BusinessMirror December 23, 2019

w

n

Monday, December 23, 2019 Vol. 15 No. 74

9-month TRAIN take ₧14B over estimates T

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

OTAL revenues from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law have breached nearly 81 percent of fullyear targets after nine months, as the government exceeded its estimates from January to September by P14 billion.

Preliminary data from the Bureaus of Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs (BOC) showed collections reached P91.3 billion in the first three quarters of this year. Finance Undersecretary Karl

Kendrick T. Chua said this exceeded the estimates for the period of P77.3 billion, thereby enabling the government to allocate funds for spending on infrastructure and human capital development.

As such, Chua disclosed that actual total revenues surpassed the estimates by roughly P14.1 billion, or 18.1 percent above target.

In terms of full-year share to the full-year estimate, the January-

“This means we are now closer to completing the 2019 estimates, compared to where we were last year when we were trying to reach the 2018 estimates. This is definitely welcome news, especially for the infrastructure and human development objectives of TRAIN.— Chua

to-September collection was about 80.8 percent of the projected P113.1-billion tax haul this year.

Compared to the actual TRAIN revenues last year, this year’s ninemonth revenue was more than twice the estimated amount, or an increase of 107 percent, Chua added.

See “TRAIN,” A2

P25.00 nationwide | 5 sections 30 pages |

GOVT MOVES VS. WATER FIRMS WON’T HURT PHL’S BIZ REPUTE–DTI CHIEF

N

O uncertainties created. Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez has said the Philippines will not lose existing and prospective investors over President Duterte’s decision to review the contracts of water firms—this, in spite of the country’s already poor reputation on contract enforcement.

“It isn’t creating uncertainty on the outside, as others might say. It has to be corrected,” Lopez said in an interview with reporters last week.

Lopez was responding to media queries as to whether the President’s sudden order to review the contracts of water concessionaires Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. will dent the country’s investment reputation.

Duterte had threatened to

DA’s ₧2-B facility to fight smuggling in use by 2020

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

@jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it would kickstart next year its P2-billion border improvement project that seeks to curb smuggling of agricultural goods—a potential source of pests and transboundary animal diseases to the country—through the use of modern facilities.

The DA disclosed recently that it plans to request for a P2-billion funding from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) next month for its proposed first border facilities in five key ports in the country.

The integrated border facilities will cost about P400 million each, and will be established in the ports of Manila, Batangas, Bataan, Cebu and Davao, it added.

The project, approved by the Duterte Cabinet, seeks to improve

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n

t he countr y’s border control since such facilities have been lacking in the first place, the DA explained.

The DA pointed out that, at present, government quarantine authorities do not have the capacity of inspecting some shipments, particularly those requiring cold storage, right in the port.

Citing recent seizures by government, the DA added that smuggled goods are hidden in the innermost part of the containers, making it hard for quarantine authorities to discover them due to lack of modern facilities.

“From the very start, we didn’t have these. Our quarantine methodology is still closed-open. You can only see some things, but you can’t unravel everything,” Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said last week, in a mix of English and Filipino.

See “DA,” A2

order the military to take over the operations of the water firms if they fail to fix their services.

“That’s what the President only wants. They [water distributors] have to agree on a new contract to remove these so-called onerous [provisions in their contracts],” Lopez explained.

“We have to review and make a new contract, and that’s all,” he added.

The trade chief is not losing sleep over the Chief Executive’s attacks against the water firms. He argued that Maynilad and Manila Water can still obtain the government’s assistance, as well as incentives, if they have additional investments, at any moment.

The Philippines, in spite of See “Water firms,” A2

Concession agreements with 2 firms valid–MWSS

T

FILM FESTIVAL The float for the movie Culion, a heart-wrenching film on the lives of thousands of lepers forcibly segregated during the US colonial era in the wind-swept Palawan Island, is seen in Sunday’s Metro Manila Film Festival Parade of Stars held in Taguig City. On Sunday, MMFF Chairman Danilo Lim of the MMDA denounced a scam by some parties selling complimentary passes to the festival. Story on page A2. ROY DOMINGO

HE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has clarified that the 25-year concession agreements with Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co., covering 1997-2022, are still valid and subsisting contracts.

In a statement, MWSS Administrator Emmanuel B. Salamat said MWSS Board Resolution 2019-201-CO, dated December 9, 2019, only revoked the previous Board Resolution 2009-72, dated April 16, 2009, involving the extension period from 2022 to 2037 of Manila Water Co. and Board Resolution 2009-180, dated September 10, 2009, involving the extension of concession period from 2022 to 2037 of Maynilad Water.

US 50.6300 n JAPAN 0.4634 n UK 65.8949 n HK 6.4966 n CHINA 7.2225 n SINGAPORE 37.3819 n AUSTRALIA 34.8689 n EU 56.3208 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.4981

See “MWSS,” A2

Source: BSP (20 December 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Monday, December 23, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Tisoy farm damage to clip palay output–US report

T

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

HE country’s palay output in market year (MY) 2019-2020 could decline by 2 percent to 18.286 million metric tons from 18.622 MMT in the previous year, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report.

The GAIN report attributed the decline to damage caused by Typhoon Tisoy (international code name Kammuri) to the farm sector, particularly to rice fields, and shift by some planters to other crops due to low paddy prices.

“Rice production and area harvested were pared down in MY 2019/2020 due to damage caused by Typhoon Kammuri. An estimated 105,000 MT of paddy in 78,000 hectares of rice were affected due to the typhoon,” the report read.

“The downward revisions are steeper as a result of the continued decline in paddy prices, which will force some farmers to shift away from rice cultivation in MY 2019/2020,” it added.

Due to these reasons, the report, prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service in Manila (USDA FAS Manila), hiked its total import forecast for the Philippines by 8 percent.

The USDA FAS Manila projected that rice imports in MY 2019-2020, which runs from July and ends in June the next year, would reach 2.7 MMT from its earlier estimate of 2.5 MMT. Despite the increase in forecast, the new projection by the GAIN report is still lower than the 3 MMT estimated rice import volume in MY 2018-2019.

“Imports during the year, however, are likely to ease from the previous

₧3.7B

The damage caused by Typhoon Tisoy to the farm sector. Over 92,000 farmers in at least seven regions were affected, according to a report of the Department of Agriculture (DA). year’s level due to the stricter enforcement of MO [Memorandum Order] 28 and the other GPH interventions,” the report read.

Despite a projected increase in fourth quarter palay output, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated that the country’s palay output this year would fall slightly to 19.02 MMT, from last year’s 19.07 MMT. “As of 01 November 2019, palay production for October to December 2019 based on standing crop may decrease to 7.70 million metric tons; 0.4 percent lower than the October 2019 round estimate of 7.73 million metric tons, and 7.6 percent higher than the previous year’s output of 7.16 million metric tons,” the PSA said in its output forecast published last week.

“Harvest area may increase by

1.5 percent from 1.847 [million] hectares in 2018. Yield per hectare may slightly fall to 4.11 metric tons from 4.12 metric tons,” it added.

Unhusked rice production from January to September fell nearly 5 percent to 11.32 MMT from 11.91 MMT due to substantial reduction in harvested area and insufficient water supply.

“This was attributed to the substantial reduction in harvested areas in Western Visayas and Soccsksargen due to insufficient water supply,” the PSA said in its latest report.

The damage caused by Typhoon Tisoy to the farm sector has reached at least to P3.7 billion, affecting over 92,000 farmers in at least seven regions, according to a report of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The DA Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center said Typhoon Tisoy damaged at least 132,166 hectares of rice, corn and high-value crops with production losses estimated at 195,046 MT. The rice sector suffered the brunt of the typhoon’s damage, incurring losses amounting to P1.32 billion—with 77,683 hectares affected, with an estimated output of 104,928 MT.

Angry MMDA chief warns sellers of fake MMFF passes

C

HAIRMAN Danilo Lim of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) slammed the selling of fake complimentary passes to the 45th Metro Manila Film Festival following the arrest of two persons on Saturday in Makati City.

“As overall chairman of the

MWSS. . .

Continued from A1

The board resolutions did not result in the rescission or outright cancellation of the said contracts, which requires a separate and distinct act to be legally effective, he said.

As such, Salamat said, the government through the MWSS is giving the two private water concessionaires the opportunity to renegotiate and agree on the new terms of the concession agreement.

The MWSS has been expressly directed to renegotiate the concession agreements with Manila Water and Maynilad in order to remove what the Duterte administration termed as “illegal and onerous provisions” of the agreements, as determined by the Department of Justice.

The renegotiation of the agreement aims to include “provisions that are beneficial to the consumers and the entire nation.”

Meanwhi le, the M WSS ack nowledged t he cooperat ion shown by Maynilad and Manila Water “not only in expressly declaring that they would no longer collect or enforce the recent

Water firms. . .

Continued from A1

improving to 95th from 124th in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020, is lagging in terms of contract enforcement.

In the survey on ease of doing business, the country placed 152nd among 190 economies on enforcing deals and arrangements with investors. Guillermo M. Luz, former private-sector cochairman

Metro Manila Film Festival, I strongly condemn the unscrupulous and enterprising individuals who are turning the MMFF into a profitable business venture by selling complimentary tickets,” Lim said on Sunday.

With the arrest of suspects Hanna Evangelista and Carlo

arbitral awards, but also in their expressed willingness to renegotiate the inequitable provisions of the concession agreement.”

“In view thereof, MWSS and the concessionaires will exert all necessary efforts to comply with the directive of the President to execute a new water concession agreement after 2022, which is currently being drafted by the Department of Justice,” Salamat said.

The MWSS administrator said the agency is fully engaged in continuing to ensure the performance of its mandates under Republic Act 6234, as well as to achieve the purpose for, and the intention behind, the directives of the President. It is committed to materially contribute to the satisfactory resolution of the various issues for all the stakeholders.

“The continuity of the water sector PPP depends on strong communication channels and handholding engagement so that the basic access to water and wastewater services will not be jeopardized, which includes fully addressing and accomplishing the urgent call for new water and sewerage infrastructure projects,” he said.

Jonathan L. Mayuga

of the now-defunct National Competitiveness Council, earlier told the BusinessMirror this should be improved, as this is one crucial factor to investment decisions.

“If there’s a new investment and it’s eligible, then we grant it incentives. The important thing here is there’s consciousness, there’s awareness that there’s an issue in the contract. I’m sure the government is just requiring this review of contract to fix the contract,” Lopez argued. Elijah Felice E. Rosales

Jaramilla, both 21 years old, Lim has ordered an extensive investigation of the illegal activity to unmask the persons behind it.

Both suspects were arrested in an entrapment at around 11:30 a.m. Saturday in Barangay Guadalupe Nuevo. Lim reiterated that the MMFF complimentary tickets

are strictly “not for sale,” and that there are no persons or groups authorized to distribute them.

“Anyone caught selling or buying complimentary tickets, authentic or fake, shall be dealt with accordingly and shall face the full force of the law,” he warned.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

Villanueva raises alarm over rising Pogo snatching cases

S

EN. Joel Villanueva voiced concern over the weekend on rising reports of kidnapping cases victimizing Chinese nationals working at Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo).

“We urge the Philippine National Police [PNP] to be vigilant, and prevent these kidnappings and other related crimes from happening,” Villanueva said Sunday.

The senator noted earlier findings by PNP probers that many reported kidnappings were perpetrated by the victims’ fellow Chinese nationals.

Villanueva added that the PNP findings support his theory that the negative effects of the industry outweigh any benefit the country may get from

DA. . .

Continued from A1

“The Cabinet has approved the plan. We are ready to submit it to the DBM in January, and we will request P2 billion,” Dar added.

Dar said the integrated, multicommodity facility will be utilized by the Bureau of Animal Industry, National Meat Inspection Service, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic

2 Indons. . .

Continued from A12

captives and defeat the Abu Sayyaf before the end of the year,” Sobejana added.

President Duterte had earlier

the proliferation of Pogo service providers, which employ mostly Chinese nationals.

Morever, the senator stressed that the Department of Labor and Employment must step up labor inspections on offices, particularly Pogo facilities, and firmly enforce labor laws and regulations to protect all workers and ensure their rights are upheld at all times.

Villanueva also affirmed the Senate’s intent to include the PNP findings on the rising incidence of Chinese kidnappings at the next labor committee hearing, saying, “We hope to establish the breadth and scale of the negative effects of POGO operations in the country.”

Butch Fernandez

Resources (BFAR), Bureau of Customs and other quarantine-involved agencies.

“It’s a multi-commodity facility where our quarantine people can do proper work,” he said.

The DA has blamed smuggled meat imports, particularly those that came from African swine fever-infected countries, like China, as one of the culprits for the entry of the fatal hog disease in the country. ordered the military to degrade the capability of the ASG, if not defeat them, particularly in Sulu until the end of this year. His order prompted soldiers to conduct nonstop operations against the local terrorist group in the province.

Rene Acosta

Up to Duterte to take down pork in 2020 budget, says Lacson

S

EN. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday conceded it is now up to Malacañang to take down perceived pork funds, and other items the Palace may find questionable in the P4-trillion 2020 budget bill.

“Kasi tapos na rin ang aming role.

Dapat iwanan ang kapalaran ng national budget sa Executive dahil prerogative naman ng Pangulo na mag-veto o hindi. [We have done our role. The final fate of the national budget is left to the Executive as it is the preriogative of the President to exercise his veto power or not],” Lacson said in an interview with DWIZ. Lacson acknowledged the “big difference” between the pork-laden 2019 budget bill and the 2020 national budget, saying there is a difference between the two money measures.

“Last year we did not want Senate President Tito Sotto to be complicit in signing the enrolled bill, which contained parts that we did not ratify,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino, adding, “This time around, naiabot sa bicameral panel ang [budget] insertions na ginawa

TRAIN. . .

Continued from A1

“This means we are now closer to completing the 2019 estimates, compared to where we were last year when we were trying to reach the 2018 estimates. This is definitely welcome news, especially for the infrastructure and human development objectives of TRAIN,” Chua said.

Both the BIR and the BOC outperformed the government’s estimated collections from TRAIN, as the internal revenue’s haul exceeded by P9.4 billion while that of Customs went beyond by P4.7 billion.

Major gains during the first three quarters of this year came from personal income tax (PIT), imported petroleum excise tax, sweetened beverage excise tax, tobacco excise tax and the documentary stamp tax. The total take from these taxes showed an upswing of P42.4 billion.

“As you know, one of the most significant provisions of TRAIN was the lowering of PIT. Losses from this adjustment were originally estimated at P96.4 billion, but actual losses were lower at P79.2 billion, or a savings of P17.2 billion. This was a result of better compliance, higher employment rate resulting in an increase in registered taxpayers, and lower unemployment and underemployment rates,” Chua said.

“Imported petroleum excise tax collections were above estimate by P14.3 billion, owing to higher-than-programmed volume of imported finished petroleum products, particularly diesel and gasoline. The overperformance is also evident in the overall BOC petroleum excise revenues for the

Peace panel. . .

Continued from A12

“The parties shall separately issue the corresponding cease-fire orders. During the cease-fire period, the respective armed units and personnel of the parties shall cease and desist from carrying out offensive military operations against each other,” the joint statement said.

Alert for Dec. 26

THE cease-fire is part of the government’s attempts to resume peace talks with NDF by next year.

Government forces usually heighten security measures dur-

[the insertions made reached the bicameral panel],” Lacson added, but did not provide details.

He saw no need for lawmakers to get an “initial commitment” that the Palace will retain funding items passed by lawmakers.

“There’s no need to give such a commitment because it is truly the President’s prerogative to study it well before signing the national budget, the enrolled bill, and if they see something questionable, whether or not we listed something, that’s their call to make.

Because every year, the President always has a line-item veto,” Lacson added.

The senator added it is now up to Sotto to sign and transmit the annual money measure passed by the lawmakers in time to avert government operating under a reenacted budget by January.

“Yes. It is up to them. Our job is done. We deliberated, debated, amended and convened the bicameral panel and ratified its final [reconciled Senate-House] version of the budget bill. So it is now really up to the President,” said Lacson. Butch Fernandez first three quarters at P64.5 billion, which is more than double than the P31.2 billion recorded during the same period last year,” the finance official added.

He also said collection from sugar-sweetened beverages improved revenue performance following the issuance of guidelines on the excise tax, intended to improve industry compliance. Excise tax on these products exceeded estimates by P1.9 billion.

On the other hand, tobacco excise tax was also above estimates by P4.4 billion, which the government attributed to better compliance as it intensified its crackdown on the illicit tobacco trade.

Shortfalls

HOWEVER, there were shortfalls in the collection of duty on automobile and locally refined fuel.

Their combined take fell short of estimates by P25.2 billion.

“Automobile excise tax earnings were short by P11.3 billion, owing to lower import volume. This was seen, too, in the overall BOC automobile excise tax collections, which totaled P23.8 billion below the estimate and lower than last year’s take by 29.4 percent,” Chua said.

“The excise tax collections from locally refined petroleum products was short by P13.9 billion because of the decline in the volume of removals, and the shift to imported finished products,” Chua added.

The TRAIN law is the first package of the government’s comprehensive tax reform program. It rationalized income taxes by exempting minimum-wage earners and those earning below P250,000 in gross annual income from paying PIT on one end, while raising taxes on oil, fuel, automobile, sweetened drinks, among others, on the other. ing the last week of December, as the NPA has in the past launched attacks during the founding anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines , the NDF’s political party wing, every December 26.

In a related development, Panelo said the reported killing in Quezon City last week of two NPA leaders, who were allegedly ordered to kill Duterte, is unlikely to affect the proposed resumption of peace negotiations.

He said the leadership of NDF has already denied there is such a plot against Duterte.

Panelo also said that with or without such threat, the security of the President is always assured.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The Nation BusinessMirror

Five Palawan LGUs pledge P2.5M to conserve Mt. Mantalingahan

T

HE protection and conservation of Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL) in Palawan province will be getting the much-needed boost from local government units (LGUs).

The Department of Environment and Natura l Resources (DENR) said five municipalities in Southern Palawan have pledged a total of P2.5 million for the protection and conservation of what can be considered the largest protected area of the province.

The MMPL is a protected area by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 1815, dated June 23, 2009.

It is included in the tentative list of Unesco World Heritage Sites, and is vying to be inscribed as such for its exceptional biodiversity and endemism. Like all other biodiversity-rich areas, the MMPL faces various threats, including illegal logging, mining and plantation expansion, such as slash-and-burn farming. The enforcement of environmental laws remains a major challenge because of insufficient number of forest-protection officers currently deployed in the area.

The LGUs of Brooke’s Point, Quezon, Rizal, Sofronio Española and Bataraza each committed to allot P500,000 from their respective funds to support forest-protection activities, and stricter enforcement of environmental laws in the main protected area and its buffer zone during the 15th meeting of

the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) en banc of MMPL held in Puerto Princesa City on December 16.

T he meeting was attended by other members of the PAMB, which include the village chiefs, representatives from the academe, nongovernment groups, the National Commission on Indigenous People, Philippine National Police, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and other indigenous peoples groups.

The commitment was made by the five LGUs after a biodiversity assessment and monitoring system report highlighted the urgency to step up forest-protection efforts in MMPL, which include procurement of equipment, supplies and materials, and augmentation of monitoring and patrol personnel.

Currently, there are only three park rangers under the Protected Area Management Office protecting the MMPL, which covers a total of 120,457 hectares.

“Ideally, it should be one forest ranger per 500 hectares. For MMPL, we are in need of 240 more rangers to cover the entire area,” Protected Area Superintendent Mildred A. Suza explained.

The financial support coming from the LGUs will help address the limited number of forest protectors, as well as the grant of other benefits to boost the morale of forest-protection officers.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Monday, December 23, 2019 A3

Govt finds GMA Network liable in actor’s death; fined ₧890,000

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

T

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has slapped GMA Network Inc. and its contractors with a fine of almost P900,000, saying the publiclisted firm violated occupational and safety and health (OSH) violations in the workplace, which killed veteran actor Eduardo “Eddie” Garcia earlier this year.

On December 2, DOLE-National Capital Region (DOLE-NCR) ordered the media firm to pay a total of P890,000.

Of the said amount, P810,000 will be for the supposed non-submission of GMA of the needed work accident/illness report (WAIR) to DOLE about the incident within

the 24-hour period, DOLE-NCR Director Sarah S. Mirasol said.

The company was also ordered to pay an additional P40,000 since there was no safety officer present in the site where Garcia’s scene for the teleserye Rosang Agimat was shot. The other P40,000 was for the absence of a first-aid personnel in the same site.

Substantial compliance

GARCIA died June 20, 2019, from the neck and spine injuries he sustained after he tripped at the site where a scene of Rosang Agimat was being shot in Tondo, Manila, on June 8, 2019.

Citing the result of its fact-finding report of GMA, the DOLE noted the network committed the three aforementioned violations.

The findings were contested by GMA, stating that the insistence

of DOLE to have a safety officer in the site was “oppressive, arbitrary, whimsical and despotic.”

It further said that the DOLENCR director has no jurisdiction on the case of Garcia, since he was a “talent and not an employee of GMA,” and that it has “substantially” complied with the reportorial requirements, as well as having safety officers although they are assigned to the GMA’s main office only.

Preventable death

IN the 14-paged resolution, the DOLE-NCR, however, emphasized that GMA is still liable for what happened to Garcia in terms of ensuring that his work environment, even if it is just a temporary shooting location, remain safe.

“The jurisdiction of DOLE to de-

cide cases involving violations of occupational safety and health standards does not depend on the absence of employer-employee relationship, but on the possible violation/s committed in the enforcement and implementation of occupational safety and health standards,” Mirasol said.

Mirasol also noted GMA only submitted its WAIR on July 5, or 27 days after the work accident and, thus, proved GMA was not compliant with the 24-hour submission rule. Last, GMA and its contractors were unable to prove they deployed neither a safety officer nor a first-aid personnel in the work site.

“GMA should have deployed one of its safety officers in the shooting site of Rosang Agimat, which could have prevented the untimely demise of Garcia,” Mirasol said.

Marikina mayor fulfills cancer-stricken man’s wish to wed partner of 10 yrs

‘Y

OU are the fine example of love that not even death can separate.”

This was the message of Marikina City Mayor Marcelino R. Teodoro after he officiated a marriage to a bedridden man suffering from colon cancer and his live-in partner of 10 years, fulfilling the groom’s wish to tie the knot with the love of his life before his time comes.

The dream wedding of the couple

was fulfilled by Teodoro on Friday morning at the couple’s simple home, where they built a family and vowed to love each other until death do them part.

Around 10 a.m. on Friday, Teodoro went to the house of the couple to fulfill 47-year-old Darwin Ballerdo’s dream of marrying Haydee Duron, 50.

It has been two years since Ballerdo learned he has colon cancer.

Teodoro told the bride and groom that love is the reason why people marry. He added that this is the first time he wed a couple in a home.

“This is not an accident; everything is ordained,” Teodoro said in Filipino. “Though one of you may be gone someday, I’d think that in your child’s memory, this day will stay on.”

Ballerdo and Duron’s love child, a Grade 3 student named Trixie,

was crying very hard, while Teodoro was giving the couple an inspirational message.

In a heartfelt exchange of vows, the groom, reclining on his chair which served as his bed with a dextrose attached to his left hand while Duron held his other hand, promised to his bride–to-be there in sickness and in health, for poorer or for richer, till death do them part.

Economy BusinessMirror

A4 Monday, December 23, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Experts warn PHL, Asean of China’s ‘colonialism’

S

By Recto Mercene

@rectomercene

OME security experts have warned Southeast Asian nations of China’s “colonialist strategies” and to be wary of its investments in certain businesses, such as telecommunications, which could expose countries to cyber attacks.

Speaking at the recent Asean Summit in Thailand, United States National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien alluded to the Chinese giant, saying countries “should deal with each other as sovereigns and in accordance with the international law and customs.”

“The days that big countries could take advantage of small countries just because of their size, just because one country is big and one country is small, we don’t think that there’s any place for that in the international system of the 21st century.”

This sentiment was echoed by former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, where he spoke of the

“creeping control” of China over telecoms and power assets in the Philippines.

In a televised interview, Colmenares cited the country’s third telecoms player, Dito Telecommunity, controlled by state-owned China Telecom. Given the Philippines’s maritime dispute with China, he said, “it is absurd for the Philippines to give [China] control of its telecommunications system.”

The Armed of Forces of the Philippines, he noted, signed a memorandum of agreement to allow Dito to put up cell towers and telecoms equipment in military installations nationwide—a move Colmenares

BusinessMirror file photo

and other experts said will make the country’s military vulnerable to Chinese hacking and espionage.

The former lawmaker also expressed grave concern over China’s co-ownership of the national grid as prone to cyber attacks.

“They [Chinese company] admitted in their annual report, it’s vulnerable to cyber attacks,” Col-

menares said. “Even if China say it’s immune to cyber attacks, Beijing has proven, and some hackers have actually proved it, that anything can be hacked now.”

“Don’t tell us that our grid is safe from China when in fact it’s the largest stockholder in that company,” he added.

The security of the country’s

national grid came to light after CNN reported in November that the grid is “under full control” of the Chinese government, and is at risk of shutdown in times of conflict. Lawmakers from both the Senate and the House of Representatives have announced plans to commence an inquiry into the National Grid Corp.’s issues.

China’s control goes beyond the power and telecoms sectors, as it has worked to establish what are said to be comprehensive and cooperative partnerships featuring “equality, mutual benefit and common development” in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

However, some sectors have warned that China’s investments in infrastructure could either enable greater economic activity that favor Chinese interests, or thrust those Latin American countries into “debt traps” as reported by Carlos Roa of the high-level policy publication The National Interest.

A case in point is Ecuador, where around 80 percent of their valuable oil output, equivalent to 58 percent, is paid back to China in return for the $18.4 billion worth of loans, which is a third of Quito’s public debt.

It was these risks that compelled former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to cite the onerous provisions in the repayment of loans from China.

“Should the Philippines default repaying the loans, China can seize patrimonial assets and those dedicated to commercial use by the Philippine government,” he warned.

DOLE reminds firms of special SC junks petition to nullify sale pay rules during the holidays of reclaimed land to MBDC E T

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

MPLOYEES who will report for work on December 24 and 25 will get additional pay, according to an advisory issued by the Depart-

ment of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The DOLE issued Labor Advisory 12, Series of 2019, reminding employers to comply with the special pay rules that will take effect on Christmas eve and December 25.

In the two-page advisory, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the “no work, no pay” rule will take effect on Tuesday after President Duterte declared December 24 as a special holiday.

“For work done during the special day, he/she shall be paid an additional 30 percent of his/ her basic wage on the first eight hours of work,” said Bello.

Employees are entitled to 30 percent of their hourly rate if they work overtime, and another 50 percent of their basic wage of their first eight hours of work if the special holiday falls during their day off.

On Christmas Day, which is a regular holiday, employees who are on duty will get twice their basic pay.

Beyond the first eight hours of their work, they should be paid 30 percent of their hourly rate. They will also be paid 30 percent of their basic wage if the regular holiday falls on their rest day.

Those who will not report for work during the regular holiday, Bello said, should still get 100 percent of their daily pay.

Christmas is a Christian holiday, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and observed worldwide every December 25.

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HE Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking to declare the sale by Public Estate Authority (PEA) to private developer Manila Bay Development Corp.

(MBDC) of 44 hectares of reclaimed land in Manila Bay as unconstitutional.

In its recent resolution, the Court en banc primarily junked the petition filed by Sagip Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta on the ground that the latter “does not appear to be the proper party to bring an action to nullify the sale of the subject land and to cancel its derivative land titles.”

“Assuming that the sale is void, it should be filed by the State, which is the original owner of the land, through its Office of the Solicitor General [OSG],” the SC said.

The petitioner said the sale contravenes Section 3 Article 12 of the 1987 Constitution, which prohibits the sale of lands of the public domain to private corporations.

He pointed out that the subject 44 hectares of reclaimed lands were clearly lands of the public domain.

However, the en banc said that even if Marcoleta is the proper party to raise the action, his first two arguments are “absolutely devoid of any merit.”

In his petition Marcoleta argued that the sale “lacked an object certain at the time it was contracted,” saying that the original deed of sale had no technical description of the sold land.

He added that a supplementary deed of sale “does not, as it cannot, cure a null contract.”

The SC held that while there was no specific technical description of the

land in the original deed of sale, there was an adequate description “Central Business Park 2” along with its location and area size.

The SC added the subject land is not an inalienable land of the public domain outside the commerce of man by virtue of special patents issued by then-President Corazon Aquino, under the aegis of Presidential Decree 1085 that covers the Freedom Islands, is equivalent to an official proclamation classifying the Freedom Islands as alienable or disposable lands of the public domain.

Assuming that the subject land to the MBDC may be considered as prima facie unconstitutional, the Court said the latter must still be afforded an opportunity to present evidence in defense of its title in an appropriate proceeding in a full-blown trial.

“Even if assuming Marcoleta could establish grounds for his third argument that barred private corporations from holding alienable lands, the SC could not order the outright cancellation of the land titles because portions of the land are now titled in the name of the LRTA which is a governmentowned and -controlled corporation [GOCC],” the SC ruled.

In 2017, civil society group the United Filipino Consumers and Commuters Inc. (UFCC), through its lead convenor Rodolfo B. Javellana Jr. urged the Office of the Ombudsman to indict for graft and plunder charges the officials of PEA and MBDC, in connection with the alleged anomalous and illegal sale of the reclaimed land which is now estimated to be worth more than P60 billlion.

In their complaint, the groups

claimed PEA and MBDC officials conspired to defraud the government in the sale of more than 41 hectares reclaimed land in Parañaque, in 1988.

Javellana stressed that the PEA-MBDC deal is not only grossly disadvantageous to the government, but is also unconstitutional and illegal.

Court records showed, the PRA, that has ownership and administration over all lands reclaimed and about to be reclaimed under the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road and Reclamation Project (MCRRP), in 1987 bid out an aggregate land area of 410,467 square meters of reclaimed lands along Roxas Boulevard, Seaside End, Parañaque City. The area was described as Central Business Park 2.

In 1988, Jacinto Ng’s group won after submitting the highest bid of P1,150.00 per sq m or a total amount of P472,037,050.

PRA issued a Notice of Award to the group of Ng and advised it to organize itself into a corporation, that was later known as the private firm MBDC. The deed of sale was executed between PRA and MBDC on August 23, 1988.

However, the deed of sale did not specify the technical bounds of the subject land, prompting the PRA and MBDC to execute a supplementary deed of sale clarifying that the subjected land designated as Central Business Park 2 pertains to the land covered under specific Original Certificate of Title and Transfer Certificate of Title in the name of the PRA. Overtime, the subject lands were subdivided into 15 land titles wherein eight of the land titles were in the name of the MBDC, three in the LRTA, and four in the PRA.

Cebu Pacific to travelers: Be at the airport hours before flight

C

EBU Pacific and Cebgo issued a reminder that all passengers should allot ample time to get to the airport and go through security inspection, immigration screening, check-in, bag drop and other predeparture requirements.

“Passengers with flights during peak travel periods are encouraged to be at the airport at least two hours before departure for domestic flights, and three hours for international flights,” the airline said in a statement.

Cebu Pacific said those traveling to Melbourne, Australia, should allot additional time for more stringent security screening required by their governments.

The airline urged passengers to use its Web check-in to speed up the checkin process.

“For international flights, Web check-in is available from seven days up to four hours before scheduled flight departure. Those taking domestic flights can do Web check-in one hour before their scheduled departure,” it said.

Cebu Pacific said passengers who received their boarding pass and have no bags to check-in need to bring a printed copy of their boarding pass to be able to immediately proceed to immigration and final security check.

“Passengers who have check in baggage and those who did not receive their boarding passes upon using Web

or mobile check-in will need to show up at the check-in counters to present valid travel documents and drop their bags at least one hour before their flight. Passengers on international flights are strongly advised to immediately proceed to the immigration counters after completing checkin requirements,” it added.

Cebu Pacific said all check-in counters close five minutes before the scheduled time of flights, except those exiting Dubai (one hour) and Shanghai (50 minutes) to finalize flight manifest and predeparture requirements of the authorities. All boarding gates close 15 minutes before the scheduled time of flights, except

flights exiting Dubai (20 minutes).

The carrier said passengers are reminded to pack their luggage properly and ensure that checked-in baggage have proper identification labels with name, address and contact details.

“While weighing scales at the checkin counters are calibrated regularly to ensure accuracy, check the weight prior to heading for the airport to avoid the hassle of repacking upon check in,” it said.

Cebu Pacific and Cebgo allow only one hand-carry bag with maximum weight of 7 kilos, with dimension of up to 56cm x 36cm x 23cm. This dimension includes most wheeled cabin bags and backpacks. Recto Mercene

Agriculture/Commodities BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Dar: DA unit to focus on ‘BBB’ program for agriculture sector

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

@jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) has created a unit that will craft and implement a “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) program for the farm sector to improve rural productivity and increase the income of local planters.

The Office of the Undersecretary for Regulations will be headed by former Rajah Buayan Mayor Zamzamin L. Ampatuan, who was appointed by President Duterte as agriculture undersecretary on December 3. Ampatuan replaced Segfredo R. Serrano, who retired earlier this year, according to his appointment papers released by Malacañang.

He will spearhead the DA’s BBB program for agriculture, which Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said, is “crucial” for the department’s agri-industrialization strategy.

On December 18, Dar issued Special Order 1140 officially designating Ampatuan as the DA’s undersecretary for regulations.

Through SO 1140, Dar removed and separated from the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy and Planning, Project Development, Research and Regulations, “the functional responsibility and oversight on regulations.”

Dar told the BusinessMirror that he created the Office of the Undersecretary for Regulations to help the government achieve sustainable development and to focus on DA’s farm infrastructure push.

“It’s becoming a big responsibility of the whole DA and its attached agencies. The theme of having a responsible regulations [unit] is for sustainable development,” he said via SMS on Sunday.

“On top of that, I have added the

planning for Build, Build, Build in agriculture anchored on the agriindustrialization strategy. That’s one of the paradigms under the new thinking for agriculture to achieve the ‘2-3-4’ growth targets,” he added.

The DA is targeting to expand farm output by 2 percent in 2020, 3 percent in 2021 and 4 percent in 2022.

Under the SO, Ampatuan, who is a civil engineer by profession, is tasked to “pursue the generation of ideas and plans for Build, Build, Build in agriculture.”

He shall also “perform oversight function on the regulatory roles and functions of the attached agencies and bureaus under the Department of Agriculture.”

Ampatuan is tasked to “advise and provide regular reports” to Dar on regulatory matters under the jurisdiction of the DA agencies.

He must “ensure the strict compliance and enforcement of the various laws, policies and regulatory standards to improve the quality and safety of Philippine agriculture and food products.”

Ampatuan took his oath of office before Dar last December 16.

In a Facebook post on the same day, Ampatuan thanked Duterte for appointing him as agriculture undersecretary.

He was appointed as energy undersecretary in 2013. The agriculture official was elected as mayor of Rajah Buayan in Maguindanao, in 2016 and 2019.

According to a Philippine News Agency report, the vice mayor of Rajah Buayan assumed the town’s top post on December 18, after Ampatuan took his oath of office as agriculture undersecretary.

The agriculture official is a nephew of deceased clan patriarch and former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. The fathers of Zamzamin and Andal are cousins, according to local news reports.

“My appointment to a national government position is a timely comeback. I can help Secretary William Dar as he leads the DA [in implementing] more responsive programs to ensure food-for-all and enhance agriculture sector contribution to national economic progress,” Ampatuan said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

“I would be bringing in my technical background to address the issue of agricultural logistics, infrastructure and engineering which at this point has not been fully appreciated as a key component in supporting our farmers and modernize agricultural production in our country,” he added.

Editor: Jennifer A. Ng • Monday, December 23, 2019 A5

Davao del Norte to plant sorghum

By Manuel T. Cayon @awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—Davao del Norte is set to go into the massive production of sorghum after the province received tons of hybrid sorghum seeds from a company based in the United States.

Davao del Norte Gov. Edwin Jubahib made the announcement after he agreed to include his province in the pilot areas for sorghum production.

Jubahib said sorghum will be a good alternative for banana farms ravaged by the dreaded Panama disease and has the potential to increase the income of farmers.

Jubahib noted that a company from Thailand has earlier made an assurance that it will buy sorghum from the Philippines.

The governor was part of a small delegation headed by Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Chairman Emmanuel F. Piñol that forged a memorandum of agreement with Texasbased Scott Seed Co. for the sorghum production in Davao del Norte, and the Bangsamoro provinces.

The mission received P5 million worth of sorghum seeds from Coby Kriegshauser, the CEO and owner of Scott Seed Co., in a signing ceremony held on December 17, at the Philippine Consulate General in Houston, Texas, the province’s information office said.

Piñol described the initiative as a breakthrough and would be a game changer in the government’s antipoverty drive.

“MinDA’s sorghum development program would be a game changer in the fight against rural poverty,” he said.

He said a US vessel would carry 25 metric tons of sorghum seeds to

Mindanao, and set sail from Galveston, Texas. The ship is expected to arrive in the Port of Davao, in February 2020.

MinDA included Davao del Norte as a pilot area for sorghum following the commitment of Jubahib to allot a wide area for the planting of the protein-rich crop. The province’s information office said Jubahib committed the unutilized Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title areas, particularly in the tribal town of Talaingod, and the banana farms affected by Fusarium wilt for the program.

Jubahib said he expects a “dramatic turnaround” in the plight of indigenous people communities when the program starts in February.

In October, Piñol said a US company will donate seeds and pitched for the planting of sorghum in banana farms that were struck by Fusarium wilt. The MinDA chief told farmers that a Thai company is looking for supplies and is willing to buy sorghum at P12 per kilogram.

The former agriculture chief presented the option to those who attended the Banana Fusarium Wilt Management Forum in Tagum City, in October. He said sorghum is an ideal crop to grow while banana plantations recover from the devastation caused

by Fusarium wilt.

Commonly called Panama disease, the virus is soil-borne and attacks the roots and the trunks. It lays dormant and is known to attack again any new banana plants, or any other soft-tissue plants.

The government has suggested the planting of other cash crops like cacao, coffee, oil palm and now sorghum in areas struck by the dreaded banana disease.

With the disease infecting several farms and threatening other plantations, Piñol urged banana growers to consider sorghum.

BusinessMirror

A6 Monday, December 23, 2019 Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT Regional Office No. IV-A 4th Flr. Andenson Bldg. II, Brgy. Parian, Calamba City Telefax No.: (049) 545-7362 December 23, 2019

27

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. JUNYONG ZHANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

28

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HAILONG LUO/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

29

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YONG LI/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

30

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. YANPING QIU/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

31

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YUNYANG AO/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

32

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. XINLONG FU/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

33

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. XIANRUI CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

34

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HUAFEI HUANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

35

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. KAILUN LIAO/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

36

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. QING LUO/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

37

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YONGJUN FANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

38

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. GUANHUI CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

39

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. YANFANG LEI/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

40

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. TINGTING LEI/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

41

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. BING LUO/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

42

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. WEI CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

43

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. ZHIJUN HUANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

44

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YONG WANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

45

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HAIJUN XIN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

46

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. JUNQIANG ZHANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

47

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. LIANHUI MAO/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

48

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HAO WANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

49

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HAI CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

50

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. BIN LIN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

51

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. YUANYUAN LIU/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

52

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. GUOQUAN ZHANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

53

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YIBO ZHANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

54

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. WEIHONG CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

55

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. JING HOU/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

56

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HAN ZHANG/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

NOTICE OF FILING OF APPLICATION FOR ALIEN EMPLOYMENT PERMIT (AEP) Notice is hereby given that the following employers have filed with this Regional Office application/s for Alien Employment Permit/s.

Name and Address of Company/Employer

Name and Citizenship of Foreign National

Position and Brief Description of Functions

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. ZHIYE WEI/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. PENG LIU/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. JIN CHEN/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YUANJUN HUANG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. WEI LI/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. GUANGBO CHE/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. MINGXIAO CAI

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. ACUN WANG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. PENG ZHONG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. JIAN WU/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. JIANJI CHI/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. HAIJIN PENG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YOUSONG LIN/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. HONGRUI ZHANG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YONGSONG ZHONG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. RUIJIE XU/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YAOCAI HUANG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. CUIPING WANG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MS. XIANGGE CHEN/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. SHIBO WANG/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. ZHOUTING WEI/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YIYIN MA/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. XINCHENG LI/ Chinese

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. YANG LIU/ Chinese

25

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. DONG LI/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

26

LANCE EXPERT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC. Brgy. San Francisco, Biñan City, Laguna

MR. PENG CHEN/ Chinese

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative Chinese Speaking Customer Service Representative

www.businessmirror.com.ph

www.businessmirror.com.ph

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso • Monday, December 23, 2019 A7

Pope Francis denounces ‘rigidity’ as he warns of Christian decline

V

ATICAN CITY—Pope Francis warned on Saturday that “rigidity” in living out the Christian faith is creating a “minefield” of hatred and misunderstanding in a world where Christianity is increasingly irrelevant.

Francis called for Vatican bureaucrats to instead embrace change during his annual Christmas greetings to the cardinals, bishops and priests

who work in the Holy See. Francis’s message appeared aimed at conservative and traditionalist Catholics, including within the Vatican Curia, who have voiced increasing opposition to his progressive-minded papacy. Their criticisms have accelerated over the past year, amid Vatican financial and sex-abuse scandals that may have predated Francis’s papacy but are

nevertheless coming to light now.

Francis issued a stark reality check to the men in the Sala Clementina of the Apostolic Palace, acknowledging that Christianity no longer holds the commanding presence and influence in society that it once did.

He cited the late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a leader of the progressive wing of the Catholic Church, who in his final interview before dying in

2012, lamented that the church found itself “200 years behind” because of its inbred fear of change.

“Today we are no longer the only ones that produce culture, no longer the first nor the most listened to,” Francis told the prelates. “The faith in Europe, and in much of the West is no longer an obvious presumption but is often denied, derided, marginalized and ridiculed.”

As a result, he urged the Catholic hierarchy to embrace the necessary pastoral reforms and outlook that will make the church attractive so that it can fulfill its mission to spread the faith.

“Here we have to beware of the temptation of assuming a rigid outlook,” Francis said. “Rigidity that is born from fear of change and ends up disseminating stakes and obstacles

in the ground of the common good, turning it into a minefield of misunderstanding and hatred.”

He recalled, as he has in the past, that people who take rigid positions are usually using them to mask their own problems, scandals or “imbalances.”

“Rigidity and imbalance fuel one another in a vicious circle,” he said.

“And these days, the temptation to rigidity has become so apparent.” AP

A8 Monday, December 23, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

China ups diplomatic ante as US presses hard on ‘America First’

G

ENEVA—Chinese leaders have long been sensitive about their communist country’s international image. Now, they are battling back—investing in diplomacy and a courtship of hearts and minds, just as the United States digs in on the Trump administration’s “America First” mindset.

A trade war and other frictions between the world’s top economic power and the fast-growing No. 2 have exposed Washington’s fears about technology, security and influence. US political leaders have derided China’s government over policies in protest-riddled Hong Kong, at detention centers in the majority Muslim Xinjiang region, and over allegedly underhanded business tactics by tech titan Huawei.

But increasingly, China is seeking to recapture the narrative—with a new assertiveness under President and Communist Party boss Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades.

“Almost overnight, we have awakened to the reality that while America slept, the Chinese Communist Party has emerged as an immediate and growing threat to our prosperity, our freedoms, and our security,” Sen. Marco Rubio, (R-Florida) said in a speech to the National Defense University last week.

Now the Chinese even have the world’s biggest diplomatic arsenal to draw from. China’s diplomatic net-

work—including embassies, consulates and other posts—has overtaken that of the United States, according to the Lowy Institute, a Sydneybased think tank. Beijing has 276 diplomatic posts worldwide, topping Washington’s declining deployment by three posts, the institute found.

China’s growing diplomatic presence comes as Beijing is trying to expand its international footprint in places like resource-rich Africa or the strategic South China Sea, and to compete economically with Western countries, including with its much-ballyhooed Belt and Road Initiative that seeks to expand Chinese economic clout in places like Africa and Asia.

China’s campaign to increase its influence on the global stage comes as the Trump administration retreats from multilateral diplomacy. Trump has pulled the United States out of the United Nations’ educational, scientific and cultural organization and the UN-supported Human Rights Council, and this month the US squeezed the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) appeals court out

of action. His administration has announced a US pullout from the Paris climate accord and shredded multilateral trade pacts.

It’s part of a broader diplomatic retrenchment that has led to the loss of nearly 200 foreign service posts at American embassies and consulates abroad.

“We’ve entered an era in which diplomacy matters more than ever, on an intensely competitive international landscape,” said William Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former deputy secretary of state who has been highly critical of Trump’s foreign policy. “China realizes that and is rapidly expanding its diplomatic capacity. The US, by contrast, seems intent on unilateral diplomatic disarmament.”

The US pullback has been particularly felt in Geneva, a hub of UNbacked multilateralism: More than 2 1/2 years into Trump’s tenure, the US finally brought in a new ambassador to UN institutions in Geneva only last month. Meanwhile, China’s deployment has grown, complete with a months-long renovation to its WTO offices on the bucolic Geneva lakefront.

Trump’s administration has initiated staffing draw-downs in Afghanistan and Iraq in particular, recalling diplomats from those countries to Washington but not sending them out to other overseas missions, according to the American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents US diplomats.

“This is the first time that any country has had more global presence than the United States and it’s a concern,” said union President Eric Rubin. “If we’re going to meet the

challenge of a rising China, we need to represent ourselves aggressively and with resources overseas.”

In African nations like Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda, US diplomats report being outnumbered five-to-one by their Chinese counterparts, according to a union presentation to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Since Trump took office in 2017, at least five small nations in Latin America and the Pacific—Panama, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands—have rejected intense US lobbying and cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in order to recognize China, which often promises them major investments of the kind that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned against. And countries in Europe and elsewhere have been reluctant to heed US admonitions to cut Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei out of their advanced communications networks. The US says Huawei equipment is suspect, subject to intrusion by the Chinese Communist Party, and has warned nations including Nato allies that they could be stripped of intelligence cooperation with the United States if they grant the company a role in their national grids. Huawei denies the US allegations.

There was a time when China was considered a potentially benevolent rising power. Nearly a generation ago, the communist country was welcomed into the capitalist-dominated WTO in Geneva. Now US officials complain that China has taken advantage of the trade body and isn’t playing by its rules. That adds to the suspicion—even as Beijing insists it respects and abides by the rules-

based international system.

In 2019, “we have seen a change in how the rest of the world sees China,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “From Xinjiang to Huawei to now Hong Kong: China is no longer seen as the rising benign giant, but it is being seen as, ‘Whoops, we need to get worried about it.’”

But in some areas, like its efforts to fight climate change, China is scoring political points abroad—while Trump’s policies on the environment have drawn widespread scorn.

China’s Communist Party has long believed in its monopoly on truth, history and narrative at home, Tsang said. Now, with “fake news” a buzzword, that belief may be ripe for export.

Chinese diplomats have claimed that China holds no political prisoners and insist the Xinjiang centers— which have been widely criticized for locking up Muslim Uighurs and others—were only there to provide “vocational” training and save them from religious radicalism.

“If Donald Trump can say anything he wants—whatever that happens to be, without too much regard to whether it’s factually correct or not—why would the Communist Party of China not feel that they’ve been vindicated?” he said. “Therefore, Xi Jinping’s idea of seizing the narrative is the right thing: You don’t have to get worried about facts.”

Chinese authorities have used advertising pitches, news conferences, TV and radio interviews, social media—including on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s new Twitter account—and other messaging to promote Beijing’s positions and push back against criticism. AP

23 dead as protests grow against new India citizenship law

N

EW DELHI—Violent protests against India’s citizenship law that excludes Muslim immigrants swept the country over the weekend despite the government’s ban on public assembly and suspension of Internet services in many parts, raising the nationwide death toll to 23, police said.

Nine people died in clashes with police in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, said state police Spokesman Pravin Kumar. He said most of the victims were young people but denied police were responsible.

“Some of them died of bullet injuries, but these injuries are not because of police fire. The police have used only tear gas to scare away the agitating mob,” he said.

Around a dozen vehicles were set on fire as protesters rampaged through the northern cities of

Rampur, Sambhal, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore and Kanpur, where a police station was also torched, Singh said.

The backlash against the law marks the strongest show of dissent against the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he was first elected in 2014.

The law allows Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally to become citizens if they can show they were persecuted because of their religion in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.

Critics have slammed the legislation as a violation of India’s secular constitution and have called it the latest effort by the Modi government to marginalize the country’s 200 million Muslims. Modi has defended the

INDIAN students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University and locals participate in a protest demonstration against a new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, on Saturday, December 21, 2019. Critics have slammed the law as a violation of India’s secular constitution and have called it the latest effort by the Narendra Modi government to marginalize the country’s 200 million Muslims. Modi has defended the law as a humanitarian gesture. AP

law as a humanitarian gesture.

Uttar Pradesh state is controlled

by Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. An anti-terror squad was deployed and Internet services were suspended for another 48 hours in the state.

Six people were killed during clashes in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, and police said on Saturday that over 600 had been taken into custody since then as part of “preventive action.” In addition, five people have been arrested and 13 cases filed for posting “objectionable” material on social media.

Police have imposed a British colonial-era law banning the assembly of more than four people statewide.

The law was also imposed elsewhere in India to thwart an expanding protest movement demanding the revocation of the citizenship law. AP

Defense personnel data vulnerable in malware attacks

T

HE personal data of about 100,000 Singapore defense personnel may have been leaked in yet another cyber attack in the city-state.

Sensitive information held by two security force vendors, including full names, identification details, and a combination of contact numbers, e-mail and residential addresses could be included in the potential data exposure, according to a statement published on the ministry’s web site on Saturday.

ST Logistics Pte.’s systems, which suffered a malware attack, held the personal data of 2,400 Ministry of Defense and Singapore Armed Forces employees, while HMI Institute of Health Sciences Pte.’s system contains the information of about 98,000 security force personnel, the statement said.

Preliminary investigations show the likelihood of a leak to external parties by

HMI Institute is low, while ST Logistics’s system could have been compromised, according to the ministry. “We will review the cyber-security standards of our vendors to ensure that they are able to protect our personnel’s personal data and information,” Defense Cyber Chief Brigadier-General Mark Tan said in the statement. Singapore, a trade-reliant nation with a rapidly aging population, is trying to restructure its economy to make it a global center of innovation. As a hyper-connected financial hub, it’s also been a recent target for hackers.

Web sites hacked

EARLIER this year, the personal data of more than 4,000 people was compromised after Singapore Red Cross’s web site was hacked, according to local media.

Last year, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s private details were

targeted in a “major” cyber attack on the database of the country’s biggest public health-care group. The non-medical personal particulars of about 1.5 million patients were illegally accessed and copied during the hack, authorities said.

HMI Institute said it had discovered that a file server was encrypted by ransomware on December 4, but investigations so far show no evidence of data being copied or exported. ST Logistics did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment, and calls to the company went unanswered.

ST Logistics works with the ministry to provide retail and supply-chain services, while HMI Institute is contracted by the Singapore Armed Forces to conduct personnel training.

The ministry said it is in the process of notifying all those affected by the latest possible leak. Bloomberg News

THIS July 9, 2019, file photo shows pedestrians walking across the street from the Twitter office building in San Francisco. Twitter says it has removed nearly 6,000 accounts it has deemed tied to a state-backed information operation in Saudi Arabia. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Twitter, Facebook ban fake users

N

EW YORK —Twitter has identified and removed nearly 6,000 accounts that it said were part of a coordinated effort by Saudi government agencies and individuals to advance the country’s geopolitical interests.

Separately, Facebook said it removed hundreds of Facebook accounts, groups and pages linked to inauthentic behavior from two separate groups, one originating in the country of Georgia and one in Vietnam, which targeted people both in Vietnam and in the US. Facebook said some of the accounts used profile photos generated by artificial intelligence and masqueraded as Americans. It is one of the first such misinformation efforts to use material generated by AI. Tech companies have stepped up efforts to tackle misinformation on their services ahead of next year’s US presidential elections. The efforts followed revelations that Russians bankrolled thousands of fake political ads during the 2016 elections to sow dissent among Americans.

Twitter’s and Facebook’s announcements underscore the fact that misinformation concerns aren’t limited to the US and Russia.

In a blog post on Friday, Twitter said the removed Saudi accounts were amplifying messages favorable to Saudi authorities, mainly through “aggressive liking, retweeting and replying.” While the majority of the content was in Arabic, Twitter said the tweets also amplified discussions about sanctions in Iran and appearances by Saudi government officials in Western media.

“Governments have started to launch influence campaigns the same way commercial enterprises launch campaigns to sell detergent or cars,” said James Ludes, a national defense expert who teaches international relations and public policy at Salve Regina University in Rhode Island.

He said the Russian efforts in 2016 showed it was possible to “actually change public attitudes through the targeted use of social media.”

While the attempts to root out the campaigns may seem like a game of whack-a-mole, he said companies have at least shown progress in taking steps to identify and root out manipulation campaigns run by foreign powers.

Twitter began archiving tweets and media it deems to be associated with known state-backed information operations in 2018. It shut 200,000 Chinese accounts that targeted Hong Kong protests in August.

The 5,929 accounts removed and added to the archives are part of a larger group of 88,000 accounts engaged in “spammy behavior” across a wide range of topics. But Twitter isn’t disclosing all of them because some might be legitimate accounts taken over through hacking.

The Twitter accounts were linked to a social-media marketing firm in Saudi Arabia called Smaat that managed many government departments in Saudi Arabia. The accounts used third-party automated tools to amplify nonpolitical content at high volumes. Twitter said that activity was used to mask the political maneuverings of the same accounts.

Samuel Woolley, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies disinformation, said that while the Saudi campaign used basic manipulation techniques, including the use of likes and retweets to give the illusion of popularity, the campaign’s size and scale were unusual. The existence of a thousandsstrong army of Saudi accounts also show that social-media companies still don’t have a good solution, he said, despite the progress they have made at identifying state-backed accounts.

“It’s really clear we have to do something about it,” he said. “It can’t just be after the fact. We have to get better about detecting in real time.”

Messages left with Saudi officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the country’s embassy in Washington were not immediately returned. AP

BusinessMirror Special Feature

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, December 23, 2019 A9

PPA CELEBRATES 45TH YEAR BY GIVING BACK WHAT THE PEOPLE TRULY DESERVE IN TERMS OF PORT OPERATIONS AND FACILITIES

A

NCHORED on its timehonored tradition of Serbisyo at Malasakit, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) is poised the end the year on a positive note as it looks forward to brighter prospects ahead. With record-breaking performances in terms of dividends, cargo volume and revenues plus the completion of a huge number of port projects, 2019 has been quite a milestone for the PPA.

Coincidentally, the year also marked the 45th anniversary for the dynamic government agency.

“It is really overwhelming that we are ending the year on the upside, far better than what we originally projected,” PPA General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said as he also pointed out that the PPA is simply giving back to the people what they truly deserve in terms of port operations and facilities.

Santiago added that he never expected that by simply doing what the PPA does best will result in an even better performance in almost all aspects of its operations.

“Our mantra really did us wonders for 2019. With the continuing leadership of Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade our port users and the public can expect an even better Serbisyo at Malasakit come 2020,” Santiago further noted.

Dating back to 2016, the PPA has completed more than 200 port projects including, among others, the biggest and state-of-theart passenger terminal building in Cagayan de Oro City that was launched only last July.

At present, PPA is now undertaking some 105 port projects spread over the three main islands of the country, 45 for Luzon, 22 for Visayas and 38 for Mindanao.

Out of this number, 11, 2 and 13 port projects have been completed while 15, 16 and 22 projects are ongoing, respectively. These projects are combinations of commercial and social reform ports implemented handin-hand with the Department of Transportation.

In terms of more value-added services, the PPA has also implemented the Free Passenger Terminal Fee for Senior Citizens, Differently-abled persons, Students, Uniformed Personnel and even expanded to include Medal of Valor awardees and their nextof-kin. As a result, close to P20 million has been enjoyed by beneficiaries since its implementation last July 15.

To serve as extensions of the PPA, Malasakit Help

Desks (MHD) were also established in each of the terminals controlled by the PPA to extend added service to the sea-going public. These desks provide the much-needed aid by providing hygiene kits and fresh food during inconveniences brought about by natural disasters and even giving recognition to mothers, fathers, and grandparents during their special days.

To fast track its compliance with international standards and further improve the efficiency of the ports, the PPA has fully migrated to the Integrated Management Systems (IMS) from the Quality Management System, which the agency has been strictly observing since 2015.

Eight out of its 25 Port Management Offices are already compliant with the IMS while 16 QMS-certified ports are now undergoing IMS certification audits. Masbate, PPA’s youngest PMO that was established two years ago is likewise accelerating its compliance first with QMS and eventually IMS. Significantly reduced transaction time in ports, the Port Integrated Clearing Office serves as a OneStop-Shop for cargo owners and vessel operators resulting in faster turnaround time for vessels.

Reduced dwell time of cargoes inside the ports ultimately results in reduced cost on all stakeholders as well.

As of this writing, the PPA is currently in the advanced stages in its compliance with the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Act in its bid to further reduce bureaucratic red tape for its internal and most especially its external clients by providing step-by-step procedures and penalty thereof for non-compliance with the agreed EODB timelines.

As part of the agency’s effort in ensuring the safety and security of passenger transport and cargo hauling as well as implementing local and international security measures and protocols, the PPA has also been continuously augmenting its port police force. In fact, the second batch of graduates from PPA’s

port police program recently received their cer tif icates and are now ready for deploy ment to the 114 por ts w ithin the PPA por t system.

“ These are only several of the projects we have undertaken and completed since we celebrated our 45th founding anniversary in July. Next year, several projects will go online and will significantly further benefit the port community,” Santiago said.

“ These improvements were undertaken to further provide better commuting experience and cargo-handling operation to the country’s port-using public as well as in line with the agency’s vision of providing globally competitive port services to its stakeholders,” Santiago added.

Santiago is very proud to reveal the noteworthy on-going

projects of the PPA: nThe establishment of the country’s first-ever governmentowned Shipbuilding and Shiprepair facility. This project will reduce the country’s dependence on second-hand imported ships as this facility will manufacture tailorfit ship design for interisland transportation as well as offer affordable financing schemes for vessel owners and operators. nImplementation of a Centralized Ticketing System for ports and vessels. This initiative, which is expected to take shape within the first quarter of next year, will improve maritime safety as it will eliminate ticket scalping and overbooking of vessels. nUniform Port Tariffs for Tier 3 Ports under the Port Terminal Management Regulatory Framework (PTMRF). This project

provides for a uniform tariff as well as provides for the formula on port tariff rate adjustment, frequency of tariff rate adjustment and its procedures as well as the bidding out of Tier 3 ports. nPrivatization of Ports. Initially, the PPA is evaluating the unsolicited proposals to develop the Iloilo Commercial Port Complex (International Container Terminal Services, Inc.), Port of General Santos (Kudos Trucking Corporation), and Davao’s Sasa W harf (Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings).

In addition to these projects, the PPA is also looking to tap Japanese expertise, specifically that of the Yokohama Port Corporation, in crafting the PPA’s Sustainable Energy Masterplan in order to reduce the agency’s carbon footprints in compliance

with the International Maritime Organization laws and protocols.

Also in the pipeline are plans to use the same Japanese expertise in the drafting of engineering plans for select cruise-tourism ports and to build disaster-resilient ports.

“ The current administration is making sure to put extra efforts in initiating, implementing and most importantly, completing port projects nationwide aiming to achieve international standards toward achieving comfortable lives for all sea-going passengers,” Santiago added.

Within a span of only 45 years, the PPA has to date injected some P111.5B for the development of ports as well as cashed-out P9.2B for repairs and maintenance of requirements of ports in the country.

A10 Monday, December 23, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

2019: Big global financial gains

A

S events on the world stage usually calm down between the Christmas and New Year holidays, perhaps, now is a good time to look back over 2019. And what a year it has been.

It has been a tumultuous year globally and in the Philippines. We saw plebiscites held and approval from the people, which led to the final implementation of the long awaited Bangsamoro Organic law.

Still, the violence in the South continued throughout the year.

In March, water—or the lack thereof—was a big issue in Metro Manila, as water level of the La Mesa Dam reached a 12-year low.

We ended this year with the companies responsible for providing water to Metro Manila on the front pages once again. A 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit large parts of Luzon, leaving at least 16 people killed. We end the year with the Davao region experiencing what can be characterized as swarms of earthquakes.

Relations with China were difficult with the ramming of the Philippine fishing boat. Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario filed a case in the International Criminal Court against Chinese President Xi Jinping, and other Chinese government officials for alleged crimes against humanity. Both were subsequently denied entry to Hong Kong. President Duterte was accused of being too friendly with the Beijing government.

The President was under attack for alleged human-rights violations in the war on drugs. Still, the opposition was shut out of the Senate in the May elections and, despite all the controversy that the President’s actions and words generated, his approval rating as 2019 ends is 87 percent.

However, whatever “exciting” things that happened in the Philippines were nothing compared to the rest of the world. Massive protests in countries around the globe are too numerous to mention. Maybe the political upheaval can best be illustrated in what happened just this month.

Boris Johnson with his promise to ensure that his country leaves the European Union was elected in a landslide victory with the opposition’s worst performance since 1935. President Donald J. Trump was impeached by the US House of Representatives.

Nonetheless, the year 2019 may be the best year the financial markets have ever experienced.

Global stock markets have increased in value by $10 trillion. The US S&P 500 stock index is up some 30 percent, while the Morgan Stanley near 50-country world index has gained over 20 percent. Europe, Japan, China, and Brazil are all up at least 20 percent in dollar terms. Our own stock market is showing gains in US dollar terms for the year despite strong headwinds most recently from the huge losses in the “water” companies.

Crude oil prices have increased by 20 percent. The price of gold is 15 percent higher. Crypto assets have been wild. Bitcoin was up over 260 percent in June, but is still around 80 percent higher for the year.

The bond markets have performed extremely well, giving most investors over 10-percent return. Local currency emerging market bonds—including the Philippines—have brought in between 11percent and 14-percent gains.

Will next year be just as exciting—and profitable? We do not have to wait that long to see.

Holiday blues Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II

RISING SUN

T

HE general atmosphere is lively and festive, there are bright lights around the city and people walk up and down the streets bearing gifts, shopping bags, boxes tied with golden bows. In the restaurants, you’d find big groups of happy people, feasting and joking around the table, taking selfies and exchanging humorous stories. This is the normal Christmas scene we are all used to.

Inside dark rooms after all the parties and socializing, there are people who deal with their personal issues alone and in silence. This is the part that we don’t see; that they don’t allow us to see. This is not the picture that we see posted on Facebook or Instagram, yet it is nevertheless the reality for many people.

Pope Francis’s Christmas message Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan

LEGALLY SPEAKING

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business ✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Founder Publisher Editor in Chief Associate Editor News Editor Senior Editors

Online Editor Creative Director Chief Photographer Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug Lorenzo M. Lomibao Jr., Gerard S. Ramos Lyn B. Resurreccion, Dennis D. Estopace Angel R. Calso Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Eduardo A. Davad Nonilon G. Reyes Judge Pedro T. Santiago (Ret.) Benjamin V. Ramos Adebelo D. Gasmin Marvin Nisperos Estigoy Aldwin Maralit Tolosa Rolando M. Manangan

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

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

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

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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

Christmas is not always merry for everyone. As we celebrate with our friends and family this season, let’s be sensitive toward those who may be going through difficulties. And because we might not always know who they are, the default attitude should be kindness and compassion toward all men.

SAD (Seasonal affective disorder), for example, is very real. It comes like a dark cloud in the cold months, affecting moods and making the holidays very difficult to go through. People suffer from many different forms of mental illness, and many of them never talk about it. It is easy to lose hope when you are in the middle of the struggle.

This makes us ask the important questions: What can we do to help?

What is the right thing to say? A friend who also suffers from depression but who is also a mental-health advocate says that checking on our friends, being there for them, listening and making sure they know that they are not alone—these actions are encouraging for them already.

Other people who have gone through, or are going through the same ordeal advice parents, relatives and friends to bring the suffering individual to the doctor if the “sadness” lasts for two weeks or longer.

It is always best to be safe and get

As we await Pope Francis’s Christmas message for 2019, let us all be reminded of his Christmas message last year: “Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Christmas!

T

O you, the faithful of Rome, to you, the pilgrims, and to all who are linked to us from every part of the world, I renew the joyous proclamation of Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace among those whom He favors” (Luke 2:14). Like the shepherds who first went with haste to the stable, let us halt in wonder before the sign that God has given us: “A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).

In silence, let us fall to our knees and worship.

What does that Child, born for us of the Virgin Mary, have to tell us? What is the universal message of Christmas?

It is that God is a good Father and we are all brothers and sisters.

This truth is the basis of the Christian vision of humanity. Without the fraternity that Jesus Christ has bestowed on us, our efforts for a more just world fall short, and even our best plans and projects risk being soulless and empty.

For this reason, my wish for a happy Christmas is a wish for fraternity.

Fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture. Fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another. Fraternity among persons of different religions. Jesus came to reveal the face of God to all those who seek Him. The face of God has been revealed in a human face. It did not appear in an angel, but in one man, born in a specific time and place. By

His incarnation, the Son of God tells us that salvation comes through love, acceptance, respect for this poor humanity of ours, which we all share in a great variety of races, languages and cultures. Yet, all of us are brothers and sisters in humanity!

Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness. As when an artist is about to make a mosaic, it is better to have tiles of many colors available, rather than just a few! The experience of families teaches us this: As brothers and sisters, we are all different from each other.

We do not always agree, but there is an unbreakable bond uniting us, and the love of our parents helps us to love one another.

The same is true for the larger human family, but here, God is our “parent,” the foundation and strength of our fraternity. May this Christmas help us to rediscover the bonds of fraternity linking us together as

individuals and joining all peoples.

May it enable Israelis and Palestinians to resume dialogue and undertake a journey of peace that can put an end to a conflict that for over 70 years has rent the land chosen by the Lord to show His face of love.

May the Child Jesus allow the beloved and beleaguered country of Syria, once again to find fraternity after these long years of war. May the international community work decisively for a political solution that can put aside divisions and partisan interests, so that the Syrian people, especially all those who were forced to leave their own lands and seek refuge elsewhere, can return to live in peace in their own country.

My thoughts turn to Yemen, in the hope that the truce brokered by the international community may finally bring relief to all those children and people exhausted by war and famine.

I think too of Africa, where millions of persons are refugees or displaced, and in need of humanitarian assistance and food security.

May the Holy Child, the King of Peace, silence the clash of arms and allow a new dawn of fraternity to rise over the entire continent, blessing the efforts of all those who work to promote paths of reconciliation in political and social life. May Christmas consolidate the bonds of fraternity uniting the Korean Peninsula and help the path of rapprochement recently undertaken to continue and to reach agreed solutions capable of ensuring the development and well-being of all.

May this blessed season allow Venezuela once more to recover social harmony and enable all the members of society to work fraternally for the country’s development, and to aid the most vulnerable sectors of the population. May the newborn Lord bring relief

professional help.

If a person can’t open up to a friend or relative, for whatever reason, sometimes talking to a stranger who is also an expert is an excellent first step. The Natasha Goulbourn Foundation has a 24/7 Hopeline.

Save these numbers: (02) 804-4673 and 0917-558-4673. The toll-free number 2919 is for all Globe and TM subscribers.

A person need not suffer alone. It is not an embarrassment. Everyone is entitled to equal opportunities. It is not something to be laughed at or not taken seriously. Individuals with mental illness should not be judged recklessly, avoided or bullied. These are just some of the many negative connotations attached to mental illness.

Let us spend our days with the awareness that the stigma toward mental illness must gradually be removed. Our actions and the way we relate with others must reflect this consciousness.

to the beloved land of Ukraine, yearning to regain a lasting peace that is slow to come. Only with a peace respectful of the rights of every nation can the country recover from the sufferings it has endured and restore dignified living conditions for its citizens.

I am close to the Christian communities of the region, and I pray that they may develop relationships of fraternity and friendship. Before the Child Jesus, may the inhabitants of beloved Nicaragua see themselves once more as brothers and sisters, so that divisions and discord will not prevail, but all may work to promote reconciliation and to build together the future of the country.

I want to mention, too, all those peoples that experience ideological, cultural and economic forms of colonization and see their freedom and identity compromised, as well as those suffering from hunger and the lack of educational and healthcare services.

A particular thought goes to our brothers and sisters who celebrate the birth of the Lord in difficult, if not hostile situations, especially where the Christian community is a minority, often vulnerable or not taken into account. May the Lord grant that they, and all minorities, may live in peace and see their rights recognized, especially the right to religious freedom.

May the little child whom we contemplate today in the manger, in the cold of the night, watch over all the children of the world, and every frail, vulnerable and discarded person. May all of us receive peace and consolation from the birth of the Savior and, in the knowledge that we are loved by the one heavenly Father, realize anew that we are brothers and sisters and come to live as such!”

A blessed Christmas to all!

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

A merry traffic Christmas!!

U2 Christmas adobo Siegfred Bueno Mison, Esq.

THE PATRIOT

Thomas M. Orbos

STREET TALK

A

LLOW me to greet everyone a traffic-filled but always will be, a merry Christmas! And before we forget—let us congratulate ourselves for just enduring the long waits in line and on the road, just to make sure we finish our shopping and attend the numerous parties and family reunions that completes what it is to spend Christmas in the Philippines.

And so, in the spirit of Christmas, let me write down some of our transport and traffic wishes to make our lives in this urban jungle more bearable. These are not huge, cost-heavy infra-based items, but rather so low-hanging that all it takes is the Christmas spirit of giving, to make these happen.

1. Respecting pedestrians: Let’s admit it, pedestrians get the least respect on our roads. Except for our CBDs, sidewalks are nowhere to be found or had been encroached by vendors at the very least. To make it worse, motorists see pedestrians as competitors on the road, trying to beat them to the crossing. Let’s start respecting pedestrians and we start respecting ourselves.

2. Respecting motorcycles and vice versa: Just like pedestrians, motorcycle riders do not get the proper respect on the road.

Major difference is that this goes both ways as we see riders crisscrossing the roads without road courtesies whatsoever. Let’s start remembering that motorcycle riders have as much right as we all do.

And for the riders—please remember you only have as much right as everyone else.

3. Respecting our enforcers: Yes, we all had encountered Mr. kotong officer who milked us dry for whatever petty or imaginative violation, but majority of our enforcers are decent family men who, like us, are just earning their keep.

Let us remember this next time we encounter them. And maybe thank them, as well, for the thankless job to make sense of the traffic mess we have.

4. For our PUV drivers—especially those driving jeepneys, buses and tricycles: Please respect everyone else. Yes, we get it. Life is hard. Probably even more for you.

But we—your fellow Filipinos on the road, are not your enemies. Your difficulties do not justify the way you treat us—stopping anywhere, your smoke-belching vehicles, your illegal terminals, etc. Maybe also remind yourselves that your behavior on the road affect all of us. And we will be the first ones to join you in the line to fight for our common rights on the road.

5. For our private motorists: We can help ourselves and those whom we share the road by remembering one thing—Let us not

There are still so many “lowhanging” steps for us to ensure that the spirit of Christmas is alive on our roads for the rest of the year. We just need to remember that just like Christmas, we need to keep that spirit of giving and love to make life bearable and even provide meaning to our daily traffic grind. do unto others what we don’t want them to do to us. Start by following traffic regulations, lining up, no counter flows, no illegal parking.

And, lastly, let us remember that putting our hazard lights on does not justify loading/unloading anywhere or waiting for our passengers by the roadside.

6. For operators of malls and other business establishments— Please plan better parking space and your entries/exit better. You are already doing good business off us.

And we do not mind. But the public roads are for all, and not just for those who line up or park to go to your establishments.

7. For our government regulators—Let us look at the situation simply as it is. We need more public transport on the road. Yes, thank you for less corruption than before—definitely heartfelt. But let’s catch up with the demand for more transport. And thank you for the long-term solutions, such as rails, tollways and new jeepneys.

But right now, we need the “emergency room” solutions—TNCs, habal-habals, more buses, etc. Let’s try to meet demands for now while working on the future to happen.

There are still so many “low-hanging” steps for us to ensure the spirit of Christmas is alive on our roads for the rest of the year. We just need to remember that just like Christmas, we need to keep that spirit of giving and love to make life bearable and even provide meaning to our daily traffic grind. To all of us then, a merry, merry Christmas!!

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

T

HE Irish rock band U2 made quite a stir when it held a concert a few weeks ago in Manila. Aside from the subtle political backlash of some statements, its band leader, Bono, surely left an indelible print to those who are either for or against the administration. For the pure music lovers though, U2 was one concert in the Philippine Arena worth the traffic getting in and out of the venue in Bulacan. Little did I know that most of the members of U2, Bono included, were also members of a Christian fellowship called Shalom. Since their faith seemed at odds with their style of music, the band members reportedly felt they should be doing something more meaningful than playing music. I guess Bono did just that when he gave Filipinos one rock concert to remember.

One of my favorite songs of U2 is the song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Bono himself considered that song as “an anthem of doubt more than faith” and more of “a gospel song with a restless spirit.”

At the time of the song’s release, I was still a cadet trying to find out where I will be in the next 10, 20, 30 years. All I knew then was that I was going to serve the Army after graduation. As a cadet, my faith in God was more about going to church and praying before exams. With the initial intervention from my room mate Jim Nelson from Minnesota, I managed to read a few verses of the Bible from time to time. Unfortunately, I never got my bearings from my faith during that stage.

Yes, then and until now, I can truly

say (and sing) “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” During my cadet days in West Point, the holiday season was an occasion for me to get a taste of Filipino food (adobo in particular) and converse in Filipino with few relatives in the United States. One such relative is my uncle, Ramon Bueno, based in Orlando. Visiting him as a cadet always turns out to be one happy trip since Uncle Ramon always brings me to his workplace—the “happiest place of Earth,” Disney World! Back then, he worked as a chill pianist in one of the many restaurants at the resort. We go together for work and I take as much rides as I can while he entertains the many patrons in the park. When he retired from Disney, he worked part time as a ground-

Options for business Luke Michael Valdez

DEBIT CREDIT Part One

T

HE question of whether to start your business as a partnership or corporation never gets old. With the advent of the one person corporation (OPC), this question once again pops up in the minds of aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs alike.

For individuals planning to start their business alone, sole proprietorships and OPC are available options. However, for two or more individuals planning to start a business together, the modes to choose from include partnerships or corporations. But how would you know which to choose? We discuss briefly below the differences between a partnership and corporation, and what it entails to be established as one.

Partnership, in a nutshell, is an organization created when two or more people agree to contribute their cash, assets and/or services.

They pool their contributions in

one entity (the partnership) in the hope of utilizing them collectively to gain some profit, which will be distributed among them. Formally, these are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which provides their juridical personality and are governed by specific articles contained in our Civil Code.

Corporations, like partnerships, are artificial being, as well. They gain powers, attributes and the rights of a corporation as expressed in the Corporation Code upon being registered with the SEC. With the passing of the revised Corporation Code, as low as one person to a maximum of

Fighting shipping pollution is bad for the planet

By Julian Lee Bloomberg Opinion

T

HE shipping industry is getting serious about cutting sulfur-dioxide emissions.

People who live along busy shipping lanes will see health benefits from reduced particulate emissions and a reduction in acid rain when new regulations come into force on January 1. But the sulfur particles help offset some of the warming caused by powering the ships, so the rules may also increase the likelihood that rising sea levels caused by global warming leave those same populations without a home.

The new regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency responsible for ensuring safe and efficient shipping on clean oceans,

allow for two ways of tackling the problem. Either ships must burn fuel with a sulfur content of no more than 0.5 percent, down from the 3.5 percent that is currently permitted outside of designated special emission-control areas. Or they must install scrubbers to remove sulfur from their exhaust.

The change targets the publichealth impact of shipping, which is estimated to contribute 13 percent of total sulfur-oxide emissions annually. It will slash the amount of sulfur dioxide from ships by 75 percent.

Doing so will dramatically reduce premature deaths resulting from sulfate emissions from ships, according to a paper published in Nature Communications in 2018 by a team of researchers from US institutions and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Most of the health benefits will

be felt by communities in coastal regions of densely populated countries with busy ports or those on major sea-trade routes, especially in India and China. People living near coastlines in the US or Europe won’t see a difference since ships operating in those areas already face far stricter limits that restrict them to burning fuel with a maximum sulfur level of 0.1 percent.

But these health benefits may come at a cost of actually worsening shipping’s climate impact. That’s because the sulfates from ships’ exhaust emissions contribute a cooling effect that will be lost with their removal.

Sulfur aerosols from ship exhaust reflect energy back into space. But they also make clouds brighter, so they reflect more sunlight away from the Earth, as well.

Mikhail Sofiev, one of the authors of the Nature Communications paper, explained it like this: Clouds with many small droplets are “whiter”—more reflective—than the clouds with few large droplets.

Anthropogenic particles are small and numerous. They attract water and prompt formation of many small cloud droplets—and we get whitetop cloud. Fewer sulfate particles reaching the cloud tops will reduce their albedo [ability to reflect] because the cloud droplets will become less numerous, bigger and, therefore, less reflective.

Most of the cooling effect from ship exhaust comes from this secondary impact on clouds, accounting for about 92 percent of the total.

The new regulations will reduce that cooling impact from the world’s shipping fleet by 81 percent, according to

Monday, December 23, 2019 A11

skeeper in a nearby golf course so he can play golf as much as he can.

Fast forward 35 years, Uncle Ramon hardly plays the piano after suffering bouts of depression as he is no longer as physically able as before.

He could no longer play golf as he uses a walker to go around these days. Since I ran out of Pinoy pasalubong when I recently visited him in Orlando, Florida, I woke up early enough to cook adobo for Uncle Ramon, upon the suggestion of my sister Melinda. I guess the adobo aroma put Uncle Ramon in a great mood as he played the piano, despite arthritic hands, all from memory! We sang together just like in our younger days!

Our best performance, according to his partner Maggie, was when we sang “The Girl From Ipanema.” Too bad, Uncle Ramon didn’t know my favorite U2 song.

Serving others is not typically regarded as an esteemed responsibility. But whenever we help or please others, the One we are actually serving is Christ Jesus. In the Bible, Psalms 37:4 tells us, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Through the years, I have been spending Christmas hosting parties and giving gifts to family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. After all, Christmas is the season for giving and loving.

I am happy whenever I see others around me happy.

This time, with the help of some pastor friends, I slowly realized the true meaning of Christmas. Everything we do this season should be centered on Him. We send cards and give gifts to others to remind our loved

ones about the love of Christ Jesus.

We visit the sick, those in prison, the underprivileged ones to let them feel the love of Christ Jesus through us.

We thankfully celebrate with lots of food and drinks to remind ourselves the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. Since we Filipinos, as a people, are firm believers of Christ Jesus, we need to praise and seek Him as often as we can, especially during Christmas.

In the Bible, Proverbs 8:17 tells us, “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me find Me.” I was happy to see my Uncle Ramon happy when I cooked adobo for him and sang a few songs with him over the piano. The unplanned visit not only made him smile, but I hoped it reminded him that Christmas is all about the love of Christ Jesus.

This Christmas, let’s celebrate the season by remembering the love Christ Jesus has given us and continues to give us. Everything we say and do this season ought to be connected to His love for us. Since others say that Christmas is all about family, then we should pursue what pleases Our Father. Christmas or not, we give gifts to others not just to make them happy but to make Him happy. As US journalist Joshua Rothman considers that U2 song as a celebration for wanting, let’s keep the wanting within us alive and try to live out the true meaning of Christmas, with faith, peace and love. Yes, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”... and I guess U2...You Still Haven’t Found What You’re Looking For.

15 can incorporate. After incorporation, the number of shareholders are limitless, depending on how the company would want to structure its capital stock.

It has now been established that both types of businesses obtain a juridical entity separate from their respective partners and shareholders. What greatly differs them from one another is how they are managed. The management structure of a partnership is much more simple.

Basically the management is up to the general partners. They generally have equal say and decisions will be based on the majority rule. Corporations, on the other hand, have a board of directors and a set of company officers. Shareholders who are not officers nor part of the board are mere passive investors with limited involvement in the management of the company.

In determining the structural option to select for your business, the question that you may ask revolve around how you and your business partners will want to act. Are you more of an active business owner who wishes to manage his/her own business or a passive investor who wish to just reap the claims when they become available? Do you prefer a more bureaucratic way of leading or are you fine with others having

an equal say as you?

One determining factor of which business type you would choose is the purpose of your business. For practices of profession, such as law, accounting, and architecture, these require you to be organized as a partnership. This is the case as professionals are often regulated by their own governing bodies and adhere to their rules and regulations.

There is a special type of corporation to create when the purpose of your organization is for charitable, religious, educational, civic and other purposes with social impact.

These are the nonstock corporations and no income shall accrue to its members, trustees or officers.

Depending on your purpose or what you plan to do, the law limits you in which vehicle you can use to carry them out.

the study. The net effect of the IMO 2020 rule on the climate impact is to increase the warming effect of all human activities by 3.8 percent.

Removing the sulfur from ship emissions exposes the climate effects of shipping. As James Corbett, another of the report’s authors, points out, “sulfate aerosols mask climate forcing, they don’t change it.”

The sulfur puzzle is just one piece of IMO’s efforts to clean up an industry that’s crucial to keeping global trade flowing, with more than 80 percent of global trade carried by sea. The Third IMO GHG Study, published in 2014, estimated that in 2012, international shipping accounted for about 2.2 percent of all anthropogenic carbon-dioxide emissions, and that such emissions could grow by between 50 percent and 250

percent by 2050.

In 2018, the London-based group adopted a strategy to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution. The goal is to cut the carbon intensity of international shipping “by at least 40 percent by 2030, pursuing efforts toward 70 percent by 2050, compared to 2008,” according to the document. It also aims to bring about a peak in total greenhouse-gas emissions “as soon as possible” and reduce them by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared with 2008 levels. The overall emissions target is lower than the carbon intensity goal because the volume of shipping is forecast to increase over the next 30 years.

One proposal to help achieve all of this is to lower fuel consumption by introducing speed limits. Others include technical approaches, such as mandatory power limits.

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

To be continued Luke Michael Valdez is a consulting associate of UpSmart Strategy Consulting Inc., a financial consultancy firm that specializes in strategic finance, structuring and restructuring of start-ups, social enterprises and SMEs. This column accepts contributions from the business community, particularly articles that are of interest to the accountancy profession, in particular, and to the business community, in general. These can be e-mailed to boa.secretariat.@gmail.com

A12 Monday, December 23, 2019

Hit by a hard cap, Angkas exhausts all legal options

R

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

IDE-HAILING app Angkas will exhaust all legal means to protect the livelihood of the 17,000 riders who will be affected by the newly imposed supply cap per operator—a restriction suddenly sprung on the popular mobility solution just three days before the six-month trial period for motorbike taxis is to lapse.

George Royeca, the company’s spokesman, questioned the reason and timing of the issuance of the rules for the extension of the motorcycle taxi pilot program.

Under the new rules, two new players will be introduced in the market to test the viability of the market.

The caveat? Each operator will have a supply cap of 10,000 riders.

Currently, Angkas has 27,000 bikers in its platform. With the new rules of the pilot run, 17,000 drivers of Angkas will essentially lose their jobs.

“It’s really a Sophie’s Choice,” a teary-eyed Royeca said on Sunday. “But we will comply by giving them a list of the 10,000 Angkas drivers.”

Royeca explained that the new technical working group (TWG) has been convening “in secret” and has been making “questionable” decisions without proper consultation.

17,000 Number of riders that Angkas is suddenly being forced to let go off, as a result of a cap per ride-hailing app operator imposed by a technical working group

Anti-competition

THE new TWG is headed by Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Member Antonio Gardiola. Nongovernment members of the working group were removed, and were turned into mere observers.

“We added two new players so as to not monopolize the data in the pilot program,” Gardiola had explained.

Royeca noted that his group is

LOW PRESSURE AREA 65 KM SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF DAVAO CITY, DAVAO DEL SUR EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE EASTERN SECTION OF THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 am - December 22, 2019

See “Angkas,” A2

ANGKAS riders conduct a unity ride along Edsa, on Sunday (December 22), as a sign of protest against the decision of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to limit the number of its bikers next year. NONOY LACZA

not anti-competition, but the government’s move to forcibly move 17,000 Angkas drivers to “two others that have not been under the same scrutiny as Angkas” is anticompetitive.

Angkas spent millions of pesos to train its potential riders. Each one should pass a series of exams to qualify. Its tests have a 70-percent attrition rate due to high standards,

he pointed out.

“We are at a loss [as to] how they concluded to remove the 17,000 bikers and give each player a 10,000 biker cap,” Royeca said.

Hard cap questioned

FOR Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection Spokesman Ariel Inton, the questionable part with the supply cap is the reason for limiting

2 Indons rescued from ASG

S

ECURITY forces rescued on Sunday two Indonesians held for three months by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu following operations, military officials said.

A member of the ASG and a soldier were killed while another soldier was also wounded during the operations that were carried out by Marine elements.

Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command commander Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana identified the two Indonesians as Maharudin Bin Lunani and Samiun Bin Maneu.

Sobejana said the two Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped along with Muhammad Farhan in the seawaters of Lahad Datu, Sabah, on September 23 this year.

Farhan remained in the hands of his captives.

“We have reinforced our troops and have cordoned off the area, so we are optimistic that we can rescue Farhan,” Sobejana said.

Major Arvin Encinas, Wesmincom spokesman, said the two Indonesians were rescued by members of the 4th Marine Battalion who fought with their captors in a 25-minute firefight at Barangay Pugad, Panamao, Sulu, at past 4 a.m.

“Marine troops further exchanged fire with militants in a separate encounter at 6:27 a.m.,” he said.

Soldiers recovered the body of the slain ASG member identified as Hairula Itum, alias Mamahand, several firearms, including an M-16 rifle and an M-203 grenade. “ We w i l l cont i nue to pu r sue a nd neutra l i ze mi l ita nts with our deliberate operations to rescue captives and thwart their hostile plans,” Sobejana said.

“This is part of our relentless effort to rescue the remaining See “2 Indons,” A2

the supply for each player.

“For transport network companies, such as Grab, there is a cap.

But the cap is for the industry and not per group, so why do they need to put a cap per company?” he said.

Commuter network The Passenger Forum Convenor Primo Morillo likewise said a hard cap is not entirely ideal.

“We have to understand that

many alternative modes of transport, like transport network vehicle system and motorcycle taxis, are being patronized by the public because of the problems in Metro Manila’s limited mass transportation system. The commuters themselves tried to look for solutions and they, somehow, found some through their mobile phones,” he said.

He warned that most of the displaced riders may just continue to operate illegally without going through mobile apps if their plight will not be heard.

“We can’t blame them if they opt to do it their way because the government seems to be blind to their situation. Besides, the demand is still here and it is an administrative nightmare to apprehend thousands of illegal habal-habal around the entire National Capital Region,” said Morillo.

It is, he added, in the government’s interest to solve the displacement of the 17,000 riders.

“Solving the problem of the 17,000 riders under threat of displacement is within the interest of the riding public. We hope the LTFRB will act quickly as the safety of commuters is at stake here,” he said.

A spokesman from the transport regulator noted that the displaced drivers may apply with the two other operators.

Royeca noted, however, that the two groups have already started ramping up their fleets, and might not be able to accommodate the displaced drivers.

DUTERTE SEEN TO ACT ON PEACE PANEL’S PUSH FOR HOLIDAY TRUCE

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

& Rene Acosta

T

@reneacostaBM

HE government peace panel is pushing for a Christmas holiday truce with communist rebels, to last up to next month.

On Sunday, Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo confirmed a recommendation has been submitted to President Duterte for the military to have a cease-fire with the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), from December 23, 2019 to January 7, 2020.

He, however, noted the recommendation had yet to be approved by Duterte as of Sunday.

“We may know [his decision] by tomorrow [Monday],” Panelo said in a radio interview.

The government and the NDFP recommended the observance of unilateral and reciprocal cease-fires in moves seen to hasten the possible resumption of peace talks between the two parties.

The recommendation signed

by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and former Government Peace Panel Member Hernani Braganza on behalf of the government; and Luis Jalandoni and Fidel Agcaoili for the NDFP was contained in a joint statement dated December 21, that was released by both sides.

Agcaoili is the chairman of the NDFP negotiating panel while Jalandoni is a senior adviser to the NDFP panel.

Awaiting Palace order–Lorenzana

DEFENSE Secretar y Delfin

Lorenzana, reacting to the recommendation, said he will await further orders from President Duterte, who, according to Panelo, will decide on the proposal possibly on Monday.

“We are not aware of this agreement between Secretary Bello and Jalandoni. We await advice from the Palace,” Lorenzana told military reporters.

Lorenzana and other senior security officials, including National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Interior Secretary Eduardo Año are against any cease-fire with communist rebels.

The defense secretary said earlier the military will continue its operations against members of the CPP and NPA, while both parties are talking.

Lorenzana made known his position when Duterte said he was giving the rebels another crack at peace talks in his effort to end the 50-year communist insurgency.

In their joint statement, both sides recommended the implementation and observance of unilateral and reciprocal cease-fires from December 23, 2019 up to January 7, 2020, as a confidence-building measure for the informal talks “leading to the formal meeting to resume the peace negotiations.”

The peace talks were scuttled

by Duterte, who disbanded the government peace panel led by Bello with the rebels through their leadership as represented by the NDFP. The President also implemented the localized talks through the issuance of an executive order creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (Elcac).

See “Peace panel,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, December 23, 2019

B1

Dito telco says ‘fully on track’ to meet commitments to govt

IN file photo, Dennis Uy (left), Chief Executive Officer and President of Udenna Corporation, confers with Mislatel President and CEO Nicanor Escalante in a Senate hearing on the third telco. The Uy-led Dito Telecommunity Corp., formerly called the Mislatel consortium, said it is “fully on track” to meeting its first-year commitments as the third telco. ROY DOMINGO

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

D

ITO Telecommunity Corp., the third telco player, said it is “fully on track” to meet its first year commitments to the government.

Adel Tamano, who serves as the chief administrative officer at

Dito, said in the past three months, the company acquired more than

3,000 sites for infrastructure development.

Construction is now fully under way, he added.

“Our edge is that we’ve embraced early on that collaboration, partnership and building new synergies are ways for us to ensure delivery of our commitments to the Filipino,” he said.

Tamano explained that Dito plans to work with over 12,000 consumer touch points within the Udenna Group.

Since October 2019, Dito has entered into various agreements with various tower construction and key

contractor companies, like the LCS Group of Cos. of Chavit Singson, China Energy Equipment Co. Ltd., Filipino-Malaysian consortium ZEAL Power Construction & Development Corp., Leo Technologies Infrastructure Corp. and Alt Global Solutions Inc., among other valued partners.

“While these inroads are for the most part not visible to the general public, working with our partners guarantees we have the critical pieces in place: the data centers of Dito are very close to completion, fiber resources to link the entire network have been leased from partners like Sky Cable and our very own fiber network is under construction, as well. All of these, together, give us every confidence that we will meet our first year commitments,” Tamano said.

Dito, the third-major player in the local telco market, has yet to formally announce the availability of its mobile services in the Philippines. It won the auction for the third telco franchise in late 2018.

Formerly known as Mislatel Consortium, Dito committed to initially cover 37 percent of the whole Philippines with a minimum Internet speed of 27 Mbps through a P150billion capital and operational expenditures budget.

Its five-year commitment entails a P257-billion investment that will result in an 84-percent nationwide coverage with a minimum Internet speed of 55 Mbps.

PSE joins regional events for capital market development

T

HE Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) recently participated in two regional gatherings for capital market promotion and development—the Asean Exchanges CEOs Meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and the 2019 International Seminar on Capital Market for SMEs at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The CEOs of Asean Exchanges meet twice a year to discuss activities that will help promote the region as one asset class. In the November meeting hosted by

the Indonesia Stock Exchange, programs to make information on Asean capital markets more accessible and to organize a road show promoting Asean-listed companies were tackled. One initiative that is close to completion is the revamp of the Asean Exchanges web site. The new web site contains more data and tools, such as stock screener to provide investors more information and means to analyze data across Asean markets. There was also a knowledge-sharing session about green finance during

the meeting.

The PSE also took part in the 2019 International Seminar on Capital Market for SMEs, attended by over 80 representatives from bourses and regulatory agencies from nations along the “Belt and Road.” The seminar was aimed at strengthening cooperation among countries to develop capital markets as an efficient funding source for SMEs, as well as generating ideas to accelerate the development of SMEs. “Most of the registered busi-

nesses in the country are SMEs, and we would like them to be a part of the capital market ecosystem. This seminar will be very useful for us. We gained insights and a preview of the best practices in boosting SME listings,” said PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon.

“We will continue to engage with our counterparts overseas to explore opportunities that can help us in programs of further developing our local capital market,” Monzon added.

SEC says it remains neutral on Yanson family dispute

By VG Cabuag

T

@villygc

HE Securities and Exchange Commission said it remains neutral with the ongoing dispute within the Yanson family over the ownership and management of Vallacar Transit Inc., the country’s largest bus liner company.

In his December 19 letter to the current management of the bus company, SEC Director and Officer in Charge Romuald C. Padilla said the general information sheet provided by the four members of the Yanson family— known as the “Yanson Four”—on December 6 to contest the management of the company is an insufficient proof of ownership.

“We would like to emphasize and reiterate that it is the ministerial duty of this commission to receive the general information sheet from any person filing in behalf of a corporation. However, this does not mean that the commission affirms the truthfulness of, or its bound by the

entries/declarations therein,” he said in the letter.

“The foregoing is based on the established doctrine that mere inclusion of a name of an individual in the general information sheet is insufficient proof he/she is a shareholder of a corporation submitting the said document. In determining the true owners of shares of stock of a corporation, the stock and transfer book of the corporation is controlling,” Padilla added.

Lawyers of the bus company’s current management said that based on the stock and transfer book, Emily V. Yanson, one of the four Yanson siblings who want to strip their mother of control over the company, has no shares in Vallacar Transit.

Yanson’s matriarch Olivia V. Yanson, along with Leo Rey Yanson, Ginette Y. Dumancas, Charles M. Dumancas, Arvin John Villaruel, Anita G. Chua and Daniel Nicolas Golez were elected as members of the board of directors of Vallacar on

December 7.

The Yanson Four, who included Roy V. Yanson, Ricardo V. Yanson Jr., Emily V. Yanson and Ma. Lourdes Celina V. YansonLopez, held a separate meeting of their own on the same day.

The SEC said its attendance as an observer was in line with the general supervisory powers of the SEC over registered firms.

“The attendance of SEC Bacolod Extension Office to the said meeting as observers of a corporation with pending intracorporate disputes was neither confirmation of the validity of the meeting, nor of the claimed shareholdings of above-named individuals nor the affirmation of a quorum during the meeting, but acted strictly as observers of the proceedings,” the SEC said in the certification signed by Annabelle F. Corral-Respall, the SEC Bacolod officer in charge.

“As a matter of fact, the undersigned [Corral-Respall] declined when asked to be an administering officer for the oathtaking of Roy V. Yanson, Ricardo

V. Yanson Jr. Ms. Emily V. Yanson and Ms. Ma. Lourdes Celina V. Yanson-Lopez after their election that afternoon,” she said.

She added that the SEC Bacolod Extension Office’s representatives signed only one document during the meeting, which was an attendance sheet.

“The commission, however, gives its assurance that it shall remain neutral in relation to the ongoing dispute within the Yanson family involving their various bus companies,” Padilla said in a separate letter.

Padilla wrote the lawyers of the Vallacar Transit after it protested the presence of SEC Bacolod representatives to the annual stockholders’ meeting led by the Yanson Four.

Vallacar Transit is the part of the Yanson Group of Bus Cos., and is the company behind Ceres Liner and Sugbo Transit.

It has 15 bases of operations in the cities of Bacolod, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Davao, Pagadian, Dipolog, Bohol and Batangas.

Lucio Tan group prods DOE on go-ahead for LNG project

By Lenie Lectura

T

@llectura

H E g rou p of L u c io Tan is seeking the goahead of the Department of Energy (DOE) for its planned LNG (liquefied natural gas) project.

“They applied for NTP [notice to proceed] already,” said Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos, adding that the application has already reached his office. “There is a process. We are working on it already.”

Marcos is also the chairman of the agency’s Centralized Review and Evaluation Committee.

Batangas Clean Energy is the project proponent that will pursue the onshore LNG terminal that will be located in Pinamucan Ibaba in Batangas City, said the DOE official. “It’s a consortium also. I am not familiar with the members of the consortium.”

In June, Gerardo Tee, the overall head of LTGC Distillery Operations and Absolut Distillers Inc. chief operating officer, said the group is considering to utilize its 38-hectare property in Pinamucan, Batangas, as a possible site for the planned LNG. Tee had said the LNG project, which may cost $1.5 billion, will include regasification facilities, LNG terminal and power plants, possibly with a power generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts (MW).

If the group is issued an NTP, it will be the fourth LNG player in the country. The other firms awarded with NTPs are Tanglawan Philippine LNG Inc., FGEN LNG Corp. (FGEN LNG) and USbased firm Excelerate Energy LP. Since tycoon Lucio Tan holds interests in the airline, banking, liquor, tobacco, real-estate industries and education, Marcos said the LNG project would be viable because of its prospective off-takers.

“[Their] business model, or captive market, to assure viability, includes Tanduay, Asia Brewery, Eton, JG Summit and others,” said the DOE official.

In August, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the late Lucio “Bong” Tan Jr. personally conveyed to him the intention of the group to join the LNG bandwagon.

Gatchalian said then that Tan’s MacroAsia Corp., a leader in aviation support services, is partnering with Gen X Energy, a company backed by Blackstone Energy Partners.

“MacroAsia and a foreign firm. Bong Tan talked to me personally. We went to their tobacco plant. He said they will pursue a plan to put up an LNG terminal and regasification terminal,” said the senator.

T he law ma ker a lso sa id many interested firms, mostly foreign, want to participate in the country’s LNG sector. “The interest is huge.”

The senator is working on a comprehensive LNG bill to serve as the ultimate framework of the LNG and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) industries. “We will file a resolution for a LNG and LPG bill. It’s about the industry, and Malampaya and updates on where LNG is at this point. We are working with DOE on this,” said Gatchalian.

The DOE actively promotes LNG as an option to supplement and replace gas from the Malampaya gas field, which is expected to be depleted starting 2024.

Interested LNG investors have been saying that a capitalintensive project, such as LNG, would require a clear direction from the government since investment in LNG is estimated to cost at least $1 billion.

Gatchalian said the LNG law must also require the presence of off-takers to ensure the sustained viability of the gas resource.

In time for Christmas, first 10-km section of Calax fully operational

S

ANTA ROSA, Laguna—The first section of the CaviteLaguna Expressway (Calax) is now fully operational, according to Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark A. Villar.

During the final inspection of the 10-kilometer section from the Mamplasan Toll Barrier to the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Interchange, Villar said: “Starting Monday, this section will be fully operational.

Just in time before Christmas.”

MPCala Holdings Inc. provisionally opened on October 31 the section. It was opened from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday, and from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Friday to Saturday.

“I have already requested the

concession company to keep this section open, and so that our holiday goers can continue to enjoy this short cut from Manila to Tagaytay City. We all know that Tagaytay is a traditional Christmas holiday destination, and this is our way of making family road trips as convenient as possible,” Villar said.

Calax is envisioned to be a four-lane, 45-kilometer toll road that will connect the ManilaCavite Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway. It will have eight interchanges, namely: Kawit, Daang Hari, Governor’s Drive, Aguinaldo Highway, Silang, Santa Rosa-Tagaytay, Laguna Boulevard Technopark and a toll barrier before Slex.

Lorenz Marasigan

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Monday, December 23, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

December 20, 2019

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

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND MEDCO HLDG NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

53.25 154.9 86.7 24.85 12.24 67.5 12.7 20.45 34.5 57.05 114 22.6 182 58 18.1 3.86 7.01 0.365 0.77 173 1,801 1.05

53.5 155.4 87 24.9 12.28 68 12.8 20.5 35 57.7 120 23 183 58.4 18.38 4 8.49 0.37 0.82 173.5 1,845 1.09

53.7 155.1 83.8 25 12.12 64 12.7 20.5 35.5 57.3 114 22.6 186.8 58 18.1 4.08 7.01 0.38 0.77 172 1805 1.08

53.7 156.8 87 25 12.3 68 12.7 20.5 36.5 57.3 114 22.6 188.2 58.4 18.1 4.08 7.01 0.38 0.77 173 1,805 1.08

53.5 149.2 82.2 24.8 11.78 63.5 12.7 20.5 34.5 57.05 114 22.6 179.7 57.05 18.1 4.08 7.01 0.37 0.77 172 1,800 1.08

53.5 155.4 87 24.85 12.24 68 12.7 20.5 34.5 57.05 114 22.6 183 58.4 18.1 4.08 7.01 0.37 0.77 173 1,800 1.08

1,160 4,574,400 7,055,720 32,500 554,400 7,266,030 3,300 8,600 100,400 830 20 6,400 1,988,700 1,290 100 1,000 22,600 260,000 39,000 14,500 190 150,000

62,092 701,792,882 594,830,152 806,785 6,705,996 482,790,349 41,910 176,300 3,507,290(3, 47,551.5 2,280 144,640 364,314,958 74,673 1,810 4,080 158,426 98,500 30,030 2,505,512 342,485 162,000

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

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

(155,948,943) 24,104,934 (607,645) 1,743,668 10,960,467.5 000,560.0001) 22,600 (164,884,243) (30,030) -

2.3 1.21 33.75 0.236 22.9 66.95 286.2 7.4 3.85 3.81 11.16 33.3 8.19 15.14 12.94 2.53 16.44 15.22 4.99 9.3 7.19 85.4 0.52 1.06 40 212 6.14 11.86 1.91 9.84 2.14 5.27 0.115 144 1.11 66.55 1.97 14.06 9.45 16.4 9.71 0.97 0.88 2.15 3.1 5 28 1.9 7.62 1.29 0.85 3.77

2.31 1.23 34.05 0.239 23.5 67 287.4 7.44 3.87 3.99 11.5 33.45 8.28 15.5 13.28 2.54 17.52 15.5 5 9.4 7.22 85.5 0.54 1.07 40.05 213 6.65 12.1 1.92 9.9 2.15 5.3 0.125 144.5 1.12 73.35 1.98 14.48 9.72 16.5 9.97 1 0.89 2.19 3.35 5.04 28.9 1.93 7.9 1.3 0.89 3.82

2.32 1.27 33 0.245 23.85 68 311.8 7.75 3.99 3.79 11.48 33.15 7.9 15.14 13.3 2.47 17.54 15.36 4.99 9.69 7.2 86 0.54 1.08 40 216.2 6.75 12.18 1.91 10.54 2.16 5.27 0.113 142.3 1.13 73.95 1.93 14.1 9.83 16.52 9.6 1 0.88 2.13 3.1 5 28 1.93 7.7 1.28 0.89 3.91

2.38 1.27 34.05 0.245 24.35 70 313 7.78 4 3.84 11.5 33.45 8.39 15.14 13.4 2.57 17.54 15.5 5 9.69 7.26 86 0.54 1.12 40.7 218 6.75 12.18 1.92 10.54 2.18 5.27 0.115 144 1.13 73.95 1.98 14.7 9.83 16.6 9.97 1 0.89 2.21 3.1 5 28 1.95 7.9 1.29 0.89 3.92

2.27 1.22 32.8 0.236 22.3 66 286.2 7.22 3.87 3.79 11.14 33.1 7.9 15.14 13 2.46 16.4 15.26 4.99 9.18 7.19 85.1 0.52 1.03 39.35 209 6.75 11.86 1.91 9.8 2.11 5.27 0.113 140 1.11 66.55 1.93 14.04 9.39 16.36 9.6 0.97 0.88 2.13 3.1 5 28 1.88 7.64 1.28 0.88 3.66

2.31 1.22 34.05 0.239 22.9 66.95 286.2 7.44 3.87 3.8 11.5 33.3 8.2 15.14 13.3 2.54 17.52 15.5 5 9.3 7.2 85.5 0.54 1.07 40 213 6.75 12.1 1.91 9.9 2.14 5.27 0.115 144 1.12 66.55 1.97 14.06 9.72 16.5 9.97 1 0.89 2.19 3.1 5 28 1.93 7.9 1.29 0.89 3.82

4,321,000 424,000 2,841,700 2,300,000 1,644,200 116,270 1,037,720 47,849,900 1,342,000 20,000 32,300 309,200 141,200 400 274,400 2,719,000 1,400 2,065,400 7,900 4,177,600 508,000 205,610 708,000 15,104,000 131,000 1,402,670 100 57,800 5,555,000 1,029,600 701,000 500 120,000 2,108,220 321,000 490 2,359,000 52,100 459,300 804,300 1,100 90,000 58,000 1,592,000 1,000 3,108,000 8,300 4,039,000 176,300 34,000 24,000 273,000

9,954,930 1 519,600 95,775,960 558,710 37,721,045 7,799,378 301,386,640 357,518,528 5,296,420 76,280 368,742 10,298,070 1,146,765 6,056 3,662,388 6,836,100 24,336 31,731,838 39,491 39,062,998 3,662,211 17,576,824.5 370,490 16,100,590 5,240,045 4 298,222,164 675 686,560 10,610,240 10,191,733 1,502,800 2,635 13,780 301,364,393 359,030 33,267.5 4,637,110 733,464 4,378,312 13,246,272(10 10,930 89,270 51,310 3,457,530 3,100 15,540,000 232,400 7,746,780 1,366,727 43,850 21,160 1,028,780

,385,260.0003 (12,098,195) (21,690,045) (1,743,351) (164,868,232) 2,675,825 (708,320) (62,100) 3,025,755 18,930 (148,498) 1,374,890 7,683,218 30,000 7,588,198 (496,353) 11,166,105 2,600 583,380 ,936,065.0003 (81,303,344) 574,024 (86,000) (387,775) 8,560 (527) (59,225,616) 71,140 935,160 (637,806) 2,275,931 ,498,454.0003) (9,970) (37,320) 3,100 (15,000,000) 176,400 32,120 718,144 (0) 64,320

0.81 10.5 775 51.55 11.48 2.98 6.42 0.67 0.92 6.65 6.23 13 836 5.25 79.85 0.485 3.73 11.8 0.55 3.26 4.07 1.18 2.73 1.22 175 1,059 157 207 0.192

0.82 10.76 779.5 51.65 11.5 2.99 6.86 0.7 0.93 6.68 6.38 13.2 839 5.26 80.1 0.5 3.75 12 0.56 3.27 4.3 1.22 2.9 1.24 180 1,065 158 214 0.209

0.78 10.8 756 50.1 11.32 3.05 6.57 0.7 0.92 6.65 6.4 13 814 5.26 77 0.485 3.75 11.7 0.56 3.4 4.1 1.16 2.95 1.22 190 1034 153 207.2 0.209

0.82 10.8 779.5 51.55 11.5 3.05 6.57 0.71 0.93 6.75 6.4 13.28 839 5.26 80.1 0.5 3.75 12 0.56 3.4 4.3 1.23 2.95 1.23 190 1,065 158 214 0.209

0.78 10.62 744.5 49.7 11.28 2.96 6.42 0.7 0.92 6.65 6.11 13 783 5.26 75.2 0.485 3.72 11.7 0.56 3.21 4.1 1.13 2.8 1.22 175 1,000 150 207.2 0.209

0.82 10.76 779.5 51.55 11.5 2.98 6.42 0.71 0.93 6.65 6.38 13.2 839 5.26 80.1 0.5 3.73 12 0.56 3.26 4.3 1.22 2.8 1.22 175 1,065 158 214 0.209

12,552,000 2,400 981,550 2,478,250 24,543,700 448,000 15,100 6,000 665,000 1,650,800 19,116,000 15,000 272,850 181,500 5,572,390 2,000 316,000 10,512,900 50,000 101,799,000 2,000 490,000 93,000 35,000 290 765,455 138,260 37,210 10,000

10,149,170 25,818 753,851,825 127,236,182.5 279,743,244 1,345,880 96,969 4,240 613,810 11,026,749 119,914,831 197,160 222,916,820 954,690 440,335,744 ( 985 1,178,340 125,610,134 28,000 333,000,270 8,400 561,300 268,350 42,710 51,260 805,100,500 21,423,126 7,958,052 2,090

(8,100) 51,268,995 (8,707,031) (36,991,628) 269,370 (1,681,030) (18,100,155) (24,579,460) (239,330) 33,003,215.5) (122,540) (32,927,158) (72,535,990) 2,019.9999 12,200 (89,397,475) (7,987,415) 6,775,560 -

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.8 0.81 0.8 0.8 0.78 0.8 1,356,000 1,063,650 AYALA LAND 45.55 46 45.4 46 43.7 46 17,863,300 810,019,755 (101,316,375) ARANETA PROP 1.3 1.35 1.28 1.35 1.28 1.3 131,000 168,630 11,450 BELLE CORP 1.97 1.98 1.97 1.98 1.97 1.97 189,000 372,450 (80,790) A BROWN 0.68 0.69 0.69 0.7 0.69 0.7 373,000 257,380 CITYLAND DEVT 0.81 0.85 0.81 0.87 0.8 0.87 152,000 122,320 CROWN EQUITIES 0.178 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.178 0.178 6,300,000 1,122,710 982,560 CEBU HLDG 6.31 6.47 6.47 6.47 6.31 6.47 31,400 199,246 (181,382) CEB LANDMASTERS 4.69 4.73 4.64 4.73 4.64 4.73 235,000 1,104,740 60,930 CENTURY PROP 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.56 0.53 0.56 10,797,000 5,914,330 CYBER BAY 0.385 0.4 0.385 0.385 0.385 0.385 800,000 308,000 (77,000) DOUBLEDRAGON 18.86 19.1 19.1 19.26 18.86 19.08 454,500 8,687,800 (1,337,874) DM WENCESLAO 9.96 9.97 9.98 9.98 9.83 9.96 151,300 1,506,141 (57,474) EMPIRE EAST 0.405 0.41 0.42 0.42 0.41 0.41 1,650,000 679,600 (671,300) EVER GOTESCO 0.1 0.106 0.101 0.101 0.1 0.1 600,000 60,070 FILINVEST LAND 1.5 1.51 1.51 1.51 1.49 1.5 9,532,000 14,285,320 444,160 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.16 1.2 1.16 1.2 1.16 1.2 114,000 133,140 8990 HLDG 14.76 14.78 14.8 14.88 14.76 14.76 233,200 3,442,836 (181,228) PHIL INFRADEV 1.24 1.27 1.28 1.28 1.2 1.27 1,452,000 1,792,670 CITY AND LAND 0.72 0.76 0.72 0.77 0.72 0.76 53,000 39,090 MEGAWORLD 4 4.01 4.13 4.13 3.97 4 39,250,000 157,457,360 (5,518,790) MRC ALLIED 0.191 0.193 0.196 0.197 0.19 0.19 8,830,000 1,696,460 (84,450) PHIL ESTATES 0.395 0.43 0.405 0.435 0.395 0.43 310,000 130,550 PRIMEX CORP 2.03 2.07 2.07 2.1 2.02 2.07 1,143,000 2,341,230 ROBINSONS LAND 27 27.5 27 27.5 26.15 27.5 5,559,400 151,144,395 (4,541,400) PHIL REALTY 0.3 0.32 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 10,000 3,000 ROCKWELL 2.07 2.09 2.09 2.09 2.09 2.09 60,000 125,400 SHANG PROP 3.1 3.13 3.13 3.13 3.1 3.1 158,000 493,780 (471,940) STA LUCIA LAND 2.44 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.32 2.48 482,000 1,150,430 7,440 SM PRIME HLDG 41.2 41.45 40.4 41.45 38.85 41.45 29,671,700 1,202,781,085 (103,454,135) VISTAMALLS 5.25 5.48 5.32 5.48 5.25 5.48 252,500 1,368,530 SUNTRUST HOME 1.17 1.18 1.18 1.2 1.11 1.17 28,378,000 31,888,680 VISTA LAND 7.25 7.3 7.24 7.34 7.24 7.3 6,388,400 46,560,428 (17,099,697)

SERVICES ABS CBN 15.82 15.84 15.8 15.9 15.76 15.82 215,600 3,408,874 GMA NETWORK 5.24 5.25 5.25 5.26 5.23 5.25 128,700 675,339 MANILA BULLETIN 0.37 0.385 0.38 0.39 0.37 0.37 320,000 120,300 GLOBE TELECOM 2,012 2,016 2040 2,044 2,000 2,016 172,845 348,867,960 15,700,020 PLDT 999 1,000 999 1,000 978.5 1,000 379,340 378,126,025 (23,645,420) APOLLO GLOBAL 0.042 0.043 0.042 0.042 0.042 0.042 500,000 21,000 ISLAND INFO 0.093 0.097 0.097 0.097 0.097 0.097 10,000 970 ISM COMM 2.9 2.92 3 3 2.85 2.9 2,174,000 6,310,400 374,370 NOW CORP 2.34 2.35 2.46 2.46 2.33 2.34 3,003,000 7,135,210 1,328,150 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.265 0.275 0.27 0.275 0.265 0.275 1,110,000 299,300 PHILWEB 2.43 2.47 2.36 2.43 2.36 2.43 257,000 613,070 (2,410) 2GO GROUP 9.43 9.8 9.48 9.8 9.42 9.42 4,900 46,963 ASIAN TERMINALS 18 18.4 18 18 18 18 6,200 111,600 111,600 CHELSEA 4.85 4.9 4.99 4.99 4.85 4.9 249,000 1,212,440 29,400 CEBU AIR 90.4 90.45 92.5 92.5 90.4 90.4 59,300 5,363,668.5 (2,049,584.5) INTL CONTAINER 130 130.2 130 130 124.7 130 4,444,120 573,161,581 50,875,208 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.84 0.89 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.84 12,000 10,080 MACROASIA 16.52 16.6 16.8 16.8 16.5 16.52 234,100 3,884,264 (1,249,060) PAL HLDG 7.3 7.5 7.3 7.5 7.1 7.3 19,100 137,720 HARBOR STAR 1.03 1.04 1.07 1.1 1 1.03 4,211,000 4,278,630 8,160 ACESITE HOTEL 1.39 1.49 1.49 1.49 1.49 1.49 1,000 1,490 WATERFRONT 0.57 0.6 0.57 0.6 0.57 0.6 145,000 82,980 IPEOPLE 8.7 9.49 7.78 8.5 7.78 8.5 3,200 26,336 STI HLDG 0.62 0.64 0.59 0.63 0.59 0.63 1,460,000 876,880 (84,990) BERJAYA 4.49 4.5 4.38 4.52 4.3 4.5 1,228,000 5,479,860 (76,360) BLOOMBERRY 11.1 11.26 11.28 11.28 10.84 11.26 5,790,100 64,830,004 (3,277,574) PACIFIC ONLINE 2.5 2.57 2.45 2.57 2.45 2.49 33,000 82,270 (25,000) LEISURE AND RES 2.4 2.42 2.39 2.49 2.37 2.42 614,000 1,509,100 14,470 MANILA JOCKEY 3.35 3.4 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 11,000 36,850 PH RESORTS GRP 5 5.09 4.39 5 4.39 5 5,700 28,439 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.56 0.58 0.59 0.59 0.57 0.57 562,000 324,060 (53,529.9998) ALLHOME 11.42 11.48 11.48 11.48 11.42 11.48 792,300 9,084,016 (738,986) METRO RETAIL 2.08 2.09 2.09 2.13 2.08 2.08 744,000 1,551,490 (67,450) PUREGOLD 39.95 40.2 40.4 40.4 39 39.95 3,306,400 132,074,695(7, 798,134.9996) ROBINSONS RTL 74.95 75 72.05 75 72.05 75 151,690 11,353,706 (212,865.5) SSI GROUP 2.68 2.69 2.71 2.71 2.6 2.68 893,000 2,355,080 736,200 WILCON DEPOT 17.68 17.84 18.16 18.16 17.38 17.84 1,961,500 34,616,838 (6,177,104) APC GROUP 0.39 0.395 0.385 0.4 0.385 0.39 660,000 257,800 (46,750) EASYCALL 7.76 7.78 7.86 7.86 7.76 7.78 36,600 285,898 GOLDEN BRIA 418.8 436 436 436 436 436 100 43,600 IPM HLDG 6.1 6.2 6 6.2 6 6.2 5,200 32,200 32,200 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.32 0.325 0.3 0.325 0.3 0.32 14,030,000 4,385,300 (5,150) SBS PHIL CORP 8.75 9.07 8.75 8.76 8.73 8.76 22,300 195,239

MINING & OIL APEX MINING 0.9 0.91 0.91 0.91 0.9 0.9 170,000 153,520 ABRA MINING 0.0015 0.0016 0 0.0015 0.0015 0.0015 0.0015 1,000,000 1,500 ATLAS MINING 2.4 2.49 2.41 2.41 2.41 2.41 1,000 2,410 BENGUET B 1.03 1.19 1.11 1.11 1.03 1.03 41,000 43,910 (41,850) COAL ASIA HLDG 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 70,000 18,900 CENTURY PEAK 2.67 2.69 2.68 2.7 2.67 2.67 962,000 2,578,510 DIZON MINES 6.9 7.33 6.88 7.35 6.87 6.91 1,016,400 7,018,855 FERRONICKEL 1.7 1.71 1.63 1.73 1.63 1.7 10,174,000 17,153,450 5,256,720 GEOGRACE 0.199 0.204 0.204 0.204 0.199 0.204 50,000 10,100 LEPANTO A 0.093 0.094 0.091 0.092 0.091 0.092 120,000 11,030 MARCVENTURES 0.85 0.87 0.85 0.87 0.85 0.85 97,000 83,330 NIHAO 0.96 1 1 1 0.96 1 3,000 2,960 NICKEL ASIA 2.96 2.99 2.94 3.05 2.93 2.96 6,191,000 18,547,480 (2,020,740) OMICO CORP 0.425 0.47 0.43 0.43 0.42 0.42 280,000 120,150 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.75 0.74 0.75 48,000 35,630 PX MINING 2.65 2.75 2.77 2.8 2.65 2.65 655,000 1,766,790 (573,100) SEMIRARA MINING 21.35 21.55 21.15 21.55 21.1 21.55 1,146,500 24,546,660 655,310 UNITED PARAGON 0.0052 0.0059 0 0.0053 0.0053 0.0053 0.0053 1,000,000 5,300 ACE ENEXOR 7.2 7.25 7.38 7.43 7 7.2 154,100 1,105,411 (26,913) ORNTL PETROL B 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.012 500,200,000 5,502,400 PHILODRILL 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 100,000 1,000 1,000 PXP ENERGY 8.14 8.19 8.18 8.19 8.13 8.14 310,800 2,533,017 163,960

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 97.5 99.75 97.75 99.8 97.5 99.8 17,900 1,755,105.5 AC PREF B1 499 501 501 501 501 501 10 5,010 AC PREF B2R 505 506 505 505 505 505 330 166,650 DD PREF 100 100.9 101 101 101 101 10 1,010 SMC FB PREF 2 997 998.5 997 997 997 997 700 697,900 GTCAP PREF B 995 1,000 990 990 990 990 50 49,500 LR PREF 1 1.03 1 1 1 1 25,000 25,000 MWIDE PREF 100.5 101 100.5 101 100.5 101 340 34,190 PNX PREF 3B 107 109 109 109 109 109 300 32,700 PNX PREF 4 1,024 1,029 1030 1,030 1,030 1,030 500 515,000 PCOR PREF 2B 1,020 1,049 1049 1,049 1,049 1,049 30 31,470 PCOR PREF 3A 1,050 1,051 1049 1,050 1,049 1,050 4,370 4,585,630 PCOR PREF 3B 1,057 1,060 1055 1,057 1,055 1,057 2,320 2,448,240 SMC PREF 2C 77.8 77.9 77.9 77.9 77.8 77.8 14,350 1,116,930 SMC PREF 2D 75.2 75.5 75.2 75.2 75.2 75.2 7,000 526,400 SMC PREF 2F 75.55 76.9 75.55 75.55 75.55 75.55 7,000 528,850 SMC PREF 2H 75 76 75 75 75 75 1,000 75,000 SMC PREF 2I 75.2 76.75 75.2 75.2 75.2 75.2 12,700 955,040 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

14.72 5.07

17 5.16

14.8 5.07

14.8 5.07

14.7 5.06

14.7 5.06

72,600 8,600

1,069,220 43,532

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 1.2 1.36 - - - - - -

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 3.53 KEPWEALTH 9.8 XURPAS 0.76

3.59 9.85 0.77

3.7 9.78 0.76

3.7 9.9 0.78

3.53 9.76 0.76

3.59 9.8 0.77

249,000 83,000 976,000

888,190 815,412 754,870

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

116.6

117.6

115

116.6

112.6

116.6

34,000

3,871,227

(296,000) 30,508 31,850

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PayMaya expects to reach 20-M user base ‘very soon’

F

INANCIAL technology (fintech) player PayMaya should have a user base as big as its largest competitor GCash “very soon,” according to a ranking officer.

Without disclosing actual figures, PayMaya Philippines Inc. President Shailesh Baidwan said his group should reach the 20-million mark in the near term, given the

ubiquity of its mobile wallet.

“We should reach that very soon.

Because we have customers who use our wallet, as you know. We also have Smart Padala. So people who don’t

have a wallet can also go to our negosyo, do remittances, do bills payment, transfer money, buy load. All those things that you can do with our own app,” he said.

Baidwan noted, however, that his group would like to focus more on frequency of usage rather than customer acquisition.

“For us we want our wallet to be used for what our customers need to do—whether they need to pay the electricity, pay the water bill, send money to each other, they want to buy online in Lazada...and other

payments,” he said.

Currently, the PayMaya app affords users a digital wallet equipped with a digital prepaid card that they can use to pay for utility bills, creditcard bills, government services, and for other online transactions. They may also use their digital wallets for remittance, and use their physical cards for offline retail transactions.

PayMaya aims to reach the P1 trillion volume mark by 2023, the same year when it targets to have a customer base of 40 million users.

Lorenz S. Marasigan

DOE lists recommendations for lifting SMPC suspension

T

HE Department of Energy (DOE) has laid down recommendations that will lead to the lifting of the suspension order earlier imposed on Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC).

Among the recommendations are the reorganization of the SMPC’s safety department, identification of risk areas and crafting of mining methodology.

“We inspected yesterday. We validated all our recommendations.

First and foremost is the safety aspect, so we recommended to reorganize the safety department, to have a consultant also for safety,” said Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos.

“Then we told them to identify the risk area, then we established a mining methodology for that. Of

course, as always, in consideration [of] and prioritizing the safety of the people working there,” he added.

These recommendations, upon compliance, will eventually result in the lifting of the suspension of the company’s mining operations following a mudflow incident in Semirara Island in Antique, in October.

The agency is now evaluating if the company has complied with the recommendations. “We have done three inspections. Every inspection, they submit supplemental accomplishments, documents so we have to validate them. Yesterday was their third and final compliance,” he said.

If the final evaluation shows 100-percent compliance, Marcos said the suspension order could be lifted before the year ends.

STOCK-MARKET OUTLOOK Last week

SHARE prices fell last week on a number of issues contributing to negative sentiments, including the impeachment of US President Donald J. Trump as foreign funds flowed out into the market, while the local equities market was also affected by the FTSE rebalancing.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) fell 104.51 points to close at 7,773.12 points.

The fall started on Monday when the main index fell more than 2 percent or by 176.03 points, but it failed to recover from there even if it added more than 100 points on Friday.

Average value of trade was at P7.58 billion, or more than the year-to-date average of P6.27 billion, while foreign investors were net sellers at P5.89 billion.

Most of the subindices were down, while those that survived the bloodbath only gained little.

The broader All Shares index was down 64.24 points to 4,598.83 points, the Financials index fell 60.01 to 1,843.16, the Industrial index plunged 354.49 to 9,367.59, the Holding Firms index shed 33.66 to 7,599.65, the Property index declined 54.40 to 4,139.54, the Services index was up 8.15 to 1,533.34, and the Mining and Oil index rose 65.28 to 7,586.74.

For the week losers edged gainers 169 to 56, and 30 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers were Jolliville Holdings Corp., BDO Leasing and Finance Inc., Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. B, DMCI Holdings Inc., F&J Prince Holdings Corp. A, and Abacore Capital Holdings Inc. Top losers, on the other hand, were Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp., Manila Water Co. , Ever-Gotesco Resources and Holdings Inc., Jackstones Inc., Philippine Racing Club Inc., and Pacifica Holdings Inc.

This week

SHARE prices may improve during the last weekly trading for the year and for the decade as many will take the opportunity for their window-dressing to usher in the New Year with higher assets.

It will be a shortened trading week of only three days as December 24 and 25 were declared as Christmas holidays. The last trading for the year will be on December 27.

Trading is seen to be lackluster during the remaining days of the year as most are already in a holiday mood.

“Improved volumes from funds’ window-dressing will be balanced against those who will opt to wait out the Yule break,” broker 2TradeAsia said.

“A review of the ‘2010s’ reveals to us that stocks with sound revenue generating models and consistent capital expansion programs likely—and often—stand the test of time. Buy the dip,” the broker said.

It sees immediate support for the main index at 7,550 points and resistance at 7,700 points.

Stock picks

BROKER Regina Capital Development Corp. advised investors to cut their losses on the stock of Manila Water Co. after its stock price declined for almost two weeks.

“The stock has been on an 11-day breakdown, pushing it below its key moving averages and toward historical lows. Furthermore, this also sunk its indicators deep in the oversold regions with momentum not showing any signs of weakening,” it said.

It placed a weekly target on the stock at P5.60.

Manila Water’s share price closed Friday at P7.44 apiece.

Meanwhile, it gave a buy on breakout recommendation on Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) after its stock price began recovering from a general downtrend that occurred early this month which dragged it to historical lows.

“It is currently attempting to breach an immediate resistance of P3.19. Nevertheless, the selling pressure is still present,” it said.

It gave a weekly target on the stock at P3.29.

MPIC shares closed at P3.26 apiece last week. VG Cabuag

SMPC earlier said that despite the suspension of mining activities, it still met its output target for the year.

It had expected opportunity loss in production per day to reach 40,000 to 45,000 metric tons due

MUTUAL FUNDS

to the incident. Still, the company’s total production already reached 14.5 million metric tons (MMT), 12 percent higher than the year ago.

Coal shipment also increased by 26 percent to 14.6 MMT. Lenie Lectura

December 20, 2019

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 247.42 -3.14% 1.69% -0.56% -1.9% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.3708 -3.95% 1.09% -3.18% -4.86% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 3.6278 -8.31% -1.32% -3.16% -7.05% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.8781 -2.49% N.A. N.A. -2.54% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.8346 -0.1% N.A. N.A. 1.69% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.2163 -2.01% 2.48% -0.84% -1.08% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,6 0.8372 -1.16% -1.48% N.A. 0.06% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 102.65 -13.25% N.A. N.A. -11.63% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 50.2742 0.6% 4.12% N.A. 2.13% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 523.18 0.38% 2.77% -0.12% 1.64% PHILEQUITY ALPHA ONE FUND, INC. -A,D,8 0.9997 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.2626 -0.93% 3.15% 0.56% 0.69% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 37.2075 0.05% 4.13% 0.57% 1.57% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,1 0.999 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 5.1179 1.61% 4.81% 1.75% 3.21% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 854.21 1.54% 4.71% 1.72% 3.11% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.8405 -3.48% 1.74% N.A. -2.27% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.1237 0.06% 3.86% 0.77% 1.6% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 0.9806 1.2% 4.48% N.A. 2.76% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.5943 1.84% 5.84% 2.61% 2.67% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C 114.5405 1.88% 5.43% 2.7% 3.42% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $1.0233 11.07% 6.51% 1.32% 10.14% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.3605 19.8% 9.34% N.A. 23.1% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.5518 -6.79% -1.97% -3.89% -6.02% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.16 -2.71% -0.38% -1.33% -2.23% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.5957 1.58% 2.91% -1.07% 2.07% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN F.O.C.C.U.S. DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A,5 0.2272 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION -A 1.3289 1.11% N.A. N.A. 1.89% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.9445 4.84% 3.26% 1.3% 5.5% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.7442 5.19% 2.53% 0.43% 6.09% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 16.7729 4.72% 2.49% 0.36% 5.44% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.1061 1.01% 2.28% 1.08% 1.78% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.8087 3.34% 3.34% 0.67% 4.31% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D,2 1.0019 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D,2 0.9781 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D,2 0.9748 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 0.9579 2.67% 2.66% -0.27% 3.93% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.0383 8.87% 3.21% 2.18% 8.5% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -A $1.0332 10.81% 5.45% 1.41% 13.08% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $3.8753 14.85% 7.5% 4.31% 17.13% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A,7 $1.1223 10.6% 4.55% N.A. 11.67% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 357.44 4.17% 2.76% 2.31% 4.07% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A 1.9006 2.3% 0.23% -0.53% 2.23% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 3.1115 4.92% 5.15% 5.2% 4.55% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.2202 4.24% 2.24% 1.93% 4.27% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.3555 6.69% 2.35% 1.56% 6.82% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. -A P 1.6068 2.76% 0.75% -0.18% 2.71% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 4.3626 11.37% 2.71% 1.65% 11.3% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.7633 7.61% 2.79% 1.41% 7% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 0.9615 7.83% 1.48% N.A. 7.89% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.064 10.89% 4.59% 2.57% 10.78% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A 1.6952 10.24% 4.08% 2.1% 10.09% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $467.97 4.46% 2.76% 2.8% 4.36% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є219.79 3.39% 1.71% 1.32% 3.35% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.2063 7.24% 3.25% 2.6% 7.16% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0258 3.61% 1.46% 1.29% 4.03% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP. -A $1.7088 1.21% 0.02% 0.16% 1.1% PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -A $1.0935 5.87% 1.63% -0.92% 5.52% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.3999 10.67% 3.72% 2.98% 10.55% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.0603127 5.84% 2.3% 1.98% 5.81% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $3.1727 10.65% 3.13% 2.63% 10.47% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 125.68 4.12% 2.84% 2.17% 3.97% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A,3 1.0315 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.255 6.33% 2.91% 1.69% 6.18% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.2634 3.76% 2.87% 2.32% 3.63% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.0367 2.1% N.A. N.A. 2.05% FEEDER FUND PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM GLOBAL MULTI-ASSET INCOME FUND INC. -B,D,4 $0.99 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A.

A - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY. B - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO. C - LISTED IN THE PSE. D - IN NET ASSET VALUE PER UNIT (NAVPU).

1 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 3, 2019. 2 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 28, 2019. 3 - LAUNCH DATE IS FEBRUARY 1, 2019. 4 LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 15, 2019.

5 - LAUNCH DATE IS SEPTEMBER 28, 2019. 6 - RENAMING WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST OCTOBER 12, 2018 (FORMERLY, ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.).

7 - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST OCTOBER 9, 2019. 8 - LAUNCH DATE IS DECEMBER 09, 2019.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Monday, December 23, 2019 B3

Influx of loans to farmers, fishermen seen with swift passage of agri-agra reform bill

S

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

ENIOR lawmakers on Sunday called for the bipartisan support and swift passage of a bill that seeks to improve the agriagra reform law to ensure the influx of financial support, such as loans, to the farm sector.

In a statement, Deputy Speaker Michael L. Romero of 1-Pacman Party-list said he is “confident” that the House of Representatives leadership will push for the “swift” approval of House Bill 5681 that seeks to improve financing in agriculture sector.

HB 5681, or the Rural Agricultural and Fisheries and Financing Enhancement System Act, was recently approved by the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries. The bill was a consolidation of several legislative proposals that seeks to improve agricultural financing, particularly by banks, especially government state-run financial institutions.

The proposals were filed by Romero, Deputy Speaker Vilma Santos-Recto and Rep. Junie E. Cua. All of the proponents noted that “laws

that provided for mandatory allocation of financial loans to agriculture have not been fully implemented to the disadvantage of the said sector.”

The “Land Bank of the Philippines [LBP] is no longer serving fully the purpose of its existence, which is to provide financial support for the development of the country’s agriculture sector,” according to Romero, who authored HBs 183 and 974.

The three lawmakers noted that financial records of LandBank indicated that out of P798.8 billion loans extended to all sectors in 2018, only P21.62 billion financed the needs of small farmers, fishermen, agribusiness and other activities related to agriculture.

“The amount represented not even 5 percent of the total loans [that] LandBank made available for the year,” Romero said.

“It saddens us to see that while agriculture provides the most important need of a human being, Filipinos in this sector continue to be the poorest in our society,” he added.

Under HB 183, the LandBank must allocate at least 60 percent of its total loan portfolio “in solely providing support and financing services for farmers and fishermen,” according to Romero.

On the other hand, HB 974 seeks to achieve the country’s food security through providing “sufficiency funding and proper utilization of credit for the agri-fishery sector.”

Santos-Recto filed HB 3437 to amend the LandBank charter by directing it to “focus on the provisions of affordable credit to the agriculture sector where most poor Filipinos belong.”

“This bill seeks to restore the original intent for the creation of the [LandBank], which is to assist farmers and other agricultural workers, and to contribute to the fruition of agricultural development projects,” Santos-Recto said.

For his part, Cua pointed out that the implementation of Republic Act 10000 (Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act) has been a “dismal failure.”

Cua explained that banks found it difficult to comply with the law as they deemed that it was “difficult to invest in agriculture,

Realtors, builders reiterate appeal to Congress to drop VAT on socialized housing projects

T

HE Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. reiterated its call to Congress to stop the application of value-added tax (VAT) on socialized housing projects. Creba said doing so will further widen the housing gap in the country.

Creba reiterated its appeal as the deadline to avail VAT-free homes granted a three-year extension under Republic Act 10693, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, up to December 2020 nears.

The group is worried that the imposition of VAT on low-cost housing will hobble the target of curbing the estimated 6.57-million housing backlog since the difference between the supply and demand is expected to broaden by 300,000 units annually.

Under the TRAIN law, buyers of lots with a value of up to P1.9 million, as well as house- and-lot units that cost P3.2 million will be VAT-exempted. This is an extension

of the adjustment made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2011 under the amended National Internal Revenue Code computed based on prevailing economic status and consumer price index. Unless adjusted, the cap will be reduced to P2 million in January 2021.

Creba National Chairman Charlie AV. Gorayeb emphasized that the policy thrust contradicts government’s main thrust to provide housing for its citizens.

Imposing VAT, he said, will make economic housing beyond the means of the millions of Filipinos who remain homeless.

“Real-estate developers have no choice but to fully pass on VAT charges to homebuyers. As a once-in-a-lifetime housing purchase at the range of P3.2 million and below is usually availed of under longterm loans, the 12-percent VAT of about P360,000 per unit actually translates to

P1 million over a 30-year mortgage life,” Gorayeb explained.

“What homebuyers need are fixed, lowinterest, long-term housing loans assistance by government, not additional taxes that will bloat the purchase price,” he added.

Meanwhile, Creba National President Noel “Toti” M. Cariño pointed out that since economic multiplier effects of housing are recognized worldwide, applying VAT on it threatens the property sector’s growth at present.

“The additional VAT on housing will not translate to actual revenue generation once a massive industry slowdown unfolds,” Cariño said.

Citing that housing is a heavily taxed and highly regulated industry, both Creba officials asked lawmakers to pass an amendatory bill that will keep the status quo on VAT-exempt housing packages. Roderick L. Abad

Digital payment platform to buy German technology firm to streamline operations

P

AYONEER, the digital payment platform empowering businesses in countries that include the Philippines, announced on December 10 it has agreed to acquire optile GmbH, a Munich-based tech company that streamlines payment acceptance processes for merchants worldwide.

The transaction is expected to close within the next two months.

Founded in 2010, optile’s open payment ecosystem puts merchants in control of their business with the flexibility to add payment options and partners as their needs evolve, boosting conversion and improving customer experience.

“Optile’s POP [payment orchestration platform] is designed for businesses to scale faster to new markets,” Payoneer’s statement said. “It consolidates all the players of the global payment market together in one unified layer, to ensure transparency, flexibility, redundancy and independence.”

Payoneer’s acquisition of optile is yet another meaningful step toward acting on its vision of building a platform that drives global growth for enterprises, marketplaces and small-scale and medium-scale businesses worldwide, the company said.

By implementing optile’s cloud-based payment orchestration platform, merchants gain full control, freedom, and flexibility to design and optimize their payment experience, the company said. This also aims to improve payment conversion and customer

THIS undated photo shows unidentified executives of Payoneer Inc., which considers itself a “global fintech disruptor.”

The company said on December 10 it will acquire open payment orchestration platform optile GmbH.

retention. With a single application programming interface, optile accelerates time-tomarket, lowers cost, and harmonizes tech infrastructure.

“In addition, optile also enables merchants to create their own ecosystem of affiliated partners to facilitate cross-selling and open new revenue streams, while providing their customers a superior payment experience,” the company said. “All participating merchants can share the same payment process, while maintaining their own back end and

independence. For example, airlines can create an ecosystem of merchants that offer travel-related services, where the customer pays for their flight ticket, car rental, hotel and more—without the need to reenter payment information.”

Optile’s 75-person team will continue to operate as an independent group within Payoneer, developing its payment orchestration platform with supplier and payment provider-independence at the core of its offering, Payoneer said.

which is perceived to be fraught with risks.”

Cua, chairman of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, filed HB 5681 mandating all banking institutions

to set aside at least 25 percent of their total loanable funds as mandatory credit quota for the financial requirements of agriculture and fishery.

Green Monday BusinessMirror

B4 Monday, December 23, 2019

Australia experienced its hottest day on record

A

USTRALIA recorded its hottest day as the country’s populated eastern seaboard grapples with smoke from devastating bushfires, while the rush to the relief of air conditioning puts pressure on a vulnerable power grid.

The temperatures are expected to soar even higher as heatwave conditions embrace most of the country, The Associated Press said.

The average ma ximum temperat u re ac ross t he cou nt r y reached 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6°Fahrenheit) on Tuesday last week, beating the previous record of 40.3°Celsius on Januar y 7, 2013, according to the countr y’s weather bureau.

The worst of the heat came across the continent’s interior, with vast swathes of territory experiencing severe heatwave conditions.

Though Sydney was relatively cool, the city has choked under the worst haze in decades because of a bushfire season that’s been more severe and started sooner than usual, with an area the size of Massachusetts already

burnt up.

Firefighters are bracing for more difficult conditions later in the week, with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius seen in the greater Sydney area by the weekend.

The nation’s second city Melbourne saw the mercury soar into the high 30°Celsius on Wednesday, causing the energy market operator to issue warnings about a potential shortfall in power supply.

The grid in Melbourne’s Victoria state is seen particularly v u l nerable due to long-ter m out ages at t wo m ajor power plants. The operators of those plants, AGL Energ y Ltd. and Origin Energ y Ltd., have said the affected units will return to service by the end of the month.

Much of eastern Australia has been hit with crippling drought

A SWIMMER jumps from the Port Noarlunga Jetty in an effort to cool off in Adelaide, Australia, in this December 17 photo. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said the average temperature across the country of 40.9°Celsius (105 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday beat the record of 40.3 degrees Celsius (104°Fahrenheit) from January 7, 2013. DAVID MARIUZ/AAP IMAGE VIA AP

in recent years amid increasingly hot summers and months without meaningful rainfall.

Meanwhile, the government has been criticized for its lack of coherent climate policy.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the country will comfortably meet its Paris Agreement target to reduce carbon emissions by

at least 26 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels.

His government has been a strong advocate for the coal industry and steadfastly opposes putting a price on carbon, and environmental groups have criticized him for refusing to link the intense heat and fires to climate change. Bloomberg News and AP

EU: Going green will help Europe avoid ‘Japanification’

G

OING green and pushing through economic overhauls would help the euro area avoid the low-growth, low-inflation trap of the type that befell Japan, the European Commission warned.

A decade after the global financial crisis, the commission said there’s a “risk of a further prolonged period of low growth and inflation driven by anemic productivity and aging populations.”

It singled out the economic impact of climate change as one of the biggest systemic risks facing the

world economy and its financial system, and urged the currency bloc to take measures to prevent a negative fallout on long-term economic growth potential.

“If tackled in the right way, environmental and climate challenges are also an opportunity to revitalize the European economy toward sustainable development,” the commission said last week.

Public and private investment in the green and digital transition can “help to sustain growth in the short term and meet the long-term challenges,” it said.

The recommendations come less than a week after the commission proposed its landmark Green Deal, which envisages a sweeping transformation of the 28-nation EU that touches upon every aspect of its economy.

Faced with sluggish growth and ongoing risks, the commission repeated its call for countries with fiscal space to spend more. It also urged those with high debt levels to reduce them to more sustainable levels.

“On the fiscal side, differentiation is essential,” the report said,

adding that “in case of a worsening outlook, the Commission also recommends a supportive fiscal stance at the aggregate level.”

The recommendations include another push for the euro zone to move faster with completing its architecture, including a long-sought agreement on joint deposit insurance.

The call comes only a couple of weeks after finance ministers failed to make significant progress on completing its banking union or reforming its bailout fund.

Bloomberg News

Coal endures as world’s favorite fuel for electricity generation

C

OAL consumption is set to r i se i n t he com i ng years as growing demand for elect r ic it y in developing countries outpaces a shift to cleaner sources of electricity in industrialized nations.

While the use of the most polluting fossil fuel had a historic dip in 2019, the International Energy Agency (IEA) anticipates steady increases in the next five years.

That means the world will f ace a sig n i f ic a nt c h a l lenge in meeting pledges to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming. “ T here are few sig ns of change,” the agency wrote in its annual coal report released in Paris last week. “Despite all the policy changes and announcements, our forecast is very similar to those we have made over the past few years.”

While this year is on track for biggest decline ever for coal power, that’s mostly due to high growth in hydroelectricity and relatively low electricity demand in India and China, said Carlos Fernandez Alvarez, senior energy analyst at the Paris-based IEA. Despite the drop, global coal consumption is likely to rise

THE Murmansk Commercial Seaport on the eastern shore of the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea in Murmansk, Russia, September 14, 2019

over the coming years, driven by demand in India, China and Southeast Asia.

Power generation from coal rose almost 2 percent in 2018 to reach an all-time high, remaining the world’s largest source of electricity.

The steady outlook for coal comes in spite of waning demand in industrialized nations.

Europe has set a goal of zeroing out carbon pollution by the middle of the centur y, which would mean drastic reductions for coal.

In the United States, competition f rom natura l gas has cut into dema nd for coa l, despite President Dona ld J. Tr u mp’s vows to rev ive t he indust r y.

The story is different in Asia, which will more than make up for reductions elsewhere.

India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, will see coal generation increase by 4.6 percent a year through 2024 to help power its growing economy.

In Southeast Asia, coal demand will grow more than 5 percent annually.

China, which accounts for almost half the world’s consumption, will also have modest growth with usage peaking in 2022.

“How we address this issue in Asia is critical for the long-term success of any global efforts to reduce emissions,” Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, wrote in a foreword to the report.

Any new coal plants added to meet the growing power demand in these countries will likely be in use for decades. Even as China’s coal consumption slows and then declines after 2022, emissions from the fuel would need to rapidly decline in order to meet climate targets.

Under current policies, the world is set to warm almost 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century.

That’s double the rate scientists say is needed to constrain the worst impacts of climate change.

To prevent those increases, it would be necessary to use technology that captures and stores carbon as it’s emitted from power plants, the IEA said, while the technology is expensive and untested at scale. But with coal here to stay, it may be the only option to reduce emissions. Bloomberg News

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Women in climate hot spots face challenges adapting to climate change

K

ATHMANDU—Women in Asia and Africa, hardest hit by climate change, have a tough time adapting to the climate emergency, even with support from family or the state, a new study said.

The results raise questions for global agreements designed to help people adapt to the climate emergency, it adds.

The findings are based on 25 case studies in three agroecological regions on the two continents: 14 in semi-arid locales, six in mountains and glacier-fed river basins (including one in Nepal) and five in deltas.

The main livelihoods in these natural resource-dependent areas include agriculture, livestock rearing and fishing, supplemented by wage labor, petty trade and income from remittances.

Environmental risks include droughts, floods, rainfall variability, land erosion and landslides, glacial lake outburst floods, heat waves and cyclones, all of which negatively affect livelihoods.

The study, “A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Women’s Agency and Adaptive Capacity in Climate Change Hotspots in Asia and Africa,” was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

It found that when households take steps to adapt to the impact of climate change, the result is that the strategies “place increasing responsibilities and burdens on women, especially those who are young, less educated and belonging to lower classes—or marginal castes and ethnicities.”

This occurred even in cases where support appeared to be available in the form of families/communities, or via the state.

Examples include when men migrate to find work because of climate change-induced impacts at home. While the money they earn can boost family incomes; when men are away, women must shoulder a larger burden.

As a result, most women “reported reduced leisure time, with negative consequences on their well-being, including the health and nutrition of themselves, and their households,” says the report.

In other cases, governments stepped in with support but during floods or droughts, for example, men dominated stateprovided aid and relief facilities, making women rely on their male relatives to receive support.

“In a sense, women do have voice and agency, yet this is not contributing to strengthening [of] longer-term adaptive capacities,”concludes the report.

But in three examples in the study, one in Nepal, women did adapt to the increased burdens delivered by climate change.

In Charghare of Nuwakot district, support from a wellestablished cooperative enabled many women—excluding Dailit women—to switch from raising buffalo and cattle to rearing goats, which adapted better to growing rain scarcity.

“By enhancing women’s agency, we need to understand that we are helping them to create an enabling environment where a women’s right to make decisions about her own life is recognized, where women are economically empowered and free from all forms of discrimination and violence,” said Anjal Prakash, who worked on the case study for the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

Poverty is the main factor in the declining decision-making power of women in some hot spots, says the report, even when women share responsibilities in the family and work outside of the home.

In semi-arid Kenya, for example, women of female-headed households sell alcohol to earn money to pay for children’s schooling, but this exposes them to health risks, such as engaging in sexual activities with their clients.

A 35-year-old woman told researchers, “Despite our efforts, there is a high level of malnutrition here. We can’t afford meat, we just eat rice and potatoes, but even for this, the quantity is not enough.”

The study notes that international agreements, such as the gender action plan of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, require information about what builds the adaptive capacity of women, and men, so that agreements can support sustainable, equitable and effective adaptation.

It suggests that effective social protection, like the universal public distribution system for cereals in India, or pensions and social grants in Namibia, could contribute to relieving immediate pressures on survival.

“This, however, cannot always be done on the ‘cheap’— investments are needed to enable better and more sustainable management of resources. Women’s self-help groups are often presented as solutions, yet they are confronted by the lack of resources, skills and capacity to help their members effectively meet the challenges they confront,” the report adds.

Marty Logan, The Nepali Times/IPS

WOMEN farmers clearing farmland in Northern Bangladesh. NAIMUL HAQ/IPS

Biodiversity Monday BusinessMirror

Asean Champions of Biodiversity Media Category 2014

Monday, December 23, 2019

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

B5

Indigenous knowledge, a lesson for a sustainable food future

M PARTICIPANTS at the “Training the Trainers” segment of the gender workshop led by the CBD and ACB. ACB PHOTO

ASEAN SHARPENS FOCUS ON GENDER IN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

F

ACTORING in gender roles and relations in policymaking is crucial in the success of biodiversity conservation efforts, experts in a regional training workshop conducted in Manila said.

Among the common insights that emerged from the workshop is the role of the special knowledge, skills and experience of women in effective conservation programs.

In fishing communities, for example, women, who fish and gather shells in mangrove areas, would have different inputs from men, who usually fish at far-off coral reefs.

The five-day regional workshop from December 9 to 13 was organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) as part of their efforts to build a network of gender practitioners in biodiversity.

With representatives from Asean member-states, and government and nongovernment organizations as participants, the workshop sought to deepen understanding and build capacity among policy-makers and stakeholders in addressing gender and biodiversity issues in the Asean region.

Led by Tanya McGregor of the Secretariat of the CBD and CBD Gender Consultant Soma Chakrabarti Fezzardi, the workshop had a “ Training the Trainers” in gender mainstreaming, followed by a rollout exercise where the new trainers facilitated a learning session attended by staff members of the ACB and its countr y partners.

The workshop also sought to gather inputs to ensure the gender responsiveness of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, which charts the long-term direction of biodiversity conservation and takes the vision of the CBD on “Living in Harmony with Nature” by 2050.

In her remarks, ACB Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim said women are important partners in halting biodiversity loss.

“The CBD also recognizes the vital role that women play in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and affirms the need for the full participation of women at all levels of policy-making and implementation for biodiversity conservation,” Lim said, citing from the CBD’s preamble.

The CBD is a global agreement signed by 196 parties, including all Asean member-states, with main goals, including biodiversity conservation, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.

Lim said the gender gaps in the region must be considered, citing the Asean Economic Community report that notes that women’s share of employment in agriculture vary from 28 percent to a high 78 percent among the Asean member-states, but their work is usually unpaid and unaccounted for in the value chain, especially in agriculture. “ The gaps are still overwhelming for women. Women are usually the one left behind,” Fezzardi, who facilitated the training of trainers, noted.

She added this is why it is important to include a gender lens in looking at biodiversity issues, and ensuring women’s voices are included in decision-making.

Fezzardi cited situations in the field where stakeholders are consulted. “We simply sit with the men, women and children, and got each of their visions. In the end, mobilizing a man’s potential, a woman’s potential, and a child’s potential, is good for the entire family and the community,” she said.

“Ideally, there is empowering participation where women and men have voice and influence,” Fezzardi said.

Lim particularly noted improvements in women’s participation in the Asean region.

She said in Indonesia, some women have organized themselves in informal groups to improve their credit access for their farming. In Myanmar, informal linkages among women farmers, likewise, exist.

“In some Asean member-states, like Thailand, many women farmers have the sole or shared decision-making power with their husbands,” she said.

A pilot exercise in the region, the training workshop tackled topics, such as gender and biodiversity concepts, gender analysis and gender mainstreaming, relevant international policy commitments and programming practicalities, including gender-responsive planning.

“As we look carefully at biodiversity plans, policies, and program in our organizations with a gender lens, and as we practice and enhance our capacities in gender analysis, we can have more gender-responsive and, in turn, more powerful and effective biodiversity conservation initiatives,” Lim said.

ILAN, Italy—Local knowledge systems rooted in traditional practices and culture passed down generations provide sustainable solutions to food and nutritional insecurity on the back of climate change, said at a conference recently.

More than 370 million indigenous people, living in 70 countries, make up just 6 percent of the global population, according to the United Nations. But their food systems are models of diet diversity, innovation, conservation and local adaptability the world can benefit from in the face of risks, such as climate change, delegates at the recent 10th Forum on Food and Nutrition convened by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) were informed.

Speaking at a panel session on “Preserving Mother Earth, Food Culture, Local Traditions and Biodiversity,” Mattia Prayer Galletti, lead technical specialist on indigenous peoples and tribal issues at International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad), said indigenous peoples have a connection with nature. They understand the concept of sustainability and the protection of natural resources.

Ifad has promoted an Indigenous Peoples’ Forum to foster dialogue and consultation among indigenous people organizations and Ifad member-countries. Through this forum, it has supported the economic empowerment of indigenous people, particularly women and the youth.

Ifad has also contributed to the improvement in livelihoods of indigenous peoples through the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility, which has provided small grants of up to $50,000 for development projects.

He said indigenous food systems provide food security and

biodiversity because indigenous communities have cultivated resilient foods, making them ideal in adapting to climate change.

This is despite the growing threats indigenous communities have faced, including marginalization, loss of their ancestral lands and the destruction of their way of life.

Dali Nolasco Cruz, an advisory board member of the Indigenous Terra Madre from Mexico, concurred saying indigenous people are being criminalized and killed by big powers that are extracting natural resources in their lands.

“We need alliances, we need to fight for Mother Earth,” Cruz said, “We need to transform our livelihoods by protecting the Earth to help others.”

Indigenous innovations for food security

INDIGENOUS knowledge provides innovations, which, researchers are convinced, can provide models for promoting resilience in our current food systems. Several researchers shared their ongoing work on this.

Martina Occelli, a PhD student at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, is undertaking multidisciplinary research on how smallholder farmer’s collective knowledge is shaping soil productivity in the Gera region of Ethiopia among 300 smallholder farmers.

The research has shown that collective knowledge within and

BCFN Yes winner Geraldin Lengai is doing a research on bio-integrated crop management among tomato farmers in Tanzania. BUSANI BAFANA/IPS

between households which farmers learnt from their fathers was relevant in determining the soil ability, which is critical in food production and resilience.

Occelli is a winner of 2018 BCFN Yes international multidisciplinar y contest launched by the BCFN Foundation in 2012 to support research on promoting the intersection of food sustainability and environmental sustainability.

Geraldin Lengai, another BCFN Yes winner, is researching on enhancing sustainable agriculture through the adoption of bio-integrated crop management among tomato farmers in Tanzania, comparing conventional and nonconventional farming methods.

Her research expects to provide insights into the use of organic pesticide properties of ginger and turmeric—cash crops grown by farmers in Tanzania—in fighting pests and diseases in vegetables.

A lso, she has researched the efficacy of organic fertilizers, such as goat manure and chicken manure, on the productivity of the spice coriander and amaranthus, a plant cultivated as a vegetable.

“Sustainable agriculture is important because you need a doctor once in a while, but you need the farmer at least three times a day,” Lengai told Inter Press Service.

“I believe people should have access to food that is safe and healthy. How we produce the food, process it and how the food reaches the end consumer is the business of sustainable agriculture, and my research is on crop protection because people use crop protection synthetically, yet there are alternatives that nature has provides.

Before synthetic pesticides, our forefathers used tobacco to control insects, and if we can look at other plants that have the same capacity, we can promote sustainable agriculture.”

Lengai said the benefits of manure has in producing vegetables and the near to zero cost for farmers who keep animals means farmers have a sustainable fertilizer for organic produce which is attractive for global markets.

Citing the case of pesticides with the Kenya market for French beans, Lengai said organic produce had secured international markets, which have traceability systems in place.

“Growing organic vegetables and using organic pesticides and fertilizers is a win-win for everybody for the environment, for the farmer for the consumer,” Lengai said. She added that synthetic pesticides are favored because they are easy to apply and cheaper—but come at a cost to the environment and health. IPS

Scientists seeking cause of huge freshwater mussel die-off

K

YLES FORD, Tennessee—On a recent late fall afternoon at Kyles Ford, the white branches of sycamore trees overhung the banks of the Clinch River, leaves slowly turning yellow. Green walnuts covered the ground. The shallow water ran fast and cold over the rocky bottom, but it was littered with the white shells of dead mussels.

Freshwater mussels range from about the size of a large button to the size of a billfold, but the work they do for ecosystems is enormous.

They can filter around 8 gallons to 10 gallons of river water each day, cleaning it of algae, silt and even heavy metals, and making the whole river a better environment for fish, amphibians, plants and bugs.

Mussels also benefit the people who use their rivers as a source of drinking water.

That’s why scientists are working quickly to discover the cause of a massive mussel die-off on the Clinch and understand whether it is related to similar die-offs on at least five US rivers and another in Spain.

The Clinch River, winding 300 miles through Appalachia, is home to 133 species of fish and is one of the most important rivers for freshwater mussels in the world, with 46 different species—more than in all of Europe.

“I always try to get people to call this area a temperate Amazon, because the biodiversity here really is off the charts,”biologist Jordan Richard, with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, said recently as he stood in waders, surveying the mussel population at Kyles Ford, a rural community of around 525 near the Virginia border.

Richard slogged through thigh-deep water in search of pheasantshell mussels, until recently one of the most abundant species on the river.

He spots them easily although to the untrained eye, they aren’t so obvious. Mussels bury themselves in the riverbed, digging in with their single foot and leaving only a crescent of their shells visible.

DEAD freshwater mussels are displayed from the Clinch River near Wallen Bend, Tennessee, in this October 17 photo from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. While freshwater mussels have been plagued for decades by habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, sedimentation and other issues, there’s a possibility that the die-off in the Clinch River could be connected to infectious disease. MEAGAN RACEY/US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE VIA AP In 2016, Richard noticed the pheasantshells were dying in large numbers—the population dropping from 94,000 in 2016 to less than 14,000 this year on a 200-meter stretch. He estimates hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, have died in the larger river.

Richard found reports of similar die-offs over the years in rivers around the world, but he didn’t find many answers.

Over the past century, mussel populations everywhere have declined steeply due to pollution, habitat loss and climate change, yet the current decline looks to be something different.

Richard and a team of scientists suspect an infectious disease. By comparing healthy pheasantshell mussels with dying ones, the team is narrowing down a list of suspected pathogens.

“All living things are chock-full of microorganisms, and we don’t have any sort of map for what is healthy inside a mussel,” Richard said.

University of Wisconsin epidemiologist Tony Goldberg is helping with the investigation. He specializes in wildlife diseases of unknown cause— and recently he’s been busy.

“Along with invasive species, we’re seeing invasive pathogens,” Goldberg said. “Often it’s the coup de grace for a species that is holding on by a thread.”

Disease is a big part of the global extinction crisis, he said.

For example, white nose syndrome was first discovered in a single New York cave in 2007 and has since killed millions of bats, and chytrid fungus is responsible for the demise of tree frogs and about

200 other amphibian species worldwide.

But Goldberg is hopeful the freshwater mussel team, which includes scientists from the US Geological Survey and a nonprofit conservation group, will be able to find the cause of the mussel die-offs and a way to stop them.

“I see it as a race against time, not an impossible task,” Goldberg said. “We’re all motivated by the sinking realization that if we lose these mussels, the rivers we all love are never going to be the same.”

The Clinch, which is relatively pristine on its upper reaches, has seen 10 mussel species go extinct—it used to have 56. Another 20 species there are endangered, including mussels with evocative names, such as fluted kidneyshell, snuffbox, birdwing pearlymussel and shiny pigtoe.

Preliminary results indicate that whatever is killing the pheasantshell mussels on the Clinch is not the culprit in other die-offs under investigation in Wisconsin, Michigan, the Pacific Northwest and Spain. “There’s not some mussel Ebola sweeping across the world to take out every mussel everywhere,” Goldberg said.

That also means there’s no single cure for what’s killing them.

In Spain, biologist Rafael Araujo is working with Goldberg to figure out what is killing the last of the endangered Spengler’s freshwater mussels in the Imperial Canal on the Ebro River.

“We know that the problem is environmental [dams, water pollution, excess fertilizers, pesticides, exotic species, lack of water, etc.], but we also think that there could be a pathogen [bacteria and/or virus] that is making things worse,” Araujo wrote in an e-mail.

In Oregon and Washington, Emilie Blevins is studying the die-off of western pearlshell mussels in her role as a biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. AP

B6 Monday, December 23, 2019

OPPO to launch 5G Smartphones powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 and 765G Mobile Platforms

Belmont, Savoy feature Christmas Serenade

C

ELEBRATE at a merry Holiday Season at Newport City’s awardwinning lifestyle destinations— Belmont Hotel Manila and Savoy Hotel Manila—which are offering nightly musical treats from Dec. 16 to 24.

Titled “Christmas Serenade”, the evening series will feature the quartet from the Scala Chamber Orchestra which will regale guests with carols, light classics, and crossover music. The group, led by violinist George Bernard Supetran, is composed by alumni from the UST Symphony Orchestra who now perform with various professional orchestras in the Philippines.

Scala Chamber Orchestra will serenade Belmont Hotel from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and Savoy Hotel from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and bring Christmas cheers to

diners and visitors.

Both hotels are located across the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 and accessible via the classy footbridge Runway Manila for plane passengers with long layovers. There are regular shuttles which take guests around the hotels within Resorts World Manila complex.

For a consummate luxe staycation, Belmont is offering a promo at P 6,500 until Jan. 5 which includes overnight in a superior or deluxe room, a Christmas Bailey Bear, P 1,000 worth of dining credits at Café Belmont, 15% discount on spa massage and food and beverage, and 20% discount on selected Resorts World shows.

The 470-room Belmont is winner of the Luxury Business Hotel and Luxury City Hotel by the World Luxury Hotel

Awards this 2019. Last year, it was also recognized as the Airport Hotel of the Year by the London-based Travel and Hospitality Awards.

Meanwhile, Savoy has its Holly Jolly Staycation promo at P 5,800, with bookings until Dec. 20, and stays until Jan. 15. Package covers accommodation in an Essential 1 room, buffet breakfast for 2, a Santa Sparky, a Holiday Gift Box, 20% discount on drinks (Zabana Bar, The Poolside, Squares), Savoy Cafe (ala carte) and selected shows at Resorts World.

The 684-room property won the ‘Best New Hotel’ award in the TripZilla Excellence Awards in 2018.

For promo details and other special offerings, log on to www.belmonhotelmanila. com or www.savoyhotelmanila.com.ph.

Teleperformance Philippines inducted as Philippine Financial and InterIndustry Pride member, awarded for HIV/AIDS advocacy

T

ELEPERFORMANCE Philippines was recently inducted as the newest member of the Philippine Financial and Inter-Industry Pride (PFIP) at the 6th Annual PFIP Gala held at the Forbes Ballroom, Conrad Manila, Pasay City.

PFIP is a collaborative, voluntary and non-profit community of practice composed of dedicated representatives from LGBT+ Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or Human Resource/Diversity Teams of the financial service industry. PFIP aims to foster an industry that is safe and inclusive for LGBT+, with key thrusts including promoting gender identity and sexual orientation to create an inclusive and safe working environment and to leverage on effective education programs and diversity training on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression across member organizations, among others.

Teleperformance pledged to fully support the goals of the organization, as Teleperformance Philippines’ Diversity and Inclusion Manager Philip del Rosario shared, “Teleperformance is looking forward to working alongside our peers in the industry who

share the belief that nurturing workplaces where people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression can bring and live their authentic selves in both ethical responsibility and a critical business imperative.”

During the event, Teleperformance Philippines also received the Duyan Ambassador Award from Project Red Ribbon for its strong support for the HIV/ AIDS advocacy campaign. The award was received by Senior Director for Communications and Marketing Marilyn Ventenilla along with Manager for Diversity and Inclusion Philip Del Rosario.

Teleperformance has been active in its advocacy and awareness campaign and holds the distinction of one of the first companies in the country to establish a comprehensive HIV/AIDS information program with strong ties with the Department of Health, and Project Red Ribbon Care Management Foundations, Inc. To learn more about Teleperformance Philippines and their various programs, you may visit their website at www.teleperformance.ph/en-us or their Facebook page at /teleperformance.philippines.

PhilHealth sets new contribution schedule, assures immediate eligibility to benefits

T

HE Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has released a new contribution schedule for its Direct Contributors in accordance to the Universal Health Care Law of 2019 and its implementing rules and regulations.

Direct contributors refer to those who are gainfully employed and bound by an employeremployee relationship. In addition, Kasambahays, self-earning individuals, practicing professionals and Overseas Filipino Workers belong to this membership category as well.

In its PhilHealth Circular No. 2019-0009 published on November 23, 2019, premium rate for Direct Contributors shall still be at 2.75 per cent of their monthly basic salary with an adjusted ceiling of P50,000. In 2020, PhilHealth will increase the rate to 3 per cent and henceforth adjusted to increments of 0.5 per cent every year until it reaches the 5 per cent limit in 2025 as provided for by law. Income floor is fixed at P10,000 during the 5-year period, while salary ceiling will gradually increase by P10,000 each year until it reaches P100,000 in 2025.

For those earning below the salary floor of P10,000, contributions are computed using the minimum threshold; while those who earn the set ceilings/limits

shall pay premiums based on the set ceiling.

On the other hand, premiums of self-paying members, professional practitioners, and land-based OFWs are computed straight based on their monthly earnings and paid in whole by the member. To ensure accuracy in computation, PhilHealth will require submission of financial records such as latest income tax return received by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, duly-notarized affidavit of income declaration, or overseas employment contract as proof of income.

Otherwise, contribution will be based on the highest computed rate.

Pursuant to Republic Act 10631 or the Kasambahay Law, employers shall borne the premiums of their domestic helpers in full, except when monthly salary exceeds P5,000 where Kasambahays shall then be deducted of their equal share in the monthly contribution. In cases of ‘employed’ Persons with Disability (PWDs) listed in the Department of Health’s PWD registry, their contributions shall be equally divided between their employers and the National Government for their personal share.

The new premium schedule takes effect on December 7, 2019 or 15 days after the publication of its Circular 2019-0009.

O

PPO announced during the annual Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit, that it will become one of the first companies to launch their flagship 5G smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform in the first quarter of 2020. OPPO has also announced that the all-new Reno3 Pro, launching this December 2019, will be equipped with Qualcomm Technologies Inc.’s nextgeneration Snapdragon 765G Mobile Platform with integrated 5G, becoming the brand’s first dual-mode 5G handset.

“By powering our devices with Snapdragon

865 mobile platforms, we are bringing premium flagship 5G smartphones with better experiences like camera, gaming, and artificial intelligence with enhanced performance for consumers around the world. The Reno3 Pro, featuring the Snapdragon 765G, will allow users to experience the superior 5G connectivity, Qualcomm® Snapdragon Elite Gaming™, and outstanding performance in its ultra-thin form factor. OPPO plans to roll out more 5G products in the future, driving the large-scale adoption of 5G around the world,” said Alen Wu, OPPO Vice President and President of Global Sales.

PHILIPPINE INTERNATIONAL BOOK & EDUCATECH EXPO ALL SET FOR 2020. Global-Link Mp Events International Inc. formally signed a partnership with the Philippine Booksellers Association, Inc. (PBAI) to bring life to the Philippine International Book & Educatech Expo (PIBEE), an event that will showcase different learning materials ranging from traditional literature to educational technology. The event will be held in August 18 to 21, 2020, at SMX Convention Center Manila. Present during the contract signing are, from left: Patrick-Lawrence Tan, CEO, Global-Link; Jovita “Bing” M. De Jesus, President, PBAI; Jing Lagandaon, COO, Global-Link; (standing): Rochelle David, Project Executive Officer, Global-Link; Ramil Guttierez, Director, PBAI; Sonia Santiago, Treasurer, PBAI; and Katrina Lagandaon-Uy, Project Manager, Global-Link. The partnership aims to increase the quality of education in the country by bridging the digital learning gap that countless Filipino students still experience.

Everyone is invited, especially scholars, educators, librarians, and booklovers,. Visitors can expect to find quality and updated literary materials, books, blended learning, conference materials, digital library solutions, digital educational content, e-books, learning management systems, school management systems and others that could further both the learning and teaching experience in the country. For more information, visit www.globallinkmp.com or call us at (02) 8893-7973.

FALLON SHERROCK DOES IT AGAIN! L ONDON—Fallon Sherrock put her right hand over her mouth in sheer astonishment as a raucous darts crowd celebrated behind her.

Another wild night, another stunning win for the Queen of Alexandra Palace.

Four days after becoming the first female darts player to beat a man at the PDC World Championship, she did it again Saturday—this time eliminating No. 11-ranked Mensur Suljovic with a 3-1 win in the second round.

The 25-year-old Englishwoman clinched victory against Suljovic by hitting a bullseye.

“I’m still waiting for it all to sink in,” said Sherrock, a one-time professional hairdresser who first picked up a dart when she was aged 17. “I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight.”

Now she believes she can go all the way.

When asked if she could win the tournament, Sherrock said: “Why not? I have won two games, I am just going to take each game as it comes but there is nothing to say that I can’t. I am going to try.

“I have just proved that we [women] can beat anyone. I have beaten two of the best players in the world. If that doesn’t show that women can play darts, I don’t know what does.”

Sherrock, a former runner-up at the women’s world championship, will play Chris Dobey in the last 32.

Organizers decided for the first time last year to allocate two of the 96

places in the world championship field to women.

Previously, women could attempt to qualify for the event, but now spots are guaranteed.

Women’s world champion Mikuru Suzuki took James Richardson to a sudden-death leg in the fifth set before losing on Monday.

Three other women—Gayl King, Anastasia Dobromyslova and Lisa Ashton—have previously played matches at a PDC World Championship. They all lost in the first round.

Sherrock is guaranteed to win at least £15,000 (nearly $20,000) after beating Suljovic, who congratulated his opponent before quickly exiting the stage. The Austrian has won multiple tournaments in his career, is a former World Matchplay runner-up, and has been in the last 16 at the world championship three times.

After her first win this week, Sherrock became an overnight celebrity, appearing on some of the biggest TV and radio shows in Britain and getting a blue tick next to her name on her Twitter account.

Sherrock developed a serious kidney condition after giving birth to her son, Rory, five years ago. She had to take medication and one of the side effects was the swelling of her face, which led to her receiving abuse online for her appearance. She says she drinks water on stage during matches to flush out her kidneys. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

C1

| Monday, December 23, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

ANOTHER wild night, another stunning win for Fallon Sherrock, the Queen of Alexandra Palace. AP

QATAR GETS TASTE OF WORLD CUP FEVER D

OHA, Qatar—Cut-price beer being downed in a field.

Roadside walls being urinated against. Drum-beating passengers leading chants through the metro.

Qatar has taken on a new, very unfamiliar guise this week for a Muslim state that adheres to a strictly conservative religious code.

This Persian Gulf nation is getting a taste of soccer fan culture in a way never experienced before, while bracing itself for the bigger culture shock of hosting the World Cup in 2022.

The Club World Cup, which concludes on Saturday with Liverpool against Flamengo, has been a soft-landing for Qatar. Even with only six visiting teams, Qatar has experienced an influx of thousands of fans from England, Mexico, Brazil and Tunisia.

The first thing that surprises many is the weather in this desert nation. Two months after athletics spectators were baking in conditions exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, soccer fans are experiencing temperatures half of that.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be so cold,” said Paulo Gualberto, who flew in from Rio de Janeiro to support South American champion Flamengo. “I thought it would be like Rio with sun every day.”

It’s why this Fifa competition is being staged so late in the year as a test event for the World Cup. The baking conditions experienced here in June to July forced Fifa to move the tournament to a November-December slot for the first time, infuriating European leagues and clubs who supply most of the stars for the World Cup and were assured the stadium air conditioning would be sufficient.

So much more has transformed around this tournament

than just the scheduling, or even the changing skyline in Qatar as stadiums and skyscrapers have risen from the sands to cope with hosting one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

Qatar has been forced to change its labor laws after outrage over conditions and rights endured by the migrant workers building the infrastructure.

“Is it ideal? No,” Fifa President Gianni Infantino said. “But it’s better than what it was 10 years ago...and this is thanks to football. If we would have listened to some prejudices that exist toward the Arab world, we would have never have hosted [a World Cup].”

Qatari authorities have had to let their guard down to adapt to the expectations of visiting fans.

Alcohol is banned in stadiums and prohibited in public areas, leaving drinking usually restricted to hotels where a beer can cost $15.

But for the Club World Cup, an open area has been turned into an outdoor drinking zone with beer around $6 for a pint. The problem is the fan zone is on the outskirts of Doha at a golf course, almost an hour from the Khalifa Stadium used for the semifinals and finals.

Liverpool fan Neil Levenson was irritated that staff on the newly completed metro train system did not know how to reach the fan zone. The airport also lacks signs to take public transport to avoid the Doha traffic.

“A lot of improvement is need on communication to fans,” Levenson said before heading to Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Monterrey on Wednesday. “But once you are here it is great.”

That surprised Irish aircraft mechanic Kian Gavin, who

FLAMENGO’S Gabriel Barbosa celebrates with his team’s fans before the Club World Cup semifinal match between Flamengo and Al Hilal at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. AP

has lived in Qatar since April.

“I thought it was going to be a disaster, judging previous events here like the athletics,” Gavin said. “It’s a big step up.”

The sparse crowds at the world athletics championships across September and October were seen as a sign of Qatari indifference to hosting major sporting events they chase so doggedly.

But the same Khalifa Stadium that was virtually empty for the world’s best athletes was mostly full to see the footballing meeting of European champion Liverpool and Mexican side Monterrey.

The common thread between Qatar’s two biggest sports events of the year is their lack of promotion through the capital. From the West Bay district, with its shopping malls, towering hotels and government departments, to the souk lined with shops and eateries, Doha’s streets lack signage for the Fifa tournament.

Not that there are many gathering points for fans outside.

Qatar will need more fan zones closer to venues being used in 2022, especially if alcohol is not allowed in the eight stadiums.

By placing the Club World Cup fan zone so far from the Khalifa Stadium—almost an hour through rush hour on toilet-less buses—fans were seen relieving themselves against walls as they arrived on Wednesday night. Local officials were overlooking the incident, in a way unimaginable at any other time.

More repressive laws have heightened concerns about Qatar’s suitability to host the World Cup, particularly those

outlawing homosexuality that were highlighted by Liverpool in travel advice.

Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp has seemed uncomfortable being in Qatar.

“About homosexuality and all that, I have an opinion about it,” he said. “Of course, I think we should all be treated equally, that’s clear. But, it’s [easier] from another point to talk about these things than being here and seeing the things and judging them then, and we don’t have the time for that. We are only here for training, couple of days playing and then that. So, that’s it.”

Qatar wants to give the impression it will turn a blind eye and not enforce certain discriminatory laws on visiting fans. But World Cup organizers leave that unsaid when speaking publicly.

“It’s better for you to ask the Liverpool fans who have traveled,” said Hassan Al-Thawadi, chairman of the World Cup organizing committee. “Let them tell you their experience.”

Al-Thawadi has been on the decade-long journey from bid to event delivery for Qatar.

Domestically, he has had to respond to international outrage by pushing for changes to laws to give migrant workers better rights and conditions.

Internationally, Al-Thawadi will never shake off the impression that vote-buying helped to secure Fifa votes in 2010 despite regular denials, nor the sense that hosting the World Cup is just a tool for this gas-rich nation to elevate its status or cleanse its image.

“Sport is a unifier between people,” Al-Thawadi said after meeting members of the “Generation Amazing” which

is funding soccer facilities across the world. “There’s no pushing of ideologies. There’s no concept of sportswashing.”

That is the phrase—introduced in the interview by Al-Thawadi—used by rights groups like Amnesty to discuss countries trying to cleanse their images through hosting international sports events. Lax worker welfare has cast a shadow over World Cup planning, even though Al-Thawadi maintains there have been only three work-related deaths and 27 fatalities not linked directly to work.

But Qatar lacks the type of public inquest hearings seen in Britain, where a coroner ruled last year that dangerous working practices were to blame for Englishman Zachary Cox falling to his death when a faulty hoist broke at the Khalifa Stadium that will stage the final.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Al-Thawadi said about general conditions, while claiming around 46,000 migrant workers had been paid back $30 million that had been wrongly handed over to recruitment agencies to secure work on the World Cup. The Qatari aim of using the event to unify the Arab world also faded long ago.

Neighbors Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates severed travel, diplomatic, and economic ties in 2017 as part of a boycott of Qatar over its support of extremism, which Doha denies.

The boycott of Qatar forced fans of Asian champion Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia to take indirect flights to Doha to see their side at the Club World Cup, losing in the semifinals.

Qatar has had to bring in food and materials from outside the region since its neighbors would no longer trade. AP

C2

Spo

Business

Monday, December 23, 2019

HARDEN-WESTBROOK COMBO: GO! GO! GO! NIKE clothes are displayed at a Kohl’s store in Colma, California. AP

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER STRATEGY SIGNIFICANTLY BOOSTS NIKE SALES

N

EW YORK—Nike’s quarterly results again beat Wall Street expectations, as its online sales grew and customers shrugged off a series of corporate scandals.

The company’s revenues grew to $10.33 billion in the second quarter ending November 30, up 10 percent from the same period last year.

Analysts had been expecting $10.1 billion in revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Nike’s North America sales, however, disappointed slightly at $3.98 billion, up 5 percent from $3.78 billion during the same period last year. Analyst had anticipated sales closer to $4 billion, according to FactSet. Nike’s shares fell $1.95, or almost 2 percent, to $99.18 in after-hours trading.

Its net income rose 32 percent to $1.12 billion. Strong sales, a lower tax rate and a focus on selling more shoes at full price helped offset cost increases related to tariffs. Earnings per share rose to 70 cents, beating expectations of 58 cents per share, according to Zacks.

It was Nike’s first earnings reporting since announcing that CEO Mark Parker will step down early next year. He will be replaced by board member John Donahoe, who formerly ran e-commerce company eBay and was tapped to push forward Nike’s digital transformation.

The Beaverton, Oregon-based company has focused on building up its direct-to-consumer business through its own website, app and

stores. The company launched a subscription service for children’s shoes last summer. Last month, it announced it will stop selling its sneakers and athletic gear directly to Amazon, ending a two-year-old pilot program with the world’s largest online retailer.

Selling sneakers directly to its customers gives Nike information on its shoppers that can help it design shoes in colors or sizes it knows they want.

Nike said its operating expenses rose 9 percent to $2.44 billion as the company invested in its Nike Direct business and global operations.

The quarter covered a scandal-marked period for Nike, but the sneaker company’s sales have a history of shrugging of controversy.

In October, renowned Track Coach Alberto Salazar was banned from the sport for four years by the US Anti-Doping Agency for running experiments with supplements and testosterone that were bankrolled and supported by Nike.

Documents released by the USADA revealed that Parker was aware of the experiments.

Nike announced that it was shutting down its elite Oregon Project track and field program overseen by Salazar, though the company defended the coach against the allegations.

Parker, who will come Nike’s executive chairman in January, said he never had any reason to believe the tests violated doping rules. AP

P

HOENIX—The James Harden-Russell Westbrook combo is starting to become everything the Houston Rockets hoped it would be.

The two superstar guards bring different speeds to the offense, and the Phoenix Suns couldn’t stop either one Saturday.

“Russell is go, go, go, go,” Rockets Coach Mike D’Antoni said.

“When it’s half-court, maybe it’s James’s time.”

Harden scored 47 points, Westbrook added 30 and the Rockets rolled to a 139-125 victory over the Suns for their 10th victory in the past 13 games.

Phoenix pulled to 115-107 with 9:37 left but the Rockets responded with a 21-9 run— which included four 3-pointers from Harden—that slowly deflated the Suns’ players and crowd.

Harden shot

15 of 27 from the field, including nine of 19 from three-point range.

He leads the NBA with 38.5 points per game and blew past that number with his fourth quarter outburst, hitting his quartet of 3s in a span of about three minutes.

The former Arizona State star has already scored 1,124 points this season, most for a player through 29 games since Rick Barry had 1,134 in the 1966-67 season. By the end of the night, he received an ovation from a big chunk of the fans.

“This city has shown me so much love before I even got to the NBA,” Harden said. “So I feel like it’s my job to go out there and put on a show.”

Harden’s scoring has been a constant throughout the season, but Westbrook’s production has spiked in recent weeks. He’s averaging 33.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists over his past three games. The

two players took turns dominating on Saturday, hitting Phoenix with waves of offense that couldn’t be stopped.

“I don’t know if 30 [points] is a benchmark or not, but Russell’s playing really well, doing a lot of stuff,” D’Antoni said. “And you know James has been playing great.”

Said Westbrook: “It’s a good balance for our team, for myself.

I think it’s moving in the right direction.”

Westbrook added 10 assists, and Clint Capela had 14 points and 17 rebounds. The Rockets shot 59 percent from the field.

The Suns have lost six straight games and fell to 11-18.

Kelly Oubre Jr. led Phoenix

with 26 points, and Devin Booker had 19. Elie Okobo scored 17 in his first start of the season and all five starters scored in double digits for just the third time this season.

Booker said he thought the Suns did a good job of competing in the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the Thunder on Friday, but they couldn’t figure out a way to stop Harden or Westbrook.

“They’re MVP players, they’re going to make those shots,” Booker said. “It’s how you respond and just keep defending and playing the right way.”

Harden scored 18 points in the first quarter and had 29 by halftime, shooting 10 of 15 from the field, including four of eight from three-point range. The Rockets led 70-65 at the break after shooting 61 percent from the field. AP

JAMES HARDEN racks up 47 points as the Rockets beat the Suns, 139-125. AP

International Swimming League expanding to Tokyo, Toronto

L

AS VEGAS—The International Swimming League (ISL) is expanding for its second season next year.

The pro league that featured over 100 Olympians will add teams in Tokyo and Toronto, bringing the number of clubs to 10. Five will comprise the Europe-Asia group, with the other five in the US. The season will begin in September, a month after the Tokyo Olympics end, and run until April 2021. There will be breaks in December and March for other events on the world swimming calendar.

A total of 27 matches—a minimum of 10 per club—will be held; including regular season, playoffs and the grand finale.

“If we want to be a league, we have to act like a league,” said ISL Managing Director Andrea Di Nino, who promised an increase in prize money and the salary cap for each team.

The ISL held six meets in its first season, and staged its grand finale in Las Vegas, where the expansion was announced Saturday. Europebased Energy Standard won the championship and its 28 members split $100,000.

The 3,800-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center wasn’t filled either day, although there were noticeably more people on Saturday for the music and spotlight-filled event featuring finals only over two hours.

“It was a great show for everybody,” said Di Nino, who was open to the possibility of returning to Vegas for the finale. “Next year is going to be even better. Of course, we’re looking to improve and look at our mistakes.”

Retired four-time Olympic gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima will represent the Tokyo entry, which has yet to be named.

“I’m very happy to be given this big opportunity

for swimming,” Kitajima, who attended the finale, said through a translator. “When I was first approached about this opportunity I was very happy, but I was thinking why didn’t you come to me in the beginning. I hope a lot of Japanese swimmers will be able to participate.”

Daiya Seto was the only Japanese swimmer who competed in the ISL’s first season, and he only swam in the finale for winning Energy Standard. He set a world short-course record in the 400-meter individual medley on Friday, which was streamed live in Japan.

“Japan is one of the world’s leading swimming nations with a large fan base, so we expect to see a very competitive team be developed there and many fans excited to learn of our plans,” ISL Founder Konstantin Grigorishin said in a statement.

Robert Kent, an investment banker and former swimmer, will head the Toronto entry,

which also has yet to be named.

Thirteen Canadian swimmers competed in the ISL this year, including Olympic gold medalist Penny Oleksiak and two-time world champion Kylie Masse. CBC Sports offered broadcast and live streaming coverage throughout the season.

Tokyo and Toronto will join Europe-based Aqua Centurions, Energy Standard, Iron and London Roar, along with Cali Condors, DC Trident, LA Current and NY Breakers in the US. AP

Scott wins Australian PGA, ends close to 4-year title drought

G

COMPETITORS start the women’s 200-meter freestyle in Las Vegas. AP

OLD COAST, Australia—Adam Scott sealed his first tournament win in almost four years Sunday when he shot three under 69 to win the Australian Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championships by two shots.

Scott’s win gave him the 30th title of his professional career and his second Australian PGA crown after his win at Royal Pines in 2013.

He was edged into second place by compatriot Greg Chalmers in a thrilling seven-hole playoff on the same course in 2014.

Scott’s last tournament win came three years, nine months and 16 days ago at the WGC Cadillac Classic in Miami where he beat Bubba Watson by a shot.

His win in front of a home crowd—he has a house close by—completed a solid year and lifted him from 18th to 13th on world rankings.

Scott finished with a 72-hole total of 275, 13 under par and two shots ahead of New Zealand’s Michael Hendry, who matched Scott’s final round 69. Former US amateur champion Nick Flanagan shot 70 Sunday to finish among a five-way tie for third place.

Scott came into the final round with a oneshot lead over Hendry, but fell a shot behind the Kiwi after 11 holes.

He had an unplayable lie on the 12th but got up and down for par, and that was the turning point in his final round. He played the next three holes three under par to surge past Hendry into first place.

Hendry’s winning chance evaporated when his approach on the 17th hole clipped trees, and plunged into a green-side bunker. He made

bogey to fall two shots behind Scott, then bogeyed again when he three-putted the 18th green to give the Australian a three-shot lead coming to the last hole.

Scott went through the green at the 17th but saved par, then could afford his bogey on 18 and still claim the title.

“After a good save on 12, it was time to do something and I was behind, so there was opportunity for everyone and I was the one who took them today,” Scott said.

“I’m stoked. This has been a long time coming, and I’m really happy to win another PGA here. It finishes off a nice year for me. “”It’s been a long time between drinks for me, and maybe only once or twice did the thought cross my mind that I’ll never win again.

“It’s very difficult to win and I’m on the wrong side of this age thing now,” the 39-year-old added.

Scott’s 2013 PGA Championship win came before his US Masters victory, and he now looks toward the Masters in April.

“A win [makes] you feel like you’re just never going to lose again,” Scott said. “I hope it helps; it’s nice to have reassurance and the belief of winning.

“You want to be in contention, and find out how you feel, and respond, and I got some of that today and if I happen to be in that position Sunday at the Masters I can draw on it.”

Hendry battled a painful rib injury over both of the last two rounds and only gave up his title bid with bogeys at the last two holes. AP

NAVY midshipmen march onto field ahead of their college

Navy, Army probes find no ra

W

ASHINGTON—Hand gestures flashed by West Point cadets and Naval Academy midshipmen during the televised Army-Navy football game were not racist signals, military investigations have concluded.

A Navy probe of the event found that the students were participating in a “sophomoric game” on Saturday, and had no racist intent. An Army statement Friday also rejected any racist overtones, saying the hand gestures were “not associated with ideologies or movements that are contrary to the Army values.”

The Navy said officials are, however, disappointed in

orts

sMirror

Monday, December 23, 2019

C3

Pantino topples big guns, claims Dagitab crown

A

RTHUR PANTINO enhanced a promising tennis career by upending two of the country’s top guns— stunning top seed Johnny Arcilla in the semifinals then beating No. 2 and Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Jeson Patrombon, 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-1—to clinch the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP) Dagitab Festival Open crown at the City of Naga Tennis Court in Cebu on Sunday.

The 18-year-old University of San Carlos ace held his ground against the veteran Arcilla and pulled off a surprise 6-3, 6-4 victory then kept his poise against Patrombon, winning their thrilling baseline duel that saw him fight off three match points before dominating the decider to hack out the stirring triumph.

Pantino, who scored back-toback victories in the International Tennis Federation (ITF ) junior circuit and swept the two-leg Phinma juniors at the Manila Polo Club this year, pocketed the top P40,000 purse in the event put up

by Palawan Pawnshop headed by President and CEO Bobby Castro and presented by Dunlop.

“It’s inspiring to see young talents hold their own against the veterans and then coming out as winners. Pantino just showed that through hard work and determination, anything is possible,” Castro said.

Ranked 10th in a field of 64, the Cebu-based Pantino rolled past Jolo Basa, 6-0, 6-2, repulsed No. 7 Leander Lazaro, then routed third seed Vicente Anasta, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

Ranged against many-time Davis Cup campaigner Arcilla in the semis, Pantino didn’t flinch and carved out the straightset win, but cracked against Patrombon in the finals, blowing a 5-3 first set lead by yielding the next four games and the set.

But down 3-5 in the second, Pantino held serve in the ninth game then rallied from 0-40 in the 10th by stringing five straight points then outlasting Patrombon in the tiebreaker to force the decider, which the former dominated as the latter lost steam while battling his younger, firedup rival in long baseline rallies.

Patrombon, however, got back at his singles tormentor as he teamed up with Casey Alcantara to beat Pantino and Arcilla, 6-3, 7-6(6), to nail their second straight doubles crown after beating compatriots Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales Jr. in the SEA Games.

Other winners in the event held as part of the province’s Dagitab Festival celebrations were Mark Alcoseba-Roy Tan (30s), Jonathan Largo-Eric Longakit (40s) and Mario Guillemer-Roy Tabotabo (50s) in the Legends division and Jayson Benitez in 40s singles.

NO MORE TOMORROW T IN MERALCO-TNT DUEL MERALCO import Allen Durham gets one-on-one with his TNT counterpart KJ McDaniels.

PSL brings back Super Cup

M

ERALCO and TNT clash in a do-or-die Game Five of their semifinal winner with the winner getting to face finalist in waiting Barangay Ginebra San Miguel on Monday in the Philippine Basketball Association Governors’s at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo City.

The Bolts forced a suddendeath Game Five with a rousing 95-83 win over their sister-team last Saturday also in Antipolo.

Import Allen Durham and ace guard Baser Amer worked

together to close out a perfect fourth quarter that capped off their mighty first half comeback after a blistering start by the KaTropa.

Now on equal footing, the two squads tangle in the rubber-match at 7 p.m., with the victor advancing against the Gin Kings in the bestof-seven Finals that is penciled for January 8.

It has been a roller-coaster series with the TNT, setting the tone with a huge 103-94 win in Game One. Meralco fought back to even the series in Game Two, 114-94, but a crucial blunder in Game Three

by Durham pushed the KaTropa to the cusp of advancing to the

championship series with a 101-97 victory.

The Bolts wouldn’t let the chance of arranging a rematch with the Gin Kings slip away easily, and the eagerness to avenge the miscue in the previous game was in full display in the fourth match.

TNT built a 17-4 lead in the first period, but Meralco—riding Durham’s broad shoulders— fought back and piled a six-point advantage at the half.

Durham scored 23 points in the first half alone, and finished game with 36 points and 13 rebounds.

As the KaTropa knocked on the Finals door with a 71-73 deficit

in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, Amer provided more separation when he scattered 10 of his 12 points in the last period.

“So far, the series has been games of adjustments,” Coach Norman Black of Meralco said.

“Now we just have to figure out what to do in Game Five, and how we could adjust to get the victory.”

TNT import KJ McDaniels led his team with 26 points and nine boards, while Troy Rosario backed him up with 15 points, Jayson Castro with 14 and Bobby Park Jr. and Roger Pogoy with 11 each.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

HE Philippine Superliga (PSL) will be bringing back the Super Cup following its successful staging this year.

PSL Chairman Philip Ella Juico said on Sunday the Super Cup served its purpose of raising the level of play of local players so they are bringing it back before the league wraps up its season in December next year.

Based on the league calendar, the annual PSL Fans Day will kick off the season in the first week of February followed by the import-flavored Grand Prix,

Santiago, Bagunas churn in big numbers in Japan league

F

Nadal, Murray snatch awards

L

e football game with the Army. AP

acism intent in hand gestures the immature behavior of the students and “their actions will be appropriately addressed.”There were no details about their exact punishment, but a Navy report on the investigation said the two midshipmen should face “administrative action” for “failure to use good judgment.”

Clips of the hand gestures by the students went viral on social media and immediately raised questions about whether they were using a “white power” sign.

But others suggested it was part of what’s called the “circle game,” in which someone flashes an upsidedown OK sign below the waist and punches anyone who looks at it.

ONDON—Rafael Nadal won his second consecutive Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award and third overall Thursday, based on voting by other players, while Andy Murray was chosen the Association of Tennis Professionals 2019 comeback player of the year.

Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1, said in January he thought he would retire this season because of a bad hip.

But he wound up having a second operation and returned to the tour, winning a singles title and a doubles title.

Other honorees from the men’s tour included US Open semifinalist Matteo Berrettini, chosen as

most improved player after rising to No. 8 in the rankings from No. 54; 18-year-old Jannik Sinner, picked as newcomer of the year; and Gilles Cervara, who earned coach of the year honors after helping Daniil Medvedev reach nine finals, including a runner-up finish to Nadal at Flushing Meadows.

Kevin Anderson received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.

The International Tennis Federation also announced its year-end awards Thursday, with year-end No. 1s Nadal and Ash Barty named ITF World Champions.

It’s Nadal’s fourth selection, Barty’s first. AP

The Navy said that reviews of the footage, more than two dozen interviews and background checks by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI determined that the two freshmen midshipmen were participating in the “circle game” with West Point cadets.

The investigation added that the two naval academy students “exhibited genuine shock” and said they were not aware of the racist connotation of the hand gestures. It said interviews with friends, roommates and other commanders also found no links to the white power movement.

Navy Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, said sailors are expected to conduct

themselves with integrity and character at all times.

“To be clear, the Navy does not tolerate racism in any form,” said Gilday. “And while the investigation determined there was no racist intent behind these actions, our behavior must be professional at all times and not give cause for others to question our core values of honor, courage and commitment.”

The Navy investigation also made a number of recommendations to better coordinate and screen midshipmen who may be in high visibility areas for major events such as the game day. And it said there should be more training for the students on how they should conduct themselves. AP

which will run until June.

The PSL Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup will be held late June followed by the first-ever PSL All-Star Weekend.

The All-Filipino Conference is set from July to October before the seasonending Super Cup in the first week of December.

Juico said the league is getting bigger and stronger than ever as star players like Aby Maraño, Rachel Anne Daquis, Mika Reyes, Jovelyn Gonzaga, Jaja Santiago and Dindin Manabat get more exposure overseas.

JAJA SANTIAGO and Bryan Bagunas are doing well as imports in Japanese league.

ORMER National University (NU) standout Jaja Santiago is making the most of her stint in the Japan V.League by ranking fourth in the best spiker category of the country’s premier volleyball league.

Santiago, who formed NU’s “twin towers” with sister Dindin Santiago-Manabat, recorded a 47.6 attack success with the Saitama Ageo Medics, one of the 12 teams in the league.

Her team is currently third in Group B of the tournament with a 12-6 won-lost record.

In her most recent match, Santiago helped the Medics past Group top team Toray Arrows in straight sets, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20, and extend their win streak to four.

Santiago also scored 19 points on 15-of-22 attack efficiency, and also made four blocks in the Medics’ losing match to second placed JT Marvelous, 25-21, 25-18, 26-28, 22-25, 13-15.

Santiago lagged Japan’s Kaha Ono in the best spiker race with a 49.7 percent success rate, followed

by JT Marvelous’s US import Andrea Carrey Drews (48.9) and Blue Cats’ Jeniffer Doris (47.7).

Bryan Bagunas is also in his best form although his team, Oita Miyoshi Weisse Alder, lost to Nagoya Wolfdogs, 25-19, 26-28, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23. He scored 21 points, three blocks and three aces. It was his second game after his stint in the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The NU men’s standout powered Oita Miyoshi Weisse Alder past FC Tokyo in straight sets, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18, in his opening game. He led Oita with 19 attacks, one block with two aces.

Ryniel Berlanga

M

ONTREAL—The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said more athletes are being caught cheating but it often lacks the resources to investigate.

Wada published statistics showing that 1,804 doping rule violations were recorded in 2017— the most recent year for which statistics are available—with a 13.1-percent rise on the year before.

Italian athletes racked up the most violations with 171, followed by competitors from France and the United States. Russia, which on Thursday said it plans to appeal wide-ranging sanctions imposed

by Wada, placed fifth.

While the number of offenses is on the rise, the total number is middling in historical terms, ranking below 2013, 2014 and 2015. Bodybuilding was found to be the dirtiest sport with 266 violations, followed by track and field, and cycling.

Drug tests aren’t the only tool at Wada’s disposal. Investigations of athletes and coaches are increasingly important, with 345 violations found in 2017, the highest number on record and a 28-percent rise compared to the year before.

However, Wada’s own investigations unit is struggling to cope with an “acute” lack of resources, according to an audit published Thursday.

The audit said the quality of work was “exceptional” but investigating a vast archive of Russian doping data—which Wada later found had been doctored—put strain on the unit.

Relegating other investigations to “secondary importance” risks that “the department [and through it, Wada] could be criticized for choosing and executing on its objectives arbitrarily,” the audit said.

“For the credibility of antidoping, it is also essential to process all sources of information.

That is not currently possible,” the report said, adding that some personnel risked burnout.

Russia, meanwhile, has been given extra time to respond to charges that several of its leading track and field officials helped forge documents to give a star athlete an alibi for missing drug tests.

The Athletics Integrity Unit, which oversees disciplinary issues in the sport, said Friday the Russian track and field

WADA HELPLESS

VS. DOPING? federation has been given an extension until January 2.

The federation had originally been required to answer the charges by December 12. The reason for the extension hasn’t been given, but the suspension of so many senior figures has caused turbulence at the federation.

Federation President Dmitry Shlyakhtin was among seven Russians charged last month over the alleged forgery of medical documents to help world indoor high jump champion Danil Lysenko.

He has also been charged, and the federation itself faces possible expulsion by governing body World Athletics.

Shlyakhtin has since resigned as

suspension. Torokhtiy is the fifth weightlifting gold medalist from the London Games to test positive.

Iranian lifter Navab Nasirshelal is in line to inherit Torokhtiy’s gold in the men’s 105-kilogram category, but reallocating the medals still needs to be ratified by the IOC. Poland’s Bartolomiej Bonk could be upgraded from bronze to silver, but another open doping case makes the bronze-medal position an open question.

The original fourth-place finisher, Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Nurudinov is under investigation after testing positive for the same steroid as Torokhtiy, so the medal could end up with another Uzbek, fifth-placed Ivan Efremov.

Torokhtiy stopped competing after the 2012 Olympics, but the doping case has disrupted his prolific career as a sports official.

Torokhtiy was previously vice president of the Ukrainian Weightlifting Federation and also held roles with the European Weightlifting Federation and the Ukrainian Olympic

Committee. The doping ban means he’s barred from holding any posts in sports bodies.

Since the IOC decision in 2016 to start retesting samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, more than 50 weightlifters have been disqualified after testing positive for banned steroids.

The IOC had said weightlifting’s presence at future Olympics was under threat because of its vast steroid problem. However, the IOC backed down in March after the IWF promised to introduce stricter drug testing. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

federation president.

The case is not linked to Russia’s

alleged doctoring of a doping data archive handed over to the Wada in January. Wada has banned Russia’s name and flag from major sports competitions in that case, which is the latest in a string of dopingrelated scandals for Russia.

Ukrainian weightlifter Oleksiy Torokhtiy, meanwhile, has been stripped of the gold medal he won at the 2012 Olympics and banned for doping.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Thursday that the Ukrainian tested positive for the banned steroid turinabol when his sample from the 2012 London Games was retested using modern methods.

Torokhtiy gets a two-year ban backdated to start from December 2018, when the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) first announced he was under suspicion and placed him on provisional

C4

| Monday, December 23, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

RUSSIA’S Danil Lysenko makes an attempt in the men’s high jump final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships, in Birmingham, England, in March last year as Ukraine’s Oleksiy Torokhtiy wins the men’s 105-kg weightlifting gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London. AP

MESSI CLOSES YEAR WITH 50 GOALS AS BARCELONA ROUTS ALAVES M

ADRID—Lionel Messi closed the year with a total of 50 goals for club and country for the sixth straight time, helping Barcelona stay in position to keep the Spanish league lead entering the holiday break.

Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Arturo Vidal also scored as Barcelona comfortably defeated Alaves 4-1 on Saturday to open a three-point lead over second-place Real Madrid, which hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

Barcelona holds a five-goal advantage over Madrid in the tiebreaker between the teams.

Barcelona and Madrid drew 0-0 in the first “clásico” of the season on Wednesday in a game postponed from October because of a separatist rally in the Catalan capital.

“We played only a few days ago, we were a bit tired, but we played a good match,” Griezmann said. “Now we get some deserved time off. We will try to get better when we come back. We can still improve.”

This is the last round before the break, with the league resuming in the first week of January.

It was the ninth year Messi finished with at least 50 goals overall for club and country—45 of them in 2019 for Barcelona, five for Argentina.

He reached the mark every year since 2010, with the exception of 2013 when he had 45. Messi’s highest mark was 91 goals in total in 2012.

“He gives us a great advantage,” Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde said. “Leo can suddenly show up and score out of nowhere like that.”

Messi’s 50th goal came with a beautiful strike from outside the area in the 69th minute after a setup by Suarez.

The goal allowed Messi to surpass Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema as the league’s top scorer with 13 goals, one more than the Frenchman.

Suarez is next with 10 goals. Griezmann has seven, including three in his last four league games.

Suarez had a role in all four goals at the Camp Nou Stadium, scoring his own from a penalty kick in the 75th.

The Uruguay striker had also set up Griezmann’s opener in the 14th and Vidal’s goal in the 45th.

Alaves, winless in four consecutive league matches, scored with a header

by Pere Pons in the 56th. The visitors had a couple of good chances before Messi’s strike dampened their chances of a comeback.

“We knew it was difficult to earn points here,” Pons said. “At one point we controlled possession and created some good chances, but in the end we were playing against Barça and against Messi, it’s complicated.”

Barcelona had two goals disallowed for offside, one by Messi in the

first half and another by Griezmann in the second.

Alaves has won only one of its nine away games in the league this season. It is 15th in the standings, five points from safety.

Barcelona extended its unbeaten streak in all competitions to 10 matches. It was coming off two consecutive league draws—2-2 against Real Sociedad and 0-0 against Madrid. It had won nine of its 10 league games before that.

Barcelona has won six straight league matches against Alaves, averaging more than three goals a game.

The crowd of 63,054 was the second lowest at the Camp Nou this season, with 58,198 at the league game against Valladolid in October.

SEVILLA WINS AGAIN

SEVILLA won 2-0 at relegation-threatened Mallorca to end a two-game winless streak and strengthen its grip on third place.

Diego Carlos scored in the first half and Ever Banega in the second to leave Sevilla within five points of Barcelona.

It was the fifth straight winless league game for Mallorca, which is only one point outside the relegation zone.

Mallorca complained of a foul by Carlos in Sevilla’s first goal, and Banega’s second goal came from a penalty kick awarded after video review. Mallorca also had a goal disallowed by VAR because of offside.

Sevilla was coming off a home loss to Villarreal and a draw at Osasuna.

VALENCIA’S LATE DRAW

VALENCIA salvaged a 1-1 draw at Valladolid thanks to Manu Vallejo’s goal four minutes into stoppage time.

The hosts had opened the scoring with an 83rd-minute goal by Sergi Guardiola.

Valencia, which had won three games in a row in all competitions, moved to seventh place. Valladolid—winless in six league matches—is in 14th place.

VILLARREAL’S HOME WIN

LIONEL MESSI scores a goal during a Spanish La Liga match between Barcelona and Alaves at Camp Nou Stadium, in Barcelona, on Saturday. AP

MOI GOMEZ scored early in the second half to give Villarreal a 1-0 win over 10-man Getafe, ending the team’s three-game winless streak at home.

Fourth-place Getafe, which had won three in a row, had defender Mathias Olivera sent off in the 61st.

Villarreal moved to ninth place. AP

D

God of love

EAR God, all the Earth bows before You and sings to Your name. Lift our spirits in joy as we pray: Open our hearts and minds to receive Your grace, oh God. You give life to our souls: strengthen married couples, sweethearts or lovers in their sacred commitment and well-respected relationships to one another. You keep us from stumbling: grant forgiveness and possibility to those who seek a new beginning. You watch over the nations: give prudence, wisdom and right judgment to government servant leaders. May the Shepherd of Israel cast away all sorrow and sighing, and fill us with joy and gladness, in Christ, whose coming is certain. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life BusinessMirror

‘The Vogue Bunch’: Onin Lorente shoots for ‘Vogue Portugal’ AN observer's selfie

L

ONDON, United Kingdom—Photographer Onin Lorente finally realized a dream he had been harboring for a long time: a photo shoot for a European issue of Vogue. I had the privilege to witness it unfold as he excitedly did an editorial for Vogue Portugal.

By coincidence, we were in London at the same time, in early September, and he invited me to sort-of assist the assistant to the stylist. But they were topnotch at their job, so I only ended up being more of an observer, proudly soaking the heady atmosphere as creative people giddily, but methodically, work at an editorial for an important magazine.

“I usually do my shoots in London, as it is a prime spot for creatives. Not unless it is necessary to do it in other cities, due to the availability of the model, or preference for location setting,” Lorente, a Legazpi City native, said.

No other Pinoy photographer has ever been featured so prominently in any Vogue title, and Lorente has done so not just once, but twice.

“In September, I had an editorial published for Vogue Taiwan. This shoot, however, is my first for Vogue in Europe. Vogue Portugal sent me two copies of the issue, and I will stock more. First is always memorable,” an ecstatic Lorente exclaimed.

How did the whopping 12-page Vogue Portugal fashion editorial come to be?

“I prepared a mood board for the Holiday/ December 2019 issue, and I sent it to the Vogue Portugal team. Sofia Lucas, the editor in chief, liked it,” said Lorente, one of the most tireless and relentless young creative talents I know.

The theme for the holiday issue was “Family Affairs,” so Lorente researched about the most memorable holiday movies. A Very Brady Christmas

AND THEN SOME: LAST-MINUTE STYLE AND BEAUTY GIFT SHOPPING IDEAS D4

appealed to his aesthetics the most. The 1988 American made-for-TV comedy-drama was directed by Peter Baldwin and starred Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis, Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Mike Lookinland and Jennifer Runyon, all, original cast members of the 1969–1974 sitcom The Brady Bunch.

“It was the perfect inspiration. Stylish and fun.

I focused on the theme of a Christmas dinner. So there were cakes, macaroons, wine and tea. Aside from the setting, I also wanted to showcase fun, conflict, harmony and eccentricity among the family members, through direction of the poses and characterization,” Lorente said of the editorial, which the magazine titled The Vogue Bunch.

The preparation for the Vogue shoot occurred almost simultaneously with a shoot he had to produce for Esquire Spain, which was also published this month.

How challenging were the preparations?

“It was my first commissioned shoot for the magazine, so I wanted to make sure that I would be able to deliver the best. That was the challenge,” Lorente explained. “It also occurred a few days before

I flew to Singapore, which made the preparation and organization tighter.”

While waiting for the commissioning letter, Lorente started completing his crew of collaborators and casting his models. The stylist was Lorna McGee at A&R Creative, prop styling by Olivia Clifford, casting direction by Lyly Bui, hair styling by Asahi Sano at Caren, makeup by Jo Frost at CLM and manicure by Edyta at Beautii. Their assistants were Adrian Critchley, Reggie Erecre, Daniel Maglente, Hiroki Kojima and Tilly Jones. The models were Brian at The Squad; Mercedes at IMM Models; Maude at The Hive; Millie and Dylan at Supa; and Nico. Retouching was done at Retouched Studios.

“The creative talents I worked with were a mixture of agency-represented and freelancers. I created a short list, then forwarded it to the Vogue Portugal editorial team. Most of them have already worked for the magazine and other Vogue editions,” Lorente shared. “Executing the idea was really about an ideal team, and I had a great one.”

The stylist had free rein over the selection of clothes and pullout of samples. Prior to doing that, Lorente discussed the theme of the looks (the quirky 1980s) and number of cast members (6). Among the brands showcased were John Smedley, Nadya Dzyak, Lucy Williams X Missoma, Max Mara, Salvatore Ferragamo, Chloe, Rejina Pyo, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Lanvin.

“Aside from this Vogue shoot, my latest work for Esquire Spain December 2019, which combines dance and fashion photography, is also another favorite as I am passionate about both art forms,” said Lorente, who has been toiling around Europe, the US and Asia for eight years. “I will always include in my portfolio the first cover for a men’s fashion magazine I shot featuring Ton Heukels for L’Officiel Hommes Thailand March 2018, and the cover shoot with supermodel Alek Wek for L’Officiel Indonesia April 2017.”

What’s next?

“In December 2017, for a BUSINESSMIRRO� interview [published in January 2018], I mentioned that my dream is to shoot for Vogue Italia, French Numero and W. It has not happened, yet. But definitely, I am already very pleased with my journey. I will quote a line from the same interview: ‘Pursue the dream, and enjoy the journey and learn as much as I can’—that’s what I’m doing now.” n

Monday, December 23, 2019

D1

➜ DURABLE wind- and water-resistant Fjallraven’s Vidda Pro Jacket and Trousers for men

➜

EXPLORE the great outdoors with this Vidda Pro Jacket from Fjallraven.

NEW YEAR, NEW ADVENTURES TAKE a break after the frenzied Christmas rush with a journey to the great outdoors, and welcoming the New Year with an adventure. Activities outdoors have long been proven beneficial to your health.

Getting that extended period of fresh air, exercise, and enjoyment give your body and mind a real boost.

Adventures, on the other hand, give you a real confidence boost and help you survive anything.

Whether it’s a night at the airport due to delays or sleeping out under the stars in a far distant land, surviving it makes you feel almost invincible.

Likewise, learning about new cultures, new traditions, and new people in their everyday life can give you a better perspective on your own life.

Whether you’re planning for a solo trip, or a holiday getaway with loved ones, Outdoors by SM has got you covered. With its wide array of premier brands featuring advanced technology and innovative designs, Outdoors by SM is both a one-stop shop for every adventure need and a go-to store for the urban dweller. Since it opened at the second level of SM Makati earlier this year, Outdoors by SM now carries more than 40 premier brands.

Travel worry-free with countless luggage options from Dakine, Deuter, Eagle Creek, Osprey, Pacsafe, Thule, Timbuk2, Cabin Zero and Travelon, as well as backpacks from Fjallraven, Herschel, JanSport and Parkland. There are outdoor gear from The North Face, Columbia and Mountain Hardwear, along with camping and hiking essentials from Black Diamond, Coghlan’s, Discovery Adventures, Gerber and Sea to Summit.

Whatever your destination may be, Klean Kanteen, Hydro Flask, 360 Degrees, Nalgene, HydraPak and Stanley will help you keep hydrated with their array of bottles. There is also an even larger footwear assortment, as aside from Merrell, Salomon, Palladium, Timberland, German brand Birkenstock and iconic Filipino brand Sandugo, brands like FitFlop, Native and Freewaters are also now available.

Outdoors by SM expands its merchandise options with swim and surf brands: Quicksilver, Roxy and Billabong. Other new brands include Kovea, Science in Sport, Ultimate Direction and photography brand DJI.

D2

Style

BusinessMirror

Monday, December 23, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

z

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Noel Wells, 33; Eddie Vedder, 55; Susan Lucci, 73; Harry Shearer, 76.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Evaluate your position, life and the direction you are headed. Consider your health and happiness, and how best to achieve your objective. A change is imminent, but don’t feel rushed or let anyone pressure you to move in one direction or another.

Strategize, and research the possibilities. Look at every angle, and make decisions that satisfy both your personal and professional desires. Your lucky numbers are 4, 16, 22, 27, 34, 42, 48.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Think your personal plan through to make it happen. Put any worries about work out of your head, and enjoy the spirit of the season. Take a break from the arduous climate at work, and concentrate on romance and plans. HHHHH

b ❶ ❶ THE Beyond

The Vines store in Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong

❷ REBECCA

TING and Daniel Chew, founders of Beyond The Vines

❸ IZA CALZADO

❷

❸

Stylish everyday clothing for modern women

By Pauline Joy M. Gutierrez

S

INGAPOREAN clothing brand Beyond The Vines was born out of an idea to make stylish quality garments accessible to everyone.

Its founders, couple Daniel Chew and Rebecca Ting, knew that this vision wouldn’t be easy to achieve at first, and in order for them to create a clothing line whose philosophy matches the image they portray as a brand, they have to do things the right way. “[Beyond The Vines] was very straightforward from the beginning. We wanted something that was more than just clothes on a rack; we’re a small contemporary design label that tries to be known for a customer-up and experience-first approach, paying particular attention to how our products feel on the body, and how each silhouette falls,” shared Ting.

Through this, as well as a little luck along the way,

what started off as an online-only store operated at the back of the small office of a family friend’s factory in Kaki Bukit became a lifestyle label with boutique outposts across Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and, only recently, the Philippines.

Drawing inspiration from minimalist lofts, the brand’s first store in the country offers a slowed-down experience in the center of an upscale mall in bustling Mandaluyong, allowing customers to discover what fits them perfectly and what clothes they feel most comfortable in. Carefully lined up in this tastefully curated space is the label’s latest collection, featuring their signature pant combinations, dresses in maxi silhouettes, and pleated midi skirts in neutral tones and relaxed structures. There’s also the limitededition pieces, which include Beyond The Vines’s debut unisex capsule collection—simple, unassuming, yet stylish and highly functional.

Its array of clothing can also fit every body type

and can be worn by all types of women, whether you’re a fan of quietly elegant ensembles with clean lines, you love wearing separates with bold contours and hues in different fabrics, or you prefer sharp shift dresses which don’t require too much thought.

“We have seven core values that we share with our team but the one that correlates best with [our sensibility is]: ‘Be ready for change, it will surprise you.’ It means being adaptable and resilient, but also, at the same time, just constantly having a clear purpose in what you’re doing,” shared Chew.

“This is because passion can only last you as long as you feel passionate about something, but with a clearer purpose, it could bring you to where you want to go. And so I think that this is the clear difference between passion and purpose,” he concluded. n Beyond The Vines can be found at the Shangri-La Plaza East Wing, Ortigas Center.

JAMES wears the Annex Trak V Mid Waterproof in Earth

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Spend more time trying to please the people you love or doing something you enjoy. Take responsibility for your happiness and your physical well-being. Romance is in the stars, and an exciting proposition is heading your way. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A change of plans will be in your favor. Use your imagination, and you will find a surprise offering for someone special. Someone you worked alongside years ago will make an offer or suggestion that will be difficult to turn down. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Share your feelings, not your anger. A show of affection coupled with intelligent conversation and suggestions will help you keep the peace. A physical change will have an influence on your professional future. HHHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Enforce the rules, regardless of what others do or say.

Take the high road, and do what feels right.

An opportunity will arise that will change your course of action. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Speak the truth, and stick to the facts. How you portray a situation will determine what others think of you.

Personal improvements can be made and should be what you focus on most today. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Be careful what you wish for. Be realistic, and stick to what’s possible. If you overdo it, you’ll have regrets. Much can be accomplished if you stay focused and are ready for action. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Take in life and what you have. Appreciation will be essential when dealing with friends and relatives. A personal change may not be welcome but, in the end, it will turn out to be advantageous. HHH

Outdoor style with James Reid LOOK around and you’ll notice the latest trends this season are shifting toward functional fashion, specifically outdoor fashion. High-cut leather hikers, waterproof and fleece layers, for example have been popping up in city streets on no less than style makers like rapper A$AP Rocky and model Bella Hadid. It has finally arrived in Manila in style with Merrell (www.merrell.com.ph), the original creator of highperformance hiking boots and outdoor gear.

Gorpcore, derived from “good old raisins and peanuts,” is the main mood for fashion that is now getting mainstream attention.

A fan to the functional fashion mantra is trail- and trend-blazer James Reid, who has always been open to incorporating new trends into his look. The trends seamlessly mesh into his own style, and this is what makes each new OOTD look like the latest in fashion and yet seem so timeless.

James’s top 3 picks of Merrell kicks consist of neutrals with a fun and functional side to fashion. His top picks include his first choice, the Annex Trak V, a multisport shoe with a Vibram sole. Second is the Zion Mid Waterproof in Toffee, which is built on a trail running platform for a sneaker fit, a hiker with a ballistic mesh and durable leather upper and Vibram Megagrip outsole for aggressive grip on every terrain. Lastly, there is the the Ontario—clean and nostalgic, this hiker features rich full-grain leathers and a sticky Vibram Megagrip outsole.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): If change is what you want, do something that will encourage you to spend more time with positive people and less with those who aren’t reliable.

You’ll be offered unfamiliar information about your background that will help you improve your lifestyle.

HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The best way to deal with difficult people is to listen, but also to be a straight shooter when asked your opinion.

Offer innovative solutions and hands-on help. Don’t overdo it or take a physical risk that can result in injury or insult. HHHH

EVER BILENA HOLDS YEAR-END THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION

EVER Bilena, the country’s leading cosmetics company, recently held a fun Thanksgiving celebration attended by media partners, valued patrons, beauty influencers and content creators. Guests had an exclusive firsthand experience of soon-to-be launched products from all EB brands for the coming year and had fun joining games with lots of prizes and giveaways.

Present during the event were Ever Bilena Brand Manager Elin Katipunan (from left), Careline Brand Manager Miya Inomata, Ever Bilena Marketing Manager Olive Padilla, grand winner William Aboy, Ever Bilena Sales and Marketing Director Denice Sy-Muñez, and host Jazper Tiongson.

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Refuse to let the mad rush going on around you cause you grief. Stay calm, avoid emotional anger and don’t take chances when it comes to health, money or surprises. Impulse is the enemy; coordination and organization are your allies. HH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Let your actions speak for you today. Words will lead to a misunderstanding or making a promise you won’t want to keep. A positive change to the way you earn your living or your reputation is within reach.

HHHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are unpredictable, intense and charismatic.

You are opportunistic and industrious.

‘the aughts’ BY ED SESSA The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Windy month 6 Parmigiana meat 10 Hand over, at dinner 14 A snooze button delays it 15 Othello’s nemesis 16 Squashed circle 17 Tevye portrayer, 1964 19 Change the style of 20 Former spouses, say 21 Org. supporting school activities 22 Waste metal 23 Hamstring strengtheners 27 App Store platform 30 ___ Constitution 31 Type of skirt or earring 32 Mario’s brother 34 “___-haw!”

35 Hip bones 39 Like some perfume ads 43 “Your attention, please” 44 Thumbs-up, to Sally Ride 45 Renter’s agreement 46 Lawman Wyatt 48 Happy baby sound

0 Use blades on blades?

5 51 Certain reusable flame source 56 Poker declaration 57 Handy excuse 58 Make more bearable 62 Mama’s mama 63 Polite response to a thank-you, or a comment about the start of 17-, 23-, 39- or 51-Across?

66 ___ from ear to ear 67 Smell awful 68 Wave catcher?

69 Brief moments 70 Chopping tools 71 Aids in crime DOWN 1 Course in a cornfield 2 Jeopardy! host Trebek 3 Like hens’ teeth, idiomatically 4 Irritable 5 What Rodin’s Thinker is thinking?

6 Panoramas 7 Grate on 8 93, for Queen Elizabeth II 9 “Ha-ha,” in a tweet

0 Creature with more than one spine 1 11 Declares to be true 12 Anwar in Egyptian history 13 Pours poorly 18 Numbered musical piece 22 Sign of a good turnout: Abbr.

24 Hang it up 25 Afterward 26 Prepared a bed?

27 Rick’s love in Casablanca 28 “That hurts!”

29 Address for a king 33 Coach’s strategies 34 Shaggy beast 36 Actor Hemsworth 37 “That being the case...”

38 Three or four, maybe 40 Yastrzemski in Cooperstown 41 Arizona native 42 Gin flavoring 47 ISP owned by Verizon 48 Big pieces 49 Italian for “eight” 51 Criticizes sharply 52 Words of empathy

3 It may precede a stampede 5 54 “Take a look” 55 Place to get clean 59 Congressional staffer 60 Bad mood 61 Divas have big ones 63 Tax-deferred investment, briefly 64 Apt nickname for a Dallas cowboy 65 Carol syllable Solution to Friday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, December 23, 2019

AUTHOR JK ROWLING DRAWS CRITICISM FOR TRANSGENDER COMMENTS

NEW YORK—JK Rowling is facing widespread criticism from the transgender community and other activists after tweeting support for a researcher who lost her job for stating that people cannot change their biological sex.

The researcher, Maya Forstater, had been a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, which in March declined to renew her contract. A London judge this week upheld her dismissal, finding that her views of sexual identity were “absolutist,” even if they violate someone’s “dignity and/ or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.”

On Thursday morning, Rowling tweeted a response that said: “Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.”

The Harry Potter author is, otherwise, known for her liberal political views and many on Twitter labeled her a TERF (Trans Exclusive Radical Feminist). Among those criticizing her was the Human Rights Campaign, which tweeted: “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary people are nonbinary. CC: JK Rowling.”

A spokesman for Rowling said that the author would not have any further comment. AP

Christmas wish list

I

T’S almost Christmas, and a few friends of ours have come together for our annual holiday afternoon tea. This year, each of us came up with our respective Christmas wish lists for anything, and everything, that falls under entertainment—film, television, theater, performance arts, festivals, even social media.

I’d like to share some of the more interesting wishes that came about on this festive get-together.

Read on.... n That awards during film festivals do not have to be distributed to as many winners as the jury members would want in order to make a lot of people happier. If only one or two films truly stood out, then let these get the lion’s share of the awards.

n That performance awards be based only on two salient points: merit of performance and level of difficulty of the role. The jury members shouldn’t care if the nominee has already won the previous year so they should give a chance to others, or if it’s the nominee’s last chance to bag an award because of old age. Worse, popularity and closeness of the nominee to any group giving the awards should never—repeat, never—be a criterion in the selection of winners. n That the advertising gurus realize that young love teams are not the perfect endorsers for all products related to instant coffee, and this crazy idea should be put to a stop. n That there is already a saturation of awardgiving organizations in the country, and many have even become an income-generating event for the organizers, if you get our drift. n That there are too many pageants that have mushroomed over the years—noble titles, universal ambassadors, Mrs. this and that, the list goes on. For heaven’s sake, please stop adding some more. n That TV networks realize the value of proper casting. Don’t they get tired of seeing the same faces playing the same roles, and being rotated in their different shows throughout the year? n That filmmakers, especially those who have

been recognized internationally, realize that there are a hundred and one other competent actors in the country, and they should not keep on using the same actors in all of their films all the time. n That line producers and directors of movies compensate our good actors and technical experts, fairly and properly. They convince financiers all over the world to pump in money, they collaborate with foreign partners, fly to foreign lands, beg for grants and when they get all that, they still pay these poor local actors and production expert peanuts. “Sila lang ang tunay na sumisikat at yumayaman!” blurted one of our colleagues. n That the producers, and networks, seriously allow all their workers to have enough sleep hours and eat their meals on time—meaning, enforce strict cut-off time for all production work, and not wait until another Eddie Garcia-type of tragedy happens. n That there are already too many vloggers out... there so if you don’t have what it takes, and you don’t have anything unique to offer and if you haven’t checked how you look on video, then please, please....

There are a lot more wishes mentioned over the course of the afternoon tea, but these are the more interesting ones.

Be kind. Be fair. Be happy. Be good. Merry Christmas. n

UK’s Prince Harry, Meghan, son Archie in Canada for holiday LONDON—Prince Harry’s office has confirmed that he and his family will be spending “private time” in Canada over the Christmas holidays.

Harry, his wife Meghan and their seven-month-old son Archie will miss Queen Elizabeth II’s traditional Christmas gathering at her Sandringham estate.

Palace officials Friday night confirmed Harry’s family is in Canada, but did not provide details.

Meghan lived in Canada for many years before she married Harry while she was filming the TV series Suits.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed the family with a tweet.

“Prince Harry, Meghan, and Archie, we’re all wishing you a quiet and blessed stay in Canada,” he said. “You’re among friends, and always welcome here.”

The couple is taking a break from royal duties. Harry has said that he and his brother Prince William are going in different directions at the moment.

He has also complained about intrusive press coverage of his young family. AP

‘MESSIAH’ LAUNCHES JANUARY 1 ON NETFLIX

WHEN CIA officer Eva Geller (Michelle Monaghan) uncovers information about a man (Mehdi Dehbi) gaining international attention through acts of public disruption, she begins an investigation into his origins.

As he continues to cultivate followers who allege he’s performing miracles, the global media become increasingly beguiled by this charismatic figure. Geller must race to unravel the mystery of whether he really is a divine entity, or a deceptive con artist capable of dismantling the world’s geopolitical order. As the story unfolds, multiple perspectives are interwoven, including that of an Israeli intelligence officer (Tomer Sisley), a Texas preacher (John Ortiz) and his daughter (Stefania LaVie Owen); a Palestinian refugee (Sayyid El Alami); and the journalist (Jane Adams) who covers the story. The series also stars Melinda Page Hamilton, Wil Traval, Fares Landoulsi, Dermot Mulroney and Beau Bridges.

Created by Michael Petroni (The Book Thief) and directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) and Kate Woods (Rectify), the Netflix original series Messiah is a provocative and suspenseful thriller that explores the power of influence and belief in the social-media age. The series debuts globally on Netflix on January 1, 2020.

ANAK ni Waray vs. Anak ni Biday

GABBY CONCEPCION and Marian Rivera-Dantes in First Yaya

DINGDONG DANTES and Jennylyn Mercado in Descendants of the Sun

GMA unveils powerhouse lineup of prime-time programs for 2020 THE new year is shaping up to be an exciting one for loyal viewers as GMA (www.gmanetwork.com) sets the bar higher with a powerhouse line-up of all-new prime-time offerings.

Kicking off 2020 is the TV adaptation of the hit 1984 movie Anak ni Waray vs. Anak ni Biday, starring Barbie Forteza, Kate Valdez, Snooky Serna and Dina Bonnevie.

Barbie and Kate portray best friends Ginalyn and Caitlyn, respectively, but unknown to them, their mothers— Amy (Snooky) and Sussie (Dina)—are mortal enemies who fell in love with the same man, Joaquin (Jay Manalo), who is also the father of both Ginalyn and Caitlyn.

Joining them are Teresa Loyzaga, Migo Adecer, Faith Da Silva, Benedict Cua and Celia Rodriguez. Max Collins and Lovi Poe make the project more exciting as the young Snooky Serna and young Dina Bonnevie, respectively. Anak ni Waray vs. Anak ni Biday is directed by Mark Sicat dela Cruz.

Meanwhile, viewers should also watch out for the premiere of the much-awaited series Love of My Life.

Topbilled by some of the network’s brightest stars (Carla Abellana, Mikael Daez and Rhian Ramos), it also stars Coney Reyes and Tom Rodriguez in a very special role, the

inspirational drama tells the tale of three intriguing women who will do anything and everything for the love of their lives.

Love of My Life is under the direction of Don Michael Perez.

The highly anticipated local adaptation of hit Korean series Descendants of the Sun also hits Philippine TV screens this 2020. Headlined by Dingdong Dantes and Jennylyn Mercado, DOTS tells the emotional love story of alpha team leader Captain Lucas Manalo, or Big Boss, and Dr. Maxine dela Cruz, a.k.a. Beauty.

Joining them are Rocco Nacino and Jasmine CurtisSmith. To rightfully represent the country’s military forces, GMA’s Entertainment Group inked a partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines for this very important flagship project.

Joining the cast is a highly talented ensemble composed of the soldiers team: Lucho Ayala, Jon Lucas, Paul Salas, Prince Clemente, Ricardo Cepeda and Antonio Aquitania; and the Doctors and Nurses Team: Andre Paras, Chariz Solomon, Nicole Donesa, Jenzel Angeles, Reese Tuazon and Renz Fernandez. The series also stars Neil Ryan Sese, Ian Ignacio, Rich Asuncion, Marina Benipayo, Hailey

Mendes and Roi Vinzon, plus a host of exciting artists in cameo roles. Director Dominic Zapata is at the helm of this ambitious project.

After many years, Bong Revilla Jr. makes his muchawaited comeback to GMA next year via the drama-fantasy program Agimat ng Agila. In this thrilling and action-packed weekly series, Bong will take viewers on vivid, and whimsical, adventures that will illuminate moral lessons and tackle societal issues.

Completing the stellar roster of prime-time offerings is the much-awaited prime-time comeback of Marian RiveraDantes and her team-up with Gabby Concepcion in First Yaya. In the series, Gabby plays the Vice President of the Philippines, who soon finds himself falling for the endearing yaya, brought to life by Marian. The romance is challenged by the PSG (Presidential Security Group) head, played by Pancho Magno. As early as now, netizens and fans are buzzing with excitement to witness the onscreen chemistry between two of the network’s prime stars. The light romantic-comedy series will showcase a heartwarming tale of love, and how it binds every family together.

D3

D4

Style

Monday, December 23, 2019

FOR a personalized Christmas gift, check out the Levi’s Tailor Shop at The SM Store in Makati.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Last-minute style and beauty gift shopping ideas

I

F you are in a panic over gifts you haven’t bought for people on your list, we have a few suggestions you might want to check out. You can get customized denim pieces from Levi’s Tailor Shop by personalizing your Trucker jacket with cool patches and pins, fabric applique and embroidery. This year, they are expanding their Levi’s Tailor Shop to include the first-ever Print Shop in the Philippines at The SM Store in Makati (second floor).

To create a personalized shirt, you simply need to purchase a white Levi’s crew neck shirt.

You can choose the placement of your design— either on the front center, front left chest, or front right chest. You can choose from a variety of designs and prints for the logo.

Customers are given a wide range of choices so you can guarantee that there is a design to match everyone’s taste and personality. So if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift, get something that is personalized and customizable with Levi’s.

There are collaborations with Star Wars, Hello Kitty, Stranger Things and Peanuts, so you can also choose from those if the recipient is into that. The shop is offering this one-of-a-kind service and customization for as low as P999.50.

That price would include the t-shirt and the printing services.

Express your love for family and friends by personalizing your holiday presents with Levi’s. I got two shirts, one for myself and

another for Juliana (a personalized Stars Wars with her name on it). They can also place the shirt in a gift box and all these can be done in minutes, excluding the time you spend paying for your purchases, of course. This is really a very practical gift. You can’t go wrong with Levi’s, really. I wish I had gotten more except that Makati is too far from me. One regret I have is not getting the Hello Kitty t-shirt. You can replace the Kitty with a friend’s name.

I really love the idea of personalized but usable gifts. After I posted my visit to Levi’s Print Shop on Instagram, I got a lot of questions from friends, all wanting to visit and shop for gifts. Check out www.levi.com.ph.

You also can’t go wrong with Tom Ford Beauty. I recently received a bottle of perfume and a lipstick from the brand, and realized the brand has combination gift suggestions. Tom Ford is one of my go-to brands for fragrances, my favorite scent being Noir de Noir.

For men, they suggest Oud Wood Shower Gel and Over All Body Spray (P8,340) and Neroli Portofino Shower Gel and Over All Body Spray (P8,340). Neroli Portofino is one of Tom Ford’s best-selling unisex scents.

I would love to get the Boys and Girls Lipstick Set of three small lipsticks (P5,880). Tom Ford’s Boys and Girls set is a good way of trying (and hoarding) lipsticks. They don’t take up too much space. Tom Ford has counters at Rustan’s Makati, Adora in Greenbelt, and SM Makati.

Other suggestions for last-minute gifts that recipients will love would be Starbucks mugs and bottles. Everybody is bringing these bottles around now and you can’t go wrong with these.

They even have Christmas-themed ones.

Another popular water bottle brand would be Hydro Flask. Everybody has a Hydro Flask. It’s a status symbol, kind of. A few years ago, it was Klean Kanteen. It’s now Hydro Flask.

Anyway, when in doubt, you can always give cash or gift cards. Those are always appreciated. n

COZY UP THIS CHRISTMAS KNITWEAR weather is here. As we celebrate this season of cheer, layer knitwear pieces—from sumptuously soft cashmere and timeless Fair Isle knit, to classic Christmas novelty jumpers and snuggly chunky knits. At Marks & Spencer, there is a style to suit every body shape, with flattering V-necks to classic crew necks and stylish roll-neck designs, and in an array of colors, patterns and textures, offering the perfect gift this Christmas season.

Across knitwear, we see warm berry burgundy hues, rich earthy tones, with pops of mauve and azure blue, offering a color for every personality and occasion. Prints and patterns are key, from the contemporary diamond argyle design, to bold colorblock stripes, on-trend animal prints, and tonal checks, providing endless styling options that will see you right through the season and beyond. The Fair Isle design is a timeless perennial winter favorite, with styles available for the whole family, and the perfect jumpers to wrap up in for festive celebrations.

Cozy fabrics are key, with ribbed knits, merino wool, chenille textures and Cashmilon that is designed with Marks & Spencer’s special Stay Soft technology that will keep knits softer for longer.

Whether you’re curling up on the sofa or celebrating from desk to bar, Marks & Spencer has you covered with all the knitwear this Christmas.

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, December 23, 2019

E1

Adopting artificial intelligence in health care will be difficult

Principles for Improving Health Care Around the World

By Roger Kuan

A

rtificial intelligence, i n c lu d i n g m a c h i ne learning, presents exciting opportunities to transform the health and life sciences spaces. However, open issues around regulation and clinical relevance remain. Here are key obstacles to consider and how to handle them:

Developing regulatory frameworks

Pakorn Kumruen | Dreamstime.com

Over the past few years, the US Food and Drug Administration has been taking incremental steps to update its regulatory framework to keep up with the rapidly advancing digital health market. In a statement from the FDA, Amy Abernethy, its principal deputy commissioner, explained that the agency plans to focus regulatory oversight on “higher-risk software functions,” such as those used for more serious or critical health circumstances.

G

By Dave A. Chokshi

rowing evidence demonstrates that social determinants of health, such as housing and education, are at least as important as medical services in generating health outcomes.

At NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public health-care system in the United States, I

have helped design a strategy around popu lation hea lt h, a more proactive approach to ad-

dressing avoidable human suffering. Four principles undergird the strategy: 1. Local health systems must identify the group of patients for whom t hey a re accountable. W h i le t h is at t r ibut ion of patients to clinicians—for instance through “accountable care organizations” in the US— may seem straightforward or mundane, it is fundamental to systems setting up care models that are not solely contingent on patient visits.

2. Effective health systems

Amazon’s Priorities, Based on Jeff Bezos’s Letters to Shareholders

W

By Tricia Gregg & Boris Groysberg

arren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders has been required reading for investors for decades. Now Jeff Bezos’s annual letter is gaining the same kind of currency.

To understand where Bezos is taking his famously secretive business, which has disrupted industry after industry, many analysts say there’s no better indicator.

We started with all of Amazon’s shareholder letters from 1997 to 2017 and used two tools, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and NVivo 12 Pro, to analyze the text. The output from these analyses tells us much about the CEO’s priorities for his company:

Amazon is customer-centric, but that’s not its only concern

Analysts frequently describe Amazon as one of the most customer-centric companies

they have encountered. But when we analyze the letters on a year-on-year basis, we see a less consistent picture. In 13 out of the 21 letters we analyzed, “customer” remained the most commonly used word, but customers were eclipsed by other concerns in other years. In 2006, the five most commonly used words were “ businesses,” “new,” “Amazon,” “grow” and “culture”—signaling a focus on expansion and growth. In 2010, the letters emphasized “data,” “Amazon,” “services,” “systems” and “technology”—possibly suggesting a focus on Amazon’s technology offerings and the underlying systems that run its platforms.

There may be an optimal level of customer-centricity

We noted that the number of references to customers was inconsistent throughout the years and has only recently stabilized. At its peak, Bezos spent almost 40 percent of his

© 2019 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. (Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate)

letter discussing customers, while in other years, he spent less 5 percent of the total text on them. Starting in 2013, Bezos has consistently devoted less than 15 percent of his letters to discussing customers.

Bezos is worried about bluecollar workers

We coded 48 separate references to “employees” altogether, the third-highest number of references after customers and retail.

It may be just as important to consider what’s not in the letters. For example, in his 2013 letter, Bezos wrote: “Failure comes part and parcel with invention. It’s not optional. We understand that and believe in failing early and iterating until we get it right.” Yet, none of Bezos’s letters directly addresses any of Amazon’s failures.

Tricia Gregg is a researcher at Harvard Business School, where Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration.

are increasingly grounded in high-quality community-based care. Of the 218 essential, costeffective inter ventions identified by the Disease Control Priorities Network, 140 are delivered through primar y-care ce nte r s or com mu n it y - a nd population-based approaches, rather than through hospitals.

3. Due in part to the evolution toward community-based care, health systems around the world are starting to “meet patients where they are,” both physically and in terms of their health trajectory. Technology—particular-

ly telehealth mechanisms, such as text messaging and phone or v ideo consultations—enables the delivery of care remotely.

4. A principle common to convergent health systems is the use of data to guide care delivery and drive improvement. Valid, actionable data is lifeblood for health systems to both motivate change at the front lines of care and to monitor overall performance.

Dave A. Chokshi is chief population health officer at NYC Health + Hospitals.

For Alibaba, ‘Singles’ Day’ is about more than sale

C

By Quy Huy

hristmas comes early in China. November 11, known as “Singles’ Day,” is the world’s biggest 24-hour shopping event. The day has come to represent a unifying cultural event of unabashed retail therapy, coupons, lightning promotions and gamified social-media campaigns from retailers across the country.

The statistics are staggering, both for the sheer volume of sales transacted in just one day and for year-over-year increases that, so far, defy the gradual slowdown in China’s overall economic growth.

Twenty-nineteen was no exception, with e-commerce giant Alibaba reporting sales activity totaling 268.4 billion yuan ($38.4 billion), surpassing last year’s haul of 213.5 billion yuan ($30.5 billion) by nearly 26 percent. As a comparison, that’s more than 2.5 times the US sales of last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

From the viewpoint of Alibaba and other online retailers in China, then, what is the advantage of Singles’ Day? Our Hangzhou trip provided a surprising answer. Nearly every employee we spoke to described the challenges of “Double 11” not as a necessary evil, but rather as the event’s primary added value. They spoke of Singles’ Day as a stress test that forces the entire organization past

its limitations, enabling it to accomplish and become what would be impossible, otherwise.

Representatives from the Chinese companies we talked to mentioned several specific business areas where Singles’ Day annually spurs ambitious next-level change.

First, product innovation. According to Chris Dong, global chief marketing officer of Alibaba, as of 2018, 1 million new products are launched on Double 11. The preeminence of Singles’ Day creates the ideal platform for companies to launch new offerings.

Another benefit is silo-busting. Silos are a universal problem for organizations; even though managers know it is important to work across teams and units, in the normal course of business they can get along without doing it. Double 11, however, requires all-hands-on-deck cooperation.

The cross-silo relationships and networks forged in the crucible of Double 11 are apt to deepen with time, if only for the sake of being prepared for the following year’s Singles’ Day. Finally, nothing brings people together like a dose of adversity, and the demanding regimen of Double 11 fosters greater team cohesion that lasts through the year.

Quy Huy is a professor at Insead.

Achieving fda approval

To account for the shifting FDA oversight and approval processes, software developers must carefully think through how to best design and roll out their product so it’s well positioned for approval, especially if the software falls under the agency’s higher-risk category. One factor that must be considered is the fact that AI-powered therapeutic or diagnostic tools, by nature, will continue to evolve.

Similarly, investors must also have a clear understanding of a company’s product development plans and intended approach for continual FDA approval as this can provide clear differentiation over other competitors in the same space.

AI is a black box

Besides current regulatory ambiguity, another key issue that poses challenges to the adoption of AI applications in the clinical setting is their black-box nature and the resulting trust issues. One challenge is tracking. To put it simply, can the root cause of the negative outcome be identified within the technology so that it can be prevented in the future?

Another challenge is that someone, either on purpose or by mistake, could feed incorrect data into the system, causing erroneous conclusions (e.g., misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment recommendations).

An even bigger challenge is that physicians are reluctant to trust (in part because of the malpractice-liability risk) and, therefore, adopt something they don’t fully understand.

Lower hurdles in life sciences

While AI’s application in the clinical care setting still faces many challenges, the barriers to adoption are lower for specific life sciences use cases. For instance, machine learning is an exceptional tool for matching patients to clinical trials for drug discovery and for identifying effective therapies.

Roger Kuan is a partner at the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery.

Education BusinessMirror

E2 Monday, December 23, 2019

Editor: Lyn Resurreccion

House to probe PHL’s low rank in Pisa

A

By Jovee Marie de la Cruz

@joveemarie

MEMBER of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture has filed a resolution to look into the poor educational performance of the Philippines.

Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. filed House Resolution 626 after the Philippines ranked the lowest in reading comprehension and second lowest in science and mathematics among 79 countries.

The test was held by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) among 600,000 15-year-old students in 79 countries through the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa).

“This should serve as a wake-up call and instill educational reforms in order to improve the quality of our education. Thus, we welcome the Department of Education [DepEd] when it joined the Pisa for the first time in 2018 as part of its reform plans on quality basic education,” Barzaga said.

Pisa compared the quality of ba-

sic education of the 79 member and partner countries of the OECD. According to the OECD web site, each “cycle” of the study explores a distinct domain such as Collaborative Problem Solving (Pisa 2015) and Global Competence.

Barzaga said a review of relevant existing laws must be conducted to improve the country’s ranking in the reading comprehension assessment.

According to Barzaga, in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), another international assessment test, in 2003, the last year the Philippines participated in the study, the country ranked only 34th out of 38 countries in high-school mathematics, and 43rd out of 46 countries in high-school science.

The lawmaker, citing a United Nations 2016 report, said the Phil-

ippines has the highest literacy rate at 97.95 percent among Southeast Asian countries, such as Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Singapore.

Also, citing a paper published and submitted to the International Workshop on Data Disaggregation for the Sustainable Development Goals by the Philippine Statistics

Authority, he said less than 40 percent passed the licensure exams in various fields; less than 50 percent of faculty members in higher-education institutions have at least a master’s degree; and only 13.3 percent have a PhD degree.

In the same paper, he said 25.6 percent in elementary schools and

33.2 percent in secondary schools have access to the Internet for teaching purposes.

“Worse, even in this digital age, there are still schools with no access to electricity, 88.7 percent in elementary schools and 93.1 percent in secondary schools. It was also stated that in 2017, there are

3.6 million out-of-school children and youth, where there are more female out-of-school children and youth than males. It was found that lack of personal interest is the main reason for not attending school, while marriage and family matters for females,” he added.

Barzaga said in Dasmariñas, Cavite, in a focus group discussion, where public-school teachers, head teachers, school heads and supervisors discussed the Pisa results, they observed that learners do not pay much attention in reading, attributing to too much exposure in social media and electronic gadgets.

He said public-school teachers, administrators and supervisors have multiple ancillary tasks that limits their time to prepare better lesson plans and instructional materials.

He added that classroom shortage results in the shifting of classes wherein the number of minutes per learning area is shortened by at least 10 minutes to 20 minutes.

Class size is also adjusted from the standard ratio of teachers to pupils of 1:35 for Grades 1 to 3 and 1:45 for Grades 4 to 12 that even go up to 1:60. “[There is also the problem of] lack of libraries and reading centers because funds are directed to the building of classrooms,” he added.

7 schools receive excellence in education awards

S

EPARATED by more than 600 kilometers of land and sea, Alabat Island National High School (AINHS) in Quezon province and Tisa II Elementary School (TIIES) in Cebu have very little things in common except for their visionary principals who believed the schools could do more.

Principal Gregorio Racelis of AINHS implemented a comprehensive values-based program that ultimately increased the National Achievement Test Mean Percentage Score by more than 20 percentage points over a span of six years.

Principal Maricon Gumba of TIIES rallied her master teachers to influence institutional change, fixing the physical deterioration of the school, revitalizing programs, such as Brigada Eskwela, and developing her own initiatives that led to academic transformation.

AINHS and TIIES are two of the seven schools across the Philippines that were recognized by Bayan Academy during the recent Sixth Excellence in Education Transformation Awards (EETA) at a hotel in Mandaluyong City.

The awards this year were selected based on exceptional innovation in the field of strategic human resource management.

The awardees are: n Alabat Island National High School, Alabat, Quezon (Most Transformative School for Learning Effectiveness and School Efficiency Award) n Tisa II Elementary School, Cebu City (Innovations in Learning Environment-Learning Spaces and Places and Innovations in Access to Education) n Palusapis Integrated School, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija (Innovations in Quality Education-Curriculum Design and Development and Learning Methodologies and Delivery Systems for Learning Effectiveness) n Babag National High School, Lapu-Lapu City (Innovations in Learning Environment-Child Safety, Security and Sensitivity) n Schools Division of Quezon, Quezon province (Innovations in Leadership, Governance and Management-Institutional Leadership and Direction Setting)

n Colegio de San Juan de Letran-Basic Education, Intramuros, Manila (Innovations in Quality Education-Learning Methodologies and Delivery Systems for Learning Effectiveness) n University of Santo Tomas Senior High School, Sampaloc, Manila (Innovations in Quality Education-Education for the 21st Century)

It starts with values

RACELIS faced a daunting task upon his assignment at AINHS. “We were confronted with high drop-out rate, low mean percentage scores in all areas, low stakeholder participation, and even the occurrence of teenage pregnancy,” he shared.

His predecessor already laid the foundations of transformation through physical developments, such as new buildings, enhanced security and a greener environment.

The transformation of the high school stresses the role of enlightened leadership backed up by a strong coalition of committed stakeholders and held together a common vision and a lofty set of values.

Racelis devoted his energy on values formation, which he sees as essential in changing people’s mindsets. He also engaged with the local government and the community to usher in change and laid out 12 strategies for the school.

Through guidance from a Christian group, Racelis developed the Kabutihan, Katatagan, Kasipagan, Disiplina, at Malasakit program that would be the bedrock values in the school.

His work would result in a substantial improvement in the National Achievement Test Mean Percentage Score from 58.73 in SY 20122013 to 80.77 in SY 2018-2019. Student drop out and occurrence of teenage pregnancy decreased as well, he said.

Alabat Mayor Fernando Mesa says, “We were inspired by Greg [Racelis] because we saw the veritable partnership between the government and school. The way forward is to cascade this program to kindergarten so that these values start from childhood, and they become part of the transformation.”

Engaging stakeholders

PRINCIPAL Gumba of Tisa also faced an alarming situation in Cebu.

“The school was in a bad shape. More than the physical deformities of the school, the difficulty there was how to convince people who already surrendered to the idea that they were already as they were.

“Driving people to act and driving people to believe that they have a role to play— and they will have an impact—is the challenge.”

The school, together with its principal, administration and teachers resolved to address the deplorable environment conditions of the school.

They nurtured a positive learning environment through cleaning up the clutter and the debris, putting order amid chaos and creating a beautiful and conducive learning environment with their stakeholders.

To address the situation, Gumba gathered the master teachers and developed a vision for the institution. By enhancing existing programs, designing new ones, and building teams to work on strategy and execution, she united internal and external stakeholders in the spirit of Bayanihan for the common cause of the school.

Dr. Eduardo Morato Jr., president of Bayan Academy, congratulated the award recipients for leading the charge of people transformation.

“We’ve always believed that you can never implement a cookie-cutter approach in school transformation. Each institution is unique, and our seven recipients have showed many original and innovative programs. However, we also know there are many inspiring lessons we can pick up from their experiences that other organizations and institutions can tailor-fit in effecting change in their communities.”

The 6th EETA case studies have been compiled into a book Excellence in Educational Transformation: Strategic Human Resource Management for School Transformation, Volume 6 by Dr. Eduardo A. Morato Jr.

BAYAN Academy Board of Trustees Susan Afan (from left), managing director of ABS-CBN Foundation; Don Timothy Buhain, CEO, REX Book Store Inc.; Atty. Dominador Buhain, chairman of REX Book Store Inc.; Greg Racelis, principal of Alabat AINHS; Neonita Mercado, head teacher II of AINHS; Mayor Fernando Luna Mesa of Alabat Island, Quezon; Evangeline Lumio Mesa of Alabat, Quezon; Greta Entoma, head teacher III from AINHS; and Liza Peralta, Bureau of Curriculum Development of Department of Education

PWU-JASMS TURNS OVER DONATION TO RED CROSS Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman and CEO of the Philippine Red Cross, warmly welcomed the officers of grade school and high-school student councils of the Philippine Women’s University-Jose Abad Santos Memorial School (PWUJASMS) on December 16. The schoolchildren turned over their donation amounting to P64,789 for the victims of the series of earthquakes that hit Mindanao last October. The PWU-JASMS schoolchildren were able to raise the money in just five days through the help of their fellow students, 3their families, school officials and staff.

EXCHANGE GIFTS A group of pupils of La Salette Elementary School in Santiago City, Isabela, look extremely delighted as they hold the gifts they received during their Christmas party. CEASAR M. PERANTE

Marketing BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Monday, December 23, 2019 E3

HOW CAN I PREPARE MYSELF TO FACE CHALLENGES? PR Matters

DANIELA SPYROPOULOU | DREAMSTIME.COM

FEODORA CHIOSEA | DREAMSTIME.COM

By Millie F. Dizon

Part Three

I

N our last two columns, we answered Jocelyn G.’s inquiry on how we could prepare ourselves to face day-to-day challenges as we go about our PR work.

We replied that to say that PR is challenging is an understatement, and every day brings about things that will surprise even the most seasoned practitioner. And we have to prepare for this.

We got a little help from an article, 10 Exercises That Will Help You Develop the Mental Strength You Need to Crush Your Goals in Inc.com, by Amy Morin for our response.

The first column listed and discussed the first five: n Reframe negative thoughts; n Create goals; n Set yourself up for success; n Do at least one difficult thing a day; and n Tolerate discomfort for a greater purpose.

Last week’s column rounded up the other five exercises that will

NEW BUSINESS: MALAYSIA DAIRY INDUSTRIES APPOINTS TGH COLLECTIVE AS ITS SOCIALMEDIA PARTNER FOR VITAGEN SINGAPORE—Malaysia Dairy Industries has awarded TGH Collective its social-media business for the less sugarcultured milk drink, Vitagen.

The appointment takes effect immediately in 2020.

TGH Collective, a creative boutique agency founded by ex-JWT CCO, Tay Guan Hin, was also responsible for an earlier initiative for Vitagen Less Sugar. The public awareness campaign encouraged Singaporeans to kick the highsugar habit with Vitagen’s formulation of eight times less white sugar than regular cultured milk drinks.

“We want to empower people to make the right choices for healthy living,” says Thio Hui See, head of

marketing, Malaysia Dairy Industries. “TGH Collective introduced an impactful ‘V for Vitagen, V for Victorious Lifestyle’ campaign. Moving into the new year, we are excited to work with them to strengthen our social presence.”

“Vitagen is a drink I grew up with, and I’m thrilled to work on this iconic brand,” explains Tay Guan Hin. “The aim is to take Vitagen to the next level through innovative and immersive social solutions.”

With data-driven marketing at its core, TGH Collective will be responsible for key aspects of Vitagen’s social presence. This announcement follows other new business wins, such as the launch of 128 Circle, Mediacorp’s inaugural multilingual drama, plus other regional and local projects.

BRAND & BUSINESS: SMART TEAMS UP WITH PHILIPPINE AIRLINES TO PROVIDE EXCLUSIVE TRAVEL SIMS TO INTERNATIONAL PASSENGERS MANILA, Philippines—PLDT wireless subsidiary Smart

help us get mentally fit: n Balance your emotions with logic; n Fulfill your purpose; n Look for explanations, not excuses; n Use the 10-minute rule; and n Prove yourself wrong.

But how can we make this part of our lives? We can learn from people who have become experts in avoiding negative states of mind which Christina DesMarais writes about in her Inc.com article, 8 Habits of Mentally Strong People.

DesMarais begins by asking us to “think of a time when you’ve felt frustrated, anxious, afraid, angry, or heartbroken,” which she describes as “not a place one wants to remain in because these feelings are uncomfortable.”

While she acknowledges that it’s not possible to avoid negative states of mind entirely, some people are better than others in coping with it. How to become mentally strong? Here are some habits of mentally strong people which we can adopt in our lives.

Communications Inc. (Smart) has forged a partnership with Philippine Airlines (PAL) to provide exclusive, co-branded tourist SIMs to travelers arriving at the country’s major airports.

Under the agreement, Smart will provide Smart PAL Travel SIMs to international passengers arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), Clark International Airport, Cebu International Airport, Caticlan Airport and Davao International Airport.

The all-in-one Smart PAL Travel SIM is preloaded with 1 GB of open-access data, unlimited texts, and unlimited calls to Smart, TNT and Sun subscribers, valid for one day.

In-flight vouchers for the Smart PAL Travel SIM will be distributed to travelers, who can then claim them for free at the Smart booths located at the airport arrival area.

‘Grand OFW Salubong’

THE partnership was announced during PAL’s annual Grand OFW Salubong’ held at the Naia Terminal 1, where OFWs from Riyadh and Doha were greeted

1They don’t ruminate.

Ruminating means “revisiting something that bothers you, thinking about it over and over again.” This could be about a flawed business decision, not giving enough time for your family, or simply ignoring a lost opportunity.

Mentally strong people don’t dwell on the past, says DesMarais. Instead, “they go to the source, fix the problem if possible and then stop stewing about it.” They know that “continually rehashing any situation is a waste of time.”

2

They give strangers the benefit of the doubt.

Mentally strong people don’t let themselves get annoyed by the imperfections of others.

Everywhere we go, we’ll encounter people who do things you wouldn’t—driving badly, speaking badly or simply behaving badly.

DesMarais says, however, that “there’s always a back story you’re not privy to. Maybe the guy who cut you off in traffic is trying to get to the hospital where a loved one is sick, giving birth or about to die.”

with an exclusive mini-concert

by Regine Velasquez upon homecoming. Smart and PAL also distributed premium items and loot bags during the event.

Smart, Sun and TNT subscribers can also look forward to exclusive seat sales and other promos, as well as free access to PAL’s hotline, web site and app.

“We are happy to work with the country’s flag carrier in ensuring that our international visitors have access to the Philippines’s fastest network, while they are traveling around the country,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT chairman and CEO. “Philippine Airlines is delighted to forge a program partnership with Smart Communications Inc. as it enables our travelers to experience the benefits of a local SIM card—convenient connectivity and saving on hefty roaming charges. We look forward to sustaining this worthwhile collaboration,” said PAL President and COO Gilbert Santa Maria.

“With this agreement, our friends from other countries who are visiting our islands can

We are all imperfect and have our own backstories. Let’s be more understanding and openminded with others.”

practice and hone their 3They discipline.

Lack of discipline can often lead to weakness.

“The temptation to indulge in the wrong things or not to do the right thing is common to all humankind,” says DesMarais.

“Whether it’s fasting, exercising, or avoiding certain situations, mentally strong people understand that nearly every battle is won in the mind.”

choose their friends 4They carefully.

It’s best to avoid drama-makers or negativitybroadcasters, who DesMarais describes as “kryptonite for anyone who want to be solid minded.” She adds that “mentally strong people know that these energy vampires ruin a person’s sense of peace.”

5They practice generosity.

Mentally strong people “don’t worry about not having enough for themselves,” she says. “They trust themselves to know that their future is secure.” And may we add, they trust in God and are big-hearted. “Miserliness grows out of fear,” DesMarais observes.

good at empathiz6They’re ing.

Mentally strong people can see “that the individual who drones with lengthy stories is really looking for others to validate their worth, “says DesMarais. “Or they can discern when

share their travel experiences, while on the go, using the Smart PAL Travel SIM on the Smart LTE network that we have put in place across the country,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio; PLDT chief revenue officer and Smart president and CEO. PLDT-Smart Executives SVP for Consumer BusinessIndividual Group Oscar Enrico A. Reyes Jr., Head of Key Accounts Precy Katigbak, and VP and Head of Smart Prepaid Marketing Gerard Milan attended the event.

In addition to Santa Maria, also at the event were PAL Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer Eugene Go and PAL AVP for Ancillary Business Programs Alfred Montemayor.

Also present were Naia Terminal 1 Manager Irene P. Montalbo, PHAR CEO Marcus Wright and PHAR Managing Director for Asia Prem Bahtia.

More than 6 million foreign tourists visited the country in the first nine months of the year, up by 17 percent compared to the previous year, according to latest statistics from the Department of Tourism.

someone isn’t great at dealing with emotions and adjust their own responses accordingly.” In short, they’re experts at emotional intelligence “and good in figuring out why people behave a certain way.”

They take care of their 7bodies.

Good physical health is the gateway to mental strength. “How you feel physically affects how you feel emotionally, says DesMarais. “Mentally strong people have a habit of daily exercise, are not prone to overindulgence, and are disciplined regarding what kinds of things they put into their mouth.”

8They don’t hold grudges.

The hurts and grievances bitter people can’t let go of “are like a disease that hinders the ability to be happy, productive, confident, and fearless,” says DesMarais. “Mentally strong people understand that with forgiveness comes freedom.”

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie F. Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.

We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.

Fastest network in PHL

AS of September 2019, Smart has already deployed around 21,700 LTE base stations across the country to improve mobile service quality and coverage nationwide. PLDT, on the other hand, has also expanded its fiber footprint to around 307,000 kilometers. PLDT’s fiber infrastructure, the most expansive in the Philippines, also supports Smart’s mobile network.

As a result of these continuing upgrades, Smart has been recognized by thirdparty mobile analytics firm Opensignal for delivering the country’s best video experience, download speed experience, upload speed experience and latency experience. PLDT and Smart have also been recognized as the fastest fixed and mobile networks in the Philippines by Ookla, the global leader in Internet testing and analysis.

The sustained improvement of the PLDT-Smart network has been supported by a steppedup capital expenditures program estimated at P78.4 billion in 2019.

ExecutiveViews BusinessMirror

E4

Monday, December 23, 2019 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

SM HOTELS AND CONVENTIONS CORP’S (SMHCC)

BASTION OF SUCCESS AND LEADERSHIP T

HE strength of SMHCC as a company not only lies in having a competent workforce, established processes, and a clearly defined mission statement. It also rests in having a woman leader with an empathetic approach, inspiring the rest of the team to be better than their best. Such is SMHCC’s President Elizabeth T. Sy. Positioned at the helm of the company, Ms. Sy lends a listening ear, an open mind, and an understanding perspective. Her leadership style is ultimately focused on others. It is about guiding them in a direction that will allow them to find their purpose and ‘reason

for being’ in the workplace. Her intent is to unite and not divide, to find remedies and not faults, and more importantly, to influence one another positively.

Without a doubt, employees will be empowered and produce optimistic results through a positive and encouraging kind of leadership. It is therefore not a surprise for Ms. Sy to be the recipient of this year’s Skal International Tourism Personality Award for the Hotel Category. Skal is a professional organization composed of tourism leaders around the world whose aim is to promote global tourism and camaraderie. The awards are given

to individuals who unselfishly offer their services to further promote and develop the tourism industry.

ETS, as everyone in SMHCC regards her, is a visionary, an active Board of Trustee of the World Wildlife Fund, the designated Honorary Consul General of Iceland in the Philippines, and the pillar behind SMHCC’s robust growth.

She has been a catalyst in shaping the future of the tourism and hospitality business of the SM Group, one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates with a market value of over US$ 20 billion.

She is the driving force that catapulted the development and operations of

the hotel and convention centers of the SM Group, which has spurred a massive growth from two hotels and one convention center in 2008 to eight hotels and five convention centers today.

The SMHCC portfolio of hotels includes Conrad Manila, Radisson Blu Cebu, Taal Vista Hotel, Pico Sands Hotel, Park Inn

by Radisson Hotels in Davao, Clark, Iloilo and North Edsa; and the Convention Centers in Manila, Davao, Taguig, Bacolod and Olongapo. Under Ms. Elizabeth T. Sy’s leadership, this encouraging growth has further propelled SM Hotels and Convention Corp’s goal to double its portfolio throughout the country within

the next five years.

A solid future lies ahead for SMHCC as it continues to expand its brand footprint across the Philippine archipelago. With an ardent leader flaming with passion, SMHCC is working their way towards their vision to build and operate hotels and convention centers that take pride in Filipino warmth and hospitality. They are poised to be a brand powerhouse and stronghold that seeks to create an indelible mark in the country’s tourism industry guided by its mission to be the leading hotel and convention company in the Philippines.