG, SHUO Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

DYNA BINARY HOLDINGS INC. 18/f Tower 2 The Enterprise Center, 6766 Ayala Ave., Cor. Paseo De Roxas San Lorenzo Makati City 52.

LYO KYAR LWIN Myanmari

CHINESE SPEAKING ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT

53.

YAP KOK WEE Malaysian

CHINESE SPEAKING ADMIN ASSOCIATE

FIRST GREAT COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES INC. Lot 5 Sta. Agueda Cor. Queensway Pagcor Drive Sto. Niño Parañaque City

WEI, LU Chinese

83.

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

132.

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

84.

FENDY Indonesian

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

LIU, XIANWEN Chinese

133.

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

85.

HEPPY TIRSA PANGEMANAN Indonesian

LIU, JING Chinese

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

134.

LU, YUQING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

86.

IRENE CAROLINE SUDIRGO Indonesian

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

135.

LU, CHUCHEN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

136.

LYU, SENLIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

87.

MARCHSELLA Indonesian

137.

LYU, DASHUANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

138.

NAN, ZHENGLI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

139.

NANG YEIN SENG Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

140.

OU, RUI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

141.

PAN SHYAU SIANG Malaysian

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

142.

PHAN MANH VUONG Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

KPI ELEVATORS, INC. 25/f Bdo Equitable Bank Tower 8751 Paseo De Roxas Bel-air Makati City 88.

ASOKAN, RAMKRISHNAPRASAD Indian

PROJECT MANAGER AND SALES & OPERATIONS PLANNING MANAGER

LOGICALSOURCE1 CALL CENTER INC. 8/f Sultan Cityland Central Brgy. Highway Hills Mandaluyong City TA MANH HUNG Vietnamese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

91.

CAI, XIANQUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

144.

QI, FAQI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

GATEWAYSOLUTIONS CORP. 8/f Edsa Cor. Sultan Brgy. Highway Hills Mandaluyong City 57.

KE, RUITING Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

92.

CAI, YUANLONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

145.

QUACH MANH TUAN Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

58.

LIU, ZHIMIN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

93.

CHEN, YONGXIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

146.

SAN PWINT Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

147.

SHAO, GUANHUA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

59.

SHANGGUAN, YINGHUA Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

94.

CHEN, XIAOYONG Chinese

60.

WANG, HAILIN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

95.

CUI, GUOLI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

148.

SHI, XI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

96.

DING, XUEYI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

149.

SHWE MYINT Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

97.

DONG, XINPING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

150.

SONG, JIAOYAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

98.

GAO, QIANG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

151.

THONG CHANH PHUC Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

99.

HAN, XIONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

152.

TIAN, XUN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

100.

HEW MEI KUAN Malaysian

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

153.

TIN CHI SIKE Myanmari

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

101.

HOU, MENGTING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

154.

TRIEU KHAC DAT Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

102.

HU, LIANGJIE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

155.

VONG A SAU Vietnamese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

103.

HU, PING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

156.

WANG, SHUAI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

104.

HUANG, XUDONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

157.

WANG, YINGQI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

105.

HUANG, YANYUN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

158.

WANG, CHAOLONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

106.

HUANG, GUIJIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

159.

WANG, JIANYA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

107.

HUANG, JINFA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

160.

WANG, XUE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

108.

HUANG, QIAOPING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

161.

WEI, LIHUA Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

109.

HUANG, MUJING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

162.

WEN, LING Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

110.

HUANG, FENGYUE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

163.

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

111.

HUANG, MI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

WIN MYINT @ LI CHIN KYAN Myanmari

164.

WU, ZHONGYUE Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

112.

JAMES LIM CHENG VOON Malaysian

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

165.

WU, YINGLONG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

113.

JIA, SHENGCHUAN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

166.

XIANG, LIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

114.

JIANG, WEI Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

167.

XIAO, QILIN Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

115.

JIANG, WEIBAO Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

168.

XU, CHANGCHENG Chinese

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

GLOBALLGA BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING 3rd & 6th Flr. Ortigas Technopoint 2 Ortigas Home Depot Complex #1 Doña Julia Vargas Ave. Ugong Pasig City 61.

HAN, ZHONGYANG Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT

62.

WEI, YANHONG Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT

63.

ZHANG, MEIZHEN Chinese

CHINESE IT SUPPORT

CHEN, ZHENXIANG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

GM PHILIPPINES, INC. A.t. Yuchengco Centre 26th And 25th Streets, Floor 20 Bonifacio Global City Taguig City 69.

DE OLIVEIRA COELHO, LARISSA Brazilian

SENIOR BILINGUAL ANALYST

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES PHILS. INC. U-5302, 53/f Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Ave., Cor., V.a. Rufino St. Bel-air Makati City 70.

LIU, YANG Chinese

HUAWEI CLOUD BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT MANAGER

71.

FENG, FAYONG Chinese

PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE DIRECTOR

COMPUTER SYSTEM ANALYST

MANDARIN LANGUAGE SPECIALIST

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

ANGELINE ALVERINA Indonesian

LIU, ZHISHENG Chinese

PU, YILIN Chinese

MARKETING STAFF MANDARIN SPEAKING

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

131.

143.

WEN, YIMING Chinese

WU, JIANGTAO Chinese

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

CHINESE CUSTOMER SERVICE

68.

39.

82.

AGUS TYON Indonesian

BAI, LANJIE Chinese

67.

MANDARIN CUSTOMER SERVICE

KONGANBUDDIES MARKETING INC. 12/f Pbcom Tower 6795 Ayala Ave. Cor. V.a. Rufino St. Bel-air Makati City

90.

ZHU, SHOUQU Chinese

HUANG, QIUXIANG Chinese

REGIONAL FACTORY IT DIRECTOR ASIA

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

38.

GOLUBIEV, IEVGEN Ukrainian

YIN, CHUNWEI Chinese

ZHANG, LINLING Chinese

CHE TICH CAM Vietnamese

81.

56.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

BIG EMPEROR TECHNOLOGY CORP. Eastfield Center Cbp1, Macapagal Blvd. Brgy. 076 Pasay City

JT INTERNATIONAL (PHILIPPINES) INC. Penthouse, W Office Building 28th St. Cor. 11th Avenue Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. 4th-11th Flr. Nexgen Tower C4 Rd. Edsa Ext. Brgy. 076 Pasay City

SONG, HONGCHANG Chinese

CONSULTANT MANAGER

DIRECTOR FOR STEEL DEPARTMENT

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

66.

BOYS, SHAUN AARON British

SAKUMA, HIROSHI Japanese

INDONESIAN CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

TANG, JUN Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

BETONBAU PHIL., INC. U-410 4/f Dhi Bldg. 2 Lapu Lapu Ave. Magallanes Makati City

MERRY Indonesian

55.

JIANG, MING Chinese

ZHOU, LI Chinese

79.

89.

65.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

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

IT TECHNICAL MANDARIN

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

34.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

LUO, PENG Chinese

ZHANG, WEIPENG Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

ZHENG, XIAOFENG Chinese

POSITION

54.

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKING

ZHANG, LE Chinese

40.

49.

ZHANG, HAOJIE Chinese

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

37.

CLICKPLAY SPORTSGAME CORP. 3/f, #119 Dr. Lazcano St. Laging Handa 4 Quezon City

64.

ZHANG, YUANYAN Chinese

36.

48.

AGUS SETIAWAN Indonesian

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST(BILINGUAL IN MANDARIN)

CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE (MANDARIN SPEAKING)

33.

35.

CINATECH LIMITED CORP. 10-1 One Global Place 25th St., Cor. 5th Ave. Bgc Fort Bonifacio Taguig City

78.

FOREIGN NATIONAL / NATIONALITY

INFOVINE INC. 9/f Y Tower, Moa Complex Coral Way Drive Cor. Macapagal Brgy. 076 Pasay City 72.

LANG, TAIGUAN Chinese

CHINESE SPEAKING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE

News BusinessMirror

A7

Thursday, December 17, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Firms ‘exploiting’ Antipolo IPs over ancestral lands–Masungi

By Jonathan L. Mayuga @jonlmayuga

T

HE Masungi Georeserve Foundation, which runs an award-winning ecological park in Baras, Rizal, lashed at Rublou Inc. and Green Atom for allegedly “hiring” Indigenous Peoples (IP) for its private interests.

In a news statement issued on Wednesday, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation said hiring marginalized people as a front for destructive interests is a classic tactic for encroachments into Protected Areas (PA) and Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Masungi is reacting to allegations made by tribal leaders of Dumagat-Remontados of Antipolo City, who defended retired Gen. Luizo Ticman, president and CEO of Rublou and Green Atom and accused Masungi of land grabbing for allegedly encroaching in their ancestral lands without their consent and approval.

The 26,000-hectare Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape (UMRBPL) where Masungi and Rublou and its subsidiary, Green Atom are both situated is within the 67,000-hectare Marikina River Basin, the sorry state of which is being blamed for the massive flood that submerged Marikina City and other parts of Metro Manila and low-lying areas in Rizal province.

Masungi Georeserve Foundation reiterated that it respects the rights of IPs in reforestation under the Masungi Geopark Project which was found to be covered by ancestral domain claims and clarified that it is the “shameless exploitation of indigenous groups for private interests” that they deplore.

The Masungi Geopark Project, recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Commission on Protected Areas, and the International Union for

the Conservation of Nature, seeks to restore some 3,000 hectares of degraded and illegally logged land around the Masungi limestone formations within the Upper Marikina Watershed, Kaliwa Watershed, and the Masungi Strict Nature Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Such work helps protect millions of Filipinos from floods and disasters, restore clean and accessible water for surrounding communities and address climate change, Masungi’s statement read.

Conservation groups and indigenous peoples are natural and key allies in the environment protection and restoration, and not adversaries as some interests wish to set up, the statement added.

“We strongly condemn any attempt to sow discord and orchestrate conflicts between conservation and indigenous groups especially at a time when strong collaborations are needed,” the statement said.

Masungi Georeserve Foundation maintains that former Gen. Ticman and his companies, Rublou Inc. and Green Atom Renewable Energy Corp., entered and occupied declared protected area and watershed without any permission from or agreements with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which administers the land.

“The Masungi Georeserve Foundation sought the help of authorities against Rublou Inc.’s entry, occupation, and continuous deployment of armed guards, who have been harassing and intimidating our park rangers and officers,” Masungi Georeserve Foundation added.

Masungi Georeserve said they never complained of the DumagatRemontados of Antipolo and said it was former Gen. Ticman’s party that dragged the Dumagat tribe into the issue.

“Fake news and misinformation

may have been peddled to influence certain members of the tribe and sow discontent against Masungi. Sadly, we have also received reports of corruption, bribery, and political pressure, which we fear may compromise the integrity of certain individuals at the expense of the entire tribe, in an attempt to exploit the ancestral domain in favor of outside private business interests,” Masungi Georeserve Foundation added.

The foundation said the fact that Ticman illegally bought land from the Dumagat-Remontados is proof of his vested interest.

“Whether under forest land laws or the IPRA [Indigenous Peoples Right Act] law, commerce of land to non-tribe members is prohibited,” Masungi said, referring to Ticman camp’s claims of having purchased some 300 hectares of the watershed at P5 per sq m sometime in the 1990s.

“If it is true that he is buying land within the protected area and ancestral domain, then he is openly violating the law. The area has been a watershed reservation since 1904 and was strengthened by multiple protected area declarations and policies prohibiting settlement and sale,” the statement said.

Moreover, Masungi Georeserve said IPs are also prohibited from selling ancestral land to nontribe members as it defeats the purpose of protecting their rights and culture.

Last, Masungi Georeserve Foundation appealed to leaders and the public not to indulge in the machinations and diversions from the main issues, which are the largescale illegal and destructive activities and interests inside the Upper Marikina Watershed.

“We need to solve these urgently and courageously to protect the future of millions of Filipinos,” the foundation stated.

Holding wakes at home still not allowed in QC understand that we should accord grieving families the right to pay their last respects, the virus is still there to wreak havoc and could ruin even our Christmas celebration. So if we can limit the wake to the immediate family and in a controlled environment, then we can avert the spread of the virus,” Belmonte said.

Unfortunately, the question of a possible surge is not a matter of how, but of when. Looks like Metro Manila is in that direction where a second wave is possible soon and we must proactively do our part in stopping that possibility.

BM

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte

W

ITH the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic still prevalent, the Quezon City government reiterated that holding wakes or burol at home is still prohibited and must only be held in funeral parlors.

Barangay Community Relations Department (BCRD) head Ricky Corpuz issued the reminder after he received information that some barangays allow wakes to be held at home.

“We remind the family of the deceased that wakes are strictly allowed only in funeral parlors and not at home. It hasn’t changed since the enhanced community quarantine [ECQ] days,” Corpuz said.

“Marami kasing funeral parlor ang nagsasabi na kapag may clearance ng barangay ay papayag kaming gawin ang burol sa bahay,” he added.

Corpuz said Ordinance SP2907, S-2000 prohibits the holding of wakes at home remains in effect and is being strictly enforced to avoid mass gatherings and control the spread of the virus.

Under the said ordinance, a wake will be allowed if the deceased is Covid-19 negative but

for only two days and should be at a funeral parlor. Only immediate family members are allowed to attend the burial or cremation.

An alternative is to hold the wake in community mortuaries in barangays or chapels subject to the same protocols.

Mayor Joy Belmonte warned barangay officials and funeral homes personnel who allow wakes at home that they could be penalized with fines or imprisonment for violating the ordinance.

The Mayor said QC-based funeral parlors that violate said ordinance will be fined P5,000 per violation and penalized with subsequent revocation of their business permit.

The ordinance also penalizes violators with a fine of P5,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than six months at the discretion of the court.

They can also face other charges under Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act.” “What we are trying to avoid is crowded wakes where a potential surge can occur. While we

Possible surge in Metro Covid cases THE mayor also raised the alarm amid the reported surge of Covid-19 cases in Metro Manila.

In the latest report of the OCTA Research Team, the National Capital Region’s reproductive rate or R0 is now at 1.06. Given that Quezon City is the biggest city in the NCR, the city’s R0 also went beyond the 1.00 threshold as it reached 1.15.

Health experts also reported that there is now an upward trend in new cases, especially as quarantine protocols relax. They warned that if this continues, there will be more infections in the coming days.

Based on the Department of Health data, the positivity rate of Quezon City is now at 6 percent with an average of 80 cases per day from December 7 to 13.

The mayor noted that indicators have been rising since the start of December.

“Unfortunately, the question of a possible surge is not a matter of how, but of when. Looks like Metro Manila is in that direction where a second wave is possible soon and we must proactively do our part in stopping that possibility,” Belmonte added.

A8

Show BusinessMirror

Thursday, December 17, 2020 • Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Women in boys’ love: Persisting and presenting—Part 2

W

HERE do women situate themselves when the boys they love start loving other boys?

The possibilities are varied, dangerous, deceivingly supportive; their power as enchanting as the last fairy godmother offering the gift of solution after the evil witch has condemned a love that dares to speak out its name. Or even when nothing is declared, the women in the stories of boys loving boys, are there to provide always a solution and/or a complication.

These women come in forms of mothers, sisters, girlfriends, confidants, fans and observers.

Take the case of the most innocent of the BL series, the tale of Win/Bright and Sarawat/Tine. You, of course, know the story about these two squeaky-clean boys. No survival problem confronts them and no sexual menace haunts them ever. It is a world of boys made pure and perfect because the sensual woman, it seems, has been purged out of existence. In Together, the first of the series for the two actors, a woman figures but not for long. She is the ex-girlfriend of Sarawat who finds it in her heart to pursue the boy of her youth. Tine, who at a point is already assured of a place in the throbbing, disarming heart of Sarawat, will chance upon his boy-man in a kind of compromising situation with a putative rival.

Camera angling and dire circumstance conjure a heartbreaking scenario for our gentle Tine, making

him believe Sarawat has opted to go back to the land where boys do love girls. Indeed, what is the bitter and better rival a boy loving another boy can face than being confronted with the surprising possibility that a boy can move back to loving a girl? But the girl proves to be not a rabid rival for she soon gives up.

Without asking the entire Thai society to side with her, the former girlfriend even explains away her presence and eventual departure.

The story of Sarawat and Tine exemplifies at best the true and tested BL where no life-and-death conflicts can subsist. The girls in the school attended by the two are there to giggle, have fun, support and applaud the love between Sarawat and Tine to the point that they will die if the two will not end in each other’s arms or boxers.

The malevolent, scheming woman rises like a newly manufactured Asian sulphur in the almost realistic but dreamy story of Korn and Knock.

Imbued with a masculinity that would have been interpreted as toxic, Max as Korn and Tul as Knock are the epitome of manliness in whatever Asian society or culture. In a film industry that puts premium on male pulchritude, Max and Tul would have made supreme leading men to leading ladies, or action stars capable of annihilating other men of similar menace and musculature. But in Together With Me, their great male hearts beat to the rhythm of love for other male hearts. Outside of the gaze of a society, Max and Tul hold on to a secret that will test their love for each other. That test will be the beginning of the next season.

In the meantime, Korn, in Together With Me, maintains a girlfriend who implicitly threatens to catch him with Knock in flagrante delicto. She provides the suspense in this thriller where no one dies but leaves young male hearts always gasping for dear life. A common friend, Yihwa is the woman curious about men liking other men. She possesses an irritating inquisitiveness, but she will always prove us wrong when, in the most crucial moment, she is

turned into Love Incarnate, the deity guarding male beauty and love, ready to wave her magic wand over the desires of men for other men.

The story of Korn and Knock does not stop with the first series. It is so popular the next chapter has to be produced. Here, I must confess to the limitations of my review. First, my knowledge of Thai culture and history is limited. Second, I do not have any working perception of Thai culture. Third, and this to me is exasperating, Thai commercial cinema remains a terra incognita my mind has never mapped.

Be that as it may, the character of Yihwa is another woman presence in Thai BL. She is the woman friendly to male friends who turn out be the kind whose existential question is not only choosing between boxers or briefs but who wear them.

I must say it here: the actress Maengmum, who plays Yihwa, must be the loveliest Thai comedienne I have ever seen in any Thai BL. Petite and quirky, she is a force to contend with. Indeed, in Together with Me: The Next Chapter, she complicates the otherwise already dizzying rigmarole of loving, breaking up and loving again. She also falls in love with two men, this time men who love women.

Women as mothers are significant signposts in Thai BL. With fathers who appear from nowhere or, at least, arrive unannounced in the clean condos of sons falling for other sons, these mothers assume the function of objective correlative for the society controlling, hiding, and finally releasing its judgement on the kind of love that is ignored only if it remains submerged.

In the said Next Chapter, the parents of Knock appear ready to accept their son as, well, “gay.” In the case of Korn, his father is presented as violently against his son turning out to be not the man he always assumed he would naturally become. A comic relief is there in the encounters between the respective parents of Korn and Knock who

Continued on A9

Jak Roberto stays with GMA Artist Center; Royce Cabrera signs up Jak Roberto remains loyal to GMA Artist Center after the actor renewed his contract on December 11 with the network’s talent management arm.

Present during the contract-signing were GMAAC Assistant Vice President and Head for Talent Imaging and Marketing Unit Simoun Ferrer, GMAAC Senior Talent Manager Tracy Garcia, and Jak’s co-manager Frank Mallari.

The actor is filled with gratitude and high spirits as he reaffirmed his commitment to GMAAC. “Proud akong maging Kapuso dahil masasabi kong parte ako ng isang network na nagbibigay ng saya sa mga tao. Pero higit pa roon, laging tumutulong ang GMA sa ating mga kababayang nangangailangan.”

He also expressed his appreciation to the people who have supported him, and also teased his fans about his upcoming projects.

“Lubos po akong nagpapasalamat sa mga taong sumusuporta sa akin dahil walang katumbas ang pagmamahal nila sakin. Marami po silang aabangan mula sa akin sa darating na taon kaya sana abangan po nila,” he said.

The hunky actor who started his career as a cohost and performer on Walang Tulugan with the Master Showman also brings joy to his fans by sharing captured moments from his travel, his love for motorbikes, and bonding with his loved ones on his YouTube channel which has now over 2 million subscribers.

He quipped, “Nag-invest talaga ako sa gadgets para mas ma-enjoy ng subscribers ang content ko. Sana rin bumalik na sa normal ang lahat dahil miss ko nang mag-

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

z

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Milla Jovovich, 45; Bill Pullman, 67; Eugene Levy, 74; Ernie Hudson, 75.

Happy Birthday: Pay attention to the way you present yourself to the world. The little changes you make will fetch compliments that boost your confidence this year. Trust in what you know and how you do things before you let someone convince you to do something differently. Take control, offer hope and have a positive attitude, and you’ll surpass your expectations. Your numbers are 3, 14, 25, 29, 32, 39, 46.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Follow your heart, intelligence and intuition, and you’ll end up exactly where you want to be. An agreement with someone special will give you the hope and assurance you need to move forward with your plans.

Romance is featured. HHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Be careful not to commit to something that will be difficult to honor. An emotional situation will lead to a change of heart and a costly endeavor. Look for a substantial opportunity before you cut ties with a sure thing. HH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Invest more time and energy in something you want to pursue.

An energetic approach will encourage others to pitch in and help you reach your objective. Make plans with someone you love, and it will lead to a closer relationship. HHHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Limit what you spend. Rethink your strategy, and you’ll come up with amendments that will save you time and money. Hard work will pay off. Work alone if it will deter others from interfering with your plans. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You’ll have plenty of opportunities if you stick to your game plan.

Refuse to let anyone persuade you to take part in something that won’t benefit you. It’s time to put your needs first and strive to reach your goals. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The changes you make will be disruptive if you haven’t discussed what you want to do with a partner or a family member. To achieve the best results, be upfront and get those you care about involved in your plans. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t let uncertainty take over. You have a limited amount of time to make a decision and put your plans in motion. Get what has to be done out of the way, and concentrate on making a positive difference.

HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Don’t let your emotions limit what you can achieve. Look for an opportunity, and seize the moment.

Take a creative approach to life and the way you do things, and you will encounter individuals who have something valuable to offer. HH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Get busy, stay active and strive to look your best. Take your health and well-being seriously, and you will feel good about your accomplishments. Refuse to let anyone interfere with your plans or push you to do something costly or debilitating. HHHH

Jak Roberto

j

Royce Cabrera

shoot ng travel vlogs. But for now, ini-enjoy ko muna shooting content with my sister and my girlfriend.”

Meanwhile, a new hunk has joined GMAAC, with actor Royce Cabrera officially signing a management contract on December 11.

Present during his contract-signing were the center’s Ferrer and Garcia, plus Royce’s comanager Ernesto Unay.

The actor looks forward to an exciting career with the netwbork. “Sobrang nakakatuwa po at nakaka-excite kasi grabe talaga ’yung pag-welcome ng network sa akin.

Sana ay magkaroon po ng more projects kung saan mas maipapakita ko pa ’yung kakayahan ko sa pag-arte.”

When asked which GMA stars he wishes to work with, Royce has already a few in mind: “Si Dennis Trillo kasi may mga ilang palabas na niya akong napanood

at talaga namang mahusay siyang actor. Gusto ko ring makatrabaho si Sanya Lopez dahil mahusay siya at nararamdaman kong may chemistry kami.”

Meanwhile, Ferrer is eager to see how Royce can maximize his potential under their management, “Royce is a promising artist. You can see that he seeks to learn more about his craft, and he shows great potential to take on various roles in the future.”

Royce will soon star in one of the installments of the upcoming GMA Public Affairs drama anthology My Fantastic Pag-ibig, which will feature a series of compelling modern love stories, infused with exciting and dynamic plots.

He has appeared in a number of independent films, including F#*@bois and Lola Igna. He was also part of the Magpakailanman episode “Fishergays.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Stay calm, relaxed and in control. Apply discipline when faced with a challenge, and you will overcome whatever obstacles stand between you and your goal.

Anger or aggressive behavior will set you back. Be smart, direct and persistent. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Apply pressure when needed to get your way.

Speak up, state your case and make things happen. Taking an aggressive and passionate approach will make a difference to the outcome of a situation in dire need of an adjustment. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Don’t get involved in someone’s problems. Stay focused on opportunities, finishing what you start and doing your own thing. The less you rely on others, the easier it will be to reach your goal. HHH Birthday Baby: You are inventive, outgoing and smart.

You are convincing and aggressive.

‘secret theme’ by sam buchbinder and brad wilber The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Gathers, as wheat 6 12-point type 10 “One more thing...” in a text 13 Flashy effect 14 Strung along romantically 15 “Eureka!”

16 *Campus bigwig 18 Math-based card game 19 *Inc. Magazine issue?

21 Anytown, ___ 23 Prefix with “second” or “technology” 24 October birthstone 25 Fights off 27 “That’s already on my radar” 30 Wonder Woman’s rope 31 Chinese gambling region 33 Distance units for QBs 34 Encrypted terms, or a hint to the first two letters of both parts of the starred answers?

37 Undecided, on a TV sched.

40 Already recognized 41 Where lying is always acceptable?

45 Certain cutting tool

47 Pina ___ 48 Toledo’s lake 49 Indian garb 51 Dude 52 Minimal moral standard 57 Spanish “a” 58 Fossil fuel source 61 Get into the pool?

62 Gin’s partner 63 Come together 64 Canonized Fr. woman 65 Universal donor’s blood type: Abbr.

66 Grand ___ National Park DOWN 1 Remote button for taping 2 Green prefix 3 FORMAT OF THIS CLUE 4 ___ Alto 5 “I mean business” stares 6 Martinez with three Cy Young Awards 7 Brainchild 8 Layer of paint 9 Oscar winner Hathaway 10 Salary before bonuses

1 Nickname for Shakespeare 1 12 Danglers on turkey necks 14 Revolutionary Trotsky 17 4.0s on an academic list, e.g.

20 Big name in chemicals 21 Surfer’s address?

22 Dolphin’s environment 26 Upper-left PC key 27 Symbol on a phone screen 28 Tarnish 29 Place for a microphone’s plug 31 Feline greeting 32 “That’s adorable!”

35 Material in your genes 36 Andy Samberg’s old show, for short 37 Wrigley Field team, familiarly 38 British commoner who can use the title “Sir” 39 Make a cartoon of 42 Look after the kids 43 Campus e-mail ending 44 Dance move that resembles sneeze hygiene 46 Rep.’s counterpart 47 Saskatchewan tribe

9 Former MLB commissioner Bud 4 50 “High Voltage” band 53 Eight: Prefix 54 XII, during the day 55 Copenhagen native 56 Driving course obstacle 59 Judge Lance 60 Cube root of 1,000 Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Women in boys’ love: Persisting and presenting—Part 2 Continued from A8 represent the extreme in gender awareness, tolerance and acceptance. In those humorous moments are implicated to what degree homosexuality is seen in Thai society. The mother of Korn suggests another persona—a mother who, it seems, can love her son no matter what but remains voiceless in public even when her husband makes a fool of himself in disrespecting their son.

A footnote to Next Chapter is the appearance of the two girls (and other members of the group) stepping out to claim “Yaoi” as their battlecry.

The story of Kao and Pete in Dark Blue Kiss takes the matter of parenting to another level. With no woman out to emasculate man (which is an oxymoron because no one claims male identities in this series) and no female pulchritude to tease a boy’s love out of the shadow, a different conflict is constructed in this tale. Here, we have another boy out to steal a boy from a boy. The plot is disturbing because we meet in the otherwise celebratory BL a “gay” boy evil and scheming as the unwanted third wheel. There are problems of motivation but who cares? Who was it who said that motivation is for beginners?

Anyway, in Dark Blue Kiss, the boy who is eager to destroy the love between Pete and Kao is revealed to having a cruel father. Nearly blackmailed into submission by this boy’s father, Kao’s mother stands for her son and finally admits she has known all this time the “secret” of her son and even pushes her to run and meet and love the boy who loves him.

I really will not call what I have written as a critique of Thai BL; the genre is dense and more complex than my bristling overview and side comments. I wish I could do more about the politics of this form but, as I said, I have severe limitations in languages and cultures of Thailand. I await a Filipino to further ruminate and be critical about the splendor of this form called Thai BL. What about you, Netchaii M, what kind of woman are you in the BL landscape? n

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos

• Thursday, December 17, 2020

A virtual ‘thank you’ to our green home I

SHARED my “purpose-filled” holiday plans the past two weeks on gifts, gestures and gettogethers. Last weekend, I remembered another “G” that I wanted to add to this unique holiday season: gratitude.

Let me start this “gratitude” Christmas piece with this caption from my recent Facebook post: “In the dear portals of St. Jude is where I found my first dance, my first Girl Scout salute, and my first voice. It is where I was pushed by the greatest of mentors and saw the fruits of support and hard work. Tomorrow night, I go back to my green home, with much gratitude and pride...happily reminiscing with my dearest batch mates on the most precious moments of our youth. Let’s Go Bravehearts! #95x20 @sjcsbatch95.”

I am part of Batch 95 of St. Jude Catholic School (SJCS), which was founded in 1963 by Rev. Fr. Peter Yang, SVD, and Monsignor Peter Tsao, SVD, to mold youth in discipline, excellence, Christ-centeredness, commitment and service. I spent my kindergarten and elementary years there until I had to leave for New York in my 10th grade. I am grateful beyond words because of the “climb” and the “heart” this school has blessed me with.

Most of my schoolmates don’t know this, but I actually did not pass the first time I applied to

SJCS when I was 4. Even in my first quarter in kindergarten, my conduct was a B- (C was the failing mark), because I was very talkative. I had a hard time memorizing and felt quite aloof.

The atmosphere in St. Jude Catholic School was a haven of hard work. It was known to be highly academic with the most homework. The classes were packed with content, so I never skipped school unless my fever was 39 degrees. Needless to say, I was highly intimidated.

But through the years, I had been very lucky to receive loving guidance from many teachers in St. Jude. Beyond academics, teachers like Ms. Rafael, Liu Lao Sh, Ms. Bautista, Ms. Hernado, Mrs. Tongson, Ms. Asinas, Mrs. Gallamoza and Mrs. Contreras, among others, allowed me to hone my other talents like in dancing and declamation. In Grade 6, my advisers Ms. Haw and Mrs. Manrique guided me in all aspects to finish valedictorian in my class. I can’t forget Ms. Wang, our head teacher, who when I could not get approval from my mom to get voice lessons actually found Mr. Wu, who agreed to coach me for free.

More than this, I had great mentors in school organizations. Thanks to Sir Peterson Tieng, whose photo is found above, I learned that age did not matter.

When he saw how much I loved Girl Scout leadership in Grade 5, he actually allowed me to join the High School Scouting Leadership program. I ended up getting a gold medal for that camp even if I was the youngest. There were many upper classmen I thank because they pushed me to widen my horizons. Tim Yap, a good friend up to today, gave me my first shot to join the volleyball team.

Last but definitely not the least, were the priceless friendships I continue to draw on for strength and laughter. I can’t forget thoughtful gestures like a tub of black molly fish from Bing; an Alvin Patrimonio poster from Warren; my cousin Cons carrying my heavy bags for me; or my driving lessons at 14

from Mark and Dexter. I was grateful then for all the support my batchmates gave me in programs and projects. Even after I left the school, Liza, who remains to be my best friend today, and Mark would write me tons of snail mails to make sure I was OK in New York.

That is why I was very honored to have been invited as one of the hosts for our reunion. It was literally a tearful moment for me to reminisce all these touching memories. More than this, I was glad to work with my grade school and lifelong barkada, called the “Pizzahut” group: Joey, Mel and Reena. We named ourselves so because it was every Thursday, when only St. Jude had no classes, that we would be at Mel’s house after scouting, with our Super Supreme pizza and one liter of Pepsi.

Last November, I was extremely proud of the trailblazing effort of our batch for hosting the firstever virtual homecoming, titled “Reloaded,” where close to 500 audiences virtually gathered via Zoom and Facebook. An online program, chaired by Michael Cheng, and cohosted by batches that spanned from 1975 to 2020, was produced to replace the physical gettogether. The safe and innovative experience held in a virtual auditorium included live hosting, entertaining performances by Judenites, special celebrity guests Piolo Pascual and Jose Mari Chan, and even a live grand raffle-contest.

Batch ’95 president Sheryl Lou de Jesus said, “It’s our batch’s hope that our efforts, even for just a few hours, helped the Judenites feel well-regarded, recognized, remembered, rejuvenated, reinvigorated and reloaded to face the days ahead.”

This holiday season, let’s reconnect, reminisce and recount for our kids the history of our lifelong relationships. I hope they pick up the valuable lesson of gratitude and lead them to decades of friendship like the ones we have now.

Congratulations again, Bravehearts! n

Sony Philippines supports Save the Children’s typhoon efforts

THE onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses in mid-November brought massive flooding and widespread damages in Metro Manila and regions in Luzon, most especially in the Cagayan Valley that heavily affected more than 4.6 million people, including children.

In response to the emergency crisis, Sony Philippines raised P500,000 for the victims of Typhoon Ulysses, which was donated to Save the Children Philippines. This included donations from both the company and employees in a matching gift program.

Since 2010, Sony Corp., headquartered in Japan, has had a strong corporate partnership with Save the Children.

Save the Children is the world’s leading independent children’s organization, and has been working in the Philippines for over three decades, protecting and supporting children in need, saving lives in emergencies, and advocating for children’s rights.

Additionally, Sony Headquarters in Japan has funded P1.15 million through its Emergency Disaster and Relief Fund for Children program in partnership with Save the Children, which provides immediate support to children and their families at the onset of natural disasters and humanitarian crises, as well as medium to long-term recovery programs.

Sunshine Place’s porcelain artist Tess Colayco and her Sachiko in ceramic tile (8 x 8).

Terly Chikiamco with her work, Transformation, ceramic bowl porcelain, (4 x 5.65 diameter).

Coloring lives in the autumn years AFTER a few months of online art classes, members of senior recreation center Sunshine Place showed family and friends how their creativity flourished, showcasing their works in “Coloring Lives,” an online art exhibit ongoing until December 23 (bit. ly/34iuqW9).

The exhibit, which highlights 146 works in acrylic, oil, porcelain and diamond works, also reinforces the fact that art heals and can bring out the best in us, especially during difficult times.

The exhibit brings together the works of 26 artists in four of the Sunshine Place’s online art classes.

These include the acrylic and oil painting classes of Arts Association of the Philippines President

Fidel Sarmiento; the porcelain painting class of Mee Lee Casey, a Malaysian expat wife, who has been teaching porcelain painting in the UK, Hong Kong and Australia for more than 20 years; and diamond painting with Gobi Buencamino.

Art classes are said to be beneficial for the development of cognitive functions, such as imagination, creativity, motor and analyzing skills.

More than that, art heals by lessening depression, anxiety and boredom, especially for the homebound.

And the exhibit has certainly colored the lives of members who participated in its online classes.

Sunshine Place offers art classes to seniors, as well as adults, teens and kids. At the core of the

workshops, are mentoring sessions in hands-on techniques, application of different brushes and basic strokes, and color rendering.

Participants get to explore different styles in creating landscape, seascape, still life and portrait paintings. More information is available at 09175155656.

A senior recreation center under the Felicidad Tan Sy Foundation, Sunshine Place is a venue for adults to live actively by engaging in recreational classes and age-appropriate physical training programs. It is the venue to be entertained, to socialize and reflect—a place of happiness and wellness for one’s mind, body and soul.

A9

From left: Throwback photos I recently posted on Facebook of my life in St. Jude Catholic School; virtual guest celebrity Piolo Pascual with hosts Beverly Yao and Charlene Sy; the hosts and production team of Batch 95’s recent “Reloaded” homecoming.

A10 Thursday, December 17, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

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editorial

How to end world hunger and starvation

A

thought experiment considers a hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. It encourages speculation and logical thinking to change paradigms. A thought experiment pushes us to confront difficult questions. Philosophers employ thought experiments for various purposes such an entertainment, education, conceptual analysis, exploration, theory implementation, etc. Hans Christian Ørsted, a Danish physicist and chemist, coined the Latin-German term “Gedankenexperiment” in 1811.

From Bloomberg: “By the end of this year, 270 million people could be living in famine conditions, according to the United Nations World Food Programme, up from an already staggering 149 million before Covid-19. Add in the disruptive effects of climate change and our planet’s ever-increasing population, and we’re looking at difficult times ahead. By 2050—the year when a growing list of nations aim to have zeroed out their contributions to climate change—the UN projects the global population will be 9.7 billion, on its way to topping out at 11 billion in 2100.”

Can we feed 10 billion people 30 years from now?

From the same report: “Bloomberg Green embarked on a thought experiment: Given the number of people on Earth and the amount each one typically eats, could we feed them all using just our existing agricultural infrastructure?

The answer turned out to be yes—and then some. Hypothetically, at least, we could feed the population of two Earths without clearing a single new acre of land. Here’s how we’d get there.

“There are around 7.8 billion people on the planet now, and each needs about 1.4 kilograms of food on average per day, not including water. That means we require about 3.7 billion metric tons of food a year to feed everyone.

“At the moment, the world produces about 4 billion metric tons of food per year—but about 1.3 billion tons go to waste, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO]. One international study led by researchers from the University of Edinburgh put that number even higher, suggesting that as much as 44 percent of agricultural production is never consumed.

“Developing nations waste as much food as developed ones—what’s different is how it’s wasted. In rich countries, more than 40 percent of the losses occur at the retail and consumer levels. While some are trying to limit those losses by diverting expiring groceries to the poor, safety regulations often leave restaurants with little choice but to discard uneaten food. In poorer countries, where households waste far less, the UN estimates that more than 40 percent of crop losses occur between the fields and store shelves. In India, for example, some of the biggest losses occur during the harvest itself, and fresh produce often rots on the way to market because of transportation delays and a lack of refrigeration. Research by Esri, a global geographic data supplier, suggests that if we factor in wasted potential from ill-used agricultural land, then only 30 percent to 50 percent of what we could grow ends up in our stomachs.”

Bloomberg Green said most of the potential gains in production would come from farming the land we have more efficiently, through mechanization, better seeds and crop choices, and improved irrigation. Some waste and inefficiency is inevitable—poor harvests, pests, bad weather, and logistical difficulties are just functions of an imperfect system. But—in a perfect world, using Esri’s estimate, along with estimates of food waste from the UN and others—we could supply 9 billion metric tons of food a year, or 2.4 times as much as we’d need to feed every person on the planet.

Bloomberg said the pressure to produce more food, or at least to make more money from agriculture, is driving nations to clear forests and wetlands for farms and divert scant freshwater to grow crops in the desert. It turns out, that is not necessary. We have more than enough land to take care of a growing global family. But politics, economics, culture, and commerce all play major parts in development and trade, ensuring that no agricultural system will ever be optimal. There lies the challenge for humanity.

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O

n October 23, 2020, it was reported that the Chair of the Senate Electoral Reforms and Peoples’ Participation, had said that the proposal for the establishment of a hybrid election system had to be placed on the back burner after the Covid-19 pandemic changed the priorities of the government and lawmakers.

Earlier this week, with the filing of Senate Bill 1950—entitled An act providing for the conduct of hybrid national, local, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections, through manual-automated voting, counting, canvassing, consolidation, and transmission, amending for the purpose Republic Act 8436, amended, and for other purposes—it would seem that hybrid elections are back on top of the agenda.

So now seems as good a time as any, to recall why the Philippines shifted to an automated electoral system in the first place. More specifically, what was the problem with the existing electoral system then, that automation was intended to address?

The principal problem that the AES was designed to address was Human Intervention—the ability of human actors to influence the outcome of the elections through acts committed during various stages of the vote counting and canvassing process.

Human intervention meant, among other things, that each vote on each ballot was interpreted by the person reading the ballot during the counting. When voter intent is clear, this is a pretty straightforward affair. But deciphering voter

intent—or what the voter wanted to say with their ballot—isn’t always so clear-cut. In the old days when people had to write down the names of the candidates, penmanship was always a problem. If the person reading the ballot couldn’t understand what the voter wrote, the whole thing quickly devolved into a veritable shouting match between contending candidate representatives, each claiming the vote for their own.

With the proposed manual-automation hybrid, the drafters seem to think that a lotto-style voting scheme would eliminate the problem of interpreting voter intent. I seriously doubt that it will. In fact, I think it just might be worse.

Whether you need to draw a vertical line through a box, or shade-in an oval, the interpretation of the mark

Bill Gates lives, Dick dies

still requires a person to make a judgment call about the mark they are looking at. And with human persons reading the ballots, it is inevitable that there will be wild variations in how voting marks would be interpreted across more than a hundred thousand precincts nationwide. One BEI member might be a stickler for precision, and another might be more easy-going and accept as a valid mark just any old ink smudge on the ballot. In fact, if teachers took turns reading the ballots, these variations in “standards” could conceivably result in significant differences in how ballots are appreciated, in the same precinct!

And if we were to assume the worst—for forward planning and risk management purposes, we should—then it would be the easiest thing in the world for a BEI member, acting with malicious intent, to actually cheat by simply adding a mark onto the ballot before reading it. A swift stroke of a pen or pencil could easily result in a vote where a vote didn’t exist before, or it could even invalidate a vote by creating an over-vote.

None of these things are possible with automated counting, of course, since no one ever touches the accomplished ballot other than

he amount of inaccurate information that “We the People” have had to swim through this year is staggering. The only parallel I can think of is from the Adam Sandler movie Billy Madison.

The US “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” being proposed “requires businesses to provide two weeks of paid sick leave for quarantined employees and/or employees experiencing Covid19-related symptoms.” Note this: “The FFCRA only applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees.” Walmart lives and Dick’s Barbershop dies.

“Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

Governments, media, and the experts deserve no points. Perhaps I am exaggerating. Think again.

“Which Sweden Do You Want to Believe In? Sweden’s strategy to contain the coronavirus is neither a resounding success nor a ghastly failure. It’s more complicated than you have been led to believe.” And who has been “leading us to believe”? Governments, media, and the experts.

The McGill Office for Science and Society has a motto: “Separating

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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With the proposed manualautomation hybrid, the drafters seem to think that a lotto-style voting scheme would eliminate the problem of interpreting voter intent. I seriously doubt that it will. In fact, I think it just might be worse.

the voter themselves. Plus, the vote counting machines snap pictures of the ballot as they are being inserted, creating a permanent record of what the ballot looked like as it was leaving the voter’s fingers. Under a manual system, you not only lose that safeguard, you actually open up the ballot—and ultimately, the primacy of voter intent—to attack in those moments before the votes are actually read.

And that’s really just the tip of the iceberg of everything that’s possible—and I would say probable— with a hybrid election system that utilizes manual counting. Sadly, it would seem that in the rush to return to manual, these very real threats to the integrity of the elections are being glossed over.

There’s more to discuss, and trust me, we will. While the Comelec, as a matter of policy, remains firmly committed to its role as the implementor of whatever election system Congress sees fit to pass, I—having been with the Commission since before automation took root—happen to have very strong opinions about the election system that, for all its flaws and shortcomings, has produced two Presidents with rocksolid mandates; that has weathered more than a hundred challenges to its accuracy and reliability; and which has successfully taken teachers out of the line of fire.

For this reason, I believe that it is in the nation’s best interest that everyone be fully informed about all the issues involved in choosing between AES and the hybrid system, before they manage to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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Attack on voter intent

T

Time Magazine, October 20, 2020: “Why the Swedish Model for Fighting Covid-19 Is a Disaster.” The Daily Express-UK, October 4, 2020: “Sweden now a coronavirus success story.” That is what the public must contend with. Here is what we need to be hearing from Canada’s McGill University’s Office of Science and Society.

Sense from Nonsense.”

Enough of my whining. There is a more serious issue to think about and that is the economy and the longer-term effects for the lockdowns.

In the Philippines, the economic discussion is on several issues that make good stories and occasionally scare headlines.

Unemployment is high. Exports and imports are down. International reserves are high because of lower trade. International tourism no longer exists. Remittances from Filipinos are flat at best.

Assume for a moment the pandemic is finished. The distribution of the vaccine has the coronavirus in fear and running back to the “Chinese bats” from which it came.

In that case, all the above will be self-correcting to some extent, each with different time period. However, the great concern that is not being See “Mangun,” A11

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Biden can forget about Full of grace making iPhones in the US

A receptive servant

Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

Noah Smith

BLOOMBERG VIEW

W

hile much of Joe Biden’s first term in office will involve digging out from the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, the incoming president has also vowed to change the way the US manages its supply chains. This is framed as a way to make America more resilient in the face of crises after struggling to secure much-needed protective and medical materials in the early days of the coronavirus.

But it’s obvious that his supplychain policy centers on weaning the US and its allies off China. Already dashed is the old theory that free trade would induce Beijing to peacefully democratize and integrate itself smoothly into existing global institutions.

The escalating technological, geopolitical and economic rivalry between the superpowers gives greater urgency to a plan for diversification.

But this requires that Biden focus on making supply chains more efficient, rather than merely bringing masses of manufacturing jobs back to American shores.

Diversification isn’t the same as reshoring. The model of distributed production that multinational companies have built over the past three decades will not revert to a world of doing things within a single country’s borders.

The comparative US advantages—advanced technology, a good business climate, and a wealthy consumer base, rather than cheap wages and lax regulations—won’t change. The Biden team should focus not on the return of low-end assembly work, but on capturing the highest-value segments of the production chain as it shifts the rest away from its chief competitor and toward allies.

President Donald Trump already tried to force reshoring, and failed spectacularly. He lured Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group to open a plant in Wisconsin, only to see the project shrink massively as it became apparent there was actually no plan at all. The problem is that Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation simply aren’t meant to be Made in America.

Beyond the difference in labor costs, companies like Foxconn rely on the ability to hire hundreds of thousands of workers for short periods, unencumbered by unions or long-term contracts.

Foxconn executives have already told us they don’t foresee American workers actually wanting to stand on a production line to assemble delicate items like iPhones and iPads.

Even in China, where the workforce is five times larger, fewer people desire such jobs. Companies have had to move factories further toward the interior of the country just to be closer to the labor pool.

And this work doesn’t add a lot of value, anyway. A look at the gross margins of Foxconn’s Hon Hai unit tells the story. It squeezed out just $5.91 for each $100 of production that churned through its factories last year. Apple, by contrast, gets to keep a $38.23 markup per $100 from the array of devices, software and services.

A plan to bring Foxconn compatriot Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to Arizona makes more sense, but semiconductors are capital intensive and labor light. The Biden administration will need to manage

Mangun. . .

continued from A10

talked about by governments, media, and the experts is the systemic economic changes from the quarantines.

That is what you need to be genuinely concerned about.

The mass deaths from the Black

expectations on the number and types of jobs to be created.

A majority of these positions will be in advanced roles—75 percent of TSMC’s staff have finished college, and half its workforce has postgraduate degrees—which will be a boon for American engineers and universities. That kind of value-add work generates a lot more dollars than low-margin assembly. But it won’t be a source of mass employment. To create lots of jobs, the US will need to leverage local services instead—something the incoming administration fortunately grasps.

That leaves the question of where to put supply chains. Washington should sit down with industry to map out what does and doesn’t make sense to build in the US. Electric vehicles, for example, increasingly include sophisticated components and modules that rely on high-tech manufacturing rather than cheap labor and command high prices in global markets. Servers, communications equipment and electronics weapons systems are likewise low-volume, high-priced products that can be made in the US cost-effectively.

But other parts of the puzzle should go to current and prospective US allies.

Future Secretary of State Antony Blinken should embark on a world tour to arrange investment deals, with an eye to getting manufacturing out of China as fast as possible. The administration’s to-do list should include formulating a Silicon Road policy to compete with China, and securing technology within the borders of trusted allies.

By helping relocate production that doesn’t make sense for the US to places like Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Mexico, then Washington can move to secure their allegiance through job creation, investment and controlled technology transfers.

Vietnam has shown particular potential as an alternative to China, as evidenced by Samsung Electronics Co.’s employment of more than 100,000 people there. Its recent infrastructure upgrades, including the construction of new highways, was financed in part by loans from the Asian Development Bank. This kind of funding is exactly where the US could step in, offering an alternative to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

All this requires a big change from Trump’s belligerent approach to trade—which largely involved tariffs and other barriers—and goes beyond the current US policy of doling out incentives and bellowing threats.

Globalized overseas supply chains are here to stay, but what a Biden administration can really do is ensure that they move to more stable and advantageous locations.

Plague also killed the feudal system as it created a labor shortage, forcing employees to pay workers wages high enough so that the “peasants” could save money and grow the middle class.

This time the wealth redistribution is reversed. In the US, Walmart lives and Dick’s Barbershop dies.

McDonald’s survives; Bob’s Burgers

T

he fourth and last Sunday of Advent, immediately before Christmas, focuses our attention on Mary, the mother of the Child to be born, our Savior Incarnate. She represents to us the salvation from God that the birth of the Messiah brings about and the receptiveness that God’s people in response to the divine initiative must demonstrate (Luke 1:26-38).

Rejoice, full of grace!

The annunciation by the angel to Mary is a statement of the mystery of the world’s salvation unfolding.

The presence of the angel already indicates that what was happening, in the sixth month since the announcement of Elizabeth’s marvelous pregnancy, was all due to the divine initiative. And the opening greeting by the angel “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!” forcefully recalls prophesies of restoration and renewal undergirding the entire annunciation account (cf. Zephaniah 3:14-17). Mary’s perplexity pondering what the greeting means further highlights that rejoicing, not fear, should fill anyone favored by God, even if at first

Thursday, December 17, 2020 A11

glance it may exact great hardship from the one favored.

Ma r y wa s e x t raord i n a r i ly graced—the Lord would be with her uniquely, in her womb. She had been chosen to be the mother of a son whose name would be Jesus (“God saves”), a savior, who would be great and called Son of the Most High. She would be the mother of a king, who would inherit the throne of his father David and rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there would be no end.

All this good news, long promised and awaited and now to be fulfilled, indeed must bring ultimate joy to the world. Mary was being invited to be a vehicle of salvation for God’s people.

Mary’s response to the announcement by the angel was not to doubt or question that what has been said would happen according to the divine will, but she was wondering how it would take place, her being a virgin with no intimate relationship with a man. Though married to Joseph, they have not yet lived together as husband and wife. The angel’s answer and explanation: God’s Spirit and power would overshadow her, recalling how the cloud settled upon the Tent of Meeting, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, to indicate the wonderful presence of God in the midst of His people (Exodus 4:35). Mary’s conceiving Jesus in her womb would be God’s doing. A further assurance was given by the angel in the case of Elizabeth also conceiving a son despite her old age and barrenness. “For nothing will be impossible for God,” echoing God’s words to Abraham confirming to him the coming birth of Isaac despite Sarah’s old age and barrenness (Genesis 18:14).

Mary’s acceptance of the divine will portrays her as a good servant of the Lord, in her own words claiming the title “servant” for herself, inasmuch as she obediently received the Word of God with her entire being.

In faith and humble openness, Mary received first in her heart the Word

of God as conveyed by the angel, and then she received the Eternal Word, the divine Logos, in her womb. Like the rich soil where God’s Word as seed fell, Mary hearing the Word embraced it “with a generous and good heart” to “bear fruit through perseverance” (Luke 8:15). A hearer and doer of the Word, that is how Jesus himself would later describe his mother (8:21).

Alálaong bagá, for us, in the person of Mary the waiting of Advent is over. She is the image for all times of faith that is open and receptive of God’s initiative and grace. As the mother of our Savior, Mary is the sign of hope that God makes possible the salvation of humankind in the face of the apparent impossibility of our true conversion from sin and transformation into obedient servants of the Lord, hearing and doing the word of life. With Mary’s “yes” to the divine will, hope has been reborn and history changed. There is now the truly awesome future for all people that comes from God, the future in God’s love and mercy, in joy and gratitude, a future with God that we already behold in Mary “full of grace”!

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

Is Meralco heeding the global call to exit coal?

In Asia, Japan, South Korea, China and a number of Southeast Asian countries are making historic announcements on how they are exiting from the business of burning coal, the leading contributor to global warming. Japan’s legislature recently declared a climate emergency, paving the way for the complete phasing out of coal plants in a country long dependent on imported fuel materials.

Earlier, some big Japanese funders of coal, such as Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui, had announced their withdrawal from coal financing.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in is even more daring in coming up with policies to combat climate change. His Green New Deal includes zero emission targets by 2050, carbon tax and phase-out of domestic and overseas coal financing by public institutions such as the Korean Import-Export Bank.

In Southeast Asia, Malaysian and Singaporean financial institutions have been leading the exit from the coal business since 2019. In the Philippines, RCBC just announced a similar withdrawal. RCBC’s President Eugene Acevedo puts it dramatically as follows: “…all our loans for energy projects will be non-coal, it will be 100 percent non-coal.”

The RCBC no-coal business announcement followed an earlier declaration by the Department of Energy for a moratorium on the registration and establishment of new or “greenfield” coal plants. The DOE affirms

that the thrust is to go renewable.

The policy shift pronouncement is buttressed by studies indicating that extreme reliance on coal exposes the country to major outages because coal plants require minimum stable demand, which can collapse when there is a crisis as what happened this year due to the Covid pandemic.

In short, coal does not give the country flexibility and security in energy planning and governance.

Is coal then on its death throes in the Philippines?

The answer is not yet. First, the share of coal in the country’s energy mix is still a hefty 52 percent, while the renewables (geothermal, wind, solar and hydro) account for only 22 percent, per study by Greenpeace Philippines. The irony is that the policy in favor of a shift to the renewables was officially adopted by the government in 2008 when the Renewable Energy Act was passed.

This was made seven years before the Paris Agreement of 2015! The irony on the slow progress of the country in becoming fully renewable is accentuated further by the fact that renewables are now much cheaper than coal and gas.

And then there is Meralco, the country’s biggest distribution utility and, naturally, the country’s biggest buyer of power generated by the different power-generating plants of the gencos. It appears that Meralco is not prepared to give up on coal despite its media releases that it is

embracing the global battle against global warming and is actively supporting the Paris Agreement of 2015.

Last year, Meralco came up with a Sustainability Report where Chairman Manny Pangilinan and President Ray Espinosa openly declared that “business as usual is no longer a viable option” in the power business and that the company is fully committed to a holistic program of sustainability. On energy procurement, Meralco declared its support for the “transition to clean energy” such as sourcing from “renewable energygenerating partners,” building its own “renewable energy plants,” and generating “own energy with High Efficiency, Low Emission (HELE) technology.” Meralco reported the following breakdown in 2019 on its electric energy procurement: 40 percent natural gas, 32 percent coal, and 27 percent from multiple sources.

However, a new study by Avril de Torres of the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development indicates that Meralco is not exiting from the coal business. Worse, if the new procurement “tender” submitted by Meralco to DOE and the Energy Regulatory Commission is analyzed, the bulk of Meralco purchases in the next 20 years or so will come from the coal plants, should the coal producers win in the bidding process. This, according to CEED, is a likely scenario because the “terms of reference” for the tender give advantage to the big coal and gas gencos, not the smaller renewable players.

Torres wrote: “With a high minimum capacity offer per bidder, twopart tariff structure, and other unfavorable terms, renewable energy technologies are already at a huge disadvantage against the several greenfield coal plants that are expected to bid.” Torres argues that the TOR deviates from the guidelines on competitive selection process (CSP) being promoted by both the DOE and ERC. Hence, the two government institutions should come in.

Torres has a set of recommendations on what DOE can do, namely: n Abandon the so-called technology neutral policy, which, in practice simply means allowing Meralco

does not. Large corporations, having interests aligned with politicians, are considered essential. Small businesses are not.

Even if you agree with the message, the optics of the world’s richest (or second or whatever) man Bill Gates telling other people to shut down their businesses for six months are about as bad as it

gets. Academic experts that have never created a single job offer no advice—while calling for more and more restrictions—on how a business can survive even while the owner has no income to feed his family.

Sorry, they do have a solution.

All the government needs to do is borrow the money and give it away.

Eventually somebody, somewhere will magically pay off that debt.

And then to help the employees that might get sick, the US “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” being proposed, “requires businesses to provide two weeks of paid sick leave for quarantined employees and/or employees experiencing Covid-19related symptoms.”

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

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he global trend is unmistakable. Majority of the UN Member States who have signed on to the Paris Agreement of 2015 are racing to fulfill their commitment to become zero carbon emitters in order to stop the rise of global temperature by 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial levels. The United Kingdom and France, in partnership with Chile and Italy, convened this month a Climate Ambition Summit to highlight the progress they have made in the twin areas of mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

to procure power from any genco.

The government policy is to go renewable; hence, selection of power supplier should be limited among the renewable generating suppliers. n Remove or reduce the minimum capacity offers per bidder.

The explanation here is obvious: help the renewable firms, which are smaller compared to the coal and gas producers. And if one may add, Meralco should develop productive and fruitful partnership with the smaller firms so that they can develop the capacity to supply all the energy requirements of the country while Meralco is able to enjoy cheaper power produced by the renewables.

Other proposals to DOE advanced by the Torres study: Imposition of a second cap on contract capacity in unsolicited proposals, mandating straight energy pricing instead of the two-part tariff structure (and letting the gencos assume fluctuation risks in fuel cost and currency exchange), mandating 100 percent guaranteed power availability, mandating automatic carve-out clause (essentially to protect consumers from unutilized electricity), and prohibition of cross-ownership between distribution companies and generation companies.

On the last item, cross-ownership, it should be noted that Meralco has its own generation companies.

There were instances in the past that the sole winner or winners are Meralco’s own gencos. This is bad for the so-called open competitive energy market. And yes, bad for the consumers.

Now Meralco PowerGen Corp. is proudly announcing that its new coal plants in Mauban and Atimonan use “HELE technology” to produce “clean coal” through a super-efficient process. The questions: Is this the reason why Meralco has come up with the above Terms of Reference that tend to favor the coal producers? Is this consistent with the pronouncement by the Meralco officials that they are embracing the goals of the Paris Agreement of 2015? And if coal can be made clean and green, why are the developed countries, including China, abandoning it?

Note this: “The FFCRA only applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees.” Walmart lives and Dick’s Barbershop dies.

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

A12 Thursday, December 17, 2020

’21-’23 ADB loans for PHL infra, Covid seen at $9.4B

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

L

@alyasjah

OANS availed of by the Philippines from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are expected to hit $9.4 billion between 2021 and 2023 to increase its funds for infrastructure buildup and Covid-19 recovery programs.

In a briefing on Wednesday, ADB Country Director for the Philippines Kelly Bird announced that the agency has unveiled its country operations business plan (COBP) for 2021 to 2023. The COBP is made up of projects the multilateral institution is spending on the Philippines for the next three years, in its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bird said the COBP has two phases, namely, the rebuild and

recovery, wherein the first focuses on repairing the damage brought about by the health crisis on the business sector, labor market and social services, while the latter centers on funding infrastructure projects that have a growth multiplier, especially to employment.

According to the ADB, nearly half will be rolled out by next year, largely for the construction of the South Commuter Railway

Project Tranche 1. The first part of the project that will connect Calamba, Laguna, to Blumentritt in Manila will cost $4.3 billion all in all, and $1.75 billion will be spent by next year.

The ADB will also lend the government funds to implement and localize universal health care, as well as facilitate youth school-towork transition and reforms at the local government level.

The ADB is anticipating 2021 lending to reach $3.56 billion, but has an $800-million standby for numerous infrastructure, including the Integrated Flood Risk Management Sector Project Phase 1. The standby loan also covers programs for upgrading the country’s technical and vocational education and training to the benefit of Filipino workers.

For 2022, the largest projects the government is seen to deliver through ADB loans are the MalolosClark Railway Project Tranche 2 and the Bataan-Cavite Bridge Project Tranche 1, both of which cost $1 billion.

In 2023 the ADB is eyeing to hand over the financing for the second tranche of the South Commuter Railway Project amounting to $1.25 billion. For that year, the Manila-headquartered multilateral is also looking to begin the initial construction of the $1 billion Laguna Lakeshore Roads Project.

According to Bird, the ADB will support the Philippine infrastructure and social projects to boost its chances of recovering from the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ADB has downgraded its economic projections for the Philippines, as it now expects GDP to shrink by 8.5 percent this year.

On the other hand, it forecasts the country to rebound next year to the tune of 6.5 percent should the government carry on with its gradual reopening of business activities.

However, the ADB warned risks remain in 2021, especially with the continuing surge of the virus on a global scale, as well as with how the Philippines will implement its vaccination program.

REFORM GROUP A.E.R. WARNS VS. ‘INSERTIONS’ IN CREATE BICAM LEVEL

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FISCAL reform advocacy group has called on both chambers of Congress to reject the insertion of any amendments that are not found in either version of the Senate or the House of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill, a day after the House of Representatives reconsidered an earlier decision to adopt the Senate version.

“It is patently illegal for the bicameral conference committee to introduce new amendments that are not part of either bill approved by the Lower House and Senate on third reading,”the Action for Economic Reforms (AER) said in a statement on learning that the bicameral conference committee will meet to reconcile the Senate and House versions.

AER said it is aware that differences exist between the House and Senate versions, but, “we note that the Senate version has made the concessions and compromises to address the concerns of some legislators. The Senate version thus represents the ‘political equilibrium’ to ensure the bill’s passage.”

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means chief, Sen. Pia Cayetano and her colleagues gave “all stakeholders a platform to be heard” and forged “reasonable compromises while safeguarding the essential reforms,” said AER, as it noted “the intensity of the debate” in the Senate.

“We also credit the House Committee on Ways and Means Chairperson Joey Salceda and his colleagues for the swift and decisive passage of a good bill,” the group added.

In this light, therefore, AER said the bicameral conference committee “should consider the Senate version as the bottom line. The outcome of the bicameral conference should not yield any version that is worse than the Senate version. Any improvement that should be based on the House version or Senate version is welcome, but any further compromise—or dilution—beyond the Senate version should be rejected.”

AER said the bicameral conference committee “is an opportunity to reconcile the reform features found in either the House bill or Senate bill. But we are also well aware that legislators with vested interests will use the bicameral committee in an effort to dilute the impact of the measure when it comes to the rationalization of fiscal incentives.”

It singled out what it deemed efforts “to weaken the mandate” of the Fiscal Incentives Regulatory Board (FIRB). “Some legislators and the private interests they favor want to defang the FIRB by sidelining it from making decisions on critical investments. The FIRB is at the core of the governance of fiscal incentives, ensuring that the granting of fiscal incentives is based not on lobby pressure but on rigorous economic criteria,” AER said.

At the same time, AER cautioned against “any attempt to reverse the gains from the measure to exempt some parties or zones from the proposed rules on fiscal incentives.

To repeat, to make surreptitious insertions is patently illegal.” Butch Fernandez

FIST, which eases financial sector’s bad assets burden, inches closer to enactment

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ONGRESS has inched closer to sending to President Duterte for signing into law the final version of the proposed Financial Institution Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act, as endorsed by a bicameral conference committee that reconciled the Senate and House versions of the FIST Law. Taking the Senate floor at Tuesday’s session, Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the Senate contingent to the bicameral conference committee on the proposed Financial Institution Strategic Transfer Act, reported to plenary the approved version of the bill, which is seen to help cushion the adverse impact of the pandemic on the financial sector, as it allows financial institutions to offload nonperforming assets, thus boosting investor and depositor confidence, and help businesses and save jobs. “ The bicameral conference committee agreed to use the Senate version as the working draft since the House adopted most of the provisions in our version,” Poe said, adding: “With the hard work of our colleagues, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Minority Leader Frank Drilon, as Senate conferees, and Representatives Dakila Cua, Stella Quimbo and Tiangco as House conferees, we were able to reconcile major conflicting provisions of Senate Bill No. 1849 and House Bill No. 6816.”

Poe confirmed that the SenateHouse panels agreed to adopt a provision that “only the private sector shall be allowed to form FIST corporations,” acknowledging that “it would be financially risky for government to be involved in acquiring nonperforming assets as government revenue is down due to the pandemic.”

In addition, the conferees agreed that “foreign FISTCs shall not be allowed to take part in the bidding and foreclosure of real property.”

She explained that the House version earlier gave the option for foreign FISTs to easily pay off the penalty in case they are unable to transfer the property after five years. Poe noted this might result in perpetual ownership of land which is in violation of Republic Act 7042 or the Foreign Investments Act. “Thus, we deleted the provision.”

Third, Poe said, specific periods were lowered to prevent delay in offloading of assets, recalling that in the old SPV [special purpose vehicle] law, banks found it difficult to immediately offload nonperforming assets due to the long settlement period between the borrower and the bank, as well as due cases

being filed in court.

“So, from the original proposal of 180 days, both panels agreed to lower the period of considering loans and other financial assets as nonperforming loans to 90 days,” the senator added.

“Similarly, we also agreed to retain the borrower’s right to renegotiate loans as we recognize the need to also assist borrowers, but lowered the period of restructuring from 90 days to 30 days.

Together, this gives the borrower at least 120 days to pay off or renegotiate a loan and prevent the transfer of the asset to a FISTC.” The fourth provision—requiring prior consultation with the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) before an asset is transferred—has been deleted, with the panel seeing this as “another administrative layer that may cause delay in the disposal of assets.”

Fifth, Poe said, “we also deleted the provision reiterating the investigative powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice over violation complaints on the AntiDummy Law in relation to FIST transactions. This is to remove apprehension among investors over being sued for something that existing laws already cover, and encourage more investments in the financial sector.”

Sixth, to prevent delay in the implementation as what happened in the old SPV law and to respond to the need to immediately enact the bill, the panel agreed to adopt the Senate proviso that “the non-promulgation of the Implementing Rules and Regulation [IRR] shall not prevent the implementation of this Act upon its effectivity,” Poe said.

And lastly, Poe reported, the bicameral conference committee agreed to extend the applicability period to assets that have become nonperforming from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2022 considering that NPLs build over time, adding: “And what we are seeing now is not yet the full impact of the pandemic.”

Poe credited Senate President Pro Tempore Recto and Minority Leader Drilon with helping craft the final version of the remedial legislation that protects capital to enable banks to lend more and enable borrowers to recover properties seized by banks.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the expertise and patience, again, of Senator Drilon and Senator Recto. They guided us every step of the way, unyielding in their principles that it should be a fair and effective law, and so I thank them,” Poe said. Butch Fernandez

The City Government of Manila is implementing a “no contact” apprehension program in its major thoroughfares. “The system works at both daytime and nighttime, 24 hours, seven days a week, rain or shine,” Mayor Francisco Domagoso said. ROY DOMINGO

PGH studies saliva test, inks deal with TPB on Covid subsidy

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is currently studying the efficacy of the saliva test in determining the presence of the novel coronavirus, in a bid to lower the cost of more accurate Covid-19 tests and make them more accessible to the public.

Dr. Januario D. Veloso, Molecular Laboratory Coordinating Head of PGH said, “We are doing a validation study for direct PCR saliva testing here at PGH,” but clarified that the Department of Health (DOH) has yet to approve said test.

He explained, “Direct PCR [Polymerase chain reaction] means bypassing the RNA [ribonucleic acid] extraction step.” The virus that causes Covid-19 only contains RNA in its genetic code, thus effectively penetrating healthy cells, then recoding them to spread the virus in the body.

If approved, Veloso said the cost of the saliva test will be “less than P500

per patient.” At present, PGH charges P1,800 for the RT-PCR test, already among the lowest among medical facilities which currently run up to P6,500 per patient, depending on the turnaround speed for the results.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat has been batting for the use of saliva test, and had repeatedly proposed to the DOH for her department to pilot it in a destination. Many destinations are already opening up to domestic tourists but require visitors to submit to RT-PCR testing.

Airports in Japan have already been using the saliva test to determine if a passenger has Covid-19.

MOA signed

The Department of Tourism (DOT), through its marketing arm, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), signed a memorandum of agreement with PGH on Tuesday to subsidize 50 percent of the RT-PCR testing cost administered by government hospital.

With P10 million allotted for the subsidy this year, the program will cover only about 11,000 domestic

tourists before the end of the year.

During the online presser for the virtual contract signing, TPB Chief Operating Officer Ma. Anthonette C. Allones assured that the subsidy program “will continue next year,” even as DOT and TPB looks for less expensive tests.

Romulo Puyat said the DOT and TPB continue to work hand-in-hand with tourism industry stakeholders, local governments and other national government agencies to facilitate the reopening of tourist destinations that have put in place safety and health protocols.

“I encourage our kababayans to book their travels now, and hope that this initiative will break the barrier for our domestic tourists to actually make plans, especially in this Christmas season.”

For his part, PGH Director Gerardo D. Legaspi said, the hospital grants results in 24 hours for their standard RT-PCR testing. “So if you take the test at 2 p.m. today, you will get the result before 2 p.m. the following day.”

He added, the hospital also has a drive-through testing service at

P3,800 per person.

To avail of the subsidy, a tourist must first register at https:// bit.ly/3qZBkcM five days before the scheduled departure date, and submit a copy of a valid government-issued ID, a copy of a confirmed accommodation booking and proof of transportation ticket for the appropriate mode of travel.

Tourists with approved applications will receive an e-mail from PGH to access the online Client Investigation Form: https://cif.pgh.gov.ph and be notified of their swab test schedule. As PGH can only accommodate to conduct 100 RT-PCR tests per day, applications will be attended to on a first-come, first-served basis.

Meanwhile, Veloso said pooled testing, where one family member is swabbed and tested for the Covid virus, “is still for DOH approval.” But he said PGH is targeting the cost of the pooled testing at “P500-P1000 per patient.” Under this scheme, it is assumed the entire family that is traveling all live in the same home, such that not everyone has to be individually swabbed or tested.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, December 17, 2020

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Govt scored for revoking OPS granted to Megawide

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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@lorenzmarasigan

HILE the government continues to evade queries on its subsequent plan after it shelved the unsolicited proposal for the redevelopment of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), a policy think tank and a commuter group criticized the state for its supposed unwillingness to rehabilitate the air hub.

Infrawatch Philippines Convenor Terry Ridon said the revocation of the original proponent status (OPS) given to Megawide Construction Corp. and partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd. dealt a blow to investor and public confidence, which could tarnish the "Build, Build, Build" (BBB) program of the Duterte administration.

“There is no other way to describe it: By unjustly canceling for the second time the OPS of private proponents, the Department of Transportation is pushing the Naia rehabilitation project beyond the term of President Duterte. It diminishes public confidence in Mr. Duterte’s public-private partnership [PPP] projects, given that absolutely no reason was given by the transportation department for canceling the OPS,” he said.

For Primo Morillo, the convenor of commuter network The Passenger Forum (TPF), the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa)’s move to revoke the OPS of Megawide and GMR shows the unwillingness of the government to work with the

private sector for infrastructure development.

“It is like the government does not need help in rehabilitating the country’s primary international gateway.

It is the government not appreciating the perfect timing while airline passenger volume is in its lowest in years. It seems like we don’t have to prepare once we bounce back from the current crisis we are in right now,” he said.

Without citing any reason, the board of the Miaa “resolved” on late Tuesday to revoke the OPS of the Filipino-Indian partners based on two separate “meetings” on December 4 and December 15.

To recall, Megawide submitted a revised proposal for the redevelopment of Naia, after the first proponent, Naia Consortium, backed out of the project. The revised proposal carried the comments and demands of the government in regard to aspects such as material adverse government action and fees.

As the government reviewed the contract, the National Economic

and Development Authority (Neda) Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) sought to clarify the group’s financial capacity to fund the multibillion-peso project. This has resulted in several groups and individuals casting doubt on the unsolicited proposal, raising other issues such as the employment of current Naia staff.

Megawide answered this by submitting a proof of financial capability, highlighting its partnership with Indian infrastructure firm GMR, which was also its partner in developing the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

“The public expectation was for DOTr and the private proponent to jointly resolve issues raised by the Neda-ICC, particularly concerns over the proponents' debt-equity ratio, as the rehabilitation project is a joint undertaking by both public and private sectors. How the transportation department reached a unilateral decision rescinding the OPS clearly shows bad faith and utter incompetence in undertaking PPP projects,” Ridon said.

Explanation

MEGAWIDE and GMR said jointly on Tuesday that they will immediately file a motion for reconsideration for its proposal, underscoring that “there are no justifiable grounds to deny the Filipino people a transformed Naia.”

“What will happen now to the promise of the president that he will make sure Naia will be rehabilitated?

Will the private proponent also explain if they were able to submit all the necessary requirements for this to proceed?” Morillo asked.

He also demanded for an explanation as to how the OPS was revoked.

“A lot of things require explana-

tion right now. But one thing is clear, Naia needs to be rehabilitated and we should not wait until the normal volume of passengers return,” Morillo said.

Government officials remained mum on the matter, refusing to answer media queries as to the nature of the revocation and as to how the government will move forward with rehabilitation of the dilapidated air hub.

Megawide has proposed to implement the project between 5 to 7 years in three phases: *The first phase includes the immediate improvement of the airside and landside segments of Naia through the improvements of the existing terminal and the optimization of the existing runways; *The second phase involves the construction of a new passenger terminal building and the improvements of the apron and taxi lane to provide access to the new terminal.

The group will also relocate the cargo terminal and the fuel farm to accommodate the new terminal building; and *The last phase will see the group building a rail-people mover system that will allow passengers to move from one terminal to another through an overhead railway system.

Ridon said the government has to fix this tussle immediately, as the Filipino flying public deserves to have a better main international gateway.

“Unless the transport department reconsiders, we can all say goodbye to a better Naia. The congestion and poor service are all here to stay until the end of the President’s term. This will diminish the legacy of the President, especially since this has been among his priority projects,” he said.

‘Power spot-market rate to decline’ T

HE downward trend of electricity spot-market price will persist this month due to ample supply and cooler weather conditions coupled with the implementation of community quarantines in different parts of the country.

Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines Inc. (IEMOP) Manager for Pricing Validation and Analysis John Paul Grayda said the effective settlement spot price in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) will continue to

drop in December, after recording a 10.1-percent decline in November to P1.86 per kilowatt hour from P2.07 per kilowatt hour in October.

“WESM prices continue to drop in the month of December 2020 as ample generation supply and colder weather conditions persist on top of the implementation of community quarantine in several parts of the country,” he said.

November spot prices were also affected by the consecutive typhoons—which caused forced power

PDS donates ₧2M to Ateneo scholarship fund

Globe ESG rating upgraded to ‘A’ from MSCI

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HE Philippine Dealing System Holdings Corp.

(PDS), the owner of the fixed income trading platform, on Wednesday said it turned over P2 million to the Ateneo Scholarship Foundation (ASF) Amando M. Tetangco Jr. Scholarship Fund.

The PDS Group, the owner of the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp., said it is committed to promote the advancement of the Philippine financial markets by supporting programs that promote and cultivate interest and skills for future careers in the industry.

Established in honor of the former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., the scholarship fund aims to support the education of students taking up business and banking courses in the university.

“On behalf of the PDS Group, I would like to thank the Ateneo de Manila University and the ASF for giving us this opportunity to be part of your noble mission and support scholars of the Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. Scholarship Program to give students taking up business and banking courses a chance at education,” PDS President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said. VG Cabuag

G

LOBE has received an MSCI ESG (Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance) rating of A, up from the “BBB” score it earned previously.

MSCI ESG Research provides MSCI ESG Ratings on global public and a few private companies on a scale of AAA (leader) to CCC (laggard), according to exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and the ability to manage those risks relative to peers. MSCI’s research provides critical insights that can help institutional investors identify risks and opportunities that traditional investment research may overlook.

“We are very proud that MSCI recognized our ESG efforts. This rating upgrade reflects our efforts in integrating sustainability into our business and shows we are on the right track in our practice,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe Chief Sustainability Officer and SVP for Corporate Communications.

outages in several areas—that entered the Philippines during the said month. In the same month, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) declared a two-day market suspension due to Typhoon Ulysses.

Grayda added that the latest data showed that in November, average supply and demand stood at 13,444 megawatts (MW) and 9,219 MW, respectively. Peak demand, meanwhile, stood at 11,485 MW. November’s spot price was the lowest recorded since May, when the market price was

True to its environmental commitment to reduce its carbon footprint in support of the United Nations’ goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, Globe undertakes a number of initiatives to use cleaner sources of energy and manage energy consumption for its offices and network as well as enhance its operational efficiency.

The company ensures compliance with its business obligations by paying proper corporate income tax ahead of time. It was cited by the Department of Finance last April as being among the top 11 companies that complied early with their tax obligations even when the deadlines were extended twice.

It also works closely with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission in ensuring that the country's state of connectivity

at P1.98 per kilowatt hour. Electricity spot price started dropping in October due to the typhoons that ravaged different parts of the country.

In October, IEMOP said La Niña could dampen electricity demand in Luzon throughout the year.

“Given the La Niña, there is a downtrend. If this persists, then the trend will continue,” said Grayda in a virtual news briefing.

IEMOP is the operator of the WESM, the country’s trading floor for electricity. Lorenz S. Marasigan

continues to improve, aligned to global standards.

By serving a large prepaid customer base for mobile and broadband at home, as well as small and medium enterprises, Globe bridges the digital divide and ensures inclusive access to Internet and communications services, including financial technology and telehealth.

Truly affordable services and year round promos hugely benefit the country's underserved population.

The company also maintains a strong culture of collaboration, customer-centricity and innovation. Its employee engagement is one of the highest in the country and ranks better than global high performing organizations.

To protect its more than 80 million customers, Globe has invested in highly-advanced cybersecurity systems and proactive customer education to prevent potential data breaches and protect customer data privacy.

San Miguel to open more RFID stations

PHOTO FROM WWW.SANMIGUEL.COM.PH

S

AN Miguel Corp. (SMC) will open 156 RFID installation sites by end-December to provide ease to motorists who are currently migrating to the new government-mandated electronic toll collections scheme.

Over the last two weeks, 42 new sticker installation stations were added to its 53 stations in November, bringing the total to 95 sticker installation sites.

“We’re glad to report that we are on track to deliver on our promise to open 100 additional RFID stations.

In fact, it will be a little more than that. Our bulk orders of RFID tags from abroad have been arriving as scheduled, so we’ve also been able to gradually open more stations—42 new ones as of last count. An additional 61 outlets, mostly off-site, are in process and we will open all of these by the end of December,” SMC President Ramon S. Ang said.

Currently, the busiest stations are located at the South Luzon Expressway (Slex), Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (Star), Skyway, Naia Expressway, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (Tplex).

The remaining 61 sticker installation sites will be located outside the

expressways to prevent traffic build up. These include new installation stations at more gas stations, transport terminals, malls, home builder complexes, local government offices, Land Transportation Office (LTO) facilities, churches and major arenas.

He noted that the 156 sites are “on top” of the RFID caravan, wherein the company deploys mobile vans in barangays and villages to install RFID stickers to vehicles.

“We hear the clamor from the public to make RFID installation even more accessible. We hope that these efforts will help make it easier for more people to avail of their free RFID stickers. We will continue to evaluate our efforts and put in place all the improvements and adjustments necessary to make it better for everyone,” Ang said.

Ang added that SMC will maintain one cash lane per toll plaza for now to allow vehicles without RFID tags to enter the expressway and be given stickers after entering.

All expressway operators were required to implement full cashless toll collections schemes on their tollways to curb the spread of Covid-19. The policy was implemented on December 1. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Facebook attacks Apple’s mobile software changes

F

ACEBOOK Inc. attacked Apple Inc. in a series of full-page newspaper ads Wednesday, claiming the iPhone maker’s anticipated mobile software changes around data gathering and targeted advertising are bad for small businesses.

The ads, slated to run in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, carry the headline “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere.” They home in on upcoming changes to Apple’s iOS 14 operating system that will curb the ability of companies like Facebook to gather data about mobile users and ply them with advertising.

Facebook previously told investors that Apple’s changes, scheduled to go live early next year, will lead to significant headwinds because most of its advertisers are small businesses. Apple has pushed back, accusing Facebook in November of showing a “disregard for user privacy.”

“While limiting how personalized ads can be used does impact larger companies like us, these changes will be devastating to small businesses,” Facebook claims. The social giant, citing its own data, says ads that disregard personalized targeting generate 60 percent fewer sales

than ads that do target consumers.

The newspaper ads are the latest in what has become a vicious and public battle between two of the world’s most valuable companies. Facebook has argued repeatedly that Apple’s App Store fees and the upcoming iOS changes hurt small businesses trying to recover from the pandemic.

It’s used those attacks to paint itself as a champion for such users, many of which rely on Facebook’s advertising services to drive sales. (That reliance can also put small businesses in a bind.)

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has also criticized Apple’s expensive smartphones. After his company joined a chorus attacking Apple’s 30-percent fee for in-app purchases for certain services that moved online because of the pandemic, Apple said it wouldn’t take such a cut through the end of 2020. Last month, it extended that waiver through June 2021.

While not applicable to Facebook apps, Apple will reduce its App Store revenue cut from 30 percent to 15 percent starting next year for developers that generate up to $1 million per year. The company said it’s implementing the change to support small businesses. Bloomberg News

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, December 17, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

December 16, 2020

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

BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST 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

114.9 115.4 114.5 115.4 112.6 115.4 82.5 83 83 83.05 82.1 83 25.85 25.9 25.8 25.9 25.75 25.85 11.76 11.8 11.68 11.82 11.66 11.8 49.95 50 49.8 50.5 49.8 50 12.1 12.52 12.5 12.52 12 12.52 31 31.1 31 31.2 30.65 31.1 53.6 53.95 53.25 53.95 53.25 53.85 100 103.7 103.7 103.7 97.1 97.1 19.2 19.48 19.34 19.48 19.2 19.2 143.6 143.7 145.6 145.6 141.8 143.7 69.65 70 69.7 70 69.5 70 0.95 0.99 1 1 0.99 0.99 29.05 29.7 29 29.7 28.5 29.7 0.62 0.67 0.61 0.61 0.61 0.61 4.71 4.74 4.9 4.93 4.65 4.71 1.6 1.61 1.33 1.62 1.33 1.6 0.37 0.375 0.395 0.4 0.375 0.375 800 819.5 800 800 800 800 0.75 0.76 0.77 0.77 0.73 0.75 154.9 155 155 156 155 155 2,000 2,048 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 1.04 1.09 1.04 1.04 1.04 1.04

5,080,120 580,478,540 50,598,482 1,955,510 161,928,446 -24,098,298.50 185,800 4,800,145 -553,750 465,800 5,462,514 -1,354,030 6,432,800 322,647,675 -125,716,725 247,500 3,069,260 2,420 254,900 7,899,340 -688,500 1,930 103,891 40 4,082 147,600 2,865,746 1,349,850 193,254,907 -20,238,394 34,210 2,392,216 -73,976 180,000 178,700 2,000 59,020 -5,940 63,000 38,430 735,000 3,473,460 107,730 3,651,000 5,581,680 299,290 3,460,000 1,338,600 170,000 20 16,000 16,000 562,000 414,650 9,260 1,435,834 -977,016 75 150,000 140,000 1,000 1,040 -

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 6.17 6.18 6.2 6.22 6.15 6.17 9,866,900 60,961,167 -1,554,393 1.4 1.41 1.41 1.42 1.39 1.41 1,743,000 2,433,960 ALSONS CONS 27.65 27.7 27.5 28 27.4 27.7 3,030,300 84,147,655 -3,536,005 ABOITIZ POWER 0.435 0.44 0.4 0.435 0.4 0.435 246,290,000 103,714,200 -155,900 BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN 27.8 28 28 28.15 27.8 27.8 481,300 13,442,615 -11,000,565 FIRST PHIL HLDG 78.65 79 80 80 78.55 79 116,750 9,225,384.50 -7,928,814.50 MERALCO 285.8 286.6 295 295 285.8 285.8 458,650 132,661,874 -54,191,750 MANILA WATER 16.08 16.1 16.02 16.2 16.02 16.1 726,800 11,682,082 1,839,614.00 4 4.01 4.02 4.03 3.98 4 4,709,000 18,866,600 -154,080 PETRON 3.7 3.71 3.77 3.78 3.66 3.7 63,000 234,710 PETROENERGY 12.76 12.8 47,900 617,000 -474,318 PHX PETROLEUM 12.8 13 13 13 PILIPINAS SHELL 22.3 22.35 22.4 22.55 22.3 22.35 1,203,200 26,952,480 -2,209,210 SPC POWER 10.76 10.78 10.9 10.9 10.6 10.78 670,700 7,233,392 97,392 VIVANT 14.46 14.9 14.34 15 13.52 14.02 31,100 462,748 -306,490 AGRINURTURE 8.46 8.5 8.59 8.6 8.4 8.5 434,600 3,694,888 -25,580 3.74 3.75 3.67 3.75 3.66 3.75 1,450,000 5,386,880 18,820 AXELUM 75.9 84.4 75.9 79 75.9 79 1,270 96,548 BOGO MEDELLIN 15.7 16.3 17 17 15.72 16.3 14,400 234,832 CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD 17.56 17.6 17.7 17.7 17.56 17.56 2,149,000 37,786,454 -1,323,528 DEL MONTE 8 8.05 8.1 8.1 7.72 8 219,100 1,734,016 -18,400 DNL INDUS 7.37 7.38 7.44 7.44 7.35 7.38 18,079,800 133,778,263 -1,783,184 EMPERADOR 9.99 10.02 9.98 10.04 9.98 10.02 5,510,200 55,107,016 1,776,248 70.65 70.85 70.85 70.9 70 70.65 266,320 18,819,656 1,614,360.50 SMC FOODANDBEV 0.72 0.73 0.74 0.74 0.71 0.72 1,169,000 846,990 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.74 1.75 1.77 1.88 1.74 1.75 109,512,000 197,579,320 3,139,000 FRUITAS HLDG 50.3 50.35 51 51 50 50.35 13,710 689,576.50 -510 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 206.2 207.2 209 209 206.2 206.2 1,027,020 212,770,478 -17,994,150 LIBERTY FLOUR 46 46.2 46.1 46.2 45.1 46 26,000 1,186,075 45,400 MACAY HLDG 8.33 8.98 8.98 8.98 8.98 8.98 100 898 8.11 8.13 8.08 8.15 8.02 8.13 507,200 4,097,029 301,614 MAXS GROUP 0.237 0.24 0.238 0.24 0.224 0.237 7,210,000 1,662,480 -29,490 MG HLDG 8.21 8.25 8.4 8.4 8.25 8.25 704,300 5,818,689 -5,298,252.00 SHAKEYS PIZZA 1.43 1.44 1.39 1.44 1.36 1.44 10,103,000 14,228,620 -558,090 ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP 4.64 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.66 4.66 6,000 27,960 -4,660 ROXAS HLDG 1.8 1.84 1.84 1.85 1.84 1.84 31,000 57,200 0.128 0.13 0.124 0.133 0.124 0.128 9,970,000 1,282,020 -59,150 SWIFT FOODS 157 158.5 157 158.5 155.5 158.5 1,105,750 174,003,493 81,033,350 UNIV ROBINA 1.03 1.04 1.01 1.04 1.01 1.04 5,617,000 5,750,800 VITARICH 2.5 2.56 2.51 2.51 2.51 2.51 35,000 87,850 VICTORIAS 53.8 55.55 53.5 54 53.5 54 2,100 112,775 CONCRETE A CONCRETE B 54.65 56.75 54.65 54.65 54.65 54.65 140 7,651 1.66 1.67 1.66 1.67 1.64 1.66 13,012,000 21,516,520 -4,792,040 CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.17 5.18 5.08 5.19 5.08 5.17 40,400 207,349 14.8 15.02 14.92 15.02 14.7 15.02 173,200 2,571,326 684,562 EAGLE CEMENT 7.8 7.81 7.71 7.84 7.7 7.8 1,572,500 12,260,581 -9,871,050 EEI CORP 7.69 7.7 7.48 7.7 7.16 7.69 3,146,300 23,454,093 37,403 HOLCIM 8.7 8.71 8.45 8.83 8.27 8.7 24,222,200 208,371,445 -8,865,698 MEGAWIDE PHINMA 8.71 9.6 9.5 9.6 9.5 9.6 56,200 538,370 0.89 0.92 0.91 0.92 0.9 0.92 897,000 809,890 TKC METALS 1.31 1.32 1.29 1.32 1.26 1.32 7,687,000 9,973,810 37,690 VULCAN INDL CROWN ASIA 1.88 1.9 1.89 1.9 1.86 1.9 91,000 171,560 -1,890 2.64 2.65 2.71 2.71 2.65 2.65 1,160,000 3,091,910 106,330 EUROMED 4.58 4.59 4.59 4.71 4.5 4.59 8,913,000 40,109,860 LMG CORP 4.61 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 4.7 6,000 28,200 MABUHAY VINYL PRYCE CORP 5.42 5.48 5.35 5.45 5.32 5.42 110,900 598,890 22.5 22.55 22.5 22.65 22.5 22.55 59,900 1,351,020 -851,170 CONCEPCION GREENERGY 2.6 2.61 2.64 2.64 2.55 2.61 8,365,000 21,648,790 -10,184,680 INTEGRATED MICR 8.23 8.24 7.8 8.29 7.71 8.24 5,125,700 41,067,987 -2,353,275 1.43 1.44 1.17 1.59 1.16 1.43 45,134,000 64,356,150 -205,340.00 IONICS 1.59 1.61 1.57 1.64 1.53 1.59 7,558,000 12,064,380 372,600 SFA SEMICON 7.6 7.63 7.7 7.75 7.49 7.6 5,328,300 40,666,358 3,431,477 CIRTEK HLDG

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.71 0.72 0.69 0.73 0.68 0.71 43,123,000 30,408,860 -22,720 8.75 8.79 8.66 8.88 8.4 8.75 57,100 501,973 ASIABEST GROUP 840.5 849 847 849 833 849 213,580 180,027,650 -17,393,570 AYALA CORP 46.2 47 47 47.4 46.2 46.2 1,234,700 57,586,205 -19,039,110 ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL 10.8 10.9 10.6 10.9 10.54 10.9 9,001,700 96,795,884 20,126,674 AYALA LAND LOG 3.47 3.5 3.29 3.5 3.28 3.5 21,655,000 73,667,230 21,112,850 ANSCOR 6.5 6.79 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 2,300 14,950 9,100 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.77 0.79 0.79 0.82 0.78 0.79 2,177,000 1,724,380 -5,600 0.95 0.97 0.99 1 0.95 0.95 7,366,000 7,087,870 ATN HLDG A 0.94 1.02 1.02 1.03 0.98 1.03 7,000 7,060 ATN HLDG B 5.67 5.68 5.73 5.73 5.62 5.67 3,317,800 18,796,181 -13,534,766 COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG 6.02 6.04 6.01 6.09 6.01 6.02 4,666,300 28,184,341 -19,537,717 FILINVEST DEV 9.96 9.97 10.1 10.1 9.96 9.97 25,300 252,951 641 645 640 660 638 645 218,590 140,785,520 -7,518,980 GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV 4.23 4.3 4.34 4.34 4.23 4.23 282,000 1,210,370 70.5 70.55 70.9 70.9 69.4 70.5 1,613,740 113,645,200 -794,811.50 JG SUMMIT 4.88 5.18 5.19 5.19 5 5 5,400 27,722 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.06 5.5 5.25 7 5.03 5.5 144,000 835,990 KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR 0.86 0.87 0.87 0.92 0.85 0.86 1,989,000 1,745,150 3.73 3.74 3.72 3.74 3.72 3.73 4,217,000 15,742,030 -1,199,690 LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP 13.82 14 13.9 14 13.6 14 1,971,200 27,351,082 -15,247,826 MABUHAY HLDG 0.54 0.56 0.56 0.57 0.53 0.57 629,000 345,060 4.39 4.4 4.35 4.42 4.31 4.4 37,808,000 166,010,510 -13,704,190 METRO PAC INV 3.85 3.88 3.55 4.01 3.55 3.85 1,690,000 6,402,320 PACIFICA HLDG 0.95 0.97 0.91 0.98 0.9 0.97 452,000 429,190 PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP 1.28 1.29 1.22 1.33 1.22 1.26 313,000 396,590 250.8 259.8 254 260.2 250 259.8 930 234,146 SYNERGY GRID 1,051 1,075 1,042 1,075 1,035 1,075 359,920 382,006,920 13,868,395 SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP 137 137.1 137.7 137.7 135.1 137 163,620 22,320,294 -184,413 0.82 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.84 0.85 313,000 265,210 SOC RESOURCES 1.84 1.95 1.84 1.95 1.84 1.95 11,000 20,350 SEAFRONT RES 145 148 147 147 145 145 4,460 647,356 TOP FRONTIER 0.238 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 220,000 52,800 WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG 0.192 0.194 0.19 0.194 0.186 0.192 5,600,000 1,054,840 38,000

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.72 0.73 0.74 0.74 0.7 0.72 1,533,000 1,108,640 -119,500 7.87 8.1 7.84 8.2 7.84 8.1 300 2,414 -784 ANCHOR LAND 41.4 41.7 41 41.7 40.35 41.7 4,692,000 194,265,125 -11,351,795 AYALA LAND 1.28 1.32 1.32 1.32 1.28 1.32 74,000 96,440 ARANETA PROP AREIT RT 29.85 29.9 29.8 30 29.6 29.9 2,434,100 72,830,885 42,802,115 BELLE CORP 1.77 1.78 1.74 1.78 1.71 1.78 1,227,000 2,163,530 -673,340 A BROWN 0.93 0.94 0.97 0.98 0.91 0.94 9,779,000 9,198,530 9,300 CITYLAND DEVT 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.85 0.82 0.84 204,000 171,850 0.162 0.164 0.167 0.167 0.161 0.164 9,820,000 1,602,650 CROWN EQUITIES 5.04 5.05 5.08 5.08 5 5.04 783,000 3,927,160 30,100 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.46 0.465 0.465 0.47 0.455 0.465 22,670,000 10,459,250 -481,350 CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY 0.38 0.385 0.395 0.395 0.38 0.38 12,600,000 4,850,800 -7,700 DOUBLEDRAGON 16.28 16.3 15.08 16.3 15.08 16.3 6,293,400 99,679,744 -22,042,750 DM WENCESLAO 7.7 7.8 7.6 7.84 7.59 7.8 546,300 4,178,497 1,269,202 EMPIRE EAST 0.335 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.335 0.34 2,550,000 861,650 40,200 0.096 0.097 0.097 0.098 0.092 0.097 6,290,000 596,010 9,500 EVER GOTESCO 1.18 1.19 1.18 1.18 1.17 1.18 20,080,000 23,618,990 12,155,210 FILINVEST LAND 0.96 0.97 0.98 0.98 0.96 0.96 1,003,000 969,930 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 8.8 8.82 8.82 8.82 8.65 8.8 21,800 190,526 -8,810 PHIL INFRADEV 1.58 1.59 1.6 1.62 1.58 1.59 2,023,000 3,218,390 23,960 KEPPEL PROP 3.66 3.98 3.48 4.59 3.48 3.98 351,000 1,476,040 0.75 0.77 0.74 0.77 0.74 0.77 98,000 74,580 5,380 CITY AND LAND 4.09 4.1 4 4.1 4 4.1 23,043,000 93,645,490 5,853,550 MEGAWORLD 0.39 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.385 0.385 100,000 41,300 PHIL ESTATES 1.66 1.67 1.58 1.67 1.54 1.67 1,166,000 1,882,640 PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND 21.6 21.7 21.6 21.7 21 21.7 10,294,000 219,647,065 42,793,210 PHIL REALTY 0.315 0.325 0.315 0.325 0.305 0.32 1,380,000 440,050 1.62 1.63 1.67 1.67 1.62 1.63 867,000 1,415,800 32,770 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.65 2.69 2.7 2.7 2.65 2.65 401,000 1,063,860 307,400 2.15 2.17 2.19 2.19 2.13 2.17 744,000 1,593,280 STA LUCIA LAND 38.65 38.8 38.05 38.8 37.55 38.8 8,773,800 336,907,430 -75,881,335 SM PRIME HLDG 4.86 4.88 4.83 4.89 4.83 4.86 252,000 1,223,220 9,700 VISTAMALLS 1.8 1.82 1.83 1.83 1.76 1.82 5,846,000 10,448,270 330,800 SUNTRUST HOME PTFC REDEV CORP 42 47.5 43.1 43.1 40.15 40.15 19,200 771,470 5 5.01 5.15 5.22 4.99 5.01 23,830,000 120,177,607 2,984,886 VISTA LAND

SERVICES ABS CBN 12.1 12.12 12.1 12.12 12.04 12.1 367,900 4,444,692 6.05 6.08 6.04 6.09 6 6.08 650,000 3,932,318 GMA NETWORK 0.435 0.455 0.465 0.465 0.435 0.435 1,720,000 759,700 MANILA BULLETIN 900 10,800 MLA BRDCASTING 11.66 12 12 12 12 12 GLOBE TELECOM 2,000 2,008 2,030 2,040 2,000 2,000 97,890 196,540,990 -104,867,440 PLDT 1,330 1,343 1,360 1,363 1,324 1,330 240,680 323,722,670 -89,922,095 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.09 0.091 0.092 0.097 0.087 0.091 2,223,520,000 204,624,190 216,000 CONVERGE 15.52 15.54 15.6 15.6 15.52 15.52 4,005,800 62,226,706 -4,234,958 5.56 5.58 5.7 5.7 5.51 5.58 110,600 618,685 -24,195 DFNN INC 7.65 7.67 7.76 7.76 7.61 7.65 21,484,000 165,256,812 7,075,274 DITO CME HLDG 1.46 1.49 1.43 1.5 1.43 1.5 26,000 38,230 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.125 0.126 0.121 0.125 0.121 0.125 4,820,000 599,880 -18,150 JACKSTONES 2.23 2.28 2.13 2.4 2.1 2.28 661,000 1,483,030 4.62 4.63 4.66 4.66 4.58 4.62 5,684,000 26,310,330 180,350 NOW CORP TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.33 0.335 0.345 0.35 0.33 0.335 18,470,000 6,233,550 3,450 3.24 3.25 3.41 3.45 3.23 3.24 3,045,000 10,167,550 180,830 PHILWEB 9 9.04 8.98 9.2 8.98 9 81,400 734,779 -54,789 2GO GROUP 15.4 15.6 15.4 15.6 15.4 15.6 400,600 6,249,300 -6,230,640 ASIAN TERMINALS CHELSEA 5.39 5.4 5.44 5.44 5.3 5.39 2,510,900 13,485,406 -1,650,312 CEBU AIR 50.2 50.3 50 50.95 50 50.2 338,380 17,064,404 -1,615,102 INTL CONTAINER 122.8 123 123.6 125 122.3 123 1,835,310 227,631,378 -54,011,587 LBC EXPRESS 15.84 16.28 16 16.28 15.84 15.84 10,700 170,272 16,000 0.99 1.01 1.02 1.02 0.98 1 183,000 182,580 LORENZO SHIPPNG 7.69 7.7 7.87 7.87 7.5 7.7 8,049,800 61,719,286 2,251,059 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 2.25 2.26 2.18 2.27 2.15 2.25 2,600,000 5,794,350 METROALLIANCE B 2.21 2.25 2.16 2.25 2.15 2.25 17,000 36,930 7.14 7.15 7.2 7.2 7.13 7.14 38,800 277,722 PAL HLDG 1.73 1.74 1.69 1.73 1.69 1.73 3,929,000 6,742,430 34,000 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.41 1.5 1.53 1.53 1.5 1.5 56,000 85,440 0.043 0.044 0.045 0.045 0.042 0.044 149,800,000 6,487,400 281,500 BOULEVARD HLDG 2.25 2.34 2.35 2.4 2.25 2.25 81,000 191,900 DISCOVERY WORLD 0.65 0.66 0.65 0.68 0.65 0.66 20,119,000 13,352,640 -29,700 WATERFRONT 9.5 9.74 9.5 9.51 9.5 9.5 3,600 34,214 17,100 IPEOPLE STI HLDG 0.49 0.495 0.465 0.49 0.455 0.49 21,370,000 10,244,300 82,200 BERJAYA 5.33 5.42 5.51 5.79 5.2 5.42 2,433,800 13,317,262 8.66 8.7 8.68 8.7 8.45 8.7 2,685,800 23,222,377 -6,644,506 BLOOMBERRY 2.38 2.4 2.2 2.54 2.18 2.39 2,095,000 5,101,490 -55,950 PACIFIC ONLINE 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.01 2.11 1,142,000 2,390,130 -10,630 LEISURE AND RES 2.4 2.45 2.41 2.41 2.38 2.39 604,000 1,444,020 MANILA JOCKEY 3.08 3.09 3.13 3.23 3.05 3.08 15,942,000 49,500,640 -1,639,350 PH RESORTS GRP PREMIUM LEISURE 0.47 0.475 0.455 0.475 0.445 0.47 53,960,000 25,063,150 336,950 PHIL RACING 6.8 7 6.9 7 6.9 7 12,900 89,337 -3,470 ALLHOME 8.79 8.8 8.8 8.8 8.72 8.8 1,322,100 11,621,741 9,263,575 1.7 1.71 1.68 1.71 1.67 1.7 1,830,000 3,095,130 METRO RETAIL 41.5 41.55 41.4 42 41.4 41.55 3,137,800 130,554,410 -21,888,495 PUREGOLD 66.8 67 66.2 67 66.2 67 507,000 33,961,787 20,826,704.50 ROBINSONS RTL 123.4 123.5 119.9 123.5 119 123.4 63,130 7,712,473 1,280,349 PHIL SEVEN CORP SSI GROUP 1.71 1.72 1.73 1.73 1.69 1.72 5,285,000 9,011,980 264,650 WILCON DEPOT 17.3 17.36 17.4 17.4 17.2 17.3 607,600 10,503,578 -7,881,362.00 APC GROUP 0.475 0.48 0.45 0.48 0.45 0.475 5,080,000 2,355,650 37,600 EASYCALL 8.33 8.5 8.26 8.93 8.26 8.61 528,400 4,485,827 450 459.8 450 450 450 450 250 112,500 GOLDEN BRIA 4.84 4.89 4.8 4.89 4.8 4.89 4,000 19,370 IPM HLDG 2.36 2.41 2.36 2.36 2.36 2.36 3,000 7,080 PAXYS PRMIERE HORIZON 1.16 1.17 1 1.2 1 1.17 307,708,000 342,114,800 14,804,190 SBS PHIL CORP 6.49 6.5 6.2 6.49 6.1 6.49 56,800 352,115 -74,480

MINING & OIL ATOK 9.01 9.1 9.97 9.97 9 9.01 1,042,100 9,513,681 37,800 1.78 1.79 1.76 1.82 1.76 1.79 4,742,000 8,508,170 44,850 APEX MINING 0.0028 0.0029 0.0032 0.0034 0.0026 0.0028 109,812,000,000 330,159,900 1,589,800 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 6.6 6.63 6.48 6.63 6.47 6.6 226,100 1,481,257 95,750 BENGUET A 3.05 3.13 3.13 3.13 3.03 3.13 57,000 174,040 2.9 3.1 - - - - - - BENGUET B 0.32 0.325 0.32 0.325 0.32 0.32 1,430,000 457,650 COAL ASIA HLDG 2.5 2.51 2.51 2.52 2.49 2.52 233,000 583,330 374,820 CENTURY PEAK 8.3 8.34 8.4 8.4 8.26 8.34 7,300 60,919 DIZON MINES 2.67 2.68 2.69 2.7 2.63 2.67 6,567,000 17,545,960 1,006,230 FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE 0.285 0.295 0.29 0.295 0.285 0.295 660,000 189,050 0.158 0.16 0.155 0.161 0.151 0.16 74,900,000 11,768,480 LEPANTO A 0.157 0.16 0.154 0.16 0.154 0.16 3,060,000 486,380 71,760 LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.01 0.011 245,400,000 2,585,900 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 51,100,000 578,700 MANILA MINING B 1.57 1.58 1.49 1.58 1.45 1.57 3,642,000 5,519,200 172,780 MARCVENTURES 3.19 3.22 3.29 3.48 3.19 3.19 679,000 2,214,230 -57,010 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 5.2 5.21 5.25 5.25 5.16 5.2 5,973,600 31,029,560 9,616,912 OMICO CORP 0.39 0.41 0.41 0.42 0.39 0.39 1,800,000 730,550 0.83 0.85 0.81 0.85 0.79 0.84 2,228,000 1,832,850 ORNTL PENINSULA 5.08 5.09 4.92 5.09 4.89 5.09 2,947,000 14,750,700 688,950 PX MINING 14.8 14.82 14.2 14.88 14.18 14.82 4,882,300 71,747,170 19,606,482 SEMIRARA MINING 0.0068 0.007 0.0072 0.0072 0.0065 0.007 129,000,000 902,200 21,300 UNITED PARAGON 12.08 12.1 11.28 12.5 11.2 12.08 1,230,400 14,696,800 -2,345,000 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.014 0.014 0.012 0.013 1,086,700,000 14,191,000 0.012 0.013 0.014 0.014 0.012 0.013 2,018,100,000 26,234,400 ORNTL PETROL B 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 241,600,000 2,692,700 -248,900 PHILODRILL PXP ENERGY 12.82 12.88 12.8 12.88 12.74 12.88 607,000 7,778,888 85,620

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 100.1 101 101 101 101 101 30 3,030 512 515 515 515 515 515 50 25,750 AC PREF B1 511 515 505 511 505 511 53,670 27,211,320 AC PREF B2R 100.7 102.3 100.5 100.5 100.5 100.5 1,000 100,500 DD PREF FPH PREF C 500 550 550 550 550 550 20 11,000 505 506 506 506 506 506 16,050 8,121,300 GLO PREF P 1,018 1,020 1,010 1,015 1,010 1,015 1,000 1,012,500 GTCAP PREF A 1,029 1,037 1,029 1,038 1,029 1,038 1,560 1,605,780 GTCAP PREF B 100.8 101.6 100.6 101.7 100.2 101.7 50,000 5,071,083 MWIDE PREF 99.1 99.8 99.1 99.1 99.1 99.1 1,050 104,055 MWIDE PREF 2B 100 100.4 100.2 100.5 100 100.5 780 78,150 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B 102.6 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 103.5 290 30,015 999 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 6,220 6,220,000 PNX PREF 4 1,005 1,029 1,029 1,029 1,029 1,029 5 5,145 PCOR PREF 2B 1,060 1,072 1,060 1,072 1,060 1,072 12,820 13,620,400 PCOR PREF 3A 1,080 1,118 1,119 1,119 1,080 1,080 110 119,190 PCOR PREF 3B 77.3 78.15 78.1 78.1 77.05 77.05 37,700 2,933,115.50 SMC PREF 2C 75.75 77.8 77 77 77 77 8,860 682,220 SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F 77.15 78 78 78 77.1 77.1 56,330 4,349,550 75.15 76 76 76 76 76 10 760 760 SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H 75.65 76 76 76 75.65 75.65 21,850 1,652,970 76.8 78.9 79 79 77.5 77.5 34,400 2,701,400 SMC PREF 2I 75.5 76 75.5 75.5 75.3 75.3 300 22,594 SMC PREF 2J 75.05 75.5 76 76 75 75 11,200 844,448.50 -495,944 SMC PREF 2K

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 12.1 12.48 12.04 12.4 12.04 12.4 11,000 132,800 5.83 5.88 5.8 5.86 5.8 5.85 450,500 2,628,090 698,500 GMA HLDG PDR

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 1.18 1.19 1.26 1.26 1.15 1.18 811,000 956,490

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 14.66 14.7 14.78 14.98 14.52 14.66 213,500 3,134,004 -268,456 3.26 3.27 3 3.3 2.99 3.26 19,695,000 62,939,510 -1,613,260 ITALPINAS 7.08 7.1 6.94 7.19 6.71 7.08 348,000 2,431,621 KEPWEALTH 5.8 5.81 5.9 5.95 5.7 5.81 23,429,300 136,518,504 1,282,671 MERRYMART

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 110.1 110.2 109.5 110.1 108.7 110.1 18,230 1,998,288 255,734

www.businessmirror.com.ph

SEC warns public against investing in Cubebit PHL

T

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

HE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against investing in Cubebit Philippines as its operations were flagged by the agency as a possible Ponzi scheme.

In its advisory, the SEC noted that the organization uses the name Cubeit 2.0, Cubeit and Cubeit Philippines and operates the website www. cubeit.io. The agency said the company is operating without a necessary license and appears to be running a scam.

The agency said Cubeit is operated by its new CEO and co-founder Konstantin Janke together with former CEO Paul Schwartz, global ambassador Romel Gumiran, chief global advisor Dave Baguyo, and founding members Sherman Sager,

Allan Tad-Y, Joe Bedore and Jojo Tan, among others.

“Similar to the modus of other entities already flagged by the commission as scams, Cubebit 2.0 claims to provide the most profitable and secured platform for users to grow digital assets and passive income online through its extensive ecosystem which includes the Cube Shop, Cube Academy, Cpay, I-Play, Adcube or its crowdfunding and referral system program, Cubex online trading platform, Cubot automated cryptocurrency

trading program, and the sale or initial coin offering of its Cubecoin token (CUB),” the agency said.

The group’s actual compensation plan and money-making scheme focuses primarily on its supposed trading and crowdfunding programs which offers memberships to its Lite Account for €49.00 or almost P3,000 per account, and its Elite Account for €299.00 or almost P17,500 per account, with corresponding referral, binary, uni-level bonuses and leadership ranking incentives, which the SEC said “seems to be too good to be true.”

Cubebit 2.0’s minimum subscription fee is €100.00 or at least P5,800 with a guaranteed daily profit ranging from 0.80 percent to 2.5 percent for 180 days, or a total of 144 percent to 450 percent increase in revenue after the said period, with an additional income of 5 percent based on the amount of every added investment made by the user or subscriptions placed by direct referrals.

“Accordingly, the public is again

warned of such possible Ponzi scheme offering high-yielding investments online. Please note that the Securities Regulation Code requires that said offer and sale of securities must be duly registered with the Commission and that the concerned corporation and/or its agents have appropriate registration and/or license to sell such securities to the public,” it said.

The SEC added that aside from the company not being registered with the agency, it is also not allowed to operate a crowdfunding intermediary or a funding portal.

“Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of such unauthorized entities like Paul Hermosa, Andrew Castillo, Rowel Raňa And Ellanor Macaballug in selling or convincing people to invest in their investment scheme offered including solicitations and recruitment through the internet may likewise be criminally prosecuted and penalized with a maximum fine of P5 million, or a penalty of 21 years of imprisonment or both.”

Davao Light to retain ISO certification

By Manuel T. Cayon Mindanao Bureau Chief @awimailbox

D

AVAO City—Davao Light and Power Co. Inc., an AboitizPower subsidiary, will likely retain its international standard certification following a 5-day audit by Cologne, Germanyheadquartered evaluator for the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO. Davao Light attained its re-certification for the ISO 9001:2015 or the Quality Management System (QMS) and passed the surveillance audit for ISO 45001:2018 - Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Management System and ISO 14001:2015—Environmental Management (EM) System as part of maintaining the quality service that it provides to the customers it serves, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The evaluation was conducted by TÜV Rheinland (TÜVR), an internationally accredited certification body that audits the compliance of an organization with international standards. It recently released an official report recommending Davao Light to remain ISO Certified after the 5-day audit.

In the report, the TÜVR noted zero major non-conformance and validated that all the requirements of the three certifications were met.

“Davao Light will continue to embrace the Integrated Management System to manage our company better. By advancing business and communities, we will continue to be a leading partner

on the road to progress essential to the development of the communities where we serve,” said Davao Light President and COO Rodger S. Velasco.

Davao Light first received its QMS Certification in 2018. Meanwhile, certifications for OHS and EM Systems were received in 2019.

Control center

HEDCOR, another AboitizPower subsidiary, recently inaugurated the group’s first Regional Control Center, which connects to Hedcor’s 5 hydro-electric facilities in Davao City and its four hydro facilities in Davao del Sur. This center allows all 9 plants across Southern Mindanao to be operated remotely from a single control room.

Rolando Pacquiao, Hedcor vice president for operations, told the virtual inauguration that idea was first brought up in 2011, which eventually led to the automation of Talomo 3 Hydroelectric plant in 2013 and Talomo 2 Hydroelectric plant in 2014. The two plants located in Davao City are some of Hedcor’s oldest manuallyoperated plants, originally constructed in the 1950s, Hedcor said.

“This is actually our first milestone which gave us the confidence that we could do it moving forward,” Pacquiao said.

Following the automation of five plants across the Talomo grid in 2019, Hedcor started moving towards integrating its operations with the newer Sibulan-Tudaya Hydroelectric plants in Davao del Sur in 2020.

Continental aims to triple returns with new CEO

C

ONTINENTAL AG seeks to grow faster than its automotive peers and roughly triple profitability as Europe’s second-largest maker of vehicle parts pushes through a deep restructuring under new Chief Executive Officer Nikolai Setzer.

Continental is targeting an 8-percent to 11-percent adjusted earnings before interest and taxes margin in the medium term, the German manufacturer said Wednesday, up from its forecast for about 3 percent this year. It may buy companies, sell businesses and strike partnerships to achieve its goals.

“We will focus on our growth areas and future technologies with even more intensity and resources,” Setzer said in a statement. “We will ensure that those products that have already established leading positions in a saturated market environment will remain profitable.”

Continental is under pressure to change as the automotive industry shifts toward electric vehicles, which require fewer parts than gasoline and diesel-powered cars. Setzer, who joined Continental in 1997, was already on the management board under predecessor Elmar Degenhart,

who sketched out an overhaul plan that includes shifting or eliminating as many as 30,000 jobs.

Continental said it’s planning to double down on the growing sectors of vehicle software, highperformance computers for cars, connected and autonomous driving, digital services for fleet and industrial clients and its tires and ContiTech businesses.

Continental rose as much as 5.5 percent in early Frankfurt trading, valuing the company at about 24 billion euros ($29 billion). That’s much less than the 37.5 billion euros the company aims to generate in sales this year.

The manufacturer said it will spin off its powertrain unit Vitesco next year. The move may help restore investor confidence that Continental can push through structural changes and focus on areas that are key for the industry’s shift toward electric mobility. Last month, Continental had said it expects its profitability to shrink for the fourth time in the last five years. It had earlier predicted a margin of 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent but withdrew that forecast in April, citing the Covid-19 pandemic. Bloomberg News

The Regional Control Center allows centralized real-time data monitoring and sends notifications to management to help them stay on top of plant

MUTUAL FUNDS

operations, Hedcor said. It also features operations and reliability dashboards for performance tracking and outage analysis.

December 16, 2020

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 229.48 -9.51% -7.54% -0.85% -8.88% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.3367 -4.69% -6.03% 2.97% -3.28% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 3.1883 -14% -11.15% -2.21% -13.32% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.8215 - 9.17% -6.75% N.A. -8.52% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.7675 -10.45% N.A. N.A. -9.63% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.0133 -6.57% -5.59% -0.55% -5.91% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,4 0.772 -10.35% -7.7% N.A. -9.56% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 100.57 -3.93% N.A. N.A. -2.57% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 47.4519 -8.24% -5.14% 0.95% -7.47% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 493.55 -8.07% -5.26% 0.08% -7.36% PHILEQUITY ALPHA ONE FUND, INC. -A,D,5 1.1059 10.52% N.A. N.A. 7.36% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.1806 -9.04% -5.32% 0.62% -8.26% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 35.0617 -8.25% -4.89% 1.32% -7.48% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.9228 -10.38% N.A. N.A. -9.36% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 4.8527 -7.87% -4.72% 1.73% -7.1% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 811.64 -7.64% -4.61% 1.66% -6.92% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.7351 -14.54% -8.36% -2.46% -13.66% -6.75% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 3.6709 -13.34% -0.16% -12.79% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.9292 -7.89% -4.93% 1.5% -7.15% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.3564 -8.79% -4.24% 1.84% -8.12% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C 108.959 -7.53% -4.35% 2.44% -6.84% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $1.1837 17.28% 2.56% 6.48% 15.1% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.6386 21.51% 9.37% N.A. 18.85% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.6759 7.22% -3.21% -0.2% 7.24% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.3015 4.79% -1.94% 1.86% 5.52% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.6517 0.43% -1.23% -0.03% 0.77% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN F.O.C.C.U.S. DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A,1 0.2003 -13.51% N.A. N.A. -12.34% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.9773 0.48% 0.1% 2.35% 0.8% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.8063 0.2% -0.6% 1.74% 0.45% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 17.019 0.05% -0.71% 1.63% 0.34% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.103 -1.34% -1.93% 1.33% -0.9% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.6003 -7.04% -3.17% 0.47% -6.81% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D 1.0271 0.71% N.A. N.A. 1.12% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D 0.9601 -4.17% N.A. N.A. -3.64% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D 0.9442 -5.49% N.A. N.A. -4.93% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.8983 -8.06% -3.76% -0.26% -7.85% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES 2.36% 2.61% 1.98% 2.2% COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. - $0.03904 PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -B $1.1383 12.44% 2.99% 5.66% 12.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $4.4415 15.3% 7.01% 7.67% 13.57% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A,3 $1.192 6.53% 3.34% N.A. 5.61% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 370.39 3.73% 3.23% 2.82% 3.48% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A 1.8992 -0.01% 0.19% 0.05% -0.15% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 3.2119 3.31% 4.53% 4.83% 3.01% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.294 3.34% 2.89% 2.49% 3.18% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.4519 4.14% 3.45% 2.16% 3.93% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 4.6297 6.17% 4.6% 3.19% 5.87% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A,6 1.3189 5.17% 4.45% 2.62% 4.95% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A

3.9785 5.89% 4.47% 3.17% 5.02% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 1.0376 8.07% 4.05% 2.54% 7.6% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.1982 4.39% 4.78% 3.77% 3.99% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A 1.7498 3.3% 4.1% 3.23% 2.86% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $483.25 3.35% 2.74% 2.98% 3.18% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є219.05 -0.29% 0.75% 1.22% -0.34% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.2712 5.48% 3.88% 3.06% 5.3% 2.71% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0265 2.71% 1.96% 1.83% PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -B $1.0908 -0.21% 0.39% 0.6% -0.26% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.5269 5.31% 3.96% 3.73% 5.13% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.0623018 3.31% 2.77% 2.38% 3.32% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $3.2032 1.08% 2.06% 2.49% 0.88% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 129.72 3.27% 3.35% 2.57% 3.09% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.0476 1.72% N.A. N.A. 2.08% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.2956 2.6% 2.99% 2.61% 2.42% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.052 1.51% 1.74% N.A. 1.32% FEEDER FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD EQUITY INDEX FEEDER FUND, INC. -A,D,7 1.1092 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM GLOBAL MULTI-ASSET INCOME FUND INC. -B,D,2 $0.98 -1.01% N.A. N.A. -1.01%

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."

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

B3 Thursday, December 17, 2020

NEW ENVOY Ambassador-designate Kazuhiko Koshikawa presented his credentials to PresiDIPLOMAT DECORATED President Rodrigo Duterte recently conferred the Order of Sikatuna to Ambassador Han Dong-man of South Korea during his farewell courtesy call in Malacañang. Han is capping off his tour of duty in the Philippines, which he described as his “second home.”

dent Duterte as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Japan to the Philippines on December 14. Koshikawa stated he would endeavor to increase bilateral trade and investment, as well as promote cooperation on infrastructure development, disaster-risk reduction, medical and health sectors, agriculture, and the Mindanao peace process—including peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. EMBASSY OF JAPAN

Former envoy, DFA personnel headline Presidential Awards

www.businessmirror.com.ph

COOPERATION BOLSTERED Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana (left) and Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. (right) met with visiting United States’s Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller on December 8. The senior officials renewed each side’s commitment to the alliance while continuing discussions to further strengthen their defense and security cooperation. The Filipino secretaries also expressed appreciation for the continued support of the US government for the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s modernization program. DFA

DFA’s ‘legal heavyweight’ named new envoy to the Netherlands

S

IX personnel from the Foreign Affairs Department were honored with the Gawad Mabini and the Order of Sikatuna—the Presidential awards for exemplary service to the Filipino people and nation.

On behalf of President Duterte, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. on December 11 conferred the awards on the following: Bernardita L. Catalla, ambassador to Lebanon: Order of Sikatuna, with the Rank of Datu, Gold Distinction. She was conferred posthumously for her work in defending rights of Filipino workers. As consul general to Hong Kong between 2014 and 2017, Catalla actively sided with rights groups in the fight to ban domestic workers from cleaning windows in high-rise buildings, which previously resulted in several deaths.

The Hong Kong government eventually introduced the ban in 2016.

(Related story in the BusinessMirror: “Ambassador Catalla: An OFW champion, ‘rock-star’ diplomat.”

April 18, 2020.)

Months before her passing, she spearheaded the voluntary mass-repatriation program of the Philippine Embassy in Beirut. With distinction, Catalla served in the foreign service for 27 years. In April 2020, she succumbed to complications from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) at a hospital in Beirut.

Jose Santiago L. Sta. Romana, ambassador to China: Gawad Mabini, with the Rank of Dakilang Kamanong. whose work enabled productive relations between the Philippines and China despite challenges. Before becoming a diplomat, Sta. Romana

was a decorated veteran journalist who had been covering China for 30 years. His deep understanding of the Asian superpower and its people contributed to greater understanding between the two countries, which led to more stable political relations, while the signing of several key economic agreements made the Philippines as China’s second-biggest trading partner in 2019.

Iric C. Arribas, career minister, Office of Migrant Workers Affairs: Gawad Mabini, with the Rank of Dakilang Kasugo or Commander.

He spearheaded the repatriation program for thousands of stranded Filipino workers from Saudi Arabia.

Arribas also led the collaboration with several government agencies to start the “Job Fair sa DFA”—an initiative to help displaced overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) find work in the country.

Arnaldo C. Mahor, foreign service staff officer IV, Office of Migrant Workers Affairs: Gawad Mabini, with the Rank of Kasugo or Member, who, time and again, has shown dedication to assisting nationals in distress.

He volunteered to join the Rapid Response Team which repatriated Filipinos with expired visas during the amnesty period in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Again, he joined the RRT which brought home more than 7,000 OFWs stranded in Tripoli during the crisis.

SECRETARY of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. (center) and Undersecretary for Administration J. Eduardo Malaya (fourth from left), with individual honorees and representatives of the recipients of the Gawad Mabini and Order of Sikatuna DFA

Mahor’s initiatives also led to the improvement of the Assistance-ToNationals services of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs. These included the Assistance to Nationals Shared Information Administration, which increased the Department of Foreign Affairs’ capacity to absorb and handle requests for assistance from Filipinos throughout Saudi Arabia and beyond. His development of a system allowed the disbursement of more than P159 million to 58,680 cases involving repatriation, medical and welfare assistance, as well as other activities supportive of OFWs in Saudi Arabia; Sanny Darren B. Bejarin and Mark Anthony Z. Geguera, foreign-service staff members employee II, Philippine consulate general in Shanghai: Gawad Mabini, with Rank of Kasugo or Member for volunteering to head to Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province when it was considered the epicenter of the Covid-19 contagion in January 2020. They led the evacuation of hundreds of Filipinos—including undocumented ones, negotiating with local authorities for their exit visas and flight clearances amid a pandemic and one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. “[The orders express the highest honor and the deepest gratitude our

republic] can give to civil servants in the foreign service,” Locsin remarked as he paid tribute to the awardees.

“The president, bearing the mandate of the Filipino people, confers these honors on our colleagues on behalf of a nation grateful for the sacrifices of these exemplary civil servants.”

The Order of Sikatuna is an order of diplomatic merit conferred upon individuals who have rendered exceptional and meritorious services to the Republic of the Philippines.

Established by former president Elpidio R. Quirino, it is one of the three senior honors of the Philippines, along with the Philippine Legion of Honor and the Order of Lakandula.

Named after Apolinario Mabini, the first secretary of foreign affairs in the First Republic of the Philippines, the Gawad Mabini is conferred on Filipinos who have rendered distinguished foreign service, or helped promote the interests and prestige of the Philippines abroad. The ceremony, traditionally held every July 22—the birthdate of Mabini—was postponed this year due to the pandemic.

The 2020 awardees joined luminaries in Philippine foreign service with the same distinction, such as diplomat Leon Ma. Guerrero III, former vice president Salvador H. Laurel, and statesman Carlos P. Romulo.

Japan, OPAPP, UNDP open joint peace, security stations in Cotabato

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IKIT, COTABATO—The Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines recently turned over the Joint Peace and Security Teams (JPST) stations in this municipality to the Joint Peace and Security Committee (JPSC) as part of the collective multistakeholder efforts to maintain peace and stability in the area.

Serving as the barracks and the command posts, the JPSTs, as 30-men operating units, are composed of contingents from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s (MILF)-Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces that have trained together to maintain transitional security in areas mutually selected by the government of the Philippines (GPH) and the MILF to aid the interim period of the peace process in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in

Muslim MIndanao (BARMM).

“They [ stations] can provide security for communities. In particular, they can engage communities and local residents in a way that any one of the participating entities could not do so on their own,” said UNDP Philippines’s Resident Representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran in his opening remarks. “The impact of [the pandemic] in BARMM has led to heightened insecurity in some areas.

The JPSTs will have a key role in keeping the peace in these communities, [while] preventing further displacement and dislocation.”

On behalf of the JPSC, MILF Co-chairman and Deputy Minister Von al Haq accepted the newly built JPST Station. The turnover ceremony also included the ceremonial activation of the field deployment of the three JPSTs in Pikit, namely: Teams Pikit, Independent Decommissioning Body 2 and IDB 3. The latter two will be supporting the movement activities of the IDB in the decommissioning of MILF combatants and their weapons

targeted by the first quarter of 2021.

In his message to the 90 members of the three JPSTs, Undersecretary David Diciano, who is the chairman of the GPH Peace Implementing Panel and head of the Joint Normalization Division of the OPAPP, reiterated that “we are all here because of our endeavor to achieve sustainable peace in Mindanao—a goal that seemed impossible before, but is now in our reach. But we have to remember that this joint endeavor can only be achieved if we work together.” The government of Japan has been a steadfast supporter of OPAPP for the attainment of sustainable development and lasting peace in the island-region, and a committed development partner of UNDP. The Embassy of Japan’s First Secretary Yosuke Tamabayashi noted that “[my country] recognizes the importance of stability in Mindanao, and has cooperated for [its normalization process and socioeconomic development. The Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA, through the

Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development or J-BIRD], continues to implement the Upland Rice Farming Technology livelihood project in Camp Abubakar, Maguindanao.”

Tamabayashi added, “We have also advanced the vocational-training project of the Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) center in Marawi City, Sultan Kudarat and Basilan.

[Likewise, we have cooperated capacity development for BARMM].”

The construction of the JPSTs is supported and implemented through the OPAPP-UNDP “Support to Peacebuilding and Normalization” project, as well as the Japan-UNDP “Assistance for the Normalization Process of Decommissioning of MILF Combatants and for Security Enforcement in the Peace Process” effort. The station in Pikit is the first of eight field units set up across seven provinces in Mindanao under these two initiatives.

The remaining seven stations are targeted for completion until March 2021.

SENATOR Vicente C. Sotto III (left) swears in Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Administration J. Eduardo Malaya as new Philippine ambassador to the Netherlands.

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HE Commission on Appointments (C A) confirmed on December 9 the nomination of J. Eduardo Malaya as the country’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Malaya is currently the foreign affairs undersecretary for administration, and was Philippine ambassador to Malaysia from 2011 to 2017.

Endorsing the undersecretary’s nomination to the CA plenary, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, chairman on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, cited the innovative administrative measures Malaya introduced under the direction of Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., notably ensuring proper staffing of consular-heavy and hardshipladen embassies as well as consulates general in the Middle East and Africa.

Malaya informed the CA that 2021 is set to be a milestone year in the relations between the Philippines and the Netherlands, as the two countries will mark the 70th anniversary of their bilateral relations.

“A full calendar of commemorative activities is being mapped out,” he said. “I met Dutch Ambassador to the Philippines Saskia de Lang a few days ago. Too excited about 2021, she asked that our embassies work closely to make the commemoration substantive and meaningful.”

“As a diplomat-lawyer, I am also excited to be assigned to the reputed ‘legal capital of the world,’ where the International Court of Justice and other international legal organizations are based,” Malaya explained. “In particular, I am looking forward to working closely with The Hague Conference on Private International Law, where one can learn more about the ‘best practices’ in various legal fields, such as in expeditious court procedures, evidence-taking in civil cases, [as well as] custody and maintenance of support for children, and see if these may be suitable for adoption in our country.”

Malaya’s commendable service as chairman of the Department of Foreign Affairs’s (DFA) Epidemic Response Committee, the measures of which minimized the pandemic’s infection rate among foreign affairs as well as foreignservice personnel and clientele.

On behalf of the offices he had led previously, the ambassadorundersecretary received the “DFA Best Organization Award” thrice: the Office of Treaties and Legal Affairs in 2011 and 2018, as well as the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in 2012—considered a feat unsurpassed in the DFA. As the DFA’s resident authority on treaty law and practice, Malaya has served twice as assistant secretary for Treaties and Legal Affairs (2009 to 2011 and 2017 to 2019). He has written two books on the subject: Treaties: Guidance on Practice and Procedure and Philippine Treaties Index 1946-2010. He is also the main author, co-author and editor of six other books. The diplomat likewise is the vice president of the Philippine Society of International Law, and a member of the Board of Editorial Advisers of the Philippine Yearbook of International Law. Earlier, The Hague-based The Diplomat Magazine welcomed Malaya’s nomination in its November 1 issue, calling him “a legal heavyweight.” (Editor’s note: The treaties-law expert was also instrumental in crafting the mechanics of the BusinessMirror’s Envoys&Expats Awards.)

Earlier in the day, Malaya’s nomination was recommended for CA approval by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile, the ad interim appointment of Ricarte Belisario Abejuella III as foreign service officer-Class 1 was likewise approved by the CA during its plenary session.

Malaya was an honor graduate of economics and law (Juris Doctor) from the University of the Philippines. He is married to obstetrician-gynecologist Rena Cristina Koa-Malaya, MD, and they have three children: Mark Edward, Jana Ariana and Adrian Edward.

TheBroa

Business

B4 Thursday, December 17, 2020 • www.businessmirror.com.ph

Entrepreneurs seek to sustain spir O

By Rizal Raoul Reyes

@brownindio

N a long train ride inside a dark tunnel, it’s best to have entrepreneurs as fellow passengers: they always hope to see the light at the end.

Hope is what many implementers of social enterprises latch on as the lockdown measures against the Covid-19 pandemic have brought the economy on a downhill journey.

The economic and health crises has impinged on attempts to make development more inclusive; a slogan harped on since nations upheld the Millenium Development Goals (MDG).

Three years ago, Marife M. Ballesteros and Gilberto M. Llanto of the Philippine Institute on Development Studies (PIDS) have noted a resurgence of social enterprises, which some pundits also call as “capitalists with a heart.”

Three years, hence, Ashoka Philippines Country Director Abigail Mapúa-Cabanilla echoed the importance of social enterprises as the country still seeks solutions to address social inequalities that were further brought to fore by the crises.

“We remain to have the highest inequality rate in the Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] region with 22 million Filipinos living below the poverty line,” Mapúa-Cabanilla told the BusinessMirror.

She also noted that the country dropped three places on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2017 and grappled with a record-high inflation rate of 6.7 percent, “even more magnified by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

More active

BALLESTEROS and Llanto wrote in their PIDS paper in 2017 that “unlike traditional enterprises, social enterprises engage in for-profit activities with more active and deliberate action towards raising the quality of life of the vulnerable and marginalized communities.”

These companies also aim to profit but their business must have a social impact. According to Mapua, social enterprises also have a big opportunity to address development gaps and achieve the strategic vision set out by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In a study conducted by the British Council five years ago, the Philippines had 164,473 social enterprises, which constitute 17 percent of the 987,974 companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SESC).

Last year, the Asian Development Bank noted that social enterprises remain limited in size and scale, thus limiting its impact and profitability, due to critical gaps in the ecosystem infrastructure in the country like access to capital, innovative financial mechanisms to unlock additional capital, ecosystem knowledge of social enterprises and data on social enterprise impact.

This echoes Ballesteros’s and Llantos’s view that the policy environment in the country is yet unresponsive to the growth of social enterprises.”

Enough room

MAYBRIDGE Financial Chairman Joey A. Bermudez, social enter prises are not a new phenomenon in the Phi lippines.

In fact, Bermudez said he had seen, several decades ago, numerous organizations striving to deliver social good in a commercially sustainable fashion.

Nevertheless, Bermudez emphasized that social enterprises are not a homogeneous lot. He noted a wide diversity among social enterprises in terms of organizational structure, business model, operating paradigm and governance.

“However, one can r ight ly say t hat socia l enter pr ise is a much tougher under ta k ing than ordinar y commercia l undertakings,” Bermudez told the BusinessMirror.

To develop and be sustainable, social enterprises need to be given enough room to grow and develop.

Moreover, social entrepreneurs should also enjoy equal opportunities to prove they can be capable themselves in a level playing field.

Bermudez also pointed out t h at reg u l at ion s shou ld not ser ve as stumbling blocks in their development.

“The last thing they need is a Magna Carta for Social Enterprises. Invariably, whenever regulation is passed to deliver a benefit to any particular sector, that benefit is far outweighed by intrusive regulation.

“Probably the only regulation that social enterprises need is one that protects them from abuse of market power by the dominant players in the supply chain,” he added.

Restaurants, responses

COUR AGE Asia President and Founder Adolf Aran Jr. told the BusinessMirror that social entrepreneurs are necessary as the Philippines is constantly challenged by crises, both man-made and natural causes.

“When the [enhanced community quarantine was imposed] last March, the economic impact on the MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises] was hard [and] deep; and it pushed them into a life-ordeath situation.”

Courage Asia is a management consulting firm, created to help businesses, particularly those in the food and beverages (F&B) and hospitality industry, in the areas of communication, operations, training and general management.

Beyond profit, Courage Asia immediately responds to the community or communities within its industry, Aran said. He added that social entrepreneurs put together material resources and manpower and even its talent to reach out to affected areas.

The barrage of crises that struck the Philippines had made social enterprises realize that it must not solely rely on government assistance, according to Aran.

“We saw campaigns with grassroots activities, ranging from ‘Sky Hydrants’ for waterless areas, soup kitchens manned by chefs and cooks and other ‘lightning’ projects spearheaded by social entrepreneurs,” Aran said. “More than the relief donations, a lot of efforts are being poured into rehabilitation and rebuilding, for these affected areas, particularly by those communities affected by typhoons Rolly and Ulysses.”

Reeling from crisis

ARAN admitted the industry currently faces a lot of uncertainties.

He fears these uncertainties would result in a lot of closures from the small-scale and medium-scale business sector, ranging from street stalls and kiosks, independent fast-casual and even fine-dining restaurants, whose clientele will start downgrading or shifting their preferences to other dining options.

“Now, you are faced with a market that’s discouraged to dine in the restaurants [and are,] instead being asked to do mostly takeout and delivery,” Aran added. “The timeline of when dine-in will go back to ‘normal’ is still a big question mark.”

To address these issues, a consortium of restaurants called upon its members to introduce schemes on how to manage the expensecutting measures and revenuegenerating activities.

Aran also revealed that some single-unit establishments were helping each other on supplier issues, and how the “ big brothers” (global multinational food c h a i ns) were prov id i ng best practices on the execution of the safety protocols, especially those who were able to immediately execute the government-mandated policies and procedures.

He said entrepreneurs reached out to its community “in the same mode that entrepreneurs strike when there’s an opportunity to create more business and when the need arises to help their fellow entrepreneurs.”

“Beyond profit, when there’s a chance to serve, its immediate community or communities within its industry, social entrepreneurs put together material resources and manpower and even its talent to reach out to affected areas,” Aran said.

Years ahead

NOTWITHSTANDING the lockdown, Aran noted that restaurant operators have found out that takeout and delivery will be the preferred direction of the industry.

“If government policies extend beyond the ‘ber’ months,” Aran said traditional players, dominated by fast food and fast casual players, will now be joined by caterers (displaced by cancelled functions and gatherings) and by new neighborhood players.

“It’s survival of the fittest, not just by all types of players, but by all delivery service providers,” he added. “Beyond GrabFood and LalaFood and Food Panda, there are new challenges that were created by opportunities borne by the crises.”

Aran said the barrage of crisis that hit the country has shown that they cannot simply rely on government and individual support.

Together with business partners, Courage Asia developed an automated online ordering system called “restobots,” which allowed their clients to install, set up this system, with zero-cost on the part of client.

“Times like these, you need to understand that the business environment needs to have enough opportunities to survive and, eventually, to thrive.”

Aran said social enterprises have realized the importance of going digital in the time of pandemic. He pointed out that digitalization is the safest, fastest and most cost efficient way, as prompted by the pandemic.

“Imagine a business implementing an online ordering system using its web site or Facebook Messenger,

Joey Bermudez

Adolf Aran Jr.

Abigail Mapúa-Cabanilla

partnering with online payment systems, collaborating with logistics delivery providers: contactless, cashless and measurable results,” Aran explained.

Since necessity is the mother of invention, Courage Asia observed that digitalization is now enabled by technology, social media and improved Internet connectivity.

Through its “Fleet of Hope” program, she said Que Rica is implementing a livelihood rehabilitation and recovery program for the local fishing communities in coastal areas in Bicol.

Que Rica, in partnership with Hayag PH, has already raised over P400,000 in relief operations and has distributed relief goods to 1,100 of families in the past couple of days.

The female Buenaflor is now pushing the envelope as Que Rica plans to go beyond relief response, and is calling on civic-minded

individuals and organizations to work together towards building back livelihoods and the ways of life, by sponsoring motorized fishing boats.

She said Que Rica is looking for ways to help these communities recover and start rehabilitating their sources of income.

“We are more than happy to paint your brand assets on the pledged boats,” she said.

Mrs. Buenaflor said they are aware that recovery for the fishermen takes a longer time and it would be a huge challenge for

Coastal areas

FOR Que Rica co-founders Rica and Carlo Buenaflor, the way to empower people in Bicol is one boat at a time.

aderLook

sMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Thursday, December 17, 2020

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rit of social enterprise amid crises society’s systems scale in terms of impact.

Scaling empowerment

ASHOKA believes socioeconomic development can only be truly sustainable if many players in the system are able to act and intervene in various aspects to push for inclusive national development, according to Mapua. In short, Ashoka needs co-leaders and cross-sector partners who will share this heavy lifting work with them, according to Mapua-Cabanilla.

“Media, in its many flavors and platforms, is a powerful tool in driving everyone a changemaker mindset and surfacing real and tangible changemaker stories with felt impact,” MapuaCabanilla said.

In line with Ashoka’s global vision of “everyone a changemaker,” Ashoka Philippines wants to focus on the goal of scaling the empowerment of every Filipino, she explained.

First, we plan to co-create inclusive economies, such as our “Women Together for a Better Normal” program, Mapua-Cabanilla said.

Second, Ashoka is co-leading a collaborative network called “BRITE,” or the “Barangay Resilience and Innovation through Empowerment” network. According to Mapua-Cabanilla, this network aims to build the capacity of community leaders to identify problems and design solutions in response to Covid-19 for their respective communities.

By equipping and empowering community leaders and their local government units (LGUs) with necessary tools and co-creating evidence-based and innovativedriven solutions with them, the BRITE network can develop greater potential for deeper and widerreaching impact for its capabilities in developing solutions that are community-led, communityspecific and community-centric.

Vadreams | Dreamstime.com

Transforming system

them to bounce back. Having a major part in the country’s supply chain, she pointed out it is high time ro help them in their time of need.

“Even before the typhoons and the pandemic, our fishermen have spent more time at sea, have gone farther out, and have caught less.

Many cannot even afford to eat what they catch. And now, because of the consecutive typhoons, they don’t have boats to fish at all,” she added

Helping fishermen

IN 2006, Que Rica donated 30 bangkas to the coastal communities in Bicol. This year, Que Rica is calling on individuals and organizations to help fund motorized fishing boats to our fishermen and their families.

In their ongoing relief operations, Mrs. Buenaf lor noticed that while distributing seedlings to farmers to restart their livelihoods, they found out that it takes one year for an abaca grower and up to two years for coconut farmers to be able to harvest what they have replanted.

Speed is the essence for a community to recover after a disaster. “ We dec ided to foc u s ou r

livelihood recover y initiative on fishermen, because for them to start feeding their families again, all they need is a boat,” she told the BusinessMirror.

“One motorized boat is typically shared by two to three families; so the sense of community and the impact in their livelihoods become a more cooperative effort,” she said.

“We’re hoping Hayag helps them jumpstart economic recovery.”

The goal is to launch a hundred boats by the end of the year, Mrs Buenaflor said.

Relying on strength

FOR Mapúa- Cabanil la, the tack is to leverage on the st reng t h of soc i a l enter pr ises to bring about systemic change in nat iona l development.

She pointed to one of the programs of Ashoka that seeks to broaden the work and scale of inclusive economies in Asean.

She added that the program supported this year about 40 Filipino women social entrepreneurs working on diverse challenge areas and offering a diversity of venture solutions, including the building of their skills, leadership and network.

Mapua said the program will continue next year to continue supporting social enterprises to deliver greater inclusion, equality and sustainability in national development.

The Arlington, Virginia-headquartered Ashoka is the first and largest network of leading social innovators in the world. Founded in 1980, Ashoka pioneered and helped establish the field of social entrepreneurship.

Right now, over 3,500 Ashoka Fellows in 93 countries are working in all fields: from health and human rights to education and the environment.

Mapua-Cabanilla said Ashoka is bent on championing the work of installing and activating an “everyone is a changemaker” mindset in each person. She said this is the goal of every country no matter what stage of development a country is in.

Individuals within groups

A N “everyone is a changemaker” (EACH) mindset is crucial in making sure all citizens are included in the conversation and plays an active role in creative problem-solving and developing

solutions with the intention of dr iv ing meaning f u l systemic change as opposed to band-aid a nd shor t- sighted solut ions, Ashoka said. An “EACH” mindset empowers ever y citizen to improve or create better systems for themselves and for others, the organization added.

“Socioeconomic development can only be truly sustainable if many players in the systems are able to act and intervene in various aspects to push for development,” Mapua-Cabanilla said.

“Furthermore, an ‘EACH’ mindset manifests not only in social entrepreneurship work and business but can very well be present with individuals within organizations and institutions.”

Furthermore, A shoka aims to form collaborative networks and spaces that convene innovators who are already tackling socioeconomic issues directly. By bringing them together, Ashoka ex pects intelligent and practical visionaries will harness their talents and energies to allow their changemaking initiatives to grow, and collaborate with one another and strive to help solutions that transform

FURTHERMORE, Ashoka is coleading and is interested in developing a group of around 30 youthserving organizations, MapuaCabanilla said. She explained this provides an avenue for leaders to discuss and collaborate towards the goal of ensuring that every young Filipino can be a problemsolver for the common good.

Finally, the Ashoka fellowship program is a vital cog to its goals.

It has recognized and supported close to 4,000 leading social entrepreneurs from over 90 countries who have practical solutions that transform society’s systems to address complex problems.

Mapua said an Ashoka Fellow receives highly-personalized support and their life-long membership to a global-peer network, which grants them increased visibility and exclusive opportunities through programs, events, platforms and partnerships that accelerate their impact.

“We have been doing this since 2013 in the Philippines and our search will continue for years to come,” Mapua said.

Mothers as entrepreneurs

ACCORDING to Bermudez, social enterprises like “Iskaparate” should be given all-out support because they fill important gaps that are left wide open by an under-resourced public sector and an irresponsible private sector.

The women entrepreneurs in Iskaparate are poor entrepreneurial mothers who try to fight poverty through honest and honorable capitalism.

Although they are in a position to invoke social inequity as an excuse sliding into mendicancy

or even engaging in criminal activities, Bermudez commends the mothers, called “Nanay,” as they opted to roll with the punches and fight.

“For their courage and entrepreneurial tenacity, they deserve the support of everyone,” Bermudez said.

T hrough Isk aparate, t he Na n ay s w i l l h ave a n on l i ne platform (www.iskaparate.com) “where they can showcase their products, tell their stories and provide their contact details.”

Moreover, the platform will transform into a full-fledged ecommerce storefront supported by digital marketing.

“By rejecting mendicancy as an option, the entrepreneurial poor are proving themselves worthy of the same adulation that our healthcare workers have gotten,” Bermudez said. “They present to us a new face of capitalism, a refreshing brand of honest and sociallyresponsible entrepreneurship.”

He added that some businessmen “can teach them a thing or two about savvy and ‘future think’ but these Nanays can teach us a thing or two about survival and courage.”

“They do not have a solid balance sheet but that’s only because accountants have not found a way to value entrepreneurial tenacity.”

A fighting chance

TO empower the mothers, Iskaparate provides them an opportunity to be discovered by a wider market. It digitally promotes the businesses of the Nanays. Moreover, the mothers are trained to be responsible digital citizens.

“It provides the ‘Nanay’ a platform for online settlement and order-taking. It gives the underestimated ‘Nanay’ a rightful presence in the global supply chain,” Bermudez said.

There are now 33 entrepreneurial mothers in the site but Iskaparate hopes to recruit thousands within the next 12 months.

Bermudez said these women will level up in time. But first, they should be given a fighting chance, he added.

He is urging experienced businessmen to mentor the women and help them connect to the right people and transform them to become digital entrepreneurs.

He said Maybridge is also inviting businessmen to fund towards recruiting more mothers to the platform.

“Thousands of ‘Nanays’ are asking to be included in the platform.

We will onboard all who hurdle our criteria but the pace at which we can do so will depend a lot on the support of the sponsor community,” Bermudez said.

Sui generis

ACCORDING to Bermudez, being misunderstood is the biggest challenge facing social enterprises.

As a sector, they are sui generis, he noted. Since the majority has a vague understanding of the dynamics of social enterprises, they find it extremely challenging to get the support they need, Bermudez added.

“When social enterprises seek external capital, they are subjected to the rigorous yardsticks applied to regular commercial enterprises.

Social good is Greek to accountants and rating agencies,” Bermudez underscored.

Further, social enterprises face herculean challenges to compete in the open market with commercial enterprises that are driven by pure financial returns. Bermudez likened this scenario to running a race and being required to take a longer route than the other participants.

B6 Thursday, December 17, 2020

Coca-Cola employees raise funds for communities this Christmas

COCA-COLA Sta Rosa associates conducted a Bayanihan Para sa Bayan outreach last November 25 in Brgy. Sto. Domingo, Laguna. Coca-Cola team was able to provide meals for 300 individuals.

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ITH the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of natural calamities affecting livelihoods and disrupting lives, a lot of Filipino families have been rendered vulnerable this year. Many are facing uncertainty this holiday season and have limited options for even simple celebrations.

Knowing that reaching out to kababayans in need was imperative, employees of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) banded together in an internal initiative called “Bayanihan Para sa Bayan” to raise funds for households in several communities.

The employee-led campaign, borne of CCBPI associates’ desire to contribute and ease the burdens of fellow Filipinos, is independently augmenting the Company’s relief efforts across the Philippines.

Guided by the values of malasakit, bayanihan, and pakikipag-kapwa— principles that are inherent to the Company and its people—Coca-Cola employees across all its sites were able to raise almost PHP 500,000 among themselves since the initiative’s launch on October 8.

“We are so proud of our own associates for pursuing this initiative,” says Atty.

Juan Lorenzo Tañada, CCBPI Director for Corporate & Regulatory Affairs. “The Company has been hard at work to help local communities; and we are proud that our associates even those with modest means, of their own volition, have themselves chosen to pitch in in their own individual capacities.”

Tañada adds, “Our people really are the secret formula of Coca-Cola.”

When Typhoon Ulysses hit the country, a portion from the Bayanihan Para sa Bayan proceeds was immediately directed to help feed about 600 individuals evacuated to the Sto. Niño Elementary School in Marikina last November 14.

Coca-Cola volunteers also immediately responded to calls for relief in Bicol— Naga Plant and Legazpi distribution center employees provided meals and distributed relief packs to 600 families in three barangay communities that were severely affected by Typhoon Ulysses.

Bayanihan Para sa Bayan has reached over 6,000 individuals across the Philippines in 14 cities and municipalities:

Marikina, Bagumbayan, Malabon, Sta. Rosa, Imus, Lucena, Naga, Legazpi, San Fernando, Carlatan, Ilagan, Tagbilaran, Tacloban, and Zamboanga. Activities will continue to run throughout December.

CCBPI employees consider Bayanihan Para sa Bayan as a tangible embodiment of Coca-Cola’s People First principle, which sees generosity of spirit extending to local communities.

“Everyone at Coca-Cola wants to give back to the communities we serve.

One of the goals with Bayanihan Para sa Bayan is to highlight the true essence of Christmas, which is to be there for one another especially during times of hardship,” says Atty. Tañada. “We want to share happiness in any way that we can, and we want our fellow Filipinos to be confident that our Company and our employees truly care for their well-being.”

Christmas celebrations may take on different meanings and forms for many Filipino families in 2020 — but Coca-Cola and its people are working hard to ensure that the spirit of the holidays can endure despite the many challenges we face.

Children’s book authors call for data privacy, fight against fake news

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SIGNIFICANT amount of our lives is spent online. This has been the case even before the COVID-19 pandemic started, but even more so as it rages on. We have—as much as possible—shifted our work, our classes, our doctor’s appointments, and even our social gatherings online.

Now, more than ever, it is important to know how to protect one’s personal information and how to spot real from fake information.

Looking for Juan, a Filipino online store for books and art-infused gifts, now carries two new releases from the Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS): Safe Space: A Kid’s Guide to Data Privacy and #YouThink: Fight Fake News. Both books are designed to empower children and teens as they spend many of their hours online.

Safe Space: A Kid’s Guide to Data Privacy is a 60-page activity book that introduces the concept of personal data to children ages 6 to12 and teaches them how to protect themselves. It breaks down in child-friendly language how social media and online gaming platforms work when they sign up to them, how their information can be used, and how and why they should strengthen their privacy settings. #YouThink: Fight Fake News, on the other hand, is geared for older kids, those ages 12 to 18. Presented zine style, it unpacks false information and the many forms that it may take such as misleading information, fake photos, and deepfakes. The 42-pager also discusses how context matters and even how our emotional reaction to posts can be a sign that it is fake.

The layout of #YouThink is lighthearted and entertaining.

“Explaining data privacy and fake news to children can be challenging,” says Gigo Alampay, CANVAS’ executive director and author of the books, “but we think this is important information that children and teens should know. These books

PCPPI extends hand to OFWs, takes part in livelihood program through PEPSIKAP

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EPSI-COLA Products Philippines Inc. (PCPPI)—the exclusive manufacturer of PepsiCo beverages in the Philippines—recently created a livelihood program coined as PEPSIKAP (Kabuhayan Para sa Balikbayan) to extend assistance to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who lost their jobs due to the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With PEPSIKAP, PCPPI aims to bring opportunities closer to overseas workers and their families by offering them to become community distributors or wholesalers. The program is not only for OFWs but also for the families they left here who want an additional source of income.

For as low as Php 15,000 minimum capital, the OFWs or their families can already have a PEPSIKAP starter kit package consisting of products, resources, training sessions, and financial assistance.

PCPPI also has a dedicated representative who will train and help OFW applicants on account development and management to make their business sustainable.

The company is also collaborating with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to include PEPSIKAP in their livelihood offering to returning OFWs.

“We recognize our OFWs as modernday heroes. They remain as among the strongest pillars of our economy. As a significant part of nation-building, PCPPI believes that it is right to pay it forward and help them and their families pivot and restart in this very difficult time through our PEPSIKAP program,” said Frederick D. Ong, PCPPI President and CEO. Interested OFWs, their families, and other potential distribution partners may directly link up with PCPPI to become part of PEPSIKAP via their e-commerce site, pepsiproducts.ph, call the company at 02888PEPSI (0288873334), or send an email at pepsicustomerservice@pcppi.com.ph.

Digitized application process boosts acquisition, finds the best candidates

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S part of their company-wide digital transformation strategy, global business process outsourcing (BPO) Sitel revamped its hiring process with data-driven software that allowed them to build an end-to-end digital hiring process, decrease attrition, and futureproof their talent acquisition processes.

The firm partnered with Harver, a preemployment assessment platform, that allows their recruitment teams to gather and utilize data remotely and effectively to improve both the candidate journey and the hiring process.

“The journey to revamp and improve the employee recruitment process didn’t happen overnight,” shared Ravi Iyengar, Chief Operating Officer, Sitel Philippines, India, Australia, and New Zealand. “We have been innovating digital solutions for a while now and talent acquisition is a key area of importance for our business.

Previously, candidates would apply incenter through a series of recruitment requirements that could take an entire day. That was not sustainable, and the candidate journey needed to be improved.

We also wanted to beef up the digital solutions for our recruitment team as well and allow them to work more efficiently.”

When the global pandemic hit, the

company’s desire to implement more effective virtual recruitment processes was given an added push. In the last few months, Sitel implemented online/virtual recruitment tools that efficiently boosted its hiring and onboarding rate despite the challenges of the worldwide health crisis.

The recruitment software digitized its application process and allows aspiring applicants to apply online, submit all the information needed virtually, and undergo all required screenings. While the applicant is going through the process, the software is simultaneously aggregating all the pertinent data and forwarding the information to the appropriate funnels providing the recruitment associates with the key performance indicators for each applicant. The efficient method of collecting and sorting data allows its Talent Acquisition team to be agile and make quick decisions during the hiring process.

“We are continuously looking for ways to improve our people processes,” Haidee Enriquez, Chief People Officer, Sitel Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand said. “Digitizing and utilizing datadriven software allows us to collect all the important insights needed to help our HR professionals meet their recruitment goals and find the best candidates.”

Metro Pacific spreads Christmas cheer to Batangas will help them build their skills in keeping themselves and their data safe, as well as differentiating what is fact or fake.” Alampay further asserts, “We also hope that these books can become an opportunity for children and their guardians to talk meaningfully to each other about things they see online, or things in general.”

Safe Space: A Kid’s Guide to Data Privacy has a section with pointers for teachers and parents on how to use the book. #YouThink: Fight Fake News includes letters from experts on misinformation and fake news.

Both books feature illustrations provided by Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK), and book design by Studio Dialogo. Copies of the books will be donated to the National Data Privacy Commision in support of its information and education efforts. The paper cut illustration by artist Liza Flores which serves as the book cover of Safe Space and will also be donated to the National Data Privacy Commission.

Safe Space: A Kid’s Guide to Data Privacy and #YouThink: Fight Fake News are sold at P300 each at www. lookingforjuan.com. Looking for Juan is a local online store that seeks to redefine what it means to be Filipino by offering

children’s books that are published by CANVAS and other art-infused gifts that celebrate home-grown artistry while improving functional literacy in the country. The latter is implemented through the store’s Buy 1, Donate 2 lifetime deal, where every purchase of Safe Space, #YouThink, or any book at Looking for Juan is matched by a donation to two Filipino kids in disadvantaged communities, empowering them to have a better future.

Looking for Juan’s book donations are distributed through CANVAS’ One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children Campaign. The program— with the help of partner individuals and organizations—gives books to underprivileged communities to help millions of functionally illiterate Filipino kids by increasing access to books and encouraging a love for reading to promote functional literacy, creative thinking, and independent reading skills. To date, more than 350,000 books have been given away to children in the Philippines, from Batanes to Zamboanga.

Safe Space: A Kid’s Guide to Data Privacy and #YouThink: Fight Fake News are made possible with support from Globe Telecom and Google.

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ETRO Pacific Investment Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the Manny Pangilinan Group of Companies, spread Christmas cheer and hope to households in the coastal barangays of Mabini, Batangas which were badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and typhoon Quinta. Dubbed Tuloy Pa Rin Ang Pasko, the noche buena gift-giving initiative is a partnership with the One Meralco Foundation and the Alagang Kapatid Foundation Inc. of TV5, which also reached out to affected boatmen and personnel of dive resorts which have not yet resumed operation. The Foundation also pledged seed money to the cooperative to

be organized to assist the community in its recovery efforts. Known for its world-class dive sites, Mabini town is the birthplace of the Foundation’s Shore It Up, an awardwinning program which promotes marine biodiversity conservation through coral restoration, laying of mooring buoys, underwater and coastal cleanup, community empowerment, and environmental education. In photo are AKFI volunteer Dante Ricaforte, MPIF president Melody Del Rosario, Mabini Boat Owners and Crew Association president Jun Ilagan, Resort Owners Association of Mabini president Jake Calangi, and One Meralco Foundation Program Manager Mike Del Rosario.

Editor: Anne Ruth Dela Cruz

Health&Fitness BusinessMirror

Keep children busy, give healthy gifts this Christmas, DOH says

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hat kind of activities can keep children engaged at home during the holiday season?

The Department of Health (DOH) recommends that parents carry out activities like creating or making Christmas cards, putting up Christmas decorations around the house, singing Christmas carols, storytelling, and playing pretend games with their children.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire was joined

by Dr. Victoria Nolasco of the University of the Philippines’ Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Department at a virtual media forum and recommended how Filipino families can creatively celebrate the holidays without putting anyone at risk of contracting the virus.

“A recent study published in The Journal of Pediatrics as cited in The Harvard Gazette found that children, just like adults, are silent spreaders of Covid-19 virus. Kids may even have a higher load of the virus compared to adults confined in the intensive care unit. It is hard-wired in their brains to explore, touch objects, and even put these items in their mouth which opens the risks for virus spread,” said Dr. Nolasco during the DOH virtual media forum held on December 14.

Dr. Nolasco shared that it would be safer and more prudent to virtually celebrate with relatives via video chat to minimize virus exposure.

Stay Safe If there is really a need for faceto-face gatherings, it is better to hold it in open areas with good ventilation. Locations with minimal air circulation may serve as the virus’ breeding grounds.

“Social distancing must still be observed among immediate family members who have been cooped up with the same members for the past few months. Spending the holidays with extended family members or relatives heightens the risk as these people are also bringing in exposure from their workplaces, residentia l areas where they came from, and from people they have interacted with during their commute or travel,” Dr. Nolasco explained.

W hile Filipino families are also fond of doing long-table food spreads, it is best to skip this practice this year and opt to allocate food individually.

In the same fashion, the exclusive use of utensils must also be ensured even if it is just a small family celebration.

When it comes to gift-giving, Dr. Nolasco advised that the other ways of expressing affection

beyond giving material gifts and taking them to outdoor trips is to provide children with constant love, support, and affection, and to actively listen to their needs.

“These are the factors that make a resilient and stable adult who can be successful in life in the future,” Dr. Nolasco said.

Vergeire and Dr. Nolasco encouraged families to reexamine their plans for the holiday celebrations especially since Christmas Day is just around the corner.

The DOH said it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure that the guidelines and experts’ recommendations are factored into their plans to ensure a safe holiday celebration amid the pandemic.

Christmas gift If you love your family, keep them safe and healthy. According to DOH, the perfect gifts to prevent Covid-19 transmissions include face masks and face shields.

“The number of daily new Covid-19 cases may be on the downward trend but we should not let our guards down, especially now that the holidays are upon us;” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said.

He added that even if the government is now looking at several vaccine candidates and talking to several bilateral and multilateral partners, the country is still far from being safe.

“When planning for the holiday gift-giving, think of ligtas na regalo, which gifts can make them safe. One thing we recommend are face masks which may serve as a constant reminder to the recipient to wear one,” Duque said.

Aside from face masks and face shields, healthy food and fruits, exercise gadgets/equipment that promote physical activity and help improve body resistance against diseases may also be given as holiday presents.

Moreover, DOH also encourages do-it-yourself or DIY gifts to limit in-store shopping.

“This Christmas, let us be creative by providing our loved ones with gifts that promote a healthy lifestyle or can help improve their health condition. When giving gifts to kids, always ensure that it is safe for them and check the warning label on kids’ toys. We can also give DIY gifts that will not require us to go shopping, like handmade cards, arts and crafts, or a video. Such gifts make it more personal and also keep you from going to crowded places, thus reducing the risk of acquiring or transmitting the virus. After all, a safer holiday celebration is the best gift we can give to our loved ones,” Duque concluded.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Thursday, December 17, 2020

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Pinoys start young, are top gin and beer drinkers, study says

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By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

hristmas is the season to be jolly, but these happy times can also bring risks to your health.

That is because alcohol consumption increases during this time of the year.

“Alcohol consumption is widespread during Christmas, noted Dr. Diana A. Payawal of the Philippine Society of Gastroenterology during the “Malusog na Katawan Ngayong Kapaskuhan” (Proper Alcohol Intake, Nutrition and Diet, and Medication Compliance) health forum hosted by the Philippine College of Physicians.

This was evident, she said, as the period of January to December 2020 saw the sale of alcohol rise to “millions of cases.”

Dr. Payawal also cited a study on Holiday Drinking Facts which indicated that 96 percent went to work with a hangover after a holiday party or knew someone who did. The same study said 60 percent think that alcohol makes

a party fun; 57 percent have seen people drive under the influence of alcohol; and 40 percent say they, their friends, and their family member use the holidays as an excuse to drink.

Alarming Dr. Payawal shared that during the holidays, two to three times more people die in alcohol-related crashes.

“Forty percent of traffic fatalities involve a driver who is impaired by alcohol,” she said, adding that 37 percent occurred during Christmas holiday, 58 percent on New Year’s holiday, and 31 percent during the rest of the year.

She also said that a global status report on alcohol and health by the World Health Organization in

2014 showed that alcohol drinking had become a problem.

“In Asia we are considered as one of the heaviest drinkers,” she said.

She cited that the Philippines placed third in the world when it comes to rum consumption (liters per person) and number one in Asia. The country is the top gin consumer (liters per person) in the world and 7th in Asia when it comes to beer consumption.

The Philippines also placed second in Southeast Asia when it comes to alcohol consumption.

“The prevalent rate of alcohol consumption is estimated at five million Filipino drinkers in a population of 90 million,” she said.

Starting young Dr. Payawal said that Filipinos start drinking alcohol at a very young.

In a survey, she said, it recorded that 41.4 percent of males aged 16 to 17 saw an advertisement of alcohol and 34.5 percent were female.

In the same survey, it showed that 22.6 percent of females (aged 16 to17) and 36.6 percent of males currently drink alcohol.

Meanwhile, in a study on the

percentage of alcohol consumption among students aged 13 to 15 years old “70 percent of students drank alcohol before they reached the age of 14,” a situation Dr. Payawal found very alarming.

Health risks of heavy drinkers Dr. Payawal warned that consuming large amounts of alcohol has a detrimental effect on your health like cancer (7.6 percent in men, 13.5 percent in women), unintentional injuries (25.4 percent men, 12.7 percent women) and intentional injuries (25.4 percent men, 12.7 percent women). Likewise, 7.2 percent of years of life lost prematurely are attributed to alcohol globally.

“It can also cause liver diseases like Cirrhosis of the liver,” Dr. Payawal said.

Dr. Payawal stressed that alcohol is not a normal consumer product and should have regulations because of its addictive nature.

She added that the drinking culture increases the harmful effects of alcohol consumption.

“There is no minimized limit, no safe limits of alcohol consumption,” she said. “You should always think before your drink.”

Covid-19 should not delay cancer patients’ treatment

By Rory Visco Contributor

T

he Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted many services for people living with cancer in Asia over the last several months, including cancer screening in some countries.

In the Philippines, since many hospitals were designated “Covid referral hospitals,” some patients delayed their doctor’s appointments, treatment and follow up for fear of contracting the virus. Limited access to public transportation was also a challenge, while the safety and shortage of hospital resources and their rechanneling as Covid-19 frontliners, plus the stigma and exhaustion of health-care workers became contributing factors as well for patients to avoid going to hospitals for faceto-face appointments with doctors.

Experts said that while any long-term impact on patients is not yet fully known, recent research suggests that a one-month delay in treatment can result in a six percent increase in the risk of death, further emphasizing the need for patients to get the care they require immediately.

Coalition

This is why a coalition of leading Asian oncologists recently called on patients across Asia to access cancer services without delay despite the pandemic in a webinar organized

by AstraZeneca for their campaign “New Normal, Same Cancer.” It seeks to encourage people diagnosed with cancer to resume their

treatment, and even those with possible cancer signs and symptoms or may have missed routine checks, to consult a doctor.

The coalition of oncologists came from countries such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines, which was represented by Dr. Antonio Ramos, Director of the Lung Center of the Philippines, and Dr. Frederick Ting, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Riverside Bacolod Cancer Care Center. The experts said that timely diagnosis and treatment are critical factors to determine the success of cancer treatment.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to health-care systems across Asia, including cancer services.

As countries enter a ‘new normal,’ we strongly urge cancer patients to access the right services without delay to give any treatment the best chances of success.”

Out-patient consults

For the Lung Center of the Philippines, a designated referral center for Covid-19, Dr. Ramos said the virus really impacted the hospital’s level of delivery of cancer care services. Prior to Covid-19, they used to do more than 1,000 out-patient clinic consults per month, with their out-patient chemotherapy area doing 500 chemo treatments each month.

With the lockdown, out-patient consults went down to zero because the OPD building was used for Covid-19 triage, and chemo treatments were down by 40 percent. “Patients were afraid, access was really limited for fear

of getting infected.”

After the lockdowns eased a bit, Dr. Ramos said they did about 100 consults, while chemo treatments slightly went up to 60 percent. He was grateful for the event because they could now send a message to patients to not delay their treatment because doctors are ready to take care of them again.

“I’m very glad that oncologists are actively saying what they need, particularly on having a separate area for the triaging of Covid-19 patients. The Lung Center found a way where cancer patients can be screened separately and to have a separate pathway going to the OPD chemotherapy section,” Dr. Ramos said.

Low infection rate

He said the minimum health requirements were instituted at the Lung Center and he has yet to hear about a cancer patient getting sick of Covid inside a hospital. In fact, he said Lung Center health-care workers, and even in other hospitals, have a low number of infected health-care staff.

“Right now we only have two and both were infected from the community, not the hospital. I think this emphasizes the fact that with the health protocols, the engineering modifications, and with our standard of care, we can make sure that non-Covid patients do not get Covid because they are in a separate ward,” he said.

To help protect people visiting cancer clinics, many health-care facilities have already adapted practices and put in novel solutions

to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

For many countries, telehealth has become an important part of patient services, allowing health-care professionals such as oncologists to check in with their patients and carry out remote screening without the need for the patient to leave their home.

Other solutions

In the Philippines, other solutions are already being implemented to secure a safe environment for the continued care of cancer patients, like collaborations with the local government units (LGUs) regarding the safe transport of patients with chronic diseases, guidelines from the Philippine Society of Medical Oncologists for the continued care of cancer patients during the pandemic, private sector partnerships, between Hi-Precision Diagnostic Center, QURE AI, which provides Artificial Intelligence (AI)based technology for medical imaging, and AstraZeneca Philippines, for the improvement of referral and diagnostic pathways for patients with possible lung cancers and increase lung cancer detection at an earlier stage.

There is also the National Hotline for Cancer Care and Command Center for Patient Navigation, the “ONCOnnect Gabay sa Pasyente,” an effort of AstraZeneca with the Cancer Coalition Philippines for quick access to information and linking up with health-care professionals, and “LIVNG with LUNG,” a social media platform on patient awareness, a support community which aims to inspire and give hope to cancer patients and the people living with them.

Ground meat alternative now available in the market New ‘heat-not-burn’ alternative to cigarettes unveiled

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ith futurists claiming that vegetarian food will dominate the foreseeable future, the same company that introduced the Wonder Burger, 100 percent plantbased, gluten-free, soy-free, no MSG and locally made, has now introduced Wonder Grounds.

This ground meat alternative can be your constant companion for making any dish that calls for ground meat such as pasta, tacos, omelets and even the now trending Nacho Bake. The company, Guiltless Inc. has been continuously searching and studying about plant-based alternatives as consumers become more familiar with less meat in their diets or no meat at all.

“We have had such a great reception for Wonder Burgers, we decided to launch the grounds soon after,” says Chit Juan, spokesman for the new company. Juan is known to spot upcoming trends such as the green business retailer she founded in 2008 (www.echostore. ph) when others thought she was too ahead

of her time. She started a Farm to Table restaurant (Le Bistro Vert) in 2011 when sustainable food was still a dream. So now, it is not a surprise that she has again started a future trend—plant-based food.

Wonder Grounds are now sold at ECHOstore, which pioneered meatless burgers using local vegetables like mushroom and banana heart which were among its popular locally-sourced vegetarian options. Now, there is Wonder Meat, Wonder Burgers and Wonder Grounds—which addresses more options of the “Transitioners.”

“After the movie Game Changers came out more people started asking for meatless options , mostly men who were influenced by the Netflix film documenting how men had better performance when they switched to a plant-based diet,” she says.

“We developed these for those wanting to transition to meatless diets,” Juan continues.

I am a flexitarian so it fits right into my lifestyle, too. Some vegans may only still prefer

vegetables rather than processed “meat,” but it gives a choice for those who still want the texture and mouth feel of meat.

With these local choices, one need not think of paying for carbon footprint of imported “meatless” frozen patties or sausages.

Since it is local, it is easy to order and accessible to online shoppers as Guiltless has partnered with online resellers as well as known green and healthy stockists like ECHOstore and Real Food.

Hotels and restaurants are now developing their meatless menu options and will soon feature Wonder Meat products as customers are now demanding for meatless meals or the more trendy term plant based. Soon, you will not see vegetarian in the menu sections, but PLANT-BASED. This is a food trend that may be here to stay. The future will be plant-based. And the reasons are many—ethical, religious and now environmental.

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

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DMITTEDLY, there are some who find it difficult to stop smoking in spite of continued warnings of its hazardous impacts. However, there are constant technological innovations in the market that reportedly reduce its ill effects.

MOK, the first heat-not-burn brand that is locally available, introduces revolutionary devices that provide adult smokers with a tobacco experience that is as satisfying as their favorite cigarettes.

At the heart of it are sophisticated electronics that boast of a unique heating pin.

Using the innovative heat-not-burn technology, MOK reduces the amount of harmful chemicals that anyone could get from smoking a cigarette.

This process of heating the tobacco just enough to release a flavorful nicotine-con-

taining vapor without burning the tobacco itself, making it less dangerous to the health.

Second generation

MOK Philippines recently launched the latest device in its heat-not-burn product line— the MOK 2.0—with improved features.

Embodying “taste, tech, and style,” this ultra-lightweight and compact device has a high-tech OLED panel, fast pre-heating cycles, and fast charging time and it comes in premium hues of brown, gold, and blue.

“This is the most premium MOK device that is out in the market. The new MOK 2.0 boasts of defined, angular shapes that’s distinct and truly elegant on its own,” MOK Philippines Marketing Director Cax Mayuga said during their recent virtual press launch.

“Again, still ultra-lightweight, still compact, and its matte metallic finish furthers MOK’s signature of sophistication,” he added.

Mini version

AS expected, there is also a smaller version that is as advanced and stylish as the latest smoking device. MOK mini Plus has an even more compact form factor, which consumers loved in the first generation MOK mini.

Further enhanced to achieve minimalism and functionality at their best, it has a faster pre-heating cycle and now comes in a matte metallic finish for that super sleek look.

“MOK continuously innovates and adapts to more advanced technology to give a better alternative to cigarettes, without losing the pleasurable tobacco experience. It’s the brand of innovation that we are so proud to uphold and share with all adult smokers,” said Mayuga.

MOK 2.0 and MOK mini Plus are now available in MOK official stores in Shopee, Lazada, and select hubs of GrabMart Express, as well as MOK Specialty Kiosks in Eastwood Mall, SM City North Edsa, SM City Sta. Mesa, SM City Manila, and METL!VE.

B8 Thursday, December 17, 2020 | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

Pangilinan

Sports tourism award for MVP

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anuel V. Pangilinan’s moniker as MVP was made all the more accurate during the Fourth Philippine Sports Tourism Awards after he was recognized as the private sector’s Sports Tourism Personality of the Year for 2019.

The award cited MVP’s immense contributions to the sports tourism sector in the country. After serving as the first president of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, Pangilinan went on to found the MVP Sports Foundation which provided a good cross section of sports with the proper funding and training to produce world-class athletes.

Under his leadership, the country’s largest integrated telco PLDT and its wireless arm Smart Communications Inc. were also able to deploy fixed and wireless networks in New Clark City as part of preparations for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

Aside from rolling out fiber infrastructure and cell sites, Smart also augmented its capacity and coverage in key areas around the NCC in anticipation of the heavy influx of crowds during the competition. PLDT and Smart were also the official telecom partners of the 2019 SEA Games.

In his acceptance speech presented by SBP Executive Director Sonny Barrios, MVP reflected the PSTA mission in upholding sports as a major pillar in Philippine tourism.

“The unquantifiable benefits alone make strong case for investing in sports. But today, we are recognizing a more direct and tangible benefit—how sports could encourage tourism, and how it might eventually serve as a catalyst for economies, both local and national” Pangilinan said.

“This award is not a culmination of the work we’ve rendered, but a mandate to push the envelope,” he said.

“Sports remains a high-potential investment for our country, and I consider it an honor to be able to continue supporting its development.”

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By Josef Ramos

UMIR FELIX MARCIAL climbs the ring for the first time in 10 months not to fight for medals but to prove he is worthy to become a professional boxer in the middle of his dream to win for the country its first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo next year.

Marcial’s pro debut is a four-rounder against American Andrew Whitfield in the undercard of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) promotion on Thursday at the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles, California.

“We’ll do our best in the fight. As a boxer, I am not going to fight or die in the ring without proper preparation,” Marcial told BusinessMirror through overseas call on Wednesday.

Marcial hit the scales at 162.4 pounds in Wednesday’s weigh with his opponent from Idaho whose credentials include stints in mixed martial arts registered 165.8 lbs. The contracted weight was set at 163 lbs.

Marcial, 25, acknowledged his 29-yearold opponent’s advantage in weight and experience, but stressed he is ready.

Sports BusinessMirror

MARCIAL READY TO RUMBLE! “It only means that he hits hard. He also fought four times so he has experience,” said Marcial, who like Whitfield stands at 5-foot-8.

And Marcial has another equally important reason to rock his Filipino fans. He is also dedicating his first fight to his promoter, eightdivision world champion Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who is turning 42 also on Thursday.

After the weigh-in, Marcial, who is also supported by Junnie and Cory Navarro of the Zamboanga Valientes, immediately feasted on tinola and fish stew prepared by trainer Joven Jimenez, Marvin Mabait and fellow boxers Jerwin Ancajas and Jonas Sultan.

Marcial last fought in February in the

Tokyo Olympics qualifiers in Ammam, Jordan, where woman boxer Irish Magno also got her ticket to the July 23 to August 8 Games.

“All of these—my decision to turn pro and join MP Promotions, train under Freddie Roach, Marvin Somodio and Justin Fortune— are all part of my preparations for the Tokyo Olympics,” he said. “Tokyo is my ultimate mission.”

Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines President Ricky Vargas wished Marcial well on the eve of the fight.

“I wish him all the best in luck and I think he will do well. I hope he wins his first professional fight. I hope he doesn’t get

Lifter Sarno dreams big for mom, family

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By Annie Abad

ANESSA SARNO made it look so easy lifting her way to three gold medals in the First Online Youth World Cup Weightlifting Championships two weeks ago.

The competitions were set for dawn because the judges worked remote from home in various parts of the western hemisphere. So Sarno and her coaches, Nicholas and Liza Jaluag, had to wake up way before sunrise with the 18-year-old lifter tasking her body beyond her normal biological clock.

“It was my first time to join an online competition. And we were at the gym when

Editor: Jun Lomibao

I did my performance,” said Sarno, who lives with her family close to a weightlifting gym owned by the Jaluags in Tagbilaran City.

The competitions were organized by the Peruvian Weightlifting Federation and gathered 402 athletes from all over the world.

Sarno’s gold medals came in the clean and jerk plus and total lift in the girls’ 71-kg class.

But lifting weights at dawn were just too easy a task for Sarno to hurdle. She’s been through—and still going through—trying times in this Covid-19 pandemic.

Sarno is the second of four children of fisherman Christopher and fish vendor Emelita Sarno and the entire family felt the pandemic

pinch real deep especially when her P10,000 monthly allowance as a member of the national team was slashed in half starting in July.

“Mom tried her best to make ends meet.

It was really hard for us but we need to live so we’re doing everything we can to survive,” Sarno said. “We had to borrow money just to be able to make it through the day.”

Sarno bravely admitted that her parents are not in good terms and stressed she had to be strong like the way she is as a weightlifter to help keep the family together.

“My dad still lives with us but it seems like he’s not. So I really need to help my mom,” the 10th grader at the Bohol Institute of Technology said.

Sarno took to the sport at nine and already showed strong potentials of becoming the next Rio Olympics silver

injured.” Vargas said.

MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons reiterated that Marcial’s pro debut is all part of the process toward the Olympic goal.

“No one is looking for Eumir Felix Marcial to fight Sugar Ray Leonard in his first pro debut. I don’t think about the pros. I only care about the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, that’s what I care about, I don’t think about the professional,” Gibbons said.

Whitfield, Gibbons said, is a necessary warm for Marcial to polish his skills and body.

“Let’s hope he [Whitfield] lasts for a few minutes. It’s a four-round fight, it’s a fight

EUMIR FELIX MARCIAL is in harness for his pro debut.

that gets yourself going and nobody cares,” Gibbons said. “He is not a regular fighter, he is a lumberjack.”

Gibbons did not reveal Marcial’s purse in his debut but said first-time pros normally get $2,000 to $5,000.

medalist Hidilyn Diaz. She also owns two gold and one silver medals from the 2019 Asian Youth and Juniors Championships in in Pyongyang, North Korea.

She was not on the national team to the 2019 Southeast Asian Games because she was only 17 then.

Sarno said weightlifting changed her life and will continue to change her life and her family’s for as long as she continues to remain focused.

“I believe that through weightlifting, I will be able to help my family, lift them from poverty,” she said. “I also want to give my mom a comfortable life. I’m going to build her our own house someday and help her in everything.

VANESSA SARNO is lifting weights to help alleviate her family from poverty.

I want Irish to train abroad–Vargas

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SSOCIATION of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines (Abap) President Ricky Vargas will send Tokyo Olympics-bound Irish Magno, world champion Nesthy Petecio and other potential qualifiers abroad for training starting early next year.

Vargas said the Abap is looking at Thailand, Europe and the US as training grounds for Magno and Petecio, who has yet to qualify for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.

“I want Irish [Magno] to train abroad.

We are currently discussing it right now and it looks like Thailand may open up for training soon so I want to send her there together with a coach then move her to a different environment somewhere in Europe or the US,” Vargas told BusinessMirror on Wednesday.

“It’s purely conditioning, training, learn new techniques and to box but not to fight professionally,” he added.

Vargas said Petecio will also join the 29-year-old Magno abroad while men’s flyweight Rogen Ladon, light flyweight Carlo Paalam, and light heavyweight John Marvin will also be sent overseas for training.

“But in the meantime, we have to bring them back to top condition and the conditioning could be done here in the Philippines,” he said. “We just cannot allow them to spar immediately.”

Potential Tokyo Games qualifiers were relieved to learn that the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, through Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr., already allowed them to return to collective and face-

Tokyo Olympics relay opens in 100 days

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OKYO—The torch relay for the postponed Tokyo Games will start in just over three months, and it faces the same questions as the Olympics about being held safely during the coronavirus pandemic.

Organizers said Tuesday the relay is set to begin on March 25 from the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima. This was also to have been the starting point for the relay before the Olympics were postponed nine months ago.

This coastal area of Japan was devastated almost 10 years ago by an earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent meltdown of three nuclear reactors.

The relay will travel across Japan and involve 10,000 runners and tens of thousands of officials.

This does not include local residents who will want to see the torch go by.

“The Covid-19 countermeasures will be worked on continuously for the torch relay; the audience, the torchbearers as well as the

officials who are related to the program,” Yukihiko Nunomura, vice director general of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, said during an online news conference.

The relay is sponsored by Toyota and Coca-Cola—two heavyweight Olympic sponsors. There was some discussion early about the possibility of eliminating the event for cost and safety reasons, but that idea seemed to be quickly discarded.

The relay will last for 121 days and pass through 859 municipalities—pretty much as was planned before the postponement.

“We wanted to simplify the program as much as possible, trying to minimize the number of vehicles and audience as well,” Nunomura said. “As you know the torch relay will go all over Japan and we will have a lot of participants.”

The Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in Japan, was lighted in gold on Tuesday to

to-face training in a bubble environment.

Vargas said he wants the national athletes to skip the holidays and immediately return to training.

“Next year is too late for them. So why do we have to wait for January? Our boxers want to return to training immediately because they haven’t trained for a long time. They are now willing to train during holidays. They were in vacation for a long time,” he said.

National athletes were sent home and training online with their coaches since the imposition of quarantines in March.

Magno trains online in his native Janiuay in Iloilo with Australian Coach Don Abnett.

“For me, my training is not enough. There is a big difference if you are training with a coach that guides you and a sparring partner,” Magno said. Josef Ramos THE Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in Japan, is illuminated with the color of the Olympic Torch to commemorate 100 days until the torch relay begins. AP

commemorate 100 days until the relay begins.

The postponed Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23, 2021, and are set to include the full complement of 11,000 athletes. The Paralympics will add 4,400 more.

Organizers of the Olympics and torch relay are waiting until early next year to provide specific details about countermeasures for the coronavirus. They have been encouraged about the recent roll out of vaccines.

“A few vaccines are now being distributed and are actually being used,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s a ray of hope.”

Japan has seen new infections spike across the country in the last several weeks.

On Saturday, new cases totaled 3,041—the first time above 3,000.

Japan, with a population of 125 million, has handled the pandemic relatively well with just over 2,500 deaths attributed to Covid-19. AP