Businessmirror July 26, 2019

PHL INNOVATION RANKING JUMPS TO 54TH

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HE Philippines’s ranking jumped by 19 notches to 54th due to improvements in its scores for institutions, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs in this year’s edition of an index that tracks the innovation performance of countries.

In the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019, the Philippines improved its score to 36.18, from 31.56 in last year’s cycle. This put the country fifth among eight Southeast Asian economies surveyed in the index.

Singapore headed the region by finishing 8th, followed by Malaysia at 35th, Vietnam at 42nd, Thailand at 43rd, the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam at 71st, Indonesia at 85th and Cambodia at 98th.

The Philippines was also one of the eight lower middle income economies that was on the upper half of the index, along with Vietnam, Ukraine, Georgia, India, Mongolia and Republic of Moldova.

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The country improved in the rankings after its input and output subindices went up from last year. In the GII 2019, Manila scored 41.68 and placed 76th in the innovation input subindex, from 39.18 and ranking 82nd, and posted 30.68 and landed 42nd in the innovation output subindex, from 23.98 and standing 68th.

Among the eight pillars, the Philippines got its highest ranking of 31st in the knowledge and technology outputs on strong showing in knowledge diffusion and knowledge impact.

The country got its worst finish in the market sophistication indicator, placing 110th among the economies surveyed. The government’s investment policy and credit programs were rated among the worst in the world, and were labeled as a weakness of the Philippines.

See “PHL innovation,” A2

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Friday, July 26, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 289

Higher tobacco excise tax signed into law

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By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

HE Department of Finance (DOF) confirmed on Thursday that President Duterte has signed into law the measure further increasing the excise tax rate slapped on tobacco products.

In a text message to reporters, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said, “Sin tax RA 11346 signed July 25.”

RA 11346 is entitled: “An Act increasing the excise tax on tobacco

products, imposing excise tax on heated tobacco products and vapor products, increasing the penalties for violations of provisions on articles subject to excise tax, and earmarking a portion of the

total excise tax collections from sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol, tobacco, heated tobacco and vapor products for universal health care, amending for this purpose sections 144, 145, 146, 147, 152,

₧426B The cumulative funding gap by 2024 if the government does not substantially adjust the current sin tax rates, per DOF estimates

164, 260, 262, 263, 265, 288 and 289, repealing section 288 (B) and 288 (C), and creating new sections 263-A, 265-B, and 288-A of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended by RA 10963, and for other purposes.”

This signing of the measure was also confirmed by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, saying that the signed bill aims to See “Excise tax,” A2

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@alyasjah

USINESS leaders warned the government on Thursday it runs the risk of being derailed by poor policy coordination and budget shortfalls in its plan to put up three new high-level agencies on disaster resilience, water resources regulation and overseas Filipinos.

Private-sector leaders told the BusinessMirror two of the three departments the government is eyeing to create are redundant with the functions of some existing agencies. Guillermo M. Luz, former private-sector cochairman of the now-defunct National Competitiveness Council, said this might result in a state of confusion between offices and their purposes.

“I think the biggest risk lies in having poor policy coordination and implementation if agencies are

not synchronized nor connected,” Luz said in a text message.

“Offhand, I would say that a Department of Water Resources only makes sense if all current water agencies are rationalized and placed under a single umbrella. If this does not happen, then we run the risk of lack of coordination and policy challenges,” he explained.

Under House Bill (HB) 8068, f i led by then-House Spea ker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 17th Congress, the Department of Water, Irrigation, Sewage and Sanitation Resource Management will be put up, rationalizing the powers and duties of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA).

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BIR LOSES BID TO COLLECT P9.57B IN VAT FROM PSALM

By Joel R. San Juan

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@jrsanjuan1573

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has lost its bid to collect P9.57 billion in value-added tax (VAT) it imposed on the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) for the sale of power-generating assets in 2008.

In a 16-page decision penned

by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, the Court’s Second Div ision granted PSA LM’s petition seeking the reversal of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) decision on December 2, 2014, which found it liable to pay the said amount.

The Court did not give credence to the CTA’s findings that the generating assets of PSALM —the Masinloc, Ambuklao-Binga and Pantabangan power plants—fall under “all kinds of goods and prop-

erties” subject to VAT under Section 106 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 (NIRC).

The BIR, on the other hand, argued that the previous exemption of the National Power Corp. (NPC) from VAT under Section 13 of Republic Act 6395, the law that created the agency, was repealed by Section 24 of RA 9337, or the Reformed Value-Added Tax Law. As a consequence, the BIR claimed, the VAT exemption accorded to PSA LM under BIR Ruling No. 020-02 is also deemed revoked since PSALM is a successor-in-interest of NPC. Furthermore, the BIR pointed out that prior to the sale, NPC still owned the power plants and not PSALM, which is just considered the trustee of the NPC properties.

Thus, the sale made by NPC or its successors-in-interest of See “BIR,” A12

House lists 12 priority measures

‘3 new depts could cause policy chaos, budget lack’

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

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MEMBERS of the 18th Congress take their oath at their first regular session on July 22, 2019, at the House of Representative plenary hall. The House leadership has identified 12 priority measures cited in the President’s State of the Nation Address among those they will fast-track. NONIE REYES

@joveemarie

HE leadership of the House of R epresent at ives on Thursday identified the 12 priority measures that will be fast-tracked by the lower chamber next month.

Majority Leader Martin Romualdez made the announcement following a meeting with lawmakers and House officials on Wednesday night.

He said the House will approve “in record time” these 12 measures outlined in President Duterte’s recent State of the Nation Address (Sona).

The measures are the National Land Act; Department of Disaster See “12 priority,” A12

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Source: BSP (25 July 2019 )

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A2 Friday, July 26, 2019

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DOF backs Neda as fate of SOT bill hangs

By Rea Cu @ReaCuBM & Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE Department of Finance (DOF) has supported the central planning authority in its pitch for more “tweaking” of the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill to balance the interest of workers and employers, as speculation swirled over the fate of the measure that, without the President’s signature or veto, will lapse into law on July 27.

In a text message to finance reporters on Thursday, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the DOF supports the position of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia that the measure should not negatively impact the country’s competitiveness.

A labor leader, however, warned the Executive that any further “tweaking” of the enrolled bill on the President’s desk smacks of “executive legislation,” which is illegal.

“We support Sec Pernia’s position & would like to add that the law should not negatively affect the competitiveness of the Philippines as an investment destination.

And be mindful that the Supreme Court in several occasions has ruled that while the Philippine Constitution provides that the State should protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare, such Constitutional policy is not intended

3 new depts. . .

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As a Cabinet-level agency, the department will be headed by a secretary, under whom are five undersecretaries—on finance service; administrative service; planning and engineering services; regulatory and financial assistance services; and operations—who can be aided by as many as three assistant secretaries.

Funding lack

THE creation of this new bureaucracy for the management of water resources will only result in red tape and funding deficiency, according to Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. If the government intends to manage water resources more efficiently, Ortiz-Luis said existing agencies with such function can be transferred to the Office of the President (OP) under the direct

to oppress or destroy capital and management,” Dominguez said.

On Wednesday, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) chief said the SOT still needs some “tweaking” to balance the interests of employers and employees, and ensure that investors do not flee the country.

Pernia did not categorically state if he recommended that Duterte veto the SOT, as several local and foreign business groups want, but described the measure as “not perfect.”

Business groups had claimed that the manufacturing industry will spend an additional P49 billion annually on labor cost if firms were to absorb the over 300,000 contractual workers as a consequence of Duterte signing the SOT bill.

However, labor groups disputed the employers’ estimates on Thursday, calling them mere scaremongering. In a joint press conference, supervision of the Chief Executive. This way, the highest leader of the land can tweak the policy direction of these offices.

“If we can afford to create another...office with its own officials and employees, if we have spare money, then why not? Otherwise, I will not prioritize the creation of the Department of Water Resources if I were the President. Existing agencies can be transferred under the OP if the government really wants to give them additional power,” Ortiz-Luis said over the phone.

“The government should see to it that the creation of these new agencies will not put at risk funding for the important things, which are the infrastructure projects and social programs geared toward uplifting the lives of the poor,” he added.

Department for OFW

LUZ said the creation of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers is no longer necessary, as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is mandated to protect the interests of

PHL innovation. . . TPB. . .

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This year’s edition of the GII ranked 129 economies, higher than the 126 in the 2018 edition.

In a statement, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the government expects the Philippines to improve its ranking in the index next year as the country has a more conducive innovation environment for creators and entrepreneurs, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“With President Duterte’s signing into law of the Philippine Innovation Act and Innovative Startup Act, we expect further improvements in our ranking, as we intensify our efforts to build our country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, accelerate and globalize our startups, and better prepare MSMEs and industries for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Lopez said.

Singaporean tourists also are into nature and surprisingly, shopping, even though their city-state is a prime destination for shoppers. “That’s why we are pushing local luxury weaves, and putting these in a framework we can be proud of,” she said.

In this regard, the TPB is trying to help marginalized communities through its sustainable tourism community tourism plan by connecting producers of these local weaves with buyers like Unica, Bayo, etc.

Tan stressed that tourists are willing to pay more if these products have a CSR (corporate social responsibility) component.

Elijah Felice E. Rosales

Foreign waste. . .

“All imported waste shall be immediately brought back to the country of origin at the expense of the consignor, importer and other persons who willfully participated in the importation,” Drilon said, adding that “any person who misdeclares or brings into the Philippines any waste, or assist in so doing, or shall receive, conceal, buy, sell or any manner facilitate transportation, concealment or sale of such goods after importation, shall be punished by very hefty sanctions and penalties.”

Halal tourism MEANWHILE, she said Malaysian tourists are still big on halal tourism.

But while government agencies are

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In her Explanatory Note to Senate Bill 408, Marcos invoked the 1987 Constitution that, she stressed, “mandates the State to protect and promote the right to health of the people, protect and advance their right to a balanced and healthful ecology, and the promotion of general welfare.”

Marcos noted that in previous years, China was the “No. 1 destination” for waste recycling, as it began importing secondary raw materials in the 1980s, eventually becoming the world’s largest importer of waste.

leaders of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and Partido Manggagawa (PM) reiterated the bill has no provision declaring all contractual workers as regular workers.

Instead, TUCP Vice President Louie Corral explained the process of determining those to be regularized will be a “gradual process” since it will go through a determination process by the government, employers, and labor groups.

“Industry Tripartite Councils (ITC) will be put up by the SOT bill to determine which positions will be allowed to be contracted out,” Corral explained.

The labor groups issued the clarification after the manufacturing industry submitted a report to Malacañang, where they estimated the SOT bill will cost them an additional P49 billion annually if they were to absorb over 300,000 contractual workers.

With still no determined number of contractual workers up for regularization from the SOT bill, the estimate, labor leaders said, is baseless.

tracted out, and will be qualified for regularization.

FFW President Sonny Matula noted these standards are already being used by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in issuing its regularization orders.

However, the process, Matula said, will be made easier with the passage of the SOT bill since the list of the categories of positions can no longer be legally challenged by employers. “It will no longer require workers to go through a prolonged litigation,” Matula said.

Late and inappropriate comments

THE criteria for allowing workers to be contracted out is as follows: they come from legitimate contractors; their position is considered noncore operation of their company; the principal has no direct control over them.

A worker who does not fall under these is considered illegally con-

FOR his part, TUCP President Raymond Mendoza responded to Pernia’s position that the SOT bill still needs “tweaking” so it will have minimal or no negative impact on businesses.

Mendoza said changing the provisions of the bill after it was already enrolled in Malacañang smacks of “executive legislation, which is unconstitutional.”

Mendoza added, “It cannot be done. And they should not be doing it. It is either vetoed, signed or . . . allowed to lapse into law.”

He chastised foreign and business chambers after it was reported they are supporting the veto of the bill.

“Take note we don’t meddle with their internal policy for work arrangement. They should not meddle in the internal affairs of the country and continue to mislead and threaten the President and the

all laborers, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“I am not yet clear on the necessity of having a Department of OFWs because we already have the DOLE plus other agencies,” Luz argued. “[I am] not sure what will happen to their roles and responsibilities in the future.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas under the OP share some of the responsibilities with the DOLE in advancing the interests and protecting the welfare of Filipino migrant workers.

In setting up these proposed agencies, OrtizLuis asked: where will the government source the funding for their operations? He reminded the government only one of the four packages under the comprehensive tax reform program has been passed, leaving finance and budget officials with no option but to cut the funding of some departments in favor of these new agencies.

“Obviously, this will be financed by our taxes.

However, I do hope the government will not be

imposing additional taxes to operate these new departments. Businesses and consumers alike had just adjusted to the new taxes applied on fuel and sugar,” the business leader added.

If there is one office business leaders are in favor of putting up, it is the Department of Disaster Resilience. Luz said the creation of such is overdue, as the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) should have been abolished to pave the way for a single authority tasked to carry out the interagency function.

Republic Act 10121, the NDRRMC’s enabling law, has a sunset review provision that allows legislators to evaluate the need for the continued existence of the council five years after the effectivity of the law in 2010, or as the need arises.

“The Department of Disaster Resilience is necessary because the NDRRMC was supposed to be phased out in favor of a new agency with a fresh mandate and expanded responsibilities.

I believe that such an agency should have strong private sector participation,” Luz said.

Existing protocol

still looking to strengthen the Philippines’s capabilities in this market, Tan said the TPB will be focusing on the Chinese Malaysians. “While they are a smaller market (compared to the Muslim Malaysians) they have a lot of money to spend,” she noted.

As they are high spenders, Chinese Malaysians usually go for longhaul travel where they experience different climates. “But they are willing to allot one to two short-haul trips in a year,” she explained, which is why TPB is trying to entice them to visit the Philippines.

TPB is also primarily targeting travelers between the ages of 25 and 45 because “they are the ones who have the money, the energy, and are keen on exploring (locations and experiences).”

Tan expressed optimism that the 8.2-million targeted foreign tourist arrivals this year will be reached.

“We are really going to push it, that’s why we are going tactical and going

On January 1, 2019, China banned the importation of four categories across 24 types of solid waste including plastic, paper and textiles, she said.

Following China’s ban, other countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan began to receive and recycle the world’s waste,”she said. Nonetheless, they“also put up measures to limit or entirely prohibit the importation of waste,” she added.

Besides the growing importation of waste, official records indicated that “at least three companies in Subic and Cagayan de Oro run by foreigners and employing hundreds of

to do massive promotions especially for these markets of concern.”

The TPB chief was at the general membership meeting of the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Inc. (HSMA) on Thursday, where she presented the programs and projects of the TPB for the rest of the year.

Its largest project this year is the Phitex (Philippine Travel Exchange) convention that will be held in October 18 to 28. About 150-200 buyers and companies from around the world are expected this year.

Among the major markets that will be focused on are health and wellness, digital talk, vegan and vegetarian lifestyle travel, and the Halal market.

Another major project is MICE Connect which will largely target international buyers specializing in meetings, incentive travel, conventions and conferences, and exhibits.

TPB is the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism.

their own nationals [Chinese and Taiwanese] operate under the guise of recycling,” the senator said.

Marcos added that apart from the apparent violation of customs and environmental laws, the employment of foreigners by these companies, allegedly without working permits or other documentation, could also give rise to cases of violations of immigration and internal revenue/tax laws and regulations.

“Neither can security concerns be avoided when a comprehensive directory of these legal or illegally working aliens has not been made available,” Marcos said. Butch Fernandez

nation with capital flight and loss of jobs,” Mendoza said.

TUCP, FFW, and PM made a final call on Duterte to sign the bill, which has been pending for almost two decades.

After delilvering the Sona on July 22, Duterte disclosed in an interview with reporters that he is undecided on whether to sign or veto the SOT measure, adding he may even allow it to lapse into law on July 27—that’s 30 days after its transmission to his desk.

At the sidelines of the P3 Credit Delivery Partner forum on Thursday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez told reporters that he supports the SOT measure but adds that the “and/or” provisions should be reviewed if there’s a chance for that.

“I find it in order, if ever there is a need to review, if there is at all a review, it’s the and/or that’s the main issue. The provision on laboronly contracting, remember it has three definitions...the capitalization, tools [and control] if you don’t have those, then you’re considered labor only.... ” Lopez said.

Earlier in the month, the trade chief backed the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) push for the SOT bill and expressed hope the President will sign the measure that he says will legitimize various forms of contractualization and clarify the country’s employment regime.

Lopez said that the SOT bill

Excise tax. . .

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address the urgent need to protect the right to health of the Filipino people.

“To address the urgent need to protect the right to health of the Filipino people and to maintain a broader fiscal space to support the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, the President has signed into law House Bill (HB) 8677 and Senate Bill (SB) 2233 Increasing the Excise Tax on Tobacco Products,” Medialdea said.

Earlier, SB 2233 was approved unanimously by senators on third and final reading, providing for a unitary P45 excise tax increase per pack of tobacco products in 2020; followed by a series of P5 hikes until the rate reaches P60 in 2023, and a 5-percent annual increase thereafter.

The House of Representatives concurred in the Senate version after senators reconsidered their earlier final-reading approval of the bill to address the concerns raised by congressional representatives from the tobacco-producing provinces of Northern Luzon.

Funding for UHC

THE DOF said Congress’s phased

Pogo workers. . .

“The processing of those without TIN is ongoing. They’re going to their respective district offices; although voluminous, we are really moving forward as agreed upon [in the] interagency [task force],” Guballa said.

The DOF earlier reported that an estimated P2 billion in taxes can be collected from foreign nationals working in the Pogo sector.

BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay also pointed out that a number of foreign nationals are now volunteering to apply for their TIN, as a result of the interagency task force efforts to monitor the foreign nationals working in the Philippines.

Guballa noted that the P2-billion estimate in tax collections projected from both registered and nonregistered foreign nationals

strikes a good balance between the welfare of workers and interest of employers.

‘Win-win solution’

MEANWHILE, Malacañang said it believes it is still possible for the President to find a “win-win solution” in delivering his campaign promise to end contractualization while considering the interests of the business sector.

Presidential Spokesman Salvador S. Panelo said on Thursday the President may also consider Pernia’s suggestion that the bill still needs some “tweaking.”

However, Panelo clarified this does not mean that the President is already inclined to listen to Pernia’s advice.

“No, what I’m saying is the President is always open to suggestion, he rationalizes, if he feels that signing the law will create not beneficial effects to the major players, he might consider vetoing it. But if he does not feel that way, he will sign that into law,” he said in a Palace briefing.

Asked how will the President balance his promise and the interests of the business sector, Panelo said: “In other words, you should look for a win-win solution. Whatever is the opposition of the business sector, there can be a compromise there.

So if he will veto the bill, then a member of Congress can introduce another one with a win-win compromise solution. See? Everybody happy.”

With a report by Bernadette D. Nicolas

increase is acceptable and will secure the necessary funding for the UHC program.

The bill submitted to the President for his signature also introduces taxation on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), such as vapor and heated tobacco products, which are now becoming increasingly popular among the youth, with the approved measure imposing a P10 tax for every 10 milliliters of vaping liquid.

The unitary excise tax rate on tobacco products was earlier increased under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law from P30 per pack of cigarettes to P32.50 beginning January 1, 2018 and to P35.00 beginning July 1, 2018.

E a rl ier, t he f i n a nce c h ief said that from 2020 to 2024, a ll current sources of gover nment funding can cover UHC at around P200 billion annua lly, while the cost of the program w i l l star t at P257 bi l lion in 2020 and grow at an average of around P11 billion to P12 billion per year, amounting to a five-year total of around P1.4 4 tr illion by 2024.

Without substantially adjusting the current sin tax rates, Dominguez said the cumulative funding gap by 2024 will reach P426 billion.

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working in Pogos.

The BIR also reported that some P3 billion in taxes from employed foreign nationals in the Pogo sector can be collected, as it issues more letter notices to employers to pay the correct taxes due the government.

Dulay earlier said that the BIR sent out 29 letter notices to several Pogo service providers, telling them to remit P4.44 billion in taxes due from them as withholding agents.

Guballa also pointed out that, per Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III’s instructions, tax collections for the current year of 2019 from employed foreign nationals working in the country will be addressed first before authorities run after the unregistered foreign nationals.

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Pinoy tribal leaders claim NPA ‘harassment’ while on US trip

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

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GROUP of tribal leaders from Mindanao who went on a monthlong tour to the United States reported on Thursday they were allegedly harassed by leftist groups for telling Filipino-American audiences there that their monetary contributions went not into educating or teaching indigenous students but for the purchase of arms to terrorize local communities into accepting the communist ideology.

The eight-member group who were dubbed “Ambassadors of Truth” of the “Telling the Truth Caravan” reported that they were able to relay to the various Fil-Am organizations the real intent of leftist groups who are part of a broad alliance organized by the National Democratic Front which is directly linked to the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) led by Jose Ma. Sison.

The group’s spokesman, Datu Jake Lanes said five members of the group who went to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and other places were former communist cadres like him.

“That is why we know what we are talking about when we spoke about the terrorism being employed against the Manobos and the Cordillera people and other indigenous groups,” Lanes said.

He said the aim of the various communist groups in the country, like the New People’s Army (NPA), “is to teach the young tribal communities to hate the government and eventually topple the government.”

Lanes said the leftist groups in the United States followed them wherever they went to try to disrupt their campaign, among which is to tell the Fil-Am associations to stop giving money to these groups.

“There are more than 4 million Filipinos in the United States, and even if some of them give $2 or $5, the total collection is a huge amount that is why they want to prevent us from telling the truth,” he said.

Lanes said they have listed 17 atrocities committed by the local communist groups against the tribal people, and many of them have fled their mountain redoubts to escape being terrorized, although many of them have already been allegedly killed by the NPAs. “We who escape from out tribal communities are the original bakwet people,” Lanes said.

“The Philippine’s geography is composed of many islands and mountains and the NPA wanted to occupy these mountainous terrain far away from the police authorities,” Lanes added. He said those the NPA brainwashed through coercion were taught to accept the armed struggle which includes deception and assertion and for the young to

accept the communist ideology with ultimate aim of bringing down the government.

“We thought that the Filipino leftists are only here in the Philippines; we were surprised there are many more of them in the US,”Lanes said.

The group, which stayed in the US for 24 days sometimes had more than one sessions in one day, telling the same story of NPA terrorism and abuse to the tribal communities and asking them to stop giving monetary contributions to these groups, which allegedly include Makabayan, Garbriela, Migrante, Anakbayan and Karapatan, among others.

Lanes said it is estimated that some 5.7 million hectares of mountainous terrains are occupied by the indigenous people across the country. He said the Philippines has 110 tribes, which consist of 14 percent of the 110 million Filipinos.

He added that 60 percent of the indigenous people are in Mindanao alone.

Lanes said they exposed that the alleged Lumad group that went to the United States in 2015 to lobby for the tribal groups were bogus and were denounced even by the Cordillera people.

Among their engagements in New York were meetings with the Patriotic Filipino Community, United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the New Yorkbased Media Networks, Philippine Consulate, New York and Fordham University.

In Chicago the group engaged with the Fil-Am Community in Skokie, Cook County, Illinois; visited the Chicago Field Museum and a Courtesy Call to Consul General Gina Jamoralin on July 5, 2019.

The next day, they were to the Midwest Fil-Am Community at Seafood City, Illinois; Fil-Am Community Forum, Milwaukee; Davao Association of the Midwest; Philippine-American Seniors Association of Chicago; Alpha Phi Omega of the Midwest and a press conference at the Philippine Consulate in Chicago in the presence of Chicago Philippine Reports TV. The group also went to Los Angeles and San Francisco, meeting with LA Deputy Consul Ambrosio Bryan F. Enciso; the Filipino American Community of Los Angeles; the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles with blogger/writer Maharlika, and then meeting with City of Cerritos Council Member and former Mayor Mark Pulido.

In Washington, they met with Rep. Terrance John Cox of 21st district California, went to the Philippine Embassy with US-Philippine Society; US Department of State; The Heritage Foundation and the The Migrant Heritage Commission.

AFP chief to commanders: Deal the last blow to all ‘threat’ groups

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By Rene Acosta

@reneacostaBM

RMED Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Benjamin Madrigal Jr. has ordered military commanders to deal the last blow against all threat groups, whose strength he said, is continuously being decimated as a result of sustained government operations.

The directive was issued by military chief during the AFP’s second quarter command conference on Wednesday at Camp Aguinaldo attended by the commanders of the major armed services, area commands, service support units and major ground units.

“As we intensify our efforts against the different threat groups and the support to the different agencies and units of our govern-

ment, I am directing the commanders at all levels to take the extra mile,” the chief of staff said.

“Our mission accomplishment is directly proportional to the capacity and capability of our personnel and units to execute their mission. At the end of the day, it is our leadership that matters,” he added.

During the conference, the military reviewed its accomplish-

US resumes nuclear, chemical attack response training to BFP personnel

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HE United States is continuing to capacitate the Philippines to build its capability in responding to threats and attacks related to the use of chemical and nuclear weapons.

A news statement from the US Embassy in Manila said that personnel of Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) have been training members of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in dealing with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) attacks.

The exercise with the BFP, the government’s response agency for CBRN, began on Wednesday in Metro Manila and will last until weekend, with Cebu and Davao as regional sites.

The DTRA administered the training in order to hone the response skills of the BFP and allow government agencies to practice responding to a simulated CBRN incident within the capital.

“The exercise began with a supposed chemical incident in Manila followed by the establishment of an Incident Command Post. The Philippine government quickly organized a mock interagency response, coordinating more than 20 agencies,” the statement said.

“BFP responders triaged simulated casualties on site and prepared them for initial treatment and transfer to the Philippine General Hospital. Hospital staff then practiced treating the casualties and identifying the chemical agents involved by using the mass casualty decontamination equipment provided by DTRA,” it added.

The embassy said the training reflect the years of support, assistance and cooperation between the US and the Philippines.

The BFP was the latest government agency to benefit from the CBRN training that was being administered by the US for the Philippines.

The military has already formed a CBRN platoon out of the Army Support Command (Ascom) following the Filipino soldiers’ training in CBRN response and handling from the DTRA. In 2015, the same platoon out of the Ascom’s Explosive Ordnance Battalion, underwent a retraining from the DTRA in Maryland in order to further beef up their skills.

The retraining was followed by successive sessions with the US military and by the turnover of the DTRA of more than $1 million worth of CBRN equipment that included protective gears and detection equipment. Rene Acosta

DOH reports 259 percent dengue DILG orders inventory of cases jump in Western Visayas

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco | Correspondent

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EALTH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III has ordered an intensified dengue response in Western Visayas as cases of the potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease in the region jumped 259 percent to 18,834 from January 1 to July 13 this year compared with the same period last year.

There were also 94 deaths in the region, with the province of Negros Occidental recording the highest number at 24 deaths. This corresponds to a regional case fatality rate of 0.5 percent, which is lower than the 0.8-percent CFR in the same period last year.

The health department also reported that the age range of dengue patients is from 27 days to 98 years old, with the median age at 12 years old.

The most number of cases have been registered from the one to 10-year-old age group.

To date, five provinces—Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo—and one highly urbanized city (Iloilo City) have already declared

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, July 26, 2019 A3

dengue outbreaks. Iloilo and Antique provinces have also declared a state of calamity due to the ongoing increase of dengue cases.

The municipalities of Culasi and Sebaste in Antique and Maasin in Iloilo have also declared a state of calamity in their respective localities.

“We commend the leadership in Western Visayas for acting swiftly to address this outbreak,” Duque said, adding, “We also reiterate our call to the public to go to the nearest health facility when experiencing the signs and symptoms of dengue and not wait for it to get worse.”

“There is an outpouring of support from our health partners, especially the Philippine Red Cross, other government agencies, and the members of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. We are extremely grateful for their urgent response. The Department of Health will continue to work with Western Visayas LGUs, and with our concerted efforts we hope to be able to quell this dengue outbreak,” the health chief said.

‘clogged’ Metro Manila roads

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HE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Metro Manila mayors to undertake an inventory of all public roads in their jurisdictions.

“The inventory of road networks can be [carried out] so that we can identify which road network has problem of congestion because of sidewalks and streets being occupied by illegal structures or illegal occupants,” DILG Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III was quoted as saying following a Metro Manila Commission meeting.

Densing also asked the mayors to direct their city councils to start reviewing traffic management ordinances with provisions that allow structures on the sidewalks.

Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

ment of its operations against threat groups that included the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and went over its peace building efforts. It also assessed its campaigns under internal security operations.

Militar y officials said that from January this year up to July 24, the government has already “neutralized” 6,028 rebels, including communist supporters.

Of the number, 95 regular members of the NPA were killed, while 145 others were apprehended. Another 5,788 have also surrendered through the effort of local officials.

A total of 945 high-powered and low-powered firearms were

seized, while 260 NPA encampments were captured.

T h e s e v e n - m o nt h r e c o r d prompted Madrigal to declare that the military has “achieved a lot” in bringing the NPA to its “breaking point,” although he recognized that more work is still needed.

During the same period, 198 local terrorists were also neutralized, 89 of them are members of the ASG. Military public affairs office chief Col. Noel Detoyato said the military is working to dismantle the ASG through a combination of direct operation and intelligence gathering and even with strong coordination with local officials.

As we intensify our efforts against the different threat groups and the support to the different agencies and units of our government, I am directing the commanders at all levels to take the extra mile.”—Madrigal

DOJ backs filing of murder raps vs Dennis Sytin, 2 others, for brother’s killing in Subic

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

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HE De pa r t ment of Ju st ice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of murder and frustrated murder charges against Dennis Sytin and two others in connection with the killing of his businessmanbrother, Dominic Sytin, last March 5.

Aside from Sytin, the DOJ recommended the filing of the criminal complaint before the Regional Trial Court in Olongapo City against Edgardo Luib, the self-confessed gunman of Dominic, and the latter’s former employee Oliver Fuentes, alias Ryan Rementilla.

The DOJ held that the three conspired in killing Dominic and injuring his driver/bodyguard Efren Espartero in an ambush that took place in front of the Lighthouse Hotel in Subic.

“Wherefore, premised considered, it is respectfully recommended that an information for murder, defined and penalized under Article 248 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended be filed with the Regional Trial Court in Olongapo City against Alan Dennis Sytin, Ryan Dementilla, a.k.a Oliver Fuentes and Edgardo Luib for the killing of Dennis Sytin,” the 55-page resolution read.

The resolution was signed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, who headed the panel that con-

ducted the preliminary investigation on the case.

Earlier, Dennis denied having masterminded the killing of his brother saying that he is not capable of murder.

“I have no derogatory record. I had no participation or involvement in the murder of my brother, Dominic. I have never met Luib. I did not socialize with Oliver [Fuentes] outside work,” Dennis claimed.

The complaint filed against Sytin is principally based on the statement of Luib, who claimed that the businessman induced him to kill Dominic through Fuentes.

Contrary to the claim of Luib, Dennis said he was not at the All Hands Beach resort in Subic when they hatched the plan to kill his brother in September 2018.

Instead, Dennis pointed to Fuentes as the mastermind in the killing based on the evidence presented by the police.

He said Fuentes had a motive for having his brother killed being a disgruntled employee when Dominic fired him in August 2018, for allegedly padding job orders and pocketing P1 million from United Auctioneers Inc. collections.

Dominic founded the said auction company together with his brother.

In his extrajudicial confession, Luib identified Dennis as the mastermind and tagged Fuentes in the killing.

He said he was promised P1 million to kill Dominic, but was paid only P50,000.

Comelec slates special elections in ‘new’ Southern Leyte, South Cotabato districts

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

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HE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has announced it will be holding special polls in the areas affected by the creation of new districts in Southern Leyte and South Cotabato in October.

“The first regular elections will be conducted on October 26, 2019, for the first and second legislative districts of Southern Leyte and the first and third [lone] legislative district of South Cotabato,” the poll body said in its Resolution 10551.

In preparation for both elections, the Comelec has released the guidelines for the filing of Certificate of Candidacy (COC) and Nomination of Acceptance for interested candidates.

They could file their COCs with their designated Office of the Provincial Supervisor from August 26 to 28 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The political parties or coalitions of the

said candidates could submit their new list of authorized signatories needed for the COC filing to the Comelec Law Department not later than August 15, 2019.

Comelec said it will only entertain request for the correction of names to appear in the ballots for regular candidates up to September 11, 2019, and for substitute candidates until September 18, 2019.

The period for substitution for candidates, who voluntarily withdrew their candidacy for both elections, is on September 16, 2019.

“In case of death or disqualification by final judgment, the substitute who shall bear the same surname as the substituted may file a COC up to midday of Election Day,” Comelec said.

To recall, elections in Southern Leyte and South Cotabato were reset by Comelec in anticipation of the passage of new laws “reapportioning” the legislative districts in both areas.

A4 Friday, July 26, 2019 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

DOE vows speedy implementation of major renewable-energy policies

By Lenie Lectura

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@llectura

HE Department of Energy (DOE) has vowed to fast-track the implementation of two key renewableenergy (RE) policies following President Duterte’s remarks that the country needs to develop more RE sources, and reduce dependence on traditional energy sources, such as coal.

“The DOE is encouraged by the Presi-

dent’s comments. Indeed, his leadership will be pivotal for the DOE to implement policies and regulations that ensure the affordability, reliability, security and sustainability of energy in the Philippines for generations to come,” said Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

These two policies are the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and the Green Energy Option (GEO).

RPS mandates distribution utilities

to source a minimum portion of energy from renewable sources, thus guaranteeing a market for RE generators. This minimum portion will be increased on a yearly basis.

GEO, on the other hand, will empower consumers to demand that their energy is sourced from renewable resources.

Additionally, the DOE has initiated a proposal to establish a Green Energy Rate for 2,000 megawatts of new

RE generation capacity. The National Renewable Energy Board is expected to submit its recommendations in the months ahead.

Cusi said the Green Energy Rate will not be a feed-in-tariff program and will not be subsidizing the RE generation sector, thus, the need to be competitive with current market rates. Instead, the Green Energy Rate will support the RE generators with securing power supply contracts and selling their energy by setting a baseline price.

“Indeed, it is important that we continue to develop renewable and indigenous energy sources in order to ensure long-term energy security. However, energy security also requires diversification beyond RE,” he added.

“LNG [liquefied natural gas] and coalfired power plants are the bridging-fuel we will need as we transition towards more RE. Until then, conventional energy will continue to play a role in energy diversification and security,” said Cusi.

The energy and environmental think tank Center for Energy, Ecology and Devel-

opment (CEED) earlier urged the Duterte administration to issue an executive order that will focus on the development of more RE sources.

“We welcome the positive remarks uttered by the President during his State of the Nation Address, responding to the clamor of the public against dirty, deadly, and costly energ y from coal and fossil fuels,” said CEED Executive Director Gerr y Arances. “His statements are significant given that ex isting energ y and power policies largely favor coal.”

Arances said coal ’s 51-percent share in the power mix will continue to grow given the 30 coal-fired power plants still in the pipeline. The DOE also projects that coal will only increase for at least two decades more, according to the Philippine Energy Plan.

“We urge the President to formalize in an executive order the marching orders he gave during his speech to provide clear policy directions to the DOE and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,” said Arances.

DOF chief to Kyushu bizmen: Invest in steel, cement sectors

By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

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HE Department of Finance (DOF) has invited businessmen from Japan’s Kyushu Economic Federation (Kyukeiren) to take part in the development of the Philippines’s “fast-growing” economy, persuading them to invest in the cement and steel industries vital for the implementation of the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) infrastructure program of the Duterte administration.

“We would like to invite Kyushu businessmen, under your leadership, to make some serious investments here,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told Kyukeiren President Yutaka Aso at a recent meeting. Also present during the meeting was Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda.

Dominguez informed Aso that besides focusing on three priorities—which are to reduce poverty, make Filipino citizens more law-abiding like in Japan and ensure peace within the country’s borders and with its neighbors—the Duterte administration is also committed to further open up the economy to foreign investments.

He also told Aso that opening up the economy, along with accelerating state spending on BBB, will help achieve the Duterte administration’s first priority of reducing poverty incidence to just 14 percent by 2022. “[Through the BBB], we can create good

jobs and interconnect regions so that farflung areas can find major markets for their products here in the Metro Manila area,” the finance chief added.

On the administration’s second priority of making its citizens more law-abiding, Dominguez said the war against illegal drugs is only one aspect of achieving this goal, as the government has also embarked on a no-nonsense campaign against tax evaders and is now putting in place measures to ensure that foreign nationals working here pay the correct taxes.

To achieve the third goal of peace, he pointed out that the government pushed for, among others, the passage of a new Bangsamoro Organic Law to encourage Islamic separatists in Mindanao to return to the government fold, and enhanced relations with its Asian neighbors, such as Japan, China and South Korea and with the Philippines’s fellow members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

“I come here quite constantly, your economy, it is booming and flourishing. And very impressive, especially all the service industries, the standard of their quality is very high,” Aso said.

Kyukeiren is a regional, integrated economic organization in Japan with membership of about 970 companies, the federation was established in 1961 to spur Kyushu’s economy and unify its business community.

FAME poised to strengthen vessel monitoring capability across PHL’s maritime domain

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

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@jonlmayuga

HE Futuristic Aviation and Maritime Enterprise Inc. (FAME) will soon be deploying 60 additional gateways, or antenna-like transceivers, to enhance its capacity for real-time monitoring of maritime transportation.

“We are looking at investing for 60 gateway antennas [that would cost] about P6 million,” Zes Martinez, cofounder of FAME, said.

Interviewed during the Luwas Pilipinas, Ligtas Pilipinas caravan of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council on Industries, Energy and Emerging Technologies Research and Development (PCIEERD) in Butuan City, Surigao del Norte, he said the firm is eyeing increase subscription from the current 80 to at least 1,000 by the end of the year, banking on the enforcement of the Amended Fisheries Code, which requires all maritime vessels to install vessel monitoring measures (VMM), or vessel monitor system (VSL).

He underscored the importance of VMM or VMS for maritime vessels for search and rescue operations in case of maritime accident. The gadget is also important in investigating maritime accidents.

FAME has developed a transponder device through research and development partly funded by DOST-PCIEERD. The transponder, when installed and armed, allows subscribers to track the vessel. Subscribers

are given access to the firm’s remote monitoring system from a personal computer or smartphones connected to the Internet.

The transponder can be installed on any vessel classification from the biggest used by cargo companies to the smallest fishing boat used by fishermen.

The firm is currently serving small- and medium-scale fishing vessels and has partnered with USAID Ocean and Oceana Philippines, an ocean conservation advocacy nongovernment organization, for implementation of VMM/VMS in the Philippines.

Martinez said they are banking on the enforcement of the law in small fishing and passenger boats.

“There are around 800,000 small fishing boats in the country. By law, they are required to have transponders,” Martinez pointed out.

“We are also targeting local government units for monitoring of their fleet of tourism boats,” he said.

The transponder makes use of radio frequency to send and receive information every 15 minutes and its gateways receive the information from transponders and sends to the cloud.

Telemetry data can be sent up to 50 km offshore.

FAME also provides a dashboard through a web and mobile browser-based application, allowing users to see details of each transponder and other related data in near real-time, anywhere.

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World BusinessMirror

Friday, July 26, 2019

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US-China trade war spurs recession risk in Singapore

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HE United States-China trade war is threatening to drag export-reliant Singapore into a recession and aggravating underlying risks facing the former tiger economy.

Singapore’s economic data have gone from bad to worse this month. Exports slumped to their second-worst rate since the global financial crisis, the purchasing managers index slipped into contraction for the first time since 2016, and the economy shrank the most in almost seven years in the second quarter.

After spending much of early 2019 enjoying relative resilience, a recession is now looming. That’s a warning shot for regional and global economies, since Singapore’s heavy reliance on trade makes it somewhat of a bellwether for the rest of Asia.

The severity of the slump may be down to trade tensions and a global slowdown, but Singapore has been grappling with long-standing economic threats that have been slowly eroding the city state’s growth potential: rapid aging, labor market shrinkage and sluggish productivity among them. Those risks will become more acute for policy-makers now.

“Any undue turbulence or prolonged stresses from the trade war are only going to compound the challenges of all the other issues—productivity, demographics, anything else,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics & strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “External demand concerns will be at the top of the list for now, because if you don’t get that one right it’s that much more difficult to solve everything else.”

Singapore remains one of the most export-reliant economies in the world, with trade equivalent to 326 percent of gross domestic product, according to World Bank data. That puts the city-state at the center of the storm stirred up by its top two trading partners sparring over tariffs.

The shock GDP figures earlier this month prompted some analysts to down-

grade their Singapore forecasts for the year to below 1 percent. The government is set to revisit its own 1.5-percent to 2.5-percent range next month, but for now, it’s remaining calm, seeing no recession for the full year.

“Barring a swift rapprochement in USChina trade relations, our forecast for a 0.2 percent year-on-year contraction in Singapore in 2019 remains on course.

The government has ample firepower to cushion the blow, but it may not be enough to avoid a recession,” said Tamara Henderson, Bloomberg Asean economist.

The slump is largely contained so far to manufacturing, which makes up about a fifth of the economy, but could soon spread to other sectors such as retail and financial services. That increases the risk of job losses at a time when businesses like International Business Machines Corp. are already laying off workers and banks such as Nomura Holdings Inc. cut staff.

The number of retrenched workers in Singapore rose to the highest in more than a year in the first quarter, though the unemployment rate has remained fairly steady at 2.2 percent amid a recovery in construction.

“The labor market looks to be on two tracks at the moment—there’s a weak market in the manufacturing sector but a steady one in the services sector,” said Shaun Roache, chief Asia-Pacific economist at S&P Global Ratings in Singapore.

“High-frequency indicators including industrial production and trade suggest that the environment will remain challenging in manufacturing for the year.”

While those cyclical headwinds buffer the outlook, policy-makers are also grappling with structural impediments to growth.

Treasury secretary, trade rep headed to China for more talks

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ASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is returning to China next week to further talks aimed at resolving a trade battle between Washington and Beijing.

Mnuchin told reporters at the White House that he and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will spend Tuesday and Wednesday meeting with Chinese leaders in Shanghai. He says he expects more meetings before any deal is done, with the next round likely in Washington.

Mnuchin says he sees it as a good omen that China chose to meet in Shanghai. Shanghai is where the US and China conducted diplomacy aimed at normalizing relations during the Nixon administration.

The White House said afterward that the talks will cover a range of issues, including intellectual property, forced technology transfers, nontariff barriers, agriculture, the US-China trade deficit and enforcement. AP

TREASURY Secretary Steven Mnuchin walks away from the microphones after speaking to members of the media at the White House in Washington on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. AP PHOTO/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS

CHINA’S EXPORT-IMPORT BANK TO FUND 85% OF MALAYSIA’S REVIVED RAIL PROJECT

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UNGUN, Malaysia—China’s Export-Import Bank is expected to finance 85 percent of a 44 billion ringgit ($10.7 billion) rail link project in Malaysia that will bolster economic development in rural eastern states, Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook said Thursday.

The East Coast Rail Link across peninsular Malaysia was suspended a year ago shortly after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s alliance won a historic election, but the government said in April it will revive it after the Chinese contractor agreed to slash costs by a third. The project connects Malaysia’s west coast to poorer eastern states and is a key part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

At a ceremony in northeast Terengganu state to relaunch the project, Loke said state-owned Malaysia Rail Link has finalized negotiations with China’s Ex-Im Bank and that an agreement will be signed soon but didn’t give further details.

Loke said the 640-kilometer (400 mile) rail project will cut travel time from Kota Baru in northeast Kelantan state to the government administrative capital Putrajaya to four hours at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour (about 100 mph). By road, the

trip can take at least eight hours.

The revised project will cut through five states instead of four, have 20 stations and is scheduled for completion by December 2026. It will include 30-40 tunnels and multiple viaducts, he said.

He said the project is expected to boost trade and tourism and attract investment.

Chinese Ambassador Bai Tian said that a Malaysian study projected the rail link project could contribute 2.7 percent to Malaysia’s economic growth.

He hailed the project as a “game changer” that will revitalize the east coast economy and bring closer ties between Malaysia and China, its largest trading partner.

Malaysia Rail Link and China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. which is building the project, plan to form a 50:50 joint venture.

Mahathir has said the fact that the project’s cost could be slashed by 21.5 billion ringgit ($5.2 billion) showed initial projections were inflated when former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government awarded the main contract to CCCC in 2016. Mahathir chose to renegotiate the deal rather than pay compensation of 21.78 billion ringgit ($5.3 billion). AP

Faced with a rapidly aging population, the government has been on an aggressive campaign to reskill its labor force and prepare workers for a postponed retirement. The median age is set to rise to 46.8 years in 2030 from 39.7 in 2015, faster than the other top economies in Southeast Asia, as well as the world as a whole, according to United Nations projections.

Tied to its rapid aging is Singapore’s productivity conundrum. As the labor pool shrinks and gets older, the city-state’s answer to the

productivity challenge has been to automate and digitize. With an ambition to become a “Smart Nation,” the government has poured money and energy into digitization projects of all kinds, from helping seniors fine-tune smartphone skills at digital clinics to attracting financial technology giants to set up shop and test their ideas.

It’s that technological advancement, along with its world-beating infrastructure and efficiency, that continues to make Singapore at-

tractive to businesses like Dyson Ltd. the UK manufacturer that picked the city-state for its location to build its first electric cars. It’s also a reason why officials are confident.

“They’re saying the right thing, doing the right thing,” said Edward Lee, chief economist for South and Southeast Asia at Standard Chartered Plc. in Singapore, who has penciled in 1-percent growth for 2019. “Retraining, ongoing structural reforms on the labor side— those are the right things.” Bloomberg News

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The W

Business

Friday, July 26, 2019

North Korea fires missiles into sea in apparent pressure tactic

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EOUL, South Korea—North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea Thursday, South Korea’s military said, the first weapons launches in more than two months and an apparent effort to pressure Washington as the two sides struggle to restart nuclear negotiations.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from near the eastern coastal town of Wonsan and flew about 430 kilometers (270 miles) and 690 kilometers (430 miles) respectively before landing off the country’s east coast.

South Korea’s military earlier said both missiles flew 430 kilometers but the trajectory for one was revised based on a joint South Korean-US analysis. South Korean officials said the missiles were both short-range.

A South Korean defense official, requesting anonymity because of department rules, said that an initial analysis showed both missiles were fired from mobile launchers and flew at a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (30 miles).

The North is unhappy over planned US-South Korean military drills that it says are preparation for an invasion. The missile tests may be meant as a warning to Washington.

They came as many in the United States were focused on testimony before Congress by Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, about his two-year probe into Russian election interference. A day earlier, US national security adviser John Bolton left Seoul after agreeing with South Korean officials to work closely to achieve North Korea’s denuclearization.

“North Korea appears to be thinking its diplomacy

with the US isn’t proceeding in a way that they want. So they’ve fired missiles to get the table to turn in their favor,” said analyst Kim Dae-young at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy.

But North Korea doesn’t appear to be pulling away from US-led diplomacy aimed at curbing its nuclear program, analysts say.

The relatively short distance travelled by the missiles suggests the launches were not intended as a major provocation, unlike a test of a long-range missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

North Korea has been urging the US and South Korea to scrap their summertime military drills. Last week, the North said it may lift its 20-month suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests in response to the drills.

Some experts say North Korea is trying to get an upper hand ahead of a possible resumption of talks. Pyongyang wants widespread sanctions relief so it can revive its dilapidated economy. US officials want significant steps toward disarmament before they will relinquish the leverage provided by the sanctions.

A senior US official said the Trump administration was aware of the reported launches. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide a response, said the administration had no further comment.

South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo urged Pyongyang to stop acts that are “not helpful to efforts to ease military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”

The UN Security Council has typically imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea only when it conducted longrange ballistic missile tests. If it did, that could have ramifications because UN Security Council resolutions ban the North from engaging in any launch using ballistic technology.

“If they were ballistic missiles, they violate the U.N. resolutions, and I find it extremely regrettable,” Japan’s Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters in Tokyo.

It was the first missile launch since Seoul said North Korea fired three short-range missiles off its east coast in early May. At the time, many experts said those missiles strongly resembled the Russian-designed Iskander, a short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that has been in the Russian arsenal for more than a decade.

Analyst Kim Dong-yub at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies said the latest missiles could be Scud-C ballistic missiles or KN-23 surface-to-surface missiles, a North Korean version of the Iskander.

During a third summit at the Korean border late last month, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to resume nuclear negotiations that had been deadlocked since their second summit in Vietnam in February. It ended in disagreement over US-led sanctions.

On Tuesday, North Korean state media said Kim inspected a newly built submarine and ordered officials to further bolster the country’s military capabilities.

The Korean Central News Agency said the submarine’s operational deployment “is near at hand.”

After analyzing North Korea-dispatched photos of the submarine, experts said it likely has three or more launch tubes for missiles. South Korean government documents say North Korea has about 70 submarines.

Most have only torpedo, not missile launch tubes, except for a test platform with a single launch tube the North has used when it fired ballistic missiles in recent years, according to Kim Dae-young, the analyst.

The new submarine suggests North Korea has been increasing its military capability despite nuclear diplomacy that it began with the United States early last year.

The latest launches came amid a flaring of tensions after South Korean fighter jets on Tuesday fired hundreds of warning shots to drive away a Russian reconnaissance plane that Seoul says violated its airspace.

Before that alleged intrusion, South Korean military jets scrambled after Russian and Chinese warplanes including the reconnaissance aircraft made an extremely unusual joint entrance into South Korea’s air defense identification zone. AP

THIS file photo provided by the US Navy shows the Ticonderoga-class guidedmissile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) sailing in the South China Sea. Taiwan says the US Navy is free to sail through its strait after an American warship did so shortly following warnings from Beijing against foreign interference in its relationship with the island. Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said the USS Antietam conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Wednesday to Thursday “in accordance with international law.”

MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 2ND CLASS MARCUS L. STANLEY/US NAVY VIA AP

American warship sails through Taiwan Strait amid China warning

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AIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwan said Thursday the US Navy is free to sail through its strait after an American warship did so soon after Beijing warned against foreign interference in its relationship with the island.

The USS Antietam sailed northward through the Taiwan Strait, said a statement from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. Taiwan’s joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance task force said nothing “unusual” took place during its journey, the statement said.

Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s 7th Fleet, said the Antietam conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Wednesday to Thursday “in accordance with international law.” The Antietam is a guided missile cruiser.

The transit “demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Doss said. “The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”

China said it paid close attention to the passage and has expressed its concerns to the US. “The Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue in China-US relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing Thursday. China urges the US to “properly handle Taiwan-related issues with caution,” she said.

On Wednesday, China warned in a national defense white paper that it could use force against anyone who intervenes in its efforts to reunify Taiwan. The ruling Communist Party considers Taiwan part of China, though the democratically governed island split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949.

“If anyone dares to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will certainly fight, resolutely defending the country’s sovereign unity and territorial integrity,” Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said Wednesday during a briefing on the white paper.

The US has repeatedly raised Beijing’s ire by selling arms to Taiwan. While the US does not have formal diplomatic ties with the island, US law requires that it provide Taiwan with sufficient defense equipment and services for self-defense. AP

US back in top 5 innovative economies, China at 14th

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NITED NATIONS—The United States reclaimed its ranking in the top 5 countries in the world for economic innovation, while China climbed from 17th to 14th position in the new list of nearly 130 nations released Wednesday.

The Global Innovation Index 2019 released by the UN intellectual property agency, one of its cosponsors, says “innovation is blossoming around the world” despite an economic slowdown, brewing trade battles and high economic uncertainty.

The index keeps Switzerland in the No. 1 spot—a position it has held since 2011—followed by Sweden, the United States, the Netherlands and Britain. The United States had fallen from fourth place in the 2017 rankings to sixth in 2018.

Israel climbed one spot to enter the top 10 for the first time at No. 10, becoming the first country from the northern Africa and western Asia region to crack the top group. South Korea edged closer to the top 10 at No. 11, up from No. 12.

Now in its 12th edition, the index ranks 129 economies based on 80 indicators, from traditional measurements like research and development investments, and international patent and trademark applications to newer indicators including mobile-phone app creation and high-tech exports.

The index is sponsored by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business and INSEAD, the graduate school of business with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

According to the report, China’s continuing rise firmly establishes the country “in the group of leading innovative nations.”

“China’s innovation strengths become evident in numerous areas: It maintains top ranks in patents by origin, industrial designs, and trademarks by origin, as well as high-tech net exports and creative goods exports,” the report said.

When comparing levels of innovation to economic development, the report said India, Vietnam, Kenya and Moldova “stand out for outperforming on innovation relative to GDP for the ninth consecutive year—a record.”

Other economies outperforming in innovation relative

to their GDP include Costa Rica, Thailand, Georgia, the Philippines, Burundi, Malawi and Mozambique, it said.

The report singled out India, ranked No. 52, for continuing to be the most innovative economy in central and southern Asia. India consistently ranks among the top countries in the world in “innovation drivers,” such as information and technology services exports, graduates in science and engineering, high quality universities, creative goods exports and “gross capital formation—a measure of economy-wide investments,” it said.

Francis Gurry, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said the gains on the index “by economic powerhouses like China and India have transformed the geography of innovation and this reflects deliberate policy action to promote innovation.”

Other regional leaders in innovation in addition to India and Israel include South Africa, Chile and Singapore with China, Vietnam and Rwanda topping their income groups, the report said.

“In developed and developing economies alike, formal innovation—as measured by research and development and patents—and less formal modes of innovation are thriving,” it said.

The report said global expenditures on research and development have been growing faster than the global economy, with government expenditure rising about 5 percent in 2017 and business expenditure 6.7 percent.

“Never in history have so many scientists worldwide labored at solving the most pressing global scientific challenges,” it said.

But many countries still lack innovation in their economies. The 10 countries at the bottom of the index, in descending order are Nicaragua, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Benin, Zambia, Guinea, Togo, Niger, Burundi and Yemen.

Looking ahead, the report said two concerns stand out that could slow growth in innovation.

First, public research and development expenditures “particularly in some high-income countries responsible for driving the technology frontier are growing slowly or not at all,” it said.

“Second, increased protectionism—in particular, protectionism that impacts technology-intensive sectors and knowledge flows—poses risks to global innovation networks and innovation diffusion,” the report said. AP

World

sMirror

BRITAIN’S new Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives to make a speech outside 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. Johnson has replaced Theresa May as prime minister, following her resignation last month after Parliament repeatedly rejected the Brexit withdrawal agreement she struck with the European Union. AP PHOTO/MATT DUNHAM

BORIS JOHNSON TELLS CABINET IT’S FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR BREXIT

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ONDON—Boris Johnson held his first Cabinet meeting as Britain’s prime minister on Thursday, pledging to break the Brexit impasse that brought down predecessor Theresa May. Johnson told his just-assembled top team in 10 Downing St. that Britain was at “a pivotal moment in our country’s history.” He repeated his vow that the UK would leave the EU “on October 31 or indeed earlier.”

He will face a rowdier reception later when he addresses the House of Commons for the first time as the country’s leader.

Johnson has less than 100 days to make good on his promise to deliver Brexit by October 31 after what he called “three years of unfounded self-doubt” under May’s government.

In his first speech as prime minister on Wednesday, Johnson offered a scattergun plethora of promises, from more police on the streets to ending a ban on genetically modified crops to faster Internet access.

But his main task is making good on his vow that the UK will leave the EU at the end of October, “come what may.”

To accomplish it, he culled many members of May’s Cabinet within hours of taking office, replacing them with a group of loyal Brexit supporters.

The new lineup includes Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Treasury chief Sajid Javid, Home Secretary Priti Patel and House of Commons leader Jacob ReesMogg. Many of the new ministers worked with Johnson in the 2016 referendum campaign to leave the EU, as did much of Johnson’s new backroom staff.

Three years after the “leave” campaign won that referendum by 52 percent to 48 percent, Britain remains in the 28-nation bloc.

Brexiteers blame May, who resigned in defeat after failing — three times — to secure Parliament’s backing for her divorce deal with the bloc. Her allies point out that it was hard-core Brexit supporters who sank the deal because they felt it kept the UK too closely bound to the EU’s rules.

Johnson, who won an election of Conservative members to replace May as party leader and prime minister, has vowed to complete Brexit and silence “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters” who believe it can’t be done. But the brash Brexit advocate faces the same problems that May faced: heading a government without a parliamentary majority and with most lawmakers opposed to leaving the EU without a divorce deal.

The EU is adamant it will not renegotiate the agreement struck with May on the terms of Britain’s departure and the framework of future relations. Without it, Britain faces a chaotic Brexit that economists warn would disrupt trade by imposing tariffs and customs checks between Britain and the bloc, send the value of the pound plummeting and plunge the UK into recession.

Lawmakers who oppose a no-deal Brexit— including some of the May government ministers swept away by Johnson—are vowing to put up a fight when Parliament returns from a six-week summer break that starts Friday. AP

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Editor: Angel R. Calso

Paris sizzles and London boils as record heat threatens Europe

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ARIS—Hot, hotter, hottest! Paris, London and points across Europe are bracing for record temperatures Thursday as the second heat wave this summer bakes the continent.

Climate scientists warn this could become the new normal in many parts of the world. But temperate Europe—where airconditioning is rare—isn’t equipped for the temperatures frying the region this week.

So tourists frolicked in fountains to seek relief and authorities and volunteers fanned out to help the elderly, sick and homeless hit hardest by the heat. Trains were canceled in Britain and France, and French authorities urged travelers to stay home.

One by one, heat records are being broken across Europe. On Thursday, the Paris area could be as hot as 42°C (108°F) as a result of hot, dry air coming from northern Africa that’s trapped between cold stormy systems.

London might see 39°C (102°F). And swaths of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland could face temperatures exceeding 40°C (104°F).

And this is only the latest of several hot days: Belgium and Germany recorded their all-time high temperatures Wednesday.

Germany’s record of 40.5 degrees (104.9°F) is likely going to be very short-lived, however—the German Weather Service is expecting even higher temperatures Thursday.

Across London and Paris, authorities and charity workers handed out water and sunscreen to homeless people and opened day centers for them to rest and shower.

“They are in the street all day, under the sun. No air-conditioning, no way to protect oneself from the heat, so for some it’s really quite complicated,” said Ruggero Gatti, an IT worker joining other Red Cross volunteers handing out water bottles, soup and yogurt to the homeless in the Paris suburb of Boulogne.

Tourists clustered around fountains and canals. “It’s too hot. In Brazil, where I live, we have the beach but here, since there is no beach, we can enjoy this fountain,” said Ederson Lista-Vajes, a Brazilian tourist playing with spurts of water at Trocadèro plaza across from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

France is particularly on alert after a 2003 heat wave killed nearly 15,000 people,

especially the elderly.

Since then the government has introduced a color-coded heat alert system to warn people when temperatures are expected to rise to dangerous levels in their area and trigger government assistance efforts.

The alert system went to its maximum level of red for the first time during last month’s heat wave, when France saw its highest-ever recorded temperature of 46 degrees.

On Thursday, about one-fifth of French territory was under a red alert, stretching from the English Channel through the Paris region and down to Burgundy.

The national rail authority and Paris public transit system urged passengers to avoid travel Thursday. Messages to “Hydrate yourselves!” came from the radio, television and public message boards.

French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn said that temperatures on Thursday are expected to be 2 degrees higher than in 2003.

Some 20 million French are expected to be hit by the heat wave, she said.

Since summers in Europe are usually mild, few homes have air-conditioning.

It’s not that common in hospitals, stores or restaurants either.

Electric fans are selling fast around Paris—and traditional folding fans seem to be making a comeback, waved by many on the stuffy subway.

The heat wave is intense but expected to be short, with temperatures dropping Friday and Saturday.

As emissions continue to warm the planet, scientists say there will be more and hotter heat waves, like those increasingly hitting the US though it’s too early to know whether this hot spell is linked to man-made climate change.

“There is likely the DNA of climate change in the record-breaking heat that Europe and other parts of the world are experiencing. And it is unfortunately going to continue to worsen,” said Marshall Shepherd, professor of meteorology at University of Georgia. AP

Privacy case settled, Facebook discloses FTC antitrust probe

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AN FRANCISCO — Facebook says it is under antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The company made the announcement just hours after the agency slapped it with a record $5-billion fine and new oversight on its privacy practices.

Facebook said Wednesday that it was informed of the FTC’s antitrust investigation in June. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice also announced a broad antitrust probe of technology companies. Though that agency didn’t name any companies, broad antitrust concerns have long swirled around Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google.

Facebook also faces various probes in Canada and Europe as regulators seek to crack down on the growing power of these US technology companies.

Following on Facebook’s public disclosure, the FTC confirmed the antitrust probe, but would not give details such as how long the probe has been underway.

Facebook’s business, so far, seems unharmed. On Wednesday, the company reported stronger-than-expected revenue but lower earnings for the second quarter. The

results were boosted by higher advertising revenue and an ever-growing user base, though net income declined due to one-time expenses—mainly the FTC fine.

It said it earned $2.6 billion, or 91 cents per share, in the April-June period. That’s down 49 percent from $5.1 billion, or $1.74 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were $1.99 per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting adjusted earnings of $1.90 per share, according to a poll by Zacks.

Facebook booked $2 billion in one-time expenses to pay for the remainder of the FTC fine after setting aside $3 billion in the first quarter. The $5-billion fine, announced Wednesday morning, stems from the FTC’s investigation into Facebook’s privacy violations following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Revenue rose 28 percent to $16.9 billion from $13.2 billion. Analysts were expecting $16.5 billion according to a poll by FactSet. Facebook had 2.41 billion monthly active users as of June 30, an increase of 8 percent from a year earlier. AP

Oil holds loss as growth gloom clouds shrinking US stockpiles

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IL held its biggest loss in a week as signs that growth is slowing in major economies overshadowed the longest run of declines in US crude stockpiles since the start of 2018.

Futures in New York edged higher after losing 1.6 percent on Wednesday, snapping a three-day gain. A gauge of American factory activity fell to the lowest in almost a decade and a German manufacturing index slumped to a seven-year low, putting Europe’s largest economy at risk of recession.

US crude inventories declined for a sixth week, the Energy Information Administration reported

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Wednesday, while production dropped the most since October 2017 in a reading that was affected by the impact of storm Barry.

Crude has fallen around 15 percent from late April as an extension of output cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries and rising tension in the Persian Gulf failed to ease fears of a looming supply glut. The US and German factory indicators come after a report last week showing Chinese economic growth falling to the lowest level in data going back to the early 1990s.

“Supply factors usually drive the oil market, but

in the last few months demand is in the driving seat,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at Vanguard Markets Ltd. “However, knowing that Opec policy compliance remains sturdy, and with global central banks preparing to unleash torrents of cheap money, it’s unlikely oil markets will fall off the cliff.”

West Texas Intermediate for September delivery added 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $56.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:22 a.m. in London. The contract has fallen 4.1 percent in July, and is on track for only its second monthly loss this year. Bloomberg News

Agriculture/Commodities

Friday, July 26, 2019 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

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BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Farm-gate price of broiler down 20% on output hike

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

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@jearcalas

HE average farm-gate price of broiler fell by 20 percent to P80 per kilogram, from P100 per kg last month, due to the increase in raisers’ production and imports, according to the United Broiler Raisers Association (Ubra).

Ubra President Elias Jose Inciong said local raisers decided to reload their stocks after farm-gate prices rose to as much P100 per kg in June.

The entry of more imported chicken also contributed to the decline. “[Farm-gate price] is now less than P80 per kg. [Raisers] were tempted by the high buying price last month, hence, higher local output,” Inciong told the BusinessMirror via SMS. “At the same time, imports are still at record-high levels.”

Poultry raisers have been reeling for months from low farmgate prices caused by the glut in chicken supply.

Prior to the turnaround in May, when farm-gate price rose to P80

per kg, the quotations for broiler were below the breakeven level of P75 per kg.

The country’s dressed chicken inventory as of July 15 reached 33,655.18 metric tons, 48 percent over the 22,739.98 MT recorded last year, National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) data showed.

The latest figure was also 32.61 percent higher than the 25,378.6 MT recorded last week, according to data from the NMIS. More than half, or 19,906.79 MT of the current dressed chicken inventory, were imported, while the remaining 13,748.38 MT were locally produced.

Imported dressed chicken in cold storages rose by 35.93 per-

cent on an annual basis and by 32.16 percent from the previous week’s volume.

Studies conducted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) indicated that the Philippines could experience a glut in chicken supply, with the surplus pegged at 135,851 MT. Using regression analysis, the DA expects total broiler meat supply to hit 1.424 million MT, higher than the estimated total demand of 1.288 MMT.

for at least 69 days at an estimated 4,780.372 MT daily nationwide pork demand.

The DA had also projected that total pork production this year will hit 1.635 MMT, with imports reaching 440,517 MT.

@jonlmayuga

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HE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has stopped the operation of Agumil Philippines Inc. for polluting the Calabugan River in Brooke’s Point, Palawan.

A cease-and-desist order (CDO) dated July 17 was issued by the DENR against the company, which operates a palm-oil mill in Brooke’s Point, for violating Republic Act (RA) 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.

Prior to the CDO, a notice of violation was issued by the DENR and ordered the company to conduct corrective measures last January and March this year, which the company failed to do.

A team from Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)-Mimaropa handed the CDO to Agumil Philippines Mill Manager Arthur Elicanal and also posted notices of the company’s violations as part of the execution of the CDO. In its order, the DENR’s Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) said the firm’s facility has discharged

wastewater that exceeded the DENR Water Quality Guidelines and General Effluent Standards.

As such, it is ordered “to cease and desist from undertaking any activity and/or operating machines or equipment generating pollution during the pendency of proceedings before the Board.”

In enforcing the CDO, DENR disabled all waterlines of the company.

The company was the subject of a complaint filed by residents and officials of Barangay Calasaguen in January of this year, when they saw dead fish and prawns floating in the town’s Calabugan River.

The river, based on the complaint, was also found coated with black and oily liquid allegedly from the processing plant of Agumil Philippines. The oil mill was located in the nearby Barangay Maasin.

During the investigation, the management of the oil mill plant explained that the pipes of their siltation pond were accidentally hit by a backhoe during their regular dredging activity; causing a leak that flowed toward the river.

The Community Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro)

NMIS data also showed that the country’s frozen pork inventory in cold storages expanded by 22.7 percent to 39,670.66 MT, from last year’s 32,330.56 MT. However, the volume was 3.93 percent lower than the 41,294.82 MT recorded last week, NMIS data showed.

Of the current frozen pork inventor y, 85.62 percent—or 33,969.4 MT—were imported, while the remaining 5,701.26 MT were locally produced.

DA documents obtained by the BusinessMirror showed that the country would have a pork surplus of 331,393 MT on the back of higher output and increased imports.

This would mean that the country would have a buffer stock good

MONSOON WOES A farmer in La Trinidad, Benguet, covers his greenhouse with plastic to protect his crops from monsoon rains. LAILA D. AUSTRIA

observed that the damaged pipes were only covered with sacks and wrapped with rubber stripped from the interior part of a tire. Officials of Agumil Philippines said that these were temporary measures and would be replaced with a concrete mound.

The Cenro further noted that the outlet of the broken pipes was positioned toward a creek that is a tributary of the river.

The EMB-Mimaropa immediately conducted wastewater sampling on January 24, which showed that the effluent coming from the firm’s pipe exceeded the allowable standards on Phosphate-Phosphorus, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), and Oil and Grease (O&G).

“The Pollution Adjudication Board saw that there is indeed a prima facie evidence that Agumil Philippines ‘has discharged pollutants that constitute immediate threat to life, and public health, safety, and welfare,’ hence the immediate issuance and implementation of the CDO,” EMB-Mimaropa Regional Director Drake Matias said.

PAB is a quasi-judicial body cre-

ated under the Office of the Secretary of the DENR. It assumes the powers and functions of the Commission/Commissioners of the National Pollution Control Commission with respect to the adjudication of pollution cases under RA 3931 (An Act Creating the National Water and Air Pollution Control Commission).

Besides stopping Agumil Philippines from generating pollution, the CDO also directed it to show cause why a criminal case should not be filed against it for using a by-pass, or a diversion of wastewater from its collection system. It also reminded the company that it may be penalized a maximum fine of P200,000 for each day of violation, which is over and above the administrative fines for other violations it has committed.

The regional EMB was tasked to closely monitor Agumil Philippines’s compliance with the order.

“The effort to save Calabugan River in Brooke’s Point forms part of Secretary Roy Cimatu’s priority agenda to restore problematic bodies of water in the country and have clean water for all,” Matias said.

Indonesia warns of rice crop damage in drought-parched fields

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NDONESIA’S rice crop is at risk of damage from an unusually long dry weather spell that’s gripped several producing regions, raising prospects of elevated imports for a second year.

The dry weather has parched paddy fields across Java island, the main growing region, and the agriculture ministry sees the harvest failing in more areas than the 20,000 hectares already reported, according to Edy Purnawan, director of crop protection at the ministry.

With some areas going without rain for more than 60 days, the nation’s weather forecaster has warned the archipelago may be under the impact of a weak El Niño. The drought has prompted President Joko Widodo to order steps to mitigate the impact and consider artificial rain as an option.

The government will continue to monitor and assess the impact of the dry season on inflation and will announce measure to tackle the issue next month, Coordinating Minister

of Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said on Thursday.

Indonesia is preparing aircraft loaded with chemicals for cloud seeding, a type of weather modification that aims to change the amount of rainfall from clouds.

While there may be no impact from the drought on palm oil and rubber, the weather agency has warned of forest fires developing in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the country’s main growing regions of these commodities. Paper producer Asia Pulp & Paper Co. said it has taken steps to prevent forest fires.

“The drought-impacted areas are increasing and may reach 200,000 hectares, while failed harvest could double to 40,000 hectares by the end of the dry season in October,” Purnawan said.

Stockpiles

WHILE the estimate for the failed harvest is small compared with Indonesia’s total cropped area of about 12 million hectares, a similar crop

shortage of 109,124.696 MT, which is equivalent to 22.83 days, DA documents showed.

Poultry and pork are popular in the Philippines and are used extensively in making a number of Filipino dishes.

Frozen pork inventory

DENR stops operation of Palawan palm-oil mill for polluting river

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

Total pork demand this year is estimated at 1.744 MMT, with a total population of 108.106 million and a per-capita consumption of 16.14 kilograms.

Without imported pork, the countr y would have a supply

A COW eats unhulled rice from a dried up rice field in Makassar. AGUNG PARAMESWARA/ GETTY IMAGES/BLOOMBERG NEWS

failure last year forced the government to boost imports to the highest in six years. Ample stockpiles of rice with state-owned Bulog will likely prevent significant additional imports, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

The agriculture ministry plans to minimize the impact of future droughts by planting drought-resistant seeds, Purnawan said. Other food crops, such as corn and soybeans, were yet to be impacted by the dry weather, he said. Bloomberg News

Mangrove park seen to alleviate poverty in Northern Samar town

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AVEZARES, Northern Samar—Opening the doors of Lalaguna Mangrove EcoPark to tourists will unlock opportunities in economically depressed communities here.

Mary Jane Africano, resident of San Isidro village here, said people in their community can expect a better future as tourism activities will create new livelihood opportunities.

Africano, a mother of three, is the president of Women’s Association for Inter-island Development (WAIID), an organization formed in 2016 with technical assistance from the University of Eastern Philippines (UEP) Center for Environmental Studies in Catarman, Northern Samar.

WAIID is tasked to supervise the Lalaguna Mangrove Eco-Park at Lalaguna Bay, a mangrove park 20-minute boat ride away from the port area of Lavezares town.

The 300-hectare eco-park is endowed with green and lush mangroves and crystal-clear waters teeming with varied fish species, crabs, and sea urchins, as well as wild birds and eagles, thousands of fruit bats and wild monkeys, which are part of the Biri Larosa (Lavezares, Rosario and San Jose towns) Protected Landscapes and Seascapes.

The women’s group picked Africano as their leader since she is the only college degree holder in their community being a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Fisheries, Major in Aquaculture.

From 14 members, the group’s membership rose to 72. Almost all are women who just completed elementary or secondary education.

“San Isidro is the smallest village and also the poorest among the island villages in Lavezares.

Most children from this village would leave the island after completing elementary to work in Manila as house helper because parents could not afford to send them to college,” Africano said in an interview Wednesday.

This mindset was changed in April 2016 after some person-

nel from UEP, Northern Samar provincial tourism office, and Lavezares local government visited their village as part of relief assistance in areas devastated by the typhoon in December 2015.

“Before these people came, we were already contended to eat three times a day and sometimes we had nothing to eat for dinner since we only get P2,000 monthly from our children who work in Manila.

That was already enough for us,” Africano shared.

“But people from the government and private organizations who visited our place convinced us not to be contented with our life and aim for more, to aspire for a more comfortable living,” she added.

The mothers then formed a n orga n i z at ion t he y c a l led WAIID and started with a capital of P320, an amount collected from P20 contribution from each member.

Since April 2016 until this year, the organization has already generated P172,000 savings.

“With the assistance given to us by the government and other groups, through tourism activities, we are hoping that someday our village will become progressive,” Africano said.

“Someday our children will be able to finish college and earn a degree. Someday we will have professionals here like doctors, nurses or teachers because of what their mothers did. We, as mothers, would be proud of our children if this happens,” she added.

Transforming Lalaguna Bay into a mangrove eco-park was a vision of then-Lavazares Mayor Quintin Saludaga, inspired by a tour in a mangrove park in Thailand. Saludaga now works as a municipal administrator.

The mangrove area, which is a spooning ground for danggit or rabbitfish or spine foot fish, was also declared as closed for all fishing activities during the months of March, April and May, identified as the breeding period of fish species. PNA

www.businessmirror.com.ph

EU to invest P120 million in renewable-energy projects in southern PHL

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The Regions

HE European Union has allotted €2.2 million, roughly P120 million, to finance the Renewable Energy for Livelihood and Youth (RELY) project of sequa gGmbH, Vivant Foundation Inc. (VFI) and Participatory, Research,

BusinessMirror

Organization of Communities and Education toward Struggle for Self-Reliance (Process) Bohol Inc. The RELY project is one of the seven awardees of the EU-Access to Sustainable Energy Programme Call for Proposals. The EU se-

lected RELY from among 31 proposals.

The RELY project aims to promote the use of renewable energy to improve lives and foster climate-change mitigation in poor and remote communities by energizing 16 off-grid public schools

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Friday, July 26, 2019

in Cebu, Bohol and Palawan through solar energy.

The project proponents and EU representatives recently launched RELY in Cebu City. “We are happy and honored that our proposal was selected by the

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EU and we thus get the opportunity to implement another project that will contribute to a better future for poor and remote communities,” Sabine Schacknat, RELY project director from sequa gGmbH, said. Lenie Lectura

A10 Friday, July 26, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

The most important part of ‘The Speech’

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HE purpose and obligations of a government that is “of the people, by the people, for the people” are no better defined than here: In the Preamble of the US Constitution, government is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

One area that the government has vast power over—intended or not—is what we broadly call “social issues.” Yet, these may be viewed as solutions to problems that need to be solved in regard to the obligations outlined in the Preamble. Divorce is regarded as one of these issues. Yet, it may also provide legal protection to those in an abusive and often unequal contractual relationship.

Likewise, what may seem as an economic issue may be part of “establishing justice.” The idea of “Security of Tenure” and limiting contractual employment is an economic consideration. But here also it helps bridge the “justice” gap between different segments of society.

The interpretation of the idea of promoting the “General Welfare”— found also in the “Taxing and Spending Clause”—has been legally argued since 1824. Even before the Constitution was ratified in 1789, James Madison spoke of this in his essay “Federalist No. 41.” When narrowly interpreted, it meant that the government had the power of taxation and spending, but that spending had to be limited for the public good.

Since then the legal definition has been greatly expanded to allow the legislature to do almost anything it wanted with tax money collected and is outside the power of the judiciary to challenge that spending.

However, the government has the obligation, and the people have the right to expect the government to fulfill two duties.

The government must manage its finances—which is actually the people’s finances—in a prudent manner. For more than 20 years, successive administrations failed to do the proper job. The Current Account showing money flows in or out of the Philippines was a disaster. The government’s foreign debt as a percentage of gross domestic product was as high as 75 percent in 1993. The government budget deficit was over 5 percent of the GDP in 2002.

The Philippines’s foreign exchange reserves was $10 billion in 1999.

It is now over $85 billion. The government was acting like an errant spouse using the family money at the casino.

The administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo put the government’s financial affairs in order. The succeeding Aquino and Duterte administrations kept those policies intact.

The second primary obligation as regards the public’s money is to spend it prudently, and that is the current problem. Corruption includes everything from bribery, government contract bidding collusion, substandard performance that is ignored, and looking the other way with tax cheaters. In his State of the Nation Address, President Duterte said, “Corruption continues and emasculates the courage we need to sustain our moral recovery initiatives. We find corruption everywhere in government with every malefactor watching his cohort’s back in blatant disregard of his oath when he assumed public office.” Truer words were never spoken.

Until corruption is mitigated, the nation will always be a laggard.

Unless corruption is mitigated, the nation and its people will never fulfill its potential.

Since 2005

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

T. Anthony C. Cabangon

BETTER DAYS

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RESIDENT Duterte’s State of the Nation Addresses are always interesting. He is, of course, a very candid person, and has no qualms talking about where improvements are needed, and where even more improvements will do a world of good.

And this is just right, as Sonas are not about everything coming up roses. Rather, they should outline what areas need more action, just as much as they should acknowledge what has been done right.

And the President did just that.

For instance, on the same breath of lauding the Bureau of Customs for collecting up to P585 billion in 2018, he also decried how corruption still plagues the agency. Likewise, just as he emphasized that poverty incidence in the country had fallen from 27.6 percent in the first half of 2015 to 21 percent some three years after, he also said that he still needs help lifting some 6 million Filipinos out of poverty.

Of the many points raised, what was clearest was the President’s desire for things to move faster. He said, “We, in government, talk too much, and act too little and too slow…we are long on rhetorics but short on accomplishments.…

That is why, I implore those who

occupy positions of power and authority, to let your deeds and accomplishments do the talking.

Lead by example. Words ring hollow when not followed by positive and prioritized action.”

Indeed, when he says that the second half of his term ought to be a “period of consequence,” we interpret that as a clarion call for even swifter action. If anything, now is the best time to act, as we have already entered the so-called demographic window of opportunity. To echo my father’s summation in his Philippine Policy Statement at the Unesco in 2011, “societies who have entered the demographic window have proportionally large working-age populations and relatively light dependency burdens, and,

Steady governance

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A time of action

Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

B

ROTHERS and sisters, Proverbs 16:12 says: “It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness.” This reminder from the book of Proverbs provides a good foundation to contemplate on President Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address. Can we say that the current administration’s governance in the past three years is steady? If yes, is this based on righteousness?

President Duterte’s leadership is both reflected by light and stained by shadow. We may consider as reflection of light the passing of laws extending maternity leave of working mothers, and ensuring the health of mothers and infants in a span of a thousand days. Through these laws, the government recognizes its duty to care for the health and welfare of mothers and their children. We may also treat the strengthening of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that may yet bring

lasting peace in this part of the country as a reflection of light.

Despite these reflections of light, the killings related to the government’s war against drugs still continue. The police’s account of over 6,000 victims is far from the almost 27,000 victims counted by the different human-rights groups.

The lack of job security of workers because of “Endo” or contractualization still continues. These are clear examples of violations of people’s rights. The government’s method of handling the issues of

therefore, the demographic potential for high economic growth.”

According to the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), the working age population—those from 15 to 65 years of age—will be 70 million strong by the end of this year. That is a deep and expanding labor force that our country should be supporting. As they become more productive, so will our country prosper.

But just as I wrote before, demography is not destiny. If we are to reap any of the dividends and finally solve some of the country’s chief challenges like poverty, joblessness and global uncompetitiveness, some very deep reforms will be needed.

Of course, some significant ones have already been enacted, such as the free tuition law, free irrigation law and the Universal Health Care Act, among many others. These will address the financial and economic structures that the country needs to support itself and sustain the growth momentum.

In the recent Sona, the President mentioned a host of measures he wants acted upon, including the Magna Carta of Barangays; the establishment of Departments of Overseas Filipinos, Disaster Resilience and Water Resources; a new Salary Standardization Law (which will include higher pay for teachers and nurses); the Government Rightsizing Law; the establishment of a

Coconut Farmer’s Trust Fund; and the National Defense Act. Some like the National Land Use Act, and the so-called Trabaho bill or the second of the administration’s tax reform packages (specifically its component parts on lowering corporate income taxes and the rationalization of fiscal incentives) have been languishing in Congress for many years now. Needless to say, Congress has its work cut out for it.

The President is notable for using very colorful speech. In fact, he is well known for using the “P”-word. With this Sona, however, the President has given us a new set of “P”-words.

These are the words that matter, the words that we should talk about, now that we are ushering in the second half of the Duterte administration, and the start of a new decade of Philippine history: Progress, Prosperity and Peace. Those three words are challenges that we, as a nation, should address with the best of our abilities, both as individuals and as a community.

the invasion of foreigners into Philippine territories is also unacceptable. The silence of government in the face of the abuse suffered

by Filipino fishermen in June can be considered a submission of our sovereignty.

These are but a few of what can be treated as highlights of the Duterte administration’s third year in office.

We praise the policies that bring light. It is commendable when the government gives importance to mothers, as well as its policy of investing in the health of the infants, and having self-determination for our Moro brothers and sisters.

But we will continue to criticize the policies covering our nation in darkness, policies contradicting justice that, according to the book of Proverbs, is the basis of strong and steady governance. The social teachings of the Church also emphasize that justice is giving what is righteous to a person.

With that said, can we say that the governance of our current administration is strong if it denies the opportunity for the people accused in drug-related offenses to defend themselves? Is it a steady government that treats the death

of innocent children killed in police operations as “collateral damage?” Is a government strong when it prioritizes the capitalists’ interests instead of the welfare of the workers? Is a government strong when it is prepared to sacrifice its own natural resources to placate foreign powers instead of defending our rights as a free nation? In spite of all these, how can we say that the “king” (or the president) disallows “evil deeds?”

Brothers and sisters, as the current administration enters the second half of its term, we must continue criticizing the darkness and involve ourselves in action to seek a much brighter future for our society. We believe that there’s always a space for the administration to change the policies covering our nation in darkness. In the end, governance of a country can truly be steady and strong if the people won’t allow their leaders to propagate evil.

Let us all get back to work, and do the best we can do.

Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 15 years—nine years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and six as Senator. He has authored and sponsored more than 200 laws. He recently won another term in the Senate.

E-mail: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara

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Opinion BusinessMirror

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Poetry that embellishes program and policy

Friday, July 26, 2019 A11

What can you say in a minute?

Tito Genova Valiente

ANNOTATIONS

Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

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T’S no secret that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wishes to amend Japan’s constitution to create military forces for his country. “Let’s fulfill our mission that protect peace and independence by clearly writing in our constitution the Self-Defense Forces of Japan,” he declared. PM Abe wants the constitution revised for the purpose of not only protecting the country, but to allow Japan to send troops overseas and take military action. The current language of its constitution limits Japan’s military offensive capabilities, which makes it vulnerable to external threats, particularly from its communist neighbors—China, Russia and North Korea.

Japan’s pacifist constitution was forced upon the country by its victorious foe under General Douglas McArthur to thwart Japan’s military adventure in the future. To effect changes in its constitution, two-third votes are needed from the Parliament before any proposal can be presented to the public for a vote.

Thus, PM Abe needed a strong mandate during last week’s parliamentary election. The LDP, however, failed to clinch the supermajority needed to pass the amendment. Whether it is good for us or not to have Japan renounce its current constitution is a catch-22 situation for us. The Philippines is located near the disputed West Philippine Sea, a flashpoint that may eventually trigger a great conflagration. A militarized Japan allied with US may deter China’s military designs, but we have many compatriots who still remember the Japanese atrocities committed during the invasion. The Philippines and the other countries that shared the horrors of the last war and now being threatened by a new bully on the block are in a real bind. How do we choose between the devil and the deep blue sea? nnn

EVEN the hardest critics of the President will find some candor and humility in his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona), particularly when he said: “We are now entering a period of consequences. The consequences of what we did and did not do but should have done during the first half of my term. I assume full responsibility for that. As President, I cannot pass the blame to anybody, so it’s on me.” Well said, Mr. President. PRRD could have elaborated about the consequences of what he had done—the Universal Health Care, free tuition in state colleges and universities, the TRAIN law, the expanded maternity benefits, the salary hike of military and police personnel, and many other social legislations—but he chose not to. What’s equally admirable was his act of citing individual Cabinet members who have contributed outstanding efforts to achieve the administration’s mandates. You’ll be surprised how much will be accomplished if a leader gives due credit to

hardworking officials. No wonder he enjoys the highest trust rating ever enjoyed by any President at the end of the first half of his or her term. nnn

I WONDER who has been ghostwriting for the President? Certainly, the President must have his Peggy Noonan, a Ted Sorensen, a William Safire or even a Teddy Boy Locsin to help prepare his speeches, although on many occasions he hardly uses the draft and prefers to speak extempore.

The speechwriter remains a ghost but it is a position that no President can do without. My hunch is that the President gets help mostly from Secretary Melchor “Boy” Quitain, the current Special Assistant to the President, who has been doing it since their Davao days.

On the other hand, I recall that the journalist par excellence H. L. Mencken described President Warren Harding’s inaugural address as “the worst English that I have ever encountered.... It reminds me of a string of wet sponges, of tattered washing on the line, of a stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights....

It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doddle. It is balder and dash.” Amen.

Effective public communication is key to a President’s success.

The freedom of expression and exchange of ideas are the cornerstone of every democratic government, and no President can be successful in his job unless he can freely convey his views to the people and get feedback in the process. Here lies the secret of Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, both great communicators, during their terms at the White House. FDR’s radio chats opened up an intimate dialogue between the President and his people. And who can forget Reagan’s message to the freedom-loving world when he asked Premier Michael Gorvachev of USSR in a speech he made in West Berlin: “Tear down this wall,” which opened the Berlin Wall in 1987. Definitely, there is power in the spoken words, particularly when uttered by a president. And thanks to the extraordinary wordsmiths who coat substance with style and elegance, and add poetry to embellish program and policy.

T

HE settings of the stories seem to be all in dreamlike state.

The narratives appear to float above the realities that we know. A pervading air of premonition hovers over the horizon selected to frame the experience being told. Even in plots that reek of fun and humor, the undercurrent of sadness can never be ignored. It is as if the narrators and storytellers are catching their breath, hastening towards the end of a life, which is the end of the tale they are telling.

I am talking of the short shorts, the one-minute film submitted to us in response to the Cinemalaya Film Festival one-minute short film competition. To celebrate the arrival of this most important independent film festival in Bikol, Western Visayas and Davao, a group called the Film Producers’ Society came up with the idea of this film concourse.

The competition was open to students. Young filmmakers with no experience at all about making films joined. Their advantage: An openness to any technology and a keen knowledge about mobile phones and the Internet.

I have only access to what the Bikolano filmmakers submitted.

One member of the jury admitted the entries blew his mind away. That old cliché of a word—awesome— became highly appropriate to the pieces we viewed. With no themes to imprison them, the filmmakers allowed us into their young worlds, and demanded modifiers from us, cineastes and critics.

One film shows a young man on a hill. It is a lovely day. Wind blows in all directions. He looks up and asks Bathala how long is a minute in the divine hand? And how much is one cent? This conversation goes on until it hits the punch line: One’s notion of wealth and time is never really equal

Bloomberg Opinion

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HIS week marks the 75th anniversary of the Bretton Woods agreement, formulated among 44 Allied nations in a New Hampshire hotel. To me, the most remarkable thing about the agreement is not that it collapsed but that it ever existed in the first place—and what that says about such arrangements more generally. By which I mean: Every era’s monetary institutions are virtually unimaginable until they are created. Looking forward, don’t assume the status quo will hold forever, but rather prepare to be shocked.

Consider the broader history of monetary and financial institutions.

The gold standard (and sometimes bi-metallic) regime that marked

the Western world from 1815-1914 was without precedent. In medieval times, gold, silver, copper and bills of exchange—from multiple issuers—all circulated as means of payment, and often there was no single dominant form of money. As the gold standard evolved, however, claims to gold became a global means of settling claims and easing foreign trade and investment. While the system was based on some central bank intervention, most notably from the Bank of England, it was selfregulating to a remarkable degree, and it formed the backbone of one of the West’s most successful eras of economic growth. It was not obvious that the West would arrive at such a felicitous arrangement.

Now fast-forward to the current day. Currencies are fiat, the ties to gold are gone, and most exchange

of her dark, gray, dirty presence. Towards the end, we see another person driving her away, out into the street, the gesture indicating what the title, Labas, claims.

When I went around campaigning for participation, many were surprised and incredulous about a competition asking for a film that is not even compressed but good within a minute. Tell us your story in 60 seconds, was what I was telling them.

Do not shorten the story. It is short because it is short. Tell me something that is good within 60 seconds.

Not a few said it would be a difficult contest. Not a few expressed doubts regarding the task at hand.

When the deadline came, we were swamped with more than 70 entries.

Each entry was a statement, an advocacy, a work of art.

An animation entry is a poignant remembrance of a pet dog. Another animation confuses the situation in a charming, tragicomic way: He puts on a pair of pants and finds out it does not fit him. Or, he does not fit in it.

The title of the film—Misfit.

There are entries that look like they are crying for help. These films are about bullying, depression and suicide.

One of the entries begins with

a young, ordinary-looking girl putting on makeup. The surrounding is quiet. She is dressed in fine clothing.

She takes something and lies down in bed. The film says it all: Farewell.

Pauline Kael, my favorite film critic, talks about how “Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.”

In one minute each, our young filmmakers share with us possibilities as they see them happening or being offered to them, or denied.

Some of the films look raw; some are like trailers and teasers to longer discourses.

Eugene Ionesco, the dramatist noted for his Theatre of the Absurd, said: “Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together.”

The short shorts—all of 60 seconds—entered in the very first Cinemalaya competition for this category, bear all kinds of ideologies and dreams and anguish. We are being asked to watch them, and listen to them—the joys, the discoveries, the lessons, the fears and visions of young minds, with only the cameras, the mobile phones and their imagination urging them to converse with the universe within and without.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

Japan may soon gain a powerful trade weapon against South Korea

By Sohee Kim Bloomberg Opinion

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APAN could soon gain a powerful new trade weapon against its neighbor South Korea.

Tokyo set Wednesday as the deadline for public comments on whether to remove South Korea from a so-called white list of trusted export destinations, a bureaucratic process intended to stymie weapons proliferation.

Such a move could restrict exports on hundreds of items to South Korea, hamstringing the country’s giant tech sector and potentially the production of a swathe of the world’s most popular gadgets.

A dispute between two of Asia’s largest economies escalated this month when Japan slapped curbs on the export to South Korea of three materials vital to semiconductor and display manufacturing. That came after tensions flared over whether

The lesson of Bretton Woods

By Tyler Cowen

to those of the mighty creator. The single cent we ask from Him can be a million, but to ask that it be given in a minute is to wait for a million years.

The joke is old but in the hands of the filmmaker, it has become a pun on the transcendental, a trick on how we are naturally deceptive as humans.

What do young people say about environmental degradation and social inequalities?

One entry from a public high school is about the lake that is near the filmmakers’ home. A man stands on the shore, smokes and throws the empty pack into the water. The same man goes into his boat to fish.

He throws the line with the bait into the lake and fishes out…the empty cigarette pack.

In a commentary of structured inequalities, a filmmaker splits the screen to dramatize the polarities in our societies. A man in slippers goes up the stairs; a person in a nice pair of shoes walks up the ramp. A hand is stretched, with all the veins and roughness of labor; another hand is smooth, bejeweled. The differences go on and on until in the end, Death enters to level things up.

Titles of the films either give away the tone of the yarn or provide counterpoint to the saga or narration. In one film, a woman stands alone on the street. People pass by oblivious

rates for the major currencies are freely floating, with periodic central bank intervention to manipulate exchange rates. For all the criticism it receives, this arrangement has also proved to be a viable global monetary order, and it has been accompanied by an excellent overall record for global growth.

Yet, this fiat monetary order might also have seemed, to previous generations of economists, unlikely to succeed. Fiat currencies were associated with the assignat hyperinflations of the French Revolution, the floating exchange rates and competitive devaluations of the 1920s were not a success, and it was hardly obvious that most of the world’s major central banks would pursue inflation targets of below 2 percent. Until recent times, the record of floating fiat currencies was mostly disastrous.

Japan has sufficiently compensated Koreans who suffered under Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula.

Stripping South Korea of its whitelist designation could deal a further blow to Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. The move could affect 97 percent of Japanese imports, though any disruption should prove shortlived, economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said this week. Specifically, South Korean firms would need to get individual approvals from the Japanese government for exports of 857 non-sensitive products out of 1,120 Japanese strategic materials.

The other 263 products are sensitive materials for which Japan already requires approval, Park So-yeon, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, said in a note Wednesday. Although it isn’t clear which items will be most affected by white-list removal, promising sectors such as semiconductors, as well as new energy vehicles might

be impacted once blanket approval for products from chemicals to machinery are removed, analysts say.

JAPAN accounts for about 32 percent or roughly $3.8 billion of South Korea’s chip manufacturing equipment imports. The larger nation yields about 83 percent or $422 million of its smaller neighbor’s display manufacturing gear imports, according to Lee Joo-wan, research fellow at Hana Institute of Finance.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government said it’s making the moves because it found evidence that South Korea has not offered proper management of sensitive materials—a charge the government of President Moon Jae-in has denied.

Their fight has played well at home for both leaders, with Moon and Abe enjoying climbs in support for their tough stands.

US technology companies, however, urged Japan and South Korea to cool tensions, saying too much was at stake globally.

“Non-transparent and unilateral changes in export control policies can cause supply chain disruptions, delays in shipments, and ultimately long-term harm to the companies that operate within and beyond your borders and the workers they employ,” five of America’s largest tech industry groups wrote in a joint letter to the trade ministers of Japan and South Korea.

Still, economists at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch see little chance of tensions developing into a full-fledged trade war.

“We do not believe that such a delisting would necessarily lead to large, sustained disruptions in Japan-Korea trade activities, due to mutual trade dependence,” Goldman economists wrote in their note.

It is considered bizarre that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan advocated a gold standard in 1967, but in fact it was a pretty reasonable view at the time, even if it turned out to be incorrect. And it wasn’t just Greenspan who didn’t see where the world was heading; Benn Steil, in his well-known book on Bretton Woods, wrote: “Keynes thought of freely floating rates as a sort of blind groping…and certainly not as a viable alternative model for underpinning trade relations among nations.” In reality, we are just emerging from arguably the world’s most rapid age of globalization, from about 1990 to 2007.

The Bretton Woods arrangements also seemed highly unlikely until they were in place. They involved a complicated system of exchange rate pegs, capital controls and a

“gold pool” (and other methods) to control gold prices and redemption ratios. What’s more, the whole thing was dependent on America’s role as global hegemon, both politically and economically. The dollar still was tied to gold, and the other major currencies tied to the dollar, but as the system evolved it required that no one was too keen to redeem dollars for gold (the French unwillingness to abide by this stricture was one proximate cause of the collapse of Bretton Woods).

I don’t think a monetary economist from, say, 1890 could have imagined that such an arrangement would prove possible, much less successful. Yet, the Bretton Woods arrangements had a wonderful track record, as the 1950s and 1960s generated strong economic growth for both the US and Western Europe.

At the same time, once Bretton Woods ended in the early 1970s, few people thought it was possible to turn back the clock. The system required the US to be a creditor nation, to hold much of the world’s gold stock, and for countries such as France to defer to American wishes on gold convertibility. Once again, the line between an “imaginable” and “unimaginable” monetary arrangement proved to be a thin one.

Another surprising monetary innovation would be the euro. Both Milton Friedman and Paul Krugman warned that the euro was unlikely to succeed and persist. Yet, it has proven more durable than many people expected, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. This kind of a common fiat currency, spread across so many nations, is without precedent in world history.

Chip firms face crunch

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Friday, July 26, 2019

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Issuance of Pogo workers’ TIN ‘pretty fast’

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By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is fast-tracking the processing of taxpayer identification numbers (TIN) for foreign nationals working in the country, including those working in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) sector, in line with the government’s initiative to collect the proper taxes, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In an interview with reporters, Finance Undersecretary Antonette C. Tionko said the BIR’s processing of the TIN for foreign nationals working in the country is going “pretty fast,” with the bureau now receiving bulk applications.

She explained that the BIR has already processed around 10,000 TINs for foreign nationals working in the Pogo sector in Parañaque City alone.

“The BIR actually sent letter notices already to Pogos. They [Pogo companies] are in the process of getting their TINs, like they [the

10,000

Number of TINs processed by BIR for foreign nationals working in the Pogo sector in Parañaque City alone BIR] issued them around 10,000 TINs. Once they have TINs, then the employer can already withhold [taxes].... They are still reconciling the numbers but so far 10,000 TINs [were issued], I think that’s just only

TPB steps up promotions in HK, Drilon, Marcos move to ban Malaysia due to tepid arrivals foreign waste

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

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HE Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) will be making a more aggressive push in promotions in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia from which tourist arrivals have been sputtering this year.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, TPB Chief Operating Officer Venus Marie Tan said these three “markets of concern” share almost the same profile, in that the travelers are constantly on

the lookout for new tourism products. “That’s why we are coming up with product enhancement, different mix and match of packages, so wherever they will go, it won’t be the same.”

She explained this was why these markets, especially Singapore, have experienced a slowdown in arrivals—“once they go to a place, they don’t go back unless you offer them something new or different.”

From January to May, visitor arrivals from Hong Kong slumped by 34.88 percent, Singapore dropped by 14.4 percent, and Malaysia dipped by 0.28 percent.

SOUTHWEST MONSOON AFFECTING WESTERN SECTION OF SOUTHERN LUZON AND VISAYAS as of 4:00 pm - July 25, 2019

So for Singaporean tourists for instance, Tan said they are basically looking for “short travel and soft adventure, but it always has to be new.”

Singaporeans are always hard at work, so when they go on a holiday, they want to relax, but at the same time, experience some challenges. So the tour packages that should be offered to them are “not just the beach, but with a wellness component, like a spa, with some soft nightlife with friends, and a little bit of [level 1] hiking.”

See “TPB,” A2

S

ENATE Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and neophyte Sen. Imee Marcos have filed separate bills asking Congress to pass a law imposing a total ban on imported waste, and providing stiff penalties against violators.

This, even as Drilon, in filing Senate Bill 18 prohibiting and penalizing importation of waste, also acknowledged that the Philippines already has existing laws to protect the country “from being a destination of waste imports.”

Drilon expects that the remedial measure will no doubt stop the waste trade in the country “and send a clear message to other countries that the Philippines is not their sanitary landfill.”

Marcos’s Senate Bill 408, on the other hand, imposes “a total ban on importation of waste and its by-products or residues” and provides fines and penalties, including imprisonment of “not less than eight years and one day but not more than 12 years, or a fine of not less than P1.5 million but not more than P15 million, or both.”

Drilon cited the 1990 Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act embodied in Republic Act 6969, enacted to monitor and regulate importation and disposal of hazardous waste; and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) prohibitintg importation of toxic waste misdeclared as recyclables.

“Notwithstanding these laws, waste from various countries continue to be imported into our country to the detriment of our people and country,” said Drilon, recalling that “the country reeled from shock on learning that Canadian garbage inside 103 shipping containers found its way to Philippine shore.”

The senator also noted recent reports that “we have become a conducive crossboundary disposal site of unwanted and toxic shipments of waste from waste exporters like Australia, South Korea, Hongkong and Japan.”

He also recalled Greenpeace International reports that much of this trash was mislabeled as “recyclable” even though the shipments really contained thousands of tons of contaminated plastic and other mixed waste that can no longer be processed.

Drilon said these incidents indicated that “we have become a dumping ground for waste generated by richer nations.” “ To put a stop to waste buildup in the country’s water and land territories, this proposed measure seeks to impose an immediate and complete ban on all waste imports, including recyclable materials for any reason,” added Drilon.

Once enacted into law, he said all importer registration and importation clearances issued by government agencies shall be canceled and no new applications accepted.

Drilon’s bill further provides that in order to “avoid waste shipments being snuck in our country guised as recyclables and to ensure that no waste is brought in, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Bureau of Customs shall implement stricter monitoring of imports and enforce tighter regulations.

See “Foreign waste,” A2

in Parañaque City,” she added.

According to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the tax collections from the foreign nationals working in the country will ramp up further once they are all issued TINs. “We will start collecting [this] July, but then we will not collect everything from everybody, it will ramp up...,” Dominguez said.

Earlier in the month, the BIR said it is confident of collecting the estimated P2-billion monthly taxes from foreign nationals employed in the country, specifically from the Pogo sector, starting this month as

12 priority. . .

Continued from A1

Resilience; Coconut Levy Fund; Trabaho bill; alcohol taxes; property valuation; Capital Income Tax; mandatory ROTC for Grades 11 and 12; government rightsizing bill; Energizing micro, small and medium enterprises; National Transport Act; and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Of these measures, Romualdez said only the National Transport Act and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were not specifically mentioned by President Duterte in his 2019 Sona. These were, however, among the pr ior it y measures Duterte named in his 2018 Sona.

Romualdez said the measures are expected to face easy sailing in the committee deliberations as these were already approved by the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress.

“We discussed ways on how to expedite the approval of pending legislative measures from the committee level to plenary,” Romualdez said. The House committees are expected to release the committee reports of these bills

by August.

“With the innovations that we are planning to implement in committee deliberations, I am optimistic that we can approve about a dozen of the President’s priority measures in record time.

Hopefully, the committee reports on these measures will be out for plenary deliberations by the first week of August,” Romualdez said.

Under Section 48 of the House rules, Romualdez said “In case of bills or resolutions that are identified as priority measures of the House, which were previously filed in the immediately preceding Congress and have already been approved on third reading, the same may be disposed of as matters already reported upon the approval of majority of the members of the committee present, there being a quorum.”

BIR. . .

Continued from A1

its power plants should be subject to the 10-percent VAT beginning November 1, 2005, and 12 percent VAT beginning February 1, 2007.

However, the SC held that the BIR’s position is anchored on the wrong premise that PSALM is a successor-in-interest of NPC. It pointed out that PSALM is not a successor-in-interest of NPC. The High Court explained that under its charter, NPC is mandated to “undertake the development of hydroelectric generation of power and the production of electricity from nuclear, geothermal and other sources, as well as the transmission of electric power on a nationwide basis.”

On the other hand, PSALM, a government-owned and -controlled corporation, was created under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira)

data matching between the interagency task force is ongoing.

At the sidelines of the signing of the joint memorandum vircular (JMC) on rules and procedures governing foreign nationals intending to work in the Philippines at the Department of Labor and Employment headquarters in Manila, Deputy Commissioner Arnel SD. Guballa said the processing of the TIN for employed foreign nationals in the country is ongoing to enable the government to collect the proper taxes.

See “Pogo workers,” A2

“Once constituted, the committees responsible for these measures may meet for just one session and immediately refer the committee reports for plenary deliberation. This is possible if they invoke Section 48 of the House rules,” Romualdez explained. After plenary deliberations, he said the House may even approve these measures on third reading by the last week of August or early September.

Other priority measures outlined by the President in his 2019 Sona were: suspension of excise tax on fuel; new salary standardization law; additional benefits for solo parents; health workers in all barangays; expansion of Malasakit Centers; postponement of barangay and SK elections to October 2022; Magna Carta for Barangays; Department of Overseas Filipinos; Department of Water Resources and Water Regulatory Commission; Fire Protection Modernization Program; National Defense Act; Uniformed Personnel Separation Retirement Pension Bill; National Academy of Sports for High School Students; amendments to Land Bank charter; and development of renewable energy sources.

Committee chairmen

ALSO on Wednesday, the House of Representatives named the chairmen of several committees to start immediate deliberations on priority measures.

Head ing impor t a nt House committees are: Albay Rep. Joey Salceda for the House Committee on Ways and Means, Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco for Energy, Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona for Public Works and Highways, Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez for Constitutional Amendments, and Palawan Rep. Franz Alvarez for Legislative Franchises.

Ea rl ier, t he Hou se n a med Cavite Rep. Abraham Tolentino as chairman of the Committee on Accounts and Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab, for Committee on Appropriations. to manage the orderly sale and privatization of NPC’s assets with the objective of liquidating all of NPC’s financial obligations in an optimal manner.

“Clearly, NPC and PSALM have different functions. Since PSALM is not a successor-in-interest of NPC, the repeal by RA 9337 of NPC’s VAT exemption does not affect PSALM,” the SC said.

The SC held that the sale of the generating assets is not subject to VAT, since the sale was pursuant to the mandate of PSALM under the Epira to privatize NPC assets.

“The sale of the power plants is not in pursuit of a commercial or economic activity but a governmental function mandated by law to privatize NPC generation assets,” it added.

Furthermore, the Court said the sale of power plants are not the same as the sale of electricity by generation companies, transmission, and distribution companies, which is subject to VAT.

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

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Friday, July 26, 2019

B1

PHL, Australia working on G-to-G deal on ₧30-B production of 6 Navy OPVs

T

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

@alyasjah

HE Philippines is working on a government-to-government agreement with Australia that will grant regional shipbuilder Austal Philippines the P30-billion contract to build offshore patrol vehicles (OPVs) for the Navy.

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Wednesday disclosed that Manila is nearing to conclude a deal with Canberra in the production

of six OPVs for the Philippines. Once approved, this will allow Austal Philippines, whose parent unit is based in Australia, to assemble naval ships

for the country’s maritime forces.

“I think if we can do the proposal fast, we could be signing the contract by the end of the year. This will grant Austal the right to build six OPVs, one at a time, for our Navy.

Austal will be capable of finishing those vessels on time,” Lorenzana said in a news briefing in Cebu.

Austal Philippines, German Lurssen Yachts and Dutch Damen Group are competing for the contract to build OPVs for the Navy.

However, Austal Philippines is most poised to bag the P30-billion deal if the government-to-government agreement between the Philippines and Australia is approved.

“There are several modes for Austal to win the contract. One of

them is through government-togovernment negotiation, wherein we ask Australia for specific equipment. This scheme is easy, fast and guaranteed by the other government,” Lorenzana explained.

Once the contract is signed, Austal Philippines will begin work on the OPVs and can deliver all six of them in two years’ time. As it will be the first time the shipbuilder will assemble military vessels in the country, it is eyeing to beef up its labor force by employing more locals in its expanded shipyard in Cebu.

Austal Philippines boosted the capabilities of its shipyard with a $20-million investment in an expanded facility, the John Roth-

Groups warn legal action vs tollway operator over ban on small bikes

By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

C

ONCERNED groups of riders and passengers gave an ultimatum to Skyway O&M Corp. (Somco), a private corporation designated by the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to operate and maintain tolled roads under the South Metro Manila Skyway Project, to immediately lift the ban on all small motorcycles from using a part of Osmeña Highway, otherwise, they will face charges for failing to do so.

“We are giving you a week to withdraw this so-called ban, or else we will be filing a case against Somco,” Atty. Ariel Inton, member of the Lawyers for Commuter Safety and Protection (LCSP), said in mixed Tagalog and English during the media briefing of Angkas held recently in Intramuros, Manila.

Last July 22, the company started to prohibit all sub-400cc motorcycles coming from the East Service Road in Taguig from plying the northbound portion of such highway between Sales Interchange in Pasay up to the Magallanes Interchange in Makati, and vice versa. Instead of directly heading straight to the highway via a small road connector that crosses the track of the Philippine National Railways, these small bikes must divert to Pasong Tamo Extension going to their destination in Pasay, Makati or Manila.

Osmeña Highway is not a tolled

road under the regulation of the then-Department of Public Works and Communication, now the Department of Public Works and Highways, as mandated by Republic Act 2000 or the Limited Access Highway Act. Thus, the bikers argued, Osmeña Highway is excluded from the list of expressways where below-400cc motorcycles are banned in limited access facilities or tolled highways, as stated in the Department Order 2007-38 issued by the Department of Transportation and Communications that Somco invoked in coming up with such a decision.

“So as far as the legal aspects of this case [is concerned], from where it all started to the current status and current situation, again somebody went overboard, went above their authority, went beyond their capacity to do something [and] they didn’t foresee its negative impact,” said Jobert Bolaños of the Motorcycle Rights Organization (MRO).

The tollway operator’s order to disallow motorcycle taxis with less than 400cc engines on these critical thoroughfare affects a lot of commuters as riders will have to do detours into roads that are usually jampacked with vehicles, forcing them to go through bottlenecks. It does not only eat up their time, but their potential income, as well.

“It is very clear that Somco went over their discretion. What is the power of Somco to ban a vehicle? If we will let it pass, there will come a

time that, apart from motorcycles, they will also ban the other types of vehicle they deem not serving the interest of their corporation,” said Inton, who was a former board member of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Even if Somco agrees to talk to them within the timeframe they gave to revoke the moratorium, Inton said their option for legal remedies, both criminal and civil, will continue.

In a case for injunction, they will file for a temporary restraining order on the ban, with either Angkas or the MRO as a petitioner, or a class suit.

Another course of action they may consider, he added, would be a civil case for damages against the firm and its corporate officers since many have been already affected by the prohibition.

“But paramount is the injunction case to stop the ban. Hopefully, if they say that they will not implement this, then, the option is still there because suspension is not the end.

They may implement it again. So, the legal option is always open even if there will be a consultation because we don’t know what will happen with the consultation,” said Inton.

Assuming that they have already exhausted all the legal remedies and it turned out that the law favored Somco, the LCSP member said that they will then turn to legislation.

Angkas Head for Regulatory and Public Affairs George Royeca, how-

ever, was not worried about the possibility of losing their battle.

“Let’s cross the bridge when we get there. I really don’t know what’s gonna come out in the discussions.

I hope that the Filipino people will prevail in those discussions and we are really able to set policies that are not anti-poor. That’s what we are after, [something] not discriminatory to the poor sector. I’m sure we can find the solution. We’ve done it before. We can do it again,” he said.

The Department of Transportation approved in May 2019 an official motorcycle taxi pioneer in the country with Angkas. Last month, the two-wheeled ride-hailing service provider started the six-month government-sanctioned pilot run of its operations in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. Its over 27,000 riders use motorcycles whose engine displacements range from 100cc to 200cc.

“We have been talking to the government. We have been subjected to the TWG [Technical Working Group]. We have been talking to various stakeholders to be able to push our agenda forward. Why should other private corporations be exempted from this?” Royeca said of Somco, which it stressed has no authority to implement the ban without any studies or consultation with stakeholders. “There should be no exemptions. Nobody is above the law. They should all follow...due process.”

Pilipinas Shell positive on ‘double-digit’ growth of lubricant biz with new product

P

ILIPINAS Shell bared on Thursday its expectation of a “double-digit” growth in the lubricants segment with the launch of a new product called “Shell Rimula Light Duty Range” that caters mostly to commercial light duty vehicles on the back of the booming ecommerce industry in the country.

“Essentially, we really just want to grow at the same time how the industry is growing. Of course, we always want to grow double-digit,” Shell Lubricants Marketing Manager Anthony Wee told reporters after their media launch held at the SMX MOA in Pasay City.

Over the last couple of years, ecommerce has grown exponentially, primarily due to the impressive performance of online platforms Shopee and Lazada.

This momentum is seen to sky-

rocket the Philippines’s e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) to $10 billion by 2025, per the report of Bloomberg Intelligence.

The rising customer demand and supply entails the need for more functional logistics solutions.

“When it comes to e-commerce, essentially these are the trucks for the deliveries. We’re focusing on that. So I think our task is really to come in and help with the effectivity and efficiency, and protecting the engines of these trucks. That’s how we come in to that,” he said.

The Shell Rimula Light Duty Range was designed to address the needs of the light duty truckers. They have different sets of driving style, thus, they also have various needs for their vehicles.

According to Shell Rimula Brand

Manager Recca Menchavez, light duty trucks normally carry variable loads because they want to maximize and make sure that their space is fully equipped with the different products so that each trip is fully efficient.

Since they are driving around the city, they have the “start and stop” type of driving style as they deliver from one place to another, causing them to constantly turn the engine on and off.

What’s more, they also have “high eye blink because they have to make sure that they’re dropping off the products.”

Powered by Dynamic Protection Plus Technology, the Shell Rimula Light Duty Range helps protect light duty trucks in three ways: when an engine gets stuck in traffic, the technology protects against engine wear and tear caused

by constant stopping and starting with 60-percent better wear protection. Also, it has antioxidation components that prolong oil life.

Dispersants in the additive package also help break down soot and deposit buildup for vehicles carrying variable loads. Shell’s Dynamic Protection Plus Technology improves engine cleanliness, emitting 46 percdent less carbon deposits.

“We are positive that these products will shed a whole new outlook to the business of logistics. But more important, we want this to be our driver’s partner in crime,” Wee stressed. “Because of this, the new range of products will come at an affordable price point.”

Starting next month, the Shell Light Duty Range will become available in the local market. Roderick L. Abad

well Assembly Bay—named after Austal’s founder—designed to accommodate large vessel projects for hull assembly, final outfitting and painting capacity.

With a larger workspace, the shipbuilder can also deliver on naval vessel projects, such as the OPVs required by the Navy. The purchase of patrol ships is part of the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The military ships Austal Philippines can assemble are a larger variant of the Cape class patrol vessels used by the Royal Australian Navy and Australian Border Force.

It is also advantageous for the Navy to buy its OPVs from the local maker of Austal boats, as it has

service facilities in the Philippines.

This will apparently make it easier for security forces to maintain the vessels with their assemblers based here.

Austal Philippines began operating its Cebu shipyard in 2012.

Since then, it was able to deliver 17 ships to 10 operators in nine countries and territories across the world, including the United Kingdom, French Polynesia, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Spain and Norway.

The shipyard started with only 30 employees, but now has a labor force of close to 1,000 workers, of whom 98 percent are Filipinos, from engineers to designers to skilled laborers.

Jollibee’s overseas push may cost stock’s premium valuation

By Ian Sayson & Claire Jiao Bloomberg News

J

OLLIBEE Foods Corp., one of the most expensive Philippine stocks, could see its premium valuation deteriorate as the Manila-based restaurant operator pursues overseas expansion to cut its reliance at home.

Jollibee’s push abroad will dilute its Philippine story that persuaded many investors to pay a premium for the stock, according to analysts including Andy de la Cruz and Rachelle Cruz at COL Financial Group Inc. and AP Securities Inc. The company, the most expensive in the Philippine Stock Exchange Index after Universal Robina Corp., is moving closer to its goal of getting half its sales from abroad with its purchase of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

Jollibee, which started as an ice-cream parlor in 1975, has beaten McDonald’s Corp. in the Philippines, one of the few markets the US fast-food giant has failed to dominate. Coffee Bean will raise the overseas component of Jollibee’s sales to 36 percent from 20 percent in 2018, according to the company, which has a presence in 18 markets outside the Philippines through a mix of homegrown brands and overseas acquisitions.

“This could trigger a downward re-rating for the stock,” AP Securities’ Cruz said. “Its aggressive push outside could be a signal its home market is getting saturated. And if you valued Jollibee for its Philippine focus, would you still give

it the same value with its growing overseas business?”

Investors may already be having a change of mind in tolerating a steep valuation for Jollibee. After the stock sank 8 percent to a nine-month low on Wednesday following the purchase’s announcement, the shares fell as much as 4.8 percent Thursday. The sell-off sank the stock’s multiple to 28.99 times its 12-month estimated earnings, the lowest since March 2017 and a discount to its 34.75 three-year average.

The benchmark stock index has a 16.42 multiple.

With $21 million in losses in 2018, analysts said Coffee Bean will be a drag for Jollibee, which booked a 15-percent drop in first-quarter earnings, its first decline in profit since fourth quarter 2015 due to losses at Smashburger, a US fast-food joint it took over in 2018.

“Investors liked Jollibee because of its concentrated business in the Philippines, so there is a risk it could lose part of that premium valuation with its overseas push,” COL Financial’s de la Cruz said. “But if they are able to turn around both Smashburger and Coffee Bean then the market might give back that valuation.”

Luis Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., said Jollibee could need far longer than the usual three years it takes to revitalize its acquired businesses as it juggles both Smashburger and Coffee Bean. “Jollibee will take on one of its most ambitious acquisition maneuvers to date,” he said.

Zen Rooms offers ‘biggest’ sale yet, with 50% off across Southeast Asia

R

OCKET Internet-backed Z en R oom s, a n on l i ne booking platform for accommodations, announced on late Wednesday its “ big gest” sale, yet.

According to a media advisory, the company will offer customers up to 50-percent off on properties across Southeast Asia.

Zen Rooms has more than 8,500 rooms and over 700 hotels on its platform, which is available in In-

donesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

At home, more than 200 of Zen Rooms’ best properties are in Metro Manila, Palawan, Boracay and Baguio.

Zen Rooms boasts of an “industry-leading customer satisfaction index which makes it an excellent option for travelers looking for budget and premium hotels that don’t compromise on quality.”

Lorenz S. Marasigan

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, July 26, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

July 25, 2019

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS ASIA UNITED BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK CITYSTATE BANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE BDO LEASING COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG IREMIT MEDCO HLDG NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE

58.6 150.9 91.2 26.95 5.01 12.2 75.1 13.2 21.5 50.6 59.4 28 184.6 59.8 1.16 2.21 18.6 4.69 1.32 0.46 1.1 185 1760

58.9 151.9 91.6 27 7.98 12.22 75.5 13.24 22.9 50.65 59.45 28.5 186 60 1.21 2.29 18.68 4.75 1.36 0.48 1.11 188 1800

58 147.3 90 27.2 7.98 12.46 74.95 13.2 22.9 50.7 59.7 27.95 184 59.85 1.17 2.32 18.68 4.79 1.32 0.47 1.06 190.5 1760

58.9 151.9 91.6 27.2 7.98 12.58 75.5 13.2 22.9 50.8 59.75 28.5 186.3 60.8 1.17 2.32 18.68 4.79 1.32 0.47 1.11 190.5 1760

58 145.4 90 26.95 7.98 12.22 74.15 13.2 22.9 50.15 59.4 27.7 182.1 59.8 1.16 2.21 18.68 4.68 1.32 0.46 1.06 184.5 1760

58.9 151.9 91.6 27 7.98 12.22 75.5 13.2 22.9 50.65 59.4 28.5 186 60 1.16 2.21 18.68 4.74 1.32 0.46 1.1 185 1760

6690 2246070 1894950 114400 500 1105900 1853550 171000 100 409530 8480 39000 348750 103520 38000 32000 5000 27000 2000 350000 1067000 4840 100

393290 337458199 172270585.5 3091275 3990 13591822 138709550.5 2257200 2290 20743357 505088 1094815 64703511 6211623.5 44150 71710 93400 127760 2640 162250 1165620 896883 176000

INDUSTRIAL

381095 74997375 82156588 -1604785 -2090150 3093474 2577376.5 190950 25127906 -6133952.5 -835691 -

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

1.31 36.8 0.265 26.8 86.95 380 23.55 5.6 4.75 2.51 11.86 38.9 6.6 16.1 13.96 15.68 14.9 6.33 10.36 7.55 101.5 0.77 56.5 235.8 8.87 14.3 1.66 14 1.53 5.03 0.127 173.4 1.22 2.47 78.5 86.25 2.74 5.19 14.5 11 14.02 18.5 9 1.14 1.27 104.3 2.08 1.6 4.2 5.37 2.22 9.42 1.68 5.5 1.09 16.18

1.35 37 0.27 26.85 87.1 384.2 24 5.61 4.79 2.52 11.98 39 6.64 16.9 14 16.92 14.96 6.37 10.4 7.57 102.9 0.78 57 236 9 14.32 1.67 14.08 1.55 5.1 0.133 173.5 1.23 2.53 80 88.5 2.75 5.4 14.6 11.06 14.04 18.66 9.04 1.15 1.28 116.5 2.09 1.69 4.3 5.44 2.23 9.44 1.69 5.69 1.1 16.2

1.31 37 0.265 26.9 89.05 379 24 5.65 4.8 2.49 11.72 38.55 6.6 16.96 14 15.64 15.18 6.35 10.42 7.55 103 0.79 58 250.8 8.85 14.44 1.73 13.7 1.55 5.1 0.128 171.8 1.27 2.47 85.75 94.95 2.67 5.19 14.7 10.92 13.96 18.5 9.05 1.13 1.31 116.8 2.11 1.6 4.17 5.37 2.25 9.29 1.73 5.5 1.1 17.6

1.31 37.05 0.27 26.95 89.05 384.2 24.1 5.66 4.8 2.6 12 39.35 7 16.96 14.18 16.94 15.18 6.4 10.44 7.55 103 0.81 58 250.8 8.87 14.48 1.76 14 1.55 5.1 0.128 173.4 1.28 2.49 85.75 94.95 2.75 5.4 14.7 11.06 14.1 18.6 9.05 1.16 1.33 116.8 2.11 1.6 4.2 5.6 2.27 9.42 1.73 5.5 1.1 17.6

1.31 36.7 0.265 26.75 85.2 378 23.5 5.6 4.75 2.42 11.72 38.15 6.53 16.1 13.92 15.64 14.72 6.33 10.34 7.49 100.9 0.75 56.5 231 8.85 14.04 1.6 13.4 1.52 5.03 0.128 168 1.22 2.47 78 85.5 2.67 5.19 14.5 10.64 13.96 18.16 9.01 1.12 1.26 116.8 1.95 1.6 4.17 5.37 2.22 9.21 1.66 5.5 1.08 15.8

1.31 36.8 0.27 26.8 86.95 384.2 23.55 5.6 4.75 2.52 11.9 39 6.6 16.1 14 16.94 14.9 6.33 10.4 7.55 102.9 0.78 57 236 8.87 14.3 1.67 14 1.55 5.1 0.128 173.4 1.22 2.47 80 86.15 2.74 5.4 14.5 11 14.04 18.5 9.01 1.15 1.28 116.8 2.08 1.6 4.2 5.37 2.23 9.42 1.69 5.5 1.09 16.2

12000 1473800 1560000 2700900 557780 111150 172400 4041000 96000 35658000 128200 342500 156100 2600 654400 2500 271800 139200 2689000 1202900 183420 2654000 184950 10785110 8300 444500 6721000 440300 1759000 29900 280000 831630 4023000 50000 11870 4750 5296000 1300 1883500 724800 555400 1757300 924300 197000 5681000 10 391000 10000 7000 114400 4535000 353200 365000 56000 454000 1015900

15720 54267845 413550 72560735 48670605.5 42495548 4119035 22671154 457800 89429210 1528374 13361435 1036212 42406 9187908 39290 4061086 885635 27963586 9051200 18736461 2037260 10489957.5 2563524072 73529 6371580 11178310 6085862 2709380 151156 35840 143143657 4966870 123640 943171 417369 14385040 6915 27386592 7863332 7786046 32384500 8355459 224430 7311930 1168 806380 16000 29340 617594 10165670 3272974 608440 308000 493170 16677950

-13570745 19045870 -17518415 13214482 -2020045 -6685604 2553220.0003 105789.9998 25106 10990 69282 -250981 17303474 2288478 2495586 -21160 245350.5 -751204822 4081840 -350080 -1216344 -119870 3599685 -138680 106210 -1571780 -10903688 4420742 -2977182 -10279336 -158470 2358310 1618767.9997 -26620 255292

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

1.03 16.46 973.5 57.35 15.6 4.21 6.9 0.72 1.26 1.3 7.04 10.48 13.8 0.223 940 6.42 69 0.5 4.54 14.56 0.7 4.78 0.039 1.53 3 1.37 429 999 172.9 0.87 2.49 255.2 0.232 0.28

1.04 16.7 980 57.8 15.8 4.22 7 0.73 1.28 1.31 7.06 10.5 14 0.235 972 6.43 69.05 0.52 4.56 14.58 0.71 4.8 0.04 1.54 3.13 1.38 449.4 1015 173 0.88 2.69 261 0.239 0.285

1.04 17.68 965 56.6 15.6 4.21 7 0.73 1.29 1.3 7.05 10.48 13.8 0.223 924 6.41 69.35 0.51 4.65 15.12 0.71 4.79 0.04 1.52 2.91 1.39 449.4 996.5 170.4 0.84 2.7 259 0.233 0.295

1.04 17.68 980 57.8 15.8 4.29 7.01 0.74 1.29 1.31 7.1 10.6 14 0.238 972 6.49 69.35 0.52 4.65 15.12 0.73 4.8 0.04 1.56 3.15 1.39 449.4 1015 172.9 0.91 2.7 261 0.24 0.295

1 16.22 962.5 55.8 15.54 4.15 7 0.72 1.26 1.3 6.88 10.38 13.8 0.223 908.5 6.41 68 0.5 4.39 14.58 0.7 4.71 0.039 1.43 2.91 1.37 449.4 980 170.1 0.83 2.69 255.2 0.232 0.27

1.03 16.7 980 57.8 15.8 4.22 7 0.73 1.28 1.3 7.04 10.48 14 0.235 972 6.43 69 0.51 4.56 14.58 0.71 4.8 0.039 1.54 3 1.38 449.4 1015 172.9 0.87 2.69 261 0.239 0.28

13412000 180900 503890 612300 5246900 5297000 313400 556000 3540000 354000 875300 1769600 9600 560000 147020 61700 1261110 39000 647000 6250600 5713000 16996000 4500000 2249000 153000 195000 10 241660 350090 2898000 4000 190 1920000 17530000

13651600 3036140 489617230 35093580.5 82096442 22428070 2193826 402800 4499640 461680 6150355 18517930 133422 131290 138778935 396137 86706780.5 19560 2919220 92990756 4074640 81200530 176800 3393390 458780 269170 4494 243409345 59946517 2551870 10770 49218 453870 4953250

-60700 21948 252188050 12928543 -1424654 -17340 -776301 188120 1357220 -3792174 -19320 62987375 -143169 27386469.9996 172410 -33171972 54061580 317740 157767405 14890893 -65650 -2610 -

HOLDING & FRIMS

PROPERTY

ARTHALAND CORP 1.06 1.07 1.09 1.1 1.06 1.06 8846000 9495800 -32650 ANCHOR LAND 10.38 11.5 10.92 10.92 10.92 10.92 100 1092 AYALA LAND 52.2 52.55 51.55 52.55 51.5 52.55 3269150 170337494 24850653 ARANETA PROP 2.09 2.14 2.11 2.16 2.09 2.09 97000 203530 BELLE CORP 2.32 2.33 2.3 2.35 2.29 2.32 253000 587690 -78880 A BROWN 0.84 0.85 0.83 0.84 0.82 0.84 1397000 1156300 33200 CITYLAND DEVT 0.89 0.92 0.89 0.89 0.89 0.89 15000 13350 CROWN EQUITIES 0.237 0.238 0.239 0.239 0.237 0.238 4140000 985610 645390 CEBU HLDG 6.09 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.09 6.1 23200 141320 -19520 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.03 5.04 5.02 5.05 4.99 5.04 1733000 8681191 104044.9999 CENTURY PROP 0.6 0.61 0.62 0.62 0.6 0.6 51203000 31052810 39700 CYBER BAY 0.455 0.46 0.455 0.46 0.455 0.46 880000 400450 DOUBLEDRAGON 24.35 24.4 24.85 24.9 24 24.4 503700 12282300 3196530 DM WENCESLAO 10.2 10.32 10.46 10.52 10.16 10.32 1301400 13478002 1236790 EMPIRE EAST 0.47 0.475 0.47 0.475 0.47 0.475 1470000 691000 FILINVEST LAND 1.92 1.93 1.94 1.94 1.92 1.93 17139000 33078140 9520030 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.38 1.39 1.39 1.39 1.36 1.38 2761000 3804090 8990 HLDG 15.84 15.86 15.84 15.88 15.84 15.84 671600 10640028 -388178 PHIL INFRADEV 1.7 1.71 1.68 1.71 1.65 1.71 3762000 6325420 -330030 KEPPEL PROP 4 4.75 4.75 4.75 4.75 4.75 20000 95000 CITY AND LAND 0.79 0.82 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 17000 13600 MEGAWORLD 6.3 6.32 6.26 6.35 6.25 6.3 17304200 109061497 27240282 MRC ALLIED 0.335 0.34 0.355 0.36 0.335 0.335 43340000 14778400 302100 PHIL ESTATES 0.44 0.46 0.5 0.5 0.41 0.46 3600000 1647500 PRIMEX CORP 2.1 2.11 2.15 2.15 2.1 2.11 682000 1440870 -40130 ROBINSONS LAND 27.9 27.95 27.15 28 27.1 27.9 4536600 126099545 59062045 PHIL REALTY 0.4 0.415 0.405 0.405 0.405 0.405 120000 48600 ROCKWELL 2.35 2.36 2.38 2.38 2.33 2.35 1151000 2704490 SHANG PROP 3.15 3.2 3.22 3.22 3.15 3.2 34000 107970 STA LUCIA LAND 2.07 2.09 2.01 2.1 1.98 2.09 2439000 4954710 SM PRIME HLDG 37.75 37.8 37.5 37.95 37.5 37.8 4377800 165397055 -61377030 STARMALLS 6 6.07 6.21 6.21 5.98 6 515200 3112378 SUNTRUST HOME 0.81 0.82 0.8 0.81 0.8 0.81 691000 552900 8100 VISTA LAND 7.78 7.8 7.69 7.88 7.66 7.8 13635600 106002212 -5772082

SERVICES ABS CBN 18.8 18.9 19.72 20.35 18.1 18.9 451700 8646381 GMA NETWORK 5.35 5.39 5.35 5.44 5.32 5.35 117100 625777 MANILA BULLETIN 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.52 324000 165630 GLOBE TELECOM 2192 2236 2200 2236 2176 2236 68780 152852160 79416080 PLDT 1150 1160 1139 1160 1119 1160 108585 124389435 -12852675 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.048 0.049 0.048 0.05 0.048 0.049 9890000 480440 DFNN INC 6.01 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4 20100 128640 ISLAND INFO 0.113 0.114 0.114 0.114 0.113 0.113 1920000 217520 ISM COMM 5.28 5.31 5.51 5.52 5.19 5.28 10147400 53835464 -2524075 JACKSTONES 2.98 3.06 2.94 2.98 2.9 2.98 38000 112140 NOW CORP 2.39 2.4 2.45 2.49 2.4 2.4 3478000 8449110 -485220 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.345 0.35 0.355 0.355 0.345 0.35 5480000 1920700 PHILWEB 4.11 4.12 4.2 4.21 4.06 4.11 1762000 7245110 135320 2GO GROUP 10.8 10.9 11 11 10.8 10.8 23500 254380 -14320 CHELSEA 7.4 7.41 7.57 7.61 7.2 7.4 3409300 25002621 -1893634 CEBU AIR 95.5 95.95 96 96.05 93.8 95.5 202810 19250317 14875765 INTL CONTAINER 136 137 136 137.3 134.1 137 1782170 242099584 -29212213 LBC EXPRESS 14.16 14.2 14.16 14.2 14.16 14.16 2000 28358 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.91 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.9 0.93 326000 300690 MACROASIA 19.7 19.78 19.92 19.96 19.5 19.78 319700 6307852 435688 METROALLIANCE A 1.43 1.48 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 20000 30000 METROALLIANCE B 1.47 1.57 1.52 1.52 1.5 1.5 53000 79760 PAL HLDG 9.1 9.3 9.1 9.1 9.01 9.1 32800 296224 HARBOR STAR 2.11 2.12 2.12 2.14 2.09 2.12 1367000 2879640 ACESITE HOTEL 1.45 1.49 1.48 1.49 1.48 1.49 10000 14870 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.064 0.065 0.062 0.065 0.062 0.065 25000000 1577640 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.06 2.1 2.06 2.06 2.06 2.06 2000 4120 WATERFRONT 0.78 0.79 0.83 0.83 0.77 0.79 10903000 8562530 93220 CENTRO ESCOLAR 7.05 7.17 7.17 7.17 7.17 7.17 3000 21510 IPEOPLE 9.43 9.58 9.5 9.69 9.43 9.43 5900 56060 STI HLDG 0.74 0.75 0.79 0.79 0.74 0.75 10314000 7836740 2301810 BERJAYA 2.65 2.69 2.68 2.69 2.59 2.69 438000 1151850 BLOOMBERRY 11.6 11.62 11.74 11.74 11.54 11.6 7390500 85,819,294( 52,446,184.0001) PACIFIC ONLINE 2.96 2.97 2.95 2.97 2.93 2.96 160000 472170 -189120 LEISURE AND RES 3.65 3.68 3.7 3.7 3.63 3.65 945000 3453160 -1158970 MANILA JOCKEY 3.4 3.5 3.43 3.49 3.4 3.49 160000 546440 PH RESORTS GRP 5 5.1 5.16 5.18 5 5.1 96600 490722 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.73 0.75 0.76 0.76 0.73 0.74 5342000 3969740 1107100 PHIL RACING 8.25 9.34 8.23 8.23 8.23 8.23 100 823 TRAVELLERS 5.52 5.53 5.45 5.52 5.44 5.52 4767300 26204730 -11030653 METRO RETAIL 2.59 2.6 2.7 2.71 2.57 2.59 4848000 12740480 -34800 PUREGOLD 45.6 46 45.45 46 45.3 46 236900 10827025 -1802680 ROBINSONS RTL 77.7 77.95 78.7 78.7 77.7 77.95 1396270 108838379.5 53513385.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 155 156 160 160 146 156 1530 238910 -118620 SSI GROUP 3.24 3.25 3.38 3.38 3.2 3.25 6080000 19936850 6038890 WILCON DEPOT 15.9 15.98 15.94 16.06 15.66 15.9 6354000 101193982 29099364 APC GROUP 0.495 0.5 0.52 0.52 0.48 0.5 6237000 3125100 10000 EASYCALL 9.54 9.72 9.98 9.98 9.52 9.52 49400 484355 GOLDEN BRIA 415 420 415 429 415 420 390 162158 IPM HLDG 5.6 5.65 5.65 5.65 5.65 5.65 800 4520 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.79 0.8 0.8 0.81 0.79 0.79 58759000 46711510 -517700 SBS PHIL CORP 9.27 9.49 9.28 9.49 9.27 9.49 9000 85192

MINING & OIL ATOK 12.5 12.8 13 13 12.5 12.8 13800 173124 APEX MINING 1.2 1.21 1.22 1.22 1.19 1.2 4403000 5317060 348780 ABRA MINING 0.0016 0.0018 0.0017 0.0017 0.0017 0.0017 151000000 256700 ATLAS MINING 2.71 2.78 2.71 2.71 2.71 2.71 20000 54200 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.275 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.27 0.27 2720000 747150 CENTURY PEAK 2.75 2.77 2.78 2.78 2.75 2.75 1002000 2764050 DIZON MINES 7.64 7.71 7.7 7.8 7.62 7.64 1300 10040 FERRONICKEL 1.49 1.51 1.52 1.52 1.49 1.49 1699000 2549350 436610 GEOGRACE 0.228 0.23 0.241 0.243 0.23 0.23 1400000 325850 LEPANTO A 0.107 0.108 0.108 0.108 0.107 0.108 1890000 202850 LEPANTO B 0.114 0.12 0.122 0.122 0.122 0.122 10000 1220 MANILA MINING A 0.0072 0.0077 0.0074 0.0074 0.0071 0.0071 26000000 190400 MANILA MINING B 0.0075 0.0076 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 0.0075 18000000 135000 MARCVENTURES 1.13 1.15 1.12 1.15 1.11 1.15 230000 258160 NIHAO 1.05 1.07 1.09 1.09 1.05 1.07 53000 55780 NICKEL ASIA 2.59 2.6 2.64 2.64 2.58 2.6 6737000 17524260 5338790 OMICO CORP 0.51 0.55 0.51 0.51 0.51 0.51 21000 10710 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.87 0.88 0.89 0.89 0.87 0.87 540000 473060 PX MINING 3.47 3.52 3.6 3.6 3.46 3.48 1321000 4617200 -343620 SEMIRARA MINING 24.5 24.55 24.55 24.8 24.2 24.55 3150000 77448095 -24096320 ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 0.011 0.012 4600000 53500 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 900000 11600 -2600 PHILODRILL 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 0.01 0.011 49100000 534100 PHINMA PETRO 5.82 5.84 6.1 6.19 5.3 5.84 3132800 18286632 3590 PXP ENERGY 8.36 8.38 8.28 8.49 8.16 8.38 1072400 8863248 625808.9998

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 95.15 99.65 99.65 99.65 99.65 99.65 480 47832 AC PREF B1 470 492 500 500 495 495 1500 749950 AC PREF B2 494 498 495 498 495 498 2110 1045060 ALCO PREF C 102 104 102 102 102 102 1000 102000 DD PREF 99.4 99.5 99.4 99.4 99.4 99.4 320 31808 SMC FB PREF 2 980 983 980 983 980 983 500 491470 FGEN PREF G 102.1 105.3 102.1 102.1 102 102 2000 204070 GLO PREF P 480 490 485 490 485 490 270 131800 GTCAP PREF A 925 928 928 928 928 928 870 807360 GTCAP PREF B 921 943 940 940 921 921 200 184390 LR PREF 1.04 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.04 1.04 2928000 3045350 MWIDE PREF 100 101 100 101 100 101 1270 127210 PCOR PREF 3A 1010 1011 1008 1011 1002 1011 7950 8035870 PCOR PREF 3B 1015 1017 1014 1015 1014 1015 6060 6150040 SMC PREF 2B 75.2 75.75 75.2 75.2 75.2 75.2 460 34592 SMC PREF 2C 77 77.75 76.85 77 76.85 77 3900 299993.5 SMC PREF 2D 73.75 74.4 73.75 73.75 73.7 73.7 40000 2948500 SMC PREF 2F 75 75.45 75 75 75 75 73810 5535750 SMC PREF 2G 75 75.25 75 75 75 75 25530 1914750 SMC PREF 2H 74.95 75.45 74.9 74.95 74.9 74.95 117250 8784682.5 -

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR

17.56

17.8

18.5

18.5

17.5

17.56

172000

3098976

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

1.76

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 6.33 XURPAS 1.04

1.82

1.82

1.71

1.77

754000

1350900

-

6.34 1.05

6.05 1.06

6.35 1.07

5.99 1.02

6.33 1.05

2339100 7300000

14448921 7612930

-211190 -1031230

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

123.5

-1065346

1.77

123.8

122.8

123.5

121.7

123.5

13520

1656570

-384324

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Regulators approve property mgt firm Kepwealth’s IPO

C

By VG Cabuag

@villygc

ORPORATE regulators have approved the initial public offering (IPO) of property management firm Kepwealth Property Phils. Inc., the first firm to go public for the year.

Kepwealth secured approvals from both the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company hopes to raise some P384.76 million in proceeds from the sale of 67.03 million common shares at P5.74 apiece. The offer shares will represent 33.34 percent of the company’s outstanding common shares.

It will use the stock symbol KPPI and the offer will be from August 5 to 9. Its shares will be listed on the Small, Medium, Emerging (SME) Board of PSE.

“It may have taken some time before we had our first IPO, but I am pleased that KPPI is embarking on its maiden share sale. I hope that this move will encourage other companies that pushed back their IPOs to revisit their plans and consider the stock market as an avenue for capital raising,” PSE President and CEO Ramon S. Monzon said.

“I am also pleased that we have a new listing on the SME Board. I hope this will prompt companies who qualify to list on this board to explore the possibility of raising

Smart’s mobile traffic up 35% with video streaming, gaming

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

M

OBILE data traffic on Smart Communications Inc.’s network rose by more than a third quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2019, thanks to its “evolved” prepaid offers.

Smart SVP Oscar A. Reyes Jr. said Smart data throughput for mobile increased by 35 percent, fueled by video streaming and gaming.

“Whether our customers are more interested in streaming videos on YouTube, playing Mobile Legends with their friends, or keeping in touch with their families through their Facebook or Instagram accounts, our expanded Giga family offers can provide them with more than enough data to meet their evergrowing demand for mobile Internet services,” he said in a statement.

Reyes was pertaining to the

telco’s Giga prepaid offers, which are bundled mobile data packages that cater to the specific needs of users. Smart subscribers may choose among various buckets such for video, gaming, or social media.

Reyes noted that these “services are supported by the country’s fastest fixed and mobile networks,” citing data from crowdsourcing research body Ookla.

According to the study, Smart garnered a speed score of 17.07 points, with average download speed at 19.33 Mbps and average upload speed of 9.16 Mbps.

Competitor Globe Telecom Inc. had a speed score of 10.05 points with average download speed of 11.38 Mbps and an average upload speed of 4.74 Mbps.

Smart parent PLDT Inc. is spending P78.4 billion in capital expenditures this year to further expand its network’s capacity and reach.

Nissan’s pain worsens on 99% profit plunge, 12,500 job cuts

N

ISSAN Motor Co. more than doubled its planned job losses and unveiled fresh production cuts after reporting a 99-percent plunge in earnings, hurt by an aging product lineup and a slide in vehicle sales in the US and Europe.

About 12,500 jobs, mostly in manufacturing, will be eliminated globally, the Yokohama-based automaker said in a statement on Thursday. That represents about a tenth of Nissan’s work force, and far exceeds the 4,800 reductions announced in May. The drop in fiscal first-quarter operating profit outpaced the 66-percent decline anticipated by analysts.

The dismal results are beginning to overshadow Nissan’s other big headache, the arrest in November of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn on alleged financial crimes. Sluggish profits, stuck near a decade lows, also weaken the Japanese company’s position in a global car making alliance with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

After years of sales incentives

that eroded margins and pushing businesses to buy cars, Nissan needs to rebuild its brand image and focus on appealing to retail customers, according to Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities Co. “This is really a crisis,” Endo said. “Management is chaotic, there is a lot of restructuring pressure, and the most important thing here is to downsize.

The company actually inflated too much under Carlos Ghosn.”

Revenue fell 13 percent to ¥2.37 trillion, the steepest drop since the global financial crisis a decade ago.

Nissan sold 1.23 million cars in the quarter, a decline of 6 percent.

Nissan said it will also cut global production capacity by 10 percent by the end of fiscal 2022, and reduce its product lineup by “at least” 10 percent in that period to improve product competitiveness. “While some of these initiatives are already under way, the company expects that substantial improvements in its performance will take time,” Nissan said in the statement. Bloomberg News

funds through an IPO,” Monzon said.

BDO Capital and Investment Corp. has been picked as the sole issue manager, underwriter and book runner.

The company plans to use the net proceeds to diversify its asset base and expand its office leasing portfolio with the acquisition of about 3,500 square meters of leasable space, mainly in Quezon City, Pasig and Makati.

Kepwealth Property said in its registration statement it will disburse P245 million of the net proceeds to acquire office spaces primarily in Pasig and Makati, and P120 million in Davao City, within the first to second quarter of 2020.

Incorporated in September 23, 2005, Kepwealth Property is engaged in property management business, but mainly in Cebu, while its asset management business, launched only in March this year, manages mainly units in Metro Manila.

It said the properties that it will

MUTUAL FUNDS

acquire using the proceeds will reduce the concentration risk of its current operations in Cebu City and create additional recurring revenue streams once leased out to tenants.

The company owns 77 office condominium units with 98 leasable spaces in Kepwealth Center, a commercial building located at Samar Loop corner Cardinal Rosales Avenue, Cebu Business Park, Cebu City.

Upon completing its IPO-funded acquisitions, the company expects to have an estimated 18,121 square meters of leasable space.

It also manages commercial, office and residential units in buildings across Metro Manila: Oxford Suites (60 units), Medical Plaza Ortigas (79 units), Burgundy Corporate Tower (91 units), Burgundy West Bay Tower (59 units), Atrium Mall (43 units), Icon Macapagal (98 units) and Vivaldi Residences-Cubao Commercial Space (29 units).

In April it also entered into an agreement for the management of 96 units of Luxe Madrigal.

July 25, 2019

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

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 271.06 6.74% -0.66% 1.4% 7.48% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 1.6657 14.21% 6.62% 3.04% 15.61% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC. -A 4.2157 4.81% -1.24% 0.45% 8.01% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP. -A 0.9803 9.49% N.A. N.A. 8.8% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. -A 0.8974 7.04% N.A. N.A. 9.35% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC. -A 5.5969 6.4% 0.16% 1.32% 6.14% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,6 0.9012 4.99% -4.14% N.A. 7.71% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. -A 121.81 12.31% N.A. N.A. 4.86% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC. -A 53.7768 9.24% 0.03% N.A. 9.25% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 560.13 8.62% -0.91% 1.29% 8.82% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC. -A 1.3628 10.05% 1.05% 3.32% 8.68% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC. -A 39.9655 10.53% 1.61% 2.98% 9.1% PHILEQUITY MSCI PHILIPPINE INDEX FUND, INC. -A,3 1.0739 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC. -A 5.4572 10.18% 1.05% 3.44% 10.05% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP. -A 911.33 10.23% 0.76% 3.4% 10.01% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. -A 0.96 12.7% 0.25% N.A. 11.63% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC. -A 4.4611 10.67% 0.98% 2.92% 9.91% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC. -A 1.0469 9.68% 0.71% N.A. 9.7% UNITED FUND, INC. -A 3.829 8.96% 2.26% 3.73% 9.38% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC. -A,C,2 121.9881 10.62% 1.6% 4.46% 10.15% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC. -B $0.9969 -2.85% 4.54% -0.65% 7.3% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC. -A $1.3233 1.75% 8.76% N.A. 19.73% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC. -A 1.7852 7.28% -1.32% -0.86% 8.12% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 2.3699 4.95% -0.31% 1.02% 7.27% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC. -A 2.708 5.27% 0.17% -0.88% 6.48% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION -A 1.3707 3.33% N.A. N.A. 5.09% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC. -A 1.9702 6.95% 0.23% 1.67% 6.9% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC. -A 3.8279 7.55% -0.85% 1.03% 8.46% PHILAM FUND, INC. -A 17.2191 8.3% -0.7% 1.01% 8.24% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC. -A 2.1873 5.78% 0.57% 2.11% 5.71% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC. -A 3.9695 9.23% 0.36% 2% 8.71% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2028, INC. -A,D,4 1.0409 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2038, INC. -A,D,4 1.0395 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY ACHIEVER FUND 2048, INC. -A,D,4 1.0362 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC. -A 1.0185 10.35% 0.53% 1.76% 10.5% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC. -A $0.03745 6.33% 1.42% 1.98% 6.09% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC. -A $1.003 0.21% 2.93% -0.96% 9.77% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC. -A $3.7984 3.14% 6.12% 2.93% 14.8% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC. -A $1.1157 3.85% 3.71% N.A. 10.47% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 351.67 3.58% 2.1% 2.25% 2.39% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC. -A,1 1.904 2.14% -0.08% -0.13% 2.41% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 3.0605 5.39% 5.29% 5.29% 2.84% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC. -A 2.2018 3.86% 1.2% 2% 3.41% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC. -A 2.3284 5.07% 1.21% 1.48% 5.59% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP. -A P 1.6066 1.89% -1.73% 0.11% 2.7% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC. -A 4.2319 7.38% -0.09% 1.53% 7.96% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC. -A 3.6928 5.86% 0.85% 1.46% 5% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. -A 0.9452 4.77% -0.66% N.A. 6.06% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC. -A 2.995 8.75% 1.32% 2.38% 8.29% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC. -A

1.6626 8.71% 0.9% 1.93% 7.97% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $460.21 3.78% 1.71% 2.7% 2.63% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. -A Є218.62 2.54% 1.3% 1.52% 2.8% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -B $1.1865 6.4% 1.82% 2.45% 5.4% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $0.0257 4.05% 0.79% N.A. 3.63% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP. -A $1.7147 1.13% -2.06% 0.5% 1.45% PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC -A $1.0873 5.14% -0.49% -1.96% 4.92% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. -A $2.3548 8.63% 0.86% 3.2% 8.48% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC. -A $0.059401 4.7% 1.53% 1.83% 4.21% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC. -A $3.0904 7.12% 0.15% 2.66% 7.6% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 123.99 3.92% 2.52% 2% 2.57% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A,5 1.017 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC. -A 1.224 4.54% 1.99% 1.21% 3.56% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC. -A 1.248 3.82% 2.71% 2.09% 2.36% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC. -A $1.0296 2.19% N.A. N.A. 1.35%

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 - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018. 2 - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JUNE 5, 2018.

3 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 3, 2019. 4 - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 28, 2019. 5 - LAUNCH DATE IS FEBRUARY 1, 2019.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Global lender sees PHL economy slowing down

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By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Philippines can no longer buck the trend of slower growth in and around the region for this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, as both global and local developments pull down growth expectations for the country this year.

In its World Economic Outlook (WEO) update for July, the lender of last resort forecasted still sluggish growth for the world economy this year. They cut down their forecast of the world economy to 3.2 percent, from their April forecast of 3.3 percent.

But, while earlier, IMF projected the Philippines to go against the trend and grow faster in 2019, latest views from the global monetary authority also show a forecasted slowdown for the Philippine economy this year.

In particular, in the April WEO, the IMF said the Philippines is likely

to expand at the pace of 6.5 percent for 2019, faster than the 6.2-percent economic expansion it has posted in 2018.

But their July forecast now expects a slowdown, by 0.2 percentage points, to 6 percent.

IMF Resident Representative to the Philippines Yongzheng Yang said the downward revision is due to the slow external demand which turned out to be weaker than earlier expected. He also said the delayed approval in the country’s 2019 budget dented the growth prospects. Public investments would also fall short than what is earlier expected when

they calibrated the April forecast.

For 2020, IMF forecasts the country’s growth to pick up to 6.3 percent.

While slower than earlier expected, IMF’s growth forecast for the year is still within the government 6 to 7 percent target range.

It is also still above the 5-percent average growth projection for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-5 countries.

In a related IMF blog post following their announcement of new growth projections worldwide, the IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department Gita Gopinath said the sluggish global growth calls for “supportive policies” in respective jurisdictions.

“Monetary policy should remain accommodative especially where inflation is softening below target,” Gopinath said.

Back home, inflation seems to be softening—with its latest at 2.7 percent in June—but not below the BSP’s target range of 2 to 4 percent for the year.

The BSP, however, expressed readiness to recalibrate monetary policy if deemed necessary by growth numbers.

BSP Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said patience and prudence will be the name of the game in calibrating monetary policy in the near term as they await signals on the pace of the country’s economic growth.

“I have to emphasize that the BSP prefers to be patient and prudent in calibrating monetary policy,” Diokno said in a recent speaking engagement. “Hence, on the question of whether further monetary easing is needed at this juncture, we will first have to see how macroeconomic conditions will evolve in the coming weeks.”

Diokno, touted to be a pro-growth BSP governor, further said that the need for further monetary accommodation will depend, in part, on how strongly the Philippines’s growth drivers “kick into higher gear.”

Following a 25-basis point rate reduction in May this year as inflation fizzles out, the BSP opted to “pause” the cycle and retain its monetary settings unchanged in their latest meeting in June.

The BSP’s next meeting is scheduled on August 8.

SSS vows to hasten digitalization process

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HE Social Security System (SSS) has vowed to hasten the digitalization of its core and business processes to streamline further its processes in line with the ease of doing business law.

In a statement issued on Thursday, SSS President and CEO Aurora C. Ignacio was quoted as saying she aims to fast-track the full computerization of the pension fund’s core and business processes under her term.

Ignacio said her vow was based on the instruction of Social Security Commission ex-officio Chairman Carlos G. Dominguez “to speed up the transition to the digitalization process.”

“This is one of his priority policies under the new charter of the pension fund,” Ignacio said.

The SSS was ordered by President Duterte in his fourth State of the Nation address (Sona) on July 22 to reform services and simplify processes as he signed the ease of doing business law last year to make the delivery of state services more efficient.

At present, SSS services, such as online application for SS number issuance, Payment Reference Number (PRN) inquiry and generation, employment report submission, sub-

mission of contribution (R-3) and loan collection lists (ML-2), salary loan application, certification of salary loan application, as well as filing of maternity and sickness notification, can now be made through different electronic and self-service facilities of the pension fund.

These electronic and self-service channels of the SSS include the SSS web site, mobile application, selfservice express terminals, interactive voice response system and “Text-SSS.” Apart from these member services, the SSS has also implemented the real-time posting of contributions (RTPC) program in 2018 where contribution payments are posted immediately through the use of the PRN. “We believe that through these online and electronic channels, our members and pensioners can easily transact their business with us,” Ignacio added. “In fact, we have reengineered our ease of doing business guidelines in the SSS to expedite and properly address the services needed by our transacting members.”

Duterte also mentioned that the SSS is one of the top 5 agencies that need to “drastically” improve

its services based on the number of complaints received through Hotline 8888 and Contact Center ng Bayan (CCB).

SSS data showed that in 2018, SSS-related concerns referred by 8888 and CCB reached 6,609. Of the total number of referred cases, 6,554 cases were resolved, which was a 99.55-percent resolution rate. The remaining 55 cases are still being attended to or have been referred to a branch or department for processing and continuous monitoring.

The SSS replies to cases from CSC-Hotline 8888 within 72 hours.

Meanwhile, the referral of cases to concerned branch, department, or unit, and replying to cases by the concerned branch, department or unit, and sending feedback to the CSC, are done within 24 hours.

“The pension fund would like to maintain a high-resolution rate by immediately responding to member concerns and heeding to their sentiments,” Ignacio said. “We also find innovative ways and create new programs that would make their transactions faster and more convenient.”

Dominguez told reporters in an interview that he also instructed the SSS earlier on to reduce its

A/B Testing for Associations

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/B testing is not related to a blood donation activity that some associations do. Also referred to as bucket test or split-run testing, A/B testing is a method marketers use in conducting controlled and randomized experiments to improve a web site metric, such as clicks, form completions and purchases.

As the name implies, two versions (A and B) are compared. Both are identical, except for one variation that might affect a user’s behavior.

Version A might be the currently used version (control) while version B is modified in some respect (treatment). The test determines a winner between the two competing messages or design concepts. By dividing an audience into segments and testing two different messages, marketers will be able to see which communication received the most clicks, opens, likes or shares.

Associations can use A/B testing as a marketing and communications tactic, too, as the experience of the American Art Therapy Association tells us. When AATA wanted to find the most effective way to bring lapsed members back into the fold,

Association World Octavio Peralta it used A/B testing.

Tim Ebner, a senior editor for the Associations Now magazine of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), wrote that AATA applied A/B testing to a rudimentary membership question: Do lapsed members rejoin for instant gratification or for long-term benefits?

Kat Michel, AATA’s membership manager, in consultation with Rita Santelli, president and CEO of the Savvy Org Llc., tested this question with two subsets of former members who have lapsed membership status more than six months ago. Group A was offered a $10 Starbucks gift card for renewing, while Group B was given a three-month extension on their annual membership.

“The good news was that our members seemed to respond more to the long-term benefits of an ex-

tended membership offer,” Michel says. The difference was clear: Group B was twice as likely to renew as Group A. This finding now guides AATA’s win-back strategy which emphasizes new membership benefits like a recently launched online member community.

“We were really focused on trying to get those lapsed members who have, for whatever reason, decided that maybe membership wasn’t for them,” Santelli says.

A/B testing sounds simple, but it takes time to set up. Before you try it, check whether your e-mail marketing and association management systems can handle a two-pronged test. “Right now, our AMS doesn’t allow for us to use discount codes or coupon codes, which was a major drawback and added to the staff time for this project,” Santelli says.

This is not to say you shouldn’t give A/B testing a try. You can use manual configurations like e-mail segmentation and suppression, but Michel recommends looking to technology to help automate the process.

“Don’t be afraid,” she says. “Just be

cost of doing business as part of its digitalization efforts.

“That was my first review with the SSS [wherein] I told them, you know the way you’re doing your business,” he said.

Dominguez added that based on the Department of Finance’s estimate, it costs P7 for the SSS to deliver P100. He said “that is too expensive.”

He thinks countries like Malaysia costs only P3 to deliver P100.

Dominguez said he told SSS officials: “You cannot continue like that.

That is not government money; that is the money of the people.”

He explained that the first thing that the SSS should do in terms of digitalization is to develop a system wherein these cost can be reduced for its members.

“Your inefficiency is costing the public money, directly. So I said the first thing you do, you digitize; you develop a system that you can communicate with your clientele through modern technology, use [of] the cell phone or a smart app,” Dominguez said. “Other countries can do it, why can’t we? And then we can reduce our [cost] and actually expand the benefits and make it easier for them to get the benefits.” Rea Cu

ready for a few extra turns if you don’t have the right tools in place.”

Here’s how to conduct A/B testing: (1) Pick one variable to test; (2) Identify your goal; (3) Create a control and competing version; (4) Split your sample groups equally and randomly; (5) Determine your sample size, if applicable; (6) Decide how significant your results need to be; and (7) Make sure you’re only running one test at a time on any campaign.

Octavio Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (Adfiap) and the CEO and founder of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE).

PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 7 (AS7) on November 27 and 28, 2019, at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) which is expected to draw over 200 association professionals here and abroad. The two-day event is supported by Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap.org for more details on AS7.

Friday, July 26, 2019

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BSP Governor Diokno: MBC recognition a ‘motivation to perform duties well’

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ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno welcomed the recent recognition given by the Makati Business Club (MBC) to the country’s central monetary authority as one of the best government agencies in the country.

In their latest Executive Outlook Survey, the MBC ranked the Philippines’s Central Bank as the government agency with the highest satisfaction rating among local business executives.

The Central Bank Governor issued a statement on Thursday, congratulating the BSP officers and staff for “reflecting the work values and ethics that the institution espouses” “ The results of the sur vey underscore the BSP’s pursuit of excellence, as well as the quality of work put in by its officers and staff in pursuing the BSP’s mandate of fostering price stability, financial stability, and a safe and efficient payments system,” Diokno said.

In the statement, Diokno also said BSP’s consistent high satisfaction ratings will continue to serve as their motivation to perform its duties well, especially as it celebrates its 26th anniversary this July and commemorates the 70 years of central banking in the Philippines.

The MBC survey results, participated in by 100 business executives and released last July 24, showed that 97 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the performance of the BSP. This was up from 95.4 percent in July 2015 wherein the BSP also topped the list of rated state institutions.

Diokno, who was former Budget Secretary, just sat at the helm of the BSP leadership earlier this year following the demise of former BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. to cancer late February.

In his discussion with the BusinessMirror, Diokno shared the direction that he intends to pursue from government budgeting to central banking and talked about his plans and priorities for the Central Bank now that he has settled in his seat as the BSP chief.

“Indeed the transition has come with challenges attendant to moving to a new home,” he said. “As I now roll up my sleeves as a monetary policy-maker and financial regulator, allow me to emphasize three items that I have been pursuing.”

Among these priority paths that the former Budget Secretary created for the Central Bank include: implementation of laws, institutional Independence and stakeholder engagement. Bianca Cuaresma

China’s embattled Jinzhou Bank woos investors as bonds tumble

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ANK of Jinzhou Co. said it is in talks to introduce strategic investors after a report that China’s financial regulators are seeking to resolve its liquidity problems pushed down the lender’s dollar-denominated debt.

Officials including those from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission recently held a meeting with financial institutions in Bank of Jinzhou’s home province of Liaoning to discuss measures to resolve the lender’s liquidity issues, Reuters reported Wednesday citing sources it didn’t identify.

“Currently, Bank of Jinzhou’s business operations are normal overall,” the bank said in a Thursday statement, which didn’t refer to its liquidity situation. “Recently, the bank’s board of directors and some major shareholders have been in talks with several institutions that wish to and have the ability to become strategic investors.”

It added that the talks have been “going smoothly.” PBOC and Bank of Jinzhou didn’t reply to Bloomberg’s requests for comment.

Bank of Jinzhou’s Hong Konglisted shares have been suspended since April after it failed to disclose its 2018 financial statements. Auditors Ernst & Young Hua Ming Llp. and Ernst & Young resigned saying there are indications that some loans to institutional customers weren’t used in ways consistent with the purposes stated in documents, Bank of Jinzhou disclosed in May. China’s smaller lenders have been under increased scrutiny since the surprise government takeover of Baoshang Bank Co. The

move led to a repricing of risk for much of China’s banking system which had long operated under an assumption that policy-makers would support firms in trouble.

“We expect the regulators to step up their support if more financial institutions run into liquidity issues,” said Becky Liu, head of China macro strategy at Standard Chartered Plc., who declined to comment directly about Bank of Jinzhou. “Over time, the cost of funding between the stronger and weaker financial institutions will see further divergence.”

Bank of Jinzhou was among the lenders named by Jason Bedford, a UBS Group AG analyst, who in 2017 highlighted Baoshang’s troubles. Bank of Jinzhou is the second-most reliant on interbank financing, particularly nonbank financial institutions’ deposits, among more than 200 local banks, Bedford said when reached by phone on Thursday.

The bank’s seven negotiable certificates of deposits—a type of funding that small banks heavily rely on—were indicated at yields ranging from 3 percent to 5.5 percent earlier on Thursday, higher than valuations of 2.8 percent to 3.45 percent, according to Bloomberg data. Its dollar-denominated loss-absorbing debt instruments, known as AT1 bonds, fell, according to credit traders.

Bank of Jinzhou was set up in 1997 in the northeastern province of Liaoning. It had total assets of $113 billion and total deposits of $53 billion in June 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The bank listed in Hong Kong in December 2015, and has gained about 50 percent since its debut. Bloomberg News

B4 Friday, July 26, 2019

DREAM CRUISES UNVEILS 2020 SUMMER ITINERARIES

DE LOS SANTOS MEDICAL CENTER PROVIDES MINIMALLY INVASIVE PROCEDURES FOR BRAIN PATIENTS

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NTERVENTIONAL neuroradiology, or endovascular neurosurgery, is a medical subspecialty specializing in minimally invasive image-based technologies and procedures used in diagnosing and treating brain, head and neck, as well as spine diseases.

The term endovascular means “inside a blood vessel”, and an interventional neuroradiologist uses very thin catheter tools that pass through the blood vessels to diagnose and treat illnesses in lieu of traditional open surgery.

This expansion, with the use of a

catheterization laboratory (cath lab), gives neurological patients more options than ever before.

Ischemic pathologies may also be treated effectively using cuttingedge technolog y, like mechanica l thrombectomies for major strokes, intracranial stenting procedures and carotid revascularization.

The landmark breakthrough in acute stroke care using mechanical thrombectomy is now available at De Los Santos Medical Center (DLSMC), shares interventional neuroradiologist

Dr. Erwin D. Jocson. “This breakthrough treatment has completely changed the way we deal with stroke today. After the outcomes of major global trials, we have seen tectonic shift in treatment strategies to reverse disabling and potentially fatal major occlusive strokes.

As the American Heart Association [AHA] puts it, the impact of mechanical thrombectomy is a ‘once in a generation change in stroke care’.”

To offer more patients the benefits of endovascular treatments, DLSMC, a member of the Manuel V. Pangilinan Group of Companies, under the Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. banner, launched their brand new state-of-theart Catheterization Laboratory Unit last February. The cath lab at DLSMC is equipped with the latest state-of-theart technology to allow interventional neuroradiologists and endovascular specialists to effectively treat brain and spine patients.

The DLSMC Cath Lab is truly living up to its mission of providing topnotch catheter services at affordable rates, helping more Filipino patients have acces s to l atest t re at me nt s a nd technology in neurological care. For i nqu i r ies, e -m a i l at product info@ dlsmc.ph.

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REAM Cruises will be showcasing the best of Southeast Asia through a dazzling array of new summer itineraries for 2020 featuring exciting new destinations, along with fan-favorite ports of call. From April to November next year, Genting Dream will set sail from Singapore, on a series of two-, three-, four- and fivenight cruises, taking guests on dream voyages near and far to new locales, such as Christmas Island and Belitung; and ever-popular hot spots, including Phuket, Penang, Palawan, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu, Koh Samui and more!

Genting Dream’s array of summer cruises encompasses short weekend getaways to longer, weeklong voyages catering to a broad range of guests, from couples looking for a romantic retreat to families during summer holidays and even for MICE groups (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) that are looking for an innovative option for memorable events: Two-night cruises to Bintan, Port Klang and Malacca; Three-night cruises from Langkawi to Phuket, Penang/Phuket and Penang/Langkawi; Four-night cruise from Malacca to Phuket; and

Five-night cruises from Penang to Langkawi to Port Klang, Kota Kinabalu/Palawan (Puerto Princessa), Belintung/Christmas Island and Redang/Koh Samui/ Laem Chabang.

Complementing these destinations, guests can also enjoy a wide variety of onboard facilities and entertainment on the world-class Genting Dream. Guests can choose from an array of accommodations (over 70 percent with balconies), a wide range of Asian and international cuisine selections, including halal-certified cuisine options, exciting activities, like the zip line, rock climbing wall, waterslides and pools, as well as awardwinning entertainment, all-inclusive in the fare. For maximum luxury with Dream Cruises, vacationers can pamper themselves in The Palace, an exclusive “ship within a ship” concept with European-styled butler service and private amenities.

Another highlight not to be missed is Dream Cruises’ signature theme “Dream Night” complete with a dazzling “Fireworks at Sea”, an Asian exclusive, and partying at the internationally acclaimed Zouk for a great way to end a memorable cruise journey with Dream Cruises.

PROMOTIONS COMPANY DUNHILL INVADES MALLS THIS RAINY SEASON

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OUR trusted media organizer will be sponsoring various bazaar and mall events in the Metro.

First in line was a partnership with Ariestar Events from July 19 to 25. The event catered to mall goers of Robinsons Galleria and Ayala Malls Circuit.

“We want to lend a hand to small entrepreneurs by sponsoring these type of events in malls—since we work closely with the malls because of ad placements and booth setups—this will be a new and exciting venture for us in promoting our brand,” said Rachel Corpuz, head of marketing campaigns for Dunhill.

The seven-day event in these two major malls catered to Filipino entreprenuers with food and nonfood products to offer in the market.

Filipino food like kakanin, Korean food, pasta pizza, Hungarian sausages, fresh fruit juices, organic veagetables were also served for the hungry crowd.

Overall the event sponsored by Dunhill had 22 participting entreprenuers, which Dunhill was looking forward to work with.

Interested business partners can reach Dunhill Events and Advertising Promotions at dunhillevents@gmail.com.

ENACTUS TO HOLD 2019 NATIONAL FINALS

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NACTUS Philippines will hold its 2019 National Finals on July 27 at the SMX Convention Center.

Commission on Higher Education chairman Dr. Prospero de Vera and the United States Embassy deputy chief of mission to the Philippines John Law have been invited to be keynote speakers in the opening and closing ceremonies, respectively.

Enactus chairman Jose P. Leviste Jr. says that, “The National Finals is a great opportunity to present the active teams’ community-development projects, and witness firsthand the use of entrepreneurial action in empowering communities and improving people’s livelihoods.”

Enactus Philippines country leader lawyer Leo G. Dominguez shares that, for this year’s Enactus Philippines National Finals, a special competition called Business Innovation Idea Challenge was introduced to align with Enactus International’s objective of highlighting projects that use technology or innovation.

Dominguez adds, “This Idea and Innovation Challenge aims to provide an avenue for new or existing teams to pitch their viable business innovation ideas

that demonstrate entrepreneurial leadership and provide innovative solutions to pressing economic, social, and environmental problems.”

There will be five finalists that will have the chance to present their business innovation ideas in front, under of a panel of experts in the morning of the National Finals.

In the afternoon, current active Enactus teams will compete for the chance to become the Philippine representative to the Enactus World Cup from September 16 to 18 at San Jose, California, and compete with 36 other champion teams. This year’s five finalists are Bulacan State University Malolos, Holy Trinity College of General Santos City, Sultan Kudarat State University Access, Sultan Kudarat State University Tacurong and the University of Nueva Caceres.

Enactus Philippines is sponsored by EEI Corp., Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc., OceanaGold (Philippines) Inc. and AG&P, Unilever and Philippine Airlines, Sindicatum Renewable Energy Holdings Philippines, KPMG R.G. Manabat and Co., Quisumbing Torres (member firm of Baker and McKenzie International) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

MCJIM ANNOUNCES 7 FINALISTS FOR GET REEL MOBILE SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL

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ORLD-CLASS leather accessories brand McJim Classic Leather has already selected seven contenders participating in its Get Reel Mobile Shorts Film Festival, a cutting-edge event showcasing aspiring filmmakers’ talent and their vision of the modern Filipino gentleman.

Culled from over 50 entries, these films stand out as the finest examples of inspiring, relatable, and distinctly Filipino stories, thus, making the cut as finalists in McJim Classic Leather’s short film festival.

The festival finalists are as follows: Kabilin by Roy Robert Rusiana; Cotard Syndrome by MC Viluan Capadiso; Champion by Juan Carlo Balasbas Tarobal; Lupi by Dave Tolentino; Pitaka by Mark Jason Sucgang; May Love Life na si Pepito Jr. by James Edward Golla; and Walang Hanggang Ligaya sa Una Mong Ngiti by Dylan Ray Talon.

These chosen entries now have the chance to win The McJim Prize for Best Short Film, the highest honor for the competition, plus a total of P190,000 worth of cash prizes.

McJim Classic Leather’s Get Reel Mobile Shorts Film Festival festival invited Filipino filmmakers to submit films recorded with the use of mobile devices, with film durations following the standard length of viral short films: Two to 10 minutes, including opening and closing credits. A panel of judges will choose winners from the finalists through a deliberation. Results will be announced on August 30, and are final and irrevocable.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Friday, July 26, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Thomas, Kruijswijk lose teammates to disqualification

ITALY’S Matteo Trentin celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the 17th stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 200 kilometers (124,27 miles) with start in Pont Du Gard and finish in Gap, France, on Wednesday. It’s still a close battle for the podium with France’s Julian Alaphilippe holding a slim lead from his chasers, including defending champion Geraint Thomas. AP

SHOWDOWN BREWING IN THE ALPS

By Samuel Petrequin

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The Associated Press

AP, France—Picture the final showdown in “High Noon.” But at more than a mile above sea level.

With an Alpine trilogy of stages including six climbs in rarefied air, forecasts of stormy weather and only 39 seconds separating five riders determined to topple yellow jersey holder Julian Alaphilippe, the next three days at cycling’s marquee race have all the ingredients for an explosive and suspenseful conclusion.

In the role of former marshal Will Kane, Alaphilippe.

With his good looks and heart-on-the-sleeve style of racing, he has become France’s national hero over the past two weeks, raising hopes that the host country will finally get its Tour champion after a 34-year wait.

After claiming the race lead by storm with a couple of well-timed attacks followed up with a shock victory in the race’s individual time trial, Alaphilippe surprisingly hung onto the coveted tunic in the Pyrenees last week.

But the odds are firmly stacked against the Quick Step-Deceuninck rider in the Alps, a terrain with very long climbs that do not suit his punchy style. But like Marshal Kane, “Ala-Panache”—the nickname he earned this summer—is ready for a final battle.

“I can take punches in the mountains,” Alaphilippe said on Wednesday after Matteo Trentin won Stage 17, making the most of a long breakaway that Tour favorites were happy to let go. “I’m looking forward to the Alps.”

Alaphilippe was not even born when Bernard Hinault won the last of his five Tour de France titles back in 1985.

Thursday will mark the 13th day he will be wearing the yellow jersey, making him the first Frenchman to reach that tally at a single Tour since Hinault’s final win.

“One extra day in yellow, this is wonderful,” Alaphilippe said. “I will fight until the end. I’m gonna give it all.”

If Alaphilippe fails to defend his one-minute, 35-second lead, another Frenchman is ready to take over in the person of Thibaut Pinot. The FDJ-Groupama leader has demonstrated in the Pyrenees that he was the best climber, taking time on all his rivals to make up for the time he lost in crosswinds earlier in the race.

Pinot is among the five riders who can believe they have a chance to win the Tour on Sunday on the ChampsÉlysées, alongside defending champion Geraint Thomas, Steven Kruijswijk, Egan Bernal and Emanuel Buchmann.

Both Thomas and Kruijswijk, who are respectively

second and third overall, were handed a blow on Wednesday, losing one teammate each on disciplinary grounds.

Race organizers said Thomas’s teammate Luke Rowe and Tony Martin, who rides in support of Kruijswijk, were kicked out following an altercation. Despite the setback, the Ineos team has a double card to play with Bernal and Thomas.

Bernal is a pure climber from Colombia used to riding above 2,000 meters (6,560 feet), while Thomas is the most experienced of all contenders. He knows how to win a three-week race, and despite the minor crash he suffered on Tuesday, his morale is high.

“Looking forward to it now. Big three days and a big test,” Thomas said.

He added that Alaphilippe might be in for a tough time Thursday, with teams possibly riding hard to make him crack. Stage 18 to Valloire features two punishing and famed climbs, the Col d’Izoard and the Col du Galibier.

“He wasn’t great a couple of days ago and he’s been racing really well all race, so you’d think he’d be starting to get tired now,” Thomas said. “So, yeah, I guess teams will be thinking to try and make it hard all day.”

On paper, Stages 19 and 20 look even more difficult, with the Iseran mountain and two consecutive summit finishes. At 2,770 meters (9,090 feet), the Iseran is a Tour de France giant and one of the highest road passes in Europe where thin air makes things harder.

“Every day is going to be important,” Thomas said.

For Trentin and other already exhausted riders with no ambition in the general classification, the last stage that really mattered is now behind them.

And the Italian rider made the most of it to post a third career stage win at the Tour.

With the peloton happy to let an early breakaway develop at the start of the hilly, 200-kilometer trek to Gap, Trentin rode at the front for most of the stage and moved clear of the leading group about 14 kilometers from the finish at the bottom of the Col de la Sentinelle.

He was first at the summit and went all out in the downhill leading to Gap. Kasper Asgreen was second, 37 seconds behind, with Olympic champion Greg Van Avermaet completing the podium.

Already thinking about the Alps, Alaphilippe and his rivals crossed more than 20 minutes behind.

“Everybody is exhausted, it was the final day for saving strength,” Alaphilippe said. “The trilogy in the Alps will decide the winner.”

DEFENDING champion Geraint Thomas had his teammate kicked out of race after an altercation with a fellow rider in Stage 17. AP

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AP, France—Two riders, including a teammate of defending Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas, have been kicked out of the race after they got into an altercation that both teams said was minor and unworthy of such a harsh penalty.

Cycling governing body UCI and race organizers said on Wednesday that Thomas’s Ineos teammate Luke Rowe and Tony Martin, who rides in support of Jumbo-Visma leader Steven Kruijswijk, were disqualified.

The decision is a blow for both Thomas and Kruijswijk, who were respectively second and third in the overall standings behind race leader Julian Alaphilippe ahead of three tough Alpine stages where they will need strong support.

Martin and Rowe appeared to shove each other close to the finish of the 200-kilometer Stage 17 to Gap in the Col de la Sentinelle. Martin shoulder-barged Rowe, who then chased him and pushed a hand on Rowe’s neck.

Rowe said it was just a battle for position, adding that he “shook hands” with Martin at the end of the stage.

“To come here with this team, a bunch of good mates, I feel like I’ve let them down and, of course, let myself down,” he said. “We were both trying to do a job. Maybe we both overstepped the mark slightly, but it feels harsh to be thrown off the race, both of us. Neither of us deserve that.”

Ineos Manager Dave Brailsford criticized the decision as “incredibly harsh if I’m honest” while the JumboVisma team said it appealed the sanction.

“It’s nothing more than you see most days of the race,” he said. “I think a yellow card would have been merited but a red card, for both riders, in fact, feels a bit severe to me.”

Thomas shrugged off the shoving.

“It’s just the normal fighting to get their leaders into position,” he said.

“Nothing crazy, really.”

It’s the second straight year that Thomas has lost a teammate on disciplinary grounds. Gianni Moscon was disqualified for punching a rival during the 2018 Tour. AP

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Business

Friday, July 26, 2019

SPORTS TOURISM C DESTINATION

By Ashley Manabat

LARK FREEPORT—The 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games is seen to highlight this free port as a sports tourism destination in Asia.

During the Broadcast and Media Conference for the 30th SEA Games at Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City last Tuesday, Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Chief Operating Officer Ramon Suzara said they want to promote this free port to be a top sports tourism destination.

“We are now trying to push Clark to be the next sports tourism destination in Asia,” he said as he encouraged delegations from neighboring countries to utilize the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here.

“For those who are participating in sports and events under the Clark and Subic cluster, we encourage them to use Clark. There are now several international flights at that airport,” Suzara said.

There are a total of 530 events, 56 sports and 44 venues for the SEA Games that are grouped into Metro Manila, Clark and Subic clusters.

For Clark, the venues include the Parade

THE world-class athletics stadium at the New Clark City is almost done with Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee Chief Operating Officer Ramon Suzara saying the free-port zone would achieve its goal as a sports tourism destination in Asia.

WHO’S THE DEFENDING CHAMP?

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EMPHIS, Tennessee—Dustin Johnson made it clear. Even though he won the last time the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour visited TPC Southwind, he’s not the defending champion.

That would be Justin Thomas, who is looking to become the first repeat winner at this World Golf Championships (WGC) event since Tiger Woods took three straight from 2005 and 2007.

Clear huh?

This WGC switched sponsors, courses and even states, leaving Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, to the home course of the sponsor of the annual FedExCup. The new FedEx St. Jude Invitational starts on Thursday at the course that hosted the Saint Jude Classic from 1989 to last

year. Johnson won the then-FedEx Saint Jude Classic a year ago to reclaim the No. 1 spot in the world, holing out for eagle from 170 yards on the final hole for a six-stroke victory.

Johnson is the only player in the exclusive field of 63 who won on the course where that amazing shot for eagle is commemorated by a plaque. He also won here in 2012, a nice advantage in an event featuring 25 players making their debuts on the par-70 course with water on 11 of the 18 holes.

“It’s always nice to come back to a place where you’ve won, or I’ve won a couple times,” Johnson said Wednesday after finishing up a practice round without taking a look at the plaque. “It’s always nice to come back here. I’ve got good vibes here, and I like the golf course. I feel like I know the golf course

very well, I know what you have to do to succeed here. So it’s a place where I enjoy coming back to and I look forward to this week.”

Thomas, who won his ninth tour title and first WGC event last year in Ohio, hasn’t talked with Johnson about who is the defending champ.

They will be playing together with Paul Casey, and Thomas says he’d probably give the nod to Johnson, thanks to his familiarity with TPC Southwind.

“I’ve never played here in my life, and he won the tournament here last year,” Thomas said.

“So I don’t think so it’s going to have any impact on who plays better this week, but he can have it if he wants it. I’m not losing any sleep over it.”

The best field is best ever in Memphis despite the town hosting a PGA Tour event since 1958, even if local fans were disappointed when Tiger Woods announced last week he needed rest after missing the cut at the British Open. Even with Shane Lowry withdrawing in the wake of

winning the British Open, 46 of the world’s top 50 are here, led by the likes of Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day. McIlroy missed the cut last week by one stroke. He spent the past three days helping his wife unpack boxes in their new home, and he’s back here for the first time since tying for seventh in 2012.

“It’s a bit of a contrast considering the type of golf we’ve had to play the last two weeks back over in the UK. Green speeds are a little different,” McIlroy said. “Hit my first couple of putts there about 10 feet past.”

Koepka is among those very familiar with the 7,244-yard course that had served as a final tuneup for the US Open before the tour changed up the schedule and needed a new host for the fourth World Golf Championships event. He has a pair of top six finishes here, and he arrived in Memphis as the new leader in the FedExCup

standings for the first time in his career with only two weeks left until the playoffs begin.

“I love this place,” Koepka said. “This place has always been good to me.”

Rain on Sunday and Monday helped soften up the course that rewards those striking the ball well.

Miss the fairways and over par is easily in reach.

The biggest challenge for those who played at Royal Portrush in Ireland last week may be jet lag. Thomas said he woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, while Justin Rose, the 2018 FedExCup champ, arrived on Tuesday night for his first event in Memphis. He’s playing with Matt Kuchar, his roomie this week at a condo, and Jordan Spieth to ease his transition. Rose has been someone who preferred to practice rather than compete before a US Open.

“So to have the opportunity to finally be here in Memphis is something I’ve been looking forward to,” Rose said. AP

Grounds, Clark Global City, The Villages and Royce Hotel in its cluster, while Subic will have Malwaan Park, Subic Bay Boardwalk, Subic Gym, Subic Tennis Court and Triboa Bay. Highlighting the Clark cluster will be the New Clark City (NCC) that will open a newly constructed 20,000-seater Athletics Stadium, an Aquatics Center and the National Government Administrative Center.

This will also be the first time that the Philippines will be having brand-new 2,100-bed Athletes’ Village at NCC. The DMIA has a total of 734 domestic and regional flights per month to 40 destinations.

A new terminal is also being built that will accommodate an additional 8 million passengers yearly. It is expected to be completed by June 2020.

Meanwhile, it can be recalled that this free port has been conferred with awards in sports tourism by various entities.

RORY MCILROY of Northern Ireland joins other stars in the World Golf Championships in Memphis. AP

orts

sMirror

Friday, July 26, 2019 C3

IKEDA BUCKS SLOW START C HIHIRO IKEDA shook off a wobbly start with a fiery backside charge as she salvaged an even-par 69 to regain a three-stroke lead over amateur Chanelle Avaricio after two rounds of the ICTSI Camp John Hay Ladies Championship in Baguio on Thursday.

After firing an opening bogey-free 63 on a hot putter for a five-stroke lead on Wednesday, Ikeda struggled on John Hay’s tricky, undulating surface, stumbling with two bogeys and a double-bogey in the first five holes and making the turn at fourover 39, enabling her pursuers to gain ground in hot conditions.

They included Avaricio, who overhauled a seven-stroke deficit in a flight ahead and tied the Fil-Japanese at two-under overall with three birdies for a 32 with at least five others, including Princess Superal and Daniella Uy, also getting back into the thick of things.

But Ikeda regained her bearing and rhythm and birdied the first three holes at the back then added two more against a bogey to close out with a 30 in a big rebound that gave her a 36-hole total of six-under 132 after a 69.

“Just couldn’t get the feel of my putter early on. But I was able to regain my touch and rhythm back in time,” said Ikeda after that big backside

rebound that moved her closer to scoring a followup to her playoff win over Pauline del Rosario at Tagaytay Midlands last May. In contrast, Avaricio failed to sustain her hot frontside run as she yielded a stroke on the 10th although the Alabama State U product birdied Nos. 16 and 17, both par-5s, for the second straight day to shoot a 65 and assume the challenger’s role at 135.

“I gained confidence after a near-eagle on No. 1. My driving has been solid and I know where to put my ball on the greens,” said Avaricio, one of the five amateurs vying in the 54-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. “I’ll just play my game tomorrow [today] and hope to make the most of my birdie chances,” added Avaricio, who earned a crack at the crown after missing the cut at Pradera Verde last week.

Five shots off the pace after 18 holes, Superal moved to within two off Ikeda with a 36 start but, like Avaricio, the Japan LPGA Step Up campaigner fell short of matching the leader’s backside rebound although

5,000 athletes in BP Finals

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VER 5,000 athletes from all over the country are expected to participate in the Philippine Sports Commission’s (PSC) national youth sporting event for 15 years old and below.

Batang Pinoy Secretariat Head Manuel Bitog announced this following the series of delegation registration meetings (DRMs) in Mindanao, the Visayas, South Luzon and North Luzon since the start of the month.

“We are looking at more than 5,000 athlete-

she hit two birdies to save a 68 and a 136.

Uy also closed to within three with a 36 start but the joint third placer at Pradera just couldn’t get the right breaks, finishing with two birdies against a double-bogey in the last nine holes for a one-over 70. She slipped to fourth at 139, now seven shots behind the leader with 18 holes to play in the P1-million event sponsored by ICTSI. Amateur Mafy Singson put herself back in the mix with birdies on Nos. 4 and 6 but the spearhead of Team The Country Club bogeyed Nos. 9 and 11 and flubbed a couple of birdie putts to finish with a 69 for a 140.

The rest stood too far behind to get a shot at the crown in the ninth leg of the seventh season of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour with Thais Numa Gulyanamitta and Ajira Nualraksa assembling identical 141s after a 71 and 72, respectively, and Pamela Mariano way behind at 144 after a 74.

Gretchen Villacencio hobbled with a 72 for a 145 while Eagle Ace Superal, also a member of TCC, carded a 71 to tie former leg winner Sarah Ababa, who limped with a 76, at 147 in the 54-hole tournament organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. and backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT, Empire Golf and Sports and M.Y. Shokai Technology Inc.

CHIHIRO IKEDA rebounds in time after nearly losing grip of the lead.

participants in Palawan. Our series of delegation registration meetings since the start of July has helped the PSC to clearly determine the number and profile of competing athletes in the games,” Bitog said.

The PSC started its DRMs in Mindanao from July 3 to 5 at the Pinnacle Hotel, Davao City, followed by Visayas from July 10 to 12 at the Cebu City Sports Complex.

South Luzon was its third stop from July 17 to 19

at Lipa City Youth & Cultural Center and North Luzon from July 24 to 26 at the Provincial Employment & Skills Development Center, Narciso Ramos Sports & Civic Center in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

Bitog also announced the PSC’s strict implementation of “Zero Plastic Policy” on the duration of the games, as mandated by Presidential Proclamation 760 of 2014 and Republic Act 9003 also known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.”

UNTOUCHABLES! TAGAYTAY City Councilor Athena Tolentino (left) and Standard Insurance Group Chairman Ernesto “Judes” Echauz prepare to send off the women’s and men’s under-23 and junior race.

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ARCELO FELIPE, Marc Ryan Lago, Ismael Gorospe Jr. and Marella Salamat pedaled with wits and legs chiseled to toughness by their experience in international races to rule the road races of the PhilCycling 2019 National Road Cycling Championships on Wednesday in Tagaytay City.

Felipe, captain of continental team 7-Eleven Cliqq Road Bike Philippines and third Best Asian Rider in the 2018 Le Tour de Langkawi, soloed to the finish line in three hours, 11 minutes and .212 second to top the 132.08-km Men’s Road Race that started and ended at the Praying Hands Monument on Aguinaldo Highway in Tagaytay City.

Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance’s Ronald Oranza, meanwhile, beat another 7-Eleven rider, individual time trial winner John Mark Lexer Galedo, in a sprint finish for the silver medal. Oranza clocked 3:12:47.015 and Galedo crossed two seconds later in the

race presented by Standard Insurance, MVP Sports Foundation and Tagaytay City.

Go For Gold’s Lago, who finished fifth in the Men Junior individual time trial (ITT) of the Asian Cycling Championships in Uzbekistan last April, was also unmolested in his category’s 91.35-km event, clocking 2:24:26.911, beating by close to three minutes Rench Michael Bondoc and Efren Reyes, who crossed almost at the same time.

Gorospe, a member of the Go For Gold continental team, on the other hand, had to nose out ITT champion Nichol Pareja to snatch the Men Under-23 gold medal of the championships organized by the PhilCycling headed by Rep. Abraham Tolentino and managed by Ube Media Inc.-Le Tour de Filipinas and supported by One LGC, Air21, Go For Gold, Bike X Singapore, 7-Eleven and the Highway Patrol Group of the Philippine National Police Region 4A command.

Gorospe crossed in 3:13:36.60, only 39-hundredths of a second ahead of Pareja. Daniel

Ven Carino, also of Go Gor Gold, finished some six seconds later to settle for the bronze medal.

Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance, meanwhile, extended its domination of the women’s races with Salamat, the 2015 Southeast Asian Games ITT gold medalist, edging teammate and ITT titlist Jermyn Prado in the Women Elite 91.35-km race.

Salamat clocked 2:29:53.418 with Prado finishing a wheel behind. Melisa Jaroda was third in 2:49:31.560.

Standard Insurance reasserted its domination in the younger age categories with Kate Yasmin Velasco (Under 23) and Maritono Krogg (Women Junior) sweeping the championships.

Velasco crossed in 2:49:36.378, beating Shagne Paola Yaoyao (49.627 behind) and Mhay Ann Iinda (53.578 behind). Krogg (2:50:35.042), on the other hand, handily defeated Nicole Quinones (11.249 behind) and Marlen Marasigan (5:32.485 behind).

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Friday, July 26, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Pan American Games kick off in Peru

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IMA, Peru—Preliminary competition in the Pan American Games kicked off on Wednesday in what has been branded as the largest sporting event in Peru’s history.

Nearly 7,000 athletes from 41 countries will compete in the games, which formally get under way with the opening ceremony on Friday.

The US team is favored to finish atop the medal standings in Lima, where sports, such as bodybuilding, skateboarding and surfing will feature in the regional event for the first time.

A record 21 of the 61 sporting disciplines in Lima will serve as qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The last two Pan Am Games were in Toronto in 2015, and Guadalajara,

Mexico, in 2011. Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2007 edition, which it used as a platform to successfully lobby to stage the Summer Olympics.

On the first day of prelims in Lima, Dominican Republic beat Peru, 46-16, in women’s handball. But even when they could not take home-court advantage, the Peruvians were encouraged by the constant cheers from local fans and said they will keep focus on their next game against Argentina.

“The team has grown up so much,” Tifany Angulo said.

“We’re training and competing here in our home. We want to do our best, and we want to defend our home as it should be.... The idea is to get on the podium. We know it’s difficult but not impossible.”

In beach volleyball, Chilean pair Esteban Grimalt and Marco Grimalt beat defending champions Juan Virgen and

Rodolfo Ontiveros of Mexico 2-1. The Mexicans won the gold medal in Toronto 2015 and, despite the loss, remain confident they’ll be able to stay in contention for medals.

“We’ve been the champions for four years but Chile has been preparing for a long time, while we’ve come from a very long period of inactivity,” Ontiveros said. “If we do things right, we’re going to be ahead. The team that’s the most consistent is the one that’s going to be champion.”

Lima will feature more than 100 Olympians in individual and team competitions. Track star Justin Gatlin and five-time swimming gold medalist Nathan Adrian are on the US team.

Among the other stars are triple gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce of Jamaica, two-time BMX gold medalist Mariana Pajon from Colombia and triple Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist Mijain Lopez from Cuba.

The Pan American Games began in 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and have twice been staged in the US. AP

GYMNAST Luna Fernandez from Argentina jumps during a practice session in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday. The Pan American Games begin July 26 and run through August 11. AP

AT WHAT COST?

By Eddie Pells

The Associated Press

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ENVER—For decades, the question at the Summer Olympics hasn’t been whether the US will top the medals table, but by how much.

If anyone on US soil has a problem with that—and given the headlines of the last few years, plenty of people do— well, imagine the alternative.

Item No. 4 under the heading “Purposes” in the 1978 law that created the US Olympic Committee (USOC) is the mandate for the federation to construct “the most competent... representation possible in each event of the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games and Pan-American Games.”

That’s a long-winded way of saying “win lots of medals,” and since the break up of the Soviet Union, nobody has come close to winning as many as the US. But after being criticized by abuse victims, athletes’ representatives, lawmakers and a couple of blue-ribbon panels for adhering too closely to a “money-for-medals” prototype that served the US well on the playing field, new leaders at the USOC are trying to reshape their mission. They want the new USOC to focus more fully on the overall welfare of athletes instead of simply what they can contribute to the win column.

It’s a work in progress, and how well that

overhaul melds with the USOC’s core mission of winning medals will come into sharp focus starting a year from Thursday, when the first champions are crowned at the Tokyo Olympics.

Gracenote Sports projects the United States to win 126 medals—a number that would beat second-place China by 45 and

outpace the total from 2016 by five (There are more medals at stake next year because of added sports).

If the ultimate number falls short of that target—or whatever internal targets the USOC has set for itself—expect some second-guessing about the wisdom of its newly reconstituted

IN this August 19, 2016, file photo, members of the US women’s water polo team celebrate with their gold medals on the podium after winning their gold medal match against Italy at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. AP

vision. If the number swells too large—well, expect some second-guessing in that case, too.

Regardless, the bottom line remains unchanged from what it’s been for years: Fourthplace finishers and inspirational stories are nice, but NBC and US sponsors also want to see some winners for all those billions they fork over.

“People are buying the Olympics before they know the results, but historically, Team USA has been extraordinarily competitive,” said Dan Lovinger, NBC’s executive vice president of advertising sales. “We expect them to be again.”

A no-win situation for the USOC? It might seem that way if you pay attention to what’s been happening in the boardrooms in the wake of Larry Nassar and a number of abuse cases that have led to a near-complete turnover of the USOC’s top staff—an overhaul many critics say hasn’t gone far enough.

Once the torch is lighted, however, the public pays attention to the scoreboard, not the meetings.

Though Michael Phelps is gone, the US swimming team, led by Katie Ledecky, looks like a good bet to dominate as it always does.

With Jamaica’s Usain Bolt out of the mix, there are few roadblocks in the way of the Americans grabbing 30 medals in track and field.

And through all the trouble and turmoil in gymnastics, Simone Biles is expected to be back and there aren’t any countries narrowing the gap with the US. A look at some of the marquee sports—and other spots where the US is expected to rake it in: GYMNASTICS: While the state of USA Gymnastics as a national governing body remains very much in flux—the organization filed for bankruptcy late last year in an effort to ward off a decertification effort by the USOC—the chasm between the women’s Olympic program and the rest of the world remains as large as ever thanks to Biles. The American women won eight of the 18 medals available at the 2018 world championships, with Biles having a hand in six of them. The US won the team final by nearly nine points (8.932), more than double the gap between secondplace Russia and eighth-

place Germany (4.426).

TRACK AND FIELD: This sport will have issues clawing its way into the mainstream with Bolt on the sideline. But that doesn’t add up to trouble for the US. In fact, quite the opposite.

With the 100 and 200 up for grabs again, Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman will be in the mix—along with defending world champion Justin Gatlin—to be the world’s next Olympic sprint champions. On the women’s side, 400-meter hurdler Sydney McLaughlin is a name to watch. And don’t forget about Allyson Felix, who will be 34 in 2020. She’s one medal shy of tying Carl Lewis for most of any US track and field athlete.

SWIMMING: For the first time since 2000, Phelps won’t be competing. The most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, including 23 gold, retired after Rio. Ledecky is the star of the US team, which is still in transition in the post-Phelps era, but should do just fine in a sport that awards more medals than any sport this side of track.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The Americans have two of the top 4 teams in the world in the women’s Olympic qualification race, and are a threat to claim two medals. Five-time Olympian (and three time beach gold medalist) Kerri Walsh Jennings is attempting to qualify for Tokyo with her third different partner.

BASKETBALL: The US men will return to the site of their only loss under Mike Krzyzewski, way back in 2006 in the world championships.

But don’t count on another surprise. With unmatched depth, the Americans have been able to reload with stars, while the veterans from powers such as Spain and Argentina have moved on and not been replaced. The women haven’t lost a game at the Olympics since 1992, and won their eight games in 2016 by an average of 37 points.

AROUND THE VILLAGE: The Williams sisters love the Olympics, and the US women have other medal-worthy contenders, including Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys.... The US currently has eight of the top 12 in the men’s golf rankings. But a maximum of four can represent any single country.... Skateboarding is dominated by Americans, which should make the qualifying contests more competitive than the Olympics themselves....Gracenote projects the US winning medals in 30 sports, which would break the record of 28 that it tied in 2016.

Ex-athletes sue Ohio State doctor for sex abuse

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OLUMBUS, Ohio—More former football players and other ex-athletes are suing Ohio State over allegations that they were sexually assaulted by a university doctor during exams decades ago.

Like, at least, six other pending federal lawsuits, the case filed on Monday says school officials knew about concerns but failed to stop Richard Strauss. The 30 plaintiffs include men from 12 sports and a nonathlete allegedly fondled by Strauss at the student health center.

Ohio State publicly apologized after an investigation for the university found Strauss sexually abused at least 177 young men between 1979 and 1997.

Related lawsuits are in mediation. Ohio State has argued the claims are timebarred by law, but a spokesman says it's committed to the mediation process.

Strauss died in 2005. No one has publicly defended him. AP

Life

God of the covenant

D

EAR God, in Jesus You call us to discipleship in communion with one another, through the Holy Spirit.

We rejoice in our call and pray: Lead us to walk in Your light, oh God. Inspire us to safeguard our environment and care for the Earth. Bless and protect those who work through the night in hospitals and nursing homes, prisons and hotels, police stations and firehouses. Help us to find and implement measures to prevent gun violence and arson makers. May God strengthen us by the Holy Spirit for every good work and word, through Jesus, the light of the world. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

FERMENTATION: TASTING GREATNESS D2

BusinessMirror

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

Friday, July 26, 2019

MAHERSHALA ALI

DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON and Simu Liu

It’s a Marvel universe and we’re just living in it

RICHARD MADDEN and Kumail Nanjiani

SEBASTIAN STAN and Anthony Mackie

JEREMY RENNER

TEYONAH PARRIS

By LiNDsey BaHR | The Associated Press

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AN DIEGO—Avengers: Endgame may have closed a chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but the blockbuster factory is not slowing down and only expanding in scope and diversity.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige led a marathon presentation at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday night, announcing plans for the first two years of “Phase Four,” which will include Natalie Portman taking up the hammer as Thor, making Angelina Jolie an immortal for The Eternals and rebooting Blade with Mahershala Ali. The stars assembled in the San Diego Convention Center’s Hall H as Feige ticked through the release calendar for 2020 and 2021 movie by movie, giving official cast lists, release dates, titles and logos for everything from Black Widow, the Doctor Strange sequel, Thor 4 to Shang-Chi to The Eternals.

“I’m so excited to be here,” Jolie told the crowd.

She said she’s going to work “10 times harder” than she has on any of her other action roles because she knows what it means to “be part of the MCU” and “part of this family.”

Jolie, who is playing the character Thena, was joined by her The Eternals cast mates including Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek and Brian Tyree Henry, as well as director Chloé Zhao.

“I just really, really wanted to make a Marvel movie for so long,” Zhao said.

It’s set for release on November 6, 2020, after

DON LEE and Angelina Jolie

Black Widow kicks things off on May 1 with Scarlett Johansson, as well as Stranger Things breakout David Harbour, Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh. Audiences got a look at some early footage from the Cate Shortland-directed film showing Johansson and Pugh in some Bourne Identity-style hand-to-hand combat.

Marvel also revealed that newcomer Simu Liu will be playing the lead role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and is coming to theaters on February 12, 2021. He’ll star alongside Awkwafina and Chinese actor Tony Leung, who is playing The Mandarin.

“This is the craziest, craziest dream,” said Liu, who was literally cast on Tuesday.

The third film of 2021, after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which director Scott Derrickson said will be Marvel’s “first horror movie,” is perhaps the most anticipated, however: Thor 4.

Portman, who played Jane in the first two Thor films, will be remerging as the female Thor. She ran out on stage to thunderous applause and accepted the hammer from a kneeling Taika Waititi.

Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, who alluded to her character identifying as LGBTQ, will also be returning for the Waititi-directed Thor: Love and Thunder, which is set for release on November 2, 2021. Feige brought out some familiar MCU stars from Tom Hiddleston and Sebastian Stan to Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner to tease some of the upcoming Disney+ “event series” including Hawkeye, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki and the animated series What If...?

RACHEL WEISZ and Scarlett Johansson

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

CHRIS HEMSWORTH and Tessa Thompson

ELIZABETH OLSEN and Paul Bettany

Fans were excited to learn that the little girl in Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, will be joining WandaVision as a grown woman played by MCU newcomer Teyonah Parris.

The energy in Hall H was electric for what was easily the most high-profile and anticipated presentation. The audience only knew going in that Feige would be joined by some “special guests.”

Tense security guards managing the estimated 8,000 people in the room even inadvertently snapped at Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who were trying to figure out where to go in the melee.

Although the studio took a year off from ComicCon last year, it has a long history of announcing some of its biggest plans at the fan convention.

Nine years ago, Marvel wowed Hall H when the Avengers, including Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, appeared on stage for the first time together. It’s also where the studio introduced Brie Larson as Captain Marvel three years ago and brought the house down with the first look at Black Panther.

And even though the presentation hardly took a breather, there were still a number of upcoming films, some rumored and some confirmed, that they couldn’t get to including Black Panther 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Captain Marvel 2 and even, Feige teased, Fantastic Four and Mutants.

“But all that stuff is rumored,” he said with a smile.

He closed out the presentation dropping the Blade reboot news and Ali’s casting, which hadn’t yet even become a rumor to speculate about. Wesley Snipes

played the character in the 1998 film and two sequels.

Ali came out on stage and put on a Blade baseball cap as the crowd went wild. No other details were revealed about the project.

Marvel’s impact on Hollywood over the past 11 years is hard to understate. This year alone, three of the top 5 movies are Marvel properties (Avengers: Endgame is No. 1, Captain Marvel is No. 2, and SpiderMan: Far From Home is currently No. 5 after just three weeks in theaters).

They also account for three of the top 5 grossing domestic release of all time, unadjusted for inflation.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens holds the first place spot, but then comes Avengers: Endgame at two, Black Panther at four and Avengers: In�inity War at five.

And combined, with over $22.3 billion in worldwide earnings, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is by far the most successful franchise of all time.

With the recent partnership with Sony on SpiderMan and the Walt Disney Co.’s acquisition of Fox, all the missing pieces (including X-Men, Deadpool and The Fantastic Four) are coming together, too, under the Marvel Studios banner.

Feige also said Saturday that in just a few days, not accounting for inflation, Avengers: Endgame will also surpass Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time.

He even brought his top Marvel Studios people out on stage to celebrate the moment of having completed the 23-movie In�inity Saga.

“We started here,” Feige told the room of screaming fans. “I never thought it would happen, and it never would have happened if it wasn’t for you.” n

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Tasting greatness

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Bianca Santos, 29; Kate Beckinsale, 46; Sandra Bullock, 55; Helen Mirren, 74.

FERMENTATION

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Keep your secrets to yourself this year. Making snap decisions will not bode well for you in the end. Strategic moves will encourage success.

Issues involving hospitals, institutions and government agencies should not be ignored or handled with angst.

Take ownership of what you do, and do your best to make a difference. Your lucky numbers are 3, 15, 18, 27, 30, 36, 43.

CECILE MAURICIO

cecile.mauricio@gmail.com

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Look for an opportunity, and you will find one. Invest in something that brings you joy. Discuss your needs and what you are willing to offer in return with someone you have a meaningful relationship with. ★★★

T

HE Unico 2005 gleamed ruby red in the glass. Fresh, vibrant, elegant—my notes read. This wine was the highlight of the Vega Sicilia tasting session that was held just this week, led by Antonio Menéndez, managing director of Tempos Vega Sicilia.

But before that, there were the Macán 2013, Alíon 2014, Pintia 2013 and the Valbuena 5˚ Año 2011—all presented like the front acts to the main event by Julian Gagliardi, general manager at Happy Living Philippines Corp. Together with Terry Selection, Happy Living had organized a series of events featuring the wines of Vega Sicilia, including this tasting session at Okada Manila. That Antonio Menéndez was in town to lead the events—beginning with the lunch that featured Juan Carlos de Terry’s exquisite cooking—was telling of the special relationship between Vega Sicilia and its Philippine distributor, Terry Selection Inc. Several years back, Pablo Álvarez (of the family that owns Vega Sicilia) had visited Manila on Juan Carlos’s invitation. “You were seated beside him at the dinner, remember?” Juan Carlos was recalling the visits of the Vega Sicilia members to Manila and the times he, too, was hosted by the Álvarez family. I remember too well that exceptional dinner that Juan Carlos had hosted for Pablo Álvarez—and the Unico 1996 that we had with an aged manchego. There was also that visit of Antonio Menéndez about two years ago when he presented six vintages of the Valbuena— from 2006 to 2011, the Macán 2012 and Unico 2007.

Counting this third time that Menéndez is in Manila, Vega Sicilia would have been to Manila seven times, recalled Juan Carlos.

Bodegas Vega Sicilia was one of the first wineries that called attention to the potential of Spain’s Ribera del Duero in producing exceptional wines.

The estate was founded in 1864 by Don Eloy de Lecanda, a winemaker who had returned to the region with cabernet sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot wines from Bordeaux. That trinity of Bordeaux varieties, plus the local tempranillo, has since figured in the highly individual Vega Sicilia wines, weathering the succession of changes in ownership. The Álvarez family, the current owners, bought the estate in 1982, the year Ribera del Duero was conferred Denominación de Origen status. Then followed a

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You can make a difference in your life and in the lives of those you love by offering positive affirmation and help that will encourage better relationships built on trust and the desire to work together to create a better future. ★★★

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Consider the logistics of something someone suggests. It’s important not to overstep your bounds or to let anyone get the best of you. Equality, balance, integrity and, most of all, honesty should be the precedents to any relationship you develop. ★★★

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): If you criticize, you will face opposition, but if you encourage, you will be able to make a positive difference.

A personal relationship should be handled with love, affection and promises. ★★★★

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Observe what others are up to. Making the wrong move based on an assumption instead of fact will lead to a change that won’t please you. Slow down and weigh the consequences of your actions before stepping into the spotlight. ★★

BODEGAS Vega Sicilia produces only red wines in Spain. The lone white wine in its portfolio is Tokaji Oremus, produced in Hungary. Photo shows (from left, below) Happy Living Business Development Manager Ricardo F. Lopez, Happy Living General Manager Julian Gagliardi, Terry Selection Chef Patron Juan Carlos de Terry and Bodegas Vega Sicilia Managing Director Antonio Menéndez.

process of modernization and expansion that saw the addition of new estates that included Bodegas Alíon in 1992, Bodegas Pintia in Toro in 2001 and Tokaji Oremus in Hungary in 1993.

There is an aura of exclusivity around the wines of Vega Sicilia. That these are results of meticulous wine making, are long-lived (and expensive) and available only in limited quantities certainly bolster the image.

And, that is why I always approach the Vega Sicilia Unico with awe. Unico is normally released after 10 years in the cellar. But not in the case of the Unico 2005, which was released in 2016. The wine was so massive in its youth that the decision was made to

hold back its release for two more years to allow for its components to mellow, explained Menéndez. Made with tempranillo and 7 percent cabernet sauvignon, the Unico 2005 can keep for almost 40 years, when stored in optimum conditions. He recalled that in 2015, at wine collector’s gathering, they had tasted— and enjoyed—the Unico 1915.

“Incredible” was also the word for the Unico 2005.

Perfumed, fresh, vibrant acidity, dried leaf, subtle fruitcake spice, tobacco, leather silky, elegant—these were scribbled in my notes. I emptied my glass and wanted more. But legends do not always allow for second helpings. n

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Refuse to let anyone put limitations on what you can and cannot do. Move forward with your plans, and live out your dreams. Opportunity is your responsibility. ★★★

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): A day trip, meeting or interview will lead to answers that will help you make an important decision. Things may not turn out exactly as planned but close enough that you will feel proud of your accomplishments. Romance is highlighted. ★★★

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Know where you are headed before you begin a new adventure. Whether traveling, getting together with friends or relatives or learning something new, it’s important not to leave anything to chance. ★★

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Expect to deal with a change that alters your plans.

As long as you are receptive and willing to compromise, everything will eventually fall into place. A significant relationship will lead to a greater appreciation of each other if nurtured. ★★★★★

Success starts small

2018 Youth Microentrepreneur of the Year Mary Grace Bayalas

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Participate, listen, learn and grow. A change of attitude will occur when someone shares an experience with you. Express your thoughts and feelings, and make plans that will enhance a meaningful relationship. Romance is in the stars. ★★★★★

STARTING small is challenging and exciting for any business aspiring to make it big and succeed.

The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards (CMA), a collaboration of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Citi Philippines and Microfinance Council of the Philippines Inc. (MCPI), and funded by Citi Foundation, gives small businesses a much-needed boost by recognizing small entrepreneurs from all over the Philippines and offering them a wide array of opportunities.

Now on its 17th year, the awards program provides entrepreneurs with resources to strengthen their businesses and enables individuals to achieve financial sustainability for themselves, their families and their communities.

CMA honors a National Winner; regional awardees from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao; three special awardees; and a Youth Microentrepreneur, who can inspire others to start a business at an early age.

The 2018 Youth Microentrepreneur of the Year was awarded to 29-yearold midwife-entrepreneur Mary Grace Bayalas from San Fernando, Cebu, who proved that age should not stop anyone from being successful.

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t feel you have to make a change because someone is trying to persuade you to be a follower. Do what you do best, and create your own opportunities. It’s time to put yourself first; let others fend for themselves. ★★

l CITI Philippines Public Affairs Head Lisa Coory and Country Treasurer Paul Favila

BSP Center for Learning and Inclusion Advocacy Managing Director Pia Roman Tayag and MCPI Executive Director Allan Robert Sicat

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Use experience to overcome a recurring problem.

Anger won’t solve matters, but recognizing whether it’s better to walk away or give an ultimatum will help you feel at peace with who you are and the decision you make. ★★★★ BIRTHDAY BABY: You are passionate, helpful and colorful.

You are determined and unpredictable.

‘pieces of music’ BY JOHN GUZZETTA The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Illegal way to start a trip 4 Certain Balkans 10 NYSE debut 13 Gorilla or gibbon 14 Elaborate pranks 15 Indent key 16 Meme picture format 17 First New Testament book (Pink Floyd: Last 4 letters +...)

18 Bol. neighbor 19 Northwest Texas native 21 Compatriot (...first 3 letters) 22 Long John Silver feature (Bob Marley: Last 3 letters +...)

23 Early French settler in Maine 26 Work units 27 The Apocalypse (...first 3 letters) 29 Prompt 30 Farming prefix 32 Exist 33 Things that repeat, or a hint to this puzzle’s theme 38 Small songbird 39 Drunks

40 Team’s possessive 42 Holds together, MacGyver-style (Carole King: Last 5 letters +...)

46 French newborn 47 In control, as a dog 48 Lovers’ get-togethers (...first 3 letters) 50 Blacken (Neil Young: Last 3 letters +...)

51 Aim for 54 Payment promise 55 Virgins of ancient Rome (...first 4 letters) 57 Part of FWIW 59 ___ Alamos 60 Separate, or join 61 Hiker’s guide 62 Just manage, with “out” 63 Ruffles have them 64 Assistant for Santa DOWN 1 Fall behind 2 Meat flavoring 3 It helps drivers see through glass 4 P.F. ___’s 5 Campus military grp.

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 17 20 21 22 24 25 27 28 30 31 34 35 36 37 41 42 43 44

Vow Sharp part of a chopping tool Casual top U-turn from NNE Home of Roma Roll over winnings into a new bet Delivery people?

West in old films LA Galaxy’s org.

Venomous snake Muscle targeted by flyes Do together Dos for Solange and Jimi Hendrix Sea eagle Like Odin Japanese dog breed Obtain the highest marks Oyster-eating mammal Dawn goddess Is mid-sentence?

Amount to base a tip on Hi-___ graphics Calm Release, as a fish Predicate part

45 46 48 49 52 53 55 56 58

Gradually introduced, with “in” “See ya!”

Scrabble pieces Monopoly quartet, for short Antlered male Prepare for driving?

TiVo predecessor Whitney who was, aptly, a Yale grad Beach bottle letters

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Friday, July 26, 2019

Dealing with the generation divide at work SOMETHING LIKE LIFE

MA. STELLA F. ARNALDO

@akosistellaBM

O

N a few lunches and get-togethers with dear friends, a number of them Baby Boomers and Generation X business owners, we would end up talking about how increasingly difficult it is for them to find and/or retain new staff.

For instance, Miss G, who owns a public relations outfit, told me she had one staff—a millennial, natch!—who went off on a family vacation because “it was already scheduled,” even if the latter had yet to earn any leave credits. Informed that she would not get paid for the absences, the employee said she was okay with it, and went off on the holiday fully paid for by her parents just the same.

Another friend, Miss C, said she was shocked at a meeting with the CEO of a multibillion-peso firm. The young lady who was supposed to propose a project to him was not only late but she didn’t even advice them of her delayed arrival.

Then at the end of the meeting, the young project proponent told the CEO, “Sige po, Tito [Uncle], we will do it,” or something to that effect. The punchline of course is the young lady had met the CEO only for the first time, wasn’t even related to him, and...she addressed him as “Tito”?!

This column isn’t meant to embarrass or disparage millennials. But to bridge the apparent generation divide especially in the workplace, I think my friends and I need to explain where we are coming from, as well.

Because most millennials grew up in an age where devices spew out information they need with a click of the button, and they are able to snap a photo, post it on social media to be seen by anyone around the world instantaneously, they also need to get the same amount of instant satisfaction from the work they do. (And by “work,” we don’t mean getting paid by Google ads for hits on one’s social-media account.)

They like instant feedback, but when the task assigned to them doesn’t go their way, they seem to get discouraged easily. And as many of my friends attest, there is a high rate of turnover at their companies because a “stressed” millennial is an unhappy millennial. And an unhappy millennial always resigns, seeking for the perfect job that will make them, well...happy.

In truth, a lot of us “dinosaurs” admire how much passion these millennials put into their work… when it is to their liking. But we are befuddled by how much value they put on personal happiness and satisfaction at this stage in their life. After all, many of us had to suffer tasks that were not to our liking because this was part of our training.

When people in my generation graduated from the university, we immediately looked for a job. There was no family vacation or holidaying; we went to work as soon as a company would accept us.

We were all after the experience, not so much the salary. Maybe the times were easier then. It was not too much of a burden for parents in the 1980s to have working-age children continue living at home until they went off and got married.

For sure, many of us Gen Xers also went through some difficulties explaining ourselves and dealing with our much older bosses, especially when we didn’t achieve the targets of the work assigned to us. But most of us would stick with the job or the task, until we got it right.

A lot of importance was given on what we would learn on the job, as well as the social connections we

would make soon enough, as we engaged with other people in our respective industries.

This was how we became tenacious, persistent, and, yes, patient. What we could not accomplish in a single day, we went right back to it the next day.

In my work as a journalist, for instance, I would endure hours on end to interview a VIP, so even if our scheduled meeting was at 2 pm, I would still be there at his office even past 4 pm. Similarly, I would patiently wait for an important meeting or conference to conclude, just so I could ambush several officials to get a story. “Waiting” wasn’t even a special skill; it was a trait many of my colleagues in the profession share.

(These days, I am told, a millennial will just leave if the CEO or executive they have scheduled to meet is a bit delayed because his previous meeting had gone on later than usual.)

And as far as personal satisfaction and happiness are concerned, our generation will often postpone these for work that has to be done right now because we are getting paid this much salary. Vacations and holidays are rewards we give ourselves for the hard work we’ve done the past year, and not because we believe in a healthier “work-life balance.”

It’s probably a pipe dream for us that our millennials will eventually come around and become the “perfect” staff the way we were at their age (hahaha). But for those bosses who want to find ways to retain their millennial employees, a piece in Harvard University’s extension university blog offers a few suggestions: n MAKE YOUR EMPLOYEES LOVE COMING TO WORK. It’s not just about giving them a raise, but invest as well as in your staff’s personal development. n CONSTANTLY ENGAGE WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES. A boss needs to communicate to his staff how important and valuable they are to their company. n SUPPORT YOUR EMPLOYEE’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. They need to see the opportunities available to them within the company. It’s not about a promotion but finding something in the work that truly makes them happy. n WHEN THE EMPLOYEE FEELS IT’S TIME TO GO, THE BOSS SHOULD LET HER LEAVE. Encourage her to find a new role in another firm. This can inspire loyalty and make the employee realize how you actually care for them. (“Forget Work Perks. Millennial Employees Value Engagement,” https://bit.ly/2fsdmBM)

The real midlife crisis confronting us

By FRaNK J. iNFURNa Arizona State University THE way my mom imagined it, midlife was going to be great: counting down days until retirement, spending winters in Florida and checking off destinations on her bucket list. But it hasn’t turned out that way.

Instead of more time spent in Florida, she’s still stuck in snowy upstate New York. She traded romps in the sea and traveling the world for her daily visits to her mom, who’s in a nursing home. Instead of the joys of living the snowbird life, she’s saddled with stress, guilt and the challenges of caring for my grandmother, who is 89 and dealing with dementia.

“This is not how I imagined my life at midlife,” my mom, who is 61, tells me.

She isn’t alone.

In a study my colleagues and I conducted on middle-aged adults, we followed 360 people on a monthly basis for two years, tracking their life events, health, well-being and character.

We found that midlife, generally considered to encompass the ages of 40 to 65, has become a time of crisis. But it’s not the kind of crisis that exists in popular imagination—when parents, with their kids out of the house, feel compelled to make up for lost time and relive their glory days. There’s little money for a red sports car. No time for jetting around the world. And a trophy wife? Forget that.

Instead, the midlife crisis experienced by most people is subtler, more nuanced and rarely discussed among family and friends. It can be best described as the “big squeeze”—a period during which middleaged adults are increasingly confronted with the impossible choice of deciding how to split their time and money between themselves, their parents and their kids.

PARENTING YOUR PARENTS AND YOUR ADULT KIDS MANY middle-aged adults increasingly feel obligated to take care of both their aging parents and their kids.

Insufficient family leave policies force middle-aged adults to decide between maximizing their earning

potential or caring for an aging parent. Of those who were working full-time while caregiving more than 21 hours a week for an aging parent, 25 percent took reduced work hours or accepted a less demanding position. Studies have shown that juggling a job while caring for a parents strains relationships and takes a toll on mental and physical health.

Middle-aged adults also find themselves contending with continued or renewed dependency of their adult children. Compared with 10 years ago, more adult children nowadays are living with their parents. One reason is that their kids are spending more time in school.

But there are also fewer employment opportunities, and young adults are having a tougher time securing basic needs, like health insurance.

Together, these trends have led to more anxiety and depression among middle-aged parents, who fear their kids might never have the same opportunities they did.

LONGER LIVES, FEWER OPPORTUNITIES WHY is this squeeze happening now?

For one thing, the parents of middle-aged adults are living longer than ever before. The past century has seen remarkable gains in life expectancy. Options to care for aging parents in need range from in-home by oneself or with the help of home health aides to assisted living and nursing home facilities. Costs vary across the type of care, but overall costs are continually on the rise.

Meanwhile, the adult children of middle-aged Americans are still reeling from the Great Recession of 2008. A tepid labor market combined with student loan debt has left grown adult children struggling to find stable, long-term employment, and they’ve delayed buying a house and starting a family.

MORE FINANCIAL RISK ALTHOUGH midlife often marks a high point for earnings and represents the peak of decision-making abilities, middle-aged adults are less equipped than you might think to assume midlife’s new challenges and burdens.

Living wages are stagnant and labor market volatility has fueled job insecurity, with 24 percent of

people aged 45 to 74 worried that they could lose their job in the next year.

Plus, middle-aged adults have their own health to worry about. As people get older, their health costs rise, which eat away at bank accounts, making it harder to make ends meet. While wider access to health insurance has made a difference due to the Affordable Care Act, rapid increases in costs for coverage and medications can severely strain household budgets.

A recent report found that middle-aged adults have the fastest-growing rate of bankruptcy—and one of the leading reasons is rising costs of health insurance coverage and medications. But parents who cosign the student loans of their children have also created another bankruptcy risk factor.

What can be done?

Although it may seem like doom and gloom for middle-aged adults, there is hope. Workplace and policy changes can alleviate their struggles.

Extensive research has documented the effectiveness of training programs to help adults who are caring for their parents. These programs—which range from workshops on understanding dementia to tutorials on self-care—don’t help with costs, but they can ease the emotional burden.

Meanwhile, studies have found that workplaces that give employees more control over their schedules can lead to better health, workplace performance and retention.

As for broader policy, governments can look to Europe for ideas on how to address paid family leave.

European nations have generous family leave policies that include long periods of paid time off following childbirth or for caregiving.

Midlife is arguably one of the least understood, appreciated and studied life stages. But it’s a pivotal one, with middle-aged Americans playing outsized roles in their workplaces, families and communities.

Unfortunately, without changes to social support or public policy, the problems facing middle-aged individuals will only exacerbate due to the sheer number of baby boomers entering old age. AP

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Friday, July 26, 2019

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GLAIZA DE CASTRO and TJ Trinidad turn in winning performances in My Letters to Happy, a film interested in being more than your standard-issue rom-com.

MICHAEL V and Dawn Zulueta headline Family History

‘Family History’ now playing for laughs NOW in theaters everywhere is a perfect mix of drama, romance and comedy. GMA Pictures and Mic Test Entertainment’s Family History is a heartwarming movie which depicts values and virtues that are challenged when life takes a sudden turn.

The film is written, produced, and directed by no less than multi-awarded comedian and content creator Michael V, and also marks Bitoy’s return on the big screen.

“I’m really proud of this movie. Gusto kong ma-share ito sa maraming tao. Gusto kong ipakita na kahit sinong tao can do something like this. It’s a story I really want to tell.

Hopefully, you learn you something from it. It’s a very special project for me,” said the highly acclaimed comedian.

Bitoy teams up with seasoned movie actress Dawn Zulueta for the first time.

Joining the tandem are Miguel Tanfelix, Bianca Umali, Paolo Contis, Nonie Buencamino, Kakai Bautista, Ina Feleo, Mikoy Morales, Nikki Co, Jemwell Ventenilla, Vince Gamad and John Estrada, with special cameo appearances of multiawarded Dingdong Dantes, and award-winning comedienne and TV host Eugene Domingo.

The film has been graded “B” by the Cinema Evaluation Board, which lauded the film’s outstanding direction, screenplay, cinematography, editing, production design, music scoring, sound design and acting performances.

Family History will take movie goers on a rollercoaster of emotions as it reminds everyone of the things that matter most in life: faith, hope and love.

Gordon Ramsay denounces chefs who snub Michelin guide honors BEVERLY HILLS, California—Gordon Ramsay has harsh words for chefs who reject Michelin stars.

The famously profane Ramsay used an expletive to describe giving back a star rating. He said the guide’s mark of distinction belongs to a restaurant, not a chef.

It’s an insult to Michelin and a mark against those who claim that stars impose fiscal and creative burdens on an eatery, the British celebrity chef said on Tuesday.

Ramsay said a chef’s failure to parlay the hard-won recognition into greater success is on them.

It pains him to see the accolade denounced because someone is “tired and bored” by it, Ramsay said. The stars are a useful consumer guide, he said.

Ramsay said he prizes the three Michelin stars, the top ranking, long held by his self-named London restaurant. AP

‘My Letters to Happy’: Love between the shades of good and ugly

By Jessica Maureen P. Gaurano

E

VEN with the multitude love stories told over the years, society still separates love into two separate corners. It is known to be either as the greatest feeling or the most painful sorrow. However, the truth is that love is actually both: while it offers all the possibility of happiness and security, love also requires a tremendous amount of sacrifices and compromise for the betterment of the other. The film My Letters to Happy captures unwavering love between the shades of good and ugly through Albert and Happy’s narrative.

The film tells the story of Albert (TJ Trinidad), a successful advertising executive who falls into a depression following the death of his mother. He finds his motivation again when he meets Happy (Glaiza de Castro) through a dating app. Despite Albert’s doubts with regards to relationships, he decides to pursue an unlikely bond with Happy that blossoms into a relationship. However, Albert eventually discovers that behind Happy’s cheerful energy and positive attitude is a girl struggling with bipolar disorder.

What is most commendable about this film, which is directed by Pertee Briñas, is its raw portrayal of this mental-health condition. The film presents bipolar disorder in the most honest way possible.

It gives its viewers an accurate grasp of how the simple challenges of everyday living can result to a trigger. The film does not demonstrate glorification and romanticism of Happy’s struggles; instead, the audience is presented with the physical, mental and emotional manifestations of an anxiety attack through de Castro’s solid performance.

Trinidad and de Castro elevate the film more.

Together, the two actors share an undeniable chemistry that further enhances the story’s development. Individually, Trinidad and de Castro were in perfect sync with their respective characterizations, giving the viewers an honest perspective of both lead characters’ intentions.

Another commendable feat of this film is that it takes away the stigma surrounding mental health.

The film does not put a negative connotation on psychological therapy. At one point in the story, Happy finally decides to get help after years of denying her condition.

On the other hand, the camera’s “shaky” framing does not work for the film. While it probably signifies the inner chaos of mental illness, it just makes the film harder to watch. Instead of adding to its aesthetics, the shaky camera just makes scenes play out awkwardly and leaves the audience feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Also, the story barely shows the history of Happy’s character. While her history can be deemed as unnecessary to the plot development, it could have added depth to her character and made her even more unforgettable.

Overall, director Briñas masterfully captures the heaviness of mental illness despite the simplicity of its plot. Although the plot and the characters tend to fall into so many stereotypes commonly seen in romcoms, what makes the film stand out is its approach toward a heavy topic.

While My Letters to Happy tells a typical boymeets-girl story, the film reveals its bigger intention in spreading awareness about mental health. With sincere storytelling, Briñas tries to balance the simplicity of the plot with the complexity of its characters. Furthermore, the film closes on a positive note, making the story impactful. The story carefully weaves itself toward the film’s conclusion, which leaves the audience beaming with hope.

Heartbreaking and honest, My Letters to Happy is an important film that deserves to be seen. Despite the increase of mental-health awareness over the years, its media representation is still stigmatized up to this day. The film, while rough around the edges, should serve as a high standard to other filmmakers out there. n

VIVACON 2019 AT THE WTC ON AUGUST 3 AND 4

ANNE HATHAWAY and her husband Adam Shulman

OSCAR WINNER ANNE HATHAWAY IS PREGNANT WITH BABY NO. 2

NEW YORK—Anne Hathaway is signing up for more diaper duty. The 36-year-old actress announced Wednesday on her Instagram account that she and her husband, actor and jewelry designer Adam Shulman, are expecting their second child. She posted a photo of her growing belly with the caption “It’s not for a movie...”

Hathaway also went on to say that she was sending “extra love” to anyone with fertility issues because she’s experienced it, too, with both pregnancies. The new baby will join big brother, Jonathan, now three.

Hathaway, who won an Oscar for her work in Les Miserables, just wrapped filming the movie The Witches with Octavia Spencer, an adaption of the Roald Dahl childrens’ book. AP

FEEL what it is like to be the “bida sa Viva” when you attend the first entertainment convention featuring the Viva group of companies: Vivacon 2019. This is billed as the most star-studded, most educational, most fun-filled and certainly the biggest treat for fans from everywhere.

Join Vivacon and find yourself meeting Sarah Geronimo or Anne Curtis, Nadine Lustre, Matteo Guidicelli, Bela Padilla and many more.

Vivacon 2019 will be held at the World Trade Center in Parañaque on August 3 and 4, from 10 am to 10 pm. The admission price is only P550 per person.

Tickets are available at SM Tickets online.

The ticket will give attendees entrance to the venue and the chance to be present in all of the activities of their choice featured in the event. All of the activities, live shows, auditions, etc., are open to the public but will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

These activities include the following: n Performances on the main stage by Yassi Pressman, Unique, Callalily, Kean Cipriano, Because, The Juans, Mark Bautista, the Pop Girls, the Viva Hot Babes, Janine Teñoso, Shane Dandan, John Roa, SexbombNewGen, Katrina Velarde, This Band and

many others. n Talks by well-known screenwriters and directors like actress and writer Bela Padilla, Treb Monteras, director of Respeto; Sigrid Bernardo, director of Kita Kita; and Paul Basinillo, director of Indak, on August 3; and by Jason Paul Laxamana of 100 Tula Para Kay Stella, Irene Villamor of Ulan, and Nuel Naval of This Time on August 3.

Also set to talk about their lives as media influencers are Janine Teñoso, Meunnie Cullantes, Jam Raquion, Julian Trono, Ella Cruz and Daryll Yap on August 3; and Donnalyn Bartolome, Marcelo Santos III and John Roa on August 4.

Also watch out for promo visits by the stars of Indak, Nadine Lustre and Sam Concepcion; Just a Stranger, Anne Curtis and Marco Gumabao; Sanggano’t ’Sanggago’s Andrew E, Dennis Padilla and Janno Gibbs; and Unforgettable, with Sarah Geronimo and others.

Vivacon 2019 will also offer open auditions for aspiring actors, singers and bands; over 100 booths selling entertainment products and services; booths with special promos; and, best of all, fan meets with Viva idols.

ANNE CURTISSMITHHEUSSAFF

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, July 26, 2019 E1

2019 FORD ECOSPORT 1.0 TITANIUM AT

‘ECO-BOOSTED’ AND SPORTIER F

Story and photos by Randy S. Peregrino

OR this month’s feature, we get to test the top spec EcoSport Titanium 1.0 AT sporting an award-winning EcoBoost engine.

THE new 8-inch multicolor touchscreen head up display

THE new EcoSport 1.0-liter EcoBoost Titanium variant in radiant Canyon Ridge color

POWERED by an award-winning 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine

THE rear end also received minor changes

FRESH dashboard and center console layouts

True enough, after its muchawaited introduction last year, more and more units of this updated model are starting to show up on the roads. It may not be as overwhelming as what the previous version had, but the updates Ford made inside and out were enough to convince new buyers to try out this “Street Smart” subcompact SUV. Exterior-wise, the aesthetic enhancements made it look more striking. By getting rid of some redundant elements plus several nip and tuck all over, the look now is exactly how anyone would’ve imagined it should be—at least for an updated version. Notable at the front end is the fresh and sportier look. By eliminating that separated slim grille below the bonnet, the fascia now exudes from a single and more prominent trapezoidalshaped grille. That change made the grille well-aligned to the angles of the fresh keen-looking headlamps. Even the new and bigger fog lamps design further perfected the new look.

Moreover, both bumpers now

have metallic trims underneath.

While the flanks retained its profiles, the rear end also received minor upgrades. The spare tire cover now looks better with the new design along with minor changes on the taillights and rear bumper. The overall more striking look is further complemented by a new set of lightweight and extra durable 17inch alloy wheels.

The interior changes, meantime, offer a breath of fresh air. Its significant revisions almost left no traces from the previous version.

Let alone the dashboard’s and center console’s new layouts that are unmistakably more ergonomic.

This new designs further enhanced the vehicle’s already driver-centric layout. The snug leather seats combined with an elevated seating position, plus the vehicle’s known high ground clearance, provided the kind of superior vantage point. As for those several piano finishes all over, it really added some needed accents. Just like with the previous version, we really like the relatively tall headroom. This, somehow, counters that typical constricted

feel inside a subcompact vehicle.

One of the interior’s main updates is the new 8-inch multicolor touchscreen head up display. This infotainment has SYNC® 3 with navigation and voice control functions, as well as AppLink 3.0 for smartphone pairing. Other notable upgrades are the smart keyless entry, push button ignition switch, dim sensing headlamps, as well as rain sensing wipers. Apart from cup holders and extra compartments everywhere, we really like the extra 12-volt socket tactfully located at the outer edge of the right rear seat.

This is an addition to the one at the center console along with the two USB outlets. Of course, there’s the voluminous storage compartment at the back boasting 1,178 liters of space with 25 smart storage compartments.

Perhaps the most essential upgrade is the new EcoSport’s powertrain. Fitted with the awardwinning 1.0-liter EcoBoost motor generating substantial torque between low end and midrange engine revs, the acceleration feel is somewhat the same to that of an all-motor engine about twice it size.

Now paired to a new and better six-speed automatic transmission, the rough cogs associated with the previous powershift gearbox are no longer present. While there’s an overdrive switch, a paddle shifter or manual mode would’ve been more expedient, not only on retaining the optimal power band, but also for engine braking whenever necessary. Because there’s a tendency to have turbo lag every time

THUMBS UP THUMBS DOWN

n Front end design enhancements n

Handling and control n Small but responsive 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine n New head unit display

SPECIFICATIONS

n City driving fuel consumption

DIMENSIONS

n Vehicle 2019 Ford EcoSport 1.0 Titanium AT n Type Subcompact SUV n Engine 1.0-liter EcoBoost, inline three-cylinder, turbocharged

petrol n Maximum power 123 hp at 6,000 rpm n Maximum torque 170 N-m at 1,500 - 4,500 rpm n Transmission New six-speed automatic

and it affects the need to abruptly pick up the momentum.

On the road is where you’ll feel more of the new Ecosport’s recognized nimbleness. Impressively, the higher center of gravity didn’t pose any challenges at all on constant curves. Here, safe to say that the electronic stability control and traction control engages at the right moment. Now with a lighter powertrain, there are almost no frontend dive on sudden brakes and tight turns. Moreover, the light electronically assisted steering system reacts and responds accordingly to every maneuver. The

n Turbo lags on certain circumstances

n Length

4,325 mm

n Width 1,765 mm n Height

1,656 mm n Wheelbase 2,519 mm n Front Tire Tread 1,545 mm n Ground clearance 209 mm n Price as tested P1.190 million

damping system definitely leans toward the comfort side. Tire rebounds coming from road imperfections are rather tolerable. We also like the vehicle’s superb noise, harshness and vibration insulation.

Meanwhile, light pressure is all it takes to get a good bite on brakes.

During sudden braking, the antilock brake system (ABS) works just fine along with the electronic brake distribution. As for the other safety and driver assist features, the hill start assist and hill descent control also works just fine whenever needed. As for the SRS air bags, there’s one for the driver, front pas-

senger and side curtain air bags, as well. The rearview camera, meantime, is now more detailed thanks to the new head unit display.

Now that the EcoSport has finally received the much-needed upgrades inside and out, it should be interesting to ponder as to how the next generation would look like. It may be too soon to consider but for a vehicle model that performed well in terms of unit sales, Ford has to consider significantly raising the bar of the upcoming generation in order to further impress future buyers and perhaps to even secure the model’s good market position in the country.

Moto

Business

E2 Friday, July 26, 2019

THE Croner LKE dump truck variant

THE UD Trucks mobile service unit

THE Croner LKE aluminum van and automatic transmission variant

THE Croner PKE 250 variant

THE UD Trucks mobile service unit

oring

sMirror

Friday, July 26, 2019

E3

Motoring BusinessMirror

E4 Friday, July 26, 2019

Nissan in big leap, but Toyota retains lead

I

T’S nice to know that vehicle sales went up at the halfway mark of the year. It is not that big a leap, but the latest tally was good enough to bring smiles on the lips of our industry captains.

With a total of 186,055 units sold in the first six months of 2019, the score surpassed by almost 5,000 the overall result in the same span in 2018, when sales recorded at 182,844.

In June this year, vehicle sales hopped to 8.7 percent. I see it as a positive sign of the industry recovering its health after having fallen

ill in the aftermath of the TRAIN law in 2018.

The industry suffered a big blow with the new excise taxes—imposed to collect revenues in support of the government’s massive “build, build, build” infrastructure program.

As Rey Oben, the Toyota owner of multiple dealerships in Otis,

Edsa Balintawak and Marilao, Bulacan, said it: “I believe our recovery is starting to show in the horizons.”

Among the Top 10 car sellers in the first half of the year, thirdranked Nissan was the biggest gainer with 21,060 sold, massively eclipsing its output of 13,222 in the same period in 2018.

But Toyota retained its leadership as expected even as it only recorded a slight jump at 73,454 units sold at the halfway mark after tallying 73,136 in that same period last year.

And look at this: Toyota registered a whopping 39.5-percent market share, with Mitsubishi second at 16.8 percent (31,210 units sold) and Nissan third at 11.3 percent (21,060 sold).

The rest are No. 4 Hyundai at 9.5 percent (17,654 units sold), No. 5 Ford at 6 percent (11,227), No. 6 Suzuki at 5.8 percent (10,817), No. 7 Honda at 5.5 percent (10,251), No. 8 Isuzu at 3.7 percent (6,827), No. 9 Foton at 1.2 percent (2,247) and No. 10 Chevrolet at 0.7 percent (1,308).

Here’s looking at you kid, since, as the economy continues to show strong signs of growth, we can expect more upward swings in the

coming months. As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.”

Our autoworld has always been a tough nut to crack. Like solid rock, it just doesn’t crack that easily.

Suzuki Supra speech

I MISSED putting it out here the last time out and so, here it is: Satoru Suzuki’s speech during the recent launch of the All-New Toyota GR Supra at the swanky Manila Polo Club inside Forbes Park, Makati.

The following was what Suzuki, the amiable president of Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP), delivered before the usual big media delegation always eager to listen to what our car moguls have to say during important occasions such as this: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank you all for coming to witness yet another monumental event for Toyota.

“The Toyota Supra is a model that needs no introduction, most especially to motoring journalists and enthusiasts such as yourselves.

“Apart from its status in the automotive scene as a symbol of genuine performance, the model is also ingrained in popular cul-

ture. The Supra has gone through four generations that are all widely recognized by fans everywhere to this day. “It is a car we love. With the help of Toyota Gazoo Racing, a fifth-generation model was developed, and the result is a modern evolution of a timeless classic.

“Dearest friends from the media, today we are making history together. The All-New Toyota GR Supra has finally arrived on our shores.

“To celebrate its return to the world stage, I am proud to officially announce that Toyota Motor Philippines, or TMP, is now bringing the legendary model here in the country.

“This will be the very first time that the Supra nameplate will be retailed in the Philippines, and only a limited number of units will be available through 16 of our certified GR Performance dealerships nationwide.

“As you well know, the All-New Toyota GR Supra is TMP’s new flagship model. We are confident that the Philippine market will be receptive, considering how we have steadily recovered for the first half of 2019. In fact, year-to-date, we have already sold 73,454 units.

“Toyota Motor Philippines is just one month away from celebrating its 31st anniversary this coming August, and the arrival of the GR Supra is the perfect bookend to our three decades of meaningful partnership that has set the standards for the entire automotive industry.

“All of us from Toyota—officers, dealers and team members alike—are sincerely grateful for the support you have given the Toyota brand since the beginning.

“So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, let us all welcome the All-New Toyota GR Supra.

“Thank you very much!”

SM Advantage Card.

“Shell believes that through ‘BiyaHero,’ drivers will do their part to be responsible not just for themselves but for the whole

community and together, our roads will be safer,” Yam declared.

For more information, visit www.shell.com.ph/biyahero

PEE STOP Spotted during the Su-

pra launch was Alfred Ty. The brand-new chairman of TMP now seems content at watching from the sidelines his men hog the limelight, especially in occasions that impact on the industry. Nothing wrong there. Most great leaders do their thing quietly. They’d rather that they work doggedly behind the scene than expose themselves working with swagger in the open, rattling off policies and directions, which could yet invite negative reactions from both rivals and mere kibitzers alike. Attaboy, Alfred!

SHELL LAUNCHES BIYAHERO ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN

E

VERY year, an estimated 1.25 million people worldwide are involved in road traffic accidents according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Here in the Philippines, government data show that traffic incidents have been increasing and have never dipped below 8,000 accidents annually.

With this in mind, Shell just launched a new campaign that aims to help make roads safer for all Filipinos.

Dubbed “BiyaHero,” the campaign is part of Shell’s commitment to keep drivers safe, secure, and in good health on the road.

The campaign also aims to be a reminder that safety on the road is everybody’s responsibility.

“We at Shell believe that road safety starts with all of us, and that always being aware, alert, and prepared can help save lives,” said Anthony Yam, Pilipinas Shell vice president for the retail business. “This is part of Shell’s continuing effort to implement road safety programs for motorists, which I am proud to say the company has been doing for the longest time,” he added.

As part of the BiyaHero campaign, which started during the

long Holy Week break, participating Shell stations have prepared delightful offers to make their customers enjoy their long drives.

Shell provides safe driving tips to remind the drivers to be safe while on the road and become their family’s very own BiyaHero.

With every P1,000 worth of V-Power fuel, customers are given P3 off per liter on their next fuel purchase. Motorists are also entitled to discounts on their favorite snacks, drinks, and road needs at Shell Select and Shell Deli2go outlets. To further ease

the public’s journeys on long weekends, Shell has provided clean and sanitized comfort rooms at their gas stations.

Shell Helix Oil Change+, on the other hand, offers hasslefree oil change and maintenance services. Customers can also avail themselves of Shell’s yearlong special offers, such as a free 14-point safety check by expert mechanics, as well as free engine insurance and roadside assistance if they avail themselvesof a Shell Helix Ultra oil change package. They can also get 40 percent off on oil change labor when they present their

MAXXIS NASFOR 4X4 CUP CONCLUDES

JOSEPH RODRIGUEZ (center) who currently leads the MAXXIS NAsFOR 4x4 Cup Extreme Off-Road Challenge with five podium places

T

HE first half of the MAXXIS NAsFOR 4x4 Cup Extreme Off-Road Challenge has come to a close, with the toughest off-roaders claiming their well-deserved podium places.

Leading the pack of off-road athletes with five podium places—four of which are championships—is Joseph Rodriguez of 4Wheelers Davao. He is followed

by Jherico Lara of the Aurora Racing Team with three podium places and fellow 4Wheelers Davao member Cesar Daquil, who won three as well.

Rodriguez, who started his off-roading career five years ago, is considered the toughest competitor in this year’s challenge. His club 4Wheelers Davao

was a mainstay on the podium during the second quarter because of his and Daquil’s stellar performance, taking the top spot in the 6th and 5th legs, respectively.

“We, the MAXXIS Tires team, are thrilled to know that we were able to help these athletes achieve their winning stories through our high-quality off-roading tires, which we are sure were of huge help in conquering the challenging obstacle courses in each leg. We join the entire Philippine off-roading community in cheering for these fueled athletes as we see more hills and puddles down the second half of the challenge,” shared Rose Ann Garin, marketing

manager of MAXXIS Tires.

Off-roading household name Noel Bartolome Jr. of the Landcruiser Club Philippines, who placed second in the 5th leg and third in the 7th leg, is gaining momentum in the challenge with two podium places. Also with two podium places are Euane Evangelista of Digos 4Wheelers, Derrick Gahite of Manila East Offroaders and Edison Dungca of Kapampangan Racing Team.

MAXXIS NAsFOR 4x4 Cup Extreme Off-Road Challenge started the second half of the year with its 9th leg on July 6 to 7 in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, with Joseph Rodriguez once again besting his competitors.