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A BUNDLE OF TROUBLE

TOM VOELZ | DREAMSTIME.COM

The DOE vows to fight tooth and nail to implement its new circular pitching transparency in fuel pricing, as oil firms look to the courts to decide the dispute.

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By Lenie Lectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) is prepared to fight tooth and nail to implement a new circular that mandates oil companies to submit a breakdown of the fuel prices being sold at the pump, notwithstanding a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued against the agency.

The implementation of Department Circular DC2019-050008 was moved to July 13, from June 28, because an annex of the circular was not published. While the DOE was in the process of republishing the circular, a group of oil companies successfully sought a 20-day TRO, preventing the agency from implementing the circular until July 18.

“If there will be no subsequent court order, the TRO would be effective for only five days,” said DOE Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido in an interview.

The annex contains the list of key cities nationwide where

the unbundling circular will be implemented.

Courtroom arguments

GOVERNMENT lawyers are now handling the case for DOE, punctuated by an argument that there is nothing in the oil deregulation law that forbids the agency from requiring the oil companies to submit detailed computations, corresponding explanation and supporting documents on how they price their petroleum products.

“We’re confident. The oil deregulation law is expressive. There is nothing in the law that prohibits the DOE secretary from asking the

oil firms to submit the data that we ask from them,” Pulido said.

He added: “Besides, if they are saying that these are confidential, then why do they declare similar information, such as profit margin and volumes to the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] and the BOC [Bureau of Customs]? Why give data to these agencies and not to the DOE? “Legally, they know we can source the data from other agencies. So, why don’t they submit the data to us? What could they possibly not declare that we may find out?”

The question is relevant be-

cause, as advocates of unbundled pricing have long stressed, the premium on transparency becomes significant during times of market volatility, as people need some assurance that the changes reflected in the pump prices have a reasonable basis.

Local pump prices have been on the rise for three consecutive weeks now, as tensions in the Middle East pushed up global crude prices.

Oil companies have been saying that local pump prices reflect movements in the international petroleum market. DOE officials Continued on A2

London bankers brace for summer gloom with thousands of job cuts

By Harry Wilson, Viren Vaghela and Marion Dakers

A

Bloomberg News

BANKER who lost his job as part of Nomura Holdings Inc. cuts recalls the camaraderie at the riverside Oyster Shed bar next to the institution’s London headquarters one evening as the room filled with exemployees.

Japan’s biggest brokerage let about 30 people go that day in April. Summer has arrived in London, but the smiles are likely to remain frozen in the financial community, as HSBC Holdings Plc. and Deutsche Bank AG join Nomura in implementing thousands of job reductions. In an atmosphere that may be the gloomiest since the financial crisis, some are jumping before they’re pushed.

“It’s one of the worst Lon-

don job markets I have ever seen outside of a crisis,” said Stephane Rambosson, founder of Vici Advisory, a London-based executive search firm. “I think there’s a real possibility that you could see more than 5,000 jobs lost by the end of the year.”

Cuts are concentrated at nonUS investment banks. European lenders, hobbled by weak domestic growth and negative interest rates, have been losing market share

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 51.0960

‘I

for years. Experienced bankers have seen contractions before, but there’s a feeling this time is different. It’s not just shaky markets, trade tensions and Brexit: Automation is making some banking skills obsolete.

The scale of job losses and changes in the industry are forcing bankers to examine all manner of alternatives. The former Nomura staffer described dejected colleagues moving into blockchain, cannabis and even agriculture.

think there’s a real possibility that you could see more than 5,000 jobs lost by the end of the year.”

— Rambosson

Stressed out

PERE SANZ | DREAMSTIME.COM

“PEOPLE are stressed out and desperately looking for new things, because they know it’s not going to be easy to find a job at another bank,” said Rambosson, himself a former investment banker. “We see people quitting before the cuts come and taking the view that now’s the right time to get out.”

There’s been a steady drop in investment-bank employment since 2013, according to Coalition Development Ltd. data, when UK headcount in front-office roles totaled Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4740 n UK 64.2890 n HK 6.5623 n CHINA 7.4362 n SINGAPORE 37.6870 n AUSTRALIA 35.8643 n EU 57.6669 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.6256

Source: BSP (July 5, 2019 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, July 6, 2019

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A BUNDLE OF TROUBLE could not stress enough the importance of the unbundling circular so consumers can understand better how rising tensions in the Middle East influence local fuel pricing.

Pulido said price adjustment is inevitable in response to different events. “But we cannot stop it. Perhaps, if they unbundle their prices, then we will know if the price adjustment was reasonable.”

Political will needed

THINK tank IBON Foundation commented that the DOE should muster the political will to implement the circular, which it described as an “overdue measure for greater transparency to help prevent overpricing of oil products”.

If this could be done, then the government and the public would be in a better position to assess weekly oil-price movements, IBON said.

“The government should insist on transparency through the DOE circular as an initial step to rein in the oil firms’ monopoly overpricing and profiteering,” it said, while noting what it described as the oil companies’ long history of overpricing, especially after the oil deregulation law of 1998.

“Deregulation only worsened oil industry monopoly pricing and allowed oil companies to set prices opaquely with the consent of government that gave up much of its regulatory powers,” according to the group.

‘Reasonable’

PULIDO asserted that unbundling the fuel cost would help the

‘T

his is my perspective.

The oil companies have a business to protect but the DOE is putting the interest of the consumers first. We are a people-centered government.

We will fight for what we believe in but in the end, it is up to the court to decide on this.”—Cusi

TANASAN SUNGKAEW | DREAMSTIME.COM

Continued from a1

DOE determine if oil firms implemented a fair and reasonable price adjustment. “Because of the oil deregulation law, we cannot change the price should we find it unreasonable. We can, though, if the law is amended or changed.

But first, we need to find out if it’s reasonable or not.”

Besides, he pointed out, transparency is always good for the consumers, the government and even

oil firms. “Unbundling serves everyone: it is not only good for consumers as it will educate us about every component of the price of petroleum products, but the oil industry itself will benefit, as the data that the DOE acquires can be used to determine if any company has been involved in anti-competitive behavior—further enhancing competition and a free, deregulated industry.”

Transparency push

CONSUMER advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) described the DOE circular as a good start and good news for consumers.

LKI President Victor Dimagiba said he has been pushing for transparency in retail prices of petroleum products as part of end-users’ right to information and to provide them access to fair and reasonable pricing of petroleum products.

On the other hand, the Philippine Institute of Petroleum Inc. (PIP) said the DOE circular contravenes the dynamics of a deregulated oil market, and that the circular affects their right to a truly competitive market and right against disclosure of trade secretes or confidential information.

PIP is composed of Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Chevron Philippines Inc., PTT Philippines, Total Philippines Corp. and Isla LPG Corp.

A Makati City Regional Trial Court, which issued the TRO sought by PIP, agreed. It said oil companies are entitled to the relief demanded.

“Petitioners have unmistakable rights for a competitive market pursuant to RA 8479. Also, petitioners have rights against dis-

closure of their trade secrets. They will suffer irreparable damage if no TRO is issued,” said Branch 58 Presiding Judge Eugene Paras in his seven-page decision.

Petron and Shell, meanwhile, separately filed their petitions against unbundling. While they recognized the DOE’s mandate to monitor oil-price movements, they believe that the circular leads the industry back to the path of regulation.

“Further, it restricts the timing of price adjustments and requires the submission of critical unaudited information that could be prejudicial to the industry players. The circular is also unclear and administratively impossible to comply with,” said Shell.

Prior to the issuance of the TRO, another group of oil companies asked the DOE to suspend the implementation of the circular.

Finding the ‘win-win’ solution

THE Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (Ippca) said the circular must be reviewed by the Department of Justice to determine its validity.

“Considering the legal concerns on the validity of the questioned circular, it would be prudent

for the DOE secretary to submit it for review by the secretary of justice,” said Ippca President Jesus Suntay in his letter to Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

A lawmaker said last week that the government and the private sector “must strike a balance” in order to arrive at a win-win solution.

“The private sector does not want the government encroaching too much on their operations and getting too much propriety information. They have trade secrets and when the government forces them to disclose all of this, then that will be unfair to the business sector. But we do not want the oil firms taking advantage in times of supply disruption. We also need to protect public interest,” commented Senate Committee on Energy chairman Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

For his part, the energy chief said in an interview that he respects the rights of the oil firms in seeking legal recourse. “This is my perspective. The oil companies have a business to protect, but the DOE is putting the interest of the consumers first. We are a peoplecentered government,” said Cusi.

“We will fight for what we believe in, but in the end, it is up to the court to decide on this.”

London bankers brace for summer gloom with thousands of job cuts Continued from a1

just under 17,000. By 2016, that had dropped to 15,000. By the end of last year, almost 1,500 further jobs had been eliminated.

“Things will get worse,” said Amrit Shahani, research director at Coalition. “We expect a further 10-percent reduction in investment bank headcount in the UK over the next two years, partly due to Brexit job moves.”

“This year, the UK will see double the headcount reduction of previous years, due to lower revenues at investment banks,” said Shahani.

Figures from recruitment consultants Morgan McKinley show the scale of the slowdown in the City job market. In May, 2,369 new financial-services jobs were listed, a drop of 50 percent year-on-year, even as the number of job seekers held steady at just under 4,000.

Brexit relocations add to the tally. Figures published by the EY consultancy this month put planned moves to other EU countries at 7,000, of which almost 1,000 have already happened.

For the 9,000 UK staff at Deutsche Bank, the rounds of restructuring may seem endless. On

Friday, people familiar with the matter said the bank was preparing to start eliminating up to half the jobs in its global equity division. Even Garth Ritchie—who runs the investment bank in London—may soon be replaced as part of a cull that could see as many as 20,000 jobs lost around the world, the people said.

At HSBC, bonuses never soared to Deutsche Bank’s levels, but there was a sense of security at a sprawling institution where some staff worked for decades. Chief Executive Officer John Flint, under pressure to cut costs, is set to change that. At least 500 jobs could go within global banking and markets, people familiar with the matter said in May, with London likely to be in the front line of the cull.

Nomura announced $1 billion in cost cuts at its wholesale division in April. The London part of that business was designed to service hedge funds that do a lot of trading. They’re not doing much at all, given persistently low volatility, and many have shut their doors.

Morale at Nomura remains low, said the banker who watched his former colleagues arrive at the bar one by one. Many of those

still on the payroll are looking, the banker said, though with the London job market so weak, few have jumped ship. He requested anonymity to discuss the circumstances of his departure.

Automated bankers

ULTIMATELY, bankers face the rise of the robots. Big banks have increased their investment in IT and collectively are spending tens of billions of dollars a year across their businesses to automate jobs currently done by humans.

UBS Group AG recently studied 49 major banks, including Barclays Plc., Deutsche Bank and HSBC, and found they had collective software and IT assets of $70 billion in 2018, more than double their value back in 2010.

“If you’re someone whose job is being automated then it’s tough— and it’s hard to know where they will go if these jobs are being automated everywhere,” said James Murray, who recruits staff for financial-services companies’ middle and back offices.

“The people that understand trading models and can work with the automation guys are very much in demand.”

News BusinessMirror

Editor: Angel R. Calso

PHL MANUFACTURING OUTPUT DIPS TO 4%; NEDA SEES RECOVERY

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HE country’s manufacturing output posted its fifth consecutive month of decline in May, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday.

The results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) showed that the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) contracted 4 percent in May 2019.

This is an improvement from the 13-percent contraction it posted in April 2018 but significantly lower than the 13-percent growth it registered in May 2018.

Neda: Things will be better

DESPITE the decline for five months in a row, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said on Friday things should be better soon. It expects low inflation and the passage of the national quality infrastructure (NQI) bill to boost manufacturing output in the near- to medium-term.

In a statement on Friday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said low inflation in June bodes well for manufacturers, as well as the prioritization of the NQI bill.

In June, inflation slowed to 2.7 percent while the Neda hopes that the NQI, which aims to set infrastructure standards in the country, will be passed before 2022.

“Lower prices of rice and domestic oil prices, including downward adjustment in electricity rates, are seen tempering inflation pressure in the month of June, which bodes well with producers of manufactured goods,” Pernia said.

“These national standards need to be aligned with the dynamic demands of the global market to ensure that the country’s products are competitive with the rest of the world,” he added.

Declines in 6 industries

PSA said six major industry groups registered annual decreases, with furniture and fixtures and food manufacturing posting the highest annual declines of 35 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

“Despite these negative figures, we note a positive development for this month’s manufacturing performance upon seeing that the number of gainers in both indices has outpaced the losers. For one, 14 subsectors trended upwards compared to last month’s 10 subsectors,” Pernia said.

In May 2019, the food manufacturing subsector’s VoPI declined by 14.0 percent, while its VaPI decreased by 17.7 percent.

“The government’s rice farm mechanization program should be seamlessly implemented. This will make rice farming more efficient and productive.

It will also drive up the demand for farm equipment, thereby improving manufacturing industry and create more jobs for Filipinos,” Pernia said.

Moreover, Pernia said that appropriate technology and capacity-building programs need to be geographically and financially accessible to MSMEs for them to reap the benefits of expanded market access.

To match this, he reiterates the importance of fully implementing Republic Act 11032, or the “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery (EODB-EGSD) Act of 2018”.

This is to standardize requirements for business registrations and permit issuances, and ensure that local government units are capacitated to efficiently handle processing of business applications.

“To increase the demand for consumer goods, government needs to accelerate public-works spending and fast-track the implementation of socioeconomic programs,” he added.

Cai U. Ordinario

Saturday, July 6, 2019

A3

June inflation slows to 2.7% on base effects, rice lib law

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By Cai U. Ordinario

ILIPINOS nationwide, including the poorest 30 percent of the population, are expected to get some reprieve from the increase in commodity prices in the coming months, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In a briefing on Friday, National Statistician and Civil Registrar Claire Dennis S. Mapa told reporters that with inflation slowing to 2.7 percent in June, Filipinos may expect slower inflation until October.

Mapa attributed the slowdown in commodity prices in June largely to base effects and the implementation of the rice trade liberalization law, which caused rice prices to contract by 1.7 percent last month.

“We still have to do the computation for the poorest 30 percent but I think, relative to last month, it will be lower because the inflation rate is already going down; but in particular for vegetables, it’s not really slowing down as the other items,” Mapa said.

“Well, the base effect will have a

factor as always, and then since last year inflation started increasing, June, July, September until October, so we will be seeing inflation [in] the vicinity of this number in the next few months,” he added.

Mapa said food items, particularly vegetables, fish and meat, still recorded high inflation rates of 9.5 percent, 3.8 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

These, he said, also form part of the bulk of food items bought by the poorest 30 percent and Filipinos in general. Mapa said rice, meanwhile, only accounts for about 9 percent of the food basket.

Mapa, prior to his appointment to the PSA, estimated that the weight of food in the basket of goods used for the computation of the inflation experienced by the poorest 30 percent is 70 percent against 39 percent for all the households.

“We still have to compute because while [with] rice, we saw a reduction— as in negative inflation in rice, which means the price of rice really decreased relative to last year—but you’re seeing a still relatively high inflation for vegetable, you have fish, meat, fruits.

So these are the four items and these are also, in terms of the consumption of the poor, this would of course have a relatively higher weight,” Mapa said.

On Friday, the PSA disclosed that the country’s inflation rate in June was slower than the 3.2 percent posted in May and 5.2 percent posted in June 2018. The inflation in June was the slowest since August 2017, when it averaged 2.6 percent.

Inflation in the January-to-June period or the first half of the year is at 3.4 percent. This is within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) target of 2 to 4 percent this year.

Food prices

MAPA said the primary reasons for the June inflation figures were food prices, which contributed 39.8 percent of overall inflation.

This was followed by Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels, which contributed 25.4 percent of overall inflation. This was driven by cheaper house rentals, which accounted for a 59.8 percent share in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels index.

The third major contributor to inflation, Mapa said, was Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services, which accounted for 16 percent of the overall inflation in June 2019.

Mapa added meals eaten outside the home accounted for 69.3 percent of the inflation growth of the overall Restaurant and Miscellaneous Goods and Services index; followed by personal care and personal effects, which accounted for 27.1 percent and 2.8 percent, respectiv

Outside NCR

IN Areas Outside NCR (AONCR), inflation also eased to 2.6 percent in June 2019. Inflation in the previous month was 3.1 percent and in June 2018, 5.1 percent.

“The lowest inflation among the regions in areas outside NCR in June 2019 was still observed in Region 9—Zamboanga Peninsula—at 0.7 percent. In May 2019, its annual increment was higher at 1.5 percent,” Mapa said. “[However], Mimaropa Region posted (a) higher annual rate of 5.2 percent in June 2019.”

ExportUnlimited BusinessMirror

A4 Saturday, July 6, 2019 • Editor: Efleda P. Campos

28 PHL start-ups to participate in Hong Kong RISE 2019

By Angie M. Brosas | Assistant Division Chief DTI-EMB

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HE Philippine government is sending the Philippines’s firstever delegation of Philippine start-ups to the RISE Conference 2019, the largest technology conference in Asia, from July 9 to 11 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Philippine participation in the RISE Conference 2019 is one of the key projects under the Startup Assistance Program 2019-2023

agreed upon by the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI), Science and Technology (DOST) and Information and Communications

Technology (DICT).

The three government agencies are work ing together to promote and assist Philippine startups through the following joint initiatives: the digital start-ups Philippine Program of the DICT which aims to boost the ICT ecosystem and promote and develop local ICT start-up businesses; the Technology Transfer Support for Nurturing Tech Start-Ups of DOST-PCIEER D, which contributes to the economic and industrial development of the country; and DTIEMB’s Startup Pilipinas, which provides government support to scale up local start-ups by participating in outbound business-

matching missions and international pitching competitions.

The government selected the exhibitor-participants based on the following criteria: innovation, scalability, motivation and delegation profile. The DOST shouldered the tickets and conference passes of the start-up participants while DICT and DTI shouldered the booth expenses and country pavilion.

The 28 selected start-ups are Aiah, Arnichem Corp., BeamAndGo, Blitz Delivery, Burket.Ph, Captivate, C Estates-Tokenized Real Estate Platform, Cocotel, Farmwatch Solutions Inc. Hoy, HYBrain, Hyperstacks, Insight Supply Chain Solutions, Jazzypay, Kumu

Inc. Mayani, Mosaic Solutions, NXTLVL Farms, NXTLVL Water, PearlPay, Prosperna, Social Light, Stock Knowledge, StyleGenie, transitflix by GYPSY, Tudlo Innovation Solutions Inc., Wizher and Zeend.com. Partner incubators and accelerators—Brainsparks, Impact Hub Manila and QBO Innovation Hub will also take part of the Philippine delegation.

T he participation of these start-up companies will feature the Philippine start-up community’s potential in the international market, and provide them with global exposure and opportunities on partnerships, mentorship and investments.

The Startup Pilipinas is a five-

point program developed by the DTI as the industry cluster program to foster inter-enterprise l i n k ages a mong MSMEs a nd strengthen collaborative networks. With this action plan, t h e Ph i l i p p i n e g o v e r n m e nt aims to create high-growth and high-impact start-ups that will nu r t u re i n nov at ion, su st a i n economic growth and generate large-scale employment opportunities. Digital start-ups Philippine Program promotes and develops the country’s start-up ecosystem by bringing together industry stakeholders and enabling them to create innovative business products and solutions for economic development.

DTI wants more PHL halal products DTI chief engages with Chinese investors, pushes implementation of iron processing plant for $2.6-trillion global halal market

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O ensure the implementation of the iron processing plant project signed during the recent Presidential visit to China in April, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez engaged with Chinese investor group to discuss the details of their expansions, as well as the menu of incentives provided by the Philippine government.

In his business meeting with Xiamen C&D Inc. executives led by Vice President Dongxu Chen, C&D Logistics Group Co. Ltd. General Manager Yueha Chen, and MinaVida de Mindanao Corp. (MMC) officers headed by Chairman Alex Fu on June 18, 2019, Lopez relayed that the commencement of signed projects sends a strong signal in the deepening relationship between the Philippines and China.

“President Duterte and his administration are supportive of investment projects that have high impact in improving the lives of Filipinos, providing jobs and opportunities especially those at the bottom of the pyramid. We are optimistic of our stronger relationship with China following the big-ticket projects in infrastructure, manufacturing and energy,” Lopez said.

Xiamen C&D has presence in the Philippines’s renewable-energy industry through their local partners Pulangi Hydro Power Corp. (PHPC) and Liangan Power Corp. Last April, they signed a $50 million worth of investment on iron processing plant in Agusan del Norte together with Fu Properties Inc. and their Filipino partner Adnama Mining Resource Inc. The investment covered construction, operation, marketing, as well as management of the plant.

Xiamen C&D is a renowned supply-chain operator in China and has “AAA” level credit standing enterprise rating. It also ranked 39th among their country’s Top500. C&D Logistics Group Co. Ltd., China’s top 100 logistics enterprise, handles the marketing and chartering support for the operations of MMC. “This is the best time to increase your investments in the Philippines. Apart from the strong macroeconomic fundamentals, we have initiated various policy and economic reforms to attract more investors that will partner with us,” the trade chief added.

PHPC is the group that recently started the 250-megawatts Pulangi hydropower plant in Bukidnon.

MMC is involve in a l a rge -sca le nic kel project w it h subst a nt i a l h igh-g rade m inera l reser ves a nd integ rated met a l lu rg ica l operat ions in

Xiamen C&D is a renowned supplychain operator in China and has AAA level credit standing enterprise rating.

It also ranked 39th among their country’s Top500.

C&D Logistics Group Co. Ltd., China’s top 100 logistics enterprise, handles the marketing and chartering support for the operations of MMC. “This is the best time to increase your investments in the Philippines. Apart from the strong macroeconomic fundamentals, we have initiated various policy and economic reforms to attract more investors that will partner with us.”—Lopez

L a ng uya n, Taw i-Taw i.

Meanwhile, Chen commended the Philippines’s good business environment and expressed their strong confidence in the country’s economy.

He, likewise, committed to start their project immediately. Fu also relayed their company’s intention to continue doing business in the country and grow their operations in real estate, mining, as well as hydropower.

T

RADE Secretary Ramon M. Lopez underscored the need to increase Philippine halal products in domestic and export markets to maximize the opportunities of a growing global halal market amounting to $2.6 trillion.

During the second Philippine National Halal Conference on July 3, 2019, at Quest Conference Center in Clark, Pampanga, Lopez emphasized that halal is not just a certification for products that will cater to the Muslim market but a growing sector that has gained consumer, acceptance even by non-Muslim consumers as well.

“Halal is not just for the Muslims; it is a way of life. It connotes purity, cleanliness, safety, quality—so many positive attributes that are now being recognized by nonMuslim consumers worldwide. Halal-certified products are associated with these attributes.

Maximizing its opportunities will help the government in realizing President Duterte’s vision of providing better and comfortable lives for all Filipinos by creating more jobs. And we can do this by tapping halal’s booming global market and taking advantage of more business opportunities,” Lopez said.

Out of the $2.6-trillion global halal market, 62 percent is accounted by food and beverages followed by pharmaceuticals at 22 percent, cosmetics and personal care at 10 percent and nutraceutical at 6 percent.

“We encourage our MSMEs, especially in the countryside, to develop their products, and explore the opportunities in the growing demand for halal-certified products,” Lopez said.

Halal market is estimated to reach $10 trillion by 2025. Its food and beverage is expected to reach $1.93 trillion by 2022 from $1.25 trillion in 2016. A growing projection is also noted in halal tourism, which accounted for $169 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $283 billion by 2022. Other services like the Islamic Finance and Islamic Commercial Banking combined accounted for $3 trillion in 2016 and is expected to reach more than $6 trillion by 2022.

“I am optimistic that with greater collaboration between various sectors, we can support more MSMEs, encourage them to do and

“We encourage our MSMEs, especially in the countryside, to develop their products, and explore the opportunities in the growing demand for halal-certified products.”

—Lopez

grow their businesses, and help us in developing more halal hubs in the country catering to domestic, as well as export markets,” the trade chief said.

Halal Board, to officially launch Philippine halal logo, which will be used for Halal products made in the Philippines. “ We wou ld like to see notable ex por ts of our a la l products in the f uture. With this logo, our products can be identified easily by consumers as ha la l-cer tified products,” Lopez said.

T he trade chief a lso shared that DTI’s accreditation bureau w il l implement a specia l w indow to cater to Philippines ha la l Cer tification Bodies.

T he DTI said the existing logo of ha la l cer tification bodies w il l stil l be a l lowed, especia l ly if this is par t of respective inter na l requirements.

Also present during the event were DTI Undersecretary Abdulgani Macatoman and Export Marketing Bureau Director Senen Perlada, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos Executive Director Tahir Lidasan Jr. Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries Secretary-General Ihsan Ovut and Atty. Rhaejee Tamaña from the office of Sen.Cynthia A. Villar.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

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Editor: Efleda P. Campos• Saturday, July 6, 2019 A5

Conference to tackle peace, development in W. Visayas

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LOILO CITY—Local chief executives and concerned national government agencies in Western Visayas will gather next week to discuss peace, security and development.

Ro-Ann A. Bacal, National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Regional director for Western Visayas, said on Tuesday the gathering will take place on July 11 at the Iloilo Convention Center.

The conference follows the recent briefing of the Regional Development Council (RDC) on the “Whole of the Nation Approach in attaining Inclu-

sive and Sustainable Peace, Creating a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) and Directing the Adoption of National Peace Framework” held during the second quarter regular full council meeting of the region’s policy-making body on June 21.

“It is part of ‘whole-of-nation’ approach because now we would like a

more convergent approach to barangays. We will now sit together, see where these barangays are and what are their problems and how we can, as a government, plan our strategy to be able to resolve their problems and make them feel the government is really for them,” Bacal said.

She added one of the agenda of President Duterte focuses on security.

“Before he ends his term, the President would like barangays influenced by the New People’s Army and leftist groups to be part of the mainstream,” she said.

Also, they will “feel that government is really there for them and they have better alternatives in being in government rather than being with the NPA,” Bacal said.

The July 11th meeting will be

graced by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security Secretary Roy Cimatu.

They are expected to discuss how to reach out to barangays “still under the influence of insurgents and see how we can end it all by making sure development is really felt by them.”

Bacal said the feedback they received was that barangays located in remote areas “do not feel the government and we are losing to the propaganda of the left.”

“It’s about time now that we face this squarely and tell them government is here for everyone. We are also here to make sure that people who are underserved and also sometimes neglected will be attended to,” she said.

Neda met with representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and of the Interior and Local Government where they discussed their preparations for the meeting.

Meantime, during the June 21 briefing, Lt. Col. Joel R. Jonson, military assistance of the NTF-Elcac, underscored the big role of the RDC in the identification of conflict-affected areas to be prioritized in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “We need to have this extra mile to reach out this conflict-affected barangays,” he said.

He also pointed out the convergence between the RDC and the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) down to the barangay level to address the concerns against com-

munist terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, Antique Gov. and RDC Chairman Rhodora Cadiao in her message also said that building and sustaining peace is not a standalone obligation of the Philippine National Police, AFP and RPOC. She said regardless of age, gender or social status, everyone should participate in nation building and create solutions. “Driven by the slogan whole of nation approach, we aim for the government, private sector, civil society and the whole citizenry to work together for a just and sustainable peace so every individual affected by armed conflict, especially women, children and the elderly, will no longer undergo times when life is dark and full of terror,” she said. PNA

Americans lose trillions claiming Social Security at the wrong time

A

LMOST all American retirees claim Social Security at the wrong time, a new report estimates, which means they will miss out on a collective $3.4 trillion in benefits before they die.

While they can tap their benefits as early as age 62, retirees could boost the size of their checks for every year they wait until age

70, when the maximum benefit accrues. The advantage in waiting is substantial: A person eligible for a $725 monthly check at 62 could get a $1,280 check if they wait to start at age 70.

United Income, a money management firm that provides financial advice to retirees, teamed up with former Social Security

officials to simulate retiree decisions on when to claim benefits, along with factors that include income, wealth, taxes, health status and longevity. Their analysis, published on Friday, found that 96 percent of retirees choose the wrong year to tap Social Security.

“People are pretty much doing the opposite of what they should

be doing,” said Matt Fellowes, founder and CEO of United Income and coauthor of the paper.

When to take Social Security is a key decision for America’s elderly, for whom the program has become a critical safety net. About half of older Americans get most of their income from the program.

Unlike investments and other

sources of retirement income, Social Security benefits are guaranteed to keep up with inflation and last for life. That’s important when half of all 65-year-old American women can expect to live past age 86, according to Social Security estimates. The average life expectancy for US men who are currently 65 is age 84.

The report is based on about 2,000 households that participated in a long-running University of Michigan study. To calculate ideal filing years, United Income estimated retirees’ spending and longevity, and ran about 500,000 possible scenarios for each participant, including various market conditions, for a total of about 1.1 billion simulations.

A6

Saturday, July 6, 2019 | Editor: Mike Besa

PHILIPPINE NAVY GOLF CLUB

THE GOLDILOCKS OF PHILIPPIN O

Story & photos

by Mike Besa

N February 18 of this year, a report surfaced about Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordering the Philippine Navy to turn over several portions of the Navy Golf Course in Fort Bonifacio to their qualified owners from the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police.

In his Department Order 42 issued last February 6, the defense chief directed Navy Flag-Officer-in-Command Adm. Robert Empedrad to relinquish control of the area comprising the Philippine Navy Golf Course to qualified and legitimate lot owners of the AFP Officers Village through the AFP Officers Village Association Inc. When I was a newbie a little over two decades ago, Navy was the course on which I honed my game. I didn’t have the wherewithal to purchase a club share in one of the nicer private clubs, so like many, the public courses became my playground.

Navy’s proximity to home made it an instant favorite. The fact that it was fun to play was icing on the cake.

Upon reading the report, a compulsion to play the golf course again came over me. I needed to see it again before the order took effect and the club ceased to exist.

It had been quite a while since I played the Philippine Navy Golf Club. Having moved to Tagaytay in the intervening years, I was blessed to live in close proximity to many of the best courses in the country today. But I have never forgotten the fairways where the passion for the game took hold.

I was very pleased to see that the club seems to have prospered since my last visit. The clubhouse is in very good condition. Since the food at the club’s restaurant is something of a legend within the golf community, business is very, very good.

It’s so good that many non-golfers make the club their venue of choice for a hot meal.

The club has worked to improve the golf experience here. Paved cart paths replaced the gravel goat tracks the clubs used to navigate. The conditions of the golf course are generally very good. Green speed on the zoysia greens might vary depending on weather and the course’s maintenance cycle, but they’re generally quite good for greens of this type.

The golf course is an eminently manageable 5,618 yards from the blue tees. It starts out easily enough; the 471-yard par 5 presents a real birdie opportunity if you can keep your ball on the fairway. However, chances are pretty good that you’ll bogey the 447-yard par-4 second hole. The space afforded to the tee shot is generous, but the hole becomes increasingly difficult as you near the green.

The short par 4s are real charmers. Just 200 yards off the sixth tee in the correct direction will leave you a short wedge into a small green surrounded by a moat.

The uphill, 327-yard seventh tempts those that can to go for the green when the wind favors the shot. A miscue off the tee will challenge the best of short games.

All the par 5s offer scoring opportunities and Philippine Navy GC has five of them. The three on the inward nine—13, 14 and 15 offer legitimate eagle opportunities, especially so on hot summer days when the firm fairways reward good drives with lots of roll. The greens are tricky but small. Finding the putting surface usually means a realistic chance for a birdie or better.

Many that frequent Philippine Navy Golf Club view the golf as a preliminary to the main event—the post-round meal. As previously noted, Navy has the best food of any of the city’s public golf courses and the coldest beer. The gisinggising, sinuglaw and sisig are not to be missed.

We spoke to as many of the club’s staff as we could about the impending order to close the club for good.

Most were aware of the order but seemed unconcerned.

THE 15th green is the highest point on the golf course

THE Philippine Navy Golf Club soldiers on.

THE veranda is a very pleasant place to rehash the day’s round.

Research reveals that the property has been mired in a variety of disputes, the order referred to by Secretary Lorenzana merely the latest among them.

It makes sense for the Philippine Navy to keep the golf course open. Besides being a nice perk for our sailors, it is a moneymaking enterprise. Beyond that, golf courses like Philippine Navy and the other public golf courses scattered throughout the city provide the points of entry for intrepid golfers into the game. They serve a critical purpose in the game’s infrastructure and all efforts must be exhausted to keep them open for the good of the game.

Jolo at North and South Juniors

J

OLO MAGCALAYO capped an impressive debut in the 41st edition of the prestigious North and South Junior Championship as he finished a very strong second in the premier boys’ 15-18 Division.

Magcalayo submitted a threeday total six-under-par 208 (69-7069) card as he battled the eventual champion Tyran Snyder from South Africa tooth and nail in two different courses at iconic Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina before being edged out by just three strokes.

Playing Pinehurst No. 8 on the first day, Jolo rattled off three straight birdies to burst out of the gates running. An uncharacteristic bogey on the par-5 hole 6 marred an almost perfect front nine to finish at 34. He birdie-bogeyed to start the back nine, held par the rest of the way before sinking his fourth birdie on 17th to bring him at three-under-par 69 after the first day and just two down from the leader while sitting at joint third.

Jolo was his most impressive on the next day playing historic Pinehurst No. 2, site of three former US Open Championships. Jolo attacked the course with its famous tight fairways and turtle back greens to score an even-par 70 despite not having a practice round and still made five birdies against three bogeys with a disastrous double on the par-3 Hole 15 to deny him his second straight subpar score in the tournament. He moved up to solo second and set him up for a last day battle with the two-day leader for the coveted crown.

And battle they did, as Jolo and the South African practically matched each other’s shot at Pinehurst’s No. 8 again with both even birdying the same three holes,

MAGCALAYO

Nos. 7, 13 and 17, out of the four that each one of them would make in the round.

But as solid as Jolo was on the last day, the 18-year-old South African just had a little bit more in the tank to nose out the Philippine bet.

“I am very happy with my performance even if I fell short in bringing home the title. I still left a lot out there and hopefully I can come back again here and be given a chance to contend,” said the 16-year-old rising junior from De La Salle Zobel.

When asked about his formula to success, he added, “I just kept my focus regardless of what’s happening, remained humbled by the game and the competition and I just kept on working hard.”

It has been a wonderful run so far for Magcalayo this summer in the US, as he previously booked his second straight appearance to the US Junior Amateur Championships, qualified for the US Junior Boys PGA by winning his sectional qualifiers in New Jersey, placed second in an AJGA Open event in Kentucky and won an AJGA Open qualifier in Ohio. He plays next at the US Amateur Sectional Qualifiers in New Jersey on July 8.

World’s top four com

Schauffele to defend his title aga

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EIGNING champion Xander Schauffele will join the world’s top-four ranked players—Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose—in Shanghai later this year to compete for the coveted World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions title.

Tickets to the 15th edition of Asia’s biggest tournament, which takes place from October 31 to November 3, 2019, at Sheshan International Golf Club go on sale today. It is set to be the “must attend” event of the season with tournament organizers anticipating one of the strongest fields in its history as the world’s best players compete for an increased prize fund of $10.25 million.

Titleholder Schauffele has gone from strength to strength since last year’s victory, winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour, tying second at the 2019 Masters Tournament and third at last month’s US Open.

Schauffele, an American whose Chinese-speaking mother accompanied him to Shanghai last year, has since risen to as high as ninth on the Official World Golf Rankings. He said: “Winning my first World Golf Championships at the HSBC Champions last year in front of my family was amazing! Coming through such a world-class field definitely gave me the confidence to know that I can deliver in the big-pressure moments, so I am really looking forward to attempting my first successful title defense in Shanghai in a few months. It was an unbelievable field last year, but I think this year sounds like it is going to be even stronger with the announcement that all of the world’s top four will be there.”

World No. 1 Koepka won his fourth major earlier this season at the PGA Championship, and with second-place finishes at both the 2019 Masters and the 2019 US Open, his current position at the top of the game is undisputed.

The American star said: “I am delighted to confirm I will be returning to Shanghai to play in the biggest event in Asia. I finished tied second at Sheshan in 2017, so I know the course suits

Why can’t golf tou W HEN the Duterte administration took over three years ago, the Philippine tourism industry was enraptured to discover that golf tourism would be a priority project of the administration. This was tremendous news and promised so much for golf in the country and for the economy at large.

Here are some facts about the golf tourism industry: The value of golf tourism is estimated at a whopping $200-billion industry worldwide. Asia has seen a 23-percent increase in golf participation in the Asia Pacific since 2002.

Current estimates peg the number of golf fans in Asia to approximately 242 million people of which 26 percent are millennials.

Golfers are high-value tourists. They spend significantly more than the average tourist. How much more? Try 120 percent more than your average tourist. Think about it. If the average tourist spends $1,000 on a four-day, three-night stay in the country, a golfer on holiday will spend $2,200. That’s more money that goes directly into the local economy, benefiting people in the hospitality, leisure and golf industries.

Asia is the fastest-growing region in the world for golf

www.pinoygolfer.com | Saturday, July 6, 2019

A7

NE MILITARY GOLF C.T. PAN

ASIAN SUCCESSES ON THE PGA TOUR

L

mmit to 2019 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions

ainst Koepka, Johnson, McIlroy and Rose at Sheshan as ticket sales launch for ‘Asia’s Major’ me well. I love the vibe and energy that the Chinese crowds bring to the course each year. I think the scheduling changes with the majors has made the WGC-HSBC Champions an even more important event for us this year. With no majors scheduled after July, everyone will be targeting winning the final World Golf Championships of the year.”

World No. 3 McIlroy has already won twice, including The Players Championship, this year on the PGA Tour, and having finished in the top 5 on three previous occasions, will be looking to finally add this prestigious trophy to his trophy cabinet, while World No. 4 and the 2017 WGC-HSBC Champion Rose added a 10th PGA Tour victory to his CV earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open.

XANDER SCHAUFFELE PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES

Jonathan Castleman, HSBC’s global head of brand partnerships, said: “We are thrilled to announce the world’s current four top-ranked golfers will join our defending champion Xander Schauffele at the WGC-HSBC Champions later this year. As our flagship event in global golf, such early announcement of the world’s best players is testament to this tournament, which has earned the reputation of ‘Asia’s Major.’

While Brooks Koepka heads the world golf rankings currently, the WGC-HSBC Champions is likely to play a crucial role in deciding who will finish the year at World No. 1. We look forward to welcoming golf fans and the world’s best players to Shanghai in October.”

During July, fans can purchase tickets for the biggest

DUSTIN JOHNSON and Brooks Koepka

urism take hold in the Philippines? tourism. China, Malaysia and Thailand have the lion’s share of tourism dollars spent. How much of this gold mine benefits the Philippines? Nothing significant. Zip. Nada. Honestly, we’re a paradox to our neighbors in the region.

Golf in our country is difficult, at best. Most times, it’s just frustrating for the unseasoned traveler. Even large tour operators have thrown their hands up in surrender at the rigors of doing business here. We are being passed over.

Without an industry-wide covenant that allows all the entities in local golf to pursue the tourist dollar, dealing with each golf club presents its own unique challenges. The lack of consistency and any kind of national policy encouraging golf tourism makes golfing in the country a logistical quagmire.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Philippines is the big loser here. Golf tourism is perhaps the easiest path by which the Department of Tourism can increase the economic impact of tourism spending in the country. No additional infrastructure is required. Everything needed is already in place.

Sure, things could work better, but we have enough in place to make golf tourism work.

There is plenty of interest. During the Asian Golf Tourism

Convention last year, the number of delegates to this edition of the AGTC was up by 25 percent over last year’s meeting in Vietnam. AGTC 2018 attracted over 560 participants, including 200+ golf tour operators from 33 countries. A record number of golf tour operators (over 160) participated in golf familiarization tours before and after the convention, experiencing firsthand what the Philippines has to offer the international golf traveler.

So much potential and what has the industry wrought?

Again, nothing. This is a tragedy.

Part of the blame must be leveled at the Department of Tourism (DOT). The change of leadership, unfortunately, also meant a change of direction for the DOT. The sports tourism projects were shelved in favor of farm tourism and the development of other tourism markets.

Given the nature of the exit of the former secretary, perhaps the current secretary is playing a little too close to the chest. It is beyond reasoning that a worthy project that can earn the country millions of dollars in tourist revenue while introducing the country to a new tourist demographic is shelved for no other reason than it was someone else’s idea.

golf event in Asia at a special early-bird rate with discounts of up to 40-percent off. As well as hosting the strongest player field in the region, organizers continue to grow golf in China with juniors. As such, those aged 18 years and under can enter for free when accompanied by a ticketed adult. Additional discounts are also available for students and families. Ticket holders will have the opportunity to get autographs and take pictures with the world’s best players through complimentary entry to the Pro Am played on October 30.

For more details on the WGC-HSBC Champions and all ticket information, visit https://www.hsbcgolf.com/mens or follow the official WeChat Mini Program: HSBCChampions.

MCILROY

This generation might have forgotten that golf in the Philippines is part of our heritage. Golf’s roots here run deep.

Manila Golf Club is one of the oldest golf clubs in Asia. The Iloilo Golf and Country Club, known more popularly as Santa Barbara, was established in 1903 and is the oldest continuously existing golf course in the country and one of the oldest in the region.

Some of the best golf courses in Asia are right here in the country. True, they might not be able to compete with some courses in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in terms of conditioning and technology, but in pure golf terms (shot values, aesthetics, challenge to the golfer, resistance to scoring, etc.), our golf courses are as good or better than anything in Asia.

The Asian Golf Tourism Convention wasn’t the only opportunity to develop this billion-dollar industry in our country.

The Asian Tour has held events in the Philippines, sporadically over the last two decades. The most recent series, the Resort World Manila Masters, was telecast live worldwide to an estimated 750 million people. The Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club’s Masters Course looked magnificent on HD TV. You couldn’t pay for exposure golf in the Philippines got in the five weeks that the tournament was held over the five years it ran.

The million dollars spent annually on the tournament yielded $35 million in exposure for the country worldwide.

The aborted match between Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson, then the top two golfers on the planet that was supposed to be held at Pradera Verde Golf and Country

By Chuah Choo Chiang

IKE many others, C.T. Pan and Sung Kang had visions of an American dream after getting hooked to golf as kids.

Growing up in the late 1990s when a certain half-Asian golfer named Tiger Woods was making the game a really cool sport with his electrifying talent and bravado, Pan, who hails from Chinese Taipei, and South Korea’s Kang were mesmerized and drawn into a game which would forever change their lives.

In what will be remembered as a glorious spring for Asian golf, Pan and Kang masterfully secured their maiden PGA Tour triumphs at the RBC Heritage and AT&T Byron Nelson, respectively, that will only inspire the next generation of Asian golfers to shoot for the stars.

Interestingly, both athletes share a similar journey in the game. They were strong amateur golfers with Asian Games gold medals to show for, their fathers played pivotal roles in their rise and both landed in the United States to pursue their teenage dreams, and without speaking a word of English.

Pan, 27, now recalls how his parents’ labor of love—his father and mother worked at a local club near home—had paved the way for him. “My father loved golf and told me when I was young that the sport had the potential to be a career. When I was five, we watched a lot of golf on TV and dad kept telling me the sport had a lot potential,” said Pan, who is only the second player from Chinese Taipei to win on the PGA Tour following T.C. Chen’s victory at the 1987 Los Angeles Open.

With raw talent and a cultivated desire for hard work due to his late father’s disciplinarian approach, Pan transformed from a boy with big dreams into a PGA Tour champion. He is also very much in contention to become Chinese Taipei’s first golfer to play in the Presidents Cup, where the International Team will face the United States at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia this December. Pan currently lies in sixth position on Ernie Els’s International Team points list where the top 8 as of August 19 will earn automatic places.

Growing up, Pan and his older brother, Fu-chiang, spent hours hitting golf balls with a mixed bag of clubs comprising of junior equipment and cut-down adult irons. He did not receive formal coaching as it was expensive and instead relied on instructions published in golf magazines.

“We were like a sponge, we just absorbed everything.

We always tried different things and figured things out,” said Pan. “My father was quite strict, and he made us practice and improve ourselves. I can remember all the late nights watching the Masters or watching PGA Tour events, watching Tiger winning. And my dad would tell me, ‘Hey, I want you one day to do that for me.’”

Pan’s breakthrough came when he was invited to join the IMG National Academy in Bradenton, Florida, in 2007 on a full scholarship, which meant leaving home as a teenager. His main challenge wasn’t competing against American kids but learning to speak English. “I didn’t speak a word. However, I knew this was a great opportunity as our financial situation was not great,” he recalled.

He subsequently won multiple American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournaments before gaining a place in

the University of Washington, where he was as two-time All American. He also helped Chinese Taipei win the team and individual gold medals at the 2014 Asian Games, cementing his stature as one of Asia’s rising stars.

After turning pro, he competed on the Mackenzie Tour— PGA Tour Canada, winning twice during the summer of 2015 to earn “promotion” onto the Korn Ferry Tour. After registering seven top-10s in 2016, Pan skyrocketed onto the PGA Tour. He finished 88th on the FedExCup points list in his first full season in 2017, before coming in at a commendable 35th place last season on the back of 10 top-25s, including two top-5s.

Like Pan, Kang’s father sent him to America at the age of 15 to improve on his golf and English. Harnessing an allround solid golf game, Kang played his way into the South Korean national team that grabbed gold at the 2006 Asian Games and success on the PGA Tour came slowly but surely.

“My dad gave me a lot of support when I was young and send me over to US and gave me a lot of opportunity to learn...from learning English when I was younger so I don’t have any problem living in US,” said Kang, who became the 10th Korean-born player to win on the PGA Tour.

Unlike Pan, Kang cut his early professional teeth on the Korean and Asian circuits, winning four times on home soil before securing playing rights on the PGA Tour in 2011 and 2012.

He lost his card and focused on the Korn Ferry Tour for three seasons before regaining his PGA Tour rights in 2016. Like most Koreans, he benefited immensely from a friendship with K.J. Choi, Korea’s most successful player with eight PGA Tour titles.

“It just feels amazing. I mean, I was thinking about winning event on PGA Tour when I was really young and watching Tiger dominating,” said Kang. “I talked to K.J. coming into Saturday [at the AT&T Byron Nelson] and he gave me a lot of advice. He told me just play your game, don’t change anything. Stick to it and be patient. It was very helpful.”

Note: Chuah Choo Chiang is senior director, communications, PGA Tour and is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Club in Lubao, Pampanga, had it actually happened, would have put the country on the map and the world’s collective consciousness. Instead, its cancellation highlights the ineptness of how things are done here.

What is it going to take to move golf tourism forward in the Philippines?

It is sad that we are unable to work together effectively on such a worthwhile endeavor. The DOT must provide the leadership to bring the golf clubs together to create a uniform set of policies that all the clubs will agree to abide by in order to grow tourism in the country.

The establishment of professional golf tournaments that are televised worldwide are the most cost-effective method of showcasing Philippine golf courses to the world. For a week, live coverage is streamed to millions of households worldwide. It could provide the springboard for a yearlong marketing campaign to bring golfers to the country.

The Asian and European Tours have been actively trying to organize tour stops for both men’s and ladies’ tours in the Philippines. We’ve hosted the World Championships of basketball, why can’t we have a world-class golf tournament?

It would certainly provide a greater financial impact over a longer term than a basketball tournament. A professional ladies’ tournament would certainly create a lot of local interest and serve as a springboard to host other professional events.

Former DOT Assistant Secretary Frederick Alegre begun

the process by organizing the golf clubs and other members of the golf community into the Philippine Golf Tourism Council to begin the process and provide oversight for the development of the necessary infrastructure required to grow the industry. Sadly, the change of leadership at the department put the council in limbo. Yet, the members of the council remain ready, lest the climate change and the country decides to act positively on this issue.

There is also the need to professionalize the people that rely on golf for their livelihoods. There are Professional Golfers Association chapters in China, Malaysia and Thailand. These associations elevate the level of expertise of golf industry professionals, as well as their standard of work. They provide direct contact with golfers and are the game’s ambassadors.

Good service and professionalism will bring return business.

We don’t have to go this alone. There are many entities (The Asian and European Tours, the PGA of Asia) that are more than willing to help. Their expertise can shorten the learning curve in many aspects and with positive action on our part, create real opportunities for golf tourism.

An investment on our part is required but to kickstart an industry worth so much, wouldn’t it be worth it?

But all will be for naught if we cannot work together toward this common goal. What is it going to take to bring the industry together? Who is going to lead Philippine golf into the future? Mike Besa

SUNG KANG PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES

A8 Saturday, July 6, 2019

By Mauricio Savarese The Associated Press

B

ELO HORIZONTE, Brazil—Brazil’s home is Maracanã Stadium. Brazil is going home on Sunday for the first time in six years.

The Maracanã will stage the Copa América final, where Brazil will play for a 10th title against underdogs Peru, which beat defending champions Chile 3-0 on Wednesday.

The final will mark the first match for many Brazil players at the 87,000-seat Rio de Janeiro stadium, which has featured two World Cup finals and the Rio de Janeiro Olympic soccer finals among many noteworthy matches.

Even Brazil’s Tite has not coached at the Maracanã since he took the job in 2016.

“Now I will truly become the coach of the national team,” Tite jokingly said at Mineirão Stadium after Brazil beat Argentina 2-0 in the semifinals.

“Players always say that you only become a footballer if you played at the Maracanã. It is the same thing for the coach.”

The last Brazil match at the stadium was in June 2013, when the Seleção routed thenworld and European champion Spain 3-0 in the Confederations Cup final.

Brazilian fans are expected to recreate that electric atmosphere and back the team to its first Copa América title since 2007.

Brazil was initially scheduled to end its most recent World Cup qualifying campaign at the Maracanã. But the match against Chile in October 2017 was moved to São Paulo’s Allianz Parque because of legal problems involving the Maracanã.

Corruption scandals and frequent changes in the administration stained the stadium that was revamped for the 2014 World Cup. Brazil would have played at its Rio home if it had reached the final, but losing to Germany 7-1 in

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao | mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

BRAZIL RETURNS TO MARACAÑA the semifinals delayed its return.

The Maracanã has not been used for Brazil friendlies in years. In recent times, only the country’s Olympic team has played there, including in the final of the 2016 Rio Games.

Tite was not in charge of that young team, but defender Marquinhos and striker Gabriel Jesus were present to win the gold medal after a penalty shootout against Germany.

The Maracanã was also where Brazil last won a home Copa América in 1989. Striker Romário scored the only goal in a win against Uruguay in front of more than 132,000 fans.

Back then, stadium tickets were cheap and seats were close to the pitch.

Organizers said tickets for Sunday’s match are already sold out. The cheapest ticket cost about $60 and the most expensive was $200.

Since early Wednesday, touts have been selling tickets for up to $400 each on web sites and social-media channels.

BRAZIL’S Dani Alves celebrates his team’s 2-0 victory over Argentina. AP

Goalkeeper Lindahl’s efforts aren’t enough as Swedes fall

L

YON, France—Sweden’s World Cup title bid was ended by one-touch Dutch magic.

It only took a few seconds for the Netherlands to carve Sweden open from midfield to the edge of the penalty area, where Jackie Groenen advanced to hit a superb low shot past goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

She was powerless to stop Groenen’s effort after having made excellent saves to tip Netherlands top scorer Vivianne Miedema’s looping header onto the crossbar and, likewise, push over an effort from Shanice van de Sanden in the second half.

Lindahl was furious at the final whistle, ripping off her gloves and throwing them violently to the floor.

Then she aimed a kick at one of them, sending it flying.

“Sad, disappointed, upset, really,” Lindahl said.

“I felt like we had a golden opportunity to take this team to the final, and we didn’t take it. Very disappointed. “ Sweden Coach Peter Gerhardsson understood.

“Football is very much about emotion,” he said.

“However you react or respond is down to each individual.”

Sweden needed to do more than rely on its goalkeeper. The forwards didn’t have enough impact, especially considering Sweden’s best effort came when veteran defender Nilla Fischer’s shot was pushed onto the post by goalie Sari van Veenendaal.

“You’re not going to get a lot of chances against a team like this in a semifinal. It’s always about skill in these situations,” Gerhardsson said. “It’s not about being unlucky or lucky. Nilla’s attempt, it’s not about luck that it hit the post, it’s about scoring the chances you get.”

There simply wasn’t enough creativity from Gerhardsson’s side.

While Sweden center forward Stina Blackstenius’s hold-up play and excellent ability to turn both ways caused the Dutch backline problems, it also meant she was rarely in the penalty box and her teammates could rarely find her. Blackstenius came off in the second half of extra time.

Sweden’s lack of cutting edge was summed up near the end of injury time, when attacking midfielder Kosovare Asllani found some space on the left and clipped an inviting cross over the defense.

The Dutch fans watched nervously from the other end of the field as the ball sailed toward the unmarked back post. But there was no one there to take advantage of it.

“It’s difficult to play attacking football sometimes when you’re in possession. I don’t know if it was down to stamina [but] I felt we missed a few passes as well,” Gerhardsson said. “It might have been tiredness...players hitting the ball when they find themselves in a position they shouldn’t be in.”

Sweden’s players formed a circle following the game to console each other after missing out on a second World Cup final. Sweden lost to Germany in 2003.

Lindahl broke away to applaud the Swedish fans behind the goal.

“A feeling of emptiness, really. You’re not angry, or sad,” Gerhardsson said. “Of course, you’re not happy. You’re empty. That’s how I feel right now.” AP

GOALKEEPER Hedvig Lindahl is furious at the final whistle, ripping off her gloves and throwing them violently to the floor. AP THE coach of the Afghanistan women’s team is angry about Fifa and Gianni Infantino over the handling of sexualabuse cases. AP

Afghan coach ‘disgusted,’ wants Fifa head to go

L Longest-running PHL arms show up in July, November

T

HE Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers of the Philippines, Inc. (Afad) has set the dates for the two gun shows this year to address the increasing interest of Filipinos in firearms—both competitive and for recreational activities.

Afad President Alaric Topacio said Part 1 of the 27th Afad Defense and Sporting Arms Show

(DSAS) will be held from July 11 to 15, while Part 2 is scheduled from November 14 to 18.

Both shows will be at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

Afad holds the longest-running gun show in the country. This year’s show, the 27th series, is seen as the largest with 60 exhibitors offering a range of firearms, ammunition and shooting

paraphernalia, some of which will be seen for the very first time in the Philippines.

Topacio said the group has observed that more and more attendees are going to the gun shows. The yearly DSAS occupies all three halls of Megatrade which has a gross floor area of 4,886 square meters.

“It’s always filled to the rafters from the

opening hours of 10 a.m. up to closing time of 10 p.m. This year, we expect over 25,000 firearms and shooting sports enthusiasts to visit the five-day event,” said Topacio during the Usapang Sports of the Tabloids Organization in Philippine Sports on Thursday at the National Press Club.

The other highlights at the 27th Afad DSAS include free seminars on responsible gun ownership, firearms safety handling and martial arts, as well as other exciting activities, including a daily raffle.

Folayang gears up for dream match with Alvarez

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FOLAYANG

ORMER ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang will share the stage with American mixed martial arts legend Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez when the two square off in the main event of ONE: Dawn of Heroes on August 2 in Manila.

Folayang, who has dreamed of a bout with Alvarez ever since “The Underground King” signed with ONE Championship last year, said he is ready for an intense battle with his American counterpart.

“I was very excited when I heard the news that Eddie Alvarez was next for me,” Folayang added. “He’s one of the most well-known martial artists in the world. In many ways, he’s

a legend. Sharing the ring with him is my honor and privilege.”

Folayang is a few months removed from losing his lightweight title to Japanese legend Shinya Aoki at ONE: A New Era. Alvarez was knocked out by Timofey Nastyukhin in his ONE debut on the same card.

Both men are out for redemption and both are looking at making a run at the ONE Lightweight World Title currently held by Christian Lee. Folayang and Alvarez are two of the most dynamic offensive forces in the sport, and the Filipino veteran expects nothing but fireworks when the two share the ONE Championship ring at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“I’m going to go toe-to-toe with him. It’s going to be a war and a fight for the fans,” Folayang said. “Everyone’s going to love what we will do in the ring. I think it will be one of the most exciting fights of the year.

Eddie always comes to fight and I never back down from a challenge. I’m ready to go.”

The Baguio City native is putting all his focus on his upcoming bout. A win against an exceptional athlete like Alvarez would be a huge boost for his ascent back to the top spot.

This is without a doubt Folayang’s biggest test.

As such, “Landslide” is ready to turn in his most spectacular performance to date.

“I’m both spiritually and mentally ready for this fight,” Folayang concluded.

YON, France—The coach of the Afghanistan women’s soccer team is “disgusted” with Gianni Infantino over the handling of sexual-abuse cases and calls on the Fifa president to resign.

Fifa banned Keramuddin Karim for life from soccer last month for repeated sexual abuse of female players while president of the Afghanistan Football Federation.

But Afghanistan Coach Kelly Lindsey is angry that only Karim has been punished.

“They didn’t investigate anyone but the president,” Lindsey said. “They didn’t go any deeper than the top layer.”

For that, according to Lindsey, the blame goes up to Infantino.

“I’m disgusted with him as a human being, as a leader of our sport,” she said. “He should not be president of Fifa in my mind.

“I respect the Women’s World Cup, I respect what Fifa does for football. But I do not respect the way they are governing right now. We gave them a clear and concise opportunity to do the right thing and show that they have integrity. We gave them the clear opportunity to dare to shine.”

That was invoking the slogan of the Women’s World Cup which ends on Sunday in Lyon.

Speaking at an emotional briefing in the French city, Lindsey said Infantino “is not what we need as a leader of Fifa.”

“You’re not respecting the women’s game and not respecting the players, coaches, the management, the referee,” she added of Infantino.

Fifa could not make Infantino available for comment to respond to the claims. AP

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NTT Corp.

President and CEO Jun Sawada

NTT launches new global technology services provider NIPPON Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT Corp.) launched recently NTT Ltd. (hello.global.ntt), a worldleading global technology services provider that brings together the capabilities of 28 companies, including NTT Communications, Dimension Data and NTT Security into one $11 billion business.

Headquartered in London and employing around 40,000 people in offices across 70-plus countries and regions, the new NTT company delivers unparalleled capabilities and global scale focused on doing great things for people, businesses and society.

NTT Corp. President and CEO Jun Sawada said, “When we combine the new capabilities of NTT Ltd. along with NTT Data, we create a top 5 global technology and business solutions provider with $20 billion revenues outside of Japan. Going forward, we will accelerate our execution as one NTT in order to contribute to a smarter and better world through digital transformation.

“We are also excited to confirm that our global headquarters for NTT Ltd. will be in London and that our commitment to the UK remains extremely strong.

We considered several locations as the headquarters for NTT Ltd. and made a deliberate decision to choose London. It has many benefits, including a stable economy, a wealth of skills and talent, diversity in population and thinking, a strong infrastructure, schools and housing for global talent moving to the city. In short, it’s a great city to live and work in, and we’re excited that we are making it the home for our new business.”

By bringing together these companies, NTT Ltd. is offering: ■ Clients access to a more comprehensive range and greater depth of skills across multiple technologies and capabilities.

■ Global technology and managed services that are world leading in scale and depth.

■ Improved ability to deliver more in-depth industry solutions for our clients.

■ World-class managed services platforms with the ability to deliver local customizations to meet clients’ needs in each market.

■ Increased investment in innovation and R&D. The new company already partners with over 10,000 clients around the world, including the world’s leading organizations in financial services, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, energy and utilities, manufacturing, automotive and technology sectors. Companies already benefiting from NTT’s intelligent-technology solutions to deliver on the promise of a connected future include Tour de France, ALMA, City of Las Vegas, Connected Conservation, ISPPC, Alcatel and NXP. Tsunehisa Okuno, chairman for NTT Ltd. and executive vice president for NTT Corp., commented, “Today NTT continues its 120-year heritage of always listening to and innovating for our clients. Along with creating a very strong technology and managed services provider in NTT Ltd., we have also increased our commitment to invest more in R&D and new technology start-ups through our venture capital fund, and to develop our own disruptive innovation business team. We see the opportunity to help our clients and communities more effectively when we bring all of these capabilities together.”

PARK BO-GUM

LEE SUNG-KYUNG

A�ter Park Bo-gum, Lee Sung-kyung to hold Manila fan meet PRIMETIME

DINNA CHAN VASQUEZ @dinnachanvasquez luckydinna@gmail.com

I

F you’re a Manila-based fan of Korean dramas and/or music, the last five years or so must have been heaven for you. This is because some of the biggest names in Korean entertainment have staged concerts, fan events and personal appearances in the country.

I remember watching my first K-pop concert in 2010 featuring Super Junior, which was brought in by then-rookie producer Happee Sy. Nobody thought Sy would be able to do it but she did and now, the family-owned Pulp Live World is considered the top promoter for Korean pop concerts in the country.

For June, the Philippines welcomed actor Park Bo-gum who had a fan meet, the highly popular girl group Twice and the boy group The Boyz. Twice and The Boyz staged concerts at different venues.

Park Bo-gum delighted the media and fans during the press conference for his Manila fan meet with his proficiency in the English language. While there was an interpreter present, the actor surprised everyone, including press conference host Sam Oh. “I’ve been here twice before. The first time was when I was acting for the drama Wonderful Mama [2013]. The second time was a real vacation after the drama Love in the Moonlight. The Philippines is where I did snorkeling for the very first time. That remains in my memory,” he said.

Park Bo-gum revealed that he is doing a movie with Gong Yoo. “The movie title is Seo Bok. I play a human clone who has the secret to eternal life.

I am happy to be with amazing actors, Gong Yoo sunbaenim [senior] and Jo Woo-jin sunbaenim. They are actors that I admire. This is going to be a very good movie,” he said.

His drama series Encounter will be aired in ABSCBN soon. In it, Park Bo-gum is the leading man opposite actress Song Hye-kyo. The drama tells the story of an heiress falling in love with a younger man with very little means.

During his fan meet, titled “Park Bo Gum: May Your Everyday Be a Good Day,” at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Park Bo-gum proved why he earned the monicker “The [Korean] Nation’s Boyfriend.” My daughter, who bought a ticket to the

fan meet, said it was worth every centavo that she spent as the actor sang, danced and raffled off so many items, including signed calendars, Polaroids and even a brand-new pair of shoes for his fans.

Actress Lee Sung-kyung, who is known for her lead role in hit K-drama Weightli�ting Fairy, is also holding a fan meet, dubbed Be Joyful, on July 27, Saturday, at the SM Sky Dome in Quezon City.

Lee Sung-kyung’s Be Joyful tour kicked off in Taiwan last January, followed by her Japan fan meet last month. Lee Sung-kyung gained popularity in the country when the Weightli�ting Fairy Kim Bok Joo series aired on ABS-CBN in 2016.

The actress previously appeared in It’s Okay, That’s Love, the series which aired on Jeepney TV in 2017, and starred in The Doctors (Doctor Crush), which aired ABSCBN last year.

Be Joyful tickets—priced at P9,072 (MVP), P6,940 (VIP), and P4,270 (Fairy Pass)—are available online via www.smtickets.com. MVP pass holders will get to be part of the highly coveted group photo, while MVP, VIP and Fairy Pass ticket holders will have a hi-touch with Lee Sung-kyung and a chance to be part of the upcoming Be Joyful press conference.

Don’t miss Lee Sung-kyung’s Be Joyful Tour in Manila, produced by ABS-CBN Events and CDM Entertainment. The event is also in partnership with Applewood and YG and presented by Rebisco. ■

3D printing recreates ancient sculpture destroyed by ISIS

BY JILL LAWLESS The Associated Press LONDON—A figure of a roaring lion, about the size of a loaf of bread, is the latest step in the fight to preserve culture from conflict. The sculpture is a replica of a colossal 3,000-year-old statue from the Temple of Ishtar in Nimrud, in what’s now Iraq. The stone statue was one of many artifacts from the Mosul Museum destroyed by the Islamic State group after it overran the city in 2014.

The replica Lion of Mosul, which can be viewed online, was modeled from crowd-sourced photos taken by Mosul Museum visitors in happier times and 3D printed as part of Google’s digital arts and culture project.

It’s going on display at London’s Imperial War Museum in an exhibition that looks at how war devastates societies’ cultural fabric—and at the ingenious and often heroic steps taken to preserve it.

Chance Coughenour, digital archaeologist at Google Arts and Culture, said the exhibition “highlights the potential of technology—both in terms of digitally preserving culture and telling these amazing stories in engaging new ways.”

It also illustrates a grim truth: Culture has long been a casualty of conflict. Museums, monuments and even music are often deliberately targeted by combatants.

“The destruction of culture is sort of an accepted sideline to war,” Imperial War Museum curator Paris Agar said on Wednesday. “One of the main reasons for destroying culture

is to send a message: We have victory over you. We have power over you. It’s because culture means so much to us; if we didn’t care it wouldn’t be a tool.”

The horror that rippled around the world in April at the sight of Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral in flames is proof of the powerful attachment we have to buildings and artworks.

The most shocking parts of the exhibition are the records made by the destroyers: meticulous Nazi lists of artworks they’d stolen; video of the Taliban blowing up Afghanistan’s 1,000-year-old Bamiyan Buddhas; footage of ISIS militants methodically sledgehammering statues in the Mosul museum.

The show covers a century of destruction, from the German army’s World War I destruction of the university and library of Louvain, Belgium, to the shelling of the National and University Library in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war in 1992.

The 1940 devastation of England’s Coventry Cathedral by Germany’s Luftwaffe is shown alongside the destruction of the Frauenkirche in Dresden by Allied bombing in 1945.

Both were later rebuilt, in very different ways: Coventry with a modern cathedral beside the ruins of the old, Dresden brick by brick from the original plans.

Images of destruction sit alongside stories of resistance and rescue. The show features the work of the World War II Monuments Men, who saved Nazi-looted artworks, and tells the story of Khaled al-Asaad, a scholar who devoted his life to studying Syria’s ancient site of Palmyra and was murdered by ISIS in 2015.

Some militaries have made efforts to prevent looting and destruction. The British Army recently set up a Cultural Property Protection Unit—modern-day monuments men and women—and the exhibition includes a pack of “archaeology awareness playing cards” distributed to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Internationally backed projects to train craftspeople and archaeologists in Syria and Iraq may help those countries recreate what has been lost. And the law has made small steps toward bringing cultural vandals to justice. In 2016, Islamic extremist Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi was convicted of destroying World Heritage cultural sites in Timbuktu, Mali— the first war-crimes conviction by the International Criminal Court for cultural destruction.

“It has always been part of warfare,” Agar said. “All that has changed in recent years is the awareness and attempt to stop it.”

The display is one of three linked exhibitions at the museum under the heading Culture Under Attack. The second looks at how British museums evacuated their treasures from London to keep them safe during World War II—and what they left behind. The third, Rebel Sounds, explores music as resistance, focusing on clandestine jazz fans in Nazi Germany, punks fighting for the right to party during Northern Ireland’s violent “Troubles,” a Belgrade radio station that championed free speech and Serbian techno in the war-torn 1990s, and musicians from Mali who defied an Islamist ban on music.

Culture Under Attack runs to January 5. Admission is free.

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FREDERIC LEVY, GCash Money Transfer vice president

PHL FERTILE GROUND FOR FINTECH DEVELOPMENT—GCASH WITH one in three Filipinos still without physical access to banks, the Philippines presents fertile ground for innovations in fintech, said an official of Mynt, the company behind GCash, the leading mobile wallet in the country.

Representing GCash at the Ignite Conference, Mynt Vice President for Money Transfers Frederic Levy said the regulatory and market conditions in the Philippines support progressive banking and banklike infrastructures.

“The Philippines is supportive and moving fast.

If you check, for example, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas [BSP] perspective, they have the 2020 program. They say that in 2020, 20 percent of the transactions should be cashless. They are really pushing for it,” Levy said at the annual gathering of local and foreign business leaders at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

In December 2015, the BSP launched the National Retail Payment System framework, which aims to increase electronic transactions exponentially in five years. A 2015 Better Than Cash Alliance report estimated that only 1 percent of financial transactions in the Philippines were done electronically. By 2017, electronic transactions rose to 9.2 percent, owing to BSP regulations and programs that made collaborations easier and inter-bank transfers not only possible but convenient and seamless.

“With thoughtful collaborations, a wealth of problem-solving opportunities and a favorable regulatory environment, GCash is well-positioned to transform how Filipinos interact with money,” Levy said. “We just have to be more creative.”

Levy said emerging markets like the Philippines are rife with opportunities for the fintech sector. Gaps in the financial industry have thrown doors wide open for mobile platforms like GCash to leverage their technology and institutional partnerships in finding end-to-end solutions.

“There is more space for you to compete,” said Levy. “That’s why we talk about the unbanked and the underserved, that gives more opportunity. That, for me, is the big difference,” Levy said.

Studies show that 66 percent of Filipinos do not have bank accounts and 34 percent have no physical access to banks. Left out of the formal financial system, these citizens present a huge market for fintech innovations toward financial inclusion.

With products like GScore, GCredit and GSave, and a streamlined online verification process, GCash addresses chasms in the existing infrastructure by understanding the customer’s journey, and then designing targeted systems based on those insights.

“Fintech starts from the consumer experience.

Your job is to complete or, in some cases, replace the existing offer,” said Levy.

He, however, emphasized that GCash sees banks as partners rather than competition. GSave, for example, is a joint effort with CIMB, one of the top 5 banks in the Asean.

THIS photo provided by Luxer One shows a woman removing a package from one of Luxer’s access lockers in San Francisco, California. Luxer One provides secure lockers in buildings in the US and Canada that can be accessed by both delivery companies and residents. AP

Online shopping leads to mountains of boxes

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BY KATHERINE ROTH The Associated Press

S online shopping becomes ubiquitous, so do the boxes delivered to homes across the country. For apartment dwellers—and the managers of the buildings they live in—it’s tough to manage the boxes that pile up, sometimes clogging precious space for days. (If not watched, packages also can be stolen or left out in the rain.)

The problem’s only getting worse, says Rick Haughey, vice president of the nonprofit National Multifamily Housing Council, which represents many owners, developers and managers of apartment housing. People are ordering more heavy, oversize and perishable items than ever before, he notes, and building managers are “tasked with finding new and creative ways to meet the demand for package storage, sorting and security.”

The problem is especially acute around the holidays, but continues all year.

“Now, you’ve got a lot of perishables coming in.

And things like tires can be ordered online at discount prices. That means four tires are sitting in the leasing office, along with items like flat-pack furniture and even bed mattresses,” Haughey says. “They might be there for days or potentially weeks if you’re away on vacation. There doesn’t seem to be perfect solution, but locker systems and delivery hubs come close.”

There are a growing number of technologies and services aimed at alleviating the delivery problem in apartment foyers. UPS, Federal Express and Amazon all have begun offering services to help manage the flow of delivery boxes. The Amazon Hub program, for example, includes Amazon Locker, based at

third-party locations like Whole Foods; Locker+, with staffed locations for pick ups and drop offs; and Apartment Locker, which accepts Amazon and nonAmazon packages in apartment buildings, among other services.

Luxer One, a company based in Sacramento, California, provides secure lockers in buildings in the United States and Canada that can be accessed by both delivery companies and residents—including compartments for very large boxes and refrigerated lockers for perishables. The lockers can be placed inside or outside apartment buildings, and are accessible using codes.

“It’s a huge issue for a lot of apartment buildings.

There’s a security factor, but also a convenience factor. Building management offices aren’t open as late as some residents need them to be in order to retrieve packages, and in some cases, just accepting a building’s packages can easily become a full-time job,” says Melody Akhtari, spokesman for Luxer One, which started out in 2005 with lockers in apartment buildings for dry cleaning.

“A couple years in, a few buildings asked us if we could do something to help with all the boxes that were being delivered. In 2013, we launched across the United States and Canada, and our lockers are now in over 3,500 locations,” she says.

Along with smart lockers, there are services that arrange deliveries for a specific time when residents know they’ll be home; or let recipients have packages delivered to secure hubs or other locations that are conveniently located and open late.

“The challenge is that in an apartment building with, say, 400 units, you have Federal Express, UPS and United States Postal Service all stopping by at

multiple times of the day to make deliveries. And these are not just small standard packages. One person might be receiving a Casper mattress and another might be receiving a box of flowers that needs refrigeration,” says Akhtari.

But such locker systems can be pricey, and in buildings without them, residents can use services offered either by the shipper or by some retailers. Jet. com, for example, which is owned by Wal-mart, has installed lockers in hundreds of New York apartment buildings. There’s also a service called Fetch (www. fetchpackage.com), which collects packages, stores them offsite and delivers them when the recipient is home, taking the burden off building managers.

In some cases, buildings have converted space into package storage rooms and hired additional staff to deal with deliveries. In other cases, they have decided not to accept packages at all, so residents must rely on one of the outside services.

“Managing deliveries can be especially challenging in high package volume markets like New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago,” says John Falco, principal at Kingsley Associates which, with the National Multifamily Housing Council, published a report on the issue. “In higher-density, urban areas, space is often at a premium, so package storage solutions are important.”

And the challenge doesn’t end at delivery and storage. Once the boxes are opened, some are shipped back as returns, while others create a trash or recycling headache. According to the report, issued in November 2018, over 40 percent of respondents said the large volumes of cardboard and packaging materials being disposed of have created a waste management challenge. ■

TransUnion’s account records in PHL reach 20.7 million as of April

BY RODERICK L. ABAD Contributor CREDIT bureau and information solutions provider TransUnion Philippines reported a whopping increase of 570 percent in its baseline data to 20.7 million as of April this year from 3.1 million total account records in 2012. This indicates the significant growth on the number of Filipinos now having access to mainstream lenders in the country.

Of the current figure, around 13.7 million are open trade lines, such as open mortgages, credit cards, loans, bank overdrafts and other credit agreements, from a total of 8.8 million unique consumers.

More than 40 organizations, such as banks and other financial institutions, share information and are currently active in the TransUnion ecosystem.

Approximately 20 more are getting onboard soon, especially from the rural banking sector.

Adding to the largest commercial banks and credit-card issuers are telecommunications

companies and fintechs that continuously contribute data for the benefit of consumers.

“Many Filipinos still don’t have a credit report, or have an incomplete credit report, and often find it difficult to open mainstream financial products. The increase in members contributing information to our database means we are able to help address this and increase financial inclusion,” said Pia Arellano, president and CEO of TransUnion Philippines.

TransUnion provides substantial coverage, scope and accessibility of credit information. Its consumer credit reports include vital data such as repayments and any delinquencies.

With this, member-organizations can see a more accurate representation of the current financial standing of the consumer, so they can properly manage risk when giving credit and advance them the most appropriate product.

According to her, the market is maturing at a remarkable rate and is benefiting more Filipinos.

She said: “Modern credit bureaus feature positive

information about how people are maintaining loan payments, which in turn can provide them with access to further financial products at potentially more competitive rates.”

Because quality data begets confidence, TransUnion is strict in background checking of members during onboarding so as to protect consumers and guarantee that the information held truly reflects their credit history.

“The availability of accurate credit information is an important catalyst to an efficient credit ecosystem, which can help fuel and support further economic growth. It’s ultimately about openness and collaboration. We’ve been working closely with our members for seven years now, and businesses and consumers are seeing the benefits this brings,” Arellano said.

By end of 2019, TransUnion expects additional 2 million to 3 million trade line reports on the back of the firm’s recent signing of rural banks and negotiations with utility companies, cooperatives and

the insurance industry to become new partners.

“Our data expansion efforts are well under way.

We’ve been in talks with various industries, educating them about our solutions and the benefits these can bring for them and the consumers they serve.

TransUnion believes in using information for good.

We’re working hard to grow the credit ecosystem further, so that both businesses and consumers can harness its power,” said the president and CEO. TransUnion works on a data-sharing model where members contribute the latest information across their customer database, including payment history, in return for access to the data of other members.

It also supports clients with analytics, integrated solutions, insights and other information. Equipped with sophisticated technology, it guarantees data security and compliance with data-privacy laws.

Apart from the Philippines, TransUnion operates in over 30 countries, with a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

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JONATHAN “JONY” IVE (right) and Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in California.

Facebook enlists plain English to clarify how it makes money

BY RACHEL LERMAN The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO—Facebook is updating its terms and services guidelines to clarify how it makes money from the personal information of its users.

The changes reflect its ongoing attempts to satisfy regulators in the US and Europe, which have urged the company to make sure users know what they are signing up for.

The guideline changes, announced on Thursday, are largely cosmetic. The updates don’t change Facebook’s underlying policies.

Facebook has come under fire with regulators in Europe, and increasingly in the US, for how it handles personal information collected on its site—and how transparent it is with users.

The company said it made the updates after working with a European consumer protection group and regulators around the world.

The European Commission noted Facebook’s agreement to make the changes in April, saying the commission requested changes “to clearly inform consumers how the social network gets financed.”

This is how Facebook’s new guidelines tackle that challenge: “Instead of paying to use Facebook, and the other products and services we offer, by using the Facebook Products covered by these Terms, you agree that we can show you ads that businesses and organizations pay us to promote on and off the Facebook Company Products.”

The terms and services spell out that even if users delete material from the site, it might still exist on Facebook’s servers for 90 days. It also makes clear that violating the company’s policies could get posts removed from the site and explains that users still own the material they post online, although Facebook may use it.

But at nearly 10 pages long in PDF form, Facebook is still facing the most common problem with lengthy terms and services—people rarely read them.

Facebook will issue a blog post on the changes, which go into effect on July 31, but won’t require users to agree again to the updated terms. It also won’t promote the updates on people’s Facebook feeds. The company said it decided not to make people re-sign the agreement because the changes merely clarify existing policy and don’t change it.

Facebook, along with other big Internet companies, have been increasingly scrutinized in the past year about how well they protect people’s data and how they profit from it.

The company is under investigation from the Federal Trade Commission over its privacy practices.

Jony Ive, the designer behind the iPhone, is leaving Apple S AN FRANCISCO—The man behind the iconic designs of the iPhone, iMac and iPad is leaving Apple. Chief Design Officer Jonathan “Jony” Ive is departing after more than two decades at Apple to start his own design firm, the company said on Thursday.

But he’s not completely severing ties with the company he has worked at for nearly 30 years. Apple said it will be one of Ive’s clients at his new firm.

The Cupertino, California, company did not give an exact date for his departure.

Ive has been a fixture on Apple’s design team since the early 1990s and is known for shaping Apple’s signature rounded, stylish designs.

He is often pointed to as the visionary behind what set Apple apart from its competitors—technology that didn’t just look like boxes of wires, but that was fashionable and trendy.

Ive joined the company in 1992 as a young senior designer. Apple’s cofounder and longtime leader Steve Jobs was in the midst of his 12-year exile at the time, and upon his return he named Ive as senior vice president of industrial design.

The pair were known to work closely together in the decades before Jobs’s death in 2011—once, Jobs

referred to Ive as his “spiritual partner.”

Walter Isaacson, who wrote the 2011 biography Steve Jobs, quotes the Jobs describing Ive as “wickedly intelligent in all ways.”

“He gets the big picture, as well as the most infinitesimal details about each product. And he understands that Apple is a product company. He is not just a designer,” Jobs told Isaacson. “He has more operational power than anyone else at Apple except me.”

The name for Ive’s new design company, LoveFrom, comes from something Jobs once said to him, Ive told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday.

Jobs said making something with “love and care” was a fundamental component and doing so meant you were “expressing your gratitude to humanity, to the species.”

“I so identified with that motivation and was moved by his description,” Ive said.

Ive, Isaacson wrote, is a fan of the German Industrial Designer Dieter Rams, who “preached the gospel of ‘less but better.’”

Apple’s designs, led by Ive, have become synonymous with elegant simplicity.

“Simplicity isn’t just a visual style,” Ive told Isaacson. “It’s not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. To be truly simple, you have to go really deep.”

Ive was eventually promoted to his head of design role, where he shaped the simplistic and peoplefriendly phones and computers for which Apple has become known. Ive had a say in it all, from the bright, rounded iMacs of the 1990s to the sleek, silver and black iPhones of today.

In more recent years, Ive put part of his focus into designing the company’s giant spaceship-like campus, Apple Park.

Ive, who grew up outside London, was knighted at Buckingham Palace in 2012. He studied design at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in Newcastle, England, and was among the first employees at a design company called Tangerine—work that would lead him to Apple.

He won’t be immediately replaced. Two of his deputies will report directly to the company’s chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, who has led the development of the Apple Watch. AP

Lenovo eyes market leadership in all market segments

BY RIZAL RAOUL S. REYES AFTER a stellar performance during fiscal year 2018-2019, global technology powerhouse Lenovo is poised to expand its footprint in the Philippine market vowing to be present in all segments from gaming to consumer.

“Lenovo’s solid performance reflects the continuous efforts in our strategies to put the customer at the core of our business. In today’s world, we focus on enabling them to thrive through the process of ‘intelligent transformation’ by continuing to provide innovative technology whose features can perform a wide variety of tasks, whether for gaming, entertainment, work and everything else in between,” said Lenovo Philippines Country General Manager Michael Ngan in a recent press briefing held in Makati City.

Ngan said Lenovo grabbed the top spot in worldwide PC shipments driven largely by strong sales in its consumer division.

In its report, the company’s revenue reached an all-time high of $51 billion, up 12.5 percent year-onyear, with company net income reaching $597 million.

A strong fourth quarter performance also led to double-digit growth with revenue coming from its PC and smart devices amounting to $38.5 billion, making Lenovo the top PC company in the world with a record market share of 23.4 percent for the fiscal year while

also becoming the fastest-growing among the top 5 players (+9.5 percent YOY).

Ngan said the strong market performance of its Legion gaming lineup was a major factor for Lenovo’s huge market upsurge. With the introduction of new devices and the formations of the Legion PHL community, Ngan pointed out the Legion lineup is now the fastest-growing gaming notebook brand in the country per monthly brand share statistics from GFK. Moreover, Legion is the only brand to post consecutive growth since December 2018. Globally for the whole fiscal 2018-2019, Lenovo posted gaming PC revenue growth of 19.4 percent year to year, and saw market growth in both revenue and shipment.

To sustain the market leadership of Legion, Lenovo is launching new devices equipped with the latest graphics cards and processors for truly immersive gameplay.

“Although the Philippine market is a latecomer in gaming, it has shown huge growth in the last few months as Legion has been the fastest-growing brand in the Philippines,” Ngan said.

Leading the upcoming products is the Legion Y740 with its NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card and Ninth Generation Intel Core i7-9750H processor.

According to Intel, the new processor will provide gamers 56 percent higher frames per second and 38 percent faster game turn times, while content creators will enjoy a 54 percent speed boost when editing 4K

videos. Legion is also releasing the Lenovo IdeaPad L340 gaming laptop for those on the lookout for their first gaming PC. Available in either the Intel Core i7 with +128GB SSD or Intel Core i5 variant, the IdeaPad L340 gaming laptop is one of the most affordable devices out in the market equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card. Three variants of the Legion Y540 are also in the line up. Leading them is one equipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card with 6GB VRAM, 1TB SSD storage, 16GB RAM and an Intel Core i7-9750H processor.

Complementing these are Legion peripherals and accessories designed to offer the complete gaming experience. One of these is the mammoth-sized Legion Y44w gaming monitor that has a 43.4-inch curved (1800R) display with a 144Hz refresh rate. All devices come with Lenovo’s two-year Premium Care Support, including 24/7 support from Lenovo’s senior tech resources.

Headlining the new Yoga devices is the Yoga S940.

Measuring a sleek 12.2 mm and weighing only 1.2 kg, it is the world’s first laptop to have Contour Glass, which wraps around the display for smoother edges that minimize the appearance of its already thin bezels.

Accompanying the Yoga S940 is the Yoga S730, a device designed to be an ideal travel companion with its weight of 1.1 kg, thinness of 11.9mm and a cooling system that pulls air through secondary vents hidden in

the keyboard. The upcoming IdeaPads, on the other hand, will be led by the IdeaPad S540, available in six variants. Meanwhile, multiple variants of the ultraslim IdeaPad S340, the 2-in-1 convertible laptop IdeaPad C340, and the powerful everyday laptop IdeaPad S145 are also arriving, with the higher variants coming with a Microsoft Office Perpetual bundle worth P5,995.

With the entry of new IdeaPads, Ngan said, Lenovo expects to be present in the education sector to enable students to use more powerful but affordable laptops.

The new Yoga Ultrabooks will also be covered under a two-year Premium Care Support with 24/7 support from senior tech resources and Zero Tolerance to Dead Pixel, a service that repairs displays even with only a single dead pixel. Premium Care Support also includes a two-year onsite warranty, wherein Lenovo’s skilled and experienced technicians offering comprehensive hardware and software support will go directly to the customer’s location for any troubleshooting needs.

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

GERMANY FINES FACEBOOK $2.3M UNDER HATE SPEECH LAW BERLIN—German authorities said on Tuesday that they have imposed a €2-million ($2.3-million) fine on Facebook under a law designed to combat hate speech.

The Federal Office for Justice said the social networking company had failed to meet transparency requirements for its handling of hate speech complaints. The agency said Facebook’s report for the first half of 2018 didn’t reflect the actual number of complaints about suspected illegal content, which in Germany includes anti-Semitic insults and material designed to incite hatred against persons or groups based on their religion or ethnicity.

It said there was also incomplete information about the language skills and training of staff tasked with processing hate speech complaints.

Facebook responded that it complies with its transparency obligations under German law and “accurately and comprehensively disclosed the number of reports about unlawful content we received.”

“We are confident our published...reports are in accordance with the law but as many critics have pointed out, there are a number of areas where this law lacks clarity,” the company said in a statement.

“We will analyze the fine notice carefully and reserve the rights to appeal.” AP

Apple to shift assembly of Mac Pro from US to China SAN FRANCISCO—Apple will manufacture its new Mac Pro computer in China, shifting away from a US assembly line it had been using for that product in recent years, according to a report published on Friday. The company intends to assemble the new Mac Pro in a factory near Shanghai, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the plan.

Apple issued a statement saying the new Mac Pro will be designed and engineered in California, but wouldn’t say where it will be assembled.

“We’re proud to support manufacturing facilities in 30 US states and last year we spent $60 billion with over 9,000 suppliers across the US,” Apple said.

Even so, moving Mac Pro assembly to China represents a retrenchment that underscores the challenges that Apple might face as it explores ways to avoid potential tariffs that the Trump administration may slap on the iPhone and other Apple devices already being made in China.

Unlike most other Apple products, the $6,000 Mac Pro isn’t designed for the mass market. It’s a high-end desktop computer designed for companies and people who have specialized needs.

Apple has been assembling Mac Pros in Austin, Texas, since 2013 as part of a $100-million commitment that CEO Tim Cook trumpeted in a national television interview.

But the Austin factory, run by Flex Ltd., encountered problems finding enough skilled labor willing to work for minimum wage, according to the Journal. Then, as Mac Pro sales faltered, Flex began laying off workers in Austin, and by last year had a skeleton crew left in the city, according to a former Flex vice president quoted by the Journal.

Flex declined to comment on Friday.

Apple is still spending $1 billion on a corporate campus in Austin in an expansion that is supposed to create at least 5,000 jobs.

At the same time, Apple is scrambling for ways to insulate its product line from the trade war the Trump administration is waging with China. The Cupertino, California, company recently sent the administration a warning that the US economy and its ability to compete would be undermined if the iPhone and other products made in China are hit by the next round of potential tariffs.

Apple also is reportedly trying to figure out if it can move a significant portion of the manufacturing now being done in China to other countries in Asia. AP

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Is the ban really over?

TECHNIVORE ED UY

whereiseduy@gmail.com

J

UST like any couple that’s been through a rough cool-off period in their relationship, getting back together is never easy and you know things will never be the same again.

Speaking at the G-20 summit in Japan a few days ago, US President Donald J. Trump said he is lifting the ban on US companies selling to Huawei—which was great news, except for the fact that its not entirely certain as to the extent or when the announced changes will take effect.

“US companies can sell their equipment to Huawei,” Trump announced, specifying, “I’m talking about equipment where there is no great national emergency problem. We have a lot of the great companies in Silicon Valley and based in different parts of the country that make extremely complex equipment—we’re letting them sell to Huawei,” he stated.

It’s not clear exactly which companies Trump was referring to, and this could range from hardware companies like ARM, which stopped working with Huawei, to the well-publicized Google Android ban on Huawei smartphones.

Yet, despite the announcement, Huawei remains on the dreaded “Entity List” of the US Department of Commerce, which suggests it’s still treating the Chinese company as if it has been blacklisted, according to news reports.

It has been a rough couple of months for the world’s second-biggest smartphone manufacturer, but any change is good news for Huawei and its millions of users.

The temporary 90-day reprieve that will last until August has enabled Huawei to work with Google to deliver software updates to its key devices. It also has been reported that the company is working on a custom OS called Ark, (which is said to be even 60 percent faster than the current Android version), but migrating to a new operating system is a big risk the company simply cannot take after taking a lot of heavy damage from the ban. It’s been reported that the ban would cost Huawei some $30 billion in lost revenue over the next two years.

HUAWEI PROVES RESILIENCE IN PHL A FEW weeks ago, if you were faced with the option of choosing between a Huawei phone or one from its rivals, you’d be compelled to go for the alternatives as Huawei’s future was uncertain, especially when you read about people selling their almost brand-new P30 phones at huge losses. It’d even make you think twice about keeping your trusty old Huawei phone.

To allay those fears, Huawei Philippines came up with a special warranty program for those who’d be purchasing any current Huawei phone. The company assured that all these devices covered by the special warranty will have no issues concerning usage of Google apps and services, such as the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, Photos, Chrome and YouTube, as well as non-Google ones such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp—or they’d get a full refund.

And despite the understandably huge drop in sales during the first weeks of the ban, the brand continued to support to its partner retailers, opening new stores and investing in the renovations and upgrades of its existing stores—the latest of which is its SM Fairview concept store in partnership with Blue Lite Gadgets. Located at the 3rd level Cyberzone, the store highlights the brand’s latest global concept design allowing consumers to experience the latest Huawei smartphones, laptop, tablets, as well as its accessories including speakers, smartphone cases, selfie sticks, and power banks.

In his speech, Huawei Consumer Business Group Head of Sales Jeff Dy said the opening of the new store is proof that the brand will continue to grow, and that it will continue to invest in the country.

Describing the latest 3.5 global design version, Leandro Poblete, president of Blue Lite Gadgets Inc.

explained that the new store presents a more inviting and less intimidating open layout (there are no glass walls or doors) so that those who want to buy, or even those who just want to look around can walk in and try out the Huawei devices they have on display.

And because it is an experience store, all the devices are real functioning models and not just mockup or “dummy” phones.

Blue Lite Gadgets has been in the industry for more than two decades tracing its humble beginnings from a kiosk at Greenhills in 1994 and partnering with Huawei long before it became one of the biggest brands in the country.

As one of its pioneering partners, Poblete recalled they started working with Huawei during its first years in the consumer market offering pocket Wi-Fi and just a few basic feature phone models.

Today, Blue Lite together with its partners Strom and Power Premium operate the most number of Huawei Concept stores in Metro Manila including SM Mall of Asia, SM Aura Premier, SM East Ortigas, SM City Fairview, Robinsons Metro East, Robinsons Magnolia, Uptown Mall and Ayala Malls Feliz.

Poblete also expressed his thanks to Huawei for its unwavering support to dealers like him during the first few weeks of the ban, and believes that only made their relationship even stronger.

With the ban hopefully ending soon, the first test for Huawei here in the Philippines is the release of the Huawei Y9 Prime 2019. The Huawei Y9 Prime 2019 is the brand’s first phone equipped with a pop-up front camera giving it a totally unobstructed 6.59-inch fullscreen display. It also boasts of a triple 16MP + 8MP + 2MP rear camera set up that pushes the boundaries of entry-level phones. It is powered by the Kirin 710F and comes equipped with a 4GB RAM+128GROM, 4,000 mAh battery and a Type-C port.

The Huawei Y9 Prime 2019 retails at P12,990 and comes in three colors: Midnight Black, Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green. We will be reviewing the phone in the coming weeks.

‘STRANGER THINGS’ RETURNS PLDT and Smart is turning Manila upside down with an immersive experience through a fun-filled Stranger Things-themed pop-up event at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium this weekend, this following the launch of a grand pyromusical billboard along Edsa Libertad Southbound on July 4.

Inspired by the hit Netflix series, the Stranger Things Fun Fair at the SM Mall of Asia Atrium will transport fans to Hawkins, Indiana, during the summer of 1985, with themed booths that let you complete an adrenaline-pumping mission to defeat the Demogorgon into

the Upside Down for a chance to win awesome prizes.

Bring family and friends to the four-day fair, and race against time to look for all of Dustin’s belongings at Dustin’s Toy Museum; dress up in the best 1980s looks in the Glamorama booth; answer riddles at the Scoops Ahoy Ice Cream Shop; and shoot down villains at the Slingshot Revenge Shooting Gallery.

Each challenge lets you earn points, which give you a chance to take home exclusive Stranger Things 1980s memorabilia. Fans will also get to watch snippets from the latest season along the journey.

Catch the latest season of Stranger Things on Netflix, which premiered on July 4, powered by PLDT Home Fibr and Smart Signature Plans. Through your PLDT Home account, you can conveniently link your Netflix bill on top of your subscription. You can also watch your favorite Netflix movies and series on TV screens through PLDT Home TVolution Lite for only P99 per month. New PLDT Home Fibr subscribers can enjoy free activation and installation fees when they apply on or before July 15.

For Smart Signature Plan subscribers, you can easily link your Netflix account to your postpaid bill for an easier and hassle-free payment. Simply go to www.net�lix.com/ph and create a new account; select SMART as a payment option and enter your SMART Signature number; then enter the one-time PIN. ■

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THE Huawei Y9 Prime 2019

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In the ad material of Notice of filing of Application for Alien Employment Permits published on June 27, 2019, the Company name and Address of Messrs. Yu, Haiyuan, Huang, Youwei, Liu, Xiaobo, Cai, Haojie, Wang, Jintao and Mesdames. Wang, Jinling, Zhang, Yanqiu, Wang, Taotao should have been read as SHANG PAI TECHNOLOGY, INC. located at Unit 4101, 41/F, PBCOM Tower, Ayala Ave., Bel-Air, Makati, Metro Manila and not as published. While in the application published on July 04, 2019, the Company name and Address of Messrs. Cheng, Rongxian, Liu, Shunmin, Chen, Rongquan, Hong, Chaosha should have been read as GREAT EMPIRE GAMING AND AMUSEMENT CORP. located at 2nd Floor, Aseana Hub Bradco Avenue, Aseana City Macapagal Blvd., Baclaran, Parañaque, Metro Manila 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.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR