BusinessMirror July 09, 2020

2 parties willing ‘to step up’ to Naia plate

By Lorenz S. Marasigan & Bernadette D. Nicolas

T

HE Naia Consortium lost the original proponent status for the unsolicited proposal to redevelop the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), and the government is now considering two other proponents for the said project.

Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary Reuben Reinoso said the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) has “withdrawn the original proponent status from the consortium.”

This development came a day after the consortium issued a statement that it can only move forward

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with the project if the government will agree to the terms that it has set, given the effect of Covid-19 on air travel.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez noted that two other groups are similarly willing to undertake the project.

While Dominguez did not name the two proponents, he said these two have expressed interest with the project at the terms that the government has indicated.

“Apparently, these two other proponents are willing to get into agreement with the government, very similar to the terms of the agreements between the project proponents in Clark Airport and the BCDA,” he said, referring to

the Bases Conversion and Development Authority. So, he added, “we are not worried about it. We believe these other two proponents are ready to step up to the plate here.”

The DOF chief said he got a copy of the letter of the Naia consortium, “saying that the current economic situation is such that they are not confident that they can finance the project. They cannot push it together, push through with it. However, let me say that I understand that the DOTr [Department of Transportation] under Secretary Tugade as well as Vince Dizon, who heads the infrastructure projects, are in conversation with two more potential propo-

nents for the Naia project.” Dominguez made the revelations in a virtual press conference after the pre-State of the Nation Address forum of the Economic Development Cluster and Infrastructure Cluster on Wednesday.

The consortium had proposed in 2018 to modernize the international airport, main gateway to the Philippines, and then operate it for 35 years.

The conglomerates in Naia Consortium are Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc; Alliance Global Group Inc.; Asia’s Emerging Dragon Corp.; Filinvest Development Corp.; JG Summit Holdings Inc.; and AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.

Continued on A7

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Thursday, July 9, 2020 Vol. 15 No. 273

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‘POLITICIZED’ CLOSURE OF MEDIA FIRMS TO WEIGH ON FDI, TELCOS

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

T

HE “forceful” and “highly politicized” shutdown of two local media firms can deter foreign direct investments (FDI) and drag market sentiment for the telecommunications and media industry, Fitch Solutions said.

In a commentary released on Wednesday, the London-based think tank said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) appears to be “influenced” by the government in making decisions, citing the recent closure of Lopez-led ABS-CBN Corp. and Sky Cable Corp.

“The regulator’s apparent ability to be influenced by the government continues to be a key impediment to foreign investor sentiment and has also made the telecoms landscape difficult for both new entrants and existing players,” the Fitch unit said.

NTC ordered Sky Cable to cease and desist on June 30, prompting the company to halt its direct broadcast satellite service Sky Direct and TV plus channels in Metro Manila.

This, after the regulator instructed its parent firm ABS-CBN to go off air on May 5. The media firm was not granted a provisional franchise to continue broadcasting.

“The forceful termination of ABS-CBN and Sky’s broadcasts is highly politicized, and clearly linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s opposition toward ABS-CBN,” the think tank said.

Not an issue–Dominguez MEDICAL technologists Jayvee delos Reyes and Kirsty Obillo take blood samples from people while in their vehicles at The Medical City drive-through Covid-19 testing facility. As the number of Covid-19 cases increases in the country, TMC in Ortigas partnered with the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health to ensure easy patient access to coronavirus testing. TMC touts it as safe because it is a contactless and cashless transaction, with a faster process. BERNARD TESTA

P

By Cai U. Ordinario

ASSING the remaining tax reform programs and the bills that would boost the country’s ability to adapt to the “new normal” amid the still-raging Covid-19 pandemic constitute the legislative wishlist of the President’s economic team for both houses of Congress.

In a pre-State of the Nation Address (Sona) forum on Wednesday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III also said specifically, they hope the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill, which used to be the second package of the tax reform effort of the administration, will be passed.

Dominguez said other bills that seek to improve the tax system such as the simplification of passive income taxes and the modernization of the country’s

real estate assessment system are also on their list.

“Our legislative agenda is still, the priority will still be the continuation of the tax reform. We have not gotten our CREATE bill passed, we would like the other bills that are pending with this Congress that we have proposed to be passed as well,” Dominguez said.

Acting Socioeconomic Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said CREATE will help provide more targeted and performance-based incentives.

Continued on A2

ADB boosts Covid response fund by $4B T

HE Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised additional funds from the US dollar bond market for its ordinary capital resources (OCR) to boost its coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) response in Asia and the Pacific.

In a statement, the ADB said it raised $4 billion from a three-year global bond issue.

The ADB plans to raise around $30 billion to $35 billion from the capital markets this year.

“We are very appreciative of the consistently solid investor support that ADB receives in its US dollar bond outings. This trade is no exception. The transaction was

well oversubscribed, which enabled us to finetune pricing and still print one of our largest three-year US dollar issue sizes at $4 billion. This gives us the resources to continue to provide much needed assistance to the Asia and Pacific region, particularly during this pandemic,” said ADB Treasurer Pierre Van Peteghem.

The ADB said the three-year bonds have a coupon rate of 0.25 percent per annum payable semi-annually and a maturity date of July 14, 2023.

These debt papers were priced at 99.833 percent to yield 12 basis points over

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 49.4060

the 0.25 percent US Treasury notes due June 2023.

The transaction was lead-managed

by Bank of Montreal, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. A syndicate group was also formed consisting of ANZ, Credit Agricole CIB, Daiwa, ING, Mizuho and Natwest.

The issue achieved wide primary market distribution with 43 percent of the bonds placed in Asia; 23 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and 34 percent in the Americas.

By investor type, majority or 62 per-

cent of the bonds went to central banks and official institutions; 25 percent to banks; and 13 percent to fund managers and other types of investors.

In January, the ADB tapped the US bond market and raised $4.25 billion. The Manila-based multilateral development bank returned to the capital markets with $2.25 billion worth three-year and $2 billion worth 10-year bond issuances.

The amount it raised at the start of the year is part of the ADB’s efforts to raise $25 billion from the capital markets to boost its OCR this year. Cai U. Ordinario

CONTRARY to Fitch Solutions’ view that the ABS-CBN shutdown will remain to be a “key impediment” to foreign investor sentiment, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said they have not seen a slowdown in investments due to the issue.

While he admitted seeing a slowdown in investments, he said on Wednesday it is not in any way tied to the network’s shutdown, but rather part of the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact.

“We have not seen any direct result of a slowdown in investment because of the ABS-CBN issue. We have seen a slowdown, yes, but that is essentially because of the Covid pandemic. Most companies around the world here and abroad are keeping their money in cash, in case they experienced a drop in demand or any other problems with their own company, so investments are down around the world, both direct investments and otherwise,” Dominguez told reporters.

He held a virtual press conference following the pre-State of the Nation Address forum by the Economic Development Cluster and Infrastructure Cluster.

Moreover, the country’s finance chief noted, the government was able to raise $2.35 billion in global bonds in April this year even when the ABS-CBN issue was raging, and this proves investors’ confidence in the country’s economy.

“Recently, we raised…$2.35 billion in our bonds. That is an investment in the Philippines. And that happened during this issue with ABS-CBN. So I think our bondholders, to the extent of $2.35 billion, are very confident in the Philippine economy,” he added.

Duterte’s wrath

THE Fitch unit noted that Duterte has been expressing his stance against the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN since he alleged that the broadcaster was favoring his rival candidate during the 2016 elections. The President also accused the company of failure to air his paid advertisement during the campaign season.

The network giant was also accused of violating foreign ownership rules, Fitch Solutions said, noting that ABS-CBN is 22-percent owned by foreign investors through Philippine depositary receipts.

Singapore-based investor ST Telemedia, meanwhile, holds a 40-percent stake in Sky Cable, which is “in line with government foreign ownership restrictions on domestic communications firms.”

Continued on A2

n JAPAN 0.4595 n UK 62.0292 n HK 6.3749 n CHINA 7.0449 n SINGAPORE 35.4139 n AUSTRALIA 34.3026 n EU 55.7151 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.1732

Source: BSP (July 8, 2020)

News BusinessMirror

A2 Thursday, July 9, 2020

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LGU chiefs, worried by virus, holding up tourism reopening

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

L

Special to the BusinessMirror

OCAL government units (LGUs) are directing the pace when their respective regions and provinces will reopen to tourism.

This was underscored by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat in response to repeated appeals from various stakeholders and tourism enterprises who already want to get their businesses going by reopening to tourists.

“We’ve been talking to a few governors and mayors, whose provinces are already Covid-free, and urging them to slowly reopen to tourism,” she told the BusinessMirror. “But many of them are still hesitating, understandably so, and working first to make sure they have testing labs and fully equipped hospitals to receive patients. Of course,

we have to respect their wishes.”

For now, only Boracay Island has reopened to tourists, but only to those from Western Visayas, as agreed between the Boracay InterAgency Task Force and the local government representatives led by Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores and acting Malay Mayor Frolibar Bautista. Romulo Puyat said they are just monitoring the island for 30 days, “and if there are no new Covid cases, we can talk about allowing tourists younger than 21 and older than 60 years old, to enter Boracay,” or when the island is declared Low-Risk Modified Gen-

eral Community Quarantine. At present, Boracay is under MGCQ.

In a visit to El Nido in Palawan last week, Romulo Puyat met with Mayor Edna Lim, who, along with Palawan Gov. Jose Ch. Alvarez, allowed the “dry run” of tourists between Manila/Clark and El Nido.

The date of the dry run, however, has yet to be determined. Others lined up for possible reopening to tourism are Bohol and Baguio City, but no dates have been firmed up either for when this will happen.

(See, “Key destinations in Palawan lose over P3 billion in tourism receipts,” in the BusinessMirror, July 4, 2020.)

Romulo Puyat said tourism businesses in these Covid-free areas should bring up their concerns to their respective LGU heads. “We understand their pain, and we know what they are going through. This pandemic has really impacted on their businesses, and many are just hanging by a slim thread. But the decision to reopen their areas is not up to the Department of Tourism.”

The International Labor Orga-

nization has estimated that close to 2 million workers have been affected by Covid-19’s impact on local tourism businesses. Last year, foreign tourism arrivals reached 8.26 million.

Meanwhile, in response to a question on how government plans to reinvigorate the tourism industry at the pre-Sona briefing on Wednesday hosted by economic managers, DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation, Coordination and Resource Generation Arturo P. Boncato Jr. said, “A major strategy of the TRRP [Tourism Recovery and Response Program] is to restart tourism, and Secretary Puyat really believes that domestic tourism should be the catalyst of restarting the industry all over the Philippines. In fact, she has already started moving around the country and visited several destinations and actually spoke and really engaged with local government units and their leaders, because the role of LGUs is very crucial to determining as to the time

of reopening of destinations. That is exactly what the DOT is doing, looking for these destinations that can jumpstart tourism right away.”

He cited the concept of “travel bubbles” championed by the DOT chief, where the agency “[looks] for destinations that have contained the virus very well, and there’s really openness and willingness of the local leaders to open to tourism, and match them eventually with international markets, but initially, match them with domestic markets.”

He added the DOT would soon be issuing new health and safety standards for meeting facilities, travel and tours, tour guides, and “even guidelines for island beach destinations and tourist attractions.” Last week, Romulo Puyat and Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez inspected hotels and restaurants to check if minimum health and safety standards are being followed.

(See, “Branded restos, popular food chains secure DOT accreditation,” in the BusinessMirror, July 1, 2020.)

2 more petitions vs anti-terror law filed with SC TWO more petitions were filed on Wednesday before the Supreme Court seeking to stop the implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 for being unconstitutional.

There are now a total of six petitions lodged before the SC seeking the nullification of the anti-terrorism law.

The fifth petition was filed by former Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) chief Rudolph Philip Jurado and the sixth, by the group of former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Christian Monsod and lawyer Felicitas A. Arroyo, who were both members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the present Constitution.

Monsod and Arroyo were joined by several faculty members of the Ateneo

Law School and Ateneo Human Rights Center, faculty members of the Xavier University College of Law and several others.

In his petition, Jurado, who was appointed by President Duterte as OGCC chief in 2017 but was removed a year later, said the law should be declared unconstitutional because it gives the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) the authority to waive the rights of a detainee.

Jurado explained that a salient feature of his petition, not questioned in the four previous petitions filed before the SC against the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, was the procedural aspect of the law.

He said Section 29 of RA 11479 allegedly authorizes the ATC to extend the detention periods in Article 125 of the RPC without the consent and knowledge of the

‘Politicized’ closure of media firms to weigh on FDI, telcos Continued from A1

“It is also unclear whether Sky Cable’s other services will be forced to cease operations, given that the government’s opposition toward ABS-CBN stems from the broadcast of channels, rather than on the provision of communications services,” Fitch Solutions said.

Sky Cable said the shutdown is seen to affect nearly 1.5 million direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers. According to its latest data in 2018, the company had 937,000 satellite subscribers and 688,000 cable TV subscriptions.

Fitch Solutions noted that many households in rural areas outside Metro Manila were usually subscribing to DTH services for entertainment purposes.

“The country’s archipelagic nature, coupled with relatively low levels of disposable incomes in regional areas, makes developing extensive and robust fixed infrastructure commercially unviable, accentuating the low-margin nature of the business and limiting returns on investment,” the think tank said.

The report added that the Sky Cable closure could boost shift to non-linear, on-demand services such as over-the-top platforms like Netflix. However, Fitch Solutions said that “a key impediment to this transition…will be the difficulty in availing such services outside of urban areas where mobile and fixed network availability is extremely patchy.”

Considering all these recent events, the Fitch unit said that it had to downgrade the country’s telecoms industry risk score to 46.1 points out of 100 from 57.5 in the previous quarterly update.

Foreign investor entry WHILE the recent issues with the two media firms might weigh on the industry,

UnionBank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said that foreign telco investors have always found it hard to enter the local scene.

“I think the ‘noise’ is quite secondary and institutional and structural difficulties are the ones that primarily hinder further entry of players…into the telco sector,” he explained.

He added that even local players were also finding it challenging to secure a position in the sector.

The Fitch unit said that there was also a “slow formulation of...tower-sharing policy, which was released in a draft version in May 2020 following a protracted period of discussions and negotiations.”

This shows the “slow pace of instituting reforms,” which contributed to the delay of third telco player Dito Telecommunity in rolling out services, it added.

RCBC Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort, meanwhile, pointed out that the rule of law and institutions are the primary consideration in attracting foreign investments.

There should be due process, transparency and level playing field, he explained.

“Other important considerations by foreign investors/FDI include the sanctity of contracts ]especially if involving different administrations], mechanisms for arbitration/adjudications/other judicial processes and remedies in case there are disputes especially in interpreting provisions of the law/regulations/contracts,” he added.

According to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, FDI net inflows slowed down by 14.2 percent to $1.7 billion in the first quarter from $1.9 billion last year for the same period as net investments in debt instruments declined by 41 percent and reinvestment of earnings slipped 24.1 percent.

With Bernadette D. Nicolas

detainee.

“Clearly, Section 29 of Senate Bill 1083 [now House Bill 6875] allows ATC to waive the application of Article 125 of the RPC, even when such waiver is vested solely in the hands of the detainee—the person to whom the right, which is to be waived, is actually vested,” said Jurado in his petition.

“For indeed, it is elementary that only the person who enjoys the right can waive the same, as it would be perilous if someone can waive the rights of another without the latter’s consent,” he added.

This is strengthened by Section 7 Rule 112 of the Rules of Court that states that the only person who can waive the application of Article 125 of the RPC is the detainee himself, as it is the detainee who

enjoys the constitutional right to a speedy disposition of his case, as well as the constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law.

By amending or repealing Section 7 Rule 112 of the Rules of Court, the RA 11479 violates the constitutionally established separation of the Legislative and Judicial branches of government, his petition avers.

He also questioned the provision in the law that vaguely defines terrorism and allows detention of suspected terrorists sans warrant of arrest and beyond the period allowed under the Constitution.

Monsod-led petition ON other hand, Monsod’s group brought almost the same arguments raised by the

other petitioners who questioned the broad definition of terrorism under the ATL.

According to the group, the definition of terrorism under Section 4 of the Act is vague enough to cover legitimate exercise of free speech, expression assembly which is guaranteed under the 1986 Constitution.

They also questioned the constitutionality of Section 5 that allows the creation of the ATC with vast powers to “designate” a person as a terrorist.

Furthermore, the group questioned Section 29 as it bars a person from expressing their thoughts, concerns and beliefs, as on mere suspicion, they can be arrested without the protection of a judicial warrant.

Joel R. San Juan

TAX REFORMS PASSAGE TOPS PALACE WISHLIST Continued from A1

Investment draw

CHUA added that apart from the tax reform programs, the economic team is pushing for the passage of economic bills that seek to improve the country as an investment destination.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Acting Director General said these include the Foreign Investments Act, the Public Service Act, and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act. “These are in advanced stages in Congress and I think are very important for helping the Philippines attract the necessary innovation in new technology, ideas and investment,” Chua said.

There is also a need to pass a law that would help the country adapt to the “new normal,” he said.

This includes bills enhancing the digital economy like the open access data bill.

Dominguez said the economic team is also in discussion with both houses of Congress for the passage of the government’s stimulus package dubbed Bayanihan 2, which aims to support the administration’s pandemic response.

He said these are important efforts to ensure that the Philippines recovers from the impact of the pandemic, which forced widespread lockdowns that shuttered businesses and schools, disrupting most economic activities. He also said the public is as much a part of the recovery efforts as the government, particularly when it comes

to boosting the economy.

Dominguez said consumption accounts for as much as 75 percent of the country’s GDP. This means the recovery of household spending is key to growing the economy after this pandemic.

“The big hurdle actually that our economy is facing,” he explained, is reckoning with the impact on consumption, which “is about 70-75 percent of our total GDP. So that has to come in.” The stimulus program is important, Dominguez said, “but essentially we have to provide our countrymen with the confidence that we will actually together overcome this Covid contagion.”

Chua stressed that inflation in the country, despite the recent 2.5-percent increase in prices reported in June, was relatively low and stable and within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) target of 2 percent to 4 percent this year.

He said this was largely due to cheaper food prices, particularly rice. Since the government passed the Rice Trade Liberalization (RTL) Law, households have been buying rice at lower prices, Chua added.

The only caveat in inflation, at least in recent months, is the higher cost of transportation. Chua traced the higher prices to the scarcity of transportation services.

“We shouldn’t look at inflation alone and then come to a conclusion that it is increasing or decreasing. I think we should look at inflation more holistically,” Chua said.

“In general, the inflation is low and stable and is actually helping a lot of the people cope with this crisis.”

PSA report

EARLIER, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that inflation averaged 2.5 percent in June, higher than the 2.1 percent posted in May but still lower than the 2.7 percent posted in June 2019. Inflation averaged 2.5 percent in the first semester of the year.

National Statistician Dennis S. Mapa said the primary reason for the uptick in inflation in June was the transportation index; Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco index or “sin products”; and the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels index.

Mapa said the partial opening led to the 2.3-percent increase in the transport index from a contraction of 5.3 percent in May and 1.6 percent in June 2019.

He said tricycle fares were the main culprit in the increase, with a 26.04-percent increase from 6.6 percent in May. Mapa said this is only the average nationwide.

In Metro Manila, tricycle prices surged 43.7 percent on a monthon-month basis. This means that if the minimum fare was P12 in May, this reached P17 in June.

The increase in tricycle prices was even more staggering when compared year on year. Mapa said on annual basis, tricycle prices skyrocketed 129.3 percent in June, meaning prices this year were more than double last year.

The rapid increase in tricycle prices was also observed in Bicol, which had the highest increase in inflation in June at 4.3 percent in June 2020.

More Covid cases force extended Agora closure

THE Agora Public Market in San Juan City will remain closed until July 15. NONOY LACZA

T

O ensure the safety of his constituents, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora on Wednesday ordered the extension of the closure of the Agora Market until July 15.

The mayor issued the order after results showed that 23 of the market vendors and workers who were earlier tested were positive for the virus. A total of 614 results were released so far of the 647 swab tests conducted on the market vendors and workers at the Palacio de Maynila on July 1 and 2.

Zamora said the extension of the market closure is also in compliance with the guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Diseases and National Task Force Against Covid-19, placing public markets with more than three confirmed cases under a 15day lockdown.

“I ordered the temporary closure of the market pending the results of the swab tests conducted on our market vendors and workers. Unfortunately, a number of them turned out positive so we are extending the closure as per the guidelines of IATF and NTF. The health and well-being of San Juaneños must take precedence,” Zamora said.

All those who tested positive are asymptomatic and are now in isolation and being provided with medical attention. Their close contacts have also been tested and are in quarantine.

On July 1 Zamora ordered the temporary closure of the Agora Market after a fish stall helper tested positive for Covid-19. The City Health Office immediately conducted contact tracing with the close contacts, who were also swabbed and tested. The mayor tasked the market administration to thoroughly disinfect the public market while it is out of operation.

As part of the city’s precautions and continuity plan, all 647 market vendors and workers were swabbed for RT-PCR tests.

Only those who tested negative and are not close contacts of the patients will be allowed to return to work on July 16 after securing a special health clearance from the City Health Office.

The market’s 3.74-percent positivity rate is much lower than NCR’s 6.8 percent; however, Zamora does not want to be complacent and opted to observe stricter rules.

Likewise, City Hall will implement stringent measures through its Business Permits and Licensing Office and the City Health Office with the help of the market administration and the vendors and workers themselves.

In a consultative meeting with Zamora on Tuesday, city officials and market administration, representatives of the vendors and workers organizations in Agora Market agreed to follow stricter protocols and appoint Health and Safety Protocol Officers to help the San Juan Police and City Health personnel in implementing precautionary measures to avoid further spread of the virus.

The market is continuously being sanitized.

The City Health Office has identified the market as the epicenter of the recent rise in Covid-19 cases in San Juan City.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘New normal’ videoconferencing hastens release of 43,171 PDLs

A

TOTAL of 43,171 former jail inmates, or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), have already been released from various prison nationwide through videoconference hearings, which has become the “new normal” in court proceedings amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a report to Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta, Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez said the figure covers the period from March 17 to July 3 and also included children in conflict with the law (CCWL).

Marquez said the PDLs, who have served the minimum period of their jail terms, were released after hearings, either on bail, or on their recognizance.

PDLs are those charged in court with criminal offenses and violations of city and municipal ordinances and are detained while petitioning to post bail, attending hearings, and awaiting the decisions on their cases.

A CCWL is “anyone under 18 years old who comes into contact with the justice system as a result of being suspected or accused of committing an offense.”

Videoconferencing is one of the measures being implemented by the SC to continue to resolve pending cases and decongest jails and detention facilities during the pandemic.

Marquez earlier said videoconferencing would be utilized “while there is public health emergency, or even after, depending on the Court’s decision.

He added that videoconferencing will be the new normal during public health emergency for the judiciary.

The method has long been practiced and adopted during court trial of cases in the technologically advanced countries like the United States to address delays in court proceedings.

The SC has given more than 1,500 trial courts the go-signal to conduct proceedings via videoconferencing while the magistrates are still working on the rules of court on videoconferencing to institutionalize the use of the online system in all courts in both civil and criminal cases.

In his report, Marquez said that as of July 3, a total of 8,909 PDLs were released in the National Capital Region; 3,621 in Region 1; 1,796 in Region 2; 6,203 in Region 3; 7,443 in Region 4; 1,192 in Region 5; 1,431 in Region 6; 4,528 in Region 7; 1,183 in Region 8; 1,158 in Region 9; 2,537 in Region 10; 2,168 in Region 11; and 1,002 in Region 12. Joel R. San Juan

The Nation BusinessMirror

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, July 9, 2020 A3

Court orders arrest of PMA cadets, doctors in Dormitorio hazing death

By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573

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HE Regional Trial Court of Baguio City has ordered the police to arrest three Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadets for their involvement in the fatal hazing of Cadet Fourth Class Darwin Dormitorio last year.

Baguio RTC Branch 5 presiding judge Maria Ligaya Itliong-Rivera recommended no bail for senior cadets Julius Carlo Tadena, Felix Lumbag Jr. and Shalimar Imperial Jr., who have been charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) with violation of Re-

public Act 11053, or the Anti-Hazing Act of 2018.

Imperial and Lumbag have also been charged murder along with PMA officer-doctors Lt. Col. Caesar Almer Candelaria, Captain Flor Apple Apostol, and Maj. Maria Ofelia Beloy.

The trial court also directed the arrest of Candelaria, Apostol and Beloy but allowed them to post bail in the amount of P200,000 each.

The justice department earlier held that Dormitorio’s death “was the cumulative result of the intentional acts” of the accused cadets and the “gross negligence of the doctors.”

The cadets were under military custody as they underwent court-martial proceedings.

Police authorities are now coordinating with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) about the transfer of custody.

Dormitorio’s family earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the failure of the DOJ to prosecute all respondents in the case.

The panel junked for lack of probable cause the complaints of violation of RA 11053, RA 9745, or the “Anti-Torture Act of 2009, murder, and dereliction of duty filed against Cadet First Class Ca-

det Axl Rey Sanopao, Cadet Third Class Rey David John Volante, Cadet Third Class John Vincent Manalo, Maj. Rex Bolo, and Captain Jeffrey Batistiana.

Likewise, the complaint for violation of RA 11053, RA 9745, and dereliction of duty filed against former PMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Ronnie Evangelista and former Cadet Corps commandant Brig. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro were also dismissed.

Meanwhile, Cadet Second Class Christian Zacarias was recommended to be prosecuted for slight physical injuries only.

PCG vows support to families of missing crewmen and passengers of F/V Liberty 5

T

HE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has vowed to assist the families of the 14 missing crewmen and passengers of the F/V Liberty 5 in filing a civil case against the owner and officers of the Hong Kong-registered MV Vienna Wood as a result of a recent sea collision in the waters of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.

T he assurance was made on Wednesday by Coast Guard Commandant Vice Adm. George Ursabia Jr. during his meeting with the relatives of the 12 crewmen and two passengers of the Liberty 5, a Filipino fishing boat which sank on June 27, off Barangay

Tayaman in Mamburao following a collision with the Australia-bound MV Vienna Wood.

“We will help you in filing a civil case. You can use the criminal charges that we have filed. Rest assured that the Coast Guard will help you,” Ursabia told the families and representatives of the Irma Fishing and Trading Inc., the owner of the fishing boat, which was on its way to Navotas when the incident happened.

Ursabia commiserated with the victims’ families, saying he knew how they feel over the fate of their family members, whom the government

listed as “still missing” despite having been the subjects of intense search and retrieval operations by the PCG until Tuesday in the waters of Mindoro and its adjoining provinces.

The PCG has already filed charges of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and damage to property against the owner, master, and officers of the Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier before the prosecutor’s office of Mamburao. The officers charged are all Chinese nationals.

Ursabia said that they have also filed an action in order to prevent crewmen of the MV Vienna Wood

from returning to China while the probe is ongoing.

The PCG commandant also assured the families that a hold departure order against MV Vienna Wood would be issued this week to ensure that the vessel will remain under the custody “while justice is yet to be served.”

During the meeting, Ursabia told the families that even though the full search and retrieval operations have ended, PCG personnel in Occidental Mindoro will continue to “actively” monitor the incident area and nearby coastal communities. Rene Acosta

Economy BusinessMirror

A4 Thursday, July 9, 2020 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DA seeks 255.9-percent budget hike for ‘21 to P284.4B to ensure food-supply sufficiency

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

T

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) is proposing P284.4 billion for its 2021 budget to “sustain, reboot and grow” the country’s agriculture and fisheries sector.

During the briefing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said the agency needs more funds, citing challenges besetting the sector.

“I have the distinct honor and privilege to present the proposed budget of [P284.4 billion] for financial year 2021 for the agriculture sector. The budget is intended to sustain, reboot, and grow the agriculture and fisheries sector amid the challenges brought [about] by the pandemic,” Dar told lawmakers.

“We seek your highest approval of our budget proposal for the coming year. What lies in your hands right now is the food security and resiliency of the country, the future of the 109 million Filipinos and counting,” he added.

The P284.4 billion proposed 2021 DA budget is P204.5 billion, or 255.9 percent, higher than its 2020 outlay of P79.9 billion.

Of the total proposed budget, P61.7 billion will be under Tier 1 while the Tier 2 will cover the remaining P222.6 billion.

The 2021 proposed budget for the agriculture will include P55.9 billion for the rice subsector; P6.6 billion for the corn subsector; P13.7 billion for high-value crops; P11.2 billion for livestock sector; P22.5 billion for fisheries sector; P960 million for organic agriculture and P3 billion for other support programs.

According to Dar, the Covid-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the importance of agriculture in the national development effort given that the sector supplies the food requirements of the population.

“I call your attention to this glaring reality: The agricultural sector contributes around 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product [GDP] but the share it gets from the national budget for the past 10 years is a measly 3 percent

to 5 percent of the total,” he said.

“I wish to underscore the need to ensure parity between the contribution of the sector to the economy and the resources that it gets from the national coffer. This, if we are to ensure that agriculture, being the sleeping giant as it is, can finally contribute its full potentials in the Philippine economic recovery and national development efforts,” Dar added.

AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin, chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs, said a resolution will be filed to support the budget proposal of the DA. Despite the pandemic, Dar, also assured the public that supply of agricultural commodities in the country remains adequate.

“We, in the Department of Agriculture, are working 24/7 to ensure that food is available, affordable, and sufficient on the table of every Filipino household under the situation we are in. We see these difficult situations as golden opportunities to strengthen the underpinnings of Philippine agriculture,” he added.

In response to the crisis, Dar

QC mayor unveils ₧700-M aid package to micro, small biz and poor residents

By Rizal Raoul S. Reyes @brownindio

T

HE cit y government of Quezon City has unveiled a P 70 0 - m i l l i o n a s s i s tance package to aid micro and small businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The P700-million budget allotted for our Quezon City Wage Relief Program will benefit around 6,000 micro-enterprises and 5,000 small businesses,” Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte told the BusinessMirror in a recent online interview.

“This program aims to help our micro and small entrepreneurs meet ongoing business costs by providing wage subsidies that can help keep their employees and business operations until they get back on their feet,” she added.

In a separate e-mail interview, Small Business and Cooperatives Development and Promotions Office (SBCDPO) head Mona Celine Yap told the BusinessMirror that eligible micro

and small businesses stand to receive wage subsidies starting July to September.

Yap said Quezon City-registered micro-enterprises with less than nine employees and/or with an asset size, or capitalization of up to P3 million, such as, but not limited to, sari-sari stores, canteens, laundry shops, computer shops, printing shops, among others, can avail of the program.

“Micro enterprises that are forced to suspend or reduce business operations, experienced revenue decrease, or loss, those currently operating or plan to reopen by July 2020 can also apply,” Yap said.

She added that small businesses registered in Quezon City that have 10 to 99 employees and/or with an asset of more than P3 million up to P15 million can apply. Interested enterprises may apply through the QC E-Service Portal.

Yap said interested enterprises can start applying for the wage subsidy starting July 6 to 20, 2020. No application shall be accepted after

the application period.

Moreover, Yap said active employees of qualified micro business enterprises, whether regular, probationary, regular seasonal, projectbased, or fixed-term, are eligible under the program.

“After we validate all submitted information, we will notify all eligible micro and small business enterprises that will receive the wage subsidy,” LEIPO action officer Perry Dominguez said.

To develop the entrepreneurial skills of the Quezon City residents, Belmonte pointed out that SBCDPO has programs to train and improve the skills of people who wish to pursue an entrepreneurial career through livelihood programs, trainings and seminars.

Belmonte also revealed the city government is planning to develop a program targeting self-employed individuals and single parents along with 10,000 micro-entrepreneurs.

For a start, the city government will provide them with livelihood starter kits.

said the department introduced Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita where farmers’ produce were brought to the cities through rented trucks and issuing food passes for these private agribusiness delivery trucks to facilitate entry to urban centers.

“We rolled out our Kadiwa mobile stores in strategic areas of Metro Manila and other major cities of the country in partnership with LGUs [local government units]. We launched Kadiwa app to promote online purchases and partnered with big corporations and malls to provide space in their stores and malls where farmers can sell their produce,” he said.

“To date, our Kadiwa efforts have generated sales of more than P5.6 billion to participating farmers, on top of creating jobs for those involved in these ventures,” Dar added.

On African swine fever (ASF), Dar told lawmakers that the agency has mobilized all the resources available, including forging partnerships with the private sector, to prevent further spread of the virus in hog population.

To date, he said around 300,000

hogs have been culled as part of our “1-7-10 Protocol,” with farmers being paid P5,000 for each culled hog.

“Our combined effort with the private sector paid off as previously ASF-hit areas are now considered ASF-free. For these zones, we have invested P400 million for livelihood projects and we have just set aside P400 million for re-stocking purposes,” he said.

“While the rehabilitation effort is being done in selected places, the department has remained vigilant in monitoring any other disease outbreak around the country. This has become more imperative with the reported discovery of a new swine flu strain [G4 H1N1 virus] in China that affects human beings,” he added.

Dar said the Philippine government has already banned earlier the entry of pork and pork products from China.

“We are also working with the Bureau of Customs to prevent smuggling of pork and pork products from China and other countries and prosecute those who violate at the strongest possible terms,” he added.

Red Cross opens Covid testing lab in Batangas

T

HE Philippine Red Cross (PRC) now has a total testing capacity of 32,000 tests a day with the opening of its molecular laboratory in Batangas City, which has recently been certified as an accredited coronavirus disease 2019, or Covid-19, testing center by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

Sen. Richard J. Gordon, PRC chairman and chief executive officer, said the facility, equipped with four RT-polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) machines that can run a combined total of 4,000 tests a day, has the biggest testing capability in the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) region and can cover other nearby provinces.

“We are glad to have this laboratory up and running because more people should get tested. Testing is the key to get our economy going again and this is more so, here in Batagas and in the whole region, with its different economic zones, techno-parks, industrial zones and others,” he said.

Gordon explained that through testing, carriers of the virus can be

separated from those who are not and, thus, stop further transmission.

Equally important, he added, is that testing will also enable people to get back to their jobs.

“Kapag na-test na ang mga tao, makakapagbukas na ulit ang mga pabrika at iba pa dito, dahil makakapasok na ang mga empleyado nila. Kaya natutuwa ako dahil pwede nang magsimula ng operations dito sa Batangas kasi marami tayong mga pabrika dito, pati sa Laguna na malapit lang din dito at iba pang lugar,” he said.

“Ang tao, walang pambili dahil walang trabaho kaya binigyan ng pera ng gobyerno. Pero hindi pwedeng habambuhay bibigyan ng gobyerno ng pera. Kaya dapat makapagtrabaho na ulit. Ang sinasabi ko, para makapagtrabaho na, dapat kayo ay magpa-test,” the senator also stressed.

Aside from the Batangas facility, the PRC also opened molecular laboratories in its former national headquarters in Port Area, Manila, which can run 14,000 tests; Subic and Clark, 6,000 tests and two in its headquarters in Mandaluyong, which can finish 8,000 tests a day.

DOTr moves to shield port users from high shipping cost

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

T

H E D e p a r t m e nt o f Transportation (DOTr) has ordered all international shipping lines that unload cargoes in Philippine ports to allow consignees a minimum free period of at least eight days to help them cope with the impact of the lockdowns.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade explained that the new department order aims to “unburden consignees of essential goods from paying demurrage and detention charges that may accrue to substantial amounts due to delays in cargo pickup brought about by consequences related to Covid-19.”

“We are all affected by the pandemic and we understand that there maybe delays. But we should not make it as an excuse to take advantage of consignees.

We have to help them provide critical, fast, and necessary services to protect our fellowmen that are affected by Covid-19,” he said.

Also under the order, international shipping lines are allowed to grant cargo free period beyond the minimum of eight days from discharge.

“Through this effort of extending the free time period of shipping lines for cargoes from the regular five days to eight days, shippers and importers will have more flexibility in processing their shipments without fear of additional costs especially during these times where operations of both government and private offices are limited,” Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Daniel R. Santiago said.

He added that apart from the flexibility and leeway provided by the order, his group hopes that the savings will be passed on to consumers.

“We just hope that whatever positive impact this cost saving initiative will have on shippers and importers will trickle down to end-users and consumers,” Santiago said.

US-FDA authorizes marketing of IQOS as a ‘modified risk tobacco product’

T

HE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the marketing of IQOS, Philip Morris International’s (PMI) electrically heated tobacco system, as a modified risk tobacco product (MRTP), PMI has reported.

In doing so, the US-FDA found that an IQOS exposure modification order is appropriate to promote the public health. The decision demonstrates that IQOS is a fundamentally different tobacco product and a better choice for adults who would otherwise continue smoking.

IQOS is the first and only electronic nicotine product to be granted marketing orders through the FDA’s MRTP process.

“The FDA’s decision is a historic public health milestone. Many of the tens of millions of American men and women who smoke today will quit—but many won’t. Today’s decision makes it possible to inform these adults that switching completely to IQOS is a better choice than continuing to smoke,” André Calantzopoulos, PMI’s chief executive officer (CEO), said.

“IQOS is a fundamentally different product than combustible cigarettes and must be regulated differently, as the FDA has recognized. Now—more

than ever—there is an urgent need for a fundamentally different conversation on a cooperative approach to achieve a smoke-free future. The FDA’s decision provides an important example of how governments and public health organizations can regulate smoke-free alternatives to differentiate them from cigarettes in order to promote the public health,” Calantzopoulos added in a news statement.

The FDA authorized the marketing of IQOS with the following information: The IQOS System heats tobacco but does not burn it; This significantly reduces the production of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals; and Scientific studies have shown that switching completely from conventional cigarettes to the IQOS system reduces your body’s exposure to harmful, or potentially harmful chemicals.

The agency concluded that the available scientific evidence demonstrates that IQOS is expected to benefit the health of the population as a whole, taking into account both users of tobacco products and persons who do not currently use tobacco products.

The FDA’s decision further builds on the emerging independent inter-

national scientific consensus that IQOS is a better choice than continuing to smoke, and follows the FDA’s April 2019 decision authorizing the commercialization of IQOS in the US. The FDA’s decision provides an important example of how governments and public health organizations can regulate smoke-free alternatives to differentiate them from cigarettes in order to protect and promote the public health.

The decision also follows a review of the extensive scientific evidence package PMI submitted to the FDA in December 2016 to support its MRTP applications.

The PMI CEO further said “We are excited that this important decision will help guide the choices of adult smokers in the US. The best choice for health is to never start smoking or to quit altogether. For those who don’t quit, the best thing they can do is switch to a scientifically substantiated smoke-free product. As of March 31, 2020, PMI estimates that approximately 10.6 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to IQOS. We believe that this decision can help to further accelerate the transition of US adults away from cigarettes. We, along

with our licensee Altria, are committed to guarding against unintended use and fully support FDA’s focus on protecting youth.”

“Today’s decision is a result of our ongoing commitment to put science at the forefront as we continue on our quest to replace cigarettes with smokefree alternatives as quickly as possible.

We look forward to working with the FDA to provide any additional information they may require in order to market IQOS with reduced risk claims.

“Harnessing innovations like IQOS to dramatically speed-up the decline in cigarette smoking is the opportunity of this century. Comprehensive, science-based regulation can help to rapidly shift adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking to better options, while simultaneously guarding against unintended consequences,” the PMI executive stressed.

The MRTP marketing orders were issued pursuant to a 2009 law that empowers FDA to regulate tobacco products, including through oversight of innovative tobacco products.

PMI submitted MRTP applications for the IQOS device and three HeatStick variants: Marlboro HeatSticks, Marlboro Smooth Menthol HeatSticks, and Marlboro Fresh Menthol HeatSticks.

BusinessMirror

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such as aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces and first cousins.

3.7 Coupon Use Sequence 3.7.1 Lanmei Airlines will honor flight coupons, or in the case of an electronic ticket, an electronic coupon, only in sequence from the place of departure as shown on the ticket.

Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia) Co.,Ltd. General Conditions of Carriage of Passengers and Baggage 2.0 Version

Article Revised

1.0

9.1.3,

2.0

Article 9

3.7.2 Lanmei Airlines may not honor the passenger’s ticket if the first flight coupon for travel has not been used and the passenger commences his journey at any stopover or agreed stopping place.

Details of Revision

Revisedby

Issuing Date

The first version

-

Sep, 2017

Patrick YIN

Apr, 2019

Specify “4 or more than 4 hours” Revise “flight accommodations” to be “traffic options”

ARTICLE 1 DEFINITIONS 1. The definitions of the following expressions in the “Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia) Co.,Ltd. General Conditions of Carriage of Passengers and Baggage” (hereinafter referred to as the Conditions), except where the specific article otherwise requires or where it is otherwise provided, are as follows: 1.1 “Convention”, refers to the instrument(s) used according to the stipulations of the contract: “The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air”, signed in Warsaw, October 12, 1929 (hereinafter referred to as the Warsaw Convention); “The Warsaw Convention as Amended at The Hague”, signed in The Hague, September 12, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as the Hague Protocol); “The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air”, signed in Montreal on May 28, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as the Montreal Convention).

1.2 “Carrier” means the public air transportation corporation who issues the Ticket, transports or commits to transport the passenger listed on the ticket and their baggage.

1.3 “Code Shares or Code Share Flights” means a carrier uses its flight number on the other operating carrier’s aircraft or many airlines use their unique flight number on the same aircraft by agreement.

1.4 “Issuing Carrier” means a carrier, whose Designator Code appears on the Coupon.

1.5 “Lanmei Airlines” – an abbreviation of Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia) Co.,Ltd. 1.6 “Lanmei Airlines Regulations” means those regulations, which will be in effect for both sides once the ticket is issued, and are legally formulated and released by Lanmei Airlines for the purpose of supervision of its passengers and transportation of their baggage. Effective applicable ticket fares and conditions are included.

1.7 “Authorized Sales Agent” means a passenger sales agent who has been appointed by the carrier to represent the carrier in the sale of air transportation and also, having gained its authorization, for other carriers.

1.8 “Passenger” means any person, except members of the crew, carried or to be carried by an aircraft with the consent the Carrier.

1.9 “Children” means any person whose age is above two (2) years and below twelve (12) years on the date of the commencement of travel.

1.10 “Infant” means any person whose age is above fourteen (14) days and below two (2) years on the date of commencement of travel.

1.11 “Ticket” means a valid document sold or approved and ensured by the carrier or its authorized agent, including paper tickets and electronic tickets. A paper ticket is proof of the so-called “Ticket” and the baggage check, which is issued by the Carrier or its authorized agent. A paper ticket contains information including the conditions of the contract of transport, statements, notices, and the flight and passenger coupon. An electronic ticket is an electronic replacement for an ordinary paper ticket.

3.7.3 Each flight coupon, or in the case of an electronic ticket, an electronic coupon, will be accepted for carriage by Lanmei Airlines in the class of service specified therein on the date and flight for which accommodation has been reserved. When flight coupons, or in the case of an electronic ticket, electronic coupons, are issued without a reservation being specified thereon, space will be reserved on application subject to the conditions for the relevant fare and the availability of space on the flight applied for.

3.7.4 If the passenger fails to or has failed to use the flight coupons in sequence, Lanmei Airlines is entitled to re-compute the fares in accordance with the Regulations for the use of said coupons and the passenger is liable to pay Lanmei Airlines for any difference between the recomputed fares and the fares already paid by or due from the passenger.

ARTICLE 4 FARES AND FEES

4.1 General Fares apply only for carriage from the airport at the point of origin to the airport at the point of destination. Fares do not include ground transport service between airports and between airports and town centers.

4.2 Applicable Fare Applicable fares for carriage are published by Lanmei Airlines or those on behalf of Lanmei Airlines or, if not so published, constructed in accordance with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations. Except where it is otherwise expressly provided, the applicable fare is the fare for the flight or flights in effect on the date of commencement of the carriage covered by the first flight coupon of the ticket.

If the itinerary or the date of travel changes after the passenger purchases the ticket, the difference shall be paid by the passenger, or, except where it is otherwise expressly provided, refunded by Lanmei Airlines, in accordance with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

4.3 Routing Fares apply only to routing published in connection therewith. If there is more than one routing at the same fare, the passenger may specify the routing prior to issue of the ticket. If no routing is specified, it is up to Lanmei Airlines to provide routing for the passenger to select and confirm.

4.4 Taxes and Charges Any tax or charge imposed by a government or other relevant authority, or by the operator of an airport, in respect of a passenger or the use by a passenger of any services or facilities will be in addition to the published fares and charges and shall be payable by the passenger. It is up to Lanmei Airlines to collect the payment. When the passenger purchases tickets, Lanmei Airlines will inform of the specific taxes and charges not included in the ticket price.

4.5 Currency Except where otherwise provided, passengers should pay fares and charges in the currency of the place of issuance of the ticket.

When payment is made in a currency other than the currency in which the fare is published, such payment will be made at the rate of exchange displayed after calculation on the information system.

Thursday, July 9, 2020 A5

When travelling with Lanmei Airlines, in the event of the carriage of a passenger or baggage being refused, the carriage service department will carry out the necessary post-processing for passengers and baggage that have been refused carriage in accordance with the relevant provisions of Lanmei Airlines’ Ground Service Guarantee Handbook.

8.1 Items Prohibited and Limited as Baggage

ARTICLE 8 BAGGAGE

8.1.1 Items which are unacceptable as baggage 8.1.1.1 Items which do not constitute baggage as defined in Article 1 hereof.

8.1.1.2 Items which are likely to endanger the aircraft or persons or property on board the aircraft specified in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, the Dangerous Goods Regulations of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and in Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations. Especially those following prohibited articles: explosives, compressed gases, corrosive substances, oxides, radioactive or magnetized objects, flammable, poisonous, dangerous or irritating substances. For more information about the relative substances, please contact Lanmei Airlines.

8.1.1.3 Items whereby the carriage of which is prohibited by the applicable laws, regulations or orders of any state to be flown from, to or as part of a stopover.

8.1.1.4 Items which are unsuitable for carriage by reason of their package, shape, weight, size or character.

8.1.1.5 Live animals, except as provided for in 8.12 of this Article.

8.1.2 Items which are not transported as checked baggage The passenger shall not include in checked baggage fragile or perishable items, money, jewelry, antiques, precious metals, gold and silver products, negotiable papers, securities, bank cards, credit cards or other valuables, business, government or private documents, passports and other identification documents, samples, medicine or medical devices or equipment, keys, computers, video cameras, cameras, mobile phones or other valuable electronics. Lanmei Airlines is not liable for losses or expenses caused by a passenger’s negligence.

8.1.3 Items which are limited in transportation The following items, which may be agreed to by Lanmei Airlines and in accordance with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations, are permitted to be transported.

8.1.3.1 Guns and ammunition for hunting and sporting purposes may be accepted as Checked Baggage with a gun carriage permit or proof of approval from the State General Administration of Sports. Guns must be unloaded with the safety catch on, and be suitably packed. Carriage of ammunition is subject to ICAO and IATA regulations, as well as applicable national laws, regulations, or orders from countries of departure, arrival and those in passing.

11.5.2 If a portion of the Ticket has been used, as provided in Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations, the refund amount is equal to the applicable fare for the part of the journey not traveled. No cancellation charge will be collected.

8.2.2 Lanmei Airlines may refuse to accept baggage as checked baggage unless it is properly packed in suitcases or other similar containers to ensure safe carriage with ordinary care in handling.

11.6 Voluntary Refunds

5.4 Seating Except for providing seats for passengers who have a reserved flight and class of cabin, Lanmei Airlines does not guarantee to provide any particular seat in the aircraft. Because of the need for travel, safety and security, the carrier will maintain his/her allotted or reallotted seating right on the plane, even after the passenger has boarded the plane.

5.5 Reconfirmation of Reservation Lanmei Airlines does not require reconfirmation of reservations for continuing or return flights that have already been booked.

However, if the ticket contains flights which connect to another carrier’s flight, it may be subject to the operating carrier’s requirement of reservation reconfirmation. In the event of failure to comply with any such requirement, the carrier has the right to cancel the passenger’s reservation and Lanmei Airlines is not liable to the passenger for loss or expense resulting from this. Passengers should first inquire about reconfirmation of reservation requirements of the other relevant carriers, and if reconfirmation of reservations is required, the passenger should comply with the reconfirmation rule directly with the carrier whose code is shown on the ticket.

6.1 Check-in

The passenger shall arrive in sufficient time at Lanmei Airlines’ given boarding gate after check-in and completing all government formalities. If the passenger fails to arrive in time or appears improperly documented or not ready to travel, Lanmei Airlines may cancel the reserved space for the purpose of not delaying the flight’s departure, and without the liability to the passenger for loss or expense due to the passenger’s failure to comply with the provisions of this Article.

7.1 Right to Refuse Carriage

ARTICLE 7 CARRIAGE REFUSALS AND RESTRICTIONS

1.20 “Unchecked Baggage” means any baggage of the passenger which the passenger takes sole custody of other than checked baggage, also referred to as “carry-on baggage”.

7.1.2 Except to the extent caused by a physical or mental disability as required by applicable law, the passenger is not fit for travel because of his/her conduct, age, or mental or physical state, or discomfort by making himself objectionable to other passengers, or involvement of any hazard or risk to himself or herself or to other persons and property.

ARTICLE 2 SCOPE OF USE

2.1.1 Except as provided in 2.1.2, 2.2 and 2.3, these Conditions apply to all domestic and international carriage by air of passengers and baggage performed by Lanmei Airlines for monetary compensation.

2.1.2 These Conditions also apply to no-charge and reduced fares carriages except to the extent that Lanmei Airlines has provided otherwise in its regulations or in the relevant contracts or tickets.

2.1.3 Unless otherwise provided, in the event of any inconsistency between these any other regulations Lanmei Airlines may have dealing with particular subjects, these General Conditions of Carriage shall prevail.

2.2 Charter According to the transportation incorporated in the charter agreement, passengers and baggage that have been accepted to transportation by charter should accord with Lanmei Airlines’ charter agreement provisions. These Conditions shall be taken as final when the context is outside the charter agreement.

2.3 Exceptions To the extent that any provision contained or referred to herein is contrary to anything contained in the Conventions, laws, government regulations, orders or requirements, those Conventions, laws, government regulations, orders or requirements shall be taken as final. The other provisions of these Conditions remain valid.

ARTICLE 3 TICKETS 3.1 Ticket is Preliminary Evidence of the Contract of Carriage The ticket is the preliminary evidence of the contract of carriage between the issuing carrier and the passenger. The carrier will provide carriage only to the passenger holding such a ticket, or any other carrier document issued by the carrier or its authorized agent and will assume liability pursuant to these carriage provisions. The ticket remains at all times the property of the issuing Carrier indeed. The Conditions of Contract contained on the ticket are a summary of some of the provisions of these Conditions of Carriage.

3.2 Provisions for Using Tickets 3.2.1 A person who uses a paper ticket shall not be entitled to be carried on a flight unless that person presents a ticket that is valid and duly issued in accordance with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations and contains the flight coupon for that flight and all other unused flight coupons and the passenger coupon. A passenger shall furthermore not be entitled to be carried if the ticket presented is damaged and incomplete or if it has been altered otherwise than by Lanmei Airlines or its Authorized Agent.

7.1.3 The passenger has failed to observe the instructions of Lanmei Airlines or the government, or has not abided by the Lanmei Airlines crew’s arrangement and advice.

7.1.4 The passenger has refused to submit to a security check (personal or baggage).

7.1.5 The passenger has not, according to the regulations, paid the applicable fares or taxes or Lanmei Airlines does not accept his/her credit payment.

7.1.6 The passenger does not show his passport, visa or other valid travel documents.

7.1.7 The passenger may seek to enter a country illegally through which he is in transit, or may destroy his documentation during the flight, or will not surrender travel documents to be held by the flight crew, against receipt, when so requested by Lanmei Airlines.

7.1.8 The ticket has been acquired unlawfully or has been purchased from an entity other than the issuing Carrier or its Authorized Agent, or has been reported as being lost or stolen, or is a counterfeit ticket, or has been altered by anyone other than the Carrier or its Authorized Agent, or has been mutilated. Lanmei Airlines reserves the right to retain such paper tickets.

8.3 Right of Check For reasons of carriage safety and security, Lanmei Airlines can check passenger’s baggage according to the regulation. For the purpose of determining whether passenger carried or carried secretly items in the baggage described in 8.1.1and 8.1.3 above, Lanmei Airlines may check, scan or X-ray check the passenger’s baggage even if he or she does not present. If any damage occurs because of the X-ray check or scan, Lanmei Airlines takes no responsibility unless the damage is the result of a Lanmei Airlines negligence. If the passenger is unwilling to comply with such a request, Lanmei Airlines may refuse to carry the passenger or the baggage.

8.4 hecked Baggage 8.4.1 Upon delivery to Lanmei Airlines of baggage to be checked, Lanmei Airlines shall take custody thereof and issue a baggage identification tag for each piece of checked baggage.

7.3.1 Unaccompanied Minors Children aged below 12 shall not be accepted for carriage unless they are accompanied by a person of at least 18 years old.

7.3.2 Young Passenger Travelling Alone (YPTA) Children aged between 12 and 16 shall be accepted for carriage only if a parent or a legal guardian signs a Limited Liability Statement upon check-in.

7.3.3 Pregnant Guests 7.3.3.1 Pregnancy up to 27 weeks (inclusive): Guest must sign Lanmei Airlines Limited Liability Statement at the time of check-in to absolve Lanmei Airlines against any liabilities arising there from

In case of loss or mutilation of a ticket (or part of it) or non-presentation of a Ticket containing the Passenger Coupon and all unused Flight Coupons, the passenger shall take full responsibility.

3.3.2 Reporting the Loss of Tickets 3.3.2.1 In case of loss or mutilation of a ticket (or part of it) or non-presentation of a Ticket containing the Passenger Coupon and all unused Flight Coupons, the passenger should file a written loss report at a ticket office of Lanmei Airlines or its sales agent.

3.3.2.2 When reporting the loss of a ticket, the passenger should show his or her valid identification and provide the date, place and itinerary of the ticket that was originally purchased. If the person who reports the loss of ticket is not the actual passenger, the valid identification card of this person and a notarized letter which the passenger has signed should be presented.

3.3.3.3 Before the passenger reports the loss of a ticket, in case of any fraud or use of the whole (or part) of the ticket by a third party, Lanmei Airlines will not be liable and may refuse a refund for the lost ticket or a replacement for the ticket.

3.3.3 Repurchasing Tickets Passengers can repurchase the ticket according to the original schedule and date and apply for a refund of the lost ticket.

3.3.4 Refund for Lost Tickets If passenger wants to refund the lost ticket directly, he or she must report the lost ticket according to 3.3.2. The lost ticket will be refunded provided no fraud or use by a third party has been confirmed by Lanmei Airlines.

3.4 Ticket not Transferable 3.4.1 Tickets are not transferable.

3.4.2 If someone other than the person entitled to be carried on a ticket travels pursuant to that ticket or is given a refund in connection therewith, Lanmei Airlines shall not be liable to the person with the original right to use of the ticket.

3.4.3 If a ticket were to be used or refunded by any person other than the person entitled to be carried, Lanmei Airlines would not be liable to the person entitled to be carried or refunded.

3.5 Period of Validity of the Ticket 3.5.1 A ticket is valid for carriage for one year from the date of commencement of travel or if no portion of the ticket is used, from the date of issue thereof, except as otherwise provided in the ticket, these Conditions or Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

3.5.2 The validity period of a special fare ticket is calculated according to Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

3.5.3 The validity of a ticket is calculated from the date of commencement of travel or 00:00 of the next day upon which a ticket is issued to 00:00 of the next day of the expiration date.

3.6 Extension of Validity of the Ticket 3.6.1 If for the following reasons, the passenger is prevented from travelling within the period of validity of the ticket, the validity of the passenger’s ticket will be extended until Lanmei Airlines’ first flight on which space is available in the class of service for which the fare has been paid: 3.6.1 .1 Cancellation of the flight on which the passenger holds a reservation; 3.6.1 .2 Omission of a scheduled stop, being the passenger’s place of departure, place of destination or a stopover;

are scabbed over

Measles

5 days after the rash first appeared

3.6.1 .4 Causing the passenger to miss a connection flight;

Mumps

5 days after the swelling first started

3.6.1 .5 Inability to provide a previously confirmed space.

Rubella

5 days after the rash first appeared

Tuberculosis

If medical certificate proves that the guest is not infectious

3.6.1 .3 Failure to operate a flight reasonably according to schedule;

3.6.2When a passenger, after having commenced his/her journey, is prevented from travelling within the period of validity of his/ her ticket by reason of illness, Lanmei Airlines will extend the period of validity of that passenger’s ticket until the date when he/she becomes fit enough to travel according to a medical certificate, or until Lanmei Airlines’ first flight after such date from the point where the journey is resumed on which space is available in the class of service for which the fare has been paid, except where Lanmei Airlines regulations provide otherwise. When the flight coupons remaining in the ticket include one or more stopovers, the validity of the ticket, subject to Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations, will be extended for not more than three months from the date when the passenger becomes fit to travel according to the medical certificate. In such circumstances, Lanmei Airlines will extend similarly the period of validity of tickets of other members of his or her immediate family (a maximum of two) accompanying an incapacitated passenger.

3.6.3 In the event of the death of a passenger en route, the Tickets of persons accompanying the passenger may be modified by waiving the minimum stay or extending the period of validity. In the event of a death in the immediate family of a passenger who has commenced travel, the validity of the passenger’s ticket and those of his or her immediate family who are accompanying the passenger, may likewise be modified. Any such modification shall be made upon receipt of a valid death certificate and any such extension of validity shall not be for a period of longer than forty-five (45) days from the date of the death shown on the death certificate.

Accompanying passengers are limited to two. The family members described above include: spouses, parents, offspring, brothers and sisters, grandparents, grandchildren, sons or daughters in law, parents-in-law, and other blood relatives to three generations,

Whooping Cough

5 days after starting antibiotic treatment or 3 weeks after the onset of symptoms if not treated

7.3.6 Passengers with specific requirements requiring special assistance and passengers with medical conditions / illnesses including those that may require administering or carrying medication / syringes onboard are requested to contact us via our website or our call center at least 72 hours before the scheduled flight departure date to make prior arrangement for the type of special assistance required.

7.4 Arrangements for Passengers Refused to be Carried

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8.10 Delivery of Baggage

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8.12 Animals

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ARTICLE 9 SCHEDULE, DELAYS, CANCELLATION OF FLIGHTS

9.1.1 Lanmei Airlines makes every effort to abide by the published timetable transporting passengers and their luggage within a reasonable period of time. Flight time and plane model shown in schedule or other places are not guaranteed, but just predetermined time and models and do not form part of the contract of carriage. Timetables or other publications of schedules or statements and representations made by employees, agents or representatives of Lanmei Airlines as to the dates or times of departure and arrival or the operation of any flight are just for reference.

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9.2 The Cancellation and Changes of Flights

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9.1.3 Lanmei Airlines may change flight schedules after selling tickets. Lanmei Airlines attempts to contact passengers about schedule change information, if passengers provide valid contact information. If Lanmei Airlines makes a change of 4 or more than 4 hours about the STD (Scheduled Time of Departure) of a flight that passengers cannot accept and Lanmei Airlines cannot arrange acceptable alternative traffic options for customers after selling the tickets, passenger can request a refund in accordance with the provisions of 11.5, Article 11.

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9.1.2 Lanmei Airlines will not be liable for errors or omissions in timetables or other publications of schedules or in statements or representations made by employees, agents or representatives of Lanmei Airlines, unless the errors or omissions are caused by Lanmei Airlines intentionally or a knowingly reckless act or omission.

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According to the aircraft conditions, animal carriage is not permitted on Lanmei Airlines.

9.1 The Schedule

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8.9.1 The Passenger must have a valid passenger ticket to transport checked baggage.

8.9.2 After baggage delivery, the passenger receives a baggage identification tag for each piece of Checked Baggage, which must be used for baggage collection.

8.11.1 Seat Baggage 8.11.1.1 If the baggage has to take up a seat, the passenger should request space in advance when reserving the seat, and the baggage can only be transported with the permission of Lanmei Airlines.

8.11.1.2 The passenger takes responsibility for the seat baggage he or she carries. The weight of seat baggage for each seat may not be in excess of 75kg and the baggage should be properly packed. To guarantee the safety of the flight, the seats of the passengers and their seat baggage shall be designated by Lanmei Airlines and for the entire trip the baggage should be secured by safety belt.

When necessary, the baggage should be fastened by a cross arm brace.

8.11.1.3 Seat baggage is not included in free baggage allowance and the fare is charged according to the adult ticket fare of the passenger.

8.11.1.4 If the transportation is managed by successive carriers, the agreement of the corresponding successive carriers should be obtained.

8.11.2 Fragile or valuable baggage will be dealt with in addition to the regulations in these conditions; if the baggage requires a seat, management should follow 8.11.1.

8.11.3 Diplomatic bags 8.11.3.1 According to the request of diplomatic couriers, Lanmei Airlines can treat this as checked baggage and the carrier bears only the normal checked baggage responsibility.

8.11.3.2 If diplomatic bags require seats, 8.11.1 is applied.

Chicken Pox

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8.9 Collection and Delivery of Baggage

For safety reasons Lanmei Airlines can carry only a maximum of 3 passengers per flight who have required wheelchair service. We may require that you travel with a companion, and you are requested to contact us via our website or our call center at least 72 hours before the scheduled flight departure date to make prior arrangement for the type of special assistance required.

5 days after the rash first appeared, providing the spots

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8.8.1 A passenger may declare a value for checked baggage if the value of the baggage is more than USD20.00 per kilogram or its equivalent currencies.

8.8.2 The value declared cannot be in excess of the real value of the checked baggage. Lanmei Airlines may refuse carriage of certain high value items.

8.8.3 Lanmei Airlines will charge additional value declaration expenses if the value declared by the passenger is over 0.5% of the highest value declared regulated in 8.8.1.

8.8.4 Lanmei Airlines does not apply value declaration to unchecked baggage, seat baggage, diplomatic bags and other special items, for example musical instruments. For specific inquiries, please contact Lanmei Airlines or its authorized agent.

8.8.5 Lanmei Airlines does not apply value declaration to any small animal carried by a passenger.

8.8.6 If partial transportation of the baggage with value declaration is carried by other carriers that do not offer a value declaration service, Lanmei Airlines has the right to refuse the offer value declaration service for Carried Baggage.

8.11 Seat Baggage – Special Regulations for Carriage of Fragile, Precious Objects and Diplomatic Bags

When may guests travel?

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8.7.1 Excess baggage can be carried only after the passenger pays the excess baggage charge and Lanmei Airlines issues an excess baggage check.

7.3.4 Wheelchair Guests

Illness

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8.7 Excess Baggage

8.10.4 When passengers claim baggage and do not offer a written objection, it will create a rebuttable presumption that the baggage has been delivered according to the transportation contract.

7.3.5.3 Medical Conditions/Illnesses That Requires Proof of Medical Certificate: The following table includes, but not exhaustive, a list of infectious, contagious and chronic diseases that requires a medical certification. It also states the safe travel period.

ARTICLE 12 CONDUCT ABOARD AIRCRAFT 12.1 General Provisions

8.6.4 Baby buggies, manual wheelchairs, mobility devices and walking frames are carried free of charge provided these items are used by passengers in the course of travelling.

7.3.3.3 Pregnancy 35 weeks and above: carriage not permitted on Lanmei Airlines

• A heart attack or angioplasty • Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) or Pulmonary Embolism (PE) • Stroke (CVA) or head injury • Surgery on the heart, chest or abdomen • Joint replacement or amputation

11.7.2 Lanmei Airlines may refuse a refund on a ticket which has been presented to Lanmei Airlines or to government officials of a country as evidence of intention to depart therefore, unless the passenger establishes to Lanmei Airlines’ satisfaction that he/ she has permission to remain in the country or that he/she will depart therefore by another carrier or another means of transport.

8.6.3 When two or more passengers, travelling as one party to a common destination or point of stopover by the same flight, present themselves and their baggage for travelling at the same time and place, their free baggage allowance is permitted to be calculated together according to the standard ticket price level regulations of each.

8.10.3 When claiming the baggage without showing the baggage check and identification tag, a proof approved by Lanmei Airlines should be presented, or agreement of the compensation of possible damage to Lanmei Airlines according to regulation should be declared when necessary, then he or she can claim the baggage.

A guest also does not need to show any medical certificate for any of the following medical conditions/illnesses, as long as it has occurred more than three (3) months prior to the applicable flight departure date, is stable and the guest feels well (provided no oxygen is required during the flight):

11.7.1 Lanmei Airlines may refuse refunds when a ticket is not permitted to be refunded according to applicable fares or Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

8.6.2 Each passenger occupying seats is entitled 15kg checked baggage allowance. An excess baggage fee will be charged based on the regulation stated in 8.7.2 by Lanmei Airlines.

• Submit a doctor’s medical certificate confirming the number of weeks of pregnancy and the certificate shall be dated not more than thirty (30) days from either the scheduled outbound or the scheduled inbound flight departure date as the case may be.

• Sign Lanmei Airlines Limited Liability Statement at the time of check-in to absolve Lanmei Airlines against any liabilities arising there from.

7.3.5.2 Medical conditions/illnesses that does not require proof of medical certificate: As long as the condition or injury is stable and the guests feels well.

• Paralysis • Motor Neurone Disease • Multiple Sclerosis • Parkinson • Allergies to certain food • High blood pressure or high cholesterol • Diabetes •Blood disorders such as anaemia (provided no oxygen is required) • Epilepsy (only if you have not had a seizure within 24 hours prior to your flight departure time) • Arthritis • Insect bites • Minor injuries such as: toe and finger injuries; twisted ankles; pulled muscles; small cuts • Sunburn • Hepatitis B or C • Dengue fever • Viral Meningitis • Malaria • Cholera - when the symptoms have settled and guest feels well enough to travel and the public health authority in the destination country allows travel.

• Hepatitis A - when guest feels well enough to travel • Shingles - if the rash is not weeping or is covered • Yellow Fever - Once the guest feels well enough to travel and the public authority in the destination country allows travel • Flu - once the symptoms have resolved

11.7 Right to Refuse Refunds

8.6.1 Passengers should comply with the free unchecked (carry-on) baggage allowance according to the conditions stated in 8.5.

8.10.2 It is only the person with a baggage check and baggage identification tag who has the right to collect the checked baggage.

Please note that due to our operational set up, we are not able to accept guests requiring a continuous flow of oxygen during the flight.

11.6.1 If no portion of the Ticket has been used, an amount equal to the fare paid, less any reasonable service charges or cancellation (refund) fees.

11.6.2 If a portion of the Ticket has been used, the refund will be an amount equal to the difference between the fare paid and the applicable fare for travel between the points for which the Ticket has been used, less any reasonable service charges or cancellation fees.

8.6 Free Baggage Allowance

• Submit an approved doctor’s medical certificate.

7.3.5.1 Definition of medical conditions/illnesses: • A pre-existing medical condition; or • An unstable medical condition; or • A recent illness, injury, surgery or hospitalization; or •Intention to seek treatment overseas; or •An infectious, contagious or chronic disease.

If the passenger wishes to refund his/her ticket, the amount of the refund shall be calculated in following regulations:

8.5.4 If the weight or size of the passenger’s baggage goes against the regulations of 8.5.2, and is unsuitable to be transported in the cargo compartment, such as a delicate musical instrument, the passenger shall inform Lanmei Airlines in advance if he or she wants to carry it as unchecked baggage. Only after receiving consent from Lanmei Airlines may the baggage may be carried into the cabin. Charges will be issued according to the seat space taken up in the cabin.

8.10.1 Passengers shall claim their baggage at the destination or stopover with their checked baggage identification tag as early as possible.

3.3 Loss of Tickets

11.4.3 Except in the case of lost tickets, refunds will only be made on surrender to Lanmei Airlines of the passenger coupon or passenger receipt and surrender of all unused flight coupons. The passenger who buys an electronic ticket should show his or her valid identity card.

8.5.2 Unless otherwise specified, the weight of carry-on baggage should not exceed 7kg, and the maximum volume should not exceed 20cm x 40cm x 55cm. Under the piece calculation system, unchecked baggage taken into the cabin may not exceed 7kg and the total length of its three edges may not exceed 115cm. Baggage which exceeds the above regulations should be transported as checked baggage.

7.3.3.2 Pregnancy between 28 weeks and 34 weeks (inclusive): Guest must:

7.3.5 Guests with Medical Condition/Illness

11.4.2 If a ticket has been paid for by a person other than the passenger named in the ticket, the person applying for the refund must provide an original copy of an identification document of the person named on the ticket as well as a letter of authorization from that person while providing an original copy of his/her own identification document.

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8.8 Value Declaration and Charge

Acceptance for the carriage of unaccompanied-children, incapacitated persons, pregnant women, persons with an illness or those passengers requiring special assistance may be subject to prior arrangement with Lanmei Airlines, in accordance with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

11.4.1 Lanmei Airlines shall be entitled to make a refund to the person named in the ticket.

8.5.1 Baggage which the passenger carries on to the aircraft must fit under the seat in front of the passenger or in an enclosed storage compartment in the cabin.

7.2 Lanmei Airlines has the right to determine the carriage of passenger and baggage when the actual passengers exceed the maximum load of the aircraft. Lanmei Airlines will inform such passengers before the airplane takes off and the ticket will be dealt with as an involuntary endorsement or involuntary refund.

7.3 Limitations on Carriage

11.4 Person to Whom Refund Will Be Made; Documents Needed and Discharge

8.5 Unchecked (Carry-On) Baggage

8.7.2 Unless otherwise specified, if baggage exceeds the weight limit specified, the excess baggage charge per kilogram is 1.5% of the highest valid adult direct one way fare on the day of the issuance of the excess baggage check.

To make air travel safe and comfortable, guests with medical conditions, unless otherwise determined by us, are required to produce a valid medical certificate dated no more than 7 days from the date of travel and sign a Limited Liability Statement upon check in confirming that they are fit to travel.

3.3.1 General

8.4.4 Unless otherwise specified, the weight and dimensions of checked baggage may not exceed Lanmei Airlines’ regulations.

Those that exceed the regulations should be transported as cargo.

7.1.9 The person presenting the ticket cannot prove that he is the person named in the ticket. Lanmei Airlines reserves the right to retain such paper tickets.

3.2.2 A person who uses an electronic ticket shall not be entitled to be carried on a flight unless that person provides valid identification and valid status of the electronic ticket checked by Lanmei Airlines or its ground service agent. The electronic ticket itinerary only records the passenger’s travel information, and cannot be regarded as the necessary evidence for the passenger to check in and have security inspection.

The following regulations are used for the loss of tickets and baggage checks issued by Lanmei Airlines and its authorized sales agent.

All refunds will be subject to government laws, and related regulations of the country in which the ticket was originally purchased and of the country in which the refund is being made. Refunds will be made in the currency in which the ticket was paid for, or in the currency of the country where the ticket was purchased or where the refund is being made.

11.5.1 If no portion of the Ticket has been used, the entire paid fare will be refunded.

7.1.1 In order to comply with any applicable laws, regulations or orders of any state or country to be flown from, into or through.

2. 1 General

11.3 Currency

8.2.1 Lanmei Airlines may refuse carriage of baggage of such items described in 8.1.1 of this Article and may refuse further carriage of any such items on discovery thereof during carriage.

1.19 “Checked Baggage” means Baggage of which the carrier takes sole custody and for which the carrier has issued a baggage check.

1.29 “SDR” means a Special Drawing Right as defined by the International Monetary Fund.

A refund should be made at the place where the ticket was issued or another place agreed by Lanmei Airlines.

8.2 Right to Refuse Carriage

Lanmei Airlines may refuse carriage of any passenger or passenger’s baggage for reasons of safety or in the exercise of its reasonable discretion due to following circumstances:

1.28 “Special Fare” refers to fares other than normal fares.

11.2 Place for Refund

The passenger recognizes that personal data has been given to Lanmei Airlines for the purposes of making a reservation for carriage, obtaining ancillary services, facilitating immigration and entry requirements. For these purposes the passenger authorizes Lanmei Airlines to retain such data and to transmit it to government organizations, its own offices, other carriers or the providers of such services, in whatever country they may be located.

1.18 “Baggage” means such articles carried by a passenger that are necessary or appropriate for his/her wear, use, comfort or convenience in connection with the trip. Unless otherwise specified, it shall include both checked and unchecked baggage (carry-on) of the passenger.

1.27 “Normal Fare” means the highest fare established for a first, business or economy class service during the period of applicability, including the corresponding fares of children’s and infant’s tickets.

11.1.4 Infants are exempt from refund fee.

5.3 Personal Data

6.2 Boarding

1.26 “Damages” refers to losses incurred through bodily injury or death of a passenger sustained and caused in or related to the transportation provided by the Carrier, damage to or destruction of Checked Baggage and other damages.

11.1.3 The passenger should request a refund within the validity period of the Ticket. Lanmei Airlines may refuse a refund where application is made after the expiry date of the validity of the Ticket.

11.5 Involuntary Refunds Because of one of the reasons about involuntary refunds listed in 3.6.1 of Article 3, 9.1.3 of Article 9, 9.2 of Article 9 and 11.1.2 of Article 11, refunds will be made according to following regulations upon the passenger’s request:

1.15 “Passenger Coupon” means that portion of the Paper Ticket, which is so marked and which is to be retained by the passenger for the duration.

1.25 “Stopover” means a deliberate interruption to the journey by the passenger, at a point between the place of departure and the place of destination, which has been agreed to in advance by the Carrier.

11.1.2 Ticket returns include voluntary return and involuntary return. Voluntary return means a passenger requests for a refund due to his or her own reason. Involuntary return means a passenger requests for a refund due to carrier’s reasons, weather reason, government reason and other force majeure reason. Carrier’s reasons include improper flight maintenance, wrong flight deployment, dereliction of commercial or maintenance duty and other reasons that can be expected, addressed and avoided by Lanmei Airlines.

If the passenger has not paid for his/her ticket within the prescribed ticketing time limit, the reservation may be cancelled by Lanmei Airlines or its Authorized Agent.

5.2 Ticketing Time Limit

6.1.2 The passenger who has made a reservation can check-in directly at the check-in counter, while those who haven’t made a reservation shall be processed as a a standby at check-in according to Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

1.24 “Agreed Stopping Places” means those places, except the place of departure and the place of destination, set out in the Ticket or shown in the carrier’s timetables as scheduled stopping places on the passenger’s route.

11.1.1 On failure by Lanmei Airlines to provide carriage in accordance with the contract ofcarriage, or where a passenger requests a voluntary change of his or her arrangements, a refund for an unused ticket or portion thereof shall be made by Lanmei Airlines or its authorized agent in accordance with this Article and with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

8.1.4.1 Fragile and easily damaged baggage 8.1.4.2 Improperly packed baggage 8.1.4.3 Small animals, fresh and alive objects, perishable goods or perishable goods carried in the baggage 8.1.4.4 The passenger was late in presenting the baggage for transportation 8.1.4.5 Damaged baggage 8.1.4.6 Checked Baggage whose weight and size is out of the limitation regulated by the carrier or oversized baggage 8.1.4.7 Unlocked baggage or baggage with a broken lock 8.1.4.8 Unchecked Baggage whose size exceeds the limitation of the baggage in the cabin

1.14 “Conjunction Ticket” means a ticket issued to a passenger in conjunction with another ticket, which together constitute a single contract of carriage.

1.23 “Excess Baggage” means the portion of baggage which exceeds the free baggage allowance calculated by weight or piece.

Article 11 Ticket Returns

11.1 General

5.1.2 As provided in Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations, certain fares may have conditions which limit or exclude the passenger’s right to change or cancel reservations. For specific provisions regarding such ticket prices, please refer to the corresponding transportation price provisions.

8.4.3 Best efforts should be made by Lanmei Airlines for checked baggage to be carried on the same aircraft as the passenger, however for the purpose of safety, security or transportation, in the event passenger’s checked baggage cannot be transported with the same aircraft, Lanmei Airlines should explain to the passenger its intention to carry the checked baggage on the next flight on the condition that the security is confirmed and space is available.

1.22 “Baggage Ticket” means the document released by the carrier used especially for identification of Checked Baggage.

10.4.1 The Carrier’s flight does not stop at the destination or stopover of the passenger.

10.4.2 The Carrier does not provide the travelers with pre-reserved seats.

10.4.3 The Carrier causes the passenger to miss the reserved connecting flight.

8.1.4 Items that shall have an exemption baggage tag attached Due to the value, nature of contents or possible passenger negligence which would lead to controversy when accepting baggage, Lanmei Airlines shall attach an exemption baggage tag to exempt the corresponding responsibility of Lanmei Airlines. Such baggage may include:

6.1.1 Cut-off times for check in are different at each airport. The passenger shall arrive at the airport within the prescribed time limit to complete ticket inspection, baggage checking and boarding pass issuance with valid personal identification.

1.21 “Baggage Tag” refers to the label that distinguishes the baggage and the document that allows the passenger to receive checked baggage.

10.4 When the Carrier causes the passenger to change his flight involuntarily; the Carrier should handle the problem according to the regulations of 10.3.1, 10.3.2 and 10.3.3 in this article. In addition, such services as a rest area, beverages, meals, accommodations and some other necessary services shall be provided to the passenger at no charge in accordance with Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations.

5.1.1 A reservation is not confirmed until it is recognized by Lanmei Airlines or its Authorized Agent. Only when the passenger has paid for his ticket within the reservation and ticketing time limit prescribed in Lanmei Airlines’ Regulations and the ticket is issued by Lanmei Airlines or its Authorized Agent, and the reservation entered on the appropriate flight coupon, is a reservation considered valid and effective.

1.13 “Electronic Ticket Itinerary” means a paper document that contains information such as passenger name, route and price, etc.

1.17 “Days” means calendar days, including all seven days of the week; provided that, for the purpose of passenger notification, the day upon which notice is dispatched shall not be counted; and provided further that for purposes of determining duration of validity of a Ticket, the day upon which the Ticket is issued, or the day upon which the flight commences, shall not be counted.

10.3.4 Assist the passenger in services such as accommodation and ground transfers. The expenses of the passenger from departure are the responsibility of the passenger.

8.1.3.2 Antique swords or knives considered tourist souvenirs and similar objects may only be transported as checked baggage within the relevant regulations.

8.4.2 Passengers shall label the name, contact method or other personal identification mark on the inside or outside of the checked baggage.

1.16 “Flight Coupon” means that portion of the Paper Ticket that bears the notation “good for passage”, indicating that this flight coupon is used for transportation between two appointedplaces.

10.3.3 Handle the problem according to the regulations 11.5 of Article 11 (involuntary refunds) of these conditions.

ARTICLE 5 RESERVATIONS

5.1 General

ARTICLE 6 CHECK-IN AND BOARDING

1.12 “Electronic Ticket” is a replacement for a paper ticket, whereby the information on the paper ticket is stored in the system database in the form of electronic data, and serves as proof of sale, account and transportation.

10.3.2 Change the passengers’ flight and arrange the passenger’s flight to send the passenger to the destination or stopover.

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As one of the following conditions, Lanmei Airlines may cancel, terminate, modify, extend or delay the flights without prior notification. m

9.2.1 To abide by the laws, regulations and orders of the state.

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9.2.3 A reason carrier cannot control or predict 9.3 Arrangements for Irregular Flights

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9.3.1 Rebook the passenger on its first subsequent flights on which space is available.

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9.3.2 Change the itinerary and arrange Lanmei Airlines flights delivering passenger to the destination or to a stopover point. The differences of the ticket fare, excess baggage fare and other service will be paid by Lanmei Airlines.

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9.3.3 Provide a refund according to the relative regulations about involuntary refund in 11. 5 of Article 11.

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Due to one of the 9.2 listed reasons, if Lanmei Airlines cancels or delays its flight or fails to provide an already reserved seat to the passengre（ i n cluding desired class); or causes passengers fail to arrive at the point of stopover or destination, or causes passengers holding reserved seats flight to miss connections, it will consider the reasonable needs of travelers to take the following measures for passengers to select:

9.4 Limited Liability In addition to those measures above, Lanmei Airlines takes no further responsibility to the passenger unless otherwise stated in the Convention.

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ARTICLE 10 TICKET CHANGES 10.1 When a passenger who has not yet begun travelling or has begun travelling but has not yet reached their destination requests to change the specified unused flight, destination, seat class, flight or the validity period of the Ticket, it is defined as a voluntary itinerary change. When the Carrier cancels the flight for which space is reserved, cancels the landing at the destination or the stopovers of the passenger, does not fly reasonably according to the schedule, or cannot provide reserved space, and causes the passengers to change their itinerary, it is defined as an involuntary itinerary change.

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10.2 The handling of voluntary itinerary changes of flight and date will be carried out in accordance with the following regulations:

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10.2.1 Infants are exempt from charges of ticket change.

10.2.2 After the itinerary change, the validity period of the new ticket shall be the same as the original one and it will be counted from 00:00 of the following day after the beginning of transportation specified on the first flight coupon of the original ticket.

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10.2.3 If a flight or date change is requested after the passenger purchases the ticket, Lanmei Airlines and its sales agent enterprise will handle the arrangements provided there is a usable seat on the flight and time allows.

10.3 If the execution of 9.2 in Article 9 causes the passenger to have an involuntary itinerary, the Carrier shall, with due consideration to the passenger’s reasonable needs, either: 10.3.1 Rebook the passenger on the first flight where space is available.

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Thursday, July 9, 2020

The World BusinessMirror

US notifies UN of withdrawal from World Health Organization R

Editor: Angel R. Calso

Brazil’s President Bolsonaro tests positive for coronavirus

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ASHINGTON—The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, although the pullout won’t take effect until next year, meaning it could be rescinded under a new administration or if circumstances change. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said he would reverse the decision on his first day in office if elected.

The withdrawal notification makes good on President Donald Trump’s vow in late May to terminate US participation in the WHO, which he has harshly criticized for its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused of bowing to Chinese influence.

The move was immediately assailed by health officials and critics of the administration, including numerous Democrats who said it would cost the US influence in the global arena.

Biden has said in the past he supports the WHO and pledged on Tuesday to rejoin the WHO if he defeats Trump in November.

“Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as president, I will rejoin the WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage,” he said.

Trump is trailing Biden in multiple polls and has sought to

deflect criticism of his administration’s handling of the virus by aggressively attacking China and the WHO. The withdrawal notice was sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday and will take effect in a year, on July 6, 2021, the State Department and the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The State Department said the US would continue to seek reform of the WHO, but referred to Trump’s June 15 response when asked if the administration might change its mind. “I’m not reconsidering, unless they get their act together, and I’m not sure they can at this point,” Trump said.

Guterres, in his capacity as depositary of the 1946 WHO constitution, “is in the process of verifying with the World Health Organization whether all the conditions for such withdrawal are met,” his spokesman, Stephane

Malaysian palm oil giant hit with forced labor allegations

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I N N E A P O L I S —A n a nt i - t ra f f i c k i n g organization has filed a petition to ban the importation of palm oil produced by one of the world’s largest suppliers, saying it found evidence of child and forced labor on plantations that supply American food and cosmetics companies.

The petition against Malaysia-based Sime Darby Plantation Berhad was filed with US Customs and Border Protection by the nonprofit group Liberty Shared. The Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits entry to goods that arrive at US ports if there is reason to believe they contain materials made with forced labor.

Managing Director Duncan Jepson said on Tuesday his group interviewed local and foreign workers over a two-year period, met with civil society groups and scrutinized public disclosures, audit reports, and sustainability initiatives.

In addition to child and forced labor—including deception during the recruitment process, threats and intimidation, the retention of passports, withholding of wages, and inadequate living conditions—Liberty

Shared found that Sime Darby had taken few concrete steps to prevent abuses.

The company did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment.

Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil, the most consumed edible oil. Sime Darby is one of the largest producers.

While the industry has come under heavy criticism in recent years for destroying rain forests to make way for plantations, attention has shifted in recent years to conditions faced by its army of workers, around 80 percent of whom are migrants. The petition against Sime Darby—made public this week—follows two others against another of Malaysia’s palm oil giants, FGV Holdings Berhad (FGV), one by a law firm and the other by a coalition of labor, environmental and social justice NGOs. Palm oil can be found in up to half of all products currently on grocery store shelves in the US and Europe, from cookies, crackers and cake mixes to soap, laundry detergent and many popular cosmetics brands. AP

China calls U.S. invite to nuclear arms talks a ploy to derail them

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EIJING—A senior Chinese arms control official called US pressure to join nuclear arms talks with Russia an American ploy to avoid signing a new deal, and said China would gladly participate if the US would agree to parity among all three nations.

“I can assure you that if the US says that they are ready to come down to the Chinese level, China will be happy to participate the next day,” Fu Cong, the director general of the Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, said on Wednesday. “But actually, we know that that’s not going to happen.”

Fu spoke to journalists in Beijing after the US pointedly noted the Chinese absence at talks with Russia in Vienna two weeks ago on replacing the 2010 New START arms control treaty.

The pact, which expires in February, is between

the US and Russia, long the world’s major nuclear powers. The Trump administration wants China, as a rising military power, to join.

Fu called joining the talks unrealistic because China has a much smaller nuclear arsenal than the other two. By inviting China to join, the US is creating a pretext to walk away from the talks without replacing the treaty, he said.

“The real purpose is to get rid of all the restrictions and have a free hand in seeking military superiority over any adversary, real or imagined,” he said of US intentions.

US negotiator Marshall Billingslea told reporters after the recent talks in Vienna that any new agreement must subject China to restrictions.

He expressed hopes that others in the international community would pressure China to join the talks in the future. AP

Dujarric, said.

Under the terms of the withdrawal, the US must meet its financial obligations to the WHO before it can be finalized. The US, which is the agency’s largest donor and provides it with more than $450 million per year, currently owes the WHO some $200 million in current and past dues.

On May 29, less than two weeks after warning the WHO that it had 30 days to reform or lose US support, Trump announced his administration was leaving the organization due to what he said was its inadequate response to the initial outbreak of the coronavirus in China’s Wuhan province late last year.

The president said in a White House announcement that Chinese officials “ignored” their reporting obligations to the WHO and pressured the organization to mislead the public about an outbreak that has now killed more than 130,000 Americans.

“We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act,” Trump said at the time. “Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating the relationship.”

The withdrawal notification was widely denounced as misguided, certain to undermine an important institution that is leading vaccine development efforts and drug trials to address the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Republican chairman of Senate health committee, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, said he disagreed with the decision.

“Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might

have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it,” he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the move.

“The President’s official withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization is an act of true senselessness,” she said in a tweet. “With millions of lives at risk, the president is crippling the international effort to defeat the virus.”

And the top the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, said calling Trump’s “response to Covid chaotic and incoherent doesn’t do it justice.

This won’t protect American lives or interests—it leaves Americans sick and America alone.”

UN Foundation President Elizabeth Cousens called the move “short-sighted, unnecessary, and unequivocally dangerous. WHO is the only body capable of leading and coordinating the global response to Covid-19. Terminating the US relationship would undermine the global effort to beat this virus—putting all of us at risk.”

The ONE Campaign, which supports international health projects, called it an “astounding action” that jeopardizes global health.

“Withdrawing from the World Health Organization amidst an unprecedented global pandemic is an astounding action that puts the safety of all Americans and the world at risk. The US should use its influence to strengthen and reform the WHO, not abandon it at a time when the world needs it most,” ONE president Gayle Smith said. AP

IO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday he has tested positive for the new coronavirus after months of downplaying its severity while deaths mounted rapidly inside the country.

The 65-year-old right-wing populist who has been known to mingle in crowds without covering his face confirmed the results while wearing a mask and speaking to reporters huddled close in front of him in the capital, Brasilia.

He said he is taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that he, like President Donald Trump, has been promoting even though it has not been proven effective against Covid-19.

“I’m, well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendations,” Bolsonaro said. “I thought I had it before, given my very dynamic activity.

I’m president and on the combat lines. I like to be in the middle of the people.”

Brazil, the world’s sixth-biggest nation, with more than 210 million people, is one of the outbreak’s most lethal hot spots. More than 65,000 Brazilians have died from Covid-19, and over 1.5 million have been infected.

Both numbers are the world’s secondhighest totals, behind those of the US, though the true figures are believed to be higher because of a lack of widespread testing. On Tuesday alone, 1,254 deaths were confirmed.

Other world leaders who have had bouts with Covid-19 include British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince Albert II of Monaco and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández.

Bolsonaro is “the democratic leader who has most denied the seriousness of this pandemic,” said Maurício Santoro, a political science professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.

“Him getting infected is a blow to his credibility.

It will be seen as another example of the failure of his coronavirus response.”

Bolsonaro has often appeared in public to shake hands with supporters and mingle with crowds, at times without a mask. He has said that his history as an athlete would protect him from the virus and that it would be nothing more than a “little flu” if he were to contract it.

He has also repeatedly said that there is no way to prevent 70 percent of the population falling ill with Covid-19 and that local authorities’ efforts to shut down economic activity would ultimately cause more hardship than allowing the virus to run its course.

For nearly two months, Brazil’s fight against Covid-19 has been in the hands of an interim health minister with no health experience before April. He took over after his predecessor, a doctor and health care consultant, quit in protest over Bolsonaro’s support for hydroxychloroquine.

Bolsonaro on Tuesday likened the virus to a rain that will fall on most people and said that some, like the elderly, must take greater care.

“You can’t just talk about the consequences of the virus that you have to worry about. Life goes on. Brazil needs to produce. You need to get the economy in gear,” he said.

Brazilian cities and states last month began lifting restrictions that had been imposed to control the spread of the virus, as deaths began to decline along with the caseload in intensive care units.

Bolsonaro supporter Silas Ribeiro said on the streets of Rio that the president is correct in saying the dangers of the virus have been exaggerated.

“Our president is a popular man. He is showing that he isn’t afraid to die,” said Ribeiro, 59. “He is going to have health and get through this sickness.”

Speaking near recently reopened shops in Rio, Wesley Morielo said he hopes Bolsonaro’s sickness prompts him to reassess his stance.

“I think everything he said before, of not giving importance to Covid-19, came back against him,”said Morielo, a 24-year-old student.

The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, wished Bolsonaro a speedy recovery and said his infection “brings home the reality of this virus” by showing that it doesn’t distinguish between “prince or pauper.”

The president told reporters he underwent a lung X-ray on Monday after experiencing fever, muscle aches and malaise. As of Tuesday, his fever had subsided, he said, and he attributed the improvement to hydroxychloroquine.

He stepped back from the journalists and removed his mask at one point to show that he looks well.

Brazil’s benchmark Ibovespa stock index fell after Bolsonaro’s announcement, and closed 1.2 percent down on the day.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly visited the hospital since taking office, requiring several operations to repair his intestines after he was stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018.

He said on Tuesday that he canceled a trip this week to the country’s northeast region and will continue working via videoconference and receive rare visitors when he needs to sign a document. AP

8 Mississippi lawmakers test positive for Covid-19

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ACKSON, Mississippi—At least eight Mississippi lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus after working several weeks in a Capitol where many people stood or sat close together and did not wear masks.

Among those who have publicly acknowledged having Covid-19 are Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the 52-member Senate, and House Speaker Philip Gunn, who presides over that 122-member chamber.

The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said on Tuesday that there are also at least 11 other suspected cases of the virus among legislators and Capitol employees.

In addition, Dobbs said the virus is spreading in social gatherings across the state. Dobbs said, for example, he was told about teenagers having a party on a Pearl River sandbar in Jackson during the July 4 weekend and about people going without masks in restaurants and other public settings.

“You can’t put a lot of people together in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century and expect nothing bad to happen,” Dobbs said during a news conference. “It’s just absolutely an insane thought process.”

Mississippi legislators were at the Capitol for most of June and on July 1, wrapping up their annual session that was interrupted for several weeks by the pandemic.

G u n n , 57, a n n o u n c e d o n Sunday that he had tested positive for the virus. Hosemann, 73, has informed members of the Senate he tested positive for the virus and “will follow State Health Department guide-

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves signs the bill retiring the last state flag in the United States with the Confederate battle emblem, at the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, June 30, 2020. From left are his youngest daughter, Maddie Reeves; Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point; House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton; former Mississippi Supreme Court Judge Reuben Anderson; Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann; and Transportation Commissioner for the Central District Willie Simmons. AP/Rogelio V. Solis

lines by self-quarantining and working at home,” his spokeswoman Leah Rupp Smith said on Tuesday.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, 46, said on Monday he was in isolation with his wife and their three daughters at the Governor’s Mansion. They were tested for the coronavirus after he came into contact with a lawmaker who tested positive last week.

“My girls and I tested negative for Covid-19,” Reeves wrote Tuesday on Twitter. “Limited contact with the people who were diagnosed, but better safe than sorry!

If someone you know gets the virus, get a test!”

Reeves will follow social dista ncing g u idel ines a nd “w i l l continue to reduce contact with others as dramatically as possible, while still completing his duties as governor,” his spokesman, Renae Eze, said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says even if

people test negative for Covid-19 and feel healthy, they should remain in quarantine since symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure.

The Health Department said on Tuesday that Mississippi—with a population of about 3 million— has had at least 32,214 confirmed cases and 1,158 deaths from the coronavirus as of Monday evening. That was an increase of 957 confirmed cases and 44 deaths from numbers reported a day earlier; the latest count included 10 deaths between June 17 and June 28, with information from death certificates arriving later.

The number of coronavirus infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up within weeks. For others, especially older adults and people with existing

health problems, it can cause severe symptoms and be fatal.

Dobbs said the rapid increase in cases is stressing the health care system, including emergency rooms.

“My greatest fear is starting to be realized because there are people in ERs now across the state who can’t get a bed, they can’t get transferred where they need to go, and we’re sending them out of state,” Dobbs said.

Speaking of the Legislature, Dobbs said it’s risky to have any group of people in close proximity for an extended time.

“We know they were very busy and doing some really important work over the past couple of weeks, but it’s going to be risk, especially if people don’t maintain that distancing and masks,” Dobbs said.

Gunn and Hosemann stood near Reeves and others last week as the governor signed a bill retiring Mississippi’s 126-year-old state flag that had the Confederate battle emblem. None wore masks.

Democratic Rep. Bo Brown of Jackson announced last week that he had tested positive for Covid-19.

Republican Rep. Greg Haney of Gulfport announced Tuesday that he has the virus.

“We don’t know where we got it,” Haney told The Associated Press. “We had to eat out, so we could have got it from a waitress, waiter, you know, you can’t wear your mask while you eat.”

The Health Department had free drive-thru Covid-19 testing on Monday for legislators and others who work in the Capitol. Dobbs said 270 were tested. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Metrobank to use proceeds of notes sale for offshore investment, debt payments

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etropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) raised $500 million from its US dollar-denominated 5.5-year senior unsecured fixed-rate notes, expanding its corporate war chest.

“Upon issuance, the net proceeds from the bonds will be used to tap longer-term offshore funding, diversify Metrobank’s funding sources and finance maturing short-term borrowings,” the bank said in a disclosure on Wednesday.

The Ty-led bank said each note has a fixed coupon rate of 2.215 percent payable semiannually.

The offering was priced at US Treasury spread of T+200 basis points (bps) after initial price guidance of T+235 bps area.

The transaction was met with robust demand with the order book being oversubscribed by more than five times.

The order book mainly comprised transactions from Asia at 81 percent, while the remaining came from Europe, Middle East and Africa.

This issuance is the first venture of Metrobank in the international markets for its senior notes.

Last month, Metrobank raised P10.5 billion from its bond offering on the back of robust demand from investors. This offering is the sixth tranche out of the Metrobank’s P100-

billion bond and commercial paper program. Metrobank has accumulated P70.5 billion from bond offerings since November 2018.

The bank saw its net profits decline by 9 percent to P6.12 billion in the first three months from P6.75 billion last year for the same period on the back of higher provisions for bad loans.

Metrobank shares were down by 2.37 percent, or 90 centavos, to close at P37.10 each amid the 0.29-percent uptick for the benchmark index on Wednesday.

Metrobank President Fabian S. Dee said they are “very pleased” with the outcome of the issuance.

“This bond issuance will further enhance our business strength and optimize our capital structure especially in this current market environment,” Dee was quoted as saying.

Fernando Antonio A. Tansingco, the bank’s head of the financial markets sector, said that the issuance would allow the bank to diversify funding sources while “strengthening financial position toward recovery.”

UBS and First Metro Investment Corp. are the joint global coordinators and bookrunners while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Ltd. are the joint lead managers. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

Local fintech sector seen to get boost from regional counterparts

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he Philippine financial technology (fintech) industry is seen to further gain strength after FintechAlliance.ph signed a deal with an Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) group.

In a statement on Wednesday, the fintech group announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Asean Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) to promote the use of the API Exchange (Apix).

Apix is an online fintech marketplace and sandbox developed by the Asean network. “[The deal] enables interactions among financial institutions and fintech firms, collaboration on experiments in isolated testing environments and adoption of API [application programming interface] for quick deployment of digital solutions,” FintechAlliance.ph said.

FintechAlliance.ph is set to hold learning sessions on how to navigate the Apix platform among its members as part of the agreement.

FintechAlliance.ph Chairman Angelito M. Villanuave said they expect the deal would support the growth of the industry.

“Digital transformation and financial inclusion are mutual interests of our two organizations,” he said. “This partnership will ensure the speedier growth of the Philippine fintech industry through closer work with our Asean neighbors.”

Established in 2018, AFIN is a non-profit organization founded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Asean Bankers Association and the International Finance Corp.

Financial experts are saying that fintech could help bridge the gap between the unbanked sector to banking services, boosting financial inclusion via digital platforms.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas recently introduced a roadmap aimed at increasing digital retail transaction to 50 percent by 2023. The Central Bank is also eyeing 70 percent of the Filipino adult population for financial inclusion. Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

‘With billions in forgone revenue, time to rush economic reforms’ continued from A12

House will deliver

Salceda, meanwhile, said the House is ready and willing to “do its part” in getting what Finance Secretary Dominguez calls “legislative imperatives.”

Besides CREATE, the other legislative imperatives needed to spell a quick and strong bounce back for the economy are: infusing more capital to government financial institutions to enable them to assist micro, small and medium enterprises and other companies hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic; allowing banks to dispose of non-performing loans and assets; and amending the Agri-Agra Reform Credit Act to make it easier for banks to pump fresh capital into the farm sector.

“In the House, we already passed versions of Secretary Dominguez’s requests for capital infusion for government financial institutions, and allowing banks to manage non-performing loans. As you know, we passed our version of CREATE in 2019. And we passed Agri-Agra amendments last March,” Salceda said.

“If there are revisions that are needed, we are also ready. We’ve had marathon hearings on the economy, and if needed, we are ready to have them again,”

Salceda added.

Nonetheless, Salceda said, “we expect the executive to be reciprocally open to the inputs of the House.”

“We’ve done our study and our consultations, also. We have our inputs. My office, for its part, has released study after study, and proposal after proposal – some of which have been adopted.

We expect the Executive to continue to show openness to refining the country’s recovery plan.”

Strong fundamentals

Saleda is confident the Philippines’s “strong fundementals” will help it rise after the pandemic. “As soon as we can stop hiding in the caves of bad news, and start focusing on what needs to get done, we will be able to recover,” Salceda said.

“We have very strong economic fundamentals. Once there is a vaccine, we will bounce back big. BSP says we will probably have 8 to 9 percent GDP growth by 2021. That is certainly achievable. So, let’s stop being at each other’s throats each time the cases rise, and start focusing on what is necessary: more tests, more isolation beds, protocols for outbreaks, and an assurance that we will mass-vaccinate when the vaccine is ready,” Salceda said.

Thursday, July 9, 2020 A7

PHL real policy rates lowest in Asean region–PNB report

By Tyrone Jasper C. Piad

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@Tyronepiad

ith the recent uptick in inflation, the Philippines has now the lowest real key policy rates among its neighbors, a study shows.

In a report on Wednesday, the research division of Philippine National Bank (PNB) said that the country’s real interest rate reached -0.25 percent after inflation accelerated to 2.50 percent in June.

Real interest rate refers to the difference of nominal interest rate and inflation rate.

The nominal interest rate—the overnight reverse repurchase facility of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)—currently stands at 2.25 percent after the BSP Monetary Board trimmed it by 50 basis points last month. This brought deposit and lending rates to 1.75 percent and 2.75 percent, respectively.

The Philippines’s current real policy rates are the lowest if compared to its counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region, the study said.

PNB said that Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam registered their real interest rates at 4.90 per-

cent, 3.94 percent, 2.29 percent and 1.33 percent, respectively.

The Philippines’s is also lower compared with the real policy rates of China and the United States at 1.45 percent and 0.15 percent, respectively.

“Given this relatively aggressive monetary accommodation, we believe that the Monetary Board may have a more challenging task of balancing supporting economic growth amid Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] but still promoting price stability,” PNB noted.

Increase in borrowings

RCBC Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort told the BusinessMirror that the low interest rates would benefit borrowers given the decrease in lending or financing costs as well.

This could then boost the demand for loans, Ricafort said via email.

According to preliminary data of the Central Bank, the banking

industry’s total loan portfolio stood at P10.82 trillion as of April this year.

The low real interest rates could also encourage investors to look for longer term bonds or fixed income investments to receive better return amid the inflation, Ricafort said.

“This could also prompt the search for higher investment returns in the equities market as well as in other asset classes, given relatively short-term interest rates that may not be already enough to sufficiently compensate investors vis-a-vis the adverse effects of inflation on their funds,” he added.

Steady rates

PNB said real interest rates are likely to remain should the nominal policy rates be kept as well. This is, of course, unless the price index is lower than expectations.

ING Bank Manila Economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said that the Central Bank is not likely to further trim interest rates in the next policy meetings after the real policy rate turned negative. “[W]e reiterate our expectation that the central bank will refrain from cutting policy rates further and look to additional liquidity enhancement measures should the economy need more stimulus,” Mapa said.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Lead Economist Emilio S. Neri Jr. said that it might not be necessary

to further cut policy rates anymore.

“Cutting interest rates further may no longer stimulate lending in a significant manner since the demand for goods and services is very weak,” Neri said.

He added that the “possibility of higher inflation in the coming months may prevent the Central Bank from cutting its policy rates further.”

Inflation forecast

PNB forecasts consumer price index to average at 2.3 percent in the second half, bringing the full-year inflation estimate to 2.4 percent.

“We assume that there would be no additional spikes in transport cost and that the weaker economic growth in [second quarter] would keep overall prices subdued,” it explained.

Should the economy recover in 2021, PNB pencils a higher average inflation of 2.8 percent for next year.

PNB’ estimates are higher compared to BSP figures. The Central Bank recently reported it’s expecting inflation to average at 2.3 percent for 2020, 2.6 percent for 2021 and 3 percent for 2022.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that inflation rose to 2.5 percent in June from 2.1 percent a month ago due to an increase in transport costs.

This fell between BSP’s forecast range of 1.9 percent to 2.7 percent.

Local broiler group to dar: Check online poultry sale. . . continued from A12 The DA said it is asking the businesses that smuggle illegal pork and pork products through the country’s seaports to stop their unscrupulous trade to protect the local livestock industries from animal diseases.

Despite having a “high level” of quarantine measures, the DA said some smugglers are still able to continue their practice of bringing in illegal meat products, which serve as a pathway for the entry of animal diseases such as African Swine Fever.

Illegal poultry meat trade

Ubra said the lack of a sound trade data system makes it hard for the government to address unfair trade and smuggling.

Worse, the group added, the govern-

ment does not have physical facilities at customs borders to “effectively prevent the entry of diseases.”

“We need both for our quarantine personnel to perform their duties well.

There is no need to belabor here the devastation wrought by the African Swine Fever. A massive failure by the Bureau of Animal industry,” it said.

Ubra also questioned the DA on the status of its P2 billion worth of “modern” quarantine facilities that it promised to build to curb smuggling of agricultural goods and prevent entry of pests and transboundary animal diseases in the country.

“Last year, the President funded the construction of the first border coldchain-ready quarantine facilities at the Bureau of Customs. What is the status

of that project?” it asked.

“The absence of such facilities precludes any claim of a ‘high level’ of quarantine,” it added.

Last year, the DA said the Duterte cabinet approved the construction of five integrated border facilities, which cost about P400 million each, in Manila, Batangas, Bataan, Cebu and Davao.

(Related story: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/12/23/das-p2-bfacility-to-fight-smuggling-in-useby-2020) Ubra also asked the DA to verify reports that poultry products, which are banned or are traded in an unlawful manner, are being sold openly online.

Ubra attached photos of these various products being sold through Viber and Instagram, including Hong Kong

pigeon, imported frozen chicken offals with claimed 24 months of shelf life, thawed imported chicken leg quarters, thawed mechanically deboned meat of chicken, chicken products from Brazil with a shell life claim of 2 years, among others.

Citing industry sources, Ubra said the shelf life claims made by the poultry meat sellers were “unbelievable.”

“For whole chickens that were blast frozen directly from the line and with no break in the cold chain, the maximum shelf life until consumption is twelve months,” it said.

“If the chickens were cut into pieces, the shelf life is reduced to six months due to additional handling at above freezing temperature during cutting,” it added. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

2 parties willing ‘to step up’ into Naia plate . . . continued from A1

However, the consortium said this week Covid-19 has created “far-reaching and long-lasting consequences” on airline travel, operations, and passenger traffic. Thus, the project “necessitated a review of the assumptions and the plans to ensure that the Naia project will be viable under the new normal.”

Asked pointblank whether the government is now willing to set aside the Naia consortium’s proposal in favor of two other proponents, Dominguez said: “Well, we’re not setting aside the Naia Consortium. They’re the ones who set it aside, not us. But I’m telling you there are at least two more that are interested in the project at the terms that we have indicated.”

As for the other public-private partnership (PPP) projects, Dominguez said they have not yet heard from the proponents, but he said the Bulacan project will proceed as originally planned.

Despite the development with the Naia project, the country’s finance chief said the government will still push through with the Build, Build, Build program—the government’s massive infrastructure program—considering that this is the “better way to revive the economy” compared to giving dole outs amid the crisis.

“The Build, Build, Build program is the program that will help lift us up and help lift us out of this problem that we have. It will give people jobs, it will put money in their pockets. It will allow them to work. It will allow them to buy

things to increase demand and other companies will benefit out of it. This is a better way to revive the economy, then to give handouts, at this point in time.

So we will not slack down on the Build, Build, Build program,” he said.

In February, BusinessMirror reported that the unsolicited proposal for Naia rehabilitation, which underwent several changes since it was first submitted a few years back, entailed increasing the capacity of the country’s main gateway to 65 million passengers per year.

Based on an indicative timeline, the P102-billion Naia rehabilitation will be implemented in three phases.

The first phase, which starts in 2021, will involve the reconfiguration of the existing airport terminals to increase their capacity to 47 million passengers annually from 31 million passengers per year currently. This will take a year to complete.

The second phase will see the development of a new passenger terminal building, annexing the second terminal of Naia. It will also expand the third terminal, improve the apron baggage and boarding areas, as well as upgrade the airside facilities through a new taxiway and modernized air-traffic management equipment. With these improvements, the capacity of Naia by 2023 should be increased to 58 million passengers per year.

The third phase involves the construction of new terminals and the expansion of the existing ones to raise Naia’s capacity to 65 million passengers

per year by 2024. It will also involve the development of airside facilities and upgrading works for general utilities, a car park area, passenger connection and miscellaneous facilities corresponding to the increased capacity.

Clark airport

The Clark Airport template, meanwhile, provides for several government safeguards, including provisions for material adverse government action, and taxation, among others. Reinoso, when sought for comment, said he is not aware of the two proponents mentioned

by Dominguez. Assistant Secretary Goddess Hope Libiran, however, said her group “will identify after we have done the formalities of notice.”

Tuesday saw Naia Consortium issuing a statement that explained its position on the proposal. The members said they have submitted several options for the government to make the project bankable and economically viable.

BOT law

Under the implementing rules and regulations of the build-operate-andtransfer law, an implementing agency may reject an unsolicited proposal during the negotiation period, should the proponent and the agency have “irreconcilable differences.”

A letter of rejection, which should state the reason for the decision, should be forwarded to the proponent. Once done, the agency may accept a new un-

solicited proposal for the similar project.

To recall, Megawide Construction Corp. and its partner GMR Infrastructure Ltd. also submitted a similar project to the transportation department in 2018. Under its unsolicited proposal, the group proposed to spend $3 billion to redevelop and expand Naia.

The multibillion-dollar proposal is divided into several phases, of which the first six years of the operations would focus on the expansion of the existing terminals, the optimization of the current runways and the capacity expansion of the whole airport complex.

Immediately upon takeover, the group proposes to construct full-length parallel taxiways for both runways, an additional rapid-exit taxiway for the primary runway, the extension of a second runway and the provision of maximum aircraft stands.

These solutions will increase airfield capacity to 950 to 1,000 aircraft movements per day, a 35-percent increase from the current 730 aircraft movements daily.

Within the first two years, the group will rehabilitate and expand the existing terminals, which will roughly double the space and result in over 700,000 square meters of terminal area.

By that time, the airport will be able to handle as many as 72 million passengers annually, a huge jump from the current 30 million annual passenger capacity.

The old proposal carries a concession period of 18 years.

A8

Show BusinessMirror

Thursday, July 9, 2020

www.businessmirror.com.ph

At libel trial, Johnny Depp blasts ex-wife’s ‘sick’ abuse claim Johnny Depp (right) wearing a protective mask arrives at the Royal Court of Justice, in London on Tuesday. Johnny Depp is suing a tabloid newspaper for libel over an article that branded him a “wife beater.”

AP

L

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Fred Savage, 44; Jack White, 45; Tom Hanks, 64; Jimmy Smits, 65.

Happy Birthday: Your sensitivity toward others will come in handy this year. Listen to your heart, and express the way you feel. Offering your thoughts and listening to the response you receive will help you develop a workable plan that will encourage healthier relationships with the people who count. Take the high road. Share your feelings, and be open to suggestions.

Your numbers are 5, 17, 22, 28, 36, 39, 47.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t get bogged down with trivial matters, unnecessary arguments or other people’s problems. Go about your business, and keep people at a distance. It’s time to help yourself and associate with those who bring out the best in you. HHH

By Jill Lawless The Associated Press

ONDON—Johnny Depp said Tuesday that ex-wife Amber Heard had made “sick” claims of abuse and falsely branded him a monster, as the actor testified in a UK libel case that hinges on who was the aggressor in the celebrity couple’s violent, toxic relationship.

Depp is suing British tabloid The Sun over an April 2018 story headlined “Potty—How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?” The newspaper’s lawyers plan to use Heard’s allegations of abuse by Depp to defend the “wife beater” claim.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star strongly denies Heard’s claims that he assaulted her during their tempestuous marriage, and is suing The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor, Dan Wootton.

“These sick claims are totally untrue,” Depp said in a written witness statement, adding that Heard’s allegations hurt his career and had “been a constant issue in my casting.”

A three-week trial over his libel claims opened Tuesday at the High Court in London. It is one of the first major cases to be held in person since Britain began to lift its coronavirus lockdown.

Depp entered the witness box of the wood-paneled courtroom wearing a dark suit and tie, and began by taking the court oath and giving his full name: John Christopher Depp II. He told the court that Heard had “said to the world that she was in fear of her life from me, and I had been this horrible monster, if you will.

Which was not the case.”

Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy The Rum Diary and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They divorced in 2017, and now bitterly accuse one another of abuse.

Depp and Heard arrived by separate entrances at the neo-Gothic court building. Both wore face coverings over their noses and mouths as they arrived. Proceedings have been spread over several courtrooms to allow for social distancing.

While Heard isn’t on trial, the case is also a

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Stick to your plan, and finish what you start. A positive change is heading your direction; all you have to do is recognize and use what transpires to your benefit. If you snooze, you lose. Stay alert. HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Don’t overreact or take on something that will make you look bad. Set your sights on what’s doable and will inevitably help you present what you do best. Hone your skills, and you’ll put an end to negative criticism. HH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A heart-toheart talk will lead to workable solutions. Be reasonable and willing to compromise, and you will avoid getting into an unnecessary argument that will lead to an irreversible change. Look for the good in others, and offer your very best. HHHHH

e showdown between the former spouses, who accuse each other of being controlling, violent and deceitful.

It is set to put the two performers’ complex private lives under a microscope.

The Sun’s defense relies on Heard’s allegations of 14 incidents of violence by Depp between 2013 and 2016, in locations including Los Angeles, Australia, Japan, the Bahamas and a chartered jet. He denies them all and says Heard, an actress and model, attacked him with items including a drink can and a cigarette. He also claims that on one occasion Heard or one of her friends defecated on his bed.

In written witness statements, Depp said that in Australia in 2015 Heard severed the tip of his finger by hurling a vodka bottle at him. A photo of the bloody digit was included with his witness statement.

Depp claimed that on another occasion, Heard repeatedly punched him in the face on a private jet, forcing him to spend the flight locked in the plane’s

bathroom. “Rage-filled violent incidents on planes were common with Amber,” he said in the written statement. Describing one incident in which Heard claims he hit her, Depp said the opposite was true.

“As things tended to do, [it] escalated and got physical, ending with a bit of assault. Ms. Heard struck me,” he said. He painted himself as a peacemaker who tried to remove himself from conflicts “before things got out of hand.”

In a written statement, Depp alleged that Heard was “a calculating, diagnosed borderline personality; she is sociopathic; she is a narcissist; and she is completely emotionally dishonest.”

Heard alleges that Depp was prone to drink- and drug-fueled violent rages.

Under cross-examination by The Sun’s lawyer, Sasha Wass, Depp acknowledged taking myriad

Continued on A9

Mike Enriquez files investigative reports on Covid-19 THE longest-running investigative program on local TV, GMA’s awardwinning Imbestigador presents a series of investigative reports on the pandemic that has wreaked havoc in the world, bringing back the show to its news-based, investigative roots. The special series is a comprehensive examination that seeks crucial answers to relevant issues relating to the Covid-19 response in the country.

Covid-19 has become the worst pandemic the world has ever seen in a century. It continues to cause an unprecedented global health calamity, becoming the greatest challenge that mankind has collectively faced since World War II. While people and businesses are grappling with significant adjustments to the so-called new normal after more than three months in lockdown, Filipinos need to take a

z

step back to analyze and discuss significant issues related to the pandemic. What happened to the mass testing program?

Where did the billions of funds intended for the Covid-19 response really go? Has the Social Amelioration Program been

implemented well enough to support all Filipinos in need? How bad are the economic effects of the crisis to businesses and the work force? What future awaits Filipinos in the new normal?

For the special’s first part on July 11, Enriquez begins the investigation with a deep dive into the current state of the transportation sector.

After being suspended for months, public transportation is gradually resuming operations in a limited capacity. As means of transportation remain few, some commuters have resorted to riding motorcycles. Are there any concrete and long-term solutions in the horizon?

Catch Covid-19: Special Investigative Reports ni Mike Enriquez, which airs its initial episode this July 11, 4:45 pm, after Wish Ko Lang on GMA.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Take a virtual tour of a place you’d like to explore. Join a socialmedia group or master class to put you in touch with people who share your interests. Distance yourself from negative people. Arguing is a waste of time. HHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your suggestions will be well-received. Before negotiating, go over every detail to ensure you are getting what you want. Don’t let an emotional issue cloud your vision. Be sensitive to others’ needs, but be sure to get a fair deal. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Don’t get angry; get moving. If something doesn’t go the way you want, pick yourself up and start over.

Refuse to let other people’s opinions or criticism get you down. Trust and believe in your abilities, and keep moving forward. HHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Look into new possibilities. A change of pace or direction will be good for your morale and inspire you to revise some of the attributes you enjoy using to fit current economic trends. A unique idea you dream up will attract interest. HHHHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Pull yourself together, and distance yourself from associates who don’t give enough in return for the help and things you offer out of generosity. Shake things up, and concentrate on positive influences, people and the things you enjoy doing most. HH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You’ll take a greater interest in the unknown. Science and the unfamiliar will pique your interest and lead you in a direction that is exciting and challenging. A lifestyle change will bring you closer to someone who shares your beliefs. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t make a drastic or hasty change because someone else does. Pay closer attention to the things that make you happy, and adapt your daily routine to allow you more time to do something that brings you joy.

HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Enjoy the people who offer the most in return. Set aside time to enrich your mind and to exercise enough discipline to reach your goals. Let your intuition guide you, and you will be happy with the results. HHH Birthday Baby: You are sensitive, caring and proactive.

You are intelligent and persuasive.

‘a separate peace’ by robert wemischner The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Move like a crab 6 Ascended 11 Punch sound 14 Figurative expression 15 Major appliance brand 16 “...man ___ mouse?”

17 Staple in Thai cuisine 19 Actor Holm 20 Markdown 21 Wish to, informally 22 Initial poker payment 23 Slugger’s stat 25 Collects 27 Comfort zone?

32 Night before an important day 33 Nota ___ 34 Do nothing 37 Breakaway group 39 Piece of information 42 Langston Hughes poem 43 Cease-fire 45 Company with its ups and downs?

47 Neighbor of Leb. 48 Piece of jewelry with spherical gems

2 Certain sheepdog, familiarly 5 54 Actress Issa 55 Sling 56 Sao ___, Brazil 59 Carrier to Tel Aviv 63 Drs.’ bloc 64 Competition near the end of baseball season 66 Tattletale 67 Agitated states 68 Quotable Yogi 69 180 degrees from WSW 70 Playground retort 71 Extra DOWN 1 Tastes tentatively 2 Brainchild 3 Old phone feature 4 Hardly social butterflies 5 It becomes another animal when surrounded by “l” and “r” 6 Tabula ___ 7 One-named model from Somalia 8 They’re full of hot air 9 Set up tents

0 Scot’s negative 1 11 Christmas bloomer 12 Speechify 13 Ebbs 18 Twisted, as rope 22 Computer text code 24 Palindromic hairdo 26 Two-year degs.

27 Flea or tick 28 “How can I ___ repay you?”

29 Get better 30 Actress Ortiz 31 Admit 35 Brown-skinned pear 36 Days gone by 38 Immune system part 40 Sport-___ (rugged vehicle) 41 Tiny unit of measure 44 Enjoy an eclair, e.g.

46 Reggae relative 49 Ages, like fruit 50 Sheryl Sandberg/Nell Scovell book subtitled Women, Work, and the Will to Lead 51 Looked rudely

2 Apple slice, say?

5 53 Sentient being 57 Golden Rule preposition 58 Endure 60 Animal fat 61 Part of a plot or lot 62 One with top billing 64 Letter before omega 65 Not yet scheduled: Abbr.

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Parentlife BusinessMirror

Thursday, July 9, 2020

‘New normal’ parenting tips L

AST month, celebrity mom Dimples Romana and influencer moms Patty Laurel-Filart and Kryz Uy joined Huggies Philippines (www. huggies.com.ph) in championing parenthood in this difficult time with Huggies Club. Gathering thousands of moms online, the five-week series of online forums on Facebook Live showed videos that proved to be a relatable and reliable support system for parents. The forums connected them to experts from various fields ranging from developmental pediatrics, child care development, mental health, nutrition and more. Whether expectant, new, or going into their nth child, moms were able to gain access and listen to expert tips and credible advice so they can give the comfort and care they need for themselves and their children.

Now that we’re adjusting to the new normal, here are some key takeaways from the sessions that every

mom should take note of. n DON’T PANIC; BE IN TOUCH WITH YOUR DOCTORS AND LOVED ONES. Whatever the situation we find ourselves in today, it’s important to not panic. This is especially true for pregnant moms as it can be a daunting experience to give birth in the midst of a pandemic.

Keep in mind that pregnancy doesn’t increase the risk of getting Covid-19, so prioritize being healthy physically and mentally, and practice the necessary precautions of sanitizing and physical distancing.

Being bombarded with worries and feeling scared are inevitable, so it’s also essential to constantly be in touch with your doctors and loved ones for the proper care and reassurance that everything will be alright. Nowadays, we are fortunate to have many technological solutions at our disposal to help us do just that. n TAKE A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH. When faced with an unfamiliar situation, it’s always good to cover all the bases. While we wait for a Covid-19 vaccine to be created, it’s advisable for parents to continue staying on top of your children’s health and ensure they are protected from head to toe with other available vaccines and treatments in the market today. Preventive measures should be every parent’s priority to keep their children’s immune system strong because this lessens the risk of getting sick and contracting the virus. n ESTABLISH ROUTINES AT HOME. We’ve all gone through an abrupt change but one thing remains the

same, and that is the growth and development of our children. We’re challenged to answer our children as they bring up questions why they suddenly stopped going to school, or why they can’t go out, meet and play with their friends. It’s crucial that you create an open environment at home to talk about what’s happening without revealing too much as this may provoke fear. It’s also important to create a safe space for your children to properly express their feelings so you’re able to determine their needs. The next step is to create routines and sort tasks in schedule so you can re-establish a sense of normalcy for them to grow physically, cognitively, socially and emotionally even at home. This helps you create boundaries, especially if you’re a working mom too. n PRIORITIZE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH. Finding that perfect recipe of being present in meetings, following deadlines, all while doing household chores and attending to your children’s needs takes a bigger toll on your mental health. What’s important is for you to not be too hard on yourself, take everything one step at a time, and strike a balance. Help yourself stay calm and collected by stopping when you’re feeling overwhelmed and take a minute to do some mindfulness activity, such as doing breathing exercises or even hugging yourself. n A HEALTHY DIET AND PROPER EXERCISE CAN HELP IMPROVE YOUR MOOD DURING THESE TIMES. We sometimes struggle to keep structure in our day, making us forget to do physical activities, and even

skip meals as we lose track of time at home. This can easily make us feel more tired and irritable, which can take a toll in our physical, social and emotional well-being. It is vital to practice exercise and healthy eating habits. A nutritious and mood-boosting meal should always comprise of half a plate of fruits and vegetables, 1/4 plate of rice or any other carbohydrates, and 1/4 plate of protein such as chicken, fish, pork, or beef. Though it may be difficult to introduce a variety of food especially to young children, make it a proactive approach by nurturing a healthy diet while pregnant and exposing different flavors to your infant. In terms of physical activity, limit screen time to a minimum. This can be done by assigning ageappropriate household chores and encouraging active play at home.

“As we wrap up our Huggies Club: Facebook Live sessions this month, we hope that we were able to be a source of comfort and care for moms everywhere dealing with this new and unique situation. Carrying out our goal to be the trusted parenting partner of Filipinos, our commitment is unwavering in discovering new ways to continue guiding moms through every step of their motherhood journey,” said Brian Duruin, head of marketing for Kimberly-Clark Philippines Inc. If you missed it, you can also find the recorded Huggies Club: Facebook Live sessions there.

Register at Huggies Club to gain access to more specialized content and exclusive perks. n

At libel trial, Johnny Depp blast ex-wife’s ‘sick’ abuse claim Continued from A8 drugs over the years, including marijuana, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, magic mushrooms and prescription painkillers. He said his drug use began when he was an 11-year-old child with “not a particularly stable or secure or safe home life.” He said it was “the only way that I found to numb the pain.”

Depp acknowledged that he had struggled with fame, saying it meant he was “forced to live the life of a fugitive.”

“Anonymity doesn’t exist anymore...You have become a product,” he said.

Wass depicted Depp as someone with an anger management problem, bringing up an 1989 arrest for assault and a later incident in which he damaged a New York hotel room.

“I was angry, but that doesn’t mean I have an anger problem,” Depp said.

Wass played the court a video clip recorded by Heard that shows Depp kicking kitchen cupboards and swearing before pouring red wine from a large bottle. While saying he “wasn’t particularly proud of myself” over the video, Depp denied that it showed he became a “monster” when he drank and took drugs.

“It’s not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” he said.

Heard is due to give evidence later in the trial.

Depp’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said Heard had recently asked that one allegation be heard in private “because of its supposedly horrific nature.”

Witnesses for Depp are scheduled to include his former partners Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder. Depp is also suing Heard in the United States for $50 million for allegedly defaming him in a Washington Post article about domestic abuse.

That case is due to be heard next year.

Sherborne said in an opening statement that the actor had sued The Sun to “clear his reputation.”

“This is not a case about money,” he said. “It is about vindication.” n

FINISHED in dramatically grained oak veneer, the elegant Aniston round tabletop expands to create an oval that seats six.

CREATE an entire world—real or faux—in this Glass Terrarium with Wood Lid. Like a petite biosphere, the dome-shaped glass terrarium houses miniature ecosystems of air plants, succulents and ferns.

LIKE a work of modern sculpture, the Winslet wood and marble console table pushes boundaries in an innovative exploration of shape, space and materials, with multiple levels of surface and shelf space.

UPRIGHT yet comfortable, the Barrett Reversible Sectional looks casual and clean in a contemporary fabric that feels great to the touch and is so durable you don’t need to worry about spills or pets.

Give your home an upgrade THESE may be stressful times, which makes it more important for parents to give their families a home they want to coccoon in.

That said, global lifestyle brand Crate & Barrel introduces new collections that will refresh and transform any home as it reopens its stores at SM Aura Premier, SM Makati and SM Megamall.

These include the Artisan Home & Crate Craft, and the Artist’s Studio collections that highlight gracious and creative living; as well as Summer Daydream, a reverie of sunshine, warmth and easy living.

The Artisan Home & Crate Craft collection

highlights furniture pieces that showcase timehonored quality and craftsmanship.

Warm and effortless, the collection uses earthier tones with elements of medium tone woods.

The Artist’s Studio collection, on the other hand, is inspired by the Portuguese way of living artfully.

Relaxed and free-flowing and rich in handcrafted detail, the Artist’s Studio is a point of view that knows the beauty of life is in the space we create.

Its palette echoes the Portuguese pastel wash in blush, terra cotta, brandied melon, pampas yellow, watery blues, and elements of clay, glaze finishes,

white oak, light woods, woven fiber and linen.

Crate & Barrel’s Summer Daydream turns balconies and backyards into dreamy warm weather escapes with weather-friendly style for lounge worthy days. Green, white, black and botanicals make up this collection of outdoor living accessories with patterns of playful geometry.

Even better, parents can give their homes an easy pick-me-up while continuing to shelter in place by ordering by phone for personalized virtual shopping (SM Aura Premier, 0917-8895667; SM Makati, 09175833573; and SM Megamall, 0917-8704796).

A9

FROM left: Dimples Romana, Huggies Club Facebook Live Logo, Patty LaurelFilart and Kryz Uy

A10 Thursday, July 9, 2020 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

PHL gaming sector more than POGOs

O

ne of the rare changes in the country’s constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership was made in 2010 when gambling casinos were opened to majority foreign equity in the Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL).

Since then the Philippine gaming market has become one of the biggest in the region, expanding at such a robust pace before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the world.

Figures released in February show gaming revenues either generated or overseen by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) hit P248.5 billion in 2019, a 15.1 percent improvement over 2018’s revenues and nearly 41 percent higher than 2017’s.

The bulk of the Philippines’s casino revenues, around P216 billion, came from Solaire, Okada Manila, City of Dreams Manila, Resorts World Manila, and the growing casino industry in Clark, which all enjoyed a major surge in VIP revenue before the pandemic.

In contrast, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) contributed only P5.7 billion to Pagcor in 2019, which was even lower than the P6.11 billion these POGOs paid in 2018.

The Pagcor-run Casino Filipino earned more than all the POGOs put together. In 2019, Casino Filipino earned P12.6 billion from mass-market tables, P16.5 billion from slot machines and P7.8 billion from junket-derived revenue.

Even the small electronic gaming sites that offer slots, bingo and sports betting to Filipinos earned more than the POGOs. They reported a revenue of P32.1 billion in 2019, most of which was derived from eBingo operations.

Once this pandemic is over, the Philippine gaming industry can go back to making huge contributions to the economy by boosting tourism and tax revenues and job creation (casinos provide jobs to thousands of tourism and hotel and restaurant management graduates, in particular).

Actual gaming revenues don’t just come from the gaming tables, but also from food and beverage, hotels, retail, entertainment, meetings and conventions. Tourists who come here to gamble usually also wish to see the beaches and the country’s other attractions.

All these are contributed by the brick-and-mortar casinos, not by POGOs whose operations cater to Chinese mainlanders sitting in front of their computers.

As for POGOs, we said in a previous editorial, we have no problem with Chinese workers—what with the Philippines being a labor exporter itself for decades. And we have no problems with foreign companies operating here, since our entire outsourcing industry goes way beyond call centers to include almost any kind of service or operation that could be contracted out to our country.

But please follow our laws. Pay the correct taxes. Make sure your employees are legit.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said almost all POGOs have unpaid taxes. Aside from the P50 billion POGO firms owe the government in 2019, Pagcor said there were about 100 to 120 illegal POGO firms operating in the country. From April to early June, when Metro Manila was under enhanced community quarantine, authorities raided at least six underground POGO operations.

The Department of Labor and Employment also discovered some 6,678 illegal foreign workers in Pagcor-licensed POGO firms and service providers during its labor inspections in 2019.

Obviously, many POGOs have been flouting our laws, not paying the correct taxes, skirting immigration authorities and local governments, even violating the rules and regulations and health guidelines set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

It’s up to our government to enforce our laws, rules and regulations, and make everyone—foreigners and locals—follow them. POGOs are not exempted and the government should not bend over backwards for law-breaking POGOs. Whatever legislative and administrative reforms are necessary to root these lawbreakers out from the local gaming industry must be done to make sure the proceeds of POGO operations benefit the government and our people. We cannot just sniff out scandals in pursuit of a headline. We must also help find solutions to these POGO problems.

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Bizarro World John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

F you are of a certain age—really old—or are into old comic books, then you know exactly what “Bizarro World” refers to.

Action Comics #263, published in April 1960, introduced the fictional planet “Htrae” which is “Earth” spelled backwards.

The society of Htrae is ruled by the Bizarro Code which states, “Us do opposite of all Earthly things!”

Inhabitants included versions of Superman and others including Batzarro, the “World’s Worst Detective.”

You get the idea.

You may have heard of the times that The Simpsons television series predicted the future or at least it seemed that way. Almost two decades before anyone of us were concerned about Ebola, Marge suggested that Bart read a book titled Curious George and the Ebola Virus. An episode 19 years ago predicted that Donald Trump would one day become US president.

Bizarro World was not meant to predict what Earth would become.

But if you follow the financial markets, this might be a little scary. In one issue, a stockbroker type does a brisk business selling Bizarro government bonds that are “Guaranteed to lose money for you.”

However, we live in the second decade of the 21st century and by many sensible standards, this is “Bizarro World.”

For example: We are told continuously by a huge number of experts that the currency—money—that governments provide is “worthless” because the government will not exchange it for something tangible.

The only real alternative is gold or cryptos like Bitcoin.

But that ignores the reality that you can exchange that paper for a bottle of fine—or terrible—tequila, a box of chocolates, shoes, a shirt, cookies, a puppy, a house, a haircut, and an evening with a male or female companion. Oh, and you can exchange that worthless “money” for an ounce of gold or some Bitcoins.

American author Mark Twain said it best although the idea had been around for a hundred years. “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” That is particularly true in the Age of Covid. It is extremely unlikely that any fiction writer could have invented a viral pandemic like we are experiencing.

For one thing, illnesses like this are supposed to be most harmful to the young and the old. The 1918 deaths from the “Spanish Flu” were almost identical percentage-wise of those infected in the “Under oneyear-old” and the “Over 85-year-old” groups. For Covid-19, the elderly percentage is about the same between the two illnesses. But the “under 15 years” for Covid-19 is almost negligible unlike for the 1918 flu which

hit the young hard.

Spain with a population of less than 50 million has the seventh most cases and total deaths, and third worst “deaths per 1 million” of all over-10 million population countries.

Yet a new study published in The Lancet shows that only 5 percent of the total population has the Covid-19 antibodies. Covid-19, we are told, is very contagious yet that was not necessarily true in Spain or in Switzerland where another study was done. The conclusion is that “herdimmunity” then is nearly impossible unless a nation is willing to accept a lot of “collateral damage” deaths.

Further, “Doctors are uncertain whether having antibodies to the coronavirus means someone cannot be infected again. It’s not clear how long or how well antibodies protect people from the virus.” No one would have bought the science-thriller book The Perfect Pandemic. Now we may be living it.

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

Why Lito Atienza trends, and why ABS-CBN, warts and all, is about keeping our choices

By Lourdes M. Fernandez

H

OURS after that marathon 10-hour hearing on the ABSCBN Franchise at the House of Representatives on Monday, Twitter was ablaze with comments—mostly weighing in favor of the beleaguered broadcast giant—about how lawmakers had wasted so much time over issues that had nothing to do with the usual considerations for granting or renewing franchises.

Much of the disdain dwelt on how certain lawmakers, mainly the five representatives most opposed to ABS-CBN, were dragging in issues of the network’s coverage “bias” and its penchant for dipping into political issues. However, as correctly pointed out by people who understand media’s role in a democracy, none of that is at issue in whether or not a franchise should be granted.

One of those who trended on Twitter, Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza, tried with all his solitary might to steer back the discussions to the relevant issues of franchise grants, and called out Rep. Janette Garin for wasting, he said, more than an hour of hearing time to talk about her personal grudge against ABS-CBN’s perceived mishandling of the Dengvaxia scandal, at her expense.

As Atienza elaborated on later, a “hearing” is called exactly that, a “hearing,” so lawmakers can listen to the resource persons they invited. And yet, he said, it seems the majority in the room fell deaf to the attestations, under oath, of a parade of regulatory agencies they dragged into this exercise. Questioned by lawmakers, these officials said ABS-CBN had no outstanding unresolved violation of any of the sort their respective agencies routinely monitor. There was the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for

the taxes, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice and Bureau of Immigration, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), the self-regulatory body for broadcast.

As expected, Atienza was cut short, and even accused of “bullying” his colleagues. This was a continuation of Cavite Rep. Boying Remulla’s complaint in a previous hearing that Atienza used unparliamentary language in saying Rep. Marcoleta was “browbeating” witnesses, especially ABS-CBN. Of course, it was obvious to all who was doing the bullying. But to those amazed by Atienza’s remarkable fortitude in standing his ground even against many, a historical throwback may help.

In 1984, a young Atienza, against wellmeaning advice from relatives, sought a seat as an opposition leader in the Interim Batasang Pambansa dominated by the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan. Only six of them from Metro Manila survived the election juggernaut, and he spent the next two years in the then newly-built Batasan—the same one where he now sits—standing up for various issues against the Marcos dictatorship. About one week after the February 6, 1986 snap elections, when the KBL majority was determined to proclaim Marcos as

winner, opposition lawmakers, Atienza among them, walked out. The gallery, jampacked with government workers, mostly metro aides, threw a multitude of one-peso coins (those were huge then, and heavy) at them. He recalled, “masakit pala ang piso pag tumama sa ulo mo.” To him then, it was par for the course to be so harassed.

So, it wasn’t a surprise he did what he did on Monday. But what he said is more important: why call a hearing and then disregard everything your resource persons said? Which brings me to my one and only point about the ABS-CBN franchise issue. True, the Lopez-led network was never perfect; it never will be, but so are all the other media entities, whatever political stripe they may be perceived to have. They—the organizations and the men and women behind them—all profess to offer people just the facts, but of course so many stumble.

Yet it is exactly in their diversity—in the way they endeavor to provide the “truth” —that democracy is enriched, mainly because people have CHOICES. Biased? Check. Shallow? Check. Sloppy?

Check. All that is checked, first by the internal gatekeeping level of any media institution, and second, by the people who consume their contents—and either thank them for their public service and useful information by continuing to patronize them, or trash or ignore them for not upholding journalistic standards.

Regulators exist to check on any violations, and that is why the SEC, BIR, etc. were called in. But on the editorial aspect of a media entity’s work, it is self-regulation in place, precisely because everyone—except perhaps some ignorant lawmakers—understands that the Constitution holds a special place

for mass media, vesting in it a key role in upholding the people’s right to know and their freedom of expression. That is why the KBP was there, too. Media Company A is biased? Turn to the KBP, organize a boycott, or tell people to patronize Company B. Regulators routinely fine violators under their jurisdiction. There are penalties for everything. Why, even journalists have had to live with the risk of libel suits from their first day at work.

Closing down entire media institutions for supposed regulatory breaches just doesn’t cut it.

And then, there’s the context: to close down an entire news network—in a time of pandemic when the economy is down and government mightily struggles to revive businesses so it can keep collecting revenue from them and people can stay employed; and in a time when the value of well-distributed networks with an army of professional information peddlers such as ABS-CBN’s is important to help spread vital, often life-saving information on the deadly virus—that, indeed is the height of folly.

As Sen. Nancy Binay, whose family had been in recent years on the receiving end of so much biased reportage, put it so well: at the end of the day, this is something bigger than ourselves.

Yes, it’s called, letting people keep their choices in a democracy. I don’t know about you, pero sa tutoo lang, miss ko na si Kardo.

Fernandez was editor-in-chief of Malaya in the three years preceding the Edsa Revolution, and in the early 1990s chaired for two years the Philippine Press Council, the self-regulatory arm for print media of the member-publications of the Philippine Press Institute.

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Cyberspace control, China’s potent weapon

Hearing God’s word and bearing fruit Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

Alálaong Bagá

Val A. Villanueva

Businesswise

I

N a rare broadside against China, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. on July 3 warned the communist state that the Philippines would exact the “severest response” if military exercises in the South China Sea were to “spill over” into the country’s territory.

Since taking over Malacañang, President Duterte has abandoned the landmark 2016 arbitral ruling which the Philippines won against China. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), also called the Law of the “Innocent Passage,” invalidated Beijing’s mythical nine-dash-line claim in the South China Sea, which Duterte set aside in favor of Chinese investments and friendlier ties. Such move, however, has become a thorn on the side of Filipino fishermen, as Chinese militia brazenly and arrogantly continue their aggression in the West Philippine Sea, while China carried on with building artificial islands to house military facilities in the disputed waters.

Locsin didn’t say what the Philippines is prepared to do in case such military exercises spilt over into Philippine territories, but he did raise the country’s legal victory handed over by the Unclos. Locsin in a taped message declared: “This is the problem with playing fast and loose with historical narratives and historical names: they open themselves to error; unless the real purpose is to excuse unchallenged mistakes that may over time harden into rights.”

China’s illegal incursion into territories claimed by several Southeast Asian countries is just one part of a puzzle which the world’s secondlargest economy is piecing together to achieve, something that political analysts believe is its attempt at world dominance. That China is bent on establishing a beachhead to take away global leadership from the United States does not seem far-fetched.

China is omnipresent. Consider its efficient endeavors to polish processes of transforming economic control into economic bullying within and outside the Asia-Pacific region; its drive to be in full charge of crucial waterways off China’s coast; its ambition to create a string of bases and logistical provisions which extend beyond its boundaries; its naval shipbuilding program, seeking to deploy more sea vessels than the combined ships of the German, Indian, Spanish, and British navies, and its effort to rule high-tech industries that will establish distribution control of economic and military power.

But its most powerful weapon, according to cyber experts, is its ability to spy on its neighbors using cyberspace. The West is fully apprised of this, and is pushing back. The US Senate plans to delist from the US Securities Exchanges those Chinese companies which have not disclosed whether they are foreign state-backed, such as by the Chinese politburo. Also, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proceeding with the banning of these companies from operating in the US: China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks and ComNet. Both US government actions are predicated on concerns about these foreign companies being subjected to control, manipulation and exploitation by foreign governments. Based on past forays of China in other countries’ telecommunications industry, its goal appears to be total control—from infrastructure to data piracy, resources, and debttrap financing.

Just recently, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed that his country was under a broad cyberattack from a “state-based actor.” He warned Australians of “specific risks” and further threats, saying that several sensitive institutions had been hit by the cyberattack. “This

activity is targeting Australian organizations across a range of sectors, including all levels of government, industry, political organizations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure.”

Morrison pointed to a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor,” but declined to name the culprit, saying it could only come from one of a handful of states. Suspicions naturally pointed to Beijing, which has had several skirmishes with Canberra of late, as Australia spoke out against Communist Party interests. Australia also recently enraged China by calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Australia also pushed back against what it describes as China’s economic “coercion,” covert influence campaigns, and the use of technology companies, such as Huawei, as a tool of intelligence gathering and geopolitical leverage.

The Australian incident has sparked national security concerns here, especially since suspicions from the attack have fallen on China. It also parallels the situation in the Philippines, which is embroiled in a long-running territorial conflict with China over portions of the South China Sea, and whose critical energy and telecommunications infrastructure may fall under Chinese control.

The Chinese government owns China Telecom (Chinatel), which owns 40 percent of third telco Dito Telecommunity. Chinese law mandates the companies it owns—like Chinatel—to provide intelligence to the government. Although Chinatel is a minority stakeholder in Dito, a consortium that also includes Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corporation and Chelsea Logistics, the Chinese company is building the telco’s communication infrastructure all over the Philippines, and will be involved in its daily operations.

In a recent forum, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario called for preemptive actions from the Philippine government to foil China’s infiltration of the country’s key assets. “Other countries, such as Australia, Japan, US, and the European Union, have recently enacted measures to prevent China on taking over their strategic and vital industries like energy, technology and telecommunications,” he said.

Del Rosario also broached the idea of the Philippine government taking over Chinese state-owned assets in the country as remuneration for the damage China has caused to the country’s marine ecosystem. China’s artificial island-building and illegal fishing operations have significantly spoilt the country’s aquatic resources which the UP Marine Science Institute study valued at P33 billion yearly since 2014.

Because China has repeatedly refused to pay, del Rosario said, “It’s time for Filipinos to unite and demand what is due from China. Filipino authorities have the right to seize assets and properties owned by the Chinese state here in the Philippines to satisfy China’s debt to the Filipino people once China’s full monetary damages are determined.” Among these assets are the Chinese government’s interests in the National Grid of the Philippines and China Telecom, which is part of the third telco in the Philippines.

For comments and suggestions, e-mail me at mvala.v@gmail.com

Thursday, July 9, 2020 A11

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ll who labor and are burdened are invited to come and learn from Jesus, we heard it said last week. How? We need to hear and understand and welcome His word like good soil receiving seeds sown in order to bear in us the fruits of life (Matthew 13:1-23).

God’s efficacious word WE are daily subjected to a veritable deluge of words—words of love and wisdom, of joy and inspiration as well as words of untruth and shamelessness, of violence and abuse. What words do we welcome and nurture in our hearts, to verbalize our own feelings and to appropriate for our own intentions? Ultimately for human beings, it is a choice between the Creator’s word and that of the snake.

Though man may turn a deaf ear to God’s word, it shall prevail. God’s word does not return void; it does the divine will (Isaiah 55:11). God means what He says, and what He says creates history.

When the Word of God became flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14), God’s irrevocable and most powerful

Word was spoken to us, the Word of eternal life and salvation. And as every word is an offering waiting for the hearer’s welcome and understanding, the invitation of Jesus Christ to us is to listen to Him and learn from Him and together with Him to follow the will of God. Unlike the days of old, we are not to harden our hearts but rather to open our ears to hear what we ought to be listening to and so accept the reign of God.

Hindrances and difficulties

Notwithstanding the generous sowing of the word of God’s kingdom, the seed thrown and sown to the four winds to reach every nook and cranny, the result varies. The hungry birds, the rocky soil, the scorching sun, and the chocking brambles are

familiar features in most agricultural settings. In describing these obstacles to growth and development, Jesus recognized the difficulties and even human resistance that hinders the establishment of God’s reign. In His own ministry, many rejected His preaching.

The actual experience of the apostolic community interpreted for them the parable of Jesus, as we in our own time must do. The question then as now is why do people not listen to God’s word so that it can bear fruit in them, fruits they themselves need and long for? First, there are those who do not understand at all what is proclaimed to them, meaning they reject it outright. They have ears but hear not. The seeds are picked clean by the birds. Second, we have the abundance of fair-weather and nominal Christians, who initially rejoice at some fascinating elements of the Gospel, cafeteria-type believers who just select what they fancy on the menu, but are turned off by the cross and the imperative of perseverance in hardships and persecutions. The burning sun is simply too much for them, plus the fact that they hardly have roots on their rocky ground—having no developed conscience to see them through the moral struggle. Third, many are those whose intentions are in order, but worldly interests entangle them

in a maze of contradictions and futility. The inducement and intoxication of money, power, ambition, and pleasure metamorphose them into lying thieves or masquerading fools.

But finally, there are those who hear, receive and live the Word of God.

Alálaong bagá, God’s word is efficacious, transforming those who listen to it with open hearts.

The liberality of the sower goes hand in hand with the fecundity of the seed. To reap 30 fold or 100 fold underlines the miraculous, for that is how divine grace works. The reign of God comes as surely and as richly as the hundredfold harvest described. Vital is the disposition of the respondent to God’s word: truthfulness and humility, conversion and continuing trust in the God who speaks to us in spite of our obstructing sinfulness. The indifference, hardness of heart, defection, inconstancy, betrayal and the seeming failure of the word that we witness in others around us can also happen to us personally at different times. We all need to relisten constantly, ponder more deeply, and hear again and again more faithfully God’s word of love and life.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every

Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

Essential public services for all: Govt guarantee matters Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

T

he Senate Committee on Energy headed by Sen. Win Gatchalian conducted on July 6 a hearing on the “electric shock” that Meralco and other power distribution utility firms delivered to their customers in the months of May and June.

According to Chairman Agnes Devanadera, the Energy Regulatory Commission was swamped by almost 50,000 customer complaints on the inexplicable doubling, trebling, quadrupling and quintupling of their electricity bills.

The new Meralco rates have further flattened the Covid-stricken economy. They are destabilizing businesses, big and small, and the lives of many Filipinos, especially the poor and the “new poor” whose jobs and livelihoods have been decimated by the ECQ/GCQ. It is surprising why the Department of Energy and the InterAgency Task Force (IATF) on Covid-19 have not formally summoned Meralco and other utility firms to give a formal explanation not only on their shocking post-ECQ electricity rates but also on their equally shocking billing behavior: charge-high-explain-later.

Now these utility firms are telling the customers: no need to worry about being disconnected because they can pay on an instalment basis!

The truth is that in national emergencies, the government cannot allow private companies providing essential public services to conduct business freely sans any rules and without any coordination with the government on how to deliver these services at reasonable rates. The Covid-19 pandemic is war. And in war situation, the primary duty of the government is to save people’s lives. It has to adopt mitigation measures, including direct intervention in business operations, in order to ease the suffering of the population.

This interventionist thinking is favored by some revisionist economists in the IMF, meaning those who are opposed to the IMF neo-liberal old timers who worship on the altar of laissez faire. The latter unequivocally support full freedom for corporations to conduct business as they see fit at all times. In an IMF blog (April 1), Giovanni Dell’Ariccia et al. wrote that one objective of economic policy in crisis periods is to “guarantee the functioning of essential sectors” such as the “health care, food production and distribution, essential infrastructure, and utilities.” Such guarantee “may even involve intrusive actions by the government to provide key supplies

through recourse to wartime powers with prioritization of public contracts for inputs and final goods, conversion of industries, or selective nationalizations.”

As examples of intrusive government actions, Dell’Ariccia et al. cited France’s seizing of medical masks and in the US, the activation of the Defense Production Act to ensure the production of medical equipment. Further, they wrote: “Rationing, price controls, and rules against hoarding may also be warranted.”

Such proposals draw inspiration from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American president who slayed the Great Depression of the 1930s by openly asserting the right of the national government to intervene in critical areas of the economy. On managing privately-run public utilities, Roosevelt railed against the “monstrosity” posed by these companies and suggested government takeover if the people were not happy with the service rendered or rates charged by these companies.

In actuality, Roosevelt did much more: nationalizing the Tennessee Electric Power Company, setting up rural electric cooperatives all over America, regulating the banking sector, intervening in the operations of coal mines and oil drilling operations, mediating union-management conflicts, and so on and so forth.

Of course, nationalization and government interventionism in the operations of big businesses are not cure-all panacea to complex problems ailing the economy. But the right of the government to intervene in the delivery of essential public services to protect the lives of the people is paramount. This right was declared but not fully exercised by the Philippine government during the December 1989 violent putsch by rebellious elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The then eighth Congress hastily enacted Republic Act 6826, which authorized the president “to temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately-owned

public utility or business affected with public interest.” The rationale given for the said RA 6826 is worth reiterating: “To protect the people from hoarding, profiteering, injurious speculations, manipulation of prices, product deceptions, and cartels, monopolies or other combinations in restraint of trade.”

Now what are the most essential public services that the people want to be delivered efficiently at reasonable rates in Covid-19 times? In our mind, the list should put the following as the most important: health care, food distribution, electricity, water and telecom/digital connectivity.

The IATF and the Cabinet, together with the LGUs, have been focusing their energy on the delivery of the first, that is, the health care services.

The government’s Bayanihan 1 and 2 have allocated hundreds of billions for the facilities, materials and personnel needed to rebuild a broken public health care system in order to contain the spread of the virus. The declared intention is fine. The problem is how well the DOH and other agencies are faring in delivering health services to the people nationwide. This deserves a separate discussion.

As to food production and distribution, Agriculture Secretary William Dar has been preaching two major gospels—plant-plant-plant and better food distribution. However, a number of farmer organizations and CSOs are puzzled: why is the government still keen in supporting Philippine reliance on imported rice, imported poultry and other imported agricultural products? Is this not as good a time to use the Covid-19 crisis as an opportunity to speed up domestic agricultural modernization and achieve higher level of food security?

As to the delivery of power, water and digital services, problems abound as reflected in the flood of complaints raised against Meralco and other power utility companies. There are also widespread customer complaints in the surge of water rates being levied by the water companies, a number of which are trying to “privatize” the profitable local water utility companies. And like in the case of electricity, no acceptable explanations are given by these water firms.

And then there is the Internet and telecom service. This service has become truly essential given the social distancing requirement under Covid-19 pandemic and the deepening role of cyber connectivity in the social and economic life of every Filipino family. The problem is that the duo monopolists involved in the delivery of Internet/telecom services have been slow in responding to the numerous complaints on intermittent disruptions and disconnections.

For example, in the case of the PLDT, the millions of customers are given only one number to dial —171— in order to report or file a complaint.

This number is always busy and rarely works. And, if the customer is lucky, he/she can get a concrete reply from a customer assistant within two weeks of endless dialing and endless waiting for a PLDT personnel to answer. The PLDT does not even provide an e-mail address which customers can use to send “love letters” on their connectivity problems.

This brings us then to another related issue: where is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of these big private utility companies in Covid times? What have they done to ease the suffering of the people?

At the height of the lockdowns, these firms generated media publicity regarding their contributions to the relief and social amelioration programs of government and nongovernment agencies. However, they seem to have forgotten that the best CSR contributions that they can give to the nation is to become reliable partners of government and society in providing reliable and reasonablypriced services to the people during difficult times. CSR begins at home, that is, beginning with the respect that the company accords to their customers, employees and host communities.

In the case of Meralco, it could have demonstrated such respect by conducting prior, full and honest information sharing, consultation and dialogue with various segments of their paying customers regarding the company’s planned rate adjustments and the reasons why such adjustments are unavoidable. The subsequent explanations, which many still find incomprehensible, were released after the storm of public protests generated by the new power rates.

Also, Meralco should have informed the nation on what it is doing to lower the cost of power by buying power at lower rates. For example, Meralco has not responded to the criticisms raised by the environmental CSOs that the company has concluded Power Supply Agreements with generating companies which charge higher rates and use GHG-emitting coal material. This goes against the trend in the world where more and more countries such as UK and Malaysia are committing themselves to the increased use of renewable energy such as solar, which has become cheaper compared to the nonrenewables such as coal and gas.

Meralco can gift the nation by providing leadership to the Philippine business community on how to go renewable and customer-friendly.

A12 Thursday, July 9, 2020

OFWs impacted by pandemic now at 400K, labor chief reports

O

By Samuel P. Medenilla

@sam_medenilla

VER 400,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) worldwide are now jobless or suffering reductions in their benefits or pay due to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

In an online press briefing on Wednesday, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the employment of another 80,000 OFWs was affected by Covid-19.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said they expect these OFWs will be seeking repatriation.

“So far, I have not heard if some of them would not want to come home. My assumption is if they are stranded or affected by Covid, they would want to come home,” Bello said.

Last month, DOLE reported 341,000 Covid-affected OFWs. Of these OFWs, 191,000 refused to be repatriated as they opted to wait in their host country for new employment opportunities.

On Tuesday evening, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana re-

ported that 75,895 displaced OFWs were already repatriated by the government since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year.

They were among the 114,394 returning overseas Filipinos registered by the Department of Health (DOH) as of July 7, 2020.

Of these returning Filipinos, 2,720 were infected with Covid-19.

Migration experts earlier projected more OFWs will be affected by the Covid-19 as many countries continue to reel from the economic disruption caused by Covid-19.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) earlier estimated many of the 164 million migrant workers worldwide will lose their jobs and go home to their countries because of the pandemic.

IN this June 6, 2020, file photo, Department of Foreign Affairs personnel assist 345 Filipino repatriates who arrived at the Clark International Airport. They are crew members of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines who patiently waited for their repatriation from docked ships in Barbados. DFA

LOCAL BROILER GROUP TO DAR: CHECK ONLINE POULTRY SALE

L

OCAL broiler producers on Wednesday urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) to investigate the reported sale of illegal poultry meat online, which could be hosts of animal diseases.

In an open letter addressed to Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar, the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra) lamented the DA’s recent pronouncements that smuggling continues to occur despite having a “high level” of quarantine measures.

Ubra cited the BusinessMirror story in its letter that reported the DA’s appeal for smugglers to stop smuggling illegal pork products from banned countries like China to avert entry of animal diseases. See DA: Stop pork smuggling to prevent entry of new swine flu, in the BusinesMirror,

July 3, 2020.

The group asked Dar to “refrain from making appeals to importers and smugglers not to import banned meat and meat products from China.” “It is not only strange but it further emboldens those who are already breaking the law to do it some more,” the letter, dated July 7, read.

“In the first place, if the country really has a ‘high level’ of quarantine measures, then it is not necessary to make any appeal,” the letter added.

On July 2, the DA said Dar’s appeal to traders is to “be vigilant and there should not be any smuggling of pork and pork products from China,” in light of reports of new swine flu strain discovered in the East Asian country dubbed as G4, that could trigger a pandemic.

Continued on A7

Solon seeks probe into P4-B national ID project

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LEADER of the House of Representatives on Wednesday urged the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of Finance (DOF) to look into the alleged “rigged” bidding of the P4-billion supply contract for the national ID project of the government.

Deputy Speaker and Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr., in a statement, asked BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to immediately step in and stop the implementation of the alleged rigged bidding from proceeding.

According to Pichay, one of the principal authors of the national ID law, after all participating bidders had submitted their eligibility requirements, the BSP bids and awards committee imposed a “controversial and questionable additional provision” that virtually wiped out participating bidders to the P4-billion ID card project save for two complying bidders.

However, Pichay said one of the two surviving bidders copped out, saying, “this strange event virtually handed over the lucrative P4-billion contract to the lone surviving bidder.”

Pichay said “evidently the chain of events depict a scripted machination carried out on cue, with one of two surviving bidders opting out to conveniently hand over the P4-billion contract to the only remaining eligible, complying bidder.”

This scheme, the lawmaker said guarantees the loss of hundreds of millions of badly needed funds by the government in the fight against Covid-19.

“The blatant violations of the implementing rules of Republic Act 9184 suffice to thwart the despicable and execrable machinations of the conspirators that enabled a favored lone complying bidder to survive the bid process after the additional provision imposed by the BSP bids and awards committee simply purged and eviscerated other participating bidders,” he added.

With this, Pichay said a congressional probe should be conducted to bring to light these anomalous practices he claimed preceded the stint of Diokno at BSP, and expose certain unscrupulous parties from within and outside of the BSP. “I am totally confident that BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, leaders of proven integrity and two of the vanguards of the Duterte government against corruption and malfeasance in government, will not allow this rotten bid from prospering at all,”Pichay added.

The solon said the national ID project could have facilitated and speeded up the release of the cash assistance to legitimate indigent families under the government’s Covid 19 emergency support programs. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz

‘With billions in forgone revenue, time to rush economic reforms’

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

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HE chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday called on the Executive Department to mobilize its allies in the Senate for the immediate passage of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act. Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda said the proposed CREATE is one of the “legislative imperatives” that Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez identified for the country’s economic recovery.

According to Salceda, the -year loss in foreign direct investment due to delays in passing CREATE was between $6 billion and $12 billion.

Salceda said President Duterte and his Cabinet approved this Package 2 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program in January 2018

and the House was always quick to pass versions of this reform.

“The CREATE, which will reduce the corporate income tax to 25 percent on its first year, will jolt the markets out of its unjustified pessimism,” Salceda said.

The CREATE seeks an outright cut in the country’s CIT rate from 30 percent to 25 percent. The proposal further offers more flexible incentives, with an immediate 5 percent income tax slash, after which the CIT will be reduced by 1 percent every year from 2023 to 2027 until it reaches the 20-percent mark.

“Right now, the sentiment of many enterprises, including those who will almost certainly survive this pandemic, is profusely negative. There is a sense among them that some obviously beneficial government interventions are being delayed. Passing CREATE will end the pointless wait-and-see,”

Salceda added.

According to Salceda, the government needs to be very aggressive with promoting the country as an investment destination.

“Now is the time to reorganize the global investment order in the country’s favor, when everything is still unsettled. There are many opportunities now that will never come again once things normalize,” he said.

“Market spirits are in stasis.

CREATE will be that necessary push to get positive sentiment to snowball into something big towards the end of the year. The cost has already been around $6 billion to $12 billion in foregone foreign investments because of the two years of delay in passing this crucial reform. That has cost the Filipino people significantly. More delay will cost more growth,” Salceda added.

Continued on A7

Companies BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Vista Land to tap dollar bond market to pay maturing debt

By VG Cabuag

V

@villygc

illar-led property developer Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. said it will again tap the offshore bond market, proceeds of which will be used to pay its maturing debt in 2022.

In its disclosure, the company said it may issue a fixed-rate dollar notes through its wholly-owned unit VLL International Inc. The company said it mandated DBS Bank Ltd., HSBC as joint global coordinators, joint lead managers and joint bookrunners, and Credit Suisse as joint lead manager and joint

bookrunner. These banks were asked to arrange a series of fixed income investor calls on Wednesday.

It did not give further details on the debt issuance.

According to its report, the company has at least $363 million in notes maturing in 2022.

On June 18, 2015, Vista Land

issued a seven-year $300 million notes, which carry an interest rate of 7.375 percent. As of March 31, the outstanding balance of the said debt note amounted to $238 million, the company said in its previous report.

On February 2, 2016, an additional unsecured note of $125 million were floated, with the same terms and conditions of the previous note offering. The notes, which will also mature in 2022, were issued at 102 percent representing a yield to maturity of 6.979 percent.

For the first quarter of the year, Vista Land said leasing and residential businesses allowed its income last year to grow 10 percent to P11.6 billion, from P10.5 billion in 2018.

Consolidated revenues grew 7 percent to P44.4 billion, from P41.5 billion in the previous year,

@llectura

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HOENIX Petroleum Philippines Inc. is raising up to P3.5 billion from the last tranche of its P10-billion commercial paper program to finance the oil company’s working capital requirements.

“The corporation intends to offer to the public the fourth series of the commercial paper program with an aggregate principal amount of up to

P2 billion with an oversubscription option of up to P1.5 billion,” Phoenix said on Wednesday.

The debt paper will have a tenor of 360 days from issuance, tentatively scheduled on July 29. If fully subscribed at the 5-percent rate, Phoenix said it expects net proceeds to reach P3,280,015,570. The proceeds would be used to finance the importation of fuels and lubricants, among others.

The oil company expects to set the final issue price on the discount

rate on July 20.

The oil firm has hired PNB Capital and Investment Corp. as arranger for the offer.

The issuance falls under Phoenix Petroleum's ongoing, three-year commercial paper program that was launched in 2018.

“It continues to provide a channel for the company to tap market participants looking for competitive yields and to support the working capital requirements.

“The issuance is part of the drive to help jumpstart economic activities in our country today as Phoenix continues to ramp up operations and support its nationwide network of over 660 stations and commercial clients,” Phoenix Senior Vice President for External Affairs Raymond Zorilla said.

In August and December last year, Phoenix raised P3.5 billion and P3 billion worth of commercial papers, respectively.

‘More Pinoys Subic firms get longer rent grace period paid taxes via GCash’

By Henry Empeño Correspondent

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

F

inancial technology (fintech) app GCash said on Wednesday that the volume and value of tax payments made through its platform doubled in the first six months of the year, with its top executive saying that this reflects the growing demand for digital transactions in the so-called new normal.

For the first half of 2020, GCash processed 225,222 transactions for the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), a 90-percent increase from the 118,731 transactions recorded in same period last year. In terms of value, these transactions amounted to P574.89 million, a 117-percent surge from P265.19 million the year prior.

“The surge in both volume and value for tax payments is a reflection that GCash is fast becoming a preferred mode of payment for taxes.

Taxpayers opt for a safe and convenient way of paying their taxes.

We fully support the government in pursuing a more cashless Philippines, as we all adapt to the new normal,” GCash President Martha Sazon said.

She said this new data from GCash is reflective of the preliminary data that the Department of Finance (DOF) recently reported. According to the report, 77 percent of the BIR’s total tax collections from January 1 to June 15 were done electronically.

“By partnering with the government, we are bringing government services closer to the masses—especially now that we are facing a threat that forces us to limit human interaction. Through our platform, we are enabling people to pay their taxes safely, conveniently, and securely, while empowering the government to process these payments more efficiently.”

S

ubic Bay Freeport—T he Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has extended the suspension of rent and other payments due since the start of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in March.

The extension will give business locators in this free port a longer period to recover from the effects of the lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19, according to the SBMA. SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said the relief came through a resolution passed by the SBMA board of directors on June 30, which stretched the grace period for the collection of all due accounts until October 28, or a total of 119 days.

Eisma said the extended suspension period covered billings due from March to September 2020 for lease rentals, common use services area fees, port charges, garbage collection fees, sublease shares, and gross revenue shares.

Those who will benefit from the grace period include business locators leasing lands, buildings and other infrastructure from the SBMA, and residents paying lease on a monthly basis.

Eisma said this was actually the third extension on bills payment that the SBMA granted since the ECQ in March.

The new SBMA measure took off from a memorandum circular issued by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which gave a minimum 30-day grace period for the cumulative amount of residential and commercial rents that fell due during the quarantine.

“But to better assist the businesses here in Subic, the SBMA opted for a longer time when payments could be deferred to give the local businesses enough time to recover,” Eisma said Tuesday.

The bike-friendly Le Charme Suites Subic BusinessMirror file photo

“There is really a need to cushion the impact of the lockdown and provide economic relief to Subic stakeholders in support of RA [Republic Act] 11469, or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act.” Under the approved measure, the SBMA management also allowed amortized payments of all the unpaid billings from March to September 2020 in six monthly installments, or from October 2020 to March 2021.

Eisma said said billings will not earn any interest or penalty until March next year if the installment is completed.

However, regular policy on credit and collection would apply to billings issued prior to the March ECQ, although interest and other charges are waived for such billings for the period July 1 to October 27, 2020.

Interests and other penalties will also be applied to installments that were not paid on time, and all unpaid bills by the end of the October 27 grace period will start earning interests, charges, and penalties the following day, Eisma said.

B1

Local buyers prop up Cebu Landmasters H1 reservation sales

the company said.

Leasing income posted an increase of 20 percent to P8.5 billion, while revenues from real estate grew 3 percent to P32.8 billion.

Manuel Paolo Villar, the company's president and CEO of Vista Land, said the company will refocus on utilizing its existing portfolio of investment properties as well as utilize its current land bank of about 3,000 hectares.

“We saw that demand for affordable housing persists and homebuyers, most of which are end users, remain committed to completing payments. Vista Land also is taking advantage of its geographic reach. We have a presence in 147 cities and municipalities across the country and generate over 50 percent of our revenue outside Metro Manila,” he said.

Phoenix issues commercial papers

By Lenie Lectura

Thursday, July 9, 2020

She added that while sub-lessees are not covered by the suspension because only sub-lessors have contracts with the SBMA, the latter are encouraged to extend the same benefit to their tenants.

According to SBMA Deputy Administrator for Finance Dea Sanqui, those who want to avail of the six-month installment scheme would have to apply by filling out a pro-forma promissory letter addressed to the SBMA chairman and administrator not later than September 30.

Companies availing of the installment scheme should attach a Secretary’s Certificate authorizing the signatory of the promissory note. Application forms may be obtained by sending an e-mail to accounting@sbma.com, treasury@ sbma.com, or oda.finance@sbma. com or from the account offices assigned to companies registered in the Subic Bay Freeport.

Sanqui said the SBMA Treasury Department will compute and determine the schedule of the six monthly installments and will notify the applicants before payment date.

BusinessMirror file photo

C

ebu Landmasters Inc., a listed property developer in the Visayas and Mindanao, on Wednesday said its reservation sales in the first half of the year expanded by 41 percent to P7.43 billion, from P5.26 billion last year.

The company said the increase was driven by the purchases of local buyers, which offset the fall in the house-buying activities of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Until the end of last year, Cebu Landmasters said about 40 percent of its buyers were mostly OFWs. That figure dropped by half in the second quarter when VisMin was under lockdown, but local residents picking up the slack. It did not give the breakdown of buyers.

The company said its reservation sales came mostly from cities affected by the pandemic, like Cebu City which accounted for some 40 percent its sales.

Iloilo City and Cagayan de Oro, meanwhile, accounted for 23 percent and 19 percent of sales, respectively. These are classified as lowrisk areas by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases along with Bacolod, which contributed 10 percent of sales, and Bohol at 8 percent.

“The pandemic has heightened the realization that good housing means good health. In March, we began helping our buyers afford our homes by offering stretched payment terms and other promotions. Market response has been overwhelming and we are now speeding up plans to offer our flagship Casa Mira residential brand to more VisMin cities,” said Jose Soberano III, company chairman and CEO. Casa Mira, an economic housing community development, accounted for 65 percent of first half sales. Its residential units are priced from P1.5 million to P3 million and require a monthly amortization of P4,000 to P5,000 a month after units are turned over.

Meanwhile, the company's garden series for the mid-market buyers, accounted for 26 percent of sales.

Soberano said he is optimistic that the company would be able to meet its year-end sales targets.

The construction on the majority of its projects continued during the lockdown period in 13 cities in the Visayas and Mindanao where it is allowed by the respective local government units provided social distancing and other safety measures were strictly enforced, the company said. VG Cabuag

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, July 9, 2020

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

July 8, 2020

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

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

46 95.6 73.3 20.85 7.8 37.1 8.35 21.35 47.05 17 102.3 53.5 0.72 20.2 2.45 8.01 0.27 0.57 1651 1.08

47 95.75 74.5 21 7.81 37.15 9.48 21.5 47.85 17.08 102.5 53.65 0.82 20.5 2.56 8.2 0.285 0.59 1730 1.14

46.55 98.5 72 20.75 7.9 38.2 8.37 21.8 47.25 17.16 103.5 54.9 0.78 21 2.46 8.98 0.28 0.59 1650 1.03

47 98.5 74.5 21 7.9 38.2 8.37 21.8 47.85 17.16 103.6 54.95 0.83 21 2.46 9 0.28 0.59 1730 1.18

46.05 95.55 71.65 20.75 7.74 37.1 8.35 21.4 47 17 101.5 53.65 0.78 20.2 2.45 8 0.275 0.57 1650 1.03

46.05 95.6 74.5 21 7.8 37.1 8.35 21.4 47.85 17.08 102.5 53.65 0.83 20.5 2.45 8.01 0.275 0.57 1730 1.08

3600 3381870 2858010 65500 594500 3982700 300 80300 9000 125600 1054770 10020 2000 30100 5000 23500 60000 400000 30 569000

166825 325269088.5 209228107 1365100 4640833 148782850 2509 1731255 423195 2144870 108106862 540741.5 1610 618960 12280 193200 16650 229360 49900 616550

INDUSTRIAL

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

2.25 1.16 27.6 0.152 24 64 281 13.7 3.16 3.11 11.22 18.64 8 7.43 2.51 76.05 14.68 4.16 4.99 8.15 69.75 0.56 1.28 31.6 146 30.2 6.6 5.44 0.136 6.3 1.41 4.25 0.106 124.1 0.83 55.4 1.03 9.94 5.37 6.55 7 0.7 0.8 116.5 1.75 2.03 3.7 4.08 20.1 1.84 5.85 1.04 4.72 1.45 7.66

2.26 1.19 28.1 0.157 24.3 64.4 281.2 13.72 3.17 3.28 11.4 18.7 8.03 7.49 2.52 84.8 14.76 4.3 5.01 8.16 69.8 0.58 1.29 32 146.6 43 6.87 5.45 0.148 6.32 1.44 4.3 0.109 124.8 0.84 60.75 1.04 9.98 5.38 6.56 7.1 0.71 0.81 146.9 1.98 2.05 3.74 4.23 20.5 1.85 5.88 1.07 4.86 1.46 7.67

2.26 1.16 28.65 0.159 24.25 64 281 14.18 3.14 3.2 11.36 19 8.03 7.37 2.56 80 14.88 4.2 5.2 7.99 69.7 0.56 1.31 31.5 146.5 43 6.61 5.47 0.136 6.17 1.44 4.25 0.106 125 0.85 55.2 1.04 9.8 5.26 6.2 7.5 0.7 0.82 115.3 1.98 2.08 3.73 4.24 20.1 1.82 5.9 1.06 4.74 1.35 8.45

2.31 1.17 28.65 0.159 25.25 65 281.8 14.24 3.19 3.49 11.44 19 8.03 7.54 2.56 84.8 14.88 4.2 5.2 8.2 69.9 0.58 1.32 32 147 43 6.61 5.58 0.148 6.3 1.46 4.25 0.106 126.5 0.85 55.25 1.04 9.98 5.38 6.6 7.64 0.71 0.83 129 1.98 2.08 3.74 4.24 20.1 1.87 5.9 1.1 5.2 1.46 8.45

2.25 1.15 26.85 0.151 23.8 64 279 13.66 3.13 3.02 11.36 18.5 8 7.37 2.5 76 14.68 4.16 4.98 7.99 69.45 0.56 1.28 31 145.9 43 6.61 5.42 0.136 6.15 1.4 4.25 0.106 123.1 0.83 55.15 1.03 9.8 5.15 6.05 7 0.7 0.81 115.3 1.98 2.02 3.66 4.24 20.1 1.8 5.81 1.05 4.72 1.34 7.6

2.26 1.17 28.1 0.157 24.3 64 281 13.7 3.16 3.26 11.44 18.7 8.03 7.49 2.51 76 14.7 4.16 4.99 8.15 69.8 0.56 1.28 31.6 146.6 43 6.61 5.45 0.148 6.3 1.42 4.25 0.106 124.1 0.84 55.25 1.03 9.94 5.37 6.55 7 0.71 0.81 129 1.98 2.05 3.74 4.24 20.1 1.85 5.85 1.05 4.72 1.45 7.66

1807000 123000 751900 450000 1754400 58810 215540 4967700 2216000 112000 10000 618500 41400 315400 977000 940 548700 23000 2638500 907200 12200 380000 6575000 69500 704290 400 3300 445100 340000 1027500 1816000 1000 250000 2517590 1466000 130 3833000 14000 1230000 24161300 6486500 63000 635000 210 1000 628000 23000 4000 500 2584000 226800 116000 146100 9936000 10746700

4110140 143130 20804750 68490 42617580 3771602 60516550 69237410 6967060 363410 113864 11565086 331878 2364518 2454600 75307 8069158 96480 13397975 7373211 850751 212940 8520150 2184810 103313284 17200 21813 2431634 46360 6370565 2582810 4250 26500 313369078 1232530 7175.5 3957370 138667 6541781 152173925 47188925 44400 516730 26946 1980 1282560 85530 16960 10050 4753260 1327020 123500 694415 13971090 84656088

-4605 -113114852.5 92328780 -594310 -33820 -59161600 -2508.9999 -64445 371300 -636710 -15240376 -400798 -173230 24750 252850 313880 -4643420 7179925 -1901632 7813500 -5005346 -85560 1335638 53728 23948 -106420 -141394 -75480 -5106242 -178200 20213 24840 1690760 45978200 -163240 -122079 -427740 -154929233 111390 40170 -44601 3743858 51523824 -5912553 343040 1167630 929236

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.465 0.475 0.475 0.475 0.465 0.465 5210000 2436350 -876650 ASIABEST GROUP 8.38 8.39 8.41 8.43 8.09 8.38 24600 203388 8250 AYALA CORP 748 750 751.5 770 745 748 316680 238250060 -62128475 ABOITIZ EQUITY 49.2 49.65 49.3 49.6 48.8 49.6 2111900 104017605 75783175 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 6.3 6.37 6.62 6.65 6.3 6.3 11254300 72705658 -53360849 AYALA LAND LOG 1.69 1.7 1.71 1.72 1.69 1.7 542000 920150 6.01 6.22 6.16 6.22 6 6.22 45500 275109 118052 ANSCOR 0.465 0.5 0.465 0.465 0.465 0.465 10000 4650 ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A 0.54 0.55 0.54 0.55 0.54 0.54 291000 157280 ATN HLDG B 0.54 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55 180000 99000 22000 5.4 5.42 5.5 5.5 5.4 5.42 67600 367916 -67070 COSCO CAPITAL 4.2 4.22 4.17 4.23 4.08 4.22 236868000 978,530,430( 11,285,069.9997) DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV 8.8 8.88 8.8 8.9 8.8 8.9 30700 272520 -210520 GT CAPITAL 449.8 450 454 454 450 450 164820 74257470 9914868 HOUSE OF INV 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 3.4 7000 23800 -23800 JG SUMMIT 66.5 66.65 66 66.5 64 66.5 1813080 119876997.5 19097711.5 LODESTAR 0.69 0.7 0.67 0.71 0.65 0.69 2245000 1548260 -67990 LOPEZ HLDG 2.72 2.73 2.79 2.8 2.73 2.73 1545000 4296140 2790 8.3 8.45 8.45 8.5 8.21 8.45 2684700 22,546,911( 3,220,934.9998) LT GROUP 0.46 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.45 0.5 15000 7010 MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV 3.62 3.63 3.62 3.68 3.58 3.62 24272000 87748610 -5533820 2.75 3 2.9 2.9 2.75 2.75 7000 19850 PACIFICA HLDG PRIME MEDIA 0.82 0.84 0.87 0.87 0.84 0.84 12000 10180 SOLID GROUP 0.98 1 0.97 0.98 0.97 0.98 38000 36920 SYNERGY GRID 155 168 165 165 150 150 510 84000 SM INVESTMENTS 967.5 975.5 945 975.5 940 975.5 180680 174378295 31563820 SAN MIGUEL CORP 100 102 101.5 102 99.8 102 154760 15688660.5 3487880.5 SEAFRONT RES 1.81 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 2000 3900 TOP FRONTIER 128 130 128 130 128 130 110 14180 ZEUS HLDG 0.132 0.135 0.129 0.134 0.128 0.131 910000 118240 43520

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.54 0.56 0.54 0.56 0.53 0.56 229000 124490 ANCHOR LAND 8.16 8.89 8.16 8.16 8.16 8.16 1300 10608 AYALA LAND 33.8 33.9 34.7 34.7 33.3 33.9 8438400 286900845 ARANETA PROP 1.01 1.03 1 1.03 1 1.03 3000 3060 BELLE CORP 1.41 1.43 1.42 1.42 1.41 1.41 408000 575590 A BROWN 0.71 0.73 0.72 0.73 0.71 0.72 1424000 1025370 0.74 0.8 0.74 0.79 0.74 0.79 167000 131170 CITYLAND DEVT 0.117 0.124 0.118 0.118 0.117 0.117 30000 3530 CROWN EQUITIES CEB LANDMASTERS 5.1 5.14 5.08 5.2 5.08 5.14 3217300 16545694 0.37 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.37 0.37 1980000 739150 CENTURY PROP CYBER BAY 0.25 0.26 0.248 0.25 0.245 0.25 160000 39780 17.22 17.24 17.48 17.48 17.1 17.24 128800 2224352 DOUBLEDRAGON DM WENCESLAO 6.16 6.2 6.02 6.2 6.02 6.16 74300 454474 EMPIRE EAST 0.25 0.265 0.26 0.26 0.25 0.26 410000 106100 EVER GOTESCO 0.102 0.103 0.102 0.103 0.097 0.102 1420000 143760 FILINVEST LAND 0.99 1 1 1.01 0.99 0.99 9268000 9250440 8990 HLDG 9.3 9.38 9.4 9.4 9.38 9.38 23100 216895 PHIL INFRADEV 0.81 0.82 0.82 0.83 0.81 0.82 195000 160230 0.7 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 0.74 13000 9620 CITY AND LAND 3.09 3.1 3.18 3.18 3.02 3.09 20420000 63087520 MEGAWORLD 0.149 0.15 0.149 0.15 0.148 0.15 5750000 854570 MRC ALLIED PRIMEX CORP 1.37 1.45 1.44 1.44 1.44 1.44 1000 1440 ROBINSONS LAND 16.8 16.94 17.46 17.46 16.62 16.94 1324800 22434522 1.6 1.61 1.63 1.63 1.61 1.61 148000 238560 ROCKWELL SHANG PROP 2.71 2.72 2.72 2.72 2.71 2.71 72000 195140 STA LUCIA LAND 1.82 1.87 1.81 1.81 1.81 1.81 3000 5430 SM PRIME HLDG 31.25 31.75 31.5 32.05 31.2 31.75 5139500 162673450 VISTAMALLS 3.71 3.74 3.75 3.75 3.71 3.71 5000 18690 SUNTRUST HOME 1.31 1.34 1.35 1.4 1.3 1.31 2776000 3681820 PTFC REDEV CORP 41 45 40.05 41 40 41 600 24120 3.88 3.9 3.9 3.92 3.87 3.9 452000 1762090 VISTA LAND

-148981920 -2830 90580 -504125 4900 -416158 198250 -258670 -108918 9620 -25514690 -128952 -4890 189700 -66573880 -102000 569450

SERVICES ABS CBN 14.96 14.98 15.2 15.4 14.96 14.96 1161400 17504830 GMA NETWORK 5.41 5.49 5.23 5.5 5 5.49 4729800 25262585 MANILA BULLETIN 0.335 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.34 280000 95500 MLA BRDCASTING 11.68 12.98 11.7 11.7 11.7 11.7 3100 36270 GLOBE TELECOM 2094 2096 2090 2110 2064 2096 73590 154457840 PLDT 1348 1349 1298 1350 1297 1348 275840 367645015 0.05 0.052 0.052 0.052 0.05 0.052 7610000 381840 APOLLO GLOBAL DITO CME HLDG 3.1 3.11 3.24 3.3 3.05 3.1 63054000 200449970 1.35 1.61 1.32 1.65 1.32 1.65 15000 21610 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.073 0.077 0.077 0.077 0.077 0.077 20000 1540 JACKSTONES 1.75 1.77 1.9 1.9 1.73 1.75 922000 1641450 NOW CORP 2.12 2.13 2.19 2.2 2.12 2.12 3326000 7150890 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.169 0.17 0.176 0.176 0.169 0.17 990000 169050 PHILWEB 2.05 2.07 2.13 2.13 2.03 2.06 1286000 2654430 2GO GROUP 9.47 9.48 9.47 9.67 9.47 9.47 43500 412605 ASIAN TERMINALS 15.62 16.8 16.8 16.8 16.8 16.8 100 1680 CHELSEA 3.53 3.54 3.61 3.67 3.53 3.53 585000 2100090 CEBU AIR 41.4 41.9 44.15 44.15 40.1 41.4 345000 14524990 99.95 100 101.5 101.9 99.8 100 2148440 215318850 INTL CONTAINER 6.28 6.3 6.8 6.9 6.28 6.28 14052600 92365875 MACROASIA 2.11 2.13 2.17 2.17 2.09 2.11 396000 836030 METROALLIANCE A PAL HLDG 6.55 6.65 6.7 6.7 6.55 6.6 68500 452013 0.82 0.83 0.85 0.85 0.81 0.82 166000 135740 HARBOR STAR ACESITE HOTEL 1.18 1.3 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 1000 1180 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.023 0.024 0.024 0.024 0.023 0.024 14100000 336400 WATERFRONT 0.375 0.39 0.375 0.375 0.37 0.375 220000 82200 CENTRO ESCOLAR 6.4 6.48 6.48 6.48 6.4 6.4 200 1288 IPEOPLE 7.73 8.79 8.79 8.79 8.79 8.79 100 879 STI HLDG 0.295 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.295 0.295 2990000 885400 BERJAYA 2.11 2.13 2.13 2.16 2.13 2.15 20000 42670 8.1 8.2 8.14 8.2 7.8 8.2 5753900 46282854 BLOOMBERRY 1.89 1.99 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89 12000 22680 PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES 1.37 1.4 1.41 1.41 1.35 1.37 63000 86400 PH RESORTS GRP 2.3 2.36 2.38 2.38 2.3 2.36 152000 353030 0.31 0.315 0.315 0.32 0.31 0.315 4110000 1293150 PREMIUM LEISURE 7.61 8.35 7.71 7.71 7.71 7.71 1300 10023 PHIL RACING ALLHOME 7.12 7.17 7.26 7.27 7.12 7.12 627300 4497679 METRO RETAIL 1.6 1.61 1.58 1.63 1.58 1.6 2480000 3969510 PUREGOLD 46.6 46.65 46.6 46.8 46.3 46.6 5600300 260238265 ROBINSONS RTL 64.75 64.8 65.2 65.2 64.6 64.8 382390 24791601.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 124.8 125 125 125.5 124.5 125 5230 653792 SSI GROUP 1.16 1.17 1.15 1.18 1.15 1.17 1736000 2025350 16.32 16.44 16.4 16.62 16 16.44 1259300 20673090 WILCON DEPOT 0.305 0.315 0.31 0.315 0.31 0.315 2340000 736100 APC GROUP 6.85 6.9 6.75 6.85 6.75 6.85 10200 69190 EASYCALL 0.199 0.201 0.198 0.204 0.198 0.201 1140000 227880 PRMIERE HORIZON SBS PHIL CORP 4.61 5.05 5.05 5.05 5.05 5.05 700 3535

25102320 103270110 2750810 135900 -1729.9999 145220 7260 841810 -104447154 824592 6690 -3750 -30000 23161363 -4620 683550 -10023 -1606349 2988730 4565050 -8923721.5 -33805 -874240 472814 31500 -13015 -

MINING & OIL ATOK 8.71 9.19 8.62 9.2 8.62 9.19 34300 306635 APEX MINING 1.33 1.34 1.34 1.35 1.3 1.33 6773000 8979100 -2813540 ABRA MINING 0.0008 0.0009 0.001 0.001 0.0008 0.0009 1268000000 1148800 18000 ATLAS MINING 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.27 2.22 2.25 384000 860600 44400 BENGUET A 1.82 1.88 1.57 2.05 1.57 1.88 2821000 5292320 1.8 1.85 1.59 1.98 1.5 1.85 1113000 2059110 17470 BENGUET B 0.182 0.191 0.183 0.183 0.183 0.183 200000 36600 COAL ASIA HLDG CENTURY PEAK 2.65 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7 95000 252050 135000 7.25 7.37 7.24 7.35 7.24 7.35 2600 19099 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 1 1.01 1.01 1.06 0.98 1 10865000 10952510 1817200 0.233 0.236 0.235 0.237 0.231 0.235 460000 108070 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.099 0.1 0.097 0.1 0.097 0.099 4450000 440620 LEPANTO B 0.1 0.107 0.1 0.108 0.1 0.101 1190000 122330 MANILA MINING A 0.0074 0.0075 0.0073 0.0074 0.0073 0.0074 24000000 177200 MARCVENTURES 0.61 0.62 0.68 0.68 0.61 0.62 845000 528900 NIHAO 1.29 1.33 1.36 1.36 1.29 1.33 327000 426380 NICKEL ASIA 2.09 2.1 2.18 2.21 2.05 2.1 19309000 40723230 3158450 0.52 0.53 0.54 0.55 0.5 0.53 896000 460780 ORNTL PENINSULA PX MINING 2.71 2.73 2.75 2.75 2.72 2.73 1302000 3555280 -249040 12.36 12.38 12.56 12.56 12.34 12.36 807800 10035598 -3958030 SEMIRARA MINING 6.46 6.54 6.47 6.55 6.45 6.54 47700 308467 650 ACE ENEXOR 0.0089 0.0094 0.0096 0.0096 0.0091 0.0091 46000000 427700 ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B 0.0093 0.01 0.011 0.011 0.011 0.011 4000000 44000 PHILODRILL 0.0078 0.008 0.0077 0.0078 0.0077 0.0078 165000000 1285500 PXP ENERGY 6.4 6.43 6.39 6.4 6.3 6.4 498600 3172671 341479.0001

PREFFERED HOUSE PREF A 100 100.5 100 100.5 100 100.5 5640 564040 AC PREF B2R 502.5 503 503 503 503 503 11700 5885100 FGEN PREF G 106 110 109 109 109 109 10 1090 PNX PREF 3A 99.9 101.2 101 101 101 101 100 10100 PNX PREF 4 1010 1016 1010 1010 1010 1010 150 151500 PCOR PREF 3B 1065 1075 1060 1065 1060 1065 190 202000 78.05 78.45 78.45 78.45 78.45 78.45 1300 101985 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D 75 75.55 75.55 75.55 75.55 75.55 10 755.5 SMC PREF 2E 75.8 77.15 76 76 75.8 75.8 13400 1015862 4560 77.1 79 79.4 79.5 79.4 79.5 25100 1993605 SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H 76 77 76 76 76 76 10000 760000 SMC PREF 2I 78.3 78.9 78.35 78.35 78.35 78.35 200 15670

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR 14.12 14.62 14.56 14.56 14 14 122900 1767252 -574200 GMA HLDG PDR 5.12 5.23 4.71 5.24 4.7 5.23 898400 4542141 -2512500

WARRANTS LR WARRANT 0.68 0.72 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 11000 7480

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ALTUS PROP 27.3 27.9 24.65 28.45 22.9 27.9 7749500 198280580 -30356925 ITALPINAS 2 2.01 2.06 2.06 1.99 2.01 3170000 6387660 34320 KEPWEALTH 5.84 5.89 5.97 5.97 5.83 5.84 64600 378106 MAKATI FINANCE 1.92 2.44 1.92 1.92 1.92 1.92 100000 192000 MERRYMART 3.03 3.04 3.1 3.14 3 3.03 30897000 94381750 717020 XURPAS 0.56 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.56 0.58 1870000 1065530

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS

FIRST METRO ETF 94.95 96 94.95 95.5 94.5 94.95 20690 1967640.5 94500

www.businessmirror.com.ph

NGCP defers adjustment of transmission rate–ERC

By Lenie Lectura

T

@llectura

he National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has decided to defer the implementation of the approved 2020 interim maximum allowable revenue (iMAR) until end of the year, according to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

“NGCP, on its own, informed us that they are not implementing. We have reasonable grounds to believe that it will not implemented,” said ERC Chairman Agnes Devanadera, adding that the unilateral deferment takes effect until end of the year.

The MAR refers to the maximum revenue that NGCP is allowed to earn from its transmission operations.

The NGCP is presently collecting revenue based on the 2016 approved iMAR (interim MAR) of P43.78 billion.

In October 2019, NGCP filed an application for its 2020 iMAR. It asked the commission to grant it an

iMAR of P58.8 billion for this year.

However, the ERC only approved P47,051,640,000.00, or P11.8 billon less than what the grid operator applied for.

“If NGCP will not implement iMAR 2020, they will still collect on the basis of the previous iMAR determined,” said ERC Spokesman Rexie Digal when sought for further comment.

This means that NGCP’s 2016 iMAR of P43.78 billion would still be implemented and not the approved P47 billion.

Sought for comment, NGCP said the deferment is one way by which

it can help the public cope up with the pandemic.

“NGCP has unilaterally deferred the implementation of its ERC-approved IMAR. To date, it has not implemented the rate adjustment.

NGCP is focusing its energies into finding ways to help the country battle this unprecedented global health crisis directly by deferring the implementation of the IMAR, and indirectly, by giving aid to local governments, medical institutions, and other entities in need,” said NGCP Spokesman Cynthia Alabanza.

“Without being prompted or ordered to do so, we are already thinking of ways to balance the needs of the country for a continually strengthened power grid, and the difficulties that beset many Filipinos.”

During the July 6 hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy which discussed the impact of Covid-19 on electricity bills, Senator Risa Hontiveros questioned the ERC on whether it approved a petition from NGCP to raise its MAR from P43 billion in 2019 to P47.1 billion in 2020.

Digal said the 2020 iMAR application by NGCP was filed in October 2019. And the decision, or the interim

relief order, that was issued by the ERC in February of 2020 is not supposed to reflect an increase in the transmission charge.

“Per our evaluation at that time, considering the data and information that we have, the approved iMAR is supposed to have lower transmission rates by four centavos coming from 51 centavos of 2019. With the interim relief granted in February 2020, we have simulated P0.47 transmission charge, so it should have been four centavos lower.”

However, following the pronouncement of enhanced community quarantine across the country in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the NGCP voluntarily did not implement the approved 2020 iMAR. NGCP’s IMAR, which are used for transmission projects and other grid investments based on the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Power Development Plan, are subject to ERC’s approval for every regulatory period. However, administrative concerns faced by the ERC in 2015 and 2016 which included constraints in the procurement of regulatory experts, resulted in the delay of the reset process for NGCP’s 4th Regulatory Period.

Cirtek US unit unveils new antennas

By VG Cabuag @villygc

T

he subsidiary of Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. in the United States said it rolled out another batch of its 5G antennas that are capable of using the new frequencies freed up for commercial use by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In its disclosure on Wednesday, the company said Quintel USA Inc. has approved and released nine new antennas equipped with Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) frequencies.

This frequency band, previously reserved for the Federal government’s navy, aircraft and satellite applications, was recently released for commercial use by the FCC in January this year.

“Quintel is very excited to participate in the nationwide swap out of existing antennas to add CBRS functionality on top of current infrastructure. This comes at an opportune time when the pandemic has forced millions of companies and employees to work from home thereby shifting rapid growth and traffic to voice and data networks. Our new antennas are designed to open up 150MHz of new information highway spectrum to US networks,“ Cirtek Vice Chairman and President Jorge Aguilar said.

Under the FCC rule, wireless carriers may deploy 5G, or fifth generation, mobile networks using the CBRS spectrum without acquiring additional licenses.

Quintel’s new antennas utilize the 3.5 gigahertz CBRS band, designed to improve wireless

broadband access and performance in the US. Last week, the company was approved by one of the top two largest carriers for the supply of CBRS antennas.

Meanwhile, its sister firm Cirtek Advanced Technologies and Solutions Inc. (CATSI), has inked a multi-million project with a Silicon Valley based technology company for the production of 5G-supporting chipsets to be used in fiber optic networks.

A single chipset enables data processing speeds of up to 400 Gbps (billions of bits per second) in optical networks.

“Such capability, when used collectively, will allow great scalability and cater to the growing data processing requirements of an increasingly networked society. CATSI is capitalizing its decades of history and experience in specialized microwave integrated circuit assembly and test knowhow capabilities to begin production for the chipsets by the fourth quarter this year,” Cirtek Holdings CFO Brian Gregory Liu said.

Quintel is a Silicon Valley-based technology company that designs, develops and delivers base station antenna solutions that cater mostly to mobile phone operators.

CATSI is a value-added, radio frequency, microwave and millimeter wave technology company producing electronic manufacturing services, modules, systems, box-build finished products and equipment for wireless broadband, cellular communications, radar, satellite and advanced antenna systems for terrestrial, mobile and space-link communications.

AirAsia weighs raising $234M via rights issue

A

irAsia Group Bhd. is considering raising about 1 billion ringgit ($234 million) through a rights issue after an external auditor raised concerns about its viability, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The budget carrier is working with an adviser on the planned capital raising, said the person, who asked not to be named as the information is private. AirAsia is also weighing raising additional funds via the sale of stakes in its digital and cargo units in order to further strengthen its financial position, said the person.

Deliberations on the planned rights issue and stake sales are still ongoing and AirAsia may decide not to proceed, said the people. A representative for AirAsia declined to comment on the matter.

AirAsia, like other airlines globally, has been adversely impacted by the pandemic coronavirus which crimped demand for air travel following border controls and health concerns.

The Malaysian carrier reported a record first-quarter net loss of 803.8 million ringgit compared with net

income of 96.1 million ringgit a year earlier, according to a stock exchange filing on Monday. Its current liabilities already exceeded its current assets by 1.84 billion ringgit at the end of 2019, even before the pandemic.

The company’s auditor Ernst & Young warned in a statement to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange Tuesday that the airline’s ability to continue as a going concern may be in “significant doubt.”

Shares in the budget airline, which were temporarily halted until 2:30pm, closed down 17.5 percent on Wednesday. They have fallen nearly 59 percent in the year to date, giving the company a market value of $551 million.

The International Air Transport Association said last month the industry’s debt has surged by about $120 billion, a level many carriers will be unable to sustain without governments stepping in to convert borrowing into equity. The trade group predicted the sector would suffer a record loss of $84 billion in 2020, more than three times the $31 billion hit seen during the 2008-2009 recession. Bloomberg News

mutual funds

July 8, 2020

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 204.94 -24.14% -9.28% -5.02% -18.64% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.0663 -36.15% -13.18% -5.09% -22.84% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 2.7802 -33.74% -13.72% -7.22% -24.41% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.7061 -26.69% n.a. n.a. -21.29% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.683 -23.59% n.a. n.a. -19.58% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 4.3895 -21.46% -7.87% -4.59% -17.62% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,4 0.696 -22.56% -10.3% n.a.

-18.46% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a

80.94 -34.57% n.a. n.a. -21.67% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 41.3581 -22.74% -7.52% -3.77% -19.35% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 440.04 -20.77% -7.06% -4.18% -17.41% Philequity Alpha One Fund, Inc. -a,d,5 0.9017 n.a. n.a. n.a. -12.46% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.038 -23.42% -7.5% -3.72% -19.34% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 30.5938 -23.08% -7.01% -3.39% -19.27% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8128 -24.35% n.a. n.a.

-20.17% Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 4.2122 -22.46% -6.98% -3.08% -19.36% 705.23 -22.25% -6.95% -3.25% -19.13% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.6427 -32.27% -10.82% -7.36% -24.51% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 3.2425 -26.76% -8.5% -4.59% -22.96% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 0.8098 -22.29% -7.09% -3.23% -19.08% United Fund, Inc. -a 2.9499 -22.45% -5.86% -2.75% -19.25% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c 94.6727 -22.05% -6.46% -2.42% -19.05% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b $1.0378 2.86% 1.73% 1.05% 0.91% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.4274 7.67% 7.25% n.a.

3.53% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.574 -10.87% -4% -3.29% 0.72% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.0798 -11.65% -4.27% -1.63% -4.64% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.45 -9.28% -2.58% -2.68% -6.9% First Metro Save and Learn F.O.C.C.U.S. Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a,1 0.1881 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-17.68% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.8625 -4.94% -0.79% -0.07% -5.12% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.5394 -6.55% -1.86% -1.19% -6.59% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 15.7511 -7.74% -2.19% -1.39% -7.13% 1.948 -10.49% -3.27% -1.2% -8.36% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.3293 -15.48% -4.21% -2.46% -13.83% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d 0.959 -7.18% n.a. n.a.

-5.58% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d 0.8679 -16.13% n.a. n.a.

-12.9% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d 0.8444 -18.15% n.a. n.a. -14.98% Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.8235 -18.41% -5.16% -3.54% -15.52% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03851 2.28% 2.52% 1.69% 0.73% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -b $1.0168 1.59% 1.02% -2.03% 1.33% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.96 3.94% 5.12% 4.13% 1.26% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a,3 $1.1273 1.1% 2.65% n.a.

-0.13% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 366.44 4.55% 3.16% 2.58% 2.41% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.9431 2.27% 0.99% -0.03% 2.16% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.1931 4.62% 5.1% 5.09% 2.46% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.3003 5.04% 3.1% 2.36% 3.38% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.4536 5.89% 3.48% 2% 4.01% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.6289 10.49% 4.37% 2.67% 5.85% Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a,6 1.2992 6.8% 4.14% 2.27% 3.38% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.9728 7.85% 4.44% 2.42% 4.87% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 1.0293 9.65% 3.52% 1.74% 6.74% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.1771 7.05% 4.83% 2.95% 3.29% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.7457 5.92% 4.2% 2.41% 2.62% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $474.42 3.27% 2.52% 2.73% 1.32% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є215.57 -1.21% 0.65% 0.99% -1.89% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.2237 3.24% 2.9% 1.37% 2.59% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.026 1.17% 1.45% 1.28% 0.78% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -b $1.0713 -1.89% -0.04% 0.24% -2.18% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.447 3.76% 3.3% 3.08% 1.8% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0606468 2.09% 1.96% 1.84% 0.55% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1819 2.62% 2.14% 2.42% 0.21% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 128.23 3.73% 3.23% 2.43% 1.95% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.042 2.63% n.a. n.a.

1.53% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2841 3.11% 3.04% 2.59% 1.54% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0454 1.65% n.a. n.a.

0.79% Feeder Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities Sun Life Prosperity World Equity Index Feeder Fund, Inc. -a,d,7 0.9998 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Global Multi-Asset Income Fund Inc. -b,d,2 $0.93 n.a. n.a. n.a.

-6.06%

a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Launch date is September 28, 2019. 2 - Launch date is November 15, 2019. 3 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last October 9, 2019.

4 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.). 5 - Launch date is December 09, 2019.

6 - Re-classified into a Bond Fund starting February 21, 2020 (Formerly a Money Market Fund). 7 - Launch date is July 6, 2020.

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

Editor: Eleanor Leyco-Chua

Health&Fitness BusinessMirror

Thursday, July 9, 2020 B3

What Cancer Patients Need to Know in Time of Coronavirus

T

here is understandably extra anxiety nowadays among cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers due to the pandemic situation.

Although no systematic reports are available demonstrating higher Covid-19 incidence or asymptomatic infection among persons living with cancer, those with active cancer are classified as immune-compromised.

The risk among cancer patients is based on the type of cancer they have, the type and timing of treatment, underlying health conditions, and the age of the patient.

People with cancer feel overwhelmed by the complications posed by coronavirus in addition to the burden they already carry, and they wonder whether to delay or push on with treatments at this time. To help

them take a science-backed, proactive approach to cancer management, here are some strategies that patients and their loved ones can apply so they can make well-thought-out decisions amid the challenges of the “new normal”:

1Talk to your oncologist.

To ease one’s worries, it is vital to schedule a consultation with the oncologist as

soon as possible via videoconferencing or by phone. Discussions can revolve around issues that include the goals of the cancer treatment; the magnitude of benefits to the patient; side effects, if any; available supportive care to reduce side effects.

Remember that the cancer doctor is the only qualified person to make a risk/benefit assessment based on whether one’s case is a high priority (the condition is life-threatening or unstable, or the survival rate/improvement in the quality of life far outweighs the risks involved); medium priority (the patient’s situation is not critical but further delay could impact health outcomes); or low priority (the condition is stable enough to justify rescheduling after the pandemic eases or benefits from the treatment are almost nonexistent).

2Prepare and plan.

Cancer patients and their caregivers should learn to recognize the symptoms of coronavirus infection: fever, cough, sore throat, breathing problems, muscle pain, tiredness, loss of the sense

of smell, and impaired sense of taste.

Cancer patients that present with fever or came in contact with someone who has coronavirus must consult their doctor over the phone so they can be advised how and where to proceed. The possibility must be considered, and evaluation should not be performed at the oncology center given the risk it may pose to cancer patients and the treatment staff.

Caregivers are likewise in danger of contracting Covid-19 which is why it is advisable to prepare for such a scenario to enable those involved to act quickly: identify whom to contact, who else is available to support the patient in place of the caregiver, and so forth.

3Obtain distance assistance.

Caregivers may want to consider seeking remote help because of additional precautionary responsibilities and the current quarantine situation.

Take advantage of online grocery and medicine delivery services, enlist help when updating concerned persons on the status of the patient,

NCD Academy launched to equip health workers with educational resources and skills

T

o enhance the ability of healthcare workers to prevent and treat non-communicable diseases, Upjohn, a division of Pfizer announced the launch of the NCD Academy, a user-friendly, interactive web-based platform.

The NCD Academy is designed to equip health-care professionals—such as general practitioners, internists, nurses and community health workers—with educational resources and skills.

“At Upjohn, patients and their evolving health needs are at the heart of everything we do. We are proud to partner with the NCD Academy, which will provide invaluable resources that can be used to advance the quality of health-care delivery in the Philippines by ensuring primary care physicians and community health workers are armed with tools to improve the prevention and treatment of NCDs,” said Melissa Comia, Upjohn Philippines General Manager.

The NCD Academy is sponsored

by Upjohn and was launched in partnership with the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the NCD Alliance

and the World Heart Federation.

Through the NCD Academy, health-care providers will receive free access to a suite of online certificate programs designed to enhance clinical skills and improve knowledge of techniques and therapies for NCD prevention, such as screening, health promotion, risk reduction, and basic management and treatment.

The program will enable physicians and global health authorities to develop data-driven NCD mitigation strategies that can ultimately help improve health outcomes.

NCDs like cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes account for more than 70 percent of deaths in the world and place an immense financial and social burden on countries worldwide.

The burden of NCDs is seen across high-, middle- and low-income countries but is most prominent where screening and prevention methods are less prevalent and where health care is not fully integrated. In the Philippines, cardiovascular disease alone accounts for 201,483 deaths each year and NCDs account for six

of the 10 leading causes of death in the country.

While the global health community is currently consumed by the Covid-19 outbreak, NCDs represent one of the most significant threats to economic prosperity and societal well-being long term.

“Despite the availability of many effective treatments, NCDs such as cardiovascular disease continue to be a leading cause of death worldwide,” said Amrit Ray, MD, MBA, Global President of Research, Development and Medical at Pfizer Upjohn.

Dr. Ray added at Upjohn, they believe it is critical to take an integrated approach to improving the health-care ecosystem by developing partnerships that extend beyond medicines, and which can ultimately improve care and save lives from diseases that are largely preventable.

The NCD Academy builds on the Global Prevention Program, which was launched by Pfizer Upjohn and the ACC in 2016.

Since its launch, the program has hosted 44 webinars, equip-

ping more than 70,000 clinicians across nine countries with the latest science, technology, resources and tools needed to stem the rising tide of cardiovascular disease and reinforce best practices in treating patients along the cardiovascular disease continuum.

The program reached an anticipated 230 million patients across China, Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The NCD Academy will be available as a mobile application to enable rapid access to point-of-care tools, which have been shown to support better clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes.

The first course will focus on cardiovascular disease and stroke, and additional courses in cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and mental disorders will be launched in the future. The NCD Academy will also share guidance on integrated approaches to health care, including the role of healthcare workers in combating NCDs. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

UV system disinfection technology to keep customers safe from Covid-19

A

s the country continues to ease community quarantine measures, some businesses have started to open in Metro Manila and other areas in the country.

Establishments, likewise, were asked to implement the minimum health standards in their premises.

With the community prioritizing health more than ever, businesses look to find ways to keep their customers safe from exposure to Covid-19, and other viruses and bacteria that cause disease.

Geogreen continues to champion this shift keeping in mind its advocacy of sustainable and eco-friendly living by bringing to the Philippines, Fresh-Aire UV systems, a revolutionary air disinfection technology made especially for commercial spaces.

Designed to keep the air clean and free from pathogens, Fresh Aire UV systems are an indispensable tool for businesses transitioning into the post-lockdown world.

Regardless of size and location, commercial and industrial estab-

lishments such as stores, hospitals, schools, showrooms, offices, warehouses, and the like, all need to ensure that their premises are safe and clean, including the air indoors.

Since the coronavirus can thrive in crowded spaces and easily contaminated surfaces, it is necessary to keep areas well-ventilated with clean air as an added measure to reinforce proper disinfection practices. FreshAire UV systems do this effectively through a technology called ultraviolet germicidal irradiation.

“In light of the pandemic, we see that there is a need for reliable disinfection systems more than ever, Philippine Geogreen introduces FreshAire UV to the Philippines to ensure that the community has a safe, ecofriendly way of dealing with the threat of airborne pathogens. This is part of Philippine Geogreen’s continuing commitment to bring relevant, effective, and sustainable green solutions that meet the evolving needs of Filipino consumers,” said Liza Morales, CEO of Philippine Geogreen.

Fresh-Aire UV systems are an easy retrofit solution as they are compatible with most business’ existing HVAC or aircon.

Designed to disinfect even the biggest spaces, Fresh-Aire UV is installed in the HVAC unit and ductwork to ensure clean air circulates through the ventilation system. UV-C light, the frequency used in germicidal UV lights, kills germs by disrupting their DNA which prevents them from reproducing, effectively killing them.

In many studies, ozone, an alternative air-purifying treatment, is harmful and may cause health problems when inhaled.

Fresh-Aire UV systems use zero percent ozone on all their products and are tested and validated against bacteria, viruses, mold and fungus, and can achieve up to an optimal reduction in microorganisms.

UV systems have also been shown to reduce molds and pathogens that are found within the HVAC system and drain pans that would otherwise be introduced and distributed

throughout the envelope of the building. Fresh-Aire UV technology prevents mold from growing in ventilation coils reducing the need for costly maintenance.

Beyond improving indoor air quality and reducing biological contaminants and toxins, Fresh-Aire UV systems result in up to 30 percent more energy efficiency, making it a truly sustainable choice.

More important, Fresh-Aire UV, the company behind the system, has designed its products so that these do not harm the ozone layer, and ensure that these are environmentfriendly.

As the world moves to the new normal, Philippine Geogreen assured that it stands ever ready to assist them to achieve a safe, sustainable lifestyle with innovative and cuttingedge products that would enhance their lives.

Fresh-Aire UV is made available in the Philippines by Philippine Geogreen. For more information, check out ​w ww.philgeogreen.com​.

and assign another to contact healthcare providers since cancer centers may have new guidelines concerning the number of visitors and the age of caregivers. It is imperative that the caregiver is also practicing self-care as this can help boost the immune system.

4Incorporate preventive habits.

Guidelines of the World Health Organization must be observed to lower the chances of acquiring severe respiratory disease. It is best to avoid crowds and practice social distancing from relatives and friends exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms or living in areas where there is a continuing incidence of the illness. Regular and proper handwashing remains one of the best precautions against coronavirus.

For cancer patients making hospital visits and treatments, make sure to wear personal protective equipment or PPE. The National Foundation for Cancer Research advises having a sanitizing area dedicated to changing clothes and shoes before walking around the house and to have

separate outfits when going outside and staying in.

5Observeahealthylifestyle.

Keep in mind the customized recommendations of your oncologist to improve your immune system. These may include having optimum sleep, proper hydration, avoiding tobacco products, and eating a balanced diet rich in protein, fruits and vegetables which can provide the body with tools to prevent and fight the Covid-19 infection.

It is worth repeating the importance of reaching out to your oncologist so you can make shared decisions after weighing the various options available to you. To know more about how you can be supported along your cancer journey especially in the time of Covid-19, please visit the Hope From Within website and Facebook page: https://hopefromwithin.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/Hopefromwithinph and the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology web site and Facebook page: http://psmo.org.ph and https://www.facebook.com/cancerexpertsphilippines

Green Beauty is in

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

M

en and women are facing many challenges in times of calamity or pandemic. It is an effort to still look dapper in and out of their homes.While Hollywood celebrities are enticing the public to use the products that they are endorsing to look good, the question is, are these products safe?

Looking beautiful is still relevant. But beneath this consciousness to look good, everyone nowadays gives the same emphasis on the importance of feeling good at the same time, a realization that seemed to have led the industry to a continuous transformation. Globally, there is a movement that advocates for the protection of the environment by encouraging people to patronize environment-friendly products.

This gave rise to Green beauty, a growing movement of people and industries who want to be beautiful and responsible at the same time as it tries to emphasize the absence of harsh synthetic elements, which are toxic and carcinogenic every consumer applies in his/her body, and at the same time do not destroy the environment.

The term Green beauty has no precise definition in the dictionary. The person who coined this term must have drawn it from the conclusion of ascensional aesthetic (the belief that one should rise from lower to higher forms of beauty), with contention that artificial beauty is enjoyable.

Green beauty is clean beauty and generally refers to products, which are nontoxic and not harmful whether they are natural or not. One must take not that there is no such thing as “chemical-free” cosmetics since every ingredient used in developing a cosmetic product, natural or synthetic is a chemical.

This commercial ethos covers a wide spectrum of principles that advocates the use of products that are not harmful to one’s health and the planet. It comes with an awareness that being “green” also means being socially responsible and ethically mindful.

In the Philippines, Diwatang Maria is setting the benchmark for Green beauty at a high level.

Diwatang Maria is a local start-up brand that blends science and passion to give Filipinos access to effective, achievable, and sustainable skincare. “We offer high-quality and locally made organic soaps that help your skin achieve that healthy glow to which the diwatas are known for,” shares Ma. Concepcion Macalintal, founder and CEO of Diwatang Maria. In 2018, the company was founded.

Macalintal saw the need to provide beauty products that will not only help consumers attain the results from the products they are using, but also to embrace a business ethic that provides consumers “green beauty” products that are natural, organic, safe, free from harmful and toxic ingredients, and safe to the environment.

“People are starting to realize the importance of natural or organic products.

This Green Beauty movement is more than a practice that was adopted just recently but rather a reticent movement, which started sometime and is growing as consumers are being empowered by the fact that there can be a better and safer choice,” Macalintal said as Diwatang Maria chose to be in the green beauty market.

She also added that her company wanted to promote the use of locally made organic goods and “gather support as they promote eco-friendly products and we want to share that Filipino-made products are on a par with international brands when it comes to producing premium quality soaps.”

Diwatang Maria recently introduced its three pilot products, namely Diwatang Maria Makiling, Diwatang Maria Sinukuan, and Diwatang Maria Cacao.

All Diwatang Maria products, are allnatural, paraben-free, and free of other harmful ingredients.

Macalintal also invited entrepreneurial individuals to join Diwatang Maria as distributors or resellers.

“We are offering exciting packages for those who want to be our partners in the business. Let’s take advantage of earning at the comfort of our homes since most of the people now prefer work from home arrangements,” she said.

Diwatang Maria is available in Lazada and Shoppee. For more information check http://www.diwatangmaria.com.

TheBroa

Business

B4 Thursday, July 9, 2020 | www.businessmirror.com.ph

Pandemic highlights PHL prop

By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

Reporter

Photo & additional reports by Nonilon Reyes

C

Chief of Photographers

First of two parts

LANG. Click.

With those sounds echoing behind his back, Rodel Mojica sighed in mixed sadness and spiritedness as he stepped outside the steel gates of the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City: a place he called home for several years.

And how he rued having such freedom as Mojica found himself homeless. Neither family member nor friend waited for him outside the tall moss-ridden prison walls.

Mojica said his siblings turned their backs on him. He later looked up a distant cousin, offered to help build them a house, and stayed until he was booted out, back to the streets.

Years of working and living in construction sites where he worked as a laborer, had led him to meet his wife with whom he now has a 4-year old son, Ruben.

Things were looking up when, on March 17, the Duterte administration imposed a total lockdown to halt the spreading coronavirus disease 2019. Business activities like construction shut down and Mojica was left with no job.

Then his wife died of complications related to asthma at the height of the lockdown.

As a single parent, Mojica can only dream that his life would be as comfortable as those who live in the towering skyscrapers across the Pasig riverwalk where his pushcart, the one he calls home with his son, is now parked.

Day-to-day survival

STILL, Mojica considers himself a survivor; having to find sources of income to survive the worst recession the world has seen since World War II. Mojica and his son, Ruben, know all too well that every junk item they pick up is “street gold.”

These serve as a lifeline that could extend their lives for another day or two in the urban jungle.

With no place but the streets to call home, Mojica had to make do with what he had. He used corrugated scrap to put up a roof on his pushcart to protect them, at least, from the heat and the rain.

“Buti na lang may bahay din kami ng anak ko. Kahit may gulong ang bahay naming, okay na rin ito kasi minsan pinapaalis kami dito sa pwesto naming. Kahit paano, madaling alisin at hindi nila makukuha ang bahay namin,” Mojica told the BusinessMirror.

[It’s a good thing we have a house.

It’s good our house has wheels because there are times when people tell us to move. We can easily move our house and no one can take it away from us].

Evictions real

THE way that Mojica transformed a common wooden pushcart into a home was borne out of necessity and reflects the situation of millions of Filipinos who still don’t own a place they can call home— truly, they are in dire straits.

More common among them are those who occupy land without

the consent of property owners: called squatters pejoratively but now tagged as informal settler families (ISFs).

It is estimated that around 2.2 million Filipinos or 5.4 percent of the urban population in 2012 lived in informal settlements. As much as 1.3 million are, just like Mojica, living in Metro Manila, according to World Bank estimates in 2017.

In the same year, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) placed the number of ISFs both in urban and rural areas at 1.5 million. Around 584,425 Filipinos or 39 percent of the total were living in Metro Manila in 2011, the Neda estimated.

The John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues (ICSI) at the Ateneo de Manila University said “regardless of the differences in available estimates, the fact remains that millions of families can one day lose their homes when the legal owners or government decide to evict them from the land.”

Flock to cities

THE main driver of the increase in the number of ISFs is the high urbanization rate in the country.

People tend to flock to high growth areas in search for better economic opportunities.

Based on ICSI’s data, nearly half or 45.3 percent or 41.9 million Filipinos lived in urban areas a decade ago. At that time, there were only 92.3 million Filipinos.

This is not far from government’s estimate that urban population to total population called “urbanization rate” in economic parlance is at 44 percent. This figure was the estimate of the United Nations based on the 20172022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP).

The UN also estimated in 2015 that by the year 2050, the country’s total population in urban areas will reach 56.3 percent. Along with this estimate is the widening of the housing gap in the country.

Estimated backlog

THE newly-created Department of Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (DHSUD) currently estimated that between 2017 and 2022, the housing backlog is at 6.57 million.

This number includes the 1.44 million accumulated need among ISFs and 5.13-million future and/ or recurrent need from the formal sector as well as those who need to repair or replace housing units.

Such figure, however, is lower than the projection in the 2017-2022 PDP, which estimates that the total housing need by 2022 would reach 6.8 million.

The Neda estimated that as of December 2016, the backlog

has reached 2.02 million. This is composed of 1.29 million accumulated needs. The figure also includes 799,780 households who are living in unacceptable housing and 493,427 who are living in doubled-up households in acceptable homes.

Those living in unacceptable housing are composed of people who are “rent-free without consent of owner” at 535,418 Filipinos; homeless, 5,390; had dilapidated or condemned structure, 91,758; and, had marginal housing, 167,214.

The total for 2016 also included 724,702 houses for future or recurrent needs. This number is composed of 361,129 units (as an allowance for inventory losses) and 363,573 units for those who can afford to own acceptable housing units.

Needs, wants

BY the end of the PDP and consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the government aimed to decrease the proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing to 22 percent from 40.9 percent in 2016.

The PDP also aims to increase the proportion of socialized housing target to housing needs to 85 percent from the 47.87 percent posted in 2016.

If these targets are not met and improvements are not made in closing the gap, the DHSUD said the housing gap will balloon to 22.61 million by 2040, placing the compounded annual growth rate of the backlog to 7 percent.

The total backlog in 20 years will be composed of the accumulated need of ISFs at 1.98 million and 20.63 million from the formal sector as well as those who need to repair or replace housing units.

“Bad housing is also bad for public health,” ICSI Associate Director Anna Marie A. Karaos told the BusinessMirror via email. “As housing becomes more costly, even the middle class will not be able to afford housing. Substandard housing will [also] increase.”

Decent, affordable

JESSAN Catre, Country Lead for Philippine Shelter Lab of Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Shelter for Innovation, said another important sector that the government tends to overlook is the “unserved” market.

In their study with the Center for Research and Communication Foundation Inc., Habitat for Humanity found that the country’s housing needs until 2022 is even more staggering at 15.08 million.

This includes about 5.93 million Filipinos who are part of the unserved market; 5.12 million for those who need socialized housing; 2.11 million for those in need of economic housing; and, 1.9 million for those who need low-cost housing.

Catre said among these housing needs, the direst is that of the unserved housing market that includes more than 3 million lowincome Filipinos who build homes incrementally over decades and which Habitat for Humanity refers to as “owner-driven construction.”

He explained that these “incremental builders” lack decent and affordable homes because they are unable to access quality building materials, formal financing channels, training and information on appropriate construction technology.

“They are who we refer to as the ‘invisible housing market’,” Catre said. They are the ones in need of more information on how to make better decisions in building better

This is the "kariton" house that construction worker Rodel Mojica built, with a view of posh buildings across the Pasig River. NONIE REYES

and safer homes, especially when they do it themselves.”

Yearly averages

IN the Philippines, “affordable decent housing” is considered a human right.

Article 13 on Social Justice and Human Rights in Section 9 of the 1987 Constitution states that the country “shall, by law, and for the common good, undertake, in cooperation with the public sector, a continuing program of urban land reform and housing, which will make available at affordable cost decent housing and basic services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban centers and resettlements areas.”

DHSUD data showed that between 1975 and 2018, a total of 4.12 million housing units were completed. This meant an average of only 95,725.74 houses per year.

On average, DHSUD said the

Duterte administration built the most number of houses annually compared to the annual averages of previous administrations, including that of former President Ferdinand Marcos’s.

In the past 2.5 years, or between July 2016 and December 2018, the Duterte administration built 510,045 housing units. This translated to an annual average of 204,018 units.

T he DHSUD housing d at a showed the Marcos administration with a term of 10 years, between 1975 and 1985 built 135,575 houses or an annual average of 13,558 homes, the lowest among all administrations in the past 43 years.

On top

“COMPARING the accomplishment of the housing sector to previous administrations, the average annual accomplishment under the Duterte leadership re-

mains on top,” DHSUD Secretary Eduardo D. del Rosario told the BusinessMirror in an email.

Del Rosario added that President Duterte’s signing of Republic Act 11202, which created the agency he heads, “is a clear proof of the government’s commitment to 81 percent of Filipinos or about 85 million to assist them in getting their own homes.”

Based on the PDP, the country’s medium term socioeconomic blueprint, the previous administration only delivered direct housing assistance to 730,000 households: an 83-percent accomplishment rate.

The Neda said the estimate already included housing units that were built after super typhoon Yolanda and the 2015 Bohol earthquake. These units, however, were not part of government’s original target.

In terms of indirect housing assistance provided by the National

aderLook

sMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace | Thursday, July 9, 2020

B5

perty problems for poor Pinoys lack of jobs in a resettlement area, she said.

Karaos added that while the SHFC has the Community Mortgage Program (CMP), this needs to be scaled up and the agency given more resources, including land. She said the government can devote more resources for the CMP to increase the number of low-income households to avail of the program.

The ICSI said SHFC’s program lends to legally organized communities up to P100,000 per household to purchase the land they have been occupying from a willing owner.

The community association can also borrow P30,000 (around $605.29 at current exchange rate) for site development and P120,000 ($2,421.17) for house construction per household. The group loan is paid monthly for up to 25 years and carries an interest rate of 6 percent per annum.

In a 2015 study, Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) Vice President Marife M. Ballesteros also explained that the CMP allows non-residents of communities it serves to avail themselves of the loans.

Infertile attempt

FOR on-site projects, around 15 percent of community association members can be non-residents of the community. For off-site projects, the CMP allows that 70 percent of members can be composed of households that lived elsewhere. “ The government’s resettlement program is a great waste of government resources,” Karaos said. “This money could be better used to provide public housing within urban areas that offer job opportunities so that lowincome families can pay for this housing.”

The focus on resettlement efforts was also considered problematic by University of the Philippines Professor Toby Melissa C. Monsod.

In a policy paper published in the National Housing Summit Final Report for 2016 released by the World Bank and Australia Aid, Monsod said the government, for many decades, focused only on the symptoms rather than the real causes of housing system failures.

Government programs

Home Mortgage Finance Corp.

(NHMFC) through the Housing Loan Receivables Purchase Program (HLRPP), the PDP stated that the government achieved more than twice its target at 256 percent.

However, the PDP stated that the housing guaranty program of the Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) only delivered 56 percent of its target due to the “low demand for housing guarantees from banks and financial institutions.”

Unoccupied houses

THE PDP also said the “social impact of the NSP [Nationa l Shelter Program] has not been sufficiently monitored and evaluated.” In a 2017 budget call, the Neda cited the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) as having noted there were at least 15,000 unoccupied houses in 26 resettlements sites that were completed by the National

Housing Authority (NHA).

There are many reasons, Neda said, why the NSP fell short.

These reasons include the slow process of land acquisition, licensing and agency or local government unit (LGU) clearances, among others.

The PDP added that the issues include weak urban planning and unclear rules among government agencies, as well as national and local policies such as institutional limitations among key shelter agencies (KSAs).

The document also cited limited appropriations in the national budget. Neda said housing received less than 0.5 percent of the annual national budget or 0.12 percent of GDP, one of the lowest among Southeast Asian countries.

ICSI data revealed that the Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC) received in 2017 only 0.39 percent or P12.965 billion of the P3.35-

trillion national budget.

“The confluence of these factors resulted in low budget utilization rates 71 percent for NHA and 67 percent for SHFC,” the PDP stated.

Resettlement fixation

KARAOS said the sad reality is that many Filipino families cannot afford to own or even rent land and housing.

This despite the government’s resettlement program that allows households to make graduated payments for a house and lot at P200 a month, at least for the first four years. The amount, ICSI said, increases gradually to P1,330 per month. Awardees have up to 30 years to pay for their property.

Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Dante B. Canlas told the BusinessMirror in an email this situation is common, especia lly among low-income Filipinos.

“The housing market for any particular type of housing is imperfect.

It either fails or is unable to supply the number of units in amounts commensurate to the total needs of society,” Canlas explained. “Hence, a housing gap exists.”

He added that the housing market “fails when there is no price whereby sellers and buyers can agree on [on] a given unit of specific quality; there is no price at which a mutually beneficial exchange can take place.”

“This is common in the housing market faced by low-income groups and the poor,” Canlas said.

Residents, non-residents

ACCORDING to Karaos, the government has the power to address this housing gap.

However, the budget of the national government is dedicated to resettlement housing, which often gets abandoned due to the

IN the policy paper titled “Rethinking Urban Housing Policy: A policy paper for the National Housing Summit,” Monsod said the government’s resettlement program “devoted to the physical production of housing units and sites for sale at below market prices.”

Resettlement efforts, Monsod said, took up 75 percent of the production of the NHA. The program focuses on offcity and in-city relocation of ISFs living in danger zones such as near waterways; those living near government infrastructure areas; those affected by calamities such as typhoon Yolanda; and local government-led resettlement efforts.

Monsod said social housing production by the NHA between 2011 and 2015 accounted for 65.8 percent of total social housing production in the country, a significant increase from the 25.3 percent share between 1993 and 1998 and more than double its average share between 2001 to 2010.

However, she said these programs were plagued by “poor pricing, weak disposition rates, and weak collection” as well as “delays and shortfalls, beneficiary selection concerns and families returning to cities to squat.”

“What is relevant here is that fact that indications of allocative,

production, and administrative waste have been demonstrated by the government’s resettlement program for decades, yet resources continue to flow into the same types of programs,” Monsod said.

Housing market

FOUR years ago, Ballesteros noted that the local rental housing market is composed of students living in dormitories, those going through transitional events in their life such as divorce or separation, families who cannot afford or qualify for a mortgage because they have low incomes and those who share space with relatives.

In her policy brief titled “Enabling Local Rental Housing Market,” which was contained in the National Housing Summit Final Report for 2016, Ballesteros said that around 7 percent of total households in the Philippines as of 2012 are renting; and this percentage “hardly changed over time.” In Metro Manila, around 23 percent of households rent, nearly three times the national average.

She said that data adapted from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) showed that between 1991 and 2012, renter households grew 35 percent while households in informal tenure increased by 53 percent.

Tenure arrangements

BALLESTEROS added that homeownership may have grown 119 percent in this period but homeowning households declined by 4 percentage points to 56 percent in 2012 from 60 percent in 2000.

“The rental market has not responded as expected to the rapid increase in Metro Manila population during the period,” Ballesteros explained. “[The data] implies that increases in Metro Manila household population mostly fall in informal tenure arrangements.”

Monsod said the fixation with resettlement finance has taken the government’s attention from other housing concerns such as rental housing. She noted that “rental housing is a key feature of a vibrant housing market and an essential component of affordable housing.”

Monsod said renting is considered “the optimal form of shelter” especially for young and single individuals as well as those with relatively low incomes who may not be able to afford to buy property despite efforts to improve mortgage markets.

Straightforward venture

I N it s 2015 Hou si ng R ent a l Study, the Philippine Statistical Research and Training Institute (PSRTI) said that around 20 percent of total families, or 309,287 families, pay an average of P1,000 per month. This is considered as the lowest rental class.

The second-to-the-lowest rental class paid an average rent of P1,375 per month, wherein 32.2 percent or 497,807 families are involved.

The rental-class distribution of the rent paid by families, in general, shows that majority of the renters (52.2 percent) paid rent of less than P2,000 a month in 2012. The average rent paid by NCR families is P3,365 per month while other highly urbanized cities (OHUC) families, P2,277 and “Other Areas,” P1,753.

“Rental housing is a straightforward business venture, however, and the challenge for policy will be how to enable the supply of affordable rental housing while not discouraging private investment in rental housing,” Monsod said.

(Next week: Land and regulatory issues)

B6 Thursday, July 9, 2020

Food and love delivered: foodpanda delivers groceries to frontliners

Experts urge public to take a closer look at drinking water

H

I

N an effort to give back and celebrate its 6th year anniversary, foodpanda, the on-demand food delivery service, has donated grocery packages to the local communities in Makati City, Taguig City, and Quezon City in Luzon, Cebu City in the Visayas, and Davao City in Mindanao.

With the help and dedication of foodpanda employees and riders, soldiers from the Philippine Army, and local government units, foodpanda, through their grocery delivery service, shops, has distributed thousands of packages containing premium quality rice, canned goods, instant coffee, instant noodles, and cooking oil to frontliners. Frontline workers who were

able to receive the packages include emergency team responders, quarantine center personnel, garbage collectors, and street sweepers.

To date, foodpanda has distributed food packs to healthcare institutions during the enhanced community quarantine with their food delivery service, and now, as COVID-19 restrictions ease, they still continue to serve the needs of families and communities affected by the pandemic as they now deliver groceries and essential items via foodpanda shops.

“Being on the frontlines of this pandemic and operating through ECQ and GCQ has opened our eyes to the plight of our fellow frontliners. Just

as we value our riders who brave the streets every day, we wanted to show our appreciation for our quarantine center staff, garbage collectors and street sweepers who are literally keeping the country together. At a time like this, we, at foodpanda, believe it’s important to celebrate a milestone such as a 6th anniversary by sharing our blessings to these heroes,” said foodpanda Philippines Managing Director Daniel Marogy. foodpanda continues to address the safety and demands of orders of the customers by providing a wide variety of food and essentials as well as having a fast, easy, and contactless delivery service so people could stay safe at home.

RWM signature restaurant Casa Buenas reopens to dine-in guests

EALTH experts reveal that it is not enough that the water you drink looks clean to the naked eye. Your water should also be proven clean through lab tests, to avoid common water bourne diseases, such as cholera, dysentery, and gastroenteritis. Unfiltered water also has many potential contaminants, such as chlorine, heavy metals and allergens, as well as parasites.

Despite this, keep in mind that water is also important in everyday hydration. A document released by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition cites hydration as a key to supporting the body’s ability to fight the COVID-19 virus and support the immune system, recommending 2-4 ounces of clear liquid beverages every 15 minutes.

“Keeping properly hydrated at a time like this refreshes our bodies and keeps the virus away,” said Dr. Sybil R. Bravo, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital and a member of the Blood-Bourne Infectious Diseases Core Team.

Health experts around the world continue to stress the need for proper hydration, along with getting enough sleep and proper handwashing, as the best ways to ward off the COVID-19 virus. However, access to safe and clean water continues to be a challenge. There are many harmful substances and minerals in unpurified water, and not all bottled water in the market is the same Finding clean water that undergoes stringent purification processes to filter harmful substances and minerals means checking the purification process of which it undergoes. Some follow stricter and more stringent global processes to ensure that they are truly clean. Wilkins Pure, one of the water brands of The Coca-Cola Company, is certain to be clean and pure. With international certifications under its belt, Wilkins Pure goes through an advanced, seven-step purification process, which help assure that the water you drink purifies the body of toxins.

Learn more about the Wilkins via its official Facebook page or cokebeverages.ph.

DLSU launches cross-enrollment to help students from other schools stay on track

D

E La Salle University launches a cross enrollment program in July to help students from other schools move forward with their studies, even while on community quarantine.

Through the Lasallian Open Onlinelearning Program or LOOP, students from other schools can earn creditable units in DLSU that will enable them to stay on track in their own programs of study, while classes are unavailable in their home schools.

The University lends its expertise and resources as a lead institution in CHED’s efforts to set the standards in flexible online education. LOOP classes will be offered in an online platform, powered

by DLSU’s existing learning management

systems. Cross-enrollees will be able to access the topnotch instruction, e-library, and other learning resources in DLSU. LOOP also makes education accessible with pre-set tuition categories that mirror the tuition rates in the enrollees’ home school.

Through LOOP, a student can cross enroll a maximum of 18 units in any of the offered undergraduate and graduate courses, with permission from the Registrar in his or her home school.

LOOP is also open to students who may want to cross enroll, out of interest, in a DLSU course or in an audit course.

Interested students may visit http://bit. ly/LOOP-info for more details. Application deadline is June 27.

Hyundai H-100’s “Biga10” benefits to make it as your heavyweight partner in business

R

ESORTS World Manila (RWM) welcomes guests back to its signature restaurant Casa Buenas starting this July, from 11am to 9pm daily. After more than a hundred days, patrons may once again enjoy SpanishFilipino favorites such as Grilled Iberico Pork Jowl, Chorizo Pulpo, Callos de Montserrat, and many more.

Other dining outlets in Newport Mall and RWM partner hotels in Newport City have also reopened for dine in guests. In line with the Department of Tourism’s memo on “New Normal Health and Safety Guidelines for Accommodation Establishments,” hotel restaurants such as S Kitchen, Oori Korean Restaurant, and The Lounge in Sheraton Manila Hotel, Kusina at Hilton Manila, Yamazato at Hotel Okura Manila, Cru Steakhouse and Al Fresco at Manila Marriott Hotel have also opened their doors for dine in guests.

Newport Mall restaurants such as Uncle Mao, Macao Imperial, Barcino Wine Resto Bar, Peri-Peri Charcoal

Chicken & Sauce Bar, All4U, Fiery Style, McDonald’s, Pepper Lunch, Mr Kurosawa, Rafael’s Tapas Bar & Restaurant, Crustasia, Shrimp Bucket, Tao Yuan, and Wolfgang’s Steakhouse are now accepting take-out, pick-up, delivery and drive-thru orders. Some of these outlets are also allowed to serve dine in customers at a limited capacity and with safety protocols following the mandate of the Department of Trade and Industry.

RWM assures guests’ safety with more stringent SOPs on sanitation, as well as implements more innovative ways and services to cater to the needs of customers and guests. Aside from the initial safety guidelines such as wearing of masks, mandatory thermal scanning, and hand sanitizer stations, RWM and Newport Mall have put in place enhanced protective and cleanliness SOPs such as employing of Anti-Virus Patrol which will do roundthe-clock hygiene surveillance within the property to ensure public safety.

Additional state-of-the-art sanitation and disinfection technologies are installed within the property including smart disinfection and temperature chamber, Multi-Quat sanitizer, and escalator handrail sanitizers.

Contactless purchase with designated pick-up counters and drive through stations is also being introduced as a new safety protocol that will be rolled out in the re-opening.

Bestsellers from RWM signature restaurants Casa Buenas, Happy 9, and Silk Road are also available via Delishvery, RWM’s in-house food delivery service. Guests may place orders by calling 7908-8885 / 0917878-8856.

For more details on Resorts World Manila, please visit www.rwmanila. com, follow the official social media pages @rwmanila on Facebook and Twitter, and @resortsworldmanila on Instagram, and join the official RWM Viber community at bit.ly/ ResortsWorldManilaVibe.

H

YUNDAI Asia Resources Inc. (HARI) has a heavyweight contender that has gained a following among business owners for its dependability and efficiency: the Hyundai H-100, complete with “Biga10” benefits that can keep your business moving forward even in these trying times.

Here are the following Biga10 benefits: 1. The H-100 is social distancingready, configured to keep us safe from spreading the virus.

2. It has 1,080kg load capacity (that’s 285kg or the total weight of 4 average Filipinos, more than some of its competitors’).

3. It has a longer 2,430mm wheelbase for better stability and more cargo space.

4. The H-100 is 4,955mm long that gives you even more space.

5. It has the maximum power and torque of 130ps and 255Nm, respectively, that makes it a formidable runner that can take the challenge of tough road conditions or uphill climbs.

6. The H-100’s 6-speed M/T makes long drives fuel efficient, making every fuel drop count.

7. It is engineered with LSPV, which is known for providing better braking stability.

8.

The H-100 feels comfortable and car-like thanks to its well-designed modern driver space.

9.

It underwent the 7-dip Electrodeposition (ED) Process to make it rust-proof and stand the test of time.

10. Its cab and chassis are covered

by Hyundai’s 5-Year Unlimited Mileage Warranty that lets you worry-free in the long run.

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Thursday, July 9, 2020

B7

SFA, regional ministers tackle Covid, global issues

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IEWS surrounding the pandemic, contested waters and other issues were exchanged among foreign ministers from the region, including Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SFA) Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., at the Asean Informal Action Ministerial Meeting (IAMM), the 21st Asean Political-Security Community (APSC) Council Meeting and the 26th Asean Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting.

The Philippines’s chief diplomat emphasized that now is the time to develop an Asean recovery plan: “I

will not say ‘post-pandemic recovery plan.’ That connotes waiting for a vaccine or a cure still in the inde-

SECRETARY of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. at the recent high-level meetings with fellow Asean ministers. DFA

terminate future.”

At the IAMM, Locsin emphasized during the discussion on regional and international issues that, “The recovery cannot wait.

It must begin even as we contain

and reverse the contagion.”

He saw the significance of the bloc’s coordinated response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic and cautioned against protectionism. “Asean is

the way. Rather than revert to protectionism—the instinctive response of most—opening up even with our comparative equality, we might [be able to] wring out whatever commerce remains in the region and the world.”

A sustainable solution rests on “acting as though we share…a common fate, either way,” he added.

Locsin also called for protection of vulnerable sectors such as migrants, stronger safeguards against cybercrimes and other threats online with the rapid shift to the digital economy necessitated by the “new normal.”

The SFA noted that recent developments in the South China Sea/ West Philippine Sea threaten the peace, stability and security of the region. He highlighted the need to lessen tensions between the great powers by inviting them to the table, and “away from what promises

to turn our front yard into the next theater of war.”

Moreover, the secretary reiterated the Philippines’s commitment to the negotiations on the Code of Conduct. As country coordinator for Asean-China Dialogue Relations, he pointed out that the country remains steadfast in working closely with fellow Asean member-states and China to achieve an effective and substantive Code of Conduct.

The foreign ministers also convened for the ACC to discuss updates on Asean’s communitybuilding cooperation and to follow-up on the leaders’ recommendations for a collective response to the global health crisis at the Special Asean Summit and the Special Asean Plus Three Summit on Covid-19 in April. Preparations for the upcoming 36th Asean Summit were likewise tackled. DFA

Asean-China senior officials update on strategic ties Locsin on Covid approach:

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INCE the establishment of Asean-China Dialogue Partnership in 1991, mutuallybeneficial cooperation with China has expanded significantly across all three Asean community pillars: political-security, economic, and sociocultural.

This was the observation of Assistant Secretary Junever M. Mahilum-West, director-general of Asean-Philippines and the Philippine temporary Senior Officials Meeting leader, as the 26th AseanChina Senior Officials’ Consultation (ACSOC) unfolded on July 1—the first time via videoconference—to review the progress in Asean-China Strategic Partnership and discuss its future direction.

The Philippines, in its capacity as country coordinator for Asean-China Dialogue Relations for 2018-2021, cochaired the said meeting with China. Mahilum-West represented the country’s delegation, while it was Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiao-dong who led that of the

ASSISTANT Secretary Junever M. Mahilum-West addresses Asean-China Senior Officials during the 26th Asean-China Senior Officials’ Consultation. DFA

People’s Republic of China.

The senior officials exchanged views on developments in the region, including the collective aspiration to agree to an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea that will contribute to regional peace, security as well as stability, and is in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS. The two parties also discussed maritime-cooperation initiatives to further build trust and confidence in the region.

The consultation meeting also expressed commitment to continue and enhance health cooperation to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) through information exchanges, sharing of best practices,

capacity building of health personnel, as well as vaccine research and production.

“As we approach the 30th anniversary of our relations in 2021, we look forward to more comprehensive mechanisms to advance Asean-China cooperation in various priority areas. We hope to maximize our engagements toward positive outcomes in our region,” Mahilum-West said.

“This important partnership has proven instrumental in collectively responding to, and mitigating the effects of Covid-19.”

The meeting also highlighted 2020 as the Asean-China Year of Digital Economy Cooperation, with emphasis on initiatives to enhance digital connectivity, smart solutions, e-commerce, e-learning and platforms to help support micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises which will continue to boost economic growth, as well as the application of information and communications technology-enabled responses to Covid-19. DFA

PHL envoy heads Asean-Ankara body, gets Korean diplomatic service merit

AMBASSADOR Raul S. Hernandez (left) receives the Asean flag from Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey Lalu Muhamad Iqbal in a symbolic gesture. ANKARA PE/DFA

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URKEY—Philippine Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey Raul S. Hernandez recently assumed the chairmanship of the Asean Ankara CommitteeHeads of Missions (AAC-HOMs) for the second half of 2020 from the Republic of Indonesia’s Ambassador to Turkey Lalu Muhamad Iqbal, who completed his chairmanship of the AAC on June 30.

During a turnover ceremony at the Indonesian Embassy in Ankara, Hernandez congratulated Iqbal for successfully carrying out scheduled AAC activities in the first half of 2020, despite limitations arising from the pandemic.

The Filipino envoy expressed his gratitude to the eight resident AACHOMs comprised of fellow ambassadors and charge d’affaires who, in a meeting in April, unanimously agreed that Hernandez—the most senior diplomat of the group—is in the best-position to take over chair-

manship of the AAC and carry out activities in the second half of the year, given the time needed for the next-in-line chairman, the incoming ambassador from the Kingdom of Cambodia, to prepare for the task.

The Philippine diplomat informed the HOMs of his plans to mount several activities during his tenure to further raise the profile of the regional bloc in Turkey, while mindful of the present and projected pandemic situation for the rest of the year. These include the Asean flag-raising ceremony, Asean Family Day, a visit to the newly opened Presidential Library for a book donation, an economic seminar in Turkey’s commercial center Istanbul, and a visit to one of the republic’s cities for political and economic engagements with local government officials.

The AAC was established in January 2009 with the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kingdom of

HERNANDEZ (foreground, left) receives his citation in a ceremony at the Korean Embassy in Ankara. ANKARA PE/DFA

Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as the first five members. Over the years, it has grown to include Cambodia, the Republic of Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.

The body has collectively worked to promote the bloc’s political and economic interests by forging sustainable partnerships with Turkish government agencies, local government units, business entities, nongovernment organizations and the academe. It has also endeavored to bring the concept of Asean to the consciousness of Turkish society by embarking on promotional events that showcase each Asean membercountries’ various cultures, arts and cuisines.

Recognition from SoKor

A FEW days prior, Hernandez, who was previously an ambassador of the Philippines to the Republic of Korea (South Korea), received in a simple ceremony on June 29 the

Order of Diplomatic Service Merit (First Class) award, or the Gwanghwa Medal, from President Moon Jae-in through Ambassador to Turkey Choi Hong-ghi.

The citation read: “In recognition of and appreciation for his outstanding and meritorious services rendered toward the promotion of friendly relations between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of the Philippines, I hereby present, in accordance with the powers delegated to me by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, the Order Of Diplomatic Service Merit, Gwanghwa Medal, to His Excellency Raul S. Hernandez [of the] Republic of the Philippines, [June 2, 2020. Signed:] Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea.”

As he thanked the Korean government for the honor accorded to him, Hernandez assured his continued support for the strengthening of Philippine-Korean relations. DFA

‘Let women play bigger roles’

SECRETARY of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. (right) emphasized the need to protect and promote the rights of women at the Special Asean-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Covid-19, as he is seen on screen with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne. DFA

By Recto L. Mercene @rectomercene

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T the Special Asean-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SFA) Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. shone the spotlight on the central role of women in discussions to develop a post-pandemic recovery plan.

Together with Asean foreign ministers and its secretary-general, Locsin exchanged views with Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne regarding Asean-Australia cooperation to address matters surrounding the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and the next steps forward for the region’s economic recovery.

Payne stated that women are a priority for Australia and hailed her counterpart from the Philippines for recognizing “the importance of including women in the recovery in every way.”

She quoted him as saying, “when it comes to caring in emergencies—be they conflict or health, we must look to women to play the bigger and more effective role. We need to protect and promote the rights of women so they can do with less hindrance what comes naturally to them: the protection and care of mankind.”

The secretary cited the inequalities suffered by women, chiefly their vulnerability to domestic abuse during lockdowns, loss of family income, greater risk of infection as frontline workers, and greater exposure to mental strain. He called on Asean and Australia to craft a women-responsive recovery plan for the region that will give them their due and assure their well-being as a priority in the new normal.

Partnering for recovery

AT the meeting, Payne announced Australia’s package of initiatives to expand cooperation with bloc on Covid-19 through an additional $23-million commitment to help the region bolster health security, economic recovery, and stability. This is in-line with the Australian government’s new “Partnerships for Recovery” policy.

The assistance will be allocated for various health initiatives, support for Asean-Australia Political-Security

Partnership, vulnerable migrantworker communities, and programs that will accelerate the region’s digital transformation in support of Asean’s pandemic recovery plan.

The meeting noted that Covid-19 exposed the weaknesses of regional supply chains and shut down tourism.

Locsin spoke on the need for new and creative solutions to reinvigorate Asean’s trade and tourism industries which are largely reliant on intra-regional travel, and stated that the Philippines is eyeing similar approaches to Australia’s “travel bubble” policy.

Developing cures

ASIDE from expressing the country’s willingness to work with the “Land Down Under” in developing effective and affordable cures, a vaccine, therapeutics and diagnostics, the chief diplomat also put great stock in the launch of the Asean Coordinating Centre for Animal Health and Zoonoses, as well as the need to approach environmental health and human health as whole.

Saying that illegal trade in wildlife may be at the root of the pandemic, the SFA emphasized that both parties have a chance to improve existing tools for wildlife-disease surveillance, and develop the right measures to control, prevent, and eradicate zoonotic diseases arising from the illegal trade of animals and animal products through the Asean Centre for Biodiversity hosted by the Philippines.

Locsin saw the continental-state, with its location south of the region, as the anchor of a mostly maritime Asean. He affirmed that, despite the overriding attention demanded by Covid-19, the Philippines is more committed than ever to the maintenance of peace and stability in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. The secretary emphasized the importance of self-restraint, curbing delusions of grandeur, encouraging rather than discouraging mutual trust, and an unflagging adherence to international law, which includes the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS. The meeting was the fourth Special Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held via videoconference on June 30, with Asean dialogue partners on Covid-19, after China, the United States and Russia. With a report from the DFA

Sports BusinessMirror

B8 Thursday, July 9, 2020

Busmen bid bye to football

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HE Ceres-Negros Football Club (FC) franchise is bound to be sold and the most decorated team in the country will be parading a different color when the Philippine Football League (PFL) returns amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Busmen management are in deep negotiations with the new investors but withheld revealing the new owners until the deal is sealed.

“Ceres-Negros Football Club is currently in talks with investors who will be taking over the management and ownership of the club in preparation of the fourth season of the PFL as well as the resumption of the campaign in the AFC [Asian Football Confederation] Cup,” the team management said in a statement.

“As soon as the takeover is completed, the club will no longer be known as Ceres-Negros since our current chairman, Leo Rey Yanson, will not be involved in any way in the affairs of the club,” the statement added.

PFF Secretary-General Atty. Edwin Gastanes said the club has informed the federation of the ongoing negotiation.

The Busmen has three titles in the PFL alongside the Copa Paulino Alcantara trophy last year.

Ceres made three AFC Champions League appearances, reaching the semifinals of the AFC Cup last year but got quashed by Hanoi FC. The quarantine has severely affected Ceres, one of the major bus companies in the country that plies almost the entire archipelago.

“Through Ceres-Negros FC, Mr. Yanson was able to share his love for the game to his countrymen. While the pandemic has struck hard on businesses all over the world, Ceres has made its best efforts to compensate its players and staff,” the statement read.

Ceres star James Younghusband announced his retirement, while fellow aces Josh Grommen and Jeffrey Christiaens left the Busmen.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

PSC, P.O.C. SEEK IATF CLEARANCE FOR PHL OLYMPIC HOPEFULS T

HE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) will convince the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases to allow athletes who have qualified or are still trying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics to return to group training.

The PSC board of commissioners initiated a virtual meeting with POC President Rep. Abraham Tolentino and his Secretary-General Atty. Ed Gastanes on Tuesday where they discussed plans for the resumption of training of

the Olympic-bound athletes.

Both PSC and POC officials agreed that given the present situation, it would be best to focus on the country’s Olympic bid over other concerns.

“We initiated the meeting with the POC with the national athletes’ welfare in mind,” PSC OIC, Commissioner Ramon Fernandez, said. “That’s the priority as our chairman, [William] Butch Ramirez, always reminds everyone.”

“Covid-19 notwithstanding, we must never lose sight of our goal to give our best for our first

Olympic gold,” Fernandez said.

Fernandez said the PSC and POC recommendations will be immediately sent to the IATF. “But we can only recommend, they [IATF] have the final say,” he said.

The PSC board identified facilities at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC) in Manila and the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City as training venues for the Olympic hopefuls. The specific facilities are the Fencing Hall, Multi-purpose Center, Strength and Conditioning Building and

Dormitory Training Hall at the PhilSports and the taekwondo and boxing gyms at the RMSC. PSC National Training Director Marc Velasco said the facilities will undergo intensive disinfection. Both the RMSC and the PhilSports served as “We heal as One” quarantine centers early in the pandemic.

Fernandez added that they the private sector and local government units with low to nil virus cases could also “adopt” the Olympic hopefuls.

The PSC will next meet with Tokyo Olympics

Chef de Mission Nonong Araneta to discuss the POC’s Olympic campaign projection.

Boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno, pole vaulter EJ Obiena and world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo are already qualified for the postponed Tokyo Olympics.

Also hoping to qualify are Rio de Janeiro 2016 weightlifting silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz and women’s world boxing champion Nesthy Petecio are among those with strong chances of qualifying for Tokyo.

WELCOME TO DISNEY! P

Lawyer to investigate allegations of abuse

by British gymnasts

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ONDON—The British Gymnastics governing body has launched of an independent review into allegations of abuse in the sport.

Catherine Lyons, a 19-year-old former gymnast, told ITV News she was assaulted and bullied by a coach as a young girl. Lisa Mason, a gold medalist at the 1998 Commonwealth Games who competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, also reported abuse from a coach as a youngster.

“The behaviors we have heard about in recent days are completely contrary to our standards of safe coaching and have no place in our sport,” British Gymnastics Chief Executive Jane Allen said Tuesday. “It is clear that gymnasts did not feel they could raise their concerns to British Gymnastics and it is vital that an independent review helps us better understand why so we can remove any barriers as quickly as possible.”

Lawyer Jane Mulcahy will conduct the review of the allegations that were labeled “shocking and upsetting” by the UK Sport government agency.

“There is absolutely no place for any sort of bullying or abuse in sport and anyone responsible for such behavior must be held accountable, with support offered to those affected,” UK Sport said.

UK Sport, which oversees funding for British Olympic and Paralympic athletes, said it would determine an “appropriate response” after establishing the facts with British Gymnastics.

“It is essential that all athletes feel comfortable to come forward and share concerns they may have in a safe and confidential environment,” UK Sport said.

The British Athletes Commission said it was “deeply troubled” by the abuses and claims of a culture of fear.

“No athlete should be expected to tolerate an abuse of power or poor practice,” the commission said. “The performance environment should be a place of mutual trust and respect where athletes are supported in achieving their best. The BAC is worried to hear of athlete experiences which appear not to reflect these standards and would urge that any allegations are investigated thoroughly.”

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

THE solo sessions have been designed to get players back into some sort of practice shape, with the hope of being able to hit the ground running when everyone can finally be together again at Disney.

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press

RACTICE facilities in the National Basketball Association (NBA) have been open for a couple of months, with one major element missing from them.

No team has had an actual practice yet.

Most of the work that has gone on in those buildings during the NBA’s shutdown has been voluntary, and all of it has been of the individual variety—one player working at one basket with one ball. That changes starting Thursday, when the first handful of teams at the Disney complex will be permitted to have full-fledged practices again.

“Every day will be an adventure, a little bit of, ‘OK, here’s where we are today, this practice will reflect this, tomorrow’s practice might be totally different,’” Houston Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “And that’s what makes it interesting. It makes it fun. But it’s a little bit like a training camp. Every year you know you lay out all these grand plans and about the third practice you go, ‘Ooop, they’re out.’”

The teams that arrived at Disney on Tuesday, assuming quarantines are completed and other issues haven’t popped up, will likely be permitted to practice sometime Thursday. More teams arrive Wednesday and Thursday, so their first practice sessions, in theory, would be as early as Friday and Saturday respectively.

Teams will be assigned a three-hour window and be able to run practice on a pair of side-by-side courts, with training and weight rooms nearby. Disney staff will clean and disinfect everything after one team leaves, preparing it for the next team to arrive.

“Just like with probably everything the league is doing, I think it’d be wise to have a degree of flexibility sprinkled in with everything that you’re planning, a degree of being able to either back off or turn it up a little bit, either way,” Milwaukee Coach Mike Budenholzer said. “But to be honest with you, that happens a lot even in the normal season. There’s a plan for the first practice and we’ll see how it goes.”

Players haven’t even been allowed to play 1-on-1 yet at team facilities, per the rules of the individual workouts. That all changes at Disney, where teams will be able to practice for about two weeks before a series of three scrimmages begin on July 22.

The season resumes on July 30. Players have said throughout the shutdown that having only three

weeks of actual practice to get ready for game action may not be enough—but that’s what the league ultimately decided the schedule would allow.

Most NBA coaches—D’Antoni, Budenholzer, Dallas’ Rick Carlisle and more—are going into this believing that plans have to be flexible.

“It’s not going to be a typical training camp where you jump in on Day One and just go fullbore,” Carlisle said. “Our players have done a great job of working on their individual conditioning with individual workouts with the coaches on the floor on a 1-to-1 basis...so I feel really good about where we’re at. But this is a different situation, it’s a different time, it’s a different set of circumstances.”

Toronto, the reigning NBA champion, has been on the road for a couple of weeks already, getting their individual work in at a pre-camp of sorts in Fort Myers, Florida. The Raptors couldn’t get their pre-Disney work in at home because of travel restrictions that would have applied to players coming into Canada from the US. Raptors Coach Nick Nurse said his players haven’t dreaded the 1-on-0 work that they’ve been limited to so far, saying his team has approached these weeks with “great professionalism” and that his plans for Disney are fairly loose right now.

“I don’t really know where we’re at,” Nurse said. “I can see individually. I think we look really good. But, what will that translate to when we get back into, you know, calling plays and running defenses and doing some things?...I know that I’m sensing they really want to play basketball.”

The Los Angeles Lakers arrive at Disney on Thursday, and while Coach Frank Vogel isn’t looking forward to weeks and potentially months away from his family, he believes the individual workouts have gotten the Western Conference leaders ready.

He said those solo sessions have been designed in large part to get players back into some sort of practice shape, with the hope of being able to hit the ground running when everyone can finally be together again at Disney.

“We just want it to be as high as possible to minimize risk of injury and just further the conditioning along as much as we can,” Vogel said.

“So, guys have been able to work pretty diligently the last few days or so. And, you know, we’re looking forward to wrapping this up and getting on that plane.”

Bottas handles pressure in winning Austrian GP

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PIELBERG, Austria—Valtteri Bottas insisted before the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday that he has what it takes to win the Formula One world championship.

That’s a tall order with six-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton as his teammate at Mercedes.

Especially as Hamilton needs one more title to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of seven.

But Bottas showed impressive composure to win Sunday’s race—which had no fans present due to the coronavirus pandemic—with Hamilton just a half-second behind him for spells. Not easy for Bottas when Hamilton’s among the best drivers at overtaking in F1 history, and when a chaotic race restarts three times behind a safety car.

“There was definitely quite a bit of pressure.

One safety car was OK but by the last I was like, ‘Come on—again?’” a relieved Bottas said. “There were so many opportunities for Lewis to take the lead if I made a small mistake and he was really quick today. But I managed to keep it together, could really control the race from my side, and there’s obviously no better way to start the season.”

Hamilton crossed second but finished fourth after getting a late time penalty.

Bottas kneeled with the winners’ trophy

and the podium trio—including second-place Charles Leclerc for Ferrari and third-place Lando Norris for McLaren—held up a black t-shirt with “End Racism” written on it.

Nine of 20 drivers abandoned, including both Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon—who tried to overtake Hamilton on the outside with 10 laps left, touched wheels and flew off track.

It was better to be up ahead.

“I dodged a few bullets today,” Bottas said after the eighth F1 win of his career.

Hamilton was given a five-second time penalty for causing Albon’s crash, having earlier been hit with a three-place grid penalty after an incident in Saturday’s qualifying was reviewed by stewards.

“It was just a misjudgment by Lewis at the end of the day and it’d be good if he apologized for it,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. “This sport can be pretty brutal sometimes and it feels like today’s been one of those days.

Alex drove a great race, he didn’t deserve that.”

The race had looked like a straight fight between the two Mercedes, as has been the case so often in recent years, but late drama in Spielberg ensured otherwise.

“It felt like a victory today. Second place is something I never would have expected,” said Leclerc, who started from seventh. “I will rate this as one of my best races, I didn’t do many mistakes.”

Norris sent McLaren’s garage into raptures, and threw social distancing out of the window amid the euphoria as CEO Zak Brown hugged everyone in sight. AP

VALTTERI BOTTAS shows impressive composure to win Sunday’s race, which had no fans present due to the coronavirus pandemic. AP

MOST JAPANESE CAST DOUBT ON TOKYO OLYMPICS IN 2021

NEW survey says nearly four of five Japanese think Tokyo 2020 could not be held next year.

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NEW survey polling Japanese residents found that 77 percent of those questioned believe that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics “cannot be held” next year.

The poll, conducted by the Japan News Network, suggested that only 17 percent believe that the postponed Games can take place in 2021.

Originally scheduled to take place this year, Tokyo 2020 was delayed by a year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and organizers in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

No reasoning was suggested by the survey as to why so many believe the Games cannot go ahead.

The IOC and Tokyo 2020 have pledged that next year’s Games will be simplified due to the ongoing

financial issues caused by the pandemic.

Rearranging the Olympics and Paralympics is a huge logistical challenge and there are fears that the global health crisis will not have subsided to a suitable level by 2021.

Others have claimed that a vaccine will be required for the Games to go ahead safely, with the Olympics due to start on July 23, 2021.

Another survey, run last month by Kyodo News and the Tokyo MX television channel, found that more than half of Tokyo residents do not want Tokyo 2020 to go ahead next year.

There has also been an upturn in daily Covid-19 cases in the Japanese capital after it recorded some of its lowest daily rates in June.

Governor Yuriko Koike, who was reelected

for a second term, opened businesses again two weeks ago with the spike linked to the relaxing of the rules. From July 2 to 5, the city recorded four straight days of more than 100 new daily cases with the most recent peak coming on July 4, with 131.

When Koike announced the opening of businesses again on June 19, there were 35 daily cases.

In Japan to date, there have been more than 19,500 confirmed cases of Covid-19, resulting in the deaths of 977 people.

The IOC and Tokyo 2020 have repeatedly said that the Games will not be postponed again if they cannot take place in 2021.

Insidethegames