BusinessMirror January 08, 2020

’19 INFLATION JUST AT 2.5% BUT RISKS SEEN

By Cai U. Ordinario

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HE inflation rate could quicken in 2020 amid tensions between the United States and Iran, which could jack up oil prices, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and local economists.

This despite the country’s full-year inflation slowing to 2.5 percent in 2019 from 5.2 percent in 2018, well within the government’s 2-4 percent inflation target.

Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Director Alvin P. Ang said inflation could

Gas nozzles dangle at a gasoline station in Ermita, Manila, in this BusinessMirror file photo. The inflation rate could quicken in 2020 amid tensions between the United States and Iran, which could jack up oil prices, according to the National Economic and Development Authority and local economists. NONIE REYES

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@caiordinario

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average 4 percent this year. However, BPI Lead Economist Emilio S. Neri Jr. said there is even a possibility that inflation could be higher than 4 percent if geopolitical tensions persist.

“Our full-year 2020 forecast is 3.4 percent assuming WTI [West Texas intermediate] crude oil stays close to $60 per barrel. That will mean some months will be near 4 percent,” Neri said.

“TRAIN taxes, transport fare hike, fading base effects from rice will be key drivers. If oil rallies further we could see inflation prints above 4 percent,” he added.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia had a word of caution: the escalating tension in the Middle

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 90

PHL dollar reserves rise to ‘all-time high’ A

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

MID concerns that the conflict between the United States and Iran could bring risk back to markets, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday reported that the country’s dollar reserves hit an all-time high as of end-December 2019.

Preliminary data released by the BSP indicated that the gross international reserves reached $87.86 billion in December, higher than the $86.23 billion posted in No-

vember. The GIR as of the end of the year is the highest on record for the Philippines.

The country’s GIR is the level of foreign-exchange holdings the

BSP has during a given period. The GIR is a crucial component of the economy as it is often used to manage the country’s foreign-exchange rate against excess volatility.

East may disrupt global oil supply and lead to a surge in the prices of petroleum products and overall inflation.

Pernia added that in the short term, demand management and alternative sources of petroleum products should be explored, and over the medium to long term, shifting away from fossil fuel and import dependence should be encouraged.

“The government should effectively manage expectations at the domestic front and be vigilant against any unwarranted increase in pump prices considering that the last tranche of excise tax increase on fuel products will be implemented this month,” he added.

See “Inflation,” A2

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HIGHER INFLATION WON’T DERAIL RATE CUT PLAN

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According to the BSP, the monthon-month increase in the GIR level reflects the inflows arising from its foreign-exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and the national government’s net foreign-currency deposits.

HE higher-than-expected inflation print in December will not rid the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) of its easing bias in 2020, as economists say the country will still have enough monetary-policy room for rate cuts during the year.

On Tuesday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the country’s inflation numbers ticked up to 2.5 percent in December 2019—a significant acceleration from the 1.3 percent seen in November last year.

While it is still within the expected band of the BSP Department of Economic Research (DER) forecast for the month, it is in the upper end of their range.

Economists said while the new inflation print will keep the BSP Monetary Board on their toes in formulating policy decisions in 2020, the country’s central monetary authority will likely not dial down on its easing projection for the year.

“The surprise inflation print in December should keep the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on notice as they gauge price developments going into 2020,” ING Bank Manila economist Nicholas Mapa said. “The recent escalation in tension between the US and Iran may exert additional inflationary pressure on the headline print with global crude oil prices rising at a time when excise taxes are levied on fuel products in January 2020.

“Despite these developments, BSP Governor [Benjamin] Diokno was quick to downplay a possible upside breach although he did note that risks to the inflation outlook are on the ‘upside’. We continue to believe that the BSP will have the scope to ease monetary policy further in 2020 with the first rate cut slated for the February meeting,” he added.

See “Dollar,” A2

See “Rate,” A2

$87.86B

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) in December, per preliminary data released by the BSP. It is higher than the $86.23 billion posted in November and is the highest on record for the Philippines

Manufacturing output continues to dip–PSA

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HE country’s manufacturing output continued to plummet as the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) posted its 12th month of consecutive decline in November, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In the preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi), the VoPI posted a contraction of 6.1 percent in November 2019, lower than the 1.9-percent growth it posted in November 2018.

The VoPI has been in decline since December 2018. The deepest contractions posted by the VoPI were in April 2019 with 14 percent, followed by June 2019 at 10.5 percent and December 2018 at 10.1 percent.

“Industries need to be encouraged to innovate and adopt efficient technologies. This is a key strategy to entice more investments, similar

PESO exchange rates n

to the experiences of the country’s Asean peers, such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said an industrial policy propelled by innovation is needed to drive the country’s manufacturing growth amid the bleak near-term outlook of the sector.

Pernia added the passage of the 2020 budget is a welcome move in ensuring the continuity of critical government projects.

“The signing of the 2020 budget into law by the President ensures the continuity of projects aimed [at attracting] local and offshore investments to boost growth and create more and quality employment opportunities for Filipinos,” he said.

See “Manufacturing,” A2

Early 2020 woes fuel peso fears

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IMAGES BLESSED Replicas of the Black Nazarene are displayed in a procession in Manila’s Quiapo district on Tuesday, in one of the events leading up to the January 9 Traslación. At 2 p.m., priests started blessing the replicas after the grand parade of Nazarene images in different sizes. BERNARD TESTA

ORRIES that the local currency may lose value against the dollar this year are steadily firming up, as higher inflation and global tensions fuel concerns about the peso.

Barely a week has passed in 2020 and economists already have a forecast as to how the peso would end this year—at 51.70 against the US dollar, according to Fitch Solutions, Fitch Group’s think tank.

In a research note published on Tuesday, Fitch Solutions expressed concerns about the country’s twin deficits of budget and current account and how this standing could affect the peso’s attractiveness compared to other regional currencies.

Continued on A8

US 51.1610 n japan 0.4721 n UK 67.3790 n HK 6.5850 n CHINA 7.3330 n singapore 37.9251 n australia 35.5006 n EU 57.2850 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.6393

Source: BSP (7 January 2020)

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Take it or leave it: Duterte offers water firms new deal

By Samuel P. Medenilla

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AKE it or leave it. President Duterte has issued an ultimatum to Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. to accept a new deal with the government without any “onerous” provision.

“The Chief Executive is giving the water concessionaires the option of accepting the new contracts minus the onerous provisions, without any guarantee of not being criminally prosecuted together with those who conspired to craft the very onerous contracts,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said in a

media briefing on Monday.

Panelo said Duterte made the decision during the Cabinet meeting on Monday.

Duterte threatened both companies with criminal charges and outright cancellation of their existing service contract with the government if they refuse the offer.

Water services in Metro Manila

OFW. . .

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Under Section 87, Rule XI of the House Rules, “The Speaker, in consultation with the majority and minority leaders and their Senate counterparts, may convene the House in session at any time during a recess or between sessions to consider urgent legislative matters or concerns.”

Measures Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee listed some measures in anticipation of the backlash from the January 3 US air attack at the Baghdad International Airport that killed a top Iranian general. The attack, which jacked up global oil prices, is seen to impact oil supply and prices in the next few days, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said.

“First, make sure inventory of oil companies are intact,” he said, adding that authorities could “diversify suppliers of oil companies.” Gatchalian also suggested that authorities adopt a “long-term strategic petroleum inventory, use more biofuels and use e-vehicles.”

Meanwhile, Romualdez said the House has agreed with the President’s pronouncement that the rising tension in the Middle East is a major concern that needs urgent legislative attention.

“We are ready to clothe the Executive with all the powers needed to make sure that every Filipino is safe and secure in these trying times,” he said.

“We assure the families of our OFWs that Congress is working closely with the Executive department to realize the President’s desire, that no Filipinos be harmed in the course of the ongoing conflicts,” said the majority leader.

For his part, Probinsyano Ako Rep. Jose Singson Jr. said Congress has the responsibility to make sure that the funding needed for emergency evacuation will be made readily available. “[This] amid rising tension between the United States of America and Iran, as well as the admission of no less than Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that our government has ‘unlimited funds if it is meant to save the lives’ of Filipinos working abroad,” said Singson, a deputy minority leader.

“Congress is ready to answer the call of President Duterte to prioritize the safety of OFWs at risk in the Middle East,” he added.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said if an additional or supplemental budget for the repatriation of OFWs in Iran, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries is needed, “then it should immediately be deliberated and acted upon

by Congress.”

Besides securing Filipinos in the Middle East, however, “Congress should also express its sense denouncing the unilateral and jingoist attack of the US government against Iran and Iraq,” said Zarate, referring to the US’s January 3 drone attack on Iraqi soil that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

The general’s death sparked a firestorm of protest, with Tehran threatening retaliation on US facilities and some quarters in Baghdad demanding the ouster of all US troops from Iraq.

Budget proposal In an interview, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III confirmed an interagency meeting was set on Wednesday to determine the details of the evacuation plan and the additional budget the government will need in case

will be then placed under government control.

“I am proposing a new contract.

You [Maynilad and Manila Water] accept it, if it is to your liking.

Sign it. If no, then I will order the military to take over. And I will nationalize the water and then I will file the corresponding charges.

It is clearly large scale or maybe plunder,” Duterte told reporters in an ambush interview after the conferment ceremony of National Scientist Dr. Emil Javier.

Duterte maintained that the service contracts of Maynilad and Manila Water are void ab initio, or void from the very beginning for violating the Constitution and the laws of the land for their alleged “onerous provisions.”

He zeroed in on the service contract provisions, which barred the

the US-Iran conflict escalates into war and spreads to the entire Middle East.

On Monday, Malacañang said Duterte called on Congress to allocate additional funding for the evacuation or repatriation efforts.

For 2020, Bello said they currently have P250 million allocated for their repatriation program, which he estimates will only be enough to bring home 5,000 Filipinos.

He noted this will be insufficient if they will be forced to repatriate or evacuate the estimated 2 million Filipinos in the Middle East.

The labor chief recalled they spent over half a billion pesos to repatriate just 9,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) before.

“We could request additional funding from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration [OWWA] for the repatriation, but if Congress will provide us more budget [for the repatriation] this may no longer be necessary,” Bello said.

Bello said government data estimates there are 1,800 Filipinos in Iran and 6,000 in Iraq alone.

He said he already created a crisis-management committee to monitor the exact number of Filipinos in both countries so they could be evacuated or repatriated if needed.

Draft evacuation plan On Tuesday, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte had ordered the formation of a special working committee to draft the mass evacuation plan for the thousands of Filipinos who may be affected by the brewing conflict between the United States and Iran.

The committee will include the secretaries of the Department of National Defense (DND), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Security Agency (NSA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the Department of Transportation (DoTr).

He said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was directed to use its air and naval assets to implement the evacuation once the need for it arises.

“He [Duterte] stressed that it is the paramount duty of the government to give protection to the Filipinos whenever their lives are in peril and wherever they are,” Panelo said.

Duterte also called on the relevant agencies to provide alternative employment or livelihood to Filipinos affected by the evacuation plan.

Department of OFW Meanwhile, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza urged Congress to immediately act—when session resumes on January 20—on the bill creating the Department of Filipino Overseas and Foreign Employment that would focus on OFWs when there is conflict abroad.

According to Mendoza, the bill also creates a P5billion Assistance to Nationals Fund for Filipinos in distress to be administered and maintained by the department.

The House Committee on Government Reorganization and House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs have endorsed for plenary approval of the bill creating a new department that shall be the primary agency tasked to protect the rights and promote the welfare of Filipinos overseas.

President Duterte, in his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) last year, sought the creation of this proposed OFW department as one of the priority measures that he asked the 18th Congress to pass soon enough in support of his agenda for sustained high growth and accelerated poverty reduction.

Under the bill, the DFO shall exercise administrative supervision over the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) as an attached agency for purposes of policy and program coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

It added shall be responsible for the protection of the rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to decent work, and fair and ethical practices.

With Samuel P. Medenilla and Butch Fernandez

government from adjusting water rates; ensured profit for the said companies; and virtually allowed dismal performance in supplying and delivering, distributing water.

Panelo said the new contract will be presented to Maynilad and Manila Water after it is completed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and the Department of Justice.

As of press time, OSG said it has yet to consolidate the draft of the new contact.

“The President stressed that water is a God-given natural resource which cannot be treated as a mere commercial commodity and exploited to rake in billions of pesos in profits at the expense of the Filipino people. As President, he cannot keep a blind eye to this colossal rip-off,” Panelo said.

Inflation. . .

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Private-sector economist Calixto V. Chikiamco, for his part, said a war in the Middle East would make oil more expensive. The Philippines is a net oil importer.

Chikiamco said high oil prices will also have a negative effect on the peso-dollar exchange rate. He said there is already a high demand for dollars given the ramping up of spending for the “Build, Build, Build.”

Given this, Neri said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) must be “more cautious” with rate cuts on its overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) facility.

ING Senior Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa, nonetheless, said the BSP still had scope to further cut interest rates this year, the first one expected in February. Mapa added that the peso may enjoy some short-term strength, with market analysts expecting a rate cut given the increase in inflation in December.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed December inflation increased to 2.5 percent. However, given the current geopolitical milieu, UnionBank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said the Monetary Board (MB) may choose to hold rates.

“The MB may have to let these volatile situations simmer down —hopefully, it will, as major global economic players have called for greater calm—and until then evaluate again if easing further is indeed the way to go. As of this moment, though macroeconomic fundamentals are strong, the MB may tend to stay and hold rates,” Asuncion said.

Neda’s to-do list

Meanwhile, Pernia said there is a need to implement the recovery and rehabilitation plans for the typhoon-affected areas and fast-track the production support programs for the affected farmers and fisherfolks.

He cited other priority areas, such as assisting farmers to shift to high-value, short-maturing and high-yielding crops; and sustaining biosecurity measures and procedures until the African swine fever (ASF) is fully eradicated. This will bring back confidence of consumers in pork products.

“Over the medium to long term, the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector must increasingly adopt climate and disaster-resilient technologies and best practices. Climate and disaster risks should also be considered in the program and project designs in the sector,” Pernia added.

Nonetheless, Neda welcomed news that the full-year inflation for 2019 settled at 2.5 percent, which is well within the government target of 2 percent to 4 percent. Neda said this was mainly driven by the uptick in the prices of both food and nonfood items due to the impact of typhoons and rising oil prices recorded during the month.

Rice prices posted softer deflation (-6.8 percent from -8.3 percent in November 2019) while inflation rose faster for fish (7.4 percent from 2.5 percent in November 2019) and vegetables (8.2 percent from 1 percent in November 2019).

Rate. . .

Continued from A1

Toward the end of 2019, Diokno assured markets that the BSP will cut rates by “at least 50 basis points” in 2020.

JP Morgan economist Sin Beng Ong flagged risks in inflation due to oil and tax hikes, but also echoed Mapa’s view that Diokno will pursue his rate cut in the first quarter of 2020.

“Aside from the rise in food prices, the expected hike in excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol together with [the] recent rise in energy prices also adds upside to the path of inflation but is still forecast to remain within the 2 to 4 percent inflation target range,” the JP Morgan economist said.

“Nonetheless, despite the rise in headline consumer price index [CPI], we continue to expect a 25 basis point rate cut during the first quarter of 2020 unless energy prices move materially higher from current levels, thus breaching the inflation target range,” he added.

Philippine National Bank (PNB) economist Jun Trinidad, meanwhile, said the BSP should at least maintain a policy neutral stance, especially as tensions escalate in the Middle East, thus, opening doors to oil price volatility.

“Most oil price shocks in the past were driven by actual or potential oil supply disruptions. As such, the Central Bank would probably maintain a ‘neutral’ policy rate stance in the near term until the geopolitical risk fallout from the US-drone ‘kill’ including the oil price impacts are well known,” Trinidad said.

“BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno however was less hawkish, claiming oil prices will have to surge and persist at $90 a barrel for it to impact the Central Bank’s inflation forecast,” he added. Bianca Cuaresma

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BI officers implement ban on deployment of HSWs to Kuwait

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

& Joel R. San Juan

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@jrsanjuan1573

HE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday announced that it has started implementing the government ban on the deployment of newly hired domestic workers to Kuwait.

The ban was imposed after Filipina household service worker (HSW) Jeanelyn Villavende was allegedly killed by her employer last month.

BI Acting Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said he had given instructions to all officers in the different international ports to strictly enforce the ban imposed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Medina said the ban applies to all newly hired HSWs recruited for deployment to the Middle Eastern emirate.

He explained that overseas employment certificates (OEC) of departing Kuwaiti-bound HSWs that were issued prior to the January 3 cutoff date as set by DOLE remain valid for deployment, and the holders will be allowed to leave.

The BI implemented the ban after the bureau received a copy of a January 3 resolution from the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ordering a partial de-

Dollar. . .

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The inflows could have been higher, it said, if not partially offset by outflows representing payments made by the NG on its foreign-exchange obligations during the month.

Should the country need to draw foreign currency reserves to finance its payables, the current GIR level provides an ample external liquidity buffer that is equivalent to 7.7 months’ worth of imports of goods and services, and payments of primary income.

It is also equivalent to 5.5 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.3 times based on residual maturity.

Risks flagged The rise in the country’s GIR comes at a time when several economists are

ployment ban of Filipino domestic workers to Kuwait.

The POEA also imposed a moratorium on the verification, accreditation and processing of individual contracts and additional job orders for HSWs. Exempted from the restrictions, however, are HSWs, whose OEC were issued on or before 5 p.m. of January 3.

Medina, likewise, warned agencies who would attempt to circumvent the ban. “Our system is integrated with POEA’s [system]; hence, with a click of a finger, we would be able to verify an OFW’s records immediately.”

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said the bureau is ready to implement any changes in foreign policy or OFW deployment, should the Department of Foreign Affairs or DOLE impose any new ban to Iraq, Iran and Libya.

The statement came amid brewing tension between the United States and Iran, following the death of Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Military Force, in a US air strike at the Baghdad airport.

“The government’s primary concern is the welfare of our kababayan, hence, the BI is ready to implement any directive regarding our foreign policy or OFW deployment should the concerned agencies sees a need to implement any change,” Morente said in a statement. flagging risks to the country’s current account deficit, as well as the value of the local currency against the dollar.

This as rising tensions were seen across the world at the beginning of 2020. Among the risks to markets are the uncertainty of global trade, a muted global growth and, most recently, the US attack in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian general. These were seen to affect local oil prices as well as influence the movement of local currency.

The GIR took a beating toward the end of the year in 2018, plunging to seven-year lows as the BSP battled to smoothen out volatilities in the depreciating value of the local currency against the dollar.

It also came at a time when sentiment was down due to the accelerating inflation, which also peaked at 6.7 percent in September and October.

The GIR hit its lowest level in 2018 at $74.7 billion in October.

Manufacturing. . .

Pernia said the passage of the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (Citira) and the proposed amendments to the Foreign Investments Act, the Public Service Act, and the Retail Trade Act are critical to eliminate policy uncertainties that affect the country’s business climate.

Pernia explained that the industry sector will benefit from Citira as it will lower the corporate income tax from 30 percent to 20 percent over the medium term.

Meanwhile, the easing of foreign ownership limitations in domestic industries will be crucial to increasing investment.

This will allow for a tighter integration of the value and supply chain across industries and provide opportunities for technology transfer, thus boosting the manufacturing sector.

PSA said the decline in VoPI was mainly influenced by the decreases in the indices of eight major industry groups.

This was led by furniture and fixtures

Exporters. . .

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market outlook in 2020 is optimistic, and sentiments point toward a recovery. “We are slightly more optimistic this year, and we will probably hit growth of about 6 percent to as much as 8 percent on goods exports,” Perlada told the BusinessMirror.

Continued from A1

(-41.2 percent), basic metals (-29.5 percent), miscellaneous manufactures (-22.1 percent), petroleum products (-21.8 percent), transport equipment (-16.7 percent) and electrical machinery (-13 percent).

PSA data showed the Value of Production Index (VaPI) posted a contraction of 5.8 percent in November 2019 from a growth of 2.3 percent in November 2018. Among the nine major industry groups that reported decreases in VaPI, five major industry groups had double-digit decreases.

These include basic metals (-36.2 percent), petroleum products (-25.6 percent), miscellaneous manufactures (-20.7 percent), transport equipment (-20.6 percent) and electrical machinery (-16.6 percent).

Missi is a report that monitors the production, net sales, inventories, and capacity utilization of selected manufacturing establishments to provide flash indicators on the performance of the manufacturing sector.

Cai U. Ordinario

One of the awaited developments for the sector, he bared, is the possible export of automotive parts to vehicle assemblers in the United States and the European Union. Perlada admitted this plan had to be put aside last year on uncertainties brought about by the Trump administration’s trade policies.

The country’s full-year trade performance will be released by the PSA in February.

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DOH places 16 Metro hospitals under ‘Code White’ for Nazarene rites

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco Correspondent

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HE Department of Health on Tuesday said that all 16 DOH hospitals in Metro Manila are on “Code White” alert for the annual Traslación, or the Feast of the Black Nazarene.

Hea lth Secretar y Francisco T. Duque III a lso ca l led on a l l devotees who w il l be joining t he procession on T hursd ay, Januar y 9, to wear comfor ta bl e c lot he s a nd prot e c t i v e foot wear, and to don hats and br ing fans.

“Also bring raincoats/ponchos in case it rains, and enough clean drinking water to avoid dehydration. Make sure to bring bitesize nonperishable food, such as candies or chocolates, for quick hunger relief, and avoid wearing jewelry, bringing expensive gadgets and other valuables,” Duque advised.

He said that 14 health emergenc y response teams wou ld also be deployed in strategic areas a long the route of the Traslación to provide emergency medical ser vices to the thousands of devotees expected to attend.

“Devotees with chronic illnesses should also bring their maintenance medicines, or better yet, stay and pray at home. Children and pregnant women are also advised not to join the procession,” Duque added.

The Code White alert is declared among hospitals during national events, holidays or celebrations that may cause mass casualties or emergencies.

During Code White Alert, emergency medicines and supplies, especially for trauma needs, are made readily available.

Moreover, medical specialists are placed on stand-by for the immediate treatment of incoming patients, while emergency service personnel, nursing and administrative personnel are placed on on-call status for immediate mobilization.

“Know where the emergency medical stations are located for easy access in case of any medical emergency. Let us pray for a peaceful and safe Traslación,” the health chief concluded.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Wednesday, January 8, 2020 A3

AFP vows intensified, focused offensive against Reds as holiday cease-fire lapses

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By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

HE military has vowed to conduct an intensified and focused operations against New People’s Army (NPA) beginning today (Wednesday) with the expiry of the holiday cease-fire between government and communist rebels.

“They [rebels] can expect that combat operations shall resume with more intensity and focus as soon as the clock strikes 12 midnight of January 8, 2020,” said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo.

Arevalo said the military also

favors the ongoing talks with rebels on the local level, a track that the government pursued when President Duterte scuttled the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) more than a year ago.

“And while the AFP gives primacy to peace process, and will submit to the guidance of the Commander in Chief, we are for localized peace talks, given its success owing to the NTF-Elcac [National Task Force on End Local Communist Armed Conflict],” he said.

The cease-fire between the rebels, through the Communist Party of the Philippines and the government, took effect on December 23 in a bid to pave the way for the resumption of the talks with the rebel leadership based in the Netherlands and the Duterte administration.

Arevalo said the government “lost” in the unilateral cease-fire that was observed, given the atrocities committed by the other side while it was in effect.

He cited the killing of a soldier and the wounding of six others in

Labo, Camarines Norte, on December 23 2019, when the NPA ambushed the troops while they were returning to their camp in observance of the cease-fire.

“At about 7:30 a.m. of same date, the terrorist NPA detonated an antipersonnel mine they laid for the policemen in Tubungan, Iloilo. Two policemen were wounded and the police car was severely damaged,” Arevalo said.

The military spokesman said “the people lost too” during the cea se - f i re, not i ng t he t h ree cases of attacks per petrated by the rebels against civilians on December 30.

“Soldiers thwarted the attack, thereby neutralizing two and wounding two from the attackers.

However, a soldier and a Cafgu active auxiliary were wounded-inaction,” he said.

NCWC and PDEA ink pact vs transport, smuggling of drugs

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HE National Coast Watch Center (NCWC) led byPhilippine Coast Guard (PCG) chief Admiral Joel S. Garcia has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Tuesday, wherein both agencies agreed to cooperate in securing the country’s coastlines against smuggling, transportation and transshipment of illegal drugs. “ With this agreement, the NCWC will be relentless in supporting, coordinating and collaborating with the PDEA to eradicate illegaldrug smuggling at the Philippine waters,” Garcia said.

Under the MOA, the NCWC and PDEA agreed to extend mutual assistance in the interdiction of illegal drugs, as well as controlled precursors and essential chemicals entering Philippine shores.

Both agreed to establish a comprehensive information collection plan that will be used in narcotics investigation, antidrug operation and other initiatives for the prevention of illegal drug entry in the country’s coastlines.

“We are making available all Philippine Coast Guard vessels to the PDEA for anti-illegal drug operations,” Garcia said.

On the other hand, PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino thanked the NCWC for offering PCG vessels in the operation, and interdiction of illegal drugs along coastal waters.

“We are grateful to the NCWC and to the PCG for fully supporting our mission of eradicating the issue of illegal drugs in the country. Rest assured that we will be active accomplishing the objectives of this MOA to keep Philippine waters safe and secured,” Aquino said.

‘Saddened’

MEANWHILE, Aquino said he was “saddened” with the statement of Vice President Leni Robredo that the campaign against illegal drugs was a “massive failure.”

“Vice President Leni Robredo’s statement is saddening—18 days as ICAD cochairman, yet she has dismissed, and ignored, all of our government’s accomplishments and efforts for the past three years. I see her recommendations as a mere political attack against President Rodrigo Duterte,” he said.

“As far as PDEA is concerned, the metrics for the success of the antiillegal drug campaign is drug clearing, crime index, trust rating and operational accomplishments. To date, PDEA cleared 16,706 baran-

gays of illegal drugs out of 33,881, or 49.13 percent,” he added.

Among others, Robredo said the PDEA failed in reducing the supply of drugs into the market, citing figures from 2017 up to 2019 wherein the PDEA has seized not even 1 percent of the total volume of drugs that circulated in the market.

A qu i no s a id t he a nt id r u g drive pulled down nationwide crime incidents from 11,860 in July 2016 to 5,000 in July 2019, as reported by the Philippine National Police.

“PDEA also seized a total of P45 billion worth of illegal drugs from 2016 to 2019, from the 162,987 operations with 225,284 arrest....

How can she claim it’s a failure? Yes, there are still shortcomings and flaws to the illegal-drug programs, particularly on rehabilitation, but that is what ICAD is addressing now. As one working committee,” he said.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police Officer in Charge Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa also disagreed with Robredo’s statement, which he called as a “public relations bombshell.”

“With all due respect, I beg to disagree with the public relations

bombshell of VP Robredo on the national antidrug campaign as a massive failure. Whether her numbers are merely an estimate or the exact value, in any case, the figure derived is totally wrong,” he said.

“The national antidrugs campaign cannot be a massive failure when it was able to crush the operation of 14 clandestine laboratories and 419 drug dens. These 14 demolished clandestine laboratories could not be the 1 percent cited by VP Robredo, but perhaps represent 100-percent success rate because there is no more local production of methamphetamine products in the country,” he added.

Gamboa said the antidrugs campaign took off from the streets an estimated 5.1 tons of shabu, 2.2 tons of marijuana, 500 kilos of cocaine and 42,473 of ecstacy pills, all with a total worth of P40.39 billion.

“Since the national crusade against illegal drugs was launched in 2016 until the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 151,601 separate antidrug operations were conducted resulting in the arrest of 220,728 drug law violators among them, 8,185 high-value targets and the death of 5,552 drug personalities,” Gamboa said. Rene Acosta

Marcos asks PET to review, reexamine preliminary vote recount in 3 pilot provinces

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

F

ORMER Senator and vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. has asked the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), to review and reexamine the result of its preliminary vote recount for the three pilot provinces covered by his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo in connection with the 2016 national elections.

Marcos’s raised the motion in his 595-page memorandum submitted to the tribunal where he claimed that the Preliminary Appreciation Committee (PAC) committed “grave error when they overruled his objections for lack of evidence aliunde, even though he was not given any opportunity to present his evidence in support of his pilot protest.”

Evidence aliunde are evidence clarifying a document, but not deriving from the document itself under consideration.

“It is unfair on the part of…

Marcos that his objections against ballots for protestee Robredo were overruled by the Preliminary Appreciation Committee for lack of

evidence aliunde, even though the said lapse/failure cannot be attributed against protestant Marcos,” the memorandum stated.

He noted that the preliminary appreciation of the revised ballot from the pilot provinces was completed on August 14, 2019, without giving the parties in the case any opportunity to present their respective evidence, in violation of Rule 55 to 62 of the 2010 PET Rules.

Marcos is also assailing the finding of the PAC with regard to the ballots of Robredo, which he objected and found to contain Board of Election Inspectors’ signatures that are glaringly different from the BEI signatures found in other election documents.

“These questionable ballots of protestee Robredo containing BEI signatures that are glaringly different from the signatures of the BEI found in their election documents should be invalidated. The decision of the preliminary appreciation committee to overrule the objections of protestant Marcos is serious error which should be immediately rectified by this Honorable Tr ibuna l,” Marcos pointed out.

Aside from the errors of the

PAC on the objected ballots of the pilot protest, Marcos also called on the PET to review and reconsider the findings and conclusions relevant to the claimed ballots of both camps.

He said it was an error on the part of PAC to credit ballots not properly shaded to Robredo.

“The rule is clear and simple: only ballots admitted as valid claims for the concerned claimant.

Hence, it was seriously erroneous on the part of Preliminary Appreciation Committee to admit those ballots as valid claims of protestee Robredo, even though the ovals for protestee Robredo were not shaded,” he said.

The court, sitting as a tribunal, said that after the recount of ballots in three pilot provinces of Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental, Robredo’s lead increased by about 15,000, from 263,473 to 278,566.

Despite the lead, the court still required both parties to comment on the report before it ruled on whether it should proceed with Marcos’s second cause of action to recount in 27 other provinces.

Aside from ordering the parties to submit their memorandum on the comment on the revision and appreciation of the ballots from

the said three provinces, the PET also directed them to submit their respective memoranda to Marcos’s third cause of action relating to his election protest.

In his third cause of action, Marcos is asking the PET to disregard the results of the 2016 election in the three Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao provinces of Lanao del Norte, Basilan and Maguindanao on the ground of terrorism, intimidation and harassment of voters, as well as pre-shading of ballots in all of the 2,756 protested clustered precincts in the areas.

With regard to the third cause of action, Marcos insisted that it is “separate and distinct” from the second cause of action, thus, “due process demands that the proceedings from the reception of evidence thereto must continue.”

He added that the third cause of action cannot be mooted by the results of the preliminary appreciation of the ballots in the pilot precincts.

“The dismissal of the entire protest under Rule 65 of the 2010 PET Rules will only apply if the cause of action of the protestant is limited to the judicial recount and revision of ballots. However, if the election protest was grounded on

another cause of action, such as the annulment of election results, which is separate and distinct from revision and recount, then the protest can be and must proceed independently of the result from the recount, revisions and re-appreciation of ballots,” he said.

Furthermore, Marcos pointed out that the results in the appreciation of the ballots in the pilot precincts are not mathematically insurmountable as to render the third cause of action moot and academic.

Robredo also submitted her memorandum to the PET on the issues where she sought the immediate dismissal of the election protest anew due to the result of the revision of ballots in three pilot provinces.

She said under PET Rule 65, an election protest may be dismissed without consideration to other provinces if a protestee failed to make out his case from the three pilot provinces chosen where irregularities could be observed.

“Plainly seeking, the revision, recount and re-appreciation of ballots merely confirmed that protestant Marcos lost during the May 9, 2016, national and local elections,” Robredo said.

“Two separate incidents of tribal leaders murdered for refusing to follow the evil dictates of the members of terrorist group NPA were recorded,” he said, noting the killings of Bontola Mansinugdan of the Higaynon Tribe in Esperanza, Agusan Sur, and Sammy Diwangan of the Umayamnon tribe in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon.

“Indeed, as NDFP [chairman] Mr. Luis Jalandoni arrogantly declares: We see that peace negotiations are another form of legal struggle...in order to advance the revolutionary armed struggle,” Arevalo said.

Still, Arevalo said that for last year, the government saw the reduction of a total of 10,918 in rebel manpower that included members of its underg round mass base organizations and auxiliary forces.

Clark airport tightens fever check on incoming passengers amid China pneumonia outbreak

By Ashley Manabat Correspondent

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LARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT—Following the reported outbreak of a mysterious infectious respiratory disease that reportedly emanated from China, a strict monitoring of passengers is now being implemented at this airport.

Teri Flores, spokesman of the Luzon International Premiere Airport Development Corp., which handles the operations and maintenance of this airport, said they are now on high alert to prevent the entry of possible outbreak of the diseases via this airport.

Flores, however, clarified there is “no travel restriction on China or special precautions for travelers coming from this region.”

Flores said “the Clark International Airport, in cooperation with the Bureau of Quarantine, is implementing heightened surveillance on all respiratory infections and/or symptoms of pneumonia from arriving passengers.”

She added that “continuous surveillance of all other arriving passengers, as well as information dissemination, are also being implemented.”

Flores stressed that “in case of any symptoms, during or after travel, travelers are encouraged to seek medical attention and share their travel history.”

She added that thermal scanners detecting the body temperature of passengers are in constant use on arriving passengers at this airport, which has been noted to recently had noticeable uptick in the number of passengers arriving from China.

The Department of Health (DOH) said the number of reported respiratory illness cases in China has now risen from 27 to 44, with 11 people listed in serious condition, citing China’s public health watchdog.

However, the DOH said “there is still no case yet of human-to-human transmission” as it allayed public.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has issued a memorandum order to intensify surveillance of all air travelers, especially passengers coming from China.

In his memorandum, Duque ordered heightened surveillance on all respiratory infections, or pneumonia symptoms, in all conveyance coming from China, including thorough review of the submitted maritime declaration of health; aircraft general declaration; the continuous passive screening of incoming travelers; information dissemination among travelers regarding pneumonia; and coordination with port and airport authorities, and partners on identifying areas for display of information, education and communication materials.

Economy BusinessMirror

A4 Wednesday, January 8, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Confed maintains stand against sugar importation

T

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

man Raymond Montinola said.

Confed issued its statement after a new proposed deal of suga r i mpor t at ion h a s been disclosed by Trade Secretar y Ramon M. Lopez between food processors and SR A Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica.

Lopez said part of the talks with SRA’s Serafica is that food processors and other end-users should be allowed to import sugar if the price of the locally produced sweetener cannot matc h t he price of imported ones of around P1,900 per bag.

“Of course, we prefer local, but if they cannot get sugar at that price then you should allow them [to import]. It’s like we have a benchmark, that’s my suggestion to SRA and they agreed in principle,” Lopez

@jearcalas

HE Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) stood pat on its position that importation is not the solution in reducing the retail price of the sweetener after new talks of imports between food processors and government emerged recently.

In a news statement issued on Tuesday, Confed emphasized that importation “is not the answer to alleged high cost of domestic sugar.”

“Rather, the Department of

Trade and Industry [DTI], along with the Sugar Regulatory Administration [SRA], should resolve the issue of sugar prices as they are mandated without killing the local sugar industry,” Confed Spokes-

said over the weekend.

The talks between Lopez, Serafica and the food processors came at a time when the administration’s economic managers have temporarily shelved their proposal to liberalize the sugar industry pending government interventions to help local planters become competitive against foreign producers, such as Thailand.

Montinola reiterated that the alleged high cost of local sugar is caused by unscrupulous traders that are jacking up the prices from the farm-gate level. “[We] cannot understand why the burden to reduce prices is pressed over the shoulder of the sugar farmer when records show that farm-gate prices are only pegged at P30.00 per kilo

for brown sugar, or P1,500 per 50-kilo bag,” he said.

“Prices should be reduced at the retail market and not against the lowly sugar farmer,” Montinola said, adding that there is no need to import since there has been already an importation of 250,000 metric tons of refined sugar that should have stabilized sugar prices.

Furthermore, Montinola urged the government to come up with figures and data on domestic prices of sugar, stock balances, and local consumption, particularly that of end-users like food manufacturers and processors, to have a “better picture” of the current situation.

Confed reiterated their recommendations for DTI to implement their mandate under the Price Act where they can set the price

ceiling for sugar sold at the retail level.

“Under Section [3] [d] The Department of Trade and Industry, with reference to all other basic necessities and prime commodities. Sugar, as a commodity, falls under basic needs Section 3 [1] that the DTI together with the SRA under the DA can establish the proper retail price range and provide the buying public together with local food manufacturers affordable sugar prices,” it said.

Confed also urged anew local food manufacturers “to buy directly their sugar requirements from sugar districts and associations nearest their supply hubs to avail of the low farm-gate prices and avoid middle men to further minimize on cost.”

Palace: Dec inflation Joint circular spells out LGSF-FA priority spending items for LGUs still within target

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

By Samuel P. Medenilla

M

@sam_medenilla

ALACAÑANG downplayed on Tuesday the uptick in inflation rate last month, asserting that inflation level still falls within government target.

Citing the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said the rise in inflation rate to 2.5 percent on December 2019 from the 1.3 percent on November on the same year should not be a cause for alarm.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) attributed the acceleration of inflation rate on December 2019 to the price rise of food and nonfood items caused by typhoons and rising oil prices within the said period.

“It remains well within our target range of 2 percent to 4 percent,” Panelo said.

Panelo, also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, argued that the latest inflation figure is way below the 6.7-percent inflation of 2018.

Nevertheless, he said, the government economic managers continue “to keep a tight watch over inflation amid emerging global threats.”

On Monday, he admitted the government is now closely monitoring the rising oil prices in the international market amid the prevailing tension between the United States and Iran following the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Iranian Quds Force.

Panelo said the government is already preparing measures to address the impact of the said development on the prices of basic necessities.

T

HE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have signed a joint memorandum circular stating the guidelines for the purchase of multi-cabs and/or multipurpose vehicles, as well as the installation of video surveillance.

The joint memorandum circular was released on Monday after President Duterte placed under conditional implementation the use of Local Government Support FundFinancial Assistance (LGSF-FA) to local government units (LGUs) for the said purpose.

Under the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA), an amount of P8.75 billion shall be used for financial assistance to LGUs to support various priority programs and projects, which include the purchase of multi-cabs and or multipurpose vehicles, as well as the purchase and installation of video surveillance.

The President’s veto message explained that this was done to ensure that the fund shall be used only for priority development programs and projects for LGUs which comply with the requirements provided in the guidelines to be issued jointly by the DBM and the DILG. Based on Joint Memorandum Circular 2 signed by Acting Budget Secretary Wendel E. Avisado and

Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año, local government units who failed to meet the minimum percentage of physical completion, or delivery of the programs and projects, under the previously received LGSF-FA to LGUs “shall be a ground to deny the request of the LGU.” Moreover, infrastructure programs and projects in line with the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program shall be given priority in the allocation and utilization of the LGSF-FA. Further, conflict-affected LGUs shall also be given priority, pursuant to Executive Order 70 dated December 4, 2018.

The LGSF-FA shall be released directly by the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) to the beneficiary LGUs, through

authorized government servicing banks, consistent with the purposes indicated in the corresponding special allotment release order and advice of notice of cash allocation issued to be released by the DBM to the BTr. Funds which remain unutilized as of December 31, 2020, shall be reverted to the National Treasury by the recipient LGUs. However, if at any point before the said date, the LGU determines that the funds cannot be implemented for any reason or when the same has been funded from other sources, the amount received by the same LGU from the LGSF-FA to LGUs shall be immediately reverted to the National Treasury.

DILG to push for ₧10-billion DA: Rice farmers to reap bounty of govt interventions starting ’20 BFP modernization fund

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EPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año on Tuesday said he will push for the allocation of P10 billion for the modernization of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

Año said one of the vital components of the modernization program is to ensure that all municipalities have their own fire trucks and fire stations, modern equipment and apparatus, and 7-foot fire truck ladders.

In November last year, the House Committee on Public Order and Safety approved a substitute bill that would provide a P10-billion fund allocation for the modernization program of the BFP. “So that our firemen can enter areas where there is heavy smoke.

The Congress’ session is still until June. We hope it will pass the modernization program,” Año told reporters after the BFP Change of Command held at Camp Karingal in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City.

Currently, BFP has 24,000 personnel and there is only one truck available for every 28,000 people, he said.

“As our population continues to grow, this must also be the case for our personnel and equipment,” he said.

During the ceremony, Fire Chief Supt. Jose Embang formally replaced Fire Director Leonard Bañago who retired from the service upon turning 56 on Tuesday.

Under the leadership of Bañago, the BFP upgraded its response capabilities by procuring more firetrucks from Japan and South Korea, including aerial ladder trucks, chemical trucks and rescue trucks.

The BFP successfully obtained the accreditation for ISO Certification, crafted and implemented the Oplan Ligtas na Pamayanan (OLP), and revised the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 9514, or the Fire Code of the Philippines.

“So that our firemen can enter areas where there is heavy smoke.

The Congress’ session is still until June.

We hope it will pass the modernization program.”

—Año

Under his watch, the BFP obtained, among others, jurisdiction on fire safety inspection to all Peza zones and establishments, constructed more fire stations, completed the new five-story building at BFP National Headquarters, and standardized the BFP uniforms.

As the national focal point person for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear issues of the Philippines, Embang was able to propose and had approved and implemented more or less 30 CBRN projects for the Philippines in areas of forensics, response equipment grant, raising of awareness, and design/build Biological Safety Level Laboratory.

Embang represented and acted as the lead Philippine contingent for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) Meeting of experts in Palais des Nations, Geneva, in November 2016.

He also facilitated the CBRN capacity building programs of the Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police and other agencies. He was also pioneering chief of the BFP’s elite force, the Special Rescue Unit (SRU) that was established in 1991.

Embang hails from the Philippine National Police Academy Class 1987 “Tagapaglingkod” and, thereafter, joined the Philippine Constabulary–Integrated National Police before entering the Bureau of Fire Protection in its establishment as a separate agency in 1990. PNA

By Manuel T. Cayon

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@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—Government would aim to raise local rice production than imports this year when local rice farmers begin to reap the benefits of government intervention last year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

The intervention came in the form of certified palay seeds which the DA-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) distributed in October last year for the dry-season planting, the DA added.

In a news statement that echoed the pronouncement of Agriculture Secretary William Dar when he spoke to reporters last week, the DA said it “targets to produce more palay [unmilled rice] and import less rice this year.”

“We aim to harvest 19.6 million metric tons [MMT] of palay, net of damage due to adverse weather conditions,” said Dar during first media briefing for the year on Januar y 3, 2020, at the DA main office in Quezon City.

The department’s 2020 palay yield forecast was 3 percent more than the estimated 2019 palay output of 19 MMT. “We expect that initial benefits of interventions under the P10billion RCEF [Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund] program, particularly on inbred rice seeds given free to farmers, will be realized during the dry and main season crops starting this year,” Dar said.

The certified palay seeds were distributed to farmers in 947 riceproducing towns and cities in 57 provinces. The seeds support was taken from the RCEF program.

Under RCEF, some P3 billion is set aside each year for certified seeds up to 2024, where farmers would receive 40 kilograms per hectare of certified rice seed varieties for every planting season.

The DA said the inbred certified

palay seeds produce an average of 4.54 MT per hectare as compared to farmer home-saved seeds’ yield of 3.50 MT per hectare, and the traditional seeds’ yield of 2.13 MT per hectare, according to the DA-PhilRice.

“Hence, with RCEF seed intervention, we would generate an incremental yield of at least 1 MMT, as we will provide farmers nationwide, tilling a total of 1 million hectares, free certified palay seeds,” Dar said.

He said rice farmers would expect an incremental yield of another 1 MMT of palay per hectare as farmers adopt modern technologies and mechanize land preparation, crop management and harvesting.

The DA said that under RCEF, the DA-Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (DA-PhilMech) would distribute P5 billion worth of farm machines and equipment to qualified farmers’ cooperatives and associations, and local government units.

PhilMech research shows that mechanizing rice farming operations can reduce total palay production cost

by P4 per kilogram, from the current average of P12 per kilogram.

“We have yet to mechanize Philippine agriculture, at a level of at least 4 horsepower [hp] per hectare, and be at par with our Asean counterparts,” Dar said.

Studies conducted by the DAPhilMech showed that the country’s level of mechanization is 1.23 hp per hectare for all crops, 2.31 hp per hectare for rice in all provinces, and 3 hp per hectare in major riceproducing provinces like Isabela and Nueva Ecija.

Under RCEF, rice farmers will also receive credit support worth P1 billion, through the Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines, and another P1 billion for trainings and scholarships through the DA’s Agricultural Training Institute, PhilMech, and PhilRice, and DTI’s Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

News BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 A5

Duterte neutral for now in US-Iran row, as PHL preps for OFW evacuation P RESIDENT Duterte on Tuesday said the country would remain neutral in the tension between the United States and Iran in the Middle East for now.

In an ambush interview after the conferment ceremony of National Scientist Emil Javier, Duterte stressed he will prefer not to be involved in the conflict, especially if it escalates into war.

He said this includes not sending any Filipino troops to the Middle East, or allowing the country to become a “launching pad” for missile attacks, from the US against Iran.

However, he admitted he might reconsider his current position of not siding with any of the opposing countries if any Filipino is hurt from the conflict.

In a media briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said the country would likely side with the US if Iran’s retaliatory attacks will harm any Filipinos.

This, as Duterte’s newly designated point man for any mass repatriation, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, said on Tuesday he had recommended to the President the forced evacuation of Filipinos, first and foremost those in Iraq, where tension is high.

The Philippines is preparing the

forced evacuation of Filipino migrant workers in the Middle East to “put them out of harm’s way,” amid the growing tension and escalating threats to Filipinos in Iraq and other Middle East countries, said the energy secretary, who is set to fly to the Middle East soon.

Cimatu, who in late 2002 was also sent on a similar mission by thenPresident Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to oversee coordinated efforts for the evacuation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) within the region, met with reporters at a hastily called news conference at the DENR Central Office in Quezon City.

On Duterte’s approach to the brewing crisis sparked by the January 3 US air strike that killed a top Iranian general at the Baghdad International Airport, Panelo said Duterte issued messages urging “friendly caution” to Iran, and even Iraq, which now wants to expel American forces from its soil during the 45th Cabinet meeting on Monday.

“That is precisely why he [President Duterte] specifically instructed Secretary [Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Abdullah] Mamao to go to Iran and Iraq, and deliver a special message to the Iraqi and Iranian governments of this urgent desire, and wish, that no Filipinos be harmed dur-

ing the course of the conflict,” Panelo said at a Palace briefing on Tuesday.

Iran threatened to retaliate against the US after its air strike killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, whom it had blamed for several attacks that killed US citizens. As millions poured out in both mourning and protest in Iran, the air strike also sparked anti-US sentiment in Iraq, where over 5,000 US troops have been helping Iraqi forces fight terrorist groups. While the air strike killed an Iranian, the attack was seen in Baghdad as an intrusion on Iraqi sovereignty.

Panelo said on Tuesday Duterte deployed Cimatu, being the former special envoy to the Middle East, and Mamao to Iran and Iraq.

Cimatu was tasked to “lay the groundwork for the evacuation,” while Mamao will “deliver the special messages of the President of the Philippines to the Iranian and Iraqi governments on the safety of the Filipinos working in the aforesaid countries.”

The Philippines has an existing Mutual Defense Treaty with the US, which requires both parties to support one another if either of them is attacked by a third party.

Asked about President Duterte’s response to his recommendation for a forced evacuation, especially of the

OFWs in Iraq, Cimatu said the President gave him the authority to do what is necessary.

The current alert in Iraq is Level 3, which means voluntary repatriation, but Cimatu said he has already recommended elevating it to Level 4, which is forced evacuation.

Cimatu has prepared a list of possible targets which he intends to give to Malacañang, together with his recommendation, before flying to the Middle East, but expressed his most urgent concern for Filipinos in Iraq, who, from various estimates, are listed from over 1,000 to 6,000.

Most of those in Baghdad are employed by American contractors and stay in the fortified green zone. The rest are employed in civilian entities in the relatively safer Kurdistan region.

“We have a list, but there are some Filipinos who may have been directly hired by American companies without passing the DOLE [Department of Labor and Employment]. That will be the problem,” he said.

Given the strong show of support for Iran, the threat to Filipinos staying in areas where Tehran might retaliate against the Americans becomes imminent, he said.

Cimatu said another team is set to go to Iran—a bigger challenge

because many Filipinos in Iran are undocumented.

“That is one of the difficulties, really,” he said, citing his previous experience during the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

A former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff, Cimatu was deployed by Arroyo as special envoy to the Middle East in late 2002, as all indications pointed to a full-blown war initiated by the US, which accused Saddam Hussein of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

Cimatu called on Filipinos in the Philippines to report to the Philippine Embassy the names, contact numbers, addresses or locations of their relatives working in the Middle East, to fasttrack the evacuation.

“Whether they are documented or undocumented, all Filipinos must be put out of harm’s way,” he said.

“I am making some preparations. Some of the Cabinet secretaries will meet at the Department of Foreign Affairs now to assist this crew that will be going to the Middle East. I am preparing my travel there. I will do my best to do another mission for our country,” he said.

Cimatu said within the next 48 hours, once his visa is approved, he plans to go to Qatar and establish a

base. “From there, we will see if we can go inside Iraq,” said Cimatu.

During his presentation to the President with members of the Cabinet, Cimatu said the first priority is to move out the Filipinos in Iraq, which he sees as the immediate target. He said Filipinos should be advised to stay away from American facilities like US Embassies, or buildings or business establishments owned by American companies.

“We need to inform the Philippine Embassy there of our plans. I will reiterate that we need to pull them out of there,” he said.

“We are still finalizing the plan. In the previous experience, which is very similar, although the protagonists are different already, we are expecting possible retaliation by Iran.”

Cimatu said a crucial part of the plan is to identify the possible mode of transportation to move out the Filipinos.

Initially, he said there is a vessel that can be used, a Coast Guard vessel, near Libya, which can be used in the evacuation.

“Our plan is to bring the Filipinos to any Arab country where they will be safe. In the meantime, that is the plan in the next 48 hours,” he said.

Samuel P. Medenilla, Jonathan L. Mayuga

A6 Wednesday, January 8, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

editorial

Weathering volatility in food prices

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

BUSINESSMIRROR 01082020

T

he decision of the United States to launch an air strike against Iran, which killed its revered top general Qassem Soleimani, has resulted in spikes in commodity prices. One particular worrisome development for the Philippines is the surge in oil prices days after the US air strike. The Philippines continues to import oil and surges in international prices will undoubtedly make it more difficult for the government to hit its economic targets.

What compounds the situation for the Philippines is that it remains a net importer of food. We continue to rely on other countries for a number of food items, including rice. The uncertainty caused by the rising tension between the US and Iran, coupled with spikes in commodity prices, could lead to a higher import bill for the Philippines.

The jump in oil prices was tagged as one of the biggest contributors to the 2008 international rice crisis, which caused the Philippines to pay more than double for the staple. A paper published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2009, indicated that rising oil prices between 2002 and 2007 contributed to the conditions that resulted in the rice price increase.

The paper noted that high oil prices impact nearly every aspect of farming—production, processing, marketing and transportation. Local rice growers, the USDA paper said, were also hurt by more expensive oil as irrigation pumps typically run on diesel. As modern fertilizers are petroleum-based, spikes in oil prices could make the input more expensive and cause production cost to go up.

Prior to 2008, oil prices began a long-term increase in early 2002, after dropping below $20 per barrel in late 2001, according to the USDA paper. It was in August 2005, when oil prices began to increase sharply partly due to the effect of two severe hurricanes that struck the US Gulf Coast. By March 2008, prices exceeded $100 per barrel for the first time, and even reached more than $150 per barrel by July.

It will do well for members of the Duterte administration’s economic team to look back at these events and heed the lessons of the 2008 rice crisis. Global rice supply is thinning every year given the expansion in population and the failure of some rice-eating countries, like the Philippines, to improve their farm productivity. Government must see to it that measures are in place to ensure that the country has enough food stock so people will not have to fall in line for state-subsidized rice.

Government must also be wary of traders who will take advantage of the tussle between the US and Iran. The soundness of the decision of the Duterte administration to remove the quantitative restriction on rice and to limit government intervention in the rice market may be put to the test once international commodity prices become volatile. The government must closely monitor the development in the international front and ensure that safeguards are in place to prevent speculators from taking advantage of such unfortunate incident.

Poverty incidence fell to a record low of 16 percent in 2018 due largely to the decline in the prices of foodstuff, notably rice. What helped the government’s cause to cut food prices was the fact that traders were able to buy rice from nontraditional sources, which boosted domestic supply. However, volatile commodity prices could threaten the government’s poverty reduction goals and wipe out its gains if it will not act fast enough to insulate the country from the adverse impact of geopolitical tensions.

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2019: A banner year for competition enforcement Arsenio M. Balisacan

Competition Matters

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espite the many headwinds it continued to face, the Philippine economy received some welcome news at the end of 2019: poverty estimates recently released show that the country’s full-year poverty incidence dropped from 23.3 percent in 2015 to 16.6 percent in 2018. Additionally, economic growth for 2019 is expected to hover at 6 percent despite the slowdown in the first half of the year. We are on track to achieve AmBisyon Natin 2040, our long-term vision for the Philippines.

To ensure that our growth is sustainable and results in the inclusion of the poor in the economic mainstream, the effective enforcement of competition law and policy must remain part and parcel of the country’s long-term development agenda.

I am quite pleased to say that the year 2019 was a banner year for the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) as it flexed its enforcement muscle to protect and promote market competition. The past year saw the Commission issuing landmark decisions, instilling discipline in the competitive landscapes across different industries, and imposing sizable penalties on erring firms.

Quite significantly, the Commission decided on its first abuse of dominance case—a milestone in Philippine competition enforcement.

It involved Urban Deca Homes, a property developer that imposed a sole Internet service provider on its

residents. This prevented them from availing themselves of alternative and cheaper Internet service.

Among its corrective measures, the PCC ordered the property developer to pay a fine of P27 million, and invited other Internet service providers to offer their services to residents. Such was the impact of this decision that other property developers with similar conduct initiated remedial actions on their own practices—a clear example of deterrence and voluntary compliance as a result of effective enforcement.

Another important “first” for the country’s antitrust regime was the merger prohibition in January 2019. The PCC blocked Universal Robina Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Central Azucarera Don Pedro as it would substantially lessen competition in the market for sugarcane milling services in Southern Luzon.

The prohibition of the transaction

prevented the creation of a monopoly that could significantly harm the welfare of sugarcane farmers. This demonstrates how the Commission’s work has significant impact on stakeholders who belong to our priority sectors.

The Commission has vigorously enforced the Philippine Competition Act, its rules, decisions and issuances. The PCC stood guard in monitoring Grab’s compliance with the Commission’s Commitment Decision, which subjected Grab’s acquisition of Uber in 2018 to pricing and quality standards. Since opening a motu proprio review of this transaction, and for numerous violations of orders and commitments, the PCC has exacted fines on Grab totaling P39.60 million, of which P19.2 million shall be refunded to affected Grab riders.

The PCC remains committed to the robust enforcement of its rules to penalize violators, encourage compliance, and deter the conduct of unfair market practices. Indeed, the total amount of fines it imposed in 2019 reached P114.6 million—four times greater than in 2018.

Efforts from previous years produced two significant enforcement tools that augment our current processes. First, the Commission’s Leniency Program, a whistle-blower-type program that is a staple in most jurisdictions, was launched in January 2019. More recently, the Commission got a boost from the Supreme Court through its issuance of the Rule on Administrative Search and Inspection, which strengthens PCC’s ability to conduct dawn raids. These two

frameworks are expected to significantly advance our case-building and increase the number of cartel prosecutions in the coming years.

To fast-track investigations and to facilitate better policy coordination, the Commission in 2019 established agreements with regulators in sectors it has prioritized. These include the Departments of Trade and Industry; Energy; Agriculture; and Energy Regulatory Commission.

These partnerships are being utilized as the Commission continues to bear down on complaints of anticompetitive conduct across a broad range of industries.

In summary, our experiences in the course of our work, the past three years, have strengthened the Commission’s confidence in engaging with participants from various industries and in steadfastly enforcing its rules and decisions. Our strong stance in favor of consumers, as reflected in the stiff fines we have imposed on noncomplying entities, shows the Commission’s seriousness in its commitment to making markets efficient and advancing consumer welfare.

This new year, the Filipino people can only expect the PCC to sustain its momentum in delivering more and better competition enforcement.

Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan is the chairman of the Philippine Competition Commission and a professor of economics (on secondment) at the University of the Philippines. Prior to his appointment to the Commission, he served as socioeconomic planning secretary and, concurrently, director general of the National Economic and Development Authority. He also served as dean of the School of Economics in UP Diliman.

Why 2020 is harder to predict than 2019 was

By Tyler Cowen | Bloomberg Opinion

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Y main prediction for 2020, if it can be called a prediction, is trend exhaustion: For the first time in a long while, several important trends have come to an end.

What do I mean by that? Trends ebb and flow, of course, but at any given moment many of them embody one of two distinct states: momentum, or reversion to the mean. The first is a continuation of past progress, either upward or downward. The second is a movement back toward “normal,” however that may be defined.

Now, in an especially wide variety of areas, neither of these conditions is prevalent. Start with the US job market. Since the end of the recession, employment has been improving quite steadily. That has been great for the country, but with unemployment now at 3.5 percent, does that trend have much further to run? I am not pessimistic about the US economy, but I would say that the direction of the next jobs report is now harder to predict than it used to be.

How about relations with China?

For the last few years, it has been fairly easy to predict that US-China relations will continue to get worse. But with a new US-China trade deal due to be signed later this month, this is no longer such a sure bet. I tend to think the deal will not stick, and perhaps could create new terms for intensified conflict, but there is a decent chance the negative momentum has been reversed. Whatever your view, recent trends are not necessarily helpful in making predictions. Chinese economic growth is yet another major issue where past trends seem to have been drained of their informative value. For a long time, a good and indeed continually verified prediction was this: “The Chinese economy will continue to grow at a rapid clip.” After that, “Chinese economic growth will slow down” did well for a number of years.

Today there are mixed signals. On

one hand, corporate debt problems seem to be getting worse. On the other, there are signs the Chinese economy may be stabilizing. You could argue this one either way, but looking at recent trends isn’t going to settle it.

Or you might have thought that India was the obvious new candidate for economy on the rise. And maybe it still is. But it turns out a lot of Indian economic data was falsified or exaggerated, and the true Indian growth rate may be closer to 4 percent than 6 percent, or 8 percent. Once again, the (ostensible) past trend turns out not to be so informative.

Similarly, the potential trend of Africa as the “next big thing” has not (yet?) been crystallized into a consistent series of economic growth numbers. The economies of Ghana and Ethiopia are doing quite well, but elsewhere on the continent growth rates have disappointed; the largest African economy, Nigeria, grew at only about 2 percent last year.

Another big trend has been the rise of right-wing populist parties in many countries. That has been a pretty solid prediction for a few years, but now there

is evidence that those parties are no longer growing more popular. Will they retreat, as mainstream parties adopt their agendas, or is this just a slight pause? Again, I would say the previous trend has been exhausted and this is a new and hard-to-predict moment.

Another recent trend, the proliferation of new #MeToo cases and an accompanying rise in publicity, may also be losing momentum. Figures, such as Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein have receded from the news.

Could this issue come back with another major celebrity-linked scandal?

Absolutely—but it also might have cooled off for a while. The prediction that there will be more #MeToo cases is no longer so easy.

Are there examples of contrary cases, where an important preexisting trend still seems very much in force?

Well, carbon emissions will almost certainly get worse before they get better.

When it comes to temperatures, however, the global data have exhibited periodic flat periods or even declines before renewed rises. So at least in the short run, predictability there is not so great either.

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

US strike on Iran could have consequences in North Korea

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Putin now needs a ‘Plan B’ on Iran Leonid Bershidsky

BLOOMBERG

By Kim Tong-Hyung | The Associated Press

EOUL, South Korea—The US strike that killed Iran’s top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea.

Experts say the escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran will diminish already fading hopes for such an outcome and inspire North Korea’s decision makers to tighten their hold on the weapons they see, perhaps correctly, as their strongest guarantee of survival.

North Korea’s initial reaction to the killing of General Qassem Soleimani has been cautious. The country’s state media was silent for several days before finally on Monday issuing a brief report on the attack that didn’t even mention Soleimani’s name.

The Korean Central News Agency report didn’t publish any direct criticism by Pyongyang toward Washington, instead simply saying that China and Russia had denounced the US over last week’s air strike at the airport in Baghdad.

The North’s negotiations with the US have been at a stalemate since last February, when a summit between Leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald J. Trump collapsed over disagreements about exchanging sanctions relief for nuclear disarmament. The North has recently pointed to that lack of progress, and hinted it may resume tests of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

While the killing of Soleimani may give Pyongyang pause about provoking the Trump administration in such a way, the North ultimately is likely to use the strike to further legitimize its stance that it needs to bolster its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against American aggression.

The North has often pointed to the demises of Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein and Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi while justifying its nuclear development, saying they would still be alive and in power had they successfully obtained nuclear weapons and didn’t surrender them to the US. Solemani’s name will soon be mentioned with them too, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University.

“North Korea would say that the ‘imperialist’ nature of the US would never change, and that there is no other option for them other than to strengthen its nuclear deterrent while bracing for long-term confrontation,” said Koh, an adviser to current South Korean President Moon Jae-in. It’s clear Pyongyang has been closely watching the developments between Washington and Tehran since the Trump administration in May 2018 abandoned a nuclear agreement Iran reached with world powers in 2015.

The North’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper published more than 30 articles analyzing the USIran tensions since last August,

reflecting the keen interest of Pyongyang’s decision makers, Hwang Ildo, a professor from South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy, recently wrote.

Kim and Trump exchanged insults and threats of war during a highly provocative run in North Korean weapons tests in 2017. But then in 2018, Kim initiated diplomatic talks with Washington, and suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests. The opening came after months of concerns that the Trump administration could consider preventive military action against the North.

There are views that North Korea’s measured brinkmanship of 2019, highlighted by tests of shorter-range weapons and defiant statements on overcoming US-led sanctions, were influenced by Tehran’s calibrated provocations against Washington, which coincided with efforts to retain European countries participating in the 2015 deal.

Washington’s decision not to retaliate against Iran’s interception of a US surveillance drone last June could have emboldened Pyongyang, which possibly concluded it wouldn’t have to fear US military action as long as it avoids directly threatening American lives or more crucial assets, some experts say.

The US air strike that took out Soleimani came after Iranian proxies fired rockets onto an Iraqi base, killing an American contractor, and those proxies then helped generate a mob that attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad.

In comments published on New Year’s Day, Kim said there were no longer grounds for the North to be “unilaterally bound” to its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM tests, which Trump has repeatedly boasted as a major foreign policy accomplishment.

But Kim gave no explicit indication that he was abandoning negotiations entirely or restarting the suspended tests. He seemed to leave the door open to diplomacy, saying North Korea’s efforts to bolster its deterrent will be “properly coordinated” depending on future US attitudes. The US killing of Soleimani will make the North more hesitant about crossing a metaphorical “red line” with the Trump administration by restarting such tests, said Du Hyeogn Cha, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Kyung Hee University.

“The air strike does serve as a warning to North Korea about taking extreme actions as the presumption that the Trump administration refrains from using military force when concerned about consequences has been shattered,” said Cha, an ex-intelligence secretary to former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 A7

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ranian General Qassem Soleimani, killed last week by a US drone in Baghdad, has been credited with persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene militarily in Syria, in 2015, a claim the Kremlin denies. Regardless of the truth of that particular story, though, the inevitable escalation following Soleimani’s death has the potential to change Putin’s calculus in the region.

Commenting on Soleimani’s demise, the Russian Defense Ministry praised his “indisputable contribution” to defeating the Islamic State in Syria. The ministry credited him for organizing an armed resistance to Isis long before the US created its own anti-Isis coalition. Indeed, if it weren’t for Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, and other regional armed groups, it would have made no sense for Russia to enter the Syrian conflict.

Hezbollah and Iranian forces commanded by Soleimani provided the boots on the grounds that Russia was unwilling to spare, supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s bloodied and exhausted troops to turn the tables on Assad’s enemies, including the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. It was important to Putin that Assad didn’t stand alone. If that were the case, he’d be easier to write off than to back.

Some analysts have argued that it’s always been in Russia’s interest

to limit Iran’s role in Syria, because the Kremlin has no control over Iran or Hezbollah. That argument, however, assumes that Russia wants control. Putin, for his part, never wanted to own the Syrian crisis, but rather to prop up forces willing to consider Russia’s economic and military interests ahead of US ones. That meant maintaining the status quo—and from Moscow, the Axis of Resistance, not just the Assad regime, was the status quo.

Alexander Zasypkin, the Russian ambassador to Lebanon, said this in a March, 2019 interview: I’ll say it straight: The Iranian influence on the Syrian regime shouldn’t be restricted. A strong, unshakable alliance exists among Damascus, Tehran and Hezbollah.

It’ll remain that way in the future.

At the same time, Russian diplomats and Putin himself have avoided calling Iran a Russian ally. To them, it was merely the central part of a geopolitical arrangement that they didn’t want replaced with a pro-US one. That’s an important distinction.

An alliance is defined by mutual commitments. But when it comes to the Iranian regime, Putin has avoided any kind of serious commitment.

In an attempt to set himself up as a Middle Eastern mediator rather than part of one of the region’s warring camps, he’s cooperated with Iran’s arch-enemy, Israel, and with Turkey, whose regional ambitions sometimes clash with Iran’s.

Soleimani’s death changes nothing about this basic setup. All Russia feels compelled to do is offer condolences, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif; express concern, as Putin did to French President Emmanuel Macron; and keep up its military cooperation with Soleimani’s successor, Esmail Ghaani. Putin won’t back any Iranian attempts at retaliation.

Yet, he will need to react if Iran does retaliate and the situation gets out of hand. Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has even likened Soleimani’s killing to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, the event that set off World War I. One possible scenario he described was an Iranian strike on Israel and an Israeli response against Iranian forces and proxies in Syria, which might endanger Russian troops. Putin has planned a visit to Israel this month; deconfliction in Syria will be one of the key subjects of his discussions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On a strategic level, further escalation between Iran and the US might disturb the geopolitical balance that Russia intervened in Syria to maintain. That’s something

UN chief: Highest global tensions this century risk mistakes

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By Edith M. Lederer | The Associated Press

NITED NATIONS—UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that global political tensions “at their highest level this century” are escalating and “leading more and more countries to take unpredicted decisions with unpredictable consequences and a profound risk of miscalculation.”

The UN chief, considered by many the world’s top diplomat, said his message is simple: “Stop escalation.

Exercise maximum restraint. Restart dialogue. Renew international cooperation” and avoid a new war.

Guterres did not name any countries—and refused to answer shouted questions—but his comments followed rising US tensions with Iran and last Friday’s US killing of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. His death has led Iran to announce it is abandoning all limits in the 2015 nuclear deal with key world powers, and Iraq’s parliament to call for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil.

The United States said Soleimani was plotting a series of attacks that endangered many American troops and officials across the Middle East.

President Donald J. Trump said his aim was to prevent war—not start one—but he has promised reprisals against any Iranian retaliation.

In his State of the World Address to global leaders at their annual UN General Assembly meeting in September, Guterres painted a grim picture of a deeply divided and anxious planet. His statement on Monday was even more dire.

He told presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and ministers from the UN’s 193 member-states just over three months ago that the world is facing a climate crisis, “the alarming possibility of armed conflict in the Gulf,” spreading terrorism, rising populism and “exploding” inequality.

T he secretar y-genera l a lso warned of the looming risk of the world splitting in two, with the US and China creating rival Internets, currency, trade, financial rules “and their own zero sum geopolitical and military strategies.” He said the risk “may not yet be large, but it is real.”

Speaking to reporters on Monday, he appeared more worried, saying

“the New Year has begun with our world in turmoil.”

Guterres expressed great concern at the recent rise in global tensions, stressing: “We are living in dangerous times.”

In addition to the risk of miscalculation by countries taking “unpredicted decisions,” Guterres said, “We see trade and technological conflicts that fracture world markets, undermine growth and widen inequalities.”

“Even nuclear nonproliferation can no longer be taken for granted,” he said, apparently responding to Iran’s announcement of its plans to renew nuclear activities and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un saying he’s bolstering the country’s nuclear deterrent in the face of “gangsterlike” US pressure.

In many parts of the world, Guterres said, people are frustrated and angry.

“We see increased social unrest and growing extremism, nationalism and radicalization, with a dangerous advance of terrorism in several areas of the world, notably in Africa,” he said.

The secretary-general warned in November that terrorist groups have strengthened their foothold across Africa’s Sahel region, which is experiencing escalating violence. He said

Why China won’t join any Iran-Russia coalition against Trump

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eijing’s muted response to the US’s killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani suggests China still isn’t ready to join Russia in taking a more direct role in the Middle East’s entrenched conflicts.

While Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China was “highly concerned” by the action and called it “unacceptable,” he didn’t use words like “condemn” or “denounce” like his Iranian and Russian counterparts, Javad Zarif and Sergei Lavrov. Instead, he told Zarif that China would “play a constructive role” to help safeguard regional security and said on a call with Lavrov that “all parties” must uphold international law.

The comments were consistent with China’s past efforts to avoid commitments in a region where it could clash with the US and its allies. Beijing has so far done little to counter

President Donald J. Trump’s effort to ratchet up pressure on Tehran, beyond defending the Iran nuclear deal and criticizing the US’s unilateral sanctions.

On Monday, the US accused China of siding with Russia at the United Nations to block a Security Council resolution condemning the attack on the American Embassy in Baghdad, that precipitated Trump’s decision to order the strike at Soleimani. The US mission to the UN said the move “calls the council’s credibility into question.”

There’s little to indicate that Soleimani’s death will spur China to stray far from its past balancing act, especially as President Xi Jinping seeks to wrap up preliminary trade negotiations with Trump this month.

While China has stepped up military cooperation with Russia and expanded

Putin wants to prevent with the help of European leaders. In addition to talking to Macron, he has invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Russia next weekend, with Iran atop the agenda.

Putin can’t, however, discount the possibility of a full-scale war between the US and Iran, a war the Iranian regime cannot win. In such a situation, Putin would need a replacement for the Axis of Resistance in Syria—some sort of arrangement that would make it unnecessary for him to commit more troops but prevent US-friendly regime change, thus allowing Russia to maintain its military bases.

Putin’s options for such an arrangement are currently limited to working with Turkey, the only other strong player in the region that isn’t a firm US ally. On Wednesday, Putin will visit Ankara to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They will have more urgent things to discuss than the launch of a new natural gas pipeline.

Though Russia and Turkey have weighed in on opposite sides of the civil conflict in Libya, Putin and Erdogan have a proven ability to work together. Last year, the two cooperated when Erdogan launched a military operation against the Syria-based Kurds.

That Erdogan is Putin’s only possible “Plan B” doesn’t augur well for Assad. The Turkish president would prefer him gone, and if Iranian support ceases, Putin is more likely to seek a compromise with Erdogan than to keep propping up Assad. The Syrian ruler, ironically, must be praying fervently that the Iranians do nothing rash.

ties with Tehran, it also relies on Iran’s rival Saudi Arabia as its top supplier of foreign oil.

“China is caught up in a dilemma where it doesn’t want to provoke the Trump administration—it has a deepening strategic partnership with Russia while it has its own interest at stake in Iran,” said Shi Yinhong, an adviser to China’s cabinet and also a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. “I expect the Chinese government to stick to a mild tone, calling on both sides to exercise restraint and refrain from escalating tensions.”

China and Russia have enhanced military ties in recent years, conducting joint naval drills annually and coordinating security policies across Asia through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Xi and Vladimir

Putin have met more than 30 times since 2013, with the Chinese leader calling his Russian counterpart his “closest foreign colleague.” Putin has said Russia-China cooperation reached an “unprecedentedly high level.”

Still, they are unlikely to team up in a Middle East conflict. Although Chinese officials have repeatedly blasted US actions against its own trade and security interests, they have opted for a lower-key response to Washington’s disputes with Beijing’s diplomatic partners. China avoided moves to stop American efforts to oust its longtime diplomatic patron Nicolas Maduro, saying only it was a domestic affair that should be resolved by the Venezuelan people.

Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of the Eurasia Group, told Bloomberg Television on Monday that

China has a different objective from Russia in the Middle East. “The Russians actually want chaos. The Chinese want stability,” Bremmer said.

Similarly, China has dramatically scaled back its purchases of Iranian oil since the US ended sanctions waivers last year, importing less than 548,000 tons of crude in November compared with just over 3 million in April. China remains Iran’s biggest oil buyer, but it bought five times as much from Saudi Arabia in the first 11 months of last year.

It’s unclear what it would take for China, which boasts the world’s secondbiggest economy and defense budget, to take a more assertive role in the Middle East. Last month, China hosted Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, for a visit to Beijing and participated in joint naval drills with Iran and Russia in the Indian

the expanding foothold “is making large swaths of territory unstable and stoking ethnic violence, especially in Burkina Faso and Mali.”

UN experts reported last month that the structure of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda extremists in Libya have been disrupted by counterterrorism operations carried out by the government and the rebel Libyan National Army led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, as well as an increase in activity by the United States Africa Command. But the experts also reported a new focus on Libya by the Islamic State.

“And all the while, our planet is on fire,” Guterres said, an obvious reference to wildfires devastating Australia and damaging other countries and states from California to Greece, Russia, Lebanon, and his native Portugal.

The secretary-general said he has been in constant touch with leading officials around the world as “the cauldron of tensions” rises.

“This situation cannot go on,” he said, appealing for de-escalation, maximum restraint, dialogue and a return to international cooperation.

“Let us not forget the terrible human suffering caused by war,” Guterres said. “As always, ordinary people pay the highest price. It is our common duty to avoid it.”

Ocean and Gulf of Oman.

Li Guofu, a former Chinese diplomat to the US and director of the China Institute of International Studies’ Center for Middle East Studies, said foreign powers had few options to discourage Trump from his “law of the jungle” decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. “In this case, other countries can do very little to possibly change the status quo,” Li said.

Trump has at times suggested that he would like to see Xi come off the sidelines in the Middle East, saying in a June tweet that countries like China should start protecting their own oil shipments through the Persian Gulf.

China’s foreign ministry sidestepped a question on Monday about whether the country would consider a larger security role in the Middle East.

Bloomberg News

A8 Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Solons ready special session for Mideast OFW exit fund

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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HE House of Representatives on Tuesday indicated its readiness to conduct special sessions to craft contingency plans, including the passage of a supplemental budget that may be needed to quickly fund a massive evacuation of overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East, where tensions between the United States and Iran are escalating.

This, as the Cabinet prepared for a special interagency meeting on Wednesday to craft the finer details

of a massive evacuation plan for Filipino workers in immediate danger in Iraq and Iran. They will likely be

“We assure the families of our OFWs that Congress is working closely with the Executive department to realize the President’s desire, that no Filipinos be harmed in the course of the ongoing conflicts.”—Romualdez

moved to safer havens also in the Middle East, which hosts a total of 2 million OFW, but others will be repatriated to the Philippines.

House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said on Tuesday Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has already asked the House Secretariat to make the necessary preparations

for a special session.

“As of today [Tuesday], though, we are still waiting for Malacañang’s formal communication to the House of Representatives on the issue,” he said.

“Such communication is needed to guide us on what is expected of Congress during the special session,” he added.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III indicated as much in a text message when asked by the BusinessMirror if the Senate was ready to accede to the President’s wish for a special session before January 20.

Sotto said they will convene a special session for the Middle East contingency “if we receive a letter from the President.”

See “OFW,” A2

Angkas may get unfilled slots of Move It, JoyRide

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

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@lorenzmarasigan

NGK AS may absorb the unfilled slots of the two other motorcycle-taxi companies should they fail to meet the fleet requirement for the service’s pilot run.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) member Antonio Gardiola, who

chairs the technical working group (TWG) for the motorcycle taxi pilot program, said Angkas was the only fleet-requirement compliant company as of Tuesday.

As of January 7, or 10 days before the deadline, Angkas is the only provider that met the 10,000 rider requisite. Move It has registered 2,414 bikers, while JoyRide has 6,907 registered riders. The latter two were allowed in by the

EASTERLIES AFFECTING SOUTHERN LUZON AND EASTERN VISAYAS INTERTROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE AFFECTING MINDANAO as of 4:00 pm - January 7, 2020

IWG for the second trial period for motorbike taxis, made popular by ride-hailing app Angkas. The second trial runs from December 23, 2019 to March 23, 2020.

“Up to January 17, if they [new players] cannot meet the 10,000 biker requirement, the negative variance will be redistributed to who is ready,” Gardiola said.

This means that Angkas may breach the 10,000-rider limit that

has been the center of a three-day stay order issued by a Mandaluyong Court Monday.

Gardiola noted that his group has yet to receive a copy of the temporary restraining order, but believes that the court decision bears no significant effect on the pilot program.

“I don’t think our work in the technical working group will be affected. The cap is the only thing being questioned by the order,” he said.

He added that the Office of the Solicitor General will “determine the action in regard to the order.”

Angkas and its bikers have been questioning the cap since the issuance of the amended rules for the motorcycle taxi program.

With 27,000 bikers on its platform, a cap of 10,000 will essentially displace 10,000 riders.

Gardiola added that his group is determined to implement the provisions of the amended rules, including the blacklisting provision, which could affect Angkas negatively.

He said Angkas has violated certain provisions including operating in cities outside the pilot area, not complying with safety measures, and operating outside the foreign ownership limits.

“There is a possibility that they will be blacklisted based on their violations of the guidelines,” Gardiola said.

Angkas said it will answer questions today, Wednesday, during a press briefing.

GrabBike back?

Meanwhile, super app Grab, which pioneered GrabBike in the Philippines, would like to re-introduce the app-based motorcycle taxi service in the country.

“As the government is seriously looking into a possible regulation for motorcycle taxis, Grab is seriously considering to re-invest in the motorcycle taxi denomination and relaunch its GrabBike service in the Philippines, with the blessing of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Department of Transportation,” a Grab statement read.

GrabBike was first introduced in 2016, but was later dissolved as the Philippine Traffic Code still prohibits motorcycle taxi services.

However, Transportation Assistant Secretary Goddes Hope Libiran, who also sits as a member of the TWG, said the government will no longer welcome any more players into the pilot program.

“They cannot join the pilot run anymore because we have already chosen the players. They can apply once the operations of motorcycle taxis will be legalized,” she said.

EXPORTERS PIN HOPE ON 6% GROWTH IN 2020

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

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HE export sector is banking on shipments of electronic parts and mineral products pulling off a 6-percent growth this year, as it tries to recover from an anticipated flat performance last year on global trade instability and infrastructure lack.

There’s much to gain and nothing to lose this year for Philippine exporters, who are expecting last year’s figures to grow flat on the confluence of domestic and global issues. Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr., president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport), said the sector is once again aiming for a 6-percent growth this year.

“This year we are retaining our target like last year, maybe 6 percent again,” Ortiz-Luis told the BusinessMirror. “Hopefully, because the base is not ambitious, we are expecting that in 2022 we will still attain our target of $120 billion [worth of export receipts]. Hopefully, we can still go on that.”

Under President Duterte’s export development plan, the objective is to reach $122 billion to as much as $130.8 billion in shipment of goods and services by 2022. However, challenges from both within and outside the country prevented exporters from inching their sector to that medium term goal last year, Ortiz-Luis argued.

For one, two of the country’s leading export destinations, namely, the United States and China, have been engaged in a trade conflict that dates back to 2018 when Washington applied duties on washing machines and solar panels and, subsequently, raised tariffs on steel and aluminum.

In 2018 the US imposed a 25-percent tariff on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports. This trade conflict is slowing down the global economy, and World Trade Organization (WTO) analysts in October projected merchandise trade to rise by just 1.2 percent last year, from the earlier forecast of 2.6 percent in April, and by 2.7 percent this year, from the previous 3 percent.

“While we could not identify directly how it [trade conflict] affects us, our major markets were affected; therefore, our export was really affected, especially in the area of semiconductors,”Ortiz-Luis said.“We were expecting it will be easy to grow by 5 percent, [but] they never met. They were doing 3 percent, [and] we hope it will improve now.”

The Philexport chief also lamented the late approval of the national budget last year, which resulted in the delayed rollout of infrastructure projects. He explained the lack of infrastructure is preventing exporters from moving raw materials and end products faster.

“The other thing that came up is the infrastructure [program],” OrtizLuis added. He explained that they “were expecting that will be moving faster [but] got delayed also because of, among others, delay of the budget.”

Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data has exports steady from January to October at $58.95 billion, from $58.94 billion during the same period last year. Shipments of electronic parts went up 2.69 percent to $33.2 billion, from $32.33 billion.

According to Ortiz-Luis, the bright spots for the sector this year will be the anticipated rebound of electronic items and the steady rise of mineral products.

“We think there is a strong chance electronic exports will return to its usual 5-percent growth. There is an indication as well [that] our export of ores, of minerals, is slightly increasing,” he said.

Export of minerals from January to October rose 5.83 percent to $3.81 billion, from $3.6 billion during the same period last year. PSA data showed gold shipments jumped over 23 percent to $1.18 billion, from $957.49 million. However, copper concentrate exports fell 24.95 percent to $386.66 million, from $515.27 million.

Senen M. Perlada, director of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau, supported the private sector target of a 6-percent growth this year. He said the See “Exporters,” A2

Early 2020 woes fuel peso fears Continued from A1

“With domestic import demand picking up and external demand only likely to rebound modestly, the Philippines’s trade gap should widen over the coming quarters. A combination of fiscal stimulus and widening current account deficit will aggravate the Philippines’s twin deficit risks, weakening its attractiveness relative to its regional peers Thailand and Malaysia,” Fitch Solutions said.

Adding to the list of concerns is the country’s rising inflation, which are likely to weigh on the peso, according to the global think tank.

“The pick-up in inflation will likely make investors more wary of the BSP easing further and we expect more volatility in the unit around the BSP’s monetary meetings if it maintains a dovish tone,” it said.

Fitch Solutions forecasts inflation to average 3.1 percent this year and 3.2 percent next year. On Thursday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) announced that the country ended the year with a 2.5-percent inflation rate in December—an acceleration from the 1.3 percent in November.

Oil volatility

Meanwhile, oil price volatility was the key concern of analysts at the Philippine National Bank (PNB) following the recent attack of the United States on Iran.

“While the extent of the oil price

volatility and other economic risks associated with this Middle East (ME) event risk have yet to pan out, we anticipate the Philippine peso—followed by the local equity market—would likely take the brunt of the negative news flow on any escalation of conflict in the ME region,” PNB economist Jun Trinidad said in a research statement on Tuesday as well.

Trinidad added that their weaker peso view underscores a larger current account (CA) deficit outlook this year of 2 to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), as import prices are likely to surge on higher fuel prices.

“Not to mention, the higher imports of capital goods and raw materials would persist on the back of the government’s BBB strategy including start-up of big-ticket, PPP-funded investment projects,” Trinidad said, adding that a threat in Filipino migrant employment in the Middle East heightens the CA deficit outlook.

“Philippine peso drifting back in the 52 to 53 [pesos per dollar] range would be expedited by recent developments and its CA impact,” Trinidad said.

Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) data showed the local currency ended Tuesday’s trade at P50.77 to a dollar, appreciating from the P50.93 to a dollar value in the previous day. The total traded volume for the day was at $1.63 billion. Bianca Cuaresma

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The World BusinessMirror

US strengthens Middle East forces, denies exit from Iraq

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ensions between the US and Iran continued to climb after last week’s killing of General Qassem Soleimani as the Pentagon sent additional forces to the Middle East and Defense Secretary Mark Esper insisted the US hasn’t made a decision about leaving Iraq.

The three-ship Bataan Amphibious Readiness Group was ordered to move to the Persian Gulf region from the Mediterranean, where it has been exercising, according to a US official. The group, which includes about 2,200 marines and a helicopter unit, follows the deployment of about 3,500 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne to Kuwait late last week.

The latest move followed reports of a letter purportedly telling military officials in Baghdad that American forces were repositioning in advance of a departure. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Monday that the letter was a draft and should never have been sent.

“There is no decision to leave, nor did we issue any plans to leave or prepare to leave,” Esper said at a briefing alongside Milley.

The Pentagon chief told reporters that he believes the Iraqi people and lawmakers still want the US to maintain a presence in the country,

17 years after it invaded to oust Saddam Hussein.

Iraqis “know that the United States is there to help them become a sovereign, independent, prosperous country,” Esper said. “That is not the intentions of Iran. Iran wants to control them as a proxy state. And I think actually there are many, many Iraqi lawmakers who feel the same way.”

But just days after the killing of Soleimani near Baghdad’s international airport, America’s Middle East strategy appeared to be under severe strain. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians turned out to mourn Soleimani, whose exploits in conflicts from Syria to Yemen made him a national hero to many. In Iraq, where protests had recently been fueled by frustration over Iran’s meddling, pressure shifted to the continued US presence.

The US-led coalition to defeat Islamic State said Sunday it was suspending operations in Iraq to temporarily focus its efforts on force protection. The same day, Iraq’s par-

liament, in a nonbinding vote, called on US troops to withdraw. President Donald J. Trump reacted angrily to that decision, threatening to sanction Iraq and demanding reimbursement for investments made in the country over the past two decades if the government follows through on parliament’s vote.

“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there,” Trump said on Sunday. “It cost billions of dollars to build. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it.”

Global markets appeared to settle after reacting strongly to the initial flare-up in tensions. US stocks advanced while Treasuries and the dollar dropped. Oil pared gains and gold retreated from the highest in more than six years.

The crisis in the Middle East was just one major issue confronting Trump on his first full day back in Washington after spending the yearend holidays in Florida. Lawmakers began returning to the capital with the Democratic-led House still holding on to articles of impeachment against the president as it tries to gain leverage over the Republicancontrolled Senate.

While the reaction to Trump’s decision to strike Soleimani largely fell along partisan lines, one Republican senator close to the president on some issues offered harsh criticism of the move, as well as the administration’s broader policy toward Iran, including Trump’s decision to quit a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran and ramp-up sanctions.

“It’s virtually inevitable that the result of killing Soleimani will be a military escalation and a military

response by Iran,” Republican Sen. Rand Paul said. “Leaving the Iran agreement, placing an embargo and now killing a general? And you look and you say, ‘Wow, hmmm, maybe they’ll want to negotiate now.’ You’d have to be a brain-dead individual to believe that.”

In his most extensive comments yet since Soleimani’s death, Esper appeared to contradict Trump on one issue, vowing that any US strike on Iran wouldn’t target cultural sites. Over the weekend, the president said on Twitter that he had included Iranian cultural sites on his list of 52 targets for attack should Tehran retaliate against the killing of Soleimani.

The Pentagon chief was also put on the defensive regarding the draft letter that leaked out and was reported by several news agencies. An English translation of the missive talked about “repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement.”

It cited “your sovereign decision to order our departure.”

Milley addressed questions about whether Soleimani—who was blamed for giving terror groups and militias technology to build improvised explosive devices targeting American troops—represented an “imminent threat” to US interests, as the administration claimed in the aftermath of the strike.

“In the world we deal in, we don’t deal in certainties,” Milley said. “We deal in probabilities. I think the probability is the elimination of Soleimani disrupted for sure the plans that he was putting together.” Bloomberg News

Iran Guard leader threatens to ‘set ablaze’ US-backed places Mourners surround a truck carrying the flagdraped coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades in the holy city of Qom, south of the capital Tehran, Iran, on Monday, January 6, 2020. The men were killed in a US drone strike on Friday, January 3 in Iraq. The funeral drew a crowd, said by police to be about millions in the Iranian capital, filling thoroughfares and side streets as far as the eye could see. Amir Hesaminejad/ Tasnim News Agency via AP

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EHRAN, Iran—The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened on Tuesday to “set ablaze” places supported by the United States over the killing of a top Iranian general in a US air strike last week, sparking cries from the crowd of supporters of “Death to Israel!”

Hossein Salami made the pledge before a crowd of thousands gathered in a central square in Kerman, the hometown of the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani. His vow mirrored the demands of top Iranian officials—from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to others—as well as supporters across the Islamic Republic, demanding retaliation against America for a slaying that’s drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.

Mourners in Kerman dressed in black carried posters bearing the image of Soleimani, a man whose slaying on Monday prompted Iran’s

supreme leader to weep over his casket as a crowd said by police to be in the millions filled Tehran streets.

Although there was no independent estimate, aerial footage and Associated Press journalists suggested a turnout of at least 1 million, and the throngs were visible on satellite images of Tehran taken on Monday.

Authorities later brought Soleimani’s remains and those of the others killed in the air strike to Iran’s holy city of Qom, where another massive crowd turned out.

The outpouring of grief was an unprecedented honor for a man viewed

by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force. The US blames him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just before his death on Friday in a drone strike near Baghdad’s airport. Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President

Bashar Assad in a long war, and he also served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

His slaying already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge. In Baghdad, the parliament has called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil, something analysts fear could allow Islamic State militants to mount a comeback.

On Monday, authorities brought Soleimani’s remains and those of the others killed in the air strike to a central square in Kerman, a desert city surrounded by mountains that dates back to the days of the Silk Road. He’ll be buried later in the day.

Salami praised Soleimani’s exploits and said as a martyr, he represented an even greater threat to

Iran’s enemies.

“We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,” Salami said, drawing the cries of “Death to Israel!”

Israel is a longtime regional foe of Iran.

Iran’s parliament, meanwhile, passed an urgent bill declaring the US military’s command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf “terrorists,” subject to Iranian sanctions. The measure appears to mirror a decision by President Donald J. Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a “terrorist organization.”

The US Defense Department used the Guard’s designation as a terror organization in the US to support the strike that killed Soleimani. The decision by Iran’s parliament, done by a special procedure to speed the bill to law, comes as officials across the country threaten to retaliate for Soleimani’s killing. AP

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

A9

EU regrets Iran nuclear moves but hopes to keep deal alive

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RUSSELS—The European Union expressed regret on Monday over Iran’s announcement that it will no longer be bound by all its nuclear obligations, but remained determined to keep alive an international deal preventing the Islamic Republic from developing atomic weapons.

The 2015 nuclear agreement has been on life support since President Donald J. Trump unilaterally abandoned it in 2018, triggering sanctions that have hurt Iran’s moribund economy. Since then, Tehran has gradually rolled back its commitment to the deal.

After its top general was assassinated in a US drone attack, Iran announced over the weekend that it would no longer respect limits set on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said the move was a “remedial step” taken within the framework of the nuclear deal and he said it could be reversed.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed “deep regret” at the news. He tweeted that full implementation of the nuclear deal by all parties “is now more important than ever, for regional stability and global security.”

The EU supervises the deal under which Tehran limits its nuclear ambitions in exchange for economic incentives, but it relies on the UN’s nuclear watchdog to monitor whether Iran is complying, as it has continued to do so far despite its belligerent rhetoric.

“We have to rely on, and see, what the International Atomic Energy Agency says about the deeds on the ground,” Borrell’s spokesman, Peter Stano, told reporters.

The IAEA told The Associated Press that it was aware of Iran’s announcement, but noted that Tehran’s statement “also said that Iran’s cooperation with the Agency will continue as before.”

“IAEA inspectors continue to carry out verification and monitoring activities in the country,” the agency said in an e-mailed statement. “The IAEA will keep its member-states informed of any developments in this regard in a timely manner as appropriate.”

Iran’s announcement and the US killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last week has sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity in Europe.

Borrell has invited Zarif to Brussels, and EU foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to address the issue. It remained unclear Monday whether Zarif would accept the invitation.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the Europeans will talk to Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog and take a coordinated decision.

“This could be the first step toward the end of this agreement, which would be a great loss—and so we will weigh things up very, very responsibly,” Maas told Deutschlandfunk radio.

He noted that the agreement contains procedures to respond to such situations. They include the triggering of a “dispute mechanism” that could buy more time to help keep Iran on board.

The EU finds itself in an increasingly awkward position and has been reduced to calling for calm as it seeks to keep Iran inside the agreement and maintain good ties with Washington despite deep concern over the drone killing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already expressed frustration at the muted European reaction to events in the region.

“Frankly, the Europeans haven’t been as helpful as I wish that they could be. The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe, as well,” Pompeo said.

On a visit to Germany, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said EU commissioners would also discuss developments on Wednesday.

“The European Union has in recent years built up very reliable channels of dialogue with almost all actors in the region, which it can and must now use,” she said.

Von der Leyen declined to assess Trump’s style in threatening retaliation via Twitter, saying that “my job isn’t to evaluate—my job is to deescalate.” She was firm in pinning the blame for the crisis on forces close to Iran. AP

Oil retreats after wild ride caused by US-Iran hostilities

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il retreated after its dramatic start to the year as the uninterrupted flow of Middle East supplies tempered fears over the fallout from the US air strike that killed a top Iranian general.

Futures in London slipped on Tuesday after two days of wild trading that pushed prices briefly above $70 a barrel for the first time since September. While the White House has ordered additional forces to the Middle East after Iran pledged to retaliate against the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, immediate concerns that a deeper conflict could disrupt production or shipments from the region are yet to materialize.

It’s been a turbulent start to 2020 for the oil market as the US air strikes, and ensuing and sparked escalation in hostilities between Washington and Tehran reignited fears of conflict in the world’s most important producing region. Crude remains about 2.5 percent higher since the attack, but futures are pulling back as the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says it’ll take a major disruption to output to keep prices elevated.

“The market is recovering from the initial shock and closely monitoring how Tehran will respond,” said Will Sungchil Yun, commodities analyst at VI Investment Corp.

“As current signals indicate traders and investors don’t see a fullblown war coming, prices are likely

to remain relatively steady without a significant development.”

Brent crude dropped 90 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $68.01 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange as of 12:14 p.m. in Singapore. The contract ended Monday just 0.5 percent higher after earlier rising as much as 3.1 percent in intraday trade. West Texas Intermediate futures lost 78 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $62.49 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Goldman Sachs said this week there’s a greater risk of prices falling in coming weeks, and being long on gold is a better hedge than oil for geopolitical risks.

Oil markets still have a comfortable supply cushion should there be a disruption. Opec is sitting on huge amounts of spare capacity after reducing supplies for most of the past three years and the US recently reported its first months as a net exporter of petroleum for the first time in roughly 75 years.

Consuming countries from the US to China also control millions of barrels stored in strategic petroleum reserves that can be deployed to offset any shortage.

Investors in other markets also dialed back concerns about a further deterioration in the security situation in the Middle East.

Asian equities rebounded and US futures edged higher, while gold eased from more than a six-year high reached in the aftermath of the attacks. Bloomberg News

A10 Wednesday, January 8, 2020

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In the ad material of Notice of filing of application for Alien Employment Permits published on November 12, 2019, the company name of Ms. Yang, Jing and Mr. Huang, Bingchuan under MOA CLOUDZONE CORP. should have been read as GM YI XIN HOLDINGS INC. located at 31/F, Alphaland Corporate Tower, Ayala Ave. Cor. Malugay St., Bel Air, Makati City, Metro Manila and not as published. In the ad material published on October 19, 2019, the Name of Mr. Zhao, Aobo under NEW WEATHER FORCES GROUP, INC. should have been read as Mr. Zhou, Aobo and not as published.

If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

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Any person in the Philippines who is competent, able and willing to perform the services for which the foreign national is desired may file an objection at DOLE NCR Regional Office located at 967 Maligaya St., Malate, Manila, within 30 days after its publication.

Please inform DOLE NCR if you have any information on criminal offense committed by the foreign nationals.

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Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

B1

SMC unit to raise $500M for battery storage projects

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

he power unit of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is raising $500 million from the issuance of senior perpetual capital securities to fund its battery energy storage (BES) projects.

“The Board of Directors of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. authorized the issuance of up to $500 million in undated senior perpetual capital securities or such amount as management may later determine, based on prevailing market conditions and as maybe advantageous to the corporation,” SMC Global Power said Tuesday.

The amount will be utilized for its planned BES projects and for general corporate purposes, it added.

The company has tapped Credit Suisse Ltd., DBS Bank Ltd., J.P. Morgan Securities, Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank and UBS AG Singapore as joint lead managers.

Last year, SMC’s Limay Power Generation Corp. sought the green light to conduct grid impact study for its planned 21 BES projects, each with a capacity of 20 mega-

Impossible Foods debuts plant-based pork products

I

mpossible Foods Inc., maker of the eponymous “bleeding” soy-based burger, is debuting two faux-meat products at CES in Las Vegas: Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage, ramping up the rivalry with Beyond Meat Inc. Impossible, based in Silicon Valley, plans to give away about 25,000 samples at the consumer electronics show this week, and its sausage will be rolled out starting in late January at 139 Burger King locations in five test markets.

Like its non-beef burger, both of the pork products use soy as the primary ingredient and contain “heme,” an iron-containing molecule that gives the products their meaty look and flavor and is made from a genetically modified yeast.

“Heme is the magic ingredient that drives all the meat flavor,” Laura Kliman, a senior flavor scientist at Impossible, said in an interview. “Obviously the flavor of pork is very different from beef— there’s less heme in pork. Heme is still the key driver, just different amounts of it.”

There are also major textural differences that the company had to account for in its development.

Pork is softer and springier than beef, Kliman said. While the ingredients for the pork, sausage and beef are similar, the actual formulations are different.

“It’s all about balance—really understanding the science and functionality of the ingredients individually and as a system,” she said.

The pork was developed with input from chefs in Hong Kong and Singapore. China, the world’s biggest pork-consuming country, is also key to Impossible’s future plans. Bloomberg News

watts (MW).

A clearance for the conduct of a grid impact study is necessary for a power firm before it can proceed with the construction of its power project.

BES can store energy via use of a battery technology for use at a later time.

In April 2019, the company listed with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. P30 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds. The proceeds of this funded the power firm’s expansion projects.

SMC Global Power General Manager Elenita Go said proceeds will be utilized to finance the power firm’s expansion projects. “We have many expansion projects. It’s hard to tell at this point what these expansion projects are.”

Established in 2008, SMC Global Power Holdings is now one of the largest power companies in the Phil-

Photo shows a greenfield power plant of SMC Global Power which uses clean combustion technologies. From the web site of SMC Global Power

ippines with a diversified portfolio utilizing a mix of coal, natural gas and hydroelectric power plants.

Its total capacity is 2,903 MW representing 22 percent of the Luzon grid and 17 percent of the national grid. These power assets are under Independent Power Producer Administrators Agreements with PSALM, or are under joint-venture

agreements and are classified as Independent Power Producers.

It operates the 218-MW Angat hydroelectric power plant in Bulacan; the 450-MW greenfield power plant in Limay, Bataan; the 300-MW greenfield power plant in Malita, Davao Occidental; and the 684-MW Masinloc power-generating facility in Masinloc, Zambales.

JG Summit hikes stake in PLDT J

G Summit Holdings Inc., the holding firm of the Gokongwei family, has increased its stake in telecom giant PLDT Inc., as it bought more shares through the open market.

In its disclosure, JG Summit said it acquired some 7.04 million common shares of PLDT at $19.70 per share through the sale and conversion of the same number of the telecom giant’s ADRs or American depository receipts.

JG Summit said the transaction costs $138.82 million or about P7.07 billion.

“JGS considers this transaction as a valuable investment since PLDT Inc. has historically paid good dividends,” the company said.

An ADR is a negotiable certificate issued by a United States depository bank representing a specified number of shares investment in a foreign company’s stock. The ADR trades on markets in the US as any stock would trade.

PLDT’s ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The said number of shares bought

by JG Summit is equivalent to about 3.26 percent of PLDT. The Gokongweis now own 11.23 percent of the telecom giant.

“The acquisition of the common shares of PLDT Inc. will not have any adverse effect on the financial condition of JGS,” the company said.

JG Summit reported that its consolidated net income in January to September 2019 surged 52 percent

to P22.5 billion, from the same period in 2018.

JG Summit first owned a minority stake in PLDT after the telecom giant in March 2011 bought all of the Gokongwei’s interest in the Digitel, then the country’s third telco firm with its brand Sun Cellular. The deal involves cash and minority equity stake in PLDT, a provider of a wide range of telecommunications services in the country.

PLDT’s core income was flat during the nine months of the year ending September on the effects of the new accounting standard on rents that took effect earlier in 2019, while the company reels from the impact of the expenses for rightsizing its employees.

The company said its telco core income, which excludes figures from its loss-making units, was flat at P19.4 billion from P19.13 billion last year.

The said telco core income excludes losses in Voyager, which owns PayMaya, and the lower gains it made from the disposal of its Rocket Internet shares.

JG Summit’s income for the nine months of 2019, meanwhile, grew by half to P22.23 billion from the previous P14.8 billion mainly due to double-digit income growth in our airline and real-estate businesses coupled by the foreign-exchange translation gains and increase in equity in net earnings of associates particularly from United Industrial Corp. Ltd. VG Cabuag

Roxas and Co. sells Batangas ABS-CBN, GMA claim properties to pare down debt dominance in ratings

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

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oxas and Co. Inc. (RCI) on Tuesday said it agreed to sell its key real-estate assets in Batangas for P282 million to raise funds.

In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the company said it sold its 6.67-hectare beachfront Natipuan property in Nasugbu, Batangas, to property developer Sta. Lucia Land Inc. The company also sold the soughtafter 12.9 -hectare ecotourism property along the Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway.

In addition, RCI’s wholly owned subsidiary, Roxaco Land Corp., also sold a 2.8-hectare commercial prop-

erty within the Nasugbu town proper to the SM Group for P98 million.

The company said the disposal of assets is “part of its continuing objective of improving its net income for the year and reducing the group’s overall debt.”

In December, the company’s unit Roxaco-Asia Hospitality Corp. the operator of five budget hotels under the Go-Hotel franchise, decided to sell and relocate its Cubao site to a more strategic location.

“Proceeds from the sale of Cubao of about P411 million will be used to improve existing sites and lower the subsidiary’s outstanding debt until a new site has been identified,” it said.

The company incurred a net loss of P384.69 million for the nine months

of 2019, much deeper than the previous year’s loss of P316.59 million despite the higher gross profit and lower operating expenses due mainly to higher interest expenses and the equity in net loss from Roxas Holdings Inc. The company had equity in net loss from its 23-percent investment in Roxas Holdings increased to P140.93 million, a reversal from last year’s equity in net income of P28.24 million.

Consolidated revenues as of the third quarter grew 61 percent to P624.42 million from the previous year’s P387.47 million. Revenues were higher across all business units, which include real-estate sales, coconut exports and both our Go Hotels and Anya Hotel.

AboitizPower seeks more Cleanergy customers

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boitiz Power Corp. vowed to sign up more customers that prefer renewable

energy.

“We are truly honored to have been chosen as a partner of all these successful businesses and organizations. It is our commitment to continue providing ample, reliable, and reasonably produced power to our customers by maximizing renewable energy for as long as feasible, while at the same time using the reliability and cost-efficiency of fossil-fired power plants,” AboitizPower President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel V. Rubio said.

Rubio was referring to the company’s 32 Cleanergy customers in Luzon and Visayas, which accounts for a total of 203 megawatts (MW) of renewable supply.

Cleanergy is the power firm’s brand for clean and renewable energy.

Through its Cleanergy portfolio, AboitizPower and its partners generate a total of 1,242 MW, which is about 27 percent of the company’s net sellable capacity. Its renewableenergy portfolio includes solar, geothermal, run-of-river hydro, and large hydropower facilities all over the country.

Among those being supplied by AboitizPower’s Cleanergy in Luzon and Visayas include green office developer and operator NEO Property Management Inc. (NEO), Nestlé Philippines, Shangri-La, Asian Development Bank, Draka Philippines, Eton Properties and Unionbank, among others.

The push for Cleanergy is not only driven by large industry players. AboitizPower also provides Cleanergy to Siargao Electric Cooperative (Siarelco), MORE Electric and Power Corp. and other electric cooperatives in Batangas, Zambo-

anga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental and Nueva Ecija.

The company said it recorded P13.5 billion in net income in January to September 2019, 19 percent lower than the P16.7 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.

The power firm posted nonrecurring losses of P220 million versus losses of P1.7 billion in 2018. Without these one-off losses, the company’s core net income in the nine-month period was P13.7 billion, 26 percent lower than the P18.4 billion recorded a year ago.

This was primarily due to the higher volume and cost of purchased power, lower spot market revenues, and lower plant availability, it reported.

Still, Rubio said the company remains confident that it will surpass its 2020 target of 4,000 megawatts of attributable capacity. Lenie Lectura

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

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IVAL broadcasters GMA Network Inc. and ABSCBN Corp. claimed separately that they dominated the ratings game in 2019, with one asserting dominance in its bailiwick areas and another in the whole country.

The Gozon-led broadcaster, citing data from Nielsen, said it it recorded a 35.5-percent total day people share in Urban Luzon last year, over five points higher than that of ABS-CBN. In Mega Manila, it scored an average of 36.6 percent versus the Lopez-led network’s 28 percent.

Urban Luzon accounts for 72 percent of all urban TV viewers in the country, while Mega Manila represents 60 percent of all urban households in the Philippines.

GMA, likewise, led the morning block at 28.1-percent share, beating ABS-CBN’s 25.8 percent. It also won in the afternoon block at 36.67 percent versus its competitor’s 30.9 percent; and the evening block, where it recorded an average audience share of 37.7 percent versus the competitor’s 31.9 percent.

In a separate statement, ABSCBN said it continued to be the No. 1 network in the country with an average national audience share of 44 percent versus its rival’s 31-percent share in 2019, citing data from Kantar Media.

The Lopez-led entertainment and multimedia conglomerate also claimed leadership in Metro Manila and Mega Manila,

where it scored an average audience share of 42 percent and 36 percent, respectively against GMA’s 25-percent and 31-percent share.

A BS - CBN a lso attracted more viewers than GMA in other areas. It won the ratings game in Total Luzon with an average total-day audience share of 40 percent, versus GMA’s 33 percent; in Total Visayas with 54 percent versus GMA’s 24 percent; and in Total Mindanao with 51 percent, versus GMA’s 28 percent.

ABS-CBN also claimed it fared better against GMA in all time blocks. In the morning block it scored an average share of 37 percent versus its rival’s 28 percent, while maintaining its lead in the noontime block at 44 percent versus the competition’s 31 percent, and the afternoon block at 46 percent versus its rival’s 32 percent.

It also sustained a 47-percent share in the prime-time block versus the Gozon-led network’s 31-percent share.

The prime-time block is the most important part of the day when most Filipinos watch TV and advertisers put a larger chunk of their investment in to reach more consumers effectively.

GMA bases its claims to leadership from Nielsen data, which has a nationwide sample size of 3,500 urban and rural homes.

The Lopez-led network sources its data from Kantar Media, which uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural homes that represent 100 percent of the total Philippine TV viewing population.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

January 7, 2020

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

ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE BDO LEASING COL FINANCIAL FIRST ABACUS FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

53.1 154.8 86.55 24.85 11.86 65.05 12.5 34.85 57.5 22.4 187.5 58.25 0.89 1.86 18.3 0.53 3.81 1.16 0.335 850 0.78 173.2 1830 1.05

54 155 87.25 25 11.96 65.1 12.6 35.25 58.35 22.45 189 58.4 0.9 1.9 18.48 0.68 3.87 1.19 0.36 860 0.82 175 1845 1.08

54 155.9 87.55 25 12.1 64.5 12.5 36.65 57.3 22.45 186 58.4 0.92 1.86 18.42 0.68 3.81 1.16 0.36 850 0.81 173 1848 1.05

54 158.6 88.45 25 12.1 65.45 12.5 36.65 57.5 22.45 189 58.4 0.92 1.9 18.48 0.68 3.87 1.16 0.36 850 0.83 173 1848 1.05

54 154 86.55 24.7 11.84 64.25 12.02 34.75 57.3 22.4 186 58.2 0.9 1.85 18.4 0.68 3.81 1.16 0.36 850 0.78 173 1830 1.05

54 155 86.55 25 11.96 65.1 12.5 34.85 57.5 22.4 189 58.4 0.9 1.9 18.48 0.68 3.87 1.16 0.36 850 0.78 173 1830 1.05

9010 1871160 865530 94400 94000 1339140 80800 156200 990 28500 329430 1630 184000 55000 13900 2000 7000 1000 30000 120 445000 60 110 18000

486540 290192203 75597266 2350370 1123080 87061285.5 1008224 5477415 56801.5 638815 61915069 95094 167240 103120 256068 1360 26730 1160 10800 102000 350990 10380 201730 18900

INDUSTRIAL

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

HOLDING & FRIMS

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

-53712615 -12052139 -674640 59974 -30130001 -3111560 -9506457 178784 -25500 3120 -183250 -

2.36 34.5 0.239 22 67.2 307.4 10.78 4.27 3.87 11.72 33.4 8.69 13.2 3.12 17.22 15.26 4.82 9.08 7.22 81.1 0.53 1.39 38.05 213 41.75 6.15 11.7 1.91 9.9 2.28 5.27 1.76 0.116 148 1.2 2.44 63.3 67 1.87 4.9 14.22 9.3 13.82 16 9.85 0.97 0.89 164.2 2.12 3.2 4.84 31 1.94 7.66 1.2 4.9 1.01 5.4

2.37 34.65 0.244 22.05 68.4 309 10.8 4.28 4.1 12 33.7 8.79 13.36 3.14 18.8 15.38 5 9.18 7.23 81.5 0.54 1.4 38.5 217 44.95 6.25 11.78 1.92 9.91 2.29 5.28 1.85 0.12 150 1.21 2.5 65 71.95 1.88 5 14.6 9.31 13.84 16.28 10 1 0.9 171.9 2.18 3.41 4.85 32.3 1.95 7.7 1.25 5.39 1.03 5.45

2.38 34.9 0.237 22.55 68.4 314.8 9.93 4.37 4.26 11.9 33.85 8.49 13.2 3.14 18.8 15.2 5 9.18 7.23 82.3 0.52 1.44 38 213 41.55 6.38 11.5 1.92 9.97 2.17 5.3 1.78 0.114 147.5 1.18 2.5 63.7 67 1.82 5 14.74 9.4 13.62 16.66 10.06 0.95 0.93 170 2.2 3.32 4.88 31 2 7.55 1.19 5.39 0.88 4.7

2.41 34.9 0.244 22.85 68.4 314.8 11.06 4.37 4.26 12 34.1 8.69 13.44 3.18 18.8 15.4 5 9.24 7.23 82.3 0.56 1.45 38.5 217 45 6.38 11.94 1.92 9.97 2.29 5.3 1.84 0.116 150 1.22 2.5 63.7 67 1.88 5 14.74 9.4 13.9 16.66 10.06 1.01 0.93 170 2.2 3.47 4.9 32 2 7.85 1.2 5.39 1.03 5.7

2.34 34.4 0.235 21.65 67.1 305 9.93 4.21 4.25 11.72 33.4 8.49 13.2 3.03 18.8 15.08 4.82 9.06 7.21 81 0.52 1.37 37.5 213 41.55 6.1 11.5 1.91 9.9 2.17 5.25 1.78 0.114 145.6 1.16 2.5 63.5 67 1.76 5 14.2 9.31 13.6 16 10 0.95 0.87 170 2.12 3.3 4.84 30 1.93 7.54 1.17 5.39 0.85 4.54

2.37 34.65 0.244 22.05 67.2 309 10.78 4.27 4.25 12 33.4 8.69 13.38 3.14 18.8 15.26 4.82 9.18 7.22 81.5 0.53 1.4 38.5 217 44.95 6.25 11.7 1.91 9.91 2.28 5.28 1.84 0.116 150 1.21 2.5 63.7 67 1.87 5 14.6 9.31 13.84 16 10 1 0.9 170 2.12 3.3 4.85 32 1.94 7.66 1.2 5.39 1.01 5.4

2731000 608100 3740000 2106600 25870 126720 63030800 1981000 13000 64500 288300 168400 1185400 5348000 1000 632400 65000 552800 261700 96330 1420000 25481000 6400 777460 1800 7800 614000 1822000 105600 3346000 13200 121000 260000 365300 6690000 2000 760 490 17378000 4800 69100 105500 211100 218300 900 51000 454000 150 243000 3000 150000 5700 11051000 188400 372000 100 1331000 8896000

6496570 21053965 903410 46497510 1742390 39151972 668238963 8432910 55270 768568 9711535 1446447 15889846 16598280 18800 9646234 314200 5042726 1889225 7857597 758880 35935930 242555 166509560 78925 48224 7181014 3480400 1046078 7528360 69714 217440 30040 54404298 8067820 5000 48349 32830 31556050 24000 1008748 986183 2,907,540( 3507900 9024 49220 404870 25500 527420 10090 727360 174150 21859450 1450038 441390 539 1309190 47139510

-271960 -143900 -23165410 -361726.5 -15382 27549846 -3189210 -60604 -1328510 -8490 9707224 388410 2879666 53452 -1017826 -1671964 -5500 1883320.0001 -22755 14708930 -297362 -970010 -593384 -51243 11655652 -499850 263100 23000 -102170 -321484 1,238,661.9997) 785430 -126100 130900 -12826520 69389 14160 -17630 -519730

0.86 10.06 797 51.95 11.18 3 6.25 0.67 0.92 0.96 6.6 6.97 13.2 865 5.11 81.3 6.09 4.43 0.485 3.88 11.86 0.56 3.63 1.22 1.22 190 1060 163.5 0.77 206.4 0.195

0.87 10.18 800 52.5 11.2 3.01 6.4 0.69 0.93 0.97 6.7 6.98 13.3 868.5 5.15 81.8 6.5 5.83 0.5 3.89 11.92 0.58 3.64 1.24 1.27 199 1067 164 0.8 206.6 0.208

0.87 10.14 784 52 11.08 2.93 6.5 0.7 0.93 0.97 6.65 6.75 13.46 875 5.16 81.9 6.55 5.2 0.51 3.84 12.18 0.56 3.49 1.27 1.23 200 1040 165 0.8 206.6 0.196

0.89 10.46 800 52.85 11.26 3.01 6.5 0.7 0.93 0.97 6.7 7.09 13.46 878 5.18 81.95 6.59 5.2 0.53 3.89 12.24 0.58 3.65 1.28 1.23 200 1078 165 0.8 206.8 0.196

0.86 10.04 780.5 51.65 11.02 2.91 6.2 0.65 0.93 0.97 6.6 6.68 13.2 862 5.1 80.8 6.55 5.2 0.5 3.83 11.86 0.56 3.41 1.21 1.22 190 1040 161.1 0.8 206.6 0.195

0.86 10.08 800 52.5 11.2 3.01 6.25 0.69 0.93 0.97 6.6 6.98 13.3 865 5.11 81.8 6.59 5.2 0.5 3.88 11.92 0.58 3.63 1.24 1.22 200 1067 164 0.8 206.6 0.195

7706000 21400 224330 530390 2496600 1403000 21900 1040000 434000 10000 1325100 22601400 27100 56970 140000 882100 72700 2800 40000 718000 2119700 25000 123082000 113000 7000 1400 225720 165370 16000 2750 200000

6681180 217868 178039565 27769479.5 27896396 4162520 137680 682400 403620 9700 8798726 156725899 358176 49359725 717830 72016003.5 478350 14560 20600 2781320 25325182 14150 435552940 141350 8550 273950 240247315 27115071 12800 568162 39050

725740 10180 21311105 -3468266 -17612018 -138890 -37310 -2940301 -17072043 13340 -33269225 -204400 31964575.5 -460600 -493220 -14108732 -153909890 7320 -2476310 -1360045 -351228 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.79 0.81 0.78 0.81 0.78 0.81 190000 150170 ANCHOR LAND 8.81 8.82 8.82 8.82 8.82 8.82 1800 15876 44.15 44.2 44.15 44.55 44.15 44.2 12564400 555954515 -190470965 AYALA LAND 1.33 1.35 1.4 1.4 1.35 1.35 42000 57100 ARANETA PROP 1.99 2 2 2.02 1.99 2 342000 684620 -326069.9998 BELLE CORP A BROWN 0.7 0.72 0.72 0.73 0.68 0.72 428000 299540 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.84 0.84 2000 1680 CITYLAND DEVT 0.182 0.188 0.187 0.187 0.182 0.182 500000 91370 CROWN EQUITIES 6.62 6.7 6.6 6.8 6.6 6.7 106200 713607 528010 CEBU HLDG CEB LANDMASTERS 4.75 4.79 4.77 4.8 4.65 4.75 37000 176060 4770 CENTURY PROP 0.53 0.54 0.53 0.54 0.52 0.54 2274000 1199640 0.39 0.41 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 20000 8000 CYBER BAY 18.8 18.96 18.78 19 18.7 18.96 449900 8497184 -68030 DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO 9.6 9.69 9.76 9.78 9.5 9.6 170400 1648132 -310180.9997 EMPIRE EAST 0.41 0.425 0.42 0.42 0.41 0.42 200000 83050 1.51 1.52 1.51 1.53 1.51 1.52 8350000 12669170 425640 FILINVEST LAND 1.16 1.18 1.2 1.2 1.16 1.16 522000 606320 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 14.7 14.76 14.8 14.8 14.7 14.76 475200 7000758 -217644 PHIL INFRADEV 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.21 1.17 1.17 2933000 3475420 -274560 0.74 0.77 0.74 0.77 0.74 0.77 2000 1510 CITY AND LAND 4.17 4.2 4.13 4.3 4.13 4.17 43954000 185438280 -31317710 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED 0.21 0.212 0.22 0.22 0.21 0.212 13220000 2818590 95350 PHIL ESTATES 0.405 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.4 0.43 430000 176400 2.18 2.19 2.16 2.18 2.11 2.18 1308000 2825660 -77760 PRIMEX CORP 28.5 28.6 28.75 29 28.35 28.5 2159600 61707175 -13249980 ROBINSONS LAND PHIL REALTY 0.31 0.325 0.325 0.325 0.325 0.325 90000 29250 2.03 2.12 2.06 2.12 2.03 2.03 244000 504530 6180 ROCKWELL 3.14 3.23 3.23 3.23 3.23 3.23 141000 455430 -54910 SHANG PROP 2.38 2.4 2.45 2.45 2.38 2.4 135000 323870 50200 STA LUCIA LAND SM PRIME HLDG 41.9 42 42 42.05 41.6 42 7377000 309259875 -38931695 VISTAMALLS 5.72 5.92 5.93 5.95 5.71 5.92 54200 313873 1.38 1.39 1.27 1.4 1.25 1.39 10750000 14252800 -347500 SUNTRUST HOME 7.48 7.5 7.55 7.55 7.46 7.5 2939000 22059421 -10578383 VISTA LAND

SERVICES ABS CBN 19.02 19.2 17 19.26 16.72 19.02 1027700 18476652 GMA NETWORK 5.5 5.51 5.49 5.51 5.4 5.5 453000 2474005 0.4 0.405 0.445 0.445 0.405 0.405 800000 332700 MANILA BULLETIN 10.54 11.5 11.5 11.5 11.5 11.5 300 3450 MLA BRDCASTING 2008 2026 2026 2034 2008 2008 40395 81631640 12312530 GLOBE TELECOM PLDT 1047 1050 1010 1054 1010 1050 139145 145463960 34531800 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.043 0.044 0.043 0.043 0.043 0.043 1400000 60200 4.71 5 5.17 5.18 5 5 236000 1222090 DFNN INC 0.101 0.104 0.102 0.104 0.101 0.102 2200000 223740 ISLAND INFO ISM COMM 3.7 3.71 3.63 3.7 3.49 3.7 3866000 13880690 187830 NOW CORP 2.5 2.51 2.57 2.6 2.51 2.51 1223000 3090810 9969.9997 0.26 0.265 0.265 0.265 0.26 0.265 5950000 1554450 TRANSPACIFIC BR 2.42 2.43 2.4 2.52 2.38 2.43 261000 634300 PHILWEB 2GO GROUP 9.78 9.95 9.54 9.78 9.54 9.78 1400 13466 16.28 18.5 18.5 18.5 18.5 18.5 700 12950 ASIAN TERMINALS 5.36 5.37 5.53 5.62 5.27 5.36 1343300 7261361 -10720 CHELSEA 87.15 87.2 87 88 87 87.2 478030 41733471 -9528231.5 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 132.5 132.6 133.3 134.9 130.3 132.5 2538490 335988656 6340753 LBC EXPRESS 12.3 13 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.3 100 1230 0.85 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.88 100000 88000 LORENZO SHIPPNG 15.52 15.56 16 16 15.5 15.52 844000 13179946 -9578486 MACROASIA PAL HLDG 7.43 7.7 7.8 7.8 7.75 7.75 900 7015 1.23 1.24 1.21 1.23 1.17 1.23 3548000 4265900 311600 HARBOR STAR 1.35 1.42 1.38 1.38 1.35 1.35 100000 135320 ACESITE HOTEL 0.6 0.61 0.61 0.61 0.59 0.6 204000 121910 WATERFRONT FAR EASTERN U 890.5 891 891 891 891 891 10 8910 8.14 9.49 8.15 8.15 8.14 8.14 4700 38278 -2442 IPEOPLE 0.59 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.59 0.59 904000 535340 STI HLDG 3.32 3.33 3.76 3.83 3.3 3.32 2463000 8628500 -22120 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 10.44 10.46 10.28 10.6 10.26 10.46 16576200 172473670 82944516 PACIFIC ONLINE 2.38 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 20000 50000 -50000 2.41 2.45 2.4 2.45 2.37 2.41 269000 643690 -296170 LEISURE AND RES 3.31 3.35 3.31 3.31 3.31 3.31 2000 6620 MANILA JOCKEY PREMIUM LEISURE 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.6 0.57 0.57 5347000 3102660 -1020170 ALLHOME 11.54 11.58 11.56 11.6 11.48 11.58 1095100 12653032 -1191554 2.11 2.15 2.19 2.19 2.1 2.15 347000 740330 METRO RETAIL 39.85 39.95 39.8 40.25 39.8 39.95 1694000 67,675,505( 7,740,150.0001) PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL 78.3 79 79 79.05 78.3 79 372600 29427547 16423223 PHIL SEVEN CORP 140 148 141 141 139 140 190610 26685880 4690860 2.65 2.66 2.64 2.68 2.64 2.65 1489000 3947090 2385330 SSI GROUP 18.12 18.3 18.38 18.38 17.98 18.3 134900 2450130 293988 WILCON DEPOT APC GROUP 0.395 0.4 0.41 0.41 0.4 0.4 600000 240200 8.85 8.86 8.88 9.04 8.73 8.86 46300 411618 EASYCALL 432 448.8 425.2 449.6 425.2 440 15730 6906956 GOLDEN BRIA PRMIERE HORIZON 0.365 0.37 0.35 0.375 0.35 0.365 12240000 4465500 226650 SBS PHIL CORP 8.9 9.25 8.77 9.25 8.71 9.25 69800 620641

MINING & OIL ATOK 10.08 10.88 10.94 10.94 10.94 10.94 100 1094 APEX MINING 1.07 1.08 1.14 1.14 1.07 1.08 1798000 1956530 0.0015 0.0016 0.0014 0.0014 0.0014 0.0014 2000000 2800 -2800 ABRA MINING 2.44 2.5 2.42 2.5 2.36 2.5 89000 216670 -96700 ATLAS MINING 3.07 3.09 2.87 3.1 2.84 3.07 4277000 12833260 -39660 CENTURY PEAK DIZON MINES 7.05 7.06 7.29 7.29 7 7.06 4700 33199 1.66 1.67 1.67 1.7 1.66 1.67 1668000 2793570 -53890 FERRONICKEL 0.197 0.203 0.203 0.203 0.198 0.203 30000 6040 GEOGRACE 0.101 0.102 0.104 0.104 0.1 0.102 1850000 186880 LEPANTO A LEPANTO B 0.1 0.103 0.101 0.103 0.097 0.103 1850000 183230 -5940 MANILA MINING A 0.0084 0.009 0.0091 0.0091 0.0085 0.0085 15000000 131700 0.0083 0.0088 0.0088 0.0088 0.0088 0.0088 1000000 8800 -8800 MANILA MINING B 0.88 0.93 0.9 0.93 0.9 0.9 205000 184530 MARCVENTURES NIHAO 0.98 1.01 1.02 1.02 0.99 1.01 5000 5020 3.05 3.09 3.16 3.16 3.06 3.06 3490000 10776970 -4548850 NICKEL ASIA 0.48 0.485 0.435 0.485 0.43 0.485 130000 60850 -12950 OMICO CORP 0.72 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 1000 740 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 3.08 3.11 3.18 3.2 3.07 3.08 900000 2818370 -61600 SEMIRARA MINING 22.1 22.2 22 22.25 21.9 22.2 466300 10348165 1308735 0.0053 0.0061 0.0053 0.0053 0.0053 0.0053 1000000 5300 -5300 UNITED PARAGON 9.65 9.8 9.2 9.98 9.05 9.8 993200 9553122 -89853 ACE ENEXOR ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 95700000 1059500 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.011 0.012 1344300000 17265600 -1993200 ORNTL PETROL B 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 158800000 1736300 PHILODRILL 9 9.02 9.12 9.27 9 9 767300 6953441 963782 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 98 99 99 99 99 99 14530 1438470 AC PREF B1 501 507 500 501 500 501 12250 6127250 100.1 103.1 103.1 103.1 103.1 103.1 1050 108255 ALCO PREF B 500 504.5 500 500 500 500 20 10000 AC PREF B2R 100.3 100.8 100.2 100.2 100 100.2 10040 1004272 DD PREF GLO PREF P 505 508 508 508 508 508 10 5080 100.7 101 101 101 101 101 810 81810 MWIDE PREF 99.15 100.5 100.7 102.1 100.5 100.5 1110 111671 PNX PREF 3A 107 108 108 108 108 108 640 69120 PNX PREF 3B PNX PREF 4 1026 1029 1029 1029 1028 1028 2165 2227220 1028 1049 1028 1028 1028 1028 80 82240 PCOR PREF 3A 1040 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 7450 7822500 PCOR PREF 3B 78 78.9 78.95 78.95 78 78 17830 1391471.5 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2G 75.15 75.95 75.95 75.95 75.95 75.95 430 32658.5 75 75.05 75.05 75.1 75.05 75.05 28400 2131933.5 SMC PREF 2H 75 76 75.95 76.5 75 75 86720 6583204 SMC PREF 2I PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS

ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

18.02 5.22

18.48 5.49

16.86 5.44

18.02 5.49

16.5 5.4

18.02 5.49

562800 49300

9768070 269106

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

1.21

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

ITALPINAS 3.87 10 KEPWEALTH XURPAS 0.81

1.36

1.19

1.19

1.19

1.19

11000

13090

-

3.93 10.1 0.82

3.75 10.44 0.81

4.06 10.6 0.86

3.65 10 0.8

3.93 10 0.81

761000 548100 9088000

2944620 5688312 7529420

21590 -121240

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

116.7

1264620 267486

117.5

117

117.5

116.4

117.5

4940

578270

-

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Petron rolls out fuel-marking program in Bataan refinery

P

By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

etron Corp. said it has implemented the government’s fuel marking program at its Bataan refinery and Misamis Oriental import facility last month.

The country’s largest oil refining and marketing company started fuel marking at its refinery in Bataan on December 23, 2019. The Petron Bataan Refinery (PBR), which has a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day, is the largest refinery in the Philippines, supplying nearly a third of the country’s fuel demand.

Petron also commenced fuel marking at its import facility in Misamis Oriental at end-2019.

“We are optimistic that the fuel marking program will significantly address fuel smuggling,

which has been a constant deterrent to the continued growth of our economy. Consumers also stand to gain once everyone gets on board, as it will ensure that all fuel products in the market will be legitimately sourced,” said Petron President and CEO Ramon S. Ang. Petron said its compliance is its way of supporting the government in its fight against oil smuggling.

“We also continue to work with their fuel marking team for the installation of the Automatic Injection System in our refinery,”

Ang added.

Echoing the sentiments of other Philippine Institute of Petroleum members, Petron has consistently expressed its support for the fuel marking program provided that it is enforced on a level playing field.

Since 2018, Petron has been in close coordination with concerned government agencies, namely the Department of Finance, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs.

The fuel marking program aims to plug revenue leakages from oil smuggling by placing a molecular marker on imported, manufactured and refined fuel products, such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

The company reported in November that its net income in January to September 2019 fell 70 percent to P3.6 billion, from the same period in 2018, mainly on account of lower margins and its refinery shutdown.

The country’s largest oil refiner

booked P381.7 billion in revenues from January to September 2019, down by 9 percent in the same period a year ago.

Petron’s sales volume declined, mainly due to lower Philippine volumes, by 7 percent as a result of its PBR’s emergency shutdown in April 2019.

However, this was partially cushioned by Malaysia’s volume increase of 2 percent. Global oil prices also remained volatile and lower compared to last year because of ongoing trade wars.

The PBR resumed normal operations in early August.

In January to September 2019, Petron opened over 100 new stations in the Philippines, and 38 new stations in Malaysia. In the Philippines alone, the company has over 2,400 stations, still the largest network of service stations in the country.

Petron is still the country’s leading oil company, cornering about a third of domestic demand.

Seaoil vows to improve customer service

S

EAOIL Philippines Inc. is focusing this year to become better at serving customers in a bid to gain more market share.

“We want to improve the customer service so all our stations will be able to capture a bigger share of the market,” said Jose Jaime V. de la Fuente, Seaoil vicepresident for corporate and consumer marketing.

“We want more improvement on service delivery,” de la Fuente added.

This is the oil firm’s priority for 2020, alongside with plans to grow its fuel retail stations which reached 450 last year.

“There are 450 at end-2019 from almost 400 in 2018,” he said, when asked for the total number of Seaoil service stations in the country, adding that the number is spread out nationwide.

For 2020, Seaoil intends “to open as many as we can, depending on the availability of the properties.”

On the average, it would cost anywhere from P5 million to P15 million, depending on the size and location, to put up one fuel service station.

Seaoil has put up three terminals in Mindanao. “Last year, we opened a new terminal in Irasan, Zamboanga. We have two existing in Davao del Sur and Cagayan de Oro,” added de la Fuente.

When asked to comment on how local pump prices would be affected by the rising conflict in the Middle East, de la Fuente expressed concern over the situation.

“It’s so volatile, we are just monitoring the situation. We’re concerned about it. Hopefully, it does not escalate,” said the Seaoil official.

Seaoil raised last Tuesday diesel and kerosene prices by P0.40 per liter and P0.30 per liter, respectively. It reduced gasoline prices by P0.10 per liter.

Lenie Lectura

Boeing reassigns 737 Max workers to other programs

B

oeing Co. plans to shut down its 737 Max assembly lines in mid-January, and has begun handing out new work assignments to the 3,000 workers affected by the temporary production halt, the manufacturer told employees Monday.

The internal bulletin is the first to provide details of Boeing’s plans to keep its 737 work force intact through an indefinite shutdown of the narrow-body jet that was announced late last month. Regulators banned the Max from flying after a March 10 crash, the second fatal accident within five months. The tragedies killed 346 people, and plunged the largest US industrial company into crisis.

Boeing faces a complex task managing the shutdown and eventual restart of the 737, one of its main sources of profit, amid the tightest US job market in decades. The Chicagobased planemaker doesn’t expect to lay off or furlough workers because of the production suspension, Stan Deal, chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplane division reiterated in a separate message to employees.

Within its Seattle-area manufac-

turing hub, Boeing plans to “loan” 737 mechanics, engineers and staff to the 767, 777 and 777X programs at its Everett wide-body factory. South Carolina employees who work on the Max’s propulsion systems will be shifted to the 787 program in North Charleston, Boeing said.

Storage management

Other workers from Boeing’s 737 factory will help manage some of the 400, or so, Max that the company has put in storage at an airport in arid eastern Washington, and at a new site that it’s opening in Victorville, California. The remainder will focus on initiatives at the factory where the Max is manufactured in Renton, Washington, including improvements to standard work processes.

Production will officially halt when the airplane with line number 7896 rolls out of the factory, Boeing said.

The company told workers that it hasn’t decided when work will restart, citing uncertainty over the timing and conditions under which regulators eventually return the Max to service, and the training that will be required for flight crews. Bloomberg News

mutual funds

January 7, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 251.17 -3.66% -0.03% -0.88% -0.74% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.3696 -7.33% 0.46% -3.61% -0.64% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.6128 -10.87% -3.48% -3.87% -2.24% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.8895 -3.19% n.a. n.a.

-1.48% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.8448 -1.32% n.a. n.a.

-0.97% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 5.3117 -3.44% 1.42% -0.92% -0.62% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.8513 -1.39% -2.41% n.a.

-0.63% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 104.41 -12.09% n.a. n.a.

0.97% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 51.1522 0.05% 2.34% n.a.

-0.63% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 531.44 -0.29% 1.2% -0.44% -0.66% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,8 1.0179 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-0.82% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.2826 -1.15% 2.12% 0.37% -0.72% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 37.7815 -0.42% 3.02% 0.32% -0.71% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,1 1.0183 0.35% n.a. n.a.

-0.34% -0.61% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 5.2108 1.06% 3.05% 1.47% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 869.91 0.99% 2.88% 1.4% -0.59% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.8376 -5.81% -0.45% -2.31% -2.01% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.1848 -0.55% 2.19% 0.46% -1.06% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.9984 0.66% 2.74% n.a.

-0.6% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.6398 -0.04% 3.84% 2.23% -0.85% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 116.6954 1.39% 3.69% 2.37% -0.55% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$1.0307 14.46% 6.61% 0.89% 0.7% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.3808 24.8% 9.74% n.a.

0.71% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.5562 -7.78% -3.28% -4.26% -0.68% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.1634 -4.2% -1.67% -1.67% -1.06% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.6255 0.23% 1.76% -1.18% -0.41% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,5 0.229 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-0.56% Grepalife Balanced Fund Corporation -a N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9601 4.53% 2.46% 1.02% -0.15% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.7834 7.01% 1.53% 0.18% -0.39% 0.1% -0.45% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.9255 5.37% 1.44% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a 2.1242 0.43% 1.22% 0.86% -0.5% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.8492 2.97% 2.12% 0.46% -0.65% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,2 1.0139 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-0.41% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,2 0.9943 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-0.44% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,2 0.991 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-0.47% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.9705 2.63% 1.46% -0.57% -0.84% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities 2.96% 2.01% 0.34% Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.0383 8.16% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $1.0384 12.64% 5.45% 1.23% 0.56% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.9182 17.98% 7.7% 4.46% 0.61% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,7 $1.1312 12.36% 4.56% n.a.

0.57% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 357.9 4.16% 2.74% 2.29% 0.02% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9031 2.32% 0.28% -0.61% 0.09% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1181 4.82% 5.17% 5.19% 0.13% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2251 4.37% 2.07% 1.86% 0.06% 2.19% 1.53% -0.07% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3572 6.55% Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. -a P N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.3683 15.23% 2.23% 1.67% -0.09% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.7864 7.24% 2.76% 1.63% 0.26% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9625 7.54% 1.07% 0% -0.15% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.0712 10.74% 4.24% 2.58% -0.12% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.6956 9.82% 3.66% 1.94% -0.32% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $468.72 4.47% 2.69% 2.77% 0.15% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є219.84 3.38% 1.63% 1.3% 0.06% 7.08% 3.15% 2.58% 0.18% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2085 First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0259 4.02% 1.46% 1.45% 0.39% Grepalife Dollar Bond Fund Corp. -a N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0979 5.3% 1.44% -0.54% 0.45% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.4088 10.22% 3.22% 2.9% 0.28% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0603919 5.94% 2.29% 1.96% 0.07% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1965 11.2% 2.78% 2.76% 0.78% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 125.91 4.13% 2.88% 2.19% 0.11% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0313 n.a. n.a. n.a.

0.14% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2554 6.65% 3.04% 1.69% -0.07% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2653 3.76% 2.9% 2.37% 0.09% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0376 2.11% n.a. n.a.

0.05% Feeder Fund Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,4 $0.99 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

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

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

7 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019. 8 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Slew of events spooks investors, prompt partial award of T-bonds

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

T

HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) partially awarded the reissued three-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) offered on auction on Tuesday as the market is on a wait-and-see mode following the December inflation, geopolitical tension in the Middle East and a possible 25-basis-point key rate cut for the first quarter.

The BTr only awarded P16.586 billion out of the P30-billion T-bonds on offer, capping at an average rate of 4.014 percent. This is 27.2 basis points higher than the previous average rate of 3.742 percent. The coupon rate for the reissued T-bond is at 4.750 percent.

Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana told reporters that they considered several factors, including the local and international developments, as well as the performance of the security in the secondary market in accepting the bids at a higher rate compared to the previous auction.

Sta. Ana said it looks like investors are “holding off from bidding aggressively” for this particular auction given the December inflation, figure and the US-Iran tension, among other developments.

“Well, obviously the inflation

rate today for December at 2.5 [percent] and of course, the developing geopolitical tension in the Middle East [were the reasons for the low bids]. We felt that the market is still on a wait and see this time, considering that these are developing as we speak. So hence the turnout and this is despite of the announcement from [Central Bank] Governor [Benjamin E.] Diokno of a 25 basis point cut so maybe inflation expectations would come into play but you know, it’s the wait and see kind of thing,” Sta. Ana said.

Diokno reiterated Tuesday that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may resume with monetary easing with a 25 basis point cut to its key rate within the first quarter of the year. In 2019, the BSP lowered the rates by 75 basis points following 175-basis point hike in 2018.

Moreover, Sta. Ana explained that usually the market would be observing a risk-off attitude every time there is a geopolitical tension between major economies.

The auction, however, was oversubscribed as it attracted P37.35 billion compared to the P30 billion offering, which has a remaining life of two years and five months.

This brings the total outstanding volume of the series to P103.63 billion.

FOCUSED APPROACEH BDO Unibank Inc. emerged as the Bank of the Year in the

Philippines, given its “focused approach on bringing the best services and loans to customers,” the London-based financial publication The Banker said in a statement. It underscored BDO’s farreaching retail network, which enables it “to serve the unique banking needs of its clients.” Photo shows Luis Reyes Jr. (center), executive vice president, and head of investor relations and corporate planning group of BDO Unibank, receiving the award from The Banker Asia Editor Kimberley Long and BBC News Correspondent Michael Buerk.

Fed signals high bar for rate move amid tensions in Iran

T

HE risk of a US-Iran conflict is bringing fresh focus to the question of what Jerome Powell meant when he said it will take a “material” change in the outlook for the Federal Reserve to raise or lower interest rates.

The answer so far–as investors wait to see how Tehran responds to the US killing of its top general–is that it will take quite a lot to meet that threshold, which the Fed chairman repeated at his press conference last December 11.

Policy makers have signaled they’ll keep rates on hold all year and their reaction since news broke last Friday of the fatal US airstrike has been to play up the country’s economic resilience. One reason for that is the three rate cuts undertaken in 2019, taken out in part as “insurance” against unforeseen geopolitical developments on the

global stage.

With US stocks still close to record highs and oil prices well within the range of recent years, a material reassessment doesn’t look to be at hand even though Fed funds futures are all but pricing in a quarter-point cut by the end of 2020.

“They are staying put,” said Sonia Meskin, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, pointing to minutes of the central bank’s December 10 and December 11 policy meeting. “It would be dangerous for them to react to geopolitical events, I think, unless those entail clear economic consequences.”

The minutes, published Friday, stated that Fed officials “regarded the current stance of monetary policy as likely to remain appropriate for a time,” and keeping rates low “could be helpful for cushioning the economy.”

Bloomberg News

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 B3

Diokno: 2.2-M Filipinos got basic deposit account

T

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE simplified version of the standard deposit account yielded more than 2 million account holders 18 months after its implementation, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor reported.

In a speaking engagement on Tuesday, Central Bank Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said about 2.2 million account holders benef itted f rom t he BSP ’s basic

deposit account—a big leap toward t heir ca mpa ig n on f ina nc ia l inclusion.

The BSP launched the basic deposit account in January 2018 in an

effort to target the unbanked sector of the economy.

While a 2014 study showed that the usual barriers to account opening include costs, lack of money, lack of documentary requirements and perceived low utility of a bank account, the BSP said the basic deposit account framework addresses these observed barriers.

The key features of the basic deposit account include: simplified know-your-customer requirements; an opening amount of less than P100; no minimum maintaining balance; and no dormancy charges.

To prevent misuse of the basic deposit account, the BSP also set its maximum balance is set at P50,000.

These features meet the needs of the unbanked for a low-cost, no-frills deposit account which they can open even if they do not have the standard identification documents.

Diokno said the program was implemented by 113 banks nationwide as of the first half of 2019.

The basic deposit account supports the implementation of the National Retail Payments System that aims to increase adoption of digital payments in the country.

By having a transactional account, the previously unbanked will be able to participate in the digital finance ecosystem and benefit from electronic fund transfers for their remittance and payment needs.

Beep card issuer to charge ₧10 to extend tool’s validity

T

HE joint venture of the Ayala and First Pacific groups announced that beep cards due to expire this year will still be valid for 12 more months through the company’s Expiry Date Extension Program for only P10.

This offer applies to standard beep cards with a balance of at least P10 and will run until December 2020, according to AF Payments Inc. (AFPI). Concessionary beep cards for senior citizens and person with disabilities will be extended free of charge, the company said.

The effectivity of cards can be prolonged 60 days prior and 60 days after the expiry date printed on the card, the firm said.

“For instance, passengers whose cards expire at the end

of December 2019 may extend their card at one of the extension terminals between November 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020,” AFPI said in a statement.

The company added that new expiry date will be based on the same month as the original with one year added.

“For example, the new expiry date for a card valid until endDecember 2019 will be the end of December 2020.”

Beep cards with less than P10 load balance (excluding concessionary cards) and blacklisted cards are not eligible for the one-year extension, alongside cards with expiry dates that do not fall within the period specified for the extension (60 days prior and 60 days after the printed expiry date).

The company said that to avail of the extension program, cardholders may visit six stations of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 and in the Araneta Center-Cubao station of Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3. The AFPI said it is working with the rail lines to add more extension terminals in the coming months.

Per the concession agreement, beep cards have a four-year expiry period, the company said explaining that this has been set to ensure the cards remain functional and secure.

Upon further assessment, however, the AFPI said it deemed it safe to extend the expiry period by one year. The operator of the beep card tapand-go payment system will also assess if further extensions

can be made.

AFPI Marketing Head Agnes F. Padilla was quoted in a statement as saying that the extension program “is helpful, especially for those who want to save money.”

“With our one-year expiry date extension program, cardholders no longer need to buy a new card or spend P150 to transfer any remaining balance from the old to a new card,” Padilla said.

AFPI was forged by the partnership of two of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines through their participation in a Public-Private Partnership project to unify the Automated Fare Collection System of three rail transport lines (LRT1, LRT 2 and MRT 3). Roderick L. Abad

Citi’s investment bank plans to hire 2,500 coders this year

C

ITIGROUP Inc. plans to recruit 2,500 programmers this year for the unit that houses its traders and investment bankers, bulking up on coders and data scientists as technology reshapes the business.

Roughly three-quarters of the company’s trade orders last year were electronic, according to Stuart Riley, global head of operations and technology for the bank’s Institutional Clients Group.

The ICG arm will add programmers in locations from New York to Chennai, India.

The hires reflect “what we are building in technology, and why we are focused on making salespeople and traders more effective at servicing our clients,” Riley said in an interview at Citigroup’s Canary Wharf office in London. “Technology is augmenting what humans do by making better use of data.”

Global banks are investing billions in a race to apply technologies that make front office staff more efficient and keep clients trading. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among other firms that are hiring as computer specialists change the face of trading floors across Wall Street.

JPMorgan spends $11 billion on technology every year, while New York-based Citigroup budgets roughly $8.5 billion, or about 20 percent of

total expenses. Bank of America Corp. has said it spends approximately $10 billion on technology, with about $3 billion of that going to new projects.

Citigroup has started reaping the benefits of those investments in recent years, saying they’ll help save as much as $600 million in 2020. The bank, which already has 23,000 technology specialists in its ICG business globally, said the new roles will be in London; New York; Shanghai; Toronto; Dublin; Tel Aviv; Pune and Chennai in India; and Tampa, Florida.

Tech giants are already waging a battle for talent in Citigroup’s hometown. Facebook Inc. said it’s planning to hire more than 3,000 people over the next three to five years in New York City, while Amazon.com Inc. announced plans to lease space in Manhattan that will house 1,500 workers.

Python push

CITIGROUP has been shrinking its work force, with the number of employees slipping to 199,000 at the end of the third quarter, an 18 percent drop from five years earlier. More recently, the firm has been cutting jobs in its trading unit as it attempts to meet long-sought efficiency targets.

Citigroup’s new recruits will work on projects including solutions in equities and fixed income, according to Riley. The bank has already used its

tech teams to automate news, analytics, pricing and trade ideas for salespeople by drawing on their message exchanges with clients, he said.

About two years ago, the bank had 30 spaces for a Python coding class and was inundated with requests, according to Riley. It now has 1,600 front office staff trained in the computer language.

“The delineation between traders and technologists in markets is disappearing,” he said. Greenwich Associates said in a study published last Monday that data scientists will take up more seats and accumulate more clout on trading desks this year.

“One could argue that most, if not all, of the market’s evolution over the past decade has come because of access to data and the ability to put it to work,” Kevin McPartland, head of research in Greenwich Associates’ market structure and technology group, said in the study. “So it should come as no surprise that experts in that field are taking over.”

Bloomberg News

Hong Kong dollar is Asia’s best carry trade on tight liquidity

A

SIA’S best carry trade is suddenly in Hong Kong, where the local dollar has strengthened to an almost three-year high.

Elevated local rates are increasing the appeal of owning the city’s currency, after years of depreciation wagers.

Selling the greenback, and using the proceeds to buy Hong Kong dollars has delivered Asia’s highest Sharpe ratio— a measure of returns adjusted for price swings—over the past month.

The sustained strength has much to do with expectations that liquidity conditions will remain tight, keeping funding costs for the local dollar high versus those on the greenback. Traders unwinding their short positions in

December triggered the biggest monthly rally since 2008, and the longest in three years.

“For the time being, the yield differential is still in favor of the Hong Kong dollar, and it’ll probably stay on the strong side of the midpoint for a while,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Short-term rates are likely to remain elevated heading into the Lunar New Year holiday before falling in February, he said.

The options market is now pricing in a roughly 50-50 chance that the currency—which is pegged to the US dollar—will touch the strong end of its narrow trading band by the end of

March. That compares with just 9.5 percent about a month ago. The Hong Kong dollar hasn’t been quoted at the 7.75 per-greenback level since early 2016. It slipped 0.03 percent to 7.7719 as of 11:52 a.m. local time.

O ne -mont h i nterba n k f u nding costs for the currency, known as Hibor, have been higher than comparable rates on the greenback—or Libor—since early November. That’s the longest stretch since 2015, forcing investors who had profited by borrowing the Hong Kong dollar cheaply and selling it against higher-yielding currencies to shift their strategy. The premium briefly reached the highest since the 1990s on November 14.

It marks a dramatic reversal from before mid-2019, when Hibor had been lower than Libor for most of the past few years. The short Hong Kong-dollar trade became so popular that the currency was repeatedly pushed to the weak end of its trading band against the greenback, prompting the local de facto central bank to repeatedly intervene.

As the Hong Kong Monetary Authority spent billions to defend the peg, it shrank the pool of cash in the city. That meant mega share sales like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s late last year—which mop liquidity as investors set aside cash to buy stock—may have a greater impact on local rates than

before. The city’s exchange operator has been discussing more secondary listings with Chinese tech firms. Some analysts say they currency’s strength will be short lived, and the carry trade’s attractiveness will fade. Goh expects the Hong Kong dollar will weaken to around 7.82, predicting short-term rates will decline after seasonal demand fades, narrowing its yield gap with the greenback.

Eddie Cheung, an emerging markets strategist at Credit Agricole CIB, says the city’s weak economic outlook will weigh on growth and the currency. “The Hong Kong dollar should touch 7.85 before it touches 7.75,” he said.

Bloomberg News

B4 Wednesday, January 8, 2020

SM Foundation spearheads Pistang Pinoy Batangas City Grand Terminal shared joy through gift-giving for kids

S

T

HE Batangas City Grand Terminal shared the joy of the holiday season with 100 children during a gift-giving activity on December 20.

The young boys and girls gathered at the Grand Terminal on Diversion Road, Barangay Alangilan, Batangas City for the fun program prepared by the officers and staff of the Batangas City Grand Terminal, headed by Terminal Manager Cecilia Mendoza.

In her special message, she wished

the kids and their parents the best for the holidays, and thanked the Barangay Council of Alangilan for helping the Grand Terminal management to gather the children for the gift-giving activity.

Barangay Secretary Edgardo Manalo represented Alangilan chairman Archie Tumambing at the event.

There were games and an impromptu dance contest for the children, as well as a special song number from a staff of the Grand Terminal. There was also

a health and wellness demo where the kids were taught the proper way of washing their hands and brushing their teeth.

After the program, the kids lined up for the distribution of gifts and a simple meal. The gift-giving activity was funded by the "Buy Nilupak for a Cause" fundraising program organized by the Batangas City Grand Terminal last July 2019. It was also a part of the company's corporate social responsibility.

M Foundation spearheaded the annual Pistang Pinoy at Costa del Hamilo in Nasugbu, Batangas that benefitted residents of the municipality.

Now on its tenth year, SM Foundation’s partners for this program included Pico de Loro, Pico Sands and Hotel; Costa del Hamilo DevelopmentCorp.(CDHC);ManilaSouthcoast Development Corp.; Savemore and SM Hypermarket in Batangas. These participating companies prepared an entertainment number and games with prizes for the more than 600 beneficiaries who attended. The barangay beneficiaries also battled for the best folk dance team competition.

The yearly program is a much anticipated event by Nasugbu residents. Participating residents came from Barangays Bulihan, Calayo, Looc, and Papaya—barangays that

host SM businesses in Nasugbu.

SM employee volunteers were present to assist in the venue preparation, food preparation, games and program. Residents enjoyed a sumptuous lunch was served by the SM executives and everyone received their individual gifts.

SMFI ensures that its social good initiatives in education (scholarship and school building), health and wellness (medical mission and health facilities upgrade), farmers’ training reach the grassroots communities. In fact, Nasugbu is a beneficiary of the various programs of SM Foundation.

SMFI executive director for education Carmen Linda Atayde encouraged the high school students present at the event to study hard so they can qualify for the SM scholarship program.

MOA GRAND MASCOT PARADE 2020. SM Mall of Asia celebrated the New Year like no other with its 11 Giant Flying Inflatables and a parade of over 400 mascots, the MOA Magical Friends, Royal Marching Band and the UE Pep Squad around the MOA complex.

‘Involuntary Vasectomy’case finally resolved by Supreme Court

T

HE Supreme Court has finally put to rest a unique case involving a mentallychallenged man, whose legal guardian made him undergo a bilateral vasectomy at age 24, even though he allegedly had the intelligence of an eight-year old child at the time of the procedure.

The man – who, for confidentiality reasons was simply referred to as “LA” – was taken in as a ward in 1980 when he was two years and nine months old. This was made official six years later, when the spouses who assumed guardianship of LA received a legal appointment from a Regional Trial Court in Balanga, Bataan.

Even at his chronological age of 24, LA was established as being unable to take a bath without assistance, could not prepare his own meals, and was never allowed to go out and run errands alone. He also had no friends and only interacted with his adoptive family. His vasectomy took place on

January 31, 2002 at the insistence of his foster father. The procedure was performed by a qualified doctor, but only after a thorough psychiatric evaluation by a licensed medical professional.

This prompted one of the nuns from a child-caring agency licensed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to file a formal case on behalf of the adopted individual. The complaint involved the falsification of documents and mutilation under the Revised Penal Code and/or child abuse under Rep. Act 7610 or the “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.” Apart from members of his foster family, the doctor who evaluated him was likewise named as a respondent.

In a per curiam decision (where the court decides as a single body, without identifying any particular judge as the author), the Supreme

Court en banc unanimously denied the complainant’s petition on two grounds: first, there was a lack of party resulting from the complainant’s demise on Sept. 9, 2012 due to heart attack. Second, there was lack of an appeal from the Office of the Solicitor General. The decision proved to be yet another win for the accused and their counsel Jose A. Bernas, who was able to dismiss the criminal complaints against them.

Due to the novelty of the issues regarding vasectomy and cognitive disability, the court and a number of individual Justices expressed separate opinions on the case, specifically on whether or not a bilateral vasectomy constitutes child abuse or a form of cruelty, and if LA qualifies as a child under the law. Ultimately, however, the individual Justices used the “best interests of the child” test, and found no evidence that the vasectomy was not in the best interest of LA.

ABS-CBN wins Bronze Stevie Award at the 16th International Business Awards

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BS-CBN’s swift action to protect the stakeholders of one of its digital properties was honored with a Bronze Stevie Award at the 16th International Business Awards, the world’s premier business awards.

The network triumphed in the Communications or PR Campaign

of the Year - Crisis Management category for its quick, decisive, and effective response to a data breach of its online shopping website (store. abs-cbn.com).

More than 1,000 professionals around the world enter the prestigious Stevie Award judging process annually. In previous years,

other winners from ABS-CBN include ABS-CBN TVplus, its “Moonchasers” website for “La Luna Sangre,” and its social media campaigns for partners like McDonalds and Unilever Philippines. For more details, follow @abscbnpr on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or visit abs-cbn.com/ newsroom.

WEIGHTLIFTING CONTROVERSY ‘VERY SERIOUS’ GERMAN weightlifter Jurgen Spiess claims that doping is discussed among his rivals as Siripuch Gulnoi says girls in Thailand would start doping at 13 for national competitions.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, January 8, 2020 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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HE International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has strongly rejected claims of doping cover-ups and financial mismanagement made in a German TV documentary and has said it is concerned about possible “organized doping” in Thailand.

The IWF fought back against a barrage of negative headlines around the world on a day when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the accusations in the TV program were “very serious and worrying,” and the most senior figure in anti-doping in Germany said weightlifting was likely to lose its Olympic status.

The IOC said it had set up a Disciplinary Commission to “immediately follow up on the doping confession” by Siripuch Gulnoi, a bronze medalist for Thailand at London 2012.

On Sunday night the German state broadcaster ARD aired the documentary Secret Doping-the Lord of the Lifters, details of which were reported by insidethegames.

The program—made by the team which was first to reveal systematic doping in Russian sport—was critical of Tamás Aján, the 80-year-old Hungarian who has been general secretary and president of the IWF since 1976.

It alleged financial malpractice, doping cover-ups and sample manipulations, said the IWF allowed 12 Azerbaijan lifters to compete in 2013 when it knew they had tested positive, and secretly recorded a conversation with an Olympic medalist that produced damning

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OSCOW—Some Russian hockey fans were celebrating victory despite losing at the world junior hockey championships because of a confusingly timed TV repeat.

Two state TV channels showed Russia-Canada finals at the same time on Sunday. One was live, and the other was from 2011.

While most fans, and Russia’s players, commiserated after a 4-3 loss to Canada on Channel One, many Russians watched a nail-biting, nine-year-old 5-3 comeback win on rival broadcaster Match TV. Some fans posted celebratory messages on social media, or complained media outlets were reporting the wrong score. It became hard to tell who was genuinely duped and who was in on the joke.

Soccer player Dmitry Tarasov wrote on Instagram: “Well done guys, congratulations on the win.” After the post was widely mocked, Tarasov said it was meant as a joke after he forfeited in a board game he was playing with family.

Yana Tarasenko, a lifestyle blogger who is the wife of St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko, posted on Instagram that her husband had watched the 2011 game for 10 minutes in the belief it was live—at least “until he saw himself in the game.”

Tarasenko was on the winning Russian team in 2011, but at the age of 28 he is now far too old for world juniors.

It wasn’t immediately clear why Match TV decided to show the 2011 final at the same time as the live broadcast. It had shown live world juniors games earlier in the tournament, but the medal rounds were only on Channel One. Match TV didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Akil Thomas scored the winning goal in the final period and

evidence about doping in Thailand.

After watching the documentary, Andrea Gotzmann, chairman of the National Anti Doping Agency of Germany, said the IWF and many of the sport’s national federations, had “failed to live up to their responsibilities toward athletes.”

“This is all the more regrettable as exclusion from the Olympic program is now likely,” she added.

Gotzmann, a biochemist and former basketball international, sits on the independent panel that decides on punishments for nations with multiple doping offenses in weightlifting.

The IWF refuted allegations of questionable practice in its anti-doping efforts and said it had been running “a progressive and extensive anti-doping program, which has been continuously upgraded, including creative and pioneer measures.”

As for the program generally, the IWF statement said: “The IWF has to express its shock and dismay at the program as it contains many insinuations, unfounded accusations and distorted information.”

The IWF “categorically denies the unsubstantiated and very serious accusations made against it by the show.”

The IOC also said it would take steps to investigate complaints of alleged financial irregularities involving Aján, who was accused of taking millions of dollars—paid to the IWF by the IOC—off the books and into two Swiss bank

accounts that were said to be accessible only by him.

The IWF refuted the allegations.

A complaint about the “missing” money by Antonio Urso, the Italian president of the European Weightlifting Federation, was heard in 2012 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The IOC statement said that CAS ruled at the time that neither the IOC nor CAS had any jurisdiction to intervene in the internal accounts of an International Federation, so the IOC had to close the case.

“Given the change in the IOC Code of Ethics since then and the fact that the television program may contain new information, the IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer will ask ARD for all the documentation in its possession in order to properly address it,” the IOC said in its statement.

The IWF gave a detailed response, stating: “It must be said that between 2009 and 2011 the IWF received exactly the same claim. The matter was then discussed and dealt with by the IWF Executive Board and an extensive document package was submitted to the IOC Ethics Commission for study.”

“It was finally established that: no money was missing; the president and the general secretary-treasurer acted in full accordance with the IWF Constitution and provisions in effect at the time; all the Olympic revenues were accounted and duly documented in the IWF official bank

accounts [none of them secret]; the Executive Board had full knowledge of the IWF assets.”

There was also evidence of alleged malpractice by testers from the Hungarian Anti-Doping Agency (Hunado), which carried out 77 percent of 16,000 tests investigated by the ARD team.

Hunado released a statement on Monday in which it “objects to and, in the strongest terms, rejects all accusations.”

It said information it provided to ARD has been “completely ignored” and the agency had “not received any reports of any Hungarian DCO [doping control officer] having committed serious misconduct or having engaged in conduct that would have jeopardized the purity and integrity of any sample.”

Both Hunado and the IWF denied allegations of questionable anti-doping practices related to the 2015 IWF World Championships in Houston, Texas.

Undercover reporters secretly recorded comments by Gulnoi, who said she had doped as a teenager when she had “a jaw like a man and a mustache.”

Gulnoi said girls would start doping at 13 for national competitions, that those responsible did not care about the effects on girls’ health, and that doping was an established feature of weightlifting in Thailand, where it has produced more gold medals than any other sport.

Thailand is currently suspended for multiple doping

TV mix-up has Russian fans celebrating hockey loss

RUSSIAN players stand on the ice after losing to Canada in the gold-medal match. AP

offenses and it faces further sanction—by the panel on which Gotzmann sits—after the IWF stated on Monday that cases against 10 Thai lifters had been closed, resulting in 17 doping violations between them.

The IWF announced on Monday that it had taken up Gulnoi’s comments with the Thai Weightlifting Federation, and said, “The widespread abuse of the same anabolic agent, especially among juniors, in Thailand would appear to be indicative of an organized system of doping.”

“The IWF will now confer with Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] and the International Testing Agency [which now handles the IWF’s anti-doping procedures], in order to establish whether a wider investigation may be appropriate.”

A statement from Wada said it was aware of allegations in the ARD program and would “continue to pursue its inquiries regarding potential breaches of the World Anti-Doping Code.”

As for the “specific allegations regarding doping of weightlifters in Thailand, which are new and of great concern to Wada, the Agency will follow up with the IWF, the Doping Control Agency of Thailand and other stakeholders to gain a clearer picture of the situation.”

“Wada will take any action that may be warranted if breaches of the Code by individuals or Anti-Doping Organizations are established,” Wada added.

Insidethegames

Canada rallied from two goals down to beat Russia, 4-3, in the final of the world junior hockey championship on Sunday.

It was the 18th title for Canada, the most successful team in the tournament.

Thomas backhanded the puck past goaltender Amir Miftakhov with 3:58 left for his only goal at the tournament to avenge a 6-0 loss to Russia at their group stage game, the worst loss for Canada in the history of the tournament.

“I saw my defenseman get the puck and I saw he was going to put it up the wall and [Connor] McMichael kind of chipped it, and it found an opening,”Thomas said. “The puck was almost going to the goalie. I kind of panicked and brought it to my backhand and put it in.”

Dylan Cozens, McMichael and captain Barrett Hayton also scored for Canada. Goaltender Joel Hofer made 35 saves.

Nikita Alexandrov, Grigori Denisenko and Maxim Sorkin netted Russia’s goals.

The Canadians were looking to bounce back from a disappointing sixth-place finish last year when it hosted the event.

They won the previous title in 2018 while Russia was seeking its first title since 2011.

It was the ninth final between the two rivals since the playoff system was introduced in 1996. Both teams had won four of them before their encounter on Sunday.

The Canadians were 3-1 down after Sorkin’s goal 8:46 into the final period. McMichael deflected a shot into the net with his leg and Hayton tied it at 3-3 on a power play with a wrist shot from the right circle, with the two goals coming in a span of 2:01. AP

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SPURS CONQUER BUCKS WITH 3S S

AN ANTONIO—Known as a midrange shooting team for the past few seasons, the Spurs are starting to comprehend why San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich has implored them to shoot more three-pointers.

DeMar DeRozan had 25 points and the San Antonio Spurs had a season-high 19 3-pointers to beat Milwaukee, 126-104, on Monday night, snapping the Bucks fivegame winning streak.

“It’s big, confidence building,” DeRozan said. “Letting us know we could compete with the best teams in this league.”

San Antonio finished 19 for 35 on 3-pointers in handing Milwaukee it’s largest defeat of the season.

Patty Mills added 21 points, including six for 10 on 3-pointers.

LaMarcus Aldridge and Rudy Gay added 18 points each, going a combined four for five on 3-pointers.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for Milwaukee, and Donte DiVincenzo added 16 points.

Four games after setting a seasonhigh with 18 3-pointers against Detroit, the Spurs bested that mark when Gay hit the team’s 19th against Milwaukee.

Aldridge has keyed that run, going 16

for 23 on 3-pointers in his last five games.

“With LaMarcus joining us on the three-point line and having the ability to knock them down, it does wonders in terms of spacing,” Mills said.

Aldridge has shot so well on 3s that the Bucks almost overlooked DeRozan’s midrange game.

“We have a ton of respect for [DeRozan],” Milwaukee Coach Mike Budenholzer said. “I think the way Aldridge has been shooting the threepoint shot over the last five, six, seven games, a lot of talk was about, ‘Could we reduce those.’ He had a huge first quarter, first half on Saturday. I don’t want to say live with DeRozan’s 2s, but to some degree [we did], but I still think it’s the three-point line where they beat us.”

The Bucks, whose last loss was December 25 at Philadelphia, maintain the league’s best record at 32-6.

Popovich somewhat agreed when asked if this was the Spurs’ most complete game of the season.

“It’d be hard to argue against that, I think,” he said. “The physicality was good.

We started out the third quarter a little poorly as we have, going to try to figure that out, but I thought we were more consistent tonight in our physicality and executing game plan, we were more consistent. It was a good night.”

Milwaukee defeated San Antonio, 127-

Britain in good shape for ATP Cup quarters

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YDNEY—Even without Andy Murray, Britain looks likely to advance to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Cup quarterfinals.

Britain No. 1 Dan Evans outclassed Radu Albot, 6-2, 6-2, to clinch the fifth-day match after Cameron Norrie beat Alexander Cozbinov by the same score on Tuesday.

A 6-2, 6-3 doubles victory for Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury over Albot and Cozbinov completed the 3-0 win’over Moldova, leaving the British in a good position to qualify for the for the quarterfinals that begin Thursday at Sydney Olympic Park.

Murray announced late last month that he would not play at the inaugural ATP Cup or the Australian Open due to his continuing recovery from hip surgery.

Britain could top Group C and face Australia in Thursday’s first quarterfinal. But the British, captained by Tim Henman, are more likely to advance to the knockout stages as one of the two best pool runners-up at the season-opening 24team event.

Unbeaten in its first two matches, Bulgaria remains favorite to top Group C and can secure a quarterfinal spot with a win over Belgium on Tuesday night in the second match in Sydney.

Undefeated Australia will complete Group F play on Tuesday night against Greece in Brisbane.

Australia has qualified for the quarterfinals and has said it would sit out Alex de Minaur against Greece.

De Minaur has won both of his singles matches at the tournament.

John Millman will come into the team for the second time, with Nick Kyrgios returning from a back injury to take on Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In the opening match Tuesday in Brisbane, Canada beat Germany, 2-1, and will hope to advance

118, on Saturday at home but could not maintain its early momentum in a rare home-and-home, backto-back games.

Milwaukee opened the game with three straight 3-pointers but San Antonio went on a 13-4 run in taking its first lead at 15-13. DeRozan blocked Antetokounmpo layup during the run, tying up the 6-foot-11 forward as he drove through the lane and forcing a jump ball.

Seven players would score in the first quarter for San Antonio, including nine by DeRozan.

The Spurs followed that up with 38 points in the second quarter, their highest total in that quarter all season and third-highest in any quarter.

San Antonio was 12 for 20 on 3-pointers in the first half in building an 18-point lead and tying a franchise record for the most 3s in any half. AP

OSAKA ON TRACK IN BRISBANE

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RISBANE, Australia—Naomi Osaka got an extended workout in her opening match at the Brisbane International, just two weeks away from the defense of her Australia Open title.

Osaka defeated Greece’s Maria Sakkari, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3, on Tuesday to set up a second-round match with American Sofia Kenin.

The two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 took more than two hours and had 16 aces to beat Sakkari.

In other matches Tuesday, eighth-seeded Madison Keys beat Czech qualifier Maria Bouzkova, 6-2, 6-3.

Keys will now face local favorite Samantha Stosur in the second round.

“Sam’s always tough,” Keys said. “I think she’s beaten me every time we have played. It’s also hard to play someone who is going to be playing at home and have the crowd and all that.”

Russian qualifier Liudmila Samsonova had the upset of the tournament so far by defeating American Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Samsonova will face the winner of Tuesday night’s match between two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Wild-card entry Maria Sharapova was also set to play her opening match against American qualifier Jennifer Brady. AP

THE Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan scores against the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo. AP

Avant-garde posters for Tokyo 2020 unveiled

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OKYO—The official posters are out for this year’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The 20 posters have been created by 19 artists in fields ranging from painting, graphic design and photography. Calligraphy and Japanese manga are also represented. Manga is the Japanese art of comics and cartooning, which is very famous in the host country.

The posters were first put on display on Monday at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. They will remain on display at the museum in east Tokyo, through February 16.

The posters are a tradition at every Olympics and Paralympics, and many previous posters have become collector’s items. The requirement to create posters is set out in the so-called host city contract, in which the International Olympic Committee establishes the rules for the preparation and management of the games.

The Summer Olympics open at Tokyo’s new National Stadium on July 24, and are A MAN stands in front of a poster created by artist Tomoko Konoike, one of 20 posters officially selected for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, on Monday. AP

followed by the Paralympics on August 25.

Of the 20 posters, 12 are based on OIympic themes and eight were inspired by the Paralympics. Several feature wheelchairs, including a graphic vision of the violence in the sport of wheelchair rugby.

Many of the images are far from traditional, showcasing bright colors and curious forms. In many of the avant-garde images it is difficult to discern the exact tie to the Olympics or Paralympics. Very few even feature a prominent display of the Tokyo Olympic or Paralympic logos.

That also goes for the five Olympic rings, which are seldom featured.

Some of the titles are also eyecatching: Space Kicker by painter Shinro Ohtake; The Sky Above the Great Wave off the coast of Kanagawa by manga artist Hirohiko Araki; Open by calligrapher Koji Kakinuma; Higher than the Rainbow by photographer Mika Ninagawa; Offense No. 7 by artist Tomoyuki Shinki; and flow line by graphic designer Daijiro Ohaha. AP

to the quarterfinals as one of the two best second-place finishers in group play. The Canadians lost to Spain in the Davis Cup final in Madrid, seven weeks ago.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov handed No. 7-ranked Alexander Zverev his third singles loss of the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the German player at Pat Rafter Arena. Zverev had seven doublefaults in Tuesday’s match.

Jan-Lennard Struff beat Felix Auger-Aliassime, 6-1, 6-4, to give Germany the early lead. AugerAliassime and Shapovalov clinched it for Canada with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.

Zverev has 31 double faults in 31 service games in the tournament. He said an off-season exhibition tour in South America with Roger Federer left him behind in his preparations.

“I had like five days less than I normally have...I didn’t practice a lot of tennis,” he said. “I think you can see that on the tennis court. There are a lot of things that I still need to improve.”

At Perth, Russia clinched its match with Norway with wins in both singles and tops Group D. Karen Khachanov beat Norway’s Victor Durasovic, 6-2, 6-1, in the opening singles match and Daniil Medvedev beat Casper Ruud, 6-3, 7-6 (6), on his second match point with an ace. AP Norway’s Casper Ruud serves against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. AP

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Wednesday, January 8, 2020

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GO, KOREAN SET PACE K

orean Wook Gwonmin banked on a superb backside start while Lois Kaye Go sizzled with a front side finish as they shot identical three-under 68s to wrest control in the first round of the National Stroke Play Championship at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite, on Tuesday.

Wook thrived in the privacy of an early morning tee-off, birdying two of the last three then bucking a bogey on the second hole with birdies on Nos. 6 and 9 to gain a two-stroke lead over in-form Ryan Monsalve in men’s play of the 72-hole championship kicking off the 2020 PLDT Group National Amateur Golf Tour.

Monsalve, riding the momentum of a runaway

triumph in the National Doubles with Lanz Uy two weeks ago, also tamed the tough backside of the par-71 layout with a 34 but missed forcing a tie with the Korean with a double bogey mishap on No. 7 for a 70.

The rest, including defending champion Gen Nagai of Japan and national team mainstays Carl Corpus and Aidric Chan, struggled as the wind whipped up at noon with Weiwei Gao fumbling with a 73 for third although Sean Ramos fought back from a front side 39 with a closing 35 to save a 74 for joint fourth with Japanese Kyosuke Yoshida.

Like Monsalve, Go kept her good run of form going coming off a 30th Southeast Asian Games stint, anchoring her strong start on superb putting, her birdies on Nos. 6 and 7 netting her a 33-35 round that featured three other birdies against two bogeys at the back. She stood five shots clear off Samantha Martirez, and two others in the women’s side she ruled by humbling the likes of Ladies Professional Golfers Association Tour-bound and SEAG gold medalist Bianca Pagdanganan and world No. 1 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand last year.

“I feel really contented with my game

and I thought I played pretty solid,” said Go, member of the Asian Games and SEA Games gold-medal winning teams. “I made a couple of mistakes but recovered well with birdies. The key to my game was putting. I made putts from 15 to 20 feet and was able to save par when I needed to.”

Martirez matched the Cebuana ace’s 35 start but dropped three strokes in the first three holes at the front, including a doublebogey on No. 2, finishing with a 38 for a 73 in a tie with Abby Arevalo, teammate of Pagdanganan and Go in the SEAG squad, who also stumbled with a closing 38, and young Rianne Malixi, who rallied with a 35.

In men’s play, Nagai groped with his short game and never recovered from a three-bogey, one double bogey card at the front, limping with a 77 to fall behind by nine; while Corpus hobbled with a 75 for joint sixth with Leandro Bagtas and Korean Kim Tae Soo, winner of the MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) Amateur diadem here last November.

Chan, spearhead of the bronze-medal SEA Games squad that included Ramos, Corpus, and absentee Luis Castro, stayed in the early mix with a front side 36. But last year’s Junior World titlist got undone by a

quadruple bogey on the par-4 11th, ending up in joint 12th with Nagai, Miguel Ilas, Santino Laurel and Korea Hur Jun Ha. Ryuya Yamashita and fellow Japanese Atsushi Ueda and Peter Tyler Po shot identical 76s for joint ninth in the event sponsored by the MVPSF and, backed by Cignal, Metro Pacific Investments and Summit Ridge as official hotel.

In women’s side, Junia Gabasa, another talent from Cebu, carded a 74 for joint fifth with Laurea Duque, while Bernice Ilas shot a 75 and Samantha Dizon and Korean Bang Hee Yeon shared eighth place with 77s with the rest of the 27-player field way behind with high scores in the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines.

DERRICK BACK AT LA SALLE D

Lois Kaye Go sizzles with a front side finish.

E LA SALLE University tapped veteran Frederick “Derrick” Pumaren to call the shots for the Green Archers.

“De La Salle University is pleased to announce that Derrick is the new head coach of the men’s basketball team effective January 1, 2020,” a De La Salle statement said on Tuesday.

“The university welcomes back Coach Derrick to the Lasallian

community as he maps out the new direction of the Green Archers,” the statement added.

Pumaren is the eldest among three brothers who have pursued careers in basketball as players and coaches. The others are Franz, a former De La Salle coach himself now with Adamson University, and Dindo, who also coached University of the East like the elder Manong, as he is called in the family.

Their father, Filomeno, was also a former player and head coach.

Pumaren coached the Green Archers in the late 1980s, and won the school’s first two titles in 1989 and 1990 after it

moved to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

He replaced Gian Nazario and active consultant Jermaine Byrd, who both guided the team to a 7-7 win-loss record in Season 82 of the UAAP. Despite the efforts of the two and the firepower brought by Aljun Melecio, Justine Baltazar and Andrei Caracut, the Green Archers narrowly missed the semifinals by finishing fifth.

Nazario will serve as one of the assistant coached, and Byrd stays on as skills coach.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

DE LA SALLE taps Frederick “Derrick” Pumaren as coach of its men’s basketball program.

SPORTS TRAINING CENTER TOPS IN PSC’S PRIORITIES

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HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) opens the new year with an absolute commitment to establish the Philippine Sports Training Center (PSTC).

President Duterte signed Republic Act 11214, or the Philippine Sports Training Center Act in 2019, thus urging the PSC to work on the realization of the law that calls for the establishment of a state-ofthe-art sports training facility.

“We are doing our best to make this longtime dream come true” PSC Chairman William Ramirez said on Tuesday.

According to RA 11214, the PSC, which will own the PSTC, will oversee operations that border on administrative work, security and the assigning of personnel. A seed money of P3.5 billion from general appropriations was appropriated for the PSTC. The Municipality of Rosales in Pangasinan has initially offered its land I for the PSTC. Similar offers, however, emerged from provinces of Tarlac and Bataan.

“We are grateful for the support and interest that we are receiving from different LGUs [local government units]. We are studying possibilities and best options,” Ramirez added.

The PSTC will possess amenities suitable and conducive for national athletes, coaches and referees “to achieve a high-level and quality training that will eventually results to best performances when they compete in various international sports competitions, including the prestigious Summer Olympic Games, where the national athletes are aiming to win our first-ever gold medal.”

The PSC, meanwhile, has partnered with the United States Sports Academy (USSA) to strengthen the country’s human resources in sports. The first of a series of short sports courses will be held in March—part of the PSC’s plans to continue upgrading knowledge and skills of coaches, trainers and sports professionals in the country.

The USSA will provide education and training programs for individuals and groups designated by the PSC. “We are also arranging plans with the Commission on Higher Education and the University of the Philippines,” Ramirez said.

Information and forms on the PSC-USSA International Certificate for Sports Management Course could be accessed at http://www.psc.gov.ph under Philippine Sports Institute Programs.

Women’s hoops gets more support

RAMIREZ

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Ceres-Negros Coach Risto Vidakovic (center) expounds on the team’s campaign. With him are Mark Hartmann (from right), Pika Minegishi, Stephan Scrock, Bienvenido Marañon, Arnie Pasinabo and Joshua Grommen. ROY DOMINGO

Ceres-Negros opens Champions League campaign

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REVAMPED Ceres-Negros Football Club, a three-time Philippines Football League champion, embarks on a third straight run to earn qualification for the Asian Football Conferederation (AFC) Champions League.

The country’s most successful football club kicks off its quest for a place in Asia’s most prestigious club competition as it clashes with Shan United of Myanmar on Tuesday, at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Busmen almost reached the group stage two years ago when they stunned Brisbane Roar of Australia in the second round only to fall short in the final phase against Tianjin Quanjian of China.

Last year, Ceres fell at the first hurdle

ASKETBALL patron Ronald Mascariñas vowed to continue supporting women’s 3x3 and 5x5 following the national team’s success in last month’s 30th Southeast Asian Games.

The 3x3 team of Afril Bernardino, Jack Animam, Clare Castro and Janine Pontejos won the gold medal, but the brightest accomplishment was

to Myanmar side Yangon United at Panaad Stadiumm in Bacolod City.

Appearing in the first Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum for 2020 at Amelie Hotel in Manila on Tuesday, Ceres Coach Risto Vidakovic tempered expectations, saying they started preparations for the match only last Monday following a three-month break.

“We cannot promise anything, but we will represent the country in the best way possible,” said Vidakovic, who steered the Busmen to the AFC Cup Asean zone title in 2017.

“We are going to fight until the last minute to reach the next round. It’s a very hard competition.

But we are going to try. We will give our best so I

the 5x5 squad’s conquest, a first in the SEA Games.

“History was within reach and you all made us proud,” the soft-spoken executive told the players in an intimate meeting at the Bounty Office in Ortigas Center, on Tuesday.

“For women’s basketball, 2019 was a breakthrough year,” said Mascariñas, who through his company, Chooks-to-Go, has been

hope everyone will support us,” he added.

For the first time in their brief history in continental competitions, the Busmen will be playing their home games at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, with the Panaad Stadium undergoing renovation. The Busmen regularly attract 5,000 at home in Bacolod City, and striker Bienvenido Marañon hopes the team gets as much as crowd support in Manila.

“We’re all excited,” said the Spanish striker, who was the top scorer of the AFC Cup last year with 10 goals, told the forum supported by San Miguel Corp., Braska Restaurant, Amelie Hotel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. “We are happy to play in Bacolod, but we’re

supporting the country’s basketball program.

The meeting also served as a tribute for the women players, who each received P100,000 each from Mascariñas for their SEA Games feats.

Also present were women’s Assistant Coach Mark Solano, who represented Head Coach Patrick Aquino, and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Executive Director Sonny Barrios.

Al Mendoza alsol47@yahoo.com

THAT’S ALL

Bushfires threaten Australian Open

THE Australian Open is due to start in barely two weeks amid fears the still-raging bushfires in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra might jeopardize play.

The season opener of four tennis Slams that begins on January 20 could be threatened with bad quality of air arising from smoke caused by massive conflagration that had already gutted more than 5 million hectares of forests.

Said Australian star Ashleigh Barty, the world No. 1: “It’s been really terrible.... For me this started two or three months ago.... The first time I saw of it was actually flying home...to the east coast and we could see some of the smoke, and some of the fires.... Obviously the worst of it is still out there at the moment.”

The reigning French Open champion expressed grief big time: “Now it’s not just the wildlife, it’s also affected Australians with their lives and their homes.”

Already razed to the ground are 1,500 homes, with 24 deaths reported, and thousands of wildlife killed, most notably the endearing koalas and kangaroos, Australia’s enduring symbols of cuddly love. (I pray for the continued safety of our friends Boy & Sheila Baluran, and Ramon & Becky Acebes—all of Sydney.)

Barty said she would donate her prize money in the ongoing Brisbane International, her home tournament, to the Australian Red Cross. The winner of the tournament, which started on Monday, will earn more than $250,000.

The Australian Open organizers will hold a special charity event on January 15 , five days before the season’s first major begins in Melbourne.

Novak Djokovic, whose seven Australian Opens are among his 16 Grand Slam singles titles, wants the tournament postponed.

“Conditions affecting the health of players count,” said Djokovic. “I think we should definitely consider postponing it...I think if the quality of air is affected in Melbourne or Sydney, I think Tennis Australia probably will be forced to create some rules about it.”

Djokovic added “...I think they’re going to try to do anything to not delay...but health concern is a health concern for me, and for anybody.”

If only to allay Djokovic’s fears, it rained the other night in Australia, easing tension, even for only a bit.

Nick Kyrgios, the mercurial Aussie star, promised $200 for every ace he hits this month to relief efforts. As of this writing, he has served 20 aces in Australia’s opening win in the ATP Cup. Who said Kyrgios was heartless?

That was before, perhaps. Time makes people change.

Disasters melt a heart of stone.

THAT’S IT The just-ended Fil-Am Golf Invitational in Baguio City’s Baguio Country Club and Camp John Hay, the world’s biggest golf event, participants-wise, was another smashing success, thanks mainly to the usual sterling leadership of tournament top gun Anthony de Leon, the dapper BCC general manager, in tandem with Tim Allen of CJH. Jake P. Ayson and I are simply overjoyed learning about it, even as Jake and I took a much-needed break from our Rulesmen duties for the first time after years of handling the delicate job. Cheers guys! And here’s wishing for more accolades coming your way in the succeeding years! also happy to play at Rizal Memorial.”

Bracing for a tough year ahead which will also include defending its PFL crown as well as participation in the revived Asean Club Championship, Ceres signed Mark Hartmann, Pika Minegishi, Joshua Grommen and Arnie Pasinabo to beef up its lineup.

But Vidakovic insists the Busmen couldn’t look past Shan United, which they have beaten twice last year in the AFC Cup. A win over the Myanmar League champions will send the Busmen to the second round opposite Thai League 1 team Port FC, which now has former Ceres captain Martin Steuble in its squad.

Ryniel Berlanga

Mascariñas said he plans to expand the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 League with a women’s tournament. The event tips off in February.

“We renewed our commitment. We’re looking at making a 3x3 league for women,” he said, hoping that in 2024, the Philippines could gain automatic qualification for the event in the Paris Olympics.

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By Barry Wilner The Associated Press

EAMMATES and opponents, coaches and National Football League (NFL) executives, even most fans recognize that Tom Brady has nothing left to prove.

There might be one dissenting voice: Brady himself.

Maybe that’s why in the midst of the disappointment—and some discontent—with how the Patriots’ season ended and how he performed in the second half of the schedule, Brady came pretty close to guaranteeing he will be back for a 21st season. At age 43.

Asked about retirement following the wild-card loss to the Texans, Brady said, “I would say it’s pretty unlikely, but, yeah, hopefully, unlikely.’’

Later, to another question about his plans, Brady added: “Again, I don’t want to get too much into the future and stuff. I mean, this team has fought hard. We battled every day, we tried to get better, we worked hard to improve, and I was proud to be a part of this team. Not only this year, but every year.

“Again, I just don’t know what’s going to happen and I’m not going to predict it. No one needs to make choices at this point. I love playing football, I love playing for this team. I’ve loved playing for this team for two decades and winning a lot of games. And again, I don’t know what it looks like moving forward, so we’ll just take it day by day.’’

Brady doesn’t need football any longer from a success standpoint. Not with a record six Super Bowl rings, four MVP honors in the big game, and three league MVP awards. Five years after he has retired, he’ll be feted in Canton, Ohio, as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

He doesn’t need the money, either.

What he seems to require, like so many star athletes, is the competition that spices his existence. The adrenaline explosions. The challenges.

The locker room rapport. The practices.

The game planning.

Brady surely knows there are few, if any, replacements outside of the game once he leaves the sport for good. Unlike the man he is most compared to among his

NOTHING LEFT TO PROVE

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Wednesday, January 8, 2020 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Port Vale’s Tom Pope (left) scores his side’s first goal of the game against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. AP

Soccer player investigated for offensive conspiracy tweet

Tom Brady doesn’t need the money, either. AP

contemporaries, Peyton Manning, Brady doesn’t fit the off-field celebrity role Manning has embraced so well.

So, barring physical ailments—and few football players ever have taken care of themselves the way Brady has—another year at the helm of the Patriots or another team appears doable. Here’s a peek into which uniform Brady could wind up in for 2020.

PATRIOTS

Obviously, remaining where he has spent the last two decades not only as the face of the franchise but for several years the face of the league is most logical. Or is it?

Maybe Brady would like to try replicating his New England successes with another coach. In part to show he can reach the top in a different system and a different city. In part to display that the Patriots’ dynastic run was built on his brilliance more than anything.

Should he return to Foxborough, Brady can name his price.

Does anyone see owner Robert Kraft balking? Especially after some of the “hometown discounts” Brady allegedly took in past negotiations?

He also would be wise to insist on better personnel around him after the drop-off in talent level at receiver and on the offensive line this season.

CHARGERS

Brady is a California guy—sure, it’s NoCal, but he and his wife, super model Gisele Bundchen, would seem a perfect fit in SoCal. Philip Rivers comes off one of his worst seasons and the Chargers could be ready to move on from their long-time QB. Plus, what better way to move into their new home? They will be overshadowed by the Rams in SoFi Stadium—except with Brady behind center.

BENGALS

Brady could play and tutor Joe Burrow. Nah, he’s not likely to touch the NFL’s worst team.

BEARS

Brady at 53 might be more reliable than Mitchell Trubisky was this season. And, like New England, Chicago has a top-shelf defense.

COWBOYS

Maybe Dak Prescott isn’t the answer to America’s Team’s nearly quartercentury Super Bowl drought. We all know how much Jerry Jones likes to create headlines. What a doozy that would be in Big D.

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ONDON—The English Football Association (FA) asked a professional soccer player Monday to explain why he tweeted comments that could be construed as anti-Semitic.

Fourth-tier club Port Vale also launched an internal investigation into Tom Pope’s early Sunday post about the Rothschilds after he scored a goal at Manchester City in the third round of the FA Cup. Pope had been asked on Twitter to “predict the WWIII result,” a reference to American tensions with Iran.

“We invade Iran then Cuba then North Korea then

the Rothschilds [sic] are crowned champions of every bank on the planet,” the striker replied.

The Rothschilds, a French Jewish family whose banking connections date to the 18th century, are a frequent target of offensive global conspiracy theories.

Port Vale said it had been asked by the FA for Pope’s “observations” on the tweet. The club issued a statement on Monday from the player distancing himself from anti-Semitism.

“Following the reaction to my response on Twitter about the Rothschilds, I was unaware of any link between the Rothschild family and the Jewish community,” Pope said. “If I have caused offense to anyone, I’d like to apologize enormously as this was never my intention.”

But in response to criticism on Sunday, Pope reiterated the offensive comments.

“Racist??” he tweeted, saying again the Rothschilds “own” the banks.

Pope scored his team’s only goal in a 4-1 loss to Manchester City.

Three people, meanwhile, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a Bulgarian soccer fan during an attack by PAOK Thessaloniki supporters, Greek police said Monday.

A police statement said two Greek men, one 26 and the other 24, were taken into custody late Sunday and accused of participation in the attack a few hours earlier.

A 26-year-old Greek woman was also arrested on

Milan draws Sampdoria in Ibrahimovic’s return

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latan IbrahimoviC’s comeback appearance added much-needed urgency but little else for AC Milan as they were held by Sampdoria to 0-0 in Serie A on Monday.

The 38-year-old Ibrahimovic, who helped Milan to its last Serie A title in 2011, has rejoined the club until the end of the season with an option for another year.

“Ibrahimovic’s impact was absolutely positive,” Milan Coach Stefano Pioli said. “He immediately gave support.

“The team is still not used to this presence. At the end we could have looked for him more, his physical prowess gives us an extra solution.”

Around 60,000 fans flocked to San Siro for the return of Ibrahimovic after nearly eight years, and there was a banner dedicated to him which read: “A new challenge to live together: welcome back Ibra.”

However, another banner also recalled the embarrassment of AC Milan’s last match, its worst result in 21 years, as it simply read: “Atalanta-Milan 5-0.”

Milan failed to score for the third successive match.

Ibrahimovic was sent on in the 55th minute for Krzysztof Piątek after Sampdoria started the second half very much on top.

The introduction of the Swede appeared to give Milan impetus, and Ibrahimovic had a couple of chances early on but neither of his headers troubled Sampdoria goalkeeper Emil Audero.

Ibrahimovic also set up a great chance for Suso in

the 77th but the Spaniard fired wide of the left post prompting resounding jeers from the Milan fans.

RONALDO ON FIRE

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick and set up the other goal for Gonzalo Higuain as Juventus eased past Cagliari 4-0.

Juventus remained level on points at the top of the league with Inter Milan, which won at Napoli 3-1.

Ronaldo ended 2019 on a scoring streak and he started where he left off, becoming the first player to score at least one goal in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues in each of the last 18 years (2003 to 2020).

Real Betis midfielder Joaquín and Werder Bremen’s Claudio Pizarro are the only active players who can achieve this.

There was little sign of what was to come in the first half but Ronaldo broke the deadlock four minutes after the break, rounding the goalkeeper and depositing into an empty net.

The Portugal international doubled Juve’s lead in the 67th and set up Higuain nine minutes from time before completing his hat trick a minute later.

Ronaldo took his tally to eight goals in his past five league matches and 13 for the season.

LUKAKU BRACE

Romelu Lukaku scored twice and Lautaro Martinez also was on target in Inter’s first win at Napoli’s San

suspicion of having run over the fallen victim with her car and having abandoned the scene, an incident police believe was not linked with the earlier attack.

It was still unclear if the 28-year-old Botev Plovdiv fan was already dead when he was run over by the car.

Another two Bulgarian men were injured in the attack by more than a dozen PAOK fans.

Botev Plovdiv supporters are linked with Thessaloniki-based team Aris—PAOK’s biggest rival in the city. On Saturday, the three had attended the Aris-PAOK derby in which Aris beat league-leading PAOK, 4-2.

Police said the three Bulgarians were among a group of people suddenly attacked by the PAOK fans.

The others were able to run away. AP Paolo Stadium since 1997.

Lukaku scored early with a solo effort, taking the ball in his own half and finishing it off by curling a shot around a defender in off the post.

Poor goalkeeping helped Lukaku to his second a half-hour in with a shot through Alex Meret’s legs.

Arkadiusz Milik pulled one back for Napoli before the break from close range but Martinez restored the two-goal advantage after the hour mark from close range after a failed interception from Kostas Manolas.

It was Napoli’s second loss in three matches since Gennaro Gattuso replaced Carlo Ancelotti as coach.

OTHER MATCHES

Atalanta emulated its last result before the winter break with a 5-0 win over Parma.

Alejandro “Papu” Gomez, Remo Freuler and Robin Gosens scored by halftime. Josip Ilicic added two after the restart.

Atalanta moved to within one point of fourth-placed Roma and the final Champions League spot.

Elsewhere, Giuseppe Iachini’s debut as Fiorentina coach was ruined by a stoppagetime equalizer from Bologna in a 1-1 draw; and Rodrigo de Paul scored a late goal for Udinese to beat Lecce, 1-0.

The games were played on Monday because of the Epiphany, a public holiday in Italy. AP Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s impact at AC Milan is absolutely positive. AP

D

God of justice

EAR God, You display Your faithful love to all who call upon You for deliverance. In faith we pray: God of the living, be merciful. For those who await for an organ transplant, healing of illness or relief from pain. For women who seek help for an unplanned pregnancy. For those who are restless or unhappy in their lives. For those whose love for others are taken for granted because of indifference. May God show us mercy and answer us on the day we call, through Christ, whose coming is certain and whose day draws near. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life

2020 BOX OFFICE STARTS OFF WITH ‘STAR WARS’ STILL ON TOP D3

BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

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CES gadget show: How watching TV will change in the 2020s

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BY MAE ANDERSON The Associated Press

EW YORK—What will watching TV be like in the 2020s? Amid new gadgets and glitz, the CES tech show in Las Vegas aims to offer some answers, many of which boil down to more streaming and more efforts to glue you to your phone.

The show’s keynote addresses, once dominated by computer and chip makers, will this year feature executives from TV networks NBC and CBS, and upstart video services like mobile-focused Quibi and free streamer Tubi. Topic one will be the streaming wars—not to mention mounting costs for consumers who want access to everything—as giants NBC Universal and WarnerMedia prepare to join the clash with Netflix later this year.

Some companies also promise a big new push into “bite-sized” video designed to draw mobile viewers from YouTube, despite the fact that a similar effort several years ago foundered.

CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, starts Sunday in Las Vegas with two days of media previews. The show floor opens Tuesday through Friday. More than 170,000 people are expected, with 4,500 companies exhibiting, according to its organizers. The show takes place across a sprawling set of hotels and convention centers equivalent to more than 50 football fields.

Beyond streaming, expect to see artificial intelligence-infused home appliances, security cameras and cars, new gadgets that show what faster 5G cellular service can offer and, as always, the newest in robots and souped-up TVs. Speakers this week include Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, and Hyun-suk Kim, Samsung’s head of consumer electronics.

As technology increasingly infuses our lives, more traditional companies are showing up for the Las Vegas event. There’s a new travel section, for example, with Delta Air Lines its largest exhibitor.

CES has hosted previous attempts to set out a road map for TV. At the 2015 show, satellite TV company Dish announced a cheaper, cable-like package of TV channels delivered over the Internet and intended for cord-cutters . Offerings from Sony, DirecTV, Google, Hulu and others soon joined Dish’s Sling TV. But five years later, these online alternatives have been struggling, raising prices and in the case of Sony’s PlayStation Vue, shutting down altogether.

So it’s on to Plan B: Owners of television channels and producers of their shows are selling Netflix-like subscription services directly to consumers. Disney Plus launched in November, while WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock are coming in a few months. If people would rather pay for subscriptions such as Netflix instead of traditional television channels through cable packages, Disney and other media companies figure they might, as well, try to get some of that money directly.

But they face competition from tech companies also seeking to replicate and encroach on Netflix’s success. Apple launched its own streaming service in November, while Quibi promises phone-friendly

viewing, with former Disney studios chief Jeffrey Katzenberg behind the effort.

“Bets have been made and billions of dollars have been spent on content,” said Peter Csathy, founder and chairman of digital media consulting firm CreaTV Media. “Those numbers will only go up as all these Goliaths and then the new guys coming on board are all looking for ways to break out.”

Katzenberg and Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, will use a Wednesday keynote to provide details on Quibi, which is investing $1 billion on new shows with backing from all the major movie studios.

Short for “quick bites,” the mobile-first service is designed to be watched for a just a few minutes at a time. Video programs are broken into 10 minute “chapters”—about the same length as broadcast TV segments between commercial breaks—intended for on-the-go viewers with limited attention spans.

“We want to take a phone, a device that was not actually designed to watch video on, and make it into a great watching device,” Whitman said in an interview.

But previous short-video efforts have flopped. In

2018, Verizon pulled the plug on its Go90 service in 2018, roughly three years after it launched; it featured short-form original programs along with live sports and older TV shows. Several concurrent efforts have also shut down.

Meanwhile, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have all been experimenting with short-form offerings, many of them in comedy.

Quibi will also preview some of its 20 new shows, including Chrissy’s Court, a Judge Judy-style show from Chrissy Teigen. It is also debuting with movies and other content like news and weather. Quibi launches April 6 for $5 a month with ads and $8 without.

NBC executives won’t offer more details on its upcoming Peacock service until January 16. Instead, they will trot out America’s Got Talent host Terry Crews, This is Us star Mandy Moore and other NBC luminaries at CES to talk more generally about the future of TV and entertainment.

“Audiences don’t differentiate by screen anymore,” said Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. “They want and expect an on-demand, always-on world.”

As television companies experiment with making more shows available in more ways, they’ll also accumulate data on viewing habits far beyond what they got with over-the-air and cable channels. That will help them target advertising to viewers’ interests and make recommendations for other shows to keep viewers glued.

Companies will also test different pricing models in 2020, as they try to figure out how and how much consumers will be willing to pay. Is there a limit to how many services consumers will pay for? Will they adapt to separate prices with and without ads? Or will they flock to free services like Tubi, even if they lack original movies and TV shows?

Kevin Westcott, who heads Deloitte’s US telecommunication, media and entertainment consulting business, notes that consumers are getting more choices and shows than ever, just as new technologies, such as high-quality TV displays and faster 5G cellular networks come along.

The downside? “Too much choice and too much technological change” at once, he said, which could make viewers wary of new options, he said. ■

PLDT Home gives loyal subscribers smart home upgrade POP icon Regine Velasquez joins in on the merrymaking for loyal PLDT subscribers.

WHAT started as a normallooking group of carolers turned extraordinary when pop icon Regine Velasquez suddenly joined in on a beautiful rendition of the classic Christmas carol “O Holy Night” before PLDT Home gave loyal subscribers an exclusive smart home upgrade.

“Christmas is about sharing and spreading the joy. To show our gratitude and love for our loyal PLDT subscribers, we surprised them with a carol from one of the top artists in the country, Regine Velasquez, and a major smart home upgrade. With a digitally connected home, powered by the country’s fastest fixed network, Filipino families can now remotely manage

their homes, expand their access to world-class entertainment and maximize home security,” said Butch Jimenez, head of consumer business, PLDT Home Group.

The smart home upgrade includes an unlimited PLDT Home Fibr plan with special upgrade up to twice the speed of their current plan, Cignal Plan 999, entertainment devices, smart speaker, bulbs and plugs, and the FamCam. “Malaking tulong talaga siya,” said the Simpson family, PLDT subscriber since 1997 and Regine’s lucky audience. “I’m sure that through this upgrade, it will make the connection within our family more meaningful and even stronger,” said a family member.

On the other hand, the Calacay family, loyal subscriber since 2004, said, “Those gadgets would be helpful for our family because it will give us access to check on our house even if we’re not at home.”

Meanwhile, the Zaballa family, subscriber since 1992, said, “Kapag nakaakyat na kaming lahat, dati [we would say], ‘Paki-check nga kung napatay na ang ilaw. Ngayon, nakucontrol na sa app. So thank you so much for PLDT for choosing us.

Napi-feel namin ’yung Christmas.”

PLDT Home continues to empower more Filipino families by giving them the gift of stronger and more meaningful connections at home. The video of the holiday treat can be viewed at bit.ly/2uo2Asz.

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Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Pet Corner BusinessMirror

Keep close eye on dogs at gatherings LAURA ATWOOD, public relations coordinator for Anchorage Animal Care and Control, demonstrates how to touch a dog to whom a person has just been introduced by petting Riley, a mixed-breed dog, below its chin. AP

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Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Gaby Hoffmann, 38; Sarah Polley, 41; Genevieve Padalecki, 39; Shirley Bassey, 83.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Consider all your options and reconnect with people who can help you reach your objective. Only take on what matters to you, and refuse to let anyone manipulate you with information that is not genuine or truthful. Do your homework. Take the time to find out what’s possible before you take on a project that will be impossible to finish. Your lucky numbers are 5, 13, 17, 26, 34, 42, 48.

By Dan Joling The Associated Press

NCHORAGE, Alaska—The holiday season may be over and its seemingly endless rounds of Yuletide soirees, but there will always be occasions when your pet will be exposed to a a crowd of partygoers. Anchorage’s municipal animal-care experts have a message for pet owners: Be careful when mixing pets and parties.

A crowd of strangers in a home can increase a beloved dog’s anxiety—and its chances of biting, said Laura Atwood, public relations coordinator for Anchorage Animal Care and Control.

“There’s a very simple fact that most people are not aware of,” Atwood said. “Most dog bites come from the dog in your own home.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that more than half of dog bite injuries occur at home. Almost any dog can bite, according to an advisory on the agency’s web site.

The CDC recorded 4.7 million dog bites nationwide in 2017, said Lisa Howard, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association. Nearly 1 in 5 people bitten by a dog requires medical attention, and children are at highest risk, according to the CDC. Small children should never be allowed to play with dogs unsupervised, according to the agency.

Children can tell the difference between a happy dog and an angry dog, Atwood said, but they have a harder time interpreting the body language of a dog that’s fearful.

“They tend to approach those dogs the same way they would a happy dog,” Atwood said.

Toddlers are especially vulnerable. They may persist in trying to pet a dog even after it signals it does not want interaction.

If a dog is skittish, an obvious choice for a party is keeping it in a kennel or a separate room, Atwood said.

“Don’t even make the dog a part of those holiday gatherings,” she said. “Your dog is going to thank you for it.”

If a dog is allowed to roam among guests, the host should consider assigning an adult to supervise it, she said.

Pet owners should learn the signs that their dog is stressed: tucking its tail, licking its lips, laying its ears back or yawning when not tired.

Atwood gives lessons to Anchorage children on how to approach a strange dog. The first step is asking its owner if it’s friendly. The second is letting the dog take the initiative.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Stick to the people you know and trust. Listen carefully to your boss or anyone in a position to instruct you. Doing things right the first time will help you gain respect. HHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Spread your wings and let your ideas and imagination flow. Turn your ideas into reality using discipline and experience to help you reach your destination. Walk away from judgmental people, and stay focused on finishing what you start. HH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your intentions may be good, but attracting people who will take advantage of you if you are open and giving is likely. Say less and do more that is conducive to obtaining better emotional and physical health. HHHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You’ll be drawn to individuals who pique your interest but also raise uncertainty. Listen carefully to the information you receive, but don’t confront the spokesman unless you have facts to support your thoughts. Research and question what you hear. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Look at all your options. A sudden change will leave you at a loss. Use diplomacy to back out of a situation that isn’t unfolding the way you want it to.

Focus on personal improvements and romance. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Get involved in something constructive. The help you offer will be gratifying, although it may not bring the returns you hoped for. If you plan to give, don’t expect anything in return. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Surround yourself with like-minded people. Getting out with friends or attending a function that will allow you to connect with people who have something worthwhile to offer is recommended.

Problems at home will surface, and demands will be made. HHHHH

“What we always advise is letting the dog come up to you first,” she said. “Letting them put that nose to work, sniff you.”

People have a tendency to reach over a dog’s head to pet them. However, hovering over unfamiliar dogs makes them nervous, she said.

“You want to come under their chin and their chest,” Atwood said.

The shelter strongly recommends preventing children from hugging and kissing dogs or following a dog when the dog is trying to get away.

Among other tips: Hide dog toys and bones so children don’t try to take them from a possessive dog; keep dogs out of rooms where food is served; and guard the door to make sure cats and dogs don’t dash off as guests come and go. n

Christmas miracle for Florida dog whose heart stopped

GERALD FORD holds his dog Neo, a French bulldog, as he talks with Dr. Kathleen Temple, who was the doctor that lead the team that revived Neo at the Small Animal Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

GAINESVILLE, Florida—A Florida man was hoping for a Christmas miracle when his dog was attacked by another animal, and a team of veterinarians provided it. The heart of Gerald Ford’s one-year-old French bulldog Neo stopped beating following the attack on Christmas Eve. In a rare occurrence, veterinarians at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine were able to revive Neo. Research suggests that animals whose hearts have given out live full, healthy lives only 5 percent of the time. The team of veterinarians who worked on Neo said he will be among them, although he did need a leg to be amputated.

“Typically, when an animal passes and comes back, they have to be on a mechanical ventilator, a breathing machine,” Dr. Bobbi Conner, a University of Florida professor and vet specializing in emergency medicine

told The Gainesville Sun. Ford had let Neo outside on Christmas Eve to do his business on his 12-acre property in White Springs, Florida, a rural area between Jacksonville and Tallahassee. Ford said he found it odd when Neo didn’t come back, but he left the front door to his home open a crack so Neo could let himself in. In the middle of the night, Ford said he heard a thud on the front porch and opened the door to see Neo covered in bite marks and losing blood.

Ford said he wasn’t sure what animal attacked Neo. “I’ll never forget the look on his face,” Ford said. “It was like he was saying, ‘Help me.’”

The veterinarians told Ford Neo would adapt to having three legs, and Ford said he has no doubts.

“He’s going to be fine,” Ford said. “I’m the one that’s a wreck.” AP

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Travel plans can be made, and getting together with friends or relatives will give insight into something or someone you thought you knew. Don’t let your emotions take over, causing excessive behavior or an argument that will ruin an important relationship. HH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Money and personal documents should be updated.

Helping someone is a lovely gesture, but don’t let anger take over if things don’t turn out as you expect.

Reacting harshly won’t solve a problem, but focusing on getting things done will. HHHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Set your own standards and refuse to let what others do lead to a dispute that will waste your time and slow you down. Focus on making a positive personal change that will encourage you to look and do your best. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Joint money matters will grab your attention.

Don’t let anger make matters worse. Study the situation and make reasonable adjustments. You will get things in order without damaging an important relationship. Romance will improve your day. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Offer to help others, or call in a favor if you need help.

Give-and-take is the best way to handle whatever situation you face. A suggestion made should be considered, even if you don’t like the person offering the solution. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are outgoing, innovative and creative.

You are enthusiastic and unrelenting.

‘breezy’ BY PAM KLAWITTER The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Dampens 5 ___ in a blanket 9 Burning reminder 14 Leave out 15 On a yacht, maybe 16 “Groovy!”

17 Subject of many a tasting 18 Train wheel guide 19 Fortune-telling deck 20 Person who’s never the first one to blink?

23 Mandolin duo?

24 Choose 25 American territory in Micronesia 27 Gulliver’s Travels beings who love precious stones 30 Topped tortilla 33 In vitro cells 34 Trilateral 1990s treaty 37 Overused 38 Fat that may be rendered 40 Weed-seizing cops 42 Barely managed, with “out” 43 Struck with a joint

45 Contractor’s bid 47 Before, before 48 Narrow waterways 50 Left stage right, e.g.

52 On top of that 53 Bridge great Charles 55 Actress Wong or Larter 57 What wills may fill?

62 California rolls and such 64 Credit-card choice 65 Peer group 66 “Let me clear that up...”

67 Column with a viewpoint 68 Blue Bloods daughter 69 Parsley unit 70 ___ Declassified School Survival Guide 71 Heavy reading?

DOWN 1 Really impresses 2 Give off 3 Fey of Sisters 4 Sound system 5 Spaghetti topper 6 Physics pioneer Newton

7 Morning Joe cohost Willie 8 What a bland meal may need 9 Place confidence in 10 “Give ___ break!”

11 Where Lady Godiva does her shopping?

12 Prince Harry’s alma mater 13 Decomposes 21 Musk of SpaceX 22 Psychoanalysis topic 26 End in ___ 27 Whites’ counterparts 28 ___-garde 29 Rabbit farmer’s kin?

30 Filled tortilla 31 Name on a tractor 32 Threw in 35 Online help sources, briefly 36 Nickname for Capote 39 Many a Black Friday offer 41 Olympians shouldn’t use them 44 Spreading gossip 46 Corporate VIP 49 Body part you may wiggle 51 Laser alternative, in printing

53 Complain 54 Chose 55 Yard sale disclaimer 56 Piece of coal 58 Screen symbol 59 French currency 60 Slim and fit 61 End of a New Year’s Eve song title 63 Okinawa “OK!” Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Show BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

D3

BLIND SPOT BRUCE C.

SHE’S COME AROUND

WHEN the beautiful girl hooked up with the non-showbiz guy, everyone was surprised. As a celebrity, the girl could have hooked up with anyone. But she’d always liked the guy and as long as she was happy, people cheered for their relationship.

However, it was apparent that the guy was not as into her as she was into him. From his demeanor, it was as if he barely tolerated the people around her when, in fact, everyone adored her and wanted to get close to her. The girl is rich, famous and beautiful. Everybody likes her. Throughout their relationship, it was the girl who paid for everything as the guy did not have a sustainable income. He got influencer gigs because he was her boyfriend but that’s it. So why did they break up? Many people are shocked when they realize that he had the nerve to cheat on her, not just once but many times.

And even when her family members would tell her about his shenanigans, she would defend him. Well, she finally stopped defending him. Good for her.

GRETA GERWIG’S Little Women is becoming an outright hit. The Louisa May Alcott adaptation has been the top adult-oriented choice through the busy holiday season. With $13.6 million in its second weekend and strong business overseas, Little Women has grossed $80 million worldwide in two weeks. It was made for a modest $40 million.

2020 box office starts off with ‘Star Wars’ still on top

N

By Jake Coyle The Associated Press

EW YORK—The box office in 2020 started off where last year left off: with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker still on top.

After a historic year, the Walt Disney Co. opened the new year approaching one milestone, and surpassing another.

With $33.7 million over its third weekend in US and Canada theaters according to studio estimates on Sunday, The Rise of Skywalker ($918.8 million) is closing in on $1 billion worldwide. While it appears unlikely to match the hauls of the trilogy’s previous entries, The Rise of Skywalker will mark a record of being the seventh $1-billion 2019 release for Disney.

One of those other six blockbusters, Frozen 2, on Sunday reached $1.33 billion, making it the highest grossing film ever directed by a woman in worldwide ticket sales. Jennifer Lee, who codirected both Frozen

films with Chris Buck and who now runs Disney Animation, surpasses her own record from the first Frozen ($1.28 billion). Frozen 2 also charts as the highest grossing animated film, so long as you don’t count last year’s Lion King ($1.66 billion). Disney considers that remake live-action, even though it was largely computer-generated.

Holiday holdovers stayed strong, led by a pair of Sony Pictures releases.

Jumanji: The Next Level added $26.5 million in its fourth week, bringing its domestic total to $236 million and its global gross past $600 million.

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, meanwhile, is becoming an outright hit. The Louisa May Alcott adaptation has been the top adult-oriented choice through the busy holiday season. With $13.6 million in its second weekend and strong business overseas, Little Women has grossed $80 million worldwide in two weeks. It was made for a modest $40 million.

The week’s only new release also came from Sony. The Grudge, a horror reboot of the 2004 remake produced by Sam Raimi, opened with $11.3 million.

That was a fair total for a movie that cost $10 million to make, and received some withering reaction from critics and audiences. The Grudge scored just 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and engendered a rarely seen F CinemaScore from moviegoers.

Ahead of Sunday evening’s Golden Globes, a handful of contenders added momentum.

Rian Johnson’s Knives Out held better than any other film in the top 10, dropping just 9 percent and grossing $9 million in its sixth weekend. Its global tally stands at $247.5 million.

Sam Mendes’s war film 1917 is poised for its

national expansion next week after a second weekend of packed theaters in limited release. It took in $590,000 at 11 theaters, good for an impressive pertheater average of $53,100.

And though it was overlooked by the Globes, the Safdie brothers’s Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler, is becoming one of A24’s biggest box-office successes.

It grossed $7.8 million in its fourth and widest weekend of release, bringing its domestic overall total to $36.8 million.

After a box-office year that was down 4 percent from 2018, Hollywood began 2020 on the upswing.

Ticket sales were up 7.2 percent from the same weekend last year, according to data firm Comscore.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.

Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, $33.7 million ($50.5 million international) 2. Jumanji: The Next Level, $26.5 million ($42.4 million international) 3. Little Women, $13.6 million ($9.5 million international) 4. The Grudge, $11.3 million ($5.8 million international) 5. Frozen 2, $11.3 million ($42.4 million international) 6. Spies in Disguise, $10.1 million ($15.8 million international) 7. Knives Out, $9 million ($8.8 million international) 8. Uncut Gems, $7.8 million 9. Bombshell, $4.1 million 10. Cats, $2.6 million ($4.3 million international) n

‘Mia,’ a lovely treat for rom-com fans

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes ROMANTIC-COMEDY enthusiasts are in a great treat at the start of 2020 when Insight 360 Films, in partnership with Viva Films, brings to cinemas Mia, a film that not only tackles relationships but also the impact of climate change to the community.

Chris Cahilig, the executive producer of the film, told reporters that he immediately fell in love with the script, cowritten by director Veronica Velasco and actress Jinky Laurel, because Mia has both commercial appeal and relevance. It stars Coleen Garcia and Edgar Allan Guzman.

Ever since the release of its trailer, Cahilig said they have been getting warm responses from fans on socialmedia platforms. To date, the official trailer, which was launched last November 11 on various prominent YouTube and Facebook channels, has become viral, garnering over 6 million organic views on Facebook, and close to 500,000 on YouTube.

In the press briefing, lead actor Guzman told reporters that Mia gave him a lot of knowledge regarding climate change. In the movie, he plays the role of a forester based in Rio Tuba, Palawan. Cahilig also commended

EDGAR ALLAN GUZMAN and Coleen Garcia’s on-screen chemistry sizzles

Guzman for his effort in studying his role, especially on the topic of environmentalism. “EA is [a] levelheaded guy, and he strives hard to hone his craft,” Cahilig said.

Moreover, Cahilig said comments on the different online sites also cited the exceptional on-screen chemistry of its lead actors, the relatable plot and its arresting cinematography by Noel Teehankee, which observers noted was comparable to Hollywood and South Korean films.

Garcia said it was a breeze doing Mia because it required her minimal

effort as the crew helped her make the job easier. “I am thrilled to be back in the scene and, at the same time, the film can be seen by a lot of people,” she said. “I was looking for something I’d want to do after I got married to Billy Crawford. Mia was a perfect vehicle for my comeback after a [year of] absence,” she added.

Other cast members include veteran actors Yayo Aguila and William Martinez, Billy Crawford, Star Orjaliza, Jeremy Domingo, Sunshine Teodoro, Pau Benitez and Xenia Barrameda.

Netizens also expressed their love for the film’s official soundtracks: “Sa Iba Na Lang” performed by duo B.O.U., and “Ikaw Na Nga Talaga” by 1:43. Both songs were written by Jayson Dedal and arranged in Sonic State Audio Studio. Mia tells the tale of the self-destructive alcoholic title character, a doctor struggling to heal from the tragedy of her fiance’s death; and Jay, who transforms mined-out land into rainforests. The film shows that conflict can sometimes lead to something beautiful, as Mia and Jay’s clashes also show that their chemistry is undeniable.

Aside from the acting chops of the lead actors, netizens are also intrigued by the film’s unique and realistic take on love and healing, and are eager to watch the movie to see how the story will unfold.

Two days prior to its much-awaited showing on cinemas nationwide on January 15, Mia will hold the National Mia Day at Cinema 1 of SM Megamall, where lucky women named Mia will given free tickets to attend the film’s special screening.

The cast and crew, led Garcia and Guzman, will, likewise, be holding a series of mall shows in SM Dasmariñas (January 11), and Fishermall Malabon and Quezon Avenue (January 12).

DELAYED COMEBACK

THE actress was supposed to make her big comeback a long time ago but it hasn’t happened. First, the actress was told by her management to lose weight and shape up, or she’d be stuck with mother or auntie roles. She hasn’t done that.

Second, the actress has a lot of demands, including directors she’d like to work with and even her co-stars. Everything about the actress is difficult right now, her network has discovered, and they aren’t sure if they want to proceed with any projects involving her. Another reason for the actress’s delayed comeback is the network’s concern for her mental health. They are concerned that she may not be equipped to take show business full-on, again, despite her undeniable talent and dedication. She has not sought consistent professional help for it. Sometimes, she self-medicates.

Sometimes, she sees a doctor. Most time, she’s not OK. The network wants to be sure that she is alright before they give her projects.

FAMILY FEUD

THE two family members haven’t been on speaking terms for a while, and their social-media followers have long been speculating why this has happened when they are a close-knit family. Of course, they’ve had problems, but that’s normal for every family. They’ve also fought in the past, but they have made up. This appears to the longest time that they have not been on speaking terms. It’s not clear why they had a falling out, and we’re pretty sure their other family members have tried to get them to talk and resolve their issues. One member has drifted so far from the family for reasons only they know, of course. The other is busy raising her family. They are both good people, as far as we know, and we only hope that they will be close again in the future.

SHE’S OWNING IT

IT’S long been rumored that the former child star, who has grown up to be a beautiful woman and who’s said to be gay, is dating a matinee idol. But talks are persistent that it can’t be possible as another matinee idol was her last relationship with a man. The actress has said she is a lesbian who prefers women as her partners, of course. Her good friend, who is bisexual, has been her friend with benefits for years. They’ve actually been hooking up without anyone realizing it. To think they were considered the “mean girls” of their network and they would go out on double dates with guys. Other people have been remarking that “it’s a waste” that the actress, who is beautiful and talented. How could it be a waste? It is who she is. If she is happy admitting who she is, then there is no waste.

CROONER Erik Santos with the overseas Filipinos visiting their families over the holiday season.

TFC’S ‘KAPAMILYA REUNION 2019’ GIVES TRIBUTE TO HK OVERSEAS FILIPINO GROUP

FAMILIES of Hong Kong-based foreign workers celebrated the Christmas season with their loved ones in a tearful thanksgiving at TFC’s “Kapamilya Reunion 2019,” held annually as a way to give back to overseas Filipinos by reuniting them with their loved ones. For the year 2019, in celebration of TFC’s 25th anniversary, instead of virtually reuniting them with their loved ones, the gathering became more intimate and memorable with select members of Hong Kong-based choir Unsung Heroes flying to the Philippines for a three-day affair. It began with the customary salu-salo (banquet reception) held at the iconic 9501 Restaurant, where most functions with ABS-CBN stars and executive officials are held, and which is inside the ABS-CBN Compound in Quezon City, Philippines.

Kapamilya Reunion 2019 was hosted by Umagang Kay Ganda and TFC’s NewsColored host KaladKaren. Crooner Erik Santos was on hand to serenade the overseas Filipinos returning to be with their families, with sentimental Christmas songs even for just the holiday season.

The Unsung Heroes were also featured in ABS-CBN’s longest-running concert show, ASAP Natin ’To, along with the Santos and The Voice Kids’ Vanjoss Bayaban, Carmelle Collado and Cyd Pangca. Catch this special that is still available via video on demand on TFC Online and TFC IPTV.

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Image BusinessMirror

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

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How to use habit science to help you keep your New Year’s resolution

BY WENDY WOOD University of Southern CaliforniaDornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences MORE than 80 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions have already given up on their goals by February.

While there’s a lot of resolution advice on the Internet, much of it fails to highlight the crux of behavioral change.

To make individual decisions—whether it’s what to wear or which gift to buy for someone—you draw on brain systems involving executive control. You make the decision, add a shot of willpower and, voilà, it’s done.

But most resolutions don’t involve a single decision.

Eating healthier, exercising more and spending less all involve habitual behaviors that involve neural circuitry tied to unconscious thought. Take eating. You can decide you want to eat healthier, but the memories of your eating habits persist. At around 11 am, you start thinking of muffins, your go-to morning snack. At 8 pm, you automatically think of ice cream, your usual dessert.

This is the way habits work: Certain contexts, like times of the day and locations, bring to mind thoughts of certain rewards—like the tasty foods you tend to eat.

You can exert some willpower, and stop yourself snacking over the course of one day. But denial can backfire: By quashing a desire, you give it extra fuel to plague you in the future. Over time, we tend to give up.

The key to mastering habits is to understand how difficult it is to simply will them away. But you can deploy a kind of “reverse engineering” based on the science of habits.

THE FACTS OF FRICTION ONE way to reverse engineer bad habits is to create friction.

Physical distance is a simple source of friction. A 2014 study involved a bowl of buttered popcorn and a bowl of apple slices. One group of participants sat closer to popcorn than the apple slices, and the other sat closer to the apple slices.

The first group ate three times more calories.

The second group of participants could see and smell the popcorn, but the distance created friction, and they were less likely to eat it.

For your own eating habits, the strategies can be as simply as putting junk food out of sight—off the kitchen counters and the pantry, so it’s slightly more difficult to access. If you want to cultivate good habits, you can diminish the friction for the new behavior. For example, researchers looked at the GPS data of people with gym memberships. Those who traveled about 3.7 miles to a gym went five or more times a month.

However, those who had to travel around 5.2 miles went only about once a month.

Again, the strategy is obvious: Reduce friction to working out. Choose a gym that’s on your way home from the office.

Keep your gym bag always at your side. My son, an avid bike racer, puts his indoor bike trainer in the middle of his living room before leaving for work. When he gets home, he finds it’s usually easier to do his planned workout.

OUT WITH THE OLD CUES ANOTHER strategy to reverse engineer your habits is to change the cues that activate them. Cues can include the time of day, a location and the routines associated with a behavior. If you regularly make coffee, your cues might be entering your kitchen shortly after waking up and seeing your coffee machine.

Cues change naturally when you start new relationships, change jobs or move. These offer a window of opportunity to act on your goals and desires without being dragged down by the cues that trigger your old habits.

For example, researchers found in a 2017 study that professional athletes whose performance had declined often improved after being traded to or signing with a new team. Another study found new residents of a small British town with strong environmental values mostly took the bus or cycled to work. But people who were not recent movers mostly drove, even though they held similar values.

When cues change, it becomes easier to switch up your habits and routines. Say you want to eat healthier. Try taking a new route to work instead of the one that takes you by the café where you buy double cream cappuccinos. When you’re chatting on the phone, do it in the living room instead of the kitchen. Even in food-rich contexts, cue control is possible.

A 2012 study found that overweight patrons at all-you-caneat buffet restaurants were more likely to sit facing the food, while thinner people tended to sit with their backs or sides facing the buffet. Thinner people were also more likely to put napkins on their laps, a minor way to add friction to getting more food.

Breaking out of bad habits isn’t easy. It takes time and repetition. But as you work toward forming better habits, you can, at the very least, incorporate these simple reverseengineering strategies to help you avoid becoming one of the 80 percent of people who throw in the towel.

THE CONVERSATION/AP

What will your hyphen say?

SUI GENERIS CARLO ATIENZA

biblisko@gmail.com

W

E ended the year on a sad note.

My father-in-law passed away on Christmas Day itself. He would have been 92, two days after Christmas. So instead of celebrating the festivities of the season, we were busy preparing for his burial. The family decided to bury him before the year ended because he would not have wanted it any other way. For Papa David, he lived a good and meaningful life. And while looking at the tombstone and thinking of how I was going to deliver the eulogy, I realized we were all trying to reminisce how a full life can be encapsulated with just a hyphen, or how fleeting that hyphen could be.

But like a seed which has to be buried to sprout new life, death has a way of making people appreciate life even more. I was not especially close to him, but when I was making a video of his life and the hats he wore throughout his life, I found myself crying.

Maybe it was the regret from not really talking to him that much, or maybe the fact that after talking to some people, I realized there were so many good things he had done for others. It became more apparent when we went to the tombstone maker, and I was surprised he knew who Papa David was. He was a lawyer, and he was known for taking whatever mode of payment you could give him—be it eggs or chicken, or the recent crop harvested. But more than that, he was known as the lawyer who could not be bought or bribed.

That was his influence, and his passion. And I started asking myself: What would I be remembered for? As the year starts, it might be worthwhile to not just set New Year’s resolutions, but also to look at your life and steer it in the direction you want.

Nothing makes us feel more alive than death.

Steve Jobs is known to have said, “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid

Death has a way of making us appreciate the now—the present moment, and how to revel in the goodness life has to offer. Too often, we get so caught up in making a living that we lose sight of our own lives and the people we love. Now is the best time to start. As we begin a New Year, what truly matters to you? the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” The death of a loved one jolts us to look at what we are doing with our lives, and to check if we are doing what we should be doing. Nothing is permanent—whatever we hold on to, we will lose one way or another, unless we take care of it and nurture it. I was actually surprised to be asked to do a eulogy since I did not know him that much. But I also realized while preparing it that the people closest to him already said what they wanted to say to him while he was still alive. And I guess the lesson here is to not wait to let people know how much you love and appreciate them until they are gone. It makes us value the people we love, and makes us want to say, and do, what we want for them while they can still see and appreciate it. It became especially more meaningful for me to do the eulogy because while doing it, I could see people’s faces smiling in fond memory of the man they remembered and loved.

My son, Zhak, was also one of those asked to do a eulogy. In his speech, he spoke about one of their recent talks in the living room when Papa David recounted being sent to the farm to work the fields when he was just 10 years old so he could appreciate the value of hard work. My son was only 11 at that time. He remembered that talk, nonetheless, because it impressed to him that even if Papa David had a hard life, it did not show in the way he treated others. He impressed upon my son the value of appreciating the comforts he now enjoys, and to always be grateful for

whatever he has. Of all the family members, Zhak cried the most and mourned the longest. I guess it broke his heart because he was just starting to appreciate his grandfather and he was gone too soon.

As I looked at the people attending the burial, I could not help but notice people from all walks of life. Death has a way of making us more accepting of others and their differences. In the end, your social status does not matter because, based on what I saw at the funeral, your influence extends beyond class or generation. They came to pay their last respects because, one way or another, they were helped by the person. In a TED talk by Lux Narayan, titled “What I Learned From 2,000 Obituaries,” he says the common denominator among famous and not famous people’s obituaries, and what made them memorable, is the word “help.” They helped people. Papa David helped a lot of people, and it shows in the people who attended the wake and the funeral. In the end, people will not remember which school you graduated from, or the brand of clothes you wore or even the people you associated with. They will remember the help you extended to them. Will people remember you for helping them?

But most of all, death has a way of making us appreciate the now—the present moment, and how to revel in the goodness life has to offer. Too often, we get so caught up in making a living that we lose sight of our own lives and the people we love. Now is the best time to start. As we begin a New Year, what truly matters to you? ■

MINDANAOAN RESTAURATEUR WINS 2019 CMA EDUARDO AZORES (fourth from left), Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA) National winner, led the 2019 batch of microentrepreneurs recognized for their outstanding achievements, joined by National Selection Committee Cochairman Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno (standing, left) and Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed (standing, right) with member Imelda Nicolas (standing, center).

The 2019 winners include (from left, sitting): Youth Microentrepreneur of the Year Romualdo Blanco Jr., Special Awardee for Agri Micro-business Rolando Pega, Special Awardee for Preservation of Traditions Caroline Jamias, Regional Awardee for Luzon Lea Mancera, Special Awardee for Agri Micro-business Rosanna Sinapilo, Regional Awardee for Mindanao Lucrecia Neri and Regional Awardee for Visayas Merly Domingo.

BusinessMirror E1 | Wednesday, January 8, 2020 • Editor : Tet Andolong

PHirst Park Homes Calamba entrance

PHirst Park Homes launches

P1.5-B project in Calamba

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

P

@brownindio

HIRST Park Homes Inc. (PPHI) recently beefed up its presence in the South, particularly in the Calabarzon area with the launching of PHirst Park Homes Calamba.

Jose Marco Antonio, president and CEO of the Century Properties Group Inc. (CPG), pointed out that the Calamba project, unveiled on November 23, will be developing the initial 9-hectare property with 891 units and a projected total sales value of P1.5 billion. This is the fifth PPHI community after the success of the company’s first four developments in Tanza, Cavite; Lipa, Batangas; San Pablo, Laguna; and Pandi, Bulacan, which collectively sold 4,630 homes valued at P7.7 billion as of October 2019.

With the addition of the Calamba project, Antonio said the PPHI portfolio now covers a total of 91 hectares and 8,799 units valued at P14.4 billion.

“The Calamba project is our fourth residential community in Calabarzon, and the second project in Laguna under the PHirst Park Homes brand. This is also the fifth of 15 masterplanned communities that we are rolling out as part of our business plan to launch 33,000 homes by 2023, and help address the country’s housing backlog,” said PPHI President Ricky Celis.

The Calamba project is expandable to 15 hectares.

Just like the previous PPHI projects, Celis said the Calamba project gives premium to accessibility. The gated residential community is strategically located near commercial centers, churches, hospitals, schools, tourist spots and major transport hubs. It is also 1.5 hours away from Metro Manila, using either Mayapa or Batino exits in South Luzon Expressway.

Being consistent to the PPHI standards, the Calamba project carries the signature 4Cs of the PPHI brand: Complete and well-provisioned homes with a perimeter fence and gate; Conceptive amenities, including an outdoor cinema; Connected living through Wi-fi zones and a shuttle service; and a Convenient and simplified selling and buying experience.

PHirst units start at 40 sq m for P1.3 million (Calista Mid and Calista End with 44-sq-m and 60.5-sq-m lot areas, respectively), while a combined unit is at 80 sq m (Calista Duo with 121-sq-m lot area). A single-attached unit is at 54 sq m (Unna).

All units are expandable on the second floor.

Amenities at the PHirst Park Homes Calamba promote health and wellness with bike lanes, jogging paths, as well as activity nodes with the Lil’ Wum Climber, butterfly net, adult fitness station, monkey bars, chinning bars, foot reflexology and basketball court. This is in addition to the community clubhouse with a main pool, kiddie pool, shower room and parking area.

Celis said the 55 percent of the buyers of PPHI are overseas Filipino workers, while 45 percent come from the domestic market. “It is interesting to note that the local market is sourced from OFW income.”

After Calamba, Celis said the company is gearing up for an initial 13-hectare development in Nasugbu, Batangas, with 1,021 units, expected to be ready within December 2019. PPHI is set to launch more communities in North and South Luzon.

Calista model unit

UNNA model unit

Business

E2 Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Creating livable cities by moving people, enhancing lives head for New Media and Business Development for IP Ventures from 2011 to 2014.

W hile heading a successful tech start-up like Angkas sounds glamorous, George has also previously debunked this myth and emphasized that running a start-up takes a lot of hard work and grit.

Real estate and livable cities

Amor Maclang

first dibs in real estate

M

OBILITY is one of the most important factors that make cities livable. With effective long-term strategic planning, city administrators can organize day-today mobility needs of their citizens, logistics of businesses, and traffic flows in a way that values accessibility.

According to the Livable Cities project, a program that aspires to improve cities by addressing four important concerns in city-wide planning—connectivity/mobility, resilience, GovTech and basic services—connectivity and mobility would refer to the ability to digitally connect and move people, goods and services within a city and across cities and the country.

Without this, commerce and trade would not be able to grow. In fact, an effective city transport system is one that is convenient, affordable, efficient and accessible to everyone.

Digitally connecting and moving people are what transport advocate George Royeca does best.

As chief transport advocate of Angkas, George and Angkas CEO Angeline Tham have been instrumental in connecting commuters with motorcycle taxi riders, ensuring that an affordable and safe transport option is available to the public on the road to making our metropolitan cities more livable.

Angkas has used technology to provide inclusive mobility in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu

Using tech to provide mobility for all

His experience and contribution to inclusive mobility is exactly why George was picked as one of the investor-judges in The Final Pitch’s fifth season, which will aptly have the theme “Real Estate and Livable Cities.”

In its upcoming season, the show will be focusing on entrepreneurial projects that aspire to make cities more livable, in more ways than one. And George’s transport service experience provides an important dimension in the show.

Mobility and motorcycle taxis

Angk as, the first app-based motorcycle taxi-hailing platform in the Philippines, has been providing quality services to commuters since 2016. With nearly 30,000 biker-partners and over 1 million app downloads, the appbased ride-hailing service has been making waves in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu and making many commuters’ lives easier.

While it is largely known that

George Royeca

Metro Manila traffic is known to be one of the worst in the world, not much is being done to address this perennial problem. The country’s mass transport system has been in disarray for years or even decades now.

Bria Homes gives away a brand-new house and lot Y OU can say that Jeremiah Tiangco, who charmed the world with his strong vocals and heart-rending performances, got it for a song. At least that’s how it sounded when Tiangco, dubbed as the “Pop Heartthrob from Imus,” won a sleek and stylish house and lot unit from Bria Homes (www. bria.com.ph), when he trumped 64 other clashers to snag the The Clash

Season 2 Grand Champion title at GMA-7’s prestigious reality competition show last December 15.

The Clash, which ran for 26 episodes in its second season, presented duet and solo numbers, including Tiangco’s powerful performances that impressed the judges—well-known industry names, such as Christian Bautista, Ai-Ai de las Alas and Lani Misalucha.

jeremiah Tiangco, grand champion of GMA 7’s The Clash Season 2, will soon move into a Bettina End Unit, which Bria Homes gave to him as a major prize.

Tiangco’s incredible talent and grit won for him valuable prizes, including a Bettina End Unit from Bria Homes, the country’s fastestgrowing mass housing developer.

A 44-square-meter townhouse unit on a 36-sq-m lot, the twostory Bettina End Unit is just one of Bria’s many options favored by prospective buyers that check out its homemodel units. Other choices are Elyana, a 22-sq-m unit on a 36sq-m lot, and Alecza, a 36-sq-m unit on an 81-sq-m lot.

A s a new Br ia homeow ner, Tiangco may look forward to the priceless joys of living in a Bria community, where safety and security are ensured by guarded entrances and exits, perimeter fences, and amenities, such as 24/7 CCTV cameras.

And soon, Bris Homes will introduce Tiangco to its recreational facilities (basketball courts and lush green spaces); access to schools, hospitals, churches, and commercial establishments; and proximity to various modes of public transport and major roads and highways. Truly, Bria Homes provides a holistic living experience to its homeowners.

Cog ni zant of t his, George and Angeline founded Angkas to better the lives of millions of Filipinos by giving them another transport option that lets them get to their destinations in half the time.

As an advocate for inclusive mobility, George is also one of the conveyors of Transport Watch, a group of industry leaders who aspire to promote better transport alternatives, road safety and education. He is passionate about tech as well and the solutions it can offer in developing smart, livable cities.

Angkas is a perfect example of how one can use tech to find solutions to the terrible mobility situation in Metro Manila. “If there is a way for us to ‘techify’ to improve the quality of life in our cities, then that’s what I’m looking for,” George once said. For him, technology is a gift and turning away from it is a “travesty.”

George studied at University of the Philippines and the University of Asia and the Pacific. Before Angkas, he accumulated around a decade of IT, new media, and business development experience as a top-level executive focused on mergers and acquisitions in consumer-facing businesses.

His expertise in technology can be seen in his previous work experiences. He spent two years as chief operating officer of XPlay Online Games from 2009 to 2010 where he was able to secure the top spot in music genre for online gaming industry and launched a successful TV show segment that garnered top ratings in its time slot. Another notable position he held was as

The Final Pitch is the country’s first and only business reality show. Viewers will be able to watch entrepreneur contestants pitch their business ideas and projects to an esteemed panel of investorjudges who are looking to own a part of their companies or fund their proposed ventures.

As George previously said, “We’re rich in problems and challenges. And for me, that is the best place to be in. We have a lot of problems that we can solve, and because we are able to solve these problems, there are huge and lucrative opportunities that we can hopefully tap with The Final Pitch.”

George’s experience in providing inclusive mobility for livable cities will help the entrepreneur contestants in their own aspirations to creating cities that are livable in every sense of the word.

The show’s fifth season will air in March 2020 with the theme Real Estate and Livable Cities.

Aside from George, the other investor-judges in the show are Jet Yu, founder and managing director of Prime Philippines and a returning judge; Victor Consunji, CEO of Victor Consunji Development Corp.; Cary Lagdameo, CEO of Damosa Land Inc.; and Cesar Wee, president of Wee Community Developers Inc. As I have mentioned previously, I am honored to be part of The Final Pitch as one of the mentors in the show. I will be coaching the contestants as they prepare their business proposals and final pitches which they will present to the investor-judges who are looking to invest in the best proposal they will find.

Produced by Streetpark Productions, The Final Pitch airs Sundays at 8 p.m., with replays every Monday at 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. on CNN Philippines.

Flint launched for real-estate crowdfunding

Amos Chen (from left), cofounder/managing director of SeedIn Taiwan, Edison Tsai, partner/executive director of SeedIn Technology Philippines, Andre Mercado, CEO at Signet Properties and Glennis Nifatan, real-estate broker/owner at RE/MAX Premier Manila

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IGNET Properties officially launches Flint, the first, tech-enabled real-estate crowdfunding platform in the Philippines. Co-presented by SeedIn Technology and RE/MAX Premier Manila, it is touted as the next best thing not just for Filipinos, but also foreigners who wish to invest in realestate properties in the Philippines, any time.

At Flint, all properties available for investment are pre-funded. This means that as low as P1,000, users can quickly purchase a share of the real-estate property (or more) regardless of the percentage of the total Flint investment reached. Pre-funding the properties also allows Flint to secure higher interest rates and accelerate investment closing so users can earn the return of their investment much quicker than the traditional industry average.

The Flint platform is powered by SeedIn PH, the largest business financing platform

in Southeast Asia. SeedIn PH has facilitated over P7.3 billion worth of funds, and continue to do so with their top-notch financial system in the last five years.

And because it is powered by SeedIn, special regulatory accreditation is covered.

Foreigners and foreign-born investors can also invest in available investments in Flint as long as there are no legal issues, precedents, or any other special circumstances that prohibit them, and have passed account verification by Flint’s Customer Support team.

The properties are exclusively brokered

by RE/MAX Premier Manila, a leading broker franchise affiliated with RE/MAX International.

RE/MAX Premier Manila, which is owned by industry veteran Glennis Nifatan, has high caliber professionals who spearhead various investment requirements in the Philippines catering to both local and international net-

works and clientele.

Flint is the latest innovation by Signet Properties. Signet Properties is the latest real-estate web site that aims to improve the online property hunting and investing experience. Established in 2018, Signet Properties is developed to not only make property hunting easier but also provide real-estate insights valuable in making that homebuying decision.

Users can also search properties in Signet by clicking Explore or browse from thousands of listings from some of the biggest players in Philippine real estate, including Ayala Land, Alveo Land, Megaworld, DMCI, Avida, SMDC and Ortigas & Co. As a tech-first company, Signet has delivered innovative real-estate solutions, such as the 360-degree property aerial map, 3D model view, and a commute map integration with popular Web and mobile service Sakay.ph.

sMirror

Editor: Tet Andolong

E3

Diversifying investment in Cubao R APID urbanization and greater buying power are shaping the lifestyle, outlook and decisions of today’s young Filipinos.

While many millennials and young professionals continue to prefer spending on travel and enjoying the present, more are realizing the value of investing in their future.

A growing number of young Filipinos are now willing to part with their hard-earned money to invest in property, in particular condos.

What should first-time investors look for when choosing a property, they can call “a good investment?” Here are some factors to consider when investing in real estate, specifically condominiums.

1

Easily accessible. Location and

proximity to work or school is a top priority in choosing a condo or property. With the traffic situation in Metro Manila not likely to improve in the near term, a drive- or commutefriendly property is a dream.

Cubao, Quezon City, for instance, sits at the center of a well-

developed commercial business district. Cubao is easily accessible from and has easy access to other cities in Metro Manila. Those working in Quezon City or nearby cities, such as Pasig or Makati, can choose from several transport options to get to their workplace. Cubao is also close enough to some of the top educational institutions in the country, such as the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University and La Salle Greenhills.

Just a few kilometers from the Araneta Center commercial business district will soon rise the 10 Acacia Place by Livingsprings Communities. Strategically located between places of work, study and leisure, this new development

allows you to pursue the things you value the most while letting you cut your travel expenses and carbon footprint.

living spaces and 2Greater comfort.

10 Acacia Place is a Pacific-modern inspired condominium community designed to enable its residents to enjoy lush Metro living. The low-density community creates a sense of exclusivity and privacy with only 184 units spread across 10 residential floors, giving you more personal space and freedom to do what you want.

Recently recognized as the five-star Best Apartment/Condominium and Multiple Residence awards at the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2019, the 10 Acacia Place is a development designed to offer its residents a peaceful and safe environment to live and thrive in.

and security, 3Safety convenience and amenities.

Condo living provides a handful of benefits, including access to recreational and leisure facilities.

Besides the sense of exclusivity and privacy resulting from the

less-dense population, residents are assured of and safety. RFID exclusive access, 24-hour security and CCTV cameras ensure a worryfree living to let you focus on what is most important. Transportation assistance and home maintenance services make condo living at 10 Acacia Place even more relaxing and let you take things at a slower pace for a truly overflowing life experience.

4Practical investment.

A realestate investment is always a wise move as it appreciates in value yearly, whether it be for

personal use or for leasing out.

When bought at the preselling stage, condominiums may be had at significantly lower rates, thereby, making it a great deal for the buyer.

Nestled close to top universities and business districts, 10 Acacia Place is a wise investment for owners seeking income-generating properties as condos are popular rental spaces for students or professionals. It also boasts hotel-like services, such as transport assistance, home maintenance and housekeeping to assist occupants.

A gift of home for OFWs T

Last chance to live in an exclusive village in Metro South

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EOPLE looking for a wise property investment should now check out Filigree’s The Enclave Alabang, a posh development along Daang Hari, which is also the last one to offer exclusive village living in the Metro South.

As the choice of discerning investors, The Enclave Alabang lots and units are selling fast, with only a handful of lots still available. Many buyers have been impressed by its modern and distinctive design, and its exclusivity.

Since selling started in June 2015, 95 percent of The Enclave Alabang has been sold—proof that there is high demand for upscale properties.

Buyers of The Enclave Alabang are eager to be a part of a development in a rapidly developing area in Metro South. The modern and luxurious property is attractive to people wanting to live in a place within Metro Manila but without the hustle and bustle of city life.

The 13-hectare development boasts of a tight-knit but low-density community to allow utmost privacy. The first phase of The Enclave Alabang occupies around 10 hectares of the property, sub-

divided into 169 lots measuring 303 square meters to 597 sq m.

Following the success of the first phase, the remaining 3 hectares have been allotted to its second phase which has 49 lots measuring 301 sq m to 466 sq m. It has been the top-of-mind development in the Metro South and, due to ongoing demand, only a few select lots remain and is nearly sold out.

A s t he nu mb er of pe ople searching for ideal property investments keeps on growing, The Enclave Alabang has become the best choice of the discerning few resulting to its lots and units to sell out fast.

The community continues to stand out despite the wide array of high-class property options thanks to its enviable location, unique tropical modern architecture, and unrivaled property values, among many other factors.

A development under the premium real-estate brand Filigree, The Enclave Alabang is a prime example of a people-centric modern and upscale community. Residents get to live close to nature and enjoy pedestrian-friendly

streets, open spaces and lush greenery. Even when they are at home, they get to enjoy nature.

Located at the heart of the Metro South, The Enclave Alabang is in a high-value area that hosts other exclusive, high-end subdivisions. It is easily accessible and is only a short drive away from retail centers, hospitals, schools, and other institutions.

“Our products speak for themselves,” said Kate Ilagan, Filigree head. “Every peso they give is reflected in the details of the amenities and units; its customized design is also based on our clients’ lifestyles. We are giving our clients more space, more exclusivity, and the value of their money.”

You are only a stone’s throw away from living a comfortable life within an exclusive community filled with luxurious amenities. The masterfully planned horizontal properties in The Enclave Alabang have been consistent in providing the kind of grand lifestyle that their residents are looking for.

To learn more about The Enclave Alabang, visit www.enclavealabang.com

HEY have long been called modern day heroes, whose hard work, courage and perseverance serve as a testament to their desire to provide for their families.

It would be difficult to question or even doubt their aspiration to uplift the lives of their families.

For many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), enduring years of separation from their families is just a step toward their dream of one day coming back home, and settling in a safe, comfortable place where they can eventually weave stories of triumphs and create beautiful memories with their loved ones.

With all the sacrifices they have to make, our unsung heroes deserve to have a better life, which often starts with having a decent home where they can raise their family safely and comfortably. Indeed, a well-built home in a safe and secure environment serves as a trophy—a perfect reward for every OFW. “We admire the resolve of every Filipino whose desire to provide a better life for their loved ones always comes first. Our OFWs, whom today we consider as modern day heroes, deserve to be given the opportunity to achieve this—to have and own something they can truly be proud of and where they, too, can build their own

legacy,” said Sta. Lucia Land President Exequiel Robles.

“We, at Sta. Lucia Land, are well aware of this. And this is why we continue to build homes and communities, reach out to our OFWs, and provide them with investment opportunities that their families can enjoy and benefit from. We believe that there is no better investment opportunity than a home as this could help cement a more secure future and could serve as a solid testament to what they have already achieved,” Robles added.

To ensure that such goal is achieved, Sta. Lucia Land has strategically established a number of offices across the globe, including Singapore, Dubai and United Kingdom, where many OFWs are located. These offices allow OFWs—and even foreign investors—to easily inquire about Sta. Lucia projects before they make such a huge investment.

“We believe in the importance of having presence in areas where there’s a huge concentration of OFWs and so we built and opened offices there. A personalized service provides investors a sense of security that they are in good hands and their investments are safe,” Robles explained.

“Such strategy allowed us to become a preferred choice of many

OFWs. Add the fact that we create packages and offerings that would not only fit their budget but also their desired lifestyle. Our investors know that we uphold the highest standards in the way we build and create our homes and communities that is why they continue to trust and partner with us,” he added.

Sta. Lucia Land is part of the Sta. Lucia Group, which has completed over 220 projects within more than 10,000 hectares of land spanning 70 cities and municipalities in 10 regions.

Its wide portfolio of offerings includes residential condominium units, subdivision lots, resort-inspired homes, as well as lake and golf communities.

All these developments are made to adhere to the Sta. Lucia Land promise to build structures that are made to last, and where individuals can create their own legacy.

“As the holiday season approaches and many of our OFWs reunite with their families, we hope that they settle comfortably in their Sta. Lucia homes and communities while they create stories of love and spend meaningful moments together. We will continue to build for our OFWs for it is the only thing that we know we could best do to reward them and pay homage to their contribution in helping build a better Philippines,” Robles concluded.

Entrepreneur

E4 Wednesday, January 8, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

BusinessMirror

Online jewelry seller brings customized pieces to PHL

By Roderick L. Abad

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Among the pieces of jewelry to choose from, Spire’s Heart Collection brings out vibrant, fun, yet elegant designs with heart shapes. Its price ranges from P1,450 to P2,200 only.

There are also Monogram, Infinity and Bar necklaces, all at the same price range.

The Name Rings, on the other hand, are priced at P1,550. All items are on sale and including free shipping nationwide for a limited time only. They can be purchased online (https://spire.store/) through cash on delivery.

Spire Jewelry, even if founded in

Some of the newly made custom jewelry fresh from the artisan’s work table

Israel in 2018, has found its market in the Philippines. According to Sinansky, the company was established with the Filipino’s love for jewelry in mind.

“We are grateful for the continuous support of our customers. We know that Filipinos love custommade products and, they usually give them as gifts, either for themselves, or their family and loved ones,” the CEO said.

“With our customized jewelry items, we want to provide them

the best way of showing their love through necklaces and rings, perfect in making much more memorable moments,” Sinansky added.

The online jewelry seller now has a strong following in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Luzon, Central and Western Visayas, Davao region and Northern Mindanao.

To date, Spire Jewelry has one manufacturing facility in Israel and four facilities in the Philippines. The brand is also present in Thailand and Vietnam, among others.

Keeping local SME-BPOs globally competitive

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he business-process outsourcing sector is widely known as an economic powerhouse in the country. Comprising of 851 registered BPO companies and employing around 1.2 million people, the industry has come full circle since its first call center came into being in 1992.

Providing top-notch support, the country’s BPO industry has cemented its unique position in the global arena, showing sterling competitiveness and bearing comparison with its counterparts in neighboring Asian countries.

This is what entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and other industry players harnessed further in the recent Payoneer Forum Manila held recently at the Ascott Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. Now on its third run, the Payoneer Forum Manila is a global “signature” event that aims to bring together existing and potential users for networking and topical discussion, tackling market trends with industry peers who possess a wealth of experiences.

At present, the global competitiveness of each outsourcing country is initially measured by factors, such as operational costs, risks, talent pool quality and how many people actually become bigger and more influential than the MSME segment.

When asked why international clients continue to bank on the Filipino talent, Derek Gallimore, founder of Outsource Accelerator, shares that, “Filipinos are highly qualified people.

They have with them a fantastic grasp of the English language, as well as a close cultural environment that resonates, most especially with Americans. There’s also this added value component, knowing that they have been doing it the longest.

It makes them the best executive talent in terms of outsourcing.”

Even with the observed paradigm shift in worldwide business demands brought about by today’s digital transformation, the Philippines continues to be a foremost destination for foreign investors.

Jonathan de Luzuriaga, chief executive officer of Spring Valley Tech Corp., explains, “This is because neighboring countries have this

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio Contributor

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NLINE marketplace Spire Jewelry now brings high-quality, personalized pieces of jewelry to the Philippines, with the end goal of empowering practical yet stylish Filipinas via its wide array of personalized, high-quality necklaces and rings crafted with special gemstones and gold-plated metals.

Fashionable and budget-friendly, each item is made by local artisans to bring out the latest style trends suited for every wearer’s discriminating taste.

These custom pieces indeed standout since all the designs of the necklaces and rings are personalized with the customer, or her special someone’s name.

“At Spire Jewelry, you can choose wonderfully crafted pieces free to customize with beautifully made typefaces and fonts,” said Noam Sinansky, chief executive officer of Spire Jewelry.

Entrepreneur seeks to market automation product for LGUs

@rodrik_28

Contributor

say that we are already equipped with the evolving tools and skills that we need. The best thing to do to keep that momentum is to provide them with incentives that are tailored to fit their needs, whether it’s food, transportation or remote work benefits. More than anything, investing in trainings is also another key. We have to support them so they can continually learn.”

Another reason why Filipino entrepreneurs and MSMEs are constantly becoming globally competitive is the existence of various companies that cater to their business needs. One of them is Payoneer, which is a cross-border digital payment system in the service of entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Miguel Warren, Payoneer’s VP for Southeast Asia & Pakistan and general manager for Hong Kong, Miguel Warren, Payoneer’s vice president for Southeast Asia & Pakileads off the event as he talks about how the company allows freelancers, entrepreneurs and MSMEs stan and general manager of Hong to scale their businesses globally at a cost-effective price and a commendable customer experience.

Kong, said, “What Payoneer does is it conscious effort of actually having their own platforms, hardware and makes transactions support mechanism, rather than easier and more effibeing at the receiving end of all of cient to send and rethese innovations from the countries ceive international outsourcing them.” payments. We are a However, even if the country’s global platform that BPO industry stands strong, many actually connects other factors contribute to some of users regardless of the hurdles and challenges faced by where they come both stakeholders and employees. from, so it’s easier One of these major barriers is that for one to receive money in dollars bigger international companies tend and then withdraw to buy-in the smaller sectors, affectit in your local bank ing industry movement as a whole.

In the local setting, the pages Jonathan de Luzuriaga, CEO of Spring Valley Tech Corp. shares that to using your own currency. We also offer are believed to be constantly turnbe able to foster more globally competitive Filipinos, the nurturing of ing, albeit relatively slow—but the several other ways the youth should start from their education. This pertains not only in optimistic belief among key playto use the funds, the know-hows required to survive the ever-growing SME-BPO sector, ers lies in the mindset of the bigger whether sending it but also the soft skills needed to flourish and help in its development. companies. To them, they perceive to another Payoneer outsourcing as a convenient option to user or getting another optional debit card that you have a smoother operation on areas fact, there are still 30 million jobs can use online and in-store. The best that aren’t their strongest suit. This that may potentially come in the thing is that the whole journey is easy serves as a very good trigger to have Philippines, and I think that can and seamless, making sure that every other local suppliers of products, truly transform the country and its user gets the best customer experiplatforms and services to have some economy.” market traction, which is an edge for ence satisfaction.”

Meanwhile, Nicki Agcaoili, execua booming BPO industry like what The agility of the Filipino talent tive director of iBPAP, shares his bethe Philippines have. has always been the main reason lief that to keep the industry globally For key players, the challenge why the local BPO industry stays competitive, the effort from both now is how to keep the Philippine afloat, but through the collaboration the organization and its employees SME-BPO industry globally competiof various companies, stakeholders should go both ways. “I think it is of and employees, more people can feel tive. Gallimore shares, “The Philiputmost importance to not restrict empowered to pursue their own busipines has always been on the map yourselves when it comes to incenness paths which can help the induswhen it comes to outsourcing, but I tivizing your employees. Knowing try as a whole to flourish even more. think we’re only just beginning. In how creative Filipinos are, we can

www.businessmirror.com.ph

n enterprise focused on technology solutions aims to market an automation product that aims to improve governance among local government units (LGUs) across the country.

In a recent e-mail interview with the BusinessMirror, Red Circle Global (RCG) Founder Edward Roldan said they are working to clinch a deal for a government automation project.

He admitted though that the endeavor is a huge challenge because they need to possess an impressive track record to figure prominently in the bidding process. Since this is a huge project, Roldan said, they would need a partner to help them in their logistics and resources deployment.

“However, lately, we have seen in the news that President Duterte, through Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, is looking to implement a platform for the country’s 42,000 barangays. We are looking forward so that we can have an opportunity to pitch before them what we can offer through digital

automation,” he said. Roldan said they are now talking to some mayors for LGU-funded schools just like the project with the Universidad de Manila. “We hope that in Quezon City we can have a chance for their LGUfunded university,” he said.

To spread awareness, Roldan said they are planning to hold seminars and demonstrations of the software to local executives. He added one reason why there is reluctance to embrace the technology is because some of the local executives are not open to change. “Nevertheless, we are looking forward that the new and young mayors can consider our offering,” he pointed out.

Roldan is also hoping that LGUs will not only consider price as the main factor in choosing the winner in the project because “lowest cost does not mean a higher quality.”

He added that getting cutting-edge technologies does not come cheap.

Meanwhile, Roldan said RCG also plans to form partnership with other private organizations to help more schools especially in the provinces to acquire EMS software. He added the company will also introduce “very inclusive and sustainable packages for interested individuals or organizations who want to try their system.”

DTI and Seipi embark on joint trade, investment blitz for electronics in US

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he Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (Seipi), the largest organization of foreign and Filipino electronics companies in the Philippines, will present the Philippine electronic capabilities during the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2020), which runs from January 7 to 10, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The show is considered as the global stage for next generation technologies, which include artificial intelligence, augmented reality/virtual reality, 5G, Internet of Things, automotive, health and wellness, and entertainment content, among others.

“The CES 2020 is an ideal venue to engage with global electronics industry players, and invite them to partner with the Philippines. Promoting the Philippine electronics industry is part of the Philippine Export Development Plan 2018-2022, wherein the government focuses on developing industries where the Philippines has competitive and comparative advantages,” said Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez.

“DTI is doing its part in improving the overall climate for export development. Moreover, we continue to strengthen existing prospective opportunities from trading arrangements, such as the Generalized System of Preferences with the US. Trade deals, like the GSP, are part of the DTI’s comprehensive support to strengthen industries, and create more jobs and employment opportunities for Filipinos,” he added.

In addition to Philippine government agencies, the business delegation is composed of Airfreight 2100 Inc., Airspeed International, De La Salle University, Integrated MicroElectronics, Ionics EMS Inc., LGC Logistics, Macro Wiring Technologies Co. Inc., Meralco, PLDT and Susumi Philippines.

“The Philippine electronics industry stands to leverage on the opportunities being showcased in this event.

We have a strong trade relationship with the US, as the Philippines is a significant part of the product supply in the global electronics market. Our industry offers full turnkey services from procurement to assembly, and

is supported by a dexterity in supplychain management. We have excellent quality management programs with a full range of certification in global quality standards. We are delighted to present our seasoned engineering talent with highly skilled individuals who are productive, responsive and proficient in English. We have the Department of Trade and Industry as a key industry enabler, together with the Department of Science and Technology [DOST], the Philippine Economic Zone Authority [Peza], the academe, and industry players collaborating in the Product and Technology Holistic Strategy road map to drive our industry up the value chain.” said Seipi President Dr. Dan Lachica.

The key features of the mission are the Philippine Electronics Industry seminar and networking forum on January 8 at Rooms S102 and S103, South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center from 3 to 5 p.m., and the country presentation during the World Electronics Forum from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on January 9, also at the LVCC. Other components for the mission include individual client meetings, business forums, networking activities, meeting with government agencies, as well as company and facility visits in Silicon Valley, California.

The electronics industry mission in the US is in collaboration with Seipi and the electronics industry players in the Philippines, DTI-Export Marketing Bureau, and the Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with participation from the DOST and the Peza.

In 2018, the electronics industry remained as the Philippines’s top exporter, which comprised 55 percent of the total Philippine merchandise exports amounting to $38.2 billion, and posted a double-digit compounded average growth of 9.26 percent for the period between 2014 and 2018. The US was also ranked as the Philippines’s second-largest market in 2018 with a growth rate of 12.69 percent.

From January to October 2019, Philippine electronic products exports (56.3 percent of the total) obtained a positive growth rate of 2.7 percent in the same period in 2018. The US was also ranked as second-largest Philippine market for electronics with 15.5-percent share.