BusinessMirror January 01, 2020

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Wednesday, January 1, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 83

Govt rushing ₧59-B MRT 4 after ICC okay

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

HE P59.3-billion Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 4, which will link the eastern parts of Metro Manila and Rizal, is expected to start operations in 2025.

This time line was released after the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Investment Coordination CommitteeCabinet Committee (ICC-CabCom) approved the project on December

20, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Tuesday.

The 15.56-kilometer MRT 4 will run from Cainta in Rizal all the way to Mandaluyong City. It will pass through Taytay, Pasig City,

Quezon City, San Juan City and Ortigas Center.

It will serve 11 stations, and will have a daily ridership of about 235,000 passengers.

The construction of the line will

P25.00 nationwide | 3 sections 16 pages |

BSP APPROVES RULES ON ISLAMIC BANKING

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By Bianca Cuaresma

be funded by an official development assistance (ODA) package from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“Considering how densely populated these areas are, which is made more difficult with the lack of road capacities and ever worsening traffic conditions, MRT 4 will be of great

NTRODUCTORY regulations for the establishment of the Philippines’s Islamic banking sector has been approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) over the weekend, the country’s central monetary authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The BSP aims to create an enabling environment that will allow Islamic banks to operate alongside the conventional banks under the same regulatory and supervisory approach, taking into consideration the unique features of the Islamic banking operations,” the BSP said in a statement.

This is in action to the implementation of Republic Act 11439, or An Act Providing for the Regulation and Organization of Islamic Banks, and the relevant provisions on Islamic banking under RA 11054, otherwise known as the Organic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

RA 11439, signed into law on August 22, 2019, and became effective on September 15, 2019, provides the BSP with the legal authority to issue a broader set of rules and regulations on Islamic banking.

To date, Al Amanah lslamic Investment Bank of the Philippines is the lone established Islamic bank in the country.

The introductory regulations will implement legal provisions on the establishment of other Islamic banking players, either fullfledged Islamic banks or Islamic banking windows, to operate in the Philippines.

See “MRT 4,” A2

See “BSP,” A2

“After passing the ICC-CabCom, we’ll be able to release the projects by early next year, allowing us time within the Duterte administration to significantly complete these game-changing projects.”—Villar

Next, after Golden Rice: Pass biotech law–solon

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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@joveemarie

HE chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs on Monday renewed the call for the immediate passage of House Bill 3372 or the Modern Biotechnology Act, as she lauded the approval of a biosafety permit for Golden Rice.

Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin of Aambis-OWA said biotechnology will increase yields and better products, leading to more income for farmers.

Garin said her House Bill 3372 aims to eliminate the regulatory complications hampering the commercial release of biotechnology products like Golden Rice, mitigate the effects of climate change, promote competitiveness and combat poverty.

Garin made the statement following the approval of the biosafety permit for GR2E Golden Rice, which is seen to address the serious case of vitamin A deficiency (VAD) or “hidden hunger” among children and pregnant women.

The bill is pending with the Committee on Science and Technology since August 8, 2019.

Golden Rice is a genetically engineered rice variety that is rich in beta-carotene. Proponents of Golden Rice say it will help address chronic malnutrition, particularly in vitamin A, which causes blindness among pregnant women

PESO exchange rates n

House tracks anti-red tape, new econ laws

This is a victory for science, agriculture, and all Filipinos.

It is time that safe and responsible use of biotechnology be included in the Philippine toolkit to meet national development goals.”

and children.

Last December 10, the Philippine government approved the biosafety permit of GR2E FFP use after it concluded that the GM crop, which seeks to reduce VAD, is as “safe” for human consumption as the conventional staple.

In a 22-page consolidated report, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) said the Department of HealthBiosafety Committee (DOH-BC) concluded that GR2E “will not cause significant adverse health effects to human and animal health.”

Greenpeace: Revoke permit

However, environmental group Greenpeace urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to revoke the biosafety permit of the genetically modified crop.

See “Biotech law,” A2

@BcuaresmaBM

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service charge.”

The IRR of the SCL took effect on December 11, or 15 days after it was published.

Bello issued the clarification amid reports from labor groups that some hotels and restaurants which are covered by the SCL have removed their service charges since it no longer benefited them.

HE House of Representatives has served notice it will keep track of the implementation of economic laws that it passed in 2019.

Iligan City Rep. Frederick W. Siao, chairman of the House committee on civil service and professional regulation, said the lower chamber will monitor the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) or the Anti-Red Tape Law. “We must have in 2020 some major cities and towns online and fully functional as part of the one-stop shop system and database. Initial implementation must be rolled out well and fast,” he said.

For his part, Deputy Speaker Michael Romero said the House will also monitor how the Executive branch will roll out specific components of the Ease of Doing Business Act “because these will create more companies and more jobs.”

Romero said key components of the EODB law should be up and running within 2020, especially the Philippine Business Portal for online, one form, one number, end-to-end mobile registration, as well as the Online Corporate Registration System, Unified Employee Reporting System for Social Security Agencies, Property Registration Portal and Modern Collateral Registry.

See “Service charge,” A2

See “Econ laws,” A2

MAY THE FRUITS BE WITH YOU Assorted round fruits are sold at the San Andres market in Manila on Tuesday, just hours to the New Year countdown. Serving “lucky” fruits during the New Year’s Eve dinner is a Filipino tradition. Round fruits symbolize coins, believed to bring wealth. ROY DOMINGO

Service charge law may also benefit contractuals

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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@sam_medenilla

ONTR ACTUA L workers from qualified establishments could also benefit from the implementation of Republic Act 11360 or the Service Charge Law (SCL), according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Last Thursday, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III issued Labor Advisory 14, Series of 2019, stating all employees, including contractor’s employees, who are already receiving service charge prior to or at the time of the effectivity of implementing rules and regulation (IRR) of SCL, “should continue to be entitled to the distribution of collected

US 50.7440 n japan 0.4629 n UK 65.9926 n HK 6.5162 n CHINA 7.2512 n singapore 37.4909 n australia 35.2569 n EU 56.3512 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.5238

Source: BSP (27 December 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, January 1, 2020

PHL on brink of deployment ban to Kuwait as maid dies

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By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

HE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said it is closely monitoring the investigation in the death of another Filipino household service worker (HSW) in Kuwait, as labor revived calls for a partial deployment ban on the tiny oilrich kingdom.

In a statement, DOLE identified the victim as Jeanelyn Padernal Villavende, who was allegedly killed by her Kuwaiti employer.

“The department looks forward to the swift resolution of the case and [hopes] that justice will be served to Villavende and her family,” DOLE said.

It said the incident was “a clear violation of the agreement signed by both Kuwait and the Philippines in 2018, that seeks to uphold and promote the protection of the rights and welfare of our workers in the Gulf state.”

In 2018, DOLE temporarily stopped the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) bound for Kuwait, after the death of HSW Joanna Demafelis, whose remains

were found stuffed in a freezer at her Lebanese employer’s house in Kuwait. The deployment ban was only lifted after the Philippine-Kuwait memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed later that year.

Pending deployment ban?

On Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued a statement of condemnation on the incident. It summoned the Kuwaiti ambassador to protest “the seeming lack of protection” of OFWs in Kuwait, despite the signed MOU. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) also expressed its frustration over the MOU, which it said is “not working.”

T UCP P resident R ay mond Mendoza urged authorities to im-

pose a partial deployment ban to Kuwait.

“The Philippine government has no other choice but to send a strong reaction like it did last year in the wake of gruesome deaths of Filipino workers there by suspending immediately the deployment of Filipino household service workers and organize their voluntary repatriation of workers from Kuwait,” Mendoza said in a statement.

“The Philippine government must compel the Kuwaiti government to immediately bring the perpetrators to justice, and make them accountable for the death of our OFW,” he added.

Villavende was the second HSW reported to have been killed by her employer after Demafelis.

Last May, Constancia Lago Dayag was also said to have been murdered by her employer, which prompted DOLE to issue a statement that it is considering reimposing the deployment ban for Kuwait.

However, it deferred deciding on the matter until the completion of the investigation on Dayag’s case.

The BusinessMirror tried to get the side of officials from DOLE and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as to whether a deployment ban will finally be issued in Kuwait following Villavende’s death.

Biotech law. . .

MRT 4. . .

Greenpeace said the approval of GR2E’s biosafety permit is “unwarranted,” due to “incomplete” data submitted by proponents. The group also said there was a lack of transparency and adequate public participation in the approval process.

The group also said the process must not discount potential threats, and should not be biased toward approval at the expense of safety considerations.

help in moving commuters between eastern Metro Manila and Rizal,” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said.

Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar, who chairs the Cabinet Infastructure Cluster said, meanwhile, the approval is a reflection of the magnitude of the project’s impact.

“After passing the ICC-CabCom, we’ll be able to release the projects by early next year, allowing us time within the Duterte administration to significantly complete these game-changing projects. It’s crucial that we start these projects—we’ll be working on the procurement, that’s why we fast-tracked all these projects before the end of the year so that next year, we can focus purely on the detailed engineering and procurement of these big-ticket projects,” Villar said.

Continued from A1

‘Victory for science, agriculture’

Garin pointed out, meanwhile, that the significant contribution of biotechnology to agricultural development will help make bioengineered products more accessible to all Filipinos.

“We are trying to dispel the notion that commercially produced biofortified goods are potentially dangerous.

This is a victory for science, agriculture, and all Filipinos. It is time that safe and responsible use of biotechnology be included in the Philippine toolkit to meet national development goals,” she added.

According to Garin, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) recognizes agricultural biotechnology as a priority sector with a direct impact on AmBisyon Natin 2040.

She cited 2015 statistics showing that the average poverty incidence in the Philippines is about 21.6 percent, and is highest among farmers at 34.4 percent.

Under the Garin bill, the Biotechnology Authority of the Philippines shall be established as a policy-making body and an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); responsible for reviewing, improving and implementing biosafety regulations for products of modern biotechnology. Further, BioAP shall ensure that the biosafety regulations are science-based and simplified with a product-based and not a process-based approach.

To promote the responsible use of biotechnology, the bill also proposes the penalization of unauthorized destruction of biotech crops, sale or distribution of fake Genetically Modified Organism seeds. A fine of P500,000 and/ or imprisonment for two years shall be imposed on individual violators. If the violation is made by an organization or an institution, a fine of P10 million and/or suspension of the privilege to operate within the Philippines shall be imposed.

Continued from A8

elimination of backlog in the SC and in the other courts.

He said this would entail requiring clerks of court to conduct a periodic inventory of all pending cases in a division and consulting the en banc in solving the backlogs; and the automation of court processes and the incorporation of technology in trials and hearings.

Grab. . .

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ensure fair and healthy market competition.

T he sen ator pressed for stiffer sanctions on learning that the Commission had previously penalized the Transport Network Co. (TNC) four times for breaching price and service quality promises in a span of more than a year, which Gatchalian found to be “very unacceptable.”

Gatc ha l i a n reca l led t hat soon after Grab acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia operations last year, PCC regulators already fined Grab PH for violating key provisions of the Interim Mea-

Singapore crash victims

In a related development, DOLE said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) is now facilitating the repatriation of the remains of two OFWs who died when a rampaging car hit several bystanders in Singapore last Sunday.

“The Philippine Overseas Labor Office is closely coordinating with the employer and next of kin of the two victims on the repatriation of their remains to the Philippines,” DOLE said.

It said Polo will also help the four other OFWs who were injured when the black sedan, driven by a 64-year-old man, jumped the curb and plowed into a ramp outside Lucky Plaza, the favorite gathering place of Filipinos on Sundays.

Aside from Polo’s intervention, DOLE said the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) will also provide additional aid to the six OFWs and their families.

“Owwa will provide burial assistance to the deceased OFWs, as well as livelihood assistance and scholarship grants to their family members. Meanwhile, the families of the injured OFWs will also receive livelihood and scholarship assistance from Owwa,” DOLE said.

Service charge. . .

Continued from A1

CJ Peralta. . .

However, as of Tuesday afternoon, they had yet to respond on the matter.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘Sue ABS-CBN over your grievance, but stop threatening it’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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@joveemarie

RESIDENT Duterte should stop threatening press freedom by constantly harassing the Lopez-led ABS-CBN, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said if the President really has a grievance against the network, then he should file a case against ABS-CBN. “[He should file a case], rather than trample on press freedom and the jobs of at least 7,000 employees,” he said.

Gaite took issue with Duterte’s statement on Monday that the Lopez family should just sell the network instead of seeking to have its franchise renewed, as it expires on March 20. This remark, said Gaite, only spawns speculation “that another close friend of the President is interested in the company as what is happening with the water concessionaires.”

He was referring to speculation that Duterte may be coming down hard on private water concessionaires Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. in order to void their concession agreements with government and allow the entry of his business friends. Among those earlier tagged in reports as possibly interested to take over are the politically connected Villars,

who have described the insinuations as unfair.

Challenge

Meanwhile, Gaite challenged the House of Representatives to at least hold one hearing on the franchise of ABS-CBN this January and give the TV network a fair shake.

“If not, then the separation of powers of the Executive and the Legislative would be further exposed as a sham. Congress would, again, be branded as a rubber stamp of Malacañang,” said the solon.

“Journalists, both in and out, of the country, and all those who stand for the truth must band together and stop this attack on press freedom; if not, tyranny and ‘fake news’ would prevail,” he added.

Several bills pending before the House Committee on Legislative Franchise are seeking the renewal of the local media giant’s congressional franchise.

Earlier, Duterte said he will make sure that ABS-CBN will be out of business next year.

However, House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano gave assurances that the House will be fair in tackling the bill seeking the franchise renewal bills.

According to Cayetano, there would be enough time in January or February to hold hearings.

Cayetano said the renewal of the ABS-CBN will depend on the outcome of the hearings.

Continued from A1

“Republic Act 11360 and its implementing rules and regulations shall not be construed to diminish existing benefits under existing laws, company policies and collective bargaining agreement,” Bello said.

Prior to the passage of the SCL, firms with service charge used to set aside 15 percent of their service charges for possible breakage of company property by their employees. Only 85 percent were left for distribution to their workers.

The provisions of the SCL made it mandatory for all hotels, restaurants and other similar establishments to distribute 100 percent of their collected service fees to their workers, except for those with managerial positions.

Bello reiterated that companies which removed their service charges in an attempt to circumvent the provisions of RA 11360 may be considered to have practices a diminution of benefits.

“Regional directors and labor arbiters shall ensure the proper distribution of collected service charges to employees,” Bello said. Companies which will be reported to have violated the non-diminution rule, will be made to pay the necessary compensation to workers through a compliance order, the DOLE chief said.

Likewise, Peralta said he intends to strengthen the Office of the Court Administrator in order to efficiently attend to the concerns of lower courts.

His other plans include the setting up of a judicial integrity board, a 24/7 help desk in the Office of the Chief Justice and other offices for court users, improvements in the security of justice, judges and halls of justice, as well as in the procurement and bidding processes to fast-track implementation

of projects. Finally, the creation of a Strategy Planning Management Unit for monitoring and evaluation of projects is also eyed.

In order to eliminate the socalled hoodlums in robes, Peralta said he plans to adopt a system where the court may initiate investigation of cases being handled by members of the Judiciary, even if there is no complaint.

Peralta was appointed on October 23, and will retire on March 27, 2022.

sures Order (IMO) during the merger review period of the antitrust authority.

Moreover, he noted that Grab was penalized last October 2018 for failing to maintain pre merger conditions, such as pricing policies, rider incentives and service quality.

He cited PCC data showing that regulators slapped a P6.5million fine against Grab PH in January 2019 after it submitted “deficient, inconsistent and incorrect data for the monitoring of its compliance with its voluntary commitments.”

Data gathered by Gatchalian’s office also showed that last November 14, the State regulators ordered Grab to refund P5.05 million in fares due to “overcharging”

from customers who booked their services between February and May 2019 with the PCC giving Grab a 60-day deadline to refund its customers.

Gatchalian griped that despite the imposition of previous penalties for violations, infractions are still repeated. “How many times has PCC deter mined v iolations were made and called out Grab for abuses against commuters?

It’s remarkable that they have been fined repeatedly in one year,” the senator said, mostly in Filipino.

He surmised that this could be due to the fact that Grab has its grip on over 90 percent of the ride-hailing customers. Lorenz S. Marasigan and Butch Fernandez

Econ laws. . .

Continued from A1

President Duterte signed into law the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act (Republic Act 11032) last May 28, a law that is expected to reduce the processing time for permits, transactions and applications.

Revised Corporation Code

Meanwhile, Romero said Congress will also monitor the implementation of the Revised Corporation Code.

“We will keep close watch to make sure the Revised Corporation Code, as well the new Anti-Red Tape law, are implemented fast and well by all the agencies involved,” he said.

In February, Duterte signed into law a landmark measure updating the decades-old Corporation Code, in a bid to strengthen and simplify corporate governance standards for a more business-friendly environment.

The new Corporation Code will improve ease of doing business in the country by allowing a oneperson corporation, removing the minimum capital requirement and providing for a perpetual existence of corporation.

According to Romero, the Congress will also pass more laws to improve the business climate throughout the country.

“The whole economy will keep on running well at a sustained economic growth rate above 6 percent, onward to even 6.5 percent by this time next year and sustainable above 6.5 percent in 2021,” the

BSP. . .

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“Subject to the approval of the Monetary Board, conventional banks, whether domestic or foreign banks, will be allowed to open a Islamic banking unit or to establish a subsidiary Islamic bank,” the BSP said.

Legal provisions to Shari’ah compliance will also be implemented under the introductory regulations.

deputy speaker said.

Oversight

Romero said the congressional oversight functions should be implemented to ensure the proper implementation of the laws.

“We, in Congress, will also exercise our oversight functions to make sure laws we have passed will be executed as approved or even better,” Romero said.

Also, Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said the House of Representatives will exercise its oversight function to ensure that these reforms laws, including Ease of Doing Business law, are being implemented faithfully.

“We, in Congress, also remain committed to the approval of other pending measures required to improve our credit ratings. With these reforms, we trust that our march to progress will be steady and swift,” he said.

Romualdez said the Philippines’s great leap in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business survey is a big boost to the country’s quest for more foreign and domestic investments.

“This [recent improvement of the Philippines in the annual World Bank Ease of Doing Business report] signifies the business community’s confidence in the structural reforms being implemented by the Duterte administration to propel our economy to greater heights,” he said.

“The improvement in our worldwide ranking will definitely lead to more investments, which translate to more jobs for our people. Hopefully, these jobs will not benefit only the urban areas, but also the rural communities in far-flung villages,” he added. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz “The Islamic bank shall constitute its Shari’ah Advisory Council, composed of persons who are qualified, and have knowledge or experience, in Shari’ah and in banking, finance, law or such other related disciplines,” the BSP said. Islamic finance pertains to banking and economics that are compliant with the Islamic law of the so-called Shari’ah. One of the most salient features of the Shari’ah-compliant financial assets are the non-issuance of interest rates to borrowers.

The Nation BusinessMirror

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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, January 1, 2020 A3

Año says he’s ready to follow Duterte’s order to lead PNP I

NTERIOR Secretary Eduardo M. Año on Tuesday said he is ready to comply with President Duterte’s order to supervise the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“The President is still searching for a permanent Chief PNP and my job is to supervise the organization on his behalf as his alter ego, being the DILG Secretary and Chairman of National Police Commission(Napolcom). I will do my job until the President chooses the next Chief PNP,” Año said in a statement sent to reporters.

“I believe he has choices in his mind but he is closely watching the performance and conviction of these

candidates particularly on the fight against illegal drugs and professionalizing the PNP ranks,” he stressed.

The PNP is currently headed by Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa as officer in charge.

PNP Spokesman Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac said Gamboa fully respects and supports the decision of the President designating Año to lead and take over the administration, and control the PNP for the meantime.

“As Napolcom chairman, Secretary Año is in the top hierarchy of the PNP chain of command and is in the best position to cascade the strategic direction of the com-

mander in chief upon the PNP. We will now await further guidance and instructions from Secretary Año, and we will give him our full support,” Banac told reporters when sought for a comment.

Duterte admitted he is still having trouble deciding on who to appoint as next PNP chief lamenting that the police force in Manila remained problematic.

He also warned police and local politicians involved in the illegal drug trade and corruption from facing the worst type of punishment if caught.

“Pagka pumasok kayo sa droga [If you enter the illegal-drug trade],

there is no other way to deal with you except to kill you,” Duterte said.

Gamboa had been temporarily leading the PNP since former PNP Chief Gen. Oscar D. Albayalde retired last month, amid allegations of his involvement in the alleged recycling and pilferage of seized illegal drugs by former Pampanga policemen.

On Monday, Duterte said he had told the secretary to take hold and lead the PNP in the meantime, given that the 195,000 strong organization still has no permanent chief.

However, he did not say if he would appoint a successor of Albayalde who would lead the PNP in an

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By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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YEAR OF THE RAT

Some stores along Ongpin Street in Santa Cruz, Manila, put on display lucky charms, particularly mouse figurines in different sizes, ready to welcome 2020 which is Year of the Rat in Chinese zodiac. In Chinese culture, rat, as the first of all zodiac animals, is a sign of wealth and surplus. People born under this sign are believed to be very industrious and thrifty, diligent and positive. PNA/AVITO C. DALAN

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S part of her commitment to make Quezon City safer, Mayor Joy Belmonte recently partnered with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for the installation of 1,500 high-definition CCTV cameras in major thoroughfares and areas.

The partnership is an initiative under the DILG’s Safe Philippines project launched in November, by the DILG. The project aims to contribute to the improvements of peace and order, disaster risk reduction and management measures, and the further development of cities.

As the seventh city to join the DILG’s endeavor, the QC government hopes it can better predict, detect, prepare for and respond quickly to incidents.

Belmonte said the partnership is a big step toward the fulfillment of one of her 14-point agenda—building a safer and more resilient city.

“We are glad to receive the CCTV cameras from DILG. This is a smart solution as we improve our monitoring system in the city,” said Belmonte.

Sydiongco outlines Caap’s accomplishments, 2020 goals

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HE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) has launched a comprehensive Air Traffic Service Course; Communication, Navigation Surveillance System Officer’s Course; and Airfield Lighting and Power Technician’s Course to attract, and encourage, aspiring air-traffic management officers (ATMOs), air navigation officers and technicians.

Caap chief Capt. Jim Sydiongco, said the opening of the various courses to aspirants aims to develop a pool of trained personnel who can manage and lead the country’s aviation sector and maintain the safety of the airspace for the future.

Meanwhile, in its efforts to standardize and streamline its processes, Caap also underwent this year a series of activities for the development of its quality management system (QMS) in compliance with ISO 9001:2015 standards.

“With the help of the Development Academy of the Philippines, the Authority is receiving guidance

in the adaptation of relevant ISO management systems and standards, Sydiongco added. “These activities will integrate relevant provisions of pertinent laws, rules and regulations that will help Caap develop a culture of quality and integrity in governance.”

In addition to ensuring that the authority’s processes, services and products are of high quality, the ISO certification will also provide customers and stakeholders the assurance that Caap’s services will be delivered on schedule, and with fewer errors.

Through their initiative, the Caap hopes to embody the vision of its officials and employees, while also upholding the discipline of the agency.

Since becoming an independent regulatory body in 2008, Caap has strove hard to improve the country’s aviation sector.

According to Sydiongco, 2019 was a challenging year for the Caap but the authority has commenced a number of projects and initiatives, to improve the country’s aviation

system “and steadily fulfilling the vision of Filipinos having convenient access to air transport and a developed Philippines supported by aviation.”

Sydiongco ticked off the Caap’s accomplishments in 2019 “with the unwavering support of the Department of Transportation [DOTr].”

To optimize the efficient use of Philippine airspace, the DOTr, Department of Tourism, Caap, Civil Aeronautics Board, and Manila International Airport Authority, together with five major airlines in the country—Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines, AirAsia, PAL Express, and CebGo, have committed to support the decongestion of Naia.

To do this, the Caap has developed other gateways in the country, particularly Sangley Airport in Cavite.

It has also improved the convenience of the air-riding public, through the signing of the “Pledge of Comm it ment a nd Support” on June 26, 2019, that marked improvement in the air-

BI nabs two ‘bogus’ nannies at Naia Terminal 3

By Recto Mercene

Banac said that by January, the PNP would procure new equipment and the signature of a permanent head is needed for this measure to push through.

Gamboa is one of the top candidates as PNP chief, while other contenders for the post are Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan, deputy chief for operations; and Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, former Metro Manila police director and now heads the directorial staff.

Other names mentioned were Central Visayas Regional Director Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon and Calabarzon Regional Director Brig.

Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. PNA with Rene Acosta

QC mayor ties up with DILG for installation of 1.5K CCTVs

DOJ chief: NBI probe rules out sabotage in ‘lambanog’ deaths USTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday disclosed that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is ruling out sabotage in its ongoing investigation into the lambanog (coconut wine) poisoning incidents in Southern Luzon that killed more than 20 people and hospitalized more than 300 others.

Guevarra said the sabotage angle was scratched out by the NBI in its preliminary report submitted to his office. He, however, said other charges could still be filed against the manufacturers of the locally distilled alcoholic drink.

The NBI is basing its report on the information from its agents gathered from the victims, those who were hospitalized, and relatives of those who died after allegedly drinking lambanog.

“The NBI did not find any basis for a willful sabotage angle,” Guevarra said.

“What the NBI has so far is a preliminary report. The NBI has to identify the culprits and charge them accordingly…. The NBI is still in the process of identifying the manufacturers of the toxic liquor and preparing the appropriate charges against them,” the justice secretary added.

Guevarra explained that the NBI did not find any third party who would deliberately attempt to ruin the businesses of lambanog makers.

He noted that “sabotage pertains to the participation of persons other than the manufacturers or distillers of the liquor to willfully ruin the trade.”

Guevarra said the NBI is looking into the possible of filing reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and/or serious physical injuries, and/or violation of the food and drugs law against those responsible for the incident.

The NBI is expected to wrap up its investigation on the incident by January.

official capacity.

Duterte earlier said it was not enough to be recommended with a list of contenders for the next PNP chief because he was expecting a “better deal.”

Banac said the police force can still function despite having only an officer in charge as Gamboa has the power to order the dismissal, recruitment and reshuffling of police officials as mandated by the Napolcom.

He, however, said the PNP needs a permanent chief next year as Gamboa, being only an officer in charge, cannot approve the disbursement of funds for projects and procurement of equipment.

@rectomercene

UREAU of Immigration (BI) authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) intercepted on two separate occasions of two female suspects who were instructed to pose as nannies of minor children leaving for abroad to evade immigration scrutiny.

BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the scheme was uncovered after the two women were intercepted at Naia Terminal 3. They were nabbed while accompanying the minors purportedly to visit the children’s parents living in foreign lands.

Medina said the first interception happened last December 10, when a 42-yearold woman, who presented herself as the

guardian of a 14-year-old girl, attempted to leave for Macau.

This was followed by another incident last December 17, when a 31-year-old woman was stopped from leaving for the United Arab Emirates with a 16-year-old boy.

“In both instances, the women pretended to be yayas or guardians of their minor companions,” Medina said, adding these syndicates will stop at nothing in using every trick in the book to skirt the ban on undocumented workers,” Medina said.

According to Ma. Timotea Barizo, chief of the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit, both female passengers initially insisted that they were the guardians of their young companions.

“They claimed that they were only asked

by the children’s parents to accompany their daughter and son in leaving and joining them abroad,” Barizo added. “Eventually, however, they confessed that they do not know their companions and they were merely asked to accompany them by the parents to be able to travel abroad for a fee.”

Subsequent investigation revealed that this was not the first time that the two minors traveled abroad with their alleged guardians. Both of them also admitted that they previously departed with different guardians but returned without any companion.

BI records showed that the girl had twice left the country for Macau with two different women, while the boy once traveled to Dubai with another female guardian, but all their companions did not return anymore.

lines’ on-time performance.

The Caap said 2019 also saw the launch of gender-neutral restrooms in various Caap-operated airports nationwide, “a step toward gender awareness development and protection of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Among the latest airports to open its gender-neutral restrooms this year are the airports in Basco, Marinduque, Virac, Bacolod, Roxas and Butuan.

Aside from these communal restrooms, diaper-changing and breastfeeding rooms are also being maintained to assist nursing mothers better.

In the next few years, Caap aims to work further toward a more genderinclusive environment in all of the 42 commercial airports it operates, Sydiongco said.

“In order to eradicate and minimize all forms of discrimination in all its areas and airports, the authority will continue to set its standards to accommodate the LGBTQ+ community within and outside of the agency.” Recto Mercene

“With our policies and programs, we can better provide fast, efficient, and reliable emergency response services to all our citizens,” she added.

Thecollaborationaimstoestablishan intelligent monitoring system that will enable both DILG and the Quezon City government to prepare for and respond to security, and disaster situations.

It could help reduce crime incidents and improve crime solution efficiency; improve emergency services, fire protection, and jail management and penology services.

The joint project could also enhance the capacity for effective and efficient delivery of public services, thus increasing investors’ confidence, improving the tourism industry and public confidence.

“Our commitment to providing social services to our people lies in the effective collection of data and information,” Belmonte stressed.

The program gathers accurate, valid and consistent data where the city can base better solutions, and programs tailored to the needs of its constituents, Belmonte added.

Eight crew members, including 2 Pinoys, from Greek tanker abducted in Cameroon

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IVE Greeks, two Filipinos and an Ukrainian crew members were abducted by unidentified assailants from the Greek-flagged Happy Lady tanker, while the vessel was anchored two nautical miles from Limboh port in Cameroon.

The attack on the 28 crewmember ship took place in the early hours Tuesday, the Greek Shipping Ministry said in emailed statement. The Happy Lady is a 51,390 DWT chemical/oil tanker owned

by Athens-based Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, according to Bloomberg data.

The situation is being closely monitored by the Greek Foreign Ministry.

Bloomberg News

Black Nazarene procession done in just 2 hours

T

HE traditional Thanksgiving procession of the Black Nazarene in Manila on Monday was completed without incident in less than two hours, even though it involved thousands of participants.

Quiapo Church Rector and Parish Priest Msgr. Hernando “Ding” M. Coronel said the procession, which was attended by over 64,000 participants, started at 11:45 p.m. on Monday before ending at 2 a.m. the following day.

He noted they consider the prompt and solemn completion of the procession as an achievement since most of the participants complied with the rules.

“Devotees are still lining up to be near the Nazareno in the patio area. There are prayer stations along the way. Everyone had candles and praying the Rosary,” Coronel said.

“The procession took off orderly. There was no istandarte, nor unruly mob that used to climb the andas,” he added.

He attributed this to their effort “to emulate the Sto. Niño procession in Cebu and the Peñafrancia procession in Bicol,” which both have strong police presence.

“Other than the phalanx of policemen on the front, rear, and flanks, the whole route was facilitated by policemen and women minding the rope on the sidewalks,” Coronel said.

The thanksgiving procession is held annually and serves as the dry run for the Traslacion a few days later. It is usually attended by millions of devotees.

An estimated 4 million participants attended the Traslacion this year. This is expected to increase yet again in the 2020 Traslacion. Samuel P. Medenilla

A4 Wednesday, January 1, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

DA aims for ‘unprecedented’ corn yield of 9 MMT this year

FILE photo shows a vast corn field in the province of Bukidnon. The Department of Agriculture has bared that it is targeting an “unprecedented” 9 million metric tons of corn harvest this year. NONIE REYES

D

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

ESPITE a lower program funding this year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is targeting to achieve an “unprecedented” corn output of almost 9 million metric tons (MMT).

In a presentation during Sulong Pilipinas 2019 last month, the DA revealed that it is aiming for an 8.891 MMT corn output this year, almost 3 percent over its 8.64-MMT target in 2019.

The department is aiming for a

record-high output despite an over 6-percent cut in its corn program funding to P1.463 billion, from P1.56 billion last year.

The DA is planning to achieve the historic feat by encouraging more farmers to plant high-yielding corn

varieties and expand areas planted to the grain.

Furthermore, the DA would also promote appropriate production technologies through technology demonstration, and model and cluster farms.

The department also plans to improve farmers’ pest and disease management to reduce losses, and improve their yield.

Based on its projections, the DA eyes to improve the country’s average corn yield by 3 percent to 3.45 MT per hectare, from 3.35 MT per hectare estimated last year.

Based on its presentation, the DA will spend P470.905 million of its total corn program fund for production support services, which include seed distribution, seed re-

serve, as well as cassava planting materials and support to its regional stations.

The DA has allocated P468.3 million for agri-machinery equipment and facilities support, while P381.635 million would be used for its extension support, education and training services.

Under the agri-machinery component, the DA would be spending P286.25 million for farm production-related machiner y equipment, while P149.48 million would be spent for postharvestrelated machinery equipment and the remaining P32.57 million for postharvest facilities.

The DA National Corn Program also allocated P100.783 million for its “research for development” program and P41.6 million for the construction of small scale irrigation and solar powered irrigation systems.

Based on the DA National Corn Program presentation, the bulk of its funding, or about P1.314 billion, would be devoted for the corn sector, while P134.566 million and P14.215 million would be allocated for cassava and sorghum production.

The country’s corn output from January to September 2019 rose by 6 percent to 6.32 MMT, from 5.966 MMT recorded volume in the same period of 2018, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Historical PSA data showed that this was the highest nine-month corn output recorded by the country ever.

Furthermore, latest forecast by PSA showed that the country’s total corn output in 2019 could hit an all-time high of 8 MMT, from 7.771 MMT in 2018.

The country’s highest total corn output was recorded in 2017 at 7.914 MMT, historical PSA data showed.

Palace vows ‘more productive, progressive changes’ in years to come

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

T

HE Duterte administration has vowed for “more productive and progressive changes” in the years to come as all nations look forward for a better economy in 2020.

Malacañang on Tuesday also expressed its optimism that the President would be able to realize his dream for the country and for all Filipinos to live in comfort, peace and progress.

“As in previous years, all nations look forward for a better quality of life for them and an improved economy for their countries. We are no exception. We look at the departing year, and we see the change in many aspects of our society transform before our eyes,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a news statement.

“Yet, we feel it in our bones that there will be more productive and progressive changes to come as this administration, led by this strongwilled maverick and incorruptible President, charts the destiny of this nation beyond our wildest dreams,” he added.

Malacañang also said it wishes all Filipinos all over the world a healthy, joyous and prosperous new year.

“As we turn a new page in our history, and face greater challenges and exciting prospects for a better Philippines, even as we learn from the lessons of the past and draw inspirations from the changes that lifted us, we resolve to help one another in building a nation living in comfort, in peace and in progress.

That is the dream of [President Duterte], and we will be together in seeing that dream to fruition in all its splendor,” Panelo said.

“May the remaining days of the holidays be spent in energizing, and strengthening, our physical and

VEGGIE CRAZE

A local market vendor displays a list that shows the prevailing retail price of freshly harvested vegetables on Tuesday.

Vegetable price remains moderately high as Filipinos rush to prepare for their traditional media noche to greet the New Year’s Day. BERNARD TESTA

mental well-being as we face the challenges that await us,” he added.

Malacañang earlier this week welcomed the release of the latest survey results showing 96 percent of Filipinos are entering 2020 with hope, rather than with fear.

“Twenty-nineteen has been an exemplary year for the Philippines.

The economy is on the roll with a BBB+ rating. The Board of Investments has also breached its P1trillion 2019 investment target as of October 2019, according to the Department of Trade and Industry. There are fewer poor Filipinos, with almost 6 milllion lifted out from poverty. Employment has hit

a 14-year high. Inflation has been tamed,” Panelo said.

“Further, the country successfully hosted the 30th Southeast Asian Games nearing the end of 2019, and at the same time, became the overall champion with a record-breaking 149 gold and a 385 medal haul, overall,” he said.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Furniture makers project 15% sales growth in 2020

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

F

URNITURE makers are looking at growing sales by as much as 15 percent next year, as they try to penetrate new overseas markets, while exploiting the rising domestic demand.

In a news statement issued last week, the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) disclosed its furniture arm is eyeing to increase sales by at least 10 percent and up to 15 percent next year. Myrna C. Bituin, Philexport trustee for the furniture sector, bared the industry plans to do this by expanding to 10 markets over the next three years.

“The plan of the industry [is] to go on a massive marketing strategy.

Our target is to go to 10 markets for three years. That’s where we feel the buyers can really feel our presence because that is important,” Bituin said.

She said furniture makers are targeting Qatar, Lithuania and Russia as new export destinations.

Further, she put Malaysia as a “very good market” in the region, while the United States as the still the largest export destination.

“I think [along without] our trade

consuls, we will be working in partnership with them. We have to invest really like the foreign trips. Again, our trade consuls will be of great help to us,” Bituin said.

“One of the thing the industry can do is partnership; we are not opponents. The industry should harmonize with one another when it comes to projects,” she added.

Bituin also stressed the importance of developing a respectable brand, especially if exporters intend to land their products in export markets.

“Product development is very, very important. It should never be considered just a part if it’s an integral part of your business to have product development because you have a major show wherein the buyers would come every year,” the Philexport executive said.

As for the domestic market, Bituin said furniture makers should take advantage of hotels and restaurants refurbishing their business establishments.

“Fortunately, as we can see, not only new hotels, but [old] hotels are refurbishing. All big hotels, they are now refurbishing, not only the furniture but the indoor items and that makes them really busy,” she claimed.

Nograles sees more forthcoming infra achievements under Duterte

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HE Duterte administration is expected to further meet its goal of improving the country’s infrastructure in 2020 and in the succeeding years, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Tuesday.

Nograles issued the statement as he acknowledged that the government made “substantial gains” this year when it comes to implementing infrastructure projects.

“We are already experiencing some of the effects of Duterte governance: reduced poverty, higher wages and low unemployment rates. But our job is not finished yet, and we expect even more positive metrics as more and more of the government’s infrastructure projects are completed,” he said in a news statement.

“Government infrastructure accomplishments under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte will be felt in 2020 and beyond—a reflection of the President’s commitment to implement programs and projects that will improve the lives of Filipinos for years to come,” he added.

Nograles believed that improvements in several key infrastructures in 2019 will have a “tremendous positive impact” on the current administration’s efforts to meet the primary objective of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022.

He also expressed confidence that the PDP 2017-2022, a blueprint aimed at boosting the Philippine economy, will bring a “stable, prosperous, and peaceful life for all.”

Nograles noted that so far, the Department of Public Works and Highways was able to construct, and rehabilitate, around 9,845 kilometers of roads, 2,709 bridges, 4,536 flood-mitigation structures and 120,895 classrooms.

“This improved road infrastructure will allow for the faster, and more efficient, movement of people and goods around different parts of the country, lowering the costs of transportation and, consequently, the costs of commodities in the market,” he said.

Duterte will maximize the use of his “available” powers to ensure the full and effective implementation of his administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in November this year.

Around P9 trillion has been ear-

“This improved road infrastructure will allow for the faster and more efficient movement of people and goods around different parts of the country, lowering the costs of transportation and, consequently, the costs of commodities in the market.”

—Nograles

marked for the implementation of around 100 flagship infrastructure projects, and over 10,000 small infrastructure projects under the Build, Build, Build program.

Around 38 out of the revised list of 100 key infrastructure projects, are expected to be completed by 2022, while 22 are “partially operational or substantially completed” and the remaining 40 would be finished “beyond 2022.”

The 35 big-ticket infrastructure projects are ongoing, 32 will commence construction in the next six to eight months, 21 are in the advanced stages of government approval and 12 in the advanced stages of a feasibility study.

Nograles also emphasized the importance of improving the flow of information around the country by designating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) as the lead agency to install free Wi-fi hot spots in public areas.

“In 2019, the DICT installed 3,084 live Wi-fi sites that have connected an estimated 5 million users in Metro Manila and 77 other provinces. This is a key development, as studies show that improved access to the Internet provides opportunities for economic growth,” Nograles said.

“For example, in a country like ours where 99.5 percent of all businesses are MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises], the Internet can drastically reduce transaction costs and address the limitations of distance, allowing them to expand their markets,” added the cabinet official.

Nograles also cited data showing that in developing countries, MSMEs that have access to the Internet become 11 percent more productive, and that expanding Internet access to the levels found in developed countries could improve the productivity of MSMEs in developing nations by as much as 25 percent. PNA

The World BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Wildfires force thousands to shelter on beaches as Australia crisis worsens

T

housands of people in southeast Australia sheltered on beaches or took to the water to escape wildfires threatening coastal towns as the weeks-long crisis gripping the nation escalated on Tuesday.

About 4,000 holidaymakers and locals gathered on the foreshore in the town of Mallacoota in Victoria state as an out-of-control bushfire bore down on the remote community. Rural towns further north in New South Wales state are ablaze or under attack from embers, as strong winds fan the flames.

“We are surrounded by red sky, choking dust and choking smoke, and embers falling on the town,” resident Francesca Winterson said in a phone interview from Mallacoota with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Thousands of people evacuated Victoria’s East Gippsland region, a popular holiday spot, over the past couple of days as the fire danger grew. Those left behind posted dramatic images on social media, showing smoke turning the morning sky pitch black or choking the coastline in a haunting red haze. Four people are unaccounted for in the region and there are grave fears for their safety, state Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters.

While a cool change lowered

Oil poised for best year since 2016 as Middle East risks flare

O

il is poised for the biggest yearly gain since 2016 as fresh geopolitical tensions erupted in the Middle East, and as US crude stockpiles are forecast to extend declines.

Futures were steady in New York after easing slightly on Monday from the highest close in three months. Iran detained a ship carrying smuggled fuel near the Strait of Hormuz, following US air strikes on five Iran-backed militia bases in Iraq and Syria.

American crude stockpiles are forecast to fall for a third week, according to a Bloomberg survey before government data on Friday.

Oil has gained more than 35 percent in 2019, buoyed by a recent breakthrough in the US-China trade dispute and an agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies to deepen output cuts. It’s been a tumultuous year for prices, which saw the biggest plunge in four years in August due to tariff threats on Beijing by President Donald J. Trump, before prices spiked the most in more than a decade in September after strikes on Saudi Arabia.

“The US-China trade war was in the driver’s seat when we entered 2019, and remains there as we exit the year,” said Vandana Hari, founder of industry consultant Vanda Insights in Singapore. Geopolitical concerns continue to linger, while Opec+ collaboration is going strong. Trump is “the biggest wild card for the oil market,” she added.

West Texas intermediate for February delivery slipped 6 cents to $61.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 11:45 a.m.

Singapore time. The contract fell 4 cents to close at $61.68 on Monday.

Brent for March settlement lost 8 cents to $66.59 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange. Front-month prices are up 23 percent this year, also set for the biggest annual gain since 2016. The global benchmark crude was trading at a $6.80 premium to WTI for the same month. Bloomberg News

In this image made from video, an aerial scene shows fires burning and smoke rising close to properties in Bundoora, Victoria state, on Monday, December 30, 2019. New Year’s Eve fireworks in Australia’s capital and other cities have been canceled as the wildfire danger worsens in oppressive summer heat, and pressure was building for Sydney’s iconic celebrations to be similarly scrapped. Australian Broadcasting Corp., Channel 7, Channel 9 via AP

heatwave temperatures in Victoria overnight, it also brought strong winds that complicated f iref ight ing ef for ts, d ashing hopes the crisis may be easing ahead of the New Year.

As wildfires spread through heavily forested areas in southern New South Wales, people took to beaches for shelter in the towns of Bermagui and Batemans Bay. Buildings were ablaze in Cobargo, a community of about 800 people, where authorities fear for two people who are unaccounted for, along with another from the town of Belowra. “ We’re seeing f ire impacting onto communities, people’s homes and other infrastructure,” NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. “We’ve had reports of schools impacted. We’ve had reports of businesses and some of the small town centers being impacted by these fires. We’ve got many hours to go yet.”

The crisis gripping the world’s driest-inhabited continent has impacted all six states amid a prolonged drought, destroying mil-

lions of hectares of land and leaving 10 people dead. There are fears more lives could be lost in coming days after a 28-year-old firefighter in New South Wales died on Monday when the 10-tonne truck he was in was flipped over by what Fitzsimmons described as “fire tornado.”

T he emergenc y has placed scrutiny on Australia’s capacity to combat blazes that have spread over massive areas, pushing fire services largely manned by volunteers to their limits.

As the tourism and agriculture industries suffer, it’s also put international focus on the conservative government’s climate-change policies, with environmentalists saying Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s support of the nation’s massive coalexport industry has worsened conditions.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor defended the government’s record of tackling climate change in an op-ed published in The Australian on Tuesday, saying emissions had fallen in the past year and Australia was meeting its carbon-

reduction targets.

“Shrill cries that we should be ‘ashamed to be Australian’ do not ring true with the quiet Australians,” Taylor said. “That won’t stop some commentators telling us that we should feel guilty about our performance on emissions reduction. They are wrong.”

Local governments have also faced criticism. While cities, such as Canberra and Parramatta, canceled fireworks celebrations to bring in the new year, Sydney’s harborside festivities that draw in tens of thousands of tourists will go ahead.

The city council rejected a petition calling for the display to be scrapped, and the money to be donated to bushfire and drought relief projects, saying the event is watched by millions of people worldwide and generates A$130 million ($91 million) for the local economy.

As thousands of people gathered along the foreshore of Sydney harbor to get a prime viewing spot of the midnight fireworks, smoke drifting in from bushfires caused a polluting haze. Bloomberg News

Former Nissan boss Ghosn in Lebanon, says he left Japan because of ‘injustice’

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OK YO—Nissan’s former Chairman Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday he was in Lebanon and was not fleeing justice, but instead sought to avoid “injustice and political persecution” in a criminal trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct.

Ghosn was out on bail in Japan before his departure. He disclosed his location in a statement through his representatives on Tuesday that did not describe how he left the country. Conditions of his release on bail banned him from traveling overseas. He promised to talk to reporters next week.

“I am now in Lebanon, and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” the statement said.

Japanese media quoted prosecutors speaking anonymously who said they did not know how Ghosn had left the country while under surveillance.

Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origin, and holds French and Lebanese passports, was arrested in Japan in November 2018 and is facing various financial misconduct allegations. He was expected to face trial in April 2020.

Prosecutors fought his release, but a court granted him bail with conditions that he will be monitored and he could not meet with his wife Carole, who is also of

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

A5

Chinese bureaucratic shake-up seen revealing future leaders

C

hina’s sprawling bureaucracy is undergoing a regional reshuffle of a rare scale, with new appointments and job swaps offering hints of potential future leaders being groomed by Beijing.

At least 32 new mayorallevel officials have been appointed since December 21, with 29 of them being relocated to a new province for the first time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The other three are being moved for just the second time. While the Communist Party has routinely relocated minister-level officials from one province to another, that’s less common among lower-level officials.

“We have almost never seen the transfer of mid-level officials between provinces at a scale this massive,” said Suisheng Zhao, executive director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies. “Grooming the party’s talent pipeline is the most important aspect of Xi Jinping’s reform of governance modernization.”

Xi has repeatedly called for training more capable cadres and the Communist Party’s Central Committee vowed in March to accelerate that by promoting the exchange of officials across local areas, departments and state-owned enterprises. The equivalent of the party’s human resources department is overseeing the current spate of new appointments, underscoring their importance.

The personnel moves came as Xi seeks to control a nationwide economic slowdown amid high pork prices and a trade war with the United States. The Chinese president might touch on the challenges facing the nation on Tuesday evening, when he’s expected to deliver an annual New Year’s Eve address.

Future leaders

Since December 21, when two officials from Zhejiang and Shandong in the east were sent to the predominately Muslim western region of Xinjiang, new positions have been announced every day.

On Monday, Huaian—a city of about 5 million in Jiangsu— welcomed its new mayor, Chen Zhichang, the former head of Beijing’s Shijingshan district.

Born in 1974, Chen spent his

whole career in Beijing aside from a short stint in Tibet. His profile is similar to most of the cadres who were moved around this month, who spent most of their working lives in one place.

Of the 32 officials who got new jobs, 21 were born after 1970, signaling the emergence of a new generation of leaders.

Wang Liqi, born in 1977, was appointed China’s youngest mayor. He was nominated to manage Jiuquan City in Gansu, pending rubber-stamp approval by the local legislature. Since graduating from Tsinghua University with a master’s degree in engineering in 2003, Wang spent his entire political career in Heilongjiang, a northeastern province bordering Russia.

Top-down campaign

A local bureaucrat from Inner Mongolia’s Organization Department shed light on the changes when welcoming an official from Chongqing as the new mayor of its Wuhai city.

The change in leadership was part of the Central Organization Department’s decision “to select and send outstanding cadres on cross-provincial and regional exchanges,” local media cited Sun Fulong, the director of Inner Mongolia’s Civil Service Bureau as saying on December 24.

Sun said the swapping of officials across regions was done to implement Xi’s instructions on bureaucratic organization, and of “extreme significance to the modernization of national governance.”

Xi has repeatedly complained about a lack of drive among some local officials, and urged cadres to be more daring and take on more challenges. He warned in January that “the party is facing sharp and serious dangers of a slackness in spirit, lack of ability, distance from the people, and being passive and corrupt.”

As these reshuffles become more institutionalized, they will help “break the curse of the central government’s orders not being able to travel beyond the top leadership’s compound of Zhongnanhai,” said Zhao. “Party central wants to select people who are not only politically reliable, but also have an outstanding performance record and send them to other provinces to effectively disrupt the intertwined local interest groups.”

Bloomberg News

Russia: Iran nuclear deal in danger of ‘falling apart’

In this May 11, 2012, file photo, then-Nissan Motor Co. President and CEO Carlos Ghosn speak during a press conference in Yokohama, near Tokyo. A close friend says on Monday, December 30, 2019, that Ghosn, who is awaiting trial in Japan, has arrived in Beirut. It was not clear how Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origins, left Japan where he is under surveillance and is expected to face trial in April 2020. AP Photo/Koji Sasahara

Lebanese origin. Recently, the court allowed them to speak by video calls.

Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. It is unclear what steps the authorities might take.

Ghosn has repeatedly asserted his innocence, saying authorities trumped up charges to prevent a possible fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA. He has been charged with underreporting his future compensation and of breach of trust.

During his release on bail, Ghosn had been going daily to the office of his main lawyer Junichiro Hironaka to work on his case. Hironaka has not commented on Ghosn’s departure from the

country.

Earlier, Ricardo Karam, a television host and friend of Ghosn who inter v iewed him several times, told the Associated Press that Ghosn arrived in Lebanon on Monday morning. “He is home,” Karam told AP in a message. “It’s a big adventure.”

Karam declined to elaborate.

The Lebanese took special pride in the auto industry icon, who speaks fluent Arabic and visited regularly. Born in Brazil, where his Lebanese grandfather had sought his fortune, Ghosn grew up in Beirut, where he spent part of his childhood at a Jesuit school.

Ghosn was credited with leading a spectacular turnaround at Nissan beginning in the late 1990s. AP

M

OSCOW—Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers is in danger of “falling apart” without the compliance of the United States and the European Union, Russia’s foreign minister warned on Monday after meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Moscow.

The 2015 deal between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. The US withdrew from the accord last year, and imposed crippling economic sanctions that block Iran from selling crude oil abroad.

“Because of the destructive line that Washington keeps towing, this important achievement of international diplomacy...is in danger of falling apart,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that “colleagues from the European Union” were not fully complying with the agreement either.

In response to the US sanctions, Iran has pressured the European signatories to find a way to limit the impact on the Iranian economy. Tehran has slowly inched toward ceasing its own compliance with the terms of the deal. Last week, for example, the country began new operations at a heavy water nuclear reactor.

Iran’s moves have been condemned by Western governments as unwelcoming and has been escalating tensions in the region, while Russia and China have repeatedly blamed the US. After meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Monday, Lavrov said Russia would demand full compliance from both the US and the EU, in which case Iran would be able to return to fulfilling its obligations in accordance with the deal.

Otherwise, the agreement should be considered “no longer existing,” he said. AP

A6 Wednesday, January 1, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

PHL must remain vigilant vs ASF

T

he fatal disease that brought China’s pork industry to its knees continues to strike fear in the hearts of many hog farmers in Asia. Just recently, Jakarta reported that African swine fever (ASF) killed nearly 30,000 pigs in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. It was the first time for Indonesia to record an outbreak of the disease.

Elsewhere in Asia, the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE, reported that South Korea had notified nine new outbreaks affecting wild boar, while Russia notified five outbreaks affecting wild boar.

The OIE’s monitoring from December 6 to 19 also indicated that 600 outbreaks were recorded in Europe, where the Philippines continues to source its pork products. Germany, the country’s top source of imports, has undertaken additional steps to keep ASF at bay.

In its latest ASF situation report, the OIE said there were 1,013 new outbreaks from December 6 to December 19. The total ongoing ASF incidence worldwide is at 12,233 outbreaks, higher than the 11,730 reported as of December 5. Of the number of ongoing outbreaks, Vietnam—another Asean neighbor—accounted for 8,273, while Romania reported 3,031.

What these figures show is that the ASF problem is far from over, and there appears to be no stopping the disease from showing up elsewhere. Compounding the matter for many nations is the fact that the ASF virus can live for days, even in nonliving things. This is a major factor behind the relative ease with which ASF spread in hog farms in China and other countries where the disease has struck.

The Philippines was not spared from the ravage of ASF, and its presence was detected just months after China revealed that the disease has spread to many hog farms within its borders. The suspected ground zero in the country was Rodriguez in Rizal province, which hosts a landfill where Metro Manila dumps its waste. Despite the national government’s efforts to contain the disease, ASF managed to spread to other provinces in Central Luzon, including Bulacan and Pampanga.

While there are no new outbreaks as evidenced by the decline in the number of samples that tested positive for the disease, the Philippines must not let its guard down. The country continues to import pork products from sources that share borders with ASF-infected nations.

Germany, the Philippines’s top supplier of pork, is near Belgium where the disease struck wild boars.

The zoning plan is the most recent measure implemented by the Department of Agriculture, but it should make sure that other initiatives, such as foot baths in airports, remain in place. Other government agencies, like the Bureau of Customs, must continue to implement stringent measures related to inspection of goods from ASF-infected countries.

The government must also step up its anti-smuggling efforts, given the possibility that the virus could be transmitted via infected products that will enter the Philippines illegally.

The Philippines is fortunate that the disease did not spread in other hog-producing areas, such as those in Visayas. The national government, local government units and other stakeholders must continue to work together to prevent the disease from infecting farms in Central and Southern Philippines. China’s experience has taught us a valuable lesson that we must all heed—complacency could kill an entire industry.

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Her first name was Jeanelyn Susan V. Ople

Scribbles

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er first name was Jeanelyn. In deference to the bereaved family, I will not share her last name. She was deployed to Kuwait as a domestic worker on July 4, 2019. Based on her official employment contract, the name of her foreign employer was Adel Mejbel Zaid Alsanea. Jeanelyn was 26 years old. She hailed from a small village in Mindanao.

According to a news report published in the Kuwait Times, the police received information from the Sabah Hospital about the arrival of a deceased Filipino maid with bruises on various parts of her body. The maid’s sponsor admitted during interrogation that his wife had beaten Jeanelyn until the worker fainted.

The wife also admitted the beatings to the police, but pleaded innocence to any intention to kill her maid.

Here in Manila, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has summoned the Kuwaiti ambassador to express the Philippine government’s outrage over this latest act of violence against our domestic workers.

The department called for complete transparency in the investigation of the case and swift prosecution of the perpetrators.

“The continuing incidents of violence and abuse of Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait violates the spirit of the agreement signed in May 2018,

that seeks to promote and protect their welfare,” the DFA statement read.

In a text message to this writer, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that DOLE is closely monitoring the case, and will make sure that justice will be served. As I sit down to write this column, Administrator Hans Cacdac of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration is in South Cotabato to offer assistance to the grieving family.

“Justice” is a single word that covers an entire language of emotions.

From shock and rage on the part of the family, to accountability on the part of the perpetrators, yet the only missing emotion belongs to the person who died, because she is in a place beyond pain, suffering and indignity.

Jeanelyn only wanted to work. Because of scarce job options, she had to leave her village and country to find work. One can say that her departure already reeked of social and economic injustice.

And they will keep leaving—these women, these heroes. They see their children passing the days without sufficient food, barely any clothing and no hope in their eyes, and they leave. These women, these heroes.

They look at the window and listen to the wind, and ask themselves: “Where is my future?” They get a passport and undergo all kinds of orientations, and as they fasten their seatbelt, they say a prayer of thanks.

They see a future in the passport.

Why would a young, single woman like her opt to leave to work in Kuwait? I do wished she was my sister, then she wouldn’t have to leave because there would be more doors open to her. I wished she were my daughter. Jeanelyn died at a much younger age than my only daughter.

If she were my daughter, then she would have grown up with so many other options than leaving.

But in her village, Jeanelyn grew up with her own dreams amid family that loved her. She was somebody else’s sister. She was somebody else’s daughter. She was loved and appreciated. That she had to end up with a Kuwaiti woman who saw Jeanelyn as her own slave, beating her up repeatedly, to the extent of making her victim lose consciousness—is vile. That her husband is an alleged employee of the Ministry of Interior (based on news reports) made this crime even worse. Yes, he brought her to the hospital, but where was he when the beatings began?

This is the New Year. Jeanelyn was killed before the calendar changed.

She is spending the first day of 2020

in a morgue. Where she came from there may have been hunger, but that kind of hunger can be assuaged; the emotional and physical hunger that comes from no longer hearing Jeanelyn’s laughter or feeling her touch will never ever disappear. Fullness cannot happen in a void.

We all need to know even just her first name. Jeanelyn, this is for you. None of us may have been there when you boarded that flight, eager yet frightened, expecting to do great things as an overseas Filipino workers for the family you painfully left behind. You were all alone then. You are all alone now. But, we won’t let your family be alone in this battle for justice and retribution.

You are a woman and a hero.

Present tense, always—because the beaten-up you was your female employer’s demonic version of what you were: a slave. The couple that you served deserves to rot in jail.

No mercy, no honor and no freedom.

They never knew you. You were not their daughter, sister or friend.

Slavery exists whenever employers believe their lives matter more than the people who work for them.

And slavery will continue to exist when governments fail to address the injustice that made such circumstances possible. Jeanelyn, you were more than their equal. But it’s too late to even say that now.

Susan V. Ople heads the Blas F. Ople Policy Cen-

ter and Training Institute, a nonprofit organization that deals with labor and migration issues. She also represents the OFW sector in the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.

What we learned from 2019’s worst PR disasters

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By Kara Alaimo | Bloomberg Opinion

S a public relations professor, I know a few of my fellow professionals can be counted on to do things that keep my students’ jaws dropping in class each week—and, like 2018, this year was no exception. Here are the five decisions that beat out stiff competition to rank as the worst corporate PR moves of 2019: n Dennis Muilenburg’s week of silence after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March. As crisis guru Helio Fred Garcia once wrote, “incremental delays in showing that an organization cares can lead to greater-than-incremental harm.”

Even if Muilenburg, Boeing Co.’s now-former chief executive officer, didn’t initially have all the answers about his company’s role in the disaster, he should have immediately expressed sympathy for the victims and their loved ones, then pledged to provide the public with more information as soon as possible. Every PR executive worth their paycheck knows that during a crisis, it’s critical to say something during what Garcia calls the “golden hour.” Just as a patient having a heart attack is much more likely to survive if they

are brought to the hospital in the first hour, an organization is more likely to survive a crisis with its reputation intact if it immediately speaks for itself, rather than allowing others to speculate about its motives and behavior. n The Peloton Interactive Inc. ad depicting a svelte woman making a video to thank her male partner for buying her an exercise bike for Christmas. The ad was widely interpreted as disturbing because the woman appeared to many to be frightened.

Some pointed out that the woman was already trim and hardly needed to lose weight; others said the ad reinforced stereotypes of women needing to stay in shape in order to keep their affluent significant others (the bike costs over $2,000, before monthly subscription fees). These reactions

were, of course, eminently predictable. The key lesson for brands? Test audiences’ reaction before going public with new campaigns. The ad could have been an easy win just by, say, showing a woman giving the gift to a man instead.

Peloton loses more points for crafting a response as tone-deaf as the ad itself. “We’re disappointed in how some have misinterpreted this commercial,” the company said. An insincere non-apology is the only thing worse than not apologizing at all. n R ichard Branson’s tweet launching his Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa with a picture of all white people. The need to ensure diversity when doing anything public shouldn’t require further explanation in 2019. n Sallie Mae’s decision to fly more than 100 staffers to Hawaii to celebrate a record number of student loans. The (totally foreseeable) NBC News report on this one pretty much summed it up: “As 1 in 5 American adults wonder how to pay off their combined $1.6 trillion in student debt, Sallie Mae executives and sales team members wrestled with a

different question: Between meetings, how should they spend their time on their five-day paid trip to the luxury Fairmont resort on Wailea beach in Maui?”

Seriously? In the era of socialmedia outrage, organizations need to work a little harder to make sure their executives don’t appear so deeply out of touch with the publics they serve. n Hallmark’s decision to pull— and then reinstate—an ad showing lesbian brides. The only thing less savvy than alienating important audiences is offending everyone.

Companies have to decide what they stand for before they’re put on the spot. Another news flash: As we approach the year 2020, homophobia is not a winning strategy.

Dishonorable mentions also go to Facebook Inc. (another organization that should be doing some hard thinking about its values and has managed to offend absolutely everyone) for not vetting for truth in political advertising on its platform, and to Australian Kmart for selling child bride costumes. Their executives apparently missed the class on the need to consider the deeper messages their products send.

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

North Korea signals escalation ahead of Kim’s big speech

Finally, a senator’s quality gift for Filipinos

t’s Christmas! Let us all rejoice for the coming of our Savior with peace in our hearts as we reflect on, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost,” Luke 19:10 of the Bible.

Senator Lacson’s Senate Bill 1239 makes this year’s Christmas even more meaningful.

Not only will Filipinos be able to experience peace, hope and goodwill to men, but with stricter building standards, we could also live and sleep with peace of mind, even amid threats of “The Big One.”

Indeed, Christmas is a season of hope, peace and goodwill to men.

But for an even better world, we should let the spirit of Christmas dwell in our hearts forever. As what American writer of religious poetry Helen Steiner Rice once said: “Peace on Earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day.”

And with that, how could this year’s Christmas be even more meaningful to me and the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) that I chair, with Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s filing of Senate Bill 1239. The bill seeks to protect and ensure the safety of consumers, even as it is also designed to set the premise for creating the Philippines as an exemplary model for world-class standards.

Consumer and industry protection through the strengthening of the country’s product standard laws and rules is a long-standing advocacy of FPI, an organization composed of

just as it also lacks provisions that are most needed today. Moreover, building officials, especially those assigned to issue building permits, should also be knowledgeable on the Building Code. And on this light, the Federation will hold a Building Summit next year where manufacturers, developers and building officials, among others, would meet to discuss various issues affecting the whole spectrum of building construction and public safety, especially on product standards.

We see a lot of present day issues to discuss, such as the relevance of the country’s Fire Code with the National Building Code. The skyline of the country’s highly urbanized areas are now dotted with high-rise buildings. How are fire safety issues addressed in this scenario then, when the firefighting capabilities of even the country’s most modern communities are limited to a certain number of floors only?

Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza

MAKE SENSE

By Jon Herskovitz & Jihye Lee Bloomberg Opinion

F

or months, North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un has been threatening to take a “new path” in nuclear talks if President Donald J. Trump doesn’t sweeten the deal by the end of the year. Now, the world might learn where that road leads.

Kim’s biggest annual speech—a televised New Year’s address to the North Korean people—will provide an opportunity hours after his selfimposed deadline passes to signal whether he intends to mend fences, or escalate tensions. He has used the event to do both before—previewing a breakthrough intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch in 2017, and opening the door to talks with South Korea a year later.

This time, most signs point to escalation. North Korea has expressed increasing frustration with the American side since Trump walked out of their last formal summit in February. Kim resumed missile launches at a record-setting pace and repeatedly warned that his two-year freeze on ICBM and nuclear bomb tests might be coming to an end.

Even as 2019 drew to a close, Kim was huddled behind closed doors with the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang for one of the most significant such meetings since he took power eight years ago. He urged the so-called plenum “to take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country as required by the present situation,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Monday.

Party leaders were expected to discuss an “important document” as their next agenda item, the state-run news agency said on Tuesday, without elaborating.

“KCNA’s reporting of the party plenum suggests Pyongyang is planning a more hard-line approach next year, if Washington doesn’t present a satisfactory deal before the year is out,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser on Northeast Asia, and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group. Still, she cautioned: “We just don’t know the shape and size that provocations might take next year.”

Speculation about what message Kim Jong Un might deliver in the televised address on Wednesday morning has run the gamut. He might offer stronger rhetoric while keeping the door open for talks. Or he might declare negotiations over and signal an impending weapons test.

Any message will come against the politically charged backdrop of a US presidential election, in which Trump’s Democratic rivals are seeking to portray him as destabilizing to global security and too accommodating toward autocrats. After three unprecedented face-to-face meetings, Trump has only got Kim to halt ICBM and nuclear tests, and make a vague pledge to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

In that time, Kim has continued to develop his weapons program, something he might choose to highlight in his speech. This month, a top North Korean general boasted that a weapons test had strengthened its capacity “for reliably restraining and overpowering the nuclear threat of the US”—a pointed message that breaks with the regime’s recent practice of playing down its strategic weapons program.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo told Fox News that the US was closely watching events in North Korea. The Trump administration still believed that “we can find a path forward to convince the leadership in North Korea that their best course of action is to create a better opportunity for their people by getting rid of their nuclear weapons,” Pompeo said on Monday.

Suit and tie

Kim delivered last year’s address

Speculation about what message Kim Jong Un might deliver in the televised address on Wednesday morning has run the gamut. He might offer stronger rhetoric while keeping the door open for talks. Or he might declare negotiations over and signal an impending weapons test. wearing a suit and tie instead of a military-style uniform as he sat in a plush leather chair in a wood-paneled room. That speech began at 9 a.m. local time New Year’s Day—7 p.m.

New Year’s Eve in Washington—and lasted about half an hour.

Such speeches are largely directed at a domestic audience, including lengthy passages about development programs that will be closely parsed for clues about the economic impact of the US-led sanctions regime. Mixed in are messages that appear crafted for international consumption, such as when Kim first issued his “new path” ultimatum on January 1 of this year.

Any new path will probably look a lot like North Korea’s old path of provocations, taunts and defiance.

With a small economy and few resources, there’s a limit to new initiatives it can undertake.

The key will be how much space Kim leaves for resuming the stalled nuclear talks with Trump, whose preference for personal diplomacy offers Kim opportunities that eluded past North Korean leaders. Go too far and he could anger Trump, alienate his allies in Beijing, and return to a risky cycle of threats and counterthreats that alarmed the world in 2017.

Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said on Sunday that the administration was ready to respond should Kim fire additional long-range missiles or conduct further nuclear weapons tests. “If Kim Jong Un takes that approach, we’ll be extraordinarily disappointed and we’ll demonstrate that disappointment,” O’Brien said on ABC’s This Week.

One intermediate option for Kim is ending his moratorium on the tests of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles that can deliver them to the US. Twice before—in 2005 and 2013—North Korea resumed provocations within months after scrapping self-imposed moratoriums.

He might also announce the resumption of North Korea’s “civilian” space program—considered a provocation by the US because it encompasses technology needed for ICBMs. Kim has been trying to portray North Korea as a normal country and may take steps to increase the exposure of his reclusive state on the global stage.

Whatever the rhetoric, the North Korean leader has little incentive to return to days when Trump was threatening to “totally destroy” the country. Kim is unlikely to find a better US negotiating partner than the current US president.

“His comments at the ongoing meeting emphasize the security of his regime, which hints at what he’ll be prioritizing in his New Year’s speech,” said Choi Soon-mi, who researches North Korean social and economic affairs at Ajou University’s Institute of Unification. “He will likely leave doors to talks open for talks with the US, but with conditions, such as a shift in attitude, because he still has a personal relationship with Trump that hasn’t been broken yet.”

Wednesday, January 1, 2020 A7

I

manufacturers of building and construction materials, such as steel, wood, glass and tiles, among others. And Lacson’s act of throwing in his hat in the campaign to tighten the country’s building safety standards, by amending and strengthening the antiquated National Building Code, could be the boost needed to enhance the country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Program.

We’ve already had many “drop, cover and hold” disaster response simulation exercises in the country.

The big question, however, is, even if we follow the exercise by heart, will the building hold?

The Federation fully supports, and is ready to help, the good senator in his bid to amend the National Building Code, if only to make it responsive to present day needs.

The old 1977 Building Code already has many irrelevant provisions,

But it’s not only building safety that needs immediate attention.

We also suggest to the good senator to consider the risks to consumers of substandard and/or uncertified food and medical products. The country’s food and drugs rules and laws should also be scrutinized and strengthened.

We believe in the senator’s purpose to enhance public safety. And we fully support him, not only as a friend, but for his well-earned reputation as a straightforward, honest and credible legislator, as well.

As FPI chair, I would like to thank the honorable senator for this longawaited boost to our advocacy to promote consumer safety and local industry protection. Kudos to Lacson for a job well done.

And most important, Lacson’s Senate Bill 1239 would make this year’s Christmas even more meaningful, for not only will Filipinos be able to experience peace, hope and goodwill to men, but with stricter building standards, we could also live and sleep with peace of mind, even amid threats of “The Big One.” Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.

A decade of market wins for Hindsight Capital Llc.

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By John Authers | Bloomberg Opinion

nother decade is in the books. As the 2010s draw to a close, it is once again time to visit my friends at Hindsight Capital Llc., a very special hedge fund.

For the uninitiated, Hindsight Capital, a figment of my imagination, is the most successful hedge fund of all time, and uses the one strategy guaranteed to beat all others, all of the time: hindsight. It places its trades in full knowledge of how they will end up.

The ability to predict the future could deliver infinite profits, so I put some limits on them. No trading is allowed, and no leverage, and no single stocks. Hindsight’s managers also must show that there was a rationale for the trade at the time that they made it—they cannot, for example, use their ability to foresee market-moving natural disasters, such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

They can, however, bet on stocks to fall by selling short.

The 2010s took most of us by surprise. US stocks rallied all decade-long, emergency-era monetary policy persisted throughout the decade, and yet, neither inflation nor a convincing economic recovery ever occurred. The fate of incumbent politicians over the last few years shows just how most of us feel about the post-crisis world.

But boy, was there money to be made just by sitting in US equities; and there was vastly more money to be had for the managers at Hindsight Capital. All they needed, as the decade dawned, was to grasp a few simple truths: The shock to the global economy was so severe that inflation wouldn’t come back; the Federal Reserve wouldn’t allow asset prices to fall and had the power to make sure it didn’t happen; the euro zone and its banking system were fatally flawed and bound to suffer; China’s economy was in transition and would no longer underpin mad rises in commodity prices; and disbelief and disillusion with monetary policies that seemed manifestly unfair to the poor would spark the younger generation into a desperate search for something better.

Here then were the trades Hindsight Capital put on as 2009 gave way to 2010, and their returns as of December 20:

A wager on the immaterial world

A weak global economy ensured

problems for raw materials, particularly energy. The surfeit of production inspired by the panic before the financial crisis about “peak oil” and the search for alternatives would damage energy prices further.

Meanwhile, the growth and power of the Internet economy had much further to go. Hindsight couldn’t invest in Facebook Inc. or the socialmedia companies, because they weren’t yet public in 2009, but the S&P 500 Software Index returned some 470 percent, led by the renaissance of Microsoft Corp. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Commodity Energy index dropped 71 percent.

So $100 in a long software/short energy trade would have turned into $1,971 by decade’s end, with dividends reinvested, and $1,783 on a price-only basis.

A flier on the Fed, and the dollar

IT was obvious to Hindsight Capital that the Fed wouldn’t let asset prices fall, and would leap in whenever necessary. So in a very simple trade, it bought the S&P 500 Index.

Meanwhile, the weakness of oil offered a simple way to juice the profits.

Hindsight moved to Oslo, the capital of Norway, and home to the decade’s weakest currency among developed markets (I turned down Hindsight’s pleas to move to Buenos Aires and denominate in Argentine pesos as just being greedy). Falling oil prices meant a weak krone and a stronger dollar, and thereby made for fantastic performance by the S&P 500 when denominated in krone. It turned NOK 100 into NOK 550 over the course of a decade, the 450-percent growth eclipsing by far the 250 percent that the S&P returned in dollars.

A bet banks will recover in the US, but not the euro zone

BY the end of 2009, the US authorities had done enough to save their banks. The euro zone had not; it was burdened by banks far more bloated than their American counterparts, and by the hopeless straitjacket of the euro, which required that very different economies should all have the same monetary policy. The European Central Bank had been created to defend the euro, Europe’s politicians were desperate for it to do so,

Traditionally, gold might have been the answer to the prayers of this distrustful generation. But technology expanded horizons.

So Hindsight Capital bought Bitcoins. If it had put $100 into Bitcoin at the beginning of the decade and held it (or hodled it as Bitcoin aficionados would say) it would now be worth some $9 million.

and so there was no doubt that the euro would survive. But the measures to do that would mean dreadful suffering for the banking sector. And so Hindsight Capital bought the KBW index of large US banks (which rose 164 percent), financing it with a short position in the FTSE-Eurofirst euro zone banks index (down 61.5 percent). That would have turned $100 into $695 over the course of a decade ($550 when dividends are taken into account).

A gamble that crypto is the future...

AS the decade began, a generation had lost all faith in markets, the dollar, and anything to do with banks, or governments, or almost anyone in power. Economic collapse beckoned.

Traditionally, gold might have been the answer to the prayers of this distrustful generation. But technology expanded horizons. So Hindsight Capital bought Bitcoins. If it had put $100 into Bitcoin at the beginning of the decade and held it (or hodled it as Bitcoin aficionados would say) it would now be worth some $9 million. Had Hindsight been allowed to sell at the top, it would have made $23.3 million.

Hindsight also offered conservative clients an opportunity to increase their gold holdings for the future.

One hundred grams of gold put into the cryptocurrency a decade ago would have yielded enough Bitcoin today to buy 7.2 million grams of the precious metal. Or, in imperial weights, the alchemy of Bitcoin turned a quarter of a pound of gold into almost 8 tons. In the unlikely event that someone out there actually put this trade on a decade ago, I would recommend taking profits.

Blockchain may well prove to be transformative technology, but such gains aren’t sustainable.

(In the chart, the purple line along the bottom shouldn’t be confused for the X-axis; it is the S&P 500 Index. In comparison to Bitcoin, this

decade’s great bull market looks like a flat line).

...And so is passive investing

TO be clear, nobody should expect anyone to make the kinds of gains that are open to someone operating with the benefit of hindsight. In the real world, you have to guard against the possibility that you are wrong.

But Hindsight’s returns show what was possible.

Meanwhile, a wholly sensible plan for an American in 2009 would have been to put 60 percent of their money into an S&P 500 exchangetraded fund (SPY), which returned 250 percent, and 40 percent into a long-dated Treasury bond fund (TLT), which returned 103 percent.

The oldest and most boring trade in the book would have turned $100 into $298.

As for real hedge funds, they didn’t put on trades anything like Hindsight’s, largely because of repetitive and unsuccessful bets that rates were at last going to rise. Most of them could only dream of the returns made by passive ETFs. Equity hedge funds, investing only in equities, and Macro hedge funds, able to switch between asset classes, were trounced not only

by SPY, but even by TLT: With hindsight, it would have been best to avoid hedge funds. Hindsight Capital, of course, foresaw the growth of passive investing, and worked out that by far the best way to invest was through the companies that draw up the indexes. Three quoted companies dominate the indexing industry: the London Stock Exchange (owner of FTSE and Russell), S&P Global (owners of S&P and Dow Jones indexes) and MSCI. (Bloomberg LP is also a major player in indexing, but isn’t publicly quoted). Hindsight commissioned an equal-weighted index of these three companies, and it turned $100 into $999.54 (or $1,000 if we are rounding up).

For the future, as passive funds grow, the entire fund management industry has many questions to answer. It is often pointed out, quite correctly, that markets couldn’t function if all funds were passive. But if the active management industry keeps performing like this, the future doesn’t look bright.

Finally, for those of us who didn’t match the stellar returns of Hindsight Capital in this decade, the issue now moves on to the 2020s.

Unfortunately, Hindsight Capital wouldn’t tell me the trades they are putting on for the next decade.

A8 Wednesday, January 1, 2020

CJ Peralta eager to advance reforms, curb judges’ killings

C

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

HIEF Justice Diosdado Peralta on Tuesday expressed confidence that the reforms he has lined up for implementation during his more than two-year term will gain momentum in the coming year 2020.

A key plank of his 10-point agenda is to address the rising cases of killings involving justices and judges, ensure their swift and

satisfactory resolution and prevent more killings.

In his New Year’s message, Peralta said since his appointment last

October 23 last year, he has been eagerly looking forward to 2020, where he would have a full year to push for his planned reforms.

“Since I took over the helm of the Judiciary two months ago as its 26th chief justice, I cannot help but feel encouraged and hopeful that the reforms I have presented for the Judiciary will soon gain traction in the New Year to come,” the 67-year-old chief justice said.

“These reforms are geared toward providing swift, efficient, fair and responsive justice for all Filipinos regardless of stature,” he added.

Peralta, however, admitted that these reforms are unlikely to be achieved without the full coopera-

tion of all the stakeholders in the judiciary.

“I am, therefore, one with you all in prayer for a brighter and better Philippines; one of which is being governed peacefully under the ‘Rule of Law,’” he added.

Part of his 10-point agenda, according to Peralta, is to address the rising cases of killings involving justices and judges.

Peralta is looking at the possibility of creating a security team patterned after the United States Marshal Service.

Aside from continuing the programs of his predecessor, retired Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, Peralta said part of his agenda is the

STAYCATIONS, MEETINGS LIFT DEMAND FOR HOTEL ROOMS IN QUEZON CITY

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

OTELS in Quezon City are reaping a windfall from an increasing number of staycationers, as well as meetings and conferences from corporate clients and government offices in the area.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Seda Vertis North General Manager Brett Hinckley said the bulk of their guests come from two main markets:

the pipeline will be built in Quezon City, or equivalent to 1,500 rooms.

Among the new hotels expected to rise in Quezon City is Bloomberry Resorts Corp.’s 40-story Solaire North in Vertis North, targeted to open in January 2022.

Seda’s Hinckley said Solaire’s opening will be a boon to hotels in the area, especially if it will feature a casino as reported. “When it opens, we will probably receive some overflow of their guests,” as hard-core gamers usually need rooms to rest or

“We have the staycationers on Friday and Saturday nights. Then from Sunday to Thursday, it’s corporate businesses. So, it’s businesses in the area that give us volumestay guests.” He added, the hotel gets a lot of government clients who hold meetings and conferences, as well as Quezon City-based media outfits.

The newly opened Park Inn

by Radisson North Edsa has also been receiving its own share of staycationers. General Manager Nils Rothbarth said since the hotel opened in September 2019, guests have been picking up.

“And it’s amazing to see the staycationers coming through.

It’s fantastic; I didn‘t expect it in a city, but we are absolutely a staycation market.”

He noted that government agencies are “a very good partner as well. We would like to add value to government meetings. So we have a good share of government meetings and events already, but we also focus on the corporate events, and the medical associations. I think it’s important that we have a mixture. You cannot just have one market; you should be out there serving the entire community.”

According to Fenady Uriarte, business development manager, Southeast Asia for STR, “guest bookings in Quezon City hotels on Saturdays was on the rise [from January to October 2019]. We have seen a 3-percent increase in occupancy [in 2019] compared to [2018].”

She added, “October closed with an average of 72-percent occupancy on Saturdays. However, we did notice a huge drop on Sundays to 49-percent occupancy.” STR is a global research company specializing in travel and tourism.

More accommodation establishments are expected to take advantage of these growing guest markets in Quezon City. STR reported as of July 2019, some 15 percent of the 10,000 hotel rooms in

sleep in before rejoining the gaming tables.

At present, Seda Vertis Nor t h ’s re ve nue g row t h has been encouraging, although Hinckley declined to provide absolute figures.

“We’ve been very happy. If you look at our growth yearon-yea r, ou r g row t h has been fantastic. We‘re really excited. [Since we opened in April 2017], we‘ve become a bit of a game changer for the area because there‘s nothing this size in the north [at 438 rooms].

We try to bring a little class to the north. It is nice, just [getting] the comments we’re getting from staycationers [like], ‘We no longer have to fight the traffic and go down to Manila.’”

He said the hotel’s staycationers are usually from Caloocan, Novaliches and Bulacan. But the hotel has also been getting balikbayans (homeland returnees).

“It wasn’t even a business we knew how to tap into.

But if they’re anywhere in the north, the family brings them here to the hotel and make a whole weekend out of it. It’s a nice place for people to congregate.”

He also said Seda Vertis North’s occupancy was averaging at 70 percent, but was projected to rise over the holidays. “We’ve kept the price very stable. We’ve increased [our rates] just nominally over the past two years. We came in under the price that’s already of value. Now we’re just building our business.”

As for Park Inn by Radisson North Edsa, Rothbarth said while he was unable to give any revenue and occupancy targets for 2020, he revealed, “We want to reach our fair market share here, and I think it is really doable. We have a fantastic partner with the mall [SM North Edsa], and we’ve had various events, and for staycationers, that would be a great opportunity. Even the government and corporate lines like to have an opportunity to go outside [their offices] as well.”

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

H

See “CJ Peralta,” A2

Grab PHL says it gave back ₧19M to users

G

RAB Philippines disbursed on Tuesday P19.2 million to users who experienced “extraordinary deviations” in fares last year, saying it has complied with an earlier order from the competition agency.

However, a senator said stiffer penalties must be imposed on Grab, given its repeated infractions in just one year.

Users who received GrabPay vouchers in var ying amounts were prompted with messages

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING EXTREME NORTHERN LUZON EASTERLIES AFFECTING REST OF THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 pm - December 31, 2019

in their Grab apps that instruct them to “redeem” the voucher to have the amount added to their mobile wallets.

“You have been sent this voucher in accordance to the agreement with the Philippine Competition

Commission [PCC]. Once you redeem, the amount will be added to your GrabPay wallet,” the message read.

Customers, however, are required to complete the basic knowyour-customer process before redemption, as required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Disbursements are computed “from the proportion of the total fare of the passenger within the time period multiplied by the total fine.”

Passengers of the third-quarter penalty will be credited P1 for every P1,200 spent for Grab rides. Around 2.7 million passengers are eligible for disbursements.

Those whose disbursements fall under the fourth quarter will receive P1 for every P450 spent on Grab rides. Roughly 2.8 million passengers may receive disbursements.

With this, Grab said it has complied with the PCC’s order to disburse to its customers some P5.05 million for the third quarter of 2019, and another P14.15 million for the fourth quarter of the same year for charging fares that are higher than its commitment levels.

A Grab spokesman stressed on Tuesday that Grab has always been compliant with the fare matrix that is set by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

“As confirmed by the LTFRB, Grab remains in compliance with the fare matrix, and this disbursement is based on the total admin penalty by the PCC for the third quarter and fourth quarter monitoring period,” the spokesman said.

Stiffer penalty

Me a n while , Sen. Sher w i n Gatcha lian, citing reports of continuous violation of existing rules, prodded State regulators to slap sanctions against Grab Philippines for alleged repeated infraction of existing regulations and breaches in “price and service quality” pledges even after enjoying virtual monopoly status since 2018 when its close competitor Uber folded up.

In a statement over the weekend, Gatchalian prodded the PCC to “impose stiffer penalties against ride-hailing giant Grab Philippines for repeatedly violating the country’s competition rules since the departure of Uber.”

The senator stressed that the PCC is a regulatory body mandated to enforce Republic Act 10667 or the Philippine Competition Act (PCA) which, he added, was crafted to promote economic efficiency to See “Grab,” A2

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Companies BusinessMirror

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

December 27, 2019

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

BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE BDO LEASING COL FINANCIAL FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE

354223145 195154222 9175310 33547 766302 130811156 8201970 27025 159350 36417772 190029 4440 330160 2005578 336630 899670 10500 30000 59850 204630 109500

-103363751 55023362 63268 -55845414 -4663920 -10958980 -109137 16160 1033200 -6200 -54750

INDUSTRIAL AC ENERGY 2.23 2.25 2.28 2.28 2.23 2.23 3099000 6962930 1.21 1.28 1.23 1.23 1.21 1.21 71000 86190 ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER 33.55 34.2 33.85 34.8 33.55 34.2 798800 27261925 0.231 0.243 0.239 0.245 0.23 0.245 5100000 1232980 BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN 23.9 24.15 23.85 24.6 23.3 24.15 3151100 75567255 FIRST PHIL HLDG 68.95 69 68.2 70 68.2 68.95 40920 2804704 313.6 317 305 317 304 317 190120 59419560 MERALCO MANILA WATER 10.34 10.36 10.04 11.38 9.48 10.36 79907100 831706562 3.86 3.88 3.89 3.92 3.84 3.86 1481000 5744380 PETRON PETROENERGY 3.95 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 1000 4100 PHX PETROLEUM 11.48 11.94 11.5 11.94 11.4 11.94 330500 3897144 32.8 32.85 32.9 33.4 32.6 32.8 1043400 34250320 PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER 8.19 8.2 8.48 8.48 8 8.19 113000 922447 14.02 15.12 15.12 15.12 15.12 15.12 3000 45360 VIVANT AGRINURTURE 13 13.2 13.38 13.5 13 13.5 423000 5660486 AXELUM 2.61 2.66 2.76 2.78 2.61 2.61 4775000 12660970 15.18 15.28 15.12 15.28 15.08 15.18 308400 4681796 CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE 4.85 5.05 5.05 5.05 4.85 4.85 6000 29500 9.48 9.5 9.44 9.5 9.43 9.5 1887000 17892788 DNL INDUS EMPERADOR 7.2 7.21 7.22 7.22 7.2 7.21 488600 3521861 SMC FOODANDBEV 84.95 85 85 85.3 84.9 85 239460 20356623.5 0.5 0.52 0.5 0.52 0.49 0.51 219000 110190 ALLIANCE SELECT FRUITAS HLDG 1.2 1.21 1.25 1.26 1.2 1.21 18722000 22856990 37.5 38 38.25 39 37 38 149000 5615820 GINEBRA JOLLIBEE 215.4 216 216.2 217 214.6 216 302990 65345474 MACAY HLDG 6.1 6.19 6.2 6.2 5.9 6.19 68700 413176 11.72 12.4 11.94 12.4 11.7 12.4 182800 2228768 MAXS GROUP PEPSI COLA 1.92 1.93 1.92 1.93 1.92 1.92 12747000 24481550 9.9 10.12 9.9 10.08 9.9 9.9 1790000 17744749 SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO 2.17 2.2 2.19 2.2 2.15 2.17 1273000 2744190 RFM CORP 5.29 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.25 5.3 10900 57577 1.79 1.93 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 5000 9000 ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS 0.117 0.119 0.115 0.117 0.115 0.117 220000 25500 145 148.9 147.8 149.9 145 145 631700 93104458 UNIV ROBINA VITARICH 1.19 1.2 1.17 1.2 1.14 1.2 8016000 9511550 VICTORIAS 2.44 2.57 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.6 1000 2600 65 67 64.45 67 64.45 65 2220 144370 CONCRETE A CONCRETE B 66.6 71.9 71.95 71.95 71.9 71.9 2390 171848.5 2.01 2.04 2.08 2.08 2.01 2.01 1949000 3,984,150( CEMEX HLDG EAGLE CEMENT 14.3 14.86 14.5 14.9 14.3 14.86 19200 279946 EEI CORP 9.8 9.85 9.78 9.8 9.46 9.8 334900 3278663 13.52 13.6 13.7 13.7 13.5 13.6 1281500 17422828 HOLCIM MEGAWIDE 16.36 16.38 16.38 16.44 16.32 16.38 2842500 46598230 9.85 10.06 10 10.08 10 10.06 3004300 30083148 PHINMA TKC METALS 0.99 1.02 1.02 1.02 0.99 1.02 89000 89490 VULCAN INDL 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.87 0.85 0.86 1352000 1165030 165 170 170 170 161.8 170 230 38854 CHEMPHIL CROWN ASIA 2.15 2.17 2.16 2.17 2.14 2.15 435000 941150 4.61 4.86 4.6 4.86 4.6 4.86 11000 50860 LMG CHEMICALS PRYCE CORP 4.94 5.06 5.06 5.06 5.06 5.06 1000 5060 CONCEPCION 27.05 30 27 30 27 30 54800 1522830 1.86 1.87 1.87 1.89 1.8 1.87 9898000 18124090 GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR 7.72 7.89 7.91 7.91 7.6 7.89 66700 516122 1.29 1.3 1.26 1.3 1.26 1.3 77000 99300 IONICS PANASONIC 4.62 5.42 4.54 5.43 4.54 5.43 10200 46442 SFA SEMICON 0.85 0.86 0.87 0.87 0.85 0.85 28000 23900 4.05 4.07 4 4.78 4 4.07 2856000 12395740 CIRTEK HLDG

6830330 -26239490 -1497943.5 29707428 -48073396 -1966200 -37014 -16584265 -22680 -2988386 21310 2231708 4903047 -621953 8825461.5 -138010 1441000 -28251350 24800 -1202052 -2544190 -4541195 -39202 -46045675 135930 1,707,370.0001) -87882 -1123673 -16846038 -35479036 -30050000 81950 -5400 10874880 134341 -64200 199610

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT JOLLIVILLE HLDG KEPPEL HLDG B LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA REPUBLIC GLASS SOLID GROUP SYNERGY GRID SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

157.9 87.9 25 8.48 12.04 66.25 34.5 57.35 118 195 57.6 0.85 1.85 18 0.54 3.82 1.15 0.365 0.82 174 1820

0.85 10.18 785.5 51.45 11.64 2.99 6.33 0.68 0.92 0.94 6.83 6.61 13 3.83 847 5.2 80.55 6 5.2 0.485 3.71 11.92 3.47 4.55 1.14 2.81 1.22 190.5 1042 163.1 0.75 206.6 0.202 0.191

158 87.95 25.05 8.49 12.06 66.3 35 57.5 130 196 57.7 1.06 1.88 18.42 0.69 3.83 1.22 0.375 0.83 175 1825

0.86 10.46 790 51.5 11.66 3 6.59 0.69 0.93 0.96 6.84 6.63 13.38 3.99 856.5 5.24 80.8 6.65 5.79 0.5 3.8 11.98 3.48 4.7 1.2 2.96 1.24 195 1043 164 0.79 214 0.217 0.2

157.4 88 25.05 8.49 12 67 34.5 57.5 118.5 192 58.2 1.11 2.02 18 0.6 3.9 1.16 0.375 0.79 173 1825

0.87 10.24 800 52 11.54 3.02 6.42 0.67 0.91 0.96 6.67 6.87 13.38 4.2 845 5.25 79.2 5.89 5.86 0.485 3.72 11.9 3.58 4.6 1.2 2.9 1.22 214 1068 161 0.77 206 0.218 0.19

158 88 25.15 8.49 12.18 67 35.8 57.5 130 197 58.25 1.11 2.02 18.42 0.72 3.95 1.22 0.375 0.83 175 1825

0.88 10.48 808 52.5 11.76 3.02 6.42 0.69 0.93 0.96 6.9 6.93 13.4 4.2 881 5.25 81 6.65 5.86 0.5 3.73 12 3.59 4.78 1.2 2.95 1.22 214 1080 165 0.79 214 0.22 0.202

155.3 86.7 24.9 6.23 11.9 66.2 34.45 57.5 118.5 190 57.7 1.11 1.84 18 0.6 3.81 1.16 0.375 0.78 173 1825

0.85 10.2 785.5 51.5 11.54 2.99 6.42 0.66 0.9 0.96 6.67 6.61 13 3.78 845 5.2 79.2 5.89 5.79 0.485 3.71 11.68 3.46 4.6 1.13 2.9 1.22 190 1039 157.5 0.74 206 0.202 0.19

158 87.9 25.05 8.49 12.06 66.3 34.5 57.5 130 195 57.7 1.11 1.87 18.42 0.72 3.83 1.16 0.375 0.83 175 1825

0.86 10.46 785.5 51.5 11.66 2.99 6.42 0.69 0.93 0.96 6.84 6.61 13 3.99 847 5.2 80.8 6.65 5.79 0.5 3.71 11.98 3.48 4.75 1.2 2.95 1.22 195 1043 164 0.79 214 0.202 0.2

2245820 2222540 366300 4300 64000 1972480 235900 470 1250 186470 3280 4000 176000 111400 500000 235000 9000 80000 74000 1170 60

15101000 11200 448810 1103790 17493800 1783000 6200 69000 692000 203000 272700 19598000 222000 12000 197790 62100 1719870 382000 200200 2000 163000 1645800 60319000 14000 61000 255000 135000 1130 428450 101610 39000 165480 1180000 6830000

13098160 114442 356100685 57127455 204259208 5343320 39804 45930 635670 194880 1855111 132357921 2898420 48710 170793930 325055 138894595 2428676 1173165 985 605060 19700732 212074230 66230 69910 752000 164700 216310 449582840 16629465 29220 35377140 258610 1365850

524000 -57401710 -7484613 -1406634 -733100 7704 222403 -24445337 -66366620 -210000 7331079.5 377557 1172586 -3730 -8811258 -127525430 12200 -120820290 -4839307 -2380 -220000 -

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 0.8 0.81 0.8 0.81 0.78 0.81 630000 499830 45.5 46 46.3 46.55 45.5 45.5 10432800 479698750 -214708815 AYALA LAND ARANETA PROP 1.32 1.44 1.47 1.47 1.47 1.47 6000 8820 1.98 1.99 2 2 1.98 1.99 119000 236880 -11910 BELLE CORP 0.7 0.71 0.71 0.72 0.7 0.71 142000 99960 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.81 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 6000 5100 0.182 0.188 0.18 0.189 0.18 0.188 1110000 203630 CROWN EQUITIES CEBU HLDG 6.63 6.8 6.9 6.95 6.5 6.8 6000 41165 4.69 4.83 4.76 4.83 4.67 4.83 1478000 7105280 -502320 CEB LANDMASTERS 0.53 0.55 0.54 0.55 0.53 0.55 13021000 7014670 -221900 CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY 0.385 0.395 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.38 10000 3800 18.88 18.9 18.9 19.4 18.88 18.9 1052900 20003218 -3172578 DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO 9.67 9.9 9.98 9.98 9.65 9.9 97200 960630 -668305 0.41 0.43 0.415 0.43 0.415 0.43 150000 62800 EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND 1.5 1.51 1.52 1.52 1.5 1.5 2737000 4129670 322890 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.15 1.18 1.16 1.2 1.15 1.2 356000 410720 14.72 14.74 14.76 14.78 14.72 14.74 359000 5296126 -229970 8990 HLDG PHIL INFRADEV 1.23 1.25 1.25 1.27 1.22 1.25 1267000 1570560 4.01 4.08 4.14 4.18 4.01 4.01 27824000 114129640 8003770.0001 MEGAWORLD 0.19 0.191 0.192 0.194 0.189 0.191 10230000 1947040 57060 MRC ALLIED PRIMEX CORP 2.05 2.12 2.1 2.1 2.03 2.09 1900000 3901790 -240.0001 27.55 27.8 27.2 28.15 27.2 27.55 2038200 56837455 2270850 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.3 0.305 0.31 0.31 0.3 0.3 510000 153550 2.04 2.11 2.11 2.12 2.03 2.04 63000 130490 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 3.19 3.2 3.2 3.21 3.1 3.2 24000 76430 STA LUCIA LAND 2.39 2.47 2.36 2.48 2.36 2.48 500000 1206980 41.95 42.1 41.5 42.1 41.4 42.1 14600500 613844805 228459150 SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 5.47 5.66 5.55 5.66 5.46 5.66 1832600 10045330 1.23 1.24 1.18 1.24 1.18 1.23 8235000 10066700 SUNTRUST HOME PTFC REDEV CORP 40.05 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 49.95 100 4995 VISTA LAND 7.37 7.73 7.38 7.73 7.32 7.73 8337900 63078293 -37595813

SERVICES ABS CBN 15.76 15.8 15.8 15.82 15.3 15.8 60600 953926 5.31 5.33 5.31 5.37 5.31 5.33 545500 2907261 GMA NETWORK MANILA BULLETIN 0.355 0.38 0.385 0.385 0.385 0.385 20000 7700 2000 2020 1998 2030 1998 2020 35090 70702720 20243890 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 988 996 999.5 1003 988 988 124630 124310925 -37777760 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.042 0.043 0.042 0.043 0.042 0.043 1700000 72500 4.82 4.88 4.88 4.9 4.51 4.88 866000 4222840 DFNN INC ISLAND INFO 0.1 0.103 0.1 0.104 0.1 0.104 130000 13040 3.44 3.45 3.4 3.46 3.31 3.44 10071000 34466430 -201440 ISM COMM 2.01 2.17 1.9 2.19 1.9 2 34000 68210 JACKSTONES NOW CORP 2.48 2.49 2.43 2.6 2.4 2.49 3058000 7594830 -560580 0.27 0.275 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.27 1130000 310300 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 2.59 2.61 2.56 2.61 2.54 2.61 2093000 5400730 -28150 10.02 10.5 9.89 10.5 9.51 10.5 128300 1295194 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS 18 18.5 18 18.5 18 18.5 250700 4520100 4242600 CHELSEA 5.47 5.5 5.4 5.5 5.3 5.5 1053100 5716814 40565 89.45 89.5 89.85 89.85 89.45 89.5 141270 12648324 -8162953 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 128.6 129.2 129 131.3 127.1 128.6 1669580 215210196 -62802719 0.85 0.86 0.85 0.85 0.85 0.85 75000 63750 LORENZO SHIPPNG MACROASIA 16.4 16.5 17 17 16.5 16.5 331600 5,493,932( 2,430,543.9997) PAL HLDG 7.5 7.85 7.85 7.85 7.1 7.85 4800 34505 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.05 1.07 700000 747590 107670 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.4 1.54 1.42 1.42 1.4 1.4 88000 123660 0.6 0.61 0.57 0.61 0.57 0.6 121000 72600 WATERFRONT STI HLDG 0.6 0.62 0.61 0.62 0.6 0.6 4238000 2546310 -2151600 BERJAYA 5.14 5.2 4.95 5.2 4.76 5.2 4445000 22583050 -238200 11.3 11.32 11 11.34 11 11.3 1918200 21661494 -3377236 BLOOMBERRY PACIFIC ONLINE 2.25 2.5 2.57 2.57 2.45 2.5 26000 64820 -54750 2.39 2.4 2.39 2.4 2.38 2.4 832000 1988040 LEISURE AND RES MANILA JOCKEY 3.33 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 3.35 5000 16750 PH RESORTS GRP 4.4 5 5 5.2 5 5.2 50000 253706 0.56 0.57 0.57 0.59 0.56 0.57 14396000 8095570 -613569.9997 PREMIUM LEISURE PHIL RACING 8.84 8.85 8.88 8.88 8.85 8.85 200 1773 11.6 11.64 11.56 11.64 11.52 11.64 2868200 33309926 -4254076 ALLHOME METRO RETAIL 2.09 2.12 2.12 2.12 2.09 2.11 433000 911040 -172200 PUREGOLD 39.7 39.75 40.3 40.3 39.75 39.75 1336600 53323565 568135.0004 77 80 77.95 80 76 80 839780 65672083 -15872737 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 140 142 136.2 142 136.2 142 1530 216004 71364 2.73 2.78 2.77 2.78 2.71 2.78 2051000 5655760 -869480 SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT 17.84 18 17.8 18 17.78 18 182900 3279610 428332 APC GROUP 0.385 0.39 0.38 0.39 0.37 0.39 1480000 562050 7.77 7.79 7.79 7.79 7.76 7.79 169700 1321701 EASYCALL GOLDEN BRIA 436 436.4 425 436.4 425 436 310 134068 7 7.94 6.5 7 6.45 7 68900 455900 130580 IPM HLDG PRMIERE HORIZON 0.335 0.34 0.34 0.35 0.32 0.34 28370000 9628700 -8250 SBS PHIL CORP 9.2 9.26 8.69 9.26 8.64 9.26 236000 2121789

MINING & OIL ATOK 10.5 10.92 10.96 10.96 10.5 10.96 500 5388 0.98 0.99 0.96 1 0.96 0.99 4248000 4203230 APEX MINING ABRA MINING 0.0015 0.0016 0.0015 0.0015 0.0015 0.0015 3000000 4500 2.41 2.5 2.49 2.5 2.49 2.5 55000 137460 ATLAS MINING BENGUET A 1.05 1.13 1.13 1.13 1.13 1.13 1000 1130 CENTURY PEAK 2.87 2.88 2.81 2.89 2.81 2.88 2314000 6598990 111000 6.92 6.93 7.3 7.3 6.93 6.93 600 4195 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 1.78 1.79 1.79 1.81 1.76 1.79 1225000 2184450 257060 0.197 0.202 0.203 0.203 0.197 0.202 80000 15940 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.091 0.092 0.092 0.097 0.091 0.091 680000 62070 MARCVENTURES 0.98 1 0.89 0.98 0.89 0.98 485000 465020 0.98 1.01 1.01 1.02 1.01 1.02 2000 2030 NIHAO NICKEL ASIA 3.33 3.39 3.38 3.39 3.24 3.39 7033000 23532070 -3809430 0.45 0.49 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 30000 14100 OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA 0.75 0.76 0.75 0.75 0.74 0.75 264000 197850 -18000 PX MINING 2.81 2.83 2.76 2.83 2.76 2.83 370000 1041790 22 22.05 22 22.6 21.6 22 2253400 49725465 -3360585 SEMIRARA MINING ACE ENEXOR 7.32 7.38 7.46 7.56 7.3 7.32 447300 3308503 53465 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 8500000 93500 1100 ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 15000000 165000 PXP ENERGY 8.58 8.64 8.62 8.64 8.52 8.64 549900 4735194 68300.9999

PREFFERED

AC PREF B1 499 505 499 499 499 499 50 24950 101.3 103.3 101.3 101.3 98.25 101.3 510 51632.5 -50650 ALCO PREF B AC PREF B2R 505 509.5 505 505 505 505 3000 1515000 100.1 101 100.6 100.6 100.5 100.5 5240 526784 DD PREF SMC FB PREF 2 997 998.5 998.5 998.5 997 997 80 79775 FGEN PREF G 108 111.9 111.9 111.9 111.9 111.9 10 1119 498 507 500 500 500 500 200 100000 GLO PREF P MWIDE PREF 100.2 101 100.5 100.5 100.3 100.3 4770 478447 1022 1030 1031 1035 1022 1022 4290 4419400 PNX PREF 4 PCOR PREF 3A 1031 1051 1031 1031 1031 1031 3000 3093000 PCOR PREF 3B 1050 1055 1051 1055 1050 1055 800 843025 76 77.5 77.5 77.7 77.5 77.5 10840 842208 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D 75 75.5 75 75 75 75 13400 1005000 75.8 76.9 75.75 76 75.75 75.8 1513530 114724905 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2I 75.2 76.5 76.95 76.95 75.2 75.2 9440 710105.5 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

15.4 5.07

15.7 5.3

15.4 5.3

15.4 5.3

15.02 5.3

15.4 5.3

21100 28200

324812 149460

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

1.2

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

ITALPINAS 3.7 KEPWEALTH 9.7 0.77 XURPAS

1.29

1.3

1.3

1.2

1.29

38000

46720

-

3.79 9.72 0.78

4 10.08 0.76

4.01 10.08 0.78

3.64 9.51 0.76

3.79 9.7 0.77

671000 346500 1611000

2625440 3346331 1241220

1953730 28344 -

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

116.7

306498 -

117.4

117.3

117.9

116.5

117.4

45500

5314164

-318951

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

B1

Ghana loses $190M in aid over deal involving Meralco

W

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

ASHINGTON-BASED Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) has reduced its financial aid to Ghana by $190 million following the termination of the concession agreement that was supposed to allow a consortium, which the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) was part of, to take over the Electricity Co. of Ghana (ECG).

“On November 8, 2019, MCC’s Board of Directors approved the termination of $190 million of Compact funding,” it said in a letter to Ghana.

MCC was supposed to extend a total of $498.2 million to Ghana to help the latter create a self-sustaining power sector that will provide reliable and affordable power to nearly 10 million Ghanaians. A key component of this is the introduction of private-sector participation into Ghana’s power sector through a 20-year concession agreement to operate ECG, Ghana’s largest electricity distribution utility.

An amount of $28.9 million was already released to Ghana upon Compact signing. The Compact comprises of two tranches: $279.3 million and $190 million.

MCC said the balance is still intact and it will be managed and implemented by the Millennium Development Authority (MiDa).

MCC has repeatedly warned Ghana not to terminate the concession agreement despite the results of an independent audit conducted

by MiDa. In July, Ghana suspended the concession of ECG, claiming that

SEC warns Yansons to be careful with info released to the public

T

HE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned factions of the Yanson family feuding over the ownership of bus company Vallacar Transit Inc. to be mindful of the information they release to the public as this could hurt consumers and investors.

The SEC’s name has been dragged into the dispute after its Bacolod officer in charge attended the annual stockholders’ meeting last December 7 of the so-called Yanson Four, one of factions who claim ownership of the country’s largest bus company.

“In this light, both parties are advised to be mindful in presenting in the media and to the general public the statements and actions of the Commission with regard to their intra-corporate dispute over the control of Vallacar Transit,” the SEC said.

“The Commission will not tolerate misinformation and disinformation, knowing that these will negatively impact not only the warring factions but also the investors, the consumers and the overall market,” it said.

The Yanson Four are Roy V. Yanson, Ricardo V. Yanson Jr., Emily V. Yanson and Ma. Lourdes Celina V. Yanson-Lopez.

The faction is in dispute with Yanson’s matriarch Olivia V. Yanson, along with Leo Rey Yanson, Ginnette Y. Dumancas, Charles M. Dumancas, Arvin John Villaruel, Anita G. Chua and Daniel Nicolas Golez, who were elected members of the board of directors of Vallacar on December 7.

In its certification, the SEC Bacolod Extension office confirmed that it attended the Yanson Four’s stockholders’ meeting on December 7.

The lawyers of the other faction led by the Yanson matriarch, who also held their annual stockholders’ meeting on the same day, questioned the SEC officer’s attendance at the meeting led by the Yanson Four and even warned the regulator to stop interfering with the ongoing family dispute.

“Even if you and/or your representatives claim to be a mere witness, your presence nonetheless created a misconception that Y4’s [Yanson Four] alleged meeting was regular when in truth and, in fact, it was not. With the highly publicized suits between the parties, you and/or your representatives should have acted with extreme caution so as not to be used by the Y4 in their propaganda,” lawyers said in an earlier statement.

Vallacar Transit is the largest subsidiary of the Yanson Group of Bus Cos., the firm 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. The SEC said its attendance as an observer was in line with the general supervisory powers of the agency over registered firms.

“The Commission is well aware of the parties’ pending intra-corporate cases before the Regional Trial Court in Bacolod and the Court of Appeals. It will never take an action or issue a statement that will undermine the jurisdiction of the courts and the judicial process,” the SEC said.

“Both parties must give the appropriate respect to the Commission, the primary registrar and overseer of corporations like Vallacar Transit,” it added. VG Cabuag

PLDT to shrink Voyager stake to as low as 35%

P

LDT Inc. may further dilute its shares in Voyager Innovations Inc. to as low as 35 percent, as it prepares for a fresh round of funding for its next phase of expansion.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, who chairs the telco, said his group is comfortable to sell as much as a 13-percent stake in Voyager to “financial investors.”

“We try to stay within the 35 percent level.

Right now, we’re about 47 percent to 48 percent,” he said.

Voyager is preparing for a new round of funding to bankroll the digital innovator’s programs for 2020 and beyond. Pangilinan called it a “new phase of expansion.”

“I think we’re close to it. I think we’re on the

final stages to that. I think by January we have a better sense of how much money [needs] to be raised and what is the interest level. We have quite a number of good names of new investors, they are financial investors mostly,” he said.

Voyager, the holding company for various digital services that are focused on financial technology, was able to entice last year global investors Tencent Holdings Ltd., KKR, World Bank’s International Finance Corp. and IFC Emerging Asia Fund, raising a total of $215 million in fresh capital, the largest private fund raising to-date in a Filipino tech company.

PLDT remains as the single largest investor in Voyager. Voyager has since increased its valuation to $450 million. Lorenz S. Marasigan

part of the financial transaction underlying the concession had been fraudulently obtained. In contrast to this, the audit concluded there was no information to suggest fraud in the transaction.

MCC Chief Executive Officer Sean Cairncross said the suspension of the concession was “unfounded” and that “the rights of Power Distribution Services [PDS] as concessionaire should be restored.”

Still, Ghana proceeded to terminate the concession agreement last October.

“MCC has determined that by terminating the existing concession arrangement, the Government of Ghana materially breached an obligation under the Compact,” the MCC said.

Meralco was part of the consortium called PDS Ghana Ltd., which had been awarded a 20-year concession to take over the operation and management of ECG. It used to have a 30-percent stake in the consortium prior to the termination.

PDS is a consortium between Meralco through Meridian Power Ventures Ltd., AEnergia SA, an Angolan company, and three Ghanaian firms—TG Energy Solutions Ghana Ltd., Santa Power Ltd. and GTS Power Ltd. Meralco said claims that the con-

mutual funds

cession was terminated for alleged material breaches by PDS in the provision of the Demand Guarantees are invalid, because the Demand Guarantees were issued without due authorization and in excess of the mandate of Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance, a Qatari insurance firm.

“Based on the letter signed by Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of the Ministry of Finance of Ghana, the forensic audit by the auditors chosen by the Millennium Development Authority indicated that the purported Demand Guarantees were issued without due authorization and in excess of the mandate of Al Koot Insurance and Reinsurance, a Qatari insurance firm and were, therefore, invalid,” the utility firm said.

The Demand Guarantees were key prerequisites and conditions precedent for the turnover of ECG’s assets and facilities to PDS. “The same report also mentioned that there was no information available to forensic auditors to suggest that PDS committed fraud in relation to the Demand Guarantees. PDS has maintained that it procured the Demand Guarantees in good faith and that it has no knowledge of any issue with same until the suspension of the Concession,” said Meralco.

December 27, 2019

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 253.04 0.62% 3.07% -0.43% 0.33% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.3784 -2.68% 2.04% -3.36% -4.33% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.6956 -4.94% 0.05% -3.17% -5.31% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.9029 1.2% n.a. n.a.

0.21% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.8531 4.21% n.a. n.a.

3.95% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 5.3449 1.92% 4.23% -0.59% 1.36% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.8567 3.07% 0.06% n.a.

2.39% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 103.41 -12.8% n.a. n.a. -10.98% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 51.4767 4.79% 5.79% n.a.

4.58% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 534.98 4.26% 4.32% -0.01% 3.93% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 1.0263 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.2919 3.22% 4.69% 0.7% 3.02% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 38.0502 4.1% 5.64% 0.66% 3.87% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.0218 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 5.2426 5.93% 1.95% 5.72% 6.43% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a

875.11 5.85% 6.34% 1.9% 5.63% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.8548 -0.33% 3.07% n.a.

-0.6% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.2296 4.48% 5.45% 0.99% 4.21% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 1.0044 5.46% 6.07% n.a.

5.25% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.671 5.07% 7.37% 2.65% 4.86% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 117.3442 6.18% 7.07% 2.88% 5.96% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.0235 11.7% 7.4% 1% 10.16% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.3711 25.73% 9.76% n.a.

24.06% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5669 -5.04% -1.39% -3.95% -5.11% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.1866 -0.58% 0.28% -1.26% -1.02% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.6364 4.11% 3.95% -0.99% 3.67% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.2303 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Grepalife Balanced Fund Corporation -a 1.3294 2.04% n.a. n.a.

1.92% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.7982 7.65% 3.5% 0.5% 7.62% 17.0014 7.06% 3.39% 0.42% 6.88% Philam Fund, Inc. -a Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.1349 3.24% 2.98% 1.14% 3.18% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.8745 6.36% 4.44% 0.82% 6.11% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 1.0181 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.9987 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.9957 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.9787 6.28% 3.95% -0.12% 6.18% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03817 8.38% 3.09% 2.01% 8.13% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $1.0326 -0.14% 5.71% 1.19% 13.01% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.8945 18.15% 7.76% 4.06% 17.71% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $1.1248 12.38% 4.61% n.a.

11.92% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 357.83 4.21% 2.83% 2.33% 4.18% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a

1.9014 2.32% 0.02% -0.5% 2.27% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1141 4.88% 5.21% 5.21% 4.64% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2237 4.35% 2.46% 1.96% 4.44% 2.39% 1.58% 6.97% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3589 6.81% Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. -a P 1.6065 2.8% 0.99% -0.13% 2.69% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.3722 11.54% 2.85% 1.77% 11.54% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.7767 7.75% 2.99% 1.42% 7.38% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9639 8.01% 1.52% n.a.

8.16% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.075 11.35% 4.9% 2.67% 11.18% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7011 10.63% 4.45% 2.21% 10.47% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $468.02 4.43% 2.72% 2.77% 4.38% Є219.71 3.34% 1.65% 1.31% 3.31% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2063 7.24% 3.24% 2.58% 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 $1.7091 1.09% -0.03% 0.13% 1.12% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.093 17.84% 1.54% -0.8% 5.47% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.402 10.63% 3.7% 2.97% 10.65% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0603476 5.89% 2.31% 1.99% 5.87% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1717 10.41% 3.06% 2.58% 10.43% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 125.77 4.11% 2.86% 2.18% 4.05% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0299 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2563 6.35% 3.04% 1.71% 6.29% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2641 3.74% 2.88% 2.34% 3.68% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0371 2.11% n.a. n.a.

2.09% 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."

B2 Wednesday, January 1, 2020

World Companies BusinessMirror

Huawei to shake up executive ranks in 2020 as Trump curbs bite deeper

H

uawei Technologies Co. will overhaul its executive ranks next year after revenue growth slowed further in the latter half of 2019, when US sanctions spooked more customers and suppliers around the globe.

China’s big gest technolog y company recorded an 18-percent rise in sales to 850 billion yuan ($120 billion) this year, down from about 23 percent in the first half and missing its own internal targets. Huawei should brace for a similar hit in 2020 if the White House maintains curbs on the sale of software and circuitry it needs, like essential Android phone apps, Rotating Chairman Eric Xu said in a memo to Huawei’s 190,000 employees.

Huawei went to a war footing after the Trump administration blacklisted the Chinese goliath in May, labeling it a threat to US national security. In response, Huawei mobilized thousands of

engineers to develop alternatives to crucial US components and keep its factories humming, while appealing to domestic users to drive 16.5-percent growth in shipments to 240 million smartphones in 2019. But Xu in his memo talked about the need to weed out as many as 10 percent of the company’s worst-performing managers in 2020. Some support or even operational units will be merged or downsized, Xu said, adding employees could get re-assigned to other divisions.

“Survival will be our first priority,” Xu, one of three executives who take turns running the tech giant during the year, said in a memo provided to Bloomberg. “We

won’t grow as rapidly as we did in the first half of 2019, growth that continued throughout the year owing to sheer momentum in the market.”

White House sanctions have hit Huawei’s smartphone unit in particular, because the company is barred from using Google’s Android operating system and applications, including Google Play and Gmail, Huawei’s billionaire Founder Ren Zhengfei has said.

Huawei, the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor, grew its global smartphone shipments by 28 percent in the third quarter,

further closing the gap with Samsung Electronics Co., according to latest data from IDC. The advance was mainly driven by domestic demand, where Huawei took more than 40-percent market share.

In the 2,000-word memo, Xu also highlighted major tasks for 2020. The company is betting on its own mobile apps ecosystem, known as Huawei Mobile Services, to continue driving phone sales overseas without Google’s suite of apps. It’s also aiming to expand the use of self-made chips in cloud and enterprise businesses, he added.

Bloomberg News

Uber, Postmates sue California to block gig worker law

U

ber Technologies Inc. and Postmates Inc. sued the state of California, alleging that a labor rights law set to go into effect this week is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles federal court is a preemptive strike against the state’s landmark measure designed to ensure gig workers receive employment protections. Uber and Postmates argue the legislative process around California’s Assembly Bill 5 unfairly targeted gig economy companies, while favoring other industries and that the law will threaten workers’ flexibility.

The passage of AB 5, which takes effect on Wednesday, has set in motion a bitter dispute about the rights of Uber drivers, food couriers and other people who derive their income from apps made in Silicon Valley working as independent contractors.

Uber and Postmates say it’s arbitrary that direct salespeople, travel agents, grant writers, construction truck drivers, commercial fishermen and others are exempted from the law.

“There is no rhyme or reason to these nonsensical exemptions, and some are so ill-defined or entirely undefined that it is impossible to discern what they include or exclude,” according to the complaint.

The impact of AB 5—and the backlash against it—extends beyond the technology industry. Two organizations representing freelance journalists brought a legal challenge this month, saying the law restricts free speech and the news media by effectively limiting the number of articles a contract journalist can write for the same publication each year. The trucking industry, in its own lawsuit, says the measure would make it “impractical, if not impossible,” to use contractors for services across state lines.

But tech companies have far more at stake financially if they are forced to provide overtime pay, health care and other benefits to the armies of contract laborers they rely on to drive customers around and deliver food. With their business models threatened, DoorDash Inc., Lyft Inc. and Uber have said they’ll spend a combined $90 mil-

lion on a campaign asking California voters to overturn the law in the next election. Lyft and Uber have each committed to turning a profit by the end of 2021, a promise that could be unattainable if they’re forced to reclassify workers in their home state.

The labor issue looms as a risk for Postmates as it heads toward a planned initial public offering. The food delivery company agreed to pay about $11.5 million to settle misclassification claims brought by couriers in California. Last month, a judge expressed “significant concerns” with the deal and sought more information.

In Monday’s complaint, Uber, Postmates and one driver from each company who are also plaintiffs said they want a judge to block AB 5 from being implemented. They alleged that the law violates guarantees of equal protection afforded by both the US Constitution and the California Constitution.

The companies take particular aim at the sponsor of the bill, Lorena Gonzalez, who they say has spoken forcefully about targeting gig economy firms. In a November

In this August 28, 2019, file photo, dozens of supporters of a measure to limit when companies can label workers as independent contractors rally at the Capitol in Sacramento, California. Ride-share company Uber and on-demand meal delivery service Postmates sued on Monday, December 30, 2019, to block a broad new California law aimed at giving wage and benefit protections to people who work as independent contractors. The lawsuit filed in US court in Los Angeles argues that the law set to take effect on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, violates federal and state constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

tweet, Gonzalez, a Democrat from San Diego, urged four of the state’s biggest cities to pursue court orders to enforce the law as soon as it takes effect. ”The one clear thing we know about Uber is they will do anything to try to exempt themselves from state regulations that make us all safer and their driver employees self-sufficient,” she said in response to Monday’s lawsuit. “In the meantime, Uber chief executives will continue to become billionaires while too many of their drivers are forced to sleep in their cars.”

Signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in September, AB 5 says workers can generally only be considered contractors if they perform duties outside the usual course of a company’s business.

The law adopted a more straightforward test than previously existed in California law to determine which workers qualify for employee status and the attendant benefits. Legal experts say the law weakens gig economy companies’ arguments that their drivers are independent contractors, and will make it much harder for them to continue denying California drivers benefits including business expense reimbursements that would ordinarily be available to employees.

“This complaint is an attempt to dress up the companies’ political arguments against AB 5 in constitutional clothing,” Charlotte Garden, a professor at Seattle University School of Law, said in an e-mail.

The lawsuit is probably dead-onarrival, she said, based on courts’ recognition “that legislative linedrawing is inevitable, and legislatures have to be able to tackle problems piecemeal.”

Uber has acknowledged the higher hurdle AB 5 poses for the company, but has said the law is no “magic wand” that changes gig workers’ status on January 1. Instead, the company has argued that the fight will need to be resolved by courts.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office is reviewing Monday’s complaint, a representative said. Bloomberg News

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Brazil fines Facebook $1.6M in Cambridge Analytica case

B

razil’s government imposed a 6.6 million real ($1.6 million) fine on Facebook Inc. and its local unit for their role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The fine is tied to Facebook’s unlawful sharing of data from its users in Brazil, Brazil’s justice ministry said in a statement posted on its web site on Monday. The investigation began in April 2018.

The company can still appeal the decision.

“It’s evident that the data of about 443,000 users of the platform were made available by the developers of the app ‘thisisyourdigital life’ for reasons that are at least questionable,” the ministry said in the statement, adding that the companies could not show the number of affected users was smaller. The ministry also said Facebook failed to inform users about the conse-

quences of their privacy settings.

The companies should have been “much more careful” when automatically sharing data of friends and friends of friends with apps, according to the statement. “The model of consent adopted had important implications to the people that had their data exposed.”

Facebook said it has made changes to its platform and restricted information accessible to app developers. “There is no evidence data from users in Brazil were transferred to Cambridge Analytica,” said a spokesman for the company in Brazil. “We are currently evaluating our legal options in this case.”

In July, Facebook agreed to pay $5 billion to the US Federal Trade Commission—the largest privacy fine in the agency’s history—to resolve the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Bloomberg News

JPMorgan seeks full control of China futures joint venture

J

PMorgan Chase & Co. is seeking 100 percent ownership of its futures joint venture in China, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, making it the first global bank to take advantage of the opening of the nation’s futures market, where transactions topped $30 trillion last year.

The US bank plans to raise its current 49-percent stake in JPMorgan Futures Co., said the person, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The onshore venture has applied for a major shareholding change involving more than a 5-percent stake, according to a December 25 filing to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which didn’t give additional details.

JPMorgan declined to comment on the shareholding change plan.

Starting with its futures and insurance markets, China will enact the most sweeping changes in decades from early next year to allow the likes of JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and BlackRock Inc. to expand their footprint in China and compete for a slice of its growing wealth. Global firms may

plow 7 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) to 8 trillion yuan of assets onshore in the next few years, Huang Qifan, vice president at China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said this month.

Overseas companies currently have a tiny presence in China’s futures market which is dominated by nearly 150 local players. JPMorgan set up its joint venture in 2007 while UBS Group AG controls a futures subsidiary through its onshore securities outfit.

Foreign interest has so far been limited by restrictions in China on making unhedged bets against the market and quotas imposed on index and commodity futures.

That could change quickly should authorities push forward with a broad swath of changes in the derivatives space.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon has said that his firm is committed to bringing its “full force” to China. The New Yorkbased firm earlier this year became the first US bank to receive Chinese approval to take majority ownership of a securities joint venture.

Bloomberg News

Bank of Canada begins hunt for next rate chief

T

he Bank of Canada has officially started its recruitment effort for a successor to Stephen Poloz, who is stepping down as governor at the end of his seven-year term in June.

A job description posted by executive search firm Boyden says the central bank is seeking someone who can “build upon the current organizational culture” and further burnish its “reputation for integrity, innovation and clear, open communication” as it enters the new year an outlier among its advanced-economy peers on interest rates.

Poloz, who has held Canadian borrowing costs steady since October 2018 even as the Federal Reserve and other central banks eased monetary policy, announced this month that he wouldn’t seek a second term. Deciding on his replacement is one of the most important decisions facing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government after securing a weakened second mandate this fall.

In its last rate decision of 2019, the Bank of Canada cited a tightening labor market as a main reason why it bucked the global easing trend and kept its policy rate at 1.75 percent. Domestic data since then has been weak, with gross domestic product shrinking for the first time in eight months and the nation suffering its biggest jobs loss since 2009. But house-

hold debt levels near record highs are restraining the bank’s ability to cut rates.

Early front-runners for the job include Carolyn Wilkins, Poloz’s top deputy governor; Jean Boivin, the head of BlackRock Inc.’s research unit in London; and Tiff Macklem, dean of one of Canada’s most prestigious business schools, and a former No. 2 at the central bank.

The job posting mirrors the advertisement in 2013 after Mark Carney’s departure for the the Bank of England and includes a line that the central bank encourages applications from “women, Indigenous peoples, veterans, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities and persons of all races, ethnic origins, religions, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities and expressions.” Trudeau kept his cabinet gender balanced—with women filling half the ministerial posts—as he started his second term after a bruising election in October.

The successful candidate at the central bank will be a Canadian citizen that has “unquestioned technical competence in monetary policy and, more broadly, macroeconomics, coupled with a highly developed understanding of the financial sector—both institutions and markets— domestic and international,” according to the posting. Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

• Editor: Tet Andolong

Wednesday, January 1, 2020 B3

Seda opens second property in Cebu

A

YALALand’s homegrown hotel brand Seda will open its second property in Cebu City in January 2020, in response to the surging demand for accommodations that meet the requirements of global business and leisure travelers.

The 214-room Seda Central Bloc will be an anchor destination of a self-contained AyalaLand Central Bloc community with retail, office

and residential towers within the dynamic Cebu IT Park (CITP) business district. The hotel’s 17 stories which also include 48 serviced

residences are stacked on top of a three-story mall that offer Seda guests easy access to a wide range of retail and dining options.

According to Andrea Mastellone, senior group general manager, the hotel will cater to business-process outsourcing (BPO) firms already located in the 24-hour business district, as well as those expanding from Metro Manila and other cities to Cebu in the next five years.

Seda Central Bloc’s serviced residences will cater primarily to young professionals and managers in the BPO industry staying long term, while its hotel rooms are targeted toward a broader market of leisure

and business travelers. The latter include guests who will be attending events at a convention center within the CITP. Seda Central Bloc’s hotel rooms will be 28 square meters, while its studios to three-bedroom units will range from 30 sq m to 90 sq m. An all-day dining outlet, swimming pool, meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 100 persons, gym and roofdeck bar complete the hotel’s amenities.

Like all other Seda hotels, the Central Bloc property will offer a high-energy location within one of Cebu’s prime business districts “with everything they need within

walking distance,” Mastellone said.

He added, “In addition to location, we expect guests to keep coming back because of the warm personable service now associated with the Seda brand. In each of our properties throughout the country, guests have come to expect a certain level of service excellence and we are proud of that.”

Seda Central Bloc is one of 11 Seda properties throughout the country, including resorts and serviced residences. Seda’s newest hotel will be the brand’s second in Cebu City “which we are experiencing as a vibrant hot spot for business, as well as tourism,” said Mastellone.

He related that high hotel occupancy rates indicating unserved demand prompted the development of the Central Bloc hotel as early as 2015. Demand drivers include the BPO industry which is still expanding in Visayas, as well as multinationals and large Philippine corporations based in Manila and doing business in Cebu.

Both properties offer rooms with fresh, modern layouts and designs, as do all Seda hotels. “Our signature look works very well with today’s guests who highly appreciate the understated elegance, comfort and convenience associated with the Seda brand.”

IWG signs first ASEAN franchise partnership with AppleOne

By Roderick L. Abad @rodrik_28

I

WG has executed a partnership deal at an undisclosed amount with AppleOne Properties Inc. (API) to develop its first workspace franchises not only in the Philippines, but also in Southeast Asia.

According to IWG Head of Partnership Growth Asia-Pacific Matthew James Kenley, they started to offer this unique opportunity in the country six months ago as part of their global franchising program.

“The rational behind franchising for us is clearly the demand for our sector,” he told reporters during their ceremonial signing of the tie-up agreement held recently at the Diamond Suites and Residences in Ayala, Cebu City.

“On a global scale, our business

is accelerating; the growth is accelerating. And in order to keep up with that demand and to open new centers, we want to franchise. We think that franchising is definitely a way of doing that.”

Within the region, the Philippines is the most successful market for IWG, whose 28 shared office space locations in 10 cities across Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao and Clark are mostly fully occupied.

“Having fantastic partners, like the AppleOne, and working within provinces and across the Philippines, it enables us to work much smarter, work much better and accelerate growth,” he said.

The first shared workspace center that IWG opened outside of Metro Manila in 2013 was exactly located at API’s building in Ayala, Cebu. It is also now present in another AppleOne tower located

in the IT Park.

“So it is only natural that it is with our good friends and partners that we are now taking this giant leap there for further expansion,” IWG Country Manager for the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and South Korea Lars Wittig said, while noting the company’s goal to grow its network to about a hundred locations nationwide in the near future.

The serviced office market is among the most exciting growth sectors in real estate, especially in Cebu, given its robust economy. It is for this reason that API is now beefing up its commercial office business with its franchise partnership with IWG. "This is part of our expansion program for the Visayas. I think we will be putting up 10 centers all over Visayas in a span of five

Ray Manigsaca (from left), chief executive officer and president, AppleOne Properties Inc.; Venus Manigsaca, chairman, API; Matthew James Kenley, head of partnership growth for Asia-Pacific, IWG; Lars Wittig, country manager for the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, IWG; and Rowena B. Natividad, head of partnership growth, IWG Philippines.

years,” bared API Chief Executive Officer and President Ray Manigsaca.

In addition to the two existing API buildings in Cebu where Regus is located, both parties will work together to develop eight more new centers by 2024 in six cities across the Visayas region: Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City (Mactan), Mandaue City, Dumaguete City, Iloilo City and Bacolod City. Given the average size of a Regus center with 500 workstations, they will have a total inventory of around 5,000 shared office spaces.

The franchise deal is not limited only to Regus, but also to other IWG’s brands, especially workspaces, which is a lot big in size. Once completed, the 10 shared coworking space hubs franchised by API will join the IWG global network that currently consists of 3,400 locations across 120 countries.

“We’ve got hotels, we’ve got residences. We’re venturing into mixed-use developments, as well, with our other projects in Mactan.

So I think partnering with IWG is just a natural progression of having a rebalance of our portfolio,” API Executive Vice President Joy Veloso said, while citing that this will help increase their office portfolio to contribute around 10 percent to their overall business performance.

“API has a proven track record, and will be a strong franchise partner as we ramp up our presence in the Philippines and expand our global position,” stressed Rowena B. Natividad, head of partnership growth, IWG Philippines.

Aseana City glows extra this holiday season

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S the festive season is on a full swing, main roads and streets in the Philippines are filled with lights and decorations.

It is no doubt that Filipinos are passionate when it comes to celebrating Christmas, just like how Aseana City has transformed into a Christmas wonderland.

Aseana City, the flagship project of DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc. definitely has no shortage in Christmas decorations as President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard and Diokno Boulevard has, once again, adorned with impressive Christmas décors. Twinkling lights draping down the length of the streets and giant pa-

rols are giving off these two major road fares their very own Christmas charm. Now on its second year of partnership, the LED bulbs on display are powered no less than by Firefly Electric and Lighting Corp., while the giant parols were delicately designed by Pampanga’s Parol King, himself, Rolando Quiambao.

With the rise of residential, commercial and mixed-use enclaves inside Aseana City, the estate’s management sees to it that every citizen not only enjoys living and working in a safe environment, but is also having a festive time while walking along its pedestrians and alleyways.

B4 Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Ways to prevent dry skin during the holidays

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HE effect of holiday stress on one’s health goes both ways and the first visible sign may manifest through our skin.

Stress can cause our skin to look dull, dry and lifeless. And the cold weather makes it a lot worse.

Now, our child’s skin is not only thinner and more sensitive, but it also produces fewer moisturizing oils so naturally it dries up easily.

“What you put in their mouth is as important as the products you apply on their skin,” says Dr. Lily Ong-Lim, Top Pediatrician of St. Luke’s Medical Center.

The most important thing to do to keep our skin healthy during the holidays is to hydrate or drink lots of fluids. An increase intake of fruits and vegetables can also provide the skin with the necessary nutrients it needs to be healthy.

Walnuts, Avocado, Sweet Potatoes, Cucumber and Flaxseed are just some of the best food to include in your diet when you want to keep your skin hydrated.

For child’s skin care, the adage "less is more" is definitely the way to go.

Except for drool and diaper changes, children don't get very dirty. For the first month or so, a sponge bath once a

day will keep them safely clean. In between, simply clean your child’s mouth and diaper area with a little water or cleanser.

F r e q u e n t bathing removes the natural oils that protect baby's skin.

Never use scented baby products in the early months that can irritate your child's delicate skin and aggravate certain skin conditions like eczema.

If your child suffers from dry skin, it can be incredibly difficult to find a product that brings them relief. One product that have proven to win the hearts of moms (and children) around the globe is Oilatum bar Soap.

Oilatum is an emollient cleanser suitable for everyday cleansing for dry and sensitive skin, it is gentle enough for everyday use.

Its gentle properties make it a great soap option not only for adults with dry sensitive skin but also for children.

Incorporating Oilatum bar soap into your routine is incredibly simple; Use lukewarm water and massage the soap bar into the skin to create a luxurious lather, before rinsing off.

Pat child’s skin dry and resist rubbing - too much towel friction can chap delicate skin.

The cold weather and the stress should not stop you and your child from enjoying the holiday season.

Just remember to keep your skin well hydrated and your child’s skin clean and moisturized with the help of Oilatum.

Kapamilya station, stars pay tribute to nation’s heroes

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OME of the biggest names in the Philippine entertainment industry were able to pay tribute to our soldiers when ABS-CBN brought its “Saludo sa Sundalong Pilipino” event to the military camps of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters recently.

Veteran actors Tirso Cruz III, Janice De Belen, Raymart Santiago, and Pokwang headlined the program for the sailors and marines, the cast of upcoming

teleserye “A Soldier’s Heart” led the tribute for our airmen and airwomen, while “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” superstar Coco Martin and Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez drew the loudest cheers in the last “Saludo” event for 2019.

To honor our country’s heroes and bring cheer to them, ABS-CBN began its “Saludo sa Sundalong Pilipino” event in 2017, where Kapamilya stars, journalists, and officials are able to bring joy to members of the AFP through starstudded programs and tributes.

The soldiers enjoyed seeing their comrades perform on stage, as each program featured the talents of our soldiers in singing, dancing, and even acting.

The sacrifices of our soldiers go beyond risking their lives to defend our nation and serve the people. A huge part of their work entails being away from family, and not being able to do activities a common Filipino would enjoy, like watching a live show or attending a concert. Through the “Saludo” event, however, they get to experience the Kapamilya brand of love.

Journalists Chiara Zambrano and Bernadette Sembrano, and network executives led by ABS-CBN chairman Mark Lopez, president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, and COO for Broadcast Cory Vidanes, were also present to personally thank the brave men and women of the AFP for their service.

ABS-CBN has held ten “Saludo sa Sundalong Pilipino” events in different military camps in the country. It aims to pay tribute to our soldiers, and provide them love and entertainment while they are away from their families to fulfill their duties to the country.

APPEAL FOR HELP. The Public Attorney’s Office through PAO Chief Atty. Persida Acosta and PAO Forensic Team head Atty. Erwin Erfe, MD, (inset) recently appealed to the members of the media to rally behind the agency to call on President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2020 with regard to budget reduction and the special provision inserted by a minority leader on the limitation on PAO use of the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) which prohibits PAO from using it in its Forensic Laboratory Division plantilla personnel. With the limited budget and MOOE prohibition, PAO said clients with conflict with NBI and PNP as well as victims of torture would be deprived of access to justice. Section 9 of Anti-Torture Act (Republic Act 9745) mandates PAO the power to investigate torture cases including Dengvaxia victims (which involves pharmacological torture) and other homicidal cases of minors. There are 150 autopsies and 46 histopathological exams done by PAOFT and its accredited, partner pathologists, respectively, for the dengue vaccine mess. PAO maintained that the scientific findings

by PAOFT should form part of the Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) component of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) of the Department of Health. PAO said the vaccine mess has already claimed 1,000 child deaths and 30,000 severe child illnesses to date.

Duty Free signs agreement with Bureau of Immigration to improve customer experience for online shoppers

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UTY Free Philippines Corporation (DFPC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Bureau of Immigration (BI) to implement a validation system to verify if DFPC’s online shoppers have in fact arrived in the country from abroad.

The said MOA was signed by DFPC Chief Operating Officer (COO) Vicente Pelagio A. Angala and BI Commissioner Jaime H. Morente in Taguig City. COO Angala said the new system will go live by January 2020.

“Convenience is the main factor why many prefer to shop online, and that’s exactly our customers will experience when they shop through our online store,” said Angala.

Customers must set up an account at dutyfreephilippines.ph. Buyers need to upload proof of travel including passport and boarding pass. The BI then verifies the information.

Angala also assured customers on the agency’s strict compliance to the Data Privacy Act of 2012 which means that data processing will be transparent to customers and confidentiality will be maintained.

The online shopping website has over 1,000 items to choose from within the categories of perfumes, cosmetics, home furnishing, confectionery, groceries, toys, electronics, cigarettes, wines, liquor, and Filipino export-quality products.

“Our products online are at the same exceptional prices and with the same promotions as we have in our stores including our travel exclusives,” Angala said.

It carries premium brands such as Estee Lauder, Dolce and Gabbana, Bvlgari, Calvin Klein, Godiva, Ferrero Rocher, Lindt, Maxim’s, Toblerone, Chivas Regal, Jack Daniels, Johnnie Walker, Macallan, and among others.

Shoppers are allowed to buy up to USD 1,000 worth of items 48 hours upon arrival and their items will be prepared for pick-up at the airport.

The Manila Jockey Club bookended anniversary with a coffeetable book, The Front Runner

Mindanao and Palawan eyed to play key roles in East ASEAN growth

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INDANAO and Palawan are envisioned to play vital roles in the Southeast Asian region’s sustainable development that will not only strengthen economic cooperation but celebrate the immensely-diverse cultures of the neighboring countries.

The consensus surfaced during the 2nd Budayaw Festival held recently in the City of Kuching in the Federal State of Sarawak, Malaysia, a biennial event of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-MalaysiaPhilippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Dubbed as the “Festival of Cultures,” Budayaw showcases cultural diversity and heritage and promotes regional cooperation in the areas of trade and commerce. Budayaw is taken from the Bahasa words “budaya” or culture and “dayaw” meaning to present one’s best with pride or to celebrate with dignity.

“Budayaw Festival which is a catalyst in weaving the aspirations, creative expressions and appreciation of our richly-diverse Asian culture which should shape our regional development and prosperity. We are ecstatic to have showcased Mindanao and Palawan as

Atty. Alfonso Reyno Jr., Atty. Alfonso Victorio G. Reyno III and Ramoncito Ocampo Cruz unveil The Front Runner Coffee Table book.

T playing a vital roles along this line,” said Asst. Sec. Abubakar.

The Philippine party attended the Senior Officials Meeting and the 25th BIMP-EAGA Anniversary Gala Dinner held at the Plaza Merdekah and the Old Courthouse in Kuching.

Also tackled was a plan to collaborate with public and private stakeholders within the BIMP-EAGA with the Philippine delegation specifically tasked to promote and market tourism in Mindanao Regions 9,

10, 11, 12, 13 and Palawan.

The Philippine team also explored talks with the Sarawak Tourism Board for forging sisterhood agreements with localities in Northern Mindanao and having direct flights between Kuching City and Davao City.

Improved connectivity between Sarawak and Mindanao gateways like Davao City is the key to accelerating regional development cooperation among member states of the BIMP-EAGA.

HE Manila Jockey Club bookended its 150th anniversary with a book launch of its sesquicentennial coffee-table book “The Front Runner”. The historic launch at the Manila Golf & Country Club on December 16, 2019 was attended by no less than Manila Jockey Club’s executive chairman Alfonso R. Reyno, Jr. and MJC President Alfonso Victorio G. Reyno III. The Front Runner captures in insightful text and beautiful images MJC’s run through Philippine history from being the favored pastime sport of the social elite more than 150 years ago to being the enduring, the thrill-a-second populist sport that it is today.

Within its 300 pages, the book takes the reader through the history of horse racing in the Philippines, through two wars—the Philippine Revolution and World War II— and through the historic transfer of the hippodrome from San Lazaro, Manila to the modern race tracks of the newly built San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.

“No such chronicle of horse-racing history has been produced before,” pointed out Attorney Reyno III. “The book captures the essence of how horse racing was born and kept alive in the Philippines over the course of 150 years, and how MJC played a central role in all that.”

Also at the launch were members of the MJC book-project team led by MJC Director, Corporate Counsel & General Counsel, Atty.

Ferdinand. A Domingo, MJC COO and VP for resource administration Attorney Peter G. Zagala, MJC VP for marketing Eduardo Ramirez de Arellano and MJC VP for MIS Carlos S. Tan. Ramoncito Ocampo Cruz, the CEO and executive/creative director of Media Wise Communications, a many-time winner of the prestigious Anvil and Quill publication awards said that producing The Front Runner showed how MJC “has evolved over time, and how it continues to innovate and gallop toward a rosier future through bold business strategies and strategic partnerships.”

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Must cry out

EAR God, for the Church, the many abuses of human life, liberty and dignity are a heartfelt suffering. The Church, entrusted with the Earth’s glory, believes that in each person is the Creator’s image and that everyone who tramples it offends God. As holy defender of God’s rights and of His images, the Church must cry out. It takes as spittle in its face, as lashes on its back, as the cross in its passion, all the human beings suffer, even though they are unbelievers. They suffer as God’s images. Oh God, listen to us. 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

GINEBRA AKO AWARDS YEAR 2 PAYS TRIBUTE TO EVERYDAY HEROES C4

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

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Cheers for a job well done SUI GENERIS CARLO ATIENZA

biblisko@gmail.com

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FEW days of not working made me realize so many things I miss about work. Not that I am not busy.

On the contrary, my vacation has been a flurry of activities here and there—more for relatives and friends than for myself. But for all my complaints and teethgnashing about work, I am still grateful I have one. And I like a loved one rejoinder when I asked how was work: “I still have one”—all of us can take a moment to just appreciate the work that we do and the people we work with. After all, what we do for work is something we have chosen for ourselves, and reflects our passions and aspirations.

One of the things which has helped me appreciate my work is to look at what I do as a solution to someone’s problem. While I work to earn a living, I realized that much of what I do is actually a benefit for another. As a lawyer, they help others find their way through the legalese. As a doctor, they diagnose and give prescriptions to make others well.

As a writer, they bring to light what people need to know so they can do something about it. As a teacher, they help others come to a better understanding of the world. Don’t you notice that our work revolves around helping others with their problems? And when you look at work this way, you begin to understand that work is a means of not just earning your keep but being a part of a community that stands together to help each other out. And every day is an opportunity to help someone. If you see your work as a burden, you might need to

Be grateful to yourself.

Be grateful for what you have accomplished and how you have managed to pull through. Forgive yourself for your mistakes and appreciate the lessons they have taught you. As a loved one would say—“It did not kill you or anyone, did it? If not, then it is not important.” reevaluate what you do and look at what kind of problems get your heart racing and make you want to get up every morning because that should be what you are doing.

Because our work means helping people, expect more people to come to you for help when you enjoy it. That is actually a good problem because, as my previous manager would say, more work means job security. Your value to your organization is the many solutions you provide to people who need you. And when you do your work cheerfully, people will be drawn to you for help and this helps you establish a

network of people who will reciprocate when you need them.

When you do your work well, you develop a reputation of being reliable for people who depend on you, and for others you have yet to meet.

Our work will also get us to know other people because we spend a significant amount of time at work. And there are different kinds of people we get to meet. I realized early on that you can classify people at work under three categories— background, water or sandpaper. Background people are those we see in the office but do not have any interaction

with. We only get to know them when we need something from them. Water people are those who make work easy and enjoyable because we get along well with these people and everything works as they should. Sandpaper people, on the other hand, are those who rub us the wrong way—either intentionally or otherwise. But these people show us who we truly are by the way we react to them, or they teach us an important lesson we need to learn. Either way, they allow us

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For Major, it’s cricket over everything else

Major

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ONDON—For one British prime minister, choosing between the Olympic Games and cricket was a no-brainer.

Archival records released by the UK government on Tuesday reveal that aides tried to persuade Prime Minister John Major that attending the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta

Al Mendoza alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

LeBron & Serena IT is but fitting that LeBron James and Serena Williams were voted Athletes of the Decade.

They won running away, so to speak.

James won three NBA (National Basketball Association) titles from 2010 to 2019—two at Miami and one in Cleveland.

James won three MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards in all three NBA Finals and three league MVPs as well in the decade past.

Add one Olympic gold and James has gone full circle.

Never mind the Fiba World Cup, which the NBA treats as second fiddle.

The Associated Press (AP), in choosing James to receive the plum, has also recognized the player’s admirable humanitarian work. James has built a school in his hometown Akron, Ohio.

James, who turned 35 on December 30, actually started the decade controversially by leaving Cleveland for Miami, in 2010.

Dubbed “The Decision,” James’s move angered his townmates, who burned his jersey in the heat of the moment.

But after six years and winning two NBA crowns for Miami, James returned to Cleveland. And, in his second season in 2017, he gave the Cavs their first ever NBA crown. All is forgotten, forgiven.

Second behind James in the AP voting was quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots.

Sprinter Usain Bolt was third, soccer star Lionel Messi fourth and swimmer Michael Phelps fifth.

James has played a total of 1,229 NBA games.

His total of 33,334 points has strongly positioned him to overtake third-place highest scorer and nowretired Kobe Bryant. The league’s 1-2 in all-time scoring are the long-retired Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Karl Malone.

There is not enough words to describe Williams’s greatness the past 10 years.

An unprecedented dozen Grand Slam single titles. No. 1 successively for three-and-a-half years. And surviving a life-threatening blood clot to magnificently return to competitive form.

And how about coming back from pregnancy— and producing victories in no time as though she had not gone through a nine-month ordeal of being heavy with child?

And look at this: three of Williams’s five AP Female Athlete of the Year titles came in this decade—2013, 2015 and, yes, 2018 the year after giving birth to a girl, in 2017.

Her all-time high 23 Grand Slam singles is simply awesome, with half of them coming from 2010 to 2019—four Wimbledons, and three each at the US Open and Australian Open.

What else is there to accomplish?

Defeat Roger Federer in the Battle of The Sexes Part 2?

“She’s been my idol growing up,” said Simone Biles, the gymnastics sensation who was voted the 2019 AP Female Athlete of the Year. “She’s remained humble. She’s stayed true to herself and her character, and I think that’s really neat about an athlete. Once you start winning, some get cocky, but she’s stayed true to herself, win or lose.”

If there’s really someone who values defeats and turns grief into a great motivation, that’d be Williams.

“Whenever I lose, I get more determined, and it gives me something more to work toward,” Williams said. “I don’t get complacent, and I realize I need to work harder and I need to do better, and I want to do better—or I wouldn’t be playing the game.”

Are our Olympic dreamers paying attention?

THAT’S IT Why do we always greet everybody “Happy New Year” each time the first day of the year is near, is with us? Simple. Everybody wants us to be happy the entire year. Is that hard to do?

Happy New Year!

would be good for his “street cred.”

Major, who was prime minister between 1990 and 1997, would have been scheduled to make a three-day trip in late July that included the rowing pairs final that would bring Britain it’s only gold medal at the Atlanta Games.

Trying to make the Olympics more app ealing to the prime minister, one aide men tioned that South African President Nelson Mandela, US President Bill Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac were all due to be there.

Downing Street staff also appealed to Major’s ego, according to the newly released records. Private Secretary Rachael Reynolds told the prime minister that making the trip across the pond “is worth doing, if you can bear it.”

“Some of the best pictures we see of you in the media are in relaxed, jacket off mode and there would be plenty of opportunity for that in Atlanta,” Reynolds wrote.

“You have established your street cred in this area so well, it would be a pity to miss an opportunity which only comes up every four years,” she added.

The appeals were to no avail. Major decided to stay home in London to watch a cricket Test match that England ended up losing to Pakistan.

The details came from a wave of archival records the British government released to comply with a law requiring certain records to be made public 20 to 30 years after they were created. AP

NATL STROKE PLAY DRAWS BIG GUNS R

yan Monsalve seeks to open the new PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour season the way he closed out 2019, bannering the crack roster of players in the National Stroke Play Championship unfolding January 7, at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite.

With partner Lanz Uy, Monsalve put on a strong windup as they routed the field by eight in the National Doubles Amateur Championship at Camp Aguinaldo last week with the latter ready to showcase his individual skills and talent in pursuit of the crown in the four-day tournament, which used to be the Philippine Amateur Open Golf Championship.

Uy has begged off due to academics but the depth of the field remains as talent-laden as ever with those who vied in the National Doubles also in the list, including Dan Cruz, Sean Ramos, Josh Jorge, Jonar Austria and Gabby Macalaguim, among others.

Gen Nagai edged Thai ace and Youth Olympics gold medalist Vanchai Luangnitikul in sudden death to snare the men’s crown last year while Lois Kaye Go edged Bianca Pagdanganan by one to top the women’s side with the same tight, unpredictable finish expected in the upcoming event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP).

Meanwhile, next up for the new season is the 25th WExpress RVF Cup Amateur Open Golf Championship from February 11 to

14, at Canlubang Golf and Country Club with Jolo Magcalayo and Junia Gabasa expected to defend their respective crowns.

Others expected to join the National Stroke Play title hunt are young guns Eagle Ace Superal, Laurea Duque and Rianne Malixi.

For details, call NGAP at telefax No. (02) 706-5926 or at Riviera Golf Club Inc. at (02) 888-9089 or 0956-8821149 or e-mail ngap2009handicap@yahoo.com.

Sports in 2019 took us to unexpected venues: The Vatican formed a track team, complete with nuns and Swiss Guards, although Scripture reminds that the race is not to the swift; the world’s No. 1 bridge player was suspended for failing a drug test; and a French basketball player in China was fined not for taking a knee during the Chinese anthem but for not casting his eyes on the flag.

MEMBERS of the Vatican Athletics sports team run for the media in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. the men’s elite individual time trial at the road World Championships in Harrogate, England. AP

S

By Fred Lief

The Associated Press

OMETIMES the general managers and player personnel directors on Mount Olympus look down on some lucky soul and declare: This is your moment.

Consider Dale Cohen, a 62-year-old shift worker at a plastics company and a golfer from Findlay, Ohio. He made two holes-in-one in the same round. The Courier newspaper reports he used an 8-iron both times on a rainy, windy day. The odds of two aces in the same round are estimated at 67 million to 1.

“I hit the lottery but didn’t get paid,” he said.

“That’s OK. I’ll take it.”

Then again, the executives on Mount Olympus are a fickle bunch. Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa was having a massage in his home and wound up with a fractured rib. The massage New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was having in a Florida shopping mall also didn’t work out so well, although his ribs remained intact.

Sports in 2019 took us to unexpected venues: The Vatican formed a track team, complete with nuns and Swiss Guards, although Scripture reminds that the race is not to the swift; the world’s No. 1 bridge player was suspended for failing a drug test; and a French basketball player in China was fined not for taking a knee during the Chinese anthem but for not casting his eyes on the flag.

By turns, it was a year that could be baffling, enriching and icily satisfying.

At the Tour de France, world time trial champion Rohan Dennis simply vanished during the first stage in the Pyrenees. Afterward, near his team bus, he didn’t want to talk about it.

Said Team Director Gorazd Stangelj: “We are also confused.”

Roger Federer has been the gold standard in tennis. Now this is more than metaphor. His face is to be minted on Swiss currency. He will be featured on one side of a 20 franc silver coin hitting a one-handed backhand.

In 2001, a Canadian Football League fan vowed to wear only shorts until his Blue Bombers won the championship. Mind you, this team is from Winnipeg. Chris Matthew withstood the prospect of frostbite for nearly two decades. His team finally won it all this season, and his wife is pleased. “Now,” he told CTV News, “if we need to go somewhere where pants are required, we can actually go there.”

There were other scrums and scrambles: FROM RUSSIA, WITH SHOVE: It’s not easy being a referee, especially in Russia. The soccer club Akhmat Grozny used its public address system to insult the referee with an expletive, drawing cheers from the crowd.... The coach of the hockey team Amur Khabarovsk was furious over a penalty kick call and threatened to set fire to the referee’s car. Coach Alexander Gulyavtsev was

ANTETOKOUNMPO RETURNS W C

Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo shoots over Chicago’s Lauri Markkanen during the first half of their game on Monday. AP

HICAGO—With a National Basketball Association (NBA)-best 30-5 record, the Milwaukee Bucks are off to a great start.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, though, is more concerned with the team’s finish this season.

The reigning MVP had 23 points and 10 rebounds after missing two games with a sore back, and Milwaukee pulled away in the second half for a 123102 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.

Antetokounmpo, the league’s second-leading scorer with an average of 30.5 points per game entering this one, played only 27 minutes and sat out the final five-and-a-half minutes because of the lopsided score. He was eight for 14 from the field with six assists.

“We won 30 games before January; It’s cool, but we can always do better,” Antetokounmpo said.

“We’ve got to keep improving because the goal is to play late in the season.”

Khris Middleton scored 25 points for the Bucks, and Eric Bledsoe had 15 points in 16 minutes after missing the previous eight games with a fractured right leg.

“We move way faster with him,” Antetokounmpo said of Bledsoe. “He’s like a sports car. He goes so fast, and we’ve got to follow him. It’s always good to have him back.”

Zach LaVine scored 19 points for Chicago but shot just seven for 23 from the field. Lauri Markkanen and

Coby White had 18 points apiece and Wendell Carter Jr. added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls.

“In the first half, I think we were there, but I think in the second half, we weren’t playing our best basketball,” Markkanen said. “We’ve shown we can play with anybody, but obviously we’ve got to do it for 48 minutes to actually win the game.

“We can’t have those lapses we did in the third.

We’re capable of getting those wins.”

Milwaukee jumped out to an 8-0 lead as Chicago missed its first six shots. The Bucks led 31-20 at the end of the first quarter and stretched it to 33-20 early in the second on a basket by Robin Lopez.

But the Bulls—after shooting nine of 29 in the first—suddenly got hot from behind the three-point arc. White and Markkanen each had three 3-pointers in the second to trim the Milwaukee advantage.

Chicago was eight for 14 on threes in the quarter.

With just under two minutes left in the first half, White hit a driving scoop off the glass to give the Bulls a 52-51 lead, their first of the game.

Antetokounmpo quickly answered with a putback on the other end to put the Bucks back on top.

Milwaukee led 55-52 at halftime thanks in part to a 15-0 advantage in free throw attempts (making 12).

Any chance of a Chicago upset was quickly dashed in the third. The Bucks opened with a 17-4 run for a 72-56 lead—with Antetokounmpo capping the spurt with a thunderous dunk that drew a loud roar from

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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

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Nishikori out of Australian Open with elbow injury

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high rank of No.4 in 2015, is a fourtime Australian Open quarterfinalist (2012, 2015, 2016, 2019) with a 29-7 record at Melbourne Park.

Murray, a three-time major winner, announced Sunday that he had experienced a “setback” in his recovery from injury and, as a precaution, would not be coming to Australia in January.

Tennis Australia issued a statement earlier saying Murray and Nishikori had withdrawn from the season-opening major at Melbourne Park and from the ATP Cup, a new international men’s team event which starts next week and will be played in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.

“I’ve worked so hard to get myself into a situation where I can play at the top level and I’m gutted I’m not going to be able to play in Australia in January,” Murray said in a statement.

“Unfortunately I’ve had a setback recently and, as a precaution, need to work through that before I get back

ELBOURNE, Australia—A day after Andy Murray put his Grand Slam comeback on hold, Japan’s Kei Nishikori has become the latest high-profile player to withdraw from next month’s Australian Open, citing a right elbow injury.

The world No.13, who has not played since a third-round loss to Australia’s Alex de Minaur at the US Open, required minor elbow surgery in the off-season.

“Today, together with my team, we have made this decision as I am still not 100 percent ready [or] healthy to compete at the highest level,” Nishikori said. “This decision was not taken lightly as Australia is one of my favorite places to compete.”

“Together with my team I will keep working hard to be back on court as soon as possible. Thanks for all the support.”

Nishikori, who reached a career-

on court competing.”

Murray had surgery on his hip to repair a career-threatening injury after his first-round, five-set loss to Roberto Bautista Agut at the Australian Open in January.

The 32-year-old Murray returned to the tour in August at Cincinnati, where he lost in the first round, and also played at seven other tournaments— including the Davis Cup in Spain last month—to finish the year with an 11-7 win-loss record.

“After the Australian Open this year, when I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to play again, I was excited about coming back to Australia and giving my best, and that makes this even more disappointing for me,” Murray said of his latest injury setback.

Murray, a three-time major winner, has reached the Australian Open final five times but never won the title at Melbourne Park. AP

Runaway leader Liverpool already has soundtrack of champions

L

Roger Federer (right photo) chases a shot from Grigor Dimitrov during the quarterfinals match at the US Open. Australia’s Rohan Dennis, on the other hand, rised

puzzled by the response to his comment. “I just said car. It’s not as if I said apartment.”

RICH MAN, POOR MAN: The scoreboard clock was not enough for Odell Beckham Jr. In the Cleveland Browns’ opener against Tennessee, the star receiver played while wearing a watch that retails for a cool $250,000. A day later, the league took issue with his accessorizing, citing a policy “prohibiting hard objects.” Beckham’s watch would more than pay the rent for Chicago Cubs minor leaguer Trevor Clifton.

He lived this season in a 104-square-foot home he and his father built from a $200 camper bought online. But it’s got a couch, a fridge and a mattress, and it’s quiet. “I just like to be on my own,” he told The Des Moines Register.

FRENCH PROJECTION: Clearly, the Seine wouldn’t do. Organizers of the 2024 Paris Olympics hope to hold the surfing competition more than 9,000 miles away in Tahiti. The French also want breakdancing on the Olympic roster, looking to entice a younger audience. Is breakdancing a “sport?” It sure is, says top breakdancer Mounir Biba. “I defy Cristiano Ronaldo to do just one of my movements,” he said.

WORD(IM)PERFECT: Words were the most dangerous game in 2019. Baseball traded its “disabled list” for the “injured list,” saying it doesn’t want to support the “misconception that people with disabilities are injured and, therefore,

are not able to participate or compete.”...

Canadian hockey authorities, intent on being an “inclusive brand,” dropped its longtime “midget” division in favor of age designations.... New York Jets cornerback Janoris Jenkins called a fan a “retard” on Twitter, insisting the expression was part of his “culture.” Two days later, he was part of another culture—unemployed.

WAITER, HATER: An English Premier League goalkeeper was cleared of wrongdoing but cited for “lamentable” ignorance by supposedly giving a Nazi salute during a team dinner.

Wayne Hennessey contended he does not even know what a Nazi salute is, and he was merely extending his arm to get the attention of a waiter.... Australian rugby star Israel Folau certainly knew what he was doing. His contract was terminated after his Instagram post in which he consigned to hell “homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolaters.” The governing body of Australian rugby condemned Folau for his antigay remarks but offered no opinion on drunks and fornicators.

Maybe the most eye-opening news came out of the University of Virginia. Tony Bennett, coach of the NCAA basketball champions, declined a pay raise. He told the school to give the money to his staff and other departments. He said he has more than enough money. It was as if he were speaking in tongues. Athletic Director Carla Williams said this “just does not happen in our industry.”

application of VAR in the technology’s first Premier League campaign, of course. Even if the calls were ultimately correct by on-field referee Anthony Taylor.

Mane’s goal was initially ruled out by Taylor for handball but it was actually helped on by teammate Adam Lallana’s shoulder.

There was a handball by Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk in the buildup but that didn’t appear to be factored into the decision.

“I just heard there was

WITH SAME LETHAL POWER the United Center crowd.

“There’s momentum plays, there’s things that just give your team energy and may be deflating for your opponent,” Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer said.

“It was great. For him to miss a couple of games, and come back and have a dunk like that was impressive.”

Milwaukee led 95-77 after three quarters. Kyle Korver hit a 3-pointer two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth for a 105-81 advantage, the Bucks’ biggest of the game.

In Orlando,the Atlanta Hawks have been the worst team in the NBA this season—except against the Orlando Magic.

Brandon Goodwin scored 21 points, Kevin Huerter added 19, and the Hawks beat the Magic 101-93 Monday night to end a 10-game skid.

Playing without injured guard Trae Young for the second straight game, the Hawks trailed by 18 during the first half but rallied back in the third quarter. Alex Len scored eight of his 18 points to fuel a 15-4 run, while Atlanta’s defense only yielded six field goals in the quarter.

Len’s drive and dunk just before the horn gave the visitors a 74-72 lead.

“It felt like I was getting fouled on every play and got no calls, but that’s the way it goes in this league,” Len said. “Maybe I earned some [respect] by playing more aggressively. We don’t get respect, but

you’ve got to earn it, and a couple of wins like this will do that.”

Atlanta improved to 7-27 by snapping its second 10-game losing streak of the season. This one ended with the Hawks’ second win in two tries against Orlando.

Young twisted his ankle in a loss to Milwaukee on Friday. He scored 39 points in a 103-99 win over Orlando in the first meeting between the teams October 26.

Atlanta pulled away Monday near the midpoint of the fourth quarter when Huerter scored nine points during an 11-0 run. The Magic trailed 90-78 but trimmed the deficit to five in the final minutes before John Collins’ emphatic transition dunk all but ended the comeback bid.

“I thought the guys were spirited tonight,” Atlanta Coach Lloyd Pierce said. “They executed, and the execution came from communication with each other.”

Nikola Vucevic led the Magic with 27 points.

Evan Fournier added 22 points, and DJ Augustin finished with 17 and six assists. Orlando struggled to find any offense down the stretch, scoring only 36 second-half points after scoring 36 in the second quarter alone.

“We scored at times, but I feel like maybe for the first time this year, we didn’t play ball as a team offensively from the get-go, and it just caught up to us,” Fournier said. AP

ONDON—Liverpool fans ended 2019 by chanting “Champions of the world” for the first time at Anfield. “Champions of England” will surely be sung by the Kop in 2020.

Sadio Mane ensured Liverpool reached the halfway point with a 13-point lead—with a game in hand—that seems unassailable after clinching a 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton on Sunday.

And all Wolverhampton fans could forlornly chant was: “Is this football anymore?”

That reflected more frustration with the

Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham scores his side’s second goal during their English Premier League match between with Arsenal in London, over the weekend. AP

complaints of handball, I thought it was for Adam,” Van Dijk said. “What can we do? They made a decision and the goal stood.”

The naked eye would have struggled to see a reason to deny Pedro Neto an equalizer but once the hazy footage had lines inserted over it, offside was the decision from VAR HQ in London.

“VAR is killing us,” Wolves captain Conor Coady said. “It is constantly against us. I don’t know where we are going wrong. It is affecting games. No one likes it.”

Liverpool has built a lead more than double the six-point advantage surrendered at this point last season before being overhauled by Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola’s side is certainly less of a threat this season, still 14 points back after beating Sheffield United 2-0 on Sunday night. Leicester is a point better off to sit as Liverpool’s closest but very distant challenger.

The cushion looks unassailable for a club that has endured three decades of anguish and nearmisses since last winning the English championship in 1990—three years before the new Premier League trophy was handed out for the first time.

Liverpool certainly has the winning habit, bringing the Club World Cup back from Qatar last weekend to join the European titles—the Champions League and Super Cup—collected earlier in 2019.

CHELSEA FIGHTS BACK

CHELSEA was the other English side to lift a European trophy this year, and there was a rematch of the Europa League final at Arsenal on Sunday with a very different complexion.

Both teams have brought in former players as managers and neither club is in title contention. In his first home game in charge, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal threw away the lead to lose 2-1 to Frank Lampard’s Chelsea.

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno missed an attempt to punch Mason Mount’s free kick clear, allowing Jorginho to net in the 83rd minute and cancel out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first-half opener.

Jorginho had been fortunate to still be on the field after avoiding a second yellow card for pulling down Matteo Guendouzi.

The winner came after Chelsea launched a counterattack from the edge of its own penalty area, with Tammy Abraham then allowed to race through unchallenged and playing a one-two with Willian before putting the ball through Leno’s legs from close range.

It leaves Arteta with a point from his first two games since being hired as Unai Emery’s full-time successor. But the problems are more deep-set with Arsenal losing four consecutive games in all competitions at home for the first time in 60 years, a spell that covers Freddie Ljungberg’s ill-fated interim reign.

“I am really disappointed with the result and the way we conceded the goals and the timing of it as well,” Arteta said. “I’m pleased with a lot of things that we’ve trained, and they actually happened in the game and how they are buying into this. But I am disappointed to lose the game obviously. We had to sustain that level for longer periods against a very, very physical team like Chelsea. And yes, we have to move on.”

While Arsenal is 12th in the standings, Chelsea is 11 points ahead in the fourth Champions League place after Lampard’s side quickly recovered from a home loss to Southampton. AP

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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Image BusinessMirror

Cheers for a job well done Continued from C1 to grow and mature in our dealings with others. And the way you deal with anyone in your organization will speak well of how much you enjoy doing your job.

And no matter how small you think your contribution is, celebrate small wins. Your contribution to the organization is important—whether big or small. People sometimes underestimate their value to the organization because they think their work is not important or not appreciated because they work in the background. Your role is important because no one else can do what you do. And when you do your work well, that is a reward in itself. But it also helps to celebrate it with your team to encourage others that they can do it, as well.

I have also learned to appreciate the leadership in the organization—whether good or bad. I realize that whatever the kind of leadership, it will open your eyes to what you can and cannot do, and what you must and must not do when you are in that position of leadership. Good leaders inspire and have a clear vision of what they want the team to accomplish.

These are the kinds of leaders who can bring out the best in their teams. But if you do not have a good leader, you can still learn from them by avoiding what they did wrong and build on those lessons.

One of the things I look forward to in my work are the vacation leaves where I can spend time with my loved ones.

As much as I can, I take time to be with my loved ones to assure them I value them enough to spend time with them. I have used up all my vacation leaves this year because I have realized that short vacations spread evenly throughout the year relax and rejuvenate me more than one long vacation.

It also goes without saying that I am grateful for my work because of the compensation. Salary can be an indicator of the value of your skill set, or how much your company values you and your contribution to the organization. It will also depend on a lot of factors including industry standards and market conditions. But however much you are receiving, the bottom line is the personal satisfaction you get from doing your job. As long as you are content with what you are getting, salary should not be an issue.

But most of all, be grateful to yourself. Be grateful for what you have accomplished and how you have managed to pull through. Forgive yourself for your mistakes and appreciate the lessons they have taught you. As a loved one would say—“It did not kill you or anyone, did it? If not, then it is not important.”

May the coming year teach all of us to be less perfect and more human, to be more accepting and loving, and be thankful for our work and the value it brings to the lives of others. n

GINEBRA AKO AWARDS YEAR 2 PAYS TRIBUTE TO EVERYDAY HEROES

AN entrepreneur who brought light to so many lives, a storyteller who spread the word on the joys of reading, a not-so-typical artist turned performing arts advocate, a jail warden who emerged as an unlikely agent of change, and a street orphan who overcame the odds to become an international rugby player.

They are the everyday heroes who were recently honored at the “Ginebra Ako Awards Year 2: Pagkilala sa Tunay na Tapang at Husay ng Pilipino,” held at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater in Bonifacio Global City with no less than Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach hosting the grand awarding ceremony along with veteran host and writer RJ Ledesma.

Inspired by the award-winning “Ginebra Ako” campaign of Ginebra San Miguel, the awards program is a nationwide search that seeks to recognize and salute the extraordinary accomplishments of exemplary Filipinos who embody Ginebra San Miguel values—matapang (courage), ganado (passionate) and never-say-die (resilient).

“We hope the Ginebra Ako Awards would inspire each one of us to be better and encourage our fellow Filipinos to keep their dreams alive,” says Ginebra San Miguel Marketing Manager Ronald Molina. “There is no need to look far to be inspired. Simply look to the person beside you because, in real life, ordinary Filipinos are doing heroic deeds. These are the people that we want to pay tribute to.”

The awardees were recognized for their accomplishments and contributions in their respective communities. Candidates were chosen from well-respected organizations around the country and passed through a screening committee. Each awardee was given a cash prize and a trophy featuring the iconic Ginebra San Miguel logo designed by no less than National Artist Fernando Amorsolo.

Sen. Robert Jaworski, Philippine sports icon and former playing coach of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, led the presenters in the awarding ceremony.

Toward the end of 2017, Ginebra San Miguel launched the campaign “Ginebra Ako” through a music video dedicated to all Filipinos who tirelessly commit their everyday lives to their family and the nation. Its success led to a follow-up TV commercial featuring Olympic Silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz, basketball superstar Scottie Thompson and Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, with Quest and KZ Tandingan performing the new “Ginebra Ako” theme song for the 2019 campaign. The campaign has already won numerous recognitions including the Quill Award for Excellence in Marketing, Advertising and Brand Communication, and a Special Citation from the Catholic Mass Media Awards for Best Branded TV Ad. The Ginebra Ako Awards Year 2 winners are Liter of Light’s Illac Diaz for Ginebra Ako Para sa Kalikasan; Rey Bufi, founder of The Storytelling Project, for Ginebra Ako Para sa Kabataan; Aris Villaester, jail warden of Tagaytay City Jail, for Ginebra Ako Para sa Paglilingkod; Lito Ramirez of the Philippine Volcanoes for Ginebra Ako Para sa Palakasan; and Pedro Abraham Jr., founder of Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (Kontra-GaPi), for Ginebra Ako Para sa Entablado.

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